The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions. It was part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour. The tournament took place at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 17 January to 30 January. The event was the 99th edition of the Australian Open. It was also the first Grand Slam event of 2011. The tournament was played on hard courts. It was organised by the International Tennis Federation and Tennis Australia.

Novak Djokovic won the Australian Open for the second time. Kim Clijsters won her first Australian Open title. In the men's doubles the Bryan Brothers won their fifth Australian Open. Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta won their first Grand Slam title in the women's doubles. Daniel Nestor claimed his second mixed doubles Grand Slam alongside Katarina Srebotnik who won her fourth mixed title.

In the junior tournaments both the singles and doubles titles in the boys and girls events were won by Jiří Veselý and An-Sophie Mestach. Vesely won the doubles alongside Filip Horanský. Mestach won her doubles crown with Demi Schuurs. Vesely and Mestach won their first Grand Slam titles. They became the first players to achieve the junior double together since Kristian Pless and Virginie Razzano. They achieved this at the 1999 Australian Open.

Shingo Kunieda and Esther Vergeer both won the singles and doubles in the men's and women's wheelchair tennis events. Kunieda won his fourth Australian Open in a row, his fifth overall. In the doubles Kuneda was partnered to the title by Maikel Scheffers. Vergeer's singles win was her eighth Australian Open crown. It was also her 17th Grand Slam title overall. The final also marked the fourth time that she has not lost a game during a Grand Slam final. The win in the final was Vergeer's 404th match win in a row. Vergeer was partnered by Sharon Walraven in the doubles. In the mixed events David Wagner won the singles. Andrew Lapthorne and Peter Norfolk won the doubles competition.

Tournament

The 2011 Australian Open was the 99th edition of the Australian Open. It was held at Melbourne Park, in Melbourne, Victoria. The tournament was an event run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF). It was part of the 2011 ATP World Tour and the 2011 WTA Tour calendars. The tournament consisted of men's and women's singles and doubles draws as well as a mixed doubles event. There was also singles and doubles events for boys and girls (players under 18). The tournament was part of the Grade A group of tournaments of the junior tour. There was also events for wheelchair tennis players (they competed in three categories: men, women and quadipedic) as part of the NEC tour. The tournament was played on hard courts. The three biggest courts used were the Hisense Arena, the Margaret Court Arena and the Rod Laver Arena.

Points and prize money

Point distribution
Below is a series of tables for each of the competitions showing the ranking points on offer for each event.

Seniors points

Junior points

Wheelchair points

Prize money
The 2011 Australian Open offered record prize money to both men and women. It had a total of A$25 million (US$24 million), up 3.8% on the total prize money from 2010. The winners of the singles titles took home A$2.2 million (US$2.1 million). The finalists finalists were given A$1.1 million (US$1 million). Below is the list of prize money given to each player in the main draw of the professional competitions; all prize money is in Australian dollars (A$). Prize money for the doubles is given as a team.

Men's and Women's Singles
 Winners: $2,200,000
 Runners-up: $1,100,000
 Semi-finalists: $420,000
 Quarter-finalists: $210,000
 Fourth round: $93,000
 Third round: $54,500
 Second round: $32,000
 First round: $20,000

Men's and Women's Doubles
 Winners: $454,500
 Runners-up: $227,250
 Semi-finalists: $113,000
 Quarter-finalists: $56,000
 Third round: $31,500
 Second round: $17,200
 First round: $9,600

Mixed Doubles
 Winners: $135,500
 Runners-up: $67,500
 Semi-finalists: $33,900
 Quarter-finalists: $15,500
 Second round: $7,800
 First round: $3,800

Events

Seniors
There were five competitions open to professional tennis players. The Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association awarded ranking points in all events apart from the mixed doubles. The singles draws were contested by one hundred and twenty eight players. Sixty four teams took part in the doubles events. Thirty two teams lined up in the mixed doubles competition.

Men's Singles

At the start of the 2011 Australian Open, World Number one Rafael Nadal was on the edge of history. He had a chance to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slams at the same time. He had won the previous three. This would not be the Grand Slam, but the media had named it the "Rafa Slam." The name came from the "Serena Slam" which was used when Serena Williams won all four Grand Slam titles in a row.

Nadal was the number one seed and led the field. The other top ten seeds were; sixteen time Grand Slam champion, Roger Federer, 2008 Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic, two time Grand Slam finalists Robin Söderling and Andy Murray, Wimbledon runner up Tomáš Berdych, David Ferrer, 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco and Mikhail Youzhny.

The start of the 2011 Australian Open saw all the seeds make it to the second round. But Gulbis, Querrey, who lost in the fifth set 8–6 and Davydenko did not win. Montanes, Fish, Monfils, Baghdatis, Tsonga, Bellucci and Nalbandian won their matches in the final set. The second round saw Michaël Llodra lose to qualifier Milos Raonic, Feliciano López who went out to Wildcard Bernard Tomic, Juan Mónaco lost to Robin Haase, Fish lose to Robredo and Montanes lost to Malisse. While Nalbandian had to retire against Berenkis and Bellucci lost 8–6 in the final set to Hernych. Youzhny, Verdasco, Almagro and Federer all survived final set deciders to progress to the third round. Raonic continued his form from the previous round as he upset Youzhny this time in four sets, the biggest upset to date. While Alexandr Dolgopolov upset Tsonga, coming back two sets to one down. The third round is also where the seeds meet for the first time, so Garcia–Lopez, Baghdatis, Gasquet, Ljubicic and Troicki all exited to higher seeds. Although Stanislas Wawrinka who was the nineteenth seed managed to defeat Gaël Monfils the twelfth seed in straight sets. While Marin Čilić, semifinalist from 2010 defeated John Isner 9–7 in the final set. The fourth round saw Ferrer end Raonic's run, and Dolgopolov edge out Soderling in the final set for the biggest upset in the tournament to date. There were also wins for Berdych, Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal, all except Federer eliminated other seeds. There was one other upset as nineteenth seed Wawrinka beat Roddick in straight sets.

Djokovic, Federer and Murray successfully made their way into the semifinals, however the upset of the tournament happened as Nadal went out. The "Rafa Slam" attempt came to an end on Australia Day in straight sets against Ferrer, a year to the day since Nadal last lost a Grand Slam match. The semifinals witness Djokovic taking out Federer in straight sets while Murray overcame Ferrer the next night in four sets. In the final Djokovic defeated Murray for his second Australian Open crown in straight sets.

Championship match result

 Novak Djokovic def.  Andy Murray, 6–4, 6–2, 6–3.

Women's Singles

The 2011 women's draw was missing its defending champion Serena Williams who pulled out in late 2010 due to ligament damage. World number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was the number one seed. The Dane headed up the top ten seeds which included Vera Zvonareva, three time US Open champion Kim Clijsters, seven time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, Samantha Stosur, reigning French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Janković, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na and Shahar Pe'er. Former Grand Slam champions, Justine Henin, Ana Ivanović, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova were also seeded.

The start of the 2011 Australian Open saw all the seeds apart from Rezaï, Hantuchová, Dulgheru. The biggest upset of the first round was Ivanović losing 10–8 in the final set to Ekaterina Makarova while Schiavone survived after being a set down to win the final set. The biggest loser in the second round was Janković as she lost to Peng in straight sets. The Serb was not the only seed to exit though as Iveta Benešová defeated Maria Kirilenko, Martinez–Sanchez lost to Cornet, Kleybanova, Kanepi, Pironkova, Bartoli and Wickmayer all joined her on the plane home. While Schiavone had to survive another final set decider this time winning it 9–7. The third round saw Kutznetsova defeat Henin, in what turned out to be the Belgium's last ever match as she announced her retirement in the second week of the tournament. Whilst Andrea Petkovic had a virtual bye into round four as Williams retired after just seven points of their match. Makarova caused another upset as she knocked out Nadia Petrova while Benešová defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final set. Other seeds who went out to other seeded players were Cibulková, Peer who lost in the final set. While Petra Kvitová ended home hopes as she disposed of Stosur, while Sharapova had to come from a set down to progress to the next round.

The fourth round witnessed women's tennis history, as the match between Kuznetsova and Schiavone broke records. The match became the longest match, in terms of time for women in a Grand Slam as it lasted for 4 hours, and 44 minutes. At 8–7 in the final set Kutznetsova had three match points, but the Italian saved all three. In the next game Schiavone broke her opponents serve but touched the net after hitting the winner, meaning the point went to Kutznetsova, when holding three break points. Kutznetsova had another three match points in the next game before a run of four games in a row where the serve was broken. Finally after breaking in the previous game and missing three match points Schiavone closed the match out to win 16–14 in the final set. Other fourth round matches saw Sevastova's run end against Wozniacki and Makarova's end against Clijsters, while Petkovic upset Sharapova in straight sets. Other upsets saw the seeded players of Li and Kvitová defeat higher seeded players.

The quarterfinals witnessed Wozniacki put an end to Schiavone's run by winning a final set decider. Into the semifinals with the Dane were Li who defeated Petkovic, Clijsters who defeated Radwańska and Zvonerava who took care of Kvitová. In the first semifinal Li caused an upset, as she saved match point, to defeat the world number one Wozniacki in three sets. Her opponent in the final, Clijsters, won in straight sets against Zvonerava. In the final Clijsters came from a set down to claim her first Australian Open title. It was her fourth grand slam title in her career and second consecutive slam having won the US Open in 2010.

Championship match result

 Kim Clijsters def.  Li Na, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3.

Men's Doubles

The 2011 men's doubles competition saw the two-time defending champions and four-time champions overall come back to defend the two previous titles in the team of Bob and Mike Bryan, which they were the number one seeded team in the draw. Out of all of the seeded players, the teams that lost in the first round were the teams of 7th seeded Lukáš Dlouhý and Paul Hanley, 9th seeded team of Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman, 11th seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecău, Nicolás Almagro and Marc López the 15th seeds, Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares the 16th seeded team. Those teams that lost in the second round of the event are the two teams of Mark Knowles and Michal Mertiňák the 12 seeds, and the 14th seeded Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram. The only third round exit was by 13th seeded Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo. All of the top eight seeds made the quarterfinal or better with the lone exception of the seventh seeded team. Lastly, this event saw four teams exit in the quarterfinal round, which those was the 4th seeded team of Łukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski the 5 seeded team, the 6th seeded and 2010 Wimbledon Champions Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner, and the 8th seeded team of Michaël Llodra and Nenad Zimonjić.

Thus, only three seeded teams survived to make it to the semifinals, which the lone team to lose during this stage was the second seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor. This set up a dynamic final of the 1st and 3rd seeded teams respectively in the Bryan Brothers and the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, which the Indian team never has won the Australian Open in men's doubles. This would be the third time that they would lose in the final, but albeit in different years.

So, this was the Bryan Brothers' fifth Australian Open title in Men's doubles in the past six years, which this win was the third consecutive title at the event for them having won in 2009 and 2010, and the other two years they won were in 2006 and 2007. This was the Bryan Brothers tenth Men's Doubles Grand Slam title for their careers.

Championship match result

 Bob Bryan /  Mike Bryan def.  Mahesh Bhupathi /  Leander Paes, 6–3, 6–4.

Women's Doubles
The 2011 women's doubles competition was wide open with no team in the field having previously won a grand slam. Argentina's Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta of Italy led the field as the number one seeds, who had won seven titles in 2010 including the WTA championships but they had never been past a Grand Slam semifinal. Second seeds were the French Open finalists Květa Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, who had already won a tournament in 2011, the ASB Classic. Number three seeds are the US Open finalists Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova; the number four seeds are the 2009 WTA Champions Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez with Cara Black and Anastasia Rodionova seeded fifth heading the field.

All the seeds made it through the opening round with the exception of Francesca Schiavone and Rennae Stubbs, who lost winning just five games in what is Stubbs' last Australian Open. In round two the biggest casualties were the departure of the number four seeds; Llagostera Vives and Martínez Sánchez in straight sets. In the third round the number six, seven and eighth seeds all crashed out. In the quarterfinals Huber won the battle of the ex-partners as she downed Black's team to set up a semi final with Dulko and Penetta. The other semi was filled by Azarenka and Kirilenko and the number two seeds. In the semis the Number one seeds advanced to the final where after a shock they faced Azerenka and Kilrenko. In the final Dulko and Pennetta came from a set down to win.

Championship match result

 Gisela Dulko /  Flavia Pennetta def.  Victoria Azarenka /  Maria Kirilenko, 2–6, 7–5, 6–1.

Mixed Doubles

The mixed doubles field was led by top seeds and US Open champions Bob Bryan and Liezel Huber. Other significant seeds were: number two seeds Daniel Nestor and Katarina Srebotnik, Nestor's ex-doubles partner Nenad Zimonjić and Maria Kirilenko are the third seeds. Fourth seeds were defending champions Leander Paes and Cara Black, while the fifth and sixth seeds were Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Květa Peschke and Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond.

All the seeded teams made it through the first round apart from the teams of Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Květa Peschke who lost to Rennae Stubbs and Chris Guccione and Moody and Reymond who lost to Horia Tecău and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. The second round witnessed the number one seeds Bryan and Huber withdraw and the defending champions, Paes and Black go out to Paul Hanley and Chan Yung-jan after two tiebreak sets. The quarterfinals saw no upsets as Nestor and Srebotnik, Zimonjic and Kirlienko, Hanley and Chan and Tecau and Mettek–Sands made the semifinals. In the semifinals Nestor and Srebotnik won in straight sets against Zimonjic and Kirilenko. Their opponents in the final were Hanley and Chan after they won a match tiebreak 11–9 against Tecau and Mettek–Sands. The final came down to a match tiebreak which the number two seeds, Nestor and Srebotnik won. It was Nestor's second Australian Open mixed title while for Srebotnik it was her first.

Championship match result

 Katarina Srebotnik /  Daniel Nestor def.  Chan Yung-jan /  Paul Hanley, 6–3, 3–6, 10–7.

Juniors
Sixty four players competed in the boys and girls singles events, with thirty two teams competing in the boys and girls doubles events. The event is one of nine ITF Grade A junior competitions. Qualifying for the main draw took place between the 20 and 21 January 2011. Sixty four players attempted to qualify for the main draw of the boys and girls singles. There were eight qualifying spots available to join the forty six direct acceptance, two special exemptions and eight wildcards in the main draw. The qualifying event was held at the Pakenham Regional Tennis Centre. The main draws took place between the 23 and 29 January 2011.

Boys' Singles
World number one Jiří Veselý led the field. Other top seeds included World number two Dominic Thiem, Orange Bowl Champion George Morgan and World number five Mate Pavic. In the first round of the tournament Pavic exited in straight sets to Karim Hossam. While fellow seeds Dimitri Bretting, Joris De Loore and Ben Wagland also went out of the tournament. Also in action was Vesley and the 2010 finalist Sean Berman who both won their opening matches. Luke Saville casued the biggest upset in the second round as he outsted World number two Thiem in straight sets while Vesely and Morgan progressed with straight sets wins. The third round saw Morgan and Saville win epics in the final set. The quarterfinals saw Vesely, Morgan Baena and Saville reach the semifinals, where Vesely and Saville reached the final. In the final Vesely claimed his first junior Grand Slam title as he lost just three games against home hope Saville.

Championship match result

 Jiří Veselý def.  Luke Saville, 6–0, 6–3.

Girls' Singles

The 2011 Australian Open girls field was led by the World number one, US Open and youth Olympic champion, Daria Gavrilova. Joining the Russian leading the field was An-Sophie Mestach, Irina Khromacheva and Mónica Puig. While Orange Bowl champion Lauren Davis who competed in the main draw of the women's singles was the third seed and she was also joined by Caroline Garcia who also appeared in the women's draw. The first round saw all of the seeds bar Natalija Kostic move into the second round. Gavrilova, however was not in the second round as she was dumped out in straight sets by fifteen year old Kanami Tsuji Puig, in the second round got rid of the last of the home contingent losing just two games in the process. Eugénie Bouchard caused the biggest upset of round three when she lost just three games against Davis. Garcia caused an upset in the quarterfinals as she upset the number four seed Khromacheva in straight sets. The semifinals witnessed Mestach drop her first and only set of the tournament when she defeated Garcia whilst Puig saw off Bouchard in straight sets. In the final Mestach defeated Puig in straight sets to win her first junior Grand Slam title.

Championship match result

 An-Sophie Mestach def.  Mónica Puig, 6–4, 6–2.

Boys' Doubles
The first round witnessed Dimitri Bretting and Dennis Novak the fifth seeds and seventh seeds Luis Patiño and Filip Peliwo exit at the first hurdle. All the remaining seeds made it to the quarterfinals, where the number one seeds George Morgan and Mate Pavić who exited to the eighth seeds Mitchell Krueger and Karue Sell in a match tiebreak while second seeds Filip Horanský and Jiří Veselý knocked out sixth seeds Dominic Thiem and Matthias Wunner. Horansky and Vesely reached the final after defeating the fourth seeds Joris de Loore and Mate Delić who received a bye in the previous round in straight sets. While third seeds Ben Wagland and Andrew Whittington took care of Krueger and Sell in a match tiebreak. Horansky and Vesely triumphed in straight sets in the final over Wagland and Whttington.

Championship match result

 Filip Horanský /  Jiří Veselý def.  Ben Wagland /  Andrew Whittington, 6–4, 6–4.

Girls' Doubles
All the seeds made it through the first round with out incident. Nastja Kolar and Danka Kovinić the fifth seeds, Tang Haochen and Tian Ran the seventh seeds and the biggest upset with the second seeds Eugénie Bouchard and Mónica Puig all went out in the second round. In the quarterfinals An-Sophie Mestach and Demi Schuurs sent the number one seeds Irina Khromacheva and Yulia Putintseva home for the loss of just three games. While Margarita Gasparyan and Daria Gavrilova the fourth seeds lost a match tiebreaker to Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato whilst Lucia Butkovská and Anna Schmiedlová the eighth seeds won only one game. Kato and Hozumi progressed to the final, where they faced Mestach and Schuurs who knocked out the third seeds Natalija Kostić and Ilona Kremen in a match tiebreaker. In the final Mestach and Schuurs defeated Hozumi and Kato in straight sets for their first Grand Slam doubles title.

Championship match result

 An-Sophie Mestach /  Demi Schuurs def.  Eri Hozumi /  Miyu Kato, 6–2, 6–3.

Wheelchair tennis
There are six events in the wheelchair tennis discipline; a singles and doubles draw for each of the three categories. The tournament was played between the 26 and 29 January 2011. All events were part of the NEC tour under the Grand Slam category. A total of $63,000 was awarded in prize money across all the events.

Wheelchair Men's Singles

In the opening round World number one Shingo Kunieda defeated Ronald Vink for the loss of just one game. Kunieda would play Robin Ammerlaan in the semifinals after the Dutchman defeated home hope Ben Weekes. In the other half of the draw Stéphane Houdet saw off Maikel Scheffers while Stefan Olsson saw off Houdet's doubles partner Nicolas Peifer. In the semifinals Kunieda and Houdet emerged victorious in the battle for the final. Kunieda defeated Houdet for his twelfth Grand Slam title losing just three games.

Championship match result

 Shingo Kunieda def.  Stéphane Houdet, 6–0, 6–3.

Wheelchair Women's Singles

There were eight entries into the singles competition. On her first appearance in a Grand Slam competition Marjolein Buis won in three sets against Annick Sevenans to reach the semifinals. Also into the semifinals were World number one Esther Vergeer who recorded her four hundred and second consecutive match win with a 6–0, 6–0 win over her doubles partner, Sharon Walraven. Buis then took on World number two and home favourite Daniela di Toro who lost just three games on Australia Day against Aniek van Koot. While Jiske Griffioen would play Vergeer in the semifinals after defeating Grand Slam debuant Jordanne Whiley in straight sets. The semifinals witnessed di Toro and Vergeer make the final with straight sets wins. In the final Vergeer claimed her eighth Australian Open title as she defeated di Toro without losing a game to chalk up her four hundredth and fourth consecutive win.

Championship match result

 Esther Vergeer def.  Daniela di Toro, 6–0, 6–0.

Wheelchair Quad Singles

The tournament was played in a round robin format. Peter Norfolk, the defending champion, opened with a straight sets win over doubles partner Andrew Lapthorne. Whilst World number one David Wagner defeated his doubles partner Nick Taylor for the loss of two games. In the second round of matches Wagner edged Norfolk in a final set decider, whilst Grand Slam debuant Lapthorne recorded his first victory as he won in straight sets against Taylor. The loss for Taylor meant that he was elminated from the event. In the final round robin matches, Norfolk defeated Taylor for the loss of just three games, while Wagner defeated Lapthorne in straight sets. The win for Norfolk and the loss for Lapthorne meant that Norfolk would play Wagner in the final. In the final Wagner defeated Norfolk for the loss of just five games. It was Wagner's first Australian Open singles title.

Championship match result

 David Wagner def.  Peter Norfolk, 6–2, 6–3.

Wheelchair Men's Doubles
There was four teams competing in this event. Shingo Kunieda and Maikel Scheffers beat Wimbledon champions, Robin Ammerlaan and Stefan Olsson in straight sets. They were joined in the final by the all French pairing of Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer who defeated Ronald Vink and Ben Weekes. In the final Kunieda and Scheffers came from a break down in the first set to defeat the French pair in straight sets.

Championship match result

 Shingo Kunieda /  Maikel Scheffers def.  Stéphane Houdet /  Nicolas Peifer, 6–3, 6–3.

Wheelchair Women's Doubles
There were four entries to this competition. Esther Vergeer and Sharon Walraven defeated Daniela di Toro and Jordanne Whiley in straight sets to make the final. The final was turned into an all Dutch affair as Aniek van Koot and Jiske Griffioen joined them after defeating Marjolein Buis and Annick Sevenans in two tiebreaks. In the final Vergeer and Walraven lost just two games as they defeated van Koot and Griffioen to claim their third consecutive Grand Slam title.

Championship match result

 Esther Vergeer /  Sharon Walraven def.  Jiske Griffioen /  Aniek van Koot, 6–0, 6–2.

Wheelchair Quad Doubles

There was just two entries in the Quad doubles, and they played a straight final to decided the championship. In the one off match history was made as Lapthorne and Norfolk became the first all British pair to win a wheelchair Grand Slam doubles title. It was Lapthorne's first Grand Slam title and Norfolk's first Grand Slam doubles title as the pair defeated the all American pair of Taylor and Wagner in straight sets for their fourth win over them.

Championship match result

 Andrew Lapthorne /  Peter Norfolk def.  Nicholas Taylor /  David Wagner, 6–3, 6–3.

Viewership

Broadcast
The 2011 Australian Open was broadcast around the world with eleven different broadcasters officially screening the event. Channel 7 was the host broadcaster, with ESPN covering North America with its International franchise covering South and Latin America. Eurosport holds the rights to broadcast the tournament in Europe. In Asia broadcasts were covered by ESPN Star Sports and in Japan by WOWOW and by CN Sports Interactive Media Group in China. In Africa coverage is by SuperSport, and in the middle east by Abu Dhabi TV. Pacific coverage was broadcast by Sky New Zealand in New Zealand and by FIJI TV in Fiji. During the course of the tournament, Tennis Australia and Eurosport, announced that they had extended their partnership for another five years, which extends Eurosports unbroken coverage of the Australian Open to over twenty years. For the first time in the history of the Australian Open, the qualifying competition for the main draw was streamed live on the internet. The qualifying competition was broadcast between 12 and 15 January. The charity event Rally for Relief was also broadcast live on australianopen.com and Australian network channel seven.

During the first week of the tournament, viewing figures in Australia were down for the second year running. 1.36 million people tuned in for the Men's singles final which was lower than the rating which the women's final received according to figures released by OzTAM.

Attendance
2011 introduced a kids tennis day event, which took place on the Saturday before the tournament took place. Around eight thousand people turned up for the event. People entertained themselves through a variety of activities, including watching stringers string racquets and arts and crafts. The highlight of the day for many fans was a chance to watch past and present players. These players included, Pat Cash, Henri Leconte, Peter Luczak, Alicia Molik and Anastasia Rodionova.

A total of 651,127 people attended the tournament throughout the two weeks. This was lower than the attendance in 2010, although daily records were set. 51,276 people filled Melbourne Park, which was a record for the middle Saturday. The day was also the biggest crowd ever at the Australian Open for a day session. A further 25,845 attended the evening session which brought the total number of people for the day to 77,121 which was again record breaking. As it was the largest amount of spectators to have attended on one day.

References

2011 in Australia
2011 in tennis
Hard court tennis tournaments
January 2011 events
History of Melbourne
Tennis tournaments in Australia

2011 Australian Open


The Earl of Chicago is a 1940 American drama film directed by Richard Thorpe and starring Robert Montgomery, Edward Arnold, Reginald Owen and Edmund Gwenn. Made during 1939 and released in January 1940, it was the first MGM film of the 1940s.

Plot
To remedy the ill doings of his past, Robert "Silky" Kilmount, ex-Chicago bootlegger who has opened up his own legal distillery, hires Quentin "Doc" Ramsey as manager of his company. Seven years ago, Silky got Doc sent to prison after framing him for a crime he didn't commit.

Doc has no good intentions when accepting the position, just waiting for an opportunity to take revenge. The window of opportunity arrives with attorney Gervase Gonwell, who comes from England to tell Silky that he has inherited land from his deceased uncle, the Earl of Gorley.

Doc persuades Silky to go to England and visit his new estate, but he insists that Doc go with him. Doc sees the opportunity to ruin Silky and tricks him into signing a formal power of attorney document, giving him the right to do as he pleases while Silky is abroad.

Silky lands upon the English culture and makes quite an impact with his gangster-like behavior among the lords and traditions. He gets help from the kind butler, Munsey, and a cousin, Gerald, and soon finds it in his heart to treasure the ancient traditions and the family history.

Back in the U.S., Doc is emptying the company of every cent without Silky's knowledge. When the ceremony to make him a member of the House of Lords is about to start, he finds out that he is bankrupt and prohibited by law from selling his English estate. Silky kills Doc in anger, and is sentenced to death. He will be hanged by the neck with a silken rope in the Tower of London.

Silky accepts his fate and walks with his head held high, as a true nobleman, to the rope and his death, encouraged by Munsey.

Cast
 Robert Montgomery as Robert Kilmount
 Edward Arnold as Quentin "Doc" Ramsey
 Reginald Owen as Gervase Gonwell
 Edmund Gwenn as Munsey, the butler
 E. E. Clive as Mr. Redwood
 Ronald Sinclair as Master Gerald Kilmount
 Norma Varden as Maureen Kilmount
 Halliwell Hobbes as Lord Chancellor
 Ian Wolfe as Reading Clerk
 Peter Godfrey as Judson
 Paul England as Chief Constable
 Billy Bevan as Castle Guide
 Ted Billings as Townsman (uncredited)
 Olaf Hytten as Hodges (uncredited)
 Miles Mander as Attorney General (uncredited)
 Ben Welden as Driver (uncredited)

References

External links

1940 films
1940s English-language films
Films directed by Richard Thorpe
1940 drama films
American drama films
Films set in London
Films produced by Victor Saville
Films with screenplays by Lesser Samuels
American black-and-white films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
1940s American films
English-language drama films

The Earl of Chicago


Formicariidae is a family of smallish suboscine passerine birds of subtropical and tropical Central and South America known as antthrushes. They are between  in length, and are most closely related to the ovenbirdss in the family Furnariidae, and the tapaculos in the family Rhinocryptidae. The family Formicariidae contains 12 species in two genera.

These are forest birds that tend to feed on insects at or near the ground. Most are drab in appearance with shades of (rusty) brown, black, and white being their dominant tones. Compared to other birds that specialize in following ants, this family is the most tied to the ground. The long, powerful legs (which lend the birds a distinctive upright posture) and an essentially vestigial tail aid this lifestyle.

They lay two or three eggs in a nest in a tree, both sexes incubating.

Systematics
The antthrushes are similar in appearance to small rails. Their sexes are alike in plumage, and they walk like starlings. The thrush part of the name refers only to the similarity in size (and in Chamaeza also coloration) to true thrushes, not to an evolutionary relationship.

Molecular phylogenetic studies indicated that the Formicariidae as previously delimited were highly paraphyletic, judging from comparison of several mt and nDNA sequences. The aberrant bar-bellied "antpittas" of the genus Pittasoma, which were formerly placed here, belong to the gnateater family (which initially was also considered part of the Formicariidae); as the gnateaters proper, they are sexually dichromatic. In addition, the true antpittas formerly placed in this family are now found in their own family, the Grallariidae. On the other hand, at least a large proportion of the Rhinocryptidae (tapaculos), including the type genus Rhinocrypta, seem to be closer to the antthrushes, but are still considered a distinct family.

The following cladogram shows the phylogeny of the antthrush family. It is based on a large molecular phylogenetic study of the suboscines by Michael Harvey and collaborators that was published in 2020. The species are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC).

The short-tailed antthrush was found to be paraphyletic. Eleven subspecies are recognised in several disjunct areas and ornithologists had suspected that more than a single species was involved.

References

External links

Formicariidae videos, photos and sounds on the Internet Bird Collection

Bird families
Higher-level bird taxa restricted to the Neotropics
Tyranni
Taxa named by George Robert Gray

Formicariidae


The Muristan (, ) is a complex of streets and shops in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The site was the location of the first Bimaristan (from Persian Bimārestān بیمارستان meaning "hospital") of the Knights Hospitaller.

Christian legend
The area just south of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has a long tradition dating to the days of Judas Maccabeus (the 2nd century BC) based on incidents recorded in the Second Book of Maccabees. According to the legend, King Antiochus V proceeded to Jerusalem to punish the High Priest for plundering David's Tomb. While on Golgotha, the king was directed in a divine vision to pardon the High Priest, and to build a hospital for the care of the sick and poor on that spot. In 1496, William Caoursin, Vice-Chancellor of the Hospitallers, wrote that Judas Maccabaeus and John Hyrcanus founded the hospital on that spot.

History

Roman period
In 130, Hadrian visited the ruins of Jerusalem, in Judaea, left after the First Roman-Jewish War of 66–73. He rebuilt the city, renaming it Aelia Capitolina after himself and Jupiter Capitolinus, the chief Roman deity. Hadrian placed the city's main Forum at the junction of the main Cardo and Decumanus Maximus, now the location for the (smaller) Muristan. Hadrian built a large temple to the goddess Venus, which later became the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The earliest historical mention of the location Muristan is in 600 AD, when a certain Abbot Probus was commissioned by Pope Gregory the Great to build a hospital in Jerusalem to treat and care for Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. This hospice was most likely destroyed about fourteen years later when Jerusalem fell to the Persian army and the Christian inhabitants were slaughtered, and their churches and monasteries destroyed (see Revolt against Heraclius). The building was probably restored after Jerusalem fell again under Roman dominion in 629.

Early Muslim period
Arab rule after 637 allowed freedom of worship, and the restored hospice was probably allowed to continue serving its original purpose.
In 800, Charlemagne, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, enlarged the hostel and added a library to it.
Bernard the Monk, who wrote an account of his visit to Jerusalem in 870, mentions a Benedictine hospital close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 993, Hugh Marquis of Tuscany and his wife endowed the hospital with considerable property in Italy.

In 1009, Fatimid caliph Al Hakim destroyed the hostel and a large number of other buildings in Jerusalem. In 1023, merchants from Amalfi and Salerno in Italy were given permission by the caliph Ali az-Zahir to rebuild the hospice, monastery and chapel in Jerusalem. Among these merchants from Amalfi and Salerno was also Mauros, merchant from Amalfi, of a family from Constantinople, Miletus and Amalfi, who gave together with his mother Anna and her brother Constantine a gift to the convent of Saint Lawrence in Amalfi, which probably had some connection to blessed Gerard the founder of the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem the Knights Hospitaller.

In Palestine and Syria, there was a revolt among the Bedouins (1024–1029). In an agreement in 1027 between Ali az-Zahir and Constantine VIII, Constantine VIII allowed the name of the caliph to be acknowledged in the mosques in the emperor's domain and the mosque at Constantinople to be restored.
The hospice, which was built on the site of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist, took in Christian pilgrims travelling to visit the holy sites. To the east of this hospital, separated from it by a lane, a new hospital for pilgrims was built in 1080. Both hospitals remained under the control of the Benedictine abbot.
In 1078, Jerusalem was captured by the Seljuk Turks who abused the Christian population, forced pilgrims to pay a heavy tax to visit the Holy Places, and even kidnapped the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In spite of the persecution, the Benedictine hospital continued its ministry. Archbishop John of Amalfi records that during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1082, he visited the hospital.
In August 1098, the Turks were ousted by the Egyptian vizier, Al Afdal.
Towards the end of the Egyptian occupation (July 1099), the Hospital for Women was being managed by a noble Roman lady, named Agnes, while the Hospital for Men was under the direction of a monk known as Brother Gerard.

Crusader period

In the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem (1099), the Egyptian governor, Iftikhar ad Dawla, imprisoned Brother Gerard.
When Jerusalem fell to Godfrey of Bouillon, he freed Brother Gerard, allowed him to resume his management of the Hospital for Men, and contributed resources to his work.
Gerard adopted the policy of receiving all needy patients, irrespective of religion.
While the Hospital for Women remained under the control of the Benedictines, Brother Gerard broke off from that Order, adopted the Augustinian rule and organised the Fratres Hospitalarii into a regularly constituted Religious Order under the protection of saint John the Baptist. The members of the Order thus became known as Knights of St. John or Hospitallers.

The formal establishment of the Knights Hospitaller under Brother Gerard was confirmed by a Papal bull of Pope Paschal II in 1113. Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond. His successor, Raymond du Puy de Provence, significantly enlarged the infirmary. The earliest description of the first hospital of the Sovereign Military Order of St. John in Jerusalem was written by a German pilgrim John of Würzburg who visited Jerusalem in about the year 1160:

Over against the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, on the opposite side of the way towards the south, is a beautiful church built in honour of John the Baptist, annexed to which is a hospital, wherein in various rooms is collected together an enormous multitude of sick people. Both men and women. Who are tended and restored to health daily at very great expense. When I was there I learned that the whole number of these sick people amounted to two thousand, of whom sometimes in the course of one day and night more than fifty are carried out dead, while many other fresh ones keep continually arriving. What more can I say? The same house supplies as many people outside it with victuals as it does those inside, in addition to the boundless charity which it daily bestowed upon poor people who beg their bread from door to door and do not lodge in the house, so that the whole sum of its expenses can surely never be calculated even by the managers and stewards thereof. In addition to all these moneys expended upon the sick and upon other poor people, this same house also maintains in its various castles many persons trained to all kinds of military exercises for the defence of the land of the Christians against the invasion of the Saracens.

Ayyubid period and later decay
After the Siege of Jerusalem in October 1187, all Christians were driven out of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin. The Hospitallers were permitted to leave ten of their number in the city to care for the wounded until they were able to travel. Saladin turned the Hospitallers buildings over to the Mosque of Omar. His nephew in 1216 instituted a lunatic asylum in what had been the conventual church, and it was at this time that the area came to be referred to as the Muristan. The hospital facilities continued to be used for the care of the sick and wounded. The site was deserted in the 16th century, and the magnificent structures eventually fell into ruin.

19th century

In 1868, the Sultan Abdulaziz presented the eastern part of this area to Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia, during his visit to Jerusalem. The prince was at the time the Master of the Johanniterorden, the Protestant successor to a former branch of the Knights Hospitaller. The German knights built a road through the Muristan from north to south, calling it Prince Frederick William Street, and the property became the centre of the German colony in Jerusalem. Beginning in 1841, German Protestant Christians came to Palestine to support the Christian minority in the area through diaconal and missionary work. The German government contributed to the process of removing rubble in the area and rebuilding. In the late 1800s, they rebuilt the Crusader church of St. Mary Latina as the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (Erlöserkirche). The old cloisters, refectory, and original plan of the medieval church were preserved in the present neo-Romanesque building. Kaiser Wilhelm II personally attended the dedication of the church on 31 October 1898 (Reformation Day), when he and his wife, Augusta Victoria, became the first western rulers to visit Jerusalem. The Church of the Redeemer, under control of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) through the Evangelical Jerusalem Foundation (Evangelische Jerusalemstiftung, EJSt) currently houses the ELCA-sponsored English-speaking congregation, a German-speaking congregation, and an indigenous Arabic-speaking congregation. The church is also the headquarters of the German Propst and the Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (ELCJ).

In order to secure equal representation, in 1868 the Sultan assigned the western part of the Muristan to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. It is now occupied by the Greek bazaar, which specializes in leather goods. A ceremonial gateway off of Muristan Street leads to this Muristan area, called Suq Aftimos, and from thence to a set of short intersecting streets with shops and a few cafes. The street arrangements were constructed in 1903 by the Greek Orthodox authority. In the centre of the bazaar area is an ornamental fountain (19th century); at the north end is the Mosque of Omar, built in 1216 by Saladin's son to commemorate Caliph Omar's visit to Jerusalem in 638, when he prayed on the steps of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre instead of inside so that it could remain a Christian holy place.

Archaeology
Excavations of the Muristan were conducted around the start of the 20th century, and showed that the Hospitaller complex occupied an approximately square area measuring 160 yards (east-west) and 143 yards (north-south). In the early decades of the twentieth century little was left of the original buildings. The remains included the Church of Mar Hanna, a series of arches on David Street, and the remains of the north door of the Hospitaller's church of St. Mary Latina, which were incorporated into the modern Church of the Redeemer. What remains of the hospital today is a modern memorial situated in a small recess barred from the street with an iron gate and an enclosed yard.

The "Durch die Zeiten" (lit. "Across Time") archaeological park opened in November 2012, located below the nave of the Church of the Redeemer offers the possibility to commit more than 2000 years of history of the city of Jerusalem by walking through it.

References

External links

 The Muristan(aerial photograph)
 Old City of Jerusalem—Muristan area (picture tour with commentary)
 Entrance to the Muristan (photo)

Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem
Christianity in Jerusalem
Crusade places
Historic sites in Jerusalem
Knights Hospitaller
Establishments in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Bimaristans
Christian Quarter

Muristan


Evgeny Mikhailovich Malakhin (; 16 September 1938 – 13 March 2005) was an artist and poet of Yekaterinburg, Russia, remembered for his bohemian but simplistic lifestyle, short aphoristic verse and extravagant street art. Citizens came to know him simply as the Old Man Bukashkin (), the person in line somewhat of a skomorokh street-performer tradition. He himself humorously styled his title as "the People's Street sweeper of Russia", mocking the official People's Artist title bestowed by the State.

Biography
Most of his life Evgeny had spent in Yekaterinburg. He graduated with a diploma in power engineering and worked as a power station supervisor. By and by his attention turned to art: he tried to bring the "modern people's culture" to the spotlight, painting pictures over concrete fences of the city, over garbage containers. At some point special areas on existing concrete fences, both permanent and temporary, were granted for use, and this tradition exists in Yekaterinburg to this day.

After some time, he gained fame as the most extravagant city's artist. He also authored short verses and prose and did some traditional art painting. At some moment he was taken up by the idea of posters against drunkenness. The increasing fame brought publishing offers from magazines and newspapers. Along with his friends he started a non-governmental art society "Kartinnik" (from  - a painting). In 1990-1992 he made the whole city surface his canvas, leaving his paintings here and there - on a garage wall, on a concrete fence. These works of art are now lost.

Annual posthumous exhibitions of Old Man Bukashkin's art are run in Yekaterinburg. Ural State University's culturology and art faculty has a small exhibition devoted to him. In 2007-2008 some tramway cars were decorated with the old works of the members of "Kartinnik" society.

Short verses
 Если ты рабочий класс, пей газводу, сок и квас - "If you are from working class, drink just seltzer, juice and kvass"
 Слезятся маленькие глазки у крокодильчика без ласки - "Lonely little crocodilly, lack of love his eyes made teary".

1938 births
2005 deaths
Russian male artists
Russian male poets
Writers from Yekaterinburg
20th-century Russian poets
20th-century Russian male writers

Old Man Bukashkin


Machete is a 1958 American drama film directed by Kurt Neumann and written by Kurt Neumann and Carroll Young. The film stars Mari Blanchard, Ruth Cains, Albert Dekker, Juano Hernandez, Carlos Rivas and Lee Van Cleef. The film was released in December 1958 by United Artists.

Plot
Sugar plantation owner Don Luis Montoya gets married in New York and brings his bride Jean back to Puerto Rico, unaware that she wed him only for his money. Friends at their San Juan honeymoon hotel recognize her as a notorious party girl, so Jean urges her husband to take her home right away, before the marriage has even been consummated.

At the plantation, Jean's arrival is met with mistrust by Luis' longtime protege, Carlos, and by his cousin, Miguel, who help run the business. A drunken Miguel insults her and is slapped by Carlos. In vengeance, he attacks Carlos later with a machete.

Luis orders him to leave, but Miguel sabotages the cane-cutting machinery and is asked back by Luis to repair it. Jean, meantime, has fallen in love with Carlos, which results in Miguel planting seeds of suspicion with Luis against them. Catching the two in a compromising position, Luis chastises Carlos and later takes his new wife forcibly.

Miguel sets fire to the sugar field. Luis, believing that Jean is running off with Carlos, comes after them with his machete and is about to die in the blaze when Carlos comes to rescue him. Miguel is killed with the machete, and Jean dies during the ordeal as well.

Cast
Mari Blanchard as Jean Montoya
Ruth Cains as Rita
Albert Dekker as Don Luis Montoya
Juano Hernandez as Bernardo
Carlos Rivas as Carlos
Lee Van Cleef as Miguel

References

External links

1958 films
United Artists films
American drama films
Films shot in Puerto Rico
1958 drama films
Films directed by Kurt Neumann
Films scored by Paul Sawtell
1950s English-language films
1950s American films

Machete (1958 film)


Tropical Storm Chantal was a very short-lived storm in the northern Atlantic Ocean that stayed away from land during most of its existence. It was also the third named storm of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. The stormed formed from a non-tropical system between Bermuda on Cape Cod, Massachusetts that developed on July 31 with good conditions for further development. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) and began to move quickly northeastwards into colder water temperatures. When convection began to decrease, the National Hurricane Center stopped sending out advisories on August 1 when Chantal began to turn into an extratropical cyclone. Later, the remnants moved over southeast Newfoundland, before moving into the Arctic Ocean.

Storm history

An area of thunderstorm activity developed on July 28 about 100 miles (160 km) east of the Bahamas which was associated with a weak low pressure system. It moved north-northeastward, into poor environmental conditions which left the system disorganized. However, conditions then were forecasted to become better for development, and by July 29 the National Hurricane Center stated that it had "potential for tropical or subtropical development."  On July 30, the low passed to the west of Bermuda as it continued moving northeastward, under the effects of a large mid-latitude trough. The system contained an exposed low-level circulation, which from time to time passed under a thick area of convection to its northeast. By early on July 31, ship reports and QuikSCAT observations detected winds of 35 mph (55 km/h), and the center was well-involved enough with the convection for the National Hurricane Center to name it as Tropical Depression Three while it was located about 270 miles (435 km) north-northwest of Bermuda, or about 445 miles (710 km) south-southeast of Chatham, Massachusetts.

By six hours after development, the depression had of a somewhat exposed low-level center with deep convection taking up most of the northeastern semicircle. Located over sea surface temperatures of about 80º F (27º C), one forecaster said the depression had "a small window of opportunity... for it to reach tropical storm strength before transitioning to an extratropical cyclone."  The system organized further, and based on satellite pictures and QuikSCAT data, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Chantal at 1215 UTC on July 31 while located about 330 miles (530 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia.  By three hours later the system formed a well-defined curved banding features, and Chantal reached maximum systained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) at 40.2º N. The storm speed up northeastward into an area of cold waters and cooler air, and early on August 1 the National Hurricane Center gave out its last advisory on Chantal as it began extratropical transition.

After becoming an extratropical cyclone, Chantal managed to keep scattered convection near its center, though its main area of convection and clouds moved to its north.  On August 1, the cyclone made landfall on Newfoundland along the Avalon Peninsula, and by late in the day the extratropical remnants of Chantal were about 265 miles (425 km) northeast of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and moving northeastward at 44 mph (70 km/h).

Impact
The weather system that would later become Chantal began to affect Bermuda on July 30. It caused some thunderstorms. The next day, it caused heavy rainfall that reached r2.12 inches (53.8 mm) at the Bermuda International Airport. Winds on the island reached 45 mph (72 km/h) because of the weather system.  After Chantal passed Bermuda, a ship with the call sign of C60Y4 recorded winds of 37 mph (59 km/h).

Shortly after the system became a tropical storm, the Atlantic Storm Prediction Center of Canada sent out gale warnings for the waters off of Newfoundland. The Newfoundland Labrador Weather Office also issued warnings for heavy rain.

In the open ocean, waves from Chantal reached 20 feet (6 m) high. The storm also had effects on land. A wind gust of 54 mph (88 km/h) was reported. What was left of Chantal caused heavy rainfall in a short time in Newfoundland. In the province, rainfall peaked at 5.9 inches (150 mm) at Whitbourne. The rainfall caused flooding and also caused streets to wash out in several cities on the Avalon Peninsula. Several towns declared states of emergencies along the Avalon Peninsula.

Related pages
 2007 Atlantic hurricane season

References

Other websites
 NHC's advisory archive on Tropical Storm Chantal

Atlantic tropical storms
Hurricanes in Bermuda
2007 Atlantic hurricane season
2000s in Bermuda
2007 in Canada

Tropical Storm Chantal (2007)


Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food.  The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems, leaves, roots, and seeds. An alternative definition of the term is applied somewhat arbitrarily, often by culinary and cultural tradition. It may exclude foods derived from some plants that are fruits, flowers, nuts, and cereal grains, but include savoury fruits such as tomatoes and courgettes, flowers such as broccoli, and seeds such as pulses.

Originally, vegetables were collected from the wild by hunter-gatherers and entered cultivation in several parts of the world, probably during the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC, when a new agricultural way of life developed. At first, plants which grew locally would have been cultivated, but as time went on, trade brought exotic crops from elsewhere to add to domestic types. Nowadays, most vegetables are grown all over the world as climate permits, and crops may be cultivated in protected environments in less suitable locations. China is the largest producer of vegetables, and global trade in agricultural products allows consumers to purchase vegetables grown in faraway countries. The scale of production varies from subsistence farmers supplying the needs of their family for food, to agribusinesses with vast acreages of single-product crops. Depending on the type of vegetable concerned, harvesting the crop is followed by grading, storing, processing, and marketing.

Vegetables can be eaten either raw or cooked and play an important role in human nutrition, being mostly low in fat and carbohydrates, but high in vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber. Many nutritionists encourage people to consume plenty of fruit and vegetables, five or more portions a day often being recommended.

Etymology
The word vegetable was first recorded in English in the early 15th century. It comes from Old French, and was originally applied to all plants; the word is still used in this sense in biological contexts. It derives from Medieval Latin vegetabilis "growing, flourishing" (i.e. of a plant), a semantic change from a Late Latin meaning "to be enlivening, quickening".

The meaning of "vegetable" as a "plant grown for food" was not established until the 18th century. In 1767, the word was specifically used to mean a "plant cultivated for food, an edible herb or root". The year 1955 saw the first use of the shortened, slang term "veggie".

As an adjective, the word vegetable is used in scientific and technical contexts with a different and much broader meaning, namely of "related to plants" in general, edible or not—as in vegetable matter, vegetable kingdom, vegetable origin, etc.

Terminology

The exact definition of "vegetable" may vary simply because of the many parts of a plant consumed as food worldwide—roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. The broadest definition is the word's use adjectivally to mean "matter of plant origin". More specifically, a vegetable may be defined as "any plant, part of which is used for food", a secondary meaning then being "the edible part of such a plant". A more precise definition is "any plant part consumed for food that is not a fruit or seed, but including mature fruits that are eaten as part of a main meal". Falling outside these definitions are edible fungi (such as edible mushrooms)  and edible seaweed which, although not parts of plants, are often treated as vegetables.

In the latter-mentioned definition of "vegetable", which is used in everyday language, the words "fruit" and "vegetable" are mutually exclusive. "Fruit" has a precise botanical meaning, being a part that developed from the ovary of a flowering plant. This is considerably different from the word's culinary meaning. While peaches, plums, and oranges are "fruit" in both senses, many items commonly called "vegetables", such as eggplants, bell peppers, and tomatoes, are botanically fruits. The question of whether the tomato is a fruit or a vegetable found its way into the United States Supreme Court in 1893. The court ruled unanimously in Nix v. Hedden that a tomato is correctly identified as, and thus taxed as, a vegetable, for the purposes of the Tariff of 1883 on imported produce. The court did acknowledge, however, that, botanically speaking, a tomato is a fruit.

History
Before the advent of agriculture, humans were hunter-gatherers. They foraged for edible fruit, nuts, stems, leaves, corms, and tubers and hunted animals for food. Forest gardening in a tropical jungle clearing is thought to be the first example of agriculture; useful plant species were identified and encouraged to grow while undesirable species were removed. Plant breeding through the selection of strains with desirable traits such as large fruit and vigorous growth soon followed. While the first evidence for the domestication of grasses such as wheat and barley has been found in the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East, it is likely that various peoples around the world started growing crops in the period 10,000 BC to 7,000 BC. Subsistence agriculture continues to this day, with many rural farmers in Africa, Asia, South America, and elsewhere using their plots of land to produce enough food for their families, while any surplus produce is used for exchange for other goods.

Throughout recorded history, the rich have been able to afford a varied diet including meat, vegetables and fruit, but for poor people, meat was a luxury and the food they ate was very dull, typically comprising mainly some staple product made from rice, rye, barley, wheat, millet or maize. The addition of vegetable matter provided some variety to the diet. The staple diet of the Aztecs in Central America was maize and they cultivated tomatoes, avocados, beans, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, peanuts, and amaranth seeds to supplement their tortillas and porridge.  In Peru, the Incas subsisted on maize in the lowlands and potatoes at higher altitudes. They also used seeds from quinoa, supplementing their diet with peppers, tomatoes, and avocados.

In Ancient China, rice was the staple crop in the south and wheat in the north, the latter made into dumplings, noodles, and pancakes. Vegetables used to accompany these included yams, soybeans, broad beans, turnips, spring onions, and garlic. The diet of the ancient Egyptians was based on bread, often contaminated with sand which wore away their teeth. Meat was a luxury but fish was more plentiful. These were accompanied by a range of vegetables including marrows, broad beans, lentils, onions, leeks, garlic, radishes, and lettuces.

The mainstay of the Ancient Greek diet was bread, and this was accompanied by goat's cheese, olives, figs, fish, and occasionally meat. The vegetables grown included onions, garlic, cabbages, melons, and lentils. In Ancient Rome, a thick porridge was made of emmer wheat or beans, accompanied by green vegetables but little meat, and fish was not esteemed. The Romans grew broad beans, peas, onions and turnips and ate the leaves of beets rather than their roots.

Some common vegetables

Nutrition and health

Vegetables play an important role in human nutrition. Most are low in fat and calories but are bulky and filling. They supply dietary fiber and are important sources of essential vitamins, minerals, and trace elements. Particularly important are the antioxidant vitamins A, C, and E. When vegetables are included in the diet, there is found to be a reduction in the incidence of cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic ailments. Research has shown that, compared with individuals who eat less than three servings of fruits and vegetables each day, those that eat more than five servings have an approximately twenty percent lower risk of developing coronary heart disease or stroke.
The nutritional content of vegetables varies considerably; some contain useful amounts of protein though generally they contain little fat, and varying proportions of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin K, and vitamin B6; provitamins; dietary minerals; and carbohydrates.

The consumption of crunchy and hard to chew foods, such as raw vegetables, during youth, while the bones are still growing, is needed for the human's, and other animals', jaws' proper development, and without their consumption, the jaws do not grow to their full size, thus not leaving enough room for the teeth to grow in correctly, causing crooked and impacted teeth.

However, vegetables often also contain toxins and antinutrients which interfere with the absorption of nutrients. These include α-solanine, α-chaconine, enzyme inhibitors (of cholinesterase, protease, amylase, etc.), cyanide and cyanide precursors, oxalic acid, tannins and others. These toxins are natural defenses, used to ward off the insects, predators and fungi that might attack the plant. Some beans contain phytohaemagglutinin, and cassava roots contain cyanogenic glycoside as do bamboo shoots. These toxins can be deactivated by adequate cooking. Green potatoes contain glycoalkaloids and should be avoided.

Fruit and vegetables, particularly leafy vegetables, have been implicated in nearly half the gastrointestinal infections caused by norovirus in the United States. These foods are commonly eaten raw and may become contaminated during their preparation by an infected food handler. Hygiene is important when handling foods to be eaten raw, and such products need to be properly cleaned, handled, and stored to limit contamination.

Recommendations

The USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily. The total amount consumed will vary according to age and gender, and is determined based upon the standard portion sizes typically consumed, as well as general nutritional content. Potatoes are not included in the count as they are mainly providers of starch. For most vegetables and vegetable juices, one serving is half of a cup and can be eaten raw or cooked. For leafy greens, such as lettuce and spinach, a single serving is typically a full cup. A variety of products should be chosen as no single fruit or vegetable provides all the nutrients needed for health.

International dietary guidelines are similar to the ones established by the USDA. Japan, for example, recommends the consumption of five to six servings of vegetables daily. French recommendations provide similar guidelines and set the daily goal at five servings. In India, the daily recommendation for adults is  of vegetables per day.

Production

Cultivation

Vegetables have been part of the human diet from time immemorial. Some are staple foods but most are accessory foodstuffs, adding variety to meals with their unique flavors and at the same time, adding nutrients necessary for health. Some vegetables are perennials but most are annuals and biennials, usually harvested within a year of sowing or planting. Whatever system is used for growing crops, cultivation follows a similar pattern; preparation of the soil by loosening it, removing or burying weeds, and adding organic manures or fertilisers; sowing seeds or planting young plants; tending the crop while it grows to reduce weed competition, control pests, and provide sufficient water; harvesting the crop when it is ready; sorting, storing, and marketing the crop or eating it fresh from the ground.

Different soil types suit different crops, but in general in temperate climates, sandy soils dry out fast but warm up quickly in the spring and are suitable for early crops, while heavy clays retain moisture better and are more suitable for late season crops. The growing season can be lengthened by the use of fleece, cloches, plastic mulch, polytunnels, and greenhouses. In hotter regions, the production of vegetables is constrained by the climate, especially the pattern of rainfall, while in temperate zones, it is constrained by the temperature and day length.

On a domestic scale, the spade, fork, and hoe are the tools of choice while on commercial farms a range of mechanical equipment is available. Besides tractors, these include ploughs, harrows, drills, transplanters, cultivators, irrigation equipment, and harvesters. New techniques are changing the cultivation procedures involved in growing vegetables with computer monitoring systems, GPS locators, and self-steer programs for driverless machines giving economic benefits.

Harvesting

When a vegetable is harvested, it is cut off from its source of water and nourishment. It continues to transpire and loses moisture as it does so, a process most noticeable in the wilting of green leafy crops. Harvesting root vegetables when they are fully mature improves their storage life, but alternatively, these root crops can be left in the ground and harvested over an extended period. The harvesting process should seek to minimise damage and bruising to the crop. Onions and garlic can be dried for a few days in the field and root crops such as potatoes benefit from a short maturation period in warm, moist surroundings, during which time wounds heal and the skin thickens up and hardens. Before marketing or storage, grading needs to be done to remove damaged goods and select produce according to its quality, size, ripeness, and color.

Storage
All vegetables benefit from proper post harvest care. A large proportion of vegetables and perishable foods are lost after harvest during the storage period. These losses may be as high as thirty to fifty percent in developing countries where adequate cold storage facilities are not available. The main causes of loss include spoilage caused by moisture, moulds, micro-organisms, and vermin.

Storage can be short-term or long-term. Most vegetables are perishable and short-term storage for a few days provides flexibility in marketing. During storage, leafy vegetables lose moisture, and the vitamin C in them degrades rapidly. A few products such as potatoes and onions have better keeping qualities and can be sold when higher prices may be available, and by extending the marketing season, a greater total volume of crop can be sold. If refrigerated storage is not available, the priority for most crops is to store high-quality produce, to maintain a high humidity level, and to keep the produce in the shade.

Proper post-harvest storage aimed at extending and ensuring shelf life is best effected by efficient cold chain application. Cold storage is particularly useful for vegetables such as cauliflower, eggplant, lettuce, radish, spinach, potatoes, and tomatoes, the optimum temperature depending on the type of produce. There are temperature-controlling technologies that do not require the use of electricity such as evaporative cooling. Storage of fruit and vegetables in controlled atmospheres with high levels of carbon dioxide or high oxygen levels can inhibit microbial growth and extend storage life.

The irradiation of vegetables and other agricultural produce by ionizing radiation can be used to preserve it from both microbial infection and insect damage, as well as from physical deterioration. It can extend the storage life of food without noticeably changing its properties.

Preservation
The objective of preserving vegetables is to extend their availability for consumption or marketing purposes. The aim is to harvest the food at its maximum state of palatability and nutritional value, and preserve these qualities for an extended period. The main causes of deterioration in vegetables after they are gathered are the actions of naturally-occurring enzymes and the spoilage caused by micro-organisms. Canning and freezing are the most commonly used techniques, and vegetables preserved by these methods are generally similar in nutritional value to comparable fresh products with regards to carotenoids, vitamin E, minerals. and dietary fiber.

Canning is a process during which the enzymes in vegetables are deactivated and the micro-organisms present killed by heat. The sealed can excludes air from the foodstuff to prevent subsequent deterioration. The lowest necessary heat and the minimum processing time are used in order to prevent the mechanical breakdown of the product and to preserve the flavor as far as is possible. The can is then able to be stored at ambient temperatures for a long period.

Freezing vegetables and maintaining their temperature at below  will prevent their spoilage for a short period, whereas a temperature of  is required for longer-term storage. The enzyme action will merely be inhibited, and blanching of suitably sized prepared vegetables before freezing mitigates this and prevents off-flavors developing. Not all micro-organisms will be killed at these temperatures and after thawing the vegetables should be used promptly because otherwise, any microbes present may proliferate.

Traditionally, sun drying has been used for some products such as tomatoes, mushrooms, and beans, spreading the produce on racks and turning the crop at intervals. This method suffers from several disadvantages including lack of control over drying rates, spoilage when drying is slow, contamination by dirt, wetting by rain, and attack by rodents, birds, and insects. These disadvantages can be alleviated by using solar powered driers. The dried produce must be prevented from reabsorbing moisture during storage.

High levels of both sugar and salt can preserve food by preventing micro-organisms from growing. Green beans can be salted by layering the pods with salt, but this method of preservation is unsuited to most vegetables. Marrows, beetroot, carrot, and some other vegetables can be boiled with sugar to create jams. Vinegar is widely used in food preservation; a sufficient concentration of acetic acid prevents the development of destructive micro-organisms, a fact made use of in the preparation of pickles, chutneys and relishes. Fermentation is another method of preserving vegetables for later use. Sauerkraut is made from chopped cabbage and relies on lactic acid bacteria which produce compounds that are inhibitory to the growth of other micro-organisms.

Top producers

In 2010, China was the largest vegetable producing nation, with over half the world's production. India, the United States, Turkey, Iran, and Egypt were the next largest producers. China had the highest area of land devoted to vegetable production, while the highest average yields were obtained in Spain and the Republic of Korea.

Standards
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) sets international standards to ensure that products and services are safe, reliable, and of good quality. There are a number of ISO standards regarding fruits and vegetables.  ISO 1991-1:1982 lists the botanical names of sixty-one species of plants used as vegetables along with the common names of the vegetables in English, French, and Russian. ISO 67.080.20 covers the storage and transport of vegetables and their derived products.

See also

 List of vegetable dishes
 List of vegetables
 Market gardening
 Perennial vegetable
 Post-harvest losses (vegetables)
 Vegetable carving
 Plant Resources of Tropical Africa
 World Vegetable Center

References

External links

Types of food
Agricultural products

Vegetable


Lake Lyndon is a small lake in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island.  It is located near Porters Pass on State Highway 73 after Springfield heading into the Southern Alps. The lake regularly freezes in winter due to its elevation and location on the outer border of the Southern Alps.

It is roughly an hour from Christchurch and is a popular site for rainbow trout fishing as the trout population in the lake is thriving due to the dense oxygen weed beds that provide a plentiful food source.  The lake is largely surrounded by Korowai / Torlesse Tussocklands Park, and the Acheron River flows from the lake to the Rakaia River.  Mount Lyndon is to the west of the lake and Castle Hill Peak is to the north of the lake.

One of the proposed routes for the Midland Line railway to Westland would have left the now-closed Whitecliffs Branch in Homebush and followed the eastern shore of Lake Lyndon on its route to Cass.  The route that was built takes a more direct route to Cass and bypasses the lake.

References

Lyndon
Selwyn District

Lake Lyndon