Carnival is a public festival which takes place in many cities and towns in many countries around the world. It was traditionally in February or March each year. Carnival can sometimes last for several weeks. In some places there is only one day of celebration. There are often street parades, bands, costumes and many people wear masks. Carnival is linked to religious traditions in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches, and it is also linked to local customs.

Background

Lent
Many Christian churches have a 40-day "season" of fasting called Lent, in which Christians prepare for Easter which is one of the two most important feasts in the Christian year (the other being Christmas). Easter is in late March or April. Lent always begins on a Wednesday, which is called Ash Wednesday in February or March. On that day, many people go to church and have some ash smeared on their forehead as a sign of sorrow for their sins. Then for 40 days, they try to work hard on improving themselves and thinking about the teachings of Jesus. It is usual for people to "give up" something for Lent. They might stop smoking or stop watching TV so they can spend more time reading the Bible or talking with the family. Many people give up all their favourite foods and have no cake, wine, beer, chocolate, ice cream or other luxury foods.

The name "carnivale" comes from Italian and means "putting aside the flesh". This means that during Lent people were not to think about their "flesh" (their bodies) but do things that were good for their souls. The word "flesh"" also means "meat" so many people would eat no meat during Lent.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday". This was the day just before Lent. The first day of Lent was called Mecredi Meagre meaning "Mean Wednesday". ("Mean" used to mean "poor" and "thin" rather than "nasty".)

During the Middle Ages in Europe, it was normal for people to have a big feast on the Tuesday before the Lenten fast started. In many towns this developed into a big public party, with entertainment in the town square. There is a famous painting by Pieter Bruegel dating from the 1550s and showing the "Battle of Carnival and Lent". (See top of page)

About Pieter Bruegel's famous painting

In this picture by Pieter Bruegel, a man representing Carnival is pushed on a barrel by people in costumes and masks. He is about to do battle with Lent. His weapon is a skewer covered with pieces of roast meat. He balances a blackbird pie on his head. Lent, who is very skinny, fights him with two little fish on a bread-board. The person at the front wears a mask and plays a very noisy instrument called a rummelpott.

Modern celebrations of Carnival

Nowadays many cities and towns around the world celebrate Carnival for a week or more. The final day of the celebration was traditionally Mardi Gras, when there is often a parade. In some cities the Mardi Gras parade is held on the weekend before Lent begins, rather than on the Tuesday, so as not to disturb the business and traffic of the town.

In some towns such as the Belgian town of Binche the preparations for the Carnival are complex and start many weeks before Carnival takes place, with most of the town's people taking part in some way. The Carnival of Binche is listed with UNESCO as an event of great historic importance because it has been held there in almost the same way for more than 500 years.

Carnival is celebrated differently around the world, but there are some things that are similar:
 There is often dressing-up in fancy costumes, which often include masks.
 There is usually a street parade of people and musicians. There may also be floats which are decorated vehicles.
 There is often loud noises, bright colours and scary faces. These are to frighten evil spirits away while people are fasting. A traditional reason that the performers wear masks is so that the evil spirits do not know who they are.

In the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro, which is one of the biggest and most famous in the world, a major feature is the glamorous costumes as both men and women wear bright colours and wonderful headdresses to dance down the street to the sound of many bands. In Rio there are many very large and expensive decorated floats.

In New Orleans the bands are one of the most important parts of the Carnival celebrations. In Düsseldorf in Germany, one of the features of the Carnival parades are the enormous models of politicians and other well-known people. In Sydney, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras which started out as a parade for Sydney's homosexual community, now includes exhibitions, live theatre and competitions, and stretches over two weeks.

In Venice the Carnival was celebrated from December 26 until Lent began. During that time, people were allowed to disguise themselves by wearing masks in the street. In the 1930s this was forbidden by the Italian Government, but in 1980 a mask-makers shop was set up in Venice again. Soon the old tradition was brought back, and now many people dress in costume and wear masks for two weeks before Lent begins.

In Brussels in Belgium, the main Carnival procession is held in the Grande Place, the town square in front of the Gothic Town Hall with its huge tower. Every part of the procession is ruled by a tradition, but some of the traditions are so old that no-one remembers what they mean anymore. At the beginning of the procession is a large group of people dressed in beautiful costumes of silk and velvet, who act out an historic scene of the coming of the King of Spain and his royal court to Brussels 500 years ago. When they have taken their seats, there comes an amazing procession which includes stilt walkers, fire eaters, Goldilocks with a dancing bear, a mad camel, a wizard, lots of men in huge feathery headdresses, and the Archangel Michael whose job is to frighten the Devil. These characters are traditional to Brussels. In every city, the characters that take part are different.

Uruguay
The country of Uruguay in South America is a fun place to be during Carnival. In Uruguay, Carnival has its own special musical performance. During February and March, it is summer in Uruguay. Everybody goes into the streets, from old people to children. There are people dancing, singing, and playing a special kind of music. This kind of dance and music is called murga. People do murga performances in groups. The biggest groups have 17 people. They wear funny clothes with lots of colors. They play the drums and sing. The members of the groups are not professional singers or dancers. They are people with other jobs. Each group prepares and practices their own dance and songs for months. Then, they try to be the best group at the festival. Each group's dance and songs last about 45 minutes. The songs are stories about important people or events in the news, so people think watching murga is like watching a play at the theater.
Uruguay's Carnival started over 100 years ago. It is the world's longest and is about 40 days long. People still work during that time, but in the evenings and on weekends, they enjoy the festival.

Different uses of the word "carnival"

Although the word "carnival" still has its old meaning, it is often used to mean public entertainments of different kinds. Some towns have carnivals that have nothing to do with Lent and are at different times of year. Nowadays there are all sorts of different carnivals. Some of these carnivals, like the Notting Hill Carnival in London and the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival in Australia are very famous.

The word "carnival" is now used for festivals, parades and competitions of all sorts. There are school sports carnivals, folk carnivals, multi-cultural carnivals, horse racing carnivals, wine and food carnivals and boating carnivals.

Related pages
 Christianity
 Advent
 Christmas
 Epiphany (holiday)
 Ash Wednesday
 Lent
 Easter
 Pentecost
 Carnival of Blacks and Whites

Festivals

Carnival


The  Opéra-Comique is an opera house and opera company in Paris. Its full name is théâtre national de l'Opéra-Comique (National Opéra Comic Theatre).

The Opéra-Comique company was started in 1714 to give somewhere to perform French operas. At the time operas throughout Europe were nearly always in Italian. Opéra-comique (literally: Comic opera) was a French tradition. The operas in this tradition were performed with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers. This is why the opera house and company were given that name.

The Opéras-Comiques were more popular and less formal that the traditional Italian operas that were performed at the Académie Royale de Musique. During the three centuries of its existence there have been several changes to it. For a time the Opéra-Comique and the Opéra were organized by the same institution.

The Opéra-Comique put on first performances of many famous operas, especially Bizet's Carmen on 3 March 1875 and Debussy's only opera, Pelléas et Mélisande, on 30 April 1902. Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust was also first performed there on 6 December 1846. That first performance was a disaster.

The building in which the Opéra-Comique performs is called the "salle Favart,". It is not the same building as in 1714. Two previous buildings were burnt down in 1838 and 1887. The present building was built in 1898.

Other websites
 Opéra-Comique website

Opera houses in France
Opera companies
Buildings and structures in Paris
Companies based in Paris

Opéra-Comique


The katepánō (, lit. "[the one] placed at the top", or " the topmost") was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as capetanus/catepan, and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the Italian "capitaneus" (which derives from the Latin word "caput", meaning head). This hybridized term gave rise to the English language term captain and its equivalents in other languages (Capitan, Kapitan, Kapitän, El Capitán, Il Capitano, Kapudan Pasha etc.)

History
The katepáno first appears in the 9th century, when it was used in the generic sense of "the one in charge" by two officials: the head of the basilikoi anthrōpoi ("imperial men"), a class of low-level court functionaries, and the head of the Mardaites marine detachments of the Byzantine naval theme of the Cibyrrhaeots in southern Asia Minor. On the eve of the great eastern conquests of the 960s, however, the title acquired a more specific meaning.

The reconquered frontier zones were divided into smaller themata, and grouped together to form large regional commands, headed either by a doux ("duke") or a katepanō. These were the ducates/katepanates of Antioch, covering the south-eastern frontier in northern Syria, of Mesopotamia in the east around the Euphrates, and of Chaldia in the north-east. During the reign of Emperor Basil II (r. 976–1025), the eastern border was further expanded, and the katepanate of Iberia was established in 1022.

In the West, the most famous katepanate, that of southern Italy, is attested in the Escorial Taktikon, a list of offices compiled circa 971–975, and after the successful conclusion of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars, a katepanō of Bulgaria is also attested. A Serbian catepanate is also attested, which was known as the "katepano of Ras".

With the catastrophic territorial losses suffered during the 11th century, the office disappears in the sense of the overall military commander, but is retained in a more local level: during the Komnenian and Palaiologan periods, the term katepanikion thus comes to denote low-level administrative areas, both in Asia Minor (including the Empire of Trebizond) and Europe.

These were small subdivisions of the earlier themata, and consisted of little more than a fortified capital (the kastron) and its surrounding territory. In the Palaiologan era, the katepanikion was governed by a kephalē (Greek: κεφαλή, "head"), who had supreme civil and military authority within its bounds. Like many other Byzantine institutions, the katepanikion as an administrative subdivision was also adopted in the Second Bulgarian Empire.

See also

 Capitan (disambiguation)
 Captain (disambiguation)
 El Capitan (disambiguation)
 Catepanate of Serbia

References

Sources

Further reading

Byzantine military offices
Greek words and phrases
Late Roman military ranks

Katepano


Cash is a form of currency, such as banknotes or coins. There is usually different sorts in every country.

Bookkeeping and finance
In bookkeeping and finance, cash can also refer to checks, money orders, cashier's checks, bank drafts, or traveler's checks. In all these forms, the term indicates the most liquid form of assets, which have a fixed value and can be easily converted to currency: "ready money".  For example, wages or salaries paid as "cash" (as opposed to, e.g., stock options) would in most countries normally be paid with checks or direct bank deposits, which are trivially convertible to currency.

Currency

Cash


Portal is a puzzle video game made by Valve Corporation set inside the Half-Life series. It was originally sold in The Orange Box, a game collection deal which came with the Valve-made games Portal, Half-Life 2, and Team Fortress 2. It is now sold by itself and is available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Mac and PC.

The player plays as a woman named Chell who has to go though tests while being watched by a computer named GLaDOS, an acronym for Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System. GLaDOS provides all of the game's dialog and is known for being clever, funny, and sarcastic, promising the player character a cake if all of the tests are finished. GLaDOS and the testing rooms were created by a company called Aperture Science, which competes with Black Mesa. The player must use a gun, called the Portal Gun, that makes two linked holes, called portals, to solve puzzles. The two portals, one blue and one orange, are linked together and let the player get from one place to another. When the player enters the blue portal, they will come out of the orange portal. When the player enters the orange portal, they will come out of the blue portal.

Portal has many jokes in it that have become popular on the internet, for example, "the cake is a lie". Because the game was very popular, Valve made a sequel in 2011, called Portal 2.

Plot
The game starts with Chell waking up in a small glass room that has only a bed, a toilet, and a radio inside. She is told by GLaDOS that testing will start soon, and an orange portal opens on one of the walls. Once the player goes through, she enters the testing rooms and begins testing. There are 20 testing rooms, called Test Chambers, in all.

The tests start out simple. Chell has to pick up boxes, called Weighted Storage Cubes (Cubes for short), and put them on buttons, which will open the door to the exit of the chamber. At this point, GLaDOS speaks to Chell as a guide, praises her, and promises her cake when the tests are over. Near the beginning of the game, Chell gets the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, also known as the Portal Gun. At first, her Portal Gun only makes blue portals and the orange portals are made by GLaDOS. Later, Chell gets the full Portal Gun and can make both blue and orange portals.

The tests become more and more dangerous farther into the game. In some rooms, there is poison on the floor. In others, there are balls of electricity called High Energy Pellets which will kill Chell if she touches them. During these tests, GLaDOS becomes more and more sarcastic, giving Chell useless advice, such as "The floor here will kill you. Try to avoid it." At one point, GLaDOS tells Chell a chamber is broken and she must go through a chamber full of sentry guns, called Turrets, instead. If a Turret sees Chell, it will shoot at her until she dies. In this chamber is a hidden room. In the hidden room are drawings and writing on the walls left by an unknown person. The writing says things like "the cake is a lie" and "she's always watching" with a picture of a camera. There are more rooms like this in later chambers.

In another chamber, Chell has to use the Weighted Companion Cube, which looks like a Weighted Storage Cube with hearts on it, to solve the test. During the test, GLaDOS tells Chell several times that the Companion Cube is not alive, but at the end of the test, she tells Chell she has to "kill" the Companion Cube to get to the next test.

During the last test, Chell has to stand on a moving platform. At the end of the platform's track, it will carry her into a fire pit. GLaDOS thanks Chell for doing the tests. At the last minute, Chell uses her Portal Gun to escape the trap. While trying to escape the building, Chell is led into a room where she finds GLaDOS. Chell breaks a white ball that fell out of GLaDOS. GLaDOS tells her she was stupid to break it because they did not know what it was, but GLaDOS quickly figures out it was her morality core. She tells Chell the people who worked for Aperture Science installed it to make her stop killing them with "Deadly Neuro-Toxin". Because Chell broke it, GLaDOS can use the Neuro-Toxin again. Chell has a time limit of 6 minutes to kill GLaDOS before the Neuro-Toxin kills Chell. After breaking pieces off of her and burning them, GLaDOS is destroyed and Chell escapes the building.

After Chell escapes, she faints, and a robot drags her back into the building. During the credits, GLaDOS sings a song called "Still Alive" written by Jonathan Coulton, that says even though Chell killed her, she is still alive.

Gameplay
Portal is a first-person shooter game, which means that it is played from the view of the player character, Chell. When players get the fully-powered portal gun, they can make two portals that are linked together on some white surfaces. Chell starts out with nothing, only able to do what GLaDOS lets her, such as entering portals created by GLaDOS and using cubes that GLaDOS gives her. Once Chell gets a half-powered portal gun, she can fire a blue portal that connects to orange portals that GLaDOS puts in the rooms. When Chell gets the fully-powered portal gun, she can put both portals anywhere.

The portals are linked, making a tunnel that Chell can walk through. The tunnel works in both directions, so if Chell enters a blue portal, she will exit from an orange portal, and if she enters an orange portal, she will exit from a blue portal. The purpose of the portals is to make shortcuts to different areas, for example, if the player needs to get to a high ledge but is unable to jump to it, they can put a blue portal at their level and fire an orange portal above the ledge. Going through those portals will get the player onto the ledge.

The portals can be used in different ways, notably as a way to catapult Chell. If the player cannot put a portal on a high ledge but can put one on a wall across from the ledge and one on the floor below, these portals can be used to propel Chell forward far enough to reach the ledge. This is because portals do not affect forward momentum. When Chell enters the portal in the floor and exits the portal in the wall, she will fall, gaining speed. If she goes through the portal on the floor again while falling, she will be going fast enough that when she exits the wall portal again, she will be able to land on the ledge.

The different ways the portals work together mean there are multiple ways to solve the puzzles in the Test Chambers.

Related pages
Half-Life (video game)
Portal 2
Half-Life 2

References

Puzzle video games
Shooter video games
2007 video games
Platform games

Portal (video game)


A dialect continuum is a group of language dialects that change over an area. In a dialect continuum, two dialects are more different when they are farther away from each other. People in the dialect continuum who are nearby may understand each other when they speak. People far away from each other may have trouble understanding each other or may not understand each other at all. For example if a certain area speaks in a specific accent, it would be difficult for people from the same region but different area to understand and communicate.

Language

Dialect continuum


Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950) is a Welsh folk singer. She was born in Pontardawe. She was most famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Her first and biggest hit was "Those Were The Days" in 1968.

When The Beatles started their own record label called Apple Records, they were looking for new artists to sign up. Twiggy, a model and friend of the band, recommended her. After Hopkin signed with Apple, Beatle Paul McCartney produced many of the songs for her first album, called Post Card. Singer-songwriters Donovan and Harry Nilsson, and record producer George Martin, also gave her songs to record.

"Those Were The Days" was McCartney's choice for Hopkin's first single. He chose well, and the song became a hit worldwide. Hopkin recorded other singles, including "Goodbye", "Temma Harbour", "Knock, Knock, Who's There", and a remake of Doris Day's "Qué Sera, Sera", but they were not as successful as her first record. McCartney moved on to a solo career after the Beatles disbanded, and no longer worked with her. Hopkin's second album, Earth Song/Ocean Song, was largely self-produced.

Hopkin disliked the way Apple Records had promoted her, as a kind of "squeaky-clean" schoolgirl. She left the label after two albums and a best-of compilation, also titled Those Were the Days. She retired from music after marrying producer Tony Visconti, but she did appear as a background singer on a few of his productions.

During the 1990s, Apple Records reissued many of their old records, including Hopkin's two original albums. She oversaw a new version of Those Were the Days, with bonus tracks and a detailed booklet.

References

Other websites
Official page

1950 births
Living people
British folk musicians
Musicians from Glamorgan
Welsh singers

Mary Hopkin


Roger Frank Tomlinson  (17 November 1933 – 7 February 2014) was an English-Canadian geographer and the primary originator of modern geographic information systems (GIS), and has been acknowledged as the "father of GIS."

Biography
Roger Tomlinson was a native of Newmarket, England, and prior to attending university, he served in the Royal Air Force from 1951–1954 as a pilot and flying officer.

After his military service, Dr. Tomlinson attended the University of Nottingham and Acadia University for two separate undergraduate degrees in geography and geology, respectively.  He received a master's degree in geography from McGill University where he specialised in the glacial geomorphology of Labrador. His Doctoral thesis at University College London was titled: The application of electronic computing methods and techniques to the storage, compilation, and assessment of mapped data.

Dr. Tomlinson's early career included serving as an assistant professor at Acadia, working as the manager of the computer mapping division at Spartan Air Services in Ottawa, Ontario (following his studies at McGill), and work with the Government of Canada first as a consultant and later as a director of regional planning systems with the Department of Forestry and Rural Development.

It was during his tenure in the 1960s with Ottawa-based aerial survey company Spartan Air Services that Dr. Tomlinson conceptualized combining land use mapping with emerging computer technology. This pioneering work led him to initiate, plan and direct the development of the Canada Geographic Information System, the first computerised GIS in the world.

From the 1970s until his death, Dr. Tomlinson worked in geographic consulting and research for a variety of private sector, government, and non-profit organisations, largely through his Ottawa-based company, Tomlinson Associates Ltd., which has branches of consulting geographers in Canada, the United States, and Australia.

He was Chairman of the International Geographical Union GIS Commission for 12 years. He pioneered the concepts of worldwide geographical data availability as Chairman of the IGU Global Database Planning Project in 1988. He was also a president of the Canadian Association of Geographers.

Awards and honours
He was recipient of Canadian Association of Geographers rare award for Service to the Profession. The Association of American Geographers in the United States awarded him the James R. Anderson Medal of Honor for Applied Geography in 1995 and he was the first recipient of the Robert T. Aangeenbrug Distinguished Career Award in 2005.

Dr. Tomlinson was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and winner of their Murchison Award for the Development of Geographic Information Systems. In 1996 he was awarded the GIS World Lifetime Achievement Award for a lifetime of work with GIS, and he was the first recipient of the ESRI Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. In 2004, in recognition of his numerous achievements in the industry, the GIS Certification Institute awarded Dr. Tomlinson the GISP Certificate for Lifetime GIS Achievement and he was inducted into URISA's GIS Hall of Fame  and awarded lifetime membership. In 2010 Tomlinson received the Alexander Graham Bell Medal of the National Geographic Society (together with Jack Dangermond). In 2011, he was presented with an Honorary Membership in the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors.
Tomlinson also received the Geospatial Information & Technology Association Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2013, Tomlinson was awarded a Fellow of the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science.

More recently, he was made a fellow of University College London and received honorary Doctorates of Science from the University of Nottingham, Acadia University, McGill University, and the University of Lethbridge.  He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and was awarded the Order of Canada by the Governor General for "changing the face of geography as a discipline." In 2013, he was promoted to Officer of the Order of Canada by the Governor General.

References

External links
Interview with Dr. Tomlinson in ESRI News Fall 2001 issue
Announcement from McGill University granting Dr. Tomlinson an honorary Doctor of Science degree at the May 31, 2006 convocation.
Videos of Dr. Tomlinson from the video.esri.com site
Conversation with Dr. Tomlinson from 2009

1933 births
2014 deaths
Military personnel from Cambridgeshire
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Royal Air Force officers
People from Cambridge
Military personnel from Ottawa
Officers of the Order of Canada
English geographers
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
Acadia University alumni
Academic staff of Acadia University
McGill University Faculty of Science alumni
Alumni of University College London
Geographic information scientists
Royal Canadian Geographical Society fellows
National Geographic Society medals recipients

Roger Tomlinson


Claude-Sébastien de Villieu (fl. 1674–1705) was a French military officer best known for his service in New France.  In addition to service during King William's War, he served for a time as military governor of Acadia.

According to his own statement, he served for fifteen years on the battlefields of Europe, beginning in 1674, before coming to New France.  He participated in the defense of Quebec when it was attacked by New England colonists in 1690.  In 1692 he married Judith Leneuf, the daughter of Michel Leneuf de La Vallière de Beaubassin. He led French forces in the 1694 raid on Durham, New Hampshire, after which he was rewarded with command of Fort Nashwaak (at present-day Fredericton, New Brunswick).  He participated with Jean-Vincent d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin in Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's successful Siege of Pemaquid in 1696.  The ship carrying him from Pemaquid (in present-day Bristol, Maine) was captured, and he was imprisoned in Boston.  Eventually released back to France, he returned to Acadia, where he served as the temporary governor from July 1700 to December 1701 after the death of governor Robineau de Villebon.

Little is known of the rest of his life.  He was known to have difficult relations with his superiors, but was popular with the people in Acadia.

References

External links

Military history of Acadia
Military history of Nova Scotia
Military history of New England
Military history of Canada
Governors of Acadia
French military personnel of the Nine Years' War
People of New France

Claude-Sébastien de Villieu


Conrad II of Luxembourg (died 1136) was count of Luxembourg (1131–1136), in succession to his father William, Count of Luxembourg.  His mother was Mathilde or Luitgarde of Northeim.

He married Ermengarde, daughter of count Otto II, Count of Zutphen. Conrad II died without a male heir, and so the county of Luxembourg reverted to the Holy Roman Emperor.  The emperor in turn did not wish the county to be ruled by Conrad's closest relative Henri de Grandpré, who was a French lord and so might align the county with the kingdom of France, and so granted it to Henry of Namur, a cousin of Conrad's.

1136 deaths
Counts of Luxembourg
Year of birth unknown
House of Luxembourg
12th-century counts in Europe

Conrad II, Count of Luxembourg


Ratified on December 15, 1791, the Eighth Amendment (Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is a part of the United States Bill of Rights. This amendment has three parts that each grant specific rights. The excessive bail clause limits excessive bail for any person arrested for a crime but has not yet been placed on trial. The excessive fines clause is intended to limit fines imposed by state and federal governments on persons who have been convicted of a crime. The most controversial and most important part is the cruel and unusual punishment clause. The Eighth Amendment applies to criminal punishment and not to most civil procedures.

Text

Background
The wording of the Eighth Amendment is almost the same as three of the provisions in the English Bill of Rights of 1689. These provisions were based on the case of Titus Oates, whose lies under oath caused the execution of many innocent people. Because the English authorities did not want to make honest people fear to give evidence in court, he was not put to death. While his punishment included those considered ordinary at the time, the combination of these punishments were applied in an excessive and brutal way. Oates was convicted of sedition, thrown into prison to remain there. However, after James II of England became king in 1685, he was tried again, this time for perjury. In addition to being imprisoned for life, he was to be "whipped through the streets of London five days a year for the remainder of his life." The first use of the provision of the English Bill of Rights was the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776.

Excessive bail clause
Bail is the amount of money, property or bond that a defendant has to give to the court to guarantee his or her appearance at trial. The bail put up by the defendant may be recovered at the end of the trial. But if a defendant fails to appear at the time the trial is scheduled, the bail is forfeited and the defendant may face additional penalties. A judge, when setting the amount of bail, has to consider several factors. These include the nature of the offense, how much evidence there is against the accused and what ties the defendant has to the community. The judge must also take into account the defendant's ability to pay the amount of the bail and how likely it is the defendant will simply flee and not stand trial. All defendants are presumed innocent. Setting bail for an unreasonable amount would restrict the freedom and ability of the defendant to make a living as well as make it difficult to support his or her family.

Excessive fines clause
This clause limits the government's power to set fines, which are payments for a punishment or offense. The amount of the fine must be proportional to the seriousness of the offense. A fine violates this clause if it is grossly disproportional to the nature of the defendant's offense.

In 1993, in Austin v. United States, the United States Supreme Court ruled that this clause applied also to civil procedures. In doing this the Court reversed not only its own previous rulings but also those by several circuit courts of appeal.

Cruel and unusual punishments clause
The phrase "cruel and unusual punishments" was first used in 1789 in the English Bill of Rights. In 1776, George Mason added it to the Virginia Declaration of Rights. In 1791, this same prohibition became the central part of the Eighth Amendment. Patrick Henry was among those who argued that prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment should be part of the Bill of Rights. Otherwise the new federal government could use torture to get confessions. Torture was still being used at the time by Spain, France and Germany. The United States should not follow their example. Because of these arguments this was added to the Eighth Amendment. Very few would disagree that the use of rack, thumbscrews or the gibbet are cruel and unusual punishments and clearly violate the Eighth Amendment. But past that point it becomes controversial as to what is and what is not cruel and unusual punishment.

Cruel and unusual punishment was not clearly defined when the Eighth Amendment was passed. But it was discussed. Representative Livermore pointed out on the floor of the House of Representatives that the wording was vague. He asked: "It is sometimes necessary to hang a man, villains often deserve a whipping, and perhaps having their ears cut off, but are we in the future to be prevented from inflicting those punishments because they are 'cruel'?" But despite his objections the vague language was left in the amendment.

In 1910, in Weems v. United States, the Supreme Court admitted that "what constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment has not been exactly decided." The Supreme Court began using the "evolving standards of decency" test. In Trop v Dulles (1958) the Court agreed with the view that what are prohibited "cruel and unusual punishments" should change over time based on punishments that offend society's "evolving sense of decency." Very recently the courts have been reluctant to keep the term "unusual" in their judicial interpretations.

Originalists find that evaluating whether a punishment is cruel and unusual still come under the evolving standards test and public opinion. In Coker v. Georgia (1977) the Supreme Court held that the death penalty is unconstitutional for those convicted of rape. This was based largely on the fact only one of the 50 states used this sentence. Even then, juries in that state did not use it very often.

Waterboarding has been seen as torture since the Spanish Inquisition. US Soldiers who were caught waterboarding in the Philippines in 1901, or during the Vietnam War, in 1968, were put on trial. When done by other governments the US has not failed to call it torture. The Bush administration maintained it was not bound by the constitutional test outside of the United States. Justice Antonin Scalia had said in an interview with the BBC that he did not see anything in the constitution that prohibited torture of detainees. Not when it was for the purpose of gaining information. He said it would be unconstitutional if it were inflicted as a punishment, however. At his inauguration in 2009, US President Barack Obama pledged to end "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the CIA and to close Guantánamo through executive orders.

Notes

References

United States Bill of Rights
08

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution


A loch is a muckle bit o watter (mair bigger an deeper nor a dub or pownd) athin a bit o land. A smaw loch is cawed a lochan.

Lochs comes in twa kynds:

 A bit o watter hailly surroondit by land. Acause this kynd o loch isna connectit tae ony ocean, it isna a sea. Some lochs is gey big an fowk in the past whiles cryed thaim seas (e.g Caspian Sea). Lochs disna flowe, like rivers, but rivers aften flowes intil or oot o thaim.
 A sea loch is a name uised for a firth. Acause thae is connectit tae the ocean, thay are sautwatter lochs.

References

Loch


In politics, the party leader is the most powerful official within a political party. The party leader is typically responsible for managing the party's relationship with the general public. As such, he or she b.v.will be the person in the party the most responsible for convincing the electorate to vote for the party.

In many representative democracies, party leaders compete directly for high political office. For example, leaders of parties in presidential and semi-presidential republics will often run for President. In parliamentary systems of government, party leaders typically seek to become prime minister. In these countries, the party leader will try to be elected to the legislature, and, if elected, to simultaneously serve as the party's parliamentary leader.

Government occupations

Party leader


A superclass is a level in the Linnaean taxonomy for biology. Normally the classification of a phylum runs phylum > class > order etc. Sometimes steps are needed between the main terms. A superclass is composed of one or more classes, and ranks below a subphylum. The tetrapods, for example, are part of the subphylum of vertebrates.

Taxonomy

Superclass (biology)


Events
 February 6 – The Virginia Minstrels perform the first minstrel show (Bowery Amphitheatre, New York City).
 February 8 – Earthquakes in Guadeloupe magnitude 8.5, 5000 people reported killed.
 February 11 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi premieres in Milan.
 May 18 – The Disruption of the Church of Scotland took place in Edinburgh.
 May 22 – The first major wagon train headed for the northwest sets out with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail.
 July 19 – The SS Great Britain is launched from Bristol.
 August 15  – Tivoli Gardens,  one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opened in Copenhagen, Denmark.
 October 13 – In New York City, Henry Jones and 11 others found B'nai B'rith (the oldest Jewish service organization in the world).
 November 28 – Ka La Ku'oko'a: Hawaiian Independence Day.  The Kingdom of Hawai`i was officially recognized by the United Kingdom and France as an independent nation.
 The world's first commercial Christmas cards are printed by Sir Henry Cole in London.
 December 17 – First publication of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
 James Joule quantifies the conversion of work into heat.
 In Barbados, the first black man, Samuel Jackson Prescod, is elected to the House of Assembly.
 The Danish government re-establishes the althing in Iceland as an advisory body.
 The first tunnel under the Thames is finished.
 Argentina supports Rosas of Uruguay and begins a siege of Montevideo.
 Quaternions are discovered by William Rowan Hamilton.
 The Economist is first published.
 Bishop's University is founded.
 Abbeville is founded by descendants of Acadians from Nova Scotia.

 January 1 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (b. 1779)

1843


August Leimbach (February 12, 1882 – December 18, 1965) was a German-American sculptor. A native of Elberfeld, he studied art and sculpture, and after immigrating to the United States in 1910, he quickly settled in the St.Louis area and worked passionately as an architectural sculptor.

August Leimbach provided much decorative architectural sculpture for the Panama–Pacific International Exposition, San Francisco, but is best remembered for his work with Arlene B. Nichols Moss and the Daughters of the American Revolution in the creation of the Madonna of the Trail monument in 1927. The material, a cast composite stone called "Aldonite" was selected before the sculptor was chosen and the design approved. Twelve monuments were cast and placed in twelve designated cities across the United States, marking the National Old Trails Highway from Bethesda, Maryland to Upland, California. The sculpture itself are representative of the strength, courage, and role of the pioneer woman in establishing the early western territories. Each monument were dedicated in their respective state in 1928 and 1929.

Leimbach died at age 83 and is buried next to his wife Frieda in Michelstadt, Germany.

References

External links
August Leimbach | Main Page
Madonna of the Trail Sculpture | Main Page

1882 births
1965 deaths
German sculptors
German male sculptors
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States

August Leimbach


Whistling by people can be done without a whistle. Hard to describe, it is done by creating a small opening with one's lips and then blowing or sucking air through the hole. The air is moderated by the lips, curled tongue, teeth or fingers (placed over the mouth).

The use of pursed lips, tongue and sometimes fingers is to create turbulence The curled tongue acts as a resonant chamber, acting as a type of Helmholtz resonator. The art of whistling is a hard task to accomplish but is much easier once mastered.

Whistling is done to make people at a distance hear your signal. Sometimes used to call a cab, it can be used in dense forest or on hill-tops. It is a non-verbal method of communication which says, in effect, "take notice, I'm here". Whistling is widely used by shepherds to control their dogs.

References

Non-verbal communication

Stubs
Sound

Whistling


Creationism is the religious belief that the universe was created in the way described in religious books. According to Genesis, God directly created life from the nothingness that was before, by fixing the chaos that was.  Other religions have different creation myths.  The first approach is known as creatio ex nihilo, which is the Latin name for creation from nothing.

The idea that God created the world has been taught for thousands of years by writers such as Augustine of Hippo.

Creationism as it is known today started in the 19th century by fundamentalist Protestants who were opposed to the theories that scientists began to put forward about geology and evolution.

In the 20th century, creationist movements also started in Islam and Judaism.

Belief
Creationists do not believe that all of today's living things came about from simple organisms changing or evolving slowly over time. They  believe that life was created much as it is today, and that one form of life cannot change into another. While biologists and paleontologists say that fossils are different from the life we see today, and can be put into order to show changes over time. Young Earth Creationism says life was created in a short time, in its current form. They point to the Flood of Noah to account for most rock formations and most fossils. There is also an Old Earth creationism.

Christian Creationism
Young Earth Creationism goes completely against conventional geochronology. This kind of creationism says God created the earth roughly 6,000 or 10,000 years ago as told in Genesis. Young Earth Creationists believe that God created the world in six days (with God resting on the seventh) as the Book of Genesis says.  Young Earth Creationism says that Noah's flood is important to creationism. They argue that "the first buried fossils of each group are complete and complex (complicated), strong support for the biblical concept (idea) that each kind of life was created well designed to multiply after its own kind." They believe that the Bible is literally true (see Biblical inerrancy).  Some people say a problem with this is that fossils appear in layers called strata.
Fossils that paleontologists believe evolved earlier are found in rocks that geologists think are older.
Fossils that paleontologists believe evolved later are found in different rocks that geologists think are younger.
If fossils were of animals drowned in the flood scientists think they would be mixed together. Christian creationists say this happened because of the Noahic Flood, and point to fossils of animals that died quickly. They offer many defenses. Some of these are:1. Fossils that were buried quickly, as in Lagerstätten. One fossil Creationists talk about is where one fish is eating another fish when it was buried.2. Polystrate fossils are fossils that go through multiple rock layers. Christian scientists say this can't happen if the rock layers were formed quickly3. Bent rock layers are rock layers that are bent in a way that Christian scientists say can not happen over millions of years. Christians say there are a lot of these.Other creationists believe God created everything between 13,000  and 14,000 million years ago.  This is called Old Earth Creationism.

Creationists point to the perfection of Earth's size, shape, and distance as designed by God, and Earth's imperfections as proofs that the Earth is dirtied by humans' sin.

The term creationism can be used with more than one meaning.
Sometimes creationism means that God created life and evolution did not happen.
Other times creationism means just that God created everything but this could have happened long ago and theistic evolution may have happened.

Liberal Christians do not believe in Biblical inerrancy and say God used evolution to create mankind and other life. This idea is called theistic evolution.

Islamic Creationism
Islamic creationism is the belief that the universe (including humanity) was directly created by Allah as in the Qur'an. Currently, Islam takes religious texts literally. Many scholars say that Genesis is a corrupted version of God's message.
There is also a creation myth in the Qu'ran, but it is more vague than Genesis. This allows for more interpretation. Several liberal movements within Islam generally accept the scientific positions on the age of the earth, the age of the universe and evolution.

Islam also has its own form of Theistic evolution, which says that mainstream scientific analysis of the origin of the universe is supported by the Qur'an. Many liberal Muslims believe in evolutionary creationism.

Khalid Anees, president of the Islamic Society of Britain attended a conference called 'Creationism: Science and Faith in Schools'. During that conference, he made points including the following:  There is no contradiction between what is revealed in the Quran and natural selection and survival of the fittest. However, some Muslims, such as Adnan Oktar, do not agree that one species can develop from another. Other Muslims do believe that one species can develop from another.

But there is also a growing movement of Islamic creationism. Like the movement in Christianity, Islamic creationists are concerned that the findings of evolutionary theory might contradict what is written in the Qu'ran.

There are several verses in the Qur'an which some modern writers have interpreted as being compatible with the expansion of the universe, Big Bang and Big Crunch theories:

"Do the disbelievers not realize that the heavens and earth were ˹once˺ one mass then We split them apart? And We created from water every living thing. Will they not then believe?"

"Then He turned towards the heaven when it was ˹still like˺ smoke, saying to it and to the earth, 'Submit, willingly or unwillingly.' They both responded, 'We submit willingly.'"

"We built the universe with ˹great˺ might, and We are certainly expanding ˹it˺."

"On that Day We will roll up the heavens like a scroll of writings. Just as We produced the first creation, ˹so˺ shall We reproduce it. That is a promise binding on Us. We truly uphold ˹Our promises˺!"

Baha'i creationism
The Bahá'í Faith considers the creation narratives in previous Abrahamic religions to be symbolic and not literal. Bahá'í Faith also accepts that the Earth is ancient. Baha'ullah existed at the same time as Charles Darwin, so was aware of Darwin's works.

Scientific criticism
Religious communities in the United States encourage the inclusion of supernatural explanations of the origins
of both life and the universe as a whole.
Evolution was not included in school textbooks until the 1960s.
In 1987, the United States Supreme Court acknowledged creationism is not scientific, and
should not be taught in public schools.

Related pages
 Human timeline
 Life timeline
 Nature timeline
Fundamentalism

References

Other websites

 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Creationism
 How creationism works
 Creation and Evolution Both?  Examines whether Biblical creation and neo-darwinistic evolution can be reconciled.
 Evolution, Creationism & ID Timeline  Focuses on major historical and recent events in the scientific and political debate
 Evolution Sciences versus Doctrines of Creationism and Intelligent Design
 . A Guide for Museum Docents
 What is creationism? from talk.origins.
 The Creation/Evolution Continuum  by Eugenie Scott.
 Armies of the Night  by Isaac Asimov.
 Workers have stake in defending science a materialist statement on creationism by The Militant, 2005.
 Edward J. Larson and Larry Witham Leading scientists still reject God in Nature, Vol. 394, No. 6691 (1998), p. 313. Online at Freethought-web.org
 Creationism: The Hindu View
 Biologos is a Christian organization that sees evolution as factual.

Intelligent design

Creationism


Hungarians are the largest ethnic minority in Slovakia. According to the 2021 Slovak census, 456,154 people (or 8.37% of the population) declared themselves Hungarian, while 462,175 (8.48% of the population) stated that Hungarian was their mother tongue.

Hungarians in Slovakia are concentrated mostly in the southern part of the country, near the border with Hungary. They form the majority in two districts, Komárno and Dunajská Streda.

History

The First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–1938)

Origins of the Hungarian minority
After the defeat of the Central Powers on the Western Front in 1918, the Treaty of Trianon was signed between the winning Entente powers and Hungary in 1920 at the Paris Peace Conference. The treaty greatly reduced the Kingdom of Hungary's borders, including ceding all of Upper Hungary to Czechoslovakia, in which Slovaks made up the dominant ethnicity. In consideration of the strategic and economic interests of their new ally, Czechoslovakia, the victorious allies set the Czechoslovak–Hungarian border further south than the Slovak–Hungarian language border. Consequently, the newly created state contained areas that were overwhelmingly ethnic Hungarian.

Demographics

According to the 1910 census conducted in Austria-Hungary, there were 884,309 ethnic Hungarians, constituting 30.2% of the population in what is now Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine. The Czechoslovak census of 1930 recorded 571,952 Hungarians. In the 2001 census, by contrast, the percentage of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia was 9.7%, a decrease of two-thirds in percentage but not in absolute number, which remained roughly the same.

Czechoslovak and Hungarian censuses are often used in political discussions, but they were not fully compliant and they did not measure the same data. According to the official Hungarian definition from 1900, a "mother tongue" was defined as a language "considered by a person as his own, the best spoken and mostly preferred". This definition did not match the real definition of mother tongue, introduced subjective factors dependent on environment and opened the way for various interpretations. Further, in the atmosphere of raising magyarization, a person could be at risk if he did not declare Hungarian to be his favourite for a census commissar. Between 1880 and 1910, the Hungarian population increased by 55.9%, while Slovak population increased by only 5.5% though Slovaks had a higher birth rate at the same time. The level of differences does not explain this process by emigration (higher among Slovaks) or by population moves and natural assimilation during industrialization. In 16 northern counties, the Hungarian population rose by 427,238, while the majority Slovak population rose only by 95,603. The number of "Hungarians who can speak Slovak" unusually increased in a time when Hungarians really had no motivation to learn it – by 103,445 in southern Slovakia in absolute numbers, by 100% in Pozsony, Nyitra, Komárom, Bars and Zemplén County and more than 3 times in Košice. After the creation of Czechoslovakia, people could declare their nationality more freely.

Furthermore, censuses from the Kingdom of Hungary and Czechoslovakia differed in their view on the nationality of the Jewish population. Czechoslovakia allowed Jews to declare a separate Jewish nationality, while Jews were counted mostly as Hungarians in the past. In 1921, 70,529 people declared Jewish nationality.

The population of larger towns like Košice or Bratislava were historically bilingual or trilingual, and some might declare the most-popular or the most-beneficial nationality at a particular time. According to the Czechoslovak censuses, 15–20% of the population in Košice was Hungarian, but during the parliamentary elections, the "ethnic" Hungarian parties received 35–45% of the total votes (excluding those Hungarians who voted for the Communists or the Social Democrats). However, such comparisons are not fully reliable, because "ethnic" Hungarian parties did not necessarily present themselves to Slovak population as "ethnic", and also had Slovak subsidiaries.

Hungarian state employees who refused to take an oath of allegiance had to decide between retirement and moving to Hungary. The same applied to Hungarians who did not receive Czechoslovak citizenship, who were forced to leave or simply did not self-identify with the new state. Two examples of people forced to leave were the families of Béla Hamvas and Albert Szent-Györgyi. The numerous refugees (including even more from Romania) necessitated the construction of new housing projects in Budapest (Mária-Valéria telep, Pongrácz-telep), which gave shelter to refugees numbering at least in the tens of thousands.

Education
At the beginning of the school year 1918–19, Slovakia had 3,642 elementary schools. Only 141 schools taught in Slovak, 186 in Slovak and Hungarian and 3,298 in Hungarian. After system reform, Czechoslovakia provided an educational network for the region. Due to the lack of qualified personnel among Slovaks – a lack of schools above elementary level, banned grammar schools and no Slovak teacher institutes – Hungarian teachers were replaced in large numbers by Czechs. Some Hungarian teachers resolved their existential question by moving to Hungary. According to government regulation from 28 August 1919, Hungarian teachers were permitted to teach only if they took an oath of allegiance to Czechoslovakia.

In the early years of Czechoslovakia, the Hungarian minority in Slovakia had a complete education network, except for canceled colleges. The Czechoslovak Ministry of Education derived its policy from international agreements signed after the end of World War I. In the area inhabited by the Hungarian minority, Czechoslovakia preserved untouched the network of Hungarian municipal or denominational schools. However, these older schools inherited from Austria-Hungary were frequently crowded, under-funded, and less attractive than new, well-equipped Slovak schools built by the state. In the school year 1920–21, the Hungarian minority had 721 elementary schools, which only decreased by one in the next 3 years. Hungarians had also 18 higher "burgher" schools, 4 grammar schools and 1 teacher institute.  In the school year 1926–27, there were 27 denominational schools which can also be classified as minority schools, because none of them taught in Slovak. Hungarian representatives criticized the mainly reduced number of secondary schools.

In the 1930s, Hungarians had 31 kindergartens, 806 elementary schools, 46 secondary schools, and 576 Hungarian libraries at schools. A department of Hungarian literature was created at the Charles University of Prague.

Hungarian Elisabeth Science University, founded in 1912 and teaching since 1914 (with interruptions during war), was replaced by Comenius University to fulfil demands for qualified experts in Slovakia. Hungarian professors had refused to take an oath of allegiance and the original school was closed by government decree; as in other cases, teachers were replaced by Czech professors. Comenius University remained the only university in inter-war Slovakia.

Culture

The Hungarian minority participated in a press boom in Czechoslovakia between wars. Before the creation of Czechoslovakia, 220 periodicals were issued in the territory of Slovakia, 38 of them in Slovak. During the interwar period, the number of Slovak and Czech periodicals in Slovakia increased to more than 1,050, while the number of periodicals in minority languages (mostly Hungarian) increased almost to 640 (only a small portion of these were published through the entire interwar period).

The Czechoslovak state preserved and financially supported two Hungarian professional theatre companies in Slovakia, and an additional one in Carpathian Ruthenia. Hungarian cultural life was maintained in regional cultural associations like Jókai Society, Toldy Group or Kazinczy Group. In 1931, the Hungarian Scientific, Literary and Artistic Society in Czechoslovakia (Masaryk's Academy) was founded on the initiative of the Czechoslovak president. Hungarian culture and literature was covered by journals like Magyar Minerva, Magyar Irás, Új Szó and Magyar Figyelő. The last of these had the goal to develop Czech–Slovak–Hungarian literary relationships and a common Czechoslovak consciousness.  Hungarian books were published by several literary societies and Hungarian publishers, though not in great number.

Policy

The democratization of Czechoslovakia extended political rights of the Hungarian population in comparison to the Kingdom of Hungary before 1918.  Czechoslovakia introduced universal suffrage, while full women's suffrage was not achieved in Hungary until 1945. The first Czechoslovak parliamentary elections had 90% voter-turnout in Slovakia. After the Treaty of Trianon, the Hungarian minority lost illusions about a "temporary state" and had to adapt to a new situation. Hungarian political structures in Czechoslovakia were formed relatively late and finalized their formation only in the mid-1920s. The political policy of the Hungarian minority can be categorized by their attitude to the Czechoslovak state and peace treaties into three main directions: activists, communists, and negativists.

Hungarian "activists" saw their future in cohabitation and cooperation with the majority population. They had a pro-Czechoslovak orientation and supported the government. In the early 1920s, they founded separate political parties and were later active in Hungarian sections of Czechoslovak state-wide parties.  The pro-Czechoslovak Hungarian National Party (not to be confused with a different Hungarian National Party formed later) participated in the parliamentary elections of 1920, but failed. In 1922, the Czechoslovak government proposed correction of some injustices against minorities in exchange for absolute loyalty and recognition of the Czechoslovak state. Success of activism culminated in the mid-1920s. In 1925, the Hungarian National Party participated in the adoption of several important laws, including those regulating state citizenship. In 1926, the party unsuccessfully held negations about participation in government. Left-wing Hungarian activists were active in the Hungarian-German Social Democratic Party and later in the Hungarian Social Democratic Labour Party. Hungarian social democrats failed in competition with communists but were active as a Hungarian section of the Czechoslovak Social Democracy Party (ČSDD). In 1923, Hungarian activists with agrarian orientation founded the Republican Association of Hungarian Peasants and Smallholders but this party failed similarly to the Hungarian-minority's Provincial Peasant Party. Like social-democrats, Hungarian agrarians created a separate section within the state-wide Agrarian Party (A3C). Hungarian activism had a stable direction but was not able to become dominant power due to various reasons like land reform or revisionist policies of the Hungarian government.

The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) had above-average support among the Hungarian minority. In 1925, party received 37.5% in Kráľovský Chlmec district and 29.7% in Komárno district, compared to the Slovak average of 12–13%.

Hungarian "negativists" were organized in opposition parties represented by right-wing Provincial Christian-Socialist Party (OKSZP) and Hungarian National Party (MNP) (not to be confused with Hungarian National Party above). The OKSZP was supported mainly by the Roman Catholic population, and the MNP by Protestants. The parties differed also by their views on collaboration with the government coalition, the MNP considered collaboration in some periods while the OKSZP was in steadfast opposition and tried to cross ethnic boundaries to gain support from the Slovak population. This attempt was partially successful and the OKSZP had 78 Slovak sections and a Slovak-language journal. Attempts to create a coalition of Hungarian opposition parties with the largest Slovak opposition party – Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (HSĽS) – were unsuccessful due to fear of Hungarian revisionist policy and potential discredit after the affair of Vojtech Tuka who was uncovered as a Hungarian spy.

In 1936, both "negativist" parties united as the United Hungarian Party (EMP) under direct pressure of the Hungarian government and threat of an end to financial support. The party became dominant in 1938 and received more than 80% of Hungarian votes.  "Negativistic" parties were considered to be a potential danger to Czechoslovakia and many Hungarian-minority politicians were monitored by police.

Issues in mutual relationships
After World War I, Hungarians found themselves in the difficult position of a "superior" nation which had become a national minority. Dissolution of the historical Kingdom of Hungary was understood as an artificial and violent act, rather than a failure of the anti-national and conservative policy of the Hungarian government. During the whole interwar period, Hungarian society preserved archaic views on the Slovak nation. According to such obsolete ideas, Slovaks were tricked by Czechs, became victims of their power politics and dreamed about returning to a Hungarian state. From these positions, the Hungarian government tried to restore pre-war borders and drove the policy of opposition minority parties.

In Czechoslovakia, peripheral areas like southern Slovakia suffered from a lack of investment and had difficulties recovering from the Great Depression. The Czechoslovak government focused more on stabilization of relationships with Germany and Sudeten Germans while issues of the Hungarian minority had secondary priority. The Hungarians in Slovakia felt aggrieved by the results of Czechoslovak land reform. Regardless of its social and democratizing character, redistribution of former aristocratic lands preferred the majority population, church, and great landowners.

Even if Czechoslovakia officially declared equality of all citizens, members of the Hungarian minority were reluctant to apply for positions in diplomacy, army or state services because of fear that they could be easily misused by foreign intelligence services, especially in time of threat to the country.

Lack of interest for better integration of Hungarian community, the Great Depression and political changes in Europe led to a rise of Hungarian nationalism, pushing their demands in cooperation with German Nazis and other enemies of the Czechoslovak state.

Preparation of aggression against Czechoslovakia
The United Hungarian Party (EMP) led by János Esterházy and Andor Jaross played a fifth column role during the disintegration of Czechoslovakia in late 1930s. Investigation of the Nuremberg trials proved that both Nazi Germany and Horthy Hungary used their minorities for internal disintegration of Czechoslovakia; their goal was not to achieve guarantees of their national rights, but to misuse the topic of national rights against the state whose citizens they were. According to international law, such behaviour belongs to illegal activities against sovereignty of Czechoslovakia and activities of both countries were evaluated as an act against international peace and freedom.

Members of EMP helped to spread anti-Czechoslovak propaganda, while leaders preserved conspiratorial contacts with the Hungarian government and were informed about the preparation of Nazi aggression against Czechoslovakia. Particularly after anschluss of Austria, the party successfully eliminated various Hungarian activist groups.

In the ideal case, revisionist policy coordinated by the Hungarian government should lead to non-violent restoration of borders before the Treaty of Trianon – occupation of the whole Slovakia, or at least to partial territorial reversion. The EMP and Hungarian government had no interest in direct Nazi aggression without participation of Hungary, because it could result in Nazi occupation of Slovakia and jeopardize their territorial claims. The EMP copied policy of Sudeten German Party to some extent. However, even in the time of Czechoslovak crisis, sharper political confrontations were avoided in the ethnically mixed territory. Esterházy was informed about the Sudeten German plan to sabotage negotiations with the Czechoslovak government, and after consultation with the Hungarian government he received instructions to work out on such program which could not be fulfilled.

After the First Vienna Award Hungarians divided into two groups. The majority of the Hungarian population returned to Hungary (503,980 people) and the smaller part (about 67,000 people) remained on non-occupied territory of Czechoslovakia. The First Vienna Award did not satisfy ambitions of leading Hungarian circles and the support for a Greater Hungary grew. This would lead to the annexation of the whole of Slovakia.

Annexation of Southern Slovakia and Subcarpathia (1938–1945)

Most of the Hungarians in Slovakia welcomed the First Vienna Award and occupation of Southern Slovakia which were understood by them as unification of Hungarians into one common national state. Hungarians organized various celebrations and meetings. In Ožďany (Rimavská Sobota District) celebrations had a stormy course. Despite the fact that mass gathering without permit was prohibited and a 20:00 curfew was in place, approximately 400–500 Hungarians met at 21:30 after the announcement of the result of the "arbitration". Police patrols attempted to disperse crowd and one person suffered fatal injury. The mass gathering continued after 22:00 and police injured additional people by shooting and striking with rifles.

Hungary began a systematic assimilation and magyarization policy and forced expulsion of colonists, state employees and Slovak Intelligence from the annexed territory. The Hungarian military administration banned the use of Slovak in administrative contacts and Slovak teachers had to leave schools at all levels.

Following extensive propaganda from the dictatorships – which pretended to be protectors of civic, social and minority rights in Czechoslovakia – Hungary restricted all minorities immediately after the Vienna Award. This had a negative impact on democratically oriented Hungarians in Slovakia, who were subsequently labelled as "Beneš Hungarians" or "communists" when they began to complain of the new conditions.

Mid-war propaganda organized by Hungary did not hesitate to promise "trains of food" for Hungarians (there was no starvation in Czechoslovakia), but after occupation it became clear that Czechoslovakia guaranteed more social rights, more advanced social systems, higher pensions and more job opportunities. Hungarian economists concluded in November 1938 that production on "returned lands" should be restricted to defend the economic interest of the mother country. Instead of positive development, a great majority of companies fell into conditions comparable to the economic crisis at the beginning of the 1930s. After some initial enthusiasm, slogans like Minden drága, visza Prága! (Everything is expensive, back to Prague!) or Minden drága, jobb volt Prága! (Everything is expensive, Prague was better) began to spread across the country.

Positions in the state administration vacated by Czechs and Slovaks were not occupied by local Hungarians, but by state employees from the mother country. This raised protests from the EMP and led to attempts to stop their incoming flow. In August 1939, Andor Jaross asked the Hungarian prime minister to recall at least part of them back to Hungary. Due to different development in Czechoslovakia and Hungary during the previous 20 years, local Hungarians had more democratic spirit and came into conflict with the new administration known by its authoritarian arrogance. In November–December 1939, behaviour toward Hungarians in the annexed territory escalated into official complaint of "Felvidék" MPs in Hungarian parliament.

The Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–1939)
According to the December 1938 census, 67,502 Hungarians remained in the non-annexed part of Slovakia and 17,510 of them had Hungarian citizenship. Hungarians were represented by the Hungarian Party in Slovakia (SMP, Szlovenszkói Magyar Párt; this official name was adopted later in 1940) which formed after dissolution of United Hungarian Party (EMP) in November 1938. The political power in Slovakia was taken up by Hlinka's Slovak People's Party (HSĽS) which started to realize its own totalitarian vision of the state. The ideology of HSĽS distinguished between "good" (autochthonous) minorities (Germans and Hungarians) and "bad" minorities (Czechs and Jews). The government did not allow political organization of "bad" minorities but tolerated existence of the SMP, whose leader János Esterházy became a member of the Slovak Diet. The SMP had little political influence and inclined to cooperation with the stronger German Party in Slovakia (Deutsche Partei in der Slowakei).

By November 1938, Esterházy raised additional demands for extension of Hungarian minority rights. The autonomous Slovak government evaluated the situation in the annexed territory, then did the opposite – binding Hungarian minority rights to the level provided by Hungary which de facto meant their reduction. The applied principle of reciprocity blocked official registration of the SMP and the existence of several Hungarian institutions, as similar organizations were not permitted in Hungary. Moreover, the government banned usage of Hungarian national colours, singing the Hungarian national anthem, did not recognize equality of Hungarian national groups in Bratislava and cancelled a planned office of state secretary for Hungarian minority. The Hungarian government and Esterházy protested against the principle and criticized it as non-constructive.

The First Slovak Republic (1939–1945)
On 14 March 1939, the Slovak Diet declared independence under direct Hitler pressure and a proclaimed threat of Hungarian attack against Slovakia. Destruction of the plurality political system caused a fast decline of minority rights (the German minority preserved a privileged position). Tense relationships between Slovakia and Hungary after the Vienna Award were worsened by a Hungarian attack against Slovakia in March 1939. This aggression combined with violent incidents in the annexed territory caused large anti-Hungarian social mobilization and discrimination. Some of the persecutions were motivated by the reciprocity principle included in the constitution, but persecutions were caused also by Hungarian propaganda demanding occupation of Slovakia, distribution of pamphlets and other propagandist material, oral propaganda and other provocations. Intensive propaganda was used on both sides and led to several anti-Hungarian demonstrations. The harshest repressions included internment in the camp in Ilava and deportations of dozens of Hungarians to Hungary. In June 1940, Slovakia and Hungary reached agreement and stopped deportations of their minorities.

The Hungarian Party did not completely abandon the idea of Greater Hungary, but after stabilization of the state it focused on more-realistic goals. The party had tried to organize the Horthy guard in Bratislava and other towns, but these attempts were discovered and prevented by repressive forces. The party organized various cultural, social and educational activities. Its activities were carefully monitored and restricted because of unsuccessful attempts to establish Slovak political representation in Hungary. The Hungarian Party was officially registered after German diplomatic intervention in November 1941, which also resulted in the Hungarian government permitting the Party of Slovak National unity.

In 1940, after stabilization of the international position of the Slovak state, 53,128 people declared Hungarian nationality and 45,880 of them had Slovak state citizenship. Social structure of the Hungarian minority did not significantly differ from the majority population. 40% of Hungarians worked in agriculture, but there was also a class of rich traders and intelligentsia living in towns. Hungarians owned several important enterprises, especially in central Slovakia. In Bratislava, the Hungarian minority participated in the "aryanization" of Jewish property.

Slovakia preserved 40 Hungarian minority schools, but restricted high schools and did not allow the opening of any new schools. On 20 April 1939, the government banned the largest Hungarian cultural association, SzEMKE, which resulted in an overall decline of activities of the Hungarian minority. Activities of SzEMKE were restored when Hungary permitted the Slovak cultural organization Spolok svätého Vojtecha (St. Vojtech Society). The Hungarian minority had two daily newspapers (Új Hírek and Esti Ujság) and eight local weeklies. All journals, imported press and libraries were controlled by strong censorship.

After negotiations in Salzburg (27–28 July 1940), Alexander Mach held the position of Minister of the Interior and refined the state's approach to its Hungarian minority. Mach ordered all imprisoned Hungarian journalists to be released (later other Hungarians) and disposed chief editor of journal Slovenská pravda because of "stupid texts about Slovak-Hungarian question". Mach emphasized the need of Slovak–Hungarian cooperation and neighbourly relations. In the following period, repressive actions were based almost exclusively on the reciprocity principle.

In comparison with the German minority, political rights and organization of the Hungarian minority was limited. On the other hand, measures against the Hungarian minority never reached the level of persecution against Jews and Gypsies. Expulsion from the country was applied exceptionally and in individual cases, contrary to the expulsion of Czechs.

The aftermath of World War II
In 1945, at the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia was recreated. The strategic goal of the Czechoslovak government was to significantly reduce the size of German and Hungarian minorities and to achieve permanent change in ethnic composition of the state. The preferred means was population transfer. Due to the impossibility of unitary expulsion, Czechoslovakia applied three protocols – Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange, "re-Slovakization" and internal transfer of population realized during the deportations of Hungarians to the Czech lands.

Many citizens considered both minorities to be "war criminals", because representatives from those two minorities had supported redrawing the borders of Czechoslovakia before World War II, via the Munich Agreement and the first Vienna Award. In addition, Czechs were suspicious of ethnic-German political activity before the war. They also believed that the presence of so many ethnic Germans had encouraged Nazi Germany in its pan-German visions. In 1945, President Edvard Beneš revoked the citizenship of ethnic Germans and Hungarians by decree  33, except for those with an active anti-fascist past (see Beneš Decrees).

Population exchanges

Immediately at the end of World War II, some 30,000 Hungarians left the formerly Hungarian re-annexed territories of southern Slovakia. While Czechoslovakia expelled ethnic Germans, the Allies prevented a unilateral expulsion of Hungarians. They did agree to a forced population exchange between Czechoslovakia and Hungary, one which was initially rejected by Hungary. This population exchange proceeded by an agreement whereby 55,400 to 89,700 Hungarians from Slovakia were exchanged for 60,000 to 73,200 Slovaks from Hungary (the exact numbers depend on the source). Slovaks leaving Hungary moved voluntarily, but Czechoslovakia forced Hungarians out of their nation.

After expulsion of the Germans, Czechoslovakia found it had a labour shortage, especially of farmers in the Sudetenland. As a result, the Czechoslovak government deported more than 44,129 Hungarians from Slovakia to the Sudetenland for forced labour between 1945 and 1948. Some 2,489 were resettled voluntarily and received houses, good pay and citizenship in return. Later, from 19 November 1946 to 30 September 1946, the government resettled the remaining 41,666 by force, with the police and army transporting them like "livestock" in rail cars. The Hungarians were required to work as indentured laborers, often offered in village markets to the new Czech settlers of the Sudetenland.

These conditions eased slowly. After a few years, the resettled Hungarians started to return to their homes in Slovakia. By 1948, some 18,536 had returned, causing conflicts over the ownership of their original houses, since Slovak colonists had often taken them over. By 1950, the majority of indentured Hungarians had returned to Slovakia. The status of Hungarians in Czechoslovakia was resolved, and the government again gave citizenship to ethnic Hungarians.

Slovakization

Materials from Russian archives prove how insistent the Czechoslovak government was on destroying the Hungarian minority in Slovakia. Hungary gave the Slovaks equal rights and demanded that Czechoslovakia offer equivalent rights to Hungarians within its borders.

In the spring and summer of 1945, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile approved a series of decrees that stripped Hungarians of property and all civil rights. In 1946 in Czechoslovakia, the process of "re-Slovakization" was implemented with the objective of eliminating the Magyar nationality. It basically required the acceptance of Slovak nationality. Ethnic Hungarians were pressured to have their nationality officially changed to Slovak, otherwise they were dropped from the pension, social and healthcare system. Since Hungarians in Slovakia were temporarily deprived of many rights at that time (see Beneš decrees), as many as some 400,000 (sources differ) Hungarians applied for, and 344,609 Hungarians received, a re-Slovakization certificate and thereby Czechoslovak citizenship.

After Eduard Beneš was out of office,  the next Czechoslovak government issued decree No. 76/1948 on 13 April 1948, allowing those Hungarians still living in Czechoslovakia, to reinstate Czechoslovak citizenship. A year later, Hungarians were allowed to send their children to Hungarian-language schools, which reopened for the first time since 1945. Most re-Slovakized Hungarians gradually re-adopted their Hungarian nationality. As a result, the re-Slovakization commission ceased operations in December 1948.

Despite promises to settle the issue of the Hungarians in Slovakia, Czech and Slovak ruling circles in 1948 maintained the hope that they could deport the Hungarians from Slovakia. According to a 1948 poll conducted among the Slovak population, 55% were for resettlement (deportation) of the Hungarians, 24% said "don't know", and 21% were against. Under slogans related to the struggle with "class enemies", the process of dispersing dense Hungarian settlements continued in 1948 and 1949. By October 1949, the government prepared to deport 600 Hungarian families. Those Hungarians remaining in Slovakia were subjected to heavy pressure to assimilate, including the forced enrolment of Hungarian children in Slovak schools.

Population statistics after World War II

In the 1950 census, the number of Hungarians in Slovakia decreased by 240,000 in comparison to 1930. By the 1961 census it had increased by 164,244 to 518,776. The low number in the 1950 census is likely due to re-Slovakization and population exchanges; the higher number in the 1961 census is likely due to the cancellation of re-Slovakization and natural growth of population (in Slovakia population rose 21%, compared to 46% growth of Hungarians in Slovakia in the same period).

The number of Hungarians in Slovakia increased from 518,782 in 1961 to 567,296 in 1991. The number of self-identified Hungarians in Slovakia decreased between 1991 and 2001, due in part to low birth rates, emigration and introduction of new ethnic categories, such as the Roma. Also, between 1961 and 1991 Hungarians had a significantly lower birth rate than the Slovak majority (which in the meantime had increased from about 3.5 million to 4.5 million), contributing to the drop in the Hungarian percentage of the population.

After the Fall of Communism
After the Velvet Revolution of 1989, the Czech Republic and Slovakia separated peacefully in the Velvet Divorce of 1993. The 1992 Slovak constitution is derived from the concept of the Slovak nation state. The preamble of the Constitution, however, cites Slovaks and ethnic minorities as the constituency. Moreover, the rights of the diverse minorities are protected by the Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights, and various other legally binding documents. The Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK-MKP) was represented in Parliament and was part of the government coalition from 1998 to 2006.
Following the independence of Slovakia, the situation of the Hungarian minority worsened, especially under the reign of Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar (1993 – March 1994 and December 1994 – 1998).

The Constitution also declared that Slovak is the state language. The 1995 Language Law declared that the state language has priority over other languages on the whole territory of the Slovak Republic. The 2009 amendment of the language law restricts the use of minority languages, and extends the obligatory use of the state language (e.g. in communities where the number of minority speakers is less than 20% of the population). Under the 2009 amendment a fine of up to 5000 euros may be imposed on those committing a misdemeanour in relation to the use of the state language.

An official language law required the use of Slovak not only in official communications but also in everyday commerce, in the administration of religious bodies, and even in the realm of what is normally considered private interaction, for example, communications between patient and physician. On 23 January 2007, the local broadcasting committee shut down BBC's radio broadcasting for using English, and cited the language law as the reason.

Especially in Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian areas, critics have attacked the administrative division of Slovakia as a case of gerrymandering, designed so that in all eight regions, Hungarians are in the minority. Under the 1996 law of reorganization, only two districts (Dunajská Streda and Komárno) have a Hungarian-majority population. While also done to maximize the success of the party Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS), the gerrymandering in ethnic Hungarian areas worked to minimize the Hungarians' voting power. In all eight regions, Hungarians are in the minority, though five regions have Hungarian populations within the 10 to 30 per cent range. The Slovak government established new territorial districts from north to south, dividing the Hungarian community into five administrative units, where they became a minority in each administrative unit. The Hungarian community saw a substantial loss of political influence in this gerrymandering.

On 12 March 1997, the Undersecretary of Education sent a circular to the heads of the school districts, ordering that in Hungarian-language schools, Slovak should be taught exclusively by native speakers. The same requirement for native Slovak-language speakers applied to teaching of geography and history in non-Slovak schools. This measure was repealed in 1998 by the Mikuláš Dzurinda government.

In 1995, a so-called Basic Treaty was signed between Hungary and Slovakia, regarded by the US and leading European powers as a pre-condition for these countries to join NATO and the EU. In the basic treaty, Hungary and Slovakia undertook a wide range of legal obligations. This included the acceptance of recommendation 1201 of the Council of Europe, which in its article 11 states:

After the regions of Slovakia became autonomous in 2002, the MKP was able to take power in the Nitra Region. It became part of the ruling coalition in several other regions. Since the new administrative system was put in place in 1996, the MKP has asked for the creation of a Hungarian-majority Komárno county. Although a territorial unit of the same name existed before 1918, the borders proposed by the MKP are significantly different. The proposed region would encompass a long slice of southern Slovakia, with the explicit aim to create an administrative unit with an ethnic-Hungarian majority. Hungarian-minority politicians and intellectuals are convinced that such an administrative unit is essential for the long-term survival of the Hungarian minority. The Slovak government has so far refused to change the boundaries of the administrative units, and ethnic Hungarians continue as minorities in each.

According to Sabrina P. Ramet, professor of international studies at the University of Washington (referring to the situation under Vladimir Mečiar's administration between 1994 and 1998):

A coalition formed after the parliamentary elections in 2006, which saw the Slovak National Party (SNS) headed by Ján Slota (frequently described as ultra-nationalist right-wing extremist) become a member of the ruling coalition, led by the social-democratic Smer party. After its signing of a coalition treaty with far-right extremist SNS, the Smer's Social-Democratic self-identification was questioned.

In August 2006, a few incidents motivated by ethnic hatred caused diplomatic tensions between Slovakia and Hungary. The mainstream media in these countries blamed Slota's anti-Hungarian statements from the early summer for the worsening ethnic relations. The Party of European Socialists (PES), with which the Smer is affiliated, regards SNS as a party of the racist far-right and expressed grave concern regarding the coalition. The PES suspended Smer's membership on 12 October 2006 and decided to review the situation in June 2007. The decision was then extended until February 2008, when Smer's candidacy was readmitted by PES. On 27 September 2007, the Slovak parliament rejected both principle of collective guilt and attempts to reopen post-war documents which had established the current order.

On 10 April 2008, the Party of the Hungarian Community (SMK-MKP) voted with the governing Smer and SNS, supporting the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. This may have been the result of an alleged political bargain: Robert Fico promised to change the Slovak education law that would have drastically limited the Hungarian minority's usage of Hungarian-language in educational facilities. The two Slovak opposition parties saw this as a betrayal, because originally the whole Slovak opposition had planned to boycott the vote to protest a new press code that limited the freedom of the press in Slovakia.

In May 2010, the newly appointed second Viktor Orbán cabinet in Hungary initiated a bill on dual citizenship, granting Hungarian passports to members of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia, purportedly aimed at offsetting the harmful effects of the Treaty of Trianon. Though János Martonyi, the new Hungarian foreign minister, visited his Slovak colleague to discuss dual citizenship, Robert Fico stated that Fidesz (Orbán's right-wing party) and the new government did not want to negotiate on the issue, considered a question of national security. Ján Slota's Slovak government member for the SNS feared that Hungary wanted to attack Slovakia and considered the situation as the "beginning of a war conflict". Designate Prime Minister Viktor Orbán laid down firmly that he considered Slovak hysteria as part of the campaign. As a response to the change in Hungarian citizenship law, the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved on 26 May 2010 a law stating that if a Slovak citizen applies for citizenship of another country, then that person will lose their Slovak citizenship.

Language law

On 1 September 2009, over 10,000 Hungarians held demonstrations to protest the new law that limited the use of minority languages in Slovakia. The law called for fines of up to £4,380 for institutions "misusing the Slovak language". There were demonstrations in Dunajská Streda (), Slovakia, in Budapest, Hungary and in Brussels, Belgium.

Culture
 Új Szó – a Hungarian-language daily newspaper published in Bratislava
 Madách – former Hungarian publishing house in Bratislava
 Kalligram – Hungarian publishing house in Bratislava

Education
585 schools in Slovakia, including kindergartens, use Hungarian as the main language of education. Nearly 200 schools use both Slovak and Hungarian. In 2004, the J. Selye University of Komárno was the first state-financed Hungarian-language university to be opened outside of Hungary.

Hungarian political parties
 Under the First Republic of Czechoslovakia (1918–1938):
Provincial Christian-Socialist Party (Hungarian: Országos Keresztényszocialista Párt, OKSZP)
Hungarian-German Social Democratic Party (German: Ungarisch-Deutsche Partei der Sozialdemokraten, Hungarian: Magyar és Német Szociál-Demokrata Párt)
Hungarian National Party (Hungarian: Magyar Nemzeti Párt, MNP)
 Party of the Hungarian Community (Strana maďarskej koalície – Magyar Koalíció Pártja) (SMK-MKP), in the government between 1998 and 2006.
 Most–Híd, in the government between 2010–2012 and 2016–2020.
 Hungarian Christian-Democratic Association (Maďarská kresťanskodemokratická aliancia – Magyar Kereszténydemokrata Szövetség) (MKDA-MKDSZ)
 Alliance (Aliancia - Szövetség)

Towns with large Hungarian populations (2001–2021 census)

Note: only towns () in Slovakia are listed here, villages and rural municipalities are not. According to the Act on the State Language of the Slovak Republic and the Act on the Use of Languages of National Minorities (as amended in 2011), municipalities where at least 15% of the population in two consecutive censuses speak the same minority language, have the right to use their minority language in official communications with local authorities, who are required to respond in that minority language. The government of Slovakia maintains a list of municipalities where this is the case.

Notable Hungarians born in the area of present-day Slovakia

Born before 1918 in the Kingdom of Hungary
 Gyula Andrássy (politician)
 Gyula Andrássy the Younger (politician)
 Bálint Balassi (poet)
 Lajos Batthyány (politician)
 Lujza Blaha (actress, "the nightingale of the nation")
 Ernő Dohnányi (conductor, composer, pianist)
 Elizabeth of Hungary
 Béla Gerster (engineer, canal architect)
 Artúr Görgey (military leader)
 András Hadik
 Béla Hamvas (philosopher)
 Mór Jókai (writer)
 Lajos Kassák (poet, painter, typographer, graphic artist)
 Domokos Kosáry (historian, president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
 Peter Lorre (Hollywood actor)
 Imre Madách (poet)
 Pál Maléter (military leader of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution)
 Sándor Márai (writer)
 Kálmán Mikszáth (writer)
 Francis II Rákóczi (prince, military leader, freedom fighter)
 József Révay (philosopher, Olympic champion)
 Franz Schmidt (composer)
 Mihály Tompa (poet)
 Imre Thököly (prince, military leader)
 János Zsámboky (16th-century humanist)

Born after 1918 in Czechoslovakia
 Balázs Borbély (sportsman)
 Imrich Bugár Imre Bugár (sportsman)
 George Feher György Fehér (biophysicist)
 Koloman Gögh Kálmán Gögh (sportsman)
 Szilárd Németh (sportsman)
 Attila Pinte (sportsman)
 Alexander Pituk Sándor Pituk (sportsman)
 Tamás Priskin (sportsman)
 Richard Réti (sportsman)
 Attila Végh (sportsman)

Born in Czechoslovakia, career in Hungary
 Attila Kaszás
 Alexandra Borbély (actress)

Hungarian politicians in Slovakia
 József Berényi – chairman of Party of the Hungarian Coalition
 Edit Bauer – Member of the European Parliament
 Edita Pfundtner
 Béla Bugár – former chairman of Party of the Hungarian Coalition
 Pál Csáky – former chairman of Party of the Hungarian Coalition
 Miklós Duray
 Count János Esterházy – World War II politician
 László Gyurovszky
 Ľudovít Ódor − economist, former Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia, current Slovak prime minister

See also

 2006 Slovak–Hungarian diplomatic affairs
 Csángó
 Demographics of Slovakia
 Forum Minority Research Institute
 Hungarian minority in Romania
 Hungarians in Vojvodina
 Hungary–Slovakia relations
 Magyarization
 Slovakization
 Székelys
 Székelys of Bukovina
 Ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia
 Magyaron

References

Notes

Bibliography

Further reading

External links
 Hungarian population in present-day Slovakia (1880–1991)

Slovakia
Ethnic groups in Slovakia
Social history of Slovakia
20th century in Slovakia
20th century in Hungary
Czechoslovakia–Hungary relations
Slovakia

Hungarians in Slovakia


Olivença (Spanish: Olivenza) is a territory disputed by Portugal and Spain. The territory was under Portuguese rule between 1297 (Treaty of Alcañices) and 1801. Then, it was occupied and ruled by Spain. After the Napoleonic Wars, Spain promised to give Olivença back to Portugal. It still has not done this to this day.

Portugal does not recognize the Spanish rule of the Olivença/Olivenza territory. Therefore, the border between Portugal and Spain in the Olivença/Olivenza region has never been defined.

Olivença/Olivenza territory is 750 Km2 in area.

Besides the town, the territory of Olivença/Olivenza includes seven villages:

S. Francisco,
S. Rafael,
Vila Real / Villareal,
S. Domingos de Gusmão / Santo Domingo de Guzmán,
S. Bento da Contenda / San Benito de la Contienda,
S. Jorge de Alor and
Táliga.

Territorial disputes

Olivenza


Karl Alfred Nicolai Marthinsen (sometimes spelled Karl Martinsen) (25 October 1896 – 8 February 1945) was the Norwegian commander of Statspolitiet and Sikkerhetspolitiet in Norway during the Nazi occupation during World War II.

Biography
Marthinsen enlisted in the Norwegian Army toward the end of World War I and finished his training as a non-commissioned officer in 1918 and was promoted to sergeant in 1919. After his military service, he most likely served as a sailor until 1928, when he re-enlisted in the army. He was assigned to duties in the border regions between Norway and the Soviet Union and was an intelligence officer in Finnmark during the Winter War, monitoring suspected Communist sympathizers.

Marthinsen joined Nasjonal Samling as one of its first members, in 1933. After Nazi Germany had invaded and occupied Norway in April, 1940, Police minister under the puppet Quisling regime, Jonas Lie appointed Marthinsen to command the newly formed National Mobile Police Service, which was later renamed Sikkerhetspolitiet. He was made police general and became a key liaison between Norwegian police forces, the Quisling cabinet, and German Gestapo. He also became leader of the nationwide, paramilitary Hird organization.

Marthinsen quickly earned notoriety as the leader of the all-Norwegian police force. He played an instrumental role in implementing the Holocaust in Norway, resulting in the murder of more than 700 Jews and the brutal mistreatment of many more; he was also known to take a relaxed view of legal process, and tolerated if not encouraged torture among his forces.

Death and reprisals

Marthinsen was assassinated by the Norwegian resistance group Milorg as part of Operation Buzzard, acting on orders from the government in exile. A team of trained gunmen waited for his car behind a woodpile near his home in Blindernveien 74 in Oslo. The car had just started to move when they opened fire with automatic weapons, instantly killing Marthinsen in the passenger seat and lightly wounding his driver. Documents disclosed after the war indicate that the political leadership ordered the assassination to prevent Marthinsen from carrying through his plans to enlist Norwegian paramilitary forces to violently subvert the expected capitulation of Nazi Germany in Norway.

Reichskommissar in Norway Josef Terboven convened the same day a meeting with both the Norwegian and German administration in occupied Norway, including SS commander Wilhelm Rediess, head of Sicherheitspolizei, Heinrich Fehlis, Vidkun Quisling, police minister Jonas Lie and minister of justice Sverre Riisnæs. Terboven argued that the assassination threatened the credibility of the Nazi regime and requested that 75 Norwegians be executed in retaliation. The Norwegian leaders objected but were overruled, but in subsequent discussions in the following day, the number was reduced to 34. A list of Norwegians was submitted, and those on the list were condemned.

Norwegian officers were coerced into carrying through the executions. Some accounts place Riisnæs at the executions visibly intoxicated, using his service pistol to participate in the execution. A press release announced that 34 were killed by firing squad, but it turned out that five individuals were kept in prison and discovered after the war.

The extent and severity of the reprisals shocked the Norwegian population and government-in-exile, resulting in a general moratorium against targeted killings of high-ranking Nazi officials.

References

1896 births
1945 deaths
People from Karlsøy
Members of Nasjonal Samling
Norwegian Army personnel
Assassinated military personnel
Assassinated Nazis
Assassinated Norwegian people
Assassinated police officers
Deaths by firearm in Norway
Holocaust perpetrators in Norway
Norwegian police chiefs

Karl Marthinsen