title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Christopher Robin" premiered in Burbank, California on July 30, 2018, and was released in the United States on August 3, 2018, by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film grossed over $197 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film in Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" franchise, surpassing "The Tigger Movie" (2000). The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its performances, musical score, and visual effects. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Christopher Robin is leaving for boarding school, so his friends from the Hundred Acre Wood – Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Owl – throw him a goodbye party. Christopher comforts Pooh and tells him that he will never forget him.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Christopher's rough experiences in boarding school and the sudden death of his father force him to mature quickly and he soon forgets the Hundred Acre Wood and his friends there. He grows up, marries architect Evelyn, has a daughter named Madeline and serves in the British Army during World War II. After the war, he works as Director of Efficiency at Winslow Luggages in London. He neglects his family due to his demanding job and plans to send Madeline to boarding school, just as he was. With the company hitting hard times, Christopher's superior, Giles Winslow Jr., tells him to decrease expenditures by 20%, largely by choosing which employees to lay off, and to present his plan on Monday. This causes Christopher to miss joining his family at their countryside cottage in Sussex for a summer-ending weekend.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: When Pooh awakens the next morning and is unable to find his friends, he decides to travel through the door through which Christopher Robin was known to emerge, and finds himself in London. He reunites with Christopher, who is shocked to see Pooh, but takes him back to his London home. After a night and morning of chaos, Christopher escorts Pooh back to Sussex on the next train.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: After sneaking past Christopher's cottage, the two enter the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher becomes exasperated by Pooh's absent-mindedness and fear of Heffalumps and Woozles. Pooh, in an attempt to return Christopher's compass to him, trips into Christopher's briefcase and his papers spill onto the ground. Christopher, enraged, yells at Pooh, declaring he is not a child any more, before they are separated in the fog. He falls into a Heffalump trap, which is flooded by rainfall, soaking him and his belongings.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Christopher discovers Eeyore and Piglet, who lead him to the others, hiding in a log out of fear of a Heffalump (revealed to be the squeaking of a rusty weathercock from Owl's house after the wind made it fall from its tree while they were having tea). Unable to persuade his friends that he is truly Christopher Robin, he pretends to defeat the Heffalump to convince them. Having vanquished the Heffalump, Christopher finally convinces his friends that he is Christopher Robin, and they joyfully greet him. When they reunite with Pooh, Christopher apologizes for getting upset earlier and tells him how lost he feels. Pooh forgives him, reminding Christopher that they have found each other and comforts him with a hug. The next morning, Christopher rushes from the Hundred Acre Wood to make his presentation, after Tigger gives him his briefcase. On the way, he encounters his family, but much to Madeline's disappointment, he leaves for London.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Pooh discovers that Tigger removed Christopher's paperwork when drying his briefcase, so Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore decide to return it. They meet Madeline, who recognizes them from her father's drawings. Madeline joins them, wanting to dissuade her father about boarding school, and they board a train to London. Evelyn follows after discovering a note Madeline left. At his presentation, Christopher discovers that his briefcase contains items from the Wood that Tigger had given him, including Eeyore's tail. Evelyn arrives and Christopher joins her to search for Madeline. Madeline's group stow away in crates, but Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet are accidentally thrown out, and they encounter Christopher and Evelyn in the process. Pooh and Madeline arrive near the Winslow building and reunite with Christopher and the others, but Madeline accidentally trips on some steps and loses all but one of the papers, upsetting her and Pooh. Christopher assures Madeline of her importance to him and tells her that he will not send her to boarding school.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Using the one paper Madeline saved, Christopher improvises a new plan involving reducing the prices of luggage, selling luggage to ordinary people to increase demand and giving employees paid leave. Winslow Jr. dismisses the idea, but Winslow Sr. warms to it and agrees to the plan. Winslow Jr. is humiliated when Christopher points out that he contributed nothing to the plan, having been out golfing all weekend.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Christopher, along with Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore and Piglet, finally takes his family into the Hundred Acre Wood to meet the rest of his friends. As everyone relaxes at a picnic, Pooh and Christopher Robin both share a tender moment together.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: In a mid-credits scene, the employees of Winslow's are seen having fun at the beach while Richard M. Sherman performs "Busy Doing Nothing" on a piano. Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore are relaxing on beach chairs with Eeyore saying "Thank you for noticing me".


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Christopher Robin" also features the voices of Nick Mohammed, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, Sara Sheen, and Toby Jones as Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and Owl respectively. Bronte Carmichael as Madeline Robin, Christopher and Evelyn's daughter and Elsa Minell Solak as a 3-year-old Madeline Robin. Mark Gatiss as Giles Winslow Junior, Christopher's boss at Winslow Luggages.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Initially in 2003, Brigham Taylor, inspired by the last chapter of "The House at Pooh Corner", pitched to Disney an idea about a "Winnie the Pooh" film focusing on an adult Christopher Robin. However, due to other "Pooh" projects being in development at the time, the project was not pitched for a film. In 2015, Kristin Burr later convinced Taylor to resurrect the project, which the two then started working on that year.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: On April 2, 2015, Walt Disney Pictures announced that a live-action adaptation based on the characters from the "Winnie the Pooh" franchise was in development, which would take a similar pattern to "Alice in Wonderland" (2010), "Maleficent" (2014), and "Cinderella" (2015). Alex Ross Perry was hired to write the script and Brigham Taylor hired to produce the film, about an adult Christopher Robin returning to the Hundred Acre Wood to spend time with Pooh and the gang. On November 18, 2016, it was reported that the studio had hired Marc Forster to direct the film, titled "Christopher Robin", and the project would have "strong elements of magical realism as it seeks to tell an emotional journey with heartwarming adventure." On March 1, 2017, Tom McCarthy was hired to rewrite the existing screenplay.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: On April 26, 2017, Ewan McGregor was announced to play the title character while Allison Schroeder was recruited to do additional work on the script. On June 22, 2017, it was revealed that Gemma Arterton had been in negotiations to portray the wife of the title character, but ultimately, she passed on the role. In August 2017, Hayley Atwell and Mark Gatiss were respectively cast as the title character's wife Evelyn and boss Giles Winslow. Nick Mohammed was cast as Piglet, while Jim Cummings was confirmed to be reprising his role as Winnie the Pooh, and Brad Garrett was revealed to be voicing Eeyore (he previously voiced the character in the "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree" CD-ROM game). In January 2018, Peter Capaldi, Sophie Okonedo, and Toby Jones were cast as Rabbit, Kanga, and Owl, respectively. Chris O'Dowd was originally set to voice Tigger, with Roger L. Jackson voice-doubling for him, but he was replaced by Cummings, who has played the character partially from 1989 until fully since 2000, after audiences in test screenings reacted negatively towards how O'Dowd voiced the character.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Principal photography on the film began in early August 2017, in the United Kingdom, and concluded on November 4, 2017. Much of the filming of the Hundred Acre Wood scenes took place at Ashdown Forest, which was the original inspiration for the setting, as well as Windsor Great Park, at Shepperton Studios and at Dover seafront and the former Dover Marine Station, now the town's cruise terminal which doubled as a London railway station. Filming also took place at Pinewood Studios.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Jóhann Jóhannsson was hired to score the film, shortly before his death on February 9, 2018. The film is dedicated to his memory. Klaus Badelt was announced as taking over composing duties for Jóhannsson, but the score was ultimately written by Jon Brion and Geoff Zanelli, with additional music contributions by Zak McNeil, Bryce Jacobs, Paul Mounsey, and Philip Klein.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: At an Academy event, songwriter and Disney Legend Richard M. Sherman revealed that the film would feature the iconic "Winnie the Pooh" theme, and that he was working on three new songs for the film, titled "Goodbye Farewell," "Busy Doing Nothing," and "Christopher Robin," with the first one being performed by the voice cast, and the last two by Sherman. Sherman said that he found "very special to be back at the Hundred Acre Wood" as "Winnie the Pooh became a dear friend of [his] when Walt gave [to the Sherman Brothers] the assignment to write songs for the first "Winnie the Pooh" short film," and felt the film has "a wonderful story." Sherman said that he wrote "Busy Doing Nothing" based on the fact that "[Pooh] is always busy. Doing nothing. And he's very proud of the fact he does nothing," and said "it was fun to write." He called the song "Christopher Robin" "a sweet, nostalgic, memory of a love song between Winnie the Pooh and Christopher [Robin]," and said the lyrics "are part of the storyline [of the film]."


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Up, Down and Touch the Ground" and "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," both written by Richard and his brother Robert B. Sherman and performed by Cummings as Pooh and Tigger, respectively, are also included in the film. The film's soundtrack, featuring Zanelli and Brion's score, and Sherman's new songs, was released on August 3, 2018.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Visual effects studios Framestore and Method Studios, are leading the animation for the Hundred Acre Wood characters, with Overall Vfx Supervisor Chris Lawrence and Animation Supervisor Michael Eames leading the teams.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Christopher Robin" opened Burbank on July 30, 2018, and was released on August 3, 2018 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film was denied a release in China, as some have speculated it was due to Chinese netizens drawing comparisons between Winnie the Pooh and Chinese leader Xi Jinping since mid-2017. Other industry insiders speculated it was likely due to reasons such as the film's size and the presence of other Hollywood films in the market.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: A tie-in novelization of the film written by Elizabeth Rudnick was published by Disney Publishing Worldwide on July 3, 2018.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Christopher Robin" was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 6, 2018. The film debuted in second place behind "Incredibles 2" on the NPD VideoScan First Alert chart for the week ending on November 11, 2018. The film became available to stream on Netflix USA and Canada on March 5, 2019, before being moved to Disney+ on September 5, 2020.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: "Christopher Robin" grossed $99.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $98.4 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $197.6 million.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Christopher Robin" was released alongside "The Spy Who Dumped Me", "The Darkest Minds", and "". The film made $9.5 million on its first day, including $1.5 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $24.6 million, finishing second at the box office behind holdover "". The film fell 47% to $13 million in its second weekend, finishing third behind "The Meg" and "Mission: Impossible – Fallout". The film finished sixth in its third through fifth weekends, grossing $8.9 million, $6.3 million, and $5.3 million, respectively.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""Christopher Robin" may not equal A. A. Milne's stories – or their animated Disney adaptations – but it should prove sweet enough for audiences seeking a little childhood magic." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars.


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Ben Kenigsberg of "The New York Times" reviewed the film and said: "Once "Christopher Robin" softens its insufferable, needlessly cynical conception of the title character, it offers more or less what a Pooh reboot should: a lot of nostalgia, a bit of humor and tactile computer animation." And David Sims of "The Atlantic" wrote, "It's an odd, melancholic experience that at times recalls Terrence Malick as it does A. A. Milne, but there will certainly be some viewers in its exact wheelhouse." Michael Phillips of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film a 3 out of 4 stars and said, "Pooh's wisdom and kindness cannot be denied. The same impulses worked for the two "Paddington" movies, God knows. "Christopher Robin" isn't quite in their league, but it's affecting nonetheless." Richard Lawson of "Vanity Fair" gave the film a positive review and heavily praised the voice performance from Cummings, calling it "Oscar-worthy". Overall, he said, "As Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too), the veteran voice actor gives such sweet, rumpled, affable life to the wistful bear of literary renown that it routinely breaks the heart. Cummings's performance understands something more keenly than the movie around it; he taps into a vein of humor and melancholy that is pitched at an exact frequency, one that will speak to child and adult alike. His Pooh is an agreeable nuisance and an accidental philosopher, delivering nonsensical (and yet entirely sensible) adages in a friendly, deliberate murmur ringed faintly with sadness. I wanted to (gently) yank him from the screen and take him home with me, his fuzzy little paw in mine as we ambled to the subway, the summer sun fading behind us. He's a good bear, this Pooh."


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: Conversely, Alonso Duralde of "TheWrap" called the film "slow and charmless" and wrote, "What we're left with is a "Hook"-style mid-life crisis movie aimed at kids, designed to shame parents who spend too much time at the office and not enough with their families." Helen O'Hara of "Empire" magazine gave the film a 2 out of 5 stars and said, "Everyone's trying hard, but they can't quite live up to the particularly gentle, warm tone of Pooh himself. Unlike the bear of very little brain, this is a film pulled in different directions with entirely too many thoughts in its head".


title: Christopher Robin (film)

text: The performance of Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin was particularly well received. David Fear of "Rolling Stone" said, "He's an actor who can roll with this movie's punches, whether it requires him to be light on his feet or dragged down by existential despair, exhilarated by childlike play or exasperated by a house-wrecking creature who says things like, 'People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day'." Adam Forsgren for "East Idaho News" wrote, "First and foremost is McGregor's performance in the title role. The guy sells being the put-upon, overburdened office drone so well that it's a treat to see him begin to rediscover his younger self and let himself play...McGregor is the glue that holds this whole movie together." Stephanie Zacharek of "Time" magazine stated, "But it's doubtful the movie would work at all if not for McGregor: He turns Christopher's anxiety into a haunting presence, the kind of storm cloud that we can all, now and then, feel hovering above us. Yet McGregor is also an actor capable of expressing unalloyed delight. And when, as Christopher Robin, he finally does, some of that delight rubs off on us too." Brian Lowry also noted in his review for "CNN", "Give much of the credit to McGregor in the thankless task of playing opposite his adorably furry co-stars, ably handling the comedy derived from the fact that he doesn't dare let others see them." Odie Henderson of "Rogerebert.com" gave the film a 2 out of 4 stars and said: ""Christopher Robin" can't reconcile its darkness and its light. But if these folks want to write an Eeyore movie that stays firmly planted in the Wood, I'll be first in line to see it." Simran Hans of "The Guardian" gave the film a 2 out of 5 stars, and noted, "Christopher's furry friends don't appear to be figments of his imagination. If they're not a metaphor for a misplaced sense of fun (or a midlife crisis), the film's tone ends up being weirdly adult for a kids' film."


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta (born 26 October 1961) is a Kenyan politician who served as the fourth president of Kenya from 2013 to 2022.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Kenyatta was chosen by Daniel Arap Moi as his preferred successor, but Kenyatta was defeated by opposition leader Mwai Kibaki in the 2002 election and Kibaki replaced Moi as president. Kenyatta served as the member of parliament (MP) for Gatundu South from 2002 to 2013. He also served as Deputy Prime Minister to Raila Odinga from 2008 to 2013. Currently, he is a member and the party leader of the Jubilee Party of Kenya whose popularity has since dwindled. Kenyatta was previously associated with the Kenya Africa National Union (KANU) before founding The National Alliance (TNA), one of the allied parties that campaigned for his election during the 2013 election and later on went to form a merger with the United Republican Party (URP) led by William Ruto to form the Jubilee Party.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Kenyatta is the son of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya's first president, and his fourth wife Mama Ngina Kenyatta. He has been married to Margaret Gakuo Kenyatta since 1991. They have three children: the two sons Jomo and Muhoho, and the daughter Ngina.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Kenyatta was re-elected for a second and final term in the August 2017 general elections, winning 54% of the popular vote. The win was formally declared on national television by the Chairperson of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), Wafula Chebukati. However, Uhuru's election was challenged in the Supreme Court of Kenya by his main competitor, Raila Odinga. On 1 September 2017, the court declared the election invalid and ordered a new presidential election to take place within 60 days from the day of the ruling. A new presidential election was held on 26 October, which he won, with 39.03% electoral voter participation.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru Kenyatta was born on 26 October 1961, to the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, and his fourth wife, Mama Ngina Kenyatta (née Muhoho). The second born in the family, he has two sisters, Christine (born 1953), Anna Nyokabi (born 1963) and a brother, Muhoho Kenyatta (born 1965).


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: His family hails from the Kikuyu, a Bantu ethnic group. His given name "Uhuru" is from the Swahili term for "freedom", and was given to him in anticipation of Kenya's upcoming independence. Uhuru attended St Mary's School in Nairobi. Between 1979 and 1980, he also briefly worked as a teller at the Kenya Commercial Bank.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: After attending St. Mary's school, Uhuru went on to study economics, political science and government at Amherst College in the United States. Upon his graduation, Uhuru returned to Kenya, and started a company, Wilham Kenya Limited, through which he sourced and exported agricultural produce.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru was nominated to Parliament in 2001, he then became the Minister for Local Government under President Daniel Arap Moi and, despite his political inexperience, was favoured by Moi as his successor. Kenyatta ran as KANU's candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to the opposition candidate Mwai Kibaki by a big margin. He subsequently became Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. He backed Hon. Mwai Kibaki for re-election in the December 2007 presidential election and was named Minister of Local Government by Former President Mwai Kibaki in January 2008, before being appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade in April 2008 as part of the new coalition government.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Subsequently, Uhuru Kenyatta was Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2012,while remaining Deputy Prime Minister. Accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of committing crimes against humanity in relation to the violent aftermath of the 2007 election, he resigned as Minister of Finance on 26 January 2012. He was elected as President of Kenya in the March 2013 presidential election, defeating Raila Odinga with a slim majority in a single round of voting.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In the 1997 general election, Uhuru Kenyatta contested for the Gatundu South Constituency parliamentary seat, once held by his father, but lost to Moses Mwihia, a Nairobi architect.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In 1999, Moi appointed Uhuru to chair the Kenya Tourism Board, a government parastatal. In 2001, he was nominated as a Member of Parliament, and he joined the Cabinet as Minister for Local Government. He would also later be elected First Vice Chairman of KANU.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In the nomination process in 2002 in what was widely thought as undemocratic and underhand, Moi influenced Uhuru Kenyatta's nomination as KANU's preferred presidential candidate, sparking an outcry from other interested contenders and a massive exit from the party ensued. This move by the late President Moi was seen as a ploy to install Uhuru as a puppet so that even in retirement, Moi would still rule the country through Uhuru and presumably insulate himself against the numerous charges of abuse of office that plagued his presidency.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru finished second to Mwai Kibaki in the General Elections, with 31% of the vote. He conceded defeat and took up an active leadership role as Leader of the Opposition.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In January 2005, Uhuru Kenyatta defeated Nicholas Biwott for chairmanship of KANU, taking 2,980 votes among party delegates against Biwott's 622 votes.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru led his party KANU in the referendum campaigns against the draft constitution in 2005, having teamed up with the Liberal Democratic Party, a rebel faction in the Kibaki government, to form the Orange Democratic Movement. The result of this was a vote against the adoption of the draft constitution by a noticeable margin, which was a great political embarrassment to Emilio Mwai Kibaki.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In November 2006, Kenyatta was displaced as KANU leader by the late Nicholas Biwott. On 28 December 2006, the High Court of Kenya reinstated Uhuru Kenyatta as KANU chairman. However, further court proceedings followed. On 28 June 2007, the High Court confirmed Kenyatta as party leader, ruling that there was insufficient evidence for Biwott's argument that Kenyatta had joined another party.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In the run up to the 2007 general election, he led KANU to join a coalition (called Party of National Unity "PNU") with President Mwai Kibaki who was running for a second term against Raila Odinga. PNU won the controversial 2007 elections but the dispute over the poll resulted in the 2007–08 Kenyan crisis.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Under an agreement between the two parties to end the chaos, Kibaki remained as president in a power sharing agreement with Raila as Prime Minister, while Uhuru Kenyatta was Kibaki's choice as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister For Finance in his share of Cabinet slots.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 13 September 2007, Uhuru Kenyatta withdrew from the December 2007 presidential election in favour of Kibaki for re-election. He said that he did not want to run unless he could be sure of winning.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Following the election, amidst the controversy that resulted when Kibaki was declared the victor despite claims of fraud from challenger Raila Odinga and his Orange Democratic Movement, Kibaki appointed Kenyatta as Minister for Local Government on 8 January 2008.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: After Kibaki and Odinga reached a power-sharing agreement, Kenyatta was named Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade on 13 April 2008, as part of the Grand Coalition Cabinet. He was the Deputy Prime Minister representing the PNU, while another Deputy Prime Minister, Musalia Mudavadi, represented the ODM.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Kenyatta and the rest of the Cabinet were sworn in on 17 April. Uhuru Kenyatta was later moved from Local Government and appointed Minister for Finance on 23 January 2009. During his tenure, he spearheaded a number of reform measures that changed how treasury and government by extension transact business, such as the Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) and a fund for the inclusion of the informal sector in the mainstream economy.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In 2013, Uhuru Kenyatta was elected as the 4th President of Kenya under The National Alliance (TNA), which was part of the "Jubilee Alliance" with his running mate William Ruto's United Republican Party (URP). Uhuru and Ruto won 50.07% of votes cast, with closest rivals, Raila Odinga and running mate Kalonzo Musyoka of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy garnering 42%.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Raila Amolo Odinga disputed the election results at the Supreme Court which however held (7–0) that the election of Uhuru was valid and such irregularities as existed did not make a difference to the final outcome. Uhuru Kenyatta was therefore sworn in as president on 9 April 2013.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru ran for president in the elections held on 4 March 2013 and garnered 6,173,433 votes (50.03%) out of the 12,338,667 votes cast. As this was above the 50% plus 1 vote threshold, he won the election in the first round thus evading a run-off between the top two candidates. He was, therefore, declared the fourth President of the Republic of Kenya by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: According to the IEBC, Raila Odinga garnered 5,340,546 votes (43.4%) and was thus the second in the field of eight candidates. CORD, under the leadership of presidential candidate Raila Odinga, lodged a petition with the Supreme Court of Kenya on 10 March 2013 challenging Uhuru's election.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 30 March 2013, Dr Willy Mutunga, the Chief Justice of Kenya, read the unanimous Supreme Court ruling declaring the election of Uhuru Kenyatta and his running-mate, William Ruto, as valid. On 11 August 2017, the Chairman of the IEBC, Wafula Chebukati announced Uhuru's reelection to a second term in office during the 2017 Kenyan general election, with 54% of the popular vote. This was later contested in court and annulled. Innulment, a second election was required in which Uhuru Kenyatta won with 98% of the vote with a 39% voter turnout.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 9 March 2018 Uhuru Kenyatta agreed on a truce between the opposition leader, Raila Odinga. This action marked the country's watershed moment that redrew its political architecture. On 27 November 2019, Uhuru Kenyatta launched the Building Bridges Initiatives (BBI) in Bomas of Kenya. This is one of the outcomes as a result of the truce with the opposition leader Raila Odinga as its implementations will foresee some amendments in the Kenyan Constitution.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Prior to him becoming president, Kenyatta was named as a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru. This was in relation to the violence that followed the bungled national elections of December 2007. In furtherance of his political support for Kibaki's PNU at the time, he was accused of organising a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki, in the post-election violence. Overall, the post-election violence of 2007 is said to have claimed about 1300 lives. Uhuru maintained his innocence and wanted his name cleared. On 8 March 2011, while serving as minister in Kibaki's government, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He was to appear at The Hague on 8 April 2011 alongside five other suspects.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 29 September 2011, while seeking to exonerate himself, Uhuru Kenyatta put up a spirited fight as he was being cross-examined by ICC Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in The Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect. He said Prime Minister Raila Odinga should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya. He told the three judges that "by telling his supporters election results were being rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results."


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Though Uhuru had previously dismissed ICC summons, he changed his decision along the way. Together with his two other co-accused suspects, Head of Civil Service, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, the trio honoured the ICC Summons that sought to determine whether their cases met the set standards for international trials. On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the cases against Kenyatta and Muthaura although the charges against Muthaura were subsequently dropped. Serious concerns about the case have been raised, particularly the nature of the evidence being used against Kenyatta. There are also serious concerns about witness tampering and indeed, a number of witnesses have disappeared or died, which is the reason cited by the ICC for dropping charges against Mathaura. On a 12 October 2013 speech to the African Union in which he set a belligerent tone, Uhuru accused the ICC of being "a toy of declining imperial powers".


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 31 October 2013, the ICC postponed Kenyatta's trial for crimes against humanity by three months until 5 February 2014 after the defense had requested more time.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 8 October 2014, Kenyatta appeared before the ICC in The Hague. He was called to appear at the ICC "status conference" when the prosecution said evidence needed to go ahead with a trial was being withheld. In a speech to the Kenyan parliament Kenyatta said that he was going to The Hague in a personal capacity — not as president of the country — so as not to compromise the sovereignty of Kenyans. Kenyatta did not speak in court, but denied the charges in comments to journalists as he left the court to catch a flight back home. "We as Kenyans, we know where we came from, we know where we are going, and nobody will tell us what to do," he said. The judges adjourned the hearings and charges were dropped on 13 March 2015.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 20 May 2012, Uhuru Kenyatta attended the elaborately assembled and much-publicized launch of The National Alliance party in a modern high-tech dome at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre. His presence at the TNA launch was a strong indication that he would contest for the party's presidential nomination ticket in his quest for the presidency in the 2013 General Elections.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Eugene Wamalwa and Eldoret North Constituency MP William Ruto led more than 70 MPs in attending the function. The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly, Abdi Ramadhan, Cabinet Ministers Mohamed Yusuf Haji, Jamleck Irungu Kamau, Dr. Naomi Shaaban, Samuel Poghisio, Professor Sam Ongeri and Dr. Mohammed Kuti and MPs Charles Cheruiyot Keter, Aden Bare Duale and Mohamed Maalim Mohamud also attended the event.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Speeches at the launch revolved around the need for a thriving economy, the need for the rights of people of all classes in society to be championed, the need for peaceful co-existence, the need for visionary and committed leadership, the need for transformative leadership, the need for a youthful crop of committed professionals in leadership, the need for free and fair nomination and election processes in the General Election, the need for an economically empowered youth and a call to bring an end to divisive and sectarian interests in politics to safeguard Kenya from sliding to dictatorship. Machel Waikenda was the director of communications and secretary of arts and entertainment of the National Alliance, from April 2012 to August 2013 and he led the media and communications department of the party during the 2013 elections.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 17 September 2012, The National Alliance party had its first real test when it contested various civic and parliamentary positions in a by-election that covered 17 seats in total; 3 parliamentary and 14 civic. Overall, 133,054 votes were cast in the by-elections and TNA led the pack after it garnered 38.89% or 51,878 votes, followed by Orange Democratic Movement with 33.7% or 44,837 votes, Party of National Unity with 4.46% or 5,929 votes, Wiper Democratic Movement with 4.44% or 5,912 votes and United Democratic Forum with 4.15% or 5,520 votes.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: TNA won civic and parliamentary seats in 7 different counties while its closest challengers, ODM won seats in 4 counties.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The National Alliance Party remained a strong contender for the following year's general elections, having received major defections from other big political parties of Kenya. The successful election of TNA's main candidates (Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto) continued to enhance TNA's viability.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Uhuru Kenyatta's party, The National Alliance (TNA) joined William Ruto's United Republican Party (URP), Najib Balala's Republican Congress Party (RCP) and Charity Ngilu's National Rainbow Coalition party to form the Jubilee Alliance coalition. Various opinion polls prior to the election placed Uhuru as one of the main contenders, and his Jubilee Alliance as among the most popular. The other formidable coalition was the Coalition For Reform and Democracy (CORD), led by Raila Odinga.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In undercover video footage, released in a BBC news report on 19 March 2018, the managing director of Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that worked to elect Donald Trump in the 2016 American presidential election, boasted that his firm had run successful presidential election campaigns in Kenya in 2013 and 2017, though he did not name Kenyatta explicitly. "We have re-branded the entire party twice, written the manifesto, done research, analysis, messaging," Turnbull said, of the campaigns that his company managed in Kenya. "I think we wrote all the speeches and we staged the whole thing—so just about every element of this candidate." A Jubilee Party vice president admitted on 20 March 2018, that the party had hired an affiliate of Cambridge Analytica for "branding" in the 2017 election.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: As per the IEBC's official results, Uhuru got 6,173,433 of the 12,221,053 valid votes cast ahead of the second placed Raila Odinga who garnered 5,340,546 (43.7%). Uhuru's result was 50.51% of the vote and was above the 50% plus 1 vote threshold set out in the 2010 constitution, thus making him the president-elect.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: There was some discontent with the official results, as would be expected in such a hotly contested election, especially in Raila Odinga's strongholds. The inordinate delay in releasing the results and the technical failure of some safeguards and election equipment deployed by the IEBC did not help the perception that the election had been less than free and fair.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Further, an exit poll conducted by UCSD Professor Clark Gibson and James Long, Asst. Prof. and University of Washington suggested that neither Odinga nor Kenyatta had attained the 50% plus one vote threshold. Analysts have contended that even though elections for five other levels were held in Kenya at the same time, their national turnout levels and total vote tallies were about 16% less than the presidential total; e.g. while 10.6 million voters elected candidates for member of the National Assembly, the Senate and the 47 gubernatorial seats, almost 2 million more voted in the presidential election. This has fueled concern and speculations of vote manipulation in President Kenyatta's favor.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Two groups disputed these results and filed petitions challenging various aspects of it at the Supreme Court of Kenya to contest the result. The groups were the Coalition For Reform and Democracy, CORD, led by Raila Odinga, and the Africa Centre for Open Governance (AFRICOG). Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate were respondents in these cases and were represented by Fred Ngatia and Katwa Kigen respectively.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The Supreme court judges unanimously upheld the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as Kenya's fourth president after rejecting Raila Odinga's petition in a verdict delivered on Saturday 30 March 2013. Chief Justice Willy Mutunga in his ruling said the elections were indeed conducted in compliance with the Constitution and the law.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: After the Supreme Court dismissed the petitions the swearing in ceremony was held on 9 April 2013 at the Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani, Nairobi, in accordance to Article 141 (2) (b) of the constitution which stipulates that in case the Supreme Court upholds the victory of the president-elect, the swearing in will take place on "the first Tuesday following the seventh day following the date on which the court renders a decision declaring the election to be valid".


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: During his inaugural speech, Uhuru promised economic transformation through Vision 2030, unity among all Kenyans, free maternal care and that he will serve all Kenyans. He also promised to improve the standards of education in Kenya. During the Madaraka day Celebrations, a national holiday celebrated to the country's independence on 1 June, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced free maternal care in all public health facilities, a move that was welcomed by many Kenyans.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 1 September 2017, the Supreme Court of Kenya nullified the re-election of Uhuru Kenyatta after the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) had announced him the winner on 8 August 2017. As a result of that, there was a need for the election to be held once again. It was scheduled for 26 October 2017. After the reelection, Uhuru Kenyatta emerged the winner once again.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In 2021, drought is again taking its toll. According to the UN, more than 465,000 children under the age of five are malnourished. Food insecurity affects more than 2.5 million people in the country. Uhuru Kenyatta speaks of a "national disaster". However, he is criticised for the slow humanitarian response and lack of planning.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The Mukuru Kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi is being razed in October 2021 to make way for the widening of a road, leaving 40,000 people homeless overnight, with no offer of alternative accommodation.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The major challenges his administration faced included high cost of living, rising public debt, a high public wage bill and allegations of corruption among people within his government. The 2017 general election and its violence is also a challenge that threatened not only his presidency but also the future of the East African Nation.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: The high public wage was a headache to Uhuru's administration. At the start of his term, the President decried the high wage bill which was at 12% of GDP (as against a recommended 7%). In 2015, the President stated that the wage bill was at 50% of the total annual revenue collection of government. In an attempt to curtail it, the President announced a pay cut for himself and his Cabinet in March 2014, reducing his salary by 20%. It was hoped that the high earners in government would follow suit but this did not materialize. Another measure was the newly created constitutional Salaries and Remuneration Commission which it was hoped would regularize salaries but it has faced an up hill battle against Members of Parliament, who wish to protect their earnings and labor unions. The President thereafter ordered an audit of the government payroll so as to flush out ghost workers. The audit identified 12,000 ghost workers. In the meantime, lower cadre government workers have demanded pay rises, more so by teachers and health workers, who have gone on strikes at various times to demand the increase. The strikes in the health sector mainly affect the counties, Kenya's other level of government, as it is managed by the devolved units.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 28 June 2018, Kenyatta declared a major crackdown on corruption and stated that no one was immune from corruption charges in Kenya. Kenyatta also stated his own brother Muhoho, a director in a company that had been accused in parliament of importing contraband sugar, should be charged if there is clear evidence against him.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 11 August 2018, Mohammed Abdalla Swazuri, the chairman of National Land Commission, and Atanas Kariuki Maina, managing director of the Kenya Railways Corporation, were among 18 officials, businesspeople and companies arrested on corruption charges involving land allocation for the $3 billion flagship Nairobi-Mombasa railway. On 7 December 2018, Joe Sang, the CEO of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), was arrested with four other senior officials in connection with the loss of an unspecified amount of money during the construction of an oil jetty in the western city of Kisumu. On 22 July 2019, Kenya's finance minister Henry Rotich became the country's first sitting minister to be arrested for corruption. 27 other people were arrested with Rotich as well. On 6 December 2019, federal authorities arrested Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko on corruption charges. On 14 January 2020, Kenyatta replaced Rotich with Labour Secretary Ukur Yatani


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 28 May 2020, a breakthrough in Kenyatta's pledge to combat corruption in Kenya occurred when 40 civil servants and 14 private sector officials, including National Youth Service (NYS) Director General Richard Ndubai, were arrested on charges related to the National Youth Service scandal.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: On 9 December 2020, it was confirmed by the Kenya News Agency that the National Anti-Corruption Campaign Steering Committee (NACCSC) was in the process of strengthening its collaboration with other crime fighting agencies, including those in Kenyatta's government. The group had National Government Administrative Officers (NGAO) in hopes they would support the County Anti-Corruption Civil Oversight Committee (CACCOC). The day before, Winnie Guchu, who serves in Kenyatta's government as the Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) in the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Justice, confirmed in a press conference that she had met with members of CACCOC to strengthen relations. On 11 December 2020, the Kenyan government's Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) released a statement confirming that Robert Pavel Oimeke, the director general of Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority, was arrested and taken into police custody on charges of demanding 200,000 Kenyan shillings ($1,795) to approve the re-opening of a petrol station that had been shut down over violations. On 21 December 2020, Nairobi County Assembly Speaker Benson Mutura replaced Sonko, who was removed from office four days prior, as Governor of Nairobi.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In October 2021, his name appeared in the Pandora Papers, among more than 330 current and former politicians and senior officials using hidden accounts in tax havens. He and six family members, including his mother, a brother and two sisters, have at least $30 million in several offshore companies. He also owns a secret 'foundation' in Panama, holding over $30 million.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: As the President, Kenyatta'a foreign relations were dominated by the ICC question. His relations with the West were expected to be cold, more so after the West warned Kenyans not to elect him as president. The United Kingdom promised to have only essential contacts with him if he were elected. However, his relationship with the West thawed significantly and he participated in the US — Africa summit as well as a Somalia summit in the United Kingdom. The ICC accused his government of frustrating its investigation efforts into the case, although it absolved the President personally of any involvement in the frustration.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: His activities, however, were more robust at the African level where he has pushed more intra-Africa trade and economic independence of African nations. In November 2014, he launched consultations to reform the United Nations Security Council to expand the voice of Africa in the council. He successfully rallied the AU against the ICC culminating in an Extraordinary Summit of the African Heads of State which resolved that sitting African Heads of State should not appear before the ICC. The AU further asked the Security Council to suspend his trial at the ICC; for the first time ever, the Security Council resolution was defeated by abstention with 9 members of the Council abstaining rather than voting against so as not to offend Kenyatta. The Assembly of State Parties of the ICC would two days later amend the ICC statute to allow for one to appear by video link, a proposal President Kenyatta had made when he was Deputy Prime Minister.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: Kenyatta led and negotiated peace agreements in South Sudan and in Democratic Republic of Congo. At the East African level, he developed a close relationship with the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Rwanda President Paul Kagame, creating the Coalition of the Willing, a caucus within the EAC that has signed on to more joint development and economic agreements than the other EAC partners, including a joint tourist visa.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: He attended the funeral of Nelson Mandela and was received warmly by the crowds. He also attended the funeral of President Michael Sata of Zambia in November 2014. However, it had been perceived that his administration's relations with Botswana were strained due to Botswana's support of the ICC process. He visited Botswana to remove this perception and Botswana voted in favor of the AU's ICC Resolution.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: As expected, his government had closer ties with China which was funding most of his infrastructure projects.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In November 2020, it was noted that he was the most traveled Kenyan president compared to his predecessors. One of the leading national newspapers noted that Uhuru Kenyatta had been out of the country 43 times as of November 2015 in a period of about three years since he took office in 2013, as compared to 33 times over a span of 10 years by his predecessor Mwai Kibaki. The president's strategic communications unit came out in defense of these trips stating that these trips had yielded more than what it cost the taxpayers to finance them.


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: In October 2021, Kenyatta was named in the Pandora Papers leak. BBC reported that "The Kenyattas' offshore investments, including a company with stocks and bonds worth $30m (£22m), were discovered among hundreds of thousands of pages of administrative paperwork from the archives of 14 law firms and service providers in Panama and the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and other tax havens."


title: Uhuru Kenyatta

text: His government's first year in office received low ratings from the general public. This is after a poll by Synovate indicated that more than half of the population was unhappy with how the government had conducted its affairs. The same polls also ranked the presidency as the second most trusted institution after the media. After his appearance at The Hague for his ICC case in October 2014, his poll ratings improved to 71%, according to a poll by Synovate. A poll by Gallup in August 2014 put his approval ratings at 78%, giving him the third best job approval ratings among African Presidents after Ian Khama of Botswana and Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta of Mali. In 2015, due to allegations of corruption against some members of his government, his poll ratings dropped to his lowest rating yet at 33%, according to an Infotrack poll. By February 2017, his poll numbers had, however, risen to 57%. His poll numbers in 2018 would rise to 74% in light of a renewed effort to battle corruption.


title: Luzon

text: Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as well as Quezon City, the country's most populous city. With a population of 64 million , it contains 52.5% of the country's total population and is the fourth most populous island in the world. It is the 15th largest island in the world by land area.


title: Luzon

text: "Luzon" may also refer to one of the three primary island groups in the country. In this usage, it includes the Luzon mainland, the Batanes and Babuyan groups of islands to the north, Polillo Islands to the east, and the outlying islands of Catanduanes, Marinduque and Mindoro, among others, to the south. The islands of Masbate, Palawan and Romblon are also included, although these three are sometimes grouped with another of the island groups, the Visayas.


title: Luzon

text: The name "Luzon" is thought to derive from "lusong", a Tagalog word referring to a particular kind of large wooden mortar used in dehusking rice. A 2008 research paper by Eulito Bautista and Evelyn Javier provides an image of a lusong, explaining:


title: Luzon

text: Luzon was originally inhabited by Negritos before Austronesians from Taiwan arrived and displaced them. Some of the Austronesian peoples formed highland mountain civilizations, while others formed lowland coastal states. Among the coastal states, some were Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, some were Muslim principalities, and others were ethnoreligious tribes. These states had trading connections with India, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Malaya, Indochina, Bengal, Korea, Okinawa, Japan and China.


title: Luzon

text: Before 1000 CE, the Tagalog, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan peoples of south and central Luzon had established several major coastal polities, notably Maynila, Tondo and Namayan. The oldest known Philippine document, written in 900, is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, which names places in and around Manila Bay and also mentions Medan, a place in Indonesia. These coastal Philippine kingdoms were thalassocracies, based on trade with neighboring Asian political entities, and structured by leases between village rulers ("Datu") and landlords ("Lakan") or Rajahs, by whom tributes were extracted and taxes were levied.


title: Luzon

text: There was also a Buddhist polity known as Ma-i or Maidh, described in Chinese and Bruneian records in the 10th century AD, although its location is still unknown and scholars are divided on whether it is in modern-day Bay, Laguna or Bulalacao, Mindoro.


title: Luzon

text: According to sources at the time, the trade in large native "Ruson-tsukuri" (literally "Luzon-made", Japanese:呂宋製) clay jars used for storing green tea and rice wine with Japan flourished in the 12th century, and local Tagalog, Kapampangan and Pangasinan potters had marked each jar with Baybayin letters denoting the particular urn used and the kiln the jars were manufactured in. Certain kilns were renowned over others; prices depended on the reputation of the kiln. Of this flourishing trade, the "Burnay" jars of Ilocos are the only large clay jar manufactured in Luzon today with origins from this time.


title: Luzon

text: During the 1300s, the Javanese-centered Hindu empire of Majapahit briefly ruled over Luzon as recorded in the epic poem "Nagarakretagama", which reports imperial colonies in the Philippines at Saludong (Manila) and Solot (Sulu). Eventually, the kingdoms of Luzon regained independence from Majapahit after the 1365 Battle of Manila. Sulu also reestablished independence and in vengeance assaulted the Majapahit province of Poni (Brunei) before a fleet from the capital drove them out.


title: Luzon

text: The Yongle Emperor instituted a Chinese governor on Luzon during Zheng He's voyages and appointed Ko Ch'a-lao to that position in 1405. China also had vassals among the leaders in the archipelago. China attained ascendancy in trade with the area in Yongle's reign.


title: Luzon

text: Afterwards, some parts of Luzon were Islamized when the former Majapahit province of Poni broke free, converted to Islam, and imported Sharif Ali, a prince from Mecca who became the Sultan of Brunei, a nation that then expanded its realms from Borneo to the Philippines and set up the Kingdom of Maynila as its puppet-state. However, other Luzon kingdoms resisted Islam, like the Wangdom of Pangasinan which had remained a tributary state to China and was a largely Sinified kingdom which maintained trade with Japan.


title: Luzon

text: The Portuguese were the first European explorers who recorded it in their charts as "Luçonia" or "Luçon" and inhabitants were called "Luçoes". Edmund Roberts, who visited Luzon in the early 19th century, wrote that Luzon was "discovered" in 1521.


title: Luzon

text: Many people from Luzon were employed wihin Portuguese Malacca. For example, the spice magnate Regimo de Raja, based in Malacca, was highly influential and was appointed as "Temenggong" (Sea Lord)—a governor and chief general responsible for overseeing of maritime trade—by the Portuguese. As "Temenggong", de Raja was also the head of an armada which traded and protected commerce between the Indian Ocean, the Strait of Malacca, the South China Sea, and the medieval maritime principalities of the Philippines. His father and wife carried on his maritime trading business after his death. Another important Malacca trader was Curia de Raja who also hailed from Luzon. The "surname" of "de Raja" or "diraja" could indicate that Regimo and Curia, and their families, were of noble or royal descent as the term is an abbreviation of Sanskrit adiraja.


title: Luzon

text: Fernão Mendes Pinto noted that a number of Luçoes in the Islamic fleets went to battle with the Portuguese in the Philippines during the 16th century. The Sultan of Aceh gave one of them (Sapetu Diraja) the task of holding Aru (northeast Sumatra) in 1540. Pinto also says one was named leader of the Malays remaining in the Moluccas Islands after the Portuguese conquest in 1511. Antonio Pigafetta notes that one of them was in command of the Brunei fleet in 1521. However, the Luções did not only fight on the side of the Muslims. Pinto says they were also apparently among the natives of the Philippines who fought the Muslims in 1538.


title: Luzon

text: On Mainland Southeast Asia, Lusung/Luçoes warriors aided the Burmese king in his invasion of Siam in 1547 AD. At the same time, Lusong warriors fought alongside the Siamese king and faced the same elephant army of the Burmese king in the defence of the Siamese capital at Ayutthaya. Lucoes military and trade activity reached as far as Sri Lanka in South Asia where Lungshanoid pottery made in Luzon were discovered in burials.


title: Luzon

text: The Spanish arrival in the 16th century saw the incorporation of the Luções people and the breaking up of their kingdoms and the establishment of the "Las Islas Filipinas" with its capital Cebu, which was moved to Manila following the defeat of the local Rajah Sulayman in 1570. Under Spain, Luzon also came to be known as the Nueva Castilla or the New Castile.


title: Luzon

text: In Spanish times, Luzon became the focal point for trade between the Americas and Asia. The Manila Galleons constructed in the Bicol region brought silver mined from Peru and Mexico to Manila. The silver was used to purchase Asian commercial goods like Chinese silk, Indian gems and Indonesian spices, which were then exported back to the Americas. The Chinese valued Luzon so much, in that when talking about Spain and the Spanish-Americas, they preferred to call it as "Dao Lusong” (Greater Luzon) while the original Luzon was referred to as “Xiao (Small) Lusong” to refer to not only Luzon but the whole Philippines.


title: Luzon

text: Luzon also became a focal point for global migration. The walled city of Intramuros was initially founded by 1200 Spanish families. The nearby district of Binondo became the center of business and transformed into the world's oldest Chinatown. There was also a smaller district reserved for Japanese migrants in Dilao. Cavite City also served as the main port for Luzon and many Mexican soldiers and sailors were stationed in the naval garrisons there. When the Spanish evacuated from Ternate, Indonesia; they settled the Papuan refugees in Ternate, Cavite which was named after their evacuated homeland. After the short British Occupation of Manila, the Indian Sepoy soldiers that mutinied against their British commanders and joined the Spanish, then settled in Cainta, Rizal.


title: Luzon

text: Newcomers who were impoverished Mexicans and peninsulares were accused of undermining the submission of the natives. In 1774, authorities from Bulacan, Tondo, Laguna Bay, and other areas surrounding Manila reported with consternation that discharged soldiers and deserters (from Mexico, Spain and Peru) were providing Indios military training for the weapons that had been disseminated all over the territory during the British war. There was also continuous immigration of Tamils and Bengalis into the rural areas of Luzon: Spanish administrators, native nobles, and Chinese businessmen imported them as slave labor during this period.


title: Luzon

text: People from the Philippines, primarily from Luzon, were recruited by France (then in alliance with Spain), first to defend Indo-Chinese converts to Christianity being persecuted by their native governments. Eventually, Filipino mercenaries helped the French conquer Vietnam and Laos and to re-establish Cambodia as a French Protectorate. This process culminated in the establishment of French Cochinchina, centered in Saigon.


title: Luzon

text: After many years of Spanish occupation and resistance to reform, the Andres Novales uprising occurred and it was inspired by the Latin American Wars of Independence. Novales' uprising was primarily supported by Mexicans living in the Philippines as well as immigrant Latinos from the now independent nations of Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Costa Rica. Although the uprising failed it inspired the Cavite Mutiny, the suppression of which, lead to the martyrdoms of Priests, Gomburza and the subsequent execution of the reformist and hero, Jose Rizal. Reeling against this, the Philippine Revolution against Spain erupted in Cavite and spread all throughout Luzon and the Philippines. Consequently, the First Philippine Republic was established in Malolos, Bulacan. In the meantime, Spain sold the Philippines to the United States and the First Philippine Republic resisted the United States in the Philippine–American War which the Republic's forces lost due to its diplomatic isolation (no foreign nation recognized the First Republic) as well as due to the numerical superiority of the American military. After the war, J. Franklin Bell allegedly testified to the United States Senate Committee on the Philippines that American troops had killed up to 600,000 Filipino civilians during the conflict. The Americans then set up the cool mountain city of Baguio as a summer retreat for its officials. The Americans also rebuilt the capital, Manila, and established American military bases in Olongapo and Angeles City.


title: Luzon

text: During the Pacific War, the Philippines were considered to be of great strategic importance because their capture by Japan would pose a significant threat to the U.S. As a result, 135,000 troops and 227 aircraft were stationed in the Philippines by October 1941. Luzon was captured by Imperial Japanese forces in 1942 during their campaign to capture the Philippines. General Douglas MacArthur—who was in charge of the defense of the Philippines at the time—was ordered to Australia, and the remaining U.S. forces retreated to the Bataan Peninsula.


title: Luzon

text: A few months after this, MacArthur expressed his belief that an attempt to recapture the Philippines was necessary. The U.S. Pacific Commander Admiral Chester Nimitz and Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King both opposed this idea, arguing that it must wait until victory was certain. MacArthur had to wait two years for his wish; it was 1944 before a campaign to recapture the Philippines was launched. The island of Leyte was the first objective of the campaign, which was captured by the end of December 1944. This was followed by the attack on Mindoro and later, Luzon.


title: Luzon

text: The end of the World War necessitated decolonization due to rising nationalist movements across the world's many colonies. Subsequently, the Philippines gained independence from the United States. Luzon then arose to become the most developed island in the Philippines. However, the lingering poverty and inequality caused by the long dictatorship of US-supported dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, gave rise to the Philippine diaspora and many people from Luzon have migrated elsewhere and had established large overseas communities; mainly in the United States, Hong Kong, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Eventually, the People Power Revolution led by Corazon Aquino and Cardinal Jaime Sin, removed Marcos and his cronies from power and they fled to Hawaii where the US granted them asylum. The following administrations are subsequently managing the political and economic recovery of the Philippines with the particular aim of spreading development outside of Luzon and into the more isolated provinces of the Visayas and Mindanao.


title: Luzon

text: Luzon island alone has an area of , making it the world's 15th largest island. It is bordered on the west by the South China Sea ("Luzon Sea" in Philippine territorial waters), on the east by the Philippine Sea, and on the north by the Luzon Strait containing the Babuyan Channel and Balintang Channel. The mainland is roughly rectangular in shape and has the long Bicol Peninsula protruding to the southeast.


title: Luzon

text: Luzon is roughly divided into four sections; Northern, Central and Southern Luzon, and the National Capital Region.


title: Luzon

text: The northwestern portion of the island, which encompasses most of the Ilocos Region, is characterized by a flat terrain extending east from the coastline toward the Cordillera Central mountains.


title: Luzon

text: The Cordillera mountain range, which feature the island's north-central section, is covered in a mixture of tropical pine forests and montane rainforests, and is the site of the island's highest mountain, Mount Pulag, rising at 2,922 metres. The range provides the upland headwaters of the Agno River, which stretches from the slopes of Mount Data, and meanders along the southern Cordillera mountains before reaching the plains of Pangasinan.


title: Luzon

text: The northeastern section of Luzon is generally mountainous, with the Sierra Madre, the longest mountain range in the country, abruptly rising a few miles from the coastline. Located in between the Sierra Madre and the Cordillera Central mountain ranges is the large Cagayan Valley. This region, which is known for being the second largest producer of rice and the country's top corn-producer, serves as the basin for the Cagayan River, the longest in the Philippines.


title: Luzon

text: Along the southern limits of the Cordillera Central lies the lesser-known Caraballo Mountains. These mountains form a link between the Cordillera Central and the Sierra Madre mountain ranges, separating the Cagayan Valley from the Central Luzon plains.


title: Luzon

text: The central section of Luzon is characterized by a flat terrain, known as the Central Luzon plain, the largest in the island in terms of land area. The plain, approximately in size, is the country's largest producer of rice, and is irrigated by two major rivers; the Cagayan to the north, and the Pampanga to the south. In the middle of the plain rises the solitary Mount Arayat.


title: Luzon

text: The western coasts of Central Luzon are typically flat extending east from the coastline to the Zambales Mountains, the site of Mount Pinatubo, made famous because of its enormous 1991 eruption. These mountains extend to the sea in the north, forming the Lingayen Gulf, and to the south, forming the Bataan Peninsula. The peninsula encloses the Manila Bay, a natural harbor considered to be one of the best natural ports in East Asia, due to its size and strategic geographical location.


title: Luzon

text: The Sierra Madre mountain range continues to stretch across the western section of Central Luzon, snaking southwards into the Bicol Peninsula.


title: Luzon

text: The northern section of Southern Luzon is dominated by the Laguna de Bay (Old Spanish, ""Lake of Bay town""), the largest lake in the country. The lake is drained into Manila Bay by the Pasig River, one of the most important rivers in the country due to its historical significance and because it runs through the center of Metro Manila.


title: Luzon

text: Located southwest of Laguna de Bay is Taal Lake, a crater lake containing the Taal Volcano, the smallest in the country. The environs of the lake form the upland Tagaytay Ridge, which was once part of a massive prehistoric volcano that covered the southern portion of the province of Cavite, Tagaytay and the whole of Batangas province.


title: Luzon

text: South of Laguna Lake are two solitary mountains, Mount Makiling in Laguna province, and Mount Banahaw, the highest in the region of Calabarzon.


title: Luzon

text: The southeastern portion of Luzon is dominated by the Bicol Peninsula, a mountainous and narrow region extending approximately southeast from the Tayabas Isthmus in Quezon province to the San Bernardino Strait along the coasts of Sorsogon. The area is home to several volcanoes, the most famous of which is the high symmetrically shaped Mayon Volcano in Albay province. The Sierra Madre range has its southern limits at Quezon province. Ultra-prominent mountains dot the landscape, which include Mount Isarog and Mount Iriga in Camarines Sur, and Mount Bulusan in Sorsogon.


title: Luzon

text: The peninsula's coastline features several smaller peninsulas, gulfs and bays, which include Lamon Bay, San Miguel Bay, Lagonoy Gulf, Ragay Gulf, and Sorsogon Bay.


title: Luzon

text: The island is covered by 8 administrative regions, 30 provinces and, , 68 cities (8 regions, 38 provinces and 71 cities if associated islands are included).


title: Luzon

text: Luzon is part of the Philippine Mobile Belt, a fast deforming plate boundary zone (Gervasio, 1967) hemmed in between two opposing subduction zones, the west-dipping Philippine Trench-East Luzon Trench subduction zone, and the east-dipping north–south trending Manila Trench-Negros Trench-Cotabato Trench. The Philippine Sea Plate subducts under eastern Luzon along the East Luzon Trench and the Philippine Trench, while the South China Sea basin, part of the Eurasian plate, subducts under western Luzon along the Manila Trench.


title: Luzon

text: The North-Southeastern trending braided left-lateral strike-slip Philippine Fault System traverses Luzon, from Quezon province and Bicol to the northwestern part of the island. This fault system takes up part of the motion due to the subducting plates and produces large earthquakes. Southwest of Luzon is a collision zone where the Palawan micro-block collides with SW Luzon, producing a highly seismic zone near Mindoro island. Southwest Luzon is characterized by a highly volcanic zone, called the Macolod Corridor, a region of crustal thinning and spreading.


title: Luzon

text: Using geologic and structural data, seven principal blocks were identified in Luzon in 1989: the Sierra Madre Oriental, Angat, Zambales, Central Cordillera of Luzon, Bicol, and Catanduanes Island blocks. Using seismic and geodetic data, Luzon was modeled by Galgana et al. (2007) as a series of six micro blocks or micro plates (separated by subduction zones and intra-arc faults), all translating and rotating in different directions, with maximum velocities ~100 mm/yr NW with respect to Sundaland/Eurasia.


title: Luzon

text: As of the 2015 census, the population of Luzon Island is 53,336,134 people, making it the 4th most populated island in the world.


title: Luzon

text: Metro Manila is the most populous of the 3 defined metropolitan areas in the Philippines and the 11th most populous in the world. , census data showed it had a population of 11,553,427, comprising 13% of the national population. Including suburbs in the adjacent provinces (Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal) of Greater Manila, the population is around 21 million.


title: Luzon

text: Seven major Philippine ethnolinguistic groups predominate Luzon. Ilocanos dominate northern Luzon, while Kapampangans and Pangasinenses, as well as Tagalogs and Sambals, populate Central Luzon. Tagalogs dominate the National Capital Region, Calabarzon and the island provinces of Marinduque and Mindoro, while Bicolanos populate the southern Bicol peninsula. Visayans mainly predominate in the island provinces of Masbate, Palawan and Romblon.


title: Luzon

text: Other ethnic groups lesser in population include the Aetas of Zambales and Bataan, the Ibanags of Cagayan and Isabela, along with smaller groups like the Gaddang of Nueva Vizcaya, and the Igorot/Cordillerans of the Cordilleras.


title: Luzon

text: Due to recent migrations, populations of Chinese and Moros have also been present in urban areas. Mixed-race populations of Spanish, Americans, Japanese, Koreans, Indians (mostly Punjabi), and Arabs are also visible. The Chinese and their mixed-raced descendants are spread all across Luzon. According to old Spanish censuses, around 1/3rd of the population of Luzon are admixed with either Spanish or Latino descent (Mostly in Cavite and Manila) Most Americans have settled in Central Luzon's highly urbanized cities of Angeles and Olongapo due to the former presence of the U.S. air and naval bases in there, while a majority of the Koreans and Japanese have mainly settled in the major cities and towns.


title: Luzon

text: Almost all of the languages of Luzon belong to the Philippine group of the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. Major regional languages include: Tagalog, Ilocano, Bicolano, Kapampangan, and Pangasinan.


title: Luzon

text: English is spoken by many inhabitants. The use of Spanish as an official language declined following the American occupation of the Philippines. Almost inexistent among the general populace, Spanish is still used by the elderly of some families of great tradition (Rizal, Liboro...).


title: Luzon

text: Like most of the Philippines, the major religion in Luzon is Christianity, with Roman Catholicism being the major denomination. Other major sects includes Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestantism, the Philippine Independent Church (Aglipayans), the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and the Iglesia ni Cristo. Indigenous traditions and rituals, though rare, are also present.


title: Luzon

text: There are also sizable communities of Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims in Metro Manila and in other, especially, urban areas due to the immigration of Moros and Chinese to the island.


title: Luzon

text: The economy of the island is centered in Metro Manila with Makati serving as the main economic and financial hub. Major companies such as Ayala, Jollibee Foods Corporation, SM Group, and Metrobank are based in the business districts of Makati, Ortigas Center, and Bonifacio Global City. Industry is concentrated in and around the urban areas of Metro Manila while agriculture predominates in the other regions of the island producing crops such as rice, bananas, mangoes, coconuts, pineapple, and coffee. Other sectors include livestock raising, tourism, mining, and fishing.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi (Akkadian: ; ) was the sixth Amorite king of the Old Babylonian Empire, reigning from to BC. He was preceded by his father, Sin-Muballit, who abdicated due to failing health. During his reign, he conquered Elam and the city-states of Larsa, Eshnunna, and Mari. He ousted Ishme-Dagan I, the king of Assyria, and forced his son Mut-Ashkur to pay tribute, bringing almost all of Mesopotamia under Babylonian rule.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi is best known for having issued the Code of Hammurabi, which he claimed to have received from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice. Unlike earlier Sumerian law codes, such as the Code of Ur-Nammu, which had focused on compensating the victim of the crime, the Law of Hammurabi was one of the first law codes to place greater emphasis on the physical punishment of the perpetrator. It prescribed specific penalties for each crime and is among the first codes to establish the presumption of innocence. Although its penalties are extremely harsh by modern standards, they were intended to limit what a wronged person was permitted to do in retribution. The Code of Hammurabi and the Law of Moses in the Torah contain numerous similarities.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi was seen by many as a god within his own lifetime. After his death, Hammurabi was revered as a great conqueror who spread civilization and forced all peoples to pay obeisance to Marduk, the national god of the Babylonians. Later, his military accomplishments became de-emphasized and his role as the ideal lawgiver became the primary aspect of his legacy. For later Mesopotamians, Hammurabi's reign became the frame of reference for all events occurring in the distant past. Even after the empire he built collapsed, he was still revered as a model ruler, and many kings across the Near East claimed him as an ancestor. Hammurabi was rediscovered by archaeologists in the late nineteenth century and has since been seen as an important figure in the history of law.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi was an Amorite First Dynasty king of the city-state of Babylon, and inherited the power from his father, Sin-Muballit, in . Babylon was one of the many largely Amorite ruled city-states that dotted the central and southern Mesopotamian plains and waged war on each other for control of fertile agricultural land. Though many cultures co-existed in Mesopotamia, Babylonian culture gained a degree of prominence among the literate classes throughout the Middle East under Hammurabi. The kings who came before Hammurabi had founded a relatively minor City State in 1894 BC, which controlled little territory outside of the city itself. Babylon was overshadowed by older, larger, and more powerful kingdoms such as Elam, Assyria, Isin, Eshnunna, and Larsa for a century or so after its founding. However, his father Sin-Muballit had begun to consolidate rule of a small area of south central Mesopotamia under Babylonian hegemony and, by the time of his reign, had conquered the minor city-states of Borsippa, Kish, and Sippar.


title: Hammurabi

text: Thus Hammurabi ascended to the throne as the king of a minor kingdom in the midst of a complex geopolitical situation. The powerful kingdom of Eshnunna controlled the upper Tigris River while Larsa controlled the river delta. To the east of Mesopotamia lay the powerful kingdom of Elam, which regularly invaded and forced tribute upon the small states of southern Mesopotamia. In northern Mesopotamia, the Assyrian king Shamshi-Adad I, who had already inherited centuries old Assyrian colonies in Asia Minor, had expanded his territory into the Levant and central Mesopotamia, although his untimely death would somewhat fragment his empire.


title: Hammurabi

text: The first few years of Hammurabi's reign were quite peaceful. Hammurabi used his power to undertake a series of public works, including heightening the city walls for defensive purposes, and expanding the temples. In , the powerful kingdom of Elam, which straddled important trade routes across the Zagros Mountains, invaded the Mesopotamian plain. With allies among the plain states, Elam attacked and destroyed the kingdom of Eshnunna, destroying a number of cities and imposing its rule on portions of the plain for the first time.


title: Hammurabi

text: In order to consolidate its position, Elam tried to start a war between Hammurabi's Babylonian kingdom and the kingdom of Larsa. Hammurabi and the king of Larsa made an alliance when they discovered this duplicity and were able to crush the Elamites, although Larsa did not contribute greatly to the military effort. Angered by Larsa's failure to come to his aid, Hammurabi turned on that southern power, thus gaining control of the entirety of the lower Mesopotamian plain by .


title: Hammurabi

text: As Hammurabi was assisted during the war in the south by his allies from the north such as Yamhad and Mari, the absence of soldiers in the north led to unrest. Continuing his expansion, Hammurabi turned his attention northward, quelling the unrest and soon after crushing Eshnunna. Next the Babylonian armies conquered the remaining northern states, including Babylon's former ally Mari, although it is possible that the conquest of Mari was a surrender without any actual conflict.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi entered into a protracted war with Ishme-Dagan I of Assyria for control of Mesopotamia, with both kings making alliances with minor states in order to gain the upper hand. Eventually Hammurabi prevailed, ousting Ishme-Dagan I just before his own death. Mut-Ashkur, the new king of Assyria, was forced to pay tribute to Hammurabi.


title: Hammurabi

text: In just a few years, Hammurabi succeeded in uniting all of Mesopotamia under his rule. The Assyrian kingdom survived but was forced to pay tribute during his reign, and of the major city-states in the region, only Aleppo and Qatna to the west in the Levant maintained their independence. However, one stele of Hammurabi has been found as far north as Diyarbekir, where he claims the title "King of the Amorites".


title: Hammurabi

text: Vast numbers of contract tablets, dated to the reigns of Hammurabi and his successors, have been discovered, as well as 55 of his own letters. These letters give a glimpse into the daily trials of ruling an empire, from dealing with floods and mandating changes to a flawed calendar, to taking care of Babylon's massive herds of livestock. Hammurabi died and passed the reins of the empire on to his son Samsu-iluna in , under whose rule the Babylonian empire quickly began to unravel.


title: Hammurabi

text: The Code of Hammurabi is not the earliest surviving law code; it is predated by the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Laws of Eshnunna, and the Code of Lipit-Ishtar. Nonetheless, the Code of Hammurabi shows marked differences from these earlier law codes and ultimately proved more influential.


title: Hammurabi

text: The Code of Hammurabi was inscribed on a stele and placed in a public place so that all could see it, although it is thought that few were literate. The stele was later plundered by the Elamites and removed to their capital, Susa; it was rediscovered there in 1901 in Iran and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The code of Hammurabi contains 282 laws, written by scribes on 12 tablets. Unlike earlier laws, it was written in Akkadian, the daily language of Babylon, and could therefore be read by any literate person in the city. Earlier Sumerian law codes had focused on compensating the victim of the crime, but the Code of Hammurabi instead focused on physically punishing the perpetrator. The Code of Hammurabi was one of the first law codes to place restrictions on what a wronged person was allowed to do in retribution.


title: Hammurabi

text: The structure of the code is very specific, with each offense receiving a specified punishment. The punishments tended to be very harsh by modern standards, with many offenses resulting in death, disfigurement, or the use of the "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth" (Lex Talionis "Law of Retaliation") philosophy. The code is also one of the earliest examples of the idea of presumption of innocence, and it also suggests that the accused and accuser have the opportunity to provide evidence. However, there is no provision for extenuating circumstances to alter the prescribed punishment.


title: Hammurabi

text: A carving at the top of the stele portrays Hammurabi receiving the laws from Shamash, the Babylonian god of justice, and the preface states that Hammurabi was chosen by Shamash to bring the laws to the people. Parallels between this narrative and the giving of the Covenant Code to Moses by Yahweh atop Mount Sinai in the Biblical Book of Exodus and similarities between the two legal codes suggest a common ancestor in the Semitic background of the two. Nonetheless, fragments of previous law codes have been found and it is unlikely that the Mosaic laws were directly inspired by the Code of Hammurabi. Some scholars have disputed this; David P. Wright argues that the Jewish Covenant Code is "directly, primarily, and throughout" based upon the Laws of Hammurabi. In 2010, a team of archaeologists from Hebrew University discovered a cuneiform tablet dating to the eighteenth or seventeenth century BC at Hazor in Israel containing laws clearly derived from the Code of Hammurabi.


title: Hammurabi

text: Hammurabi was honored above all other kings of the second millennium BC and he received the unique honor of being declared to be a god within his own lifetime. The personal name "Hammurabi-ili" meaning "Hammurabi is my god" became common during and after his reign. In writings from shortly after his death, Hammurabi is commemorated mainly for three achievements: bringing victory in war, bringing peace, and bringing justice. Hammurabi's conquests came to be regarded as part of a sacred mission to spread civilization to all nations. A stele from Ur glorifies him in his own voice as a mighty ruler who forces evil into submission and compels all peoples to worship Marduk. The stele declares: "The people of Elam, Gutium, Subartu, and Tukrish, whose mountains are distant and whose languages are obscure, I placed into [Marduk's] hand. I myself continued to put straight their confused minds." A later hymn also written in Hammurabi's own voice extols him as a powerful, supernatural force for Marduk:


title: Hammurabi

text: I am the fear-inspiring, who, when lifting his fierce eyes, gives the disobedient the death sentence,


title: Hammurabi

text: After extolling Hammurabi's military accomplishments, the hymn finally declares: "I am Hammurabi, the king of justice." In later commemorations, Hammurabi's role as a great lawgiver came to be emphasized above all his other accomplishments and his military achievements became de-emphasized. Hammurabi's reign became the point of reference for all events in the distant past. A hymn to the goddess Ishtar, whose language suggests it was written during the reign of Ammisaduqa, Hammurabi's fourth successor, declares: "The king who first heard this song as a song of your heroism is Hammurabi. This song for you was composed in his reign. May he be given life forever!" For centuries after his death, Hammurabi's laws continued to be copied by scribes as part of their writing exercises and they were even partially translated into Sumerian.


title: Hammurabi

text: During the reign of Hammurabi, Babylon usurped the position of "most holy city" in southern Mesopotamia from its predecessor, Nippur. Under the rule of Hammurabi's successor Samsu-iluna, the short-lived Babylonian Empire began to collapse. In northern Mesopotamia, both the Amorites and Babylonians were driven from Assyria by Puzur-Sin a native Akkadian-speaking ruler, . Around the same time, native Akkadian speakers threw off Amorite Babylonian rule in the far south of Mesopotamia, creating the Sealand Dynasty, in more or less the region of ancient Sumer. Hammurabi's ineffectual successors met with further defeats and loss of territory at the hands of Assyrian kings such as Adasi and Bel-ibni, as well as to the Sealand Dynasty to the south, Elam to the east, and to the Kassites from the northeast. Thus was Babylon quickly reduced to the small and minor state it had once been upon its founding.


title: Hammurabi

text: The "coup de grace" for the Hammurabi's Amorite Dynasty occurred in 1595 BC, when Babylon was sacked and conquered by the powerful Hittite Empire, thereby ending all Amorite political presence in Mesopotamia. However, the Indo-European-speaking Hittites did not remain, turning over Babylon to their Kassite allies, a people speaking a language isolate, from the Zagros mountains region. This Kassite Dynasty ruled Babylon for over 400 years and adopted many aspects of the Babylonian culture, including Hammurabi's code of laws. Even after the fall of the Amorite Dynasty, however, Hammurabi was still remembered and revered. When the Elamite king Shutruk-Nahhunte I raided Babylon in 1158 BC and carried off many stone monuments, he had most of the inscriptions on these monuments erased and new inscriptions carved into them. On the stele containing Hammurabi's laws, however, only four or five columns were wiped out and no new inscription was ever added. Over a thousand years after Hammurabi's death, the kings of Suhu, a land along the Euphrates river, just northwest of Babylon, claimed him as their ancestor.


title: Hammurabi

text: In the late nineteenth century, the Code of Hammurabi became a major center of debate in the heated "Babel und Bibel" ("Babylon and Bible") controversy in Germany over the relationship between the Bible and ancient Babylonian texts. In January 1902, the German Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch gave a lecture at the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin in front of the Kaiser and his wife, in which he argued that the Mosaic Laws of the Old Testament were directly copied off the Code of Hammurabi. Delitzsch's lecture was so controversial that, by September 1903, he had managed to collect 1,350 short articles from newspapers and journals, over 300 longer ones, and twenty-eight pamphlets, all written in response to this lecture, as well as the preceding one about the Flood story in the "Epic of Gilgamesh". These articles were overwhelmingly critical of Delitzsch, though a few were sympathetic. The Kaiser distanced himself from Delitzsch and his radical views and, in fall of 1904, Delitzsch was forced to give his third lecture in Cologne and Frankfurt am Main rather than in Berlin. The putative relationship between the Mosaic Law and the Code of Hammurabi later became a major part of Delitzsch's argument in his 1920–21 book "Die große Täuschung" ("The Great Deception") that the Hebrew Bible was irredeemably contaminated by Babylonian influence and that only by eliminating the human Old Testament entirely could Christians finally believe in the true, Aryan message of the New Testament. In the early twentieth century, many scholars believed that Hammurabi was Amraphel, the King of Shinar in the Book of Genesis 14:1. This view has now been largely rejected, and Amraphael's existence is not attested in any writings from outside the Bible.


title: Hammurabi

text: Because of Hammurabi's reputation as a lawgiver, his depiction can be found in several United States government buildings. Hammurabi is one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in marble bas-reliefs in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. A frieze by Adolph Weinman depicting the "great lawgivers of history", including Hammurabi, is on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majority regions surrounding the Himalayan areas of India (such as Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and a minority in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), in much of Central Asia, in the Southern Siberian regions such as Tuva, and in Mongolia.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Tibetan Buddhism evolved as a form of Mahāyāna Buddhism stemming from the latest stages of Indian Buddhism (which also included many Vajrayāna elements). It thus preserves many Indian Buddhist tantric practices of the post-Gupta early medieval period (500 to 1200 CE), along with numerous native Tibetan developments. In the pre-modern era, Tibetan Buddhism spread outside of Tibet primarily due to the influence of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), founded by Kublai Khan, which had ruled China, Mongolia and parts of Siberia. In the Modern era, Tibetan Buddhism has spread outside of Asia due to the efforts of the Tibetan diaspora (1959 onwards). As the Dalai Lama escaped to India, the Indian subcontinent is also known for its renaissance of Tibetan Buddhism monasteries, including the rebuilding of the three major monasteries of the Gelug tradition.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Apart from classical Mahāyāna Buddhist practices like the six perfections, Tibetan Buddhism also includes tantric practices, such as deity yoga and the Six Dharmas of Naropa as well as methods which are seen as transcending tantra, like Dzogchen. Its main goal is Buddhahood. The main language of scriptural study in this tradition is classical Tibetan.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Tibetan Buddhism has four major schools, namely Nyingma (c. 8th century), Kagyu (11th century), Sakya (1073), and Gelug (1409). The Jonang is a smaller school that exists, and the Rimé movement (19th century), meaning "no sides", is a more recent non-sectarian movement which attempts to preserve and understand all the different traditions. The predominant spiritual tradition in Tibet before the introduction of Buddhism was Bon, which has been strongly influenced by Tibetan Buddhism (particularly the Nyingma school).


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: While each of the four schools is independent and has its own monastic institutions and leaders, they are closely related and intersect, with common contact and dialogue.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: The native Tibetan term for Buddhism is "The Dharma of the insiders" ("nang chos") or "The Buddha Dharma of the insiders" ("nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos"). "Insider" means someone who seeks the truth not outside, but within the nature of mind. This is contrasted with other forms of organized religion, which are termed "chos lugs" (dharma system)"," for example, Christianity is termed "Yi shu'i chos lugs" (Jesus dharma system)"."


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Westerners unfamiliar with Tibetan Buddhism initially turned to China for understanding. In Han buddhism, the term used is "Lamaism" (literally, "doctrine of the lamas": "lama jiao") to distinguish it from a then-traditional Han form ( "fo jiao"). The term was taken up by western scholars including Hegel, as early as 1822. Insofar as it implies a discontinuity between Indian and Tibetan Buddhism, the term has been discredited.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Another term, "Vajrayāna" (Tibetan: "dorje tegpa") is occasionally misused for Tibetan Buddhism. More accurately, Vajrayāna signifies a certain subset of practices and traditions which are not only part of Tibetan Buddhism, but also prominent in other Buddhist traditions.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: In the west, the term "Indo-Tibetan Buddhism" has become current, in acknowledgement of its derivation from the latest stages of Buddhist development in northern India. "Northern Buddhism" is also sometimes used to refer to Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, for example, in the Brill "Dictionary of Religion."


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Another term, Himalayan (or Trans-Himalayan) Buddhism is also sometimes used to indicate how this form of Buddhism is practiced not just in Tibet but throughout the Himalayan Regions.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: During the 3rd century CE Buddhism began to spread into the Tibetan region and its teachings affected the Bon religion in the Kingdom of Zhangzhung.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: While some stories depict Buddhism in Tibet before this period, the religion was formally introduced during the Tibetan Empire (7th–9th century CE). Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures from India were first translated into Tibetan under the reign of the Tibetan king Songtsän Gampo (618–649 CE). This period also saw the development of the Tibetan writing system and classical Tibetan.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: In the 8th century, King Trisong Detsen (755–797 CE) established it as the official religion of the state, and commanded his army to wear robes and study Buddhism. Trisong Detsen invited Indian Buddhist scholars to his court, including Padmasambhāva (8th century CE) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788), which are considered the founders of Nyingma ("The Ancient Ones)", the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava who is considered by the Tibetans as Guru Rinpoche ("Precious Master") who is also credied with building the first monastery building named Samye, around late 8th century. According to some legend, it is noted that, he pacified the Bon demons and made them the core protectors of Dharma Modern historians also argue that, Trisong Detsen and his followers adopted Buddhism as an act of international diplomacy, especially with the major power of those times such as China, India and states in Central Asia - who had strong Buddhist influence in their culture


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: Yeshe Tsogyal, the most important female in the Nyingma Vajrayana lineage, was a member of Trisong Detsen's court and became Padmasambhava's student before gaining enlightenment. Trisong Detsen also invited the Chan master Moheyan to transmit the Dharma at Samye Monastery. Some sources state that a debate ensued between Moheyan and the Indian master Kamalaśīla, without consensus on the victor, and some scholars consider the event to be fictitious.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: A reversal in Buddhist influence began under King Langdarma (r. 836–842), and his death was followed by the so-called "Era of Fragmentation", a period of disunity during the 9th and 10th centuries. During this era, the political centralization of the earlier Tibetan Empire collapsed and civil wars ensued.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: In spite of this loss of state power and patronage however, Buddhism survived and thrived in Tibet. According to Geoffrey Samuel this was because "Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhism came to provide the principal set of techniques by which Tibetans dealt with the dangerous powers of the spirit world... Buddhism, in the form of Vajrayana ritual, provided a critical set of techniques for dealing with everyday life. Tibetans came to see these techniques as vital for their survival and prosperity in this life." This includes dealing with the local gods and spirits ("sadak" and "shipdak)," which became a specialty of some Tibetan Buddhist lamas and lay ngagpas ("mantrikas", mantra specialists)"."


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: The late 10th and 11th centuries saw a revival of Buddhism in Tibet with the founding of "New Translation" ("Sarma") lineages as well as the appearance of "hidden treasures" ("terma") literature which reshaped the Nyingma tradition.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: In 1042, the Bengali master Atiśa (982-1054) arrived in Tibet at the invitation of a west Tibetan king. His chief disciple, Dromton founded the Kadam school of Tibetan Buddhism, one of the first "Sarma" schools.. Atiśa, helped in the translation of major Buddhist texts such as "Bka'-'gyur" (Translation of the Buddha Word) and "Bstan-'gyur" (Translation of Teachings) helped in disseminating the values of Buddhism in powerful state affairs as well as in the Tibetan culture. The "Bka'-'gyur" has six main categories in the book: (1) Tantra, (2) Prajñāpāramitā, (3) Ratnakūṭa Sūtra, (4) Avatamsaka Sutra, (5) Other sutras, (6) Vinaya. The "Bstan-'gyur" is a compilation work of 3,626 texts and 224 volumes which basically encompass texts of hymns, commentaries and tantras.


title: Tibetan Buddhism

text: The Sakya ("Grey Earth") school, was founded by Khön Könchok Gyelpo (1034–1102), a disciple of the great scholar, Drogmi Shākya. It is headed by the Sakya Trizin, and traces its lineage to the mahasiddha Virūpa.