title: Al-Biruni

text: He used a hydrostatic balance to determine the density and purity of metals and precious stones. He classified gems by what he considered their primary physical properties, such as specific gravity and hardness, rather than the common practice of the time of classifying them by colour.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Biruni's main essay on political history, "Kitāb al-musāmara fī aḵbār Ḵᵛārazm" (Book of nightly conversation concerning the affairs of Ḵᵛārazm) is now known only from quotations in Bayhaqī's Tārīkh-e Masʿūdī. In addition to this various discussions of historical events and methodology are found in connection with the lists of kings in his al-Āthār al-bāqiya and in the Qānūn as well as elsewhere in the Āthār, in India, and scattered throughout his other works.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Al-Biruni's "Chronology of Ancient Nations" attempted to accurately establish the length of various historical eras.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Biruni is widely considered to be one of the most important Muslim authorities on the history of religion. He is known as a pioneer in the field of comparative religion in his study of, among other creeds, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. He assumed the superiority of Islam: "We have here given an account of these things in order that the reader may learn by the comparative treatment of the subject how much superior the institutions of Islam are, and how more plainly this contrast brings out all customs and usages, differing from those of Islam, in their essential foulness." However he was happy on occasion to express admiration for other cultures, and quoted directly from the sacred texts of other religions when reaching his conclusions. He strove to understand them on their own terms rather than trying to prove them wrong. His underlying concept was that all cultures are at least distant relatives of all other cultures because they are all human constructs. "Rather, what Al-Biruni seems to be arguing is that there is a common human element in every culture that makes all cultures distant relatives, however foreign they might seem to one another."


title: Al-Biruni

text: Al-Biruni divides Hindus into an educated and an uneducated class. He describes the educated as monotheistic, believing that God is one, eternal, and omnipotent and eschewing all forms of idol worship. He recognizes that uneducated Hindus worshiped a multiplicity of idols yet points out that even some Muslims (such as the Jabriyah) have adopted anthropomorphic concepts of God.


title: Al-Biruni

text: According to Akbar S. Ahmed, like modern anthropologists, he engaged in extensive participant observation with a given group of people, learnt their language and studied their primary texts, presenting his findings with objectivity and neutrality using cross-cultural comparisons.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Akhbar S. Ahmed concluded that Al-Biruni can be considered as the first Anthropologist, others, however, have argued that he can hardly be considered an anthropologist in the conventional sense.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Al-Biruni's fame as an Indologist rests primarily on two texts. Al-Biruni wrote an encyclopedic work on India called "Taḥqīq mā li-l-Hind min maqūlah maqbūlah fī al-ʿaql aw mardhūlah" (variously translated as "Verifying All That the Indians Recount, the Reasonable and the Unreasonable" or "The book confirming what pertains to India, whether rational or despicable") in which he explored nearly every aspect of Indian life, including religion, history, geography, geology, science, and mathematics. During his journey through India, military and political history were not Al-Biruni's main focus: he decided rather to document the civilian and scholarly aspects of Hindu life, examining culture, science, and religion. He explores religion within a rich cultural context. He expresses his objective with simple eloquence: He also translated the Yoga sutras of Indian sage Patanjali with the title "Tarjamat ketāb Bātanjalī fi’l-ḵalāṣ men al-ertebāk".


title: Al-Biruni

text: An example of Al-Biruni's analysis is his summary of why many Hindus hate Muslims. Biruni notes in the beginning of his book how the Muslims had a hard time learning about Hindu knowledge and culture. He explains that Hinduism and Islam are totally different from each other. Moreover, Hindus in 11th century India had suffered waves of destructive attacks on many of its cities, and Islamic armies had taken numerous Hindu slaves to Persia, which – claimed Al-Biruni – contributed to Hindus becoming suspicious of all foreigners, not just Muslims. Hindus considered Muslims violent and impure, and did not want to share anything with them. Over time, Al-Biruni won the welcome of Hindu scholars. Al-Biruni collected books and studied with these Hindu scholars to become fluent in Sanskrit, discover and translate into Arabic the mathematics, science, medicine, astronomy and other fields of arts as practiced in 11th-century India. He was inspired by the arguments offered by Indian scholars who believed earth must be globular in shape, which they felt was the only way to fully explain the difference in daylight hours by latitude, seasons and Earth's relative positions with Moon and stars. At the same time, Al-Biruni was also critical of Indian scribes, who he believed carelessly corrupted Indian documents while making copies of older documents. He also criticized the Hindus on what he saw them do and not do, for example finding them deficient in curiosity about history and religion.


title: Al-Biruni

text: One of the specific aspects of Hindu life that Al-Biruni studied was the Hindu calendar. His scholarship on the topic exhibited great determination and focus, not to mention the excellence in his approach of the in-depth research he performed. He developed a method for converting the dates of the Hindu calendar to the dates of the three different calendars that were common in the Islamic countries of his time period, the Greek, the Arab/Muslim, and the Persian. Biruni also employed astronomy in the determination of his theories, which were complex mathematical equations and scientific calculation that allows one to convert dates and years between the different calendars.


title: Al-Biruni

text: The book does not limit itself to tedious records of battle because Al-Biruni found the social culture to be more important. The work includes research on a vast array of topics of Indian culture, including descriptions of their traditions and customs. Although he tried to stay away from political and military history, Biruni did indeed record important dates and noted actual sites of where significant battles occurred. Additionally, he chronicled stories of Indian rulers and told of how they ruled over their people with their beneficial actions and acted in the interests of the nation. His details are brief and mostly just list rulers without referring to their real names, and he did not go on about deeds that each one carried out during their reign, which keeps in line with Al-Biruni's mission to try to stay away from political histories. Al-Biruni also described the geography of India in his work. He documented different bodies of water and other natural phenomena. These descriptions are useful to today's modern historians because they are able to use Biruni's scholarship to locate certain destinations in modern-day India. Historians are able to make some matches while also concluding that certain areas seem to have disappeared and been replaced with different cities. Different forts and landmarks were able to be located, legitimizing Al-Biruni's contributions with their usefulness to even modern history and archeology.


title: Al-Biruni

text: The dispassionate account of Hinduism given by Al-Biruni was remarkable for its time. He stated that he was fully objective in his writings, remaining unbiased like a proper historian should. Biruni documented everything about India just as it happened. But, he did note how some of the accounts of information that he was given by natives of the land may not have been reliable in terms of complete accuracy, however, he did try to be as honest as possible in his writing. Dr. Edward C. Sachau compares it to "a magic island of quiet, impartial research in the midst of a world of clashing swords, burning towns, and plundered temples."


title: Al-Biruni

text: Biruni's writing was very poetic, which may diminish some of the historical value of the work for modern times. The lack of description of battle and politics makes those parts of the picture completely lost. However, Many have used Al-Biruni's work to check facts of history in other works that may have been ambiguous or had their validity questioned.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Most of the works of Al-Biruni are in Arabic although he seemingly wrote the "Kitab al-Tafhim" in both Persian and Arabic, showing his mastery over both languages.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Bīrūnī's catalogue of his own literary production up to his 65th lunar/63rd solar year (the end of 427/1036) lists 103 titles divided into 12 categories: astronomy, mathematical geography, mathematics, astrological aspects and transits, astronomical instruments, chronology, comets, an untitled category, astrology, anecdotes, religion, and books he no longer possesses.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Biruni wrote most of his works in Arabic, as the scientific language of his age, however, his Persian version of the Al-Tafhim is one of the most important of the early works of science in the Persian language, and is a rich source for Persian prose and lexicography. The book covers the Quadrivium in a detailed and skilled fashion.


title: Al-Biruni

text: Extraordinarily, following Al-Biruni's death, during the remainder of the period of Ghaznavid rule and the centuries following, his work was neither built upon, nor even referenced. It was only centuries later (and in the West at that), that his works were once again read and reference made to them – most notably in the case of his book on India, which became relevant to the British Empire's activity in India from the 17th century.


title: Al-Biruni

text: In June 2009, Iran donated a pavilion to the United Nations Office in Vienna—placed in the central Memorial Plaza of the Vienna International Center. Named the Scholars Pavilion, it features the statues of four prominent Iranian scholars: Avicenna, Abu Rayhan Biruni, Zakariya Razi (Rhazes) and Omar Khayyam.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension, as well as hosting the 1980s music countdown series "Solid Gold".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: Since 1969, McCoo has been married to singer Billy Davis Jr., the founder and co-member of the 5th Dimension. She has a three-octave vocal range.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: Marilyn McCoo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States, to Waymon and Mary McCoo, who were both physicians. Her grandfather was doctor Thomas Vivian McCoo of Eufaula, Alabama. She is African American. She spent her first seven years in Columbus, Georgia. At the age of seven, she moved with her parents, two sisters, and brother to Los Angeles, where she began singing, piano and dance lessons. At the age of 15, she made her television debut on Art Linkletter's "Talent Show" and began modelling. After graduating from Susan Miller Dorsey High School, she enrolled in UCLA, where she earned a degree in business administration. In 1962, McCoo entered the "Miss Bronze California" beauty pageant where she won "Miss Grand Talent".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: In the early and mid-1960s, McCoo was a member of the Hi-Fi's, who often opened for Ray Charles. She had been invited to join the group by photographer Lamonte McLemore, who would himself join McCoo in the 5th Dimension. Other Hi-Fi members included Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, who later formed the Friends of Distinction. She met Billy Davis, Jr. in 1966 when he established the 5th Dimension, then called the Versatiles, which also included Ron Townson and Florence LaRue. The group's first big hit was with 1967's "Up, Up and Away", written by Jimmy Webb. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to 5th Dimension's first hit LP. A year later, the group recorded Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic". A medley of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (from the musical "Hair") reached No. 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in April to May 1969 and won the Grammy for 'Record of the Year'. The group's recording of another Nyro composition, "Wedding Bell Blues", featuring McCoo's most prominent vocal of that period, topped the Hot 100 in November 1969.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: By the early 1970s, McCoo began to sing lead on the group's remaining chart-topping singles, "One Less Bell to Answer", "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All", and "If I Could Reach You".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: In 1975, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo. Landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, "I Hope We Get to Love in Time". The first single was the title track, which was a mid-chart hit. Their follow up, "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)" was an even bigger hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1977. McCoo and Davis were awarded a gold single and a gold album as well as a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song peaked at number 21 in Australia. They became the first African American married couple to host a network television series, "The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show", on CBS in summer 1977. They released one more album on ABC in 1978, produced by Frank Wilson and containing the popular ballad "My Reason To Be" by songwriters Judy Wieder and John Footman. The pair signed with CBS Records the following year and released their last album as a duo until October 2008 when the pair released "The Many Faces of Love", a collection of hit songs from the 1960s and 1970s.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: She was the first to record "Saving All My Love for You" in 1978, later sung by Whitney Houston. The album "Marilyn and Billy" featured that track as well as a disco hit, "Shine On Silver Moon".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: The pair decided to go solo professionally in the early 1980s with McCoo hosting the popular American syndicated television series "Solid Gold" from 1981 through 1984 and again from 1986 through 1988. She also created a successful nightclub and concert act, and went on to appear as Tamara Price on "Days of Our Lives" in 1986, as a friend of Marlena Evans who sang at her wedding. Price later became involved with James Reynolds' character Abe Carver. McCoo left the series in 1987.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: Her 1991 album, "The Me Nobody Knows", was nominated for a Grammy. She also released a Christmas album in 1996. McCoo won her eighth Grammy for her contributions to Quincy Jones' "Handel's Messiah".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: In 2021, McCoo And Billy Davis Jr released "Blackbird Lennon-McCartney Icons", their first studio album in over 30 years. Entrepreneur Kathy Ireland released the album through her record label EE1. The duo said it was a civil rights movement which became a human rights movement with a goal to encourage people to come together during trying times. During an interview about the album on June 29, 2021, Questlove called Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr "the first couple of Pop and Soul". They would later appear in Quest's directorial debut, Summer of Soul.


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: McCoo has acted in a number of movies, including "Grizzly Adams and the Legend of Dark Mountain" (1999), "My Mom's a Werewolf" (1989) and several television movies, often playing herself. She has appeared on stage in productions of "Anything Goes", "A...My Name is Alice", "Man of La Mancha", and the Broadway production of "Show Boat" in 1995 through 1996. McCoo appeared together with Davis on "The Jamie Foxx Show" as Fancy's parents, the Monroes. McCoo also guest-starred on a Canadian game show in the 1990s, called "Acting Crazy".


title: Marilyn McCoo

text: McCoo is married to fellow 5th Dimension bandmate Billy Davis Jr. On July 26, 2019, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple shared their story of love and faith in the 2004 book, "Up, Up and Away". They continue to perform together in venues around the country. McCoo is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. She is an emerita member of the board of directors of the Los Angeles Mission. McCoo and Davis are born-again Christians.


title: Frida

text: Frida is a 2002 American biographical drama film directed by Julie Taymor which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.


title: Frida

text: Starring Salma Hayek in an Academy Award–nominated portrayal as Kahlo and Alfred Molina as her husband, Diego Rivera, the film was adapted by Clancy Sigal, Diane Lake, Gregory Nava, Anna Thomas, Antonio Banderas and unofficially by Edward Norton from the 1983 book "Frida: A Biography of Frida Kahlo" by Hayden Herrera. "Frida" received generally positive reviews from critics, and won two Academy Awards for Best Makeup and Best Original Score among six nominations.


title: Frida

text: In 1925, Frida Kahlo suffers a traumatic accident at the age of 18 onboard a wooden-bodied bus that collides with a streetcar. Impaled by a metal pole, the injuries she sustains plague her for the rest of her life. To help her through convalescence, her father brings her a canvas to paint on.


title: Frida

text: Once regaining the ability to walk with a cane, Frida visits muralist Diego Rivera, demanding an honest critique of her paintings. Rivera falls in love with her work, and they begin a dysfunctional relationship. When he proposes, she tells him she expects loyalty from him, if not fidelity. Throughout the marriage, Rivera has affairs with a wide array of women. At the same time, the bisexual Kahlo takes on male and female lovers, including, in one case, the same woman as Rivera.


title: Frida

text: The couple travels to New York City in 1934, so Rivera may paint the mural "Man at the Crossroads", at the behest of the Rockefeller family, inside Rockefeller Center. While living in the United States, Kahlo suffers a miscarriage and travels back to Mexico for her mother's funeral. Rivera refuses to compromise his communist vision of the work to the needs of the patron, Nelson Rockefeller; as a result, the mural is destroyed. The pair return to Mexico, with Rivera more reluctant.


title: Frida

text: Kahlo's sister, Cristina, moves in with them at their San Ángel studio home as Rivera's assistant. Soon afterward, Kahlo discovers Rivera is sleeping with her. Leaving him, she subsequently sinks into alcoholism after moving back to her family's Coyoacán home. They reunite during a "Día de los Muertos" celebration where he asks her to welcome and house Leon Trotsky, who has been granted political asylum in Mexico. Trotsky expresses his love for Kahlo's work during an excursion to Teotihuacan, and they begin an affair. Soon, Trotsky's wife learns of the affair, forcing the couple to leave the safety of Kahlo's home.


title: Frida

text: Kahlo leaves for Paris when Diego realizes she was unfaithful to him with Trotsky. However, Rivera had little problem with Kahlo's other affairs, as Trotsky was too important to be intimately involved with his wife. When she returns to Mexico, he asks for a divorce. In 1940, Trotsky is murdered in Mexico City. Initially, Rivera is suspected by police of orchestrating the assassination. When they fail to locate him, Kahlo is arrested. Cristina arrives and escorts Kahlo out of prison, explaining that Rivera convinced President Cárdenas to release her.


title: Frida

text: Kahlo has her toes removed when her doctor notices they have become gangrenous. Rivera remorsefully asks Kahlo to remarry him, and she agrees. Her health worsens, leading to the amputation of a leg and bronchopneumonia, which leaves her bedridden. In 1953, Kahlo's bed is carried from her home to a museum to attend her first solo exhibition in her native country.


title: Frida

text: The passengers in the bus Kahlo rides in that crashes with a streetcar are based on subjects in the painter's 1929 portrait, "The Bus". Other Kahlo paintings either shown directly or depicted in the film by the characters include "Frieda and Diego Rivera" (1931), "What the Water Gave Me" (1938), "The Two Fridas" (1939), "The Broken Column" (1944), and "The Wounded Deer" (1946).


title: Frida

text: The Brothers Quay created the stop motion animation sequence in the film depicting the initial stages of Kahlo's recovery at the hospital after the accident are inspired by the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead. The gown Valeria Golino wears at Kahlo's 1953 Mexican solo art exhibition is a replica of the dress that her character, Lupe Marín, wore in Rivera's 1938 portrait of her.


title: Frida

text: The film version of Frida Kahlo's life was initially championed by Nancy Hardin, a former book editor and Hollywood-based literary agent, turned early "female studio executive", who, in the mid-1980s wished to "make the transition to independent producing." Learning of Hayden Herrera's biography of Kahlo, Hardin saw Kahlo's life as very contemporary, her "story ... an emblematic tale for women torn between marriage and career." Optioning the book in 1988, Hardin "tried to sell it as an epic love story in the tradition of "Out of Africa", attracting tentative interest from actresses such as Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange, but receiving rejection from the film studios. As Kahlo's art gained prominence, however "in May 1990 one of Kahlo's self-portraits sold at Sotheby's for $1.5 million, the highest price ever paid at auction for a Latin American painting." Madonna "announced her plans to star in a film based on Frida's life", and Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions reportedly "envisioned a joint biography of Rivera and Kahlo." In the spring of 1991, director Luis Valdez began production on a New Line feature about Frida Kahlo starring Laura San Giacomo in the lead. San Giacomo's casting received objections due to her non-Hispanic ethnicity, and New Line complied with the protesters' demands, and left the then-titled "Frida and Diego" in August 1992 citing finances. Hardin's project found itself swamped by similar ones:


title: Frida

text: When I first tried to sell the project ... there was no interest because nobody had heard of Frida. A few years later, I heard the exact oppositethat there were too many Frida projects in development, and nobody wanted mine.


title: Frida

text: Valdez was contacted early on by Salma Hayek, then unknown in the U.S., who sent "her [promo] reel to the director and phoned his office", but was ultimately told she was then too young for the role. By 1993, Valdez had retitled the film "The Two Fridas" with San Giacomo and Ofelia Medina both playing the portraitist. Raúl Juliá was cast as Diego Rivera, but his death further delayed the movie. At the same time, Hardin approached HBO, and with "rising young development executive and producer" Lizz Speed (a former assistant to Sherry Lansing) intended to make a television movie, hopeful that Brian Gibson (director of ""What's Love Got to Do With It", the story of Tina Turner" and "The Josephine Baker Story") would direct. Casting difficulties proved insurmountable, but Speed joined Hardin in advocating for the project, and after four years in development, the two took the project from HBO to Trimark and producer Jay Polstein (with assistant Darlene Caamaño). At Trimark, Salma Hayek became interested in the role, having "been fascinated by Kahlo's work from the time she was 13 or 14"although not immediately a fan:


title: Frida

text: Hayek was so determined to play the role that she sought out Dolores Olmedo Patino, longtime-lover of Diego Rivera, and, after his death, administrator to the rights of Frida and Rivera's art, which Rivera had "willed ... to the Mexican people", bequeathing the trust to Olmedo. Hayek personally secured access to Kahlo's paintings from her, and began to assemble a supporting cast, approaching Alfred Molina for the role of Rivera in 1998. According to Molina, "She turned up backstage [of the Broadway play "'Art'"] rather sheepishly, and asked if I would like to play Diego". Molina went on to gain 35 pounds to play Rivera. When producer Polstein left Trimark, however, the production faltered again, and Hayek approached Harvey Weinstein and Miramax, and the company purchased the film from Trimark; Julie Taymor came onto the project as director. Meanwhile, in August 2000 it was announced that Jennifer Lopez would star in Valdez<nowiki>'</nowiki>s take on the story, "The Two Fridas", by then being produced by American Zoetrope. Nonetheless, it was Hayek and Miramax who began production in Spring, 2001 on what was to become simply titled "Frida". Edward Norton rewrote the script at least once but was not credited as a writer.


title: Frida

text: In a December 2017 op-ed for "The New York Times", Hayek stated that Weinstein attempted to thwart the making of the film because Hayek had refused to grant him sexual favors and that he had threatened to shut down the film unless Hayek agreed to include a full-frontal nude sex scene with herself and another woman. In response, Weinstein claimed that none of the sexual allegations made by Hayek was accurate and that he did not recall pressuring Hayek "to do a gratuitous sex scene."


title: Frida

text: On August 29, 2002, the film made its world premiere opening the Venice International Film Festival. "Frida"'s American premiere was at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles on October 14 of that year. It had its Mexican premiere on November 8, 2002, at Mexico City's Palace of Fine Arts.


title: Frida

text: "Frida" grossed $25.9 million in the United States and Canada and $30.4 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $56.3 million, against a production budget of $12 million. It was initially shown in five theaters and earned $205,996 upon its opening weekend in the United States. The following week the film expanded to forty-seven theaters, earning $1,323,935. By late December 2002, "Frida" was playing in 283 theaters and had earned over $20 million.


title: Frida

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 75% of 158 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.88/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Frida" is a passionate, visually striking biopic about the larger-than-life artist." Metacritic, which assigns a score of 1–100 to individual film reviews, gives the film an average rating of 61 based on 38 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Stella Papamichael from the BBC gave the film three out of five stars and stated "Julie Taymor's biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo connects the dots between art and anguish. The disparity lies in the fact that Frida settles for tickling a fancy where it should be packing a punch. Although involving and sprightly, it offers the kind of guilty pleasure a Fine Arts student might derive from a glossy cartoon strip." Film critic Roger Ebert awarded "Frida" three and a half stars and commented "Sometimes we feel as if the film careens from one colorful event to another without respite, but sometimes it must have seemed to Frida Kahlo as if her life did, too." Ebert thought Taymor and the writers had "obviously struggled with the material", though he called the closing scenes "extraordinary." The "New York Post's" Jonathan Foreman praised the score and Taymor's direction, saying that she "captures both the glamorous, deeply cosmopolitan milieu Kahlo and Rivera inhabited, and the importance Mexico had in the '30s for the international left." He added that the odd accents adopted by the likes of Judd and Rush let the authenticity down. Andrew Pulver from "The Guardian" gave the film three stars and proclaimed that it is "a substantial film, its story told with economy and clarity."


title: Frida

text: The American Film Institute included "Frida" in their Movies of the Year 2002, Official Selection. Their rationale was:


title: Frida

text: "Frida" is a movie about art that is a work of art in itself. The film's unique visual language takes us into an artist's head and reminds us that art is best enjoyed when it moves, breathes and is painted on a giant canvas, as only the movies can provide.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The Second Mexican Empire (), officially the Mexican Empire (), was a constitutional monarchy established in Mexico by Mexican monarchists with support mainly from the Second French Empire referred to as the Second French intervention in Mexico. Emperor Napoleon III of France, with the support of the Mexican conservatives, clergy, and nobility, established a monarchist ally in the Americas intended as a restraint upon the growing power of the United States. It has been viewed as both an independent monarchy


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Mexican conservatives, including many in the Mexican nobility, had played a role in instigating the re-birth of the Empire—adding an element of civil war to the French Intervention. The Imperialists were able to gain control of most of the nation but supporters of the Mexican Republic continued to wage war against the Empire. During his short reign, Maximilian's liberal ideals alienated him from his conservative supporters, but he gained limited support from moderate liberals, and attempted to pass sweeping reforms for the nation.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: French troops began to withdraw in 1866, after considering the war to be unwinnable and due to the priority of addressing a rising Prussia in the aftermath of its victory in the Austro-Prussian War. The United States refused to recognize the Empire, and after the end of its own civil war in 1865, began to provide support to Mexican republican forces and the Empire came to an end on 19 June 1867 when Maximilian was executed by the government of the restored Mexican republic, along with his two leading Mexican generals, Mejía and Miramón.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: After a decade of warfare, Mexico gained its independence under the leadership of Agustín de Iturbide who united insurgents and Spanish loyalists with the Plan of Iguala, a compromise which promised independence for Mexico as a monarchy (First Mexican Empire), and also invited a member of Spanish royalty to assume the newly established Mexican throne. After the offer was refused by the Spanish government, congress began to search for an emperor within the country. After an armed demonstration by his regiment from the War for Independence, the Mexican congress elected Iturbide as the first Mexican emperor. Iturbide in his attempts to govern, struggled to find funds to pay the army and the rest of the government, and shut congress down, accusing them of obstructionism and idleness, eventually leading to a military uprising against Iturbide and his subsequent abdication. The idea of a monarchy had been discredited for a time, but the idea did not disappear, as many of the disorders associated with the First Empire continued well into the Republican era.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: French observers began expressing interest in the idea of a Mexican monarchy as early as 1830. Lorenzo de Zavala claimed that in that year, he was approached by a foreign agent hoping to recruit him in a plan to place an Orléans monarch upon a Mexican throne. In 1840 José María Gutiérrez Estrada wrote a monarchist essay endorsing the idea of a legitimate European monarch being invited to govern Mexico. The pamphlet was addressed to the conservative president Bustamante, who rejected the idea. French diplomats tended to sympathize with the Conservatives in Mexico, Victor de Broglie opining that monarchy was a form of government more suited to Mexico at the time and François Guizot giving a positive review of Estrada's pamphlet.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: A monarchist faction in 1846 promoted the idea of establishing a foreign prince at the head of the Mexican government, and president Paredes was viewed as being sympathetic to monarchism,


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: but the project was not pursued due to the more pressing matter of the American invasion of Mexico. The candidate being proposed at the time was the Spanish prince,


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The last official Mexican effort to explore the possibility of establishing a monarchy occurred under the presidency of Santa Anna in the early 1850s, when conservative minister Lucas Alamán directed monarchist diplomats José María Gutiérrez de Estrada and Jose Manuel Hidalgo to seek a European candidate for the Mexican throne. With the overthrow of Santa Anna's government in 1855, these efforts lost their official support and yet Estrada and Hidalgo continued their efforts independently.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Estrada and Hidalgo managed to get the attention of Napoleon III, and the Emperor eventually came to support the idea of reviving the Mexican monarchy. Prior to 1861 any interference in the affairs of Mexico by European powers would have been viewed in the U.S as a challenge to the Monroe Doctrine. In 1861 however, the U.S. was embroiled in its own conflict, the American Civil War, which made the U.S. government powerless to intervene. When on July, 1861 Mexican President Benito Juárez declared a two-year moratorium on Mexican debt to France among other nations, Napoleon finally had a pretext. Encouraged by Empress Eugenie, who saw herself as the champion of the Catholic Church in Mexico, Napoleon III took advantage of the situation.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Napoleon III saw the opportunity to make France the great modernizing influence in the Western Hemisphere, as well as enabling the country to capture the South American markets. To give him further encouragement, there was his half brother, the duc de Morny, who was the largest holder of Mexican bonds.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: French troops landed in December, 1861, and began military operations on April, 1862. They were eventually joined by conservative Mexican generals who had never been entirely defeated in the War of Reform. After Charles de Lorencez's small expeditionary force was repulsed at the Battle of Puebla, reinforcements were sent and placed under the command of Élie Forey. The capital was taken by June, 1863 and the French now sought to establish a friendly Mexican government. Forey appointed a committee of thirty five Mexicans, the "Junta Superior" who then elected three Mexican citizens to serve as the government's executive: Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, José Mariano Salas, and Pelagio Antonio de Labastida. In turn this triumvirate then selected two hundred fifteen Mexican citizens to form together with the "Junta Superior", an "Assembly of Notables".


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The Assembly met on July, 1863 and resolved to invite Ferdinand Maximilian to be Emperor of Mexico. The executive triumvirate was formally changed into the Regency of the Mexican Empire. An official delegation left Mexico and arrived in Europe on October. Meanwhile in Europe, Maximilian was making final arrangements with France. He requested a plebiscite to ratify the establishment of the Empire by the Assembly of Notables. The referendum was granted, and the result was affirmative, although critics viewed it as illegitimate and suspect due to being conducted by the occupying French authorities. Maximilian also rebuffed French efforts to outright annex the state of Sonora, an act which would later be used in his trial to defend against the accusation that Maximilian had been a French puppet. Maximilian formally accepted the crown on 10 April 1864, and set sail for Mexico, arriving in Veracruz on 28 May and reaching the capital on 12 June.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Maximilian and Carlota were crowned at the Cathedral of Mexico City. On his arrival in the summer of 1864 Maximilian declared a political amnesty for all liberals who wished to join the Empire, and his conciliation efforts eventually won over moderate liberals such as José Fernando Ramírez, José María Lacunza, Manuel Orozco y Berra, and Santiago Vidaurri. His first priorities included reforming his ministries and reforming the Imperial Mexican Army, the latter of which was impeded upon by Bazaine in an effort to consolidate French control of the nation.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: On August, Maximilian took a state trip through the nation while Carlota reigned as regent, going to Querétaro, Guanajuato, and Michoacán, giving public audiences and visiting officials, even celebrating Mexican independence by commemorating the Cry of Dolores, in the actual town where it took place.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In December a Papal Nuncio arrived in order to arrange a concordat with the Empire to revise the Reform laws previously passed by the Mexican government that had nationalized Catholic Church property. Maximilian wished to maintain Catholicism as the state religion, and yet preferred to keep the reform laws intact, and also introduce religious toleration, measures which disillusioned his conservative and clerical supporters.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In April 1865, the U.S. Civil War ended, and while the American government was reluctant at the time to enter upon a conflict with France to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, official American sympathy remained with the deposed Mexican president Benito Juárez. The U.S. government refused to recognize the Empire and also ignored Maximilian's correspondence. In December, a thirty million dollar private American loan was approved for Juarez, and American volunteers kept joining the Mexican republican troops. An unofficial American raid occurred near Brownsville, and Juarez's minister to the United States, Matías Romero, proposed that General Grant or General Sherman intervene in Mexico to help the liberals. The United States refrained from direct military intervention, but put diplomatic pressure on France to leave Mexico.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: A concentration of French troops in the northern republican strongholds of Mexico only led to a surge of republican guerrilla activity in the south. While French troops controlled major cities, guerrillas continued to be a major military threat in the countryside. In an effort to combat the increasing violence and in a belief that Juarez was outside of the nation already, Maximilian in October signed a decree authorizing the court martial and execution of anyone found either aiding or participating with the guerrillas. The harsh measure was hardly unprecedented in Mexican history even resembling an 1862 measure by Juarez, but it proved to be widely reviled, being branded the Black Decree, and contributing to the growing unpopularity of the Empire.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In January 1866, seeing the war as unwinnable Napoleon declared to the French Chambers that he intended to withdraw the French military from Mexico. Maximilian's request for more aid or at least a delay in troop withdrawals was declined because a possible war against Prussia was coming. Carlota arrived in Europe in an attempt to plead for the Empire's cause, but was unable to gain more support. The failure of her mission apparently caused her to go insane, and she would spend the rest of her life in Belgium, living until 1927.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In October Maximilian moved his cabinet to Orizaba and was widely rumored to be leaving the nation. He contemplated abdication, and on 25 November held a council of his ministers to address the crisis faced by the Empire. They narrowly voted against abdication and Maximilian headed back towards the capital. He intended to appeal to the nation in order to hold a national assembly which would then decide what form of government the Mexican nation was to take. Such a measure however would require a ceasefire from Juarez who had no intention of conceding to someone whom he viewed as a usurper.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: As the national assembly project fell through Maximilian decided to focus on military operations and in February as the last of the French troops were leaving, the Emperor headed for the city of Querétaro to join the bulk of his Mexican troops, numbering about 10,000 men. The liberal generals Escobedo and Corona converged on Querétaro with 40,000 men and yet the city held out until being betrayed by an imperial officer who opened the gates to the liberals on 15 May.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Maximilian was captured and placed on trial with his leading generals Mejía and Miramon. All three were tried, sentenced to death and later executed on 19 June.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: A provisional constitution was issued in 1865. The emperor was to govern through nine ministries: of the Imperial Household, of State, of Foreign Relations, of War, of Government or Interior, of the Treasury, of Justice, of Public Instruction and Worship, and of Development. A council of state was given the power to frame bills and give advice to the emperor, and a separate private cabinet, serving as the emperor's liaison, was divided into civil and military affairs. Empress Carlota was given the right to serve as regent if under certain circumstances Maximilian was to be unavailable, making her the first woman to ever govern Mexico.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: During his short reign, Maximilian issued eight volumes of laws covering all aspects of government, including forest management, railroads, roads, canals, postal services, telegraphs, mining, and immigration.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The emperor passed legislation guaranteeing equality before the law and freedom of speech, and laws meant to defend the rights of laborers, especially that of the Indians. Maximilian attempted to pass a law guaranteeing the natives a living wage and outlawing corporal punishment for them, along with limiting their inheritance of debts. The measures faced backlash from the cabinet, but were ultimately passed during one of Carlota's regencies. Labor laws in Yucatán actually became harsher on workers after the fall of the Empire. A national system of free schools was also planned based on the German gymnasia and the emperor founded an academy of science and literature. Laws were published both in Spanish and in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and Maximilian appointed leading Nahuatl scholar Faustino Galicia as an advisor to his government.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: On Sundays at Chapultepec Palace, Maximilian and Carlota frequently held audiences with people from all social and economic segments, including Mexico's Indigenous Communities. The Empire placed an emphasis on culture, and Maximilian commissioned Mexican painters Rafael Flores, , Juan Urruchi, and Petronilo Monroy, to produce works depicting Mexican history, religious subjects, and portraits of Mexican rulers, including the imperial sovereigns themselves. The prefects governing the provinces were instructed to protect archeological artifacts and Maximilian wrote to Europe asking the return of native artifacts that had been taken out of the country during the Spanish conquest, including articles that had belonged to Moctezuma II, and an Aztec codex.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Maximilian intended to aid the development of the country by opening up the nation to immigration, regardless of race. An immigration agency was set up to promote immigration from the United States, the Confederate States, Europe, and Asia. Colonists were to be granted citizenship at once, and gained exemption from taxes for the first year, and an exemption from military services for five years. Some of the most prominent colonization settlements were the Villa Carlota and the New Virginia Colony.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Emperor Maximilian also established the Imperial Order of the Mexican Eagle as an award for extraordinary merits and services to the empire, for outstanding civil or military service, and outstanding achievements in the fields of science and art. It was considered the highest and most exclusive award during the Second Mexican Empire.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: One of the main challenges encountered by the Emperor was the lack of sufficient infrastructure to link the different parts of the realm. The main goal was connecting the port of Veracruz and the capital in Mexico City. In 1857, Don Antonio Escandón secured the right to build a line from the port of Veracruz to Mexico City and on to the Pacific Ocean. Revolution and political instability stifled progress on the financing or construction of the line until 1864, when, under the regime of Emperor Maximilian, the Imperial Mexican Railway Company began construction of the line. Political upheaval continued to stifle progress, and the initial segment from Veracruz to Mexico City was inaugurated nine years later on 1 January 1873 by President Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In 1857 the original proprietors of the government concession, the Masso Brothers, inaugurated on 4 July the train service from Tlatelolco, in México City, to the nearby town of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Eventually they ran out of funds and decided to sell it to Manuel Escandón and Antonio Escandón. The Escandón Brothers continued working and the project, and Antonio Escandón visited the United States and England in the last months of the year. In the first country, he hired Andrew Talcott, and in the latter, he sold company stock. Exploration of a route from Orizaba to Maltrata was performed by engineers Andrew H. Talcott and Pascual Almazán.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: During the French intervention, part of the railways were destroyed. The only option available was the establishment of a pact between the French Army, and the two companies of the Escandón Brothers. The French Army was to provide a subsidy to the companies of 120 000 francs a month for the works, and the companies were to establish service from Veracruz to Soledad para by May, actually concluding on 15 August 1862, concluding 41 kilometres of tracks. Next they reached the Camarón station, with a length of 62 kilometres. By 16 October 1864 they reached Paso del Macho with a length of 76 kilometres.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: On 19 September 1864, the Imperial Mexican Railway Company (Compañía Limitada del Ferrocarril Imperial Mexicano) was Incorporated in London to complete the earlier projects and continued construction on this line. Escandón ceded his privileges to the new company. Smith, Knight and Co. was later contracted in 1864 by the Imperial Mexican Railway to continue work on the line from Mexico City to Veracruz. William Elliot was employed as Chief Assistant for three years on the construction of about 70 miles of the heaviest portion of the Mexican Railway, after which he returned to England. He had several years of experience building railways in England, India, and Brazil. In this last country, he held the position of Engineer-in-Chief of the province of São Paulo.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Maximiliano I hired engineer M Lyons for the construction of the line from La Soledad to Monte del Chiquihuite, later on joining the line from Veracruz to Paso del Macho. Works were begun in Maltrata, at the same time that the works from Veracruz and Mexico City kept moving forward. By the end of the Empire in June 1867, 76 kilometers from Veracruz to Paso del Macho were functional (part of the concession to Lyons) and the line from Mexico City reached Apizaco with 139 km.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Before 1864, there was no banking in Mexico. Credits were obtained from religious orders and merchant guilds. During the French Intervention, the branch of a British bank was opened. The London Bank of Mexico and South America Ltd began operations with a capital of two and a half million pesos. It belonged to the Baring Brothers Group, and had its head office in the corner of the Capuchinas and Lerdo Streets in Downtown Mexico City.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: At the beginning of the American Civil War, the city of Matamoros was simply a sleepy little border town across the Rio Grande from Brownsville. It had, for several years, been considered a port, but it had relatively few ships arriving. Previous to the war, accounts mention that not over six ships entered the port each year. Nevertheless, in about four years, Matamoros, due to its proximity to Texas, was to assume state as a port, and multiply its inhabitants in number. Following is a quote from a Union general in 1865 describing the importance of the port in Matamoros:


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The cotton trade brought together in Bagdad, Tamaulipas and Matamoros over 20,000 speculators from the Union and the Confederacy, England, France, and Germany. Bagdad had grown from a small, seashore town to a "full-pledge town." The English-speaking population in the area by 1864 was so great that Matamoros even had a newspaper printed in English—it was called the "Matamoros Morning Call". In addition, the port exported cotton to England and France, where millions of people needed it for their daily livelihood, and it was possible to receive fifty cents per pound in gold for cotton, when it cost about three cents in the Confederacy, "and much more money was received for it laid down in New York and European ports." Other sources mention that the port of Matamoros traded with London, Havana, Belize, and New Orleans. The Matamoros and New York City trade agreement, however, continued throughout the war and until 1864, and it was considered "heavy and profitable."


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: By 1865, Matamoros was described as a prosperous town of 30,000 people, and Lew Wallace informed General Ulysses S. Grant that neither Baltimore or New Orleans could compare itself to the growing commercial activity of Matamoros. Nevertheless, after the collapse of the Confederacy, "gloom, despondency, and despair" became evident in Matamoros—markets shut down, business almost ceased to exist, and ships were rarely seen. "For Sale" signs began to sprout up everywhere, and Matamoros returned to its role of a sleepy little border town across the Rio Grande.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The conclusion of the American Civil War brought a severe crisis to the now abandoned Port of Bagdad, a crisis that until this day the port has never recovered from. In addition, a tremendous hurricane in 1889 destroyed the desolated port. This same hurricane was one of the many hurricanes during the period of devastating hurricanes of 1870 to 1889, which reduced the population of Matamoros to nearly half its size, mounting with it another upsetting economic downturn.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Maximilian I wanted to reorganize the territory following scientific criteria, instead of following historical ties, traditional allegiances and the interests of local groups. The task of designing this new division was given to Manuel Orozco y Berra.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: On 13 March 1865, the new Law on the territorial division of the Mexican Empire was published. The Empire was divided into 50 departments, though not every department was ever able to be administered due to the ongoing war.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In spite of the Empire lasting only a few years, the results of Maximilian's construction projects survived him and remain prominent Mexico City landmarks in the present day.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: For his royal residence, Maximilian decided to renovate a former viceregal villa in Mexico City, which was also notable for being the site of a battle during the U.S. invasion of Mexico. The result would be Chapultepec Castle, the only castle in North America ever to be used by actual royalty. After the fall of the empire, Chapultepec Castle served as the official resident of the Mexican president up until 1940, when it was converted into a museum.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In order to connect the palace to the government offices in Mexico city, Maximilian also built a prominent road which he called Paseo de la Emperatriz ("The Empress' Promenade"). After the fall of the Empire, the government renamed it Paseo de la Reforma ("Promenade of the Reform") to commemorate La Reforma. In the present, it continues to be one of the most prominent avenues of the capital and is lined with civic monuments.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The bolillo, a type of bread widespread in Mexican cuisine, was brought to the country by Maximilian's cooks, and remains another legacy of the Imperial Era.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: Today, the Second Mexican Empire is advocated by small far-right groups like the Nationalist Front of Mexico, whose followers believe the Empire to have been a legitimate attempt to deliver Mexico from the hegemony of the United States. They are reported to gather every year at Querétaro, the place where Maximilian and his generals were executed.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1970 film "Two Mules for Sister Sara" was set in Mexico during the years of the Second Mexican Empire. The two main characters, played by Clint Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine, aided a Mexican resistance force and ultimately led them to overpower a French garrison.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1969 film "The Undefeated" starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson portrays events during the French Intervention in Mexico and was also loosely based on the escape of Confederate General Sterling Price to Mexico after the American Civil War and his attempt to join with Maximilian's forces.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1965 film "Major Dundee" starring Charlton Heston and Richard Harris featured Union cavalry (supplemented by Galvanized Yankees) crossing into Mexico and fighting French forces towards the end of the American Civil War.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1954 film "Vera Cruz" was also set in Mexico and has an appearance of Maximilian having a target shooting competition with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster's character at Chapultepec Castle. Maximilian was played by George Macready, who at 54 was twenty years older than the Emperor was in 1866.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1939 film "Juarez" featured Paul Muni as Benito Juárez, Bette Davis as Empress Carlota, and Brian Aherne as Emperor Maximilian. It was based, in part, on Bertita Harding's novel "The Phantom Crown" (1937).


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In the "Southern Victory Series" by Harry Turtledove, Maximilian's Empire survives the turmoil of the 1860s into the 20th century due to the Confederate States emerging victorious in its battle against the United States in the "War of Secession".


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: The 1990 novel "The Difference Engine", co-authored by William Gibson and Bruce Stirling, is set in an alternate 1855 where the timeline diverged in 1824 with Charles Babbage's completion of the difference engine. One consequence is the occupation of Mexico by the Second French Empire with Napoleon III as the de facto emperor instead of the installation of Emperor Maximilian.


title: Second Mexican Empire

text: In Mexican popular culture, there have been soap operas like "El Carruaje" (1967), plays, films, and historical novels such as Fernando del Paso's "Noticias del Imperio" (1987). Biographies, memoirs, and novels have been published since the 1860s, and among the most recent have been Prince Michael of Greece's "The Empress of Farewells", available in various languages.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp (; 19 August 1983 – 14 February 2013) was a South African model and paralegal. She modeled for "FHM" magazine and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa and starred in television advertisements for Toyota Land Cruiser, Clover "The One", Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She was a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show "Baking Made Easy" in 2012 and on "Tropika Island of Treasure" season 5 which aired on SABC 3 in February 2013.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: On Valentine's Day 2013, Steenkamp was shot dead by her boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius, at his home in Pretoria. He stated that he thought Steenkamp was an intruder hiding in the bathroom. Pistorius was found guilty of culpable homicide at a first trial, and was sentenced to five years in prison. On 3 December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa overturned this conviction and instead convicted Pistorius of murder. He was sentenced to six years in prison, which was later increased to 13 years and 5 months by the Court of Appeal.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp was born in Cape Town to parents Barry Steenkamp, a horse trainer, and his second wife, June (née Marshall, previously Cowburn), who was born in Blackburn, England. She had two older half-siblings from her father and mother's respective previous marriages, Adam Steenkamp and Simone Cowburn. The family later moved to Port Elizabeth, where she attended St Dominic's Priory School. After school she studied law at the University of Port Elizabeth, which became a part of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2005.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: After university Steenkamp worked as a paralegal and as a model. She applied to the bar in late 2011 and hoped to be a qualified legal advocate by the age of 30.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp began modelling at the age of 14. She was a finalist in the Weekend Post Faces of the Future competition in 2004 and in the Herald Miss Port Elizabeth contest in 2005. She appeared in "FHM" magazine as a model and cover girl and was the first face of Avon cosmetics in South Africa. She also modeled for the jewelry company Sivana Diamonds.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: She was ranked #40 in the "FHM 100 Sexiest Women in the World" poll of South African FHM readers in 2011 and #45 in 2012. Her style icon was Marc Jacobs. She was a celebrity face of the Spirit Day anti-bullying campaign in 2012.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp once worked as the live roaming presenter for FashionTV in South Africa. She starred in television advertisements for a range of products, including Toyota Land Cruiser, Clover "The One", Redds and Aldor Pin Pop. She featured as a celebrity contestant on the BBC Lifestyle show "Baking Made Easy" in 2012.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: At the time of her death, Steenkamp was signed up to appear on season five of the reality TV program "Tropika Island of Treasure" and had filmed the series episodes on location in Jamaica. The screening of the series began airing as scheduled on 16 February 2013, two days after her death. The first episode of the series was dedicated to Steenkamp and was preceded by a video tribute to her.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp was a keen horse rider until she broke her back in a fall in her early 20s and had to learn to walk again. On the South African celebrity circuit she was a regular A-list guest at red carpet events and a noted socialite on the Johannesburg party scene.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp had been dating Oscar Pistorius, a South African Olympic and Paralympic runner, since November 2012. She had previously dated Springbok rugby player Francois Hougaard.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: On Valentine's Day 2013, Steenkamp's boyfriend Oscar Pistorius fired four shots through the door of a locked bathroom cubicle in his Pretoria home, three of which struck Steenkamp who was on the other side. Immediately following this Pistorius proceeded to break down the bathroom door with a cricket bat to reach Steenkamp. He attempted to render emergency medical assistance and called for help. One of the first responders to the scene was a neighbor, doctor Johan Stipp, who did a jaw-lift-maneuver on Steenkamp in an attempt to open her airway. In his analysis of the situation he noted that she had no peripheral pulse, showed no sign of breathing-movements, and that her pupils were fixed, dilated. It was apparent that she had been mortally wounded.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Her body was cremated at Victoria Park crematorium in Port Elizabeth on 19 February 2013 and the service was conducted by Pastor Kurt Sutton of the Oasis Family Church in Port Elizabeth. Pistorius was arrested and charged with murder. Pistorius admitted that he shot Steenkamp, but said he believed he was shooting an intruder. On 12 September 2014, he was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of culpable homicide in the case. On 21 October 2014, he was sentenced to five years in jail, but only served 10 months. In December 2015, the Supreme Court of Appeals overturned the culpable homicide verdict and found Pistorius guilty of murder. On 6 July 2016, Judge Masipa sentenced Pistorius to six years in prison for murder, despite South Africa carrying a minimum sentence of 15 years for this offence.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: On 24 November 2017, the Court of Appeal extended Oscar Pistorius's jail term to 13 years and five months with the possibility of parole from 2023.


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: Steenkamp and Anene Booysen, both young South African women killed in 2013, were named SA Persons of the year 2013 by the "Daily Maverick".


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: In February 2014, eNCA broadcast a half-hour documentary special about Steenkamp's life titled "Reeva: The Model You Thought You Knew".


title: Reeva Steenkamp

text: On 12 September 2014, SABC 3 broadcast an episode of "Special Assignment" titled "Oscar Pistorius: The Verdict". The program highlighted the missing white woman syndrome media phenomenon in South Africa, given the disproportionate coverage of the trial and the Leigh Matthews murder trial with the coverage relating to the deaths of the black women Zanele Khumalo and Betty Ketani in similar circumstances and time.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company (AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The group is divided into several companies, including "DB Fernverkehr" (long-distance passenger), "DB Regio" (local passenger services) and "DB Cargo" (rail freight). The Group subsidiary "DB Netz" also operates large parts of the German railway infrastructure, making it the largest rail network in Europe.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The company generates about half of its total revenue from operating rail transport. The other half of the business comprises the further transport and logistics businesses, as well as various service providers. The company generates part of its revenue through public transport contracts; as well as support services for infrastructure maintenance and expansion.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The Deutsche Bahn Group is divided into various organizational units that perform their tasks with subsidiaries.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: DB Personenverkehr is the group that manages passenger travel within Germany. Originally called "" ("English": Travel and Tourism), this group is responsible for the managing, servicing and running of German passenger services. This group is divided into three business areas: , and Arriva.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Deutsche Bahn purchased Arriva in August 2010 off the London Stock Exchange. To satisfy the European Commission, Arriva's German operations were rebranded Netinera and sold. As at July 2022, Arriva operated 15,700 buses and 800 railway vehicles in 14 European countries. In 2019 Deutsche Bahn unsuccessfully tried to sell the business.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: is a semi-independent division of that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of German Federal Railways under the name of and renamed in 2003.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: DB Regio AG is the subsidiary of that operates passenger trains on short and medium distances in Germany. Unlike its long-distance counterpart, , it does not operate trains on its own account. Traffic is ordered and paid for by the (states) or their respective (Regional train operation supervisors).


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Some states have awarded long-term contracts to (usually 10 to 15 years), in others, DB Regio's operations are decreasing, in North Rhine-Westphalia, their market share is expected to be lower than 50%.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The infrastructure division is divided into the "DB Netz" (rail infrastructure), DB Station&Service (stations and services) and DB Energie (Energy) business units.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: "DB Engineering & Consulting", which is responsible for construction supervision, construction planning and maintenance, is also assigned to this department without being part of a business area.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Via its subsidiary DB Engineering&Consulting, DB signed a memorandum of understanding with Iranian rail operator Bonyad Eastern Railways (BonRail) in May 2017 and shortly after a consulting contract with Islamic Republic of Iran Railways; both projects were abandoned after the United States imposed new sanctions against Iran and said firms doing business with Iran would be barred from doing business with the United States.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The California High-Speed Rail Authority's (CHSRA) board approved on 15 November 2017 an early train operator contract with DB Engineering & Consulting USA. The firm is the U.S. arm of Deutsche Bahn AG. As early train operator, DB Engineering & Consulting will assist CHSRA with planning, designing and implementing the state's high-speed rail program.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In Germany, DB E&C acts as a planning office and in construction supervision for Deutsche Bahn construction sites.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The Transport and Logistics division acted in the market with the business units DB Schenker Logistics and "DB Schenker Rail", which were combined under the umbrella of DB Schenker, and the Intermodal division, which operates in combined transport. In 2016, rail freight transport was separated from logistics and "DB Schenker Rail" was renamed DB Cargo.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In cooperation with the logistics provider , DB offers the transport of shipments weighing up to 20 kg on its EC/IC/ICE trains.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: DB also has interests abroad, owning the United Kingdom's largest rail freight operator, DB Cargo UK, which also operates the British Royal Train and also has interests in Eastern Europe. It is possible to obtain train times for any journey in Europe from 's website.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Trans-Eurasia Logistics is a joint venture with Russian Railways (RŽD) that operates container freight trains between Germany and China via Russia.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The railway network in Germany dates back to 1835 when the first tracks were laid on a route between Nuremberg and . The Deutsche Reichsbahn operated from 1920 through the Weimar and Nazi eras until 1949. when it was split between East and West Germany into two successor entities, Deutsche Reichsbahn and Deutsche Bundesbahn, respectively. They remained separate throughout the Cold War when there were two separate German states. The 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, and German reunification in 1990, paved the way for the companies to reunite. On 1 January 1994 and were merged to form one company, and so, they became , the successor organisation to the Reichsbahn. At the same time, adopted its current logo and "DB" abbreviation. modernised the logo and typographer designed a new corporate font known as DB Type. When Deutsche Bahn was formed in January 1994, it became a joint stock-company, and were designed to operate the railways of both the former East and West Germany after unification in October 1990 as a single, uniform, and private company. There are three main periods of development in this unified German railway: its formation, its early years (1994–1999), and the period from 1999 to the present.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Originally, DBAG had its headquarters in but moved to in central Berlin in 1996, where it occupies a 26-storey office tower designed by at the eastern end of the Sony Center and named . As the lease was to expire in 2010, DB had announced plans to relocate to , and in 2007 a proposal for a new headquarters by 3XN Architects won an architectural competition which also included Foster + Partners, and . However, these plans were put on hold due to the financial crisis of 2008, and the lease was extended. Construction of the new headquarters building was started in 2017 under the title "" according to the designs by 3XN. Finished in February 2020, the Cube will house the legal offices of Deutsche Bahn, but not become the main headquarters.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The second step of the (railway reform) was carried out in 1999. All rolling stock, track, personnel, and real assets were divided between the subsidiaries of DBAG: (long-distance passenger service, later renamed (operating the stations). This new organisational scheme was introduced not least to implement European Community directive 91/440/EEC that demands open access operations on railway lines by companies other than those that own the rail infrastructure.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In December 2007, DB reorganised again, bringing all passenger services into its arm, logistics under and infrastructure and operations under .


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The DB is owned by the Federal Republic. By the Constitution, the Federal Republic is required to retain (directly or indirectly) a majority of the infrastructure (the present ) stocks.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In 2008, it was agreed to "float" a portion of the business, meaning an end to the 100% share the German Federal Republic had in it, with a plan that 25% of the overall share would be sold to the private sector. However the onset of the financial crisis of 2007–08 saw this cancelled.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In 2014, the Jewish community of Thessaloniki demanded that the , which is the successor of the , should reimburse the heirs of Greek Holocaust victims of Thessaloniki for train fares that they were forced to pay for their deportation from Thessaloniki to and Treblinka between March and August 1943.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In June 2018 controversy grew in the United Kingdom over widespread cancellations of railway services and numerous delayed services operated by Deutsche Bahn in Britain, under its Northern brand. This resulted in Britain's Minister of Transport, Chris Grayling, setting up an enquiry into whether the Deutsche Bahn subsidiary had breached its contractual agreement to provide railway services in the north of England. He warned that if the company was found to be in breach of its contractual agreements it could be banned from running railway services in the United Kingdom.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In the early days of DBAG, the most basic train categories, which were in use since the early days of rail travel in Germany, were also used:


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: There are several other operators in Germany which sometimes offer other categories, also, a local transport authority or tariff associations might brand the trains in a different way than DB does. For example, in the Nuremberg region, RE and RB trains are not differentiated, but called R instead. In some regions, such as , private operators do use the RE and RB labels, in others, such as Saxony, they do not. In online and print information systems of DB, private trains officially labelled RB and RE by their operators, might get a different label, for example "ABR" for trains operated by Abellio, though on platforms, trains and maps or timetables issued by the local transport authority overseeing regional train services, these abbreviations usually do not appear.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: In conjunction with Emirates, China Airlines, TAM Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and , operates the AIRail Service between Frankfurt Airport and Köln Hauptbahnhof/Bonn Hauptbahnhof, , , Hamburg, Hanover, , Munich, Nuremberg, and . has the IATA designator 2A.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: DB offers two different pricing models for single or return tickets for routes that include long-distance trains:


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Ticket prices generally rise degressively over distance, particularly for Sparpreise and Supersparpreise. Therefore, putting connecting local trains or excursions planned for the next morning on the same ticket is usually of advantage. Seat reservations are included only for first class tickets and seating capacity is not always assured, even for tickets valid on one particular connection only.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Local trains (S, RB, RE, IRE) also accept tickets issued by local transport associations, which can also be used on buses, trams, and U-Bahn trains.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: DB offers concessionary fares with the "BahnCard" discount cards, which are available as "BahnCard 25" (25% discount on Flexpreis and Sparpreis), "BahnCard 50" (50% discount on Flexpreis and 25% discount on Sparpreis), and "BahnCard 100" (unlimited travel on all Deutsche Bahn trains, a few private train companies and also in many local transport associations).


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Other special tickets, such as the "Länder-Tickets", which give unlimited journeys on local trains and in many transport associations within a state, and Interrail are also available. These Länder-Tickets offer group tickets, where up to five people can travel on a single ticket.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: Regular travellers usually use weekly, monthly or annual passes for their connection or region; day or sometimes weekend passes exist in local transport primarily.


title: Deutsche Bahn

text: The price system applies to some international destinations from Germany similarly, when bought at Deutsche Bahn, but it is often advisable to compare prices of the respective train operators involved.


title: Intermodal container

text: An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport – from ship to rail to truck – without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well. These containers are known under a number of names. Based on size alone, up to 95% of intermodal containers comply with ISO standards, and can officially be called ISO containers. Many other names are simply: container, cargo or freight container, shipping, sea or ocean container, container van or sea van, sea can or C can, or MILVAN, SEAVAN, or RO/RO. The also used term CONEX (Box) is technically incorrect carry-over usage of the name of an important predecessor of the international ISO containers, namely the much smaller prior steel CONEX boxes used by the U.S. Army.


title: Intermodal container

text: Intermodal containers exist in many types and a number of standardized sizes, but ninety percent of the global container fleet are so-called "dry freight" or "general purpose" containers – durable closed rectangular boxes, made of rust-retardant Corten steel; almost all wide, and of either standard length, as defined by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 668:2020. The worldwide standard heights are and – the latter are known as High Cube or Hi-Cube (HC or HQ) containers.


title: Intermodal container

text: First invented in the early 20th century, modern 40-foot intermodal containers proliferated during the 1960s and 1970s under the containerization innovations of the American shipping company SeaLand. Just like cardboard boxes and pallets, these containers are a means to bundle cargo and goods into larger, unitized loads, that can be easily handled, moved, and stacked, and that will pack tightly in a ship or yard. Intermodal containers share a number of key construction features to withstand the stresses of intermodal shipping, to facilitate their handling and to allow stacking, as well as being identifiable through their individual, unique ISO 6346 reporting mark.


title: Intermodal container

text: In 2012, there were about 20.5 million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes. Containers have largely supplanted the traditional break bulk cargo – in 2010 containers accounted for 60% of the world's seaborne trade. The predominant alternative methods of transport carry bulk cargo whether gaseous, liquid, or solid; e.g., by bulk carrier or tank ship, tank car, or truck. For air freight, the lighter weight IATA-defined unit load devices are used.


title: Intermodal container

text: By the 1830s, railways across several continents were carrying containers that could be transferred to other modes of transport. The Liverpool and Manchester Railway in the United Kingdom was one of these. "Simple rectangular timber boxes, four to a truck, they were used to convey coal from the Lancashire collieries to Liverpool, where they were transferred to horse-drawn carts by crane." Early versions of standardized containers were used in Europe before World War II. Construction of these containers had a steel frame with wooden walls, floor, roof and doors.


title: Intermodal container

text: The first international standard for containers was established by the Bureau International des Containers et du Transport Intermodal (B.I.C.) in 1933, and a second one in 1935, primarily for transport between European countries. American containers at this time were not standardized, and these early containers were not yet stackable – neither in the U.S. nor Europe. In November 1932, the first container terminal in the world was opened by the Pennsylvania Rail Road Company in Enola, Pennsylvania. Containerization was developed in Europe and the US as a way to revitalize rail companies after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, in New York, which resulted in economic collapse and a drop in all modes of transport.


title: Intermodal container

text: In April 1951 at Zürich Tiefenbrunnen railway station, the Swiss Museum of Transport and the "Bureau International des Containers" (BIC) held demonstrations of container systems for representatives from a number of European countries, and from the United States. A system was selected for Western Europe, based on the Netherlands' system for consumer goods and waste transportation called "Laadkisten" (lit. "Loading chests"), in use since 1934. This system used roller containers for transport by rail, truck and ship, in various configurations up to capacity, and up to in size. This became the first post World War II European railway standard of the International Union of Railways – "UIC-590", known as "pa-Behälter". It was implemented in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Denmark.


title: Intermodal container

text: The use of standardized steel shipping containers began during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when commercial shipping operators and the US military started developing such units. In 1948 the U.S. Army Transportation Corps developed the "Transporter", a rigid, corrugated steel container, able to carry . It was long, wide, and high, with double doors on one end, was mounted on skids, and had lifting rings on the top four corners. After proving successful in Korea, the Transporter was developed into the Container Express (CONEX) box system in late 1952. Based on the Transporter, the size and capacity of the Conex were about the same, but the system was made modular, by the addition of a smaller, half-size unit of long, wide and high. CONEXes could be stacked three high, and protected their contents from the elements. By 1965 the US military used some 100,000 Conex boxes, and more than 200,000 in 1967, making this the first worldwide application of intermodal containers. Their invention made a major contribution to the globalization of commerce in the second half of the 20th century, dramatically reducing the cost of transporting goods and hence of long-distance trade.


title: Intermodal container

text: From 1949 onwards, engineer Keith Tantlinger repeatedly contributed to the development of containers, as well as their handling and transportation equipment. In 1949, while at Brown Trailers Inc. of Spokane, Washington, he modified the design of their stressed skin aluminum 30-foot trailer, to fulfil an order of two-hundred containers that could be stacked two high, for Alaska-based "Ocean Van Lines". Steel castings on the top corners provided lifting and securing points.


title: Intermodal container

text: In 1955 trucking magnate Malcom McLean bought Pan-Atlantic Steamship Company, to form a container shipping enterprise, later known as Sea-Land. The first containers were supplied by Brown Trailers Inc, where McLean met Keith Tantlinger, and hired him as vice-president of engineering and research. Under the supervision of Tantlinger, a new x x Sea-Land container was developed, the length determined by the maximum length of trailers then allowed on Pennsylvanian highways. Each container had a frame with eight corner castings that could withstand stacking loads. Tantlinger also designed automatic spreaders for handling the containers, as well as the twistlock mechanism that connects with the corner castings.


title: Intermodal container

text: Containers in their modern 21st-century form first began to gain widespread use around 1956. Businesses began to devise a structured process to utilize and to get optimal benefits from the role and use of shipping containers. Over time, the invention of the modern telecommunications of the late 20th century made it highly beneficial to have standardized shipping containers and made these shipping processes more standardized, modular, easier to schedule, and easier to manage.


title: Intermodal container

text: Two years after McLean's first container ship, the "Ideal X", started container shipping on the US East Coast, Matson Navigation followed suit between California and Hawaii. Just like Pan-Atlantic's containers, Matson's were wide and high, but due to California's different traffic code Matson chose to make theirs long. In 1968, McLean began container service to South Vietnam for the US military with great success.


title: Intermodal container

text: ISO standards for containers were published between 1968 and 1970 by the International Maritime Organization. These standards allow for more consistent loading, transporting, and unloading of goods in ports throughout the world, thus saving time and resources.


title: Intermodal container

text: The International Convention for Safe Containers is a 1972 regulation by the Inter-governmental Maritime Consultative Organization on the safe handling and transport of containers. It decrees that every container travelling internationally be fitted with a CSC Safety-approval Plate. This holds essential information about the container, including age, registration number, dimensions and weights, as well as its strength and maximum stacking capability.


title: Intermodal container

text: Longshoremen and related unions around the world struggled with this revolution in shipping goods. For example, by 1971 a clause in the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) contract stipulated that the work of "stuffing" (filling) or "stripping" (emptying) a container within of a port must be done by ILA workers, or if not done by ILA, that the shipper needed to pay royalties and penalties to the ILA. Unions for truckers and consolidators argued that the ILA rules were not valid work preservation clauses, because the work of stuffing and stripping containers away from the pier had not traditionally been done by ILA members. In 1980 the Supreme Court of the United States heard this case and ruled against the ILA.


title: Intermodal container

text: Some experts have said that the shipping containers have proven to have a downside, as exacerbating some of the economic and societal damage from the 2021 global supply chain crisis of 2020 and 2021, and the resulting shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic. One problem is that the centralized, continuous shipping process made possible by the containers has now proven to be a liability of sorts; the reason is that if there is just one bottleneck, delay, or other breakdown at any point in the process, it can easily cause major delays everywhere up and down the supply chain.


title: Intermodal container

text: Marc Levinson, author of "Outside the Box: How Globalization Changed from Moving Stuff to Spreading Ideas" and "", noted in an interview:


title: Intermodal container

text: "Because of delays in the process, it’s taking a container longer to go from its origin to its final destination where it’s unloaded, so the container is in use longer for each trip. You’ve just lost a big hunk of the total capacity because the containers can’t be used as intensively.


title: Intermodal container

text: We've had in the United States an additional problem, which is that the ship lines typically charge much higher rates on services from Asia to North America than from North America to Asia. This has resulted in complaints, for example, from farmers and agricultural companies, that it’s hard to get containers in some parts of the country because the ship lines want to ship them empty back to Asia, rather than letting them go to South Dakota and load over the course of several days. So we’ve had exporters in the United States complaining that they have a hard time finding a container that they can use to send their own goods abroad."


title: Intermodal container

text: Ninety percent of the global container fleet consists of "dry freight" or "general purpose" containers – both of standard and special sizes.


title: Intermodal container

text: And although lengths of containers vary from , according to two 2012 container census reports about 80% of the world's containers are either twenty or forty foot standard length boxes of the dry freight design. These typical containers are rectangular, closed box models, with doors fitted at one end, and made of corrugated weathering steel (commonly known as CorTen) with a plywood floor. Although corrugating the sheet metal used for the sides and roof contributes significantly to the container's rigidity and stacking strength, just like in corrugated iron or in cardboard boxes, the corrugated sides cause aerodynamic drag, and up to 10% fuel economy loss in road or rail transport, compared to smooth-sided vans.


title: Intermodal container

text: Standard containers are wide by high, although the taller "High Cube" or "hi-cube" units measuring have become very common in recent years. By the end of 2013, high-cube 40 ft containers represented almost 50% of the world's maritime container fleet, according to Drewry's Container Census report.


title: Intermodal container

text: About 90% of the world's containers are either nominal or long, although the United States and Canada also use longer units of , and . ISO containers have castings with openings for twistlock fasteners at each of the eight corners, to allow gripping the box from above, below, or the side, and they can be stacked up to ten units high.


title: Intermodal container

text: Although ISO standard 1496 of 1990 only required nine-high stacking, "and only" of containers rated at , current Ultra Large Container Vessels of the Post New Panamax and Maersk Triple E class are stacking them ten or eleven high. Moreover, vessels like the Marie Maersk no longer use separate stacks in their holds, and other stacks above deck – instead they maximize their capacity by stacking continuously from the bottom of the hull, to as much as twenty-one high. This requires automated planning, whereby heavy containers are systematically kept at the bottom of the stack, and light ones on top – not only to stabilize the ship, but also to prevent overloading and collapsing the bottom containers.


title: Intermodal container

text: Regional intermodal containers, such as European, Japanese and U.S. domestic units however, are mainly transported by road and rail, and can frequently only be stacked up to two or three laden units high. Although the two ends are quite rigid, containers flex somewhat during transport.


title: Intermodal container

text: Container capacity is often expressed in twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU, or sometimes "teu"). A twenty-foot equivalent unit is a measure of containerized cargo capacity equal to one standard long container. This is an approximate measure, wherein the height of the box is not considered. For example, the tall high-cube, as well as containers are equally counted as one TEU. Similarly, extra long containers are commonly counted as just two TEU, no different than standard long units. Two TEU are equivalent to one forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU).


title: Intermodal container

text: In 2014 the global container fleet grew to a volume of 36.6 million TEU, based on Drewry Shipping Consultants' Container Census. Moreover, in 2014 for the first time in history 40-foot High-Cube containers accounted for the majority of boxes in service, measured in TEU. In 2019 it was noted by global logistics data analysis startup Upply that China's role as 'factory of the world' is further incentivizing the use of 40-foot containers, and that the computational standard 1 TEU boxes only make up 20% of units on major east–west liner routes, and demand for shipping them keeps dropping. In the 21st century, the market has shifted to using 40-foot high-cube dry and refrigerated containers more and more predominantly. Forty-foot units have become the standard to such an extent that the sea freight industry now charges less than 30% more for moving a 40-ft unit than for a 1 TEU box. Although 20-ft units mostly have heavy cargo, and are useful for stabilizing both ships and revenue, carriers financially penalize 1 TEU boxes by comparison.


title: Intermodal container

text: For container manufacturers, 40-foot High-Cubes now dominate market demand both for dry and refrigerated units. Manufacturing prices for regular dry freight containers are typically in the range of $1750–$2000 U.S. per CEU (container equivalent unit), and about 90% of the world's containers are made in China. The average age of the global container fleet was a little over 5 years from end 1994 to end 2009, meaning containers remain in shipping use for well over 10 years.


title: Intermodal container

text: A "gooseneck tunnel", an indentation in the floor structure, that meshes with the "gooseneck" on dedicated container semi-trailers, is a mandatory feature in the bottom structure of 1AAA and 1EEE (40- and 45-ft high-cube) containers, and optional but typical on standard height, forty-foot and longer containers.


title: Intermodal container

text: Other than the standard, general purpose container, many variations exist for use with different cargoes. The most prominent of these are refrigerated containers (also called "reefers") for perishable goods, that make up 6% of the world's shipping boxes. Tanks in a frame, for bulk liquids, account for another 0.75% of the global container fleet.


title: Intermodal container

text: Although these variations are not of the standard type, they mostly are "ISO standard" containers – in fact the ISO 6346 standard classifies a broad spectrum of container types in great detail. Aside from different size options, the most important container types are:


title: Intermodal container

text: Containers for offshore use have a few different features, like pad eyes, and must meet additional strength and design requirements, standards and certification, such as the DNV2.7-1 by Det Norske Veritas, LRCCS by Lloyd's Register, Guide for Certification of Offshore Containers by American Bureau of Shipping and the International standard ISO10855: "Offshore containers and associated lifting sets", in support of IMO MSC/Circ. 860


title: Intermodal container

text: A multitude of equipment, such as generators, has been installed in containers of different types to simplify logistics – see for more details.


title: Intermodal container

text: Swap body units usually have the same bottom corner fixtures as intermodal containers, and often have folding legs under their frame so that they can be moved between trucks without using a crane. However they frequently do not have the upper corner fittings of ISO containers, and are not stackable, nor can they be lifted and handled by the usual equipment like reach-stackers or straddle-carriers. They are generally more expensive to procure.


title: Intermodal container

text: From its inception, ISO standards on international shipping containers, consistently speak of them sofar as 'Series 1' containers – deliberately so conceived, to leave room for another such series of interrelated container standards in the future.


title: Intermodal container

text: Basic dimensions and permissible gross weights of intermodal containers are largely determined by two ISO standards:


title: Intermodal container

text: Weights and dimensions of the most common (standardized) types of containers are given below. Forty-eight foot and fifty-three foot containers have not yet been incorporated in the latest, 2020 edition of the ISO 668. ISO standard maximum gross mass for all standard sizes except 10-ft boxes was raised to per Amendment 1 on ISO 668:2013, in 2016. Draft Amendment 1 of ISO 668: 2020 – for the eighth edition – maintains this. Given the average container lifespan, the majority of the global container fleet have not caught up with this change yet. Moreover, U.S. highways cannot handle such heavy fully laden containers yet, including the mass of truck (and trailer).


title: Intermodal container

text: Values vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer, but must stay within the tolerances dictated by the standards. Empty weight ("tare weight") is not determined by the standards, but by the container's construction, and is therefore indicative, but necessary to calculate a net load figure, by subtracting it from the maximum permitted gross weight.


title: Intermodal container

text: The bottom row in the table gives the legal maximum cargo weights for U.S. highway transport, and those based on use of an industry common tri-axle chassis. Cargo must also be loaded evenly inside the container, to avoid axle weight violations. The maximum gross weights that U.S. railroads accept or deliver are for 20-foot containers, and for 40-foot containers, in contrast to the global ISO-standard gross weight for 20-footers having been raised to the same as 40-footers in the year 2005. In the U.S., containers loaded up to the rail cargo weight limit cannot move over the road, as they will exceed the U.S. highway limit.


title: Intermodal container

text: Here are examples of tests from ISO 1496-1:2013 (Stacking, Lifting, Restraint, wall, roof and floor Strength, Rigidity).


title: Intermodal container

text: European "pallet wide" (or 'PW') containers are minimally wider, and have shallow side corrugation, to offer just enough internal width, to allow common European "Euro-pallets" of long by wide, to be loaded with significantly greater efficiency and capacity. Having a typical internal width of , (a gain of ~ over the ISO-usual , gives "pallet-wide" containers a usable internal floor width of , compared to in standard containers, because the extra width enables their users to either load two Euro-pallets end on end across their width, or three of them side by side (providing the pallets were neatly stacked, without overspill), whereas in standard ISO containers, a strip of internal floor-width of about cannot be used by Euro-pallets.


title: Intermodal container

text: Some "pallet-wides" are simply manufactured with the same, ISO-standard floor structure, but with the side-panels welded in, such that the ribs/corrugations are embossed outwards, instead of indenting to the inside. This makes it possible for some "pallet-wides" to be just wide, but others can be wide.


title: Intermodal container

text: Many sea shipping providers in Europe allow these on board, as their external width overhangs over standard containers are sufficiently minor that they fit in the usual interlock spaces in ship's holds, as long as their corner-castings patterns (both in the floor and the top) still match with regular 40-foot units, for stacking and securing.


title: Intermodal container

text: The pallet-wide high-cube container has gained particularly wide acceptance, as these containers can replace the swap bodies that are common for truck transport in Europe. The EU has started a standardization for pallet wide containerization in the European Intermodal Loading Unit (EILU) initiative.


title: Intermodal container

text: Australian RACE containers are also slightly wider to optimise them for the use of Australia Standard Pallets, or are long and wide to be able to fit up to 40 pallets.


title: Intermodal container

text: Although the below described sizes are not exclusively used in the U.S. (they are also used in cargo traffic across the borders, into Canada and Mexico), they are predominantly United States initiatives.


title: Intermodal container

text: The 48’ shipping container is a Very Uncommon High Cube container in that it is tall on the exterior. It is wide which makes it wider than ISO-standard containers. This size was introduced by container shipping company APL (formerly American President Lines) in 1986, and is used domestically in North America on road and rail, but can only be transported on deck by ships. This size being longer and wider has 29% more volume capacity than the standard 40-ft High-Cube, yet costs of moving it by truck or rail are almost the same.