title: Flower

text: Fertilization, also called "Synagmy," occurs following pollination, which is the movement of pollen from the stamen to the carpel. It encompasses both plasmogamy, the fusion of the protoplasts, and karyogamy, the fusion of the nuclei. When pollen lands on the stigma of the flower it begins creating a pollen tube which runs down through the style and into the ovary. After penetrating the centre-most part of the ovary it enters the egg apparatus and into one synergid. At this point the end of the pollen tube bursts and releases the two sperm cells, one of which makes its way to an egg, while also losing its cell membrane and much of its protoplasm. The sperm's nucleus then fuses with the egg's nucleus, resulting in the formation of a zygote, a diploid (two copies of each chromosome) cell.


title: Flower

text: Whereas in fertilization only plasmogamy, or the fusion of the whole sex cells, results, in Angiosperms (flowering plants) a process known as double fertilization, which involves both karyogamy and plasmogamy, occurs. In double fertilization the second sperm cell subsequently also enters the synergid and fuses with the two polar nuclei of the central cell. Since all three nuclei are haploid, they result in a large endosperm nucleus which is triploid.


title: Flower

text: Following the formation of zygote it begins to grow through nuclear and cellular divisions, called mitosis, eventually becoming a small group of cells. One section of it becomes the embryo, while the other becomes the suspensor; a structure which forces the embryo into the endosperm and is later undetectable. Two small primordia also form at this time, that later become the cotyledon, which is used as an energy store. Plants which grow out one of these primordia are called monocotyledons, while those that grow out two are dicotyledons. The next stage is called the Torpedo stage and involves the growth of several key structures, including: the radicle (embryotic root), the epicotyl (embryotic stem), and the hypocotyl, (the root/shoot junction). In the final step vascular tissue develops around the seed.


title: Flower

text: The ovary, inside which the seed is forming from the ovule, grows into a fruit. All the other main floral parts die during this development, including: the style, stigma, sepals, stamens, and petals. The fruit contains three structures: the exocarp, or outer layer, the mesocarp, or the fleshy part, and the endocarp, or innermost layer, while the fruit wall is called the pericarp. The size, shape, toughness, and thickness varies among different fruit. This is because it is directly connected to the method of seed dispersal; that being the purpose of fruit - to encourage or enable the seed's dispersal and protect the seed while doing so.


title: Flower

text: Following the pollination of a flower, fertilization, and finally the development of a seed and fruit, a mechanism is typically used to disperse the fruit away from the plant. In Angiosperms (flowering plants) seeds are dispersed away from the plant so as to not force competition between the mother and the daughter plants, as well as to enable the colonisation of new areas. They are often divided into two categories, though many plants fall in between or in one or more of these:


title: Flower

text: In allochory, plants use an external vector, or carrier, to transport their seeds away from them. These can be either biotic (living), such as by birds and ants, or abiotic (non-living), such as by the wind or water.""


title: Flower

text: Many plants use biotic vectors to disperse their seeds away from them. This method falls under the umbrella term "Zoochory," while "Endozoochory," also known as "fruigivory," refers specifically to plants adapted to grow fruit in order to attract animals to eat them. Once eaten they go through typically go through animal's digestive system and are dispersed away from the plant. Some seeds are specially adapted either to last in the gizzard of animals or even to germinate better after passing through them. They can be eaten by birds ("ornithochory)", bats ("chiropterochory)", rodents, primates, ants ("myrmecochory"), non-bird sauropsids ("saurochory)", mammals in general "(mammaliochory)", and even fish. Typically their fruit are fleshy, have a high nutritional value, and may have chemical attractants as an additional "reward" for dispersers. This is reflected morphologically in the presence of more pulp, an aril, and sometimes an elaiosome (primarily for ants), which are other fleshy structures.""


title: Flower

text: "Epizoochory" occurs in plants whose seeds are adapted to cling on to animals and be dispersed that way, such as many species in the genus "Acaena." Typically these plants seed's have hooks or a viscous surface to easier grip to animals, which include birds and animals with fur. Some plants use mimesis, or imitation, to trick animals into dispersing the seeds and these often have specially adapted colors.""


title: Flower

text: The final type of "Zoochory" is called "Synzoochory," which involves neither the digestion of the seeds, nor the unintentional carrying of the seed on the body, but the deliberate carrying of the seeds by the animals. This is usually in the mouth or beak of the animal (called "Stomatochory"), which is what is used for many birds and all ants.


title: Flower

text: In abiotic dispersal plants use the vectors of the wind, water, or a mechanism of their own to transport their seeds away from them."" "Anemochory" involves using the wind as a vector to disperse plant's seeds. Because these seeds have to travel in the wind they are almost always small - sometimes even dust-like, have a high surface-area-to-volume ratio, and are produced in a large number - sometimes up to a million. Plants such as tumbleweeds detach the entire shoot to let the seeds roll away with the wind. Another common adaptation are wings, plumes or balloon like structures that let the seeds stay in the air for longer and hence travel farther.


title: Flower

text: In "Hydrochory" plants are adapted to disperse their seeds through bodies of water and so typically are buoyant and have a low relative density with regards to the water. Commonly seeds are adapted morphologically with hydrophobic surfaces, small size, hairs, slime, oil, and sometimes air spaces within the seeds."" These plants fall into three categories: ones where seeds are dispersed on the surface of water currents, under the surface of water currents, and by rain landing on a plant.


title: Flower

text: In autochory, plants create their own vectors to transport the seeds away from them. Adaptations for this usually involve the fruits exploding and forcing the seeds away ballistically, such as in "Hura crepitans," or sometimes in the creation of creeping diaspores."" Because of the relatively small distances that these methods can disperse their seeds, they are often paired with an external vector.""


title: Flower

text: While land plants have existed for about 425 million years, the first ones reproduced by a simple adaptation of their aquatic counterparts: spores. In the sea, plants—and some animals—can simply scatter out genetic clones of themselves to float away and grow elsewhere. This is how early plants reproduced. But plants soon evolved methods of protecting these copies to deal with drying out and other damage which is even more likely on land than in the sea. The protection became the seed, though it had not yet evolved the flower. Early seed-bearing plants include the ginkgo and conifers.


title: Flower

text: Several groups of extinct gymnosperms, particularly seed ferns, have been proposed as the ancestors of flowering plants but there is no continuous fossil evidence showing exactly how flowers evolved. The apparently sudden appearance of relatively modern flowers in the fossil record posed such a problem for the theory of evolution that it was called an "abominable mystery" by Charles Darwin.


title: Flower

text: Recently discovered angiosperm fossils such as "Archaefructus", along with further discoveries of fossil gymnosperms, suggest how angiosperm characteristics may have been acquired in a series of steps. An early fossil of a flowering plant, "Archaefructus liaoningensis" from China, is dated about 125 million years old. Even earlier from China is the 125–130 million years old "Archaefructus sinensis". In 2015 a plant (130 million-year-old "Montsechia vidalii", discovered in Spain) was claimed to be 130 million years old. In 2018, scientists reported that the earliest flowers began about 180 million years ago.


title: Flower

text: Recent DNA analysis (molecular systematics) shows that "Amborella trichopoda", found on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, is the only species in the sister group to the rest of the flowering plants, and morphological studies suggest that it has features which may have been characteristic of the earliest flowering plants.


title: Flower

text: Besides the hard proof of flowers in or shortly before the Cretaceous, there is some circumstantial evidence of flowers as much as 250 million years ago. A chemical used by plants to defend their flowers, oleanane, has been detected in fossil plants that old, including gigantopterids, which evolved at that time and bear many of the traits of modern, flowering plants, though they are not known to be flowering plants themselves, because only their stems and prickles have been found preserved in detail; one of the earliest examples of petrification.


title: Flower

text: The similarity in leaf and stem structure can be very important, because flowers are genetically just an adaptation of normal leaf and stem components on plants, a combination of genes normally responsible for forming new shoots. The most primitive flowers are thought to have had a variable number of flower parts, often separate from (but in contact with) each other. The flowers would have tended to grow in a spiral pattern, to be bisexual (in plants, this means both male and female parts on the same flower), and to be dominated by the ovary (female part). As flowers grew more advanced, some variations developed parts fused together, with a much more specific number and design, and with either specific sexes per flower or plant, or at least "ovary inferior".


title: Flower

text: The general assumption is that the function of flowers, from the start, was to involve animals in the reproduction process. Pollen can be scattered without bright colors and obvious shapes, which would therefore be a liability, using the plant's resources, unless they provide some other benefit. One proposed reason for the sudden, fully developed appearance of flowers is that they evolved in an isolated setting like an island, or chain of islands, where the plants bearing them were able to develop a highly specialized relationship with some specific animal (a wasp, for example), the way many island species develop today. This symbiotic relationship, with a hypothetical wasp bearing pollen from one plant to another much the way fig wasps do today, could have eventually resulted in both the plant(s) and their partners developing a high degree of specialization. Island genetics is believed to be a common source of speciation, especially when it comes to radical adaptations which seem to have required inferior transitional forms. Note that the wasp example is not incidental; bees, apparently evolved specifically for symbiotic plant relationships, are descended from wasps.


title: Flower

text: Likewise, most fruit used in plant reproduction comes from the enlargement of parts of the flower. This fruit is frequently a tool which depends upon animals wishing to eat it, and thus scattering the seeds it contains.


title: Flower

text: While many such symbiotic relationships remain too fragile to survive competition with mainland organisms, flowers proved to be an unusually effective means of production, spreading (whatever their actual origin) to become the dominant form of land plant life.


title: Flower

text: Flower evolution continues to the present day; modern flowers have been so profoundly influenced by humans that many of them cannot be pollinated in nature. Many modern, domesticated flowers used to be simple weeds, which only sprouted when the ground was disturbed. Some of them tended to grow with human crops, and the prettiest did not get plucked because of their beauty, developing a dependence upon and special adaptation to human affection.


title: Flower

text: Many flowering plants reflect as much light as possible within the range of visible wavelengths of the pollinator the plant intends to attract. Flowers that reflect the full range of visible light are generally perceived as "white" by a human observer. An important feature of white flowers is that they reflect equally across the visible spectrum. While many flowering plants use white to attract pollinators, the use of color is also widespread (even within the same species). Color allows a flowering plant to be more specific about the pollinator it seeks to attract. The color model used by human color reproduction technology (CMYK) relies on the modulation of pigments that divide the spectrum into broad areas of absorption. Flowering plants by contrast are able to shift the transition point wavelength between absorption and reflection. If it is assumed that the visual systems of most pollinators view the visible spectrum as circular then it may be said that flowering plants produce color by absorbing the light in one region of the spectrum and reflecting the light in the other region. With CMYK, color is produced as a function of the amplitude of the broad regions of absorption. Flowering plants by contrast produce color by modifying the frequency (or rather wavelength) of the light reflected. Most flowers absorb light in the blue to yellow region of the spectrum and reflect light from the green to red region of the spectrum. For many species of flowering plant, it is the transition point that characterizes the color that they produce. Color may be modulated by shifting the transition point between absorption and reflection and in this way a flowering plant may specify which pollinator it seeks to attract. Some flowering plants also have a limited ability to modulate areas of absorption. This is typically not as precise as control over wavelength. Humans observers will perceive this as degrees of saturation (the amount of "white" in the color).


title: Flower

text: In plant taxonomy, which is the study of the classification and identification of plants, the morphology of plant's flowers are used extensively – and have been for thousands of years. Although the history of plant taxonomy extends back to at least around 300 B.C. with the writings of Theophrastus, the foundation of the modern science is based on works in the 18th and 19th centuries.


title: Flower

text: Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), was a Swedish botanist who spent most of his working life as a professor of natural history. His landmark 1757 book "Species Plantarum" lays out his system of classification as well as the concept of binomial nomenclature, the latter of which is still used around the world today. He identified 24 classes, based mainly on the number, length and union of the stamens. The first ten classes follow the number of stamens directly ("Octandria" have 8 stamens etc.), while class eleven has 11-20 stamens and classes twelve and thirteen have 20 stamens; differing only in their point of attachment. The next five classes deal with the length of the stamens and the final five with the nature of the reproductive capability of the plant; where the stamen grows; and if the flower is concealed or exists at all (such as in ferns). This method of classification, despite being artificial, was used extensively for the following seven decades, before being replaced by the system of another botanist.


title: Flower

text: Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (1748–1836) was a French botanist whose 1787 work "Genera plantarum: secundum ordines naturales disposita" set out a new method for classifying plants; based instead on natural characteristics. Plants were divided by the number, if any, of cotyledons, and the location of the stamens. The next most major system of classification came in the late 19th century from the botanists Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) and George Bentham (1800–1884). They built on the earlier works of de Jussieu and Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and devised a system which is still used in many of the world's herbaria. Plants were divided at the highest level by the number of cotyledons and the nature of the flowers, before falling into orders (families), genera, and species. This system of classification was published in their "Genera plantarum" in three volumes between 1862 and 1883. It is the most highly regarded and deemed the "best system of classification," in some settings.


title: Flower

text: Following the development in scientific thought after Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", many botanists have used more phylogenetic methods and the use of genetic sequencing, cytology, and palynology has become increasingly common. Despite this, morphological characteristics such as the nature of the flower and inflorescence still make up the bedrock of plant taxonomy.


title: Flower

text: Many flowers have important symbolic meanings in Western culture. The practice of assigning meanings to flowers is known as floriography. Some of the more common examples include:


title: Flower

text: Because of their varied and colorful appearance, flowers have long been a favorite subject of visual artists as well. Some of the most celebrated paintings from well-known painters are of flowers, such as Van Gogh's sunflowers series or Monet's water lilies. Flowers are also dried, freeze dried and pressed in order to create permanent, three-dimensional pieces of floral art.


title: Flower

text: Flowers within art are also representative of the female genitalia, as seen in the works of artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Imogen Cunningham, Veronica Ruiz de Velasco, and Judy Chicago, and in fact in Asian and western classical art. Many cultures around the world have a marked tendency to associate flowers with femininity.


title: Flower

text: The great variety of delicate and beautiful flowers has inspired the works of numerous poets, especially from the 18th–19th century Romantic era. Famous examples include William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" and William Blake's "Ah! Sun-Flower".


title: Flower

text: Their symbolism in dreams has also been discussed, with possible interpretations including "blossoming potential".


title: Flower

text: The Roman goddess of flowers, gardens, and the season of Spring is Flora. The Greek goddess of spring, flowers and nature is Chloris.


title: Flower

text: In Hindu mythology, flowers have a significant status. Vishnu, one of the three major gods in the Hindu system, is often depicted standing straight on a lotus flower. Apart from the association with Vishnu, the Hindu tradition also considers the lotus to have spiritual significance. For example, it figures in the Hindu stories of creation.


title: Flower

text: History shows that flowers have been used by humans for thousands of years, to serve a variety of purposes. An early example of this is from about 4,500 years ago in Ancient Egypt, where flowers would be used to decorate women's hair. Flowers have also inspired art time and time again, such as in Monet's "Water Lilies" or William Wordsworth's poem about daffodils entitled: "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud".


title: Flower

text: In modern times, people have sought ways to cultivate, buy, wear, or otherwise be around flowers and blooming plants, partly because of their agreeable appearance and smell. Around the world, people use flowers to mark important events in their lives:


title: Flower

text: Flowers like jasmine have been used as a replacement for traditional tea in China for centuries. Most recently many other herbs and flowers used traditionally across the world are gaining importance to preapare a range of floral tea.


title: Flower

text: People therefore grow flowers around their homes, dedicate parts of their living space to flower gardens, pick wildflowers, or buy commercially-grown flowers from florists.


title: Flower

text: Flowers provide less food than other major plant parts (seeds, fruits, roots, stems and leaves), but still provide several important vegetables and spices. Flower vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower and artichoke. The most expensive spice, saffron, consists of dried stigmas of a crocus. Other flower spices are cloves and capers. Hops flowers are used to flavor beer. Marigold flowers are fed to chickens to give their egg yolks a golden yellow color, which consumers find more desirable; dried and ground marigold flowers are also used as a spice and colouring agent in Georgian cuisine. Flowers of the dandelion and elder are often made into wine. Bee pollen, pollen collected from bees, is considered a health food by some people. Honey consists of bee-processed flower nectar and is often named for the type of flower, e.g. orange blossom honey, clover honey and tupelo honey.


title: Flower

text: Hundreds of fresh flowers are edible, but only few are widely marketed as food. They are often added to salads as garnishes. Squash blossoms are dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. Some edible flowers include nasturtium, chrysanthemum, carnation, cattail, Japanese honeysuckle, chicory, cornflower, canna, and sunflower. Edible flowers such as daisy, rose, and violet are sometimes candied.


title: Flower

text: Flowers such as chrysanthemum, rose, jasmine, Japanese honeysuckle, and chamomile, chosen for their fragrance and medicinal properties, are used as tisanes, either mixed with tea or on their own.


title: Flower

text: Flowers have been used since prehistoric times in funeral rituals: traces of pollen have been found on a woman's tomb in the El Miron Cave in Spain. Many cultures draw a connection between flowers and life and death, and because of their seasonal return flowers also suggest rebirth, which may explain why many people place flowers upon graves. The ancient Greeks, as recorded in Euripides's play "The Phoenician Women", placed a crown of flowers on the head of the deceased; they also covered tombs with wreaths and flower petals. Flowers were widely used in ancient Egyptian burials, and the Mexicans to this day use flowers prominently in their Day of the Dead celebrations in the same way that their Aztec ancestors did.


title: Flower

text: The flower-giving tradition goes back to prehistoric times when flowers often had a medicinal and herbal attributes. Archaeologists found in several grave sites remnants of flower petals. Flowers were first used as sacrificial and burial objects. Ancient Egyptians and later Greeks and Romans used flowers. In Egypt, burial objects from the time around 1540 BC were found, which depicted red poppy, yellow Araun, cornflower and lilies. Records of flower giving appear in Chinese writings and Egyptian hieroglyphics, as well as in Greek and Roman mythology. The practice of giving a flower flourished in the Middle Ages when couples showed affection through flowers.


title: Flower

text: The tradition of flower-giving exists in many forms. It is an important part of Russian culture and folklore. It is common for students to give flowers to their teachers. To give yellow flowers in a romantic relationship means break-up in Russia. Nowadays, flowers are often given away in the form of a flower bouquet.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The Croatia national football team () represents Croatia in international football matches. It is governed by the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), the governing body for football in Croatia. It is a member of UEFA in Europe and FIFA in global competitions. The team's colors reference two national symbols: the Croatian checkerboard and the country's tricolour. They are colloquially referred to as the ('Blazers') and ('Checkered Ones').


title: Croatia national football team

text: Since 1994, the have qualified for every major tournament with the exception of Euro 2000 and the 2010 World Cup. At the FIFA World Cup, Croatia has finished second once (2018) and third on two occasions (1998, 2022), securing three World Cup medals. Davor Šuker won the Golden Shoe and the Silver Ball in 1998, while Luka Modrić won the Golden Ball in 2018 and the Bronze Ball in 2022. The team has reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA European Championship twice (1996, 2008) and is set to contest the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League in 2023. In July 1998, Croatia recorded its highest-ever Elo rating of 2,006 points.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Upon its admission into FIFA in 1994 ranked 125th, they ascended to third place with their debut 1998 World Cup campaign. This marked the fastest, most volatile ascension in FIFA ranking history, making them the youngest team to ever occupy the Top 10 of the World Ranking. It is second-smallest country by population (after Uruguay) and land mass (after the Netherlands) to reach a World Cup Final. At the World Cup, Croatia holds records for most penalty shoot-outs played (2) and won (2) and most penalties saved in a shoot-out (3), among other team records. They were named FIFA Best Mover of the Year twice (1994, 1998) equalling joint records with France and Colombia. Croatia maintains sporting rivalries with Italy and Serbia, among other nations, which have led to disruptive matches.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The early history of Croatian football was delineated by a variety of unofficial sides as Croatia was not an independent entity until the late 20th century. Hugo Kinert first managed an unofficial side that played some international matches in 1918–19. In 1940, Jozo Jakopić led an unofficial national side representing the Yugoslav Banovina of Croatia in four friendly matches against Switzerland and Hungary. Following the 1941 Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, Germany and Italy took control of Croatia, forming the Independent State of Croatia and installing Rudolf Hitrec as an unofficial manager for two years. The side played 15 friendly matches from its re-activation in FIFA in 1941 until the end of World War II. In 1945, Croatia returned to Yugoslavia as the People's Republic of Croatia with sides active until 1956. State authorities organised the Yugoslav Football Tournament in September 1945 to commemorate the end of World War II, where Croatia finished third behind the Yugoslav People's Army and Serbia. Croatia's only game as a constituent republic was a 5–2 win against Indonesia in 1956. During the nation's pre-independence, Croat footballers played for Yugoslavia at the 1956 Summer Olympics, the FIFA World Cup, and the UEFA European Championship until 1990.


title: Croatia national football team

text: On 16 May 1991, three days before Croatia held an independence referendum, the last Yugoslav team to field Croatian players played the Faroe Islands. Croatia made its unofficial international debut as an independent country against the United States on 17 October 1990, winning 2–1, where they introduced the modern checkered jersey. Caretaker manager Dražan Jerković, led the "de facto" national side before their formal re-admission into FIFA on 3 July 1992, winning two more friendly games against Romania in December 1990 and Slovenia in June 1991. Stanko Poklepović took over management of the team and led them on an exhibition tour against Australia, before he was succeeded by Vlatko Marković in April 1993. Croatia gained admission into UEFA in June 1993, three months after qualification for the 1994 World Cup started, missing their window to enter the competition. After winning a match against Ukraine in June 1993, Marković was succeeded by Miroslav Blažević in March 1994.


title: Croatia national football team

text: After its break-away from Yugoslavia, the newly-formed Croatia entered the FIFA World Rankings in 125th place in March 1994. Blažević launched Croatia's qualifying campaign for Euro 1996 with a 2–0 win over Estonia on 4 September 1994 and a 1–0 away loss to Ukraine on 1 June 1995, their first competitive win and loss. After finishing first in qualifying, the team halved their spot in the World Ranking, ascending to rank 62, winning FIFA's 1994 Best Mover of the Year in December 1994. In the group stage of Euro 1996, Goran Vlaović scored the team's first goal at a tournament, a late strike to win 1–0 against Turkey. Croatia then beat reigning champions Denmark 3–0, later losing to Portugal by the same scoreline. The team advanced to the knockout stage and were beaten in the quarter-finals 1–2 by Germany. Croatia's qualifying campaign from 1998 to 1999 for Euro 2000 was unsuccessful as they finished third in their group behind FR Yugoslavia and the Republic of Ireland. Both fixtures against FR Yugoslavia ended in draws which prevented Croatia from qualifying by one point.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia began their qualification campaign for the 1998 World Cup with an aggregate victory against Ukraine in the two-legged playoff. In the group stage, Croatia beat both Jamaica and Japan, later losing to Argentina to advance with them to the knockout stage. A 1–0 victory over Romania moved the Croatians to the quarter-finals against Germany. Croatia beat the Germans 3–0 with goals from Robert Jarni, Goran Vlaović and Davor Šuker, all after Christian Wörns had been sent off. They advanced to their first semi-finals against the hosts France. After a goalless first-half, Croatia led after Aljoša Asanović pushed past Zinedine Zidane to cross a ball downfield to Šuker who scored after a one-on-one with goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. France's defender Lilian Thuram equalized quickly after, and scored another goal later in the game to beat Croatia 2–1. In the third place playoff, Croatia prevailed against the Netherlands 2–1 to secure bronze and claim their first World Cup medal. Šuker won the Golden Shoe for scoring the most goals in the World Cup: six goals in seven games. The Croatians' performance during the late-1990s propelled them to rank third place in the FIFA World Ranking in January 1999. The team of the 1990s was dubbed the "golden generation" for their contributions to Croatia's ascension in international football.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia started their qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup with draws against Belgium and Scotland prompting Blažević's resignation as head coach in October 2000. His successor, Mirko Jozić, pushed the team through the rest of qualifiers undefeated. In the group stage, Croatia narrowly lost to Mexico before beating Italy 2–1 and sustaining a 1–0 loss to Ecuador. The team was eliminated by one point, leading to the resignation of Jozić and succession of Otto Barić in July 2002, their first manager born outside of Southeastern Europe. During Barić's tenure, most of the remaining players from the "golden generation" squad were gradually replaced by younger players over the course of qualifying for Euro 2004. Croatia qualified in a playoff victory against Slovenia, winning 2–1 on aggregate after Dado Pršo's decisive late goal in the second leg. The team was eliminated at the group stage after drawing 0–0 with Switzerland and 2–2 with France, and losing 2–4 to England. Barić departed after his two-year contract expired in June 2004.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Prior to launching the team's qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Zlatko Kranjčar succeed Barić in July 2004. Croatia qualified undefeated, topping the group ahead of Sweden and Bulgaria. Kranjčar selected his son, Niko, for the national squad, leading local media outlets to accuse him of nepotism. In the group stage, Croatia lost their opening game to Brazil and drew 0–0 with Japan after Darijo Srna missed a first-half penalty. A 2–2 draw with Australia in which three players were sent off confirmed Croatia's elimination. The game included a mistake by referee Graham Poll who gave three yellow cards to Croatian defender Josip Šimunić, mistaking him for an Australian player due to his Australian accent.


title: Croatia national football team

text: In July 2006, prior to Euro 2008, Kranjčar was replaced with Slaven Bilić, who introduced newer, younger players to the squad and finished qualifying undefeated. His first game was a 2–0 victory against reigning world champions Italy during an international friendly. Croatia lost once to Macedonia and beat England twice, who as a result failed to qualify for the first time since 1984. Eduardo da Silva, the team's top goalscorer during qualifying, sustained an injury while playing for his club, Arsenal, leading to a shake-up in the finals squad with less experienced players. Croatia finished group stage undefeated with a 1–0 win over co-hosts Austria, 2–1 win over Germany, and 1–0 win over Poland. The team collected the maximum group stage points possible (9) for the first time in their Euros history. Niko Kovač and Dario Šimić held captaincy during the group and knockout stages, respectively. Croatia pushed Turkey to a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals in which the Turkish side prevailed in an upset win where Luka Modrić, Mladen Petrić and Ivan Rakitić all missed their penalties. Croatia set multiple Euro records: fewest goals conceded (2), fewest games lost (0), and earliest goal scored.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Bilić renewed his contract in April 2008, before the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup. Croatia won 3–0 against Kazakhstan, before taking a 4–1 loss to England at Stadion Maksimir, their first home loss in 14 years. The team drew 0–0 with Ukraine and beat Andorra twice, drawing again with Ukraine and beating Belarus twice. In the final stretch of the qualifiers, England delivered Croatia's then-heaviest loss, a 5–1 scoreline, at Wembley Stadium. The team had a number of players' injuries during qualifying and were ultimately eliminated, on points, as Ukraine defeated both England and Andorra to advance in the group.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia was a candidate to co-host Euro 2012 with Hungary which would have resulted in automatic qualification for both countries; UEFA ultimately selected Poland and Ukraine. The Croatians began their qualifying campaign for Euro 2012 with a 3–0 win over Latvia, a goalless draw with Greece, and a 2–1 win against Israel. In the qualifying playoff against Turkey, the team won 3–0 on aggregate. They were grouped with the Republic of Ireland, Italy and defending champions Spain, opening with a 3–1 victory over the Irish. Croatia drew the match with Italy 1–1 in an Adriatic Derby that was marred by disruptive fans and controversial refereeing from English official Howard Webb. The side was knocked out by Spain in a 0–1 loss, which, along with 1–1 rematch with Italy, had Croatia eliminated. Bilić announced his resignation plans before Euro 2012 and, upon his departure, "Jutarnji list" credited him with a "strong revival" of the national side during his six-years. During Bilić's tenure, from 2007 to 2012, the Croatians continuously ranked among the top ten teams in the world on the FIFA Ranking.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Succeeding Bilić, former player Igor Štimac was appointed manager while Davor Šuker assumed the presidency of the Croatian Football Federation in 2012 after the death of Vlatko Marković. A year in, Štimac was replaced by former captain Niko Kovač. Kovač led the team to a 2–0 aggregate victory over Iceland in the qualifying playoffs for the 2014 World Cup with both goals coming in the home leg in Zagreb. In the group stage, Croatia opend their campaign with a 3–1 loss to Brazil. The match garnered media attention for controversial refereeing from Yuichi Nishimura which was scrutinized for a number of decisions. In their second match, Croatia won 4–0 against Cameroon then lost 3–1 to Mexico, finishing third in the group and not advancing to the knockout stage.


title: Croatia national football team

text: During the qualifying campaign of Euro 2016, Croatia drew with Azerbaijan and lost to Norway, leading to Kovač's replacement with Ante Čačić. The team broke their record for most goals scored in a match with a friendly 10–0 win over San Marino in June 2016. They topped the group stage of that year's Euros, advancing with defending champions Spain. Croatia prevailed over Turkey 1–0 with a long-range volley goal from Luka Modrić, before drawing 2–2 draw against the Czech Republic. In the latter match, Croatia took the lead with goals from Ivan Perišić and Ivan Rakitić, while opposing Czech striker Milan Škoda and a last-minute penalty from Tomáš Necid drew the match. There was severe crowd trouble and on-field flares in the game's last minutes with a steward injured by a stray firework. Croatia then overtook Spain 2–1, confirming the Spaniards' first defeat at a Euro finals match since 2004. The Croatians were tipped as one of the tournament favourites as they entered the knockout stage with Portugal. The Portuguese prevailed 1–0 with Ricardo Quaresma's winning goal in the 117th minute after Perišić hit the post with a header in the previous attack. It was an "abysmal...turgid affair" between the two sides, according to BBC Sport. Following the campaign, Darijo Srna announced his retirement and the succession of Modrić as team captain in August 2016.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia qualified for the 2018 World Cup undefeated for their first five matches. Two defeats to Iceland and Turkey, as well as a draw against Finland, led to a public outcry that ousted manager Čačić. He was replaced by Zlatko Dalić, who formally qualified the team with a 2–0 win against Ukraine, and a 4–1 win with Greece, on aggregate, during a playoff round in the first leg in Zagreb. The 2017–18 squad was known as Croatia's second "golden generation", referencing their 1998 counterparts, during the side's World Cup campaign. They topped their group, with a 2–0 victory over Nigeria, 3–0 win over Argentina, and a 2–1 win with Iceland – their best-ever group stage performance.


title: Croatia national football team

text: During the knockout stage, they beat Denmark in a penalty shoot-out for the first time after goalkeeper Danijel Subašić saved three penalties, equalling the record for most penalties saved in a shoot-out. In the quarter-finals, Croatia drew 2–2 with hosts Russia, becoming the first team since 1990 to win two consecutive penalty shoot-outs. Playing England in the semi-finals, Croatia equalized to force their third consecutive extra time, matching the tournament record. Mario Mandžukić and Perišić scored as Croatia won 2–1 making them the second-smallest country by population (after Uruguay) and land mass (after the Netherlands) to reach a World Cup Final. In the 2018 World Cup Final they lost to France 4–2, finishing second-place and securing the silver medal. The match was controversial for its refereeing. Luka Modrić became the first Croatian to win the Golden Ball. The team was welcomed by an estimated half a million people at their homecoming in Zagreb.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The team entered the Nations League's inaugural 2018–19 edition in League A, along with England and Spain in January 2018. Croatia lost 6–0 away to Spain in their first game, the side's record loss in a match. Croatia drew 0–0 home with England, played behind closed doors due to UEFA sanctions. The team then overtook Spain 3–2 with a goal in stoppage time, followed by a 2–1 away defeat to England. Croatia were set to be relegated to League B until a tournament rule change retained them in League A, grouping them with Portugal, France and Sweden in the 2020–21 tournament. Croatia lost to France and Portugal, but a single victory against Sweden was sufficient to avoid relegation to League B.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The team topped their group for the qualifying campaign of Euro 2020, with a loss to Hungary, and draws against Azerbaijan and Wales. The 2020 finals were delayed into 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Overall, winning only two out of eight games in 2020, Croatia achieved their worst aggregate win-rate in their history. Croatia finished second in their Euros group, with a 1–0 loss to England, a 1–1 tie with the Czech Republic and a 3–1 win over Scotland. They advanced to the round of 16, where they lost to Spain 5–3 after extra time. The loss to Spain led to heightened criticism against Dalić and the team by the Croatian public, a faction of whom called for resignations. Dalić refreshed the team roster by introducing younger debutants for the remainder of World Cup qualifying in 2021.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia qualified for the 2022 World Cup with one loss, two draws and seven wins. The team advanced from group stage after a 0–0 draw with Morocco, a 4–1 win with Canada, and finished ahead of Belgium by a single point after drawing 0–0. They won against Japan in a penalty shootout in the round of 16 where Dominik Livaković saved three of four Japanese penalties, equalling a record held by Ricardo and Danijel Subašić. Croatia similarly beat Brazil during the quarter-finals in an upset victory on penalties, having come from behind to draw 1–1 in the final minutes of extra time. In the semi-final match, Croatia sustained their heaviest World Cup defeat, 3–0 against Argentina. They prevailed 2–1 over Morocco in the third place playoff, securing their second bronze medal.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The team topped their group in the 2023 Nations League, knocking out reigning champions France by winning 1–0 on a penalty – their first-ever win against the French. Croatia sits among the top four nations in the competition and is set to contest the semi-finals on 14–15 June 2023.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Croatia's modern-day team jersey was created in 1990 by Miroslav Šutej who also designed the nation's flag, coat of arms and first currency. The red-and-white motif is based on the Croatian checkerboard (). The typical color-way has featured red-and-white checkered shirts, white shorts and blue socks to match the Croatian tricolor ("Trobojnica)." There have been variations made by the kit manufacturers since the original release; the jersey design has remained consistent throughout the years and has served as a blueprint for other Croatian national sports teams and entities.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Away kits used by the team have for a period been all-blue, incorporating the red-and-white checkers as a trim. Croatia has moved to using darker away kits such as the dark navy-and-black checkered design that featured prominently in the 2018 World Cup campaign. The have been required to use their darker away kits when playing at home when opponents have red-and-white jerseys that clash with the checkers of Croatia.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The team has developed an extensive fan base since its unofficial formation in 1990. Following their debut run at the 1998 World Cup, there was a rise in domestic and global attention for the side. Political scientist Alex J. Bellamy observed in 2003 that the national team became a symbol of statehood in Croatia after their independence through the cultural export of Croatian football. The government's influence on team affairs eased substantially after the death of President Franjo Tuđman in 1999. All matches are followed and televised throughout the country, particularly during tournament. In November 2022, the Ministry of Science and Education issued guidance to let school children watch matches during the school day as long coursework is made up later. Following the 2018 World Cup, the Croatian Cabinet attended ministerial meetings in team jerseys, and during the 2022 World Cup, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković delivered a hurried speech "[lasting] only 37 seconds" at the Euro-Mediterranean Summit to catch the quarter-finals.


title: Croatia national football team

text: A part of the team's support consists of fans of Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split, the two largest clubs in Croatia's top domestic football league, the "Hrvatska nogometna liga" (HNL). Both sets of fans—Bad Blue Boys from Zagreb and Torcida from Split—have been associated with hooliganism due to their ultra-style support, though violence between them does not occur at international matches. Other ultras groups are Armada Rijeka, Kohorta Osijek, Ultras Vinkovci, Tornado Zadar, Funcuti Šibenik and Demoni Pula. Support for the team also comes from Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, particularly from fans of Zrinjski Mostar and Široki Brijeg. There are also Croatian communities in Australia, North America and South America that follow the team. The team's fanbase is known for their use of pyrotechnics, fireworks, and flares at matches and while celebrating. During the qualifiers of Euro 2016, Croatian fans disrupted matches against Italy and the Czech Republic by throwing flares from the stadium onto the field.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Among supporters, it is customary to include an inscription of their city of origin onto the Croatian flag to indicate where they are from. Fans also coordinate their vocal support and orchestrate chants during matches. One section may shout "U boj, u boj" ("To battle, to battle") with another responding "Za narod svoj" ("For our people"). When the team wins, supporters might chant "Bježite ljudi, bježite iz grada" ("Run away people, run away from the city") which is a song praising the presence of Croatian fans. The Croatian Football Federation endorses an official fan club for the team, known as "Uvijek Vjerni" ("Always Faithful"). In addition to chants, the team receives support from various local musicians, who release songs dedicated to them. Former manager Slaven Bilić and his rock band released a single, "Vatreno ludilo" ("Fiery Madness"), which reached the top position on Croatian music charts during Euro 2008. Other Croatian artists such as Baruni, Connect, Dino Dvornik, Gibonni, Prljavo kazalište, Colonia, Stoka, Nered and Thompson have also recorded songs mentioning the team. Some of those having been used among supporters are "Moja domovina" ("My Homeland"), "Srce vatreno" ("Fiery Heart"), "Hrvatska je prvak svijeta" ("Croatia Are World Champions") and "Malo nas je, al' nas ima" ("We Are Few, But We Exist"). Most popular among the fans and played at every home match is "Lijepa li si" ("How Beautiful You Are") by Thompson and fans sing it themselves during the match. Bad Blue Boys supporters from Zaprešić made their band Zaprešić Boys and made some songs for each tournament like "Samo je jedno" ("Only One Thing"), "U pobjedi i porazu" ("In Victory and Defeat") "Neopisivo" ("Indescribable"), "Igraj moja Hrvatska" ("Play, My Croatia"), with the latter being an unofficial anthem during the 2018 World Cup.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Fans' behaviour, hooliganism, and ultra-style rioting during matches has led to sanctions both domestically and internationally. The football federation, Croatian government, and players have made efforts to prevent unwanted incidents in order to avoid damage to the perception of the team and Croatian people. This has included banning their own fans from certain games. The behaviour of fans has led to penalties and fines for the national team imposed by FIFA and UEFA. Certain disruptive behaviour is centered on ethno-nationalist racism and fascism stemming from the dissolution of Yugoslavia. The Croatian Football Federation has been fined £14,920 for fans' racist taunts against English striker Emile Heskey in 2010, fined €80,000 for a fan throwing a banana at Italian striker Mario Balotelli in 2012, fined €100,000 for inadvertently hosting a match against Italy with a faint swastika etched into the pitch in 2016, and fined $53,000 for a crowd of fans' anti-Serb taunts against Canadian keeper Milan Borjan in 2022. The team has been fined for similar incidents and received additional sanctions such as having to play matches without fans, including the October 2018 Nations League game against England. There have also been multiple acts of protest against the national team, in response to allegations of corruption within the Croatian Football Federation, and other fan disturbances.


title: Croatia national football team

text: To advance the team's charitable efforts manager Slaven Bilić established the "Vatreno Srce" (Fiery Heart) Foundation in 2010. The primary cause of the foundation is helping children. As of 2012, the foundation made fifty donations of 1,200,000 HRK to various children's organizations. In December 2012, the foundation made 500,000 HRK on an auction of Niko Kranjčar's shirt and Lionel Messi's shirt that was signed by all FC Barcelona players. The auction was organized in Esplanade Zagreb Hotel and attended by President of Croatia Ivo Josipović. In November 2018, the players gathered in The Westin Hotel in Zagreb to answer fans' phonecalls, the proceeds of which were donated to the Vatreno Srce Foundation. In 2018, the foundation financed Children's Hospital Zagreb and "Korak u Život" (A Step Into Life), a charity that helps young children raised in orphanages make the transition into higher education. In November 2019, more than 500,000 HRK was collected in another call event that were then directed to Children's Hospital Kantrida. In March 2020, the players collectively donated 4,200,000 HRK for fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and for repair of damage caused by an earthquake in Zagreb earlier that year.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The majority of Croatia's home matches take place at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb, which is also the home-ground of local football club Dinamo Zagreb. The venue, built in 1912 and refurbished in 1997, is named after the surrounding neighbourhood of Maksimir. It was one of two venues for Euro 1976, hosted by Yugoslavia, alongside Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. It has been hosting national team games since Croatia's competitive home debut against Lithuania. The Croatian Football Federation (HNS) previously agreed on extensive plans with the government to renovate the stadium and increase its forty-thousand seating capacity, the proposal was eventually rejected by Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić in 2008 due to construction costs.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Some home matches are occasionally played at other, smaller venues around the country. Stadion Poljud in Split has hosted some qualifying fixtures since 1995, the first being a 1–1 draw with Italy. In the period between 1995 and 2011, Croatia never won a competitive match at Poljud, which the local media dubbed ""Poljudsko prokletsvo"" ("the Poljud curse"). The run was finally ended after the team came from behind to beat Georgia on 3 June 2011. Qualifying fixtures have also been played at Stadion Kantrida in Rijeka along with Stadion Gradski Vrt in Osijek and Stadion Varteks in Varaždin. These venues are less used due to their more remote locations and smaller seating capacity, with objections from local residents and some players. Since Croatia's first match in October 1990, they played home games at eleven stadiums around the country. The following table provides a summary of Croatia's results at home venues.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Times are CET/CEST, in accordance with Croatian local time (local times if different, are in parentheses).


title: Croatia national football team

text: The following table provides a summary of the complete record of each Croatia manager's results in the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The following players have been called up to the squad in the last 12 months and are still eligible for selection.


title: Croatia national football team

text: Surpassing Robert Jarni's previous record of 81 appearances, Dario Šimić was the first player to reach 100 appearances, doing so before his retirement in 2008. Darijo Srna, Josip Šimunić and Stipe Pletikosa collectively reached their 100th cap in February 2013, attaining a record 101 appearances the following month. Srna was the most capped player from 2016 to 2021, with 134 appearances. He was surpassed by Modrić in 2021.


title: Croatia national football team

text: The youngest player to play for Croatia is Alen Halilović (aged 16 years, 11 months and 22 days), while the oldest is Dražen Ladić (37 years, 4 months and 27 days).


title: Croatia national football team

text: The following is a chart of yearly averages of Croatia's FIFA World Ranking. Upon admission to FIFA, Croatia was ranked 125th in the world. The 1998 World Cup propelled Croatia to third place after the tournament, marking the fastest, most volatile ascension in FIFA ranking history. It held that rank until February 1999. During the 1998 World Cup, Croatia reached its highest-ever Elo rating of 2,006 points on July 11, 1998. With an average Elo rating of 1,876 points, Croatia has the sixth-highest average rating in the world as of 2022. They are one of three teams—along with Colombia and France—to be named FIFA Best Mover of the Year more than once, winning the awards in 1994 and 1998.


title: James Hunt

text: James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver who won the Formula One World Championship in . After retiring from racing in 1979, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman.


title: James Hunt

text: Beginning his racing career in touring car racing, Hunt progressed into Formula Three, where he attracted the attention of the Hesketh Racing team and soon came under their wing. Hunt's often reckless and action-packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt" ("shunt," as a British motor-racing term, means "crash"). Hunt entered Formula One in , driving a March 731 entered by the Hesketh Racing team. He went on to win for Hesketh, driving their own Hesketh 308 car, in both World Championship and non-championship races, before joining the McLaren team at the end of . In his first year with McLaren, Hunt won the 1976 World Drivers' Championship, and he remained with the team for a further two years, although with less success, before moving to the Wolf team in early . Following a string of races in which he failed to finish, Hunt retired from driving halfway through the 1979 season.


title: James Hunt

text: After retiring from motor racing, he established a career as a motor racing commentator for the BBC. He died from a heart attack aged 45.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt was born in Belmont, Surrey, the second child of Wallis Glynn Gunthorpe Hunt (1922–2001), a stockbroker, and Susan (Sue) Noel Wentworth () Hunt. He had an elder sister, Sally, three younger brothers, Peter, Timothy and David, and one younger sister, Georgina. Wallis Hunt was descended on his mother's side from the industrialist and politician Sir William Jackson, 1st Baronet. Hunt's family lived in a flat in Cheam, Surrey, moved to Sutton when he was 11 and then to a larger home in Belmont. He attended Westerleigh Preparatory School, St Leonards-on-Sea Sussex and later Wellington College.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt first learned to drive on a tractor on a farm in Pembrokeshire, Wales, while on a family holiday, with instruction from the farm's owner, but he found changing gears frustrating because he lacked the required strength. Hunt passed his driving test one week after his seventeenth birthday, at which point he said his life "really began". He also took up skiing in 1965 in Scotland, and made plans for further ski trips. Before his eighteenth birthday, he went to the home of Chris Ridge, his tennis doubles partner. Ridge's brother Simon, who raced Minis, was preparing his car for a race at Silverstone that weekend. The Ridges took Hunt to see the race, which began his obsession with motor racing.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt's racing career started off in a racing Mini. He first entered a race at the Snetterton Circuit in Norfolk, but race scrutineers prevented him from competing, deeming the Mini to have many irregularities, which left Hunt and his team mate, Justin Fry, upset. Hunt later brought the necessary funding from working as a trainee manager of a telephone company to enter three events. At this point Fry made the decision to part company with the team, owing to the irregularities and modifications that were happening to the cars they were using.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt graduated to Formula Ford in 1968. He drove a Russell-Alexis Mark 14 car bought through a hire-purchase scheme. In his first race at Snetterton, Hunt had lost 15 hp from an incorrect engine ignition setting, but managed to finish fifth. Hunt took his first win at Lydden Hill and also set the lap record on the Brands Hatch short circuit.


title: James Hunt

text: In 1969, Hunt raced in Formula Three with a budget, provided by Gowrings of Reading, which bought a Merlyn Mark 11A. Gowrings intended to run the car in the final two races of 1968. Hunt won several races and achieved regular high-placed finishes, which led to the British Guild of Motoring Writers awarding him a Grovewood Award as one of the three drivers judged to have promising careers.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt was involved in a controversial incident with Dave Morgan during a battle for second position in the Formula Three Daily Express Trophy race at Crystal Palace on 3 October 1970. Having banged wheels earlier in a very closely fought race, Morgan attempted to pass Hunt on the outside of South Tower Corner on the final lap, but instead the cars collided and crashed out of the race. Hunt's car came to rest in the middle of the track, minus two wheels. Hunt got out, ran over to Morgan and furiously pushed him to the ground, which earned him severe official disapproval. Both men were summoned by the RAC and after hearing evidence from other drivers, Hunt was cleared by a tribunal and Morgan was given a 12-month suspension of his racing licence, but was subsequently allowed to progress to Formula Atlantic in 1971. Hunt later met with John Hogan and racing driver Gerry Birrell to obtain sponsorship from Coca-Cola.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt's career continued in the works March team for 1972. His first race at Mallory Park saw him finish third, but he was told by race officials he had been excluded from the results, as his engine was deemed to be outside the regulations. The car, however, passed tests at the next two races at Brands Hatch. In these races, Hunt finished fourth and fifth respectively. He collided with two cars at Oulton Park but finished third at Mallory Park after a long duel with Roger Williamson. The cars did not appear at Zandvoort, but Hunt still attended the race as a spectator.


title: James Hunt

text: In May 1972, it was announced by the team that he had been dropped from the STP-March Formula 3 team and replaced by Jochen Mass. When Hunt attempted to contact March, he was unable to get any response from his employers. Hunt decided to consult Chris Marshall, his former team manager, who explained that a spare car was available. This followed a period characterised by a series of mechanical failures. Hunt decided, against the express instructions of March director Max Mosley, to race at Monaco in a March from a different team. This had been vacated by driver Jean-Claude Alzerat, after Hunt's own March had first broken down and then been hit by another competitor in a practice lap.


title: James Hunt

text: Hesketh purchased a March 731 chassis, and it was developed by Harvey Postlethwaite. The team was initially not taken seriously by rivals, who saw the Hesketh team as party goers enjoying the glamour of Formula One. However, the Hesketh March proved much more competitive than the works March cars, and their best result was second place at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. Hunt also made a brief venture into sports car racing at the 1973 Kyalami Nine Hours, driving a Mirage M6 along with Derek Bell, finishing second.


title: James Hunt

text: For the season, Hesketh Racing built a car, inspired by the March, called the Hesketh 308, but an accompanying V12 engine never materialised. Hunt's first test of the car came at Silverstone and found it more stable than its predecessor, the March 731. Hunt was retained on a £15,000 salary. The Hesketh team captured the public imagination as a car without sponsors' markings, a teddy-bear badge and a devil-may-care team ethos, which belied the fact that their engineers were highly competent professionals. In Argentina, Hunt qualified fifth and led briefly before being overtaken by Ronnie Peterson before Hunt spun off the track and eventually retired due to engine failure. In South Africa, Hunt retired from fifth place with a broken driveshaft. Hunt's season highlight was a victory at the BRDC International Trophy non-championship race at Silverstone, against the majority of the regular F1 field.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt finished sixth in Brazil and retired with an engine failure in South Africa. In Spain, Hunt led the first six laps before colliding with a barrier with the same cause of retirement in Monaco. He had a further two retirements in Belgium and Sweden, both of which were due to mechanical failures. Hunt's first win came in the 1975 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. He finished fourth in the Championship that year, but Lord Hesketh had run out of funds and could not find a sponsor for his team. With little time left before the season, Hunt was desperately looking for a drive until Emerson Fittipaldi left McLaren and joined his brother's Copersucar-Fittipaldi outfit. With no other top drivers available, the team management signed Hunt to McLaren – in a deal brokered by Marlboro's John Hogan – for the next season on a $200,000 contract.


title: James Hunt

text: The season proved to be one of the most dramatic and controversial on record. While Hunt's performances in the Hesketh had drawn considerable praise, there was some speculation as to whether he could really sustain a championship challenge. Now a works McLaren driver, he dispelled many doubters at the first race in Brazil, where, in a hastily rebuilt McLaren M23, he landed pole position in the last minutes of qualifying. Over the course of the year he would drive the McLaren M23 to six Grands Prix wins, but with superior reliability reigning world champion and main rival Niki Lauda had pulled out a substantial points lead in the first few races of the season. Hunt's first race win of 1976, at the fourth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix, resulted in disqualification for driving a car adjudged to be 1.8 cm too wide. The win was later reinstated upon appeal, but it set the tone for an extraordinarily volatile season. At the British Grand Prix, Hunt was involved in a first corner incident on the first lap with Lauda which led to the race being stopped and restarted. Hunt initially attempted to take a spare car, however this was disallowed, and during this time the original race car was repaired, eventually winning the restarted race. Hunt's victory was disallowed on 24 September by a ruling from the FIA after Ferrari complained that Hunt was not legally allowed to restart the race.


title: James Hunt

text: Before the start of 1977, Hunt attended a gala function at the Europa Hotel in London where he was awarded the Tarmac Trophy, along with two cheques, for £2000 and £500 respectively, a magnum of champagne and other awards. The presentation was made by the Duke of Kent. Hunt made an acceptance speech after the event which was considered "suitably gracious and glamorous". The media were critical of Hunt as he attended the event dressed in jeans, T-shirt and a decrepit windbreaker.


title: James Hunt

text: Before the season Hunt had high hopes to win a second world championship; however, in this season he scored only eight world championship points. Lotus had developed effective ground effect aerodynamics with their Lotus 79 car and McLaren were slow to respond. The M26 was revised as a ground effect car midway through the season but it did not work, and without a test driver to solve the car's problems, Hunt's motivation was low. His inexperienced new team-mate Patrick Tambay even outqualified Hunt at one race. In Germany, Hunt was disqualified for taking a shortcut to allow for a tyre change.


title: James Hunt

text: For , Hunt had resolved to leave the McLaren team. Despite his poor season in 1978 he was still very much in demand. Harvey Postlethwaite persuaded Hunt to join Walter Wolf Racing – a one-car team where he would have found an atmosphere similar to the one he had experienced at Hesketh at the beginning of his career. Again he had high hopes to win races and compete for the world championship in what would be his last, and ultimately brief, Formula One season. The team's ground effect car was uncompetitive and Hunt soon lost any enthusiasm for racing. Hunt could only watch as Jody Scheckter won the World Drivers' Championship that year driving the Ferrari 312T4.


title: James Hunt

text: At the first race in Argentina, he felt the car was difficult to handle and on a fast lap, the front wing became detached striking his helmet. In the race, Hunt retired due to an electrical fault. In Brazil, he retired on lap 6 due to instability under braking caused by a loose steering rack. During qualifying in South Africa, the brakes on his car failed. He managed not to collide with the wall, but only finished 8th in the race. He retired at the Spanish Grand Prix after 26 laps. At Zolder, a new Wolf WR8 was raced but Hunt crashed into a barrier hard enough to bounce back onto the track. After failing to finish the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix, the race where six years previously he had made his debut, Hunt made a statement on 8 June 1979 to the press announcing his immediate retirement from F1 competition, citing his situation in the championship, and was replaced by future world champion Keke Rosberg. Despite going into retirement, he continued to work to promote his personal sponsors Marlboro and Olympus. According to Peter Warr, Hunt had been badly affected by the Ronnie Peterson accident in Monza the year before and his heart was no longer in it. Warr recalled Hunt telling him that he discovered that if he nudged the car up against the barrier and give it a squirt of throttle in second gear, it would break a driveshaft. "At Monaco, four laps into the race, James stopped up the hill by Rosie's bar, with a broken driveshaft. Then he told us he was retiring."


title: James Hunt

text: Soon after retirement, in 1979, Hunt was approached by Jonathan Martin, the head of BBC television sport, to become a television commentator alongside Murray Walker on the BBC 2 Formula One racing programme "Grand Prix". After a guest commentary at the 1979 British Grand Prix, Hunt accepted the position and continued for thirteen years until his death. During his first live broadcast at the 1980 Monaco Grand Prix, Hunt placed his plaster-cast leg into Walker's lap and drank two bottles of wine during the broadcast. Hunt regularly went into the booth minutes before a race started, which concerned Martin, who believed that Hunt was "a guy that lived on adrenaline."


title: James Hunt

text: In the commentary booth, the producers supplied only one microphone to Walker and Hunt, to avoid them talking over each other. On one occasion, Hunt wanted the microphone and went up to Walker, who had continued for longer than expected, and grabbed him by the collar, with Walker having his fist near to Hunt. On another occasion, Hunt grabbed the microphone cord and cracked it like a whip, which yanked the microphone out of Walker's hand. His insights and dry sense of humour brought him a new fanbase. He often heavily criticised drivers he did not think were trying hard enough – during the BBC's live broadcast of the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix he described René Arnoux's comments that non-turbo cars did not suit the Frenchman's driving skills as "bullshit". He also had a reputation for speaking out against back-markers who held up race leaders.


title: James Hunt

text: Other than Arnoux, Hunt's other frequent targets included Andrea de Cesaris, Philippe Alliot, Jean-Pierre Jarier and Riccardo Patrese. Hunt criticised Jean-Pierre Jarier for blocking leaders, calling him "pig ignorant", a "French wally" and having a "mental age of ten" during live broadcasts. Hunt further suggested that Jarier should be banned from racing "for being himself".


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt did not want his commentaries broadcast in South Africa during the apartheid years but when he could not stop this from happening, he gave his fees to black-led groups working to overthrow apartheid.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt also commented on Grand Prix racing in newspaper columns which were published in "The Independent" and elsewhere, and in magazines.


title: James Hunt

text: In 1980, Hunt nearly made a comeback with McLaren at the United States Grand Prix West, asking for $1 million for the race. This opportunity came about when regular driver Alain Prost broke his wrist during practice for the previous round in South Africa, and the French rookie was not fully fit to drive at Long Beach. The team's main sponsor, Marlboro, offered half the figure but negotiations ended after Hunt broke his leg while skiing. In 1982 Bernie Ecclestone, owner of the Brabham team, offered Hunt a salary of £2.6 million for the season but was rejected by Hunt. In 1990, Hunt was in financial trouble with the loss of £180,000 investing in Lloyd's of London and considered a comeback with the Williams team. He had tested on the Paul Ricard Circuit a few months prior to test modern cars and was several seconds off the pace and believed he would be physically prepared. Hunt attempted to persuade John Hogan, VP Marketing of Philip Morris Europe, to support the possible comeback, and presented him with bank statement for proof of being indebted.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt made a brief appearance in the 1979 British silent slapstick comedy "The Plank", as well as co-starring with Fred Emney in a Texaco Havoline TV advertisement. He also made a posthumous appearance on ITV's "Police Camera Action!" special "Crash Test Racers" in 2000; this was one of many interviews to be aired posthumously. Hunt also competed in an exhibition race to mark the opening of the new Nürburgring in May 1984. Despite having no licence to ride a motorcycle, he accepted, instead of his usual fee, the then-new 1980 electric start Triumph Bonneville he had contracted to advertise on behalf of the struggling Triumph motorcycle workers' co-operative. With journalistic mirth, he turned up at the press launch with his foot in plaster.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt was hired by John Hogan as an adviser and tutor to drivers who were sponsored by Marlboro, instructing them in the tactics of driving and the approach to racing. Mika Häkkinen and Hunt had discussions about not only racing but about life in general.


title: James Hunt

text: Early in their careers, Hunt and Niki Lauda were friends off the track. Lauda occasionally stayed at Hunt's flat when he had nowhere to sleep for the night. In his autobiography "To Hell and Back", Lauda described Hunt as an "open, honest to God pal." Lauda admired Hunt's burst of speed, while Hunt admired Lauda's capacity for analysis and rigour. In the spring of 1974, Hunt moved to Spain on the advice of the International Management Group. Whilst living there as a tax exile, Hunt was the neighbour of Jody Scheckter, and they also came to be very good friends, with Hunt giving Scheckter the nickname Fletcher after the crash-prone bird in the book "Jonathan Livingston Seagull". Another close friend was Ronnie Peterson. Peterson was a quiet and shy man, whilst Hunt was the opposite, but their contrasting personalities made them very close off the track. It was Hunt who discovered Gilles Villeneuve, whom he met after being soundly beaten by him in a Formula Atlantic race in 1976. Hunt then arranged for the young Canadian to make his Grand Prix debut with McLaren in 1977.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt was involved in a relationship with Taormina Rieck (known as Ping by her friends) from the age of 15. Rieck separated from Hunt in May 1971, which left Hunt not seeing his family or friends for long periods of time.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt met his first wife, Suzy Miller, in 1974 in Spain. A few weeks after their initial meeting, he proposed. The couple married on 18 October 1974 at the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge. By the end of 1975, Suzy had left Hunt for the actor Richard Burton.


title: James Hunt

text: In 1982, Hunt moved to Wimbledon. In September that year, he met his second wife, Sarah Lomax, while she was on a holiday in Spain with friends. Hunt started dating Lomax when she arrived back in Britain, and they dated throughout the winter. Hunt and Lomax were married on 17 December 1983 in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Hunt arrived late for the service, with proceedings delayed further when his brother Peter went to a shop to purchase a tie for him. The marriage resulted in two children, Tom and Freddie, the latter of whom is also a racing driver.


title: James Hunt

text: On a visit to Doncaster, Hunt was arrested for an assault, which was witnessed by two police officers, and was released on bail after two hours with the charges against him later being dropped. Hunt and Lomax separated in October 1988 but continued to live together for the best interests of their children. They were divorced in November 1989 on the grounds of adultery committed by Hunt.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt met Helen Dyson in the winter of 1989 in a restaurant in Wimbledon, where she worked as a waitress. Dyson was 18 years Hunt's junior and worried about her parents' reactions to him. Hunt kept the relationship secret from friends. The relationship brought new happiness to Hunt's life, among other factors which included his clean health, his bicycle, his casual approach to dress, his two sons and his Austin A35 van. The day before he died, Hunt proposed to Dyson via telephone.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt died in his sleep on the morning of 15 June 1993 of a heart attack at his home in Wimbledon. He was 45 years old.


title: James Hunt

text: At his funeral service, the pallbearers included his father Wallis, his brothers Tim, Peter and David, and his friend Anthony 'Bubbles' Horsley. They carried the coffin out of the church and into the hearse, which drove two miles to Putney Vale Crematorium, where he was cremated. After the service, most of the mourners went to Peter Hunt's home to open a 1922 claret, the year of Wallis Hunt's birth. The claret had been given to him by James on his 60th birthday in 1982.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt was known as a fast driver with an aggressive, tail-happy driving style, but one prone to spectacular accidents, hence his nickname of "Hunt the Shunt". In reality, while Hunt was not necessarily any more accident-prone than his rivals in the lower formulae, the rhyme stuck and stayed with him. In the book "James Hunt: The Biography", John Hogan said of Hunt: "James was the only driver I've ever seen who had the vaguest idea about what it actually takes to be a racing driver." Niki Lauda stated that "We were big rivals, especially at the end of the [1976] season, but I respected him because you could drive next to him—2 centimetres, wheel-by-wheel, for 300 kilometres or more—and nothing would happen. He was a real top driver at the time."


title: James Hunt

text: After winning the world championship in 1976, Hunt inspired many teenagers to take up motor racing, and he was retained by Marlboro to give guidance and support to up and coming drivers in the lower formulae. In early 2007, Formula One driver and 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen entered and won a snowmobile race in his native Finland under the name James Hunt. Räikkönen has openly admired the lifestyles of 1970s race car drivers such as Hunt. Hunt's name was lent to the James Hunt Racing Centre in Milton Keynes when it opened in 1990.


title: James Hunt

text: A Celebration of the Life of James Hunt was held on 29 September 1993 at St James's Church, Piccadilly. The service was attended by 600 people and conducted by Reverend Andrew Studdert-Kennedy. The service included readings from Wallis and Sue Hunt from chapter 3 of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and Hunt's sister Sally Jones read Hilaire Belloc's poem 'Jim'. Innes Ireland read Rudyard Kipling's poem 'If' and Helen Dyson read Psalm 84. Nigel Davison, Director of Music and Master in charge of running Wellington College, prefaced the second reading. On 29 January 2014, James Hunt was inducted into the Motor Sport Hall of Fame.


title: James Hunt

text: Hunt's helmet featured his name in bold letters along with blue, yellow and red stripes on both sides and room for the sponsor Goodyear, all set on a black background. Additionally, the blue, yellow and red bands resemble his Wellington College school colours. During his comeback year to Formula One in 2012, 2007 World Champion Kimi Räikkönen sported a James Hunt painted helmet during the Monaco Grand Prix. Räikkönen repeated the tribute at the 2013 Monaco Grand Prix.


title: James Hunt

text: The 1976 F1 battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt was dramatised in the 2013 film "Rush", in which Hunt was played by Chris Hemsworth. In the film, Lauda said of Hunt's death, "When I heard he'd died aged 45 of a heart attack I wasn't surprised, I was just sad." He also said that Hunt was one of the very few people he liked, a smaller number he respected and the only one he had envied.


title: James Hunt

text: <nowiki>*</nowiki> Hunt was initially disqualified due to his car being deemed illegal, but later reinstated after McLaren successfully appealed the decision.


title: William H. Macy

text: William Hall Macy Jr. (born March 13, 1950) is an American actor. His film career has been built on appearances in small, independent films, though he has also appeared in mainstream films. Some of his best known starring roles include those in "Fargo" (1996), "Air Force One" (1997), "Boogie Nights" (1997), "Magnolia" (1999), "Jurassic Park III" (2001), "Seabiscuit" (2003), "Thank You for Smoking" (2005), and "The Lincoln Lawyer" (2011). Macy has won two Emmy Awards and four Screen Actors Guild Awards, while his performance in "Fargo" earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. From 2011 to 2021, he played Frank Gallagher, a main character in "Shameless", the Showtime adaptation of the British television series. Macy has been married to Felicity Huffman since 1997.


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy was born in Miami, Florida, and grew up in Georgia and Maryland. His father, William Hall Macy Sr. (1922–2007), was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal for flying a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in World War II; he later ran a construction company in Atlanta, Georgia, and worked for Dun & Bradstreet before taking over a Cumberland, Maryland-based insurance agency when Macy was nine years old. His mother, Lois (née Overstreet; 1920–2001), was a war widow who met Macy's father after her first husband died in 1943; Macy has described her as a "Southern belle".


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy graduated from Allegany High School in Cumberland, Maryland, in 1968, and went on to Bethany College in West Virginia, where he studied veterinary medicine. A "wretched student" by his own admission, he transferred to Goddard College in rural Vermont, where he studied under playwright David Mamet, and graduated in 1972. He studied theater at HB Studio in New York City.


title: William H. Macy

text: After graduating from Goddard, Macy originated roles in a number of plays by collaborator David Mamet, such as "American Buffalo" and "The Water Engine". While in Chicago in his twenties, he did a TV commercial. He was required to join AFTRA in order to do the commercial, and received his SAG card within a year, which for an elated Macy represented an important moment in his career.


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy spent time in Los Angeles before moving to New York City in 1980, where he had roles in over fifty Off Broadway and Broadway plays. One of his earliest on-screen roles was as a theater critic congratulating Christopher Reeve in 1980's "Somewhere In Time", under the name W.H. Macy (so as not to be confused with the actor Bill Macy). Another memorable early performance was as a turtle named Socrates in the direct-to-video film "The Boy Who Loved Trolls" (1984). He also had a minor role as a hospital orderly on the sitcom "Kate & Allie" in the fourth-season episode "General Hospital", and played an assistant district attorney in "Everybody's Favorite Bagman", the first produced episode of "Law & Order"; in both appearances, he was billed as W. H. Macy. He has appeared in numerous films that Mamet wrote and/or directed, such as "House of Games", "Things Change", "Homicide", "Oleanna" (reprising the role he originated in the play of the same name), "Wag the Dog", "State and Main" and "Spartan".


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy's leading role in "Fargo" helped boost his career and recognizability, though at the expense of nearly confining him to a narrow typecast of a worried man down on his luck. Other Macy roles of the 1990s and 2000s included "Benny & Joon", "Above Suspicion", "Mr. Holland's Opus", "Ghosts of Mississippi", "Air Force One", "Boogie Nights", "A Civil Action", "Pleasantville", Gus Van Sant's remake of "Psycho", "Happy, Texas", "Mystery Men", "Magnolia", "Jurassic Park III", "Focus", "Panic", "Welcome to Collinwood", "Seabiscuit", "The Cooler" and "Sahara".


title: William H. Macy

text: In a November 2003 interview with "USA Today", Macy stated that he wanted to star in a big-budget action movie "for the money, for the security of a franchise like that. And I love big action-adventure movies. They're way cool." He serves as director-in-residence at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York, where he teaches a technique called Practical Aesthetics. A book describing the technique, "A Practical Handbook for the Actor" (), is dedicated to Macy and Mamet.


title: William H. Macy

text: In 2007, Macy starred in "Wild Hogs", a film about middle-aged men reliving their youthful days by taking to the open road on their Harley-Davidson motorcycles from Cincinnati to the Pacific Coast. Despite being critically panned, with a 14% "rotten" rating from Rotten Tomatoes, it was a financial success, grossing over $168 million. The film also reunited him with his "A Civil Action" costar, John Travolta. In 2009, Macy completed filming on "The Maiden Heist", a comedy that co-starred Morgan Freeman and Christopher Walken.


title: William H. Macy

text: On June 23, 2008, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Macy and his wife, Felicity Huffman, would each receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the upcoming year. On January 13, 2009, Macy replaced Jeremy Piven in David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" on Broadway. Piven suddenly and unexpectedly dropped out of the play in December 2008 after he experienced health problems; Norbert Leo Butz covered the role from December 23, 2008, until Macy took over the part. "Dirty Girl", which starred Macy along with Juno Temple, Milla Jovovich, Mary Steenburgen and Tim McGraw, premiered September 12, 2010, at the Toronto International Film Festival.


title: William H. Macy

text: In summer 2010, Macy joined the Showtime pilot "Shameless" as the protagonist, Frank Gallagher. The project ultimately went to series, and its first season premiered on January 9, 2011. Macy has received high critical acclaim for his performance, eventually getting an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2014.


title: William H. Macy

text: In the 2012 film "The Sessions", Macy played a priest who helps a man with a severe disability find personal fulfillment through a sex surrogate. He made his directorial debut with the independent drama "Rudderless", which stars Billy Crudup, Anton Yelchin, Felicity Huffman, Selena Gomez and Laurence Fishburne. In 2017, he directed "The Layover", a road trip comedy starring Alexandra Daddario and Kate Upton.


title: William H. Macy

text: In 2015, he had a small role as Grandpa in the drama film "Room", which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. The film reunited him with his "Pleasantville" costar, Joan Allen.


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy and actress Felicity Huffman dated on-and-off for 15 years and married on September 6, 1997. They have two daughters, Sophia Grace (born December 1, 2000) and Georgia Grace (born March 14, 2002).


title: William H. Macy

text: Macy and Huffman appeared at a rally for John Kerry in 2004. Macy plays the ukulele and is an avid woodturner. He has appeared on the cover of "Fine Woodworking"s special edition, "Wood Turning Basics" and was featured in an article in the April 2015 issue of "American Woodturner" (American Association of Woodturners). He is a national ambassador for the United Cerebral Palsy Association.


title: William H. Macy

text: In March 2019, it was reported that Macy and Huffman had agreed to pay someone $15,000 to take a college entrance exam for their daughter Sophia. Huffman was indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges as part of a wider federal investigation of college admissions bribery. For undisclosed reasons, no charges were filed against Macy. On September 13, 2019, a federal judge in Boston sentenced Huffman to 14 days in federal prison, serving 10 days. As of October 2020, when Huffman completed the other parts of her sentence, which included 250 hours of community service and a year of supervised release, no charges had been filed against Macy.


title: Perth

text: Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which the city's central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years.


title: Perth

text: Captain James Stirling founded Perth in 1829 as the administrative centre of the Swan River Colony. It was named after the city of Perth in Scotland, due to the influence of Stirling's patron Sir George Murray, who had connections with the area. It gained city status in 1856, although the Perth City Council currently governs only a small area around the central business district. The city's population increased substantially as a result of the Western Australian gold rushes in the late 19th century. It has grown steadily since World War II due to a high net migration rate. Post-war immigrants were predominantly from the British Isles and Southern Europe, while more recent arrivals see a growing population of Asian descent. Several mining booms in other parts of Western Australia in the late 20th and early 21st centuries saw Perth become the regional headquarters for large mining operations.


title: Perth

text: Perth contains a number of important public buildings as well as cultural and heritage sites. Notable government buildings include Parliament House, Government House, the Supreme Court Buildings and the Perth Mint. The city is served by Fremantle Harbour and Perth Airport. It was a naval base for the Allies during World War II and today, the Royal Australian Navy's Fleet Base West is located on Garden Island. All five of Western Australia's universities are based in Perth.


title: Perth

text: The city has been ranked as one of the world's most liveable cities, and was classified by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2020 as a Beta global city.


title: Perth

text: , Perth is divided into 30 local government areas and consists of more than 350 suburbs. The metropolitan boundaries stretch from Two Rocks in the north to Singleton in the south, and east inland to The Lakes. Outside of the central business district, important urban centres within the metropolitan area include Armadale, Fremantle, Joondalup, Midland, and Rockingham. Most of those were originally established as separate settlements and retained a distinct identity after being subsumed into the wider metropolitan area. Mandurah, Western Australia's second-largest city, forms a conurbation with Perth along the coast, though for most purposes it is still considered a separate city.


title: Perth

text: The name "Perth" was selected in recognition of Perth, Scotland as the birthplace of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, and Member for Perthshire in the British House of Commons, Sir George Murray. It was included in Stirling's proclamation of the colony, read in Fremantle on 18 June 1829, which ended "Given under my hand and Seal at Perth this 18th Day of June 1829. James Stirling Lieutenant Governor". The only contemporary information on the source of the name comes from Charles Fremantle's diary entry for 12 August 1829, which records that they "named the town Perth according to the wishes of Sir George Murray".


title: Perth

text: There is no equivalent Noongar terminology for the Perth metropolitan area; it is sited primarily on Whadjuk country, which extends approximately north to Two Rocks, south to Mandurah, and east as far as York. "Boorloo" (also transcribed as "Boorlo" or "Burrell") referred to Point Fraser in East Perth, and means "big swamp", which describes the whole chain of lakes where the CBD and Northbridge are sited. However "Boorloo" is also used to denote the central business district, the local government area, or the capital city in general.


title: Perth

text: Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the Noongar people have inhabited the Perth area for at least 45,000 years. Noongar country encompasses the southwest corner of Western Australia. The wetlands on the Swan Coastal Plain were particularly important to them, both spiritually (featuring in local mythology) and as a source of food.


title: Perth

text: The present-day location of the CBD forms part of the traditional territory of the Mooro, a Noongar clan, who at the time of British settlement had Yellagonga as their leader. The Mooro was one of several Noongar clans based around the Swan River, known collectively as the Whadjuk. The Whadjuk themselves were one of a larger group of fourteen tribes that formed the south-west socio-linguistic block known as the Noongar (meaning "the people" in their language), also sometimes called the Bibbulmun.


title: Perth

text: On 19 September 2006, the Federal Court of Australia brought down a judgment finding that Noongar native title continued to exist over the Perth metropolitan area in the case of "Bennell v State of Western Australia" [2006] FCA 1243. An appeal was subsequently lodged and in 2008 the Full Court of the Federal Court upheld parts of the appeal by the Western Australian and Commonwealth governments. Following this appeal, the WA Government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council negotiated the South West Native Title Settlement, including the Whadjuk Indigenous Land Use Agreement over the Perth region, which was finalised by the Federal Court on 1 December 2021. As part of reaching this agreement, the "Noongar (Koorah, Nitja, Boordahwan) (Past, Present, Future) Recognition Act" was passed in 2016, recognising the Noongar people as the traditional owners of the south west region of Western Australia.


title: Perth

text: The Dutch Captain Willem de Vlamingh and his crew made the first documented sighting of the present-day Perth region by Europeans on 10 January 1697. They initially explored the area on foot, reaching what is now central Perth, having travelled up the Swan River. They named the river "Swarte Swaene-Revier" after the black swans of the area. Other Europeans made subsequent sightings and undertook further voyages of exploration of the area between this date and 1829, but as in the case of the observations made by Vlamingh, they adjudged the area inhospitable and unsuitable for the agriculture that would be needed to sustain a European-style settlement.


title: Perth

text: Although the Colony of New South Wales had established a convict-supported settlement at King George's Sound (later Albany) on the south coast of Western Australia in 1826 in response to rumours that the area would be annexed by France, Perth was the first full-scale settlement by Europeans in the western third of the continent. The British colony would be officially designated Western Australia in 1832 but was known informally for many years as the Swan River Colony after the area's major watercourse.


title: Perth

text: On 4 June 1829, newly arriving British colonists had their first view of the mainland, and Western Australia's founding has since been recognised by a public holiday on the first Monday in June each year. Captain James Stirling, aboard "Parmelia", said that Perth was "as beautiful as anything of this kind I had ever witnessed". On 12 August that year, Helen Dance, wife of the captain of the second ship, "Sulphur", cut down a tree to mark the founding of the town. Beginning in 1831, hostile encounters between the British settlers and the Noongar people – both large-scale land users, with conflicting land value systems – increased considerably as the colony grew. The hostile encounters between the two groups of people resulted in multiple events, including the murder of settlers (such as Thomas Peel's servant Hugh Nesbitt), the execution of the Whadjuk elder Midgegooroo, the death of his son Yagan in 1833, and the Pinjarra massacre in 1834.


title: Perth

text: The relations between the Noongar people and the Europeans were strained due to these events. The increasing use of the land for agricultural purposes restricted the hunter-gatherer practices of the native Whadjuk Noongar. They were forced to camp around prescribed areas, including the swamps and lakes north of the settlement area. Third Swamp, known to them as "Boodjamooling", continued to be a main campsite for the remaining Noongar people in the Perth region and was also used by travellers, itinerants, and homeless people. By the gold-rush days of the 1890s, they were joined by miners who were en route to the goldfields.


title: Perth

text: In 1850, at a time when penal transportation to Australia's eastern colonies had ceased, Western Australia was opened to convicts at the request of farming and business people due to a shortage of labour. Over the next eighteen years, 9,721 convicts arrived in Western Australia aboard 43 ships.


title: Perth

text: Queen Victoria announced the city status of Perth in 1856. Despite this proclamation, Perth was still a quiet town, described in 1870 by a Melbourne journalist as:"...a quiet little town of some 3000 inhabitants spread out in straggling allotments down to the water's edge, intermingled with gardens and shrubberies and half rural in its aspect ... The main streets are macadamised, but the outlying ones and most of the footpaths retain their native state from the loose sand — the all pervading element of Western Australia — productive of intense glare or much dust in the summer and dissolving into slush during the rainy season."


title: Perth

text: With the discovery of gold at Kalgoorlie and Coolgardie in the late 19th century, Western Australia experienced a mining boom, and Perth's population grew from approximately 8,500 in 1881 to 61,000 in 1901.


title: Perth

text: After a referendum in 1900, Western Australia joined the Federation of Australia in 1901. It was the last of the Australian colonies to agree to join the Federation, and it did so only after the other colonies had offered several concessions, including the construction of a transcontinental railway line from Port Augusta in South Australia to Kalgoorlie to link Perth with the eastern states.


title: Perth

text: In 1927, Indigenous people were prohibited from entering large swathes of Perth under penalty of imprisonment, a ban that lasted until 1954.


title: Perth

text: In 1933, two-thirds of Western Australians voted in a referendum to secede from the Australian Federation. However, the state general election held at the same time as the referendum had voted out the incumbent "pro-independence" government, replacing it with a government that did not support the independence movement. Respecting the result of the referendum, the new government nonetheless petitioned the Imperial Parliament at Westminster. The House of Commons established a select committee to consider the issue but after 18 months of negotiations and lobbying, finally refused to consider the matter, declaring that it could not legally grant secession.


title: Perth

text: Perth entered the post-war period with a population of approximately 280,000 and an economy that had not experienced sustained growth since the 1920s. Successive state governments, beginning with the Willcock Labor Government (1936-1945), determined to change this. Planning for post-war economic development was initially driven by Russell Dumas, who as Director of Public Works (1941-1953) drew up plans for Western Australia's major post-war public-works projects, including the raising of the Mundaring and Wellington Dams, the development of the new Perth Airport, and the development of a new industrial zone centred on Kwinana. The advent of the McLarty Liberal Government (1947-1953) saw the emergence of something of a consensus on the need for continuing economic development. Economic growth was fuelled by large-scale public works, the post-war immigration program, and the success that various state governments had in attracting substantial foreign investment into the state, beginning with the construction of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Refinery at Kwinana in 1951–52.