Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
Native name	भारत गणराज्य*''''
Conventional long name	Republic of India
Common name	India
Alt flag	Horizontal tricolour flag (deep saffron, white, and green). In the centre of the white is a navy blue wheel with 24 spokes.
Image coat	Emblem of India.svg
Alt coat	Three lions facing left, right,and toward viewer, atop a frieze containing a galloping horse, a 24-spoke wheel, and an elephant. Underneath is a motto "सत्यमेव जयते".
Symbol type	Emblem
National motto	''"Satyameva Jayate" ''(Sanskrit)   (Devanāgarī)"Truth Alone Triumphs"
National anthem	File:Jana Gana Mana instrumental.ogg''Jana Gana Mana''Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people
Other symbol type	National Song
Other symbol	''Vande Mataram''I bow to thee, Mother
Alt map	Image of globe centred on India, with India highlighted.
Map caption	Area controlled by India in dark green;Claimed but uncontrolled territories in light green
Map width	220px
Image map2
Alt map2
Map caption2
Capital	New Delhi
Largest city	Mumbai
Official languages	}}

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India (), officially the Republic of India ( ''''; see also official names of India), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; Bhutan, the People's Republic of China and Nepal to the northeast; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; in addition, India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia.

Home to the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four of the world's major religions—Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism—originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium CE and also helped shape the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early 18th century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian economy is the world's tenth-largest economy by nominal GDP and fourth largest economy by purchasing power parity (PPP). Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India has become one of the fastest growing major economies, and is considered a newly industrialized country; however, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate public health. A nuclear weapons state and a regional power, it has the third-largest standing army in the world and ranks tenth in military expenditure among nations.

India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories. It is one of the 5 BRICS nations. India is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society. It is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

Etymology

The name ''India'' is derived from ''Indus'', which is derived from the Old Persian word ''Hindu'', from Sanskrit सिन्धु ''Sindhu'', the historic local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as ''Indoi'' (Ινδοί), the people of the Indus. The Constitution of India and usage in many Indian languages also recognises ''Bharat'' (pronounced ) as an official name of equal status. The name Bharat is derived from the name of the legendary king Bharata in Hindu scriptures. ''Hindustan'' (), originally a Persian word for “Land of the Hindus” referring to northern India and Pakistan before 1947, is also occasionally used as a synonym for all of India.

History

Ancient India

The earliest anatomically modern human remains found in South Asia are from approximately 30,000 years ago. Near contemporaneous Mesolithic rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh. Around 7000 BCE, the first known neolithic settlements appeared on the subcontinent in Mehrgarh and other sites in western Pakistan. These gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, the first urban culture in South Asia, which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in Pakistan and western India. Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa, Dholavira, and Kalibangan, and relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilisation engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade.

During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent evolved from copper age to iron age cultures. The Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed during this period, and historians have analyzed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Ganges Plain. Most historians also consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the northwest. The caste system, creating a social hierarchy, appeared during this period. In the Deccan, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organization. In South India, the large number of megalithic monuments found from this period, and nearby evidence of agriculture, irrigation tanks, and craft traditions suggest progression to sedentary life.

By the fifth century BCE, the small chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the northwest regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies called ''Mahajanapadas''. The emerging urbanization as well as the orthodoxies of the late Vedic age created the religious reform movements of Buddhism and Jainism. Buddhism, based on the teachings of India's first historical figure, Gautam Buddha, attracted followers from all social classes; Jainism came into prominence around the same time during the life of its exemplar, Mahavira. In an age of increasing urban wealth, both religions held up renunciation as an ideal, and both established long-lasting monasteries. Politically, by the 3rd century BCE, the kingdom of Magadha had annexed or reduced other states to emerge as the Mauryan Empire. The empire was once thought to have controlled most of the subcontinent excepting the far south, but its core regions are now thought to have been separated by large autonomous areas. The Maurya kings are known as much for their empire building and determined management of public life as for Ashoka the Great's renunciation of militarism and his far flung advocacy of the Buddhist ''dhamma''.

The Sangam literature of the Tamil language reveals that during the period 200 BCE–200 CE, the southern peninsula was being ruled by the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas, dynasties that traded extensively with the Roman Empire and with west and south-east Asia. In north India during the same time, Hinduism asserted patriarchal control within the family. By the fourth and fifth centuries CE, the Gupta Empire had created a complex administrative and taxation system in the greater Ganges Plain that became a model for later Indian kingdoms. Under the Guptas, a renewed Hinduism based on devotion rather than the management of ritual began to assert itself and was reflected in a flowering of sculpture and architecture, which found patrons among an urban elite. Classical Sanskrit literature flowered as well, and Indian science, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics made significant advances,

Medieval India

The Indian early medieval age (600 CE to 1200 CE) is defined by regional kingdoms and cultural diversity. When Harsha of Kannauj, who ruled much of the Ganges plain from 606 to 647 CE, attempted to expand southwards, he was defeated by the Chalukya ruler of the Deccan. When his successor attempted to expand eastwards, he was defeated by the Pala king of Bengal. When the Chalukyas attempted to expand southwards, they were defeated by the Pallavas from farther south, who in turn were opposed by the Pandyas and the Cholas from still farther south. No ruler of this period was able to create an empire and consistently control lands much beyond his core region. During this time, pastoral peoples whose land had been cleared to make way for the growing agriculture economy were accommodated within caste society, as were new non-traditional ruling classes. The caste system consequently began to show regional differences.

In the sixth and seventh centuries CE, the first devotional hymns were created in the Tamil language. These were imitated all over India and led both to the resurgence of Hinduism and to the development of all the modern languages of the subcontinent. Indian royalty, big and small, and the temples they patronized drew citizens in great numbers to the capital cities, which became economic hubs as well. Temple towns of various sizes began to appear everywhere as India underwent another urbanisation. By the eight and ninth centuries, the effects were evident elsewhere as well as South Indian culture and political systems were being exported to Southeast Asia, in particular to what today are Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Java. Indian merchants, scholars, and sometimes armies were involved in this transmission, and south-east Asians took the initiative as well with many sojourning in Indian seminaries and translating Buddhist and Hindu texts into their languages.

After the tenth century, Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans, using swift horse cavalry and raising vast armies united by ethnicity and religion, repeatedly overran South Asia's north-western plains, and led eventually to the establishment of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate in 1206. The Sultanate was to control much of North India, and to make many forays into South India. Although at first disruptive for the Indian elites, the Sultanate largely left its vast non-Muslim subject population to its own laws and customs. By repeatedly repulsing the Mongol raiders in the thirteenth century, the Sultanate saved India from the destruction seen in west and central Asia, and set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, learned men, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from that region into India, thereby creating a syncretic Indo-Islamic culture in the north. The Sultanate's raiding and weakening of the regional kingdoms of South India, paved the way for the indigenous Vijayanagara Empire. Embracing a strong Shaivite tradition and building upon the military technology of the Sultanate, the empire came to control much of peninsular India, and to influence the society and culture of South India for long afterwards.

Early modern India

In the early sixteenth century, northern India, being ruled then mainly by Muslim rulers, fell again to the superior mobility and firepower of a new generation of Central Asian warriors. The Mughal empire, which resulted, did not stamp out the local societies it came to rule, but rather balanced and pacified them through new administrative practices, and diverse and inclusive ruling elites, leading to more systematic, centralized and uniform rule. Eschewing tribal bonds and Islamic identity, especially under Akbar, the Mughals united their far flung realms through loyalty, expressed through a Persianized culture, to an emperor who had near divine status. The Mughal state's economic policies, deriving most revenues from agriculture, and mandating that taxes be paid in the well-regulated silver currency, caused peasants and artisans to enter larger markets. The relative peace maintained by the empire during much of the seventeenth century was a factor in India's economic expansion, and resulted in greater patronage of painting, literary forms, textiles, and architecture. Newly coherent social groups in northern and western India, such as the Marathas, the Rajputs, and the Sikhs gained military and governing ambitions during Mughal rule, which, through collaboration or adversity, gave them both recognition and military experience. Expanding commerce during Mughal rule gave rise to new Indian commercial and political elites in the southern and eastern coastal India. As the empire disintegrated, many among these elites were able to seek and control their own affairs.

By the early 18th century, with the lines between commercial and political dominance being increasingly blurred, a number of European trading companies, including the English East India Company, had established outposts on the coast of India. The East India Company's control of the seas, its greater resources, and its army's more advanced training methods and technology, led it to increasingly flex its military muscle and caused it to become attractive to a portion of the Indian elite; both these factors were crucial in the Company becoming the ruler of the Bengal region by 1765, and sidelining the other European companies. Its further access to the riches of Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of India by the 1820s. India was now no longer exporting manufactured goods as it long had, but was instead supplying the British empire with raw materials, and most historians consider this to be the true onset of India's colonial period. By this time also, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and effectively now an arm of British administration, the Company began to more consciously enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.

Modern India

Depending upon the historian, India's modern age begins variously in 1848, when with the appointment of Lord Dalhousie as Governor General of the Company rule in India, changes essential to a modern state, including the consolidation and demarcation of sovereignty, the surveillance of the population, and the education of citizens, were put in place, and technological changes, among them, railways, canals, and telegraph were introduced not long after being introduced in Europe; 1857, when disaffection with the Company's rule, set off by diverse resentments, which included British social reforms, harshness of land taxes, and the humiliation of landed and princely aristocracy, led to the Indian rebellion of 1857 in many parts of northern India; 1858, when after the suppression of the rebellion, the British government took over the direct administration of India, and proclaimed a unitary state, which on the one hand envisaged a limited and gradual British-style parliamentary system, but on the other hand protected India's princes and large landlords as a feudal safeguard; and 1885, when the founding of the Indian National Congress marked the beginning of a period in which public life emerged at an all-India level.

Although the rush of technology and the commercialization of agriculture in the second half of the 19th century was marked by economic setbacks—many small farmers became dependent on the whims of far away markets, there was an increase in the number of large-scale famines, and, despite the Indian taxpayers enduring the risks of infrastructure development, little industrial employment was generated for Indians,—there were also salutary effects: commercial cropping, especially in the newly canalled Punjab, increased food production for internal consumption, the railway network provided critical famine relief, reduced notably the cost of moving goods, and helped the nascent Indian owned industry. After the first world war, in which some one million Indians served, a new period began, which was marked by British reforms, but also repressive legislation, by more strident Indian calls for self-rule, and by the beginnings of a nonviolent movement of non-cooperation, of which Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi would become the leader and enduring symbol. During the 1930s, slow legislative reform was enacted by the British and the Indian National Congress won victories in the resulting elections. However, the next decade would be beset with crises, which included, the second world war, the Congress's final push of non-cooperation, and the upsurge of Muslim nationalism—all capped by the independence of India in 1947, but tempered by the bloody partition of the subcontinent into two states.

Vital to India's self-image as an independent nation was its constitution, completed in 1950, which put in place a sovereign, secular, democratic republic. In the 60 years since, India has had a mixed bag of successes and failures. On the positive side, it has remained a democracy with many civil liberties, an activist Supreme Court, and an independent press; economic liberalization in the 1990s, has created a large urban middle-class, transformed India into one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and increased its global clout; and Indian movies, new music, and spiritual teachings, have increasingly contributed to global culture. However, on the negative side, India has been weighed down with seemingly unyielding poverty, both rural and urban; by religious and caste-related violence, by the insurgencies of Maoist inspired Naxalites, and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir; India has unresolved territorial disputes with the People's Republic of China, which escalated into the Sino-Indian War of 1962, with Pakistan which resulted in wars in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999, and nuclear rivalry which came to a head in 1998. India's sustained democratic freedoms, for over 60 years, are unique among the world's new nations; however, in spite of its recent economic successes, freedom from want for its disadvantaged population, remains a goal yet to be achieved.

Geography

India, the major portion of the Indian subcontinent, lies atop the Indian tectonic plate, a minor plate within the Indo-Australian Plate. India's defining geological processes commenced seventy-five million years ago when the Indian subcontinent, then part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, began a northeastwards drift—lasting fifty million years—across the then unformed Indian Ocean. The subcontinent's subsequent collision with the Eurasian Plate and subduction under it gave rise to the Himalayas, the planet's highest mountains, which abut India in the north and the north-east. The Kanchenjunga is the highest mountain bordering India and Nepal. The Nanda Devi is the second highest peak and the highest mountain located entirely within India. The former seabed immediately south of the emerging Himalayas, plate movement created a vast trough which, having gradually been filled with river-borne sediment, now forms the Indo-Gangetic Plain. To the west lies the Thar Desert, which is cut off by the Aravalli Range.

The original Indian plate survives as peninsular India, the oldest and geologically most stable part of India and extends as far north as the Satpura and Vindhya ranges in central India. These parallel ranges run from the Arabian Sea coast in Gujarat in the west to the coal-rich Chota Nagpur Plateau in Jharkhand in the east. To the south the remaining peninsular landmass, the Deccan Plateau, is flanked on the west and east by the coastal ranges, Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats respectively; the plateau contains the oldest rock formations in India, some over one billion years old. Constituted in such fashion, India lies to the north of the equator between 6°44' and 35°30' north latitude and 68°7' and 97°25' east longitude.

India's coast is long; of this distance, belong to peninsular India and to the Andaman, Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands. According to the Indian naval hydrographic charts, the mainland coast consists of the following: 43% sandy beaches, 11% rocky coast including cliffs, and 46% mudflats or marshy coast.

Major Himalayan-origin rivers that substantially flow through India include the Ganges (Ganga) and the Brahmaputra, both of which drain into the Bay of Bengal. Important tributaries of the Ganges include the Yamuna and the Kosi; the latter's extremely low gradient causes disastrous floods every year. Major peninsular rivers, whose steeper gradients prevent their waters from flooding, include the Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Kaveri, and the Krishna, which also drain into the Bay of Bengal; and the Narmada and the Tapti, which drain into the Arabian Sea. Among notable coastal features of India are the marshy Rann of Kutch in western India, and the alluvial Sundarbans delta, which India shares with Bangladesh. India has two archipelagos: the Lakshadweep, coral atolls off India's south-western coast; and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a volcanic chain in the Andaman Sea.

India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, both of which drive the monsoons. The Himalayas prevent cold Central Asian katabatic winds from blowing in, keeping the bulk of the Indian subcontinent warmer than most locations at similar latitudes. The Thar Desert plays a crucial role in attracting the moisture-laden southwest summer monsoon winds that, between June and October, provide the majority of India's rainfall. Four major climatic groupings predominate in India: tropical wet, tropical dry, subtropical humid, and montane.

Biodiversity

Lying within the Indomalaya ecozone with three hotspots located within its area, India displays significant biodiversity. As one of the 17 megadiverse countries, it is home to 7.6% of all mammalian, 12.6% of all avian, 6.2% of all reptilian, 4.4% of all amphibian, 11.7% of all fish, and 6.0% of all flowering plant species. Many ecoregions such as the ''shola'' forests exhibit high rates of endemism; overall, 33% of Indian plant species are endemic. India's forest cover ranges from the tropical rainforest of the Andaman Islands, Western Ghats, and northeastern India to the coniferous forest of the Himalaya. Between these extremes lie the sal-dominated moist deciduous forest of eastern India; the teak-dominated dry deciduous forest of central and southern India; and the babul-dominated thorn forest of the central Deccan and western Gangetic plain. Under 12% of India's landmass is covered by dense forests. Important Indian trees include the medicinal neem, widely used in rural Indian herbal remedies. The pipal fig tree, shown on the seals of Mohenjo-daro, shaded Gautama Buddha as he sought enlightenment.

Many Indian species are descendants of taxa originating in Gondwana, from which the Indian plate separated a long time ago. Peninsular India's subsequent movement towards and collision with the Laurasian landmass set off a mass exchange of species. However, volcanism and climatic changes 20 million years ago caused the extinction of many endemic Indian forms. Soon thereafter, mammals entered India from Asia through two zoogeographical passes on either side of the emerging Himalaya. Consequently, among Indian species only 12.6% of mammals and 4.5% of birds are endemic, contrasting with 45.8% of reptiles and 55.8% of amphibians. Notable endemics are the Nilgiri leaf monkey and Beddome's toad of the Western Ghats. India contains 172, or 2.9%, of IUCN-designated threatened species. These include the Asiatic Lion, the Bengal Tiger, and the Indian white-rumped vulture, which nearly became extinct by ingesting the carrion of diclofenac-treated cattle.

In recent decades, human encroachment has posed a threat to India's wildlife; in response, the system of national parks and protected areas, first established in 1935, was substantially expanded. In 1972, India enacted the Wildlife Protection Act and Project Tiger to safeguard crucial habitat; in addition, the Forest Conservation Act was enacted in 1980 and amendments added in 1988. Along with more than five hundred wildlife sanctuaries, India hosts thirteen biosphere reserves, four of which are part of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves; twenty-five wetlands are registered under the Ramsar Convention.

Politics

India is the most populous democracy in the world. A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system, it has six recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties. The Congress is considered centre-left or "liberal" in Indian political culture, and the BJP centre-right or "conservative". For most of the period between 1950 – when India first became a republic – and the late 1980s, the Congress held a majority in the parliament. Since then, however, it has increasingly shared the political stage with the BJP, as well as with powerful regional parties which have often forced the creation of multi-party coalitions at the Centre.

In the Republic of India's first three general elections, in 1951, 1957 and 1962, the Jawaharlal Nehru-led Congress won easy victories. On Nehru's death in 1964, Lal Bahadur Shastri briefly became prime minister; he was succeeded, after his own unexpected death in 1966, by Indira Gandhi, who went on to lead the Congress to election victories in 1967 and 1971. Following public discontent with the state of emergency she declared in 1975, the Congress was voted out of power in 1977, and a new party, the Janata Party which had opposed the emergency was voted in. Its government proved short-lived, lasting just over three years. Back in power in 1980, the Congress saw a change in leadership in 1984, when Indira Gandhi was assassinated and succeeded by her son Rajiv Gandhi, who won an easy victory in the general elections later that year. The Congress was voted out again in 1989 when a National Front coalition, led by the newly formed Janata Dal in alliance with the Left Front, won the elections; that government too proved short-lived lasting just under two years. Elections were held again in 1991 in which no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress as the largest single party was able to form a minority government, led by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

The two years after the general election of 1996 were years of political turmoil, with several short-lived alliances sharing power at the centre. The BJP formed a government briefly in 1996; it was followed by two relatively longer-lasting United Front coalitions, which depended on external support. In 1998, the BJP was able to form a successful coalition, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, became the first non-Congress government to complete a full five-year term. In the 2004 Indian general elections, again no party won an absolute majority, but the Congress emerged as the largest single party, forming a successful coalition, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), with the support of left-leaning parties and MPs opposed to the BJP. The UPA coalition was returned to power in the 2009 general election, with increased numbers that ensured it no longer required external support from India's Communist parties. That year, Manmohan Singh became the first prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1957 and 1962 to be re-elected to a second consecutive five-year term.

Government

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law." Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the federal government and the states. The government is regulated by checks and balances defined by Indian Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950, states in its preamble that India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India's form of government, traditionally described as 'quasi-federal' with a strong centre and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic and social changes.

The federal government is composed of three branches: Executive: The President of India is the head of state elected indirectly by an electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power. Appointed by the president, the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament. The executive branch of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice-president, and the council of ministers (the cabinet being its executive committee) headed by the prime minister. Any minister holding a portfolio must be a member of one of the houses of parliament. In the Indian parliamentary system, the executive is subordinate to the legislature, with the prime minister and his council directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament.

Legislative: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament, operating under a Westminster-style parliamentary system, and comprising the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the lower called the Lok Sabha (House of People). The Rajya Sabha, a permanent body, has 245 members serving staggered six-year terms. Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures, their numbers in proportion to their state's population. All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote to represent individual constituencies for five-year terms. The remaining two members are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides that the community is not adequately represented.

Judicial: India has a unitary three-tier judiciary, consisting of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India, 21 High Courts, and a large number of trial courts. The Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over cases involving fundamental rights and over disputes between states and the Centre and appellate jurisdiction over the High Courts. It is judicially independent and has the power both to declare the law and to strike down union or state laws which contravene the constitution. The Supreme Court is also the ultimate interpreter of the constitution.

Administrative divisions

India is a federation composed of 28 states and 7 union territories. All states, as well as the union territories of Puducherry and the National Capital Territory of Delhi, have elected legislatures and governments, both patterned on the Westminster model. The remaining five union territories are directly ruled by the Centre through appointed administrators. In 1956, under the States Reorganisation Act, states were reorganised on a linguistic basis. Since then, their structure has remained largely unchanged. Each state or union territory is further divided into administrative districts. The districts in turn are further divided into tehsils and ultimately into villages.

Foreign relations and military

Since its independence in 1947, India has maintained cordial relations with most nations. In the 1950s, it strongly supported the independence of European colonies in Africa and Asia and played a pioneering role in the Non-Aligned Movement. In the late 1980s, India made two brief military interventions at the invitation of neighbouring countries, one by the Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka and the other, Operation Cactus, in the Maldives. However, India has had a tense relationship with neighbouring Pakistan, and the two countries have gone to war four times, in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999. The Kashmir dispute was the predominant cause of these wars, except in 1971 which followed the civil unrest in erstwhile East Pakistan. After the India-China War of 1962 and the 1965 war with Pakistan, India proceeded to develop close military and economic ties with the Soviet Union; by late 1960s, the Soviet Union had emerged as India's largest arms supplier.

Today, in addition to the continuing strategic relations with Russia, India has wide ranging defence relations with Israel and France. In recent years, India has played an influential role in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and the World Trade Organization. The nation has provided 100,000 military and police personnel to serve in thirty-five UN peacekeeping operations across four continents. India is also an active participant in various multilateral forums, most notably the East Asia Summit and the G8+5. In the economic sphere, India has close relationships with the developing nations of South America, Asia and Africa. For about a decade now, India has also pursued a "Look East" policy which has helped it strengthen its partnerships with the ASEAN nations, Japan and South Korea on a wide range of issues but especially economic investment and regional security.

China's nuclear test of 1964 as well as its repeated threats to intervene in support of Pakistan in the 1965 war convinced India to develop nuclear weapons of its own. India conducted its first nuclear weapons test in 1974 and carried out further underground testing in 1998. Despite criticism and military sanctions, India has signed neither the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) nor the NPT, considering both to be flawed and discriminatory. India maintains a "no first use" nuclear policy and is developing a nuclear triad capability as a part of its "minimum credible deterrence" doctrine. It is also developing a ballistic missile defence shield and, in collaboration with Russia, a fifth generation fighter jet. Other major indigenous military development projects include ''Vikrant'' class aircraft carriers and ''Arihant'' class nuclear submarines.

Recently, India has also increased its economic, strategic and military cooperation with the United States and the European Union. In 2008, a civilian nuclear agreement was signed between India and the United States. Although India possessed nuclear weapons at the time and was not party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it received waivers from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), ending earlier restrictions on India's nuclear technology and commerce. As a consequence, India has become the world's sixth ''de facto'' nuclear weapons state. Following the NSG waiver, India was also able to sign civilian nuclear energy cooperation agreements with other nations, including Russia, France, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

With 1.3 million active troops, the Indian military is the third largest in the world. India's armed forces consists of an Indian Army, Navy, Air Force, and auxiliary forces such as the Paramilitary Forces, the Coast Guard, and the Strategic Forces Command. The President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The official Indian defence budget for 2011 stands at US$36.03 billion (or 1.83% of GDP). According to a 2008 SIPRI report, India's annual military expenditure in terms of purchasing power stood at US$72.7 billion, In 2011 the annual defence budget increased by 11.6 per cent, although this does not include money that goes to the military through other branches of government. India has become the world's largest arms importer, receiving 9% of all international arms transfers during the period from 2006 to 2010. Much of the military expenditure is focused on defence against Pakistan and countering growing Chinese influence in the Indian Ocean.

Economy

According to the International Monetary Fund, India is the world's tenth largest economy by market exchange rates with US$1.53 trillion and fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) with US$4.06 trillion. With its average annual GDP growing at 5.8% for the past two decades, and at 10.4% during 2010, India is also one of the fastest growing economies in the world. However, the country ranks 138th in the world in nominal GDP per capita and 129th in GDP per capita at PPP.

Until 1991, all Indian governments followed protectionist policies that were influenced by socialist economics. Widespread state intervention and regulation caused the Indian economy to be largely closed to the outside world. After an acute balance of payments crisis in 1991, the nation liberalised its economy and has since continued to move towards a free-market system, emphasizing both foreign trade and investment. Consequently, India's economic model is now being described overall as capitalist.

With 467 million workers, India has the world's second largest labour force. The service sector makes up 54% of the GDP, the agricultural sector 28%, and the industrial sector 18%. Major agricultural products include rice, wheat, oilseed, cotton, jute, tea, sugarcane, and potatoes. Major industries include textiles, telecommunications, chemicals, food processing, steel, transport equipment, cement, mining, petroleum, machinery and software. By 2006, India's external trade had reached a relatively moderate proportion of GDP at 24%, up from 6% in 1985. In 2008, India's share of world trade was 1.68%; India was the world's fifteenth largest importer in 2009 and the eighteenth largest exporter. Major exports include petroleum products, textile goods, jewelry, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures. Major imports include crude oil, machinery, gems, fertiliser, chemicals.

Averaging an economic growth rate of 7.5% during the last few years, India has more than doubled its hourly wage rates during the last decade. Moreover, since 1985, India has moved 431 million of its citizens out of poverty, and by 2030, India's middle class numbers will grow to more than 580 million. Although ranking 51st in global competitiveness, India ranks 17th in financial market sophistication, 24th in the banking sector, 44th in business sophistication and 39th in innovation, ahead of several advanced economies. With 7 of the world's top 15 technology outsourcing companies based in India, the country is viewed as the second most favourable outsourcing destination after the United States. India's consumer market, currently the world's thirteenth largest, is expected to become fifth largest by 2030. Its telecommunication industry, the world's fastest growing, added 227 million subscribers during 2010–11. Its automobile industry, the world's second-fastest growing, increased domestic sales by 26% during 2009–10, and exports by 36% during 2008–09.

Despite impressive economic growth during recent decades, India continues to face socio-economic challenges. India contains the largest concentration of people living below the World Bank's international poverty line of $1.25/day, the proportion having decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005. Half of the children in India are underweight, and 46% of children under the age of three suffer from malnutrition. Since 1991, economic inequality between India's states has consistently grown: the per capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest. Corruption in India is perceived to have increased significantly, with one report estimating the illegal capital flows since independence to be US$462 billion. Driven by growth, India's nominal GDP per capita has steadily increased from U$329 in 1991, when economic liberalization began, to US$1,265 in 2010, and is estimated to increase to US$2,110 by 2016; however, it has always remained lower than those of other Asian developing countries such as Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and is expected to remain so in the near future.

According to a 2011 PwC report, India's GDP at purchasing power parity will overtake Japan's during 2011 and the United States by 2045. Moreover, during the next four decades, India's economy is expected to grow at an average of 8%, making the nation potentially the world's fastest growing major economy until 2050. The report also highlights some of the key factors behind high economic growth – a young and rapidly growing working age population; the growth of the manufacturing sector due to rising levels of education and engineering skills; and sustained growth of the consumer market because of a rapidly growing middle class. However, the World Bank cautions that for India to achieve its economic potential, it must continue to focus on public sector reform, transport infrastructure, agricultural and rural development, removal of labour regulations, education, energy security, and public health and nutrition.

Demographics

With 1,210,193,422 citizens reported in the 2011 provisional Census, India is the world's second most populous country. India's population grew at 1.76% per annum during the last decade, down from 2.13% per annum in the previous decade (1991–2001). The human sex ratio in India, according to the 2011 census, is 940 females per 1,000 males, the lowest since independence. India's median age was 24.9 in the 2001 census. Medical advances of the last 50 years as well increased agricultural productivity brought about by the "green revolution" have caused India's population to grow rapidly. The percentage of Indian population living in urban areas has grown as well, increasing by 31.2% from 1991 to 2001. Despite this, in 2001 over 70% of India's population continued to live in rural areas. According to the 2001 census, there are 27 million-plus cities in India, with Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata being the largest.

India's overall literacy rate in 2011 is 74.04%, its female literacy rate standing at 65.46% and its male at 82.14%. The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate, whereas Bihar has the lowest. India continues to face several public health-related challenges. According to the World Health Organization, 900,000 Indians die each year from drinking contaminated water or breathing polluted air. There are about 60 physicians per 100,000 people in India.

The Indian Constitution recognises 212 scheduled tribal groups which together constitute about 7.5% of the country's population. The 2001 census reported the religion in India with the largest number of followers was Hinduism, with over 800 million (80.5%) of the population recording it as their religion. Other religious groups include Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians and Bahá'ís. India has the world's third-largest Muslim population and the largest Muslim population for a non-Muslim majority country.

India is home to two major language families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman language families. India has no national language. Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language of the union. English is used extensively in business and administration and has the status of a 'subsidiary official language;' it is also important in education, especially as a medium of higher education. Every state and union territory has its own official languages, and the constitution recognises in particular 21 "scheduled languages".

Culture

thumb|left|The Taj Mahal in Agra was built by [[Mughal Empire|Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his deceased wife Mumtaz Mahal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site considered to be of "outstanding universal value".]] Formative in India's 4,500 years old culture is the Vedic age in which were laid the foundation of Hindu philosophy, mythology, literary traditions, beliefs and practices, such as dhárma, kárma, yóga and mokṣa; distinctive in this culture are its diverse religions, which include Hinduism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Jainism. The predominant religion, Hinduism, has been shaped by the various schools of thought including those of the ''Upanishads'', the ''Yoga Sutras'', the ''Bhakti'' movement, and by Buddhist philosophy

Indian architecture represents the diversity of Indian culture. Much of it, including notable monuments such as the Taj Mahal and other examples of Mughal architecture and South Indian architecture, comprises a blend of ancient and varied local traditions from several parts of the country and abroad. Vernacular architecture also displays notable regional variation.

Indian cuisine is best known for its delicate use of herbs and spices and for its tandoori grilling techniques. The tandoor, a clay oven in use for almost 5,000 years in India, is known for its ability to grill meats to an 'uncommon succulence' and for the puffy flatbread known as the naan. The staple foods in the region are rice (especially in the south and the east), wheat (predominantly in the north) and lentils. Many spices which are consumed world wide are originally native to the Indian subcontinent. Chili pepper which was introduced by the Portuguese is widely used in Indian cuisine.

The earliest literary writings in India, composed between 1,400 BCE and 1,200 AD, were in the Sanskrit language. Prominent works of this Sanskrit literature include epics such as Mahābhārata and Ramayana, the dramas of Kalidasa such as the ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam'' (The Recognition of Śakuntalā), and poetry such as the ''Mahākāvya''. Developed between 600 BCE and 300 AD in Southern India, the ''Sangam'' literature consisting of 2,381 poems is regarded as a predecessor of Tamil literature. From the 14th century AD to 18th century AD, India's literary traditions went through a period of drastic change because of the emergence of devotional poets such as Kabīr, Tulsīdās and Guru Nānak. This period was characterised by varied and wide spectrum of thought and expression and as a consequence, medieval Indian literary works differed significantly from classical traditions. In the 19th century, Indian writers took a new interest in social questions and psychological descriptions. During the 20th century, Indian literature was heavily influenced by the works of universally acclaimed Bengali poet and novelist Rabindranath Tagore.

Society and traditions

Traditional Indian society is defined by relatively strict social hierarchy. The Indian caste system describes the social stratification and social restrictions in the Indian subcontinent, in which social classes are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups, often termed as ''jātis'' or castes. Several influential social reform movements, such as the Brahmo Samaj, the Arya Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission, have played a pivotal role in the emancipation of Dalits (or "untouchables") and other lower-caste communities in India. However, the majority of Dalits continue to live in segregation and are often persecuted and discriminated against.

Traditional Indian family values are highly valued, and multi-generational patriarchal joint families have been the norm in India, though nuclear families are becoming common in urban areas. An overwhelming majority of Indians, with their consent, have their marriages arranged by their parents or other family members. Marriage is thought to be for life, and the divorce rate is extremely low. Child marriage is still a common practice, more so in rural India, with more than half of women in India marrying before the legal age of 18.

Many Indian festivals are religious in origin. The best known include Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Thai Pongal, Holi, Durga Puja, Eid ul-Fitr, Bakr-Id, Christmas, and Vaisakhi. India has three national holidays which are observed in all states and union territories – Republic Day, Independence Day and Gandhi Jayanti. Other sets of holidays, varying between nine and twelve, are officially observed in individual states.

Traditional Indian dress varies across the regions in its colours and styles and depends on various factors, including climate. Popular styles of dress include draped garments such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men; in addition, stitched clothes such as salwar kameez for women and kurta-pyjama and European-style trousers and shirts for men, are also popular. The wearing of delicate jewellery, modelled on real flowers worn in ancient India, is part of a tradition dating back some 5,000 years; gemstones are also worn in India as talismans.

Music, dance, theatre and cinema

Indian music covers a wide range of traditions and regional styles. Classical music largely encompasses the two genres – North Indian Hindustani, South Indian Carnatic traditions and their various offshoots in the form of regional folk music. Regionalised forms of popular music include filmi and folk music; the syncretic tradition of the ''bauls'' is a well-known form of the latter.

Indian dance too has diverse ''folk'' and ''classical'' forms. Among the well-known folk dances are the ''bhangra'' of the Punjab, the ''bihu'' of Assam, the ''chhau'' of West Bengal, Jharkhand, ''sambalpuri'' of Orissa, the ''ghoomar'' of Rajasthan and the ''Lavani'' of Maharashtra. Eight dance forms, many with narrative forms and mythological elements, have been accorded classical dance status by India's ''National Academy of Music, Dance, and Drama''. These are: ''bharatanatyam'' of the state of Tamil Nadu, ''kathak'' of Uttar Pradesh, ''kathakali'' and ''mohiniyattam'' of Kerala, ''kuchipudi'' of Andhra Pradesh, ''manipuri'' of Manipur, ''odissi'' of Orissa and the ''sattriya'' of Assam.

Theatre in India often incorporates music, dance, and improvised or written dialogue. Often based on Hindu mythology, but also borrowing from medieval romances, and news of social and political events, Indian theatre includes the ''bhavai'' of state of Gujarat, the ''jatra'' of West Bengal, the ''nautanki'' and ''ramlila'' of North India, the ''tamasha'' of Maharashtra, the ''burrakatha'' of Andhra Pradesh, the ''terukkuttu'' of Tamil Nadu, and the ''yakshagana'' of Karnataka. The Indian film industry is the most watched film industry in the world. Established traditions exist in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, and Telugu language cinemas. South India's cinema industries account for more than 75% of total film revenues.

Sport

India's official national sport is field hockey, administered by Hockey India. The Indian hockey team won the 1975 Hockey World Cup and 8 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals at the Olympic games, making it one of the world's most successful national hockey teams ever. Cricket, however, is by far the most popular sport; the India cricket team won the 1983 and the 2011 World Cups, 2007 ICC World Twenty20, and shared the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy with Sri Lanka. Cricket in India is administered by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and domestic competitions include the Ranji Trophy, the Duleep Trophy, the Deodhar Trophy, the Irani Trophy and the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy. In addition, BCCI conducts the Indian Premier League, a Twenty20 competition.

India is home to several traditional sports which originated in the country and continue to remain fairly popular. These include kabaddi, kho kho, pehlwani and gilli-danda. Some of the earliest forms of Asian martial arts, such as ''Kalarippayattu'', ''Yuddha'', ''Silambam'' and ''Varma Kalai'', originated in India. The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna and the Arjuna Award are India's highest awards for achievements in sports, while the Dronacharya Award is awarded for excellence in coaching.

Chess, commonly held to have originated in India, is regaining widespread popularity with the rise in the number of Indian Grandmasters. Tennis has also become increasingly popular, owing to the victories of the India Davis Cup team and the success of Indian tennis players. India has a strong presence in shooting sports, winning several medals at the Olympics, the World Shooting Championships and the Commonwealth Games. Other sports in which Indian sports-persons have won numerous awards or medals at international sporting events include badminton, boxing and wrestling. Football is a popular sport in northeastern India, West Bengal, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

India has hosted or co-hosted several international sporting events, such as the 1951 and the 1982 Asian Games, the 1987, 1996, 2011 Cricket World Cups, the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, the 2010 Hockey World Cup and the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Major international sporting events annually held in India include the Chennai Open, Mumbai Marathon, Delhi Half Marathon and the Indian Masters.

See also

Notes

Cited References

;History . . .

;Geography

;Biodiversity

;Culture

External links

Government of India – Official government portal (in English)

India at ''UCB Libraries GovPubs''

Category:Countries of the Indian Ocean Category:Federal countries Category:Former British colonies Category:G15 nations Category:G20 nations Category:Liberal democracies Category:Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Category:Member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Category:Member states of the United Nations Category:Socialist states Category:South Asian countries Category:States and territories established in 1947

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	AOL Inc.
logo
type	Public company
traded as
foundation	1983 as ''Control Video Corporation''1991 as America Online, Vienna, Virginia, U.S.2006 as AOL
Location city	New York City
Location country	US
area served	Worldwide
key people	Tim Armstrong(Chairman and CEO)
industry	InternetTelecommunicationMedia
homepage	AOL.com portal AOL.com Corporate site
revenue	US$ 2.417 billion (2010)
operating income	US$ -983 million (2010)
net income	US$ -783 million (2010)
assets	US$ 2.962 billion (2010)
equity	US$ 2.287 billion (2010)
num employees	5,860 (2010) }}

AOL Inc. (, stylized as "Aol.", and previously known as America Online) is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services. The AOL-Time Warner merger, was financially unsuccessful; this is largely attribute to the failure of the capitalist mindset to diffuse into the Internet.

AOL is best known for its online software suite, also called ''AOL'', that allowed customers to access the world's largest "walled garden" online community and eventually reach out to the Internet as a whole. At its prime, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide, most of whom accessed the AOL service through the AOL software suite.

In 2000 AOL and Time Warner merged under the name AOL Time Warner. The merger was not fruitful and on May 28, 2009, AOL announced that it would spin off Time Warner into a separate public company. The spinoff occurred on December 9, 2009, ending the eight year relationship between the two companies.

Description

With regional branches around the world, the former American "goliath among Internet service providers" once had more than 30 million subscribers on several continents. It ranked fourth (behind the Web, e-mail, and graphic user interfaces) in a 2007 USA TODAY retrospective on the 25 events that shaped the first 25 years of the Internet and was named to the ".com 25" by a panel of Silicon Valley influencers on the occasion of the same anniversary.

In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001 after receiving regulatory approval from the FTC, the FCC, and the EU's COMP.

AOL Time Warner, Inc., as the company was then called, was led by executives from AOL, SBI, and Time Warner. Gerald Levin, who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. Steve Case served as Chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the Chief Financial Officer, Robert W. Pittman (from AOL) and Dick Parsons (from Time Warner) served as Co-Chief Operating Officers. The total value of AOL stock subsequently went from $226 billion to about $20 billion. Similarly, its customer base decreased to 10.1 million subscribers as of November 2007, just narrowly ahead of Comcast and AT&T; Yahoo!. As of June 2010, AOL's subscriber base dropped to 4.4 million.

News reports in late 2005 identified companies such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google as candidates for turning AOL into a joint venture; those plans were apparently abandoned when it was revealed on December 20, 2005 that Google would purchase a 5% share of AOL for $1 billion.

AOL was rated both one of the best and worst Internet suppliers in the UK, according to a poll by BBC Watchdog.

On March 31, 1997, the short-lived eWorld was purchased by AOL. The ISP side of AOL UK was bought by The Carphone Warehouse in October 2006 to take advantage of their 100,000 LLU customers which made The Carphone Warehouse the biggest LLU provider in the UK.

The product was rated the "Worst Tech Product of All Time" by PC World in 2006.

On May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin AOL off as an independent company once Google's shares ceased at the end of the fiscal year, and AOL's page and logo changed afterward.

AOL ceased to be a part of Time Warner on December 9, 2009. The company declared an IPO on that day, under the stock symbol NYSE:AOL.

History

AOL release timeline
1989
February 1991
January 1993	AOL 2.0 for the Apple Apple Macintosh
June 1994
September 1994
June 1995
June 1995
June 1996	AOL 3.0 for [[Windows 95 released
July 1998 / June 1999	AOL 4.0 (Casablanca) and Refresh 2 released
September 1999	AOL 5.0 (Kilimanjaro) released
June 2000	AOL 5.0 for 9x/NT/2K (Niagara) released
October and December 2000	AOL 6.0 (K2 – Karakorum) and Refresh released
September 2001	AOL 6.0.2 for XP (Steppenwolf) launched
October and December 2001, May and July 2002	AOL 7.0 (Taz) and Refresh 1, Refresh 2, and Refresh 2 Plus released
October 2002	AOL 8.0 (Spacely) released
April 2003	AOL 8.0 Plus (Elroy) launched
August and September 2003	AOL 9.0 Optimized (Bunker Hill / Blue Hawaii) and Refresh released
May 2004	AOL 9.0 Optimized SE/LE (Thailand / Tahiti) released
November 2004, July 2005	AOL 9.0 Security Edition SE/LE (Strauss) and Refresh released
August 2005 to March 2006	AOL Suite Beta launched (cancelled)
September 2006, March 2007	AOL OpenRide (Streamliner) launched
November 2006, April 2007	AOL 9.0 VR and Refresh (Raga) released (AOL 9.0 for Microsoft Windows Vista but also works with Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP)
September 2007	AOL Desktop for Mac Beta released
October 31, 2007	AOL 9.1 (Tarana) released
December 2007	AOL Desktop (a.k.a. AOL 10.0) launched
May 2008	AOL Desktop for Mac 1.0 officially launched
September 2008	AOL Desktop 10.1 released
February and November 2009	AOL 9.5 and 9.5 Refresh released (Classic)
November 2010	AOL Desktop 9.6
July 31, 2011	AOL Desktop (Bn)

AOL began as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by Bill von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Brothers. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of $1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game.

The original technical team was composed of Marc Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Steve Trus, Ray Heinrich, Craig Dykstra, and Doug Coward.

In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company. Von Meister quietly left the company in early 1985. Control Video was reorganized as Quantum Computer Services, Inc. on May 24, 1985, with Kimsey as Chief Executive Officer and Marc Seriff as Chief Technology Officer. Out of 100 employees from Control Video, only 10 remained in the new company. Case himself rose quickly through the ranks; Kimsey promoted him to vice-president of marketing not long after becoming CEO, and later promoted him further to executive vice-president in 1987. Kimsey soon began to groom Case to ascend to the rank of CEO, which he did when Kimsey retired in 1991.

Kimsey changed the company's strategy, and in 1985 launched a dedicated online service for Commodore 64 and 128 computers, originally called Quantum Link ("Q-Link" for short). The Quantum Link software was based on software licensed from PlayNet, Inc, (founded in 1983 by Howard Goldberg and Dave Panzl). In May 1988, Quantum and Apple launched AppleLink Personal Edition for Apple II and Macintosh computers. In August 1988, Quantum launched PC Link, a service for IBM-compatible PCs developed in a joint venture with the Tandy Corporation. After the company parted ways with Apple in October 1989, Quantum changed the service's name to America Online.

From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including:

Graphical chat environments Habitat (1986–1988) and Club Caribe (1988) from LucasArts.

The first online interactive fiction series QuantumLink Serial by Tracy Reed (1988).

Quantum Space, the first fully automated Play by email game (1989–1991).

The original Dungeons & Dragons title ''Neverwinter Nights'' from Stormfront Studios (1991–1997), the first Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) to depict the adventure with graphics instead of text (1991).

The first chat room-based text role-playing game Black Bayou (1996–2004), a horror role-playing game from Hecklers Online and ANTAGONIST, Inc.

In February 1991 AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface followed a year later by AOL for Windows. This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in the fall of 1994.

In 2008 Neverwinter Nights was honored (along with Everquest and World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.

March 2011: AOL announced it will cut around 20 percent jobs or 900 workers among 5,000 workers.

Growth

Steve Case positioned AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in particular contrast to CompuServe, which had long served the technical community. The PlayNet system that AOL licensed was the first online service to require use of proprietary software, rather than a standard terminal program; as a result it was able to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command lines, and was well ahead of the competition in emphasizing communication among members as a feature.

In particular was the Chat Room concept from PlayNet, as opposed to the previous paradigm of CB-style channels. Chat Rooms allowed a large group of people with similar interests to convene and hold conversations in real time, including:

Private rooms – created by any user. Hold up to 23 people.

Conference rooms – created with permission of AOL. Hold up to 48 people and often moderated.

Auditoriums – created with permission of AOL. Consisted of a stage and an unlimited number of rows. What happened on the stage was viewable by everybody in the auditorium but what happened within individual rows, of up to 27 people, was viewable only by the people within those rows.

Another area of early AOL leadership was education. Between 1990–94, AOL launched services with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Pearson, Scholastic, ASCD, NSBA, NCTE, Discovery Networks, Turner Education Services (CNN Newsroom), National Public Radio, The Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan, Barron's, Highlights for Kids, the US Department of Education, and many other education providers. AOL's offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by kids, for kids (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit (Library of Congress, 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts.

In September 1993, AOL added USENET access to its features. This is commonly referred to as the "Eternal September".

AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe.

Originally, AOL charged its users an hourly fee, but in October 1996 this changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.95. During this time, AOL connections would be flooded with users trying to get on, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals (this was often joked "AOL" standing for "Always Off-Line").A commercial featuring Steve Case telling people AOL was working day and night to fix the problem was made. Within three years, AOL's userbase grew to 10 million people. In 1995 AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the Tysons Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near the Town of Vienna.

AOL was quickly running out of room in October 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In 1996, AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in Dulles, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia. The move to Dulles took place in mid-1996 and provided room for future growth. In a five year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with Windows software.

Change in focus, decline, and rebranding

Since its merger with Time Warner (the owners of the aforementioned Warner Bros.) in 2001, the value of AOL has dropped significantly from its $240 billion high. Its subscriber base has seen no quarterly growth since 2002. AOL has since attempted to reposition itself as a content provider similar to companies such as Yahoo! as opposed to an Internet service provider.

In 2004 along with the launch of AOL 9.0 Optimized, AOL also made available the option of personalized greetings which would enable the user to hear his or her name while accessing basic functions and mail alerts, or while logging in or out.

AOL eventually announced plans to offer subscribers classic television programs for free with commercials inserted via its new IN2TV service. At the time of launch, AOL made available Warner Bros. Television's vast library of programs, with ''Welcome Back Kotter'' as its marquee offering.

In 2005, AOL broadcast the Live 8 concert live over the Internet, and thousands of users downloaded clips of the concert over the following months.

In 2005, AOL (along with Telepictures Productions) launched TMZ.com, one of the leading celebrity news and gossip sources on the web. TMZ.com has become known for its quickness to break celebrity news, often accompanied by exclusive videos and photos.

In 2006, AOL informed its American customers that it would be increasing the price of its dial-up access to US$25.90. The increase was part of an effort to migrate the service's remaining dial-up users to broadband, as the increased price was the same price they had been charging for monthly DSL access. However, AOL has since started offering their services for $9.95 a month for unlimited dial-up access. On April 3, 2006, AOL announced that it was retiring the full name "America Online"; the official name of the service became "AOL", and the full name of the TimeWarner subdivision became "AOL, LLC". On August 2, 2006, AOL announced that they would give away e-mail accounts and software previously available only to its paying customers provided the customer accessed AOL or AOL.com through a non-AOL-owned access method (otherwise known as "third party transit", "bring your own access", or "BYOA"). The move was designed to reduce costs associated with the "Walled Garden" business model by reducing usage of AOL-owned access points and shifting members with high-speed internet access from client-based usage to the more lucrative advertising provider, AOL.com. The change from paid to free was also designed to slow the rate of members canceling their accounts and defecting to Microsoft Hotmail, Yahoo!, or other free e-mail providers. According to AOL CEO Randy Falco, as of December 2007, the conversion rate of accounts from paid access to free access was over 80%. In December 2006, in order to cut operating costs, AOL decided to cease using U.S.-based call centers to provide customer service. AOL drastically downsized U.S. corporate operations as well. On January 28, 2007, the last domestic AOL owned and operated call center (based in Oklahoma City) closed its doors, and, during October 2007, the last call center in Canada was also shut down. All customer service calls became handled by outsourced representatives in Romania, the Philippines, and India. On September 17, 2007, AOL announced that it was moving one of its corporate headquarters from Dulles, Virginia to New York City and combining its various advertising units into a new subsidiary called Platform A. This action followed several advertising acquisitions, most notably Advertising.com, and highlighted the company's new focus on advertising-driven business models. AOL management stressed that "significant operations" will remain in Dulles, which included the company's access services and modem banks. AOL created animated cartoons in 2008 to explain behavioral targeting to its users, showing how a user's past visits to other Web sites could determine the content of advertising they would see in the future. Later that year AOL initiated privacy research and extended the animated penguin campaign to the United Kingdom. AOL closed one of its three Northern Virginia data centers, Reston Technology Center, and sold it to CRG West in January 2008. This sale enabled AOL to consolidate its Northern Virginia operations from three sites (Dulles, Manassas, Reston) to two. AOL took advantage of the move to both reduce its overall hardware inventory and to determine a "right size" for its Network Operations Center staff after consolidating the three sites into two. In 2007, AOL announced that it would move one of its other headquarters from Loudoun County, Virginia to New York City; it would continue to operate its Virginia offices. As part of the impending move to New York and the restructuring of responsibilities at the Dulles headquarters complex after the Reston move, AOL CEO Randy Falco announced on October 15, 2007 plans to lay off 2000 employees worldwide by the end of 2007, beginning "immediately". That evening, over 750 employees at Dulles alone received notices to attend early morning meetings the next day; those employees were laid off on October 16, 2007, though the employees would remain on the payroll until December 14, 2007 in accordance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Other employees whose groups were due for phase-out as part of the restructuring were informed on October 16, 2007 that they would be kept on until December 14, 2007 to complete any outstanding tasks, after which they would be laid off. The reduction in force was so large that virtually every conference room within the Dulles complex was reserved for the day as a "Special Purpose Room", where various aspects of the layoff process were conducted for outgoing employees; remaining employees at Dulles were quick to dub the mass layoff "Bloody Tuesday" in online blogs and news reports. In April 2009, Tim Armstrong, formerly with Google, was named Chairman and CEO of AOL.

On November 23, 2009, AOL unveiled a sneak preview of a new brand identity which has the new logo ''Aol'' sumperimposed onto figures (for example, a goldfish, a rainbow, a tree, a postcard). The new identity was enacted onto all of AOL's services on December 10, 2009, right after TimeWarner split from AOL.

On September 28, 2010 AOL signed, at the San Francisco TechCrunch Disrupt Conference, an agreement to acquire TechCrunch to further its overall strategy of providing premier online content.

In December 2010, AIM eliminated access to AOL chat rooms noting a marked decline of patronage in recent months.

On February 7, 2011, AOL bought The Huffington Post for $315 million.

Controversies

Community leaders

Prior to mid 2005, AOL used online volunteers called Community Leaders, or CLs, to monitor chatrooms, message boards, and libraries. AOL's use of remote volunteers dated back to the establishment of its Quantum Link service in 1985. Some community leaders were recruited for content design and maintenance using a proprietary language and interface called RAINMAN, although most content maintenance was performed by partner and internal employees.

Two former community leaders, Brian Williams of Dallas and Kelly Hallissey of New York filed a class action lawsuit against AOL citing violations of U.S. labor laws in its use of community leaders. The lawsuit was filed in the United States Federal Courthouse, New York City on May 25, 1999 which subsequently was followed by the dismissal of all community leaders under the age of 18 years old as well as a reorganization of the community leader program as a whole. The Department of Labor was also investigating AOL's alleged labor law violations, but came to no conclusion closing their investigation in 2001. AOL began drastically reducing the responsibilities and privileges of its volunteers in 2000. The program was eventually ended on June 8, 2005. Current Community Leaders at the time were offered 12 months of credit on their accounts in thanks for their service.

Within one decade of the class action lawsuit being filed, the class had grown to over 6,000 members citing the largest class action lawsuit ever filed against an internet based company. Currently it is the third largest class ever involved in any lawsuit on a federal level in the United States, affecting ultimately the employment eligibility of individuals in an online environment.

In February 2010, a settlement was approved by the Courts in the class action suit. The settlement included a $15 million USD payment. This payment was then divided by one third, the first of which was attorney and legal fees. Five Million was then divided among the included members of the class which consisted of more than 7,000 individual former Community Leaders. The final five million dollars was donated to charities hand picked by Hallissey and Williams then approved by the Courts for distribution. One such charity, The Remote Area Medical Foundation (www.ramusa.org), received payments in excess of $1.2 million USD for the provision of medical services, supplies and medication for those in need within the more rural areas of the United States and beyond.

Prior to the 1999 class action lawsuit, the community leaders were informed of a change in compensation for duties performed by AOL. Community leaders would be charged a reduced rate per month for their accounts and no longer would be given unlimited access without invoice. During this live announcement via an online meeting of all community leaders in a virtual arena, Brian Williams of Dallas led many community leaders in a virtual "strike" or "sit-in" to protest the new charges the community leaders were being asked to now pay. This protest or strike is noted as the first of its kind for an online environment and was nicknamed for the row of the arena it was held in; Row 800. Following the protest, AOL terminated the online working relationship between itself and several of the Community Leaders involved. Quickly following the release of these community leaders was the reinstatement of each one terminated with exception to Williams, which AOL was not willing to review due to the role he played within the cause of the protest. During this time, Williams role on AOL was that of Guide XNT (Guide Program), CB Naked (Crystal Ball forum), VnV Naked (iVillage's Vices and Virtues Forum) and JCommBrian (Jewish Community Online Forum).

Billing disputes

AOL has faced a number of lawsuits over claims that it has been slow to stop billing customers after their accounts have been canceled, either by the company or the user. In addition, AOL changed its method of calculating used minutes in response to a class action lawsuit. Previously, AOL would add 15 seconds to the time a user was connected to the service and round up to the next whole minute (thus, a person who used the service for 11 minutes and 46 seconds would be charged for 13 minutes). AOL claimed this was to account for sign on/sign off time, but because this practice was not made known to its customers, the plaintiffs won (some also pointed out that signing on and off did not always take 15 seconds, especially when connecting via another ISP). AOL disclosed its connection-time calculation methods to all of its customers and credited them with extra free hours. In addition, the AOL software would notify the user of exactly how long they were connected and how many minutes they were being charged.

AOL was sued by the Ohio Attorney General in October 2003 for improper billing practices. The case was settled on June 8, 2005. AOL agreed to resolve any consumer complaints filed with the Ohio AG's office. In December 2006, AOL agreed to provide restitution to Florida consumers to settle the case filed against them by the Florida Attorney General.

Account cancellation

In response to approximately 300 consumer complaints, New York Attorney General's office began an inquiry of AOL's customer service policies. The investigation revealed that the company had an elaborate scheme for rewarding employees who purported to retain or "save" subscribers who had called to cancel their Internet service. In many instances, such retention was done against subscribers' wishes, or without their consent. Under the scheme, consumer service personnel received bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars if they could successfully dissuade or "save" half of the people who called to cancel service. For several years, AOL had instituted minimum retention or "save" percentages, which consumer representatives were expected to meet. These bonuses, and the minimum "save" rates accompanying them, had the effect of employees not honoring cancellations, or otherwise making cancellation unduly difficult for consumers.

Many customers complained that AOL personnel ignored their demands to cancel service and stop billing. On August 24, 2005, America Online agreed to pay $1.25 million to the state of New York and reformed its customer service procedures. Under the agreement, AOL would no longer require its customer service representatives to meet a minimum quota for customer retention in order to receive a bonus.

On June 13, 2006, a man named Vincent Ferrari documented his account cancellation phone call in a blog post, stating he had switched to broadband years earlier. In the recorded phone call, the AOL representative refused to cancel the account unless the 30-year-old Ferrari explained why AOL hours were still being recorded on it. Ferrari insisted that AOL software was not even installed on the computer. When Ferrari demanded that the account be canceled regardless, the AOL representative asked to speak with Ferrari's father, for whom the account had been set up. The conversation was aired on CNBC. When CNBC reporters tried to have an account on AOL cancelled, they were hung up on immediately and it ultimately took more than 45 minutes to cancel the account.

On July 19, 2006, AOL's entire retention manual was released on the Internet.

On August 3, 2006, Time Warner announced that the company would be dissolving AOL's retention centers due to its profits hinging on $1 billion in cost cuts. The company estimated that it would lose more than six million subscribers over the following year.

Direct marketing of disks

Prior to 2006, AOL was infamous for the unsolicited mass direct mail of CD-ROMs and 3½" floppy disks containing their software. They were the most frequent user of this marketing tactic, and received criticism for the environmental cost of the campaign. The mass distribution of these disks was seen as wasteful by many people and led to protest groups. One such was No More AOL CDs, a web-based effort by two IT workers to collect one million disks with the intent to return the disks to AOL. The website was started in August 2001, and an estimated 410,176 CDs were collected by August 2007 when the project was shut down. AOL CDs were recognized as No.1 on PCWorld's top ten list of most annoying tech products.

Software

In 2000, AOL was served with an $8 billion lawsuit alleging that its AOL 5.0 software caused significant difficulties for users attempting to use third-party Internet service providers. The lawsuit sought damages of up to $1000 for each user that had downloaded the software cited at the time of the lawsuit. AOL later agreed to a settlement of $15 million, without admission of wrongdoing. The AOL software then was given a feature called AOL Dialer, or AOL Connect on Mac OS X. This feature allowed users to connect to the ISP without running the full interface. This allowed users to use only the applications they wish to use, especially if they do not favor the AOL Browser. AOL 9.0 was once identified by Stopbadware as being ''under investigation'' for installing additional software without disclosure, and modifying browser preferences, toolbars, and icons. However, as of the release of AOL 9.0 VR (Vista Ready) on January 26, 2007, it was no longer considered badware due to changes AOL made in the software.

Usenet newsgroups

When AOL gave clients access to Usenet in 1993, they hid at least one newsgroup in standard list view: ''alt.aol-sucks''. AOL did list the newsgroup in the alternative description view, but changed the description to "Flames and complaints about America Online". With AOL clients swarming Usenet newsgroups, the old, existing user base started to develop a strong distaste for both AOL and its clients, referring to the new state of affairs as Eternal September.

Later, AOL discontinued providing access to Usenet on June 25, 2005. No official details were provided as to the cause of decommissioning Usenet access, except providing users the suggestion to access Usenet services from a third-party, Google Groups. AOL then provided community-based message boards in lieu of Usenet.

Terms of Service (TOS)

AOL has a detailed set of guidelines and expectations for users on their service, known as the Terms of Service (TOS, also known as Conditions of Service, or COS in the UK). It is separated into three different sections: ''Member Agreement'', ''Community Guidelines'' and ''Privacy Policy''. All three agreements are presented to users at time of registration and digital acceptance is achieved when they access the AOL service.

There have been many complaints over rules that govern an AOL user's conduct. Some users disagree with the TOS, citing the guidelines are too strict to follow coupled with the fact the TOS may change without users being made aware. A considerable cause for this was likely due to alleged censorship of user-generated content during the earlier years of growth for AOL.

Certified e-mail

In early 2005, AOL stated its intention to implement a certified e-mail system called Goodmail, which will allow companies to send email to users with whom they have pre-existing business relationships, with a visual indication that the email is from a trusted source and without the risk that the email messages might be blocked or stripped by spam filters.

This decision drew fire from MoveOn, which characterized the program as an "e-mail tax", and the EFF, which characterized it as a shakedown of non-profits. A website called Dearaol.com was launched, with an online petition and a blog that garnered hundreds of signatures from people and organizations expressing their opposition to AOL's use of Goodmail.

Esther Dyson defended the move in a ''New York Times'' editorial saying "I hope Goodmail succeeds, and that it has lots of competition. I also think it and its competitors will eventually transform into services that more directly serve the interests of mail recipients. Instead of the fees going to Goodmail and EON, they will also be shared with the individual recipients."

Other members of the antispam and blogging community were broadly critical of moveon.org and the EFF's attempts to characterize this as a "shakedown".

Tim Lee of the Technology Liberation Front posted an article that questioned the EFF's adopting a confrontational posture when dealing with private companies. Lee's article cited a series of discussions on Declan McCullagh's Politechbot mailing list on this subject between the EFF's Danny O'Brien and antispammer Suresh Ramasubramanian, who has also compared the EFF's tactics in opposing Goodmail to tactics used by Republican political strategist Karl Rove. Spamassassin developer Justin Mason posted some criticism of the EFF's and Moveon's "going overboard" in their opposition to the scheme.

The dearaol.com campaign lost momentum and disappeared, with the last post to the now defunct dearaol.com blog—"AOL starts the shakedown" being made on May 9, 2006.

Comcast, who also used the service, announced on its website that Goodmail has ceased operations and of as February 4, 2011 they will no longer use the service.

Search data

On August 4, 2006, AOL released a compressed text file on one of its websites containing twenty million search keywords for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period between March 1, 2006 and May 31, intended for research purposes. AOL pulled the file from public access by August 7, but not before its wide distribution on the Internet by others. Derivative research, titled ''A Picture of Search'' was published by authors Pass, Chowdhury and Torgeson for The First International Conference on Scalable Information Systems.

The data were used by Web sites such as AOLstalker for entertainment purposes, where users of AOLstalker are encouraged to judge AOL clients based on the humorousness of personal details revealed by search behavior.

User list exposure

Jason Smathers, an AOL employee, was convicted of stealing America Online's 92 million screen names and selling them to known spammers.

Company purchases

Company sales

AOL (Time Warner) has sold a number of its sub-companies in Europe. AOL Europe had six million users, but its subscription base had been steadily declining. In 2005, 287,000 European AOL online users migrated to other service providers. In September 2006, AOL Germany's ISP business (''AOL Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG'') was sold for $863m (€675m) to Telecom Italia. AOL's German web portal AOL Deutschland, however, is now operated by then newly founded ''AOL Deutschland Medien GmbH'' which still is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Today, AOL Deutschland offers virtually all free services of AOL.com (see below) in German versions as well as some of their own products, such as an AOL VISA card.

In October 2006, AOL UK's ISP business was sold for $688m (£370m) to Carphone Warehouse.

Notable people

Marc Andreessen (Netscape co-founder and AOL Chief Technology Officer) Jim Barksdale (former director)

John Barnes (former head researcher)

Randall Boe (Executive Vice President and General Counsel) Janice Brandt (former Vice Chair and Chief Marketing Officer) Jason Calacanis (former CEO of Weblogs, Inc. and former GM of Netscape) Steve Case (former CEO and Board Chairman) Mary Cheney (former Vice President for Consumer Advocacy) Elwood Edwards (Voice actor for "You've got Mail") Randy Falco (former CEO and Board Chairman) Justin Frankel (Nullsoft founder) Maureen Govern (former CTO) Ron Grant (former President and COO) Alexander Haig (former Director) Michael Jones (former CEO of Userplane) Jim Kimsey (former CEO and Board Chairman) Ted Leonsis (Vice Chairman, President AOL Audience Group) Jonathan Miller (former CEO and Board Chairman) Robert W. Pittman (former President)

Colin Powell (former Director)

Michael Powell (involved during merge with Time Warner)

Stelios Rodokalia (Investor)

Barry Schuler (former CEO)

Marc Seriff (former CTO)

Jason Smathers (former AOL employee convicted of stealing America Online's 92 million screen names and selling it to known spammers)

Jean Villanueva (former Vice President of Corporate Communications, married Steve Case in 1998)

Kelly Hallissey (Former CL, who in May 1999 launched, with Brian Williams a class action lawsuit citing labor law violations in federal court)

Brian Williams (Former CL, Creator of the Online Strike (known as row 800) and with Kelly Hallissey in May 1999 launched a class action lawsuit citing labor law violations in federal court)

International versions

AOL has several versions of its service for different countries.

Online security services

AOL's software incarnations have provided different combinations of security features, usually involving McAfee's VirusScan and Firewall software.

Timeline

In late 2005, AOL released AOL Safety & Security Center, a bundle of McAfee anti-virus, CA anti-spyware, and proprietary firewall and phishing protection software. The software was offered free of charge, but only to users with an AOL e-mail address or an AOL My eAddress running Microsoft Windows XP or 2000.

On June 8, 2006, AOL offered a new program called AOL Active Security Monitor. This is a diagnostic tool to check the local PC's security status, and recommends additional security software from AOL or Download.com. The program rated the computer on a variety of different areas of security and general computer health. On August 7, 2006, AOL released AOL Active Virus Shield. This software was developed by Kaspersky Lab. Active Virus Shield software was free and did not require an AOL account, only an internet e-mail address. On July 18, 2007, AOL released "McAfee VirusScan Plus: Special Edition from AOL" (VSP) to its free members, and a premium version, "McAfee Internet Security Suite: Special Edition from AOL" (MIS), to its paid subscribers. These replaced both the "AOL Safety and Security Center" and the now-defunct "AOL Active Virus Shield". MIS contained all components of VSP plus includes tools like automatic back-up.

Free services

On August 2, 2006, AOL announced a plan to offer "many" of its services free, with or without an AOL Internet connection."

Among the announced plans were free email services. AOL kept its promise by launching an e-mail service free of cost, and with unlimited storage space.

AIM (AOL Instant Messenger Chat rooms were included with the free service, but users were required to verify the age of an account created under the free plan using a credit card. AOL charged $1 to the credit card provided and then immediately refunded the charge.

AOL Video featured professional content and allowed users to upload videos as well. The original user-orientated video service was called UnCut Video, but was abandoned. AOL Local comprised its CityGuide, Yellow Pages and Local Search services to help users find local information like restaurants, local events, and directory listings.

AOL News is a free news website available to the public.

AOL provided free usage of a custom domain name, which it called an AOL My eAddress. This allowed users to create an e-mail address like 'example@whateveryouwant.com', and allowed up to 100 other addresses to be created. These e-mail accounts could be accessed in a manner similar to other AOL and AIM e-mail accounts.

Xdrive was a service offered by AOL which allowed users to back up their files over the Internet. It was closed on January 12, 2009.

Games.com was an online page featuring browser-based games. it is part of the main AOL website, under games.

AOLAnswers, a Q&A; website service formerly known as Yedda.

Shortcuts.com, a free service of ''AOL'', was a comprehensive savings destination offering consumers multiple savings opportunities including Electronic Coupons, Printable Coupons, Mobile Coupons, Online Coupons Codes and Cash Back Savings. Partnering with top companies such as News America Marketing, Kroger, Safeway, and many more, Shortcuts.com is the consumer destination for free savings offers.

Other developments

In late 2006, AOL began offering free and unlimited digital picture storage for both free and paid accounts. Original resolutions are preserved, and an ActiveX control provides a drag-n-drop interface within web browsers, permitting users to drop an entire folder of photos into the web page to upload them.

On October 4, 2006, AOL released a free Internet suite called AOL OpenRide, which combined a web browser, instant messenger, email client and media player.

On February 16, 2007, it was announced that AOL began supporting OpenID. On March 13, 2008, AOL purchased the popular networking site Bebo for $850m (£417m). On July 25, 2008 AOL announced it was shedding Xdrive, AOL Pictures, and BlueString to save on costs and focus on its core advertising business. AOL Pictures was terminated on December 31, 2008. On October 31, 2008, AOL Hometown (a web hosting service for the websites of AOL customers) and the AOL Journal blog hosting service were eliminated, after first announcing the impending shutdown on September 30, 2008

Since January, 2009, AOL News has discontinued its Comments Page for remodeling to filter out obscene or aggressive postings from users.

On February 25, 2009, AOL merged AIM Profiles with Bebo.

On April 6, 2010, AOL announced that they were planning to shut down or sell Bebo. This has been successfully concluded but with a huge loss on investment. In February 2011, AOL purchased The Huffington Post for $315 million. Shortly after the acquisition was announced, Huffingtonpost.com co-founder Arianna Huffington assumed the role of President and Editor-in-Chief of The AOL Huffington Post Media group. Huffington replaced David Eun. She will oversee the development of all editorial content from both companies including news, technology, music and local media websites.

Movie studios partnership

On Friday, August 25, 2006, AOL announced that it had signed a deal with several major movie studios to open an online video store allowing users to "download to own" full length movies and television shows. The deal was signed with News Corporation's 20th Century Fox, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and former corporate sibling Warner Home Entertainment Group.

See also

.art

AOL Explorer

AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Mail

AOL Radio

AOHell

Comparison of webmail providers

Compuserve

Dot-com bubble

Eternal September

Inside-AOL.com

Live365

Prodigy

Quantum-Link Reloaded

Sessions@AOL

Truveo

Web search engine

References

External links

AOL

AOL mobile

AOL Trademark List – list of major trademarks owned by AOL

AOL CD Collecting Site has the only published book on AOL Disk Collecting with older CD versions available

National portals

AOL Argentina AOL Australia AOL Austria AOL Belgium AOL Bangladesh AOL Brazil AOL Canada AOL Chile AOL China AOL Czech Republic AOL Colombia AOL Finland AOL France AOL Germany AOL Hong Kong AOL India AOL Ireland AOL Italy AOL Japan AOL Malaysia AOL Mexico AOL Netherlands AOL Norway AOL Poland AOL Russia AOL Singapore AOL South Korea AOL Spain AOL Sweden AOL Taiwan AOL Thailand AOL Turkey AOL United Kingdom AOL United States AOL Venezuela

Category:Companies based in Dulles, Virginia Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Companies established in 2009 Category:Companies established in 1983 Category:Online service providers Category:Internet service providers of the United States Category:Internet services supporting OpenID Category:Former Time Warner subsidiaries Category:Global internet community Category:Web service providers Category:Orphan initialisms Category:Pre–World Wide Web online services Category:Companies based in Silicon Valley

ar:إيه أو إل cs:AOL da:AOL (internet) de:AOL es:AOL fa:ای او ال fr:America Online ko:AOL hi:एओऍल id:AOL it:AOL he:אמריקה און ליין kn:AOL (ಎಒಎಲ್) ka:AOL lt:AOL hu:America Online nl:AOL ja:AOL no:AOL nn:AOL uz:AOL pl:AOL pt:AOL ro:AOL ru:AOL simple:AOL sl:AOL fi:AOL sv:America Online te:AOL(ఎవోఎల్) th:เอโอแอล tr:AOL uk:America Online vi:AOL zh:美国在线

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Melissa Etheridge
landscape	yes
background	solo_singer
birth name	Melissa Lou Etheridge
birth date	May 29, 1961
origin	Leavenworth, Kansas, U.S.
spouse	Tammy Lynn Michaels (2003–2009)
instrument	Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin
genre	Heartland Rock, Folk Rock, Blues Rock
occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, activist
years active	1988–present
label	Island Records
website	MelissaEtheridge.com }}

Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.

Etheridge is known for her mixture of confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals. She has also been an iconic gay and lesbian activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

Life and career

1961–86: Early life and career

Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, the younger of two girls, to John Etheridge, a psychology teacher at Leavenworth High School, and Elizabeth Williamson, a computer consultant. She attended David Brewer School, which is still located at 17th and Osage Streets. She graduated in 1979 from Leavenworth High School (LHS), 10th Avenue and Halderman. Etheridge was a member of the first "Power and Life" musical/dance group at LHS which is still active today. Her childhood home was at 1902 Miami Street.

Etheridge's interest in music began early; she picked up up her first guitar at 8. She began to play in all-men country music groups throughout her teenage years, until she moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music.

While in Berklee, Etheridge played the club circuit around Boston. After three semesters, Etheridge decided to drop out of Berklee and head to Los Angeles to attempt a career in music. Etheridge was discovered in a bar called Vermie's in Pasadena CA. She had made some friends on a women's soccer team and those new friends came to see her play. One of the women was Karla Leopold, whose husband, Bill Leopold, was a manager in the music business. Karla convinced Bill to see her perform live. He was impressed, and has remained a pivotal part of Etheridge's career ever since. This, in addition to her gigs in lesbian bars around Los Angeles, got her discovered by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell. She got a publishing deal to write songs for movies including the 1986 movie Weeds.

In 1985, prior to her signing, Etheridge sent her demo to Olivia Records, a lesbian record label, but was ultimately rejected. She saved the rejection letter, signed by "the women of Olivia", which was later featured in ''Intimate Portrait: Melissa Etheridge'', the Lifetime Television documentary of her life.

After an unreleased first effort that was rejected by Island Records as being too polished and glossy, she completed her stripped down self-titled debut in just four days. Her eponymous debut album ''Melissa Etheridge'' was an underground hit, and the single, "Bring Me Some Water", a turntable hit, was nominated for a Grammy.

At the time of the album's release, it was not generally known that Etheridge was a lesbian. While on the road promoting the album, she paused in Memphis, Tennessee, to be interviewed for the radio syndication, Pulsebeat—Voice of the Heartland, explaining the intensity of her music by saying: "People think I'm really sad--or really angry. But my songs are written about the conflicts I have . . . I have no anger toward anyone else." She invited the radio syndication producer to attend her concert that night. He did and was surprised to find himself one of the few males in attendance.

1986–92: Road to rock stardom

Etheridge followed up her first album's modest success by contributing background vocals to Don Henley's album ''The End of the Innocence''. She went into the studio and recorded her sophomore effort ''Brave and Crazy'' which was released in 1989.

''Brave and Crazy'' followed the same musical formula as her eponymous debut garnering a Grammy nomination. The album peaked at #22 on the ''Billboard'' charts (equal to her first album). Etheridge then went on the road, taking a page from one of her musical influences Bruce Springsteen, and built a loyal fan base. Etheridge is a Bruce Springsteen fan, and she has covered his songs "Thunder Road" and "Born to Run" during live shows.

In 1992, Etheridge released her third album ''Never Enough''. Similar to her prior two albums, ''Never Enough'' didn't reach the top of the charts peaking at #21 but gave Etheridge her first Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Ain't It Heavy". ''Never Enough'' was considered a more personal and mature album from Etheridge at that time. With rumors circulating around her sexuality (Etheridge was not out yet at this point), the album seemed to inadvertedly address these rumors.

In 1992, Etheridge established a performing arts scholarship at Leavenworth High School in honor of her father. She said her father used to "spend his weekends driving me to Kansas City and all points around there so I could play in bands. I was underage so I couldn't have gone without him."

1993: Yes I Am

On September 21, 1993, Etheridge released what would become her mainstream breakthrough recording ''Yes I Am''. Co-produced with former The Police and Genesis Grammy-winning and Producer of the Year award-winning producer Hugh Padgham, ''Yes I Am'' spent 138 weeks on the Billboard 200 charts and peaked at #15 and scored mainstream hits "Come to My Window" and her only Billboard Top 10 single "I'm the Only One", which also hit #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. Sales-wise, ''Yes I Am'' earned a RIAA certification of 6× Platinum making it her biggest selling album to date.

Etheridge earned her second Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single "Come to My Window". She also garnered two additional nominations in the Best Rock Song category for "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window" losing to Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia".

In 1993, Etheridge boycotted playing shows in Colorado over its passage of Amendment 2.

In a visit to Leavenworth in November 1994, she performed a benefit concert for a new park to be built near the high school. A ball field at the park will be named after her father. While she was here, she also donated money to help refurbish the Performing Arts Center in Leavenworth at 401 Delaware.

In 1994, Etheridge played a cover version of "Burning Love" live in Memphis, during the "It's Now Or Never, The Tribute To Elvis".

1995–2002: After her breakthrough

The success of ''Yes I Am'' helped increase sales of Etheridge's earlier albums. In 1995 ''Melissa Etheridge'' earned a RIAA certification of 2× Platinum while ''Never Enough'' earned a RIAA certification of Platinum

Etheridge's follow-up to ''Yes I Am'' was the moderately successful ''Your Little Secret'' which wasn't as well received by critics as prior recordings. ''Your Little Secret'' is the highest charting album of Etheridge's career reaching #6 on the Billboard album charts, but only spent 41 weeks on the chart. The album produced two Top 40 singles "I Want to Come Over" (Billboard #22) and "Nowhere to Go" (Billboard #40) and earned a RIAA certification of 2× Platinum, less than "Yes I Am."

In 1996, Etheridge won ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award. She also took a lengthy break from the music business to concentrate on her domestic arrangements. She also recorded "Sin Tener A Donde Ir (Nowhere to Go)" for the AIDS benefit album ''Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin'' produced by the Red Hot Organization.

In 1997, she appeared as herself on the sitcom ''Ellen'' on "The Puppy Episode Part 2".

Etheridge returned to the music charts with the release of ''Breakdown'' in October 1999. ''Breakdown'' peaked at #12 on the Billboard charts and spent 18 weeks in the charts. Despite this, ''Breakdown'' was the only album of Etheridge's career to be nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album (losing to Santana's ''Supernatural''). In addition, her single "Angels Would Fall" was nominated in two categories: Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (losing to Sheryl Crow) and Best Rock Song (losing to Red Hot Chili Peppers) in 2000. A year later, another single from the album "Enough of Me" was nominated for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (also losing to Sheryl Crow).

The album earned a RIAA certification of Gold, below her prior 5 albums.

2001 saw the release of ''Skin'' an album she described as "the closest I've ever come to recording a concept album. It has a beginning, middle and end. It's a journey." ''Skin'' garnered generally positive reviews with Metacritic scoring the album 73/100 from 9 reviews. Recorded post her breakup with first partner Julie Cypher, critics noted that ''Skin'' was "A harrowing, clearly autobiographical dissection of a decaying relationship." Despite the positive reviews, ''Skin'' sold less than 500,000 copies. On the Billboard charts, it peaked at #9 but dropped out of the Top 200 after just 12 weeks. The single "I Want to Be in Love" was nominated for the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female (losing to Lucinda Williams).

In 2002, Etheridge released her autobiography titled, "The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music."

2004–present: ''Lucky'', cancer diagnosis, Academy Awards and Fearless Love

Etheridge began 2004 with the release of her eighth album ''Lucky'' on February 10. The album was a more joyful Etheridge who was now in the midst of celebrating a new relationship with actress Tammy Lynn Michaels whom she began dating in 2001. ''Lucky'' performed similarly to ''Skin'', selling less than 500,000 copies, peaking on the Billboard charts at #15 and spending 13 weeks on the charts. It also garnered a Grammy nomination for Etheridge's cover of the Greenwheel song "Breathe" for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo (losing to Bruce Springsteen).

In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer. At the 2005 Grammy Awards (the same ceremony for which "Breathe" was nominated), she made a return to the stage and, although bald from chemotherapy, performed a tribute to Janis Joplin with the song "Piece of My Heart". Etheridge was praised for her performance, which was considered one of the highlights of the show. Etheridge's bravery was lauded in song in India.Arie's "I Am Not My Hair".

On September 10, 2005, Etheridge participated in ReAct Now: Music & Relief, a telethon in support for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. ReAct Now, part of an ongoing effort by MTV, VH1, CMT, seeks to raise funds for the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and America's Second Harvest. Etheridge introduced a new song specially written for the occasion called "Four Days". The a cappella song included themes and images that were on the news during the aftermath of the hurricane. Other charities she supports include The Dream Foundation and Love Our Children USA.

On November 15, 2005, Etheridge appeared on the ''Tonight Show'' to perform her song "I Run for Life", which references her own fight with breast cancer and her determination to overcome it, and seeks to encourage other breast cancer survivors and their families. After her performance Jay Leno told her, "Thanks for being a fighter, kiddo".

Etheridge wrote the song "I Need to Wake Up" for the film documentary ''An Inconvenient Truth'', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Songin 2006. The song was released only on the enhanced version of her greatest hits album, ''The Road Less Traveled''.

Etheridge was also a judge for the 5th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

In August 2006, Melissa also produced and sang the vocal tracks on the Brother Bear 2 soundtrack, including collaborations with Josh Kelley. On July 7, 2007, Etheridge performed at the Giants Stadium on the American leg of Live Earth. Etheridge performed the songs "Imagine That" and "What Happens Tomorrow" from ''The Awakening'', her tenth album, released on September 25, 2007, as well as the song "I Need To Wake Up" before introducing Al Gore. On December 11, 2007 she performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway, together with a variety of artists, which was broadcast live to over 100 countries. In addition, she performed at the U.S. 2008 Democratic National Convention on August 27, 2008. In July 2009, Etheridge announced through her website that she and John Shanks would begin recording her 11th studio album the following summer. This was the first time since 1999 Etheridge and Shanks were the only ones involved in the production of a project.

Etheridge will be featured in UniGlobe Entertainment's breast cancer docudrama titled ''1 a Minute'' scheduled for release in 2010. The documentary is being made by actress Namrata Singh Gujral and will also feature breast cancer suriviors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Namrata Singh Gujral, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith as well as William Baldwin, Daniel Baldwin and Priya Dutt. The feature is narrated by Kelly McGillis. The film will also star Bárbara Mori, Lisa Ray, Deepak Chopra and Morgan Brittany.

Etheridge also held a private listening party hosted at Michele Clark's Sunset Sessions 2010. She debuted her new album ''Fearless Love'' at the event held at the Rancho Bernardo Inn where she did a question and answer and played an acoustic set of her new singles in front of convention attendees and about 50 listeners of host station KPRI/SAN DIEGO.

Etheridge performed her title track "Fearless Love" from her new album and "Come to My Window" from 1993 on the airing of April 27, 2010's "Dancing With the Stars" on ABC.

Etheridge performed the role of St. Jimmy in Green Day's hit Broadway musical, American Idiot from February 1–6, 2011. Etheridge said in July 2011 that she is writing songs for a musical that her partner, Linda Wallem, is writing.

Personal life

Etheridge's father, John Etheridge, was a high school psychology teacher, counselor and athletic director at her alma mater, ''Leavenworth High School''. He died in 1993. Her mother Elizabeth was a homemaker and a computer analyst and is now retired.

Etheridge came out publicly as a lesbian in January 1993 at the Triangle Ball, a gay celebration of President Bill Clinton's first inauguration. Etheridge supported Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign and since her coming out has been famous as a gay rights activist. She is also a committed advocate for environmental issues and in 2006, she toured the US and Canada using biodiesel.

Etheridge had a long-term partnership with Julie Cypher, and their relationship occasionally received press coverage. During this partnership, Cypher gave birth to two children, Bailey Jean, born February 10, 1997, and Beckett, born November 1998, fathered by sperm donor David Crosby. In 2000, Cypher began to reconsider her sexuality and on September 19, 2000, Etheridge and Cypher announced they were separating. In 2001, Etheridge documented her breakup with Cypher and other experiences in her memoir.

In April 2003, Etheridge became engaged to actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. The two had a commitment ceremony in Malibu, California, on September 20, 2003, which was featured on ABC's ''InStyle Celebrity Weddings''. In April 2006, Etheridge and Michaels announced that Michaels was pregnant with twins via an anonymous sperm donor. Michaels gave birth to a daughter, Johnnie Rose and a son, Miller Steven, on October 17, 2006.

In October 2008, five months after the Supreme Court of California overturned the state's ban on same-sex marriage, Etheridge announced that she and Michaels were planning to marry but were currently "trying to find the right time... to go down and do it". In November 2008, in response to the passing of California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage, Etheridge announced that she would not pay her state taxes as an act of civil disobedience. On April 15, 2010 Etheridge and Michaels announced they had separated.

In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent chemotherapy. In October 2005, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Etheridge appeared on ''Dateline NBC'' with Michaels to discuss her struggle with cancer. By the time of the interview, Etheridge's hair had grown back after being lost during chemotherapy. She said that her partner had been very supportive during her illness. Etheridge also discussed using medicinal marijuana while she was receiving the chemotherapy. She said that the drug improved her mood and increased her appetite. In a June 15, 2009 interview with Anderson Cooper, Etheridge admitted that she still uses marijuana to lessen the effects of acid reflux or in extremely stressful situations. Medical marijuana is legal in the state of California.

Etheridge supported Barack Obama's decision to have Pastor Rick Warren speak at his 2009 Presidential inauguration, believing that he can sponsor dialogue to bridge the gap between gay and straight Christians. She stated in her column at ''The Huffington Post'' that "Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket. But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise, that are beginning to listen."

Awards

Academy Awards

The Academy Awards are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) |- |rowspan="1"|2007 |"I Need To Wake Up" from the documentary ''An Inconvenient Truth'' |Best Original Song | |-

Grammy Awards

The Grammy Awards are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Etheridge has won two awards from fifteen nominations.

|- |rowspan="1"|1989 |"Bring Me Some Water" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|1990 |"Brave and Crazy" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|1991 |"The Angels" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|1993 |"Ain't It Heavy" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="3"|1995 |rowspan="2"|"Come to My Window" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |Best Rock Song | |- |"I'm the Only One" |Best Rock Song | |- |rowspan="3"|2000 |rowspan="2"|"Angels Would Fall" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |Best Rock Song | |- |''Breakdown'' |Best Rock Album | |- |rowspan="1"|2001 |"Enough of Me" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|2002 |"I Want To Be In Love" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|2003 |"The Weakness in Me" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female | |- |rowspan="1"|2005 |"Breathe" |Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo | |- |rowspan="1"|2007 |"I Need To Wake Up" |Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media | |-

Other accolades

At the 20th Annual Juno Awards in 1990, Etheridge won International Entertainer of the Year.

In 1996, she was awarded ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year Award.

In 2001, she won the Gibson Guitar Award for Best Rock Guitarist: Female.

In 2006, at the 17th GLAAD Media Awards, Etheridge received GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which honors openly lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender media professionals who have made a significant difference in promoting equal rights. In addition, she was awarded as Outstanding Music Artist for ''Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled''.

On May 13, 2006, at Berklee College of Music's 2006 commencement, held at Northeastern University's Matthews Arena, in Boston, Massachusetts, Berklee's president, Roger H. Brown, presented Etheridge with an Honorary Doctor of Music Degree "in recognition of her music touching the lives of millions, her fearless and honest voice, and the way she has used her music and celebrity to inspire hope and courage among fellow cancer patients." Etheridge delivered the commencement address in front of more than 800 graduating students and 4,000 guests.

On February 18, 2009, Etheridge was named the "Celebrity Marshall" for Boston's 2009 Pride Parade by the Boston Pride Committee.

Discography

1988: ''Melissa Etheridge''

1989: ''Brave and Crazy''

1992: ''Never Enough''

1993: ''Yes I Am''

1995: ''Your Little Secret''

1999: ''Breakdown''

2001: ''Skin''

2004: ''Lucky''

2005: ''Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled''

2007: ''The Awakening''

2008: ''A New Thought For Christmas''

2010: ''Fearless Love''

2011: ''Icon"

References

External links

allaccess.com

sunsetsessions.org

JUST CAUSE Magazine interview about activism, family, breast cancer. (Sept, 2009)

Melissa Etheridge @ Island Records

Melissa Etheridge Information Network

60 Minutes II Interview (June 30, 2000) with Charlie Rose

CNN interview (May 24, 2003)

CBS Early Show interview (October 26, 2005) (includes video)

CMT.com: Melissa Etheridge: Biography

Category:1961 births Category:Living people Category:People from Leavenworth County, Kansas Category:American contraltos Category:American female guitarists Category:American female singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:Best Song Academy Award winning songwriters Category:Berklee College of Music alumni Category:Breast cancer survivors Category:Female rock singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lesbian musicians Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:LGBT parents Category:Musicians from Kansas Category:Island Records artists Category:GLAAD Media Awards winners Category:Juno Award winners

ca:Melissa Etheridge de:Melissa Etheridge el:Μελίσσα Έθεριτζ es:Melissa Etheridge fr:Melissa Etheridge it:Melissa Etheridge he:מליסה אתרידג' nl:Melissa Etheridge no:Melissa Etheridge oc:Melissa Etheridge pl:Melissa Etheridge pt:Melissa Etheridge ru:Этеридж, Мелисса simple:Melissa Etheridge fi:Melissa Etheridge sv:Melissa Etheridge wuu:Melissa Etheridge

Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
name	Dimmu Borgir
landscape	Yes
background	group_or_band
origin	Oslo, Norway
years active	1993–present
genre	Symphonic black metal, black metal
label	ex-No Colours, ex-Spikefarm, ex-Cacophonous, ex-Century Media, recent-Nuclear Blast
associated acts	Old Man's Child, Cradle of Filth, Ov Hell, Carpe Tenebrum, Brujeria, The Kovenant, Mayhem, Arcturus, Chrome Division, Code, Susperia, Dødheimsgard, Nile, Borknagar, Nachtmystium, Ragnarok, Angelcorpse, God Dethroned, Vesania, Vader, Infernal Method, Ved Buens Ende
website	www.site.dimmu-borgir.com
current members	ShagrathSilenozGalder
past members	(see below) }}

Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1993. ''Dimmu borgir'' means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse. The name is derived from a volcanic formation in Iceland, Dimmuborgir. The band has been through numerous line-up changes over the years; guitarist Silenoz and vocalist Shagrath are the only founding members remaining.

Biography

''For All Tid and Stormblåst'' period

Dimmu Borgir was founded in 1993 by Shagrath, Silenoz, and Tjodalv, the band released an EP in 1993 entitled ''Inn i evighetens mørke'' ("Into the Darkness of Eternity" in English). This short EP sold out within weeks, and the band followed up with the 1994 full length album ''For All Tid'' ('For All Time' in English) This album featured vocal contributions by Vicotnik of Ved Buens Ende and Dødheimsgard and Aldrahn of Dødheimsgard and Zyklon-B. The initial lineup consisted of Shagrath playing drums with Tjodalv on guitar and Silenoz contributing lead vocals. This line-up changed before the release of ''Stormblåst'' (translates to "Storm Blown") on Cacophonous Records in 1996, an album considered by many to be their finest. It is also the last album which features all lyrics written and sung in Norwegian. This album was criticized by Allmusic because of bad sound quality and inaccessibility to wide audience.

''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'' period

After ''Stormblåst'', keyboardist Stian Aarstad left the band due to his obligation to serve in the Norwegian army, thus being unable to participate in the 1996 recording of ''Devil's Path''. That period was also marked by the departure of bassist Brynjard Tristan and the arrival of Nagash. Stian Aarstad returned for the recording of 1997's ''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant''. While on tour to support the album, he had trouble attending rehearsals and being on tour, and was subsequently fired. ''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'' was a huge success for the band, and was their first release signed to Nuclear Blast, a German record label. The album was recorded in the Abyss Studios, owned by Hypocrisy's frontman Peter Tägtgren. After the release of ''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'', the band went on tour with In Flames, Dissection and other bands who had penetrated to the scene at the time.

''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' and ''Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'' period

After the tour for ''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'', the band recruited new members Mustis on keyboards and Astennu on lead guitar. Dimmu Borgir's following full-length albums ''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' in 1999 and 2001's ''Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'', both met critical acclaim. However, another line-up change occurred between the two albums; Nagash quit and was replaced by new bassist/singer ICS Vortex, and Tjodalv left due to his family commitments, and to form the subsequent band Susperia, only to be replaced with Nicholas Barker, of Cradle of Filth. Astennu was fired from his guitar duties as well, and was replaced by Galder. ''Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'' is marked as bands one of biggest penetration on wider scene.

''Death Cult Armageddon'' and ''Stormblåst MMV'' period

Despite the regular video play on MTV2 and Fuse TV that their follow-up album would receive, the band stated that they were not "commercially-oriented," and instead, they 'simply wished to spread their message to more people'. In 2003, Dimmu Borgir recorded ''Death Cult Armageddon''. ''Death Cult Armageddon'' was recorded with the Prague Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klemens. All orchestrations were arranged by Gaute Storaas (who had previously worked with Dimmu Borgir on the album ''Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'') In 2004, Dimmu Borgir performed on the mainstage at Ozzfest.

In 2005, the band did a complete re-recording of the ''Stormblåst'' album, featuring Hellhammer of Mayhem fame as the session drummer. The album also featured a DVD with a live performance from the 2004 Ozzfest tour.

''In Sorte Diaboli'' period

Dimmu Borgir's eighth studio album, ''In Sorte Diaboli'', was released April 24, 2007. A special edition version was released in a boxed case with a DVD, backward-printed lyrics, and a mirror. The album artwork was released on February 14, 2007 on a promotional webpage for the album. This album features the drumming of "Hellhammer" Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem. Blomberg left the band in mid tour in 2007 because of a neck injury that resulted in limited movement of his right arm. With the release of this album, Dimmu Borgir became the first black metal band with a number one album in their native country.

In 2009, members ICS Vortex and Mustis independently announced their departure from Dimmu Borgir. Mustis released a statement claiming his disfavor with the band, stating that he was not properly credited for his writing contributions to the band's music, mentioning possibly taking legal action.

Dimmu Borgir soon after confirmed the pair's dismissal from the band, releasing a statement explaining why the two were fired. Shagrath, Silenoz, and Galder wrote, "Funny then, how the new album is halfway finished written already by the rest of us without any of these guys' input, still having all those elements we're known for."

''Abrahadabra'' period

Dimmu Borgir's ninth studio album, ''Abrahadabra'', was released on September 24, 2010 in Germany, September 27, 2010 for the rest of Europe, and October 12, 2010 in North America. Silenoz explained that the growing periods of time between albums was because the band had stopped writing music while touring, which was affecting the quality of the music. He described the new album as having an "eerie and haunting feel to it," adding that the material is "epic," "primal," atmospheric and ambient. A promotional image released with the statement showed Shagrath returning to the keyboards. The album features an ensemble orchestra, the ''Kringkastingsorkestret'' (the Norwegian Radio Orchestra), as well as the Schola Cantorum choir, totaling more than 100 musicians and singers. Gaute Storaas, composer of the orchestral arrangements, released a statement on his role in working on the album. “Their music is epic, thematic and symphonic already from the creation; they are clearly having an orchestral approach to composing. My role in this is sometimes just to transcribe their themes, sometimes to take their ideas, tear them apart and build them back up in ways that are true to the band's intentions. The music must also be both interesting and playable for the musicians, and hopefully, meet the quality standards of the orchestral world.”

On July 8, the band confirmed that they had tapped Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw (Therion, Dream Evil) to replace bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex on the band's upcoming album, "Abrahadabra", and world tour. On August 25 it was announced that Snowy Shaw has left Dimmu Borgir to rejoin Therion. On September 17, 2010 Dimmu Borgir released the song "Born Treacherous" from their upcoming album Abrahadabra on their official MySpace page. Then on September 24 the band announced they would stream Abrahadabra in its entirety until 7 p.m. EST that evening. The keyboards and bass are currently played by Gerlioz from Apoptygma Berzerk and Cyrus of Susperia respectively, and the clean vocals are sampled. On May 28, 2011 Dimmu Borgir gave a very special one-off show at the Oslo Spektrum with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Schola Cantorum choir. A live album and DVD of the show titled "Forces of the Northern Night" with an accompanying documentary is scheduled for release later this year.

Influences

Dimmu Borgir's older releases (since 1992 to 1999) are strongly influenced by Darkthrone, Mayhem, Bathory, Emperor, Celtic Frost, Immortal, Venom and Iron Maiden. The band became more progressive and symphonic through the years. Significant experimentation started approximately around 2000, during the era of Spiritual Black Dimensions (due to the addition of Vortex's clean vocals, and the variety of musical ideas from then-new member Mustis,) as well as Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia due to addition of influences from symphonic composers such as Antonín Dvořák, Enya, Richard Wagner and Frédéric Chopin.

Discography

To see other releases:

;Full-length albums

''For All Tid'' (1994)

''Stormblåst'' (1996)

''Enthrone Darkness Triumphant'' (1997)

''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' (1999)

''Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'' (2001)

''Death Cult Armageddon'' (2003)

''Stormblåst MMV'' (2005)

''In Sorte Diaboli'' (2007)

''Abrahadabra'' (2010)

Band members

Current

Shagrath (Stian Tomt Thoresen) – drums (1992–1995), guitars (1995–1997), vocals (since 1995), bass (2005)

Silenoz (Sven Atle Kopperud) – lead vocals (1992–1995), rhythm guitars (since 1992), bass (2005)

Galder (Tom Rune Andersen) – lead guitars (since 2000)

Daray (Dariusz Brzozowski) – drums, percussion (since 2008)

Cyrus (Terje Andersen) – bass guitar (since 2010)

Gerlioz (Geir Bratland) – keyboards, synthesizer (since 2010)

Former

Tjodalv (Ian Kenneth Åkesson) – lead guitars (1992–1995), drums, percussion (1995–1999)

Stian Aarstad – keyboards, piano (1992–1997)

Brynjard Tristan (Ivar Tristan Lundsten) – bass (1992–1996)

Nagash (Stian Arnesen) – bass, backing vocals (1996–1999)

Astennu (Jamie Stinson) – lead guitars (1997–1999)

Mustis (Øyvind Mustaparta) – keyboards, piano (1998–2009)

ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs) – bass (1999–2009), clean vocals (1998–2009)

Nicholas Barker – drums, percussion (1999–2005)

Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) – drums, percussion (2005–2007)

Session

Jens Petter – lead guitars (1996–1997)

Kimberly Goss – keyboards (1997–1998)

Aggressor (Carl-Michael Eide) – drums, percussion (1997)

Archon – lead guitars (2000)

Reno Kiilerich – drums, percussion (2003–2004)

Tony Laureano – drums, percussion (2004–2005, 2007–2008)

Secthdamon (Odd Tony Ingebrigtsen) – bass (2007)

Snowy Shaw (Tommie Helgesson) – bass, clean vocals (2010)

References

External links

Official fan site

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Coordinates	55°45′06″N37°37′04″N
playername	Virender Sehwag
country	India
fullname	Virender Sehwag
nickname	Viru, Nawab of Najafgarh
living	true
dayofbirth	20
monthofbirth	10
yearofbirth	1978
placeofbirth	Delhi
countryofbirth	India
heightft	5
heightinch	7
heightcm	162
batting	Right-handed
bowling	Right arm off break
role	Opening batsman, occasional offspinner
international	true
testdebutdate	3 November
testdebutyear	2001
testdebutagainst	South Africa
testcap	87
lasttestdate	2 January
lasttestyear	2011
lasttestagainst	South Africa
odidebutdate	1 April
odidebutyear	1999
odidebutagainst	Pakistan
odicap	228
lastodidate	2 April
lastodiyear	2011
lastodiagainst	Sri lanka
odishirt	44
club1	Delhi
year1	1997 – present
clubnumber1	AN Sharma coaching Academy
club2	Leicestershire
year2	2003
club3	Delhi Daredevils
year3	2008 – present
columns	5
column1	Test
matches1	87
runs1	7,694
bat avg1	53.43
100s/50s1	22/27
top score1	319
deliveries1	3,249
wickets1	39
bowl avg1	42.12
fivefor1	1
tenfor1	0
best bowling1	5/104
catches/stumpings1	67/–
column2	ODI
matches2	235
runs2	7,760
bat avg2	35.27
100s/50s2	14/37
top score2	175
deliveries2	4,230
wickets2	92
bowl avg2	40.39
fivefor2	0
tenfor2	n/a
best bowling2	4/6
catches/stumpings2	84/–
column3	FC
matches3	151
runs3	12,199
bat avg3	50.61
100s/50s3	36/45
top score3	319
deliveries3	7,988
wickets3	104
bowl avg3	39.83
fivefor3	1
tenfor3	0
best bowling3	5/104
catches/stumpings3	126/–
column4	LA
matches4	298
runs4	9,333
bat avg4	34.18
100s/50s4	14/53
top score4	175
deliveries4	5,835
wickets4	138
bowl avg4	36.29
fivefor4	0
tenfor4	n/a
best bowling4	4/6
catches/stumpings4	108/–
column5	Twenty 20
matches5	66
runs5	1,609
bat avg5	26.37
100s/50s5	0/11
top score5	94*
deliveries5	292
wickets5	19
bowl avg5	20.68
fivefor5	0
tenfor5	n/a
best bowling5	3/14
catches/stumpings5	10/–
date	22 January
year	2011
source	http://www.cricinfo.com/sl-tri2010/content/player/35263.html cricinfo }}

Virender Sehwag () (born 20 October 1978), affectionately known as ''Viru'', the ''Nawab of Najafgarh'', or the ''Zen master of modern cricket'', is one of the leading batsmen in the Indian cricket team. Sehwag is an aggressive right-handed opening batsman and a part-time right-arm off-spin bowler. He played his first One Day International in 1999 and joined the Indian Test cricket team in 2001. In April 2009, Sehwag became the only Indian to be honoured as the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World for his performance in 2008, subsequently becoming the first player of any nationality to retain the award for 2009.

Sehwag holds multiple records including the highest score made by an Indian in Test cricket (319), which was also the fastest triple century in the history of international cricket (reached 300 off only 278 balls) as well as the fastest 250 by any batsman (in 207 balls against Sri Lanka on 3 December 2009 at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai). Sehwag also holds the distinction of being one of four batsmen in the world to have ever surpassed 300 twice in Test cricket, and the only one to score two triple centuries and take a five-wicket innings haul. In March 2009, Sehwag smashed the fastest century ever scored by an Indian in ODI cricket, from 60 balls.

Sehwag was appointed as vice-captain of the Indian team under Rahul Dravid in October 2005 but due to poor form, he was later replaced by V. V. S. Laxman in December 2006 as Test vice-captain. In January 2007, Sehwag was dropped from the ODI team and later from the Test team as well. During his term as vice-captain, Sehwag skippered the team in place of injured Dravid in 2 ODIs and 1 Test. Following his return to form in 2008 and the retirement of Anil Kumble, Sehwag has been reappointed as the vice-captain for both Tests and ODIs. By early 2009, Sehwag had reestablished himself as one of the best performing batsmen in ODI cricket.

Early years

Sehwag was born in a Jat family from Haryana. The son of a grain merchant, Sehwag spent his childhood in a bungalow in a joint family, with siblings, uncles, aunts and sixteen cousins. Though now settled in New Delhi, the Sehwag family hails from Haryana. Sehwag was the third of four children born to father Krishan and mother Krishna Sehwag, with two older sisters Manju and Anju, and younger brother Vinod. His father attributes his interest in cricket to a toy bat which he was given when he was seven months old. He attended Arora Vidya School in Delhi, and pestered his parents to let him play cricket, on the basis that he was not academically gifted. His father tried to end his career when he broke a tooth as a child in 1990, but Sehwag evaded the ban with the help of his mother. Later he attended Jamia Milia Islamia for graduation.

Cricketing career

Early domestic cricket

Sehwag made his debut for Delhi cricket team in first class cricket in the 1997–98 season. He was selected to the North Zone cricket team for the Duleep Trophy the following 1998–99 season, ending fifth in the total runscoring list. The following year he was fourth on the Duleep Trophy run scoring list, including a 274, the highest score of the competition. This was attained against South Zone at Agartala in just 327 balls, and followed a rapid 187 from just 175 in a Ranji Trophy match against Punjab. He was then selected for the U-19 team which toured South Africa. He was seventh in the 2000–01 season with two centuries, but his consistency earned the attention of selectors and he became a regular member of the national team in mid 2001.

Since his international career started, he has continued to play for Delhi in the domestic competition whilst he is not occupied with international duty and has captained North Zone to victory in the Deodhar Trophy in 2004–05 and 2005–-06. He also had a short stint with Leicestershire in county cricket in 2003, but a back injury lead to a mutual termination of the contract.

ODI career

Sehwag's ODI career started poorly when he scored 1 against Pakistan in Mohali in April 1999 when he fell lbw to Shoaib Akhtar. His bowling performance was also ineffective and expensive, conceding 35 runs off 3 overs. He did not get another chance in the national team for 20 months.

Sehwag was not given another match until the home series against Zimbabwe in December 2000. Sehwag rose to prominence in his fourth ODI match in March 2001 when he scored 58 off 54 balls, against Australia in Bangalore. Combined with his three wickets, he help earn India a victory and was awarded his first man of the match award. He followed this with an unproductive tour of Zimbabwe in mid 2001.

Sehwag had his international breakthrough in Sri Lanka in August 2001 when he was promoted to the opening slot for the tri-series also involving New Zealand. The promotion to open the innings came because regular opener Sachin Tendulkar was absent due to a foot injury. In the match against New Zealand that was to decide the finalist, he scored his maiden century from 69 balls. At the time, the century was the third fastest ODI century for an Indian behind Mohammad Azharuddin's 62 ball effort and Yuvraj singh's 64 ball effort. This was his first score beyond 50 in ten matches and saw him named man of the match. This performance earned him a regular spot in the ODI squad in the middle-order. He bettered his own record by hitting a 60-ball century against New Zealand during the 2009 tour. An innings of note in 2002 was the 22 ball half-century against Kenya in Bloemfontein, tying the second fastest 50 by an Indian. Because of his attacking cricket stroke plays, Sehwag has got many fans, including the WestIndies legend Desmond Haynes, who admitted that he is a great fan of him.

With Ganguly's injury in the India-England ODI Series in January 2002, Sehwag received another opportunity to open the innings which he seized by scoring 82 from 64 balls in Kanpur in an eight-wicket Indian victory. With good performances as opener, Sehwag was made a permanent fixture at the top of the innings. Sachin Tendulkar, who opened in the England ODI series, was moved to middle order – a strategy that reaped dividends for India in 2002 in ODI matches. In the England series and the preceding tour to South Africa, he compiled 426 runs at 42.6 with four half-centuries .

After modest returns on the tours of the West Indies and England in early and mid 2002, he scored 271 runs at 90.33 in the 2002 ICC Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka, with two man of the match performances. After running out Ian Blackwell, he was involved in a 192 run partnership with Ganguly, scoring 126 from 104 balls to help set up an eight wicket victory against England in a group match. He then scored 58 from 54 balls and took 3/25 including two wickets in the final over to help defeat South Africa by 10 runs to help India progress to the final.

In late 2002 he scored an unbeaten 114 from 82 balls that included a 196 run partnership with Ganguly to lead India to a nine wicket win over the West Indies in Rajkot. He was the only batsman to score a century in the 7 match New Zealand ODI Series where he made two centuries – 108 in Napier in an Indian defeat and 112 in Auckland in a one-wicket victory.

Virender Sehwag had a mediocre 2003 Cricket World Cup, scoring 299 runs at an average of 27, he top scored with 82 in the loss against Australia in the final. Later in 2003, he scored his fourth century and earned Man of the Match award against New Zealand in Hyderabad, scoring 130 and putting on a 182 run partnership with Tendulkar, to lay the foundations for a 145 run victory. In spite of it, Sehwag struggled for consistency in 2003 and 2003/04 ODI series where he had only one century and 3 fifties, two against minnows – Bangladesh and Zimbabwe and one against Pakistan, in 22 matches.

Even with his inconsistent form, he earned 3 MoM awards in 2004/5 and 2004/05 ODI season with one award each against Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan. In the match against Pakistan in Kochi he scored 108 off 95 balls, his first century in eighteen months which set up a 95 run victory.

Sehwag then started a two year streak without a century in ODIs, as well as having his ODI tour of Pakistan in early 2006 curtailed due to a shoulder injury. His drought in limited overs cricket has puzzled cricket experts because of the consistent performances in Test matches with a high scoring rate has not translated into significant contributions in the ODI format of the game. Sehwag was dropped from the ODI Squad for the WI-IND 4 Match ODI series. With debate over whether he deserved to be included in the 2007 Cricket World Cup squad, captain Dravid's insistence on his retention paved the way to being named in the World Cup squad. However, despite this assurance, Sehwag's form continued to decline.

Sehwag started the 2007 World Cup in poor form, only being picked for the side because of Rahul Dravid's wishes. He scored poorly in the first group match but bounced back to hit a magnificent 114 from 87 deliveries against lowly ranked Bermuda. The Indian team scored 413–5, the highest team total in a World Cup match, and went on to win the match but this was their only win in the tournament.

On 11 March 2009, Sehwag blasted India's fastest ODI hundred against New Zealand by reaching 3 figures in just 60 balls. Eventually, he led India to win its first series win in New Zealand.

In 2011 Cricket World Cup, Sehwag scored his highest ODI score against any team and reached legendary player Kapil Dev's Score of 175 in a world cup after 28 years.

ODI summary

Sehwag's scoring rate is extremely quick, at 103.44 runs per 100 balls (it is exceeded only by one current player: Shahid Afridi, who has a much lower average). He has had more success in run chases, scoring seven of his thirteen centuries while chasing. He has led India on seven occasions, due to the unavailability of the incumbent due to illness, injury or rotation policy. In 2011 World Cup, Sehwag scored 175 in 140 deliveries and reached the legendary score that Kapil Dev made in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.

Test career

Sehwag's maiden century in mid-2001 in Sri Lanka was not enough to gain selection in the Test team for the corresponding series. Sehwag made his Test debut in late 2001 in the First Test against South Africa in Bloemfontein as a middle-order batsman. He scored 105 on debut despite the South African win. He was given a one match suspension by ICC match referee Mike Denness for overappealing in the Second Test in Port Elizabeth, which lead to political dispute amongst the ICC and the two countries. He returned for the home series in 2001–02 against England and Zimbabwe. After scoring two half-centuries in the preceding series, he was promoted to a makeshift-opener on the 2002 England tour after the failure of previous openers and an experiment with wicket-keeper Deep Dasgupta. He scored 84 in the new role at Lord's and then a century in the Second Test at Trent Bridge, and has batted there in Test matches ever since. He scored his maiden home-century of 147 in the First Test against the West Indies in the 2002–03 home season in Mumbai, which was at the time his top score in Test matches, earning him his first man of the match award. After a poor tour to New Zealand, he scored passed 50 for the first time in 9 innings when he scored 130 in a Test at Mohali against New Zealand in late 2003 .

He then scored 195 against Australia on Boxing Day 2003 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His dismissal on the first afternoon lead to an Indian collapse and eventual defeat.

In early 2004, he became the only Indian to score a triple century in Test cricket, with 309 against Pakistan in the First Test in Multan, beating V. V. S. Laxman's previous Indian record(281 against Australia) and helping India to a total of 5/675, the highest ever against Pakistan. It was Sehwag's sixth Test century in 21 Tests. India went on to win by an innings, with Sehwag named man of the match. He also scored 90 in the Second Test defeat in Lahore and was named man of the series for his efforts after being the highest run scorer and average for the series. He later auctioned the bat with which he made the triple century, for Rs. 70,000, to aid in relief efforts for the tsunami victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.

In the First Test of the 2004 Border Gavaskar Trophy in Bangalore, Sehwag was fined for showing "serious dissent" towards umpire Billy Bowden following an LBW dismissal. Replays showed that he had hit the ball off the middle of his bat onto his leg, which later led to an apology from Bowden. Sehwag scored 155 in the Chennai test match to set up a triple figure lead for the Indians, but the match was rained out on the final day with the Indians requiring 229 for victory. In the home series against South Africa that year, he scored 164 in the drawn First Test in Kanpur, and 88 in the Second in Kolkata, which India won to claim the series. Sehwag was again named man of the series.

Sehwag failed on the tour of Bangladesh, but on the 2005 home series against Pakistan, he scored 173 in Mohali, 81 in Kolkata and then 201 in Bangalore, totalling 544 runs at an average of 90.66 to win the man of the series award. He passed the 3000 run mark in Tests during the Bangalore Test, becoming the fastest Indian to reach the mark in terms of innings played. His performances over the preceding 12 months earned him selection in the ICC Test Team of the Year as well as nomination for Test player of the year.

He earned selection for the ICC World XI which played Australia in the 2005 ICC Super Series, where he top scored in the first innings with 76. He attracted some criticism at the end of 2005, having failed to pass 50 in four Tests against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. He also missed the Second Test against Sri Lanka in Delhi due to illness, but returned to the team in the following match in Ahmedabad and captained the Indians to victory whilst Rahul Dravid was ill.

Sehwag scored his first century in a year when he compiled 254 against Pakistan in the First Test in Lahore in January 2006, the highest ever Test score at a strike rate of over 100 and the second fastest double century ever. In doing so he was involved in a 410 run partnership with captain Rahul Dravid, the highest ever against Pakistan and in Pakistan, and just four short of a new world record opening partnership in Test matches. Sehwag went on to lampoon the Pakistani attack led by Shoaib Akhtar. Sehwag however failed to pass 50 in the following two Tests against Pakistan, and aside from a 76* in the Second Test in Mohali against England, fell seven times for less than 20 runs to the new ball , leading criticism of his position in the team.

During the 2006 West Indies tour, Sehwag narrowly missed out on scoring a century in the opening session of the Second Test in St Lucia, ending with 99 at the interval. He went on to compile 180 in just 190 balls, and also collected four wickets for the match to be named man of the match. Although Sehwag had collected more than 50 wickets in ODIs, he was substantially used as a Test bowler for the first time on the West Indies tour, taking nine wickets in the first two Test matches when he was used in the absence of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh as India opted to only use one specialist spinner. He had previously only three wickets at Test level . He was also fined in the First Test for excessive appealing.

Poor form saw Sehwag being dropped from the Test team in 2007. In December 2007, he was recalled for India's tour of Australia after being omitted form the list of probables, amid calls for his return by several commentators, most notably Ian Chappell.

Though he was omitted from the team for the first two matches, both of which India lost, he was picked for the third Test at the WACA in Perth after scoring a century in a tour match against the ACT Invitational XI. He played a key part in India's victory, making 72 runs at a brisk pace and taking 2 crucial wickets He scored a match-saving 151 in the second innings of the fourth Test in Adelaide. This was his first century in the second innings of a test match, and was notable in that he rejected his usual, aggressive batting style in favour of a more defensive approach which was the need of the hour.

Sehwag continued his good form against South Africa, in the home series in April 2008, scoring 319 in the first Test in Chennai, having reached 300 off just 278 balls, the fastest triple century in test history. Sehwag became only the third batsman after Sir Donald Bradman and Brian Lara to score 2 triple centuries in Test Cricket. He scored 257 runs the third day of the match, which was the most runs scored by an individual batsman on a single day of a Test match since 1954, when Dennis Compton made 273 runs on the second day of the Nottingham Test against Pakistan.

He has a habit of making big centuries, with his last eleven centuries having all been over 150, including two triple centuries and further three double centuries which surpassed Sir Donald Bradman's record of having seven consecutive centuries beyond 150.

In the first test against England in Chennai in December 2008, Sehwag's rapid 83 off just 68 balls, in the last session of the fourth day, set India up for its record run-chase of 4/387, the highest successful target on Indian soil. He got the man-of-the-match award despite Sachin Tendulkar scoring an unbeaten century later in the same innings and Andrew Strauss scoring a century in each of England's innings.

He has been noted for his record against Pakistan, averaging over 90 against and in Pakistan, scoring four centuries against India's arch rivals. The disparity in his average in the first and second innings is often noted, being 68 and 25 and all but one of his fifteen Test centuries having come in the first innings.

During Sri Lanka's tour of India in 2009, in the 3-match test series he finished with the highest run getter of the series with 491 runs. In the last test match, he made 293 with the help of which India won the test match. In this innings he established many records: 1. Scoring the second fastest 200. 2. Scoring the fastest 250 off just 207 balls. 3. Third highest run scorer on a single day. [284 n.o] He missed accomplishing the feat of being the only player to score three triple centuries. He was caught and bowled by Murlitharan short by just seven runs. This innings, which consisted of 40 fours and 7 sixes, was described as his third best by him after his two triple centuries.

Indian Premier League

Sehwag was the captain of the Delhi Daredevils in the first two edition of Indian Premier League, before he quit the position to concentrate more on his batting transferring it to Gautam Gambhir. However, for the fourth edition of IPL, he was the only player to be retained by the franchise, again as captain of the Delhi Daredevils.

Sehwag in Non-India Colours

He was selected in the ICC World XI for the 2005 ICC Super Series against Australia in late 2005, but only managed 64 runs at an average of 21.33 . Earlier in 2005, he was selected for the Asian Cricket Council XI for the fundraising match against the ICC World XI in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami,

Playing style

Sehwag was often compared to Sachin Tendulkar in his early days due to the similar batting style, build and appearance. He has acknowledged numerous times that he consciously attempted to model his playing style on Tendulkar's in his youth.

Sehwag's technique is often cited as being particularly unorthodox, often backing away (considered technically incorrect) to free his arms whilst playing his shots, in particular to cut or drive spinners inside out. He is frequently cited by commentators for his extremely strong (physically) square cutting and upper cutting and power through the off-side. He is also an excellent player of the late cut. In particular, his tendency to strike the ball in the air and risk dismissal is a trait which has seen him noted for his chancy and adventurous mindset. He is also noted for a relative lack of footwork, with his timing often attributed to his eyesight. Of late, Sehwag has shown a proclivity to be dismissed by inswing deliveries, something attributed to his leaden-footed batting style. He has also got dismissed playing the cut shot when the ball was too close to his body to cut, especially in limited over matches.

Virender Sehwag is often noted for his extremely attacking style of batting, and in 2005 he was described by ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' as the "most exciting opener in the world" due to his aggressive style in Test matches, his strike rate being inferior only to that of Adam Gilchrist and Shahid Afridi. Sehwag has also been noted for his apparent disregard for the match situation, exhibited by aggressive batting even when his team is in a poor position or after being out-manoeuvred by the bowler in the recent past. This is a two-edged sword, as it allows him to not be psychologically hindered by previous failures, but can also lead to excessive aggression. He was quoted by Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer as a sophisticated slogger. But over the years, his style has changed from "reckless hitting" to that of "controlled aggression", according to an article in the ''Sydney Morning Herald''. Previously Sehwag was known predominantly as an offside player, with a weakness against straight short pitched bowling. However in the last two years he has improved his leg side and bouncer hitting considerably. This is shown in the recent ODIs against New Zealand where he utilised the pull, hook and flick shots to devastating effect.

As of 15 March 2010, Sehwag has an average of nearly 68 in the first innings of test matches where he has scored 5130 runs, 18 centuries and 12 fifties in 76 matches. In the second innings, his average drops to 31 and has scored 1561 runs, an only century and 9 fifties in 54 innings. The first and second innings difference of 37 runs is the one of the highest and indicates a lack of ability in dealing with more difficult batting conditions as the pitch deteriorates. However, his match-saving second-innings 151 against Australia at Adelaide during the 2007–08 Border-Gavaskar series, and a match winning 92 in trying situations at Nagpur during the 2008–09 series, went a long way towards repairing that image. In the 2008 Test series against England, Sehwag played a key role in the fourth innings of the first Test in Chennai. He amassed 83 runs in 68 balls, which helped India chase down an improbable target of 387 with six wickets to spare. This was the highest successful run chase in India, and the fourth highest in Test history. For this effort, Sehwag was adjudged Man of the Match. On 12 August 2011, Sehwag became only the third Indian in history to achieve a king pair (2 golden ducks consecutively) and the 15th player to do that of all time.

Controversy

In November 2001, Sehwag was involved in controversy in the Second Test match between India and South Africa at St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, when he was given a one Test ban for "excessive appealing" by ICC Match referee Mike Denness. He was one of six Indian players to receive bans, four of which were suspended bans. The unprecedented severity of the bans precipitated an international cricketing, political and administrative crisis, with the Indian cricket establishment threatening to call off the tour unless Mike Denness was removed as match referee from the third test match. ICC backed Mike Denness and the South African board backed the Indian cricket establishment and did not allow Mike Denness to enter the stadium on the first day of the third test match. ICC declared that the match was 'unofficial' and 'friendly five day match' and the series was officially declared as a 2 match series and South Africa as 1–0 winners. The subsequent England tour to India was placed in jeopardy when India picked Sehwag in the test squad. Subsequent to this development, ICC issued a warning that any match with Sehwag in the cricket team will not be considered an "official" Test match until Sehwag had served his one match ban. After negotiations with ECB and ICC and in general interest of cricket, Sehwag was dropped from the team for the first Test against England.

Personal life

Sehwag married Aarti Ahlawat in April 2004 under heavy security cover in a widely publicised wedding hosted by Arun Jaitley, the then Union law minister of India, at his residence. The couple have a son, Aryavir, born on 18 October 2007.

Sehwag is fondly referred to in the media as the ''Nawab of Najafgarh'', Najafgarh being his home locality in Delhi. A lifelong vegetarian, Sehwag owns a vegetarian eatery, ''Sehwag Favourites'', which opened in late 2005 at the Fun Republic cineplex in Delhi, following in the footsteps of his role model Sachin Tendulkar. The majority of the products on the menu are named after cricketing themes related to his memorable innings, such as ''Multan Ke Sultan Ki Tikdi'', meaning dish for three persons, which alludes to his triple century in Multan and is priced at 309 rupees. There are plans to expand the chain across India with a second outlet already planned in Ludhiana. Sehwag does charity work for UNICEF.

International centuries

See: List of international cricket centuries by Virender Sehwag

Achievements

Awards

Arjuna Award (2002)

Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World 2008, 2009 ICC Test Player of the Year 2010 Padma Shree 2010

Records

Fastest 250 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (207).

Fastest 300 in Test cricket in terms of balls faced (278).

Most Test runs in a single day by an Indian. Sehwag made 257 in a day against SA in Chennai. He surpassed this in making 284 in a day against Sri Lanka. The latter was the second consecutive innings in which India scored more than 400 runs in a single day in Tests. Sehwag also made a century at faster than a run a ball on the previous equation.

Only Indian batsman to have scored two triple centuries in Test cricket. He is one of the four batsman in the history of Test cricket to score two triple centuries, alongside Australia's Sir Donald Bradman, and the West Indies' Brian Lara and Chris Gayle.

Fastest century in ODI cricket by an Indian – 100 runs off 60 balls against New Zealand in 2009.

Second fastest ODI 50 by an Indian. – a record, he shares with Rahul Dravid, Kapil Dev and Yuvraj Singh – when he took 22 balls against Kenya in 2001 Six double centuries – the first three of which came against Pakistan. Greg Chappell and Thilan Samarweera are the other players to have scored multiple double centuries against Pakistan (2). Sehwag and Tendulkar are the only Indians to have made six Test double centuries.

Highest score by an Indian batsman in Test cricket. He first achieved this when he scored 309 against Pakistan in Multan in 2004, and bettered his previous record in March 2008 at Chennai against South Africa by scoring 319.

Fastest triple century: His second triple century scored at Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 against South Africa was the fastest in terms of balls faced by any batsman (off 278 balls).

Consecutive 150+ scores in Test cricket: He holds the record for consecutive test hundreds converted to scores of 150+, at 11.

He is one of the only five players to have scored more test hundreds than test fifties(15c/14f), along with Don Bradman(29c/13f), Mohammad Azharuddin (22c/21f), Matthew Hayden (30c/27f) and Kevin Pietersen(13c/11f) as on 7 August 2008

Two consecutive double century partnerships in a Test innings. He achieved this record, for the first two wickets in Chennai on 27–28 March 2008 (with Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid respectively). This was the first time in Test history that the first two wickets in an innings have resulted in double-century stands. He equalled this in the innings against Sri Lanka in Mumbai, combining with Murali Vijay and Dravid for the first and second wickets.

He is the first person in the history of test cricket to hit two triple centuries and take five wickets in a Test innings.

He has launched all five of India's innings in 2011 World Cup to date by hitting the first ball for four. The suffering bowlers (so far) were Shafiul Islam, Jimmy Anderson, Boyd Rankin, Mudassar Bukhari and Dale Steyn.

Test Matches Awards

Man of the Series Awards

:{| class="wikitable" border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 width=80% |- style="background:#00f; color:#fff;" ! # ! Series ! Season ! Series Performance |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 1 | India in Pakistan Test Series | 2003/0 | 440 Runs (3 Matches, 4 Innings, 1x100, 1x50); 6–0–27–0; 2 Catches |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 2 | South Africa in India Test Series | 2004/05 | 262 Runs (2 Matches, 3 Innings, 1x100, 2x50); 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 3 | Pakistan in India Test Series | 2004/05 | 544 Runs (3 Matches, 6 Innings, 2x100, 1x50); 5–2–14–0; 2 Catches |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 4 | Sri Lanka in India Test Series | 2009/10 | 491 Runs (3 Matches, 4 Innings, 2x100, 1x50); 16–3–47–1; 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" |5 | India in Sri Lanka Test Series | 2010 | 348 Runs (3 Matches, 5 Innings, 2x100, 1x50); 7 wickets |}

Man of the Match Awards

:{| class="wikitable" border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 width=75% |- style="background:#00f; color:#fff;" ! S No ! Opponent ! Venue ! Season ! Match Performance |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 1 | West Indies | Wankhede, Mumbai | 2002/03 | 1st Innings: 147 (24x4, 3x6); 2–0–7–0 2nd Innings: 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 2 | Pakistan | Multan | 2003/04 | 1st Innings: 309 (39x4, 6x6); 2–0–11–0 2nd Innings: 3–0–8–0; 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 3 | Pakistan | Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore | 2006 | 1st Innings: 254 (47x4, 1x6); 6–0–24–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 4 | West Indies | Gros Islet, St Lucia | 2006 | 1st Innings: 180 (20x4, 2x6); 16.1–5–33–3 2nd Innings: 30–9–48–1 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 5 | South Africa | Chennai | 2007/08 | 1st Innings: 319 (42x4, 5x6); 11–1–37–1 2nd Innings: 22–2–55–1 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 6 | Sri Lanka | Galle | 2008/09 | 1st Innings: 201 (22x4, 4x6) 2nd Innings: 50 (6x4, 1x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 7 | England | Chennai | 2008/09 | 1st Innings: 9 (2x4); 1–0–8–0 2nd Innings: 83 (11x4, 4x6); 6–0–22–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 8 | Sri Lanka | Mumbai | 2009/10 | 1st Innings: 293 (254); 1 Catch2nd Innings:9–2–24–0 |}

ODI Cricket Awards

Man of the Series Awards

:{| class="wikitable" border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 width=80% |- style="background:#00f; color:#fff;" ! # ! Series ! Season ! Series Performance |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 1 | India in New Zealand ODI Series | 2008/09 | 299 (5 Matches, 5 Innings, 1x100, 2x50); 2 Catches |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 2 | India, New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka Triangular Series | 2010/11 | 268 (5 Matches, 5 Innings, 1x100, 1x50); |}

Man of the Match Awards

:{| class="wikitable" border=0 cellpadding=3 cellspacing=1 width=70% |- style="background:#00f; color:#fff;" ! S No ! Opponent ! Venue ! Season ! Match Performance |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 1 | Australia | Bangalore | 2000/01 | 58 (54b, 8x4); 9–0–59–3 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 2 | New Zealand | Colombo (SSC) | 2001 | 100 (70b, 19x4, 1x6); 3–0–26–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 3 | England | Kanpur | 2001/02 | 82 (62b, 14x4); 1–0–9–0; 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 4 | England | Colombo (RPS) | 2002/03 | 126 (104b, 21x4, 1x6); 5–0–25–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 5 | South Africa | Colombo (RPS) | 2002/03 | 59 (58b, 10x4); 5–0–25–3 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 6 | West Indies | Rajkot | 2002/03 | 114* (82b, 17x4, 2x6); 6–0–29–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 7 | New Zealand | Napier | 2002/03 | 108 (119b, 9x4, 2x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 8 | New Zealand | Auckland | 2002/03 | 112 (139b, 11x4, 3x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 9 | New Zealand | Hyderabad | 2003/04 | 130 (134b, 15x4, 2x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 10 | Zimbabwe | Hobart | 2003/04 | 90 (102b, 5x4, 5x6); 10–0–40–2; 1 Catch |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 11 | Sri Lanka | Colombo (RPS) | 2004 | 81 (92b, 6x4, 2x6); 9–0–37–3 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 12 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 2004/05 | 70 (52b, 9x4, 3x6); 6–1–31–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 13 | Pakistan | Kochi | 2004/05 | 108 (95b, 9x4, 3x6); 5–0–26–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 14 | Bermuda | Port of Spain, Trinidad | 2007 | 115 (87b, 17x4, 3x6); 5–0–15–0 |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 15 | England | Bangalore, India | 2008 | 69 (57b, 9x4, 3x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 16 | England | Cuttack, India | 2008 | 91 (73b, 15x4, 1x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 17 | New Zealand | Hamilton, New Zealand | 2009 | 125* (75b,14x4, 6x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 18 | Sri Lanka | Rajkot, India | 2009/10 | 146 (102b,17x4, 6x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 19 | Sri Lanka | Dambulla, Sri Lanka | 2009/10 | 99* (100b,11x4, 2x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 20 | New Zealand | Dambulla, Sri Lanka | 2009/10 | 110 (93b,16x4, 1x6) |- style="background:#87cefa;" | 21 | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 2010/11 | 175 (140b,14x4, 5x6, SR 125.0) |}

Notes

References

External links

Virender Sehwag Official Website

Cricinfo Player Profile

Virender Sehwag featured as an Asian hero by Time magazine (Asia issue dated 28 April 2003)

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:ACC Asian XI One Day International cricketers Category:Delhi cricketers Category:ICC World XI One Day International cricketers Category:India One Day International cricketers Category:India Test cricketers Category:Cricketers who made a century on Test debut Category:India Twenty20 International cricketers Category:Indian cricketers Category:Indian Premier League cricketers Category:North Zone cricketers Category:Recipients of the Arjuna Award Category:Leicestershire cricketers Category:World XI Test cricketers Category:Cricketers at the 2003 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2007 Cricket World Cup Category:Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup Category:World Cup cricketers of India Category:Indian Test captains Category:Indian cricket captains Category:Delhi (Indian Premier League) cricketers Category:Jat people Category:Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World Category:People from Delhi

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