title: Dating

text: Singapore's largest dating service, SDU, Social Development Unit, is a government-run dating system. The original SDU, which controversially promoted marriages among university graduate singles, no longer exists today. On 28 January 2009, it was merged with SDS [Social Development Services], which just as controversially promoted marriages among non-graduate singles. The merged unit, SDN Social Development Network seeks to promote meaningful relationships, with marriage touted as a top life goal, among all resident [Singapore] singles within a conducive network environment of singles, relevant commercial and public entities.


title: Dating

text: One report suggested that in southern Taiwan, "traditional rules of courtship" still apply despite the influence of popular culture; for example, men continue to take the initiative in forming relationships. A poll in 2009 of students at high schools and vocational schools found that over 90% admitted that they had "no clear idea of how to approach someone of the opposite sex who interested them". What caused relationships to break up? 60% said "changes of heart" or "cheating". Dating more than one person at a time was not permissible, agreed 70%.


title: Dating

text: People of different sexes are not allowed to "mix freely" in public. Since 1979, the state has become a religious autocracy, and imposes Islamic edicts on matters such as dating. Clerics run officially sanctioned internet dating agencies with strict rules. Prospective couples can have three meetings: two with strict supervision inside the center, and the third being a "brief encounter on their own"; afterwards, they can either (1) choose to marry or (2) agree to never see each other again. This has become the subject of a film by Iranian filmmaker Leila Lak. Iran has a large population of young people with 70 percent of the 83-million population being under the age of thirty. However, economic hardship discourages marriage, and divorce rates have increased in Tehran to around a quarter of marriages, even though divorce is taboo. While the Iranian government "condemns dating and relationships", it promotes marriage with (1) online courses (2) "courtship classes" where students can "earn a diploma" after sitting through weekly tests and "hundreds of hours of education" (3) "marriage diplomas" (4) matchmaking and arranged marriages. Authorities push a conservative approach and shun unmarried romantic relationships and encourage "traditional match-making". But young people have disobeyed the restrictions; one said "It is wiser to have different relationships" and believed in defying religious rules which suggest "short-term illegitimate relationships harm dignity." Adultery can be punished by death. While youths can flout selected restrictions, there are almost no instances in which unmarried people move in together. There have been efforts to promote "Sigheh" (temporary marriage).


title: Dating

text: In Israel, in the secular community, dating is very common amongst both heterosexual and homosexual couples. However, because of the religious community, there are some religious exceptions to the dating process. In the Haredi and Chasidic communities (Ultra-Orthodox Judaism) most couples are paired through a matchmaker.


title: Dating

text: One report suggests the "Lebanese dating game" is hampered by "the weight of family demands upon individual choice" and that there were difficulties, particularly for people seeking to marry across religious lines, such as a Christian seeking to marry a Muslim.


title: Dating

text: The "Saudi Gazette" quoted a Wikipedia article on domestic violence, suggesting it was an issue for Saudis, including abusive behavior while dating by one or both partners.


title: Dating

text: One report suggested the United States as well as other western-oriented countries were different from the rest of the world because "love is the reason for mating," as opposed to marriages being arranged to cement economic and class ties between families and promote political stability. Dating, by mutual consent of two single people, is the norm. British writer Kira Cochrane, after moving to the U.S., found herself grappling with the American approach to dating. She wondered why it was acceptable to juggle "10 potential partners" while weighing different attributes; she found American-style dating to be "exhausting and strange." She found dating in America to be "organized in a fairly formal fashion" with men approaching women and asking point blank for a date; she found this to be "awkward." She described the "third date rule" which was that women weren't supposed to have sex until the third date even if they desired it, although men were supposed to try for sex. She wrote: "Dating rules almost always cast the man as aggressor, and the woman as prey, which frankly makes me feel nauseous." Canadian writer Danielle Crittenden, however, chronicling female angst, criticized a tendency not to take dating seriously and suggested that postponing marriage into one's thirties was problematic:


title: Dating

text: Journalist Emily Witt in 2016 wrote that while "social mores had changed to accept a wider range of sexual practices", there was still much "loneliness and anxiety". She traveled to San Francisco and began dating a lot, using Internet dating services and apps, and sometimes going to singles' bars alone, only to find that the "romantic-comedy concept of love" with a "perfect, permanent, tea-for-two ending" was not going to happen to her.


title: Dating

text: There is evidence that couples differ in the pace and timing with which they initiate sex in their relationships. Studies show that approximately 50% of premarital young adult couples become sexually involved within the first month of dating, while 25% initiate sex one to three months after beginning to date and a small proportion of couples wait until marriage before initiating sexual relations.


title: Dating

text: Teenagers and college-aged students tend to avoid the more formal activity of dating, and prefer casual no-strings-attached experiments sometimes described as 'hookups'. It permits young women to "go out and fit into the social scene, get attention from young men, and learn about sexuality", according to one report by sociologists. The term "hookup" can describe a wide variety of behavior ranging from kissing to non-genital touching; according to one report, only about one third of people had sexual intercourse. A contrary report, however, suggested there has been no "sea change" in sexual behavior regarding college students from 1988 onwards, and that the term "hookup" itself continued to be used to describe a variety of relationships, including merely socializing or passionate kissing as well as sexual intercourse.


title: Dating

text: Muslims living in the United States can choose whether to use traditional Islamic methods, or date American-style; Muslims choosing to stick to Islamic tradition can "only marry another Muslim", according to one Malaysian account. Mosques have been known to try to bring people together––one in California has a dating service for Muslims.


title: Dating

text: In Britain, the term "dating" bears similarity to the American sense of the tentative exploratory part of a relationship. If two people are "going out together", it may mean they're dating but that their relationship has advanced to a relatively long-standing and sexual boyfriend-girlfriend relationship although they're not cohabiting. Although Britons are familiar with the term "dating," the rituals surrounding courtship are somewhat different from those commonly found in North America. Writer Kira Cochrane advises daters to "get out there and meet people" while noting a trend of temporary suspension of marriage until an individual reaches his or her thirties. She sees a trend for developing new ways of meeting people. In contrast, writer Bibi van der Zee found dating etiquette rules to be helpful, and found that supposedly liberated advice such as "just be yourself" to be the "most useless advice in history." She expresses frustration following fruitless sexual relationships, and that her mid twenties saw dating relationships with partners who were less willing to return phone calls or display interest in long-term commitment. She felt "clueless and unwanted", she wrote, and found advice books such as "The Rules" helpful. British writer Henry Castiglione signed up for a "weekend flirting course" and found the experience helpful; he was advised to talk to and smile at everyone he met. Emailing back-and-forth, after meeting on a dating website, is one way to get to know people in Britain, and elsewhere. In the UK, one estimate from 2009 is that 15 million people are single, and half of these are seeking a long-term relationship; three-quarters of them have not been in a relationship for more than 18 months. In a twelve-month period, the average number of dates that a single person will have is four. When dating, 43% of people google their dates ahead of time. Almost five million Britons visited a dating website in the past twelve months. A third admitting to lying on their profile. A fifth of married individuals between 19 and 25 met their spouse online. One poll in 2009 of 3,000 couples suggested that the average duration of their courtship period, between first meeting to the acceptance of a marriage proposal, was three years. In 2017 Britain online dating fraud victim numbers at record high. According to the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, there were 3,889 victims of so-called romance fraud last year who handed over a record £39m. Online dating safety in the UK is a concern for authorities and individuals.


title: Dating

text: While analysts such as Harald Martenstein and others suggest that it is easier for persons to initiate contact in America, many Germans view the American dating habits as "unspontaneous", "ridiculous" and "rigid". Until the 1960s, countries such as Germany, Switzerland and Austria had a more formal approach for first contacts that was eased during seasonal festivals like carnival and festivals and funfairs like the Oktoberfest, which allowed for more casual flirts.


title: Dating

text: Membership in voluntary associations is relatively high in German-speaking countries and these provided further chances for possible partners to meet. Strolling on Esplanades and Promenade walkways such as the one in Hamburg called the Jungfernstieg (maidens way), have been another venue for introductions as early as the 19th century. Analyst Geoffrey Gorer described dating as an American idiosyncrasy focusing on youth of college age and expressed in activities such as American proms. In contrast German speaking countries and the longstanding musical tradition there provided ample opportunity of persons of varying ages enjoying social dances, such as the Vienna Opera Ball and other occasions.


title: Dating

text: Romantic encounters were often described with French terms like rendezvous or tête-à-tête. The German term of "Stelldichein" (as translated by Joachim Heinrich Campes) is used to signify dating when the age of consent to marriage was relatively high. German traditions to signify lovers who met in hiding were described with terms like "Fensterln" (windowing) or "Kiltgang" (dawn stroll) used in Bavaria and Switzerland. Analyst Sebastian Heinzel sees a major cultural divide between American dating habits and European informality, and leads to instances in which European expatriates in cities such as New York keep to themselves.


title: Dating

text: Today, most German couples in long-term relationships get to know each other through mutual friends, at work or while going out at night; the first few months of dating often involve sexual intercourse, but are still rather casual and do not imply a serious wish to get married.


title: Dating

text: Italians maintain a conservative approach to dating. Also, inviting friends or relatives during a date is not uncommon. More modern approaches such as blind dates, speed dating and dating websites are not as popular as abroad, and are not considered very effective by the majority of the population.


title: Dating

text: One report suggested Spanish women were the "greatest flirts", based on an unofficial study by a dating website which ranked countries based on initiations of contact.


title: Dating

text: A recent study revealed that 50% of Australians agreed it was permissible to request a date via a text message but not acceptable to break up with them this way. Flirting while texting, dubbed "flirtext", was more likely to be done by girls after a relationship was started. A survey of newspaper readers suggested it was time to abandon the "old fashioned rule" of men paying for the first date, based on women's greater earning capacity. A dating show on TV features three couples who live under one roof, but who can only have contact in a "specially created dark room", and the show is scheduled to be hosted by Miss Australia model Laura Dundovic.


title: Dating

text: In Brazil there is a longer time interval before children move out of the house, which affects dating. As a result, parents offer advice about dating although it may not be heeded.


title: Dating

text: Dating behavior of non-heterosexual individuals doesn't always reflect their self-ascribed sexual orientation. Some of them recognized from early age that they're attracted to the same sex or both/all sexes, but may initially adhere to heterosexual norms in their dating behaviors. Some individuals who identify as LGBT+ in one way or another but are questioning or haven't come out to their peers and family may wait years before they start dating their preferred sex.


title: Dating

text: According to a "Psychology Today" report, men who identify as homosexual recognize their same-sex attraction in their late teens or early twenties, and they tend to care more about physical attractiveness than the status of a prospective partner. Men who identify as homosexual, on average, tend to have more sexual partners, while women who identify as lesbian tend to form steadier one-on-one relationships, and tend to be less promiscuous than heterosexual women.


title: Dating

text: In India, transgender individuals and eunuchs have used internet dating to help them find partners, but there continue to be strong societal pressures which marginalize them.


title: Dating

text: People can meet other people on their own or the get-together can be arranged by someone else. Matchmaking is an art based entirely on hunches, since it is impossible to predict with certainty whether two people will like each other or not. "All you should ever try and do is make two people be in the same room at the same time," advised matchmaker Sarah Beeny in 2009, and the only rule is to make sure the people involved want to be set up. One matchmaker advised it was good to match "brains as well as beauty" and try to find people with similar religious and political viewpoints and thinks that like-minded people result in more matches, although acknowledging that opposites sometimes attract. It is easier to put several people together at the same time, so there are other candidates possible if one doesn't work out. And, after introducing people, don't meddle.


title: Dating

text: Friends remain a common way for people to meet. However, the Internet promises to overtake friends in the future, if present trends continue. A friend can introduce two people who do not know each other, and the friend may play matchmaker and send them on a blind date. In "The Guardian", British writer Hannah Pool was cynical about being set up on a blind date; she was told "basically he's you but in a male form" by the mutual friend. She googled her blind date's name along with the words "wife" and "girlfriend" and "partner" and "boyfriend" to see whether her prospective date was in any kind of relationship or gay; he wasn't any of these things. She met him for coffee in London and she now lives with him, sharing a home and business. When friends introduce two people who do not know each other, it is often called a blind date.


title: Dating

text: Parents, via their contacts with associates or neighbors or friends, can introduce their children to each other. In India, parents often place matrimonial ads in newspapers or online, and may post the resumes of the prospective bride or groom.


title: Dating

text: Dating systems can be systematic and organized ways to improve matchmaking by using rules or technology. The meeting can be in-person or "live" as well as separated by time or space such as by telephone or email or chat-based. The purpose of the meeting is for the two persons to decide whether to go on a date in the future.


title: Dating

text: Computer dating systems of the later 20th century, especially popular in the 1960s and 1970s, before the rise of sophisticated phone and computer systems, gave customers forms that they filled out with important tolerances and preferences, which were "matched by computer" to determine "compatibility" of the two customers. The history of dating systems is closely tied to the history of technologies that support them, although a statistics-based dating service that used data from forms filled out by customers opened in Newark, New Jersey in 1941.


title: Dating

text: The first large-scale computer dating system, The Scientific Marriage Foundation, was established in 1957 by Dr. George W. Crane. In this system, forms that applicants filled out were processed by an IBM card sorting machine. The earliest commercially successfully computerized dating service in either the US or UK was Com-Pat, started by Joan Ball in 1964. Operation Match, started by Harvard University students a year later is often erroneously claimed to be the "first computerized dating service." In actuality, both Com-Pat and Operation Match were preceded by other computerized dating services in Europe—the founders of Operation Match and Joan Ball of Com-Pat both stated they had heard about these European computer dating services and that those served as the inspiration for their respective ideas to create computer dating businesses.


title: Dating

text: The longest running and most successful early computer dating business, both in terms of numbers of users and in terms of profits, was Dateline, which was started in the UK in 1965 by John Patterson. Patterson's business model was not fully legal, however. He was charged with fraud on several occasions for selling lists of the women who signed up for his service to men who were looking for prostitutes. Dateline existed until Patterson's death from alcoholism in 1997, and during the early 1990s it was reported to be the most profitable computer dating company in the world.


title: Dating

text: In the early 1980s in New York City, software developers wrote algorithms to match singles romantically, sometimes using collaborative filtering technologies.


title: Dating

text: Online dating services charge a fee to user to post a profile of himself or herself, perhaps using video or still images as well as descriptive data and personal preferences for dating, such as age range, hobbies, and so forth.


title: Dating

text: Online dating was a $2 billion per year industry, , with an annual growth rate of 5%. The industry is dominated by a few large companies, such as EHarmony, Zoosk and InterActiveCorp, or IAC, which owns several brands including Match.com and OkCupid, and new entrants continue to emerge. In 2019, Taimi, previously targeted to gay men, was re-introduced as a dating service for all LGBTQI+ people.


title: Dating

text: Online dating businesses are thriving financially, with growth in members, service offerings, and membership fees and with many users renewing their accounts, although the overall share of Internet traffic using online dating services in the U.S. has declined from 2003 (21% of all Internet users) to 2006 (10%).


title: Dating

text: While online dating has become more accepted, it retains a slight stigma. After controversies such as the 2015 hacking of Ashley Madison user data, dating sites must work to convince users that they are safe places with quality members.


title: Dating

text: There is widespread evidence that online dating has increased rapidly and is becoming "mainstream" with new websites appearing regularly. One study suggested that 18% of single persons had used the Internet for dating purposes.


title: Dating

text: Reports vary about the effectiveness of dating web sites to result in marriages or long–term relationships. Pew Research, based on a 2005 survey of 3,215 adults, estimated that three million Americans had entered into long-term relationships or marriage as a result of meeting on a dating web site. While sites have touted marriage rates from 10% to 25%, sociologists and marriage researchers are highly skeptical that valid statistics underlie any such claims.


title: Dating

text: The Pew study (see table) suggested the Internet was becoming increasingly prominent and accepted as a way to meet people for dates, although there were cautions about deception, the risk of violence, and some concerns about stigmas. The report suggested most people had positive experiences with online dating websites and felt they were excellent ways to meet more people. The report also said that online daters tend to have more liberal social attitudes compared to the general population.


title: Dating

text: In India, parents sometimes participate in websites designed to match couples. Some online dating sites can organize double dates or group dates.


title: Dating

text: Research from Berkeley University in California suggests there is a dropoff in interest after online daters meet face-to-face. It is a "lean medium" not offering standard cues such as tone of voice, gestures, and facial expressions. There is substantial data about online dating habits; for example, researchers believe that "the likelihood of a reply to a message sent by one online dater to another drops roughly 0.7 percent with every day that goes by". Psychologist Lindsay Shaw Taylor found that even though people said they'd be willing to date someone of a different race, that people tend to choose dates similar to themselves.


title: Dating

text: Internet "QQ" chat rooms, cheaper than traditional websites and agencies, are gaining popularity in China.


title: Dating

text: Virtual dating incorporates elements of video-game play and dating. Users create avatars and spend time in virtual worlds in an attempt to meet other avatars with the purpose of meeting for potential dates.


title: Dating

text: Mobile dating or cellphone dating refers to exchanging text messages to express interest in others on the system. These may be web-based or online as well, depending on the company.


title: Dating

text: At a singles event, a group of singles are brought together to take part in various activities for the purposes of meeting new people. Events might include parties, workshops, and games. Many events are aimed at singles of particular affiliations, interests, or religions. A weekend flirting course in Britain advised daters to "love the inner you" and understand the difference between arrogance from insecurity and "true self-confidence"; it featured exercises in which students were told to imagine that they were "great big beautiful gods and goddesses" and treat others similarly.


title: Dating

text: "Mystery Date" is a board game from the Milton Bradley Company, originally released in 1965 and reissued in 1970, 1999, and in 2005, whose object is to be ready for a date by acquiring three matching color-coded cards to assemble an outfit. The outfit must then match the outfit of the date at the "mystery door". If the player's outfit does not match the date behind the door, the door is closed and play continues. The game has been mentioned, featured, or parodied in several popular films and television shows.


title: Dating

text: Numerous television reality and game shows, past and current, address dating. For example, the dating game shows "The Dating Game" first aired in 1965, while more modern shows in that genre include "The Manhattan Dating Project" (US Movie about Dating in New York City), "Blind Date", "The 5th Wheel", and "The Bachelor" and its spinoff series, in which a high degree of support and aids are provided to individuals seeking dates. These are described more fully here and in the related article on "reality game shows" that often include or motivate romantic episodes between players. Another category of dating-oriented reality TV shows involves matchmaking, such as "Millionaire Matchmaker" and "Tough Love". A popular dating-themed TV show in the UK is "Take Me Out".


title: Dating

text: Dating can happen for people in most age groups with the possible exception of young children. Teenagers and tweens have been described as dating; according to the CDC, three-quarters of eighth and ninth graders in the United States described themselves as "dating", although it is unclear what is exactly meant by this term. A 2018 study in the "Journal of Youth and Adolescence" found that serious dating among teenagers can have negative affects on a teenager's mood. This is most likely due to the incomplete cognitive and emotional development of teenagers that cause a lack of ability to handle the challenging aspects of romantic relationships.


title: Dating

text: Young persons are exposed to many people their own age in their high schools or secondary schools or college or universities. There is anecdotal evidence that traditional dating—one-on-one public outings—has declined rapidly among the younger generation in the United States in favor of less intimate sexual encounters sometimes known as "hookups" (slang), described as brief sexual experiences with "no strings attached", although exactly what is meant by the term "hookup" varies considerably. Dating is being bypassed and is seen as archaic, and relationships are sometimes seen as "greedy" by taking time away from other activities, although exclusive relationships form later. Some college newspapers have decried the lack of dating on campuses after a 2001 study was published, and conservative groups have promoted "traditional" dating. When young people are in school, they have a lot of access to people their own age, and do not need tools such as online websites or dating services. Chinese writer Lao Wai, writing to homeland Chinese about America, considered that the college years were the "golden age of dating" for Americans, when Americans dated more than at any other time in their life. There are indications people in their twenties are less focused on marriage but on careers.


title: Dating

text: People over thirty, lacking the recency of a college experience, have better luck online finding partners. Economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett in 2002 found that 55% of 35-year-old career women were childless, while 19% of male corporate executives were, and concluded that "the rule of thumb seems to be that the more successful the woman, the less likely it is she will find a husband or bear a child."


title: Dating

text: While people tend to date others close to their own age, it's possible for older men to date younger women. In many countries, the older-man-younger-woman arrangement is seen as permissible, sometimes with benefits. It's looked on more positively in the U.S. than in China; older men are described as more knowledgeable sexually and intellectually, supportive, skilled in the ways of women, and financially more secure so there's "no more going Dutch." In China, older men with younger women are more likely to be described as "weird uncles" rather than "silver foxes." One Beijing professor reportedly advised his male students to delay dating:


title: Dating

text: A notable example of the older-woman-younger-man is Demi Moore pairing with 15-years-her-junior Ashton Kutcher. Older women in such relations have recently been described as "cougars", and formerly such relationships were often kept secret or discreet, but there is a report that such relationships are becoming more accepted and increasing.


title: Dating

text: Since divorce is increasing in many areas, sometimes celebrated with "divorce parties", there is dating advice for the freshly divorced as well, which includes not talking about your ex or your divorce, but focusing on "activities that bring joy to your life." Adviser Claire Rayner in "The Guardian" suggests calling people from your address book with whom you haven't been in touch for years and say "I'd love to get back in contact." Do activities you like doing with like-minded people; if someone seems interesting to you, tell them. It's more acceptable for this group for women to ask men out.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Ratko Mladić (, ; born 12 March 1942) is a Bosnian Serb convicted war criminal and colonel-general who led the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) during the Yugoslav Wars. In 2017, he was found guilty of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).


title: Ratko Mladić

text: A long-time member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, Mladić began his career in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) in 1965. He came to prominence in the Yugoslav Wars, initially as a high-ranking officer of the Yugoslav People's Army and subsequently as the Chief of the General Staff of the Army of Republika Srpska in the Bosnian War of 1992–1995.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In July 1996 the Trial Chamber of the ICTY, proceeding in the absence of Mladić under the ICTY's Rule 61, confirmed all counts of the original indictments, finding there were reasonable grounds to believe he had committed the alleged crimes, and issued an international arrest warrant. The Serbian and United States' governments offered €5 million for information leading to Mladić's capture and arrest. Mladić nevertheless managed to remain at large for nearly sixteen years, initially sheltered by Serbian and Bosnian Serb security forces and later by family. On 26 May 2011, he was arrested in Lazarevo, Serbia. His capture was considered to be one of the pre-conditions for Serbia being awarded candidate status for European Union membership.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 31 May 2011, Mladić was extradited to the Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the ICTY. His trial formally began in The Hague on 16 May 2012. On 22 November 2017, Mladić was sentenced to life in prison by the ICTY after being found guilty of 10 charges, one of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and four of violations of the laws or customs of war. He was cleared of one count of genocide. As the top military officer with command responsibility, Mladić was deemed by the ICTY to be responsible for both the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Mladić was born in Božanovići, Independent State of Croatia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), on 12 March 1942.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: His father Neđa (1909–1945) was a member of the Yugoslav Partisans. His mother, Stana (née Lalović; 1919–2003), raised her three children; daughter Milica (born 1940), sons Ratko and Milivoje (1944–2001), by herself after the death of her husband in 1945 during World War II. Bosnia and Herzegovina was at the time part of the Independent State of Croatia, a fascist state led by the Croatian Ustaše between 1941 and 1945, created after Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy invaded and partitioned the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1941. Mladić's father Neđa was killed in action (on Mladić's third birthday) while leading a Partisan attack on the home village of Ustaše leader Ante Pavelić in 1945.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Upon finishing elementary school, Mladić worked in Sarajevo as a whitesmith for the Tito Company. He entered the Military Industry School in Zemun in 1961. He then went on to the KOV Military Academy and the Officers Academy thereafter. Upon graduating on 27 September 1965, Mladić began his career in the Yugoslav People's Army. In the same year he joined the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, remaining a member until the party disintegrated in 1990.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Mladić began his first post as an officer in Skopje on 4 November 1965, where he was the commander of and youngest soldier in his unit. Beginning with the rank of second lieutenant in April 1968, he proved himself to be a capable officer, first commanding a platoon (May 1970), then a battalion (27 November 1974), and then a brigade. In September 1976, Mladić began his higher military education at the "Komandno-štabne akademije" in Belgrade, finishing in first place with a grade of 9.57 (out of 10).


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 25 December 1980, Mladić became a lieutenant colonel. Then, on 18 August 1986, he became a colonel, based in Štip. He finished an additional year of military education in September 1986. On 31 January 1989, he was promoted to the head of the Education Department of the Third Military District of Skopje. On 14 January 1991, he was promoted again, to Deputy Commander in Priština.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In June 1991, Mladić was promoted to Deputy Commander of the Priština Corps in the Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo at a time of high tension between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo's majority Albanian population. That year, Mladić was given command of the 9th Corps, and led this formation against Croatian forces in Knin, the capital of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 4 October 1991, Mladić was promoted to major general. The JNA forces under his command participated in the Croatian War, notably during Operation Coast-91 in an attempt to cut off Dalmatia from the rest of Croatia, which resulted in a stalemate (the Croats held the entire coastline near Zadar and Šibenik, and Serb Krajina expanded its territory in the hinterland). Among other early operations, Mladić aided Milan Martić's militia in the 1991 siege of Kijevo and the battle of Zadar.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 24 April 1992, Mladić was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel general. On 2 May 1992, one month after Bosnia and Hercegovina's declaration of independence, Mladić and his generals blockaded the city of Sarajevo, shutting off all traffic in and out of the city, as well as water and electricity. This began the four-year Siege of Sarajevo, the longest siege of a city in the history of modern warfare. The city was bombarded with shells and sniper shooting. On 9 May 1992, he assumed the post of Chief of Staff/Deputy Commander of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA in Sarajevo. The next day, Mladić assumed the command of the Second Military District Headquarters of the JNA. On 12 May 1992, in response to Bosnia's secession from Yugoslavia, the Bosnian Serb Parliament voted to create the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS, in short). At the same time, Mladić was appointed Commander of the Main Staff of the VRS, a position he held until December 1996. During the 16th session of the Bosnian-Serb Assembly on 12 May 1992, Radovan Karadžić announced his "six strategic objectives", including "Demarcation of the state as separate from the other two national communities", "A corridor between Semberija and Krajina" and "Establishment of a corridor in the Drina river valley, and the eradication of the Drina river as a border between the Serbian states." Mladić then said:


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In May 1992, after the withdrawal of JNA forces from Bosnia, the JNA Second Military District became the nucleus of the Main Staff of the VRS. On 24 June 1994, he was promoted to the rank of colonel general over approximately 80,000 troops stationed in the area.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In July 1995, troops commanded by Mladić, harried by NATO air strikes intended to force compliance with a UN ultimatum to remove heavy weapons from the Sarajevo area, overran and occupied the UN "safe areas" of Srebrenica and Žepa. At Srebrenica over 40,000 Bosniaks who had sought safety there were expelled. An estimated 8,300 were murdered, on Mladić's order.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 4 August 1995, with a huge Croatian military force poised to attack the Serb-held region in central Croatia, Radovan Karadžić announced he was removing Mladić from his post and assuming personal command of the VRS himself. Karadžić blamed Mladić for the loss of two key Serb towns in western Bosnia that had recently fallen to the Croatian army, and he used the loss of the towns as an excuse to announce his surprising changes in the command structure. Mladić was demoted to an "adviser". He refused to go quietly, claiming the support of both the Bosnian Serb military as well as the people. Karadžić countered by denouncing Mladić as a "madman" and attempting to remove his political rank, but Mladić's obvious popular support forced Karadžić to rescind his order on 11 August. His actions during the war led to many dubbing him "The Butcher of Bosnia".


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 8 November 1996, Biljana Plavšić, the president of the Bosnian Serb Republic, dismissed Mladić from his post. He continued to receive a pension until November 2005.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 24 July 1995, Mladić was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for genocide, crimes against humanity, and numerous war crimes (including crimes relating to the alleged sniping campaign against civilians in Sarajevo). On 16 November 1995, the charges were expanded to include charges of war crimes for the attack on the UN-declared safe area of Srebrenica in July 1995.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: A fugitive from the ICTY, he was suspected to be hiding either in Serbia or in Republika Srpska. Mladić was reportedly seen attending a football match between China and Yugoslavia in Belgrade in March 2000. He entered through a VIP entrance and sat in a private box surrounded by eight armed bodyguards. There were claims that he had been seen in a suburb of Moscow, and that he "regularly" visited Thessaloniki and Athens, which raised suspicions that numerous fake reports were sent to cover his trail. Some reports said that he took refuge in his wartime bunker in Han Pijesak, not far from Sarajevo, or in Montenegro.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In early February 2006, portions of a Serbian military intelligence report were leaked to Serbian newspaper "Politika" which stated that Mladić had been hidden in Army of Republika Srpska and Yugoslav army facilities up until 1 June 2002, when the National Assembly of Serbia passed a law mandating cooperation with the ICTY in The Hague. The then-Chief General of the Yugoslav Army Nebojša Pavković requested that Mladić vacate the facility where he was staying on mountain Povlen, near Valjevo, after which the Serb military agencies claim to have lost all trace of him.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Initially, Mladić lived freely in Belgrade. After the arrest of Slobodan Milošević in 2001, Mladić went into hiding, but he was still protected by Serb security services and the army. Serbia's failure to bring Mladić to justice seriously harmed its relationship with the European Union.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In 2004, Paddy Ashdown, then-United Nations High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, removed 58 officials from their posts due to suspicions that they helped war crimes suspects including Mladić and Karadžić to evade capture. Some officials were subjected to travel bans and had their bank accounts frozen. The ban was later lifted after the capture of Mladić.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In November 2004, British defense officials conceded that military action was unlikely to be successful in bringing Mladić and other suspects to trial. One winter's day British UN troops carrying sidearms were confronted by the general skiing down the piste at Sarajevo's former Olympic skiing resort but made no move for their guns; skiing behind Mladić were four bodyguards. Despite his Hague warrant, the British soldiers decided to carry on skiing. NATO later sent commandos to arrest various war crimes suspects, but Mladić simply went underground. No amount of NATO action or UN demands, or even a $5 million bounty announced by Washington, could bring him in.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: It was revealed in December 2004 that the Army of Republika Srpska had been harboring and protecting Mladić until the summer of 2004, despite repeated and public pleas to collaborate with the ICTY and apprehend war criminals. On 6 December, NATO said that Mladić visited his wartime bunker during the summer in order to celebrate Army of Republika Srpska Day.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In June 2005, "The Times" newspaper alleged that Mladić had demanded a $5 million (£2.75 million) "compensation" to be given to his family and bodyguards if he gave himself up to the ICTY in the Hague. In January 2006, a Belgrade court indicted 10 people for aiding Mladić in hiding from 2002 to January 2006. An investigation showed Mladić spent his time in New Belgrade, a suburb of the capital.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: It was erroneously reported on 21 February 2006 that Mladić had been arrested in Belgrade and was being transferred via Tuzla to the ICTY war tribunal. The arrest was denied by the Serbian government. The government did not deny rumors of a planned negotiated surrender between Mladić and Serbian special forces. Romanian government and Serbian sources claimed on 22 February 2006 that Mladić was arrested in Romania, near Drobeta-Turnu Severin, close to the Serbian border by a joint Romanian-British special operation carried out by troops of those respective countries. However, ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte denied the rumors that Mladić had been arrested, saying that they had "absolutely no basis whatsoever". Del Ponte urged the Serbian government to locate him without further delay, saying Mladić was in reach of the Serbian authorities and had been in Serbia since 1998. She said a failure to capture him would harm Serbia's bid to join the European Union (EU). 1 May 2006 deadline established by Del Ponte for Serbia to hand over Mladić passed, resulting in talks between Serbia and the EU being suspended. The EU considered Mladić's arrest, along with full cooperation with the ICTY, pre-conditions that had to be met before Serbia could join the organization.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In July 2008, Serbian officials voiced concern that Mladić would order or had ordered his bodyguards to kill him to prevent him from being captured to face trial.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Based on a March 2009 poll of the NGO Strategic Marketing for the television station B92, which involved 1,050 respondents, 14% of Serbia's citizens would reveal information that would lead to his arrest in exchange for €1 million, 21% did not have a determined attitude, and 65% would not divulge information for €1 million (the poll was conducted when the United States embassy issued a reward of €1.3 million for any information on Mladić). However, it was noted that the formulation of the question might have been a problem, as the polling samples which opted "No" included also those who would immediately report Mladić without payment, believing that payment in this case is immoral. Although preceding reports indicated that 47% supported the extradition, it was apparent that most of the population was against it. According to a poll conducted by the National Committee for Cooperation with the ICTY, 78% of those polled would not report Mladić to the authorities, with 40% believing that he is a hero. Only 34% said they would approve of Mladić's arrest.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 11 June 2009, a Bosnian television station broadcast videos of Mladić, filmed over the previous decade. The last video that was featured in the show "60 Minuta" showed Mladić with two women, allegedly filmed in the winter of 2008. However, no evidence for this was given by television presenters. Serbia stated that it was "impossible" for the videos to have been filmed in 2008. Rasim Ljajić, Serbia's minister in charge of co-operation with the UN tribunal, confirmed that the footage was old and had already been handed over to the ICTY in March 2009. Ljajić claimed "the last known footage was taken eight years ago. The last time Mladić was in military premises was at the Krcmari army barracks near [the western Serbian town of] Valjevo on 1 June 2002." The previously unseen images show Mladić in various restaurants and apartments and at what appears to be military barracks in Serbia, almost always accompanied by his wife Bosa and son Darko.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: On 16 June 2010, Mladić's family filed a request to declare him dead, claiming he had been in poor health and absent for seven years. If the declaration had been approved Mladić's wife would have been able to collect a state pension and sell his property. At this time, Mladić was hiding in a house owned by his family.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In October 2010, Serbia intensified the hunt by increasing the reward for Mladić's capture from €5 million to €10 million.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Mladić was arrested on 26 May 2011 in Lazarevo, northern Serbia. His arrest was carried out by two dozen Serbian special police officers wearing black uniforms and masks, and not wearing any insignia. The police were accompanied by Security Information Agency and War Crimes Prosecutor's Office agents. The officers entered the village in four SUVs in the early morning hours while most residents were still asleep. They pulled up to four houses simultaneously, each owned by Mladić's relatives. Mladić was about to venture into the yard for a walk after being awakened by pain, when four officers jumped over the fence and broke into the house just as he moved toward the door, grabbing Mladić, forcing him to the floor, and demanding he identify himself. Mladić identified himself correctly, and surrendered two pistols he had been carrying. He was then taken to Belgrade. Mladić was arrested in the house of his cousin Branislav Mladić, at the Vuka Karadžića st. 2.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Branislav had been identified as a possible suspect at least two months before, and had been under surveillance right up to his arrest. After some initial doubt as to the identity of the arrested, Serbian President Boris Tadić confirmed it was Mladić at a press conference and announced that the process of extraditing him to the ICTY was underway. Mladić had been using the pseudonym "Milorad Komadić" while in hiding. Mladić was not wearing a beard or any disguise. His appearance reportedly showed he had "aged considerably", and one of his arms was paralyzed due to a series of strokes.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Following his arrest, Mladić appeared before the Belgrade Higher Court for a hearing on whether he was fit to be extradited to The Hague. Judge Milan Dilparić suspended interrogation due to his poor health. Mladić's lawyer Miloš Šaljić said that his poor health prevented him from properly communicating. He was allegedly unable to confirm his personal data, but attempted to talk to the prosecutors on several occasions, especially to Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekarić.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: However, the court ruled that he was fit to be extradited on 27 May. According to the Serbian Health Ministry, a team of prison doctors described his health as stable following checkups. Mladić was also visited in prison by Health Minister Zoran Stanković, a former friend. Mladić was extradited to The Hague on 31 May 2011, and his trial formally opened in The Hague on 16 May 2012. Mladić also survived a heart attack he had when in his detention unit on 23 December 2013.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Mladić was arrested on the same day that the EU's representative, Catherine Ashton, visited Belgrade. His arrest improved relations with the EU, which had been concerned that Serbia was sheltering Mladić. In July 2015 media said that he is "trying to find one Norwegian officer to have him come to The Hague to witness" in the trial.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In 2017, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Mladić on 10 charges: one of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and four of violations of the laws or customs of war. He was cleared of one count of genocide. As a top military officer with command responsibility, Mladić was deemed, by the ICTY, to be responsible for both the siege of Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre. The ICTY sentenced Mladić to life imprisonment.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In 2018, during the appeals process, three out of the five judges on the appeals court were removed by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MITC), because they “appear[ed] biased”, considering that they had previously rendered certain conclusions linked to Mladić in other cases in The Hague.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: In January 2019, the pre-appeals chamber partially granted a prosecution request and struck three of five motions which Mladić filed to submit new evidence. On 7 June 2019, Mladić requested to have an extension in his appeals motions, which was granted. On 13 June 2019, it was announced at a status conference that Mladić was diagnosed with "harmless arrhythmia" and scheduling for the potential appeals hearings still had not started either. On 10 July 2019, Mladić was hospitalized following a health scare, but was then discharged and transferred back to The Hague detention unit on 12 July after the illness was determined to be non-life-threatening and not a sign of increased heart problems.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: The first appeal hearing was held on 25 and 26 August 2020. On 3 September 2020, the five judge panel representing the MITC's Appeals Chamber voted 4–1 to reject Mladić's request for future hospitalization outside his Hague detention center. On 8 June 2021, Mladić's final appeal was rejected, and his life imprisonment sentence confirmed.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: Mladić and his wife Bosiljka had two children; a son named Darko and a daughter named Ana. Ana died on 24 March 1994, aged 23, in an apparent suicide. She was not married and had no children.


title: Ratko Mladić

text: There were conflicting reports in various Serbian publications regarding Ana Mladić's death and the discovery of her body. Some media said that her body was found in her blood-splattered bedroom, and others claim it was found in a nearby park or in the woods near the Topčider cemetery. However, it was concluded that she had used her father's handgun, which he had been awarded at military school in his youth. There are also conflicting opinions on the reason for her suicide, with one of the more common theories being that she was under immense pressure from the general public as her father was frequently chided and scrutinized in the Serbian newspapers for his actions against civilians in Bosnia. There was another theory that stated that the reason for her suicide was the death of her boyfriend Dragan, who had been killed in the Bosnian War. Historian Jože Pirjevec supports this theory, writing that she killed herself to punish her father for sending her boyfriend to fight on the first line, where he was killed, and for failing to tell her about the boy's death.


title: Vedic period

text: The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, between the end of the urban Indus Valley civilisation and a second urbanisation, which began in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain BCE. The Vedas are liturgical texts which formed the basis of the influential Brahmanical ideology, which developed in the Kuru Kingdom, a tribal union of several Indo-Aryan tribes. The Vedas contain details of life during this period that have been interpreted to be historical and constitute the primary sources for understanding the period. These documents, alongside the corresponding archaeological record, allow for the evolution of the Indo-Aryan and Vedic culture to be traced and inferred.


title: Vedic period

text: The Vedas were composed and orally transmitted with precision by speakers of an Old Indo-Aryan language who had migrated into the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent early in this period. The Vedic society was patriarchal and patrilineal. Early Indo-Aryans were a Late Bronze Age society centred in the Punjab, organised into tribes rather than kingdoms, and primarily sustained by a pastoral way of life.


title: Vedic period

text: Around –1000 BCE the "Aryan" culture spread eastward to the fertile western Ganges Plain. Iron tools were adopted, which allowed for the clearing of forests and the adoption of a more settled, agricultural way of life. The second half of the Vedic period was characterised by the emergence of towns, kingdoms, and a complex social differentiation distinctive to India, and the Kuru Kingdom's codification of orthodox sacrificial ritual. During this time, the central Ganges Plain was dominated by a related but non-Vedic Indo-Aryan culture, of Greater Magadha. The end of the Vedic period witnessed the rise of true cities and large states (called mahajanapadas) as well as śramaṇa movements (including Jainism and Buddhism) which challenged the Vedic orthodoxy.


title: Vedic period

text: The Vedic period saw the emergence of a hierarchy of social classes that would remain influential. Vedic religion developed into Brahmanical orthodoxy, and around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of "Hindu synthesis".


title: Vedic period

text: Archaeological cultures identified with phases of Indo-Aryan material culture culture include the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the Gandhara grave culture, the black and red ware culture and the Painted Grey Ware culture.


title: Vedic period

text: The early Vedic age is historically dated to the second half of the second millennium BCE. Historically, after the collapse of the Indus Valley civilisation, which occurred around 1900 BCE, groups of Indo-Aryan peoples migrated into north-western India and started to inhabit the northern Indus Valley. The Indo-Aryans represented a sub-group that diverged from other Indo-Iranian tribes at the Andronovo horizon before the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE, The Indo-Iranians originated in the Sintashta culture, from which arose the subsequent Andronovo horizon. The Indo-Aryans migrated through the adjacent Bactria–Margiana area (present-day northern Afghanistan) to northwest India, followed by the rise of the Iranian Yaz culture at  1500 BCE, and the Iranian migrations into Iran at  800 BCE.


title: Vedic period

text: Some Indian writers and archaeologists have opposed the notion of a migration of Indo-Aryans into India, and argued for an indigenous origin of the Indo-Aryans. In this view, "the Indian civilization must be viewed as an unbroken tradition that goes back to the earliest period of the Sindhu-Sarasvati (or Indus) tradition (7000 or 8000 BCE)." Though popular in India, and reflecting Indian views on Indian history and religion, the idea of a purely indigenous origin of the Indo-Aryans is outside the academic mainstream.


title: Vedic period

text: The knowledge about the Aryans comes mostly from the "Rigveda-samhita", "i.e." the oldest layer of the "Vedas", which was composed  1200–1000 BCE. They brought with them their distinctive religious traditions and practices. The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the Indo-Iranian religion. Funeral sacrifices from the Sintashta-culture show close parallels to the sacrificial funeral rites of the "Rigveda", while, according to Anthony, the Old Indic religion probably emerged among Indo-European immigrants in the contact zone between the Zeravshan River (present-day Uzbekistan) and (present-day) Tajikistan. It was "a syncretic mixture of old Central Asian and new Indo-European elements", which borrowed "distinctive religious beliefs and practices" from the Bactria–Margiana culture, including the god Indra and the ritual drink Soma.


title: Vedic period

text: The "Rigveda" contains accounts of conflicts between the Aryas and the Dasas and Dasyus. It describes Dasas and Dasyus as people who do not perform sacrifices ("akratu") or obey the commandments of gods ("avrata"). Their speech is described as "mridhra" which could variously mean soft, uncouth, hostile, scornful or abusive. Other adjectives which describe their physical appearance are subject to many interpretations. However, some modern scholars such as Asko Parpola connect the Dasas and Dasyus to Iranian tribes Dahae and Dahyu and believe that Dasas and Dasyus were early Indo-Aryan immigrants who arrived into the subcontinent before the Vedic Aryans. Likwise, Bronkhorst has argued that the central Ganges Plain was dominated by a related but non-Vedic Indo-Aryan culture, a difference also noted by Samuel.


title: Vedic period

text: Accounts of military conflicts in between the various tribes of Vedic Aryans are also described in the "Rigveda". Most notable of such conflicts was the Battle of Ten Kings, which took place on the banks of the river Parushni (modern day Ravi). The battle was fought between the tribe "Bharatas", led by their chief Sudas, against a confederation of ten tribes. The Bharatas lived around the upper regions of the river Saraswati, while the Purus, their western neighbours, lived along the lower regions of Saraswati. The other tribes dwelt north-west of the Bharatas in the region of Punjab. Division of the waters of Ravi could have been a reason for the war. The confederation of tribes tried to inundate the Bharatas by opening the embankments of Ravi, yet Sudas emerged victorious in the Battle of Ten Kings. The Bharatas and the Purus merged into a new tribe, the Kuru, after the war.


title: Vedic period

text: After the 12th century BCE, as the "Rigveda" had taken its final form, the Vedic society, which is associated with the Kuru-Panchala region but were not the only Indo-Aryan people in northern India, transitioned from semi-nomadic life to settled agriculture in north-western India. Possession of horses remained an important priority of Vedic leaders and a remnant of the nomadic lifestyle, resulting in trade routes beyond the Hindu Kush to maintain this supply as horses needed for cavalry and sacrifice could not be bred in India. The Gangetic plains had remained out of bounds to the Vedic tribes because of thick forest cover. After 1000 BCE, the use of iron axes and ploughs became widespread and the jungles could be cleared with ease. This enabled the Vedic Aryans to extend their settlements into the western area of the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. Many of the old tribes coalesced to form larger political units.


title: Vedic period

text: The Vedic religion was further developed with the emergence of the Kuru kingdom, systematising its religious literature and developing the Śrauta ritual. It is associated with the Painted Grey Ware culture (c.1200–600 BCE), which did not expand east of the Ganga-Yamuya Doab. It differed from the related, yet markedly different, culture of the Central Ganges region, which was associated with the Northern Black Polished Ware and the Mahajanapadas of Kosala and Magadha.


title: Vedic period

text: In this period the "varna" system emerged, state Kulke and Rothermund, which in this stage of Indian history were a "hierarchical order of estates which reflected a division of labor among various social classes". The Vedic period estates were four: Brahmin priests and warrior nobility stood on top, free peasants and traders were the third, and slaves, labourers and artisans, many belonging to the indigenous people, were the fourth. This was a period where agriculture, metal, and commodity production, as well as trade, greatly expanded, and the Vedic era texts including the early Upanishads and many Sutras important to later Hindu culture were completed.


title: Vedic period

text: The Kuru Kingdom, the earliest Vedic "state", was formed by a "super-tribe" which joined several tribes in a new unit. To govern this state, Vedic hymns were collected and transcribed, and new rituals were developed, which formed the now orthodox Śrauta rituals. Two key figures in this process of the development of the Kuru state were the king Parikshit and his successor Janamejaya, transforming this realm into the dominant political and cultural power of northern Iron Age India.


title: Vedic period

text: The most well-known of the new religious sacrifices that arose in this period were the "Ashvamedha" (horse sacrifice). This sacrifice involved setting a consecrated horse free to roam the kingdoms for a year. The horse was followed by a chosen band of warriors. The kingdoms and chiefdoms in which the horse wandered had to pay homage or prepare to battle the king to whom the horse belonged. This sacrifice put considerable pressure on inter-state relations in this era. This period saw also the beginning of the social stratification by the use of varna, the division of Vedic society in Brahmins, Kshatriya, Vaishya and Shudra.


title: Vedic period

text: The Kuru kingdom declined after its defeat by the non-Vedic Salva tribe, and the political center of Vedic culture shifted east, into the Panchala kingdom on the Ganges, under King Keśin Dālbhya (approximately between 900 and 750 BCE). Later, in the 8th or 7th century BCE, the kingdom of Videha emerged as a political center farther to the East, in what is today northern Bihar of India and southeastern Nepal, reaching its prominence under the king Janaka, whose court provided patronage for Brahmin sages and philosophers such as Yajnavalkya, Uddalaka Aruni, and Gargi Vachaknavi; Panchala also remained prominent during this period, under its king Pravahana Jaivali.


title: Vedic period

text: By the 6th century BCE, the political units consolidated into large kingdoms called Mahajanapadas. The process of urbanisation had begun in these kingdoms, commerce and travel flourished, even regions separated by large distances became easy to access. Anga, a small kingdom to the east of Magadha (on the door step of modern-day West Bengal), formed the eastern boundary of the Vedic culture. Yadavas expanded towards the south and settled in Mathura. To the south of their kingdom was Vatsa which was governed from its capital Kausambi. The Narmada River and parts of North Western Deccan formed the southern limits. The newly formed states struggled for supremacy and started displaying imperial ambitions.


title: Vedic period

text: The end of the Vedic period is marked by linguistic, cultural and political changes. The grammar of Pāṇini marks a final apex in the codification of Sutra texts, and at the same time the beginning of Classical Sanskrit. The invasion of Darius I of the Indus valley in the early 6th century BCE marks the beginning of outside influence, continued in the kingdoms of the Indo-Greeks. Meanwhile, in the Kosala-Magadha region, the shramana movements (including Jainism and Buddhism) objected the self-imposed authority and orthodoxy of the intruding Brahmins and their Vedic scriptures and ritual. According to Bronkhorst, the sramana culture arose in "Greater Magadha," which was Indo-European, but not Vedic. In this culture, kshatriyas were placed higher than Brahmins, and it rejected Vedic authority and rituals.


title: Vedic period

text: While Vedic society was relatively egalitarian in the sense that a distinct hierarchy of socio-economic classes or castes was absent, the Vedic period saw the emergence of a hierarchy of social classes. Political hierarchy was determined by rank, where "rājan" (tribal king or chieftain) and "rājanya" (tribal nobility) stood at the top, the "viś" (the common people) in the middle, and the "dāsa" and "dasyu" (non-Indo-Aryan servants) at the bottom. The words "Brahamana" and "Kshatriya" occur in various family books of the "Rigveda", but they are not associated with the term "varna". The words "Vaishya" and "Shudra" are absent. Verses of the "Rigveda", such as 3.44-45, indicate the absence of strict social hierarchy and the existence of social mobility:


title: Vedic period

text: The institution of marriage was important and different types of marriages— monogamy, polygyny and polyandry are mentioned in the "Rigveda". Both women sages and female gods were known to Vedic Aryans. Women could choose their husbands and could remarry if their husbands died or disappeared. The wife enjoyed a respectable position. People consumed milk, milk products, grains, fruits and vegetables. Meat eating is mentioned; however, cows are labeled "aghnya" (not to be killed). Clothes of cotton, wool and animal skin were worn. "Soma" and "sura" were popular drinks in the Vedic society, of which "soma" was sanctified by religion. Flute ("vana"), lute ("vina"), harp, cymbals and drums were the musical instruments played and a heptatonic scale was used. Dancing, dramas, chariot racing and gambling were other popular pastimes.


title: Vedic period

text: The emergence of monarchical states in the later Vedic age led to a distancing of the "rajan" from the people and the emergence of a "varna" hierarchy. The society was divided into four social groups—Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras. The later Vedic texts fixed social boundaries, roles, status and ritual purity for each of the groups. The "Shatapatha Brahmana" associates the Brahmana with purity of parentage, good conduct, glory, teaching or protecting people; Kshatriya with strength, fame, ruling, and warfare; Vaishya with material prosperity and production-related activities such as cattle rearing and agriculture; Shudras with the service of the higher "varnas". The effects of "Rajasuya" sacrifice depended on the "varna" of the sacrificer. "Rajasuya" endowed Brahmana with lustre, Kshatriya with valour, Vaishya with procreative power and Shudra with stability. The hierarchy of the top three "varnas" is ambiguous in the later Vedic texts. "Panchavamsha Brahmana" and verse 13.8.3.11 of the "Shatapatha Brahmana" place Kshatriya over Brahmana and Vaishya, whereas, verse 1.1.4.12 places Brahmana and Vaishya over the Kshatriya and Shudra. The "Purusha sukta" visualised the four "varnas" as hierarchical, but inter-related parts of an organic whole. Despite the increasing social stratification in the later Vedic times, hymns like "Rigveda" IX.112 suggest some amount of social mobility: "I am a reciter of hymns, my father a physician, and my mother grinds (corn) with stones. We desire to obtain wealth in various actions."


title: Vedic period

text: Household became an important unit in the later Vedic age. The variety of households of the Vedic era gave way to an idealised household which was headed by a "grihapati". The relations between husband and wife, father and son were hierarchically organised and the women were relegated to subordinate and docile roles. Polygyny was more common than polyandry and texts like "Tattiriya Samhita" indicate taboos around menstruating women. Various professions women took to are mentioned in the later Vedic texts. Women tended to cattle, milked cows, carded wool; were weavers, dyers, and corn grinders. Women warriors such as Vishpala, who lost a leg in battle, are mentioned. Two female philosophers are mentioned in the Upanishads. Patrick Olivelle, in his translation of the Upanishads, writes that "the fact that these women are introduced without any attempt to justify or to explain how women could be engaged in theological matters suggests the relatively high social and religious position of at least women of some social strata during this period."


title: Vedic period

text: Early Vedic Aryans were organised into tribes rather than kingdoms. The chief of a tribe was called a "rajan". The autonomy of the "rajan" was restricted by the tribal councils called "sabha" and "samiti". The two bodies were, in part, responsible for the governance of the tribe. The "rajan" could not accede to the throne without their approval. The distinction between the two bodies is not clear. Arthur Llewellyn Basham, a noted historian and indologist, theorises that "sabha" was a meeting of great men in the tribe, whereas, "samiti" was a meeting of all free tribesmen. Some tribes had no hereditary chiefs and were directly governed by the tribal councils. "Rajan" had a rudimentary court which was attended by courtiers ("sabhasad") and chiefs of sects ("gramani"). The main responsibility of the "rajan" was to protect the tribe. He was aided by several functionaries, including the "purohita" (chaplain), the "senani" (army chief), "dutas" (envoys) and "spash" (spies). "Purohita" performed ceremonies and spells for success in war and prosperity in peace.


title: Vedic period

text: In the later Vedic period, the tribes had consolidated into small kingdoms, which had a capital and a rudimentary administrative system. To aid in governing these new states, the kings and their Brahmin priests arranged Vedic hymns into collections and developed a new set of rituals (the now orthodox Śrauta rituals) to strengthen the emerging social hierarchy. The "rajan" was seen as the custodian of social order and the protector of "rashtra" (polity). Hereditary kingship started emerging and competitions like chariot races, cattle raids, and games of dice, which previously decided who was worthy of becoming a king, became nominal. Rituals in this era exalted the status of the king over his people. He was occasionally referred to as "samrat" (supreme ruler). The "rajan's" increasing political power enabled him to gain greater control over the productive resources. The voluntary gift offering ("bali") became compulsory tribute; however, there was no organised system of taxation. "Sabha" and "samiti" are still mentioned in later Vedic texts, though, with the increasing power of the king, their influence declined. By the end of the later Vedic age, different kinds of political systems such as monarchical states ("rajya"), oligarchical states ("gana" or "sangha"), and tribal principalities had emerged in India.


title: Vedic period

text: According to Michael Witzel's analysis of the Kuru Kingdom, it can be characterized as the earliest Vedic "state", during the Middle Vedic Period. However, Robert Bellah observes that it is difficult to "pin down" whether the Kurus were a true "state" or a complex chiefdom, as the Kuru kings notably never adopted royal titles higher than "rājan," which means "chief" rather than "king" in the Vedic context. The Middle Vedic Period is also characterized by a lack of cities; Bellah compares this to early state formation in ancient Hawaii and "very early Egypt," which were "territorial states" rather than "city-states," and thus "it was the court, not the city, that provided the center, and the court was often peripatetic." Romila Thapar characterizes Vedic-era state formation as being in a condition of "arrested development," because local chiefs were relatively autonomous, and because surplus wealth that could have been directed towards state-building was instead used for the increasingly grandiose rituals that also served to structure social relations. The period of the Upanishads, the final phase of the Vedic era, was approximately contemporaneous with a new wave of state formations, linked to the beginning of urbanization in the Ganges Valley: along with the growth of population and trade networks, these social and economic changes put pressure on older ways of life, setting the stage for the Upanishads and the subsequent śramaṇa movements, and the end of the Vedic Period, which was followed by the Mahajanapada period.


title: Vedic period

text: According to George Erdosy, archaeological data for the period of period from 1000 to 600 BCE shows a two-tiered settlement pattern in the Ganges Valley, with some "modest central places," suggestive of the existence of simple chiefdoms, with the Kurukshetra District itself displaying a more complex (albeit not yet urbanized) three-tiered hierarchy. Subsequently, (after 600 BCE) there are four tiers of site sizes, including large towns and fortified cities, consistent with an urbanized state-level society.


title: Vedic period

text: Economy in the Vedic period was sustained by a combination of pastoralism and agriculture. There are references, in the "Rigveda", to the leveling of fields, seed processing, and storage of grains in large jars. War bounty was also a major source of wealth. Economic exchanges were conducted by gift giving, particularly to kings ("bali") and priests ("dana"), and barter using cattle as a unit of currency. While gold is mentioned in some hymns, there is no indication of the use of coins. Metallurgy is not mentioned in the "Rigveda", but the word "ayas" and instruments made from it such as razors, bangles, axes are mentioned. One verse mentions purification of "ayas". Some scholars believe that "ayas" refers to iron and the words "dham" and "karmara" refer to iron-welders. However, philological evidence indicates that "ayas" in the "Rigveda" refers only to copper and bronze, while iron or "śyāma ayas", literally "black metal", first is mentioned in the post-Rigvedic "Atharvaveda", and therefore the Early Vedic Period was a Bronze Age culture whereas the Late Vedic Period was an Iron Age culture.


title: Vedic period

text: The transition of Vedic society from semi-nomadic life to settled agriculture in the later Vedic age led to an increase in trade and competition for resources. Agriculture dominated the economic activity along the Ganges valley during this period. Agricultural operations grew in complexity and usage of iron implements ("krishna–ayas" or "shyama–ayas", literally black metal or dark metal) increased. Crops of wheat, rice, and barley were cultivated. Surplus production helped to support the centralised kingdoms that were emerging at this time. New crafts and occupations such as carpentry, leather work, tanning, pottery, astrology, jewellery, dying, and winemaking arose. Apart from copper, bronze, and gold, later Vedic texts also mention tin, lead, and silver.


title: Vedic period

text: "Panis" in some hymns refers to merchants, in others to stingy people who hid their wealth and did not perform Vedic sacrifices. Some scholars suggest that Panis were semitic traders, but the evidence for this is slim. Professions of warriors, priests, cattle-rearers, farmers, hunters, barbers, vintners and crafts of chariot-making, cart-making, carpentry, metal working, tanning, making of bows, sewing, weaving, making mats of grass and reed are mentioned in the hymns of the "Rigveda". Some of these might have needed full-time specialists. There are references to boats and oceans. Book X of the "Rigveda" refers to both eastern and western oceans. Individual property ownership did not exist and clans as a whole enjoyed rights over lands and herds. Enslavement ("dasa", "dasi") in the course of war or as a result of non-payment of debt is mentioned. However, slaves worked in households rather than production-related activities.


title: Vedic period

text: Texts considered to date to the Vedic period are mainly the four "Vedas", but the Brahmanas, Aranyakas and the older Upanishads as well as the oldest Śrautasutras are also considered to be Vedic. The "Vedas" record the liturgy connected with the rituals and sacrifices performed by the 16 or 17 Śrauta priests and the purohitas.


title: Vedic period

text: The rishis, the composers of the hymns of the "Rigveda", were considered inspired poets and seers (in post-Vedic times understood as "hearers" of an eternally existing "Veda", "Śruti" means "what is heard").


title: Vedic period

text: The mode of worship was the performance of sacrifices (Yajna) which included the chanting of Rigvedic verses (see Vedic chant), singing of "Samans" and 'mumbling' of sacrificial mantras (Yajus). Yajna involved sacrifice and sublimation of the havana sámagri (herbal preparations) in the fire accompanied by the chanting of the Vedic mantras. The sublime meaning of the word yajna is derived from the Sanskrit verb yaj, which has a three-fold meaning of worship of deities (devapujana), unity (saògatikaraña) and charity (dána). An essential element was the sacrificial fire—the divine Agni—into which oblations were poured, as everything offered into the fire was believed to reach God. People prayed for abundance of rain, cattle, sons, long life and gaining 'heaven'.


title: Vedic period

text: Vedic people believed in the transmigration of the soul, and the peepul tree and cow were sanctified by the time of the "Atharvaveda". Many of the concepts of Indian philosophy espoused later like Dharma, Karma etc. trace their root to the "Vedas".


title: Vedic period

text: The main deities of the Vedic pantheon were Indra, Agni (the sacrificial fire), and Soma and some deities of social order such as Mitra–Varuna, Aryaman, Bhaga and Amsa, further nature deities such as Surya (the Sun), Vayu (the wind) and Prithivi (the earth). Goddesses included Ushas (the dawn), Prithvi and Aditi (the mother of the Aditya gods or sometimes the cow). Rivers, especially Saraswati, were also considered goddesses. Deities were not viewed as all-powerful. The relationship between humans and the deity was one of transaction, with Agni (the sacrificial fire) taking the role of messenger between the two. Strong traces of a common Indo-Iranian religion remain visible, especially in the Soma cult and the fire worship, both of which are preserved in Zoroastrianism.


title: Vedic period

text: Ethics in the "Vedas" are based on the concepts of Satya and Rta. Satya is the principle of integration rooted in the Absolute. Whereas, Ṛta is the expression of Satya, which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it. Conformity with Ṛta would enable progress whereas its violation would lead to punishment.


title: Vedic period

text: Around the beginning of the Common Era, the Vedic tradition formed one of the main constituents of the "Hindu synthesis". Vedic religion survived in the srayta ritual, whereas ascetic and devotional traditions like Yoga and Vedanta acknowledge the authority of the "Vedas", but interpret the Vedic pantheon as a unitary view of the universe with 'God' (Brahman) seen as immanent and transcendent in the forms of Ishvara and Brahman. Later texts such as the Upanishads and epics, namely the Gita of Mahabharat, are essential parts of these later developments.


title: Vedic period

text: The reconstruction of the history of Vedic India is based on text-internal details, but can be correlated to relevant archaeological details. Linguistically, the Vedic texts could be classified in five chronological strata:


title: Vedic period

text: In northern India, some very early depictions of deities appear in the art of the Indus Valley civilisation, but the following millennium, coinciding with the Indo–Aryan migration during the Vedic period, is devoid of such remains. It has been suggested that the early Vedic religion focused exclusively on the worship of purely "elementary forces of nature by means of elaborate sacrifices", which did not lend themselves easily to anthropomorphological representations. Various artefacts may belong to the Copper Hoard culture (2nd millennium CE), some of them suggesting anthropomorphological characteristics. Interpretations vary as to the exact signification of these artifacts, or even the culture and the periodization to which they belonged. Some examples of artistic expression also appear in abstract pottery designs during the Black and red ware culture (1450–1200 BCE) or the Painted Grey Ware culture (1200–600 BCE), with finds in a wide area, including the area of Mathura.


title: Vedic period

text: Archaeological cultures identified with phases of Vedic material culture include the Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, the Gandhara Grave culture, the Black and red ware culture and the Painted Grey Ware culture.


title: Vedic period

text: Ochre coloured pottery culture was first found approximately between 1950 and 1951, in western Uttar Pradesh, in the Badaun and Bisjuar district. It is thought that this culture was prominent during the latter half of the 2nd millennium, within the transition between the Indus Valley civilization and the end of Harrapan culture. This pottery is typically created with wheel ware, and is ill-fired, to a fine to medium fabric, decorated with a red slip, and occasional black bands1. When this pottery was worked with, it often left an ochre color on the hands, most likely because of water-logging, bad firing, wind action, or a mixture of these factors. This pottery was found all throughout the doab, most of it found in the Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, and Bulandshahr districts, but also existing outside these districts, extending north and south of Bahadrabad. This pottery does, however, seem to exist within different time frames of popularity, ochre colored pottery seeming to occur in areas such as Rajasthan earlier than we see it in the doab, despite the doab being heavily associated with the culture.


title: Vedic period

text: Gandhara grave culture refers to the protohistoric cemeteries found in the Gandhara region, stretching all the way from Bajuar to the Indus. These cemeteries seem to follow a set grave structure and “mortuary practice”, such as inflexed inhumation and cremation. This culture is thought to occur in 3 stages: the lower, in which burials take place in masonry lined pits, the upper, in which urn burials and cremations are added, and the “surface” level, in which graves are covered with huge stone slabs.


title: Vedic period

text: In the lower stage, excavators found that these graves are typically 2–3 feet deep, and covered with stones on top. After digging out the stones, skeletons were found facing southwest to northeast, with the head facing one direction, and the hands laying on top of one another. Female skeletons were often found wearing hair pins and jewelry. Pottery is greatly important to this culture, as pottery was often used as a “grave good”, being buried with the bodies of the dead. Buried alongside the skeletons, we typically see various pots on top of the body, averaging at about 5 or less pieces of pottery per grave. Within this culture we typically see two kinds of pottery: gray ware, or red ware.


title: Vedic period

text: Black and red ware culture was coined as a term in 1946 by Sir Mortimer Wheeler. The pottery, as the name suggests, typically has a black rim/inside surface, and a red lower half on the outside of the piece. Red-ware pottery tends to fall into two categories: offering stands, or cooking vessels. Most of these pieces of pottery were open-mouthed bowls that were burnished, painted, or slipped on one side; however, jars, pots and dishes-on-stands have also been found in small quantities.


title: Vedic period

text: Black and red ware, and the surrounding culture, began its spread during the neolithic period and continues until the early medieval period in India, as well as being found in parts of West Asia and Egypt. There are many theories about the process of its creation, the most popular being the use of an inverted firing technique, or a simultaneous oxidation and reduction firing.


title: Vedic period

text: Painted grey ware culture is a significant pottery style that has been linked to a group of people who settled in Sutlej, Ghagger, and the Upper Ganga/Yamuna Valleys, loosely classified with the early Aryans who migrated to India in the beginning of the Vedic period. It's also thought that the groups that introduced the painted grey ware culture also brought iron technology to the Indo-gangetic plains, making this pottery a momentous mark of the Northern Indian Iron Age. The style of grey-ware often includes clay wheel-thrown into a smooth texture, ash-grey in color, and often decorated with black ink, creating small circular patterns, sometimes spirals, swastikas, or sigmas.


title: Vedic period

text: Grey-ware pottery is almost exclusively drinking ware, and tends to have three different forms: narrow-waisted, tall drinking glasses, middle-sized drinking goblets, and drinking vases with outturned lips. There was a distinct grey ware culture surrounding the establishment of the pottery, but while the culture is significant, grey ware has only made up 10–15% of found Vedic pottery, a majority of the pottery red ware, as grey ware pottery was seen as a “highly valued luxury”.


title: Vedic period

text: The Puranic chronology, the timeline of events in ancient Indian history and mythology as narrated in post-Vedic Hindu texts such as the Mahabharatha, the Ramayana and the Puranas, envisions a much older chronology for the Vedic culture. In this view, the Vedas were received by the seven rishis thousands of years ago. The start of the reign of Manu Vaivasvate, the Manu of the current kalpa (aeon) and the progenitor of humanity, is dated by some as far back 7350 BCE. The Kurukshetra War, the background-scene of the "Bhagavad Gita", which may relate historical events taking place ca. 1000 BCE at the heartland of Aryavarta, is dated in this chronology at 3100 BCE.


title: CSI: Miami

text: CSI: Miami (Crime Scene Investigation: Miami) is an American police procedural drama television series that ran from September 23, 2002 until April 8, 2012 on CBS. Featuring David Caruso as Lieutenant Horatio Caine, Emily Procter as Detective Calleigh Duquesne, and Adam Rodriguez as Detective Eric Delko, the series is the first direct spin-off of "", "transplanting the same template and trickery—gory crimes, procedural plot and dazzling graphics—into [a new city] while retaining the essence of the original idea".


title: CSI: Miami

text: "CSI: Miami" was executive produced by Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony E. Zuiker, and Ann Donahue, with the latter acting as show-runner. The series ended on April 8, 2012, after 10 seasons and 232 episodes. Following the series finale, Nina Tassler credited "CSI: Miami" as a "key player in CBS's rise to the top", stating that the series "leaves an amazing television legacy—a signature look and style [and] global popularity". In 2006, BBC News published an article stating that "CSI: Miami" was the world's most popular television series, featuring in more countries' top ten rankings for 2005 than any other series.


title: CSI: Miami

text: "CSI: Miami" follows a group of detectives assigned to the Miami-Dade Police Department's Crime Scene Investigations, an elite unit operating out of the (fictional) "Miami Dade police headquarters, with its eerie blue light and flickering screens".


title: CSI: Miami

text: The team is led by Lieutenant Horatio Caine (David Caruso), who, through his history as a bomb-disposal expert, has gained specialized knowledge in explosive forensics. Horatio believes that "evil "is"" and lives "between the perpetrators of this evil and the people who try and come between that evil and the citizen". In his pursuit of justice, he has proven that "he can handle himself on the street and he's not a person to be messed with".


title: CSI: Miami

text: "The New York Sun" has described Caine as an amalgam of "the spirits of all the laconic American law men who preceded him", while the "New York Post" describes Caine's partner Detective Calleigh Duquesne (Emily Procter) as "a bilingual Southern beauty with a specialty in ballistics".


title: CSI: Miami

text: Together, Caine and Duquesne head a team of forensic investigators that includes Lieutenant Megan Donner (Kim Delaney), conceived as "a strong woman [who could] duplicate the chemistry that Caruso displayed with Marg Helgenberger" during "Cross Jurisdictions", Detective Eric Delko (Adam Rodriguez), an underwater recovery expert, Walter Simmons (Omar Miller), a detective who forces the "CSIs to do more science and research instead of relying on databases", Los Angeles Police transfer Jesse Cardoza (Eddie Cibrian), former FBI agent Natalia Boa Vista (Eva LaRue), and Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo), a master of genetics recruited following the death of Detective Timothy Speedle (Rory Cochrane). The team are assisted by Medical Examiner Alexx Woods (Khandi Alexander), who began her career as a medical Examiner in New York, and her replacement Tara Price (Megalyn Echikunwoke), Miami Dade Police Sergeant Frank Tripp (Rex Linn), and Horatio's sister-in-law, Detective Yelina Salas (Sofia Milos).


title: CSI: Miami

text: During their investigations, the team cooperate with both allies and nemeses, including Internal Affairs Lieutenant Rick Stetler (David Lee Smith), States Attorney Rebecca Nevins (Christina Chang), Medical Examiner Tom Loman (Christian Clemenson), and newly minted detective Sam Owens (Taylor Cole).


title: CSI: Miami

text: On April 17, 2002, CBS Television Studios announced plans to launch a series originally titled "CSI: Miami-Dade", a spin-off to the hit procedural "CSI". On the location choice, co-creator Carol Mendelsohn stated that "[she, Anthony E. Zuiker, and Ann Donahue] felt Miami was the most happening place [...] Miami is so rich as a character. There is so much water. There are so many different cultures here all colliding. Its politics are so interesting. All that gives Miami an edge."


title: CSI: Miami

text: CBS ordered 22 episodes of the series, with Anthony Zuiker stating that whilst he intended for the series to look "ridiculously gorgeous", he felt that the "show [was] not about women walking around in bikinis. It's about science." The series was launched as a second-season episode of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", and originally featured a cast led by Caruso, Procter, Rodriguez, Alexander, with Cochrane. Delaney joined the series following the pilot episode's broadcast.


title: CSI: Miami

text: The series is executive produced by creators Carol Mendelsohn, Anthony E. Zuiker, and Ann Donahue, with Ann Donahue acting as show-runner. Jerry Bruckheimer also executive-produces the series. "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" stars William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger expressed their displeasure at CBS' launch of "Miami", with Petersen stating that "[they] should have waited five years for a "CSI" spinoff." Helgenberger supported Petersen's comments during an Emmy acceptance speech, noting that "as far as [she was] concerned, there's only one "CSI"." Petersen jestingly referred to the series "NYPDCSI", as it initially featured both Caruso and Delaney, of "NYPD Blue" fame.


title: CSI: Miami

text: In 2002, "CSI" executive producer Anthony Zuiker began casting for the then-unnamed Miami based spin-off. First cast was Procter, as Calleigh Duquesne. Regarding her decision to leave "The West Wing" and join "Miami", Procter stated that "It was like choosing between a boyfriend that wants to be with you casually or a man that says I love you." She described her character as "a weird girl [...] bright and very nerdy. She wears a lot of boot-cut corduroy pants and turquoise necklaces and looks like a hippie. I just like to pretend I'm Velma in Scooby-Doo."


title: CSI: Miami

text: Rodriguez, Cochrane, and Alexander were cast alongside Procter, completing the supporting ensemble. For the lead, CBS suggested Caruso. Zuiker, who stated that he had "heard about the NYPD Blue thing", was initially hesitant. Elaborating, Zuiker stated that he "sort of jumped in and said, 'Naw, I don't know about this guy. The show's tough enough to get off the ground and I don't want to walk into any problems."


title: CSI: Miami

text: CBS president Les Moonves had announced in January that a Miami spin-off was imminent, yet "It wasn't until we sort of, like, at the eleventh hour, really started to look at our options as to who was going to play Horatio, [Zuiker, Mendelsohn, and Donahue] revisited Caruso. And [they] said, 'Yeah, we'll have him come out for dinner, see what he's about.'" Caruso was later cast as Caine. He was the last pilot cast member to be contracted to series.


title: CSI: Miami

text: Following the back-door pilot, Zuiker stated that he believed the series "needed a little more balance in terms of a leading woman". Executives offered Sela Ward the part of Megan Donner, a lieutenant and Horatio's former boss. Ward turned down the role, and producers later cast Delaney.


title: CSI: Miami

text: Ann Donahue described Delaney's casting as "a no-brainer", stating that "when Kim became available, we knew in a heartbeat that we wanted her." Zuiker elaborated, noting that "Kim brings a level of maturity, a level of balance with David Caruso [...] We just felt we were missing something in the whole picture – we needed a strong female in the cast." "The New York Times" reported that original lead Procter would "now follow Ms. Delaney in the credits."


title: CSI: Miami

text: In late 2002, despite receiving excellent feedback from producers, Delaney departed the cast after ten episodes. CBS issued a statement noting that Delaney's character had become less integral to the series as it progressed, "they had hoped to duplicate the sparks between William Petersen and Marg Helgenberger on the original CSI," noted EW, but Delaney and Caruso's chemistry was lackluster. Delaney's departure allowed for "younger Emily Procter's profile" to be raised to that of "leading female".


title: CSI: Miami

text: Sofia Milos was cast in a recurring role to "fill the void" supposed to have been created by Delaney's departure. In season three, Milos was promoted to series regular. TV Guide reported that Milos would depart after one season as a main cast member. Also in the third season, Jonathan Togo was cast as Ryan Wolfe, a character created to replace an unnamed "member of the CSI team" expected to "die in the line of duty". This cast member was later announced as Rory Cochrane.


title: CSI: Miami

text: On April 10, 2006, Ann Donahue announced that recurring cast members Rex Linn and Eva LaRue were also joining the main cast, after recurring since season one, and season four, respectively. The fourth main cast member to depart the series was Khandi Alexander, in the series' sixth season. Alexander was replaced by Megalyn Echikunwoke, who departed after a single season. Adam Rodriguez departed in season eight, though he returned in season nine. During Rodriguez's temporary departure, Eddie Cibrian appeared as a series regular, though in June 2010 he was let go from his contract. Omar Miller also joined the cast in season eight.


title: CSI: Miami

text: "CSI: Miami" was filmed primarily in California. Indoor scenes were shot at Raleigh Manhattan Studios in Manhattan Beach, California. Most outdoor scenes were filmed in Long Beach, as well as portions of Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. Beach areas of Marina Green Park and Rainbow Lagoon Park in downtown Long Beach were often used for other outdoor scenes, as the newly constructed high-rise condos there gave the appearance of being in Miami.


title: CSI: Miami

text: The sculptured walkway paying tribute to the old Pike Roller Coaster can be seen in the background in the episodes "Wrecking Crew" and "Under The Influence". Footage from the Biscayne Courthouse, visible prominently in the episode "Recoil", among others, was filmed at the Water Garden Park in Santa Monica, at 34.028728, −118.471331.


title: CSI: Miami

text: Other locations around Long Beach are used, such as the Naples district, whose canals and upscale homes featuring large boat docks and palm trees impart a Miami-like atmosphere. The building used for exterior shots of the Miami-Dade Police Department crime lab is actually the SkyOne Federal Credit Union headquarters located at 14600 Aviation Boulevard in Hawthorne, California.


title: CSI: Miami

text: Many outdoor location shots were also filmed in Miami-Dade County, Florida, including Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, and Miami Beach.


title: CSI: Miami

text: "CSI: Miami"'s main theme is "Won't Get Fooled Again", written and performed by The Who, who also perform the theme songs of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation", "CSI: NY", "CSI: Cyber" and "CSI: Vegas". Prior to the opening credits, Horatio Caine delivers a "one-liner", or witticism, relating to the crime committed.


title: CSI: Miami

text: On February 1, 2012, CBS announced that the 10th season of "CSI: Miami" would have its episode order reduced to 19 episodes, in order to make room on the schedule for mid-season replacement "NYC 22". On May 13, 2012, "CSI: Miami" was canceled.


title: CSI: Miami

text: Procter later stated that "the cancellation was kind of shocking for everyone because they had given an indication that "" might go, so people would have been prepared and we just weren't prepared." Procter had previously commented on the longevity of the series, commenting that "I remember sitting around with David in the parking lot during season one, getting ready for the first episode to air. We said [...] 'we are going to spend the rest of our lives together. For better or worse.'" Eva LaRue later echoed Procter's sentiments, stating that she "was sad because we did not get a chance to say goodbye to the fans or to each other".


title: CSI: Miami

text: CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler issued a statement noting that "when the slightly different budgets and ratings concerns for the "CSI" spin-offs were factored in, there was no distinction — at least in terms of numbers. They were very close, looking at them forensically, they were very close. It was an indiscernible difference . . . it was just a matter of looking at the schedule and what looked better". "In the end, "NY" won that particular duel simply because it features New York City, which helped CBS create a Friday night NYC-fest".


title: CSI: Miami

text: On Monday November 7, 2005, and Wednesday November 9, 2005, CBS aired the first crossover within the "CSI" franchise, with a "CSI: Miami" episode titled "Felony Flight", and a "CSI: NY" episode titled "Manhattan Manhunt". The episodes see an escaped prisoner embark on a killing "spree that, quite naturally, brings together Lt. Horatio Caine and his team and Detective Mac Taylor (of "") and his team, a spree that eventually mounts to 13 bodies in the two episodes."