The organization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is based upon the Leninist concept of democratic centralism.

Mechanisms and regulations
In May 2013, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party issued a resolution on which bodies were empowered to draft, approve, publish, amend and abolish party regulations, making it the first party document since 1921 (when the party was founded) on how to regulate party life. Gu Su, a constitutional law professor from Nanjing University, believed it was "a significant step by the new leadership to introduce rule of law into the management of party members amid a legitimacy crisis due to widespread abuse of power and corruption".

Inner-party democracy

History
It has been the party's policy since the 8th Central Committee (1956–1969) to democratize the CCP, and by 1994 the goal was to promote people's democracy by developing inner-party democracy. The meaning of democracy in CCP parlance has its basis in Vladimir Lenin's concept of democratic centralism. From its establishment in 1921 to it seizing power in 1949, the CCP was in effect continuously at war, and the centralizing element of democratic centralism became the basis on how the party was ruled. However, with its rise to power, members began to demand the democratization of the party. The 8th Central Committee, elected by the 8th National Congress, promulgated an 8-point resolution in 1956;

First, the CCP must without exception implement the principle of collective leadership and expand internal party democracy. Second, the principle of democratic centralism was defined as democracy under the guidance (rather than under the leadership) of centralism and the essence of democratic centralism is democracy rather than centralism. Third, all the business of the 8th Central Committee was made public. Fourth, there should be no idolatry. Fifth, the CCP should have regular deputies to Party congresses. Sixth, a strict and effective supervision mechanism within the CCP should be established. Seventh, the CCP should explore fixed terms of appointment (rather than lifelong terms). Eighth, the CCP should protect and expand the democratic rights of members."

However, these points were not implemented under Mao Zedong, in most parts because of the Cultural Revolution in which the CCP returned to the norm of issuing policy on the basis of centralism. However, with the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong, the party began looking in on itself, reflecting on the ills which had manifested themselves under its guidance. The 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee was the first to dwell on these issues. In 1980, Deng Xiaoping published "On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership", in which he criticized the party's emphasis on unified leadership which, he believed, had led to power concentration in the hands of a few persons. In practice this was made even worse because executive committees at all levels concentrated all power, and this power was then re-concentrated in the hands of the head or heads of the committee. He then concluded that because of the unified leadership system thought, most decisions were taken by all-powerful individuals (more often than not first secretaries) rather than by the party. The 6th Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee endorsed these views. This stance was mentioned again in the Political Report to the 13th National Congress (held in 1987), in which it was stated that developing democracy within the party was a feasible project to develop socialism. The 14th Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee became the CCP's first endorsement of developing intra-party democracy so as to develop people's democracy. This line has continued to this day. The Political Report to the 16th National Congress stated that strengthening the democratic character of the party was a "life and death issue" for the party (without more democracy the CCP would face the same fate as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, CPSU). The party has made it clear, with announcements from both party and state organs, that the policy of strengthening the party's democratic character will continue.

Practice

Rule of law

National Congress

The National Congress is the party's supreme organ, and is held every fifth year (in the past there were long intervals between congresses, but since the 9th National Congress in 1969, congresses have been held regularly). According to the party's constitution, a congress may not be postponed except "under extraordinary circumstances". A congress may be held before the given date if the Central Committee so decides, or if "one third of the party organizations at the provincial level so request". Under Mao, the delegates to congresses were appointed; however, since 1982 the congress delegates have been elected, due to the decision that there must be more candidates than seats. At the 15th National Congress in 1997, for instance, several princelings (the sons or daughters of powerful CCP officials) failed to be elected to the 15th Central Committee; among them were Chen Yuan, Wang Jun and Bo Xilai. The elections are carried out through secret ballots. Despite this, certain seats are not subject to elections; instead, the outgoing Central Committee "recommends" certain choices to the party electorate. These figures are mostly high-ranking members of the party leadership or special guests. For instance, at the 15th National Congress, 60 seats were given to members who had joined the CCP before 1927, and some were given to the outgoing members of the 15th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the 15th Central Committee.

The party constitution gives the National Congress six responsibilities: (1) electing the party's Central Committee; (2) electing the CCDI; (3) to examining the report of the outgoing Central Committee; (4) examining the report of the outgoing CCDI; (5) discussing and enacting party policies; and (6)  revising the party's constitution. However, the delegates rarely discuss issues in length at the National Congresses; most discussion takes place before the congress, in the preparation period.

Constitution

According to the CCP-published book Concise History of the Communist Party of China, the party's first constitution was adopted at the 1st National Congress. Since then several constitutions have been written, such as the second constitution, adopted at the 7th National Congress. The constitution regulates party life, and the CCDI is responsible for supervising the party to ensure that it is followed. The constitution currently in force was adopted at the 12th National Congress. It has many affinities with the state constitution, and they are generally amended either at party congresses or shortly thereafter. The preamble of the state constitution is largely copied from the "General Program" (the preamble) of the party constitution.

Central Committee

The Central Committee is empowered by the party constitution to enact policies in the periods between party congresses. A Central Committee is de jure elected by a party Congress, but in reality its membership is chosen by the central party leadership. The authority of the Central Committee has increased in recent years, with the leaders rarely, if ever, going against Central Committee, which often occurred during the early years of the People's Republic. The Central Committee is required to meet at least once every year;    however, in the early years of the People's Republic there were several years when it did not convene at all; 1951–53, 1960, 1963–65, 1967, 1971, 1974 and 1976.

While the Central Committee is the highest organ in the periods between party congresses, few resolutions cite its name. Instead, the majority of party resolutions refer to the "Party Centre" (Dangzhongyang), an indirect way of protecting the powers of, and resolutions produced by, the Politburo, the Politburo Standing Committee and the General Secretary. This method shields the central party leadership from lower-level bodies, reducing accountability, as lower levels can never be sure which body produced which resolution. In contrast to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the CCP Central Committee does not have the power to remove general secretaries or other leading officials, despite the fact that the party constitution grants it those rights. When the CPV dismissed its General Secretary Do Muoi, it convened a special session of its Central Committee, and when it chose its new general secretary, it convened another Central Committee plenum. In contrast, in China, when the CCP dismissed Hu Yaobang (in 1987) and Zhao Ziyang in 1989, the Politburo, not the Central Committee, convened a special session. Not only did the meeting itself break constitutional practices, since the CCP constitution clearly states that a Central Committee session must be called, but the meeting included several party veterans who were neither formal members of the Politburo nor of the Central Committee. In short, the CCP Central Committee, in contrast to the CPV Central Committee, is responsible to the higher bodies of the party (the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee), while in Vietnam the higher bodies are accountable to the Central Committee.

Central Commission for Discipline Inspection

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) is responsible for monitoring and punishing CCP cadres who abuse power, are corrupt or in general commit wrongdoing. CCDI organs exist at every level of the party hierarchy. The CCDI is the successor to the Control Commission, abolished in 1968 at the height of the Cultural Revolution. Although the CCDI was originally designed to restore party morale and discipline, it has taken over many of the functions of the former Control Commission. The CCDI is elected by the National Congress, held every fifth year.

Bodies of the Central Committee

General Secretary

At the party's founding in 1921, Chen Duxiu was elected as the party leader, holding the position of Secretary of the Central Bureau.  As the party expanded, the title changed several times over the next 3 years, until in 1925 the title General Secretary was introduced. The term General Secretary continued in general use until 1943, when Mao Zedong was elected as Chairman of the Politburo. In 1945, Mao was elected Chairman of the CCP Central Committee, the title he held for the rest of his life. The office of General Secretary was revived in 1956 at the 8th National Congress, to replace the office of CCP Secretary-General, but it functioned as a lesser office, responsible to the office of the CCP Chairman. At a party meeting in 1959, Mao explained the relationship between the CCP Chairman and the CCP General Secretary as follows: "As Chairman, I am the commander; as General Secretary, Deng Xiaoping is deputy commander."

The office of CCP Chairman was abolished in 1982, and replaced with that of CCP General Secretary. According to the party constitution, the General Secretary must be a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), and is responsible for convening meetings of the PSC and the Politburo, while also presiding over the work of the Secretariat.

The party's leader holds the offices of General Secretary (responsible for civilian party duties), Chairman of the Central Military Commission (responsible for military affairs) and state president (a largely ceremonial position); in the recent past, the party leader has first been elected General Secretary and then later been appointed to the other two offices. Through these posts the party leader is the country's paramount leader.

Politburo

The Politburo of the Central Committee "exercises the functions and powers of the Central Committee when a plenum is not in session". It is formally elected at the first plenary meeting of each newly elected Central Committee. In reality, however, Politburo membership is decided by the central party leadership. During his rule, Mao controlled the composition of the Politburo himself. The Politburo was de facto the highest organ of power until the 8th National Congress, when the PSC was established. The powers given to the PSC came at the expense of the Politburo. The Politburo meets at least once a month. The CCP General Secretary is responsible for convening the Politburo.

Since 2003, the Politburo has delivered a work report to every Central Committee plenum, further cementing the Politburo's status as accountable to the Central Committee. Also, from the 16th National Congress onwards, the CCP has reported on meetings of the Politburo, the PSC and its study sessions. However, the reports do not contain all the information discussed at the meetings; the end of the reports usually notes that "other matters" were also discussed at the meeting.

In the Politburo, decisions are reached through consensus, not through votes. In certain cases, straw votes are used to see how many members support or oppose a certain case (these straw votes do not necessarily affect the ultimate decision). Every member has the right to participate in the collective discussion. The CCP General Secretary convenes the Politburo and sets the agenda for the meeting. Each Politburo member is told of the agenda beforehand and is delivered briefing materials by the General Secretary on the agenda matters. The first person to speak at the meeting is the member who proposed the agenda. After that, those who know about the subject, or whose work is directly related to it, may speak. Then those who doubt or oppose the agenda proposal speak. Lastly, the General Secretary speaks and usually supports the agenda proposal, as he supported tabling it for discussion in the first place. When the General Secretary is finished speaking, he calls for a vote. If the vote is unanimous or nearly so, it may be accepted; if the vote is nearly unanimous, but members who directly work in the area discussed oppose it, the issue will be postponed. When the Politburo enacts a decision without all the members' agreement, the other members usually try to convince their opponents. In many ways, the CCP Politburo's policy decision-making is very similar to that of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union after Nikita Khrushchev's removal.

Politburo Standing Committee

The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) is the highest organ of the Communist Party when neither the Politburo, the Central Committee, nor the National Congress are in session. It convenes at least once a week. It was established at the 8th National Congress, in 1958, to take over the policy-making role formerly assumed by the Secretariat. The PSC is the highest decision-making body of the Communist Party, though since Hu Jintao's term as General Secretary there is some evidence to suggest a greater role for the collective consultation of the entire Politburo. Despite formal rules stating that a PSC member must serve a term in the Politburo before advancing to the PSC, this rule has been breached twice, first in 1992 when Hu Jintao was appointed to PSC, and again in 2007 when Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang were appointed to it.

Even though the PSC is officially said to be accountable to the Central Committee, in practice, the PSC supersedes the Central Committee and is superior to it. For example, there is no known instance for which the Central Committee has reversed a decision by the PSC. Moreover, many important decisions in party history were made by the PSC alone, such as the decision to invoke martial law during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. The membership of the PSC has historically varied between 5 and 11 members, and usually consist an odd number of people to avoid tie-breaking votes. The way by which membership has been determined has varied widely throughout history, from direct personal appointment by the party leader to extremely lengthy consultations with retired and existing party leaders.

Secretariat

The Secretariat of the Central Committee is headed by the General Secretary and is responsible for supervising the central party organizations: departments, commissions, newspapers, etc. It is also responsible for implementing the decisions of the Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee. The Secretariat was abolished in 1966 and its formal functions taken over by the Central Office of Management, but it was reestablished in 1980. To be appointed to the Secretariat, a person has to be nominated by the Politburo Standing Committee; the nomination must be approved by the Central Committee.

Central Military Commission

The Central Military Commission (CMC) is elected by the Central Committee, and is responsible for the PLA. The position of CMC Chairman is one of the most powerful in China, and the CMC Chairman must concurrently serve as CCP General Secretary. Unlike the collective leadership ideal of other party organs, the CMC Chairman acts as commander-in-chief with the right to appoint or dismiss top military officers as he pleases. The CMC Chairman can deploy troops, controls the country's nuclear weapons, and allocates the budget. The promotion or transfer of officers above the divisional level must be validated by the CMC Chairman's signature.

In theory, the CMC Chairman is under the responsibility of the Central Committee, but in practice, he reports only to the paramount leader. This is in many ways due to Mao, who did not want other Politburo members to involve themselves in military affairs. As he put it, "the Politburo's realm is state affairs, the CMC's is military". This state of things has continued until today. The CMC has controlled the PLA through three organs since 1937: the General Staff Department, the General Political Department and the General Logistics Department. A fourth organ, the General Armaments Department, was established in 1998.

General Office

The General Office of the Central Committee is commonly known as the nerve center of the CCP. It acts as the primary day-to-day administrative body of the Central Committee, responsible for communication and drafting party documents. For instance, it handles classified documents and information from party organs nationwide. It additionally oversees the Central Security Bureau (CSB), responsible for the security of top party leaders.

Functional Departments
A Functional Department () is a body of the CCP that is tasked with a certain aspect of work by the Central Committee. There are currently six departments:

 Central Organization Department (COD) — Established in 1921, functioning like the Organizational Bureau (Orgburo) of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). At the beginning, the COD was principally occupied with creating files on the party's members, to see if they were committed communists or not. According to analyst Richard McGregor, "The Central Organisation Department is [the CCP's] third and least-known pillar of power". The COD is responsible for personnel appointments throughout the CCP.
 Central Publicity Department (CPD) — Controls news and information to the Chinese public. It functions to protect the interest of the CCP on the basis of the party line and the ideological concept of the Four Cardinal Principles.
 United Front Work Department (UFWD) — Responsible for increasing the party's support base outside its direct purview, in the business community and civil organizations, including eight officially recognized non-Communist political parties.
 International Liaison Department (ILD) — The CCP's "foreign affairs ministry", responsible for relations with foreign parties as well as for gathering foreign intelligence. During the Cold War, the ILD fought for domination in the global communist movement against the CPSU's International Department, but with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, its responsibilities have widened to include foreign relations with all types of parties: communists, socialists, liberals, etc.
 Social Work Department (SWD) — Established in 2023, the department will oversee "social work".
 Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission (CPLC)  — Oversees political and legal affairs. Additionally, it oversees the legal enforcement system in the country.

Coordination Organizations
These commissions are tasked with policy formulation and implementation, led by high-ranking officials within the CCP.

 Central Comprehensively Deepening Reforms Commission
 Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission
 Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission
 Central Financial Work Commission
 Central Financial Commission
 Central Foreign Affairs Commission
 Central Guidance Commission on Building Spiritual Civilization — Responsible for party ideology.
 Central Institutional Organization Commission
 Central Military-civilian Fusion Development Committee
 Central National Security Commission — The Central National Security Commission (CNSC) was established at the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee (held in 2013). It has been established to "co-ordinate security strategies across various departments, including intelligence, the military, foreign affairs and the police in order to cope with growing challenges to stability at home and abroad."

Administrative Organizations
Offices of commissions and leading groups handle the daily affairs of the parent bodies. There are officially ten administrative organizations () under the Central Committee.
 Central Policy Research Office (CPRO) — Responsible for researching issues of significant interest to the central party leadership.
 Central Hong Kong and Macau Work Office —The general office of the Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs. Externally known as the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council.
 Central Taiwan Work Office (CTWO) —The general office of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs (CLGTA), responsible for preparing agendas for its meetings, coordinating paper flow and communicating with other organs on the CLGTA's behalf. Externally known as the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
 Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission  — Externally known as the Cyberspace Administration of China.
 Office of the Central Military-civilian Fusion Development Committee
 Office of the Central National Security Commission
 Office of the Central Financial Commission
 Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission
 Office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission
 Office of the Central Institutional Organization Commission

Leading Small Groups

A Leading Small Group (), also translated as a "Central Leading Group", is a ad hoc body of the Chinese state charged with decision-making on major functional issue areas. They operate effectively as interagency executive committees, cutting across the government, party, and military systems. Major LSGs cover issues such as national security, foreign affairs, Taiwan affairs, Hong Kong and Macao, propaganda and ideology, and financial and economic matters. Some of the LSGs include:

 Central Leading Group for Inspection Work
 Central Leading Group for Military Reform
 Central Leading Group for Propaganda, Ideology and Culture
 Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs
 Central Leading Group on Hong Kong and Macau Affairs

Institutions directly under the Central Committee

 Central Party School (CPI) — Provides political training and ideological indoctrination in communist thought for high-ranking CCP cadres and rising CCP cadres. It publishes the theoretical magazines Seeking Truth from Facts and Study Times.
 Party History Research Centre (PHSC) — Established in 1980 to set priorities for scholarly research in universities, the Academy of Social Science and the Central Party School.
 People's Daily — One of the most recognized Chinese media outlets, the newspaper functions as the print media of first instance for the central party leadership in its communication with the general public.
 Qiushi — Official theoretical journal of the CCP.
 Guangming Daily — One of China's largest media outlets.
 China Executive Leadership Academy in Pudong — Cadre school located in Pudong, Shanghai
 China Executive Leadership Academy in Jinggangshan — Cadre school located in Jinggangshan, Ji'an, Jiangxi.
 China Executive Leadership Academy in Yan'an — Cadre school located in Yan'an, Shaanxi
 Central Institute of Socialism — A united front political school operated by the CCP.

Lower-level organizations
CCP committees exist at the level of provinces; autonomous regions; municipalities directly under the central government; cities divided into districts; autonomous prefectures; counties (banner); autonomous counties; cities not divided into districts; and municipal districts. Party committees also exist at the neighborhood level and even within landlord and property management organizations. These committees are elected by party congresses (at their own level). Local party congresses are supposed to be held every fifth year, but under extraordinary circumstances they may be held earlier or postponed. However that decision must be approved by the next higher level of the local party committee. The number of delegates and the procedures for their election are decided by the local party committee, but must also have the approval of the next higher party committee.

Private sector
Party organizations are tasked by the CCP with implementing party principles and policies within the enterprise and ensuring compliance with state laws and regulations.

Under the 1993 PRC Company Law, all firms with three or more CCP members must establish a party committee. However, this requirement was lightly enforced until 2012 when the CCP began strengthening party committee in private companies.

Under Xi Jinping, CCP committees have become increasingly prevalent in the private sector, in both Chinese companies as well as foreign owned companies. In 2018, the percentage of private businesses with these Party branches reached 48.3%; only 27.4% of private businesses had a party committee in 2002. Ninety-two percent of the largest Chinese companies have CCP committees.

In September 2020, the CCP announced that it would strengthen united front work in the private sector by establishing more party committees in regional federations of industry and commerce (FIC), and by arranging a special liaison between FICs and the CCP.

In July 2022, HSBC became the first foreign lender to open a CCP committee in its Chinese investment banking subsidiary, HSBC Qianhai Securities.

In addition to increasing the number of Party organizations, the CCP has concurrently attempted to raise its influence over management decisions since 2012. This effort includes integrating party members into company management and decision-making processes. This expansion is altering traditional understandings of corporate autonomy and governance.

Furthermore, the CCP is pushing for a "modern enterprise system with Chinese characteristics" that involves inserting Party building provisions directly into corporate charters. These provisions give the internal party organization a say in management decisions and ensure key CCP members hold positions in company management or on the board. This system was initially applied to state-owned enterprises (SOEs) but is now extending to private enterprises.

The CCP's efforts to promote Party organizations in the private sector have led to concerns from foreign entities. European trade groups resisted attempts by their SOE joint venture partners to incorporate Party organizations into company charters in 2017. In May 2018, the US-China Business Council reported that some SOE joint ventures requested foreign partners to amend their articles of association to support CCP groups and even allow party organizations to approve critical matters before presenting them to the board. A 2018 analysis by the European Commission highlighted the potential significant influence of party organizations in both SOEs and private companies, enabling the CCP to directly impact business decisions.

Members

Probationary period, rights and duties

To join the party an applicant must be 18 years of age, and must spend a year as a probationary member. In contrast to the past, when emphasis was placed on the applicants' ideological criteria, the current CCP stresses technical and educational qualifications. However, applicants and members are expected to be both "red and expert". To become a probationary member, two current CCP members must recommend the applicant to the local party leadership. The recommending members must acquaint themselves with the applicants, and be aware of the "applicant's ideology, character, personnel records and work performance" while teaching them about the party's program and constitution, as well as the duties and responsibilities of members. To this end, the recommending members must write a report to the local party leadership, reporting their opinion that the applicant is either qualified or unqualified for membership. To become a probationary member, the applicant must take an admission oath before the party flag. The relevant CCP organization is responsible for observing and educating probationary members. Probationary members have duties similar to those of full members, with the exception that they may not vote in party elections nor stand for election.

Before 1949, joining the CCP was a matter of personal commitment to the communist cause. After 1949, people joined to gain good government jobs or access to universities, which were then limited to CCP members. Many joined the CCP through the Communist Youth League. Under Jiang Zemin, private entrepreneurs were allowed to become party members.

In 2023, Chen Wenqing of the CCP's Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission directed party cadres and committees at all levels to "attach great importance to, concern themselves with, and support covert front work."

Demographics of the party
, individuals who identify as farmers, herdsmen and fishermen make up 26 million members; members identifying as workers totalled 6.7 million. Another group, the "Managing, professional and technical staff in enterprises and public institutions", made up 15.9 million, 11.3 million identified as working in administrative staff and 7.8 million described themselves as party cadres. By 2022, CCP membership had become more educated, younger, and less blue-collar than previously, with 54.7% of party members having a college degree or above. , around 30 to 35 percent of Chinese entrepreneurs are or have been a party member. At the end of 2022, the CCP stated that it has approximately 7.46 million ethnic minority members or 7.6% of the party.

Communist Youth League

The Communist Youth League (CYL) is the CCP's youth wing, and the largest mass organization for youth in China. To join, an applicant has to be between the ages of 14 and 28. It controls and supervises Young Pioneers, a youth organization for children below the age of 14. The organizational structure of CYL is an exact copy of the CCP's; the highest body is the National Congress, followed by the Central Committee, Politburo and the Politburo Standing Committee. However, the Central Committee (and all central organs) of the CYL work under the guidance of the CCP central leadership. Therefore, in a peculiar situation, CYL bodies are both responsible to higher bodies within CYL and the CCP, a distinct organization. As of the 17th National Congress (held in 2013), CYL has 89 million members.

See also
 Cadre system of the Chinese Communist Party

References

Citations

Sources
 Articles & journal entries

 Books

Organization of the Chinese Communist Party


A Collection is the first greatest hits album of American pop-classical singer Josh Groban. It was released in late 2008 internationally.

The compilation takes tracks from his first three studio albums, Josh Groban (2001), Closer (2003), Awake (2006), as well as Groban's version of the Chess song "Anthem", from the 2009 Chess in Concert release. It contains one new song, a live version of "Weeping" (originally recorded for Awake) featuring South African singer Vusi Mahlasela and the Soweto Gospel Choir.  It also features "Smile", previously only available via the Internet edition of Awake.

The album also comes with a second disc of five selections from Groban's 2007 holiday album Noël as well as a Spanish version of "Silent Night" (Noche de Paz).

Track listing

Disc 1

Disc 2

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

2008 greatest hits albums
Josh Groban albums
Albums produced by David Foster
143 Records compilation albums

A Collection (Josh Groban album)


Dahut, also called Ahes, is a princess in Breton legend and literature, associated with the legend of the drowned city of Ys.

Etymology
Amy Varin suggests that Dahut was given the name Ahes due to confusion with "alc'huez" (key).

Legend of Ys

Dating to the 15th century, the earliest mentions of Ys and its king, Gradlon, do not mention Gradlon's daughter Dahut, and the king himself is to blame for the destruction of the city. Dahut was first mentioned in the third edition of Albert Le Grand's Vie des Saincts de la Bretagne Armorique (1680). In this early version, the "shameless" Dahut intends to kill her father and steals the key which symbolizes his royalty. Her wickedness causes a storm which floods Ys, and she dies in the destruction.

In most retellings, the city of Ys is protected from floods by a dike, with King Gradlon possessing the keys to its gate. His daughter, Dahut, is a wicked and lustful young woman. In some versions she has many lovers, whom she murders, until the Devil himself comes to seduce her. Dahut steals the silver or gold keys, and during her carousing with her lover winds up opening the gate. The sea floods the city. A saint, either St. Gwénnolé or St. Corentin, wakes Gradlon and warns him. Gradlon attempts to flee on his horse with Dahut riding behind him, but the water almost overtakes him. He either throws Dahut off or she falls off. As soon as Dahut falls into the water, Gradlon is able to escape to safety. The ruins of Ys can still be seen and its bells can be heard underwater. In some versions, Dahut transforms into a Mari-morgan or mermaid who haunts the area and can still be heard singing.

Some renditions add the story of Dahut's mother, a sorceress or Valkyrie named Malgven who may have died in childbirth. It is debated how much of this story is traditional, with the first known mention of Malgven coming from Édouard Schuré's essay Les Grandes légendes de France in the 1890s.

Other Legends
In one legend, King Mark of Cornwall was hunting and shot an arrow at a white doe. The doe transformed into the beautiful Ahès, daughter of Gradlon, who gave Mark the ears and the mane of his horse Morvarc'h as punishment. This variant seems to have originated with a story collected by Yann ar Floc'h in 1905 which combined the stories of Mark and Ys. Other versions of the Mark legend do not include Dahut.

"Ahez" appears in the Breton folktale Kristof, a variant of the fairytale "The Lazy Boy" (Aarne-Thompson type 675) recorded in 1870. Kristof, the lazy son of a fisherman, catches a talking fish which allows him to wish for whatever he wants. Kristof travels to the city of Ys and uses his powers to uproot and ride an oak tree. When Princess Ahez mocks him, Kristof wishes that she would become pregnant; his wish comes true and she bears a son. With help from a druid, King Gradlon identifies Kristof as the baby's father. He puts Kristof, Ahez and the child into a wooden chest and sets them out to sea, but Kristof uses the fish's power to create an island and mansion far more wealthy than Gradlon's. Impressed, Gradlon offers to let the three of them return to Ys, but Kristof refuses and predicts that the city of Ys will be destroyed by the next high tide, due to the loss of the oak tree. Matthieu Boyd notes the general scholarly consensus that this tale is a literary creation, and interprets Kristof as a Christian figure who ends the pre-Christian society of Ys.

Ahès is sometimes attributed with building roads in Brittany and her name is connected to Carhaix, "Ker Ahès" (city of Ahès). However, some scholars argue that her name instead derived from the town. In a medieval tradition, Ahès is the name of an ancient woman who builds roads.

References in the arts
French singer Nolwenn Leroy recorded a song titled "Ahès" on her 2012 album Ô Filles de l'Eau.

Modern authors and artists such as Patrig ar Goarnig have sometimes interpreted Dahut as a heroic pagan figure.

Dahut is a primary character in M.T. Anderson's graphic novel, The Daughters of Ys (2020). In this adaptation, Dahut manages her father's kingdom and is forced to use sorcery to protect the city of Ys. Her sister and the kingdom's heir, Rozenn, acts as a foil for Dahut. As the novel progresses, the destruction of Ys is due in part to Dahut's continued use of sorcery as well as the inaction of King Gradlon and Princess Rozenn.

See also

 Cantre'r Gwaelod
 Lí Ban
 Morgan le Fay
 Peruonto

References

Breton mythology and folklore
Fictional characters who use magic
Mythological princesses
Mermaids

Dahut


Mario Petri (21 January 1922 – 26 January 1985) was an Italian operatic bass-baritone particularly associated with Mozart and Rossini roles.

Life and career
Petri was born in Perugia and began his career after World War II, making his stage debut in 1947 at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, where he sang the following year the role of Creonte in the premiere of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, he also sang there his first Don Giovanni in 1950, a role he quickly became associated with throughout Italy.

He appeared in Rome, Florence, Venice, Parma, Bergamo, Verona, Naples. He sang opposite Maria Callas in the revival of Cherubini's Medea. In 1951, for the celebration of Verdi's 50th death anniversary, he sang on Italian radio (RAI) in I Lombardi, I masnadieri, and Simon Boccanegra.

Soon his reputation as Don Giovanni led to invitation to appear at the festivals of Glyndebourne, Salzburg, and Edinburgh. He sang relatively little outside Europe, though he made a few guest appearances in Dallas, in 1965.

His repertory included both Paisiello's and Rossini's  Il barbiere di Siviglia, Le nozze di Figaro, L'italiana in Algeri, La cenerentola, Mosè in Egitto, Semiramide, opposite Joan Sutherland, etc.

On records, Petri can be heard in L'italiana in Algeri, opposite Giulietta Simionato as Isabella and Cesare Valletti as Lindoro, under Carlo Maria Giulini, as well as the aforementioned I Lombardi and Simon Boccanegra.

A 1960 Italian television production of Don Giovanni has been released on DVD, with a cast including Teresa Stich-Randall as Anna, Leyla Gencer as Elvira, Graziella Sciutti as Zerlina, Luigi Alva as Ottavio, and Sesto Bruscantini as Leporello.

From 1960 to 1965 he appeared in 18 motion pictures, mostly in the "Sword and Sandal" genre. He died at Città della Pieve, aged 63.

Repertoire
Mozart
Figaro/Le Nozze di Figaro
Don Giovanni/Don Giovanni
Sarastro/Die Zauberflöte
Monteverdi
Seneca/L'incoronazione di Poppea
Paisiello
Don Basilio/Il barbiere di Siviglia
Pergolesi
Count Robinson/La cambiale di matrimonio
Cherubini
King Creon/Medea
Galuppi
Don Tritemio/Il filosofo di campagna
Rossini
Mustafa/L'italiana in Algeri
Don Basilio/Il barbiere di Siviglia
Don Magnifico/La cenerentola
Mose/Mosè in Egitto
Assur/Semiramide
Donizetti
Duke Don Alfonso/Lucrezia Borgia
Verdi
Pagano/I Lombardi alla prima crociata
Macbeth/Macbeth
Massimiliano/I masnadieri
Jacopo Fiesco/Simon Boccanegra
Renato/Un ballo in maschera
Rodrigo, Marchese di Posa/Don Carlos
Ramfis/Aida
Puccini
Jack Rance/La fanciulla del west
Ponchielli
Alvise/La Gioconda
Boito
Simon Mago/Nerone
Debussy
Arkel/Pelléas et Mélisande
Pizzetti
Agamennone/Clitennestra

Sources
 Operissimo.com

1922 births
1985 deaths
Operatic basses
20th-century Italian male opera singers

Mario Petri


Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil (born February 12, 1948 in Queens, New York City) is an American author, entrepreneur, inventor, and futurist.

Kurzweil wrote seven books (five of them were national bestsellers) about topics like health, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, immortality, the technological singularity, and futurism. He speaks to people and gives speeches at conferences like DEMO, SXSW, and TED. He also maintains the news website KurzweilAI.net. It has more than three million readers per year. He has a sibling, a son, Ethan Kurzweil, and a daughter, Amy Kurzweil.

Kurzweil works at Google since 2012. He is a "director of engineering".

Notable predictions
Kurzweil made 147 predictions about the future since the 1990s. He has a prediction accuracy rate of 86%.

Past
Predictions from 1990: A computer will defeat a world chess champion by 1998. This prediction was wrong because it already happened in 1997. Personal Computers (PCs) will can answer queries by accessing information wirelessly via the Internet by 2010. That became true. Exoskeletal limbs will let the disabled walk by the early 2000s. That became true.

Predictions from 1999: People will can talk to their computer to give them commands by 2009. That became true. Computer displays will be built into eyeglasses for augmented reality by 2009. That became true.

Predictions from 2005: Virtual solutions will be able to do real-time language translation into text that will appear as subtitles to a user wearing the glasses in the 2010s. That became true.

Future
In the 2020s: Nanobots will fight most diseases. Human eating can be replaced by nanosystems. There will be self-driving cars. Humans will not be allowed to drive on highways anymore.
By 2027: Accurate computer simulations of all parts of the human brain will exist.
By 2029: AI will pass a valid Turing test and will achieve human levels of intelligence. Computers will have emotional intelligence. Computers will have human level intelligence.
In the early 2030: There will be a basic income in the developed world.
In the 2030s: Humans can connect their neocortex to a cloud. Some technology will be invented that can go inside a brain and help the memory. Virtual reality (VR) will feel 100% real.
In the late 2030s: Humans can upload their mind. There will be a worldwide basic income.
In the 2040s: Non-biological intelligence will be a billion times higher than biological intelligence.
By 2045: The technological singularity will start. Humans will can multiply their intelligence a billion times by linking wirelessly from our neocortex to a synthetic neocortex in a cloud. Computers will be about one billion times more intelligent than all human brains on earth together. Humans will can live forever.
By 2072: Picotechnology will be possible.
By 2099: Machines will get equal legal status with humans. Humans will meet other beings mostly in virtual environments. There will be very few organic humans. Femtoengineering might be possible.
In a few centuries: Computer intelligence will be higher than human intelligence in all areas.
Thousands of years from now: "Intelligently (emotional) beings consider the fate of all the Universe."

Books

Non-fiction

 The Age of Intelligent Machines (1990)
 The 10% Solution for a Healthy Life (1993)
 The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999)
 Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever (2004 - co-authored by Terry Grossman)
 The Singularity Is Near (2005)
 Transcend: Nine Steps to Living Well Forever (2009)
 How to Create a Mind (2012)

Fiction

 Danielle: Chronicles of a Superheroine (2019)

References

Other websites

 Official website

 Official Danielle Superheroine website
 http://www.kurzweiltech.com/
 https://transcend.me/

Videos (selection)

, a feature-length documentary based on Ray Kurzweils book "The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology". Starring Pauley Perrette from CBS Network.

1948 births
Living people
Writers from Queens
Businesspeople from New York City
American inventors
Futurists
Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni

Ray Kurzweil


San Francesco is a Roman Catholic church and monastery located in Sarzana, region of Liguria, Italy.

History
Tradition holds that St Francis himself founded this church in an oak forest outside of the medieval city walls. The church is near a site where St Francis of Assisi met St Dominic. At one time the site was called the German Cemetery (Cimiterio Germanico), because of the mercenary soldiers buried there. Documents note foundation of a monastery by 1238. The monastery construction began during the 13th century.

The façade was only partially finished, and only the first story sheathed in marble. The portal has a lunette with a 17th-century fresco depicting the Virgin and Child with St Francis and St Louis of Toulouse. The facade has relief with St Bernardino da Siena's Christogram: a sun and letters IHS, here framed by a rope. This recalls the adherence of the local monks to frati Minori Osservanti in 1462. The interiors were refurbished in the 17th century. Among the altarpieces in the church is an Adoration of the Shepherds (first altar on right) by Domenico Fiasella.

In the right transept is the funeral monument of cardinal Bernabò Malaspina (died 1338). In the chapel in the left of the presbytery is an Assumption of the Virgin (17th-century) attributed to Giulio Bruno. On the transept wall is also the tender funeral monument, sculpted by Giovanni di Balduccio, and dedicated to Guarnerio degli Antelminelli who died as a child, the son of  the fierce condottiere Castruccio Castracani.

On the door of the sacristy is a fresco by Priamo della Quercia, brother of Jacopo della Quercia; the fresco depicts a Vir dolorum between St Clair and St Francis.

In the sacristy is a painting depicting the Madonna con Bambino, Bernardino da Siena and San Salvatore da Orta by Domenico Fiasella. On the counterfacade of the church is a large canvas depicting the Adoration of the Magi (1656) by Tommaso Clerici.

The cloister was frescoed with episodes in the Life of St Francis (15th-century) by Stefano Lemmi.

References

Roman Catholic churches in Sarzana
13th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy
Franciscan monasteries
Monasteries in Liguria

San Francesco, Sarzana


was a Japanese samurai of the late Edo period, who served the Matsudaira clan of Aizu. Born in Aizuwakamatsu, Akizuki was recognized early as a skilled scholar, and he studied at the Tokugawa Shogunate's Shoheizaka school in Edo. He served as an advisor to Matsudaira Katamori, and was present for most of the latter's tenure as Kyoto Shugoshoku from 1862 to 1867. Akizuki was a senior commander of Aizu forces during the Boshin War. After the war, he became an educator, and worked in high schools in Kyushu. Later in his life, he was a colleague of Lafcadio Hearn, who referred to him in his writings.

References
Hoshi Ryōichi. Onnatachi no Aizusensō.
----. Byakkotai to Aizu bushidō.
Yamakawa Kenjirō (1933). Aizu Boshin Senshi. Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai.

Samurai
1824 births
1900 deaths
People from Aizu
People of the Boshin War
Japanese educators
Japanese Confucianists
Aizu-Matsudaira retainers
19th-century Japanese educators

Akizuki Teijirō


Box–ironbark forest is a forest or woodland ecosystem that is largely limited to central Victoria in south-eastern Australia.  Because its component tree species produce abundant nectar and pollen throughout the year, it is important for the conservation of many species of birds and other animals.

History
Because box–ironbark forest lies mainly within the Goldfields region of Victoria, during the main years of the gold rush (1851-1870) it underwent intensive digging and clearing in the goldfields, accompanied by extensive timber cutting for infrastructure and firewood in surrounding areas.  After the gold rush subsided the forests were still heavily cut for firewood and cleared for pasture.

Description

Box–ironbark forest is found on rocky, often auriferous (gold-bearing), soils, in flat and undulating landscapes at altitudes of 150–600 m above sea level, and with an average annual rainfall of 500–800 mm.  About 40% of the area formerly supporting the ecosystem in Victoria is public land with less than 20% protected in conservation reserves.  About 55% has been permanently cleared for agriculture, mining and urban development.  Remaining forest has been fragmented.

Vegetation
Box–ironbark forest is characterised by a canopy of box, ironbark and gum-barked eucalypts, growing to 25 m in height, over a sparse understorey of wattles, small-leaved and prostrate shrubs, herbs and grasses.  The main trees are white box, red box, red ironbark, mugga ironbark, yellow gum and red stringybark.  In some areas they may grow with, or be replaced by, yellow box, long-leaf box or silver bundy.  The mix of plants in the groundcover includes the largest concentrations of orchids of any Victorian ecosystem.  Small herbs and shrubs most abundant in, or largely restricted to, box–ironbark forests include Cheiranthera cyanaea, Philotheca verrucosa, Xerochrysum viscosum, Pultenaea largiflorens, Acacia williamsonii and Stuartina muelleri.

Animals
Because the trees of the box–ironbark forest are such prolific flowerers and nectar producers, they are a major source of nectar and pollen for honeyeaters, lorikeets and many kinds of invertebrates.  Flowering of the different species of eucalypts takes place at different times of year so there is always a nectar or pollen source available for migratory, nomadic and resident birds.  Consequently, there are both more species, and greater numbers of individuals, of honeyeaters and lorikeets than in any other ecosystem.  Nectar and pollen feeding birds such as the black-chinned, regent, fuscous and brown-headed honeyeaters, Swift parrots and musk lorikeets are all more abundant in box–ironbark forests than elsewhere.  The ecosystem supports the largest numbers of eastern grey kangaroos in Victoria and is a stronghold for brush-tailed phascogales, yellow-footed antechinuses and squirrel gliders.

See also
 Bendigo Box-Ironbark Region
 Maryborough-Dunolly Box-Ironbark Region
 Rushworth Box-Ironbark Region
 St Arnaud Box-Ironbark Region
 Warby-Chiltern Box-Ironbark Region

Further reading
 Calder, D. M. (Donald Malcolm) & McCann, I. R. (Ian Robert) & Calder, Jane, 1936- & Victorian National Parks Association (2002).  Victoria's box-ironbark country : a field guide (Rev. ed). Victorian National Parks Association, Melbourne
 Calder, D. M. (Donald Malcolm) & McCann, I. R. (Ian Robert) & Calder, Jane, 1936- & Victorian National Parks Association (1994). The forgotten forests : a field guide to Victoria's box and ironbark country. Victorian National Parks Association, East Melbourne, Vic
 Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria & American Museum of Natural History Library (1884).  The Victorian naturalist. [Melbourne] Field Naturalists Club of Victoria
 Tzaros, Chris. (2005). Wildlife of the Box-Ironbark Country. CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne.

References

Ecosystems
Forests of Victoria (state)
Vegetation of Australia

Box–ironbark forest


Double Falcon (also possibly Dju and Nebwy) was a Predynastic pharaoh of Lower Egypt belonging to Dynasty 0. The exact timeline of his reign is unknown, although it is estimated to be during the 33rd century BCE. The length of his reign is unknown.

Discovery
In 1910  M. J. Clédat, an Egyptologist, discovered the first evidence for king Double Falcon. A farmer at el-Mehemdiah in the north-eastern delta brought him a jar and some incised fragments found while planting a palm-grove in nearby el-Beda. Clédat soon discovered four serekhs of king Double Falcon.

In 1912  Hermann Junker found a tomb at Tura, which contained a complete jar with a serekh topped by two falcons.

More serekhs of king Double Falcon have been found in the Sinai, in Tell Ibrahim Awad in the eastern delta, in Adaima and Abydos in Upper Egypt, and in the Palmahim quarry in southern Israel. Because these finds have mainly been in Lower Egypt and north-western Sinai, it shows Double Falcon may have only ruled over these areas. However as some of his serekhs have been found in Upper Egypt and Canaan, it shows that the power of the Dynasty 0 kings was spreading. This had already begun towards the end of the Naqada III period, through trading or warfare.

Name
The serekh of Double Falcon is unique. Firstly, it is the only one topped by two Horus falcons, facing each other. Secondly, the serekh does not have a place for the name. Instead this space is filled by vertical lines which usually represent the niched facade of a palace. The serekh does not have the horizontal line that separates the palace facade from the name of the ruler above. Finally, each falcon stands on its own peak. Experts believe that these features are symbolic. The two falcons could represent Lower Egypt and the Sinai, as it seems that Double Falcon reigned over both regions. Dreyer believes that the falcons stand on a on a sign meaning "mountain" which is N26 of Gardiner's sign list: N26 He reads the name as Dju (), so that the name of the king is shown by a pair of falcons on mountains above a plain serekh. But another expert, van den Brink, reads the name as Nebwy (), meaning "the two lords", and similar to a much earlier palette on display in the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva.

References

Predynastic Pharaohs
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown

Double Falcon


The Green River Formation is an Eocene rock formation on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. It gets sediment from a group of intermountain lakes. Its fine fossils make this a lagerstätte, a place of exceptional preservation.

The various fossil beds of the Green River Formation span a five million year period, between 53.5 and 48.5 million years ago (mya). During this period the climate moved from the moist early Eocene climate and the slightly drier mid-Eocene.

The sediments are deposited in very fine layers, in pairs: a dark layer from the growing season, and a light-hue inorganic layer in winter.

Each pair of layers is called a varve and represents one year. The sediments of the Green River Formation present a continuous record of six million years. The mean thickness of a varve here is 0.18 mm, with a minimum thickness of 0.014 mm and maximum of 9.8 mm.

The sedimentary layers were formed in a large area named after the present-day Green River, a tributary of the Colorado River. The formation is in three separate basins around the Uinta Mountains of northeastern Utah:
 an area in northwestern Colorado east of the Uintas
 a larger area in the southwest corner of Wyoming just north of the Uintas known as Lake Gosiute
 another area, in Fossil Butte National Monument, Lincoln County, Wyoming is Fossil Lake. It has exceptionally well preserved fish fossils. The most productive zone — the split fish layer — is a series of laminated or varved lime muds about 6 ft (1.8 m) thick. They contains many fish and other fossils. The rock is easily split along the layers to reveal the fossils. This thin zone took about 4000 years to deposit.
 the largest area, in northeastern Utah and western Colorado south of the Uintas, known as Lake Uinta

Conditions at the time
The formation has many evaporites – minerals formed by the evaporation of lakes. This suggests that high salinity was one of the causes of the superb fossilisation.

Another factor was the frequent ash falls from nearby volcanoes. Rapid burial also prevents normal decomposition.

Climate
Fossils preserved suggest that the region was a low, subtropical, freshwater basin when the sediments accumulated.

The Green River fossils show a transition between the moist early Eocene climate and the slightly drier mid-Eocene. The climate was moist and mild enough to support crocodiles, which do not tolerate frost, and the lakes were surrounded by sycamore forests. As the lake configurations shifted, each Green River location is distinct in character and time. The lake system formed over underlying river deltas and shifted in the flat landscape with slight tectonic movements

Oil shale
The Green River Formation contains the largest oil shale deposits in the world. The 213 billion tons of oil shale contain an estimated 2.38 × 10¹¹ m³ (1.5 trillion US barrels) of shale oil. This is a tribute to the high volume of organic material that was buried. The source of the organic material was probably cyanobacteria, which thrive in warm alkaline lake conditions.

Fossils
The lagerstätten formed in anoxic conditions in the fine carbonate muds that formed in the lakebeds. Lack of oxygen slowed bacterial decomposition and kept scavengers away. Leaves of palms, ferns and sycamores show insect damage got during their growth. They were covered with fine-grained sediment and preserved. Insects were preserved whole, even delicate wing membranes and spider spinnerets.

The fauna  included fish, alligators, bats, turtles, dog-sized horses, insects, and many other species of plants and animals

Reference

Lagerstätten
Geography of Colorado
Geography of Utah
Geography of Wyoming

Green River Formation


Ron Campbell (26 December 1939 – 22 January 2021) was an Australian animator, director, and producer, best known for his work on the 1960s The Beatles television series, as well as the animated feature film Yellow Submarine.

Early career

Ron Campbell's career began in 1958 animating various commercials for Australian television. However, when Al Brodax brought both his Krazy Kat and Beetle Bailey cartoons to Australia for production, Campbell was recruited to work on the project.

After Krazy Kat, Campbell went on to direct many installments of The Beatles television series for King Features. The show debuted on 25 September 1965, and remained number one in the ratings for the duration of its four-year run. He later wrote the foreword to the book Beatletoons: The Real Story Behind The Cartoon Beatles, where his involvement in the show is also talked about extensively.

Ron's surname is misspelled as "CAMBELL" at the end credits of "Cool McCool".

Due in part to the enormous success of the program, Campbell was hired by Bill Hanna (of Hanna-Barbera fame) and relocated to Hollywood, California. In Hollywood, he would go on to work on a wide array of animated television series including, but not limited to: The Smurfs, The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Rugrats, Rocket Power, and Ed, Edd n Eddy.

Yellow Submarine

In 1968, Al Brodax once again contracted Campbell from London, where he was producing The Beatles' feature-length animated motion picture, Yellow Submarine. Brodax asked Campbell, and his colleague Duane Crowther, if they could animate many of the connecting sequences in the movie. Together, they subsequently ended up animating around twelve minutes, or roughly one seventh of the entire film. In his 2004 memoir Up Periscope Yellow, chronicling the making of Yellow Submarine, Brodax accredits Campbell for essentially helping pull together various elements of the movie. As one of the film's animators, Ron Campbell contributed to the book, Inside the Yellow Submarine- The Making of the Beatles Animated Classic by Robert Hieronimus, a unique historical perspective on the making of the film.

Ron Campbell Films

In 1971, Campbell founded his own animation studio, Ron Campbell Films, Inc.; the company's first project would also place him as associate producer for ABC's television special Nanny and the Professor.

He would also go on to produce and direct animation in both the Emmy and Peabody award-winning children's shows, The Big Blue Marble and Sesame Street. Following this, Campbell worked on the hit animated series, The Smurfs.

Disney, Nickelodeon, and retirement

The 1990s took Campbell to Disney Animation, where he worked on several cartoons, including: Bonkers, Goof Troop, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and Darkwing Duck. In addition to this, he also worked with Klasky-Csupo for Nickelodeon, and storyboarded on such shows as: Rugrats, Rocket Power, and Duckman for the USA Network.

In retirement, Campbell lived in the Phoenix, Arizona area and created original pop art paintings, based upon the films he was involved with in one capacity or another. His paintings were sold through Scott Segelbaum's Rock Art Show, with whom he regularly exhibited and sold his artwork in various art galleries throughout North America.

Death
Campbell died in Phoenix, Arizona, on 22 January 2021, aged 81.

References

External links

 Rock Art Show
 Ron Campbell Animator
 Ron Campbell Digital Collectibles as NFTs

1939 births
2021 deaths
Australian animators
Australian animated film directors
Australian animated film producers
Australian television directors
Australian television producers
Hanna-Barbera people
Australian storyboard artists

Ron Campbell (animator)


Renato Cinquegranella (; born 15 May 1949) is an Italian criminal and a member of the Camorra. Cinquegranella is on the "List of most wanted fugitives in Italy" of the ministry of the Interior.

Biography
Renato Cinquegranella was born in Naples. In the 1980s he was linked to the Nuova Famiglia and according to investigators, he was involved in the murder of Giacomo Frattini, known as 'Bambulella', a young affiliate of the Nuova Camorra Organizzata of Raffaele Cutolo. Frattini was tortured, killed and torn to pieces in January 1982, to avenge the murder in prison of a loyalist of the then Secondigliano's flamboyant boss, Aniello La Monica. Bambulella was found wrapped in a sheet in the trunk of a car with a disfigured face, while his hands and heart were found closed in two plastic bags inside the car. In May 2014 was confirmed the life sentence for Cinquegranella and other Camorristi for the crime.

In the 1980s, Cinquegranella was also accused of giving refuge in his villa in Castel Volturno to terrorists belonging to the Red Brigades.

Fugitive
Since 2002 Cinquegranella is wanted for mafia-type criminal association, murder, illegal possession of weapons and extortion.

From 7 December 2018 international research has been issued, and arrest for the purpose of extradition.

Since 2019, Renato Cinquegranella is the most wanted fugitive belonging to the Camorra.

See also
List of fugitives from justice who disappeared
List of most wanted fugitives in Italy
Camorra

References

External links
 List of most wanted fugitives in Italy

1949 births
Camorristi
Fugitives wanted by Italy
Fugitives wanted on organised crime charges
Living people
Criminals from Naples

Renato Cinquegranella


The Westphalian Lowland, also known as the Westphalian Basin is a flat landscape that mainly lies within the German region of Westphalia, although small areas also fall within North Rhine (in the extreme southwest) and in Lower Saxony (on the northern periphery). Together with the neighbouring Lower Rhine Plain to the west, it represents the second most southerly region of the North German Plain, after the Cologne Bight. It is variously known in German as the Westfälische Bucht (Westphalian Bay), the Münsterländer or Westfälische Tieflands- or Flachlandsbucht (Münsterland or Westphalian Lowland or Plain).

The Westphalian Lowland consists of the individual regions of Münsterland, the Emscherland in the (western) south, and regions even further south that flank the Sauerland around the Hellweg.

The Westphalian Lowland is classified as a major unit group within the natural regions of Germany and is number 54 in the Handbook of the Natural Regional Divisions of Germany (Handbuch der naturräumlichen Gliederung Deutschlands) and region D34 in the BfN system; both using the same boundaries.

Natural region divisions
From a natural region perspective the Westphalian Lowland major unit group is sub-divided into the following three-figure major units:
(to North German Plain) (Norddeutsches Tiefland)
54 (=D34) Westphalian Basin (Westfälische Bucht)
 540 East Münsterland (Ostmünsterland)
 541 Kernmünsterland
 542 Hellweg Börde (Hellwegbörden)
 543 Emscherland
 544 West Münsterland (Westmünsterland)
 545 West Hellweg (Westenhellweg)

Location
The Westphalian Lowland has the character of a basin because it is bounded by ridges of the Lower Saxon Hills from the northeast to east and by the northern part of the Süder Uplands to the south. These hills rise to heights of several hundred metres above the basin floor.

The boundary of this natural region runs, clockwise from the north, as follows:
From Rheine southeastwards along the southern edge of the Teutoburg Forest, from southwest of Osnabrück heading southwest of Bielefeld to the point where the Teutoburg Forest meets the Eggegebirge. From here the boundary runs to the Paderborn Plateau in front of the Egge heading south-southwest via Paderborn and Büren.

From east of Rüthen its boundary with the North Sauerland Oberland (including the Arnsberg Forest Nature Park) runs in a westerly direction, passing the Möhnesee immediately south of the Haarstrang and then runs south of the  Hellweg to the edge of the Lower Sauerland to south of Dortmund, from where its course takes it further west, north of the Ardey Hills and the adjoining parts of the Lower Berg-Mark Hills (Niederbergisch-Märkisches Hügelland) heading south of Bochum and Essen to the vicinity of Mülheim.

From east of Mülheim its unremarkable boundary with the Lower Rhine Plain runs northwards via Bottrop, Dorsten, Borken and finally along the state border with the Netherlands, to Gronau.

Towns and cities
The largest centres of population in the Westphalian Lowland are the cities of the central and eastern Ruhrgebiet north of the River Ruhr in the southwest of the region and the cities of Münster in the centre, Gütersloh in the north and Paderborn on the eastern periphery. The city of Bielefeld itself lies outside the region over the other side of the Teutoburg Forest, however parts of the borough lies within the northern part of the basin (Brackwede, Senne, Sennestadt).

The most populous cities in the Westphalian Lowland are (in brackets their population in thousands):
Dortmund (less the south - 581)
Essen (less the south - 576)
Bochum (less the south - 376)
Bielefeld (only Sennestadt - i.e. only 21 of 323)
Münster (276)
Gelsenkirchen (260)
Oberhausen (only minimal parts in the east - small elements of 214)
Hamm (182)
Herne (166)
Mülheim (only the northwest - small elements of 167)
Paderborn (only northeastern part - parts of 145)
Recklinghausen (119)
Bottrop (apart from the extreme west - 117)
Witten (only the northern half - part of 99)
Gütersloh (96)

Rivers
The most important river systems are:

 Münsterland: the (upper) Ems and Lippe
 Emscherland: the almost entirely underground or canalised Emscher that gives the region its name.
 Right tributaries of the Möhne and the lower reaches of the Ruhr play a rather small role in the extreme south by the Hellweg.

Meaning

The area is occasionally called in German, the Münsterländische Bucht (Münsterland Bay), because a large part of this low-lying plain lies in central and eastern Münsterland. It is therefore used pars pro toto for the whole region.

The use of the term Bucht ("bay" or "bight") stems from the geological origin of the region which is half surrounded by the ridges of the Central Uplands. At one time it formed a bay in the coastline of the Cretaceous Sea the shape of which can be discerned from the topography.

Population

The majority of the population of the Westphalian Lowland live in the area bordering the southern perimeter, in the region of the historic Hellweg east–west trade route through Germany, and especially in the northern Ruhr.

Palaeontology
At various sites in the Westphalian Lowland giant ammonites have been found in Cretaceous layers of rock below the surface, for example when the underground railway network was being built in Dortmund. These cephalopods, with a shell diameter of more than two metres are the largest known invertebrates.

See also
 Geography of Germany
 Natural regions of Germany

References

External links
 Natural region maps from the individual 1:200,000 map series of the Federal Institute for Regional Geography (Bundesinstituts für Landeskunde) - relevant natural units are those on map sheets beginning with "54":
Sheet 83/84 - Osnabrück/Bentheim
Sheet 85 - Minden (west)
Sheet 95/96 - Kleve/Wesel (east)
Sheet 97 - Münster
Sheet 98 - Detmold
Sheet 108/109 - Düsseldorf-Erkelenz (east)
Sheet 110 - Arnsberg (west)
 NRW State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection
 LANUV information page – natural landscape map

Landforms of North Rhine-Westphalia
Plains of Germany
North German Plain

Westphalian Lowland


Earl R. Dean (March 19, 1890 – January 8, 1972) designed the famous contour Coca-Cola bottle.

In 1914, Harold Hirsch, a lawyer for the Coca-Cola Company, came up with a plan to launch a national competition in which bottle manufactures across the country would be asked to design a distinctive bottle – a bottle which a person could recognize even if they felt it in the dark, and so shaped that, even if broken, a person could tell at a glance what it was.

The bottle manufacturer that won this competition was the Root Glass Company of Terre Haute, Indiana. Inspired by a picture of a cocoa pod which was found in an encyclopedia at the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library, Earl R. Dean made a pencil sketch of the pod. From this sketch,  Dean designed the contour bottle prototype. The prototype never made it to production since its middle diameter was larger than its base. According to Dean, this would make it unstable on the conveyor belts. Dean then equalized the middle and bottom diameters and the Contour Coca-Cola Bottle was born.

References

Further reading

External links

ContourBottle.com A tribute to Earl R. Dean - Facts about the creation of Coca-Cola's Contour bottle.

American industrial designers
Coca-Cola people
1890 births
1972 deaths

Earl R. Dean


Dafen Tinplate Co Ltd v Llanelly Steel Co (1907) Ltd [1920] 2 Ch 124 is a UK company law case concerning amendment of the articles of association.

Facts
Dafen Tinplate Co Ltd was a shareholder in Llanelly Steel Co. Llanelly realised that Dafen were buying steel from an alternative source of supply, and also to buy up the company's shares (an attempt which failed). Llanelly responded by altering its articles through a special resolution to include a power to compulsorily purchase the shares of any member requested to transfer them. Dafen Tinplate argued the alteration was invalid.

Judgment
The court held that the alteration was too wide to be valid. The altered article would confer too much power on the majority. It went much further than was necessary for the protection of the company. The judge seemed to be using the bona fide for the benefit of the company test in an objective sense, that is, he was judging the situation from the courts point of view.

See also
Allen v Gold Reefs of West Africa Ltd [1900] 1 Ch 656
Brown v British Abrasive Wheel Co [1919] 1 Ch 290
Sidebottom v Kershaw, Leese & Co Ltd [1920] 1 Ch 154
Shuttleworth v Cox Bros and Co (Maidenhead) [1927] 1 Ch 154
Southern Foundries (1926) Ltd v Shirlaw [1940] AC 701
Greenhalgh v Arderne Cinemas Ltd [1951] Ch 286

Notes

United Kingdom company case law
High Court of Justice cases
1920 in case law
1920 in British law


Barbara Atkinson (8 January 1926 – 1 January 2015) was an English actress from Manchester. Her first professional appearance was at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in December 1945. She appeared in various television episodes from 1965 onward.

Biography
Barbara Atkinson was born in Manchester to Charles Stuart Atkinson and Dorothy Carol (née Lyons) Atkinson. She was educated in Châtelard and trained for the stage at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Stage work
Atkinson made her first professional stage appearance at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in December 1945 in the role of Mr. Fox in Toad of Toad Hall. Her early career also included repertory work in such towns as Swindon, Wigan, and Wednesbury. Atkinson made her debut West End theatre performance in the role of Mary Williams in Serious Charge at the Garrick Theatre in February 1955. She went on to do more repertory work in such towns as Oxford, Birmingham, and Nottingham. Atkinson appeared with the National Theatre Company for the 1969–70 season as "Mincing" in The Way of the World. In 1978, Atkinson appeared at the Greenwich Theatre as Lady Markby in An Ideal Husband.

Film work
Atkinson appeared on several television shows since 1965. Her first television performance was in an episode of The Wednesday Play in 1965. Atkinson went on to portray Miss Fellowes in the 1974 television adaptation of William Somerset Maugham's novel Cakes and Ale. Her most recent television performance was in a 1998 episode of The Bill.

Death
Barbara Atkinson died on New Year's Day 2015, one week before her 89th birthday.

References

1926 births
2015 deaths
English stage actresses
English television actresses
Actresses from Manchester
Place of death missing
20th-century British businesspeople

Barbara Atkinson


Baldwin V of Flanders (1012–1067) known as Baldwin de Lille or Baldwin de Insulanus, was a French nobleman and the Count of Flanders. He ruled from 1035 until his death. Baldwin was one of the most powerful counts in France at the time.

Early career

He was the son of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders and his first wife Ogive of Luxembourg. She was a daughter of Frederick of Luxembourg, In 1028 Baldwin married Adèle of France She was the daughter of King Robert II of France. At her instigation he rebelled against his father, Baldwin IV, but in 1030 they were reconciled. When his father died in 1035 Baldwin succeeded him.

Count of Flanders

While Eustace I, Count of Boulogne was usually at odds with Baldwin IV, he and Baldwin V had friendly relations. They signed each other's charters and worked together several times. Eustace I signed three charters of Baldwin's which limited the power of advocates.

Flanders under Baldwin V did not have very good relations with England. Baldwin gave refuge to England's exiles and even gave them ships and men at times. He protected Queen Emma 1036-1040 as well as her two sons Alfred and Harthacnut. When Earl Godwin, Earl of Wessex and his family were exiled by Edward the Confessor in 1051-2, Baldwin welcomed them. He also helped them to prepare their return to England. In turn Edward the Confessor positioned his fleet off the coast of Flanders while Baldwin V was warring with Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor in 1049. This threat caused Baldwin to sue for peace with the Emperor.

Baldwin V had a great deal of influence due in part to several marriages alliance between Flanders and England, France and Germany. He was close to his brother-in-law, Henry I,the king of France. From 1060 to 1067 Baldwin was the Regent for his nephew Philip I of France. In 1051 Baldwin had coerced Richildis, the widow of Count Herman of Hainault, to marry his son Baldwin VI. This gave him control of Hainault through his son. This also led to a series of conflicts between Baldwin V and Emperor Henry III, as Hainault was part of the Holy Roman Empire. After a series of defeats Henry III withdrew back to Germany and died a short time later. In 1056 Baldwin received the whole of the Schelt march as a fief from Agnes of Poitou, regent for her son Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Baldwin's daughter Matilda married William I of England, later king of England. At first the marriage was banned by Pope Leo IX. He did not give a reason but it was probably because the two were cousins. Some time between 1050 and 1052 the two married despite the papal ban. Although Baldwin allowed some Flemish support for his Norman conquest of England relations between Baldwin and his son-in-law William the Conqueror were not that friendly. The English king was wary of Baldwin's growing power. But by then Baldwin was growing old. He died 1 September 1067.

Family

Baldwin and his wife Adèle had three children:

 Baldwin 'de Mons'. He succeeded his father.
 Matilda, (–1083), she married William the Conqueror and was Queen consort of England.
 Robert 'le Frison', (–1093), Count of Flanders; Count of Holland.

Notes

References

1012 births
1067 deaths
Counts and countesses of Flanders

Baldwin V, Count of Flanders


War Wound is an isometric action game by British developer Apothecary Studios where the player takes control of a special forces unit during a war in the near future. The game features real-time game play where each mission sees the player take command of a four-man squad who must battle through a series of terrains using various skills.

Gameplay

The players controls a four-man squad in a similar way to classic games like Syndicate and Cannon Fodder or more modern games like Commandos 3. Specifically the player moves his squad around the world by clicking on where they should go and they will walk to the point in the level the player clicked on. Pressing the other mouse button will make the current squad shoot from where they are standing in the direction of the mouse pointer.

Squads can be broken up at any time to allow the player to use fewer squad members when walking about. This may give the player an advantage, for instance one man is harder to hit than four men standing closer together or it may be to keep a certain squad member safe because they possess and ability that is crucial to finished that particular mission and cannot be risked.

Each squad member commands the same abilities as any of the others such as the ability to walk, swim, pilot vehicles and fire multiple weapons but the primary squad member is the only squaddie that can also climb certain surfaces. This ability makes him crucial to success on certain missions.

External links
 Official game website

2007 video games
Computer wargames
Real-time strategy video games
Windows games
Windows-only games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Video games with isometric graphics

War Wound


The Squadron Sinister is a supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The Squadron Sinister first appeared in the final panel of The Avengers #69 (October 1969), created by Roy Thomas and Sal Buscema. The team is a pastiche of DC's Justice League.

Publication history
The first version of the Squadron Sinister is formed by the Elder of the Universe known as the Grandmaster as pawns to battle the champions of the time-traveling Kang the Conqueror, the superhero team the Avengers. The Grandmaster creates four villains—Doctor Spectrum, Hyperion, Nighthawk, and the Whizzer—to face heroes Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and Goliath (Clint Barton). In interviews, Thomas and Jerry Bails have stated that the Squadron was based on the DC Comics superhero team the Justice League of America, evoking the DC characters Green Lantern, Superman, Batman and the Flash.

Fictional character biography

Grandmaster's Squadron Sinister
The limited series Squadron Supreme, written by Mark Gruenwald, explains that the Grandmaster creates the Squadron Sinister modeling them  on the already-existing Squadron Supreme of the Earth-712 universe. The similarities also caused confusion in Marvel's production department, as the covers of The Avengers #85 (February 1971) and #141 (November 1975) "cover-blurbed" appearances by the Squadron Sinister, when in fact it was the Squadron Supreme that appeared in both issues.

The Avengers eventually defeat the Squadron and the Grandmaster abandoned them as a result. The Squadron reappear in the title The Defenders, reunited by the alien Nebulon. The villains receive greater power in exchange for Earth, and create a giant laser cannon in the Arctic to melt the polar ice caps, thereby covering the entirety of Earth's surface in water. The superhero team the Defenders are alerted to the scheme by Nighthawk and defeat the villains and Nebulon, with Nighthawk reforming and joining the Defenders the following issue.

After this defeat the three remaining members of the Squadron Sinister are teleported off-world by Nebulon, returning with an energy-draining weapon. The villains plan to threaten Earth again, but are defeated once more by the Defenders and the Avenger Yellowjacket. During another brief encounter with several members of the Avengers, who seek a way to separate Doctor Spectrum's Power Prism from fellow Avenger the Wasp, the characters are revealed to have disbanded.

While Nighthawk becomes an ongoing character featuring regularly in the Marvel Universe, two of the other members of the Squadron make isolated appearances. Hyperion appears in the title Thor, battling the hero once again, and features in Marvel Two-in-One in an encounter with the Thing. Hyperion also travels to the Earth-712 universe and, after impersonating the Squadron Supreme's Hyperion for a time, dies in a heated battle with his counterpart. The title The Amazing Spider-Man showcases the Whizzer's return, where he returns to crime with a new costume and the alias the Speed Demon.

Resurrected Squadron Sinister
The Grandmaster reappears and reforms the Squadron Sinister: an apparently resurrected Hyperion; a new Dr. Spectrum (Alice Nugent, a former lab assistant of Hank Pym), Nighthawk and the Speed Demon, who have both had bad experiences with superhero team the New Thunderbolts. Courtesy of a phenomenon known as the Wellspring of Power – an interdimensional source of superhuman abilities – the Grandmaster increases the Squadron Sinister's powers and they battle the New Thunderbolts. Thunderbolts team leader Baron Zemo defeats the Grandmaster and, in the ensuing chaos, the Squadron Sinister scatter and escape.

Other versions

The Last Defenders
The limited series The Last Defenders briefly features warped versions of Hyperion, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer. The trio are created by long-time Defenders foe Yandroth when confronted by Nighthawk. Together with a futuristic version of the Defenders, Nighthawk defeats the doppelgängers, who subsequently disappear.

Secret Wars (2015)
During the Secret Wars storyline, alternate versions of the Squadron Sinister characters reside in Battleworld's Utopolis domain. Led by their Hyperion, they have been annexing various domains of Battleworld in order to grow their territory. They started by destroying the Squadron Supreme of the Supremia Province where they left their Nighthawk alive to be the Supremia Province's puppet ruler for Hyperion. Then they made the World War II-themed domain of Europix part of their domain upon it surrendering after the Squadron Sinister saved Europix from the Frightful Four of Wittland.  However, due to manipulations on the part of Nighthawk, Whizzer is executed by Hyperion for treason, and Doctor Spectrum flees when framed for the murder of one of the Thor Corps. When Warrior Woman is blackmailed into leaving Utoplolis, Nighthawk is revealed to possess Spectrum's power prism. Nighthawk then makes his move, poisoning Hyperion with argonite before fighting him on even footing with the Prism. Hyperion eventually succumbs to argonite poisoning, allowing Nighthawk to finish Hyperion off. Nighthawk is arrested by the Thors and, with testimony from Warrior Woman, sentenced to exile. He presumably meets his fate against a horde of Ultron drones, leaving Warrior Woman the sole remaining member of the team.

Members
 Doctor Spectrum (Alice Nugent)
 Hyperion (Zhib-Ran)
 Nighthawk (Kyle Richmond)
 Whizzer (James Sanders)

Former members
 Doctor Spectrum (Billy Roberts)
 Doctor Spectrum (Kinji Obatu)
 Hyperion construct

See also
 Imperial Guard — Marvel superhero team originally created as a pastiche of DC's Legion of Super-Heroes

References

External links
 Squadron Sinister at the Marvel Universe

1969 comics debuts
Characters created by Roy Thomas
Characters created by Sal Buscema
Comics characters introduced in 1969
Marvel Comics supervillain teams
Squadron Supreme

Squadron Sinister


The Federalist Party was the nineteenth century Argentine political party that supported federalism.  It opposed the Unitarian Party that claimed a centralised government of Buenos Aires Province, with no participation of the other provinces of the custom taxes benefits of the Buenos Aires port. The federales supported the autonomy of the provincial governments and the distribution of external commerce taxes among the provinces.

The federalists advocated a form of political organization that would ensure coexistence between autonomous provinces and a central government with limited powers. They took as a model the federalism of the United States.

The view on its historical leader is controversial. Juan Manuel de Rosas is considered by his detractors as a "dictator". Among the various possible ways of characterizing him, his supporters call him a "man of order."

Ideology and principles
They promoted economic protectionism, limiting the entry of foreign merchandise and protecting local productions by imposing tariffs on imports.

Its leaders were charismatic local caudillos who had great roots and prestige among the rural popular sectors, made up of farm laborers, free gauchos and freedmen.  These federal chiefs defended the idea that each province should have its own government, laws, and lifestyle.

Except for Rosas, they defended the free navigation of the interior rivers by foreign ships.

Early conflict
The Argentine War of Independence saw the forces of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata fighting Spanish royalists who attempted to regain control of their American colonies after the Napoleonic Wars. After the victorious May Revolution of 1810, disagreements arose between the dominant province of Buenos Aires, who were known as Unitarios, and the other provinces of Argentina, known as the Federalists. These were evident at least as early as the declaration of Argentine independence in 1816. The Unitarios lost their controlling power after the Battle of Cepeda (1820), which was followed by several months of anarchy. However, the Unitarios were forced to sign a treaty with other provinces. This did not solve the conflicts between the Federalists and the Unitarians.

Unitarios
Under president Bernardino Rivadavia (1826–1827), the Unitarians gained control for a short period of time. The Constitution of 1826 allowed for a balance between the ideas of Unitarians and Federalists: "It provided for a centralized national authority while leaving the provinces with considerable local powers."  However, the constitution was rejected by provincial caudillos, military leaders, and the conflict continued.

Unitarian League
In 1829, the Unitarian League () was created by General José María Paz in order to defeat the Federalists, easily taking power in nine provinces. The Federalist governments of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and Corrientes, united under the Federal Pact, confronted Paz and his troops on May 31, 1831. The Unitarios were defeated after Paz was captured by the troops of Santa Fe Governor, Estanislao López.

Party leadership
Argentina's Federalist party was primarily led by landowning caudillos, a class of wealthy rural elite who benefited from protectionist trade and tariff policies due to their dependence on agriculture and exports for wealth and influence. Pioneering figures, many caudillos became symbols of Argentina's wild pampas and generated their own cults of personality. These personalistic leaders governed through patron-client relationships, relying on rural masses for income and, in return, granting a measure of power and influence through association. These regional strongmen regularly used their patron status to mobilize huge numbers of nomadic gauchos to form both agricultural labor forces and large-scale militias. Typically divorced from politics in the metropolitan capital of Buenos Aires, caudillos disdained the rising tide of urban liberalism and sought to form their own autonomous fiefdoms in the Argentine interior using the region's history of violence and anarchy to justify swift and brutal repression. Juan Facundo Quiroga of the La Rioja region and Juan Manuel de Rosas and Manuel Dorrego of Buenos Aires were prominent caudillo leaders and used their personalistic influence to consolidate rural bases of power. These caudillo leaders rejected the unitary power structure and market liberalism in Buenos Aires as a threat to the existing power structure in Argentina. Foreign investment from the United States and European powers and foreign ownership of Argentine assets were seen as analogous to the spread of European ideas while at the same time undermining the caudillos' share of the export and agriculture economy. Tariffs and strict price controls allowed them to remain powerful economic actors. Until unification pacts were signed in order to fight the Unitarians under Juan Manuel de Rosas, caudillos were primarily independent with their influence confined to their regional bases of power.

Following the internecine Argentine Civil Wars, Juan Manuel de Rosas rose to prominence after attaining the position of Governor of Buenos Aires in 1829. Independently wealthy as a result of massive inherited landholdings and with no serious rivals, Rosas had led the Federalist party as a brigadier general for a number of years before finally consolidating power in Buenos Aires. In this time, Rosas would go on to gain a monopoly on military manpower. He signed the Federal Pact three years later, essentially transforming the unitary Argentina into a confederation with significant autonomy allotted to the provinces and his fellow caudillos. At the end of his term, Rosas left office and embarked on a military campaign to suppress Argentina's indigenous population and secure the western frontier. Following a military coup in Buenos Aires, Rosas was asked to return as Governor. He accepted the offer, returning to the office and beginning a brutal campaign of political repression.

Party composition
Led by the caudillos were the Argentine gauchos, a group demographically defined by their nomadic lifestyle in Argentina's interior as well as by their mixed heritage. Typically illiterate and lacking formal education, the gauchos remain a romanticized figure in the mythology of Argentina and were immortalized in José Hernández' epic poem, Martin Fierro. Similar in lifestyle to American cowboys or the Iberian vaqueros, gauchos were itinerant horsemen of the pampas with their own customs and folklore.  Due to Argentina's chronic labor shortages, the caudillos' ability to galvanize the large gaucho population was vital to their economic interests and to their capacity to field armies and militias. Living outside of the national census and only occasionally joining the traditional labor force, gauchos were ideal soldiers in the Argentine civil wars due to their knowledge of the terrain, their culture of violence, and a pervasive lack of knowledge in Buenos Aires about the actual number of gauchos in the countryside.  The prospect of monetary reward, as well as long-standing patron-client relationships and adherence to various cults of personality regarding the caudillos, fueled these mobilizations. As caudillos began increasingly rounding up gauchos for work on their estancias and as the pampas were settled, the nomadic gaucho lifestyle grew strained. Many retreated to the wilds of Argentina's west or joined Rosas' army in Buenos Aires following the civil war. Gauchos culture, with no domesticity to anchor, soon disappeared and the free-roaming cattlemen became the subject of predatory labor policies issued from Buenos Aires.

The fall of federalism
Federalism was a dominant force in Argentina, and especially in the La Rioja region of the country, through much of the early and mid-nineteenth century, yet had almost entirely disappeared by the late 1870s. The wars of the 1860s had decimated the Federalist leadership, with numerous high and mid-ranking party leaders dead, imprisoned, exiled, or having defected. Rural populations had also begun to resist the caudillos' efforts at mass mobilization which had a dramatic impact on the size of Federalist armies. The success of the national state, and the lack of free labor as a result of the newly formed national army, contributed significantly to the fall of the Federalist party and political movement. Much of the Federalist leadership became convinced that the new Argentine order, based around a strong central power, was inevitable and sought accommodation and political settlement with the Unitarians. Lacking the military numbers or the economic clout to put up a fight, much of the Federalist power structure collapsed in these later years. Some caudillos and former generals were allowed to stay in Argentina, though many were exiled to Chile in the 1880s.

Gaucho Federalists
Also in 1829, Juan Manuel de Rosas, the boss of a troop of Gaucho Federalists, became governor of Buenos Aires after defeating General Lavalle, who was then forced into exile. Although Rosas was a Federalist, he kept the customs receipts of Buenos Aires under the exclusive control of the city, whereas the other provinces expected to have a part of the revenue. Rosas considered that this was a fair measure because only Buenos Aires was paying the external debt generated by the Baring Brothers loan to Rivadavia, the war of independence and the war against Brazil.

Afterward, a series of civil wars ensued that lasted nearly two decades. Juan Lavalle attempted to take military action against Rosas, but was defeated at the Battle of Márquez Bridge in 1829.  With support from other provinces, Justo José de Urquiza, caudillo of Entre Ríos Province, finally defeated Rosas at the Battle of Caseros on February 3, 1852. That May, the San Nicolás Agreement was signed by the provincial governors. The pact reinstated the treaty signed in 1831 by Argentina and the interior provinces and called for a constitutional convention.

Federal constitution
Following the Revolution of 11 September 1852, the Unitarians of Buenos Aires broke away from the interior provinces after Urquiza nationalized customs receipts and allowed free flow of trade on the Parana and Uruguay rivers. In 1859, Buenos Aires was forced to accept the federal constitution of 1853 after six years of secession. This was because on October 23, Mitre was defeated at Cepeda by Urquiza. However, the federal constitution was "amended to allow Buenos Aires greater influence." After the Battle of Pavón, Mitre was chosen president of a new national government.

Opposition to the Unitarios continued until 1890 under the Córdoba League.

The several armed conflicts between Federales and Unitarios that started after the May Revolution of 1810, diminished with the Federalist Justo José de Urquiza's betrayal and defeat over the governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas at the Battle of Caseros in 1852, and ended in 1862 when Bartolomé Mitre was named president.

See also
History of Argentina
Liga Federal
Pacto Federal
Argentine Confederation

References
 "Unitario". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 3 Nov. 2008
 "Cepeda, battles of". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 5 Nov. 2008
 Crow, John A. (1992) The Epic of Latin America. University of California Press. .

Notes

Argentine Civil War
Defunct political parties in Argentina
1816 establishments in Argentina
Political parties established in 1816
Political parties disestablished in 1868
1868 disestablishments in Argentina
Conservative parties in Argentina

Federalist Party (Argentina)


Miss Earth New Zealand is a New Zealand national beauty contest. The winner represents New Zealand in the international Miss Earth  beauty pageant. The national franchise was launched in 2001 by Miss World New Zealand Ltd, under the directorship of Ros Taylor. In 2011, the New Zealand Asia Pacific Trust acquired to the Miss Earth New Zealand franchise.

New Zealand national pageant
In 2003, Miss World New Zealand Ltd  chose to boycott the Miss World pageant due to the events surrounding Miss World 2002, held in Nigeria.
From 2003 to 2007, the winner of Miss World New Zealand competed at Miss Earth.
The New Zealand Asia Pacific Trust gained the rights to Miss World New Zealand in 2007, and gained the rights to Miss Earth New Zealand in 2011. The title was awarded to the second runner up in the Miss New Zealand Festival of Beauty in 2011 and 2012, with the winner being awarded the title of Miss World New Zealand and the first runner up receiving the title of Miss New Zealand International.
In 2013 Miss Earth New Zealand was again held as a separate pageant.

Titleholders
The winner of Miss Earth New Zealand represents her country at Miss Earth. On occasion, when the winner does not qualify (due to age) for either contest, a runner-up is sent.

References

External links
 Miss Earth New Zealand website 2011-present
 Miss Earth New Zealand website 2003-2010

New Zealand
Beauty pageants in New Zealand
New Zealand awards

Miss Earth New Zealand


Patrick Ochan (born 8 August 1988 in Kampala) is an Ugandan cricketer who played in the 2006 U-19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka. He has also played List A cricket for the Uganda national cricket team.

After the 2007 ICC World Cricket League Division Three tournament in Australia, Ochan went on the run and sought asylum in Australia. He is now in Adelaide, playing for West Torrens Cricket Club in the South Australian Grade Cricket competition.

References

1988 births
Living people
Ugandan cricketers
Cricketers from Kampala
Ugandan emigrants to Australia

Patrick Ochan (cricketer)