title: Illegal drug trade

text: Throughout the 20th century, narcotics other than cocaine also crossed the Mexican border, meeting the US demand for alcohol during the 1920s Prohibition, opiates in the 1940s, marijuana in the 1960s, and heroin in the 1970s. Most of the U.S. imports of drugs come from Mexican drug cartels. In the United States, around 195 cities have been infiltrated by drug trafficking that originated in Mexico. An estimated $10bn of the Mexican drug cartel's profits come from the United States, not only supplying the Mexican drug cartels with the profit necessary for survival, but also furthering America's economic dependence on drugs.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: With a large wave of immigrants in the 1960s and onwards, the United States saw an increased heterogeneity in its public. In the 1980s and 90s, drug-related homicide was at a record high. This increase in drug violence became increasingly tied to these ethnic minorities. Though the rate of violence varied tremendously among cities in America, it was a common anxiety in communities across urban America. An example of this could be seen in Miami, a city with a host of ethnic enclaves. Between 1985 and 1995, the homicide rate in Miami was one of the highest in the nation—four times the national homicide average. This crime rate was correlated with regions with low employment and was not entirely dependent on ethnicity.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: The baby boomer generation also felt the effects of the drug trade in their increased drug use from the 1960s to 80s. Along with substance use, criminal involvement, suicide and murder were also on the rise. Due to the large amount of baby boomers, commercial marijuana use was on the rise. This increased the supply and demand for marijuana during this time period.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Corruption in Mexico has contributed to the domination of Mexican cartels in the illicit drug trade. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Mexico's political environment allowed the growth of drug-related activity. The loose regulation over the transportation of illegal drugs and the failure to prosecute known drug traffickers and gangs increased the growth of the drug industry. Toleration of drug trafficking has undermined the authority of the Mexican government and has decreased the power of law enforcement officers in regulation over such activities. These policies of tolerance fostered the growing power of drug cartels in the Mexican economy and have made drug traders wealthier. Many states in Mexico lack policies that establish stability in governance. There also is a lack of local stability, as mayors cannot be re-elected. This requires electing a new mayor each term. Drug gangs have manipulated this, using vacuums in local leadership to their own advantage.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: In 1929, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) was formed to resolve the chaos resulting from the Mexican Revolution. Over time, this party gained political influence and had a major impact on Mexico's social and economic policies. The party created ties with various groups as a power play in order to gain influence, and as a result created more corruption in the government. One such power play was an alliance with drug traffickers. This political corruption obscured justice, making it difficult to identify violence when it related to drugs. By the 1940s, the tie between the drug cartels and the PRI had solidified. This arrangement created immunity for the leaders of the drug cartels and allowed drug trafficking to grow under the protection of the government officials. During the 1990s, the PRI lost some elections to the new National Action Party (PAN). Chaos again emerged as elected government in Mexico changed drastically. As the PAN party took control, drug cartel leaders took advantage of the ensuing confusion and used their existing influence to further gain power. Instead of negotiating with the central government as was done with the PRI party, drug cartels utilized new ways to distribute their supply and continued operating through force and intimidation. As Mexico became more democratized, the corruption fell from a centralized power to the local authorities. Cartels began to bribe local authorities, thus eliminating the structure and rules placed by the government—giving cartels more freedom. As a response, Mexico saw an increase in violence caused by drug trafficking.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: The corruption cartels created resulted in distrust of government by the Mexican public. This distrust became more prominent after the collapse of the PRI party. In response, the presidents of Mexico, in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, implemented several different programs relating to law enforcement and regulation. In 1993, President Salinas created the National Institute for the Combat of Drugs in Mexico. From 1995 to 1998, President Zedillo established policies regarding increased punishment of organized crime, allowing "[wire taps], protected witnesses, covert agents and seizures of goods", and increasing the quality of law enforcement at the federal level. From 2001 to 2005, President Vicente Fox created the Federal Agency of Investigation.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Over the past few decades drug cartels have become integrated into Mexico's economy. Approximately 500 cities are directly engaged in drug trafficking and nearly 450,000 people are employed by drug cartels. Additionally, the livelihood of 3.2 million people is dependent on the drug cartels. Between local and international sales, such as to Europe and the United States, drug cartels in Mexico see a $25–30bn yearly profit, a great deal of which circulates through international banks such as HSBC. Drug cartels are fundamental in local economics. A percentage of the profits seen from the trade are invested in the local community. Such profits contribute to the education and healthcare of the community. While these cartels bring violence and hazards into communities, they create jobs and provide income for its many members.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Major cartels saw growth due to a prominent set culture of Mexican society that created the means for drug capital. One of the sites of origin for drug trafficking within Mexico, was the state of Michoacán. In the past, Michoacán was mainly an agricultural society. This provided an initial growth of trade. Industrialization of rural areas of Mexico facilitated a greater distribution of drugs, expanding the drug market into different provinces. Once towns became industrialized, cartels such as the Sinaloa Cartel started to form and expand. The proliferation of drug cartel culture largely stemmed from the ranchero culture seen in Michoacán. Ranchero culture values the individual as opposed to the society as a whole. This culture fostered the drug culture of valuing the family that is formed within the cartel. This ideal allowed for greater organization within the cartels.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Gangs play a major role in the activity of drug cartels. MS-13 and the 18th Street gang are notorious for their contributions and influence over drug trafficking throughout Latin America. MS-13 has controlled much of the activity in the drug trade spanning from Mexico to Panama. Female involvement is present in the Mexican drug culture. Although females are not treated as equals to males, they typically hold more power than their culture allows and acquire some independence. The increase in power has attracted females from higher social classes. Financial gain has also prompted women to become involved in the illegal drug market. Many women in the lower levels of major drug cartels belong to a low economic class. Drug trafficking offers women an accessible way to earn income. Females from all social classes have become involved in the trade due to outside pressure from their social and economic environments.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: It was common for smugglers in Colombia to import liquor, alcohol, cigarettes and textiles, while exporting cocaine. Personnel with knowledge of the terrain were able to supply the local market while also exporting a large amount of product. The established trade that began in the 1960s involved Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela and Cuba. Peasant farmers produced coca paste in Peru and Bolivia, while Colombian smugglers would process the coca paste into cocaine in Colombia, and trafficked product through Cuba. This trade route established ties between Cuban and Colombian organized crime. From Cuba, cocaine would be transported to Miami, Florida; and Union City, New Jersey. Quantities of the drug were then smuggled throughout the US. The international drug trade created political ties between the involved countries, encouraging the governments of the countries involved to collaborate and instate common policies to eradicate drug cartels. Cuba stopped being a center for transport of cocaine following the establishment of a communist government in 1959. As a result, Miami and Union City became the sole locations for trafficking. The relations between Cuban and Colombian organized crime remained strong until the 1970s, when Colombian cartels began to vie for power. In the 1980s and 90s, Colombia emerged as a key contributor of the drug trade industry in the Western Hemisphere. While the smuggling of drugs such as marijuana, poppy, opium and heroin became more ubiquitous during this time period, the activity of cocaine cartels drove the development of the Latin American drug trade. The trade emerged as a multinational effort as supplies (i.e. coca plant substances) were imported from countries such as Bolivia and Peru, were refined in Colombian cocaine labs and smuggled through Colombia, and exported to countries such as the US.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Colombia has had a significant role in the illegal drug trade in Latin America. While active in the drug trade since the 1930s, Colombia's role in the drug trade did not truly become dominant until the 1970s. When Mexico eradicated marijuana plantations, demand stayed the same. Colombia met much of the demand by growing more marijuana. Grown in the strategic northeast region of Colombia, marijuana soon became the leading cash crop in Colombia. This success was short-lived due to anti-marijuana campaigns that were enforced by the US military throughout the Caribbean. Instead, drug traffickers in Colombia continued their focus on exporting cocaine. Having been an export of Colombia since the early 1950s, cocaine remained popular for a host of reasons. Colombia's location facilitated its transportation from South America into Central America, and then to its destination of North America. This continued into the 1990s, when Colombia remained the chief exporter of cocaine. The business of drug trafficking can be seen in several stages in Colombia towards the latter half of the 20th century. Colombia served as the dominant force in the distribution and sale of cocaine by the 1980s. As drug producers gained more power, they became more centralized and organized into what became drug cartels. Cartels controlled the major aspects of each stage in the traffic of their product. Their organization allowed cocaine to be distributed in great amounts throughout the United States. By the late 1980s, intra-industry strife arose within the cartels. This stage was marked by increased violence as different cartels fought for control of export markets. Despite this strife, this power struggle led to then having multiple producers of coca leaf farms. This in turn caused an improvement in quality control and reduction of police interdiction in the distribution of cocaine. This also led to cartels attempting to repatriate their earnings which would eventually make up 5.5% of Colombia's GDP. This drive to repatriate earnings led to the pressure of legitimizing their wealth, causing an increase in violence throughout Colombia.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Throughout the 1980s, estimates of illegal drug value in Colombia ranged from $2bn to $4bn. This made up about 7–10% of the $36bn estimated GNP of Colombia during this decade. In the 1990s, the estimates of the illegal drug value remained roughly within the same range (~$2.5bn). As the Colombian GNP rose throughout the 1990s ($68.5bn in 1994 and $96.3bn in 1997), illegal drug values began to comprise a decreasing fraction of the national economy.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: By the early 1990s, although Colombia led in the exportation of cocaine, it found increasing confrontations within its state. These confrontations were primarily between cartels and government institutions. This led to a decrease in the drug trade's contribution to the GDP of Colombia; dropping from 5.5% to 2.6%. Though a contributor of wealth, the distribution of cocaine has had negative effects on the socio-political situation of Colombia and has weakened its economy as well.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: By the 1980s, Colombian cartels became the dominant cocaine distributors in the US. This led to the spread of increased violence throughout both Latin America and Miami. In the 1980s, two major drug cartels emerged in Colombia: the Medellin and Cali groups. Throughout the 1990s however, several factors led to the decline of these major cartels and to the rise of smaller Colombian cartels. The U.S. demand for cocaine dropped while Colombian production rose, pressuring traffickers to find new drugs and markets. In this time period, there was an increase in activity of Caribbean cartels that led to the rise of an alternate route of smuggling through Mexico. This led to the increased collaboration between major Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers. Such drastic changes in the execution of drug trade in Colombia paired with the political instabilities and rise of drug wars in Medellin and Cali, gave way for the rise of the smaller Colombian drug trafficking organizations (and the rise of heroin trade). As the drug trade's influence over the economy increased, drug lords and their networks grew in their power and influence in society. The occurrences in drug-related violence increased during this time period as drug lords fought to maintain their control in the economy. Typically a drug cartel had support networks that consisted of a number of individuals. These people individuals ranged from those directly involved in the trade (such as suppliers, chemists, transporters, smugglers, etc.) as well as those involved indirectly in the trade (such as politicians, bankers, police, etc.). As these smaller Colombian drug cartels grew in prevalence, several notable aspects of the Colombian society gave way for further development of the Colombian drug industry. For example, until the late 1980s, the long-term effects of the drug industry were not realized by much of society. Additionally, there was a lack of regulation in prisons where captured traffickers were sent. These prisons were under-regulated, under-funded, and under-staffed, which allowed for the formation of prison gangs, for the smuggling of arms/weapons/etc., for feasible escapes, and even for captured drug lords to continue running their businesses from prison.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Since the beginning of the 21st century, the global drug trade network witnessed the emergence of criminal groups from the Western Balkans as crucial players. These groups have moved up from being small-time crooks to major drug distributors. Most of these organized crime groups belonged to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The illicit trade activities of the Balkans primarily involved Latin America, Western Europe, South Africa, Australia and Turkey. These groups keep their operations outside the Western Balkans, while staying connected to their homeland. Within the network of these groups, the dealmakers operate in a proximity of supply sources and the distribution networks are managed by foot soldiers. However, the bosses of the organized criminal groups stay and keep their wealth in the United Arab Emirates. The UAE is amongst the enablers of global corruption and illicit financial flows. Analysts have claimed that criminal actors across the world either operate from or through the Emirates. It was a haven for criminals, where the risk for illicit activities remains low.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: For the Balkan criminals, a growing trend was to relocate to the UAE, which became an attraction to dirty money and kingpins from several European nations and the United Kingdom. Besides, Dubai was also dubbed as the “new Costa del Crime”, replacing the crime hideaway of Spain, the Costa del Sol. The UAE had poor regulations for money laundering and for screening of suspicious transactions. The lack of regulations against illicit financial activities prompted the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to place the Gulf country on its grey list in March 2022. Consequently, the Emirates’ remained a safe option for the criminals. Nearly two-thirds of the Albanian criminal groups, who were active in trade of drugs like cocaine, were believed to be hiding in the UAE. One of such individuals, Eldi Dizdari was accused of international drug trafficking and was living in Dubai. Research revealed that these criminals invested huge amounts in the Emirates’ real estate and other economical sectors to live there. Another trafficker of cocaine from Bosnia, Edin Gačanin was living in the UAE using his extensive profits to buy property and protection in the country. Dubbed as the “European Escobar”, he connected the supply network between production markets of Latin America and consumer markets of Western European. He was able to evade the arrest and investigations, including by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, by seeking shelter in the Emirates.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: While the recreational use of (and consequently the distribution of) cannabis is illegal in most countries throughout the world, recreational distribution is legal in some countries, such as Canada, and medical distribution is permitted in some places, such as 10 of the 50 US states (although importation and distribution is still federally prohibited). Beginning in 2014, Uruguay became the first country to legalize cultivation, sale, and consumption of cannabis for recreational use for adult residents. In 2018, Canada became the second country to legalize use, sale and cultivation of cannabis. The first few weeks were met with extremely high demand, most shops being out of stock after operating for only four days.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Cannabis use is tolerated in some areas, most notably the Netherlands, which has legalized the possession and licensed sale (but not cultivation) of the drug. Many nations have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Due to the hardy nature of the cannabis plant, marijuana is grown all across the world and is today the world's most popular illegal drug with the highest level of availability. Cannabis is grown legally in many countries for industrial, non-drug use (known as hemp) as well. Cannabis-hemp may also be planted for other non-drug domestic purposes, such as seasoning that occurs in Aceh.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: The demand for cannabis around the world, coupled with the drug's relative ease of cultivation, makes the illicit cannabis trade one of the primary ways in which organized criminal groups finance many of their activities. In Mexico, for example, the illicit trafficking of cannabis is thought to constitute the majority of many of the cartels' earnings, and the main way in which the cartels finance many other illegal activities; including the purchase of other illegal drugs for trafficking, and for acquiring weapons that are ultimately used to commit murders (causing a burgeoning in the homicide rates of many areas of the world, but particularly Latin America).


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Some studies show that the increased legalization of cannabis in the United States (beginning in 2012 with Washington Initiative 502 and Colorado Amendment 64) has led Mexican cartels to smuggle less cannabis in exchange for more heroin.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Alcohol, in the context of alcoholic beverages rather than denatured alcohol, is illegal in a number of Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia, and this has resulted in a thriving illegal trade in alcohol. The manufacture, sale, transportation, import, and export of alcoholic beverages were illegal in the United States during the time known as the Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: In the 1950s and 1960s, most heroin was produced in Turkey and transshipped in France via the "French Connection" crime ring, with much arriving in the United States. This resulted in the record setting April 26, 1968 seizure of of heroin smuggled in a vehicle on the "SS France (1960) ocean liner." By the time of The French Connection (1971 film), this route was being supplanted.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Then, until around 2004, the majority of the world's heroin was produced in an area known as the Golden Triangle. However, by 2007, 93% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This amounted to an export value of about US$4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords and drug traffickers. Another significant area where poppy fields are grown for the manufacture of heroin is Mexico.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the price of heroin is typically valued 8 to 10 times that of cocaine on American streets, making it a high-profit substance for smugglers and dealers. In Europe (except the transit countries Portugal and the Netherlands), for example, a purported gram of street heroin, usually consisting of 700–800 mg of a light to dark brown powder containing 5–10% heroin base, costs €30–70, making the effective value per gram of pure heroin €300–700. Heroin is generally a preferred product for smuggling and distribution—over unrefined opium due to the cost-effectiveness and increased efficacy of heroin.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Because of the high cost per volume, heroin is easily smuggled. A US quarter-sized (2.5 cm) cylindrical vial can contain hundreds of doses. From the 1930s to the early 1970s, the so-called French Connection supplied the majority of US demand. Allegedly, during the Vietnam War, drug lords such as Ike Atkinson used to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of heroin to the US in coffins of dead American soldiers (see Cadaver Connection). Since that time it has become more difficult for drugs to be imported into the US than it had been in previous decades, but that does not stop the heroin smugglers from getting their product across US borders. Purity levels vary greatly by region with Northeastern cities having the most pure heroin in the United States. On 17 October 2018 police in Genoa Italy, discovered 270 kg of heroin hidden in a ship coming from the Iranian southern port of Bandar Abbas. The ship had already passed and stopped at Hamburg in Germany and Valencia in Spain.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Penalties for smuggling heroin or morphine are often harsh in most countries. Some countries will readily hand down a death sentence (e.g. Singapore) or life in prison for the illegal smuggling of heroin or morphine, which are both internationally Schedule I drugs under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: In May 2021, Romania seized 1.4 tonnes of heroin at Constanța port of a shipment from Iran that was headed for Western Europe.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Methamphetamine is another popular drug among distributors. Three common street names are "meth", "crank", and "ice".


title: Illegal drug trade

text: According to the Community Epidemiology Work Group, the number of clandestine methamphetamine laboratory incidents reported to the National Clandestine Laboratory Database decreased from 1999 to 2009. During this period, methamphetamine lab incidents increased in mid-western States (Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio), and in Pennsylvania. In 2004, more lab incidents were reported in Missouri (2,788) and Illinois (1,058) than in California (764). In 2003, methamphetamine lab incidents reached new highs in Georgia (250), Minnesota (309), and Texas (677). There were only seven methamphetamine lab incidents reported in Hawaii in 2004, though nearly 59 percent of substance use treatment admissions (excluding alcohol) were for primary methamphetamine use during the first six months of 2004. As of 2007, Missouri leads the United States in drug-lab seizures, with 1,268 incidents reported. Often canine units are used for detecting rolling meth labs which can be concealed on large vehicles, or transported on something as small as a motorcycle. These labs are more difficult to detect than stationary ones, and can often be obscured among legal cargo in big trucks.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Methamphetamine is sometimes used intravenously, placing users and their partners at risk for transmission of HIV and hepatitis C. "Meth" can also be inhaled, most commonly vaporized on aluminum foil or in a glass pipe. This method is reported to give "an unnatural high" and a "brief intense rush".


title: Illegal drug trade

text: In South Africa methamphetamine is called "tik" or "tik-tik"."Known locally as "tik," the substance was virtually unknown as late as 2003. Now, it is the country's main addictive substance, even when alcohol is included. " Children as young as eight are abusing the substance, smoking it in crude glass vials made from light bulbs. Since methamphetamine is easy to produce, the substance is manufactured locally in staggering quantities.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: The government of North Korea currently operates methamphetamine production facilities. There, the drug is used as medicine because no alternatives are available; it also is smuggled across the Chinese border.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: The Australian Crime Commission's illicit drug data report for 2011–2012 stated that the average strength of crystal methamphetamine doubled in most Australian jurisdictions within a 12-month period, and the majority of domestic laboratory closures involved small "addict-based" operations.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Temazepam, a strong hypnotic benzodiazepine, is illicitly manufactured in clandestine laboratories (called "jellie labs") to supply the increasingly high demand for the drug internationally. Many clandestine temazepam labs are in Eastern Europe. The labs manufacture temazepam by chemically altering diazepam, oxazepam or lorazepam. "Jellie labs" have been identified and shut down in Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Belarus.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Surveys in many countries show that temazepam, MDMA, nimetazepam, and methamphetamine rank among the top illegal addictive substances used.


title: Illegal drug trade

text: Cocaine is a highly prominent drug among many drug dealers and manufacturers. The cocaine black market distribution industry is worth more than 85 billion dollars. It has been a heavily fought over and massively produced. Around 1.1 million kilograms of cocaine were made in 2009 and it is believed to have been consumed by around 17 million people worldwide. This drug's mass trade is believed to have been possible by notorious drug dealing kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán who ran the Sinaloa Cartel.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Alan Daniel Maman (born October 25, 1977), professionally known as the Alchemist (or simply Alchemist), is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and songwriter. He began his music career in 1991 in the hip hop duo The Whooliganz under the moniker Mudfoot, along with now-actor Scott Caan (whose moniker was "Mad Skillz"). Due to his musical output from the late 1990s to present day, the Alchemist is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Together with his longtime collaborator Oh No (with whom he forms the group Gangrene), Woody Jackson and Tangerine Dream, he composed the official score to the 2013 video game "Grand Theft Auto V" and hosts radio station The Lab in it.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Maman hails from Beverly Hills, California. As a teenager, he began to identify strongly with the rebellious lyrics and urban sounds of hip-hop, and he began writing his own lyrics. He joined up with other like-minded artists who wrote lyrics and rebelled against their suburban surroundings. These included Shifty Shellshock of Crazy Town, Evidence and Scott Caan, son of James Caan. In 1991, a 14-year-old Maman and Scott Caan decided to become a duo named The Whooliganz. While rhyming at a party in L.A., they attracted the attention of B-Real of Cypress Hill. He invited the teens to join his crew, The Soul Assassins, which also included the groups House of Pain and Funkdoobiest. In 1993, the Whooliganz released their first single, "Put Your Handz Up." The song received little radio airplay and their record label, Tommy Boy Records, decided to shelve their album. Rejected, Scott focused his creative energy on acting while Al became interested in process of making hip-hop beats.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: DJ Muggs took Al under his wing and taught him how to use a sampler and mixing board. After helping to produce a few tracks for Cypress Hill, Al became the main producer for his childhood friend Evidence and his group Dilated Peoples.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: When Dilated Peoples debuted in 1998, it helped promote Maman as a key part of its sound. Alchemist also produced several tracks on Defari's debut album "Focused Daily", another Dilated and Alkaholik affiliate. In 1999, Muggs introduced Al to his good friends the popular hip-hop group Mobb Deep. Al produced two songs for its "Murda Muzik" album. Impressed by his production skills and street smarts, Mobb Deep continued using his beats on all of the group's subsequent albums. As Alchemist's profile increased, he went on to produce for many of hip hop's most successful and prominent artists, such as Nas, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Ghostface Killah, and Snoop Dogg. He has also remixed songs for bands and artists in other genres such as Linkin Park and Morcheeba. Al stayed loyal to his old friends, continuing to produce for Dilated, Cypress Hill and Crazy Town. He also enjoys producing for lesser-known underground rappers, often giving them some of his best beats.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In 2004, six years after his rapping career folded, The Alchemist put out his debut album, "1st Infantry." The album yielded the single "Hold You Down" (featuring Prodigy, Illa Ghee and Nina Sky), which hit number ninety-five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in 2005.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In 1999, The Alchemist was set to produce three tracks for American rapper Ras Kass' then-upcoming album "Van Gogh", which was scheduled for a late 2000 release at the time. One of the said tracks was "Home Sweet Home", which was to be the lead single for Ras Kass' album. After The Alchemist received the first half of the payment for the beat, he said Ras Kass' record label (Priority) was ignoring him. They later met up in August, at the Source Awards in Pasadena, California, where Alchemist informed Kass that he'd been showcasing the beat to other artists. Jadakiss would then go on to record "We Gonna Make It" over the same beat, on his 2001 release, "Kiss Tha Game Goodbye". When Ras Kass took notice, he attempted to stop the release by releasing his version of the song on mixtapes, to no avail. This prompted Ras to diss Alchemist in freestyles and on a track from "Van Gogh". Eventually, the beef ended so he could concentrate on his legal problems but still cited a loss of respect for the producer. In an interview with www.hiphopgame.com, Ras admitted that he was being stubborn and refused to listen to what the Alchemist was trying to tell him. The two have since squashed the beef and Alchemist produced the song "Past, Future, and Present" and did the intro for the song that appeared on the 2006 mixtape "Revenge of the Spit". In 2011, Ras Kass appeared (together with rapper Raekwon) on fellow rapper Evidence's album "Cats & Dogs", on a song called "The Red Carpet", which was produced by The Alchemist.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist is one of the music producers behind the video game "" released by Rockstar Games. He was also on Tim Westwood TV, when Eminem, Royce Da 5'9" and Mr. Porter freestyled. During an interview with Worldwide Conspiracy Radio, The Alchemist revealed he would be dropping a 2-part project with fellow West Coast producer Oh No entitled "Gangrene", the first to be released in July, the second in November, both on Decon. Alchemist was also the DJ for the Eminem set on the BBC1 chat-show Jonathan Ross on June 4, 2010.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Alchemist is Eminem's official DJ, since DJ Green Lantern departed from Shady Records in 2005 because of a dispute related to the feud of 50 Cent and Jadakiss. In 2006, Eminem released a collaboration album with Shady Records called "". Since the Alchemist is his official DJ, he produced some of the tracks on the mixtape, as well as compiling the album in a mixtape fashion. On December 18, 2013, he was named the runner-up for Producer of the Year by "HipHopDX".


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In 2007, the Alchemist and rapper Prodigy came together for a studio album titled "Return of the Mac", that was released on March 27, 2007. The album features songs sampled from the Blaxploitation era.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist and the rapper Curren$y came together for the mixtape "Covert Coup", which was released April 20, 2011.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In August 2013, The Alchemist produced Odd Future member Domo Genesis' mixtape, "No Idols". It was later released on a limited edition vinyl.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On October 31, 2012, The Alchemist released a free download from 9Five's website that was later released on vinyl.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: "Rare Chandeliers", a collaboration between Alchemist and Action Bronson, was released on November 15, 2012, as a mixtape.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Prodigy's second album with the Alchemist, "Albert Einstein", was released on June 11, 2013. It debuted at number 175 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, with first-week sales of 3,000 copies in the United States. The following week it fell off the chart.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist produced the Willie the Kid EP "Masterpiece Theater EP", which was released on July 23, 2013.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Detroit Rapper Boldy James signed a record deal with Decon for an Alchemist-produced album; "My 1st Chemistry Set" was released on October 15, 2013.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On the album "Chemical Warfare" he and rapper Oh No performed as "Gangrene" on two songs, "Act of Violence" and "Under Siege". As Gangrene they subsequently released the "Sawblade EP" and the studio album "Gutter Water" in 2010, the "Greneberg" EP in 2011, and an album Vodka & Ayahuasca and an EP Odditorium EP in 2012. Gangrene, along with Tangerine Dream and Woody Jackson, contributed music for the 2013 video game Grand Theft Auto V.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist and fellow rapper Evidence have performed as the duo Step Brothers. Their debut album was announced to be titled "Lord Steppington" and released on the Rhymesayers Entertainment label. Talking about the album in 2010, Alchemist said, "I wanna create a sound for it. I don't want Step Brothers songs to sound like it could've been a Dilated Peoples song, or an Evidence song, that I'd rap on." A release date for the album was scheduled for November 19, 2013, but later the release date was pushed to January 20, 2014. There is also an Instrumental version for the album, that was released on Vinyl.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In an interview for Dead End Hip-Hop, Alchemist stated that he had been working on a project related to the gospel. Later, on March 2, 2014, he posted a teaser photo to that project, which will be a collaboration between Alchemist and producer Budgie, and also retweeted a tweet from Frank The Butcher (the founder of BAU, which the project is going to be released on) announcing the project and saying that more information will be released two days after.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On September 10, 2014, Alchemist spontaneously wrote on Twitter that producer Samiyam and himself has something to release with Dr. Romanelli (that Al previously did something for earlier, the Diagnosis mix with Coca-Cola). Later he published a new 8-minute mix of beats by himself and beats by Samiyam for the shoe brand British Knights. The mix has an Action Bronson verse (on an Alchemist beat) in it too.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: Completely by surprise, on December 8, 2014, Alchemist tweeted that he and rapper Fashawn are going to release an EP together soon, and gave a link to the first video/single from the album, "Dreams" (featuring Evidence). Fashawn tweeted that the reason for this EP is that sample clearances on his upcoming album, The Ecology, were taking too long, and he wanted the fans to have some music to listen too in the meanwhile. He also said that working with Alchemist is always a unique, special and different vibe and experience. The EP was set to contain 7 tracks, all produced by Alchemist and to be released on December 18, for Free. On the day of the release, a second video was released, for the song "Never Waiting In Vain" (last song on the EP).


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On March 6, 2015, a while after Rockstar Games announced the release of the PC GTA V, it was announced that Alchemist and Oh No (Gangrene) will have a new radio station called The Lab in the game. In addition to that, a new song "Play It Cool" (feat. Earl Sweatshirt and Samuel Herring) was released. The song is apart from a new album of tracks inspired by GTA V named "Welcome to Los Santos" that was released on April 21, 2015. The album is a compilation album of new songs from a wide range of artists. The Alchemist and Oh No were involved in the production of the songs, and the album was released for the release of the PC version of the game.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On Twitter, Oh No mentioned that the third project by Gangrene (the collaboration of Alchemist and Oh No) is in the making. Following the release of the "Grand Theft Auto V" score produced by Alchemist and Oh No, they revealed that their focus was now on a new Gangrene album. In an exclusive interview in the show "Jigga Juice" in an Israeli radio station (106.2FM) on June 25, 2014, The Alchemist said that the album is almost finalized.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On November 18, Alchemist released a single on his SoundCloud, featuring Mac Miller and Migos, titled "Jabroni". Later he said on Twitter that it will be released on limited 45 vinyl single with an instrumental version, as part of a new single series, called Craft Singles.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On January 13, 2016, The Alchemist and Curren$y announced their second collaboration on Twitter, entitled "The Carrollton Heist". The album was all recorded in one day, January 4, 2016 (Monday). Later, Curren$y announced a release date (and cover art) on his Instagram. The release date was set to February 14, 2016. This second collaboration of Alchemist and Curren$y was very long-awaited since rumors of a Covert Coup sequel (their first collab) were floating online back in 2012 until Alchemist dismissed them in an interview. The album was, indeed released on February 14, On DatPiff. Later, Alchemist noticed that the version there was not the final mastered one, so he uploaded the full mastered version to his SoundCloud page.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On March 17, 2016, it was announced that Alchemist and Dutch rapper Kempi will be releasing an EP on April 2, 2016. The EP consists of 4 tracks and 4 instrumental versions of them. On March 25, 2016, a mini-documentary video was uploaded, showing the making of the EP.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On March 2, 2016, Havoc posted a photo on his Instagram stating that his next album is produced by Alchemist, and is coming soon. The title was revealed to be "The Silent Partner" and the first single, "Maintain", was released later. The album was released on May 20.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In December 2016, mixer Eddie Sancho revealed that he's mixing a joint project by Alchemist and rapper Jay Worthy. Much later, in April 2017, The Alchemist revealed the name and June 2 release date of the project, titled "Fantasy Island EP".


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist teased the sequel to The Good Book project (with producer Budgie) on his Instagram Story a couple of times. Then, on May 7, 2017, he surprisingly tweeted a link to pre-order the project and a first single, "Brother Jedediah", featuring Action Bronson and Big Body Bess. The project was released on July 21. Like the previous Good Book, it contains two parts (one by Alchemist and one by Busgie). Alchemist's part features lyrics from Mobb Deep, Westside Gunn, Conway, Royce da 5'9", Durag Dynasty, Action Bronson and more, as well as beats and some audio collages.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In September 2017, a Hip-Hop project was released by "Red Bull France". The project consists of 8 tracks by rappers from Paris and Bruxelles (Belgium), with Alchemist helming the entire production of the project.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: A collaboration between Alchemist, Currensy and Freddie Gibbs. Fetti was first announced on January 4, 2017, through an Instagram post by Currensy.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On September 21, 2018, nearly 2 years later, Currensy announced on Instagram that he had completed his half of the project. In the post, Currensy is recorded saying, "This message is to one Fredrick Gibbs. My half of Fetti is done. All produced by Alchemist." Gibbs would publicly respond to the post shortly after, commenting "N***a. Send It. I'm by the booth." On October 25, the tracklist and release date were posted by Gibbs on Instagram. In an interview with The Grinds TV, Gibbs stated that his half of the EP took two days to complete.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: In November 2019, Alchemist and Action Bronson announced that a new special edition vinyl of Rare Chandeliers is coming soon, along with a brand new collaboration EP - Lamb Over Rice. The EP was released on November 22 and it contains 7 tracks. 5 of them are brand new, but it also contains 2 previously released singles: "Descendant to the Stars" (that was released on 2016 for Action Bronson's Antient Aliens show) and "Just the Way It Is" that was a part of Alchemist's Coca-Cola mix "Diagnosis" from 2013 (sampling a Coca-Cola commercial).


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: As Alchemist final project of the 2010s decade, on December 20, 2019, The Alchemist and Boldy James released their second collaborative project after 2013's My 1st Chemistry Set. It consists of 5 tracks, all produced by Alchemist. Prior to the release, a joint video for Ill Advised and Method to my Madness was released.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On October 3, 2020, Alchemist released the album, "A Doctor, Painter & an Alchemist Walk into a Bar".


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: The Alchemist was born Alan Maman in Beverly Hills, California. He is Jewish and his father is a businessman.


title: The Alchemist (musician)

text: On July 13, 2005, the tour bus carrying Eminem's entourage (including rapper Stat Quo as well as Alchemist) swerved off the road and turned over. Alchemist was treated for broken ribs and a collapsed lung.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: Jeongjo of Joseon (28 October 1752 – 18 August 1800), personal name Yi San (Korean: 이산; Hanja: 李祘), sometimes called Jeongjo the Great (Korean: 정조대왕; Hanja: 正祖大王), was the 22nd monarch of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. After succeeding his grandfather, King Yeongjo, he made various attempts to reform and improve the nation.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: He was the son of Crown Prince Sado (who was put to death by his own father, King Yeongjo) and Lady Hyegyeong (who wrote an autobiography, "The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyeong" detailing her life as the ill-fated Crown Princess of Korea). His elder brother Crown Prince Uiso died in infancy. His mother Lady Hyegyeong's collection of memoirs serves as a significant source of historical information on the political happenings during the reigns of King Yeongjo (her father-in-law), King Jeongjo (her son), and King Sunjo (her grandson).


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In 1762, his father, Crown Prince Sado, was executed by King Yeongjo (Crown Prince Sado's father and Prince Yi San's grandfather) after long conflicts and Sado's years of mental illness. Crown Prince Sado opposed the ruling party Noron party. He started to hate the parties of Joseon. Eight years later Yi San asked to visit Sado's living quarter but his Grandfather King Yeongjo refused. So he refused to attend Crown Prince Sado's funeral. On February 21, 1764, Yi San became the adoptive son of Crown Prince Hyojang and Princess Consort Hyosun by the order of King Yeongjo. Crown Prince Hyojang was the elder half-brother of his father, Crown Prince Sado. Crown Prince Hyojang though, had died during his childhood. King Yeongjo made Yi San a part of Hyojang's family because he was concerned that Yi San, who was Sado's son and successor, would be opposed. The Noron faction protested Yi San's legitimacy as the royal successor under the claim that Yi San was the 'Son of a prisoner' or 'Son of a madman' and thus ineligible to succeed the throne. This was a major source of vexation for King Yeongjo for an extended period.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: After 1762 to 1777, some members of Noron attempted to depose Jeongjo for his relation to Crown Prince Sado and open the path of succession for his half-brothers Prince Eunjeon, Prince Euneon and, Prince Eunshin. His grand uncle Hong In-han and Jeong Hu-gyeom, adopted son of Princess Hwawan, were amongst them. When he was the Crown Prince, King Jeongjo met Hong Guk-yeong (홍국영, 洪國榮), a controversial politician who first strongly supported Jeongjo's accession and toiled to improve the king's power, but ended up being expelled because of his desire for power. Another helper was Kim Jong-su(김종수, 金鍾秀), in spite of being a member of Noron.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In 1775, one year before King Yeongjo's death, King Jeongjo was appointed regent for him. However, King Yeongjo did not give him any military power.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: Before Yeongjo died, he had his coronation in Gyeonghuigung on 10 March 1776. After his coronation, Jeongjo chose his spouse. The first thing that Jeongjo said to his officials was that he is the son of Jangjo who was executed by the former king. Jeongjo tried to empathize with his people. During his second year of reign, a great drought came. During the drought, Jeongjo was nervous just like the people and did a rainmaking ritual for his people.Just like his grandfather, Jeongjo used . He included that this method was great. By this, he tried to get rid of all the parties which caused his father's death.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: From the first day of the reign, Jeongjo spent much of his reign trying to clear his father's name. He also moved the court to the city of Suwon to be closer to his father's grave. He built Hwaseong Fortress to guard the tomb. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: Jeongjo was always threatened by some of his officials who were against his reign. By help of Hong Guk-yeong and some others, he was able to overcome.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: During his accession, he also issued a royal decree that his mother, Lady Hyegyeong, be a Dowager Queen since his father, her husband, was supposed to be the King before him. Thus, she became the Queen Dowager, the widow of Crown Prince Sado. From then on, King Jeongjo experienced many turbulent periods, but overcame them with the aid of Hong Guk-yeong, Kim Chong-su.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In 1776, Hong Sang-beom, Hong Kye-neung and other some member of Noron unsuccessfully attempted to stage a military coup d'état and assassinate him. Jeongjo fought the rebels who were secretly in royal palace and personally arrested his assassins. Jeongjo executed Hong Sang-beom, Hong Kye-neung, other some member of Norons, and put to death Prince Eunjeon, Hong In-han, and Chung Hu-kyom.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: Jeongjo tried to stop the wrong politics that concentrated the political power to single family by impeaching Hong Guk-yeong but it failed.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In 1785 he erected Changyongyeong (장용영, 壯勇營), this is the King's royal bodyguards. Before In 1782, Jeongjo selected by competitive examination some officers, who were then organized into the unit of Changyongyeong. Before this time was the Naekeunwe, royal bodyguards of Joseon dynasties created by Taejong of Joseon in 1407. But Jeongjo mistrusted the Naekeumwi, so he personally created Changyonegyeong.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: King Jeongjo led the new renaissance of the Joseon Dynasty, but was initially stopped by continuing the policy of Yeongjo's Tangpyeong rule. He tried to control the politics of the whole nation to advance and further national progress.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: He made various reforms throughout his reign, notably establishing Kyujanggak (규장각), a royal library. The primary purpose of Kyujanggak was to improve the cultural and political stance of Joseon and to recruit gifted officers to help run the nation. Jeongjo also spearheaded bold new social initiatives, including opening government positions to those who were previously barred because of their social status.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: He had some knowledge of humanities and philosophy, Neo-Confucianism. One of the King's gentlemen, Kim Jong-su, imprinted onto the king and in tandem became a father figure and a great teacher for him. He studied for a long time and read various books. Jeongjo had the support of the many Silhak scholars who supported Jeongjo's regal power, including Scholars Jeong Yak-yong, Pak Ji-won, Pak Je-ga and Yu Deuk-gong. His reign also saw the further growth and development of Joseon's popular culture.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: Jeongjo was resolutely selected for member of Soron and Namin party, reason selection background was checks and balances, strengthening of royal authority.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: He was opposed to new fashions in the composition style of Korean writing and personally taught composition to some intellectuals and bureaucrats called Munchebanjong(문체반정 文體反正).


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In 1791, Jeongjo got report from Chae Je-gong that the people are having difficulty selling items. Jeongjo used Shinhae Tonggong to help people to raise their sales. This also abolished the Gumnanjeonguoun, which allowed some sellers in Seoul to have exclusivity.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: In his final years, Jeongjo arranged for the marriage of his second son and successor Sunjo of Joseon to Lady Kim of the Andong clan, daughter of Kim Jo-sun, but did not live to see his son's marriage. In 1800, Jeongjo died suddenly under uncertain circumstances at the age of 47, without seeing much of his life's work come to fruition under his son, Sunjo. There are many books regarding the mystery behind his death, and speculation as to the cause of his death continues even today.


title: Jeongjo of Joseon

text: He is buried with his wife, Queen Hyoui, at the royal tomb of Geonneung (건릉, 健陵) in the city of Hwaseong.


title: Nitram

text: Nitram is a 2021 Australian biographical psychological drama film directed by Justin Kurzel from a screenplay by Shaun Grant. The film revolves around the life and behaviors of a mentally distressed young man called "Nitram" (based on Martin Bryant), and the events leading to his involvement in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia. The film stars Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony LaPaglia.


title: Nitram

text: "Nitram" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on 16 July 2021, where Jones won the Best Actor award for his performance. The film received a limited theatrical release in Australia on 30 September 2021, before a digital release on the Australian streaming service Stan on 24 November 2021. It received widespread critical acclaim, who praised Kurzel's direction and the cast's performances (particularly Jones and Judy Davis), although the film was still met with controversy in Tasmania. The film later received eight awards at the 2021 AACTA Awards, including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.


title: Nitram

text: Nitram is an intellectually disabled young adult who lives with his parents in Port Arthur, Australia. He regularly sets off fireworks outdoors that upsets his family's neighbours, and sells his fireworks to local schoolchildren. His father has recently been approved for a business loan, with which he hopes to buy a bed and breakfast that Nitram will help run. Nitram begs his mum to buy him a surfboard after seeing an attractive woman with a surfer, but his exasperated mother refuses.


title: Nitram

text: Nitram tries mowing local lawns to make money. In the process, he meets a neighbour named Helen, a retired actress and wealthy heiress, who offers him money to walk her menagerie of dogs. The two quickly become friends, with Helen buying him a car, despite Nitram not having a driver's license and possessing a dangerous habit of lunging for the steering wheel when the two are driving.


title: Nitram

text: Nitram becomes increasingly frustrated with life at home, and tells his parents he is leaving to move in with Helen who permits him to stay in one of her spare rooms, but insists that he get rid of his air rifle as she is upset by the gun's presence. At his next birthday, Nitram introduces Helen to his parents; his mother tells Helen an anecdote from when Nitram was young, where he took pleasure in the pain he caused her after pretending to be lost.


title: Nitram

text: Despite having the funds for the bed and breakfast, Nitram's father is denied the purchase due to another couple making a higher offer, and becomes despondent as a result. Nitram asks Helen if the two can visit New York City, but on the drive to the airport he once again lunges for the steering wheel, resulting in a devastating car crash that kills Helen and severely injures Nitram. When questioned by police about the suspicious accident Nitram lies to the detectives claiming he was asleep at the time of the incident.


title: Nitram

text: Nitram, having inherited Helen's decaying mansion and over half a million dollars, starts to drink heavily. His mother asks him to help his father, who is severely depressed from his failed purchase. Nitram then desperately attempts to buy the bed and breakfast with Helen's money but the couple boldly refuses his offer. Several days later, his father's body is found in a nearby river after an apparent suicide. Nitram's mother refuses to let him attend his father’s funeral fearing he will embarrass her. The increasingly isolated Nitram begins to take frequent overseas vacations by himself and practices shooting with his air rifle.


title: Nitram

text: While watching the news one night, Nitram sees a report about the Dunblane massacre. He then becomes obsessed with guns, purchasing an unlicensed Colt AR-15 and shotgun from a local gun shop, and ordering a handgun. One day, he drives to the café where Helen and his parents celebrated his birthday. After ordering food, he sets up a video camera, retrieves one of his rifles from his sports bag and opens fire on the tourists. At her home, Nitram's mother smokes as the news report of the massacre plays in the background.


title: Nitram

text: On 17 November 2020, it was announced that Justin Kurzel would direct a film focused on the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia, starring Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony LaPaglia. Principal photography of the film began on 23 January 2021 and concluded on 13 March 2021 in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.


title: Nitram

text: The film had its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on 16 July 2021. It was scheduled to screen in mid-August at the later-cancelled Melbourne International Film Festival and later screened at CinefestOZ in Western Australia in late August 2021.


title: Nitram

text: It received a limited theatrical release in Australia by Madman Films on 30 September 2021. It was later released digitally on the Australian streaming service Stan on 24 November 2021.


title: Nitram

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "Nitram" holds a 93% approval rating based on 114 reviews, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's consensus reads, ""Nitram" asks viewers to face a gut-wrenchingly grim moment in Australian history—but rewards that effort with a gripping, well-acted character study." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 81 out of 100 based on reviews from 26 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Nitram

text: The film was met by widespread controversy within Tasmania itself. Kelly Spaulding, Mayor of the Tasman Council, which includes Port Arthur, condemned the choice to make the film. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation, established by the father of two young girls killed in the Port Arthur shooting, released a statement also condemning the choice to produce the film. The Police Association of Tasmania, the union for Tasmania Police, indicated it was worried how members of the union's mental health would be impacted. The Star Theatre, Launceston and the State Cinema, Hobart, were the only cinemas in Tasmania to show the film. However, the State Cinema chose not to advertise the screenings.


title: Nitram

text: The production company invited Arts Minister Elise Archer to meet, but she declined. Screen Tasmania declined to fund the film. The then-Premier of Tasmania, Peter Gutwein, stated to the House of Assembly that it made him uncomfortable. Other state politicians including Brian Mitchell, federal member for Lyons, and Rebecca White, Leader of the Opposition, expressed concern.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The 2006 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2005–06 NBA season and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Dallas Mavericks were favored to win the championship over the Miami Heat. Despite these odds, the Heat won the title in six games over the Mavericks, becoming the third team—after the 1969 Celtics, the 1977 Trail Blazers and later the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers and 2021 Milwaukee Bucks—to win a championship after trailing 0–2 in the series. Dwyane Wade of the Heat was named Most Valuable Player of the series.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: This series marked the first time since 1971 that the Finals featured two teams playing in their first NBA Finals series. It was the first occasion since 1978 that two teams who had never won an NBA Championship contested the NBA Finals. The two teams met again five years later in 2011, the second Finals appearance for both franchises, with the Mavericks winning the rematch over the Heat.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: This was the second NBA Finals matchup of teams from Florida and Texas, after the Houston Rockets and Orlando Magic contested the 1995 NBA Finals. Until the Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals, it was the last Finals loss by a team from Texas (the Rockets lost in 1981 and 1986) against eight championships (five by the Spurs, two by the Rockets, and one by the Mavericks, who won a rematch of this Finals in ). This was the only NBA Finals of the 2000s not to involve the Los Angeles Lakers or the San Antonio Spurs. It was also the first NBA Finals where both teams' home arenas had naming rights owned by the same company. That company was American Airlines.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The Miami Heat joined the league in the 1988–89 season, but they did not rise to prominence until they hired Pat Riley to be their head coach and president before the 1995–96 season. In Riley's first stint, the Heat were playoff regulars between 1996 and 2001, however, the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks always thwarted Miami's dreams of a championship or even a Finals berth. However, when the team drafted Dwyane Wade fifth overall in 2003, things started to look up for the Heat. They went 42-40 under interim coach Stan Van Gundy, making the playoffs after a 2-year hiatus. They defeated the New Orleans Hornets in the first round, but they ultimately fell to the Pacers in 6 games. The 2004 offseason saw the addition of Shaquille O'Neal, and with Wade and O'Neal performing well, the Heat won 59 games in the 2004–05 season, as they took the defending champions Detroit Pistons to seven games in the conference finals. The following season, after an early 11–10 start, Van Gundy resigned and Riley returned to coaching. Though injuries and lack of chemistry hobbled the Heat initially, they still managed to win 52 games that season. After a culmination of harmony and momentum came together just before the playoffs, they started their postseason run by defeating the Bulls in six games, then eliminated the New Jersey Nets in five games, and then ousted the 64-win 4 all-star Pistons in six games to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: ABC had exclusive rights to televise the NBA Finals in the United States. Play-by-play announcer Mike Breen and color commentator Hubie Brown called the action, with courtside reporting by Lisa Salters and Stuart Scott. Radio counterpart ESPN Radio broadcast the Finals, with Jim Durham and Dr. Jack Ramsay calling the action. The featured song, aired throughout the playoffs, was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Runnin' Down a Dream."


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: This marked the first of 16 consecutive NBA Finals called by Breen, currently the most among NBA play-by-play voices. However, it was the only NBA Finals to feature Breen with Hubie Brown. The following season, Brown slid down to ESPN's secondary team with Mike Tirico (the pair would also call ESPN Radio's NBA Finals broadcasts that season), while Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy (the latter after his dismissal as Houston Rockets head coach) joined Breen on the lead team.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Game 2 of the Finals, which took place the same evening as the 60th Tony Awards, was the most-watched program of June 11, 2006. ABC won the night with 3.5 rating and 10 share, CBS came in fourth with a 1.5/4 for the Tonys. On June 20, Game 6 had a 4.4/13 among viewers aged 18–49.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The Heat became the second team since 1985 to sweep the middle three games at home, the 2004 Detroit Pistons being the first. In 1985 the NBA switched the Finals to the 2-3-2 format, which was changed back to the 2-2-1-1-1 format for the 2014 NBA Finals


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Dallas' Jason Terry scored a playoff-high 32 points as the Mavericks overcame a 31–23 deficit at the end of the first quarter.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Dirk Nowitzki had a stellar 30 point and 12 rebound performance, and the Mavericks cruised past the Heat to take a 2–0 series lead.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Led by Dwyane Wade's 42 points and 13 rebounds, the Heat rallied from a 13-point deficit with six minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The momentum-changing comeback was capped by a Gary Payton field goal from just inside the three-point line with 9.3 seconds left. Dirk Nowitzki had a chance to tie the game at the free throw line with 3.4 seconds to go, but missed 1 of 2, sealing the win for Miami.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Dwyane Wade shined again for the Heat with 36 points, and Miami held Dallas to just seven points in the fourth quarter en route to a series-tying, blowout victory. The Mavericks' fourth quarter was the lowest ever by any team during the NBA Finals. Jerry Stackhouse caught Shaquille O'Neal with a flagrant foul that resulted in his suspension for Game 5. Stackhouse was the final NBA player to be suspended in the NBA Finals until Draymond Green was suspended in the 2016 NBA Finals.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Dwyane Wade shot 25 free throws - as many free throws as all the Mavericks combined (a fact that did not sit well with Mavericks head coach Avery Johnson), leading the Heat to their third straight win over Dallas after being down 0–2 in the series.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: With 9.1 seconds left in overtime and the Heat trailing by 1 point, they inbounded the ball to Wade, who caught the ball in the air and then landed in the backcourt. Mavericks' team owner Mark Cuban felt Wade had therefore committed a backcourt violation after receiving the ball.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Dallas was then penalized with a controversial foul call that sent Wade to the line to shoot the go-ahead free throws with 1.9 seconds left on the overtime game clock. Wade hit the first free throw, and Dallas Mavericks coach Avery Johnson signaled to his team to call a timeout after Wade's second attempt. Josh Howard then made a timeout gesture with his hands and began to walk off the floor, and the referees called the Mavericks' last remaining timeout, which prevented them from advancing the ball after the second attempt if Wade converted. After the timeout, Wade made the second free throw to give his team a one-point lead, after which Devin Harris missed a Hail Mary half-court shot as time expired. Wade finished the game with 43 points while setting an NBA Finals record for most made free throws in a game with 21. Shaquille O'Neal added a double-double with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Miami converted 32 of its 49 attempts from the free throw line.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Jason Terry led Dallas with 35 points in a losing effort, while Howard added 25. After the game, a frustrated Dirk Nowitzki kicked a ball into the stands and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban caused many "acts of misconduct" resulting in fines of $5,000 and $250,000, respectively, for the two men.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: Behind Dwyane Wade's 36 points, Miami rallied from a 14-point first half deficit to edge Dallas and win their first championship in franchise history as Jason Terry missed a critical 3-pointer that would've sent the game to overtime. Averaging 34.7 points per game in the championship series, Wade was named NBA Finals MVP (Most Valuable Player).


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The Mavericks would post the league's best record with 67 victories in the 2006–07 NBA season but were ousted by the eight-seeded Golden State Warriors in a six-game first round of the 2007 NBA Playoffs. The Mavs' playoff defeat marked the first time a top seed was eliminated in a seven-game first round series since it was implemented in 2003. Still, Dirk Nowitzki was named the regular season MVP at season's end. After another playoff loss to the New Orleans Hornets in 2008, in which the Mavericks brought back Jason Kidd, head coach Avery Johnson was fired and replaced by Rick Carlisle. After another two early playoff exits, the Mavericks won 57 games in the 2010–11 season and returned to the Finals.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The Heat would lose convincingly by 42 points to the Chicago Bulls in the opening night of the 2006–07 season, the worst opening-day margin of defeat for a defending champion in NBA history. Injuries would keep the team from surpassing or even equaling last season's total, yet they still won the Southeast Division despite winning only 44 games. The Bulls would oust them in a four-game sweep in the first round of the playoffs, the first such occurrence since 1957. The following year, Miami completed its two-year turnaround from NBA champion to the NBA's worst team by winning only 15 games, equaling the mark set by the team in their inaugural season, which saw Shaquille O'Neal traded to the Phoenix Suns in mid-season and Dwyane Wade missing 31 games. The Heat gradually climbed back to contention in the Erik Spoelstra era, culminating in the much-publicized free-agent acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh. The Heat won 58 games in the 2010–11 season, and along with the Mavericks, returned to the Finals in 2011.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: The 2011 NBA Finals, which was a rematch of 2006, saw the Mavericks win in six games after trailing 2–1 in the Finals. It was the Mavericks' first NBA championship, as well as both teams' second appearances in the Finals. Dirk Nowitzki was named Finals MVP. Like the Heat in 2006, the Mavericks experienced a post-championship letdown, getting swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the opening round of the 2012 NBA Playoffs, and then missed the postseason entirely in .


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: , this was Miami's fifth championship out of a total of seven among the Big Four sports leagues; the MLB's National League Florida (now Miami) Marlins won the World Series in 1997 and 2003 while the NFL's Miami Dolphins won the Super Bowl in 1972 and 1973. The Miami Heat would go on to win a second championship in 2012 against the Thunder in 5 games and a third championship in 2013 against the San Antonio Spurs in 7 games before falling in 2014 against the same Spurs team in 5 games.


title: 2006 NBA Finals

text: This was the second "Big Four" postseason game or series to pit a team from Miami against a team from Dallas. In 1971, the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Dolphins to claim their first of five Super Bowls. As of 2020, the city's NHL teams, the Stars and Panthers, have not met in the playoffs, as are their MLB counterparts the Rangers and Marlins.


title: Gauss's law

text: In physics and electromagnetism, Gauss's law, also known as Gauss's flux theorem, (or sometimes simply called Gauss's theorem) is a law relating the distribution of electric charge to the resulting electric field. In its integral form, it states that the flux of the electric field out of an arbitrary closed surface is proportional to the electric charge enclosed by the surface, irrespective of how that charge is distributed. Even though the law alone is insufficient to determine the electric field across a surface enclosing any charge distribution, this may be possible in cases where symmetry mandates uniformity of the field. Where no such symmetry exists, Gauss's law can be used in its differential form, which states that the divergence of the electric field is proportional to the local density of charge.


title: Gauss's law

text: The law was first formulated by Joseph-Louis Lagrange in 1773, followed by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1835, both in the context of the attraction of ellipsoids. It is one of Maxwell's four equations, which forms the basis of classical electrodynamics. Gauss's law can be used to derive Coulomb's law, and vice versa.


title: Gauss's law

text: Gauss's law has a close mathematical similarity with a number of laws in other areas of physics, such as Gauss's law for magnetism and Gauss's law for gravity. In fact, any inverse-square law can be formulated in a way similar to Gauss's law: for example, Gauss's law itself is essentially equivalent to the Coulomb's law, and Gauss's law for gravity is essentially equivalent to the Newton's law of gravity, both of which are inverse-square laws.


title: Gauss's law

text: The law can be expressed mathematically using vector calculus in integral form and differential form; both are equivalent since they are related by the divergence theorem, also called Gauss's theorem. Each of these forms in turn can also be expressed two ways: In terms of a relation between the electric field and the total electric charge, or in terms of the electric displacement field and the "free" electric charge.


title: Gauss's law

text: Gauss's law can be stated using either the electric field or the electric displacement field . This section shows some of the forms with ; the form with is below, as are other forms with .


title: Gauss's law

text: where is the electric flux through a closed surface enclosing any volume , is the total charge enclosed within , and is the electric constant. The electric flux is defined as a surface integral of the electric field:


title: Gauss's law

text: where is the electric field, is a vector representing an infinitesimal element of area of the surface, and represents the dot product of two vectors.


title: Gauss's law

text: where formula_2 is the speed of light; formula_3 denotes the time components of the electromagnetic tensor; formula_4 is the determinant of metric tensor; formula_5 is an orthonormal element of the two-dimensional surface surrounding the charge formula_6; indices formula_7 and do not match each other.


title: Gauss's law

text: Since the flux is defined as an "integral" of the electric field, this expression of Gauss's law is called the "integral form".


title: Gauss's law

text: In problems involving conductors set at known potentials, the potential away from them is obtained by solving Laplace's equation, either analytically or numerically. The electric field is then calculated as the potential's negative gradient. Gauss's law makes it possible to find the distribution of electric charge: The charge in any given region of the conductor can be deduced by integrating the electric field to find the flux through a small box whose sides are perpendicular to the conductor's surface and by noting that the electric field is perpendicular to the surface, and zero inside the conductor.


title: Gauss's law

text: The reverse problem, when the electric charge distribution is known and the electric field must be computed, is much more difficult. The total flux through a given surface gives little information about the electric field, and can go in and out of the surface in arbitrarily complicated patterns.


title: Gauss's law

text: An exception is if there is some symmetry in the problem, which mandates that the electric field passes through the surface in a uniform way. Then, if the total flux is known, the field itself can be deduced at every point. Common examples of symmetries which lend themselves to Gauss's law include: cylindrical symmetry, planar symmetry, and spherical symmetry. See the article Gaussian surface for examples where these symmetries are exploited to compute electric fields.


title: Gauss's law

text: where is the divergence of the electric field, is the vacuum permittivity, formula_9 is the relative permittivity, and is the volume charge density (charge per unit volume).


title: Gauss's law

text: The integral and differential forms are mathematically equivalent, by the divergence theorem. Here is the argument more specifically.


title: Gauss's law

text: The electric charge that arises in the simplest textbook situations would be classified as "free charge"—for example, the charge which is transferred in static electricity, or the charge on a capacitor plate. In contrast, "bound charge" arises only in the context of dielectric (polarizable) materials. (All materials are polarizable to some extent.) When such materials are placed in an external electric field, the electrons remain bound to their respective atoms, but shift a microscopic distance in response to the field, so that they're more on one side of the atom than the other. All these microscopic displacements add up to give a macroscopic net charge distribution, and this constitutes the "bound charge".


title: Gauss's law

text: Although microscopically all charge is fundamentally the same, there are often practical reasons for wanting to treat bound charge differently from free charge. The result is that the more fundamental Gauss's law, in terms of (above), is sometimes put into the equivalent form below, which is in terms of and the free charge only.


title: Gauss's law

text: where is the -field flux through a surface which encloses a volume , and is the free charge contained in . The flux is defined analogously to the flux of the electric field through :


title: Gauss's law

text: In homogeneous, isotropic, nondispersive, linear materials, there is a simple relationship between and :


title: Gauss's law

text: where is the permittivity of the material. For the case of vacuum (aka free space), . Under these circumstances, Gauss's law modifies to


title: Gauss's law

text: The flux through a closed surface is dependent upon both the magnitude and direction of the electric field lines penetrating the surface. In general a positive flux is defined by these lines leaving the surface and negative flux by lines entering this surface. This results in positive charges causing a positive flux and negative charges creating a negative flux. These electric field lines will extend to infinity decreasing in strength by a factor of one over the distance from the source of the charge squared. The larger the number of field lines emanating from a charge the larger the magnitude of the charge is, and the closer together the field lines are the greater the magnitude of the electric field. This has the natural result of the electric field becoming weaker as one moves away from a charged particle, but the surface area also increases so that the net electric field exiting this particle will stay the same. In other words the closed integral of the electric field and the dot product of the derivative of the area will equal the net charge enclosed divided by permittivity of free space.


title: Gauss's law

text: Strictly speaking, Gauss's law cannot be derived from Coulomb's law alone, since Coulomb's law gives the electric field due to an individual, electrostatic point charge only. However, Gauss's law "can" be proven from Coulomb's law if it is assumed, in addition, that the electric field obeys the superposition principle, and that the point charge is electrostatic. The superposition principle states that the resulting field is the vector sum of fields generated by each particle (or the integral, if the charges are distributed smoothly in space).


title: Gauss's law

text: Since Coulomb's law only applies to stationary charges, there is no reason to expect Gauss's law to hold for moving charges based on this derivation alone. In fact, Gauss's law does hold for moving charges, and in this respect Gauss's law is more general than Coulomb's law.


title: Gauss's law

text: Strictly speaking, Coulomb's law cannot be derived from Gauss's law alone, since Gauss's law does not give any information regarding the curl of (see Helmholtz decomposition and Faraday's law). However, Coulomb's law "can" be proven from Gauss's law if it is assumed, in addition, that the electric field from a point charge is spherically symmetric (this assumption, like Coulomb's law itself, is exactly true if the charge is stationary, and approximately true if the charge is in motion).


title: Gauss's law

text: where is a unit vector pointing radially away from the charge. Again by spherical symmetry, points in the radial direction, and so we get


title: Gauss's law

text: which is essentially equivalent to Coulomb's law. Thus the inverse-square law dependence of the electric field in Coulomb's law follows from Gauss' law.


title: Ian Smith

text: Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to 1979. He was the country's first premier not born abroad, and led the predominantly white government that unilaterally declared independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965 following prolonged dispute over the terms, particularly British demands for black majority rule. He remained Prime Minister for almost all of the 14 years of international isolation that followed, and oversaw Rhodesia's security forces during most of the Bush War, which pitted the unrecognised administration against communist-backed black nationalist guerrilla groups. Smith, who has been described as personifying white Rhodesia, remains a highly controversial figure.


title: Ian Smith

text: Smith was born to British immigrants in Selukwe, a small town in the Southern Rhodesian Midlands, four years before the colony became self-governing in 1923. During the Second World War, he served as a Royal Air Force fighter pilot. A crash in Egypt caused debilitating facial and bodily wounds that remained conspicuous for the rest of his life; following rehabilitation, he served in Europe, where he was shot down and fought alongside Italian partisans. He set up a farm in his home town in 1948, and the same year, became Member of Parliament for Selukweat 29 years old, the country's youngest ever MP. Originally a Liberal, he defected to the United Federal Party in 1953, and served as Chief Whip from 1958 onwards. He left that party in 1961 in protest at the territory's new constitution, and in the following year helped Winston Field to form the all-white, firmly conservative Rhodesian Front, which called for independence without an immediate shift to majority rule.


title: Ian Smith

text: Smith became Deputy Prime Minister following the Rhodesian Front's December 1962 election victory, and stepped up to the premiership after Field resigned in April 1964. With the UK government refusing to grant independence while Rhodesia did not devise a set timetable for the introduction of majority rule, talks with the UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson repeatedly broke down, leading Smith and his Cabinet to declare independence on 11 November 1965. His government endured in the face of United Nations economic sanctions with the assistance of South Africa and, until 1974, Portugal. Talks with the UK in 1966, 1968 and 1971 came to nothing. Smith declared Rhodesia a republic in 1970 and led the RF to three more decisive election victories over the next seven years. After the Bush War began in earnest in 1972, he negotiated with the non-militant nationalist leader Bishop Abel Muzorewa and the rival guerrilla movements headed by Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe.


title: Ian Smith

text: In 1978, Smith and non-militant nationalists including Muzorewa signed the Internal Settlement, under which the country became Zimbabwe Rhodesia in 1979. Mugabe and Nkomo continued fighting; no country recognised the settlement. Smith was part of Muzorewa's delegation that settled with the UK and the revolutionary guerrillas at Lancaster House, and, following Zimbabwe's recognised independence in 1980, he was Leader of the Opposition during Mugabe's first seven years in power. Smith was a stridently vocal critic of the Mugabe government both before and after his retirement from frontline politics in 1987; he dedicated much of his 1997 memoirs, "", to condemning Mugabe and several UK politicians. As Mugabe's reputation thereafter plummeted amid Zimbabwe's economic ruin, reckoning of Smith and his legacy improved. Zimbabwean opposition supporters lauded the elderly Smith as a symbol of resistance. He remained in Zimbabwe until 2005, when he moved to Cape Town, South Africa, for medical reasons. He died two years later at the age of 88.


title: Ian Smith

text: Ian Douglas Smith was born on 8 April 1919 in Selukwe, a small mining and farming town about southwest of the Southern Rhodesian capital Salisbury. He had two elder sisters, Phyllis and Joan. His father, John Douglas "Jock" Smith, was born in Northumberland and was raised in Hamilton in Lanarkshire, Scotland; he was the son of a cattle breeder and butcher. He had emigrated to Rhodesia as a nineteen-year-old in 1898, and became a prominent rancher, butcher, miner and garage owner in Selukwe. Jock and his wife, Agnes ("née" Hodgson), had met in 1907, when she was sixteen, a year after her family's emigration to Selukwe from Frizington, Cumberland. After Mr Hodgson sent his wife and children back to England in 1908, Jock Smith astonished them in 1911 by arriving unannounced in Cumberland to ask for Agnes's hand; they had not seen each other for three years. They married in Frizington and returned together to Rhodesia, where Jock, an accomplished horseman, won the 1911 Coronation Derby at Salisbury.


title: Ian Smith

text: The Smith family involved themselves heavily in local affairs. Jock chaired the village management board and commanded the Selukwe Company of the Southern Rhodesia Volunteers; he also became a founding member of the Selukwe Freemasons' Lodge and president of the town's football and rugby clubs. Agnes, who became informally known as "Mrs Jock", established and ran the Selukwe Women's Institute. Both were appointed MBE (at different times) for their services to the community. "My parents strove to instil principles and moral virtues, the sense of right and wrong, of integrity, in their children," Smith wrote in his memoirs. "They set wonderful examples to live up to." He considered his father "a man of extremely strong principles"—"one of the fairest men I have ever met and that is the way he brought me up. He always told me that we're entitled to our half of the country and the blacks are entitled to theirs." Raised on the frontier of the British Empire in the UK's youngest settler colony, Smith and his generation of white Rhodesians grew up with a reputation for being "more British than the British", something in which they took great pride.


title: Ian Smith

text: Smith showed sporting promise from an early age. After attending the Selukwe primary school, he boarded at Chaplin School in Gwelo, about away. In his final year at Chaplin, he was head prefect and captain of the school teams in cricket, rugby and tennis, as well as recipient of the Victor Ludorum in athletics and the school's outstanding rifle marksman. "I was an absolute lunatic about sport," he later said; "I concede, looking back, that I should have devoted much more time to my school work and less to sport." All the same, his grades were good enough to win a place at Rhodes University College, in Grahamstown in South Africa, then often attended by Rhodesian students—partly because Rhodesia then had no university of its own, and partly because of the common eponymous association with Cecil Rhodes. Smith enrolled at the start of 1938, reading for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. After injuring his knee playing rugby, he took up rowing and became stroke for the university crew.


title: Ian Smith

text: When the Second World War broke out in 1939, Southern Rhodesia had had self-government for 16 years, having gained responsible government from the UK in 1923. It was unique in the British Empire and Commonwealth in that it held extensive autonomous powers (including defence, but not foreign affairs) while lacking dominion status. As a British colony, Southern Rhodesia entered the conflict automatically when Britain declared war on 3 September 1939, but its government issued a symbolic declaration of war anyway. Smith, who was about halfway through his university course, later described feeling patriotically compelled to put his studies aside to "fight for Britain and all that it represented". Excited by the idea of flying a Spitfire, he wanted to join the air force, but was prevented from immediately doing so by a policy adopted in Rhodesia not to recruit university students until after they graduated. Smith engineered his recruitment into the Royal Air Force (RAF) in spite of this rule during 1940, suppressing mention of his studies, and formally joined in September 1941.


title: Ian Smith

text: After a year's training at Gwelo under the Empire Air Training Scheme, Smith passed out with the rank of pilot officer in September 1942. He hoped to be stationed in Britain, but was posted to the Middle East instead; there he joined No. 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF, flying Hurricanes. In October 1943, in Egypt, Smith crashed his Hurricane after his throttle malfunctioned during a dawn takeoff. Suffering serious facial disfigurements, he also broke his jaw, leg and shoulder. Doctors and surgeons in Cairo rebuilt Smith's face through skin grafts and plastic surgery, and he was passed fit to fly again in March 1944. Turning down an offer to return to Rhodesia as an instructor, he rejoined No. 237 Squadron, which had switched to flying Spitfire Mk IXs, in Corsica in May 1944.


title: Ian Smith

text: During a strafing raid over northern Italy on 22 June 1944, enemy flak hit Smith's craft and he had to bail out behind German lines. A peasant family named Zunino hid him for a brief time; he then joined a group of pro-Allied Italian partisans with whom he took part in sabotage operations against the German garrison for about three months. When the Germans pulled out of the area in October 1944, Smith left to try to link up with the Allied forces who had just invaded southern France. Accompanied by three other servicemen, each from a different European country, and a local guide, Smith hiked across the Maritime Alps, finishing the journey walking barefoot on the ice and snow. American troops recovered him in November 1944. Smith again turned down the offer of a billet in Rhodesia and returned to active service in April 1945 with No. 130 (Punjab) Squadron, by then based in western Germany. He flew combat missions there, "[having] a little bit of fun shooting up odd things", he recalled, until the war in Europe ended on 7 May 1945 with Germany's surrender. Smith remained with No. 130 Squadron for the rest of his service, flying with the unit to Denmark and Norway, and was discharged at the end of 1945 with the rank of flight lieutenant. He retained reasonable proficiency in Italian for the rest of his life, albeit reportedly with an "atrocious" accent.


title: Ian Smith

text: With Jock in increasingly poor health after the war, the Smith family briefly considered sending Ian to live in the United States with the help of Jock's brother Elijah, who had become a prosperous New York businessman. Smith showed little interest in leaving Rhodesia, however, and decided that he would finish at university, then come home and buy his own farm. He returned to Rhodes University in early 1946 to find the campus swamped with veterans like himself—400 of them out of barely 1,000 students. Smith became spokesman for the university's ex-servicemen, senior student of his hall and chairman of the students' representative council. He turned down the presidency of the rowing club, saying it would be one administrative commitment too many, but agreed to coach the crew. Training the rowers under strict military-style discipline, he led them to victory at the 1946 South African Inter-Varsity Boat Race at the Vaal Dam south of Johannesburg, upstaging the well-fancied Wits crew, and subsequently received national-standard varsity honours for rowing, the first Rhodes student ever to do so. At the end of the year, having passed the exams to gain his commerce degree ("by some miracle", he recalled), he returned to Southern Rhodesia to study farming at Gwebi Agricultural College, near Salisbury.


title: Ian Smith

text: Smith attended dedicated courses for ex-servicemen at Gwebi during 1947 and 1948, learning skills such as ploughing, herding and milking; he gained practical experience at Taylor's dairy farm near Selukwe and on a tobacco ranch at Marandellas. In 1947, he met Janet Duvenage ("née" Watt), a schoolteacher from the Cape in South Africa who had come to Selukwe to stay with family after the death of her husband Piet on the rugby field. What Janet had planned as a short holiday for herself and her two infant children, Jean and Robert, turned into a permanent move when she accepted a job-offer from the Selukwe junior school. Smith later wrote that the qualities that had attracted him most to Janet were her intelligence, courage and "oppos[ition] on principle to side-stepping or evading an issue ... her tendency was to opt for a decision requiring courage, as opposed to taking the easy way out". They became engaged in 1948. Meanwhile, Smith negotiated the purchase of a piece of rough land near Selukwe, bounded by the Lundi and Impali Rivers and bisected by a clear stream. He and Janet gave the previously nameless plot the name that the local Karanga people used to refer to the stream, "Gwenoro", and set up a ranch where they ran cattle and grew tobacco and maize.


title: Ian Smith

text: A general election was called in Southern Rhodesia in July 1948 after the United Party government, headed by the Prime Minister Sir Godfrey Huggins, unexpectedly lost a vote in the Legislative Assembly. In August, about a month before election day, members of the opposition Liberal Party approached Smith and asked him to stand for them in Selukwe. Jacob Smit's Liberals, despite their name, were decidedly illiberal, chiefly representing commercial farming, mining and industrial interests. Smith, initially reluctant, said he was too busy organising his life to stand, but agreed after one of the Liberal officials suggested that a political career might allow him to defend the values he had fought for in the Second World War. With their wedding barely a fortnight away, Janet was astonished to learn of Smith's decision to run for parliament, having never before heard him discuss politics. "I can't say that I am really interested in party politics," Smith explained to her, "but I've always been most interested in sound government." Smith duly became a Liberal Party politician, finalised his purchase of Gwenoro, and married Janet, adopting her two children as his own, all in a few weeks in August 1948. They enjoyed a few days' honeymoon at Victoria Falls, then went straight into the election campaign.


title: Ian Smith

text: The Southern Rhodesian electoral system allowed only those who met certain financial and educational qualifications to vote. The criteria applied equally to all regardless of race, but since most black citizens did not meet the set standards, the electoral roll and the colonial parliament were overwhelmingly white. Smith canvassed around the geographically very large Selukwe constituency and quickly won considerable popularity. Many white families were receptive to him because of their respect for his father, or because they had had children at school with him. His RAF service also helped, particularly as the local United Party candidate, Petrus Cilliers, had been interned during the hostilities for opposing the war effort. On 15 September 1948, Smith defeated Cilliers and the Labour candidate Egon Klifborg with 361 votes out of 747, and thereby became Member of Parliament for Selukwe. At 29 years old, he was the youngest MP in Southern Rhodesian history. The Liberals as a party, however, were roundly defeated, going from 12 seats before the election to only five afterwards. Jacob Smit, who had lost his seat in Salisbury City, retired and was replaced as Leader of the Opposition by Raymond Stockil, who renamed the Liberals the "Rhodesia Party". Having grown up in an area of Cape Town so pro-Smuts that she had never had to vote, Janet did not think her husband's entry to parliament would alter their lives at all. "First of all I was marrying a farmer," she later said, "now he was going to be a politician as well. So I said, 'Well, if you are really interested in it, carry on.'... It never dawned on me—being so naive about politicians—that our lives would be affected in the slightest degree."


title: Ian Smith

text: Because of Southern Rhodesia's small size and lack of major controversies, its unicameral parliament then sat only twice a year, for about three months in total, holding discussions in the afternoons either side of a half-hour break for tea on the lawn. Smith's early parliamentary commitments in Salisbury therefore did not detract greatly from his ranching. His maiden speech to the Legislative Assembly, in November 1948, concerned the Union of South Africa Trade Agreement Bill, then at its second reading. He was slow to make an impact in parliament—most of his early contributions related to farming and mining—but his exertions within the party won him Stockil's respect and confidence. Janet ran Gwenoro during Smith's absences, and gave birth to his only biological child, Alec, in Gwelo on 20 May 1949. Smith also served as a Presbyterian elder.


title: Ian Smith

text: The pursuit of full dominion status was then regarded as something of a non-issue by most Southern Rhodesian politicians. They viewed themselves as virtually independent already; they lacked only the foreign affairs portfolio and taking this on would mean having to shoulder the expense for high commissions and embassies overseas. Huggins and the United Party instead pursued an initially semi-independent Federation with Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, two protectorates directly administered from London, with the hope of ultimately creating a single, united dominion in south-central Africa.


title: Ian Smith

text: Smith was one of the few to raise the independence issue at this time, according to his memoirs because his "instinct and training told me to be prepared for every contingency". During the Federation debate in the House of Assembly, he posited that since Southern Rhodesia was effectively choosing Federation over independence, a clause should be inserted into the bill guaranteeing Southern Rhodesia dominion status in the event of a Federal break-up. The United Party rejected this on the grounds that the Federation had to be declared indissoluble so it could raise loans. Smith was uncertain about the Federal project, but publicly supported it after the mostly white electorate approved it in a referendum in April 1953. He told the "Rhodesia Herald" that now it had been decided to pursue Federation, it was in Southern Rhodesia's best interests for everybody to try to make it succeed. He and other Rhodesia Party politicians joined the new Federal Party, headed by Huggins and Northern Rhodesia's Sir Roy Welensky, on 29 April 1953.