title: Dorset

text: Unlike all of its neighbouring counties, Dorset does not have a cathedral. Over 95% of the county falls within the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury. A small section to the west comes under the Diocese of Bath and Wells and to the east Christchurch and much of Bournemouth—both historically part of Hampshire—belong to the Diocese of Winchester. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Plymouth incorporates most of Dorset with the exception of Christchurch and a portion of Bournemouth which belongs to the Diocese of Portsmouth. Few purpose-built places of worship exist in Dorset for faiths other than Christianity. In 2008 a Hindu temple was constructed in Blandford Forum for the Gurkhas based at the town's military camp. Bournemouth, which contains a higher proportion of Jewish residents than the national average, has three synagogues besides an Islamic Centre and a mosque for Muslims.


title: Dorset

text: Christianity was introduced to Dorset by the Romans. A 4th century Roman mosaic discovered near Hinton St Mary contains what is generally accepted to be an image of Christ. Christianity became firmly established in the county during the Saxon period although there are few surviving Saxon churches; the most complete is St. Martin's in Wareham which has features from the early 11th century. Mediaeval churches are more prevalent in Dorset; most are 15th century and are of a Perpendicular style. Sherborne Abbey, one of the county's largest, is noted for its broad fan vaulting added during an extensive 15th century rebuild. Founded in AD 705 by Aldhelm, the Abbey contained the chair of the Bishop of Sherborne and was granted cathedral status until 1075 when the diocese was transferred to Old Sarum. Wimborne Minster features a chained library and a 14th-century astronomical clock; Christchurch Priory is renowned for its miraculous beam which, according to legend, was installed by Christ; and the 15th century roof spanning the nave at St John the Baptist Church in Bere Regis is described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as the "finest timber roof of Dorset". St Candida and Holy Cross at Whitchurch Canonicorum is the only church in the country, besides Westminster Abbey, to have a shrine that contains the relics of a saint.


title: Dorset

text: Monastic foundations were once abundant in Dorset, but all ceased to exist at the Dissolution of the monasteries. The Reformation and the political and religious turmoil that ensued largely checked the building of new churches until the turn of the 18th century. Notable examples of Early Georgian churches include the Bastard brothers' Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Blandford Forum, and St George's Church on the Isle of Portland, which has a steeple and tower inspired by the works of Christopher Wren. From the late 18th century onwards, churches in Dorset tended towards a Gothic Revival style. A notable exception to this trend, however, is the Church of St Mary in East Lulworth—the first freestanding Roman Catholic church built in England after the Reformation. George III gave permission to erect the building on the condition that it resembled a garden mausoleum rather than a church. It was completed in 1789. Bournemouth, founded in 1810, has a wealth of 19th-century churches including St Peter's and St Stephen's. St Dunstan's Church (formerly St Osmund's) in Poole is one of a small number of 20th-century churches in Dorset. The final major work of Edward Schroeder Prior, it is one of the last examples of the Neo Byzantine style. The Church of St Nicholas and St Magnus in Moreton is noted for its elaborate engraved glass windows designed by Laurence Whistler. Severely damaged by a stray German bomb in 1940, the church subsequently underwent extensive renovation and Whistler had replaced every window by 1984.


title: Dorset

text: Responsibility for state schools in Dorset is divided between two local education authorities: Dorset Council, which covers the majority of the county, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council. Most of the Dorset Council area operates a two-tier comprehensive system whereby pupils attend a primary school before completing their education at secondary school but Corfe Mullen, Dorchester, Ferndown and West Moors maintain a three-tier system (first, middle and high school). Bournemouth operates a two-tier system; Poole operates two and three-tier systems. BCP is one of the few local authorities in England to maintain selective education, containing four single-sex grammar schools which select pupils on the basis of an eleven-plus examination. Some of the county's schools are academies—self-governing state schools which have become independent of their local education authority and are maintained directly by the Department for Education. In 2017, the Progress 8 score for schools in the Dorset Council area was ranked below average, and 39.6% of pupils gained at least Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs matching the national average of 39.6%. Poole recorded an above average Progress 8 score and 54% of pupils achieved Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs. Bournemouth was ranked as average and 47.8% of pupils achieved Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs.


title: Dorset

text: Dorset contains a range of privately funded independent schools. Many are boarding schools which also take day pupils, such as the co-educational Canford School which is built around a 19th-century Grade I listed manor house; and Sherborne School, a boys' school founded in the 16th century.


title: Dorset

text: Four of the county's five largest towns contain a further education college: Weymouth College, Kingston Maurward College in Dorchester and Bournemouth and Poole College which is one of the largest in the UK. Dorset has two higher education establishments situated in the heart of the county's south east conurbation. Bournemouth University has facilities across Bournemouth and Poole and over 17,000 students. Previously named Bournemouth Polytechnic, it was granted university status as a result of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The Arts University Bournemouth is situated between the border of Poole and Bournemouth. It became a higher education institute in 2001 and was given degree-awarding powers in 2008. It was granted full university status in 2012.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Timothy Tarpeh Weah (born February 22, 2000) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Lille and the United States national team.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah is the son of former professional soccer player, Ballon d'Or winner, and President of Liberia, George Weah. In March 2018, he made his senior debut for Paris Saint-Germain and earned his first senior international cap for the United States.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah was born on February 22, 2000, in Brooklyn, New York, to Liberian George Weah (at the time a professional soccer player) and his Jamaican wife Clar. George Weah was elected as the 25th President of Liberia in 2018, after serving three years in the Senate of Liberia.


title: Timothy Weah

text: He has two older siblings, George Jr. and Tita. He spent his early life in Brooklyn, Valley Stream, New York and Pembroke Pines, Florida. Weah is fluent in English and French and enjoys producing trap soul music. He is close friends with fellow soccer player Tyler Adams. His cousin, Kyle Duncan, is also a professional soccer player for New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer. He has been reported to be related to Liberian-born soccer player Patrick Weah, who was signed to a homegrown player deal by Minnesota United in 2021 at the age of 17, but Patrick Weah has confirmed they are not related.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah was taught soccer by his father and played soccer while in Florida for West Pines United, before moving back to New York and joining the Rosedale Soccer Club in Queens, New York, owned by his uncle. Weah played three seasons with BW Gottschee, a team in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy system, and transferred to the New York Red Bulls Academy in 2013. He had a trial with Chelsea at the age of 13. Weah relocated to France in 2014 to join the Paris Saint-Germain Academy. In his first start with the academy team, he scored a hat-trick in an 8–1 victory for PSG over Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad in the UEFA Youth League.


title: Timothy Weah

text: On July 3, 2017, Weah signed a three-year professional contract with French club Paris Saint-Germain, joining the club that his father had played for in the 1990s. He spent most of the season with the reserves in the Championnat National 2 and the under-19 squad in the UEFA Youth League.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah was named to the first-team squad for a Ligue 1 fixture against Troyes AC on March 3, 2018, while the club's starting forwards were rested for an upcoming Champions League match. He came on as a substitute in the 79th minute of the match and had a goal-scoring opportunity in stoppage time that was saved by the Troyes goalkeeper. Weah made his first start for Paris Saint-Germain in a 0–0 draw against SM Caen on the last day of the Ligue 1 season. Weah scored his first competitive goal for PSG during a 4–0 win against Monaco in the Trophée des Champions on August 4, 2018. He scored his first league goal a week later in the club's season opener, a 3–0 win over Caen.


title: Timothy Weah

text: He joined Celtic on a six-month loan on January 7, 2019, and said that he was "in love" with the club. He made his debut on January 19 as a 69th-minute substitute for Scott Sinclair in a Scottish Cup fourth round match at home to Airdrieonians and scored in a 3–0 win. Weah's second goal for Celtic, and his first in the league, came in a 4–0 victory over St. Mirren on January 23, 2019. In February 2019 he was added to Celtic's Europa League squad. With Celtic, he won the Scottish Premiership and the team advanced to the Scottish Cup final. Weah's loan spell at Celtic was terminated early by the club in May 2019 after he was selected to the US squad for the Under-20 World Cup, causing him to miss the Scottish Cup final.


title: Timothy Weah

text: On June 29, 2019, Weah signed a five-year contract with Lille, starting on July 1. He made his debut on August 11, starting in a 2–1 home win over Nantes. He played 68 minutes before being substituted for Yusuf Yazıcı. Weah made three appearances for Lille throughout the 2019–20 season, however, he missed most of the season due to injury; Weah suffered two hamstring injuries that kept him out of the bulk of the Ligue 1 season. The first injury occurred in a game against Amiens SC, keeping him out for six months, then the second occurred during his first match back with the team in a game against Olympique de Marseille.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah made his return from injury during the 2020–21 Ligue 1 season, during Lille's second match of the season. He came on in the 79th minute of the game against Stade de Reims for Burak Yılmaz and played 16 minutes. On the next Europa League matchday, Weah started and scored his first goal for Lille in a 3–2 loss against his former club Celtic. On December 16, he came on as a substitute against Dijon FCO and scored his first Ligue 1 goal for Lille, capping off a 2–0 victory.


title: Timothy Weah

text: In addition to the United States, Weah was eligible to represent France, Jamaica, and Liberia, through residency and his parents' citizenships. Weah stated that his decision to represent the United States "wasn't hard at all" and was based on his love of the country and his teammates. He reportedly turned down offers from the French Football Federation to join the French program.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah has represented the United States on several youth national teams, beginning with a call-up to train with the under-14 team in 2012. Weah was selected to join the under-15 team at the Tournament delle Nazioni in Italy, scoring the winning goal in the final against Austria.


title: Timothy Weah

text: He was called up to the under-17 team, under the management of former under-15 coach John Hackworth, in December 2015 for a series of friendlies in Florida. Weah joined the team for the Montaigu Tournament, which the United States won after he scored in the final against hosts France. At another set of friendlies in Florida, Weah made three substitute appearances and scored twice. He was part of the under-17 squad that finished second in the 2017 CONCACAF U-17 Championship, scoring two goals.


title: Timothy Weah

text: He was selected to represent the United States at the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup in India. In the team's first knockout stage match, Weah scored a hat-trick in a 5–0 victory over Paraguay. The hat-trick was the first one recorded by a United States men's national team player at any level during the knockout stages of a World Cup and the fifth overall for any American male player at a World Cup.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah was named in the United States squad for the 2019 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Poland. He scored twice during the tournament, against Qatar in the group stage to qualify for the knockout stage, and against Ecuador in their quarterfinal defeat.


title: Timothy Weah

text: Weah made his full debut for the senior national team in a 1–0 friendly win against Paraguay on March 27, 2018, entering the match as a substitute for fellow debutant Marky Delgado in the 86th minute. He was the first player born in the 2000s to earn a senior cap for the United States. During a friendly against Bolivia on May 28, 2018, his first international start, Weah scored his first international goal and became the fourth-youngest player to score for the United States, ahead of Josh Sargent, who scored his first earlier in the match. Weah scored against Wales in the U.S.'s 1-1 tie in the group stage at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.


title: Mosque

text: A mosque (; from , ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers (sujud) are performed, including outdoor courtyards.


title: Mosque

text: The first mosques were simple places of prayer for Muslims, and may have been open spaces rather than buildings. In the first stage of Islamic architecture, 650-750 CE, early mosques comprised open and closed covered spaces enclosed by walls, often with minarets from which calls to prayer were issued. Mosque buildings typically contain an ornamental niche ("mihrab") set into the wall that indicates the direction of Mecca ("qiblah"), ablution facilities. The pulpit ("minbar"), from which the Friday (jumu'ah) sermon ("khutba") is delivered, was in earlier times characteristic of the central city mosque, but has since become common in smaller mosques. Mosques typically have segregated spaces for men and women. This basic pattern of organization has assumed different forms depending on the region, period and denomination.


title: Mosque

text: Mosques commonly serve as locations for prayer, Ramadan vigils, funeral services, marriage and business agreements, alms collection and distribution, as well as homeless shelters. Historically, mosques have served as a community center, a court of law, and a religious school. In modern times, they have also preserved their role as places of religious instruction and debate. Special importance is accorded to the Great Mosque of Mecca (centre of the hajj), the Prophet's Mosque in Medina (burial place of Muhammad) and Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem (believed to be the site of Muhammad's ascent to heaven).


title: Mosque

text: With the spread of Islam, mosques multiplied across the Islamic world. Sometimes churches and temples were converted into mosques, which influenced Islamic architectural styles. While most pre-modern mosques were funded by charitable endowments, increasing government regulation of large mosques has been countered by a rise of privately funded mosques, many of which serve as bases for different Islamic revivalist currents and social activism. Mosques have played a number of political roles. The rates of mosque attendance vary widely depending on the region.


title: Mosque

text: The word 'mosque' entered the English language from the French word "mosquée", probably derived from Italian "moschea" (a variant of Italian "moscheta"), from either Middle Armenian մզկիթ ("mzkit‘"), Medieval ("masgídion"), or Spanish "mezquita", from (meaning "site of prostration (in prayer)" and hence a place of worship), either from Nabataean "masgdhā́" or from Arabic (meaning "to bow down in prayer"), probably ultimately from Nabataean Arabic "masgdhā́" or Aramaic "sghēdh".


title: Mosque

text: According to Islamic scholars and history, Islam was established in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad in the 7th century CE, and so did architectural components such as the mosque. In this case, either the Mosque of the Companions in the Eritrean city of Massawa, or the Quba Mosque in the Hejazi city of Medina (the first structure built by Muhammad upon his emigration from Mecca in 622 CE), would be the first mosque that was built in the history of Islam.


title: Mosque

text: Other scholars reference Islamic tradition and passages of the Quran, according to which Islam as a religion precedes Muhammad, and includes previous prophets such as Abraham. In Islamic tradition, Abraham is credited with having built the "Ka'bah" ('Cube') in Mecca, and consequently its sanctuary, "Al-Masjid Al-Haram" (The Sacred Mosque), which is seen by Muslims as the first mosque that existed. A Hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari states that the sanctuary of the "Kaaba" was the first mosque on Earth, with the second mosque being Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which is also associated with Abraham. Since as early as 638 CE, the Sacred Mosque of Mecca has been expanded on several occasions to accommodate the increasing number of Muslims who either live in the area or make the annual pilgrimage known as "Hajj" to the city.


title: Mosque

text: Either way, after the Quba Mosque, Muhammad went on to establish another mosque in Medina, which is now known as "Al-Masjid an-Nabawi" (The Prophet's Mosque). Built on the site of his home, Muhammad participated in the construction of the mosque himself and helped pioneer the concept of the mosque as the focal point of the Islamic city. The Prophet's mosque introduced some of the features still common in today's mosques, including the niche at the front of the prayer space known as the "mihrab" and the tiered pulpit called the "minbar". The mosque was also constructed with a large courtyard, a motif common among mosques built since then.


title: Mosque

text: The Great Mosque of Kairouan in present-day Tunisia was the first mosque built in northwest Africa, with its present form (dating from the ninth century) serving as a model for other Islamic places of worship in the Maghreb. It was the first to incorporate a square minaret (as opposed to the more common circular minaret) and includes naves akin to a basilica. Those features can also be found in Andalusian mosques, including the Grand Mosque of Cordoba, as they tended to reflect the architecture of the Moors instead of their Visigoth predecessors. Still, some elements of Visigothic architecture, like horseshoe arches, were infused into the mosque architecture of Spain and the Maghreb.


title: Mosque

text: The first mosque in East Asia was established in the eighth century in Xi'an. The Great Mosque of Xi'an, whose current building dates from the 18th century, does not replicate the features often associated with mosques elsewhere. Minarets were initially prohibited by the state. Following traditional Chinese architecture, the Great Mosque of Xi'an, like many other mosques in eastern China, resembles a pagoda, with a green roof instead of the yellow roof common on imperial structures in China. Mosques in western China were more likely to incorporate elements, like domes and minarets, traditionally seen in mosques elsewhere.


title: Mosque

text: A similar integration of foreign and local influences could be seen on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Java, where mosques, including the Demak Great Mosque, were first established in the 15th century. Early Javanese mosques took design cues from Hindu, Buddhist, and Chinese architectural influences, with tall timber, multi-level roofs similar to the pagodas of Balinese Hindu temples; the ubiquitous Islamic dome did not appear in Indonesia until the 19th century. In turn, the Javanese style influenced the styles of mosques in Indonesia's Austronesian neighbors—Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines.


title: Mosque

text: Muslim empires were instrumental in the evolution and spread of mosques. Although mosques were first established in India during the seventh century, they were not commonplace across the subcontinent until the arrival of the Mughals in the 16th and 17th centuries. Reflecting their Timurid origins, Mughal-style mosques included onion domes, pointed arches, and elaborate circular minarets, features common in the Persian and Central Asian styles. The Jama Masjid in Delhi and the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, built in a similar manner in the mid-17th century, remain two of the largest mosques on the Indian subcontinent.


title: Mosque

text: The Umayyad Caliphate was particularly instrumental in spreading Islam and establishing mosques within the Levant, as the Umayyads constructed among the most revered mosques in the region — Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, and the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. The designs of the Dome of the Rock and the Umayyad Mosque were influenced by Byzantine architecture, a trend that continued with the rise of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Mosque

text: Several of the early mosques in the Ottoman Empire were originally churches or cathedrals from the Byzantine Empire, with the Hagia Sophia (one of those converted cathedrals) informing the architecture of mosques from after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople. Still, the Ottomans developed their own architectural style characterized by large central rotundas (sometimes surrounded by multiple smaller domes), pencil-shaped minarets, and open facades.


title: Mosque

text: Mosques from the Ottoman period are still scattered across Eastern Europe, but the most rapid growth in the number of mosques in Europe has occurred within the past century as more Muslims have migrated to the continent. Many major European cities are home to mosques, like the Grand Mosque of Paris, that incorporate domes, minarets, and other features often found with mosques in Muslim-majority countries. The first mosque in North America was founded by Albanian Americans in 1915, but the continent's oldest surviving mosque, the Mother Mosque of America, was built in 1934. As in Europe, the number of American mosques has rapidly increased in recent decades as Muslim immigrants, particularly from South Asia, have come in the United States. Greater than forty percent of mosques in the United States were constructed after 2000.


title: Mosque

text: According to early Muslim historians, towns that surrendered without resistance and made treaties with the Muslims were allowed to retain their churches and the towns captured by Muslims had many of their churches converted to mosques. One of the earliest examples of these kinds of conversions was in Damascus, Syria, where in 705 Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I bought the church of St. John from the Christians and had it rebuilt as a mosque in exchange for building a number of new churches for the Christians in Damascus. Overall, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Al-Waleed's father) is said to have transformed 10 churches in Damascus into mosques.


title: Mosque

text: The process of turning churches into mosques were especially intensive in the villages where most of the inhabitants converted to Islam. The Abbasid caliph al-Ma'mun turned many churches into mosques. Ottoman Turks converted nearly all churches, monasteries, and chapels in Constantinople, including the famous Hagia Sophia, into mosques immediately after capturing the city in 1453. In some instances mosques have been established on the places of Jewish or Christian sanctuaries associated with Biblical personalities who were also recognized by Islam.


title: Mosque

text: Mosques have also been converted for use by other religions, notably in southern Spain, following the conquest of the Moors in 1492. The most prominent of them is the Great Mosque of Cordoba, itself constructed on the site of a church demolished during the period of Muslim rule. Outside of the Iberian Peninsula, such instances also occurred in southeastern Europe once regions were no longer under Muslim rule.


title: Mosque

text: The "masjid jāmiʿ" (), a central mosque, can play a role in religious activities such as teaching the Quran and educating future imams.


title: Mosque

text: There are two holidays ("Eids") in the Islamic calendar: "ʿĪd al-Fiṭr" and "ʿĪd al-Aḍḥā", during which there are special prayers held at mosques in the morning. These Eid prayers are supposed to be offered in large groups, and so, in the absence of an outdoor "Eidgah", a large mosque will normally host them for their congregants as well as the congregants of smaller local mosques. Some mosques will even rent convention centers or other large public buildings to hold the large number of Muslims who attend. Mosques, especially those in countries where Muslims are the majority, will also host Eid prayers outside in courtyards, town squares or on the outskirts of town in an "Eidgah".


title: Mosque

text: Islam's holiest month, "Ramaḍān", is observed through many events. As Muslims must fast during the day during Ramadan, mosques will host "Ifṭār" dinners after sunset and the fourth required prayer of the day, that is "Maghrib". Food is provided, at least in part, by members of the community, thereby creating daily potluck dinners. Because of the community contribution necessary to serve "iftar" dinners, mosques with smaller congregations may not be able to host the "iftar" dinners daily. Some mosques will also hold "Suḥūr" meals before dawn to congregants attending the first required prayer of the day, "Fajr". As with iftar dinners, congregants usually provide the food for suhoor, although able mosques may provide food instead. Mosques will often invite poorer members of the Muslim community to share in beginning and breaking the fasts, as providing charity during Ramadan is regarded in Islam as especially honorable.


title: Mosque

text: Following the last obligatory daily prayer ("ʿIshāʾ") special, optional "Tarāwīḥ" prayers are offered in larger mosques. During each night of prayers, which can last for up to two hours each night, usually one member of the community who has memorized the entire Quran (a Hafiz) will recite a segment of the book. Sometimes, several such people (not necessarily of the local community) take turns to do this. During the last ten days of Ramadan, larger mosques will host all-night programs to observe "Laylat al-Qadr", the night Muslims believe that Muhammad first received Quranic revelations. On that night, between sunset and sunrise, mosques employ speakers to educate congregants in attendance about Islam. Mosques or the community usually provide meals periodically throughout the night


title: Mosque

text: During the last ten days of Ramadan, larger mosques within the Muslim community will host "Iʿtikāf", a practice in which at least one Muslim man from the community must participate. Muslims performing itikaf are required to stay within the mosque for ten consecutive days, often in worship or learning about Islam. As a result, the rest of the Muslim community is responsible for providing the participants with food, drinks, and whatever else they need during their stay.


title: Mosque

text: The third of the Five Pillars of Islam states that Muslims are required to give approximately one-fortieth of their wealth to charity as "Zakat". Since mosques form the center of Muslim communities, they are where Muslims go to both give "zakat" and, if necessary, collect it. Before the holiday of "Eid ul-Fitr", mosques also collect a special "zakat" that is supposed to assist in helping poor Muslims attend the prayers and celebrations associated with the holiday.


title: Mosque

text: The frequency by which Muslims attend mosque services vary greatly around the world. In some countries, weekly attendance at religious services are common among Muslims while in others, attendance is rare. A study of American Muslims did not find differences in mosque attendance by gender or age.


title: Mosque

text: "Arab-plan" or hypostyle mosques are the earliest type of mosques, pioneered under the Umayyad Dynasty. These mosques have square or rectangular plans with an enclosed courtyard ("sahn") and covered prayer hall. Historically, in the warm Middle Eastern and Mediterranean climates, the courtyard served to accommodate the large number of worshippers during Friday prayers. Most early hypostyle mosques had flat roofs on prayer halls, which required the use of numerous columns and supports. One of the most notable hypostyle mosques is the Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain, the building being supported by over 850 columns. Frequently, hypostyle mosques have outer arcades ("riwaq") so that visitors can enjoy the shade. Arab-plan mosques were constructed mostly under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. The simplicity of the Arab plan limited the opportunities for further development, the mosques consequently losing popularity.


title: Mosque

text: The first departure within mosque design started in Persia (Iran). The Persians had inherited a rich architectural legacy from the earlier Persian dynasties, and they began incorporating elements from earlier Parthian and Sassanid designs into their mosques, influenced by buildings such as the Palace of Ardashir and the Sarvestan Palace. Thus, Islamic architecture witnessed the introduction of such structures as domes and large, arched entrances, referred to as "iwans". During Seljuq rule, as Islamic mysticism was on the rise, the four-iwan arrangement took form. The four-iwan format, finalized by the Seljuqs, and later inherited by the Safavids, firmly established the courtyard façade of such mosques, with the towering gateways at every side, as more important than the actual buildings themselves. They typically took the form of a square-shaped central courtyard with large entrances at each side, giving the impression of gateways to the spiritual world. The Persians also introduced Persian gardens into mosque designs. Soon, a distinctly Persian style of mosques started appearing that would significantly influence the designs of later Timurid, and also Mughal, mosque designs.


title: Mosque

text: The Ottomans introduced central dome mosques in the 15th century. These mosques have a large dome centered over the prayer hall. In addition to having a large central dome, a common feature is smaller domes that exist off-center over the prayer hall or throughout the rest of the mosque, where prayer is not performed. This style was heavily influenced by Byzantine architecture with its use of large central domes.


title: Mosque

text: Mosques built in Southeast Asia often represent the Indonesian-Javanese style architecture, which are different from the ones found throughout the Greater Middle East. The ones found in Europe and North America appear to have various styles but most are built on Western architectural designs, some are former churches or other buildings that were used by non-Muslims. In Africa, most mosques are old but the new ones are built in imitation of those of the Middle East. This can be seen in the Abuja National Mosque in Nigeria and others.


title: Mosque

text: Islam forbids figurative art, on the grounds that the artist must not imitate God's creation. Mosques are, therefore, decorated with abstract patterns and beautiful inscriptions. Decoration is often concentrated around doorways and the "miḥrāb". Tiles are used widely in mosques. They lend themselves to pattern-making, can be made with beautiful subtle colors, and can create a cool atmosphere, an advantage in the hot Arab countries. Quotations from the Quran often adorn mosque interiors. These texts are meant to inspire people by their beauty, while also reminding them of the words of Allah.


title: Mosque

text: The prayer hall, also known as the "muṣallá" (), rarely has furniture; chairs and pews are generally absent from the prayer hall so as to allow as many worshipers as possible to line the room. Some mosques have Islamic calligraphy and Quranic verses on the walls to assist worshippers in focusing on the beauty of Islam and its holiest book, the Quran, as well as for decoration.


title: Mosque

text: Often, a limited part of the prayer hall is sanctified formally as a masjid in the sharia sense (although the term masjid is also used for the larger mosque complex as well). Once designated, there are onerous limitations on the use of this formally designated masjid, and it may not be used for any purpose other than worship; restrictions that do not necessarily apply to the rest of the prayer area, and to the rest of the mosque complex (although such uses may be restricted by the conditions of the "waqf" that owns the mosque).


title: Mosque

text: In many mosques, especially the early congregational mosques, the prayer hall is in the hypostyle form (the roof held up by a multitude of columns). One of the finest examples of the hypostyle-plan mosques is the Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba) in Tunisia.


title: Mosque

text: Usually opposite the entrance to the prayer hall is the "qiblah" wall, the visually emphasized area inside the prayer hall. The qiblah wall should, in a properly oriented mosque, be set perpendicular to a line leading to Mecca, the location of the Kaaba. Congregants pray in rows parallel to the qiblah wall and thus arrange themselves so they face Mecca. In the qiblah wall, usually at its center, is the mihrab, a niche or depression indicating the direction of Mecca. Usually the mihrab is not occupied by furniture either. A raised "minbar" or pulpit is located to the right side of the mihrab for a "Khaṭīb", or some other speaker, to offer a "Khuṭbah" (Sermon) during Friday prayers. The mihrab serves as the location where the imam leads the five daily prayers on a regular basis.


title: Mosque

text: Left to the mihrab, in the front left corner of the mosque, sometimes there is a "kursu" (Turkish , Bosnian ""), a small elevated plateau (rarely with a chair or other type of seat) used for less formal preaching and speeches.


title: Mosque

text: Women who pray in mosques are separated from men there. Their part for prayer is called "makhphil" or "maqfil" (Bosnian ""). It is located above the main prayer hall, elevated in the background as stairs-separated gallery or plateau (surface-shortened to the back relative to the bottom main part). It usually has a perforated fence at the front, through which imam (and male prayers in the main hall) can be partially seen. Makhphil is completely used by men when Jumu'ah is practised (due to lack of space).


title: Mosque

text: A "miḥrāb", also spelled as "mehrab" is a semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that faces the "qiblah" (i.e. the "front" of the mosque); the imam stands in this niche and leads prayer. Given that the imam typically stands alone in the frontmost row, this niche's practical effect is to save unused space. The "minbar" is a pulpit from which the Friday sermon is delivered. While the "minbar" of Muhammad was a simple chair, later it became larger and attracted artistic attention. Some remained made of wood, albeit exquisitely carved, while others were made of marble and featured friezes.


title: Mosque

text: A common feature in mosques is the minaret, the tall, slender tower that usually is situated at one of the corners of the mosque structure. The top of the minaret is always the highest point in mosques that have one, and often the highest point in the immediate area. The tallest minaret in the world is located at the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco. It has a height of and completed in 1993, it was designed by Michel Pinseau. The first minaret was constructed in 665 in Basra during the reign of the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I. Muawiyah encouraged the construction of minarets, as they were supposed to bring mosques on par with Christian churches with their bell towers. Consequently, mosque architects borrowed the shape of the bell tower for their minarets, which were used for essentially the same purpose—calling the faithful to prayer. The oldest standing minaret in the world is the minaret of the Great Mosque of Kairouan in Tunisia, built between the eighth and the ninth century, it is a massive square tower consisting of three superimposed tiers of gradual size and decor.


title: Mosque

text: Before the five required daily prayers, a "Mu’adhdhin" () calls the worshippers to prayer from the minaret. In many countries like Singapore where Muslims are not the majority, mosques are prohibited from loudly broadcasting the "Adhān" (, Call to Prayer), although it is supposed to be said loudly to the surrounding community. The "adhan" is required before every prayer. Nearly every mosque assigns a "muezzin" for each prayer to say the "adhan" as it is a recommended practice or "Sunnah" () of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. At mosques that do not have minarets, the "adhan" is called instead from inside the mosque or somewhere else on the ground. The "Iqâmah" (), which is similar to the "adhan" and proclaimed right before the commencement of prayers, is usually not proclaimed from the minaret even if a mosque has one.


title: Mosque

text: The domes, often placed directly above the main prayer hall, may signify the vaults of the heaven and sky. As time progressed, domes grew, from occupying a small part of the roof near the mihrab to encompassing the whole roof above the prayer hall. Although domes normally took on the shape of a hemisphere, the Mughals in India popularized onion-shaped domes in South Asia which has gone on to become characteristic of the Arabic architectural style of dome. Some mosques have multiple, often smaller, domes in addition to the main large dome that resides at the center. The domes of Turkish-style mosques are influenced by Byzantine architecture, particularly from the 15th century onwards as the Balkans and Constantinople became part of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Mosque

text: As ritual purification precedes all prayers, mosques often have ablution fountains or other facilities for washing in their entryways or courtyards. Worshippers at much smaller mosques often have to use restrooms to perform their ablutions. In traditional mosques, this function is often elaborated into a freestanding building in the center of a courtyard. This desire for cleanliness extends to the prayer halls where shoes are disallowed to be worn anywhere other than the cloakroom. Thus, foyers with shelves to put shoes and racks to hold coats are commonplace among mosques.


title: Mosque

text: Modern mosques have a variety of amenities available to their congregants. As mosques are supposed to appeal to the community, they may also have additional facilities, from health clinics and clubs (gyms) to libraries to gymnasiums, to serve the community.


title: Mosque

text: Certain symbols are represented in a mosque's architecture to allude to different aspects of the Islamic religion. One of these feature symbols is the spiral. The "cosmic spiral" found in designs and on minarets is a references to heaven as it has "no beginning and no end". Mosques also often have floral patterns or images of fruit and vegetables. These are allusions to the paradise after death.


title: Mosque

text: Appointment of a prayer leader is considered desirable, but not always obligatory. The permanent prayer leader (imam) must be a free honest individual and is authoritative in religious matters. In mosques constructed and maintained by the government, the prayer leader is appointed by the ruler; in private mosques, appointment is made by members of the congregation through majority voting. According to the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, the individual who built the mosque has a stronger claim to the title of imam, but this view is not shared by the other schools.


title: Mosque

text: Leadership at prayer falls into three categories, depending on the type of prayer: five daily prayers, Friday prayer, or optional prayers. According to the Hanafi and Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, appointment of a prayer leader for Friday service is mandatory because otherwise the prayer is invalid. The Shafi'i and Hanbali schools argue that the appointment is not necessary and the prayer is valid as long as it is performed in a congregation. A slave may lead a Friday prayer, but Muslim authorities disagree over whether the job can be done by a minor. An imam appointed to lead Friday prayers may also lead at the five daily prayers; Muslim scholars agree to the leader appointed for five daily services may lead the Friday service as well.


title: Mosque

text: All Muslim authorities hold the consensus opinion that only men may lead prayer for men. Nevertheless, women prayer leaders are allowed to lead prayer in front of all-female congregations.


title: Mosque

text: All mosques have rules regarding cleanliness, as it is an essential part of the worshippers' experience. Muslims before prayer are required to cleanse themselves in an ablution process known as "wudu". Shoes must not be worn inside the carpeted prayer hall. Some mosques will also extend that rule to include other parts of the facility even if those other locations are not devoted to prayer. Congregants and visitors to mosques are supposed to be clean themselves. It is also undesirable to come to the mosque after eating something that smells, such as garlic.


title: Mosque

text: Islam requires that its adherents wear clothes that portray modesty. Men are supposed to come to the mosque wearing loose and clean clothes that do not reveal the shape of the body. Likewise, it is recommended that women at a mosque wear loose clothing that covers to the wrists and ankles, and cover their heads with a "Ḥijāb" (), or other covering. Many Muslims, regardless of their ethnic background, wear Middle Eastern clothing associated with Arabic Islam to special occasions and prayers at mosques.


title: Mosque

text: As mosques are places of worship, those within the mosque are required to remain respectful to those in prayer. Loud talking within the mosque, as well as discussion of topics deemed disrespectful, is forbidden in areas where people are praying. In addition, it is disrespectful to walk in front of or otherwise disturb Muslims in prayer. The walls within the mosque have few items, except for possibly Islamic calligraphy, so Muslims in prayer are not distracted. Muslims are also discouraged from wearing clothing with distracting images and symbols so as not to divert the attention of those standing behind them during prayer. In many mosques, even the carpeted prayer area has no designs, its plainness helping worshippers to focus.


title: Mosque

text: There is nothing written in the Qur'an about the issue of space in mosques and gender separation. Traditional rules have segregated women and men. By traditional rules, women are most often told to occupy the rows behind the men. In part, this was a practical matter as the traditional posture for prayerkneeling on the floor, head to the groundmade mixed-gender prayer uncomfortably revealing for many women and distracting for some men. Traditionalists try to argue that Muhammad preferred women to pray at home rather than at a mosque, and they cite a "ḥadīth" in which Muhammad supposedly said: "The best mosques for women are the inner parts of their houses," although women were active participants in the mosque started by Muhammad. Muhammad told Muslims not to forbid women from entering mosques. They are allowed to go in. The second Sunni caliph 'Umar at one time prohibited women from attending mosques especially at night because he feared they might be sexually harassed or assaulted by men, so he required them to pray at home. Sometimes a special part of the mosque was railed off for women; for example, the governor of Mecca in 870 had ropes tied between the columns to make a separate place for women.


title: Mosque

text: Many mosques today will put the women behind a barrier or partition or in another room. Mosques in South and Southeast Asia put men and women in separate rooms, as the divisions were built into them centuries ago. In nearly two-thirds of American mosques, women pray behind partitions or in separate areas, not in the main prayer hall; some mosques do not admit women at all due to the lack of space and the fact that some prayers, such as the Friday Jumuʻah, are mandatory for men but optional for women. Although there are sections exclusively for women and children, the Grand Mosque in Mecca is desegregated.


title: Mosque

text: Under most interpretations of "sharia", non-Muslims are permitted to enter mosques provided that they respect the place and the people inside it. A dissenting opinion and minority view is presented by followers of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, who argue that non-Muslims may not be allowed into mosques under any circumstances.


title: Mosque

text: The Quran addresses the subject of non-Muslims, and particularly polytheists, in mosques in two verses in its ninth chapter, Sura At-Tawba. The seventeenth verse of the chapter prohibits those who "join gods with Allah"—polytheists—from maintaining mosques:


title: Mosque

text: The twenty-eighth verse of the same chapter is more specific as it only considers polytheists in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca:


title: Mosque

text: According to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, these verses were followed to the letter at the times of Muhammad, when Jews and Christians, considered monotheists, were still allowed to "Al-Masjid Al-Haram". The Umayyad caliph Umar II later forbade non-Muslims from entering mosques, and his ruling remains in practice in present-day Saudi Arabia. Today, the decision on whether non-Muslims should be allowed to enter mosques varies. With few exceptions, mosques in the Arabian Peninsula as well as Morocco do not allow entry to non-Muslims. For example, the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca is one of only two mosques in Morocco currently open to non-Muslims.


title: Mosque

text: There are many other mosques in the West and Islamic world which non-Muslims are welcome to enter. Most mosques in the United States, for example, report receiving non-Muslim visitors every month. Many mosques throughout the United States welcome non-Muslims as a sign of openness to the rest of the community as well as to encourage conversions to Islam.


title: Mosque

text: In modern-day Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mosque and all of Mecca are open only to Muslims. Likewise, Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi and the city of Medina that surrounds it are also off-limits to those who do not practice Islam. For mosques in other areas, it has most commonly been taken that non-Muslims may only enter mosques if granted permission to do so by Muslims, and if they have a legitimate reason. All entrants regardless of religious affiliation are expected to respect the rules and decorum for mosques.


title: Mosque

text: In modern Turkey, non-Muslim tourists are allowed to enter any mosque, but there are some strict rules. Visiting a mosque is allowed only between prayers; visitors are required to wear long trousers and not to wear shoes, women must cover their heads; visitors are not allowed to interrupt praying Muslims, especially by taking photos of them; no loud talk is allowed; and no references to other religions are allowed (no crosses on necklaces, no cross gestures, etc.) Similar rules apply to mosques in Malaysia, where larger mosques that are also tourist attractions (such as the Masjid Negara) provide robes and headscarves for visitors who are deemed inappropriately attired.


title: Mosque

text: In certain times and places, non-Muslims were expected to behave a certain way in the vicinity of a mosque: in some Moroccan cities, Jews were required to remove their shoes when passing by a mosque; in 18th-century Egypt, Jews and Christians had to dismount before several mosques in veneration of their sanctity.


title: Mosque

text: The association of the mosque with education remained one of its main characteristics throughout history, and the school became an indispensable appendage to the mosque. From the earliest days of Islam, the mosque was the center of the Muslim community, a place for prayer, meditation, religious instruction, political discussion, and a school. Anywhere Islam took hold, mosques were established, and basic religious and educational instruction began.


title: Mosque

text: The late 20th century saw an increase in the number of mosques used for political purposes. While some governments in the Muslim world have attempted to limit the content of Friday sermons to strictly religious topics, there are also independent preachers who deliver "khutbas" that address social and political issues, often in emotionally charged terms. Common themes include social inequalities, necessity of jihad in the face of injustice, and the universal struggle between good and evil. In Islamic countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, political subjects are preached by imams at Friday congregations on a regular basis. Mosques often serve as meeting points for political opposition in times of crisis.


title: Mosque

text: Countries with a minority Muslim population are more likely than Muslim-majority countries of the Greater Middle East to use mosques as a way to promote civic participation. Studies of US Muslims have consistently shown a positive correlation between mosque attendance and political involvement. Some of the research connects civic engagement specifically with mosque attendance for social and religious activities other than prayer. American mosques host voter registration and civic participation drives that promote involving Muslims, who are often first- or second-generation immigrants, in the political process. As a result of these efforts as well as attempts at mosques to keep Muslims informed about the issues facing the Muslim community, regular mosque attendants are more likely to participate in protests, sign petitions, and otherwise be involved in politics. Research on Muslim civic engagement in other Western countries "is less conclusive but seems to indicate similar trends".


title: Mosque

text: As they are considered important to the Muslim community, mosques, like other places of worship, can be at the heart of social conflicts. The Babri Mosque in India was the subject of such a conflict up until the early 1990s when it was demolished. Before a mutual solution could be devised, the mosque was destroyed on December 6, 1992, as the mosque was built by Babur allegedly on the site of a previous Hindu temple marking the birthplace of Rama. The controversy surrounded the mosque was directly linked to rioting in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) as well as bombings in 1993 that killed 257 people.


title: Mosque

text: Bombings in February 2006 and June 2007 seriously damaged Iraq's al-Askari Mosque and exacerbated existing tensions. Other mosque bombings in Iraq, both before and after the February 2006 bombing, have been part of the conflict between the country's groups of Muslims. In June 2005, a suicide bombing killed at least 19 people at an Afghan Shia mosque near Jade Maivand. In April 2006, two explosions occurred at India's Jama Masjid. Following the al-Askari Mosque bombing in Iraq, imams and other Islamic leaders used mosques and Friday prayers as vehicles to call for calm and peace in the midst of widespread violence.


title: Mosque

text: A study 2005 indicated that while support for suicide bombings is not correlated with personal devotion to Islam among Palestinian Muslims, it is correlated with mosque attendance because "participating in communal religious rituals of any kind likely encourages support for self-sacrificing behaviors that are done for the collective good."


title: Mosque

text: Following the September 11 attacks, several American mosques were targeted in attacks ranging from simple vandalism to arson. Furthermore, the Jewish Defense League was suspected of plotting to bomb the King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California. Similar attacks occurred throughout the United Kingdom following the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Outside the Western world, in June 2001, the Hassan Bek Mosque was the target of vandalism and attacks by hundreds of Israelis after a suicide bomber killed 19 people in a night club in Tel Aviv. Although mosquegoing is highly encouraged for men, it is permitted to stay at home when one feels at risk from Islamophobic persecution.


title: Mosque

text: Although the Saudi involvement in Sunni mosques around the world can be traced back to the 1960s, it was not until later in the 20th century that the government of Saudi Arabia became a large influence in foreign Sunni mosques. Beginning in the 1980s, the Saudi Arabian government began to finance the construction of Sunni mosques in countries around the world. An estimated US$45 billion has been spent by the Saudi Arabian government financing mosques and Sunni Islamic schools in foreign countries. "Ain al-Yaqeen", a Saudi newspaper, reported in 2002 that Saudi funds may have contributed to building as many as 1,500 mosques and 2,000 other Islamic centers.


title: Mosque

text: Saudi citizens have also contributed significantly to mosques in the Islamic world, especially in countries where they see Muslims as poor and oppressed. Following the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1992, mosques in war-torn Afghanistan saw many contributions from Saudi citizens. The King Fahd Mosque in Culver City, California and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy in Rome represent two of Saudi Arabia's largest investments in foreign mosques as former Saudi king Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud contributed US$8 million and US$50 million to the two mosques, respectively.


title: Mosque

text: In the western world, and in the United States in particular, anti-Muslim sentiment and targeted domestic policy has created challenges for mosques and those looking to build them. There has been government and police surveillance of mosques in the US and local attempts to ban mosques and block constructions, despite data showing that in fact, most Americans opposing banning the building of mosques (79%) and the surveillance of U.S. mosques (63%) as shown in a 2018 study done by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.


title: Mosque

text: Since 2017, Chinese authorities have destroyed or damaged two-thirds of the mosques in China's Xinjiang province. Ningxia officials were notified on 3 August 2018 that the Weizhou Grand Mosque would be forcibly demolished because it had not received the proper permits before construction. Officials in the town said that the mosque had not been given proper building permits, because it is built in a Middle Eastern style and includes numerous domes and minarets. The residents of Weizhou alarmed each other through social media and finally stopped the mosque destruction by public demonstrations.


title: American Airlines fleet

text: The American Airlines fleet is the largest in the world, comprising 930 mainline aircraft from both Boeing and Airbus. American Airlines is currently in the process of the largest fleet renewal in its history, with an additional 159 aircraft on order from Airbus and Boeing.


title: American Airlines fleet

text: Over 80% of American's aircraft are narrow-bodies, mainly Airbus A320 family and the Boeing 737 family. It is the largest A320 family aircraft operator in the world, as well as the largest operator of the A319 and A321 variants. It is the fourth-largest operator of 737 family aircraft and second-largest operator of the 737-800 variant.


title: American Airlines fleet

text: American's wide-body aircraft are all Boeing airliners. It is the third-largest operator of the Boeing 787 series and the sixth-largest operator of the Boeing 777 series.


title: American Airlines fleet

text: American exclusively ordered Boeing aircraft throughout the 2000s. This strategy shifted on July 20, 2011, when American announced the largest combined aircraft order in history for 460 narrow-body jets including 260 aircraft from the Airbus A320 family. Additional Airbus aircraft joined the fleet in 2013 during the US Airways merger, which operated a nearly all Airbus fleet.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide, sometimes called prussic acid, is a chemical compound with the formula HCN and structure . It is a colorless, extremely poisonous, and flammable liquid that boils slightly above room temperature, at . HCN is produced on an industrial scale and is a highly valued precursor to many chemical compounds ranging from polymers to pharmaceuticals. Large-scale applications are for the production of potassium cyanide and adiponitrile, used in mining and plastics, respectively. It is more toxic than solid cyanide compounds due to its volatile nature.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide is a linear molecule, with a triple bond between carbon and nitrogen. The tautomer of HCN is HNC, hydrogen isocyanide.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide is weakly acidic with a p"K" of 9.2. It partially ionizes in water solution to give the cyanide anion, CN. A solution of hydrogen cyanide in water, represented as HCN, is called "hydrocyanic acid". The salts of the cyanide anion are known as cyanides.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN has a faint bitter almond–like odor that some people are unable to detect owing to a recessive genetic trait. The volatile compound has been used as inhalation rodenticide and human poison, as well as for killing whales. Cyanide ions interfere with iron-containing respiratory enzymes.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide will react with alkenes under catalysis of nickel complexes. This reaction is called hydrocyanation.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Four molecules of HCN will tetramerize into diaminomaleonitrile, which can be converted to various purines.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide was first isolated from a blue pigment (Prussian blue) which had been known since 1706, but whose structure was unknown. It is now known to be a coordination polymer with a complex structure and an empirical formula of hydrated ferric ferrocyanide. In 1752, the French chemist Pierre Macquer made the important step of showing that Prussian blue could be converted to an iron oxide plus a volatile component and that these could be used to reconstitute it. The new component was what is now known as hydrogen cyanide. Following Macquer's lead, it was first prepared from Prussian blue by the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1782, and was eventually given the German name "Blausäure" ("lit". "Blue acid") because of its acidic nature in water and its derivation from Prussian blue. In English, it became known popularly as "prussic acid."


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: In 1787, the French chemist Claude Louis Berthollet showed that prussic acid did not contain oxygen, an important contribution to acid theory, which had hitherto postulated that acids must contain oxygen (hence the name of oxygen itself, which is derived from Greek elements that mean "acid-former" and are likewise calqued into German as "Sauerstoff"). In 1811, Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac prepared pure, liquified hydrogen cyanide. In 1815, Gay-Lussac deduced Prussic acid's chemical formula. The radical "cyanide" in hydrogen cyanide was given its name from cyan, not only an English word for a shade of blue but the Greek word for blue (), again owing to its derivation from Prussian blue.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide forms in at least limited amounts from many combinations of hydrogen, carbon, and ammonia. Hydrogen cyanide is currently produced in great quantities by several processes, as well as being a recovered waste product from the manufacture of acrylonitrile. In 2006, between 500 million and 1 billion pounds (between 230,000 and 450,000 t) were produced in the US.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: The most important process is the Andrussow oxidation invented by Leonid Andrussow at IG Farben in which methane and ammonia react in the presence of oxygen at about over a platinum catalyst:


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Of lesser importance is the Degussa process (BMA process) in which no oxygen is added and the energy must be transferred indirectly through the reactor wall:


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: This reaction is akin to steam reforming, the reaction of methane and water to give carbon monoxide and hydrogen.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: In the laboratory, small amounts of HCN are produced by the addition of acids to cyanide salts of alkali metals:


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: This reaction is sometimes the basis of accidental poisonings because the acid converts a nonvolatile cyanide salt into the gaseous HCN.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: The large demand for cyanides for mining operations in the 1890s was met by George Thomas Beilby, who patented a method to produce hydrogen cyanide by passing ammonia over glowing coal in 1892. This method was used until Hamilton Castner in 1894 developed a synthesis starting from coal, ammonia, and sodium yielding sodium cyanide, which reacts with acid to form gaseous HCN.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN is the precursor to sodium cyanide and potassium cyanide, which are used mainly in gold and silver mining and for the electroplating of those metals. Via the intermediacy of cyanohydrins, a variety of useful organic compounds are prepared from HCN including the monomer methyl methacrylate, from acetone, the amino acid methionine, via the Strecker synthesis, and the chelating agents EDTA and NTA. Via the hydrocyanation process, HCN is added to butadiene to give adiponitrile, a precursor to Nylon-6,6.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN is used globally as a fumigant against many species of pest insect that infest food production facilities. Both its efficacy and method of application lead to very small amounts of the fumigant being used compared to other toxic substances used for the same purpose. Using HCN as a fumigant also has minimal environmental impact, compared to similar structural fumigant molecules such as sulfuryl fluoride, and methyl bromide.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN is obtainable from fruits that have a pit, such as cherries, apricots, apples, and bitter almonds, from which almond oil and flavoring are made. Many of these pits contain small amounts of cyanohydrins such as mandelonitrile and amygdalin, which slowly release hydrogen cyanide. One hundred grams of crushed apple seeds can yield about 70 mg of HCN. So-called "bitter" roots of the cassava plant may contain up to 1 gram of HCN per kilogram. Some millipedes, such as "Harpaphe haydeniana", "Desmoxytes purpurosea", and "Apheloria" release hydrogen cyanide as a defense mechanism, as do certain insects, such as burnet moths and the larvae of "Paropsisterna eucalyptus". Hydrogen cyanide is contained in the exhaust of vehicles, and in smoke from burning nitrogen-containing plastics.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN has been measured in Titan's atmosphere by four instruments on the Cassini space probe, one instrument on Voyager, and one instrument on Earth. One of these measurements was "in situ", where the Cassini spacecraft dipped between above Titan's surface to collect atmospheric gas for mass spectrometry analysis. HCN initially forms in Titan's atmosphere through the reaction of photochemically produced methane and nitrogen radicals which proceed through the HCN intermediate, e.g., (CH + N → HCN + H → HCN + H). Ultraviolet radiation breaks HCN up into CN + H; however, CN is efficiently recycled back into HCN via the reaction CN + CH → HCN + CH.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: It has been postulated that carbon from a cascade of asteroids (known as the Late Heavy Bombardment), resulting from interaction of Jupiter and Saturn, blasted the surface of young Earth and reacted with nitrogen in Earth's atmosphere to form HCN.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Some authors have shown that neurons can produce hydrogen cyanide upon activation of their opioid receptors by endogenous or exogenous opioids. They have also shown that neuronal production of HCN activates NMDA receptors and plays a role in signal transduction between neuronal cells (neurotransmission). Moreover, increased endogenous neuronal HCN production under opioids was seemingly needed for adequate opioid analgesia, as analgesic action of opioids was attenuated by HCN scavengers. They considered endogenous HCN to be a neuromodulator.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: It has also been shown that, while stimulating muscarinic cholinergic receptors in cultured pheochromocytoma cells "increases" HCN production, in a living organism ("in vivo") muscarinic cholinergic stimulation actually "decreases" HCN production.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Leukocytes generate HCN during phagocytosis, and can kill bacteria, fungi, and other pathogens by generating several different toxic chemicals, one of which is hydrogen cyanide.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: The vasodilatation caused by sodium nitroprusside has been shown to be mediated not only by NO generation, but also by endogenous cyanide generation, which adds not only toxicity, but also some additional antihypertensive efficacy compared to nitroglycerine and other non-cyanogenic nitrates which do not cause blood cyanide levels to rise.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide has been discussed as a precursor to amino acids and nucleic acids, and is proposed to have played a part in the origin of life. Although the relationship of these chemical reactions to the origin of life theory remains speculative, studies in this area have led to discoveries of new pathways to organic compounds derived from the condensation of HCN (e.g. Adenine).


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN has been detected in the interstellar medium and in the atmospheres of carbon stars. Since then, extensive studies have probed formation and destruction pathways of HCN in various environments and examined its use as a tracer for a variety of astronomical species and processes. HCN can be observed from ground-based telescopes through a number of atmospheric windows. The J=1→0, J=3→2, J= 4→3, and J=10→9 pure rotational transitions have all been observed.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN is formed in interstellar clouds through one of two major pathways: via a neutral-neutral reaction (CH + N → HCN + H) and via dissociative recombination (HCNH + e → HCN + H). The dissociative recombination pathway is dominant by 30%; however, the HCNH must be in its linear form. Dissociative recombination with its structural isomer, HNC, exclusively produces hydrogen isocyanide (HNC).


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: HCN is destroyed in interstellar clouds through a number of mechanisms depending on the location in the cloud. In photon-dominated regions (PDRs), photodissociation dominates, producing CN (HCN + ν → CN + H). At further depths, photodissociation by cosmic rays dominate, producing CN (HCN + cr → CN + H). In the dark core, two competing mechanisms destroy it, forming HCN and HCNH (HCN + H → HCN + H; HCN + HCO → HCNH + CO). The reaction with HCO dominates by a factor of ~3.5. HCN has been used to analyze a variety of species and processes in the interstellar medium. It has been suggested as a tracer for dense molecular gas and as a tracer of stellar inflow in high-mass star-forming regions. Further, the HNC/HCN ratio has been shown to be an excellent method for distinguishing between PDRs and X-ray-dominated regions (XDRs).


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: On 11 August 2014, astronomers released studies, using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) for the first time, that detailed the distribution of HCN, HNC, HCO, and dust inside the comae of comets C/2012 F6 (Lemmon) and C/2012 S1 (ISON).


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: In February 2016, it was announced that traces of hydrogen cyanide were found in the atmosphere of the hot Super-Earth 55 Cancri e with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: In World War I, hydrogen cyanide was used by the French from 1916 as a chemical weapon against the Central Powers, and by the United States and Italy in 1918. It was not found to be effective enough due to weather conditions. The gas is lighter than air and rapidly disperses up into the atmosphere. Rapid dilution made its use in the field impractical. In contrast, denser agents such as phosgene or chlorine tended to remain at ground level and sank into the trenches of the Western Front's battlefields. Compared to such agents, hydrogen cyanide had to be present in higher concentrations in order to be fatal.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: A hydrogen cyanide concentration of 100–200 ppm in breathing air will kill a human within 10 to 60 minutes. A hydrogen cyanide concentration of 2000 ppm (about 2380 mg/m) will kill a human in about one minute. The toxic effect is caused by the action of the cyanide ion, which halts cellular respiration. It acts as a non-competitive inhibitor for an enzyme in mitochondria called cytochrome c oxidase. As such, hydrogen cyanide is commonly listed among chemical weapons as a blood agent.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: The Chemical Weapons Convention lists it under Schedule 3 as a potential weapon which has large-scale industrial uses. Signatory countries must declare manufacturing plants that produce more than 30 metric tons per year, and allow inspection by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Perhaps its most infamous use is (German: "Cyclone B", with the B standing for – prussic acid; also, to distinguish it from an earlier product later known as Zyklon A), used in Nazi German extermination camps during World War II to kill "en masse" as part of their Final Solution genocide program. Hydrogen cyanide was also used in the camps for delousing clothing in attempts to eradicate diseases carried by lice and other parasites. One of the original Czech producers continued making Zyklon B under the trademark "Uragan D2" until around 2015.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: During World War II, the US considered using it, along with cyanogen chloride, as part of Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of Japan, but President Harry Truman decided against it, instead using the atomic bombs developed by the secret Manhattan Project.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide was also the agent employed in judicial execution in some U.S. states, where it was produced during the execution by the action of sulfuric acid on sodium or potassium cyanide.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Under the name "prussic acid", HCN has been used as a killing agent in whaling harpoons, although it proved quite dangerous to the crew deploying it, and it was quickly abandoned. From the middle of the 18th century it was used in a number of poisoning murders and suicides.


title: Hydrogen cyanide

text: Hydrogen cyanide gas in air is explosive at concentrations above 5.6%.<ref name="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/idlh/74908.html"></ref> This concentration is far above a toxic level.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The Samsung Galaxy S22 is a series of Android-based smartphones designed, developed, manufactured, and marketed by Samsung Electronics as part of its Galaxy S series. Unveiled at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event on 9 February 2022.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: They collectively serve as the successor to the Samsung Galaxy S21 series. The first three smartphones were unveiled at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event on 9 February 2022.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 series consists of the base Galaxy S22 model, the plus Galaxy S22+ model, and the camera-note-focused Galaxy S22 Ultra model. The S22 Ultra serves as the official successor to the Samsung Galaxy Note20 series and Note lineup. There are numerous critical upgrades the phones possess over the previous models, in addition to improved specifications, an enhanced camera system supporting 8K video recording (7680×4320) at 24 frames per second, and a super-resolution zoom of 30–100x, for the ultra model.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The three phones were released in the United States and Europe on 25 February 2022. The Galaxy S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra launch prices started at $799.99, $999.99, and $1199.99, respectively.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The Samsung Galaxy S22 series was unveiled on the 8th February 2022 as the successors of the Galaxy S21 series. All devices' design schemes are identical to the previous model, with the exception of the S22 Ultra, retaining the camera modules without the camera bump and body akin to the discontinued note lineup. The base model maintains a glass back instead of the (plastic) polycarbonate back the S21 originally had. The S22 and S22+ contain comparable software, composition, and hardware to last year's models, with minor distinctions. The S22 Ultra underwent an massive reconstruction, with the phone serving as the successor to the ended Galaxy Note series. The device has a rectangular body, individual camera module elements absent of the camera bump, and an integrated S-pen, a signature of the note series. The S22 Ultra serves as the high-end professional model of the lineup and successor to the S21 Ultra.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 line consists of three devices. The Galaxy S22 is the least expensive with a screen. The Galaxy S22+ has similar hardware in a larger form factor, with a screen, faster charging and a larger battery capacity. The Galaxy S22 Ultra has a screen and the largest battery capacity in the lineup, with a more advanced camera setup and a higher resolution display compared to the S22 and S22+, as well as an embedded S Pen – the first in the S Series as a whole.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The Galaxy S22 series has a design similar to preceding S series phones, with an Infinity-O display containing a circular cutout in the top center for the front selfie camera. All three models use Gorilla Glass Victus+ for the back panel, unlike the S21 series which had plastic on the smaller S21. The rear camera array on the S22 and S22+ has a metallic surround, while the S22 Ultra has a separate lens protrusion for each camera element.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 line comprises three models with various hardware specifications. Except for some African and all European countries that utilize the Exynos 2200, all models outside these regions utilize the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 series feature "Dynamic AMOLED 2X" displays with HDR10+ support and "dynamic tone mapping" technology. All models utilize a second-generation ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 and S22+ offer 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB and 256 GB options for internal storage. The S22 Ultra has 8 GB of RAM with 128 GB as well as a 12 GB option with 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB options for internal storage. Unlike the S21 Ultra, the S22 Ultra doesn't feature a model with a 16 GB RAM variant. All three models lack a microSD card slot.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22, S22+, and S22 Ultra contain non-removable 3,700 mAh, 4,500 mAh, and 5000 mAh Li-Po batteries respectively. The S22 supports wired charging over USB-C at up to 25W (using USB Power Delivery) while the S22+ and S22 Ultra have faster 45W charging. Tests found there's no significant difference between the 45W and 25W charging speeds. All three have Qi inductive charging up to 15W. The phones also have the ability to charge other Qi-compatible devices from the S22's own battery power, which is branded as "Wireless PowerShare," at up to 4.5W.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: All three phones support 5G SA/NSA networks. The Galaxy S22 supports Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, while the Galaxy S22+ and S22 Ultra support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The S22+ and S22 Ultra models also support Ultra Wideband (UWB) for short-range communications similar to NFC (not to be confused with 5G mmWave, which is marketed as Ultra Wideband by Verizon). Samsung uses this technology for their new "SmartThings Find" feature and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag+.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 and S22+ have a 50 MP wide sensor, a 10 MP telephoto sensor with 3x optical zoom, and a 12 MP ultrawide sensor. The S22 Ultra retains its predecessor's 108 MP sensor with 12-bit HDR. It also has two 10 MP telephoto sensors with 3x and 10x optical zoom as well as a 12 MP ultrawide sensor. The front-facing camera uses a 10 MP sensor on the S22 and S22+, and a 40 MP sensor on the S22 Ultra.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 Ultra is the first S series phone to include a built-in S Pen, a hallmark feature of the Galaxy Note series. The S Pen has latency at 2.8ms, reduced from 26ms on Note 20 and 9ms on the Note 20 Ultra and S21 Ultra (note that the S21 Ultra had S Pen functionality, but was not included with the phone), and marked the introduction of an 'AI-based co-ordination prediction system'. The S Pen also supports Air gestures and the Air Action system.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: The S22 phones were released with Android 12 (One UI 4.1) with Samsung's One UI software. Samsung Knox is included for enhanced device security, and a separate version exists for enterprise use. One UI 5.0 was released on 17 October 2022.


title: Samsung Galaxy S22

text: Testing performed by benchmarking utility Geekbench and media outlet Android Police reported that Samsung's Game Optimizing Service (GOS) would throttle the performance of the device significantly in a number of popular apps while excluding benchmarking utilities; one specific test, using a copy of Geekbench 5 that was modified to look like "Genshin Impact" to the GOS, recorded a loss of 45% in single-core performance and 28% in multi-core performance versus an undisguised copy of the utility on the S22+. In response, Geekbench has permanently delisted the entire S22, S21 and S10 lineup from its service.


title: Panama City

text: Panama City (; ), also simply known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of Panama. The city is the political and administrative center of the country, as well as a hub for banking and commerce.


title: Panama City

text: The city of Panama was founded on 15 August 1519, by Spanish conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila. The city was the starting point for expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru. It was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the American continent, leading to the fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, through which passed most of the gold and silver that Spain mined from the Americas.


title: Panama City

text: On 28 January 1671, the original city was destroyed by a fire when the privateer Henry Morgan sacked and set fire to it. The city was formally reestablished two years later on 21 January 1673, on a peninsula located from the original settlement. The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins, and is now a popular tourist attraction, and is regularly visited by school trips.


title: Panama City

text: The city was founded on 15 August 1519, by Pedro Arias de Ávila, also known as Pedrarias Dávila. Within a few years of its founding, the city became a launching point for the exploration and conquest of Peru and a transit point for gold and silver headed back to Spain through the Isthmus. In 1520, Genoese merchants controlled the port and the commerce of the region, mainly for the slave trade, thanks to a concession given by the Spaniards, who had the Republic of Genoa as its main banking base. In 1671 Henry Morgan with a band of 1400 men attacked and looted the city, which was subsequently destroyed by fire. The ruins of the old city still remain and are a popular tourist attraction known as Panamá Viejo (Old Panama). The city was rebuilt in 1673 in a new location approximately southwest of the original city. This location is now known as the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) of the city. Panama City is the fourth earliest-founded of the modern-day capital cities in the Americas.


title: Panama City

text: One year before the start of the California Gold Rush, the Panama Railroad Company was formed, but the railroad did not begin full operation until 1855. Between 1848 and 1869, the year the first transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States, about 375,000 people crossed the isthmus from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 225,000 in the opposite direction. This traffic greatly increased the prosperity of the city during that period.


title: Panama City

text: After declaring independence from Colombia on November 3, 1903, Philippe Bunau-Varilla (a French engineer) was named Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary. Bunau-Varilla negotiated the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty of 1903, which provided the United States with a 10-mile-wide strip of land for the canal, a one-time $10 million payment to Panama, and an annual annuity of $250,000. The United States also agreed to guarantee the independence of Panama. Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal symbolized U.S. technological prowess and economic power. Although U.S. control of the canal eventually became an irritant to U.S.-Panamanian relations, at the time it was heralded as a major foreign policy achievement.


title: Panama City

text: The construction of the Panama Canal was of great benefit to the infrastructure and economy. Of particular note are the improvements in health and sanitation brought about by the American presence in the Canal Zone. Dr. William Gorgas, the chief sanitary officer for the canal construction, had a particularly large impact. He hypothesized that diseases were spread by the abundance of mosquitos native to the area, and ordered the fumigation of homes and the cleansing of water. This led to yellow fever being eradicated by November 1905, as well malaria rates falling dramatically. However, most of the laborers for the construction of the canal were brought in from the Caribbean, which created unprecedented racial and social tensions in the city.


title: Panama City

text: During World War II, construction of military bases and the presence of larger numbers of U.S. military and civilian personnel brought about unprecedented levels of prosperity to the city. Panamanians had limited access, or no access at all, to many areas in the Canal Zone neighboring the Panama city metropolitan area. Some of these areas were military bases accessible only to United States personnel. Some tensions arose between the people of Panama and the U.S. citizens living in the Panama Canal Zone. This erupted in the 9 January 1964 events, known as Martyrs' Day.


title: Panama City

text: In the late 1970s through the 1980s the city of Panama became an international banking center, bringing a lot of undesirable attention as an international money-laundering locale. In 1989 after nearly a year of tension between the United States and Panama, President George H. W. Bush ordered the invasion of Panama to depose General Manuel Noriega, the country's de facto dictator. As a result, a portion of the El Chorrillo neighborhood, which consisted mostly of old wood-framed buildings dating back to the 1900s (though still a large slum area), was destroyed by fire. In 1999, the United States officially transferred control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama, which remains in control today.


title: Panama City

text: The city of Panama is still a banking center, although with very visible controls in the flow of cash. Shipping is handled through port facilities in the area of Balboa operated by the Hutchison Whampoa Company of Hong Kong and through several ports on the Caribbean side of the isthmus. Balboa, which is located within the greater Panama metropolitan area, was formerly part of the Panama Canal Zone, and the administration of the former Panama Canal Zone was headquartered there.


title: Panama City

text: Panamá is located between the Pacific Ocean and tropical rain forest in the northern part of Panama. The "Parque Natural Metropolitano" (Metropolitan Nature Park), stretching from Panama City along the Panama Canal, has unique bird species and other animals, such as tapir, puma, and caimans. At the Pacific entrance of the canal is the "Centro de Exhibiciones Marinas" (Marine Exhibitions Center), a research center for those interested in tropical marine life and ecology, managed by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.


title: Panama City

text: Tropical forests around Panama are vital for the functioning of the Panama Canal, providing it with the water required for its operation. Due to the canal's importance to the Panamanian economy, tropical forests around the canal have been kept in an almost pristine state; the canal is thus a rare example of a vast engineering project in the middle of a forest that helped to preserve that forest. Along the western side of the canal is the "Parque Nacional Soberanía" (Sovereignty National Park), which includes the Summit botanical gardens and a zoo. The best known trail in this national park is Pipeline Road, popular among birdwatchers.


title: Panama City

text: Nearly 500 rivers lace Panama's rugged landscape. Most are unnavigable; many originate as swift highland streams, meander in valleys, and form coastal deltas. However, the Río Chepo and the Río Chagres, both within the boundaries of the city, work as sources of hydroelectric power.


title: Panama City

text: The Río Chagres is one of the longest and most vital of the approximately 150 rivers that flow into the Caribbean. Part of this river was dammed to create Gatun Lake, which forms a major part of the transit route between the locks near each end of the canal. Both Gatun Lake and Madden Lake (also filled with water from the Río Chagres) provide hydroelectricity to the former Canal Zone area. The Río Chepo, another major source of hydroelectric power, is one of the more than 300 rivers emptying into the Pacific.


title: Panama City

text: Under the Köppen climate classification, Panama City has a tropical savanna climate (Köppen "Aw"), a little drier than a tropical monsoon climate. It sees of precipitation annually. The wet season spans from May through December, and the dry season spans from January through April. Temperatures remain constant throughout the year, averaging around . Sunshine is subdued in Panama because it lies in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, where there is a nearly continual cloud formation, even during the dry season.


title: Panama City

text: Panama's old quarter (or Casco Viejo, Panama) features many architectural styles, from Spanish colonial buildings to French and Antillean townhouses built during the construction of the Panama Canal. The more modern areas of the city have many high-rise buildings, which together form a very dense skyline. There are more than 110 high-rise projects under construction, with 127 already built. The city holds the 45th place in the world by high-rise buildings count.


title: Panama City

text: The Centennial Bridge that crosses the Panama Canal earned the American Segmental Bridge Institute prize of excellence, along with seven other bridges in the Americas.


title: Panama City

text: The city is located in Panama District, although its metropolitan area also includes some populated areas on the opposite side of the Panama Canal. As in the rest of the country, the city is divided into "corregimientos", in which there are many smaller boroughs. The old quarter, known as the "Casco Viejo", is located in the "corregimiento" of San Felipe. San Felipe and twelve other "corregimientos" form the urban center of the city, including Santa Ana, El Chorrillo, Calidonia, Curundú, Ancón, Bella Vista, Bethania, San Francisco, Juan Diaz, Pueblo Nuevo, Parque Lefevre, and Río Abajo.


title: Panama City

text: As the economic and financial center of the country, Panama City's economy is service-based, heavily weighted toward banking, commerce, and tourism. The economy depends significantly on trade and shipping activities associated with the Panama Canal and port facilities located in Balboa. Panama's status as a convergence zone for capital from around the world due to the canal helped the city establish itself as a prime location for offshore banking and tax planning. Consequently, the economy has relied on accountants and lawyers who help global corporations navigate the regulatory landscape. The city has benefited from significant economic growth in recent years, mainly due to the ongoing expansion of the Panama Canal, an increase in real estate investment, and a relatively stable banking sector. There are around eighty banks in the city, at least fifteen of which are local.


title: Panama City

text: Panama City is responsible for the production of approximately 55% of the country's GDP. This is because most Panamanian businesses and premises are located in the city and its metro area. It is a stopover for other destinations in the country, as well as a transit point and tourist destination in itself.


title: Panama City

text: Tourism is one of the most important economic activities in terms of revenue generation. This sector of the economy has seen a great deal of growth since the transfer of the Panama Canal Zone at the end of the twentieth century. The number of hotel rooms increased by more than ten-fold, from 1,400 in 1997 to more than 15,000 in 2013, while the number of annual visitors increased from 457,000 in 1999 to 1.4 million in 2011. The city's hotel occupancy rate has always been relatively high, reaching the second highest for any city outside the United States in 2008, after Perth, Australia, and followed by Dubai. However, hotel occupancy rates have dropped since 2009, probably due to the opening of many new luxury hotels. Several international hotel chains, such as Le Méridien, Radisson, and RIU, have opened or plan to open new hotels in the city, along with those previously operating under Marriott, Sheraton, InterContinental, and other foreign and local brands. The Trump Organization built the Trump Ocean Club, its first investment in Latin America, in 2006 and it is the tallest building in the city. In 2018 it was renamed The Bahia Grand Panama following falling occupancy rates associated with the declining brand value of the Trump name. Meanwhile, it is a JW Marriott property. Hilton Worldwide opened a Hilton Garden Inn in El Cangrejo, and in 2013, The Panamera, the second Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Latin America.


title: Panama City

text: The city proper has approximately 880,691 inhabitants in 23 boroughs. The inhabitants of Panama City are commonly referred to as "capitalinos" and include large numbers of Afro-Panamanians, mestizos, and mulattos, with notable white, Asian, Caribbean and South American minorities. There is a great deal of cultural diversity within the city, which manifests itself in the wide variety of languages commonly spoken, such as German, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Chinese, Hebrew and English, in addition to Spanish.


title: Panama City

text: Panamá Viejo ("Old Panama") is the name used for the architectural vestiges of the Monumental Historic Complex of the first Spanish city founded on the Pacific coast of the Americas by Pedro Arias de Avila on 15 August 1519. This city was the starting point for the expeditions that conquered the Inca Empire in Peru in 1532. It was a stopover point on one of the most important trade routes in the history of the American continent, leading to the famous fairs of Nombre de Dios and Portobelo, where most of the gold and silver that Spain took from the Americas passed through.


title: Panama City

text: Built and settled in 1671 after the destruction of Panama Viejo by the privateer Henry Morgan, the historic district of Panama City (known as Casco Viejo, Casco Antiguo or San Felipe) was conceived as a walled city to protect its settlers against future pirate attacks. It was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2003.


title: Panama City

text: Casco Antiguo displays a mix of architectural styles that reflect the country's cultural diversity: Caribbean, Republican, art deco, French, and colonial architecture mix in a site comprising around 800 buildings. Most of Panama City's main monuments are located in Casco Antiguo, including the Salón Bolivar, the National Theater (founded in 1908), Las Bóvedas, and Plaza de Francia. There are also many Catholic buildings, such as the Metropolitan Cathedral, the La Merced Church, and the St. Philip Neri Church. The distinctive golden altar at St. Joseph Church was one of the few items saved from Panama Viejo during the 1671 pirate siege. It was buried in mud during the siege and then secretly transported to its present location.


title: Panama City

text: Undergoing redevelopment and gentrification, the old quarter has become one of the city's main tourist attractions, second only to the Panama Canal. Both government and private sectors are working on its restoration. President Ricardo Martinelli built an extension to the Cinta Costera maritime highway viaduct in 2014 named "Cinta Costera 3" around the Casco Antiguo.


title: Panama City

text: Before the Cinta Costera 3 project was built there were protests. Much of the controversy surrounding the project involved the possibility that Casco Viejo would lose its World Heritage status. On 28 June 2012, UNESCO decided that Casco Viejo will not be put on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger.


title: Panama City

text: According to Professor Rodrigo Miró, the first story about Panama was written by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés and published as part of the "Historia General y Natural de Las Indias" in 1535. Some poets and novelists born in Panamá city are Manuel María Ayala (1785–1824), Amelia Denis de Icaza (1836–1911), Darío Herrera (1870–1914), Ricardo Miró (1883–1940), Gaspar Octavio Hernández (1893–1918), Demetrio Korsi (1899–1957), Ricardo Bermúdez (1914–2000), Joaquín Beleño (1922–88), Ernesto Endara (1932–), Diana Morán (1932–87), José Córdova (1937–), Pedro Rivera (1939–), Moravia Ochoa López (1941–), Roberto Fernández Iglesias (1941–), (1942 –), Jarl Ricardo Babot (1946–), Giovanna Benedetti (1949–), Manuel Orestes Nieto (1951–), Moisés Pascual (1955–), Héctor Miguel Collado (1960–), David Robinson Orobio (1960–), Katia Chiari (1969–), Carlos Oriel Wynter Melo (1971–), José Luis Rodríguez Pittí (1971–), Arturo Wong Sagel (1980–) and Sofía Santim (1982–).


title: Panama City

text: One of the most important Panamanian artists is Alfredo Sinclair. He has worked for over 50 years in abstract art and has produced one of the most important artistic collections in the country. His daughter, Olga Sinclair, has also followed in his footsteps and has become another force in Panamanian art. Another very prominent Panamanian artist is Guillermo Trujillo, known worldwide for his abstract surrealism.


title: Panama City

text: Brooke Alfaro is a Panamanian artist known throughout the world for his uniquely rendered oil paintings.


title: Panama City

text: Another prominent artist is Mario Calvit, known as one of the great painters of the generation that flourished in the country between the decades of 1950 and 1970.


title: Panama City

text: Tourism in Panama City includes many different historic sites and locations related to the operation of the Panama Canal. A few of these sites are the following:


title: Panama City

text: In addition to these tourist attractions, Panama City offers many different options when it comes to hotel accommodations, including the first Waldorf Astoria hotel to open in Latin America, and many small boutique style hotels that have smaller numbers of guest rooms and offer a more intimate vacation. Nightlife in the city is centered around the Calle Uruguay and Casco Viejo neighborhoods. These neighborhoods contain a variety of different bars and nightclubs that cater to the tourists visiting the city.


title: Panama City

text: One of the newer tourist areas of the city is the area immediately east of the Pacific entrance of the canal, known as the Amador Causeway. This area is being developed as a tourist center and nightlife destination. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute operates a station and a small museum open to the public at Culebra Point on the island of Naos. A new museum, the Biomuseo, was recently completed on the causeway in 2014. It was designed by the American architect Frank Gehry, famous for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Just outside the city limits is the Parque Municipal Summit. A new convention center called the Amador Convention Center is being built in Amador by CSCEC in a joint venture with a Panamanian company called CCG Cocige. The Panamanian ministry of Tourism hopes for the convention center to house 100 international events annually. There were plans (proposed by Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela) to build in Amador a campus for the embassy of the People's Republic of China in Panama, however the plans were eventually dropped, due to criticism from the general public and fears that tourists could easily assume that Panama was Chinese territory. Varela in response said that Amador is an area that "must have more value".


title: Panama City

text: The United States State Department notes the presence of crimes in the city, some of which include violent acts such as shootings, rape, armed robbery, and intentional kidnapping. The United States State Department also warns tourists about the purchasing of counterfeited or pirated goods, as they may be in violation of local Panamanian laws. In terms of LGBT rights in the city, same sex marriage is not recognized by the government but there are laws in place to prevent discrimination against the LGBT community.