Duan Zhixuan

Duan Xiong (), titled Duke Zhongzhuang of Bao, better known by his courtesy name as Duan Zhixuan (), was a general and officer in early Tang Dynasty. He is one of 24 honored founding officials of Tang Dynasty at Lingyan Pavilion.
In history.
Duan Zhixuan is the son of Duan Yanshi, a mid-low ranked officer of Taiyuan in Sui Dynasty, and a friend to Li Yuan, the founding emperor of Tang Dynasty. Duan Zhixuan and his father joined the rebellion led by Li Yuan that eventually overthrew Sui Dynasty in 617-618. During the rebellion, Duan Zhixuan, Chai Shao and Liu Wenjing defeated and captured the Sui generals Sang Xianhe and Qutu Tong in a battle near Tong Pass. Duan was rewarded the title Marquis of Linji after this battle. Later, he became a subordinate to Li Shimin and took part in unification wars against various warlords including Xue Ju, Liu Wuzhou and Wang Shichong. In 626, he was a key figure that helped Li Shimin obtain the crown in the Xuanwu Gate Incident. When Li Shimin became the emperor (Emperor Taizong of Tang), Duan Zhixuan was rewarded the title Duke of Fan and appointed to be the Grand General of Left Brave Guard. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, Duan Zhixuan served in different positions both in the military and in local government. He also took part in the early stage of the campaign against Tuyuhun in 634. In 637, his title changed to Duke of Bao, and his descendants were given the privilege to inherit his title. He died in 642 and was given a posthumous name Zhongzhuang ().
In popular culture.
In Chinese folklores and some classic novels, Duan Zhixuan is often mistakenly referred to as Duan Zhiyuan () or Duan Zhixian (). In those folk stories, Duan Zhixuan is one of four close guards (along with Ma Sanbao, Liu Hongji and Yin Kaishan) protecting Li Shimin. He was killed by the Korean general Yeon Gaesomun during a war between Tang and Goguryeo.


List of names of the Ottoman Empire

The state of the Ottomans, which began as part of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate and became an independent Empire, has been known historically by different names at different periods and in various languages. This page surveys the history of these names and their usage.
State phase, 1299.
The first declaration of statehood occurred under Osman I.
Empire phase, 1453.
In diplomatic circles, the Ottoman government was often referred to as the "Porte" or the "Sublime Porte," a literal translation of the Ottoman Turkish "Bâb-ı Âlî", which was the only gate of Topkapı Palace open to foreigners and the location where the Sultan and his viziers greeted ambassadors.


Ahmed al-Haznawi

Ahmed Ibrahim al-Haznawi (, ) (October 11, 1980 – September 11, 2001) was one of four hijackers of United Airlines Flight 93 as part of the September 11 attacks.
He left his family to fight in Chechnya in 2000 but was probably sent to training camps in Afghanistan. It was there he was chosen to participate in the 9/11 attacks. He arrived in the United States in June 2001 under the direction of Al-Qaeda for terrorist attacks, on a tourist visa. Once he was in the U.S., he settled in Florida and helped plan out how the attacks would take place.
On September 11, 2001, al-Haznawi boarded United Airlines Flight 93 and assisted in the hijacking of the plane, which was intended to be crashed into either the White House or the U.S. Capitol but crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after a failed passenger uprising.
Early life.
Ahmed al-Haznawi was the son of a Saudi imam from the Al-Bahah province, a province in the south west of Saudi Arabia. Al-Haznawi grew up in the village of Hazna, where his father was a cleric at the mosque in the central marketplace section of the village. Al-Haznawi belonged to a family that was part of the larger, al-Ghamdi tribe, sharing the same tribal affiliation with fellow hijackers Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, and Ahmed al-Ghamdi. He memorised the Quran, giving him the title Hafiz.
This group is noted as being some of the more religiously observant of the hijackers, and they are thought to have met one another some time in 1999.
History.
1999–2000.
Al-Haznawi announced he was leaving his family in 1999 to fight in Chechnya, although his father forbade him. His father and brother, Abdul Rahman al-Haznawi, reportedly last heard from him in late 2000, after he made references to training in Afghanistan.
On November 12, 2000, al-Haznawi applied for and received a two-year U.S. B-1/B-2
(tourist/business) visa in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
From November 27, 2000, through December 27, 2000, al-Haznawi was in Saudi Arabia for Ramadan. It is theorized that during this trip, he may have initially told Saeed and Hamza al-Ghamdi about the operation.
Some time late in 2000, al-Haznawi traveled to the United Arab Emirates, where he purchased traveler's cheques presumed to have been paid for by Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Five other hijackers also passed through the UAE and purchased travellers cheques, including Majed Moqed, Saeed al-Ghamdi, Hamza al-Ghamdi, Wail al-Shehri and Ahmed al-Nami.
2001.
He was one of four hijackers believed to be staying at a Kandahar guest house in March 2001, where they were seen by Mohammed Jabarah. Jabarah remembered al-Haznawi specifically, saying that he was "very devout and could recite the entire Koran from memory."
On June 8, he arrived in Miami, Florida, with fellow hijacker Wail al-Shehri. He was one of 9 hijackers to open a SunTrust bank account with a cash deposit around June 2001. He is believed to have moved in with Ziad Jarrah, who got a new apartment on Bougainvilla Dr. in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, after both men gave the landlord photocopies of their German passports, which he later turned over to the FBI.
On June 25, Jarrah took al-Haznawi to Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale on advice of his landlord Charles Lisa. Al-Haznawi was treated by Dr. Christos Tsonas, who gave him antibiotics for a small gash on his left calf. While he told staff that he had bumped into a suitcase, the media briefly reported it as a sign of cutaneous anthrax and a possible link to the 2001 anthrax attacks, although FBI later addressed the rumors stating that "Exhaustive testing did not support that anthrax was present anywhere the hijackers had been."
On July 10, al-Haznawi obtained a Florida driver's license, later obtaining another copy on September 7, 2001, by filling out a change-of-address form. Five other hijackers also received duplicate Florida licenses in 2001, and others had licenses from different states. Some have speculated that this was to allow multiple persons to use the same identity.
Jarrah and al-Haznawi both received their one-way tickets for United Airlines Flight 93, on September 5. On September 7, all four Flight 93 hijackers flew from Fort Lauderdale to Newark International Airport aboard Spirit Airlines.
Attacks.
On September 11, 2001, al-Haznawi arrived at Newark International Airport to board Flight 93. Although he was selected for additional security by CAPPS and screened, he was able to board the flight without incident, with only his checked bags requiring extra screening for explosives.
Due to the flight's delay, the pilot and crew were notified of the previous hijackings that day and were told to be on the alert. Within minutes, Flight 93 was hijacked as well.
At least two of the cellphone calls made by passengers indicate that all the hijackers they saw were wearing red bandanas, which some believe may have signified an allegiance to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The calls also indicated that one of the men had tied a box around his torso, and claimed there was a bomb inside – it is not known which hijacker this was. Some passengers expressed doubt that the bomb was real.
Passengers on the plane heard through phone calls the fates of the other hijacked planes. A passenger uprising soon took place. Hijacker-pilot, Ziad Jarrah, crashed the plane into an empty field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in order to prevent the passengers from gaining control of the plane. The crash killed everyone on board.
Aftermath.
After the attacks, before the release of the FBI pictures of the hijackers, Arab News reported that al-Haznawi's brother Abdul Rahman had told al-Madinah newspaper that a photograph published by local newspapers bore no resemblance to his brother.
A videotape titled "The Wills of the New York and Washington Battle Martyrs" was aired on Al Jazeera on April 16, 2002. While the name beneath the speaker read "al-Ghamdi", the image is of al-Haznawi speaking. Officials suggested that the name was merely a reference to his tribal affiliation. The film was thought to have been made in March 2001. In it, he talked about his plans to bring the "bloodied message" to America. In September 2002, a similar tape made by Abdulaziz al-Omari appeared.
He has been portrayed by actors Omar Berdouni in "United 93", and Zak Santiago in "Flight 93".


Gustavus Hines

Reverend Gustavus Hines (September 6, 1809 – December 9, 1873) was an American missionary in Oregon Country. Working for the Methodist Mission in what became the state of Oregon, the New York native became involved in early attempts to form a government at the Champoeg Meetings in 1841. Later he served on the board of trustees for the Oregon Institute, which became Willamette University, and wrote several books on Oregon.
Early life.
Gustavus Hines was born on September 6, 1809, in Herkimer County, New York, to Betsy Round and James Hines. He then entered the ministry in 1832 as part of the Genesee Conference. The Reverend then joined missionary Jason Lee in 1839 as part of the Great Reinforcements for the Methodist Mission in the Oregon Country.
Oregon.
Reverend Hines arrived in Oregon in 1840 aboard the ship "Lausanne". He, his wife Lydia, and his sister-in-law all journeyed to the Pacific Northwest via Cape Horn at the tip of South America. After arrival, he went with Lee to the Umpqua River valley to scout a site for a new mission location.
The following year Gustavus Hines was involved with the Champoeg Meetings as a person selected to a committee designed to draft laws that were an attempt at creating a government in the region that was under no formal government at the time. At the February 1841 meetings at David Leslie’s home, Hines served as secretary for the legislative body gathered on French Prairie. These meetings did not create a government in 1841, but did elect Doctor Ira L. Babcock as a judge to deal with the estate of Ewing Young. Two years later continued meetings led the formation of the Provisional Government of Oregon. Hines' younger brother Harvey would journey to Oregon in 1853.
In 1842, Lucy Anna Lee was born to Jason Lee's second wife who died shortly after child birth. The Reverend Hines and his wife took in the child and raised her after losing their own daughter, their only child. After the closing of the Methodist Mission, Hines returned to New York in 1845.
Hines believed that God killed off the native people of Oregon with disease so that whites could take their land. "The hand of Providence is removing them to give place to a people more worthy of so beautiful and fertile a country," he wrote.
Later life.
However, he would return to what became Oregon Territory in 1853. There he was involved as a trustee for Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, including work on the committee that designed Waller Hall. Gustavus Hines also wrote several books before dying in Oregon City, but buried at Lee Mission Cemetery in Salem. He died on December 9, 1873.


John Smith Griffin

John Smith Griffin (1807–1899) was an American missionary in Oregon Country who participated at the Champoeg Meetings that created the Provisional Government of Oregon in 1843. In Oregon he served as a tutor at Fort Vancouver and later organized a church on the Tualatin Plains in the Tualatin Valley.
Early life.
On November 23, 1807, John Griffin was born in Castleton, Vermont, to parents who immigrated from England. In New England and Ohio he received an education in both the schools and seminaries. Griffin was then ordained a minister and sent to Litchfield County, Connecticut. His church, the Congregational Church, then sent him as an unaffiliated missionary to Oregon Country to convert Native Americans.
Oregon.
Griffin arrived in Oregon in 1839 and stayed at the Whitman Mission the first year before moving to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River. Staying until 1841, he tutored children of the fort and served as the post's chaplain. In 1841 he settled on the Tualatin Plains in what is now Washington County, Oregon where he would establish a church on June 26, 1842. He had planned on setting up a mission on the east side of the Cascade Mountains, but did not receive funds from the missionary board and instead set up a farm in the Tualatin Valley. From the time he settled there until 1848 Griffin kept a journal of the arrivals of settlers on the Tualatin Plains. The church was the first church on the plains there, established at East Tuality Plains. Members of the church included Joseph L. Meek, George W. Ebbert, Joseph Gale, and Charles Richard McKay among others. Griffin continued as minister of the congregation until the parishioners removed him in 1845 because of his rigid beliefs, replacing him with Harvey L. Clark. While living on the plains Griffin set up his own personal jail in order to detain Native Americans who would steal from him.
In 1843, Griffin attended the meetings at Champoeg on the Willamette River where he opposed the type of resolution introduced at the May third meeting. Though opposing the type of measure, he did vote for the creation of the Provisional Government in what was a 52-to-50 vote in favor of the formation of a government. This temporary government continued until the government of the Oregon Territory was formed in 1849, after the region south of the 49th parallel north became part of the United States. In 1848, Griffin took possession of the Oregon Mission Press and began printing "The Oregon American and Evangelical Unionist". In 1851, Griffin invested in the Portland & Valley Plank Road Company, which began building a plank road from Portland to the Tualatin Valley.
Family.
In 1839, Griffin was married in Saint Louis, Missouri, to Desiré C. Smith, who would die in 1884. He then married Lina Harvey Kenyon in Three Oaks, Michigan. Griffin's sister-in-law Rachel Jane Smith married fellow missionary Henry H. Spalding as Spalding's second wife. John Smith Griffin died on February 5, 1899 and is buried at Hillsboro Pioneer Cemetery in Hillsboro, Oregon.


Avenue Bar shooting

On 15 May 1988, the Ulster Volunteer Force launched a gun attack on the Avenue Bar on Union Street in the city centre of Belfast, Northern Ireland, killing three Catholic civilians and wounding six others. The bar was close to the Unity Flats complex and as a result was frequented mostly by Catholics.
Background.
In 1988 both the UVF and the UDA had stepped up their campaigns against the Nationalist community, in part due to receiving a large arms shipment of handguns and assault rifles from South Africa. On 15 January the UVF shot dead Catholic civilian Billy Kane at his home in the New Lodge. The objective of the Avenue Bar attack was to kill a leading Republican from the Unity Flats. The bar had already been targeted by the UVF in 1973 in a bomb attack in which a Catholic pensioner, Francis McNelis, was killed.
The shooting.
The attack happened at 2:20pm when the bar was crowded with Sunday drinkers. Two gunmen walked into the pub after being admitted through an electronic security door. A witness said they at first seemed to be looking for someone, but then opened fire indiscriminately with automatic weapons. People threw glasses at the gunmen in an attempt to fight them off. The gunmen escaped in a car which had been hijacked 20 minutes earlier on the Shankill Road, and which was found abandoned at Carlow Street behind Shankill Leisure Centre shortly after the attack. The three victims were Stephen McGahan (27), from the New Lodge, Damien Devlin (24), from Andersonstown, and Paul McBride (27), from Ardoyne. The UVF almost managed to kill another leading Provisional IRA member from the Unity Flats who was drinking in the bar at the time of the attack.
Aftermath.
In January 1990 three self-confessed Ulster Volunteer Force volunteers were sentenced to life for the parts they played in the Avenue Bar shooting along with the killing of another Catholic civilian on 15 January 1988 in Upper Meadow Street, Belfast. .
References.
Notes


Electoral history of Dan Quayle

Dan Quayle is a politician from the state of Indiana. Quayle represented Indiana's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1981. Quayle upset 3-term incumbent United States Senator Birch Bayh in 1980 as part of the Republican landslide, which saw the party gain 12 seats and the majority in the United States Senate and Ronald Reagan elected president. In 1988, Quayle was chosen by U.S. Vice President George H.W. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee as his running mate and elected the nation's 44th Vice President, serving from January 20, 1989 to January 20, 1993.


Three Stresses campaign

The "Three Stresses" campaign () was an ideological rectification campaign among Communist Party members in China. The initiative was formally launched in 1998 by then-Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin, and its name refers to the need to “stress study, stress politics, stress righteousness” ("jiang xuexi, jiang zhengzhi, jiang zhengqi"). The campaign was intended to strengthen discipline within the Communist Party and consolidate support for Jiang Zemin. During the campaign, which spanned from late 1998 to 2000, senior staff within the government, military, party offices, universities, and state and private enterprises were required to spend several weeks engaging in political study and self-criticism sessions with the goal of improving unity and enhancing loyalty to the Communist Party. According to a retired official cited in the New York Times, Jiang also hoped to use the campaign to "identify loyal, promising officials for future leadership positions."
The initiative was only the second major party rectification campaigns launched since the death of Mao Zedong (the previous campaign having begun in 1983).
Background.
China’s embrace of a market economy and the dismantling of the Marxist–Leninist system in the 1980s and 1990s precipitated a deterioration in ideological unity and purpose within the Communist Party. Moreover, the party was facing a variety of internal and external challenges, including but not limited to growing crime and corruption, income disparities, weakening central government control, and calls for political liberalization.
In order to address these challenges, the Communist Party leadership under Jiang Zemin sought to adapt and redefine the official ideology to meet changing circumstances, while stressing the continued importance of loyalty to party. Andrew Nathan and Bruce Gilley write that the campaign served another purpose: if Jiang Zemin wished to have a lasting impact on the Communist Party itself, “he had to come forward with a new conception of its mandate and its basis for action.” To that end, Jiang enunciated a number of new approaches and slogans in the early and mid-1990s. The earliest proposals for the Three Stresses campaign emerged in 1995, when Jiang began proposed an ideological rectification campaign urging party leaders to “stress politics.” The idea initially met with opposition within the party; Qiao Shi and Li Ruihuan, in particular, viewed the proposal as a means of self-aggrandizement. In 1998, following the forced retirement of Qiao Shi, Jiang proceeded to roll out the three stresses campaign, which leadership hoped would stave off atrophy and decay within the party.
The campaign.
In October 1998, Jiang Zemin, with assistance from then-executive secretary of the Secretariat Hu Jintao and chief of staff Zeng Qinghong announced plans for the Three Stresses campaign to the Politburo. In December of the same year, Hu Jintao publicly launched the campaign with an appearance on television, in which he urged party members to write self-criticisms and participate in work meetings to discuss their methods of carrying out their work. Party members were also encouraged to go to the countryside to promote the campaign.
During its initial phase, the Three Stresses campaign was carried out within the army, government agencies and Communist Party offices. Thereafter, senior staff within publishing houses, universities, research organizations, and state-owned enterprises were also enjoined to participate in political study sessions. In addition to studying the writings of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin, senior staff within workplaces were required to write critiques of both their own political failings, and criticisms of their superiors and workplaces. Although the campaign employed techniques of ideological study and self-criticism reminiscent of the Mao era, the sessions were described as comparatively tame.
Writing for the "Far Eastern Economic Review", Susan Lawrence described the impact of the Three Stresses campaign on the country's corporate sector. The account told of how, in the summer of 1999, senior staff at a major bank were required to participate in dozens of group meetings "in which they have criticized their own and each other's political failings," draft self-criticism papers, in addition to conducting nearly 100 individual political sessions. The objective of the campaign was described as improving the unity of senior staff and ensuring their loyalty to the Communist Party and Jiang Zemin.
Reception.
Views on the Three Stresses campaign within the Communist Party leadership were deeply divided, and several senior officials viewed the campaign as an attempt by Jiang Zemin to enhance his own prestige. Li Ruihuan and Qiao Shi continued to oppose the campaign, with the latter describing it as an attempt to erect a personality cult around Jiang. Politburo member Tian Jiyun called the campaign a "joke", and expressed doubt that it could have the intended effect of enhancing discipline within the party. The criticisms led Jiang to 'clarify' during a March 2000 Politburo meeting that he had no intention using the Three Stresses to enhance his personal authority, and that it was intended purely to "rectify the Party's work style and purify the ranks of the Party's leading cadres." Premier Zhu Rongji and National People's Congress Chairman Li Peng were reportedly ambivalent towards the initiative. However, a number of rising young leaders within the Communist Party embraced the initiative as a means of gaining favor with Jiang. Among them were Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Li Changchun, Bo Xilai, and Jia Qinglin.


Han dynasty

The Han dynasty () was the second imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 220 AD), established by the rebel leader Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. Preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and a warring interregnum known as the ChuHan contention (206–202 BC), it was briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) established by the usurping regent Wang Mang, and was separated into two periods—the Western Han (202 BC–9 AD) and the Eastern Han (25–220 AD)—before being succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han dynasty is considered a golden age in Chinese history, and influenced the identity of the Chinese civilization ever since. Modern China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han people", the Sinitic language is known as "Han language", and the written Chinese is referred to as "Han characters".
The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. From the reign of Emperor Wu ( BC) onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912 AD.
The Han dynasty saw an age of economic prosperity and witnessed a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty ( BC). The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations. To finance its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories, the Han government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC, but these government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han dynasty. Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances, including the process of papermaking, the nautical steering ship rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer employing an inverted pendulum that could be used to discern the cardinal direction of distant earthquakes.
The Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a "de facto" inferior and vassal partner for several decades, but continued their military raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu launched several military campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries. These campaigns expanded Han sovereignty and control into the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, divided the Xiongnu into two separate confederations, and helped establish the vast trade network known as the Silk Road, which reached as far as the Mediterranean world. The territories north of Han's borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Emperor Wu also launched successful military expeditions in the south, annexing Nanyue in 111 BC and Dian in 109 BC, and in the Korean Peninsula where the Xuantu and Lelang Commanderies were established in 108 BC. After 92 AD, the palace eunuchs increasingly involved themselves in court politics, engaging in violent power struggles between the various consort clans of the empresses and empresses dowager, causing the Han's ultimate downfall. Imperial authority was also seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion. Following the death of Emperor Ling ( AD), the palace eunuchs suffered wholesale massacre by military officers, allowing members of the aristocracy and military governors to become warlords and divide the empire. When Cao Pi, king of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, the Han dynasty ceased to exist.
Etymology.
According to the "Records of the Grand Historian", after the collapse of the Qin dynasty the hegemon Xiang Yu appointed Liu Bang as prince of the small fief of Hanzhong, named after its location on the Han River (in modern southwest Shaanxi). Following Liu Bang's victory in the Chu–Han Contention, the resulting Han dynasty was named after the Hanzhong fief.
History.
Western Han.
China's first imperial dynasty was the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). The Qin united the Chinese Warring States by conquest, but their regime became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. Within four years, the dynasty's authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion. Two former rebel leaders, Xiang Yu (d. 202 BC) of Chu and Liu Bang (d. 195 BC) of Han, engaged in a war to decide who would become hegemon of China, which had fissured into 18 kingdoms, each claiming allegiance to either Xiang Yu or Liu Bang. Although Xiang Yu proved to be an effective commander, Liu Bang defeated him at Battle of Gaixia (202 BC), in modern-day Anhui. Liu Bang assumed the title "emperor" ("huangdi") at the urging of his followers and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu ( BC). Chang'an (known today as Xi'an) was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han.
At the beginning of the Western Han (), also known as the Former Han () dynasty, thirteen centrally controlled commanderies—including the capital region—existed in the western third of the empire, while the eastern two-thirds were divided into ten semi-autonomous kingdoms. To placate his prominent commanders from the war with Chu, Emperor Gaozu enfeoffed some of them as kings.
By 196 BC, the Han court had replaced all but one of these kings (the exception being in Changsha) with royal Liu family members, since the loyalty of non-relatives to the throne was questioned. After several insurrections by Han kings—the largest being the Rebellion of the Seven States in 154 BC—the imperial court enacted a series of reforms beginning in 145 BC limiting the size and power of these kingdoms and dividing their former territories into new centrally controlled commanderies. Kings were no longer able to appoint their own staff; this duty was assumed by the imperial court. Kings became nominal heads of their fiefs and collected a portion of tax revenues as their personal incomes. The kingdoms were never entirely abolished and existed throughout the remainder of Western and Eastern Han.
To the north of China proper, the nomadic Xiongnu chieftain Modu Chanyu ( BC) conquered various tribes inhabiting the eastern portion of the Eurasian Steppe. By the end of his reign, he controlled Manchuria, Mongolia, and the Tarim Basin, subjugating over twenty states east of Samarkand. Emperor Gaozu was troubled about the abundant Han-manufactured iron weapons traded to the Xiongnu along the northern borders, and he established a trade embargo against the group.
In retaliation, the Xiongnu invaded what is now Shanxi province, where they defeated the Han forces at Baideng in 200 BC. After negotiations, the "heqin" agreement in 198 BC nominally held the leaders of the Xiongnu and the Han as equal partners in a royal marriage alliance, but the Han were forced to send large amounts of tribute items such as silk clothes, food, and wine to the Xiongnu.
Despite the tribute and a negotiation between Laoshang Chanyu ( BC) and Emperor Wen ( BC) to reopen border markets, many of the Chanyu's Xiongnu subordinates chose not to obey the treaty and periodically raided Han territories south of the Great Wall for additional goods. In a court conference assembled by Emperor Wu ( BC) in 135 BC, the majority consensus of the ministers was to retain the "heqin" agreement. Emperor Wu accepted this, despite continuing Xiongnu raids.
However, a court conference the following year convinced the majority that a limited engagement at Mayi involving the assassination of the Chanyu would throw the Xiongnu realm into chaos and benefit the Han. When this plot failed in 133 BC, Emperor Wu launched a series of massive military invasions into Xiongnu territory. The assault culminated in 119 BC at the Battle of Mobei, where the Han commanders Huo Qubing (d. 117 BC) and Wei Qing (d. 106 BC) forced the Xiongnu court to flee north of the Gobi Desert.
After Wu's reign, Han forces continued to prevail against the Xiongnu. The Xiongnu leader Huhanye Chanyu ( BC) finally submitted to Han as a tributary vassal in 51 BC. His rival claimant to the throne, Zhizhi Chanyu ( BC), was killed by Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou (甘延壽/甘延寿) at the Battle of Zhizhi, in modern Taraz, Kazakhstan.
In 121 BC, Han forces expelled the Xiongnu from a vast territory spanning the Hexi Corridor to Lop Nur. They repelled a joint Xiongnu-Qiang invasion of this northwestern territory in 111 BC. In that year, the Han court established four new frontier commanderies in this region: Jiuquan, Zhangyi, Dunhuang, and Wuwei. The majority of people on the frontier were soldiers. On occasion, the court forcibly moved peasant farmers to new frontier settlements, along with government-owned slaves and convicts who performed hard labor. The court also encouraged commoners, such as farmers, merchants, landowners, and hired laborers, to voluntarily migrate to the frontier.
Even before Han's expansion into Central Asia, diplomat Zhang Qian's travels from 139 to 125 BC had established Chinese contacts with many surrounding civilizations. Zhang encountered Dayuan (Fergana), Kangju (Sogdiana), and Daxia (Bactria, formerly the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom); he also gathered information on Shendu (Indus River valley of North India) and Anxi (the Parthian Empire). All of these countries eventually received Han embassies. These connections marked the beginning of the Silk Road trade network that extended to the Roman Empire, bringing Han items like silk to Rome and Roman goods such as glasswares to China.
From roughly 115 to 60 BC, Han forces fought the Xiongnu over control of the oasis city-states in the Tarim Basin. Han was eventually victorious and established the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60 BC, which dealt with the region's defense and foreign affairs. The Han also expanded southward. The naval conquest of Nanyue in 111 BC expanded the Han realm into what are now modern Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam. Yunnan was brought into the Han realm with the conquest of the Dian Kingdom in 109 BC, followed by parts of the Korean Peninsula with the Han conquest of Gojoseon and colonial establishments of Xuantu Commandery and Lelang Commandery in 108 BC. In China's first known nationwide census taken in 2 AD, the population was registered as having 57,671,400 individuals in 12,366,470 households.
To pay for his military campaigns and colonial expansion, Emperor Wu nationalized several private industries. He created central government monopolies administered largely by former merchants. These monopolies included salt, iron, and liquor production, as well as bronze-coin currency. The liquor monopoly lasted only from 98 to 81 BC, and the salt and iron monopolies were eventually abolished in early Eastern Han. The issuing of coinage remained a central government monopoly throughout the rest of the Han dynasty.
The government monopolies were eventually repealed when a political faction known as the Reformists gained greater influence in the court. The Reformists opposed the Modernist faction that had dominated court politics in Emperor Wu's reign and during the subsequent regency of Huo Guang (d. 68 BC). The Modernists argued for an aggressive and expansionary foreign policy supported by revenues from heavy government intervention in the private economy. The Reformists, however, overturned these policies, favoring a cautious, non-expansionary approach to foreign policy, frugal budget reform, and lower tax-rates imposed on private entrepreneurs.
Wang Mang's reign and civil war.
Wang Zhengjun (71 BC–13 AD) was first empress, then empress dowager, and finally grand empress dowager during the reigns of the Emperors Yuan ( BC), Cheng ( BC), and Ai ( BC), respectively. During this time, a succession of her male relatives held the title of regent. Following the death of Ai, Wang Zhengjun's nephew Wang Mang (45 BC–23 AD) was appointed regent as Marshall of State on 16 August under Emperor Ping ( AD).
When Ping died on 3 February 6 AD, Ruzi Ying (d. 25 AD) was chosen as the heir and Wang Mang was appointed to serve as acting emperor for the child. Wang promised to relinquish his control to Liu Ying once he came of age. Despite this promise, and against protest and revolts from the nobility, Wang Mang claimed on 10 January that the divine Mandate of Heaven called for the end of the Han dynasty and the beginning of his own: the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD).
Wang Mang initiated a series of major reforms that were ultimately unsuccessful. These reforms included outlawing slavery, nationalizing land to equally distribute between households, and introducing new currencies, a change which debased the value of coinage. Although these reforms provoked considerable opposition, Wang's regime met its ultimate downfall with the massive floods of AD and 11 AD. Gradual silt buildup in the Yellow River had raised its water level and overwhelmed the flood control works. The Yellow River split into two new branches: one emptying to the north and the other to the south of the Shandong Peninsula, though Han engineers managed to dam the southern branch by 70 AD.
The flood dislodged thousands of peasant farmers, many of whom joined roving bandit and rebel groups such as the Red Eyebrows to survive. Wang Mang's armies were incapable of quelling these enlarged rebel groups. Eventually, an insurgent mob forced their way into the Weiyang Palace and killed Wang Mang.
The Gengshi Emperor ( AD), a descendant of Emperor Jing ( BC), attempted to restore the Han dynasty and occupied Chang'an as his capital. However, he was overwhelmed by the Red Eyebrow rebels who deposed, assassinated, and replaced him with the puppet monarch Liu Penzi. Gengshi's distant cousin Liu Xiu, known posthumously as Emperor Guangwu ( AD), after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Kunyang in 23 AD, was urged to succeed Gengshi as emperor.
Under Guangwu's rule the Han Empire was restored. Guangwu made Luoyang his capital in 25 AD, and by 27 AD his officers Deng Yu and Feng Yi had forced the Red Eyebrows to surrender and executed their leaders for treason. From 26 until 36 AD, Emperor Guangwu had to wage war against other regional warlords who claimed the title of emperor; when these warlords were defeated, China reunified under the Han.
The period between the foundation of the Han dynasty and Wang Mang's reign is known as the Western Han () or Former Han () (206 BC–9 AD). During this period the capital was at Chang'an (modern Xi'an). From the reign of Guangwu the capital was moved eastward to Luoyang. The era from his reign until the fall of Han is known as the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD).
Eastern Han.
The Eastern Han (), also known as the Later Han (), formally began on 5 August AD 25, when Liu Xiu became Emperor Guangwu of Han. During the widespread rebellion against Wang Mang, the state of Goguryeo was free to raid Han's Korean commanderies; Han did not reaffirm its control over the region until AD 30.
The Trưng Sisters of Vietnam rebelled against Han in AD 40. Their rebellion was crushed by Han general Ma Yuan (d. AD 49) in a campaign from AD 42–43. Wang Mang renewed hostilities against the Xiongnu, who were estranged from Han until their leader Bi (比), a rival claimant to the throne against his cousin Punu (蒲奴), submitted to Han as a tributary vassal in AD 50. This created two rival Xiongnu states: the Southern Xiongnu led by Bi, an ally of Han, and the Northern Xiongnu led by Punu, an enemy of Han.
During the turbulent reign of Wang Mang, China lost control over the Tarim Basin, which was conquered by the Northern Xiongnu in AD 63 and used as a base to invade the Hexi Corridor in Gansu. Dou Gu (d. 88 AD) defeated the Northern Xiongnu at the Battle of Yiwulu in AD 73, evicting them from Turpan and chasing them as far as Lake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami. After the new Protector General of the Western Regions Chen Mu (d. AD 75) was killed by allies of the Xiongnu in Karasahr and Kucha, the garrison at Hami was withdrawn.
At the Battle of Ikh Bayan in AD 89, Dou Xian (d. AD 92) defeated the Northern Xiongnu chanyu who then retreated into the Altai Mountains. After the Northern Xiongnu fled into the Ili River valley in AD 91, the nomadic Xianbei occupied the area from the borders of the Buyeo Kingdom in Manchuria to the Ili River of the Wusun people. The Xianbei reached their apogee under Tanshihuai (檀石槐) (d. AD 180), who consistently defeated Chinese armies. However, Tanshihuai's confederation disintegrated after his death.
Ban Chao (d. AD 102) enlisted the aid of the Kushan Empire, occupying the area of modern India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, to subdue Kashgar and its ally Sogdiana. When a request by Kushan ruler Vima Kadphises () for a marriage alliance with the Han was rejected in AD 90, he sent his forces to Wakhan (Afghanistan) to attack Ban Chao. The conflict ended with the Kushans withdrawing because of lack of supplies. In AD 91, the office of Protector General of the Western Regions was reinstated when it was bestowed on Ban Chao.
Foreign travelers to Eastern-Han China include Buddhist monks who translated works into Chinese, such as An Shigao from Parthia, and Lokaksema from Kushan-era Gandhara, India. In addition to tributary relations with the Kushans, the Han Empire received gifts from the Parthian Empire, from a king in modern Burma, from a ruler in Japan, and initiated an unsuccessful mission to Daqin (Rome) in AD 97 with Gan Ying as emissary.
A Roman embassy of Emperor Marcus Aurelius ( AD) is recorded in the "Weilüe" and "Hou Hanshu" to have reached the court of Emperor Huan of Han ( AD) in AD 166, yet Rafe de Crespigny asserts that this was most likely a group of Roman merchants. In addition to Roman glasswares and coins found in China, Roman medallions from the reign of Antoninus Pius and his adopted son Marcus Aurelius have been found at Óc Eo in Vietnam. This was near the commandery of Rinan (also Jiaozhi) where Chinese sources claim the Romans first landed, as well as embassies from Tianzhu (in northern India) in the years 159 and 161. Óc Eo is also thought to be the port city "Cattigara" described by Ptolemy in his "Geography" ( AD) as lying east of the Golden Chersonese (Malay Peninsula) along the "Magnus Sinus" (i.e. Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea), where a Greek sailor had visited.
Emperor Zhang's ( AD) reign came to be viewed by later Eastern Han scholars as the high point of the dynastic house. Subsequent reigns were increasingly marked by eunuch intervention in court politics and their involvement in the violent power struggles of the imperial consort clans. In 92 AD, with the aid of the eunuch Zheng Zhong (d. 107 AD), Emperor He ( AD) had Empress Dowager Dou (d. 97 AD) put under house arrest and her clan stripped of power. This was in revenge for Dou's purging of the clan of his natural mother—Consort Liang—and then concealing her identity from him. After Emperor He's death, his wife Empress Deng Sui (d. 121 AD) managed state affairs as the regent empress dowager during a turbulent financial crisis and widespread Qiang rebellion that lasted from 107 to 118 AD.
When Empress Dowager Deng died, Emperor An ( AD) was convinced by the accusations of the eunuchs Li Run () and Jiang Jing () that Deng and her family had planned to depose him. An dismissed Deng's clan members from office, exiled them and forced many to commit suicide. After An's death, his wife, Empress Dowager Yan (d. 126 AD) placed the child Marquess of Beixiang on the throne in an attempt to retain power within her family. However, palace eunuch Sun Cheng (d. 132 AD) masterminded a successful overthrow of her regime to enthrone Emperor Shun of Han ( AD). Yan was placed under house arrest, her relatives were either killed or exiled, and her eunuch allies were slaughtered. The regent Liang Ji (d. 159 AD), brother of Empress Liang Na (d. 150 AD), had the brother-in-law of Consort Deng Mengnü (later empress) (d. 165 AD) killed after Deng Mengnü resisted Liang Ji's attempts to control her. Afterward, Emperor Huan employed eunuchs to depose Liang Ji, who was then forced to commit suicide.
Students from the Imperial University organized a widespread student protest against the eunuchs of Emperor Huan's court. Huan further alienated the bureaucracy when he initiated grandiose construction projects and hosted thousands of concubines in his harem at a time of economic crisis. Palace eunuchs imprisoned the official Li Ying () and his associates from the Imperial University on a dubious charge of treason. In 167 AD, the Grand Commandant Dou Wu (d. 168 AD) convinced his son-in-law, Emperor Huan, to release them. However the emperor permanently barred Li Ying and his associates from serving in office, marking the beginning of the Partisan Prohibitions.
Following Huan's death, Dou Wu and the Grand Tutor Chen Fan (d. 168 AD) attempted a coup d'état against the eunuchs Hou Lan (d. 172 AD), Cao Jie (d. 181 AD), and Wang Fu (). When the plot was uncovered, the eunuchs arrested Empress Dowager Dou (d. 172 AD) and Chen Fan. General Zhang Huan () favored the eunuchs. He and his troops confronted Dou Wu and his retainers at the palace gate where each side shouted accusations of treason against the other. When the retainers gradually deserted Dou Wu, he was forced to commit suicide.
Under Emperor Ling ( AD) the eunuchs had the partisan prohibitions renewed and expanded, while also auctioning off top government offices. Many affairs of state were entrusted to the eunuchs Zhao Zhong (d. 189 AD) and Zhang Rang (d. 189 AD) while Emperor Ling spent much of his time roleplaying with concubines and participating in military parades.
End of the Han dynasty.
The Partisan Prohibitions were repealed during the Yellow Turban Rebellion and Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion in 184 AD, largely because the court did not want to continue to alienate a significant portion of the gentry class who might otherwise join the rebellions. The Yellow Turbans and Five-Pecks-of-Rice adherents belonged to two different hierarchical Daoist religious societies led by faith healers Zhang Jue (d. 184 AD) and Zhang Lu (d. 216 AD), respectively.
Zhang Lu's rebellion, in modern northern Sichuan and southern Shaanxi, was not quelled until 215 AD. Zhang Jue's massive rebellion across eight provinces was annihilated by Han forces within a year, however the following decades saw much smaller recurrent uprisings. Although the Yellow Turbans were defeated, many generals appointed during the crisis never disbanded their assembled militia forces and used these troops to amass power outside of the collapsing imperial authority.
General-in-Chief He Jin (d. 189 AD), half-brother to Empress He (d. 189 AD), plotted with Yuan Shao (d. 202 AD) to overthrow the eunuchs by having several generals march to the outskirts of the capital. There, in a written petition to Empress He, they demanded the eunuchs' execution. After a period of hesitation, Empress He consented. When the eunuchs discovered this, however, they had her brother He Miao () rescind the order. The eunuchs assassinated He Jin on September 22, 189 AD.
Yuan Shao then besieged Luoyang's Northern Palace while his brother Yuan Shu (d. 199 AD) besieged the Southern Palace. On September 25 both palaces were breached and approximately two thousand eunuchs were killed. Zhang Rang had previously fled with Emperor Shao ( AD) and his brother Liu Xie—the future Emperor Xian of Han ( AD). While being pursued by the Yuan brothers, Zhang committed suicide by jumping into the Yellow River.
General Dong Zhuo (d. 192 AD) found the young emperor and his brother wandering in the countryside. He escorted them safely back to the capital and was made Minister of Works, taking control of Luoyang and forcing Yuan Shao to flee. After Dong Zhuo demoted Emperor Shao and promoted his brother Liu Xie as Emperor Xian, Yuan Shao led a coalition of former officials and officers against Dong, who burned Luoyang to the ground and resettled the court at Chang'an in May 191 AD. Dong Zhuo later poisoned Emperor Shao.
Dong was killed by his adopted son Lü Bu (d. 198 AD) in a plot hatched by Wang Yun (d. 192 AD). Emperor Xian fled from Chang'an in 195 AD to the ruins of Luoyang. Xian was persuaded by Cao Cao (155–220 AD), then Governor of Yan Province in modern western Shandong and eastern Henan, to move the capital to Xuchang in 196 AD.
Yuan Shao challenged Cao Cao for control over the emperor. Yuan's power was greatly diminished after Cao defeated him at the Battle of Guandu in 200 AD. After Yuan died, Cao killed Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan (173–205 AD), who had fought with his brothers over the family inheritance. His brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were killed in 207 AD by Gongsun Kang (d. 221 AD), who sent their heads to Cao Cao.
After Cao's defeat at the naval Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD, China was divided into three spheres of influence, with Cao Cao dominating the north, Sun Quan (182–252 AD) dominating the south, and Liu Bei (161–223 AD) dominating the west. Cao Cao died in March 220 AD. By December his son Cao Pi (187–226 AD) had Emperor Xian relinquish the throne to him and is known posthumously as Emperor Wen of Wei. This formally ended the Han dynasty and initiated an age of conflict between three states: Cao Wei, Eastern Wu, and Shu Han.
Culture and society.

Social class.
In the hierarchical social order, the emperor was at the apex of Han society and government. However the emperor was often a minor, ruled over by a regent such as the empress dowager or one of her male relatives. Ranked immediately below the emperor were the kings who were of the same Liu family clan. The rest of society, including nobles lower than kings and all commoners excluding slaves belonged to one of twenty ranks ("ershi gongcheng" ).
Each successive rank gave its holder greater pensions and legal privileges. The highest rank, of full marquess, came with a state pension and a territorial fiefdom. Holders of the rank immediately below, that of ordinary marquess, received a pension, but had no territorial rule. Officials who served in government belonged to the wider commoner social class and were ranked just below nobles in social prestige. The highest government officials could be enfeoffed as marquesses.
By the Eastern Han period, local elites of unattached scholars, teachers, students, and government officials began to identify themselves as members of a larger, nationwide gentry class with shared values and a commitment to mainstream scholarship. When the government became noticeably corrupt in mid-to-late Eastern Han, many gentrymen even considered the cultivation of morally grounded personal relationships more important than serving in public office.
The farmer, or specifically the small landowner-cultivator, was ranked just below scholars and officials in the social hierarchy. Other agricultural cultivators were of a lower status, such as tenants, wage laborers, and slaves. The Han dynasty made adjustments to slavery in China and saw an increase in agricultural slaves. Artisans, technicians, tradespeople and craftsmen had a legal and socioeconomic status between that of owner-cultivator farmers and common merchants.
State-registered merchants, who were forced by law to wear white-colored clothes and pay high commercial taxes, were considered by the gentry as social parasites with a contemptible status. These were often petty shopkeepers of urban marketplaces; merchants such as industrialists and itinerant traders working between a network of cities could avoid registering as merchants and were often wealthier and more powerful than the vast majority of government officials.
Wealthy landowners, such as nobles and officials, often provided lodging for retainers who provided valuable work or duties, sometimes including fighting bandits or riding into battle. Unlike slaves, retainers could come and go from their master's home as they pleased. Medical physicians, pig breeders, and butchers had a fairly high social status, while occultist diviners, runners, and messengers had low status.
Marriage, gender, and kinship.
The Han-era family was patrilineal and typically had four to five nuclear family members living in one household. Multiple generations of extended family members did not occupy the same house, unlike families of later dynasties. According to Confucian family norms, various family members were treated with different levels of respect and intimacy. For example, there were different accepted time frames for mourning the death of a father versus a paternal uncle.
Marriages were highly ritualized, particularly for the wealthy, and included many important steps. The giving of betrothal gifts, known as bridewealth and dowry, were especially important. A lack of either was considered dishonorable and the woman would have been seen not as a wife, but as a concubine. Arranged marriages were normal, with the father's input on his offspring's spouse being considered more important than the mother's.

Jean van Geuns

Jean René van Geuns (1924 – 18 February 2021) was a Dutch resistance member during World War II. During the war, Van Geuns smuggled Allied pilots and Jewish families to safe territory in Nijmegen. In Ghent, Belgium, he was involved in three bomb attacks on the SS and Wehrmacht. Three times he tried to travel to England to join the army. On the third attempt (via Sweden) Van Geuns was caught in Norway in 1944 and imprisoned in Falstad prison (Norway). After the war, he emigrated to the United States. He lived in New York where he died on 18 February in a clinic, aged 96.


Sander Kleinenberg

Sander Kleinenberg (; born 29 December 1971) is a Dutch disc jockey, VDJ, and record producer. He founded and runs Little Mountain Recordings and THIS IS Recordings. Kleinenberg is well known for his use of digital video in concerts, his "Everybody" and This Is brands of club nights and albums and his 2000 single "My Lexicon" as well as hits like "The Fruit" and "This Is Miami".
Music career.
Sander Kleinenberg began DJing at a local bar in 1987 at the age of 15, playing a variety of music including rock and dance music. After sending demos to many European record labels, Kleinenberg released his first single "Bombay" in 1993 on Belgian record label Wonka Beats under the artist name "Free Frogs", a collaboration with several friends. The next year, he released a single on German record label Superstition. In 1996, Kleinenberg released "YDW (You Do Me Wrong)" under the moniker "S 'N' S" on the Dutch record label Deal Records and licensed by Strictly Rhythm. His early influences included Mantronix, Shep Pettibone, and Depeche Mode.
In 1999, Kleinenberg produced the first part of his thematic "4 Seasons" trilogy with second part the following in 2000, both on London's FFRR label. Kleinenberg was also becoming known worldwide with the release of his track "My Lexicon", which is now often considered a genre standard of progressive house. "My Lexicon" is well known for its catchy, trancey percussive melody and atmospheric chord stabs. "My Lexicon" and "Sacred" were both given a boost in popularity by their appearance on Sasha's "" album. Kleinenberg was to join the Global Underground label the following year with his "Nubreed 004" release.
In 2003, Sander Kleinenberg founded his record label Little Mountain Recordings. Its first release was the final part in Kleinenberg's "4 Seasons" series, which had been pushed back due to, among other things, label changes. Kleinenberg described the final installment as "rougher around the edges" rather than having the trancey serenity of the first or the funkiness of the second. He also remixed Justin Timberlake's single "Rock Your Body", which garnered him the Best Remix award at the Dancestar USA Awards. Later in 2003, Kleinenberg kicked off the introduction of his "Everybody" brand with the album "Renaissance: Everybody" which featured a mixture of quirky disco, Detroit techno, and tech house. Kleinenberg described the concept of "Everybody" as "a reaction to how dance music began to take itself too seriously" and that he hopes to show that dance music can be fun. He followed "Everybody" up the next year with a sequel, "This Is Everybody Too", which continued Kleinenberg's vein of "glitchy, low key techno".
In 2005, Kleinenberg began a monthly residency at Crobar, New York City, using it to push the "Everybody" brand. He also brought in Lee Burridge to Crobar and to work on the album "This is Everybody! On Tour". Kleinenberg's performances at Crobar often featured appearances from young DJs, such as Desyn Masiello. Over his career, Kleinenberg's track selection shifted from the more "lush" sounds of progressive house to a funkier electro house vibe, though he prefers to define his genre simply as "house music". In 2004 he had released his track "The Fruit" and in 2006 he released "This is Miami"; both tracks reached a number one position in the ARIA chart. His "Everybody" brand has grown with the years and has changed to his current "This Is..." brand which was influenced by his song "This Is Miami", another version of the song which was used in the Sensation (event) is called, "This Is Sensation".
The This Is club brand held residencies in clubs like Avalon in Los Angeles, Discoteque in Moscow, Paradiso and Melkweg in Amsterdam, Red Light in Paris and Pacha in Ibiza
After years of intensive touring Sander Kleinenberg got back into the studio to deliver his debut album '5K' in 2010. The first single of this album was "Remember When", featuring UK singer/songwriter Jamie Cullum.
Together with the release of the "5K" album and the "Remember When" single, Sander launched his new music label THIS IS Recordings.
In early 2012, Kleinenberg toured Lahore, Pakistan and performed in front of a large audience.
On December 1, 2014, he released his single "Can You Feel It" featuring Gwen McCrae. The single has been described as "a deep and soulful intervention in the Dutch maestro’s indie dance etiquette, held together with strong production values and an inherently intimate demeanor."
Visuals and DVJing.
Sander Kleinenberg is well known for his DVJing with self-created visuals and video usage in concerts. Kleinenberg explains his use of video saying that it allows for more variety among DJs and performances and that it makes concerts reflect life. Due to the complexity of mixing both audio and visual at concerts, Kleinenberg will use the club's on-site VJ or have his partner Mark Pistoire of Venga Boys fame as a VJ at his concerts using the DVJ-X1 or the newer DVJ1000. Kleinenberg first met Pistoire in 2003 when searching for a VJ for his "Everybody" events and the two performed live together for the first time in The Hague. The in-concert imagery often includes political content or trippy home videos created by Pistoire or Kleinenberg.


HSwMS Halland (Hnd)

HSwMS "Halland" (Hnd) is a submarine in the Swedish Navy. It is the third submarine in the .


Maarten Sikking

Martinus Jacobus Maria "Maarten" Sikking (13 February 1948 – 5 May 2009) was a field hockey goalkeeper from the Netherlands. He competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics, where his team finished in fourth place on both occasions.
Between 1970 and 1980 Sikking played 123 international matches. His most remarkable game was the 1973 World Cup final in Amstelveen, the Netherlands, where he stopped one penalty shot in overtime, and two more in the penalty series. As a result, Netherlands won their first international hockey title.
Sikking was considered one of the best goalkeepers of his time, but never won an Olympic medal. He had high hopes for the 1980 Moscow Games, and after they were boycotted by the Dutch Hockey Federation he burned his hockey gear and retired from competitions. Later he worked in insurance and was involved in various charities in developing countries. He moved to Bali, Indonesia, where he set up a school, married his third wife, and died aged 61.


Joris Andringa

Joris Andringa (1635 – May 28, 1676) was a Dutch naval officer.
Career.
Adringa served the Admiralty in Friesland and Amsterdam. In 1664 and from 1665 to 1666 he served as Secretary to Michiel de Ruyter in the Mediterranean Sea and West Indies. In 1673 he was wounded in the battle of Texel and was promoted to captain.
On December 15, 1673, the States General of the Netherlands voted, in a Secret Resolution, to appoint Joris Andringa Governor of New Netherland to succeed Anthony Colve. Before Andringa could arrive in New Netherland, the Treaty of Westminster of 1674 was signed, ending the Third Anglo-Dutch War and handing New Netherland to England. Colve remained in control until November 10, 1674, when power was formally transferred.
On 17 June 1675 Andringa married De Ruyter's niece Margaretha van Gelder in Sloten near Amsterdam. At this event he was written to be "from Groningen".
Andringa's first (and only) command was of the "Stad en Lande" (50 pieces) in De Ruyter's fleet, and in 1675 he was sent to the Mediterranean Sea. In 1676, he fought the French navy in the battles near Sicily, including the Battle of Stromboli and Battle of Augusta, where De Ruyter perished. He died a month after De Ruyter, and four days before the Battle of Palermo, of dysentery in an epidemic that prevailed in the fleet.


Nevsky Pyatachok

Nevsky Pyatachok () is the name of the Neva Bridgehead 50 km east south-east of Leningrad and 15 km south of Shlisselburg. It was the site of one of the most critical and costly campaigns during the Siege of Leningrad from September 1941 until May 1943 to reopen land communications with the city during the German siege.
The Russian word "pyatachok" means a five-kopeck coin, or (by way of a metaphor) a very small area.
Campaign for the land communications.
The area between Shlisselburg and the bend of the Neva to the south represented the land link between the Soviet-controlled territory and the city defence perimeter. The Red Army objective was to retain this narrow stretch of the shore and prevent German forces from completing the blockade, thus allowing transports to reach the population in besieged Leningrad with food, medication and other supplies.
The area was first defended by the Red Army's Krasnogvardeisk Fortified Region, the 55th and the 48th Armies which included the 45th Guards, 115th, 86th, 168th, 10th Rifle Divisions, 1st NKVD Rifle Division and 4th Separate Naval Infantry Brigade. On 7 September 1941, the German 20th Motorised Division was able to force the elements of the 48th Army out of Shlisselburg, setting the stage for a more than two-year struggle by the Red Army to reopen land communications with Leningrad.
Initially, the Germans secured the area. On September 20, 1941,a small group of Soviet soldiers under Captain Vasily Dubik managed to cross the river using fishing boats and homemade rafts and establish the bridgehead, but they failed to enlarge it. The Germans managed to eliminate the bridgehead by April 29, 1942, but it was re-established on September 26, 1942.
The battle for Nevsky Pyatachok extended from January 1942 to May 1943.
In 1942, the area was a scene of heavy fighting for the German XXVIII Army Corps which, from October 1942, was under constant assault by the 67th Army.
Eventually, Leonid Govorov proposed two operations to the Stavka, called the Shlisselburg Operation and the Uritsk Operation, which became the basis of the planning for Operation Iskra. The intention was for the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front and the 67th Army of the Leningrad Front to destroy the German troops in the Shlisselburg - Siniavino sector, thereby restoring the land communications and raising the siege. They were supported in this by the 13th Air Army and some units of the Long Range Aviation.
Although the south-eastern perimeter of the siege was temporarily penetrated, Soviet forces only managed to open a 10–12 km wide corridor, meaning all traffic passed under the fire of German guns. German casualties for the duration of the struggle for the bridgehead, estimated to be 1 km by 1.5 km in area, were some 160,000 (combat and combat-related).
These, and other operations conducted until 10 May 1943, resulted in Red Army casualties estimated at 260,000 in this sector of the front.
After World War II.
After the war, a tradition began in which the children of Leningrad schools took summer trips to the area to search for the remains of the many who died there. Official burial ceremonies were then held commemorating the dead whose remains were recovered. The terrain still contains unidentifiable skeletal remains.
National memorial.
Today, the battlefield of Nevsky Pyatachok is a well-known national and historic landmark in Russia. A memorial was built as part of the "Green Belt of Glory" commemorating the heroic resistance during the siege of Leningrad.
The words on the memorial belong to Robert Rozhdestvensky and can be literally translated as:
"You,
Those who are alive,
Should know
That this land
We didn't want to leave
And never left.
We were fighting to the bitter end
By the dark Neva.
We have perished
For you to live."


Mikhail of Vladimir

Mikhalko Yuryevich (; ) (died June 20, 1176), Prince of Torchesk (mid-1160s–1173), Vladimir and Suzdal (1175–1176) and Grand Prince of Kiev (Kyiv, 1171).
Yuri Dolgoruky's eldest son by his second marriage, Mikhalko Yuryevich was removed from the Suzdal lands by his half-brother Andrei Bogolyubsky, who apparently disliked his mother.
From 1162 to 1169 he lived in Ostyor, a small town near Chernigov, but then moved on to a town of Torchesk. Appointed by Andrei to rule Kiev upon the death of Gleb Yuriyevich in 1171, Mikhalko refused to take the throne and sent his younger brother Vsevolod to Kiev instead. He was besieged in Torchesk by another claimant to Kiev, prince Rurik Rostislavich, but concluded peace with him and was allowed to move his capital to Pereiaslav. Next year, when Andrei invaded Southern Rus, he broke his ties with Rurik and swore allegiance to his brother.
Upon Andrei's death, Mikhalko Yuryevich succeeded him in Vladimir, but the hostilities with boyars of Suzdal and Rostov, who felt neglected by the rise of Vladimir, forced him to leave for Chernigov. The citizens of Vladimir soon called upon Mikhalko Yuryevich to help them fight against Yaropolk, son of Rostislav Yuryevich. He defeated this nephew of Andrei Bogolubsky's and regained the throne of Vladimir in 1175. Mikhalko died the next year and was succeeded by his brother Vsevolod.


Pieter Otto van der Chijs

Pieter Otto van der Chijs (Delft, 11 August 1802 – Leiden, 4 November 1867) was a Dutch coin expert and one of the early prizewinners of "Teylers Tweede Genootschap" (Teylers Second or Scientific Society).
He was the son of J. van der Chijs and A.S. Bagelaar who encouraged him to start collecting. At the age of nine became interested in coins when he studied the ones his parents donated to the poor of Delft each week. He began to collect coins from around the world. After following school in Delft, he became a student of letters at the University of Leiden in 1820. He won a few prizes before devoting himself to his hobby. He wrote an essay on the art of collecting old coins in 1829 and in 1831 he became a member of the Batavian Society for Experimental Philosophy. In 1833 he started the coin magazine "Tijdschrift voor algemeene munt- en penningkunde".
In 1835 he was appointed director with the honorary title of "Professor Extraordinarius" of the coin cabinet "Penningkabinet der Hoogeschool" in Leiden.
The Teylers Second Society announced a prize in 1841 for 'a compilation of coins under former Dutch dukes, counts, lords and cities, from the earliest times up to 1576'. Chijs had already started work correcting the work of Cornelis van Alkemade who had published an incomplete list in 1700. This prize question could never be completed in the time allotted, but Chijs was granted a year's extension in 1844 and when he published his "De munten der voormalige hertogdommmen Braband en Limburg", he was awarded a prize medal on 4 December 1846.
In 1862 he published his last work "Notice sur le Cabinet Numismatique de l'Universite de Leyde", which was a catalogue of his cabinet.


City Hall (Haarlem)

The City Hall in Haarlem is the seat of the city's government. It was built in the 14th century replacing the Count's castle.
History.
Around 1100 a wooden building was constructed on the location of the current "Gravenzaal" of the City Hall. Traces of this building were found in 1955.
After large fires in 1347 and 1351, II, William IV The Bold donated the remains of the Gravenzaal to the city's municipality. A new building was built there. The central square building dates from the Middle Ages, but the distinctive façade of the building was designed by architect Lieven de Key and built from 1602-1604. The way it originally looked can be seen in a painting from 1460 by the Master of Bellaert. Originally the city hall was just the front of the building, and the rear cloister belonged to the Dominican brotherhood. After the Protestant Reformation this came into the possession of the city council and it is now a large complex with offices and meeting rooms. Both the Frans Hals Museum and the Haarlem Public Library originally were located in the city hall.
The town hall is still used for civic weddings and nearly every Friday in Spring, brides can be seen entering and leaving by the main stairway. All year on Saturdays and Mondays there is a big market in front of the City Hall, where on Saturdays mainly flowers, household goods, and food is sold, though on Mondays the products are mainly cloth, sewing accessories and clothing. Although the market is frequented by the local population, it is also a tourist attraction and worth a visit, if only to try the raw herring from the fish stand, or "stroopwafels" from the stroopwafel stand. The town hall is also still used for state visits, most recently when the King and Queen paid a visit to Haarlem on 14 June 2013. They heard the local choir "Zang en Vriendschap" sing and received a book about all the previous royal state visits to Haarlem.
The town hall was traditionally a gathering place for various gentlemen, and the Dutch Society of Science started meeting there in 1752, which was the beginning of a municipal museum for natural history, that today no longer exists, though its "competitor" founded in 1781 still does; namely the Teylers Museum. When they moved out, the paintings stayed and they became the Haarlem municipal museum, which moved out in 1913 to become the Frans Hals museum.
Inside.
A large number of paintings and objects from Haarlem's rich history can be found inside the building. One series of paintings depict the various counts of Holland, starting from Dirk I to Maximilian from Austria. In the Middle Ages these paintings were hanging in the Carmelieten Cloister in Haarlem; they were painted between 1486 and 1491. In 1570 it is mentioned in city archives that the paintings were hanging in the City Hall; possibly they were moved there in 1566 to protect them from the iconoclastic riots. Other paintings and objects are either part of the original interior, or too big to fit in the Frans Hals Museum.


Nocturnal Butterfly

Nocturnal Butterfly () is a 1941 Czech drama film directed by František Čáp based on a novel by Karel Novák. It was shown in 9th Venice Film Festival where it won a prize Targa di segnalazione.
The film was dubbed into German and released under the name "Der Nachtfalter" in 1943.
Release.
The movie was released online on YouTube by Czech Film Archive on 16 February 2019.


Jonas Daniel Meijer

Jonas Daniel Meijer (15 September 1780 – 6 December 1834) was the first Jewish lawyer in the Netherlands. He has had a significant impact on Dutch law, and is also known for his battle for (legal) emancipation of the Dutch Jews.
The Jonas Daniel Meijerplein, a square in Amsterdam (where Meijer died), was named after him. Bordering the square are the Esnoga and four former synagogues, now together home of the Joods Historisch Museum (Jewish Historical Museum). The "Dokwerker" monument on Jonas Daniel Meijerplein commemorates the February strike of 1941, a general strike by many (non-Jewish) people of Amsterdam and surrounding cities after the arrest and deportation of 425 Jewish men from Amsterdam to Mauthausen and Buchenwald following a clash between Nazi police and two Jewish men a couple of days earlier.
Early life.
Jonas Daniel Meijer was born into a well-to-do Jewish family at Arnhem. His maternal grandfather was Benjamin Cohen (July or August 1725 – 10 February 1800), a well-known businessman and Jewish teacher, and a friend and supporter of stadtholder Willem V. The Cohen family were tobacco traders, and had connections to prominent European Jewish families. Meijer's father was a German Jew, who hailed from the city of Hamburg. Jonas Daniel Meijer had one brother and one sister, Abraham David (8 October 1781 – 17 March 1864) and Eva (15 October 1782 – 18 December 1850).
At a startling young age, Jonas learned to read and was taught French and English by a private teacher. Although he was brought up with Hebrew as the liturgical language of his religion, Jonas also managed to learn Latin at the age of 5. After completing his school quite early, Meijer started to study Law in Amsterdam, where he moved with his mother and siblings after the death of his father in 1790. On 15 November 1796, at the age of just 16, Jonas Daniel Meijer took the lawyer's oath, becoming the first Jewish lawyer and one of the youngest lawyers in the history of the Netherlands. Despite his talents, he received only few customers, as many Christians avoided him. The small practice however gave Meijer ample chance of increasing his law expertise, specifically by studying the law of many countries, earning him fame across the European continent.
Publications.
Meijer received international fame through his publication "Kan de zedelijke waardering van een handeling in aanmerking komen bij de vaststelling en toepassing van een strafwet en zo ja, in hoeverre" ("Can the moral appreciation of an act be taken into account when establishing and applying a criminal law and, if so, to what extent", 1803). In this work, Meijer is one of the first to question the extent to which living conditions and mental well-being of a criminal cause his felony. Meijer researched the possibility of such outcomes because of his acquaintance with financial and social positions of his fellow Jews, that made him understand why some of them would, for example, steal a loaf of bread.
Jonas Daniel Meijer died on 6 December 1834 at the age of 54, in Amsterdam.


Bernard de Wit

Bernard Quirinus Petrus Joseph de Wit (born 1945 in Bergen op Zoom) is a Dutch theoretical physicist specializing in supergravity and particle physics.
Bernard de Wit studied theoretical physics at Utrecht University, where he got his PhD under supervision of Nobel Prize laureate Martinus Veltman in 1973. After postdoc stints in Stony Brook, Utrecht and Leiden, he became a staff member at National Institute for Nuclear and High Energy Physics (NIKHEF) in 1978, where became head of the theory group in 1981. In 1984 he became professor of theoretical physics at Utrecht University where he has stayed for the rest of his career. During the years, de Wit spent several periods at CERN as a visiting scientist in the Theory Division. He officially retired in 2010, but continues to engage in research.


Cornelia Ramondt-Hirschmann

Cornelia Ramondt-Hirschmann (29 July 1871 – 20 November 1957) was a Dutch teacher, feminist, pacifist and theosophist active in the first half of the twentieth century. She was one of the women who participated in the push by pacifist feminists during World War I for world leaders to develop a mediating body to work for peace. The culmination of their efforts would be the achievement of the League of Nations when the war ended. Between 1935 and 1937, she served as one of the three international co-chairs of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Early life.
Susanna Theodora Cornelia Hirschmann, known as "Cor", was born on 29 July 1871 in The Hague, the Netherlands to Sophie (née Bahnsen) and Frederik Willem Louis Antonie Hirschmann. Her father was an administrator for the Royal Dutch Navy and died when she was nine years old, during a trip from the former Dutch colonies in India. She was raised by her mother in The Hague and attended the Christian Educational Academy in The Hague. In 1889 she earned her Lower Education teaching certificate () and the following year earned a certificate for French.
Career.
After her graduation, Hirschmann and her mother moved to Nijmegen, where they supported themselves with her mother's widow's pension and her earnings from teaching. She earned her certification for physical education 1893. It is probable that during their time in Nijmegen, Hirschmann met Dirk Ramondt, a postal worker. Soon after completing her training, she and her mother moved to Utrecht and there on 15 June 1899, she married Ramondt. The young couple moved to Breda and were living there when their daughter Sophie was born.
Coming in contact with the Dutch feminist movement, Ramondt-Hirschmann soon became a supporter of the international mother's association, the Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht (VVK) and the International Women's Suffrage Alliance (IWSA). In 1903, the family moved to The Hague and Ramondt-Hirschmann began working as a secretary to the executive board of the Dutch Women's Council (), with other feminists such as Johanna Naber and . Around the same time, Ramondt-Hirschmann became involved with the Dutch Vegetarian Association and The Hague Association for Philosophy. She became interested in theosophy and began hosting lectures for the . Ramondt-Hirschmann regularly held presentations for the Dutch section of Theosophical Society.
In 1912, the family moved again, settling in Amsterdam. Ramondt-Hirschmann became involved in the pacifist movement. She served as co-organizer of the International Congress of Women held in 1915 in The Hague. At the conference, Ramondt-Hirschmann was elected to serve as president of the Dutch branch of the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (ICWPP), a new organization begun at the conference. Following the Congress, two delegations were formed to present the resolutions from the meeting to heads of state. Ramondt-Hirschmann was on the delegation which presented the resolutions to Scandinavia and Russia. Along with Emily Greene Balch, Chrystal Macmillan, Rosika Schwimmer, and Julia Grace Wales, Ramondt-Hirschmann formed the group speaking to peaceful nations. Jane Addams headed the other delegation, which spoke to nations at war.
The first two stops, Denmark and Norway, were uneventful, with the exception that the taxi driver, who could not believe that a group of women had an appointment to see the King Haakon, circled the palace numerous times before finally delivering the group. In Sweden, they spoke with the Foreign Minister Knut Wallenberg, who agreed that Sweden would be willing to host a peace mediation conference if the women’s delegation could get two warring nations to agree to participate. In war, most diplomats refused to make definitive statements, and encouraged by this development, the group, without Schwimmer, who as a Hungarian could not enter Russia, made plans to go to Petrograd. After several days they managed to secure an interview with the Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov, who despite his view that nothing would come of such a meeting, wrote a statement that Russia would not oppose a neutral mediating conference. Addams's group secured a similar statement from the Prime Minister of France, René Viviani, though this information was unknown to Ramondt-Hirschmann's group, as by the time they returned to The Hague, where both delegations were to have met, Addams had sailed for the United States.
Meeting with Aletta Jacobs, the delegation decided to split up with Ramondt-Hirschmann and Schwimmer approaching the German Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Jagow, while Balch and Macmillan spoke with the Lord President of the Council Crewe, who was acting British Foreign Secretary. Von Jagow did not see any practical result, but agreed that Germany was not opposed to neutral mediation. Lord Crewe refused to "accept" a proposal, stating only that Britain would not place obstacles to such a meeting or object to a conference if it actually came to fruition. Armed with these statements, Schwimmer secured a promise from Wallenberg that he would present the plan to the Swedish Cabinet. In the meantime, while the delegates were abroad, Aletta Jacobs was putting pressure on the Dutch Prime Minister Pieter Cort van der Linden to host the conference at the Hague. Van der Linden wanted assurances that President Woodrow Wilson would favor conference and sent Jacobs on an official inquiry mission. They were unable to persuade Wilson to act and it would not be until the war had ended that the conference for the League of Nations would occur.
In 1919, Ramondt-Hirschmann traveled with Jacobs and Mien van Wulfften Palthe to the ICWPP meeting in Zürich, where the organization changed its name to the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). Ramondt-Hirschmann became the international secretary of the WILPF in 1921; she would serve as secretary or adjoint secretary until 1936. She divorced her husband on 27 December 1923, gaining custody of her daughter. Between 1924 and 1926, she toured various cities in the United States, making speeches about peace, while her daughter was completing post graduate work at Bryn Mawr College. Between 1927 and 1930, she served as the General Secretary of the Dutch Theosophical Society, attending meetings abroad. In 1934, she and her daughter moved to Hilversum, where Sophie was employed as an educator. That same year, Ramondt-Hirschmann organized a silent demonstration for peace, known as the Women's Peace Walk. Demonstrators marched through The Hague and repeated the protest annually on May 18 until 1940.
In 1935, Ramondt-Hirschmann took part in the protest against the group arrests of political dissidents by the Nazis. Between 1935 and 1937, she served as one of the three international co-chairs of the WILPF. During 1936, she served on the Supervisory Board of the Central Peace Bureau and began her participation in collecting relief funds for those in need due to the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, she returned to The Hague and lived there until the German invasion of the Netherlands, when she returned to Hilversum to live with her daughter and retired from peace work.
Death and legacy.
Ramondt-Hirschmann died on 20 November 1957 at her daughter's home in Hilversum. She was one of the most noted women in the feminist pacifist movement of the first half of the twentieth century. She believed that women's participation in international politics would bring a sense of humanity to governance, and thus, their involvement was crucial.


2002 Prague municipal election

Prague municipal election in 2002 was held as part of 2002 Czech municipal elections. It was held on 1 and 2 November 2002. Civic Democratic Party has won the election and Pavel Bém became the Mayor of Prague.
Background.
Civic Democratic Party (ODS) won 1998 municipal election in Prague and Jan Kasl became the mayor. He resigned on the position in May 2002 after conflicts with his colleagues in the party. He left ODS and formed new party called European Democrats. Igor Němec replaced Kasl as the Mayor of Prague.
Campaign.
Pavel Bém became Civic Democratic Party candidate for Mayor. Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) was led by Jiří Paroubek. Freedom Union was led by Michael Hvížďala. European Democrats were led by Jan Kasl.
Campaign started in October 2002. Parties filled the city with billboards. ODS focused on safety. Freedom Union promised easily available housing. ČSSD promised "City for Living." Leader of ČSSD Paroubek held many meeting with voters to be as visible as possible.
Results.
Civic Democrats led by Pavel bém won the election. Bém then formed coalition with Czech Social Democratic Party and became the Mayor of Prague.


Didy Veldman

Didy Veldman (born 1967, Groningen) is a Dutch choreographer. She trained at the Scapino Academy in Amsterdam. She has danced with Scapino Ballet, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Rambert Dance Company, working with international choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin and Christopher Bruce, among others.
In 1993, Veldman founded Alias Company with Guilherme Botelho. Their creation En Manqué won two major choreographic awards, the Dance Exchange International and the Prix Romand des Spectacle Independent. The following year, she was invited to join Rambert Dance Company and created three works for their repertoire. She has created and re-staged works for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Ballet Gulbenkian, Cullberg Ballet, Northern Ballet Theatre, The Royal New Zealand Ballet, the Komische Oper Berlin, Scottish Dance Theatre, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, amongst others.


Dirk Van der Hoff

Dirk Van der Hoff (2 September 1814 in Dordrecht, Netherlands, – 9 October 1881 in "Potchefstroom" South Africa) was minister of the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk, one of the Dutch Reformed Churches in South Africa.
Early life.
The second son of a shopkeeper, he went to the Latin school in Dordrecht and became a theological student at Leiden in 1833. His training was influenced by the newer, supernaturalistic theological trend. In May 1840, he passed the B.D. examination and was admitted to the ministry. He was never offered a post in the Netherlands, which at the time had a glut of young preachers.
On 25 May 1845 he married Anna Maria van Otterloo in Dordrecht, fathered one daughter (in 1878) and two sons.
While Van der Hoff waited for a call he undertook a number of journeys abroad. He considered emigrating to Cape Colony or Natal as a minister. When he met Professor U. G. Lauts, who was looking for clergymen and teachers for the Voortrekkers, he made up his mind. In 1852 Lauts accepted Van der Hoff as a clergyman for five years for the Volksraad of the Afrikaans Hollanders, north of the Vaal River in South Africa.
Early years in South Africa.
After Lauts had helped Van der Hoff to find passage money to Cape Town, he and his wife reached their destination in November 1852. He was welcomed by J. J. H. Smuts, editor of "De Zuid-Afrikaan", who was his host during the greater part of his stay at the Cape. He was admitted to the church, though he refused to take an oath of allegiance to British authorities. While waiting for passage to the Transvaal, he held services in the Groote Kerk, Cape Town, in Wynberg, and in the Lutheran church.
In April 1853 Van der Hoff, his wife and newborn daughter left for the Transvaal via Natal. In Natal Van der Hoff preached at Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith and also received an invitation to become the minister of New Germany. In May 1853, he arrived at Potchefstroom. He was thus the first minister of religion in the Transvaal.
Van der Hoff faced challenges in this role. The fact that the Transvaal community was completely unorganized and split into groups without any regular public authority, while communications were primitive, complicated his work enormously. Yet he approached his task with assurance and awareness of the importance of his calling.
As regards the relation of the Transvaal church to the authority in Cape Town, Van der Hoff initially advocated this affiliation of the independent Transvaal congregations with the Cape N.G. Kerk. Nevertheless he did identify himself with the struggle for an independent church in the Transvaal Republic. The General Synod recognized Van der H. as legitimately ordained with the whole of the Transvaal as his field.
Because of various arguments over church government, others in the N.G. Kerk had no great love for Van der Hoff. Time and again he and the N.H. Kerk met with antagonism from this source. Van der Hoff's activities were rendered still more difficult by a second church schism when a number of members broke away in 1859 and established the Gereformeerde Kerk.
Later career.
Van der Hoff persevered in his duties with determination. His extensive work made exacting demands on him. He visited Potchefstroom and Marico regularly, and in addition established congregations at Suikerbosrand, Onder-Vaalrivier (roughly the present Wolmaransstad, Bloemhof, Makwassie and Christiana), Pretoria, Draakberg (in the vicinity of the present Volksrust and Wakkerstroom), Klerksdorp, Losberg and Rustenburg. This meant that he was almost continually on the move, mostly by ox-waggon, in wild, dangerous, and often inhospitable parts of the world. On his journeys he twice fractured an arm and once fractured a leg, and for a time had to hold services while seated.
Van der Hoff's advice was sought on nearly every aspect of the as yet unregulated society. In 1853 the Volksraad had adopted the 'Van der Hoff rules of procedure' for education, in terms of which the church was to continue to supervise education. After the adoption of the Transvaal constitution (1857) in which education was entrusted to the state, Van der Hoff was chair-man of the Board of Education until 1867.
On the political level he also contributed towards stability. For instance, he tendered his resignation in protest in 1855, when the Volksraad rejected a draft constitution, but withdrew it when the constitutional bill was adopted in principle. With the adoption of the constitution in January 1857, the Vierkleur, designed by Van der Hoff and his brother, was also adopted as the flag of the Transvaal Republic. At Potchefstroom, Rustenburg and Pretoria Van der Hoff organized the religious part of the ceremonies marking the hoisting of the flag. For the occasion he also wrote a "Vlaggelied" which can be considered an early national anthem.
The adoption of the constitution of 1857 meant that the Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk became the state church. Van der Hoff, however, refused to submit to state control. Van der Hoff also brought about order in the Church, although a first church law, drafted by him in 1857, was not accepted by the Volksraad.
When, in 1861, A. J. Begemann became the minister at Pretoria, G. W. Smits* went to Rustenburg, and, in 1864, N. J. van Warmelo* arrived at Soutpansberg, the scope of Van der H.'s work was reduced. However, with the Church disputes caused by the Rev. F. Lion Cachet in 1865 and later, he found himself once again in the arena. He was also involved in a public dispute with the Rev. J. L. Jooste, the N.G. Kerk minister at Potchefstroom, from December 1868.
Late career.
In 1878 the twenty-fifth anniversary of Van der Hoff's ministry was splendidly celebrated in Potchefstroom. The public interest and the address presented by the commission of the General Synod emphasized the affection and regard he enjoyed from those who knew him. Under his guidance the N.H. Kerk had, by 1878, grown into a prosperous Church community of 19,500, served by seven ministers.
The Rev. N. J. van Warmelo conducted his funeral service at Potchefstroom. In October 1920 the church council of the local N.H. Kerk congregation restored his grave and erected a suitable monument upon it.
A bronze bust of Van der H. by Coert Steynberg is in the Van der Hoff building, Pretoria, and another is in the possession of the N.H. Kerk, Potchefstroom. There are portraits in Engelbrecht (1942, infra) and in the N.H. Kerk Archives, Pretoria.


Wijda Mazereeuw

Wijda Mazereeuw (born 11 August 1953) is a retired swimmer from the Netherlands. Individually she competed in the 200 m and 400 m medley event at the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 100 m and 200 m breaststroke at the 1976 Summer Olympics, but was eliminated in the heats on all occasions; in 1976 she also placed fifth with the Dutch 4 × 100 m medley relay team. At the 1975 World Aquatics Championships in Cali, Colombia, she won silver medals in the 100 m (1:14.29) and 200 m (2:37.50) breaststroke; she was also part of the Dutch 4 × 100 m medley relay team that won the bronze medal with a time of 4:21.45.
Mazereeuw competed at the 1974 and 1977 European championships, with the best result of fourth place with the 4 × 100 m medley relay team in 1976. Between 1972 and 1977 she set 15 national records in various events.


Jacqueline Toxopeus

Jacqueline Afine Toxopeus (born 11 December 1964 in Wageningen, Gelderland) is a former Dutch field hockey international playing in goal. She is undoubtedly one of the finest goalkeepers in Dutch women's field hockey since Det de Beus. Toxopeus, nicknamed "Tox", played for several clubs in the Netherlands, but ended her career with HC Den Bosch. In the spring of 2006 she made a short comeback with HC Rotterdam after several injuries in the squad.


Clara van Sparwoude

Clara Jansdochter van Sparwoude (sometimes written Spaerwoude) (ca. 1530 – 4 August 1615) was a Dutch noblewoman of Delft who is chiefly remembered for her great wealth and various charitable funds from her estate. The most famous of these granted a sum of money to each of her relatives and their descendants upon their marriage, and was in continuous operation until 1922, when the monies were liquidated by the Dutch government.
Life and legacy.
Clara was the daughter of Jan Heyndrixzn. (1477–1552) a goldsmith of Delft, and his second wife Willemtgen Willemsdr (1495–1564). In 1556 she married Arent Vranckenzn. van der Meer (died 1596), a high-ranking city official and burgemeester in Delft. Following her death on 4 August 1615, she was interred on 8 August in the Oude Kerk in Delft, where her prominent tomb is visible still.
Clara van Sparwoude Fund.
As Clara and her husband had no children together, upon her death she donated her considerable riches to various charitable projects, including a fund for "poor relations", typically interpreted as meaning all descendants of her elder half-brother Adriaan and younger half-sister Maritgen. A payment was made to each relation upon their wedding.
Originally a considerable sum of money, the amount paid dwindled over the centuries as a result of inflation and the increasing number of relations. In the early 20th century the Dutch government retained an official whose responsibilities included maintaining the pedigree of Clara van Sparwoude's family and disbursing the funds to qualifying relatives.
By the 1920s the fund still held half a million guilders, but the payment per relation had dwindled to the equivalent of €11.35. In 1922 the Dutch government passed a law liquidating the balance of the fund and dispensing it among the poorest 10% of adult van Sparwoude relations.
Clara van Sparwoudestraat.
Originally, a Clara van Sparwoudestraat had already been established on 26 October 1938 in the Delft expansion plan of 1931, but that plan was canceled. In 1970 a street in Delft was named after her by decision of the council.


Vertrokken onbekend waarheen

Vertrokken onbekend waarheen (VOW) is a Dutch term meaning "left town, destination unknown", used in resident registrations for a person who does not live at his registered address in the Netherlands anymore, while it is unknown where he lives now, not even in which country. In most cases the person has not registered that he left; in some cases he did, without specifying a destination. Some have left the country, others still live in the country without being registered.
 Such people are also referred to as "spookburgers", or "phantom citizens".
The reasons may include neglect, but also tax evasion and/or avoiding arrest for a crime. The downside for the person is that he cannot get benefits such as (for a Dutch person) getting a passport, and for anyone still living in the country, being allowed to work and to send his children to school, getting social security, etc.
According to a 2011 report by the Dutch Bureau of Statistics, the number of VOWs in the Netherlands has been steadily increasing since 1996, which is not surprising, because those who leave the country and do not return, often remain out-of-sight indefinitely. VOWs are mostly male and under the age of 45.
During the second world war many VOWs referred to Jewish people who left their official address to live somewhere else without registration, to avoid deportation. This included people who were forced to leave their town and to start living in Amsterdam (from where they would be deported later). In the city of Haarlem in 1942, 121 Jewish people were registered as "VOW" of the 925 members of the registered local Jewish community, and by the end of the war the total number of Jewish VOWs was estimated to be between 750–1000.


Gerrit Hendrik Kersten

Gerrit Hendrik Kersten (6 August 1882, Deventer – 6 September 1948, Waarde) was a Dutch Christian minister and politician. In 1907, Kersten founded the Reformed Congregations (Dutch: Gereformeerde Gemeenten). Eleven years later, in 1918, he had established the Reformed Political Party (Dutch: Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij) to realize his vision of "a Calvinist Netherlands without cinema, sports, vaccination and social security". He was the party's first member of the House of Representatives, being elected in 1922. He would remain in parliament until 1945.
On the evening of 10 November 1925, Kersten, staunchly opposed to Roman Catholicism, proposed an amendment to the 1926 budget for the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Kersten's proposal came down to ending financial support for a Dutch office at the Holy See. The amendment was adopted the next day, with support from government party Christian Historical Union.
This led to the resignation of four Catholic government ministers and the fall of the first government of Hendrik Colijn. The fall of the cabinet became known as the Night of Kersten.
Kersten was a staunch critic of the policies of Colijn. The speaker of the Dutch parliament had parts of Kersten's contributions to debates edited in the Proceedings no less than thirteen times between 1922 and 1940. Kersten feared the rise of fascism and national socialism in the inter-war period, but saw fascism's authoritarian tendencies as a positive aspect and kept seeing socialism and Catholicism as greater evils.
During the Second World War, Kersten denounced resistance against the Nazis, claiming they were sent by God as punishment for desecration of the Lord's Day (Sunday). He also refused to sign a 1941 protest of the Convent of Dutch Churches (Dutch: Convent der Kerken) against the persecution of Jews during the war, and even went as far as to cooperate with the Nazis to keep his paper, "Banier", in business. After the war, a government committee branded him a collaborator and barred him from returning to Parliament. He focused on writing theological works. Kersten died three years later, in 1948.