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9847_11 | The climate is cool temperate. Summers are drier than on the west coast of Britain, but cooler than southerly areas. Winters are cold at times, sometimes with snow. The soil is of a dark brown colour, free draining and gritty. It is very good for growing vegetables. Tender perennials are rare; some palms will grow, but need winter protection. Although Phormiums (New Zealand flax) grow in displays in Newbiggin, salt-laden winds may afford them some protection. The most exposed part of the town is to the east. High trees in Hirst Park give considerable shelter. The west part is much more sheltered, especially the wooded valley of the River Wansbeck. Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is "Cfb" (Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).
Environs and villages surrounding Ashington |
9847_12 | Working in a clockwise direction from the north west of Ashington are the following places.
Linton, a small village, originally developed for mineworkers at the Linton Colliery. This village looks unusual from the air: it is almost square and its streets are in a parallel grid-plan.
Ellington, a newer village which was located next to Ellington Colliery.
Lynemouth, close to the coast; this village is next to the Alcan Lynemouth Aluminium Smelter and Lynemouth Power Station.
Woodhorn, a tiny hamlet with a church on the road to Newbiggin. Some of the area of Ashington adjacent to Woodhorn pit museum is also called Woodhorn.
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea, a small town or village, this is a former seaside resort, visited by locals. It has a beach and, following coastal erosion, a large sea wall was built in the late 1980s. Newbiggin offers bed and breakfasts, cafes and some shops. |
9847_13 | Cambois (pronounced Cammus) is a small village south of the River Wansbeck. It is quite spread out. Cambois has some fishing cottages at the mouth of the river. It has a beach and views along the coast towards north Blyth and Blyth.
North Seaton, a village on the north banks of the River Wansbeck. It was formerly a mining village, but most of its population moved to Ashington. North Seaton had its own small colliery.
Stakeford, originally a small village south of the River Wansbeck, this is mainly an area of residential estates.
Guide Post, a residential village on the road towards Morpeth, it has a school and some shops.
Sheepwash, a crossing point on the River Wansbeck before it flows west towards Bothal.
Bothal, a quaint, historic village on the wooded banks of the River Wansbeck. Bothal has cottages and a 14th Century castle, Bothal Castle. Riverside walks can be taken along the wooded riverbank. |
9847_14 | Pegswood, village on the main East Coast Main Line. The village has a train station served by local trains.
Longhirst, a small hamlet on the East Coast Main Line. |
9847_15 | Transport and road links
Until the Beeching Axe of the 1960s, Ashington was on the British Rail passenger network, with passenger trains to Newbiggin and Newcastle. The railway is used now by goods trains, but there have been calls for the railway station to re-open. The line has been identified as a priority for reopening to passenger use by Campaign for Better Transport. The nearest mainline railway station is Pegswood on the East Coast Main Line, about 3 miles from the town centre. Local services from here go to Newcastle, Cramlington, Morpeth, and Alnmouth.
At the east end of the main shopping street is the bus station, with local Arriva North East and Go North East buses linking to the rest of Northumberland and to Newcastle. |
9847_16 | Ashington is well served by roads. The A189 (Spine Road) to the east of Ashington runs south via Blyth and North Tyneside to Newcastle, and via the A19 Tyne Tunnel to South Tyneside and the A1(M). The A1068 runs north along the coast to Alnwick. The A196 and A197 runs west towards Morpeth and the A1 which goes north to Scotland and Edinburgh or south to the A1(M) near Newcastle on towards Durham and Yorkshire and the South.
The nearest airport is Newcastle Airport, which provides scheduled domestic flights, flights covering many major cities in Europe, long haul international flights and holiday charter flights. There is a port in nearby North Shields with passenger services to IJmuiden in the Netherlands.
Town's facilities |
9847_17 | Museums and libraries
A reasonable-sized public library is based in the Leisure Centre on Lintonville Terrace at the northern fringes of the town. The local museum is at Woodhorn pit. It is mainly a museum of the town's mining history with pictures and models. There are also various arts exhibits in the museum, including a permanent exhibition of the Pitmen Painters' paintings, and information on local history.
Sports
Ashington has several sports facilities and numerous sports clubs. A new leisure centre was erected on the former Asda site in the town centre, it opened in December 2015.
Hirst Park provides two good quality bowling greens as well as tennis and basketball courts. Ashington A.F.C. now play at Woodhorn Lane having moved from Portland Park to make way for the new Asda superstore in 2008. Rugby is played at a ground on the north west edge of the town and cricket is played off Kenilworth Road not far from the town centre. |
9847_18 | In recent years a new community facility has been created from the former Miners Welfare centre on Alexandra Road. The Hirst Welfare Centre is a multi-use community facility with training facilities, office space, a cafe, community hall, gym and dance studio. The Centre also has an external all-weather, floodlight synthetic football pitch with additional grass pitches.
Accommodation
There are some bed and breakfasts in Ashington. To the north side of Queen Elizabeth lake is a motel with pub and restaurant and located on the site of the QE2 is a Premier Inn hotel/restaurant. There is also a holiday centre/caravan site near Sandy Bay off the A189 about 3 miles to the south east of the town centre.
Parks walks and green spaces
Riverside Park provides a peaceful riverside setting in which to relax or take walks. The park runs along the Wansbeck River. There are public footpaths and bridleways from here towards the quaint village of Bothal with its photogenic castle above the river. |
9847_19 | The People's Park near the leisure centre off Institute Road is a large green field suitable for recreation. Hirst Park is located off Hawthorn Road; locally, it has traditionally been known as The Flower Park, due to its summer floral displays. It has bowling greens, basketball and tennis courts, play areas and is sheltered by tall trees. To the north of the park is a large sports field, where historically, the town hosted fun fairs.
At Woodhorn is the Queen Elizabeth II Park. This is surrounded by pine wood, including the Ashington Community Woods, connecting the park to Ashington, and has a large lake with a narrow-gauge railway connecting the main car park to the Woodhorn Museum. Walks from here head out towards Linton and eastwards towards the seaside town of Newbiggin following the old railway line. |
9847_20 | Ashington enjoys a good location within Northumberland allowing good access to the countryside. The town is situated near the coast, enabling short journey times to beaches such as Druridge Bay and Cresswell. Northumberland National Park is close by.
Education
The previous system of first school, middle school and high school used in Ashington was phased out in September 2015, with Bothal Middle School and Hirst Park Middle School closing. First schools became primary schools while Ashington High School (now Ashington Academy) became a full secondary school. Schools were first built by the Ashington coal company, but many have since been replaced.
Northumberland College (formerly, Ashington Technical College) is the main further education provider in the town, and offers A levels, NVQs, vocational courses and various evening classes.
Healthcare |
9847_21 | There are many General Practitioner (GP) surgeries in Ashington. The main Wansbeck General Hospital in Ashington is located at the north east of the town near Woodhorn. Major treatments are provided at hospitals in Newcastle. A&E services are provided at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital in nearby Cramlington.
Local media
The local newspapers are: the Evening Chronicle, The Journal. These papers cover Tyneside and south east Northumberland. The News Post Leader covers mostly Wansbeck.
There are several radio regional stations providing local broadcasts.
Local news on television is provided by ITV Tyne Tees and BBC Look North. These TV stations cover most of the north east, County Durham, Teesside, Tyneside and Northumberland. |
9847_22 | Politics
the local member of parliament is Ian Lavery of the Labour Party, with Ashington forming part of the Wansbeck constituency. This is traditionally a Labour safe seat, but in recent years the constituency has become more marginal thanks to the town's strong Leave vote at the 2016 European Union membership referendum, and Labour won by just 814 votes in the 2019 general election.
Ashington elects six County Councillors (One with part of West Newbiggin) to Northumberland County Council as of 2014, these seats are held by Labour Party candidates. Ashington Town Council is made up of six wards each electing three councillors, as of 2014 seventeen of these are held by the Labour Party.
Industry and employment |
9847_23 | Until 1988 the majority of the town's male population was employed in the mining industry. The closure of the pits led to large scale unemployment. However limited coal mining was carried out until recently at Ellington Colliery and opencast coal extraction is carried out at Butterwell Opencast.
The former site of Ashington Colliery became part of a regeneration project and saw the development of Wansbeck Business Park. This park now houses a number of companies with local, national and international profiles. These include Polar Krush NICC Ltd, Thermacore Ltd and Sugarfayre Ltd. The park includes a variety of wildlife with a large pond at its centre.
Ashington's close proximity to Newcastle upon Tyne makes it an ideal commuter town for people working in the city.
Arts and culture |
9847_24 | In 1934 some of the Ashington miners enrolled in painting classes as an alternative pastime and then began to produce paintings to sell at local markets to supplement their poor wages. They achieved unexpected success and approval from the art community and were given prestigious gallery exhibitions during the 1930s and 1940s under the name "The Pitmen Painters", although the group had called themselves the "Ashington Group". In the 1970s the group's work was "rediscovered" and popularised as "workers' art" and given international exhibitions. On 26 October 2006 a new £16m museum housing the work was opened in Ashington by The Princess Royal. |
9847_25 | The book The Pitmen Painters by William Feaver, recording the development of the Ashington Group, 1934 to 1984, has been made into a stage play by Lee Hall, well known for Billy Elliot. The play premiered at the Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 2007 and subsequently was produced at the Royal National Theatre, London in 2008 and 2009. A German translation by Michael Raab premiered at the Volkstheater in Vienna, Austria, in April 2009. In 2011 Oscar/BAFTA award-winning Film Director Jon Blair made a film for ITV1's Perspectives Arts series, entitled Robson Green and The Pitmen Painters giving an insight into the lives and work of the Ashington Group including rare film footage of the group in their Hut including interviews with Oliver Kilbourn and Harry Wilson.
Ashington has appeared in various films and TV programmes, such as Spender starring Jimmy Nail, Our Friends in the North in 1996, The Fast Show on BBC2 and the Alcan chimneys were seen in the movie, Billy Elliot. |
9847_26 | The mining workers of Ashington gave a 'Hooky mat' to their friends in Ashington, West Sussex, where it is now displayed in the village hall.
Notable residents
Ian Lavery, President of the National Union of Mineworkers
William Timlin, author and architect
Sporting personalities
Ashington has produced a number of professional footballers, notably Jack Milburn, Jackie Milburn, Mark Cullen, Jimmy Adamson, Jack Charlton, Bobby Charlton, Cecil Irwin, Colin Ayre, David Thompson, Chris Adamson, Martin Taylor, Peter Ramage, Brian Carolin and Ethan Ross. Premier League referee Michael Oliver, the youngest in the league's history, was born in the town. Property developer Sir John Hall, former Chairman and Life President of Newcastle United Football Club, was born in North Seaton village on the outskirts of the town in 1933. |
9847_27 | Cricketing brothers Steve Harmison and Ben Harmison are from the town, as are fellow cricketers Mark Wood and Simon Smith. The first-class cricketer Jack Clark was born in Ashington.
Golfer Kenneth Ferrie, who has played on the PGA Tour, is from Ashington.
See also
List of towns in England
References
Further reading
External links
Ashington Community website
Northumberland Communities (Accessed: 5 November 2008)
Towns in Northumberland
Civil parishes in Northumberland |
9848_0 | South Sumatra () is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southeast of the island of Sumatra, The province spans and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 Census. The capital of the province is Palembang. The province borders the provinces of Jambi to the north, Bengkulu to the west and Lampung to the south. The Bangka Strait in the east separates South Sumatra and the island of Bangka, which is part of the Bangka Belitung Islands province. This province is rich in natural resources, such as petroleum, natural gas and coal. The province is inhabited by many different ethnic groups, with Palembang people the largest ethnic group. Most speak Palembang Malay, which is mutually unintelligible to both Indonesian and Standard Malay. Other ethnic groups include the Javanese, Sundanese, Minangkabau and Chinese. Most are concentrated in urban areas and are largely immigrants from other parts of Indonesia. |
9848_1 | From the 7th century to the late 14th century, the province was the seat of the Buddhist Srivijaya Empire, which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 8th to the 12th century. Srivijaya was the first unified kingdom to dominate much of Indonesian archipelago. Owing to its geographical position, the capital of Srivijaya, Palembang, became a thriving port frequented by traders from the Middle-East, the Indian Sub-continent and China. At the height of its power, the territory of the Srivijaya Empire reached modern-day Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. After Srivijaya collapsed in the 14th century, small kingdoms began to establish itself in the province. Beginning in the 16th century, Islam began to spread in the region, effectively replacing Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion in the region. In the 17th century, the Islamic Palembang Sultanate was established with Palembang as its capital. At that time, |
9848_2 | however, Europeans began arriving in the region, first the Portuguese and then the Dutch. The Dutch became the dominant power in the region. Through the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the Dutch exerted influence on the Palembang Sultanate. In 1811, during the Napoleonic Wars, the last Sultan of Palembang, Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II attacked the Dutch in Palembang, but he refused to cooperate with the British, so Thomas Stamford Raffles sent troops to attack Palembang and Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II was forced to flee the royal palace, then Raffles appointed the Sultan Ahmad Najamuddin II, brother of Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II as king. In 1813 Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II again took over the kingdom, but one month later he was brought down again by Raffles and reappointed Sultan Ahmad Najamuddin II, causing a split in the Sultanate of Palembang. After the Dutch returned to the region, the Dutch attacked and annexed the sultanate to the Dutch East Indies, and exiled the sultan and his |
9848_3 | family to Ternate. The Dutch controlled the region for the next century, but during World War II, the Japanese attacked Palembang and expelled the Dutch. The Japanese occupied the region until August 1945, when they surrendered to the Allied forces. The Dutch attempted to return to the region, but this was opposed by the newly declared Republic Of Indonesia, resulting in a War of Independence. In the end, the Dutch recognized the Indonesian sovereignty and withdrew from the region in 1950. The province of South Sumatra was then formed on 12 September 1950. |
9848_4 | History
Pre-history
South Sumatra has been settled by humans since the Palaeolithic era. The evidence of those settlements is proven by some discoveries of Palaeolithic tools in the riverbed of Saling and Kikim rivers in Bungamas Village, Lahat Regency. Seventy-eight skeletons dating back to 3,000–14,000 years ago, presumably of Austronesian and Austromelanesoid race have been excavated from the site of Harimau Cave in Padang Bindu Village, Ogan Komering Ulu Regency. Relics of seven stone chambers believed to be about 2,500 years old were found near a coffee plantation in Kotaraya Lembak, Lahat Regency. Around 300 BC, the Deutero-Malay people arrived in this region and pushed the native people inland.
Srivijaya |
9848_5 | Around 7th century AD, an ancient Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya was established in an area known today as Palembang. This kingdom became the center of trade and was a maritime country, but this kingdom did not expand its power outside the islands of Southeast Asia, with the exception of contributing to the population of Madagascar as far as 3,300 miles west. Some experts are still debating the area that was the center of the Srivijaya Kingdom. Other than that, it is likely that the kingdom used to move its administrative center, but the capital remained directly governed by the authorities, while the supporting areas were governed by the local datuk.
In the 7th century, the Chinese noted that there were two kingdoms namely Malayu and Kedah that were part of the Srivijaya empire. |
9848_6 | The Srivijaya empire had existed since 671 in according to the notes of the Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing. From the Kedukan Bukit inscription in 682, this empire became known under the leadership of Dapunta Hyang. That he departed on the siddhayatra holy journey to "take blessings", and led 20,000 soldiers and 312 people on board with 1,312 soldiers on foot from Minanga Tamwan to Jambi and Palembang. The Kedukan Bukit Inscription is reputed to be the oldest inscription written in Malay. Experts argue that the writer of this inscription adapted Indian orthography. |
9848_7 | Based on the Kota Kapur Inscription dated from 686 CE that is found on the island of Bangka, this empire has dominated the southern part of Sumatra, the islands of Bangka and Belitung, to Lampung. This inscription also mentions that Emperor Sri Jayanasa launched a military expedition to punish the Bhumi Jawa kingdom who were not loyal to Srivijaya, this event coincided with the collapse of Tarumanagara in West Java and Holing (Kalingga) in Central Java, which was most likely due to Sriwijaya's attack. It is also possible that the Bhumi Jawa kingdom mentioned in the inscription is referring to the Kingdom of Tarumanegara. Srivijaya continued to grow and succeeded in controlling the maritime trade routes in the Straits of Malacca, the Sunda Strait, the South China Sea, the Java Sea and the Karimata Strait. |
9848_8 | The expansion of this kingdom into Java and the Malay Peninsula, allows Srivijaya to control the knots of the main trade routes in Southeast Asia. Archeologist have found the ruins of Srivijaya temples as far as Thailand and Cambodia. In the 7th century, the port of Champa in eastern Indochina began to divert many traders from Srivijaya. To prevent this, Maharaja Dharmasetu launched several attacks on coastal cities in Indochina. The city of Indrapura on the banks of the Mekong river was captured by Srivijaya in the early 8th century. Srivijaya continued its domination of Cambodia, until the Khmer king Jayawarman II, founder of the Khmer Empire, severed ties with Srivijaya in the same century. At the end of the 8th century some kingdoms in Java, including Tarumanegara and Holing, were under the rule of Srivijaya. According to records, during this period the Sailendra people migrated to Central Java and ruled there. In the same century, the Langkasuka kingdom in the Malay peninsula |
9848_9 | became part of the kingdom. In the following period, Pan Pan and Trambralinga, which were located north of Langkasuka, were also under the influence of Srivijaya. |
9848_10 | Based on historical records from Arabia, Srivijaya is called by the name Sribuza. In 955 CE, Al Masudi, a traveler and classical Arab historian wrote notes about Sriwijaya. In that note, Srivijaya is described as a large kingdom that is rich, with very many soldiers. It is said that the fastest ship in two years is not enough to surround the entire island region. Sriwijaya's produce is camphor, agarwood, cloves, sandalwood, nutmeg, cardamom, gambier and some other crops. Another note stated that the empire was well-advanced in the field of agriculture. This was concluded from a Persian expert named Abu Zaid Hasan who received information from Sujaimana, an Arab trader. Abu Zaid wrote that the kingdom of Zabaj (another Arabic name for Srivijaya) had fertile land and extensive power to the other side of the sea. |
9848_11 | Srivijaya controlled the maritime trade route in Southeast Asia throughout the 10th century, but at the end of the century the Kingdom of Medang in East Java grew into a new maritime force and began to challenge the dominance of Srivijaya. The Chinese news from the Song Dynasty called the Srivijaya Kingdom in Sumatra the name San-fo-tsi, while the Kingdom of Medang in Java by the name She-po. It is said that San-fo-tsi and She-po were involved in competition for control of Southeast Asia. Both countries sent ambassadors to each other to China. The San-fo-tsi ambassador who departed in 988 was held in Canton when he was about to go home, because his country was attacked by Javanese troops. This attack from Java allegedly took place around the 990s, namely between 988 and 992 during the reign of Sri Cudamani Warmadewa. |
9848_12 | The kingdom of Medang succeeded in capturing Palembang in 992 for a while, but later the Medang forces were successfully repelled by Sriwijaya forces. The Hujung Langit inscription of 997 again mentions a Javanese attack on Sumatra. This series of attacks from Java ultimately failed because Java failed to establish a foothold in Sumatra. Capturing the capital city in Palembang is not enough because the Sriwijaya power are spread in several port cities in the Malacca Strait region. The Srivijaya emperor, Sri Cudamani Warmadewa, escaped out of the capital and traveled around gathering strength and reinforcements from his allies and subordinate kings to repel the Javanese army. The empire managed to survived and succeeded in repelling the Javanese navy. |
9848_13 | In 1025, the empire was defeated by the Chola Empire (during the period of Emperor Rajendra Chola I) of southern India. The Chola Empire had conquered the Sriwijaya colonies, such as the Nicobar Islands region and at the same time succeeded in capturing the ruling Srivijaya king at that time Sangrama Vijayatunggavarman. During the following decades, the entire Srivijaya empire was under the influence of the Chola dynasty. Nonetheless, Rajendra Chola I still gave the opportunity to the kings he conquered to remain in power while remaining submissive to him. Srivijaya's capital eventually moved northward to Jambi. This can be attributed to the news of the San-fo-ts'i delegation to China in 1028. Another factor in Sriwijaya's decline was natural factors. Because of the sedimentation of mud on the Musi River and several other tributaries, the merchant ships arriving in Palembang diminished. As a result, the city of Palembang is getting away from the sea and not being strategic. As a |
9848_14 | result of the coming of the merchant ship, the tax decreased and weakened the economy and position of Sriwijaya. |
9848_15 | According to the Chinese Song Dynasty book Zhu Fan Zhi, written around 1225 by Zhao Rugua, the two most powerful and richest kingdoms in the Southeast Asian archipelago were Srivijaya and Java (Kediri), with the western part (Sumatra, the Malay peninsula, and western Java/Sunda) under Srivijaya's rule and the eastern part was under Kediri's domination. It says that the people in Java followed two kinds of religions, namely Buddhism and the religion of Brahmins (Hinduism), while the people of Srivijaya followed Buddhism. The book describes the people of Java as being brave, short-tempered and willing to fight. It also notes that their favourite pastimes were cockfighting and pig fighting. The coin used as the currency then were made from a mixture of copper, silver, and tin. |
9848_16 | Srivijaya remained a formidable sea power until the 13th century. According to Cœdès, at the end of the 13th century, the empire "had ceased to exist... caused by the simultaneous pressure on its two flanks of Siam and Java." However, there was virtually a power vacuum in the region since there was no prominent power to hold the region except for the waning Majapahit Empire, itself centered in Java island. The vacuum allowed pirates to flourish in the region. |
9848_17 | After being conquered by Majapahit in 1375 AD, the Palembang region was made as one of the vassal or occupied territories of the Majapahit Empire, under the leadership of Hayam Wuruk. The government in Palembang was handed over to a regent who was appointed directly by Majapahit. However, internal problems in the Majapahit Empire made their attention to the conquered territories not very good. Even the Palembang region was controlled by traders from China. Until finally Majapahit regained control of Palembang after sending a commander named Arya Damar.
Palembang Sultanate |
9848_18 | By the late 15th century, Islam has spread throughout the region, replacing Buddhism and Hinduism as the dominant religion. Around the early 16th century, Tomé Pires, an adventurer from Portugal, said that Palembang had been led by an appointed patih (regent) from Java who was later referred to the Demak Sultanate and participated in attacking Malacca, which at that time had been controlled by the Portuguese. In 1659, Sri Susuhunan Abdurrahman proclaimed the establishment of the Palembang Sultanate. The Sultanate of Palembang stood for almost two centuries, namely from 1659 to 1825. Sultan Ratu Abdurrahman Kholifatul Mukminin Sayidul Iman, or Sunan Cinde Walang, was the first king in the Sultanate of Palembang. |
9848_19 | The reign of Sultan Muhammad Bahauddin (1776–1803) was also known as the golden era of the Palembang Sultanate which was quite successful. In his time, the sultanate's economy increased sharply because the sultan had mastered the techniques of how to trade well, including trading with VOCs. In fact, the VOC was upset with Sultan Bahauddin's trade monopoly which caused his contracts to be rejected often. As it turned out, Sultan Bahauddin preferred to trade with Britain, China and Malay people in Riau. The impact of such a policy actually generates enormous wealth for the empire's wealth. Thus, the prosperity of the Sultanate of Palembang sharply increased. The Palembang Sultanate was strategically located in conducting trade relations, especially the results of spices with outside parties. The Palembang Sultanate also ruled over the Bangka-Belitung islands which had a tin mine and had been traded since the 18th century. |
9848_20 | As the Dutch East India Company increased its influence in the region, the Sultanate started to decline and losing its power. During Napoleonic Wars in 1812, the sultan at that time, Mahmud Badaruddin II repudiated British claims to suzerainty. The British, under Stamford Raffles responded by attacking Palembang, sacking the court, and installing sultan's more cooperative younger brother, Najamuddin to the throne. The Dutch attempted to recover their influence at the court in 1816, but Sultan Najamuddin was uncooperative with them. An expedition launched by the Dutch in 1818 and captured Sultan Najamudin and exiled him to Batavia. A Dutch garrison was established in 1821, but sultan attempted an attack and a mass poisoning to the garrison, which were intervened by Dutch. Mahmud Badaruddin II was exiled to Ternate, and his palace was burned to the ground. The Sultanate was later abolished by Dutch and direct colonial rule was established.
Dutch colonial rule |
9848_21 | Japanese occupation and independence
Southern Sumatra was occupied by the Japanese on January 15, 1942, after the Battle of Palembang in World War II. After the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, South Sumatra became a part of Sumatra Province as a residency with Adnan Kapau Gani as the resident. On January 1, 1947, the Dutch tried to gain its sovereignty over South Sumatra by invading Palembang. Since then, fighting ensued across South Sumatra until Indonesia's independence was recognized by the Dutch on December 27, 1949. The area occupied by the Netherlands in South Sumatra was incorporated into South Sumatra State under the United States of Indonesia until the disbandment of the union and the founding of the republic. |
9848_22 | Post-independence division of the province
On 12 September 1950, South Sumatra province was established with a territory much larger than it is today, as it encompassed the southern third of Sumatra island covering areas that were eventually formed into separate provinces: Lampung was carved from the southern part of the province in 1964, Bengkulu from the coastal western part of the province in 1967, and Bangka Belitung from the titular islands on 4 December 2000.
Geography
South Sumatra has an area of and is located on the island of Sumatra, western Indonesia which lies south of the equator at 1–4 degrees south and 102–108 degrees east. The province is bordered by Jambi to the north, Lampung to the south and Bengkulu to the west, while in the east the Bangka Strait separates the province and the island-province of Bangka Belitung Islands. |
9848_23 | On the east coast the land consists of swamps and brackets which are affected by tides. Its vegetation is in the form of palmate plants and mangrove. A little more western is a vast lowland. Far to the west near the border of Bengkulu and Jambi lies the Bukit Barisan mountains, which divides South Sumatra and is a mountainous area with an altitude of above sea level. Barisan Hill consists of the summit of Mount Seminung ( asl), Mount Dempo ( asl), Mount Patah ( asl), and Mount Bungkuk ( asl). To the west of Bukit Barisan is a slope. In the Bukit Barisan valley there are areas of rubber, oil palm, and agriculture plantations, especially coffee, tea and vegetables. Mount Dempo is the highest point in the province. |
9848_24 | South Sumatra has large rivers that can be navigated, but currently, because of the silting process, cannot be navigated by large ships. Most of the rivers have flows from the Bukit Barisan mountains, except the Mesuji, Lalan and Banyuasin River. Most water from the South Sumatra section of Bukit Barisan mountains flows eastwards into Bangka Strait as Musi River, with Ogan, Komering, Lematang, Kelingi, Lakitan, Rupit River and Rawas River are its major tributaries. A few rivers in South Sumatra flow westwards into Indian Ocean, for example Manna River in Pagaralam and Tanjung Sakti.
In January 2020, two islands in South Sumatra, Betet Island and Gundul Island, were submerged as a result of climate change, and four other islands were close to being submerged. |
9848_25 | Climate
As in most other province of Indonesia, South Sumatra has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification Af) bordering on a tropical monsoon climate. The climate is very much dictated by the surrounding sea and the prevailing wind system. It has high average temperature and high average rainfall. Throughout the year the province is only affected by two seasons, namely the rainy season and the dry season. The air temperature varies from 24.7 to 32.9 degrees Celsius with air humidity levels ranging from 82% to 88%. The relative rainy season falls from October to April. Variation in rainfall ranges from . December is the month with the most rainfall while the drier season usually occurs from June to September. |
9848_26 | The climate in South Sumatra is similar to other regions in Indonesia, only known for two seasons, namely the dry season and the rainy season. From June to September southeast winds flow from Australia with relatively less water vapor, resulting in a drier season. Conversely in December to March many wind currents contain water vapor from Asia and the Pacific Ocean during the rainy season. Such conditions occur every half year after passing the transition periods in between April - May and October - November.
Governors
Administrative divisions |
9848_27 | The capital of South Sumatra province is Palembang. As at 2010 this province was divided into eleven regencies (kabupaten) and four autonomous cities (kota). Two new regencies have subsequently been created by the splitting of existing ones - Penukal Abab Lematang Ilir Regency from part of Muara Enim Regency on 14 December 2012, and North Musi Rawas Regency from part of Musi Rawas Regency on 10 June 2013. All thirteen regencies and the four cities are listed below with their areas and their populations at the 2010 and 2020 Censuses.
Demographics |
9848_28 | Ethnic groups
The province has no clear ethnic dominance, though the indigenous Musi-speaking Malays have a plurality, followed by the Javanese, most of whom have been recent migrants from Java as part of the government-sanctioned transmigration project created to balance the population, especially from the highly overpopulated Java island; as a result, Javanese is also widely spoken and understood, especially in areas with a high population of transmigrant, for example Belitang. Forming the next largest group is the other Malayan-speaking populations as well as the Komering, a distinct Malayo-Polynesian people related to the native Lampungese from neighboring Lampung. Minangkabau, Chinese, and Sundanese also form minorities in the province. |
9848_29 | Malays are the majority in this province. They are also often called Palembang people. Palembang people are divided into two groups: Wong Jeroo is a descendant of nobility and is slightly lower than the courtiers from the past kingdom based in Palembang, and Wong Jabo is a commoner. An expert on the origin of Palembang people who are also descendants of the king, admitted that the Palembang people was the descendant of Arabs, Chinese, Javanese and other ethnic groups in Indonesia. Palembang people itself has two different languages, namely Baso Palembang Alus and Baso Palembang Sari-Sari. The Palembang people still lives in a house built on water. The architectural model of the Palembang house which is most typical is the rumah limas which is mostly erected on stilts on the water to protect from flooding that continues to occur until now. In the Musi river area, Palembang people often offer their wares on boats. |
9848_30 | Komering is one of the tribes or cultural regions in South Sumatra, which is along the Komering River. Like other ethnic groupsin South Sumatra, the characteristic of this tribe is explorers so that the spread of this tribe is quite extensive up to Lampung. The Komering people is divided into two major groups: Komering Ilir who lives around Kayu Agung and Komering Ulu who live around the city of Baturaja. The Komering peopleis divided into several clans, including the Paku Sengkunyit clan, Sosoh Buay Rayap clan, Peliyung Pemuka Buay clan, Bu Madang clan, and the Semendawai clan. The area of Komering culture is the most extensive area compared to the cultural areas of other tribes in South Sumatra. In addition, when viewed from the character of the people, the Komering people is known to have a high and hard temper. Based on folklore in the Komering community, the ancestor of the Komering people and the ancestor of the Batak people in North Sumatra, are said to be still brothers. The |
9848_31 | brothers who came from across the country. After arriving in Sumatra, they separated. The older brother went south to become the ancestor of the Komering people, and the younger brother to the north became ancestor of the Batak people. |
9848_32 | The Semendo people live in the Semendo District, Muara Enim Regency. Historically, the Semendo people came from the descendants of the Bantenese people who, in the past few centuries, traveled from Java to the island of Sumatra, and later settled and gave birth to grandchildren in the Semendo area. Nearly 100% of Semendo's population depends on agricultural products, which are still processed in traditional ways. Agricultural land in this area is quite fertile, because it is approximately 900 meters above sea level. There are two main commodities from this area: Robusta coffee with a total production of 300 tons per year, and rice, where this area is one of the rice barns for the area of South Sumatra. Customs and culture of this region are strongly influenced by the strong Islamic breath. Starting from tambourine music, folk songs and dances are strongly influenced by the Malay culture and Islamic culture. The language used in everyday life is the Semendo language. |
9848_33 | Language
While Indonesian is the official language in the province, most of the Malays speak a dialect of the Malay language called the Palembang Malay or Musi. Currently, Palembang Malay has become the lingua franca in the region. Palembang Malay originated from the Old Malay language which blends with Javanese and is pronounced according to the accent of the Palembang people. Moreover, this language has absorbed words from Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Chinese, Portuguese, English and Dutch, because Palembang was once a large trading city, attracting various kinds of merchants from various places. In the past, Palembang Malay was written with the Jawi script, a modified version of the Arabic script. Nowadays, the user of the Jawi script is diminishing and being replaced by the Latin script. |
9848_34 | Palembang Malay consists of two register, first is the everyday language that is used almost by everyone in the city or also called the bahasa pasar (market language). Secondly is the polite and formal style (Bebaso), which is used by limited circles, such as sultans and nobility. Usually spoken by and for people who are respected or who are older. As used by children to parents, daughter-in-law to parents-in-law, students to teachers, or between speakers of the same age as the purpose of mutual respect, because Bebaso means to speak politely and subtly. |
9848_35 | However, migrants often use their local language as a daily language, such as Komering, Rawas, Musi and Lahat. Migrants from outside South Sumatra sometimes also use their local language as a daily language in their families or regional communities. However, to communicate with other Palembang residents, residents generally use the Palembang Malay as their daily language of instruction. In addition to the indigenous people, in Palembang there are also migrants and descendants, such as from Java, Minangkabau, Madura, Bugis and Banjar. Many descendants living in Palembang are Chinese, Arabs and Indian.
Indonesian is generally used as a second language and also as the language of education and for official purposes. |
9848_36 | Religion
The people of the province, as with other parts of Sumatra with the exception of Bangka Belitung and North Sumatra provinces, overwhelmingly follow the Shafi'i school of law of Sunni Islam. The religion is mainly adopted by the ethnic Malays, Javanese, Minangkabau, and Sundanese. Other minority religions are also practiced; the Chinese primarily follow Mahayana Buddhism and Christianity.
Culture
Like most other provincial cultures on the island of Sumatra, the culture of the province of South Sumatra is largely influenced by Malay culture. In addition, there are some cultures that are influenced by Islam, and some are influenced by the greatness of the Srivijaya kingdom. South Sumatra's cultural wealth includes traditional houses, traditional clothing, various types of dances, as well as typical food from the area. The cultural wealth of South Sumatra is not only popular within the South Sumatra region itself. |
9848_37 | In all corners of Indonesia, various South Sumatran cultures are well-known, even popular with many people. An example is the rumah limas traditional house, this house has been adopted by many people in various regions because the construction is not complicated. In addition, songket weaving is also a distinctive fabric favored by many people. The South Sumatran signature food, Pempek, can not only be found in the city of Palembang and the surrounding area, but also has spread throughout Indonesia as well as neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
Traditional house
Rumah limas is a traditional house in the province of South Sumatra. The architecture of this traditional house is influenced by Islamic culture and Malay culture. Although this traditional house originated from South Sumatra, it has influenced the construction of other traditional houses in the other places. |
9848_38 | The rumah limas traditional house has an area of between 400 and 1000 square meters. The whole house, resting on wooden pillars that were slung on the ground. The rumah limas is divided into several parts, namely the main room (bedroom), and (kitchen). The main room is located at the top level and right under the limas roof. In this room there is an or a conference room. This room is located in the center of the rumah limas, both for customary and decorative purposes. The section is a bedroom. This section of space is on the right or left side. To enter the room, it must be done by passing a box-shaped door cover. The box serves as a storage area for various tools.
On the back is the pawon. pawon is part of the kitchen of this traditional house. The word pawon is actually not only known in South Sumatra. The Javanese people, besides adapting the Limas house shape, also recognize the word pawon to mention the position of the kitchen in their home. |
9848_39 | Traditional clothes |
9848_40 | South Sumatra's traditional clothes are known by the name , symbolizing greatness, and which that symbolizes the elegance of the people of South Sumatra. These traditional clothes are usually only used during traditional wedding ceremonies. With the understanding that this marriage ceremony is a big ceremony. By using or as a bridal costume it means something very elegant because the bride and groom are portrayed as kings and queens. The difference between and patterns, if detailed as follows; Pink Gede style combined with golden color. Both colors are believed to reflect the majesty of the Sriwijaya nobles. Especially with the glittering of complementary jewelry and the crown of , , , and the standard . Then they are combined with dodot clothes and lepus songket cloth patterned in silver for the . For men using gold embroidered songket lepus, robes of gold flower motifs, songket sling, sleeves, and golden songkok worn on the head. And for women using lotus, red noble brackets |
9848_41 | studded with golden star flowers, lepus songket cloth embroidered with gold, and headdress in the form of crown. Also not to forget the clothes decorating clothes such as jewelry with golden images, stand-by dress, rocking flowers, and flowers. |
9848_42 | Traditional dance
Gending Sriwijaya is a regional song and also a fairly popular dance from Palembang. This Gending Sriwijaya song was performed to accompany the tarian Gending Sriwijaya dance. Both songs and dances depict the nobility of culture, glory, and the majesty of the former Srivijaya Empire which once triumphed in uniting the western Nusantara. This Sriwijaya Gending dance from South Sumatra was performed to welcoming honored guests. Usually, this dance is performed by as many as thirteen dancers, consisting of nine core dancers and four companions and singers. |
9848_43 | Tanggai dance or tari Tangga is a traditional dance from South Sumatra that is also dedicated to welcoming honored guests. In contrast to Gending Sriwijaya dance, Tanggai dance is performed by five people wearing local clothing such as songket, dodot, pending, necklaces and other decorations. This dance is a combination of graceful motion with typical regional clothing. This dance describes the people of Palembang who are friendly and respectful, respecting and loving guests visiting their area.
Tenun songket dance or tarian tenun songket is a reflection of the daily lives of housewives and young women in South Sumatra. In their daily lives, housewives and young women do work in the form of songket weaving which is a special fabric of their region. Aside from being an effort to preserve traditional dances, this dance is at the same time as a promotion of their regional special fabrics, namely songket. |
9848_44 | Traditional weapon |
9848_45 | The first traditional South Sumatra weapon and often a cultural icon of the province is the trident, or locally known as trisula. This spear is shaped like a wooden spear with 3 sharp eyes at the end. The spear length is as high as an adult, which is around 180 cm and used to be used by Srivijaya royal warriors as the main weapon. Kris is not only used by the people of Java. Some other sub-ethnic Malays also recognize this type of weapon in their culture, including the people of South Sumatra. Although it has the same shape, the South Sumatra kris has its own characteristics. The number of curves or curves is always an odd number between 7 and 13 with a wide angle. That is why the typical South Sumatra kris tends to be longer and taper. Skin is a traditional South Sumatra weapon which is thought to originate from acculturation of local culture to the culture of Chinese traders and East Asia in the past. This weapon looks like a typical West Sumatra Kerambit, but is smaller in size and |
9848_46 | has 2 sharp blades. |
9848_47 | Transport
Many forms of transportations are available in the province. As a province traversed by several large rivers, the people of South Sumara also recognize the importance water transport, which is called ketek. This ketek serves river crossings through various piers along the Musi, Ogan and Komering Rivers. |
9848_48 | There are three public operational airports in the province, with the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport in Palembang being the largest and the busiest in the province. This airport is located northwest of Palembang, serving both domestic and international flights. The airport is also a hajj embarkation for residents of South Sumatra. Domestic flights are served to and from Jakarta, Bandung, Batam, Pangkal Pinang and other cities, as well as international destinations such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The other two airports are th Silampari Airport in Lubuklinggau and the Atung Bungsu Airport in Pagar Alam. These two airports only serve regional flights. |
9848_49 | South Sumatra also has three main ports namely Boom Baru, Port 36 Ilir and Tanjung Api-Api Port. These three ports serve passenger transportation using ferries to Muntok (Bangka) and Batam. Currently the Tanjung Api-Api Port is being built which serves the transportation of passengers and goods in and out of South Sumatra. |
9848_50 | In addition, there are several railway lines in the province. Kertapati railway station in Palembang is the largest station in the province. It serves trains to and from Lubuklinggau and Bandar Lampung in Lampung province, and also smaller towns such as Baturaja, Lahat and Prabumulih. Currently, the railway only terminates in Lubuklinggau, but there is a plan to construct a railway to Bengkulu, which would allow to boost passengers movement and economic growth. Moreover, a railway from Palembang to Betung in Jambi is also in the planning stage, which would be connected further to Riau and North Sumatra. Overall, these projects would form the backbone of the Trans-Sumatra Railway.
The Palembang Light Rail Transit started operating in August 2018. It is one of its first kind in Indonesia and it is used to carry passengers from the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport to the Palembang city center. |
9848_51 | Currently, the only toll road in South Sumatra is the 22 km Palembang-Indralaya toll road. However, in the masterplan of the Trans-Sumatra Toll Road, the province would be connected by toll roads to other provinces like Bengkulu, Jambi and Lampung. Construction of the Bakauheni-Bandar Lampung-Palembang toll-road is predicted to be finished by late 2019, while the Palembang-Betung-Jambi toll-road and the Lubuklinggau-Bengkulu toll-road is still in planning stage.
Economy
There are five sectors that support economic growth in South Sumatra, such as the processing industry, mining, agriculture, construction, and large and retail trade, and the development of the Tanjung Api-Api Special Economic Zones (KEK), South Sumatra's economic growth is also supported by tourism. |
9848_52 | The coal deposits of South Sumatra amount to 22.24 billion tons or 48.45 percent of the total national reserves. The province also has 4.18 trillion standard cubic feet of natural gas and 757.4 standard cubic feet of natural oil. |
9848_53 | However, the agricultural sector is still the cornerstone of employment in South Sumatra compared to other sectors with absorption reaching 1.9 million people. This figure is in accordance with the potential of the area which has an area of around 774 thousand hectares of agriculture. The potential of agricultural resources in South Sumatra is quite prominent with annual production of rice reaching 4.2 million tons, corn production reaching 289 thousand tons, soybeans production reaching 16 thousand tons, palm oil production reaching 2.718 million tons, coffee (dry beans) production reaching 135.2 thousand tons, coconut production reaching 65 thousand tons. In addition to the agricultural sector, the other two sectors also absorb labor, namely the large and retail trade sector, car and motorcycle repair and the processing industry. In the trade sector there are 688,000 workers, and the processing industry reaches 279,300 people. |
9848_54 | The economy of South Sumatra in the second quarter of 2017 continued to show improvement compared to previous quarters. The realization of economic growth in South Sumatra in the second quarter of 2017 was 5.24% (YoY), higher than the first quarter of 2017 of 5.13% (YoY). From the demand side, the component of foreign exports is still the main pillar of economic growth. This was mainly supported by improvements in the prices of superior commodities in South Sumatra, namely rubber and coal. In addition, export performance was driven by improvements in the economic conditions of the main destination countries for South Sumatra's exports, including the United States, China and Europe. On the other hand, an increase in export performance has no impact on increasing household consumption. The slowdown in household consumption is estimated to be caused by the consumption pattern of people experiencing a shift. The community began to reduce tertiary needs reflected in the decline in the |
9848_55 | consumption index of durable goods. Meanwhile, in the second quarter of 2017 government consumption declined due to some government projects still in the auction stage. |
9848_56 | Cuisine |
9848_57 | The South Sumatran cuisine or also known as the Palembang cuisine is the cuisine of the city of Palembang and the surrounding area in South Sumatra. It is the second most well-known cuisine from Sumatra after Padang. Palembang cuisine primarily uses freshwater fish and prawns as key ingredients due to the paramount role of the Musi River for the area. Popular freshwater fish includes patin (Pangasius), baung (Hemibagrus), lais (Kryptopterus cryptopterus), lele (catfish), gabus (snakehead), mas (carp) and gurame (gourami). Historically, Palembang waters were teeming with belido (giant featherback), and it has become the city's official animal mascot. It is valued for its succulent flavour and soft texture. However, due to overfishing, today the belido fish are scarce and probably already extinct in Musi river area. Because of its location that is not far from the sea, seafood such as shrimp, tenggiri (wahoo), kakap merah (red snapper) and Spanish mackerel are also popular in Palembang. |
9848_58 | Besides freshwater fish dishes, there are many variations of dishes, snacks, drinks, and sweets in Palembang cuisine. |
9848_59 | Spices are also generally included although not as liberally as its same-island counterpart. Palembang cuisine is noted by its preference for the sour and sweet flavour, as evidenced in pindang fish soup, strong-smelling tempoyak-based dish made from fermented durian, and also kuah cuko spicy sweet vinegar sauce of pempek fishcake. Those dishes are popular fare and often associated with the city. |
9848_60 | Malay, Javanese, Indian, and Chinese culture has influenced Palembang's culinary scene. Pempek, tekwan and mie celor are the example of Chinese cuisine influence on Palembang. Pempek is basically fishcake made from deboned fish flesh and tapioca flour, which was a local adaptation of East Asian surimi fishcake making. Like most of noodle dishes of Indonesia, mie celor can trace its origin back to Chinese influences. It was popularly believed that Palembang preference of sweet flavour was due to Javanese influences that favoured palm sugar. Indeed, Palembang absorbs many Javanese elements, including language and cuisine. For example, both Javanese and Palembang Malay dialects refer fish as iwak, and cooking method employing banana leaf package as brengkes or brengkesan. Martabak Palembang and nasi minyak which uses ghee, on the other hand, demonstrate Indian cuisine influence in the city.
Sports |
9848_61 | South Sumatra, especially the city of Palembang is notable as the host city 2018 Asian Games along with Jakarta, the first Asian Games hold officially by two cities and the fourth host city of Asian Games in Southeast Asia after Bangkok in 1998. Palembang is also the main host of 2011 Southeast Asian Games and hosted two matches of 2007 AFC Asian Cup. Sport facilities have been built across the city since 1971 to host Pekan Olahraga Mahasiswa (POM) IX, although the city's main sport complex, Jakabaring Sport City started its construction in 1998 and expanded later in 2010. In order to keep the sport complex in frequent use, several plans have been raised by the government to encourage more sporting events into the city, including the purchase of an association football club, Persijatim Solo F.C in 2004 which then renamed to Sriwijaya F.C. Palembang also planned to build a race track inside the complex to host a MotoGP race in the city. |
9848_62 | Football is regarded as the most popular sport in South Sumatra. Sriwijaya F.C is the only active professional football club in South Sumatra and is widely followed across the province, especially in its home city Palembang. During its home matches, the stadium often flooded with fans wearing yellow shirts on south stands, green shirts on north stands, and black shirts on east stands, representing three main ultras of the club. Badminton, basketball, volleyball and futsal also get wide attention in the city. Besides Sriwijaya F.C., notable sport teams in Palembang are BSB Hangtuah (basketball) and Palembang Bank Sumsel Babel (volleyball). Indonesian badminton players Mohammad Ahsan and Debby Susanto are also from Palembang.
See also
List of people from South Sumatra
References
External links
Audit Board of South Sumatera
Provinces of Indonesia
States and territories established in 1950 |
9849_0 | Vitold Belevitch (2 March 1921 – 26 December 1999) was a Belgian mathematician and electrical engineer of Russian origin who produced some important work in the field of electrical network theory. Born to parents fleeing the Bolsheviks, he settled in Belgium where he worked on early computer construction projects. Belevitch is responsible for a number of circuit theorems and introduced the now well-known scattering parameters.
Belevitch had an interest in languages and found a mathematical derivation of Zipf's law. He also published on machine languages. Another field of interest was transmission lines, where he published on line coupling. He worked on telephone conferencing and introduced the mathematical construct of the conference matrix. |
9849_1 | Early life
Belevitch was born 2 March 1921 in Terijoki, Karelia, now incorporated into Russia, but at the time part of Finland. Belevitch's parents were Russian and his mother was an ethnic Pole. They were attempting to flee from their home in Petrograd (St Petersburg) in Russia to escape the Bolshevik revolution, which Belevitch's father opposed. Belevitch's heavily pregnant mother succeeded in crossing the border into Finland and continued on to Helsinki after Vitold was born, where the birth was registered. She headed for Helsinki because her husband's father was principal of the Russian school there. Belevitch's father was arrested before he could follow and was deported to Siberia, where he died without ever seeing his son.
In 1926 Belevitch, while still a small child, emigrated with his mother to Belgium. |
9849_2 | Education
Belevitch was educated in French in Belgium, until July 1936 at the Notre-Dame de la Paix College at Namur. In 1937, aged 16, he enrolled at the Université Catholique de Louvain where he studied electrical and mechanical engineering, graduating in 1942. Belevitch gained his PhD in applied sciences at the same university in 1945. His sponsor was Charles Lambert Manneback and his second advisor was Wilhelm Cauer, the founder of the field of network synthesis. |
9849_3 | From 1953 until 1985 Belevitch lectured at the university. He taught circuit theory and other mathematical subjects related to electrical science. In 1960 he became a special professor (buitengewoon hoogleraar). Although Belevitch worked as an electrical engineer, his primary interest was mathematics, especially algebra. There was a tradition in Belgium of the most gifted mathematicians entering engineering rather than pure mathematics or physics. Belevitch showed his mathematical leanings by preferring the use of blackboard and chalk to any audio-visual aids during lectures. He even lectured in this way when presenting the opening lecture to a large audience at an international conference at the IEE in London.
Career |
9849_4 | After graduating in 1942, Belevitch joined the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company (BTMC) in Antwerp, originally part of the International Bell Telephone Company headquartered in Brussels but, along with their other European holdings, sold to International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) in 1925. At BTMC Belevitch became head of the transmission department. It was here that he came into contact with Wilhelm Cauer who became a great influence on him. Cauer was one of the leading circuit theorists of the day and at the time worked for Mix & Genest in Berlin, a sister company under the ITT umbrella. Cauer died during the Second World War but Belevitch long after continued to consider his works to be the highest authority on matters of circuit theory. |
9849_5 | From 1951 Belevitch was involved in the design of electronic computers which BTMC were developing for the Belgian government. The purpose of this program was to "catch up" with the advances made in the English-speaking world during the war. It resulted in the construction of the Machine mathématique IRSIA-FNRS. From 1952 Belevitch represented the electrical engineering aspect of this project. In 1955 Belevitch became director of the Belgian Computing Centre (Comité d'Étude et d'Exploitation des Calculateurs Électroniques) in Brussels which operated this computer for the government. Initially, only the 17-rack prototype was operational. One of the first tasks to which it was put was the calculation of Bessel functions. The full 34-rack machine was moved from Antwerp and put into service in 1957. Belevitch used this machine to investigate transcendental functions. |
9849_6 | In 1963 Belevitch became head of the newly formed Laboratoire de Recherche MBLE (later Philips Research Laboratories Belgium) under the Philips director of research Hendrik Casimir in Eindhoven. This facility specialised in applied mathematics for Philips and was heavily involved in computing research. Belevitch stayed in this post until his retirement in November 1984.
Belevitch died on 26 December 1999. He is survived by a daughter, but not his wife.
Works
Belevitch is best known for his contributions to circuit theory, particularly the mathematical basis of filters, modulators, coupled lines, and non-linear circuits. He was on the editorial board of the International Journal of Circuit Theory from its foundation in 1973. He also made major contributions in information theory, electronic computers, mathematics and linguistics. |
9849_7 | Belevitch dominated international conferences and was prone to asking searching questions of the presenters of papers, often causing them some discomfort. The organiser of one conference at Birmingham University in 1959 made Belevitch the chairman of the session in which the organiser gave his own presentation. It seems he did this to restrain Belevitch from asking questions. Belevitch stopped attending conferences in the mid-1970s with the exception of the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Montreal in 1984 in order to receive the IEEE Centennial Medal.
Circuit theory |
9849_8 | Scattering matrix
It was in his 1945 dissertation that Belevitch first introduced the important idea of the scattering matrix (called repartition matrix by Belevitch). This work was reproduced in part in a later paper by Belevitch, Transmission Losses in 2n-terminal Networks. Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany for most of World War II and this prevented Belevitch from any communication with American colleagues. It was only after the war that it was discovered that the same idea, under the scattering matrix name, had independently been used by American scientists developing military radars. The American work by Montgomery, Dicke and Purcell was published in 1948. Belevitch in his work had applied scattering matrices to lumped-element circuits and was certainly the first to do so, whereas the Americans were concerned with the distributed-element circuits used at microwave frequencies in radar. |
9849_9 | Belevitch produced a textbook, Classical Network Theory, first published in 1968 which comprehensively covered the field of passive one-port, and multiport circuits. In this work he made extensive use of the now-established S parameters from the scattering matrix concept, thus succeeding in welding the field into a coherent whole. The eponymous Belevitch's theorem, explained in this book, provides a method of determining whether or not it is possible to construct a passive, lossless circuit from discrete elements (that is, a circuit consisting only of inductors and capacitors) that represents a given scattering matrix.
Telephone conferencing |
9849_10 | Belevitch introduced the mathematical concept of conference matrices in 1950, so called because they originally arose in connection with a problem Belevitch was working on concerning telephone conferencing. However, they have applications in a range of other fields as well as being of interest to pure mathematics. Belevitch was studying setting up telephone conferencing by connecting together ideal transformers. It turns out that a necessary condition for setting up a conference with n telephone ports and ideal signal loss is the existence of an n×n conference matrix. Ideal signal loss means the loss is only that due to splitting the signal between conference subscribers – there is no dissipation within the conference network. |
9849_11 | The existence of conference matrices is not a trivial question; they do not exist for all values of n. Values of n for which they exist are always of the form 4k+2 (k integer) but this is not, by itself, a sufficient condition. Conference matrices exist for n of 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 26, 30, 38 and 42. They do not exist for n of 22 or 34. Belevitch obtained complete solutions for all n up to 38 and also noted that n=66 had multiple solutions.
Other work on circuits
Belevitch wrote a comprehensive summary of the history of circuit theory. He also had an interest in transmission lines, and published several papers on the subject. They include papers on skin effects and coupling between lines ("crosstalk") due to asymmetry. |
9849_12 | Belevitch first introduced the great factorization theorem in which he gives a factorization of paraunitary matrices. Paraunitary matrices occur in the construction of filter banks used in multirate digital systems. Apparently, Belevitch's work is obscure and difficult to understand. A much more frequently cited version of this theorem was later published by P. P. Vaidyanathan.
Linguistics
Belevitch was educated in French but continued to speak Russian to his mother until she died. In fact, he was able to speak many languages, and could read even more. He studied Sanskrit and the etymology of Indo-European languages.
Belevitch wrote a book on human and machine languages in which he explored the idea of applying the mathematics of information theory to obtain results regarding human languages. The book highlighted the difficulties for machine understanding of language for which there was some naive enthusiasm amongst cybernetics researchers in the 1950s. |
9849_13 | Belevitch also wrote a paper, On the Statistical Laws of Linguistic Distribution, which gives a derivation for the well-known empirical relationship, Zipf's law. This law, and the more complex Mandelbrot law, provide a relationship between the frequency of word occurrence in languages and the word's rank. In the simplest form of Zipf's law, frequency is inversely proportional to rank. Belevitch expressed a large class of statistical distributions (not only the normal distribution) in terms of rank and then expanded each expression into a Taylor series. In every case Belevitch obtained the remarkable result that a first order truncation of the series resulted in Zipf's law. Further, a second-order truncation of the Taylor series resulted in Mandelbrot's law. This gives some insight into the reason why Zipf's law has been found experimentally to hold in such a wide variety of languages. |
9849_14 | Control systems
Belevitch played a part in developing a mathematical test for determining the controllability of linear control systems. A system is controllable if it can be moved from one state to another through the system state space in a finite time by application of control inputs. This test is known as the Popov-Belevitch-Hautus, or PBH, test. There is also a PBH test for determining the observability of a system – that is, the ability to determine the state of a system in finite time solely from the system's own outputs.
The PBH test was originally discovered by Elmer G. Gilbert in 1963, but Gilbert's version only applied to systems that could be represented by a diagonalizable matrix. The test was subsequently generalised by Vasile M. Popov (in 1966), Belevitch (in Classical Network Theory, 1968) and Malo Hautus in 1969. |
9849_15 | IEEE and honours
Belevitch was a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was vice-chair of the Benelux section when it was formed in 1959. He was awarded the IEEE Centennial Medal, and in 1993, the Society Award (now called Mac Van Valkenburg Award) of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. He was also a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences.
Belevitch received an honorary doctoral degree in 1975 from the Technical University of Munich, and another from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1978. He was also rewarded with Belgian royal medals.
Since 2003, the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society has instituted a Vitold Belevitch award for work in circuit theory. The award is presented biennially at the European Conference on Circuit Theory & Design. |
9849_16 | Selected publications
Belevitch was a prolific publisher with around 4000 pages of scientific output. He was publishing throughout his career right up to, and beyond, his retirement in 1984.
Books
Langage des Machines et Langage Humain, Bruxelles: Office de publicité, 1956 (in French).
Théorie des Circuits de Télécommunication, Louvain: Librairie Universitaire, 1957 (in French).
Théorie des Circuits Nonlinéaires en Régime Alternatif: Redresseurs, Modulateurs, Oscillateurs, Louvain: Uystpruyst, 1959 (in French).
Classical Network Theory, San Francisco: Holden-Day, 1968 . |
9849_17 | Journal articles
"Extension of Norton's method of impedance transformation to band-pass filters", Electrical Communication, vol.24, no.1, pp. 59–65, March 1947.
"Insertion loss and effective phase shift in composite filters at cut-off frequencies", Electrical Communication, vol.24, no.2, pp. 192–194, June 1947.
"Transmission losses in 2n-terminal networks", Journal of Applied Physics, vol.19, No. 7, pp. 636–638, 1948.
"Development in the design of filters", Electrical Communication, vol.26, no.1, pp. 84–98, March 1949.
"Theory of 2n-terminal networks with application to conference telephony", Electrical Communication, vol.27, no.3, pp. 231–244, September 1950.
"Topics in the design of insertion loss filters", IRE Transactions on Circuit Theory, vol.2, iss.4, pp. 337–346, December 1955.
"Théorie de l'information et statistique linguistique", Académie Royale de Belgique: Bulletin de la Classe des Sciences, series 5, vol.42, pp. 419–436, 1956. (in French) |
9849_18 | "On the statistical laws of linguistic distribution", Annales de la Société Scientifique de Bruxelles, vol.3, iss.73, pp. 310–326, 1959 . (in French)
"Summary of the history of circuit theory", Proceedings of the IRE, vol.50, iss.5, pp. 848–855, May 1962.
"Factorization of scattering matrices with applications to passive network synthesis", Philips Research Reports, vol.18, pp. 275–317, 1963 .
"Interpolation matrices", Philips Research Reports, vol.25, pp. 337–369, 1970 .
"On the realizability of non-rational positive real functions", International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, vol.1, iss.1, pp. 17–30, March 1973.
"Theory of the proximity effect in multiwire cables", Philips Research Reports, vol.32, pp. 16–43, 96-177, 1977 .
"The Gauss hypergeometric ratio as a positive real function", SIAM Journal on Mathematical Analysis, vol.13, pp. 1024–1040, 1982. |
9849_19 | "Ideal rectifier n-ports are solvable", International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications, vol.15, iss.2, pp. 171–180, April 1987. |
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