title: Scythia

text: The hold of the Scythians over the western part of the Pontic region thus became firmer during the 5th century BC, with the Scythian king Scyles having a residence in the Greek city of Pontic Olbia which he would visit each year, while the city itself experienced a significant influx of Scythian inhabitants during this period, and the presence of coins of Scyles issued at Niconium in the Dnister valley attesting of his control over this latter city. This, in turn, allowed the Scythians to participate in indirect relations with the city of Athens in Greece proper, which had established contacts in Crimea. The destruction of the Greek cities' and rural settlements however also meant that they lost their grain-producing hinterlands, with the result being that the Scythians instituted an economic policy under their control whereby the sedentary peoples of the forest steppe to their north became the primary producers of grain, which was then transported through the Southern Buh and Dnipro rivers to the Greek cities to their south such as Tyras, Niconium and Pontic Olbia, from where the cities exported it to mainland Greece at a profit for themselves.


title: Scythia

text: The Scythians were less successful at conquering the Greek cities in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus, where, although they were initially able to take over Nymphaeum, the other cities built or strengthened city walls, banded together into an alliance under the leadership of Panticapaeum, and successfully defended themselves, after which they united into the Bosporan Kingdom.


title: Scythia

text: After Scyles, coins minted in Pontic Olbia were minted in the name of Eminakos, who was either a governor of the city for Scyles's brother and successor, Octamasadas, or a successor of Octamasadas. Around the same time, there were inner conflicts within the Scythian kingdom, and a new wave of Sauromatian immigrants arrived into Scythia around , which destabilised it and ended Scythian military activity against the Greek cities of the Pontic shore. Scythian control of the Greek cities ended sometime between 425 and 400 BC, and the cities started reconstituting their , and Pontic Olbia regained control over the territory it occupied during the Archaic period and expanded it, while Tyras and Niconium also restored their hinterlands. The Scythians lost control of Nymphaeum, which became part of the Bosporan Kingdom which itself had been expanding its territories in the Asian side of the Cimmerian Bosporus. With the arrival of a new wave of Sauromatian immigrants, the Royal Scythians and their allied tribes moved to the western parts of Scythia and expanded into the areas to the south of the Danube corresponding to modern Bessarabia and Bulgaria, and they established themselves in the Dobruja region. One of the Scythian kings who ruled during the later 5th century BC was buried in a sumptuously furnished kurgan located at Agighiol during the early 4th century BC.


title: Scythia

text: The Scythian kingdom of the Pontic steppe reached its peak in the 4th century BC, at the same time when the Greek cities of the coast were prospering, and the relations between the two were mostly peaceful; some Scythians had already started becoming sedentary farmers and building fortified and unfortified settlements around the lower reaches of the Dnipro river since the late 5th century BC, and this process intensified throughout the 4th century BC, with the nomadic Scythians settling in multiple villages in the left bank of the Dnister estuary and in small settlements on the lower banks of the Dnipro and of the small steppe rivers which were favourable for agriculture; at the same time, there was high demand for the Greek colonies' products such as trade goods, grain, slaves, and fish, due to which the relations between the Pontic and Aegean regions, and most especially with Athens, were thriving; the importation of Greek products by the forest steppe peoples had instead decreased since the 5th century BC, and the Scythians captured territories from them in the area around what is presently Boryspil during this time. Although the Greek cities of the coast extended their territories considerably, this did not infringe on the Scythians, who still possessed abundant pastures and whose settlements were still thriving, with archaeological evidence suggesting that the population of Crimea, most of whom were Scythians, during this time increased by 600%.


title: Scythia

text: The rule of the Spartocid dynasty in the Bosporan Kingdom was also favourable for the Scythians under the rules of Leukon I, Spartocus II and Paerisades I, with Leucon employing Scythians in his army, and the Bosporan nobility had contacts with the Scythians, which might have included matrimonial relations between Scythian and Bosporan royalty. In the 4th century BC, the Bosporan kingdom became the main supplier of grains to Greece partly because of the Peloponnesian War which was raging in the latter region, which intensified the grains trade between the Scythians and the Greeks, with the Scythians becoming the principal middlemen in the supply of grains to the Bosporan kingdom: while most of the grains that the Scythians sold to the Greeks was produced by the agricultural populations in the northern forest steppe, the Scythians themselves were also trying to produce more grains within Scythia itself, which was a driving force behind the sedentarisation of many of the hitherto nomadic Scythians; the process of Scythian sedentarisation thus was most intense in the regions adjacent to the Bosporan cities in eastern Crimea.


title: Scythia

text: The Scythian royalty and aristocracy obtained enormous profits from this grains trade, and this period saw Scythian culture not only thriving, with most known Scythian monuments dating from then, but also rapidly undergoing significant Hellenisation. The city of the Kamianka site remained the political, industrial and commercial capital of Scythian during the 4th and early 3rd centuries BC, during which time the Scythians founded a new settlement at which functioned as the main administrative, commercial and industrial centre of the lower Don river and northern Lake Maeotis areas and was also the residence of local Scythian lords. The main burial centre of the Scythians during this period was located in the Nikopol and Zaporizhzhia region on the lower Dnipro, where were located the Solokha, , Krasnokutsk and kurgans. Rich burials, such as, for example, the , attest of the wealth acquired from the grains trade by the Scythian aristocracy of the 4th century BC, who were progressively buried with more, relatives, retainers, and grave goods such as gold and silver objects, including Greek-manufactured toreutics and jewellery; the Scythian commoners however did not obtain any revenue from this trade, and luxury items are absent from their burials. Despite the pressure of some smaller and isolated Sarmatian groups in the east, the period remained largely and unusually peaceful and the Scythian hegemony in the Pontic steppe remained undisturbed, with the Scythian nomads continuing to form the bulk of the northern Pontic region's population.


title: Scythia

text: The most famous Scythian king of the 4th century BC was Ateas, who was the successor and possibly the son of the Scythian king buried at Agighiol, and whose rule started around the 360s BC. By this period, Scythian tribes had already settled permanently on the lands to the south of the Danube, where the people of Ateas lived with their families and their livestock, and possibly in Ludogorie as well, and at this time both Crimea and the Dobruja region started being called "Little Scythia" (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ). Although Ateas had united the Scythian tribes under his rule into a rudimentary state and he still ruled over the traditional territories of the Scythian kingdom of the Pontic steppe until at least Crimea, around 350 BC he had also permanently seized some of the lands on the right bank of the Danube from the Thracian Getae, and it appears that he was largely based in the region to the south of the Danube. Under Ateas, the Greek cities to the south of the Danube had also come under Scythian hegemony, including Kallatis, over which he held control and where he probably issued his coins; further attesting of the power that the Scythians held to the south of the Danube in his time, Ateas's main activities which were centred in Thrace and south-west Scythia, such as his wars against the Thracian Triballi and the Dacian Histriani and his threat of conquest against Byzantium, which might be another possible location for where Ateas minted his coins. Ateas initially allied with Philip II of Macedonia, but eventually this alliance fell apart and war broke out between Scythia and Macedonia over the course of 340 to 339 BC, ending with the death of Ateas, at about 90 years old, and the capture of the Scythians' camp and the 20,000 women and children and more than 2,000 pedigree horses living there.


title: Scythia

text: The Scythians appear to have lost some territories on both sides of the Danube due to Ateas's defeat and death, with the Getae moving to the north across the Danube and settling in the lands between the Dnipro and the Prut rivers, although. These changes did not affect Scythian power: the Scythians still continued to nomadise and bury their dead in rich kurgans in the areas to the north-west of the Black Sea between the Dnipro and the Prut; the Scythian capital of the Kamianka site continued to exist as prosperously and extensively as it had before the defeat of Ateas; and the Scythian aristocracy continued burying their dead in barrow tombs which were as sumptuous as those of Ateas's time. In 331 or 330 BC, the Scythians were able to defeat an invasion force of 30,000 men led against them and the Getae by Alexander III's lieutenant Zopyrion and which had managed to attain and besiege Pontic Olbia, with Zopyrion himself getting killed.


title: Scythia

text: During the end of the 4th century BC, the Scythians were militarily defeated by a king of Macedonia again, this time by Lysimachus in and 313 BC. After this, the Scythians experienced another military defeat when their king Agaros participated in the Bosporan Civil War in 309 BC on the side of Satyros II, son of Paerisades I. After Satyros II was defeated and killed, his son Paerisades fled to Agaros's realm.


title: Scythia

text: The aftermath of the Scythian conflict with Macedon also coincided with climatic changes and economic crises caused by overgrazed pastures, producing an unfavorable period for the Scythians, and, following their setbacks against the Macedonians, the Scythians came under pressure from the Celts, the Thracian Getae and the Germanic Bastarnae from the west; at this same time, beginning in the late 4th century BC, another related nomadic Iranian people, the Sarmatians, whose smaller, moved from the east into the Pontic steppe, where their more active groups overwhelmed the more numerous, sedentary Scythians, took over the Scythians' pastures. This deprived the Scythins of their most important resource, causing the collapse of Scythian power and as a consequence Scythian culture suddenly disappeared from the north of the Pontic sea in the early 3rd century BC. During the 3rd century BC the Celts and Bastarnae displaced the Balkan Scythians. The Protogenes inscription, written sometime between 220 and 200 BC, records that the Scythians and the Sarmatian Thisamatae and Saudaratae tribes sought shelter from the allied forces of the Celts and the Germanic Sciri. As the result of the Sarmatian, Getic, Celtic, and Germanic encroachments, the Scythian kingdom came to an end and the Scythian kurgans disappeared from the Pontic region, replaced as the dominant power of the Pontic steppe by the Sarmatians, while "" (European Sarmatia) replaced "" as the name for the region.


title: Scythia

text: Around 200 BC, after their final defeat by the Sarmatian Roxolani, the remnants of the Scythians left their centre at Kamianka and fled to the in Crimea, where they were able to securely establish themselves against the Sarmatian invasion despite tensions with the Greeks, and to the in Dobruja, as well as in nearby regions, where they became limited in enclaves. By then, these Scythians were no longer nomadic: they had become sedentary farmers and were Hellenised, and the only places where the Scythians could still be found by the 2nd century BC were in the s of Crimea and Dobruja, as well as in the lower reaches of the Dnipro river.


title: Scythia

text: In Crimea, the Scythians ruled over a limited a territory which included the steppes and footholls until Taurida, the lower Dnipro, and the lower Southern Buh rivers. Although the Crimean Scythians had been able to preserve some of their nomadic lifestyle, by the 3rd century BC they becoming more and more sedentary, especially in the lower Dnipro area, and were intermarrying with the Tauri of the Crimean mountains.


title: Scythia

text: In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Crimean Scythians founded a new kingdom whose rulers titled themselves , and with Scythian Neapolis as its capital and the centre of the Scythian aristocracy. The Late Scythian culture of this Crimean Scythian kingdom was not a continuation of the Scythian culture of the 4th century BC, and the kingdom itself was significantly Hellenised and more closely resembled the Hellenistic kingdoms ruled by Barbarian dynasties than to the previous nomadic kingdom of the 4th century BC Scythians.


title: Scythia

text: During the 2nd century BC, the Scythians underwent further sedentarisation and formed a complete network of fortified towns and settlements, and Crimean became largely agricultural, although royalty and the aristocracy still remained nomadic. According to written records, there were two more towns in addition to Neapolis in the Crimean , namely Chabum and Palacum; and three Crimean Scythian towns in addition to Neapolis and ten earthworks and fifty small settlements have been archaeologically identified.


title: Scythia

text: The Crimean Scythian kingdom had close relations with the Bosporan kingdom, and matrimonial ties linked their respective royal houses, with the Bosporan queen Kamasarye, who was the widow of Paerisades III, taking one Argotos from Scythian Neapolis as her second husband.


title: Scythia

text: The 2nd century BC was also the time when the Crimean Scythian kingdom reached its peak, and its kings, especially Skilurus attempted to obtain greater revenue by attacking the Greek cities in Crimea to evince them from their position as commercial intermediaries in the trade with the Mediterranean. Therefore, the Crimean started expanding against the Greek cities of western Crimea which had been so far been controlled by the city of Chersonesus, whose settlements were destroyed and replaced by Scythian fortresses, and which had lost all its possessions not in its immediate vicinity by the middle of the century, with Kalos Limēn and Kerkinitis being defeated and passing under Scythian control; Pontic Olbia also became a subject of Crimean Scythia, with Skiluris minting there and establishing close ties between it and Scythian Neapolis. Thus, Skilurus ruled over all of central, western and northwestern Crimea save for Chersonesus as well as over a significant section of the north-west of the Pontic region, including Pontic Olbia, where he issued his coins. The Crimean Scythian kingdom also acquired a fleet of its own under Skilurus, thanks to which the Scythian traders were able to independently transport their agricultural products to Mediterranean markets. Although Skilurus continued Scythian hostility against Chersonesus, he maintained good ties with the Bosporan kingdom, with a daughter of his marrying a member of its royal dynasty who was named Hērakleidēs.


title: Scythia

text: The Crimean Scythians continued participating in the political conflicts on the Bosporan kingdom until Chersonesus requested the assistance of the Pontic Kingdom. Diophantus, the general of the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, allied with Chersonesus and defeated the Crimean Scythian king, Palacus, the son of Skilurus, some time around 110 to 108 BC, after three campaigns. Diophantus captured all the Crimean Scythian fortresses, including the capital of Scythian Neapolis, thus ending the kingdom of the Crimean Scythians and annexing its territory to the Kingdom of Pontus. This intervention saved Chersonesus, although the city was never able to regain all of its territories lost to the Crimean .


title: Scythia

text: The Crimean Scythian kingdom nevertheless continued to exist even after its defeat, and, following Mithridates's own defeat by the Roman Republic, the Crimean Scythians were able to regain some of their strength during the 1st century AD, and besieged Chersonesus, who asked help from Rome, and attacked the Bosporan Kingdom. In 64 AD, the Roman legate of Moesia, Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus, campaigned against the Scythians, defeated them, and installed Roman garrisons in Crimea, including in Chersonesus. By this time, the Crimean Scythians were called "Tauro-Scythians" because of the significant mingling between the Crimean Scythians and the Tauri which had been under way since the 3rd century BC.


title: Scythia

text: By 50 to 150 AD, most of the Scythians had mixed with the Tauri and the Sarmatians, although the Crimean continued to exist throughout the 2nd and early 3rd centuries AD. The Crimean Scythian kingdom finally came to an end in the 3rd century AD, when it was conquered by the Goths and other Germanic tribes who were then migrating from the north into the Pontic steppe, and who destroyed Scythian Neapolis and the other Scythian settlements in Crimea and on the lower Dnipro. The last Scythians were thus assimilated by various newcomers during the Migration Period.


title: Scythia

text: In Dobruja, the Scythians established themselves as a ruling class over the local Getae tribes of this region and created a kingdom ruled by Scythian kings whose territory stretched from Tyras or even Pontic Olbia in the north to Odessus in the south.


title: Scythia

text: The of the lower Danube existed until the 1st century BC, and coins are known of several of their kings, namely Tanusakos, Kanitos, Sariakos, Akrosakos, Kharaspos, and Ailios. Like the Crimean , the Scythian kingdom in the lower Danube region was destroyed by the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, although its population continued to exist.


title: Scythia

text: In 62 BC the lower Danube Scythians fought a battle against the Roman general Gaius Antonius Hybrida at Histria.


title: Scythia

text: The territory of the Scythian kingdom of the Pontic steppe extended from the Don river in the east to the Danube river in the west, and covered the territory of the treeless steppe immediately north of the Black Sea's coastline; since the Scythian period corresponded to the period of the wet Subatlantic climatic age, the climate in the northern Pontic region was more humid than the modern period. Consequently Scythia was a damp and foggy region, and the northern limits of the steppe were further to the south than its present-day boundary.


title: Scythia

text: In these favourable climatic conditions grass grew abundantly on the treeless steppe and permitted the nomadic Scythians to rear large herds of cattle and horses. The country which the Greeks named (), consisting of the region of the lower Dnipro river along the territory of what is modern-day Kherson and the valleys further north along the river, was covered with forests. Conditions in the southern lands near the shores of the Black Sea were propitious for agriculture.


title: Scythia

text: In Dobruja, the Scythian kingdom's territory stretched from Tyras or even Pontic Olbia in the north to Odessus in the south.


title: Scythia

text: The later Crimean Scythian kingdom covered a limited a territory which included the steppes and footholls of Crimea until Taurida, the lower Dnipro, and the lower Southern Buh rivers.


title: Scythia

text: The population of Scythia consisted, in addition to the Scythians themselves, of Greeks living in colonies on the northern shore of the Black Sea, and of Thracians who had inhabited the region since the Bronze Age.


title: Scythia

text: The Scythians were monarchical and were ruled by tribal kings who held absolute power over their respective tribes, and in turn owed allegiance to the king of the Royal Scythians. Royal power among the Scythians was considered as having been divinely ordained; this conception of royal power, which is well documented in the ritual symbols depicted on Mid-Scythian toreutics, was initially foreign to Scythian culture and originated in West Asia during the period of Scythian presence there in the 7th century BC.


title: Scythia

text: According to the Scythologists Askold Ivantchik and Mikhail Bukharin, the Scythians had been ruled by at least three dynasties, including that of Bartatua, that of Spargapeithes, and that of Ariapeithes. The historian and anthropologist Anatoly Khazanov instead suggested that the Scythians had been ruled by the same dynasty from the time of their stay in West Asia until the end of their kingdom in the Pontic steppe.


title: Scythia

text: The centre of early Scythian industry was located in the region of the Tiasmyn group of the Scythian culture, which corresponded the country of the Aroteres, where an Iranic Scythian elite ruled over a sedentary Thracian population; the Scythians also obtained simple tools and ornamentations and some weapon types from the sedentary Thracians who lived in their kingdom, and who manufactured products such as pottery, woodwork, and weaving, as well as bronze metal-working made out of raw materials imported from Transylvania. By the Mid-Scythian period, its principal centre was at a site corresponding to present-day Kamianka-Dniprovska, where bog iron ores were smelted to produce iron, and various tools, ornaments, and weapons were made.


title: Scythia

text: The Pontic Scythians practised trade extensively, and beginning in the 7th and 6th centuries BC, they had been importing luxuries such as personal ornaments, gold and silver vases, carved semi-precious and gem stones, wine, oil, and offensive and defensive weapons made in the workshops of Pontic Olbia or in mainland Greece, as well as pottery made by the Greeks of the Aegean islands; during the Classical Scythian period of the 5th century BC, the Scythians were importing Corinthian and Athenian pottery; and by the Mid-Scythian period of the 4th to 3rd centuries BC the market for Pontic Olbia was limited to a small part of western Scythia, while the rest of the kingdom's importations came from the Bosporan kingdom, especially from Panticapaeum, from where came most of Scythia's imported pottery, as well as richly decorated fine vases, rhyta, and decorative toreutic plaques for .


title: Scythia

text: An important trade route existed in Scythia during the Early Scythian period which started in Pontic Olbia and followed the course of the Inhul river and crossed the Dnipro, after which it turned east until the country of the Gelonians and, after crossing the Don and the Volga, passed through the Ural Mountains and continued into Asia. Gold was traded from eastern Eurasia until Pontic Olbia through this route, and the Scythian trade went to the distant regions on its course to carry out commerce. The conquest of the north Pontic region by the Scythians and their imposition of a "" created the conditions of safety for traders which enabled the establishment of this route.


title: Scythia

text: As a consequence of these flourishing trade relations, which were themselves possibly only thanks to the protection and cooperation of the Scythian kings, the Greek colonies on the northern shores of the Black Sea rapidly grew during the 6th century BC, and the Scythian upper classes were also able to significantly enrich themselves.


title: Scythia

text: The relations between the Scythians and the Greek cities became more hostile during the 5th century BC, with the former destroying the latter's and rural settlements and therefore their grain-producing hinterlands, with the result being that the Scythians instituted an economic policy under their control whereby the sedentary peoples of the forest steppe to their north became the primary producers of grain, which was then transported through the Southern Buh and Dnipro rivers to the Greek cities to their south such as Tyras, Niconium and Pontic Olbia, from where the cities exported it to mainland Greece at a profit for themselves. This arrangement came to an end sometime between 425 and 400 BC, with the Greek cities regaining their independence and rebuilding their .


title: Scythia

text: Another consequence of trade between the Greeks and the Scythians was that Greek art significantly influenced Scythian art and artistic preferences, and by the Mid-Scythian period most of the artwork in the Scythian tombs consisted of Scythian motifs and scenes representing Scythian life which had been done by Greek artisans.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda, (born Arunachalam Rajasekaran; 1 January 1978) known among followers as Nithyananda Paramashivam or Paramahamsa Nithyananda, is an Indian Hindu guru, "godman" and cult leader. He is subject of an Interpol Blue notice and a court-issued non-bailable warrant relating to allegations of rape.


title: Nithyananda

text: He is the founder of the trust Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, which has temples, gurukulas, and ashrams in many countries.


title: Nithyananda

text: Following accusations and charges of rape and abduction in Indian courts, Nithyananda fled India and went into hiding. He subsequently announced the founding of his own self-proclaimed island nation called Kailaasa.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda was born Arunachalam Rajasekaran, in Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, to father Arunachalam and mother Lokanayaki. He belongs to the Saiva Vellala community. Sources conflict as to his birth date – a 2003 United States visa gave a date of 13 March 1977, while a sworn affidavit in a 2010 Karnataka High Court case mentioned 1 January 1978.


title: Nithyananda

text: He was first noticed at the age of three by Yogiraj Yogananda Puri. He claims to have had powerful spiritual experiences from age 12 and to have experienced full enlightenment at 22.


title: Nithyananda

text: In 2002 (age 24), he began his public life under the name Nithyananda. He says that this name was given to him by Mahavatar Babaji in a mystical experience during his monastic wandering days in the Himalayas. In 2003, he started his ashram Dhyanapeetam in Bidadi near Bangalore, Karnataka, India.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda was formerly a chairman of Florida-based Hindu University of America. In 2012, Nithyananda was recognized as one of the "100 Most Spiritually Influential Living People" by "Watkins' Mind Body Spirit" magazine. Also in 2012, Nithyananda was appointed the 293rd pontiff of Madurai Adheenam. In February 2013, the title of was conferred on Nithyananda in a closed ceremony by the Panchayati Mahanirvani Akhara.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, a religious organisation founded by Nithyananda, hosts cultural events in United States as well as India. They hold two Guinness World Records: one for the largest rope yoga class, and one for the largest pole yoga ("mallakhamba") class.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda has given discourses on various scriptures like "Brahma Sutras", Patanjali’s "Yoga Sutras", "Shiva Sutras" and the "Bhagavad Gita".


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda has made several pseudoscientific claims, including that he delayed the sunrise for 40 minutes, that he could make cattle speak in Tamil and Sanskrit, and that he could disprove the correctness of the mass-energy equivalence formula "E = mc".


title: Nithyananda

text: He has claimed to have discovered over 400 , or paranormal abilities, expressible by humans and alleges having initiated his disciples into 60 such powers including and third-eye awakening. He has since asserted he would open the third eye, for anyone, free of charge by 2021, claiming that the person would be able to see through smog and walls. Disciples of Nithyananda claim that he gave initiations through 'third eye' to a class of 82 blind children, thus curing them of blindness. Skeptic Narendra Nayak challenged Nithyananda to prove his claims.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda has also claimed that he and his followers were able to perform activities like extrasensory perception, materialisation, body scanning, increasing height, and remote viewing, and that they had the ability to find lost objects.


title: Nithyananda

text: In 2010, Sun TV telecast video recordings that claimed to show Nithyananda and an actress Ranjitha (who was one of his followers) in a bedroom. The story became viral among news media in Tamil Nadu. Nithyananda and Ranjitha claimed the video to be fabricated and accused Sun TV of extortion. A Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Bengaluru confirmed that the video appeared to be that of Nithyananda and Ranjitha. Sun TV and other media channels since then were subject to various lawsuits. Ranjitha filed a complaint with High Court of Karnataka against news channels. Channels were ordered to apologize to Ranjitha for violating the complainant’s privacy and dignity.


title: Nithyananda

text: In 2010, a United States citizen who was a disciple of Nithyananda accused him of raping her in the US and in India repeatedly over the course of five years. She filed a complaint with Ann Arbor, Michigan, Police, and police didn't commence any formal investigation. She also filed a complaint with the Karnataka Police in India. On 19 February 2018, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara ordered the framing of charges against Nithyananda and five others in relation to the case. Criminal revision petitions by the accused were dismissed in the Karnataka High Court on 16 May 2018. An appeal against the High Court decision in the Supreme Court of India, in which all of the accused pleaded not guilty (except for one who was absent from court), was dismissed on 1 June 2018, following which charges were framed in the Ramanagara court on 4 June. In August 2022, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara issued a non-bailable warrant against Nithyananda following multiple orders to appear in court.


title: Nithyananda

text: In 2019, a couple from Tamil Nadu approached the High Court of Gujarat claiming that three of their four children were taken to Nithyananda's ashram in Ahmedabad from Bangalore without their knowledge; the couple sought return of their children to their custody. A first information report (FIR) for alleged abduction was filed by the Gujarat Police in relation to the case on 17 November 2019. In affidavits filed in the Gujarat High Court from various locations in the Americas, two of the missing children, who were by that time adults, rejected their father's claim that they have been detained forcibly. In a joint live video statement, the two girls further claimed that their father had plotted the abduction controversy after his name cropped up in an embezzlement case.


title: Nithyananda

text: Nithyananda was the subject of the 2022 Discovery+ series "My Daughter Joined A Cult" streamed internationally.


title: Nithyananda

text: A representative of Nithyananda attended a Diwali event in October 2022 held at the Houses of Parliament as a guest of the Hindu Forum of Britain. Nithya Atmadayananda, a prominent supporter of Nithyananda, was photographed with Bob Blackman and President of the Hindu Forum of Britain, Trupti Patel. The event was attended by Rami Ranger. The brochure for the event featured a full-page advert for Kailasa UK containing images of Nithyananda.


title: Nithyananda

text: On 20 November 2019, the Gujarat Police issued a statement that Nithyananda fled India after choosing not to appear at several court hearings. Some senior police officials did not discount the possibility of him still being in India. He subsequently approached the United Nations complaining about persecution and sought recognition for his new country Kailaasa. Nithyananda also claimed attempts at mob lynching and assassination as reasons he was forced to withdraw himself from Indian society.


title: Nithyananda

text: The Gujarat Police alleged that he could be shuffling between Ecuador and Trinidad and Tobago, while news reports said that he may have gone to Ecuador because the country does not have an extradition treaty with India. The same month, the Embassy of Ecuador said that it "categorically denies the statement wherever published that Nithyananda was given asylum by Ecuador or has been helped by the Government of Ecuador in purchasing any land or island in South America", but has confirmed Nithyananda had reached Ecuador after he left India, then left soon after his request for international personal protection (refuge) was denied.


title: Nithyananda

text: In December 2019, Nithyananda declared that he had created a new "Hindu nation" called Kailaasa and claimed to issue passports, currency, and other documents. In his announcement he said, "Kailaasa is a nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries". Nithyananda claims that Kailaasa is the world's only sovereign Hindu nation. Kailaasa has also been described as a network of non-governmental organisations spanning three continents.


title: Nithyananda

text: In August 2020, Nithyananda launched the Reserve Bank of Kailaasa and released its official gold currency, Kailashian dollar. He said the design of the coins was inspired by the currency of "the ancient 56 Hindu nations". He said that the bank would be structured on the lines of the Vatican Bank. In December 2020, Nithyananda announced that Kailaasa had begun issuing three-day visas for tourists. According to his announcement, visa-holders will have to travel from Australia aboard a newly launched private chartered-flight service, Garuda, and all visitors will be provided with food and accommodation during the course of their stay.


title: Nithyananda

text: On 19 April 2021, citing COVID-19 cases across the world, Nithyananda banned travel to Kailaasa from India, Brazil, the European Union, and Malaysia. On 7 June 2021, media reported that while answering a disciple during a Amman reading, Nithyananda said that COVID would end when he is received in India with respect and performs pilgrimage to all Shakti Pitha.


title: Nithyananda

text: In August 2022 a representative for Nithyananda wrote to Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe to request political asylum citing Nithyananda's ill-health. The letter contained an offer to invest in Sri Lanka on condition of asylum being granted and the donation of medical equipment required for treatment. The request demanded the establishment of political ties with Shrikailasa so that an air ambulance would transport Nithyananda as a Head of State.


title: Isildur

text: Isildur is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth, the elder son of Elendil, descended from Elros, the founder of the island Kingdom of Númenor. He fled with his father when the island was drowned, becoming in his turn King of Arnor and Gondor. He cut the Ring from Sauron's hand, but instead of destroying it, was corrupted by its power and claimed it for his own. He was killed by orcs, and the Ring was lost in the River Anduin. This set the stage for the Ring to pass to Gollum and then to Bilbo, as told in "The Hobbit"; that in turn provided the central theme, the quest to destroy the Ring, for "The Lord of the Rings".


title: Isildur

text: Tolkien began a time-travel story, "The Lost Road", in which a father and a son were to reappear time and again in human families throughout history. One of the appearances was to be in Númenor just before its fall, with the father as Elendil and the son as Herendil, later called Isildur. The story was abandoned, but Tolkien reused the characters and events.


title: Isildur

text: Isildur features briefly in voiced-over flashback sequences of Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy. The video game "" departs from Tolkien's narrative by having Sauron make Isildur into a Nazgûl or ringwraith. In the television series "", the young Isildur is played by the English actor Maxim Baldry.


title: Isildur

text: In Tolkien's legendarium, the island of Númenor, in the great sea to the West of Middle-earth, was created at the start of the Second Age as a reward to the men who had fought against the fallen Vala Morgoth, the primary antagonist of the First Age. Isildur's father was Elendil, descended from Elros, founder of the Kingdom of Númenor. Since Elros was half-elven, from the marriage of Beren to the elf Lúthien, he and his descendants enjoyed much longer life than other men.


title: Isildur

text: In Isildur's youth, Ar-Pharazôn, King of Númenor, was corrupted by the fallen Maia Sauron, who urged that Nimloth the White Tree be cut down. Isildur went to the court of the king in disguise and stole a fruit of the tree. He was severely wounded during his escape, but his sacrifice was not in vain: Nimloth was cut down and burned shortly afterwards, but the line of the White Tree continued by way of the stolen fruit. When Númenor was destroyed by the creator, Ilúvatar, Elendil's family escaped in nine ships.


title: Isildur

text: The refugees from Númenor fled east to the continent of Middle-earth. Isildur's father Elendil landed in the north and founded the realm of Arnor, while Isildur and his brother Anárion landed in the south, where they established the realm of Gondor and the cities of Osgiliath, Minas Ithil, and Minas Anor. Isildur lived in Minas Ithil on the east side of the River Anduin and Anárion in Minas Anor on the west side; they ruled Gondor jointly from Osgiliath.


title: Isildur

text: The Dark Lord Sauron captured Minas Ithil and destroyed the White Tree Isildur had planted there. Isildur and his family escaped down the Anduin by boat, bearing with them a seedling of the tree. They sailed to Lindon, seeking the Elven King Gil-galad and Elendil in Arnor. Anárion bought time for Gondor by defending Osgiliath and driving Sauron back to the mountains, while Elendil and Gil-galad marshalled their forces.


title: Isildur

text: Isildur returned with Elendil and Gil-galad in the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. After the Alliance defeated Sauron's host at the Battle of Dagorlad, they advanced into Mordor and laid siege to Barad-dûr. When Minas Ithil was recaptured, Isildur sent his younger sons Aratan and Ciryon to man that fortress, preventing Sauron and his forces from escaping that way. Isildur was accompanied throughout the war by his eldest son Elendur. The campaign in Mordor was long and bitter, and Anárion was killed by a stone from the Dark Tower.


title: Isildur

text: Besieged in the Dark Tower for seven years, the enemy was all but defeated, and Sauron himself appeared to challenge the king. During the final battle on the slopes of Mount Doom, Elendil and Gil-galad were both killed in combat with the Dark Lord, but Sauron's mortal form was destroyed. The Second Age ended, and Isildur became High King of both Arnor and Gondor.


title: Isildur

text: Isildur took up the hilt-shard of Narsil, Elendil's sword, and cut the One Ring from the hand of Sauron. Despite the urging of Elrond and Círdan, Gil-galad's lieutenants, Isildur did not throw the Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. He made a scroll with a description of the Ring and a copy of its fading inscription. This scroll was deposited in the archives of Minas Anor (which much later was renamed Minas Tirith), and the scroll was discovered by Gandalf nearly an Age later.


title: Isildur

text: After the fall of Sauron, the greater part of the army of Arnor returned home while Isildur stayed in Gondor for a year, restoring order and defining its boundaries. He planted the seedling of the White Tree in Minas Anor in memory of Anárion. As his brother's helmet had been crushed during his death at Barad-dûr, Isildur left his own helmet as Gondor's crown. He installed Anárion's son Meneldil as King of Gondor, and returned north en route to Arnor with his three sons. He made first for Rivendell, where his wife and his fourth son, Valandil, had stayed throughout the War of the Last Alliance.


title: Isildur

text: At the Gladden Fields in the middle course of the River Anduin Isildur's party was ambushed by roaming Orcs from the Misty Mountains. It was 5 October in the second year of Isildur's reign, and the second year of the Third Age.


title: Isildur

text: "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age", at the end of "The Silmarillion", is told from the point of the view of the Eldar. It states that Isildur had set no guard in his camp at night, deeming that all his foes had been overthrown, and orcs attacked him there.


title: Isildur

text: In "Unfinished Tales" Tolkien gives a fuller account, writing that Isildur was ambushed on the march by orcs. Isildur had left Minas Anor with a party of some 200 soldiers. His men had to march, as their horses were mainly beasts of burden, not for riding. They had two dozen archers, but they were too few to be effective. Isildur chose the route along the Anduin rather than the safer but longer road North. Sauron, however, had deployed an army of orcs east of the Misty Mountains to attack stragglers of the Last Alliance. The orcs did not show themselves when the armies of the Elves and Men passed by, but they were more than a match for Isildur's small company. Isildur was assailed at sunset. Though the first orc sortie was beaten off, the orcs regrouped and surrounded Isildur's party to prevent his escape. When nightfall came the orcs assaulted him from all sides.


title: Isildur

text: The Dúnedain were surrounded and outnumbered. Ciryon was killed and Aratan was mortally wounded in a failed attempt to rescue Elendur, who urged his father to flee. Isildur put on the Ring, hoping to escape under the cover of invisibility. Fleeing to the Anduin, he cast off his armour and tried to swim to the other side of the river, but the Ring slipped (of its own volition) from his finger. Isildur felt that the Ring was missing and was momentarily dismayed, but with the burden of the Ring removed he rallied and made for the opposite bank. Despite the darkness, the royal Elendilmir gem that he was wearing betrayed his position to orcs on the far bank, who were seeking survivors from the attack, and they killed him with their poisoned arrows. Isildur's squire, Ohtar, saved Elendil's sword from the enemy, fleeing into the valley before the orcs encircled Isildur's company. Estelmo, Elendur's squire, was found alive under his master's body, stunned by a club.


title: Isildur

text: During the War of the Ring the Nazgûl searched the Gladden Fields, but failed to find any traces of Isildur's remains. Their efforts were hampered by Saruman, who had deceived the Nazgul, and who had arrived there first. After the overthrow of Saruman and the opening of Orthanc (in "The Two Towers") Gimli found a hidden closet containing the original Elendilmir, which was presumed lost when Isildur died.


title: Isildur

text: In the short work "The Fall of Númenor", written before 1937, Tolkien wrote of two brothers named Elendil and Valandil, who escaped the destruction of Númenor and founded two kingdoms in Middle-earth, Elendil in the north and Valandil in the south. Valandil was thus a precursor to the later Isildur, although in this work he was not Elendil's son but his brother.


title: Isildur

text: Soon afterwards Tolkien started a time-travel story, "The Lost Road", in which a father and a son were to reappear time and again in human families throughout history. Only two chapters were written, one set in or near the present day, with the father named Oswin and the son Alboin, and one set in Númenor just before its fall, with the father named Elendil and the son Herendil. Here Valandil is the name of Elendil's father. It seems that Herendil (later Isildur) and his father were going to escape the destruction of Númenor as in "The Fall of Númenor", but the story did not progress that far before it was abandoned.


title: Isildur

text: In one of the earliest manuscripts of "The Lord of the Rings", written in 1938, in the chapter which became "The Shadow of the Past", Gandalf tells Frodo (then called Bingo) that his ring "fell from the hand of an elf as he swam across a river". Although Isildur was not an elf, this was the earliest germ of the story of Isildur's death. In the next version of this part of the story Isildur himself appears, first named Ithildor, then changed to Isildor. He is described as a man who cut the One Ring from Sauron's finger after his father (here named Orendil) defeated Sauron in single combat, then lost it while swimming across a river to escape Orcs.


title: Isildur

text: Paul H. Kocher writes that whereas Isildur claimed the Ring as his own, Aragorn, on hearing Frodo's exclamation that since he is Isildur's direct descendant the Ring must be his, at once renounces all claim to it. Aragorn explains that he searched for it to help Gandalf as "it seemed fit that Isildur's heir should labour to repair Isildur's fault", an inherited wrong.


title: Isildur

text: Catholic scholars have noted that just as Jesus, in his role as king, is a descendant of King David, Aragorn is a descendant of Isildur. The Tolkien scholar Nicholas Birns notes Isildur's survival, along with his father Elendil, of Númenor's catastrophic fall, an event that recalls to him Plato's Atlantis, the Biblical fall of man, and Noah's flood; he notes that Tolkien called Elendil a "Noachian figure", an echo of the biblical Noah.


title: Isildur

text: Tom Shippey writes that Gandalf's account to the Council of Elrond of Isildur's description of the Ring combines hints of the ancient time in which Isildur lived, with old words like "glede" (a hot coal) and obsolete endings as in "fadeth", and "loseth". It also provides a sudden reminder of Gollum's name for the Ring, with "It is precious to me, though I buy it with great pain." His use of the "ominous word 'precious'" is, Shippey writes, quite enough for readers to guess that Isildur was already becoming addicted to the Ring.


title: Isildur

text: In Ralph Bakshi's animated 1978 film version of "The Lord of the Rings", Isildur is called "Prince Isildur of the mighty Kings from across the Sea" and appears as the events of the Last Alliance are portrayed in silhouette. In Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, Isildur is played by Harry Sinclair.


title: Isildur

text: Shippey writes that Jackson uses the voice-over to say of Isildur that he had "this one chance to destroy evil for ever", commenting that when Tolkien says "for ever", he at once indicates that that optimistic hope is wrong: Elrond says he recalls "when Thangorodrim was broken, and the Elves deemed that evil was ended for ever, and it was not so." Shippey writes that there is a glimpse here of a sharp difference between Jackson's and Tolkien's concept of evil, and their respective media: Tolkien believed that even the best of men were fallen, victory always temporary, and portrayed that in his writings, whereas a dramatic medium like film required good on one side and bad on the other.


title: Isildur

text: In the television series "", the young Isildur is played by the English actor Maxim Baldry. Although Isildur fails to destroy the One Ring, the series' showrunner Patrick McKay stated that the intention was to present Isildur more favourably, as burdened by heavy responsibilities; McKay compared the character to the gangster Michael Corleone from "The Godfather" trilogy.


title: Isildur

text: In the video game "", Isildur's fate differs from the book. After he was attacked by the orcs, they transported his lifeless body to Mordor at Sauron's behest. Sauron revived Isildur with one of the nine rings, and then tortured him until his spirit was broken and he became a Nazgûl. The specific power of his ring allowed him to raise the dead and have them fight by his side as mindless minions. Eventually, he was defeated by the game's protagonist, Talion, after multiple encounters. Instead of subduing him with his own ring of power, Talion chose to spare Isildur and release his spirit, allowing him to proceed into the afterlife after millennia of service to Sauron. Talion took Isildur's ring and eventually became a Nazgûl himself.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The history of the Philippines from 1565 to 1898 is known as the Spanish colonial period, during which the Philippine Islands were ruled as the Captaincy General of the Philippines within the Spanish East Indies, initially under the Kingdom of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, based in Mexico City, until the independence of the Mexican empire from Spain in 1821. This resulted in direct Spanish control during a period of governmental instability there. However, unlike the Spanish American colonies, the Philippines, being less significant to the Spanish economy, were under much less direct royal control.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The first documented European contact with the Philippines was made in 1521 by Ferdinand Magellan in his circumnavigation expedition, during which he was killed in the Battle of Mactan. Forty-four years later, a Spanish expedition led by Miguel López de Legazpi left modern Mexico and began the Spanish conquest of the Philippines. Legazpi's expedition arrived in the Philippines in 1565, during the reign of Philip II of Spain, whose name has remained attached to the country.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The Spanish colonial period ended with the defeat of Spain by the United States in the Spanish American War, which marked the beginning of the American colonial era of Philippine history.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The Spaniards had been exploring the Philippines since the early 16th century. Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese navigator in charge of a Spanish expedition to circumnavigate the globe, was killed by warriors of datu Lapulapu at the Battle of Mactan. In 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos arrived at the islands of Leyte and Samar and named them "Las Islas Filipinas" in honor of Philip II of Spain, at the time Prince of Asturias. Philip became King of Spain on January 16, 1556, when his father, Charles I of Spain (who also reigned as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor), abdicated the Spanish throne. Philip was in Brussels at the time and his return to Spain was delayed until 1559 because of European politics and wars in northern Europe. Shortly after his return to Spain, Philip ordered an expedition mounted to the Spice Islands, stating that its purpose was "to discover the islands of the west". In reality its task was to conquer the Philippines for Spain. The population of Luzon and the Visayas at the time of the first Spanish missions is estimated as between 1 and 1.5 million, overall density being low.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: King Philip II of Spain, whose name has remained attached to the islands, ordered and oversaw the conquest and colonization of the Philippines. On November 19 or 20, 1564 a Spanish expedition of a mere 500 men led by Miguel López de Legazpi departed Barra de Navidad (modern Mexican state of Jalisco) in the Viceroyalty of New Spain, arriving off Cebu on February 13, 1565, conquering it despite Cebuano opposition. More than 15,000 soldiers arrived from New Spain as new migrants during the 17th century, far outnumbering civilian arrivals. Most of these soldiers were criminals and young boys rather than men of character. Hardship for the colonizing soldiers contributed to looting and enslavement, despite the entreaties of representatives of the church who accompanied them. In 1568, the Spanish Crown permitted the establishment of the encomienda system that it was abolishing in the New World, effectively legalizing a more oppressive conquest. Although slavery had been abolished in the Spanish Empire, it was allowed to continue in some forms in the Philippines due to its already present use on the islands.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Due to conflict with the Portuguese, who blockaded Cebu in 1568, and persistent supply shortages, in 1569 Legazpi transferred to Panay and founded a second settlement on the bank of the Panay River. In 1570 Legazpi sent his grandson, Juan de Salcedo, who had arrived from Mexico in 1567, to Mindoro to punish the Muslim Moro pirates who had been plundering Panay villages. Salcedo also destroyed forts on the islands of Ilin and Lubang, respectively south and northwest of Mindoro.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In 1570, Martín de Goiti, having been dispatched by Legazpi to Luzon, conquered the Kingdom of Maynila. Legazpi followed with a larger fleet comprising both Spanish and a majority Visayan force, taking a month to bring these forces to bear due to slow speed of local ships. This large force caused the surrender of neighboring Tondo. An attempt by some local leaders to defeat the Spanish was repelled. Legazpi renamed Manila "Nueva Castilla", and declared it the capital of the Philippines, and thus of the entire Spanish East Indies, which also encompassed Spanish territories in Asia and the Pacific. Legazpi became the country's first governor-general.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Though the fledgling Legazpi-led administration was initially small and vulnerable to elimination by Portuguese and Chinese invaders, the merging of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns under the Iberian Union of 1580-1640 helped make permanent the mutual recognition of Spanish claim to the Philippines as well as Portugal's claim to the Spice Islands (Mollucas).


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In 1573, Japan expanded its trade in northern Luzon. In 1580, the Japanese lord Tay Fusa established the independent Wokou Tay Fusa state in non-colonial Cagayan. When the Spanish arrived in the area, they subjugated the new kingdom, resulting in 1582 Cagayan battles. With time, Cebu's importance fell as power shifted north to Luzon.In the late 16th century the population of Manila grew even as the population of Spanish settlements in the Visayas decreased.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In time, the Spanish successfully took over the different local states one by one. Under Spanish rule, disparate barangays were deliberately consolidated into towns, where Catholic missionaries were more easily able to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. The missionaries converted most of the lowland inhabitants to Christianity. They also founded schools, a university, hospitals, and churches. To defend their settlements, the Spaniards constructed and manned a network of military fortresses across the archipelago. Slavery was also abolished. As a result of these policies the Philippine population increased exponentially.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Spanish rule brought most of what is now the Philippines into a single unified administration. From 1565 to 1821, the Philippines was governed as part of the Mexico-based Viceroyalty of New Spain, later administered from Madrid following the Mexican War of Independence. Administration of the Philippine islands were considered a drain on the economy of Spain, and there were debates about abandoning it or trading it for some other territory. However, this was opposed for a number of reasons, including economic potential, security, and the desire to continue religious conversion in the islands and the surrounding region. The Philippines survived on an annual subsidy provided by the Spanish Crown, which averaged 250,000 pesos and was usually paid through the provision of 75 tons of silver bullion being sent from Spanish America on the Manila galleons. Financial constraints meant the 200-year-old fortifications in Manila did not see significant change after being first built by the early Spanish colonizers.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Some Japanese ships visited the Philippines in the 1570s in order to export Japanese silver and import Philippine gold. Later, increasing imports of silver from New World sources resulted in Japanese exports to the Philippines shifting from silver to consumer goods. In the 1570s, the Spanish traders were troubled to some extent by Japanese pirates, but peaceful trading relations were established between the Philippines and Japan by 1590. Japan's kampaku (regent) Toyotomi Hideyoshi, demanded unsuccessfully on several occasions that the Philippines submit to Japan's suzerainty.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: On February 8, 1597, King Philip II, near the end of his 42-year reign, issued a Royal Cedula instructing Francisco de Tello de Guzmán, then Governor-General of the Philippines to fulfill the laws of tributes and to provide for restitution of ill-gotten taxes taken from indigenous Filipinos. The decree was published in Manila on August 5, 1598. King Philip died on September 13, just forty days after the publication of the decree, but his death was not known in the Philippines until middle of 1599, by which time a referendum by which indigenous Filipinos would acknowledge Spanish rule was underway. With the completion of the Philippine referendum of 1599, Spain could be said to have established legitimate sovereignty over the Philippines.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: During the initial period of colonialization, Manila was settled by 1,200 Spanish families. In Cebu City, at the Visayas, the settlement received a total of 2,100 soldier-settlers from New Spain (Mexico). Spanish forces included soldiers from elsewhere in New Spain, many of whom deserted and intermingled with the wider population. Though they collectively had significant impact on Filipino society, assimilation erased prior caste differences between them and, in time, the importance of their national origin.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: However, according to genetic studies, the Philippines remained largely unaffected by admixture with Europeans. Latin Americans outnumbered Europeans, the Spanish in general, and the majority of Filipinos are native Austronesians.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Spain maintained in towns and cities. At the immediate south of Manila, Mexicans were present at Ermita and at Cavite, where they were stationed as sentries. In addition, men conscripted from Peru, were also sent to settle Zamboanga City in Mindanao, to wage war upon Muslim defenders. There were also communities of Spanish-Mestizos that developed in Iloilo, Negros and Vigan. Interactions between indigenous Filipinos and immigrant Spaniards plus Latin-Americans eventually caused the formation of a new language, Chavacano, a creole of Mexican Spanish.They depended on the Galleon Trade for a living. In the later years of the 18th century, Governor-General José Basco introduced economic reforms that gave the colony its first significant internal source income from the production of tobacco and other agricultural exports. In this later period, agriculture was finally opened to the European population, which before was reserved only for indigenous Filipinos.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: During its rule, Spain quelled various indigenous revolts, as well as defending against external military challenges. The Spanish considered their war with the Muslims in Southeast Asia an extension of the Reconquista. War against the Dutch from the West, in the 17th century, together with conflict with the Muslims in the South nearly bankrupted the colonial treasury. Moros from western Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago also raided the coastal Christian areas of Luzon and the Visayas. Settlers had to fight off the Chinese pirates (who lay siege to Manila, the most famous of which was Limahong in 1573).


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: There were three naval actions fought between Dutch corsairs and Spanish forces in 1610, 1617 and 1624, known as the First, Second and Third Battles of Playa Honda. The second battle is the most famous and celebrated of the three, with nearly even forces (10 ships vs 10 ships), resulting in the Dutch losing their flagship and retreating. Only the third battle of 1624 resulted in a Dutch naval victory.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In 1646, a series of five naval actions known as the Battles of La Naval de Manila was fought between the forces of Spain and the Dutch Republic, as part of the Eighty Years' War. Although the Spanish forces consisted of just two Manila galleons and a galley with crews composed mainly of Filipino volunteers, against three separate Dutch squadrons, totaling eighteen ships, the Dutch squadrons were severely defeated in all fronts by the Spanish-Filipino forces, forcing the Dutch to abandon their plans for an invasion of the Philippines.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: On June 6, 1647, Dutch vessels were sighted near Mariveles Island. In spite of the preparations, the Spanish had only one galleon (the "San Diego") and two galleys ready to engage the enemy. The Dutch had twelve major vessels.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: On June 12, the armada attacked the Spanish port of Cavite. The battle lasted eight hours, and the Spanish believed they had done much damage to the enemy flagship and the other vessels. The Spanish ships were not badly damaged and casualties were low. However, nearly every roof in the Spanish settlement was damaged by cannon fire, which particularly concentrated on the cathedral. On June 19, the armada was split, with six ships sailing for the shipyard of Mindoro and the other six remaining in Manila Bay. The Dutch next attacked Pampanga, where they captured the fortified monastery, taking prisoners and executing almost 200 Filipino defenders. The governor ordered solemn funeral rites for the dead and payments to their widows and orphans.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: There was an expedition the following year that arrived in Jolo in July. The Dutch had formed an alliance with an anti-Spanish king, Salicala. The Spanish garrison on the island was small, but survived a Dutch bombardment. The Dutch finally withdrew, and the Spanish made peace with the Joloans, and then also withdrew.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: There was also an unsuccessful attack on Zamboanga in 1648. That year the Dutch promised the natives of Mindanao that they would return in 1649 with aid in support of a revolt against the Spanish. Several revolts did break out, the most serious being in the village of Lindáo. There most of the Spaniards were killed, and the survivors were forced to flee in a small river boat to Butuán. However, Dutch aid did not materialize or have objects to provide them. The authorities from Manila issued a general pardon, and many of the Filipinos in the mountains surrendered.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In August 1759, Charles III ascended the Spanish throne. At the time, Great Britain and France were at war, in what was later called the Seven Years' War.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: British forces occupied Manila from 1762 to 1764, however they were unable to extend their conquest outside of Manila as the Filipinos stayed loyal to the remaining Spanish community outside Manila. Spanish colonial forces kept the British confined to Manila. Catholic Archbishop Manuel Rojo, who had been captured by the British, executed a document of surrender on October 30, 1762, giving the British confidence in eventual victory.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The surrender by Archbishop Rojo was rejected as illegal by Don Simón de Anda y Salazar, who claimed the title of Governor-General under the statutes of the Council of the Indies. He led Spanish-Filipino forces that kept the British confined to Manila and sabotaged or crushed British-fomented revolts, such as the revolt by Diego Silang. Anda intercepted and redirected the Manila galleon trade to prevent further captures by the British. The failure of the British to consolidate their position led to troop desertions and a breakdown of command unity which left the British forces paralysed and in an increasingly precarious position.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The Seven Years' War was ended by the Peace of Paris signed on February 10, 1763. At the time of signing the treaty, the signatories were not aware that Manila was under British occupation and was being administered as a British colony. Consequently, no specific provision was made for the Philippines. Instead they fell under the general provision that all other lands not otherwise provided for be returned to the Spanish Crown.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: As industrialization spread throughout Europe and North America in the 19th century, demands for raw materials increased. Although the Philippines had been prohibited from trading with nations other than Spain, the demand led Spain, under Governor-General José Basco, to open the ports to international trade as both as a source of raw materials and as a market for manufactured goods.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Following the opening of Philippine ports to world trade in 1834, shifts started occurring within Filipino society. The decline of the Manila Galleon trade contributed to shifts in the domestic economy. Communal land became privatized to meet international demand for agricultural products, which led to the formal opening of the ports of Manila, Iloilo, and Cebu to international trade.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The development of the Philippines as a source of raw materials and as a market for European manufactures created much local wealth. Many Filipinos prospered. Everyday Filipinos also benefited from the new economy with the rapid increase in demand for labor and availability of business opportunities. Some Europeans immigrated to the Philippines to join the wealth wagon, among them Jacobo Zobel, patriarch of today's Zobel de Ayala family and prominent figure in the rise of Filipino nationalism. Their scions studied in the best universities of Europe where they learned the ideals of liberty from the French and American Revolutions. The new economy gave rise to a new middle class in the Philippines.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In the mid-19th century, the Suez Canal was opened which made the Philippines easier to reach from Spain. The small increase of "Peninsulares" from the Iberian Peninsula threatened the secularization of the Philippine churches. In state affairs, the "Criollos", known locally as "Insulares" (lit. "islanders"), were displaced from government positions by the "Peninsulares", whom the "Insulares" regarded as foreigners.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The Latin American wars of independence and renewed immigration led to shifts in social identity, with the term "Filipino" shifting from referring to Spaniards born in the Iberian Peninsula and in the Philippines to a term encompassing all people in the archipelago. This identity shift was driven by wealthy families of mixed ancestry, for which it developed into a national identity. This was compounded by a Mexican of Filipino descent, Isidoro Montes de Oca, becoming captain-general to the revolutionary leader Vicente Guerrero during the Mexican War of Independence. The "Insulares" had become increasingly Filipino and called themselves "Los hijos del país" (lit. "sons of the country"). Among the early proponents of Filipino nationalism were the "Insulares" Padre Pedro Peláez, who fought for the secularization of Philippine churches and expulsion of the friars, Padre José Burgos whose execution influenced the national hero José Rizal, and Joaquín Pardo de Tavera who fought for retention of government positions by natives, regardless of race. In retaliation to the rise of Filipino nationalism, the friars called the "Indios" (possibly referring to "Insulares" and "mestizos" as well) indolent and unfit for government and church positions. In response, the "Insulares" came out with "Indios agraviados", a manifesto defending the Filipino against discriminatory remarks.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The tension between the "Insulares" and "Peninsulares" erupted into the failed revolts of Novales and the Cavite Mutiny of 1872, which resulted to the deportation of prominent Filipino nationalists to the Marianas and Europe, who would continue the fight for liberty through the Propaganda Movement. The Cavite Mutiny implicated the priests Mariano Gomez, José Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora (see Gomburza), whose executions would influence the subversive activities of the next generation of Filipino nationalists, among them José Rizal, who then dedicated his novel "El filibusterismo" to these priests.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: After the Liberals won the Spanish Revolution of 1868, Carlos María de la Torre was sent to the Philippines to serve as governor-general (1869–1871). He was one of the most loved governors-general in the Philippines because of the reforms he implemented. At one time, his supporters, including Padre Burgos and Joaquín Pardo de Tavera, serenaded him in front of the Malacañan Palace. Following the Bourbon Restoration in Spain and the removal of the Liberals from power, de la Torre was recalled and replaced by Governor-General Izquierdo, who vowed to rule with an iron fist.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Revolutionary sentiments were stoked in 1872 after three activist Catholic priests were executed on weak pretences. This would inspire a propaganda movement in Spain, organized by Marcelo Hilario del Pilar, José Rizal, and Mariano Ponce, lobbying for political reforms in the Philippines.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: The mass deportation of nationalists to the Marianas and Europe in 1872 led to a Filipino expatriate community of reformers in Europe. The community grew with the next generation of Ilustrados studying in European universities. They allied themselves with Spanish liberals, notably Spanish senator Miguel Morayta Sagrario, and founded the newspaper "La Solidaridad". During this time, Spain institutionalized the business of human zoos against Filipinos, adding flame to the call of revolution, as indigenous Filipinos were taken by the Spanish and displayed as animals for white audiences.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Among the reformers was José Rizal, who wrote two novels while in Europe. His novels were considered the most influential of the Illustrados' writings, causing further unrest in the islands, particularly the founding of the Katipunan. A rivalry developed between himself and Marcelo Hilario del Pilar for the leadership of "La Solidaridad" and the reform movement in Europe. Majority of the expatriates supported the leadership of del Pilar.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Rizal then returned to the Philippines to organize La Liga Filipina and bring the reform movement to Philippine soil. He was arrested just a few days after founding the league. Rizal was eventually executed on December 30, 1896, on charges of rebellion. This radicalized many who had previously been loyal to Spain. As attempts at reform met with resistance, in 1892, Radical members of the La Liga Filipina, which included Andrés Bonifacio and Deodato Arellano, founded the "Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan" (KKK), called simply the "Katipunan", which had the objective of the Philippines seceding from the Spanish Empire.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: By 1896, the Katipunan had a membership by the thousands. That same year, the existence of the Katipunan was discovered by the colonial authorities. In late August, Katipuneros gathered in Caloocan and declared the start of the revolution. The event is now known as the "Cry of Balintawak" or the "Cry of Pugad Lawin", due to conflicting historical traditions and official government positions. Andrés Bonifacio called for a general offensive on Manila and was defeated in battle at the town of San Juan del Monte. He regrouped his forces and was able to briefly capture the towns of Marikina, San Mateo and Montalbán. Spanish counterattacks drove him back and he retreated to the heights of Balara and Morong and from there engaged in guerrilla warfare. By August 30, the revolt had spread to eight provinces. On that date, Governor-General Ramón Blanco declared a state of war in these provinces and placed them under martial law. These were Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Pampanga, Tarlac, Laguna, Batangas, and Nueva Ecija. They would later be represented in the eight rays of the sun in the Filipino flag. Emilio Aguinaldo and the Katipuneros of Cavite were the most successful of the rebels and they controlled most of their province by September–October. They defended their territories with trenches designed by Edilberto Evangelista.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: Many of the educated "ilustrado" class such as Antonio Luna and Apolinario Mabini did not initially favor an armed revolution. José Rizal himself, whom the rebels took inspiration from and had consulted beforehand, disapproved of a premature revolution. He was arrested, tried and executed for treason, sedition and conspiracy on December 30, 1896. Before his arrest he had issued a statement disavowing the revolution, but in his swan song poem "Mi último adiós" he wrote that dying in battle for the sake of one's country was just as patriotic as his own impending death.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: While the revolution spread throughout the provinces, Aguinaldo's Katipuneros declared the existence of an insurgent government in October regardless of Bonifacio's Katipunan, which he had already converted into an insurgent government with him as president in August. Bonifacio was invited to Cavite to mediate between Aguinaldo's rebels, the Magdalo, and their rivals the Magdiwang, both chapters of the Katipunan. There he became embroiled in discussions whether to replace the Katipunan with an insurgent government of the Cavite rebels' design. This internal dispute led to the Tejeros Convention and an election in which Bonifacio lost his position and Emilio Aguinaldo was elected as the new leader of the revolution. On March 22, 1897, the convention established the Tejeros Revolutionary Government. Bonifacio refused to recognize this and, with others, concluded the Naic Military Agreement. This led to his execution for treason in May 1897. On November 1, the Tejeros government was supplanted by the Republic of Biak-na-Bato.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: By December 1897, the revolution had resulted to a stalemate between the colonial government and rebels. Pedro Paterno mediated between the two sides for the signing of the Pact of Biak-na-Bato. The conditions of the armistice included the self-exile of Aguinaldo and his officers in exchange for $MXN 800,000 (about $US today) to be paid by the colonial government. Aguinaldo then sailed to Hong Kong to self exile.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: On April 25, 1898, the Spanish–American War began. On May 1, 1898, in the Battle of Manila Bay, the Asiatic Squadron of the U.S. Navy, led by Commodore George Dewey aboard the "USS Olympia", decisively defeated the Spanish naval forces in the Philippines. With the loss of its naval forces and of control of Manila Bay, Spain lost the ability to defend Manila and therefore the Philippines.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: On May 19, Emilio Aguinaldo returned to the Philippines aboard a U.S. Navy ship and on May 24 took command of Filipino forces. Filipino forces had liberated much of the country from the Spanish. On June 12, 1898, Aguinaldo issued the Philippine Declaration of Independence declaring independence from Spain. Filipino forces then laid siege to Manila, as had American forces.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: In August 1898, the Spanish governor-general covertly agreed with American commanders to surrender Manila to the Americans following a mock battle. On August 13, 1898, during the Battle of Manila (1898), Americans took control of the city. In December 1898, the Treaty of Paris (1898) was signed, ending the Spanish–American War and selling the Philippines to the United States for $20 million. With this treaty, Spanish rule in the Philippines formally ended.


title: History of the Philippines (1565–1898)

text: As it became increasingly clear that the United States would not recognize the First Philippine Republic, the Philippine–American War broke out on February 4, 1899, with the Battle of Manila (1899).


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began play as an MLS expansion team in 2017, as the twenty-second team in the league. It is the first MLS franchise to be based in Atlanta, and the club plays home games at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which they share with the city's National Football League (NFL) franchise, the Atlanta Falcons. Both are owned by Arthur Blank, co-founder of The Home Depot. The club also owns Atlanta United 2, a reserve team that competes in the USL Championship (USLC).


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Gerardo Martino was appointed as the club's first head coach and guided Atlanta to their first playoff appearance in the team's debut season, before securing the team's first trophy in just their second season by winning MLS Cup 2018.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta has set several league records for highest single-match and average attendance. In 2021, Sportico estimated the club was the second most valuable in the league, worth approximately $845 million.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: At the time the team was announced, Atlanta was the largest metropolitan area without an MLS franchise. Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank's AMB Sports and Entertainment Group had submitted a bid for an expansion franchise in 2008, but withdrew the bid in early 2009 due to state and local government budget shortfalls and Blank's inability to find partners to build an appropriate stadium for the proposed team. On July 10, 2010, Dan Courtemanche, MLS's executive vice president of communications, said that despite the bid withdrawal, regular discussions with Blank regarding Atlanta's potential as an expansion market were occurring.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On May 31, 2011, the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers were sold to True North Sports & Entertainment, who announced that they would relocate the team to Winnipeg and rebrand as the Winnipeg Jets. The Thrashers' relocation helped restart the efforts and talks of bringing an MLS expansion team to Atlanta.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In May 2012, while the Falcons' proposed new stadium was going through the approval process, MLS commissioner Don Garber cited Atlanta as one of three "intriguing" markets for future league expansion. Additionally, when Blank presented his case for a new stadium at the Falcons' annual meeting with season ticket holders, he stated that an additional benefit of the new stadium was that it could help attract a Major League Soccer franchise and potentially host World Cup matches. Later that year, in November, Garber said if the Falcons could complete plans for a new stadium, MLS would "try to figure out how an MLS team could be part of their plans."


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Rich McKay, Falcons president and CEO, said in 2013 that the team was "open to various options, including [its] ownership of a team or someone else owning a team". Dan Courtemanche said, "We are big believers in the Atlanta market," and cited the city's growing Hispanic population and corporations that could serve as its sponsors. Then, in March 2013, the city and the Falcons agreed to financing terms, and in May 2013, the Georgia Department of Economic Development board approved $30 million in bonds to finance the land purchase for the new stadium. The stadium was set to open in 2017 and could be configured for professional soccer. Atlanta remained at the top of the list for an MLS expansion team, as Garber, in the December 2013 MLS State of the League address, emphasized that it was a goal to continue to expand in the Southeast, and added, "if we can continue to advance our discussions positively with Arthur [Blank] and the [Atlanta] Falcons, we hope to be able to get a situation finalized so that could potentially be our second team. Orlando being the first, maybe Atlanta or Miami would be the second or the third." In December 2013, Garber said the league was making progress in discussions with the Falcons and that the stadium situation was finalized. Negotiations continued, as Courtemanche said in January 2014 that Atlanta "remains a great prospect for MLS expansion," and in February 2014, Rich McKay confirmed the parties were "far along in negotiations."


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On April 16, 2014, Blank announced that MLS had awarded an expansion franchise to his group, and the team would begin play in 2017. Atlanta became the second franchise awarded in the Southeastern United States in five months, following the Orlando City SC announcement in late 2013. The Southeast had been without an MLS team since the Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny were dissolved in 2001.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta's first regular season MLS game was played on March 5, 2017, at Bobby Dodd Stadium with 55,297 in attendance. Yamil Asad scored the first goal in team history in a 2–1 loss to New York Red Bulls. A week later, the team registered its first win with a 6–1 away defeat of fellow expansion team Minnesota United FC. On March 18, 2017, the team registered its first win at home, beating Chicago Fire, who went down to ten men in the eleventh minute, 4–0 in front of a sold-out Bobby Dodd Stadium. Following its move to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the team continued leading the league in attendance and averaged more than 48,000 in its home league matches, breaking records for attendance for a non-doubleheader MLS game and average single-season attendance for a U.S. soccer team. Atlanta clinched a berth in the playoffs, becoming the third MLS expansion team to do so in their inaugural season, by finishing tied for third place in the Eastern Conference; due to tiebreaking rules Atlanta was seeded fourth. In its first playoff game, the team faced Columbus Crew and set a then-MLS attendance record for a playoff game with 67,221 spectators in attendance. After 120 minutes of scoreless action, the match was decided by a penalty shoot-out, which Columbus won 3–1 to eliminate Atlanta.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In their second season, Atlanta finished second in the Eastern Conference as well as the Supporters' Shield. The club qualified for the playoffs for the second year in a row, advancing to MLS Cup 2018 after beating New York City FC and New York Red Bulls. In the final on December 8, the team beat Portland Timbers, bringing the city of Atlanta its first major sports championship since MLB's Atlanta Braves won the 1995 World Series. The win qualified Atlanta for the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League, marking the first time Atlanta qualified for continental competition.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: The win also allowed Martino, who had announced earlier in the season that he would not return for the 2019 campaign, to end his two-year tenure on a high note. Josef Martínez was named league MVP, while Martino was named Coach of the Year.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In the second edition of the Campeones Cup, Atlanta defeated Club América 3–2, winning the trophy and becoming the first club from United States to defeat a Mexican side in the cup match.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Martino left the club following their MLS Cup triumph in order to take over as manager of the Mexico national team. He was replaced by Frank de Boer. De Boer led the club to wins in both the U.S. Open Cup and Campeones Cup, but after beating the New England Revolution and Philadelphia Union in the MLS Playoffs, Atlanta United were eliminated in the conference finals by Toronto FC.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: The 2020 season started brightly for United, with two wins in two matches before the season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a nearly four-month layoff, United participated in the MLS is Back Tournament in Orlando, Florida, losing all three of their matches. Following their elimination from the MLS is Back Tournament, De Boer and Atlanta United mutually agreed to end his relationship with the club. He was replaced on an interim basis by Stephen Glass, who led the club following the resumption of league play in August.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: At the end of 2020, former Argentina international defender Gabriel Heinze signed a two-year contract to be the next head coach.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: During the offseason prior to the 2021 MLS season, Atlanta United brought in 9 new players including Santiago Sosa and veteran striker Lisandro López. On April 6, 2021, United played their first game of the 2021 season, beating Costa Rican side Alajuelense 1–0. The match marked the return of striker Josef Martínez, who had missed the entirety of the 2020 season due to a torn ACL.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On April 13, 2021, Atlanta United beat Costa Rican side Alajuelense 2–0 on aggregate to advance to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League. In their largest home defeat to date, they lost the first leg of the quarterfinals to Philadelphia Union on April 27, 2021, by a score of 3–0.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On July 18, 2021, Atlanta United announced the firing of head coach Gabriel Heinze, after the team hit a club-record eight-game winless streak, with only two wins out of their first thirteen games of the 2021 MLS season. Heinze's interim replacement was Atlanta United assistant coach Rob Valentino.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On August 12, 2021, former Mexican international and Seattle Sounders FC assistant coach Gonzalo Pineda was named the fourth permanent head coach in club history, with his first match away to D.C. United on August 21. Valentino remained with the club as an assistant coach.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On November 7, 2021, Atlanta United clinched a spot in the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs after a 2–1 victory over FC Cincinnati at TQL Stadium.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Arthur Blank stated that fans would be involved in choosing the name, logo and "a color scheme that'll work with the red and black with ... gold " (the colors used by the Falcons when they launched in 1966).


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On June 25, 2015, "Sports Illustrated" reported that Atlanta's expansion team would be named Atlanta United FC. The official announcement of the team's name took place on July 7. Atlanta United president Darren Eales explained that the name was chosen based on a survey of the team's supporters and used words the supporters most positively related to the potential team. Eales also stated that the Founders' Group meeting would still be held on July 7 and the logo for the new team would be unveiled.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: The team's name, logo and colors were unveiled on July 7, 2015. The logo features a circle reminiscent of the city's seal and Olympic heritage with a bold "A" at the center of the circle. Behind the "A" are five black and red stripes representing the five pillars of the team: unity, determination, community, excellence, and innovation. The team's official colors are black (for strength and power), red (or "Victory Red," as the team calls it, for pride and passion), and gold (for a commitment to excellence). The team has become unofficially known as "The Five Stripes", which correlates to the five stripes on the team's inaugural home kits.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In February 2019, on the heels of the club's first MLS championship, Atlanta unveiled a new primary kit for the upcoming 2019 season. The new design is nicknamed "Star and Stripes" and was created by Adidas. Changes include a move from five thick stripes to nine thinner stripes on the front, red socks instead of black, and a gold star above the team crest.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In February 2021, Atlanta United announced a new primary kit for the 2021 season. The design is named the "BLVCK" kit and is United's first all-black kit.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On July 12, 2016, the team announced American Family Insurance as its primary jersey sponsor for the first team. The terms and length of the contract were not disclosed. Truist is the official kit sponsor at the youth academy level. On February 4, 2020, the club announced that it had expanded its partnership with local healthcare provider Piedmont Healthcare. As part of the partnership expansion, Piedmont became the first team's sleeve sponsor and the main sponsor for the reserve team. Later, the team announced Truist Financial and NAPA as short and sleeve sponsors. On March 23, 2021, the team announced AT&T as its new sleeve sponsor.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On November 14, 2017, Atlanta United announced that they would be launching a reserve team to compete in the United Soccer League, the second division of American soccer. Club president Darren Eales said that the new team was launched to "bridge the gap between our best in class academy and our First Team." The team, Atlanta United 2, began play in the Eastern Conference of what is now called USL Championship in the 2018 season.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta United operate a youth academy that competes in the United States Soccer Development Academy. The academy began play in the 2016–2017 USSDA season and has seven youth teams: U-19, U-17, U-16, U-15, U-14, U-13 and U-12. Participation in the academy is free for all players and participants are eligible to be signed to the Atlanta United first team as a Homegrown Player. The club has signed six players to first-team contracts and three players to reserve team contracts since the academy launched.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In addition to its USSDA programs, the academy also operates a soccer development program to identify players playing for local youth clubs and promote them to the academy. The club also operates the Atlanta United Regional Development School, a pre-academy feeder program for players aged 8–14 to provide training and development for advanced local players and identify potential academy players, as well as the United Juniors Program, a special development program to provide supplemental development for U-12 players playing for other Atlanta-area youth clubs.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: The club shares Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. The club typically curtains off the upper level of the stadium to create a more intimate atmosphere for soccer. For most games, Mercedes-Benz Stadium holds 42,500 people. The team used the curtains for six of nine home matches during the inaugural season. When expanded to full capacity, the stadium can hold 71,000 people, with standing room for at least 73,019 people (based on attendance at MLS Cup 2018—at the time, the largest single-match crowd in MLS history). To create a better match-day experience, stands are retractable to accommodate a larger field and allow better sight lines. When Atlanta was announced as an expansion team, Blank vowed, "There will never be an MLS game in Atlanta where NFL lines are shown on the field."


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In January 2016, the opening of the stadium was delayed three months to June 2017. The team was originally scheduled to move into Mercedes-Benz Stadium on July 30, 2017; however, the complexity of the eight-panel retractable roof caused another delay in the stadium's opening. As the team could not use Bobby Dodd Stadium in August due to Georgia Tech having priority, the rivalry match against Orlando City was moved up one day from July 30 to 29, and two home fixtures originally scheduled to be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in August were moved to September. The team's first match in the stadium took place on September 10, 2017, against FC Dallas.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In August 2015, the club announced plans for training facilities, academy facilities, and sporting headquarters in Decatur. However, the results of an environmental and geotechnical feasibility study found that the site on Memorial Drive was unfeasible, and in November 2015 plans for the facility were canceled. Instead, the facility was built on a 33-acre plot on Franklin Gateway in Marietta. On April 11, 2017, the $60 million facility was opened, named the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground. The facility includes a 30,000 square foot building that acts as the club's sporting headquarters and houses locker rooms for the first team, reserve team, and academy teams, a full-service dining hall, and sports science facilities including a gymnasium and two hydrotherapy plunge pools. The facility also includes six outdoor training fields, including a showcase field with a stand that can seat 2,500 spectators. On March 28, 2019, the Marietta City Council agreed to sell an additional of land to the club to expand the training facilities as well as extend the lease on the existing facility on city-owned land by an additional five years.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: The first team played its home matches in the first half of the 2017 MLS season at Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium due to delays in the construction of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Although the club sought a balanced home-and-away schedule during their spell at Bobby Dodd Stadium, Atlanta United did not play any home matches from March 19 to April 29 to avoid conflicts with the Yellow Jackets' spring football scrimmages. According to club officials, the Georgia Dome was not considered a viable option to temporarily host the team, since delaying the Dome's planned demolition would have also delayed the completion of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta United has four officially recognized supporter groups: Terminus Legion, Resurgence, Footie Mob, and the Faction.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Terminus Legion is a supporter group that was created in March 2011 by graphic designer Matt Stigall, who wanted a way to show that Atlanta fans would support soccer despite the perception of the city as a "lazy sports town". The group was named after , and its logo featuring a cow catcher and railroad ties reflect the city's history as a locomotive hub. In the days since the expansion team was awarded, its membership doubled to over 500, and in the time leading up to 2017, Stigall said the group would support "all Atlanta soccer" including the Atlanta Silverbacks of the NASL and at the grassroots level, and make road trips to rival Orlando City matches.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Footie Mob is a supporter group established in 2014, their name a take on Atlanta hip-hop group Goodie Mob. The group is known for pre-game tailgating and incorporating Atlanta's music culture into the supporter culture.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: By December 2015, the supporters of the new MLS team had already pledged to purchase more than 29,000 season tickets. As of December 2017, the team had more than 36,000 season ticket holders.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: In 2018, the Bleacher Report declared Atlanta the "Black Soccer Capital of America" due to the emerging presence of African-Americans supporting Atlanta United.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On September 12, 2017, Atlanta United announced that the team had sold more than 69,256 tickets for the September 16 match against Orlando City at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, breaking the league record for single-match attendance. The previous record of 69,255 tickets sold was held by LA Galaxy. The game's official attendance was 70,425, making Atlanta the first MLS team to surpass 70,000 in attendance for a non-doubleheader match.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On October 5, 2017, the team announced they had sold more than 70,456 tickets for the October 22 match against Toronto FC. This allowed the team to break both the record for highest average attendance in a season for MLS (held by Seattle Sounders), as well as the record for highest average attendance in a season for professional soccer in the United States, which was held by New York Cosmos. The game's official attendance was 71,874, which broke the MLS single-match attendance record for a second time. Atlanta finished the season with an average attendance of 48,200 for MLS regular season games, a number higher than that of multiple major clubs such as English sides Everton and Chelsea.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On March 11, 2018, the team broke the league single-match attendance record for the third time, selling 72,035 tickets for their 2018 season home opener against D.C. United.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On June 30, 2018, fans set another record with 71,932 in attendance, more than any other soccer game happening that day in the world, including the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On July 15, 2018, the team again set the league single-match attendance record with 72,243 in attendance.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: Atlanta broke the league record for average regular-season attendance again in 2018, breaking their 2017 record and becoming the first MLS team to average more than 50,000 in attendance with an average attendance of 53,002.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On December 8, 2018, Atlanta United won its first MLS Cup before a crowd of 73,019, the largest non-doubleheader crowd in league history.


title: Atlanta United FC

text: On August 3, 2019, the team set another single-match attendance record, with 72,548 in attendance for their home matchup against the LA Galaxy.