title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbreds born in the Northern Hemisphere are officially considered a year older on the first of January each year; those born in the Southern Hemisphere officially are one year older on the first of August. These artificial dates have been set to enable the standardization of races and other competitions for horses in certain age groups.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The Thoroughbred is a distinct breed of horse, although people sometimes refer to a purebred horse of any breed as a "thoroughbred". The term for any horse or other animal derived from a single breed line is "purebred". While the term probably came into general use because the English Thoroughbred's General Stud Book was one of the first breed registries created, in modern usage horse breeders consider it incorrect to refer to any animal as a "thoroughbred" except for horses belonging to the Thoroughbred breed. Nonetheless, breeders of other species of purebred animals may use the two terms interchangeably, though "thoroughbred" is less often used for describing purebred animals of other species. The term is a proper noun referring to this specific breed, though often not capitalized, especially in non-specialist publications, and outside the US. For example, the Australian Stud Book, "The New York Times", and the BBC do not capitalize the word.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Flat racing existed in England by at least 1174, when four-mile races took place at Smithfield, in London. Racing continued at fairs and markets throughout the Middle Ages and into the reign of King James I of England. It was then that handicapping, a system of adding weight to attempt to equalize a horse's chances of winning as well as improved training procedures, began to be used. During the reigns of Charles II, William III, Anne, and George I, the foundation of the Thoroughbred was laid. The term "thro-bred" to describe horses was first used in 1713.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Under Charles II, a keen racegoer and owner, and Anne, royal support was given to racing and the breeding of race horses. With royal support, horse racing became popular with the public, and by 1727, a newspaper devoted to racing, the "Racing Calendar", was founded. Devoted exclusively to the sport, it recorded race results and advertised upcoming meets.


title: Thoroughbred

text: All modern Thoroughbreds trace back to three stallions imported into England from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: the Byerley Turk (1680s), the Darley Arabian (1704), and the Godolphin Arabian (1729). Other stallions of oriental breeding were less influential, but still made noteworthy contributions to the breed. These included the Alcock's Arabian, D'Arcy's White Turk, Leedes Arabian, and Curwen's Bay Barb. Another was the Brownlow Turk, who, among other attributes, is thought to be largely responsible for the gray coat color in Thoroughbreds. In all, about 160 stallions of Oriental breeding have been traced in the historical record as contributing to the creation of the Thoroughbred. The addition of horses of Eastern bloodlines, whether Arabian, Barb, or Turk, to the native English mares ultimately led to the creation of the General Stud Book (GSB) in 1791 and the practice of official registration of horses. According to Peter Willett, about 50% of the foundation stallions appear to have been of Arabian bloodlines, with the remainder being evenly divided between Turkoman and Barb breeding.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Each of the three major foundation sires was, coincidentally, the ancestor of a grandson or great-great-grandson who was the only male descendant to perpetuate each respective horse's male line: Matchem was the only descendant of his grandsire, the Godolphin Arabian, to maintain a male line to the present; the Byerley Turk's male line was preserved by Herod (or King Herod), a great-great-grandson; and the male line of the Darley Arabian owes its existence to great-great-grandson Eclipse, who was the dominant racehorse of his day and never defeated. One genetic study indicates that 95% of all male Thoroughbreds trace their direct male line (via the Y chromosome) to the Darley Arabian.


title: Thoroughbred

text: However, in modern Thoroughbred pedigrees, most horses have more crosses to the Godolphin Arabian (13.8%) than to the Darley Arabian (6.5%) when all lines of descent (maternal and paternal) are considered. Further, as a percentage of contributions to current Thoroughbred bloodlines, Curwen's Bay Barb (4.2%) appears more often than the Byerley Turk (3.3%). The majority of modern Thoroughbreds alive today trace to a total of only 27 or 28 stallions from the 18th and 19th centuries.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The mares used as foundation breeding stock came from a variety of breeds, some of which, such as the Irish Hobby, had developed in northern Europe prior to the 13th century. Other mares were of oriental breeding, including Barb, Turk and other bloodlines, although most researchers conclude that the number of Eastern mares imported into England during the 100 years after 1660 was small. The 19th-century researcher Bruce Lowe identified 50 mare "families" in the Thoroughbred breed, later augmented by other researchers to 74. However, it is probable that fewer genetically unique mare lines existed than Lowe identified. Recent studies of the mtDNA of Thoroughbred mares indicate that some of the mare lines thought to be genetically distinct may actually have had a common ancestor; in 19 mare lines studied, the haplotypes revealed that they traced to only 15 unique foundation mares, suggesting either a common ancestor for foundation mares thought to be unrelated or recording errors in the GSB.


title: Thoroughbred

text: By the end of the 18th century, the English Classic races had been established. These are the St. Leger Stakes, founded in 1776, The Oaks, founded in 1779, and The Derby in 1780. Later, the 2,000 Guineas Stakes and the 1,000 Guineas Stakes were founded in 1809 and 1814. The 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks are restricted to fillies, but the others are open to racehorses of either sex aged three years. The distances of these races, ranging from to , led to a change in breeding practices, as breeders concentrated on producing horses that could race at a younger age than in the past and that had more speed. In the early 18th century, the emphasis had been on longer races, up to , that were run in multiple heats. The older style of race favored older horses, but with the change in distances, younger horses became preferred.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Selective breeding for speed and racing ability led to improvements in the size of horses and winning times by the middle of the 19th century. Bay Middleton, a winner of the Epsom Derby, stood over 16 hands high, a full hand higher than the Darley Arabian. Winning times had improved to such a degree that many felt further improvement by adding additional Arabian bloodlines was impossible. This was borne out in 1885, when a race was held between a Thoroughbred, Iambic, considered a mid-grade runner, and the best Arabian of the time, Asil. The race was over , and although Iambic was handicapped by carrying more than Asil, he still managed to beat Asil by 20 lengths. The improvement of the breed for racing in this way was said by noted 19th century racing writer, Nimrod, to have created "the noblest animal in the creation".


title: Thoroughbred

text: An aspect of the modern British breeding establishment is that they breed not only for flat racing, but also for steeplechasing. Up until the end of the 19th century, Thoroughbreds were bred not only for racing but also as saddle horses.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Soon after the start of the 20th century, fears that the English races would be overrun with American-bred Thoroughbreds because of the closing of US racetracks in the early 1910s, led to the Jersey Act of 1913. It prohibited the registration of any horse in the General Stud Book (GSB) if they could not show that every ancestor traced to the GSB. This excluded most American-bred horses, because the 100-year gap between the founding of the GSB and the American Stud Book meant that most American-bred horses possessed at least one or two crosses to horses not registered in the GSB. The act was not repealed until 1949, after which a horse was only required to show that all its ancestors to the ninth generation were registered in a recognized Stud Book. Many felt that the Jersey Act hampered the development of the British Thoroughbred by preventing breeders in the United Kingdom from using new bloodlines developed outside the British Isles.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The first Thoroughbred horse in the American Colonies was Bulle Rock, imported in 1730. Maryland and Virginia were the centers of Colonial Thoroughbred breeding, along with South Carolina and New York. During the American Revolution importations of horses from England practically stopped but were restarted after the signing of a peace treaty. Two important stallions were imported around the time of the Revolution; Messenger in 1788 and Diomed before that. Messenger left little impact on the American Thoroughbred, but is considered a foundation sire of the Standardbred breed. Diomed, who won the Derby Stakes in 1780, had a significant impact on American Thoroughbred breeding, mainly through his son Sir Archy. John F. Wall, a racing historian, said that Sir Archy was the "first outstanding stallion we can claim as native American." He was retired from the racetrack because of lack of opponents.


title: Thoroughbred

text: After the American Revolution, the center of Thoroughbred breeding and racing in the United States moved west. Kentucky and Tennessee became significant centers. Andrew Jackson, later President of the United States, was a breeder and racer of Thoroughbreds in Tennessee. Match races held in the early 19th century helped to popularize horse racing in the United States. One took place in 1823, in Long Island, New York, between Sir Henry and American Eclipse. Another was a match race between Boston and Fashion in 1838 that featured bets of $20,000 from each side. The last major match races before the American Civil War were both between Lexington and Lecompte. The first was held in 1854 in New Orleans and was won by Lecompte. Lexington's owner then challenged Lecompte's owner to a rematch, held in 1855 in New Orleans and won by Lexington. Both of these horses were sons of Boston, a descendant of Sir Archy. Lexington went on to a career as a breeding stallion, and led the sires list of number of winners for sixteen years, fourteen of them in a row.


title: Thoroughbred

text: After the American Civil War, the emphasis in American racing changed from the older style of four-mile (6 km) races in which the horses ran in at least two heats. The new style of racing involved shorter races not run in heats, over distances from five furlongs up to . This development meant a change in breeding practices, as well as the age that horses were raced, with younger horses and sprinters coming to the fore. It was also after the Civil War that the American Thoroughbred returned to England to race. Iroquois became the first American-bred winner of the Epsom Derby in 1881. The success of American-bred Thoroughbreds in England led to the Jersey Act in 1913, which limited the importation of American Thoroughbreds into England. After World War I, the breeders in America continued to emphasize speed and early racing age but also imported horses from England, and this trend continued past World War II. After World War II, Thoroughbred breeding remained centered in Kentucky, but California, New York, and Florida also emerged as important racing and breeding centers.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbreds in the United States have historically been used not only for racing but also to improve other breeds. The early import Messenger was the foundation of the Standardbred, and Thoroughbred blood was also instrumental in the development of the American Quarter Horse. The foundation stallion of the Morgan breed is held by some to have been sired by a Thoroughbred. Between World War I and World War II, the U.S. Army used Thoroughbred stallions as part of their Remount Service, which was designed to improve the stock of cavalry mounts.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbreds began to be imported to France in 1817 and 1818 with the importation of a number of stallions from England, but initially the sport of horse racing did not prosper in France. The first Jockey Club in France was not formed until 1833, and in 1834 the racing and regulation functions were split off to a new society, the "Société d'Encouragement pour l'Amélioration des Races de Chevaux en France", better known as the Jockey-Club de Paris. The "French Stud Book" was founded at the same time by the government. By 1876, French-bred Thoroughbreds were regularly winning races in England, and in that year a French breeder-owner earned the most money in England on the track. World War I almost destroyed French breeding because of war damage and lack of races. After the war, the premier French race, the Grand Prix, resumed and continues to this day. During World War II, French Thoroughbred breeding did not suffer as it had during the first World War, and thus was able to compete on an equal footing with other countries after the war.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Organized racing in Italy started in 1837, when race meets were established in Florence and Naples and a meet in Milan was founded in 1842. Modern flat racing came to Rome in 1868. Later importations, including the Derby Stakes winners Ellington (1856) and Melton (1885), came to Italy before the end of the 19th century. Modern Thoroughbred breeding in Italy is mostly associated with the breeding program of Federico Tesio, who started his breeding program in 1898. Tesio was the breeder of Nearco, one of the dominant sires of Thoroughbreds in the later part of the 20th century.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Other countries in Europe have Thoroughbred breeding programs, including Germany, Russia, Poland, and Hungary.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Horses arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788 along with the earliest colonists. Although horses of part-Thoroughbred blood were imported into Australia during the late 18th century, it is thought that the first pureblood Thoroughbred was a stallion named Northumberland who was imported from England in 1802 as a coach horse sire. By 1810, the first formal race meets were organized in Sydney, and by 1825 the first mare of proven Thoroughbred bloodlines arrived to join the Thoroughbred stallions already there. In 1825, the Sydney Turf Club, the first true racing club in Australia, was formed. Throughout the 1830s, the Australian colonies began to import Thoroughbreds, almost exclusively for racing purposes, and to improve the local stock. Each colony formed its own racing clubs and held its own races. Gradually, the individual clubs were integrated into one overarching organization, now known as the Australian Racing Board. Thoroughbreds from Australia were imported into New Zealand in the 1840s and 1850s, with the first direct importation from England occurring in 1862.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbreds have been exported to many other areas of the world since the breed was created. Oriental horses were imported into South Africa from the late 17th century in order to improve the local stock through crossbreeding. Horse racing was established there in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and Thoroughbreds were imported in increasing numbers. The first Thoroughbred stallions arrived in Argentina in 1853, but the first mares did not arrive until 1865. The Argentine Stud Book was first published in 1893. Thoroughbreds were imported into Japan from 1895, although it was not until after World War II that Japan began a serious breeding and racing business involving Thoroughbreds.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The number of Thoroughbred foals registered each year in North America varies greatly, chiefly linked to the success of the auction market which in turn depends on the state of the economy. The foal crop was over 44,000 in 1990, but declined to roughly 22,500 by 2014. The largest numbers are registered in the states of Kentucky, Florida and California. Australia is the second largest producer of Thoroughbreds in the world with almost 30,000 broodmares producing about 18,250 foals annually. Britain produces about 5,000 foals a year, and worldwide, there are more than 195,000 active broodmares, or females being used for breeding, and 118,000 newly registered foals in 2006 alone. The Thoroughbred industry is a large agribusiness, generating around $34 billion in revenue annually in the United States and providing about 470,000 jobs through a network of farms, training centers, and race tracks.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Unlike a significant number of registered breeds today, a horse cannot be registered as a Thoroughbred (with The Jockey Club registry) unless conceived by "live cover", the witnessed natural mating of a mare and a stallion. Artificial insemination (AI) and embryo transfer (ET), though commonly used and allowable in many other horse breed registries, cannot be used with Thoroughbreds. One reason is that a greater possibility of error exists in assigning parentage with artificial insemination, and although DNA and blood testing eliminate many of those concerns, artificial insemination still requires more detailed record keeping. The main reason, however, may be economic; a stallion has a limited number of mares who can be serviced by live cover. Thus the practice prevents an oversupply of Thoroughbreds, although modern management still allows a stallion to live cover more mares in a season than was once thought possible. As an example, in 2008, the Australian stallion Encosta De Lago covered 227 mares. By allowing a stallion to cover only a couple of hundred mares a year rather than the couple of thousand possible with artificial insemination, it also preserves the high prices paid for horses of the finest or most popular lineages.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Concern exists that the closed stud book and tightly regulated population of the Thoroughbred is at risk of loss of genetic diversity because of the level of inadvertent inbreeding inevitable in such a small population. According to one study, 78% of alleles in the current population can be traced to 30 foundation animals, 27 of which are male. Ten foundation mares account for 72% of maternal (tail-female) lineages, and, as noted above, one stallion appears in 95% of tail male lineages. Thoroughbred pedigrees are generally traced through the maternal line, called the "distaff" line. The line that a horse comes from is a critical factor in determining the price for a young horse.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Prices of Thoroughbreds vary greatly, depending on age, pedigree, conformation, and other market factors. In 2007, Keeneland Sales, a United States-based sales company, sold 9,124 horses at auction, with a total value of $814,401,000, which gives an average price of $89,259. As a whole for the United States in 2007, The Jockey Club auction statistics indicated that the average weanling sold for $44,407, the average yearling sold for $55,300, average sale price for two-year-olds was $61,843, broodmares averaged $70,150, and horses over two and broodmare prospects sold for an average of $53,243. For Europe, the July 2007 Tattersall's Sale sold 593 horses at auction, with a total for the sale of 10,951,300 guineas, for an average of 18,468 guineas. Also in 2007, Doncaster Bloodstock Sales, another British sales firm, sold 2,248 horses for a total value of 43,033,881 guineas, making an average of 15,110 guineas per horse. Australian prices at auction during the 2007-2008 racing and breeding season were as follows: 1,223 Australian weanlings sold for a total of $31,352,000, an average of $25,635 each. Four thousand, nine hundred and three yearlings sold for a total value of A$372,003,961, an average of A$75,853. Five hundred two-year-olds sold for A$13,030,150, an average of A$26,060, and 2,118 broodmares totalled A$107,720,775, an average of A$50,860.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Averages, however, can be deceiving. For example, at the 2007 Fall Yearling sale at Keeneland, 3,799 young horses sold for a total of $385,018,600, for an average of $101,347 per horse. However, that average sales price reflected a variation that included at least 19 horses that sold for only $1,000 each and 34 that sold for over $1,000,000 apiece.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The highest price paid at auction for a Thoroughbred was set in 2006 at $16,000,000 for a two-year-old colt named The Green Monkey. Record prices at auction often grab headlines, though they do not necessarily reflect the animal's future success; in the case of The Green Monkey, injuries limited him to only three career starts before being retired to stud in 2008, and he never won a race. Conversely, even a highly successful Thoroughbred may be sold by the pound for a few hundred dollars to become horsemeat. The best-known example of this was the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, exported to Japan to stand at stud, but was ultimately slaughtered in 2002, presumably for pet food.


title: Thoroughbred

text: However, the value of a Thoroughbred may also be influenced by the purse money it wins. In 2007, Thoroughbred racehorses earned a total of $1,217,854,602 in all placings, an average earnings per starter of $16,924. In addition, the track record of a race horse may influence its future value as a breeding animal.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Stud fees for stallions that enter breeding can range from $2,500 to $500,000 per mare in the United States, and from £2000 to £75,000 or more in Britain. The record stud fee to date was set in the 1980s, when the stud fee of the late Northern Dancer reached $1 million. During the 2008 Australian breeding season seven stallions stood at a stud fee of A$110,000 or more, with the highest fee in the nation at A$302,500.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Although the Thoroughbred is primarily bred for racing, the breed is also used for show jumping and combined training because of its athleticism, and many retired and retrained race horses become fine family riding horses, dressage horses, and youth show horses. The larger horses are sought after for hunter/jumper and dressage competitions, whereas the smaller horses are in demand as polo ponies.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbred horses are primarily bred for racing under saddle at the gallop. Thoroughbreds are often known for being either distance runners or sprinters, and their conformation usually reflects what they have been bred to do. Sprinters are usually well muscled, while "stayers", or distance runners, tend to be smaller and slimmer. The size of the horse is one consideration for buyers and trainers when choosing a potential racehorse. Although there have been champion racehorses of every height, from Zenyatta who stood 17.2 hands, to Man o' War and Secretariat who both stood at 16.2 hands, down to Hyperion, who was only 15.1, the best racehorses are generally of average size. Larger horses mature more slowly and have more stress on their legs and feet, predisposing them to lameness. Smaller horses are considered by some to be at a disadvantage due to their shorter stride and a tendency of other horses to bump them, especially in the starting gate. Historically, Thoroughbreds have steadily increased in size: the average height of a Thoroughbred in 1700 was about 13.3 hands high. By 1876 this had increased to 15.3.


title: Thoroughbred

text: In 2007, there were 71,959 horses who started in races in the United States, and the average Thoroughbred racehorse in the United States and Canada ran 6.33 times in that year. In Australia, there were 31,416 horses in training during 2007, and those horses started 194,066 times for A$375,512,579 of prize money. During 2007, in Japan, there were 23,859 horses in training and those horses started 182,614 times for A$857,446,268 of prize money. In Britain, the British Racing Authority states there were 8,556 horses in training for flat racing for 2007, and those horses started 60,081 times in 5,659 races.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Statistically, fewer than 50% of all race horses ever win a race, and less than 1% ever win a stakes race such as the Kentucky Derby or The Derby. Any horse who has yet to win a race is known as a maiden.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Horses finished with a racing career that are not suitable for breeding purposes often become riding horses or other equine companions. A number of agencies exist to help make the transition from the racetrack to another career, or to help find retirement homes for ex-racehorses.


title: Thoroughbred

text: In addition to racing, Thoroughbreds compete in eventing, show jumping and dressage at the highest levels of international competition, including the Olympics. They are also used as show hunters, steeplechasers, and in Western riding speed events such as barrel racing. Mounted police divisions employ them in non-competitive work, and recreational riders also use them. Thoroughbreds are one of the most common breeds for use in polo in the United States. They are often seen in the fox hunting field as well.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Thoroughbreds are often crossed with horses of other breeds to create new breeds or to enhance or introduce specific qualities into existing ones. They have been influential on many modern breeds, including the American Quarter Horse, the Standardbred, and possibly the Morgan, a breed that went on to influence many of the gaited breeds in North America. Other common crosses with the Thoroughbred include crossbreeding with Arabian bloodlines to produce the Anglo-Arabian as well as with the Irish Draught to produce the Irish Sport Horse. Thoroughbreds are often crossed with various Warmblood breeds due to their refinement and performance capabilities.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Although Thoroughbreds are seen in the hunter-jumper world and in other disciplines, modern Thoroughbreds are primarily bred for speed, and racehorses have a very high rate of accidents as well as other health problems.


title: Thoroughbred

text: One tenth of all Thoroughbreds suffer orthopedic problems, including fractures. Current estimates indicate that there are 1.5 career-ending breakdowns for every 1,000 horses starting a race in the United States, an average of two horses per day. The state of California reported a particularly high rate of injury, 3.5 per 1000 starts. Other countries report lower rates of injury, with the United Kingdom having 0.9 injuries/1,000 starts (1990–1999) and the courses in Victoria, Australia, producing a rate of 0.44 injuries/1,000 starts (1989–2004). Thoroughbreds also have other health concerns, including a majority of animals who are prone to bleeding from the lungs (exercise induced pulmonary hemorrhage), 10% with low fertility, and 5% with abnormally small hearts. Thoroughbreds also tend to have smaller hooves relative to their body mass than other breeds, with thin soles and walls and a lack of cartilage mass, which contributes to foot soreness, the most common source of lameness in racehorses.


title: Thoroughbred

text: One argument for the health issues involving Thoroughbreds suggests that inbreeding is the culprit. It has also been suggested that capability for speed is enhanced in an already swift animal by raising muscle mass, a form of selective breeding that has created animals designed to win horse races. Thus, according to one postulation, the modern Thoroughbred travels faster than its skeletal structure can support. Veterinarian Robert M. Miller states that "We have selectively bred for speeds that the anatomy of the horse cannot always cope with."


title: Thoroughbred

text: Poor breeding may be encouraged by the fact that many horses are sent to the breeding shed following an injury. If the injury is linked to a conformational fault, the fault is likely to be passed to the next generation. Additionally, some breeders will have a veterinarian perform straightening procedures on a horse with crooked legs. This can help increase the horse's price at a sale and perhaps help the horse have a sounder racing career, but the genes for poor legs will still be passed on.


title: Thoroughbred

text: A high accident rate may also occur because Thoroughbreds, particularly in the United States, are first raced as 2-year-olds, well before they are completely mature. Though they may appear full-grown and are in superb muscular condition, their bones are not fully formed. However, catastrophic injury rates are higher in 4- and 5-year-olds than in 2- and 3-year-olds. Some believe that correct, slow training of a young horse (including foals) may actually be beneficial to the overall soundness of the animal. This is because, during the training process, microfractures occur in the leg followed by bone remodeling. If the remodeling is given sufficient time to heal, the bone becomes stronger. If proper remodeling occurs before hard training and racing begins, the horse will have a stronger musculoskeletal system and will have a decreased chance of injury.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Studies have shown that track surfaces, horseshoes with toe grabs, use of certain legal medications, and high-intensity racing schedules may also contribute to a high injury rate. One promising trend is the development of synthetic surfaces for racetracks, and one of the first tracks to install such a surface, Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, saw its rate of fatal breakdowns drop from 24 in 2004–05 to three in the year following Polytrack installation. The material is not perfected, and some areas report problems related to winter weather, but studies are continuing.


title: Thoroughbred

text: The level of treatment given to injured Thoroughbreds is often more intensive than for horses of lesser financial value but also controversial, due in part to the significant challenges in treating broken bones and other major leg injuries. Leg injuries that are not immediately fatal still may be life-threatening because a horse's weight must be distributed evenly on all four legs to prevent circulatory problems, laminitis, and other infections. If a horse loses the use of one leg temporarily, there is the risk that other legs will break down during the recovery period because they are carrying an abnormal weight load. While horses periodically lie down for brief periods of time, a horse cannot remain lying in the equivalent of a human's "bed rest" because of the risk of developing sores, internal damage, and congestion.


title: Thoroughbred

text: Whenever a racing accident severely injures a well-known horse, such as the major leg fractures that led to the euthanization of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, or 2008 Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles, animal rights groups have denounced the Thoroughbred racing industry. On the other hand, advocates of racing argue that without horse racing, far less funding and incentives would be available for medical and biomechanical research on horses. Although horse racing is hazardous, veterinary science has advanced. Previously hopeless cases can now be treated, and earlier detection through advanced imaging techniques like scintigraphy can keep at-risk horses off the track.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Phoebe Buffay is one of the six main characters from the American sitcom, "Friends". She is created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and portrayed by actress Lisa Kudrow.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: In the series' universe, Phoebe was born on February 16 and is the daughter of Frank and Lily Buffay. Her biological mother's name was Phoebe Abbott, whom she was named after. Phoebe has a twin sister, Ursula, a waitress who is also portrayed by Kudrow. Phoebe can speak several languages, including French and Italian. She appeared in all of the show's 236 episodes during its decade-long run, from its premiere on September 22, 1994, to its finale on May 6, 2004. She is a masseuse and musician, notable for her offbeat and extremely ditzy behavior. She was Monica Geller's roommate before Rachel Green, which is how she was introduced to the group. Phoebe is best friends with Monica and Rachel, along with their neighbors, Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani, and also Monica's brother Ross Geller. She plays acoustic guitar and sings simple, awkward songs at Central Perk, occasionally busking also. During the show's ninth season, Phoebe is set up on a blind date with Mike Hannigan (played by actor Paul Rudd) and they eventually marry in the last season.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Critical reception towards Phoebe has remained consistently positive throughout Friends' decade-long run. Kudrow received critical acclaim for playing her character, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award, and an American Comedy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award nomination. Phoebe has since been named one of the greatest television characters of all time.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Phoebe is considered to be Kudrow's breakout role, credited with making her the show's second most famous cast member, after Jennifer Aniston, and for spawning her successful film career.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: In the pilot episode, Phoebe is introduced as one of the six original friends, including her Greenwich Village Manhattan neighbors Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Chandler (Matthew Perry), former roommate Monica (Courteney Cox), Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), and Monica's brother, Ross (David Schwimmer). She is a masseuse and part time, aspiring folk-type musician, who plays dreadnought style acoustic guitars and sings very awkward or absurd, self-composed songs. She has been shown busking in the subway, outside of the gang's usual "hang out" place, Central Perk, as well as at a public library, and has been seen frequently playing live sets inside the coffee shop. She had moved in with her maternal grandmother (Audra Lindley), upon moving out of Monica's apartment, approximately one year before the pilot episode, due to Monica's obsessive compulsive nature and anal-retentive cleaning habits. During the first season, she has myriad boyfriends, including Tony, a physicist named David, played by Hank Azaria, and a psychologist named Roger, played by Fisher Stevens. Phoebe works as a temporary secretary for Chandler for a brief period of time in "The One with the Ick Factor".


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Phoebe's crass, identical twin sister, Ursula Buffay (also portrayed by Kudrow), a character originally created for and appearing in the American sitcom "Mad About You" as a waitress, is also introduced in the first season, in "The One with Two Parts". Phoebe is shown to have a very strained relationship with Ursula who is one minute older than her and seems to care little about family affairs or Phoebe, Phoebe nearly always goes home empty-handed and none the wiser. When it is revealed Ursula performs in porn under Phoebe's name, Phoebe eventually finds some redemption by cashing in Ursula's pay slips. Phoebe's father, Frank Buffay, abandoned the family when Phoebe was a child, and the woman Phoebe believed was her mother, Lily Buffay, committed suicide when Phoebe was about 14, by means of carbon monoxide poisoning. However, Phoebe discovers she has a paternal half-brother Frank, Jr., and later meets her real mother Phoebe Abbott (Teri Garr), who had given her up for adoption when she was born.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: In the second season episode, "The One with Phoebe's Husband", it is revealed that Phoebe was legally married to a "hoping to be gay" Canadian ice dancer, Duncan Sullivan (Steve Zahn), for six years, to help him acquire his green card. The two divorce when he realizes that he is, in fact, heterosexual, and going to marry another woman. In "The One with the Baby on the Bus", Phoebe is temporarily replaced as the primary singer for Central Perk by a professional singer named Stephanie Schiffer, played by singer Chrissie Hynde. Phoebe's song "Smelly Cat" is introduced in the same episode. In "The One Where Eddie Moves In", a record company produces a full budget music video for the song, in which her voice is overdubbed by a much better singer; she turns down her record deal when she discovers the depth of the deception.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Although the facets of Phoebe's character are manifold and extremely complex, Phoebe can generally be classified as kind-hearted, but ditzy and whimsical. Due in no small part to her extremely traumatic childhood, Phoebe has developed a child-like naïveté in an attempt to shield herself from the world's evils. In addition to being a vegetarian and an avid tree hugger, she also displays a remarkable lack of experience with the "darker sides" of life. In "The One Where Old Yeller Dies", it is shown that her deceased mother Lily would turn off films before a tragic ending, including the death of Old Yeller or Bambi's mother being shot. It is also revealed that she was never told the truth about Santa Claus. This is made all the more prominent as one of the running jokes of the show is Phoebe's seemingly infinite criminal record. She repeatedly makes reference to her underworld connections and crimes committed while living "on the streets".


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Much to the dismay of her friends (especially paleontologist Ross), Phoebe dabbles in trendy New Age ideas and superstitions throughout the series. She is convinced she can feel the presence of her dead grandmother in her old apartment, she senses the spirit of her mother in a lost cat, reads tea leaves, and dismisses Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as "too easy" in "The One Where Heckles Dies". Very in tune with her emotions and those of others, Phoebe sometimes serves as a rock to her friends. She especially shows a great deal of maternal instinct towards her younger brother Frank, despite the latter's lack of intelligence.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Similar to the short-lived Monica/Chandler/Richard love triangle, Phoebe had two serious romantic interests that overlapped with each other at one point during the series. Physicist David (Hank Azaria), has a romance with Phoebe in the first season of the series, but breaks her heart when he decides to leave for Minsk on a three-year research trip. He makes a few more appearances throughout the series, most notably shortly before her engagement to Mike (Paul Rudd). Mike was introduced early in the ninth season of the show, during a double blind date with Joey, who finds Mike randomly at Central Perk. After a whirlwind romance, Phoebe and Mike break up after he says he never wants to marry again, and she briefly reunites with David. While on a trip to Barbados, both men propose to her, but she rejects David, realizing she is in love with Mike. She temporarily rejects Mike's proposal also, merely wanting an indication that their relationship is progressing. She ends up marrying Mike.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: One of the show's running gags are Phoebe's absurd, folksy songs with awkward titles like "Pervert Parade", "Ode to A Pubic Hair", "You Suck", "Shut Up & Go Home", "Ballad of the Circumcized Man", "The Food Here Will Kill You", however Phoebe's magnum opus is undoubtedly "Smelly Cat", which she debuts in season one at Central Perk. The song is about a cat who is shunned by society because of its foul stench as a result of flatulence ("What are they feeding you?"). However, Phoebe empathizes with it, because she can relate to being outcast. The verses consist of Phoebe rattling off a list of ways in which the cat is disliked ("They won't take you to the vet", "you're obviously not their favorite pet", etc.) while the chorus ends with the uplifting message to anyone who is different or unique that it is "not your fault". In the episode, "The One Where Eddie Moves In," Phoebe is discovered by a record producer who wants to make a music video for "Smelly Cat". Phoebe is delighted with the end result, at first naively failing to recognize that the voice in the video belongs to a far more talented singer. Ultimately, she philosophizes that the unrecognized singer "is", metaphorically, Smelly Cat, denied deserving adoration for having the wrong "look". In the episode, "The One With Phoebe's Ex-Partner," Phoebe's former singing partner, Leslie, portrayed by E.G. Daily, wants to get back together. The partnership fails again when Leslie sells "Smelly Cat" to a commercial agency against Phoebe's wishes. Phoebe teaches the song to Chrissie Hynde, who releases it in a 1999 album. The credited songwriters include Adam Chase, Betsy Borns, Kudrow and Hynde. On August 26, 2015, Kudrow performed the song as a duet with Taylor Swift during Swift's concert in Los Angeles as a part of her 1989 World Tour.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Her age seemed to have differed throughout the series. In "The One with the Mugging", it is implied that Phoebe is older than Ross, seeing as she was fourteen when he was 12. This episode made her possibly the oldest in the group. In "The One with the Jellyfish" (Season 4), Phoebe states that she is twenty-nine, placing her birth in approximately 1968. However, in "The One Where They're Going to Party" (Season 4), Ross states he is also 29, which does not work with the previously mentioned two-year age gap. According to "The One with Frank Jr.", Phoebe was born on February 16; however, in Season 9 ("The One with Phoebe's Birthday Dinner") Phoebe's birthday is sometime in early November, since they could not make the reservations and the dinner had to be moved back to October 31. In "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" (Season 7), it is revealed that Phoebe was born a year earlier than she thought, believing she was 30 but was truly 31, which further adds to the inconsistency of her age throughout the show's run. Phoebe also tries on at least one occasion to manipulate the other friends into celebrating her birthday again within months of a previous birthday party.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Phoebe occasionally uses the alter ego Regina Phalange. The first reference to Regina Phalange is during season 5 following Ross saying "Rachel" instead of "Emily" at his wedding. She pretends to be "Doctor Phalange", Ross's brain doctor, claiming that names are interchangeable in his mind. When the friends go to Vegas, Phoebe introduces herself to the blackjack dealer as Regina Phalange. When Phoebe, Rachel, and Melissa go out to lunch (The One with Rachel's Big Kiss), and Melissa asks if she was in a sorority, she pretends to be a member of "Thigh Mega Tampon", a fictional sorority that was allegedly shut down when Regina Phalange died of alcohol poisoning. She also used her fake name to show Chandler and Monica how easily people lie about their names and to help Chandler with his interviewing skills in season 8 episode 4, when Joey says, "Hi, I'm Ken Adams" she replies, "Regina Phalange". In the season 10 episode "The One Where Joey Speaks French", Phoebe attempts to spare Joey from humiliation by introducing herself as "Régine Philange" and stating that Joey is speaking an obscure regional dialect from her "hometown" of "Estée Lauder". She immediately switches to French and claims that Joey is her younger brother who is "un peu retardé" (a little slow), and requesting that the casting director humor Joey's French-speaking abilities. The last reference is in the series finale when Phoebe successfully stalls Rachel's plane to Paris by saying there is a problem with the "left phalange", causing everyone on the plane to evacuate. The passengers are eventually convinced to return to the plane. When a woman skeptically asks an airport employee if "the phalange" was fixed, he replies, "Yes, the phalange is fixed! As a matter of fact, we put a whole lot of extra phalanges onboard, just in case!"


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Ellen DeGeneres, Kathy Griffin, Jane Lynch, and Megan Mullally all auditioned for the role of Phoebe. Lisa Kudrow won the role because the producers liked her recurring role as Ursula, the waitress in "Mad About You". The characters were connected to make them twin sisters. The producers said they liked the elements of Lisa in Ursula, but they needed Phoebe to be a lot more humorous.


title: Phoebe Buffay

text: Kudrow received critical acclaim for playing her character, including a Primetime Emmy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Satellite Award, and an American Comedy Award, as well as a Golden Globe Award nomination.


title: Pussy torture

text: Pussy torture (also known as vagina torture, cunt torture or female genitorture) is a BDSM or sexual activity involving the application of pain or pressure to a vulva or vagina, typically in the context of sadomasochism. It is sometimes considered to be an analogue of cock and ball torture. Pussy torture is meant to be done consensually in the case of BDSM. The recipient may take part in order to provide pleasure to a sadistic dominant. Another motivation is to receive masochistic pleasure from the activity. Genital stimulation produces sexual arousal and can do so even if that stimulation is painful. Physiologically the practice provides changes in blood flow to the genitals and releases endorphins and hormones. Mild examples of pussy torture sometimes occur in conventional sex, while the more extreme ones are usually kink practices. Some pussy torture techniques are very dangerous and unsafe and many carry significant health risks, and hence adequate precautions need to be taken. Information on safety issues is often obtained from experienced practitioners or from BDSM training workshops. The dominant performing pussy torture on the submissive can be of any gender.


title: Middle age

text: Middle age is the period of age beyond young adulthood but before the onset of old age. The exact range is disputed, but the general consensus has placed middle age as the ages of 40 to 60. This phase of life is marked by gradual physical, cognitive, and social changes in individuals as they age.


title: Middle age

text: This time span can be referred to as "middle age" and can be defined as the time of ages about 40 to about 60. Many changes may occur between young adulthood and this stage. Some definitions start as late as 45, such as those of Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary, but that specific range is not usually the norm because it is often considered to start and end earlier, but definitions vary. There is no universal consensus on what the exact definition of middle age is, but usual characteristics include the beginning of rapid decline of fertility, graying of hair, and lessening of opportunities. The American Psychological Association defines "middle adulthood" as beginning at 35 or 36, and many ranges do not end until 60 or 65. The Lancet considers midlife as starting from around age 40. Modern social scientists generally agree that midlife begins around 35 to 40 and ends around 55 to 60.


title: Middle age

text: The body may slow down and the middle aged might become more sensitive to diet, substance abuse, stress, and rest. Chronic health problems can become issues along with disability or disease. Approximately one centimeter of height may be lost per decade. Emotional responses and retrospection vary from person to person; for example, senses of mortality, sadness, or loss are common emotions at this age.


title: Middle age

text: Those in middle adulthood or middle age continue to develop relationships and adapt to changes in relationships. Such changes are highly evident in the maturing relationships between growing or grown children and aging parents. Community involvement is fairly typical of this stage of adulthood, as is continued career development.


title: Middle age

text: Middle-aged adults may begin to show visible signs of aging. This process can be more rapid in women who have osteoporosis. Changes might occur in the nervous system. The ability to perform complex tasks remains intact. During the years surrounding the age of 51, women experience menopause, which ends natural fertility. Menopause can have many side effects. Changes can occur to skin, and other changes may include a decline in physical fitness, including a reduction in aerobic performance, a decrease in maximal heart rate, and graying and loss of hair. Sensory sensitivity in middle-aged adults has been shown to be one of the lowest. These measurements are generalities, and people may exhibit changes at different rates and times.


title: Middle age

text: Mortality rates can begin to increase from 50 onward, due mainly to health issues like heart problems, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes.


title: Middle age

text: Starting around age 35, pregnant women are considered to be of advanced maternal age, and significant declines in fertility begin to occur that usually end with menopause around age 50. The normal range for menopause is 45 to 55.


title: Middle age

text: Erik Erikson refers to this period of adulthood as generativity versus stagnation, the seventh of eight stages of Erikson's stages of psychosocial development. People in middle adulthood or middle age may experience some cognitive loss, which usually remains unnoticeable because life experiences and strategies get developed to compensate for any decrease in mental abilities.


title: Middle age

text: During this stage, adults often strive to have things that will outlast them. Generativity, which is the concern and the commitment middle-aged people have for future generations, is a big part of development during this stage.


title: Middle age

text: For some, marital satisfaction remains intact, but other family relationships can become more difficult. Career satisfaction focuses more on inner satisfaction and contentedness and less on ambition and the desire to advance. Even so, career changes occur often. Middle adulthood or middle age can be a time when people reexamine their lives by taking stock and evaluating their accomplishments. Morality may change and become more conscious. The perception that those in this stage of development of life undergo a so-called midlife crisis is a largely false one. Personality characteristics remain stable throughout this period, and relationships in middle adulthood may continue to evolve into connections that are stable.


The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP ) is a free trade agreement among the Asia-Pacific nations of Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The 15 member countries account for about 30% of the world's population (2.2 billion people) and 30% of global GDP ($29.7 trillion), making it the largest trade bloc in history. Signed in November 2020, RCEP is the first free trade agreement among the largest economies in Asia, including China, Indonesia, Japan, and South Korea.


title: Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership

text: The RCEP was conceived at the 2011 ASEAN Summit in Bali, Indonesia, while negotiations formally launched during the 2012 ASEAN Summit in Cambodia. India, which took part in the initial negotiations but later decided to opt out, was invited to join the bloc at any time. Any other country or separate customs territory in the region can accede to the pact from 1 July 2023 onward. The treaty was formally signed on 15 November 2020 at the virtual ASEAN Summit hosted by Vietnam. As of 17 January 2022, seven of the ten ASEAN and all five of the non-ASEAN signatories have deposited their instruments of RCEP ratification with the Secretary-General of ASEAN. For the first ten ratifying countries, the trade pact took effect on 1 January 2022.


text: The RCEP includes a mix of high-, middle-, and low-income countries. It is expected to eliminate about 90% of the tariffs on imports between its signatories within 20 years of coming into force, and establish common rules for e-commerce, trade, and intellectual property. Several analysts predicted that it would offer significant economic gains for signatory nations, boost post-pandemic economic recovery, as well as "pull the economic centre of gravity back towards Asia, with China poised to take the lead in writing trade rules for the region," leaving the United States behind in economic and political affairs in the region. Reactions from others were neutral or negative, with some analysts saying that the economic gains from the trade deal would be modest. The RCEP was criticized by the Australian Institute of International Affairs, stating that it ignores labor, human rights, and environmental sustainability issues.


text: The agreement is intended to reduce tariffs and red tape. It includes unified rules of origin throughout the bloc, which may facilitate international supply chains and trade within the region. It also prohibits certain tariffs. It does not focus on labor unions, environmental protection, or government subsidies.


text: The RCEP is not as comprehensive as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, another free trade agreement in the region that includes some of the same countries.


text: The RCEP "does not establish unified standards on labour and the environment, or commit countries to open services and other vulnerable areas of their economies."


text: The combined GDP of potential RCEP members surpassed the combined GDP of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) members in 2007. It was suggested that continued economic growth, particularly in China and Indonesia, could see total GDP in the original RCEP membership grow to over US$100 trillion by 2050, roughly double the project size of TPP economies. On 23 January 2017, President Donald Trump signed a memorandum withdrawing the United States from the TPP, a move which was seen to improve the chances of success for RCEP.


text: According to a 2020 projection, the agreement is expected to enlarge the global economy by US$186 billion. According to Peter Petri and Michael Plummer of the Brookings Institution, the RCEP could add $209 billion annually to world incomes, and $500 billion to world trade by 2030, and that "new agreements will make the economies of North and Southeast Asia more efficient, linking their strengths in technology, manufacturing, agriculture, and natural resources." According to computer simulations in a related paper also by Petri and Plummer published by the Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE), the RCEP will raise global national incomes in 2030 by an annual $147 billion and $186 billion respectively, "yield especially large benefits for China, Japan, and South Korea and losses for the United States and India, and "will be especially valuable because it strengthens East Asian interdependence, raising trade among members by $428 billion and reducing trade among nonmembers by $48 billion".


text: The simulations in Petri and Plummer's PIIE paper showed that the RCEP and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would together more than offset the global negative economic impact of the China-United States trade war, but not the individual losses of China and the United States. Moreover, the incremental value of the CPTPP will be reduced by the trade war (from $147 billion to $121 billion) while the value of RCEP will be increased (from $186 billion to $209 billion). The PIIE working paper also stated that "RCEP will be economically significant with or without India, and indeed more significant than the CPTPP, with especially important benefits for China, Japan, and Korea" and that "RCEP will reorient trade and economic ties away from global linkages toward regionally focused relationships in East Asia."


text: According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the RCEP is "relatively comprehensive in coverage" and combines existing deals, which brings Asia a step closer to a region-wide trading bloc. The agreement further liberalizes goods and services trade, establishes common rules of origin for all goods traded, establishes commitments regarding government procurement, and aims to establish open and competitive markets. Though the degree of liberalization within RCEP is not as deep as in the CPTPP, RCEP members are projected to gain $174 billion in real income by 2030, equivalent to 0.4% of the members' aggregate GDP. China, Korea and Japan will benefit the most, with likely gains of $85 billion for China, $48 billion for Japan, and $23 billion for Korea. Other significant RCEP gains will accrue to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Due to their RCEP membership, Japan and Korea would accrue gains amounting to 1% of their GDP while Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei would all accrue gains of 0.5% of GDP or higher.


text: New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade stated that the RCEP is projected to add $186 billion to the world economy and increase New Zealand's GDP by around $2.0 billion. The RCEP members took 56% of New Zealand's total exports, representing 61% of New Zealand's goods exports (worth $36.6 billion) and 45% of New Zealand's services exports (worth $11.8 billion). According to the ministry, "RCEP delivers improved market access for New Zealand services exporters and investors in some RCEP markets that go beyond existing FTAs. Under RCEP, New Zealand services exporters and investors will, for the first time, benefit from market access commitments from China and ASEAN countries that are not party to the CPTPP". Following the signing of the RCEP, New Zealand and China signed a deal to further expand their existing free-trade agreement. The expanded deal provides for tariffs to be either removed or cut on many of New Zealand's mostly commodities-based exports, ranging from dairy to timber and seafood, while compliance costs will also be reduced. The deal also opens up sectors such as aviation, education and finance.


text: When the RCEP was signed, Chinese premier Li Keqiang declared it "a victory of multilateralism and free trade". Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong called it "a major step forward for our region" and a sign of support for free trade and economic interdependence.


text: Several analysts predicted that it would help stimulate the economies of signatory nations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as "pull the economic centre of gravity back towards Asia, with China poised to take the lead in writing trade rules for the region", leaving the U.S. behind in economic and political affairs.


text: Mohamed Azmin Ali, Minister of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia, said the RCEP would encourage local businesses to enter global markets and would increase Malaysia's exports. He stated that RCEP signatories would enjoy preferential treatment due to the removal of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers.


text: Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia, stated that the signing of the RCEP was a historic day that signaled Indonesia's strong commitment to multilateralism. Agus Suparmanto, Indonesian Minister of Trade, said that the RCEP could boost Indonesia's exports to signatory nations by 8-11% and boost investment into Indonesia by 18-22%, and expressed confidence that the trade pact would benefit Indonesian business.


text: Moon Jae-in, the President of South Korea, praised the RCEP as an unprecedented mega regional trading agreement and expressed confidence that it will "contribute to the recovery of multilateralism and the development of free trade around the world, beyond the region". Moon also stated that he expects the RCEP to open the world's biggest e-commerce market. The Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcomed the conclusion of the RCEP, expecting that it would "expand a new free trade bloc and serve as the basis for revitalizing the Asia-Pacific regional economic markets". The RCEP will benefit Korean companies by removing tariffs on several Korean imports in signatory nations, especially in steel, automobiles and electronics.


text: Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's former permanent representative to the United Nations and former President of the United Nations Security Council, stated that the "future of Asia will be written in four letters, RCEP" and that India did a major geopolitical favor to China by withdrawing from the RCEP, just as the United States did by withdrawing from the CPTPP. Mahbubani added that with India and the United States absent, "a massive economic ecosystem centered on China is evolving in the region".


text: According to Peter Petri and Michael Plummer at the Brookings Institution, the agreement represented "a triumph of ASEAN's middle-power diplomacy" and would lead to significant increases in world incomes and trade by 2030, even though it "says nothing at all about labor, the environment, or state-owned enterprises". They added, "However, ASEAN-centered trade agreements tend to improve over time."


text: In 2016, the Electronic Frontier Foundation described the first draft of RCEP's intellectual property provisions as containing "quite simply the worst provisions on copyright ever seen in a trade agreement."


text: India pulled out of the deal in November 2019, primarily due to concerns of dumping of manufactured goods from China and agricultural and dairy products from Australia and New Zealand, potentially affecting its own domestic industrial and farming sectors. Due to India's withdrawal, there are concerns that China may dominate RCEP. ASEAN leaders stated that India was welcome to return and join the bloc. Any other state may join RCEP 18 months after it comes into force.


text: "The Wall Street Journal" reported in November 2019 that the tariff-related liberalizations from RCEP would be modest, calling it a "paper tiger". A comprehensive study into the deal shows that it would add just 0.08% to China's 2030 GDP without India's participation.


text: Human rights groups said RCEP could negatively affect small farmers, lead to more land conflicts, and make workers in poorer nations worse off. Rashmi Banga, a senior economist at UNCTAD, said that implementing RCEP at a time of crisis will make poorer nations in Southeast Asia even more vulnerable, adding, "Most Asean nations will see rising imports and declining exports. That will worsen their balance of trade and weaken their fiscal position."


text: Former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said that despite the "hoopla", the RCEP was "a really low-ambition trade deal that we shouldn't kid ourselves on", adding, "It's a very old fashioned trade deal. It's low ambition. It's been affected largely for strategic reasons."


text: CNBC reported that the economic benefits from RCEP would be modest and could take years to materialize, with analysts from Citi suggesting that RCEP was "a coup for China" non-economically. The Citi report also said that India is one of the biggest losers from RCEP, adding, "exclusion will likely make India less attractive as an alternative production base versus ASEAN."


text: Indian external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said it is not in India's interest to join the RCEP, as the trade deal would have "fairly immediate negative consequences" for India's economy. Zia Haq, associate editor at "Hindustan Times", said India has "rightly shunned" the RCEP because at the moment it cannot take advantage of free-trade agreements. He went on to say, "India fears the RCEP will also limit its policy-making room in areas such as foreign investment." He said that according to some analysts, there will be limited gains from the RCEP without India, which is Asia's third-largest economy.


text: Yen Huai-shing, deputy director at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, wrote on "Taipei Times" that the RCEP is "not to have a strong impact" on Taiwan. She said that most observers did not expect the RCEP to provide a high degree of openness, and that it provides no dispute settlement mechanism when handling certain trade issues such as meat inspection regulations, adding, "In other words, they are more symbolic than binding."


text: According to Patricia Ranald at the Australian Institute of International Affairs, RCEP has limited gains from trade and ignores labor, human rights, and environmental sustainability issues. She said, "Despite claims about the benefits of common standards, the RCEP has no commitments to internationally recognised labour rights and environmental standards which Australia and other RCEP governments have endorsed through the United Nations and the International Labour Organization."


text: Salvatore Babones commented on "Foreign Policy" that, by 2030, the world's economy would be expected to grow around 40% and the RCEP may add 0.2% to it, the scale of a "rounding error". He said that some main exports to China, such as Japan's machinery and Australia's iron ore, are already tariff-free. Babones said that with the signing of RCEP, "China may score propaganda points by posing as the guardian of the international system, but the system itself is increasingly bypassing China."


text: Some analysts and economists said the RCEP is unlikely to benefit its developing member countries in the short term. Kate Lappin, Asia Pacific regional secretary at Public Services International, said that the pact has no provisions for improving labor rights, adding, "The agreement might not be good for governments and workers, but still deliver profits for foreign investors."


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: The Permanent Resident card (PR card; ) is an identification document and a travel document for permanent residents of Canada. It is one of the methods by which Canadian permanent residents can prove their status and is, along with the permanent resident travel document (PRTD), one of the only documents that allow permanent residents to return to Canada by a commercial carrier.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Originally named and still colloquially referred to as the "Maple Leaf card", the PR card was first proposed in 2001 as part of the Canadian government's overhaul of immigration and security laws following the September 11 attacks in the United States. After the 2001 passage of the new Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the first PR cards were distributed on 28 June 2002.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Like Canadian passports, all PR cards are issued by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) and are the property of the Canadian Crown and must be returned upon request.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Starting from 10 November 2016, all travellers to Canada (except for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, U.S. citizens, nationals and lawful permanent residents, and travellers with a valid Canadian visa) are required to have an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) before boarding a flight to Canada. Hence permanent residents, including those from one of the visa-free countries (except the U.S.), need either a PR card or a PRTD to board a flight to Canada.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: There have been three types of PR card in circulation: the 2002, the 2009 and the 2015 version. As all PR card's lifespan cannot exceed five years, the initial 2002 and 2009 versions should be no longer in use.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: All three versions of the card contain a maple leaf in the front of the card, hence earning the nickname "maple leaf card".


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: The card is an ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 sized (commonly known as credit-card sized) document. The front of the card contains the holder's photograph, name, an 8-digit ID number, sex, nationality, date of birth, signature and the card's date of expiration. For the back of the card, an optical stripe which contains the holder's information is available on top. Below it are additional information on the holder including their immigration category, colour of eyes and height, country of birth as well as the day the holder became a permanent resident. A machine readable zone is at the bottom. The colour of the card is aqua, with graphs in purple and orange, and a maple leaf can be seen in the front.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Comparing to the previous version, the 2009 version of the card, which was introduced on 24 August 2009, contains the same information as the previous version. The design, however, was significantly changed with a white background colour, a transparent window on the right side of the card, a second ghost image located in the transparent window, and the replacement of optical stripe with a 2-D barcode.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: In circulation since 25 November 2015, the 2015 version of the card has an RFID chip which can be used for future land border crossings. Unlike the biometric chips found in Canadian passports, the RFID chip does not store any personal data, but instead a unique identifier. When entering Canada from a land port of entry, the RFID chip in the PR card will be read by RFID tag readers. The unique identifier is then transmitted to a secure database and the permanent resident's information is retrieved by the CBSA officer who will have information even before the vehicle stops at the inspection booth. The design is similar to the 2009 version, although an image of the Peace Tower is shown on the background. The new version also removed immigration category and the 2-D barcode from the back of the card.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: There is a machine-readable zone at the back of the card. It consists of 3 rows each containing 30 characters. The format is compliant with ICAO Document 9303 Part 5.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Checksum calculation is the same algorithm used in Machine-readable passports. Multiply each digit by its weight. Weight of a digit depends on its position. The weight sequence is 7, 3, 1 and it repeats. All values are added and the result divided by 10 gives the check digit.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: It is necessary to supply a Canadian residential address at the time of landing. If a Canadian address cannot be supplied at the time, one must be provided to IRCC within 180 days. Otherwise, a new application made to IRCC's processing centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, will be required, at a cost of to the applicant. There is no fee for a first PR card provided that the applicant provides an address before the 180-day deadline.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Permanent residents as of 28 June 2002 and new permanent residents who did not provide a Canadian residential address, or whose PR card was expired, lost, stolen or damaged, must apply to IRCC's processing centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, for a new card. The applicant must demonstrate he or she has resided for at least 730 days before the five-year period of the card's renewal application. The fee is . In some cases, the PR card must be collected in person at an IRCC office in Canada.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: The PR card is normally valid for five years. However, it may be valid for one year for those whose PR status is being assessed by the IRCC.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: As permanent residents must meet the residency obligation (minimum of 730 days in every five years) in order to renew PR cards, all valid PR card holders are deemed to have not lost permanent resident status and have the right to enter and remain in Canada during the card's validity. If, however, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officer at the port of entry considers the permanent resident may not meet the residency obligation, the person may be reported to IRCC and may be required to attend a hearing to determine his or her PR status.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: A PR card's expiration date does not indicate that the holder's status as a permanent resident has expired, or will expire, on that date. It is the date after which the card must be replaced with a new card.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: It is not possible to apply for the PR card outside Canada. Instead, permanent residents wishing to travel to Canada who do not have a valid PR card may apply for a single use Permanent Resident Travel Document (PRTD) which allows a journey to Canada as a permanent resident. The application may only be submitted to Government of Canada offices abroad and the fee is . The officers abroad will then determine whether the person still has permanent resident status.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Whether one is a permanent resident or not is determined by the provisions of the IRPA. Under section 31(2)(a) of the IRPA, a person with a valid permanent card or signed confirmation of permanent residence document (electronic or otherwise) is "presumed" to be a permanent resident unless the IRCC officer determines that he or she is no longer a permanent resident. Similarly, under section 31(2)(b) of the IRPA, a person who is outside Canada without a valid PR card or signed confirmation of permanent residence document (electronic or otherwise) is presumed "not" to be a permanent resident unless proven otherwise.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: The IRPA, however, does not specify the requirement for a permanent resident to hold a PR card, so a permanent resident who does not hold a valid PR card continues to be a permanent resident regardless of whether he or she is physically in Canada, if he or she satisfies the residency obligation and the status has not been revoked, although it would be difficult to prove the person's status in many cases.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: A PR card is the most convenient way of proving status to authorities within Canada (e.g. provincial governments, employers, schools). All permanent residents have other documentation (such as original landing papers) which is also acceptable. However, there is no legal requirement for a permanent resident to carry a PR card at all times.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: For visa-free travels, Canadian permanent residents require a PR card, unless the person's passport in itself is sufficient for exemption. A Canadian PR card holder may travel visa-free to the following countries if not already exempt:


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: For non-visa-exempt nationals, UK allows holders of a valid PR card issued after 2002 to transit without visa under TWOV program.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: A Canadian permanent resident has the right to enter Canada under section 27(1) of IRPA, provided that their PR status has not been revoked, hence legally speaking, a permanent resident does not need a PR card to enter Canada.


title: Canada permanent resident card

text: Due to the changes in visa policy, however, all permanent residents are required to hold a valid PR card to enter Canada by air unless they hold a U.S passport. As any person can approach one of the Canadian land ports of entry along the Canada–United States border, a permanent resident does not need to hold a valid PR card to enter Canada from the United States, although they may face difficulties when boarding a commercial carrier (bus, ship or train).


title: Drupe

text: In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the "pit", "stone", or "pyrena") of hardened endocarp with a seed ("kernel") inside. These fruits usually develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries (polypyrenous drupes are exceptions).


title: Drupe

text: The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone is derived from the ovary wall of the flower. In an aggregate fruit, which is composed of small, individual drupes (such as a raspberry), each individual is termed a drupelet, and may together form an aggregate fruit. Such fruits are often termed "berries", although botanists use a different definition of "berry". Other fleshy fruits may have a stony enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed, but such fruits are not drupes.


title: Drupe

text: Flowering plants that produce drupes include coffee, jujube, mango, olive, most palms (including açaí, date, sabal, coconut and oil palms), pistachio, white sapote, cashew, and all members of the genus "Prunus", including the almond, apricot, cherry, damson, peach, nectarine, and plum.


title: Drupe

text: The term drupaceous is applied to a fruit having the structure and texture of a drupe, but which does not precisely fit the definition of a drupe.


title: Drupe

text: The boundary between a drupe and a berry is not always clear. Thus, some sources describe the fruit of species of the genus "Persea", which includes the avocado, as a drupe, others describe avocado fruit as a berry. One definition of "berry" requires the endocarp to be less than thick, other fruits with a stony endocarp being drupes. In marginal cases, terms such as "drupaceous" or "drupe-like" may be used.


title: Drupe

text: The term stone fruit (also stonefruit) can be a synonym for drupe or, more typically, it can mean just the fruit of the genus "Prunus".


title: Drupe

text: Freestone refers to a drupe having a stone which can be removed from the flesh with ease. The flesh is not attached to the stone and does not need to be cut to free the stone. Freestone varieties of fruits are preferred for uses that require careful removal of the stone, especially if removal will be done by hand. Freestone plums are preferred for making homegrown prunes, and freestone sour cherries are preferred for making pies and cherry soup.


title: Drupe

text: Clingstone refers to a drupe having a stone which cannot be easily removed from the flesh. The flesh is attached strongly to the stone and must be cut to free the stone. Clingstone varieties of fruits in the genus "Prunus" are preferred as table fruit and for jams, because the flesh of clingstone fruits tends to be more tender and juicy throughout.


title: Drupe

text: Tryma is a specialized term for such nut-like drupes that are difficult to categorize. Hickory nuts ("Carya") and walnuts ("Juglans") in the Juglandaceae family grow within an outer husk; these fruits are technically drupes or drupaceous nuts, thus are not true botanical nuts.


title: Drupe

text: Many drupes, with their sweet, fleshy outer layer, attract the attention of animals as a food, and the plant population benefits from the resulting dispersal of its seeds. The endocarp (pit or stone) is sometimes dropped after the fleshy part is eaten, but is often swallowed, passing through the digestive tract, and returned to the soil in feces with the seed inside unharmed. This passage through the digestive tract can reduce the thickness of the endocarp, thus can aid in germination rates. The process is known as scarification.


title: Drupe

text: Typical drupes include apricots, olives, loquat, peaches, plums, cherries, mangoes, pecans, and amlas (Indian gooseberries). Other examples include sloe ("Prunus spinosa") and ivy ("Hedera helix").


title: Drupe

text: The coconut is also a drupe, but the mesocarp is fibrous or dry (termed a "husk"), so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry, fibrous drupe. Unlike other drupes, the coconut seed is so large that it is unlikely to be dispersed by being swallowed by fauna, but it can float extremely long distances—across oceans.


title: Drupe

text: Bramble fruits such as the blackberry and the raspberry are aggregates of drupelets. The fruit of blackberries and raspberries comes from a single flower whose pistil is made up of a number of free carpels. However, mulberries, which closely resemble blackberries, are not aggregate fruit, but are multiple fruits, actually derived from bunches of catkins, each drupelet thus belonging to a different flower.


title: Drupe

text: Certain drupes occur in large clusters, as in the case of palm species, where a large array of drupes is found in a cluster. Examples of such large drupe clusters include dates, "Jubaea chilensis" in central Chile and "Washingtonia filifera" in the Sonoran Desert of North America.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Susan Saint James (born Susan Jane Miller; August 14, 1946) is an American actress and activist, most widely known for her work in television during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, especially the detective series "McMillan & Wife" (1971–1976) and the sitcom "Kate & Allie" (1984–1989).


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Connecticut family, the daughter of Constance (Geiger) Miller, a teacher, and Charles Daniel Miller, who worked for Mitchell Camera and later became the president of the Testor Corporation. Saint James was raised in Rockford, Illinois, where she began modeling as a teenager. In her younger school years she attended the Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart in Lake Forest, Illinois. She later attended the Connecticut College for Women.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James's first screen role was in the TV movie "Fame Is the Name of the Game" (1966) with Tony Franciosa, launching her career when it became a series two years later. Among her other early television appearances were two episodes of the first season of "Ironside" ("Girl in the Night", December 1967 and two months later, playing a different role in the episode "Something for Nothing"). She also had a supporting role in "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows" (1968), the sequel to "The Trouble with Angels".


title: Susan Saint James

text: From 1968 to 1971, as a result of her first role in "Fame Is the Name of the Game", Saint James had a regular part in the series "The Name of the Game", winning an Emmy Award for her role as research assistant Peggy Maxwell in 1969 and establishing her as a popular young actress. The series format, set at a large media company, featured rotating lead characters played by Tony Franciosa, Gene Barry, and Robert Stackgenerally only one of their characters seen each week. Saint James provided a measure of series continuity by appearing as a research assistant at various times to all three. She appeared in approximately half the episodes, usually in a supporting role, although her Peggy Maxwell was the primary character in the second-season episode "The King of Denmark," alongside Franciosa's "Jeff Dillon". As well, in the first-season story "Pineapple Rose" (a Gene Barry segment), Saint James was prominently featured when her character was kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity.


title: Susan Saint James

text: In 1967, Saint James had a small part in the pilot episode of the Robert Wagner crime-caper series "It Takes a Thief". This led to a recurring role playing a new character, Charlene "Chuck" Brown, Alexander Mundy's fellow thief and "casual" love interest. She was featured in four episodes of the series from 1968 to 1970. She went on to appear in the pilot episode of the western series "Alias Smith and Jones" (1971).


title: Susan Saint James

text: Then came her first starring role as Rock Hudson's younger supportive wife, Sally McMillan, in the popular, light-hearted crime series, "McMillan & Wife" (1971–1976), for which she received four Emmy Award nominations.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James left the show due to a contract dispute but went on to further her career as an actress in feature films, such as co-starring with Peter Fonda in the film "Outlaw Blues" (1977). She achieved significant success in the vampire comedy "Love at First Bite" (1979) and followed up with a role in the comedy "How to Beat the High Cost of Living" (1980), co-starring Jessica Lange and Jane Curtin. Between films, she made a guest appearance in the March 3, 1980, episode of "M*A*S*H" (episode 192: "War Co-Respondent"). After other film ventures failed to establish her, she returned to television, starring in the comedy series "Kate & Allie" opposite Jane Curtin from 1984 until 1989. She received three more Emmy Award nominations for this role.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James was a celebrity guest commentator for the World Wrestling Federation's "WrestleMania 2" event in 1986 along with Vince McMahon.


title: Susan Saint James

text: In her mid-40s, Saint James retired after "Kate & Allie" ended. In addition to motherhood (her second-youngest son was born during the fourth season of "Kate & Allie"), she has been an active volunteer with the Special Olympics (an organization she began actively supporting in 1972) She has served on the Special Olympics board and was Civitan International's celebrity chairperson for their Special Olympics involvement. She also is a board member of the Telluride Foundation.


title: Susan Saint James

text: In 1998, Saint James, her sister Mercedes Dewey and friend Barrie Johnson founded "Seedling and Pip", a baby gift basket business.Saint James occasionally has emerged from retirement to appear in television series guest roles, such as the mother of (her real-life niece) Christa Miller in the first season of "The Drew Carey Show", and ten years later, as a defense attorney on the February 28, 2006, episode of "". She also starred in a Warner Theatre (Torrington, Connecticut) 1999 production of "The Miracle Worker". On June 11, 2008, Saint James was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James married aspiring writer-director Richard Neubert at age 21, but the marriage lasted only a year. She was married a second time in 1971, to Thomas Lucas, a makeup artist. They had a daughter, Sunshine Lucas (born 1972), and a son, Harmony Lucas (born 1974). The marriage ended after six years.


title: Susan Saint James

text: In the late 1970s, during an interview, she stated: "About eight and a half years ago, my husband and I decided to stop eating meat and then about six months later we stopped eating fish. … I had two beautiful births as a vegetarian; they were great labors—no bleeding, no complications, no problems. The diet worked perfectly for me."


title: Susan Saint James

text: While guest-hosting "Saturday Night Live" in 1981, Saint James met her third husband, then-"SNL" executive producer Dick Ebersol.They married within the year and had three sons, Charles, William, and Edward (Teddy). In March 2002, Saint James filed for divorce from Ebersol, but the couple reconciled later that summer. Ebersol was chairman of NBC Sports until May 2011.


title: Susan Saint James

text: On November 28, 2004, a private plane carrying Ebersol and two of their sons crashed during an attempted takeoff from Montrose Regional Airport in Colorado. Ebersol and son Charles survived, but son Teddy, age 14, died, as did the pilot Luis Alberto Polanco Espaillet and flight attendant Warren T. Richardson III. Teddy Ebersol's Red Sox Fields at Lederman Park in Boston is named in memory of Saint James's son, and an episode of the television series "Scrubs" was dedicated to him.


title: Susan Saint James

text: Saint James is the aunt of actress Christa Miller. She holds honorary degrees from six Connecticut institutions: the University of Connecticut, the University of Bridgeport, Southern Connecticut State University, Albertus Magnus College, the University of New Haven, and Goodwin College. She was a featured speaker at The Women's Conference in 2007, at a session called "Beyond Courage: Overcoming the Unimaginable."


title: Susan Saint James

text: Now retired, Saint James is living a much quieter life and says she never got the “bug to go back” into the business. On June 4, 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she reunited with her "Kate & Allie" co-stars Jane Curtin, Frederick Koehler, Allison Smith, Ari Meyers and director Bill Persky for a live virtual event on "Stars in the House".


title: Central Africa

text: Central Africa is a subregion of the African continent comprising various countries according to different definitions. Angola, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Rwanda, and São Tomé and Príncipe are members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Six of those states (the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon) are also members of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and share a common currency, the Central African CFA franc.


title: Central Africa

text: The African Development Bank defines Central Africa as the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Middle Africa is an analogous term used by the United Nations in its geoscheme for Africa. It includes the same countries as the African Development Bank's definition, along with Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe.


title: Central Africa

text: The Central African Federation (1953–1963), also called the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, was made up of what are now the nations of Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Similarly, the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa covers dioceses in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, while the Church of Central Africa, Presbyterian has synods in Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These states are now typically considered part of East or Southern Africa.


title: Central Africa

text: The Congo River basin has historically been ecologically significant to the populations of Central Africa, serving as an important supra-regional organization in Central Africa.


title: Central Africa

text: Archeological finds in Central Africa have been discovered dating back, over 100,000 years. According to Zagato and Holl, there is evidence of iron-smelting in the Central African Republic that may date back to 3000 to 2500 BCE. Extensive walled settlements have recently been found in Northeast Nigeria, approximately southwest of Lake Chad dating to the first millennium BCE.


title: Central Africa

text: Trade and improved agricultural techniques supported more sophisticated societies, leading to the early civilisations of West African civilisations Sao, Kanem, Bornu, Shilluk, Baguirmi, and Wadai.


title: Central Africa

text: Around 2500 BCE, Bantu migrants had reached the Great Lakes Region in Central Africa. Halfway through the first millennium BCE, the Bantu had also settled as far south as what is now Angola.


title: Central Africa

text: The West African Sao civilization flourished from ca. the 6th century BCE to as late as the 16th century CE in northern Central Africa. The Sao lived by the Chari River south of Lake Chad in territory that later became part of Cameroon and Chad. They are the earliest people to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon. Today, several ethnic groups of northern Cameroon and southern Chad but particularly the Sara people claim descent from the civilization of the Sao. Sao artifacts show that they were skilled workers in bronze, copper, and iron. Finds include bronze sculptures and terra cotta statues of human and animal figures, coins, funerary urns, household utensils, jewelry, highly decorated pottery, and spears. The largest Sao archaeological finds have been made south of Lake Chad.


title: Central Africa

text: The West-Central African kingdom of Kanem–Bornu Empire was centered in the Lake Chad Basin. It was known as the Kanem Empire from the 9th century CE onward and lasted as the independent kingdom of Bornu until 1900. At its height it encompassed an area covering not only much of Chad, but also parts of modern eastern Niger, northeastern Nigeria, northern Cameroon and parts of South Sudan. The history of the Empire is mainly known from the Royal Chronicle or "Girgam" discovered in 1851 by the German traveler Heinrich Barth. Kanem rose in the 8th century in the region to the north and east of Lake Chad. The Kanem empire went into decline, shrank, and in the 14th century was defeated by Bilala invaders from the Lake Fitri region.


title: Central Africa

text: The Kanuri people of West Africa led by the Sayfuwa migrated to the west and south of the lake, where they established the Bornu Empire. By the late 16th century the Bornu empire had expanded and recaptured the parts of Kanem that had been conquered by the Bulala. Satellite states of Bornu included the Damagaram in the west and Baguirmi to the southeast of Lake Chad.


title: Central Africa

text: The Shilluk Kingdom was centered in South Sudan from the 15th century from along a strip of land along the western bank of White Nile, from Lake No to about 12° north latitude. The capital and royal residence were in the town of Fashoda. The kingdom was founded during the mid-fifteenth century CE by its first ruler, Nyikang. During the nineteenth century, the Shilluk Kingdom faced decline following military assaults from the Ottoman Empire and later British and Sudanese colonization in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.


title: Central Africa

text: The Kingdom of Baguirmi existed as an independent state during the 16th and 17th centuries southeast of West-Central Africa Lake Chad region in what is now the country of Chad. Baguirmi emerged to the southeast of the Kanem–Bornu Empire. The kingdom's first ruler was Mbang Birni Besse. Later in his reign, the Bornu Empire conquered and made the state a tributary.


title: Central Africa

text: The Wadai Empire was centered in Chad from the 17th century. The Tunjur people founded the Wadai Kingdom to the east of Bornu in the 16th century. In the 17th century, there was a revolt of the Maba people who established a Muslim dynasty.


title: Central Africa

text: At first, Wadai paid tribute to Bornu and Durfur, but by the 18th century, Wadai was fully independent and had become an aggressor against its neighbors.


title: Central Africa

text: Following the Bantu Migration from Western Africa, Bantu kingdoms and empires began to develop in southern Central Africa. In the 1450s, a Luba from the royal family Ilunga Tshibinda married Lunda queen Rweej and united all Lunda peoples. Their son "Mulopwe" Luseeng expanded the kingdom. His son Naweej expanded the empire further and is known as the first Lunda emperor, with the title "Mwata Yamvo" ("mwaant yaav", "mwant yav"), the "Lord of Vipers". The Luba political system was retained, and conquered peoples were integrated into the system. The "mwata yamvo" assigned a "cilool" or "kilolo" (royal adviser) and tax collector to each state conquered.


title: Central Africa

text: Numerous states claimed descent from the Lunda. The Imbangala of inland Angola claimed descent from a founder, Kinguri, brother of Queen Rweej, who could not tolerate the rule of "mulopwe" Tshibunda. "Kinguri" became the title of kings of states founded by Queen Rweej's brother. The Luena (Lwena) and Lozi (Luyani) in Zambia also claim descent from Kinguri. During the 17th century, a Lunda chief and warrior called Mwata Kazembe set up an Eastern Lunda kingdom in the valley of the Luapula River. The Lunda's western expansion also saw claims of descent by the Yaka and the Pende. The Lunda linked Central Africa with the western coast trade. The kingdom of Lunda came to an end in the 19th century when it was invaded by the Chokwe, who were armed with guns.


title: Central Africa

text: By the 15th century CE, the farming Bakongo people ("ba" being the plural prefix) were unified as the Kingdom of Kongo under a ruler called the "manikongo", residing in the fertile Pool Malebo area on the lower Congo River. The capital was M'banza-Kongo. With superior organization, they were able to conquer their neighbors and extract tribute. They were experts in metalwork, pottery, and weaving raffia cloth. They stimulated interregional trade via a tribute system controlled by the "manikongo". Later, maize (corn) and cassava (manioc) would be introduced to the region via trade with the Portuguese at their ports at Luanda and Benguela. The maize and cassava would result in population growth in the region and other parts of Africa, replacing millet as the main staple.


title: Central Africa

text: By the 16th century, the "manikongo" held authority from the Atlantic in the west to the Kwango River in the east. Each territory was assigned a "mani-mpembe" (provincial governor) by the "manikongo". In 1506, Afonso I (1506–1542), a Christian, took over the throne. Slave trading increased with Afonso's wars of conquest. About 1568 to 1569, the Jaga invaded Kongo, laying waste to the kingdom and forcing the "manikongo" into exile. In 1574, Manikongo Álvaro I was reinstated with the help of Portuguese mercenaries. During the latter part of the 1660s, the Portuguese tried to gain control of Kongo. Manikongo António I (1661–1665), with a Kongolese army of 5,000, was destroyed by an army of Afro-Portuguese at the Battle of Mbwila. The empire dissolved into petty polities, fighting among each other for war captives to sell into slavery.


title: Central Africa

text: Kongo gained captives from the Kingdom of Ndongo in wars of conquest. Ndongo was ruled by the "ngola". Ndongo would also engage in slave trading with the Portuguese, with São Tomé being a transit point to Brazil. The kingdom was not as welcoming as Kongo; it viewed the Portuguese with great suspicion and as an enemy. The Portuguese in the latter part of the 16th century tried to gain control of Ndongo but were defeated by the Mbundu. Ndongo experienced depopulation from slave raiding. The leaders established another state at Matamba, affiliated with Queen Nzinga, who put up a strong resistance to the Portuguese until coming to terms with them. The Portuguese settled along the coast as trade dealers, not venturing on conquest of the interior. Slavery wreaked havoc in the interior, with states initiating wars of conquest for captives. The Imbangala formed the slave-raiding state of Kasanje, a major source of slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries.


title: Central Africa

text: During the Conference of Berlin in 1884–85 Africa was divided up between the European colonial powers, defining boundaries that are largely intact with today's post-colonial states. On 5 August 1890 the British and French concluded an agreement to clarify the boundary between French West Africa and what would become Nigeria. A boundary was agreed along a line from Say on the Niger to Barruwa on Lake Chad, but leaving the Sokoto Caliphate in the British sphere. Parfait-Louis Monteil was given charge of an expedition to discover where this line actually ran.