- published: 06 Oct 2007
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- author: jjanderson89
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- Abyssinian genet
- Acinonyx
- Adaptation
- Afghanistan
- Africa
- African civet
- African golden cat
- African linsang
- African palm civet
- African Wild Dog
- Ailuridae
- Ailuropoda
- Akbar the Great
- Albinism
- Algeria
- Allen's olingo
- Amazon weasel
- American badger
- American black bear
- American cheetah
- American marten
- American mink
- Ancient Egypt
- Andean mountain cat
- André Mercier
- Angola
- Angolan genet
- Angolan kusimanse
- Animal
- Animal husbandry
- Antarctic fur seal
- Antelope
- Aonyx
- Apple Inc.
- Aquatic genet
- Arctic fox
- Arctocephalus
- Aristocracy
- Artery
- Asian badger
- Asian black bear
- Asian golden cat
- Asian palm civet
- Asiatic Cheetah
- Asiatic linsang
- Australian sea lion
- Back-striped weasel
- Badger
- Baikal seal
- Banded linsang
- Banded mongoose
- Banded palm civet
- Bassariscus
- Bat-eared fox
- Bay cat
- Bdeogale
- Bear
- Bearded seal
- Beast Wars
- Beddard's olingo
- Beech marten
- Belgium
- Bengal fox
- Benin
- Big cat
- Binturong
- Biography
- Biotope
- Black-backed jackal
- Black-footed cat
- Black-footed ferret
- Blanford's fox
- Bobcat
- Born Free
- Botswana
- Bourlon's genet
- British Raj
- Brown bear
- Brown fur seal
- Brown hyena
- Brown palm civet
- Burkina Faso
- Bush dog
- Bushy-tailed olingo
- Cacomistle
- California sea lion
- Cameroon
- Camouflage
- Canada lynx
- Canidae
- Caniformia
- Canis
- Cannabis (drug)
- Cape fox
- Cape genet
- Cape gray mongoose
- Caracal
- Carnivora
- Carnivore
- Caspian seal
- Cat
- Chad
- Chariot
- Charlemagne
- Cheetah
- Cheetah (1989 film)
- Cheetah (comics)
- Cheetor
- Cheetos
- Chennai
- Chest
- Chester Cheetah
- Childbirth
- China
- Chinese mountain cat
- Chiriqui olingo
- Chordate
- CITES
- Civet
- Claw
- Clouded leopard
- Coati
- Collared mongoose
- Colocolo
- Colombian weasel
- Common genet
- Common kusimanse
- Conservation status
- Core temperature
- Corsac fox
- Cougar
- Coyote
- Cozumel Raccoon
- Crab-eating fox
- Crab-eating mongoose
- Crab-eating Raccoon
- Crabeater seal
- Crossarchus
- Cryptozoology
- Culpeo
- Damekko Dōbutsu
- Darwin's fox
- Dewclaw
- Dhole
- Dionysus
- Diurnality
- Djibouti
- DNA
- Dog
- Domesticated
- Duma (film)
- Eagle
- Eared seal
- Earless seal
- East Africa
- Economic system
- Ecotourism
- Egypt
- Egyptian mongoose
- Egyptian weasel
- Elephant seal
- Emperor of Ethiopia
- Encyclopedia of Life
- Ethiopia
- Ethiopian wolf
- Eupleridae
- Euplerinae
- Eurasian lynx
- Europe
- European badger
- European mink
- European otter
- European pine marten
- European polecat
- Eutheria
- Extant taxon
- Falanouc
- Felidae
- Feliformia
- Felinae
- Felis
- Fennec fox
- Fernand Khnopff
- Ferret-badger
- Fisher (animal)
- Fishing cat
- Flagellum
- Flat-headed cat
- Fossa (animal)
- France
- Frito-Lay
- Fur seal
- Galerella
- Galictis
- Galidictis
- Galidiinae
- Galápagos fur seal
- Galápagos sea lion
- Gambian mongoose
- Genet (animal)
- Genghis Khan
- Genus
- Geoffroy's cat
- George Stubbs
- Gestation
- Ghana
- Giant forest genet
- Giant otter
- Giant panda
- Golden jackal
- Golden palm civet
- Grant's Gazelle
- Grassland
- Gray fox
- Gray wolf
- Greater grison
- Greek language
- Grey seal
- Greyhound
- Grizzly bear
- Guadalupe fur seal
- Guineafowl
- Gus Mills
- Hairy-nosed otter
- Harbor seal
- Hare
- Harp seal
- Harris's olingo
- Haussa genet
- Hawaiian monk seal
- Head
- Helogale
- Hemigalinae
- Heredity
- Herpestes
- Hindi
- Hoary fox
- Hog badger
- Hog-nosed skunk
- Home range
- Honey badger
- Hooded seal
- Hooded skunk
- Hose's palm civet
- Hunting
- Hyena
- Iberian lynx
- Ictonyx
- Impala
- Inbred
- Inbreeding
- India
- Indian gray mongoose
- Ingressive
- Iran
- Iraq
- Iriomote cat
- Island fox
- Israel
- Italy
- IUCN Red List
- Jackson's mongoose
- Jaguar
- Jaguarundi
- Jahangir
- Jairam Ramesh
- Japanese badger
- Japanese marten
- Japanese weasel
- Javan ferret-badger
- Johnston's genet
- Jordan
- Joshua Brookes
- Journal of Mammalogy
- Journal of Zoology
- Joy Adamson
- JSTOR
- Jungle cat
- Kenya
- Khorasan Province
- King genet
- Kinkajou
- Kit fox
- Kodiak bear
- Kodkod
- Kruger National Park
- Large Indian civet
- Large-spotted civet
- Latin
- Laurasiatheria
- Least weasel
- Leighton's linsang
- Leopard
- Leopard cat
- Leopard seal
- Leopardus
- Lesser grison
- Liberian mongoose
- Life magazine
- Ligament
- Lion
- Livestock
- Living fossil
- Long-nosed mongoose
- Long-tailed weasel
- Lontra
- Lutra
- Lutrogale
- Lycalopex
- Lycaon pictus
- Lynx
- Mac OS X
- Malagasy civet
- Malawi
- Malayan civet
- Malayan weasel
- Mali
- Mammal
- Maned wolf
- Marbled cat
- Marbled polecat
- Margay
- Marine otter
- Marsh mongoose
- Marten
- Masked palm civet
- Mauritania
- Meerkat
- Melanism
- Meles (genus)
- Meller's mongoose
- Mephitis (genus)
- Middle East
- Mink
- Miocene
- Mohawk hairstyle
- Monachus
- Mongoose
- Morocco
- Mortality rate
- Motility
- Mountain weasel
- Mozambique
- Mughal Empire
- Mungos
- Mustelidae
- Mustelinae
- Mutation
- Namibia
- Nasua
- Nasuella
- Nasuella meridensis
- Nasuella olivacea
- Neofelis
- Neotropical otter
- New Zealand sea lion
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Nilgiri marten
- Northern fur seal
- Nyctereutes
- Ocelot
- Oedipus
- Olfaction
- Olingo
- Oman
- Oncilla
- Otter
- Otter civet
- Our Friend Yambo
- Owston's palm civet
- Pakistan
- Palawan stink badger
- Pale fox
- Pallas's cat
- Pampas cat
- Pampas fox
- Pantanal cat
- Panthera
- Pantherinae
- Paradoxurinae
- Paradoxurus
- Paradoxurus aureus
- Pardine genet
- Pardofelis
- Paris
- Patagonian weasel
- Patrick O'Brian
- Persian people
- Pet
- Phoca
- Pinniped
- Pleistocene
- Pliocene
- Polar bear
- Prairie
- Prionailurus
- Procyon (genus)
- Procyonidae
- PubMed Identifier
- Puma (genus)
- Purr
- Pusa
- Pygmy spotted skunk
- Raccoon
- Raccoon dog
- Rajya Sabha
- Recessive gene
- Red fox
- Red panda
- Red wolf
- Reginald Pocock
- Renaissance
- Ribbon seal
- Ring-tailed Cat
- Ring-tailed mongoose
- Ringed seal
- Roar (animal)
- Ross seal
- Ruddy mongoose
- Russia
- Rusty-spotted cat
- Rusty-spotted genet
- Rüppell's fox
- Sable
- Salanoia durrelli
- Sand cat
- Sanskrit
- Saudi Arabia
- Savanna
- Science (journal)
- Scientific American
- Sea lion
- Sea otter
- Sechuran fox
- Selous' mongoose
- Semi-arid climate
- Senegal
- Serengeti
- Serval
- Servaline genet
- Short-eared dog
- Siberian weasel
- Sibling
- Side-striped jackal
- Skunk
- Slender mongoose
- Sloth bear
- Small Asian mongoose
- Small Indian civet
- Smooth-coated otter
- Snow leopard
- Social order
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South American Coati
- Southern river otter
- Species
- Spectacled bear
- Speothos
- Spermatozoon
- Sphinx
- Spotted hyena
- Spotted linsang
- Spotted seal
- Spotted skunk
- Spotted-necked otter
- Springbok (antelope)
- Status symbol
- Steller sea lion
- Steppe polecat
- Stink badger
- Stoat
- Striped hyena
- Striped polecat
- Striped skunk
- Sudan
- Sulawesi palm civet
- Sun bear
- Sunda stink badger
- Swift fox
- Symbolism (arts)
- Syria
- Tanzania
- Tayra
- Template Carnivora
- Termite
- Territorial marking
- Thebes, Egypt
- Thomson's gazelle
- Threatened species
- ThunderCats
- Tibetan sand fox
- Tiger
- Titian
- Trans-Nzoia District
- Transvaal Province
- Tunisia
- Tuzk-e-Jahangiri
- Type species
- Uganda
- Urocyon
- Ursus (genus)
- Variegation
- Vegetation
- Visual perception
- Viverra
- Viverridae
- Viverrinae
- Vulnerable species
- Vulpes
- Waist
- Walrus
- Weasel
- Weddell seal
- Whipsnade Zoo
- White lion
- White-nosed Coati
- Wikipedia Link rot
- Wikispecies
- Wildcat
- Wildebeest
- Wolverine
- Wonder Woman
- Woodland
- Yellow mongoose
- Zalophus
- Zambia
- Zebra
- Zimbabwe
- Zoo
-
Afghanistan
Afghanistan
i/æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming part of South Asia, Central Asia, and Greater Middle East, it is also considered to be part of a broader West Asia. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of 647,500 km2 (250,001 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.
Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as 50,000 BC. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, and in modern era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Greco-Bactrians, Kushans, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Timurids, Mughals and many others have risen to form major empires.
wn.com/Afghanistan -
Algeria
Coordinates: 28°N 2°E / 28°N 2°E / 28; 2
Algeriai/ælˈdʒɪəriə/ (Arabic: الجزائر, al-Jazā'ir; Berber: ⴷⵣⴰⵢⴻⵔ Dzayer), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria (الجمهورية الجزائرية الديمقراطية الشعبية, al-Jumhūriyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah ad-Dīmuqrāṭiyyah ash-Shaʿbiyyah), also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a large country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.
When referring to its land area, Algeria is the largest country in Africa, Maghreb and the Arab World. It is also the largest of the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea; it is also the tenth-largest country in the world. The country is bordered in the northeast by Tunisia, in the east by Libya, in the west by Morocco, in the southwest by Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Mali, in the southeast by Niger, and in the north by the Mediterranean Sea. Its size is almost 2,400,000 square kilometres (926,645 sq mi) with an estimated population of 37.1 million as of 2012. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC and the United Nations. The country is also a founding member of the Arab Maghreb Union.
wn.com/Algeria -
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (Portuguese: República de Angola, pronounced: [ʁɨˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈɡɔla];Kikongo, Kimbundu, Umbundu: Repubilika ya Ngola), is a country in southern Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city. The exclave province of Cabinda has borders with the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Portuguese were present in some—mostly coastal—points of the territory of what is now Angola, from the 16th to the 19th century, interacting in diverse ways with the peoples that lived there. In the 19th century they slowly and hesitantly began to establish themselves in the interior. Angola as a Portuguese colony encompassing the present territory was not established before the end of the 19th century, and "effective occupation", as required by the Berlin Conference (1884) was achieved only by the 1920s. Independence was achieved in 1975, after a protracted liberation war. After independence, Angola was the scene of an intense civil war from 1975 to 2002. The country has vast mineral and petroleum reserves, and its economy has on average grown at a two-digit pace since the 1990s, especially since the end of the civil war. In spite of this, standards of living remain low for the majority of the population, and life expectancy and infant mortality rates in Angola are among the worst-ranked in the world. At the same time, a minority has reached comfortable life standards, and the dominant stratum has succeeded in accumulating considerable wealth, so that social inequality in Angola is one of the highest in the world.
wn.com/Angola -
Belgium
Belgium (i/ˈbɛldʒəm/ BEL-jəm), officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO. Belgium covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres (11,787 sq mi), and it has a population of about 11 million people. Straddling the cultural boundary between Germanic and Latin Europe, Belgium is home to two main linguistic groups, the Dutch-speakers, mostly Flemish (about 60%), and the French-speakers, mostly Walloons (about 40%), plus a small group of German-speakers. Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region, officially bilingual, is a mostly French-speaking enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia. Belgium's linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in the political history and a complex system of government.
wn.com/Belgium -
Benin
Benini/bɨˈniːn/ (formerly, Dahomey), officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, by Nigeria to the east and by Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. A majority of the population live on its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city. Benin covers an area of approximately 110,000 square kilometers (42,000 sq mi), with a population of approximately 9.05 million. Benin is a tropical, sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from subsistence farming.
The official language of Benin is French, however, indigenous languages such as Fon and Yoruba are commonly spoken. The largest religious group in Benin is Roman Catholicism, followed closely by Islam, Vodun and Protestantism. Benin is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, La Francophonie, the Community of Sahel-Saharan States, the African Petroleum Producers Association and the Niger Basin Authority.
wn.com/Benin -
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana (Tswana: Lefatshe la Botswana), is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are properly referred to as "Batswana" (singular: Motswana), but many English-language sources use "Botswanan". Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966. It has held free and fair democratic elections since independence.
Botswana is flat, and up to 70% is covered by the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the south and southeast, Namibia to the west and north, and Zimbabwe to the northeast. Its border with Zambia to the north near Kazungula, Zambia is poorly defined but at most is a few hundred meters long.
A mid-sized country of just over two million people, Botswana is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world. Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa when it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1966, with a GDP per capita of about US$70. Botswana has since transformed itself, becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world to a GDP (purchasing power parity) per capita of about $14,000. The country also has a strong tradition as a representative democracy.
wn.com/Botswana -
Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso (
i/bərˌkiːnə ˈfɑːsoʊ/ bər-KEE-nə FAH-soh; French: [buʁkina faso]) – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest. The country's capital is Ouagadougou.
Its size is 274,200 square kilometres (105,900 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 15,757,000. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on 4 August 1984, by President Thomas Sankara, to mean "the land of upright people" in Mòoré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country. Figuratively, "Burkina" may be translated, "men of integrity", from the Mòoré language, and "Faso" means "fatherland" in Dioula. The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabè (
/bərˈkiːnəbeɪ/ bər-KEE-nə-bay).
Burkina Faso was populated between 14,000 and 5000 BC by hunter-gatherers in the country's northwestern region. Farm settlements appeared between 3600 and 2600 BC. What is now central Burkina Faso was principally composed of Mossi kingdoms. These Mossi Kingdoms would become a French protectorate in 1896. After gaining independence from France in 1960, the country underwent many governmental changes until arriving at its current form, a semi-presidential republic. The president is Blaise Compaoré.
wn.com/Burkina_Faso -
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon (French: République du Cameroun), is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. French and English are the official languages.
Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.
wn.com/Cameroon -
Chad
Chadi/ˈtʃæd/ (French: Tchad, Arabic: تشاد Tšād), officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Due to its distance from the sea and its largely desert climate, the country is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa".
Chad is divided into multiple regions: a desert zone in the north, an arid Sahelian belt in the centre and a more fertile Sudanese savanna zone in the south. Lake Chad, after which the country is named, is the largest wetland in Chad and the second largest in Africa. Chad's highest peak is the Emi Koussi in the Sahara, and N'Djamena, (formerly Fort-Lamy), the capital, is the largest city. Chad is home to over 200 different ethnic and linguistic groups. Arabic and French are the official languages. Islam and Christianity are the most widely practiced religions.
Beginning in the 7th millennium BC, human populations moved into the Chadian basin in great numbers. By the end of the 1st millennium BC, a series of states and empires rose and fell in Chad's Sahelian strip, each focused on controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. France conquered the territory by 1920 and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa.
wn.com/Chad -
Chennai
Chennai /ˈtʃɛnaɪ/, formerly Madras /məˈdræs/, is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is a major commercial, cultural, and educational centre in South India, while the port of Chennai is the second largest port in India. As of the 2011 census, the city had 4.68 million residents making it the sixth most populous city in India; the urban agglomeration, which comprises the city and its suburbs, was home to approximately 8.9 million, making it the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the country.
Although the area has been part of successive South Indian kingdoms through centuries, the recorded history of the city began in the colonial times, specifically with the arrival of British East India Company and the establishment in 1644 of Fort St George, an English settlement. The British defended several attacks from the French colonial forces, and from the kingdom of Mysore, on Chennai's way to become a major naval port and presidency city by late eighteenth century. Following the independence of India, Chennai became the capital of Tamil Nadu and a hotbed of regional politics that tended to bank on Dravidian identity of the populace. Chennai had become a bustling metropolis with beautiful classical and colonial European styled buildings, lining the city’s thoroughfares.
wn.com/Chennai -
China
China (i/ˈtʃaɪnə/; Chinese: 中国; pinyin: Zhōngguó; see also Names of China), officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country, with a population of over 1.3 billion. Covering approximately 9.6 million square kilometres, the East Asian state is the world's second-largest country by land area, and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.
The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China. It exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four directly controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and Chongqing), and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions (Hong Kong and Macau). Its capital city is Beijing. The PRC also claims Taiwan—which is controlled by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity—as its 23rd province, a claim controversial due to the complex political status of Taiwan and the unresolved Chinese Civil War. The PRC government denies the legitimacy of the ROC.
wn.com/China -
Djibouti
Djibouti (Arabic: جيبوتي Jībūtī, French: Djibouti, Somali: Jabuuti, Afar: Gabuuti), officially the Republic of Djibouti (Arabic: جمهورية جيبوتي Jumhūriyyat Jībūtī, French: République de Djibouti, Afar: Gabuutih Ummuuno, Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Jabuuti), is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Eritrea in the north, Ethiopia in the west and south, and Somalia in the southeast. The remainder of the border is formed by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden at the east. Djibouti, which had a population of 818,159 at the 2009 census, is one of the least populous countries in Africa.Islam is the largest religion in the country, practiced by 94% of the population. The land was known as Obock and French Somaliland (Côte française des Somalis) in the 19th century; in 1967, it changed its name to Afars and Issas after new treaties with France. The territory was declared an independent nation in 1977 and changed its name to the "Republic of Djibouti" after its principal city. Djibouti joined the United Nations on September 20, 1977. While Djibouti is an independent sovereign state, it maintains deep French relations, and through various military and economic agreements with France, it receives continued security and economic assistance.
wn.com/Djibouti -
Egypt
Egypti/ˈiːdʒɪpt/ (Arabic: مصر, Miṣr, Egyptian Arabic: [mɑsˤɾ] ; Coptic: Ⲭⲏⲙⲓ, Kīmi ; Sahidic Coptic: ⲕⲏⲙⲉ, Kēme), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: 
جمهوريّة مصر العربيّة (help·info), is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world. Covering an area of about 1,010,000 square kilometers (390,000 sq mi), Egypt is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its over 81 million people live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers (15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
wn.com/Egypt -
Ethiopia
Ethiopia ( /ˌiːθiˈoʊpiə/) (Ge'ez: ኢትዮጵያ ʾĪtyōṗṗyā), officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to the west, and Kenya to the south. With its capital at Addis Ababa, it is also the most populous landlocked nation in the world.
Ethiopia was a monarchy for most of its history, and the Ethiopian dynasty traces its roots to the 2nd century BC. Ethiopia is also one of the oldest sites of human existence known to scientists today, having yielded some of humanity's oldest traces. It may be the region from which Homo sapiens first set out for the Middle East and points beyond. Alongside Rome, Persia, China and India, the Ethiopian Aksum Empire was considered one of the great world powers of the 3rd century. During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country beside Liberia that retained its sovereignty as a recognized independent country, and was one of only four African members of the League of Nations. After a brief period of Italian occupation, Ethiopia became a charter member of the United Nations. When other African nations received their independence following World War II, many of them adopted the colors of Ethiopia's flag, and Addis Ababa became the location of several international organizations focused on Africa.
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France
France (Englishi/ˈfræns/ FRANSS or /ˈfrɑːns/ FRAHNSS; French: [fʁɑ̃s] (
listen)), officially the French Republic (French: République française [ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛz]), is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is often referred to as l’Hexagone ("The Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory. It is the largest western European country and it possesses the second-largest exclusive economic zone in the world, covering 11,035,000 km2 (4,260,000 sq mi), just behind that of the United States (11,351,000 km2 / 4,383,000 sq mi).
Over the past 500 years, France has been a major power with strong cultural, economic, military and political influence in Europe and around the world. During the 17th and 18th centuries, France colonised great parts of North America and Southeast Asia; during the 19th and early 20th centuries, France built the second largest colonial empire of the time, including large portions of North, West and Central Africa, Southeast Asia, and many Caribbean and Pacific Islands.
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Ghana
Ghanai/ˈɡɑːnə/ is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south. The word Ghana means "Warrior King" and is derived from the ancient Ghana Empire.
Ghana was inhabited in pre-colonial times by a number of ancient predominantly Akan kingdoms, including the inland Ashanti Empire, the Akwamu, the Akyem, the Bonoman, the Denkyira, and the Fante among others. Non-Akan states created by the Ga also existed as did states by the Dagomba. Prior to contact with Europeans trade between the Akan and various African states flourished due to Akan's gold wealth. Trade with European states began after contact with the Portuguese in the 15th century, and the British established the Gold Coast Crown colony in 1874 over parts but not all of the country.
The Gold Coast achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1957, becoming the First sub-Saharan African nation to do so from European Colonialism. The name Ghana was chosen for the new nation to reflect the ancient Empire of Ghana, which once extended throughout much of west Africa.
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India
India (i/ˈɪndiə/), officially the Republic of India (Bhārat Gaṇarājya), 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 south-west, and the Bay of Bengal on the south-east, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west;China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Burma and Bangladesh 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 Civilisation 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 and brought under the administration of the British East India Company from the early 18th century and administered directly by the United Kingdom from the mid-19th century, India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by non-violent resistance led by Mahatma Gandhi.
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Iran
Coordinates: 32°N 53°E / 32°N 53°E / 32; 53
Iran (i/ɪˈrɑːn/ or /aɪˈræn/;Persian: ایران [ʔiˈɾɒn] ( listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (Persian: جمهوری اسلامی ایران Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān), is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran", which in Persian means "Land of the Aryans", has been in use natively since the Sassanian era. It came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia ( /ˈpɜrʒə/ or /ˈpɜrʃə/). Both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.
The 18th-largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million. It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. Iran is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. As Iran is a littoral state of the Caspian Sea, which is an inland sea, Kazakhstan and Russia are also Iran's direct neighbors to the north. Iran is bordered on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by Iraq and on the northwest by Turkey. Tehran is the capital, the country's largest city and the political, cultural, commercial and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a regional power, and holds an important position in international energy security and world economy as a result of its large reserves of petroleum and natural gas. Iran has the second largest proven natural gas reserves in the world and the fourth largest proven petroleum reserves.
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Iraq
Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ ori/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.
Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.
Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.
Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.
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Israel
Coordinates: 31°N 35°E / 31°N 35°E / 31; 35
Israel, officially the State of Israel ( /ˈɪzriːəl/ or /ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, Medīnat Yisrā'el, IPA: [me̞diˈnät jisʁäˈʔe̞l] ( listen); Arabic: دَوْلَة إِسْرَائِيل, Dawlat Isrāʼīl, IPA: [dawlat ʔisraːˈʔiːl]), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan and the West Bank in the east, Egypt and the Gaza Strip on the southwest, and the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to the south, and it contains geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewish-majority state.
Following the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption and implementation of the United Nations plan to partition Palestine, on 14 May 1948 David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and president of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, a state independent from the British Mandate for Palestine. Neighboring Arab states invaded the next day in support of the Palestinian Arabs. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied the West Bank, Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Portions of these territories, including east Jerusalem, have been annexed by Israel, but the border with the neighboring West Bank has not yet been permanently defined.[neutrality is disputed] Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, but efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have so far not resulted in peace.
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Italy
Italyi/ˈɪtəli/ (Italian: Italia [iˈtaːlja]), officially the Italian Republic or the Republic of Italy (Italian: Repubblica italiana), is a unitary parliamentary republic in south-central Europe. To the north, it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia along the Alps. To the south, it consists of the entirety of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia–the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea–and many other smaller islands. The independent states of San Marino and the Vatican City are enclaves within Italy, while Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave in Switzerland. The territory of Italy covers some 301,338 km2 (116,347 sq mi) and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 60.6 million inhabitants, it is the fifth most populous country in Europe, and the 23rd most populous in the world.
Rome, the capital of Italy, was for centuries a political and religious centre of Western civilisation as the capital of the Roman Empire and site of the Holy See. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Italy endured numerous invasions by foreign peoples, from Germanic tribes such as the Lombards and Ostrogoths, to the Byzantines and later, the Normans, among others. Centuries later, Italy became the birthplace of Maritime republics and the Renaissance, an immensely fruitful intellectual movement that would prove to be integral in shaping the subsequent course of European thought.
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Jordan
Jordan ( /ˈdʒɔr.dən/;Arabic: اَلأُرْدُنّ, Al-'Urdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Arabic: اَلمَمْلَكَة اَلأُرْدُنِيَّة اَلهَاشِمِيَّة), Al-Mamlakah Al-Urdaniyyah Al-Hashimiyyah) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing control of the Dead Sea with the latter. Jordan's only port is at its south-western tip, at the Gulf of Aqaba, which is shared with Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Over half of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the western part of Jordan is arable land and forests. Jordan is part of the Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman. According to the CIA World Factbook, Jordan has the second highest life expectancy in the Middle East, after Israel. The average life expectancy is one position behind the United Kingdom, although the age remains exactly the same (80.05 years).
The precursor to modern Jordan was founded in 1921 as the Hashemite Emirate, and it was recognized by the League of Nations as a state under the British mandate in 1922 known as The Emirate of Transjordan. In 1946, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. After capturing the West Bank area of Cisjordan during the 1948–49 war with Israel, Abdullah I took the title King of Jordan and Palestine, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949.
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Kenya
Kenya ( /ˈkɛnjə/ or /ˈkiːnjə/), officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator. With the Indian Ocean to its south-east, it is bordered by Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west, South Sudan to the north-west, Ethiopia to the north and Somalia to the north-east. Kenya has a land area of 580,000 km2 and a population of nearly 41 million, representing 42 different peoples and cultures. The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi.
Kenya has a warm and humid climate along its coastline on the Indian Ocean which changes to wildlife-rich savannah grasslands moving inland towards the capital Nairobi. Nairobi has a cool climate that gets colder approaching Mount Kenya, which has three permanently snow-capped peaks. The warm and humid tropical climate reappears further inland towards lake Victoria, before giving way to temperate forested and hilly areas in the western region. The North Eastern regions along the border with Somalia and Ethiopia are arid and semi-arid areas with near-desert landscapes. Lake Victoria, the world's second largest fresh-water lake (after Lake Superior in the US and Canada) and the world's largest tropical lake, is situated to the southwest and is shared with Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya is famous for its safaris and diverse world-famous wildlife reserves such as Tsavo National Park, the Maasai Mara, Nakuru National Park, and Aberdares National Park.
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Khorasan Province
Khorasan (Persian: استان خراسان) (also transcribed as Khurasan and Khorassan, anciently called Traxiane during Hellenistic and Parthian times) currently names a region located in north eastern Iran, but historically referred to a much larger area east and north-east of the Persian Empire. The name Khorasan is Persian and means "where the sun arrives from." The name was given to the eastern province of Persia during the Sassanid Empire.
Khorasan is famous world wide for its saffron and zereshk which are produced in the southern cities of the province. Production is more than 170 tons per year. Khorasan is also known for its famous rugs as well as for the Ferdousi and Imamreza shrines/tombs.
Khorasan was the largest province of Iran until it was divided to three provinces on September 29, 2004. The provinces approved by the parliament (on May 18, 2004) and the Council of Guardians (on May 29, 2004) are:
Some parts of the province were added to
The older Persian province of Khorasan included parts which are today in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Some of the main historical cities of Persia are located in the older Khorasan: Nishapur and Tus (now in Iran), Merv and Sanjan (now in Turkmenistan), Samarkand and Bukhara (both now in Uzbekistan), Herat and Balkh (now in Afghanistan), Khujand and Panjakent (now in Tajikistan). In its long history, Khorasan knew many conquerors and empires: Greeks, Arabs, Seljuk Turks, Safavids, Pashtuns (ethnic Afghans) and others.
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Malawi
Malawi ( /məˈlɑːwi/; Chichewa [malaβi][need tone]), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in southeast Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the northwest, Tanzania to the northeast, and Mozambique on the east, south and west. The country is separated from Tanzania and Mozambique by Lake Malawi. Malawi is over 118,000 km2 (45,560 sq mi) with an estimated population of more than 13,900,000. Its capital is Lilongwe, which is also Malawi's largest city; the second largest is Blantyre and the third is Mzuzu. The name Malawi comes from the Maravi, an old name of the Nyanja people that inhabit the area. The country is also nicknamed "The Warm Heart of Africa".
The area of Africa now known as Malawi was colonized by migrating tribes of Bantu around the 10th century. In 1891 the area was colonized again, this time by the British. In 1953 Malawi, then known as Nyasaland, became part of the semi-independent Central African Federation (CAF). The Federation was dissolved in 1963 and in 1964, Nyasaland gained full independence and was renamed Malawi. Upon gaining independence it became a single-party state under the presidency of Hastings Banda, who remained president until 1994, when he was ousted from power. Joyce Banda (no relation) is the current president, raised to that position after president Bingu Mutharika died in 2012. She is the first female leader in Malawi. Malawi has a democratic, multi-party government. Malawi has a small military force that includes an army, a navy and an air wing. Malawi's foreign policy is pro-Western and includes positive diplomatic relations with most countries and participation in several international organizations.
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Mali
Malii/ˈmɑːli/, officially the Republic of Mali (French: République du Mali, French pronunciation: [maˈli]), is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with a population of 14.5 million. Its capital is Bamako. Mali consists of eight regions and its borders on the north reach deep into the middle of the Sahara, while the country's southern part, where the majority of inhabitants live, features the Niger and Sénégal rivers. The country's economic structure centers around agriculture and fishing. Some of Mali's natural resources are gold, uranium, livestock, and salt. About half the population live below the international poverty line of US$1.25 a day.
Present-day Mali was once part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named), and the Songhai Empire. In the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa, France seized control of Mali making it a part of French Sudan. French Sudan (then known as the Sudanese Republic) joined with Senegal in 1959, achieving independence in 1960 as the Mali Federation. Shortly thereafter, following Senegal's withdrawal from the federation, the Sudanese Republic declared itself the independent Republic of Mali. After a long period of one-party rule, a 1991 coup led to the writing of a new constitution and the establishment of Mali as a democratic, multi-party state. On 22 March, 2012, a group of junior soldiers seized control of the country's presidential palace and declared the government dissolved and its constitution suspended. On 6 April, 2012, rebels from the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) declared the secession of a new state, Azawad, from Mali.
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Mauritania
Mauritaniai/mɔrɪˈteɪniə/ (Arabic: موريتانيا Mūrītānyā; Berber: Muritanya / Agawej; Wolof: Gànnaar; Soninke: Murutaane; Pulaar: Moritani; French: Mauritanie), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in West Africa and in the Maghreb. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara (controlled by Morocco) in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest. It is named after the ancient Berber Kingdom of Mauretania, which later became a province of the Roman Empire, even though the modern Mauritania covers a territory far to the south of the old Berber kingdom that had no relation with it. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, located on the Atlantic coast.
The government of Mauritania was overthrown on 6 August 2008, in a military coup d'état led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 16 April 2009, General Aziz resigned from the military to run for president in the 19 July elections, which he won. In Mauritania about 20% of the population live on less than US$1.25 per day.
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Morocco
Morocco (Arabic: المغرب al-Maghrib ; Berber: ⵍⵎⴻⵖⵔⵉⴱ / ⴰⵎⴻⵔⵔⵓⴽElmeɣrib / Amerruk), officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of about 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², including the disputed region of the Western Sahara, seen by and mostly administered by Morocco as the Southern Provinces. Morocco is part of the Maghreb region, in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties.
Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive powers, including the power to dissolve the parliament. Executive power is exercised by the government but more importantly by the king himself. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of parliament, the Assembly of Representatives and the Assembly of Councillors. The king can also issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. The latest Parliamentary elections were held in November 25, 2011, and were considered by some neutral observers to be mostly free and fair. Voter turnout in these elections was estimated to be 43% of registered voters, but only about 25% of Moroccan adult citizens actually voted. The rest either chose not to vote or they were not registered as voters. The political capital is Rabat, but the largest city is Casablanca; other main cities include Marrakesh, Tetouan, Tangier, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, and Nador.
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Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. The capital city is Maputo, formerly known as Lourenço Marques.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources. The country's economy is based largely on agriculture, but with industry, mainly food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production, is growing fast. The country's tourism sector is also growing. South Africa is Mozambique's main trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Portugal, Spain, and Belgium are also among the country's most important partners. Since 2001 Mozambique is one of the world's top ten for annual average GDP growth. However, Mozambique still has one of the lowest GDP per capita, one of the worst human development index and one of the highest inequality in the world, as well as having the world's lowest life expectancy.
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Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire, Shahan-e-Gurkhani, Shahan-e-Mughal, Sultanate-e-Mughliya, Daulat-e-Mughliya (Persian: شاهان گورکانی Shāhān-e Gūrkānī; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت; self-designation: گوركانى Gūrkānī ), or Mogul (also Moghul) Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were direct descendants of Genghis Khan through Chagatai Khan and Timur. The Mughal Empire began in 1526; at the height of their power in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, they controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent—extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south. According to "Babur-Nama", Kazakh tribal aristocracy along with number of other Turkic soldiers participated actively in the campaign of Babur, which made great influence over the development of Mughal Empire. Its population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and 150 million, over a territory of more than 3.2 million square kilometres (1.2 million square miles).
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Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia (Afrikaans: Republiek van Namibië, German: Republik Namibia (help·info)), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March 1990, following the Namibian War of Independence. Its capital and largest city is Windhoek. Namibia is a member state of the United Nations (UN), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU), and the Commonwealth of Nations.
The dry lands of Namibia were inhabited since early times by Bushmen, Damara, and Namaqua, and since about the 14th century AD by immigrating Bantu who came with the Bantu expansion. It became a German Imperial protectorate in 1884 and remained a German colony until the end of World War I. In 1920, the League of Nations mandated the country to South Africa, which imposed its laws and, from 1948, its apartheid policy.
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Niger
Niger (French pronunciation: [niʒɛʁ], but occasionally pronounced as /niːˈʒɛər/ ori/ˈnaɪdʒər/), officially the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. Niger covers a land area of almost 1,270,000 km2, making it the largest nation in West Africa, with over 80 percent of its land area covered by the Sahara desert. The country's predominantly Islamic population of just above 15,000,000 is mostly clustered in the far south and west of the nation. The capital city is Niamey, located in the far southwest corner of Niger.
Niger is a developing country, and consistently ranks as one of the lowest ranks of the United Nations' Human Development Index (HDI), 186th of 187 countries in 2011. Much of the non-desert portions of the country are threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials, especially uranium ore. Niger remains handicapped by its landlocked position, desert terrain, poor education and poverty of its people, lack of infrastructure, poor health care, and environmental degradation.
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Nigeria
Nigeriai/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.
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Oman
Oman (i/oʊˈmɑːn/ oh-MAAN; Arabic: عمان ʻUmān), officially called the Sultanate of Oman (Arabic: سلطنة عُمان Salṭanat ʻUmān), is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam enclaves are surrounded by the UAE on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
For a period, Oman was a moderate regional power, formerly having a sultanate extending across the Strait of Hormuz to Iran, and modern day Pakistan, and far south to Zanzibar on the coat of south-east Africa. Over time, as its power declined, the sultanate came under heavy influence from the United Kingdom, though Oman was never formally part of the British Empire, or a British protectorate. The Omani royal family claim that Oman has been ruled by the Al Said dynasty since 1744, although without substantial proof. Oman has long-standing military and political ties with the United Kingdom and the United States, although it maintains an independent foreign policy.
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Pakistan
Pakistan (i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/; Urdu: پاکستان) (Urdu pronunciation: [paːkɪˈst̪aːn] (
listen)), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان), is a sovereign country in South Asia. It sits at the crossroads of the strategically important regions of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi) coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west and north, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and it shares a marine border with Oman.
The territory of modern Pakistan was the site of several ancient cultures, including the Neolithic Mehrgarh and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and has undergone invasions or settlements by Hindu, Persian, Indo-Greek, Islamic, Turco-Mongol, Afghan and Sikh cultures. Thus the area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the Persian Achaemenid Empire, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and India's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation for Muslims from the regions in the east and west of India where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
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Paris
Coordinates: 48°51′24″N 2°21′03″E / 48.8567°N 2.3508°E / 48.8567; 2.3508
Paris (i/ˈpærɨs/; French: [paʁi] ( listen)) is the capital and largest city of France. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region (or Paris Region, French: Région parisienne). As of January 2008 the city of Paris, within its administrative limits (the 20 arrondissements) largely unchanged since 1860, has an estimated population of 2,211,297 and a metropolitan population of 12,089,098, and is one of the most populated metropolitan areas in Europe. Paris was the largest city in the Western world for about 1,000 years, prior to the 19th century, and the largest in the entire world between the 16th and 19th centuries.
Paris is today one of the world's leading business and cultural centres, and its influences in politics, education, entertainment, media, fashion, science, and the arts all contribute to its status as one of the world's major global cities. It hosts the headquarters of many international organizations such as UNESCO, the OECD, the International Chamber of Commerce or the European Space Agency. Paris is considered one of the greenest and most liveable cities in Europe. It is also one of the most expensive.
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Rajya Sabha
Coordinates: 28°37′0″N 77°12′30″E / 28.616667°N 77.20833°E / 28.616667; 77.20833
The Rajya Sabha (Hindi: राज्य सभा) or Council of States is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Rajya means state and Sabha means "assembly" in Sanskrit. Membership is limited to 250 members, 12 of whom are chosen by the President of India for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature, science, and social services. These members are known as nominated members. The remainder of the body is elected by the state and territorial legislatures. Terms of office are six years, with one third of the members retiring every two years.
The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous sessions and, unlike the Lok Sabha, is not subject to dissolution. The Rajya Sabha has equal footing in all areas of legislation with Lok Sabha, except in the area of supply, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers. In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses is held.
However, since the Lok Sabha has twice as many members as the Rajya Sabha, it would normally hold the greater power in such joint sessions. Only three joint sessions have been held; the last one was for the passage of the anti-terror law POTA in 2002.
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Russia
Russiai/ˈrʌʃə/ or /ˈrʊʃə/ (Russian: Россия, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation (Russian: Российская Федерация, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, and the US state of Alaska by the Bering Strait. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area. Russia is also the eighth most populous nation with 143 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning nine time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources and is the largest producer of oil and natural gas globally. Russia has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia (i/ˌsaʊdi əˈreɪbi.ə/ or i/ˌsɔːdiː əˈreɪbi.ə/; Arabic: السعودية as-Su‘ūdīyah[citation needed] or incorrectly as-Sa‘ūdīyah, officially known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Arabic: المملكة العربية السعودية al-Mamlakah al-‘Arabīyah as-Su‘ūdīyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab world, after Algeria. It is bordered by Jordan, and Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south. The Red Sea lies to its west, and the Persian Gulf lies to the east. Saudi Arabia has an area of approximately 2,250,000 km2 (870,000 sq mi), and it has an estimated population of 27 million, of which 9 million are registered foreign expatriates and an estimated 2 million are illegal immigrants. Saudi nationals comprise an estimated 16 million people.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was founded by Abdul-Aziz bin Saud (known for most of his career as Ibn Saud) in 1932, although the conquests which eventually led to the creation of the Kingdom began in 1902 when he captured Riyadh, the ancestral home of his family, the House of Saud, referred to in Arabic as the Al Saud. The Saudi Arabian government, which has been an absolute monarchy since its inception, refers to its system of government as being Islamic, though this is contested by many due to its strong basis in Salafism, a minority school of thought in Islam. The kingdom is sometimes called "The Land of the Two Holy Mosques" in reference to Al-Masjid al-Haram (in Mecca), and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi (in Medina), the two holiest places in Islam.
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Senegal
Senegali/ˌsɛnɨˈɡɔːl/ (French: le Sénégal), officially the Republic of Senegal (République du Sénégal, IPA: [ʁepyblik dy seneɡal]), is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north. Senegal is externally bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south; internally it almost completely surrounds The Gambia, namely on the north, east and south, exempting Gambia's short Atlantic Ocean coastline. Senegal covers a land area of almost 197,000 square kilometres (76,000 sq mi), and has an estimated population of about 13 million. The climate is tropical with two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.
Dakar, the capital city of Senegal, is located at the westernmost tip of the country on the Cap-Vert peninsula. About 500 kilometres (300 mi) off the coast, in the Atlantic Ocean, lie the Cape Verde Islands. During the 17th and 18th centuries, numerous trading posts, belonging to various colonial empires, were established along the coast. The town of St. Louis became the capital of French West Africa (Afrique occidentale française, or AOF) before it was moved to Dakar in 1902. Dakar later became its capital in 1960 at the time of independence from France.
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Serengeti
The Serengeti ecosystem is a geographical region in Africa. It is located in north Tanzania and extends to south-western Kenya between latitudes 1 and 3 S and longitudes 34 and 36 E. It spans some 30,000 km2 (12,000 sq mi).
The Serengeti hosts the largest terrestrial mammal migration in the world, which is one of the ten natural travel wonders of the world.
The region contains one national park: Serengeti National Park and several game reserves. Serengeti is derived from the Maasai language, Maa; specifically, "Serengit" meaning "Endless Plains".
Approximately 70 larger mammal and some 500 avifauna species are found there. This high diversity in terms of species is a function of diverse habitats ranging from riverine forests, swamps, kopjes, grasslands and woodlands.Blue Wildebeests, gazelles, zebras and buffalos are some of the commonly found large mammals in the region.
Currently there is controversy surrounding a proposed road that is to be built through the Serengeti in Tanzania.
Much of the Serengeti was known to outsiders as Maasailand. The Maasai were known as fierce warriors, and lived alongside most wild animals with an aversion to eating game and birds, subsisting exclusively on their cattle. Their strength and reputation kept the newly arrived Europeans from exploiting the animals and resources of most of their land. A rinderpest epidemic and drought during the 1890s greatly reduced the numbers of both Maasai and animal populations. Poaching and the absence of fires, which had been the result of human activity, set the stage for the development of dense woodlands and thickets over the next 30–50 years. Tsetse fly populations now prevented any significant human settlement in the area.
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Somalia
Somalia ( /soʊˈmɑːliə/ soh-MAH-lee-ə; Somali: Soomaaliya; Arabic: الصومال aṣ-Ṣūmāl), officially the Somali Republic (Somali: Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, Arabic: جمهورية الصومال Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmāl) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory. The internationally recognized Transitional Federal Government controls only a small part of the country. Somalia has been characterized as a failed state and is one of the poorest and most violent states in the world.
Somalia lies in the easternmost part of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It has the longest coastline on the continent, and its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. Hot conditions prevail year-round, along with periodic monsoon winds and irregular rainfall.
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South Africa
Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
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Sudan
Sudan (i/suːˈdæn/ or /suːˈdɑːn/;Arabic: السودان, as-Sūdān), officially the Republic of the Sudan (Arabic: جمهورية السودان, Jumhūrīyat as-Sūdān), sometimes called North Sudan, is an Arab state in North Africa (sometimes also considered to be part of the Middle East). It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, and Libya to the northwest. The population of Sudan is a combination of indigenous inhabitants of Nile Valley, and descendants of migrants from the Arabian Peninsula. Due to the process of Arabisation common throughout the rest of the Arab World, today Arab culture predominates in Sudan. The majority of the population of Sudan adheres to Islam. The Nile divides the country between east and west sides.
The people of Sudan have a long history extending from antiquity which is intertwined with the history of Egypt. Sudan suffered seventeen years of civil war during the First Sudanese Civil War (1955–1972) followed by ethnic, religious and economic conflicts between the Muslim Arab northern Sudanese and the mostly animist and Christian Nilotes of Southern Sudan. This led to the Second Sudanese Civil War in 1983. Because of continuing political and military struggles, Sudan was seized in a bloodless coup d'état by colonel Omar al-Bashir in 1989, who thereafter proclaimed himself President of Sudan. The civil war ended with the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement which granted autonomy to what was then the southern region of the country. Following a referendum held in January 2011, South Sudan seceded on 9 July 2011 with the consent of Sudan's President al-Bashir.
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Syria
Syria (/ˈsɪriə/ ( listen) SIRR-ee-ə; Arabic: سورية Sūriyya or سوريا Sūryā; Syriac: ܣܘܪܝܐ; Kurdish: Sûrî), officially the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: الجمهورية العربية السورية al-Jumhūriyyah al-‘Arabīyah as-Sūriyyah Arabic pronunciation (help·info)), is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest.
In English, the name Syria was formerly synonymous with the Levant, known in Arabic as Sham, while the modern state encompasses the sites of several ancient kingdoms and empires, including the Eblan civilization of the third millennium BC. In the Islamic era, its capital city, Damascus, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world, was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate, and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt.
The population of Syria is 74% Sunni, 12% Alawi, 10% Christian, and 3% Druze. Combined, 87% of the Syrian population is Muslim, while the other 10% is Christian, which includes mainly Arab Christians but also Assyrians and Armenians. Major ethnic minorities in Syria include Kurds (9%), Assyrians, Armenians, Turkmens and Circassians. The majority of the population is Arab (90%).
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Tanzania
Coordinates: 6°18′25″S 34°51′14″E / 6.307°S 34.854°E / -6.307; 34.854 Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( /ˌtænzəˈniːə/ Swahili: Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern border lies on the Indian Ocean.
Tanzania is a state composed of 26 regions (mikoa), including those of the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. The head of state is President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, elected in 2005. Since 1996, the official capital of Tanzania has been Dodoma, where Parliament and some government offices are located. Between independence and 1996, the main coastal city of Dar es Salaam served as the country's political capital. Today, Dar es Salaam remains the principal commercial city of Tanzania and the de facto seat of most government institutions. It is the major seaport for the country and its landlocked neighbours.
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Transvaal Province
Transvaal Province was a province of the Union of South Africa from 1910 to 1961, and of its successor, the Republic of South Africa, from 1961 until the end of apartheid in 1994 when a new constitution subdivided it.
In 1910, the Boer republics joined with the Cape Colony to form the Union of South Africa. Half a century later, in 1961, the union ceased to be part of the Commonwealth of Nations and became the Republic of South Africa. The Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV) conurbation in the Transvaal became South Africa's economic powerhouse, a position it still holds today.
In 1994, after the fall of apartheid, the former provinces were restructured, and a cohesive Transvaal ceased to exist. The new Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces lie fully within the borders of the old Transvaal as does most of the North West and also a tiny segment of KwaZulu-Natal. However, even before 1994 the Transvaal Province was subdivided into regions for a number of purposes (such as municipal and district courts, and sporting divisions), these divisions included Northern Transvaal (Currently Limpopo, with the City of Tshwane), Eastern Transvaal (Currently Mpumalanga), Western Transvaal (Currently North West province) and Southern Transvaal (Now Gauteng province, excluding Tshwane)
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Tunisia
Tunisia (USi/tuːˈniːʒə/ two-NEE-zhə or UK /tjuːˈnɪziə/ tew-NIZ-iə; Arabic: تونس Tūnis pronounced [ˈtuːnɪs]), officially the Republic of Tunisia (Arabic: الجمهورية التونسية al-Jumhūriyyah at-Tūnisiyyah), is the northernmost country in Africa. It is an Arab Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area is almost 165,000 square kilometres (64,000 sq mi), with an estimated population of just under 10.7 million. Its name is derived from the capital Tunis located in the northeast.
Tunisia is the smallest country in North Africa. The south of the country is composed of the Sahara desert, with much of the remainder consisting of particularly fertile soil and 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) of coastline.
Tunisia has relations with both the European Union—with whom it has an association agreement—and the Arab world. Tunisia is also a member of the Arab Maghreb Union, the Arab League, and the African Union. Tunisia has established close relations with France in particular, through economic cooperation, industrial modernization, and privatisation programs.
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Uganda
Coordinates: 1°17′N 32°23′E / 1.28°N 32.39°E / 1.28; 32.39
Uganda ( /juːˈɡændə/ yew-GAN-də or /juːˈɡɑːndə/ yew-GAHN-də), officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by Tanzania. The southern part of the country includes a substantial portion of Lake Victoria, which is also shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.
The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country. Uganda gained independence from Britain on 9 October 1962.
The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.
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Zambia
Zambia ( /ˈzæmbiə/), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. The neighbouring countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north, Tanzania to the north-east, Malawi to the east, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to the south, and Angola to the west. The capital city is Lusaka, located in the south-central part of the country. The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest.
Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples, the region which comprises modern Zambia was colonised during the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century. After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century, Zambia became the British colony of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century. For most of the colonial period, the country was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company.
On 24 October 1964, the country declared independence from the United Kingdom and then-prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. Kaunda's socialist United National Independence Party (UNIP) maintained power from the 1964 until 1991. From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a single-party state with the UNIP as the sole-legal political party, with the goal of uniting the nation under the banner of 'One Zambia, One Nation'. Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991, during which the country saw a rise in social-economic growth and increased decentralisation of government.
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Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (/zɪmˈbɑːbweɪ/ zim-BAHB-way; officially the Republic of Zimbabwe) is a landlocked country of southern Africa. It shares a 125-mile (200-kilometre) border on the south with the Republic of South Africa and is bounded on the southwest and west by Botswana, on the north by Zambia, and on the northeast and east by Mozambique. The capital is Harare (formerly called Salisbury). Zimbabwe achieved majority rule and internationally recognised independence in April 1980 following a long period of colonial rule and a 15-year period of white-dominated minority rule, instituted after the minority regime’s so-called Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965.
Zimbabwe has three official languages: English, Shona and Ndebele. Zimbabwe began as the British self-governing colony of Southern Rhodesia, created from land held by the British South Africa Company. President Robert Mugabe is the head of State and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Morgan Tsvangirai is the Prime Minister. Mugabe has been in power since the country's internationally recognised independence in 1980.
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Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( /ˈʃɑrlɨmeɪn/ or /ˈʃɑrləmeɪn/; French pronunciation: [ʃaʁ.lə.maɲ]; c. 742 – 28 January 814), also known as Charles the Great (Latin: Carolus Magnus or Karolus Magnus), was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans (Imperator Romanorum) from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800 in Rome.
His rule is also associated with the Carolingian Renaissance, a revival of art, religion, and culture through the medium of the Catholic Church. Through his foreign conquests and internal reforms, Charlemagne helped define both Western Europe and the European Middle Ages. He is numbered as Charles I in the regnal lists of Germany, the Holy Roman Empire, and France.
The son of King Pepin the Short and Bertrada of Laon, a Frankish queen, he succeeded his father in 768 and was initially co-ruler with his brother Carloman I. It has often been suggested that the relationship between Charlemagne and Carloman was not good, but it has also been argued that tensions were exaggerated by Carolingian chroniclers.
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Fernand Khnopff
Fernand Edmond Jean Marie Khnopff (12 September 1858 in Grembergen near Dendermonde, Belgium – 12 November 1921 in Brussels) was a Belgian symbolist painter.
Fernand Khnopff was born to a wealthy family that was part of the high bourgeoisie for generations. Khnopff's ancestors had lived in Flanders since the early 17th century but were of Austrian and Portuguese descent. Most male members of his family had been lawyers or judges, and young Fernand was destined for a juridical career. In his early childhood (1859–1864), he lived in Bruges where his father was appointed Substitut Du Procureur Du Roi. His childhood memories of the medieval city of Bruges would play a significant role in his later work. In 1864, the family moved to Brussels.
To please his parents he went to law school at the Free University of Brussels (now divided into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel) when he was 18 years old. During this period he developed a passion for literature, discovering the works of Baudelaire, Flaubert, Leconte de Lisle and other mostly French authors. With his younger brother Georges Khnopff – also a passionate amateur of contemporary music and poetry – he started to frequent Jeune Belgique ("Young Belgium"), a group of young writers including Max Waller, Georges Rodenbach, Iwan Gilkin and Emile Verhaeren.
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Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan (/ˈɡɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/ or /ˈdʒɛŋɡɪs ˈkɑːn/,Mongol: [tʃiŋɡɪs xaːŋ] ( listen); 1162? – August 1227), born Temujin, was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.
He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed "Genghis Khan", he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These included raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus, Khwarezmid Empire, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in Khwarezmia. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.
Before Genghis Khan died, he assigned Ögedei Khan as his successor and split his empire into khanates among his sons and grandsons. He died in 1227 after defeating the Western Xia. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia at an unknown location. His descendants went on to stretch the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia by conquering or creating vassal states out of all of modern-day China, Korea, the Caucasus, Central Asian countries, and substantial portions of modern Eastern Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Many of these invasions resulted in the large-scale slaughter of local populations, which have given Genghis Khan and his empire a fearsome reputation in local histories.
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George Stubbs
George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses.
Stubbs was born in Liverpool, the son of a currier and leather merchant. Information on his life up to age thirty-five is sparse, relying almost entirely on notes made by fellow artist Ozias Humphry towards the end of Stubbs's life. Stubbs worked at his father's trade until he was 15 or 16, and after his father's death in 1741 was briefly apprenticed to a Lancashire painter and engraver named Hamlet Winstanley. He soon left as he objected to the work of copying to which he was set. Thereafter as an artist he was self-taught. In the 1740s he worked as a portrait painter in the North of England and from about 1745 to 1751 he studied human anatomy at York County Hospital. He had had a passion for anatomy from his childhood, and one of his earliest surviving works is a set of illustrations for a textbook on midwifery which was published in 1751.
In 1754 Stubbs visited Italy. Forty years later he told Ozias Humphry that his motive for going to Italy was, "to convince himself that nature was and is always superior to art whether Greek or Roman, and having renewed this conviction he immediately resolved upon returning home". In 1756 he rented a farmhouse in the village of Horkstow, Lincolnshire, and spent 18 months dissecting horses, assisted by his common-law wife, Mary Spencer. He moved to London in about 1759 and in 1766 published The anatomy of the Horse. The original drawings are now in the collection of the Royal Academy.
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Jahangir
|سلیم جهانگیر نورالدین}}}} Persian: نورالدین سلیم جهانگیر Hindi: नूरुद्दीन सलीम जहांगीर) (full title: Al-Sultan al-'Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram, Khushru-i-Giti Panah, Abu'l-Fath Nur-ud-din Muhammad Jahangir Padshah Ghazi [Jannat-Makaani]) (20 September 1569 – 8 November 1627) was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1605 until his death. The name Jahangir is from Persian جهانگیر,meaning "Conqueror of the World". Nur-ud-din or Nur al-Din is an Arabic name that means " Light of the Faith". Born as Prince Muhammad Salim and nicknamed Sheykhu Baba, he was the third and eldest surviving son of Mogul Emperor Akbar. Akbar's twin sons, Hasan and Hussain, died in infancy. His mother was the Rajput Princess of Amber, Jodhabai(born Rajkumari Hira Kunwari, eldest daughter of Raja Bihar Mal or Bharmal, Raja of Amber, India). Jahangir was a child of many prayers.]
It is said to be by the blessing of Shaikh Salim Chishti (one of the revered sages of his times) that Akbar's first surviving child, the future Jahangir, was born. The child was named Salim after the dervish and was affectionately addressed by Akbar as Sheikhu Baba.
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Jairam Ramesh
Jairam Ramesh born April 9, 1954, is an Indian economist and an influential politician of the Congress Party in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ruling coalition of center-left political parties heading the Government of India. He is a Member of Parliament representing Andhra Pradesh state in the Rajya Sabha since June, 2004. In July, 2011, Mr. Ramesh was elevated to the Union Council of Ministers of India and appointed Minister of Rural Development and Minister (Additional Charge) of the new Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. He was previously the Indian Minister of State (Independent Charge) at the Ministry of Environment and Forests from May 2009 to July 2011.
Jairam was born on April 9, 1954 in Chikmagalur, Karnataka. His father is the late Shri C.K. Ramesh. His mother is Shrimati Sridevi Ramesh. Jairam is an Iyengar Brahmin. His mother tongue is Tamil. He considers himself a practising Hindu with Buddhism ingrained and calls himself a 'Hind-Budh' He married K. R. Jayashree, an Iyer Brahmin, on January 26, 1981. He and his wife currently reside at Lodi Gardens, Rajesh Pilot Marg, in New Delhi. Their permanent residence is at Khairatabad, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
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Joshua Brookes
' Joshua Brookes (24 November 1761 – 10 January 1833) was a British anatomist and naturalist.
He studied under John Hunter in London. He became a teacher of anatomy in London, and the founder of the Brookesian Museum of Comparative Anatomy.This private museum is described in his 1830 catalogue Museum Brookesianum Embracing an Almost Endless Assemblage of Every Species of Anatomical, Pathological, Obstetrical, and Zootomical Preparations, as well as Subjects in Natural History He became a member of the Royal Society in 1819. He was the first to place the Cheetah in its own genus, which he established in 1828 as Acinonyx.
wn.com/Joshua_Brookes -
Joy Adamson
Joy Adamson (20 January 1910 – 3 January 1980) (born Friederike Victoria Gessner) was a naturalist, artist, and author best known for her book, Born Free, which describes her experiences raising a lion cub named Elsa. Born Free was printed in several languages, and made into an Academy Award-winning movie of the same name.
Adamson was born to Victor and Traute Gessner in Troppau, Silesia, Austria-Hungary (now Opava, Czech Republic), the second of three girls. Her parents divorced when she was 10, and she went to live with her grandmother. In her autobiography The Searching Spirit, Adamson wrote about her grandmother, saying, "It is to her I owe anything that may be good in me".[citation needed] As a young adult, Adamson considered careers as a concert pianist, and in medicine.
Adamson is best known for her conservation efforts associated with Elsa the Lioness. In 1956, Adamson's husband, George Adamson, in the course of his job as game warden of the Northern Frontier District in Kenya, shot and killed a lioness as she charged him and another warden. George realized that the lioness was protecting her cubs which were later found nearby. Taking them home, he and Joy raised the cubs. Early on, George attended to their physical needs while Joy and her pet Pati-Pati, a rock hyrax, raised them. Joy named them "Big One", "Lustica" and "Elsa".
wn.com/Joy_Adamson -
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians. The synonymous usage of Iranian and Persian has persisted over the centuries although some modern Western sources use Iranic/Iranian as a wider term that includes the term Persian as well as related Iranian languages and ethnic groups. However, these terms have been used both synonymously as well as in a complementary fashion since ancient times; as the Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Old Persians, Medes, Bactrians, Parthians and Avesta peoples considered themselves to be part of the greater Iranian ethnic stock.
The term Persian translates to "from or of Persis" which is a region north of the Persian Gulf located in Pars, Iran. It was from this region that Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, united all other Iranian empires (such as the Medes and the Elamites), and expanded the Persian cultural and social influences by incorporating the Babylonian empire, and the Lydian empire. Although not the first Iranian empire, the Achaemenid empire is the first Persian empire well recognized by Greek and Persian historians for its massive cultural, military and social influences going as far as Athens, Egypt, and Libya.
wn.com/Persian_people -
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576) known in English as Titian ( /ˈtɪʃən/) was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near Belluno (in Veneto), in the Republic of Venice. During his lifetime he was often called da Cadore, taken from the place of his birth.
Recognized by his contemporaries as "The Sun Amidst Small Stars" (recalling the famous final line of Dante's Paradiso), Titian was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits, landscape backgrounds, and mythological and religious subjects. His painting methods, particularly in the application and use of color, would exercise a profound influence not only on painters of the Italian Renaissance, but on future generations of Western art.
During the course of his long life, Titian's artistic manner changed drastically but he retained a lifelong interest in color. Although his mature works may not contain the vivid, luminous tints of his early pieces, their loose brushwork and subtlety of polychromatic modulations are without precedent in the history of Western art.
wn.com/Titian -
White lion
The white lion is occasionally found in wildlife reserves in South Africa and is a rare colour mutation of the Kruger subspecies of lion (Panthera leo krugeri). It has been perpetuated by selective breeding in zoos around the world. White lions are not yet a separate subspecies and they have been said to be indigenous to the Timbavati region of South Africa for centuries, although the earliest recorded sighting in this region was 1938. Regarded as divine by locals, white lions first came to public attention in the 1970s in Chris McBride's book The White Lions of Timbavati. Up until 2009, when the first pride of white lions was reintroduced to the wild, it was widely believed that the white lion could not survive in the wild. It is for this reason that, now, a large part of the population of white lions are in zoos. Another large part, however, are bred in camps, for canned hunting trophies.
It is hard to determine exactly how many white lions there are today, because they are held in captive breeding and hunting operations which don't keep adequate records. Based on available evidence, The Global White Lion Protection Trust estimate there are 500 White Lions world-wide.
wn.com/White_lion -
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986.
Wonder Woman is a warrior Princess of the Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and was created by Marston, an American, as a "distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men." Known in her homeland as Diana of Themyscira, her powers include superhuman strength, flight (even though the original Wonder Woman did not have this ability), super-speed, super-stamina, and super-agility. She is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and in the art of tactical warfare. She also possesses animal-like cunning skills and a natural rapport with animals, which has been presented as an actual ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. She uses her Lasso of Truth, which forces those bound by it to tell the truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in some stories, an invisible airplane.
wn.com/Wonder_Woman
Cheetah Filmography
Cheetah Filmography
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Cheetah - Fastest Running Animal
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:37
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Cheetah - Fastest Running Predator
http://wn.com/Cheetah_Fastest_Running_Animal
Cheetahs: Against All Odds Documentary
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 47:20
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
In the Serengeti, cheetahs live uneasy lives. Females with cubs must hunt. Left alone, their offspring are exposed to the savagery of more powerful predators. Even scavengers can gain the upper hand over these felines. Cheetahs are the fastest, but also the most vulnerable of the big cats. In this new film we follow two cheetah mothers, both with varying fortunes, as they struggle to raise their families against all the odds.
http://wn.com/Cheetahs_Against_All_Odds_Documentary
In the Serengeti, cheetahs live uneasy lives. Females with cubs must hunt. Left alone, their offspring are exposed to the savagery of more powerful predators. Even scavengers can gain the upper hand over these felines. Cheetahs are the fastest, but also the most vulnerable of the big cats. In this new film we follow two cheetah mothers, both with varying fortunes, as they struggle to raise their families against all the odds.
- published: 27 Nov 2011
- views: 186690
- author: baselmansour
Cheetah vs lion - BBC wildlife
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:40
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
For more brilliant natural history shows, exclusive to YouTube, head over to our brand-new channel Earth Unplugged! www.youtube.com A cheetah mother, Honey and her three young cubs are unwittingly about to bump into a lion. This cheetah however will not back down! From the BBC series 'Big Cat Diary.' BBC Worldwide Channel: www.youtube.com BBC Earth Channel: www.youtube.com For more Natural History: www.bbcearth.com
http://wn.com/Cheetah_vs_lion_BBC_wildlife
For more brilliant natural history shows, exclusive to YouTube, head over to our brand-new channel Earth Unplugged! www.youtube.com A cheetah mother, Honey and her three young cubs are unwittingly about to bump into a lion. This cheetah however will not back down! From the BBC series 'Big Cat Diary.' BBC Worldwide Channel: www.youtube.com BBC Earth Channel: www.youtube.com For more Natural History: www.bbcearth.com
- published: 04 Apr 2008
- views: 4749129
- author: BBCWorldwide
110km/h Cheetah attack gazelle
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:12
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
vs Hyena music/Speed TK re-mix
http://wn.com/110km_h_Cheetah_attack_gazelle
Cheetah on jeep, face to face, Masai Mara, Kenya
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:59
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Cheetah jumps on jeep, face to face in Masai Mara, Kenya. Sits there for 45 minutes!
http://wn.com/Cheetah_on_jeep,_face_to_face,_Masai_Mara,_Kenya
Cheetah jumps on jeep, face to face in Masai Mara, Kenya. Sits there for 45 minutes!
- published: 29 Aug 2012
- views: 237825
- author: Don Girskis
Cheetah and dog friends celebrate anniversary together at Busch Gardens Tampa
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:37
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Busch Gardens Tampa is celebrating an anniversary for a very special relationship. April 16 marked the one-year anniversary of the first time park guests got to see an 8-week-old male cheetah cub and a 16-week-old female yellow labrador puppy start to strike up a friendship that the park's animal experts expect to last a lifetime. The pair -- later named Kasi and Mtani -- spent only supervised play times together at first. Now, a year later, they live together full time at the park's Cheetah Run habitat and even travel together to schools, events and television studios, helping the park's education team teach the public about the plight of cheetahs in the wild and the importance of Busch Gardens' conservation efforts. Subscribe to our channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com Subscribe to our print magazine: attractionsmagazine.com Visit our Blog: attractionsmagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com Become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com Watch our TV show: attractionsmagazine.com
http://wn.com/Cheetah_and_dog_friends_celebrate_anniversary_together_at_Busch_Gardens_Tampa
Busch Gardens Tampa is celebrating an anniversary for a very special relationship. April 16 marked the one-year anniversary of the first time park guests got to see an 8-week-old male cheetah cub and a 16-week-old female yellow labrador puppy start to strike up a friendship that the park's animal experts expect to last a lifetime. The pair -- later named Kasi and Mtani -- spent only supervised play times together at first. Now, a year later, they live together full time at the park's Cheetah Run habitat and even travel together to schools, events and television studios, helping the park's education team teach the public about the plight of cheetahs in the wild and the importance of Busch Gardens' conservation efforts. Subscribe to our channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com Subscribe to our print magazine: attractionsmagazine.com Visit our Blog: attractionsmagazine.com Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com Become a fan on Facebook: www.facebook.com Watch our TV show: attractionsmagazine.com
- published: 19 Apr 2012
- views: 2231799
- author: AttractionsMagazine
Cheetah - Super Slow Motion (HD)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:35
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
A National Geographic film crew captured stunning slow motion footage of cheetahs running in excess of 60 MPH using a Phantom high speed camera filming at 1200 frames per second. The camera was mounted to a high speed track. The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal— as fast as 112 to 120 km/h (70 to 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1600 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds. Music: Heavy Rain (Nick Ingman,Terry Devine King - Mars)
http://wn.com/Cheetah_Super_Slow_Motion_HD
A National Geographic film crew captured stunning slow motion footage of cheetahs running in excess of 60 MPH using a Phantom high speed camera filming at 1200 frames per second. The camera was mounted to a high speed track. The cheetah can run faster than any other land animal— as fast as 112 to 120 km/h (70 to 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1600 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds. Music: Heavy Rain (Nick Ingman,Terry Devine King - Mars)
- published: 28 Nov 2012
- views: 98350
- author: geniemist
The Cheetah Girls
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 89:19
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
enjoy. disney owns this, not me
http://wn.com/The_Cheetah_Girls
African animals - watch cheetahs hunt for food - BBC wildlife
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:57
- Updated: 19 Dec 2012
Watch a wild African cheetah race to the grub as Simon King explains a cheetah hunt. Great footage from the Big Cat Uncut team in the African bush. From the BBC. Watch more Big Cat Uncut clips with BBC Worldwide here: www.youtube.com
http://wn.com/African_animals_watch_cheetahs_hunt_for_food_BBC_wildlife
Watch a wild African cheetah race to the grub as Simon King explains a cheetah hunt. Great footage from the Big Cat Uncut team in the African bush. From the BBC. Watch more Big Cat Uncut clips with BBC Worldwide here: www.youtube.com
- published: 28 Jul 2008
- views: 552418
- author: BBCWorldwide
Cheetah Robot runs 28.3 mph; a bit faster than Usain Bolt
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:17
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Cheetah Robot is a fast-running quadruped developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA. It just blazed past its previous speed record, getting up to 28.3 mph, about 0.5 mph faster than Usain Bolt's fastest 20 meter split. This version of the Cheetah Robot runs on a treadmill with offboard power. Testing on an untethered outdoor version starts early next year. For more information about Cheetah or the other robots we develop, visit www.BostonDynamics.com.
http://wn.com/Cheetah_Robot_runs_283_mph;_a_bit_faster_than_Usain_Bolt
Cheetah Robot is a fast-running quadruped developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA. It just blazed past its previous speed record, getting up to 28.3 mph, about 0.5 mph faster than Usain Bolt's fastest 20 meter split. This version of the Cheetah Robot runs on a treadmill with offboard power. Testing on an untethered outdoor version starts early next year. For more information about Cheetah or the other robots we develop, visit www.BostonDynamics.com.
- published: 05 Sep 2012
- views: 4426219
- author: BostonDynamics
TOO-CUTE VIDEO: Baby Cheetahs
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:50
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
A behind-the-scenes look at four baby cheetahs and their unusual journey to the Columbus zoo.
http://wn.com/TOO-CUTE_VIDEO_Baby_Cheetahs
A behind-the-scenes look at four baby cheetahs and their unusual journey to the Columbus zoo.
- published: 03 Jan 2011
- views: 455586
- author: wcmhnbc4
Cute Baby Cheetah Kitten Mewing
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:14
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
This cheetah kitten named Nala was in Namibia Africa when I was visiting some friends of mine this past summer. Her mother was killed by a car, so my friends kindly took care of her. She was well fed and had 44000 acres to roam around in and be safe. Enjoy!
http://wn.com/Cute_Baby_Cheetah_Kitten_Mewing
This cheetah kitten named Nala was in Namibia Africa when I was visiting some friends of mine this past summer. Her mother was killed by a car, so my friends kindly took care of her. She was well fed and had 44000 acres to roam around in and be safe. Enjoy!
- published: 31 Aug 2010
- views: 3442638
- author: Ben951456
Cheetahs on the Edge — Director's Cut
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 7:08
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Cheetahs are the fastest runners on the planet. Combining the resources of National Geographic and the Cincinnati Zoo, and drawing on the skills of a Hollywood action movie crew, we filmed cheetahs in a way that's never been done before, for an article in the November 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. See it at: ngm.nationalgeographic.com Using a Phantom camera filming at 1200 frames per second while zooming beside a sprinting cheetah, the team put together a compilation that captured every nuance of the cat's movement as it reached top speeds of 60+ miles per hour. The extraordinary footage that follows comes from multiple runs by five cheetahs during three days of filming.
http://wn.com/Cheetahs_on_the_Edge_—_Director's_Cut
Cheetahs are the fastest runners on the planet. Combining the resources of National Geographic and the Cincinnati Zoo, and drawing on the skills of a Hollywood action movie crew, we filmed cheetahs in a way that's never been done before, for an article in the November 2012 issue of National Geographic magazine. See it at: ngm.nationalgeographic.com Using a Phantom camera filming at 1200 frames per second while zooming beside a sprinting cheetah, the team put together a compilation that captured every nuance of the cat's movement as it reached top speeds of 60+ miles per hour. The extraordinary footage that follows comes from multiple runs by five cheetahs during three days of filming.
- published: 03 Dec 2012
- views: 40304
- author: NationalGeographic
Houston Zoo Cheetahs Run at Sam Houston Race Park!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:38
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
The Houston Zoo cheetahs enjoy stretching their legs out while running at the Sam Houston Race Park. Running is a natural behavior for cheetahs in the wild, so the staff at the Houston Zoo want to promote this behavior by encouraging them to run - this is called "enrichment." For more on animal enrichment and the Houston Zoo, visit www.houstonzoo.org.
http://wn.com/Houston_Zoo_Cheetahs_Run_at_Sam_Houston_Race_Park!
The Houston Zoo cheetahs enjoy stretching their legs out while running at the Sam Houston Race Park. Running is a natural behavior for cheetahs in the wild, so the staff at the Houston Zoo want to promote this behavior by encouraging them to run - this is called "enrichment." For more on animal enrichment and the Houston Zoo, visit www.houstonzoo.org.
- published: 12 Dec 2012
- views: 113227
- author: houstonzoo
smart cheetah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:37
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
a cheetah climbs on a car and takes a dump through the roof
http://wn.com/smart_cheetah
a cheetah climbs on a car and takes a dump through the roof
- published: 26 May 2007
- views: 544413
- author: romogracie
The Cheetah Girls - Amigas Cheetahs
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:23
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
Music video by The Cheetah Girls performing Amigas Cheetahs. (C) 2006 Walt Disney Records
http://wn.com/The_Cheetah_Girls_Amigas_Cheetahs
Music video by The Cheetah Girls performing Amigas Cheetahs. (C) 2006 Walt Disney Records
- published: 13 Dec 2010
- views: 1836465
- author: TheCheetahGirlsVEVO
Nature Tracks - Cheetah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 29:13
- Updated: 19 May 2012
This is the story of Ann van Dyk and her incredible dedication to a lifetime's work towards the preservation of the cheetah. Her work began in 1968 on the family farm, De Wildt, when she adopted two cheetah cubs. Through trial, error and heartbreak, Ann's dedication has been rewarded and she has had much success in breeding these spotted cats, including the unusually market and rare king cheetah.
http://wn.com/Nature_Tracks_Cheetah
This is the story of Ann van Dyk and her incredible dedication to a lifetime's work towards the preservation of the cheetah. Her work began in 1968 on the family farm, De Wildt, when she adopted two cheetah cubs. Through trial, error and heartbreak, Ann's dedication has been rewarded and she has had much success in breeding these spotted cats, including the unusually market and rare king cheetah.
- published: 05 Jul 2011
- views: 326
- author: TravelVideoStore
The Cheetah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:25
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
All about cheetahs. Alright about the random pictures in there... I accidentally put in two jaguar clips in this movie, so I had to go back and edit them out. And for those of you who noticed the clip towards the end with the Cheetah running though the water, yes as many of you have pointed out(and I wish you would stop) it is a tiger, I apologize for making that mistake. Enjoy rate and comment please!!! Made by vitalioness14
http://wn.com/The_Cheetah
All about cheetahs. Alright about the random pictures in there... I accidentally put in two jaguar clips in this movie, so I had to go back and edit them out. And for those of you who noticed the clip towards the end with the Cheetah running though the water, yes as many of you have pointed out(and I wish you would stop) it is a tiger, I apologize for making that mistake. Enjoy rate and comment please!!! Made by vitalioness14
- published: 24 Feb 2007
- views: 1201679
- author: vitalioness14
George Ayittey: Cheetahs vs. Hippos for Africa's future
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 19:45
- Updated: 24 Dec 2012
www.ted.com Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes a torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders in Africa -- and calls on the Cheetah generation to take back the continent.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http
http://wn.com/George_Ayittey_Cheetahs_vs_Hippos_for_Africa's_future
www.ted.com Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes a torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders in Africa -- and calls on the Cheetah generation to take back the continent.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes -- including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http
- published: 01 Aug 2007
- views: 36432
- author: TEDtalksDirector
how to do cheetah / lepard print hair
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:53
- Updated: 26 Dec 2012
http://wn.com/how_to_do_cheetah_lepard_print_hair
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Slow Cheetah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:20
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
{Lyrics} Waking up dead, inside of my head Would never, never do, there is no med No medicine to take Ive had a chance to be insane Asylum from the falling rain Ive had a chance to break Its so bad, its got to be good Mysterious girl misunderstood Dressed like a wedding cake Any other day and I might play A funeral march for Bonnie Bray Why try and run away? Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say I know a girl, she worked in a store She knew not what her life was for She barely knew her name They tried to tell her she would never be As happy as a girl in a magazine She bought it with her pay Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say Everyone has so much to say They talk, talk, talk their lives away Dont even hesitate Walking on down to the burial ground Its a very old dance with a merry old sound Looks like its on today Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say
http://wn.com/Red_Hot_Chili_Peppers_Slow_Cheetah
{Lyrics} Waking up dead, inside of my head Would never, never do, there is no med No medicine to take Ive had a chance to be insane Asylum from the falling rain Ive had a chance to break Its so bad, its got to be good Mysterious girl misunderstood Dressed like a wedding cake Any other day and I might play A funeral march for Bonnie Bray Why try and run away? Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say I know a girl, she worked in a store She knew not what her life was for She barely knew her name They tried to tell her she would never be As happy as a girl in a magazine She bought it with her pay Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say Everyone has so much to say They talk, talk, talk their lives away Dont even hesitate Walking on down to the burial ground Its a very old dance with a merry old sound Looks like its on today Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say Slow cheetah come before my forest, Look like it's on today Slow cheetah come, it's so euphoric, No matter what they say
- published: 05 Jun 2009
- views: 511291
- author: RHCPFreaklol
Baby Cheetah and Dog Best Friend
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:38
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
Cheetah that is being hand-raised at a wildlife preserve in Florida because its mother rejected it. This is NOT a pet! No, you can not have one. More Info: I recorded this at the White Oaks Conservation Center in northern Florida. I have no relationship with the center - I was just a visitor there. Since the mother abandoned the baby, they had to hand raise it, which required socialization. I was waiting for my ride when they brought this gorgeous creature in, and it was a remarkable, surreal, beautiful moment for me.
http://wn.com/Baby_Cheetah_and_Dog_Best_Friend
Cheetah that is being hand-raised at a wildlife preserve in Florida because its mother rejected it. This is NOT a pet! No, you can not have one. More Info: I recorded this at the White Oaks Conservation Center in northern Florida. I have no relationship with the center - I was just a visitor there. Since the mother abandoned the baby, they had to hand raise it, which required socialization. I was waiting for my ride when they brought this gorgeous creature in, and it was a remarkable, surreal, beautiful moment for me.
- published: 16 Mar 2008
- views: 2642833
- author: drscompton
Bullet the Cheetah
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:52
- Updated: 25 Dec 2012
My first day at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa as an ACE (African Conservation Experience) volunteer I also received the opportunity to interact with Bullet the cheetah, a hand-raised cheetah that is training to be an animal ambassador. check out www.conservationafrica.net
http://wn.com/Bullet_the_Cheetah
My first day at Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in South Africa as an ACE (African Conservation Experience) volunteer I also received the opportunity to interact with Bullet the cheetah, a hand-raised cheetah that is training to be an animal ambassador. check out www.conservationafrica.net
- published: 06 May 2011
- views: 296589
- author: achristinacooper
photo: Creative Commons / Giorgione
24 Dec 2012
Article by WN.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. A deadly silence immediately followed after a bullet penetrated the calf's skull. Against my wishes, Vic had decided against either amputating its leg or contacting a veterinarian-something he reasoned would have been too expensive. The unfortunate calf had slid down into a ravine where its hind leg, which was mangled and torn, became wrapped in barbed wire ... But it was more than a bellow ... 9....(size: 6.3Kb)
photo: Creative Commons / Axou
24 Dec 2012
Steve Jobs was controversial in life, and now his high-tech mega-yacht is associated with a controversy long after his death. The former Apple CEO's ship was impounded in Amsterdam in the middle of a financial battle over a disputed bill. Phillippe Starck, a French product designer and architect, has alleged that Jobs' heirs owe him 3 million euros for his work on Venus, the 256-foot yacht Jobs commissioned before his death ... ... ....(size: 2.6Kb)
photo: AP / Musadeq Sadeq
24 Dec 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan policewoman shot and killed an American adviser outside the police headquarters in Kabul on Monday, the latest in a rising tide of insider attacks by Afghans against their foreign allies, senior Afghan officials said. The woman, identified as Afghan police Sgt ... The woman was taken into Afghan custody shortly after the attack ... As many Afghans, the policewoman uses only one name ... Air Force Lt. Col ... Gen ... ....(size: 4.6Kb)
photo: AP / Muhammed Muheisen
24 Dec 2012
Zeenews Bureau. Moscow. A deadly air strike by Syrian government on a bakery in Halfaya of Syria’s Hama on Monday killed more than 60, even as international envoy Lakhdar Barhimi is in the country to negotiate the solutions to the ongoing civil war. "Dozens of people were killed in an air strike on Halfaya," Lebanon's Naharnet said citing the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights ... His trip appeared troubled from the start ... ....(size: 2.8Kb)
Orange News
26 Dec 2012
You've had your turn, now it's ours. After hours of debate and dummy-spitting here at Planet Rugby HQ, we've selected our line-up of 2012. Three players were brought in from the cold by our panel of journalists while the remaining twelve you named receive a further pat on the back. So without further ado, here comes our offering - be sure to send in your own 15-1 team line-ups ... Bubbling under ... Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs & South Africa) ... ....(size: 7.2Kb)
Canberra Times
25 Dec 2012
Photo. Stuart Walmsley. A ... He went to lunch with the senior players before the match against the Free State Cheetahs in March, and even they didn't know whether the man touted as the Brumbies' saviour was about to walk away from the club ... But for whatever reason, he took a punt on the Brumbies and, instead of getting stuck in a downward spiral, the team ran on to the field and clinched a last-second penalty-goal win against the Cheetahs....(size: 5.2Kb)
NBC Washington
25 Dec 2012
The Times of India
25 Dec 2012
COIMBATORE. Amidst stiff opposition from forest dwelling communities living on the fringes of Sathyamangalam Wildlife Sanctuary, against converting the old Veerappan lair as a tiger reserve, the forest department claimed on Monday that the tiger population was stable and poised for further increase ... "Last year, there were 18 tigers ... The surveyors also found cheetahs, jackals and bears inside the forest ... ....(size: 3.0Kb)
The Examiner
25 Dec 2012
This year, AZ Weekly Entertainment Magazine's film columnists were challenged to employ Twitter rules when writing their top movies lists. In other words, they were asked to share their thoughts about each of the movies on their respective lists using 140 characters or less ... My Best Picture ... Airdo ... With a pace that could outrun a cheetah and an attention span the size of a fairy fly, makes Mars look like your next-door neighbor's house ... ....(size: 9.1Kb)
NBC Washington
24 Dec 2012
Huffington Post
24 Dec 2012
By. Megan Gannon, News Editor. Published. 12/23/2012 09.59 AM EST on LiveScience ... But this particular specimen died long before whalers became a threat ... Image Gallery ... Photo ... (Ishara S ... Cheetahs can run at speeds up to 70 mph. Majani, a 2-year-old male African cheetah, exhibits lighting speed Friday, March 19, 2004 while chasing a mechanical rabbit at the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park as part of the Park's environmental enrichment program....(size: 8.3Kb)
DNA India
24 Dec 2012
GUANGZHOU, China, Dec. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- One need only do an online search or walk into a RELLECIGA store to find an abundance of swimwear in all different styles and colors; everything can mix and match with no limitations. RELLECIGA, which is available on www.GiftForSexy.com, offers more than just tiny string bikinis with no support or coverage ... Ami Clubwear's cheetah-print bikini tops have adjustable sliding triangle cups ... ....(size: 3.3Kb)
IMC
23 Dec 2012
Start. Dec 22 2012 10.12 pm. so as to adapt to the new system. Anthony. Now, his speed recovery, but still can't adapt to the system. Anthony. Pau gasol again request more play inside. Pau gasol in the office early ... Anthony for pau gasol to adapt to the new system. Pau gasol now said again, need to use good ... "I don't think he (gasol) in the new system need to play a new role, he and former several Kobe 7 Cheetah season is ok....(size: 2.7Kb)
The Times of India
23 Dec 2012
BELGAUM ... Bhimgad forest is spread on 19,042.50 hectares in the core zone of Western Ghats. The area is free from biotic disturbances and forestry operations ... This forest is home to tigers, leopards, Indian gaur (bison), sloth bear, sambar, barking deer, cheetah, wild dogs, king cobra and variety of other mammals and reptiles ... ....(size: 1.6Kb)
The Examiner
22 Dec 2012
Tweet. 0 Email. Report. Photo 1 of 9. Baby giraffe -- Visiting zoos are important travel opportunities ... Credit. Dr. Joseph T. McGinn and Florence McGinn ... Excellent zoos are special sanctuaries that enable ecosystem appreciations.Cheetah pair -- Visiting zoos are important travel opportunities. Excellent zoos are special sanctuaries that enable ecosystem appreciations.Cheetah -- Visiting zoos are important travel opportunities ... 15 Photos ... more. ... ....(size: 5.5Kb)
The Examiner
22 Dec 2012
ABC Family is currently casting lead and supporting roles in Los Angeles for the upcoming musical telefilm "The Mistletones" ...
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IMC
22 Dec 2012
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This article is about the animal. For other uses, see Cheetah (disambiguation).
| Cheetah[1] Temporal range: Late Pliocene to Recent |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Carnivora |
| Family: | Felidae |
| Genus: | Acinonyx |
| Species: | A. jubatus |
| Binomial name | |
| Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1775) |
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| Type species | |
| Acinonyx venator Brookes, 1828 (= Felis jubata, Schreber, 1775) by monotypy |
|
| Subspecies | |
|
See text. |
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 |
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| The range of the cheetah | |
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large-sized feline (family Felidae, subfamily Felinae) inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx. The cheetah achieves by far the fastest land speed of any living animal—between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph)[3][4] in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1,600 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds.[5]
This cat is also notable for modifications in the species' paws. It is one of the only felids with semi-retractable claws, and with pads that, by their scope, disallow gripping.[6] Thus, cheetahs cannot climb upright trees, although they are generally capable of reaching easily accessible branches.
Contents |
Etymology[link]
The word "cheetah" is derived from the Sanskrit word citrakāyaḥ, meaning "variegated", via the Hindi चीता cītā.[7]
Genetics and classification[link]
The genus name, Acinonyx, means "no-move-claw" in Greek, while the species name, jubatus, means "maned" in Latin, a reference to the mane found in cheetah cubs.
The cheetah has unusually low genetic variability. This is accompanied by a very low sperm count, motility, and deformed flagella.[8] Skin grafts between unrelated cheetahs illustrate the former point in that there is no rejection of the donor skin. It is thought that the species went through a prolonged period of inbreeding following a genetic bottleneck during the last ice age. This suggests that genetic monomorphism did not prevent the cheetah from flourishing across two continents for thousands of years.[9]
The cheetah likely evolved in Africa during the Miocene epoch (26 million to 7.5 million years ago), before migrating to Asia. Recent research has placed the last common ancestor of all existing populations as living in Asia 11 million years ago, which may lead to revision and refinement of existing ideas about cheetah evolution.[10]
The now-extinct species include: Acinonyx pardinensis (Pliocene epoch), much larger than the modern cheetah and found in Europe, India, and China; Acinonyx intermedius (mid-Pleistocene period), found over the same range. The extinct genus Miracinonyx was extremely cheetah-like, but recent DNA analysis has shown that Miracinonyx inexpectatus, Miracinonyx studeri, and Miracinonyx trumani (early to late Pleistocene epoch), found in North America and called the "North American cheetah" are not true cheetahs, instead being close relatives to the cougar.[11]
Subspecies[link]
Although many sources list six or more subspecies of cheetah, the taxonomic status of most of these subspecies is unresolved[says who?]. Acinonyx rex—the king cheetah (see below)—was abandoned as a subspecies after it was discovered that the variation was caused by a single recessive gene. The subspecies Acinonyx jubatus guttatus, the woolly cheetah, may also have been a variation due to a recessive gene. Some of the most commonly recognized subspecies include:[12]
- Asiatic cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus venaticus): Asia (Afghanistan, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Russia)
- Northwest African cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki): Northwest Africa (Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Tunisia) and western Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal)
- Acinonyx jubatus raineyii: eastern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda)
- Acinonyx jubatus jubatus: southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia)
- Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii: central Africa (Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Niger, and Sudan)
- Acinonyx jubatus velox
Description[link]
File:Cheetahfoot.jpg
Cheetah front and hind feet, as illustrated in Pocock's The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma - Mammalia Vol 1
The cheetah's chest is deep and its waist is narrow. The coarse, short fur of the cheetah is tan with round black spots measuring from 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.2 in) across, affording it some camouflage while hunting. There are no spots on its white underside, but the tail has spots, which merge to form four to six dark rings at the end. The tail usually ends in a bushy white tuft. The cheetah has a small head with high-set eyes. Black "tear marks" running from the corner of its eyes down the sides of the nose to its mouth keep sunlight out of its eyes and aid in hunting and seeing long distances. Although it can reach high speeds, its body cannot stand long distance running, because it is more suited to short bursts of speed.
The adult cheetah weighs from 35 to 72 kg (77 to 160 lb). Its total head-and-body length is from 110 to 150 cm (43 to 59 in), while the tail can measure 60 to 84 cm (24 to 33 in) in length.[13][14][15] Cheetahs are 66 to 94 cm (26 to 37 in) tall at the shoulder. Males tend to be slightly larger than females and have slightly bigger heads, but there is not a great variation in cheetah sizes and it is difficult to tell males and females apart by appearance alone. Compared to a similarly sized leopard, the cheetah is generally shorter-bodied, but is longer tailed and taller (it averages about 90 cm (35 in) tall) and so it appears more streamlined.
Some cheetahs have a rare fur pattern mutation of larger, blotchy, merged spots. Known as "king cheetahs," they were once thought to constitute a separate subspecies but are in fact African cheetahs; their unusual fur pattern is the result of a single recessive gene.[16] The "king cheetah" has only been seen in the wild a handful of times, but it has been bred in captivity.
The cheetah's paws have semi-retractable claws (known only in three other cat species: the fishing cat, the flat-headed cat and the Iriomote cat), offering extra grip in its high-speed pursuits. The ligament structure of the cheetah's claws is the same as those of other cats; it simply lacks the sheath of skin and fur present in other varieties, and therefore the claws are always visible, with the exception of the dewclaw. The dewclaw itself is much shorter and straighter than that of other cats.
Adaptations that enable the cheetah to run as fast as it does include large nostrils that allow for increased oxygen intake, and an enlarged heart and lungs that work together to circulate oxygen efficiently. During a typical chase, its respiratory rate increases from 60 to 150 breaths per minute.[8] While running, in addition to having good traction due to its semi-retractable claws, the cheetah uses its tail as a rudder-like means of steering[citation needed] to allow it to make sharp turns, necessary to outflank prey animals that often make such turns to escape.
Unlike true big cats of subfamily Pantherinae, the cheetah can purr as it inhales, but cannot roar. By contrast, the big cats can roar but cannot purr, except while exhaling. The cheetah is still considered by some to be the smallest of the big cats. While it is often mistaken for the leopard, the cheetah does have distinguishing features, such as the aforementioned long "tear-streak" lines that run from the corners of its eyes to its mouth, and spots that are not "rosettes". The thinner body frame of the cheetah is also very different from that of the leopard.
The cheetah is a vulnerable species. Of all the big cats, it is the least able to adapt to new environments. It has always proved difficult to breed in captivity, although recently a few zoos have managed to succeed at this. Once widely hunted for its fur, the cheetah now suffers more from the loss of both habitat and prey.
The cheetah was formerly considered to be particularly primitive among the cats and to have evolved approximately 18 million years ago. New research, however, suggests the last common ancestor of all 40 existing species of felines lived more recently than that—about 11 million years ago. The same research indicates the cheetah, while highly derived morphologically, is not of particularly ancient lineage, having separated from its closest living relatives (Puma concolor, the cougar, and Puma yaguarondi, the jaguarundi) around five million years ago.[11] These felids have not changed appreciably since they first appeared in the fossil record.
Morphs and variations[link]
King cheetah[link]
The king cheetah is a rare mutation of cheetah characterized by a distinct fur pattern. It was first noted in what was then Southern Rhodesia (modern-day Zimbabwe) in 1926. In 1927, the naturalist Reginald Innes Pocock declared it a separate species, but reversed this decision in 1939 due to lack of evidence, but in 1928, a skin purchased by Walter Rothschild was found to be intermediate in pattern between the king cheetah and spotted cheetah and Abel Chapman considered it to be a color form of the spotted cheetah. Twenty-two such skins were found between 1926 and 1974. Since 1927, the king cheetah was reported five more times in the wild. Although strangely marked skins had come from Africa, a live king cheetah was not photographed until 1974 in South Africa's Kruger National Park. Cryptozoologists Paul and Lena Bottriell photographed one during an expedition in 1975. They also managed to obtain stuffed specimens. It appeared larger than a spotted cheetah and its fur had a different texture. There was another wild sighting in 1986—the first in seven years. By 1987, thirty-eight specimens had been recorded, many from pelts.
Its species status was resolved in 1981 when king cheetahs were born at the De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Centre in South Africa. In May 1981, two spotted sisters gave birth there and each litter contained one king cheetah. The sisters had both mated with a wild-caught male from the Transvaal area (where king cheetahs had been recorded). Further king cheetahs were later born at the Centre. It has been known to exist in Zimbabwe, Botswana and in the northern part of South Africa's Transvaal province. A recessive gene must be inherited from both parents for this pattern to appear, which is one reason why it is so rare.
Other color variations[link]
Other rare color morphs of the species include speckles, melanism, albinism and gray coloration. Most have been reported in Indian cheetahs, particularly in captive specimens kept for hunting.
The Mughal Emperor of India, Jahangir, recorded having a white cheetah presented to him in 1608. In the memories of Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, the Emperor, says that in the third year of his reign, Raja Bir Singh Deo brought a white cheetah to show me. Although other sorts of creatures, both birds and beasts have white varieties .... I had never seen a white cheetah. Its spots, which are (usually) black, were of a blue colour, and the whiteness of the body also inclined to blue-ishness. This suggests a chinchilla mutation which restricts the amount of pigment on the hair shaft. Although the spots were formed of black pigment, the less dense pigmentation gives a hazy, grayish effect. As well as Jahangir's white cheetah at Agra, a report of "incipient albinism" has come from Beaufort West according to Guggisberg.
In a letter to "Nature in East Africa", H. F. Stoneham reported a melanistic cheetah (black with ghost markings) in the Trans-Nzoia District of Kenya in 1925. Vesey Fitzgerald saw a melanistic cheetah in Zambia in the company of a spotted cheetah. Red (erythristic) cheetahs have dark tawny spots on a golden background. Cream (isabelline) cheetahs have pale red spots on a pale background. Some desert region cheetahs are unusually pale; probably they are better-camouflaged and therefore better hunters and more likely to breed and pass on their paler coloration. Blue (Maltese or grey) cheetahs have variously been described as white cheetahs with grey-blue spots (chinchilla) or pale grey cheetahs with darker grey spots (Maltese mutation). A cheetah with hardly any spots was shot in Tanzania in 1921 (Pocock); it had only a few spots on the neck and back, and these were unusually small.
Range and habitat[link]
There are several geographically isolated populations of cheetah, all of which are found in Africa or southwestern Asia. A small population (estimated at about fifty) survive in the Khorasan Province of Iran, where conservationists are taking steps to protect them.[17] There have also been several unconfirmed reports of Asiatic Cheetahs in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, with at least one dead animal being discovered recently.[18]
The cheetah thrives in areas with vast expanses of land where prey is abundant. The cheetah likes to live in an open biotope, such as semidesert, prairie, and thick brush, though it can be found in a variety of habitats. In Namibia, for example, it lives in grasslands, savannahs, areas of dense vegetation, and mountainous terrain.
In much of its former range, the cheetah was tamed by aristocrats and used to hunt antelopes in much the same way as is still done with members of the greyhound group of dogs.
Reproduction and behavior[link]
Females reach maturity in twenty to twenty-four months, and males around twelve months (although they do not usually mate until at least three years old), and mating occurs throughout the year. A study of cheetahs in the Serengeti showed females are sexually promiscuous and often have cubs by many different males.[19]
Females give birth to up to nine cubs after a gestation period of ninety to ninety-eight days, although the average litter size is three to five. Cubs weigh from 150 to 300 g (5.3 to 11 oz) at birth. Unlike some other cats, the cheetah is born with its characteristic spots. Cubs are also born with a downy underlying fur on their necks, called a mantle, extending to mid-back. This gives them a mane or Mohawk-type appearance; this fur is shed as the cheetah grows older. It has been speculated this mane gives a cheetah cub the appearance of the honey badger (ratel), to scare away potential aggressors.[20] Cubs leave their mother between thirteen and twenty months after birth. Life span is up to twelve years in the wild, but up to twenty years in captivity.
Unlike males, females are solitary and tend to avoid each other, though some mother/daughter pairs have been known to be formed for small periods of time. The cheetah has a unique, well-structured social order. Females live alone, except when they are raising cubs and they raise their cubs on their own. The first eighteen months of a cub's life are important; cubs must learn many lessons, because survival depends on knowing how to hunt wild prey species and avoid other predators. At eighteen months, the mother leaves the cubs, who then form a sibling ("sib") group that will stay together for another six months. At about two years, the female siblings leave the group, and the young males remain together for life.
Territories[link]
Males[link]
Males are often social and may group together for life, usually with their brothers in the same litter; although if a cub is the only male in the litter then two or three lone males may form a group, or a lone male may join an existing group. These groups are called coalitions. In one Serengeti, 41% of the adult males were solitary, 40% lived in pairs and 19% lived in trios.[21]
A coalition is six times more likely to obtain an animal territory than a lone male, although studies have shown that coalitions keep their territories just as long as lone males— between four and four and a half years.
Males are territorial. Females' home ranges can be very large and a territory including several females' ranges is impossible to defend. Instead, males choose the points at which several of the females' home ranges overlap, creating a much smaller space, which can be properly defended against intruders while maximizing the chance of reproduction. Coalitions will try their best to maintain territories to find females with whom they will mate. The size of the territory also depends on the available resources; depending on the part of Africa, the size of a male's territory can vary greatly from 37 to 160 km2 (14 to 62 sq mi).
Males mark their territory by urinating on objects that stand out, such as trees, logs, or termite mounds. The whole coalition contributes to the scent. Males will attempt to kill any intruders, and fights result in serious injury or death.
Females[link]
Unlike males and other felines, females do not establish territories. Instead, the area they live in is termed a home range. These overlap with other females' home ranges, often those of their daughters, mothers, or sisters. Females always hunt alone, although cubs will accompany their mothers to learn to hunt once they reach the age of five to six weeks.
The size of a home range depends entirely on the availability of prey. Cheetahs in southern African woodlands have ranges as small as 34 km2 (13 sq mi), while in some parts of Namibia they can reach 1,500 km2 (580 sq mi).
Vocalizations[link]
The cheetah cannot roar, but does have the following vocalizations:
- Chirping: When a cheetah attempts to find another, or a mother tries to locate her cubs, it uses a high-pitched barking called chirping. The chirps made by a cheetah cub sound more like a bird chirping, and so are termed chirping, too.
- Churring or stuttering: This vocalization is emitted by a cheetah during social meetings. A churr can be seen as a social invitation to other cheetahs, an expression of interest, uncertainty, or appeasement or during meetings with the opposite sex (although each sex churrs for different reasons).
- Growling: This vocalization is often accompanied by hissing and spitting and is exhibited by the cheetah during annoyance, or when faced with danger.
- Yowling: This is an escalated version of growling, usually displayed when danger worsens.
- Purring: This is made when the cheetah is content, usually during pleasant social meetings (mostly between cubs and their mothers). A characteristic of purring is that it is realized on both egressive and ingressive airstream, as seen and heard on online video and audio.[22][23][24][25]
Diet and hunting[link]
The cheetah is a carnivore, eating mostly mammals under 40 kg (88 lb), including the Thomson's gazelle, the Grant's gazelle, the springbok and the impala. The young of larger mammals such as wildebeests and zebras are taken at times, and adults too, when cheetahs hunt in groups. Guineafowl and hares are also prey. While the other big cats often hunt by night, the cheetah is a diurnal hunter. It hunts usually either early in the morning or later in the evening when it is not so hot, but there is still enough light.
The cheetah hunts by vision rather than by scent. Prey is stalked to within 10–30 m (33–98 ft), then chased. This is usually over in less than a minute, and if the cheetah fails to make a catch quickly, it will give up. The cheetah has an average hunting success rate of around 50%.[8]
Running at speeds between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph) puts a great deal of strain on the cheetah's body. When sprinting, the cheetah's body temperature quickly elevates. If it is a hard chase, it sometimes needs to rest for half an hour or more.
The cheetah kills its prey by tripping it during the chase, then biting it on the underside of the throat to suffocate it; the cheetah is not strong enough to break the necks of the four-legged prey it mainly hunts. The bite may also puncture a vital artery in the neck. Then the cheetah proceeds to devour its catch as quickly as possible before the kill is taken by stronger predators.
The diet of a cheetah is dependent upon the area in which it lives. For example, on the East African plains, its preferred prey is the Thomson's gazelle. This small antelope is shorter than the cheetah (about 53–67 cm (21–26 in) tall and 70–107 cm (28–42 in) long), and also cannot run faster than the cheetah (only up to 80 km/h (50 mph)), which combine to make it an appropriate prey. Cheetahs look for individuals which have strayed some distance from their group, and do not necessarily seek out old or weak ones.
Interspecific predatory relationships[link]
Despite their speed and hunting prowess, cheetahs are largely outranked by other large predators in most of their range. Because they have evolved for short bursts of extreme speed at the expense of their power, they cannot defend themselves against most of Africa's other predator species. They usually avoid fighting and will surrender a kill immediately to even a single hyena, rather than risk injury. Because cheetahs rely on their speed to obtain their meals, any injury that slows them down could essentially be life threatening.
A cheetah has a 50% chance of losing its kill to other predators.[8] Cheetahs avoid competition by hunting at different times of the day and by eating immediately after the kill. Due to the reduction in habitat in Africa, cheetahs in recent years have faced greater pressure from other native African predators as available range declines.[citation needed]
The cheetah's mortality is very high during the early weeks of its life; up to 90% of cheetah cubs are killed during this time by lions, leopards, hyenas, wild dogs, or even by eagles. Cheetah cubs often hide in thick brush for safety. Mother cheetahs will defend their young and are at times successful in driving predators away from their cubs. Coalitions of male cheetahs can also chase away other predators, depending on the coalition size and the size and number of the predator. Because of its speed, a healthy adult cheetah has few enemies.[26]
Relationship with humans[link]
Economic importance[link]
Cheetah fur was formerly regarded as a status symbol. Today, cheetahs have a growing economic importance for ecotourism and they are also found in zoos. Cheetahs are far less aggressive than other felids and can be tamed, so cubs are sometimes illegally sold as pets.
Cheetahs were formerly, and sometimes still are, hunted because many farmers believe that they eat livestock. When the species came under threat, numerous campaigns were launched to try to educate farmers and encourage them to conserve cheetahs. Recent evidence has shown that cheetahs will not attack and eat livestock if they can avoid doing so, as they prefer their wild prey. However, they have no problem with including farmland as part of their territory, leading to conflict.
Taming[link]
Ancient Egyptians often kept cheetahs as pets, and also tamed and trained them for hunting. (But not domesticated i.e., bred under human control.) Cheetahs would be taken to hunting fields in low-sided carts or by horseback, hooded and blindfolded, and kept on leashes while dogs flushed out their prey. When the prey was near enough, the cheetahs would be released and their blindfolds removed. This tradition was passed on to the ancient Persians and brought to India, where the practice was continued by Indian princes into the twentieth century. Cheetahs continued to be associated with royalty and elegance, their use as pets spreading just as their hunting skills were. Other such princes and kings kept them as pets, including Genghis Khan and Charlemagne, who boasted of having kept cheetahs within their palace grounds. Akbar the Great, ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1605, kept as many as 1000 cheetahs.[8] As recently as the 1930s the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, was often photographed leading a cheetah by a leash.
Conservation status[link]
Cheetah cubs have a high mortality rate due to predation by other carnivores, such as the lion and hyena, and perhaps genetic factors. It has been suggested that the low genetic diversity of cheetahs is a cause of poor sperm, birth defects, cramped teeth, curled tails, and bent limbs. Some biologists even believe that they are too inbred to flourish as a species.[27] Note, however, that they lost most of their genetic diversity thousands of years ago (see the beginning of this article), and yet seem to have only been in decline in the last century or so, suggesting factors other than genetics are mainly responsible.
Cheetahs are included on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) list of vulnerable species (African subspecies threatened, Asiatic subspecies in critical situation) as well as on the US Endangered Species Act: threatened species - Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species). Approximately 12,400 cheetahs remain in the wild in twenty-five African countries; Namibia has the most, with about 2,500. Another fifty to sixty critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs are thought to remain in Iran. There have been successful breeding programs, including the use of in vitro fertilisation, in zoos around the world.
Founded in Namibia in 1990, the Cheetah Conservation Fund's mission is to be the world’s resource charged with protecting the cheetah and ensuring its future on our planet. The organization works with all stakeholders within the cheetah’s ecosystem to develop best practices in research, education and ecology and create a sustainable model from which all other species, including people, will benefit.
The South African Cheetah Conservation Foundation has close links and assists in training and sharing program successes with other countries where cheetahs live, including Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Iran and Algeria. The organization's international program includes distributing materials, lending resources and support, and providing training through Africa and the rest of the world.
Re-introduction project in India[link]
Main article: Cheetah reintroduction in India
Cheetahs have been known to exist in India for a very long time, but as a result of hunting and other causes, cheetahs have been extinct in India since the 1940s. A captive propagation project has been proposed. Minister of Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh told the Rajya Sabha on 7 July 2009, "The cheetah is the only animal that has been described extinct in India in the last 100 years. We have to get them from abroad to repopulate the species." He was responding to a call for attention from Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "The plan to bring back the cheetah, which fell to indiscriminate hunting and complex factors like a fragile breeding pattern is audacious given the problems besetting tiger conservation." Two naturalists, Divya Bhanusinh and MK Ranjit Singh, suggested importing cheetahs from Africa, after which they will be bred in captivity and, in time, released in the wild.[28]
In popular culture[link]
- In Titian's Bacchus and Ariadne (1523), the god's chariot is borne by cheetahs (which were used as hunting animals in Renaissance Italy). Cheetahs were often associated with the god Dionysus, whom the Romans called Bacchus.
- George Stubbs' Cheetah with Two Indian Attendants and a Stag (1764–1765) also shows the cheetah as a hunting animal and commemorates the gift of a cheetah to George III by the English Governor of Madras, Sir George Pigot
- The Caress (1896), by the Belgian symbolist painter Fernand Khnopff (1858–1921), is a representation of the myth of Oedipus and the Sphinx and portrays a creature with a woman's head and a cheetah's body (often misidentified as a leopard's).
- André Mercier's Our Friend Yambo (1961) is a curious biography of a cheetah adopted by a French couple and brought to live in Paris. It is seen as a French answer to Born Free (1960), whose author, Joy Adamson, produced a cheetah biography of her own, The Spotted Sphinx (1969).
- Hussein, An Entertainment, a novel by Patrick O'Brian set in India of the British Raj period, illustrates the practice of royalty keeping and training cheetahs to hunt antelopes.
- The book How It Was with Dooms tells the true story of a family raising an orphaned cheetah cub named Duma (the Swahili word for cheetah) in Kenya. The films Cheetah (1989) and Duma (2005) were both loosely based on this book.
- The animated series ThunderCats had a main character who was an anthropomorphic cheetah named Cheetara.
- In 1986 Frito-Lay introduced an anthropomorphic cheetah, Chester Cheetah, as the mascot for their Cheetos.
- Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle has a subplot involving an escaped cheetah, which later smokes cannabis with the pair and allows them to ride it.
- Comic book superheroine Wonder Woman's chief adversary is Dr. Barbara Ann Minerva, alias The Cheetah.
- On the CGI animated show Beast Wars: Transformers, Cheetor, one of the main characters on the Maximal faction, had the beast form of a cheetah. This was also carried over as the beast form of the Cheetor Hasbro transformer.
- The Japanese anime Damekko Dōbutsu features a clumsy but sweet-natured cheetah named Chiiko.
- The first release of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X was code-named "Cheetah", which set the pattern for the subsequent releases being named after big cats.
- In Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light the character Witterquick as the totem of a Cheetah and could turn into one.
-
Bacchus and Ariadne by Titian, 1523
-
Cheetah with Two Indian Attendants and a Stag by George Stubbs, 1764–1765
-
The Caress by Fernand Khnopff, 1887
Notes[link]
- ^ Wozencraft, W. Christopher (16 November 2005). "Order Carnivora (pp. 532-628)". In Wilson, Don E., and Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). pp. 532–533. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
- ^ Bauer, H., Belbachir, F., Durant, S., Hunter, L., Marker, L., Packer, K. & Purchase, N. (2008). Acinonyx jubatus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 9 October 2008.
- ^ Sharp, N. C. (1994). "Timed running speed of a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus)". Journal of Zoology, London 241 (3): 493–494. DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1997.tb04840.x.
- ^ Milton Hildebrand (1959). "Motions of Cheetah and Horse". Journal of Mammalogy 40 (4): 481–495. DOI:10.2307/1376265. JSTOR 1376265. [dead link] Although according to Cheetah, Luke Hunter and Dave Hamman, (Struik Publishers, 2003), pp. 37–38, the cheetah's fastest recorded speed was 110 km/h (68 mph).
- ^ Kruszelnicki, Karl S. (1999). "Fake Flies and Cheating Cheetahs". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/gmis9911.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ^ http://www.cheetah.org/?nd=cheetah_facts
- ^ cheetah (n.d.). The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cheetah. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
- ^ a b c d e O'Brien, S., D. Wildt, M. Bush (1986). "The Cheetah in Genetic Peril". Scientific American 254: 68–76.
- ^ Young, T.P. and A.H. Harcourt (1997). "Viva Caughley!". Conservation Biology 11: 831–832.
- ^ Johnson, W. E., E. Eizirik, J. Pecon-Slattery, W. J. Murphy, A. Antunes, E. Teeling, S. J. O'Brien (2006). "The Late Miocene Radiation of Modern Felidae: A Genetic Assessment". Science 311 (5757): 73–77. DOI:10.1126/science.1122277. PMID 16400146.
- ^ a b Mattern, M. Y., D. A. McLennan (2000). "Phylogeny and Speciation of Felids". Cladistics 16 (2): 232–253. DOI:10.1111/j.1096-0031.2000.tb00354.x.
- ^ Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, DeeAnn M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols. (2142 pp.). ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3.
- ^ [1] (2011).
- ^ Boitani, Luigi, Simon & Schuster's Guide to Mammals. Simon & Schuster/Touchstone Books (1984), ISBN 978-0-671-42805-1
- ^ [2] (2011).
- ^ [3]
- ^ "Asiatic Cheetah". Wild About Cats. http://www.wildaboutcats.org/asiatic.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ^ "Asiatic Cheetah". WWF-Pakistan. http://www.wwfpak.org/sc_asiaticcheetah.php. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ^ "Scandal on the Serengeti: New light has been shed on the extent of female cheetahs' unfaithfulness to their male partners.". inthenews.co.uk. May 30, 2007. http://www.inthenews.co.uk/infocus/features/in-focus/scandal-on-serengeti-$1090967.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
- ^ Eaton, Randall L. (1976) A Possible Case of Mimicry in Larger Mammals. Evolution 30(4):853-856 doi 10.2307/2407827
- ^ Richard Estes, foreword by Edward Osborne Wilson (1991) The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. University of California Press. Page 371.
- ^ http://ingressivespeech.info
- ^ http://roberteklund.info/Wildlife.htm
- ^ http://purring.org
- ^ Eklund, Peters & Duthie (2010)
- ^ M. W. Hayward, M. Hofmeyr, J. O'Brien & G. I. H. Kerley (2006). "Prey preferences of the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) (Felidae: Carnivora): morphological limitations or the need to capture rapidly consumable prey before kleptoparasites arrive?". Journal of Zoology 270 (4): 615. DOI:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00184.x. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118624020/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ Gugliotta, Guy (2008-02). "Rare Breed". Smithsonian Magazine. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rare-breed.html. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
- ^ The Times of India, Thursday, July 9, 2009, p. 11.
References[link]
- Great Cats, Majestic Creatures of the Wild, ed. John Seidensticker, illus. Frank Knight, (Rodale Press, 1991), ISBN 0-87857-965-6
- Cheetah, Katherine (or Kathrine) & Karl Ammann, Arco Pub, (1985), ISBN 0-668-06259-2.
- Cheetah (Big Cat Diary), Jonathan Scott, Angela Scott, (HarperCollins, 2005), ISBN 0-00-714920-4
- Science (vol 311, p 73)
- Cheetah, Luke Hunter and Dave Hamman, (Struik Publishers, 2003), ISBN 1-86872-719-X
- Allsen, Thomas T. (2006). "Natural History and Cultural History: The Circulation of Hunting Leopards in Eurasia, Seventh-Seventeenth Centuries." In: Contact and Exchange in the Ancient World. Ed. Victor H. Mair. University of Hawai'i Press. Pp. 116–135. ISBN ISBN 978-0-8248-2884-4; ISBN ISBN 0-8248-2884-4
- Eklund, Robert, Gustav Peters & Elizabeth D. Duthie. 2010 (third edition). An acoustic analysis of purring in the cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) and in the domestic cat (Felis catus). Proceedings of Fonetik 2010, Lund University, 2–4 June 2010, Lund, Sweden, pp. 17–22. Download from [4] or [5].
- Gus Mills, M. G. L. Mills, Martin Harvey (2005). African Predators. Struik. ISBN 1-77007-220-9.
- Gus Mills (1998). Big Cats and Other African Carnivores. Struik. ISBN 1-86825-920-X.
Further reading[link]
- Caro, T. M. (1994). Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains: group living in an asocial species. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-09433-2.
External links[link]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Acinonyx jubatus |
 |
Wikispecies has information related to: Acinonyx jubatus |
- Cheetah at the Encyclopedia of Life
- Biodiversity Heritage Library bibliography for Acinonyx jubatus
- Cheetah Conservation Fund
- Save China's Tigers to Fund Wild Cat Conservation Worldwide
- De Wildt Cheetah and Wildlife Trust
- On the Chase With Cheetahs - slideshow by Life magazine
- Fake Flies and Cheating Cheetahs: measuring the speed of a cheetah
- Mutant Cheetahs: information on color variants of cheetahs
- 110km/h Cheetah attack gazelle Video showing cheetah's speed, running mechanics, and hyenas stealing a cheetah's prey.
http://wn.com/Cheetah
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http://es.wn.com/Acinonyx jubatus
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http://pt.wn.com/Guepardo
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
 Bolt at Berlin World Championships 2009 |
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| Nickname(s) | Lightning Bolt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Jamaican | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1986-08-21) 21 August 1986 (age 25)[1] Trelawny, Jamaica[2] |
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| Residence | Kingston, Jamaica | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 92 kg (200 lb)[3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Sprints | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Racers Track Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal best(s) |
100 m: 9.58 WR (Berlin 2009)[4] |
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Medal record
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.svg){kind=small}
The Honourable Usain St. Leo Bolt, OJ, C.D. ( /ˈjuːseɪn/;[8] born 21 August 1986), is a Jamaican sprinter and a five-time World and three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is the world record and Olympic record holder in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and (along with his teammates) the 4×100 metres relay. He is the reigning Olympic champion in these three events, and is one of only seven athletes (along with Valerie Adams, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Jacques Freitag, Yelena Isinbayeva, Jana Pittman, Dani Samuels) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of an athletic event.
Bolt won a 200 m gold medal at the 2002 World Junior Championships, making him the competition's youngest-ever gold medalist at the time (since surpassed by Jacko Gill). In 2004, at the CARIFTA Games, he became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in less than 20 seconds with a time of 19.93 s,[9] breaking the previous world junior record held by Roy Martin by two-tenths of a second. He turned professional in 2004, and although he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he missed most of the next two seasons due to injuries. In 2007, he broke Don Quarrie's 200 m Jamaican record with a run of 19.75 s.
His 2008 season began with his first world record performance—a 100 m world record of 9.72 s—and culminated in world and Olympic records in both the 100 m and 200 m events at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He ran 9.69 s for the 100 m and 19.30 s in the 200 m, and also set a 4×100 m relay record of 37.10 s with the Jamaican team. This made him the first man to win three sprinting events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. The following year he further lowered his own 100 m and 200 m world records to 9.58 s and 19.19 s respectively at the 2009 World Championships.[10] This made him the first man to hold both the 100 and 200 m world and Olympic titles at the same time.
His 2009 record breaking margin over 100 m is the highest since the start of digital time measurements.[11] His achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "Lightning Bolt",[12] and awards including the IAAF World Athlete of the Year, Track & Field Athlete of the Year, and Laureus Sportsman of the Year.
Contents |
Early years[link]
Bolt was born on 21 August 1986 in Sherwood Content,[13] a small town in Trelawny, Jamaica, and grew up with his parents, Wellesley and Jennifer Bolt, his brother Sadeeki,[14] and his sister Sherine.[2][15] His parents ran the local grocery store in the rural area, and Bolt spent his time playing cricket and football in the street with his brother,[16] later saying, "When I was young, I didn’t really think about anything other than sports".[17]
As a child, he attended Waldensia Primary and All-age School, and it was here that he first began to show his sprinting potential, running in the annual national primary-schools' meeting for his parish.[12] By the age of twelve, Bolt had become the school's fastest runner over the 100 metres distance.[18]
Upon his entry to William Knibb Memorial High School, Bolt continued to focus on other sports, but his cricket coach noticed Bolt's speed on the pitch and urged him to try track and field events.[19] Pablo McNeil, a former Olympic sprint athlete,[20] and Dwayne Barrett coached Bolt, encouraging him to focus his energy on improving his athletic abilities. The school had a history of success in athletics with past students, including sprinter Michael Green.[12] Bolt won his first annual high school championships medal in 2001, taking the silver medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.04 seconds.[12] McNeil soon became his primary coach, and the two enjoyed a positive partnership, although McNeil was occasionally frustrated by Bolt's lack of dedication to his training and his predisposition to practical jokes.[20]
Early competitions[link]
Performing for Jamaica in his first Caribbean regional event, Bolt clocked a personal best of 48.28 s in the 400 metres in the 2001 CARIFTA Games, winning a silver medal. The 200 m also yielded a silver as Bolt finished in 21.81 s.[21]
He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in Debrecen, Hungary. Running in the 200 m event, he failed to qualify for the finals, but he still set a new personal best of 21.73 s.[22] Bolt still did not take athletics or himself too seriously, however, and he took his mischievousness to new heights by hiding in the back of a van when he was supposed to be preparing for the 200 m finals at the CARIFTA Trials. He was detained by the police for his practical joke, and there was an outcry from the local community, which blamed coach McNeil for the incident.[20] However, the controversy subsided, and both McNeil and Bolt went to the CARIFTA Games, where Bolt set championship records in the 200 m and 400 m with times of 21.12 s and 47.33 s, respectively.[21] He continued to set records with 20.61 s and 47.12 s finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships.[23]
Former Prime Minister P. J. Patterson recognised Bolt's talent and arranged for him to move to Kingston, along with Jermaine Gonzales, so he could train with the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) at the University of Technology, Jamaica.[20]
Rise to prominence[link]
The 2002 World Junior Championships before a home crowd in Kingston, Jamaica, gave Bolt a chance to prove his credentials on the world stage. By the age of 15, he had grown to 1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in) tall, and he physically stood out amongst his peers.[12] He won the 200 m, in a time of 20.61 s,[24] 0.03 seconds slower than his personal best of 20.58 s set in the 1st round.[25] Bolt's 200 m win made him the youngest world-junior gold medalist ever.[26] The expectation from the home crowd had made him so nervous that he had put his shoes on the wrong feet. However, it turned out to be a revelatory experience for Bolt as he vowed never again to let himself be affected by pre-race nerves.[27] As a member of the Jamaican sprint relay team, he also took two silver medals and set national junior records in the 4×100 metres and 4×400 metres relay, running times of 39.15 s and 3:04.06 minutes respectively.[28][29]
The flow of medals continued as he won four gold medals at the 2003 CARIFTA Games, and was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the games.[30][31][32] He won another gold at the 2003 World Youth Championships. He set a new championship record in the 200 m with a time of 20.40 s, despite a 1.1 m/s head wind.[33] Michael Johnson, the 200 m world-record holder, took note of Bolt's potential but worried that the young sprinter might be over-pressured, stating, "It's all about what he does three, four, five years down the line".[34] Bolt had also impressed the athletics hierarchy, and he received the IAAF Rising Star Award for 2002.[35]
Bolt turned his main focus to the 200 m and equalled Roy Martin's world junior record of 20.13 s at the Pan-American Junior Championships.[12][36] This performance attracted interest from the press, and his times in the 200 m and 400 m led to him being touted as a possible successor to Johnson. Indeed, at sixteen years old, Bolt had reached times that Johnson did not register until he was twenty, and Bolt's 200 m time was superior to Maurice Greene's season's best that year.[34]
In his final Jamaican High School Championships in 2003, he broke both the 200 m and 400 m records with times of 20.25 s and 45.30 s, respectively. Bolt's runs were a significant improvement upon the previous records, beating the 200 m best by more than half a second and the 400 m record by almost a second.[12]
Bolt was growing more popular in his homeland. Howard Hamilton, who was given the task of Public Defender by the government, urged the JAAA to nurture him and prevent burnout, calling Bolt "the most phenomenal sprinter ever produced by this island".[34] His popularity and the attractions of the capital city were beginning to be a burden to the young sprinter. Bolt was increasingly unfocused on his athletic career and preferred to eat fast food, play basketball, and party in Kingston's club scene. In the absence of a disciplined lifestyle, he became ever-more reliant on his natural ability to beat his competitors on the track.[37]
As the reigning 200 m champion at both the World Youth and World Junior championships, Bolt hoped to take a clean sweep of the world 200 m championships in the Senior World Championships in Paris.[12] Bolt beat all comers at the 200 m in the World Championship trials, but he was pragmatic about his chances and noted that, even if he did not make the final, he would consider setting a personal best a success.[34][38] However, he suffered a bout of conjunctivitis before the event, and it ruined his training schedule.[12] Realising he would not be in peak condition, the JAAA refused to let him participate in the finals on the grounds that he was too young and inexperienced. Bolt was dismayed at missing out on the opportunity, but focused on getting himself in shape to gain a place on the Jamaican Olympic team instead.[38] Even though he missed the World Championships, Bolt was awarded the IAAF Rising Star Award for the 2003 season on the strength of his junior record-equalling run.[35]
Professional athletics career[link]
Early Professional Career (2004 – 2007)[link]
Under the guidance of new coach Fitz Coleman, Bolt turned professional in 2004, beginning with the CARIFTA Games in Bermuda.[12] He became the first junior sprinter to run the 200 m in under twenty seconds, taking the world junior record outright with a time of 19.93 s.[12][26] For the second time in the role, he was awarded the Austin Sealy Trophy for the most outstanding athlete of the 2004 CARIFTA Games.[39][30][31] A hamstring injury in May ruined Bolt's chances of competing in the 2004 World Junior Championships, but he was still chosen for the Jamaican Olympic squad.[40] Bolt headed to the 2004 Athens Olympics with confidence and a new record on his side. However, he was hampered by a leg injury and was eliminated in the first round of the 200 metres with a disappointing time of 21.05 s.[1][41] American colleges offered Bolt track scholarships on the strength of his performances, but the teenager from Trelawny refused them all, stating that he was content to stay in his homeland of Jamaica.[15] Bolt instead chose the surroundings of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as his professional training ground, staying with the university's primitive track and weight room that had served him well in his amateur years.[42]
The year 2005 signalled a fresh start for Bolt in the form of a new coach, Glen Mills, and a new attitude to athletics. Mills recognised Bolt's potential and aimed to cease the sprinter's unprofessional approach to the sport.[41] Bolt began training with Mills in preparation for the upcoming athletics season, partnering with more-seasoned sprinters such as Kim Collins and Dwain Chambers.[43] The year began well, and in July he knocked more than a third of a second off the 200 m CAC Championship record with a run of 20.03 s,[44] then registered his 200 m season's best at London's Crystal Palace, running in 19.99 s.[1] Misfortune awaited Bolt at the next major event, the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki. Bolt felt that both his work ethic and athleticism had much improved since the 2004 Olympics, and he saw the World Championships as a way to live up to expectations, stating, "I really want to make up for what happened in Athens. Hopefully, everything will fall into place".[45] Bolt qualified with runs under 21 s, but he suffered an injury in the final, finishing in last place with a time of 26.27 s.[41][46] Injuries were preventing him from completing a full professional athletics season, and the eighteen-year-old Bolt still had not proven his mettle in the major world-athletics competitions.[47] Bolt was involved in a car accident in November, and although he suffered only minor facial lacerations, his training schedule was further upset.[48][49] His manager, Norman Peart, made Bolt's training less intensive, and he had fully recuperated the following week.[48] Bolt had continued to improve his performances, and he reached the world top-5 rankings in 2005 and 2006.[12] Peart and Mills stated their intentions to push Bolt to do longer sprinting distances with the aim of making the 400 m event his primary event by 2007 or 2008. Bolt was less enthusiastic, and demanded that he feel comfortable in his sprinting.[48][50] He suffered another hamstring injury in March 2006, forcing him to withdraw from the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, and he did not return to track events until May.[51] After his recovery, Bolt was given new training exercises to improve flexibility, and the plans to move him up to the 400 m event were put on hold.[47]
Upon his return to competition, the 200 m remained his primary event, and he beat Justin Gatlin's meet record in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Bolt had aspired to run under twenty seconds to claim a season's best but, despite the fact that bad weather had impaired his run, he was happy to end the meeting with just the victory.[52] However, a sub-20-second finish was soon his, as he set a new personal best of 19.88 s at the 2006 Athletissima Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, finishing behind Xavier Carter and Tyson Gay to earn a bronze medal.[53] Bolt had focused his athletics aims, stating that 2006 was a year to gain experience. Also, he was more keen on competing over longer distances, setting his sights on running regularly in both 200 m and 400 m events within the next two years.[52] Bolt claimed his first major world medal two months later at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart, Germany. He passed the finishing post with a time of 20.10 s, gaining a bronze medal in the process.[1] The IAAF World Cup in Athens, Greece, yielded Bolt's first senior international silver medal.[1] Wallace Spearmon from the United States won gold with a championship record time of 19.87 s, beating Bolt's respectable time of 19.96 s.[54] Further 200 m honours on both the regional and international stages awaited Bolt in 2007. The young Jamaican yearned to run in the 100 metres, but coach Mills diverted his attention, stating that he could run the shorter distance if he broke the 200 m national record.[41] In the Jamaican Championships, he ran 19.75 s in the 200 m, breaking the 36-year-old Jamaican record held by Don Quarrie by 0.11 s.[12][15]
Mills complied with Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m, and he was entered to run the event at the 23rd Vardinoyiannia meeting in Rethymno, Crete. In his debut tournament run, he set a personal best of 10.03 s, winning the gold medal and feeding his enthusiasm for the event.[15][55]
He built on this achievement at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan, winning a silver medal.[1] Bolt recorded 19.91 s with a headwind of 0.8 m/s but this paled in comparison with Tyson Gay's time of 19.76 s, which set a new championship record.[56]
The Jamaican national record fell when Bolt partnered with Asafa Powell, Marvin Anderson, and Nesta Carter in the 4×100 metres relay. However, their finish in 37.89 s was not enough to beat the Americans' time of 37.78 s.[57] Bolt did not win any gold medals at the major tournaments in 2007, but Mills felt that Bolt's technique was much improved, pinpointing improvements in Bolt's balance at the turns over 200 m and an increase in his stride frequency, giving him more driving power on the track.[41]
World-record breaker[link]
The silver medals from the 2007 Osaka World Championships boosted Bolt's desire to run, and he took a more serious, more mature stance towards his career.[19] Bolt continued to develop in the 100 m, and he entered to run in the event at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston. On 3 May 2008, Bolt ran a time of 9.76 s, aided by a tail wind of 1.8 m/s, considerably improving upon his previous personal best of 10.03 s.[58] This was the second-fastest legal performance in the history of the event; second only to compatriot Asafa Powell's 9.74 s record set the previous year in Rieti, Italy.[59] Rival Tyson Gay lauded the performance, praising Bolt's form and technique especially.[60] Michael Johnson, who was observing the race, said that he was shocked at how quickly he had improved over the 100 m distance.[61] The Jamaican surprised even himself with the time, but coach Glen Mills remained confident that there was more to come.[60]
Mills' prediction came true before the end of the month when Bolt established a new 100 m world record on 31 May 2008. Pushed on by a tail wind of 1.7 m/s, Bolt ran 9.72 s at the Reebok Grand Prix held in the Icahn Stadium in New York City, breaking Powell's record.[62] The record time was even more remarkable in light of the fact that it was only his fifth senior run over the distance.[63] Gay again finished second and commended Bolt's physical superiority, stating, "It looked like his knees were going past my face".[15] Commentators noted that Bolt appeared to have gained a psychological advantage over fellow Olympic contender Gay.[41]
In June 2008, Bolt responded to claims that he was a lazy athlete, saying that the comments were unjustified, and he trained hard to achieve his potential. However, he surmised that such comments stemmed from his lack of enthusiasm for the 400 metres event, and chose to not make the effort to train for distance running.[64] Turning his efforts to the 200 m, Bolt proved that he could excel in multiple events—first setting the world-leading time in Ostrava, then breaking the national record for the second time with a 19.67 s finish in Athens, Greece.[65][66] Although Mills still preferred that Bolt focus on the longer distances, the acceptance of Bolt's demand to run in the 100 m worked for both sprinter and trainer. Bolt was more focused in practice, and a training schedule to boost his top speed and his stamina, in preparation for the Olympics, had improved both his 100 m and 200 m times.[15][67][68] His confidence was building, and he was sure that he would perform well in the upcoming Olympics.[65]
2008 Summer Olympics[link]
Bolt announced that he would double-up with the 100 metres and 200 metres events at the Beijing Summer Olympics, and the new 100 m world-record holder was the favourite to win both.[69][70] Michael Johnson, the 200 m and 400 m record holder, personally backed the sprinter, saying that he did not believe that a lack of experience would work against him.[71] Bolt qualified for the 100 m final with times of 9.92 s and 9.85 s in the quarter-finals and semifinals, respectively.[72][73][74]
In the Olympic 100 m final, Bolt broke new ground, winning in 9.69 s (unofficially 9.683 s) with a reaction time of 0.165 s.[75] This was an improvement upon his own world record, and he was well ahead of second-place finisher Richard Thompson, who finished in 9.89 s.[76] Not only was the record set without a favourable wind (+0.0 m/s), but he also visibly slowed down to celebrate before he finished and his shoelace was untied.[77][78][79] Bolt's coach reported that, based upon the speed of Bolt's opening 60 m, he could have finished with a time of 9.52 s.[80] After scientific analysis of Bolt's run by the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Oslo, Hans Eriksen and his colleagues also predicted a sub 9.60 s time. Considering factors such as Bolt's position, acceleration and velocity in comparison with second-place-finisher Thompson, the team estimated that Bolt could have finished in 9.55±0.04 s had he not slowed to celebrate before the finishing line.[81][82]
Bolt stated that setting a record was not a priority for him, and that his goal was just to win the gold medal, Jamaica's first of the 2008 Games.[83] Olympic medalist Kriss Akabusi construed Bolt's chest slapping before the finish line as showboating, noting that the actions cost Bolt an even faster record time.[84] IOC president Jacques Rogge also condemned the Jamaican's actions as disrespectful.[85][86] Bolt denied that this was the purpose of his celebration by saying, "I wasn't bragging. When I saw I wasn't covered, I was just happy".[87] Lamine Diack, president of the IAAF, supported Bolt and said that his celebration was appropriate given the circumstances of his victory. Jamaican government minister Edmund Bartlett also defended Bolt's actions, stating, "We have to see it in the glory of their moment and give it to them. We have to allow the personality of youth to express itself".[88]
Bolt then focused on attaining a gold medal in the 200 m event, aiming to emulate Carl Lewis' double win in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.[89] Michael Johnson felt that Bolt would easily win gold but believed that his own world record of 19.32 s set at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta would remain intact at the Olympics.[90] Bolt eased through the first and second rounds of the 200 m, jogging towards the end of his run both times.[91] He won his semifinal and progressed to the final as the favourite to win.[92] Retired Jamaican sprinter Don Quarrie praised Bolt, saying he was confident that Johnson's record could be beaten.[35] The following day, at the final, he won Jamaica's fourth gold of the Games, setting a new world and Olympic record of 19.30 s.[93] Johnson's record fell despite the fact that Bolt was impeded by a 0.9 m/s headwind. The feat made him the first sprinter since Quarrie to hold both 100 m and 200 m world records simultaneously and the first since the introduction of electronic timing.[93][94] Furthermore, Bolt became the first sprinter to break both records at the same Olympics.[95] Unlike in the 100 m final, Bolt sprinted hard all the way to the finishing line in the 200 m race, even dipping his chest to improve his time.[96] Following the race, "Happy Birthday" was played over the stadium's sound system as his 22nd birthday would begin at midnight.[96]
Two days later, Bolt ran as the third leg in the Jamaican 4x100 metres relay team, increasing his gold medal total to three.[97] Along with teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, and Asafa Powell, Bolt broke another world and Olympic record, their 37.10 s finish breaking the previous record by three tenths of a second.[98] Powell, who anchored the team to the finishing line, lamented the loss of his 100 m record to Bolt but showed no animosity towards his Jamaican rival, stating that he was delighted to help him set his third world record.[99] Following his victories, Bolt donated US$50,000 to the children of the Sichuan province of China to help those harmed by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.[100]
Bolt's record-setting runs caused commentators not only to praise his achievements but also to speculate about his potential to become one of the most successful sprinters ever.[17][101] Critics hailed his Olympic success as a new beginning for a sport that had long suffered through high-profile drug scandals.[63][102][dead link] The previous six years had seen the BALCO scandal, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin stripped of their 100 m world records, and Marion Jones returning three Olympic gold medals.[103] All three sprinters were disqualified from athletics after drugs tests detected banned substances in their systems.[104][105] Bolt's record-breaking performances caused suspicion among some commentators, including Victor Conte, and the lack of an independent Caribbean anti-doping federation raised more concerns.[106][107] The accusations of drug use were vehemently rejected by Glen Mills (Bolt's coach) and Herb Elliott (the Jamaican athletics team doctor). Elliott, a member of the IAAF anti-doping commission, urged those concerned about the issue to "come down and see our programme, come down and see our testing, we have nothing to hide".[108] Mills had been equally ardent that Bolt was a clean athlete, declaring to the Jamaica Gleaner: "We will test any time, any day, any part of the body...[he] doesn't even like to take vitamins".[109] Bolt stated that he had been tested four times prior to the Olympics, and all had tested negative for banned substances. He also welcomed anti-doping authorities to test him to prove that he was clean, stating, "We work hard and we perform well and we know we're clean".[110]
| “ | I was slowing down long before the finish and wasn't tired at all. I could have gone back to the start and done it all over again. | ” |
|
—Usain Bolt's thoughts on his 100m sprint at the 2008 Olympics, published in his autobiography Usain Bolt 9.58[111] |
||
After the Olympics[link]
The end of the 2008 athletics season saw Bolt compete in the ÅF Golden League, beginning in Weltklasse Zürich. Despite having the slowest start among his competitors in the 100 m race, he still crossed the finishing line in 9.83 s.[112] Even though the time was slower than both his newly set world record and Asafa Powell's track record, it was still among the top-fifteen 100 m finishes by any sprinter to that date.[77] Bolt admitted that he was not running at full strength, suffering from a cold, but he had concentrated on both winning the race and finishing the season in good health.[112] At the Super Grand Prix final in Lausanne, Bolt ran his second-fastest 200 m with a time of 19.63 s, equalling Xavier Carter's track record.[113] However, it was the 100 m final, featuring Asafa Powell, that drew the most interest. Powell had moved closer to Bolt's world record after setting a new personal best of 9.72 s, reaffirming his status as Bolt's main contender.[114] Bolt's final event of the season came three days later at the Golden League final in Brussels. This was the first 100 m race featuring both Bolt and Powell since the final in the Olympics. Both Jamaicans broke the track record, but Bolt came out on top with a time of 9.77 s, beating Powell by 0.06 s. Victory, however, did not come as smoothly as it had in Beijing. Bolt made the slowest start of the nine competitors and had to recover ground in cold conditions and against a 0.9 m/s headwind.[115] Yet the results confirmed Jamaican dominance in the 100 m, with nine of the ten-fastest legal times in history being recorded by either Bolt or Powell.[77] On his return to Jamaica, Bolt was honoured in a homecoming celebration and received an Order of Distinction in recognition of his achievements at the Olympics.[116]
He was selected as the IAAF Male Athlete of the year and won a Special Olympic Award for his performances.[117] However, Bolt turned his attention to future events, suggesting that he could aim to break the 400 metres world record in 2010 as no major championships were scheduled that year.[118]
2009 Berlin World Championships[link]
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Bolt started the season competing over 400 metres in order to improve his speed, winning two races and registering 45.54 s in Kingston,[119] and windy conditions gave him his first sub-10 second finish of the season in the 100 m in March.[120] In late April Bolt suffered minor leg injuries in a car crash. However, he quickly recovered following minor surgery and (after cancelling a track meet in Jamaica) he stated that he was fit to compete in the 150 metres street race at the Manchester Great City Games.[121] Bolt won the race in 14.35 s, the fastest time ever recorded for 150 m.[122] Despite not being at full fitness, he took the 100 and 200 m titles at the Jamaican national championships, with runs of 9.86 s and 20.25 s respectively.[123][124] This meant he had qualified for both events at the 2009 World Championships. Rival Tyson Gay suggested that Bolt's 100 m record was within his grasp, but Bolt dismissed the claim and instead noted that he was more interested in Asafa Powell's return from injury.[125] Bolt defied unfavourable conditions at the Athletissima meet in July, running 19.59 seconds into a 0.9 m/s headwind and rain, to record the fourth fastest time ever over 200 m,[126] one hundredth off Gay's best time.[127]
At the 2009 World Championships in August, Bolt eased through the 100 m heats, clocking the fastest ever pre-final performance of 9.89 seconds.[128] The final was the first time Bolt and Gay had met in the season, and Bolt improved his world record with a time of 9.58 s to win his first World Championship gold medal. Gay finished with a time of 9.71 s, 0.02 s off Bolt's 9.69 s world-record run in Beijing.[129] Taking over a tenth of a second off the previous best mark, this was the largest ever margin of improvement in the 100 m world record since the beginning of electronic timing.[130]
Although Gay withdrew from the second race of the competition, the Jamaican once again produced world record-breaking form in the 200 metres final. He broke his own record by 0.11 seconds, finishing with a time of 19.19 seconds.[131] He won the 200 m race by the biggest margin in World Championships history, even though the race had three other athletes running under 19.90 seconds, the greatest number ever in the event.[132][133] Bolt's pace impressed even the more experienced of his competitors; third-placed Wallace Spearmon complimented his speed,[134] and former Olympic champion Shawn Crawford said "Just coming out there...I felt like I was in a video game, that guy was moving – fast".[135] Bolt pointed out that an important factor in his performance at the World Championships was his improved start to the races: his reaction times in the 100 m (0.146)[136] and 200 m (0.133)[137] were significantly faster than those he had produced in his world record runs at the Beijing Olympics.[138][139] However, he, together with other members of Jamaican 4x100 m relay team, fell short of their own world record of 37.10 s set at 2008 Summer Olympics by timing 37.31 s, which is, however, a championship record and the second fastest time in history at that date.[140]
On the last day of the Berlin Championships, the governing Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, presented Bolt with a 12-foot high section of the Berlin Wall in a small ceremony, saying Bolt had shown that "one can tear down walls that had been considered as insurmountable." The nearly three-ton segment will be delivered to Bolt's training camp in Jamaica.[141]
Several days after Bolt broke the world records in 100 and 200 metres events, Mike Powell, the world record holder in long jump (8.95 metres set in 1991) argued that Bolt could become the first man to jump over 9 metres, the long jump event being "a perfect fit for his speed and height".[142] At the end of the season he was selected as the IAAF World Athlete of the Year for the second year running.[143]
2010: Diamond League and broken streak[link]
Early on in the 2010 outdoor season, Bolt ran 19.56 seconds in the 200 m in Kingston, Jamaica for the fourth-fastest run of all-time, although he stated that he had no record breaking ambitions for the forthcoming season.[144] He took to the international circuit May with wins in East Asia at the Colorful Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting and then a comfortable win in his 2010 IAAF Diamond League debut at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.[145][146] Bolt made an attempt to break Michael Johnson's best time over the rarely competed 300 metres event at the Golden Spike meeting in Ostrava. He failed to match Johnson's ten-year-old record of 30.85 and suffered a setback in that his 30.97-second run in wet weather had left him with an Achilles tendon problem.[147][148]
On his return from injury a month later, he asserted himself with a 100 m win at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne (9.82 seconds) and a victory over Asafa Powell at Meeting Areva in Paris (9.84 seconds).[149][150] Despite this run of form, he suffered only the second loss of his career in a 100 m final at the DN Galan. Tyson Gay soundly defeated him with a run of 9.84 to Bolt's 9.97 seconds, and the Jamaican reflected that he had slacked off in training early in the season while Gay had been better prepared and in a better condition.[151] This marked Bolt's first loss to Gay over 100 m, which coincidentally occurred in the same stadium where Powell had beaten Bolt for the first time two years earlier.[152]
2011 Daegu World Championships[link]
Considered the overwhelming favourite to win in the 100 metres at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Bolt was eliminated from the final for a false start.[153] Usain Bolt's countryman, Yohan Blake won in a season best of 9.92 seconds. In the 200m, Bolt cruised through to the final which he won in a time of 19.40s,[154] the fastest time in history never to be a World Record. Bolt also won gold in 4x100 metres relay with team Jamaica setting a world record time of 37.04.
Personal life[link]
Bolt expresses a love for dancing and his character is frequently described as laid-back and relaxed.[19][156][dead link][157] Bolt's Jamaican track and field idols include Herb McKenley and former Jamaican 100 m 200 m world record holder, Don Quarrie. Michael Johnson, the former 200 m world and Olympic record holder, is also held in high esteem by Bolt.[19] The first sport to interest him was cricket and he said if he was not a sprinter he would be a fast bowler instead.[19] As a child he was a supporter of the Pakistani cricket team and admired the bowling of Waqar Younis.[158] He is also a fan of Indian batsman Sachin Tendulkar, West Indian opener Chris Gayle[159] and Australian opener Matthew Hayden.[160] During a charity cricket match Bolt clean-bowled Chris Gayle. Gayle was complimentary of Bolt's pace and swing.[161] Bolt also struck a six off Chris Gayle's bowling. Another bowler complimentary of Bolt's pace was former West Indies fast-bowling great Curtly Ambrose.[162]
Bolt has also expressed his love for football and is a fan of Manchester United as well as Real Madrid.[163] Bolt has also declared he is a fan of Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.[164] Following a race in Manchester, he met the team at their training ground and offered Portuguese national Cristiano Ronaldo some sprinting advice.[165] Bolt was a special guest of Manchester United at the 2011 UEFA Champions League final in London, where he stated he'd like to play for them after he retires.[166]
In 2010, he also revealed his fondness of music, when he played a reggae DJ set to a crowd in Paris.[167]
Sponsorships and advertising work[link]
After winning the 200 m title in the 2002 World Junior Championships in Kingston, Jamaica, Bolt signed a sponsorship deal with Puma.[168] To promote Bolt's chase for Olympic glory in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, Puma released a series of videos including Bolt's then-world-record-setting run in Icahn Stadium and his Olympic preparations.[169] After his world record breaking run in New York City, which was preceded by a lightning storm,[170] the press frequently made puns on the Jamaican's name, nicknaming him "Lightning Bolt" and the "Bolt from the blue".[171][172][173][dead link] During the Beijing 2008 100 m final, Bolt wore golden Puma Complete Theseus spikes that had "Beijing 100 m Gold" emblazoned across them.[174] His athletics agent is PACE Sports Management.[175]
In January 2012, Usain Bolt impersonated Richard Branson in a Ad Campaign for Virgin Media.[176] The multi-million pound campaign was directed by Seth Gordon and features Virgin founder Branson to promote its superfast broadband service. In March 2012, he starred in an ad for Visa and the London 2012 olympics.[177]
Book Deal[link]
In 2010, Bolt signed a lucrative publishing deal with HarperCollins for an autobiography, which was negotiated by Chris Nathaniel of NVA Management.[178] This is scheduled for release in 2012. During a press conference in Paris on 15 July 2010, Bolt declined any comment on what would be contained within the book saying, "you can't really give away anything in your book ... should be exciting, it's my life, and I'm a cool and exciting guy".[163]
Recognition[link]
As a result of Bolt's successes in athletics, he was named the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year for 2009 and 2010.[179][180]
- IAAF World Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009
- Track & Field Athlete of the Year: 2008, 2009
- Laureus World Sportsman of the Year: 2009, 2010
- BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year: 2008, 2009
Statistics[link]
As of 28 August 2010 (2010 -08-28)[update]
Personal bests[link]
| Event | Time (seconds) | Venue | Date | Records | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres | 9.58 | Berlin, Germany | 16 August 2009 |   |
Also shares the second fastest time of 9.69 with Tyson Gay. Bolt's 9.69 set the Olympic record in 2008. |
| 150 metres | 14.35 | Manchester, United Kingdom | 17 May 2009 | World best[5] | He ran the last 100 m in 8.70, the fastest ever recorded time over a 100 m distance. This would equal an average speed of 41.38 km/h. |
| 200 metres | 19.19 | Berlin, Germany | 20 August 2009 | |
Also holds the Olympic Record with 19.30, at the time (2008) a new world record. |
| 300 metres | 30.97 | Ostrava, Czech Republic | 27 May 2010 | This is the second fastest time, behind Michael Johnson's 30.85. | |
| 400 metres | 45.28[12] | Kingston, Jamaica | 5 May 2007 | ||
| 4 × 100 metres relay | 37.04 | Daegu, South Korea | 4 September 2011 | |
Shared with Yohan Blake, Michael Frater and Nesta Carter. |
Records[link]
Bolt's personal best of 9.58 seconds in the 100 metres is the fastest ever legal time.[77] Bolt also holds the second fastest time of 9.69 seconds (more precisely 9.683),[75] the current Olympic record.[77] Tyson Gay recorded a time of 9.68 s at the 2008 US Olympic Trials, but was aided with a tail wind of 4.1 m/s, exceeding the legal limit of 2.0 m/s set by the IAAF and nullifying its inclusion as a world record.[182] Obadele Thompson's run of 9.69 s in 1996 is also not recognised as it was aided by a 5.0 m/s tail wind.[77]
Bolt's personal best of 19.19 s in the 200 metres is the world record. This was recorded at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin against a headwind of −0.3 m/s. He has also broken the Olympic record with a time of 19.30 s (more precisely 19.296 s)[183]
The Jamaican relay team including Bolt, set the 4x100 metres world and Olympic records at the 2008 Olympics with a time of 37.10 seconds. This is the only run in the IAAF top ten performances which was not set by an American team.[184]
Bolt also holds the 200 metres world teenage best results for the age categories 15 (20.58 s), 16 (20.13 s, world youth record), 17 (19.93 s) and 18 (19.93 s, world junior record).[75] He also holds the 150 metres world best set in 2009, during which he ran the last 100 metres in 8.70 seconds, the quickest timed 100 metres ever.[75]
Average speed[link]
From his record time of 9.58 s for the 100 m sprint Usain Bolt's average ground speed equates to: 37.58 km/h or 23.35 mph. However, once his reaction time of 0.15 s is subtracted, his time is closer to 9.43 s, making his average speed closer to 38.18 km/h or 23.72 mph.[185]
Honours[link]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | World Junior Championships | Kingston, Jamaica | 1st | 200 m | 20.61 |
| 2nd | 4×100 m relay | 39.15 NJR | |||
| 2nd | 4×400 m relay | 3:04.06 NJR | |||
| 2003 | World Youth Championships | Sherbrooke, Canada | 1st | 200 m | 20.40 |
| 2003 | Pan American Junior Championships | Bridgetown, Barbados | 1st | 200 m | 20.13 WYB |
| 2nd | 4×100 m relay | 39.40 | |||
| 2004 | CARIFTA Games | Hamilton, Bermuda | 1st | 200 m | 19.93 WJR |
| 2005 | Central American and Caribbean Championships | Nassau, Bahamas | 1st | 200 m | 20.03 |
| 2006 | World Athletics Final | Stuttgart, Germany | 3rd | 200 m | 20.10 |
| 2006 | IAAF World Cup | Athens, Greece | 2nd | 200 m | 19.96 |
| 2007 | World Championships | Osaka, Japan | 2nd | 200 metres | 19.91 |
| 2008 | Reebok Grand Prix | New York City, United States | 1st | 100 m | 9.72 WR |
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 1st | 100 metres | 9.69 WR OR |
| 1st | 200 metres | 19.30 WR OR | |||
| 1st | 4×100 metres relay | 37.10 WR OR | |||
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 1st | 100 metres | 9.58 WR |
| 1st | 200 metres | 19.19 WR | |||
| 1st | 4×100 metres relay | 37.31 CR | |||
| 2011 | World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | |||
| 1st | 200 metres | 19.40 WL | |||
| 1st | 4×100 metres relay | 37.04 WR |
See also[link]
References[link]
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- ^ a b Helps, Horace (16 August 2008). "Bolt's gold down to yam power, father says". Reuters. http://africa.reuters.com/sport/news/usnBAN656276.html. Retrieved 2011-03-27.
- ^ a b UsainBolt.com, profile page, accessed 6 September 2011
- ^ Usain Bolt beats Gay and sets new Record – from Universal Sports on YouTube
- ^ a b This is not an official world record as the IAAF, the international athletics governing body, does not recognise the distance.
- ^ New World Best over 150m for Usain Bolt from Universal Sports on YouTube
- ^ New World Record over 200m for Usain Bolt – from Universal Sports on YouTube
- ^ Ellington, Barbara (2008-08-31). He is a happy person, says Usain's mother. Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved on 2009-08-05.
- ^ Usain Bolt World Junior Record 200M – 19.93 on YouTube
- ^ Hersh, Phillip (20 August 2009). "Usain Bolt smashes world record in the 200". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/21/sports/sp-world-track21. Retrieved 2011-07-23.
- ^ Farhi, Paul (21 August 2009). "Jamaican Sprinters Such as Usain Bolt Quickly Reshape Nation's Identity". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004135.html. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lawrence, Hubert; Samuels, Garfield (20 August 2007). "Focus on Jamaica – Usain Bolt". Focus on Athletes (International Association of Athletics Federations). http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=36356.html. Retrieved 2008-06-01.
- ^ Ferdinand, Rio (2009-02-01). "Local heroes: Usain Bolt". The Observer. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ Foster, Anthony (2008-11-24). "Bolt tops them again". Jamaica Gleaner. Retrieved on 2009-02-03.
- ^ a b c d e f Layden, Tim (16 August 2008). "The Phenom". Sports Illustrated. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/tim_layden/07/23/usain.bolt0728/. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ Sinclair, Glenroy (15 August 2008). "Bolts bonded". Jamaica Gleaner. http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080815/news/news1.html. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- ^ a b Longmore, Andrew (24 August 2008). "Brilliant Usain Bolt is on fast track to history". The Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4596711.ece. Retrieved 2008-08-27.
- ^ Frater, Adrian (5 August 2008). "Bolt's Sherwood on 'gold alert'". Jamaica Gleaner. http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080805/news/news6.html. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- ^ a b c d e Williams, Ollie (5 August 2008). "Ten to watch: Usain Bolt". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/7540279.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ a b c d Luton, Daraine (18 August 2008). "Pablo McNeil – the man who put the charge in Bolt". Jamaica Gleaner. http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080818/lead/lead7.html. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
- ^ a b "Carifta Games (Under 17 boys)". GBR Athletics. http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/cfgy.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "Official Results – 200 metres – Men – Semi-Final". IAAF. 14 July 2001. http://www2.iaaf.org/WYC01/Results/data/M/200/Rsf.html. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "Central American and Caribbean Junior Championships". GBR Athletics. http://www.gbrathletics.com/ic/cacy.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "Official Results – 200 metres – Men – Final". IAAF. 19 July 2002. http://www2.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/data/M/200/Rf.html. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "Official Results – 200 metres – Men – Heats". IAAF. 18 July 2002. http://www2.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/data/M/200/Rh.html. Retrieved 2010-08-08.
- ^ a b Longmore, Andrew (16 August 2008). "9.69 – and Usain Bolt didn't even try". The Times (UK). http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/olympics/article4547874.ece. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ Hattenstone, Simon (2010-08-28). Usain Bolt: Fast and loose. The Guardian. Retrieved on 2010-08-28.
- ^ "Official Results – 4x100 metres – Men – Final". IAAF. 22 July 2002. http://www2.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/data/M/4X1/Rf.html. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ "4x400 metres – Men – Final". IAAF. 22 July 2002. http://www2.iaaf.org/WJC02/Results/data/M/4X4/Rf.html. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
- ^ a b Carifta Games Magazine, Part 2, Carifta Games 2011, http://www.cariftagames2011.herobo.com/web_documents/carifta_magazine_sm_part2.pdf, retrieved 12 October 2011
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- ^ Gullan, Scott (17 August 2008). "Usain Bolt wins 100m gold at the Beijing Olympics". The Australian. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/beijing_olympics/story/0,27313,24188957-5017607,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ Fletcher, Damian; Armstrong, Jeremy (18 August 2008). "Olympic 100m hero Usain Bolt powered by chicken nuggets and yams". The Daily Mirror. UK. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2008/08/18/olympic-sprint-hero-usain-bolt-s-chicken-nuggets-diet-secret-115875-20702431/. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ Mountford, Adam (8 February 2009). "Windies triumph delights Bolt". BBC Sport. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tms/2009/02/windies_triumph_delights_bolt.shtml. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
- ^ "Usain Bolt likes to watch Sachin, Gayle". MSN. 22 August 2008. Archived from the original on 22 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080822212343/http://sports.in.msn.com/cricket/stories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1639772. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
- ^ "Usain Bolt gives respect to cricketer Matthew Hayden". Herald Sun. 22 August 2008. http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24222032-2882,00.html. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
- ^ "Gayle returns as Windies skipper". BBC News. 2 November 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/west_indies/8338865.stm.
- ^ "Lightning Bolt blows over Gayle". BBC News. 19 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/other_international/west_indies/8313778.stm.
- ^ a b "Lightning Bolt strikes Paris". RFI. http://www.english.rfi.fr/sports/20100718-lightning-bolt-strikes-paris. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
- ^ fourfourtwo interview. fourfourtwo
- ^ Bolt offers tips to Ronaldo at Manchester United training . The Independent (2009-05-15). Retrieved on 2009-06-15.
- ^ "Usain Bolt: I could play for Man Utd when I retire". ESPN Soccernet. 9 June 2011. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/927021/usain-bolt:-i-could-play-for-man-utd-when-i-retire?cc=5901. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
- ^ "Usain Bolt turns DJ in Paris". The Daily Telegraph (London). 16 July 2010. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newsvideo/weirdnewsvideo/7893446/Usain-Bolt-turns-DJ-in-Paris.html.
- ^ "PUMA's Usain Bolt breaks 100m World Record". Puma. 3 June 2008. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. http://web.archive.org/web/20080801210821/http://about.puma.com/EN/3/23/23/news_id=125. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ "Puma running – Chasing Bolt". Puma. http://www.pumarunning.com/#EN/running/content/main/chasingBOLT. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
- ^ Rowbottom, Mike (2 June 2008). "'Lightning' Bolt storms to record in 100 metres". The Independent (UK). http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics/lightning-bolt-storms-to-record-in-100-metres-838174.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Lightning Bolt's Irish connection". BBC Sport. 20 August 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7571436.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ "Lightning Bolt makes giant leap". Evening Herald. 18 August 2008. http://www.herald.ie/sport/other-sports/lightning-bolt-makes-giant-leap-1458032.html. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Sinai, Allon (17 August 2008). "Allon Sinai's Olympic Diary: A Bolt from the blue strikes the Nest". The Jerusalem Post. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1218710379961&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
- ^ Weiner, Jay (16 August 2008). "Usain Bolt blazes to top of 100 metre lore". Sporting News. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=446511. Retrieved 2008-08-18. [dead link]
- ^ Athlete Profile Usain Bolt. PACE Sports Management. Retrieved on 2009-05-12.
- ^ "Usain Bolt mimics Richard Branson in Virgin Media superfast broadband ad". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/13/usain-bolt-richard-branson-virgin-media. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
- ^ Levy, Leighton (20 March 2012). "Bolt Stars In Visa Ad". The Gleaner. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20120320/sports/sports2.html. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
- ^ Sale, Charles (19 February 2010). "Globetrotter David Dein is on board with the England 2018 World Cup bid at last". Daily Mail (London). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-1252083/Charles-Sale-Globetrotter-David-Dein-board-England-2018-World-Cup-bid-last.html.
- ^ "Fastest man on Earth Usain Bolt wins Laureus World Sportsman of the Year Award". http://www.laureus.com/press_releases?article_id=1652. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ "2010 Laureus World Sports Awards Winners are Announced". http://www.laureus.com/press_releases?article_id=1975. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
- ^ a b "Athletes – Bolt Usain Biography". Iaaf.org. http://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=JAM/athcode=184599/index.html. Retrieved 2012-02-18.
- ^ Hersh, Philip (30 June 2008). "Though wind nullifies a world record, Gay's 9.68-second 100 is the fastest in history". The Los Angeles Times. http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-track30-2008jun30,0,1476474.story. Retrieved 2008-08-18. [dead link]
- ^ "200 Metres All Time". IAAF. 21 August 2008. http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=O/age=N/season=0/sex=M/all=y/legal=A/disc=200/detail.htmx. Retrieved 2008-08-21.
- ^ "4x100 Metres Relay All Time". IAAF. 22 August 2008. http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=O/age=N/season=0/sex=M/all=y/legal=A/disc=4x1/detail.htmx. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ http://berlin.iaaf.org/images/photofinish/3658/m_100_f_1.jpg
External links[link]
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Wikinews has related news: Usain Bolt sets new world record in 100m sprint |
|
Wikinews has related news: Usain Bolt to run 150 metre race in Manchester |
Media related to Usain Bolt at Wikimedia Commons- IAAF profile for Usain Bolt
- Official website
- Usain Bolt on Twitter
- Usain Bolt timeline via The Daily Telegraph
- Lightning Strikes Twice – slideshow by The First Post
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
Preceded by Asafa Powell |
Men's 100 metres World Record Holder 31 May 2008 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
Preceded by Michael Johnson |
Men's 200 metres World Record Holder 20 August 2008 – |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Awards | ||
| Preceded by Asafa Powell Christopher Gayle |
Jamaica Sportsman of the Year 2008, 2009 2011 |
Succeeded by Christopher Gayle Incumbent |
| Preceded by Asafa Powell |
CAC Male Athlete of the Year 2008 |
Incumbent |
| Preceded by Tyson Gay |
Men's Track & Field Athlete of the Year 2008, 2009 |
Succeeded by David Rudisha |
| Preceded by Tyson Gay David Rudisha |
IAAF World Athlete of the Year 2008, 2009 2011 |
Succeeded by David Rudisha Incumbent |
Preceded by Roger Federer |
BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year 2008, 2009 |
Succeeded by Rafael Nadal |
| L'Équipe Champion of Champions 2008, 2009 |
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| Laureus World Sportsman of the Year 2009, 2010 |
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| Preceded by Tyson Gay |
Best Track and Field Athlete ESPY Award 2009 |
Succeeded by Tyson Gay |
| Achievements | ||
| Preceded by Asafa Powell |
Men's season's best performance, 100 metres 2008, 2009 |
Succeeded by Tyson Gay |
| Preceded by Tyson Gay |
Men's season's best performance, 200 metres 2008, 2009, 2010 |
Succeeded by Yohan Blake |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Bolt, Usain |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Jamaican athlete |
| Date of birth | 21 August 1986 |
| Place of birth | Trelawny, Jamaica |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Usain_Bolt
Related pages:
http://cs.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://id.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://es.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://ru.wn.com/Болт, Усэйн
http://it.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://pl.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://fr.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://de.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://hi.wn.com/उसैन बोल्ट
http://pt.wn.com/Usain Bolt
http://nl.wn.com/Usain Bolt
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usain_Bolt
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is about the musician. For other uses, see The Edge (disambiguation).
| The Edge | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | David Howell Evans |
| Born | (1961-08-08) 8 August 1961 (age 50) Barking, Essex, England, United Kingdom |
| Origin | County Dublin, Ireland |
| Genres | Rock, post-punk, alternative rock |
| Occupations | Musician, songwriter, activist |
| Instruments | Guitar, vocals, keyboards, piano, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | Island, Mercury |
| Associated acts | U2, Passengers |
| Website | www.u2.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Gibson Explorer Fender Stratocaster Gibson Les Paul Fender Telecaster Gretsch Country Gentleman Gretsch White Falcon Rickenbacker 330/12 |
|
David Howell Evans (born 8 August 1961), more widely known by his stage name The Edge (or just Edge),[1] is a musician best known as the guitarist, backing vocalist, and keyboardist of the Irish rock band U2. A member of the group since its inception, he has recorded 12 studio albums with the band and has released one solo record. As a guitarist, The Edge has crafted a minimalistic and textural style of playing. His use of a rhythmic delay effect yields a distinctive ambient, chiming sound that has become a signature of U2's music.
The Edge was born in England to a Welsh family, but was raised in Ireland after moving there as an infant. In 1976, at Mount Temple Comprehensive School, he formed U2 with his fellow students and his older brother Dik. Inspired by the ethos of punk rock and its basic arrangements, the group began to write its own material. They eventually became one of the most popular acts in popular music, with successful albums such as 1987's The Joshua Tree and 1991's Achtung Baby. Over the years, The Edge has experimented with various guitar effects and introduced influences from several genres of music into his own style, including American roots music, industrial music, and alternative rock. With U2, The Edge has also played keyboards, co-produced their 1993 record Zooropa, and occasionally contributed lyrics. The Edge met his second and current wife, Morleigh Steinberg, through her collaborations with the band.
As a member of U2 and as an individual, The Edge has campaigned for human rights and philanthropic causes. He co-founded Music Rising, a charity to support musicians affected by Hurricane Katrina. He has collaborated with U2 bandmate Bono on several projects, including songs for Roy Orbison and Tina Turner, and the soundtracks to the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Royal Shakespeare Company's London stage adaptation of A Clockwork Orange. In 2011, Rolling Stone magazine placed him at number 38 on its list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Contents |
Personal life[link]
David Howell Evans was born at the Barking Maternity Hospital,[2] Essex, England to Welsh parents Garvin and Gwenda Evans.[1] When he was one, his family moved to County Dublin, Ireland where he attended St Andrew's National School. He received piano and guitar lessons and often performed with his brother Dik Evans before they both answered an advertisement posted by Larry Mullen, Jr. at their school, Mount Temple Comprehensive School, seeking musicians to form a band.[3] The band accepted both of them. This band went through several incarnations before emerging as U2 in March 1978 (Dik Evans left the band just before the name change).[3] U2 began performing in various venues in Ireland and eventually began developing a following. Their debut album, Boy, was released in 1980.
In 1981, leading up to the October tour, Evans came very close to leaving U2 for religious reasons, but he decided to stay.[3] During this period, he became involved with a group called Shalom Tigers, in which bandmates Bono and Larry Mullen Jr. were also involved.[4] Shortly after deciding to remain with the band, he wrote a piece of music that later became "Sunday Bloody Sunday".[3] The Edge married his high school girlfriend Aislinn O'Sullivan on 12 July 1983.[5] The couple had three daughters together: Hollie in 1984, Arran in 1985 and Blue Angel in 1989.[4] The couple separated in 1990, but were unable to get officially divorced because of Irish laws regarding marriage annulment; divorce was legalised in 1995 and the couple were legally divorced in 1996.[4]
In 1993, The Edge began dating Morleigh Steinberg, a professional dancer and choreographer employed by the band as a belly dancer during the Zoo TV Tour. They had a daughter, Sian (born 1997), and a son, Levi (born 25 October 1999),[4] before marrying on 22 June 2002.[4] He appeared in the 2009 music documentary film It Might Get Loud.[6] The Edge has been criticized for his efforts to build five luxury mansions on a 156 acre plot of land in Malibu, California.[7] The California Coastal Commission voted 8-4 against the plans, with the project described by the commission's executive director, Peter Douglas, as "In 38 years...one of the three worst projects that I've seen in terms of environmental devastation...It's a contradiction in terms – you can't be serious about being an environmentalist and pick this location."[7] The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy agreed to remain neutral on the issue following a $1 million donation from The Edge and a commitment from The Edge to designate 100 acres of the land as open space for public footpaths.[7]
Music style[link]
"Notes actually do mean something. They have power. I think of notes as being expensive. You don't just throw them around. I find the ones that do the best job and that's what I use. I suppose I'm a minimalist instinctively. I don't like to be inefficient if I can get away with it. Like on the end of 'With or Without You'. My instinct was to go with something very simple. Everyone else said, 'Nah, you can't do that.' I won the argument and I still think it's sort of brave, because the end of 'With or Without You' could have been so much bigger, so much more of a climax, but there's this power to it which I think is even more potent because it's held back... ultimately I'm interested in music. I'm a musician. I'm not a gunslinger. That's the difference between what I do and what a lot of guitar heroes do."
—The Edge in 1991.[8]
Guitar playing[link]
As a guitar player, The Edge has a sound typified by a low-key playing style, a chiming, shimmering sound (thanks in part to the sound of VOX AC-30s) that he achieves with extensive use of delay effects and reverb. The feedback delay is often set to a dotted eighth note (3/16 of a measure), and the feedback gain is adjusted until a note played repeats two or three times.[citation needed]
On 1987's The Joshua Tree, The Edge often contributes just a few simple lead lines given depth and richness by an ever-present delay. For example, the introduction to "Where the Streets Have No Name" is simply a repeated six-note arpeggio, broadened by a modulated delay effect. The Edge has said that he views musical notes as "expensive", in that he prefers to play as few notes as possible. He said in 1982 of his style,
"I like a nice ringing sound on guitar, and most of my chords I find two strings and make them ring the same note, so it's almost like a 12-string sound. So for E I might play a B, E, E and B and make it ring. It works very well with the Gibson Explorer. It's funny because the bass end of the Explorer was so awful that I used to stay away from the low strings, and a lot of the chords I played were very trebly, on the first four, or even three strings. I discovered that through using this one area of the fretboard I was developing a very stylized way of doing something that someone else would play in a normal way."[9]
Many different influences have shaped The Edge's guitar technique.[citation needed] His first guitar was an old acoustic guitar that his mother bought him at a local flea market for only a few pounds; he was nine at the time. He and his brother Dik Evans both experimented with this instrument.[9] He said in 1982 of this early experimentation, "I suppose the first link in the chain was a visit to the local jumble sale where I purchased a guitar for a pound. That was my first instrument. It was an acoustic guitar and me and my elder brother Dik both played it, plonking away, all very rudimentary stuff, open chords and all that."[9] The Edge has stated that many of his guitar parts are based around guitar effects. This is especially true from the Achtung Baby era onwards, although much of the band's 1980s material made heavy use of echos.
Vocals[link]
The Edge also supplies the backing vocals for U2. U2's 1983 live album and video release, Under a Blood Red Sky and Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky are good reference points for his singing (as are the live DVDs from the Elevation Tour, U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle and Elevation 2001: Live from Boston). For example, he sings the chorus to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (Bono harmonizes on the final 'Sunday'). U2 used this tradeoff technique later in "Bullet the Blue Sky" as well. His backing vocals are sometimes in the form of a repeated cry; examples of songs that use this approach include "Beautiful Day", "New Year's Day" and "Stay (Faraway, So Close!)". Another technique he uses in his backing vocals is the falsetto, in songs such as "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of", "Sometimes You Can't Make It on Your Own", "A Man and a Woman", "The Wanderer", live versions of "The Fly", and "Window in the Skies".
The Edge sings the lead vocal on "Van Diemen's Land" and "Numb", the first half of the song "Seconds", dual vocals with Bono in "Discotheque", and the bridge in the song "Miracle Drug".[4] He also sings the occasional lead vocal in live renditions of other songs (such as "Sunday Bloody Sunday" during the PopMart Tour and "Party Girl" during the Rotterdam Zoo TV show when it was Bono's birthday).[10] He also plays a solo acoustic version of the song "Love is Blindness" that is featured in the documentary film From the Sky Down.
Other instruments[link]
He has played piano and keyboards on many of the band's songs, including "I Fall Down", "October", "So Cruel", "New Year's Day", "Running to Stand Still", "Miss Sarajevo", "The Hands that Built America", and "Original of the Species" and others. He plays the organ on "Please". In live versions of "New Year's Day", "The Unforgettable Fire", "Your Blue Room", and "Moment of Surrender", he plays both the piano and guitar parts alternately. In most live versions of "Original of the Species," piano is the only instrument played during the song. Although The Edge is the band's lead guitarist, he occasionally plays bass guitar, including the live performances of the song "40" where The Edge and bassist Adam Clayton switch instruments.
Solo recordings[link]
In addition to his regular role within U2, The Edge has also recorded with such artists as Johnny Cash, B. B. King, Tina Turner, Ronnie Wood, Jay-Z, and Rihanna. The Edge connected with Brian Eno and Lanois collaborator Michael Brook (the creator of the infinite guitar, which he regularly uses), working with him on the score to the film Captive (1986). From this soundtrack the song "Heroine", the vocal of which was sung by a young Sinéad O'Connor was released as a single.
He also created the theme song for season one and two of The Batman. He and fellow U2 member, Bono, wrote the lyrics to the theme of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye. The Edge, along with bandmate Bono, recently composed a musical adaptation of Spider-Man. On May 25, 2011, a single titled Rise Above 1: Reeve Carney Featuring Bono and The Edge was released digitally.[11] The music video was released on July 28, 2011.[12]
Musical equipment[link]
The Edge plays electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards, piano, bass guitar (on "40" and "Race Against Time") and lap steel guitar. Compared to many lead guitarists, The Edge is known for using many more guitars during a show. According to his guitar tech Dallas Schoo, a typical lead guitarist uses four or five different guitars in one night, whereas The Edge takes 45 on the road, and uses 17 to 19 in one 2.5-hour concert. He is estimated to have more than 200 guitars in the studio.[citation needed]
Philanthropy[link]
In 2005, The Edge along with Bob Ezrin and Henry Juszkiewicz co-founded Music Rising, a charity that helped provide replacement instruments for those that were lost in Hurricane Katrina. The instruments were originally only replaced for professional musicians but they soon realized the community churches and schools needed instruments as well. The charity's slogan is "Rebuilding the Gulf Region note by note" and has so far helped over a hundred musicians who were affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Edge also serves on the board of the Angiogenesis Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to improving global health by advancing angiogenesis-based medicine, diets, and lifestyle.[13]
See also[link]
References[link]
- Footnotes
- ^ a b McCormick (2006), p. 21
- ^ Dunphy (1988), p. 70
- ^ a b c d McCormick (2006), pp. 117–120
- ^ a b c d e f "The Edge biography (@U2)". http://www.atu2.com/band/edge/. Retrieved 9 September 2007.
- ^ McCormick (2006), p. 144
- ^ "It Might Get Loud". http://www.sonyclassics.com/itmightgetloud/. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
- ^ a b c "U2 star's plans push Malibu over the edge". The Independent. 18 June 2011. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/u2-stars-plans-push-malibu-over-the-edge-2299306.html.
- ^ Flanagan (1996), p. 43
- ^ a b c "On the Edge of Success". U2 Magazine No. 3. 1 May 1982. http://u2_interviews.tripod.com/id16.html. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
- ^ "U2 Rotterdam, 10 May 1993, Feyenoord Stadion, ZOO TV Tour – U1". http://www.u2-vertigo-tour.com/show355.html.
- ^ Rise Above 1 by Reeve Carney feat. Bono and the Edge | Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews. Rollingstone.com (2011-05-26). Retrieved on 2011-07-29.
- ^ 'Spider-Man' star Reeve Carney in new video with Bono, the Edge Latimes.com (2011-07-28) Retrieved on 2011-07-29.
- ^ "The Angiogenesis Foundation: People". http://www.angio.org/about-people-bod.php. Retrieved 12/7/2009.
- Bibliography
- Dunphy, Eamon (1988). Unforgettable Fire: The Story of U2. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-010766-5.
- Flanagan, Bill (1996). U2 at the End of the World (Paperback ed.). New York: Delta. ISBN 978-0-385-31157-1.
- U2 (2006). McCormick, Neil. ed. U2 by U2. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-00-719668-7.
External links[link]
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This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (October 2011) |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Edge |
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Edge |
- U2.com, official U2 site
- Music Rising
- The Edge at the Internet Movie Database
- The Edge – Album Credits
- A Study of The Edge's Guitar Delay
- The Edge: 'It's all about the vision'
- Food Bank For New York City public service announcement
- Comment on the mathematical analysis of The Edge's guitar sound
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Edge, The |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Irish rock musician |
| Date of birth | 8 August 1961 |
| Place of birth | Barking, Essex, England |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/The_Edge
Related pages:
http://it.wn.com/The Edge
http://cs.wn.com/The Edge
http://es.wn.com/The Edge
http://ru.wn.com/Эдж
http://nl.wn.com/The Edge (U2)
http://pt.wn.com/The Edge
http://pl.wn.com/The Edge
http://fr.wn.com/The Edge
http://de.wn.com/The Edge
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Edge
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
For other people named Sam Houston, see Sam Houston (disambiguation).
| Sam Houston | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 7th Governor of Texas | |
| In office December 21, 1859[1] – March 18, 1861 |
|
| Lieutenant | Edward Clark |
| Preceded by | Hardin Richard Runnels |
| Succeeded by | Edward Clark |
| United States Senator from Texas |
|
| In office February 21, 1846 – March 4, 1859 |
|
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | John Hemphill |
| 1st & 3rd President of the Republic of Texas | |
| In office December 13, 1841 – December 9, 1844 |
|
| Preceded by | Mirabeau B. Lamar |
| Succeeded by | Anson Jones |
| In office October 22, 1836 – December 10, 1838 |
|
| Preceded by | David G. Burnet (ad interim) |
| Succeeded by | Mirabeau B. Lamar |
| 6th Governor of Tennessee | |
| In office October 1, 1827 – April 16, 1829 |
|
| Lieutenant | William Hall |
| Preceded by | William Carroll |
| Succeeded by | William Hall |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 7th district |
|
| In office March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1827 |
|
| Preceded by | None (district created) |
| Succeeded by | John Bell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Samuel Houston (1793-03-02)March 2, 1793 Rockbridge County, Virginia |
| Died | July 26, 1863(1863-07-26) (aged 70) Huntsville, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Signature |  |
Samuel "Sam" Houston (March 2, 1793–July 26, 1863), was a nineteenth-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of the Republic of Texas, U.S. Senator for Texas after it joined the United States, and finally as a governor of the state. He refused to swear loyalty to the Confederacy when Texas seceded from the Union in 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War, and was removed from office.[2] To avoid bloodshed, he refused an offer of a Union army to put down the Confederate rebellion. Instead, he retired to Huntsville, Texas, where he died before the end of the Civil War.
His earlier life included migration to Tennessee from Virginia, time spent with the Cherokee Nation (into which he later was adopted as a citizen and took a wife), military service in the War of 1812, and successful participation in Tennessee politics. Houston is the only person in U.S. history to have been the governor of two different states (although other men had served as governors of more than one American territory).
In 1827 Houston was elected Governor of Tennessee as a Jacksonian.[3] In 1829 Houston resigned as Governor and relocated to Arkansas Territory.[4] In 1832 Houston was involved in an altercation with a U.S. Congressman, followed by a high-profile trial.[5] Shortly afterwards he relocated to Coahuila y Tejas, then a Mexican state, and became a leader of the Texas Revolution.[6] Sam Houston supported annexation by the United States.[7] The city of Houston is named after him. Houston's reputation was honored after his death: posthumous commemoration has included a memorial museum, a U.S. Army base, a national forest, a historical park, a university, and the largest free-standing statue of an American.[8]
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Early life and family heritage[link]
Sam Houston was the son of Major Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Houston's ancestry is often traced to his great-great grandfather Sir John Houston, who built a family estate in Scotland in the late seventeenth century. His second son John Houston emigrated to Ulster, Ireland, during the English plantation period. Under the system of primogeniture, he did not inherit the estate. After several years in Ireland, John Houston emigrated in 1735 with his family to the North American colonies, where they first settled in Pennsylvania. As it filled with Lutheran German immigrants, Houston decided to move his family with other Scots-Irish who were migrating to lands in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.[9] A historic plaque in Townland tells the story of the Houston family. It is located in Ballyboley Forest Park near the site of the original John Houston estate. It is dedicated to "One whose roots lay in these hills whose ancestor John Houston emigrated from this area."
The Shenandoah Valley had many farms of Scots-Irish migrants. Newcomers included the Lyle family of the Raloo area, who helped found Timber Ridge Presbyterian Church. The Houston family settled nearby. Gradually John developed his land and purchased slaves.[9] Their son Robert inherited his father's land. His youngest of five sons was Samuel Houston. Samuel Houston became a member of Morgan's Rifle Brigade and was commissioned a major during the American Revolutionary War. At the time militia officers were expected to pay their own expenses. He had married Elizabeth Paxton and inherited his father's land, but he was not a good manager and got into debt, in part because of his militia service.[9] Their children were born on his family's plantation near Timber Ridge Church, including Sam Houston on March 2, 1793, the fifth of nine children and the fifth son born.
Planning to move on as people did on the frontier to leave debts behind, the elder Samuel Houston patented land in Maryville the county seat of Blount Co.in East Tennessee near relatives. He died in 1807 before he could move with his family, and they moved on without him: Elizabeth taking their five sons and three daughters to the new state.[9] Having received only a basic education on the frontier, young Sam was 14 when his family moved to Maryville.[10] In 1809, at age 16, Houston ran away from home, because he was dissatisfied to work as a shop clerk in his older brothers' store.
He went southwest, where he lived for a few years with the Cherokee tribe led by Ahuludegi (also spelled Oolooteka) on Hiwassee Island, on the Hiwassee River above its confluence with the Tennessee. Having become chief after his brother moved west in 1809, Ahuludegi was known to the European Americans as John Jolly. He became an adoptive father to Houston, giving him the Cherokee name of Colonneh, meaning "the Raven".[11] Houston learned fluent Cherokee, while visiting his family in Maryville every several months. Finally he returned to Maryville in 1812, and at age 19, Houston founded a one-room schoolhouse in Knox county between Maryville and Knoxville.[9] This was the first school built in Tennessee, which had become a state in 1796.
War of 1812[link]
In 1812 Houston reported to a training camp in Knoxville, Tennessee,[10] and enlisted in the 39th Infantry Regiment to fight the British in the War of 1812. By December of that year, he had risen from private to third lieutenant. At the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March 1814, he was wounded in the groin by a Creek arrow. His wound was bandaged, and he rejoined the fight. When Andrew Jackson called on volunteers to dislodge a group of Red Sticks from their breastwork, Houston volunteered, but during the assault he was struck by bullets in the shoulder and arm. He returned to Maryville as a disabled veteran, but later took the army's offer of free surgery and convalesced in a New Orleans, Louisiana hospital.[12]
Houston became close to Jackson, who was impressed with him and acted as a mentor. In 1817 Jackson appointed him sub-agent in managing the business relating to Jackson's removal of the Cherokees from East Tennessee to a reservation in what is now Arkansas. He had differences with John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, who chided him for appearing dressed as a Cherokee at a meeting. More significantly, an inquiry was begun into charges related to Houston's administration of supplies for the Native Americans. Offended, he resigned in 1818.[13]
Tennessee politics[link]
Following six months of study at the office of Judge James Trimble, Houston passed the bar examination in Nashville, after which he opened a legal practice in Lebanon, Tennessee.[14] In 1818 Houston was appointed as the local prosecutor in Nashville,[15] and was also given a command in the state militia.
In 1822 Houston was elected to the US House of Representatives for Tennessee, where he was a staunch supporter of fellow Tennessean and Democrat Andrew Jackson. He was widely considered to be Jackson's political protégé, although their ideas about appropriate treatment of Native Americans differed greatly. Houston was a Congressman from 1823 to 1827, re-elected in 1824. In 1827 he declined to run for re-election to Congress. Instead he ran for, and won, the office of governor of Tennessee, defeating the former governor, William Carroll. He planned to stand for re-election in 1829, but resigned after the dissolution of his first marriage.
Marriage, family, and religion[link]
On January 22, 1829, at the age of 35, Houston married 19-year-old Eliza Allen, the daughter of the well-connected planter Colonel John Allen (1776–1833) of Gallatin, Tennessee, who was a friend of Andrew Jackson. Houston's friends thought he was genuinely in love with the girl, but for unknown reasons Eliza left him shortly after the marriage and returned to her father and the couple never reconciled. Neither Houston nor Eliza Allen ever discussed the reasons for their separation; speculation and gossip accredited their split to Eliza being in love with another man.[9] Houston seemed to care greatly for his wife's reputation and took great care to forestall any possible allegations of infidelity on their parts, writing to her father
April 9, 1829
Mr. Allen, the most unpleasant & unhappy circumstance has just taken place in the family, & one that was entirely unnecessary at this time. Whatever had been my feelings or opinions in relation to Eliza at one time, I have been satisfied & it is now unfit that anything should be averted to....The only way this matter can now be overcome will be for us all to meet as tho it had never occurred, & this will keep the world, as it should ever be, ignorant that such thoughts ever were. Eliza stands acquitted by me. I have received her as a virtuous wife, & as such I pray God I may ever regard her, & trust I ever shall.
She was cold to me, and I thought did not love me. She owns that such was one cause of my unhappiness. You can judge how unhappy I was to think I was united to a woman that did not love me. This time is now past, & my future happiness can only exist in the assurance that Eliza and myself can be happy & that Mrs. Allen & you can forget the past, —forgive all & and find your lost peace & you may rest assured that nothing on my part shall be wanting to restore it. Let me know what is to be done.
Houston also requested that one of her relatives: "...publish in the Nashville papers that if any wretch ever dares to utter a word against the purity of Mrs. Houston I will come back and write the libel in his heart's blood."
In April 1829, in part due to the embarrassment of his well known separation, Houston resigned as governor of Tennessee and went west with the Cherokee to exile in Arkansas Territory. That year he was adopted as a citizen in the nation. There Houston cohabited with Tiana Rogers Gentry, a part-Cherokee widow in her mid-30s. They lived together for several years, and though he was still married under civil law he married Tiana under the Cherokee law.[9] After declining to accompany Houston to Texas in 1832, she later married John McGrady. He officially divorced Eliza Allen in 1837; the following year 1838 Tiana died of pneumonia. (Eliza Allen remarried in 1840, becoming the wife of Dr. Elmore Douglass and stepmother to his 10 children; she bore him 4 children and died in 1861.)[16]
In 1833, in the living room of the Adolphus Sterne House in Nacogdoches, Houston was baptized into the Catholic faith in order to qualify under the existing law for property ownership in Coahuila y Tejas.[17][18][19]
On May 9, 1840, Houston, aged 47 and now the President of Texas, married for a third time. The bride was 21-year-old Margaret Moffette Lea of Marion, Alabama. The union was far longer lived than his two previous unions and produced eight children born between Houston's 50th and 67th years. Margaret Houston acted as a tempering influence on her much older husband and even convinced him to stop drinking. Although the Houstons had numerous houses, they kept only one continuously, Cedar Point (1840–1863) on Trinity Bay.
Their children were the following:
- Sam Houston, Jr., 1843–1894
- Nancy Elizabeth, 1846–1920 (named after her grandmothers)
- Margaret Lea, 1848–1906
- Mary William, 1850–1931
- Antoinette Power, 1852–1932 (named after Margaret's sister)
- Andrew Jackson Houston, 1854-1941 (U.S. Senator from Texas)
- William Rogers, 1858–1920
- Temple Lea Houston, 1860–1905 (named after Margaret's father) (state senator of Texas legislature, 1885–1888)
By 1854, Margaret had spent 14 years trying to convert Sam to the Baptist denomination. With the assistance of George Washington Baines, she was able to convince Sam. Word had spread about the upcoming Baptism, bringing spectators from neighboring communities into Independence to witness the event. On November 19, 1854, Sam was baptized in Little Rocky Creek, two miles southeast of Independence.[20][21] The baptismal site is marked by the Texas Historical Commission as located on Farm to Market Road 150 at Sam Houston Road.[22]
Indian Territory[link]
In 1829, Houston went west and lived again among the Cherokee in the Arkansas Territory, who in October 1829 formally adopted him as a citizen of their nation.[13] He set up a trading post (Wigwam Neosho) near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, by the Verdigris River near its confluence with the Arkansas. The Cherokee gave him a nickname meaning "The Raven."[23] During this time Houston was interviewed by the author Alexis de Tocqueville, who was traveling in the United States and its territories. Houston's abandonment of his gubernatorial office and his wife all caused a rift with his mentor President Jackson. They were not reconciled for several years.
Controversy and trial[link]
In 1830 and 1832 Houston visited Washington, DC, to expose the frauds which government agents committed against the Cherokee.[13] While he was in Washington in April 1832, anti-Jacksonian Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio made accusations about Houston in a speech on the floor of Congress. Attacking Jackson through his protégé, Stanbery accused Houston of being in league with John Van Fossen and Congressman Robert S. Rose. The three men had bid on supplying rations to the various tribes of Native Americans who were being forcibly relocated because of Jackson's Indian Removal Act of 1830. After Stanbery refused to answer Houston's letters about the accusation, Houston confronted him on Pennsylvania Avenue and beat him with a hickory cane. Stanbery drew one of his pistols and pulled the trigger—the gun misfired.
On April 17 Congress ordered Houston's arrest. During his trial at the District of Columbia City Hall, he pleaded self-defense and hired Francis Scott Key as his lawyer. Houston was found guilty, but thanks to highly placed friends (among them James K. Polk), he was only lightly reprimanded. Stanbery filed charges against Houston in civil court. Judge William Cranch found Houston liable and fined him $500. Houston left the United States for Mexico without paying the fine.
Republic of Texas[link]
Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto
The painting Surrender of Santa Anna by William Huddle shows the Mexican general Santa Anna's surrender to a wounded Sam Houston. It hangs in the Texas State Capitol.
The publicity surrounding the trial raised Houston's unfavorable political reputation. He asked his wife, Tiana Rodgers, to go with him to Mexican Texas, but she preferred to stay at their cabin and trading post in Oklahoma. She later married a man named John McGrady and died of pneumonia in 1838. Houston married again after her death.
Houston left for Texas in December 1832 and was immediately swept up in the politics of what was still a territory of the Mexican state of Coahuila. One possible theory speculates that Houston traveled to Texas at the behest of President Jackson in order to facilitate a U.S. annexation of the territory, yet this contention has not been verified with supporting evidence.[24] Attending the Convention of 1833 as representative for Nacogdoches, Houston emerged as a supporter of William Harris Wharton and his brother, who promoted independence from Mexico, the more radical position of the American settlers and Tejanos in Texas. He also attended the Consultation of 1835. The Texas Army commissioned him as Major General in November 1835. He negotiated a peace settlement with the Cherokee of East Texas in February 1836 to allay their fears about independence. At the convention to declare Texan Independence in March 1836, he was made Commander-in-Chief.
On March 2, 1836, his 43rd birthday, Houston signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. Mexican soldiers killed all those at the Alamo Mission at the end of the Siege of the Alamo on March 6. On March 11, Houston joined what constituted his army at Gonzales: 374 poorly equipped, trained, and supplied recruits.[25][26] Word of the defeat at the Alamo reached Houston there, and while he waited for confirmation, he organized the recruits as the 1st Regiment Volunteer Army of Texas. On March 13, short on rations, Houston retreated before the superior forces of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Heavy rain fell nearly every day, causing severe morale problems among the exposed troops struggling in mud. After four days' march, near present-day LaGrange, Houston received additional troops and continued east two days later with 600 men. At Goliad, Santa Anna ordered the execution of approximately 400 volunteer Texas militia led by James Fannin, who had surrendered his forces on March 20. Near present-day Columbus on March 26, they were joined by 130 more men, and the next day learned of the Fannin disaster.
Houston continued his retreat eastward towards the Gulf coast, drawing criticism for his perceived lack of willingness to fight. On March 29, camped along the Brazos River, two companies refused to retreat further, and Houston decided to use the opportunity for rudimentary training and discipline of his force. On April 2 he organized the 2nd Regiment, received a battalion of regulars, and on April 11 ordered all troops along the Brazos to join the main army, approximately 1,500 men in all. He began crossing the Brazos on April 12.
Finally, Santa Anna caught up with Houston's army, but had split his own army into three separate forces in an attempt to encircle the Texans. At the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, Houston surprised Santa Anna and the Mexican forces during their afternoon "siesta." The Texans won a decisive victory in under 18 minutes, suffering few casualties, although Houston's ankle was shattered by a stray bullet. Badly beaten, Santa Anna was forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco, granting Texas its independence. Although Houston stayed on briefly for negotiations, he returned to the United States for treatment of his ankle wound.
Houston was twice elected president of the Republic of Texas. On September 5, 1836, he defeated Stephen F. Austin and Henry Smith with a landslide of over 79% of the vote. Houston then served from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838, and again from December 12, 1841, to December 9, 1844. On December 20, 1837, Houston presided over the convention of Freemasons that formed the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas, now the Grand Lodge of Texas. While he initially sought annexation by the U.S., Houston dropped that goal during his first term. In his second term, he strove for fiscal prudence and worked to make peace with the Native Americans. He also struggled to avoid war with Mexico, whose forces invaded twice during 1842. In response to the Regulator-Moderator War of 1844, he sent in Republic militia to put down the warfare.
Settlement of Houston[link]
The settlement of Houston was founded in August 1836 by brothers J.K. Allen and A.C. Allen. It was named in Houston's honor and served as capital. Gail Borden helped lay out Houston's streets.
In 1835, one year before being elected first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston founded the Holland Masonic Lodge. The initial founding of the lodge took place in Brazoria and was relocated to what is now Houston in 1837.[27]
The city of Houston served as the capital until President Mirabeau Lamar signed a measure that moved the capital to Austin on January 14, 1839. Between his presidential terms (the constitution did not allow a president to serve consecutive terms), Houston was a representative in the Texas House of Representatives for San Augustine. He was a major critic of President Mirabeau Lamar, who advocated continuing independence of Texas and the extension of its boundaries to the Pacific Ocean.
U.S. Senator from Texas[link]
After the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845, Houston was elected to the U.S. Senate, along with Thomas Jefferson Rusk. Houston served from February 21, 1846, until March 4, 1859. He was a Senator during the Mexican-American War, when the U.S. defeated Mexico and acquired vast expanses of new territory in the Southwest as part of the concluding treaty.
Throughout his term in the Senate, Houston spoke out against the growing sectionalism of the country. He blamed the extremists of both the North and South, saying: "Whatever is calculated to weaken or impair the strength of [the] Union,– whether originating at the North or the South,– whether arising from the incendiary violence of abolitionists, or from the coalition of nullifiers, will never meet with my unqualified approval."[citation needed]
Houston supported the Oregon Bill in 1848, which was opposed by many Southerners. In his passionate speech in support of the Compromise of 1850, echoing Matthew 12:25, Houston said "A nation divided against itself cannot stand."[28] Eight years later, Abraham Lincoln would express the same sentiment. Houston opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and correctly predicted that it would cause a sectional rift in the country that would eventually lead to war, saying: " ... what fields of blood, what scenes of horror, what mighty cities in smoke and ruins– it is brother murdering brother ... I see my beloved South go down in the unequal contest, in a sea of blood and smoking ruin."[citation needed] He was one of only two Southern senators (the other was John Bell of Tennessee) to vote against the act. At the time, he was considered a potential candidate for President of the United States. But, despite the fact that he was a slave-owner, his strong Unionism and opposition to the extension of slavery alienated the Texas legislature and other southern States.
Governor of Texas[link]
Houston ran twice for governor of Texas as a Unionist, unsuccessfully in 1857, and successfully against Hardin R. Runnels in 1859. Upon election, he became the only person in U.S. history to serve as governor of two states as well as the only governor to have been a foreign head of state. (However, John Dickinson's and Thomas McKean's service as chief executives of Delaware and then of Pennsylvania, beginning in the period immediately following the Declaration of Independence, arguably predate Houston on both counts.) Although Houston was a slave owner and opposed abolition, he opposed the secession of Texas from the Union.
An elected convention voted to secede from the United States on February 1, 1861, and Texas joined the Confederate States of America on March 2, 1861. Houston refused to recognize its legality, but the Texas legislature upheld the legitimacy of secession. The political forces that brought about Texas's secession were powerful enough to replace the state's Unionist governor. Houston chose not to resist, stating, "I love Texas too well to bring civil strife and bloodshed upon her. To avert this calamity, I shall make no endeavor to maintain my authority as Chief Executive of this State, except by the peaceful exercise of my functions ... " He was evicted from his office on March 16, 1861, for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, writing,
"Fellow-Citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies, I refuse to take this oath. I deny the power of this Convention to speak for Texas....I protest....against all the acts and doings of this convention and I declare them null and void.[29] "
He was replaced by Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark. To avoid more bloodshed in Texas, Houston turned down U.S. Col. Frederick W. Lander's offer from President Lincoln of 50,000 troops to prevent Texas's secession. He said, "Allow me to most respectfully decline any such assistance of the United States Government."
After leaving the Governor's mansion, Houston traveled to Galveston. Along the way, many people demanded an explanation for his refusal to support the Confederacy. On April 19, 1861 from a hotel window he told a crowd:
Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South.[30]
Electoral history[link]
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| 1836 Texas Presidential Election | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | Percentage | |
| Independent | Sam Houston | 5,119 | 79.4% | |
| Independent | Henry Smith | 743 | 11.5% | |
| Independent | Stephen F. Austin | 587 | 9.1% | |
Later life[link]
In 1854, Houston was baptized by Rev. Rufus C. Burleson. At the time Burleson was the pastor of the Independence Baptist Church in Washington County, which Houston and his wife attended. Then the wealthiest community in Texas, Independence had won the bid for Baylor College, where Burleson served as second president.[31] Houston was also close friend of Rev. George Washington Baines, who preceded Burleson at the church. Baines was the maternal great-grandfather of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
In 1862, Houston returned to Huntsville, Texas, and rented the Steamboat House; the hills in Huntsville reminded him of his boyhood home in Tennessee. Houston was active in the Masonic Lodge, transferring his membership to Forrest Lodge #19. His health deteriorated in 1863 due to a persistent cough. In mid-July, Houston developed pneumonia. He died on July 26, 1863 at Steamboat House, with his wife Margaret by his side. His last recorded words were, "Texas! Texas! Margaret..."[citation needed]
The inscription on his tomb reads:
<poem> A Brave Soldier. A Fearless Statesman. A Great Orator– A Pure Patriot. A Faithful Friend, A Loyal Citizen. A Devoted Husband and Father. A Consistent Christian– An Honest Man. </poem>
Sam Houston was buried in Huntsville, Texas, where he lived in retirement; after her death his wife, Margaret Lea, was buried in Independence at her family's cemetery.
Honors[link]
-
Sam Houston, Commemorative Issue of 1963
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Texas Centennial Issue of 1936, showing Sam Houston, The Alamo, and Stephen F. Austin
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Sam Houston Statue.jpg
67-foot-tall (20 m) statue of Sam Houston near Huntsville, Texas
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Statue of Sam Houston in Hermann Park
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The Sam Houston State Office Building houses the headquarters of the Texas Ethics Commission and the Texas State Preservation Board
- Huntsville, Texas, is the home of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum, a 67 ft (20 m) statue, Sam Houston State University, and Houston's gravesite. The statue (which is the world's largest statue of an American hero, easily visible by motorists traveling on Interstate 45) is the title and subject of a country music song by Merle Haggard.
- A bronze equestrian sculpture of Houston is located in Hermann Park in Houston, Texas This statue depicts Houston atop his horse with a single hand out stretched pointing directly towards San Jacinto.
- The Sam Houston Wayside near Lexington, Virginia, is a 38,000-pound piece of Texas pink granite commemorating Houston's birthplace.
- The Sam Houston Schoolhouse in Maryville, Tennessee, is Tennessee's oldest schoolhouse. In addition to the schoolhouse there is a museum on the grounds.
- USS Sam Houston, an Ethan Allen class submarine, was named after Houston.
- The Sam Houston National Forest, one of four national forests in Texas, was named after Houston.[32]
- The Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center, located outside of Liberty, Texas has the largest known collection of photographs and illustrations of Houston.
- Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, is named after Houston.
- Many cities in the U.S. have a street, school, or park named for Houston; however, New York City's Houston Street is not named after Sam Houston. Instead, it is named after William Houstoun, and pronounced HOW-stin.
- The State of Texas has placed a statue of Sam Houston inside Statuary Hall of the United States Capitol.
- The Sam Houston Coliseum (now demolished) in Houston, Texas, was named after Houston. The Beatles performed there in 1965.
- There is a mural depicting Sam Houston on a gas tank near State Hwy 225 in Houston.[33]
- Sam Houston High School,[34] in Lake Charles, Louisiana and in Arlington, Texas [35]
- Sam Houston Middle School,[36] in Garland, Texas
- Sam Houston Elementary Schools in Lebanon and Maryville, Tennessee; Eagle Pass, Huntsville, Conroe and Bryan,[37] Texas, and Houston, Texas [38]
- A bust of Sam Houston is located inside the Virginia State Capitol Building in Richmond, Virginia
- The eponymous cities in Texas, Mississippi, and Minnesota are named after Houston
- A road encirling the city of Houston is named the Sam Houston Tollway
- The song "SayHo" by Scott Miller is about Sam Houston
- The State of Tennessee has a county with the seat is Erin, TN, named after Houston
- In Texas, Houston County is named in honour of the renowned statesman. Its county seat is Crockett, Texas.
- The County Seat of Texas County, Missouri is Houston, Missouri, named after Sam Houston.
Notes[link]
- ^ Williams, John H. (1994), Sam Houston: Life and Times of Liberator of Texas an Authentic American Hero, New York, NY: Touchstone, p. 316, ISBN 0-671-88071-3
- ^ Magazine article, The Biggest Texan: A Profile of Sam Houston, by Margaret Coit, Boys' Life Magazine, April, 1963
- ^ Sam Houston's Wife: A Biography of Margaret Lea Houston, by William Seale, 1992, page 21
- ^ Representing Texas, by Ben R. Guttery, 2008, page 83
- ^ Sam Houston's Texas, by Sue Flanagan, 1964, page 6
- ^ Texas Cemeteries, by Bill Harvey, 2003, page 158
- ^ Our Nation's Archive: The History of the United States in Documents, by Erik A. Bruun, 1999, page 268
- ^ Oddball Texas: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places, by Jerome Pohlen, 2006, page 216
- ^ a b c d e f g James L. Haley, Sam Houston, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004
- ^ a b Neely, Jack. Knoxville's Secret History, Scruffy City Publishing, 1995.
- ^ Samuel Houston from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ Neely, Jack, Knoxville's Secret History, Scruffy City Publishing, 1995
- ^ a b c
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Houston, Sam". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. - ^ "Lebanon, Tennessee: A Tour of Our City" (PDF). Lebanon/Wilson County Chamber of Commerce. http://www.wilsoncountycvb.com/images/tour.pdf. Retrieved February 5, 2007. [dead link]
- ^ Office History, Nashville District Attorney General
- ^ "Eliza Allen". WNPT.org. http://www.wnpt.org/productions/samhouston/people/eliza.html. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ Ramos, Mary G; Reavis, Dick; Vandivier, Kevin (2004). Compass American Guides: Texas. Compass America Guides. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-676-90502-1.
- ^ By
- ^ Haley (2004) pp. 104,105
- ^ Augustin, Byron; Pitts, William L. "Independence, Texas". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hli03. Retrieved 9 March 2012.
- ^ Seale (1992) 167-171
- ^ "THC-Houston baptismal site". Texas Historical Commission. http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/viewform.asp?atlas_num=5477008421&site_name=Houston%2C%20Sam&class=5000. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ Joseph McElroy, Jefferson Davis, p. 79
- ^ Thomas H. Kreneck, "HOUSTON, SAMUEL," Handbook of Texas Online [1], accessed March 07, 2012. [Paragraph 11.]
- ^ Helen Burleson Kelso, "BURLESON, EDWARD," Handbook of Texas Online [2], accessed March 07, 2012.
- ^ Thomas H. Kreneck, "HOUSTON, SAMUEL," Handbook of Texas Online [3], accessed March 07, 2012.
- ^ "Holland Masonic Lodge - History". HollandLodge.org. http://www.hollandlodge.org/hlfamous.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ http://www.shsu.edu/~pin_www/samhouston/PresAm.html
- ^ James l. Haley. Sam Houston. University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, pp. 390-91.
- ^ James l. Haley, Sam Houston, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004, p. 397
- ^ USA (2008-07-15). "General Sam Houston - Texas State Historical Marker, Independence, Texas". StoppingPoints.com. http://www.stoppingpoints.com/texas/sights.cgi?marker=General+Sam+Houston&cnty=washington. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ "Sam Houston National Forest". US Forest Service. Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20101206071547/http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/texas/recreation/sam_houston/samhouston_gen_info.shtml. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ "Sam Houston mural". Flickr.com. 2008-03-03. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shannonstoney/sets/72157604042665290/. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ http://samhouston.cpsb.org
- ^ "Sam Houston High School". Aisd.net. http://www.aisd.net/sam/. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ "Garland ISD: Sam Houston Middle School". Garlandisdschools.net. 2011-09-19. http://www.garlandisdschools.net/page.cfm?p=563. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ "Houston Elementary School, Bryan, Texas". Bryanisd.org. 2005-06-22. http://bryanisd.org/school.asp?schoolID=18. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ http://www.galenaparkisd.com/campuspages/sam/index.htm[dead link]
See also[link]
References[link]
The following are reference sources (alphabetical by author):
- Andrew Jackson-His Life and Times; Brands, H.W.; Doubleday: ISBN 0-385-50738-0.
- The Texas Revolution; Brinkley, William; Texas A&M Press: ISBN 0-87611-041-3.
- Sword of San Jacinto, Marshall De Bruhl; Random House: ISBN 0-394-57623-3.
- Sam Houston, Haley, James L.; University of Oklahoma Press: ISBN 0-8061-3644-8.
- The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston; James, Marquis; University of Texas Press: ISBN 0-292-77040-5.
- The Eagle and the Raven; Michener, James A.; State House Press: ISBN 0-938349-57-0.
Further reading[link]
- Campbell, Randolph B.; Handlin, Oscar (1993), Sam Houston and the American Southwest, HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06-500688-9
- De Bruhl, Marshall (1993), Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston, Random House, ISBN 978-0-394-57623-7
- Haley, James L. (2004), Sam Houston, University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 978-0-8061-3644-8
- James, Marquis (1988), The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston, University of Texas Press, ISBN 978-0-292-77040-9
- Williams, John Hoyt (1993), Sam Houston: A Biography of the Father of Texas, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 978-0-671-74641-4
- Williams, John Hoyt (1994), Sam Houston: The Life and Times of the Liberator of Texas, an Authentic American Hero, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 978-0-671-88071-2
- John F. Kennedy: Profiles in Courage, 1956
External links[link]
| Find more about Sam Houston on Wikipedia's sister projects: | |
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Definitions and translations from Wiktionary |
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Images and media from Commons |
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Learning resources from Wikiversity |
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News stories from Wikinews |
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Quotations from Wikiquote |
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Source texts from Wikisource |
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Textbooks from Wikibooks |
- Life of General Houston, 1793-1863 published 1891, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- Sam Houston ; David Crockett. published 1901, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
- Samuel Houston from the Handbook of Texas Online
- Sam Houston Memorial Museum
- Sam Houston Memorial Museum Antiquities Collection From Texas Tides
- Sam Houston's Obituary - The Tri Weekly Telegraph, Houston, Texas July 29, 1863 - TexasBob.com
- Sam Houston Historic Schoolhouse in Maryville, TN USA
- Documentary film on life of Sam Houston. Massive web site with many pictures, links, and educational tools.
- Tennessee Encyclopedia entry
- Tennessee State Library & Archives, Papers of Governor Sam Houston, 1827-1829
- Sam Houston Rode a Gray Horse
- Houston Family Papers, 1836-1869 and undated, in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library at Texas Tech University
- Booknotes interview with Marshall DeBruhl on Sword of San Jacinto: The Life of Sam Houston, May 2, 1993.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by (none) |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 7th congressional district March 4, 1823 – March 4, 1827 |
Succeeded by John Bell |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by William Carroll |
Governor of Tennessee 1827–1829 |
Succeeded by William Hall |
| Preceded by David G. Burnet (ad interim) |
President of the Republic of Texas 1836–1838 |
Succeeded by Mirabeau B. Lamar |
| Preceded by Mirabeau B. Lamar |
President of the Republic of Texas 1841–1844 |
Succeeded by Anson Jones |
| Preceded by Hardin R. Runnels |
Governor of Texas 1859–1861 |
Succeeded by Edward Clark |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by None |
United States Senator (Class 2) from Texas February 21, 1846 – March 4, 1859 Served alongside: Thomas J. Rusk, J. Pinckney Henderson and Matthias Ward |
Succeeded by John Hemphill |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Houston, Sam |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | American politician |
| Date of birth | March 2, 1793 |
| Place of birth | Rockbridge County, Virginia |
| Date of death | July 26, 1863 |
| Place of death | Huntsville, Texas |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
 |
|
| Born | 1945 |
| Nationality |  Ghana |
| Institution | American University |
| Field | Political economics |
| Alma mater | University of Manitoba University of Western Ontario University of Ghana |
George Ayittey (born 1945) is a Ghanaian economist, author and president of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington DC. He is a professor at American University,[1] and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.[2] He has championed the argument that "Africa is poor because she is not free", that the primary cause of African poverty is less a result of the oppression and mismanagement by colonial powers, but rather a result of modern oppressive native autocrats. He also goes beyond criticism to advocate for specific ways to address the abuses of the past and present; specifically he calls for democratic government, debt reexamination, modernized infrastructure, free market economics, and free trade to promote development.
Contents |
Life[link]
Ayittey holds a B.Sc. in Economics from the University of Ghana, Legon, an M.A. from the University of Western Ontario in Canada, and a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba. He has taught at Wayne State College and Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He held a National Fellowship at the Hoover Institution in 1988-89, and then joined The Heritage Foundation as a Bradley Resident Scholar.[2] He founded The Free Africa Foundation in 1993, to serve as a catalyst for reform in Africa.[3] In 2008 Dr. Ayittey was listed by Foreign Policy as one of the "Top 100 Public Intellectuals" who "are shaping the tenor of our time".[4] He lives in Lorton, Virginia.
Political Views[link]
Ayittey believes there are three keys to successfully rescuing Africa from oppressive despotism:
- First, he advocates forming coalitions consisting of small groups of "elders" who have no political ties and monitor the activities of the various opposition groups. Ayittey explains "They must be able to reach out to all the opposition groups."[5] "The council should bring all of the opposition into an alliance ", which would prevent dictators from steam rolling the severely divided competition.
- Second, you have to gain control of the civil service, security forces, judiciary, election centers, and national bank. Ayittey sees control of at least one of these resources as central to subverting dictatorial power in African countries. These organizations are currently staffed by cronies of dictators throughout Africa.
- Third, and finally you have to use the correct sequence of reform.
Works[link]
- Indigenous African Institutions, Transnational Publishers, 1991; 2nd ed., 2004
- The Blueprint for Ghana's Economic Recovery, Africana Publishers, 1997
- Africa Betrayed, St. Martin’s Press,, 1992
- Africa in Chaos, St. Martin’s Press, 1998.[6]
- Africa Unchained: the blueprint for development, Palgrave/MacMillan, 2004
- Defeating Dictators: Fighting Tyrants in Africa and Around the World published September 2011.
References[link]
- ^ Faculty page at American University
- ^ a b Bio at Foreign Policy Research Institute
- ^ The Free Africa Foundation
- ^ Top 100 Public Intellectuals, Foreign Policy
- ^ mariam, al. "Ayittey's War on African Dictators". Online article. huffingpost. http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/2011/06/12/george_ayitteys_war_on_african_dictatorships. Retrieved 12/28/2011.
- ^ Reviewed by Jeremy Harding for The New York Times
External links[link]
- Bio at A World Connected
- TED Talks: George Ayittey on Cheetahs vs. Hippos at TED Global in 2007
- Human Rights: Africa's Shady Politicians Are at Root of Continent's Destitution, commentary by Dr. Ayittey
- Works by or about George Ayittey in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ayittey, George |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | Economist |
| Date of birth | 1945 |
| Place of birth | Ghana |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This article about an economist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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This biography of an African academic is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
  |
This Ghanaian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
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Wiki Summary
The cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) is a large-sized feline (family Felidae, subfamily Felinae) inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. It is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx. The cheetah achieves by far the fastest land speed of any living animal—between 112 and 120 km/h (70 and 75 mph) in short bursts covering distances up to 500 m (1,600 ft), and has the ability to accelerate from 0 to over 100 km/h (62 mph) in three seconds.
This cat is also notable for modifications in the species' paws. It is one of the only felids with semi-retractable claws, and with pads that, by their scope, disallow gripping. Thus, cheetahs cannot climb upright trees, although they are generally capable of reaching easily accessible branches.
The word "cheetah" is derived from the Sanskrit word citrakāyaḥ, meaning "variegated", via the Hindi चीता cītā.
The genus name, Acinonyx, means "no-move-claw" in Greek, while the species name, jubatus, means "maned" in Latin, a reference to the mane found in cheetah cubs.
