Moscow

Artistic impression of Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg.

In December 1904, a strike occurred at the Putilov plant (a railway and artillery supplier) in St. Petersburg. Sympathy strikes in other parts of the city raised the number of strikers to over 80,000. Controversial Orthodox priest Georgy Gapon, Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery who headed a police-sponsored workers' association, led a huge workers' procession to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition[33] to the Tzar on Sunday, 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905. Dell XPS 15Z Battery

The troops guarding the Winter Palace who had been ordered to tell the demonstrators not to pass a certain point, according to Sergei Witte, opened fire on them, which resulted in more than 200 (according to Witte) to 1000 deaths.

Dell Inspiron N4030 Battery The event became known as Bloody Sunday, and is usually considered the start of the active phase of the revolution.

The events in St. Petersburg provoked public indignation and a series of massive strikes that spread quickly throughout the industrial centres of the Russian Empire. Polish socialists — both the PPS and the SDKPiL Dell XPS L702X Battery

Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery— called for a general strike. By the end of January 1905, over 400,000 workers in Russian Poland were on strike (see Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907)). Half of European Russia's industrial workers went on strike in 1905, Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

Dell Inspiron 14V Battery93.2% in Poland.[34] There were also strikes in Finland and the Baltic coast. In Riga, 80 protesters were killed on 26 January [O.S. 13 January] 1905, and in Warsaw a few days later over 100 strikers were shot on the streets. By February, there were strikes in the Caucasus, and by April, in the Urals and beyond. Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery

Dell XPS L701X BatteryIn March, all higher academic institutions were forcibly closed for the remainder of the year, adding radical students to the striking workers. A strike by railway workers on 21 October [O.S. 8 October] Dell XPS L501X Battery

Dell XPS L502X Battery1905 quickly developed into a general strike in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. This prompted the setting up of the short-lived Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates, an admixture of Bolsheviks and Mensheviks headed by Khrustalev-Nossar and despite the Iskra split would see the likes of Julius Martov and Georgi Plekhanov spar with Lenin. Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery

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Leon Trotsky, who felt a strong connection to the Bolsheviki, but had not given up a compromise meanwhile spearheaded strike action in over 200 factories.[35] Dell Inspiron N5030 Battery

Dell Inspiron 13R Battery By 26 October [O.S. 13 October] 1905, over 2 million workers were on strike and there were almost no active railways in all of Russia. Growing inter-ethnic confrontation throughout the Caucasus resulted in Armenian-Tatar massacres, heavily damaging the cities and the Baku oilfields. Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery

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Artistic impression of the mutiny by the crew of the battleship Potemkin against the ship's officers on 14 June 1905.

With the unsuccessful and bloody Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) there was unrest in army reserve units. On January 2, 1905 Port Arthur was lost, and the Russian Baltic Fleet was defeated at Tsushima; in February 1905, the Russian army was defeated at Mukden, Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery

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Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery losing almost 80,000 men in the process. Witte was dispatched to make peace, negotiating the Treaty of Portsmouth (signed 5 September [O.S. 23 August] 1905). In 1905, there were naval mutinies at Sevastopol (see Sevastopol Uprising), Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery Vladivostok, and Kronstadt, peaking in June with the mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin — some sources claim over 2,000 sailors died in the restoration of order.[36] The mutinies were disorganised and quickly crushed. Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery

Dell Inspiron 15R BatteryDespite these mutinies, the armed forces were largely apolitical and remained mostly loyal, if dissatisfied — and were widely used by the government to control the 1905 unrest. Dell Inspiron N7010 Battery

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A barricade erected by revolutionaries in St. Petersburg.

Nationalist groups had been angered by the Russification undertaken since Alexander II. The Poles, Finns, and the Baltic provinces all sought autonomy, and also freedom to use their national languages and promote their own culture.[ Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

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37] Muslim groups were also active — the First Congress of the Muslim Union took place in August 1905. Certain groups took the opportunity to settle differences with each other rather than the government. Some nationalists undertook anti-Jewish pogroms, possibly with government aid, and in total over 3,000 Jews were killed.[38] Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

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The number of prisoners throughout the Russian Empire, which had peaked at 116,376 in 1893, fell by over a third to a record low of 75,009 in January 1905, chiefly because of several mass amnesties granted by the Tsar;[39] the historian S G Wheatcroft has wondered what role these released criminals played in the 1905–6 social unrest.[39] Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

Government response[edit]

The Tsar dismissed the Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirskii, on 18 February [O.S. 5 February] 1905 and appointed a government commission "to enquire without delay into the causes of discontent among the workers in the city of St Petersburg and its suburbs" in view of the strike movement. Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6430 Battery The commission was headed by Senator NV Shidlovsky, a member of the State Council, and included officials, chiefs of government factories, and private factory owners. It was also meant to have included workers’ Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

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Dell Latitude E5530 Battery delegates elected according to a two-stage system. Elections of the workers delegates were, however, blocked by the socialists who wanted to divert the workers from the elections to the armed struggle. On 5 March [O.S. 20 February] 1905, the Commission was dissolved without having started work. Dell Latitude E6220 Battery

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Following the assassination of his uncle, the Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich, on 17 February [O.S. 4 February] 1905, the Tsar agreed to give new concessions. On 18 February [O.S. 5 February] 1905 he published the Bulygin Rescript, which promised the formation of a consultative assembly, religious tolerance, Dell Latitude E6400 Battery

Dell Latitude E5420M Battery freedom of speech (in the form of language rights for the Polish minority) and a reduction in the peasants' redemption payments.

On 24 and 25 May [O.S. 11 and 12 May] 1905, about 300 Zemstvo and municipal representatives held three meetings in Moscow, which passed a resolution, asking for popular representation at the national level. Dell Latitude E6410 Battery

Dell Latitude E5520 BatteryOn 6 June [O.S. 24 May ] 1905, Nicholas II had received a Zemstvo deputation. Responding to speeches by Prince Sergei Trubetskoi and Mr Fyodrov, the Tsar confirmed his promise to convene an assembly of people’s representatives.

Height of the revolution[edit]

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Ilya Repin, 17 October 1905

Tsar Nicholas II agreed on 18 February [O.S. 5 February] to the creation of a State Duma of the Russian Empire but with consultative powers only. When its slight powers and limits on the electorate were revealed, Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery unrest redoubled. The Saint Petersburg Soviet was formed and called for a general strike in October, refusal to pay taxes, and the withdrawal of bank deposits. Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery

In June and July of 1905, there were many peasant uprisings in which peasants seized land and tools.[40] Disturbances in the Russian-controlled Congress Poland culminated in June 1905 in the Łódź insurrection. Surprisingly, only one landlord was recorded as killed.[41Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400 ATG Battery] Far more violence was inflicted on peasants outside the commune: 50 deaths were recorded.

The October Manifesto, written by Sergei Witte and Alexis Obolenskii, was presented to the Tsar on 14 October [O.S. 1 October]. Dell Latitude E6510 Battery

Dell Latitude E6520 BatteryIt closely followed the demands of the Zemstvo Congress in September, granting basic civil rights, allowing the formation of political parties, extending the franchise towards universal suffrage, and establishing the Duma as the central legislative body. Sony VGP-BPS11 Battery

The Tsar waited and argued for three days, but finally signed the manifesto on 30 October [O.S. 17 October] 1905, owing to his desire to avoid a massacre, and a realisation that there was insufficient military force available to do otherwise. He regretted signing the document, saying that he felt "sick with shame at this betrayal of the dynasty... the betrayal was complete".Sony VGP-BPS12 Battery

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When the manifesto was proclaimed there were spontaneous demonstrations of support in all the major cities. The strikes in Saint Petersburg and elsewhere officially ended or quickly collapsed. A political amnesty was also offered. Sony VGP-BPS12/Q Battery

Sony VGP-BPS21/S BatteryThe concessions came hand-in-hand with renewed, and brutal, action against the unrest. There was also a backlash from the conservative elements of society, with right-wing attacks on strikers, left-wingers, and Jews. Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

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While the Russian liberals were satisfied by the October Manifesto and took preparations for upcoming Dumas elections, radical socialists and revolutionaries denounced the elections and called for an armed uprising to destroy the Empire. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

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Some of the November uprising of 1905 in Sevastopol, headed by retired naval Lieutenant Pyotr Schmidt, was directed against the government, while some was undirected. It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies and was only suppressed after a fierce battle.

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The Trans-Baikal railroad fell into the hands of striker committees and demobilised soldiers returning from Manchuria after the Russo–Japanese War. The Tsar had to send a special detachment of loyal troops along the Trans-Siberian Railway to restore order.

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A train overturned by striking workers at the main railway depot in Tiflis in 1905

Between 5 and 7 December [O.S. 22 and 24 November], there was a general strike by Russian workers. The government sent in troops on 7 December, and a bitter street-by-street fight began. A week later the Semenovskii Regiment was deployed, Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS21 Batteryand used artillery to break-up demonstrations and to shell workers' districts. On 18 December [O.S. 5 December], with around a thousand people dead and parts of the city in ruins, the workers surrendered. After a final spasm in Moscow, the uprisings ended in December 1905.

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According to figures presented in the Duma by Professor Maksim Kovalevsky, by April 1906, more than 14,000 people had been executed and 75,000 imprisoned.[42Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Battery

] The historian Brian Taylor states the number of deaths in the 1905 Revolution was in the "thousands", and notes the existence of one source that puts the figure at over 13,000 deaths.[38]

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Results of the Revolution of 1905[edit]

Following the Revolution of 1905, the Tsar made last effort attempts to keep his regime from being toppled, and offered reforms similar to most rulers when pressured by a revolutionary movement. The military remained loyal throughout the Revolution of 1905, Sony VGP-BPS14 Battery

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shown through their shooting of revolutionaries ordered by the Tsar, signifying a would-be difficult overthrow. These reforms were outlined under a precursor to the Constitution of 1906 known as the October Manifesto which created the Duma. Sony VGP-BPS14B Battery

The Russian Constitution of 1906, also known as the Fundamental Laws, setup a multiparty system and a limited constitutional monarchy. The revolutionaries were quelled and satisfied with the reforms, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the 1917 revolution that would later topple the Tsar’s regime. Sony VGP-BPS14/S Battery

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Creation of Duma and Stolypin[edit]

The creation of the Duma and the beginning of the Revolution of 1905 was supported and sprung from Russia’s loss in the Russo-Japanese War, Sony VGP-BPL10 Battery

Sony VGP-BPL14/S Battery where Sergei Witte gained political notoriety. On October 17, 1905, the October Manifesto was signed by Tsar Nicholas II guaranteeing civil liberties to all citizens and the creation of the First Duma. Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery

Sony VGP-BPL14B Battery The First Duma was created to be the lower house, with the upper house being the Council of State which was appointed. The composition of the First Duma was 48.1% peasants and 36.7% nobles. Sony VGP-BPL12 Battery

Sony VGP-BPL14/B BatteryPeasants had more representation that the nobility, and were able to use that to their advantage to show discontent and be problematic towards authority. Both houses were needed to meet and agree on laws before they could go to the Tsar, and the Tsar had absolute veto power. Not only did the Tsar retain absolute veto power, Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

Sony VGP-BPL14 Battery there were certain powers left to only the Tsar, in particular control over the army, which hindered the Duma’s ability to truly be a representative and fully powerful legislative body. Among the political parties formed, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

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or made legal, were the liberal-intelligentsia Constitutional Democratic party (the Cadets), the peasant leaders' Labour Group (Trudoviks), the less liberal Union of 17 October (the Octobrists), and the reactionary Union of Land-Owners. Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/B batteryThe electoral laws were promulgated in December 1905—franchise to male citizens over 25 years of age, electing through four electoral colleges. This was a weighted electoral system where the votes of some sections of society were worth more than others. For example,

Sony VGP-BPS13B batterythe vote of a landowner was worth 45 times more than the vote of an industrial worker. The first elections to the Duma took place in March 1906 and were boycotted by the socialists, the SRs and the Bolsheviks. In the First Duma, there were 170 Kadets, 90 Trudoviks,

Sony VGP-BPS13AB battery100 non-aligned peasant representatives, 63 nationalists of various hues, and 16 Octobrists. The Duma’s framework and power as controlled by the government issued Fundamental Law (Constitution of 1906), Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery

Sony VGP-BPS13A/R batterywhich retained most of the important functions of government to the Tsar. The Duma proved to be an ineffective institution with the Tsar still always having an upper hand in control and power, and it could be dissolved and recalled by the Tsar at any time, both of which were often executed. “The First and Second Dumas were dissolved before having time to enact into laws their comprehensive schemes of constructive reforms.” Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery

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Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q battery Demanding further liberalisation and acting as a platform for "agitators", the First Duma was dissolved by the Tsar in July 1906. Despite the hopes of the Kadets and the fears of the government, there was no widespread popular reaction to this. However, an assassination attempt on Pyotr Stolypin led to the establishment of field trials for terrorists,

Sony VGP-BPS13S battery and over the next eight months more than a thousand people were hanged. In 1907, another manifesto was written by the tsar in 1907 to revise election law in the Duma, allowing for extreme manipulation by the tsar to determine who was in the Duma. While the election framework of the Duma is one that allowed for gerrymandering, Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery

Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery the Duma was used as a platform for those elected to have an opinion and have some ground in Russia’s bureaucracy that the autocratic Tsar had to deal with. The Third and Fourth Dumas also had very little to say for themselves, and the Duma existed until 1917 with the end of the Russian empire. Sony VGP-BPS13A battery

October Manifesto[edit]

The October Manifesto served as a precursor to the Constitution of 1906. It was reluctantly put into place by Tsar Nicholas II who was convinced by Sergei Witte (man who negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War) that it was necessary. Not only was it necessary, but it is what finally stopped the 1905 Revolution and kept Nicholas II in power for 12 more years. Sony SVS13 battery

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The opposition against the Tsar government was far too strong to not have a manifesto written to attempt to quell uprising. Witte was a strong proponent of a constitutional monarchy, an elected parliament, and enumerated rights and freedoms within the constitution. The main provisions and reforms of the manifesto were : Sony SVS1511S3R battery

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(1.) To grant to the population the essential foundations of civil freedom, based on the principles of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association. (2.) Without postponing the scheduled elections to the State Duma, Sony VPCSA battery

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Sony VPCSB4M9E batteryto admit to participation in the duma (insofar as possible in the short time that remains before it is scheduled to convene) of all those classes of the population that now are completely deprived of voting rights; and to leave the further development of a general statute on elections to the future legislative order. (3.) Sony VPCSA3T9E battery

Sony VPCSB3X9E batteryTo establish as an unbreakable rule that no law shall take effect without confirmation by the State Duma and that the elected representatives of the people shall be guaranteed the opportunity to participate in the supervision of the legality of the actions of Our appointed officials. Sony VPCSB1X9E battery

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The manifesto was discussed by the Tsar and Witte till its signing by Nicholas II on October 17, 1905. Witte, the author of the October Manifesto, Sony VPCSB1Z9E battery
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was also named chair of the new Council of Ministers under the new government. The strikes ended on October 19, and singing, cheering, and other forms of demonstration followed the signing of the October Manifesto as no one had expected such concessions to be made. Sony VPCSB2C5023W battery
Main problems with the manifesto were that nowhere in the document does the word “constitution” come up, and Nicholas II never felt much pressure to follow to provisions of the manifesto as he for that moment regained the support of his people. However, Sony VPCSB2L1E battery

Sony VPCSB3S9E battery the rights listed coupled with the institution of the Duma seemed to signal an end to authoritarian rule, and the October Manifesto failed to pacify Russia. Many groups either saw the manifesto as a movement towards democracy (while still holding doubts about its implementation),
Sony VPCSB3N9E batterywhile other groups saw it as an incentive to keep moving forward with the Revolution. Kadets were in favor of the document’s freedom of speech and other rights, while Marxists felt it wasn’t enough of a concession and not a true signifier of democracy. Sony VPCSB2M9E battery
While the October Manifesto outlined civil liberties and the establishment of a two-house Parliament, none of these measures came into effect until the Constitution of 1906.

Russian Constitution of 1906[edit] Sony VPCSB3L9E battery
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In international terms Lenin spoke of world revolution. The stalemate in the war with Poland led and the failures of Communist uprisings in Central Europe brought the realization that the revolution would come slowly. To get it on track Lenin in 1919 set up the Third International, or Comintern.[145][146]

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In terms of Russian government, the party controlled all political affairs. Everything was run through the system of local, regional, and central soviets, which were all controlled by the Communist Party. He chaired the top government body, HP 532605-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 603690-001 CPU fan with heatsink the Council of People's Commissars ("Sovnarkom"), after Trotsky turned the job down. Even more importantly Lenin directed the ruling Politburo of the Communist party.

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Lenin suffered a series of strokes that effectively removed him from power in the winter of 1922-3.

Retirement and death

During Lenin's sickness (1922–23), Stalin used this altered photograph as his bona fides claim to leading the CPSU.[147]

Persistent stories mark syphilis as the cause of Lenin's death. A "retrospective diagnosis" published in The European Journal of Neurology in 2004 strengthens these suspicions.[148]

The mental strains of leading a revolution, HP 532617-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 579158-001 CPU fan with heatsinkgoverning, and fighting a civil war aggravated the physical debilitation consequent to the wounds from the attempted assassinations; Lenin retained a bullet in his neck, until a German surgeon removed it on 24 April 1922.[ HP 534675-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 576837-001 CPU fan with heatsink149] Among his comrades, Lenin was notable for working almost ceaselessly, fourteen to sixteen hours daily, occupied with minor, major, and routine matters. About the man at his life's end, Volkogonov said: HP 534676-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Lenin was involved in the challenges of delivering fuel into Ivanovo-Vosnesensk... the provision of clothing for miners, he was solving the question of dynamo construction, drafted dozens of routine documents, orders, trade agreements, was engaged in the allocation of rations, HP 534684-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 534685-001 CPU fan with heatsink edited books and pamphlets at the request of his comrades, held hearings on the applications of peat, assisted in improving the workings at the "Novii Lessner" factory, clarified in correspondence with the engineer P. A. Kozmin the feasibility of using wind turbines for the electrification of villages.. HP 602472-001 CPU fan with heatsink

. all the while serving as an adviser to party functionaries almost continuously.[150]

When already sick, Lenin remembered that, since 1917, he had only rested twice: once, while hiding from the Kerensky Provisional Government (when he wrote The State and Revolution), and while recovering from Fanya Kaplan's failed assassination.[15HP 603690-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 6608231-001 CPU fan with heatsink1] In March 1922, when physicians examined him, they found evidence of neither nervous nor organic pathology, but, given his fatigue and the headaches he suffered, they prescribed rest. Upon returning to St. Petersburg in May 1922, Lenin suffered the first of three strokes,

HP 657529-001 CPU fan with heatsinkwhich left him unable to speak for weeks, and severely hampered motion in his right side; by June, he had substantially recovered. By August he resumed limited duties, delivering three long speeches in November. In December 1922, he suffered the second stroke that partly paralyzed his right side, HP 603691-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 642731-001 CPU fan with heatsinkhe then withdrew from active politics. In March 1923, he suffered the third stroke that rendered him mute and bed-ridden until his death.

Lenin in 1923

After the first stroke, Lenin dictated government papers to Nadezhda; among them was Lenin's Testament (changing the structure of the soviets), a document partly inspired by the 1922 Georgian Affair, which was a conflict about the way in which social and political transformation within a constituent republic was to be achieved. HP 604787-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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It criticized high-rank Communists, including Joseph Stalin, Grigory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, and Leon Trotsky. About the Communist Party's General Secretary (since 1922), Joseph Stalin, Lenin reported that the "unlimited authority" HP 606575-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 637610-001 CPU fan with heatsinkconcentrated in him was unacceptable, and suggested that "comrades think about a way of removing Stalin from that post." His phrasing, "Сталин слишком груб", implies "personal rudeness, unnecessary roughness, lack of finesse", flaws "intolerable in a Secretary-General".

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At Lenin's death, Nadezhda mailed his testament to the central committee, to be read aloud to the 13th Party Congress in May 1924. However, to remain in power, the ruling troika—Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev—suppressed Lenin's Testament; it was not published until 1925, in the United States, by the American intellectual Max Eastman. HP 606729-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 631742-001 CPU fan with heatsink In that year, Trotsky published an article minimising the importance of Lenin's Testament, saying that Lenin's notes should not be perceived as a will, that it had been neither concealed, nor violated;[152] yet he did invoke it in later anti-Stalin polemics.[153][154] HP 606731-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Lenin died at 18.50 hrs, Moscow time, on 21 January 1924, aged 53, at his estate at Gorki settlement (later renamed Gorki Leninskiye). In the four days that the Bolshevik Leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lay in state, more than 900,000 mourners viewed his body in the Hall of Columns; among the statesmen who expressed condolences to the Soviet Union was Chinese premier Sun Yat-sen, who said:

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Through the ages of world history, thousands of leaders and scholars appeared who spoke eloquent words, but these remained words. You, Lenin, were an exception. You not only spoke and taught us, but translated your words into deeds. HP 608010-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 608378-001 CPU fan with heatsink You created a new country. You showed us the road of joint struggle... You, great man that you are, will live on in the memories of the oppressed people through the centuries.[155] HP 608095-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Winston Churchill, who encouraged British intervention against the Russian Revolution, in league with the White Movement, to destroy the Bolsheviks and Bolshevism, said:

He alone could have found the way back to the causeway... The Russian people were left floundering in the bog. Their worst misfortune was his birth... their next worst his death.[15

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Funeral

Lenin's funeral by I.Brodsky

Pallbearers carrying Lenin's coffin during his funeral, from Paveletsky Rail Terminal to the Labor Temple. Felix Dzerzhinsky at the front with Timofei Sapronov behind him and Lev Kamenev on the left.

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The Soviet government publicly announced Lenin's death the following day, with head of State Mikhail Kalinin tearfully reading an official statement to delegates of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets at 11am, the same time that a team of physicians began a postmortem of the body.[1HP 480481-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 631743-001 CPU fan with heatsink57] On 23 January, mourners from the Communist Party Central Committee, the Moscow party organisation, the trade unions and the soviets began to assemble at his house, with the body being removed from his home at about 10am the following day, being carried aloft in a red coffin by Kamenev, Zinoviev, Stalin, HP 533736-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610778-001 CPU fan with heatsink Bukharin, Bubhov and Krasin. Transported by train to Moscow, mourners gathered at every station along the way, and upon arriving in the city, a funerary procession carried the coffin for five miles to the House of Trade Unions, where the body lay in state.[158] HP 535441-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Over the next three days, around a million mourners from across the Soviet Union came to see the body, many queuing for hours in the freezing conditions, with the events being filmed by the government.[1HP 535442-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610777-001 CPU fan with heatsink59] On Saturday 26 January, the eleventh All-Union Congress of Soviets met to pay respects to the deceased leader, with speeches being made by Kalinin, Zinoviev and Stalin, but notably not Trotsky, HP 643258-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 622033-001 CPU fan with heatsink who had been convalescing in the Caucasus.[159] Lenin's funeral took place the following day, when his body was carried to Red Square, accompanied by martial music, where assembled crowds listened to a series of speeches before the corpse was carried into a vault, followed by the singing of the revolutionary hymn, "You fell in sacrifice."[159] HP 655983-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Three days after his death, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honour, so remaining until 1991, when the USSR dissolved, yet the administrative area remains "Leningrad Oblast". In the early 1920s, HP 657942-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610773-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe Russian cosmism movement proved so popular that Leonid Krasin and Alexander Bogdanov proposed to cryonically preserve Lenin for future resurrection, yet, despite buying the requisite equipment, that was not done.[160] Instead, the body of V. I. Lenin was embalmed and permanently exhibited in Lenin's Mausoleum, in Moscow, on 27 January 1924.

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Despite the official diagnosis of death from stroke consequences, the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov reported that Lenin died of neurosyphilis, according to a publication by V. Lerner and colleagues in the European Journal of Neurology in 2004. HP 646578-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 606013-001 CPU fan with heatsink The authors also note that "It is possible that future DNA technology applied to Lenin's preserved brain material could ultimately establish or disprove neurosyphilis as the primary cause of Lenin's death."[161] HP 606609-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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In a poll conducted in 2012 by a Russian website, 48 per cent of the people that responded voted that the body of the former leader should be buried.[162][163]

Lenin's funeral train consisting of the locomotive and funeral van still containing the original wreaths is preserved at the Museum of the Moscow Railway, Paveletsky Rail Terminal in Moscow.

Politics and world revolution HP 612354-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Lenin giving a speech.

Lenin was a Marxist and principally a revolutionary. His revolutionary theory—the belief in the necessity of a violent overthrow of capitalism through communist revolution, to be followed by a dictatorship of the proletariat as the first stage of moving towards communism, HP 582321-001 CPU fan with heatsink

and the need for a vanguard party to lead the proletariat in this effort—developed into Marxism–Leninism, a highly influential ideology. Lenin biographer Robert Service noted that Lenin considered "moral questions" to be "an irrelevance",HP 532614-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 576838-001 CPU fan with heatsink rejecting the concept of moral absolutism; instead he judged whether an action was justifiable based upon its chances of success for the revolutionary cause.[164]

As stated in his Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin's revolutionary project embraced not just Russia but the world. To implement world revolution the Third or Communist International was convened in Russia in 1919, to replace the discredited Second International.[16HP 587244-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 434678-001 CPU fan with heatsink5] Lenin dominated the first, second (1920) and third (1921) Congresses of the International and hoped to use the organisation as an agency of international socialist revolution.[16

HP 431448-001 CPU fan with heatsink6] After the failure of revolutionary ambitions in Poland, in the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–21, and after various revolutions in Germany and Eastern Europe in 1919 had been crushed, Lenin, increasingly, HP 535438-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 450864-001 CPU fan with heatsinksaw that anti-colonial struggles in the Third World would be the foci of the revolutionary struggle. He believed that revolution in the Third World would come about through an alliance of the proletarians with the rural peasantry.[167] HP 448016-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 486844-001 CPU fan with heatsink In 1923 Lenin said:

The outcome of the struggle will be determined by the fact that Russia, India, China, etc,. account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe. And during the last few years it is this majority that has been drawn into the struggle for emancipation with extraordinary rapidity,

HP 493001-001 CPU fan with heatsinkso that in this respect there cannot be the slightest doubt what the final outcome of the world struggle will be. In this sense the complete victory of socialism is fully and absolutely assured.[168] HP 486799-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Lenin praised Chinese socialist revolutionary leader Sun Yatsen and his Kuomintang party for their ideology and principles. Lenin praised Sun, his attempts on social reformation and congratulated him for fighting foreign Imperialism.[169][170][1HP 491572-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 492314-001 CPU fan with heatsink71] Sun also returned the praise, calling him a "great man", and sent his congratulations on the revolution in Russia.[172] Organised on Leninism,[173] the Kuomintang was a nationalist revolutionary party, which had been supported by the Soviet Union. HP 640426-001 CPU fan

Stance on antisemitism

Jewish children killed in 1905 pogroms of the Russian Empire in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk); institutionalized persecution of Jews convinced Lenin that they were victims of tsarist oppression.

Lenin was enthusiastic about new mass communication technology like the radio and the gramophone and its capacity for educating Russia's mostly illiterate peasant population. In 1919 Lenin recorded eight speeches on to gramophone records. HP 640903-001 CPU fan

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During the Nikita Khrushchev era (1953–64), seven were published. The eighth speech, which was not published, outlined Lenin's thoughts on antisemitism:[174]

The tsarist police, in alliance with the landowners and the capitalists, organised pogroms against the Jews. The landowners and capitalists tried to divert the hatred of the workers and peasants who were tortured by want against the Jews. . HP 641477-001 CPU fan

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.. It is not the Jews who are the enemies of the working people. The enemies of the workers are the capitalists of all countries. Among the Jews there are working people, and they form the majority. They are our brothers, HP 653627-001 CPU fan

HP 534685-001 CPU fanwho, like us, are oppressed by capital; they are our comrades in the struggle for socialism. ... The capitalists strive to sow and foment hatred between workers of different faiths, different nations and different races. HP 665309-001 CPU fan

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... Rich Jews, like rich Russians, and the rich in all countries, are in alliance to oppress, crush, rob, and disunite the workers. ... Shame on those who foment hatred towards the Jews, who foment hatred towards other nations.[175] HP 650057-001 CPU fan

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Writings

Lenin the icon: A 1929 Laz language newspaper featuring Lenin's writing

Lenin was a prolific political theoretician and philosopher who wrote about the practical aspects of carrying out a proletarian revolution; he wrote pamphlets, articles, and books, without a stenographer or secretary, until prevented by illness.[17HP 650797-001 CPU fan

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6] He simultaneously corresponded with comrades, allies, and friends, in Russia and world-wide. His Collected Works comprise 54 volumes, each of about 650 pages, translated into English in 45 volumes by Progress Publishers, Moscow 1960–70.[177] The most influential include: HP 535439-001 CPU fan

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What is to be Done? (1902) states that a revolution requires a professional vanguard party.

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916) explains why capitalism had not collapsed, as Marx had posited, presenting the First World War as a capitalist war for land, resources, and cheap labour.

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The State and the Revolution (1917) interprets the ideas of Marx and Engels, the October Revolution's theoretic basis, and opposes the social-democratic tendency as indecisive in effecting revolution. HP 535766-001 CPU fan

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April Theses (1917) propose the socio-economic need for a socialist revolution.

"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (1920) sharply criticizes the "ultra-left"

After Lenin's death, the USSR selectively censored his writings, to establish the dogma of the infallibility of Lenin, Stalin (his successor), HP 582139-001 CPU fan

HP 532605-001 CPU fan and the Central Committee;[178] thus, the Soviet fifth edition (55 vols., 1958–65) of Lenin's œuvre deleted the Lenin–Stalin contradictions, and all that was unfavourable to the founder of the USSR.[179] HP 582140-001 CPU fan

HP 532141-001 CPU fanThe historian Richard Pipes published a documentary collection of letters and telegrams excluded from the Soviet fifth edition, proposing that edition as incomplete.[180]

Personal life and characteristics

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Lenin and his wife, Nadezhda.

"[Lenin's collected writings] reveal in detail a man with iron will, self-enslaving self-discipline, scorn for opponents and obstacles, the cold determination of a zealot, the drive of a fanatic, and the ability to convince or browbeat weaker persons by his singleness of purpose, imposing intensity, impersonal approach, HP 582141-001 CPU fan

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HP 498480-001 CPU fanpersonal sacrifice, political astuteness, and complete conviction of the possession of the absolute truth. His life became the history of the Bolshevik movement."

—Biographer Louis Fischer, 1964.[181] Sony PCG-41211M battery
One of Lenin's biographers, the historian Robert Service, asserted that the Russian had been "a young man of intense emotions",[182] who also exhibited a "visceral hatred" of the "slightest sign of illegality or corruption", which he saw exhibited throughout Tsarist Russia.[183] He furthermore argued that Lenin was a man who could be "moody and volatile".[184] Sony PCG-41213M battery1

Service noted that Lenin developed an "emotional attachment" to his ideological heroes, such as Marx, Engels and Chernyshevsky, owning portraits of them.[185]

According to Bertrand Russell, who had an hours conversation with him:

He is very friendly, and apparently simple, HP 431312-001 CPU fan

HP 487436-001 CPU fanentirely without a trace of hauteur. If one met him without knowing who he was, one would not guess that he is possessed of great power or even that he is in any way eminent. I have never met a personage so destitute of self-importance. He looks at his visitors very closely, and screws up one eye, HP 443917-001 CPU fan

HP 456605-001 CPU fanwhich seems to increase alarmingly the penetrating power of the other. He laughs a great deal; at first his laugh seems merely friendly and jolly, but gradually I came to feel it rather grim. He is dictatorial, calm, incapable of fear, extraordinarily devoid of self-seeking, an embodied theory. The materialist conception of history, one feels, HP 579158-001 CPU fan

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is his life-blood. He resembles a professor in his desire to have the theory understood and in his fury with those who misunderstand or disagree, as also in his love of expounding, I got the impression that he despises a great many people and is an intellectual aristocrat.[1HP 603690-001 CPU fan

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According to most reports, in his personal life Lenin was a modest and unassuming man. He liked children and cats and his enthusiasms included bicycling, amateur photography, chess, skating, swimming, hunting, music and hiking.[18HP 603691-001 CPU fan

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HP 612354-001 CPU fan7] Lenin despised untidiness, always keeping his work desk tidy and his pencils sharpened.[188] When in exile in Switzerland, Lenin, accompanied by his wife Nadya, developed a considerable passion for mountain walking in the Swiss peaks.[189]

Legacy

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“ As influential as he was in life, Lenin may have been more so in death. Over 100 million have lined up to view his mummified body. His memory has been used to support every change in Soviet policy and every new regime since his death. His theories inspired the successful revolutions of Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh; as well as countless other revolutionaries in countries full of oppressed and powerless people. ”

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— Vladimir Lenin: Voice of Revolution, A&E Biography, 2005[190]

Commemorative one rouble coin minted in 1970, in honor of Lenin's centenary.

When Lenin died on 21 January 1924, near Moscow, he was acclaimed as "the greatest genius of mankind" and "the leader and teacher of the peoples of the whole world".[19HP 606729-001 CPU fan

HP 606609-001 CPU fan1] Historian J. Arch Getty has remarked that "Lenin deserves a lot of credit for the notion that the meek can inherit the earth, that there can be a political movement based on social justice and equality".[190] HP 606731-001 CPU fan

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HP 646578-001 CPU fan Time Magazine also named Lenin one of the 100 most important people of the 20th century,[192] and one of their top 25 political icons of all time; remarking that "for decades, Marxist–Leninist rebellions shook the world while Lenin's embalmed corpse lay in repose in the Red Square".

HP 657942-001 CPU fan [193] Following the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, reverence for Lenin declined among the post-Soviet generations, yet he remains an important historical figure for the Soviet-era generations.[194]

According to the article in Encyclopædia Britannica written by Professor of Northern Illinois University Albert Resis:[195] HP 608229-001 CPU fan

“ If the Bolshevik Revolution is—as some people have called it—the most significant political event of the 20th century, then Lenin must for good or ill be considered the century's most significant political leader. Not only in the scholarly circles of the former Soviet Union, but even among many non-Communist scholars, HP 608378-001 CPU fan

HP 655983-001 CPU fan he has been regarded as both the greatest revolutionary leader and revolutionary statesman in history, as well as the greatest revolutionary thinker since Marx ”

Statues and city names

Main articles: List of places named after Vladimir Lenin and List of statues of Vladimir Lenin

Statue of Lenin outside the Finland Station, Saint Petersburg. Between 1924 and 1991 the city was named Leningrad. HP 622028-001 CPU fan

During the Soviet period, many statues of Lenin were erected across Eastern Europe. Although many of the statues have subsequently been removed, some remain standing, and a few new ones have been erected.[1HP 631742-001 CPU fan

96] However, Russian lawmakers from the ruling United Russia party and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) have indicated a proposal to remove all statues of Lenin from Russian cities, HP 637607-001 CPU fan

HP 643258-001 CPU fanwith LDPR deputy Aleksandr Kurdyumov citing high maintenance costs and vandalism concerns as some of the main reasons. The proposal is being strongly opposed by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.[197]

Many places and entities were named in honor of Lenin. The city of Saint Petersburg, the site where both February and October revolutions started, was renamed Leningrad in 1924, four days after Lenin's death. In 1991, HP 637610-001 CPU fan

HP 535442-001 CPU fan after a contested vote between Communists and liberals, the Leningrad government reverted the city's name to Saint Petersburg while the surrounding Leningrad Oblast remained so named;[198HP 642731-001 CPU fan

HP 535441-001 CPU fan] like-wise the city of Ulyanovsk (so-named after Lenin's birth name) and the Ulyanovsk Oblast remain so named. Gyumri in Armenia was named Leninakan from 1924 to 1990, Khujand in Tajikistan Leninabad from 1936 to 1991. HP 657529-001 CPU fan

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In space, the 852 Wladilena asteroid was named in his honor.

London

15/07/2013 14:08

London

London i/ˈlʌndən/ is the capital city of England and the United Kingdom. With an estimated 8,308,369 residents in 2012, London is the most populous region, urban zone and metropolitan area in the United Kingdom.[note 1] Levono Ideapad G560 Keyboard

Standing on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium.[5] London's ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1.12-square-mile (2.9 km2) mediaeval boundaries. With its population of 7,375 in 2011, Levono Ideapad Z570 Keyboard

it is the smallest city in England. Since at least the 19th century, the term London has also referred to the metropolis developed around this core.[6] The bulk of this conurbation forms the London region[7

Levono Ideapad Y570D Keyboard] and the Greater London administrative area,[8][note 2] governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.[9]

London is a leading global city,[10][11] with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, Levono Ideapad Z560 Keyboard

healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism and transport all contributing to its prominence.[12] It is one of the world's leading financial centres[13][14][15] and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world depending on measurement.[note 3][1Levono Ideapad Y560P Keyboard

Levono Ideapad Z575 Keyboard6][17] London is a world cultural capital.[18][19][20][21] It is the world's most-visited city as measured by international arrivals[22] and has the world's largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic.[23] London's 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe.[24] In 2012, London became the first city to host the modern Summer Olympic Games three times.[25] Levono Ideapad Y560 Keyboard

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London has a diverse range of peoples and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken within its boundaries.[26] London had an official population of 8,174,100, making it the most populous municipality in the European Union,[27][28] and accounting for 12.5% of the UK population.[29]

Levono Ideapad Y570 Keyboard The Greater London Urban Area is the second-largest in the EU with a population of 9,787,426 according to the 2011 census,[3] while the London metropolitan area is the largest in the EU with a total population of 15,010,295,[4][3Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard

Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard0] the Greater London Authority puts the population of London metropolitan region at 21 million.[31] London had the largest population of any city in the world from around 1831 to 1925.[32] Levono Ideapad V570 Keyboard

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London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London; Kew Gardens; the site comprising the Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey, and St Margaret's Church; and the historic settlement of Greenwich (in which the Royal Observatory marks the Prime Meridian, 0° longitude, and GMT).[

Levono Ideapad B570G Keyboard33] Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. London is home to numerous museums, galleries, libraries, sporting events and other cultural institutions, including the British Museum, National Gallery, Levono Ideapad V570C Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B570A Keyboard Tate Modern, British Library and 40 West End theatres.[34] The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world.[35][36]

The etymology of London is uncertain.[ Levono Ideapad B570 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B575 Keyboard37] It is an ancient name and can be found in sources from the 2nd century. It is recorded c. 121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin.[37] The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae.[3

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7] This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.[38]

From 1898, it was commonly accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos; this explanation has since been rejected.[37] Richard Coates put forward an explanation in 1998 that it is derived from the pre-Celtic Old European *(p)lowonida,

HP Pavilion dm4-3000ea keyboardmeaning 'river too wide to ford', and suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London; from this, the settlement gained the Celtic form of its name, *Lowonidonjon;[39] HP Pavilion dm4-3002ea keyboard

this requires quite a serious amendment however. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *(h)lōndinion (as opposed to *londīnion), from earlier *loundiniom. HP Pavilion dm4-3002sa keyboard

HP Pavilion dm4-3000sa keyboardThe possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. HP mini 2140 Series Keyboard

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Until 1889, the name "London" officially only applied to the City of London but since then it has also referred to the County of London and now Greater London.[6]

Prehistory and antiquity

Two recent discoveries indicate that London could be much older than previously thought. In 1999, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the foreshore north of Vauxhall Bridge.[40] This bridge either crossed the Thames, HP Compaq Business 6530S Keyboard

HP Probook 5320M Keyboard or went to a (lost) island in the river. Dendrology dated the timbers to 1500BC.[40] In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to 4500BC, were found on the Thames foreshore, south of Vauxhall Bridge.[4HP Compaq Business 6730S Keyboard

HP Probook 5310M Keyboard1] The function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on South Bank, at a natural crossing point where the River Effra flows into the River Thames.[41]

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In 1300 the City was still confined within the Roman walls.

Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans in 43 AD.[4HP Compaq Business 6735S Keyboard

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HP Probook 4730S Keyboard2] This lasted for just seventeen years and around 61, the Iceni tribe led by Queen Boudica stormed it, burning it to the ground.[43] The next, heavily planned, incarnation of Londinium prospered and superseded Colchester as the capital of the Roman province of Britannia in 100. At its height during the 2nd century, Roman London had a population of around 60,000. HP Probook 4321S Keyboard

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Anglo-Saxon London

The Lancastrian siege of London in 1471 is attacked by a Yorkist sally.

With the collapse of Roman rule in the early 5th century, London ceased to be a capital and the walled city of Londinium was effectively abandoned, although Roman civilisation hung on in the St Martin-in-the-Fields area until around 450.[44HP Probook 4325S Keyboard

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HP Probook 4720S Keyboard] From around 500, an Anglo-Saxon settlement known as Lundenwic developed in the same area, slightly to the west of the old Roman city.[45] By about 680, it had revived sufficiently to become a major port, although there is little evidence of large-scale production of goods. HP Probook 4329S Keyboard

HP Probook 4715S KeyboardFrom the 820s the town declined because of repeated Viking attacks, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recorded that it was "refounded" by Alfred the Great in 886. Archaeological research shows that this involved abandonment of Lundenwic and a revival of life and trade within the old Roman walls. London then grew slowly until about 950, after which activity increased dramatically.[46] HP Probook 4410 Keyboard

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By the 11th century, London was beyond all comparison the largest town in England. Westminster Abbey, rebuilt in the Romanesque style by King Edward the Confessor, was one of the grandest churches in Europe. HP Probook 4410S Keyboard

HP Probook 4530S Keyboard Winchester had previously been the capital of Anglo-Saxon England, but from this time on, London became the main forum for foreign traders and the base for defence in time of war. In the view of Frank Stenton: "It had the resources, and it was rapidly developing the dignity and the political self-consciousness appropriate to a national capital."[47][48] HP Probook 4410T Keyboard

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Middle Ages

Westminster Abbey, as seen in this painting (Canaletto, 1749), is a World Heritage Site and one of London's oldest and most important buildings

Following his victory in the Battle of Hastings, William, Duke of Normandy, was crowned King of England in the newly finished Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1066.[49] William constructed the Tower of London, HP Probook 4411S Keyboard

HP Probook 4510S Keyboardthe first of the many Norman castles in England to be rebuilt in stone, in the southeastern corner of the city, to intimidate the native inhabitants.[50] In 1097, William II began the building of Westminster Hall, close by the abbey of the same name. The hall became the basis of a new Palace of Westminster.[51][52] HP Probook 4413S Keyboard

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During the 12th century, the institutions of central government, which had hitherto accompanied the royal English court as it moved around the country, grew in size and sophistication and became increasingly fixed in one place. In most cases this was Westminster, although the royal treasury, having been moved from Winchester, Sony PCG-41111M Keyboard

Sony PCG-51211M Keyboard came to rest in the Tower. While the City of Westminster developed into a true capital in governmental terms, its distinct neighbour, the City of London, remained England's largest city and principal commercial centre, and it flourished under its own unique administration, the Corporation of London. In 1100, its population was around 18,000; by 1300 it had grown to nearly 100,000.[53] Sony PCG-41112M Keyboard

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Disaster struck during the Black Death in the mid-14th century, when London lost nearly a third of its population.[54] London was the focus of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381.[55]

Early modern

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The Great Fire of London destroyed many parts of the city in 1666.

London in 1806

During the Tudor period the Reformation produced a gradual shift to Protestantism, with much of London passing from church to private ownership.[ Sony PCG-81111M Keyboard

Sony PCG-51212M Keyboard56] The traffic in woollen cloths shipped undyed and undressed from London to the nearby shores of the Low Countries, for use by well-to-do wearers chiefly in the interior of the continent.[clarification needed] But the tentacles of English maritime enterprise hardly extended beyond the seas of north-west Europe. Sony PCG-81112M Keyboard

Sony PCG-51512M Keyboard The commercial route to Italy and the Mediterranean Sea normally lay through Antwerp and over the Alps; any ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar to or from England were likely to be Italian or Ragusan. Upon the re-opening of the Netherlands to English shipping in January 1565 there at once ensued a strong outburst of commercial activity.[57] The Royal Exchange was founded.[58

Sony PCG-31311M Keyboard] Mercantilism grew and monopoly trading companies such as the East India Company were established, with trade expanding to the New World. London became the principal North Sea port, with migrants arriving from England and abroad. The population rose from an estimated 50,000 in 1530 to about 225,000 in 1605.[56] Sony PCG-81212M Keyboard

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In the 16th century William Shakespeare and his contemporaries lived in London at a time of hostility to the development of the theatre. By the end of the Tudor period in 1603, London was still very compact. There was an assassination attempt on James I in Westminster, through the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605.[5Sony PCG-81113M Keyboard

Sony PCG-81313M Keyboard9] London was plagued by disease in the early 17th century,[60] culminating in the Great Plague of 1665–1666, which killed up to 100,000 people, or a fifth of the population.[61] Sony PCG-5S1M Keyboard

The Great Fire of London broke out in 1666 in Pudding Lane in the city and quickly swept through the wooden buildings.[62] Rebuilding took over ten years and was supervised by Robert Hooke[63][64][65] as Surveyor of London.[6Sony PCG-7171M Keyboard

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6] In 1708 Christopher Wren's masterpiece, St Paul's Cathedral was completed. During the Georgian era new districts such as Mayfair were formed in the west; and new bridges over the Thames encouraged development in South London. In the east, the Port of London expanded downstream. Sony PCG-5P1M Keyboard
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In 1762, George III acquired Buckingham House and it was enlarged over the next 75 years. During the 18th century, London was dogged by crime and the Bow Street Runners were established in 1750 as a professional police force.[67] In total, more than 200 offences were punishable by death,[6Sony PCG-3C2M Keyboard
8] and women and children were hanged for petty theft.[69] Over 74 per cent of children born in London died before they were five.[70] The coffeehouse became a popular place to debate ideas, with growing literacy and the development of the printing press making news widely available; and Fleet Street became the centre of the British press.

According to Samuel Johnson: Sony PCG-7195M Keyboard

You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

—Samuel Johnson, 1777[71]

Late modern and contemporary

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British volunteer recruits in London, August 1914

A bombed out London street during the Blitz of the Second World War

London was the world's largest city from about 1831 to 1925.[72] London's overcrowded conditions led to cholera epidemics, Sony PCG-7196M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7161M Keyboard [73] claiming 14,000 lives in 1848, and 6,000 in 1866.[74] Rising traffic congestion led to the creation of the world's first local urban rail network. Dell XPS 15D Battery

Dell Inspiron N7010 batteryThe Metropolitan Board of Works oversaw infrastructure expansion in the capital and some of the surrounding counties;
Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard it was abolished in 1889 when the London County Council was created out of those areas of the counties surrounding the capital. London was bombed by the Germans during the First World War while during the Second World War the Blitz and other bombing by the German Luftwaffe killed over 30,000 Londoners and destroyed large tracts of housing and other buildings across the city. Sony PCG-7192M Keyboard
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Immediately after the war, the 1948 Summer Olympics were held at the original Wembley Stadium, at a time when London had barely recovered from the war. Sony PCG-7144M Keyboard

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In 1951, the Festival of Britain was held on the South Bank. The Great Smog of 1952 led to the Clean Air Act 1956, Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

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Dell Inspiron N4010R battery which ended the "pea soup fogs" for which London had been notorious. From the 1940s onwards,
Sony PCG-7162M Keyboard London became home to a large number of immigrants, largely from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, making London one of the most diverse cities in Europe. Sony PCG-7141M Keyboard

Primarily starting in the mid-1960s, London became a centre for the worldwide youth culture, exemplified by the Swinging London subculture associated with the King's Road, Chelsea and Carnaby Street.
Sony PCG-7154M KeyboardThe role of trendsetter was revived during the punk era. In 1965 London's political boundaries were expanded to take into account the growth of the urban area and a new Greater London Council was created. During The Troubles in Northern Ireland, London was subjected to bombing attacks by the Provisional IRA. Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7153M Keyboard Racial inequality was highlighted by the 1981 Brixton riot. Greater London's population declined steadily in the decades after the Second World War, from an estimated peak of 8.6 million in 1939 to around 6.8 million in the 1980s. Dell XPS 17 Battery

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Dell Inspiron N4010 battery The principal ports for London moved downstream to Felixstowe and Tilbury, with the London Docklands area becoming a focus for regeneration as the Canary Wharf development. Sony PCG-3F1M Keyboard

Sony PCG-61211M Keyboard This was borne out of London's ever-increasing role as a major international financial centre during the 1980s.

The Thames Barrier was completed in the 1980s to protect London against tidal surges from the North Sea. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986, which left London as the only large metropolis in the world without a central administration. Sony PCG-3H1M Keyboard
In 2000, London-wide government was restored, with the creation of the Greater London Authority. To celebrate the start of the 21st century, the Millennium Dome, Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

Dell Inspiron N3010R battery London Eye and Millennium Bridge were constructed. On 6 July 2005 London was awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics, making London the first city to stage the Olympic Games three times.[75] Sony PCG-3J1M Keyboard

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Government

The administration of London is formed of two tiers—a city-wide, strategic tier and a local tier. City-wide administration is coordinated by the Greater London Authority (GLA), while local administration is carried out by 33 smaller authorities.[76] Sony PCG-3C1M Keyboard
Sony PCG-3E1M Keyboard The GLA consists of two elected components; the Mayor of London, who has executive powers, and the London Assembly, who scrutinise the mayor's decisions and can accept or reject his budget proposals each year. Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010R battery The headquarters of the GLA is City Hall, Southwark; the mayor is Boris Johnson. The mayor's statutory planning strategy is published as the London Plan, which was most recently revised in 2011.[77Sony PCG-71211M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71911M Keyboard] The local authorities are the councils of the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation.[78] They are responsible for most local services, such as local planning, schools, social servicesSony PCG-71213M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71811M Keyboard, local roads and refuse collection. Certain functions, such as waste management, are provided through joint arrangements. In 2009–2010 the combined revenue expenditure by London councils and the GLA amounted to just over £22 billion (£14.7 billion for the boroughs and £7.4 billion for the GLA)[79] Sony PCG-71212M Keyboard

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Policing in Greater London, with the exception of the City of London, is provided by the Metropolitan Police Force, overseen by the Mayor through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC).[80

Sony PCG-61511M Keyboard][81] The City of London has its own police force – the City of London Police.[82] The British Transport Police are responsible for police services on National Rail and London Underground services.[83] Sony PCG-71312M Keyboard

The London Fire Brigade is the statutory fire and rescue service for Greater London. It is run by the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and is the third-largest fire service in the world.[84] Dell XPS L501X Battery

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Dell Inspiron N5030 battery National Health Service ambulance services are provided by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) NHS Trust,

Sony PCG-71D14M Keyboard the largest free at the point of use emergency ambulance service in the world.[85] The London Air Ambulance charity operates in conjunction with the LAS where required. Her Majesty's Coastguard and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution operate on the River Thames.[86][87] Sony PCG-71311M Keyboard

National government

London is the seat of the Government of the United Kingdom, which is located around the Palace of Westminster. Many government departments are located close to Parliament, particularly along Whitehall, including the Prime Minister's residence at 10 Downing Street.[8Sony PCG-71313M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71511M Keyboard8] The British Parliament is often referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments" (although this sobriquet was first applied to England itself by John Bright)[89] because it has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its Acts have created many other parliaments. Sony PCG-61212M Keyboard

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Geography

Main article: Geography of London

Scope

Greater London is the top-level administrative subdivision covering London. The small, ancient City of London at its core once contained the whole settlement, but as the urban area grew the City Corporation resisted attempts to amalgamate it with its suburbs, causing "London" to be defined in a number ways for different purposes; Sony PCG-5P2m Keyboard

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and the situation was once open to legal debate.[90][not in citation given] Forty per cent of Greater London is covered by the London post town, within which 'LONDON' forms part of postal addresses.[91][92]

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Satellite view of inner London

Map of central London

The London telephone area code (020) covers a larger area, similar in size to Greater London, although some outer districts are omitted and some places just outside are included. The area within the orbital M25 motorway is normally what is referred to as 'London'.[93] and the Greater London boundary has been aligned to it in places.[94] Sony PCG-5R1M Keyboard

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Outward urban expansion is now prevented by the Metropolitan Green Belt,[95] although the built-up area extends beyond the boundary in places, resulting in a separately defined Greater London Urban Area. Beyond this is the vast London commuter belt.[ Sony PCG-5R2M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7184M Keyboard96] Greater London is split for some purposes into Inner London and Outer London.[97] The city is split by the River Thames into North and South, with an informal central London area in its interior. The coordinates of the nominal centre of London, Sony PCG-5T1M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7183M Keyboard traditionally considered to be the original Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross near the junction of Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, are approximately 51°30′26″N 00°07′39″W.[98]

Status

Within London, both the City of London and the City of Westminster have city status and both the City of London and the remainder of Greater London are the ceremonial counties.[99
Sony PCG-7182M Keyboard] The area of Greater London has incorporated areas that were once part of the historic counties of Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, Essex and Hertfordshire.[100] London's status as the capital of England, and later the United Kingdom, has never been granted or confirmed officially—by statute or in written form.[note 4] Sony PCG-5T2M Keyboard
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Its position was formed through constitutional convention, making its status as de facto capital a part of the UK's unwritten constitution. The capital of England was moved to London from Winchester as the Palace of Westminster developed in the 12th and 13th centuries to become the permanent location of the royal court, and thus the political capital of the nation.[1 Dell XPS L701X Battery

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04] More recently, Greater London has been defined as a region of England and in this context known as London.[7]

Topography

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Primrose Hill.

Greater London encompasses a total area of 1,583 square kilometres (611 sq mi), an area which had a population of 7,172,036 in 2001 and a population density of 4,542 inhabitants per square kilometre (11,760 /sq mi). Sony PCG-7T2M Keyboard

Sony VGN-N38L Keyboard The extended area known as the London Metropolitan Region or the London Metropolitan Agglomeration, comprises a total area of 8,382 square kilometres (3,236 sq mi) has a population of 13,709,000 and a population density of 1,510 inhabitants per square kilometre (3,900 /sq mi).[1Sony PCG-7X1M Keyboard

Sony VGN-N38E Keyboard05] Modern London stands on the Thames, its primary geographical feature, a navigable river which crosses the city from the south-west to the east. The Thames Valley is a floodplain surrounded by gently rolling hills including Parliament Hill, Sony PCG-7X2M Keyboard

Sony VGN-N31ZR Keyboard Addington Hills, and Primrose Hill. The Thames was once a much broader, shallower river with extensive marshlands; at high tide, its shores reached five times their present width.[106] Sony PCG-7Y1M Keyboard

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Since the Victorian era the Thames has been extensively embanked, and many of its London tributaries now flow underground. The Thames is a tidal river, and London is vulnerable to flooding.[107Sony PCG-7Y2M Keyboard

Sony VGN-N31S Keyboard] The threat has increased over time because of a slow but continuous rise in high water level by the slow 'tilting' of Britain (up in the north and down in the south) caused by post-glacial rebound.[108] Sony VGN-N11M Keyboard

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In 1974, a decade of work began on the construction of the Thames Barrier across the Thames at Woolwich to deal with this threat. While the barrier is expected to function as designed until roughly 2070, concepts for its future enlargement or redesign are already being discussed.[109]

Climate

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"The weather in London" redirects here. On Wikipedia, it once was long used as a deliberate example of a non-existent page in Wikipedia documentation, see Talk:The weather in London for more details.

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London has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb ), similar to much of southern Britain. Despite its reputation as being a rainy city, London receives less precipitation (with 601 mm (24 in) in a year), than Rome (at 834 mm (33 in)), Bordeaux (at 923 mm (36 in)), Toulouse (at 668 mm (26 in)), and Naples (at 1,006 mm (40 in) per year).[110Sony VGN-N11S Keyboard

Sony VGN-N21Z Keyboard][111][112][113][114] Winters are generally chilly to cold with frost usually occurring in the suburbs on average twice a week from November to March. Dell Inspiron N4020 battery

Dell Inspiron N7010D battery Snow usually occurs about four or five times a year mostly from December to February. Snowfall during March and April is rare but does occur every two or three years. Sony VGN-N11SR Keyboard

Sony VGN-N21S Keyboard Winter temperatures seldom fall below −4 °C (24.8 °F) or rise above 14 °C (57.2 °F). During the winter of 2010, London experienced its lowest temperature on record (−14 °C (6.8 °F)) in Northolt and the heaviest snow seen for almost two decades, a huge strain on the city's transport infrastructure. Sony VGN-N21E Keyboard

Sony VGN-N21M KeyboardTemperature extremes for all sites in the London area range from 38.1 °C (100.6 °F) at Kew during August 2003, (which has been proposed to be the UK's highest 'accurate' temperature)[115] down to −16.1 °C (3.0 °F) at Northolt during January 1962.[116] Temperatures of below −20 °C (−4.0 °F) have been noted prior to the 20th century, but the accuracy cannot be validated. Dell Inspiron N4030 battery

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Summers are generally warm and sometimes hot, the heat being boosted by the urban heat island effect making the centre of London at times 5 °C (9 °F) warmer than the suburbs and outskirts. London's average July high is 24 °C (75.2 °F). Sony VGN-NW20ZF Keyboard
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During the 2003 European heat wave there were 14 consecutive days above 30 °C (86.0 °F) and 2 consecutive days where temperatures soared up to 38 °C (100.4 °F), leading to hundreds of heat related deaths. Rain generally occurs on around 2 out of 10 summer days. Sony VGN-NW26M Keyboard
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Sony VGN-NS20EF keyboard Spring and Autumn are mixed seasons and can be pleasant. On 1 October 2011, the air temperature attained 30 °C (86.0 °F) and in April 2011 it reached 28 °C (82.4 °F). However in recent years both of these months have also had snowfall. Temperature extremes range from −10 °C (14.0 °F) to 37.9 °C (100.2 °F). Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard

London's vast urban area is often described using a set of district names, such as Bloomsbury, Mayfair, Wembley and Whitechapel. These are either informal designations, reflect the names of villages that have been absorbed by sprawl, or are superseded administrative units such as parishes or former boroughs. Sony VGN-NW24EG Keyboard

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Such names have remained in use through tradition, each referring to a local area with its own distinctive character, but without official boundaries. Since 1965 Greater London has been divided into 32 London boroughs in addition to the ancient City of London.[123][124] The City of London is the main financial district,[125Sony VGN-NW24JG Keyboard

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Sony VGN-NS30Z keyboard and Canary Wharf has recently developed into a new financial and commercial hub in the Docklands to the east.

The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, attracting tourists.[126] Sony VGN-NW24MG Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS20M keyboard West London includes expensive residential areas where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds.[127] The average price for properties in Kensington and Chelsea is £894,000 with similar average outlay in most of central London.[128] Sony VGN-NW24MR Keyboard

The East End is the area closest to the original Port of London, known for its high immigrant population, as well as for being one of the poorest areas in London.[129] The surrounding East London area saw much of London's early industrial development;
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now, brownfield sites throughout the area are being redeveloped as part of the Thames Gateway including the London Riverside and Lower Lea Valley, which was developed into the Olympic Park for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.[129] Sony VGN-NW26JG Keyboard
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Architecture

Main articles: Architecture of London and List of tallest buildings and structures in London

The Tower, with Tower Bridge built 800 years later on the River Thames

30 St Mary Axe, also known as the Gherkin, towers over St Andrew Undershaft

London's buildings are too diverse to be characterised by any particular architectural style, partly because of their varying ages.

Sony VGN-NS20J keyboardMany grand houses and public buildings, such as the National Gallery, are constructed from Portland stone. Some areas of the city, particularly those just west of the centre, are characterised by white stucco or whitewashed buildings. Few structures in central London pre-date the Great Fire of 1666, Sony VGN-NW21MF/P Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS20E keyboardthese being a few trace Roman remains, the Tower of London and a few scattered Tudor survivors in the City. Further out is, for example, the Tudor period Hampton Court Palace, England's oldest surviving Tudor palace, built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey c. 1515.[130]

Sony VGN-NS11J keyboard Wren's late 17th-century churches and the financial institutions of the 18th and 19th centuries such as the Royal Exchange and the Bank of England, to the early 20th century Old Bailey and the 1960s Barbican Estate form part of the varied architectural heritage.

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Three icons: Big Ben clock tower with a red telephone box and London double-decker bus in front

The disused, but soon to be rejuvenated,[when?] 1939 Battersea Power Station by the river in the south-west is a local landmark, Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard
Sony VGN-NW31ZF/S Keyboard
Sony VGN-NS10E keyboardwhile some railway termini are excellent examples of Victorian architecture, most notably St. Pancras and Paddington.[131] The density of London varies, with high employment density in the central area, high residential densities in inner London and lower densities in Outer London. Sony VGN-FZ39VN Keyboard

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The Monument in the City of London provides views of the surrounding area while commemorating the Great Fire of London, which originated nearby. Marble Arch and Wellington Arch, at the north and south ends of Park Lane respectively, Sony VGN-FZ39VN Keyboard
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Sony VGN-FZ31M Keyboard have royal connections, as do the Albert Memorial and Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. Nelson's Column is a nationally recognised monument in Trafalgar Square, one of the focal points of the city centre. Older buildings are mainly brick built, most commonly the yellow London stock brick or a warm orange-red variety, often decorated with carvings and white plaster mouldings.[132] Sony VGN-FZ31SR Keyboard

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Buckingham Palace is the official residence of the British monarch

In the dense areas, most of the concentration is achieved with medium- and high-rise buildings. London's skyscrapers such as 30 St Mary Axe, Sony VGN-FZ31ER Keyboard
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Sony VGN-FZ31E Keyboard Tower 42, the Broadgate Tower and One Canada Square are usually found in the two financial districts, the City of London and Canary Wharf. High-rise development is restricted at certain sites if it would obstruct protected views of St Paul's Cathedral and other historic buildings. SONY VGN-FZ21S Keyboard

Sony VGN-FZ21J KeyboardNevertheless there are a number of very tall skyscrapers to be found in central London (see Tall buildings in London), including the 72-storey Shard London Bridge, the tallest building in the European Union. SONY VGN-FZ11L Keyboard
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Other notable modern buildings include City Hall in Southwark with its distinctive oval shape,[133] and the British Library in Somers Town/Kings Cross. What was formerly the Millennium Dome, located by the Thames to the east of Canary Wharf, is now used as an entertainment venue called The O2 Arena. Sony VGN-FZ11 Keyboard

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Parks and gardens

Main articles: Parks and open spaces in London and Royal Parks of London

See also: List of Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Greater London and List of Local Nature Reserves in Greater London

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Aerial view of Hyde Park

The largest parks in the central area of London are three of the Royal Parks, namely Hyde Park and its neighbour Kensington Gardens at the western edge of central London, and Regent's Park on the northern edge.[ Sony VGN-FZ11M Keyboard

Sony VGN-FZ11Z Keyboard134] Regent's Park contains London Zoo, the world's oldest scientific zoo, and is located near the tourist attraction of Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.[135][136]

Closer to central London are the smaller Royal Parks of Green Park and St. James's Park.[137Sony VGN-FZ11E Keyboard
Sony VGN-FZ11S Keyboard] Hyde Park in particular is popular for sports and sometimes hosts open-air concerts. A number of large parks lie outside the city centre, including the remaining Royal Parks of Greenwich Park to the south-east[138] Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard

and Bushy Park and Richmond Park (the largest) to the south-west,[139][140] as well as Victoria Park, London to the east. Primrose Hill to the north of Regent's Park is a popular spot to view the city skyline. Sony VPCF11C5E Keyboard
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Some more informal, semi-natural open spaces also exist, including the 320-hectare (790-acre) Hampstead Heath of North London.[141] This incorporates Kenwood House, the former stately home and a popular location in the summer months where classical musical concerts are held by the lake, attracting thousands of people every weekend to enjoy the music, scenery and fireworks.[142] Sony VPC-F11M1E/H Keyboard
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Demography

With increasing industrialisation, London's population grew rapidly throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it was for some time in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the most populous city in the world until overtaken by New York in 1925. Sony VPC-F2 Keyboard
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Sony VPCF21Z1E/BI Keyboard Its population peaked at 8,615,245 in 1939 immediately before the outbreak of the Second World War, but had declined to 7,192,091 at the 2001 Census. However, the population then grew by just over a million between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses, to reach 8,173,941 in the latter enumeration. Sony VPCF22J1E Keyboard
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However, London's continuous urban area extends beyond the borders of Greater London and was home to 9,787,426 people in 2011,[3] while its wider metropolitan area has a population of between 12 and 14 million depending on the definition used.[144] Sony VPCF22M1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12Z1E/BI Keyboard [145] According to Eurostat, London is the most populous city and metropolitan area of the European Union and the second most populous in Europe (or third if Istanbul is included). During the period 1991–2001 a net 726,000 immigrants arrived in London.[146] Sony VPCF22S1E Keyboard
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The region covers an area of 1,579 square kilometres (610 sq mi). The population density is 5,177 inhabitants per square kilometre (13,410 /sq mi),[147] more than ten times that of any other British region.[1Sony VPCF23M1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF13Z8E/BI Keyboard48] In terms of population, London is the 19th largest city and the 18th largest metropolitan region in the world. It is also ranked 4th in the world in number of billionaires (United States Dollars) residing in the city.[1Sony VPCF23Q1E Keyboard
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Sony VPCF13Z8E Keyboard49] London ranks as one of the most expensive cities in the world, alongside Tokyo and Moscow.[150]

Ethnic groups

Main article: Ethnic groups in London

According to the Office for National Statistics, based on the 2011 Census estimates, 59.8 per cent of the 8,173,941 inhabitants of London were White, with 44.9 per cent White British, 2.2 per cent White Irish, 0.1 per cent gypsy/Irish traveller and 12.1 per cent classified as Other White. Sony VPCF23S1E Keyboard

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20.9 per cent of Londoners are of Asian and mixed-Asian descent. 19.7 per cent of Londoners are of full Asian descent, with those of mixed-Asian heritage comprising 1.2 of the population. Indians account for 6.6 per cent of the population, Sony VPCF24M1E Keyboard
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Sony VPCF13M1E/B Keyboard followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis at 2.7 per cent each. Chinese peoples account for 1.5 per cent of the population, with Arabs comprising 1.3 per cent. A further 4.9 per cent of Londoners are classified as "Other Asian".Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard
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15.6 per cent of London's population are of Black and mixed-Black descent. 13.3 per cent of Londoners are of full Black descent, with those of mixed-Black heritage comprising 2.3 per cent of the population. Black Africans account for 7.0 per cent of London's population, with 4.2 per cent as Black Caribbean and 2.1 per cent as "Other Black".Sony VPCF12E1E/H Keyboard

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5.0 per cent of Londoners are of mixed race.

Across London, Black and Asian children outnumber White British children by about six to four in state schools.[151Sony VPCF12F4E/H Keyboard

Sony VPCF13E8E Keyboard] However, White children represented 62 per cent of London's 1,498,700 population aged 0 to 15 according to estimates from the Office for National Statistics from 2009, with 55.7 per cent of the population aged 0 to 15 being White British, 0.7 per cent being White Irish and 5.6 per cent being from other EU White backgrounds.[15Sony VPCF12M1E/H Keyboard
Sony VPCF13E4E Keyboard2] In January 2005, a survey of London's ethnic and religious diversity claimed that there were more than 300 languages spoken and more than 50 non-indigenous communities which have a population of more than 10,000 in London.[1Sony VPCF24Q1E Keyboard
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53] Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that, in 2010, London's foreign-born population was 2,650,000 (33 per cent), up from 1,630,000 in 1997.

The 2011 census showed that 36.7 per cent of Greater London's population were born outside the UK.[154
Sony VPCF13M0E/B Keyboard] The table to the right shows the 20 most common foreign countries of birth of London residents in 2011, the date of the last published UK Census.[143] A portion of the German-born population are likely to be British nationals born to parents serving in the British Armed Forces in Germany.[15Sony VPCF23N1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF13Z0E/B Keyboard5] Estimates produced by the Office for National Statistics indicate that the five largest foreign-born groups living in London in the period July 2009 to June 2010 were those born in India, Poland, the Republic of Ireland, Bangladesh and Nigeria.[156] Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard

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Religion

According to the 2011 Census, the largest religious groupings are Christians (48.4 per cent), followed by those of no religion (20.7 per cent), Muslims (12.4 per cent), no response (8.5 per cent), Hindus (5.0 per cent), Jews (1.8 per cent), Sikhs (1.5 per cent), Buddhists (1.0 per cent) and other (0.6 per cent).
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London has traditionally been Christian, and has a large number of churches, particularly in the City of London. The well-known St Paul's Cathedral in the City and Southwark Cathedral south of the river are Anglican administrative centres,[15Sony VPCY21S1E/G Keyboard

Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard8] while the Archbishop of Canterbury, principal bishop of the Church of England and worldwide Anglican Communion, has his main residence at Lambeth Palace in the London Borough of Lambeth.[159] Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard

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Important national and royal ceremonies are shared between St Paul's and Westminster Abbey.[160] The Abbey is not to be confused with nearby Westminster Cathedral, which is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in England and Wales.[1Sony VPCF13S1E/B Keyboard
Sony VPCF13S0E/B Keyboard61] Despite the prevalence of Anglican churches, observance is very low within the Anglican denomination. Church attendance continues on a long, slow, steady decline, according to Church of England statistics.[162]

St Paul's Cathedral

London is also home to sizeable Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Jewish communities. Many Muslims live in Tower Hamlets and Newham; the most important Muslim edifice is London Central Mosque on the edge of Regent's Park.[ HP 640426-001 CPU fan with heatsink

163] Following the oil boom, increasing numbers of wealthy Middle-Eastern Muslims have based themselves around Mayfair and Knightsbridge in west London.[164][165] London is home to the largest mosque in western Europe, the Baitul Futuh Mosque, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. HP 640903-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 582141-001 CPU fan with heatsink London's large Hindu community is found in the north-western boroughs of Harrow and Brent, the latter of which is home to Europe's largest Hindu temple, Neasden Temple.[166] London is also home to 42 Hindu temples. Sikh communities are located in East and West London, which is also home to the largest Sikh temple in the world outside India.[167] HP 641477-001 CPU fan with heatsink

The majority of British Jews live in London, with significant Jewish communities in Stamford Hill, Stanmore, Golders Green, Finchley, Hampstead, Hendon and Edgware in North London. Bevis Marks Synagogue in the City of London is affiliated to London's historic Sephardic Jewish community. HP 650848-001 CPU fan with heatsink

It is the only synagogue in Europe which has held regular services continuously for over 300 years. Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue has the largest membership of any single Orthodox synagogue in the whole of Europe, HP 653627-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 582140-001 CPU fan with heatsink overtaking Ilford synagogue (also in London) in 1998.[168] The community set up the London Jewish Forum in 2006 in response to the growing significance of devolved London Government.[169]

Economy

HP 582139-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Main articles: Economy of London and Media in London

The City of London is the largest financial centre in the world[13][15]

London generates approximately 20 per cent of the UK's GDP[170] (or $446 billion in 2005); while the economy of the London metropolitan area—the largest in Europe—generates approximately 30 per cent of the UK's GDP (or an estimated $669 billion in 2005).[17HP 666391-001 CPU fan with heatsink

1] London is one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world and vies with New York City as the most important location for international finance.[172][173]

London's largest industry is finance, and its financial exports make it a large contributor to the UK's balance of payments. Around 325,000 people were employed in financial services in London until mid-2007.

HP 580718-001 CPU fan with heatsinkLondon has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world. Over 85% (3.2 million) of the employed population of greater London works in the services industries. Because of its prominent global role, London's economy has been affected by the Late-2000s financial crisis.

HP 535766-001 CPU fan with heatsinkThe City of London estimates that 70,000 jobs in finance will be cut within a year.[174] The City of London is home to the Bank of England, London Stock Exchange, and Lloyd's of London insurance market. HP 650057-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Over half of the UK's top 100 listed companies (the FTSE 100) and over 100 of Europe's 500 largest companies have their headquarters in central London. Over 70 per cent of the FTSE 100 are located within London's metropolitan area, and 75 per cent of Fortune 500 companies have offices in London.[175]

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Canary Wharf is a major business and financial centre and is home to some of the UK's tallest buildings

Along with professional services, media companies are concentrated in London and the media distribution industry is London's second most competitive sector.[1HP 650797-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 384622-001 CPU fan with heatsink76] The BBC is a significant employer, while other broadcasters also have headquarters around the City. Many national newspapers are edited in London. London is a major retail centre and in 2010 had the highest non-food retail sales of any city in the world, with a total spend of around £64.2 billion.[1HP 431311-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 579158-001 CPU fan with heatsink77] The Port of London is the second-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 45 million tonnes of cargo each year.[178]

London has five major business districts: the City, Westminster, Canary Wharf, Camden & Islington and Lambeth & Southwark. One way to get an idea of their relative importance is to look at relative amounts of office space: HP 431312-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Greater London had 27 million m2 of office space in 2001, and the City contains the most space, with 8 million m2 of office space. London has some of the highest real estate prices in the world.[179][180]

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Tourism

Main article: Tourism in London

The Natural History Museum

London is a popular centre for tourism, one of its prime industries, employing the equivalent of 350,000 full-time workers in 2003,[181] HP 443917-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 534685-001 CPU fan with heatsink while annual expenditure by tourists is around £15 billion.[182] London attracts over 14 million international visitors per year, making it Europe's most visited city.[183] London attracts 27 million overnight-stay visitors every year.[184] In 2010 the ten most-visited attractions in London were:[185] HP 456605-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Transport is one of the four main areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London,[186] however the mayor's financial control does not extend to the longer distance rail network that enters London.

HP 534684-001 CPU fan with heatsinkIn 2007 he assumed responsibility for some local lines, which now form the London Overground network, adding to the existing responsibility for the London Underground, trams and buses. The public transport network is administered by Transport for London (TfL) and is one of the most extensive in the world. Cycling is an increasingly popular way to get around London. The London Cycling Campaign lobbies for better provision.[187

HP 534676-001 CPU fan with heatsink]

The lines that formed the London Underground, as well as trams and buses, became part of an integrated transport system in 1933 when the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) or London Transport was created. Transport for London (TfL), HP 498480-001 CPU fan with heatsink

is now the statutory corporation responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London, and is run by a board and a commissioner appointed by the Mayor of London.[188]

Air

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Heathrow (Terminal 5 pictured) is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic.[189][190]

London is a major international air transport hub with the largest city airspace in the world. Eight airports use the word London in their name, but most traffic passes through six of these. London Heathrow Airport, in Hillingdon, West London,

HP 532617-001 CPU fan with heatsink is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic, and is the major hub of the nation's flag carrier, British Airways.[191] In March 2008 its fifth terminal was opened.[192] There were plans for a third runway and a sixth terminal however these were cancelled by the Coalition Government on 12 May 2010.[19HP 531941-001 CPU fan with heatsink

3] In September 2011 a personal rapid transit system was opened at Heathrow to connect to a nearby car park.[194]

Similar traffic, with the addition of some low-cost short-haul flights, is also handled at Gatwick Airport, located south of London in West Sussex.[195] HP 532141-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Stansted Airport, situated north east of London in Essex, is the main UK hub for Ryanair and Luton Airport to the north of London in Bedfordshire, caters mostly for low-cost short-haul flights.[196][197] London City Airport, the smallest and most central airport, is focused on business travellers, with a mixture of full service short-haul scheduled flights and considerable business jet traffic.[198] HP 602472-001 CPU fan with heatsink

London Southend Airport, east of London in Essex, is a smaller, regional airport that mainly caters for low-cost short-haul flights. It recently went through a large redevelopment project including a brand new terminal, extended runway and a new railway station offering fast links into the capital. EasyJet have a base at the airport. HP 603690-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Buses and trams

The red double-decker bus is an iconic symbol of London

London's bus network is one of the largest in the world, running 24 hours a day, with 8,000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over 6 million passenger journeys made every weekday. In 2003, the network had an estimated 1.5 billion commuter trips per annum, HP 603691-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 6608231-001 CPU fan with heatsink more than the Underground.[199] Around £850 million is taken in revenue each year. London has the largest wheelchair accessible network in the world[200] and, from the 3rd quarter of 2007, became more accessible to hearing and visually impaired passengers as audio-visual announcements were introduced. HP 604787-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 657529-001 CPU fan with heatsinkThe distinctive red double-decker buses are internationally recognised, and are a trademark of London transport along with black cabs and the Tube.[201][202]

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London has a modern tram network, known as Tramlink, based in Croydon in South London. The network has 39 stops, three routes and carried 26.5 million people in 2008. Since June 2008 Transport for London has completely owned Tramlink and plans to spend £54m by 2015 on maintenance, renewals, upgrades and capacity enhancements. Since April 2009 all trams have been refurbished.[203] HP 606574-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Cycling

Main article: Cycling in London

Cycling in London has enjoyed a renaissance since the turn of the Millennium. Cyclists enjoy a cheaper, and often quicker, way around town than those using public transport or cars, and the launch of the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme in July 2010 has been successful and generally well received. HP 606575-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Port

From being the largest port in the world, the Port of London is now only the second-largest in the United Kingdom, handling 45 million tonnes of cargo each year.[178] Most of this actually passes through the Port of Tilbury, outside the boundary of Greater London. HP 606729-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Rail

The London Underground is the world's oldest and second-longest rapid transit system

The London Underground — all of which is now commonly referred to as the Tube, though originally this designation referred only to the deep-level lines, as distinct from the sub-surface lines — is the oldest,[204] and second longest[36] HP 606731-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 631742-001 CPU fan with heatsink metro system in the world, dating from 1863. The system serves 270 stations[205] and was formed from several private companies, including the world's first underground electric line, the City and South London Railway.[206] HP 608010-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Over three million journeys are made every day on the Underground network, over 1 billion each year.[207] An investment programme is attempting to address congestion and reliability problems, including £7 billion (€10 billion) of improvements planned for the 2012 Summer Olympics.[208] London has been commended as the city with the best public transport.[2HP 608095-001 CPU fan with heatsink

09] The Docklands Light Railway, which opened in 1987, is a second, more local metro system using smaller and lighter tram-type vehicles which serve Docklands and Greenwich.

There is an extensive above-ground suburban railway network, particularly in South London, which has fewer Underground lines. London houses Britain's busiest station – Waterloo, HP 608229-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 608378-001 CPU fan with heatsinkwith over 184 million people using the interchange station complex (which includes Waterloo East station) each year. The stations have services to South East and South West London, and also parts of South East and South West England.[21HP 480481-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 622033-001 CPU fan with heatsink0][211] Most rail lines terminate around the centre of London, running into eighteen terminal stations with the exception of the Thameslink trains connecting Bedford in the north and Brighton in the south via Luton and Gatwick airports.[212]

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Since 2007 high-speed Eurostar trains link St. Pancras International with Lille, Paris, and Brussels. Journey times to Paris and Brussels of two-and-a-quarter hours and one hour 50 minutes respectively make London closer to continental Europe than the rest of Britain by virtue of the High Speed 1 rail link to the Channel Tunnel[213HP 533736-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610774-001 CPU fan with heatsink] while the first high speed domestic trains started in June 2009 linking Kent to London.[214]

Roads

The A102, near Greenwich. This was one of the few routes proposed in the Ringways Plan within Inner London to be built.

Although the majority of journeys involving central London are made by public transport, car travel is common in the suburbs. HP 535441-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 606013-001 CPU fan with heatsink The inner ring road (around the city centre), the North and South Circular roads (in the suburbs), and the outer orbital motorway (the M25, outside the built-up area) encircle the city and are intersected by a number of busy radial routes—but very few motorways penetrate into inner London. HP 643258-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 606014-001 CPU fan with heatsink The M25 is the longest ring-road motorway in the world at 195.5 km (121.5 mi) long.[215] The A1 and M1 connect London to Edinburgh, Leeds and Newcastle.

A plan for a comprehensive network of motorways throughout the city (the Ringways Plan) was prepared in the 1960s but was mostly cancelled in the early 1970s. In 2003, HP 655983-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 612354-001 CPU fan with heatsink a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £10 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of congested central London.[216][ HP 657942-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 606609-001 CPU fan with heatsink217] Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a vastly reduced season pass which is renewed monthly and is cheaper than a corresponding bus fare.[218] London is notorious for its traffic congestion, with the M25 motorway the busiest stretch in the country.

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The average speed of a car in the rush hour is 10.6 mph (17.1 km/h).[219] London government initially anticipated the Congestion Charge Zone to increase daily peak period Underground and bus users by 20,000 people, reduce traffic by 10 to 15 per cent, HP 610777-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 434678-001 CPU fan with heatsinkincrease traffic speeds by 10 to 15 per cent, and reduce queues by 20 to 30 per cent.[220] Over the course of several years, the average number of cars entering the centre of London on a weekday was reduced from 195,000 to 125,000 cars – this is a 35-per-cent reduction of vehicles driven per day.[221] HP 610778-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Main article: Education in London

Tertiary education

University College London

London is a major centre of higher education teaching and research and its 43 universities form the largest concentration of higher education in Europe.[24] In 2008/09 it had a higher education student population of around 412,000 (approximately 17 per cent of the UK total) HP 631743-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Education

of whom around 287,000 were registered for undergraduate degrees and 118,000 were studying at postgraduate level.[222] In 2008/09 there were around 97,150 international students in London, approximately 25 per cent of all international students in the UK.[222] HP 622029-001 CPU fan with heatsink

A number of world-leading education institutions are based in London. In the 2012 QS World University Rankings, University College London (UCL) is ranked 4th in the world, Imperial College London 6th, and King's College London 26th.[2HP 532613-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 431448-001 CPU fan with heatsink23] The London School of Economics has been described as the world's leading social science institution for both teaching and research.[224] The London Business School is considered one of the world's leading business schools and in 2010 its MBA programme was ranked best in the world by the Financial Times.[225] HP 532614-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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With 125,000 students, the federal University of London is the largest contact teaching university in Europe.[226] It includes four large multi-faculty universities – King's College London, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway and UCL – and a number of smaller and more specialised institutions including Birkbeck, the Courtauld Institute of Art, HP 587244-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 486844-001 CPU fan with heatsink Goldsmiths, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Institute of Education, the London Business School, the London School of Economics, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, the Royal Academy of Music, HP 535438-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 493001-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe Central School of Speech and Drama, the Royal Veterinary College and the School of Oriental and African Studies.[227] Members of the University of London have their own admissions procedures, and some award their own degrees. HP 448016-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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There are a number of universities in London which are outside of the University of London system, including Brunel University, City University London, Imperial College London, Kingston University, London Metropolitan University (with over 34,000 students, the largest unitary university in London),[228] London South Bank University, HP 486799-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 491572-001 CPU fan with heatsinkMiddlesex University, University of the Arts London (the largest university of art, design, fashion, communication and the performing arts in Europe),[229] University of East London, the University of West London and the University of Westminster. In addition there are three international universities in London – Regent's College, Richmond University and Schiller International University. Sony VPCF12K4E Keyboard

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The front façade of the Royal College of Music

London is home to five major medical schools – Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry (part of Queen Mary), King's College London School of Medicine (the largest medical school in Europe), Imperial College School of Medicine, UCL Medical School and St George's, University of London – and has a large number of affiliated teaching hospitals. Sony VPCF13B4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12B4E KeyboardIt is also a major centre for biomedical research, and three of the UK's five academic health science centres are based in the city – Imperial College Healthcare, King's Health Partners and UCL Partners (the largest such centre in Europe).[2Sony VPCF13C4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12A4E Keyboard30] There are a number of business schools in London, including Cass Business School (part of City University London), ESCP Europe, European Business School London, Imperial College Business School and the London Business School. London is also home to many specialist arts education institutions, Sony VPCF13C5E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11M4E Keyboardincluding the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, the London Contemporary Dance School, RADA, the Royal College of Art, the Royal College of Music and Trinity Laban. Sony VPCF13D4E Keyboard

Primary and secondary education

The majority of primary and secondary schools in London are state schools and are controlled by the London boroughs, although there are also a number of private schools in London, including old and famous schools such as the City of London School, Harrow, St Paul's School, University College School, Highgate School and Westminster School. Sony VPCF13E1E Keyboard

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Culture

Main article: Culture of London

Accent

The London accent long ago acquired the Cockney label, and was similar to many accents of the South East of England.[citation needed] The accent of a 21st-century 'Londoner' varies widely; what is becoming more and more common amongst the under-30s however is some fusion of Cockney with a whole array of 'ethnic' accents, in particular Caribbean, which form an accent labelled Multicultural London English (MLE).[231] Sony VPCF13G4E Keyboard

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Leisure and entertainment

See also: List of annual events in London and West End theatre

Piccadilly Circus

Within the City of Westminster, the entertainment district of the West End has its focus around Leicester Square, where London and world film premieres are held, and Piccadilly Circus, with its giant electronic advertisements.[2Sony VPCF13J4E Keyboard

32] London's theatre district is here, as are many cinemas, bars, clubs and restaurants, including the city's Chinatown district (in Soho), and just to the east is Covent Garden, an area housing speciality shops. The city is the home of Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musicals have dominated the West End theatre since the late 20th century.[233Sony VPCF13J8E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboard] The United Kingdom's Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Opera and English National Opera are based in London and perform at the Royal Opera House, the London Coliseum, Sadler's Wells Theatre and the Royal Albert Hall as well as touring the country.[234] Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard

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Harrods in Knightsbridge

Islington's 1 mile (1.6 km) long Upper Street, extending northwards from the Angel, has more bars and restaurants than any other street in the United Kingdom.[235] Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street, a shopping street nearly 1 mile (1.6 km) long, Sony VPCF13L0E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J04E/H Keyboard making it the longest shopping street in the United Kingdom. Oxford Street is home to vast numbers of retailers and department stores, including the world-famous Selfridges flagship store.[236] Knightsbridge, home to the equally renowned Harrods department store, lies to the south-west.

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London is home to designers Vivienne Westwood, Galliano, Stella McCartney, Manolo Blahnik, and Jimmy Choo among others; its renowned art and fashion schools make it an international centre of fashion alongside Paris, Milan and New York. London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. Sony VPCF13Z1E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCF11H4E Keyboard Gastronomic centres include the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane and the Chinese food restaurants of Chinatown.[237]

There is a variety of annual events, beginning with the relatively new New Year's Day Parade, fireworks display at the London Eye, the world's second largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival is held during the late August Bank Holiday each year. Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard

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Sony VPCF11G4E Keyboard Traditional parades include November's Lord Mayor's Show, a centuries-old event celebrating the annual appointment of a new Lord Mayor of the City of London with a procession along the streets of the City, and June's Trooping the Colour, a formal military pageant performed by regiments of the Commonwealth and British armies to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday.[238] Sony VPCF12D4E Keyboard

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Literature, film and television

Main articles: London in fiction, London in film, List of films set in London, List of television shows set in London, and London Television Archive

Keats House, where Keats wrote his Ode to a Nightingale. The village of Hampstead has historically been a literary centre in London.

London has been the setting for many works of literature. The literary centres of London have traditionally been hilly Hampstead and (since the early 20th century) Bloomsbury. Writers closely associated with the city are the diarist Samuel Pepys, Sony VPCF12E4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11E4E Keyboardnoted for his eyewitness account of the Great Fire, Charles Dickens, whose representation of a foggy, snowy, grimy London of street sweepers and pickpockets has been a major influence on people's vision of early Victorian London, and Virginia Woolf, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century.[239] Sony VPCF12H4E Keyboard

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Sherlock Holmes Museum, Baker Street, London, bearing the number 221B

The pilgrims in Geoffrey Chaucer's late 14th-century Canterbury Tales set out for Canterbury from London – specifically, from the Tabard inn, Southwark. William Shakespeare spent a large part of his life living and working in London; Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11A4E Keyboard his contemporary Ben Jonson was also based there, and some of his work—most notably his play The Alchemist—was set in the city.[239] A Journal of the Plague Year (1722) by Daniel Defoe is a fictionalisation of the events of the 1665 Great Plague.[2

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9] Later important depictions of London from the 19th and early 20th centuries are Dickens' novels, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories.[239] Modern writers pervasively influenced by the city include Peter Ackroyd, author of a "biography" of London, and Iain Sinclair, who writes in the genre of psychogeography. Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

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London has played a significant role in the film industry, and has major studios at Ealing and a special effects and post-production community centred in Soho. Working Title Films has its headquarters in London. Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

Dell Latitude E6410 Battery [240] London has been the setting for films including Oliver Twist (1948), Peter Pan (1953), The Ladykillers (1955), The 101 Dalmatians (1961), Mary Poppins (1964), Blowup (1966), The Long Good Friday (1980), Secrets & Lies (1996), Notting Hill (1999), Match Point (2005), V For Vendetta (2005) and Sweeney Todd: Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street (2008). London is a major centre for television production, with studios including BBC Television Centre, The Fountain Studios and The London Studios. Many television programmes have been set in London, including the popular television soap opera EastEnders, broadcast by the BBC since 1985. Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

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Museums and art galleries

The British Museum

London is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The first of these to be established was the British Museum in Bloomsbury, in 1753. Dell Latitude E5410 Battery

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Originally containing antiquities, natural history specimens and the national library, the museum now has 7 million artefacts from around the globe. In 1824 the National Gallery was founded to house the British national collection of Western paintings; Dell Latitude E5510 Battery

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this now occupies a prominent position in Trafalgar Square. In the latter half of the 19th century the locale of South Kensington was developed as "Albertopolis", a cultural and scientific quarter. Three major national museums are located there: the Victoria and Albert Museum (for the applied arts), Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. The national gallery of British art is at Tate Britain, originally established as an annexe of the National Gallery in 1897. The Tate Gallery, as it was formerly known, also became a major centre for modern art; in 2000 this collection moved to Tate Modern, a new gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station.

Music

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The Royal Albert Hall hosts concerts and musical events

London is one of the major classical and popular music capitals of the world and is home to major music corporations, such as EMI, as well as countless bands, musicians and industry professionals. The city is also home to many orchestras and concert halls, such as the Barbican Arts Centre (principal base of the London Symphony Orchestra), Dell Latitude E6520 Battery

Dell Latitude E6500 BatteryCadogan Hall (Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Royal Albert Hall (The Proms).[234] London's two main opera houses are the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum Theatre.[234] The UK's largest pipe organ can be found at the Royal Albert Hall. Other significant instruments are found at the cathedrals and major churches. Dell Latitude E5530 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400 BatterySeveral conservatoires are located within the city: Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Trinity College of Music.

Abbey Road Studios, 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London

London has numerous venues for rock and pop concerts, including large arenas such as Earls Court, Wembley Arena and the O2 Arena, as well as many mid-sized venues, such as Brixton Academy, the Hammersmith Apollo and the Shepherd's Bush Empire.[2Dell Latitude E6220 Battery

Dell Latitude E5420M Battery34] Several music festivals, including the Wireless Festival, are held in London. The city is home to the first and original Hard Rock Cafe and the Abbey Road Studios where The Beatles recorded many of their hits. In the 1970s and 1980s, musicians and groups like Elton John, David Bowie, Dell Latitude E6230 Battery

Dell Latitude E5220 BatteryQueen, Elvis Costello, Cat Stevens, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Electric Light Orchestra, Madness, The Jam, The Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Fleetwood Mac, The Police, The Cure, Cream, Phil Collins and Sade, took the world by storm, deriving their sound from the streets and rhythms vibrating through London.[241]

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London was instrumental in the development of punk music,[242] with figures such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash,[241] and Vivienne Westwood all based in the city. More recent artists to emerge from the London music scene include George Michael, Bananarama, Bush, East 17, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Battery

Dell Latitude E6520N Battery the Spice Girls, Jamiroquai, Blur, The Prodigy, The Libertines, Babyshambles, Bloc Party, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay, Amy Winehouse and Adele.[243][244][245] London is also a centre for urban music. In particular the genres UK garage, drum and bass, dubstep and grime evolved in the city from the foreign genres of hip hop and reggae, alongside local drum and bass.

Dell Latitude E6430-XFR BatteryBlack music station BBC Radio 1Xtra was set up to support the rise of home-grown urban music both in London and in the rest of the UK.

Sports

Main article: Sport in London

Centre Court at the All England Club hosting a Wimbledon Championships match in 2010.

London has hosted the Summer Olympics three times: in 1908, 1948, and 2012.[246][247] London was chosen in July 2005 to host the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, making it the first city to host the modern Games three times.[25] Dell Latitude E6430 Battery

Dell Latitude E6430S BatteryLondon was also the host of the British Empire Games in 1934.[248] London will host the 2017 World Championships in Athletics.[249]

Wembley Stadium viewed from Wembley Way

London's most popular sport is football and it has fourteen League football clubs, including six in the Premier League: Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur, and West Ham United.[250] In May 2012 Chelsea become the first London club to win the UEFA Champions League. Dell Latitude E5430 Battery

London also has five rugby union teams in the Aviva Premiership (London Irish, Saracens, Wasps, London Welsh and Harlequins), although only Harlequins and Saracens play in London (all the other three now play outside Greater London).[ Dell Precision M2400 Battery

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Dell Inspiron 14R battery251] The other professional rugby union team in the city is RFU Championship club London Scottish, that play home matches in the city. The city has other very traditional rugby union clubs, famously Richmond F.C., Rosslyn Park F.C., Westcombe Park R.F.C. and Blackheath F.C.. Dell Precision M6600 Battery

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There are three professional rugby league clubs in London – London Broncos who play in the European Super League at The Stoop and the Championship One side the London Skolars (based in Wood Green, London Borough of Haringey) Hemel Stags based in Hemel Hempstead, north of London will play in the Championship One from 2013. Dell Precision M6400 Battery

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From 1924, the original Wembley Stadium was the home of the English national football team, and served as the venue for the FA Cup final as well as rugby league's Challenge Cup final.[252] The new Wembley Stadium serves exactly the same purposes and has a capacity of 90,000.[2Dell Precision M4400 Battery

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53] Twickenham Stadium in south-west London is the national rugby union stadium, and has a capacity of 84,000 now that the new south stand has been completed.[254]

Cricket in London is served by two Test cricket grounds Lord's (home of Middlesex C.C.C.) in St John's Wood[25Dell XPS 14D Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D battery5] and the Oval (home of Surrey C.C.C.) in Kennington.[256] Lord's has hosted four finals of the Cricket World Cup. One of London's best-known annual sports competitions is the Wimbledon Tennis Championships, held at the All England Club in the south-western suburb of Wimbledon.[257Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

Dell Inspiron 15R battery] Other key events are the annual mass-participation London Marathon which sees some 35,000 runners attempt a 26.2 miles (42.2 km) course around the city,[258] and the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race on the River Thames between Putney and Mortlake.[259Dell XPS 15 Battery

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The London Commuter Belt contains many internationally recognised golf courses such as, among others, Wentworth Golf Club and Sunningdale Golf Club.

Moscow

14/07/2013 20:52

Moscow

Moscow is the capital city and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural and scientific center in Russia and in Eurasia. According to Forbes 2012, Moscow has the second largest community of billionaires in the world. Moscow is the northernmost megacity on Earth, the most populous city in Europe,[14][ HP Pavilion DV6-6B75CA Battery

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5][16] and the 5th largest city proper in the world. It is the largest city in Russia with a population, according to the 2010 Census, of 11,503,501.[8] By its territorial expansion on July 1, 2012 southwest into the Moscow Oblast, HP Pavilion DV6-6C40CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6195CA Battery1 the capital increased its area 2.5 times; from about 1,000 square kilometers (390 sq mi) up to 2,511 square kilometers (970 sq mi), and gained additional population of 233,000 people.[17HP Pavilion DV6-6C50CA Battery

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][18]

Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia. In the course of its history the city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Soviet Union. Moscow is the site of the Moscow Kremlin, HP Pavilion DV6-6C73CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6193CA Battery a medieval city-fortress that is today the residence of the Russian president. The Moscow Kremlin is also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament (the State Duma and the Federation Council) also sit in Moscow.

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The city is served by an extensive transit network, which includes four international airports, nine railway terminals, and one of the deepest underground metro systems in the world, the Moscow Metro, third to Tokyo

HP Pavilion DV6-6184CA Battery and Seoul in terms of passenger numbers. It is recognized as one of the city's landmarks due to the rich and varied architecture of its 188 stations.

Over time, Moscow has acquired a number of epithets, most referring to its size and preeminent status within the nation:

HP Pavilion DV6-6178CA BatteryThe Third Rome (Третий Рим), The Whitestone One (Белокаменная), The First Throne (Первопрестольная), and The Forty Forties (Сорок Сороков). In old Russian the word "Сорок" (forty) also meant a church administrative district, which consisted of about forty churches. The demonym for a Moscow resident is "москвич" (moskvich), rendered in English as Muscovite. HP Pavilion DV6-6040CA Battery

French invasion of Russia in 1812, Fire of Moscow, painting of Smirnov A.F., 1813

Nine years later, in 1156, Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy of Rostov ordered the construction of a wooden wall, the Kremlin, which had to be rebuilt multiple times, to surround the emerging city.[19] After the sacking of 1237–1238, HP Pavilion DV6-6070CA Battery

when the Mongols burned the city to the ground and killed its inhabitants, Moscow recovered and became the capital of the independent Vladimir-Suzdal principality in 1327.[20] Its favorable position on the headwaters of the Volga River contributed to steady expansion. Moscow developed into a stable and prosperous principality, HP Pavilion DV6-6104CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6175CA Batteryknown as Grand Duchy of Moscow, for many years and attracted a large number of refugees from across Russia.

Under Ivan I of Moscow the city replaced Tver as a political center of Vladimir-Suzdal and became the sole collector of taxes for the Mongol-Tatar rulers. By paying high tribute, Ivan won an important concession from the Khan. HP Pavilion DV6-6124CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6155CA BatteryUnlike other principalities, Moscow was not divided among his sons, but was passed intact to his eldest. Moscow's opposition against foreign domination grew. In 1380, prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo. The battle, however, HP Pavilion DV6-6130CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6153CA Batterywas not decisive and only two years later Moscow was sacked by khan Tokhtamysh. Ivan III, in 1480, finally broke the Russian people free from Tatar control, allowing Moscow to become the center of power in Russia.[21] HP Pavilion DV6-6135CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6148CA Battery Under Ivan III the city became the capital of an empire that would eventually encompass all of present-day Russia and other lands.

In 1571, the Crimean Tatars attacked and sacked Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.[22]

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Moscow (Russian Empire) in 1908

In 1609, the Swedish army led by Count Jacob De la Gardie and Evert Horn started their march from Great Novgorod toward Moscow to help Tsar Vasili Shuiski, entered Moscow in 1610 and suppressed the rebellion against the Tsar, but left it early in 1611, HP Pavilion DV6-6144CA Battery

following which the Polish–Lithuanian army invaded. During the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski entered Moscow after defeating the Russians in the Battle of Klushino. The 17th century was rich in popular risings, such as the liberation of Moscow from the Polish–Lithuanian invaders (1612), the Salt Riot (1648), Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
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the Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising of 1682. The plague epidemics ravaged Moscow in 1570–1571, 1592 and 1654–1656.[23] The city ceased to be Russia’s capital in 1712, after the founding of Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great near the Baltic coast in 1703.
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The Plague of 1771 was the last massive outbreak of plague in central Russia, claiming up to 100,000 lives in Moscow alone. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, the Muscovites burned the city and evacuated, as Napoleon’s forces were approaching on 14 September. Napoleon’s Grande Armée, Sony SVS131A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41412L Battery plagued by hunger, cold and poor supply lines, was forced to retreat and was nearly annihilated by the devastating Russian winter and sporadic attacks by Russian military forces. As many as 400,000 died during this time, and only a few tens of thousands of ravaged troops returned.[24] Sony SVS131B11L Battery

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In January 1905, the institution of the City Governor, or Mayor, was officially introduced in Moscow, and Alexander Adrianov became Moscow’s first official mayor. Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, on 12 March 1918[2Sony SVS151A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41218L Battery5] Moscow became the capital of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and of the Soviet Union less than five years later.[26] During World War II (the period from June 22, 1941, to May 9, 1945, Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41217L Battery known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War), after the German invasion of the USSR, the Soviet State Defense Committee and the General Staff of the Red Army was located in Moscow. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery

In 1941, sixteen divisions of the national volunteers (more than 160,000 people), twenty-five battalions (18,500 people) and four engineering regiments were formed among the Muscovites. That November, the German Army Group Center was stopped at the outskirts of the city and then driven off in the Battle of Moscow. Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

Sony PCG-41216L Battery Many factories were evacuated, together with most of the government, and from 20 October the city was declared to be under siege. Its remaining inhabitants built and supervised antitank defenses, Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

Sony PCG-41215L Battery while the city was subjected to air bombing. Joseph Stalin refused to leave Moscow, meaning that the general staff and the council of people's commissars remained in the city as well. Despite the siege and the bombings, the construction of Moscow's metro system continued through the war, and by the end of the war several new metro lines were opened.
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Both German and Soviet casualties during the battle of Moscow have been a subject of debate, as various sources provide somewhat different estimates. Total casualties between 30 September 1941, and 7 January 1942, Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
are estimated to be between 248,000 and 400,000 for the Wehrmacht and between 650,000 and 1,280,000 for the Red Army.[27][28][29]

On 1 May 1944, a medal For the defense of Moscow and in 1947 another medal In memory of the 800th anniversary of Moscow were introduced. In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany, on May 8, 1965, Moscow became one of twelve Soviet cities awarded the Hero City title. Sony SVS131C1DL Battery

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In 1980, it hosted the Summer Olympic Games, which were boycotted by the United States and several other Western countries due to the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan in late 1979. In 1991, Moscow was the scene of the failed coup attempt by the government members opposed to the reforms of Mikhail Gorbachev. Sony SVS131C24L Battery

Sony PCG-61A13L BatteryWhen the USSR ceased to exist in the same year, Moscow still continued to be the capital of Russia.

Since then, the emergence of a market economy in Moscow has produced an explosion of Western-style retailing, services, architecture, and lifestyles. In 1998, Moscow hosted the first World Youth Games - see 1998 World Youth Games. This city will host the 2013 World Championships in Athletics. Sony SVS131E1DL Battery
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Moscow aerial view

Moscow is situated on the banks of the Moskva River, which flows for just over 500 km through the East European Plain in central Russia. 49 bridges span the river and its canals within the city's limits. The elevation of Moscow at the All-Russia Exhibition Center (VVC), where the leading Moscow weather station is situated, is 156 m (512 ft). Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
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Sony SVS151E1GL Battery Teplostanskaya highland is the city's highest point at 255 m (837 ft).[30] The width of Moscow city (not limiting MKAD) from west to east is 39.7 km (24.7 mi), and the length from north to south is 51.8 km (32.1 mi). Sony PCG-71C11L Battery

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Time[edit]

Main article: Moscow Time

Time zones of Europe

Moscow serves as the reference point for the timezone used in most of Central Russia, including Saint Petersburg. The areas operate in what is referred to as Moscow Standard Time (MSK, мск), which is 4 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+4. Daylight saving time is no longer observed.

Moscow Time (UTC+4) Sony PCG-71C12L Battery

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Climate[edit]

Main article: Climate of Moscow

Moscow has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb) with warm humid summers and long, cold winters. Weather can fluctuate widely with temperatures ranging from −25 °C (−13 °F) to above 0 °C (32 °F) Sony PCG-61714L Battery

Sony PCG-71914L Battery in the winter and from 15 °C (59 °F) to 30 °C (86 °F) in the summer.[31] Typical high temperatures in the warm months of June, July and August are around a comfortable 20 °C (68 °F) to 26 °C (79 °F), but during heat waves (which can occur between May and September), daytime high temperatures often exceed 30 °C (86 °F), Sony PCG-61813L Battery

Sony PCG-71913L Batterysometimes for a week or a two at a time. In the winter, night-time temperatures normally drop to approximately −10 °C (14 °F), though there can be periods of warmth with temperatures rising above 0 °C (32 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded was 38.2 °C (100.8 °F)[32]
Sony PCG-71912L Batteryat the VVC weather station and 39.0 °C (102.2 °F) in the center of Moscow and Domodedovo airport on July 29, 2010 during the unusual 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat wave. Record high temperatures were recorded for January, March, April, May, August, November and December in 2007.[33] Sony PCG-61911L Battery

Sony PCG-71911L BatteryThe average July temperature from 1981–2010 is 19.2 °C (66.6 °F). The lowest ever recorded temperature was −42.2 °C (−44.0 °F) in January 1940. Snow, which is present for three to five months a year, often begins to fall at the end of November and melts by mid-March. Sony PCG-61913L Battery

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On average Moscow has 1731 hours of sunshine per year, varying between a low of 8% in December to 52% in May–August.[34] Between 2004–2010, the average was between 1800 and 2000 hours with a tendency to more sunshine in summer months.[35] Sony PCG-71614L Battery
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Moscow, being in the middle latitudes of the northern hemisphere, is a place with the most expressed signs of global warming. Sony SVE141C11L Battery
Thus the climate becomes less stable, but the average yearly temperature is growing. So, the period from July until the beginning of August has become considerably warmer. During this time periods of extreme heat are often observed in the city (2001, Sony SVE141D11L Battery
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Sony PCG-71317L Battery2002, 2003, 2010, 2011). At the end of January–February it is often colder (2006, 2010, 2011). The last decade was the warmest in the history of meteorological observations of Moscow. Temperature changes in the city are depicted in the table below:

[show]Climate data for Moscow (period 2001–2011, Sony SVE151E11L Battery

Sony PCG-71316L Battery Vnukovo airport)

Jews began to settle in Moscow around the 17th century. In the 19th as the Pale of Settlement was instructed Jews were forbidden to settle in the city except for those who served in the army and after their end of service allowed to stay in the city. In 1848 there were 313 Jews in Moscow. In 1861, during the reign of Tsar Alexander II, Sony SVE151G11L Battery
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Sony PCG-71315L Battery"useful" Jews, such as scholars, merchants and artisans, were allowed to settle in Moscow and the number of Jews grew rapidly, in 1890 they numbered 40,000 men and the community built synagogues, schools and charities, many located in the Zarayadye quarter on the Moskva River and in Marina Rostcha neighborhood.[45] Sony SVE151J11L Battery

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Nevertheless, after the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, a more radical policy was adopted towards the Jews- Jewish enrollment was restricted in schools and universities and in 1891 all Jews were forced out of Moscow. Sony SVE171C11L Battery

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After the Russian revolution in 1917 the pale of settlement was abolished and Jews were permitted to settle again in the city, many of whom were refugees. In the 1920s and 30s, the state promoted Yiddish-language arts and literature in an effort to influence its Jewish citizens.
Sony PCG-71218L BatteryThis resulted in a brief, rich cultural flourishing exemplified by the famed Moscow State Yiddish Theatre, whose inaugural production (1921) was a staging of Sholem Aleichem's stories with sets by Marc Chagall. In 1939 there were around 250,000 Jews in Moscow.[45] Sony SVE171E11L Battery

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During WWII many Jews fled to inner parts of the Soviet Union but most of them returned at the end of the war and by 1970 there were again around 250,000 Jews in Moscow. Sony SVE171E12L Battery

After the collapse of the Soviet Union most of Jews immigrated from the city. in that period there was a revival of Jewish religious life, the leading bodies of Russia’s Jewish organizations were centered in Moscow and a number of synagogues re-opened. Sony SVE171G112 Battery

Sony PCG-71312L Battery In 2010 there were 53,000 Jews living in Moscow although it is estimated that there are around 150,000 people of Jewish origin in the city.[46]

Since 1991 there were several antisemitic attacks in Moscow- in 2006 a neo-Nazi stabbed 9 people at the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue [2]</ref>, and in 1999 there was a failed bomb attack on the same synagogue [3]</ref>Sony PCG-61713L Battery
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Religion[edit]

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, demolished during the Soviet period, was reconstructed during 1990–2000.

Christianity is the predominant religion in the city, of which the Russian Orthodox Church is the most popular. Moscow is Russia's capital of Orthodox Christianity. It has been the country’s traditional religion and was deemed a part of Russia's "historical heritage" in a law passed in 1997.[47] Sony PCG-71318L Battery

Sony PCG-61317L BatteryOther religions practiced in Moscow include Islam, Rodnovery, Protestantism, Catholicism, Old Believers, Buddhism, and Judaism.

The Patriarch of Moscow serves as the head of the church and resides in the Danilov Monastery. Moscow was called the "city of 40 times 40 churches"—"город сорока сороков церквей"—prior to 1917. In 1918 Russia became a secular state and religion lost its position in society. Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 many of the destroyed churches have been restored and traditional religions are once again gaining popularity. Sony PCG-71211L Battery

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Muslims constitute 4% of the population, around 1.2–1.5 million.[48] There are four mosques in the city.

Moscow's architecture is world-renowned. Moscow is also well known as the site of Saint Basil’s Cathedral, with its elegant onion domes, as well as the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the Seven Sisters. The first Kremlin was built in the middle of the twelfth century. Sony PCG-71212L Battery

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Medieval Moscow's design was of concentric walls and intersecting radial thoroughfares. This layout, as well as Moscow's rivers, helped shape Moscow's design in subsequent centuries.

The Kremlin was rebuilt in the 15th Century. Its towers and some of its churches were built by Italian architects, lending the city some of the aura of the renaissance. Sony PCG-71215L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L BatteryFrom the end of the 15th century, the city was embellished by increasing numbers of masonry structures such as monasteries, palaces, walls, towers, and churches.

The city's appearance had not changed much by the eighteenth century. Houses were made of pine and spruce logs,
Sony PCG-61311L Batterywith shingled roofs plastered with sod or covered by birch bark. The rebuilding of Moscow in the second half of the eighteenth century was necessitated not only by constant fires, but also the needs of the nobility. Much of the wooden city was replaced by buildings in the classical style.[50] Sony PCG-71216L Battery

For much of its architectural history, Moscow was dominated by Orthodox churches. However, the overall appearance of the city changed drastically during Soviet times, especially as a result of Joseph Stalin's large-scale effort to "modernize" Moscow. Sony PCG-61211L Battery
Sony PCG-61215L Battery Stalin's plans for the city included a network of broad avenues and roadways, some of them over ten lanes wide, which, while greatly simplifying movement through the city, were constructed at the expense of a great number of historical buildings and districts. Among the many casualties of Stalin's socialist reforms was the Sukharev Tower, Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
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a longtime city landmark, as well as numerous mansions and commercial buildings lining the major streets. The city's newfound status as the capital of a deeply secular, totalitarian nation, made religiously significant buildings especially vulnerable to demolition. Many of the city's churches, which in most cases were some of Moscow's oldest and historical buildings, Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
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Sony PCG-3H4L Batterywere destroyed; some notable examples include the Kazan Cathedral and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. During the 1990s, both were rebuilt. Many smaller churches, however, were lost.[51] Sony PCG-3C2L Battery
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While the later Stalinist period was characterized by the curtailing of creativity and architectural innovation, the earlier post-revolutionary years saw a plethora of radical new buildings created in the city. Especially notable were the constructivist architects associated with VKHUTEMAS,
Sony PCG-3H2L Batteryresponsible for such landmarks as Lenin's Mausoleum. Another prominent architect was Vladimir Shukhov, famous for Shukhov Tower, just one of many hyperboloid towers designed by Shukhov. It was built between 1919 and 1922 as a transmission tower for a Russian broadcasting company.[ Sony PCG-3D3L Battery

Sony PCG-3H1L Battery52] Shukhov also left a lasting legacy to the Constructivist architecture of early Soviet Russia. He designed spacious elongated shop galleries, most notably the GUM department store on Red Square,[52] bridged with innovative metal-and-glass vaults. Sony PCG-3D4L Battery

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Triumphal Arch of Moscow, was built from 1829-34

Perhaps the most recognizable contributions of the Stalinist period are the so-called Seven Sisters, comprising seven massive skyscrapers scattered throughout the city at about an equal distance from the Kremlin. A defining feature of Moscow’s skyline, Sony PCG-3E3L Battery
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their imposing form was allegedly inspired by the Manhattan Municipal Building in New York City, and their style—with intricate exteriors and a large central spire—has been described as Stalinist Gothic architecture. All seven towers can be seen from most high points in the city; they are among the tallest constructions in central Moscow apart from the Ostankino Tower, Sony PCG-3F2L Battery

Sony PCG-3G3L Battery which, when it was completed in 1967, was the highest free-standing land structure in the world and today remains the world’s seventy-second tallest, ranking among buildings such as the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Taipei 101 in Taiwan and the CN Tower in Toronto.[53
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The Soviet goal (never met) of providing housing for every family, and the rapid growth of Moscow's population, led to the construction of large, monotonous housing blocks. These can often be identified by age, sturdiness of construction, or ‘style’ depending on the neighborhood and the materials used. Sony PCG-3F3L Battery
Sony PCG-3F4L Battery Most of these date from the post-Stalin era and the styles are often named after the leader then in power (Brezhnev, Khrushchev, etc.). They are usually badly maintained.

Although the city still has some five-story apartment buildings constructed before the mid-1960s, more recent apartment buildings are usually at least 9 floors tall, Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
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Sony PCG-8151L Battery and have elevators. It is estimated that Moscow has over twice as many elevators as New York City and four times as many as Chicago. Moslift, one of the city's major elevator operating companies, has about 1500 elevator mechanics on call, to release residents trapped in elevators.[54] Sony PCG-7142L Battery

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Stalinist-era buildings, mostly found in the central part of the city, are massive and usually ornamented with Socialist realism motifs that imitate classical themes. However, small churches – almost always Eastern Orthodox– found across the city provide glimpses of its past. The Old Arbat Street, a popular tourist street that was once the heart of a bohemian area, Sony PCG-7151L Battery

Sony PCG-813L Battery preserves most of its buildings from prior to the 20th century. Many buildings found off the main streets of the inner city (behind the Stalinist façades of Tverskaya Street, for example) are also examples of bourgeois architecture typical of Tsarist times. Sony PCG-7152L Battery
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Sony PCG-7185L BatteryOstankino Palace, Kuskovo, Uzkoye and other large estates just outside Moscow originally belong to nobles from the Tsarist era, and some convents and monasteries, both inside and outside the city, are open to Muscovites and tourists. Sony PCG-7154L Battery

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Attempts are being made to restore many of the city’s best-kept examples of pre-Soviet architecture. These restored structures are easily spotted by their bright new colors and spotless façades. There are a few examples of notable, early Soviet avant-garde work too, Sony PCG-7161L Battery

Sony PCG-7183L Batterysuch as the house of the architect Konstantin Melnikov in the Arbat area. Many of these restorations were criticized for alleged disrespect of historical authenticity. Facadism is also widely practiced.[55] Sony PCG-7162L Battery

Sony PCG-7182L Battery Later examples of interesting Soviet architecture are usually marked by their impressive size and the semi-Modernist styles employed, such as with the Novy Arbat project, familiarly known as “false teeth of Moscow” and notorious for the wide-scale disruption of a historic area in central Moscow involved in the project. Sony PCG-7171L Battery

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Plaques on house exteriors will inform passers-by that a well-known personality once lived there. Frequently, the plaques are dedicated to Soviet celebrities not well-known outside (or often, like with decorated generals and revolutionaries, now both inside) of Russia. Sony PCG-7172L Battery
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Sony PCG-7174L Battery There are also many "museum houses" of famous Russian writers, composers, and artists in the city.

Moscow's skyline is quickly modernizing with several new towers under construction.

In recent years, the city administration has been widely criticized for heavy destruction that has affected many historical buildings. Sony PCG-41112L Battery
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As much as a third of historic Moscow has been destroyed in the past few years[56] to make space for luxury apartments and hotels.[57] Other historical buildings, including such landmarks as the 1930 Moskva hotel and the 1913 department store Voyentorg, Sony PCG-51113L Battery

Sony PCG-81411L Battery have been razed and reconstructed anew, with the inevitable loss of historical value. Critics also blame the government for not enforcing conservation laws: in the last 12 years more than 50 buildings with monument status were torn down, several of those dating back to the 17th century.[5Sony PCG-51211L Battery

Sony PCG-81314L Battery8] Some critics also wonder if the money used for the reconstruction of razed buildings could not be used for the renovation of decaying structures, which include many works by architect Konstantin Melnikov[59] and Mayakovskaya metro station.

Some organizations, Sony PCG-51311L Battery
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such as Moscow Architecture Preservation Society and Save Europe's Heritage, are trying to draw the international public attention to these problems.[60]

Parks and landmarks[edit]

See also: List of Moscow tourist attractions

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Tsaritsyno Park and palace

Novodevichy Convent is one of the World Heritage Sites

There are 96 parks and 18 gardens in Moscow, including 4 botanical gardens. There are also 450 square kilometres (170 sq mi) of green zones besides 100 square kilometres (39 sq mi) of forests.[61] Moscow is a very green city, Sony PCG-51412L Battery
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Sony PCG-81312L Batteryif compared to other cities of comparable size in Western Europe and North America; this is partly due to a history of having green "yards" with trees and grass, between residential buildings. There are on average 27 square meters (290 sq ft) of parks per person in Moscow compared with 6 for Paris, 7.5 in London and 8.6 in New York.[62] Sony PCG-51513L Battery
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Gorky Park (officially the Central Park of Culture and Rest named after Maxim Gorky), was founded in 1928. The main part (689,000 square meters / 170 acres)[62] along the Moskva river contains estrades, Sony PCG-71111L Battery

Sony PCG-81311L Battery children's attractions (including the Observation Wheel water ponds with boats and water bicycles), dancing, tennis courts and other sports facilities. It borders the Neskuchny Garden (408,000 square meters / 101 acres), Sony PCG-81111L Battery

Sony PCG-81214L Batterythe oldest park in Moscow and a former imperial residence, created as a result of the integration of three estates in the 18th century. The Garden features the Green Theater, one of the largest open amphitheaters in Europe, able to hold up to 15 thousand people.[63]
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Ascension church in Kolomenskoye, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Ostankino Palace

Several parks include a section known as a "Park of Culture and Rest", sometimes alongside a much wilder area (this includes parks such as Izmaylovsky, Fili and Sokolniki. Some parks are designated as Forest Parks (lesopark). Sony PCG-81112L Battery
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Izmaylovsky Park, created in 1931, is one of the largest urban parks in the world along with Richmond Park in London. Its area of 15.34 square kilometres (5.92 sq mi) is six times greater than that of Central Park in New York.[62] Sony VPCF115FM battery

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Sokolniki Park, named after the falcon hunting that occurred there in the past, is one of the oldest parks in Moscow and has an area of 6 square kilometres (2.3 sq mi). A central circle with a large fountain is surrounded by birch, maple and elm tree alleys. A labyrinth composed of green paths lies beyond the park's ponds. Sony VPCF11JFX battery
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Losiny Ostrov National Park ("Elk Island" National Park), with a total area of more than 116 square kilometres (45 sq mi), borders Sokolniki Park and was Russia's first national park. It is quite wild, and is also known as the "city taiga" - elk can be seen there. Sony VPCF11FGX battery

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Tsytsin Main Botanical Garden of Academy of Sciences, founded in 1945 is the largest in Europe.[64] It covers territory of 3.61 square kilometres (1.39 sq mi) bordering the All-Russia Exhibition Center and contains a live exhibition of more than 20 thousand different species of plants from different parts of the world, Sony VPCF113FX battery
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Sony VPCF11HGX batteryas well as a lab for scientific research. It also contains a rosarium with 20 thousand rose bushes, a dendrarium, and an oak forest, with the average age of trees exceeding 100 years. There is also a greenhouse taking up more than 5000 square meters of land.[62] Sony VPCF11DGX battery

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The All-Russian Exhibition Center (Всероссийский выставочный центр), formerly known as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) and later Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh), though officially named a "permanent trade show", is in fact one of the most prominent examples of Stalinist-era monumental architecture. Sony VPCF117FX battery
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Sony VPCF11AFX batteryAmong the large spans of recreational park areas are scores of elaborate pavilions, each representing either a branch of Soviet industry and science or one of USSR's republics. Even though, during the 1990s, Sony VPCF11KFX battery

Sony VPCF1190X batteryit was, and for some part still is, misused as a gigantic shopping center (most of the pavilions are rented out for small businesses), it still retains the bulk of its architectural landmarks, including two monumental fountains (Stone Flower and Friendship of Nations) and a 360 degrees panoramic cinema.

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"Friendship of Nations" fountain in All-Russia Exhibition Center

Lilac Park, founded in 1958, is known for its permanent sculpture display and a large rosarium.

Moscow has always been a popular destination for tourists. Some of the more famous attractions include the city's UNESCO World Heritage Site, Moscow Kremlin and Red Square,[65] which was built between the 14th and 17th centuries.[6Sony VPCF116FX battery

Sony VPCF119GX battery6] The Church of the Ascension at Kolomenskoye, which dates from 1532, is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and another popular attraction.[67]

Near the new Tretyakov Gallery there is a sculpture garden, Museon, often called "the graveyard of fallen monuments" that displays statues of the former Soviet Union that were removed from their place after its dissolution. Sony VPCF111FX battery
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Other popular attractions include the Moscow Zoo, a zoological garden in two sections (the valleys of two streams) linked by a bridge, with nearly a thousand species and more than 6,500 specimens.[68] Each year, the zoo attracts more than 1.2 million visitors.[68] Dell XPS 14 Battery

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Many of Moscow's parks and landscaped gardens are protected natural environments.

Moscow Rings[edit]

The concentric and outward spanning roads of Moscow, as viewed from the International Space Station. Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

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Moscow's road system is centered roughly around the Kremlin at the heart of the city. From there, roads generally span outwards to intersect with a sequence of circular roads ("rings").

The first and innermost major ring, Bulvarnoye Koltso (Boulevard Ring), was built at the former location of the 16th century city wall around what used to be called Bely Gorod (White Town).[20] Dell XPS 15 Battery

Dell Inspiron N4030 BatteryThe Bulvarnoye Koltso is technically not a ring; it does not form a complete circle, but instead a horseshoe-like arc that begins at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior and ends at the Yauza River. Dell XPS 15D Battery

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The second primary ring, located outside the bell end of the Boulevard Ring, is the Sadovoye Koltso (Garden Ring). Like the Boulevard Ring, the Garden Ring follows the path of a 16th-century wall that used to encompass part of Moscow.[20] Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

The third ring, the Third Transport Ring, was completed in 2003 as a high-speed freeway.

The Fourth Transport Ring, another freeway, is under construction to further reduce traffic congestion. Dell XPS 15Z Battery

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The outermost ring within Moscow is the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (often called the MKAD from the Russian Московская Кольцевая Автомобильная Дорога), which forms the approximate boundary of the city, was established in the 1950s. Outside Moscow, some of the roads encompassing the city continue to follow this circular pattern seen inside city limits. Dell XPS 17 Battery

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Life and culture[edit]

Overview[edit]

The Bolshoi Theatre after its renovation

Moscow International House of Music

One of the most notable art museums in Moscow is the Tretyakov Gallery, which was founded by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy patron of the arts who donated a large private collection to the city.[69] The Tretyakov Gallery is split into two buildings. Dell XPS L702X Battery

Dell XPS L502X Battery The Old Tretyakov gallery, the original gallery in the Tretyakovskaya area on the south bank of the Moskva River, houses works in the classic Russian tradition.[70] The works of famous pre-Revolutionary painters, such as Ilya Repin, as well as the works of early Russian icon painters can be found here. Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

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Dell XPS L501X BatteryVisitors can even see rare originals by early-15th century iconographer Andrei Rublev.[70] The New Tretyakov gallery, created in Soviet times, mainly contains the works of Soviet artists, as well as of a few contemporary paintings, but there is some overlap with the Old Tretyakov Gallery for early 20th century art. Dell Inspiron N7010D Battery

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The new gallery includes a small reconstruction of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Monument to the Third International and a mixture of other avant-garde works by artists like Kazimir Malevich and Wassily Kandinsky. Socialist realism features can also be found within the halls of the New Tretyakov Gallery.

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The Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts

Another art museum in the city of Moscow is the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, which was founded by, among others, the father of Marina Tsvetaeva. The Pushkin Museum is similar to the British Museum in London in that its halls are a cross-section of exhibits on world civilisations, Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery

with many copies of ancient sculptures. However, it also hosts famous paintings from every major Western era; works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, and Pablo Picasso are present in the museum's collection. Dell Inspiron N5030 Battery

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The State Historical Museum of Russia (Государственный Исторический музей) is a museum of Russian history located between Red Square and Manege Square in Moscow. Its exhibitions range from relics of the prehistoric tribes inhabiting present-day Russia, through priceless artworks acquired by members of the Romanov dynasty. The total number of objects in the museum's collection numbers is several million. The Polytechnical Museum, Dell Inspiron N5010R Battery

[71] founded in 1872 is the largest technical museum in Russia, offering a wide array of historical inventions and technological achievements, including humanoid automata from the 18th century and the first Soviet computers. Its collection contains more than 160,000 items.[72] The Borodino Panorama[73Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery

Dell Latitude E5500 Battery] museum located on Kutuzov Avenue provides an opportunity for visitors to experience being on a battlefield with a 360° diorama. It is a part of the large historical memorial commemorating the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 over Napoleon’s army, that includes also the triumphal arch, Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery

Dell Latitude E5420 Battery erected in 1827. There is also a military history museum not to be missed, it includes statues, military hardware, and one will surely hear many interesting stories.

The Red Army Theater was built in the shape of a star

Moscow is also the heart of the Russian performing arts, including ballet and film. There are 93 theaters, Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery

132 cinemas and 24 concert halls in Moscow. Among Moscow’s many theaters and ballet studios is the Bolshoi Theatre and the Malyi Theatre as well as Vakhtangov Theatre and Moscow Art Theatre. The repertories in a typical Moscow season are numerous and modern interpretations of classic works, whether operatic or theatrical, are quite common.

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Tretyakov Gallery

The Moscow International Performance Arts Center,[74] opened in 2003, also known as Moscow International House of Music, is known for its performances in classical music. It also has the largest organ in Russia installed in Svetlanov Hall.

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Bolshoi Theatre

There are also two large circuses in Moscow: Moscow State Circus and Moscow Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard[75] named after Yuri Nikulin.

Memorial Museum of Astronautics under the Monument to the Conquerors of Space in the end of Cosmonauts Alley is the central memorial place for the Russian space officials. Dell Inspiron N7010 Battery

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Soviet films are integral to Russian film history and the Mosfilm studio was at the heart of many classic films, as it is responsible for both artistic and mainstream productions.[76] However, despite the continued presence and reputation of internationally renowned Russian filmmakers, the once prolific native studios are much quieter. Rare and historical films may be seen in the Salut cinema, where films from the Museum of Cinema[77] collection are shown regularly.

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The Shchusev State Museum of Architecture is the national museum of Russian architecture by the name of the architect Alexey Shchusev near the Kremlin area.

Sports[edit]

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Moscow possesses a large number of various sports facilities and over 500 Olympic champions lived in the city by 2005.[78] Moscow is home to sixty-three stadiums (besides eight football and eleven light athletics maneges), Dell Inspiron 17R Battery

Dell Inspiron 13R Batteryof which Luzhniki Stadium is the largest and the 4th biggest in Europe (it hosted the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, 2007–08 UEFA Champions League finals, and the 1980 Summer Olympics). Forty other sport complexes are located within the city, including twenty-four with artificial ice. Dell Inspiron 15R Battery

Dell Inspiron N4110 BatteryThe Olympic Stadium was the world's 1st indoor arena for bandy and hosted the Bandy World Championships twice.[79] Moscow was again the host of the competition in 2010, this time in Krylatskoye.[80] Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery That arena has also hosted the World Speed Skating Championships. There are also seven horse racing tracks in Moscow,[61] of which Central Moscow Hippodrome,[81] founded in 1834, is the largest. Dell Latitude E6410 Battery

Lokomotiv Stadium

Moscow was the host city of the 1980 Summer Olympics, although the yachting events were held at Tallinn, in present-day Estonia. Large sports facilities and the main international airport, Sheremetyevo Terminal 2, were built in preparation for the 1980 Summer Olympics. Moscow had also made a bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. However, Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

when final voting commenced on 6 July 2005, Moscow was the first city to be eliminated from further rounds. The Games were finally awarded to London.

The most titled ice hockey team in the Soviet Union and in the world, HC CSKA Moscow comes from Moscow. Other big ice hockey clubs from Moscow are HC Dynamo Moscow, which was the second most titled team in the Soviet Union, and HC Spartak Moscow. Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

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The most titled Soviet, Russian, and one of the most titled Euroleague clubs, is the basketball club from Moscow PBC CSKA Moscow. Another strong basketball club from Moscow is MBC Dynamo Moscow.

Central Moscow Hippodrome façade

Moscow had more winners at the USSR and Russian Chess Championship than any other city. Some of them were the best players in the world. Sony PCG-7162L Battery

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The most titled volleyball team in the Soviet Union and in Europe (CEV Champions League) is VC CSKA Moscow. Dell Latitude E6520 Battery

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In football, FC Spartak Moscow has won more championship titles in the Russian Premier League than any other team. They were second only to FC Dynamo Kyiv in the Soviet Union. PFC CSKA Moscow was the first Russian football team to win a UEFA title. FC Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Dynamo Moscow and FC Torpedo Moscow are other professional football teams also based in Moscow. Dell Latitude E6400 XFR Battery

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Moscow houses several equally prominent and award-winning football, ice hockey, basketball and many other sports teams, Sony PCG-7171L Battery

Sony PCG-7183L Battery which is rather unusual for Russia as well as the world. Because sports organisations in the Soviet Union were highly centralized in the first place, Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery

Dell Latitude E6430 Battery two of the best-manned Union-level teams represented defence and law-enforcing agencies: the Armed Forces (CSKA) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dinamo) and a Union-wide selection (there were "army" and "police" teams in most major cities) and Dell Latitude E6210 Battery

Dell Latitude E5530 BatteryMoscow being the center of both the sports organisations, DoD and police headquarters, Spartak, CSKA and Dinamo were equally the most prestigious, well-manned and best-funded teams in the USSR. Dell Latitude E6230 Battery

Because of Moscow's cold local climate, winter sports have a large following as well. Many of Moscow's large parks offer marked trails for skiing and frozen ponds for skating. Dell Latitude E6330 Battery

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Moscow also hosts the annual Kremlin Cup, a popular tennis tournament on both the WTA and ATP tours. It is regarded as a very prestigious tournament and is one of the ten Tier-I events on the women's tour and a host of Russian players feature every year. Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

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Slava Moscow is a professional rugby club, competing in the national Professional Rugby League. Former rugby league heavyweights RC Lokomotiv have entered the same league as of 2011. The Luzhniki Stadium will host the 2013 Rugby World Cup Sevens. Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

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Sergey Obukhov playing for Dynamo Moscow

In bandy one of the most successful clubs in the world is 20 times and current Russian League champions Dynamo Moscow.[citation needed] Sony PCG-7172L Battery

Sony PCG-7181L BatteryThey´ve also won World Cup twice and European Cup six times. Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery

MFK Dinamo Moskva is one of the major futsal clubs in Europe.

Russia was given the right to host the 2018 World Cup, and in Moscow, the Luzhniki Stadium will have an increased capacity, Sony PCG-7173L Battery

Sony PCG-7174L Batteryby almost 10,000 new seats, in addition to a further two stadiums that will be built: the Dynamo Stadium, and the Spartak Stadium, along with another stadium built in the Moscow region. Together these will have a capacity of at least 40,000 seats. Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery

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Night life[edit]

Fountain in Moscow's Square of Europe, lit at night

The city is full of different kinds of clubs, restaurants and bars. The Moscow city center and Rublevka (richest area of the city) have a wide selection of luxury establishments. Tverskaya Street is also one of the busiest shopping streets in Moscow. Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery

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The adjoining Tretyakovsky Proyezd, also south of Tverskaya Street, in Kitai-gorod, is host to upscale boutique stores such as Bulgari, Tiffany & Co., Armani, Prada and Bentley.[82] Nightlife in Moscow has moved on since Soviet times and today the city has many of the world's largest nightclubs. Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery

Politics[edit]

View from the Seven Sisters in Kudrinskaya Square. The mayor's highrise office (the former Comecon headquarters) is to the left, the Russian government building to the right

Moscow is the seat of power for the Russian Federation. At the centre of the city,

Sony VGP-BPS21 battery in the Central Administrative Okrug, is the Moscow Kremlin, which houses the home of the President of Russia as well as many national governmental facilities. This includes numerous military headquarters and the headquarters of the Federal Security Service. Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery

Sony VGP-BPL21 batteryMoscow, like with any national capital, is also the host of all the foreign embassies and diplomats representing a multitude of nations in Russia. Moscow is designated as one of only two Federal cities of Russia (the other one being Saint Petersburg). Among the 83 federal subjects of Russia, Sony VGP-BPS13A battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/B batteryMoscow represents the most populated one and the smallest one in terms of area. Lastly, Moscow is located within the central economic region, one of twelve regions within Russia with similar economic goals. Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery

Executive[edit]

The Mayor of Moscow is the leading official in the executive, and he leads the Government of Moscow which is the highest organ of executive power.

Moscow City Duma[edit]

Main article: Moscow City Duma

The Moscow City Duma is the City Duma (city council or local parliament) and all local laws must be approved by it. It includes 35 members who are elected for a four-year term in a Mixed-member proportional representation: 18 are elected on a proportional party list basis and 17 on Single-mandate constituency basis. Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery

Administrative divisions[edit]

Administrative okrugs of Moscow: 1. Central 2. Northern 3. North-Eastern 4. Eastern 5. South-Eastern 6. Southern 7. South-Western 8. Western 9. North-Western 10. Zelenogradsky 11. Novomoskovsky 12. Troitsky Sony VGP-BPS13S battery

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Main article: Administrative divisions of Moscow

The entire city of Moscow is headed by one mayor (Sergey Sobyanin). The city of Moscow is divided into twelve administrative okrugs and 123 districts. Sony VGP-BPS13A/Q battery

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The Russian capital's specific town-planning development began to show as early as the 12th century, when the city was founded. The central part of Moscow grew by consolidating with suburbs in line with medieval principles of urban development, when strong fortress walls would gradually spread along the circle streets of adjacent new settlements. Sony VGP-BPL9 Battery

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The first circular defence walls set the trajectory of Moscow's rings, laying the groundwork for the future town-planning of the Russian capital.

The following fortifications served as the city's circular defense boundaries at some point in history: the Kremlin walls, Zemlyanoy Gorod (Earthwork Town), the Kamer-Kollezhsky Rampart, the Garden Ring, and the small railway ring. Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13/Q BatteryThe Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD) has been Moscow's boundary since 1960. Also in the form of a circle are the main Moscow subway line, the Ring Line, and the so-called Third Automobile Ring, which was completed in 2005. Hence, the characteristic radial-circle planning continues to define Moscow's further development. Sony VGP-BPL12 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery However, contemporary Moscow has also engulfed a number of territories outside the Ring Road, such as Solntsevo, Butovo, and the town of Zelenograd. A part of Moscow Oblast's territory was merged into Moscow on July 1, Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery2012; as a result, Moscow is no longer surrounded by Moscow Oblast and now has a border with Kaluga Oblast. Sony VGP-BPL14 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery [83] In all, Moscow gained about 1,500 square kilometers (580 sq mi) and 230,000 inhabitants. Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin lauded the expansion that will help Moscow and the neighboring region, a "mega-city" of twenty million people, to develop "harmonically".[17] Sony VGP-BPL14/B Battery

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All administrative okrugs and districts have their own coats of arms and flags as well as individual heads of the area.

In addition to the districts, there are Territorial Units with Special Status. These usually include areas with small or no permanent populations. Such is the case with the All-Russia Exhibition Centre, the Botanical Garden, large parks, and industrial zones. In recent years, some territories have been merged with different districts. Sony VGP-BPL14B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13A Battery There are no ethnic-specific regions in Moscow, as in the Chinatowns that exist in some North American and East Asian cities. And although districts are not designated by income, as with most cities, those areas that are closer to the city center, metro stations or green zones are considered more prestigious.[84] Sony VGP-BPL14/S Battery

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Moscow also hosts some of the government bodies of Moscow Oblast, although the city itself is not a part of the oblast.[85] Sony VGP-BPL15/B Battery

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On the map, Moscow that until the 2011 enlargement had the form of an irregular circle, turned into a "comet" and, interrupting its development according to a circular principle, began to grow along the axis. The city had expanded by adding territories in the southwest: twenty-one municipal formations, including two urban okrugs (Troitsk and Shcherbinka), Sony VGP-BPL15/S Battery

Sony VGP-BPS12 Batteryand nineteen urban and rural settlements that used to be a part of Podolsky, Leninsky, and Naro-Fominsky Districts of Moscow Oblast. Part of the territory of Odintsovsky and Krasnogorsky Districts was also added to the city.[86]

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The upper trading rows at GUM near Red Square

Moscow has one of the largest municipal economies in Europe and it accounts for approximately 22% of Russian GDP.[87] As of 2009, the GRP in Moscow reached 7.16 trl roubles[88] ($225 bln[89]).

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Moscow has the lowest unemployment rate of all federal subjects of Russia, standing at just 1% in 2010, compared to the national average of 7%. The average monthly wage in the city is 41,600 roubles (), which is almost twice the national average of 21,800 rubles (), and the fourth highest among the federal subjects of Russia.[90] Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS9 BatteryMoscow is the undisputed financial center of Russia and home to the country's largest banks and many of its largest companies, such as natural gas giant Gazprom. Moscow accounts for 17% of retail sales in Russia and for 13% of all construction activity in the country.[90][91]

Sony VGP-BPS21A/B Battery Since the 1998 Russian financial crisis, various business sectors in Moscow have shown exponential rates of growth. Many new business centers and office buildings have been built in recent years, but Moscow still experiences shortages in office space. As a result, many former industrial and research facilities are being reconstructed to become suitable for office use. Sony VGP-BPS14 Battery

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Overall, economic stability has improved in recent years; nonetheless, crime and corruption continue still hinder business development.

The Cherkizovskiy marketplace was the largest marketplace in Europe, with a daily turnover of about thirty million dollars and about ten thousand venders[92] Sony VGP-BPS14/B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS21B Batteryfrom different countries (including China, Turkey, Azerbaijan and India). It was administratively divided into twelve parts and covers a wide sector of the city. Since July 2009 it has been closed. Sony VGP-BPS14B Battery

In 2008, Moscow had 74 billionaires with an average wealth of $5.9 billion, which placed it above New York's 71 billionaires. However, as of 2009, there are only 27 billionaires in Moscow compared with New York's 55 billionaires. Overall, Russia lost 52 billionaires during the recession List of Russian billionaires by net worth. Sony VGP-BPS14/S Battery

[93] Topping the list of Russia's billionaires in 2009 is Mikhail Prokhorov with $9.5 billion, ahead of the more famous Roman Abramovich with $8.5 billion, in 2nd place. Prokhorov's holding company, "ОНЭКСИМ" (ONÈKSIM) group, Sony VGP-BPS15 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS21A Batteryowns huge assets in hydrogen energy, nanotechnology, traditional energy, precious metals sector, while Abramovich, since selling his oil company Sibneft to Russian state-controlled gas giant Gazprom in 2005, Sony VGP-BPS15/B Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery has bought up steel and mining assets. He also owns Chelsea F.C.. Russia's richest woman remains Yelena Baturina, the 50-year-old second wife of Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. Oleg Deripaska, the 1st on this list in 2008 with $28 billion, Sony SVS13AA11L Battery

Sony PCG-41414L Batterywas only 10th in 2009 with $3.5 billion. Based on Forbes' 2011 list of the world's billionaires, Moscow is the city with the most billionaires in the world, with 79 from 115 in all of Russia.[94] Sony SVS131A11L Battery

The nouveau riche, also called the "New Russians", often in a derogatory sense, have a reputation for flaunting their wealth; the avenues for doing so have also increased in recent times - a sense of fashion and self-consciousness has instilled itself through the many haute couture and haute cuisine spots in Moscow. Sony SVS131B11L Battery

Industry[edit]

Primary industries in Moscow include the chemical, metallurgy, food, textile, furniture, energy production, software development and machinery industries.

The Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant is one of the leading producers of military and civil helicopters in the world. Sony SVS151A11L Battery

Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center produces various space equipment, including modules for space stations Mir, Salyut and the ISS as well as Proton launch vehicles and military ICBMs. Sukhoi, Ilyushin, Mikoyan, Tupolev and Yakovlev aircraft design bureaus also situated in Moscow. Automobile plants ZiL and AZLK, Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Batteryas well as the Voitovich Rail Vehicle plant, are situated in Moscow and Metrovagonmash metro wagon plant is located just outside the city limits. The Poljot Moscow watch factory produces reliable military, professional and sport watches well known in Russia and abroad. Yuri Gagarin in his trip into space used "Shturmanskie", produced by this factory.

ZiL street sprinkler in Moscow Sony SVS151G1GL Battery

The Electrozavod factory was the first transformer factory in Russia. The Kristall distillery[95] is the oldest distillery in Russia producing various vodka types, including "Stolichnaya" while a wide assortment of wines are produced at several Moscow wine plants, including the Moscow Interrepublican Vinery.[96] The Moscow Jewelry Factory[97] Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

Sony PCG-41412L Batteryand the Jewellerprom[98] are important producers of jewellery in Russia; Jewellerprom used to produce the famous and exclusive Order of Victory, awarded to those aiding the Soviet Union's Red Army during World War II. There are also many other industries located just outside the city of Moscow, as well as many microelectronic industries in Zelenograd. Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

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Gazprom, the largest extractor of natural gas in the world and the largest Russian company, has head offices also in Moscow, as well as many other oil, gas and electricity companies.

Moscow also hosts headquarters of various software development companies, including such as:

1C Company—business software and games producer Sony PCG-4121FL Battery

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ABBYY software house—developer of text recognition and translation software,

Akella—game developer company

Kaspersky Lab—worldwide-known producer of anti-virus software,

Additionally, some industry is now being transferred out of the city to improve the ecological state of the city. Nevertheless, Moscow remains one of Russia's major industrial centers.

Living costs[edit]

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During Soviet times, apartments were lent to people by the government according to the square meters-per-person norm (some groups, including people's artists, heroes and prominent scientists had bonuses according to their honors). Private ownership of apartments was limited until the 1990s,

Sony PCG-41216L Battery when people were permitted to secure property rights to the places they inhabited. Since the Soviet era, estate owners have had to pay the service charge for their residences, a fixed amount based on persons per living area. Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

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Due to the current economic situation, the price of real estate in Moscow continues to rise. Today, one could expect to pay $4000 on average per square meter (11 sq ft) on the outskirts of the city[99] or US$6,500–$8,000 per square meter in a prestigious district. The price sometimes may exceed US$40,000 per square meter in a flat.[100][10Sony PCG-41212L Battery

Sony PCG-41215L Battery1][102] It costs about US$2500 per month to rent a 1-bedroom apartment and about US$1500 per month for a studio in the center of Moscow.

A typical one-bedroom apartment is about thirty square meters (323 sq ft), a typical two-bedroom apartment is forty-five square meters (485 sq ft), and a typical three-bedroom apartment is seventy square meters (753 sq ft). Sony PCG-41213L Battery

Sony PCG-41214L BatteryMany cannot move out of their apartments, especially if a family lives in a two-room apartment originally granted by the state during the Soviet era. Some city residents have attempted to cope with the cost of living by renting their apartments while staying in dachas (country houses) outside the city. Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

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In 2006, Mercer Human Resources Consulting named Moscow the world's most expensive city for expatriate employees, ahead of perennial winner Tokyo, due to the stable Russian ruble as well as increasing housing prices within the city.[103] Moscow also ranked first in the 2007 edition and 2008 edition of the survey. However, Tokyo has overtaken Moscow as the most expensive city in the world, placing Moscow at third and behind Osaka at second.[1Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Battery04] Critics of their methodology argue that this survey replicates the lifestyle that a senior executive would have in Washington DC, counting certain very expensive brand name foreign goods, but disregarding the many lines that are far cheaper in Russia, e.g. household staff, drivers, nannies, etc.[citation needed]

Moscow State University at nightSony PCG-61A14L Battery

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There are 1696 high schools in Moscow, as well as 91 colleges.[61] Besides these, there are 222 institutions of higher education, including 60 state universities[61] and the Lomonosov Moscow State University, which was founded in 1755.[106] The main university building located in Vorobyovy Gory (Sparrow Hills) is 240 metres (790 ft) tall and when completed, was the tallest building on the continent.[107Sony PCG-71C11L Battery

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] The university has over 30,000 undergraduate and 7,000 postgraduate students, who have a choice of twenty-nine faculties and 450 departments for study. Additionally, approximately 10,000 high school students take courses at the university, while over two thousand researchers work. Sony PCG-61714L Battery

The Moscow State University library contains over nine million books, making it one of the largest libraries in all of Russia. Its acclaim throughout the international academic community has meant that over 11,000 international students have graduated from the university, with many coming to Moscow to learn the Russian language.[citation needed] Sony PCG-61813L Battery

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The Russian National Research Medical University named after N.I. Pirogov or formerly known as Russian State Medical University (RSMU) is a medical university situated in Moscow, Russia. It is a Russian Federal Agency for Health and Social Development. Sony PCG-61911L Battery

Sony PCG-71912L Battery The university was awarded a National Research University status by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia[10Sony PCG-61913L Battery

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Sony PCG-71911L Battery8] in July 2011 due to its excellence in academic and research. It is one of the largest medical universities in Russia and Europe. Currently, more than 9200 students are enrolling in 115 different academic departments in this university. It also offers courses for post-graduate studies. Sony PCG-71614L Battery

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Moscow is one of the main financial centers of the Russian Federation and CIS countries and is well known for its business schools. Among the best are the Finance Academy under the Government of RF; Plekhanov Russian Economic University; The State University of Management, and the State University - Higher School of Economics. Sony PCG-91112L Battery

Sony PCG-61317L Battery They offer undegraduate degrees in management, finance, accounting, marketing, real estate and economic theory, as well as Masters programs and MBA with varied concentrations. Most of them have branches in other regions of Russia and countries around the world. Sony PCG-71312L Battery

Entrance to the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

Bauman Moscow State Technical University, founded in 1830, is located in the center of Moscow and provides more than 18,000 undergraduate and 1,000 postgraduate students with an education in science and engineering, Sony PCG-71311L Battery

offering a wide range of technical degrees.[109] Since it opened enrollment to students from outside of Russia in 1991, Bauman Moscow State Technical University has increased its number of international students up to two hundred.[110] Sony PCG-71218L Battery

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The Moscow Conservatory,[111] founded in 1866 is a prominent music school in Russia, whose graduates included Sergey Rachmaninoff, Alexander Scriabin, Aram Khachaturian, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Alfred Schnittke. Sony PCG-71217L Battery

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The Gerasimov All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography, abbreviated as VGIK, is the world's oldest educational institution in Cinematography, founded by Vladimir Gardin in 1919. Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Aleksey Batalov were among its most distinguished professors and Mikhail Vartanov, Sergei Parajanov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Nikita Mikhalkov, Eldar Ryazanov, Alexander Sokurov, Yuriy Norshteyn, Aleksandr Petrov, Vasily Shukshin, Konrad Wolf among graduates. Sony PCG-71313L Battery

Bauman Moscow State Technical University.

Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography.

Moscow State Institute of International Relations, founded in 1944, remains Russia's best- known school of international relations and diplomacy, with six different schools focused on international relations. Sony PCG-71315L Battery

Approximately 4,500 students make up the university's student body and over 700,000 Russian and foreign-language books — of which 20,000 are considered rare — can be found in the library of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.[112] Sony PCG-71316L Battery

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Other prominent institutions are the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, also known as Phystech, the Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Complex, founded in 1988 by Russian eye surgeon Svyatoslav Fyodorov, the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Moscow Motorway Institute (State Technical University), and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology has taught numerous Nobel Prize winners, Sony PCG-71318L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L Battery including Pyotr Kapitsa, Nikolay Semyonov, Lev Landau and Alexander Prokhorov, while the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute is known for its research in nuclear physics.[113] The highest Russian military school is the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

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Although Moscow has a number of famous Soviet-era higher educational institutions, most of which are more oriented towards engineering or the fundamental sciences, in recent years Moscow has seen a significant growth in the number of commercial and private institutions that offer classes in business and management. Sony PCG-71211L Battery

Sony PCG-61215L BatteryMany state institutions have expanded their education scope and introduced new courses or departments. Institutions in Moscow, as well as the rest of post-Soviet Russia, have begun to offer new international certificates and postgraduate degrees, Sony PCG-71212L Battery

Sony PCG-61211L Batteryincluding the Master of Business Administration. Student exchange programs with different (especially, European) countries have also become widespread in Moscow's universities, while many schools within the Russian capital also offer seminars, lectures and courses for corporate employees and businessmen. Sony PCG-71215L Battery

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Moscow is one of the largest science centers in Russia. The headquarters of the Russian Academy of Sciences are located in Moscow as well as numerous research and applied science institutions. The Kurchatov Institute, Russia's leading research and development institution in the fields of nuclear energy, where the first nuclear reactor in Europe was built, Sony PCG-7142L Battery

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the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems and Steklov Institute of Mathematics are all situated in Moscow. Sony PCG-7151L Battery

There are 452 libraries in the city, including 168 for children.[61] The Russian State Library,[114] founded in 1862 is the national library of Russia. This library is home to over 275 kilometers of shelves and 42 million items, Sony PCG-7152L Battery

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including over 17 million books and serial volumes, 13 million journals, 350,000 music scores and sound records, and 150,000 maps, making it the largest library in Russia and one of the largest in the world. Items in 247 different languages comprise approximately 29 percent of the collection.[115][116] Sony PCG-7153L Battery

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The State Public Historical Library, founded in 1863, is the largest library specialising in Russian history. Its collection contains four million items in 112 languages (including 47 languages of the former USSR), mostly on Russian and world history, heraldry, numismatics, and the history of science.[117] Sony PCG-7154L Battery

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In regards to primary and secondary education, Clifford J. Levy of The New York Times said "Moscow has some strong public schools, but the system as a whole is dispiriting, in part because it is being corroded by the corruption that is a post-Soviet scourge. Parents often pay bribes to get their children admitted to better public schools. There are additional payoffs for good grades."[118]

Joseph Stalin or Iasi Vissarionovich Stalin

14/07/2013 14:50

Joseph Stalin or Iasi Vissarionovich Stalin

Joseph Stalin or Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin was the de facto leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917,

Stalin was appointed General Secretary of the party's Central Committee in 1922. He subsequently managed to consolidate power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin through expanding the functions of his role,

Levono Ideapad Z575 Keyboard all the while eliminating any opposition. He held this nominal post until abolishing it in 1952, concurrently serving as the Premier of the Soviet Union after establishing the position in 1941.

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Under Joseph Stalin's rule, the concept of "socialism in one country" became a central tenet of Soviet society. He replaced the New Economic Policy introduced by Lenin in the early 1920s with a highly centralised command economy, launching a period of industrialization and collectivization that resulted in the rapid transformation of the USSR from an agrarian society into an industrial power.[2]

Levono Ideapad Y570 Keyboard However, the economic changes coincided with the imprisonment of millions of people in Soviet correctional labour camps[3] and the deportation of many others to remote areas.[3] The initial upheaval in agriculture disrupted food production and contributed to the catastrophic Soviet famine of 1932–1933,

Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard known as the Holodomor in Ukraine. Later, in a period that lasted from 1936–39, Stalin instituted a campaign against alleged enemies of his regime called the Great Purge, in which hundreds of thousands were executed. Major figures in the Communist Party, such as the old Bolsheviks, Leon Trotsky,

Levono Ideapad G575 Keyboard and several Red Army leaders were killed after being convicted of plotting to overthrow the government and Stalin.[4]

In August 1939, Stalin entered into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany that divided their influence within Eastern Europe, but Germany later violated the agreement and launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Levono Ideapad G560 Keyboard

Despite heavy human and territorial losses, Soviet forces managed to halt the Nazi incursion after the decisive battles of Moscow and Stalingrad. After defeating the Axis powers on the Eastern Front, the Red Army captured Berlin in May 1945, effectively ending the war in Europe for the Allies.[5][6] The Soviet Union subsequently emerged as one of two recognized world superpowers, the other being the United States.[7] Levono Ideapad Z570 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B570G Keyboard The Yalta and Potsdam conferences established communist governments loyal to the Soviet Union in the Eastern Bloc countries as buffer states, which Stalin deemed necessary in case of another invasion. He also fostered close relations with Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il-sung in North Korea. Levono Ideapad Z560 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B570A Keyboard

Stalin led the Soviet Union through its post-war reconstruction phase, which saw a significant rise in tension with the Western world that would later be known as the Cold War. During this period, the USSR became the second country in the world to successfully develop a nuclear weapon, Levono Ideapad Y560P Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B575 Keyboardas well as launching the Great Plan for the Transformation of Nature in response to another widespread famine and the Great Construction Projects of Communism. In the years following his death, Stalin and his regime have been condemned on numerous occasions,

Levono Ideapad B570 Keyboard most notably in 1956 when his successor Nikita Khrushchev denounced his legacy and initiated a process of de-Stalinization. He remains a controversial figure today, with many regarding him as a tyrant[8] similar to Adolf Hitler[citation needed]; however, popular opinion within the Russian Federation is mixed.[9][10][11] Levono Ideapad Y560 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard

Stalin was born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი; Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Джугашвили, Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili) on 18 December 1878[1] in the town of Gori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Georgia). Levono Ideapad V570 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad V570C KeyboardHis mother Ketevan Geladze was a housekeeper who took whatever job opportunities were available and found employment at a couture shop for 17 years; his father Besarion Jughashvili worked as a cobbler. The couple had previously given birth to three sons,

HP Pavilion dm4-3000 keyboard but two died during infancy. The family surname means son of Juga, and is derived from either the Ossetian йуга Juga (meaning 'herd') or the old Georgian ჯუღა djuga (meaning 'steel'). Ioseb eventually adopted the name "Stalin" from the Russian word for "steel;" he used it as an alias and pen name in his published works. HP Pavilion dm4-3002ea keyboard

HP Pavilion dm4-3000ea keyboard

As a child, Ioseb was plagued with numerous health issues. He was born with two adjoined toes on his left foot.[12] His face was left permanently scarred after he contracted smallpox at the age of 7. Later, at age 12, HP Pavilion dm4-3002sa keyboard

HP Pavilion dm4-3000sa keyboard he injured his left arm in an accident involving a horse-drawn carriage, rendering it shorter and stiffer than its counterpart. During the first several years of his life, Stalin and his mother were subjected to severe physical abuse at the hands of his father,[13] HP Probook 4320S Keyboard

HP Probook 5330M Keyboard

who was severely alcoholic. When Geladze enrolled Ioseb into an Orthodox priesthood school against her husband's wishes, Jughashvili went on a public rampage. He was banished from Gori for assaulting its police chief. He subsequently moved to Tiflis (Tbilisi), HP Probook 4321S Keyboard

HP Probook 5320M Keyboardleaving his family behind.

When Stalin was sixteen, he received a scholarship to attend the Georgian Orthodox Tiflis Spiritual Seminary in Tbilisi. Although his performance had been satisfactory, he was expelled in 1899 after missing his final exams. The seminary's records also suggest that he was unable to pay his tuition fees.[14]

HP Probook 5310M Keyboard The official Soviet version states that he was expelled for reading illegal literature and for forming a Social Democratic study circle.[15] Around this time, Stalin discovered the writings of Vladimir Lenin and decided to become a Marxist revolutionary, HP Probook 4325S Keyboard

HP Probook 4730S Keyboardeventually joining the Bolsheviks in 1903 and becoming one of their chief operatives in the Caucasus. His activities included connecting with workers and inciting strikes. The years of 1900–1903 were years of industrial depression. Not surprisingly then, numerous strikes broke out in 1904. HP Probook 4326S Keyboard

One strike was the strike of oil workers in Baku in Georgia which broke out on December 13, 1904.[16] Stalin and Prokofy Djaparidze, another Bolshevik organizer, became involved in this strike. The strike was ended successfully on December 31, 1904, HP Probook 4329S Keyboard

when the oil workers became the first workers in Russian history to sign a collective bargaining agreement with the oil owners.[17] Another activity of Stalin and the other Bolshevik organizers was to spread propaganda. Toward this end, HP Probook 4410 Keyboard

HP Probook 4410S Keyboard

Stalin wrote an article in May 1905 called "Briefly About the Disagreements in the Party" which was a defense of Bolshevik goals for the Russian Social Democratic Party against attacks from the Mensheviks.[18] In January 1906, Stalin wrote an article called "Two Clashes: HP Probook 4410T Keyboard

HP Probook 4725S KeyboardConcerning January 9" which dealt with the first anniversary of the peaceful march and demonstration of Father George Gapon and a huge crowd of workers when they marched on the Winter Palace.[19] HP Probook 4411S Keyboard

HP Probook 4720S KeyboardThis march on January 9, 1905, was the most noteworthy event of the 1905 Russian Revolution and resulted in the events of Bloody Sunday when 1000 demonstrators were shot by the guards at the Winter Palace. HP Probook 4413S Keyboard

HP Probook 4535S Keyboard

HP Probook 4715S KeyboardOther activities of Stalin and the organizers in the Georgian region of the Russian Empire included organizing paramilitaries, spreading propaganda, and raising money through bank robberies, ransom kidnappings, and extortion. Particularly notable was his participation in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, HP Probook 4414S Keyboard

which resulted in 40 deaths and the theft of 341,000 rubles (roughly US $3.4 million when adjusted for inflation). The incident would have long-lasting ramifications for his political career.[20] Stalin's crimes began to draw the attention of the Okhrana (the secret police of the HP Probook 4416S Keyboard

HP Probook 4530S KeyboardRussian Empire), and he was sent to Siberia on seven different occasions. During his final exile, he was conscripted by the Russian army to fight in World War I, but he was deemed unfit for service due to his deformed left arm.[21] HP Probook 4510S Keyboard

HP Probook 4525S Keyboard

Revolution, Civil War, and Polish-Soviet War

Main article: Joseph Stalin in the Russian Revolution, Russian Civil War, and Polish-Soviet War

Role during the Russian Revolution of 1917

Prior to the revolution of 1917, Stalin played an active role in fighting the tsarist government. Here he is shown on a 1911 information card from the files of the Russian police in Saint Petersburg.[22] Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard
After returning to Petrograd on March 12, 1917 from exile in the village of Kostino and later in the village of Kureika in the region of Turukhansk in northern Siberia.[23] Returning with Stalin to St. Petersburg was Lev B. Kamenev.[24] Sony VPCF11C5E Keyboard
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By virtue of their seniority in the Party, Stalin and Kamenev replaced Vyacheslav Molotov and Alexander Shlyapnikov on the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Party.[2Sony VPC-F11M1E/H Keyboard

Sony VPCF12M1E/H Keyboard5] Writing in Pravda, the official newspaper of the Party, both Stalin and Kamenev reflected a shift in Party policy toward Alexander Kerensky's provisional government.[26]

Whereas, previously, the Russian Bureau under Shyapnikov had been urging Russian soldiers at the front to engage in fraternization with enemy German and Austrian soldiers to force an end to the war and/or turning the war into a class war against the capitalist imperialist class,[25] Sony VPCF11S1E/B Keyboard
Stalin now wrote in Pravda that the slogans like "Down with the War" were not enough.[27] There was now a need for soldiers and workers to "come out openly and publicly" in mass demonstrations to put real "pressure on the Kerensky provisional government" to immediately negotiate an end to the war.[28] Sony VPC-F2 Keyboard

Sony VPCF12F4E/H Keyboard Events were moving so fast during that revolutionary year of 1917, that party policies seemed to change every few weeks. Indeed just a few days later on April 3 (16 new style), Lenin arrived in St. Petersburg returning from his ten (10) year exile in Switzerland. He had brought with him an article called "The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution" which became popularly known as Lenin's "April Theses."[ Sony VPC-F21Z1E Keyboard
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29] After Lenin prevailed at the April 1917 Communist Party conference, Stalin and Pravda shifted to opposing the provisional government.

At this conference,
Sony VPCF12E1E/H KeyboardStalin was elected to the Bolshevik Central Committee. In October 1917, the Bolshevik Central Committee voted in favor of an insurrection. On 7 November, from the Smolny Institute, Trotsky, Sony VPCF22L1E Keyboard
Lenin and the rest of the Central Committee coordinated the insurrection against Kerensky in the 1917 October Revolution. On October 25, 1917 (November 8, 1917 on the new style calendar) the Bolsheviks had stormed the Winter Palace and arrested the Kerensky's Cabinet.

Role in the Russian Civil War, 1917–1919

Sony VPCF22M1E Keyboard

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A group of participants in the 8th Congress of the Russian Communist Party, 1919. In the middle are Stalin, Vladimir Lenin, and Mikhail Kalinin.

Upon seizing Petrograd, Stalin was appointed People's Commissar for Nationalities' Affairs. Thereafter, civil war broke out in Russia, pitting Lenin's Red Army against the White Army, a loose alliance of anti-Bolshevik forces. Sony VPCF22S1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11C4E/B KeyboardLenin formed a five-member Politburo, which included Stalin and Trotsky. In May 1918, Lenin dispatched Stalin to the city of Tsaritsyn. Through his new allies, Kliment Voroshilov and Semyon Budyonny, Stalin imposed his influence on the military.[citation needed]

Stalin challenged many of the decisions of Trotsky, Sony VPCF22S8E Keyboard
ordered the killings of many counter-revolutionaries and former Tsarist officers in the Red Army[citation needed] and burned villages in order to intimidate the peasantry into submission and discourage bandit raids on food shipments.[citation needed] In May 1919, Sony VPCF23M1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11S1E Keyboard in order to stem mass desertions on the Western front, Stalin had deserters and renegades publicly executed as traitors.[30]

Role in the Polish-Soviet War, 1919–1921

After the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War, Poland invaded Ukraine, starting what became known as the Polish–Soviet War, Sony VPCF23Q1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF24M1E Keyboardbut the Bolsheviks pushed them back into Poland. As commander of the southern front, Stalin was determined to take the Polish-held city of Lviv. This conflicted with the general strategy set by Lenin and Trotsky, which focused on the capture of Warsaw further north. Sony VPCF231S1E Keyboard
Sony VPCF23S1E Keyboard

Trotsky's forces engaged those of Polish commander Władysław Sikorski at the Battle of Warsaw, but Stalin refused to redirect his troops from Lviv to help. Consequently, the battles for both Lviv and Warsaw were lost, and Stalin was blamed. In August 1920, Stalin returned to Moscow, where he defended himself and resigned his military command. At the Ninth Party Conference on 22 September, Trotsky openly criticized Stalin's behavior. Sony VPCF13E4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF13M0E/B Keyboard

Rise to power

Main article: Rise of Joseph Stalin

Stalin played a decisive role in engineering the 1921 Red Army invasion of Georgia, following which he adopted particularly hardline, centralist policies towards Soviet Georgia. This led to the Georgian Affair of 1922 and other repressions.[31][3Sony VPCF13E8E Keyboard
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2] Stalin's actions in Georgia created a rift with Lenin, who believed that all the Soviet states should stand equal.

Lenin nonetheless considered Stalin to be a loyal ally, and when he got mired in squabbles with Trotsky and other politicians, he decided to give Stalin more power. With the help of Lev Kamenev, Lenin had Stalin appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1922.[3Sony VPCF1318E/H Keyboard

Sony VPCF13Z0E/B Keyboard3] This post enabled Stalin to appoint many of his allies to government positions.

Stalin and Vladimir Lenin in 1919.

Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922, forcing him into semi-retirement in Gorki. Stalin visited him often, acting as his intermediary with the outside world,[33] but the pair quarreled and their relationship deteriorated.[33] Sony VPCF13M1E/B Keyboard
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Lenin dictated increasingly disparaging notes on Stalin in what would become his testament. He criticized Stalin's political views, rude manners, and excessive power and ambition, and suggested that Stalin should be removed from the position of General Secretary.[33Sony VPCF13Z8E Keyboard
Sony VPCF13Z8E/BI Keyboard

Sony VPCF13M8E/B Keyboard] During Lenin's semi-retirement, Stalin forged an alliance with Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky. These allies prevented Lenin's Testament from being revealed to the Twelfth Party Congress in April 1923.[33] Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCF12M0E/B Keyboard

Lenin died of a heart attack on 21 January 1924. Following Lenin's death, a power struggle began, which involved following seven Politburo members:[34] Nikolai Bukharin, Lev Kamenev, Alexei Rykov, Joseph Stalin, Mikhail Tomsky, Leon Trotsky, Grigory Zinoviev. Sony VPCF12Z1E/BI Keyboard
Sony VPCF13M1E/H Keyboard

Again, Kamenev and Zinoviev helped to keep Lenin's Testament from going public. Thereafter, Stalin's disputes with Kamenev and Zinoviev intensified. Trotsky, Sony VPCF21Z1E/BI Keyboard

Sony VPCF12S1E/B KeyboardKamenev and Zinoviev grew increasingly isolated, and were eventually ejected from the Central Committee and then from the Party itself.[33] Kamenev and Zinoviev were later readmitted, but Trotsky was exiled from the Soviet Union. Sony VPCF24Q1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12Z1E Keyboard

The Northern Expedition in China became a point of contention over foreign policy by Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin wanted the Communist Party of China to ally itself with the Nationalist Kuomintang, rather than attempt to implement a communist revolution. Sony VPCF23P1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF13S0E/B Keyboard Trotsky urged the party to oppose the Kuomintang and launch a full-scale revolution. Stalin funded the KMT during the expedition.[35Sony VPCF23N1E Keyboard
] Stalin countered Trotsky's criticisms by making a secret speech in which he said that the Kuomintang were the only ones capable of defeating the imperialists, that Chiang Kai-shek had funding from the rich merchants, Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard

Sony VPCF13S1E/B Keyboard and that his forces were to be utilized until squeezed for all usefulness like a lemon before being discarded.[36] However, Chiang quickly reversed the tables in the Shanghai massacre of 1927 by massacring the membership of the Communist party in Shanghai midway through the Northern Expedition.[37][38] Sony VPCY21S1E/G Keyboard
Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard

Stalin pushed for more rapid industrialization and central control of the economy, contravening Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP). At the end of 1927, a critical shortfall in grain supplies prompted Stalin to push for the collectivisation of agriculture and order the seizure of grain hoards from kulak farmers.[33][ HP Pavilion DV7-1105EA Keyboard

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39] Nikolai Bukharin and Premier Alexey Rykov opposed these policies and advocated a return to the NEP, but the rest of the Politburo sided with Stalin and removed Bukharin from the Politburo in November 1929. Rykov was fired the following year and was replaced by Vyacheslav Molotov on Stalin's recommendation. HP Pavilion DV7-1210EA Keyboard
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In December 1934, the popular Communist Party boss in Leningrad, Sergei Kirov, was murdered. Stalin blamed Kirov's murder on a vast conspiracy of saboteurs and Trotskyites. He launched a massive purge against these internal enemies, putting them on rigged show trials and then having them executed or imprisoned in Siberian Gulags. HP Pavilion DV7-1130EA Keyboard
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Among these victims were old enemies, including Bukharin, Rykov, Kamenev and Zinoviev. Stalin made the loyal Nikolai Yezhov head of the secret police, the NKVD, and had him purge the NKVD of veteran Bolsheviks. With no serious opponents left in power, HP Pavilion DV7-1213EA Keyboard
HP Pavilion DV7-1211EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-3115EA KeyboardStalin ended the purges in 1938. Yezhov was held to blame for the excesses of the Great Terror. He was dismissed from office and later executed.

Changes to Soviet society, 1927–1939

Stalin vastly increased the scope and power of the state's secret police and intelligence agencies. Under his guiding hand, Soviet intelligence forces began to set up intelligence networks in most of the major nations of the world, including Germany (the famous Rote Kappelle spy ring), Great Britain, France, Japan, and the United States. HP Pavilion DV7-1212EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-3112EA KeyboardStalin made considerable use of the Communist International movement in order to infiltrate agents and to ensure that foreign Communist parties remained pro-Soviet and pro-Stalin.

One of the best examples of Stalin's ability to integrate secret police and foreign espionage came in 1940, when he gave approval to the secret police to have Leon Trotsky assassinated in Mexico.[40]
HP Pavilion DV7-3110EA Keyboard

Cult of personality

Main article: Stalin's cult of personality

Stalin created a cult of personality in the Soviet Union around both himself and Lenin. Many personality cults in history have been frequently measured and compared to his. Numerous towns, villages and cities were renamed after the Soviet leader (see List of places named after Stalin) and the Stalin Prize and Stalin Peace Prize were named in his honor. HP Pavilion DV7-1214EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-3105EA KeyboardHe accepted grandiloquent titles (e.g., "Coryphaeus of Science," "Father of Nations," "Brilliant Genius of Humanity," "Great Architect of Communism," "Gardener of Human Happiness," and others), and helped rewrite Soviet history to provide himself a more significant role in the revolution of 1917. HP Pavilion DV7-2110SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-3101SA Keyboard At the same time, according to Nikita Khrushchev, he insisted that he be remembered for "the extraordinary modesty characteristic of truly great people."[citation needed] Statues of Stalin depict him at a height and build approximating the very tall Tsar Alexander III,
HP Pavilion DV7-3001EA Keyboard while photographic evidence suggests he was between 5 ft 5 in and 5 ft 6 in (165–168 cm).[citation needed] HP Pavilion DV7-2120SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-3020EA Keyboard

Trotsky criticized the cult of personality built around Stalin. It reached new levels during World War II, with Stalin's name included in the new Soviet national anthem. Stalin became the focus of literature, poetry, music, paintings and film that exhibited fawning devotion. HP Pavilion DV7-2230SA Keyboard
HP Pavilion DV7-3000 KeyboardHe was sometimes credited with almost god-like qualities, including the suggestion that he single-handedly won the Second World War. The degree to which Stalin himself relished the cult surrounding him is debatable. HP Pavilion DV7-4020SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4180SA KeyboardThe Finnish communist Arvo Tuominen records a sarcastic toast proposed by Stalin at a New Year Party in 1935 in which he said "Comrades! I want to propose a toast to our Patriarch, life and sun, liberator of nations, HP Pavilion DV7-4015SA Keyboard

architect of socialism [he rattled off all the appellations applied to him in those days] – Josef Vissarionovich Stalin, and I hope this is the first and last speech made to that genius this evening."[41] HP Pavilion DV7-4035SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4150EA Keyboard

In a 1956 speech, Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin's cult of personality with these words: "It is impermissible and foreign to the spirit of Marxism-Leninism to elevate one person, to transform him into a superman possessing supernatural characteristics akin to those of a god."[citation needed] HP Pavilion DV7-4040SA Keyboard

Purges and deportations

Purges and executions

Main article: Great Purge

Left: Beria's January 1940 letter to Stalin asking permission to execute 346 "enemies of the CPSU and of the Soviet authorities" who conducted "counter-revolutionary, right-Trotskyite plotting and spying activities"HP Pavilion DV7-4045SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4144EA Keyboard

Middle: Stalin's handwriting: "за" (support).

Right: The Politburo's decision is signed by Stalin

Stalin, as head of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, consolidated near-absolute power in the 1930s with a Great Purge of the party that was justified as an attempt to expel "opportunists" and "counter-revolutionary infiltrators".[4

HP Pavilion DV7-4143EA Keyboard2][43] Those targeted by the purge were often expelled from the party, however more severe measures ranged from banishment to the Gulag labor camps to execution after trials held by NKVD troikas.[42][44][45] HP Pavilion DV7-4130SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4141SA Keyboard

In the 1930s, Stalin apparently became increasingly worried about the growing popularity of the Leningrad party boss Sergei Kirov. At the 1934 Party Congress where the vote for the new Central Committee was held, Kirov received only three negative votes, the fewest of any candidate, while Stalin received at least over a hundred negative votes.[46] HP Pavilion DV7-4131SA Keyboard

[47] After the assassination of Kirov, which may have been orchestrated by Stalin, Stalin invented a detailed scheme to implicate opposition leaders in the murder, including Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev.[48] The investigations and trials expanded.[49] Stalin passed a new law on "terrorist organizations and terrorist acts" that were to be investigated for no more than ten days, HP Pavilion DV7-4132EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4140EA Keyboard with no prosecution, defense attorneys or appeals, followed by a sentence to be executed "quickly."[50]

Thereafter, several trials known as the Moscow Trials were held, but the procedures were replicated throughout the country. Article 58 of the legal code, which listed prohibited anti-Soviet activities as counterrevolutionary crime, was applied in the broadest manner.[5HP 592871-031 Keyboard

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1] The flimsiest pretexts were often enough to brand someone an "enemy of the people", starting the cycle of public persecution and abuse, often proceeding to interrogation, torture and deportation, if not death. The Russian word troika gained a new meaning: a quick, simplified trial by a committee of three subordinated to NKVD -NKVD troika- with sentencing carried out within 24 hours.[5
HP 494002-031 Keyboard 0] Stalin's hand-picked executioner, Vasili Blokhin, was entrusted with carrying out some of the high profile executions in this period.[52]

Nikolai Yezhov, walking with Stalin in the top photo from the 1930s, was killed in 1940. Following his execution, Yezhov was edited out of the photo by Soviet censors.[53] Such retouching was a common occurrence during Stalin's rule.

Many military leaders were convicted of treason and a large-scale purge of Red Army officers followed.[ HP 504611-031 Keyboard

HP 608222-031 Keyboard 54] The repression of so many formerly high-ranking revolutionaries and party members led Leon Trotsky to claim that a "river of blood" separated Stalin's regime from that of Lenin.[55] In August 1940, Trotsky was assassinated in Mexico, where he had lived in exile since January 1937; this eliminated the last of Stalin's opponents among the former Party leadership.[56] HP 578364-031 Keyboard

With the exception of Vladimir Milyutin (who died in prison in 1937) and Joseph Stalin himself, all of the members of Lenin's original cabinet who had not succumbed to death from natural causes before the purge were executed. HP 578364-B31 Keyboard

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Mass operations of the NKVD also targeted "national contingents" (foreign ethnicities) such as Poles, ethnic Germans, Koreans, etc. A total of 350,000 (144,000 of them Poles) were arrested and 247,157 (110,000 Poles) were executed.[39] HP 482280-031 Keyboard

HP 535689-031 Keyboard Many Americans who had emigrated to the Soviet Union during the worst of the Great Depression were executed; others were sent to prison camps or gulags.[57][58] Concurrent with the purges, efforts were made to rewrite the history in Soviet textbooks and other propaganda materials. HP 486279-031 Keyboard
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HP 537954-031 Keyboard Notable people executed by NKVD were removed from the texts and photographs as though they never existed. Gradually, the history of revolution was transformed to a story about just two key characters: Lenin and Stalin. HP 613386-031 Keyboard

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In light of revelations from Soviet archives, historians now estimate that nearly 700,000 people (353,074 in 1937 and 328,612 in 1938) were executed in the course of the terror,[59] with the great mass of victims merely "ordinary" Soviet citizens: workers, HP 613384-031 Keyboard

HP 468817-031 Keyboard peasants, homemakers, teachers, priests, musicians, soldiers, pensioners, ballerinas, beggars.[60][61] Many of the executed were interred in mass graves, with some of the major killing and burial sites being Bykivnia, Kurapaty and Butovo.[62] HP 613385-031 Keyboard
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Some Western experts believe the evidence released from the Soviet archives is understated, incomplete or unreliable.[63][64][65][66][67]

Stalin personally signed 357 proscription lists in 1937 and 1938 that condemned to execution some 40,000 people, and about 90% of these are confirmed to have been shot.[68] At the time, while reviewing one such list, Stalin reportedly muttered to no one in particular: HP 613332-B31 Keyboard

HP 496121-041 Keyboard "Who's going to remember all this riff-raff in ten or twenty years time? No one. Who remembers the names now of the boyars Ivan the Terrible got rid of? No one."[69] In addition, Stalin dispatched a contingent of NKVD operatives to Mongolia, HP 496120-031 Keyboard
HP 496121-031 Keyboard established a Mongolian version of the NKVD troika, and unleashed a bloody purge in which tens of thousands were executed as "Japanese Spies." Mongolian ruler Khorloogiin Choibalsan closely followed Stalin's lead.[70] HP 496771-031 Keyboard

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During the 1930s and 1940s, the Soviet leadership sent NKVD squads into other countries to murder defectors and other opponents of the Soviet regime. Victims of such plots included Yevhen Konovalets, Ignace Poretsky, Rudolf Klement, Alexander Kutepov, Evgeny Miller, Leon Trotsky and the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) leadership in Catalonia (e.g., Andreu Nin).[71] HP 606743-031 Keyboard
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Population transfer

Main article: Population transfer in the Soviet Union

Shortly before, during and immediately after World War II, Stalin conducted a series of deportations on a huge scale that profoundly affected the ethnic map of the Soviet Union. It is estimated that between 1941 and 1949 nearly 3.3 million[7HP 441541-031 Keyboard
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HP 608375-031 Keyboard 2][73] were deported to Siberia and the Central Asian republics. By some estimates up to 43% of the resettled population died of diseases and malnutrition.[74]

Separatism, resistance to Soviet rule and collaboration with the invading Germans were cited as the official reasons for the deportations, rightly or wrongly. HP 441427-031 Keyboard
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HP 536537-031 Keyboard Individual circumstances of those spending time in German-occupied territories were not examined. After the brief Nazi occupation of the Caucasus, the entire population of five of the small highland peoples and the Crimean Tatars – more than a million people in total
HP 535798-031 Keyboard – were deported without notice or any opportunity to take their possessions.[75]

As a result of Stalin's lack of trust in the loyalty of particular ethnicities, ethnic groups such as the Soviet Koreans, the Volga Germans, the Crimean Tatars, the Chechens, and many Poles were forcibly moved out of strategic areas and relocated to places in the central Soviet Union,
HP 536410-031 Keyboard especially Kazakhstan in Soviet Central Asia. By some estimates, hundreds of thousands of deportees may have died en route.[72]

According to official Soviet estimates, more than 14 million people passed through the Gulag from 1929 to 1953, with a further 7 to 8 million being deported and exiled to remote areas of the Soviet Union (including the entire nationalities in several cases).[76] HP 4593298-031 Keyboard

HP 613385-031 Keyboard

In February 1956, Nikita Khrushchev condemned the deportations as a violation of Leninism, and reversed most of them, although it was not until 1991 that the Tatars, Meskhetians and Volga Germans were allowed to return en masse to their homelands. HP 643263-031 Keyboard

HP 486279-031 Keyboard The deportations had a profound effect on the peoples of the Soviet Union. The memory of the deportations has played a major part in the separatist movements in the Baltic States, Tatarstan and Chechnya, even today. HP 633183-031 Keyboard

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Collectivization

Main article: Collectivization in the Soviet Union

Children are digging up frozen potatoes in the field of a collective farm, 1933

Stalin's regime moved to force collectivization of agriculture. This was intended to increase agricultural output from large-scale mechanized farms, to bring the peasantry under more direct political control, and to make tax collection more efficient. HP 633736-031 Keyboard
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HP 605814-031 Keyboard Collectivization brought social change on a scale not seen since the abolition of serfdom in 1861 and alienation from control of the land and its produce. Collectivization also meant a drastic drop in living standards for many peasants, and it faced violent reaction among the peasantry. HP 491274-031 Keyboard
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In the first years of collectivization it was estimated that industrial production would rise by 200% and agricultural production by 50%,[77] but these expectations were not realized. Stalin blamed this unanticipated failure on kulaks (rich peasants), HP 456624-031 Keyboard
HP 665917-031 Keyboard who resisted collectivization. However, kulaks proper made up only 4% of the peasant population; the "kulaks" that Stalin targeted included the slightly better-off peasants who took the brunt of violence from the OGPU and the Komsomol. These peasants were about 60% of the population. Those officially defined as "kulaks," HP 634139-031 Keyboard

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"kulak helpers," and later "ex-kulaks" were to be shot, placed into Gulag labor camps, or deported to remote areas of the country, depending on the charge. Archival data indicates that 20,201 people were executed during 1930, the year of Dekulakization.[70] HP 644363-031 Keyboard

The two-stage progress of collectivization—interrupted for a year by Stalin's famous editorials, "Dizzy with success"[78] and "Reply to Collective Farm Comrades"[79]—is a prime example of his capacity for tactical political withdrawal followed by intensification of initial strategies. HP 640436-031 Keyboard

Famines

Main article: Soviet famine of 1932–1933

Famine in USSR, 1933. Areas of most disastrous famine marked with black.

Passers-by no longer pay attention to the corpses of starved peasants on a street in Kharkiv, 1933.

Famine affected other parts of the USSR. The death toll from famine in the Soviet Union at this time is estimated at between 5 and 10 million people.[80HP 665326-031 Keyboard

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] The worst crop failure of late tsarist Russia, in 1892, had caused 375,000 to 400,000 deaths.[81] Most modern scholars agree that the famine was caused by the policies of the government of the Soviet Union under Stalin, rather than by natural reasons.[82] According to Alan Bullock, "the total Soviet grain crop was no worse than that of 1931 .. HP 640426-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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. it was not a crop failure but the excessive demands of the state, ruthlessly enforced, that cost the lives of as many as five million Ukrainian peasants." Stalin refused to release large grain reserves that could have alleviated the famine, while continuing to export grain;

HP 531941-001 CPU fan with heatsinkhe was convinced that the Ukrainian peasants had hidden grain away and strictly enforced draconian new collective-farm theft laws in response.[83][84] Other historians hold it was largely the insufficient harvests of 1931 and 1932 caused by a variety of natural disasters that resulted in famine, with the successful harvest of 1933 ending the famine.[85] HP 641477-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 498480-001 CPU fan with heatsink Soviet and other historians have argued that the rapid collectivization of agriculture was necessary in order to achieve an equally rapid industrialization of the Soviet Union and ultimately win World War II. Alec Nove claims that the Soviet Union industrialized in spite of,

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HP 487436-001 CPU fan with heatsinkrather than because of, its collectivized agriculture.[citation needed]

The USSR also experienced a major famine in 1947 as a result of war damage and severe droughts, but economist Michael Ellman argues that it could have been prevented if the government had not mismanaged its grain reserves. The famine cost an estimated 1 to 1.5 million lives as well as secondary population losses due to reduced fertility.[86] HP 650848-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Ukrainian famine

Main article: Holodomor

The Holodomor famine is sometimes referred to as the Ukrainian Genocide, implying it was engineered by the Soviet government, specifically targeting the Ukrainian people to destroy the Ukrainian nation as a political factor and social entity.[87] HP 653627-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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[88][89][90] While historians continue to disagree whether the policies that led to Holodomor fall under the legal definition of genocide, twenty-six countries have officially recognized the Holodomor as such. On 28 November 2006, HP 666391-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 443917-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe Ukrainian Parliament approved a bill declaring the Soviet-era forced famine an act of genocide against the Ukrainian people.[91] Professor Michael Ellman concludes that Ukrainians were victims of genocide in 1932–33 according to a more relaxed definition that is favored by some specialists in the field of genocide studies. HP 650057-001 CPU fan with heatsink

He asserts that Soviet policies greatly exacerbated the famine's death toll. Although 1.8 million tonnes of grain were exported during the height of the starvation—enough to feed 5 million people for one year-the use of torture and execution to extract grain under the Law of Spikelets,

HP 657529-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe use of force to prevent starving peasants from fleeing the worst-affected areas, and the refusal to import grain or secure international humanitarian aid to alleviate conditions led to incalculable human suffering in the Ukraine. It would appear that Stalin intended to use the starvation as a cheap and efficient means HP 532141-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 642731-001 CPU fan with heatsink (as opposed to deportations and shootings) to kill off those deemed to be "counterrevolutionaries," "idlers," and "thieves," but not to annihilate the Ukrainian peasantry as a whole. Ellman also claims that, while this was not the only Soviet genocide (e.g., the Polish operation of the NKVD), it was the worst in terms of mass casualties.[68]

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Current estimates on the total number of casualties within Soviet Ukraine range mostly from 2.2 million[92][93] to 4 to 5 million.[94][95][96]

A Ukrainian court found Josef Stalin and other leaders of the former Soviet Union guilty of genocide by "organizing mass famine in Ukraine in 1932–1933" in January 2010. However, the court "dropped criminal proceedings over the suspects' deaths".[97][98] HP 532605-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Industrialization

The Russian Civil War and wartime communism had a devastating effect on the country's economy. Industrial output in 1922 was 13% of that in 1914. A recovery followed under the New Economic Policy, which allowed a degree of market flexibility within the context of socialism.

HP 637607-001 CPU fan with heatsinkUnder Stalin's direction, this was replaced by a system of centrally ordained "Five-Year Plans" in the late 1920s. These called for a highly ambitious program of state-guided crash industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture.

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Stalin on building of Moscow-Volga canal. It was constructed from 1932 to 1937 by Gulag prisoners.

With seed capital unavailable because of international reaction to Communist policies, little international trade, and virtually no modern infrastructure, HP 534675-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 631742-001 CPU fan with heatsinkStalin's government financed industrialization both by restraining consumption on the part of ordinary Soviet citizens to ensure that capital went for re-investment into industry, and by ruthless extraction of wealth from the kulaks. HP 534676-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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In 1933 workers' real earnings sank to about one-tenth of the 1926 level.[citation needed] Common and political prisoners in labor camps were forced to perform unpaid labor, and communists and Komsomol members were frequently "mobilized" for variousHP 534684-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 608378-001 CPU fan with heatsink construction projects. The Soviet Union used numerous foreign experts to design new factories, supervise construction, instruct workers and improve manufacturing processes. The most notable foreign contractor was Albert Kahn's firm that designed and built 521 factories between 1930 and 1932. As a rule, factories were supplied with imported equipment. HP 534685-001 CPU fan with heatsink

In spite of early breakdowns and failures, the first two Five-Year Plans achieved rapid industrialization from a very low economic base. While it is generally agreed that the Soviet Union achieved significant levels of economic growth under Stalin, HP 576837-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 608229-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe precise rate of growth is disputed. It is not disputed, however, that these gains were accomplished at the cost of millions of lives. Official Soviet estimates stated the annual rate of growth at 13.9%;HP 602472-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Russian and Western estimates gave lower figures of 5.8% and even 2.9%. Indeed, one estimate is that Soviet growth became temporarily much higher after Stalin's death.[99][100]

According to Robert Lewis, the Five-Year Plan substantially helped to modernize the previously backward Soviet economy. New products were developed, HP 603691-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 608095-001 CPU fan with heatsink and the scale and efficiency of existing production greatly increased. Some innovations were based on indigenous technical developments, others on imported foreign technology.[101] Despite its costs, the industrialization effort allowed the Soviet Union to fight, and ultimately win, World War II. HP 604787-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Science

Main articles: Science and technology in the Soviet Union and Suppressed research in the Soviet Union

Science in the Soviet Union was under strict ideological control by Stalin and his government, along with art and literature. There was significant progress in "ideologically safe" domains, owing to the free Soviet education system and state-financed research. HP 606574-001 CPU fan with heatsink

However, the most notable legacy during Stalin's time was his public endorsement of the agronomist Trofim Lysenko, who rejected Mendelian genetics as "bourgeois pseudoscience" and instead supported hybridization theories that caused widespread agricultural destruction and major setbacks in Soviet knowledge in biology. HP 606575-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 608010-001 CPU fan with heatsinkAlthough many scientists opposed his views, those who publicly came out were imprisoned and denounced. Some areas of physics were criticized.[102][103]

Social services HP 606729-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Under the Soviet government people benefited from some social liberalization. Girls were given an adequate, equal education and women had equal rights in employment,[39] improving lives for women and families. Stalinist development also contributed to advances in health care, which significantly increased the lifespan and quality of life of the typical Soviet citizen.[ HP 606731-001 CPU fan with heatsink39] Stalin's policies granted the Soviet people universal access to healthcare and education, effectively creating the first generation free from the fear of typhus, cholera, and malaria.[39] The occurrences of these diseases dropped to record low numbers, increasing life spans by decades.[39] HP 6608231-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Soviet women under Stalin were the first generation of women able to give birth in the safety of a hospital with access to prenatal care.[39] Education was also an example of an increase in the standard of living after economic development. HP 480481-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610777-001 CPU fan with heatsink The generation born during Stalin's rule was the first near-universally literate generation. Millions benefited from mass literacy campaigns in the 1930s, and from workers training schemes.[10HP 533736-001 CPU fan with heatsink

4] Engineers were sent abroad to learn industrial technology, and hundreds of foreign engineers were brought to Russia on contract.[39HP 535441-001 CPU fan with heatsink

] Transport links were improved and many new railways built. Workers who exceeded their quotas, Stakhanovites, received many incentives for their work;[104] they could afford to buy the goods that were mass-produced by the rapidly expanding Soviet economy. HP 535442-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The increase in demand due to industrialization and the decrease in the workforce due to World War II and repressions generated a major expansion in job opportunities for the survivors, especially for women.[104] HP 643258-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Culture

Main article: Socialist Realism

Propaganda portrait of "Marshal Stalin", World War II

Although he was Georgian by birth, some western historians claim that Stalin became a Russian nationalist[105] and significantly promoted Russian history, language, and Russian national heroes, particularly during the 1930s and 1940s[citation needed]. There are also claims that he held the Russian people up as the elder brothers of the non-Russian minorities.[106HP 655983-001 CPU fan with heatsink

]

During Stalin's reign the official and long-lived style of Socialist Realism was established for painting, sculpture, music, drama and literature. Previously fashionable "revolutionary" expressionism, abstract art, and avant-garde experimentation were discouraged or denounced as "formalism".

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The degree of Stalin's personal involvement in general, and in specific instances, has been the subject of discussion.[citation needed] Stalin's favorite novel Pharaoh, shared similarities[citation needed] with Sergei Eisenstein's film, Ivan the Terrible, produced under Stalin's tutelage. HP 657942-001 CPU fan with heatsink

In architecture, a Stalinist Empire Style (basically, updated neoclassicism on a very large scale, exemplified by the Seven Sisters of Moscow) replaced the constructivism of the 1920s. Stalin's rule had a largely disruptive effect on indigenous cultures within the Soviet Union,

HP 610774-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthough the politics of Korenizatsiya and forced development were possibly beneficial to the integration of later generations of indigenous cultures.

Religion

Main article: Religion in the Soviet Union

Raised in the Georgian Orthodox faith, Stalin became an atheist. He followed the position that religion was an opiate that needed to be removed in order to construct the ideal communist society. His government promoted atheism through special atheistic education in schools, HP 646578-001 CPU fan with heatsink

anti-religious propaganda, the antireligious work of public institutions (Society of the Godless), discriminatory laws, and a terror campaign against religious believers. By the late 1930s it had become dangerous to be publicly associated with religion.[107] HP 606609-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Stalin's role in the fortunes of the Russian Orthodox Church is complex. Continuous persecution in the 1930s resulted in its near-extinction as a public institution: by 1939, active parishes numbered in the low hundreds (down from 54,000 in 1917), HP 612355-001 CPU fan with heatsink

many churches had been leveled, and tens of thousands of priests, monks and nuns were persecuted and killed. Over 100,000 were shot during the purges of 1937–1938.[108][10HP 606014-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 606013-001 CPU fan with heatsink9] During World War II, the Church was allowed a revival as a patriotic organization, and thousands of parishes were reactivated until a further round of suppression during Khrushchev's rule. The Russian Orthodox Church Synod's recognition of the Soviet government and of Stalin personally led to a schism with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. HP 610778-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Just days before Stalin's death, certain religious sects were outlawed and persecuted. Many religions popular in ethnic regions of the Soviet Union, including the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, Baptists, Islam, Buddhism, HP 631743-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 576838-001 CPU fan with heatsinkand Judaism underwent ordeals similar to that which the Orthodox churches in other parts of the country suffered: thousands of monks were persecuted, and hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, HP 622029-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 434678-001 CPU fan with heatsinksacred monuments, monasteries and other religious buildings were razed. Stalin had a different policy outside the Soviet Union; he supported the Communist Uyghur Muslim separatists under Ehmetjan Qasim in the Ili Rebellion against the Anti Communist Republic of China regime. HP 532613-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 431448-001 CPU fan with heatsinkHe supplied weapons to the Uyghur Ili army and Red Army support against Chinese forces, and helped them establish the Second East Turkestan Republic of which Islam was the official state religion.

Theorist

Main article: Stalinism

Stalin and his supporters have highlighted the notion that socialism can be built and consolidated by a country ("Socialism in One Country") as underdeveloped as Russia during the 1920s. Indeed this might be the only means in which it could be built in a hostile environment.[1HP 582321-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 450864-001 CPU fan with heatsink10] In 1933, Stalin put forward the theory of aggravation of the class struggle along with the development of socialism, arguing that the further the country would move forward, the more acute forms of struggle will be used by the doomed remnants of exploiter classes in their last desperate efforts – and that, therefore, political repression was necessary.

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In 1936, Stalin announced that the society of the Soviet Union consisted of two non-antagonistic classes: workers and kolkhoz peasantry. These corresponded to the two different forms of property over the means of production that existed in the Soviet Union: state property (for the workers) and collective property (for the peasantry). In addition to these, HP 532614-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 493001-001 CPU fan with heatsinkStalin distinguished the stratum of intelligentsia. The concept of "non-antagonistic classes" was entirely new to Leninist theory. Among Stalin's contributions to Communist theoretical literature were "Dialectical and Historical Materialism," "Marxism and the National Question", "Trotskyism or Leninism", and "The Principles of Leninism." HP 587244-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Calculating the number of victims

Before the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, researchers who attempted to count the number of people killed under Stalin's regime produced estimates ranging from 3 to 60 million.[111] After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the Soviet archives also became available, containing official records of 799,455 executions 1921-53,[11HP 535438-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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2] around 1.7 million deaths in the Gulags and some 390,000 deaths during kulak forced resettlement – with a total of about 3 million officially recorded victims in these categories.[113]

Photo from 1943 exhumation of mass grave of Polish officers killed by NKVD in Katyń Forest in 1940.

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The official Soviet archival records do not contain comprehensive figures for some categories of victims, such as those of ethnic deportations or of German population transfers in the aftermath of World War II.[114] Eric D. Weitz wrote, "By 1948, according to Nicolas Werth, the mortality rate of the 600,000 people deported from the Caucasus between 1943 and 1944 had reached 25%."[115][116]

HP 491572-001 CPU fan with heatsink Other notable exclusions from NKVD data on repression deaths include the Katyn massacre, other killings in the newly occupied areas, and the mass shootings of Red Army personnel (deserters and so-called deserters) in 1941. HP 486799-001 CPU fan with heatsink The Soviets executed 158,000 soldiers for desertion during the war,[117] and the "blocking detachments" of the NKVD shot thousands more.[118] Dell Latitude E4310 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Keyboard Also, the official statistics on Gulag mortality exclude deaths of prisoners taking place shortly after their release but which resulted from the harsh treatment in the camps.[119] Some historians also believe that the official archival figures of the categories that were recorded by Soviet authorities are unreliable and incomplete.[12Dell Latitude E4320 Keyboard

0][121] In addition to failures regarding comprehensive recordings, as one additional example, Robert Gellately and Simon Sebag Montefiore argue that the many suspects beaten and tortured to death while in "investigative custody" were likely not to have been counted amongst the executed.[39][122] Dell Latitude E4200 Keyboard

Historians working after the Soviet Union's dissolution have estimated victim totals ranging from approximately 4 million to nearly 10 million, not including those who died in famines.[123][124

Dell Latitude E6430S Keyboard ][125] Russian writer Vadim Erlikman, for example, makes the following estimates: executions, 1.5 million; gulags, 5 million; deportations, 1.7 million out of 7.5 million deported; and POWs and German civilians, 1 million – a total of about 9 million victims of repression.[126]

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Some have also included the deaths of 6 to 8 million people in the 1932–1933 famine among the victims of Stalin's repression. This categorization is controversial however, as historians differ as to whether the famine was a deliberate part of the campaign of repression against kulaks and others,[68][127][128][129] Dell Latitude E4300 Keyboard

[130] or simply an unintended consequence of the struggle over forced collectivization.[84][131][132]

Accordingly, if famine victims are included, a minimum of around 10 million deaths—6 million from famine and 4 million from other causes—are attributable to the regime,[133] with a number of recent historians suggesting a likely total of around 20 million, citing much higher victim totals from executions, gulags, deportations and other causes.[134][135][136][1Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard

37][138][139][140] Adding 6–8 million famine victims to Erlikman's estimates above, for example, would yield a total of between 15 and 17 million victims. Researcher Robert Conquest, meanwhile, has revised his original estimate of up to 30 million victims down to 20 million.[141] In his most recent edition of The Great Terror (2007), Dell Latitude E5400 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6430 Keyboard Conquest states that while exact numbers may never be known with complete certainty, the various terror campaigns launched by the Soviet government claimed no fewer than 15 million lives.[142] Others maintain that their earlier higher victim total estimates are correct.[143][144] Dell Latitude E5410 Keyboard

World War II, 1939–1945

Main article: Soviet Union in World War II

Ribbentrop and Stalin at the signing of the Pact

Pact with Hitler

After a failed attempt to sign an anti-German military alliance with France and Britain[145][146][147] and talks with Germany regarding a potential political deal,[148][149][150

Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Keyboard ][151] on 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union entered into a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, negotiated by Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop.[152] Officially a non-aggression treaty only, an appended secret protocol, also reached on 23 August 193Dell Latitude E5500 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6330 Keyboard 9, divided the whole of eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.[153][154]

The eastern part of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and part of Romania were recognized as parts of the Soviet sphere of influence,[15Dell Latitude E5510 Keyboard

4] with Lithuania added in a second secret protocol in September 1939.[155] Stalin and Ribbentrop traded toasts on the night of the signing discussing past hostilities between the countries.[156]

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Implementing the division of Eastern Europe and other invasions

On 1 September 1939, the German invasion of its agreed upon portion of Poland started World War II.[152] On 17 September the Red Army invaded eastern Poland and occupied the Polish territory assigned to it by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, followed by co-ordination with German forces in Poland.[157

Dell Latitude E6220 Keyboard ][158] Eleven days later, the secret protocol of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was modified, allotting Germany a larger part of Poland, while ceding most of Lithuania to the Soviet Union.[159] Dell Latitude E5420 Keyboard

Planned and actual territorial changes in Eastern and Central Europe 1939–1940 (click to enlarge)

After Stalin declared that he was going to "solve the Baltic problem", by June 1940, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were merged into the Soviet Union, after repressions and actions therein brought about the deaths of over 160,000 citizens of these states.[160][161] Dell Latitude E5520 Keyboard

[162] After facing stiff resistance in an invasion of Finland,[163] an interim peace was entered, granting the Soviet Union the eastern region of Karelia (10% of Finnish territory).[163] Dell Latitude E6420 Keyboard

After this campaign, Stalin took actions to bolster the Soviet military, modify training and improve propaganda efforts in the Soviet military.[164] In June 1940, Stalin directed the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, Dell Latitude E6520 Keyboard

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Dell Latitude E6120 Keyboard proclaiming this formerly Romanian territory part of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. But in annexing northern Bukovina, Stalin had gone beyond the agreed limits of the secret protocol.[165]

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Stalin and Molotov on the signing of the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact with the Empire of Japan, 1941

After the Tripartite Pact was signed by Axis Powers Germany, Japan and Italy, in October 1940, Stalin traded letters with Ribbentrop, with Stalin writing about entering an agreement regarding a "permanent basis" for their "mutual interests."[166] After a conference in Berlin between Hitler, Molotov and Ribbentrop,

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Dell Precision M6500 Keyboard Germany presented Molotov with a proposed written agreement for Axis entry.[167] On 25 November, Stalin responded with a proposed written agreement for Axis entry which was never answered by Germany. Shortly thereafter, Hitler issued a secret directive on the eventual attempts to invade the Soviet Union.[168Dell Latitude E6530 Keyboard

Dell Precision M6400 Keyboard ] In an effort to demonstrate peaceful intentions toward Germany, on 13 April 1941, Stalin oversaw the signing of a neutrality pact with Axis power Japan.[169]

Hitler breaks the pact Dell Latitude E5220 Keyboard

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During the early morning of 22 June 1941, Adolf Hitler broke the pact by implementing Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of Soviet held territories and the Soviet Union that began the war on the Eastern Front.[17Dell Latitude E5420M Keyboard

Dell Precision M6600 Keyboard 0] Already in autumn 1940 Stalin received a warning of the Dutch communist party, via the network of the Red Orchestra, that Hitler was preparing for a winter war by letting construct thousands of snow landing gears for the Junkers Ju 52 transport planes.[171] Although Stalin had received warnings from spies and his generals,[172][173][174][ Dell Latitude E6400 Keyboard

175][176] he felt that Germany would not attack the Soviet Union until Germany had defeated Britain.[172] In the initial hours after the German attack commenced, Stalin hesitated, wanting to ensure that the German attack was sanctioned by Hitler, rather than the unauthorized action of a rogue general.[39] Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard

Accounts by Nikita Khrushchev and Anastas Mikoyan claim that, after the invasion, Stalin retreated to his dacha in despair for several days and did not participate in leadership decisions.[177

Dell Precision M4600 Keyboard ] However, some documentary evidence of orders given by Stalin contradicts these accounts, leading some historians to speculate that Khrushchev's account is inaccurate.[178] By the end of 1941, the Soviet military had suffered 4.3 million casualties[179] and German forces had advanced 1,050 miles (1,690 kilometers).[180] Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Keyboard

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Soviets stop the Germans

With all the men at the Front, Moscow women dig anti-tank trenches around Moscow in 1941.

While the Germans pressed forward, Stalin was confident of an eventual Allied victory over Germany. In September 1941, Stalin told British diplomats that he wanted two agreements: (1) a mutual assistance/aid pact and (2) Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Keyboard

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a recognition that, after the war, the Soviet Union would gain the territories in countries that it had taken pursuant to its division of Eastern Europe with Hitler in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The British agreed to assistance but refused to agree upon the territorial gains, which Stalin accepted months later as the military situation deteriorated somewhat in mid-1942.[1Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Keyboard

Dell Latitude E5430 Keyboard 81] By December 1941, Hitler's troops had advanced to within 20 miles of the Kremlin in Moscow. On 5 December, the Soviets launched a counteroffensive, pushing German troops back 40–50 miles from Moscow, the Wehrmacht's first significant defeat of the war.[182] Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

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In 1942, Hitler shifted his primary goal from an immediate victory in the East, to the more long-term goal of securing the southern Soviet Union to conquer oil fields vital to a long-term German war effort.[183] In July 1942, Hitler praised the efficiency of the Soviet military industry and Stalin: Dell Latitude E4320 Battery

Stalin, too, must command our unconditional respect. In his own way he is a hell of a fellow! (German: ein genialer Kerl) He knows his models, Genghiz Khan and the others, very well, and the scope of his industrial planning is exceeded only by our own Four Year Plan.[184] Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

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While Red Army generals saw evidence that Hitler would shift efforts south, Stalin considered this to be a flanking campaign in efforts to take Moscow.[185] During the war, Time magazine named Stalin Time Person of the Year twice[186] and he was also one of the nominees for Time Person of the Century title.[citation needed] Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

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Soviet push to Germany

The center of Stalingrad after liberation, February 2, 1943.

The Soviets repulsed the important German strategic southern campaign and, although 2.5 million Soviet casualties were suffered in that effort, it permitted the Soviets to take the offensive for most of the rest of the war on the Eastern Front.[187] Dell Latitude E5400 Battery

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The Big Three: Stalin, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Tehran Conference, November 1943.

Germany attempted an encirclement attack at Kursk, which was successfully repulsed by the Soviets.[188] Kursk marked the beginning of a period where Stalin became more willing to listen to the advice of his generals. By the end of 1943, Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

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Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Batterythe Soviets occupied half of the territory taken by the Germans from 1941–1942.[189] Soviet military industrial output also had increased substantially from late 1941 to early 1943 after Stalin had moved factories well to the East of the front, safe from German invasion and air attack.[190] Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

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In November 1943, Stalin met with Churchill and Roosevelt in Tehran.[191] The parties later agreed that Britain and America would launch a cross-channel invasion of France in May 1944, along with a separate invasion of southern France.[192] Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

Dell Latitude E6420-ATG BatteryStalin insisted that, after the war, the Soviet Union should incorporate the portions of Poland it occupied pursuant to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany, which Churchill opposed.[193]

In 1944, the Soviet Union made significant advances across Eastern Europe toward Germany,[194] including Operation Bagration, a massive offensive in Belorussia against the German Army Group Centre.[

Final victory

Victorious Soviet soldiers in Berlin, 1945.

By April 1945, Nazi Germany faced its last days with 1.9 million German soldiers in the East fighting 6.4 million Red Army soldiers while 1 million German soldiers in the West battled 4 million Western Allied soldiers.[196195] Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

Dell Latitude E6220 Battery] While initial talk existed of a race to Berlin by the Allies, after Stalin successfully lobbied for Eastern Germany to fall within the Soviet "sphere of influence" at Yalta, no plans were made by the Western Allies to seize the city by a ground operation.[197][198] Dell Latitude E6520 Battery

On 30 April, Hitler and Eva Braun committed suicide, after which Soviet forces found their remains, which had been burned at Hitler's directive.[199] German forces surrendered a few days later. Despite the Soviets' possession of Hitler's remains, Stalin did not believe that his old nemesis was actually dead, a belief that remained for years after the war.[200][201] Dell Latitude E5530 Battery

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Fending off the German invasion and pressing to victory in the East required a tremendous sacrifice by the Soviet Union.[202] Soviet military casualties totaled approximately 35 million (official figures 28.2 million) with approximately 14.7 million killed, missing or captured (official figures 11.285 million).[20Dell Latitude E6520N Battery

3] Although figures vary, the Soviet civilian death toll probably reached 20 million.[203] One in four Soviets was killed or wounded.[204] Some 1,710 towns and 70,000 villages were destroyed.[205][206] Thereafter, Stalin was at times referred to as one of the most influential men in human history.[207][208] Dell Latitude E6530 Battery

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Nobel Peace Prize nominations

In 1945, he was mentioned by Halvdan Koht among seven candidates that were qualified for the Nobel Peace Prize. However, he did not explicitly nominate any of them. The person actually nominated was Cordell Hull.[209]

In 1948, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Wladislav Rieger.[210]

Human rights abuses

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Part of 5 March 1940 memo from Lavrentiy Beria to Stalin proposing execution of Polish officers

After taking around 300,000 Polish prisoners in 1939 and early 1940,[211][212][212][213][214] 25,700 Polish POWs were executed on 5 March 1940, pursuant to a note to Stalin from Lavrenty Beria,[215][216] in what became known as the Katyn massacre.[217][215][ Dell Latitude E5220 Battery

Dell Precision M4500 Battery218] While Stalin personally told a Polish general they'd "lost track" of the officers in Manchuria,[219][220][221] Polish railroad workers found the mass grave after the 1941 Nazi invasion.[222] Dell Latitude E5420M Battery

Dell Precision M6600 Battery The massacre became a source of political controversy,[223][224] with the Soviets eventually claiming that Germany committed the executions when the Soviet Union retook Poland in 1944.[215][225] The Soviets did not admit responsibility until 1990.[226] Dell Latitude E6400 Battery

Stalin introduced controversial military orders, such as Order No. 270, requiring superiors to shoot deserters on the spot[227] while their family members were subject to arrest. Thereafter, Stalin also conducted a purge of several military commanders that were shot for "cowardice" without a trial.[118] Stalin issued Order No. 227, Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

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Dell Precision M4600 Battery directing that commanders permitting retreat without permission to be subject to a military tribunal, and soldiers guilty of disciplinary procedures to be forced into "penal battalions", which were sent to the most dangerous sections of the front lines.[2Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery

28] From 1942 to 1945, 427,910 soldiers were assigned to penal battalions.[229] The order also directed "blocking detachments" to shoot fleeing panicked troops at the rear.[228]

In June 1941, weeks after the German invasion began, Stalin also directed employing a scorched earth policy of destroying the infrastructure and food supplies of areas before the Germans could seize them, and that partisans were to be set up in evacuated areas.[178] Dell Latitude E6410 Battery

Dell Precision M2400 Battery He also ordered the NKVD to murder around one hundred thousand political prisoners in areas where the Wermacht approached,[230] while others were deported east.[120][231][232] Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Battery

After the capture of Berlin, Soviet troops reportedly raped from tens of thousands to two million women,[233] and 50,000 during and after the occupation of Budapest.[234] Dell Latitude E5430 Battery

[235] Many of these women died or committed suicide as a result of rape. In former Axis countries, such as Germany, Romania and Hungary, Red Army officers generally viewed cities, villages and farms as being open to pillaging and looting.[236] Dell XPS 14 Battery

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In the Soviet Occupation Zone of post-war Germany, the Soviets set up ten NKVD-run "special camps" subordinate to the gulag.[237] These "special camps" were former Stalags, prisons, or Nazi concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen (special camp number 7) and Buchenwald (special camp number 2).[2Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

Dell Inspiron 13R battery38] According to German government estimates, "65,000 people died in those Soviet-run camps or in transportation to them."[239]

According to recent figures, of an estimated four million POWs taken by the Soviets, including Germans, Japanese, Hungarians, Romanians and others, some 580,000 never returned, presumably victims of privation or the Gulags.[240Dell XPS 15 Battery

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Dell Inspiron N4110 battery] German estimates put the actual death toll of German POW in the USSR at about 1.0 million, they maintain that among those reported as missing were men who actually died as POW.[241] Soviet POWs and forced laborers who survived German captivity were sent to special "transit" or "filtration" camps to determine which were potential traitors.[242Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery

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Of the approximately 4 million to be repatriated 2,660,013 were civilians and 1,539,475 were former POWs. Of the total, 2,427,906 were sent home and 801,152 were reconscripted into the armed forces. 608,095 were enrolled in the work battalions of the defense ministry. Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

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Dell Inspiron N5010D battery 272,867 were transferred to the authority of the NKVD for punishment, which meant a transfer to the Gulag system.[242][243][244] 89,468 remained in the transit camps as reception personnel until the repatriation process was finally wound up in the early 1950s.[242] Dell XPS L702X Battery

Allied conferences on post-war Europe

The Big Three: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945.

Stalin met in several conferences with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (and later Clement Attlee) and/or U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt (and later Harry Truman) to plan military strategy and, later, to discuss Europe's postwar reorganization. Very early conferences, Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

Dell Inspiron 17R batterysuch as that with British diplomats in Moscow in 1941 and with Churchill and American diplomats in Moscow in 1942, focused mostly upon war planning and supply, though some preliminary postwar reorganization discussion also occurred. In 1943, Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery

Dell Inspiron N7010 batteryStalin met with Churchill and Roosevelt in the Tehran Conference. In 1944, Stalin met with Churchill in the Moscow Conference. Beginning in late 1944, the Red Army occupied much of Eastern Europe during these conferences and the discussions shifted to a more intense focus on the reorganization of postwar Europe. Dell XPS L501X Battery

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In February 1945, at the conference at Yalta, Stalin demanded a Soviet sphere of political influence in Eastern Europe. Stalin eventually was convinced by Churchill and Roosevelt not to dismember Germany. Stalin also stated that the Polish government-in-exile demands for self-rule were not negotiable, Dell XPS L701X Battery

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Dell Inspiron N4010R battery such that the Soviet Union would keep the territory of eastern Poland they had already taken by invasion with German consent in 1939, and wanted the pro-Soviet Polish government installed. After resistance by Churchill and Roosevelt,

Dell Inspiron N4010D batteryStalin promised a re-organization of the current Communist puppet government on a broader democratic basis in Poland.[245] He stated the new government's primary task would be to prepare elections.[246] Dell Inspiron N4020 battery

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The parties at Yalta further agreed that the countries of liberated Europe and former Axis satellites would be allowed to "create democratic institutions of their own choice", pursuant to "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live."[2

Dell Inspiron N3010 battery47] The parties also agreed to help those countries form interim governments "pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections" and "facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections."[247] Dell Inspiron N7110 battery

Dell Inspiron N3010R battery After the re-organization of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland, the parties agreed that the new party shall "be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot."[247] One month after Yalta, Dell Inspiron N7010R battery

Dell Inspiron N5010R battery the Soviet NKVD arrested 16 Polish leaders wishing to participate in provisional government negotiations, for alleged "crimes" and "diversions", which drew protest from the West.[246] The fraudulent Polish elections, held in January 1947 resulted in Poland's official transformation to undemocratic communist state by 1949. Dell Inspiron N7010D battery

British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, July 1945.

At the Potsdam Conference from July to August 1945, though Germany had surrendered months earlier, instead of withdrawing Soviet forces from Eastern European countries, Stalin had not moved those forces. At the beginning of the conference, Dell Inspiron N5110 battery

Dell Inspiron N5030 batteryStalin repeated previous promises to Churchill that he would refrain from a "Sovietization" of Eastern Europe.[248] Stalin pushed for reparations from Germany without regard to the base minimum supply for German citizens' survival, Sony VPCF12K4E Keyboard

which worried Truman and Churchill who thought that Germany would become a financial burden for Western powers.[249]

In addition to reparations, Stalin pushed for "war booty", which would permit the Soviet Union to directly seize property from conquered nations without quantitative or qualitative limitation, and a clause was added permitting this to occur with some limitations.[249] Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12B4E Keyboard By July 1945, Stalin's troops effectively controlled the Baltic States, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and refugees were fleeing out of these countries fearing a Communist take-over. The western allies, Sony VPCF13B4E Keyboard

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and especially Churchill, were suspicious of the motives of Stalin, who had already installed communist governments in the central European countries under his influence.

In these conferences, his first appearances on the world stage, Stalin proved to be a formidable negotiator. Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Secretary noted: Sony VPCF13C5E Keyboard

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"Marshal Stalin as a negotiator was the toughest proposition of all. Indeed, after something like thirty years' experience of international conferences of one kind and another, if I had to pick a team for going into a conference room, Stalin would be my first choice. Sony VPCF13E1E Keyboard

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Sony VPCF12A4E KeyboardOf course the man was ruthless and of course he knew his purpose. He never wasted a word. He never stormed, he was seldom even irritated."[250]

Post-war era, 1945–1953

The Iron Curtain and the Eastern Bloc

After Soviet forces remained in Eastern and Central European countries, with the beginnings of communist puppet regimes in those countries, Churchill referred to the region as being behind an "Iron Curtain" of control from Moscow.[251Sony VPCF13G4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11M4E Keyboard][252] The countries under Soviet control in Eastern and Central Europe were sometimes called the "Eastern bloc" or "Soviet Bloc".

The Eastern Bloc until 1989

In Soviet-controlled East Germany, the major task of the ruling communist party in Germany was to channel Soviet orders down to both the administrative apparatus and the other bloc parties pretending that these were initiatives of its own, with deviations potentially leading to reprimands, imprisonment, torture and even death. Sony VPCF13H4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11K4E KeyboardProperty and industry were nationalized.[253]

The German Democratic Republic was declared on 7 October 1949, with a new constitution which enshrined socialism and gave the Soviet-controlled Socialist Unity Party (SED) control. In Berlin, after citizens strongly rejected communist candidates in an election, Sony VPCF13J4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboardin June 1948, the Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin, the portion of Berlin not under Soviet control, cutting off all supply of food and other items. The blockade failed due to the unexpected massive aerial resupply campaign carried out by the Western powers known as the Berlin Airlift. In 1949, Stalin conceded defeat and ended the blockade. Sony VPCF13J8E Keyboard

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While Stalin had promised at the Yalta Conference that free elections would be held in Poland,[247] after an election failure in "3 times YES" elections,[254] vote rigging was employed to win a majority in the carefully controlled poll.[255][256][25Sony VPCF13L0E Keyboard

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Sony VPCF11J1E/B Keyboard7] Following the forged referendum, the Polish economy started to become nationalized.[258]

In Hungary, when the Soviets installed a communist government, Mátyás Rákosi, who described himself as "Stalin's best Hungarian disciple"[259] Sony VPCF13Z1E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J04E/H Keyboard and "Stalin's best pupil",[260] took power. Rákosi employed "salami tactics", slicing up these enemies like pieces of salami,[261] to battle the initial postwar political majority ready to establish a democracy.[262Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11H4E Keyboard] Rákosi, employed Stalinist political and economic programs, and was dubbed the "bald murderer" for establishing one of the harshest dictatorships in Europe.[262][263] Approximately 350,000 Hungarian officials and intellectuals were purged from 1948 to 1956.[262]

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During World War II, in Bulgaria, the Red Army crossed the border and created the conditions for a communist coup d'état on the following night. The Soviet military commander in Sofia assumed supreme authority, and the communists whom he instructed, including Kimon Georgiev, took full control of domestic politics.[264] Sony VPCF22C5E Keyboard

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In 1949, the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania founded the Comecon in accordance with Stalin's desire to enforce Soviet domination of the lesser states of Central Europe and to mollify some states that had expressed interest in the Marshall Plan,[265] and which were now, increasingly, Sony VPCF12D4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11E4E Keyboardcut off from their traditional markets and suppliers in Western Europe.[266] Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland had remained interested in Marshall aid despite the requirements for a convertible currency and market economies. In July 1947, Sony VPCF12E4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11B4E Keyboard Stalin ordered these communist-dominated governments to pull out of the Paris Conference on the European Recovery Programme. This has been described as "the moment of truth" in the post–World War II division of Europe.[266] Sony VPCF12H4E Keyboard

In Greece, Britain and the United States supported the anti-communists in the Greek Civil War and suspected the Soviets of supporting the Greek communists, although Stalin refrained from getting involved in Greece, dismissing the movement as premature. Albania remained an ally of the Soviet Union, but Yugoslavia broke with the USSR in 1948. Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboard

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In Stalin's last year of life, one of his last major foreign policy initiatives was the 1952 Stalin Note for German reunification and Superpower disengagement from Central Europe, but Britain, France, and the United States viewed this with suspicion and rejected the offer. Sony VPCSA2Z9E Battery

Sino-Soviet relations

Stalin and Mao Zedong on Chinese postage stamp

In Asia, the Red Army had overrun Manchuria in the last month of the war and then also occupied Korea above the 38th parallel north. Mao Zedong's Communist Party of China, though receptive to minimal Soviet support, defeated the pro-Western and heavily American-assisted Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang, KMT) in the Chinese Civil War. Sony VPCSA3N9E Battery

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There was friction between Stalin and Mao from the beginning. During World War II Stalin had supported the dictator of China, Chiang Kai-Shek, as a bulwark against Japan and had turned a blind eye to Chiang's mass killings of communists. Sony VPCSA3X9E Battery

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Sony VPCSE2S1E Battery He generally put his alliance with Chiang against Japan ahead of helping his ideological allies in China in his priorities. Even after the war Stalin concluded a non-aggression pact between the USSR and Chiang's KMT regime in China and instructed Mao and the Chinese communists to cooperate with Chiang and the KMT after the war. Sony VPCSA4W9E Battery

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Sony VPCSE2M9E Battery Mao did not follow Stalin's instructions though and started a communist revolution against Chiang. Stalin did not believe Mao would be successful so he was less than enthusiastic in helping Mao. The USSR continued to maintain diplomatic relations with Chiang's KMT regime until 1949 when it became clear Mao would win. Sony VPCSB1A7E Battery

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Stalin supported the Turkic Muslims known today as Uyghur in seeking their own state, Second East Turkestan Republic during the Ili Rebellion against the Republic of China. He backed the Uyghur Communist Muslim leader Ehmetjan Qasim against the anti Communist Chinese Kuomintang forces. Sony VPCSB1B7E Battery

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Stalin did conclude a new friendship and alliance treaty with Mao after he defeated Chiang. But there was still a lot of tension between the two leaders and resentment by Mao for Stalin's less than enthusiastic help during the civil war in China. Sony VPCSB1B9E Battery

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The Communists controlled mainland China while the Nationalists held a rump state on the island of Taiwan. The Soviet Union soon after recognized Mao's People's Republic of China, which it regarded as a new ally. The People's Republic claimed Taiwan, though it had never held authority there. Sony VPCSB1C7E Battery

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Mao at Stalin's 70th birthday celebration in Moscow, December 1949

Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and China reached a high point with the signing of the 1950 Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance. Both countries provided military support to a new friendly state in North Korea. After various Korean border conflicts, war broke out with U.S.-allied South Korea in 1950, starting the Korean War. Sony VPCSB1D7E Battery

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However, not surprisingly, the relations with the Kuomintang deteriorated. In 1951, in Taiwan, the Chinese Muslim Kuomintang General Bai Chongxi made a speech broadcast on radio to the entire Muslim world calling for a war against Russia, claiming that the "imperialist ogre"Sony VPCSB1S1E Battery

Sony VPCSE1V9E Battery leader Stalin was engineering World War III, and Bai also called upon Muslims to avoid the Indian leader Jawaharlal Nehru, accusing him of being blind to Soviet imperialism.[267][268] Sony VPCSB1V9E Battery

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North Korea

Contrary to America's policy which restrained armament (limited equipment was provided for infantry and police forces) to South Korea, Stalin extensively armed Kim Il Sung's North Korean army and air forces with military equipment and "advisors" far in excess of those required for defensive purposes in order to facilitate Kim's (a former Soviet Officer) aim of conquering the rest of the Korean peninsula. Sony VPCSB1X9E Battery

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The North Korean Army struck in the pre-dawn hours of Sunday, 25 June 1950, crossing the 38th parallel behind a firestorm of artillery, beginning their invasion of South Korea.[2Sony VPCSB1Z9E Battery

Sony VPCSE1J1E Battery69] During the Korean War, Soviet pilots flew Soviet aircraft from Chinese bases against United Nations aircraft defending South Korea. Post–Cold War research in Soviet Archives has revealed that the Korean War was begun by Kim Il-sung with the express permission of Stalin.[270][271][272][273] Sony VPCSB1Z9R Battery

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Israel

Stalin originally supported the creation of Israel in 1948. The USSR was one of the first nations to recognize the new country.[274] Golda Meir came to Moscow as the first Israeli Ambassador to the USSR that year. However, after providing war materiel for Israel through Czechoslovakia from 1947 to 1949, Stalin later changed his mind and came out against Israel. Sony VPCSB3N9E Battery

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Falsifiers of History

In 1948, Stalin personally edited and rewrote by hand sections of the cold war book Falsifiers of History.[275] Falsifiers was published in response to the documents made public in Nazi-Soviet Relations, 1939–1941: Documents from the Archives of The German Foreign Office,[276Sony VPCCA Battery

][277] which included the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and other secret German-Soviet relations documents.[276][278] Falsifiers originally appeared as a series of articles in Pravda in February 1948,[277] and was subsequently published in numerous languages and distributed worldwide.[279] Sony VPCCA1C5E Battery

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The book did not attempt to directly counter or deal with the documents published in Nazi-Soviet Relations[280] and rather, focused upon Western culpability for the outbreak of war in 1939.[279] It argues that "Western powers" aided Nazi rearmament and aggression, including that American bankers and industrialists provided capital for the growth of German war industries, Sony VPCCA1S1E Battery

Sony VPCCB4X1E Battery while deliberately encouraging Hitler to expand eastward.[276] It depicted the Soviet Union as striving to negotiate a collective security against Hitler, while being thwarted by double-dealing Anglo-French appeasers who, despite appearances, had no intention of a Soviet alliance and were secretly negotiating with Berlin.[279Sony VPCCA2 Battery

Sony VPCCB3S1E Battery] It casts the Munich agreement, not just as Anglo-French short-sightedness or cowardice, but as a "secret" agreement that was a "a highly important phase in their policy aimed at goading the Hitlerite aggressors against the Soviet Union."[28Sony VPCCA2C5E Battery

Sony VPCCB3PQE Battery1] The book also included the claim that, during the Pact's operation, Stalin rejected Hitler's offer to share in a division of the world, without mentioning the Soviet offers to join the Axis. Historical studies, official accounts, memoirs and textbooks published in the Soviet Union used that depiction of events until the Soviet Union's dissolution.[282] Sony VPCCA2S0E Battery

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Domestic support

Domestically, Stalin was seen as a great wartime leader who had led the Soviets to victory against the Nazis.

An increasingly nationalistic emphasis on Russian history and achievements became a salient feature of Soviet culture in the 1940s. At the end of May 1945, Stalin proposed a victory toast to the Soviet people, and to the virtues of the Russian majority in particular: Sony VPCCA2S1E Battery

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I should like to propose a toast to the health of our Soviet people, and in the first place, the Russian people. (Loud and prolonged applause and shouts of 'Hurrah.')

I drink in the first place to the health of the Russian people because it is the most outstanding nation of all the nations forming the Soviet Union. Sony VPCCA2Z0E Battery

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I propose a toast to the health of the Russian people because it has won in this war universal recognition as the leading force of the Soviet Union among all the peoples of our country.

I propose a toast to the health of the Russian people not only because it is the leading people, but also because it possesses a clear mind, a staunch character, and patience.[283] Sony VPCCA3 Battery

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Stalin’s military-territorial actions during World War II were supported by Russian nationalists inside and outside the Soviet Union (Russian exile Pavel Milyukov during Winter War: “I feel pity for the Finns, but I am for the Vyborg guberniya”) Sony VPCCA3E1E Battery

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Sony VPCCB Batteryfor the recovering of the lands lost during the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and most of the lands lost by the former Russian Empire in World War I through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed by Trotsky and the Central Powers in 1918. Also, Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

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by 1945–1948 for the first time since the Middle Ages the Eastern Slavic lands and peoples were reunited in a single country, and all Slavic nations were outside German (with the definitive termination of the Drang nach Osten), Turkish or other Western European influence and under the orbit of Moscow — an old dream cherished by Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists alike.[citation needed] Sony PCG-61A12L Battery

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Various foreign scientific discoveries and inventions (such as the Wright Brothers' airplane) were attributed to Russians in post-war Soviet propaganda. Examples include the boiler, reclaimed by father and son Cherepanovs; the electric light, by Yablochkov and Lodygin; the radio, by Popov; and the airplane, by Mozhaysky. Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L Battery Stalin's internal repressive policies continued (including in newly acquired territories), but never reached the extremes of the 1930s.[citation needed]

"Doctors' plot"

Main article: Doctors' plot

The "Doctors' plot" was a plot outlined by Stalin and Soviet officials in 1952 and 1953 whereby several doctors (over half of whom were Jewish) allegedly attempted to kill Soviet officials.[284] The prevailing opinion of many scholars outside the Soviet Union is that Stalin intended to use the resulting doctors' trial to launch a massive party purge.[2Sony PCG-61A14L Battery

Sony PCG-61311L Battery85] The plot is also viewed by many historians as an antisemitic provocation.[284] It followed on the heels of the 1952 show trials of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee[286] and the secret execution of thirteen members on Stalin's orders in the Night of the Murdered Poets.[287] Sony PCG-61911L Battery

Thereafter, in a December Politburo session, Stalin announced that "Every Jewish nationalist is the agent of the American intelligence service. Jewish nationalists think that their nation was saved by the United States (there you can become rich, bourgeois, etc.). Sony PCG-61913L Battery
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Sony PCG-61211L Battery They think they're indebted to the Americans. Among doctors, there are many Jewish nationalists."[288] To mobilize the Soviet people for his campaign, Stalin ordered TASS and Pravda to issue stories along with Stalin's alleged uncovering of a "Doctors Plot" to assassinate top Soviet leaders,[289][29Sony PCG-71912L Battery

Sony PCG-61511L Battery0] including Stalin, in order to set the stage for show trials.[291]

The next month, Pravda published stories with text regarding the purported "Jewish bourgeois-nationalist" plotters.[292] Nikita Khrushchev wrote that Stalin hinted him to incite anti-Semitism in the Ukraine, telling him that "the good workers at the factory should be given clubs so they can beat the hell out of those Jews."[293][294Sony PCG-71913L Battery

Sony PCG-61611L Battery] Stalin also ordered falsely accused physicians to be tortured "to death".[295] Regarding the origins of the plot, people who knew Stalin, such as Khrushchev, suggest that Stalin had long harbored negative sentiments toward Jews,[284][296][297] and anti-Semitic trends in the Kremlin's policies were further fueled by the exile of Leon Trotsky.[284][298] In 1946, Stalin allegedly said privately that "every Jew is a potential spy."[28Sony PCG-71914L Battery

Sony PCG-71511L Battery4][299] At the end of January 1953, Stalin's personal physician Miron Vovsi (cousin of Solomon Mikhoels, who was assassinated in 1948 at the orders of Stalin)[287] was arrested within the frame of the plot. Vovsi was released by Beria after Stalin's death in 1953, as was his son-in-law, the composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg. Sony PCG-71811L Battery
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Some historians have argued that Stalin was also planning to send millions of Jews to four large newly built labor camps in Western Russia[291][30Sony PCG-91311L Battery
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Sony PCG-71C12L Battery0] using a "Deportation Commission"[301][302][303] that would purportedly act to save Soviet Jews from an enraged Soviet population after the Doctors Plot trials.[301][304][305] Others argue that any charge of an alleged mass deportation lacks specific documentary evidence.[290] Sony PCG-71317L Battery

Sony PCG-71318L Battery Regardless of whether a plot to deport Jews was planned, in his "Secret Speech" in 1956, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev stated that the Doctors Plot was "fabricated ... set up by Stalin", that Stalin told the judge to beat confessions from the defendants[30Sony PCG-61315L Battery

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6] and had told Politburo members "You are blind like young kittens. What will happen without me? The country will perish because you do not know how to recognize enemies."[306]

Death and aftermath

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Stalin's health deteriorated towards the end of World War II. He suffered from atherosclerosis from his heavy smoking. He suffered a mild stroke around the time of the Victory Parade, and a severe heart attack in October 1945.[307] Sony PCG-61316L Battery

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On the early morning hours of 1 March 1953, after an all-night dinner and a movie[308] Stalin arrived at his Kuntsevo residence some 15 km west of Moscow centre with interior minister Lavrentiy Beria and future premiers Georgy Malenkov, Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev where he retired to his bedroom to sleep. At dawn, Stalin did not emerge from his room. Sony PCG-61317L Battery

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Stalin's Grave in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis

Although his guards thought that it was odd for him not to rise at his usual time, they were under strict orders not to disturb him and left him alone the entire day. At around 10 p.m. he was discovered by Peter Lozgachev, the Deputy Commandant of Kuntsevo, Sony PCG-71211L Battery

Sony PCG-71312L Battery who entered his bedroom to check up on him and recalled the scene of Stalin lying on his back on the floor of his room beside his bed wearing pyjama bottoms and an undershirt with his clothes soaked in stale urine. A frightened Lozgachev asked Stalin what happened to him,
Sony PCG-71311L Batterybut all he could get out of him was unintelligible responses that sounded like "Dzhhhhh." Lozgachev used the bedroom telephone where he frantically called a few party officials telling them that Stalin may have had a stroke and asked them to send good doctors to the Kuntsevo residence immediately.[309][31Sony PCG-71212L Battery
Sony PCG-71213L Battery0] Lavrentiy Beria was informed and arrived a few hours afterwards, and the doctors only arrived in the early morning of 2 March in which they changed Stalin's bedclothes and tended to him. The bedridden Stalin died four days later, on 5 March 1953,[1] at the age of 74, and was embalmed on 9 March. Sony PCG-81113L Battery

Announcement

Yuri Levitan, the announcer who during the war brought the Soviet the news of victories – but never of defeats – announced Stalin's death. Slowly, solemnly, with a voice brimming over with emotion, he read:[311]
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"The Central Committee of the Communist party, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. announce with deep grief to the party and all workers that on March 5 at 9.50 p.m., Josef Visserionovich Stalin, Sony PCG-81114L Battery
Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist party and Chairman of the Council of Ministers, died after a serious illness. The heart of the collaborator and follower of the genius of Lenin's work, the wise leader and teacher of the Communist party and of the Soviet people, stopped beating."
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His body was preserved in Lenin's Mausoleum until 31 October 1961, when his body was removed from the mausoleum and buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis next to the Kremlin walls as part of the process of de-Stalinization. Sony PCG-81115L Battery

Officially, Stalin died naturally due to a cerebral hemorrhage (massive stroke). However, in 2003, a joint group of Russian and American historians announced their view that Stalin had ingested flavorless warfarin, a powerful rat poison that inhibits coagulation of the blood and which predisposes the victim to hemorrhagic stroke (cerebral hemorrhage).[312] Sony PCG-81214L Battery
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A more recently released autopsy stated that Stalin died naturally from a stroke induced by hypertensive hemorrhage. However, the report also noted cardiac, gastrointestinal and renal hemorrhaging which is inconsistent with a natural death; HP Pavilion dv6-6000 Keyboard

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this is consistent with poisoning by warfarin. Beria and Khrushchev were in a position to add the tasteless warfarin to Stalin's wine the evening before.[313]

His demise certainly arrived at a convenient time for Lavrentiy Beria and others, who feared being swept away in yet another purge. It is believed that Stalin felt Beria's power was too great and threatened his own.[314] HP Pavilion DV6-6B08SA Keyboard

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The political memoirs of Vyacheslav Molotov, published in 1993, claimed that Beria had boasted to Molotov that he poisoned Stalin: "I took him out." Khrushchev wrote in his (unreliable) memoirs that Beria had, immediately after the stroke, gone about "spewing hatred against [Stalin] and mocking him", and then, HP Pavilion DV6-6B26SA Keyboard

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when Stalin showed signs of consciousness, dropped to his knees and kissed his hand. When Stalin fell unconscious again, Beria immediately stood and spat.[315] HP Pavilion DV6-6B50SA Keyboard

It has also been suggested by Jože Pirjevec that Stalin was assassinated by the order of Josip Broz Tito in retaliation for assassination attempts on Tito. A letter was found in Stalin's office from Tito that read: "Stop sending people to kill me. We've already captured five of them, one of them with a bomb and another with a rifle... If you don't stop sending killers, I'll send one to Moscow, and I won't have to send a second."[316] HP Pavilion DV6-6B51SA Keyboard

After Stalin's death a power struggle for his vacant position took place between the following eight senior members of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union listed according to the order of precedence presented formally on 5 March:[317] Georgy Malenkov, Lavrentiy Beria, Vyacheslav Molotov, Klim Voroshilov, Nikita Khrushchev, Nikolai Bulganin, Lazar Kaganovich, Anastas Mikoyan. HP Pavilion DV6-6B57SA Keyboard

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This struggle lasted until 1958 and eventually Khrushchev won through, having defeated all his potential rivals in the Presidium.

Reaction by successors

Grutas Park is home to a monument of Stalin, originally set up in Vilnius.

Monument to Stalin stood in Gori, Georgia until 2010 when it was demolished.[318]

The harshness with which Soviet affairs were conducted during Stalin's rule was subsequently repudiated by his successors in the Communist Party leadership, most notably by Nikita Khrushchev's repudiation of Stalinism in February 1956. HP Pavilion DV6-6B58SA Keyboard

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In his "Secret Speech", On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, delivered to a closed session of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev denounced Stalin for his cult of personality, and his regime for "violation of Leninist norms of legality".HP Pavilion DV6-6C11EA Keyboard

A 1974 Soviet work describes Stalin's leadership in the following manner:

J. V. Stalin had held, since 1922, the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee. He had made important contributions to the implementation of the Party’s policy of socialist construction in the USSR, HP Pavilion DV6-6C12EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C75EA Keyboard

and he had won great popularity by his relentless fight against the anti-Leninist groups of the Trotskyites and Bukharinites. Since the early 1930s, however, all the successes achieved by the Soviet people in the building of socialism began to be arbitrarily attributed to Stalin. Already in a letter written back in 1922 Lenin warned the Party Central Committee: HP Pavilion DV6-6C56EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C57EA Keyboard

"Comrade Stalin," he wrote, "having become General Secretary, has concentrated boundless authority in his hands, and I am not sure whether he will always be able to exercise that authority with sufficient discretion." During the first few years after Lenin’s death Stalin reckoned with his critical remarks. As time passed, however, HP Pavilion DV6-6B50EA Keyboard

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HP Pavilion DV6-6C77SA Keyboard

he abused his position of General Secretary of the Party Central Committee more and more frequently, violating the principle of collective leadership and making independent decisions on important Party and state issues. Those personal shortcomings of which Lenin had warned manifested themselves with greater and greater insistence: HP Pavilion DV6-6B51EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C56SA Keyboard

his rudeness, capriciousness, intolerance of criticism, arbitrariness, excessive suspiciousness, etc. This led to unjustified restrictions of democracy, gross violations of socialist legality and repressions against prominent Party, government and military leaders and other people.

—A Short History of the World In Two Volumes Vol. II.[319] HP Pavilion DV6-6B55EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6B59EA Keyboard

Views on Stalin in the Russian Federation

Results of a controversial poll taken in 2006 stated that over 35% of Russians would vote for Stalin if he were still alive.[320][321] Fewer than a third of all Russians regarded Stalin as a "murderous tyrant";[8] however, a Russian court in 2009, ruling on a suit by Stalin's grandson, Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, against the newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, ruled that referring to Stalin as a "bloodthirsty cannibal" was not libel.[322] HP Pavilion DV6-6B60EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C01EA Keyboard

In a July 2007 poll 54% of the Russian youth agreed that Stalin did more good than bad while 46% (of them) disagreed that Stalin was a "cruel tyrant". Half of the respondents, aged from 16 to 19, agreed Stalin was a wise leader.[9] HP Pavilion DV6-6C01SA Keyboard

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In December 2008 Stalin was voted third in the nationwide television project Name of Russia (narrowly behind 13th-century prince Alexander Nevsky and Pyotr Stolypin, one of Nicholas II's prime ministers). The Communist Party accused the Kremlin in rigging the poll in order to prevent him or Lenin being given first place.[323] HP Pavilion DV6-6C04SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C41SA Keyboard

On 3 July 2009, Russia's delegates walked out of an Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe session to demonstrate their objections to a resolution for a remembrance day for the "victims of both Nazism and Stalinism".[324] Only eight out of 385 assembly members voted against the resolution.[

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In a Kremlin video blog posted on 29 October 2009, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev denounced the efforts of people seeking to rehabilitate Stalin's image. He said the mass extermination during the Stalin era cannot be justified.[325] 324] HP Pavilion DV6-6C04EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Keyboard

Views on Stalin in other former Soviet states

Ukraine

In a poll taken by Kyiv International Institute of Sociology in February 2013 37% of all Ukrainians had "a negative attitude to the figure of Stalin" and 22% "a positive".[326] Positive attitudes prevailed in East Ukraine (36%) and South Ukraine (27%), and negative attitudes in West Ukraine (64%) and Central Ukraine (39%).[326] In the age group 18–29 years 16% had positive feelings towards Stalin.[326] HP Pavilion DV6-6C05SA Keyboard

Early 2010 a Ukrainian court convicted Stalin of genocide against the Ukrainian nation during the Soviet famine of 1932–1933.[327][328]

In the spring of 2010 a new monument in honor of Stalin was erected in Zaporizhia.[328] In late December 2010 the statue had his head cut off by unidentified vandals and the following New Year's Eve it was completely destroyed in an explosion.[329HP Pavilion DV6-6C05EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Keyboard

] On 25 February 2011 Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych stated "Ukraine will definitely not revise its negative view" on Stalin.[329] Ukraine and Poland unveiled a memorial (outside Kiev) to the thousands of Ukrainians, Poles and others killed by Stalin's secret police ahead of World War II in September 2012.[330] HP Pavilion DV6-6000EA Keyboard

Armenia

According to a 2012 study, 72% of Armenians do not want to live in a country led by someone like Stalin.[331]

Personal life

Origin of name, nicknames and pseudonyms

Stalin's original Georgian name is transliterated as "Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili" (Georgian: იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე ჯუღაშვილი). The Russian transliteration of his name Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Джугашви́ли is in turn transliterated to English as "Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili". Like other Bolsheviks, HP Pavilion DV6-6001SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6157EA Keyboard

he became commonly known by one of his revolutionary noms de guerre, of which "Stalin" was only the last. Prior nicknames included "Koba", "Soselo", "Ivanov" and many others.[332]

Stalin is believed to have started using the name "K. Stalin" sometime in 1912 as a pen name.

During Stalin's reign his nicknames included: HP Pavilion DV6-6005EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6156EA Keyboard

"Uncle Joe", by western media, during and after World War II.[333][334]

"Kremlin Highlander" (Russian: кремлевский горец), in reference his Caucasus Mountains origin, notably by Osip Mandelstam in his Stalin Epigram.

"Vozhd"' (Russian: Вождь, "the Chieftain"), a term equivalent to the English word "Leader", or German "Führer".HP Pavilion DV6-6006EA Keyboard

Appearance

While photographs and portraits portray Stalin as physically massive and majestic (he had several painters shot who did not depict him "right"),[335] he was only five feet four inches tall (160 cm).[335] (President Harry S. Truman, who stood five feet nine inches himself, described Stalin as "a little squirt".[336] HP Pavilion DV6-6051EA Keyboard

) His mustached face was pock-marked from small-pox during childhood. After a carriage accident in his youth, his left arm was shortened and stiffened at the elbow, while his right hand was thinner than his left and frequently hidden.[335] Bronze casts made in 1990 from plaster death mask and plaster cards of his hands clearly show a normal right hand and a withered left hand.[337] HP Pavilion DV6-6053EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6155EA Keyboard

He could be charming and polite, mainly towards visiting statesmen.[335] In movies, Stalin was often played by Mikheil Gelovani and, less frequently, by Aleksei Dikiy.

Marriages and family

Ekaterina "Kato" Svanidze, Stalin's first wife

Stalin and Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalin's second wife

Stalin with Beria, Lakoba (obscured) and Stalin's daughter Svetlana

Stalin's son Yakov, whom he had with his first wife Ekaterina Svanidze, shot himself because of Stalin's harshness toward him, but survived. After this, HP Pavilion DV6-6055EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6154EA Keyboard

Stalin said "He can't even shoot straight."[338] Yakov served in the Red Army during World War II and was captured by the Germans. They offered to exchange him for Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus, who had surrendered after Stalingrad, HP Pavilion DV6-6060SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6077SA Keyboard

but Stalin turned the offer down, stating "You have in your hands not only my son Yakov but millions of my sons. Either you free them all or my son will share their fate."[339] Afterwards, Yakov is said to have committed suicide, running into an electric fence in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was being held.[340] Yakov had a son Yevgeny, HP Pavilion DV6-6102SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6153EA Keyboard

who is recently noted for defending his grandfather's legacy in Russian courts. Yevgeny is married to a Georgian woman, has two sons, and grandchildren.[341]

Stalin had a son, Vasiliy, and a daughter, Svetlana, with his second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva. She died in 1932, officially of illness. She may have committed suicide by shooting herself after a quarrel with Stalin, leaving a suicide note which according to their daughter was "partly personal, partly political".[3

HP Pavilion DV6-6152EA Keyboard

42] According to A&E Biography, there is also a belief among some Russians that Stalin himself murdered his wife after the quarrel, which apparently took place at a dinner in which Stalin tauntingly flicked cigarettes across the table at her. HP Pavilion DV6-6103SA Keyboard

Vasiliy rose through the ranks of the Soviet air force, officially dying of alcoholism in 1962; however, this is still in question. He distinguished himself in World War II as a capable airman. Svetlana emigrated to the United States in 1967. HP Pavilion DV6-6104EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6107SA Keyboard

In March 2001 Russian Independent Television NTV interviewed a previously unknown grandson living in Novokuznetsk, Yuri Davydov, who stated that his father had told him of his lineage, but, was told to keep quiet because of the campaign against Stalin's cult of personality.[343]

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Beside his suite in the Kremlin, Stalin had numerous domiciles. In 1919 he started with a country house near Usovo, he added dachas at Zuvalova and Kuntsevo (Blizhny dacha built by Miron Merzhanov). Before World War II he added the Lipki estate and Semyonovskaya, and had at least four dachas in the south by 1937, HP Pavilion DV6T-6B00 CTO Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6Z-6100 CTO Keyboard

including one near Sochi. A luxury villa near Gagri was given to him by Beria. In Abkhazia he maintained a mountain retreat. After the war he added dachas at Novy Afon, near Sukhumi, in the Valdai Hills, and at Lake Mitsa. Another estate was near Zelyony Myss on the Black Sea. All these dachas, estates, and palaces were staffed, HP Pavilion DV6T-6C00 CTO Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6Z-6B00 CTO Keyboard

well furnished and equipped, kept safe by security forces, and were mainly used privately, rarely for diplomatic purposes.[344] Between places Stalin would travel by car or train, never by air; he flew only once when attending the 1943 Tehran conference. HP Pavilion DV6T-6000 Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6T-6100 CTO Keyboard

In 1967 Svetlana defected to the USA and later married William Wesley Peters and by him had a daughter Olga (surname now Evans).

Habits
HP Pavilion DV6-6156EA Battery

Stalin with comrades inspected the first ZIS, model 101

Stalin enjoyed drinking, but could keep it under control.[345] He would also often force those around him to join in.[345] Stalin preferred Georgian wine over Russian vodka, but usually ate traditional Russian food.[345]

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Khrushchev reports in his memoirs that Stalin was fond of American cowboy movies.[346] He would often sleep until evening in his dacha, and after waking up summon high-ranking Soviet politicians to watch foreign movies with him in the Kremlin movie theater.[346] The movies, being in foreign languages, HP Pavilion DV6-6000EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6154EA Battery were given a running translation by Ivan Bolshakov, people's commissar of cinema.[346] The translations were hilarious for the audience as Ivan spoke very basic English.[347] His favourite films were westerns and Charlie Chaplin episodes. He banned any hint of nudity.
HP Pavilion DV6-6153EA Battery When Ivan showed a film with a naked woman Stalin shouted: "Are you making a brothel here Bolshakov?" After a movie had ended, Stalin often invited the audience for dinner, even though the clock was usually past midnight.[346] In the aftermath of the war, he took control over all of Joseph Goebbels' films. HP Pavilion DV6-6001SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6005EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6152EA Battery

He could play billiards so well he did not seem to aim at the ball.[348] He could read 500 pages a day and had a library of 20,000 volumes.[349] He loved hunting and fishing all his life.

Religion
HP Pavilion DV6-6107SA Battery

Although raised in the Georgian Orthodox faith, Stalin was an atheist. Stalin had a complex relationship with religious institutions in the Soviet Union.[350] Historians Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov have suggested that "[Stalin's] atheism remained rooted in some vague idea of a God of nature."[351]
HP Pavilion DV6-6104EA Battery

During the Second World War, Stalin reopened the churches. One reason could have been to motivate the majority of the population who had Christian beliefs. The reasoning behind this is that by changing the official policy of the party and the state towards religion, the Church and its clergymen could be to his disposal in mobilizing the war effort. HP Pavilion DV6-6006EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6103SA Battery On 4 September 1943, Stalin invited Metropolitan Sergius, Metropolitan Alexius and Metropolitan Nicholas to the Kremlin and proposed to reestablish the Moscow Patriarchate, which had been suspended since 1925, and elect the Patriarch. On 8 September 1943, Metropolitan Sergius was elected patriarch. HP Pavilion DV6-6051EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6102SA Battery

The CPSU Central Committee continued to promote atheism and the elimination of religion during the remainder of Stalin's lifetime after the 1943 concordat.[352] Stalin's greater tolerance for religion after 1943 was limited by party machinations. Whether persecutions after World War II were more aimed at certain sections of society over and above detractors is a disputed point.

Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) contingent at London May Day march in 2008, carrying a banner of Stalin.

Hypotheses, rumors and misconceptions about Stalin

There are conflicting accounts of Stalin's birth, who listed his birth year in various documents as being in 1878 before coming to power in 1922.[1HP Pavilion DV6-6053EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6077SA Battery ] The phrase "death of one man is a tragedy, death of a million is a statistic" is sometimes attributed to Stalin,[35HP Pavilion DV6-6055EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6060SA Battery 3] but was actually made by the German writer and pacifist Erich Maria Remarque. In addition, hypotheses and popular rumors exist about Stalin's real father.[354] Some Bolsheviks and others have accused Stalin of being an agent for the Okhrana.[355]

The Roman Empire 2

13/07/2013 15:25

Landscape resulting from the ruina montium mining technique at Las Médulas, Roman Spain, one of the most important gold mines in the Roman Empire

The main mining regions of the Empire were Spain (gold, silver, copper, tin, lead); Gaul (gold, silver, iron); Britain (mainly iron, lead, tin), the Danubian provinces (gold, iron); Macedonia and Thrace (gold, silver); and Asia Minor (gold, silver, iron, tin). Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13/Q Battery Intensive large-scale mining—of alluvial deposits, and by means of open-cast mining and underground mining—took place from the reign of Augustus up to the early 3rd century AD, when the instability of the Empire disrupted production. Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery The gold mines of Dacia, for instance, were no longer available for Roman exploitation after the province was surrendered in 271. Mining seems to have resumed to some extent during the 4th century.[222] Sony VGP-BPS13/B Battery

Hydraulic mining, which Pliny referred to as ruina montium ("ruin of the mountains"), allowed base and precious metals to be extracted on a proto-industrial scale.[223] The total annual iron output is estimated at 82,500 tonnes.[2Sony VGP-BPS13B/S Battery

24] Copper was produced at an annual rate of 15,000 t,[225] and lead at 80,000 t,[226] both production levels unmatched until the Industrial Revolution;[227] Spain alone had a 40 percent share in world lead production.[2Sony SVS13A1X9E battery

Sony VPCSB4X9E battery 28] The high lead output was a by-product of extensive silver mining which reached 200 t per annum.[229] At its peak around the mid-2nd century AD, the Roman silver stock is estimated at 10,000 t, five to ten times larger than the combined silver mass of medieval Europe and the Caliphate around 800 AD.[23Sony SVS1312J3E battery
Sony SVS1312P9E battery

Sony VPCSB4M9E battery0] As an indication of the scale of Roman metal production, lead pollution in the Greenland ice sheet quadrupled over its prehistoric levels during the Imperial era, and dropped again thereafter.[231]

Transportation and communication[edit]

The Roman Empire

13/07/2013 15:21

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings around the Mediterranean in Europe, Africa, and Asia.[5] HP Pavilion DV6-6B75CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6195CA Battery

The 500-year-old Roman Republic, which preceded it, had been destabilized through a series of civil wars. Several events marked the transition from Republic to Empire, including Julius Caesar's appointment as perpetual dictator (44 BC); HP Pavilion DV6-6B83CA Battery

the Battle of Actium (2 September 31 BC); and the granting of the honorific Augustus to Octavian by the Roman Senate (16 January 27 BC). HP Pavilion DV6-6C40CA Battery

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The first two centuries of the Empire were a period of unprecedented stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana ("Roman Peace").[6] It reached its greatest expanse during the reign of Trajan (98–117 AD).

HP Pavilion DV6-6188CA Battery In the 3rd century, the Empire underwent a crisis that threatened its existence, but was reunified and stabilized under the emperors Aurelian and Diocletian. Christians rose to power in the 4th century, during which time a system of dual rule was developed in the Latin West and Greek East. HP Pavilion DV6-6C50CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6184CA Battery After the collapse of central government in the West in the 5th century, the eastern half continued as what would later be known as the Byzantine Empire.

Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, the institutions and culture of Rome had a profound and lasting influence on the development of language, religion, architecture, philosophy,

HP Pavilion DV6-6178CA Batterylaw, and forms of government in the territory it governed, particularly Europe, and by means of European expansionism throughout the modern world.

Rome had begun annexing provinces in the 3rd century BC, four centuries before reaching its greatest territorial extent, and in that sense was an "empire" while still governed as a republic.[7] Republican provinces were administered by former consuls and praetors, who had been elected to one-year terms and held imperium, "right of command".[HP Pavilion DV6-6C51CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6C73CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6175CA Battery8] The amassing of disproportionate wealth and military power by a few men through their provincial commands was a major factor in the transition from republic to imperial autocracy.[9]

HP Pavilion DV6-6155CA Battery Later, the position of power held by the emperor was expressed as imperium.[10] The Latin word is the origin of English "empire," a meaning it began to acquire only later in Rome's history.[11]

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The Augustus of Prima Porta (early 1st century AD)

As the first emperor, Augustus took the official position that he had saved the Republic, and carefully framed his powers within republican constitutional principles. He rejected titles that Romans associated with monarchy, HP Pavilion DV6-6040CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6148CA Battery and instead referred to himself as the princeps, "leading citizen". Consuls continued to be elected, tribunes of the people continued to put forth legislation, and senators still debated in the curia. It was Augustus, however, who established the precedent that the emperor controlled the final decisions, backed up by military force. HP Pavilion DV6-6070CA Battery

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The reign of Augustus, lasting more than 40 years, was portrayed in Augustan literature and art as a new "Golden Age." Augustus laid out an enduring ideological foundation for the three centuries of the Empire known as the Principate (27 BC–284 AD), HP Pavilion DV6-6104CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6144CA Batterythe first 200 years of which is traditionally regarded as the Pax Romana. During this period, the cohesion of the Empire was furthered by participation in civic life, economic ties, and shared cultural, legal and religious norms. Uprisings in the provinces were infrequent, but put down "mercilessly and swiftly" when they occurred,[ HP Pavilion DV6-6124CA Battery

12] as in Britain and Gaul. The sixty years of Jewish–Roman wars in the first half of the 2nd century were exceptional in their duration and violence.[13]

The success of Augustus in establishing principles of dynastic succession was limited by his outliving a number of talented potential heirs: HP Pavilion DV6-6130CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6135CA Battery the Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors—Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—before it yielded in 69 AD to the strife-torn Year of Four Emperors, from which Vespasian emerged as victor. HP Pavilion dv7-4008ca Battery

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Vespasian became the founder of the brief Flavian dynasty, to be followed by the Nerva–Antonine dynasty which produced the "Five Good Emperors": Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and the philosophically inclined Marcus Aurelius. In the view of the Greek historian Dio Cassius, a contemporary observer, HP Pavilion dv7-4038ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-6188ca Batterythe accession of the emperor Commodus in 180 AD marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron"[14]—a famous comment which has led some historians, notably Edward Gibbon, to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.

HP Pavilion dv7-6184ca Battery

In 212, during the reign of Caracalla, Roman citizenship was granted to all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire. But despite this gesture of universality, the Severan dynasty was tumultuous—an emperor's reign was ended routinely by his murder or execution—and following its collapse, the Roman Empire was engulfed by the Crisis of the Third Century, HP Pavilion dv7-4054ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-6070ca Batterya period of invasions, civil strife, economic depression, and plague.[15] In defining historical epochs, this crisis is sometimes viewed as marking the transition from Classical Antiquity to Late Antiquity. The emaciated illusion of the old Republic was sacrificed for the sake of imposing order:

HP Pavilion dv7-5070ca BatteryDiocletian (reigned 284–305) brought the Empire back from the brink, but declined the role of princeps and became the first emperor to be addressed regularly as dominus, "master" or "lord".[1HP Pavilion dv7-4063ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-4288ca Battery6] Diocletian's reign also brought the Empire's most concerted effort against the perceived threat of Christianity, the "Great Persecution".The state of autocratic absolutism that began with Diocletius as the Dominate endured till the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. HP Pavilion dv7-4073ca Battery

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The unity of the Roman Empire was from this point a fiction, as graphically revealed by Diocletian's division of authority among four "co-emperors", the Tetrarchy.[17] Order was shaken again soon after, but was restored by Constantine, who became the first emperor to convert to Christianity,

HP Pavilion dv7-4260ca Battery and who established Constantinople as the new capital of the eastern empire. During the decades of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the Empire was divided along an east-west axis, with dual power centres in Constantinople and Rome. HP Pavilion dv7-4078ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-4248ca BatteryThe reign of Julian, who attempted to restore Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion, only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both East and West, died in 395 AD after making Christianity the official state religion.[18]

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The Roman Empire began to disintegrate in the late 4th century as invasions overwhelmed the capacity of the Empire to govern and mount a coordinated defense. Most chronologies place the end of the Western empire in 476, when Romulus Augustulus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer.[1HP Pavilion dv7-4104ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-4198ca Battery9] The empire in the East—known today as the Byzantine Empire, but referred to in its time as the "Roman Empire" or by various other names—ended in 1453 with the death of Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.[20] HP Pavilion dv7-4127ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-4177ca Battery

Geography[edit]

The Roman Empire was one of the largest in history, with contiguous territories throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.[21][22] The Latin phrase imperium sine fine ("empire without end"[23]) expressed the ideology that neither time nor space limited the Empire. In Vergil's epic poem the Aeneid,

HP Pavilion dv7-4167ca Battery limitless empire is said to be granted to the Romans by their supreme deity Jupiter.[24] This claim of universal dominion was renewed and perpetuated when the Empire came under Christian rule in the 4th century.[25]

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In reality, Roman expansion was mostly accomplished under the Republic, though parts of northern Europe were conquered in the 1st century AD, when Roman control in Europe, Africa and Asia was strengthened. During the reign of Augustus, HP Pavilion dv7-4148ca Battery

HP Pavilion dv7-4154ca Battery a "global map of the known world" was displayed for the first time in public at Rome, coinciding with the composition of the most comprehensive work on political geography that survives from antiquity, the Geography of the Pontic Greek writer Strabo.[26] When Augustus died, the commemorative account of his achievements (Res Gestae) HP Pavilion dm4-1050ca Battery

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prominently featured the geographical cataloging of peoples and places within the Empire.[27] Geography, the census, and the meticulous keeping of written records were central concerns of Roman Imperial administration.[28]

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A segment of the ruins of Hadrian's Wall in northern England

The Empire reached its largest expanse under Trajan (reigned 98–117),[29] encompassing an area of 5 million square kilometres that as of 2009 was divided among forty different modern countries.[30]

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The traditional population estimate of 55–60 million inhabitants[31] accounted for between one-sixth and one-fourth of the world's total population[32] and made it the largest population of any unified political entity in the West until the mid-19th century.[33] HP Pavilion dm4-1273ca Battery

HP Pavilion dm4-2058ca Battery Recent demographic studies have argued for a population peak ranging from 70 million to more than 100 million.[34] Each of the three largest cities in the Empire—Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch— was almost twice the size of any European city at the beginning of the 17th century.[35] HP Pavilion dm4-1275ca Battery

As the historian Christopher Kelly has described it:

Then the empire stretched from Hadrian's Wall in drizzle-soaked northern England to the sun-baked banks of the Euphrates in Syria; from the great Rhine-Danube river system, which snaked across the fertile, HP Pavilion dm4-2053ca Battery

HP Pavilion dm4-2055ca Batteryflat lands of Europe from the Low Countries to the Black Sea, to the rich plains of the North African coast and the luxuriant gash of the Nile Valley in Egypt. The empire completely circled the Mediterranean ... referred to by its conquerors as mare nostrum—'our sea'.[31] Sony SVS13AA11L Battery

Trajan's successor Hadrian adopted a policy of maintaining rather than expanding the empire. Borders (fines) were marked, and the frontiers (limes) patrolled.[36] The most heavily fortified borders were the most unstable.[ Sony SVS131A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41414L Battery37] Hadrian's Wall, which separated the Roman world from what was perceived as an ever-present barbarian threat, is the primary surviving monument of this effort.[38]

Languages[edit]

Sony SVS131B11L Battery

Main articles: History of Latin and History of Greek

The language of the Romans was Latin, which Vergil emphasises as a source of Roman unity and tradition.[39Sony SVS151A11L Battery

] Until the time of Alexander Severus (reigned 222–235), the birth certificates and wills of Roman citizens had to be written in Latin.[40] Latin was the language of the law courts in the West and of the military throughout the Empire,[ Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Battery41] but was not imposed officially on peoples brought under Roman rule.[42] St. Augustine observed that Romans preferred for Latin to be adopted per pacem societatis, through a social pact.[4Sony SVS151G1GL Battery

Sony PCG-41412L Battery3] This policy contrasts with that of Alexander the Great, who aimed to impose Greek throughout his empire as the official language.[44] As a consequence of Alexander’s conquests, koine Greek had become the shared language around the eastern Mediterranean and into Asia Minor.[45Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

] The "linguistic frontier" dividing the Latin West and the Greek East passed through the Balkan peninsula, creating a bilateral monolingualism in the Roman Empire.[46]

A 5th-century papyrus showing a parallel Latin-Greek text of a speech by Cicero[47]

Romans who received an elite education studied Greek as a literary language, and most men of the governing classes could speak Greek.[48] Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

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Sony PCG-41411L BatteryThe Julio-Claudian emperors encouraged high standards of correct Latin (Latinitas), a linguistic movement identified in modern terms as Classical Latin, and favored Latin for conducting official business. Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

Sony PCG-41218L Battery [49] Claudius tried to limit the use of Greek, and on occasion revoked the citizenship of those who lacked Latin, but even in the Senate he drew on his own bilingualism in communicating with Greek-speaking ambassadors.[4Sony PCG-41211L Battery

Sony PCG-41217L Battery9] Suetonius quotes him as referring to "our two languages,"[50] and the employment of two imperial secretaries, one for Greek and one Latin, dates to his reign.[51]

In the Eastern empire, laws and official documents were regularly translated into Greek from Latin.[52] The everyday interpenetration of the two languages is indicated by bilingual inscriptions, which sometimes even switch back and forth between Greek and Latin. Sony PCG-41212L Battery

Sony PCG-41216L BatteryThe epitaph of a Greek-speaking soldier, for instance, might be written primarily in Greek, with his rank and unit in the Roman army expressed in Latin.[53] After all freeborn inhabitants of the empire were universally enfranchised in 212 AD, Sony PCG-41213L Battery

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Sony PCG-41215L Battery a great number of Roman citizens would have lacked Latin, though they were expected to acquire at least a token knowledge, and Latin remained a marker of "Romanness."[54]
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Among other reforms, the emperor Diocletian (reigned 284–305) sought to renew the authority of Latin, and the Greek expression ἡ κρατοῦσα διάλεκτος (hē kratousa dialektos) attests to the continuing status of Latin as "the language of power."[55] The scholar Libanius (4th century) regarded Latin as causing a decline in the quality of Greek rhetoric.[5Sony SVS13AA11L Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Battery6] In the early 6th century, the emperor Justinian engaged in a quixotic effort to reassert the status of Latin as the language of law, even though in his time Latin no longer held any currency as a living language in the East.[57] Sony SVS131A11L Battery

Local languages[edit]

Bilingual Latin-Punic inscription at the theatre in Leptis Magna, Roman Africa (present-day Libya)

References to interpreters indicate the continuing use of local languages other than Greek and Latin, particularly in Egypt, Sony SVS131B11L Battery
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Sony PCG-41412L Batterywhere Coptic predominated, and in military settings along the Rhine and Danube. Roman jurists also show a concern for local languages such as Punic, Gaulish, and Aramaic in assuring the correct understanding and application of laws and oaths.[58] In the province of Africa, Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41411L BatteryPunic was used for legends on coins during the time of Tiberius (1st century AD), and Punic inscriptions appear on public buildings into the 2nd century, some bilingual with Latin.[59]
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In the West, the importance of Latin in gaining access to the ruling power structure caused the rapid extinction of inscriptions in scripts that had been used to represent local languages on the Iberian peninsula (Roman Spain) and in Gaul. Among other aspects of a distinctive Gallo-Roman culture was the creation of Gallo-Latin text,[60Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
Sony PCG-4121DL Battery] and Mediterranean Gaul had become trilingual (Greek, Latin, Gaulish) by the mid-1st century BC.[61] In Italy, the written use of Latin had replaced Etruscan and Oscan by the end of the 1st century AD.[62] The dominance of Latin among the literate elite may obscure the continuity of spoken languages, since all cultures within the Roman Empire were predominantly oral.[63] Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

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The Babatha Archive is a suggestive example of multilingualism in the Empire. These papyri, named for a Jewish woman in the province of Arabia and dating from 93 to 132 AD, mostly employ Aramaic, the local language, written in Greek characters with Semitic and Latin influences; a petition to the Roman governor, however, was written in Greek.[64]

Linguistic legacy[edit] Sony PCG-4121FL Battery

In the Western Empire, Latin, referred to in its spoken form as Vulgar Latin, gradually replaced Celtic and Italic languages that were related to it by a shared Indo-European origin. Commonalities in syntax and vocabulary facilitated the adoption of Latin.[65] Basque, not an Indo-European language,
Sony PCG-41216L Battery survived in the region of the Pyrenees.[66] After the decentralization of political power in late antiquity, Latin developed locally into branches that became the Romance languages, such as Spanish, Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

Sony PCG-41215L BatteryPortuguese, French, Italian and Romanian. As an international language of learning and literature, Latin itself continued as an active medium of expression for diplomacy and for intellectual developments identified with Renaissance humanism up to the 17th century, and for law and the Roman Catholic Church to the present.[67] Sony PCG-41211L Battery
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Although Greek continued as the language of the Byzantine Empire, linguistic distribution in the East was more complex. A Greek-speaking majority lived in the Greek peninsula and islands, western Anatolia, major cities, Sony PCG-41213L Battery
Sony PCG-41214L Battery and some coastal areas.[68] Like Greek and Latin, the Thracian language was of Indo-European origin, as were several now-extinct languages in Anatolia such as Galatian, Phrygian, Pisidian, and Cappadocian, attested by Imperial-era inscriptions.[ Sony SVS131C1DL Battery

Sony PCG-91311L Battery69] Various Afroasiatic languages—primarily Coptic in Egypt, and Aramaic in Syria and Mesopotamia—were never replaced by Greek. Palmyrene soldiers even used their dialect of Aramaic for inscriptions, in a striking exception to the rule that Latin was the language of the military.[ Sony SVS131C24L Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Battery70] The international use of Greek, however, was one factor enabling the spread of Christianity, as indicated for example by the use of Greek for the Epistles of Paul.[71]

Society[edit]

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For more details on this topic, see Ancient Roman society.

A multigenerational banquet depicted on a wall painting from Pompeii (1st century AD)

The Roman Empire was remarkably multicultural, with "a rather astonishing cohesive capacity" to create a sense of shared identity while encompassing diverse peoples within its political system over a long span of time.[72] Sony SVS131E1DL Battery

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Sony PCG-71913L BatteryThe Roman attention to creating public monuments and communal spaces open to all—such as forums, amphitheaters, racetracks and baths—helped foster a sense of "Romanness".[73]

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Roman society had multiple, overlapping social hierarchies that modern concepts of "class" in English may not represent accurately.[74] The two decades of civil war from which Augustus rose to sole power left traditional society in Rome in a state of confusion and upheaval,[75] Sony SVS151C1GL Battery

but did not effect an immediate redistribution of wealth and social power. From the perspective of the lower classes, a peak was merely added to the social pyramid.[76] Personal relationships—patronage, friendship (amicitia), family, marriage—continued to influence the workings of politics and government, as they had in the Republic.[77] Sony SVS151C2DL Battery

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Sony PCG-71911L BatteryBy the time of Nero, however, it was not unusual to find a former slave who was richer than a freeborn citizen, or an equestrian who exercised greater power than a senator.[78] Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

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The blurring or diffusion of the Republic's more rigid hierarchies led to increased social mobility under the Empire,[79] both upward and downward, to an extent that exceeded that of all other well-documented ancient societies.[8Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-71713L Battery0] Women, freedmen, and slaves had opportunities to profit and exercise influence in ways previously less available to them.[81] Sony PCG-61A14L Battery

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Sony PCG-71614L Battery Social life in the Empire, particularly for those whose personal resources were limited, was further fostered by a proliferation of voluntary associations and confraternities (collegia and sodalitates) formed for various purposes: professional and trade guilds, veterans' groups, religious sodalities, drinking and dining clubs,[82] performing arts troupes,[83] and burial societies.[84]

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Citizen of Roman Egypt (Fayum mummy portrait)

Legal status[edit]

Main articles: Status in Roman legal system and Roman citizenship

According to the jurist Gaius, the essential distinction in the Roman "law of persons" was that all human beings were either free (liberi) or slaves (servi).[85Sony PCG-71C12L Battery

Sony PCG-61911L Battery] The legal status of free persons might be further defined by their citizenship. In the early Empire, only a relatively limited number of men held full rights of Roman citizenship that allowed them to vote, run for office, and enter state priesthoods. Most citizens held limited rights (such as the ius Latinum, Sony PCG-61714L Battery

Sony PCG-61813L Battery "Latin right"), but were entitled to legal protections and privileges not enjoyed by those who lacked citizenship. Free people not considered citizens, but living within the Roman world, held status as peregrini, non-Romans.[86Sony SVE141C11L Battery

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] In 212 AD, by means of the edict known as the Constitutio Antoniniana, the emperor Caracalla extended citizenship to all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This legal egalitarianism would have required a far-reaching revision of existing laws that had distinguished between citizens and non-citizens.[87] Sony SVE141L11L Battery

Women as legal entities[edit]

Main article: Women in ancient Rome

Freeborn Roman women were considered citizens throughout the Republic and Empire, but did not vote, hold political office, or serve in the military. A mother's citizen status determined that of her children, as indicated by the phrase ex duobus civibus Romanis natos Sony SVE151E11L Battery

Sony PCG-61317L Battery ("children born of two Roman citizens").[88] A Roman woman kept her own family name (nomen) for life. Children most often took the father's name, but in the Imperial period sometimes made their mother's name part of theirs, or even used it instead.[89]

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Bronze statuette (1st century AD) of a young woman reading

The archaic form of manus marriage in which the woman had been subject to her husband's authority was largely abandoned by the Imperial era, and a married woman retained ownership of any property she brought into the marriage. Technically she remained under her father's legal authority, even though she moved into her husband's home, Sony SVE151G13L Battery

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but when her father died she became legally emancipated.[90] This arrangement was one of the factors in the degree of independence Roman women enjoyed relative to those of many other ancient cultures and up to the modern period:[91Sony SVE171C11L Battery

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Sony PCG-61316L Battery] although she had to answer to her father in legal matters, she was free of his direct scrutiny in her daily life,[92] and her husband had no legal power over her.[93] Although it was a point of pride to be a "one-man woman" (univira) who had married only once, there was little stigma attached to divorce, nor to speedy remarriage after the loss of a husband through death or divorce.[94] Sony SVE171E12L Battery

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Girls had equal inheritance rights with boys if their father died without leaving a will.[95] A Roman mother's right to own property and to dispose of it as she saw fit, including setting the terms of her own will, gave her enormous influence over her sons even when they were adults.[96] Sony PCG-61713L Battery

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As part of the Augustan programme to restore traditional morality and social order, moral legislation attempted to regulate the conduct of women as a means of promoting "family values". Adultery, which had been a private family matter under the Republic, Sony PCG-91112L Battery

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Sony PCG-61311L Batterywas criminalized,[97] and defined broadly as an illicit sex act (stuprum) that occurred between a male citizen and a married woman, or between a married woman and any man other than her husband.[ Sony PCG-71311L Battery

Sony PCG-61215L Battery8] Childbearing was encouraged by the state: a woman who had given birth to three children was granted symbolic honors and greater legal freedom (the ius trium liberorum).

Because of their legal status as citizens and the degree to which they could become emancipated, women could own property, enter contracts, and engage in business,[99] including shipping, manufacturing, and lending money. Inscriptions throughout the Empire honor women as benefactors in funding public works, Sony PCG-71218L Battery

Sony PCG-61211L Battery an indication they could acquire and dispose of considerable fortunes; for instance, the Arch of the Sergii was funded by Salvia Postuma, a female member of the family honored, and the largest building in the forum at Pompeii was funded by Eumachia, a priestess of Venus.[100] Sony PCG-71217L Battery

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Slaves and the law[edit]

Main article: Slavery in ancient Rome

At the time of Augustus, as many as 35 percent of the people in Italy were slaves,[101] making Rome one of five historical "slave societies" in which slaves constituted at least a fifth of the population and played a major role in the economy.[102Sony PCG-71313L Battery

Sony PCG-71215L Battery] Slavery was a complex institution that supported traditional Roman social structures as well as contributing economic utility.[103] Sony PCG-71316L Battery

Sony PCG-71211L Battery In urban settings, slaves might be professionals such as teachers, physicians, chefs, and accountants, in addition to the majority of slaves who provided trained or unskilled labor in households or workplaces. Agriculture and industry, such as milling and mining, Sony PCG-71315L Battery

Sony PCG-71212L Batteryelied on the exploitation of slaves. Outside Italy, slaves made up on average an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the population, sparse in Roman Egypt but more concentrated in some Greek areas. Expanding Roman ownership of arable land and industries would have affected preexisting practices of slavery in the provinces.[104] Sony PCG-71317L Battery

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Slave holding writing tablets for his master (relief from a 4th-century sarcophagus)

Laws pertaining to slavery were "extremely intricate".[105] Under Roman law, slaves were considered property and had no legal personhood. They could be subjected to forms of corporal punishment not normally exercised on citizens, Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

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sexual exploitation, torture, and summary execution. A slave could not as a matter of law be raped, since rape could be committed only against people who were free; a slave's rapist had to be prosecuted by the owner for property damage under the Aquilian Law.[106] Slaves had no right to the form of legal marriage called conubium, Sony PCG-61A13L Battery
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Sony SVE171E12L Battery but their unions were sometimes recognized, and if both were freed they could marry.[107] Following the Servile Wars of the Republic, legislation under Augustus and his successors shows a driving concern for controlling the threat of rebellions through limiting the size of work groups, and for hunting down fugitive slaves.[108Sony PCG-71C11L Battery
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Technically, a slave could not own property,[109] but a slave who conducted business might be given access to an individual account or fund (peculium) that he could use as if it were his own. The terms of this account varied depending on the degree of trust and cooperation between owner and slave:
Sony SVE171C11L Battery a slave with an aptitude for business could be given considerable leeway to generate profit, and might be allowed to bequeath the peculium he managed to other slaves of his household.[110] Within a household or workplace, a hierarchy of slaves might exist, with one slave in effect acting as the master of other slaves.[111] Sony PCG-61714L Battery

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Over time slaves gained increased legal protection, including the right to file complaints against their masters. A bill of sale might contain a clause stipulating that the slave could not be employed for prostitution, as prostitutes in ancient Rome were often slaves.[11Sony PCG-61813L Battery
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Sony SVE151G13L Battery2] The burgeoning trade in eunuch slaves in the late 1st century AD prompted legislation that prohibited the castration of a slave against his will "for lust or gain."[113]
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Roman slavery was not based on "race" in the modern sense.[114] During the period of Republican expansionism when slavery had become pervasive, war captives were a main source of slaves. The range of ethnicities among slaves to some extent reflected that of the armies Rome defeated in war,
Sony SVE151E11L Battery and the conquest of Greece brought a number of highly skilled and educated slaves into Rome. Slaves were also traded in markets, and sometimes sold by pirates. Infant abandonment and self-enslavement among the poor were other sources.[115] Vernae, by contrast, were "homegrown"
Sony SVE141L11L Battery slaves born to female slaves within the urban household or on a country estate or farm. Although they had no special legal status, an owner who mistreated or failed to care for his vernae faced social disapproval, Sony PCG-61913L Battery

Sony SVE141D11L Battery as they were considered part of his familia, the family household, and in some cases might actually be the children of free males in the family.[116] Sony PCG-71614L Battery

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Highly skilled or educated slaves might accumulate a large enough peculium to justify their freedom, or be manumitted for services rendered. Manumission had become frequent enough that in 2 BC a law (Lex Fufia Caninia) limited the number of slaves an owner was allowed to free in his will.[117]
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Freedmen[edit]

Cinerary urn for the freedman Tiberius Claudius Chryseros and two women, probably his wife and daughter

Rome differed from Greek city-states in allowing freed slaves to become citizens. After manumission, a slave who had belonged to a Roman citizen enjoyed not only passive freedom from ownership, but active political freedom (libertas), Sony PCG-71713L Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Battery including the right to vote.[118] A slave who had acquired libertas was a libertus ("freed person," feminine liberta) in relation to his former master, who then became his patron (patronus):
Sony PCG-71914L Batterythe two parties continued to have customary and legal obligations to each other. As a social class generally, freed slaves were libertini, though later writers used the terms libertus and libertinus interchangeably.[119] Sony PCG-71811L Battery

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A libertinus was not entitled to hold public office or the highest state priesthoods, but he could play a priestly role in the cult of the emperor. He could not marry a woman from a family of senatorial rank, nor achieve legitimate senatorial rank himself, Sony PCG-71911L Battery
Sony PCG-71912L Batterybut during the early Empire, freedmen held key positions in the government bureaucracy, so much so that Hadrian limited their participation by law.[120] Any future children of a freedman would be born free, with full rights of citizenship. Sony PCG-61713L Battery

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The rise of successful freedmen—through either political influence in imperial service, or wealth—is a characteristic of early Imperial society. The prosperity of a high-achieving group of freedmen is attested by inscriptions throughout the Empire, and by their ownership of some of the most lavish houses at Pompeii, Sony PCG-91111L Battery

Sony PCG-61316L Batterysuch as the House of the Vettii. The excesses of nouveau riche freedmen were satirized in the character of Trimalchio in the Satyricon by Petronius, who wrote in the time of Nero. Such individuals, while exceptional, are indicative of the upward social mobility possible in the Empire. Sony PCG-91112L Battery
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Census rank[edit]

See also: Senate of the Roman Empire, Equestrian order, and Decurion (administrative)

The Latin word ordo (plural ordines) refers to a social distinction that is translated variously into English as "class, order, rank," Sony PCG-71311L Battery
none of which is exact. One purpose of the Roman census was to determine the ordo to which an individual belonged. The two highest ordines in Rome were the senatorial and equestrian. Outside Rome, the decurions, also known as curiales (Greek bouleutai), were the top governing ordo of an individual city.

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Fragment of a sarcophagus depicting Gordian III and senators (3rd century)

"Senator" was not itself an elected office in ancient Rome; an individual gained admission to the Senate after he had been elected to and served at least one term as an executive magistrate. A senator also had to meet a minimum property requirement of 1 million sestertii, as determined by the census.[1Sony PCG-71217L Battery

Sony PCG-61315L Battery21] Nero made large gifts of money to a number of senators from old families who had become too impoverished to qualify. Not all men who qualified for the ordo senatorius chose to take a Senate seat, which required legal domicile at Rome. Emperors often filled vacancies in the 600-member body by appointment.[12Sony PCG-71313L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L Battery2] A senator's son belonged to the ordo senatorius, but he had to qualify on his own merits for admission to the Senate itself. A senator could be removed for violating moral standards: he was prohibited, for instance, from marrying a freedwoman or fighting in the arena.[123] Sony PCG-71315L Battery

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In the time of Nero, senators were still primarily from Rome and other parts of Italy, with some from the Iberian peninsula and southern France; men from the Greek-speaking provinces of the East began to be added under Vespasian.[1Sony PCG-71316L Battery

Sony PCG-61215L Battery24] The first senator from the most eastern province, Cappadocia, was admitted under Marcus Aurelius.[125] During the 3rd century, domicile at Rome became impractical, and inscriptions attest to senators who were active in politics and munificence in their homeland (patria).[123]

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Senators had an aura of prestige and were the traditional governing class who rose through the cursus honorum, the political career track, but equestrians of the Empire often possessed greater wealth and political power. Sony PCG-71317L Battery

Sony PCG-71216L Battery Membership in the equestrian order was based on property; in Rome's early days, equites or knights had been distinguished by their ability to serve as mounted warriors (the "public horse"),Sony PCG-71318L Battery

Sony PCG-71215L Battery but cavalry service was a separate function in the Empire.[126] A census valuation of 400,000 sesterces and three generations of free birth qualified a man as an equestrian.[127] The census of 28 BC uncovered large numbers of men who qualified, and in 14 AD, a thousand equestrians were registered at Cadiz and Padua alone.[12Sony PCG-71211L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Battery8] Equestrians rose through a military career track (tres militiae) to become highly placed prefects and procurators within the Imperial administration.[129] Sony PCG-3B1L Battery
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The rise of provincial men to the senatorial and equestrian orders is an aspect of social mobility in the first three centuries of the Empire.[130] Roman aristocracy was based on competition, and unlike later European nobility, a Roman family could not maintain its position merely through hereditary succession or having title to lands.[131] Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
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Admission to the higher ordines brought distinction and privileges, but also a number of responsibilities. In antiquity, a city depended on its leading citizens to fund public works, events, and services (munera), Sony PCG-3C2L Battery

Sony PCG-3H3L Battery rather than on tax revenues, which primarily supported the military. Maintaining one's rank required massive personal expenditures.[132] Decurions were so vital for the functioning of cities that in the later Empire, as the ranks of the town councils became Sony PCG-3C3L Battery
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Sony PCG-3H2L Batterydepleted, those who had risen to the Senate were encouraged by the central government to give up their seats and return to their hometowns, in an effort to sustain civic life.[133] Sony PCG-3D4L Battery
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In the later Empire, the dignitas ("worth, esteem") that attended on senatorial or equestrian rank was refined further with titles such as vir illustris, "illustrious man".[134] The appellation clarissimus (Greek lamprotatos) was used to designate the dignitas of certain senators and their immediate family, including women.[13

Sony PCG-3H1L Battery5] "Grades" of equestrian status proliferated. Those in Imperial service were ranked by pay grade (sexagenarius, 60,000 sesterces per annum; centenarius, 100,000; ducenarius, 200,000). The title eminentissimus, Sony PCG-3F1L Battery

Sony PCG-3G5L Battery "most eminent" (Greek exochôtatos) was reserved for equestrians who had been Praetorian prefects. The higher equestrian officials in general were perfectissimi, "most distinguished" (Greek diasêmotatoi), the lower merely egregii, "outstanding" (Greek kratistos).[136]
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Unequal justice[edit]

Condemned man attacked by a leopard in the arena (3rd-century mosaic from Tunisia)

As the republican principle of citizens' equality under the law faded, the symbolic and social privileges of the upper classes led to an informal division of Roman society into those who had acquired greater honors (honestiores) Sony PCG-3F2L Battery

Sony PCG-3B1L Batteryand those who were humbler folk (humiliores). In general, honestiores were the members of the three higher "orders," along with certain military officers.[137] The granting of universal citizenship in 212 seems to have increased the competitive urge among the upper classes to have their superiority over other citizens affirmed, Sony PCG-3F3L Battery
Sony PCG-3F4L Battery particularly within the justice system.[138] Sentencing depended on the judgment of the presiding official as to the relative "worth" (dignitas) of the defendant: an honestior could pay a fine when convicted of a crime for which an humilior might receive a scourging.[139] Sony PCG-7142L Battery

Execution, which had been an infrequent legal penalty for free men under the Republic even in a capital case,[140] could be quick and relatively painless for the Imperial citizen considered "more honorable," while those deemed inferior might suffer the kinds of torture and prolonged death previously reserved for slaves, such as crucifixion and condemnation to the beasts as a spectacle in the arena.[1Sony PCG-7151L Battery
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1] In the early Empire, those who converted to Christianity could lose their standing as honestiores, especially if they declined to fulfill the religious aspects of their civic responsibilities, and thus became subject to punishments that created the conditions of martyrdom.[142]

Government and military[edit] Sony PCG-7153L Battery

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Main article: Constitution of the Roman Empire

Forum of Gerasa (Jerash in present-day Jordan), with columns marking a covered walkway (stoa) for vendor stalls, and a semicircular space for public speaking

The three major elements of the Imperial Roman state were the central government, the military, and provincial government.[143] Sony PCG-7154L Battery
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Sony PCG-8141L BatteryThe military established control of a territory through war, but after a city or people was brought under treaty, the military mission turned to policing: protecting Roman citizens (after 212 AD, all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire), the agricultural fields that fed them, and religious sites.[14Sony PCG-7162L Battery
4] Without modern instruments of either mass communication or mass destruction, the Romans lacked sufficient manpower or resources to impose their rule through force alone. Cooperation with local power elites was necessary to maintain order, collect information, Sony PCG-7171L Battery

Sony PCG-813L Battery and extract revenue. The Romans often exploited internal political divisions by supporting one faction over another: in the view of Plutarch, "it was discord between factions within cities that led to the loss of self-governance".[145] Sony PCG-7172L Battery
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Communities with demonstrated loyalty to Rome retained their own laws, could collect their own taxes locally, and in exceptional cases were exempt from Roman taxation. Legal privileges and relative independence were an incentive to remain in good standing with Rome.[14Sony PCG-7174L Battery

Sony PCG-7184L Battery6] Roman government was thus limited, but efficient in its use of the resources available to it.[147]

Central government[edit]

See also: Roman emperor and Senate of the Roman Empire

The dominance of the emperor was based on the consolidation of certain powers from several republican offices, including the inviolability of the tribunes of the people and the authority of the censors to manipulate the hierarchy of Roman society.[148] Sony PCG-7181L Battery
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Sony PCG-7183L Battery The emperor also made himself the central religious authority as Pontifex Maximus, and centralized the right to declare war, ratify treaties, and negotiate with foreign leaders.[149] Sony PCG-71111L Battery

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While these functions were clearly defined during the Principate, the emperor's powers over time became less constitutional and more monarchical, culminating in the Dominate.[150]

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Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161), wearing a toga (Hermitage Museum)

The emperor was the ultimate authority in policy- and decision-making, but in the early Principate he was expected to be accessible to individuals from all walks of life, and to deal personally with official business and petitions. A bureaucracy formed around him only gradually.[151]
Sony PCG-81313L BatteryThe Julio-Claudian emperors relied on an informal body of advisors that included not only senators and equestrians, but trusted slaves and freedmen.[152] After Nero, the unofficial influence of the latter was regarded with suspicion, Sony PCG-81111L Battery

Sony PCG-81312L Batteryand the emperor's council (consilium) became subject to official appointment for the sake of greater transparency.[153] Though the senate took a lead in policy discussions until the end of the Antonine dynasty, equestrians played an increasingly important role in the consilium.[154]
Sony PCG-81311L BatteryThe women of the emperor's family often intervened directly in his decisions. Plotina exercised influence on both her husband Trajan and his successor Hadrian. Her influence was advertised by having her letters on official matters published, Sony PCG-81112L Battery

Sony PCG-81214L Battery as a sign that the emperor was reasonable in his exercise of authority and listened to his people.[155]

Access to the emperor by others might be gained at the daily reception (salutatio), a development of the traditional homage a client paid to his patron; public banquets hosted at the palace; and religious ceremonies. Sony PCG-81113L Battery
Sony PCG-81114L BatteryThe common people who lacked this access could manifest their general approval or displeasure as a group at the games held in large venues.[156] By the 4th century, as urban centers decayed, the Christian emperors became remote figureheads who issued general rulings, no longer responding to individual petitions.[157] Sony PCG-71111L Battery

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Although the senate could do little short of assassination and open rebellion to contravene the will of the emperor, it survived the Augustan restoration and the turbulent Year of Four Emperors to retain its symbolic political centrality during the Principate.[ Sony PCG-81111L Battery

Sony PCG-81314L Battery158] The senate legitimated the emperor's rule, and the emperor needed the experience of senators as legates (legati) to serve as generals, diplomats, and administrators.[159] A successful career required competence as an administrator and remaining in favor with the emperor, or over time perhaps multiple emperors.[160] Sony PCG-81112L Battery

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The practical source of an emperor's power and authority was the military. The legionaries were paid by the Imperial treasury, and swore an annual military oath of loyalty to the emperor (sacramentum).[161] The death of an emperor led to a crucial period of uncertainty and crisis. Most emperors indicated their choice of successor, Sony PCG-81113L Battery

Sony PCG-81312L Batteryusually a close family member or adopted heir. The new emperor had to seek a swift acknowledgement of his status and authority in order to stabilize the political landscape. No emperor could hope to survive, Sony PCG-81114L Battery

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Sony PCG-81311L Battery much less to reign, without the allegiance and loyalty of the Praetorian Guard and of the legions. To secure their loyalty, several emperors paid the donativum, a monetary reward. In theory, the Senate was entitled to choose the new emperor, but did so mindful of acclamation by the army or Praetorians.[162] Dell XPS 14 Battery

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Military[edit]

The Roman empire under Hadrian (ruled 117–138) showing the location of the Roman legions deployed in AD 125

Main articles: Imperial Roman army and Structural history of the Roman military

The soldiers of the Imperial Roman army were professionals who volunteered for a 25-year tour of duty. The transition to a professional military had begun during the late Republic,

Dell XPS L701X Batteryand was one of the many profound shifts away from republicanism, under which an army of conscripts had exercised their responsibilities as citizens in defending the homeland in a campaign against a specific threat. For Imperial Rome, the military was a full-time career in itself.[163] Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

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The primary mission of the Roman military of the early empire was to preserve the Pax Romana.[164] The three major divisions of the military were:

the garrison at Rome, which includes both the Praetorians and the vigiles who functioned as police and firefighters; Dell XPS 15 Battery

the provincial army, comprising the Roman legions and the auxiliaries provided by the provinces (auxilia);

the navy.

The pervasiveness of military garrisons throughout the Empire was a major influence in the process of cultural exchange and assimilation known as "Romanization," particularly in regard to politics, the economy, and religion.[16Dell XPS 15D Battery

Dell XPS L501X Battery5] Knowledge of the Roman military comes from a wide range of sources: Greek and Roman literary texts; coins with military themes; papyri preserving military documents; monuments such as Trajan's Column and triumphal arches, Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery

Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery which feature artistic depictions of both fighting men and military machines; the archaeology of military burials, battle sites, and camps; and inscriptions, including military diplomas, epitaphs, and dedications.[166] Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

Through his military reforms, which included consolidating or disbanding units of questionable loyalty, Augustus changed and regularized the legion, down to the hobnail pattern on the soles of army boots.[1

Dell XPS L702X Battery67] A legion was organized into ten cohorts, each of which comprised six centuries, with a century further made up of ten squads (contubernia); the exact size of the Imperial legion, which is most likely to have been determined by logistics, has been estimated to range from 4,800 to 5,280.[168] Dell XPS 15Z Battery

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In AD 9, Germanic tribes wiped out three full legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. This disastrous event reduced the number of the legions to 25. The total of the legions would later be increased again and for the next 300 years always be a little above or below 30.[ Dell Inspiron 14V Battery

169] The army had about 300,000 soldiers in the 1st century, and under 400,000 in the 2nd, "significantly smaller" than the collective armed forces of the territories it conquered. No more than 2 percent of adult males living in the Empire served in the Imperial army.[170]

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Praetorian guards (1st century AD relief)

Augustus also created the Praetorian Guard: nine cohorts, ostensibly to maintain the public peace, which were garrisoned in Italy. Better paid than the legionaries, the Praetorians served only sixteen years.[171] Dell Inspiron N4030 Battery

The auxilia were recruited from among the non-citizens. Organized in smaller units of roughly cohort strength, they were paid less than the legionaries, and after 25 years of service were rewarded with Roman citizenship, also extended to their sons. Dell Inspiron N7010D Battery

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Dell Inspiron N7010R Batteryccording to Tacitus[172] there were roughly as many auxiliaries as there were legionaries. The auxilia thus amounted to around 125,000 men, implying approximately 250 auxiliary regiments.[17Dell Inspiron N5110 Battery

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3] The Roman cavalry of the earliest Empire were primarily from Celtic and Germanic areas, or Roman Spain. Several aspects of training and equipment, such as the four-horned saddle, derived from the Celts, as noted by Arrian and indicated by archaeology.[174]

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The Roman navy (Latin: classis, "fleet") not only aided in the supply and transport of the legions, but also helped in the protection of the frontiers along the rivers Rhine and Danube. Another of its duties was the protection of the crucial maritime trade routes against the threat of pirates. Dell Inspiron N3010R Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010 BatteryIt patrolled the whole of the Mediterranean, parts of the North Atlantic coasts, and the Black Sea. Nevertheless the army was considered the senior and more prestigious branch.[175]

Provincial government[edit]

Main article: Roman province

[show] v t e

Roman provinces 117 AD

The Pula Arena in Croatia is one of the largest and most intact of the remaining Roman amphitheatres

An annexed territory became a province in a three-step process: making a register of cities, taking a census of the population, and surveying the land.[176Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery] Further government recordkeeping included births and deaths, real estate transactions, taxes, and juridical proceedings.[177] In the 1st and 2nd centuries, the central government sent out around 160 officials each year to govern outside Italy.[ Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery

Dell Inspiron 15R Battery178] Among these officials were the "Roman governors", as they are called in English: either magistrates elected at Rome who in the name of the Roman people governed senatorial provinces; or governors, usually of equestrian rank, who held their imperium on behalf of the emperor in provinces excluded from senatorial control, most notably Roman Egypt.[17

Dell Inspiron 17R Battery9] A governor had to make himself accessible to the people he governed, but he could delegate various duties.[180] His staff, however, was minimal: his official attendants (apparitores), including lictors, heralds, Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery

messengers, scribes, and bodyguards; legates, both civil and military, usually of equestrian rank; and friends, ranging in age and experience, who accompanied him unofficially.[180]

Other officials were appointed as supervisors of government finances.[178] Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery

Dell Inspiron N7010 Battery Separating fiscal responsibility from justice and administration was a reform of the Imperial era. Under the Republic, provincial governors and tax farmers could exploit local populations for personal gain more freely.[181] Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

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Equestrian procurators, whose authority was originally "extra-judicial and extra-constitutional," managed both state-owned property and the vast personal property of the emperor (res privata).[18

Dell Latitude E6520N Battery0] Because Roman government officials were few in number, a provincial who needed help with a legal dispute or criminal case might seek out any Roman perceived to have some official capacity, such as a procurator or a military officer, including centurions down to the lowly stationarii or military police.[182] Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

Roman law[edit]

Main article: Roman law

Roman courts held original jurisdiction over cases involving Roman citizens throughout the empire, but there were too few judicial functionaries to impose Roman law uniformly in the provinces. Most parts of the Eastern empire already had well-established law codes and juridical procedures.[183] In general, Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

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it was Roman policy to respect the mos regionis ("regional tradition" or "law of the land") and to regard local laws as a source of legal precedent and social stability.[184] The compatibility of Roman and local law was thought to reflect an underlying ius gentium, the "law of nations" or international law regarded as common and customary among all human communities.[1

Dell Latitude E6430 Battery85] If the particulars of provincial law conflicted with Roman law or custom, Roman courts heard appeals, and the emperor held final authority to render a decision.[186]

In the West, law had been administered on a highly localized or tribal basis, and private property rights may have been a novelty of the Roman era, Dell Latitude E5400 Battery

Dell Latitude E5530 Batteryparticularly among Celtic peoples. Roman law facilitated the acquisition of wealth by a pro-Roman elite who found their new privileges as citizens to be advantageous.[187] The extension of universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Empire in 212 required the uniform application of Roman law, replacing the local law codes that had applied to non-citizens.

Dell Latitude E5430 BatteryDiocletian's efforts to stabilize the Empire after the Crisis of the Third Century included two major compilations of law in four years, the Codex Gregorianus and the Codex Hermogenianus, to guide provincial administrators in setting consistent legal standards.[188] Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

The pervasive exercise of Roman law throughout Western Europe led to its enormous influence on the Western legal tradition, reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in modern law. Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

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Taxation[edit]

Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5 percent of gross product.[30] The typical tax rate paid by individuals ranged from 2 to 5 percent.[18Dell Latitude E6220 Battery

Dell Latitude E5520 Battery9] The tax code was "bewildering" in its complicated system of direct and indirect taxes, some paid in cash and some in kind. Taxes might be specific to a province, or kinds of properties such as fisheries or salt evaporation ponds; they might be in effect for a limited time.[190] Dell Latitude E6320 Battery

Dell Latitude E6330 BatteryTax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military,[191] and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty.[192] In-kind taxes were accepted from less-monetized areas, particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps.[193] Dell Latitude E6400 Battery

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Personification of the River Nile and his children, from the Temple of Serapis and Isis in Rome (1st century AD)

The primary source of direct tax revenue was individuals, who paid a poll tax and a tax on their land, construed as a tax on its produce or productive capacity.[18Dell Latitude E6410 Battery

Dell Latitude E6210 Battery9] Supplemental forms could be filed by those eligible for certain exemptions; for example, Egyptian farmers could register fields as fallow and tax-exempt depending on flood patterns of the Nile.[19Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery4] Tax obligations were determined by the census, which required each head of household to appear before the presiding official and provide a head count of his household, as well as an accounting of property he owned that was suitable for agriculture or habitation.[194]

A major source of indirect-tax revenue was the portoria, customs and tolls on imports and exports, including among provinces.[189] Special taxes were levied on the slave trade. Toward the end of his reign, Augustus instituted a 4 percent tax on the sale of slaves,[195Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery

Dell Latitude E6400 ATG Battery] which Nero shifted from the purchaser to the dealers, who responded by raising their prices.[196] An owner who manumitted a slave paid a "freedom tax", calculated at 5 percent of value.[197] Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

An inheritance tax of 5 percent was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone but members of their immediate family. Revenues from the estate tax and from a 1 percent sales tax on auctions went toward the veterans' pension fund (aerarium militare).[189] Dell Latitude E6510 Battery

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Low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth, which equaled or exceeded the revenues of the central government. An emperor sometimes replenished his treasury by confiscating the estates of the "super-rich", but in the later period, the resistance of the wealthy to paying taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire.[32] Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

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Economy[edit]

Main article: Roman economy

Roman banker in a transaction

Moses Finley was the chief proponent of the primitivist view that the Roman economy was "underdeveloped and underachieving," characterized by subsistence agriculture; urban centers that consumed more than they produced in terms of trade and industry; Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery

Sony VGP-BPS21A battery low-status artisans; slowly developing technology; and a "lack of economic rationality."[198] Current views are more complex. Territorial conquests permitted a large-scale reorganization of land use that resulted in agricultural surplus and specialization, particularly in north Africa.[19Sony VGP-BPS13/S battery

Sony VGP-BPS21 battery9] Some cities were known for particular industries or commercial activities, and the scale of building in urban areas indicates a significant construction industry.[199] Papyri preserve complex accounting methods that suggest elements of economic rationalism,[200] and the Empire was highly monetized. Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery

Sony VGP-BPL21 battery [201] Although the means of communication and transport were limited in antiquity, transportation in the 1st and 2nd centuries expanded greatly, and trade routes connected regional economies.[202Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/B battery] The supply contracts for the army, which pervaded every part of the Empire, drew on local suppliers near the base (castrum), throughout the province, and across provincial borders.[20Sony VGP-BPS13A battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B battery3] The Empire is perhaps best thought of as a network of regional economies, based on a form of "political capitalism" in which the state monitored and regulated commerce in order to assure its own revenues.[20Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery

Sony VGP-BPS13AB battery4] Economic growth, though not comparable to modern economies, was greater than that of most other societies prior to industrialization.[200] Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery

Socially, economic dynamism opened up one of the avenues of social mobility in the Roman Empire. Social advancement was thus not dependent solely on birth, patronage, good luck, or even extraordinary ability. Sony VGP-BPS13S battery

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Sony VGP-BPS13A/R batteryAlthough aristocratic values permeated traditional elite society, a strong tendency toward plutocracy is indicated by the wealth requirements for census rank. Prestige could be obtained through investing one's wealth in ways that advertised it appropriately: grand country estates or townhouses, Sony VGP-BPL10 Battery

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durable luxury items such as jewels and silverware, public entertainments, funerary monuments for family members or coworkers, and religious dedications such as altars. Guilds (collegia) and corporations (corpora) provided support for individuals to succeed through networking, sharing sound business practices, and a willingness to work.[205] Sony VGP-BPL11 Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS21/S BatteryThe early Empire was monetized to a near-universal extent, in the sense of using money as a way to express prices and debts.[206] The sestertius (plural sestertii, English "sesterces", symbolized as HS) was the basic unit of reckoning value into the 4th century,[207] though the silver denarius, worth four sesterces, was used also for accounting beginning in the Severan dynasty.[20Sony VGP-BPL13 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS21B Battery8] The smallest coin commonly circulated was the bronze as (plural asses), one-fourth sestertius.[209] Bullion and ingots seem not to have counted as pecunia, "money," and were used only on the frontiers for transacting business or buying property. Romans in the 1st and 2nd centuries counted coins, Sony VGP-BPL14 Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS21A Battery rather than weighing them—an indication that the coin was valued on its face, not for its metal content. This tendency toward fiat money led eventually to the debasement of Roman coinage, with consequences in the later Empire.[21Sony VGP-BPL14B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS21 Battery0] The standardization of money throughout the Empire promoted trade and market integration.[211] The high amount of metal coinage in circulation increased the money supply for trading or saving.[212]

Rome had no central bank, and regulation of the banking system was minimal. Banks of classical antiquity practiced fractional reserve banking. Sony VGP-BPL14/S Battery

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Sony VGP-BPS15/S BatteryA typical bank had fairly limited capital, and often only one principal, though a bank might have as many as six to fifteen principals. Seneca assumes that anyone involved in commerce needs access to credit.[213]

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A Roman aureus struck under Augustus (c. 13–14 AD); the reverse shows Tiberius in a quadriga, celebrating the fifteenth renewal of his tribunal power

A professional deposit banker (argentarius, coactor argentarius, or later nummularius) received and held deposits for a fixed or indefinite term, and lent money to third parties.[214Sony VGP-BPL21 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS15/B Battery] The senatorial elite were involved heavily in private lending, both as creditors and borrowers, making loans from their personal fortunes on the basis of social connections.[215] The holder of a debt could use it a means of payment by transferring it to another party, without cash changing hands. Sony VGP-BPS8 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS15 Battery Although it has sometimes been thought that ancient Rome lacked "paper" or documentary transactions, the system of banks throughout the Empire also permitted the exchange of very large sums without the physical transfer of coins, Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS14/S Battery in part because of the risks of moving large amounts of cash, particularly by sea. Only one serious credit shortage is known to have occurred in the early Empire, a credit crisis in 33 AD that put a number of senators at risk; the central government rescued the market through a loan of 100 million HS made by the emperor Tiberius to the banks (mensae).[2Sony VGP-BPS10 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS14B Battery16] Generally, available capital exceeded the amount needed by borrowers.[217] The central government itself did not borrow money, and without public debt had to fund deficits from cash reserves.[218Sony VGP-BPS11 Battery

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]

Emperors of the Antonine and Severan dynasties overall debased the currency, particularly the denarius, under the pressures of meeting military payrolls.[219] Sudden inflation during the reign of Commodus damaged the credit market.[2Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

Sony VGP-BPS14/B Battery17] In the mid-200s, the supply of specie contracted sharply.[220] Conditions during the Crisis of the Third Century—such as reductions in long-distance trade, disruption of mining operations, and the physical transfer of gold coinage outside the empire by invading enemies—greatly diminished the money supply and the banking sector by the year 300.[2Sony VGP-BPS13A Battery

Sony VGP-BPS14 Battery21] Although Roman coinage had long been fiat money or fiduciary currency, general economic anxieties came to a head under Aurelian, and bankers lost confidence in coins legitimately issued by the central government. Despite Diocletian's introduction of the gold solidus and monetary reforms, the credit market of the Empire never recovered its former robustness.[217]

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Mining and metallurgy[edit]

Main article: Roman metallurgy

Vatican City and Catholic Church

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Vatican City and Catholic Church

Vatican City i/ˈvætɨkən ˈsɪti/, or Vatican City State,[13] in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano (pronounced [ˈstaːto della t͡ʃitˈta del vatiˈkaːno]),[14] is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. It has an area of approximately 44 hectares (110 acres), Levono Ideapad G560 Keyboard

and a population of just over 800.[3][15] This makes Vatican City the smallest internationally recognized independent state in the world by both area and population. The Pope is also the Head of State and Government of the Vatican City State. Levono Ideapad Z570 Keyboard

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Vatican City was established as an independent state in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri, on behalf of Pope Pius XI and by Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.[16] The treaty spoke of it as a new creation (Preamble and Article III), Levono Ideapad Z560 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad Z565 Keyboard not as a vestige of the much larger Papal States (756–1870) that had previously encompassed much of central Italy. Vatican City State is distinct from the Holy See,[17] which dates back to early Christianity and is the main episcopal see of 1.4 billion Latin and Eastern Catholic adherents around the globe. Levono Ideapad Y560P Keyboard

Levono Ideapad Y570 Keyboard Ordinances of Vatican City are published in Italian; official documents of the Holy See are issued mainly in Latin. The two entities have distinct passports: the Holy See, not being a country, issues only diplomatic and service passports, whereas Vatican City State issues normal passports. Levono Ideapad Y560 Keyboard

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Vatican City is an ecclesiastical[3] or sacerdotal-monarchical[4] state, ruled by the Bishop of Rome—the Pope. The highest state functionaries are all Catholic clergymen of various national origins. It is the sovereign territory of the Holy See (Sancta Sedes) Levono Ideapad V570A Keyboard

Levono Ideapad G575 Keyboard and the location of the Pope's residence, referred to as the Apostolic Palace. The Popes have generally resided in the area that in 1929 became Vatican City since the return from Avignon in 1377, but have also at times resided in the Quirinal Palace in Rome and elsewhere.

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Main article: Geography of Vatican City

The Vatican climate is the same as Rome's; a temperate, Mediterranean climate with mild, rainy winters from September to mid-May and hot, dry summers from May to August. There are some local features, principally mists and dews, Levono Ideapad V570 Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B570A Keyboard caused by the anomalous bulk of St Peter's Basilica, the elevation, the fountains and the size of the large paved square.

Territory of Vatican City according to the Lateran Treaty

The name "Vatican" predates Christianity and comes from the Latin Mons Vaticanus, meaning Vatican Mount.[

Levono Ideapad B575 Keyboard21] The territory of Vatican City is part of the Mons Vaticanus, and of the adjacent former Vatican Fields. It is in this territory that St. Peter's Basilica, the Apostolic Palace, the Sistine Chapel, and museums were built, along with various other buildings. The area was part of the Roman rione of Borgo until 1929. Levono Ideapad V570C Keyboard

Levono Ideapad B570 KeyboardBeing separated from the city, on the west bank of the Tiber river, the area was an outcrop of the city that was protected by being included within the walls of Leo IV (847–55), and later expanded by the current fortification walls, built under Paul III (1534–49), Pius IV (1559–65) and Urban VIII (1623–44). HP Probook 4320S Keyboard

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Entrance to Vatican City from Rome

When the Lateran Treaty of 1929 that gave the state its form was being prepared, the boundaries of the proposed territory were influenced by the fact that much of it was all but enclosed by this loop. For some tracts of the frontier, there was no wall, but the line of certain buildings supplied part of the boundary, and for a small part of the frontier a modern wall was constructed.

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The territory includes St. Peter's Square, distinguished from the territory of Italy only by a white line along the limit of the square, where it touches Piazza Pio XII. St. Peter's Square is reached through the Via della Conciliazione which runs from close to the Tiber River to St. Peter's. HP Probook 4321S Keyboard

HP Probook 5310M Keyboard This grand approach was constructed by Benito Mussolini after the conclusion of the Lateran Treaty.

According to the Lateran Treaty, certain properties of the Holy See that are located in Italian territory, most notably the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo and the major basilicas, enjoy extraterritorial status similar to that of foreign embassies.[22][ HP Probook 4325S Keyboard

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HP Probook 4730S Keyboard23] These properties, scattered all over Rome and Italy, house essential offices and institutions necessary to the character and mission of the Holy See.[23]

Castel Gandolfo and the named basilicas are patrolled internally by police agents of Vatican City State and not by Italian police. St. Peter's Square is ordinarily policed jointly by both.[22] HP Probook 4329S Keyboard

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St. Peter's Square, the basilica and obelisk, from Piazza Pio XII

Gardens[edit]

Part of the Vatican Gardens

Main article: Gardens of Vatican City

Within the territory of Vatican City are the Vatican Gardens (Italian: Giardini Vaticani),[24] which account for more than half of this territory. The gardens, established during the Renaissance and Baroque era, are decorated with fountains and sculptures. HP Probook 4410 Keyboard

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The gardens cover approximately 23 hectares (57 acres) which is most of the Vatican Hill. The highest point is 60 metres (200 ft) above mean sea level. Stone walls bound the area in the North, South and West. HP Probook 4410S Keyboard

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The gardens date back to medieval times when orchards and vineyards extended to the north of the Papal Apostolic Palace.[25] In 1279 Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, 1277–1280) moved his residence back to the Vatican from the Lateran Palace and enclosed this area with walls.[26]

HP Probook 4535S KeyboardHe planted an orchard (pomerium), a lawn (pratellum) and a garden (viridarium).[26]

In this originally uninhabited area (the ager vaticanus) on the opposite side of the Tiber from the city of Rome, Agrippina the Elder (14 BC – 18 October AD 33) drained the hill and environs and built her gardens in the early 1st century AD. Emperor Caligula (31 August AD 12–24 January AD 41; r. 37–41) started construction of a circus (AD 40) that was later completed by Nero, HP Probook 4410T Keyboard

HP Probook 4530S Keyboardthe Circus Gaii et Neronis,[27] usually called, simply, the Circus of Nero. In AD 69, the Year of the Four Emperors, when the northern army that brought Aulus Vitellius to power arrived in Rome, "a large proportion camped in the unhealthy districts of the Vatican, which resulted in many deaths among the common soldiery; HP Probook 4411S Keyboard

HP Probook 4525S Keyboard and the Tiber being close by, the inability of the Gauls and Germans to bear the heat and the consequent greed with which they drank from the stream weakened their bodies, which were already an easy prey to disease".[28] HP Probook 4413S Keyboard

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The Vatican obelisk was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis, Egypt to decorate the spina of his circus and is thus its last visible remnant. This area became the site of martyrdom of many Christians after the Great Fire of Rome in AD 64. Ancient tradition holds that it was in this circus that Saint Peter was crucified upside-down. HP Probook 4414S Keyboard

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Opposite the circus was a cemetery separated by the Via Cornelia. Funeral monuments and mausoleums and small tombs as well as altars to pagan gods of all kinds of polytheistic religions were constructed lasting until before the construction of the Constantinian Basilica of St. Peter's in the first half of the 4th century. IBM Thinkpad E525 Keyboard

Remains of this ancient necropolis were brought to light sporadically during renovations by various popes throughout the centuries increasing in frequency during the Renaissance until it was systematically excavated by orders of Pope Pius XII from 1939 to 1941. IBM Thinkpad E520S Keyboard

In 326, the first church, the Constantinian basilica, was built over the site that early Catholic apologists (from the first century on) as well as noted Italian archaeologists argue was the tomb of Saint Peter, buried in a common cemetery on the spot. IBM Thinkpad E520 Keyboard

IBM Thinkpad X201S KeyboardFrom then on the area started to become more populated, but mostly only by dwelling houses connected with the activity of St. Peter's. A palace was constructed near the site of the basilica as early as the 5th century during the pontificate of Pope Symmachus (reigned 498–514).[29]

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Popes in their secular role gradually came to govern neighbouring regions and, through the Papal States, ruled a large portion of the Italian peninsula for more than a thousand years until the mid 19th century, when all of the territory of the Papal States was seized by the newly created Kingdom of Italy.

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For much of this time the Vatican was not the habitual residence of the Popes, but rather the Lateran Palace, and in recent centuries, the Quirinal Palace, while the residence from 1309–77 was at Avignon in France. IBM Thinkpad E425 Keyboard

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Italian unification[edit]

Main article: Roman Question

View of the dome of Saint Peter's Basilica from Borgo Santo Spirito.

In 1870, the Pope's holdings were left in an uncertain situation when Rome itself was annexed by the Piedmont-led forces which had united the rest of Italy, after a nominal resistance by the papal forces. Between 1861 and 1929 the status of the Pope was referred to as the "Roman Question". IBM Thinkpad E420S Keyboard

IBM Thinkpad SL400 KeyboardIn practice Italy made no attempt to interfere with the Holy See within the Vatican walls. However, they confiscated church property in many places. In 1871, the Palazzo Quirinale, for centuries the Papal palace, was confiscated by the king of Italy and became the royal palace.

IBM Thinkpad SL500 KeyboardThereafter the popes resided undisturbed within the Vatican walls, and certain papal prerogatives were recognized by the Law of Guarantees, including the right to send and receive ambassadors. But the Popes did not recognise the Italian king's right to rule in Rome,

IBM Thinkpad SL510 Keyboardand they refused to leave the Vatican compound until the dispute was resolved in 1929; Pope Pius IX (1846–78), the last ruler of the Papal States, claimed that after Rome was annexed he was a "Prisoner in the Vatican".. Other states continued to maintain international recognition of the Holy See as a sovereign entity. IBM Thinkpad E120 Keyboard

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Lateran treaties[edit]

Main article: Lateran Treaty

The Apostolic Palace.

This situation was resolved on 11 February 1929, when the Lateran Treaty between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Italy was signed by Prime Minister and Head of Government Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III and by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri for Pope Pius XI.[16] The treaty, which became effective on 7 June 1929, IBM Thinkpad E125 Keyboard

IBM Thinkpad E220 Keyboardestablished the independent state of Vatican City and reaffirmed the special status of Catholicism in Italy.[30]

World War II[edit] Dell RX221 keyboard

Main article: Vatican City during World War II

Vatican City officially pursued a policy of neutrality during World War II, under the leadership of Pope Pius XII. Although the city of Rome was occupied by Germany from 1943 and the Allies from 1944, Vatican City itself was not occupied. Dell P0XM3 keyboard

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Dell HT514 keyboardOne of Pius XII's main diplomatic priorities was to prevent the bombing of Rome; so sensitive was the pontiff that he protested even the British air dropping of pamphlets over Rome, claiming that the few landing within the city-state violated the Vatican's neutrality.[31] Dell ORX221 keyboard

Dell HT514 keyboardBefore the American entry into the war, there was little impetus for such a bombing, as the British saw little strategic value in it.[32]

After the American entry, the US opposed such a bombing, fearful of offending Catholic members of its military forces, while the British then supported it.[33] Pius XII similarly advocated for the declaration of Rome as an "open city",Dell UK723UK keyboard

Dell FM760 keyboard but this occurred only on 14 August 1943, after Rome had already been bombed twice.[34] Although the Italians consulted the Vatican on the wording of the open city declaration, the impetus for the change had little to do with the Vatican.[35] Dell 0FM760 keyboard

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1980s – present[edit]

In 1984, a new concordat between the Holy See and Italy modified certain provisions of the earlier treaty, including the position of Catholicism as the Italian state religion, a position given to it by a statute of 1848.[30] Dell PTP49 keyboard

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Governance[edit]

The politics of Vatican City takes place in an absolute elective monarchy, in which the head of the Catholic Church takes power. The Pope exercises principal legislative, executive, and judicial power over the State of Vatican City (an entity distinct from the Holy See), Dell Latitude E4310 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6330 Keyboard which is a rare case of a non-hereditary monarchy.[36] The Vatican is the only remaining absolute monarchy in Europe. Dell Latitude E4320 Keyboard

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Vatican City is currently the only widely recognised independent state that has not become a member of the UN. The Holy See, which is distinct from Vatican City State, has permanent observer status with all the rights of a full member except for a vote in the UN General Assembly.

Political system[edit]

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The government of Vatican City has a unique structure. The Pope is the sovereign of the state. Legislative authority is vested in the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, a body of cardinals appointed by the Pope for five-year periods. Dell Latitude E4200 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6120 Keyboard Executive power is in the hands of the President of that commission, assisted by the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary. The state's foreign relations are entrusted to the Holy See's Secretariat of State and diplomatic service. Dell Latitude E4300 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E5530 Keyboard Nevertheless, the pope has full and absolute executive, legislative and judicial power over Vatican City. He is currently the only absolute monarch in Europe.

There are specific departments that deal with health, security, telecommunications, etc.[37] Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard

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The Cardinal Camerlengo presides over the Apostolic Camera to which is entrusted the administration of the property and the protection of the temporal rights of the Holy See during a papal vacancy.

Dell Latitude E6420 Keyboard Those of the Vatican State remain under the control of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. Acting with three other cardinals chosen by lot every three days, one from each order of cardinalsDell Latitude E5400 Keyboard

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(cardinal bishop, cardinal priest, and cardinal deacon), he in a sense performs during that period the functions of head of state of Vatican City.[citation needed] All the decisions these four cardinals take must be approved by the College of Cardinals as a whole. Dell Latitude E5500 Keyboard

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The nobility that was closely associated with the Holy See at the time of the Papal States continued to be associated with the Papal Court after the loss of these territories, generally with merely nominal duties (see Papal Master of the Horse, Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, Hereditary officers of the Roman Curia, Black Nobility). Dell Latitude E5510 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E5420 Keyboard They also formed the ceremonial Noble Guard. In the first decades of the existence of the Vatican City State, executive functions were entrusted to some of them, including that of Delegate for the State of Vatican City (now denominated President of the Commission for Vatican City). But with the motu proprio Pontificalis Domus of 28 March 1968,[

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Dell Precision M4400 Keyboard 38] Pope Paul VI abolished the honorary positions that had continued to exist until then, such as Quartermaster General and Master of the Horse.[39]

The State of the Vatican City, created in 1929 by the Lateran Pacts, provides the Holy See with a temporal jurisdiction and independence within a small territory. Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Keyboard

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It is distinct from the Holy See. The state can thus be deemed a significant but not essential instrument of the Holy See. The Holy See itself has existed continuously as a juridical entity since Roman Imperial times and has been internationally recognised as a powerful and independent sovereign entity since late antiquity to the present, Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Keyboard

Dell Precision M6400 Keyboard without interruption even at times when it was deprived of territory (e.g. 1870 to 1929). The Holy See has the oldest active continuous diplomatic service in the world, dating back to at least AD 325 with its legation to the Council of Nicea.[40] Ambassadors are accredited to the Holy See, never to the Vatican City State. Dell Latitude E6430S Keyboard

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Head of state[edit]

Main article: Pope

Vatican City

The Pope is ex officio head of state[41] of Vatican City, functions dependent on his primordial function as bishop of the diocese of Rome. The term Holy See refers not to the Vatican state but to the Pope's spiritual and pastoral governance, largely exercised through the Roman Curia.[42] His official title with regard to Vatican City is Sovereign of the State of the Vatican City. Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Keyboard

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His principal subordinate government official for Vatican City is the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, who since 1952 exercises the functions previously belonging to the Governor of Vatican City. Since 2001, Dell Latitude E6520N Keyboard

Dell Precision M4600 Keyboard the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State also has the title of President of the Governorate of the State of Vatican City. Dell Latitude E6530 Keyboard

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Although Popes usually reside in the Papal Apartments of the Papal Palace overlooking Saint Peter's Square, Pope Francis resides in the Vatican's guest house, Domus Sanctae Marthae. He still carries out his business and meets foreign representatives in the Papal Palace. Dell Latitude E5220 Keyboard

Pope Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was elected on 13 March 2013. Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello serves as President of the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City, a post to which he was appointed on 1 October 2011. Dell Latitude E5420M Keyboard

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Administration[edit]

Saint Apollinaris Building (Palazzo sant'Apollinare)

Legislative functions are delegated to the unicameral Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State, led by the President of the Pontifical Commission for Vatican City State. Its seven members are cardinals appointed by the Pope for terms of five years. Dell Latitude E6400 Keyboard

Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Keyboard Acts of the commission must be approved by the pope, through the Holy See's Secretariat of State, and before taking effect must be published in a special appendix of the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. Most of the content of this appendix consists of routine executive decrees, such as approval for a new set of postage stamps. Dell Latitude E6500 Keyboard

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Executive authority is delegated to the Governorate of Vatican City. The Governorate consists of the President of the Pontifical Commission—using the title "President of the Governorate of Vatican City"—a general secretary, and a Vice general secretary, each appointed by the pope for five-year terms. Important actions of the Governorate must be confirmed by the Pontifical Commission and by the Pope through the Secretariat of State. Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Keyboard

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The Governorate oversees the central governmental functions through several departments and offices. The directors and officials of these offices are appointed by the pope for five-year terms. These organs concentrate on material questions concerning the state's territory, Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

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including local security, records, transportation, and finances. The Governorate oversees a modern security and police corps, the Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano.

Judicial functions are delegated to a supreme court, an appeals court, a tribunal (Tribunal of Vatican City State), and a trial judge.[43] In all cases, the pope may choose at any time to exercise supreme legislative, executive, or judicial functions in the state.

The international postal country code prefix is SCV, and the only postal code is 00120 – altogether SCV-00120.[44]

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Military and police[edit]

Swiss Guards in their traditional uniform

Main articles: Military of Vatican City, Crime in Vatican City, and Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City

Though, like various European powers, earlier Popes recruited Swiss mercenaries as part of an army, the Pontifical Swiss Guard was founded by Pope Julius II on 22 January 1506 as the personal bodyguard of the Pope and continues to fulfil that function. Dell Latitude E4320 Battery

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It is listed in the Annuario Pontificio under "Holy See", not under "State of Vatican City". At the end of 2005, the Guard had 134 members. Recruitment is arranged by a special agreement between the Holy See and Switzerland. All recruits must be Catholic, Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

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unmarried males with Swiss citizenship who have completed their basic training with the Swiss Army with certificates of good conduct, be between the ages of 19 and 30, and be at least 174 cm (5 ft 9 in) in height. Members are armed with small arms and the traditional halberd (also called the Swiss voulge), and trained in bodyguarding tactics. Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

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The Palatine Guard and the Noble Guard were disbanded by Pope Paul VI in 1970.[45] While the first body was founded as a militia at the service of the Papal States, its functions within the Vatican State, like those of the Noble Guard, were merely ceremonial. Dell Latitude E5400 Battery

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The Corpo della Gendarmeria acts as a police force. Its full name is Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano (which means "Gendarmerie Corps of the Vatican City State"), although it is sometimes referred to as the Vigilanza, Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6230 Batteryas a shortening of an earlier name. The Gendarmeria is responsible for public order, law enforcement, crowd and traffic control, and criminal investigations in Vatican City.[45]

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The military defence of the Vatican City is provided by Italy and its armed forces, given the fact that Vatican City is an enclave within the Italian Republic. Vatican City has no armed force of its own, the Swiss Guard being a corps of the Holy See responsible for the security of the Pope.

Foreign relations[edit] Dell Latitude E5510 Battery

Palace of the Governorate of Vatican City State

See also: Foreign relations of the Holy See and List of diplomatic missions of the Holy See

Vatican City State is a recognised national territory under international law, but it is the Holy See that conducts diplomatic relations on its behalf, Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

Dell Latitude E6120 Battery in addition to the Holy See's own diplomacy, entering into international agreements in its regard. The Vatican City State thus has no diplomatic service of its own.

Because of space limitations, Vatican City is one of the few countries in the world that is unable to host embassies.

Dell Latitude E5530 Battery Foreign embassies to the Holy See are located in the city of Rome; only during the Second World War were the staff of some embassies accredited to the Holy See given what hospitality was possible within the narrow confines of Vatican City—embassies such as that of the United Kingdom while Rome was held by the Axis Powers and Germany's when the Allies controlled Rome.

The size of Vatican City is thus unrelated to the large global reach exercised by the Holy See as an entity quite distinct from the state.[46] Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

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However, Vatican City State itself participates in some international organizations whose functions relate to the state as a geographical entity, distinct from the non-territorial legal persona of the Holy See. Dell Latitude E6530 Battery

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These organizations are much less numerous than those in which the Holy See participates either as a member or with observer status. They include the following eight, in each of which Vatican City State holds membership:[47][48] Dell Latitude E5420M Battery

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Main article: Economy of Vatican City

The Vatican City State budget[50] includes the Vatican museums and post office and is supported financially by the sale of stamps, coins, medals and tourist mementos; by fees for admission to museums; and by publications sales. The incomes and living standards of lay workers are comparable to those of counterparts who work in the city of Rome.[5Dell Latitude E6400 Battery

Dell Precision M6500 Battery1] Other industries include printing, the production of mosaics, and the manufacture of staff uniforms.

The Institute for Works of Religion, also known as the Vatican Bank, and with the acronym IOR (Istituto per le Opere di Religione), is a bank situated in the Vatican that conducts worldwide financial activities. It has an ATM with instructions in Latin, possibly the only such ATM in the world.[52]

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Vatican City issues its own coins. It has used the euro as its currency since 1 January 1999, owing to a special agreement with the European Union (council decision 1999/98/CE). Euro coins and notes were introduced in 1 January 2002—the Vatican does not issue euro banknotes. Issuance of euro-denominated coins is strictly limited by treaty, Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

Dell Precision M4500 Battery though somewhat more than usual is allowed in a year in which there is a change in the papacy.[53] Because of their rarity, Vatican euro coins are highly sought by collectors.[54] Until the adoption of the Euro, Vatican coinage and stamps were denominated in their own Vatican lira currency, which was on par with the Italian lira. Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Battery

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The Vatican City State, which employs nearly 2,000 people, had a surplus of 6.7 million euros in 2007 but ran a deficit in 2008 of over 15 million euros.[55] Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery

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In 2012, the U.S. State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report listed Vatican City for the first time among the nations of concern for money-laundering, placing it in the middle category, which includes countries such as Ireland, but not among the most vulnerable countries, which include the United States itself, Germany, Italy and Russia.[56] Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Battery

Demographics[edit]

Population and languages[edit]

Vatican Museums

Main article: Languages of Vatican City

Almost all of Vatican City's 826 (2009 est.)[57] citizens either live inside the Vatican's walls or serve in the Holy See's diplomatic service in embassies (called "nunciatures"; a papal ambassador is a "nuncio") around the world. Dell Latitude E5430 Battery

The Vatican citizenry consists almost entirely of two groups: clergy, most of whom work in the service of the Holy See, and a very few as officials of the state; Dell Precision M2400 Battery

Dell Precision M4600 Battery and the Swiss Guard. Most of the 2,400 lay workers who comprise the majority of the Vatican workforce reside outside the Vatican and are citizens of Italy, while a few are citizens of other nations. As a result, all of the City's actual citizens are Catholic as are all the places of worship. Dell XPS 14 Battery

The Seal of Vatican City. Note the use of the Italian language.

Vatican City has no formally enacted official language, but, unlike the Holy See which most often uses Latin for the authoritative version of its official documents, Vatican City uses only Italian in its legislation and official communications. Dell XPS 14D Battery

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[58] Italian is also the everyday language used by most of those who work in the state. In the Swiss Guard, German is the language used for giving commands, but the individual guards take their oath of loyalty in their own languages, German, Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

Dell XPS L502X Battery French, Romansh or Italian. Vatican City's official website languages are Italian, English, French, German, and Spanish. (This site should not be confused with that of the Holy See, which uses all these languages, along with Portuguese, with Latin since 9 May 2008 and Chinese since 18 March 2009.) Dell XPS 15 Battery

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Citizenship[edit]

Before 1 March 2011[edit]

Unlike citizenship of other states, which is based either on jus sanguinis (birth from a citizen, even outside the state's territory) or on jus soli (birth within the territory of the state), citizenship of Vatican City is granted jus officii, namely on the grounds of appointment to work in a certain

Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery capacity in the service of the Holy See. It usually ceases upon cessation of the appointment. Citizenship is extended also to the spouse, parents and descendants of a citizen, provided they are living with the person who is a citizen.[59][60] Dell XPS 15D Battery

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Anyone who loses Vatican citizenship and does not possess other citizenship automatically becomes an Italian citizen as judged by Italian law.[22]

As of 31 December 2005, there were, apart from the Pope himself, 557 people with Vatican citizenship, while there were 246 residents in the state who did not have its citizenship.

Of the 557 citizens, 74% were clergy: Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery

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58 cardinals, resident in Rome, mostly outside the Vatican;

293 clergy, members of the Holy See's diplomatic missions, resident in other countries, and forming well over half the total of the citizens;

62 other clergy, working but not necessarily living in the Vatican.

The 101 members of the Papal Swiss Guard constituted 18% of the total, and there were only 43 other lay persons with Vatican citizenship.[61] Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

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After 1 March 2011[edit]

On 22 February 2011, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a new "Law concerning citizenship, residency and access" to Vatican City, which became effective on 1 March. It replaced the 1929 "Law concerning citizenship and residence".[62Dell Inspiron 14V battery

] There are 16 articles in the new law, whereas the old law had 33 articles.[63] Vatican citizenship now has four categories: (1) the pope, (2) cardinals residing in Vatican City, (3) active members of the Holy See's diplomatic corps, and (4) Dell Inspiron N4020 battery

Dell Inspiron 13R batteryother directors of Vatican offices and services.[63] The new law created a new status, that of official Vatican "residents", i.e., people who live in Vatican City, now are not citizens.[63] As of 1 March 2011, the Vatican had 572 citizens, but only 220 of them were living in Vatican City.[63] The other 352 citizens were apostolic nuncios and diplomatic staff.[63] Dell Inspiron N4030 battery

Dell Inspiron N4110 batteryThe 220 citizens living in Vatican City were among more than 800 people living in the Vatican.[63]

360-degree view from the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, looking over the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square (centre) and out into Rome, showing Vatican City in all directions.

Culture[edit]

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Michelangelo's Pietà is one of the Vatican's best known artworks.

Main article: Culture of Vatican City

Vatican City is home to some of the most famous art in the world. St. Peter's Basilica, whose successive architects include Bramante, Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta, Maderno and Bernini, is a renowned work of Renaissance architecture. The Sistine Chapel is famous for its frescos, which include works by Perugino, Dell Inspiron N7110 battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D batteryDomenico Ghirlandaio and Botticelli as well as the ceiling and Last Judgment by Michelangelo. Artists who decorated the interiors of the Vatican include Raphael and Fra Angelico.

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The Vatican Library and the collections of the Vatican Museums are of the highest historical, scientific and cultural importance. In 1984, the Vatican was added by UNESCO to the List of World Heritage Sites; it is the only one to consist of an entire state.[64Dell Inspiron N7010R battery

Dell Inspiron 17R battery] Furthermore, it is the only site to date registered with the UNESCO as a centre containing monuments in the "International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection" according to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.[64] Dell Inspiron N7010D battery

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Infrastructure[edit]

Transport[edit]

Vatican's Railway Station

Main article: Transport in Vatican City

Vatican City has a reasonably well developed transport network considering its size (consisting mostly of a plaza and walkways). As a country that is 1.05 kilometres (0.6 mi) long and 0.85 kilometres (0.5 mi) wide,[65

Dell Inspiron N4010R battery] it has a small transportation system with no airports or highways. There is one heliport and a standard gauge railway connected to Italy's network at Rome's Saint Peter's station by an 852-metre-long (932 yd) spur, only 300 metres (330 yd) of which is within Vatican territory.[66]

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Pope John XXIII was the first Pope to make use of this railway, and Pope John Paul II used it as well, albeit very rarely. The railway is mainly used to transport freight.[66] As Vatican City has no airports (it is one of the few independent states in the world without one, except for the aforementioned heliport),

Dell Inspiron N4010 batteryit is served by the airports that serve the city of Rome, namely: Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport and to a lesser extent, Ciampino Airport, both of which serve as the departure gateway for the Pope's international visits.[66] Dell Inspiron N5110 battery

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Communications[edit]

The stamp vending machine of the Vatican Postal Service

The City is served by an independent, modern telephone system,[67] the Vatican Pharmacy, and post office. The postal system was founded on 11 February 1929, and two days later became operational. On 1 August,

Dell Inspiron N3010R batterythe state started to release its own postal stamps, under the authority of the Philatelic and Numismatic Office of the Vatican City State.[68] The City's postal service is sometimes recognised as "the best in the world"[69] and mail has been noted to get to its target before the postal service in Rome.[69] Dell Inspiron N5030 battery

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The Vatican also controls its own Internet TLD, which is registered as (.va). Broadband service is widely provided within Vatican City. Vatican City has also been given a radio ITU prefix, HV, and this is sometimes used by amateur radio operators. HP 640426-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Vatican Radio, which was organised by Guglielmo Marconi, broadcasts on short-wave, medium-wave and FM frequencies and on the Internet.[70] Its main transmission antennae are located in Italian territory. Television services are provided through another entity, the Vatican Television Center.[71]

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L'Osservatore Romano is the multilingual semi-official newspaper of the Holy See. It is published by a private corporation under the direction of Roman Catholic laymen but reports on official information. However, the official texts of documents are in the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, the official gazette of the Holy See, which has an appendix for documents of the Vatican City State. HP 640903-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Vatican Radio, the Vatican Television Center, and L'Osservatore Romano are organs not of the Vatican State but of the Holy See, and are listed as such in the Annuario Pontificio, which places them in the section "Institutions linked with the Holy See", HP 641477-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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ahead of the sections on the Holy See's diplomatic service abroad and the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, after which is placed the section on the State of Vatican City.

Crime[edit] HP 650848-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Main article: Crime in Vatican City

Crime in the Vatican City consists largely of purse snatching, pickpocketing and shoplifting by outsiders.[72] The tourist foot-traffic in St. Peter's Square is one of the main locations for pickpockets in Vatican City.[73] HP 653627-001 CPU fan with heatsink

The Corpo della Gendarmeria dello Stato della Città del Vaticano (Corps of Gendarmerie of Vatican City State) is the gendarmerie, or police and security force, of Vatican City and the extraterritorial properties of the Holy See.[74] HP 665309-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The corps is responsible for security, public order, border control, traffic control, criminal investigation, and other general police duties in Vatican City including providing security for the pope outside of Vatican City.

HP 431311-001 CPU fan with heatsinkThe corps has 130 personnel and is a part of the Security and Civil Defense Services Department (which also includes the Vatican Fire Brigade), an organ of the Governorate of Vatican City.[75][76] HP 650057-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Under the terms of article 22 the Lateran Treaty,[77] Italy will, at the request of the Holy See, punish individuals for crimes committed within Vatican City and will itself proceed against the person who committed the offence,

HP 582141-001 CPU fan with heatsink if that person takes refuge in Italian territory. Persons accused of crimes recognized as such both in Italy and in Vatican City that are committed in Italian territory will be handed over to the Italian authorities if they take refuge in Vatican City or in buildings that under the treaty enjoy immunity.[78] [79] HP 650797-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Vatican City has no prison system, apart from a few detention cells for pretrial detention.[80] People convicted of committing crimes in the Vatican serve terms in Italian prisons (Polizia Penitenziaria), with costs covered by the Vatican.[81] HP 384622-001 CPU fan with heatsink

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with 1.2 billion members.[note 1] It is among the oldest institutions in the world and has played a prominent role in the history of Western civilisation. HP 535439-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 582140-001 CPU fan with heatsink The Catholic hierarchy is led by the Pope and includes cardinals, patriarchs and diocesan bishops. The Church teaches that it is the one true church divinely founded by Jesus Christ, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles and that the Pope is the sole successor to Saint Peter who has apostolic primacy.[note 2][note 3][note 4]

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The Church maintains that the doctrine on faith and morals that it presents as definitive is infallible.[note 5] There are a variety of doctrinal and theological emphases, including the Eastern Catholic Churches, the personal ordinariates and religious communities such as the Jesuits, the Franciscans and the Dominicans. HP 535766-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The Catholic Church is Trinitarian and defines its mission as spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ,[4] administering the sacraments[5] and exercising charity.[6] Catholic worship is highly liturgical, focusing on the Mass or Divine Liturgy during which the sacrament of the Eucharist is celebrated. HP 582139-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 602472-001 CPU fan with heatsinkThe Church teaches that bread and wine used during the Mass become the body and blood of Christ through transubstantiation. The Catholic Church practises closed communion and only baptised members of the Church in a state of grace are ordinarily permitted to receive the Eucharist.[7HP 582140-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 579158-001 CPU fan with heatsink] It holds the Blessed Virgin Mary, as mother of Jesus Christ, in special regard and has defined four specific Marian dogmatic teachings, namely her Immaculate Conception without original sin, her status as the Mother of God, her perpetual virginity and her bodily Assumption into Heaven at the end of her earthly life.[note 6] HP 582141-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Catholic social teaching emphasises support for the poor and the afflicted through the corporal works of mercy. The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world.[9HP 431311-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 534685-001 CPU fan with heatsink] It operates social programmes and institutions throughout the world, including Catholic schools, universities, hospitals, missions and shelters, as well as charities such as Catholic Relief Services and Caritas that help families, the poor, HP 431312-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 534684-001 CPU fan with heatsinkthe elderly and the sick. Catholic spiritual teaching emphasises spread of the Gospel message and growth in spiritual discipline through the spiritual works of mercy.

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Further information: Roman Catholic (term) and History of the term "Catholic"

The term "catholic" is derived from the Greek word καθολικός (katholikos) meaning "universal" and was first used to describe the Church in the early 2nd century.[10] The term katholikos is equivalent to καθόλου (katholou), HP 443917-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 534675-001 CPU fan with heatsink a contraction of the phrase καθ' ὅλου (kath' holou) meaning "according to the whole".[11] "Catholic Church" (he katholike ekklesia) first appears in a letter of St Ignatius written in about 110.[1HP 456605-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 532617-001 CPU fan with heatsink2] In the "Catechetical Discourses" of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, "Catholic Church" is used to distinguish it from other groups that also call themselves the church.[12][13]

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Since the East–West Schism of 1054, the church that remained in communion with the See of Rome continued to call itself "Catholic" while the Eastern churches have generally been known as "Orthodox" or "Eastern Orthodox".[14] HP 487436-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 532141-001 CPU fan with heatsink Following the Reformation in the 16th century, the Church continued to use the term "Catholic" to distinguish itself from the various Protestant denominations that split off.[14] HP 498480-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The name "Catholic Church" is the most common designation used in official church documents.[15] It is also the term which Paul VI used when signing documents of the Second Vatican Council.[16] However, Church documents produced both by the Holy See[17] and by certain national episcopal conferences[HP 603690-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 610773-001 CPU fan with heatsink18] occasionally refer to the Roman Catholic Church. The Catechism of Pope Pius X published in 1908 also used the term "Roman" to distinguish the Catholic Church from other Christian communities who are not in full communion with the Church of Rome.[19]

Organisation and demographics HP 603691-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The Church's hierarchy is headed by the Bishop of Rome, the pope (Latin: papa), who is the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church composed of the Latin Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the see of Rome. The current pope is Pope Francis, elected on 13 March 2013 by papal conclave.[note 7] HP 604787-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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The office of the pope is known as the Papacy. The Church holds that Christ instituted the Papacy, upon giving the keys of Heaven to Saint Peter. His ecclesiastical jurisdiction is called the "Holy See" (Sancta Sedes in Latin), or the "Apostolic See" (meaning the see of the Apostle Saint Peter).[20][21

HP 606014-001 CPU fan with heatsink] Directly serving the Pope is the Roman Curia, the central governing body that administers the day-to-day business of the Catholic Church. The pope is also head of state of Vatican City State,[22] HP 606575-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 612355-001 CPU fan with heatsink a sovereign city-state entirely enclaved within the city of Rome. The legal entity of the Holy See is distinct from that of the Vatican City state and all foreign relations are accredited to the Holy See.[23] HP 606729-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Following the death or resignation of a pope,[note 8] members of the College of Cardinals who are under age 80 meet in the Sistine Chapel in Rome to elect a new pope.[25] The position of cardinal is a rank of honour bestowed by popes on certain ecclesiastics, such as leaders within the Roman Curia, bishops serving in major cities and distinguished theologians. HP 606731-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 606609-001 CPU fan with heatsinkAlthough this election, known as a papal conclave, can theoretically elect any male Catholic as pope, since 1389 only fellow cardinals have been elevated to that position.[26]

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For advice and assistance in governing, the pope may turn to the College of Cardinals, the next highest level in the hierarchy.[27]

Autonomous particular churches

Main articles: Latin Church and Eastern Catholic Churches

The Catholic Church is made up of 23 autonomous particular churches, each of which accepts the paramountcy of the Bishop of Rome on matters of doctrine.[28][29] HP 608010-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 657942-001 CPU fan with heatsink These churches, also known by the Latin term sui iuris churches, are communities of Catholic Christians whose forms of worship reflect different historical and cultural influences rather than differences in doctrine. In general, each sui iuris church is headed by a patriarch or high ranking bishop,[3HP 608095-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 655983-001 CPU fan with heatsink0] and has a degree of self-governance over the particulars of its internal organisation, liturgical rites, liturgical calendar and other aspects of its spirituality.

The largest of the particular churches is the Latin Church which reports over one billion members. It developed in southern Europe and North Africa. HP 608229-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 643258-001 CPU fan with heatsinkThen it spread throughout Western, Central and Northern Europe, before expanding to the rest of the world. The Latin Church considered itself to be the oldest and largest branch of Western Christianity,[ HP 622028-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 535442-001 CPU fan with heatsink31] a heritage of certain beliefs and customs originating in various European countries, some of which are shared also by many Christian denominations that trace their origins to the Protestant Reformation.[31] HP 631742-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Relatively small in terms of adherents compared to the Latin Church, but important to the overall structure of the Church, are the 22 self-governing Eastern Catholic Churches with a membership of 17.3 million as of 2010. HP 637610-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 533736-001 CPU fan with heatsink [2] The Eastern Catholic Churches follow the traditions and spirituality of Eastern Christianity and are composed of Eastern Christians who have always remained in full communion with the Catholic Church or who have chosen to reenter full communion in the centuries following the East–West Schism and earlier divisions. Some Eastern Catholic Churches are governed by a patriarch who is elected by the synod of the bishops of that church,[32]

HP 480481-001 CPU fan with heatsink others are headed by a major archbishop,[33] others are under a metropolitan,[34] and others consist of individual eparchies.[35] The Roman Curia has a specific department, the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, to maintain relations with them.

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Dioceses, parishes and religious orders

Individual countries, regions, or major cities are served by local particular Churches known as dioceses or eparchies, each overseen by a Catholic bishop. Each diocese is united with one of the worldwide "sui iuris" particular churches, HP 642731-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 657529-001 CPU fan with heatsink such as the Latin Church, or one of the many Eastern Catholic Churches. As of 2008, the Catholic Church altogether comprised 2,795 dioceses.[36] The bishops in a particular country or region are often organised into an episcopal conference,[3HP 622033-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 576838-001 CPU fan with heatsink7] which aids in maintaining a uniform style of worship and co-ordination of social justice programmes within the areas served by member bishops.

Dioceses are further divided into numerous individual communities called parishes, each staffed by one or more priests, deacons and/or lay ecclesial ministers.[ HP 610778-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 434678-001 CPU fan with heatsink38] Parishes are responsible for the day to day celebration of the sacraments and pastoral care of the Catholic laity.

Ordained Catholics, as well as members of the laity, may enter into consecrated life either on an individual basis, as a hermit or consecrated virgin, or by joining an institute of consecrated life (a religious institute or a secular institute) in which to take vows confirming their desire to follow the three evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience.[3HP 631743-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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HP 431448-001 CPU fan with heatsink9] Examples of institutes of consecrated life are the Benedictines, the Carmelites, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Missionaries of Charity and the Sisters of Mercy.[39]

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Women constitute the majority of members of the consecrated life within the church. In 2006, the number of nuns worldwide had been in decline, but women still constituted around 753,400 members of the consecrated life, of a total worldwide membership of around 945,210. HP 532613-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 486844-001 CPU fan with heatsinkOf these members, 191,810 were men—including around 136,171 priests. Women were engaged in a variety of vocations, from contemplative prayer, to teaching, providing health care and working as missionaries.[40]

Membership statistics

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Further information: Catholicism by country

Total church membership in 2011 (remaining steady at 17.5% of the world population) was 1,214 million people,[1] having increased from 437 million in 1950[41HP 582321-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 492314-001 CPU fan with heatsink] and 654 million in 1970.[42] Compared to 2010 statistics, the rate of increase was 1.5% overall, with 2.3% increase in Africa, and 0.3% in the Americas and Europe. Worldwide, the Catholic population is broken down as 48.8% from the Americas, 23.5% from Europe, 16.0% from Africa, 10.9% from Asia, and 0.8% from Oceania.[1] HP 532614-001 CPU fan with heatsink

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Membership in the Catholic Church is attained through baptism or reception into the Church (for individuals previously baptised in non-Catholic Christian churches).[4HP 587244-001 CPU fan with heatsink

HP 486799-001 CPU fan with heatsink3] For some years until 2009, if someone formally left the Church, that fact was noted in the register of the person's baptism.

In 2011, Vatican records listed 413,418 Catholic priests in the world. The main growth areas have been Asia and Africa, with 39% and 32% growth respectively over the year 2000.[1] HP 535438-001 CPU fan with heatsink

Since the early 2000s the number of practicing Catholics have been reported to be declining in millions throughout the world.[44]

Worship and liturgy

Main article: Catholic liturgy

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Samples of Catholic religious objects—The Holy Bible, a Crucifix, and a Rosary.

Altar in St Mary's Church in Alexandria, Virginia. The altar is at the centre of Catholic worship because it is there that the "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass" takes place.

Among the 23 autonomous (sui iuris) churches, numerous forms of worship and liturgical traditions exist, called "rites", which reflect historical and cultural diversity rather than differences in belief.[45] In the definition of the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Sony VPCF12K4E Keyboard

"a rite is the liturgical, theological, spiritual, and disciplinary patrimony, culture and circumstances of history of a distinct people, by which its own manner of living the faith is manifested in each Church sui iuris",[Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12B4E Keyboard46] but the term is often limited to liturgical patrimony. The most commonly used liturgy is the Roman Rite in its ordinary form, but other rites are in use in the Eastern Catholic Churches and even in the Latin Church. Sony VPCF13B4E Keyboard

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Celebration of the Eucharist

In all rites the Mass, or Divine Liturgy, is the centre of Catholic worship. The Catholic Church teaches that at each Mass the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ by the words of consecration spoken by the priest. The Church teaches that this happens through transubstantiation,

Sony VPCF11M4E Keyboard in which the "accidents" (perceptible aspects) of the sacramental bread and wine remain, but the underlying substance is transmuted into the body, blood, soul and divinity of Christ, and is not merely symbolic.[47] The words of consecration are drawn from the three synoptic Gospels and a Pauline letter.[ Sony VPCF13C4E Keyboard

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48] The Church teaches that Christ established a New Covenant with humanity through the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper, as described in these biblical verses.

Hoc est enim corpus meum ...

“”

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— Roman Missal, during the words of consecration (Latin).[49]

Because the Church teaches that Christ is present in the Eucharist,[50] there are strict rules about who may celebrate and who may receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church. The sacrament can only be celebrated by an ordained Catholic priest. Those who are conscious of being in a state of mortal sin are forbidden to receive the sacrament until they have received absolution through the sacrament of Reconciliation (Penance).[ Sony VPCF13D4E Keyboard

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Sony VPCF11J4E Keyboard51] Catholics are normally obliged to abstain from eating for at least an hour before receiving the sacrament.[51]

Catholics, even if they were in danger of death and unable to approach a Catholic minister, may not ask for the sacraments of the Eucharist, penance or anointing of the sick from someone, such as a Protestant minister, who is not known to be validly ordained in line with Catholic teaching on ordination.[52][5Sony VPCF13F4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J1E/B Keyboard3] Likewise, even in grave and pressing need, Catholic ministers may not administer these sacraments to those who do not manifest Catholic faith in the sacrament. In relation to the churches of Eastern Christianity not in communion with the Holy See, the Catholic Church is less restrictive, declaring that "a certain communion in sacris, Sony VPCF13G4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11J04E/H Keyboard and so in the Eucharist, given suitable circumstances and the approval of Church authority, is not merely possible but is encouraged."[54] Sony VPCF13H4E Keyboard

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Tridentine Mass in a chapel of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Boston in April 2009. This ancient form of the Roman Rite dates back to 1570; most elements are centuries older

The Roman Rite is the most common rite of worship used by the Catholic Church. Its use is found worldwide, spread by missionary activity originating in European Catholic nations throughout Christian history.[56] Sony VPCF13J4E Keyboard

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Two forms of the Roman Rite are authorised at present. The generally used ordinary form, celebrated mostly in the vernacular, is that of the post-1969 editions of the Roman Missal, and is known as the Mass of Paul VI. The extraordinary form, celebrated only in Latin, is that of the edition of 1962, the year of the opening of the Second Vatican Council,[57Sony VPCF13J8E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11F4E Keyboard] and is known as the Tridentine Mass.[50][note 9] An outline of the major liturgical elements of Roman Rite Mass can be found in the side bar.

In the United States, "Anglican Use" parishes have been created. They use a variation of the Roman rite that retains some of the wording of the Anglican liturgical rites.[note 10] Sony VPCF13K4E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11E4E KeyboardImplementation is expected of the authorisation granted in 2009 for the creation wherever appropriate of ordinariates for groups of Anglicans who have been approved for entrance into the Catholic Church and who may in the future use a rite that incorporates elements of Anglican tradition.[58] Other Western liturgical rites (non-Roman) include the Ambrosian Rite and the Mozarabic Rite. Sony VPCF13L0E Keyboard

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Eastern liturgical rites

An Eastern Catholic bishop of the Syro-Malabar Church holding the Mar Thoma Cross which symbolises the heritage and identity of the Saint Thomas Christians of India

The liturgical rites of the Eastern Catholic Churches are very similar to, and often identical with, the rites used by the Eastern Orthodox and other Eastern Christian churches which historically developed in Russia, Caucasus and the Balkans, Sony VPCF13S8E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11A4E KeyboardNorth Eastern Africa and the Middle East, but are no longer in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. The Eastern Catholic Churches are either groups of faithful which have restored full communion with the Bishop of Rome, while preserving their identity as Eastern Christians, or groups with which full communion has never been broken. Sony VPCF13Z1E/B Keyboard

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The rites used by the Eastern Catholic Churches include the Byzantine Rite, in its Antiochian, Greek and Slavonic varieties, the Alexandrian Rite, the Syriac Rite, the Armenian Rite, the Maronite Rite and the Chaldean Rite. Sony VPCF22M0E Keyboard

Sony VPCF12H4E Keyboard In the past some of the rites used by the Eastern Catholic Churches were subject to some degree of liturgical Latinisation. However, in recent years Eastern Catholic Churches have returned to traditional Eastern practices in accord with the Vatican II decree Orientalium Ecclesiarum. Each church has its own liturgical calendar. Sony VPCF22C5E Keyboard

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Doctrine

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Further information: Catholic theology

The fundamental beliefs of the Christian religion are summarised in the Nicene Creed. For Catholics, they are detailed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.[59][ Sony VPCSA2Z9E Battery

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60] The Church Catholic holds that it is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Based on the promises of Christ in the Gospels, the Church believes that it is continually guided by the Holy Spirit—which reveals God's truth through Sacred scripture, Sacred tradition and the Magisterium.[61] Sony VPCSA3N9E Battery

Sony VPCSB3S9E Battery—and so protected infallibly from falling into doctrinal error.[62][63][64][65]

Sacred Scripture consists of the 73 book Catholic Bible. This is made up of the 46 books found in the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament—known as the Septuagint[66]—and the 27 New Testament writings first found in the Codex Vaticanus Graecus 1209 and listed in Athanasius' Thirty-Ninth Festal Letter.[67Sony VPCSA3S9E Battery

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][note 11] Sacred Tradition consists of those teachings believed by the Church to have been handed down since the time of the Apostles.[68] Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are collectively known as the "deposit of faith" (depositum fidei). Sony VPCSB1C7E Battery

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Sony VPCSB3N9E Battery These are in turn interpreted by the Magisterium (from magister, Latin for "teacher"), the Church's teaching authority, which is exercised by the Pope and the College of Bishops in union with the Pope, the bishop of Rome.[69]

Catholic social teaching Sony VPCSB1S1E Battery

Main article: Catholic social teaching

See also: Catholic Church and health care

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta advocated for the sick, the poor and the needy by practising the acts of corporal works of mercy. Sony VPCSB1V9E Battery

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The social Gospel espoused by Jesus and Catholic social teaching place a heavy emphasis on the corporal works of mercy and the spiritual works of mercy, namely the support and concern for the sick, the poor and the afflicted. Sony VPCSB1V9R Battery

Sony VPCSB1Z9R BatteryChurch teaching calls for a preferential option for the poor while canon law prescribes that "The Christian faithful are also obliged to promote social justice and, mindful of the precept of the Lord, to assist the poor."[70]

The Church enumerates "corporal works of mercy" and "spiritual works of mercy" as follows:[71]

The Catholic Church is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world.[9Sony VPCSB1X9E Battery

Sony VPCSB1Z9E Battery] In 2010, the Catholic Church's Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers said that the Church manages 26% of health care facilities in the world, including hospitals, clinics, orphanages, pharmacies and centres for those with leprosy.[72] Sony VPCSE1E1E Battery

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Religious institutes for women have played a particularly prominent role in the provision of health and education services, as with orders such as the Sisters of Mercy, Little Sisters of the Poor, the Missionaries of Charity, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. Sony VPCSE1J1E Battery

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The Church is also actively engaged in international aid and development through organisations such as Catholic Relief Services, Caritas International, Aid to the Church in Need, refugee advocacy groups such as the Jesuit Refugee Service and community aid groups such as the Saint Vincent de Paul Society. Sony VPCSE1V9E Battery

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Trinity

The Crucifixion of Christ featuring Saint Dismas and criminal Gestas by Albrecht Altdorfer, 1526

The Catholic Church holds that there is one eternal God, who exists as a mutual indwelling of three persons: God the Father; Sony VPCSE2E1E Battery

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Sony VPCCB3PQE BatteryGod the Son; and God the Holy Spirit, which make up the Trinity.

Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity, God the Son. In an event known as the Incarnation, through the power of the Holy Spirit, God became united with human nature through the conception of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Christ therefore is both fully divine and fully human. Sony VPCSE2L9E Battery

Sony VPCCB3 Battery It is taught that Christ's mission on earth included giving people his teachings and providing his example for them to follow as recorded in the four Gospels.[73]

The Church teaches that through the passion (suffering) of Christ and his crucifixion as described in the Gospels, all people have an opportunity for forgiveness and freedom from sin and so can be reconciled to God.[74Sony VPCSE2M9E Battery

Sony VPCCB2S1E Battery] The Resurrection of Jesus gained for humans a possible spiritual immortality previously denied to them because of original sin.[75] By reconciling with God and following Christ's words and deeds, an individual can enter the Kingdom of God, which is the "... reign of God over people's hearts and lives".[76] Sony VPCSE2S1E Battery

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The Greek term "Christ" and the Hebrew "Messiah" both mean "anointed one", referring to the Christian belief that Jesus' death and resurrection are the fulfilment of the Old Testament's messianic prophecies.[77] Sony VPCCA1C5E Battery

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Apostolicity

According to the Catechism, the Catholic Church professes to be the "sole Church of Christ", which is described in the Nicene Creed as the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.[78] The church teaches that its founder is Jesus Christ, who appointed the twelve Apostles to continue his work as the Church's earliest bishops.[7Sony VPCCA1S1E Battery

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Sony VPCCB2 Battery] Catholic belief holds that the Church "is the continuing presence of Jesus on earth",[80] and that all duly consecrated bishops have a lineal succession from the apostles.[81] In particular, the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), is considered the successor to the apostle Simon Peter, from whom the Pope derives his supremacy over the Church.[8Sony VPCCA2C5E Battery

Sony VPCCB Battery2] The Church is further described in the papal encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi as the Mystical Body of Christ.[83]

The Church teaches that the fullness of the "means of salvation" exists only in the Catholic Church, but the Church acknowledges that the Holy Spirit can make use of Christian communities separated from itself to "impel towards Catholic unity" and thus bring people to salvation. It teaches that anyone who is saved is saved through the Church but that people can be saved ex voto and by pre-baptismal martyrdom as well as when conditions of invincible ignorance are present,[

Sony VPCCA3S1E Battery65] although invincible ignorance in itself is not a means of salvation.

Sacraments

Main article: Sacraments of the Catholic Church

According to the Council of Trent, Christ instituted seven sacraments and entrusted them to the Church.[84] These are Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance), Anointing of the Sick (formerly called Extreme Unction, Sony VPCCA2S0E Battery

Sony VPCCA3E1E Batteryone of the "Last Rites"), Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Sacraments are visible rituals that Catholics see as signs of God's presence and effective channels of God's grace to all those who receive them with the proper disposition (ex opere operato).[85] Sony VPCCA2S1E Battery

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Sony VPCCA3 BatteryThe Catechism of the Catholic Church categorises the sacraments into three groups, the "sacraments of Christian initiation", "sacraments of healing" and "sacraments at the service of communion and the mission of the faithful". These groups broadly refSony SVE1511A1EW Keyboard

Sony SVE17 batteryKeyboardlect the stages of people's natural and spiritual lives which each sacrament is intended to serve.[86]

Sacraments of Christian initiation

Main article: Sacraments of Initiation

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An Italian Catholic priest during the Sacrament of Baptism.

Baptism

As viewed by the Catholic Church, Baptism is the first of three sacraments of initiation as a Christian.[87] Sony SVE1511L1E Keyboard

It washes away all sins, both original sin and personal actual sins.[88] It makes a person a member of the Church.[89] As a gratuitous gift of God that requires no merit on the part of the person who is baptised, it is conferred even on children,[90] who, though they have no personal sins, need it on account of original sin.[9Sony SVE1511M1E Keyboard

Sony SVE1713Z1E Keyboard1] If a new-born child is in a danger of death, anyone—be it a doctor, a nurse, or a parent—may baptise the child.[92] Baptism marks a person permanently and cannot be repeated.[9

Sony SVE1512M1E Keyboard3] The Catholic Church recognises as valid baptisms conferred even by people who are not Catholics or Christians, provided that they intend to baptise ("to do what the Church does when she baptises") and that they use the Trinitarian baptismal formula.[94]

Confirmation

The Catholic Church sees the sacrament of confirmation as required to complete the grace given in baptism.[95Sony SVE1511P1E Keyboard

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] When adults are baptised, confirmation is normally given immediately afterwards,[96] a practice followed even for infants in the Eastern Catholic Church.[97] In the West confirmation of children is delayed until they are old enough to understand or even until they are in their teens.[98Sony SVE1511V1E Keyboard

Sony SVE1512K1E Keyboard] In Western Christianity, particularly Catholicism, the sacrament is called confirmation, because it confirms and strengthens the grace of baptism; in the Eastern Church, it is called chrismation, because the essential rite is the anointing of the person with chrism, Sony SVE1511W1E Keyboard

[99] a mixture of olive oil and some perfumed substance, usually balsam, blessed by a bishop.[100] Those who receive confirmation must be in a state of grace, which for those who have reached the age of reason means that they should first be cleansed spiritually by the sacrament of Penance;

Sony SVE1512J1E Keyboard they should also have the intention of receiving the sacrament, and be prepared to show in their lives that they are Christians.[101] Sony SVE1512B1E Keyboard

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Eucharist

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates the Eucharist at the canonisation of Frei Galvão in São Paulo, Brazil on 11 May 2007

For Catholics, the Eucharist is the sacrament which completes Christian initiation.[102] It is the perpetuation of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross,[103] and a banquet in which Christ himself is consumed.[104] Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard

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The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that:

The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life and The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being.[105] Sony VPCF11C5E Keyboard
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The Eucharist includes prayers and Bible readings along with the consecration of the bread and wine[106] which, according to the Church, become the body and blood of Jesus Christ.[107][108] The ceremony in which a Catholic first receives the Eucharist is known as First Communion.

A Catholic believer prays in a church in Mexico. Sony VPC-F11M1E/H Keyboard
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Sacraments of healing

The two sacraments of healing are the Sacrament of Penance and Anointing of the Sick.

Penance

The Sacrament of Penance (also called Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Confession, and Conversion[109]) exists for the conversion of those who, after baptism, separate themselves from Christ by sin.[110Sony VPC-F2 Keyboard

Sony VPCF12E1E/H Keyboard] Essential to this sacrament are acts both by the sinner (examination of conscience, contrition with a determination not to sin again, confession to a priest, and performance of some act to repair the damage caused by sin) and by the priest (determination of the act of reparation to be performed and absolution).[111] Sony VPC-F21Z1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11Z1E/BI Keyboard Serious sins (mortal sins) must be confessed within at most a year and always before receiving Holy Communion, while confession of venial sins also is recommended.[112] The priest is bound under the severest penalties to maintain the "seal of confession", absolute secrecy about any sins revealed to him in confession.[113] Sony VPCF22J1E Keyboard
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Anointing of the Sick

While chrism is used only for the three sacraments that cannot be repeated (baptism, confirmation, ordination), a different oil is used by a priest or bishop to bless a Catholic who, because of illness or old age, has begun to be in danger of death.[11Sony VPCF22S1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard4] This sacrament, known as Anointing of the Sick, is believed to give comfort, peace, courage and, if the sick person is unable to make a confession, even forgiveness of sins.[115] Although it is not reserved for those in proximate danger of death, it is often administered as one of the Last Rites. Sony VPCF22S8E Keyboard

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Sacraments at the service of communion

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church there are two sacraments of communion directed towards the salvation of others: priesthood and marriage.[116] Sony VPCF23M1E Keyboard

Sony VPCF24M1E KeyboardWithin the general vocation to be a Christian, these two sacraments consecrate to specific mission or vocation among the people of God. Men receive the holy orders to feed the Church by the word and grace. Spouses marry so that their love may be fortified to fulfil duties of their state.[117] Sony VPCF23Q1E Keyboard
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Ordination

Holy Orders is a sacrament in three degrees or orders, episcopate (bishops), presbyterate (priests) and diaconate (deacons), which consecrates and deputes some Christians to serve the whole body by these specific titles.[118Sony VPCF13E4E Keyboard

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] The Church has defined rules on who may be ordained into the clergy. In the Latin Rite, the priesthood and diaconate are generally restricted to celibate men.[119][120] Men who are already married may be ordained in the Eastern Catholic Churches in most countries,[121Sony VPCF13E8E Keyboard

Sony VPCF13Z0E/B Keyboard] and the personal ordinariates and may become deacons even in the Western Church[119][120] (see Clerical marriage). But after becoming a Roman Catholic priest, a man may not marry (see Clerical celibacy) unless he is later formally laicised. Sony VPCF13J0E/H Keyboard

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All clergy, whether deacons, priests or bishops, may preach, teach, baptise, witness marriages and conduct funeral liturgies.[122] Only bishops and priests can administer the sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation (Penance) and Anointing of the Sick.[123][124] Only bishops can administer the sacrament of Holy Orders, which ordains someone into the clergy.[125] Sony VPCF1318E/H Keyboard

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Matrimony

Marriage, understood as an indissoluble union between a man and a woman,[126] if entered into validly by any baptised man and baptised woman, is considered a sacrament by the Catholic Church.[12Sony VPCF13M1E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard7] The church does not recognise divorce as ending a valid marriage and allows state recognised divorce only as a means of protecting children or property, without allowing remarriage following such a divorce. Sony VPCF11C4E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCF13S1E/B Keyboard
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Sony VPCF12Z1E KeyboardApart from the requirements, such as freedom of consent, that it sees as applicable to all, the church has established certain specific requirements for the validity of marriages by Catholics.[128] Failure to observe the Church's regulations, as well as defects applicable to all marriages, may be grounds for a church declaration of the invalidity of a marriage, a declaration usually referred to as an annulment.[129Sony VPCF13Z8E Keyboard

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Judgement after death

Before his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ grants salvation to souls by the Harrowing of Hell. Oil on canvas, by Fra Angelico circa 1430s

The Church teaches that, immediately after death, the soul of each person will receive a particular judgement from God.[130Sony VPCF13Z8E/BI Keyboard

Sony VPCY21S1E/G Keyboard] This teaching also attests to another day when Christ will sit in a universal judgement of all mankind. This final judgement, according to Church teaching, will bring an end to human history and mark the beginning of a new and better heaven and earth ruled by God in righteousness.[130Sony VPCF12S1E/B Keyboard

Sony VPCY21S1E/L Keyboard] The basis on which each person's soul is judged is detailed in the Gospel of Matthew, which lists works of mercy to be performed even to people considered "the least of Christ's brothers".[13
Sony VPCF23N1E Keyboard1] Emphasis is upon Christ's words that "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven".[132Sony VPCF12Z1E/BI Keyboard

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According to the Catechism, "The Last Judgement will reveal even to its furthest consequences the good each person has done or failed to do during his earthly life."[132] Depending on the judgement rendered, a soul may enter one of three states of afterlife: Sony VPCF13M1E/H Keyboard
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Heaven is a time of glorious union with God and a life of unspeakable joy that lasts forever.[130]

Purgatory is a temporary condition for the purification of souls who, although saved, are not free enough from sin to enter directly into heaven.[130] Souls in purgatory may be aided in reaching heaven by the prayers of the faithful on earth and by the intercession of saints.[133] Sony VGN-NW20ZF Keyboard

Final Damnation: Finally, those who persist in living in a state of mortal sin and do not repent before death subject themselves to hell, an everlasting separation from God.[130] The Church teaches that no one is condemned to hell without having freely decided to reject God.[130] No one is predestined to hell and no one can determine whether anyone else has been condemned.[130] Sony VGN-NW24S Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS11E keyboard Catholicism teaches that through God's mercy a person can repent at any point before death and be saved.[134] Some Catholic theologians have speculated that the souls of unbaptised infants who die in original sin are assigned to limbo although this is not an official doctrine of the Church.[135] Sony VGN-NW26M Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS20EF/W keyboard

Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary is highly regarded in the Catholic Church, proclaiming her as Mother of God, free from original sin and an intercessor.

Main articles: Blessed Virgin Mary (Roman Catholic) and Roman Catholic Mariology

See also: Mary (mother of Jesus) Sony VGN-NW20EF Keyboard

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Devotions to Mary are part of Catholic piety but are distinct from the worship of God.[136] The Church holds Mary, as Perpetual Virgin and Mother of God, in special regard.[137] Catholic beliefs concerning Mary include her Immaculate Conception without the stain of original sin and bodily assumption into heaven at the end of her life, both of which have been infallibly defined as dogma, by Pope Pius IX in 1854 and Pope Pius XII in 1950 respectively.[138] Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard

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Mariology deals not only with her life but also her veneration in daily life, prayer and Marian art, music and architecture. Several liturgical Marian feasts are celebrated throughout the Church Year and she is honoured with many titles such as Queen of Heaven. Sony VGN-NW24EG Keyboard
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Sony VGN-NS30Z keyboardPope Paul VI called her Mother of the Church because, by giving birth to Christ, she is considered to be the spiritual mother to each member of the Body of Christ.[138] Because of her influential role in the life of Jesus, prayers and devotions such as the Hail Mary, the Rosary, the Salve Regina and the Memorare are common Catholic practices.[139] Sony VGN-NW24MG Keyboard

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The Church has affirmed certain Marian apparitions, such as at Lourdes, Fátima, and Guadalupe.[140] Pilgrimages to these sites are popular Catholic devotions.[141]

History

Main article: History of the Catholic Church

See also: Early history of Christianity and Historiography of early Christianity

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This detail of a fresco (1481–82) by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel shows Jesus giving the keys of heaven to Saint Peter.

Apostolic period

Main article: Apostolic Age

Catholic tradition and doctrine hold that the Catholic Church is the one true church[142][143][144][145] founded by Jesus Christ in the 1st century AD in Judea within the Roman Empire.[146][1Sony VGN-NW26EG Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS20M keyboard47] The New Testament records Jesus' activities and teaching, his appointment of the twelve Apostles and his instructions to them to continue his work.[148][149]

The Catholic Church teaches that the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, in an event known as Pentecost, signalled the beginning of the public ministry of the Catholic Church.[81Sony VGN-NW26JG Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS20J keyboard Catholic doctrine teaches that the contemporary Catholic Church is the continuation of this early Christian community. It interprets the Confession of Peter found in the Gospel of Matthew as Christ's designation of Saint Peter the Apostle and his successors, the Bishops of Rome to be the temporal head of his Church, a doctrine known as apostolic succession. Sony VGN-NW20SF Keyboard

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Spread throughout the Roman Empire

Main article: Early centers of Christianity

Conditions in the Roman Empire facilitated the spread of new ideas. The empire's well-defined network of roads and waterways allowed for easier travel, while the Pax Romana made it safe to travel from one region to another. Sony VGN-NW21MF/P Keyboard

Sony VGN-NS11J keyboard The government had encouraged inhabitants, especially those in urban areas, to learn Greek as the common language, which allowed ideas to be more easily expressed and understood.[15

Sony VGN-NS10L keyboard0] Unlike most religions in the Roman Empire, however, Christianity required its adherents to renounce all other gods, a practice adopted from Judaism (see Idolatry). The Christians' refusal to join pagan celebrations meant they were unable to participate in much of public life,
Sony VGN-NS10E keyboardwhich caused non-Christians—including government authorities—to fear that the Christians were angering the gods and thereby threatening the peace and prosperity of the Empire. The resulting persecutions were a defining feature of Christian self-understanding until Christianity was legalised in the 4th century.[151] Sony VGN-NW31EF Keyboard
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In 313, the struggles of the Early Church were lessened by the legalisation of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine I. In 380, Christianity became the state church of the Roman Empire by the decree of the Emperor,

Sony PCG-51211M Keyboardwhich would persist until the fall of the Western Roman Empire and, later, with the Eastern Roman Empire until the Fall of Constantinople. During this time (the period of the Seven Ecumenical Councils) there were considered five primary sees according to Eusebius: Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria, known as the Pentarchy.

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Late Antiquity

In the centuries after the destruction of the Western Roman Empire, Western Christianity was a major factor in the preservation of classical civilisation, especially classical art and literacy (see Illuminated manuscript).[15Sony PCG-41111M Keyboard

Sony PCG-51111M Keyboard2] Through his Rule, Benedict of Nursia (c.480–543), the founder of Western monasticism exerted an enormous influence on European culture through the appropriation of the monastic spiritual heritage of the early Church and, with the spread of the Benedictine tradition, through the preservation and transmission of ancient culture. Sony PCG-41112M Keyboard

Sony PCG-51212M KeyboardDuring this period, monastic Ireland became a centre of learning and early Irish missionaries such as St Columbanus and St Columba spread Christianity and established monasteries across continental Europe.[153]

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In Eastern Christianity, the Byzantine Empire preserved Orthodoxy well after the massive invasions of Islam in the mid-7th century. The invasions of Islam devastated three of the five Patriarchal sees, capturing Jerusalem firstSony PCG-81111M Keyboard

Sony PCG-31311M Keyboard then Alexandria and then, finally, in the mid-8th century, Antioch. The whole period of the next five centuries was dominated by the struggle between Christianity and Islam throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Sony PCG-81112M Keyboard

Sony PCG-21313M KeyboardThe battles of Poitiers and Toulouse preserved the Catholic tradition even though Rome itself was ravaged in 850 and Constantinople was besieged.

Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods

The Catholic Church was the dominant influence on Western civilisation from late antiquity to the dawn of the modern age.[154] It was the primary sponsor of Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque styles in art, architecture and music. Sony PCG-81212M Keyboard

[155] Renaissance figures such as Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Tintoretto, Titian, Bernini and Caravaggio are examples of the numerous visual artists sponsored by the Church.[156] Sony PCG-81113M Keyboard

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In the eleventh century, Gregorian Reform led to the Investiture Controversy between the church and the Holy Roman Emperors, over whether secular powers or the church itself had the sole power to appoint bishops and popes. Sony PCG-5S1M Keyboard

The efforts of Hildebrand of Sovana led to the creation of the College of Cardinals to elect new popes, starting with Pope Alexander II in the papal election of 1061. When Alexander II died, Hildebrand was elected to succeed him, as Pope Gregory VII. The basic election system of the College of Cardinals which Gregory VII helped establish has continued to function into the twenty-first century. Sony PCG-7171M Keyboard

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In the early 13th century mendicant orders were founded by Francis of Assisi and Dominic de Guzmán. The studia conventuale and studia generale of the mendicant orders played a large role in the transformation of Church sponsored cathedral schools and palace schools, such as that of Charlemagne at Aachen, into the prominent universities of Europe.[ Sony PCG-5P1M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7181M Keyboard57] Scholastic theologians and philosophers such as the Dominican priest Thomas Aquinas studied and taught at these studia. Aquinas' Summa Theologica was an intellectual milestone in its synthesis of the legacy of Ancient Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle with the content of Christian revelation.[158] Sony PCG-5N2M Keyboard

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Doctrinal disputes and schisms

See also: Criticism of Catholic actions in history

Martin Luther initiated the Protestant Reformation against the Catholic Church in 1517

In the 11th century, strained relations between the primarily Greek church and the Latin Church separated them in the East–West Schism, partially due to conflicts over papal authority. The Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople by renegade crusaders proved the final breach. In the 16th century, in response to the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic Church engaged in a process of substantial reform and renewal, known as the Counter-Reformation.[1Sony PCG-3C2M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard59] In subsequent centuries, Catholicism spread widely across the world despite experiencing a reduction in its hold on European populations due to the growth of religious scepticism during and after the Enlightenment.

In 1854 Pope Pius IX with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he had consulted from 1851 to 1853, proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.[160
Sony PCG-7143M Keyboard] In 1870, the First Vatican Council affirmed the doctrine of papal infallibility when exercised in specifically defined pronouncements.[161][162] Controversy over this and other issues resulted in a breakaway movement called the Old Catholic Church.[163]

Second Vatican Council Sony PCG-7195M Keyboard

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The Second Vatican Council in the 1960s introduced the most significant changes to Catholic practices since the Council of Trent four centuries before. Initiated by Pope John XXIII, this ecumenical council modernised the practices of the Catholic Church, allowing the Mass to be said in the vernacular (local language) and encouraging "fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations."[164Sony PCG-7196M Keyboard
] It intended to engage the Church more closely with the present world (aggiornamento), which was described by its advocates as an "opening of the windows".[165] In addition to changes in the liturgy, it led to changes to the Church's approach to ecumenism,[16Sony PCG-7192M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7154M Keyboard6] and a call to improved relations with non-Christian religions, especially Judaism, in its document Nostra Aetate.[167]

The Council, however, generated significant controversy in implementing its reforms; proponents of the "Spirit of Vatican II" such as Swiss theologian Hans Küng claimed Vatican II had "not gone far enough" to change church policies.[1Sony PCG-7194M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7153M Keyboard68] Traditionalist Catholics, such as Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, however, strongly criticised the council, arguing that the council's liturgical reforms led "to the destruction of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the sacraments," among other issues.[169] Sony PCG-7144M Keyboard

New evangelisation

Pope John Paul II with U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in 1982.

Pope John Paul II sought to evangelise an increasingly secular world. He instituted World Youth Day as a "worldwide encounter with the Pope" for young people which is now held every two to three years.[ Sony PCG-7141M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7151M Keyboard170] He travelled more than any other pope, visiting 129 countries,[171] and used television and radio as means of spreading the Church's teachings. In 2012, the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Church called a new Synod to discuss re-evangelising lapsed Catholics in the developed world. Sony PCG-3F1M Keyboard

Contemporary issues

Main article: History of the Catholic Church since 1962

See also: Criticism of the Catholic Church

Social justice issues

Main articles: Catholic social teaching and Catholic Church and health care

In 1978, Pope John Paul II, formerly archbishop of Kraków in then-Communist Poland, became the first non-Italian Pope in 455 years. Sony PCG-3H1M Keyboard
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His 27-year pontificate was one of the longest in history.[172] Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, credited the Polish pope with hastening the fall of Communism in Europe.[173]

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The Saint Vincent de Paul Society building in Wagga Wagga, Australia. Catholic community groups such as these provide relief aid for the sick, the poor, helpless, destitute and needy.

The Catholic nun Mother Teresa of Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work among India's poor.[1Sony PCG-3E1M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71911M Keyboard74] Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo won the same award in 1996 for "work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor".[175]

Sexuality and gender issues

Further information: Catholic Church and women, Catholicism and sexuality, and Homosexuality and Roman Catholicism Sony PCG-3G2M Keyboard

Soon after the close of the Second Vatican Council, Church teachings about sexuality became an issue of increasing controversy due to changing cultural attitudes in the Western world (see the sexual revolution). Sony PCG-61211M Keyboard

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The Church teaches that sexual intercourse should only take place between a married man and woman, and should be without the use of artificial birth control or contraception. In his encyclical Humanae Vitae[176] (1968), Sony PCG-71211M Keyboard

Pope Paul VI firmly rejected all artificial contraception, thus contradicting dissenters in the Church that saw the birth control pill as an ethically justifiable method of contraception, though he permitted the regulation of births by means of natural family planning. Sony PCG-71213M Keyboard

Sony PCG-61611M Keyboard This teaching was continued especially by John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae, where he clarified the Church's position on contraception, abortion and euthanasia by condemning them as part of a "culture of death" and calling instead for a "culture of life".[177]

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The Church teaches that homosexual inclinations are "objectively disordered"[178] and so homosexual behaviour is "contrary to the natural law".[179] The Church teaches that people who have homosexual tendencies are called to live chastely.[180Sony PCG-71212M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71D14M Keyboard] Because of these teachings, as well as its teaching that marriage is between one man and one woman,[181] the Catholic Church firmly opposes same-sex marriage.

In religious vocations, Catholic women and men are ascribed different roles—men serve as deacons, priests, friars, monks, Sony PCG-71312M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71511M Keyboard brothers, abbots or in episcopal positions while women serve as nuns, religious sisters or abbesses. Monks and brothers often house together in monasteries while nuns and sisters may house themselves in convents—though an abbey may host a religious community of men or women. In other roles, Sony PCG-71311M Keyboard

Sony PCG-71411M Keyboardthe Church does not distinguish between men and women, who may be equally recognised as saints, Doctors of the Church, catechists in schools, altar servers, Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion at Mass, or as readers (lectors) during the liturgy. Sony PCG-71313M Keyboard

Women constitute the great majority of members of the consecrated life.[40] While Holy Orders are reserved for men, Catholic women have played diverse roles in the life of the church, with religious institutes providing a formal space for their participation and convents providing spaces for their self-government,
Sony PCG-7171M Keyboardprayer and influence through many centuries. Religious sisters and nuns have been extensively involved in developing and running the Church's worldwide health and education service networks.[182]

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Efforts in support of the ordination of women led to several rulings by the Roman Curia or Popes against the proposal, as in Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood (1976), Mulieris Dignitatem (1988) and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994). According to the latest ruling, found in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Sony PCG-5P2m Keyboard

Sony PCG-7185M KeyboardPope John Paul II concluded, "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful."[18Sony PCG-61212M Keyboard

3] In defiance of these rulings, opposition groups such as Roman Catholic Womenpriests have performed alleged ordination ceremonies (with, reputedly, an ordaining male Catholic bishop in the first few instances) which, according to canon law, are both illicit and invalid and considered mere simulations[184] of the sacrament of Ordination.[1Sony PCG-5R1M Keyboard
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85][note 12] The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith responded by issuing a statement clarifying that any Catholic bishops involved in ordination ceremonies for women, as well as the women themselves if they were Catholic, would automatically receive the penalty of excommunication (latae sententiae, literally "sentence passed", i.e. automatically), citing canon 1378 of canon law and other church laws.[186] Sony PCG-5T1M Keyboard

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Sex abuse cases

Main article: Catholic sex abuse cases

In the 1990s and 2000s, the issue of sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy became the subject of media coverage and public debate in countries around the world. Sony PCG-5T2M Keyboard

Sony PCG-7183M KeyboardThe Church was criticised for its handling of abuse complaints when it became known that some bishops had shielded accused priests, transferring them to other pastoral assignments where some continued to commit sexual offences. Sony PCG-7181M Keyboard
Sony PCG-7182M Keyboard In response to the scandal, the Church has established formal procedures to prevent abuse, encourage reporting of any abuse that occurs and to handle such reports promptly, although groups representing victims have disputed their effectivene

Portugal

10/07/2013 11:54

Portugal

Portugal (i/ˈpɔrtʃʉɡəl/, por-tshoo-gəl; Portuguese: Portugal, IPA: [puɾtuˈɣaɫ]), officially the Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa), is a country located in Southwestern Europe, on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south and by Spain to the north and east.

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Apart from continental Portugal, the Portuguese Republic holds sovereignty over the Atlantic archipelagos of Azores and Madeira, which are autonomous regions of Portugal. The country is named after its second largest city, Porto, whose Latin name was Portus Cale.[8]

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The land within the borders of the current Portuguese Republic has been continually fought over and settled since prehistoric times. After a period of Roman rule followed by Visigothic and Suebian domination,

HP Pavilion DV6-6188CA Battery in the 8th century most of the Iberian Peninsula was conquered by Moorish invaders professing Islam, who were later expelled by the Knights Templar. During the Christian Reconquista, Portugal established itself as an independent kingdom from Galicia in 1139.[9] HP Pavilion DV6-6B75CA Battery

In the 15th and 16th centuries, as the result of pioneering the Age of Discovery, Portugal expanded western influence and established the first global empire,[10] becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers. HP Pavilion DV6-6B83CA Battery

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The Portuguese Empire was the longest-lived of the modern European colonial empires, spanning almost 600 years, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999 and granting of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002. HP Pavilion DV6-6C40CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6178CA BatteryThe empire spread throughout a vast number of territories that are now part of 53 different sovereign states. Portugal's international status was greatly reduced during the 19th century, especially following the Independence of Brazil, its largest colony. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, HP Pavilion DV6-6C50CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6175CA Battery the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, itself being superseded by the "Estado Novo" authoritarian regime. Democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. HP Pavilion DV6-6C51CA Battery

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Portugal is a developed country with a very high Human Development Index, the world's 27th highest quality of life as of 2010,[11HP Pavilion DV6-6040CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6153CA Battery] and the 25th in Bloomberg's Global Innovation Index.[12] It is one of the world's most globalized and peaceful nations:[13HP Pavilion DV6-6070CA Battery

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HP Pavilion DV6-6148CA Battery] a member of the European Union and the United Nations, and a founding member of the Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, OECD, NATO, the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, the eurozone and the Schengen Agreement. HP Pavilion DV6-6124CA Battery

The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. The name of Portugal derives from the Roman name Portus Cale. The region was settled by Pre-Celts and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes, visited by Phoenicians and Carthaginians,

HP Pavilion DV6-6145CA Battery incorporated in the Roman Republic dominions as Lusitania and part of Gallaecia (both part of Hispania), after 45 BC until 298 AD, settled again by Suebi, Buri, and Visigoths, and conquered by Moors. Other minor influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlement, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra and even Lisbon.[14] HP Pavilion DV6-6130CA Battery

The pre-Roman tribes of ancient Portugal and their expansion patterns.

The region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula.[15] These were subsistence societies that, HP Pavilion DV6-6135CA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6144CA Battery although they did not establish prosperous settlements, did establish organized societies. Neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and pluvial or marine fishing.[15] HP Pavilion dm4-1050ca Battery

Early in the first millennium BC, several waves of Celts invaded Portugal from central Europe and inter-married with the local populations, forming different ethnic groups, with many tribes. HP Pavilion dm4-1150ca Battery

Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, and the Cynetes or Conii of the Algarve. Among the lesser tribes or sub-divisions were the Bracari, HP Pavilion dm4-1273ca Battery

HP Pavilion dm4-3090ca Battery Coelerni, Equaesi, Grovii, Interamici, Leuni, Luanqui, Limici, Narbasi, Nemetati, Paesuri, Quaquerni, Seurbi, Tamagani, Tapoli, Turduli, Turduli Veteres, Turdulorum Oppida, Turodi, and Zoelae.

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There were in the southern part of the country, some small, semi-permanent commercial coastal settlements founded by Phoenicians-Carthaginians (such as Tavira, in the Algarve).

Roman Lusitania and Gallaecia[edit]

Main articles: Lusitania, Gallaecia, and Hispania

Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC. By 19 BC, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Rome's adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies. HP Pavilion dm4-1275ca Battery

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The Roman conquest of what is now part of modern day Portugal took almost two hundred years and took many lives of young soldiers and the lives of those who were sentenced to a quick death in the slavery mines when not sold as slaves to other parts of the empire. HP Pavilion dm4-2053ca Battery

HP Pavilion dm4-2055ca BatteryIt suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north. The Lusitanians and other native tribes, under the leadership of Viriathus, wrested control of all of western Iberia.

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The Roman Temple of Évora, in the Alentejo, is a symbol of Lusitania, Roman rule in Portugal.

Rome sent numerous legions and its best generals to Lusitania to quell the rebellion, but to no avail — the Lusitanians kept conquering territory. Sony VAIO VPCCA35FA Battery

The Roman leaders decided to change their strategy. They bribed Viriathus's allies to kill him. In 139 BC, Viriathus was assassinated, and Tautalus became leader.

Rome installed a colonial regime. The complete Romanization of Lusitania only took place in the Visigothic era.

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In 27 BC, Lusitania gained the status of Roman province, the Lusitanians lost their freedom and became oppressed. Later, a northern province of Lusitania was formed, known as Gallaecia, with capital in Bracara Augusta, today's Braga. Sony VAIO VPCCA35FF Battery

There are still many ruins of castros (Hill fort) all over modern Portugal and remains of Castro culture. Numerous Roman sites are scattered around present-day Portugal, some urban remains are quite large, like Conimbriga and Mirobriga. Sony VAIO VPCCA35FG Battery

Sony VAIO VPCCA35FH Battery Several works of engineering, such as baths, temples, bridges, roads, circus, theatres and layman's homes are preserved throughout the country. Coins, some of which coined in Lusitanian land, as well as numerous pieces of ceramics were also found. Contemporary historians include Paulus Orosius (c. 375–418)[16Sony VAIO VPCCB36FG Battery

Sony VAIO VPCCB48FN Battery] and Hydatius (c. 400–469), bishop of Aquae Flaviae, who reported on the final years of the roman rule and arrival of the Germanic tribes.

Suebi and Visigoths[edit] Sony VAIO VPCCB36FW Battery

In the early 5th century, Germanic tribes invaded the Iberian Peninsula, namely the Suebi and the Vandals (Silingi and Hasdingi) together with their allies, the Sarmatian Alans. Only the kingdom of the Suebi (Quadi and Marcomanni) would endure after the arrival of another wave of Germanic invaders, the Visigoths,

Sony VAIO VPCCB48FJ Battery who conquered all of the Iberian Peninsula and expelled or partially integrated the Vandals and the Alans. The Visigoths eventually conquered the Suebi kingdom and its capital city Bracara (modern day Braga) in 584–585. By the year 700, the entire Iberian Peninsula was ruled by Visigoths. Sony VAIO VPCCB37FDD Battery

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Moorish Iberia[edit]

The rebuilt Castle of the Moors, in Sintra, is a hallmark of Moorish rule,

A significant part of the land was part of the Caliphate for approximately five and a half centuries, following the Umayyad Caliphate conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 until 1249 with the conquest of Algarve by King Afonso III of Portugal during the Reconquista. Sony VAIO VPCCB37FH Battery

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After beating the Visigoths in only a few months, the Umayyad Caliphate started expanding rapidly in the peninsula. Beginning in 711, the land that is now Portugal became part of the vast Umayyad Caliphate's empire of Damascus that stretched from the Indus river in India up to the South of France until its collapse in 750, Sony VAIO VPCCB38FN Battery

Sony VAIO VPCCB46FG Batterya year in which the west of the empire gained its independence under Abd-ar-Rahman I with the creation of the Emirate of Córdoba. After almost two centuries, the Emirate turned into the Caliphate of Córdoba in 929 until its dissolution a century later in 1031 to no less than 23 small kingdoms, called Taifa kingdoms. Sony VAIO VPCCB45FG Battery

The governors of the taifas proclaimed themselves each Emir of his province and established diplomatic relations with the Christian Kingdoms of the north. Most of Portugal fell into the hands of the Taifa of Badajoz of the Aftasid Dynasty, Sony VAIO VPCCB45FN Battery

Sony VAIO VPCCB46FA Batteryand after a short spell of an ephemera taifa of Lisbon in 1022, fell within the dominion of the Taifa of Seville of the Abbadids poets. The Taifa period ended with the conquest of the Almoravids that came from Morocco in 1086 with a decisive victory in the Battle of Sagrajas followed one century later by the Almohads also coming from Marrakesh in 1147 after the second period of Taifa.[17] HP MU06 Battery

Al-Andalus was divided into different districts called Kura. Gharb Al-Andalus at its largest was constituted of ten kuras,[18] each with a distinct capital and governor. The main cities of the period were Beja, Silves, Alcácer do Sal, Santarém, Lisbon and Coimbra. HP MU09 Battery

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The Muslim population of the region consisted mainly of Berbers, Arabs and native Iberian converts to Islam (the so-called Muwallad or Muladi). The Arabs were principally noblemen coming from Yemen, though they were only few in numbers they constituted the elite of the population.

HP HA03 BatteryThe Berbers were originally from the Atlas mountains and Rif mountains of North Africa and were essentially nomads. The Muslim population (or "Moors"), few in number,[19] stayed largely in the Algarve region, and in general south of the Tagus.[19] HP RM08 Battery

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Reconquista[edit]

The Battle of Ourique, a major stepping stone in the Portuguese Reconquista and path to sovereignty.

Main articles: History of Portugal (1139–1279) and History of Portugal (1279–1415)

After the Muslim conquests, the land between the Minho and Douro rivers maintained a significant share of its populations, between the 8th and the third quarter of the 9th century in a social and political area where there was no acting state powers.[20HP RS06 Battery

HP BX06 Battery] In 868, this region became dynamic and was organized as the County of Portugal (Condado de Portugal,[21] a government) and appeared as part of the Galician-Asturian, Leonese and Portuguese systematic power structures.[20] HP BS06 Battery

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During the Reconquista period, Christians reconquered the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim and Moorish domination. A victory over the Muslims at the Battle of Ourique in 1139 is traditionally taken as the occasion when the County of Portugal as a fief of the Kingdom of León was transformed into the independent Kingdom of Portugal. HP VE06 Battery

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Henry, to whom the newly formed county was awarded by Alfonso VI for his role in reconquering land from the Moors, based his newly formed county in Bracara Augusta (nowadays Braga), capital city of the ancient Roman province, and also previous capital of several kingdoms over the first millennia.

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On 24 June 1128, the Battle of São Mamede occurred near Guimarães. Afonso Henriques, Count of Portugal, defeated his mother Countess Teresa and her lover Fernão Peres de Trava, thereby establishing himself as sole leader. Afonso then turned his arms against the persistent problem of the Moors in the south. His campaigns were successful and, on 25 July 1139, HP VE12 Battery

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he obtained an overwhelming victory in the Battle of Ourique, and straight after was unanimously proclaimed King of Portugal by his soldiers.

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John I of Portugal laid the pathway to Portugal becoming a global power.

Afonso then established the first of the Portuguese Cortes at Lamego, where he was crowned by the Archbishop of Braga, though the validity of the Cortes of Lamego has been disputed and called a myth created during the Portuguese Restoration War. Afonso was recognized in 1143 by King Alfonso VII of León and Castile, and in 1179 by Pope Alexander III. HP MO06 Battery

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Afonso Henriques and his successors, aided by military monastic orders, pushed southward to drive out the Moors, as the size of Portugal covered about half of its present area. In 1249, this Reconquista ended with the capture of the Algarve on the southern coast, giving Portugal its present-day borders, with minor exceptions. HP MO09 Battery

The reigns of Dinis I, Afonso IV, and Pedro I for the most part saw peace with the Christian kingdoms of Iberia, and thus the Portuguese kingdom advanced in prosperity and culture.

In 1348 and 1349, like the rest of Europe, Portugal was devastated by the Black Death.[22HP EV06 Battery

HP EV12 Battery] In 1373, Portugal made an alliance with England, which is the longest-standing alliance in the world.

In 1383, John I of Castile, husband of Beatrice of Portugal and son-in-law of Ferdinand I of Portugal, claimed the throne of Portugal. A faction of petty noblemen and commoners, led by John of Aviz (later King John I of Portugal) Sony SVS131A11L Battery

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and commanded by General Nuno Álvares Pereira defeated the Castilians in the Battle of Aljubarrota. With this battle, the House of Aviz became the ruling house of Portugal.

Joanine era[edit]

Main article: History of Portugal (1415–1578)

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Vasco da Gama opened Portugal to the East and gave way for its monopoly there.

Portugal spearheaded the exploration of the world and undertook the Age of Discovery. Prince Henry the Navigator, son of King João I, became the main sponsor and patron of this endeavor. During this period, Portugal explored the Atlantic Ocean, Sony SVS151A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Batterydiscovering several Atlantic archipelagos like the Azores, Madeira, and Cape Verde, explored the African coast as well as colonizing selected areas of Africa, discovered an eastern route to India that rounded the Cape of Good Hope, discovered Brazil, Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41412L Batteryexplored the Indian Ocean and established trading routes throughout most of southern Asia, and sent the first direct European maritime trade and diplomatic missions to China and Japan.
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In 1415, Portugal acquired the first of its overseas colonies by conquering Ceuta. It was the first prosperous Islamic trade center in North Africa. There followed the first discoveries in the Atlantic: Madeira and the Azores, which led to the first colonization movements. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery

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Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for several common types of tradable commodities at the time, ranging from gold to slaves, as they looked for a route to India and its spices, which were coveted in Europe. Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

The Treaty of Tordesillas, intended to resolve the dispute that had been created following the return of Christopher Columbus, was signed on 7 June 1494, and divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Portugal and Spain along a meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa).

Sony PCG-41217L BatteryIn 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India and brought economic prosperity to Portugal and its population of 1.7 million residents, which helped start the Portuguese Renaissance.
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In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal.[23] Ten years later, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca, Sony PCG-4121EL Battery
now a state in Malaysia. Thus, the Portuguese empire held dominion over commerce in the Indian Ocean and South Atlantic. The Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia by sailing eastward from Europe landing in such places as Taiwan, Japan, and the island of Timor. Sony PCG-4121FL Battery

The Treaty of Zaragoza, signed on 22 April 1529 between Portugal and Spain, specified the antimeridian to the line of demarcation specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas. All these facts made Portugal the world's major economic, military, and political power from the 15th century to the beginning of the 16th century.

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Iberian Union and Restoration[edit]

John IV of Braganza waged the Portuguese Restoration War and restored home-rule to Portugal as King John IV.

Main articles: Iberian Union and Portuguese Restoration War

Portugal's sovereignty was interrupted between 1580 and 1640. This occurred because the last two kings of the House of Aviz – King Sebastian, Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

Sony PCG-41214L Batterywho died in the battle of Alcácer Quibir in Morocco, and his great-uncle and successor, King Henry of Portugal – both died without heirs, resulting in the Portuguese succession crisis of 1580. Sony PCG-41213L Battery

Subsequently, Philip II of Spain claimed the throne and so became Philip I of Portugal. Although Portugal did not lose its formal independence, it was governed by the same monarch who governed the Spains,[24] briefly forming a union of kingdoms, as a personal union. At this time Spain was a geographic territory.[2Sony PCG-41211L Battery
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5] The joining of the two crowns deprived Portugal of a separate foreign policy and led to the involvement in the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Netherlands. Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery
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War led to a deterioration of the relations with Portugal's oldest ally, England, and the loss of Hormuz. From 1595 to 1663 the Dutch-Portuguese War primarily involved the Dutch companies invading many Portuguese colonies and commercial interests in Brazil, Africa, India and the Far East, resulting in the loss of the Portuguese Indian Sea trade monopoly. Sony SVS131C24L Battery
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In 1640, John IV spearheaded an uprising backed by disgruntled nobles and was proclaimed king. The Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and the Spains, on the aftermath of the 1640 revolt, ended the sixty-year period of the Iberian Union under the House of Habsburg. This was the beginning of the House of Braganza, which reigned in Portugal until 1910. Sony SVS131G1DL Battery
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Official estimates – and most estimates made so far – place the number of Portuguese migrants to Colonial Brazil during the gold rush of the 18th century at 600,000.[26Sony SVS151C2DL Battery

Sony PCG-71713L Battery] This represented one of the largest movements of European populations to their colonies to the Americas during the colonial times. According to historian Leslie Bethell, "In 1700 Portugal had a population of about two million people." Sony SVS151E1GL Battery
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Sony PCG-71614L Battery During the 18th century, hundreds of thousands left for the Portuguese Colony of Brazil, despite efforts by the crown to place severe restrictions on emigration.[27]

Early Brigantine and Pombaline era[edit]

Main article: History of Portugal (1640–1777)

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Sebastião José, Marquis of Pombal, revolutionized and enlightened Portugal.

In 1738, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal, began a diplomatic career as the Portuguese Ambassador in London and later in Vienna. The Queen consort of Portugal, Archduchess Maria Anne Josefa of Austria,

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was fond of Melo; and after his first wife died, she arranged the widowed de Melo's second marriage to the daughter of the Austrian Field Marshal Leopold Josef, Count von Daun. King John V of Portugal, however, was not pleased and recalled Melo to Portugal in 1749. Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
Sony PCG-61813L Battery John V died the following year and his son, Joseph I of Portugal, was crowned. In contrast to his father, Joseph I was fond of de Melo, and with the Queen Mother's approval, he appointed Melo as Minister of Foreign Affairs.
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As the King's confidence in de Melo increased, the King entrusted him with more control of the state. By 1755, Sebastião de Melo was made Prime Minister. Impressed by British economic success he had witnessed while Ambassador, Sony PCG-71C12L Battery
Sony PCG-61714L Battery he successfully implemented similar economic policies in Portugal. He abolished slavery in Portugal and in the Portuguese colonies in India; reorganized the army and the navy; restructured the University of Coimbra, and ended discrimination against different Christian sects in Portugal. Sony PCG-71912L Battery

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But Sebastião de Melo's greatest reforms were economic and financial, with the creation of several companies and guilds to regulate every commercial activity. He demarcated the region for production of Port to ensure the wine's quality, Sony PCG-71913L Battery

Sony SVE141D11L Batteryand this was the first attempt to control wine quality and production in Europe. He ruled with a strong hand by imposing strict law upon all classes of Portuguese society from the high nobility to the poorest working class, Sony PCG-71914L Battery
along with a widespread review of the country's tax system. These reforms gained him enemies in the upper classes, especially among the high nobility, who despised him as a social upstart. Sony PCG-91211L Battery

Disaster fell upon Portugal in the morning of 1 November 1755, when Lisbon was struck by a violent earthquake with an estimated Richter scale magnitude of 9. The city was razed to the ground by the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami and ensuing fires.[2Sony PCG-91311L Battery
Sony SVE141C11L Battery8] Sebastião de Melo survived by a stroke of luck and then immediately embarked on rebuilding the city, with his famous quote: "What now? We bury the dead and take care of the living."

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The Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 devastated much of central and southern Portugal and northern Africa.

Despite the calamity and huge death toll, Lisbon suffered no epidemics and within less than one year was already being rebuilt. The new downtown of Lisbon was designed to resist subsequent earthquakes. Sony SVE151G11L Battery

Architectural models were built for tests, and the effects of an earthquake were simulated by marching troops around the models. The buildings and big squares of the Pombaline Downtown still remain as one of Lisbon's tourist attractions. Sebastião de Melo also made an important contribution to the study of seismology by designing an inquiry that was sent to every parish in the country. Sony SVE151G13L Battery

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Following the earthquake, Joseph I gave his Prime Minister even more power, and Sebastião de Melo became a powerful, progressive dictator. As his power grew, his enemies increased in number, and bitter disputes with the high nobility became frequent. Sony SVE151J11L Battery

Sony PCG-61316L Battery In 1758 Joseph I was wounded in an attempted assassination. The Távora family and the Duke of Aveiro were implicated and executed after a quick trial. The Jesuits were expelled from the country and their assets confiscated by the crown. Sony SVE171C11L Battery

Sony PCG-61315L BatterySebastião de Melo prosecuted every person involved, even women and children. This was the final stroke that broke the power of the aristocracy. Joseph I made his loyal minister Count of Oeiras in 1759. Sony SVE171E11L Battery

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In 1762, Spain invaded Portuguese territory as part of the Seven Years' War, but by 1763 the status quo between Spain and Portugal before the war had been restored.

Following the Távora affair, the new Count of Oeiras knew no opposition. Made "Marquis of Pombal" in 1770, he effectively ruled Portugal until Joseph I's death in 1779. Sony SVE171E12L Battery

Sony PCG-61311L BatteryHowever, historians also argue that Pombal’s "enlightenment," while far-reaching, was primarily a mechanism for enhancing autocracy at the expense of individual liberty and especially an apparatus for crushing opposition, suppressing criticism, and furthering colonial economic exploitation as well as intensifying book censorship and consolidating personal control and profit.[29] Sony SVE171G112 Battery

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National and Imperial change[edit]

Main article: History of Portugal (1777–1834)

John VI's reign was the first time that Portugal was a pluricontinental country.

The new ruler, Queen Maria I of Portugal, disliked the Marquis because of the power he amassed, and never forgave him for the ruthlessness at which he dispatched the Távora family, and upon her accession to the throne, Sony PCG-61713L Battery
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Sony PCG-61211L Battery she withdrew all his political offices. Pombal died on his estate at Pombal in 1782.

In the autumn of 1807, Napoleon moved French troops through Spain to invade Portugal. From 1807 to 1811, British-Portuguese forces would successfully fight against the French invasion of Portugal, while the royal family and the Portuguese nobility, Sony PCG-91112L Battery

Sony PCG-71216L Batteryincluding Maria I, relocated to the Portuguese territory of Brazil, at that time a colony of the Portuguese Empire, in South America. This episode is known as the Transfer of the Portuguese Court to Brazil. Sony PCG-71312L Battery

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With the occupation by Napoleon, Portugal began a slow but inexorable decline that lasted until the 20th century. This decline was hastened by the independence in 1822 of the country's largest colonial possession, Brazil. Sony PCG-71311L Battery

Sony PCG-71212L BatteryIn 1807, as Napoleon's army closed in on Lisbon, the Prince Regent João VI of Portugal transferred his court to Brazil and established Rio de Janeiro as the capital of the Portuguese Empire. In 1815, the Portuguese Empire changed its name to the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. Sony PCG-71218L Battery

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As a result of the change in its status and the arrival of the Portuguese royal family, Brazilian administrative, civic, economical, military, educational, and scientific apparatus were expanded and highly modernized. Sony PCG-71217L Battery

Sony PCG-71318L BatteryPortuguese and their allied British troops fought against the French Invasion of Portugal and by 1815 the situation in Europe had cooled down sufficiently that João VI would have been able to return safely to Lisbon. Sony PCG-71313L Battery
However, the King of Portugal remained in Brazil until the Liberal Revolution of 1820, which started in Porto, demanded his return to Lisbon in 1821. Sony PCG-71315L Battery

Thus he returned to Portugal but left his son Pedro in charge of Brazil. When the king attempted the following year to return the Kingdom of Brazil to subordinate status as a principality, his son Pedro, with the overwhelming support of the Brazilian elites, Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-71317L Battery declared Brazil's independence from Portugal. Cisplatina (today's sovereign state of Uruguay), in the south, was one of the last additions to the territory of Brazil under Portuguese rule.

Colonial restoration[edit]

Mouzinho de Albuquerque, key to Portuguese colonization in Africa

Main article: History of Portugal (1834–1910)

At the height of European colonialism in the 19th century, Portugal had already lost its territory in South America and all but a few bases in Asia. Sony SVS13AA11L Battery

Sony PCG-41414L Battery Luanda, Benguela, Bissau, Lourenço Marques, Porto Amboim and the Island of Mozambique were among the oldest Portuguese-founded port cities in its African territories. During this phase, Portuguese colonialism focused on expanding its outposts in Africa into nation-sized territories to compete with other European powers there. Sony SVS131A11L Battery

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With the Conference of Berlin of 1884, Portuguese Africa territories had their borders formally established on request of Portugal in order to protect the centuries-long Portuguese interests in the continent from rivalries enticed by the Scramble for Africa. Portuguese Africa's cities and towns like Nova Lisboa, Sá da Bandeira, Silva Porto, Malanje, Tete, Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery

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Vila Junqueiro, Vila Pery and Vila Cabral were founded or redeveloped inland during this period and beyond. New coastal towns like Beira, Moçâmedes, Lobito, João Belo, Nacala and Porto Amélia were also founded. Even before the turn of the 20th century, Sony SVS131C1DL Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Batteryrailway tracks as the Benguela railway in Angola, and the Beira railway in Mozambique, started to be built to link coastal areas and selected inland regions.

Other episodes during this period of the Portuguese presence in Africa include the 1890 British Ultimatum. Sony SVS131C24L Battery

Sony PCG-71914L BatteryThis forced the Portuguese military to retreat from the land between the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola (most of present-day Zimbabwe and Zambia), which had been claimed by Portugal and included in its "Pink Map", which clashed with British aspirations to create a Cape to Cairo Railway. Sony SVS131E1DL Battery

Sony PCG-71913L BatteryThe Portuguese territories in Africa were Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Portuguese Guinea, Angola, and Mozambique. The tiny fortress of São João Baptista de Ajudá on the coast of Dahomey, was also under Portuguese rule. In addition, the country still ruled the Asian territories of Portuguese India, Portuguese Timor and Macau. Sony SVS131G1DL Battery

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Republic and turmoil[edit]

Main articles: Portuguese First Republic and Estado Novo (Portugal)

The 5 October 1910 Republican Revolution was initially unsupported and assumed to become nothing but a failure.

On 1 February 1908, the king Dom Carlos I of Portugal and his heir apparent, Prince Royal Dom Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, were murdered in Lisbon. Under his rule, Portugal had twice been declared bankrupt – on 14 June 1892, Sony SVS151C1GL Battery

Sony PCG-71911L Battery and again on 10 May 1902 – causing social turmoil, economic disturbances, protests, revolts and criticism of the monarchy. Manuel II of Portugal become the new king, but was eventually overthrown by the 5 October 1910 revolution, which abolished the regime and instated republicanism in Portugal. Sony SVS151C2DL Battery

Sony PCG-71811L BatteryPolitical instability and economic weaknesses were fertile ground for chaos and unrest during the Portuguese First Republic. These conditions would lead to the failed Monarchy of the North, the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, and the creation of the National Dictatorship (Ditadura Nacional). Sony SVS151E1GL Battery

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This in turn led to the establishment of the right-wing dictatorship of the Estado Novo under António de Oliveira Salazar in 1933. Portugal was one of only five European countries to remain neutral in World War II. Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

Sony PCG-71614L Battery From the 1940s to the 1960s, Portugal was a founding member of NATO, OECD and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Gradually, new economic development projects and relocation of mainland Portuguese citizens into the overseas provinces in Africa were initiated, with Angola and Mozambique, Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-61913L Battery as the largest and richest overseas territories, being the main targets of those initiatives. These actions were used to affirm Portugal's status as a pluricontinental nation and not as a colonial empire.

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After India attained independence in 1947, pro-Indian residents of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, with the support of the Indian government and the help of pro-independence organisations, separated the territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli from Portuguese rule in 1954.[30]

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In 1961, São João Baptista de Ajudá's annexation by the Republic of Dahomey was the start of a process that led to the final dissolution of the centuries-old Portuguese Empire.

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António Oliveira Salazar headed Portugal's Estado Novo from 1932 to 1968

According to the census of 1921 São João Baptista de Ajudá had 5 inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey Government, Sony PCG-61A14L Battery

it had only 2 inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty. Another forcible retreat from overseas territories occurred in December 1961 when Portugal refused to relinquish the territories of Goa, Daman and Diu. As a result, the Portuguese army and navy were involved in armed conflict in its colony of Portuguese India against the Indian Armed Forces. Sony PCG-71C11L Battery

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The operations resulted in the defeat of the limited Portuguese defensive garrison, which was forced to surrender to a much larger military force. The outcome was the loss of the remaining Portuguese territories in the Indian subcontinent. Sony SVE171G112 Battery

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The Portuguese regime refused to recognize Indian sovereignty over the annexed territories, which continued to be represented in Portugal's National Assembly until the military coup of 1974. Sony PCG-61713L Battery

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Also in the early 1960s, independence movements in the Portuguese overseas provinces of Angola, Mozambique and Guinea in Africa, resulted in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974).

Revolution and imperial end[edit] Sony PCG-91111L Battery

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Main articles: Portuguese Colonial War and Carnation Revolution

Throughout the colonial war period Portugal had to deal with increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other punitive sanctions imposed by most of the international community. However, the authoritarian and conservative Estado Novo regime, Sony PCG-91112L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L Batteryfirstly installed and governed by António de Oliveira Salazar and from 1968 onwards led by Marcelo Caetano, tried to preserve a vast centuries-long intercontinental empire with a total area of 2,168,071 km2.[31]

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The overseas provinces of Africa were granted independence after the revolution.

The Portuguese government and army successfully resisted the decolonization of its overseas territories until April 1974, when a bloodless left-wing military coup in Lisbon, known as the Carnation Revolution, Sony PCG-71311L Battery

led the way for the independence of the overseas territories in Africa and Asia, as well as for the restoration of democracy after two years of a transitional period known as PREC (Processo Revolucionário Em Curso). This period was characterized by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces. Sony PCG-71218L Battery

Sony PCG-61311L Battery The retreat from the overseas territories and the acceptance of its independence terms by Portuguese head representatives for overseas negotiations, which would create independent states in 1975, prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Portuguese Angola and Mozambique).[32][33]

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Over one million Portuguese refugees fled the former Portuguese provinces. Mário Soares and António de Almeida Santos were charged with organising the independence of Portugal's overseas territories. By 1975, all the Portuguese African territories were independent and Portugal held its first democratic elections in 50 years. Sony PCG-71217L Battery

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The country continued to be governed by a Junta de Salvação Nacional until the Portuguese legislative election of 1976. It was won by the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) and Mário Soares, its leader, became Prime Minister of the 1st Constitutional Government on 23 July. Mário Soares would be Prime Minister from 1976 to 1978 and again from 1983 to 1985. Sony PCG-71313L Battery

Sony PCG-71216L Battery In this capacity Soares tried to resume the economic growth and development record that had been achieved before the Carnation Revolution, during the last decade of the previous regime. He initiated the process of accession to the European Economic Community (EEC) by starting accession negotiations as early as 1977. Sony PCG-71315L Battery

The country bounced between socialism and adherence to the neoliberal model. Land reform and nationalizations were enforced; the Portuguese Constitution (approved in 1976) was rewritten in order to accommodate socialist and communist principles. Until the constitutional revisions of 1982 and 1989, Sony PCG-71316L Battery

Sony PCG-71215L Batterythe constitution was a highly charged ideological document with numerous references to socialism, the rights of workers, and the desirability of a socialist economy. Portugal's economic situation after its transition to democracy, obliged the government to pursue International Monetary Fund (IMF)-monitored stabilization programs in 1977–78 and 1983–85.

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In 1986, Portugal joined the European Economic Community (EEC) that later became the European Union (EU). In the following years Portugal's economy progressed considerably as a result of EEC/EU structural and cohesion funds and Portuguese companies' easier access to foreign markets. Sony PCG-71317L Battery

Portugal's last overseas territory, Macau, was peacefully handed over to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1999, under the 1987 joint declaration that set the terms for Macau's handover from Portugal to the PRC. In 2002, the independence of East Timor (Asia) was formally recognized by Portugal, after an incomplete decolonization process that was started in 1975 because of the Carnation Revolution. Sony PCG-71318L Battery

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On 26 March 1995, Portugal started to implement Schengen Area rules, eliminating border controls with other Schengen members while simultaneously strengthening border controls with non-member states. Sony PCG-71111L Battery

In 1996 the country was a co-founder of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) headquartered in Lisbon. Expo '98 took place in Portugal and in 1999 it was one of the founding countries of the euro and the eurozone. Sony PCG-81111L Battery

On 5 July 2004, José Manuel Barroso, then Prime Minister of Portugal, was nominated President of the European Commission, the most powerful office in the European Union. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, Sony PCG-81112L Battery

Sony PCG-81411L Battery after had been signed by the European Union member states on 13 December 2007 in the Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon, enhancing the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and improving the coherence of its action. Sony PCG-81113L Battery

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Economic disruption and an unsustainable government debt in the wake of the late-2000s financial crisis led the country to negotiate in 2011 with the IMF and the European Union, through the European Financial Stability Mechanism (EFSM) and the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a loan to help the country stabilise its finances. Sony PCG-81114L Battery

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Geography[edit]

Peneda-Gerês National Park, the only national park in Portugal.

Main articles: Geography of Portugal, Protected areas of Portugal, Continental Portugal, and Autonomous regions of Portugal

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A topographic and administrative map of the mainland Portuguese Republic.

The territory of Portugal includes an area in the Iberian Peninsula (referred to as the continent by most Portuguese) and two archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean: the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores. It lies between latitudes 32° and 43° N, and longitudes 32° and 6° W. Sony PCG-81214L Battery
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Mainland Portugal is split by its main river, the Tagus that flows from Spain and disgorges in Tagus Estuary, in Lisbon, before escaping into the Atlantic. The northern landscape is mountainous towards the interior with several plateaus indented by river valleys, whereas the south, that includes the Algarve and the Alentejo regions, is characterized by rolling plains. Dell XPS 14 Battery

Portugal's highest peak is the similarly named Mount Pico on the island of Pico in the Azores. This ancient volcano, which measures 2,351 m (7,713 ft) is a highly iconic symbol of the Azores, while the Serra da Estrela on the mainland (the summit being 1,991 m (6,532 ft) above sea level) is an important seasonal attraction for skiers and winter sports enthusiasts. Dell XPS 14D Battery

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The archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores are scattered within the Atlantic Ocean: the Azores straddling the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on a tectonic triple junction, and Madeira along a range formed by in-plate hotspot geology. Dell XPS 15 Battery

Dell XPS L502X Battery Geologically, these islands were formed by volcanic and seismic events, although the last terrestrial volcanic eruption occurred in 1957–58 (Capelinhos) and minor earthquakes occur sporadically, usually of low intensity. Dell XPS 15D Battery

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Portugal's Exclusive Economic Zone, a sea zone over which the Portuguese have special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has 1,727,408 km2. This is the 3rd largest Exclusive Economic Zone of the European Union and the 11th largest in the world. Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery

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Climate[edit]

Portugal is defined as a Mediterranean climate (Csa in the south, interior, and Douro region; Csb in the north, centre and coastal Alentejo; and also Semi-arid climate or Steppe climate (BSk in certain parts of Beja district) according to the Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification), and is one of the warmest European countries:

Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery the annual average temperature in mainland Portugal varies from 12 °C (53.6 °F) in the mountainous interior north to over 18 °C (64.4 °F) in the south and on the Guadiana river basin. The Algarve, Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

Dell XPS L702X Battery separated from the Alentejo region by mountains reaching up to 900 metres (3,000 ft) in Pico da Foia, has a climate similar to that of the southern coastal areas of Spain or Southern California. Dell XPS 15Z Battery

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Annual average rainfall in the mainland varies from just over 3,000 mm (118.1 in) in the northern mountains to less than 300 mm (11.8 in) in the area of the Massueime River, near Côa, along the Douro river. Mount Pico is recognized as receiving the largest annual rainfall (over 6,250 mm (246.1 in) per year) in Portugal, according to Instituto de Meteorologia (English: Portuguese Meteorological Institute).[34] Dell Inspiron N4020 Battery

In some areas, such as the Guadiana basin, annual average temperatures can be as high as 20 °C (68 °F), but summer highest temperatures may be over 45 °C (113 °F). The record high of 47.4 °C (117.3 °F) was recorded in Amareleja, although this might not be the hottest spot in summer, according to satellite readings.[35][36] Dell Inspiron N7110 Battery

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Snowfalls occur regularly in the interior North and Center of the country in particular in the districts of Vila Real, Bragança, Viseu and Guarda. In winter temperatures may drop below −10 °C (14.0 °F) in particular in Serra da Estrela, Serra do Gerês and Serra de Montesinho. In these places snow can fall any time from October to May. In the south of the country snowfalls are rare but still occur in the highest elevations. Dell Inspiron N7010D Battery

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The country has around 2500 to 3200 hours of sunshine a year, an average of 4–6 h in winter and 10–12 h in the summer, with higher values in the southeast and lower in the northwest. Dell Inspiron N5030 Battery

The sea surface temperature on the west coast of mainland Portugal varies from 13 °C (55.4 °F)-15 °C (59.0 °F) in winter to 18 °C (64.4 °F)-20 °C (68.0 °F) in the summer while on the south coast it ranges from 15 °C (59.0 °F) in Winter and rises in the summer to about 23 °C (73.4 °F) occasionally reaching 26 °C (78.8 °F). Dell Inspiron N5010R Battery

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Both the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira have a subtropical climate, although variations between islands exist, making weather predictions very difficult (owing to rough topography). The Madeira and Azorean archipelagos have a narrower temperature range, with annual average temperatures exceeding 20 °C (68 °F) Dell Inspiron N3010 Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010 Battery along the coast (according to the Portuguese Meteorological Institute). Some islands in Azores do have drier months in the summer. Consequently, the island of the Azores have been identified as having a Mediterranean climate Dell Inspiron N4010 Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D Battery (both Csa and Csb types), while some islands (such as Flores or Corvo) are classified as Maritime Temperate (Cfb) or Humid subtropical (Cfa), respectively, according to Koppen-Geiger classification. Porto Santo island in Madeira has a semi-arid Steppe climate (BSh). The Savage Islands, which are part of the regional territory of Madeira Dell Inspiron N4010D Battery

Dell Inspiron 15R Battery are unique in being classified as a Desert climates (BWh) with an annual average rainfall of approximately 150 mm (5.9 in). The sea surface temperature in the archipelagos varies from 17 °C (62.6 °F)-18 °C (64.4 °F) in winter to 24 °C (75.2 °F)-25 °C (77.0 °F) in the summer occasionally reaching 26 °C (78.8 °F). Dell Inspiron N4010R Battery

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Owing to humans occupying the territory of Portugal for thousands of years, little is left of the original vegetation. Protected areas of Portugal include one national park (Portuguese: Parque Nacional), 12 natural parks (Portuguese: Parque Natural), nine natural reserves (Portuguese: Reserva Natural), five natural monuments (Portuguese: Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

Dell Latitude E6530 BatteryMonumento Natural), and seven protected landscapes (Portuguese: Paisagem Protegida), which include the Parque Nacional da Peneda-Gerês, the Parque Natural da Serra da Estrela and the Paul de Arzila. Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

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These natural environments are shaped by diverse flora, and include widespread species of pine (especially the Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea species), the chestnut (Castanea sativa), the cork-oak (Quercus suber), the holm oak (Quercus ilex), the Portuguese oak (Quercus faginea), and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus). Dell Latitude E5400 Battery

Dell Latitude E6430S XFR Battery All are prized for their economic value. Laurisilva is a unique type of subtropical rainforest found in few areas of Europe and the world: in the Azores, and in particular on the island of Madeira, there are large forests of endemic Laurisilva forests (the latter protected as a natural heritage preserve). Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

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There are several species of diverse mammalian fauna, including the fox, badger, Iberian lynx, Iberian Wolf, wild goat (Capra pyrenaica), wild cat (Felis silvestris), hare, weasel, polecat, chameleon, mongoose, civet, brown bear[citation needed] (spotted near Rio Minho,

Dell Latitude E6430 Battery close to Peneda-Gerês) and many others. Portugal is an important stopover for migratory birds, in places such as Cape St. Vincent or the Monchique mountain, where thousands of birds cross from Europe to Africa during the autumn or in the spring (return migration). Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

Most of the avian species congregate along the Iberian Peninsula since it is the closest stopover between northern Europe and Africa. Six hundred bird species occur in Portugal (either for nesting or during the course of migration), Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

Dell Latitude E5430 Batteryand annually there are new registries of nesting species. The archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are transient stopover for American, European, and African birds, while continental Portugal mostly encounters European and African bird species. Dell Latitude E6120 Battery

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There are over 100 varieties of freshwater fish species, varying from the giant European catfish (in the Tagus International Natural Park) to some small and endemic species that live only in small lakes (along the western lakes for example). Dell Latitude E6320 Battery

Dell Latitude E5520 Battery Some of these rare and specific species are highly endangered because of habitat loss, pollution and drought. Upwelling along the west coast of Portugal makes the sea extremely rich in nutrients and diverse species of marine fish; Dell Latitude E6400 Battery

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Dell Latitude E6330 Battery the Portuguese marine waters are one of the richest in the world. Marine fish species are more common, and include thousands of species, such as the sardine (Sardina pilchardus), tuna and Atlantic mackerel. Bioluminescent species are also well represented (including species in different colour spectrum and forms), like the glowing plankton that are possible to observe in some beaches. Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

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There are many endemic insect species, most only found in certain parts of Portugal, while other species are more widespread like the stag beetle (Lucanus cervus) and the cicada. The Macaronesian islands (Azores and Madeira) have many endemic species (like birds, reptiles, bats, insects, snails and slugs) that evolved independently from other regions of Portugal. In Madeira, for example, it is possible to observe more than 250 species of land gastropods.

Government[edit]

Main articles: Government of Portugal and Politics of Portugal

Aníbal Cavaco Silva, 19th President of Portugal, in office since 9 March 2006.

Pedro Passos Coelho, 118th Prime Minister of Portugal, in office since 21 June 2011.

Portugal has been a democratic republic since the ratification of the Constitution of 1976, with Lisbon, the nation's largest city, as its capital. Dell Latitude E6420 ATG Battery

Dell Latitude E6410 ATG Battery The constitution grants the division, or separation, of powers among legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The four main institutions as described in this constitution are the President of the Republic, Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400 XFR Battery the Parliament, known as the Assembleia da República (English: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)), the Government, headed by a Prime Minister, and the courts.

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The President, who is elected to a five-year term, has a supervisory non-executive role: the current President is Aníbal Cavaco Silva. The Parliament is a chamber composed of 230 deputies elected for a four-year term. The government, Dell Latitude E6510 Battery

Dell Latitude E6520 Batterywhose head is the Prime Minister (currently Pedro Passos Coelho), chooses a Council of Ministers, that comprises the Ministers and State Secretaries. The courts are organized into several levels: judicial, administrative, and fiscal branches. The Supreme Courts are institutions of last resort/appeal. A thirteen-member Constitutional Court oversees the constitutionality of the laws. Sony SVE1511A1EW battery

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Portugal operates a multi-party system of competitive legislatures/local administrative governments at the national-, regional- and local-levels. The Legislative Assembly, Regional Assemblies and local municipalities and/or parishes, Sony SVE1511F1E battery

Sony SVE1513H1E battery are dominated by two political parties, the Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Party, in addition to the Democratic Unity Coalition (Portuguese Communist Party plus Ecologist Party "The Greens"), the Left Bloc and the Democratic and Social Centre – People's Party, which garner between 5 and 15% of the vote regularly. Sony SVE1511K1E battery

Executive branch[edit]

The President, elected to a five-year term by direct, universal suffrage, is also Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Presidential powers include the appointment of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers (where the President is obligated by the results from Legislative Elections); dismissing the Prime Minister; Sony SVE1511L1E battery

Sony SVE1513E9E battery dissolving the Assembly (to call early elections); vetoing legislation (which may be overridden by the Assembly); and declaring a State of War or siege.

The President is advised on issues of importance by the Council of State, which is composed of six senior civilian officers, any former Presidents elected under the 1976 Constitution, five-members chosen by the Assembly, and five selected by the president. Sony SVE1511M1E battery

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The Government is headed by the presidentially appointed Prime Minister, who names a Council of Ministers to act as the government and cabinet. Each government is required to define the broad outline of its policies in a program, and present it to the Assembly for a mandatory period of debate. The failure of the Assembly to reject the program by a majority of deputies confirms the government in office.

Legislative branch[edit] Sony SVE1511P1E battery

São Bento Palace in Lisbon is the seat of Portuguese Legislature.

The Assembly of the Republic is a unicameral body composed of up to 230 deputies. Elected by universal suffrage according to a system of proportional representation, deputies serve four-year terms of office, unless the President dissolves the Assembly and calls for new elections.
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Law and criminal justice[edit]

"Palácio da Justiça", main courthouse in Porto.

Main article: Law of Portugal

The Portuguese legal system is part of the civil law legal system, also called the continental family legal system. The main laws include the Constitution (1976, as amended), the Civil Code (1966, as amended) and the Penal Code (1982, as amended). Other relevant laws are the Commercial Code (1888, as amended) and the Civil Procedure Code (1961, as amended). Sony SVE1511Q1E battery

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Portuguese law applied in the former colonies and territories and continues to be the major influence for those countries. Portugal's main police organizations are the Guarda Nacional Republicana – GNR (National Republican Guard), Sony SVE1511V1E battery

Sony SVE1512M1E battery a gendarmerie; the Polícia de Segurança Pública – PSP (Public Security Police), a civilian police force who work in urban areas; and the Polícia Judiciária – PJ (Judicial Police),
Sony SVE1512K1E batterya highly specialized criminal investigation police that is overseen by the Public Ministry.

Portugal was one of the first countries in the world to abolish the death penalty. Maximum jail sentences are limited to 25 years. Sony SVE1511W1E battery

Portugal has arguably the most liberal laws concerning possession of illicit drugs in the Western world. In 2001, Portugal decriminalized possession of effectively all drugs that are still illegal in other developed nations including, but not limited to, Sony SVE1512B1E battery
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Sony SVE1512J1E battery marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and LSD. While possession is legal, trafficking and possession of more than "10 days worth of personal use" are still punishable by jail time and fines. People caught with small amounts of any drug are given the choice to go to a rehab facility, and may refuse treatment without consequences. Sony SVE1711R1E battery

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Despite criticism from other European nations, who stated Portugal's drug consumption would tremendously increase, overall drug use rose only slightly[citation needed], whilst use among teenagers dropped, along with the number of HIV infection cases, which had dropped 50 percent by 2009.[37][38] Sony SVE1711F1E battery
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On 31 May 2010, Portugal became the sixth country in Europe and the eighth country in the world to legally recognize same-sex marriage on the national level. The law came into force on 5 June 2010.[39]

Administrative divisions[edit]

Main article: Administrative divisions of Portugal

Administratively, Portugal is divided into 308 municipalities (Portuguese: municípios or concelhos), which are subdivided into 4260 civil parishes (Portuguese: freguesia). Operationally, the municipality and civil parish, along with the national government, Sony SVE1712Q1E battery

VPCCB3P1E batteryare the only legally identifiable local administrative units identified by the government of Portugal (for example, cities, towns or villages have no standing in law, although may be used as catchment for the defining services). Sony SVE1712Z1E battery

Sony VPCCB3 battery For statistical purposes the Portuguese government also identifies NUTS, inter-municipal communities and informally, the district system, used until European integration (and being phased-out by the national government). Sony SVE1713C5E battery
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Continental Portugal is agglomerated into 18 districts, while the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira are governed as autonomous regions; the largest units, established since 1976, are either mainland Portugal (Portuguese: Portugal Continental) and the autonomous regions of Portugal (Azores and Madeira). Sony SVE1511A1EB battery

Sony VPCCB2S1E batteryThe 18 districts of mainland Portugal are: Aveiro, Beja, Braga, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Guarda, Leiria, Lisbon, Portalegre, Porto, Santarém, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Vila Real and Viseu – each district takes the name of the district capital. Sony SVE14A1S1EP battery

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Within the European Union NUTS (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) system, Portugal is divided into seven regions: the Azores, Alentejo, Algarve, Centro, Lisboa, Madeira and Norte, and with the exception of the Azores and Madeira, these NUTS areas are subdivided into 28 subregions. Sony SVE1511Q1EB battery

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A member state of the United Nations since 1955, Portugal is also a founding member of NATO (1949), OECD (1961) and EFTA (1960); it left the latter in 1986 to join the European Economic Community, that would become the European Union in 1993. Sony SVE1511R9ESI battery

Sony VPCCA3 battery In 1996 it co-founded the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), which seeks to foster closer economic and cultural ties between the world's Lusophone nations. Sony SVE14A1S1EB battery

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In addition, Portugal is a full member of the Latin Union (1983) and the Organization of Ibero-American States (1949). It has a friendship alliance and dual citizenship treaty with its former colony, Brazil. Portugal and England (subsequently, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) share the world's oldest active military accord through their Anglo-Portuguese Alliance (Treaty of Windsor), which was signed in 1373. Sony SVE1511V1EW battery
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There are two international territorial disputes, both with Spain:

Olivenza. Under Portuguese sovereignty since 1297, the municipality of Olivenza was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz in 1801, after the War of the Oranges. Portugal claimed it back in 1815 under the Treaty of Vienna. However, since the 19th century, it has been continuously ruled by Spain which considers the territory theirs not only de facto but also de jure. Sony SVE14 battery
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The Ilhas Selvagens (Savage Islands). The archipelago is under Portuguese domination but is geographically closer to the Canary Islands (165 km) than to Madeira (280 km). Found in 1364 by Italian navigators, the islands belonged to private owners until 1971,

Sony VPCCA2S0E batterywhen the Portuguese government bought them and established a natural reserve area covering the whole archipelago. The islands have been claimed by Spain since 1911 and the dispute has caused some periods of political tension between the two countries. The main problem is not so much their intrinsic value but the fact that they expand considerably to the south the Exclusive Economic Zone of Portugal. Sony SVE14A1S1E battery

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The armed forces have three branches: Navy, Army and Air Force. They serve primarily as a self-defense force whose mission is to protect the territorial integrity of the country and provide humanitarian assistance and security at home and abroad. As of 2008, the three branches numbered 39,200 active personnel including 7,500 women. Sony SVE14A3C5E battery
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Sony VPCCA1S1E batteryPortuguese military expenditure in 2009 was $5.2 billion, representing 2.1 percent of GDP. Military conscription was abolished in 2004. The minimum age for voluntary recruitment is 18 years. Sony SVE1511A1E battery

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The Army (21,000 personnel) comprises three brigades and other small units. An infantry brigade (mainly equipped with Pandur II APC), a mechanized brigade (mainly equipped with Leopard 2 A6 tanks and M113 APC) and a Rapid Reaction Brigade (consisting of paratroopers, commandos and rangers). The Navy (10,700 personnel, of which 1,580 are marines) Sony SVE1511R9E battery

Sony SVE17 batteryhas five frigates, seven corvettes, two submarines, and 28 patrol and auxiliary vessels. The Air Force (7,500 personnel) has the Lockheed F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet as the main combat aircraft. Sony SVE1512X9E battery

In addition to the three branches of the armed forces, there is the National Republican Guard, a security force subject to military law and organization (gendarmerie) comprising 25,000 personnel. This force is under the authority of both the Defense and the Interior Ministry. It has provided detachments for participation in international operations in Iraq and East Timor.
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The United States maintains a military presence with 770 troops in the Lajes Air Base at Terceira Island, in the Azores. The Allied Joint Force Command Lisbon (JFC Lisbon) – one of the three main subdivisions of NATO's Allied Command Operations – it is based in Oeiras, near Lisbon.
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In the 20th century, Portugal engaged in two major military interventions: World War I and the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). After the end of the Portuguese Empire in 1975, the Portuguese Armed Forces have participated in peacekeeping missions in East Timor, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Sony SVE1513A4E battery

Sony SVE1513M1E battery Somalia, Iraq (Nasiriyah) and Lebanon. Portugal also conducted several independent unilateral military operations abroad, as were the cases of the interventions of the Portuguese Armed Forces in Angola in 1992 and in Guinea-Bissau in 1998 with the main objectives of protecting and withdrawing of Portuguese and foreign citizens threatened by local civil conflicts. Sony SVE1513B1E battery
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Government finance[edit]

Further information: 2010–2013 Portuguese financial crisis

Government debt as a % of the national economy, compared to Eurozone average.

The Portuguese government is heavily indebted, and received a 78 billion euro bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in May 2011Sony VPCSB1A9E battery

Sony SVS13A1V9E battery.[41] The ratio of Portugal’s debt to its overall economy, was 107 percent when it received the bailout.[41] As part of the deal, the country agreed to cut its budget deficit from 9.8 percent of GDP in 2010 to 5.9 percent in 2011, 4.5 percent in 2012 and 3 percent in 2013.[42] Sony VPCSB1B9E battery
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After the bailout was announced, the Portuguese government headed by Pedro Passos Coelho managed to implement measures to improve the State's financial situation, including tax hikes, a freeze of civil service-related lower-wages and cuts of higher-wages by 14.3%, on top of the government's spending cuts. The Portuguese government also agreed to eliminate its golden share in Portugal Telecom which gave it veto power over vital decisions.[43] Sony VPCSB1S1E battery

Sony VPCSB battery [44] In 2012, all public servants had already seen an average wage cut of 20% relative to their 2010 baseline, with cuts reaching 25% for those earning more than 1,500 euro per month.[45] Sony VPCSB1V9E battery

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The IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank said in September 2012 that Portugal’s debt would peak at 124 percent of gross domestic product in 2014.[46] The IMF previously said in July 2012 that Portugal’s debt would peak at about 118.5 percent of GDP in 2013.[46]
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A report released in January 2011 by the Diário de Notícias[47] and published in Portugal by Gradiva, had demonstrated that in the period between the Carnation Revolution in 1974 and 2010, the democratic Portuguese RepublicSony VPCSA3M9E battery
governments encouraged over-expenditure and investment bubbles through unclear Public–private partnerships and funding of numerous ineffective and unnecessary external consultancy and advisory of committees and firms.
Sony VPCSA3X9E batteryThis allowed considerable slippage in state-managed public works and inflated top management and head officer bonuses and wages. Persistent and lasting recruitment policies boosted the number of redundant public servants. Risky credit, public debt creation, and European structural and cohesion funds were mismanaged across almost four decades.[48] Sony VPCSA3N9E battery
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After the financial crisis of 2007–2008, it was known in 2008–2009 that two Portuguese banks (Banco Português de Negócios (BPN) and Banco Privado Português (BPP)) had been accumulating losses for years due to bad investiments, embezzlement and accounting fraud. Sony VPCSE2E1E battery
Sony SVE1711T1EB batteryThe case of BPN was particularly serious because of its size, market share, and the political implications - Portugal's then current President, Cavaco Silva, and some of his political allies, maintained personal and business relationships with the bank and its CEO, who was eventually charged and arrested for fraud and other crimes.[49][

Sony SVE151C11M battery50][51] In the grounds of avoiding a potentially serious financial crisis in the Portuguese economy, the Portuguese government decided to give them a bailout, eventually at a future loss to taxpayers. Sony vgp-bps24 battery

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Economy[edit]

A graphical depiction of Portugal's product exports in 28 color-coded categories.

Main articles: Economy of Portugal and Economic history of Portugal

The Portuguese currency is the euro (€) and the country was one of the original member states of the eurozone. Portugal's central bank is the Banco de Portugal, Sony vgp-bpsc24 battery

Sony VPCSA2Z9E battery an integral part of the European System of Central Banks. Most industries, businesses and financial institutions are concentrated in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas—the Aveiro, Braga, Coimbra and Leiria districts are the biggest economic centres outside these two main areas.[citation needed] Sony VPCSD1S1C battery
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Since the Carnation Revolution of 1974, which culminated in the end of one of Portugal's most notable phases of economic expansion (that started in the 1960s),[52] a significant change has occurred in the nation's annual economic growth.[citation needed] After the turmoil of the 1974 revolution and the PREC period, Sony SVE1711K1EW battery

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Portugal tried to adapt to a changing modern global economy, a process that continues in 2013. Since the 1990s, Portugal's public consumption-based economic development model has been slowly changing to a system that is focused on exports, Sony SVE1711V1EB battery

Sony SVS151A11M battery private investment and the development of the high-tech sector. Consequently, business services have overtaken more traditional industries such as textiles, clothing, footwear and cork (Portugal is the world's leading cork producer),[53] wood products and beverages.[54] Sony SVE1711X1EB battery

In the second decade of the 21st century the Portuguese economy suffered its most severe recession since the 1970s and 2013 was the final year of a three-year European Union aid program. It is anticipated that the conclusion of the EU's support package, worth €78 billion, will leave Portugal with a €12 billion funding gap in 2014.[5Sony SVE1511G1EW battery

Sony SVS131B12M battery5] Forecasts from the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicted that the Portuguese unemployment rate will peak in 2014 at 18.5 per cent.[56]

Sectors[edit]

Primary sector[edit]

Main articles: Agriculture in Portugal, Fishing in Portugal, and Mining in Portugal

Most of Portugal's farms have a small area devoted to a diversified intensive farming, like these in the Oeste subregion. Sony SVE1511G1ESI battery

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Agriculture in Portugal is based on small to medium-sized family-owned dispersed units. However, the sector also includes larger scale intensive farming export-oriented agrobusinesses backed by companies (like Grupo RAR's Vitacress, Sovena, Lactogal, Sony SVE1511G1EB battery
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Sony SVS13A1U9ES batteryVale da Rosa, Companhia das Lezírias and Valouro). The country produces a wide variety of crops and livestock products, including tomatoes, citrus, green vegetables, rice, corn, barley, olives, oilseeds, nuts, cherries, bilberry, table grapes, edible mushrooms, dairy products, poultry and beef. Sony SVE1511S1ESI battery

Forestry has also played an important economic role among the rural communities and industry (namely paper industry that includes Portucel Soporcel Group, engineered wood that includes Sonae Indústria, and furniture that includes several manufacturing plants in and around Paços de Ferreira, the core of Portugal's major industrial operations of IKEA). Sony SVE1511S1EB battery
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Sony VPCCA2S1E batteryIn 2001, the gross agricultural product accounted for 4 per cent of the national GDP.

Traditionally a sea-power, Portugal has had a strong tradition in the Portuguese fishing sector and is one of the countries with the highest fish consumption per capita.[5Sony SVE1511H1EW battery

Sony VPCCA3S1E battery7] The main landing sites in Portugal (including Azores and Madeira), according to total landings in weight by year, are the harbours of Matosinhos, Peniche, Olhão, Sesimbra, Figueira da Foz, Sines, Portimão and Madeira. Portuguese processed fish products are exported through several companies, under a number of different brands Sony SVE1511H1ESI battery
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and registered trademarks, such as Ramirez (the world’s oldest active canned fish producer), Bom Petisco, Nero, Combate, Comur, General, Líder, Manná, Murtosa, Pescador, Pitéu, Tenório, Torreira and Vasco da Gama.[citation needed] Sony VPCCA4S1E battery
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Portugal is a significant European minerals producer and is ranked among Europe's leading copper producers. The nation is also a notable producer of tin, tungsten and uranium. However, the country lacks the potential to conduct hydrocarbon exploration and aluminium, a limitation that has hindered the development of Portugal's its mining and metallurgy sectors.
Sony PCG-4121GM battery Although the country has vast iron and coal reserves—mainly in the north—after the 1974 revolution and the consequent economic globalization, low competitiveness forced a decrease in the extraction activity for these minerals. The Panasqueira and Neves-Corvo mines are among the most recognised Portuguese mines that are still in operation.[citation needed] Sony SVS1311E3EW battery

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Secondary sector[edit]

International deepwater silo of the Terminal of Trafaria, in Almada.

Industry is diversified, ranging from automobile (Volkswagen Autoeuropa, Peugeot Citroen), aerospace (Embraer), electronics and textiles, to food, chemicals, cement and wood pulp. Volkswagen Group's AutoEuropa motor vehicle assembly plant in Palmela is among the largest foreign direct investment projects in Portugal. Sony SVS1311P9EB battery

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Modern non-traditional technology-based industries, such as aerospace, biotechnology and information technology, have been developed in several locations across the country. Alverca, Covilhã,[58] Évora,[59] and Ponte de Sor are the main centres of the Portuguese aerospace industry, which is led by Brazil-based company Embraer and the Portuguese company OGMA. Sony SVS1511L3ES battery

Sony PCG-41218M battery Following the turn of the 21st century, many major biotechnology and information technology industries have been founded, and are concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Coimbra and Aveiro.[citation needed] Sony SVS1511M3EW battery
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Tertiary sector[edit]

Travel and tourism continue to be extremely important for Portugal, with visitor numbers forecast to increase significantly in the future.[citation needed] However, the increasing competition from Eastern European destinations continues to develop, Sony SVS1511T9ES battery

Sony PCG-41213M battery with the presence of similar attractions that are often cheaper in countries such as Croatia. Consequently, it has been necessary for the country to focus upon its niche attractions, such as health, nature and rural tourism, to stay ahead of its competitors.[60]

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The Algarve is an internationally reputed resort region.

The banking and insurance sectors performed well until the late-2000s financial crisis, and this partly reflected a rapid deepening of the market in Portugal. While sensitive to various types of market and underwriting risks, it has been estimated that overall both the life and non-life sectors will be able to withstand a number of severe shocks, even though the impact on individual insurers varies widely.[61] Sony SVS1511V9EB battery

State-owned companies[edit]

Major state-owned companies include Águas de Portugal (water), Caixa Geral de Depósitos (banking), Comboios de Portugal (railways), Companhia das Lezírias (agriculture), CTT (postal services), RTP (media) and TAP Portugal (airline). Some former state-owned entities are managed by state-run holding company Parpública, which is a shareholder of several public and private companies.[citation needed] Sony SVS1511V9ES battery

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Listed companies[edit]

Oeiras houses many multinational companies operating in Portugal.

Port of Sines Terminal XXI with a 14.000 TEU vessel.

Companies listed on Euronext Lisbon stock exchange like EDP, Cimpor, Corticeira Amorim, Galp, Jerónimo Martins, Millennium bcp, Sony SVS1511W9EB battery

Sony PCG-4121DM batteryPortucel Soporcel, Portugal Telecom and Sonae, are among the largest corporations of Portugal by number of employees, net income or international market share. The Euronext Lisbon is the major stock exchange of Portugal and is part of the NYSE Euronext, the first global stock exchange. The PSI-20 is Portugal's most selective and widely known stock index.

Performance[edit] Sony VPCSA3Q9E battery

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The Global Competitiveness Report for 2005, published by the World Economic Forum, placed Portugal's competitiveness in the 22nd position, but the 2008–2009 edition placed Portugal in the 43rd position out of 134 countries and territories.[ Sony VPCSB4S9E battery
Sony VPCSE2F1E battery62] Research about quality of life by the Economist Intelligence Unit's quality of life survey placed Portugal as the country with the 19th-best quality of life in the world for 2005, ahead of other economically and technologically advanced countries like France, Germany, the United Kingdom and South Korea, but 9 places behind its only neighbour, Spain.[

Sony VGP-BPS20 battery63] This is despite the fact that Portugal remains the country with the lowest per capita GDP in Western Europe.[64]

The poor performance of the Portuguese economy was explored in April 2007 by The Economist, which described Portugal as "a new sick man of Europe".[65] From 2002 to 2007, the unemployment rate increased by 65% (270,500 unemployed citizens in 2002, 448,600 unemployed citizens in 2007).[

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66] By early December 2009, unemployment had reached 10.2% – a 23-year record high. In December 2009, ratings agency Standard and Poor's lowered its long-term credit assessment of Portugal to "negative" from "stable,"

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voicing pessimism on the country's structural weaknesses in the economy and weak competitiveness that would hamper growth and the capacity to strengthen its public finances and reduce debt.[67] In July 2011, ratings agency Moody's downgraded its long-term credit assessment of Portugal after warning of deteriorating risk of default in March 2011.[68]

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Corruption has become an issue of major political and economic significance for the country. Some cases are well known and were widely reported in the media, such as the affairs in several municipalities that involved local town hall officials, businesspersons, and a number of politicians with wider responsibilities and power.[6Sony PCG-41311M battery

Sony VPCZ21V9E battery9][70] Nevertheless, the 2010 Transparency International report places Portugal in 31st position for perceived corruption, just below Israel and Spain.[71]

Thermal Power Plants in Carregado.

Over time, the Portuguese economy converged with EU levels, with the period from 1986 to the early 2000s of particular significance.[72][73] According to Barry (2003), "what appears to have been crucial in the Portuguese case, Sony PCG-41313M battery

relative to Spain at least, is the degree of labour-market flexibility that the economy exhibits.... Thus Portuguese convergence has been impressive, even though, consistent with its relatively low human-capital stock, the economy has specialised in low-tech production."[73]

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On 6 April 2011, Prime Minister José Sócrates announced on national television that the country would request financial assistance from the IMF and the European Financial Stability Facility, as Greece and the Republic of Ireland had done previously. It was the third time that the Portuguese government had requested external financial aid from the IMFSony PCG-41314M battery

Sony VPCZ12X9E/B battery—the first occasion occurred in the late 1970s following the Carnation's Revolution. In October 2011, Moody's Investor Services downgraded nine Portuguese banks due to financial weakness.[74] Sony PCG-41315M battery

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Public sector[edit]

In 2005, the number of public employees per thousand inhabitants in the Portuguese government (70.8) was above the European Union average (62.4 per thousand inhabitants). By EU and USA standards, Portugal's justice system was internationally known as being slow and inefficient,

Sony VPCZ12V9E battery and by 2011 it was the second slowest in Western Europe (after Italy); conversely, Portugal has one of the highest rates of judges and prosecutors—over 30 per 100,000 people. The entire Portuguese public service has been known for its overcapacity, useless redundancies and a general lack of overall productivity.[75] Sony PCG-4R2M battery

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In the first week of May 2013, Prime Minister Passos Coelho announced a significant government plan for the public sector, whereby 30,000 jobs will be cut, the retirement age will be increased from 65 to 66 and the number of weekly working hours will be increased from 35 to 40. Sony PCG-4U2M battery

Sony VPCZ12M9E battery Coelho reaffirmed the announcement by explaining that austerity measures are necessary if Portugal seeks to avoid another monetary bailout grant from the European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund—the overall plan intends to enact further cuts of €4.8 billion over a three-year period.[56] Sony PCG-6Z4M battery

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Labour market[edit]

Although Portugal is a developed country and a high income country, it has the lowest GDP per capita in Western Europe and its income per capita figure is one of the lowest among the EU's member states. According to Eurostat, Portugal's GDP per capita was registered at 80 per cent of the EU27 average in 2009,[76] making it the tenth lowest in the Union. Sony PCG-6112M battery

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The average wage in Portugal is 1,039 € per month (net),[77] and the minimum wage, which is regulated/ref by law, is €485 per month. In 2008 the unemployment rate decreased to 7.3 per cent in the second quarter,[78] but the rate immediately rose again in the following period. By December 2009,

Sony VPCZ11Z9E batteryunemployment had surpassed the 10 per cent mark nationwide in the wake of worldwide events—by 2010, the rate was around 11 per cent, and in 2011 it was above 12 per cent.[citation needed]

Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery The first quarter of 2013 signified a new unemployment rate record for Portugal, as it reached 17.7 per cent—up from 16.9 per cent in the previous quarter—and the government has predicted an 18.5 per cent unemployment rate in 2014.[56]

Tourism[edit]

Main article: Tourism in Portugal

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Sintra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is an important tourist location.

Portugal is among the 20 most visited countries in the world, receiving an average of 13 million foreign tourists each year.[7Sony PCG-6122M battery

Sony VGP-BPS20/S battery9] Tourism is playing an increasingly important role in Portugal's economy, contributing to about 5% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).[citation needed]

Tourist hotspots in Portugal are Lisbon, Algarve and Madeira, but the Portuguese government continues to promote and develop new tourist destinations, such as the Douro Valley, the island of Porto Santo, and Alentejo. Lisbon is, Sony PCG-6123M battery

Sony VGP-BPS20/B batteryafter Barcelona, the European city which attracts the most tourists (with seven million tourists occupying the city's hotels in 2006, a number that grew 11.8% compared to previous year).[80] Lisbon in recent years surpassed the Algarve as the leading tourist region in Portugal.

Sony VGP-BPL20 battery Porto and Northern Portugal, especially the urban areas north of Douro River valley, was the tourist destination which grew most (11.9%) in 2006, surpassing Madeira (in 2010), as the third most visited destination.[citation needed] Sony PCG-6124M battery

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Most tourists in Portugal are British-, Spanish- or German-origin visitors, travel by low cost airliners, and not only seek sun and beaches, but increasingly search for cultural, gastronomic, environmental or nautical experiences (or travel for reasons of business).[citation needed]

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Panorama of the Historic Centre of Porto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city is known worldwide for being the centre for Port Wine.

Tourist regions[edit]

The main tourist regions can be broken-down into: the Greater Lisbon (Portuguese: Lisboa), the Algarve, Greater Porto and Northern Portugal (Portuguese: Porto and Norte), the Portuguese Islands (Portuguese: Ilhas Portuguesas: Madeira and Azores), and Alentejo. Other tourist regions include Douro Sul, Templários, Dão-Lafões, Costa do Sol, Sony VPCZ13 battery

Sony VPCZ13Z9E/X battery Costa Azul, Planície Dourada, that are unknown to many tourists or visitors.[citation needed]

Most of these regions are grouped in tourism reference areas, which continue to be in a state of reorganization and evolution, some based on the traditional regions of Portugal: the Costa Verde (Green Coast); Costa da Prata (Silver Coast)); Sony VPCZ13M9E/B battery

Sony VPCZ13V9E batteryCosta de Lisboa (Lisbon Coast); Montanhas (Mountains); Planícies (Plains); Algarve; and the islands of the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores.[citation needed]

Transport[edit]

Main article: Transport in Portugal

Lisbon Portela Airport is the country's largest and most important airport.

By the early 1970s Portugal's fast economic growth with increasing consumption and purchase of new automobiles set the priority for improvements in transportation. Again in the 1990s, after joining the European Economic Community, Sony VGN-TT1RLN/B battery

Sony VGN-TT46SG/W batterythe country built many new motorways. Today, the country has a 68,732 km (42,708 mi) road network, of which almost 3,000 km (1,864 mi) are part of system of 44 motorways. Opened in 1944, the first motorway (which linked Lisbon to the National Stadium)

Sony VGN-TT46MG/W batterywas an innovative project that made Portugal among one of the first countries in the world to establish a motorway (this roadway eventually became the Lisbon-Cascais highway, or A5). But, although a few other tracts were created (around 1960 and 1970), it was only after the beginning of the 1980s that large-scale motorway construction was implemented. In 1972,

Sony VGN-TT46GG/W battery Brisa, the highway concessionaire, was founded to handle the management of many of the regions motorways. On many highways, toll needs to be paid, see Via Verde. Vasco da Gama bridge is the longest bridge in Europe.[81][82] Sony VGN-TT1RVN/X battery

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Continental Portugal's 89,015 km2 (34,369 sq mi) territory is serviced by three international airports located near the principal cities of Lisbon, Porto, Faro and Beja. Lisbon's geographical position makes it a stopover for many foreign airlines at several airports within the country. Sony VGN-TT11LN/B battery

Sony VGN-TT21WN/B batteryThe primary flag-carrier is TAP Portugal, although many other domestic airlines provide services within and without the country. The government decided to build a new airport outside Lisbon, in Alcochete, to replace Lisbon Portela Airport. Sony VGN-TT11M/N battery

Currently, the most important airports are in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal (Madeira), and Ponta Delgada (Azores), managed by the national airport authority group ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal. Sony VGN-TT11RM/N battery

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Metro Sul do Tejo tram at Universidade station.

A national railway system that extends throughout the country and into Spain, is supported and administered by Comboios de Portugal. Rail transport of passengers and goods is derived using the 2,791 km (1,734 mi) of railway lines currently in service, Sony VGN-TT11RM/R battery

Sony VGN-TT21JN/B batteryof which 1,430 km (889 mi) are electrified and about 900 km (559 mi) allow train speeds greater than 120 km/h (75 mph). The railway network is managed by the REFER while the transport of passengers and goods are the responsibility of Caminhos de Ferro Portugueses (CP), both public companies. Sony VGN-TT11VN/X battery

In 2006 the CP carried 133 million passengers and 9,750,000 t (9,600,000 long tons; 10,700,000 short tons) of goods.

The major seaports are located in Leixões, Aveiro, Figueira da Foz, Lisbon, Setúbal, Sines and Faro.

The two largest metropolitan areas have subway systems: Sony VGN-TT11WN/B battery

Sony VGN-TT11XN/B battery Lisbon Metro and Metro Sul do Tejo in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and Porto Metro in the Porto Metropolitan Area, each with more than 35 km (22 mi) of lines. In Portugal, Lisbon tram services have been supplied by the Companhia de Carris de Ferro de Lisboa (Carris), for over a century. In Porto, a tram network, Sony VGN-TT battery

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Sony VGN-Z11VN/X batteryof which only a tourist line on the shores of the Douro remain, began construction on 12 September 1895 (a first for the Iberian Peninsula). All major cities and towns have their own local urban transport network, as well as taxi services. Sony VGP-BPL14/B battery

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Science and technology[edit]

Main article: Science and technology in Portugal

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, in Braga.

Scientific and technological research activities in Portugal are mainly conducted within a network of R&D units belonging to public universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions like the INETI – Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação and the INRB – Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos. Sony VGP-BPS14 battery

Sony VGN-Z51XG/B batteryThe funding and management of this research system is mainly conducted under the authority of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education (MCTES) itself and the MCTES's Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT). The largest R&D units of the public universities by volume of research grants and peer-reviewed publications, Sony VGP-BPS14/B battery

Sony VGN-Z51WG/B batteryinclude biosciences research institutions like the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, the IPATIMUP, the Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular and the Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute. Sony VGP-BPS14/S battery

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Among the largest non-state-run research institutions in Portugal are the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência and the Champalimaud Foundation, a neuroscience and oncology research centre, which in addition awards every year one of the highest monetary prizes of any science prize in the world. A number of both national and multinational high-tech and industrial companies,

Sony VGN-Z51XTG/B battery are also responsible for research and development projects. One of the oldest learned societies of Portugal is the Sciences Academy of Lisbon, founded in 1779.

António Egas Moniz was a Portuguese neurologist awarded with the Nobel Prize.

Iberian bilateral state-supported research efforts include the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory and the Ibercivis distributed computing platform, which are joint research programmes of both Portugal and Spain. Sony VGN-Z11MN/B battery

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Sony VGN-Z31XN/B battery Portugal is a member of several pan-European scientific organizations. These include the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN), ITER, and the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Sony VGN-Z11XN/X battery

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Portugal has the largest aquarium in Europe, the Lisbon Oceanarium, and the Portuguese have several other notable organizations focused on science-related exhibits and divulgation, like the state agency Ciência Viva, a programme of the Portuguese Ministry of Science and Technology to the promotion of a scientific and technological culture among the Portuguese population,[8Sony VGN-Z21 battery

Sony VGP-BPS12/Q battery3] the Science Museum of the University of Coimbra, the National Museum of Natural History at the University of Lisbon, and the Visionarium.

With the emergence and growth of several science parks throughout the world that helped create many thousands of scientific, technological and knowledge-based businesses, Portugal started to develop several[84] science parks across the country. These include the Taguspark (in Oeiras), the Coimbra iParque (in Coimbra), the biocant (in Cantanhede), Sony VGN-Z21MN/B battery

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Sony VGP-BPS12 battery the Madeira Tecnopolo[85] (in Funchal), Sines Tecnopolo[86] (in Sines), Tecmaia[87] (in Maia) and Parkurbis[88] (in Covilhã). Companies locate in the Portuguese science parks to take advantage of a variety of services ranging from financial and legal advice through to marketing and technological support. Sony VGN-Z21XN battery

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Egas Moniz, a Portuguese physician who developed the cerebral angiography and leucotomy, received in 1949 the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – he is the first Portuguese recipient of a Nobel Prize and the only in the sciences. Sony VGN-Z21ZN/X battery

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The European Innovation Scoreboard 2011, placed Portugal-based innovation in the 15th position, with an impressive increase in innovation expenditure and output.[89]

Energy[edit]

Main article: Energy in Portugal

The Alqueva Dam created the largest artificial lake in Western Europe.

Portugal has considerable resources of wind and river power, the two most cost-effective renewable sources. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been a trend towards the development of a renewable resource industry and reduction of both consumption and use of fossil fuel resources. In 2006, Sony VGN-Z31 battery

Sony VGN-Z51XG battery the world's largest solar power plant at that date, the Moura Photovoltaic Power Station, began operating near Moura, in the south, while the world's first commercial wave power farm, the Aguçadoura Wave Farm, opened in the Norte region (2008). Sony VGN-Z31MN/B battery

By the end of 2006, 66% of the country's electrical production was from coal and fuel power plants, while 29% were derived from hydroelectric dams, and 6% by wind energy.[90]

In 2008, renewable energy resources were producing 43% of the nation's consumption of electricity, even as hydroelectric production decreased with severe droughts.[91Sony VGN-Z31VN/X battery

Sony VGN-Z51WG battery] As of June 2010, electricity exports had outnumbered imports. In the period between January and May 2010, 70% of the national production of energy came from renewable sources.[92] Sony VGN-Z31WN/B battery

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Portugal’s national energy transmission company, Redes Energéticas Nacionais (REN), uses sophisticated modeling to predict weather, especially wind patterns, and computer programs to calculate energy from the various renewable-energy plants. Before the solar/wind revolution, Portugal had generated electricity from hydropower plants on its rivers for decades. New programs combine wind and water:

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wind-driven turbines pump water uphill at night, the most blustery period; then the water flows downhill by day, generating electricity, when consumer demand is highest. Portugal’s distribution system is also now a two-way street. Instead of just delivering electricity, it draws electricity from even the smallest generators, like rooftop solar panels. Sony PCG-41311M battery

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The government aggressively encouraged such contributions by setting a premium price for those who buy rooftop-generated solar electricity.

Demographics[edit]

Main articles: Demographics of Portugal and Portuguese people

The Instituto Nacional de Estatística (Portuguese: National Institute of Statistics) estimates that, according to the 2011 census, the population was 10,562,178 (of which 52% was female, 48% was male). This population has been relatively homogeneous for most of its history:

Sony VGP-BPL20 battery a single religion (Catholicism) and a single language have contributed to this ethnic and national unity, namely after the expulsion of the Moors, Moriscos and Sephardi Jews.[93]

Native Portuguese are an Iberian ethnic group, whose ancestry is very similar to other Western and Southern Europeans and Mediterranean peoples, in particular Spaniards, with whom they share a common ancestry, history and cultural proximity. Sony PCG-41313M battery

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The most important demographic influence in the modern Portuguese seems to be the oldest one; current interpretation of Y-chromosome and mtDNA data suggests that the Portuguese have their origin in Paleolithic peoples that began arriving to the European continent around 45,000 years ago. All subsequent migrations did leave an impact, Sony PCG-41314M battery

Sony VPCZ21Q9E batterygenetically and culturally, but the main population source of the Portuguese is still Paleolithic. Studies of mitochondrial DNA suggest that 7% and 5–9% of modern Portuguese have some North- and Subsaharan-African ancestry, respectively.[94] Other genetic studies show Iberian populations not significantly different from other European populations.[95]

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Portugal's colonial history has long since been a cornerstone of its national identity, as has its geographic position at the southwestern corner of Europe, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. It was the last western colonial European powers to give up its overseas territories (among them Angola and Mozambique in 1975), Sony PCG-41315M battery

Sony VPCZ13V9E battery turning over the administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China at the end of 1999. Consequently, it has both influenced and been influenced by cultures from former colonies or dependencies, resulting in immigration from these former territories for both economic and/or personal reasons. Portugal, Sony PCG-4R2M battery

Sony VPCZ13M9E/B batterylong a country of emigration (the vast majority of Brazilians have some Portuguese ancestry),[98] has now become a country of net immigration,[99] and not just from the last Indian (Portuguese until 1961), African (Portuguese until 1975), Sony PCG-4R2M battery

Sony VPCZ13 batteryand Far East Asian (Portuguese until 1999) overseas territories. An estimated 800,000 Portuguese returned to Portugal as the country's African possessions gained independence in 1975.[98] By 2007, Portugal had 10,617,575 inhabitants of whom about 332,137 were legal immigrants.[100] Sony PCG-4U2M battery

Since the 1990s, along with a boom in construction, several new waves of Ukrainian, Brazilian, people from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and other Africans have settled in the country. Romanians, Moldovans and Chinese have also chosen Portugal as destination. Portugal's Romani population, estimated at about 40,000.[101Sony PCG-6Z4M battery

Sony PCG-6124M battery] Most Romanis congregate with similar ethnic groups in the southern parts of the country and sell clothing and handicrafts in rural markets.

In addition, a number of EU citizens, mostly from the United Kingdom, Sony VPCZ11 battery

Sony VGP-BPS20 battery northern European or Nordic countries, have become permanent residents in the country (with the British community being mostly composed of retired pensioners and choosing to live in the Algarve and Madeira).[102] Sony VPCZ11X9E battery

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The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, one of the world's largest Marian shrines.

According to the 2011 Census, 81% of the Portuguese population are Roman Catholic. The country has small Protestant, Mormon, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, Christian Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'i, Buddhist and Jewish communities. Some 6.8% of the population declared themselves to be non-religious.[103] Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery

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Many Portuguese holidays, festivals and traditions have a Christian origin or connotation. Although relations between the Portuguese state and the Roman Catholic Church were generally amiable and stable since the earliest years of the Portuguese nation, their relative power fluctuated. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Sony VPCZ11Z9E battery

Sony VPCZ21X9R batterythe church enjoyed both riches and power stemming from its role in the reconquest, its close identification with early Portuguese nationalism and the foundation of the Portuguese educational system, including the first university. The growth of the Portuguese overseas empire made its missionaries important agents of colonization, Sony VPCZ11Z9E/B battery

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with important roles in the education and evangelization of people from all the inhabited continents. The growth of liberal and nascent republican movements during the eras leading to the formation of the First Portuguese Republic (1910–26) changed the role and importance of organized religion. Sony VPCZ12M9E battery

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Portugal is a secular state: church and state were formally separated during the Portuguese First Republic, and later reiterated in the 1976 Portuguese Constitution. Other than the Constitution, the two most important documents relating to religious freedom in Portugal are: the 1940 Concordata (later amended in 1971) Sony VPCZ12M9E/B battery

Sony VPCZ12Z9E/X batterybetween Portugal and the Holy See, and the 2001 Religious Freedom Act.

Languages[edit]

Main articles: Languages of Portugal and Portuguese language

Map of the Lusosphere, the Portuguese-speaking world

Portuguese is the official language of Portugal. Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain) and Northern Portugal, from the Galician-Portuguese language. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago. In the 15th and 16th centuries, Sony VPCZ12V9E battery

Sony VPCZ12Z9E/B battery it spread worldwide as Portugal established a colonial and commercial empire (1415–1999). In the present day, Portuguese is spoken as a native language on 4 different continents, with Brazil accounting for the largest number of native Portuguese speakers in any country. Sony VPCZ12V9E/B battery

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As a result, nowadays the Portuguese language is also official and spoken in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, and East Timor. These countries, plus Macau Special Administrative Region (People's Republic of China), make up the Lusosphere, term derived from the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, Sony SVE171A11M battery

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which currently matches the Portuguese territory south of the Douro river. Mirandese is also recognized as a co-official regional language in some municipalities of northeastern Portugal. It retains fewer than 5,000 speakers in Portugal (a number that can be up to 12,000 if counting second language speakers).[citation needed] Sony SVE151C11M battery
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Education[edit]

Main article: Education in Portugal

Coimbra University, founded in 1290, is one of the oldest universities in the world.

The educational system is divided into preschool (for those under age 6), basic education (9 years, in three stages, compulsory), secondary education (3 years, until 12th grade), and higher education (university and polytechnic). Sony SVE1711K1EW battery

The total adult literacy rate is 99 percent. Portuguese primary school enrollments are close to 100 percent. According to the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009, the average Portuguese 15-year-old student, when rated in terms of reading literacy, mathematics and science knowledge, Sony SVE1711V1EB battery

Sony SVE1511H1ESI battery is placed at the same level as those students from the United States, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, France, Denmark, United Kingdom, Hungary and Taipei, with 489 points (493 is the average).[104] Over 35% of college-age citizens (20 years old) attend one of the country's higher education institutions[Sony PCG-6112M battery

Sony PCG-6123M battery105] (compared with 50% in the United States and 35% in the OECD countries). In addition to being a destination for international students, Portugal is also among the top places of origin for international students. All higher education students, both domestic and international, totaled 380,937 in 2005. Sony SVE1711X1EB battery

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Portuguese universities have existed since 1290. The oldest Portuguese university was first established in Lisbon before moving to Coimbra. Historically, within the scope of the Portuguese Empire, the Portuguese founded in 1792 the oldest engineering school of Latin America (the Real Academia de Artilharia, Fortificação e Desenho), Sony SVE1511G1EW battery

Sony SVE1511B1EW batteryas well as the oldest medical college in Asia (the Escola Médico-Cirúrgica de Goa) in 1842. The largest university in Portugal is the University of Porto. Universities are usually organized into faculties. Sony SVE1511G1ESI battery

The University of Porto, Portugal's largest university by enrollment.

Institutes and schools are also common designations for autonomous subdivisions of Portuguese higher education institutions. The Bologna process has been adopted since 2006 by Portuguese universities and polytechnical institutes. Sony SVE1511G1EB battery

Sony SVE1511S1EB batteryHigher education in state-run educational establishments is provided on a competitive basis, a system of numerus clausus is enforced through a national database on student admissions. Sony SVE1511S1EW battery
Sony SVE1511S1ESI batteryHowever, every higher education institution offers also a number of additional vacant places through other extraordinary admission processes for sportsmen, mature applicants (over 23 years old), international students, foreign students from the Lusosphere, degree owners from other institutions, Sony PCG-6121M battery

Sony PCG-6122M battery students from other institutions (academic transfer), former students (readmission), and course change, which are subject to specific standards and regulations set by each institution or course department. Most student costs are supported with public money. However,
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with the increasing tuition fees a student has to pay to attend a Portuguese state-run higher education institution and the attraction of new types of students (many as part-time students or in evening classes) like employees, Sony SVS13AA11M battery

Sony SVS1511V9ES batterybusinessmen, parents, and pensioners, many departments make a substantial profit from every additional student enrolled in courses, with benefits for the college or university's gross tuition revenue and without loss of educational quality (teacher per student, computer per student, classroom size per student, etc.). Sony SVS131B12M battery

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Portugal has entered into cooperation agreements with MIT (US) and other North American institutions to further develop and increase the effectiveness of Portuguese higher education and research.
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Health[edit]

The Hospital of Santo António, Porto.

Main article: Health in Portugal

According to the latest Human Development Report, the average life expectancy in 2011 was 79.5 years.

The Portuguese health system is characterized by three coexisting systems: the National Health Service (NHS), special social health insurance schemes for certain professions (health subsystems) and voluntary private health insurance. Sony SVS151A11M battery

Sony SVS1511N3ES batteryThe NHS provides universal coverage. In addition, about 25% of the population is covered by the health subsystems, 10% by private insurance schemes and another 7% by mutual funds.
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The Ministry of Health is responsible for developing health policy as well as managing the NHS. Five regional health administrations are in charge of implementing the national health policy objectives, developing guidelines and protocols and supervising health care delivery. Sony SVS151A12M battery

Sony SVS1511L3ES batteryDecentralization efforts have aimed at shifting financial and management responsibility to the regional level. In practice, however, the autonomy of regional health administrations over budget setting and spending has been limited to primary care.

The Hospital of Santa Maria, Lisbon,

the largest hospital in the country.

The NHS is predominantly funded through general taxation. Employer (including the state) and employee contributions represent the main funding sources of the health subsystems. In addition, direct payments by the patient and voluntary health insurance premiums account for a large proportion of funding. Sony SVS1311E3EW battery
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Similar to the other Eur-A countries, most Portuguese die from noncommunicable diseases. Mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is higher than in the eurozone, but its two main components, ischaemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease, display inverse trends compared with the Eur-A, with cerebrovascular disease being the single biggest killer in Portugal (17%). Portuguese people die 12% less often from cancer than in the Eur-A, Sony vgp-bps24 battery

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but mortality is not declining as rapidly as in the Eur-A. Cancer is more frequent among children as well as among women younger than 44 years. Although lung cancer (slowly increasing among women) and breast cancer (decreasing rapidly) are scarcer, cancer of the cervix and the prostate are more frequent. Portugal has the highest mortality rate for diabetes in the Eur-A, with a sharp increase since the late 1980s. Sony vgp-bpsc24 battery
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Portugal's infant mortality rate has dropped sharply since the 1980s, when 24 of 1000 newborns died in the first year of life. It is now around 3 deaths per a 1000 newborns. This improvement was mainly due to the decrease in neonatal mortality, from 15.5 to 3.4 per 1000 live births.
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People are usually well informed about their health status, the positive and negative effects of their behaviour on their health and their use of health care services. Yet their perceptions of their health can differ from what administrative and examination-based data show about levels of illness within populations. Thus, survey results based on self-reporting at the household level complement other data on health status and the use of services. Sony PCG-4121DM battery

Sony PCG-41214M batteryOnly one third of adults rated their health as good or very good in Portugal (Kasmel et al., 2004). This is the lowest of the Eur-A countries reporting and reflects the relatively adverse situation of the country in terms of mortality and selected morbidity.[106] Sony PCG-4121EM battery

Culture[edit]

Main article: Culture of Portugal

Belém Tower is a typical example of Portugal's unique Manueline architecture.

Portugal has developed a specific culture while being influenced by various civilizations that have crossed the Mediterranean and the European continent, or were introduced when it played an active role during the Age of Discovery. In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), Sony PCG-41211M battery

Sony PCG-41414M battery Portugal modernized its public cultural facilities, in addition to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation established in 1956 in Lisbon. These include the Belém Cultural Center in Lisbon, Serralves Foundation and the Casa da Música, both in Porto, as well as new public cultural facilities like municipal libraries and concert halls that were built or renovated in many municipalities across the country. Sony PCG-41213M battery
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Portugal is home to fifteen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, ranking it 8th in Europe and 17th in the world.

Architecture[edit]

Main article: Architecture of Portugal

Traditional architecture is distinctive and include the Manueline, also known as Portuguese late Gothic, a sumptuous, composite Portuguese style of architectural ornamentation of the first decades of the 16th century. A 20th-century interpretation of traditional architecture, Soft Portuguese style, appears extensively in major cities, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

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especially Lisbon. Modern Portugal has given the world renowned architects like Eduardo Souto de Moura, Álvaro Siza Vieira (both Pritzker Prize winners) and Gonçalo Byrne. In Portugal Tomás Taveira is also noteworthy, particularly for stadium design.[107][108][109]

Cinema[edit] Sony VGP-BPS13A Battery

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Main article: Cinema of Portugal

Portuguese cinema has a long tradition, reaching back to the birth of the medium in the late 19th century. Portuguese film directors such as Arthur Duarte, António Lopes Ribeiro, Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira, João César Monteiro, António-Pedro Vasconcelos, Fernando Lopes, Bruno de Almeida, João Botelho and Leonel Vieira, Sony VGP-BPS13A/B Battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q Battery are among those that gained notability. Noted Portuguese film actors include Joaquim de Almeida, Daniela Ruah, Maria de Medeiros, Diogo Infante, Ana Padrão, Soraia Chaves, Vasco Santana, Ribeirinho, António Silva, Lúcia Moniz,among many others.

Luís de Camões, famed 16th-century poet of the Portuguese language

Literature[edit]

Main article: Portuguese literature

Portuguese literature, one of the earliest Western literatures, developed through text as well as song. Until 1350, the Portuguese-Galician troubadours spread their literary influence to most of the Iberian Peninsula.[110] Gil Vicente (c. 1465–c. 1536), was one of the founders of both Portuguese and Spanish dramatic traditions. Sony VGP-BPS13B/B Battery

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Adventurer and poet Luís de Camões (c. 1524–1580) wrote the epic poem "Os Lusíadas" (The Lusiads), with Virgil's Aeneid as his main influence. Modern Portuguese poetry is rooted in neoclassic and contemporary styles, as exemplified by Fernando Pessoa (1888–1935). Modern Portuguese literature is represented by authors such as Almeida Garrett, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery

Camilo Castelo Branco, Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, António Lobo Antunes and Miguel Torga. Particularly popular and distinguished is José Saramago, recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature. Sony VGP-BPS13B/Q battery

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Cuisine[edit]

Main articles: Portuguese cuisine and Portuguese wine

Portuguese cuisine is diverse. The Portuguese consume a lot of dry cod (bacalhau in Portuguese), for which there are hundreds of recipes. There are more than enough bacalhau dishes for each day of the year. Two other popular fish recipes are grilled sardines and caldeirada, a potato-based stew that can be made from several types of fish. Sony VGP-BPS13/Q battery

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Typical Portuguese meat recipes, that may be made out of beef, pork, lamb, or chicken, include cozido à portuguesa, feijoada, frango de churrasco, leitão (roast suckling pig) and carne de porco à alentejana, a very popular northern dish is the arroz de sarrabulho (rice stewed in pigs blood) or the arroz de cabidela (Rice and chickens meat stewed in chickens blood). Sony VGP-BPS13A/B battery

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Port Wine is Portugal's most famous, unique, and exported wine.

Typical fast food dishes include the francesinha from Porto, and bifanas (grilled pork) or prego (grilled beef) sandwiches, which are well known around the country. The Portuguese art of pastry has its origins in Middle Ages Catholic monasteries widely spread across the country. These monasteries, using very few ingredients (mostly almonds, Sony VGP-BPS13/B battery

Sony VGP-BPS21 batteryflour, eggs and some liquor), managed to create a spectacular wide range of different pastries, of which pastéis de Belém (or pastéis de nata) originally from Lisbon, and ovos moles from Aveiro are examples. Portuguese cuisine is very diverse, Sony VGP-BPS13B/S battery

Sony VGP-BPL21 batterywith different regions having their own traditional dishes. The Portuguese have a culture of good food and throughout the country there are myriad good restaurants and small typical tascas.

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Portuguese wines have deserved international recognition since the times of the Roman Empire, which associated Portugal with their god Bacchus. Today the country is known by wine lovers and its wines have won several international prizes. Some of the best Portuguese wines are: Vinho Verde, Vinho Alvarinho, Vinho do Douro, Vinho do Alentejo, Sony VGP-BPS13A battery

Sony VGP-BPS13B batteryVinho do Dão, Vinho da Bairrada and the sweet: Port Wine, Madeira Wine and the Moscatel from Setúbal and Favaios. Port Wine is well known around the world and the most widely known wine type in the world.[citation needed] The Douro wine region is the oldest in the world.[citation needed] Sony VGP-BPS13A/S battery

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Music[edit]

Main article: Music of Portugal

Casa da Música, a concert hall in Porto.

Portuguese music encompasses a wide variety of genres. The most renowned is fado, a melancholy urban music, usually associated with the Portuguese guitar and saudade, or longing. Coimbra fado, a unique type of fado, Sony VGP-BPS13AS battery

is also noteworthy. Internationally notable performers include Amália Rodrigues, Carlos Paredes, José Afonso, Mariza, Carlos do Carmo, António Chainho, Mísia, and Madredeus.

In addition to fado and folk, the Portuguese listen to pop and other types of modern music, particularly from North America and the United Kingdom, Sony VGP-BPS13S battery

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Sony VGP-BPS13A/R batteryas well as a wide range of Portuguese and Brazilian artists and bands. Artists with international recognition include Moonspell, Buraka Som Sistema, Blasted Mechanism and The Gift, with the two latter being nominees for a MTV Europe Music Award. Sony SVS13A1S9E battery
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Portugal has several summer music festivals, such as Festival Sudoeste in Zambujeira do Mar, Festival de Paredes de Coura in Paredes de Coura, Festival Vilar de Mouros near Caminha, Boom Festival in Idanha-a-Nova Municipality, and Optimus Alive!, Rock in Rio Lisboa and Super Bock Super Rock in Greater Lisbon. Out of the summer season, Portugal has a large number of festivals, designed more to an urban audience, Sony SVS1312J3E battery

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like Flowfest or Hip Hop Porto. Furthermore, one of the largest international Goa trance festivals takes place in central Portugal every two years, the Boom Festival, that is also the only festival in Portugal to win international awards: European Festival Award 2010 – Green'n'Clean Festival of the Year and the Greener Festival Award Outstanding 2008 and 2010. Sony SVS1312P9E battery
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There is also the student festivals of Queima das Fitas are major events in a number of cities across Portugal. In 2005, Portugal held the MTV Europe Music Awards, in Pavilhão Atlântico, Lisbon.
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Fandango is one of the most popular regional dances.

In the classical music domain, Portugal is represented by names as the pianist Artur Pizarro, Maria João Pires, Sequeira Costa, the violinists Carlos Damas, Gerardo Ribeiro and in the past by the great cellist Guilhermina Suggia. Notable composers include José Vianna da Motta, Carlos Seixas, João Domingos Bomtempo, Sony SVS1313C5E battery

Sony VPCSB4L1E batteryJoão de Sousa Carvalho, Luís de Freitas Branco and his student Joly Braga Santos, Fernando Lopes-Graça, Emmanuel Nunes and Sérgio Azevedo. Similarly, contemporary composers such as Nuno Malo and Miguel d'Oliveira have achieved some international success writing original music for film and television. Sony SVS1313S9E battery

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Visual arts[edit]

Saint Vincent Panels, attributed to Nuno Gonçalves, a Portuguese Renaissance artist.

It has also a rich history as far as painting is concerned. The first well-known painters date back to the 15th century – like Nuno Gonçalves – were part of the Gothic painting period. José Malhoa, known for his work Fado, and Columbano Bordalo Pinheiro (who painted the portraits of Teófilo Braga and Antero de Quental) were both references in naturalist painting. Sony SVS1511S9E battery

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The 20th century saw the arrival of Modernism, and along with it came the most prominent Portuguese painters: Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso, who was heavily influenced by French painters, particularly by the Delaunays. Sony SVS1512X9E battery

Sony VPCSB3S9E battery Among his best known works is Canção Popular a Russa e o Fígaro. Another great modernist painter/writer was Almada Negreiros, friend to the poet Fernando Pessoa, who painted his (Pessoa's) portrait. He was deeply influenced by both Cubist and Futurist trends. Prominent international figures in visual arts nowadays include painters Vieira da Silva, Júlio Pomar, Helena Almeida, Joana Vasconcelos, Julião Sarmento and Paula Rego. Sony SVS13 battery
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Sport[edit]

Main article: Sport in Portugal

Football is the most popular sport in Portugal. There are several football competitions ranging from local amateur to world-class professional level. The legendary Eusébio is still a major symbol of Portuguese football history. Sony VPCSA battery

Sony VPCSB3M9E battery FIFA World Player of the Year winners Luís Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo, are among the numerous examples of other world-class football (soccer) players born in Portugal and noted worldwide. Portuguese football managers are also noteworthy, with José Mourinho, André Villas-Boas, Fernando Santos, Carlos Queiroz and Manuel José among the most renowned. Sony VPCSA3T9E battery

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The Portuguese national football team has titles in the FIFA World Youth Championship and in the UEFA youth championships. The main national team – Selecção Nacional – finished second in Euro 2004 (held in Portugal), reached the third place in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, and reached the fourth place in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, their best results in major competitions to date.
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SL Benfica, FC Porto, and Sporting CP are the largest sports clubs by popularity and by number of trophies won, often known as "os três grandes" ("the big three").Sony VPCSB1X9E battery

Sony VPCSB2L1E battery They have 12 titles won in the European UEFA club competitions, were present in many finals and have been regular contenders in the last stages almost every season. Other than football, many Portuguese sports clubs, including the "big three", compete in several other sports events with a varying level of success and popularity, these may include roller hockey, basketball, futsal, handball, and volleyball. Sony VPCSB1Z9E battery

Portugal has a successful roller hockey team, with 15 world titles and 20 European titles, making it the country with the most wins in both competitions. Sony VPCSB battery
Sony SVS13A1V9E battery The most successful Portuguese roller hockey clubs in the history of European championships are Futebol Clube do Porto, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Óquei de Barcelos. Sony VPCSB2C5021B battery
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The Portuguese national rugby union team made a dramatic qualification into the 2007 Rugby World Cup and became the first all amateur team to qualify for the World Cup since the dawn of the professional era. Sony VPCSE2S1E battery

Sony SVS1311K9E battery The Portuguese national rugby sevens team has performed well, becoming one of the strongest teams in Europe, and proved their status as European champions in several occasions. Sony VPCSB1A9E battery

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In athletics, the Portuguese have won a number of gold, silver and bronze medals in the European, World and Olympic Games competitions. Cycling, with Volta a Portugal being the most important race, is also a popular sports event and include professional cycling teams such as Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Boavista, Clube de Ciclismo de Tavira, and União Ciclista da Maia.
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The country has also achieved notable performances in sports like fencing, judo, kitesurf, rowing, sailing, surfing, shooting, triathlon and windsurf, owning several European and world titles. The paralympic athletes have also conquered many medals in sports like swimming, boccia and wrestling.

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Opening ceremony of the UEFA Euro 2004 at Estádio do Dragão, Porto.

In motorsport, Portugal is internationally noted for the Rally of Portugal, and the Estoril, Algarve Circuits and the revived Porto Street Circuit which holds a stage of the WTCC every two years, as well as for a number of internationally noted pilots in varied motorsports. Sony VPCSB1S1E battery

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In equestrian sports, Portugal won the only Horseball-Pato World Championship (in 2006), achieved the third position in the First Horseball World Cup (organized in Ponte de Lima, Portugal, in 2008), and has achieved several victories in the European Working Equitation Championship.

In swimming sports, Portugal has two major sports: swimming and water polo. Sony VPCSB1S1E battery
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Northern Portugal has its own original martial art, Jogo do Pau, in which the fighters use staffs to confront one or several opponents.

Other popular sport-related recreational outdoor activities with thousands of enthusiasts nationwide include airsoft, fishing, golf, hiking, hunting and orienteering.

The Spanish Empire and Spanish Civil War

09/07/2013 15:50

The Spanish Empire and Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio español) comprised territories and colonies administered by the Spanish Crown in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was one of the first global empires. Sony PCG-41112L Keyboard

Sony PCG-61317L Keyboard Under the Spanish Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its political and economic power[1] when its empire became the foremost global power. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire,

Sony PCG-61316L Keyboard the Spanish Empire's establishment in the 15th century ushered in the modern global era and the rise of European dominance in global affairs. Spain's territorial reach beyond Europe spanned five centuries, from the first voyages to the Americas in 1492 until the loss of its last African colonies in 1975. Sony PCG-51311L Keyboard

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The land of the Iberian peninsula was commonly called Hispania since Roman times and during the Visigothic Kingdom. The process of the Reconquista produced the emergence of four Christian realms: Castile, the Crown of Aragon, Navarre and Portugal. Sony PCG-51312L Keyboard

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The dynastic union between the Crown of Castile (which will include the kingdom of Navarre since 1515) and the Crown of Aragon,[2] in Catholic Monarchs's time, initiated a political authoritarian system in force until the beginning of the eighteenth century labelled as Hispanic monarchy: Sony PCG-51412L Keyboard

Sony PCG-71317L Keyboardthe Spanish sovereign acted as monarch in a unitary manner[3] over all his territories through a polisynodial system of Councils, but his power as king or lord varied from one territory to another one, since each territory retained its own particular administration and juridical configuration. The unity did not mean uniformity.[4] Sony PCG-51111L Keyboard

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According to this political configuration, independently of the denominations [5] given to the "dynastic union"[6][7] between 1580 and 1640, the scholars argue that the Portuguese Empire kept its own administration and jurisdiction over its territory as the other kingdoms and realms ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs.[8] Sony PCG-51211L Keyboard

Nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was a kingdom which formed part of the Spanish Monarchy at that time;[9][10][11][12][13] while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and the Spanish Empires.[14][15] Sony PCG-51511L Keyboard

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The Spanish Empire included the dominions of the Spanish monarch in the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa, but some disputes exist as to which European territories are to be counted. For instance, normally the Habsburg Netherlands are included, as they were part of the possessions of the King of Spain,

Sony PCG-61313L Keyboard were governed by Spanish officials, and were defended by Spanish troops. However, authors like the British historian Henry Kamen contend that these territories were not fully integrated into a Spanish state and instead formed part of the wider Habsburg possessions.

Sony PCG-61312L Keyboard Some historians use "Habsburg" and "Spanish" almost interchangeably when referring to the dynastic inheritance of Charles V or Philip II.

[edit]Origins

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During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the Atlantic western zone. Portugal obtained several Papal bulls which acknowledged Portuguese control over the discovered territories, but Castile also obtained from the Pope the safeguard of its rights to the Canary Islands with the bulls Romani Pontifex dated 6 November 1436 and Dominatur Dominus dated 30 April 1437.[16] Sony PCG-81113L Keyboard

Sony PCG-61311L Keyboard The Conquest of the Canary Islands, inhabited by Guanche people, began in 1402 under the reign of Henry III of Castile, authorizing under feudal agreement to Norman noblemen Jean de Béthencourt.

Sony PCG-61211L Keyboard The conquest only finished when the armies of the Crown of Castille won, after long and bloody wars, the islands of Gran Canaria (1478–1483), La Palma (1492–1493) and Tenerife (1494–1496).

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The proclamation of Isabella I of Castile jointly with her husband Ferdinand of Aragon, at that time king of Sicily, as sovereigns of Castile led to a war with Portugal which ended with the Treaty of Alcáçovas (4 September 1479).

Sony PCG-61611L Keyboard The Portuguese gave up their claims to the Canary Islands but were secured in their sovereignty over Madeira, the Azores and the Cape Verde islands, and over the trade of Guinea,[17]

Sony PCG-81411L Keyboard from the south of the Cape Bojador,[18] and the right to conquer the Kingdom of Fez.[19][20] This treaty was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis (dated on 21 June 1481).[21]

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Columbus and the Catholic Monarchs (The return of Columbus to Spain).

Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, and his son Ferdinand II of Aragon inherited the thrones of the Crown of Aragon; therefore, a personal union was created between the Crown of Aragon and Castile, each with their own administrations, but ruled by a common monarchy.[22]

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After a war of 10 years, the Granada War, in 1492, the Reyes Católicos drove out the last Moorish king of Granada. After their victory, the Catholic monarchs negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west. Sony PCG-81114L Keyboard

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Sony PCG-81214L Keyboard Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. In the Capitulations of Santa Fe, dated on 17 April 1492, Christopher Columbus obtained from the Catholic Monarchs his appointment as viceroy and governor in the lands already discovered[23] and that of he might discover thenceforth;[24][2

Sony PCG-71318L Keyboard 5] thereby, it was the first document to establish an administrative organization in the Indies.[26] Columbus' discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Spain's claim[2

Sony PCG-71316L Keyboard 7] to these lands was solidified by the Inter caetera papal bull dated 4 May 1493, and Dudum siquidem on 26 September 1493, which vested the sovereignty of the territories discovered and to be discovered. Sony PCG-71211L Keyboard

Since the Portuguese wanted to keep the line of demarcation of Alcaçovas running east and west along a latitude south of Cape Bojador, a compromise was worked out which was incorporated in the Treaty of Tordesillas dated on 7 June 1494, Sony PCG-71212L Keyboard

Sony PCG-71315L Keyboard in which the globe was split into two hemispheres dividing Spanish and Portuguese claims. These actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from Alaska to Cape Horn (except Brazil), as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506.

Sony PCG-71314L Keyboard [28] Spain's expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World.

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On the other hand, the treaty of Tordesillas[29] and the treaty of Cintra (18 September 1509)[30] established the limits of the Kingdom of Fez for Portugal, and outside of these limits the Castilian expansion was allowed, beginning with the conquest of Melilla in 1497. Sony PCG-71213L Keyboard

[edit]Struggles for Italy

The death of French general Gaston de Foix at the Battle of Ravenna (1512).

The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy: France. Sony PCG-71311L Keyboard

Sony PCG-71312L Keyboard The Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars from 1494.
Sony PCG-71511L BatteryAs King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy; these conflicts became the center of Ferdinand's foreign policy as king. In these battles,
Sony PCG-71411L Battery which established the supremacy of the Spanish Tercios in European battlefields, the forces of the kings of Spain acquired a reputation for invincibility that would last until the mid-17th century.
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After the death of Queen Isabella, Ferdinand, as Spain's sole monarch, adopted a more aggressive policy than he had as Isabella's husband, enlarging Spain's sphere of influence in Italy and against France.
Sony PCG-71C11L Battery Ferdinand's first deployment of Spanish forces came in the War of the League of Cambrai against Venice, where the Spanish soldiers distinguished themselves on the field alongside their French allies at the Battle of Agnadello (1509). Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

Sony PCG-91311L BatteryOnly a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France, seeing a chance at taking both Milan — to which he held a dynastic claim – and Navarre. This war was less of a success than the war against Venice, Sony PCG-61A12L Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Battery and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre.

[edit]The Indias, islands and mainland of the ocean sea
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Upon the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, the lordship of the Spanish Indies became Kingdoms of the Indies.

The Papal Bull Inter caetera of 1493 vested government and jurisdiction of newly found lands in the kings of Castile and León and their successors.[31Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-71914L Battery][32] According to the Concord of Segovia of 1475, Ferdinand was mentioned in the bulls as king of Castile and upon his death the title of the Indies was to be incorporated into the Crown of Castile.[33] The territories were incorporated by the Catholic monarchs as jointly held assets.[34][35][36] Sony PCG-61A14L Battery

In the 1506 Treaty of Villafáfila king Ferdinand the Catholic renounced not only the government of Castile in favour of his son-in-law Philip I of Castile but also the lordship of the Indies, withholding a half of the income of the kingdoms of the Indies.[ Sony PCG-61911L Battery

Sony PCG-71913L Battery37] Joanna of Castile and Philip immediately added to their titles the kingdoms of Indies, Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea. But the Treaty of Villafáfila did not hold for long because of the death of Philip; Ferdinand returned as regent of Castile and as "lord the Indies".[33]
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According to the domain granted by Papal bulls and the wills of queen Isabella of Castile in 1504 and king Ferdinand of Aragon in 1516, such property become definitely a property of the Crown of Castile. This arrangement was ratified by successive monarchs, Sony PCG-61913L Battery
Sony PCG-71911L Batterybeginning with Charles I in 1519[34] in a decree that spelt out the juridical status of the new overseas territories.[38]

The lordship of the discovery territories conveyed by papal bulls was private as public to kings of Castile and León. The political condition of the Indias were to transform from "Lordship" of the Catholic monarchs to "Kingdoms" for the heirs of Castile. Although the Alexandrine Bulls gave full, free and omnipotent power to Catholic Monarchs,[39Sony PCG-61611L Battery

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] they did not rule them as a private property but as a public property through the public bodies and authorities from Castile,[40] and when those territories were incorporated into the Crown of Castile the royal power was subject to the laws of Castile.[41] Sony PCG-61511L Battery

[edit]First settlements in America

The Capitulations of Santa Fe granted excessive power to Columbus, and the Catholic Monarchs reacted when Colon discovered the mainland in 1498.[ Sony PCG-61211L Battery

42] They learned of his discovery in May 1499, and, taking advantage of a revolt against Columbus in La Española, Dell XPS 14 Battery

Dell Inspiron 14R battery they appointed Francisco de Bobadilla as governor of the Indies with civil and criminal jurisdiction over the lands discovered by Columbus. He, however, was soon replaced by Nicolás de Ovando in September 1501.[4Sony PCG-61311L Battery
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3] Thenceforth the Crown could authorize to individuals voyages to discover territories in the Indies with previous license,[44Dell XPS 14D Battery

] and since 1503, the monopoly of the Crown was assured by the Casa de Contratación at Seville. But the successors of Columbus litigated against the Crown until 1536[45][46] for the fulfillment of the Capitulations of Santa Fe in the pleitos colombinos.
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Spanish territories in the New World around 1515.

In metropolitan Spain, the direction of the issues of the Indies was taken over by the Bishop Fonseca[47][48] between 1493 and 1516,[49] Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

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and again between 1518 and 1524, after a brief period of Jean le Sauvage.[50] Sony PCG-61312L Battery

Since 1504 the figure of the secretary was added, so then between 1504 and 1507 Gaspar de Gricio took charge,[51] between 1508 and 1518 Lope de Conchillos followed him,[52] and since 1519, Francisco de los Cobos.[53Sony PCG-61313L Battery
Sony PCG-71314L Battery] In 1511, the Junta of The Indies was constituted as a standing committee belonging to the Council of Castile to address issues of the Indies,[54] and this junta constituted the origin of the Council of the Indies in 1524.[55] Sony PCG-61215L Battery
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Following the settlement of Hispaniola which was successful towards the end of the 15th century, the colonists began searching elsewhere to begin new settlements. Dell XPS 15D Battery

Dell Inspiron 13R battery Those from the less prosperous Hispaniola were eager to search for new success in a new settlement. From there Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico and Diego Velázquez took Cuba. Sony PCG-71317L Battery

In 1508, the Board of Navigators met in Burgos concurred the need to colonize the mainland, that which was entrusted to Alonso de Ojeda and Diego de Nicuesa as governors subordinated to the governor of Hispaniola,[56] who was the newly appointed Diego Columbus,[57][58] with the same legal authority that Ovando.[
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59] The first settlement on the mainland was Santa María la Antigua del Darién in Castilla de Oro (now Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia), settled by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1510. In 1513, Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama, and led the first European expedition to see the Pacific Ocean from the West coast of the New World. Sony PCG-61315L Battery

In an action with enduring historical import, Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean and all the lands adjoining it for the Spanish Crown.[60] Sony PCG-61316L Battery

The judgment of Seville of May 1511 recognized the viceregal title to Diego Columbus but limited to Hispaniola and to the islands discovered by his father, Christopher Columbus,[61] nevertheless his power was limited by royal officers and magistrates[62][63] constituting a dual regime of government.[64
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] Therefore, the king Ferdinand II of Aragon as regent of his daughter the queen Joanna separated the territories of mainland, designated as Castilla de Oro,[65] from the viceroy of Hispaniola, establishing as General Lieutenant to Pedrarias Dávila in 1513[66] Sony PCG-61317L Battery
Sony PCG-71213L Battery with functions similar to those of a viceroy, remaining Balboa subordinated as governing of Panama and Coiba[67] Dell XPS 15-L501X Battery

Dell Inspiron N4110 battery [68] on the Pacific Coast,[69] and that after his death returned to Castilla de Oro. The territory of Castilla de Oro did not include either Veragua (which was comprised approximately between the river Chagres[70] Sony PCG-71211L Battery
Sony PCG-71212L Batteryand cape Gracias a Dios[71]), due to this territory was subject to a lawsuit between the Crown and Diego Columbus, or the region farther north, towards the Yucatán, explored by Yáñez Pinzón and Solís in 1508–1509,[ Sony PCG-41112L Battery

Sony PCG-81411L Battery 72] due to its remoteness.[73] The conflicts of the viceroy Columbus with the royal officers and with the Audiencia, created in 1511,[74][75] caused his return to the Peninsula in 1515. Sony PCG-51311L Battery

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[edit]Campaigns in Africa

After the conquest of Melilla in 1497, the Spanish expansionist policy in North Africa was developed during the regency of Ferdinand the Catholic in Castile, stimulated by the Cardinal Cisneros, once the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula was finished. Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

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That way, several towns and outposts in the North African coast were conquered and occupied by Castile: Mazalquivir (1505), Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (1508), Oran (1509), Sony PCG-51312L Battery

Sony PCG-81311L Battery Algiers (1510), Bugia (1510), and Tripoli (1511). In the Atlantic coast, Spain took possession of the outpost of Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña (1476) with support from the Canary Islands, and it was retained until 1525 with the consent of the treaty of Cintra (1509).
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[edit]The Spanish Habsburgs: The Sun Never Sets (1516–1700)

The 16th and 17th centuries are sometimes called "the Golden Age of Spain" (in Spanish, Siglo de Oro). As a result of the marriage politics of the Reyes Católicos, their Habsburg grandson Charles inherited the Castilian empire in America, the Possessions of the Crown of Aragon in the Mediterranean (including a large portion of modern Italy), Sony PCG-51411L Battery

Sony PCG-81115L Battery lands in Germany, the Low Countries, Franche-Comté, and Austria (this one, along with the rest of hereditary Habsburg domains was almost immediately transferred to Ferdinand, the Emperor's brother). Sony PCG-51412L Battery

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While not directly an inheritance, Charles was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his grandfather Emperor Maximilian thanks to prodigious bribes paid the prince-electors. Charles became the most powerful man in Europe, Sony PCG-51111L Battery

Sony PCG-81113L Battery his rule stretching over an empire in Europe unrivalled in extent until the Napoleonic era. It was often said during this time that it was the empire on which the sun never set. This sprawling overseas empire of the Spanish Golden Age was controlled, not from inland Valladolid, but from Seville. Sony PCG-51513L Battery

The Castilian Empire abroad was initially a disappointment. It did stimulate some trade and industry, Dell XPS 17 Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010 batterybut the trading opportunities encountered were limited. Matters began to change in the 1520s with the large-scale extraction of silver from the rich deposits of Mexico's Guanajuato region,
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but it was the opening of the silver mines in Mexico's Zacatecas and Potosí in Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia) in 1546 that became legendary. During the 16th century, Spain held the equivalent of US$1.5 trillion (1990 terms) in gold and silver received from New Spain. Ultimately, however, Sony PCG-51113L Battery
Sony PCG-51211L Battery these imports diverted investment away from other forms of industry and contributed to inflation in Spain in the last decades of the 16th century: "I learnt a proverb here", said a French traveler in 1603: Sony PCG-7191L Battery

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"Everything is dear in Spain except silver".[7Dell XPS L702X Battery

Dell Inspiron N5010D battery6] This situation was aggravated by the loss of much of the commercial and artisan classes with the expulsions of the Jews (1492) and Moriscos (1609). The vast imports of silver ultimately made Spain overly dependent on foreign sources of raw materials and manufactured goods.[citation needed] Sony PCG-7192L Battery

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The wealthy preferred to invest their fortunes in public debt (juros), which were backed by these silver imports, rather than in production of manufactures and the improvement of agriculture.

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Sony PCG-7133L Battery This helped perpetuate the medieval aristocratic prejudice that saw manual work as dishonorable long after this attitude had started to decline in other west European countries. Sony PCG-7173L Battery

Sony PCG-7132L Battery The silver and gold whose circulation helped facilitate the economic and social revolutions in the Low Countries, France and England and other parts of Europe helped stifle them in Spain.
Sony PCG-7131L Battery The problems caused by inflation were discussed by scholars at the School of Salamanca and arbitristas but they had no impact on the Habsburg government.[citation needed]

The Habsburg dynasty spent the Castilian and American riches in wars across Europe on behalf of Habsburg interests,
Sony PCG-7113L Battery defaulted on their debt several times, and left Spain bankrupt several times. These problems led to a number of revolts across his empire, notably that of Castilian rebels in the Revolt of the Comuneros, but these rebellions were put down. Sony PCG-7172L Battery
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The Habsburgs' political goals were several:

Access to the resources of the Americas (gold, silver, sugar) and products of Asia (porcelain, spices, silk) Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

Undermining the power of France and containing it in its eastern borders.

Maintaining Catholic Habsburg hegemony in Germany, defending Catholicism against the Protestant Reformation. Charles attempted to quell the Reformation at the Diet of Worms but Martin Luther refused to recant his 'heresy.'Sony PCG-7181L Battery

Sony PCG-7112L Battery However, Charles's piety could not stop his mutinying troops from plundering the Holy See in the Sacco di Roma.

Defending Europe against Islam, notably the Ottoman Empire.

To spread religion to the unconverted souls of the new world. With conflict between Catholics and Protestants raging in Europe, the new world was an ideal place for more Catholics to be recruited. Sony PCG-7182L Battery

The Pillars of Hercules with the motto "Plus Ultra" as symbol of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in the Town Hall of Seville (16th century)

[edit]Spanish intervention in Europe Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery

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[edit]Struggles of Charles V for Italy

With the ascent of the king Charles I in 1516 and his election as sovereign of the Holy Roman Empire in 1519, Francis I of France found himself surrounded by Habsburg territories, invaded the Spanish possessions in Italy in 1521, Sony PCG-7183L Battery

Sony PCG-7111L Battery and inaugurated the second war of Franco-Spanish conflict. The war was a disaster for France, which suffered defeat at the Battle of Biccoca (1522), the Battle of Pavia (1525, at which Francis was captured), and the Battle of Landriano (1529) before Francis relented and abandoned Milan to Spain once more.
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The Battle of Pavia (1525)

King Charles I (Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor)) achieved victory at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 and surprised many Italians and Germans and elicited concerns that Charles would endeavor to gain ever greater power.[citation needed] Sony PCG-7184L Battery

Sony PCG-7161L Battery Pope Clement VII switched sides and now joined forces with France and prominent Italian states against the Habsburg Emperor, in the War of the League of Cognac. In 1527, Charles grew exhausted with the pope's meddling in what he viewed as purely secular affairs, and sacked Rome itself, Sony PCG-7185L Battery

Sony PCG-7154L Battery embarrassing the papacy sufficiently enough that Clement, and succeeding popes, were considerably more circumspect in their dealings with secular authorities.[citation needed]
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In 1533, Clement's refusal to annul the first marriage of King Henry VIII of England was a direct consequence of his unwillingness to offend the emperor and have his capital sacked for perhaps a second time. Sony PCG-7171L Battery
Sony PCG-7152L Battery The Peace of Barcelona, signed between Charles V and the Pope in 1529, established a more cordial relationship between the two leaders. Dell XPS L502X Battery

Dell Inspiron N4010R battery Spain was effectively named the protector of the Catholic cause and Charles was crowned as King of Italy (Lombardy) in return for Spanish intervention in overthrowing the rebellious Florentine Republic. Sony PCG-3G1L Battery
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In 1528, the great admiral Andrea Doria allied with the Emperor to oust the French and restore Genoa's independence, opening the prospect for financial renewal: 1528 marks the first loan from Genoese banks to Charles.[77] Sony PCG-3G5L Battery

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In 1543, the king of France Francis I announced his unprecedented alliance with the Ottoman sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, by occupying the Spanish-controlled city of Nice in concert with Ottoman forces. Sony PCG-3C2L Battery
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Sony PCG-394L Battery Henry VIII of England, who bore a greater grudge against France than he held against the Emperor for standing in the way of his divorce, joined Charles in his invasion of France. Although the Spanish army was defeated at the Battle of Ceresole in Savoy the French were unable to seriously threaten Spanish controlled Milan, Sony PCG-3C3L Battery
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Sony PCG-384L Battery whilst suffering defeat in the north at the hands of Henry, thereby being forced to accept unfavourable terms. The Austrians, led by Charles's younger brother Ferdinand, continued to fight the Ottomans in the east. Charles went to take care of an older problem: the Schmalkaldic League. Sony PCG-9Z1L Battery
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[edit]Religious conflicts in the Holy Empire

A map of the dominion of the Habsburgs following the abdication of Charles V (1556) as depicted in The Cambridge Modern History Atlas (1912); Habsburg lands are shaded green. From 1556 the lands in a line from the Netherlands, through to the east of France, to the south of Italy and the islands were retained by the Spanish Habsburgs. Sony PCG-3F3L Battery

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The Schmalkaldic League had allied itself to the French, and efforts in Germany to undermine the League had been rebuffed. Francis's defeat in 1544 led to the annulment of the alliance with the Protestants, and Charles took advantage of the opportunity. He first tried the path of negotiation at the Council of Trent in 1545, Sony PCG-3F4L Battery

Sony PCG-381L Battery but the Protestant leadership, feeling betrayed by the stance taken by the Catholics at the council, went to war, led by the Saxon elector Maurice.

In response, Charles invaded Germany at the head of a mixed Dutch–Spanish army, hoping to restore the Imperial authority. Sony PCG-3H1L Battery

Sony PCG-3A4L Battery The emperor personally inflicted a decisive defeat on the Protestants at the historic Battle of Mühlberg in 1547. Dell XPS L701X Battery

Dell Inspiron N4010D batteryIn 1555, Charles signed the Peace of Augsburg with the Protestant states and restored stability in Germany on his principle of cuius regio, eius religio, a position unpopular with Spanish and Italian clergymen. Charles's involvement in Germany would Sony PCG-3H2L Battery

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Sony PCG-3A3L Battery establish a role for Spain as protector of the Catholic, Habsburg cause in the Holy Roman Empire; the precedent would lead, seven decades later, to involvement in the war that would decisively end Spain as Europe's leading power. Sony PCG-3H3L Battery

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[edit]Defeat of France

Charles V's only legitimate son, Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98) parted the Austrian possessions with his uncle Ferdinand. Philip treated Castile as the foundation of his empire, but the population of Castile (that was about ? of France's) Dell Inspiron 14V battery

Dell Inspiron N4010 battery was never great enough to provide the soldiers needed to support the Empire. When he married Mary Tudor, England was allied to Spain. Sony PCG-3H4L Battery

The celebrations following the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559) between Spain and France

Spain was not yet at peace, as the aggressive Henry II of France came to the throne in 1547 and immediately renewed conflict with Spain. Sony PCG-3B2L Battery
Charles's successor, Philip II, aggressively prosecuted the war against France, crushing a French army at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy in 1558 and defeating Henry again at the Battle of Gravelines. Sony PCG-3J1L Battery

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The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, signed in 1559, permanently recognized Spanish claims in Italy. In the celebrations that followed the treaty, Henry was killed by a stray splinter from a lance. France was stricken for the next thirty years by chronic civil war and unrest (see French Wars of
Sony PCG-3D3L Battery Religion) and removed from effectively competing with Spain and the Habsburg family in European power games. Dell Inspiron N4020 battery

Dell Inspiron N3010 battery Freed from effective French opposition, Spain saw the apogee of its might and territorial reach in the period 1559–1643. Sony PCG-3B3L Battery
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The opening for the Genoese banking consortium was the state bankruptcy of Philip II in 1557, which threw the German banking houses into chaos and ended the reign of the Fuggers as Spanish financiers.[7Sony VPCF115FM battery

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Sony VPCF119HX battery8] The Genoese bankers provided the unwieldy Habsburg system with fluid credit and a dependably regular income. In return the less dependable shipments of American silver were rapidly transferred from Seville to Genoa, to provide capital for further ventures.

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[edit]European conflicts at the time of Philip II

The time for rejoicing in Madrid was short-lived. In 1566, Calvinist-led riots in the Netherlands prompted the Duke of Alba to march into the country to restore order. In 1568, William of Orange, better known as William the Silent, Sony VPCF11MFX battery

Sony VPCF11PFX battery led a failed attempt to drive Alba from the Netherlands. These battles are generally considered to signal the start of the Eighty Years' War that ended with the independence of the United Provinces. The Spanish, who derived a great deal of wealth from the Netherlands and particularly from the vital port of Antwerp, Sony VPCF11FGX battery

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were committed to restoring order and maintaining their hold on the provinces. According to Luc-Normand Tellier, "It is estimated that the port of Antwerp was earning the Spanish crown seven times more revenues than the Americas."[ Sony VPCF11LFX battery

Sony VPCF11HGX battery79] In 1572, a band of rebel Dutch privateers known as the watergeuzen ("Sea Beggars") seized a number of Dutch coastal towns, proclaimed their support for William and denounced the Spanish leadership.

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Otto van Veen: The Relief of Leiden (1574) after the Dutch had broken their dykes in the Eighty Years' War

For Spain, the war became an endless quagmire, sometimes literally. In 1574, the Spanish army under Luis de Requeséns was repulsed from the Siege of Leiden after the Dutch broke the dykes, thus causing extensive flooding. Sony VPCF117FX battery

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Sony VPCF11AFX batteryIn 1576, faced with the bills from his 80,000-man army of occupation in the Netherlands, the cost of his fleet that had won at Lepanto, together with the growing threat of piracy in the open seas reducing his income from his American colonies, Dell Inspiron N4030 battery

Dell Inspiron N3010R battery Philip was forced to accept bankruptcy.

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The army in the Netherlands mutinied not long after, seizing Antwerp and looting the southern Netherlands, prompting several cities in the previously peaceful southern provinces to join the rebellion. The Spanish chose to negotiate, Sony VPCF112FX battery

Sony VPCF11NFX battery and pacified most of the southern provinces again with the Union of Arras in 1579. In response, the Netherlands created the Union of Utrecht, as an alliance between the northern provinces, later that month. They officially deposed Philip in 1581 when they enacted the Act of Abjuration.

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Under the Arras agreement the southern states of the Spanish Netherlands, today in Wallonia and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais (and Picardy) régions in France, expressed their loyalty to the Spanish king Philip II and recognized his Governor-General, Sony VPCF11KFX battery

Sony VPCF111FX batteryDon Juan of Austria. In 1580, this gave King Philip the opportunity to strengthen his position when the last member of the Portuguese royal family, Cardinal Henry of Portugal, died. Philip asserted his claim to the Portuguese throne and in June sent the Duke of Alba with an army to Lisbon to assure his succession. Sony VPCF11CGX battery

Sony VPCF116FX battery Though the Duke of Alba and the Spanish occupation, however, was little more popular in Lisbon than in Rotterdam,

Dell Inspiron N5010R battery the combined Spanish and Portuguese empires placed into Philip's hands almost the entirety of the explored New World along with a vast trading empire in Africa and Asia. In 1582, Sony VPC EL series Keyboard

Sony PCG-71C11M Keyboardwhen Philip II moved his court back to Madrid from the Atlantic port of Lisbon where he had temporarily settled to pacify his new Portuguese kingdom, the pattern was sealed, in spite of what every observant commentator privately noted: Sony VPCEL3S1E Keyboard

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"Sea power is more important to the ruler of Spain than any other prince" wrote a commentator, "for it is only by sea power that a single community can be created out of so many so far apart." A writer on tactics in 1638 observed, Sony VPCEL2S1E/W Keyboard

Sony 9Z.N5CSW.A0U Keyboard"The might most suited to the arms of Spain is that which is placed on the seas, but this matter of state is so well known that I should not discuss it, even if I thought it opportune to do so."[80] Sony VPCEL3S1E/W Keyboard

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The defense of Cádiz, by Zurbarán.

Portugal required an extensive occupation force to keep it under control, and Spain was still reeling from the 1576 bankruptcy. In 1584, William the Silent was assassinated by a half-deranged Catholic, and the death of the popular Dutch resistance leader was hoped to bring an end to the war. It did not. In 1586, Sony VPCEB1B4E Keyboard

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Queen Elizabeth I of England, sent support to the Protestant causes in the Netherlands and France, and Sir Francis Drake launched attacks against Spanish merchants in the Caribbean and the Pacific, along with a particularly aggressive attack on the port of Cadiz. Sony VPCEB1C5E Keyboard

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In 1588, hoping to put a stop to Elizabeth's intervention, Philip sent the Spanish Armada to attack England. Favourable weather, more heavily armed and manœuvrable English ships, and the fact that the English had been warned by their spies in the Netherlands and were ready for the attack resulted in defeat for the Armada. Sony VPCEB1E0E Keyboard

However the failure of the Drake–Norris Expedition to Portugal and the Azores in 1589 marked a turning point in the on-off 1585–1604 Anglo–Spanish War. The Spanish fleets became more effective in transporting greatly increased quantities of silver and gold from the Americas, while English attacks suffered costly failures.

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The Spanish Armada leaving the Bay of Ferrol (1588).

Spain had invested itself in the religious warfare in France after Henry II's death. In 1589, Henry III, the last of the Valois lineage, died at the walls of Paris. His successor, Henry IV of Navarre, the first Bourbon king of France, Sony VPCEB1E9E Keyboard

was a man of great ability, winning key victories against the Catholic League at Arques (1589) and Ivry (1590). Committed to stopping Henry of Navarre from becoming King of France, the Spanish divided their army in the Netherlands and invaded France in 1590.

[edit]The pacification at the time of Philip III Sony VPCEB1E9J Keyboard

Faced with wars against England, France and the Netherlands, each led by capable leaders, the bankrupted empire found itself competing against strong adversaries. Continuing piracy against its shipping in the Atlantic and the costly colonial enterprises forced Spain to renegotiate its debts in 1596.

Sony VPCEB2M0E KeyboardThe crown attempted to reduce its exposure to the different conflicts, first signing the Treaty of Vervins with France in 1598, recognizing Henry IV (since 1593 a Catholic) as king of France, and restoring many of the stipulations of the previous Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. The Kingdom of England, Sony VPCEB1E9R Keyboard

suffering from a series of repulses at sea and from an endless guerrilla war by Catholics in Ireland, who were supported by Spain, agreed to the Treaty of London, 1604, following the accession of the more tractable Stuart King James I. Sony VPCEB1J8E Keyboard

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Castile provided the Spanish crown with most of its revenues and its best troops.[81] The plague devastated Castilian lands between 1596 and 1602, causing the deaths of some 600,000 people.[82]

Sony VPCEB2G4E Keyboard A great number of Castilians went to America or died in battle. In 1609, the great majority of the Morisco population of Spain was expelled. It is estimated that Castile lost about 25% of its population between 1600 and 1623. Dell Inspiron N7110 battery

Dell Inspiron N5030 batterySuch a dramatic drop in the population meant the basis for the Crown's revenues was dangerously weakened in a time when it was engaged in continuous conflict in Europe.[83] Sony VPCEB1M0E Keyboard

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Peace with England and France gave Spain an opportunity to focus its energies on restoring its rule to the Dutch provinces. The Dutch, led by Maurice of Nassau, the son of William the Silent and perhaps the greatest strategist of his time, Dell Inspiron N7010R battery

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Dell Inspiron N5110 batteryhad succeeded in taking a number of border cities since 1590, including the fortress of Breda. Sony VPCEB1M1R Keyboard

Sony VPCEB2E9R Keyboard Following the peace with England, the new Spanish commander Ambrogio Spinola, a general with the ability to match Maurice, pressed hard against the Dutch and was prevented from conquering the Netherlands only by Spain's latest bankruptcy in 1607. In 1609, HP 496120-031 Keyboard
the Twelve Years' Truce was signed between Spain and the United Provinces. At last, Spain was at peace – the Pax Hispanica. Sony VPCEB1S0E Keyboard

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Spain made a fair recovery during the truce, putting its finances in order and doing much to restore its prestige and stability in the run-up to the last truly great war in which she would play a leading part. HP 496121-031 Keyboard
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Sony VPCEB2C5E Keyboard Philip II's successor, Philip III, was a man of limited ability, uninterested in politics and preferring to delegate management of the empire to others.[citation needed] His chief minister was the capable Duke of Lerma. Sony VPCEB1S1R Keyboard

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The Surrender of Breda (1625) to Ambrogio Spinola, by Velazquez. This victory came to symbolize the renewed period of Spanish military vigour in the Thirty Years' War.

The Duke of Lerma (and to a large extent Philip II) had been uninterested in the affairs of their ally, Austria. In 1618, the king replaced him with Don Balthasar de Zúñiga, Sony VPCEB1S8E Keyboard

a veteran ambassador to Vienna. Don Balthasar believed that the key to restraining the resurgent French and eliminating the Dutch was a closer alliance with Habsburg Austria. In 1618, beginning with the Defenestration of Prague,

Sony VPCEB2B4E KeyboardAustria and the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand II, embarked on a campaign against the Protestant Union and Bohemia. Don Balthasar encouraged Philip to join the Austrian Habsburgs in the war, and Spinola, the rising star of the Spanish army in the Netherlands, was sent at the head of the Army of Flanders to intervene. Thus, Spain entered into the Thirty Years' War.

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[edit]The road to Rocroi

In 1621, Philip III was succeeded by the considerably more religious Philip IV. The following year, Don Balthasar was replaced by Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, a reasonably honest and able man. After certain initial setbacks, the Bohemians were defeated at White Mountain in 1621, and again at Stadtlohn in 1623. Sony VPCEB1Z0E Keyboard

Sony VPCEB1Z1E KeyboardThe war with the Netherlands was renewed in 1621 with Spinola taking the fortress of Breda in 1625. The intervention of Christian IV of Denmark in the war threatened the Spanish position, but the victory of the Imperial general Albert of Wallenstein over the Danes at Dessau Bridge and again at Lutter (both in 1626), eliminated that threat. Sony VPCEB3A4E Keyboard

There was hope in Madrid that the Netherlands might finally be reincorporated into the Empire, and after the defeat of Denmark the Protestants in Germany seemed crushed. France was once again involved in its own instabilities (the famous Siege of La Rochelle began in 1627), and Spain's eminence seemed clear.

Sony VPCEB2H4E Keyboard The Count-Duke Olivares stridently affirmed, "God is Spanish and fights for our nation these days".[84]

Olivares realized that Spain needed to reform, and to reform it needed peace, first and foremost with the United Provinces. Sony VPCEB3A4R Keyboard

Sony VPCEB1A4E Keyboard However, Olivares aimed for "peace with honour" which meant in practice a peace settlement which would have restored to Spain something of its predominant position in the Netherlands.

Sony VPCEB4B4E KeyboardThis was unacceptable to the United Provinces and the inevitable consequence of that was the constant hope that one more victory would after all lead to "peace with honour" – perpetuating the ruinous war which Olivare had wanted to avoid to begin with.

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Sony VPCEB4J1R KeyboardTo illustrate the precarious economic situation of Spain at the time, it is sufficient to recall that it was actually Dutch bankers who financed the East India merchants of Seville (during the truce, presumably). Sony VPCEB3B4R Keyboard

Sony VPCEB4E0E Keyboard At the same time, everywhere in the world Dutch entrepreneurship and colonists were undermining Spanish and Portuguese hegemony. Spain badly needed time and peace to repair its finances and to rebuild its economy. Sony VPCEB3C4E Keyboard

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While Spinola and the Spanish army were focused on the Netherlands, the war seemed to go in Spain's favor. But 1627 saw the collapse of the Castilian economy. The Habsburgs had been debasing their currency to pay for the war and prices exploded, just as they had in previous years in Austria. Until 1631, Sony VPCEB3C4R Keyboard

parts of Castile operated on a barter economy owing to the currency crisis, and the government was unable to collect any meaningful taxes from the peasantry and had to depend on revenue from its colonies. The Spanish armies, like others in German territories, resorted to "paying themselves" on the land.

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Battle of Nördlingen (1634). Decisive victory for the Catholic Imperial army and Spain over the Swedes.

Olivares had backed certain taxation reforms in Spain pending the end of the war, but was blamed for another embarrassing and fruitless war in Italy. The Dutch, who during the Twelve Years' Truce had made increasing their navy a priority, (which showed its maturing potency at the Battle of Gibraltar 1607), Sony VPCEB3D4R Keyboard

managed to strike a great blow against Spanish maritime trade with the capture by captain Piet Hein of the Spanish treasure fleet on which Spain had become dependent after the economic collapse.

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Spanish military resources were stretched across Europe and also at sea as they sought to protect maritime trade against the greatly improved Dutch and French fleets, while still occupied with the Ottoman and associated Barbary pirate threat in the Mediterranean. Sony VPCEB3E1R Keyboard

Sony VPCEB4A4E Keyboard In the meantime the aim of choking Dutch shipping was carried out by the Dunkirkers with considerable success. In 1625 a Spanish-Portuguese fleet, under Admiral Fradique de Toledo, regained the strategically vital Brazilian city of Salvador da Bahia from the Dutch. Elsewhere,

Sony VPCEB3S1R Keyboard the isolated and undermanned Portuguese forts in Africa and the Asia proved vulnerable to Dutch and English raids and takeovers or simply being bypassed as important trading posts.

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In 1630, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, one of history's most noted commanders, landed in Germany and relieved the port of Stralsund, the last continental stronghold of German forces belligerent to the Emperor. Gustavus then marched south and won notable victories at Breitenfeld and Lützen, Sony VPCEB3E4R Keyboard

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Sony VPCEB3G4E Keyboard attracting more Protestant support with every step he took. The situation for the Catholics improved with Gustavus's death at Lutzen in 1632, and a key victory at Nordlingen was won in 1634. From a position of strength, the Emperor approached the war-weary German states with a peace in 1635: HP Pavilion DV6-6C48US Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6110US Keyboard many accepted, including the two most powerful, Brandenburg and Saxony. But then France entered the war, and diplomatic calculations were once again thrown in confusion.

HP Pavilion DV6-6108US Keyboard

The Battle of Rocroi (1643), the symbolic end of Spain's grandeur.

Cardinal Richelieu of France had been a strong supporter of the Dutch and Protestants since the beginning of the war, sending funds and equipment in an attempt to stem Habsburg strength in Europe.

HP Pavilion DV6-7020US KeyboardRichelieu decided that the recently signed Peace of Prague was contrary to French interests and declared war on the Holy Roman Emperor and Spain within months of the peace being signed. In the war that followed, the more experienced Spanish forces scored initial successes. HP Pavilion DV6-6C50US Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-7010US Keyboard Olivares ordered a lightning campaign into northern France from the Spanish Netherlands, hoping to shatter the resolve of King Louis XIII's ministers and topple Richelieu. In the "année de Corbie", 1636, Spanish forces advanced as far south as Corbie, and such was the threat to Paris that the war came close to a conclusion on Spanish terms.

HP Pavilion DV6-6190US Keyboard

After 1636, however, Olivares halted the advance, fearful of provoking another crown bankruptcy. The hesitation in pressing home the advantage proved fateful; French forces regrouped and pushed the Spanish back towards the border. HP Pavilion DV6-6090US Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6180US KeyboardThe Spanish army would never again penetrate so far. At the Battle of the Downs in 1639 a Spanish fleet carrying troops was destroyed by the Dutch navy, and the Spanish found themselves unable to supply and reinforce their forces adequately in the Netherlands.

HP Pavilion DV6-6170US Keyboard

The Army of Flanders, which represented the finest of Spanish soldiery and leadership, faced a French assault led by Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé in northern France at Rocroi in 1643. The Spanish, led by Francisco de Melo, HP Pavilion DV6-6120US Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6150US Keyboard were beaten by the French. After a closely fought battle the Spanish were forced to surrender on honorable terms. As a result, while the slaughter was not great, the high reputation of the Army of Flanders was broken at Rocroi, and with it, the grandeur of Spain.

HP Pavilion DV6-6145US Keyboard

The defeat at Rocroi also led to the dismissal of the embattled Olivares, who was confined to his estates by the king's order and died two years later, broken and mad.

[edit]The Last Spanish Habsburgs

Traditionally, historians mark the Battle of Rocroi (1643) as the end of Spanish dominance in Europe, but the war was not finished. Supported by the French, HP Pavilion DV6-6130US Keyboard

the Catalans, Neapolitans, and Portuguese rose up in revolt against the Spanish in the 1640s. With the Spanish Netherlands caught between the tightening grip of French and Dutch forces after the Battle of Lens in 1648, HP Pavilion DV6-6131US Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV6-6140US Keyboardthe Spanish made peace with the Dutch and recognized the independent United Provinces in the Peace of Westphalia that ended both the Eighty Years' War and the Thirty Years' War.

The meeting of Philip IV of Spain and Louis XIV of France on 7 July 1660 at Pheasant Island.

War with France continued for eleven more years. Although France suffered from a civil war from 1648 to 1652 (see Wars of the Fronde) the Spanish economy was so exhausted that it was unable to effectively cope with war on so many fronts. HP Pavilion DV7-3160US keyboard

Yet the decline of Spanish power in this period has often been overstated. Spain retook Naples in 1648 and Catalonia in 1652, but the war came to an end at the Battle of the Dunes (1658) where the French army under Viscount Turenne defeated the remnants of the Spanish army of the Netherlands.

HP Pavilion DV7-1020US keyboard Spain agreed to the Peace of the Pyrenees in 1659 that ceded to France Roussillon and Artois.

Portugal had rebelled in 1640 under the leadership of John of Braganza, a pretender to the throne. He had received widespread support from the Portuguese people, and Spain—which had to deal with rebellions elsewhere, along with the war against France – was unable to respond adequately. HP Pavilion DV7-3180US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1150US keyboardJohn mounted the throne as King John IV of Portugal and the Spanish and Portuguese co-existed in a de facto state of peace from 1644 to 1656. When John died in 1656, the Spanish attempted to wrest Portugal from his son Alfonso VI of Portugal but were defeated at Ameixial (1663) and Montes Claros (1665), leading to Spain's recognition of Portugal's independence in 1668. HP Pavilion DV7-3080US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1130US keyboard

Spain still had a huge overseas empire, but France was now the dominant power in Europe and the United Provinces were in the Atlantic.

The Great Plague of Seville (1647–1652) killed up to 25% of Seville's population[citation needed]. Sevilla, and indeed the economy of Andalucía, HP Pavilion DV7-3060US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1134US keyboardwould never recover from so complete a devastation. Altogether Spain was thought to have lost 500,000 people, out of a population of slightly fewer than 10,000,000, or nearly 5% of its entire population. HP Pavilion DV7-2270US keyboard

Historians reckon the total cost in human lives due to these plagues throughout Spain, throughout the entire 17th century, to be a minimum of nearly 1.25 million.[85]

The regency of the young Spanish king Charles II was incompetent in dealing with the War of Devolution that Louis XIV of France prosecuted against the Spanish Netherlands in 1667–68, losing considerable prestige and territory, HP Pavilion DV7-2180US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1137US keyboard including the cities of Lille and Charleroi. In the Franco-Dutch War of 1672–1678, Spain lost still more territory when it came to the assistance of its former Dutch enemies, most notably Franche-Comté. In the Nine Years' War (1688–1697) Louis once again invaded the Spanish Netherlands. HP Pavilion DV7-2170US keyboard

French forces led by the Duke of Luxembourg defeated the Spanish at Fleurus (1690), and subsequently defeated Dutch forces under William III of Orange, who fought on Spain's side. The war ended with most of the Spanish Netherlands under French occupation, including the important cities of Ghent and Luxembourg. HP Pavilion DV7-2111US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1150US keyboard The war revealed to Europe how vulnerable the Spanish defenses and bureaucracy were. Also the ineffective Spanish Habsburg government took no action to improve them.

HP Pavilion DV7-1170US keyboard

The final decades of the 17th century saw utter decay and stagnation in Spain; while the rest of Western Europe went through exciting changes in government and society – the Glorious Revolution in England and the reign of the Sun King in France – Spain remained adrift. The Spanish bureaucracy that had built up around the charismatic, industrious, HP Pavilion DV7-2040US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1240US keyboardand intelligent Charles I and Philip II demanded a strong and hardworking monarch; the weakness and lack of interest of Philip III and Philip IV contributed to Spain's decay. Charles II was mentally retarded and impotent.

HP Pavilion DV7-1450US keyboard

He was therefore childless, and in his final will he left his throne to the Bourbon prince Philip of Anjou, rather than to a fellow Habsburg, albeit from Austria. This resulted in the War of the Spanish Succession.

HP Pavilion DV7-1260US keyboard [edit]Africa and the Mediterranean

By the 16th century, the Ottomans had become an existential threat to Europe. Ottoman conquests in Europe made significant gains with a decisive victory at Mohács.[86] Charles had preferred to suppress the Ottomans through a considerably more maritime strategy, hampering Ottoman landings on the Venetian territories in the Eastern Mediterranean. HP Pavilion DV7-1444US keyboard

The coastal villages and towns of Spain, Italy and the Mediterranean islands were frequently attacked by Barbary pirates from North Africa; the Formentera was even temporarily left by its population and long stretches of the Spanish and Italian coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. HP Pavilion DV7-1270US keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-1262US keyboard The most famous corsair was the Turkish Barbarossa ("Redbeard"). According to Robert C. Davis, between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by North African pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries.[87] HP V112846AS1 keyboard

HP 641499-031 keyboard

The reign of Charles V saw a decline in the presence of Spain in the North of Africa, even if Tunis and its port, La Goleta, were taken in 1535. One after the other, most of the Spanish possessions were lost: Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera (1522), Santa Cruz de Mar Pequeña (1524), Algiers (1529), Tripoli (1551), Bujia (1554), and La Goleta and Tunis (1569). HP V112846AS1 keyboard

Only in response to Barbary pirates' raids on the eastern coast of Spain did Charles lead attacks against Tunis (1535) and Algiers (1541).

The Battle of Lepanto (1571), marked the end of the Ottoman naval supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea.

In 1565, the Spanish defeated an Ottoman landing on the strategic island of Malta, defended by the Knights of St. John. Suleiman the Magnificent's death the following year and his succession by his less capable son Selim the Sot emboldened Philip, and he resolved to carry the war to the sultan himself. In 1571, Spanish and Venetian warships, HP 606743-031 keyboard

HP 597635-031 keyboard

HP 593296-031 keyboard joined by volunteers across Europe, led by Charles's illegitimate son Don John of Austria annihilated the Ottoman fleet at the Battle of Lepanto, in what is perhaps the most decisive battle in modern naval history. Sony VGP-AC19V33 AC Adapter

The battle ended the threat of Ottoman naval hegemony in the Mediterranean. This mission marked the height of the respectability of Spain and its sovereign abroad as Philip bore the burden of leading the Counter-Reformation. Sony VGP-AC19V37 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V35 AC Adapter

The Ottomans recovered soon. They reconquered Tunis in 1574, and they helped to restore an ally, Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik I Saadi, in the throne of Morocco, in 1576. The death of the Persian shah, Tahmasp I was an opportunity for the Ottoman sultan to intervene in that country, so, in 1580 was agreed a truce in the Mediterranean with Philip II.[88] Sony VGP-AC19V41 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V21 AC Adapter

In the first half of the 17th century, Larache and La Mamora, in the Moroccan Atlantic coast, and the island of Alhucemas, in the Mediterranean, were taken, but during the second half of the 17th century, Larache and La Mamora were also lost. Sony VGP-AC19V43 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V19 AC Adapter

[edit]The New World

[edit]Explorers and conquistadors

After Columbus, the Spanish colonization of America was led by a series of warrior-explorers called Conquistadors. The Spanish forces, in addition to significant armament and equestrian advantages,

Sony VGP-AC19V12 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V13 AC Adapterexploited the rivalries between competing Indigenous peoples, tribes, and nations, some of which were willing to form alliances with the Spanish in order to defeat their more-powerful enemies, such as the Aztecs or Incas—a tactic that would be extensively used by later European colonial powers. The Spanish conquest was also facilitated by the spread of diseases (e.g. smallpox), Sony VGP-AC19V48 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V7 AC Adapter common in Europe but never present in the New World, which reduced the indigenous populations in America. This sometimes caused a labour shortage for plantations and public works and so the colonists informally and gradually, at first, initiated the Atlantic slave trade. (see Population history of American indigenous peoples)

Sony VGP-AC19V49 AC Adapter

Emperor Atahualpa is shown surrounded on his palanquin at the Battle of Cajamarca.

One of the most accomplished conquistadors was Hernán Cortés, who leading a relatively small Spanish force but with local translators and the crucial support of thousands of native allies, achieved the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in the campaigns of 1519–1521.

Sony VGP-AC19V22 AC Adapter This territory later became the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day Mexico. Of equal importance was the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro, which would become the Viceroyalty of Peru.[89] Sony VGP-AC19V25 AC Adapter

After the conquest of Mexico, rumours of golden cities (Quivira and Cíbola in North America and El Dorado in South America) motivated several other expeditions. Many of those returned without having found their goal, Sony VGP-AC19V26 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V2 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V14 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V20 AC Adapteror finding it much less valuable than was hoped. Indeed, the New World colonies only began to yield a substantial part of the Crown's revenues with the establishment of mines such as that of Potosí (Bolivia) and Zacatecas (Mexico) both started in 1546. By the late 16th century, silver from the Americas accounted for 1⁄5 of Spain's total budget.[89]

Sony VGP-AC19V1 AC Adapter

Eventually the world's stock of precious metal was doubled or even tripled by silver from the Americas.[90] Official records indicate that at least 75% of the silver was taken across the Atlantic to Spain and no more than 25% across the Pacific to China. Some modern researchers argue that due to rampant smuggling about 50% went to China.[90] Sony VGP-AC19V27 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V38 AC AdapterIn the 16th century "perhaps 240,000 Europeans" entered American ports.[91]

Further Spanish settlements were progressively established in the New World: New Granada in the 1530s (later in the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717 and present day Colombia), Lima in 1535 as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Buenos Aires in 1536 (later in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776), and Santiago in 1541. Sony VGP-AC19V31 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V36 AC Adapter

Cristóbal de Olid leads Spanish soldiers with Tlaxcalan allies in the conquests of Jalisco, 1522. From Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

Spanish settlements in Chile before the Destruction of the Seven Cities; in 1604, all settlements south Biobío River except those in Chiloé had fallen.

Florida was colonized in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés when he founded Saint Augustine and then promptly defeated an attempt led by the French Captain Jean Ribault and 150 of his countrymen to establish a French foothold in Spanish Florida territory. Sony VGP-AC19V5 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V15 AC Adapter

Saint Augustine quickly became a strategic defensive base for the Spanish ships full of gold and silver being sent to Spain from its New World dominions.

The Portuguese Ferdinand Magellan died while in the Philippines commanding a Castilian expedition to circumnavigate the globe in 1522. Sony VGP-AC19V16 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V34 AC Adapter Juan Sebastián Elcano would lead the expedition to success. Therefore, Spain sought to enforce their rights in the Moluccan islands, which led a conflict with the Portuguese, but the issue was resolved with the Treaty of Zaragoza (1525), Sony VGP-AC19V52 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V30 AC Adaptersettling the location of the antimeridian of Tordesillas, which would divide the world into two equal hemispheres. Thenceforth, maritime expeditions led to the discovery of several archipelagos in the South Pacific as the Pitcairn Islands, the Marquesas, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands or New Guinea. Sony VGP-AC19V53 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V29 AC Adapter

On 27 April 1565, the first permanent Spanish settlement in the Philippines was founded by Miguel López de Legazpi and the service of Manila Galleons was inaugurated. The Manilla Galleons shipped goods from all over Asia across the Pacific to Acapulco on the coast of Mexico. From there, the goods were transshipped across Mexico to the Spanish treasure fleets, for shipment to Spain.

Sony VGP-AC19V28 AC AdapterThe Spanish trading post of Manila was established to facilitate this trade in 1572. The control of Guam, Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, and Palau was later, from the end of the 17th century, and remained under Spanish control until 1898. Sony VGP-AC19V4 AC Adapter

In 1599, the Spanish Empire suffered one of its greatest setbacks in the Americas when native Mapuches destroyed the Spanish army of Chile and killed the governor Martín García Óñez de Loyola in the Battle of Curalaba. This event led to a generalized rebellion that ended in the Destruction of the Seven Cities, and established the Bío-Bío River as frontier. Sony VGP-AC19V8 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V24 AC Adapter This led to the prolonged war called the War of Arauco, and southern Chile received the name of Flandés Indiano (Indian Flanders) due to the resistances of the Mapuches.[3] In a case unique for America, the Spanish established a professional army in Chile financed through the Real Situado by the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Sony VGP-AC19V32 AC Adapter

[edit]Organization and administration

From the beginning of the exploration and conquest of the Indies, the Crown assumed the control of the venture turning away the Columbus family. In 1503 the Casa de Contratación was founded to control migration to the New World, which was restricted to old Christians especially families and women.[92]

Sony VGP-AC19V3 AC Adapter In addition, the Casa de Contratación took charge of the fiscal organization, and of the organization and judicial control of the trade with the Indies.[93]

The system of government in Spain was constituted by a polisynodial system of Councils which advised the monarch and made decisions on his behalf about specific matters of government.

Sony VGP-AC19V45 AC Adapter In 1524 it was established the Council of The Indies with the assignment of the government of the Indies from the mainland, thus it was responsible for drafting legislation, proposing the appointments to the King and pronouncing judicial sentences; as maximum authority in the ultramarine territories, Sony VGP-AC19V42 AC Adapter

Sony VGP-AC19V44 AC Adapterthe Council of The Indies took over both the institutions in the Indies as the defense of the interests of the Crown and of the aborigens.[94]

The Laws of the Indies resulted in the Laws of Burgos, 1512–1513, which were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of Spanish settlers in the Americas, particularly with regards to treatment of native Indians. They forbade the maltreatment of natives, and endorsed the Indian Reductions with attempts of conversion to Catholicism.[9Dell Latitude E4310 Battery

Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

5] Upon their failure, they were replaced by the New Laws (1542)

1541 founding of Santiago de Chile

Spain passed some laws for the protection of the indigenous peoples of its American colonies, the first such in 1542; the legal thought behind them was the basis of modern international law.[citation needed] Taking advantage of their extreme remoteness, the European colonists revolted when they saw their power being reduced, Dell Latitude E4320 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400 Battery forcing a partial revoking of these New Laws. Later, weaker laws were introduced to protect the indigenous peoples but records show their effect was limited.[citation needed] The restored Encomenderos increasingly used native Indian workforce.

The politics of implantation of the royal authority opposite to the Colón caused the suppression of the unit of government of the Indies and the appearance of governorates under royal authority. These governorates,

Dell Latitude E5420M Batteryalso called as provinces, were the basic circumscriptions of the territorial government of the Indies,[96] and arose as the territories were conquered and colonized.[97] To carry out the conquest of the territory, Dell Latitude E4200 Battery

Dell Latitude E5220 Batterythe king, as owner of the Indies, agreed a capitulación with a particular laying down the conditions of the venture of conquest of a territory. The individuals assumed the expenses of the venture and in return received as reward the grant from the government of the conquered territories;[98] Dell Latitude E4300 Battery

Dell Latitude E6500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6530 Batteryand in addition, they received instructions about treating the aborigens.[99]

After the end of the period of conquests, it was necessary to manage extensive and different territories with a strong bureaucracy. In the face of the impossibility of the Castilian institutions to take care of the American affairs, other new institutions were created.[100Dell Latitude E5400 Battery

Dell Latitude E6520N Battery]

As the basic political entity it was the governorate, the governors exercised judicial ordinary functions of first instance, and prerogatives of government legislating by ordinances.[101] To these political functions of the governor, it could be joined the military ones, according to military requirements, with the rank of Captain general.[102

Dell Latitude E6430-XFR Battery] The office of captain general involved to be the supreme military chief of the whole territory and he was responsible for recruiting and providing troops, the fortification of the territory, the supply and the shipbuilding.[103]

The impossibility of the physical presence of the monarch was replaced by viceroys, the post of viceroy the direct representation of the monarch.[10Dell Latitude E5410 Battery

Dell Latitude E6430S Battery4] The functions of the viceroy were: governor, captain general, president of the Audiencia, superintendent of the Royal Treasury and vicepatronage of the Church.[105][106

Dell Latitude E6430-ATG Battery] Thus, the territories of the viceroyalties emerged with posteriority to affirm the authority of the king in a specific territory. The territory which comprised the viceroyalty was divided in provinces —also called governorates- headed by the governor.[107] In the 16th century the Spanish overseas territories were divided in two viceroyalties: Dell Latitude E5500 Battery

Dell Latitude E6430 BatteryNew Spain (1535) for North America, Antilles, the Philippines and Venezuela, and Peru (1542) for South America, which was divided in the 18th century.[108]

On the other hand, the Audiencias were constituted as a key administrative institution due to receive the confidence of the Crown as depositaries of an impartial authority opposite to conquerors and settlers.[10Dell Latitude E5510 Battery

Dell Latitude E6420-ATG Battery9] Their main function was that of being a court of justice of second instance —court of appeal— in penal and civil matters, but also the Audiencias were courts the first instance in the city where it had its headquarters, and also in the cases involving the Royal Treasury.[110]

Dell Latitude E6330 Battery Besides court of justice, the Audiencias had functions of government as counterweight the authority of the viceroys, since they could communicate with both the Council of the Indies and the king without the requirement of requesting authorization from the viceroy.[110]

Dell Latitude E6230 Battery This direct correspondence of the Audiencia with the Council of The Indies made possible that the Council gave to the Audiencia all kinds of orientations about general aspects of government.[109] Dell Latitude E5420 Battery

Dell Latitude E6400-ATG Battery

The fact that the presidents were not habitually either magistrates or lawyers, but men clad in sword and cape,[110] caused that they did not have any vote in court cases, and the court did not submit to their authority, but in representation that of the king.[111] Thus, the authority of the president, when he was not a magistrate, Dell Latitude E5520 Battery

Dell Latitude E6120 Batterywas void in judicial matter and merely signed the verdicts.[112] The Audiencias chaired by the viceroy were called viceregal Audiencias,[113] and the chaired ones by a governor-captain general were the pretorial Audiencias.[114][115][116] Dell Latitude E6420 Battery

As the pretorial Audiencias were chaired by a governor-captain general, this situation caused to appear the post of president-governor of major districts, with direct rule over a province and superior control of other provinces included inside the territorial district of the Audiencia, so that they exercised functions similar to the viceroys.[1Dell Latitude E6520 Battery

Dell Latitude E5530 Battery17] Thus, another administrative division appeared: while the territories in charge of a governor were the minor provinces,[118] the juridisdiccional scope of the Audiencias constituted the major provinces.[119]

Former Viceregal Palace and seat of the Audiencia of Mexico, nowadays, the National Palace.

The members (oidores) of the Audiencia met with the president in a committee called royal agreement (real acuerdo), to take measurements for the government concerning the review of bylaws, appointments of commissioners (jueces pesquisidores), or retention of bulls, but the advice did not correspond to the Audiencia as institution but to its members as reputable people.[11Dell Latitude E6400-XFR Battery

Dell XPS L701X Battery 1] The decisions of the royal agreement were established in the concerted writs (autos acordados), nevertheless, there were matters as dispatching the issues of government, in which the Audiencia could not interfere either with the viceroy or the president-governor.[120] This way, the control of the Audiencias over the viceroys enabled to the Crown to control the functions of government of the viceroys.[121] Dell Latitude E6410 Battery

Dell Latitude E6410-ATG Battery

While the viceregal and pretorial Audiencias were chaired by men clad in sword and cape, the presidents of the subordinated Audiencias were magistrates,[113] so that, in the juridisdiccional scope of the subordinated Audiencias, the functions of government, Treasury and war belonged to the viceroy.[112][114Dell Latitude E5430 Battery

][122] Therefore, in these sections of the viceroyalties there were no governors-captains general but Audiencias, and the presidency gave them the name, for example in Charcas and Quito.[123]

Although there were accumulated in the same person the offices of viceroy, governor, captain general and president of the Audiencia, each of them had different jurisdictional areas.[124][ Dell Precision M2400 Battery

125] The jurisdiction of the viceregal Audiencia, whose president was the viceroy, ended face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias inside the same viceroyalty: as the pretorial Audiencias chaired by a governor-captain general, who had administrative, political and military authority, as the subordinated Audiencias, whose president did not have this administrative, political and military authority.[1Dell Precision M4600 Battery

Dell Precision M6600 Battery

Dell XPS L502X Battery 14] Therefore, as governor, the direct administration of the province where was placed the viceregal capital belonged to the viceroy; nevertheless, with respect to the other governorates of the viceroyalty, his function was mere oversight or general inspection over the management of political affairs.[126][ Dell Precision M4500 Battery

Dell XPS L501X Battery 127][128] The imprecision in defining the powers of the viceroy and those of the provincial governors allowed the Crown to control their officials.[129]

In the viceroyalty of New Spain, the Audiencia of Mexico, chaired by the viceroy, ended its jurisdiction face up to the jurisdiction of other Audiencias of Guatemala (1543–1563; 1568-),Dell Precision M6400 Battery

of Manila (1583–1589; 1595-), of Guadalajara (established in Compostela in 1548 and transferred in 1560 to Guadalajara)[130] and that of Santo Domingo (1526-). The viceroy of New Spain as governor only had jurisdiction over a more reduced governorate of New Spain, and as captain general his authority did not comprise either the captaincies of Yucatán or the New Kingdom of León,[13

Dell XPS 17-L702X Battery 1] but it comprised the military command over the governorate of Nueva Galicia,[132][133] which was a territory under the jurisdiction of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, until in 1708 the captaincy general was attached to the governor of this province of Nueva Galicia.[134] Dell Precision M6500 Battery

In the viceroyalty of Peru, the viceroy presided the Audiencia of Lima (1542-), and the jurisdiction of this Audiencia ended face up to the jurisdictions of the pretorial Audiencias of Panama (1538–1543; 1563–1717),

Dell XPS 17-L701X Battery

of Santa Fe de Bogotá (1547-), of Santiago de Chile (in Concepción between 1565 and 1575, and in Santiago de Chile since 1605), and that of Buenos Aires (1661–1672), whose presidents were also both governors and captains general, and in addition to these Audiencias, Dell Precision M4400 Battery

Dell XPS L702X Battery

the viceroyalty comprised the subordinated Audiencias of Charcas (La Plata; 1559-) and Quito (1563-).[135]

The settlers came from Spain had to settle in towns, where the local government belonged to the Cabildo. The Cabildo was composed by a variable number of aldermen (regidores), around a dozen, depending on the size of the town, also two municipal judges (alcaldes menores), who were judges of first instance, and also other officials as police chief, inspector of supplies, court clerk, and a public herald.[13Dell XPS 14 Battery

6] They were in charge of distributing land to the neighbors, establishing local taxes, dealing with the public order, inspecting jails and hospitals, preserving the roads and public works such as irrigation ditchs and bridges, supervising the public health, regulating the festive activities, monitoring market prices, or the protection of Indians.[137][138][139] Dell XPS 14D Battery

Dell XPS 15-L502X Battery

Since the end of the reign of Philip II, the municipal offices, including the aldermen, were auctioned to alleviate the need for money of the Crown, even the offices could also be sold, which became hereditary,[140] so that the government of the cities went on to hands of urban oligarchies.[14

1] In order to control the municipal life, the Crown ordered the appointment of corregidores and alcaldes mayores to exert greater political control and judicial functions in minor districts.[142]

HP Pavilion DV6-6B50EA Battery

Their functions were governing the respective municipalities, administering of justice and being appellate judges in the alcaldes menores' judgments,[143] but only the corregidor could preside over the cabildo.[144] However, both charges were also put up for sale freely since the late sixteenth century.[145]

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[edit]The Spanish Empire: reform and recovery (1700–1808)

Under the Treaties of Utrecht (11 April 1713), the European powers decided what the fate of Spain would be, in terms of the continental balance of power. The new Bourbon king Philip V retained the Spanish overseas empire, but ceded the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Dell XPS 14D-L401X Battery

Dell XPS 15 Battery

Milan, and Sardinia to Austria; Sicily and parts of Milan to Duchy of Savoy; and Gibraltar and Minorca to the Kingdom of Great Britain. Moreover, Philip V granted the British the exclusive right to slave trading in Spanish America for thirty years, the so-called asiento, as well as licensed voyages to ports in Spanish colonial dominions, openings, as Fernand Braudel remarked, for both licit and illicit smuggling (Brudel 1984 p 418). HP Pavilion dv6-6000 Battery

The Battle of Cape Passaro, 11 August 1718.

Spain's economic and demographic recovery had begun slowly in the last decades of the Habsburg reign, as was evident from the growth of its trading convoys and much more rapid growth of illicit trade during the period, HP Pavilion DV6-6B06SA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6B08SA Battery

though this growth was slower than in its northern rivals who had gained increasing illicit access to its empire's markets. Critically, this recovery was not translated into institutional improvement HP Pavilion DV6-6B26SA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6B07EA Battery because of the incompetent leadership of the unfortunate last Habsburg. This legacy of neglect was reflected in the early years of Bourbon rule in which the military was ill-advisedly pitched into battle against the Quadruple Alliance (1718–1720). HP Pavilion DV6-6B09SA Battery

Following the war, the new Bourbon monarchy would take a much more cautious approach to international relations, built upon a family alliance with Bourbon France, and continuing to follow a program of institutional renewal. HP Pavilion DV6-6B50SA Battery

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[edit]Bourbon Reforms

Main article: Bourbon Reforms

At the beginning of the Philip V's reign and due to the War of the Spanish Succession, the Spanish king Philip V initiated organizational reforms headed for a government more executive, giving priority to the direct decision of the monarch, opposite to the deliberative way of the polisynodial system of Councils.[146] HP Pavilion DV6-6B51SA Battery

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The Spanish Bourbons' broadest intentions were to break the power of the entrenched aristocracy of the Criollos in America (locally born colonials of European descent), and, eventually, loosen the territorial control of the Society of Jesus over the virtually independent theocracies[citation needed] of Guarani Misiones: HP Pavilion DV6-6B57SA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6002SA Battery the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish America in 1767. In addition to the established consulados of Mexico City and Lima, firmly in the control of local landowners, a new rival consulado was set up at Vera Cruz.
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Immediately, Philip's government set up a ministry of the Navy and the Indies (1714) and created first a Honduras Company (1714), a Caracas company, the Guipuzcoana Company (1728) and—the most successful one—a Havana Company (1740). HP Pavilion DV6-6B58SA Battery
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HP Pavilion DV6-6C57EA Battery In 1717–1718, the structures for governing the Indies, the Consejo de Indias and the Casa de Contratación that governed investments in the cumbersome escorted fleets were transferred from Seville to Cádiz, HP Pavilion DV6-6C12EA Battery
HP Pavilion DV6-6C56EA Battery which became the one port for all Indies trading (see flota system). Individual sailings at regular intervals were slow to displace the old habit of armed convoys, but by the 1760s there were regular packet ships plying the Atlantic between Cádiz and Havana and Puerto Rico, and at longer intervals to the Río de la Plata, HP Pavilion DV6-6B51EA Battery
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HP Pavilion DV6-6156EA Battery where an additional viceroyalty was created in 1776. The contraband trade that was the lifeblood of the Habsburg empire declined in proportion to registered shipping (a shipping registry having been established in 1735). HP Pavilion DV6-6B59EA Battery
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Two upheavals registered unease within Spanish America and at the same time demonstrated the renewed resiliency of the reformed system: the Tupac Amaru uprising in Peru in 1780 and the rebellion of the comuneros of New Granada, both in part reactions to tighter, more efficient control. HP Pavilion DV6-6C01EA Battery

[edit]18th century prosperity

San Felipe de Barajas Fortress Cartagena de Indias. In 1741 the Spanish defeated a vast British invasion fleet and army from this fortress in present-day Colombia during the Battle of Cartagena de Indias.
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The 18th century was a century of prosperity for the overseas Spanish Empire as trade within grew steadily, particularly in the second half of the century, under the Bourbon reforms. Spain's crucial victory in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias against a massive British fleet and army in the Caribbean port of Cartagena de Indias, one of a number of successful battles, helped Spain secure its dominance of America until the 19th century. HP Pavilion DV6-6C01SA Battery

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With a Bourbon monarchy came a repertory of Bourbon mercantilist ideas based on a centralized state, put into effect in America slowly at first but with increasing momentum during the century. Rapid shipping growth from the mid-1740s until the Seven Years' War (1756–1763),
HP Pavilion DV6-6153EA Battery reflecting in part the success of the Bourbons in bringing illicit trade under control. With the loosening of trade controls after the Seven Years' War, shipping trade within the empire once again began to expand, reaching an extraordinary rate of growth in the 1780s. HP Pavilion DV6-6C04SA Battery

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The ending of Cádiz's trade monopoly with America brought about a rebirth of Spanish manufactures. Most notable was the rapidly growing textile industry of Catalonia which by the mid-1780s saw the first signs of industrialisation. HP Pavilion DV6-6C04EA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6107SA Battery This saw the emergence of a small, politically active commercial class in Barcelona. This isolated pocket of advanced economic development stood in stark contrast to the relative backwardness of most of the country. HP Pavilion DV6-6C05SA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6104EA Battery Most of the improvements were in and around some major coastal cities and the major islands such as Cuba, with its plantations, and a renewed growth of precious metals mining in America. HP Pavilion DV6-6C05EA Battery

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On the other hand most of rural Spain and its empire, where the great bulk of the population lived, lived in relatively backward conditions by 18th century West European standards, reinforced old customs and isolation.
HP Pavilion DV6-6102SA Battery Agricultural productivity remained low despite efforts to introduce new techniques to what was for the most part an uninterested, exploited peasant and labouring groups. Governments were inconsistent in their policies. Though there were substantial improvements by the late 18th century, HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Battery
Spain was still an economic backwater. Under the mercantile trading arrangements it had difficulty in providing the goods being demanded by the strongly growing markets of its empire, and providing adequate outlets for the return trade. HP Pavilion DV6-6C11SA Battery
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[edit]Overseas expansion

A Spanish army captures British Pensacola in 1781. In 1783 the Treaty of Paris returns all of Florida to Spain for the return of the Bahamas.

The Bourbon institutional reforms were to bear fruit militarily when Spanish forces easily retook Naples and Sicily from the Austrians in 1734 during War of the Polish Succession, and during the War of Jenkins' Ear (1739–1742) HP Pavilion DV6-6C41SA Battery
thwarted British efforts to seize the strategic cities of Cartagena de Indias and Santiago de Cuba by defeating a massive British army and navy[147] led by Edward Vernon, which ended Britain's ambitions in the Spanish Main. Moreover, though Spain lost minor territories to British forces towards the end of the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), HP Pavilion DV6-6C51SA Battery
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HP Pavilion DV6-6077SA Battery she was to recover these losses and seize the British naval base in the Bahamas during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83).

The greater part of what is the territory of today's Brazil had been claimed as Spanish when exploration began with the navigation of the length of the Amazon River in 1541–42 by Francisco de Orellana.
HP Pavilion DV6-6060SA Battery Many Spanish expeditions explored large parts of this vast region, especially those close to Spanish settlements. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish soldiers, missionaries and adventurers also established pioneering communities, primarily in Paraná, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo, and forts on the northeastern coast threatened by the French and Dutch.
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As Portuguese-Brazilian settlement expanded, following in the trail of the Bandeirantes exploits, these isolated Spanish groups were eventually integrated into Brazilian society. Only some Castilians who were displaced from the disputed areas of the Pampas of Rio Grande do Sul have left a significant influence on the formation of the gaucho, HP Pavilion DV6-6C75SA Battery

HP Pavilion DV6-6053EA Battery when they mixed with Indian groups, Portuguese and blacks who arrived in the region during the 18th century. The Spanish were barred by their laws from slaving of indigenous people, leaving them without a commercial interest deep in the interior of the Amazon basin. The Laws of Burgos (1512) and the New Laws (1542) HP Pavilion DV6-6C77SA Battery
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HP Pavilion DV6-6051EA Battery had been intended to protect the interests of indigenous people. While in spirit they were often abused, as through forced exploitative labour of locals, they did prevent widespread formal enslavement of indigenous people in Spanish territories. The Portuguese-Brazilian slavers, HP Pavilion DV6-6006EA Battery the Bandeirantes, had the advantage of access from the mouth of the Amazon River, which was on the Portuguese side of the line of Tordesillas. One famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in the enslavement of about 60,000 indigenous people.[148] HP Pavilion DV6-6001SA Battery
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In time, there were in effect a self-funding force of occupation. By the 18th century, much of the Spanish territory was under defacto control of Portuguese-Brazil. This reality was recognised with the legal transfer of sovereignty in 1750 of most of the Amazon basin and surrounding areas to Portugal in the Treaty of Madrid.

HP Pavilion DV7-4180SA Keyboard This settlement sowed the seeds of the Guarani War in 1756.

The California mission planning was begun in 1769. The Nootka Crisis (1789–1791) involved a dispute between Spain and Great Britain about the British settlement in Oregon to British Columbia. In 1791, the king of Spain gave Alessandro Malaspina an order to search for a Northwest Passage. HP Pavilion DV7-1105EA Keyboard

The Spanish empire had still not returned to first rate power status, but it had recovered considerably from the dark days at the beginning of the 18th century when it was, and particularly in continental matters, HP Pavilion DV7-1210EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4150EA Keyboard at the mercy of other powers' political deals. The relatively more peaceful century under the new monarchy had allowed it to rebuild and start the long process of modernizing its institutions and economy. The demographic decline of the 17th century had been reversed. It was a middle-ranking power with great power pretensions that could not be ignored. But time was to be against it. HP Pavilion DV7-1135EA Keyboard

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The growth of trade and wealth in the colonies caused increasing political tensions as frustration grew with the improving but still restrictive trade with Spain. Malaspina's recommendation to turn the empire into a looser confederation to help improve governance and trade so as to quell HP Pavilion DV7-1130EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4143EA Keyboard the growing political tensions between the élites of the empire's periphery and centre was suppressed by a monarchy afraid of losing control. All was to be swept away by the tumult that was to overtake Europe at the turn of the 19th century with the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. HP Pavilion DV7-1125EA Keyboard

[edit]Twilight of the Global Empire (1800–1899)

Churruca's Death, oil on canvas about the Battle of Trafalgar by Eugenio Álvarez Dumont, Prado Museum.

The Second of May 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes, by Francisco de Goya (1814).

The first major territory Spain was to lose in the 19th century was the vast and wild Louisiana Territory, which stretched north to Canada and was ceded by France in 1763 under the terms of the Treaty of Fontainebleau. HP Pavilion DV7-1213EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4141SA KeyboardThe French, under Napoleon, took back possession as part of the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 and sold it to the United States (Louisiana Purchase, 1803).

The destruction of the main Spanish fleet, under French command, at the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) undermined Spain's ability to defend and hold on to its empire. HP Pavilion DV7-1211EA Keyboard

The British invasions of the Río de la Plata attempt to seize the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1806. The viceroy retreated hastily to the hills when defeated by a small British force. However the Criollos militias and colonial army eventually repulsed the British. HP Pavilion DV7-1212EA Keyboard

The later intrusion of Napoleonic forces into Spain in 1808 (see Peninsular War) cut off effective connection with the empire. But it was internal tensions that ultimately ended the empire in the Americas.

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Napoleon's sale in 1803 of the Louisiana Territory to the United States caused border disputes between the United States and Spain that, with rebellions in West Florida (1810) and in the remainder of Louisiana at the mouth of the Mississippi, led to their eventual cession to the United States, along with the sale of all of Florida, HP Pavilion DV7-1214EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4132EA Keyboard in the Adams–Onís Treaty (1819). In 1806 Baron Nikolai Rezanov attempted to negotiate a treaty between the Russian-American Company and Viceroyalty of New Spain but his premature death in 1807 ended any treaty hopes. HP Pavilion DV7-2110SA Keyboard

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In 1808, Napoleon forced the abdication of the Spanish monarchy and placed his brother on the throne, however his unpopularity provoked an uprising from the Spanish people and the grinding guerrilla warfare, which Napoleon dubbed his "ulcer", the Peninsular War, HP Pavilion DV7-2120SA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4130SA Keyboard (famously depicted by the painter Goya) ensued, followed by a power vacuum lasting up to a decade and turmoil for several decades, civil wars on succession disputes, a republic, and finally a liberal democracy. HP Pavilion DV7-2230SA Keyboard

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Napoleon forces the Abdications of Bayonne on 5 May and places his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne a month later. Popular uprising against the French and the abdications starts the Peninsular War. Resistance coalesces around juntas, emergency ad-hoc governments. A Supreme Central and Governing Junta of the Kingdom, ruling in the name of Ferdinand VII, is created on 25 September to coordinate efforts among the various juntas. HP Pavilion DV7-3000 Keyboard
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[edit]Spanish American Independence

In North America, Mexico led by Agustin de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero declared independence in 1821

The Battle of Ayacucho, 9 December 1824. The defeat of the Spanish army at Ayacucho was the definitive end of Spain's empire in South America.

Main articles: Spanish American wars of independence and Junta (Peninsular War)

Juntas emerged in Spanish America as a result of Spain facing a political crisis due to the abdication of Ferdinand VII and Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion. HP Pavilion DV7-3020EA Keyboard

HP Pavilion DV7-4040SA Keyboard Spanish Americans reacted in much the same way the Peninsular Spanish did, legitimizing their actions through traditional law, which held that there was a retroversion of the sovereignty to the people in the absence of a legitimate king. HP Pavilion DV7-3101SA Keyboard

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The majority of Spanish Americans continued to support the idea of maintaining a monarchy under Ferdinand VII, but did not support retaining Absolute monarchy. Spanish Americans wanted auto-governance.

HP Pavilion DV7-4015SA Keyboard The juntas in the Americas did not accept the governments of the Europeans, neither government set up for Spain by the French nor the various Spanish governments set up in response to the French invasion. The juntas did not accept the Spanish regency, which was under siege in the city of Cadiz.
HP Pavilion DV7-4020SA Keyboard They also rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812 although the Constitution gave Spanish citizenship to natives of the territories that had belonged to the Spanish monarchy in both hemispheres.[149
HP Pavilion DV7-2215SA Keyboard] Constitution of 1812 include Indigenous peoples of the Americas to Spanish citizenship. But the acquisition of citizenship for any casta of Afro-American peoples of the Americas was trough naturalization excluding slaves. HP Pavilion DV7-3105EA Keyboard
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A long period of wars followed in America from 1811 to 1829. In South America this period of wars led to the freedom and independence of Argentina (1810), Paraguay (1811) and Uruguay (1815), but subsequently ruled by Brazil until 1828. José de San Martín campaigned for independence in Chile (1818) HP Pavilion DV7-3112EA Keyboard
HP Pavilion DV7-3115EA Keyboardand Peru (1820). Further north Simón Bolívar led forces that won independence between 1811 and 1825 for the area that is currently Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia (then Alto Perú). In North America, a free thinking priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, declared in 1810 Mexican freedom, which independence was won by Agustín de Iturbide in 1821. Sony PCG-7T1M Keyboard

Central America declared its independence in 1821 and was joined to Mexico for a brief time (1822–23). Panama declared independence in 1821 and joined to the Republic of Gran Colombia (from 1821 to 1903).

Sony VGN-N38Z KeyboardRoyalist guerrillas continued the war in several countries, and Spain launched attempts to retake Venezuela in 1827 and Mexico in 1829. Spain finally abandoned all plans of military re-conquest at death of King Ferdinand in 1833. Sony PCG-7T2M Keyboard

Santo Domingo likewise declared independence in 1821 and began negotiating for inclusion in Bolivar's Republic of Gran Colombia, but was quickly occupied by Haiti, which ruled it until an 1844 revolution. Sony PCG-7X1M Keyboard

Sony VGN-N38M KeyboardThen after 17 years of independence, in 1861, Santo Domingo was again made a colony due to Haitian aggressions, yet by 1865 Santo Domingo again declared independence, making it the only territory to be recolonized by Spain. Thus only Cuba and Puerto Rico, and on the far side of the globe, the Philippines, Guam and nearby Pacific islands, remained in Spanish hands in the New World after 1865. Sony PCG-7X2M Keyboard

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[edit]Changes and Reaction

Houston

08/07/2013 09:38

Houston

Houston /ˈhjuːstən/ is the fourth most populous city in the United States of America, and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of over 2.1 million people within a land area of 599.6 square miles (1,553 km2).[1][5]

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Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of Houston–The Woodlands-Sugar Land, the fifth-largest metropolitan area in the U.S. with over 6 million people.[6]

Houston was founded in 1836 on land near the banks of Buffalo Bayou, now known as Allen's Landing.[7

HP HA03 Battery][8] and incorporated as a city on June 5, 1837. The city was named after former General Sam Houston, who was president of the Republic of Texas and had commanded and won at the Battle of San Jacinto 25 miles (40 km) east of where the city was established. The burgeoning port and railroad industry, HP MU06 Battery

combined with oil discovery in 1901, has induced continual surges in the city's population. In the mid-twentieth century, Houston became the home of the Texas Medical Center—the world's largest concentration of healthcare and research institutions—and NASA's Johnson Space Center, where the Mission Control Center is located.[9] HP MU09 Battery

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Rated as a global city, Houston's economy has a broad industrial base in energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, and transportation. It is also leading in health care sectors and building oilfield equipment; only New York City is home to more Fortune 500 headquarters.[10][ HP RM08 Battery

HP BX06 Battery11] The Port of Houston ranks first in the United States in international waterborne tonnage handled and second in total cargo tonnage handled.[12] The city has a population from various ethnic and religious backgrounds and a large and growing international community. It is home to many cultural institutions and exhibits, HP RS06 Battery

HP PT06 Battery which attract more than 7 million visitors a year to the Museum District. Houston has an active visual and performing arts scene in the Theater District and offers year-round resident companies in all major performing arts.[13]

HP MN06 BatteryIn August 1836, two real estate entrepreneurs—Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen—from New York, purchased 6,642 acres (26.88 km2) of land along Buffalo Bayou with the intent of founding a city.[ HP BS06 Battery

HP GB06 Battery14] The Allen brothers decided to name the city after Sam Houston, the popular general at the Battle of San Jacinto,[14] who was elected President of Texas in September 1836.

Houston was granted incorporation on June 5, 1837, with James S. Holman becoming its first mayor.[15] HP VE06 Battery

In the same year, Houston became the county seat of Harrisburg County (now Harris County) and the temporary capital of the Republic of Texas.[16] In 1840, the community established a chamber of commerce in part to promote shipping and waterborne business at the newly created port on Buffalo Bayou.[17] HP VE12 Battery

Houston, circa 1873

By 1860, Houston had emerged as a commercial and railroad hub for the export of cotton.[16] Railroad spurs from the Texas inland converged in Houston, where they met rail lines to the ports of Galveston and Beaumont. HP GA08 Battery

HP LU06 BatteryDuring the American Civil War, Houston served as a headquarters for General John Bankhead Magruder, who used the city as an organization point for the Battle of Galveston.[18] After the Civil War, HP MO06 Battery

Houston businessmen initiated efforts to widen the city's extensive system of bayous so the city could accept more commerce between downtown and the nearby port of Galveston. By 1890, Houston was the railroad center of Texas. HP MO09 Battery

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Union Station, Houston, Texas (postcard, circa 1911)

In 1900, after Galveston was struck by a devastating hurricane, efforts to make Houston into a viable deepwater port were accelerated.[1HP EV06 Battery

HP EV12 Battery9] The following year, oil discovered at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont prompted the development of the Texas petroleum industry.[20] In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt approved a $1 million improvement project for the Houston Ship Channel. By 1910 the city's population had reached 78,800, almost doubling from a decade before. HP Pavilion dv7-1027ca battery

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African-Americans formed a large part of the city's population, numbering 23,929 people, or nearly one-third of the residents.[21]

President Woodrow Wilson opened the deepwater Port of Houston in 1914, seven years after digging began. HP Pavilion dv7-1014ca battery

HP Pavilion dv7-1240us batteryBy 1930, Houston had become Texas's most populous city and Harris the most populous county.[22] In 1940, the Census Bureau reported Houston's population as 77.5% white and 22.4% black.[23]

Downtown Houston, circa 1927

When World War II started, tonnage levels at the port decreased and shipping activities were suspended; however,

HP Pavilion dv7-1223ca batterythe war did provide economic benefits for the city. Petrochemical refineries and manufacturing plants were constructed along the ship channel because of the demand for petroleum and synthetic rubber products during the war.[24] Ellington Field, initially built during World War I, was revitalized as an advanced training center for bombardiers and navigators.[25]

HP Pavilion dv7-1228ca batteryThe Brown Shipbuilding Company was founded in 1942 to build ships for the U.S. Navy during World War II. The M.D. Anderson Foundation formed the Texas Medical Center in 1945. After the war, Houston's economy reverted to being primarily port-driven. HP Pavilion dv7-1034ca battery

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HP Pavilion dv7-1174ca battery In 1948, several unincorporated areas were annexed into the city limits, which more than doubled the city's size, and Houston proper began to spread across the region.[15][26]

In 1950, the availability of air conditioning provided impetus for many companies to relocate to Houston resulting in an economic boom and producing a key shift in the city's economy toward the energy sector.[27][28] HP Pavilion dv7-3074ca battery

Ashburn's Houston City Map (circa 1956)

The space shuttle, atop its Boeing 747 SCA, flying over Johnson Space Center

The increased production of the local shipbuilding industry during World War II spurred Houston's growth,[29] HP Pavilion dv7-3178ca battery

as did the establishment in 1961 of NASA's "Manned Spacecraft Center" (renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1973), which created the city's aerospace industry. The Astrodome, nicknamed the "Eighth Wonder of the World",[HP Pavilion dv7-3180us battery

HP Pavilion dv7-3060ca battery30] opened in 1965 as the world's first indoor domed sports stadium.

During the late 1970s, Houston experienced a population boom as people from Rust Belt states moved to Texas in large numbers.[31HP Pavilion dv7-3128ca battery

HP Pavilion dv7-1153ca battery] The new residents came for the numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, created as a result of the Arab Oil Embargo.

The population boom ended abruptly in the mid-1980s, as oil prices fell precipitously. The space industry also suffered in 1986 after the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated shortly after launch. The late 1980s saw a recession adversely affecting the city's economy. HP Pavilion dv7-3148ca battery

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Since the 1990s, as a result of the recession, Houston has made efforts to diversify its economy by focusing on aerospace and health care/biotechnology and by reducing its dependence on the petroleum industry. In 1997, Houstonians elected Lee P. Brown as the city's first African American mayor.[32]

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In June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dumped up to 40 inches (1,000 mm) of rain on parts of Houston, causing the worst flooding in the city's history; the storm cost billions of dollars in damage and killed 20 people in Texas.[ HP Pavilion dv7-3173ca battery

33] By December of that same year, Houston-based energy company Enron collapsed into the third-largest ever U.S. bankruptcy during an investigation surrounding fabricated partnerships that were allegedly used to hide debt and inflate profits. HP Pavilion dv7-3152ca battery

In August 2005, Houston became a shelter to more than 150,000 people from New Orleans who evacuated from Hurricane Katrina.[3HP Pavilion dv7-3153ca battery

4] One month later, approximately 2.5 million Houston area residents evacuated when Hurricane Rita approached the Gulf Coast, leaving little damage to the Houston area. This was the largest urban evacuation in the history of the United States.[35][36] HP Pavilion dv7-3157ca battery

Geography[edit]

Main article: Geography of Houston

A simulated-color image of Houston

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 656.3 square miles (1,700 km2); this comprises 634.0 square miles (1,642 km2) of land and 22.3 square miles (58 km2) of water.[37] Most of Houston is located on the gulf coastal plain, HP Pavilion dv7-3170ca battery

and its vegetation is classified as temperate grassland and forest. Much of the city was built on forested land, marshes, HP Pavilion dv7-3160us battery

HP Pavilion dv7-1130us battery swamp, or prairie, which are all still visible in surrounding areas. Flatness of the local terrain, when combined with urban sprawl, has made flooding a recurring problem for the city.[38] Downtown stands about 50 feet (15 m) above sea level,[3Sony SVS13AA11L Battery

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9] and the highest point in far northwest Houston is about 125 feet (38 m) in elevation.[40][41] The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground-level water sources such as Lake Houston, Sony SVS131A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Battery Lake Conroe and Lake Livingston.[15][42] The city owns surface water rights for 1.20 billion gallons of water a day in addition to 150 million gallons a day worth of groundwater.[43]

Houston has four major bayous passing through the city. Buffalo Bayou runs through downtown and the Houston Ship Channel, and has three tributaries: White Oak Bayou, which runs through the Houston Heights community northwest of Downtown and then towards Downtown;

Sony PCG-41412L Battery Braes Bayou, which runs along the Texas Medical Center; and Sims Bayou, which runs through the south of Houston and downtown Houston. The ship channel continues past Galveston and then into the Gulf of Mexico.

Geology[edit]

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Underpinning Houston's land surface are unconsolidated clays, clay shales, and poorly cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from river deposits formed from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains. Sony SVS131B11L Battery

These sediments consist of a series of sands and clays deposited on decaying organic marine matter, that over time, transformed into oil and natural gas. Beneath the layers of sediment is a water-deposited layer of halite, a rock salt. Sony SVS151A11L Battery

Sony PCG-41218L BatteryThe porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediments into salt dome formations, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from the surrounding porous sands. The thick, rich, sometimes black, surface soil is suitable for rice farming in suburban outskirts where the city continues to grow.[44][45]

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The Houston area has over 150 active faults (estimated to be 300 active faults) with an aggregate length of up to 310 miles (500 km),[46][47][48] including the Long Point–Eureka Heights fault system which runs through the center of the city. Sony SVS151B11L Battery

Sony PCG-41216L BatteryThere have been no significant historically recorded earthquakes in Houston, but researchers do not discount the possibility of such quakes having occurred in the deeper past, nor occurring in the future. Land in some areas southeast of Houston is sinking because water has been pumped out of the ground for many years. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery

Sony PCG-41215L BatteryIt may be associated with slip along the faults; however, the slippage is slow and not considered an earthquake, where stationary faults must slip suddenly enough to create seismic waves.[49

Sony PCG-41214L Battery] These faults also tend to move at a smooth rate in what is termed "fault creep",[42] which further reduces the risk of an earthquake.

Climate[edit]

Main article: Climate of Houston

Allen's Landing after Tropical Storm Allison, June 2001

Houston's climate is classified as humid subtropical (Cfa in Köppen climate classification system). While not necessarily part of "Tornado Alley" like much of the rest of Texas, spring supercell thunderstorms do sometimes bring tornadoes to the area. Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

Sony PCG-41213L BatteryPrevailing winds are from the south and southeast during most of the year, bringing heat from the western deserts and moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.[50]

During the summer months, it is common for the temperature to reach over 90 °F (32 °C), with an average of 99 days per year above 90 °F (32 °C).[51] However, the humidity causes a heat index higher than the actual temperature. Summer mornings average over 90 percent relative humidity and approximately 60 percent in the afternoon.[5Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

Sony PCG-41212L Battery2] Winds are often light in the summer and offer little relief, except near the immediate coast.[53] To cope with the heat, people use air conditioning in nearly every vehicle and building in the city; Sony PCG-4121FL Battery

in 1980 Houston was described as the "most air-conditioned place on earth".[54] Scattered afternoon showers and thunderstorms are common in the summer. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Houston is 109 °F (43 °C), which was reached both on September 4, 2000 and August 28, 2011.[55][56] Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

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Winters in Houston are mild. The average high in January, the coldest month, is 63 °F (17 °C), while the average low is 43 °F (6 °C). Snowfall is very rare. Recent snow events in Houston include a storm on December 24, 2004 when one inch (2.5 cm) fell and more recent snowfalls on December 10, 2008. This was the earliest snowfall ever recorded in Houston. Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery

Sony PCG-71912L Battery In addition, it set another milestone marking the first time in recorded history that snowfall has occurred in two consecutive years, and was the third accumulating snowfall occurring in the decade of 2000–2010. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Houston was 5 °F (−15 °C) on January 23, 1940.[ Sony SVS131C1DL Battery

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57] Houston receives a high amount of rainfall annually, averaging about 50 inches (1,270 mm) a year. These rains tend to cause floods over portions of the city.

Houston has excessive ozone levels and is routinely ranked among the most ozone-polluted cities in the United States.[58] Sony SVS131E1DL Battery

Ground-level ozone, or smog, is Houston's predominant air pollution problem, with the American Lung Association rating the metropolitan area's ozone level as the 8th worst in the United States in 2011.[59] The industries located along the ship channel are a major cause of the city's air pollution.[60]

Sony PCG-71911L Battery In the past, Houston's air quality has been compared to that of Los Angeles.[61]

Further information: Geographic areas of Houston and List of Houston neighborhoods

Houston was incorporated in 1837 under the ward system of representation. The ward designation is the progenitor of the eleven current-day geographically-oriented Houston City Council districts. Locations in Houston are generally classified as either being inside or outside the Interstate 610 Loop. Sony SVS131G1DL Battery

Sony PCG-71811L Battery The inside encompasses the central business district and many residential neighborhoods that predate World War II. More recently, high-density residential areas have been developed within the loop. Sony SVS151C1GL Battery

Sony PCG-71713L Battery The city's outlying areas, suburbs and enclaves are located outside of the loop. Beltway 8 encircles the city another 5 miles (8.0 km) farther out.

Though Houston is the largest city in the United States without formal zoning regulations, it has developed similarly to other Sun Belt cities because the city's land use regulations and legal covenants have played a similar role.[66][ Sony SVS151C2DL Battery

Sony PCG-71614L Battery67] Regulations include mandatory lot size for single-family houses and requirements that parking be available to tenants and customers. Such restrictions have had mixed results. Though some[67] Sony SVS151E1GL Battery

have blamed the city's low density, urban sprawl, and lack of pedestrian-friendliness on these policies, the city's land use has also been credited with having significant affordable housing, sparing Houston the worst effects of the 2008 real estate crisis.[6Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

Sony PCG-61913L Battery8] The city issued 42,697 building permits in 2008 and was ranked first in the list of healthiest housing markets for 2009.[69]

Voters rejected efforts to have separate residential and commercial land-use districts in 1948, 1962, and 1993. Consequently, Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

rather than a single central business district as the center of the city's employment, multiple districts have grown throughout the city in addition to downtown which include Uptown, Texas Medical Center, Midtown, Greenway Plaza, Memorial City, Energy Corridor, Westchase, and Greenspoint.

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The western view of Downtown Houston skyline

The southern view of Downtown Houston skyline

The Uptown Houston skyline

Government and politics[edit]

Main article: Politics of Houston

Houston City Hall

The city of Houston has a strong mayoral form of municipal government.[70] Houston is a home rule city and all municipal elections in the state of Texas are nonpartisan.[70][71] The City's elected officials are the mayor, city controller and 16 members of the city council.[ Sony PCG-61A14L Battery

Sony PCG-61813L Battery72] The current mayor of Houston is Annise Parker, a Democrat elected on a nonpartisan ballot whose second term in office will expire at the end of 2013.[73] Houston's mayor serves as the city's chief administrator, executive officer, Sony PCG-71C11L Battery

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Sony PCG-61714L Battery and official representative, and is responsible for the general management of the city and for seeing that all laws and ordinances are enforced.[73]

The original city council line-up of 14 members (nine district-based and five at-large positions) was based on a U.S. Justice Department mandate which took effect in 1979. Sony PCG-71913L Battery

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[74] At-large council members represent the entire city.[72] Under the city charter, once the population in the city limits exceeded 2.1 million residents, two additional districts were to be added.[75]

Sony SVE171E12L Battery The City of Houston's official 2010 census count was 600 shy of the required number; however, as the city was expected to grow beyond 2.1 million shortly thereafter, the two additional districts were added and the positions filled during the August 2011 elections. The districts are labeled A through K while the at-large positions are numbered 1 through 5. Sony PCG-71914L Battery

The city controller is elected independently of the mayor and council. The controller's duties are to certify available funds prior to committing such funds and processing disbursements. The city's fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30. Ronald Green is the city controller, serving his first term as of January 2010. Sony PCG-91211L Battery

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As the result of a 1991 referendum in Houston, a mayor is elected for a two-year term, and can be elected to as many as three consecutive terms. The term limits were spearheaded by conservative political activist Clymer Wright.[76] Sony PCG-91311L Battery

Sony SVE171C11L Battery The city controller and city council members are also subject to the same two-year, three-term limitations.

Houston is considered to be a politically divided city whose balance of power often sways between Republicans and Democrats. Much of the city's wealthier areas vote Republican, while the city's middle class, working class, and minority areas vote Democratic. According to the 2005 Houston Area Survey,

Sony SVE151J11L Battery 68 percent of non-Hispanic whites in Harris County are declared or favor Republicans while 89 percent of non-Hispanic blacks in the area are declared or favor Democrats. About 62 percent Hispanics (of any race) Sony SVE141C11L Battery

Sony SVE151G13L Batteryin the area are declared or favor Democrats.[77] The city has often been known to be the most politically diverse city in Texas, a state known for being generally conservative.[77

Sony SVE151G11L Battery] As a result the city is often a contested area in statewide elections.[77] In 2009, Houston became the first US city with a population over 1 million to elect a gay mayor, by electing Annise Parker. Sony SVE141D11L Battery

Houston is recognized worldwide for its energy industry—particularly for oil and natural gas—as well as for biomedical research and aeronautics. Renewable energy sources—wind and solar—are also growing economic bases in Houston.[79][ Sony SVE141L11L Battery

Sony SVE151E11L Battery80] The ship channel is also a large part of Houston's economic base. Because of these strengths, Houston is designated as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network and by global management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.[11]

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The Houston area is a leading center for building oilfield equipment.[81] Much of Houston's success as a petrochemical complex is due to its busy ship channel, the Port of Houston.[82] The port ranks first in the United States in international commerce, and is the tenth-largest port in the world.[12]

Sony PCG-61316L Battery [83] Unlike most places, high oil and gasoline prices are beneficial for Houston's economy as many of its residents are employed in the energy industry.[84] Sony PCG-61713L Battery

The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown MSA's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 was $385 billion, larger than Austria's, Argentina's or South Africa's GDP.[85] Only 21 countries other than the United States have a gross domestic product exceeding Houston's regional gross area product. Mining, Sony PCG-91111L Battery

Sony PCG-61312L Battery which in Houston consists almost entirely of exploration and production of oil and gas, accounts for 26.3% of Houston's GAP, up sharply in response to high energy prices and a decreased worldwide surplus of oil production capacity; followed by engineering services, health services, and manufacturing.[86] Sony PCG-91112L Battery

A graph showing the major sectors of the Houston economy.[87]

The University of Houston System's annual impact on the Houston-area's economy equates to that of a major corporation: $1.1 billion in new funds attracted annually to the Houston area, $3.13 billion in total economic benefit, and 24,000 local jobs generated.[8Sony PCG-71312L Battery

Sony PCG-61311L Battery8][89] This is in addition to the 12,500 new graduates the UH System produces every year who enter the workforce in Houston and throughout Texas. These degree-holders tend to stay in Houston. After five years, 80.5 percent of graduates are still living and working in the region.[89] Sony PCG-71311L Battery

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In 2006, the Houston metropolitan area ranked first in Texas and third in the U.S. within the Category of "Best Places for Business and Careers" by Forbes magazine.[90] Foreign governments have established 92 consular offices in metropolitan Houston, the third highest in the nation.[9

Sony PCG-61211L Battery1] Forty foreign governments maintain trade and commercial offices here and 23 active foreign chambers of commerce and trade associations.[92] Twenty-five foreign banks representing 13 nations operate in Houston, providing financial assistance to the international community.[93] Sony PCG-71218L Battery

In 2008, Houston received top ranking on Kiplinger's Personal Finance Best Cities of 2008 list which ranks cities on their local economy, employment opportunities, reasonable living costs and quality of life.[94]

Sony PCG-71216L BatteryThe city ranked fourth for highest increase in the local technological innovation over the preceding 15 years, according to Forbes magazine.[95] In the same year, the city ranked second on the annual Fortune 500 list of company headquarters,[96Sony PCG-71217L Battery

Sony PCG-71215L Battery] ranked first for Forbes Best Cities for College Graduates,[97] and ranked first on Forbes list of Best Cities to Buy a Home.[98] In 2010, the city was rated the best city for shopping, according to Forbes.[99] Sony PCG-71313L Battery

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In 2012, the city was ranked #1 for paycheck worth by Forbes; and in late May 2013, Houston was identified as America's top city for employment creation.[100][101] Sony PCG-71315L Battery

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In 2013, Houston was identified as the #1 U.S. city for job creation by the U.S. Bureau of Statistics after it was not only the first major city to regain all the jobs lost in the preceding economic downturn, but after the crash, Sony PCG-71316L Battery

more than two jobs were added for every one lost. Economist and vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership Patrick Jankowski attributed Houston's success to the ability of the region's real estate and energy industries to learn from historical mistakes. Furthermore, Jankowski stated that "more than 100 foreign-owned companies relocated, Sony PCG-71317L Battery

Sony PCG-71318L Battery expanded or started new businesses in Houston" between 2008 and 2010, and this openness to external business boosted job creation during a period when domestic demand was problematically low.[101] Sony SVS13AA11L Battery
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Map of racial/ethnic distribution in the City of Houston, 2010 census - Each dot represents 25 people. Red dots represent White people, orange dots represent Hispanic people, blue dots represent Black people, green dots represent Asian people, Sony SVS131B11L Battery
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and gray dots represent other people

Houston is a multicultural city, in part because of its many academic institutions and strong industries as well as being a major port city. Over 90 languages are spoken in the city.[103] The city has among the youngest populations in the nation,[104][105][106] partly due to an influx of immigrants into Texas.[1Sony SVS151B11L Battery

07] An estimated 400,000 undocumented immigrants reside in the Houston area.[108]

According to the 2010 Census, whites made up 51% of Houston's population; 26% of the total population were non-Hispanic whites. Sony SVS151G1GL Battery
Blacks or African Americans made up 24% of Houston's population. American Indians made up 0.7% of Houston's population. Asians made up 6% of Houston's population (1.7% Vietnamese, 1.3% Chinese, 1.3% Indian, 0.9% Pakistani, 0.4% Filipino, 0.3% Korean, 0.1% Japanese), while Pacific Islanders made up 0.1%. Sony PCG-4121DL Battery

Sony PCG-41414L BatteryIndividuals from some other race made up 15.2% of the city's population, of which 0.2% were non-Hispanic. Individuals from two or more races made up 3.3% of the city's population. People of Hispanic origin, regardless of race, made up 44% of Houston's population[109] Sony PCG-4121EL Battery

As of the 2000 Census, there were 1,953,631 people and the population density was 3,371.7 people per square mile (1,301.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 49.3% White, 25.3% African American, 5.3% Asian, Sony PCG-4121FL Battery

Sony PCG-41413L Battery0.4% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 16.5% from some other race, and 3.1% from two or more races. In addition, Hispanics made up 37.4% of Houston's population while non-Hispanic whites made up 30.8%,[110] down from 62.4% in 1970.[23] Sony PCG-4121GL Battery

The median income for a household in the city was $37,000, and the median income for a family was $40,000. Males had a median income of $32,000 versus $27,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,000. Nineteen percent of the population and 16 percent of families were below the poverty line. Out of the total population, Sony PCG-41211L Battery

Sony PCG-41412L Battery 26% of those under the age of 18 and 14% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.

Culture[edit]

Main article: Culture of Houston

See also: Nicknames of Houston, List of events in Houston, List of people raised in Houston, and Sister cities of Houston

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Houston Art Car Parade

Houston is a diverse city with a large and growing international community.[111] The metropolitan area is home to an estimated 1.1 million (21.4 percent) residents who were born outside the United States, with nearly two-thirds of the area's foreign-born population from south of the United States–Mexico border.[112] Sony PCG-41213L Battery

Sony PCG-41411L Battery Additionally, more than one in five foreign-born residents are from Asia.[112] The city is home to the nation's third-largest concentration of consular offices, representing 86 countries.[113]
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Many annual events celebrate the diverse cultures of Houston. The largest and longest running is the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, held over 20 days from late February to early March, which happens to be the largest annual livestock show and rodeo anywhere in the world.[114]
Sony PCG-41217L BatteryAnother large celebration is the annual night-time Houston Pride Parade, held at the end of June.[115] Other annual events include the Houston Greek Festival,[116] Art Car Parade, the Houston Auto Show, the Houston International Festival,[11 Sony PCG-41214L Battery
7] and the Bayou City Art Festival, which is considered to be one of the top five art festivals in the United States.[118][119]

Houston received the official nickname of "Space City" in 1967 because it is the location of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Other nicknames often used by locals include "Bayou City," "Magnolia City," "New Houston," Sony PCG-41215L Battery
Sony PCG-41216L Battery a tribute to the cultural contributions of New Orleans natives who left their city during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina catastrophe, and "H-Town."

The annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo held inside the Reliant Stadium.

The George R. Brown Convention Center regularly holds various kinds of conventions.

Arts and theater[edit]

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Houston Museum of Natural Science

The Houston Theater District, located downtown, is home to nine major performing arts organizations and six performance halls. It is the second-largest concentration of theater seats in a downtown area in the United States.[120][12Sony SVS13AB1GL Battery

Sony PCG-91311L Battery1][122] Houston is one of few United States cities with permanent, professional, resident companies in all major performing arts disciplines: opera (Houston Grand Opera), ballet (Houston Ballet), music (Houston Symphony Orchestra), and theater (The Alley Theatre).[13][1Sony SVS131C1DL Battery

Sony PCG-91211L Battery23] Houston is also home to folk artists, art groups and various small progressive arts organizations.[124] Houston attracts many touring Broadway acts, concerts, shows, and exhibitions for a variety of interests.[12Sony SVS131C24L Battery

Sony PCG-71914L Battery5] Facilities in the Theater District include the Jones Hall—home of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and Society for the Performing Arts—and the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Sony SVS131E1DL Battery

The Museum District's cultural institutions and exhibits attract more than 7 million visitors a year.[126][127] Notable facilities include The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, the Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Holocaust Museum Houston, and the Houston Zoo.[128][12Sony SVS131G1DL Battery

Sony PCG-71913L Battery9][130] Located near the Museum District are The Menil Collection, Rothko Chapel, and the Byzantine Fresco Chapel Museum.

Bayou Bend is a 14-acre (5.7 ha) facility of the Museum of Fine Arts that houses one of America's best collections of decorative art, paintings and furniture. Bayou Bend is the former home of Houston philanthropist Ima Hogg.[131] Sony SVS151C1GL Battery
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The National Museum of Funeral History is located in Houston near the George Bush Intercontinental Airport. The museum houses the original Popemobile used by Pope John Paul II in the 1980s along with numerous hearses, embalming displays and information on famous funerals. Sony SVS151E1GL Battery

Venues across Houston regularly host local and touring rock, blues, country, dubstep, and Tejano musical acts. While Houston has never been widely known for its music scene,[132] Houston hip-hop has become a significant, independent music scene that is influential nationwide.[133]

Tourism and recreation[edit] Sony PCG-61A11L Battery

Mission Control Center inside the Johnson Space Center.

Discovery Green park in downtown.

The Theater District is a 17-block area in the center of downtown Houston that is home to the Bayou Place entertainment complex, restaurants, movies, plazas, and parks. Bayou Place is a large multilevel building containing full-service restaurants, bars, live music, billiards, and Sundance Cinema. Sony PCG-61A13L Battery

Sony PCG-71912L BatteryThe Houston Verizon Wireless Theater, now Bayou Music Center, stages live concerts, stage plays, and stand-up comedy. Space Center Houston is the official visitors' center of NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. The Space Center has many interactive exhibits including moon rocks, Sony PCG-61A14L Battery
a shuttle simulator, and presentations about the history of NASA's manned space flight program. Other tourist attractions include the Galleria (Texas's largest shopping mall located in the Uptown District), Old Market Square, the Downtown Aquarium, and Sam Houston Race Park.
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Of worthy mention are Houston's current Chinatown and the Mahatma Gandhi District. Both areas offer a picturesque view of Houston's multicultural makeup. Restaurants, bakeries, traditional-clothing boutiques and specialty shops can be found in both areas.

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The Galleria in the Uptown District is the largest mall in Texas.

Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park in Uptown

Houston is home to 337 parks including Hermann Park, Terry Hershey Park, Lake Houston Park, Memorial Park, Tranquility Park, Sesquicentennial Park, Discovery Green, and Sam Houston Park. Within Hermann Park are the Houston Zoo and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
Sony PCG-71811L Battery Sam Houston Park contains restored and reconstructed homes which were originally built between 1823 and 1905.[134] There is a proposal to open the city's first botanic garden at Herman Brown Park.[135] Sony PCG-71C12L Battery

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Of the 10 most populous U.S. cities, Houston has the most total area of parks and green space, 56,405 acres (228 km2)[136] The city also has over 200 additional green spaces—totaling over 19,600 acres (79 km2) that are managed by the city—including the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark is a public skatepark owned and operated by the city of Houston,
Sony PCG-71614L Battery and is one of the largest skateparks in Texas consisting of 30,000 (2,800 m2) square foot in-ground facility. The Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park—located in the Uptown District of the city—serves as a popular tourist attraction, weddings, and various celebrations. A 2011 study by Walk Score ranked Houston the 23rd most walkable of the 50 largest cities in the United States.[137
Sony PCG-61913L Battery] SplashTown Waterpark Houston is a water park located north of Houston.

The Bayport Cruise Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel will become port of call for both Princess Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line in 2013-2014.[138] Sony PCG-61714L Battery

Media[edit]

Further information: List of newspapers in Houston, List of television stations in Texas, List of radio stations in Texas, Magazines in Houston, and List of films featured in Houston

The primary network-affiliated television stations are KPRC-TV (NBC), KHOU-TV (CBS), KTRK-TV (ABC), and KRIV-TV (Fox). Sony PCG-61813L Battery
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The Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area is served by one public television station and two public radio stations. KUHT (HoustonPBS) is a PBS member station and is the first public television station in the United States. Houston Public Radio is listener-funded and comprises two NPR member stations: KUHF (KUHF News) and KUHA (Classical 91.7). Sony SVE141C11L Battery
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KUHF is news/talk radio and KUHA is a classical music station. The University of Houston System owns and holds broadcasting licenses to KUHT, KUHF, and KUHA. The stations broadcast from the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting, located on the campus of the University of Houston. Sony SVE141L11L Battery

Houston is served by the Houston Chronicle, its only major daily newspaper with wide distribution. The Hearst Corporation, which owns and operates the Houston Chronicle, bought the assets of the Houston Post—its long-time rival and main competition—Sony SVE151E11L Battery

Sony PCG-61317L Batterywhen Houston Post ceased operations in 1995. The Houston Post was owned by the family of former Lieutenant Governor Bill Hobby of Houston. The only other major publication to serve the city is the Houston Press—a free alternative weekly with a weekly readership of more than 300,000.[139] Sony SVE151G11L Battery
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Education[edit]

Main article: Education in Houston

The Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center (HMWESC), which houses the Houston Independent School District administrative offices

Seventeen school districts exist within the city of Houston. The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the seventh-largest school district in the United States.[140Sony SVE151J11L Battery
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Sony PCG-61316L Battery] HISD has 112 campuses that serve as magnet or vanguard schools—specializing in such disciplines as health professions, visual and performing arts, and the sciences. There are also many charter schools that are run separately from school districts. In addition, some public school districts also have their own charter schools.

The Houston area encompasses more than 300 private schools,[141][ Sony SVE171E11L Battery

Sony PCG-61315L Battery142][143] many of which are accredited by Texas Private School Accreditation Commission recognized agencies. The Houston Area Independent Schools offer education from a variety of different religious as well as secular viewpoints.[144] The Houston area Catholic schools are operated by the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.

Colleges and universities[edit]

Further information: List of colleges and universities in Houston

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Rice University

Four separate and distinct state universities are located in Houston. The University of Houston is a nationally recognized Tier One research university, and is the flagship institution of the University of Houston System.[145][14Sony SVE171G112 Battery
6][147] The third-largest university in Texas, the University of Houston has nearly 40,000 students on its 667 acre campus in southeast Houston.[1Sony PCG-61713L Battery
Sony PCG-61312L Battery48] The University of Houston–Clear Lake and the University of Houston–Downtown are stand-alone universities; they are not branch campuses of the University of Houston. Located in the historic community of Third Ward is Texas Southern University, one of the largest historically black colleges and universities in the United States. Sony PCG-91111L Battery

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Several private institutions of higher learning—ranging from liberal arts colleges to Rice University, the nationally recognized research university—are located within the city. Rice, with a total enrollment of slightly more than 6,000 students, Sony PCG-91112L Battery

Sony PCG-61215L Battery is widely recognized as one of the top twenty universities in the nation, and it has a number of distinguished graduate programs and research institutes such as the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy. The university's undergraduates are among the most select in the nation.[149] Sony PCG-71312L Battery

Three community college districts exist with campuses in and around Houston. The Houston Community College System serves most of Houston. The northwestern through northeastern parts of the city are served by various campuses of the Lone Star College System, while the southeastern portion of Houston is served by San Jacinto College, Sony PCG-71311L Battery

Sony PCG-61211L Battery and a northeastern portion is served by Lee College.[150] The Houston Community College and Lone Star College systems are within the 10 largest institutions of higher learning in the United States. Sony PCG-71218L Battery

Houston is the seat of the internationally renowned Texas Medical Center, which contains the world's largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions.[151] All 49 member institutions of the Texas Medical Center are non-profit organizations. Sony PCG-71217L Battery

Sony PCG-71216L Battery They provide patient and preventive care, research, education, and local, national, and international community well-being. Employing more than 73,600 people, institutions at the medical center include 13 hospitals and two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, Sony PCG-71313L Battery

Sony PCG-71215L Battery public health, pharmacy, and virtually all health-related careers. It is where one of the first—and still the largest—air emergency service, Life Flight, was created, and a very successful inter-institutional transplant program was developed. Sony PCG-71315L Battery

Sony PCG-71212L Battery More heart surgeries are performed at the Texas Medical Center than anywhere else in the world.[152]

Some of the academic and research health institutions at the center include MD Anderson Cancer Center, Baylor College of Medicine, UT Health Science Center, Memorial Hermann Hospital, The Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and University of Houston College of Pharmacy.
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The Baylor College of Medicine has annually been considered within the top ten medical schools in the nation; likewise, the MD Anderson Cancer Center has consistently ranked as one of the top two U.S. hospitals specializing in cancer care by U.S. News & World Report since 1990.[153][
Sony PCG-71318L Battery154] The Menninger Clinic, a renowned psychiatric treatment center, is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital System.[155] With hospital locations nationwide and headquarters in Houston, Sony PCG-71316L Battery
Sony PCG-71317L Batterythe Triumph Healthcare hospital system is the third largest long term acute care provider nationally.[156]

Transportation[edit]

Main article: Transportation in Houston

Highways[edit]

I-10 and I-45 interchange

The predominant form of transportation in Houston is the automobile with 71.7 percent of residents driving alone to work[157] This is facilitated through Houston's freeway system, comprising 739.3 miles (1,189.8 km) of freeways and expressways in a ten-county metropolitan area.[158]
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However, the Texas Transportation Institute's annual Urban Mobility Report found that Houston had the fourth-worst congestion in the country with commuters spending an average of 58 hours in traffic in 2009.[159] Sony PCG-61412L Battery

Houston's highway system has a hub-and-spoke freeway structure serviced by multiple loops. The innermost loop is Interstate 610, which encircles downtown, the medical center, and many core neighborhoods with around a 10-mile (16 km) diameter. Sony PCG-71111L Battery
Beltway 8 and its freeway core, the Sam Houston Tollway, form the middle loop at a diameter of roughly 25 miles (40 km). A proposed highway project, State Highway 99 (Grand Parkway), would form a third loop outside of Houston. As of 2010, Sony PCG-81111L Battery

Sony PCG-81314L Battery only two out of eleven segments of State Highway 99 have been completed. Houston is located along the route of the proposed Interstate 69 NAFTA superhighway that would link Canada, the U.S. industrial Midwest, Texas, and Mexico. Sony PCG-81112L Battery

Sony PCG-81313L Battery Other spoke freeways either planned or under construction include the Fort Bend Parkway, Hardy Toll Road, Crosby Freeway, and the future Alvin Freeway.

Houston's freeway system is monitored by Houston TranStar—a partnership of four government agencies that are responsible for providing transportation and emergency management services to the region.[160]
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METRORail light rail

Transit systems[edit]

The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) provides public transportation in the form of buses, light rail, and lift vans. METRO's various forms of public transportation still do not connect many of the suburbs to the greater city. Sony PCG-81113L Battery

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METRO began light rail service on January 1, 2004 with the inaugural track ("Red Line") running about 8 miles (13 km) from the University of Houston–Downtown (UHD), which traverses through the Texas Medical Center and terminates at Reliant Park. METRO is currently in the design phase of a 10-year expansion plan that will add five more lines.[1Sony PCG-81114L Battery
Sony PCG-81214L Battery61] and expand the current Red Line. Amtrak, the national rail passenger system, provides service to Houston via the Sunset Limited (Los Angeles–New Orleans), which stops at a train station on the north side of the downtown area. The station saw 14,891 boardings and alightings in fiscal year 2008.[162] Sony PCG-71111L Battery

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Cycling[edit]

Houston has the largest number of bike commuters in Texas with over 160 miles of dedicated bikeways.[163][164] The city is currently in the process of expanding its on and off street bikeway network.[165] A new Bicycle sharing system known as Houston B-Cycle currently operates 11 different stations in the downtown area and 7 in other parts of Houston.[166]

Airports[edit] Sony PCG-81111L Battery

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

Houston is served by three airports, two of which are commercial that served 52 million passengers in 2007 and managed by the Houston Airport System.[167] The Federal Aviation Administration and the state of Texas selected the "Houston Airport System as Airport of the Year" for 2005,[

Sony PCG-81314L Battery168] largely because of its multi-year, $3.1 billion airport improvement program for both major airports in Houston.

The primary city airport is George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), the sixth-busiest in the United States for total passengers, and fourteenth-busiest worldwide.[169] Bush Intercontinental currently ranks third in the United States for non-stop domestic and international service with 182 destinations.[170]

Sony PCG-81313L Battery In 2006, the United States Department of Transportation named George Bush Intercontinental Airport the fastest-growing of the top ten airports in the United States.[171] The Houston Air Route Traffic Control Center stands on the George Bush Intercontinental Airport grounds.

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Houston was the headquarters of Continental Airlines until its 2010 merger with United Airlines with headquarters in Chicago; regulatory approval for the merger was granted in October of that year. Bush Intercontinental became United Airline's largest airline hub.[17Sony PCG-81112L Battery

Sony PCG-81311L Battery2] The airline retained a significant operational presence in Houston while offering more than 700 daily departures from the city.[173][174] In early 2007, Bush Intercontinental Airport was named a model "port of entry" for international travelers by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.[175] Sony PCG-81113L Battery

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The second-largest commercial airport is William P. Hobby Airport (named Houston International Airport until 1967) which operates primarily small to medium-haul domestic flights. Houston's aviation history is showcased in the 1940 Air Terminal Museum located in the old terminal building on the west side of the airport. Sony SVE17 battery
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Hobby Airport has been recognized with two awards for being one of the top five performing airports in the world and for customer service by Airports Council International.[176]

Houston's third municipal airport is Ellington Airport (a former U.S. Air Force base) used by military, government, NASA, and general aviation sectors.[177] Sony VPCCA1S1E battery
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Architecture[edit]

Three eras of buildings in Houston: JPMorgan Chase Building (1920s), Pennzoil Place (1970s), and Bank of America Center (1980s)

The northern side of Downtown Houston at night, revealing buildings of various styles and eras.

Main article: Architecture of Houston

See also: List of tallest buildings in Houston

Houston has the third tallest skyline in North America and one of the top 10 in the world.[178][17Sony VPCCA2S0E battery

VPCCB3P1E battery9] A seven-mile (11 km) system of tunnels and skywalks link downtown buildings containing shops and restaurants, enabling pedestrians to avoid summer heat and rain while walking between buildings. Sony VPCCA2Z0E battery

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In the 1960s, Downtown Houston consisted of a collection of mid-rise office structures. Downtown was on the threshold of an energy industry led boom in 1970. A succession of skyscrapers were built throughout the 1970s—many by real estate developer Gerald D. Hines—culminating with Houston's tallest skyscraper, Sony VPCCA3 battery

Sony VPCCB2S1E batterythe 75-floor, 1,002-foot (305 m)-tall JPMorgan Chase Tower (formerly the Texas Commerce Tower), completed in 1982. It is the tallest structure in Texas, 10th tallest building in the United States and the 30th tallest skyscraper in the world, based on height to roof. In 1983, the 71-floor, 992-foot (302 m)- Sony VPCCB2 battery
tall Wells Fargo Plaza (formerly Allied Bank Plaza) was completed, becoming the second-tallest building in Houston and Texas. Based on height to roof, it is the 13th tallest in the United States and the 36th tallest in the world. As of 2007, downtown Houston had over 43 million square feet (4,000,000 m²) of office space.[180] Sony VPCCB2M0E battery
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Centered on Post Oak Boulevard and Westheimer Road, the Uptown District boomed during the 1970s and early 1980s when a collection of mid-rise office buildings, hotels, and retail developments appeared along Interstate 610 west. Sony VPCSB1A9E battery

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Uptown became one of the most prominent instances of an edge city. The tallest building in Uptown is the 64-floor, 901-foot (275 m)-tall, Philip Johnson and John Burgee designed landmark Williams Tower (known as the Transco Tower until 1999). At the time of construction, it was believed to the be the world's tallest skyscraper outside of a central business district.
Sony SVS13A1V9E batteryThe Uptown District is also home to buildings designed by noted architects I. M. Pei, César Pelli, and Philip Johnson. In the late 1990s and early 2000s decade, there was a mini-boom of mid-rise and high-rise residential tower construction, with several over 30 stories tall.[181][182][183] In 2002, Uptown had more than 23 million square feet (2,100,000 m²) of office space with 16 million square feet (1,500,000 m²) of Class A office space.[184]

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Houston has sports teams for every major professional league, except the National Hockey League. The city currently hosts three of the four major sports in the United States: The Houston Astros is an MLB expansion team formed in 1962 (as the Colt .45s until 1965), who made one World Series appearance (2005), the Houston Rockets, who was formed in 1967 in San Diego and relocated in 1971 (and have won 2 NBA Championships), and the Houston Texans of the NFL.

Minute Maid Park (home of the Astros) and Toyota Center (home of the Rockets and Aeros), are located in Downtown. Houston has the NFL's first retractable-roof stadium, Reliant Stadium (home of the Texans). Minute Maid Park is also a retractable-roof stadium. The Toyota Center also has the largest screen for an indoor arena in the world built to coincide with the arena's hosting of the 2013 NBA All-Star Game. BBVA Compass Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium for the Dynamo, located in East Downtown (EaDo). In addition, Reliant Astrodome was the first indoor stadium in the world, built in 1965. Other sports facilities include Hofheinz Pavilion (Houston Cougars basketball), Rice Stadium (Rice Owls football), and Reliant Arena. A new football stadium is currently under construction for the Houston Cougars football team, and is scheduled to open by August 2014.

Houston has hosted several major sports events: The 1968 MLB All-Star Game, the 1989, 2006 and 2013 NBA All-Star Game, Super Bowl VIII and Super Bowl XXXVIII, as well as hosting the 2005 World Series and 1981, 1986, 1994 and 1995 NBA Finals, winning the latter two. Super Bowl LI is currently slated to be hosted in Houston's Reliant Stadium in 2017.

Houston was home to the now defunct WNBA Comets from 1997 to 2008. The Comets won 4 WNBA Championships (all consecutive) which is still the most championships of any sports team in Houston, and the biggest title streak in Texas. The AFL/NFL Oilers called Houston home from 1960 to 1997 when the team moved to Tennessee and became the Titans.

The city has hosted several major professional and college sporting events, including the annual Shell Houston Open golf tournament. Houston hosts the annual NCAA College Baseball Minute Maid Classic every February and NCAA football's Texas Bowl in December.

The Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston is an annual auto race on the IndyCar Series circuit. The race is held on a 1.7-mile temporary street circuit in Reliant Park. The next event will be held in October, 2013 sponsored by Royal Dutch Shell and using a tweaked version of the 2006-2007 course.[185] The event has a 5-year race contract through 2017 with IndyCar and Shell, using its Pennzoil brand of motor oil, is signed for 4-years as the event's title sponsor.[186]

Crime[edit]

Houston Police Department Memorial

Houston's murder rate ranked 46th of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000 in 2005 (per capita rate of 16.3 murders per 100,000 population).[ Sony VPCSB1B9E battery

Sony VPCSA4W9E battery187] In 2010, the city's murder rate (per capita rate of 11.8 murders per 100,000 population) was ranked fifth among U.S. cities with a population of over 750,000 (behind New York City, Chicago, Detroit, Dallas, and Philadelphia)[188] according to the FBI. Sony VPCSB1S1E battery

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Murders fell by 37 percent from January to June 2011, compared with the same period in 2010. Houston's total crime rate including violent and nonviolent crimes decreased by 11 percent.[189]

Houston is a significant hub for trafficking of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, MDMA, and methamphetamine due to its size and proximity to major illegal drug exporting nations.[190]
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In the early 1970s, Houston, Pasadena and several coastal towns were the site of the Houston Mass Murders, which at the time were the deadliest case of serial killing in American history.[191][192]
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The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston, Texas. The team plays in the Southwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1967, and played in San Diego, California, for four years, before moving to Houston.[1] Sony VPCSB1S1E battery

In the Rockets' debut season, they won only 15 games. But after drafting Elvin Hayes first overall in the 1969 NBA Draft, they made their first appearance in the playoffs in 1969. Sony VPCSB1V9E battery
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Sony VPCSA3N9E batteryAfter Hayes was traded, Moses Malone was later acquired to replace him. Malone went on to win the MVP award twice, and lead Houston to the conference finals in his first year with the team. He also took the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981, but they were defeated in six games by Larry Bird's Boston Celtics which also featured the Rockets current head coach, Kevin McHale.[2] Sony vgp-bps24 battery

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In 1984, the Rockets drafted Hakeem Olajuwon who, paired with Ralph Sampson and both collectively known as the "Twin Towers", led them to the 1986 Finals in their second and third year respectively, where in another brave effort they lost again to the Boston Celtics.
Sony SVE1711X1EB battery In the next seven seasons, plagued by injury including to Sampson who would be traded in 1988, they lost in the first round of the playoffs five times, until finally advancing in 1993 with a re-tooled roster past the L.A. Sony vgp-bpsc24 battery

Sony SVE1711V1EB battery Clippers and battle the rival Seattle SuperSonics to the bitter end before falling short in an overtime Game 7. Inspired by the tough playoff defeat, Olajuwon famously proclaimed to the team "We go from here." The Rockets stormed all the way to the 1994 NBA Finals, where Olajuwon led them to the franchise's first championship against his rival Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks. Sony VPCSD1S1C battery

Sony SVE1711K1EW battery The team repeated as champions in 1995 with a memorable run as the 6th seed in the West and sweeping the favored Orlando Magic led by a young Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. After winning two championships, Sony SVS15 battery

Sony SVE1711T1EB batterythe Rockets traded away most of the championship team for Charles Barkley, changed their championship uniforms, and, to date, have not advanced to the finals again.
Sony SVE151C11M battery They missed the playoffs from 2000–2003 and did not reach the playoffs again until they drafted Yao Ming and they did not advance past the first round of the playoffs again until 2009.[3] Following Yao Ming's retirement in 2011, Sony VPCSA2Z9E battery
Sony SVE171A11M batterythe Rockets entered a period of rebuilding, failing to reach the playoffs for 3 straight seasons. With a complete dismantling of the team entering the 2012 season, the Rockets have proclaimed "a new age" and their period of rebuilding over, capped by their first playoffs clinch on April 9, 2013. Sony VPCCA4S1E battery

During the Rockets' years in San Diego, they played in the San Diego Sports Arena.

The Rockets were founded in 1967 in San Diego, and after being bought by Robert Breitbard for US$1.75 million,[1Sony VPCCB3M1E battery

Sony SVS1311P9EB battery] they joined the NBA as an expansion team for the 1967–68 NBA season.[4] The San Diego franchise nickname became the "Rockets" due to the local development (General Dynamics) of the Atlas missile and booster rocket program. Jack McMahon was named the Rockets' coach, Sony VPCCA3S1E battery

Sony SVS1311E3EW battery [5] and the team's first draft pick, in 1967, was Pat Riley.[6][7] The Rockets lost 67 games in their inaugural season,[8] which was then an NBA record for losses in a season.[9]
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In 1968, after the Rockets won a coin toss against the Baltimore Bullets to determine who would have the first overall pick in the 1968 NBA Draft,[10] they selected Elvin Hayes from, coincidentally, the University of Houston.[11] Sony VPCCA2S1E battery

Sony SVS151A11M batteryHayes led the team to the franchise's first ever playoff appearance in 1969,[12] but the Rockets lost in the semi-finals of the Western Division to the Atlanta Hawks, four games to two.[12] Sony SVS131B12M battery In 1970, the Rockets drafted future Hall of Famer Calvin Murphy and future Rockets championship coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who would both play for the Rockets all their careers, and would make the NBA All-Star Team several times.[13][14] Sony SVS13A1U9ES battery
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Coached by Hall of Fame coach Alex Hannum, the Rockets tallied a 57–97 record in the following two seasons, and did not make the playoffs in either season.[15][16] Because of the low performance and attendance, Breitbard looked to sell the team,[ Sony VPCSB4S9E battery

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1] and in 1971, Texas Sports Investments, which was led by real estate broker Wayne Duddleston and banker Billy Goldberg, bought the franchise for $5.6 million, and moved the team to Houston.[1
Sony PCG-41214M battery] The franchise became the first NBA team in Texas,[17] and the team's nickname of "Rockets" kept its relevance after the move.[18]

1971-1976: Improving in Houston with Murphy and Rudy-T[edit]

Before the start of the 1971–72 NBA season, Hannum left for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association (The Denver Rockets would be the Nuggets by the ABA-NBA merger),[19] and Tex Winter was hired in his place.[20Sony VPCSE2F1E battery

Sony PCG-41414M battery] However, Winter, who said that Hayes had "the worst fundamentals of any player" he had ever coached,[21] applied a system that contrasted with the offensive style to which Hayes was accustomed. Because of the differences between Winter and Hayes,
Sony PCG-41218M battery Houston traded Hayes, who had led the Rockets in scoring for four straight years,[2] to the Baltimore Bullets for Jack Marin at the end of the 1971–72 season. It was also around this time that the Rockets would use their classic logo used until the end of the 1994–95 season.[22
Sony PCG-41213M battery] Winter left soon after, in the spring of 1973, following the Rockets 10th straight loss,[20] and he was replaced by Johnny Egan.[23]

In 1974 the Rockets unveiled their classic uniforms that matched the font of the logo and would be used for the next 21 years. In the 1975 NBA Playoffs they would not only make their first appearance since 1969 in San Diego but also advanced to the second round past the New York
Sony PCG-41211M batteryKnicks 2 games to 1 and advanced to meet the veteran Boston Celtics, which shut the young Rockets down in 5 games. It was by this time that Houston had become rather fond of their basketball team selling out several games down the stretch of the regular season as the Rockets battled for a playoff spot, and then sold out all home playoff games. Sony VPCSE2V9E battery

1976-1982: The Moses Malone era[edit]

In the 1975–76 NBA season the Rockets finally had a permanent home in Houston as they moved into The Summit, which they would call home for the next 29 years. The following season (after missing the 1976 playoffs), under coach Egan's guidance, as well as ABA Newcomer Moses Malone and veterans Tomjanovich, Sony PCG-4121DM battery
Sony PCG-4121EM batteryMurphy, and Mike Newlin to help lead the way, the Rockets won the franchise's first division title, the 1977 Central Division title at 49–33, and made their second appearance in the playoffs since arriving in Houston.[2Sony PCG-41311M battery

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] After a first round bye for having the second best record in the East, the Rockets defeated the Washington Bullets led by former Rocket Elvin Hayes as well as Bullet stars Wes Unseld and Dave Bing in the Eastern Conference Semifinals 4–2, but lost to the Philadelphia 76ers led by former ABA star Julius Erving 4 games to 2 in the Eastern Conference Finals.[24] Sony PCG-41313M battery

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Early into the 1977–78 season, at a game on December 9, 1977, Kevin Kunnert got into a fight with Kermit Washington of the Los Angeles Lakers. As Tomjanovich approached the altercation, Washington turned and threw a punch that landed squarely in the face of an approaching Tomjanovich, causing numerous fractures in his face.[25Sony PCG-41315M battery

Sony VGP-BPS20/B battery] Tomjanovich spent the next five months in rehabilitation and was not available for selection in the 1978 All-Star Game, and Malone went in his place as the lone Rocket All-Star that season. Rudy-T's averages for the season significantly declined after the injury,[26] and without the leadership of team captain Rudy-T, Sony PCG-4R2M battery

Sony VGP-BPL20 batteryHouston finished with just 28 wins in the season, despite an excellent season by Calvin Murphy.[27]

In the following season, Malone, Murphy, and Tomjanovich all played in the 1979 NBA All-Star Game, and "The Chairman Of The Boards" Moses Malone received the 1979 MVP Award.[28] The Rockets also sent John Lucas II to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Rick Barry,

Sony VPCZ23K9E batterywho went on to set the NBA record at the time for free throw percentage in a season by shooting 94.7%.[29] The Rockets went 47–35 in Nissalke's last season as coach, and finished second in the Central Division, but were swept 2–0 against Atlanta in a best-of-three first-round series.[3Sony PCG-4R2M battery

Sony VPCZ21Q9E battery0] In Houston's 1979–80 campaign, Del Harris replaced Nissalke as head coach, and he led the Rockets to a 41–41 record, tying the San Antonio Spurs for second place in the Central Division.[31] After the Rockets defeated the Spurs two games to one in their first-round playoff series, they were swept by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semi-finals, led by rookie Larry Bird.[31] Sony PCG-4U2M battery

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In 1979 George Maloof, a businessperson from Albuquerque, New Mexico, bought the Rockets for $9 million. Bill Schadewald of the Houston Business Journal said that, at that time, "I could arrive just before game time, pay a desperate scalper two bucks for a ticket and sit just about anywhere in The Summit."[32] Sony PCG-6112M battery

In the 1980–81 season, after the newly-established Dallas Mavericks became the third NBA team in Texas,[33] the NBA restructured the conferences and sent the Rockets, who had previously played in the Eastern Conference, to the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.

Sony VPCZ13Z9E/X battery In Harris's second season, Houston tied with Kansas City for second place in the Midwest Division behind San Antonio with a 40–42 record, and qualified for the playoffs with just one game left.[34] During the season, Murphy set two NBA records, by sinking 78 consecutive free throws to break Rick Barry's mark of 60 set in 1976, and achieving a free-throw percentage of .958, breaking Barry's record set with the Rockets in 1979.[35] Sony PCG-6121M battery

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In the playoffs, Houston began a run that began when they upset Los Angeles two games to one, and then confronting George Gervin's San Antonio Spurs in a classic Battle of Texas, which would see the Rockets defeat the Spurs four games to three in the Western Conference semifinals,

Sony VPCZ13M9E/B batteryending in a climactic Game 7 at the hostile HemisFair Arena where Calvin Murphy would score a playoff career-high 42 points.[36] This resulted in a surprise conference finals matchup with the likewise 40–42 Kansas City Kings, who were led by Otis Birdsong, Scott Wedman, and Phil Ford. Sony PCG-6122M battery

Sony VPCZ13 battery When the Kings fell to the Rockets in five games,[36] the Rockets became only the second team in NBA history (after the 1959 Minneapolis Lakers) to advanced to the Finals after having a losing record in the regular season, and thus met Larry Bird's Boston Celtics in the finals round.[37] Sony PCG-6123M battery

Sony PCG-6124M batteryHowever, after blowing a late lead in Game 1 against the Celtics, and actually winning Game 2 at the legendary Boston Garden, the Rockets failed to capitalize on the early surprising success against the favored Celtics, Sony VPCZ11 battery

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and Houston eventually lost in six games.[38] During the Playoff run, the Rockets received strong play from Mike Dunleavy, Calvin Murphy, Tom Henderson, Bill Willoughby, Billy Paultz, Allen Leavell, Robert Reid, Major Jones, and even an older Rudy Tomjanovich who hit critical free throws in game 2, in addition to the superb performance of Moses Malone. Sony VPCZ11X9E/B battery

1983-1987: The Twin Towers[edit]

This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (June 2012)

The following season, the Rockets improved their regular season mark to 46–36 but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.[39Sony VPCZ11Z9E battery

Sony VGP-BPS20 battery] Although Malone won the league's Most Valuable Player award in that season,[28] in the following offseason, the Rockets traded him to the Philadelphia 76ers for Caldwell Jones,[28Sony VPCZ11Z9E/B battery

Sony VPCZ23N9E battery] to avoid paying his salary, which was a decision the Rockets were forced to make as they were low on funds due to a declining regional economy at the time.[40] When the Rockets finished a league worst 14–68,[41] Celtics coach Bill Fitch was hired to replace outgoing Del Harris,[40] and after winning a coin flip with the Indiana Pacers to obtain the first pick of the 1983 NBA Draft,[40] the Rockets selected Ralph Sampson from the University of Virginia.[42]

Although the Rockets finished only 29–53 in the 1983–1984 season, Ralph Sampson was awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year award,[4Sony VPCZ12C7E/B battery

Sony VPCZ23M9E battery3] after averaging 21 points and 11 rebounds per game.[43] Houston was again given the first pick of the 1984 NBA Draft, and they used it to select Hakeem Olajuwon from the University of Houston.[44] Sony VPCZ12M9E battery

Sony VPCZ21X9R batteryIn his first season, Olajuwon finished second to Michael Jordan in NBA Rookie of the Year balloting,[45] and the Rockets record improved by 19 games good for 2nd place in the Midwest division (after Denver) Sony VPCZ12M9E/B battery

Sony VPCZ21V9E battery and the third seed in the west, though they were upset in the first round of the playoffs by the sixth seeded Utah Jazz.[46] In the following season, both Olajuwon and Sampson were named to the Western Conference All-Stars in that year's all-star game,[47] and the duo was nicknamed the "Twin Towers".[48] Sony VPCZ12V9E battery

The next season Houston won the Midwest Division title with a 51–31 record. One game against the Phoenix Suns epitomized the effectiveness and promise of the Twin Towers in which Ralph

Sony VPCZ12Z9E/X batterySampson bringing the ball up-court passed an alley-oop to an eager Hakeem Olajuwon far above the reach of their opponents. In the playoffs, the Rockets breezed past the Sacramento Kings in a 3–0 first round sweep, but struggled with Alex English's Denver Nuggets, including one game going to double overtime, Sony VPCZ12V9E/B battery

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Sony VPCZ12Z9E/B battery which had the positive effect of getting the Rockets to play together as a cohesive team with great chemistry, and eventually pulled away with the victory over the Nuggets 4–2. When faced with defending champion Lakers in the Conference Finals, the Rockets were ready to knock off their rivals who had the best of them during the season. However, the Rockets lost game 1, Sony VGP-BPS13 Battery