Taenia solium, the pork tapeworm, belongs to the cyclophyllid cestode family Taeniidae. It is found throughout the world and is most common in countries where pork is eaten. It is a tapeworm that uses humans as its definitive host and pigs as the intermediate or secondary hosts. It is transmitted to pigs through human feces that contain the parasite eggs and contaminate their fodder. Pigs ingest the eggs, which develop into larvae, then into oncospheres, and ultimately into infective tapeworm cysts, called cysticercus. Humans acquire the cysts through consumption of uncooked or under-cooked pork and the cysts grow into an adult worms in the small intestine.

There are two forms of human infection. One is "primary hosting", called taeniasis, and is due to eating under-cooked pork that contains the cysts and results in adult worms in the intestines. This form generally is without symptoms; the infected person does not know they have tapeworms. This form is easily treated with anthelmintic medications which eliminate the tapeworm. The other form, "secondary hosting", called cysticercosis, is due to eating food, or drinking water, contaminated with faeces from someone infected by the adult worms, thus ingesting the tapeworm eggs, instead of the cysts. The eggs go on to develop cysts primarily in the muscles, and usually with no symptoms. However some people have obvious symptoms, the most harmful and chronic form of which is when the cysts form in the brain. Treatment of this form is more difficult but possible.

The adult worm has a flat, ribbon-like body which is white and measures 2 to 3 metres (6' to 10') long, or more. Its tiny attachment, the scolex, contains suckers and a rostellum as organs of attachment that attach to the wall of the small intestine. The main body, consists of a chain of segments known as proglottids. Each proglottid is a little more than a self-sustainable, very lightly ingestive, self-contained reproductive unit since tapeworms are hermaphrodites.

Human primary hosting is best diagnosed by microscopy of eggs in faeces, often triggered by spotting shed segments. In secondary hosting, imaging techniques such as computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance are often employed. Blood samples can also be tested using antibody reaction of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

T. solium deeply affects developing countries, especially in rural settings where pigs roam free, as clinical manifestations are highly dependent on the number, size, and location of the parasites as well as the host's immune and inflammatory response.

Description
Adult T. solium is a triploblastic acoelomate, having no body cavity. It is normally 2 to 3 metres (6' to 10') in length, but can become much larger, sometimes over 8 metres (30') long. It is white in colour and flattened into a ribbon-like body. The anterior end is a knob-like attachment organ (sometimes mistakenly referred to as a "head") called a scolex, 1 mm in diameter. The scolex bears four radially arranged suckers that surround the rostellum. These are the organs of adhesive attachment to the intestinal wall of the host. The rostellum is armed with two rows of proteinaceous spiny hooks. Its 22 to 32 rostellar hooks can be differentiated into short (130 µm) and long (180 µm) types.

After a short neck is the elongated body, the strobila. The entire body is covered by a covering called a tegument, which is an absorptive layer consisting of a mat of minute specialised microvilli called microtriches. The strobila is divided into segments called proglottids, 800 to 900 in number. Body growth starts from the neck region, so the oldest proglottids are at the posterior end. Thus, the three distinct proglottids are immature proglottids towards the neck, mature proglottids in the middle, and gravid proglottids at the posterior end. A hermaphroditic species, each mature proglottid contains a set of male and female reproductive systems. The numerous testes and a bilobed ovary open into a common genital pore. The oldest gravid proglottids are full of fertilised eggs, Each fertilised egg is spherical and measures 35 to 42 µm in diameter.

If released early enough in the digestive tract and not passed, fertilised eggs can mature using upper tract digestive enzymes and the tiny larvae migrate to form cysticerci in humans. These have three morphologically distinct types. The common one is the ordinary "cellulose" cysticercus, which has a fluid-filled bladder 0.5 to 1.5 cm (¼" to ½") in length and an invaginated scolex. The intermediate form has a scolex. The "racemose" has no evident scolex, but is believed to be larger. They can be 20 cm (8") in length and have 60 ml (2 fl. oz.) of fluid, and 13% of patients with neurocysticercosis can have all three types in the brain.

Life cycle

The life cycle of T. solium is indirect as it passes through pigs, as intermediate hosts, into humans, as definitive hosts. In humans the infection can be relatively short or long lasting, and in the latter case if reaching the brain can last for life. From humans, the eggs are released in the environment where they await ingestion by another host. In the secondary host, the eggs develop into oncospheres which bore through the intestinal wall and migrate to other parts of the body where the cysticerci form. The cysticerci can survive for several years in the animal.

Definitive host
Humans are colonised by the larval stage, the cysticercus, from undercooked pork or other meat. Each microscopic cysticercus is oval in shape, containing an inverted scolex (specifically "protoscolex"), which everts once the organism is inside the small intestine. This process of evagination is stimulated by bile juice and digestive enzymes (of the host). Then, the protoscolex lodges in the host's upper intestine by using its crowned hooks and 4 suckers to enter the intestinal mucosa. Then, the scolex is fixed into the intestine by having the suckers attached to the villi and hooks extended. It grows in size using nutrients from the surroundings. Its strobila lengthens as new proglottids are formed at the foot of the neck. In 10–12 weeks after initial colonisation, it is an adult worm. The exact life span of an adult worm is not determined; however, evidences from an outbreak among British military in the 1930s indicate that they can survive for 2 to 5 years in humans.

As a hermaphrodite, it reproduces by self-fertilisation, or cross-fertilisation if gametes are exchanged between two different proglottids. Spermatozoa fuse with the ova in the fertilisation duct, where the zygotes are produced. The zygote undergoes holoblastic and unequal cleavage resulting in three cell types, small, medium and large (micromeres, mesomeres, megameres). Megameres develop into a syncytial layer, the outer embryonic membrane; mesomeres into the radially striated inner embryonic membrane or embryophore; micromeres become the morula. The morula transforms into a six-hooked embryo known as an oncosphere, or hexacanth ("six hooked") larva. A gravid proglottid can contain more than 50,000 embryonated eggs. Gravid proglottids often rupture in the intestine, liberating the oncospheres in faeces. Intact gravid proglottids are shed off in groups of four or five. The free eggs and detached proglottids are spread through the host's defecation (peristalsis). Oncospheres can survive in the environment for up to two months.

Intermediate host
Pigs are the principal intermediate hosts that ingest the eggs in traces of human faeces, mainly from vegetation contaminated with it such as from water bearing traces of it. The embryonated eggs enter intestine where they hatch into motile oncospheres. The embryonic and basement membranes are removed by the host's digestive enzymes (particularly pepsin). Then the free oncospheres attach on the intestinal wall using their hooks. With the help of digestive enzymes from the penetration glands, they penetrate the intestinal mucosa to enter blood and lymphatic vessels. They move along the general circulatory system to various organs, and large numbers are cleared in the liver. The surviving oncospheres preferentially migrate to striated muscles, as well as the brain, liver, and other tissues, where they settle to form cysts — cysticerci. A single cysticercus is spherical, measuring 1–2 cm (about ½") in diameter, and contains an invaginated protoscolex. The central space is filled with fluid like a bladder, hence it is also called bladder worm. Cysticerci are usually formed within 70 days and may continue to grow for a year.

Humans are also accidental secondary hosts when they are colonised by embryonated eggs, either by auto-colonisation or ingestion of contaminated food. As in pigs, the oncospheres hatch and enter blood circulation. When they settle to form cysts, clinical symptoms of cysticercosis appear. The cysticercus is often called the metacestode.

Diseases

Signs and symptoms

Taeniasis
Taeniasis is infection in the intestines by the adult T. solium. It generally has mild or non-specific symptoms. This may include abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea and constipation. Such symptoms will arise when the tapeworm has fully developed in the intestine, this would be around eight weeks after the contraction (ingestion of meat containing cysticerci).

These symptoms could continue until the tapeworm dies from the course of treatment but otherwise could continue for many years, as long as the worm lives. If untreated it is common that the infections with T. solium last for approximately 2–3 years. It is possible that infected people may show no symptoms for years.

Cysticercosis
Ingestion of T. solium eggs or egg-containing proglottids which rupture within the host intestines results in the development and subsequent migration of larvae into host tissue to cause cysticercosis. In pigs, there are not normally pathological lesions as they easily develop immunity. But in humans, infection with the eggs causes serious medical conditions. This is because T. solium cysticerci have a predilection for the brain. In symptomatic cases, a wide spectrum of symptoms may be expressed, including headaches, dizziness, and seizures. Brain infection by the cysticerci is called neurocysticercosis and is the leading cause of seizures worldwide.

In more severe cases, dementia or hypertension can occur due to perturbation of the normal circulation of cerebrospinal fluid. (Any increase in intracranial pressure will result in a corresponding increase in arterial blood pressure, as the body seeks to maintain circulation to the brain.) The severity of cysticercosis depends on location, size and number of parasite larvae in tissues, as well as the host immune response. Other symptoms include sensory deficits, involuntary movements, and brain system dysfunction. In children, ocular cysts are more common than in other parts of the body.

In many cases, cysticercosis in the brain can lead to epilepsy, seizures, lesions in the brain, blindness, tumour-like growths, and low eosinophil levels. It is the cause of major neurological problems, such as hydrocephalus, paraplegy, meningitis, convulsions, and even death.

Diagnosis
Stool tests commonly include microbiology testing – the microscopic examination of stools after concentration aims to determine the amount of eggs. Specificity is extremely high for someone with training but sensitivity is quite low because the high variation in the number of eggs in small amounts of sample.

Stool tapeworm antigen detection: Using ELISA increases the sensitivity of the diagnosis. The downside of this tool is it has high costs, an ELISA reader and reagents are required and trained operators are needed. A studies using Coproantigen (CoAg) ELISA methods are considered very sensitive but currently only genus specific. A 2020 study in Ag-ELISA test on Taenia solium cystercicosis in infected pigs and showed 82.7% sensitivity and 86.3% specificity. The study concluded that the test is more reliable in ruling out T. solium cystercosis versus confirmation.

Stool PCR: This method can provide a species-specific diagnosis when proglottid material is taken from the stool. This method requires specific facilities, equipment and trained individuals to run the tests. This method has not yet been tested in controlled field trials.

Serum antibody tests: using immunoblot and ELISA, tape-worm specific circulating antibodies have been detected. The assays for these tests have both a high sensitivity and specificity. A 2018 study of two commercially available kits showed low sensitivity with patients diagnose with NCC (neurocysticercosis) especially with calcified NCC versus patients with cystic hydatid disease. Current standard for serologic diagnosis of NCC is the lentil lectin-bound glycoproteins/enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot (LLGP-EITB).

Guidelines for diagnosis and treatment remain difficult for endemic countries, most of them developing with limited resources. Many developing countries diagnosed clinically with imaging.

Prevention

The best way to avoid getting tapeworms is to not eat undercooked pork or vegetables contaminated with faeces. Moreover, a high level of sanitation and prevention of faecal contamination of pig feeds also plays a major role in prevention. Infection can be prevented with proper disposal of human faeces around pigs, cooking meat thoroughly or freezing the meat at −10 °C (14°F) for 5 days. For human cysticercosis, dirty hands are attributed to be the primary cause, and especially common among food handlers.

Treatment
Treatment of cysticercosis must be carefully monitored for inflammatory reactions to the dying worms, especially if they are located in the brain. Albendazole is commonly given (along with glucocorticoids to reduce the inflammation). In selected cases, surgery may be required to remove the cysts.

In neurocysticercosis, most patients under cysticidal therapy will have significant improvement in seizure control. A combination of praziquantel and albendazole is more effective in treating neurocystercosis. A 2014 double blind randomized control study showed increased parasiticidal effect with albendazole plus praziquantel.

A vaccine to prevent cysticercosis in pigs has been studied. The life-cycle of the parasite can be terminated in their intermediate host, pigs, thereby preventing further human infection. The large scale use of this vaccine, however, is still under consideration.

During the 1940s, the preferred treatment was oleoresin of aspidium, which would be introduced into the duodenum via a Rehfuss tube.

Epidemiology
T. solium is found worldwide, but its two distinctive forms rely on eating undercooked pork or on ingesting faeces-contaminated water or food (respectively). Because pig meat is the intermediate source of the intestinal parasite, rotation of the full life cycle occurs in regions where humans live in close contact with pigs and eat undercooked pork. However, humans can also act as secondary hosts, which is a more pathological, harmful stage triggered by oral contamination. High prevalences are reported among many places with poorer than average water hygiene or even mildly contaminated water especially with a pork-eating heritage such as Latin America, West Africa, Russia, India, Manchuria, and Southeast Asia. In Europe it is most common in pockets of Slavic countries and among global travelers taking inadequate precautions in eating pork especially.

The secondary host form, human cysticercosis, predominates in areas where poor hygiene allows for mild fecal contamination of food, soil, or water supplies. Rates in the United States have shown immigrants from Mexico, Central and South America, and Southeast Asia bear the brunt of cases of cysticercosis caused by the ingestion of microscopic, long-lasting and hardy tapeworm eggs. For example, in 1990 and 1991 four unrelated members of an Orthodox Jewish community in New York City developed recurrent seizures and brain lesions, which were found to have been caused by T. solium. All had housekeepers from Mexico, some of whom were suspected to be the source of the infections.  Rates of T. solium cysticercosis in West Africa are not affected by any religion.

Neurocystiscercosis is noted at around one-third of all epilepsy cases in many developing countries. Neurological morbidity and mortality remain high in lower-income countries and high amongst developed countries  with high rates of migration. Global prevalence rates remain largely unknown as screening tools, immunological, molecular tests, and neuroimaging are not usually available in many endemic areas.

See also
 List of parasites

References

External links
 Taenia solium Genome Project - UNAM
 Taeniasis image library at DPD
 Cysticercosis image library at DPD
 Taeniasis at Stanford
 Taenia solium at Bioweb
 Parasites in Humans
 ZicodeZoo
 BioLib

Cestoda
Foodborne illnesses
Parasitic helminths of humans
Parasitic animals of mammals
Animals described in 1758
Neurological disorders
Swine diseases
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus

Taenia solium


OIOXML is a project by the Danish government to develop a number of reusable data components serializable in various formats, although currently the only method of serialization for OIOXML data is in the XML format. This project was undertaken so as to ease communication from, to and between Danish governmental instances. It was made as part of the Danish government's transition to what they refer to as an eGovernment, in which communication between governmental instances, companies and the public should be paper-free. There has been some confusion as to what OIOXML is as the most prominent OIOXML format, the Danish Efaktura format which is a localization of UBL is also referred to as OIOXML by many governmental documents.  It is currently a requirement for all invoices given to a Danish governmental organization to be in the Efaktura format.

Sources
The interoperability framework
OIO - Offentlig Information Online (public information online) - english main page of the site
Reference to the OIOXML markup language
Validator for OIOXML
Examples of OIOXML invoices in comparison with regular invoices (danish)

Markup languages
Science and technology in Denmark
XML

OIOXML


Chicago History Museum is the museum of the  Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the intersection of North Avenue in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood. The CHS adopted the name, Chicago History Museum, in September 2006 for its public presence.

History
Much of the Chicago Historical Society's first collection was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, but the museum rose from the ashes like the city. Among its many documents which were lost in the fire was Abraham Lincoln's final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. (This draft had been donated by Lincoln to nurse Mary Livermore for her to raise funds to build Chicago's Civil War Soldiers' Home) After the fire, the Society began collecting new materials, which were stored in a building owned by J. Young Scammon, a prominent lawyer and member of the society.  However, the building and new collection were again destroyed by fire in 1874.  The Chicago Historical Society built a fireproof building on its pre-1871 building-site at 632 North Dearborn Street. The replacement building opened in 1896 and housed the society for thirty-six years. The building was later added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Old Chicago Historical Society Building.

Charles F. Gunther, a prominent Chicago collector, donated some items to the historical society. In 1920, the society purchased the remainder of the large history collection from his estate, with the intention of changing its focus from only a research institution into a public museum. Many of the items in Gunther's collection, in addition to Chicago, were related to Abraham Lincoln and the American Civil War.  These include Lincoln's deathbed, several other pieces of furniture from the room where he died in the Petersen House, and clothing that he and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln allegedly wore the evening of his assassination.  The collection also contains the table on which General Robert E. Lee signed his 1865 surrender to General Ulysses S. Grant, an official act that ended the American Civil War, at the McLean House in Appomattox, Virginia.

In 2010, the museum was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.

Building

After 36 years in the Henry Ives Cobb structure on North Dearborn Street, the museum and library moved to the current complex in Lincoln Park.  The oldest part of the museum, designed by Graham, Anderson, Probst & White, was built in 1932 by the WPA, with the aim of creating expanded public exhibition space.

The 1932 Federal-style structure has been expanded twice.  The first addition, clad in limestone, opened in 1972 and was designed by Alfred Shaw and Associates.  The second addition, designed by Holabird and Root, was done in 1988 and included refacing the earlier expansion in red brick to give a unified look to all three portions of the building.  Both expansions occurred on the west side of the 1932 structure, leaving intact its original porticoed entrance facing Lincoln Park.  The main entrance and reception hall, however, was moved to the new western addition facing Clark street.  The modernist 1988 extension, in addition to expanded exhibition galleries, also contains the museum's store and public cafe.

Activities
The museum explores both Chicago and American history. Exhibitions draw primarily on the museum's own collection, which numbers approximately 22 million holdings. Chicago: Crossroads of America is a 16,000-square-foot space that explores the city's development and its relationship to and influence on American history. Nearly 600 objects document the people and events of the past 200 years. Facing Freedom focuses on eight American conflicts over freedom from the 1850s to the 1970s. The Abraham Lincoln alcoves highlight the sixteenth president's election, his leadership during the Civil War, and his assassination. The adjoining Portrait Gallery features an installation on Chicago during the time of Lincoln. The Sensing Chicago exhibition invites children to use their senses to discover the past.  The lobby displays various museum treasures. The newly restored dioramas are housed in the Tawani Foundation Diorama Hall. The Chicago dioramas feature Chicago's rise from a desolate frontier outpost to the bustling city that hosted the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The Chicago Room, which overlooks the plaza in Lincoln Park behind the museum building, displays a collection of stained glass.

Temporary exhibitions feature objects and artifacts from the collection, covering everything from Chicago art to the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Chicagoans to the city's fashion history. On October 14, 2013, the Chicago History Museum announced a project asking the public to furnish ideas for a future exhibition and reducing the most-often-submitted ideas to one assignment through a series of public votes.  According to the American Alliance of Museums, this is the first crowdsourcing project allowing the public to give an exhibition assignment to an American museum.

On January 19, 2006, the first passenger car to operate on the Chicago 'L' system in 1893 was transported to its new display location at the Chicago History Museum.  Passengers could ride the 1893 'L' from the Loop to Hyde Park station for 5 cents to attend the World's Columbian Exposition upon the line's opening.  The vehicle, known as L Car #1, was cosmetically restored to its 1893 appearance before being transported to the museum where it was lifted into an opening created through a wall on the museum's second floor.  The car's interior features include mahogany and rattan seats and etched glass windows.  The L car joins the Pioneer, the first locomotive to operate in Chicago; a redesigned exhibition space to showcase the car and locomotive opened on September 30, 2006, as part of a larger remodeling project.

The museum houses Chicago's most important collection of materials related to local history. The extensive research library includes books and other published materials, manuscripts, paintings, sculptures, and photos. It is open to the public, including students working on school projects. The costume collection numbers more than 50,000 pieces and dates from the 18th century to the present.  It contains numerous couture pieces, items created by well-known Chicago manufacturers and designers, and garments worn by notable residents.

The museum offers a variety of programs, publications, and online resources related to Chicago and American history.  This includes print and online editions of its collaborative effort the Encyclopedia of Chicago. The museum's Chicago Fire mobile app has content equivalent to a 400-page book with more than 350 illustrations, drawn from the museum's collection.  The app also offers of 10 distinct Chicago areas and 54 fire-related landmarks. The app uses GPS guidance that helps the user view photos of nearby sites from the era of the Great Chicago Fire. The museum also publishes Chicago History magazine. Written by historians and heavily illustrated, this publication focuses on Chicago's complex past and the people who have shaped it. Additionally, more than 50,000 images from its collection have been digitized as part of Explore Chicago Collections.

Every year, the Chicago History Museum recognizes important Chicagoans and Chicago organizations with its Making History Awards.

Publications
Publications are at The Online Books Page and HathiTrust including Proceedings and Chicago History, which resulted in Chicago Times magazine.

See also
 List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago

Notes

References

External links

 Chicago History Museum
 50,000 digital images
 Interview at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library with Gary Johnson, president of the Chicago History Museum.
"Writings of Theodore Dreiser", broadcast from the Chicago History Museum from C-SPAN's American Writers
 Chicago History Museum at Google Cultural Institute

1856 establishments in Illinois
Museums established in 1856
Buildings and structures completed in 1932
Museums in Chicago
History museums in Illinois
Historical societies in Illinois
Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums
History of Chicago
National Register of Historic Places in Chicago

Chicago History Museum


The River Bend is a small region in western central Illinois and southern Illinois that comprises parts of Madison County and Jersey County.  The name comes from a section of the Mississippi River that flows roughly west to east instead of the usual north to south, causing a bend in the river.  The area is within the Metro East region, which is within the Greater St. Louis Metropolitan area.

The western boundary is dictated by the flow of the Mississippi river, beginning at the confluence of the Illinois and ending at the confluence of the Missouri. The eastern boundary stretches through a contiguous urbanized area revolving around the cities of Alton and Wood River.

List of communities within the River Bend

Cities

Villages

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

References

External links
Meeting of the Great Rivers
The River Bend Area Map

Regions of Illinois
Illinois River
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River Bend (Illinois)


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Sir Thomas Hanmer, 4th Baronet (24 September 1677 – 7 May 1746) was Speaker of the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1714 to 1715, discharging the duties of the office with conspicuous impartiality. His second marriage was the subject of much gossip as his wife eloped with his cousin Thomas Hervey  and lived openly with him for the rest of her days. He is, however, perhaps best remembered as being one of the early editors of the works of William Shakespeare.

He was identified with the Hanoverian Tory faction at the time of the Hanoverian Succession in 1714.

Life

He was the son of William Hanmer (born ca. 1648, Angers, France, died ca. 1678?, the son of Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet), and of Peregrine, daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry North, 1st Baronet, of Mildenhall, Suffolk.

He was born between 10 and 11 p.m. in the house of his grandfather Sir Thomas Hanmer, 2nd Baronet, at Bettisfield Park, near Wrexham, Clwyd, Wales (formerly Flintshire).

His father, William, seems to have died early, and Thomas was educated in Bury St Edmunds, at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, matriculating on 17 October 1693, age 17. His tutor was Robert Freind, D.D., who was later under-master at Westminster in 1699, and headmaster 1711–1733.

Hanmer gained his LL.D., however, Com. Reg. from Cambridge University in 1705.

He succeeded as 4th Baronet in 1701, when his uncle, the 3rd Baronet Sir John Hanmer, died in a duel leaving no issue.

He was a high church Tory M.P. for Thetford in 1701–02 and 1705–08; for Flintshire in 1702–05; and for Suffolk in 1708–27.

He was unanimously elected Speaker of the House of Commons in February 1714, during the last Tory government for over 100 years; the Tory party was split between those (like Hanmer) who wished to maintain the Protestant succession in Britain, and those with Jacobite tendencies who supported James Stuart, the 'Old Pretender' of the Jacobite succession. After the death of Queen Anne in August 1714, George I brought in a government composed entirely of Whigs. The House of Commons was dissolved in January 1715, and Hanmer was not put forward for re-election: in his stead Spencer Compton (later 1st Earl of Wilmington and Prime Minister) was elected Speaker on 17 March 1715, although Hannmer continued to serve as an MP until 1727. The Tory party was proscribed from government office until 1760 and the accession of George III.

He was one of the founding governors of the Foundling Hospital, a charity set up for London's abandoned children in 1739, which also became a centre for the arts.

He also built and endowed a home for the impoverished elderly in Mildenhall, his mother's home village, in 1722. The home, called Bunbury Rooms for his brother-in-law and biographer Henry Edward Bunbury, serves a similar purpose today.

Literary activities
Hanmer's Shakespeare was published at Oxford in 1743–44, with nearly forty illustrations by Francis Hayman and Hubert Gravelot. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature states that "The print and binding were magnificent, and caused its value to rise to nine guineas, when Warburton's edition was going for eighteen shillings."

Hanmer's editing, however, was based on his own selection of emendations from the Shakespeare editions of Alexander Pope and Lewis Theobald, along with his own conjectures, without indicating for the reader what was in his source texts and what was editorially corrected. Therefore, Hanmer's edition is not highly regarded today, with the editors of The Oxford Shakespeare assessing it in William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion as "one of the worst in the eighteenth century."

Also, Hanmer became the target of ridicule by Pope, who in his Dunciad lampoons him under the name Montalto (Book IV, 105ff.) and refers to him in a note (IV 113) as "An eminent person, who was about to publish a very pompous Edition of a great Author, at his own expense" (emphasis original).

However, there are some emendations of value that were made by Hanmer which have been accepted into later editions of Shakespeare.

Marriages and scandal

He died in 1746 and was buried at Hanmer. He had married firstly in 1698 Isabella FitzRoy, Duchess of Grafton, the daughter and heiress of Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, and widow of Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Grafton, natural son of King Charles II.  She died in 1723.

He married secondly, in 1725, to Elizabeth Folkes, only daughter of Thomas Folkes, of Great Barton, Suffolk. Elizabeth was much younger than her husband and the couple were ill-suited; in particular, she did not share his love of Shakespeare. She caused a notable scandal a few years later by eloping with his cousin Thomas Hervey, younger son of John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, by whom she had a son Thomas. Hervey, who was often said to be insane, subjected Hanmer to years of persecution over property which allegedly belonged to Elizabeth. Hanmer maintained that Elizabeth's father had settled the property strictly on his son-in-law, and that Elizabeth had no right to it. She died in 1741. Hanmer on his side threatened to "prosecute" Hervey (presumably he meant that he would bring a civil action for criminal conversation) but nothing seems to have come of it.

He had no heir by either marriage and so the baronetcy became extinct.

See also
Shakespeare's editors

References
Notes

Citations

External links

1677 births
1746 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of England
Speakers of the House of Commons of Great Britain
Early editions of Shakespeare
English book editors
English MPs 1701
English MPs 1701–1702
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Nicola James Capaldi (2 August 1944 – 28 January 2005) was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co-wrote the majority of the band's material. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a part of Traffic's original lineup.

Capaldi also performed with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Alvin Lee, Cat Stevens, and Mylon LeFevre, and wrote lyrics for other artists, such as "Love Will Keep Us Alive" and "This is Reggae Music". As a solo artist he scored more than a half dozen chart hits in various countries, the best-known being "That's Love" as well as his cover of "Love Hurts".

Career

Early years
Capaldi was born Nicola James Capaldi in Evesham, Worcestershire, to English parents Marie (Née Couchier) and Nicholas Capaldi. His father was born Nicola Capaldi in 1913 in Evesham to Italian parents. As a child Capaldi studied piano and voice with his father, a music teacher, and by his teens he was playing drums with his friends. At age 14 he founded the band the Sapphires and served as their lead vocalist. At 16 he took an apprenticeship at a factory in Worcester, where he met Keith Miller and  Dave Mason. In 1963 he formed the Hellions, with Mason on guitar and Gordon Jackson on rhythm guitar, while Capaldi himself switched to drums. In August 1964, Tanya Day took the Hellions to the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, as her backing group. The Spencer Davis Group were staying at the same hotel as the Hellions and it was there that Steve Winwood befriended Capaldi and Mason.

Back in Worcester, the Hellions provided backing to visiting performers including Adam Faith and Dave Berry. By the end of 1964, they had a London residency at the Whisky a Go Go Club. In 1964–65 the band released three singles, but none charted. Later that year John "Poli" Palmer joined the band on drums and Capaldi became the lead vocalist.

The Hellions moved back to Worcester in 1966 where they changed their name to the Revolution, releasing a fourth single that also failed to chart. Disillusioned, Dave Mason left the band. Capaldi replaced Mason with Luther Grosvenor and renamed the band Deep Feeling. Capaldi, Jackson, and Palmer wrote original songs for the band that were heavier than the Hellions repertoire. They played gigs in Birmingham and the surrounding Black Country area; former Yardbirds manager Giorgio Gomelsky offered them a recording contract. They recorded several studio tracks from 1966 to 1968 which remained unreleased until 2009, when the album Pretty Colours was released by Sunbeam Records.

First success
Capaldi and the band played frequently in London, and Jimi Hendrix played guitar with them at the Knuckles Club as an unknown musician. Back in Birmingham Capaldi would occasionally join his friends Mason, Winwood, and Chris Wood for after-hours impromptu performances at The Elbow Room club on Aston High Street. Early in 1967 they formalised this arrangement by forming Traffic, and Deep Feeling disbanded.

The new band was signed by Island Records and rented a quiet cottage in Aston Tirrold, Berkshire, to write and rehearse new material. The cottage did not remain quiet and had frequent visitors including Eric Burdon, Eric Clapton, and Pete Townshend as well as Trevor Burton (of The Move) amongst many others.

Capaldi wrote the lyrics for Traffic's first single "Paper Sun", which appeared in the UK singles chart at number 5 in summer 1967. This was the beginning of a songwriting partnership between him and Winwood which would produce the overwhelming majority of Traffic's songs: With the exception of "No Face, No Name, No Number", Capaldi would pen a lyric first, and then hand it over to Winwood to write the music.

Despite his key role in writing the band's material, Capaldi rarely sang lead vocals with Traffic, and his lyrics were nearly always keyed towards Winwood's soulful voice rather than his own more hard-edged vocal style.

Two more Traffic singles were released successfully in 1967, and in December the band released the album Mr. Fantasy. After one further album, Traffic, the group disbanded.

Traffic revival

Capaldi formed another band with Mason, Wood, and Mick Weaver but the creative tensions that had caused Mason to leave Traffic remained and the resulting quartet lasted only until March 1969. In January 1970 Capaldi and Wood joined Winwood in the studio to record Winwood's solo album. These sessions were so successful that the three of them reformed Traffic to release the album John Barleycorn Must Die. They then toured the UK and the US with an expanded line-up, which would go on to produce the hit albums Welcome to the Canteen and The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. The title track of the latter, a cynical treatise on the music industry, would prove to be one of Capaldi's most famous lyrics. In addition, "Rock and Roll Stew (part 1)", a rare instance of a Traffic song with Capaldi on lead vocal, was a minor hit in the USA.

Final Traffic years, first solo years

With Traffic on hiatus due to Steve Winwood's struggles with peritonitis, Capaldi recorded a solo album Oh How We Danced in 1972. This set contained a broad variety of musical styles and featured contributions from Free guitarist Paul Kossoff, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, and several members of Traffic. It was well received by critics and proved to be a modest success in the US, encouraging Capaldi to pursue a solo career alongside his work with Traffic.

After two more albums with Traffic, the group took a short break, allowing Capaldi to record Whale Meat Again, which was slightly less successful than his debut both in terms of reviews and sales. The title track was a thoroughly hard rocking and unapologetic environmentalist tirade; aggressive sociopolitical-themed songs became a recurring theme in Capaldi's work. He began work on his third solo album, Short Cut Draw Blood, alongside recording When the Eagle Flies with Traffic. As the band set off on the supporting tour, an early single from Short Cut, "It's All Up to You", made the UK Top 40. Though Capaldi's first major solo hit, it proved only a prelude to the album's chief success. Traffic disbanded after the tour, leaving Capaldi to focus all his efforts on his solo career. Short Cut Draw Blood appeared the following year. In October 1975, a single taken from the album, a cover version of The Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts", reached number four in the UK chart and charted worldwide. The album is considered by many to be his masterpiece, tackling issues such as the environment, government corruption, and drugs. He also embarked on a very brief acting career, appearing in the rarely seen 30-minute short film Short Ends (1976), which was directed by Esther Anderson and co-starred Judy Geeson and Hilary Baker.

To disco and back
However, events would conspire to prevent Capaldi from consolidating his solo stardom. He began working on his next album, Play it by Ear, alongside serving as a major collaborator on Steve Winwood's first solo album. Play it by Ear took an unusually long time to record, and in the meantime, his long-standing relationship with Island Records fell apart. The album was cancelled as a result, even though an advance single, "Goodbye My Love" (no connection to "Goodbye Love" from Capaldi's previous album), had already been released. Capaldi later described his leaving Island Records as "a leap into the wilderness." Due to these delays, it was over two years after Short Cut Draw Blood that another Jim Capaldi album appeared.

At this time Capaldi wrote the soundtrack to the award-winning film "The Contender", his last recording with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as his backing band, and correspondingly put together a new backing band for himself called the Contenders. The group consisted of Pete Bonas (guitar), Chris Parren (miscellaneous keyboards), Ray Allen (saxophone, backing vocals, percussion), and Phil Capaldi (backing vocals, percussion). Bonas was a particularly significant collaborator, and would co-write many of Capaldi's songs. The band chiefly supported him on tour; only one album, Electric Nights, featured the Contenders on every track. At the encouragement of his new label, RSO Records, Capaldi began venturing into disco. His first album with the label, The Contender, was released in the US with the title Daughter of the Night and a partially different set of songs. However, the album's internationally released single, "Daughter of the Night", failed to make a major impact.

The follow-up, 1979's Electric Nights, was more successful. "Shoe Shine", which combined disco rhythms and melodies with an angry lead vocal and lyrics about poverty and destitution, reached number 11 in France and also entered Billboard's Dance Music/Club Play Singles chart. However, despite including both hard rockers such as "Elixir of Life" and "Hotel Blues" and laments such as "Short Ends" and "Wild Geese" alongside the disco-flavoured numbers, Capaldi retained no fondness for his two albums with RSO, later saying "frankly, they got buried under a pile of disco."

Switching record labels again, Capaldi dropped the disco elements entirely for his next two albums, The Sweet Smell of... Success (1980) and Let the Thunder Cry (1981). The albums were evenly split between mellow pop and embittered hard rock, with "Success" sporting a morbid before/after cover, and some tracks incorporated a Latin influence from Capaldi's new home, Brazil. However, though "Child in the Storm" reached number 75 in the Netherlands, there was nothing resembling a major hit, not even the folk arrangement of Traffic's "The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys".

The album Let the Thunder Cry was released in Brazil by Young/RGE in early 1981 and spawned two big hits there: "Old Photographs", a cover version of "Casinha branca" originally recorded by Gilson in 1979; and "Favella Music". "Old Photographs" became a hit after it was included in the international soundtrack of the Rede Globo soap opera Brilhante in late 1981. "Favella Music" was also a hit in late 1981.

Return to stardom
Capaldi and Winwood had maintained a working partnership since Traffic's dissolution, contributing to nearly all of each other's solo albums. With his eighth solo album, Capaldi enlisted his old partner as a major collaborator. For the first time, Capaldi played most of the drums himself, and he would continue to do so on future solo albums. However, most of the tracks on Fierce Heart were mixed to place emphasis on the synthesizers, often muting Capaldi's vocals. This synth-heavy pop sound was exactly what 1980s audiences were looking for, and "That's Love" became his biggest hit in the US, climbing to number 28 in the summer of 1983. Another single from the album, "Living on the Edge", made it to number 75, while the album made it to 91 in the Billboard 200.

This time Capaldi was able to quickly produce a follow-up, but despite his recent success and appearances by Steve Marriott, Snowy White, and Carlos Santana, 1984's One Man Mission failed to produce a hit. The album leaned more towards hard rock than Fierce Heart, but drum machines and synthesizers remained major components.
In 1988, Capaldi released Some Come Running. Though the album failed to live up to commercial expectations, it reached number 183 in the USA and number 46 in Sweden, while achieving two hit singles in the Netherlands. Though Eric Clapton and George Harrison appeared on "Oh Lord, Why Lord", it was "Something so Strong" which became his biggest hit in the Netherlands, breaking the top 40 and powering the album itself into the charts.

Some Come Running essentially marked the end of Capaldi's career as a solo artist. He would not record another solo album for well over a decade, though a greatest hits compilation, Prince of Darkness, was released in 1995 and made the charts in the Netherlands.

Collaborations
Capaldi's success as a lyricist continued throughout his life. In 1990 "One and Only Man", a Steve Winwood song for which Capaldi wrote the lyrics, reached the Top 20 in the USA. He was a five times winner of BMI/Ascap Awards for the "most played compositions in America", and sales of songs written or co-written by him exceeded 25 million units. He numbered Bob Marley among his friends, and they travelled together while Marley was writing the Catch A Fire album. Capaldi wrote the lyrics to "This Is Reggae Music".

Capaldi was noted for the extent of his collaborations with other musicians. In 1973, he played drums at Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and on some Clapton studio sessions. Capaldi collaborated with Robert Calvert of Hawkwind on his critically acclaimed 1974 solo album Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters, contributing as a vocal actor on the concept album's theatrical sections between songs. In the 1980s, Capaldi collaborated with Carlos Santana contributing songs and ideas to Santana's projects and in the 1990s he co-wrote (with Paul Carrack) the song "Love Will Keep Us Alive", which was eventually used on the Eagles' successful Hell Freezes Over album. In 1993, Traffic reformed and toured the US and UK.  Capaldi and Winwood recorded a new album, Far from Home, without the other members of the band. In 1998 he paired up again with Mason on an extensive American tour.

The final years
In 2001, Capaldi's eleventh solo album Living on the Outside featured George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Paul Weller, Gary Moore, and Ian Paice. George Harrison played guitar on the track "Anna Julia", an English translation of a song by the Brazilian band Los Hermanos. Both Capaldi brothers played at the Concert for George in 2002.

Personal life
Capaldi married Brazilian-born Aninha E S Campos in 1975 in All Saints Church, Marlow  and in 1976 toured with his band Space Cadets before moving to Brazil in 1977.

He had two daughters, Tabitha born in 1976 and Tallulah born in 1979. The Capaldis lived in the Bahia region of Brazil until the beginning of 1980 and while there he became heavily involved with environmental issues. They maintained homes in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro. The track "Favela Music" on his 1981 album Let The Thunder Cry arose from his love of Brazil, and he worked with several Brazilian composers.

Capaldi was a friend and supporter of the London School of Samba and played with the bateria on at least one occasion. He did a lot of charitable work for organisations in Brazil, such as the Associação Beneficiente São Martinho street children's charity in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, which the LSS also supported between 1994 and 2001. His wife was also the Porta Bandeira (flag bearer) of the LSS in the 1994 and 1995 Notting Hill Carnival parades.

Outside his music and environmental activism, Capaldi also assisted his wife in her work with Jubilee Action to help Brazilian street children. Because of this charity work, Capaldi and his wife were guests of Tony Blair at the Prime Minister's country house, Chequers. He remained professionally active until his final illness prevented him from working on plans for a 2005 reunion tour of Traffic. He died of stomach cancer in Westminster, London, on 28 January 2005, aged 60.

Tributes
Following his death, several tributes in celebration of Capaldi's life and music came out under the name Dear Mr Fantasy. The first was a tribute concert that took place at the Roundhouse in Camden Town, London on Sunday, 21 January 2007. Guests included Bill Wyman (Rolling Stones), Jon Lord (Deep Purple), Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy), Steve Winwood (Traffic), Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam), Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Paul Weller (The Jam), Pete Townshend (The Who), Jim's brother Phil, and many more. The performances were evenly split between Capaldi's solo songs and his work with Traffic. All profits went to The Jubilee Action Street Children Appeal. A recording of the concert was released as a double CD set the same year.

The second such tribute, Dear Mr. Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story, is a four-disc boxed set released in July 2011. Though a slight majority of the tracks came from Capaldi's solo albums, it also included some of his work with the Hellions, Deep Feeling, and Traffic, a few rare non-album tracks, and more than ten previously unreleased recordings, including a song co-written with George Harrison in 1997. The box was also packaged with extensive liner notes, compiling a number of photos and essays.

The third and final tribute is a book of Capaldi's handwritten lyrics, released in November 2011. The ideas of a boxed set and lyrics book had been conceived by Capaldi shortly before he died, and their releases were prepared by his widow in fulfilment of a last promise to him.

Solo discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums
 1995 – Prince of Darkness
 1999 – Live: The 40,000 Headmen Tour (with Dave Mason)
 2011 – Dear Mr Fantasy: The Jim Capaldi Story
 2020 – Open Your Heart - The Island Recordings 1972-1976

Singles

('Love Hurts' was also ranked #137 in the Canadian Top 200 of 1976)

Notes

References

External links
Official website
MP3 information
Traffic band member Capaldi dies from the BBC
Jim Capaldi Quotes
Jubilee Action
Jubilee Campaign

1944 births
2005 deaths
20th-century English singers
21st-century English singers
British soft rock musicians
Deaths from cancer in England
Deaths from stomach cancer
English male singer-songwriters
English singer-songwriters
English people of Italian descent
English rock drummers
English male songwriters
Island Records artists
Italian British musicians
Musicians from Worcestershire
People from Evesham
RSO Records artists
Traffic (band) members
British expatriates in Brazil
20th-century British male singers

Jim Capaldi


Plitvice Lakes National Park (, colloquially Plitvice, ) is one of the oldest and largest national parks in Croatia. In 1979, Plitvice Lakes National Park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list, due to its outstanding and picturesque series of tufa lakes, caves, connected by waterfalls.

The national park was founded in 1949 and is in the mountainous karst area of central Croatia, at the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The important north–south road that passes through the national park area connects the Croatian inland with the Adriatic coastal region.

The protected area extends over . About 90% of this area is part of Lika-Senj County, while the remaining 10% is part of Karlovac County.

Each year, more than 1 million visitors are recorded. Entrance is subject to variable charges, up to 300 kuna or around €39 per adult per day in summer 2022.

Area
The national park is world-famous for its lakes arranged in cascades. Sixteen lakes can be seen from the surface. These lakes are a result of the confluence of several small rivers and subterranean karst rivers. The lakes are all interconnected and follow the water flow. They are separated by natural dams of travertine, which is deposited by the action of moss, algae, and bacteria. The particularly sensitive travertine barriers are the result of an interplay between water, air and plants. The encrusted plants and bacteria accumulate on top of each other, forming travertine barriers which grow at the rate of about  per year.

The 16 lakes are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of  over a distance of some , aligned in a south–north direction. The lakes collectively cover an area of about , the water exiting from the lowest lake forming the Korana River.

The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colors, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colors change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.

Etymology
The name Plitvice was first mentioned in a written document in 1777 by Dominik Vukasović, the priest of Otočac. This name was designated due to natural phenomena that have created the lakes. Nature formed shallow basins (Croatian pličina or plitvak, plitko means shallow), which have been filled with water. For centuries, water has changed the limestone and thus the landscape of this area. The emerging travertine barriers decelerated and retained the flowing water. These dams are continuously growing in height.

Some scientists refer to the river Plitvica as origin of the name. This little river flows into the Plitvice Lakes at the lower and final part of the lakes. A nearby village bears the same name. The water masses of the Plitvice Lakes continue as Korana river in northern direction.

Location

Routes and distances
The Plitvice Lakes have formed in a depression between the Mala Kapela mountain in the west and the Plješevica mountain in the east amidst the Dinaric Alps. The national park is located at the national route D1 Zagreb–Split between Slunj and Korenica in the vicinity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other larger municipalities within the surrounding area are Ogulin, Rakovica, Otočac, Gospić and Bihać in Bosnia.

The shortest linear distance between the Adriatic coast and the national park is . By road from the coastal town of Senj the distance is about . After traversing the Velebit mountain range travelers reach the Croatian karst plains of Lika. These plains are characterized by many karst poljes (e.g. the Gacko polje).

The fastest north–south road connection within Croatia, the A1 Zagreb–Split, runs about  west of the national park and thus circumvents the protected area. Plitvice Lakes National Park can be reached from Karlovac exit in the north, from Otočac exit in the west or Gornja Ploča exit in the south.

The nearest airports are Zadar, Zagreb and Rijeka. The nearest train stations are Josipdol and Plaški, although no direct bus connection from these train stations to the lakes exists. Using public transport the lakes can easily be reached by direct bus lines from Zagreb, Karlovac, Zadar or Split.

The area of Plitvice Lakes National Park extends across two political subdivisions or counties (Croatian županija). Its  area is divided between Lika-Senj County (90.7 percent) and Karlovac County (9.3 percent), hence the national park authority is under national jurisdiction. The overall water body area is about . The two largest lakes, Prošćansko jezero and Kozjak, cover about 80 percent of the overall water body area. These lakes are also the deepest, with a depth of  respectively. On Lake Kozjak, low-noise and ecologically friendly electric boats are being used. None of the other lakes in the park exceeds  in depth. The altitude drop from the first lake to the last is .

The 16 lakes that can be seen from the surface are grouped into the 12 Upper Lakes (Gornja jezera) and the four Lower Lakes (Donja jezera).

The highest waterfalls are the Large Waterfall (kroat. Veliki slap) at the end of the Lower Lakes, over which the Plitvica river falls, and Veliki Prstavac at the Upper Lakes.

Within the national park area there are 19 small settlements. Altogether they form the Plitvice Lakes municipality (Croatian općina Plitvička Jezera). The municipality is part of Lika-Senj County. The seat is located in Korenica.

The Plitvice Lakes area has always been regarded as part of the historic regions of Lika and Kordun. During the Ottoman Wars, the region was part of the Croatian Military Frontier that was under direct control of the Habsburg Council of War.

Topography and geology

Terrain
The particular geographic position of the Plitvice Lakes and the specific climate features contributed to the emergence of many natural phenomena and a rich biodiversity within this area. Despite the vicinity to the Mediterranean climatic region, a moderate mountainous climate prevails at the Plitvice Lakes. These climatic conditions prevail due to the Velebit mountain range, which acts as a climatic separator between the coastal region and the Lika high plateau. For centuries, legends have been created about this mythic mountain range.

The availability of water, influenced by the configuration of the terrain, has a great impact on the biodiversity of this area. The Plitvice Lakes are surrounded by various mountains. The western side of the national park area is enclosed by the Mala Kapela mountain, while the eastern side is enclosed by the Plješevica mountain, which also represents the border to Bosnia and Hercegovina. Plitvice Lakes National Park is situated in the Plitvice plateau which is surrounded by three mountains that are part of the Dinaric Alps: Plješevica mountain (Gornja Plješevica peak 1,640 m), Mala Kapela mountain (Seliški Vrh peak at 1,280 m), and Medveđak (884 m).

The afforested mountain slopes serve as water reservoirs. They are also a refuge for many animal species. The large difference in altitude in a narrow space between the mountains in the south and the Korana river in the north also represents a significant criterion for biodiversity in this region. The overall difference in altitude within the national park area is 912 m (the highest elevation is Seliški vrh at 1279 m, the lowest elevation is reached at 367 m at the bridge across the Korana river).

The national Park is underlain by karstic rock, mainly dolomite and limestone with associated lakes and caves, this has given rise to the most distinctive feature of the lakes. Right at the lakes, the Golubnjača Cave (145 m) before the second Korana waterfall and Šupljara Cave (68 m) above Lake Kaluđerovac can be visited. Other caves e.g. are Mračna Cave (160 m), Vila Jezerkinje Cave (104 m) and Golubnjača at Homoljačko Field (153 m). Within the national park, several pit-caves exist, such as the Čudinka pit-cave (-203 m) or Jama on Vršić (-154 m, length 110 m). In Rodića Cave at Sertić Poljana and in Mračna Cave at the Lower Lakes, cave bear bones were found, so these sites may be considered paleontologically significant.

Rivers

The Plitvice Lakes originate in the south of the park area at the confluence of Bijela Rijeka (English White River) and Crna Rijeka (English Black River). These rivers originate south of the municipality of Plitvički Ljeskovac and unite at one of the bridges in this village. From this place onwards to the lakes, the water masses are referred to as Matica (English for water current, can also mean root or origin). At the bay of Liman (also called Limun), a part of Prošćansko jezero, another little river flows into the lakes. This river is fed by permanent springs; the water quantity, however, varies. Temporarily, water from other, usually dead creeks reaches Prošćansko jezero from the west.

The river Plitvica reaches the Plitvice lake chain at the northern end via the Large Waterfall. This place is called Sastavci (English confluence or composition). The water masses of the Plitvice Lakes and the river Plitvice form the Korana river.

Properties of the underground

The underground configuration of the Plitvice Lakes consists of various geologic features. Generally, the whole area of Plitvice Lakes National Park can be attributed to the South-East European karst area. The typical feature of this karst area is brittle or porous rock, mostly limestone or dolomite. This configuration creates different geomorphological phenomena being referred to as dolina (sinkhole), polje, uvala, ponor, etc.

In the future, the analysis of underground water courses could be an interesting field of research for speleologists. Up to now, little has been known about these unexplored courses. At first sight, a lack of water in the karst region could be ascertained. However, this is only the case on the surface. The major part of natural phenomena takes place underground, where an abundance of water exists.

Due to the features of limestone, many rivers drain away into the rock. Therefore, extensive underground river systems exist. Upon reaching hard rock, rivers emerge on the surface. This phenomenon of underground karst rivers (Croatian rijeka ponornica) can also be observed at the Plitvice Lakes.

Tufa sediments have been formed from the Pleistocene onwards in sinkholes or depressed areas between the surrounding mountains. Generally seen, the underground of the Plitvice Lakes could be categorized into two zones. The Upper Lakes in the south predominantly consist of dolomite rock. The Lower lakes in the north predominantly consist of limestone rock. Dolomite rock is slightly harder than limestone. Though fragile upon physical influence, dolomite rock has lower water permeability properties. In contrast, limestone rock is more compact and massive, but has a higher water permeability.

From an aerial perspective, significant differences between the terrain of the Upper and the Lower Plitvice Lakes can be observed. At the Upper Lakes several little lakes have formed parallel to each other and a rather shallow water flow can be observed. The Lower Lakes, however, are much larger and virtually drill their path through the rock. Furthermore, there are only a few lakes at the Lower Lakes. They have formed a canyon, which continues as river Korana.

Climate

On average, the annual precipitation rate at the Plitvice Lakes is . Usually, in spring and fall (autumn) the largest rain quantities are measured. The average relative air humidity is 81.8 percent. In January, the average temperature is 2.2 °C (36 °F). During the summer months of July and August, the temperature rises to 17.4 °C (63 °F). The general average annual temperature is 7.9 °C (46 °F). Snow falls from November until March. Usually, the lakes are frozen during December and January.

The water temperature at the springs is usually below 10 °C (50 °F). Within the rivers and lakes, the water temperature rises up to 20 °C (68 °F). The following example for different water temperatures measured on July 7, 1954 demonstrates large temperature differences within the lakes: Within lake Kozjak at the depth of 4 m a temperature of 18.9 °C (66 °F) has been measured. At a depth of 20 m, 5 °C (41 °F) have been measured. At 44 m depth, virtually at the bottom of the lake, a temperature of 4.1 °C (39 °F) has been measured.

The dissolution and creation of rock
The lakes of Plitvice are a result of century-old processes and the sedimentation of chalk, which is abundantly available in the waters of this karst area. These sedimentations are called tufa or travertine (both are called sedra or tuf in Croatian, apart from many other names like bigar or vapneni mačak).

A distinctive feature of the Plitvice lakes is the fact that they do not represent separated, stationary waters. The lakes altogether have always been seen as one composed system of lakes. Due to constant changes it is not even possible to pursue individual analyses of single lakes. The water masses reaching the lakes at the upper or lower part of the system are continuously changing the outlook of the lakes and the surrounding landscape. They finally exit the lakes as river Korana. On the one hand, chalk tufa is being washed away partly. On the other hand, new sediments are continuously being formed. Thus, new waterfalls are being formed while others run dry. Nature itself is continuously adapting to these new conditions. As a whole, the complex of lakes represents a very sensitive and labile (liable to change) ecosystem.

Alteration processes
In geological terms, the actual phenomena molding the Plitvice Lakes are quite young. The complex processes of dissolution and sedimentation of limestone require specific climatic preconditions. These have only existed since the end of the ice age about 12,000 to 15,000 years ago, according to tufa radiocarbon datings.

Apart from weather and temperature factors, the water quality and other natural factors are significant for the creation of these natural phenomena, prevailing at the Plitvice Lakes. By passing through the limestone underground the karst rivers dissolve chalk (calcite), which concentrates in the water. The saturation level of calcite within the frontal flows is thus very high. The water becomes significantly mineralized, super-saturated with calcium and magnesium-hydrogencarbonate.

The dissolution of limestone happens through alteration processes and the effects of carbonic acid. In a natural environment, carbonic acid (H2CO3) is formed by the dissolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air or from rainwater (H2O). Limestone or dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) mainly consists of calcite (CaCO3), which is not very soluble in water. Calcite, however, is dissolved by carbonic acid, thus creating calcium hydrogencarbonate (Ca(HCO3)2). This is shown by the following formulas:

The quantity of calcium hydrogencarbonate (also called calcium bicarbonate) dissolved in water depends on the quantity of dissolved carbon dioxide in the water. Generally, the following could be said: The colder the water, the higher the quantity of dissolved calcium hydrogencarbonate. Depending on the conditions for the alteration processes, scientists identified limestone dissolution rates of 0.01 to 4 millimeters a year. (It is possible that by the effect of rainwater about 1 m3 of limestone is dissolved in about 10,000 years.)

Sedimentation processes

The previously mentioned mechanical and chemical dissolution processes are regularly occurring natural phenomena. A unique process occurring at the Plitvice Lakes, however, is the sedimentation of water-bound chalk at certain places. With regard to other similar phenomena in the world, at Plitvice Lakes the sedimentation of chalk and the formation of tufa happens dynamically all along the watercourse and in various forms (fluviatile sedimentation). It is thus not a static phenomenon occurring at only single places.

Another unique and distinctive feature are the natural factors, particularly the influences of the vegetation in the process of sedimentation. While passing the vegetation, barriers are being created by foaming water. These naturally created barriers decelerate and dam the waters, thus forming lakes. At Plitvice, this constant interplay between water, air, rock and vegetation can easily be observed. The foaming water creates ever growing and impressive waterfalls. The thresholds grown up above the water level, create cataracts.

About  north of the lakes at the conflux of the Korana and Slunjčica rivers, right in the center of the town of Slunj, similar phenomena occur. This part of the town, called Rastoke, is often being referred to as "the Small Lakes of Plitvice."

Preconditions for sedimentation

Measurements of carbon dioxide quantities in the water show that they correspond with continuous sedimentation processes in the Plitvice Lakes area. Carbon dioxide quantities at the springs are about twenty times higher than in the atmosphere. The quantity of carbon dioxide decreases along the water route. The Plitvica river for example loses even up to 97 percent of its original quantity of carbon dioxide along its route.

The sedimentation of calcium carbonate from the water occurs only at certain temperature conditions (only above 14 °C), e.g. when the water warms up or by evaporation or by another loss of carbon dioxide, additionally fostered by water plants and moss. Since sedimentation only occurs under warm, humid climate conditions, these phenomena have only been occurring since the end of the last ice age. Since then, a layer of hardened tufa, also called travertine, has been formed on the limestone ground.

The area of a river, in which the formation of tufa occurs, is called precipitation area. Along the Korana river for example, measured from its origins tufa is being formed only along the first 10 to , even if according to pH measurements the conditions would be favorable further down the river. At the ground of Lake Kozjak a constant yearly sedimentation of 0,8 millimeters during the past 3,000 years has been ascertained. Yearly, the barriers are growing up to 13 millimeters in height. Tufa formation processes thus surpass erosion activities, which would destroy the sensitive barriers of the lakes. It is estimated that the tufa sedimentations at the ground of the lakes date back 6,000 or even 7,000 years.

The precipitation of calcium carbonate, however, does not occur right at the springs of the rivers that flow into the Plitvice Lakes. For the precipitation of carbonate chalk (calcium carbonate) the water needs to reach a certain mineral saturation level. At the springs this saturation level is about 1. For the precipitation, the water saturation level needs to be higher than 3. At the same time, the pH value of the water needs to be above 8,0 (slightly alkaline).

Thresholds become barriers

Tufa barriers are the result of continuous sedimentation processes along natural thresholds. As the water flows in thin layers over thresholds, it is splashed up. This disturbs the chemical balance and causes precipitation of the carbonates, which then creates sedimentary deposits. Since the water forms larger surfaces at these places, increased quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) are released. Calcium carbonate is secreted in the form of microcrystals that are deposited, eventually creating tufa sediments (CaCO3). This phenomenon particularly occurs on abundantly available mosses, enabling better adherence of the crystals.

In the course of time, older barriers can be flooded by rising water levels since other barriers have outgrown the older ones. 400 years ago, there were two lakes in the place of today's Kozjak lake. In the lowest third of the lake, at the level of Matijaševića draga, a crown of an underwater barrier that is 40 m high, is stretching 4 m below the water surface. This barrier certainly formed a magnificent waterfall in the past. The travertine barrier at the Kozjak bridges (at the current end of the Kozjak lake), however, grew faster. Thus, 400 years ago two lakes merged in one. That is why the greatest depths of Kozjak lake are in its lower basin (north from the little island).

Influence of vegetation

Mosses, algae and water plants play a major role in forming the unique landscape of the Plitvice Lakes and its tufa barriers. Up until the 21st century, it was supposed that plants extract carbon dioxide from the water for photosynthesis purposes and that in return oxygen is released, thus resulting in the sedimentation of hydrogen carbonate (phytogenesis). The leading scientist arguing for this theory was Ivo Pevalek. whose efforts contributed to the national protection of the lakes.

Recent scientific evidence indicates that vegetation is not primarily responsible for the extraction of carbonate from the flowing water. However, plants indirectly contribute to tufa formation. For sedimentation to occur it is essential that the water be decelerated, aerated and sprayed. The mosses of the Plitvice Lakes waterfalls provide a substrate for sedimentation, generating travertine (tufa). Depending on the species found locally, various biological types of travertine can be differentiated.

Photosynthesis activities of algae and mosses in conjunction with the water, however, foster the crystallization of sediments due to the extraction of carbon dioxide. These effects are fostered by the millions of microscopically-small bacteria and algae that grow on such plants, which secrete mucus to which the first microcrystals of calcite adhere. The most significant plants of this kind are mosses of the species bryum and cratoneuron.

The young shoots of mosses are green and soft. They are mostly without travertine, while older shoots are encrusted by a thin and fragile yellow layer, completely covered and petrified by plant-formed travertine. The mosses foster not only the creation of tufa barriers, but also become part of the barrier. The moss becomes encrusted with travertine and fresh moss grows further out. First a crag is formed but later a cave roof forms under the crag. If the water continues flowing, the cave becomes progressively bigger. Older travertine is filled with fossilized algae and mosses. This type of tufa rock typical of the Plitvice Lakes is called "phytogeneous tufa."

Factors impeding tufa formation
Even though the vegetation has beneficial effects for the formation of tufa, excessive concentrations of organic substances within the water impede its formation. Excessive plant cover has adverse effects on mineral sedimentation. Along the course of Korana River from the Korana bridge, for example, travertine creation ends quite quickly, in spite of its supersaturation with calcium bicarbonate, as a result of the increased concentration of organic matter in the water. The park authorities have therefore begun systematic removal of excessive vegetation along the barriers. Water purity is the decisive factor for tufa formation. The water at the influx to the Plitvice Lakes is defined as pure from an analytical point of view. The Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) value of the water barely exceeds 2.5 mg/L at the influx to the Upper Lakes (Matica). At the Lower Lakes higher concentrations are measured (5.15 mg/L). At the springs of other Croatian rivers in the karst region similar concentrations have been recorded.

During the 20th century, uncontrolled tourism and water pollution caused by waste water from hotels and agricultural activities in the surrounding area have led to damage. This has led to increasing eutrophication of the lakes (increased concentrations of organic substances within the water). For the sustainable formation of tufa it is therefore imperative to protect this extremely sensitive area from excessively harmful human influence. Since 2006, it has been strictly forbidden to bathe or swim in the lakes. Previously, swimming had been allowed in Lake Kozjak.

Types of rock

Flora and fauna

The area of the Plitvice Lakes is one of the most significant areas of Croatia for plant and animal diversity, mainly due to climatic conditions and its relatively remote location. Due to the low level of industrial development in the surrounding area along with the early introduction of protective measures, a nearly untouched landscape has been preserved. The partially primeval beech and fir forests host various species such as the brown bear.

Flora

The Plitvice Lakes national park is heavily forested, mainly with beech, spruce, and fir trees, and features a mixture of Alpine and Mediterranean vegetation. It has a notably wide variety of plant communities, due to its range of microclimates, differing soils and varying levels of altitude.

Scientists have so far identified 1,267 different types of plants belonging to the 109 species so far recorded in the area of the national park. 75 species of plants are endemic, which means that they were first defined and classified in this area of the world or nearby. A great number of these plants and species are protected by law. Within the national park area 55 different species of orchids can be found.

Examples of endemic plants to be found in the national park:

Examples of other rare plants:

The great plant diversity creates an interesting interplay of colours that change with the seasons. The national park has an area of 29,842 hectares, of which some 22,308 hectares consists of forests (74.75 percent), 6,957 hectares are meadows (23.31 percent) (mainly in village areas), and 217 hectares (0.72 percent) are water areas. A unique area is the forest of Čorkova uvala, a 79.50 ha large virgin forest in the northwestern part of the park. Some of beech and fir trees in this area of the park are up to 700 years old.

Fauna

The area of the national park is home to an extremely wide variety of animal and bird species. Unique fauna such as the European brown bear, grey wolf, eagle, owl, Eurasian lynx, European wildcat, and capercaillie can be found there, along with many more common species.

The wider area of the national park is one of the last areas in Europe in which a great number of wild brown bears and wolves can be found. The rich fauna of the Plitvice Lakes includes some 50 species of mammals. Scientists have so far discovered 321 different kinds of butterflies, of which 76 are day-flying butterflies, and 245 are nocturnal moths. Scientists, however, estimate that up until now only about 40 percent of the whole population of butterflies has been identified. Furthermore, 12 amphibian species, as well as some species of reptiles have been recorded, including the viviparous lizard (Lacerta vivipara), the european green lizard (Lacerta viridis), the dice snake (Natrix tessellata), Vipera berus, Vipera ammodytes and the european pond turtle (Emys orbicularis).

Plitvice Lakes rank third among the Croatian national parks for avian diversity. Some 157 species have been counted, of which 70 have been recorded as breeding there. Recent findings list about 20 different kinds of bat species in the area, among them the rare species of Plecotus.

For fish, the brown trout (Salmo trutta fario and Salmo trutta lacustris) are some of the indigenous species that can be found in the lakes. The Salmo trutta fario is found mostly in the Upper Lakes, while theSalmo trutta lacustris is mainly found in Lake Kozjak. These species developed in different life conditions independently from each other within the various lakes.

Due to the spreading growth of vegetation at the barriers, allochthonous (species that originate elsewhere and do not belong to this ecosystem) fish species spread quickly and thus endanger autochthonous trout species. Apart from the trout, common minnows (Phoxinus phoxinus) are also found. As a result of human interference the species salvelinus alpinus and the North American rainbow trout have been introduced to this ecosystem. The European chub (Squalius cephalus) and common rudd (Scardinius erythropthalmus), whose species whose emergence may be attributed to climate change, have also been discovered. The number of crayfish, which were almost extinct, is now again increasing. Even rare olms (Proteus anguinus) can be found in the karst caves of this region.

Examples of some animals found in the national park:

History

While other nature protection areas are located far away from any interference by man, the Plitvice Lakes have permanently been exposed to human influence in the course of history. The Plitvice Lakes do not represent an abandoned or lonely nature reserve. They are located along an important transport route and have always been a meeting place of occidental and oriental cultural influences.

Early history and medieval age

Humans have inhabited the Plitvice Lakes area for thousands of years. It has been settled in turn by Illyrians, Japods, Celts, Romans, Avars, Slavs, Croats and Turks. Under Julius Caesar the region was incorporated as the province of Illyricum into the Roman Empire. The areas of the neighborly tribes of the Pannonians, the Liburnians and Dalmatians were united into the province of Dalmatia. Successively, the Ostrogoths took over the rule. After the Battle of Nedao in 454, the Ostrogoths were rewarded with a federation agreement with the Roman Empire.

During the 6th century, Avars settled in this region, which were accompanied by the Croats. The Croats eventually defied Avar control and settled permanently in this region. In medieval times, frequent attacks by Mongols posed a permanent threat to the settled population.  The lakes formed part of the medieval kingdom of Croatia which in 1102 elected to be in personal union with Hungary.

Croat rule and particularly the rule of the noble families Zrinski and Frankopan led to economic recovery in the wider area. On the remnants of an ancient settlement of the Japods and Romans a monastery was built at the lakes. Presumably, this monastery belonged to the Order of Saint Paul the First Hermit (Croatian pavlinci) or the Knights Templars. Today, only ancient wall remnants of this building (Croatian gradina) exist. The foundation was made of travertine rock.

Ottoman Wars and the Habsburgs

In 1493, not far away from the Plitvice Lakes a decisive battle in Croatian history between Kingdom of Croatia (then in personal union with Hungary) and Ottoman Empire took place. During the Battle of Krbava Field almost the entire Croatian nobility was killed. The Ottomans advanced far into Western lands up to Croatia and Hungary. In 1527, the Croatian Parliament elected the Habsburg monarch Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria as the new king of Croatia in the hope of resources to ward of the Ottoman advance. In 1528, the area fell to the Ottomans and was retaken by the Habsburg Empire 150 years later.

In 1538, king Ferdinand I ordered the establishment of the Croatian Military Frontier as a borderland of Habsburg Austria to the Ottoman Empire. The laws that prevailed in this area under special jurisdiction had formative impact on the local population for centuries. As a consequence of the establishment of this special regime, people abandoned these areas in great masses towards the West.

In addition to the native Croats already inhabiting the region and serving in the Austrian military, many central Europeans migrated to the region as did Serb Orthodox refugees fleeing Ottoman repression, who were given refuge in the abandoned areas in exchange for military service. The entire population of the military frontier, particularly the so-called frontiersmen, had the duty to protect this area of permanent unrest and terrible destruction. The region once also used to be called the garden of the devil (hortus diabolus).

The Ottomans succeeded several times to gain control over the area of the Plitvice Lakes for shorter periods. In 1788, this area permanently fell back under Habsburg rule. When the Ottoman threat subsided, the Military Frontier was reverted to the civilian control of the Croatian viceroy (Ban). The area then formed part of Banovina of Croatia within the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and then part of the Socialist Republic of Croatia within the Socialist Yugoslavia. Today, it is part of the Republic of Croatia.

In 1805, another major rule change happened, which created an economic upturn. Dalmatia and Lika fell under the rule of Napoleon, who founded the Illyrian provinces. After 1814, the area of the Plitvice Lakes came back under Habsburg rule. Since 1850, only professional soldiers served in the Military Frontier. This was also a time of national awakening in Croatia. In 1871, the famous Croatian politician Eugen Kvaternik was killed north of the lakes at Rakovica. The Croatian rebellion was put down by Austrian authorities. Kvaternik propagated the rule of law and argued for the liberation from Austrian-Hungarian predominance.

Farmlands becoming an area of recreation

In former times, the local population lacked the proper comprehension of the natural values of the Plitvice Lakes. Farmers had to focus on securing the daily bread for their families in these dour times, which was accompanied by grave changes to nature. For example, smaller lakes were filled up with earth or people adapted the flow of the rivers to their individual needs.

Already in 1861, an accommodation for travelers was erected at Velika Poljana. The local population called this accommodation the Emperor's house, since imperial military officers used to reside in this location. For the visit of Crown Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in 1888, the Plitvice Lakes and their surroundings were arranged for tourist purposes for the first time in history. Two paths still bear the names of the daughters of the Emperor Franz Joseph: "Stephanie's Path" (Croatian Štefanijin put) and "Dorothea's Path" ().

In 1890, the tradesman Ante Devčić from Senj built the first hotel with a restaurant at Prošćansko jezero. However, he exaggerated in his efforts and also caused partly irreparable damage on the nature. For example, he constructed canals across the travertine barriers for his saw mill that are visible even today.

At the same place, today called Labudovac, Gustav Janeček, a Czech from Zagreb, built a restaurant and accommodation. In 1893, Janeček founded the Society for the preservation of the Plitvice Lakes (Croatian Društvo za uređenje i poljepšanje Plitvičkih jezera), with the aim of preserving the lakes after all negative influence they have been exposed to. The society also built a hotel at the lakes. In 1898, one of the waterfalls was named after Croatian opera singer Milka Ternina. She gave money from concerts to preserve the park, upgrade tracks and build pathways.

During the First World War, the Croatian parliament in Zagreb passed the Law on the Protection of the Plitvice Lakes in 1916. However, this law did not contain adequate measures of protection and is thus not regarded as official founding declaration of the national park.

During the following decades, preservation efforts reached a deadlock. However, some very significant meetings took place at the Plitvice Lakes during the Second World War, as for example the first secret regional conference of the League of Communists of Croatia (Croatian: Savez komunista Hrvatske, SKH) in 1940. On June 14, 1943 one of the founding sessions of the National Anti-Fascist Council of the People's Liberation of Croatia (ZAVNOH) took place at Plitvice Lakes. This was the highest governing organ of the anti-fascist movement in Croatia during World War II. The former Secretary General of the Communist Party of Croatia, Rade Končar, was born in Končarev Kraj at the Plitvice Lakes in 1911.

The lakes as national park

After the end of the Second World War, the unique natural phenomena of this area were acknowledged permanently. On April 8, 1949, the Plitvice Lakes were declared as a national park area and rigorous nature protection measures were established.

During the 1960s, a modern road connection to the Plitvice Lakes was constructed, which led to increasing traffic volumes. During these years, several hotels and other objects were erected according to innovative plans of Croatian architects. However, some buildings that would fit current standards were already demolished during the 1980s by the Communist authorities.

Between 1962 and 1968, many Western film productions of Karl May novels were shot at the Plitvice Lakes (mainly German-French-Yugoslav coproductions). The most successful film of this series, Treasure of the Silver Lake was also produced at some locations within the national park. (Kaluđerovac in the lower lakes served as scenery for the Silver Lake.)

During the 1970s, detailed land registers of the national park were recorded. The park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List in 1979 in recognition of its "outstanding natural beauty, and the undisturbed production of travertine (tufa) through chemical and biological action".

During the 1980s, tourism was booming in Yugoslavia. Plitvice Lakes National Park soon became one of Yugoslavia's most popular tourist attractions. The beginning of the 1990s, however, marked another great turning point in the history of this national park. In March 1991 it became the scene of the Plitvice Lakes incident (also called the "Plitvice Bloody Easter"), the first armed confrontation of the Croatian War of Independence that resulted in fatalities. The park was held by local Serb rebels backed by Slobodan Milošević and the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) as part of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina during the conflict and suffered some damage in the process, with hotels and other facilities being used as barracks. During the period under the control of Serb forces loyal to Belgrade, Croats were ethnically cleansed from the region systematically.  The region was retaken by the Croatian Army in August 1995 during Operation Storm, and the majority of the Serb population was expelled.

During the war from 1991 until 1995, many buildings in the national park were destroyed or burnt down. Due to the apparent risk of mines, the park was even put on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger during the war years. After the war, the Plitvice Lakes were among the first areas to be cleared of mines and renovated, although some of the more remote areas in the park are suspected still to contain landmines. In 1998, the national park was removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger. In 2000, the national park was expanded by a further  in order to protect the underground tributary streams.

Within the national park continuous scientific research projects are being carried out. The national park administration currently endeavors to introduce new, progressive protection measures. There is a proposal to replace the wooden bridges and paths by floating pontoon bridges. The existing wooden paths are anchored within the travertine sediments, creating the danger of seepage and cracks of the weak travertine.

The Plitvice Lakes are today one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Croatia. Due to their high natural, cultural and tourist significance, they have become a motor for the local economy. About 1,000,000 visitors per year greatly contribute to the economic development of the wider region.

Due to high tourism and illegal construction around lakes, with faecal waste flowing down to surrounding woods and lakes without any treatment, the water in the lakes is polluted and no longer drinkable. In its current state, UNESCO threatens to remove the park's status as a World Natural Heritage site.

Local customs and traditions
The preservation of old customs and traditions is of high significance for the local population. The local culture has also been detected as an important factor for tourism. As regards architecture, the region of Lika is well known for its low wooden houses with roofs made of rye straw or shingles. Many features of the ancient living style are mirrored in local costumes. They tell a lot about regional affiliations or social standings of those who have worn those costumes. Under French rule, men were allowed to wear their costumes during military service.

Up until the 20th century, social gatherings during the winter months, when no agricultural activities could be performed, called  "prelo" represented a typical tradition of this region. These gatherings served for the joint production of textiles or butter or for the further processing of harvest products (production of flour, etc.). These activities used to be accompanied by drinks and dances, particularly during the evenings. A well-known dance of this region is the round dance (Croatian kolo).

Local cuisine consists of drinks, such as slivovitz (), wine and coffee or dishes, such as soft cheese (vrhnje), polenta, pršut, paprika sausage, roasted suckling pig (odojak) or lamb (janjetina).

Lake names and anecdotes
Each of the Plitvice Lakes has a story or legend to tell. Most lake names stem from true events.

Comparable phenomena worldwide
Comparable phenomena to those prevailing at the Plitvice Lakes exist at Rastoke (Slunj), at the Krka National Park, at the rivers Una and the Pliva in Bosnia and Herzegovina and at the Krushuna Falls in Bulgaria. The Band-e Amir lakes within the Hindu Kush mountain range form a similar system of lakes and dams, though diverging tufa formation processes prevail. Calc-sinter formation processes that have not emerged along a river flow can be observed at the Mammoth Hot Springs within Yellowstone National Park (USA) or at Pamukkale in Turkey. Jiuzhaigou is a nature reserve and national park located in the north of Sichuan, China. Also inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, its landscape of cascading lakes is made up of high-altitude karsts shaped by glacial, hydrological and tectonic activity. The area around Ocho Rios Jamaica is another region famous for its calc-sinter rivers. Most popular, particularly with cruise ships, is Dunn's River Falls.

References

Bibliography
 Mato Njavro (ed.): Plitvice Lakes, Turistička naklada d.o.o., Zagreb 2005,
 Josip Movčan, Drago Zdunić: Plitvice, Grafički zavod Hrvatske, Spektar, Zagreb 1985 (German, Croatian, English, French)
 Dragutin Franić: Plitvička jezera i njihova okolica, Tisak kraljevske zemaljske tiskare, Zagreb 1910 (Croatian)
 Branimir Gušić, Mirko Marković (ed.): Plitvička jezera – čovjek i priroda, Grafički zavod Hrvatske, Zagreb 1974 (Croatian)
 Jeanne Oliver, Lonely Planet Croatia, pp. 164–166 (Lonely Planet, 2005)
 Radovan Radovinović (ed.), The Croatian Adriatic (Naklada Naprijed, Zagreb)

External links

 Maps of Plitvice Lakes

Official links
 UNESCO World Heritage Centre
 Explore Plitvice Lakes National Park in the UNESCO collection on Google Arts and Culture
 Plitvice Lakes Management Plan (2007)
 Official Website of Plitvice Lakes National Park
 Official Website of Plitvice Lakes Tourist Board

Photo galleries
 High resolution photos of lakes and waterfalls in Plitvice National Park
 Plitvice Lakes National Park Picture gallery
 Plitvice lakes winter photo gallery

Dinaric Mountains mixed forests
Forests of Croatia
Lake groups of Croatia
National parks of Croatia
Protected areas established in 1949
Protected areas of Karlovac County
Protected areas of Lika-Senj County
Register of Protected Natural Values of the Republic of Croatia
World Heritage Sites in Croatia
World Heritage Sites in Danger
1949 establishments in Croatia

Plitvice Lakes National Park