Enrico Berlinguer (; 25 May 1922 – 11 June 1984) was an Italian politician. Considered the most popular leader of the Italian Communist Party (PCI), he led the PCI as the national secretary from 1972 until his death during a tense period in Italy's history, which was marked by the Years of Lead and social conflicts, such as the Hot Autumn of 1969–1970. Berlinguer was born into a middle-class family; his father was a socialist who became a deputy and later senator. After leading the party's youth wing in his hometown, he led the PCI's youth wing, the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI), at the national level from 1949 to 1956. In 1968, he was elected to the country's Chamber of Deputies, and he became the leader of the PCI in 1972; he remained a deputy until his death in 1984. Under his leadership, the number of votes for the PCI peaked. The PCI's results in 1976 remain the highest for any Italian left-wing or centre-left party both in terms of votes and vote share, and the party's results in 1984, just after his death, remain the best result for an Italian left-wing party in European elections, and were toppled, in terms of vote share in a lower-turnout election, in the 2014 European Parliament election in Italy.

During his leadership, Berlinguer distanced the party from the influence of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and pursued a moderate line, repositioning the party within Italian politics and advocating accommodation and national unity. This strategy came to be termed Eurocommunism, and he was seen as its main spokesperson. It came to be adopted by Western Europe's other significant like-minded parties, such as the Communist Party of Spain and later the French Communist Party; its significance as a political force was cemented by a 1977 meeting in Madrid between Berlinguer, Georges Marchais, and Santiago Carrillo. Berlinguer described his alternative model of socialism, distinct from both the Soviet bloc and the capitalism practised by the Western bloc during the Cold War, as terza via. His usage of the term has no relation to the Third Way practised by subsequent prime ministers Romano Prodi and Matteo Renzi, who were at the head of an Italian centre-left coalition including, among others, communists, post-communists, and Christian democrats, as well as the PCI's legal successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, the Democrats of the Left, and the Democratic Party, the latter being a merger of the legal successors of both the PCI and the left-wing of Christian Democracy (DC), such as Prodi's Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy Margherita. He saw democracy as a universal value.

Under Berlinguer, the PCI reached the height of its success, winning significant victories in the country's regional and local elections in 1975, and 34% of the vote in the 1976 Italian general election, its highest share of the vote and number of seats. With these gains, he negotiated the Historic Compromise with the DC, lending support to their government in exchange for consultation on policy decisions, as well as social reforms. He took a firm stand against terrorism after the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro, and used the PCI's influence to steer Italian labour unions towards moderating wage demands to cope with the country's severe inflation rate after the 1973 oil crisis. These stands were not reciprocated with sufficient concessions from Giulio Andreotti's government, leading the PCI to leave the coalition in 1979. The combination of austerity advocacy, hard line against the Red Brigades, and attempts at an accommodation with the DC affected the PCI's vote at the 1979 Italian general election and the compromise was ultimately ended in 1980. The PCI remained in national opposition for the rest of Berlinguer's tenure, retaining a solid core of support at the 1983 Italian general election; its main strength from that point would remain at the regional and local level. Also a member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the PCI became the largest party for the first and only time in the 1984 European Parliament election in Italy, which was held a week after his premature death.

One of the most important figures of the First Italian Republic, Berlinguer had an austere and modest but charismatic personality, and despite the difficulties that confronted the PCI during the Historic Compromise, he remained a popular politician, respected for his principles, conviction, and bold stands. He characterised the PCI as an honest party in Italy's corruption-ravaged politics, an image that preserved the party's reputation during the Mani pulite corruption scandals. He was characterised by Patrick McCarthy as "the last great communist leader in Western Europe", and remains identified with the causes of Eurocommunism, opposition to Soviet repression in Eastern Europe, and democratic change in Italy.

Family and early political career

The son of Mario Berlinguer and Maria "Mariuccia" Loriga, Enrico Berlinguer was born in Sassari on 25 May 1922, five months before the March on Rome orchestrated by Benito Mussolini and Italian fascists, to a noble Sardinian family in a notable cultural context, with family ties and political contacts that would heavily influence his life and career. On 29 March 1777, the family had obtained from Vittorio Amedeo III, the then King of Sardinia, the concession to Giovanni and Angelo Ignazio of the noble titles of Cavaliere and Nobile with the honorific of Don and Donna; it was also registered in the Stamenti nobiliari della Sardegna, Sardinia's Italian nobility register, and was linked by a dense network of relatives to other families of the Sardinian aristocracy and bourgeoisie.

Berlinguer's father was a socialist and anti-fascist; as many of his ancestors, he belonged to the Italian Freemasonry and was Great Master (33rd Scottish Rite Mason) of the regular lodge of Sassari. His cousin, Luigi Berlinguer, followed this tradition of left-wing members of Freemasonry. Another cousin of his was Sergio Berlinguer, who was a diplomat. His brother, Giovanni Berlinguer, was a medician and politician who died in 2015. His surname is of Catalan language origin, a reminder of the period when Sardinia was part of the dominions of the Crown of Aragon. He was a second cousin of Francesco Cossiga, who was a leader of Christian Democracy (DC) and later became president of Italy, and both were relatives of Antonio Segni, another DC leader and president of Italy.

Giovanni Loriga and Cossiga's maternal grandfather, Antonio Zanfarino, were half-brothers on their mother side; Loriga was Berlinguer's maternal grandfather. His paternal grandfather, Enrico Berlinguer Sr., was a co-founder of the Sardinian newspaper La Nuova Sardegna and a personal friend of Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini, whom he had helped in his attempts, through his parliamentary work, to improve the sad conditions on the island. Berlinguer's grandmother, Giuseppina Satta Branca, had a brother, Pietro Satta Branca, who was an Italian Republican Party (PRI) member and progressive mayor of Sassari during an era marked by Giovanni Giolitti's rule; Berlinguer Sr. also took part in Satta Branca's administration. Pietro Sanna, one of Berlinguer's childhood friends, recalled: "The Berlinguers, we called them Piringhieri because for us ordinary people a difficult name like theirs was difficult to pronounce. Giovanni, very open and carefree, played boccette, carambola, and sometimes cards, Enrico instead preferred to read."

About his adolescence, Berlinguer recalled the feeling of rebellion that was in him. He was against everything: the state, religion, clichés, and social customs. Politically, he felt anarchist when in the library of one of his uncles, a humanitarian socialist, he found a book of Mikhail Bakunin. As a member of the bourgeoisie, he was attracted to the world of the workers and craftsmen, who were followers of Amadeo Bordiga and kept their ideals even under Fascist Italy. He said: "They exerted a strong attraction on me ... there was, in their stories, a lot of suggestion." When meeting Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I), Berlinguer revoked the importance of Sardians to the PCd'I, citing Antonio Gramsci, Velio Spano, and Togliatti, the latter having moved to the Sardianian island.

In 1937, Berlinguer had his first contacts with Sardinian anti-fascists and formally entered the renamed Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1943, soon becoming the secretary of the Sassari section. The following year, a riot exploded in the town, and he was involved in the disorders and arrested but was discharged after three months of prison. Immediately after his detention ended, his father brought him to Salerno, the town in which the House of Savoy, Italy's royal family, and the government had taken refuge after the armistice of Cassibile between Italy and the Allies of World War II. In Salerno, his father introduced him to Togliatti, the most important leader of the PCI. Togliatti sent Berlinguer back to Sardinia to prepare for his political career; he also met Benedetto Croce, and said that for a period he was a follower of his.

At the end of 1944, Berlinguer was appointed by Togliatti to the national secretariat of the Italian Communist Youth Federation (FGCI). As a secretary of the FGCI, Berlinguer at one point presented Maria Goretti as an example for activists. Berlinguer was soon sent to Milan, and he was appointed to the central committee as a member in 1945. In 1946, Togliatti became the national secretary (the highest political position) of the PCI and called Berlinguer to Rome, where his talents let him enter the national leadership two years later in 1948; at the age of 26, he was one of the youngest members to be admitted. In 1949, he was named national secretary of the FGCI, a post he held until 1956. In 1950, he became president of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, an international anti-fascist youth organisation.

In the post-war years, the PCI respected Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union for their anti-fascist role in World War II and the Italian resistance movement, and thus avoided criticism; the PCI accepted the 1956 Soviet thesis that denounced Stalin's crimes and at the same time opened up the different national roads to communism. In 1957, as a member of the central school of the PCI, he abolished the obligatory visit to the Soviet Union, including political training there, which had been necessary for admission to the highest positions in the PCI. At the party's twelfth congress in 1969, Berlinguer reiterated the need to "deepen the knowledge of the reality of the socialist countries ... through a historical, critical, objective judgement", which would capture both the positive and negative elements, and "their interweaving and contradictions that derive from it". About the October Revolution and what ensued, he said that it remained "the fundamental discriminant of the contemporary world", and that the PCI would fight for socialism "not looking at an abstract model, nor at the Soviet model ... but along an original path ... that is profoundly new", which entailed full autonomy of elaboration and judgement. In this sense, Berlinguer concluded that "our way of placing ourselves in the face of this reality of socialist countries is therefore, today, new at least in part, and different from the past."

Secretary of the Italian Communist Party
Berlinguer's career was carrying him towards the highest positions in the party. After having held many responsible posts, he was elected in the 1968 Italian general election for the first time a member of the country's Chamber of Deputies in the electoral district of Rome. The following year, he was elected deputy national secretary of the party, the secretary being Luigi Longo. In this role, he took part in the 1969 International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties in Moscow, where his delegation disagreed with the official political line and refused to support the final report. Berlinguer's unexpected stance made waves, as he gave the strongest speech by a major Communist leader ever heard in Moscow. He refused to excommunicate the Chinese Communists and directly told Leonid Brezhnev that the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, which he termed "the tragedy in Prague", had made clear the considerable differences within the international Communist movement on fundamental questions, such as national sovereignty, socialist democracy, and the freedom of culture. This dissent, which was termed "the new course", was followed by further condemnations in the 1980s.

Already a prominent leader in the party, Berlinguer was elected to the position of national secretary in 1972, when Longo resigned on grounds of ill health. At the party's thirteenth congress that elected him, Berlinguer said that he would be neither Togliatti nor Longo. In 1973, having been hospitalised after a car accident during a visit to the People's Republic of Bulgaria, which is now widely considered an attempt on his life on orders from Moscow, Berlinguer wrote three famous articles ("Reflections on Italy", "After the Facts of Chile", and "After the Coup [in Chile]") for the party's intellectual weekly magazine Rinascita. In these, he presented the strategy of the Historic Compromise, a proposed coalition between the PCI and the DC to grant Italy a period of political stability, at a time of severe economic crisis, and in a context in which, after Piano Solo and Golpe Borghese had been revealed, some forces were allegedly manoeuvering for a coup d'état in Italy.

In "Reflections of Italy", Berlinguer explicitly cited the historic compromise and wrote: "The seriousness of the country's problems, the ever looming threats of reactionary adventures, and the need to finally open up to the nation a sure path of economic development, social renewal, and democratic progress make it ever more urgent and mature that we reach what can be defined as the great new 'historic compromise' between the forces that gather and represent the great majority of the Italian people." By this, Berlinguer meant that it was illusory to believe that, even if left-wing parties had managed to reach 51 per cent of the votes and parliamentary representation, this would have guaranteed the life of a government that was the expression of that 51 per cent as opposed to the oppositional front at 49 per cent. Within this context, over a left-wing alternative, he proposed a democratic alternative that would have resulted in a collaboration between communists, socialists, and Christian democrats. This policy was not popular among the party and its base. It was not well-received by Longo, who became the party's president in August 1972 and did not like the compromise phrasing. Among the working-class base, Berlinguer was asked in some meetings with workers whether there was no "risk of yielding to the bosses" or whether this policy did not "weaken the spirit of the Communists".

International relations

In 1973, Berlinguer went to Belgrade, the capital of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, to meet with Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito, with a view to further developing his relationships with the major Communist parties of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 1976, Berlinguer confirmed the autonomous position of the PCI vis-à-vis the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Before 5,000 Communist delegates in Moscow, he spoke of pluralistic system, which was translated by the interpreter as multiform, and referred to the PCI's intentions to build "a socialism that we believe necessary and possible only in Italy". In one of his speeches in Moscow, Igor Ponomariov, Leonid Brezhnev's closest collaborator, left the room visibly annoyed. In September 1976, during the Festa dell'Unità in Turin, Mikhail Gorbachev, the then secretary of the Russian district of Stavropol, having learned about his speeches in Moscow, asked to meet Berlinguer. In November 1977, upon the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution, Berlinguer held another speech in Moscow titled "Democracy is a Universal Value".

When Berlinguer secured the PCI's condemnation of any kind of interference, the rupture with the Soviets was effectively complete, although the party still for some years received money from Moscow. Since Italy was suffering the interference of NATO, the Soviets said it seemed that the only interference that the Italian Communists could not suffer was the Soviet one. In an interview held on 10 June 1976 with Corriere della Sera, Berlinguer declared that he felt "safer under NATO's umbrella". Berlinguer's acceptance of NATO did not dent American suspicion of him; appearing on the cover of Time on 14 June 1976, he was named "The Red Threat". In a 1975 speech to Italy's Chamber of Deputies, Berlinguer had said that the Italian Communists had sympathy for the American people and wanted to cultivate a friendship with the United States but that the "respect for alliances does not mean that Italy has to keep its head down". At the same time, he ruled out Italy leaving NATO on the grounds that unilateral exits of individual countries from the NATO or the Warsaw Pact would have disturbed the process of international détente.

Eurocommunism
In a 1975 speech for Dolores Ibárruri, Berlinguer stated: "It is necessary that with audacity and intelligence we know how to free ourselves from any scholastic application of our doctrine understood as dogma, or from orientations that are no longer adequate to current experience and historical conditions, to walk towards new ways of advancing towards socialism." That same year also saw the joint statement of Berlinguer and Santiago Carrillo of the Spanish Communist Party, which said: "The Italian and Spanish Communists solemnly declare that — in their conception of a democratic advance towards socialism in peace and freedom — what is expressed is not a tactical attitude but a strategic conviction." Berlinguer reiterated this feeling in a 1976 meeting in Moscow, where he said: "We are fighting for a socialist society which is the highest point in the development of all democratic achievements and guarantees respect for all individual and collective freedoms, religious freedoms and freedom of culture, art and science. We think that in Italy we can and must ... build a socialist society with the contribution of political forces, organisations, different parties, and that the working class can and must affirm its historical function in a pluralistic and democratic system."

In 1977, at a meeting in Madrid between Berlinguer, Carrillo, and Georges Marchais of the French Communist Party, the fundamental lines of Eurocommunism were laid out. A few months later, Berlinguer was again in Moscow, where he gave another speech that was poorly received by his hosts and published by Pravda, the PCSU's official newspaper, in a censored version. About democracy, Berlinguer said: "The experience gained has led us to the conclusion that democracy today is not only the ground on which the class adversary is forced to retreat, but it is also the historically universal value on which to found an original socialist society." The years after Communists first joined the European Parliament in 1969 saw a process towards pro-Europeanism that culminated, for the 1976 Italian general election, in the candidacy within the PCI's electoral list of Altiero Spinelli, the Italian father of European federalism and one of the founding fathers of the European Union. In the words of historian Antonio Varsori, the PCI interpreted the pro-European option as "an opportunity to overcome the division of the old continent and for the birth of a socialist, neutralist, and tendentially pro-Third World Europe".

Historic Compromise

Moving step by step, Berlinguer was building a consensus in the PCI towards a rapprochement with other components of society. After the surprising opening of 1970 toward conservatives and the still discussed proposal of the Historic Compromise, he published a correspondence with Monsignor Luigi Bettazzi, the Bishop of Ivrea; it was an astonishing event since Pope Pius XII had excommunicated the communists soon after World War II and the possibility of any relationship between communists and Catholics seemed very unlikely. This act also served to counteract the allegation, commonly and popularly expressed, that the PCI was protecting leftist terrorists in the harshest years of terrorism in Italy. In this context, the PCI opened its doors to many Catholics and a debate started about the possibility of contact. Notably, Berlinguer's Catholic family was not brought in out of its strictly respected privacy. In the 1975 Italian regional elections, the left-wing coalition led by the PCI added to Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Umbria the regions of Piedmont, Liguria, Marche, and Lazio. As a party, the PCI confirmed itself in the 1975 Italian local elections, which were held on the same day on 15–16 June, where it won 33.4% of the votes compared to the 35.3% of the votes of the DC. In June 1976, the PCI obtained what would be its best result in the party's history and gained 34.4% of the vote.

In Italy, while a government of national solidarity was ruling, Berlinguer said that in an emergency government a strong and powerful cabinet to solve a crisis of exceptional gravity was needed. On 16 March 1978, Aldo Moro, president of the DC, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, a Marxist–Leninist terrorist group, on the day that the new government was going to be sworn in before the Italian Parliament. During this crisis, Berlinguer adhered to the fronte della fermezza (front of firmness), refusing to negotiate with terrorists, who had proposed to liberate Moro in exchange for the release of some imprisoned terrorists. Despite the PCI's firm stand against terrorism, the Moro incident left the party more isolated. In June 1978, the PCI gave its approval and ultimately active support to a campaign against Giovanni Leone, the then president of Italy who was accused of being involved in the Lockheed bribery scandal, which resulted in his resignation. Berlinguer supported the election of the veteran socialist Sandro Pertini as president of Italy; his presidency did not produce the effects that the PCI had hoped for. In Italy, after a new president is elected, the government resigns. The PCI expected Pertini to use his influence in its favour but was instead influenced by other political leaders like Giovanni Spadolini of the PRI and Bettino Craxi of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), and thus the PCI remained out of the government. About Craxi, Berlinguer said: "The thing that worries me about Craxi is that sometimes it seems to me that he thinks only of power for power's sake."

The Historic Compromise ended in 1979 when the PCI exited from the parliamentary majority, amid negative electoral trends. The policy was unpopular among its base and was criticised for its contradictions, such as how to start a path towards socialism through a compromise with the DC, which was not economically socialist and from 1947 onwards had always been considered by the PCI as its historical enemy, what would have been the most urgent socialist-leaning measures, and the fact that on those points Berlinguer remained vague. Another contradiction was that, in the winter of 1976–1977, severe deflationary economic maneuvers were implemented and mostly hit the working class; before the Historic Compromise, the PCI would have defined those maneuvers as a sting to be fought firmly but now accepted it as part of a two-stage policy (first the recovery measures, then the reforms), which was similar to that adopted by the PSI in the Organic centre-left governments that the PCI had criticised. At the same time, the policy is praised for its uncompromising support of democracy and civil rights.

Berlinguer continued with the policy on the grounds that the process of legitimising communists would be long (the United States were bitterly opposed even under Jimmy Carter), and that choosing the election route, in the middle of serious economic and terrorist crises, would favour the political right. In early  1978, the Historic Compromise led to the contracted, recognised, and explicit" participation of the PCI in the majority government that would support Giulio Andreotti's new cabinet that was defined as one of national solidarity. The beginnings of this government were negative for the PCI because Moro had introduced personalities deeply disliked by Communists, in order to bring the whole DC to this agreement with the PCI, including the currents that opposed it, and Berlinguer thought of voting negative in a motion of confidence. Before this could happen, Moro was kidnapped and killed, and the PCI suffered losses in the 1979 Italian general election held in June.

Domestic policies and views

During the 1970s, the PCI governed many Italian regions, sometimes more than half of them. Notably, the regional governments of Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany were concrete proof of PCI's governmental capabilities. In this period, Berlinguer turned his attention to the exercise of local power to show that "the trains could run on time" under the PCI. He personally took part in electoral campaigns in the provinces and local councils. While other parties sent only local leaders, this helped the party to win many elections at these levels. In the June 1975 regional elections, the PCI's gap from the DC, which had been 10% points in the 1970 Italian regional elections, narrowed to less than two per cent at 1.8%, the PCI having jumped to 33.4% after a surge of 6.2%, while the DC fell to 35.2%, with a loss of 3.6%. In the June 1976 national elections, the PCI continued to grow at 34.4%; while the DC recovered and achieved 38.7%, the minor parties had dropped, and there were no longer the numbers for centrist governments. About the future, in an interview in June 1981 to Moby Dick, the monthly of the Sicilian FGCI, Berlinguer said: "We save ourselves and move forward if we act together and not just one by one."

In a 1980 interview with Oriana Fallaci, Berlinguer said: "We are communists. We are communists with originality and peculiarity, distinguishing ourselves from all the other communist parties: but we are communists, we remain communists." About fanaticism, he told Fallaci: "I don't throw rants at anyone, I don't like to hurl curses, curses are expressions of fanaticism and there is too much fanaticism in the world." That same year, he stated on Tribuna politica that communism is "the just transformation of society". In an interview in 1981 with Eugenio Scalfari of la Repubblica, Berlinguer outlined the questione morale, or moral question. He said: "Today's parties are above all machines of power and clientela." About the moral question, he addded: "The moral question has existed for some time, but it has now become the first and essential political question because the recovery of trust in the institutions, the effective governance of the country, and the stability of the democratic regime depend on its solution." About capitalism, he said: "We think that the capitalist type of economic and social development is the cause of serious distortions, of immense costs and social inequalities, of enormous waste of wealth."

In a 1981 interview to Critica marxista, Berlinguer outlined the difference from other parties. He said: "Our main difference from the others is that we Communists do not give up working and fighting for a radical transformation of society and the construction of a society of free and equal people. They would like left-wing parties that would limit themselves to correcting some flaws in the current system: we are not that type of party and we never will be." In the same interview, he reiterated: "We do not give up building a 'society of free and equal', we do not give up leading the struggle of men and women for the production of the conditions of their lives." He stated that this was the main difference from social democrats and other socialists, and said that "they put the commitment to change the given structure between parents, leading them to the obfuscation and loss of their own ideal and political autonomy. Our difference from social democracy lies in the fact that we communists will never give up that transforming commitment.  About other Communist parties, he said: "Our main 'anomaly' compared to several other communist and workers' parties is that we are convinced that in the process towards this goal we must remain — and we will remain — faithful to the method of democracy. The 'assault on heaven' — this beautiful image of Marx — is not for us Italian communists a project of irrationalistic climbing to the absolute." In a speech delivered by Berlinguer at the FGCI congress held in Milan in 1982, he said: "If young people organise themselves, take over every branch of knowledge, and fight with the workers and the oppressed, there is no escape for an old order founded on privilege and injustice."

In an article written for Rinascita on 6 December 1982, titled "Party and Society in the Reality of the 1980s", Berlinguer said: "There can be no inventiveness, imagination, creation of the new if you start by burying yourself, your history and reality." In an interview in 1983 with Ferdinando Adornato, he said about communism that "scientists are discussing more about the sole dell'avvenire [the establishment of socialism] today than the communists." That same year, in an interview with Giovanni Minoli about the labour movement, he stated: "We refuse to let the usual ones pay, the workers, the popular masses. And we believe that if there must be sacrifices, and everyone must contribute proportionately, they must contribute to achieving certain goals, not to make the country go backwards." In his last rally, held on 7 June 1984, before his death, Berlinguer said: "We are convinced that the world, even this terrible, intricate world of today, can be known, interpreted, transformed, and put at the service of man, his well-being, his happiness. The test for this goal is a test that can worthily fill a life." During his final rally, held just days later in Padua, he stated: "Everyone work, house by house, company by company, street by street, in dialogue with the citizens, with trust for the battles we have waged, for the proposals we are presenting, for what we were and are. It is possible to win new and wider support for our lists, for our cause, which is the cause of peace, freedom, work, the progress of our civilisation!"

Break with the Soviet Union and the Democratic Alternative
In 1980, the PCI publicly condemned the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and Moscow then immediately sent Georges Marchais to Rome to try to bring Berlinguer into line; he was received with perceptible coldness. The break with the Soviets and other Communist parties became clear when the PCI did not participate in the 1980 International Conference of Communist Parties held in Paris. Instead, Berlinguer made an official visit to China. In November 1980, Berlinguer declared in Salerno that the idea of a possible Historic Compromise had been put aside, and it would be replaced with the idea of the Democratic Alternative to both the real socialism of the East and the then social democracy of the West.

In 1981, Berlinguer said that, in his personal opinion, the progressive force of the October Revolution had been exhausted. The PCI criticised the martial law in Poland and soon the PCI's split with the CPSU became definitive and official, followed by a long polemic between Pravda and l'Unità (the official newspaper of PCI), not made any milder after an October meeting with Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana; the PCI joked that they succeeded where the CIA failed when Berlinguer closed the hand of Castro's security chief in the door of a GAZ Chaika who let out a single stoic moan (l'Unitàs Havana correspondent  recalled that "a sinister noise of broken bones" was heard) before being hospitalised but the episode did not spoil Berlinguer's visit. Nonetheless, his last years were marked by attempts for unity among the national and international political left. He also continued to underline the necessary link between democracy and socialism, which was followed by a strong commitment on the issues of nuclear disarmament and détente.

Death and funeral

Berlinguer's last major statement was a call for the solidarity among the leftist parties. On 7 June 1984, he suffered a brain haemorrhage while giving a speech at a public meeting in Padua. He entered a coma on the same day and died on 11 June, four days later. During this time, Sandro Pertini, the then Italian president, remained at the hospital with Berlinguer's family. More than a million people attended his funeral in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran at Piazza San Giovanni, the largest funeral in Italy's history at the time. Reflecting his stature in Italian politics, the leaders of all parties paid tribute to his career and the Vatican expressed condolences.

Apart from all the major politicians across the political spectrum, many international figures, such as the Soviet deputy leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Chinese prime minister Zhao Ziyang, attended his funeral. From Gorbachev and Zhao to Georges Marchais, Santiago Carrillo, Yasser Arafat, and the Communists of the Philippines, Israel, Yugoslavia, and North Korea, to Giancarlo Pajetta and Pietro Ingrao, who said that the party would not deny him and that Communists would try to carry his name, they respended him and recognised him as an international leader. At his funeral, Tomaso Albinoni's "Adagio in G minor" and Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Schubert's music were played. Much discussed, including from other parties like the DC and PSI and their representatives, such as Ciriaco De Mita, who praised the Historic Compromise, and Rino Formica, who said that the PCI had to decide between the left-wing alternative and the Historic Compromise, was the future of the PCI.

After his funeral, Berlinguer was interred in Rome's Cimitero di Prima Porta. His death took place six days before the 1984 European Parliament election in Italy. The PCI gained a significant sympathy vote as a result, winning the most votes for the only time. His death remains controversial due to the fact he was taken back to the hotel to rest and an ambulance was called only two hours after he first fell ill. According to sociologist and journalist Rocco Turi, Berlinguer died not as a result of a cerebral stroke but for the direct responsibilities that he links to a series of delays in the same first aid operations. He said that "we are now able to deny the theses of those years. They waited too long to take Berlinguer to the hospital; after the first illness, Berlinguer was in fact transported slowly first to the hotel, and then after more than two hours an ambulance was finally called. A completely crazy choice." Additionally, Turi said that Berlinguer was not operated on as soon as he arrived at the hospital, as is commonly understood, but that he was only taken to the operating room at 1:00 pm, after about two hours spent in the hotel, and two and a half hours later from his illness in Piazza della Frutta. He tied his death to that of Aldo Moro.

Personal life
A non-believer, Berlinguer married in a civil ceremony the religious Letizia Laurenti (1928–2017), whom he met during a holiday in the Aosta Valley, on 26 September 1957 in the Capitoline Hill; they had been engaged for ten years, and both the PCI and her family were against it. While seemingly cold in public and in front of their children, they relationship has been described as "a love from Romeo and Juliet". Together, they had four children: former TG3 journalist Biancamaria (born 1959), RAI journalist Maria Stella (born 1961), Communist Refoundation Party politician Marco (born 1963), and Mediaset journalist Laura (born 1970). He often used to give his children tutoring lessons, including after a political meeting was concluded, on topics like Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and pre-Socratic philosophers but never in a forceful way; he did not expect them to follow his path in politics. Berlinguer said that they "must be able to make their choices freely, without any prejudice".

As a Sardinian, Berlinguer said that he was a supporter of Cagliari Calcio; like many other communist and left-wing leaders, including Palmiro Togliatti and allegedly Antonio Gramsci, he was said to have been a supporter of Juventus. As many of his security escorts were supporters of SS Lazio, Berlinguer was forced to watch the club's matches. He once left in the middle of a lunch with party members to watch a Juventus match. Another time, near the government building of the Palazzo della Farnesina, he saw a group of kids playing association football and started playing with them. Outside of politics and his passion for football, which he played as a child with his brother, Berlinguer played Rummy and loved the sea and sailing. Whenever he could, he would go on his cousin's boat in Stintino, manoeuvring the mainsails and jibs with dexterity. In 1977, he risked his life when, not following the recommendation by relatives and sailors, he went out by boat because he could not return to Stintino for safety reasons. When the wind picked up, the sea got rough, and for several hours no one heard news about Berlinguer until his cousin Francesco Cossiga, the then interior minister, sent patrol boats to search for him.

Berlinguer was a lover of ballet and opera, the last one he had seen was Wagner's Parsifal in Rome. Apart from philosophical and ideological readings, such as Gramsci's mistica and the modern Machiavellian Prince, Berlinguer was an avid reader of novels; before his death, he last finished reading one by Marguerite Yourcenar. Very close to his family, he spent every Christmas with his brother and sister-in-law, and never had an hour of vacation without at least one of his children; he also gave regular visits to his ninety-year-old aunt, Iole Siglienti, every time she came in Cagliari. He was a fan of Roberto Benigni, about whom he said that he made him laugh even before he said his jokes, and iconic is the photo of him, laughing in Benigni's arms at the Villa Borghese Festival. Berlinguer almost never understood Giorgio Forattini's cartoons, and said: "He's our enemy." Within the context of the Years of Lead, Berlinguer had a security escort that included an armoured Alfa Romeo 2000 Berlina. Alberto Menichelli, Berlinguer's personal car driver, said that "if Moro had had it, they wouldn't have been able to do what happened in via Fani". Menichelli, who said that it was an honour to be able to accompagny Berlinguer for fifteen years, continued to keep his memory alive with the Enrico Berlinguer Quadraro-Cinecittà cultural association, exhibitions, and other initiatives and about 300 members. A fan of motorcycles, Berlinguer came to be the owner of an Harley Davidson. Renzo Trivelli told Corriere della Sera that Berlinguer bought "a Harley Davidson that [was] too big for him; when he arrives at the [PCI] offices, his supervisors help him get on and off the vehicle. A few months later, citing security reasons, the party forbade him to use it."

Legacy

Personality
Not many journalists could have interviewed Berlinguer, as he could not bear fame, and discourage anecdotes. He was described as reserved, "bashful, probably shy", and not much was known about his private life, including his music preferences, whether Bach or Wagner, when he was alive. A Sardinian fisherman who had known him in distant times told a reporter that "[Berlinguer] was a serious, very reserved child. He never laughed." Berlinguer was so shy that, before a rally, he sipped a little whiskey that the driver Alberto Menichelli handed him from a small bottle kept in his jacket pocket. His notable 1983 television interview with Giovanni Minoli on Mixer is seen as evidence of Berlinguer not being corroded by vanity. In that same interview, asked about which was the quality he was most fond of, Berlinguer responded: "That of having remained faithful to the ideals of my youth."

Berlinguer has been described in many ways but was generally recognised for political coherence and courage, together with a rare personal and political intelligence. A serious and morally rigorous man, he was sincerely respected even by his opponents, such as the Italian Social Movement leader Giorgio Almirante, who paid his homage to Berlinguer and lowered himself in front to his coffin at Botteghe Oscure. Riccardo Bisognero, the then Commander-General of the Carabinieri, said: "He was not only the leader of a political party, but a point of reference for Italian democracy." His three days of agony were followed with great attention by the general population. Attended by more than a million people, his funeral was among the highest ever seen in Rome, and was reminiscent of the funeral of Palmiro Togliatti in 1964; in both cases, a group of directors filmed the event for a documentary. From Almirante to the then president of the Senate, Francesco Cossiga, to then interior minister Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, from all the major Italian personalities across the political spectrum to common people, including women and the youth, they all paid their respect to Berlinguer.

Politics
Berlinguer's most important political act of his career in the PCI was the break with Soviet Communism, together with the creation of Eurocommunism and his substantial work towards contact with the moderate and particularly the Catholic half of the country. As evidence of his legacy, the Five Star Movement (M5S) put him in their pantheon and the former M5S leader Luigi Di Maio, who culturally formed himself on the political right, claimed Berlinguer's legacy. Pierpaolo Farina, a young blogger, built a website about Berlinguer for the youth and those who had not known him, and soon reached 300,000 contacts. The fact that Berlinguer went down in history for preaching austerity, in Pier Paolo Pasolini's terms expressed as a warning in 1974 that "true fascism is the consumer society", is seen as a testament to his durature legacy and thinking. Even after 35 years since his death, in the words of Eugenio Scalfari, "Enrico Berlinguer had a somewhat similar role in Italian politics (and not only) to the one Pope Francis is having today in the Catholic religion (and not only). Both followed a path of reformism so radical as to produce revolutionary effects; both were loved and respected even by their adversaries; both had a charisma that grasped reality and fueled a dream."

In the words of Giorgio Bocca, in his analysis after his death, Berlinguer had understood that, after "the lacerations, the convulsions, the loss of prestige, of dynamism, of leadership of the PCI and of the left in general in the Seventies" that had derived "above all from the cultural inadequacy of a sclerotic Marxism and a formalist anti-fascism", he needed "to bring back to the party and the left what remains alive of Marxism, its humanism, the defence of man from the exploitation and alienation that continue and perhaps worsen in post-industrial society." In the words of sociologist Francesco Alberoni, Berlinguer's critique of Soviet Communism was "never crude or hostile", and he had "always considered it a deviation from an original project, an error, understandable in those historical situations, and correctable in the future. This is typical of the great ideological, intellectual leader who interprets history with a view to the future. It was these merits of him, as leader of an Italian party, as a democrat, as an outstanding ideological figure of international Communism, that provoked the sense of loss everywhere and even the homage of enemies."

Berlinguer's search for a new socialism was to find a solution to the bipolar international blocs, and his name is thus associated to that of Willy Brandt and Olof Palme. In October 2012, Nichi Vendola said of his alternative Europeanism that "the one that we continue to dream is not the unbalanced power that rules today, with an unknown identity. No: it is the Europe of Willy Brandt, of Olof Palme, of Enrico Berlinguer." Within the broad international Communist movement, Berlinguer had many opponents. The more orthodox Marxist–Leninist opposition argued that he had turned a workers' party into a bourgeois, revisionist one. External opponents said that the strappo, the break with the CPSU, took several years to be completed; this was seen as evidence that there had been no definitive decision on the point. The acceptance of NATO is generally seen as evidence of the genuine autonomy of the PCI's position, and Berlinguer was seen in declassified CIA documents as the strongest critic of Soviet actions, such as their role in suppressing the Prague Spring of 1968, which was a turning point. Despite notably successful Communist local governments, Berlinguer's efforts failed to bring the PCI into government. His final platform, "The Democratic Alternative", was never realised. Within a decade of his death, the Soviet Union and the DC and PCI parties all disappeared, leading to the Second Italian Republic and transforming Italian politics beyond recognition. For some, for the vast population on the political left, which felt dispersed, his death marked the end of the PCI. On his death, not only the head of the largest Communist party in the West died but also an idea to which millions of Italians had dedicated a good part of their existence during the 20th century, what Francesco Guccini called "the timeless dreams".

Impact on Italian society

As one of the most important figures of the First Italian Republic, Berlinguer's impact on Italian society is reflected in references in popular culture, with a general love, admiration, and respect that transcended political affiliations. Italian actor and director Roberto Benigni declared publicly his admiration and personal love for Berlinguer. Besides making him the protagonist of the movie Berlinguer, I Love You, Benigni appeared with Berlinguer during a public political demonstration of the PCI, of which he was a sympathiser. Italian singer-songwriter Antonello Venditti posthumously dedicated a song, "Dolce Enrico" ("Sweet Enrico"), to Berlinguer. Italian folk music band Modena City Ramblers wrote a song about Berlinguer's funeral, which was published on their first full-length album Riportando tutto a casa and was titled "I funerali di Berlinguer".

An il Giornale nuovo article after his death proposed the psychological thesis that Berlinguer was not really loved but that people were forced to admire him and recognise his virtues. His qualities, such as reserve, honesty, seriousness, and puritanical rigour, made him a foreigner at home, and his death freed many people of a burden but also created a sense of guilt that was reflected in collective mourning and tributes from his adversaries.

Electoral history

Books

References

Bibliography

External links
 Enrico Berlinguer at Camera.it
 Translations on Western Europe. Number 1321. Communism and Socialism in Italy: Enrico Berlinguer, Bettino Craxi Vie for Power at the Defense Technical Information Center

1922 births
1984 deaths
Burials at the Cimitero Flaminio
Deputies of Legislature IX of Italy
Deputies of Legislature V of Italy
Deputies of Legislature VI of Italy
Deputies of Legislature VII of Italy
Deputies of Legislature VIII of Italy
Italian Communist Party politicians
Italian atheists
Italian people of Catalan descent
Italian resistance movement members
People from Sassari
Politicians of Sardinia
Neurological disease deaths in Veneto

Enrico Berlinguer


, better known by his ring name , was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, and unifying the three titles. He is also known for being one-half of the first World Tag Team Champions with Yoshiaki Yatsu, having won the NWA International Tag Team Championship and the PWF Tag Team Championship, and unifying the two titles.

Early life
Tsuruta participated in many sports, such as swimming, basketball, and sumo, while attending Hikawa Senior High School in Yamanashi-shi, Yamanashi Prefecture.

Amateur wrestling career
While at Chuo University, he began an amateur wrestling career. He won the All Japan Amateur Wrestling Championship in freestyle and Greco-Roman as a superheavyweight (at the time, an unlimited class for those weighing over 100 kilograms) in the years 1971 and 1972.

He also competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. He finished the Greco-Roman tournament with no wins.

Professional wrestling career
Scouted by AJPW promoter Giant Baba, he was sent to the local Amarillo, Texas, promotion in the U.S. to train as a pro under Dory Funk Jr. Known as "Tommy Tsuruta", he worked in several major NWA territories including Detroit, St. Louis, and Florida as well as West Texas. He was among the first Japanese wrestlers to be cheered by an American crowd, due to his hard work ethic and wrestling ability. The name "Jumbo" was given to him by a fan contest in Japan to replace his given name, which was seen as too feminine. He defeated Nick Bockwinkel on February 23, 1984, to win the AWA World Heavyweight Championship in Tokyo, Japan. He would lose the title to Rick Martel on May 13, 1984, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu became the first World Tag Team Champions on June 10, 1988.

During his 26-year career, he fought in 3,329 matches. Some of his most notable opponents include Stan Hansen, Billy Robinson, The Destroyer, Bruiser Brody, Genichiro Tenryu, Abdullah the Butcher, Terry Funk, Dory Funk Jr., Mitsuharu Misawa, Harley Race, Verne Gagne, Rick Martel, Riki Choshu, Jack Brisco, Ric Flair, and Nick Bockwinkel. Tsuruta was the first Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion (unifying the Pacific Wrestling Federation, NWA United National, and NWA International Heavyweight titles), defeating Stan Hansen on April 18, 1989, in Tokyo.

In 1992, he completed the October "Giant Series" tour before disappearing from the company for almost a year due to Hepatitis C. For the rest of his career, he participated mostly in comedic (i.e. exhibition) six-man tag team matches; he frequently teamed with Baba and old rival Rusher Kimura in matches against teams which included Masanobu Fuchi, Haruka Eigen, and other old-timers. Tsuruta's last match was on September 11, 1998 in a six man tag. He announced his retirement on February 20, 1999, and held a ceremony on March 6, 1999.

Post-retirement and death
Four days after Tsuruta's retirement, he moved with his family to the United States to be a visiting researcher at the University of Portland in Oregon. Tsuruta had a bachelor's degree in political science and earned a master's degree in coaching in 1997, later becoming a part-time instructor in physical training at his old University.

His health deteriorated, however, as he had been diagnosed with Hepatitis B which eventually turned to full blown liver cancer as well as cirrhosis of the liver, and by the end of the year he was back in Japan. Due to strict laws over organ donation in Japan, meaning only relatives with matching blood types can donate, Tsuruta had to try and find a donor elsewhere. In April 2000, he left for Australia in search of a liver donor, and two months later, a donor was found in Manila in the Philippines. Tsuruta underwent surgery on May 13, but during the liver transplant he began bleeding uncontrollably, and died at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, Philippines on May 13, 2000, from complications of the liver transplant at the age of 49.

Championships and accomplishments
 All Japan Pro Wrestling
 NWA International Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
 NWA International Tag Team Championship (9 times) – Giant Baba (6), Genichiro Tenryu (2), and Yoshiaki Yatsu (1)
 NWA United National Championship (5 times)
 PWF World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 PWF World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Tiger Mask II (1) and Yoshiaki Yatsu (1)
 Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
 World Tag Team Championship (7 times) – Yoshiaki Yatsu (5), The Great Kabuki (1), and Akira Taue (1)
 Champion Carnival (1980, 1991)
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1978, 1980) – with Giant Baba
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1984, 1986) – with Genichiro Tenryu
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1987) – with Yoshiaki Yatsu
 January 2 Korakuen Hall Heavyweight Battle Royal (1984)
 Champion Carnival Distinguished Service Award (1977, 1979)
 Champion Carnival Technical Award (1978)
 Champion Carnival Technique Award (1976)
 Champion Carnival Fighting Spirit Award (1975, 1982)
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Distinguished Award (1977) - with Giant Baba
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Outstanding Performance Award (1982) – with Giant Baba
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Technical Award (1983) – with Genichiro Tenryu
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Distinguished Service Medal Award (1985) – with Genichiro Tenryu
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Outstanding Performance Award (1988) – with Yoshiaki Yatsu
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Special Award (1989)
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Skill Award (1990) – with Akira Taue
 World's Strongest Tag Determination League Fighting Spirit Award (1991) – with Akira Taue
 American Wrestling Association
 AWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 Championship Wrestling from Florida
 NWA United National Championship (1 time)
 NWA Detroit
 NWA World Tag Team Championship (Detroit version) (1 time) – with Giant Baba
 Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Ranked No. 28 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the PWI Years in 2003
 Ranked No. 10 of the 100 best tag teams during the PWI Years with Giant Baba in 2003
 Ranked No. 14 of the 100 best tag teams during the PWI Years with Genichiro Tenryu in 2003
 Ranked No. 31 of the 100 best tag teams during the PWI Years with Yoshiaki Yatsu in 2003
 Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
 Class of 2015
 Tokyo Sports
 Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1984, 1991)
 Technique Award (1974, 1986, 1988)
 Outstanding Performance Award (1975, 1976, 1981)
 Service Award (1999)
 Lifetime Achievement Award (2000)
 Tag Team of the Year (1978, 1980, 1982) with Giant Baba
 Tag Team of the Year (1983, 1985) with Genichiro Tenryu
 Tag Team of the Year (1989) with Yoshiaki Yatsu
 Match of the Year (1976) vs. Rusher Kimura on March 28, 1976
 Match of the Year (1977) vs. Mil Máscaras on August 25, 1977
 Match of the Year (1978) vs. Harley Race on January 20, 1978
 Match of the Year (1980) with Giant Baba vs. Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk on December 11, 1980
 Match of the Year (1985) vs. Riki Choshu on November 4, 1985
 Match of the Year (1987) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on August 31, 1987
 Match of the Year (1989) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on June 5, 1989
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 Feud of the Year (1990, 1991) vs. Mitsuharu Misawa
 Wrestler of the Year (1991)
 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)

See also
 List of premature professional wrestling deaths

References

External links
 puroresu.com: Jumbo Tsuruta

1951 births
2000 deaths
AWA World Heavyweight Champions
Sportspeople from Yamanashi Prefecture
Deaths from kidney cancer
Japanese male professional wrestlers
Japanese catch wrestlers
Olympic wrestlers for Japan
Wrestlers at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Japanese male sport wrestlers
Deaths from cancer in the Philippines
University of Tsukuba alumni
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
Kidney transplant recipients
20th-century Japanese people
20th-century professional wrestlers
World Tag Team Champions (AJPW)
Triple Crown Heavyweight Champions
NWA United National Champions
NWA International Heavyweight Champions
NWA International Tag Team Champions
PWF World Heavyweight Champions
PWF World Tag Team Champions
Chuo University alumni
NWA World Tag Team Champions (Detroit version)

Jumbo Tsuruta


Gudauta (, ; , Gwdowtha; , Gudauta) is a town in Abkhazia, and a centre of the eponymous district. It is situated on the Black Sea, 37 km northwest of Sukhumi, the capital of Abkhazia. It is the namesake for the Gudauta Bay.

Overview
Gudauta used to be home to a Soviet Air Defence Forces base, Bombora airfield, where the 171st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment flew Su-15TMs until 1982. The 171st Fighter Aviation Regiment was then transferred to Anadyr Ugolny Airport, Chukotia Autonomous Okrug. The 529th Fighter Aviation Regiment, flew Su-27 'Flankers' from the base in the last years of the Cold War. This regiment was under the command of the 19th Army of the Air Defence Forces. Gudauta was a center of Abkhaz separatist resistance to Georgian government forces during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in 1992–1993.

Bombora airfield outside Gudauta later became home to a Soviet Airborne Forces unit, the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment, later redesignated the 50th military base after the Soviet collapse, and then the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. The unit was subordinated directly to the Russian General Staff (earlier it used to be under the HQ of the Russian Airborne Forces).

In 1999, its equipment includes 142 AIFV/APC (among them - 62 BMD-1 and 11 BMD-2); and 11 self-propelled artillery systems 2S9 "Nona-S".

The base has always been a significant factor in the Abkhaz conflict. The Georgian side and many Western independent observers claim the Gudauta base provided principal military support to Abkhaz rebels during the war in 1992–1993. In September 1995, Georgia had to legitimize Russian leases of three bases in the country and the Gudauta base among them.

At a summit of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), in Istanbul in 1999, Russia agreed to shut down its base at Gudauta and to withdraw troops and equipment, pledging that henceforth it would be for the sole use of the CIS peacekeepers ("rehabilitation centre for peacekeeping troops"). However, Abkhaz authorities block OSCE inspection visits and no date is set for withdrawal from the base. Georgia still alleges that it is used to offer military support to the Abkhaz secessionists.

After the Russo-Georgian War, Russia recognized Abkhazia and signed with its government the treaty allowing Russia to keep its military base in Gudauta and reinforce it with T-62 tanks, light armored vehicles, S-300 air defense systems and several aircraft.

The Gudauta base remains one of the main problems in complicated Russian-Georgian relations.

Etymology
Гәдоу-ҭа: Гәдоу is a mane of the river, ҭа is a locative suffix.

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities
Gudauta is twinned with the following city:
 Kineshma, Russia

References

External links

Populated places in Gudauta District
Sukhum Okrug

Gudauta


Mange steder i Nordamerika fra Canada til Missouri er der (formodentlig) menneskelavede (fortøjnings)huller i granitsten.

De er nærmere bestemt fundet ved de store søer (Great Lakes, Great Plains) og i vestlige Minnesota (mange), North Dakota, nordøstlige South Dakota (f.eks. Whetstone Valley), Illinois; ved søer, floder og nu udtørrede vandveje. De er også fundet i Long Island Sound, North Carolina, Pelican River, Cormorant Lake. I Pope County er de fundet i op til ca. 400 meters højde, hvilket gør deres formål som fortøjningshul vanskelig her.

Hullerne er ikke cirkelrunde, men derimod en blanding af rund og trekantet og mellem 10-18 cm dybe og ca. 19-35 mm i diameter. Man ved ikke, hvem der har lavet dem, men mange af dem er ret forvitrede. Man formoder derfor, at de er flere hundrede år gamle.

I Skandinavien kendes sådanne huller som fortøjningshuller til både, og de er fundet i fjorde i Norge og ved vandveje i Sverige. Hullerne blev lavet med en jernmejsel.

Kilder/referencer
 bwpowell.com: (…from Bulletin of The Massachusetts Archaeological Society Volume XIX (?) l958) "The Mooring Hole Problem in Long Island Sound" by Bernard W. Powell  Citat: "...the possible occurrence of "mooring holes" along both shores of Long Island Sound...Along the shores of the fjords in Norway and in other waters of Scandinavia – are numerous large boulders and exposed rock ledges. In many of these are holes drilled to varying diameters and depths, and known to date from Viking times. They were made by Norse sailors for mooring their vessels...drilled at a slight angle past the vertical to slope away from the direction in which the rope...amazed at the relative speed with which one can sink a hole into rock with an iron chisel. This is not a tedious operation at all..."
 Science Frontiers ONLINE. No. 132: NOV-DEC 2000: The Viking Mooring-Stone Saga Sails On  Citat: "...triangular holes...North Carolina...mooring stones have been found all the way from Canada south to Missouri. Most, however, are clustered in Minnesota..."
 Article 1: Triangular Holes In Boulders. Science Frontiers Online: Granite stone with triangular holes  Citat: "...Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois...All of them seem to be located on present-day lakes and rivers and now-dry waterways. This marine affinity has led to the theory that they are "mooring stones," especially Viking mooring stones! In truth their real purpose is unknown..."
 Mysterious Triangle Holes Found In Rocks By Brent Zell Watertown Public Opinion  Citat: "...Whetstone Valley...The elevation of each rock is estimated to be between 1,150 feet to just over 1,200 feet. The rocks are usually deep in the ground and on the side of a hill – away from flat, farmable land. The holes themselves are not exact sizes, ranging from around 3/4 inch in diameter to 1 3/8 inches... there are hundreds of rocks with similar holes across the Great Plains...ancient Vikings made their way into what is now the Great Plains and set up settlements. They cut holes in rocks near waterways to establish poles in to tether their ships to... "There's not enough evidence to firmly sew down any theory," said Rudebusch...the holes definitely were not made naturally..."
 Archive.org backup: The Myth of the Mooring Stones Citat: "...Pelican River...odd-shaped triangular holes...pre-Columbian Viking exploration. There is a sword plowed up from virgin prairie near Ulen, a steel for striking fire from flint dug from a posthole near Climax, a battleaxe from a Red River mudbank..Cormorant Lake...that Vikings sailed long ships into Minnesota lakes is utterly preposterous...They would have been drilling their holes underwater!..."
 Archive.org backup: History of Todd County: Viking Alter Rock Citat: "...One of these finds is the Viking Altar Rock near Sauk Centre, Minnesota...This rock, 27 ft long by 17 ft wide...In the rock are two sets of roughly triangular holes..."
 Archive.org backup: Stadig kontroversiel: 6/30/02, overthrow.com: Verified at Last. The Strange and Terrible Story of the Kensington Runestone Citat: "...The Kensington Runestone, thought for over 100 years to be a hoax, now stands verified as a genuine artifact commemorating the deaths of 10 medireview Scandinavians in Minnesota in the year 1362...triangular holes of the Whetstone Valley in South Dakota and many more in western Minnesota..."

Se også
 :en:Viking Altar Rock

Pseudohistorie
Præcolumbiansk transatlantisk kontakt

Formodet fortøjningshul


Ormond Castle, also known as Avoch Castle, was a powerful stronghold, overlooking the village of Avoch, on the Black Isle, in the former county of Ross and Cromarty, now part of Highland, Scotland. It controlled a prominent position overlooking the Moray Firth and critical to the sea access to Inverness.

Origins

The castle dates from the late 12th century and was rebuilt as a strong rectangular fortress with square corner towers (in the Norman style) between 1200 and 1214 by William the Lion as a royal fortress.

De Moravia
By the thirteenth century, the castle was in the hands of the de Moravias of Petty and was where they ruled their vast tracts of land across Moray. Andrew de Moravia mustered the men of Moray to join King John Balliol at Ormond Castle following his dishonour in front of Edward I of England, at the outset of Wars of Scottish Independence.

Sir Andrew Murray died here in 1338.

Douglas
The heiress to the de Moravias of Petty was Joanna of Bothwell, in 1362 she married Archibald the Grim, Lord of Galloway and later 3rd Earl of Douglas who claimed her estates and titles de jure uxoris (by right of marriage). Ormond Castle was the caput of the Barony of Ormonde, and was created into an Earldom in 1445 for Hugh Douglas, Earl of Ormonde, third son of James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas. Following the fall of the Black Douglases after the Battle of Arkinholm in 1455 and the execution of the earl, his properties, like those of his brothers, was forfeit. Ormond Castle was taken by the crown and regranted to George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus. Angus, the "Red Douglas", was a kinsman and enemy of the Black Douglases, and became the new power from that mighty house.
The title of Earl of Ormonde was recreated for the elder son of the 1st Marquess of Douglas in 1651, but became extinct upon the death of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Ormonde in 1715, who died of wounds following the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

Munro
From 1560 to 1568 the castle was owned by David Chalmers, Lord Ormond, but his support of Mary Queen of Scots forced him into exile in 1568 and he was forced to sell the castle and the adjacent estates of Suddie and Avoch.

In 1568 Ormond Castle and the lands of Suddie in Avoch were acquired under feu from the Earls of Angus and Ormonde, by Andrew Munro, 5th of Milntown, also known as Andrew Munro of Newmore during his father's lifetime.

Cromwell

Ormond Castle was destroyed in the 1650s by Oliver Cromwell, in order for him to build his fortress at Inverness. Only ruins of the castle remain today.

See also
Earl of Ormonde

References

External links
avoch.org
walkhighlands.co.uk

Ruined castles in Highland (council area)
Black Isle
Clan Murray
De Moravia family

Ormond Castle


Karni Mata Temple (Hindi: करणी माता मंदिर) is a Hindu temple dedicated to Karni Mata at Deshnoke, 30 km from Bikaner, in Rajasthan, India. It is also known as the Temple of Rats.

The temple is famous for the approximately 25,000 black rats that live, and are revered in, the temple. These holy rats are called kabbas, and many people travel great distances to pay their respects. The temple draws visitors from across the country for blessings, as well as curious tourists from around the world.

Related pages
 Karni Mata

References

Hindu temples

Karni Mata Temple


Term Life Insurance is a life insurance variation that offers coverage for a predetermined duration or "term." In contrast to whole or universal life insurance, which provides perpetual coverage and might accumulate cash value, term life insurance's primary purpose is to deliver a death benefit if the policyholder passes away during the designated term. Known for its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, term life insurance is favored by those looking for short-term financial safeguards for their beneficiaries. This piece explores the evolution, characteristics, and importance of term life insurance within the broader insurance framework.

Term Life Insurance Explained

Term life insurance is a type of life insurance that provides coverage for a specific period, or "term." Common terms might be 10, 20, or 30 years. Unlike other forms of life insurance, such as whole life or universal life, term insurance has no savings or investment component. It's designed purely to pay out a death benefit if the insured person dies during the specified term.

Affordability

 No Cash Value Build-Up: One of the primary reasons term life insurance tends to be less expensive than other types of life insurance is because it doesn't accumulate cash value. Policies that build cash value, like whole life insurance, often come with higher premiums because they not only provide a death benefit but also function as a savings or investment vehicle.
 Temporary Coverage: Since term life insurance only covers a specific period, there's a possibility the policy will expire before the policyholder dies. In such cases, the insurance company doesn't have to pay out any death benefits, making it less risky and therefore less expensive.

Pure Protection

Term life insurance is often referred to as "pure protection" because its sole purpose is to provide beneficiaries with financial support in the event of the policyholder's untimely death during the term. There are no frills or added complexities, like investment options or loan provisions, that come with other types of life insurance policies.

Comparative Perspective

While whole life, universal life, and other permanent life insurance policies offer lifelong coverage (as long as premiums are paid) and may have an investment or savings component, they come at a higher cost. The premiums for these policies are generally more expensive because they offer coverage for the entirety of a person's life and also because a portion of the premium is put toward the cash value component of the policy.

Term life insurance is straightforward. You pay premiums for a specified period, and if you pass away within that term, a death benefit is paid out to your beneficiaries. If the term expires and you're still alive, there's typically no payout or return of premiums.

Term life insurance is the original form of life insurance and is different to permanent insurance because its rates will not go up, and there is a fixed term contract, which will end in the future. Permanent life insurance contracts can last until the death of insured person, but the rates will slowly increase over time.

Because term life insurance is only death insurance, it is used to cover mortgages (guarantee that the bank will receive their money), payment to the families (upon death of insured person his family will usually receive repayment for funeral costs and in some cases will get some money), repayment of debts.

Term Insurance as Mortgage Protection:
 Matching Term Lengths: When buying term life insurance for mortgage protection, homeowners often choose a term that matches the length of their mortgage. For instance, if you have a 30-year mortgage, you might opt for a 30-year term life insurance policy. This ensures that the insurance will cover the mortgage duration.
 Death Benefit Equals Mortgage Amount: The death benefit (the payout amount if the insured dies) can be set to match the mortgage amount. If the policyholder passes away during the term, the beneficiaries can use the death benefit to pay off the remaining mortgage balance, ensuring that they aren't burdened with mortgage payments during a financially challenging time.
 Decreasing Term Option: Some term life insurance policies offer a "decreasing term" feature. In this structure, the death benefit decreases over time, generally in alignment with the decreasing outstanding mortgage balance. This can be a cost-effective option since the coverage reduces as the mortgage is paid down.
 Financial Flexibility: If the insured person passes away and the death benefit is paid out, the beneficiaries are not strictly obligated to use the funds to pay off the mortgage. They have the flexibility to use the funds as they see fit. However, the primary intention of getting the policy might be to ensure the mortgage is covered.
 Cost-Effective: Term insurance, especially when compared to other life insurance products, is often more affordable. This makes it an attractive option for homeowners who might be budget-conscious but still want to ensure their mortgage is covered in case of untimely death.
 Peace of Mind: Knowing that the mortgage will be covered in case of death can provide immense peace of mind to the policyholder. The surviving family members would have one less significant financial concern to address during a challenging period.

It's essential to regularly review the policy, especially if there are significant changes to the mortgage amount or structure. Refinancing, for instance, might extend the mortgage term, which could necessitate adjustments to the term life policy.

Term life insurance can be a strategic tool for homeowners to ensure that their mortgage obligations are met, even in the event of their untimely death. By aligning the term and coverage amount with the mortgage, homeowners can offer their families added financial security.

References

Insurance

Term life insurance


Chałupy (Kashubian: Chalëpë, German: Ceynowa) is a village and a popular Polish seaside resort, in Gmina Władysławowo. It has very good conditions for windsurfing and kitesurfing. It is between Władysławowo and Kuźnica on the Hel Peninsula on the southern Baltic Sea in Puck County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, northern Poland. It had 376 inhabitants as of 2009.

Prior to January 1, 2015, Chałupy was a part of the town Władysławowo.

Villages in Pomeranian Voivodeship

Chałupy


Petrodactyle (meaning "stone finger") is an extinct genus of ctenochasmatid pterosaur from the Late Jurassic Mörnsheim Formation (Solnhofen limestone) of Bavaria, Germany. The genus contains a single species, P. wellnhoferi, known from a partial skeleton belonging to a subadult individual. Petrodactyle is one of the largest Solnhofen pterosaurs and one of the largest Jurassic pterosaurs, with an estimated wingspan of .

Discovery and naming

The holotype and only known specimen, LF 2809, was recovered from the "Dritte Rosa" layer of the Mörnsheim Formation, near Mülheim in Bavaria, Germany. The specimen was initially discovered in a public visitor's quarry by Günther Zehetner and excavated by quarry owners Roland Pöschl and Uli Leonhard. LF 2809 was acquired by the Lauer Foundation for Paleontology, Science and Education in 2015 and is permanently deposited in their collections.

In 2023, Hone et al. described Petrodactyle wellnhoferi as a new genus and species of ctenochasmatid pterosaur based on these fossil remains. The generic name, "Petrodactyle", is derived from the Ancient Greek words petro, meaning "stone", and dactylus, meaning "finger". The name references the name given to Pterodactylus in its initial description in 1809, "Ptero-Dactyle", which was mistakenly printed as "Petro-Dactyle" on the cover. The specific name, "wellnhoferi" honours pterosaur researcher Peter Wellnhofer.

Classification
Hone et al. (2023) assigned Petrodactyle to the clade Ctenochasmatidae as a possible member or relative of the family Gallodactylidae.

References

Ctenochasmatoids
Late Jurassic pterosaurs of Europe
Solnhofen fauna
Fossil taxa described in 2023
Tithonian life

Petrodactyle


The Türkiye Top 20 (meaning Turkey Top 20) was a music singles chart in Turkey listing only non-Turkish, i.e., foreign-language songs sold in the country. The charts are now defunct.

Türkiye Top 20 was compiled by Billboard Türkiye magazine from November 2006 until decision to stop it. The charts were announced on the Billboard Türkiye website weekly, with the print edition of the magazine covering it monthly. In September 2009, the charts were only announced monthly, from the published magazine.

Most successful songs on the top of the Türkiye Top 20 chart were:
 11 weeks: Britney Spears – "3"
 10 weeks: Britney Spears – "Circus"
 10 weeks: David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland – "When Love Takes Over"
 9 weeks: Rihanna – "Disturbia"
 8 weeks: Britney Spears – "Womanizer"

See also
 Türkçe Top 20 for Turkish language only songs published by Nielsen Music Control.

References

Turkish record charts
Billboard charts

Türkiye Top 20


A video game producer is the person in charge during the development of a video game.

The earliest known use of the term producer in games was by Trip Hawkins. He became the first video game producer when he founded Electronic Arts in 1982. Hawkins believed that a video game producer could be like a record producer, who takes control over the whole development of a video game. Hawkins brought record producers from A&M Records to help train the first video game producers.

Back then, video game producer had a negative reputation as "imitation Hollywood" by game executives and press members. However, it is now a term that is accepted and used more often in video games. The role of the video game producer has been defined by different companies and different teams. There are a number of positions of a producer.

Video game producers earn the third most money in the video game industry. They earn an average of USD$75,000 annually. Associate producers with less than three years experience earn $43,000. However, those between three to six years of experience earn an average of $55,700 annually. Executive producers with over six years experience earn an average of $103,000 annually.

References

Other websites
 Producer  at Eurocom
 Justyn McLean - Game Boy at Mirror

Entertainment occupations

Video game producer


Golden Dawn is a 1930 Warner Bros. American pre-Code musical operetta film directed by Ray Enright that was photographed entirely in Technicolor. It stars Vivienne Segal, Walter Woolf King and Noah Beery. The film is based on the 1927 stage musical of the same name.

Plot
Dawn is a white girl who was kidnapped in infancy and is raised by a black native named Mooda, who runs a canteen in a German colonial settlement in Africa. Dawn falls in love with British rubber planter Tom Allen, who is now a prisoner of war. A native black tribal leader is also in love with Dawn and becomes jealous when he hears of Dawn's love for Allen. The Germans force Allen to return to England for attempting to steal Dawn, whom they believe is half black.

When the British regain control of the territory and expel the Germans, Allen returns to the colony. The settlement experiences a drought and the local tribal leader attempts to incite the natives against Dawn, claiming that God is angry because Dawn has dared to love a white man. Allen is unable to save Dawn because the colonial authorities refuse to act unless they have proof that Dawn is entirely white. Mooda confesses that she is not Dawn's true mother and that Dawn's real mother was white, a fact that Dawn's father confirms.

Allen quickly brings British troops just as the natives are about to sacrifice Dawn. During the ceremony, one of the virgin priestesses reveals that the jealous tribal leader has been lying about Dawn and that God is not interested in Dawn as she is pure white. The priestess also reveals that the tribal leader had violated her chastity and claims that the true reason for God's anger was this sacrilegious act. The tribal leader is deposed and sacrificed to the anger of the natives, and the drought quickly ends as rain falls. Dawn and Allen, happily reunited, sail to England together.

Cast
Walter Woolf King as Tom Allen
Vivienne Segal as Dawn
Noah Beery as Shep Keyes
Alice Gentle as Mooda
Dick Henderson as Duke
Lupino Lane as Mr Pigeon
Marion Byron as Joanna
Edward Martindel as Colonel Judson
Nina Quartero as Dawn's Maid-In-Waiting
Sōjin Kamiyama as Piper
Otto Matieson as Captain Eric
Julanne Johnston as Sister Hedwig

Songs
 "Africa Smiles No More" (Sung by Alice Gentle)
 "The Whip" (Sung by Noah Beery twice)
 "My Bwanna" (Sung by Vivienne Segal and chorus and reprised by Vivienne Segal)
 "We Two" (Sung by Marion Byron and Dick Henderson)
 "Dawn" (Sung by Walter Woolf King and reprised by a chorus during finale)
 "Mooda's Song" (Sung by Alice Gentle)
 "My Heart's Love Call" (Sung by Walter Woolf King)
 "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" (Sung by the British exchange prisoners)
 "In a Jungle Bungalow" (Sung by Lupino Lane and chorus, with dancing by Lupino Lane)
 "A Tiger" (Sung by Marion Byron and Lee Moran with dancing and reprised by Marion Byron)
 "Mulungu Thabu" (Sung by chorus with spoken interjections by Nigel de Brulier)
 "Dawn" (Reprised by chorus)

Preservation status
The film survives in a black-and-white copy created in the 1950s by Associated Artists Productions. It is available on DVD from the Warner Archive Collection. One short fragment of an original color print was identified in the British Film Institute archives in 2014.

See also
 List of early color feature films

References
Notes

Bibliography
 Barrios, Richard, A Song in the Dark (Oxford University Press, 1995)

External links

1930 films
1930s color films
Warner Bros. films
American films based on plays
1930s English-language films
Films directed by Ray Enright
Films set in Africa
1930 musical films
Operetta films
American musical films
Early color films
1930s American films

Golden Dawn (film)


Eric Lamont (23 September 1955 - 31 December 1993), better known as Bingy Bunny, was a Jamaican guitarist and singer who recorded with the Roots Radics and The Morwells as well as recording solo material. He is regarded as one of Jamaica's most important and innovative guitarists.

Biography
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Lamont began his career as half of a duo with Bongo Herman, recording "Know Fari" in the early 1970s for producer Derrick Harriott. In 1973 he joined Maurice Wellington in the Morwells, Lamont and Wellington also forming a production team, and at the same he time worked as a session musician. Productions from the duo included Jah Lloyd's Black Lion and Prince Hammer's Bible. When the Morwells disbanded in 1981, Lamont joined up with Lincoln Valentine "Style" Scott and Noel "Sowell" Bailey to form the Roots Radics. The Roots Radics soon became Jamaica's most in-demand session band, working with the likes of Mikey Dread, Gregory Isaacs, Barrington Levy and Bunny Wailer.

Lamont also recorded as a singer while with the Morwells and released two solo albums in 1982, Me & Jane and Bingy Bunny & Morwells as well as a string of singles.

Lamont died in December 1993 from prostate cancer. The album Kingston 12 Toughie (A Tribute To Bingy Bunny) was released by RAS Records in 1996.

Discography
Me & Jane (1982) Cha Cha
Bingy Bunny & Morwells (1982) Park Heights

References

External links
Bingy Bunny at Roots Archives

1993 deaths
Jamaican guitarists
Male guitarists
Jamaican reggae musicians
1955 births
Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica
Deaths from prostate cancer
20th-century guitarists
20th-century male musicians

Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont


Rodrigues ( ; Creole: ) is a  autonomous outer island of the Republic of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, about  East of Mauritius. It is part of the Mascarene Islands, which include Mauritius and Réunion. Like Agaléga, Rodrigues is a constituent island of the Republic of Mauritius, under the Constitution of Mauritius and still remains, as explicitly defined by the same Constitution, part of the Sovereignty of Mauritius, together with the following islands "Agalega, Tromelin, Cargados Carajos (Saint Brandon), Chagos Archipelago (…) Diego Garcia and other islands included in the State of Mauritius''

Rodrigues is of volcanic origin and is surrounded by coral reef, and some tiny uninhabited islands lie just off its coast. The island used to be the tenth District of Mauritius; it gained autonomous status on 10 December 2002, and it is governed by the Rodrigues Regional Assembly. The capital of the island is Port Mathurin. The islands of Rodrigues, Agaléga and Saint Brandon form part of the larger territory of the Republic of Mauritius.

Its inhabitants are Mauritian citizens. , the island's population was about 41,669, according to Statistics Mauritius. Most of the inhabitants are of African descent. Its economy is based mainly on fishing, farming, handicraft and a developing tourism sector.

Etymology and history

Rodrigues was named after Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues, who first came upon the uninhabited island in 1528, under direction of Portuguese Viceroy Pedro Mascarenhas (namesake of the Mascarene Islands).
The island was named after the Portuguese explorer Diogo Rodrigues in February 1528. Many maps also describe it as Diego Roiz.  From the 10th century, Arabs are known to have visited the Mascarene Islands. A 12th-century map by the Arab geographer Ash-Sharif al-Idrisi supposedly contains them, and the Cantino planisphere of  and some other contemporary maps clearly show the three islands of the Mascarenes as Dina Arobi (or Harobi), Dina Margabin and Dina Moraze. These are apparently corrupted transliterations or transcriptions of the Arabic  Diva Harab ("Desert Island"),  Diva Maghrebin ("Western Island") and  Diva Mashriq ("Eastern Island"). While the second clearly refers to Réunion, sources disagree about which of the other is Mauritius and which one Rodrigues, which are both to the east of Réunion and arranged in a somewhat stylised way on these maps. However, even in its original state, Rodrigues had some karst, while Mauritius even after suffering 500 years of deforestation can by no means be called "desert" even in a colloquial sense.

The island was located again in February 1507. Part of the fleet of Afonso de Albuquerque and Tristão da Cunha, Diogo Fernandes Pereira's Cirne spotted Réunion on 9 February after a cyclone diverted their course. The other two islands were subsequently rediscovered. The initial name was Diogo Fernandes; Domingo Froiz was given as a name some years later, and by 1528 it had been again renamed after the Portuguese navigator Dom Diogo Rodrigues and has remained so since. The orthography has been less stable at first, with the name being transcribed Diogo Rodríguez (Spanish maps), Diego Roiz, Diego Ruys (Dutch maps) (or even Diego Ruy's Island), Dygarroys or Bygarroys. Some early French sources called it Île Marianne.

Due to the island lying far off the beaten track of seafarers at that time, it received few visits. From 1601, the Dutch began visiting the island somewhat more regularly for fresh supplies of food. In 1691, the Huguenot François Leguat and seven companions landed on the island, intending to set up a farming colony of Protestant refugees. Farming was not successful, but there was an abundance of tortoises, turtles, birds, fish and other seafood.

During the 18th century, several attempts were made by the French to develop the island. African slaves (ancestors of the present population) were brought to Rodrigues to develop stock-breeding and farming. In 1735 a permanent French settlement was established, subordinated to Île Bourbon.

In 1809, after a brief battle with the French, British troops took possession of Rodrigues. After British occupation, slavery was eventually abolished in 1834.  By 1843, the population had declined to a low of 250.

In 1883, the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa was heard at Rodrigues Island and it remains the furthest point, at almost , at which the explosion was heard. The sound was described as "the roar of heavy guns".  Naval ships were ordered to investigate as it was feared the sound was due to a ship in distress firing its guns.  Having been heard from about  away on the other side of the Indian Ocean, the noise remains the loudest sound in recorded history.

In September 1897, solo sailor Joshua Slocum spent eight days on the island. He would later write, "At Rodriguez one may now find every convenience for filling pure and wholesome water in any quantity. Governor Roberts having built a reservoir in the hills, above the village, and laid pipes to the jetty, where, at the time of my visit, there were five and a half feet at high tide. In former years well-water was used, and more or less sickness occurred from it. Beef may be had in any quantity on the island, and at a moderate price. Sweet potatoes were plentiful and cheap; the large sack of them that I bought there for about four shillings kept unusually well. I simply stored them in the sloop's dry hold. Of fruits, pomegranates were most plentiful; for two shillings I obtained a large sack of them, as many as a donkey could pack from the orchard, which, by the way, was planted by nature herself."

Early in 1968, HMS Cambrian, which was part of the Beira Patrol following the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of Rhodesia, was diverted to Rodrigues to quell a reported uprising by some of the populace. The uprising consisted of a number of individuals who had been arrested by the local authorities for breaking into a warehouse and appropriating a supply of sweet potatoes. Other locals went to the authorities and by violence released the arrested persons. At this point, it is believed that the authorities requested assistance which was provided by HMS Cambrian. On her early morning arrival, the ship's 4.5" guns were fired (with blanks, it is believed) and an armed landing party was provided. This resulted in the offenders being rounded up and imprisoned again.

Geography

Rodrigues is a volcanic island rising from a ridge along the edge of the Mascarene Plateau. The tectonically active Rodrigues Triple Point lies on the sea-floor nearby. Rodrigues is only 1.5 million years old, even if the plateau under the lagoon surrounding Rodrigues may be much more ancient than the island. Over time Rodrigues has developed a unique environment, including many endemic species.

Rodrigues is situated about  to the east of Mauritius. It is about  long and  wide with an area of . The shape is that of a whale back with a central ridge and deep cut valleys. The island is hilly with a central spine culminating in the highest peak, Mountain Limon at . Rodrigues is the only Mascarene island with extensive limestone deposits and caves. A large fringing reef surrounds the island forming a lagoon within which lie eighteen small islets.

The coral reef of Rodrigues is of particular interest as it is self-seeding – it receives no coral zooplankton from elsewhere. This has led to an overall species-poor but highly adapted ecosystem. A species of coral, two species of Pomacentrus damselfish and many species of crustaceans are found only on Rodrigues' reefs.

Climate
The isolation and location of the island give a microclimate specific to Rodrigues, with two seasons. Rodrigues enjoys a mild tropical maritime climate with persistent trade winds blowing throughout the year. Mean summer temperature is  and mean winter temperature is around . The temperature difference between summer and winter is 3.6 °C. January to March are the hottest months and August is the coolest month. The wettest month is February; September and October are the driest months. The climate is hotter and drier than in Mauritius. Cyclones may arise from November to April, and Rodrigues is more often hit than Mauritius.

Biodiversity

Rodrigues was characterised by endemic plant and animal species in abundance, but since the seventeenth century much of its biodiversity has been eradicated. The island was home to a now extinct endemic species of flightless bird, the Rodrigues solitaire (Pezophaps solitaria). An endemic species of bat, the Rodrigues flying fox, is currently listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List. There are two remaining endemic bird species: the Rodrigues fody and the Rodrigues warbler, both are listed as near threatened.

To restore some forest areas, Grande Montagne, Anse Quitor (with neighbouring François Leguat Giant Tortoise Reserve) and two islets, Île aux Sables and Île aux Cocos have been declared nature reserves (under the Forest and Reserves Act 1983). Endangered plants on the reserves include Zanthoxylum paniculatum, Polyscias rodriguesiana, Badula balfouriana, and Gouania leguatii.

Government and politics

The island of Rodrigues is a constituency of the Republic of Mauritius and is dependent on the latter. However, on 20 November 2001, the Mauritius National Assembly unanimously adopted two laws giving Rodrigues its autonomy, creating a decentralised government system. This new legislation has allowed the implementation of a regional assembly in Rodrigues constituting 18 members and an executive council headed by a Chief Commissioner. The council meets every week to make decisions, draw up laws and manage the budget. The Chief Commissioner has the main task of informing the Mauritian Prime Minister of the management of the island's concerns. The last election of the Rodriguan Regional Assembly was held on 27 February 2022. The Alliance (UPR/MIR/PSMD/FRP) party was the winner and obtained nine seats, while the Organisation du Peuple de Rodrigues (OPR) obtained eight. The President acts as head of state and the Chief Commissioner as head of government on Rodrigues. The current chief commissioner is Roussety Johnson and the Chief Executive of Rodrigues is Pierre Louis Jean Claude.

Electoral regions
The island includes six electoral regions: La Ferme (Region 1), Marechal (Region 2), Saint Gabriel (Region 3), Baie aux Huitres (Region 4), Port Mathurin (Region 5) and Grande Montagne (Region 6). Rodrigues Regional Assembly election are held every five years.

Zones
Rodrigues is divided into 14 municipalities or zones. For statistical purposes, the zones are further subdivided into a total of 182 localities. The zones have between a minimum of six localities (La Ferme) and maximum of 22 (the capital Port Mathurin).

Demographics
The population estimate (as of 18 November 2022) for the island of Rodrigues was 43,650. The main religion is Christianity, dominated by Roman Catholicism with small minorities of other Christian branches, as well as Jehovah's Witnesses, and there are also Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists. Most of the inhabitants are of African descent and there is a minority of mixed-race peoples, descendants of the first European settlers.

The main language is Rodriguan Creole, but English and French are most used as the languages of government administration, the courts and business. Rodriguan Creole is very similar to Mauritian Creole, though some words are pronounced differently. People born in Rodrigues island are called Rodriguans.

Education
The education system in Rodrigues is similar to that throughout the rest of Mauritius. The government provides free education to students up to the tertiary level.
Education is taught mainly in English.

Transportation
Rodrigues is served by Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport in Plane Corail, with regular flights to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Plaisance.

Economy

The economy of Rodrigues is mostly dependent on Mauritius. The main sources of income and economic activity are tourism, fishing, agriculture (especially of onions, garlic and chilli), and animal rearing. The handicraft industry has proven to be beneficial to the economy of the island. However, the income derived from the export of sea products, cattle, and food crops is smaller than the costs of imported products, creating a deficit.
It has a special relationship with English-speaking countries, such as England in the United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland.

As of 2020, Gross National Income per capita was approximately $16,400.

Culture

Cultural awakening which occurred at the end of the 1970s allowed the construction and consolidation of the cultural identity of Rodrigues through the development of these various elements, which form the base of the culture of every nation: food, music, and crafts

Music and folklore
The traditional music of the island is known as Sega Tambour. The music has an accentuated beat, usually accompanied by an accordion, clapping and the use of improvised percussion instruments like bamboo. The folk dance music is similar to polkas, quadrilles, waltzes and Scottish reels.

Cuisine
Rodrigues cuisine consists of dishes from local products: fruit, vegetables, seafood (fish, octopus, crab, shrimp, lobster) and meat. National dishes include sausages with kreolinės, rougaille sauce, octopus with curry, kono-kono (a shellfish) salad and Rodrigues cake.

Sports
The most common sport in Rodrigues is association football. There are local competitions almost throughout the year and in specific competitions, the winning team travels to Mauritius for sport exchange. Volleyball is also popular. There is also a public swimming pool at Marechal, a village located in the center of the island, and a stadium at Camp Du Rois in the region of Port Mathurin.

Museum
In 2010 plans were developed by Bernard Eric Typhis Degtyarenko for a private museum on the island, centred on the restoration of the yacht Admiral Nevelskoi. The hull of the yacht, belonging to the Maritime State University in Vladivostok, Russia, had been found drifting off Rodrigues in 1997 and brought ashore.

Sustainability
Since 2014, Rodrigues Island has been proactive in environmental conservation, banning plastic bags to safeguard its marine and terrestrial biodiversity. Building on this success and with positive reception from the community, the island extended its eco-friendly measures by prohibiting single-use polystyrene food containers four years later, garnering global acclaim. These efforts complement various initiatives dedicated to preserving the island's unique ecosystem.

Crucial among these initiatives is the establishment of reserves, notably the Grande Montagne Nature Reserve at the island's center, harboring indigenous fauna and flora. The reserve is vital for monitoring endemic plants such as the 'café maron' and 'bois blan,' as well as unique bird species like the Rodriguan Warbler and Rodriguan Fody.

On the western part of Rodrigues, the Francois Leguat Giant Tortoises Reserve and Cave contribute to the rehabilitation of tortoises, including the riadata and Aldabra species. Since 2006, the reserve has been a stalwart in tortoise conservation, now housing over 5,000 tortoises within its 20 hectares.

'Ile aux Cocos,' another reserve, serves as a protected habitat for seabirds. Through guided tours, visitors gain insights into the destination's preservation efforts. Additionally, a sponsorship campaign for reptiles is available at the reserve.

Even during the challenging times of the COVID-19 crisis, the island exhibited resilience. The local government, along with tourism sector workers, contributed to environmental protection. From cleaning hiking paths to restoring islets, these collective efforts upheld Rodrigues' commitment to conservation.

Tourists played a pivotal role through the Tourism Livelihood Scheme, providing immediate positive impacts. Continuing its ecological journey, Rodrigues Island aims to launch the 'One Tree, One Tourist, and One Child' project in 2023. This visionary initiative entails planting a tree for every traveler, nurtured by local children. Serving as a model for active involvement in environmental protection, this project fosters an enduring ecological mindset among both tourists and locals, ensuring the ongoing conservation of Rodrigues' unique environment for generations to come.

Notes

References

External links

Outer Islands of Mauritius
States and territories established in 1968
Maritime history of Portugal
English-speaking countries and territories
Former Dutch colonies
Former French colonies
Volcanoes of Mauritius
Hotspot volcanoes
Miocene volcanism
Pliocene volcanism
Pleistocene volcanism
1809 establishments in the British Empire

Rodrigues