Landsborough's Blazed Tree (Camp 67) is a heritage-listed tree at Mitchell Highway, Charleville, Shire of Murweh, Queensland, Australia. It was marked by William Landsborough. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 June 2009.

History
The blazed tree at Camp 67 just south of Charleville was marked during William Landsborough's 1862 expedition south from the Gulf of Carpentaria in search of cross-continent explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills.

Burke and Wills, who had set out from Melbourne on 20 August 1860 to cross the continent from south to north, were reported missing in June 1861. Four official relief expeditions were soon organised to search for them: Alfred William Howitt's party formed in Melbourne; John McKinlay's party formed in Adelaide; Frederick Walker's party formed in Rockhampton; and William Landsborough's party formed in Brisbane (appointed by the Victorian and Queensland governments). The Victorian government appointed Captain William Henry Norman of  as Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Expedition Parties (the Walker and Landsborough expeditions).

Howitt ascertained the fate of Burke and Wills in September 1861, but the other expeditions had left before news could reach them.

William Landsborough, the son of a Scottish clergyman, was an experienced bushman, explorer and part owner of Bowen Downs station in northern Queensland. In the mid 1850s he was in partnership in a station on the Kolan River in the Burnett district and from 1856 had undertaken much private exploration in search of new pastoral land. He explored and named Mount Nebo in 1856, the Broadsound district in 1857, the Comet and Nogoa Rivers in 1858, and the Bonar (Bowen) River in 1859. From Rockhampton he and Nathaniel Buchanan then traced Aramac Creek and the Thomson River to the Plains of Promise. In 1861 he applied for 15 runs of  each on the Plains of Promise and with Buchanan and Edward Cornish formed the Landsborough River Co. to stock these runs, which he named Bowen Downs. He was recommended to lead the Brisbane expedition in search of Burke and Wills by the Queensland Surveyor-General, Augustus Charles Gregory.

On 26 August 1861 Landsborough's expedition left Brisbane in the brig Firefly for the Gulf of Carpentaria, where Walker and his party, who had proceeded overland from Rockhampton, was to rendezvous with Norman and Landsborough at the Albert River. On 4 September 1861 the Firefly was wrecked in the Gulf but the expedition was rescued three days later by Commander Norman in the Victoria.

A depot was established on the Albert River and during October, Landsborough explored the surrounding district, marking numerous trees with a distinctive broad arrow before the L.

Landsborough had instructions from the Royal Society of Victoria to search for Burke and Wills south-west from the Albert River. If that failed, he also intended to search for them along Cooper's Creek and then make for Brisbane or Rockhampton. As instructed, from mid-November 1861 to mid-January 1862 he explored south-west towards Central Mount Stuart, discovering and following the Gregory River, until near the site of later Camooweal he found desert with a network of dry channels. On 30 December 1861 he reached the furthest extent of his search. Realising that rain could flood the country and isolate his starving party Landsborough struggled back to the Albert River depot, having found no trace of Burke and Wills. During this journey Landsborough named the Gregory and Herbert (later Georgina) rivers, Lake Frances, Lake Mary and the Barkly Tableland and on his return reported the area well-suited for sheep raising.

Landsborough's explorations in this area contributed to the extension of Queensland's western boundary. At the time of separation from New South Wales in 1859, this had been set at longitude 141° East. In September 1860 AC Gregory had recommended to the Queensland Government that the border, which passed through the Plains of Promise, be moved to 138° East to provide the district with access to a port in the Gulf. A year later, realising that the northern relief expeditions in search of Burke and Wills would increase knowledge of the area, Governor Bowen wrote on 5 September 1861 to the Secretary of State for the Colonies advising that Queensland legislature would protect any settlers who moved into the area, provided the western boundary of Queensland was extended to 138° East to include access to the Gulf. This was agreed to, and the boundary was altered on 12 April 1862, placing the Albert, Gregory and Herbert (Georgina) rivers and much of the Barkly Tableland, within Queensland.

On his return to the Albert on 19 January 1862 Landsborough discovered that Walker, who had reached the depot and reported finding tracks on the Flinders River to the south-east, had replenished his supplies from the Victoria and had left again to resuming the search. Landsborough had the option of returning south on the Victoria or proceeding overland. As provisions were now limited, Norman was opposed to Landsborough heading south, but the explorer ignored his advice, hoping to augment his provisions at new pastoral stations along the way.

The southern expedition comprised: Landsborough (commander), George Bourne (second in command), W Gleeson (a sailor by trade, but groom and cook to the expedition), Jemmy (a Queensland Native Police trooper originally from Deniliquin in New South Wales), Jacky (an Aboriginal guide from the Wide Bay district) and Fisherman (an Aboriginal guide from the Brisbane region). At 4pm on 10 February 1862 they commenced their journey south, taking 14 pack horses and 6 horses for riding. The party followed the river systems southward, averaging just over  per day, and rarely travelled on a Sunday. For most of the journey they travelled through well-watered, grassed land, and the horses fared well for most of the journey.

It was Fisherman's job to mark the trees at each campsite. In an 1866 publication describing his experiences on this expedition, Landsborough commented: "The importance of marking trees properly cannot be overrated. The marks should be made only on strong, healthy trees, and at conspicuous points; and the directions should be unmistakably clear and accurate."

During February and March they followed the Flinders River south-east looking for traces of Burke and Wills. They traversed the Plains of Promise and named the isolated hills visible from the Flinders River: Fort Bowen, Mount Brown and Mount Little. By early April 1862 the party was on the Thomson River, which Landsborough had explored before, following this south. Having not found a station in this area, and with rations running low, Landsborough decided to leave the Thomson and on 10 April headed east via creeks to the Barcoo River/Cooper's Creek in the "known" districts. He relied heavily on the Aborigines in his party, who obtained the assistance of local Aboriginal guides for much of the distance. By 22 April the party was working down the Barcoo, and on the night of 22/23 April experienced their first and only attack by local Aborigines. Jemmy, the Native Police trooper, was on watch and raised the alarm, which saved their lives, the explorers frightening off their attackers with gunfire.

In late April 1862 Landsborough left the well-watered pastoral country along the Barcoo heading for the Nive River to the south-east, and on 1 May found old dray tracks – evidence that they had entered known country.

On 9 May Landsborough's party reached the upper reaches of the Warrego River, having found pastoralists' marked trees and deep horse tracks en route but no sign of an out-station, and that evening established Camp 67 on the left bank of a creek that they believed was the head of the Warrego. By this stage the party was starving and the next day (10 May) Landsborough made the decision to leave the Warrego and head south-south-east for the next river system in a more settled district. He had no local Aboriginal guides and for much of the time was without Jacky and Jemmy, who had backtracked to look for a missing pistol. After travelling about  without finding water he decided to return to the Warrego. The horses became terribly distressed during this journey, being without water for 72 hours and travelling  before water was found near the Warrego on 13 May (Camp 68). Here the party rested the next day, in part to refresh the horses and also to allow Jemmy, who had suffered a severe burn to his back after having rolled into a fire on the night of 10/11 May, to regain some strength. On 15 May the party left Camp 68 and in the evening established camp 69 on the west bank of a creek that fed into the Warrego River.

On the morning of 16 May the party left camp 69 to follow the Warrego downstream south-south-west. As Fisherman had to take Jemmy's place in rounding up the horses in the morning, he and Landsborough stayed behind the rest of the party to mark trees at the camp, catching up with the others in the evening.

On 21 May 1862, having continued to follow the Warrego downstream, Landsborough's party reached a station occupied by Williams and Neilsen, and learned that Burke and Wills had perished. Both Landsborough and George Bourne in their later accounts of the expedition expressed surprise on hearing that Burke and Wills had perished, having found the country well-watered for most of their journey.

From Williams and Neilson, Landsborough was able to re-provision the expedition before continuing south. His party arrived at Bunnawaunah on the Darling River, a settled district, on 1 June, and continued along well-known tracks via Menindie to Melbourne, which they reached in October 1862. In Melbourne Landsborough was feted as the first explorer to cross the Australian continent north to south, and a gold- mining town in Victoria was named in his honour.

Landsborough's reports on the valuable pastoral land he had encountered during the expedition sparked a rush for land in the Gulf country. However, the comparative ease with which his expedition had crossed the continent soon prompted rumour that he had been more interested in looking for new pastoral country than in searching for Burke and Wills. This he strenuously denied, and never applied for the lease of any of the pastoral country he had discovered during his crossing of the continent.

The success of Landsborough's 1862 expedition was due largely to his reliance on indigenous knowledge of the terrain he traversed. His journal reveals that he rarely travelled without Aboriginal guides; there are constant references to local Aborigines leading Landsborough's party to water or to showing them the best route, or to Jemmy, Jacky or Fisherman finding water. When he lost access to this local knowledge, as in his attempt to head south-south-east from the Warrego in May 1862 (camps 67-69), his party came close to perishing.

Landsborough later became a controversial police magistrate and commissioner of crown lands in Carpentaria, based at Burketown on the Albert River. Towards the end of his life he was awarded  for his Gulf country discoveries, which he used to purchase a property at Caloundra, just north of Brisbane, where he died in 1886.

William Landsborough has long been recognised for his contribution to the opening of western Queensland to non-Indigenous settlement: he has been included in Australian biographical dictionaries since the 1880s; both Queensland and Victoria have a town named in his honour; there is a Landsborough Creek south of Hughenden (a tributary of the Thomson River); the former Shire of Landsborough (later Caloundra City, and more recently Sunshine Coast Regional Council) was named after him; and numerous Queensland roads commemorate him, including the Landsborough Highway in western Queensland (linking Cloncurry, McKinlay, Kynuna, Winton, Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Tambo, and Augathella with the Warrego Highway east of Charleville) and at least 15 other Landsborough roads and streets throughout the State.

Description

The blazed tree that marks Landsborough's Camp 67 is a Coolibah (Eucalyptus coolibah) located on a levee in a small local creek that feeds into the Warrego River system, on private freehold about  south of Charleville, off the Mitchell Highway.

The girth of the tree measures  at  above ground level, and the canopy extends to  from the trunk.

The blaze is on the southern side of the trunk (orientation 193?) and is now close to ground level, the result of sedimentation deposited over nearly 150 years of seasonal flooding. It reads:+Q EXPN.L. C. 67 MAY 10 1862The chiselled lettering is broad and has been painted to increase visibility.

The blaze appears to be made on an existing Aboriginal scar, which Landsborough's party enlarged and cut to suit their needs. The scar is  in width, with a visible heath of  and maximum regrowth of . There is distorted regrowth on the upper lateral margins of the scar, the result of successive chainsaw cutting into the regrowth to maintain the blaze's visibility.

The tree has another scar on the opposite side of the trunk to the blaze, which is most likely the result of Aboriginal people removing the bark.

Heritage listing
Landsborough's Blazed Tree, Camp 67 was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 18 June 2009 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland's history.

The blazed tree at Landsborough's Camp 67 just south of Charleville was marked on 10 May 1862 and is important for its association with the first official crossing of the Australian continent from north to south. Between February and May 1862 explorer William Landsborough left a trail of blazed trees from the Albert River in the Gulf of Carpentaria to the Warrego River near later Cunnamulla, demonstrating a practical route for driving livestock overland to north-western Queensland. Comparatively few of the blazes survive, either having grown over or trees destroyed through past clearing practices, fire, flood, termites or harsh environmental conditions. Surviving blazes associated with this expedition remain important makers of a major event in Queensland history, which precipitated a rush for pastoral land in western and north-western Queensland in the early 1860s. There are only two known surviving examples of blazed trees from the 1862 Landsborough expedition in the Charleville district, at Camp 67 and Camp 69. The lettering on these blazes remains extremely well preserved.

The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland's cultural heritage.

The blaze at Camp 67, which remains highly visible, is rare tangible evidence of a remarkable feat by Landsborough and his party as the first exploration expedition to cross the Continent from north to south, in the process opening much of western and north-western Queensland to pastoral settlement.

The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

The place has a special association with the work of William Landsborough (1825–1886) in exploring the western and north-western districts of Queensland in 1861–1862.

References

Attribution

External links

Queensland Heritage Register
Charleville, Queensland
Individual trees in Queensland
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register

Landsborough's Blazed Tree (Camp 67)


Alfred Denis Cortot (born Nyon, 26 September 1877; died Lausanne, 15 June 1962) was a French-Swiss pianist and conductor. He is one of the most famous 20th century musicians.  He was especially known for his playing of piano music by 19th century Romantic composers such as Chopin and Schumann.  He formed a piano trio with the violinist Jacques Thibaud and the cellist Pablo Casals.  He was a piano teacher and conductor.

Early life and education
Cortot (pronounce "Cor-toe") was born in Nyon in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.  His father was  French  and his mother was Swiss.  Cortot studied at the Paris Conservatoire.  His teachers were  Emile Descombes and Louis Diémer.  He won a first prize (premier prix) in 1896. His first public concert was at the Concerts Colonne in 1897 when he played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.   He helped opera singers to learn their music, and became assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1902 he conducted Wagner's Götterdämmerung.  It was the first time it had been performed in Paris.  He formed a concert society to perform Wagner's Parsifal, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, Brahms' German Requiem, and new works by French composers.

Career
In 1905, Cortot formed a trio with Jacques Thibaud and Pablo Casals, which became the most famous piano trio of the time.  There are still several recordings of their playing. From 1907 to 1923, Cortot taught at the Paris Conservatoire, where his pupils included Clara Haskil, Dinu Lipatti, Vlado Perlemuter. In 1919, he founded the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Many people came to hear him teach about how to perform piano music.  He travelled a lot and also conducted famous orchestras. He died in Lausanne.

World War II
Many people did not agree with him when he supported the German occupation of France during the Second World War. He played in some concerts which were supported by the Nazis. He may just have played at these concerts because he liked German music, but it made him some enemies. His wife, Clothilde Breal, was of Jewish origin and her cousin, Lise Bloch, was married to Leon Blum, the first Jew to become President du Conseil or Prime Minister in France. Cortot and the Blums were good friends, although he was banned for a year from performing in France.

Contribution
He was famous for playing the piano music of Chopin and Schumann, Cortot made editions of both those composers' music. He had a superb technique, but he also had many memory lapses in concerts and occasionally left wrong notes on his records. Nevertheless, when he played well he was one of the greatest pianists of his time.

1877 births
1962 deaths
French conductors
French pianists
Swiss musicians
Nyon (district)
People from Vaud

Alfred Cortot


Levuka () is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian island of Ovalau, in Lomaiviti Province, in the Eastern Division of Fiji. Prior to 1877, it was the capital of Fiji. At the census in 2007, the last to date, Levuka town had a population of 1,131 (plus 3,266 living in the peri-urban area as defined by the Bureau of Statistics), about half of Ovalau's 8,360 inhabitants. It is the economic hub and the largest of 24 settlements on the island. Having been nominated decades prior, Levuka was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013, in recognition of the port town's exceptional testimony to the late colonial port towns in the Pacific.

History
The modern town of Levuka was founded around 1820 by European settlers and traders as the first modern town in the Fiji Islands, and became an important port and trading post. A disparate band of settlers made up Levuka's population – traders, missionaries, shipwrights, speculators, and vagabonds, as well as respectable businessmen. The US Exploring Expedition visited in 1840.

During the mid 19th-century, the town was quickly becoming a commercial hub for the sea cucumber trade. Marist priests, led by Father , established a mission in Levuka in 1858, and Wesleyan missions were built around the same time. The Sacred Heart Church, Marist Convent School, and two Methodist churches still survive today. By 1870, the town had a population of more than 2000. When the first modern nation state of Fiji, the Kingdom of Fiji, was founded in 1871, Seru Epenisa Cakobau was crowned King at Levuka. After Fiji was annexed as a British colony in 1874, Levuka remained the capital until 1877, when the administration was moved to Suva, although the move was not made official until 1882. The move was prompted by concerns that the 600-meter high hills, many with cliffs, surrounding Levuka gave it no room for expansion.

Levuka is famous for many of Fiji's "firsts". It was the site of Fiji's first bank, post office, school, private members club, hospital, town hall, and municipal government. Fiji's first newspaper, the Fiji Times, which is still in operation today, was founded in Levuka in 1869. Levuka's Royal Hotel is the oldest hotel in the South Pacific still operating. Historians have not ascertained its exact age, but records show that it was in existence by the early 1860s. Levuka Public School, opened in 1879, was the first public school in Fiji and many of Fiji's leaders in the years leading up to and following independence in 1970 were educated there. The oldest Masonic lodge in the South Pacific, Lodge Polynesia 562 SC, is also to be found in Levuka. It was established in 1875. Levuka was also the site of Fiji's first public electricity system, which began in 1927, three days before the capital Suva was electrified.

Arson
Much of Levuka's unique heritage is in its wooden architecture which is highly vulnerable to fire.  The Masonic Lodge, Levuka's only Romanesque-revival building was set on fire during the period of lawlessness and unrest following Fiji's 2000 coup. There is much controversy about the Masonic fraternity in Fiji, the dominant traditional Christian faiths consider Masons to be devil-worshippers. The Lodge contained priceless historical artefacts and records of Levuka's history dating back to 1875. The arsonists have yet to be identified and prosecuted.

In 2008, Levuka's PAFCO Cold Storage Plant which was located next the town's main road was destroyed by a fire caused during welding maintenance works.  In more recent years, the old Mavida Guest house and the old General Store on Levuka's main street have also burnt down.  The General Store Building housed the Westpac Bank, Air Fiji and a Supermarket and, being over 100 years old, was part of the then proposed (now established) UNESCO National Heritage Site.  Rumors of arson abound in relation to the fires but no prosecutions have been made.  In April 2010, Levuka's Chief Fire Authority Officer was quoted in the national paper as saying that Levuka is: '...a fire hazard waiting to happen...', he points out in the article that there are no fire hydrants in the town and that virtually no buildings have fire extinguishers or fire alarm systems.

Economic activities
Levuka's status as a stopover port for ocean vessels crossing the Pacific came to an end in the 1950s, threatening the town with economic extinction. In 1964, however, the Pacific Fishing Company (PAFCO) was founded by a Japanese firm, specialising in freezing and shipping canned tuna, mostly to markets in Europe and Canada. A cannery, a joint PAFCO-government venture, was opened in 1976, and is the largest private employer on the island of Ovalau. Owing largely to Levuka's isolation, tourism plays only a minor role in the Levuka/Ovalau economy.

Governance and politics
Levuka has been incorporated as a Town since 1877, and is governed by a Town Council of 8 members, elected for 3-year terms. The municipal elections of 22 October 2005 resulted in a defeat for the SDL of outgoing Mayor Taniela Bulivou, with the Balance Party taking 6 of the 8 seats. The new council elected George Gibson to succeed Bulivou; the Mayoral term is for one year, but may be extended any number of times. The council has recently been suspended by the interim government of Fiji and a local administrator (Napolionio Masirewa) has been named.

Landmarks

At the northern end of Levuka is the traditional Fijian village of Levuka. The village chief, who bears the title of Tui Levuka, is a direct descendant of the chief who welcomed the first European settlers. In memory of his ancestor, he is also known as "Tamana na vavalagi" (Father of the Europeans). At the southern end of the town lies the village of Nasova, where the King Seru Epenisa Cakobau signed the Deed of Cession, ceding the islands to Great Britain on 10 October 1874.

The Levuka Community Centre, which houses a branch of the Fiji Museum, a public library, crafts centre, kindergarten, squash court and meeting hall, occupies a renovated store built in 1878 by Morris Hedstrom, a trading company established in Levuka's early days and still in business in Fiji. Morris Hedstrom gave the building to the National Trust of Fiji in 1980. Adjacent to the Levuka Community Centre stands Queens Wharf, with a maximum depth of eight meters. Upgraded in the 1990s, it is used mostly by local craft, though foreign vessels sometimes dock, Levuka being one of three official ports of entry to Fiji (Suva and Lautoka being the other two).

Other well-known landmarks include Sacred Heart Church, a legacy of the Marist Fathers, who arrived in 1858, the Ovalau Club, one of the oldest social organisations in the Pacific, and Levuka Town Hall, which houses the Levuka Town Council. It was built in 1898 in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Notable people
Hereward Kesteven – medical scientist of Australia
Graeme Leung – lawyer and former Fiji Law Society president
Maria Liku – Fijian Olympic weightlifter
John Maynard Hedstrom – Legislative Council member and founder of Morris Hedstrom
Katharine Susannah Prichard – Australian novelist and Communist Party of Australia charter member; born in Levuka December 1883
Dave Solomon – rugby union player
Manueli Tulo – Fijian Olympic weightlifter
Alfred Wendt – cricketer of Fiji
Ratu Josefa Celua died in Levuka
Eileen Cikamatana - weightlifter who a gold medal for Fiji in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

References

External links

 Levuka Fiji
 Lodge Polynesia 562 SC
 Levuka Days of a Parson in Polynesia, Illustrated memoir by C.W. Whonsbon-Aston (1936)

Lomaiviti Province
Populated places in Fiji
Populated places established in 1820
World Heritage Sites in Oceania
1820 establishments in Fiji

Levuka


The Battle of Orthez (27 February 1814) saw the Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington attack an Imperial French army led by Marshal Nicolas Soult in southern France. The outnumbered French repelled several Allied assaults on their right flank, but their center and left flank were overcome and Soult was compelled to retreat. At first the withdrawal was conducted in good order, but it eventually ended in a scramble for safety and many French soldiers became prisoners. The engagement occurred near the end of the Peninsular War.

In mid-February, Wellington's army broke out of its small area of conquered territory near Bayonne. Moving east, the Allies drove the French back from several river lines. After a pause in the campaign, the westernmost Allied corps surrounded and isolated Bayonne. Resuming their eastward drive, the remaining two Allied corps pushed Soult's army back to Orthez where the French marshal offered battle. In subsequent operations, Soult decided to abandon the large western port of Bordeaux and fall back east toward Toulouse. The next action was the Battle of Toulouse.

Preliminaries

Armies

The Battle of the Nive ended on 13 December 1813 when Wellington's army repulsed the last of Soult's assaults. This ended the fighting for the year. Soult had found the Allied army divided by the Nive River but failed to inflict a damaging defeat. The French then pulled back within Bayonne's defenses and entered winter quarters. Heavy rains brought operations to a standstill for the next two months.  After the Battle of Nivelle on 10 November 1813, Wellington's Spanish troops had gone out of control in seized French villages. Horrified at the idea of provoking a guerilla war by French civilians, the British commander imposed a vigorous discipline on his British and Portuguese soldiers and sent most of his Spanish troops home. Since his men were paid and fed by the British government, Pablo Morillo's Spanish division remained with the army. Wellington's policy paid dividends; his soldiers soon found that guarding the roads in his army's rear areas was no longer required.

In January 1814, Soult sent reinforcements to Napoleon. Transferred to the Campaign in Northeast France were the 7th and 9th Infantry Divisions and Anne-François-Charles Trelliard's dragoons. Altogether, this totaled 11,015 foot soldiers under Jean François Leval and Pierre François Xavier Boyer and 3,420 horsemen in the brigades of Pierre Ismert, François Léon Ormancey and Louis Ernest Joseph Sparre. This left Soult with the 1st Division under Maximilien Sébastien Foy (4,600 men), 2nd Division led by Jean Barthélemy Darmagnac (5,500 men), 3rd Division commanded by Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé (5,300), 4th Division directed by Eloi Charlemagne Taupin (5,600 men), 5th Division commanded by Jean-Pierre Maransin (5,000 men), 6th Division under Eugène-Casimir Villatte (5,200 men), 8th Division led by Jean Isidore Harispe (6,600 men) and Cavalry Division under Pierre Benoît Soult (3,800 men). Marshal Soult also commanded 7,300 gunners, engineers and wagon drivers plus the garrisons of Bayonne (8,800 men) and Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (2,400 men).

Wellington's army consisted of the 1st Division under Kenneth Howard (6,898 men), 2nd Division commanded by William Stewart (7,780 men), 3rd Division led by Thomas Picton (6,626 men), 4th Division directed by Lowry Cole (5,952 men), 5th Division under Andrew Hay (4,553 men), 6th Division commanded by Henry Clinton (5,571 men), 7th Division led by George Townshend Walker (5,643 men), Light Division under Charles Alten (3,480 men), Portuguese Division directed by Carlos Lecor (4,465 men) and Spanish Division led by Morillo (4,924 men). Stapleton Cotton commanded three British light cavalry brigades under Henry Fane (765 men), Hussey Vivian (989 men) and Edward Somerset (1,619 men). There were also three independent infantry brigades, 1,816 British led by Matthew Whitworth-Aylmer, 2,185 Portuguese under John Wilson and 1,614 Portuguese directed by Thomas Bradford.

Operations

Wellington planned to use the greater part of his army to drive the bulk of Soult's army well to the east, away from Bayonne. Once the French army was pressed sufficiently far to the east, a strong Allied corps would seize a bridgehead over the river Adour to the west of Bayonne and encircle that fortress. Because Soult's army was weakened by three divisions, Wellington's forces were superior enough to risk dividing them into two bodies. Soult wished to contain his opponent in a wedge of occupied French territory. Strongly garrisoned Bayonne blocked the north side of the Allied-occupied area. East of the city, three French divisions held the line of the Adour to Port-de-Lanne. The east side of the Allied-occupied area was defended by four French divisions along the river Joyeuse as far south as Hélette. Cavalry patrols formed a cordon from there to the fortress of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port in the Pyrenees.

On 14 February, Wellington launched his offensive toward the east. On the right flank was Rowland Hill's 20,000-man corps which included the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, Lecor's Portuguese and Morillo's Spanish divisions and Fane's cavalry. Hill's main column struck toward Harispe's division at Hélette. Picton moved on the left flank against Villatte's division at Bonloc and Morillo took his men through the foothills on the right flank. On 15 February, Hill's column defeated Harispe's division in the Battle of Garris and forced the French to abandon Saint-Palais and the line of the river Bidouze.

The 25,400-strong Allied left flank corps under William Beresford began its advance on 16 February, aiming for the village of Bidache. Beresford's corps was made up of the 4th, 6th, 7th and Light Division as well as Somerset's and Vivian's cavalry. Altogether, Wellington had 42,000 foot soldiers and 3,000 horsemen marching to the east. Reacting to the Allied pressure, Soult joined two of the three divisions north of the Adour to the four divisions farther east. This action created a field army of 32,000 infantry and 3,800 cavalry. The French divisions were directed to form a new line behind the Gave d'Oloron River, along a line from Peyrehorade to Sauveterre-de-Béarn to Navarrenx. On 17 February, Hill's corps forded the river Saison, breaching yet another French defensive line. The French marshal sent Abbé's division to help defend Bayonne, a questionable move which left his army with fewer troops to fight Wellington. By 18 February, Soult had his troops in position on the Gave d'Oloron. That day the weather broke again, causing another pause in operations.

During the lull, Wellington ordered John Hope's corps to begin the isolation of Bayonne. Since Adour is  wide with a tidal rise of  below Bayonne, Soult never suspected the Allies would cross there and did not guard the north bank. Facing an Allied offensive that required crossing rivers, the French marshal believed that his foes would not have enough boats or pontoons to bridge the river. Hope sent eight companies from the 1st Division across the Adour on 23 February to form a bridgehead. That evening Congreve rockets dispersed two French battalions that were sent to investigate the incursion. The next day 34 vessels of 30 to 50 tons sailed into the mouth of the Adour, were moored together and a roadway was built across their decks. By the evening of 26 February, Hope marched 15,000 of his 31,000 men over the bridge onto the north bank. After sustaining 400 casualties in a successful bid to capture the Sainte-Étienne suburb, the Allies encircled Bayonne on 27 February. French casualties were only 200 in the action. The siege was pursued in a lackadaisical fashion until 14 April when the bloody and pointless Battle of Bayonne erupted.

On 24 February, Wellington launched a new offensive against Soult's army. For this operation, Hill was reinforced by the 6th and Light Divisions. Beresford with two divisions mounted a feint attack against the northern end of the French line. Picton was supposed to demonstrate opposite Sauveterre but he exceeded his orders. He found an apparently unguarded ford about  from the bridge and pushed four light companies from John Keane's brigade across. After a steep climb, they reached high ground only to be overpowered by a battalion of the 119th Line Infantry from Villatte's division. In their flight down the slope and across the river, about 30 men were captured and a few drowned; about 80 of the 250 men became casualties. Hill built a boat bridge and thrust 20,000 troops across the Gave d'Oloron at Viellenave-de-Navarrenx between Sauveterre and Navarrenx. With his latest position compromised, Soult ordered a retreat to Orthez on the Gave de Pau River.

Battle

Plans and forces

Since Wellington was anxious not to bring on an engagement, he tried to flank Soult out of position. He sent Beresford to cross the Gave de Pau downstream at Lahontan and circle around Soult's right flank. At the same time, Hill's corps moved directly toward Orthez. By 25 February, Soult had massed his army at Orthez and courted battle with the Allies. The French marshal counted 33,000 foot soldiers, 2,000 horsemen, 1,500 gunners and sappers, supported by 48 field guns. Wellington could bring 38,000 infantry, 3,300 cavalry, 1,500 gunners and sappers, supported by 54 artillery pieces against the French. Five battalions were absent: 1/43rd Foot and 1/95th Rifles from the Light Division, 2nd Provisional from 4th Division, 79th Foot from 6th Division and 51st Foot from 7th Division. Confronted with Soult in a fighting mood, the British commander planned to send Beresford to break Soult's right flank while Picton and three divisions kept the French center busy. Meanwhile, Hill's corps was to attack Orthez, get across the Gave de Pau and envelop the French left flank. With luck, Soult would be crushed between Beresford and Hill.

At Orthez, the Gave de Pau runs approximately from southeast to northwest. Since Beresford was already on the same side of the Gave de Pau, the river only protected Soult's position to the east of Orthez. However, there is an east–west ridge on the north side of Orthez that ends at the village of Saint-Boès on the west. The ridge is about  high and the road from Orthez to Dax runs along its crest. However, the knolls at the Lafaurie, Luc and Plassotte Farms were even higher, the last-named rose  above Saint-Boès. The three high points were crowned with French artillery. Aside from Saint-Boès, the ridge can be approached from the west by two spurs with marshy ground in between.

Soult posted four and one-half divisions along this ridge, one division in Orthez and one division in reserve. Unlike the other divisions which had two brigades, Harispe's division contained three brigades. His third brigade under Marie Auguste Paris was detached to the right flank. Going from right to left, the ridge was held by the divisions of Taupin, Claude Pierre Rouget, Darmagnac and Foy. Rouget was in temporary command of Maransin's division. Harispe's remaining two brigades held Orthez while Villatte's division was in reserve north of Orthez. Honoré Charles Reille commanded Taupin, Rouget and Paris on the right flank, Jean Baptiste Drouet, comte d'Erlon led Darmagnac and Foy in the center and Bertrand Clausel supervised Harispe and Villatte on the left flank. Pierre Soult's cavalry was scattered. The 2nd Hussars and the 22nd Chasseurs-à-Cheval were near Pau and out of the battle. The 13th, 15th and 21st Chasseurs-à-Cheval were detached to Harispe, D'Erlon and Reille, respectively, while the 5th and 10th Chasseurs-à-Cheval were in reserve.

Wellington planned to send Cole's 4th Division supported by Walker's 7th Division to attack the western end of the ridge under the direction of Beresford. Picton would lead his own 3rd Division and Clinton's 6th Division in pinning the French center. Hill's corps was ordered to feint against Orthez with a Portuguese brigade and hold his two divisions ready to cross the Gave de Pau to the east of Orthez. Alten's Light Division was placed under cover behind an old Roman camp where Wellington set up his headquarters. The camp was located between Beresford's and Picton's columns. The 44,402-strong Allied army included 3,373 light cavalry in three brigades and 1,512 gunners, engineers and wagon drivers. Morillo's division was besieging Navarrenx while five British battalions were not present in the field while being issued fresh uniforms. The 1st Hussars King's German Legion (KGL) Regiment was part of the Allied cavalry.

Action

The morning of 27 February 1814 saw a light frost, but the ground was not frozen. At 8:30 a.m. the 4th Division assaulted Taupin's soldiers at Saint-Boès. The initial rush seized the church which stood on a separate hill. The brigade of Robert Ross swept through Saint-Boès but was repulsed by the battery on the Plassotte knoll. When his soldiers fell back into the village, Cole brought up a KGL battery to duel with Taupin's guns. The battery immediately became the target of the French batteries on the Plassotte and Luc knolls; two guns were knocked out and Captain Frederick Sympher was killed. Cole deployed José Vasconcellos' Portuguese brigade on Ross' right and sent his line forward again. The result was a second repulse in which Ross went down with a wound. The subsequent counterattack by Taupin's troops recovered part of Saint-Boès. For a time there was a lull as the two sides fired away at each other from the houses, but Vasconcellos' men had no cover and began to edge backward. Wellington sent over the 1st Caçadores Battalion from the Light Division. Cole's line collapsed just as the reinforcement arrived. Taupin recovered the entire village and drove the Allies back to their starting point. Ross' brigade suffered 279 casualties and Vasconcellos' brigade lost 295.

Picton's probing attacks against the French center also met stiff resistance. Picton split the 3rd Division, sending Thomas Brisbane's brigade up the right spur toward Foy's position and Keane's brigade up the left spur toward Darmagnac's division. Keane was supported by Manley Power's Portuguese brigade from 3rd Division. Brisbane was followed up the right spur by Clinton's 6th Division. Since the valleys between the spurs were deep and muddy, both advances were restricted to narrow fronts. Picton's skirmishers quickly drove back the French outposts. When the leading brigades came under accurate artillery fire from the Escorial and Lafaurie knolls, Picton held back his formed troops and reinforced his skirmish line to seven British light companies, three 5th/60th Foot rifle companies and the entire 11th Caçadores Battalion. This heavy skirmish line moved forward until it came into contact with Soult's main defense line, but it was unable to press any farther. For two hours, Picton waited for Beresford's attack to make progress as the two sides skirmished.

Wellington quickly changed his plans after seeing his flank attack fail. He converted his holding attack with the 3rd and 6th Divisions into a head on assault. The new assault began around 11:30 am. The British commander sent every available unit against the French right flank and center. He held back only 2/95th Foot and 3/95th Foot, the Portuguese 3rd Caçadores Battalion and the 17th Line Infantry Regiment from the Light Division. The brigades of Ross and Vasconcellos were withdrawn and replaced by the 7th Division. The struggle for Saint-Boès broke out anew when Walker's division and William Anson's brigade of 4th Division attacked, supported by two British artillery batteries firing from the church knoll. Four battalions attacked in the center led by the 6th Foot. Two battalions were deployed to the left and John Milley Doyle's Portuguese brigade was on the right. Taupin's tired soldiers, who had been fighting for about four hours, were driven back behind the Plassotte knoll where they rallied.

When it advanced, Brisbane's brigade came under artillery fire that caused many casualties. The brigade finally reached some dead ground where the guns could not hit them, but French skirmishers began picking off the soldiers. After some urging by Edward Pakenham, Brisbane continued the attack. The 1/45th Foot fought its way close to the top of the ridge where Joseph François Fririon's brigade of Foy's division held the ridgeline. On the left of Brisbane's brigade, the 1/88th Foot had two companies guarding the divisional artillery battery as it began pounding the French line. Soult spotted the threat and ordered a squadron of the 21st Chasseurs-à-Cheval to charge. The cavalry overran the two companies, inflicting heavy losses, and then went after the gunners. The remaining companies of the 88th immediately opened fire on the French horsemen, mowing most of them down. The 21st Chasseurs went into combat 401 strong but 11 days later reported only 236 men on active duty. The 88th Foot suffered 269 killed and wounded, by far the most of any British unit.

While Foy walked behind his front line units, a shrapnel shell burst over his head, driving a bullet into his left shoulder. His wounding disheartened his soldiers, who began falling back. At about the same time, Brisbane's brigade was replaced in the front line by two brigades of Clinton's 6th Division. These fresh troops fired a volley from close range and advanced with the bayonet, driving the French down the ridge's rear slope. Pierre André Hercule Berlier's brigade of Foy's division, which was closer to Orthez, fell back after Fririon's retreat exposed its flank. With Berlier gone, Harispe's two battalions in Orthez were compelled to retreat in order to avoid capture. On the left spur, Picton's two brigades under Keane and Power pressed against Darmagnac's division. After Foy's division gave way, Darmagnac retreated to the next ridge in the rear, where his troops took position on the right of Villatte's division. The divisional batteries of Picton and Clinton zeroed in on the new French position.

Rouget's division and Paris' brigade apparently began to pull back after Darmagnac's retreat. Seeing a gap open between Rouget and Taupin, Wellington ordered the 52nd Foot to advance from the Roman Camp and drive a wedge into the French defensive line. The unit's commander John Colborne led his men across some marshy ground and then up the slope toward the Luc knoll, followed by Wellington and his staff. They won a foothold at the top of the ridge on Taupin's left flank. With both its flanks turned, Taupin's division hurriedly retreated to the northeast, the last French unit to be dislodged. The mauled division never rallied, though it managed to save all but two of its cannons. At some position to the rear, Rouget's division and Paris' brigade joined together and fought a hard battle against the pursuing Allies.

John Buchan's brigade skirmished with the French defenders of Orthez all morning. Having received orders to cross the Gave de Pau, Hill got his troops marching for the Souars Ford at 11:00 am. Arriving there, the 12,000 Anglo-Portuguese brushed aside the cavalry regiment and two battalions of the 115th Line Infantry Regiment defending the ford. Hill's troops were soon across the river in strength and pressing back Harispe's outnumbered division. They were joined by Buchan's Portuguese who crossed at the Orthez bridge the moment the town's defenders pulled out. Joined by some newly arrived conscript battalions, Harispe attempted to make a stand at the Motte de Tury heights. The raw recruits proved to be poor fighting material; Hill's men broke Harispe's line and captured three guns.

Wellington's Spanish liaison officer, Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel, was hit by a spent bullet during the advance. As Wellington was teasing Álava, he was knocked off his horse when a bullet-sized canister shot struck his sword hilt. In pain from a badly bruised hip, the British army commander remounted and continued to direct the battle. At this time, Soult realized that Hill's column might cut off his army from the Orthez to Sault-de-Navailles road. He ordered his army to retreat, covered by Villatte, Darmagnac, Rouget and Paris. At first, the tricky withdrawal was conducted in good order, though it was closely followed by British horse artillery and infantry. Because they had to retreat on narrow paths and across country, the retreating French units became badly mixed and unit cohesion was lost. Fearful of capture, the retreating soldiers became more and more confused and demoralized.

Villatte and Harispe covered the withdrawal. At Sallespisse the troops from the French right and center poured into the main road. Soldiers from Villatte's division held that village until expelled by the 42nd Foot (Black Watch) in a hard fight. For the final  to the Sault-de-Navailles bridge, most of Soult's army was a mob. That the cavalry brigades of Fane, Vivian and Somerset did not wreak havoc on the French was due to the terrain, which was criss-crossed with walls and ditches. Only the 7th Hussars made an effective charge, riding down one battalion of the 115th Line and a French National Guard unit from Harispe's division. At Sault-de-Navailles, Soult's artillery chief Louis Tirlet set up a 12-gun battery to cover the bridge over the Luy de Béarn. Soult's beaten men flowed across the bridge and kept going until they reached Hagetmau. Villatte and Harispe's infantry and Pierre Soult's cavalry stayed in Sault-de-Navailles until 10:00 pm when they blew up the bridge and joined the retreat.

Results

The French lost the battle on French soil as Soult lost six field guns and 3,985 men including 542 killed, 2,077 wounded and 1,366 prisoners. Foy and brigadiers Étienne de Barbot and Nicolas Gruardet were wounded. General of Brigade Jean-Pierre Béchaud of Taupin's division was killed. The Allies sustained losses of 367 killed, 1,727 wounded and 80 captured for a total of 2,174. Of these, Portuguese casualties numbered 156 killed, 354 wounded and 19 captured, while British losses were 211 killed, 1,373 wounded and 61 captured. In addition to battle casualties, many of the recently conscripted French soldiers promptly deserted. Soult did not attempt to defend the Luy de Béarn with his demoralized army. Instead he retreated north to Saint-Sever on the Adour.

Soult was in a dilemma. He could not defend both the important southwestern port of Bordeaux and Toulouse. He decided that trying to hold Bordeaux would put the Garonne Estuary at his back and that it would be difficult to obtain food in that area. Therefore, the French marshal determined to operate to the east in the direction of Toulouse. On 2 March, the Allies clashed with the French at Aire-sur-l'Adour in a combat that cost the French about 250 men killed and wounded, including 12 officers, and 100 captured. Hippolita Da Costa sent his Portuguese brigade to attack a strong position. When it was repulsed with losses of five officers and 100 men, Da Costa failed to rally the soldiers and was replaced in command. British losses were 156 killed and wounded in the 2nd Division. After this action with Hill, Harispe abandoned Aire. Soult withdrew to a position between Maubourguet and Plaisance where his army was left alone for ten days.

Wishing to capitalize on Soult's failure to defend Bordeaux, Wellington sent Beresford and the 4th and 7th Divisions to seize the seaport. Beresford departed the Allied camp on 7 March and occupied Bordeaux on 12 March. Leaving the 7th Division as an occupation force, Beresford hurried back with the 4th Division to join Wellington on 19 March. During this period, Allied infantry strength fell to 29,000 which was why Wellington did not trouble Soult. To make up for the deficit, the British army commander called for his heavy cavalry brigades to join him. He also asked for 8,000 Spanish reinforcements to be forwarded to the army, the soldiers to be paid by the British treasury. The Battle of Toulouse would be fought on 10 April.

Notes

References

Further reading
  This is an excellent source for the full names of French generals.

External links

Battles of the Peninsular War
Battles of the Napoleonic Wars
Battle of Orthez
Battles involving the United Kingdom
Battles involving France
Battles involving Portugal
Battles in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
History of Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Battle of Orthez
Battle honours of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
February 1814 events
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Battle of Orthez


The Axis of rotation is an imaginary line passing through the centre of mass of any celestial body around which the celestial body rotates. In case of Earth, the axis of rotation of Earth passes through the north pole, the centre of mass of Earth and the south pole. The Earth makes one complete rotation around this imaginary axis every 23 hours 56 minutes 4 seconds.The line passes through the north and south poles of a planet.

Related pages
 Axial tilt
 Rotation

Celestial mechanics
Geometry

Axis of rotation


The Baltoro Glacier, at 62 kilometers long, is one of the longest glaciers outside of the polar regions. It is in Baltistan, in the Northern Areas of Pakistan, and runs through part of the Karakoram mountain range. The Baltoro Muztagh is to the north and east of the glacier, while the Masherbrum Mountains lie to the south. At 8,611 m (28,251 ft), K2 is the highest mountain in the region, and three others within 20 km top 8,000 m.

The glacier gives rise to the Shigar River, which is a tributary of the Indus River. Several large tributary glaciers feed the main Baltoro glacier, including the Godwin Austen Glacier, flowing south from K2; the Abruzzi and the various Gasherbrum Glaciers, flowing from the Gasherbrum group of peaks; the Vigne Glacier, flowing from Chogolisa, and the Yermandendu Glacier, flowing from Masherbrum. The confluence of the main Baltoro Glacier with the Godwin Austen Glacier is known as Concordia; this location and K2 base camp are popular trekking destinations.

The trough of this glacier is very wide. Small valley glaciers form icefalls where they meet the trunk glacier. The sidewalls vary from very steep to precipitous. The glacier has carved striations on the surrounding country rocks. Moving ice has formed depressions, which serve as basins for numerous glacial lakes.

The glacier can be approached via the important Balti town of Skardu.

Glaciers of Pakistan

Baltoro Glacier


Our Lady of La Vang was a reported Marian apparition (a supernatural appearance of the Virgin Mary) in Vietnam. The appearance was reported at a time when Catholics were being persucted and killed in Vietnam. In Vietnamese she is called  or .

Name
Modern scholars believe the name came from a plant in the area (La means "leaf" and Vang means "herbal seeds"). Others believe the name came from a Vietnamese word that meant "crying out" as if the Vietnamese Catholics at that time were "crying out" to God for help. Some believe the name came from the rainforest's name La Vang.

History
Fearing the spread of Catholicism, Emperor Canh Thinh banned the practice of Catholicism. Soon thereafter the emperor made an anti-Catholic edict which made the practice of Catholicism punishable by death. Many Catholics sought refuge in the rainforest  of La Vang in Quang Tri Province. While hiding in the rainforest, the small community would gather every night at the foot of a tree and pray. One night, an apparition surprised them. In the branches of the tree, a lady dressed in the traditional Vietnamese dress (ao dai), holding an infant in her arms with two angels beside her, appeared. The people who witnessed this apparition said that the lady and the infant was the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. They said that the lady comforted them and told them to boil the leaves from the tree for medicine to cure the illness.

In 1802, many of the Catholics went back to their villages, spreading the story of the apparition. Soon, many people came back to the site to offer incense and to pray. In 1820, a chapel was built. From 1830- 1885 another wave of persecutions decimated the Catholic population. The chapel of Our Lady of La Vang was destroyed and in 1886 a new chapel was built.

Vatican recognition
There is no official recognition from the Vatican for this as a "Marian apparition". Although there is no official recognition, Pope John Paul II publicly recognized the importance of Our Lady of La Vang and expressed a desire to rebuild the La Vang Basilica to honor the 200th anniversary of the first apparition.

Catholicism
Marian apparitions
Religion in Vietnam

Our Lady of La Vang


United Nations Security Council resolution 1173, adopted unanimously on 12 June 1998, after reaffirming Resolution 696 (1991) and all subsequent resolutions on Angola, particularly Resolution 1127 (1997), the council announced its intention to impose further sanctions against UNITA for non-compliance, unless it co-operated to extend state administration throughout the country.

The security council expressed concern at the situation in the peace process, brought about by UNITA's failure to implement measures under the Acordos de Paz, Lusaka Protocol and resolutions by the Security Council. At the same time, it was recognised that the Government of Unity and National Reconciliation (GURN) had made progress in ending hostile propaganda in the state-controlled media and reduced brutality by the Angolan National Police.

The resolution condemned UNITA for not implementing aspects of the peace agreements and security council resolutions, demanding that it restore state authority in areas such as Andulo, Bailundo, Mungo and Nharea. It also reiterated demands for UNITA to complete demobilisation, co-operate with the United Nations Observer Mission in Angola (MONUA) and cease attacks on MONUA, international personnel, police and civilians. MONUA was redeployed to the areas where the extension of state administration was to take place, and both the GURN and UNITA were urged to refrain from actions that could escalate tensions.

Acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, the council demanded that all countries freeze assets of UNITA in their territories, deciding further that member states should:

(a) prevent contacts with UNITA in areas where state administration had not been extended;
(b) prohibit the import of diamonds not controlled through the certificate of origin scheme or Angolan government;
(c) prevent the sale of mining equipment to areas not under state administration;
(d) prevent the sale of motorised vehicles or watercraft and equipment or spare parts.

The committee established in Resolution 864 (1993) would grant exceptions to the measures upon request. The restrictions would come into force at 00:01 EST on 25 June 1998 unless decided otherwise, and a review would be undertaken of the restrictions, including the possibility of further measures.

The GURN was requested to notify the committee which areas it did not control, further requesting the committee to report to the council by 31 July 1998 on the imposition of the measures and for countries to report on the measures they had taken by 15 July 1998.

See also
Angolan Civil War
Blood diamond
List of United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1101 to 1200 (1997–1998)
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1176
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1295

References

External links

Text of the Resolution at undocs.org

 1173
1998 in Angola
 1173
United Nations Security Council sanctions regimes
Blood diamonds
June 1998 events

United Nations Security Council Resolution 1173


The von Neumann architecture is a model of how computers work. It was developed by John von Neumann, and others in the 1940s. According to this model, a computer consists of two fundamental parts: There is a processor, which loads and executes program instructions, and there is computer memory which holds both the instructions and the data. The von Neumann architecture is probably the most common model that describes how most computers work today. As it was developed at Princeton University, it is also known as Princeton architecture, but that term is less common.

Another very similar architecture is the Harvard architecture, which separates the place where data is held from that where program instructions are held.

Von Neumann bottleneck
The common bus (essentially like a road for data) used by the program memory and data memory creates what is called the von Neumann bottleneck, which is the limit of the data transfer rate between the CPU and memory (think of it like a 100-km road between destinations). Because the program and data cannot be accessed at the same time, the data transfer rate is smaller than the rate the CPU can work, limiting the effective processing speed of the CPU. It is made to wait for the data it needs to be moved to or from memory.

The Von Neumann bottleneck can be avoided if data and program are transferred on separate buses. This is achieved by the Harvard architecture.

Alternative workarounds include having a small data cache built into the processor, and using complicated algorithms and logic to predict what will be needed next and get it before it is needed.

Early von Neumann computers
These are some examples of von Neumann model computers.
 Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC)
 Manchester Mark 1
 EDVAC
 IAS machine
 ORACLE

References

Computer architecture

Von Neumann architecture


Andrei Șaguna (; 20 January 1808, Miskolc, Hungary – 28 June 1873, Nagyszeben, Hungary) was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of the Romanian community political leaders in the Habsburg monarchy, especially active during the 1848 Revolution. He was an honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

Early life
He was Aromanian in origin, his family having settled with Naum Șaguna (Andrei's father) in Hungary from Grabova, now Albania. With the guidance of local Piarists, Șaguna's parents had opted to convert to Roman Catholicism, seeking to obtain a better status than the second-class one reserved for most Eastern Orthodox subjects of the Habsburgs. However, the Șagunas most likely continued to practice their original religion in secret - the future Metropolitan was probably never a practising Catholic.

After he rejoined the Orthodox Church while living and studying in Pest, Andrei Șaguna became a monk and started his ecclesiastical career in the Banat region. As he was becoming a convinced nationalist, Șaguna refused to join the Serbian Orthodox Church hierarchy in Sremski Karlovci (at the time, the Orthodox Christians in Banat were under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Church). Instead, he left for Transylvania - where he was able to integrate within a Romanian-dominated clergy.

In the Revolution
Șaguna got involved in the movement that sought increased rights for Romanians and demanded that Transylvania would become an autonomous entity of the Monarchy after the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 (as opposed to the Hungarian plans for a Union of the two). As such, Șaguna was present at the Blaj Assembly in May, where he argued for a moderate position. The respect he enjoyed, as well as his will for mediation got him elected to the executive of the Romanian movement, and soon after he was to be the main delegate petitioning Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria and the Vienna government.

As the Hungarians effectively imposed the union project at the end of the same month, Andrei Șaguna joined the side that still sought a compromise. The Romanian envoys led by him negotiated with the Hungarian side until September, when the conflict between Hungary and the Habsburgs erupted, coupled with an understanding between the Romanians and Vienna (the former were allowed to create a loyalist administration in Transylvania). In October, as Transylvania became a battleground, Şaguna and the rest of the Romanian leadership took refuge in Sibiu (where the Austrian army still held some ground).

Austrian General Anton Freiherr von Puchner, who had taken refuge to the Wallachian region of Oltenia, pressured Șaguna and other leaders to openly demand that Imperial Russian occupiers of Wallachia protect his last contingents as they evacuated Transylvania. His commanders were hoping to turn the tide by attacking Hungary from the west, and a Russian presence was not requested officially. However, as the troops in Transylvania were on the brink of destruction (and the rest of Puchner's army was being decimated by a cholera epidemic), a Romanian request was judged honorable. Prolonged negotiations led to a compromise, through which the Romanians agreed to appeal to the Russians through an unsigned petition issued by "Sibiu citizens". The Russians did respond, and helped Austrians into Wallachia - the refugees were to be followed by all the Romanian leaders.

The Hungarians leadership reacted with anger at the outcome (since it prolonged the war and created a precedent). Information got out about Şaguna's involvement, which leader Lajos Kossuth feared to be a confirmation that the Eastern Orthodox Romanians had accommodated Pan-Slavism. In offers of peace he sent to Romanian insurgent Avram Iancu, Kossuth singled out Şaguna as an enemy, specifying that no offer of amnesty would include the cleric.

In February 1849, as the tide of a second and decisive Russian military action grew near, Andrei Şaguna left for Austria, where he drew suspicion by trying to reanimate a previous project, which asked for a common Romanians-in-Austria realm (Transylvania together with the Banat and Bukovina). Such demands proved decisive after the crushing of Kossuth's movement: Austria steadily withdrew its offers to Romanians, as it feared that encouragement of their cause would lead to a Hungarian-like crisis.

Later activities

In 1850, Șaguna was again leader of a delegation to Vienna, asking Franz Joseph I of Austria for an institution of higher learning to be approved by the Austrian leadership, and further liberties and education rights for the Romanian community. As the Austrians were highly skeptical of Romanian goals, most of these remained unanswered, and further Romanian attempts were made useless after the 1867 Ausgleich cut off communication with Austria. Although Șaguna's activities had assured the recognition of a Romanian Transylvanian Orthodox Church, the new administration meant the absorption of Transylvania into the Hungarian and centralized half of Austria-Hungary (with the disappearance of the Transylvanian Diet). Șaguna and other mainstream Romanian leaders found themselves forced to limit their activities to the cultural field. The cleric was the main activist of the 1861-founded ASTRA cultural society, and remained focused on its activities up until his death.

Still committed to parliamentarism, Andrei Șaguna radicalized his views on ethnic representation and sanctioned all attempts at trans-ethnical policies (he was especially harsh on Romanians who voted for Hungarian candidates in elections to the Hungarian Parliament).

A large number of institutions bear the name Andrei Șaguna, most of them educational ones in and around Sibiu.

References
 Keith Hitchins, The Rumanian National Movement in Transylvania, 1780-1849., Cambridge, Mass.:  Harvard University Press, 1969
 Liviu Maior, 1848-1849. Români și unguri în revoluție, Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică, 1998
 https://web.archive.org/web/20060831000801/http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~Chastain/rz/saguna.htm

External links

Romanian Orthodox metropolitan bishops
Romanian saints
Honorary members of the Romanian Academy
Aromanian people
Aromanian priests
Romanian people of Aromanian descent
People of the Revolutions of 1848
Ethnic Romanian politicians in Transylvania
Hungarian people of Aromanian descent
People from Miskolc
1809 births
1873 deaths

Andrei Șaguna


Concerto for Orchestra is the title of a work for orchestra by the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók. It is one of the most famous orchestral pieces of the mid-20th century.

Several composers have written works to which they gave the title "Concerto for Orchestra". It is an unusual title because a concerto is normally a work for one solo instrument and an orchestra. The soloist is given a lot of opportunity to show off his (or her) talent. In a "Concerto for Orchestra" there is no soloist, but the composer thinks it is different from a symphony because a lot of the instruments in the orchestra are treated like soloists during the piece. This is what happens in Béla Bartók's concerto.

The work was written in 1943 and it was first performed on 1 December 1944 in the Boston Symphony Hall by the Boston Symphony Orchestra with the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. It was immediately a great success. Koussevitszky asked Bartók to write this piece. Bartók had just arrived in United States from Hungary. He had to flee because of World War II. Bartók had no money and so he was glad to get some work.

The music

Bartók often uses ideas from the Classical music period in this work. He also uses ideas from folk music from central Europe, especially Hungarian music. Quite often the music is not in a major or minor key. He uses folk scales which have different kinds of scales called modes. Sometimes tunes sound like folk music. At other times there are drones in the horns and strings.

The orchestra needs 3 flutes (one doubling piccolo), 3 oboes (one doubling cor anglais), 3 clarinets (one doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (one doubling contrabassoon), 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, side drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tamtam, 2 harps and strings

The five movements

The first movement, called Introduzione by Bartók, is a slow introduction which sounds like music describing the night. This is something Bartók did several times in his works. It is in sonata form.

The second movement is called "Giuoco delle coppie" which means "Game of pairs". Pairs of instruments take it in turns to play a tune, each pair playing music which is separated by a different interval.

The third movement, called Elegia by Bartók, is another slow movement, typical of Bartók's night music.

The fourth movement, called Intermezzo interrotto by Bartók, has a flowing melody with a time signature which keeps changing. There is also a theme which pokes fun at the march tune in Dmitri Shostakovich's "Leningrad" Symphony (No. 7). There is a very difficult bit for the timpani where the player has to play lots of different pitches in a very short section.

The fifth movement, called Finale is a very fast movement with lots of energy and plenty of folk tunes.

References
 Score of Concerto for Orchestra, Boosey and Hawkes
 The Life and Music of Béla Bartók, Halsey Stevens, OUP 1964.

Compositions by Béla Bartók
Orchestral works

Concerto for Orchestra (Bartók)


San Francisco Zen Center (SFZC), is a network of affiliated Sōtō Zen practice and retreat centers in the San Francisco Bay area, comprising City Center or Beginner's Mind Temple, Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. The sangha was incorporated by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi and a group of his American students in 1962. Today SFZC is the largest Sōtō organization in the West.

History
On May 23, 1959, Shunryu Suzuki (then age 55) came from Japan to San Francisco to serve as head priest of Sokoji—a Soto Zen temple then located at 1881 Bush Street in Japantown. He was joined by his wife Mitsu (also from Japan) in 1961. Sokoji—founded by Hosen Isobe in 1934—had been housed in a former Jewish synagogue that is now Kokoro Assisted Living. Upon Suzuki's arrival at Sokoji, the congregation was composed entirely of members of the Japanese-American population. Unlike many of his predecessors, Suzuki was a fluent speaker of English.

Suzuki's arrival came at the tail end of the Beat movement and just prior to the social movements of the 1960s, both of which had major roots in San Francisco. Before long, Sokoji had non-Japanese Americans — mostly beatniks— coming to the temple to sit zazen with him in the morning. Soon these Westerners participated in regular services, and new non-Asian students came to outnumber the Japanese-American congregation. This change in demography caused a rift in the Sokoji community. The tension was alleviated when Suzuki's Western students began gathering for separate services, albeit still at Sokoji, in 1961. Some of these students began calling their group City Center, and they incorporated in 1962 as the San Francisco Zen Center.

The number of practitioners at SFZC grew rapidly in the mid-sixties. Within a couple of years, Suzuki considered founding a monastery to host more intensive practice for those students who were interested. In 1966, Suzuki and Baker scouted Tassajara Hot Springs, located in Los Padres National Forest behind Big Sur, as a possible location for the envisioned monastic center. After a major fundraising effort led by Baker, Zen Center purchased the land—which contained a rundown resort and mineral springs in 1967. Tassajara Zen Mountain Center ("Zen Mind Temple" or Zenshinji) was the first Zen Buddhist monastery built in the United States, and the first in the world to allow co-ed practice.

1967 also saw the arrival of Kobun Chino Otogawa of Eiheiji, who served as assistant to Suzuki. Kobun was resident teacher at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center until 1970. Around 1970, he began sitting regularly with a group in Santa Cruz that went on to form the Santa Cruz Zen Center. In 1971, he became resident priest at Haiku Zen Center, a practice center in Los Altos where Suzuki-roshi had been giving lectures, and soon after the sangha there grew and changed its name to Bodhi. He served as Abbot there until 1978, moving the group to Jikoji in Los Gatos, California in 1979.

Another assistant priest at SFZC was Dainin Katagiri-roshi, who served there from 1969 to 1971. Katagiri would go on to establish his own practice center—the Minnesota Zen Center—in 1972 in Minneapolis.

In 1969, Sokoji's board of directors asked Suzuki to resign his position as the temple's priest, asserting that he was spending more time with his Western students than the Japanese-American congregation. Months later Suzuki—with the help of his American students—purchased the current (and larger) City Center building, located on 300 Page Street. The building, designed by Julia Morgan, was built as the Emanu-el Residence Club in 1922 for the Emanu-el Sisterhood. The Residence combined residential rooms that could house 70 women on the upper floors, with public spaces for spiritual, recreational, and educational uses on the ground floor and basement. This relationship between the public and private was easily translated to the needs of the San Francisco Zen Center, with meditation halls and public spaces on the lower levels, and residential areas for practicing students on the upper floors.

In 1970, Suzuki gave Dharma transmission to Richard Baker, his only American Dharma Heir and chosen successor at SFZC. Suzuki planned to give transmission to Bill Kwong but died before his completion. Kwong's transmission was later completed by Suzuki's son, Hoitsu.

Suzuki died of cancer on December 4, 1971 at 67 years of age. Despite having only had 12 years in the United States, Suzuki had gone a long way toward establishing Soto Zen in America. His death came shortly after the publication of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, a collection of lectures translated into numerous languages and considered a classic of contemporary Zen literature.

Suzuki had asked Baker to locate a farm in the area for entire families to live a Buddhist life while working together. Green Gulch Farm ("Green Dragon Temple", or Soryuji), located in Sausalito, California in a valley on the Pacific Ocean, was acquired by SFZC in 1972. The land was purchased from one of the founders of Polaroid, George Wheelwright. Despite hesitance of some members of SFZC due to the size of , Baker felt that acquiring Green Gulch Farm was very important for Buddhism in America. Members soon raised funds for a zendo to be built there, and over time the farm transformed into a monastery and retreat center for residents and guests with an organic farm, flower gardens, a teahouse and a plant nursery.

In 1976, SFZC purchased the Gallo Pastry Company to found the Tassajara Bakery, which became popular before being sold to the company Just Desserts in 1992. The bakery was closed altogether in 1999. Tassajara Bakery was a Zen Center venture promoted by Richard Baker as an extension of the baking practices at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. Tassajara baked bread for student and guest consumption since 1967, and Edward Espe Brown's Tassajara Bread Book, demonstrated consumer interest. The bakery supplied Greens Restaurant and some local grocers.

Greens Restaurant, opened in 1979 in Fort Mason of San Francisco, was another business venture by SFZC under the influence of Baker. A pioneer of gourmet vegetarian cuisine in America, the restaurant's first chefs were Edward Espe Brown and Deborah Madison. The duo published a book of recipes in 1987 titled The Greens Cookbook. Throughout the 1980s Greens, which obtained produce from Green Gulch Farm, was one of the most popular restaurants in San Francisco.

The center received significant media coverage concerning the 1984 resignation of then abbot Zentatsu Richard Baker, who was ousted after it was alleged that he had been having an affair with the wife of a prominent Zen Center member. In the wake of Baker's resignation, SFZC transitioned to a democratically elected leadership model, until in 2010 there was a new introduction of a predesignated slated of board members.

Additional businesses run by SFZC were the Alaya Stitchery storefront, which made zafus, zabutons and clothing, and Green Gulch Grocery, which sold produce from Green Gulch Farm. Neither business is operative today.

SFZC today
In 2000 Jiko Linda Cutts was appointed Abbess, having received Dharma transmission from Tenshin Reb Anderson in 1996. In 2003 Paul Haller, who received transmission from Sojun Mel Weitsman in 1993, was installed as co-abbot with her. In 1987 SFZC started the Zen Hospice Project, a volunteer hospice program run out of a guest house on Page Street with five residential beds. Zen Hospice Project also continues to train and coordinate volunteers who provide non sectarian, non-medical care to residents of the hospice and palliative care ward at Laguna Honda Hospital, a skilled nursing facility operated by the City and County of San Francisco. The volunteer project's founding director was Frank Ostaseski, who served until 2004. Zen Hospice Project provides hospice care for individuals of any or no religion who are looking for a compassionate end to their life. Today SFZC is the largest Soto organization with a foothold in the West. Zen Hospice Project was the subject of the Netflix 2018 Academy Award-nominated short documentary End Game, about terminally ill patients in a San Francisco hospital as well as at the Zen Hospice Project house, featuring the work of palliative care physician BJ Miller and other palliative care clinicians. The film was directed by veteran filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and executive produced by physician, Shoshana R. Ungerleider.

Tassajara Zen Mind Temple

The Tassajara monastery is closed to outsiders from the months of September through April, then opens to the public by reservation from May through August - offering retreats, seminars, and workshops. Students that come to practice at the monastery from September through April must undergo the tradition known as tangaryo. They will sit for five days or longer in the zendo before they are formally admitted into the monastery—a physically daunting challenge.

Green Gulch Green Dragon Temple

The organic farm at Green Gulch supplies local restaurants and food suppliers and sells flowers, produce and herbs at Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco. Guests stay at the Lindisfarne Guest House, a traditional Japanese building with a wood-burning stove as the heating source. Zen practice is not required to stay at Green Gulch, though guests are welcome to participate in zazen or any other activities. Tenshin Reb Anderson-roshi, former abbot of City Zen Center, is senior Dharma teacher at Green Gulch——training priests and laypeople, leading sesshins, giving talks and conducting workshops while also living onsite.

Controversies

Baker resigns

In March 1983 Baker was accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with the wife of an influential sangha member. Although Baker claimed that his relationship was a love-affair which had not yet been consummated, the outcry surrounding the incident led to accusations of impropriety, including the admissions by several female members of the community that they had had affairs with Baker before or during his tenure as abbot. The community's sense of crisis sharpened when the woman's husband, one of SFZC's primary benefactors, threatened to hold the organization legally responsible for its abbot's apparent misconduct.

These revelations led Baker to resign as abbot in 1984. San Francisco Zen Center's web site now comments: "Although the circumstances leading to his resignation as abbot in 1984 were difficult and complex, in recent years, there has been increased contact; a renewal of friendship and dharma relations."

In the 1980s Baker ordained Issan Dorsey as a priest. This was likely prompted by a conversation between Robert Baker Aitken and Baker at San Francisco Zen Center concerning the question of Zen's availability to interested gays, for Dorsey went on to become abbot of the Hartford Street Zen Center.

Following Baker's resignation, Dainin Katagiri led the community until 1985. When Katagiri left, Tenshin Reb Anderson assumed Abbotship of the Zen Center—serving until 1995. In the early 1990s the Board of Directors at the Zen Center created the "Ethical Principles and Procedures for Grievance and Reconciliation" for its members, for conflict resolution mediation guided by Buddhist precepts. The Board of Directors at SFZC also began election of leaders. In 1995 Zoketsu Norman Fischer was installed as Abbot at SFZC, and in 1996 Zenkai Blanche Hartman was appointed as co-Abbot with him (becoming the first female Abbot in SFZC history).

Tenshin Reb Anderson's arrest

In 1983 Tenshin Reb Anderson received shihō from Zentatsu Richard Baker, becoming Baker's first Dharma heir (though Baker disputes this). From 1986 to 1988 he served as abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center, and from 1988 to 1995 he served there as co-abbot with Sojun Mel Weitsman. Anderson became entangled in an incident in 1987 that reached back to 1983— just after Zentatsu Richard Baker had resigned as abbot. While jogging through Golden Gate Park, Anderson deviated from the path to urinate in some bushes. There he found the corpse of a man with a bullet wound to the head and a revolver nearby. Rather than report this to the police, Anderson returned to the body over several days to meditate over the corpse. On one visit he decided to take the revolver home with him. Upon his final visit he found the body no longer there, and a fellow priest in whom he had confided showed him a newspaper article covering the apparent suicide. Five years later (in 1988), roughly fifteen months after Anderson had become abbot of the San Francisco, Anderson was arrested for brandishing this same firearm in public. He reported being mugged at knifepoint by a man just a block away from the San Francisco Zen Center at 300 Page Street. Anderson remembered stowing the revolver away in the San Francisco Zen Center's garage and quickly retrieved it. He then drove after the alleged mugger and followed him into a housing project with the revolver (unloaded) in hand, being arrested minutes later by a police officer with his own gun pointed at him.

This 1987 incident has had a damaging impact on Anderson's reputation as a teacher, since his arrest received national media coverage. The leadership of San Francisco Zen Center required Anderson to take a leave of absence from his position as abbot. After six months, he returned to his position. Shocked by the series of scandals involving its senior teachers, the organization decided to appoint two abbots, who would share the position at any one time. Zen priest Mel Weitsman served with Anderson as a co-abbot during the remainder of his term, and the tradition of two sitting Abbots continued for the next few decades.

Regarding this ordeal, Anderson wrote:

"On both a personal and a professional level, I am still dealing with the consequences of this episode. Some people felt that I had committed an irrevocable betrayal of trust, and have discounted me and my teaching ever since. Others were more forgiving, but their trust in me and my integrity was permanently shaken. Even newer students, who come to Zen Center and find out about these incidents, are sometimes confused and question whether I can be their teacher. These events are a helpful reminder—both to me and to others—of my vulnerability to arrogance and inflation. I see how my empowerment to protect and care for the Triple Treasure inflated my sense of personal authority, and thus detracted from and disparaged the Triple Treasure. This ancient twisted karma I now fully avow."

Friends of SFZC
SFZC is connected, in an unofficial capacity, to the following Zen Centers:

Berkeley Zen Center
Brooklyn Zen Center
Chapel Hill Zen Center
Hartford Street Zen Center
Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center
Santa Cruz Zen Center
Sonoma Mountain Zen Center
Austin Zen Center
San Antonio Zen Center
Houston Zen Center
Dharma Vow Zen Sangha, Santa Monica

Alumni - partial list

See also
Zen in the United States
Buddhism in the United States
Bush Street Temple
Hartford Street Zen Center
Kannon Do Zen Meditation Center
Timeline of Zen Buddhism in the United States

Notes

References

Further reading

External links

 Zen Hospice Project

Buddhist temples in San Francisco
Buddhist monasteries in the United States
Buddhist organizations based in the United States
Religious organizations established in 1962
History of San Francisco
Soto Zen
Spiritual retreats

San Francisco Zen Center


The Doppler effect is a change in frequency and wavelength of a wave. It is caused by the change in distance between the thing creating the wave (causer) and whatever is measuring seeing or hearing the wave (watcher or observer).

Another word for "causer" is "sender" or "source". Another word for "change in distance" is "speed" or "relative velocity".
A common example is sitting in a car while another car goes by the watcher.  The watcher will hear a change in pitch, while the sender will not.

For waves read all the waves that can send out or reflected by an object. And for reflection read change of direction of a wave.

Effects of changes in distance

If observer and creator of the wave get closer, the frequency is higher and the wavelength is shorter.
 For light, this causes a shift in colour towards the blue end of the spectrum called a blue shift. The faster something is moving toward us, the greater the blue shift.
 For sound, this causes the sound to become higher in pitch

If the distance between the observer and creator gets longer, the frequency is lower and the wavelength is longer.
 For light, this causes a shift towards the red end of the spectrum called a red shift, the faster something is moving away, the greater the red shift.
 For sound, this causes the sound to become lower in pitch.

Light waves can also be read, examples are:
 Microwaves
 Radio waves

An extreme example of the doppler effect is an aeroplane flying at a faster speed than the speed of sound and how the wall of sound is heard on the ground.

Related pages
red shift
blue shift

References

Wave physics

Doppler effect


The English Channel is a body of water that separates the island of Great Britain from the rest of Europe. People who live in the UK and want to visit Europe, or people from Europe who want to visit the UK, can take a ferry across or ride a train under the channel in a special tunnel called the Channel Tunnel (nicknamed the Chunnel). Both the ferries and trains carry cars. It is 563 km long, 246 km wide, and its narrowest part (34 km) is the Strait of Dover. On a clear day, it is possible to see the cliffs of Dover from Calais on the French side.

In 1875, Matthew Webb became the first known person to swim the English Channel, crossing it in just under 22 hours. The first woman to do this was Gertrude Ederle. In 2004, over 600 people were recorded making the crossing. The fastest time was achieved by Bulgarian swimmer Peter Stoychev in 2007, who managed it in 7 hours. Recently, officials have outlawed swimming in the English Channel.

In France, it is known as La manche (The Sleeve).

Waterways

English Channel


The Kingdom of Tungning was the first Han Chinese government to rule Taiwan. It ruled between 1661 and 1683. It was a pro-Ming Dynasty kingdom. It was started by Koxinga, after the destruction of Ming government by the Manchu. Koxinga was son of a pirate who was a supporter of the Ming Dynasty. He hoped to get his soldiers together on Taiwan and use it as a base to get back mainland China for the Ming Dynasty.

Names

The Kingdom of Tungning is also sometimes known as:
The Kingdom of Zheng (Cheng)
The Kingdom of Yanping.
The Koxinga dynasty.

Admiral Koxinga called Taiwan Tungtu/Dongdu. In western history books it is known as the Kingdom of Taiwan,.

History

In 1661, Koxinga forced a landing at Luerhmen, Taiwan. In less than a year, he took Fort Zeelandia and made an agreement  with Frederick Coyett, the Dutch governor. The Dutch gave him the fort and left all the goods and property of the Dutch East India Company behind. All the Dutch people, officials and soldiers were able take their personal things and supplies back to Batavia in safety. This ended 38 years of Dutch colonial rule on Taiwan. Koxinga kept himself busy making Taiwan into a useful base for anti-Qing Dynasty supporters who hoped to get the Ming Dynasty back to power.

In 1662, at the age of 39, Koxinga died of malaria. Some people said that he died in a sudden fit of craziness when he heard about the death of his father under the Qing. His son, Zheng Jing, took control as the ruler of Taiwan, with the name of Prince of Yanping.

For the next 19 years, Zheng Jing tried to run the country and rebuild his army in Taiwan. Contact with the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty from the China through ambassadors was frequent. Zheng Jing fought the Qing to defend Xiamen, Quemoy and the Pescadores islands, which he finally lost over the years. His small army army was not big enough to defend the islands from the Qing. During Revolt of the Three Feudatories, Zheng Jing started an attack in the Fujian area. At the end of the revolt, Zheng's army was defeated. After the defeat, Zheng went back to Taiwan where he spent his time with wine and women, dying soon after of illness. After his death, his generals and ministers were split into two groups, each supporting one of his sons to take take over. After some fighting, Zheng Keshuang, his 12 year old son, became the new king.

In 1683, after the Battle of Penghu, Zheng Keshuang gave himself up to the Qing. His kingdom was added to the Qing Dynasty as part of the Fujian Province.

What the kingdom means today
The Kingdom of Tungning lasted for just over 20 years. Because its history is almost the same as modern Taiwan, it has great symbolic value.

After its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang, went to Taiwan. They left mainland China to the Communist Party who started the People's Republic of China (PRC). For many years, the ROC planned to take control of the mainland. It kept island bases close to the mainland (for example, Quemoy). This was the same as Koxinga and his sons had done. The ROC has now become a democracy and no longer wants to take over the mainland. The political and territorial arrangement has not changed. In this way, it is the same as between the Qing/Koxinga situation and the current PRC/ROC situation.

The Kuomintang of the ROC have talked a lot about the goals of Koxinga. They were going to use Taiwan as a base for returning their government to Mainland China. They see themselves as the defenders of the ROC. They see Taiwan as a base from which the ROC will take back control of the mainland. The PRC talks about the fact that Koxinga freed Taiwan from Dutch colonialism for the sake of the motherland. They do not talk about the fact that Koxinga was trying to get rid of the mainland government, to bring back an earlier dynasty.

References

History of China
History of Taiwan
Former monarchies of Asia

Kingdom of Tungning


Time zones give specific areas on the Earth a time of day that is earlier or later than the neighboring time zones. This is because when it is daytime on one side of the earth, it is night-time on the other side. There are 24 time zones dividing the earth into different times, each with its own name, like the North American Eastern Time Zone. The North American Eastern Time Zone contains large cities in North America like New York City and Miami.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) began in 1675. This was when the Royal Observatory, Greenwich was built to help ships find their longitude at sea. GMT was a standard reference for time keeping when each city kept a different local time. When railways began carrying many people quickly among cities keeping different time, they adopted time zones to simplify operations. By about 1900, almost all time on earth was in the form of standard time zones.

Greenwich Mean Time is now called UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). UTC is the time standard of the world. All other parts of the world are offset (plus or minus) according to their longitude. Most of the zones are offset by a full hour, but there are some offset by half an hour or 45 minutes.

In some parts of the world they follow the Daylight Saving Time (DST), and during this period of time in summer they add one hour to their normal solar hour.

In the poles, the time is UTC in the North Pole and UTC+12 in the South Pole.

The time zones are numbered in relation to the UTC, so in Los Angeles the time zone will be UTC−8, in London UTC+0, in Rome UTC+1, and in New Delhi UTC+5:30.

Time zone


DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung e.V. (DIN German Institute for Standardization) is the German national organization for standardization.

It publishes on average 2,000 standards per year in almost all fields of technology and increasingly in non-technical fields (e.g. services).

Example of DIN standards

DIN 476: international paper sizes (now ISO 216 or DIN EN ISO 216). Specifies the System where the paper size DIN A4 is from. In short, there are different series (A,B,C,..). Each series has a number of different sizes. If you go up one with the number, you halve the size. DIN A3 is as large as two pages of DIN A4. The biggest in that series is DIN A0. See Paper size for more.
DIN 1301: International System of Units (better known as the SI System of units)
DIN 5007: Rules for sorting words alphabetically. Also tells what to do with special characters, like ä or ß.
DIN 5008: Rules for writing a (German) letter. Specifies how the letter as a whole should look. Also looks at things like correctly writing a date, or a time.
DIN 72552: electric terminal numbers in automobiles
DIN 31635: transliteration of the Arabic language.

Organisations based in Germany

Deutsches Institut für Normung


The Marine Department of the Hong Kong Government is responsible for maintaining safety and environmental protection of the harbour (Port of Hong Kong), ships registered/foreign ships in Hong Kong and monitor shipping traffic in Hong Kong Waters, search and rescue operations for large waters of the South China Sea.

Its head office is in the  in Central, Hong Kong.

It also conducts investigations of marine accidents.

The department is led by the Director of Marine, Carol Yuen (袁小惠), who reports to the Secretary for Transport and Housing.

The Marine Department is also responsible for co-ordinating search and rescue operations in the waters around Hong Kong:

 Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre - search and rescue
 administer ship registration in Hong Kong
 ensure compliance with international and marine laws
 ensure compliance with environmental protection standards and combat pollution (namely oil spills)
 provide and maintain government vessels (Government Dockyard)
 facilitate the safe and expeditious movement of ships

Hong Kong is a major cargo port—175 million tonnes of cargo went through its port and 18.1 million TEU in 2000. The Marine Department is and acts as the port authority of the territory.

Facilities
  of quays - Kwai Chung and Stonecutters container terminals
  of quays at public cargo working areas
 58 mooring buoys for ocean-going vessels
 2 ferry terminals
 Marine Department port facility - former Royal Navy base - HMS Tamar on Stonecutters Island (500 operational vessels)
 All lighthouses in the territory — List of lighthouses in Hong Kong

History
Marine Department, called the Harbour Department in the early days, is in charge of harbour affairs and manage various aviation activities.
Marine Department was under the Economic Service Branch before 1997, and the Economic Development and Labour Bureau before 2007. Marine Department has now been under Transport and Housing Bureau since 1 July 2007.

Reformation
On 19 April 2013, Lamma Island Accident Investigation Board submitted a 238-page report about the 2012 Lamma Island ferry collision to the Hong Kong Government. On 30 April 2013, the chief executive, Leung Chun Ying, announced the report of Lamma Island accident and noted that the report detailed analyze the causes of the collision, the reason of why the vessel sank quickly and serious injuries; Also Marine Department has a series of problem of regulating vessels, he said that government will take it seriously this year, they will draw a lesson and make improvements. He said that he has instructed the Transport and Housing Bureau and the Marine Department to adopt the contents of the report, and full implementation, in order to improve maritime safety in Hong Kong. If the incident involves officials of human error and misconduct, the Hong Kong government will strictly deal with it, including disciplinary hearings  On the same day, Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony announced the establishment of the Marine Department, reform Steering Committee, chaired by him, the leadership of two members, and later announced that appointees were former Ombudsman Alice Tai and Arts Development Advisory Committee Koo, respectively term two years. He said the Hong Kong government will learn a lesson, pay special attention to the report loopholes and deficiencies relating to the Marine Department system; committee will be a comprehensive review of the system of the Marine Department, including management, licensing regulatory, enforcement and inspections and other matters, and launched reform program and timetable. In addition, he said that it has obtained the consent of CSB, to send them a Grade B officer to become the Deputy Director of Marine, and assisted by an assist Director of Marine Department dealing with the maritime affairs reformation, an additional two Assistant Director of Marine will help them. The Marine Department will invite international experts to give advice to strengthen its reform efforts. Director of Marine Liaohan Bo said the Marine Department will cooperate a fully reforms, including the establishment of the Executive Team to co-ordinate inspection Affairs. Committee Secretary for Transport and Housing Anthony leadership will supervise the Director of Marine comprehensive examination and a thorough reform of the Marine Department, and to develop a timetable to implement the reform program.

On 21 May 2013, reform of the Steering Committee held its first meeting of the Marine Department, to determine the terms of reference of the committee, including three points: first review the regulation of passenger safety and inspection aspects of Hong Kong vessel, the elaboration of a detailed reform plan, implement and monitor programs; second is review of Marine Department and reorganization of operations management processes, operating procedures and oversight structure, in order to strengthen internal control department governance; finally to formulate strategies to solve the case of shortage of personnel departments, and developing training programs. Thereafter, the Commission will hold a meeting once every two weeks. Reform of Marine Affairs Steering Committee is divided into two phases; the first phase of the Marine Department will inspect the various departments to understand processes and procedures in the hope within 4–6 months to improve existing procedures and practices to submit proposals, and be implemented, which then deep reform of the Marine Department to conduct a review.

References

See also

 Hong Kong Police Force
 Marine Region

Hong Kong government departments and agencies
Water transport in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Maritime safety

Marine Department (Hong Kong)