title: Brampton

text: This change had its critics among those with a strong sense of local identities. Bramptonians feared urban sprawl would dissolve their town's personality. Bramalea residents took pride in the built-from-scratch and organised structure that had come with their new satellite city and did not want to give it up. Others in Bramalea accept they are part of Brampton, and they make up a "tri-city" area: the original Brampton, Heart Lake, Bramalea.


title: Brampton

text: In 1972, Chinguacousy built a new civic centre in Bramalea. Two years later, when Brampton and Chinguacousy merged, the new city's council was moved from its modest downtown Brampton locale to the Bramalea building. The library systems of Brampton and Chinguacousy were merged, resulting in a system of four locations.


title: Brampton

text: Some have questioned the future of Peel Region as encompassing all of Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon. The Mississauga council, led by Mayor Hazel McCallion, voted to become a single-tier municipality and asked the provincial government to be separated from Peel Region. They argued the city has outgrown the need for a regional layer of government, and that Mississauga is being held back by supporting Brampton and Caledon with its municipal taxes.


title: Brampton

text: The late 1970's brought new residential development, as Brampton released large tracts of land to developers. Heart Lake was one of the first major development outside the city's pre-1974 limits or Bramalea.


title: Brampton

text: In the early 1980's, Cineplex Odeon closed the Capitol Theatre in Brampton. The City bought the facility in 1981 under the leadership of councillor Diane Sutter. It adapted the former vaudeville venue and movie house as a performing arts theatre, to be used also as a live music venue. It was renamed the Heritage Theatre. Renovations and maintenance were expensive. In 1983, Toronto consultants Woods Gordon reported to the City that, rather than continue "pouring money" into the Heritage, they should construct a new 750-seat facility with up-to-date features. This recommendation was adopted, and the city designated the 2005–06 season as the Heritage Theatre's "grand finale" season. The city funded construction of the new Rose Theatre, which opened in September 2006.


title: Brampton

text: Carabram was founded in 1982, the result of volunteers from different ethnic communities wanting to organize a festival celebrating diversity and cross-cultural friendship. The name was loosely related to Toronto's Caravan Festival of Cultures. Carabram's first event featured Italian, Scots, Ukrainian, and West Indian pavilions. By 2003, the fair had 18 pavilions attracting 45,000 visitors. The national government of Canada had an anchor pavilion in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for Carabram's 25th Anniversary in 2009.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton has grown to become one of the most diverse cities in Canada. In 1996, the city was 13% South Asian and 8.2% Black. By 2016, the South Asian community grew exponentially to represent 44.3% of the city's population, while the Black population grew to 14%. Responding to a growing multi-cultural population, the Peel Board of Education introduced evening English as a Second Language (ESL) classes at high schools. Originally taught by volunteers, the classes eventually were scheduled as daytime courses taught by paid instructors. In the 1980s, the public and Catholic board expanded its language programs, offering night classes in 23 languages. These were introduced due to requests by parents, who wanted their children to learn their ancestral languages and heritage.


title: Brampton

text: In the late 1980s, Mayor Ken Whillans gained approval and funding for the construction of a new city hall in Brampton's downtown. The facility was designed by local architects and constructed by Inzola Construction and built on the site of a former bus terminal. Whillians did not get to see the opening of the new hall in 1991 because of his death in August 1990. With the return of the city government to downtown Brampton, politicians and businesses allied to revitalize the core.


title: Brampton

text: In 1991, development of another new town, Springdale, began. In 1999, development started to appear as far north as the city's border with Caledon along Mayfield Road. The Region designated this border as the line of demarcation for urban development until 2021, although development already began spilling north of Mayfield in the late 2010s. Part of the boundary between Brampton and Vaughan is also nearly completely urbanized.


title: Brampton

text: Changes continue to reflect the growth of the city. In 1992 the City purchased the Brampton Fairgrounds, to be used for other development. The Agricultural Society relocated in 1997 outside the boundaries of the city to Heart Lake and Old School roads. In 1997 the Health Services Restructuring Commission (HSRC) decided to amalgamate Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital, Etobicoke General Hospital, and Peel Memorial Hospital as the William Osler Health Centre. It became what is now the province's 6th-largest hospital corporation.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton's 2003 Sesquicentennial celebrations boosted community spirit, reviving the tradition of a summer parade (with 100 floats), and creating other initiatives. To commemorate the town's history, the city under Mayor Fennell reintroduced floral projects to the community. These have included more plantings around town, the revival in 2005 of the city Parade, and participation in the Canada Communities in Bloom project.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton has a total land area of . The City of Brampton is bordered by Highway 50 (Vaughan) to the East, Winston Churchill Boulevard (Halton Hills) to the West, Mayfield Road (Caledon) to the north (except for a small neighbourhood, Snelgrove, which is part of Brampton despite extending somewhat north of Mayfield Road) and the hydro corridor (Mississauga) to the south as far east as Torbram Road, where the border between the two cities follows the CN Halton Subdivision.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton features a continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfb") which is typical of the rest of the Greater Toronto Area.


title: Brampton

text: In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Brampton had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. At its growth rate of 10.6% since the 2016 census, Brampton was the fastest-growing of Canada's largest 25 municipalities.


title: Brampton

text: In the 2021 census, the largest ethnocultural background in Brampton was South Asian, accounting for 52.4% of the population. Other backgrounds included European (18.9%), Black (13.1%), Filipino (3.2%), Latin American (2.1%), Southeast Asian (1.4%), Chinese (1.1%), West Asian (1.1%), and Arab (1%).


title: Brampton

text: In 2021, the most reported religion among the population was Christianity (35.7%), with Catholicism (17.3%) making up the largest denomination. This was followed by Sikhism (25.1%), Hinduism (18.1%), Islam (9.1%), and Buddhism (1.1%). 10.3% of the population did not identify with a particular religion. Proportionally, Brampton has one of the largest Sikh and Hindu populations among all Canadian cities. The Toronto Ontario Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is located in Brampton.


title: Brampton

text: The 2021 census found that English was the mother tongue of 42.9% of the population. The next most common mother tongues were Punjabi (21.7%), Gujarati (3.4%), Urdu (3.4%), Hindi (3%), and Tamil (2.2%). The most commonly known languages were English (95.1%), Punjabi (29.1%), Hindi (17.5%), Urdu (6%), Gujarati (4.7%), and French (4.6%).


title: Brampton

text: Companies with headquarters in Brampton include MDA Space Missions, which will be building the CanadaArm 3. Loblaw Companies Ltd., Chrysler Canada Brampton Assembly Plant, Gamma-Dynacare Medical Laboratories, Mandarin Restaurant,Brita, and Clorox.


title: Brampton

text: Other major companies operating in Brampton include CN Rail Brampton Intermodal Terminal, Best Buy, Amazon which has four production facilities in the city, Ford Nestlé, Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), Frito Lay Canada, and Coca-Cola,


title: Brampton

text: Additional companies in Brampton include Canon, Canadian Tire which has three distribution facilities, Canadian Blood Services, Boston Scientific, Air Canada, Sleep Country Canada head office, Rogers Communications, Magna International.


title: Brampton

text: Alstom has an assembly plant in Brampton to fulfil their contract with Metrolinx to build Alstom Citadis Spirit LRV cars for the TTC Finch West (ordered 2017 with delivery began 2021 and completed by 2023), Hurontario and Eglinton LRT lines. The Hurontario LRT maintenance facility is currently being built in Brampton.


title: Brampton

text: William Osler Health System operates two health facilities in the city (Peel Memorial and Brampton Civic Hospital).


title: Brampton

text: It is also the location of the Canadian Forces Army Reserve unit The Lorne Scots (Peel, Dufferin and Halton Regiment).


title: Brampton

text: An automobile manufacturing facility was opened by American Motors (AMC) in 1960 as the Brampton Assembly Plant. In 1986, AMC developed a new, state-of-the-art operation at Bramalea. After AMC was acquired by Chrysler in 1987, AMC's Canadian division and its plants were absorbed; the older facility in Brampton closed in 1992. The newest factory was renamed Brampton Assembly; it is one of the city's largest employers, with almost 4,000 workers when running at capacity.


title: Brampton

text: The Algoma University @ Brampton School of Business & Economics offers courses at Market Square Business Centre, 24 Queen Street East.


title: Brampton

text: Along with that, Sheridan College, Davis campus is another major public higher education institution serving Brampton which also has campuses in Oakville and Mississauga. In 2017, Davis added the Skilled Trades Centre, for training in skilled trades and apprenticeship programs, previously offered in Oakville.


title: Brampton

text: A plan by Ryerson University, in partnership with Sheridan College was to establish a new campus in Brampton with a goal of opening in 2022 with $90 million in funding offered by the provincial government in April 2018. On 23 October 2018 however, the new Provincial government (elected in June) withdrew the funding for plans such as this, effectively cancelling the project.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton also has many private post-secondary institutions offering vocational training including Springfield College Brampton, CDI College, TriOS College, Academy of Learning, Evergreen College, Medix College, CIMT College, Torbram College, Bitts International Career College, Canadian College of Business, Science & Technology, Hanson College, Queenswood College B, H & T, Flair College of Management and Technology, Sunview College, and College Of Health Studies.


title: Brampton

text: Two main school boards operate in Brampton: the Peel District School Board, which operates secular anglophone public schools, and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, which operates Catholic anglophone public schools. Under the Peel District School Board, the secondary schools are Bramalea, Brampton Centennial, Central Peel, Chinguacousy, Fletcher's Meadow, Harold M. Brathwaite, Heart Lake, Louise Arbour, Mayfield, North Park, Judith Nyman, Sandalwood Heights, Turner Fenton, David Suzuki, Castlebrooke Secondary School, and Jean Augustine, one of the newest. A total of 85 elementary and middle schools feed these high schools in the city.


title: Brampton

text: Under the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board, the secondary schools are Cardinal Leger, Holy Name of Mary, Notre Dame, St. Augustine, St. Edmund Campion, St. Roch, St. Marguerite d'Youville, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Cardinal Ambrozic. A total of 44 Catholic elementary and middle schools feed these high schools in the city.


title: Brampton

text: The "Conseil scolaire Viamonde" operates secular Francophone schools serving the area. The "Conseil scolaire catholique MonAvenir" operates Catholic Francophone schools serving the area.


title: Brampton

text: Several cultural entities in the city operate under the umbrella of the Brampton Arts Council. Located in the city is the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA, formerly the Peel Heritage Complex), which is run by the Region of Peel.


title: Brampton

text: The Rose Theatre (originally the Brampton Performing Arts Centre), opened in September 2006. The city had expected the facility to generate $2.7 million in economic activity the first year, growing to $19.8 million by the fifth year. The Rose Theatre far surpassed projections, attracting more than 137,000 patrons in its inaugural year, which exceeded its five-year goal. The arrival of so many new patrons downtown has stimulated the development of numerous new businesses nearby. A new Fountain Stage was unveiled in June 2008 at the nearby Garden Square.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton has six library locations to serve its half-million residents. With a ratio of one library per more than 80,000 residents, it has the lowest library ratio among major Canadian cities.


title: Brampton

text: Festivals in the city include the annual Festival of Literary Diversity, a literary festival devoted to writers from underrepresented groups such as people of colour and LGBTQ writers.


title: Brampton

text: The Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton includes a museum, art gallery, and archives. Since opening in 1968, the art gallery section (previously known as the Art Gallery of Peel) has exhibited local, national, and international artists, both contemporary and historical from their permanent collection.


title: Brampton

text: The City of Brampton's long-standing heritage conservation program was recognised with the 2011 Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Community Leadership. In 2010 the city received an 'honourable mention' under the same provincial awards program.


title: Brampton

text: Major shopping areas include Bramalea City Centre, Shoppers World, and "big box centre" Trinity Commons. The downtown area has some retail; the Centennial Mall and the Brampton Mall are also of note.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton was one of the first areas where Rogers Cable offered its service. The city started a community access channel in the 1970s, which still operates. While some programs on the channel are produced in its Brampton studios, most are based in its Mississauga location. Christian specialty channel Vertical TV is based in Brampton.


title: Brampton

text: "The Brampton Guardian" is the community's only newspaper, starting as the Bramalea Guardian in 1964. The city's first newspaper, "The Daily Times", stopped circulation in the early 1980s. For a little over a year, "The Brampton Bulletin" attempted to challenge the "Guardian", but it was dismantled after a series of editor changes.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton is the official city of license for two radio stations, CIAO and CFNY. Both stations address their programming toward the entire Greater Toronto Area rather than exclusively to Brampton. CFNY was located upstairs at 83 Kennedy Road until moving to Toronto in 1996.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton has been home minor professional sports franchises at the CAA Centre, formerly the Powerade Centre. From 2013 to 2015, the Brampton A's played in the National Basketball League of Canada, but relocated to Orangeville, Ontario, to decrease costs of operations of switching the arena floor from ice hockey to basketball. From 2013 to 2020, the Brampton Beast played in the Central Hockey League and ECHL, but ceased operations during the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2021 after having not been able to play since March 2020.


title: Brampton

text: The numerous sporting venues and activities includes the outdoor ice path for skating through Gage Park. Chinguacousy Park includes a ski lift, a curling club, and Tennis Centre for multi-season activities. In the summer, amateur softball leagues abound. Crowds line the beaches at Professor's Lake for the annual outdoor "shagging" display.


title: Brampton

text: Since 1967, the Brampton Canadettes have hosted the annual Brampton Canadettes Easter Tournament in hockey. Brampton also held the 2013 Junior Women's Softball World Championship.


title: Brampton

text: Grenville & William Davis Courthouse, Ontario Court of Justice, is located in Brampton at 7755 Hurontario Street (Hurontario Street at County Court).


title: Brampton

text: Local transit is provided by Brampton Transit, with connections to other systems such as MiWay, York Region Transit, Go Transit, and Toronto Transit Commission. Brampton Transit also operates a bus rapid transit system, "Züm" (pronounced Zoom), along Main/Hurontario Streets, Steeles Avenue, Queen Street/Highway 7, Bovaird Drive–Airport Road, and Queen Street West–Mississauga Road, which form the backbone to its bus network.


title: Brampton

text: There is GO Bus service to York University and subway stations at Yorkdale Mall and York Mills in Toronto. There are three GO Train stations in Brampton along the Kitchener line: Bramalea, Brampton and Mount Pleasant.


title: Brampton

text: Both Canadian National Railway (CN) and the Orangeville-Brampton Railway short line (formerly part of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) line) run through the city. CN's Intermodal Yards are located east of Airport Road between Steeles and Queen Street East. The CN Track from Toronto's Union Station is used by the Kitchener GO Transit Rail Corridor providing commuter rail to and from Toronto with rail station stops at Bramalea, Downtown Brampton, and Mount Pleasant. Via Rail connects through Brampton as part of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor.


title: Brampton

text: Canada's busiest airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport (CYYZ), is located near Brampton, in Mississauga. For general aviation, the city is served by the privately owned Brampton Airport (CNC3), located to the north of the city in neighbouring Caledon.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton is served by several major transportation routes: Highway 401 from Toronto is a short distance south in Mississauga, and can be reached by Highway 410, which runs north–south through the middle of the city. Highway 407 runs along the southern portion of the city, just north of the boundary with Mississauga. Steeles Avenue, which runs north of the 407, is a thoroughfare continuing from Toronto. Queen Street is the city's main east–west street. Farther north, Bovaird Drive is another main artery. Sections of both Queen (eastern portion) and Bovaird (western portion) were part the former Highway 7, (now Regional Road 107), with Highway 410 being the route followed between the two streets. Main Street, part of the historic road, Hurontario Street (as well as Hurontario proper in the northern and southern parts of the city), and formerly Highway 10, is the city's main north–south artery. In the east end, Airport Road is a busy artery that is used as a route north to Wasaga Beach, a popular beach resort town.


title: Brampton

text: Four people from Brampton have received the Order of Canada: Robert William Bradford, former Director of the National Aviation Museum; Michael F. Clarke, director at Evergreen, the Yonge Street Mission for street youth in Toronto; Howard Pawley, professor and former Premier of Manitoba; and William G. Davis, former Premier of Ontario.


title: Brampton

text: Three Canadian premiers got their start in Brampton; Premiers Tobias Norris and Howard Pawley OC of Manitoba, and "Brampton Billy", Ontario premier William Grenville Davis CC. Other notable politicians include John Coyne, and Conservative opposition leader Gordon Graydon. Alberta politician and businessman Sir James A. Lougheed was born in Brampton, and served 30 years in Senate; Regina mayor David Lynch Scott was born here.


title: Brampton

text: President of the Treasury Board Tony Clement spent time as a Brampton MPP. John McDermid held various cabinet positions under Brian Mulroney, Bal Gosal Minister of State-Sport, and former Mayor Linda Jeffrey held cabinet positions at the provincial level.


title: Brampton

text: Ruby Dhalla represented the riding of Brampton—Springdale in the Canadian House of Commons from 2004 to 2011 as a member of the Liberal Party. Dhalla and British Columbia Conservative MP Nina Grewal were the first Sikh women to serve in the Canadian House of Commons. Parm Gill was elected as the member of parliament from the Conservative Party of Canada for the riding of Brampton-Springdale in 2011, who was also appointed as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veteran Affairs in 2013.


title: Brampton

text: Jagmeet Singh began his political career in Brampton running in two elections in 2011, defeated in the federal election in May but elected Member of Provincial Parliament for Bramalea—Gore—Malton in October. In 2015 he became deputy leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party. In 2017 he became leader of the federal NDP, the first member of a visible minority to become permanent leader of a major federal party in Canada.


title: Brampton

text: Authors born in or living in Brampton include Rohinton Mistry, Jesse Thistle, Edo Van Belkom and Rupi Kaur (poet).


title: Brampton

text: Visual arts notables from Brampton include etcher Caroline Helena Armington, Ronald Bloore, Member of the Order of Canada; Organiser and member of the "Regina Five",(1960) watercolourist Jack Reid, and William Ronald, who was raised in town. Norman Mills Price. Animators David Feiss and Jay Stephens grew up here.


title: Brampton

text: Music acts from Brampton include Punk band The Flatliners, Indie Rock band Moneen, R&B singer Keshia Chanté, country singer Johnny Reid, "Metal Queen" Lee Aaron and pop singer Alyssa Reid. Country singer and "World Champion Yodeller" Donn Reynolds lived here from 1969 to 1997. Barry Stock, guitarist from Three Days Grace was raised in Brampton, and currently resides in Caledon. Singer Alessia Cara, hip-hop artist Roy Woods, and hip-hop artist Tory Lanez were also born in Brampton. Hip-hop record producer WondaGurl was also born in Brampton.


title: Brampton

text: Comedic actor Michael Cera was born and raised in Brampton. Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Ashmore ("Smallville") are Brampton-raised. Actor Tyler Labine starred in "Mad Love".


title: Brampton

text: Other Brampton-born or affiliated actors include Paulo Costanzo, Jordan Gavaris, Gemini Award winner Kris Lemche, Lara Jean Chorostecki, Sabrina Grdevich, Nicole Lyn, actor and producer David J. Phillips, reality TV star and art dealer Billy Jamieson, performer George R. Robertson, and performer Sidhu Moose Wala.


title: Brampton

text: Others include voice actor Brenna O'Brien, and on-air media personalities Cassie Campbell, Chris Connor, Chris Cuthbert and Scott McGillivray.


title: Brampton

text: Brampton has two sister cities as well as active economic, historic, and cultural relationships with others.


title: Hatchback

text: A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to a cargo area. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume. Hatchbacks may feature two- or three-box design.


title: Hatchback

text: While early examples of the body configuration can be traced to the 1930s, the Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the term itself to 1970.


title: Hatchback

text: The hatchback body style has been marketed worldwide on cars ranging in size from superminis to small family cars, as well as executive cars and some sports cars. They are a primary component on a sport utility vehicle.


title: Hatchback

text: The distinguishing feature of a hatchback is a rear door that opens upwards and is hinged at roof level (as opposed to the boot/trunk lid of a saloon/sedan, which is hinged below the rear window). Most hatchbacks use a two-box design body style, where the cargo area (trunk/boot) and passenger areas are a single volume. The rear seats can often be folded down to increase the available cargo area. Hatchbacks may have a removable rigid parcel shelf, or flexible roll-up tonneau cover to cover the cargo space behind the rear seats.


title: Hatchback

text: When describing the body style, the hatch is often counted as a door, therefore a hatchback with two passenger doors is called a "three-door" and a hatchback with four passenger doors is called a "five-door".


title: Hatchback

text: Estates/station wagons and liftbacks have in common a two-box design configuration, a shared interior volume for passengers and cargo and a rear door (often called a tailgate in the case of an estate/wagon) that is hinged at roof level, similar to hatchbacks. Liftback cars are similar to hatchbacks from a functional perspective in having a tailgate hinged from the roof, but differ from hatchbacks from a styling perspective in having more of a sloped roofline. The term "fastback" may sometimes also be used by manufacturers to market liftback cars. A fastback is a broad automotive term used to describe the styling of the rear of a car in having a single slope from the roof to the rear bumper.


title: Hatchback

text: Some hatchbacks are notchback three box designs, bearing a resemblance to sedans/saloons from a styling perspective, but being closer to hatchbacks in functionality by having a tailgate hinged from the roof. This is featured on cars such as the 1951 Kaiser-Frazer Vagabond, Simca 1100, Mazda 6 GG1, and Opel Vectra C. As such, notchbacks are not fastbacks, as the slope of the roofline on a notchback is interrupted by its three box design.


title: Hatchback

text: An estate/wagon typically differs from a liftback or hatchback by being longer (therefore more likely to have a D-pillar). Other potential differences of a station wagon include:


title: Hatchback

text: "Liftback" is a term for hatchback models in which the rear cargo door or hatch is more horizontally angled than on an average hatchback, and as a result, the hatch is lifted more upwards than backwards, to open.


title: Hatchback

text: Later, Toyota needed to distinguish between two 5-door versions of the Toyota Corolla, one of which was a conventional 5-door hatchback with a nearly vertical rear hatch while the other one was a 5-door more horizontal hatch, for which the term "Liftback" was used.


title: Hatchback

text: The first production hatchback was marketed by Citroën in 1938: the Citroën 11CV Commerciale. The initial target market was tradesmen who needed to carry bulky objects, like butchers, bakers, vintners, and grocers. Before World War II, the tailgate had two pieces, a top section hinged from roof level and a bottom section hinged from below. When production of the Commerciale resumed after the war, the tailgate became a one-piece design which was hinged from roof level, as per the design used on most hatchbacks since.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1949, Kaiser-Frazer introduced the Vagabond and Traveler hatchbacks. These models were styled much like a typical 1940s sedan, fully retaining their three-box profile; however, they included a two-piece tailgate as per the first Citroën 11CV Commerciale. The Vagabond and Traveler models also had folding rear seats, and a shared volume for the passengers and cargo. The design was neither fully a sedan nor a station wagon, but the folding rear seat provided for a large, long interior cargo area. These Kaiser-Frazer models have been described as "America’s First Hatchback".


title: Hatchback

text: The British Motor Corporation (BMC) launched a 'Countryman' version of the Austin A40 Farina twobox economy car in 1959. Just like its A30 and A35 Countryman predecessors, it was a very small estate car — but instead of regular, sideways opening rear doors, it had a horizontally split tailgate, having a top-hinged upper door and bottom-hinged lower door. The 1959 A40 Countryman differed from the 1958 A40 Farina saloon, in that the rear window was marginally smaller, to allow for a frame that could be lifted up, with its own support, so that the car now incorporated a horizontal-split two-piece tailgate. The lower panel was now flush with the floor and its hinges had been strengthened.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1953, Aston Martin marketed the DB2 with a top-hinged rear tailgate, manufacturing 700 examples. Its successor, the 1958 DB Mark III, also offered a folding rear seat. The 1954 AC Aceca and later Aceca-Bristol from AC Cars had a similar hatch tailgate, though only 320 were built.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1965, MG had Pininfarina modify the MGB roadster into a hatchback design called the MGB GT, becoming the first volume-production sports car with this type of body.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1961, Renault introduced the Renault 4 as a moderately upscale alternative to the Citroën 2CV. The Renault 4 was the first million-selling, mass-produced, compact two-box car with a steeply raked rear side, opened by a large, one-piece, lift-gate hatch.


title: Hatchback

text: During its production life cycle, Renault marketed the R4 calling it a small station wagon, just like Austin's series of small Countryman estate models from 1954 to 1968 – even after the term "hatchback" appeared around 1970. The company only offered one "two-box" body style. The Renault 4 continued in production in until 1992, selling over 8 million cars.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1965, the R4 economy car was complemented by the D-segment Renault 16, the first volume production two-box, hatchback family car. Its rear seats were adjustable, would fold down, or could be completely removed. The Renault 16 was successful in a market segment previously exclusively populated by notchback sedans, and in spite of making only the one body style for 15 years, selling over 1 million cars.


title: Hatchback

text: Unlike the Renault 4, which had a semi-integrated body, mounted on a platform chassis, and a front mid-mounted and longitudinally placed engine behind the front axle, the 1967 Simca 1100, which followed in the footsteps of the 1959 BMC Mini with front-wheel drive, a more space-efficient transverse engine layout, unitary bodywork and independent suspension (features which became key design concepts used by almost every mass-market family car since) - and it was the first hatchback with these features. The Simca 1100 also came in both three and five-door variants, and the hatchback models took a central position, traditionally taken up by saloons, in a full model line-up, completed by a station wagon, as well as panel van versions.


title: Hatchback

text: Also in 1967, Citroën released the Dyane, a redesigned 2CV with a large rear hatch, to compete with the Renault 4.


title: Hatchback

text: The Simca was closely followed by the Mini's larger stablemate, the Austin Maxi, which with the hatch was a five-door saloon, and with a transverse SOHC engine, a five-speed transmission, and a flexible seating arrangement which gave the option of forming a double bed. Created by the same designer as BMC's Mini, sir Alec Issigonis – accountants had determined that the car had to use the same set of doors as the Austin / Morris 1800, but would be marketed below it in the model range, so needed a shorter rear body. A curtailed rear end with a big hatch resulted. The Austin Maxi operated in the same market segment as the Renault 16, and the two competitors were closely matched in specifications and exterior dimensions, although the Maxi had significantly more interior space due to its transverse engine.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1976 British Leyland introduced the Rover 3500, a rear wheel drive executive car five-door hatchback.


title: Hatchback

text: Increasing demand for compact hatchbacks in Europe during the 1970s led to the release of models such as the Austin Ambassador, Austin Maestro, Fiat 127 and Renault 5. By the late 1970s and early 1980s, the majority of superminis and compact cars had been updated or replaced with hatchback models.


title: Hatchback

text: Hatchbacks were the mainstay of manufacturers' D-segment offerings in Europe in the 1990s (they were already popular in the 1980s) and until the late 2000s. It was common for manufacturers to offer the same D-segment model in three different body styles: a 4-door sedan, a 5-door hatchback, and a 5-door station wagon. Such models included the Ford Mondeo, the Mazda 626/Mazda6, the Nissan Primera, the Opel Vectra/Insignia, and the Toyota Carina/Avensis. There were also models in this market segment available only as a 5-door hatchback or a 4-door sedan, and models available only as a 5-door hatchback or a 5-door station wagon. Often the hatchback and the sedan shared the same wheelbase and the same overall length, and the full rear overhang length of a conventional sedan trunk was retained on the five-door hatchback version of the car.


title: Hatchback

text: The 1989-2000 Citroën XM and second-generation Skoda Superb (2008-2015) are cars that blur the line between hatchbacks and sedans. They feature an innovative "Twindoor" trunk lid. It can be opened like in a sedan, using the hinges located below the rear glass; or together with the rear glass, like in a hatchback, using the hinges at the roof.


title: Hatchback

text: Audi and BMW introduced hatchbacks in 2009, but marketed them as "Sportback" (Audi) or "Gran Turismo"/"Gran Coupe" (BMW).


title: Hatchback

text: In the 2010s hatchback versions became available on luxury cars such as the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo, Porsche Panamera, and Audi A7 while the Skoda Octavia was always available as a hatchback. Meanwhile, three-door hatchbacks have seen a fall in popularity, compared with 5-door models. This has led to many models no longer being offered in 3-door body styles, for example, the Audi A3 and Renault Clio.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1970, American Motors Corporation (AMC) released the first North American subcompact car since the 1953-1961 Nash Metropolitan, the AMC Gremlin. Although the Gremlin has the appearance of a hatchback, it is frequently called a Kammback coupe instead, with only its rear window being an upwards opening hatch, that gives access to the rear luggage space. The Gremlin was based on the AMC Hornet, but its abrupt hatchback rear end cut the car's overall length from . AMC added a hatchback version to its larger compact-sized Hornet line for the 1973 model year. The design and fold-down rear seat more than doubled cargo space and the Hornet was claimed to be the "first compact hatchback" manufactured by U.S. automaker. The 1975 Pacer featured a rear door or hatchback. A longer model with a wagon-type configuration was added in 1977 with its large rear "hatch" as one of the car's three doors, all having different sizes. The 1979 AMC Spirit was available in two designs, a "sedan" with a rear lift up window and a semi-fastback "liftback" version.


title: Hatchback

text: General Motors' first hatchback model was the Chevrolet Vega, introduced in September 1970. Over a million Vega hatchbacks were produced for the 1971–1977 model years accounting for about half of the Vega's total production. The Vega hatchback was also rebadged and sold as the 1973–1977 Pontiac Astre, 1978 Chevrolet Monza S, 1975–1980 Buick Skyhawk, 1975–1980 Oldsmobile Starfire and 1977–1980 Pontiac Sunbird.


title: Hatchback

text: In 1974, the larger Chevrolet Nova became available in a hatchback body style. The Nova hatchback was also rebadged as the Chevrolet Concours, Pontiac Ventura, Pontiac Phoenix, Oldsmobile Omega, Buick Apollo, and Buick Skylark. In 1980, General Motors released its first front-wheel drive hatchback models, the Chevrolet Citation and Pontiac Phoenix.


title: Hatchback

text: Both AMC and GM offered a dealer accessory that turned their compact hatchback models into low-cost recreational vehicles. An example is the Mini-Camper Kit for the AMC Hornet, a low-priced canvas tent that converted an open hatchback into a camping compartment with room for sleeping. The "Mini-Camper" was a weatherproof covering that fitted over the roof section from the B-pillar back to the rear bumper that was easy to set up.


title: Hatchback

text: Ford Motor Company's first hatchback was the Ford Pinto Runabout, introduced in 1971. The Pinto-based 1974-1978 Ford Mustang II was offered as a hatchback. The body style was continued for the redesigned Fox platform-based 1979 third generation Mustang and the Mercury Capri derivative. For 1981, Ford offered hatchback versions of its sub-compact Escort and the badge engineered Mercury Lynx, which were now front-wheel drive. Two-seat hatchback derivatives were introduced for 1982, the Ford EXP and the Mercury LN-7.


title: Hatchback

text: Chrysler Corporation's first hatchbacks (and first front-wheel drive cars) were the 1978 Dodge Omni / Plymouth Horizon models, which were based on the French Simca-Talbot Horizon. These were followed by the 3-door hatchback Dodge Omni 024 / Plymouth Horizon TC3 which were later renamed Dodge Charger and Plymouth Turismo.


title: Hatchback

text: The first Japanese hatchbacks were the 1972 Honda Civic, Nissan Sunny, and Nissan Cherry. The Civic and Cherry had front-wheel drive powertrains, which later became the common configuration for a hatchback. Along with the Honda Civic, other Japanese hatchback models included the Nissan Pulsar, Toyota Corolla, and Suzuki Swift.


title: Hatchback

text: Almost all Japanese Kei cars ("city cars") use a hatchback body style, to maximize cargo capacity given the overall vehicle size is limited by Kei car regulations. Kei cars include the Mitsubishi Minica, Honda Life, Suzuki Fronte, Subaru Vivio, and Daihatsu Mira.


title: Hatchback

text: The first Soviet hatchback was the rear-wheel drive IZh 2125 Kombi, which entered production in 1973. This was followed only in the 1980s by the front-wheel drive Lada Samara in 1984, the Moskvitch 2141/Aleko in 1986, and ZAZ Tavria in 1987.


title: Hatchback

text: In 2014, four of the top five selling models in Brazil were hatchbacks. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, hatchbacks were less popular than sedans, leading manufacturers to develop compact sedan models for the Brazilian market, for example, the Fiat Premio and sedan versions of the Opel Corsa and Ford Fiesta.


title: Hatchback

text: Hatchbacks are the highest selling car body style in India. The Maruti 800 sold over 2.5 million units since its launch in 1983. Since 2004, Maruti 800 has been overtaken by Maruti Alto as the car with highest annual sales. In 2015, Tata Motors launched a hatchback version of the Nano, the least expensive road car in the world.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary (Camelus dromedarius or ;), also known as the dromedary camel, Arabian camel, or one-humped camel, is a large even-toed ungulate, of the genus "Camelus", with one hump on its back.


title: Dromedary

text: It is the tallest of the three species of camel; adult males stand at the shoulder, while females are tall. Males typically weigh between , and females weigh between .


title: Dromedary

text: The species' distinctive features include its long, curved neck, narrow chest, a single hump (compared with two on the Bactrian camel and wild Bactrian camel), and long hairs on the throat, shoulders and hump. The coat is generally a shade of brown. The hump, tall or more, is made of fat bound together by fibrous tissue.


title: Dromedary

text: Dromedaries are mainly active during daylight hours. They form herds of about 20 individuals, which are led by a dominant male. They feed on foliage and desert vegetation; several adaptations, such as the ability to tolerate losing more than 30% of its total water content, allow it to thrive in its desert habitat. Mating occurs annually and peaks in the rainy season; females bear a single calf after a gestation of 15 months.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary has not occurred naturally in the wild for nearly 2,000 years. It was probably first domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula about 4,000 years ago, or in Somalia where there are paintings in Laas Geel that figure it from 5,000 to 9,000 years ago. In the wild, the dromedary inhabited arid regions, including the Sahara Desert. The domesticated dromedary is generally found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World, mainly in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and a significant feral population occurs in Australia. Products of the dromedary, including its meat and milk, support several North African tribes; it is also commonly used for riding and as a pack animal.


title: Dromedary

text: The common name "dromedary" comes from the Old French "dromedaire" or the Late Latin "dromedarius". These originated from the Greek word "dromas", δρομάς (ο, η) ( "dromados", δρομάδος), meaning "running" or "runner", used in Greek in the combination ("dromas kamelos"), literally "running camel", to refer to the dromedary. The first recorded use in English of the name "dromedary" occurred in the 14th century. The dromedary possibly originated in Arabia or Somalia and is therefore sometimes referred to as the Arabian or East African camel. The word "camel" generally refers either to the dromedary or the congeneric Bactrian; the word came into English via Old Norman, from the Latin word "camēlus", from Ancient Greek ("kámēlos"), ultimately from a Semitic source akin to Hebrew ("gamál") and Arabic ("jamal").


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary shares the genus "Camelus" with the Bactrian camel ("C. bactrianus") and the wild Bactrian camel ("C. ferus"). The dromedary belongs to the family Camelidae. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (4th century BC) was the first to describe the species of "Camelus". He named two species in his "History of Animals"; the one-humped Arabian camel and the two-humped Bactrian camel. The dromedary was given its current binomial name "Camelus dromedarius" by Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus in his 1758 publication "Systema Naturae". In 1927, British veterinarian Arnold Leese classified dromedaries by their basic habitats; the hill camels are small, muscular animals and efficient beasts of burden; the larger plains camels could be further divided into the desert type that can bear light burdens and are apt for riding, and the riverine type – slow animals that can bear heavy burdens; and those intermediate between these two types.


title: Dromedary

text: In 2007, Peng Cui of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and colleagues carried out a phylogenetic study of the evolutionary relationships between the two tribes of Camelidae; Camelini – consisting of the three "Camelus" species (the study considered the wild Bactrian camel as a subspecies of the Bactrian camel) – and Lamini, which consists of the alpaca ("Vicugna pacos"), the guanaco ("Lama guanicoe"), the llama ("L. glama") and the vicuña ("V. vicugna"). The study showed the two tribes had diverged 25 million years ago (early Miocene), earlier than previously estimated from North American fossils.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary and the Bactrian camel often interbreed to produce fertile offspring. Where the ranges of the species overlap, such as in northern Punjab, Persia, and Afghanistan, the phenotypic differences between them tend to decrease as a result of extensive crossbreeding. The fertility of their hybrid has given rise to speculation that the dromedary and the Bactrian camel should be merged into a single species with two varieties. However, a 1994 analysis of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene showed the species display 10.3% divergence in their sequences.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary has 74 diploid chromosomes, the same as other camelids. The autosomes consist of five pairs of small to medium-sized metacentrics and submetacentrics. The X chromosome is the largest in the metacentric and submetacentric group. There are 31 pairs of acrocentrics. The dromedary's karyotype is similar to that of the Bactrian camel.


title: Dromedary

text: Camel hybridization began in the first millennium BC. For about a thousand years, Bactrian camels and dromedaries have been successfully bred in regions where they are sympatric to form hybrids with either a long, slightly lopsided hump or two humps – one small and one large. These hybrids are larger and stronger than their parents – they can bear greater loads. A cross between a first generation female hybrid and a male Bactrian camel can also produce a hybrid. Hybrids from other combinations tend to be bad-tempered or runts.


title: Dromedary

text: The extinct "Protylopus", which occurred in North America during the upper Eocene, is the oldest and the smallest-known camel. During the transition from Pliocene to Pleistocene, several mammals faced extinction. This period marked the successful radiation of the "Camelus" species, which migrated over the Bering Strait and dispersed widely into Asia, eastern Europe and Africa. By the Pleistocene, ancestors of the dromedary occurred in the Middle East and northern Africa.


title: Dromedary

text: The modern dromedary probably evolved in the hotter, arid regions of western Asia from the Bactrian camel, which in turn was closely related to the earliest Old World camels. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the dromedary foetus has two humps, while in the adult male an anterior vestigial hump is present. A jawbone of a dromedary that dated from 8,200 BC was found in Saudi Arabia on the southern coast of the Red Sea.


title: Dromedary

text: In 1975, Richard Bulliet of Columbia University wrote that the dromedary exists in large numbers in areas from which the Bactrian camel has disappeared; the converse is also true to a great extent. He said this substitution could have taken place because of the heavy dependence on the milk, meat and wool of the dromedary by Syrian and Arabian nomads, while the Asiatic people domesticated the Bactrian camel but did not have to depend upon its products.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary is the tallest of the three camel species. Adult males range in height between at the shoulder; females range between . Males typically weigh between ; females range between . The distinctive features are its long, curved neck, narrow chest and single hump (the Bactrian camel has two), thick, double-layered eyelashes and bushy eyebrows. They have sharp vision and a good sense of smell. The male has a soft palate ( in Arabic) nearly long, which he inflates to produce a deep pink sac. The palate, which is often mistaken for the tongue, dangles from one side of the mouth and is used to attract females during the mating season.


title: Dromedary

text: The coat is generally brown but can range from black to nearly white. Leese reported piebald dromedaries in Kordofan and Darfur in Sudan. Piebald coloration in some camels is thought to be caused by the "KIT" allele of the KIT gene, though there is likely at least one other mutation that also causes white spotting. The hair is long and concentrated on the throat, shoulders and the hump. The large eyes are protected by prominent supraorbital ridges; the ears are small and rounded. The hump is at least high. The dromedary has long, powerful legs with two toes on each foot. The feet resemble flat, leathery pads. Like the giraffe, dromedaries moves both legs on one side of the body at the same time.


title: Dromedary

text: Compared with the Bactrian camel, the dromedary has a lighter build, longer limbs, shorter hairs, a harder palate and an insignificant or absent ethmoidal fissure. Unlike the camelids of the genus "Lama", the dromedary has a hump, and in comparison has a longer tail, smaller ears, squarer feet, and a greater height at the shoulder. The dromedary has four teats instead of the two in the "Lama" species.


title: Dromedary

text: The cranium of the dromedary consists of a postorbital bar, a tympanic bulla filled with spongiosa, a well-defined sagittal crest, a long facial part and an indented nasal bone. Typically, there are eight sternal and four non-sternal pairs of ribs. The spinal cord is nearly long; it terminates in the second and third sacral vertebra. The fibula is reduced to a malleolar bone. The dromedary is a digitigrade animal; it walks on its toes, which are known as digits. It lacks the second and fifth digits. The front feet are wide and long; they are larger than the hind feet, which measure wide and long.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary has 22 milk teeth, which are eventually replaced by 34 permanent teeth. The dental formula for permanent dentition is , and for milk dentition. In the juvenile, the lower first molars develop by 12 to 15 months and the permanent lower incisors appear at 4.5 to 6.5 years of age. All teeth are in use by 8 years. The lenses of the eyes contain crystallin, which constitutes 8 to 13% of the protein present there.


title: Dromedary

text: The skin is black; the epidermis is thick and the dermis is thick. The hump is composed of fat bound together by fibrous tissue. There are no glands on the face; males have glands that appear to be modified apocrine sweat glands that secrete pungent, coffee-coloured fluid during the rut, located on either side of the neck midline. The glands generally grow heavier during the rut, and range from . Each cover hair is associated with an arrector pilli muscle, a hair follicle, a ring of sebaceous glands and a sweat gland. Females have cone-shaped, four-chambered mammary glands that are long with a base diameter of . These glands can produce milk with up to 90% water content even if the mother is at risk of dehydration.


title: Dromedary

text: The heart weighs around ; it has two ventricles with the tip curving to the left. The pulse rate is 50 beats per minute. The dromedary is the only mammal with oval red blood corpuscles, which facilitates blood flow during dehydration. The pH of the blood varies from 7.1 to 7.6 (slightly alkaline). The individual's state of hydration and sex and the time of year can influence blood values. The lungs lack lobes. A dehydrated camel has a lower breathing rate. Each kidney has a capacity of , and can produce urine with high chloride concentrations. Like the horse, the dromedary has no gall bladder. The grayish violet, crescent-like spleen weighs less than . The triangular, four-chambered liver weighs ; its dimensions are .


title: Dromedary

text: The ovaries are reddish, circular and flattened. They are enclosed in a conical bursa and have the dimensions during anestrus. The oviducts are long. The uterus is bicornuate. The vagina is long and has well-developed Bartholin's glands. The vulva is deep and has a small clitoris. The placenta is diffuse and epitheliochorial, with a crescent-like chorion.


title: Dromedary

text: The penis is covered by a triangular penile sheath that opens backwards; it is about long. The scrotum is located high in the perineum with the testicles in separate sacs. Testicles are long, deep and wide. The right testicle is often smaller than the left. The typical mass of either testicle is less than ; during the rut the mass increases from . The Cowper's gland is white, almond-shaped and lacks seminal vesicles; the prostate gland is dark yellow, disc-shaped and divided into two lobes.


title: Dromedary

text: The camel epididymis interstitium revealed several blood vessels harboring special regulatory devices such as the spiral arteries, spiral veins, and throttle arterioles.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary generally suffers from fewer diseases than other domestic livestock such as goats and cattle. Temperature fluctuations occur throughout the day in a healthy dromedary – the temperature falls to its minimum at dawn, rises until sunset and falls during the night. Nervous camels may vomit if they are carelessly handled; this does not always indicate a disorder. Rutting males may develop nausea.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary is prone to trypanosomiasis, a disease caused by a parasite transmitted by the tsetse fly. The main symptoms are recurring fever, anaemia and weakness; the disease is typically fatal for the camel. Brucellosis is another prominent malady. In an observational study, the seroprevalence of this disease was generally low (2 to 5%) in nomadic or moderately free dromedaries, but it was higher (8 to 15%) in denser populations. Brucellosis is caused by different biotypes of "Brucella abortus" and "B. melitensis". Other internal parasites include "Fasciola gigantica" (trematode), two types of cestode (tapeworm) and various nematodes (roundworms). Among external parasites, "Sarcoptes" species cause sarcoptic mange. In a 2000 study in Jordan, 83% of the 32 camels studied tested positive for sarcoptic mange. In another study, dromedaries were found to have natural antibodies against the rinderpest and ovine rinderpest viruses.


title: Dromedary

text: In 2013, a seroepidemiological study (a study investigating the patterns, causes and effects of a disease on a specific population on the basis of serologic tests) in Egypt was the first to show the dromedary might be a host for the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). A 2013–14 study of dromedaries in Saudi Arabia concluded the unusual genetic stability of MERS-CoV coupled with its high seroprevalence in the dromedary makes this camel a highly probable host for the virus. The full genome sequence of MERS-CoV from dromedaries in this study showed a 99.9% match to the genomes of human clade B MERS-CoV. Another study in Saudi Arabia showed the presence of MERS-CoV in 90% of the evaluated dromedaries and suggested that camels could be the animal source of MERS-CoV.


title: Dromedary

text: Fleas and ticks are common causes of physical irritation. "Hyalomma dromedarii" is especially adapted to arid conditions, changing its moulting process to complete more or all of its life cycle on a single host if stressed, and having an unusually wide host range. The larvae are not well understood but their questing phase is assumed to occur during the winter, which is also when rain arrives. The nymphs infest the host mostly in January, then the adults May to September. In a study in Egypt, "H. dromedarii" was dominant in dromedaries, comprising 95.6% of the adult ticks isolated from the camels. In Israel, the number of ticks per camel ranged from 20 to 105. Nine camels in the date palm plantations in Arava Valley were injected with ivermectin, which is not effective against "Hyalomma" tick infestations. Larvae of the camel nasal fly "Cephalopsis titillator" can cause possibly fatal brain compression and nervous disorders. Illnesses that can affect dromedary productivity are pyogenic diseases and wound infections caused by "Corynebacterium" and "Streptococcus", pulmonary disorders caused by "Pasteurella" such as hemorrhagic septicemia and "Rickettsia" species, camelpox, anthrax, and cutaneous necrosis caused by "Streptothrix" and deficiency of salt in the diet.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary is diurnal (active mainly during daylight); free-ranging herds feed and roam throughout the day, though they rest during the hottest hours around noon. The night is mainly spent resting. Dromedaries form cohesive groups of about 20 individuals, which consist of several females led by a dominant male. Females may also lead in turns. Some males either form bachelor groups or roam alone. Herds may congregate to form associations of hundreds of camels during migrations at the time of natural disasters. The males of the herd prevent female members from interacting with bachelor males by standing or walking between them and sometimes driving the bachelor males away. In Australia, short-term home ranges of feral dromedaries cover ; annual home ranges can spread over several thousand square kilometres.


title: Dromedary

text: Special behavioral features of the dromedary include snapping at others without biting them and showing displeasure by stamping their feet. They are generally non-aggressive, with the exception of rutting males. They appear to remember their homes; females, in particular, remember the places they first gave birth or suckled their offspring. Males become aggressive in the mating season, and sometimes wrestle. A 1980 study showed androgen levels in males influences their behavior. Between January and April when these levels are high during the rut, they become difficult to manage, blow out the palate from the mouth, vocalize and throw urine over their backs. Camels scratch parts of their bodies with their legs or with their lower incisors. They may also rub against tree bark and roll in the sand.


title: Dromedary

text: Free-ranging dromedaries face large predators typical of their regional distribution, which includes wolves, lions and tigers.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary's diet consists mostly of foliage, dry grasses and desert vegetation – mostly thorny plants. A study said the typical diet of the dromedary is dwarf shrubs (47.5%), trees (29.9%), grasses (11.2%), other herbs (0.2%) and vines (11%). The dromedary is primarily a browser; forbs and shrubs comprise 70% of its diet in summer and 90% of its diet in winter. The dromedary may also graze on tall, young, succulent grasses.


title: Dromedary

text: In the Sahara, 332 plant species have been recorded as food plants of the dromedary. These include "Aristida pungens", "Acacia tortilis", "Panicum turgidum", "Launaea arborescens" and "Balanites aegyptiaca". The dromedary eats "Acacia", "Atriplex" and "Salsola" when they are available. Feral dromedaries in Australia prefer "Trichodesma zeylanicum" and "Euphorbia tannensis". In India, dromedaries are fed with forage plants such as "Vigna aconitifolia", "V. mungo", "Cyamopsis tetragonolaba", "Melilotus parviflora", "Eruca sativa", "Trifolium" species and "Brassica campestris". Dromedaries keep their mouths open while chewing thorny food. They use their lips to grasp the food and chew each bite 40 to 50 times. Its long eyelashes, eyebrows, lockable nostrils, caudal opening of the prepuce and a relatively small vulva help the camel avoid injuries, especially while feeding. They graze for 8–12 hours per day and ruminate for an equal amount of time.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary is specially adapted to its desert habitat; these adaptations are aimed at conserving water and regulating body temperature. The bushy eyebrows and the double row of eyelashes prevent sand and dust from entering the eyes during strong windstorms, and shield them from the sun's glare. The dromedary is able to close its nostrils voluntarily; this assists in water conservation. The dromedary can conserve water by reducing perspiration by fluctuating the body temperature throughout the day from . The kidneys are specialized to minimize water loss through excretion. Groups of camels avoid excess heat from the environment by pressing against each other. The dromedary can tolerate greater than 30% water loss, which is generally impossible for other mammals. In temperatures between , it needs water every 10 to 15 days. In the hottest temperatures, the dromedary takes water every four to seven days. This camel has a quick rate of rehydration and can drink at per minute. The dromedary has a rete mirabile, a complex of arteries and veins lying very close to each other which uses countercurrent blood flow to cool blood flowing to the brain. This effectively controls the temperature of the brain.


title: Dromedary

text: The hump stores up to of fat, which the camel can break down into energy to meet its needs when resources are scarce; the hump also helps dissipate body heat. When this tissue is metabolized, through fat metabolization, it releases energy while causing water to evaporate from the lungs during respiration (as oxygen is required for the metabolic process): overall, there is a net decrease in water. If the hump is small, the animal can show signs of starvation. In a 2005 study, the mean volume of adipose tissues (in the external part of the hump that have cells to store lipids) is related to the dromedary's unique mechanism of food and water storage. In case of starvation, they can even eat fish and bones, and drink brackish and salty water. The hair is longer on the throat, hump and shoulders. Though the padded hooves effectively support the camel's weight on the ground, they are not suitable for walking on slippery and muddy surfaces.


title: Dromedary

text: Camels have a slow growth rate and reach sexual maturity slower than sheep or goat. The age of sexual maturity varies geographically and depends on the individual, as does the reproductive period. Both sexes might mature by three to five years of age, though successful breeding could take longer. Camels are described as atypical seasonal breeders; they exhibit spermatogenesis throughout the whole year with a reduction in spermatogenesis during the nonbreeding season compared to that in the


title: Dromedary

text: breeding season (Zayed et al., 1995). The breeding season in Egypt is during spring; the spring months.


title: Dromedary

text: Mating occurs once a year, and peaks in the rainy season. The mating season lasts three to five months, but may last a year for older animals.


title: Dromedary

text: During the reproductive season, males splash their urine on their tails and nether regions. To attract females they extrude their soft palate – a trait unique to the dromedary. As the male gurgles, copious quantities of saliva turns to foam and covers the mouth. Males threaten each other for dominance over the female by trying to stand taller than the other, making low noises and a series of head movements including lowering, lifting and bending their necks backward. Males try to defeat other males by biting the opponent's legs and taking the head between his jaws. Copulation begins with foreplay; the male smells the female's genitalia and often bites her there or around her hump. The male forces the female to sit, then grasps her with his forelegs. Camelmen often aid the male insert his penis into the female's vulva. The male dromedary's ability to penetrate the female on his own is disputed, though feral populations in Australia reproduce naturally. Copulation takes from 7 to 35 minutes, averaging 11 to 15 minutes. Normally, three to four ejaculations occur. The semen of a Bikaneri dromedary is white and viscous, with a pH of around 7.8.


title: Dromedary

text: A single calf is born after a gestation period of 15 months. Calves move freely by the end of their first day. Nursing and maternal care continue for one to two years. In a study to find whether young could exist on milk substitutes, two male, month-old camels were separated from their mothers and were fed on milk substitutes prepared commercially for lambs, and they grew to normal weights for male calves after 30 days. Lactational yield can vary with species, breed, individual, region, diet, management conditions and lactating stage. The largest quantity of milk is produced during the early period of lactation. The lactation period can vary between nine and eighteen months.


title: Dromedary

text: Dromedaries are induced ovulators. Oestrus may be cued by the nutritional status of the camel and the length of day. If mating does not occur, the follicle, which grows during oestrus, usually regresses within a few days. In one study, 35 complete oestrous cycles were observed in five nonpregnant females over 15 months. The cycles were about 28 days long; follicles matured in six days, maintained their size for 13 days, and returned to their original size in eight days. In another study, ovulation could be best induced when the follicle reaches a size of . In another study, pregnancy in females could be recognized as early as 40 to 45 days of gestation by the swelling of the left uterine horn, where 99.5% of pregnancies were located.


title: Dromedary

text: Its range included hot, arid regions of northern Africa, Ethiopia, the Near East, and western and central Asia. The dromedary typically thrives in areas with a long dry season and a short wet season. They are sensitive to cold and humidity, though some breeds can thrive in humid conditions.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary may have been first domesticated in Somalia or the Arabian Peninsula about 4,000 years ago. In the ninth or tenth century BC, the dromedary became popular in the Near East. The Persian invasion of Egypt under Cambyses in 525 BC introduced domesticated camels to the area. The Persian camels were not well-suited to trading or travel over the Sahara; journeys across the desert were made on chariots pulled by horses. The dromedary was introduced into Egypt from south-western Asia (Arabia and Persia). The popularity of dromedaries increased after the Islamic conquest of North Africa. While the invasion was accomplished largely on horseback, new links to the Middle East allowed camels to be imported "en masse". These camels were well-suited to long desert journeys and could carry a great deal of cargo, allowing substantial trans-Saharan trade for the first time. In Libya, dromedaries were used for transport and their milk and meat constituted the local diet.


title: Dromedary

text: Dromedaries were also shipped from south-western Asia to Spain, Italy, Turkey, France, Canary Islands, the Americas and Australia. Dromedaries were introduced into Spain in 1020 AD and to Sicily in 1059 AD. Camels were exported to the Canary Islands in 1405 during the European colonisation of the area, and are still extant there, especially in Lanzarote and to the south of Fuerteventura. Attempts to introduce dromedaries into the Caribbean, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil were made between the 17th and 19th centuries; some were imported to the western United States in the 1850s and some to Namibia in the early 1900s, but presently they exist in small numbers or are absent in these areas.


title: Dromedary

text: In 1840, about six camels were shipped from Tenerife to Adelaide, but only one survived the journey to arrive on 12 October that year. The animal, a male called Harry, was owned by the explorer John Ainsworth Horrocks. Harry was ill-tempered but was included in an expedition the following year because he could carry heavy loads. The next major group of camels were imported into Australia in 1860, and between 1860 and 1907 10 to 12 thousand were imported. These were used mainly for riding and transport.


title: Dromedary

text: In the early 21st century, the domesticated dromedary is found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World.


title: Dromedary

text: Africa has more than 80% of the world's total dromedary population; it occurs in almost every desert zone in the northern part of the continent. The Sahel marks the southern extreme of its range, where the annual rainfall is around . The Horn of Africa has nearly 35% of the world's dromedaries; most of the region's stock is in Somalia, followed by Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia (as of the early 2000s). According to the Yearbook of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for 1984, eastern Africa had about 10 million dromedaries, the largest population of Africa. Western Africa followed with 2.14 million, while northern Africa had nearly 0.76 million. Populations in Africa increased by 16% from 1994 to 2005.


title: Dromedary

text: In Asia, nearly 70% of the population occurs in India and Pakistan. The combined population of the dromedary and the Bactrian camel decreased by around 21% between 1994 and 2004. The dromedary is sympatric with the Bactrian camel in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and central and southwestern Asia. India has a dromedary population of less than one million, with most (0.67 million) in the state of Rajasthan. Populations in Pakistan decreased from 1.1 million in 1994 to 0.8 million in 2005 – a 29% decline. According to the FAO, the dromedary population in six countries of the Persian Gulf was nearly 0.67 million in 2003. In the Persian Gulf region the dromedary is locally classified into breeds including Al-Majahem, Al-Hamrah, Al-Safrah, Al-Zarkah and Al-Shakha, based on coat colour. The UAE has three prominent breeds: Racing camel, Al-Arabiat and Al-Kazmiat.


title: Dromedary

text: Feral dromedary populations occur in Australia, where they were introduced in 1840. The total dromedary population in Australia was 500,000 in 2005. Nearly 99% of the populations are feral, and they have annual growth rate of 10%. Most of the Australian feral camels are dromedaries, with only a few Bactrian camels. Most of the dromedaries occur in Western Australia, with smaller populations in the Northern Territory, Western Queensland and northern South Australia.


title: Dromedary

text: The strength and docility of the dromedary make it popular as a domesticated animal. According to Richard Bulliet, they can be used for a wide variety of purposes: riding, transport, ploughing, and trading and as a source of milk, meat, wool and leather. The main attraction of the dromedary for nomadic desert-dwellers is the wide variety of resources they provide, which are crucial for their survival. It is important for several Bedouin pastoralist tribes of northern Arabia, such as the Ruwallah, the Rashaida, the Bani Sakhr and the Mutayr.


title: Dromedary

text: Although the role of the camel is diminishing with the advent of technology and modern means of transport, it is still an efficient mode of communication in remote and less-developed areas. The dromedary has been used in warfare since the 2nd century BC. It is particularly prized for its capability to outrun horses in the deserts. Record of its use during the time of Alexander the Great indicate that the animal could cover up to 50 miles per day for a week and they could go for up to a month without water. An account by Aurelian also cited that, in her escape to Euphrates, Zenobia used a dromedary to outrun her pursuers after she was defeated at Palmyra.


title: Dromedary

text: The dromedary also remains popular for racing, particularly in the Arab world. Riding camels of Arabia, Egypt and the Sahara are locally known as the Dilool, the Hageen, and the Mehara respectively; several local breeds are included within these groups.


title: Dromedary

text: The ideal riding camel is strong, slender and long-legged with thin, supple skin. The special adaptations of the dromedary's feet allow it to walk with ease on sandy and rough terrain and on cold surfaces. The camels of the Bejas of Sudan and the Hedareb, Bilen, and the Tigre people of Eritrea and the Anafi camel bred in Sudan are common breeds used as riding camels.


title: Dromedary

text: According to Leese, the dromedary walks with four speeds or gaits: walk, jog, fast run and canter. The first is the typical speed of walking, around . Jog is the most common speed, nearly on level ground. He estimated a speed of during a fast run, by observing northern African and Arabian dromedaries. He gave no speed range to describe the canter, but implied it was a type of gallop that if induced could exhaust the camel and the rider. Canter could be used only for short periods of time, for example in races.


title: Dromedary

text: The ideal age to start training dromedaries for riding is three years, although they may be stubborn and unruly. At first the camel's head is controlled, and it is later trained to respond to sitting and standing commands, and to allow mounting. At this stage a camel will often try to escape when a trainer tries to mount it. The next stage involves training it to respond to reins. The animal must be given loads gradually and not forced to carry heavy loads before the age of six. Riding camels should not be struck on their necks, rather they should be struck behind the right leg of the rider. Leese described two types of saddles generally used in camel riding: the Arabian "markloofa" used by single riders and the Indian "pakra" used when two riders mount the same camel.


title: Dromedary

text: The baggage camel should be robust and heavy. Studies have recommended the camel should have either a small or a large head with a narrow aquiline nose, prominent eyes and large lips. The neck should be medium to long so the head is held high. The chest should be deep and the hump should be well-developed with sufficient space behind it to accommodate the saddle. The hindlegs should be heavy, muscular and sturdy. The dromedary can be trained to carry baggage from the age of five years, but must not be given heavy loads before the age of six. The "hawia" is a typical baggage saddle from Sudan. The methods of training the baggage camels are similar to those for riding camels.


title: Dromedary

text: Draught camels are used for several purposes including ploughing, processing in oil mills and pulling carts. There is no clear description for the ideal draught camel, though its strength, its ability to survive without water and the flatness of its feet could be indicators. It may be used for ploughing in pairs or in groups with buffaloes or bullocks. The draught camel can plough at around , and should not be used for more than six hours a day – four hours in the morning and two in the afternoon. The camel is not easily exhausted unless diseased or undernourished, and has remarkable endurance and hardiness.


title: Dromedary

text: Camel milk is a staple food of nomadic tribes living in deserts. It consists of 11.7% solids, 3% protein, 3.6% fat, 0.8% ash, 4.4% lactose and 0.13% acidity (pH 6.5). The quantities of sodium, potassium, zinc, iron, copper, manganese, niacin and vitamin C were relatively higher than the amounts in cow milk. However, the levels of thiamin, riboflavin, folacin, vitamin B, pantothenic acid, vitamin A, lysine, and tryptophan were lower than those in cow milk. The molar percentages of the fatty acids in milk fat were 26.7% for palmitic acid, 25.5% oleic acid, 11.4% myristic acid and 11% palmitoleic acid. Camel milk has higher thermal stability compared with cow milk, but it does not compare favourably with sheep milk.


title: Dromedary

text: Daily milk yield generally varies from and from 1.3% to 7.8% of the body weight. Milk yield varies geographically and depends upon the animals' diet and living conditions. At the peak of lactation, a healthy female would typically provide milk per day. Leese estimated a lactating female would yield besides the amount ingested by the calf. The Pakistani dromedary, which is considered a better milker and bigger, can yield when well-fed. Dromedaries in Somalia may be milked between two and four times a day, while those in Afar, Ethiopia, may be milked up to seven times a day.


title: Dromedary

text: The acidity of dromedary milk stored at increases at a slower rate than that of cow milk. Though the preparation of butter from dromedary milk is difficult, it is produced in small amounts by nomads, optimized at 22.5% fat in the cream. In 2001, the ability of dromedary milk to form curd was studied; coagulation did not show curd formation, and had a pH of 4.4. It was much different from curd produced from cow milk, and had a fragile, heterogeneous composition probably composed of casein flakes. Nevertheless, cheese and other dairy products can be made from camel milk. A study found bovine calf rennet could be used to coagulate dromedary milk. A special factory has been set up in Nouakchott to pasteurise and make cheese from camel milk. Mystical beliefs surround the use of camel milk in some places; for example, it may be used as an aphrodisiac in Ethiopia.


title: Dromedary

text: The meat of a five-year-old dromedary has a typical composition of 76% water, 22% protein, 1% fat, and 1% ash. The carcass, weighing for a five-year-old dromedary, is composed of nearly 57% muscle, 26% bone and 17% fat. A seven-to-eight-year-old camel can produce a carcass of . The meat is bright red to a dark brown or maroon, while the fat is white. It has the taste and texture of beef. A study of the meat of Iranian dromedaries showed its high glycogen content, which makes it taste sweet like horse meat. The carcasses of well-fed camels were found to be covered with a thin layer of good quality fat. In a study of the fatty acid composition of raw meat taken from the hind legs of seven one-to-three years old males, 51.5% of the fatty acids were saturated, 29.9% mono-unsaturated, and 18.6% polyunsaturated. The major fatty acids in the meat were palmitic acid (26.0%), oleic acid (18.9%) and linoleic acid (12.1%). In the hump, palmitic acid was dominant (34.4%), followed by oleic acid (28.2%), myristic acid (10.3%) and stearic acid (10%).


title: Dromedary

text: Dromedary slaughter is more difficult than the slaughter of other domestic livestock such as cattle because of the size of the animal and the significant manual work involved. More males than females are slaughtered. Though less affected by mishandling than other livestock, the pre-slaughter handling of the dromedary plays a crucial role in determining the quality of meat obtained; mishandling can often disfigure the hump. The animal is stunned, seated in a crouching position with the head in a caudal position and slaughtered. The dressing percentage – the percentage of the mass of the animal that forms the carcass – is 55–70%, more than the 45–50% of cattle. Camel meat is often eaten by African camel herders, who use it only during severe food scarcity or for rituals. Camel meat is processed into food items such as burgers, patties, sausages and "shawarma". Dromedaries can be slaughtered between four and ten years of age. As the animal ages, the meat grows tougher and deteriorates in taste and quality. In Somalian and Djiboutian culture, the dromedary is a staple food and can be found in many recipes and dishes.


title: Dromedary

text: A 2005 report issued jointly by the Ministry of Health (Saudi Arabia) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention details five cases of bubonic plague in humans resulting from the ingestion of raw camel liver. Four of the five patients had severe pharyngitis and submandibular lymphadenitis. "Yersinia pestis" was isolated from the camel's bone marrow, from the jird ("Meriones libycus") and from fleas ("Xenopsylla cheopis") captured at the camel's corral.


title: Dromedary

text: Camels in hot climates generally do not develop long coats. Camel hair is light, and has low thermal conductivity and durability, and is thus suitable for manufacturing warm clothes, blankets, tents, and rugs. Hair of highest quality is typically obtained from juvenile or wild camels. In India, camels are clipped usually in spring and around hair is produced per clipping. In colder regions one clipping can yield as much as . A dromedary can produce wool per year, whereas a Bactrian camel has an annual yield of nearly . Dromedaries under the age of two years have a fine undercoat that tends to fall off and should be cropped by hand. Little information about camel hides has been collected but they are usually of inferior quality and are less preferred for manufacturing leather.


title: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire

text: The persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurred, sporadically and usually locally, throughout the Roman Empire, beginning in the 1st century CE and ending in the 4th century CE. Originally a polytheistic empire in the traditions of Roman paganism and the Hellenistic religion, as Christianity spread through the empire, it came into ideological conflict with the imperial cult of ancient Rome. Pagan practices such as making sacrifices to the deified emperors or other gods were abhorrent to Christians as their beliefs prohibited idolatry. The state and other members of civic society punished Christians for treason, various rumored crimes, illegal assembly, and for introducing an alien cult that led to Roman apostasy.


text: The first, localized Neronian persecution occurred under the emperor Nero () in Rome. A more general persecution occurred during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (). After a lull, persecution resumed under the emperors Decius () and Trebonianus Gallus (). The Decian persecution was particularly extensive. The persecution of Emperor Valerian () ceased with his notable capture by the Sasanian Empire's Shapur I () at the Battle of Edessa during the Roman–Persian Wars. His successor Gallienus () halted the persecutions.


text: The "Augustus" Diocletian () began the Diocletianic persecution, the final general persecution of Christians, which continued to be enforced in parts of the empire until the "Augustus" Galerius () issued the Edict of Serdica and the "Augustus" Maximinus Daia () died. After Constantine the Great () defeated his rival Maxentius () at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in October 312, he and his co-emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan (313), which permitted all religions, including Christianity, to be tolerated.


text: Roman religion at the beginning of Roman Empire (27 BCE - 476 CE) was polytheistic and local. Each city worshipped its own set of gods and goddesses that had originally been derived from ancient Greece and become Romanized. This polis-religion was embedded in, and inseparable from, "the general structures of the ancient city; there was no religious identity separate from political or civic identity, and the essence of religion lay in ritual rather than belief". Private religion and its public practices were under the control of public officials, primarily, the Senate. Religion was central to being Roman, its practices widespread, and intertwined with politics.


text: Support for this form of traditional Roman polytheism had begun to decline by the first century BCE when it was seen, according to various writers and historians of the time, as having become empty and ineffectual. A combination of external factors such as war and invasions, and internal factors such as the formal nature and political manipulation of traditional religion, is said to have created the slow decline of polytheism. This left a vacuum in the personal lives of people that they filled with other forms of worship: such as the imperial cult, various mystery cults, imported eastern religions, and Christianity.


text: The Roman approach to empire building included a cultural permeability that allowed foreigners to become a part of it, but the Roman religious practice of adopting foreign gods and practices into its pantheon did not apply equally to all gods: "Many divinities were brought to Rome and installed as part of the Roman state religion, but a great many more were not". This characteristic openness has led many, such as Ramsay MacMullen to say that in its process of expansion, the Roman Empire was "completely tolerant, in heaven as on earth", but to also go on and immediately add: "That [tolerance] was only half the story".


text: MacMullen says the most significant factor in determining whether one received 'tolerance' or 'intolerance' from Roman religion was if that religion honored one's god "according to ancestral custom". Christians were thought of badly for abandoning their ancestral roots in Judaism. However, how a religion practiced was also a factor. Roman officials had become suspicious of the worshippers of Dionysus and their practice of Bacchanalia as far back as 186 BCE because it "took place at night". Private divination, astrology, and 'Chaldean practices' were magics associated with night worship, and as such, had carried the threat of banishment and execution since the early imperial period. Archaeologist Luke Lavan explains that is because night worship was private and secret and associated with treason and secret plots against the emperor. Bacchic associations were dissolved, leaders were arrested and executed, women were forbidden to hold important positions in the cult, no Roman citizen could be a priest, and strict control of the cult was thereafter established.


text: This became the pattern for the Roman state's response to whatever was seen as a religious threat. In the first century of the common era, there were "periodic expulsions of astrologers, philosophers and even teachers of rhetoric... as well as Jews and...the cult of Isis". Druids also received the same treatment, as did Christians.


text: A. N. Sherwin-White records that serious discussion of the reasons for Roman persecution of Christians began in 1890, when it produced "20 years of controversy" and three main opinions: first, there was the theory held by most French and Belgian scholars that "there was a general enactment, precisely formulated and valid for the whole empire, which forbade the practice of the Christian religion. The origin of this is most commonly attributed to Nero, but sometimes to Domitian". This has evolved into a 'common law' theory which gives great weight to Tertullian's description of prosecution resulting from the 'accusation of the Name', as being Nero's plan. Nero had an older resolution forbidding the introduction of new religions, but the application to Christians is seen as coming from the much older Republican principle that it was a capital offense to introduce a new "superstition" without the authorization of the Roman state. Sherwin-White adds that this theory might explain persecution at Rome, but it fails to explain it in the provinces. For that, a second theory is needed.


text: The second theory, which originated with German scholars, and is the best known theory to English readers, is that of " coercitio" (curtailment). It holds that Christians were punished by Roman governors through the ordinary use of their power to keep order, because Christians had introduced "an alien cult which induced 'national apostasy', [and] the abandonment of the traditional Roman religion. Others substituted for this a general aversion to the established order and disobedience to constituted authority. All of [this] school seem to envisage the procedure as direct police action, or inquisition against notable malefactors, arrest, and punishment, without the ordinary forms of trial".


text: A third school asserted that Christians were prosecuted for specific criminal offenses such as child-murder, incest, magic, illegal assembly, and treason – a charge based on their refusal to worship the divinity of the Roman emperor. Sherwin-White says "this third opinion has usually been combined with the coercitio theory, but some scholars have attributed all Christian persecution to a single criminal charge, notably treason, or illegal assembly, or the introduction of an alien cult". In spite of the fact that malicious rumors did exist, this theory has been the least verified of the three by later scholarship.


text: Classics professor emeritus Joseph Plescia says persecution was caused by an ideological conflict. Caesar was seen as divine. Christians could accept only one divinity, and it wasn't Caesar. Cairns describes the ideological conflict as: "The exclusive sovereignty of Christ clashed with Caesar's claims to his own exclusive sovereignty."


text: In this clash of ideologies, "the ordinary Christian lived under a constant threat of denunciation and the possibility of arraignment on capital charges". Joseph Bryant asserts it was not easy for Christians to hide their religion and pretend to "Romanness" either, since renunciation of the world was an aspect of their faith that demanded "numerous departures from conventional norms and pursuits". The Christian had exacting moral standards that included avoiding contact with those that still lay in bondage to 'the Evil One' (; ; ; II Clement 6; Epistle of Barnabas, 1920). Life as a Christian required daily courage, "with the radical choice of Christ or the world being forced upon the believer in countless ways". "Christian attendance at civic festivals, athletic games, and theatrical performances were fraught with danger, since in addition to the 'sinful frenzy' and 'debauchery' aroused, each was held in honour of pagan deities. Various occupations and careers were regarded as inconsistent with Christian principles, most notably military service and public office, the manufacturing of idols, and of course all pursuits which affirmed polytheistic culture, such as music, acting, and school-teaching (cf. Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition 16). Even the wearing of jewelry and fine apparel was judged harshly by Christian moralists and ecclesiastical officials, as was the use of cosmetics and perfumes".In Rome, citizens were expected to demonstrate their loyalty to Rome by participating in the rites of the state religion which had numerous feast days, processions and offerings throughout the year. Christians simply could not, and so they were seen as belonging to an illicit religion that was anti-social and subversive.


text: McDonald explains that the privatizing of religion was another factor in persecution as "Christians moved their activities from the streets to the more secluded domains of houses, shops and women's apartments...severing the normal ties between religion, tradition and public institutions like cities and nations".


text: McDonald adds that Christians sometimes "met at night, in secret, and this also aroused suspicion among the pagan population accustomed to religion as a public event; rumors abounded that Christians committed "flagitia", "scelera", and "maleficia"— "outrageous crimes", "wickedness", and "evil deeds", specifically, cannibalism and incest (referred to as "Thyestian banquets" and "Oedipodean intercourse") — due to their rumored practices of eating the "blood and body" of Christ and referring to each other as "brothers" and "sisters"."


text: Early Christian communities were highly inclusive in terms of social stratification and other social categories, much more so than were the Roman voluntary associations. Heterogeneity characterized the groups formed by Paul the Apostle, and the role of women was much greater than in either of the forms of Judaism or paganism in existence at the time. Early Christians were told to love others, even enemies, and Christians of all classes and sorts called each other "brother" and "sister". This inclusivity of various social classes and backgrounds stems from early Christian beliefs in the importance of performing missionary work among Jews and gentiles in hopes of converting to a new way of life in accordance of gospel standards ("Mark 16:15-16, Galatians 5:16-26"). This was perceived by the opponents of Christianity as a "disruptive and, most significantly, a competitive menace to the traditional class/gender based order of Roman society".


text: Edward Gibbon argued that the tendency of Christian converts to renounce their family and country, (and their frequent predictions of impending disasters), instilled a feeling of apprehension in their pagan neighbors. He wrote:By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had reverenced as sacred.


text: Many pagans believed that bad things would happen if the established pagan gods were not properly propitiated and reverenced. Bart Ehrman says that: "By the end of the second century, the Christian apologist Tertullian complained about the widespread perception that Christians were the source of all disasters brought against the human race by the gods.They think the Christians the cause of every public disaster, of every affliction with which the people are visited. If the Tiber rises as high as the city walls, if the Nile does not send its waters up over the fields, if the heavens give no rain, if there is an earthquake, if there is famine or pestilence, straightway the cry is, 'Away with the Christians to the lions'!"


text: Roman religion was largely what determined "Romanness". The Christian refusal to sacrifice to the Roman gods was seen as an act of defiance against this cultural and political characteristic and the very nature of Rome itself. MacMullen quotes Eusebius as having written that the pagans "have thoroughly persuaded themselves that they act rightly and that we are guilty of the greatest impiety". According to Wilken, "The polytheistic worldview of the Romans did not incline them to understand a refusal to worship, even symbolically, the state gods.". MacMullen explains this meant Christians were "constantly on the defensive", and although they responded with appeals to philosophy and reason and anything they thought might weigh against "ta patria" (the ancestral customs), they could not practice Roman religion and continue fealty to their own religion. Abel Bibliowicz says that, amongst the Romans, "The prejudice became so instinctive that eventually, mere confession of the name 'Christian' could be sufficient grounds for execution".


text: Historian Joyce E. Salisbury points out that "The random nature of the persecutions between 64 and 203 has led to much discussion about what constituted the legal basis for the persecutions, and the answer has remained somewhat elusive..." Candida Moss says there is "scant" evidence of martyrdom when using Roman Law as the measure. Historian Joseph Plescia asserts that the first evidence of Roman law concerning Christians is that of Trajan. T. D. Barnes and Ste. Croix both argue there was no Roman law concerning the Christians before Decius and the third century; Barnes agrees that the central fact of the juridical basis of the persecutions is Trajan's rescript to Pliny; after Trajan's rescript, (if not before), Christianity became a crime in a special category.


text: Other scholars trace the precedent for killing Christians to Nero. Barnes explains that, though there was no Roman law, there was "ample precedent for suppressing foreign superstitions" prior to Nero. Precedent was based on strong feeling that only the ancestral Gods ought to be worshipped. Such feeling could "acquire the force of law", since the ancestral customs – the "Mos maiorum" – were the most important source of Roman law. In Joseph Bryant's view, "Nero's mass executions ... set [such] a precedent, and thereafter the mere fact of 'being a Christian' was sufficient for state officials to impose capital punishment". Barnes says "Keresztes, goes so far as to claim that 'there is today an almost general agreement that the Christians, under normal circumstances, were not tried on the basis of either the "ius coercitionis" [(the governor's 'power of arrest')], or the general criminal law, but on the basis of a special law introduced during Nero's rule, proscribing Christians as such". This theory gives great weight to Tertullian, and Nero's older resolution forbidding the introduction of new religions, and the even older Republican principle that it was a capital offense to introduce a new superstition without the authorization of the Roman state.


text: Bryant agrees, adding that, "This situation is strikingly illustrated in the famous correspondence between Emperor Trajan (98-117) and Pliny the Younger". Trajan's correspondence with Pliny does indeed show that Christians were being executed for being Christian before 110 AD, yet Pliny's letters also show there was no empire–wide Roman law, making Christianity a crime, that was generally known at that time. Herbert Musurillo, translator and scholar of "The Acts of the Christian martyrs Introduction" says Ste. Croix asserted the governor's special powers were all that was needed.


text: Due to the informal and personality-driven nature of the Roman legal system, nothing "other than a prosecutor" (an accuser, including a member of the public, not only a holder of an official position), "a charge of Christianity, and a governor willing to punish on that charge" was required to bring a legal case against a Christian. Roman law was largely concerned with property rights, leaving many gaps in criminal and public law. Thus the process "cognitio extra ordinem" ("special investigation") filled the legal void left by both code and court. All provincial governors had the right to run trials in this way as part of their "imperium" in the province.


text: In "cognitio extra ordinem", an accuser called a "delator" brought before the governor an individual to be charged with a certain offense—in this case, that of being a Christian. This delator was prepared to act as the prosecutor for the trial, and could be rewarded with some of the accused's property if he made an adequate case or charged with "calumnia" (malicious prosecution) if his case was insufficient. If the governor agreed to hear the case—and he was free not to—he oversaw the trial from start to finish: he heard the arguments, decided on the verdict, and passed the sentence. Christians sometimes offered themselves up for punishment, and the hearings of such voluntary martyrs were conducted in the same way.


text: More often than not, the outcome of the case was wholly subject to the governor's personal opinion. While some tried to rely on precedent or imperial opinion where they could, as evidenced by Pliny the Younger's letter to Trajan concerning the Christians, such guidance was often unavailable. In many cases months' and weeks' travel away from Rome, these governors had to make decisions about running their provinces according to their own instincts and knowledge.


text: Even if these governors had easy access to the city, they would not have found much official legal guidance on the matter of the Christians. Before the anti-Christian policies under Decius beginning in 250, there was no empire-wide edict against the Christians, and the only solid precedent was that set by Trajan in his reply to Pliny: the name of "Christian" alone was sufficient grounds for punishment and Christians were not to be sought out by the government. There is speculation that Christians were also condemned for contumacia—disobedience toward the magistrate, akin to the modern "contempt of court"—but the evidence on this matter is mixed. Melito of Sardis later asserted that Antoninus Pius ordered that Christians were not to be executed without proper trial.


text: Given the lack of guidance and distance of imperial supervision, the outcomes of the trials of Christians varied widely. Many followed Pliny's formula: they asked if the accused individuals were Christians, gave those who answered in the affirmative a chance to recant, and offered those who denied or recanted a chance to prove their sincerity by making a sacrifice to the Roman gods and swearing by the emperor's genius. Those who persisted were executed.