title: Jah Wobble

text: In his early life and career, by his own admission, Wardle was given to occasional bouts of aggression, exacerbated by heavy drinking and drug use. As a result, he ended up living in a squat with John Gray in West London, whilst Lydon formed The Sex Pistols. With admittedly large "builders hands", he had experimented with the guitar, but found playing bass a more connected and whole body experience, influenced in part by admiring Bob Marley's and The Wailers bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett on stage in 1975. Wardle was as critical of his friend Vicious's bass playing as John Lydon, and had hence played in experimentation sessions with Lydon. After he burned the furniture of his squat-mates in order to stay warm, they left him alone there with a mattress, a headboard and his Music Man-copy bass.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Following the Sex Pistols' break-up, Lydon approached Wobble about forming a band. Both had similarly broad musical tastes, and were avid fans of reggae and world music. The band began rehearsing together in May 1978, although remained unnamed until July 1978, when Lydon officially named the band Public Image (PiL) (the "Ltd" was not added until several months later), after the Muriel Spark novel "The Public Image". Wobble's bass playing drew heavily on dub, which has remained an important feature of his music. Having experimented with Lydon pre-Sex Pistols break-up, he had written a simple repetitive bassline on which Lydon wrote "Public Image". PiL debuted in October 1978 with "Public Image", which reached number 9 on the UK charts, and also performed well on import in the US. Wobble has stated that the first PiL album was recorded so quickly due in part to the bassist's altercations with a sound engineer and men at a nearby pub. He has, however, dismissed claims accusing him of extreme malice, such as setting fire to the former drummer for The Fall, Karl Burns, while Burns was session drumming for PiL.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Wobble co-wrote and contributed bass and drums to PiL's second album "Metal Box", which was released in 1979. However, he grew increasingly frustrated by the lacklustre creative atmosphere in the band, which he felt stifled his artistic ambitions and PiL's creative potential. Besides differences in artistic vision, further conflicts were brought on in part by heavy drug and alcohol abuse in the band. Wobble then recorded his debut album "The Legend Lives On... Jah Wobble in "Betrayal"", making unauthorised use of material from "Metal Box" for which he was summarily fired from PiL in late 1980.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Wobble also released at least one single during his period as a member of PiL: His 1978 single "Dreadlock Don't Deal in Wedlock" in which he recites Edward Lear's "The Owl and the Pussycat" and finishes with the immortal line, 'love and marriage is like ice cream and cabbage ... dreadlock don't deal in wedlock."


title: Jah Wobble

text: Soon after leaving PiL, Wobble formed The Human Condition with guitarist Dave "Animal" Maltby and PiL's original drummer, Jim Walker. The Human Condition toured the UK, Europe, and US in 1981, and made two cassette-only releases of their live shows ("Live at the Collegiate Theatre" and "Live in Europe"). The post-PiL years saw Wobble also collaborating with Can members Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit on Czukay's solo projects (notably "On the Way to the Peak of Normal" and "Rome Remains Rome") and "Full Circle" (released in 1984).


title: Jah Wobble

text: In 1983, Wardle appeared on the LP "Snake Charmer" billed as a co-leader alongside guitarist The Edge of U2, Czukay, Liebezeit, and producer François Kevorkian.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Jah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart was formed in 1982. The original line-up was Ollie Marland on keys (who went on to become Tina Turner's musical director), Annie Whitehead on trombone, Neville Murray on percussion and a musician named only as Cliff, on drums. By 1983 Lee Partis was the drummer. Trumpeter Harry Beckett and pedal steel player B. J. Cole regularly performed with the group.


title: Jah Wobble

text: By 1985 Jah Wobble's heavy drinking and drunken brawls were having an effect on his life. Halfway through the recording of the album "Psalms" (October 1986), Wobble stopped drinking. From then through to the present day he has remained 'clean and sober'.


title: Jah Wobble

text: He then did a variety of day jobs, whilst continuing to perform and record his music in what spare time he had. These jobs included a long stretch with the London Underground. In an oft-quoted tale, it is related that he once, at Tower Hill Underground Station via the public address system, regaled commuters with the deadpan announcement, "I used to be somebody. I repeat, I used to be somebody."


title: Jah Wobble

text: By 1987, due to the repeated prompting of his friend and former bandmate, percussionist Neville Murray, Wobble reformed The Invaders of the Heart. Armed with a live recording of a concert he had made with a new line-up of musicians during a European tour in 1988, Wobble travelled to New York City's New Music Seminar in 1989 to get back into the music industry. Wobble was able to secure an eleventh-hour record deal with a small European record label. The live album, "Without Judgement", recorded in the Netherlands was released in November 1989 and successfully revived Wobble's career.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Following the success of Jah Wobble's "Invaders of the Heart" albums "Without Judgement" in 1990 and "Rising Above Bedlam" in 1991, Wobble has collaborated with many musicians - Brian Eno among them - & his explorations into world music predated much of the genre's popularity. Jah Wobble's 1994 album "Take Me To God" was influenced by world music genres and contributions from a variety of artists of diverse cultural backgrounds, including Baaba Maal, Dolores O'Riordan, and Chaka Demus, and was a critical and commercial success. His music has spanned a number of genres, including ambient music and dance music, and in 2003, reworkings of traditional English folk songs. Although he has released recordings since the late seventies Wobble has been particularly prolific from the mid-1990s to the present. He now runs his own label, 30 Hertz Records, and tours regularly throughout the UK and Europe with his current band, Jah Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Wobble was part of the industrial music supergroup The Damage Manual, which formed in 2000 and consisted of Wobble on bass alongside former PiL and Killing Joke drummer Martin Atkins, Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker, and vocalist Chris Connelly (who had previously worked with Atkins as part of two other industrial music supergroups, Pigface and Murder Inc., the latter of which also featured Walker). He appeared on the group's self-titled debut album as well as the EP "One", both of which were released on Atkins' Invisible Records label, but subsequently left the group after declining to participate in their tour of the U.S.


title: Jah Wobble

text: A collaboration with his wife, the Chinese-born guzheng player Zi Lan Liao, was entitled "Chinese Dub". He also performed at the 2008 Rhythm Festival.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Jah Wobble and the Chinese Dub Orchestra won the Cross-Cultural Collaboration category, for their album "Chinese Dub", in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards, announced on 1 May 2009, which were the new world music awards organised by the UK based magazine, "Songlines".


title: Jah Wobble

text: In September 2009, John Lydon reformed PiL for a series of concerts in late 2009. Despite Lydon's invitation to join, Jah Wobble did not feature in the line-up, since he considered the wages offered insufficient and disagreed with the choice of venues.


title: Jah Wobble

text: At an impromptu appearance at the Musicport Festival in Bridlington Spa on 24 October 2010, where they were joined by vocalist Johnny Rotter of the Sex Pistols Experience, Wobble renewed his association with former PiL guitarist Keith Levene.


title: Jah Wobble

text: In 2011, Wobble collaborated with Julie Campbell, alias Warp Records artist LoneLady in a project called "Psychic Life". The eponymous debut album "Psychic Life" was inspired by disco, post-punk and psychogeography, and released by Cherry Red Records on 14 November 2011. Keith Levene contributed to three tracks on the album. A digital-only EP, "Psychic Life", fronted by the song "Tightrope", was released in October 2011.


title: Jah Wobble

text: In early 2012, after some planned Japan gigs were cancelled because of visa issues, Wobble and Levene played various UK clubs as "Metal Box in Dub". The visa issues were resolved and they played Fuji Rock festival in July 2012. This was followed by the release of a four-song, eponymous EP. An album entitled "Yin & Yang" was released in November 2012.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Wobble has also collaborated with the British ambient group Marconi Union, the results of which were released as an album called Anomic on 30 Hertz records in June 2013. In October 2013, 30 Hertz Records released "Odds & Sods & Epilogues", an illustrated book/CD of Jah Wobble's poetry.


title: Jah Wobble

text: In 2015, Cherry Red Records released Redux, a six-CD box set that spans nearly four decades of Wobble's music. It includes new tracks "Merry Go Round" and "Let's Go Psycho". In May 2015, Jah Wobble & The Invaders of the Heart embarked on an extensive six-month UK tour. They recorded the album "The Usual Suspects" which was released on 3m Music in 2017. A series of gigs in England from January to May 2017 was announced.


title: Jah Wobble

text: Jah Wobble studied part-time for four years at Birkbeck, University of London, graduating in 2000 with an upper second-class honours degree in the humanities.


title: Jah Wobble

text: His autobiography, entitled "Memoirs of a Geezer: Music, Life, Mayhem" (Serpent's Tail books, London), was released in September 2009. It was well received by critics. He also writes occasional book reviews for "The Independent".


title: Jah Wobble

text: Wobble has four children: including music producer Natalie Wardle from his first marriage, and two sons with his second wife, the Chinese-born guzheng player and harpist Zi Lan Liao.


title: Operation Banner

text: Operation Banner was the operational name for the British Armed Forces' operation in Northern Ireland from 1969 to 2007, as part of the Troubles. It was the longest continuous deployment in British military history. The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. This involved counter-insurgency and supporting the police in carrying out internal security duties such as guarding key points, mounting checkpoints and patrols, carrying out raids and searches, riot control and bomb disposal. More than 300,000 soldiers served in Operation Banner. At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, about 21,000 British troops were deployed, most of them from Great Britain. As part of the operation, a new locally-recruited regiment was also formed: the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).


title: Operation Banner

text: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) waged a guerrilla campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. Catholics welcomed the troops when they first arrived, because they saw the RUC as sectarian, but Catholic hostility to the British military's deployment grew after incidents such as the Falls Curfew (1970), Operation Demetrius (1971) and Bloody Sunday (1972). In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were incidents of collusion between British soldiers and Ulster loyalist paramilitaries. From the late 1970s the British government adopted a policy of "Ulsterisation", which meant giving a greater role to local forces: the UDR and RUC. After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the operation was gradually scaled down, most military facilities were removed and the vast majority of British troops were withdrawn.


title: Operation Banner

text: According to the Ministry of Defence, 1,441 serving British military personnel died in Operation Banner; 722 of whom were killed in paramilitary attacks, and 719 of whom died as a result of other causes. It suffered its greatest loss of life in the Warrenpoint ambush of 1979.


title: Operation Banner

text: The British Army was initially deployed, at the request of the unionist government of Northern Ireland, in response to the August 1969 riots. Its role was to support the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and to assert the authority of the British government in Northern Ireland. The main opposition to the British military's deployment came from the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). It waged a guerrilla campaign against the British military from 1970 to 1997. Catholics welcomed the soldiers when they first arrived in August 1969, but Catholic hostility to the British military's deployment increased after incidents such as the Falls Curfew (1970), Operation Demetrius (1971), the Ballymurphy Massacre (1971) and Bloody Sunday (1972). An internal British Army document released in 2007 stated that, whilst it had failed to defeat the IRA, it had made it impossible for the IRA to win through violence, and reduced substantially the death toll in the last years of conflict.


title: Operation Banner

text: The operation was gradually scaled down from 1998, after the Good Friday Agreement, when patrols were suspended and several military barracks closed or dismantled, even before the beginning of IRA's decommissioning. The process of demilitarisation started in 1994, after the first IRA ceasefire. From the second IRA ceasefire in 1997 until the first act of decommission of weapons in 2001, almost 50% of the army bases had been vacated or demolished along with surveillance sites and holding centers, while more than 100 cross-border roads were reopened.


title: Operation Banner

text: Eventually in August 2005, it was announced that in response to the Provisional IRA declaration that its campaign was over, and in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement provisions, Operation Banner would end by 1 August 2007. This involved troops based in Northern Ireland reduced to 5,000, and only for training purposes. Security was entirely transferred to the police. The Northern Ireland resident battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment – which grew out of the Ulster Defence Regiment – were stood down on 1 September 2006. The operation officially ended at midnight on 31 July 2007, making it the longest continuous deployment in the British Army's history, lasting over 37 years.


title: Operation Banner

text: While the withdrawal of troops was welcomed by the nationalist parties Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin, the unionist Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Unionist Party opposed the decision, which they regarded as 'premature'. The main reasons behind their resistance were the continuing activity of republican dissident groups, the loss of security-related jobs for the protestant community and the perception of the British Army presence as an affirmation of the political union with Great Britain.


title: Operation Banner

text: Adam Ingram, the Minister of State for the Armed Forces, has stated that assuming the maintenance of an enabling environment, British Army support to the PSNI after 31 July 2007 was reduced to a residual level, known as Operation Helvetic, providing specialised ordnance disposal and support to the PSNI in circumstances of extreme public disorder as described in Patten recommendations 59 and 66, should this be needed, thus ending the British Army's emergency operation in Northern Ireland.


title: Operation Banner

text: The support to the police forces was primarily from the British Army, with the Royal Air Force providing helicopter support as required. A maritime component was supplied under the codename of Operation Grenada, by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines in direct support of the Army commitment. This was tasked with interdicting the supply of weapons and munitions to paramilitaries, acting as a visible deterrence by maintaining a conspicuous maritime presence on and around the coast of Northern Ireland and Lough Neagh.


title: Operation Banner

text: The role of the armed forces in their support role to the police was defined by the Army in the following terms:


title: Operation Banner

text: At the peak of the operation in the 1970s, the British Army was deploying around 21,000 soldiers. By 1980, the figure had dropped to 11,000, with a lower presence of 9,000 in 1985. The total climbed again to 10,500 after the intensification of the IRA use of improvised mortars toward the end of the 1980s. In 1992, there were 17,750 members of all British military forces taking part in the operation. The British Army build-up comprised three brigades under the command of a lieutenant-general. There were six resident battalions deployed for a period of two and a half years and four roulement battalions serving six-months tours. In July 1997, during the course of fierce riots in nationalist areas triggered by the Drumcree conflict, the total number of security forces in Northern Ireland increased to more than 30,000 (including the RUC).


title: Operation Banner

text: Vehicles used by the British military during Operation Banner, some of which were developed for the operation, include:


title: Operation Banner

text: The British military was responsible for about 10% of all deaths in the conflict. According to one study, the British military killed 306 people during Operation Banner, 156 (~51%) of whom were unarmed civilians. Another study says the British military killed 301 people, 160 (~53%) of whom were unarmed civilians. Of the civilians killed, 61 were children. Only four soldiers were convicted of murder while on duty in Northern Ireland. All were released after serving two or three years of life sentences and allowed to rejoin the Army. Senior Army officers privately lobbied successive Attorneys General not to prosecute soldiers, and the Committee on the Administration of Justice says there is evidence soldiers were given some level of immunity from prosecution. Elements of the British Army also colluded with illegal loyalist paramilitaries responsible for numerous attacks on civilians (see below). Journalist Fintan O'Toole argues that "both militarily and ideologically, the Army was a player, not a referee".


title: Operation Banner

text: Many Catholics initially welcomed the British Army's deployment, as Catholic neighbourhoods had been attacked by Protestant loyalists and the RUC. However, relations soured between the British Army and Catholics. The British Army's actions in support of the RUC and the unionist government "gradually earned it a reputation of bias" in favour of Protestants and unionists. In the British Army's campaign against the IRA, Catholic areas were frequently subjected to house raids, checkpoints, patrols and curfews that Protestant areas avoided. There were frequent claims of soldiers physically and verbally abusing Catholics during these searches. In some neighbourhoods, clashes between Catholic residents and British troops became a regular occurrence. In April 1970, Ian Freeland, the British Army's overall commander in Northern Ireland, announced that anyone throwing petrol bombs would be shot dead if they did not heed a warning from soldiers.


title: Operation Banner

text: The Falls Curfew in July 1970, was a major blow to relations between the British Army and Catholics. A weapons search in the mainly Catholic Falls area of Belfast developed into a riot and then gun battles with the IRA. The British Army then imposed a 36-hour curfew and arrested all journalists inside the curfew zone. It is claimed that because the media were unable to watch them, the soldiers behaved "with reckless abandon". A large amount of CS gas was fired into the area while hundreds of homes and businesses were forcibly searched for weapons. The searches caused much destruction, and there were scores of complaints of soldiers hitting, threatening, insulting and humiliating residents. The Army also admitted there had been looting by some soldiers. Four civilians were killed by the British Army during the operation, and another 60 suffered gunshot wounds.


title: Operation Banner

text: On 9 August 1971, internment (imprisonment without trial) was introduced in Northern Ireland. Soldiers launched dawn raids and interned almost 350 people suspected of IRA involvement. This sparked four days of violence in which 20 civilians were killed and thousands were forced to flee their homes. Of the 17 civilians killed by British soldiers, 11 of them were in the Ballymurphy Massacre. No loyalists were included in the sweep, and many of those arrested were Catholics with no provable paramilitary links. Many internees reported being beaten, verbally abused, threatened, denied sleep and starved. Some internees were taken to a secret interrogation centre for a program of "deep interrogation".


title: Operation Banner

text: The five techniques, the interrogation techniques, were described by the European Court of Human Rights as "inhuman and degrading", and by the European Commission of Human Rights as "torture". The operation led to mass protests and a sharp increase in violence over the following months. Internment lasted until December 1975, with 1,981 people interned.


title: Operation Banner

text: The incident that most damaged the relationship between the British Army and the Catholic community was Bloody Sunday, 30 January 1972. During an anti-internment march in Derry, 26 unarmed Catholic protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers from the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment; fourteen died. Some were shot from behind or while trying to help the wounded. The Widgery Tribunal largely cleared the soldiers of blame, but it was regarded as a "whitewash" by the Catholic community. A second inquiry, the Saville Inquiry, concluded in 2010 that the killings were "unjustified and unjustifiable".


title: Operation Banner

text: On 9 July 1972, British troops in Portadown used CS gas and rubber bullets to clear Catholics who were blocking an Orange Order march through their neighbourhood. The British Army then let the Orangemen march into the Catholic area escorted by at least 50 masked and uniformed Ulster Defence Association (UDA) militants. At the time, the UDA was a legal organization. That same day in Belfast, British snipers shot dead five Catholic civilians, including three children, in the Springhill Massacre. On the night of 3–4 February 1973, British Army snipers shot dead four unarmed men (one of whom was an IRA member) in the Catholic New Lodge area of Belfast.


title: Operation Banner

text: In the early hours of 31 July 1972, the British Army launched Operation Motorman to re-take Northern Ireland's "no-go areas", mostly Catholic neighbourhoods that had been barricaded by the residents to keep out the security forces and loyalists. During the operation, the British Army shot four people in Derry, killing a 15-year-old Catholic civilian and an unarmed IRA member.


title: Operation Banner

text: From 1971 to 1973, a secret British Army unit, the Military Reaction Force (MRF), carried out undercover operations in Belfast. It killed and wounded a number of unarmed Catholic civilians in drive-by shootings. The British Army initially claimed the civilians had been armed, but no evidence was found to support that. Former MRF members later admitted that the unit shot unarmed people without warning, both IRA members and civilians. One member said, "We were not there to act like an army unit, we were there to act like a terror group". At first, many of the drive-by shootings were blamed on Protestant loyalists. Republicans claim the MRF sought to draw the IRA into a sectarian conflict to divert it from its campaign against the state.


title: Operation Banner

text: In May 1992, there were clashes between paratroopers and Catholic civilians in the town of Coalisland, triggered by a bomb attack on a British Army patrol in nearby Cappagh that severed the legs of a paratrooper. The soldiers ransacked two pubs, damaged civilian cars and opened fire on a crowd. Three civilians were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. As a result, the Parachute Regiment was redeployed outside urban areas and the brigadier at 3 Infantry Brigade, Tom Longland, was relieved of his command.


title: Operation Banner

text: In their efforts to defeat the IRA, there were incidents of collusion between the British Army and loyalist paramilitaries throughout the conflict. This included soldiers taking part in loyalist attacks while off-duty, giving weapons or intelligence to loyalists, not taking action against them, and hindering police investigations. The Army also had double agents and informers within loyalist groups who organized attacks on the orders of, or with the knowledge of, their Army handlers. The De Silva report found that, during the 1980s, 85% of the intelligence that loyalists used to target people came from the security forces. A 2006 Irish Government report alleged that British soldiers also helped loyalists with attacks in the Republic of Ireland.


title: Operation Banner

text: The Army's locally-recruited Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was almost wholly Protestant. Despite the vetting process, loyalist militants managed to enlist; mainly to obtain weapons, training and intelligence. A 1973 British Government document (uncovered in 2004), "Subversion in the UDR", suggested that 5–15% of UDR soldiers then were members of loyalist paramilitaries. The report said the UDR was the main source of weapons for those groups, although by 1973 weapons losses had dropped significantly, partly due to stricter controls. By 1990, at least 197 UDR soldiers had been convicted of loyalist terrorist offences and other serious crimes including bombings, kidnappings and assaults. Nineteen were convicted of murder and 11 for manslaughter. This was only a small fraction of those who served in it, but the proportion was higher than in the regular British Army, the RUC and the civilian population.


title: Operation Banner

text: Initially, the Army allowed soldiers to be members of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). Despite its involvement in terrorism, the UDA was not outlawed by the British Government until 1992. In July 1972, Harry Tuzo (the Army's General officer commanding in Northern Ireland) devised a strategy to defeat the IRA, which was backed by Michael Carver, head of the British Army. It proposed that the growth of the UDA "should be discreetly encouraged in Protestant areas, to reduce the load on the Security Forces", and suggested they "turn a blind eye to UDA arms when confined to their own areas". That summer, the Army mounted some joint patrols with the UDA in Protestant areas, following talks between General Robert Ford and UDA leader Tommy Herron. In November 1972 the Army ordered that a soldier should be discharged if his sympathy for a paramilitary group affects his performance, loyalty or impartiality. Within three years, 171 soldiers with UDA links had been discharged.


title: Operation Banner

text: In 1977, the Army investigated 10th Battalion, Ulster Defence Regiment based at Girdwood Barracks, Belfast. The investigation found that 70 soldiers had links to the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), that thirty soldiers had fraudulently diverted up to £47,000 to the UVF, and that UVF members socialized with soldiers in their mess. Following this, two soldiers were dismissed on security grounds. The investigation was halted after a senior officer claimed it was harming morale. Details of it were uncovered in 2011.


title: Operation Banner

text: During the 1970s, the Glenanne gang—a secret alliance of loyalist militants, British soldiers and RUC officers—carried out a string of attacks against Catholics in an area of Northern Ireland known as the "murder triangle". It also carried out some attacks in the Republic. "Lethal Allies: British Collusion in Ireland" claims the group killed about 120 people, almost all of whom were reportedly uninvolved Catholic civilians. The "Cassel Report" investigated 76 murders attributed to the group and found evidence that soldiers and policemen were involved in 74 of those. One member, RUC officer John Weir, claimed his superiors knew of the collusion but allowed it to continue. The "Cassel Report" also said some senior officers knew of the crimes but did nothing to prevent, investigate or punish. Attacks attributed to the group include the Dublin and Monaghan bombings (1974), the Miami Showband killings (1975) and the Reavey and O'Dowd killings (1976).


title: Operation Banner

text: The Stevens Inquiries found that elements of the British Army had used loyalists as "proxies". Through their double-agents and informers, they helped loyalist groups to kill people, including civilians. It concluded that this had intensified and prolonged the conflict. The Army's Force Research Unit (FRU) was the main agency involved. Brian Nelson, the UDA's chief 'intelligence officer', was a FRU agent. Through Nelson, FRU helped loyalists target people for assassination. FRU commanders say they helped loyalists target only republican activists and prevented the killing of civilians. The Inquiries found evidence only two lives were saved and that Nelson/FRU was responsible for at least 30 murders and many other attacks – many of them on civilians. One victim was solicitor Pat Finucane. Nelson also supervised the shipping of weapons to loyalists from South Africa in 1988. From 1992–94, loyalists were responsible for more deaths than republicans, partly due to FRU. Members of the security forces tried to obstruct the Stevens investigation.


title: Operation Banner

text: According to the Ministry of Defence, 1,441 serving members of the British armed forces died in Operation Banner; 722 of whom were killed in paramilitary attacks, and 719 of whom died as a result of assault, accidents, suicide or natural causes during deployment. This includes:


title: Operation Banner

text: It was announced in July 2009 that their next of kin will be eligible to receive the Elizabeth Cross.


title: Operation Banner

text: According to the "Sutton Index of Deaths", at the Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN), the British military killed 307 people (297 of whom were killed by the British Army, eight by the UDR, one by the RAF and one by the Ulster Special Constabulary) during Operation Banner.


title: Operation Banner

text: Another detailed study, "Lost Lives", states that the British military killed 301 people during Operation Banner.


title: Operation Banner

text: In July 2007, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Ministry of Defence published "Operation Banner: An analysis of military operations in Northern Ireland", which reflected on the Army's role in the conflict and the strategic and operational lessons drawn from their involvement.


title: Operation Banner

text: The paper divides the IRA activity and tactics into two main periods: The "insurgency" phase (1971–1972), and the "terrorist" phase (1972–1997). The British Army claims to have curbed the IRA insurgency by 1972, after Operation Motorman. The IRA then reemerged as a cell-structured organisation. The report also asserts that the government efforts by the 1980s were aimed at destroying the IRA, rather than negotiating a political solution. One of the findings of the document is the failure of the British Army to tackle the IRA at strategic level and the lack of a single campaign authority and plan. The paper stops short of claiming that "Northern Ireland has achieved a state of lasting peace" and acknowledges that, as late as 2006, there were still "areas of Northern Ireland out of bounds to soldiers".


title: Operation Banner

text: The report analyses Israeli military theorist Martin van Creveld's comments on the outcome of the operation:


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Czech Republic, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: With an estimated population of 10,516,707 as of 2022, compared to 9.3 million at the beginning of the 20th century, the population growth of the Czech Republic has been limited, due to low fertility rates and loss of population in and around World Wars I and II. Population loss during World War I was approximately 350,000. At the beginning of World War II the population of the Czech Republic reached its maximum (11.2 million). Due to the expulsion of the German residents after World War II, the Czech Republic lost about 3 million inhabitants and in 1947 the population was only 8.8 million. Population growth resumed, and in 1994 the population was 10.33 million.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: From 1994 to 2003 natural growth was slightly negative (−0.15% per year) and the population decreased to 10.2 million. Since 2005, natural growth has been positive, but in recent times the most important influence on the population of the Czech Republic has been immigration: approximately 300,000 during the 2010s.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The majority of the /1e6 round 1 million inhabitants of the Czech Republic are ethnically and linguistically Czech (95%). They are descendants of Slavic people from the Black Sea-Carpathian region who settled in Bohemia, Moravia and parts of present-day Austria in the 6th century AD. Other ethnic groups include Germans, Romani people, Poles, and Hungarians. Historical minorities like Germans and Poles are declining due to assimilation. There is also a growing community from Vietnam. Other ethnic communities like Greeks, Turks, Italians, and Yugoslavs are found in Prague. Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Slovaks living in the Czech Republic have comprised roughly 3% of the population.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: There are different groups of national and ethnic minorities in the Czech Republic. The so-called "old minorities" live mostly in specific areas (e.g. Poles in the Zaolzie region, Germans in the Hultschiner region) while the "new minorities" are scattered among the majority population (generally in the larger towns). While some of the minorities have the whole social structure of Czech society (Poles, Slovaks, Greeks and Ukrainians), other represent only some of the social groups (i.e. Russian newcomers of middle class, and Romani people who generally represent the underclass).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: In 2011 a large part of the population did not claim any ethnicity, before the census it was widely mediatized that the question is not mandatory. The vast majority of those who did so are presumed to be ethnic Czechs, number of whom dropped by roughly the same amount that the number of undeclared people rose, circa 2.5 million.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The legal position of the minorities is defined foremost in the Act No. 273/2001 Coll. (The Rights of the Minorities Act) which implements the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms, Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and "Recommendation of the Council of Europe No. 1201". There is a number of other enactments which to lesser extent deal with the minorities.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: A special situation applies in the case of Moravians and Silesians, who are frequently allocated within the group of Czechs when it comes to the statistical data.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Minorities, which "traditionally and on a long term basis live within the territory of the Czech Republic" enjoy some privileges. As of 2022 there are 14 such officially recognized minorities, which are (alphabetically): Belarusians, Bulgarians, Croatians, Germans, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, Romani people, Russians, Rusyns, Serbians, Slovaks, Ukrainians and Vietnamese.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Citizens belonging to the officially recognized minorities enjoy the right to "use their language in communication with authorities and in courts of law". Article 25 of the Czech Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms provides the right of the national and ethnic minorities to education and communication with authorities in their own language. Act No. 500/2004 Coll. ("The Administrative Rule") in its paragraph 16 (4) ("Procedural Language") provides that a citizen of the Czech Republic who belongs to a national or an ethnic minority, which traditionally and on a long-term basis lives within the territory of the Czech Republic, has the right to address an administrative agency and proceed before it in the language of the minority. In the case that the administrative agency does not have an employee with knowledge of the language, the agency is bound to obtain a translator at the agency's own expense. According to Act No. 273/2001 ("About The Rights of Members of Minorities") paragraph 9 ("The right to use language of a national minority in dealing with authorities and in the courts of law") the same also applies to members of national minorities in the courts of law.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The economic migration of Bulgarians to the Czech Republic began in the 1990s. 4,363 citizens claimed to have Bulgarian nationality in the 2001 census. They mostly live in the large cities and towns, such as Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Karlovy Vary, Kladno, Ústí nad Labem, Děčín, and Havířov. Nowadays the newcomers from Bulgaria aim for these areas in particular, where they can join an already established community. Many of these economic immigrants have dual citizenship of both the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. However most of the recent immigrants still only have Bulgarian citizenship.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The Bulgarian Cultural Organisation publishes the magazine "Roden Glas", while a folklore organisation "Kytka" promotes traditional Bulgarian dances. Among other organisations are "Pirin", "Zaedno", "Vazraždane" and "Hyshove".


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: As an officially recognized minority the Bulgarian citizens of the Czech Republic enjoy the right to use their language in communication with authorities and in the courts of law. They also enjoy a number of other rights connected to the status of recognized minority, e.g. the right to education in their own language: the first Bulgarian school in the current Czech Republic was established in 1946 in Prague.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The German minority of the Czech Republic, historically the largest minority of the country, was almost entirely removed when 3 million were forcibly expelled in 1945–6 on the basis of the Potsdam agreement. The constitution guarantees rights for minority languages, however there are 13 municipalities with German minority constituting 10% of population, which qualifies for such provisions. There is no bilingual education system in Western and Northern Bohemia, where the German minority is mostly concentrated. However, this is in large part due to the absence of German-speaking youth, a heritage of the post-war policy of the Communist government.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: According to the 2001 census there remain 13 municipalities and settlements in the Czech Republic with more than 10% Germans.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Many representatives of expellees' organizations support the erection of bilingual signs in all formerly German-speaking territory as a visible sign of the bilingual linguistic and cultural heritage of the region, but their efforts are not supported by some of the current inhabitants, as the vast majority of the current population is not of German descent.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The German-Czech Declaration of 21 January 1997 covered the two most critical issues—the role of some Sudeten Germans in the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and their expulsion after World War II.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Another influential minority are Greeks. Large numbers of Greeks arrived in Czechoslovakia during the end of the Greek Civil War. The first transports of Greek children arrived in 1948 and 1949. Later, more transports, also including adults, arrived. They were partly leftists, communists and guerillas with their relatives, hence the willingness of Czechoslovak government to allow the immigration. This was viewed rather as a temporary solution. After the defeat of DSE and other left-wing guerillas, the Greeks stayed in Czechoslovakia. In total more than 12,000 Greeks immigrated to Czechoslovakia between 1948 and 1950. Today, there are about 7000 Greeks in the country (3219 according to 2001 census data), mostly in the 3 biggest towns – Prague, Brno, Ostrava – and also in Bohumín, Havířov, Jeseník, Karviná, Krnov, Šumperk, Třinec, Vrbno pod Pradědem and Žamberk (apart from the last one these towns are in Silesia).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The most concentrated linguistic minority in the Czech Republic are ethnic Poles, historically the plurality, today constituting about 10% of the population of Karviná and Frýdek-Místek districts. Poles have the right to use their language in official dealings; the public media (Czech TV and Czech Radio) regularly broadcast in Polish; and there are many Polish primary and secondary schools in the area. The Polish minority has been decreasing substantially since World War II as education in Polish was difficult to obtain, while Czech authorities did not permit bilingual signs to maintain Polish awareness among the population.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The erection of bilingual signs has technically been permitted since 2001, if a minority constitutes 10% of the population of a municipality. The requirement that a petition be signed by the members of minority was cancelled, thus simplifying the whole process. Still, only a couple of villages with large Polish minorities have bilingual signs (Vendryně/Wędrynia for instance).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Another minority is the Roma, who nonetheless have very little influence on Czech policy. Around 90% of the Roma that lived in the Czech Republic prior to World War II were exterminated by the Nazi Porajmos. The Roma there now are 80% post-war immigrants from Slovakia or Hungary, or the descendants thereof. In total, the Roma in the CR now number around 200,000. There is Romani press in the CR, written in both Czech and Romani, but Romani radio is broadcast in Czech and there is no Romani television. Romani is also absent from legislative, judiciary, and other political texts but it has recently entered some university and elementary school courses. Life expectancy, literacy, median wage, school enrolment, and other socio-economic markers remain low while Roma compose the majority of prison and habitual offender populations despite accounting for only a fraction of a percent of Czech population.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: According to the Czech Statistical Office as of 31 December 2020 there were 632,570 legal foreign residents in the Czech Republic (5.1% of the total population). Residents from Ukraine are the largest group (165,356), followed by residents of Slovakia (124,544). There are also Asian immigrant communities in the Czech Republic. The largest is the Vietnamese one (62,842) followed by the Mongolians (10,135) and the Chinese (7,940). During the communist era the governments of Czechoslovakia and Vietnam had a deal concerning the education of Vietnamese people in Czechoslovakia. Vietnamese people came to Czechoslovakia for the first time in 1956 and then the number of new migrants grew until the fall of communism. First generation Vietnamese work mostly as small-scale businessmen in markets. Still, many Vietnamese are without Czech citizenship. One of the towns with the largest Vietnamese communities is Cheb.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Other large immigrant groups come from Russia (41,692), Poland (20,733), Germany (20,861), Bulgaria (17,917) and Romania (18,396).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The Czech language (divided into three dialects in Bohemia, four dialects in Moravia, and two dialects in Czech Silesia) is the official language of the state. There is also the transitional Cieszyn Silesian dialect as well as the Polish language in Cieszyn Silesia, both spoken in Czech Silesia. Various Sudeten German dialects are currently practically extinct: present Czech Germans speak mainly Czech or Standard German. Czech Sign Language is the language of most of the deaf community.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: For other languages spoken in the Czech Republic, see the above section on officially recognised minorities.


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: Almost half (45.2%) of the Czech population prefer not to respond to religious questions in the Census. Others claim to have no religion or that they are without religious affiliation (34.2%). In comparison, one in every five claims to have some personal belief (20.6%).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: The largest denominations are Roman Catholicism, estimated at 10.3% of the population, Protestant (0.5%), Hussites (0.4%). Other organized religions, including non-organized believers, totalled about (9.4%) (as of Census 2011).


title: Demographics of the Czech Republic

text: According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll 2005, 19% of Czech citizens responded that "they believe there is a God", whereas 50% answered that "they believe there is some sort of spirit or life force" and 30% that "they do not believe there is any sort of spirit, god, or life force"; the percentage of believers is thus the lowest of EU countries after Estonia with 16%.


title: Avengers Campus

text: Avengers Campus is a Marvel Cinematic Universe–themed area located at Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris, and being developed for Hong Kong Disneyland. The Marvel-themed areas or "lands" are being developed simultaneously at the three parks and inspired by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. However, they instead take place in the "Marvel Theme Park Universe", an alternate universe parallel to it within the Marvel multiverse, in which the Blip and related ensuing events introduced in "" did not occur. They are designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, in collaboration with Marvel Studios and Marvel Themed Entertainment.


title: Avengers Campus

text: These three parks all hosted a Marvel-themed seasonal event in the past, which confirmed the demand for the integration of Marvel characters in the parks.


title: Avengers Campus

text: Based on three different continents, the Marvel-themed areas will be defined as the "Super Hero campus" of their specific region, that will help guests to become heroes. Each area will feature mostly different sets of attractions and entertainment, while being strongly interconnected with each other by sharing a common narrative.


title: Avengers Campus

text: Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure is centered around an Avengers campus located on the former shared grounds of a Stark Industries plant and Strategic Scientific Reserve complex. The area takes up the space previously occupied by A Bug's Land—with using the same show building that previously housed the It's Tough to Be a Bug! attraction—as well as absorbing the nearby attraction that was previously designated in Hollywood Land.


title: Avengers Campus

text: A Bug's Land closed on September 5, 2018, to make way for the new area. At the 2017 D23 Expo, Disney announced the Guardians of the Galaxy attraction would be joined by Spider-Man and the Avengers as part of the new immersive superhero-themed area at the park. Disney initially announced on March 11, 2020, that Avengers Campus would open on July 18, 2020, but was delayed due to the theme parks being shut down caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and two stay at home orders issued by California Governor Gavin Newsom. In late December 2020, Disney announced that Avengers Campus was scheduled to open in 2021. Due to a 1994 contract with Universal Parks & Resorts, Disney cannot use the "Marvel" name in the park's branding or attractions. In April 2021, Disney announced that the area would open on June 4, 2021.


title: Avengers Campus

text: On February 28, 2022, to honor Stan Lee, the park dedicated a plaque by an entrance to the Campus surrounded by blue planters as Lee would have celebrated his 100th Birthday in December 2022. The plaque's inscription reads: "We dedicate Avengers Campus to the incomparable Stan Lee. 'That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done and because it's the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt a real superhero.' Thank you, Stan, for inspiring the hero within each of us. You have made us all True Believers."


title: Avengers Campus

text: The version at Walt Disney Studios Park (Disneyland Paris) exists on the former Backlot area of the park. It includes Avengers Assemble: Flight Force (a re-theme of the park's opening day attraction Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith to feature Iron Man) and from California, now titled as Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure. The area opened on July 20, 2022.


title: Avengers Campus

text: In the Training Center, guests can meet Spider-Man, Iron Man, or other Marvel characters. The experience features a dynamic “freeze frame” video sequence, created with Disney Photo Pass through 27 cameras placed around the area.


title: Avengers Campus

text: The version at Hong Kong Disneyland was announced in 2016, as part of the park's expansion plan. It will take over part of Tomorrowland and will be themed as the Stark Expo based in Hong Kong, where guests are asked to join the Super Heroes in their battles. This version entered phase 2 in 2019, which includes in the Science and Technology Pavilion of Stark Expo, along with a new retail facility and themed food. This new attraction joined the Iron Man Experience, which opened in 2017 and took up the area where the former Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters attraction used to be. On top of this, there will be new attractions and other forms of entertainment added to the land up until the year 2023, when a brand new Avengers themed ride will open, taking over the area previously occupied by Autopia.


title: Avengers Campus

text: The music for the themed land at Disney California Adventure was arranged by John Paesano, who referenced themes from the MCU's "Avengers", "Spider-Man", "Doctor Strange", "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Ant-Man", "Captain Marvel", and "Black Panther" films. A single entitled "Welcome Recruits" was digitally released by Hollywood Records and Marvel Music on April 22, 2022.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: Welcome to Wrexham is an American sports documentary series that premiered on August 24, 2022, on FX. The series documents the events of Welsh association football club Wrexham A.F.C., as told by the club's owners Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: In September 2020, American actor Rob McElhenney and Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds announced their intention to buy Wrexham A.F.C., a Welsh professional association football club based in the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham, north-east Wales in the United Kingdom. The company RR McReynolds was set up by November 2020, and the deal was completed in February 2021. As of the purchase, Wrexham A.F.C. played in the National League, the fifth tier of English football, below the Premier League and the three tiers of the English Football League system.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: At the time, the non-league football team was described to be "struggling". Following the suspension of the 2019–20 National League in March 2020 after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, Wrexham A.F.C. was said to have furloughed staff and players, and the club was experiencing a "threat to the[ir] continued existence". Prior to the pair's purchase, Wrexham A.F.C. was owned by the Wrexham Supporter's Trust, a fan-operated company, since 2011. The trust approved McElhenney and Reynolds' £2 million takeover by 98.6%. Following the purchase, Wrexham A.F.C.'s Twitter account posted a skit with McElhenney and Reynolds performing a parody advert for Ifor Williams Trailers, then the only sponsor for Wrexham A.F.C. Following the takeover by an intermediary, McElhenney and Reynolds attended their first ever game since becoming the club's new owners at Maidenhead, a 3-2 defeat in October 2021.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: Management before 2011 was described to have "mismanaged the club to the point of near collapse", with fans "starting to fall out of love with it". The club was served with a winding-up order in 2011.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: The series is said to be inspired by "Sunderland 'Til I Die", which prompted McElhenney to be interested in buying an association football club, as well as the influence of Humphrey Ker, who was also interested in purchasing a club. Ker was said to have been always watching association football in the writer's room of McElhenney's show Mythic Quest, causing McElhenney to become interested in association football, particularly "the idea of promotion and demotion", which McElhenney said was "incredible to me". McElhenney also joked that he only had "TV money" and needed "super hero, movie star money". Ker described himself as "Rob and Ryan's representative" to the club as the pair's inside operations person.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: The series centers on the Hollywood pair's attempts to revive the third-oldest professional association football team in the world, founded in 1864, and how the team has performed under the pair's ownership. The pair have no known experience in managing a sports team. The series would also highlight the pair's hopes in improving the team and bringing positive change to the local Wrexham community.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: During and since the takeover, Wrexham has risen in the rankings of the National League. In the 2019–20 National League (prior to any takeover rumors), Wrexham A.F.C. were 20th, and by the 2020–21 season, Wrexham rose to 8th place. In the 2021–22 season and first under the pair's ownership, Wrexham was 2nd finished as runners up; however, missed out on promotion to the EFL League Two.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: The series is produced by Boardwalk Pictures, the company also behind "Last Chance U" and "Chef's Table". Maximum Effort, a film company founded by Reynolds is also co-producing and marketing the series. FX has commissioned two seasons of the show. McElhenney confirmed plans for a second season, following the full release of the first, on October 13, 2022.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: The executive producers of the series were stated to be Rob McElhenney, Ryan Reynolds, Nick Frenkel, John Henion, Andrew Fried, Dane Lillegard, George Dewey and Sarina Roma. Henion was also the showrunner.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: Describing the series, Nick Grad, FX Entertainment's original programming president said "Rob and Ryan will take fans inside the sport as never before, pairing their genuine love for the game with the welcome challenge of building on the heritage of this club".


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: Filming for the docuseries began December 2020, with the film crew appearing alongside the owners' first visit to the team at the Wrexham v. Maidenhead United F.C. match in October 2021.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: In May 2021, an announcement trailer for the series was released onto Reynolds' YouTube channel, titled "Welcome to Wrexham". The roughly 2-minute parody sketch comedy involves McElhenney and Reynolds announcing the docuseries, as well as former BBC News and S4C journalist Maxine Hughes, who acts as a "pretty disgruntled" Welsh language translator for the pair, but adds some "creative" translations to the pair's words.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: In December 2021, FX released a video promo for the series, titled "It's Never Sunny in Wrexham". The short 30-second clip involved lookalikes of the "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" cast, including a Danny DeVito lookalike, set inside the Turf Hotel located next to Wrexham A.F.C's Racecourse Ground. In the clip, the lookalike cast looks confusingly at a television screen showing the true cast of the American series starring McElhenney, staring back from their Philadelphia Irish bar. The clip also includes the two owners. The scenes involving the lookalike cast and the two owners were filmed in October 2021 as the two owners visited Wrexham. When the lookalike of Danny DeVito visited Wrexham, he was confused for the real actor.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: On July 20, 2022, the official trailer for the program was released. The series' official synopsis read "From Hollywood to Wales, from the pitch to the locker room, the front office to the pub, Welcome to Wrexham will track Rob and Ryan’s crash course in football club ownership and the inextricably connected fates of a team and a town counting on two actors to bring some serious hope and change to a community that could use it".


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: In May 2022, it was announced that the first two episodes of the series would premiere on August 24, 2022, in the US on FX. All episodes would become available on FX on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK on August 25, 2022. The series would be composed of 30-minute episodes. The series would also be released in Ireland on the same day and on Disney+ as the UK. Dates for other international releases have yet to be announced but are expected to be on Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ (under the Star banner) in various other territories. It is set to be released as a Star Original outside the United States.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: According to the streaming aggregator Reelgood, "Welcome to Wrexham" was the 7th most watched program across all platforms, during the week of September 2, 2022.


title: Welcome to Wrexham

text: The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 90% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10, based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Plunking two famous funnymen into the unpredictable journey of a sports documentary, "Welcome to Wrexham" is a calculated gamble that pays off." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 75 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The region of Tamil Nadu in the southeast of modern India, shows evidence of having had continuous human habitation from 15,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE. Throughout its history, spanning the early Upper Paleolithic age to modern times, this region has coexisted with various external cultures.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The three ancient Tamil dynasties namely Chera, Chola, and Pandya were of ancient origins. Together they ruled over this land with a unique culture and language, contributing to the growth of some of the oldest extant literature in the world. These three dynasties were in constant struggle with each other vying for hegemony over the land. Invasion by the Kalabhras during the 3rd century disturbed the traditional order of the land, displacing the three ruling kingdoms. These occupiers were overthrown by the resurgence of the Pandyas and the Pallavas, who restored the traditional kingdoms. The Cholas who re-emerged from obscurity in the 9th century by defeating the Pallavas and the Pandyas rose to become a great power and extended their empire over the entire southern peninsula. At its height the Chola empire spanned almost 3,600,000 km² (1,389,968 sq mi) straddling the Bay of Bengal. The Chola navy held sway over the Sri Vijaya kingdom in Southeast Asia.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Rapid changes in the political situation of the rest of India occurred due to incursions of Muslim armies from the northwest and the decline of the three ancient dynasties during the 14th century, The Madras Presidency, comprising most of southern India, was created in the 18th century and was ruled directly by the British. After the independence of India, after the Telugu and Malayalam parts of Madras state were separated from Tamilagam state in 1956, it was renamed as Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969 by the state government.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: For most of the Lower Palaeolithic stage, pre-modern humans lived close to river valleys with sparse forest cover or in grassland environments. The population density was very low and so far only two localities of this lower Palaeolithic culture have been found in south India. Pre-modern humans in South India, belonging to the species of "Homo erectus", lived in this primitive 'old stone age' (Palaeolithic) for quite a long time, using only crude implements such as hand axes and choppers and subsisting as hunter-gatherers.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: In Attirampakkam, archaeologists from the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education excavated ancient stone tools which suggests that a humanlike population existed in the Tamil Nadu region somewhere around 300,000 years before homo sapiens arrived from Africa.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: A discovery of a rare fossilized baby brain in Viluppuram district, by a team of archaeologists was reported in April 2003, It is estimated to be about 187,000 years - 200,000 years or older. The ancestor of modern humans ("Homo sapiens") who appeared around 50,000 years ago was more developed and could make thinner flake tools and blade-like tools using a variety of stones. From about 10,000 years ago, humans made still smaller tools called Microlithic tools. The material used by the early humans to make these tools were jasper, agate, flint, quartz, etc. In 1949, researchers found such microliths in Tirunelveli district. Archaeological evidence suggests that the microlithic period lasted between 6000–3000 BCE.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: In Tamil Nadu, the Neolithic period had its advent around 2500 BCE. Humans of the Neolithic period made their stone tools in finer shapes by grinding and polishing. A Neolithic axe head with ancient writing on it has been found in North Tamil Nadu Near Palar river. The Neolithic humans lived mostly on small flat hills or on the foothills in small, more or less permanent settlements but for periodical migration for grazing purposes. They gave the dead proper burials within urns or pits. They were also starting to use copper for making certain tools or weapons.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: During the Iron Age humans started using iron for making tools and weapons. The Iron Age culture in peninsular India is marked by Megalithic burial sites, which are found in several hundreds of places. On the basis of both some excavations and the typology of the burial monuments, it has been suggested that there was a gradual spread of the Iron Age sites from the north to the south. Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in Thirunelveli District and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic culture.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The earliest clear evidence of the presence of the megalithic urn burials are those dating from around 1800 BCE, which have been discovered at various places in Tamil Nadu, notably at Adichanallur, 24 km from Tirunelveli, where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India unearthed 157 urns, including 15 containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks, grains of rice, charred rice and Neolithic Celts. One urn has writing inside, which, according to archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India, resembles early Tamil-Brahmi script, confirming it of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago. Adhichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Mentions of the political situation of Tamil Nadu before the common era are found in Ashoka's edicts dated c.3rd century BCE and, vaguely, in the Hathigumpha inscription dated c.2nd century BCE.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Ancient Tamil Nadu contained three monarchical states, headed by kings called "Vendhar" and several tribal chieftaincies, headed by the chiefs called by the general denomination "Vel" or "Velir". Still lower at the local level there were clan chiefs called "kizhar" or "mannar". During the 3rd century BCE, the Deccan was part of the Maurya Empire, and from the middle of the 1st century BCE to 2nd century CE the same area was ruled by the Satavahana dynasty. The Tamil area had an independent existence outside the control of these northern empires. The Tamil kings and chiefs were always in conflict with each other mostly over the property. The royal courts were mostly places of social gathering rather than places of dispensation of authority; they were centres for distribution of resources. Tamil literature Tolkappiyam sheds some light on early religion. Gradually the rulers came under the influence of Vedic beliefs, which encouraged performance of sacrifices to enhance the status of the ruler. Buddhism, Jainism and Ajivika co-existed with early Shaivite, Vaishnavism and Shaktism during the first five centuries.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The names of the three dynasties, Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras, are mentioned in the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273–232 BCE) inscriptions, among the kingdoms, which though not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him. The king of Kalinga, Kharavela, who ruled around 150 BCE, mentioned in the famous Hathigumpha inscription of the confederacy of the Tamil kingdoms that had existed for over 100 years.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Karikala Chola was the most famous early Chola. He is mentioned in a number of poems in the Sangam poetry. In later times Karikala was the subject of many legends found in the "Cilappatikaram" and in inscriptions and literary works of the 11th and 12th centuries. They attribute to him the conquest of the whole of India up to the Himalayas and the construction of the flood banks of the river Kaveri with the aid of his feudatories. These legends, however, are conspicuous by their absence in the Sangam poetry. Kocengannan was another famous early Chola king who has been extolled in a number of poems of the Sangam period. He was even made a Saiva saint during the medieval period.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Pandyas ruled initially from Korkai, a seaport on the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai. Pandyas are also mentioned in Sangam Literature, as well as by Greek and Roman sources during this period. Megasthenes in his "Indika" mentions the Pandyan kingdom. The Pandyas controlled the present districts of Madurai, Tirunelveli, and parts of south Kerala. They had trading contacts with Greece and Rome. With the other kingdoms of Tamilakam, they maintained trading contacts and marital relationships with Tamil merchants from Eelam. Various Pandya kings find mention in a number of poems in the Sangam literature. Among them, Nedunjeliyan, 'the victor of Talaiyalanganam' deserves a special mention. Besides several short poems found in the "Akananuru" and the "Purananuru" collections, there are two major works—"Mathuraikkanci" and the "Netunalvatai" (in the collection of "Pattupattu") that give a glimpse into the society and commercial activities in the Pandyan kingdom during the Sangam age. The early Pandyas went into obscurity at the end of the 3rd century CE during the incursion of the Kalabhras.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The kingdom of the Cheras comprised the modern Western Tamil Nadu and Kerala, along the western or Malabar Coast of southern India. Their proximity to the sea favoured trade with Africa. Chera rulers dated to the first few centuries AD. It records the names of the kings, the princes, and the court poets who extolled them. The internal chronology of this literature is still far from settled, and at present, a connected account of the history of the period cannot be derived. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some of the rulers referred to in the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera king, is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic "Silapathikaram".


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: These early kingdoms sponsored the growth of some of the oldest extant literature in Tamil. The classical Tamil literature, referred to as Sangam literature is attributed to the period between 500 BCE and 300 CE. The poems of Sangam literature, which deal with emotional and material topics, were categorised and collected into various anthologies during the medieval period. These Sangam poems paint the picture of a fertile land and of a people who were organised into various occupational groups. The governance of the land was through hereditary monarchies, although the sphere of the state's activities and the extent of the ruler's powers were limited through the adherence to the established order ("dharma"). The people were loyal to their kings and roving bards and musicians and danseuse gathered at the royal courts of the generous kings. The arts of music and dancing were highly developed and popular. Musical instruments of various types find mention in the Sangam poems. The amalgamation of the southern and the northern styles of dancing started during this period and is reflected fully in the epic "Cilappatikaram".


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Internal and external trade was well organised and active. Evidence from both archaeology and literature speaks of a flourishing foreign trade with the "Yavanas" (Greeks). The port city of Puhar on the east coast and Muziris on the west coast of south India were emporia of foreign trade, where huge ships moored, offloading precious merchandise. This trade started to decline after the 2nd century CE and the direct contact between the Roman empire and the ancient Tamil country was replaced by trade with the Arabs and the Auxumites of East Africa. Internal trade was also brisk and goods were sold and bartered. Agriculture was the main profession of a vast majority of the populace.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: After the close of the Sangam era, from about 300 to about 600 CE, there is an almost total lack of information regarding occurrences in the Tamil land. Some time about 300 CE, the whole region was upset by the appearance of the Kalabhras. These people are described in later literature as 'evil rulers' who overthrew the established Tamil kings and got a stranglehold of the country. information about their origin and details about their reign is scarce. They did not leave many artifacts or monuments. The only source of information on them is the scattered mentions in Buddhist and Jain literature.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Historians speculate that these people followed Buddhist or Jain faiths and were antagonistic towards the Hindu religions ("viz." the Astika schools) adhered by the majority of inhabitants of the Tamil region during the early centuries CE. As a result, Hindu scholars and authors who followed their decline in the 7th and 8th century may have expunged any mention of them in their texts and generally tended to paint their rule in a negative light. It is perhaps due to this reason, the period of their rule is known as a 'Dark Age'—an interregnum. Some of the ruling families migrated northwards and found enclaves for themselves away from the Kalabhras. Jainism and Buddhism, took deep roots in the society, giving birth to a large body of ethical poetry.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Writing became very widespread and "vatteluttu" evolved from the Tamil-Brahmi became a mature script for writing Tamil. While several anthologies were compiled by collecting bardic poems of earlier centuries, some of the epic poems such as the "Cilappatikaram" and didactic works such as the "Tirukkural" were also written during this period. The patronage of the Jain and Buddhist scholars by the Kalabhra kings influenced the nature of the literature of the period, and most of the works that can be attributed to this period were written by the Jain and Buddhist authors. In the field of dance and music, the elite started patronising new polished styles, partly influenced by northern ideas, in the place of the folk styles. A few of the earliest rock-cut temples belong to this period. Brick temples (known as "kottam", "devakulam", and "palli") dedicated to various deities are referred to in literary works. Kalabhras were displaced around the 7th century by the revival of Pallava and Pandya power.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Even with the exit of the Kalabhras, the Jain and Buddhist influence still remained in Tamil Nadu. The early Pandya and the Pallava kings were followers of these faiths. The Hindu reaction to this apparent decline of their religion was growing and reached its peak during the later part of the 7th century. There was a widespread Hindu revival during which a huge body of Saiva and Vaishnava literature was created. Many Saiva Nayanmars and Vaishnava Alvars provided a great stimulus to the growth of popular devotional literature. Karaikkal Ammaiyar who lived in the 6th century CE was the earliest of these Nayanmars. The celebrated Saiva hymnists Sundaramurthi, Thirugnana Sambanthar and Thirunavukkarasar were of this period. Vaishnava Alvars such as Poigai Alvar, Bhoothathalvar and Peyalvar produced devotional hymns for their faith and their songs were collected later into the four thousand poems of "Naalayira Divyap Prabhandham".


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The medieval period of the history of the Tamil country saw the rise and fall of many kingdoms, some of whom went on to the extent of empires, exerting influences both in India and overseas. The Cholas who were very active during the Sangam age were entirely absent during the first few centuries. The period started with the rivalry between the Pandyas and the Pallavas, which in turn caused the revival of the Cholas. The Cholas went on to becoming a great power. Their decline saw the brief resurgence of the Pandyas. This period was also that of the re-invigorated Hinduism during which temple building and religious literature were at their best.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Hindu sects Saivism and Vaishnavism became dominant, replacing the prevalence of Jainism and Buddhism of the previous era. Saivism was patronised more by the Chola kings and became more or less a state religion. Some of the earliest temples that are still standing were built during this period by the Pallavas. The rock-cut temples in Mamallapuram and the majestic Kailasanatha and Vaikuntaperumal temples of Kanchipuram stand testament to the Pallava art. The Cholas, utilising their prodigious wealth earned through their extensive conquests, built long-lasting stone temples including the great Brihadisvara temple of Thanjavur and exquisite bronze sculptures. Temples dedicated to Siva and Vishnu received liberal donations of money, jewels, animals, and land, and thereby became powerful economic institutions. Mutharaiyar who ruled the central part of Tamil Nadu between 600 - 900 CE. The Cauvery Delta regions were mostly ruled by the Muthraiyar Kings having Woraiyur as their Capital. Vijayalayachola conquered Tanjore from Dhancheya Muhuraiyar King who established the Tanjore City. Among the noted Muthariyar King, Perumbidugu alias Swaran Maran Muthraiyar who conquered consequently 14 battles and known as the Emperor in Tamil Nadu (Perarasar). He and his ancestors built many cave temples in Tiruchirappalli and Pudukottai regions. Among them Kuvavan Sathan alias Videl Vidugu Muthraiyar built many cave temples in Pudukottai Region. Mutharaiyars and ancestors are known as Muthuraja in central of part of Tamil Nadu particularly Tiruchirappalli. Reference : Mutharaiyar Dynasty wikipedia.org.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Tamil script replaced the "vatteluttu" script throughout Tamil Nadu for writing Tamil. Religious literature flourished during the period. The Tamil epic, Kamban's "Ramavatharam", was written in the 13th century. A contemporary of Kamban was the famous poet Auvaiyar who found great happiness in writing for young children. The secular literature was mostly court poetry devoted to the eulogy of the rulers. The religious poems of the previous period and the classical literature of the Sangam period were collected and systematised into several anthologies. Sanskrit was patronised by the priestly groups for religious rituals and other ceremonial purposes. Nambi Andar Nambi, who was a contemporary of Rajaraja Chola I, collected and arranged the books on Saivism into eleven books called "Tirumurais". The hagiology of Saivism was standardised in "Periyapuranam" by Sekkilar, who lived during the reign of Kulothunga Chola II (1133–1150 CE). Jayamkondar's "Kalingattupparani", a semi-historical account on the two invasions of Kalinga by Kulothunga Chola I was an early example of a biographical work.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The 7th century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under Mahendravarman I and his son "Mamalla" Narasimhavarman I. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before the 2nd century. It has been widely accepted by scholars that they were originally executive officers under the Satavahana kings. After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. Later they had marital ties with the Vishnukundina who ruled over the Deccan. It was around 550 CE under King Simhavishnu that the Pallavas emerged into prominence. They subjugated the Cholas and reigned as far south as the Kaveri River.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Pallavas were at their finest during the reigns of Narasimhavarman I and "Pallavamalla" Nandivarman II. Pallavas ruled a large portion of South India with Kanchipuram as their capital. Dravidian architecture during the Pallava rule includes the Shore Temple, built for Narasimhavarman II, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many sources describe Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen school of Buddhism in China, as a prince of the Pallava dynasty. Alongside Bodhidharma, another monk, Vajrabodhi is said to have been the son of a Tamil aristocrat, travelled from Tamil Nadu to the Tang capital of Chang'an, via Sri Lanka and Srivijaya, after mastering the art of Tantric Buddhism. He took a plethora of new theological beliefs to a China that was largely following Confucianism or Daoism. Vajrabodhi's contribution to the growth of Tantric Buddhism in China has been recorded by one of his lay disciples, Lü Xiang.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: During the 6th and the 7th centuries, the western Deccan saw the rise of the Chalukyas based in Vatapi. Pulakeshin II (c.610–642) invaded the Pallava kingdom in the reign of Mahendravarman I. Narasimhavarman who succeeded Mahendravarman mounted a counter invasion of the Chalukya country and captured the Chalukyan capital Vatapi and ruled it for 12 years. The rivalry between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas continued for another 100 years until the demise of the Chalukyas around 750. The Chalukyas and Pallavas fought numerous battles and the Pallava capital Kanchipuram was occupied by Vikramaditya II during the reign of Nandivarman II. Nandivarman II had a very long reign (732–796). He led an expedition to the Ganga kingdom (south Mysore) in 760. Pallavas were also in constant conflict with the Pandyas and their frontier shifted along the river Kaveri. The Pallavas had the more difficult existence of the two as they had to fight on two fronts—against the Pandyas as wells as the Chalukyas.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Pandya Kadungon (560–590) is credited with the overthrow of the Kalabhras in the south. Kadungon and his son Maravarman Avanisulamani revived the Pandya power. Pandya Cendan extended their rule to the Chera country. His son Arikesari Parantaka Maravarman (c. 650–700) had a long and prosperous rule. He fought many battles and extended the Pandya power. "Pandya" was well known since ancient times, with contacts, even diplomatic, reaching the Roman Empire; during the 13th century, Marco Polo mentioned it as the richest empire in existence.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Pandyan Empire was large enough to pose a serious threat to the Pallava power. Pandya Maravarman Rajasimha aligned with the Chalukya Vikramaditya II and attacked the Pallava king Nandivarman II. Varagunan I defeated the Pallavas in a battle on the banks of the Kaveri. The Pallava king Nandivarman sought to restrain the growing power of the Pandyas and went into an alliance with the feudal chieftains of Kongu and Chera countries. The armies met in several battles and the Pandya forces scored decisive victories in them. Pandyas under Srimara Srivallaba also invaded Sri Lanka and devastated the northern provinces in 840.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Pandya power continued to grow under Srimara and encroached further into the Pallava territories. The Pallavas were now facing a new threat in the form of the Rashtrakutas who had replaced the Chalukyas in the western Deccan. However, the Pallavas found an able monarch in Nandivarman III, who with the help of his Ganga and Chola allies defeated Srimara at the Battle of Tellaru. The Pallava kingdom again extended up to the river Vaigai. The Pandyas suffered further defeats in the hands of the Pallava Nripatunga at Arisil (c. 848). From then the Pandyas had to accept the overlordship of the Pallavas.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Around 850, out of obscurity rose Vijayalaya, made use of an opportunity arising out of a conflict between Pandyas and Pallavas, captured Thanjavur from Mutharaiyar dynasty and eventually established the imperial line of the medieval Cholas. Vijayalaya revived the Chola dynasty and his son Aditya I helped establish their independence. He invaded Pallava kingdom in 903 and killed the Pallava king Aparajita in battle, ending the Pallava reign. The Chola kingdom under Parantaka I expanded to cover the entire Pandya country. However, towards the end of his reign, he suffered several reverses by the Rashtrakutas who had extended their territories well into the Chola kingdom.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Cholas went into a temporary decline during the next few years due to weak kings, palace intrigues and succession disputes. Despite a number of attempts, the Pandya country could not be completely subdued and the Rashtrakutas were still a powerful enemy in the north. However, the Chola revival began with the accession of Rajaraja Chola I in 985. Cholas rose as a notable military, economic and cultural power in Asia under Rajaraja and his son Rajendra Chola I. The Chola territories stretched from the islands of Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the river Ganges in Bengal. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, annexed parts of Sri Lanka and occupied the islands of Maldives. Rajendra Chola extended the Chola conquests to the Malayan archipelago by defeating the Srivijaya kingdom. He defeated Mahipala, the king of Bihar and Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram ("the town of Cholas who conquered the Ganges"). At its peak, the Chola Empire extended from the island of Sri Lanka in the south to the Godavari basin in the north. The kingdoms along the east coast of India up to the river Ganges acknowledged Chola suzerainty. Chola navies invaded and conquered Srivijaya in the Malayan archipelago. Chola armies exacted tribute from Thailand and the Khmer kingdom of Cambodia. During the reign of Rajaraja and Rajendra, the administration of the Chola empire matured considerably. The empire was divided into a number of self-governing local government units, and the officials were selected through a system of popular elections.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Throughout this period, the Cholas were constantly troubled by the ever-resilient Sinhalas trying to overthrow the Chola occupation of Lanka, Pandya princes trying to win independence for their traditional territories, and by the growing ambitions of the Chalukyas in the western Deccan. The history of this period was one of constant warfare between the Cholas and of these antagonists. A balance of power existed between the Chalukyas and the Cholas and there was a tacit acceptance of the Tungabhadra river as the boundary between the two empires. However, the bone of contention between these two powers was the growing Chola influence in the Vengi kingdom. The Cholas and Chalukyas fought many battles and both kingdoms were exhausted by the endless battles and a stalemate existed.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Marital and political alliances between the Eastern Chalukya kings based around Vengi located on the south banks of the river Godavari began during the reign of Rajaraja following his invasion of Vengi. Virarajendra Chola's son Athirajendra Chola was assassinated in a civil disturbance in 1070 and Kulothunga Chola I ascended the Chola throne starting the Chalukya Chola dynasty. Kulothunga was a son of the Vengi king Rajaraja Narendra. The Chalukya Chola dynasty saw very capable rulers in Kulothunga Chola I and Vikrama Chola, however, the eventual decline of the Chola power practically started during this period. The Cholas lost control of the island of Lanka and were driven out by the revival of Sinhala power. Around 1118 they also lost the control of Vengi to Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI and Gangavadi (southern Mysore districts) to the growing power of Hoysala Vishnuvardhana, a Chalukya feudatory. In the Pandya territories, the lack of a controlling central administration caused a number of claimants to the Pandya throne to cause a civil war in which the Sinhalas and the Cholas were involved by proxy. During the last century of the Chola existence, a permanent Hoysala army was stationed in Kanchipuram to protect them from the growing influence of the Pandyas. Rajendra Chola III was the last Chola king. The Kadava chieftain Kopperunchinga I even captured Rajendra and held him prisoner. At the close of Rajendra's reign (1279), the Pandyan empire was at the height of prosperity and had completely absorbed the Chola kingdom.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Cholas also found a place in the very famous novel by Kalki title Ponniyin Selvan which portrays the whole Chola history with Rajaraja Cholan ( Ponniyin Selvan, Arul Mozhi Varman, Vallavarayan Vanthiyaththevan, Karikalar, Nandhini, Kundhavi) as the characters of the novel.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Cheras were an ancient Dravidian royal dynasty of Tamil origin who ruled in regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India. Together with the Chola and the Pandyas, it formed the three principal warring Iron Age kingdoms of southern India in the early centuries of the Common Era. over a wide area comprising Venad, Kuttanad, Kudanad, Pazhinad, and more. In other words, they governed the area between Alappuzha in the south to Kasargod in the north. This included Palghat, Coimbatore, Salem, and Kollimalai. The capital was Vanchi, which the Romans who actively traded with the Cheras knew as Muzris.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: By the early centuries of the Common Era, civil society and statehood under the Cheras were developed in present-day western Tamil Nadu. The location of the Chera capital is generally assumed to be at modern Karur (identified with the Korra of Ptolemy). The Chera kingdom later extended to the plains of Kerala, the Palghat gap, along the river Perar and occupied land between the river Perar and river Periyar, creating two harbour towns, Tondi (Tyndis) and Muciri (Muziris), where the Roman trade settlements flourished.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Cheras were in continuous conflict with the neighboring Cholas and Pandyas. The Cheras are said to have defeated the combined armies of the Pandyas and the Cholas and their ally states. They also made battles with the Kadambās of Banavasi and the Yavanas (the Greeks) on the Indian coast. After the 2nd century AD, the Cheras' power decayed rapidly with the decline of the lucrative trade with the Romans.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Tamil poetic collection called Sangam literature describes a long line of Chera rulers dated to the first few centuries AD. It records the names of the kings, the princes, and the court poets who extolled them. The internal chronology of this literature is still far from settled, and at present, a connected account of the history of the period cannot be derived. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some of the rulers referred to in the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera king, is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Chera kingdom owed its importance to trade with West Asia, Greece, and Rome. Its geographical advantages, like the abundance of exotic spices, the navigability of the rivers connecting the Ghat mountains with the Arabian Sea, and the discovery of favorable Monsoon winds which carried sailing ships directly from the Arabian coast to Chera kingdom, combined to produce a veritable boom in the Chera foreign trade.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Later Cheras ruled from the 9th century. Little is known about the Cheras between the two dynasties. The second dynasty, Kulasekharas ruled from a city on the banks of River Periyar called Mahodayapuram (Kodungallur). Though never regained the old status in the Peninsula, Kulasekharas fought numerous wars with their powerful neighbors and diminished to history in the 12th century as a result of continuous Chola and Rashtrakuta invasions. The Chera Dynasty was supported by Tamil warriors such as Villavar, Vanavar and Malayar clans.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Chera rulers of Venadu, based at the port Quilon in southern Kerala, trace their relations back to the later/second Cheras. Ravi Varma Kulasekhara, ruler of Venadu from 1299 to 1314, is known for his ambitious military campaigns to former Pandya and Chola territories.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: After being overshadowed by the Pallavas and Cholas for centuries, the Pandiyas revived their fortunes in the 13th century and the Pandya power extended from the Telugu territories along the banks of the Godavari river to the northern half of Sri Lanka. When Kulasekara Pandyan I died in 1308, a conflict stemming from succession disputes arose amongst his sons – the legitimate Sundara Pandya and the illegitimate Vira Pandya (who was favoured by the king) fought each other for the throne. Soon Madurai fell into the hands of the invading armies of the Delhi Sultanate (which initially gave protection to the vanquished Sundara Pandyan).


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Malik Kafur, a general of the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji invaded and sacked Madurai in 1311. Pandyas and their descendants were confined to a small region around Thirunelveli for a few more years. Ravivarman Kulasekara (r. 1299–1314), a Chera (Perumal) feudatory of Kulasekara Pandya, staked his claim to the Pandya throne. Ravivarman, utilising the unsettled nature of the country, quickly overran the southern Tamil Nadu and brought the entire region from Kanyakumari to Kanchipuram, under the Chera kingdom. His inscription was found in Punaamalli, a suburb of Madras. But, Ravivarman's hold over Kānci was only short-lived and his aggressive activities were arrested by the Kākatiya ruler, Pratāparudra II. The Kākatiya army under the command of Muppidi Nāyaka marched to Kanci, and captured the city.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The 14th-century invasion by the Delhi Sultans caused a retaliatory reaction from the Hindus, who rallied to build a new kingdom, called the Vijayanagara Empire. Bukka, with his brother Harihara, founded the Vijayanagara Empire based in the city of Vijayanagara in Karnataka. Under Bukka the empire prospered and continued to expand towards the south. Bukka and his son Kampana conquered most of the kingdoms of southern India. In 1371 the Vijayanagar empire defeated the short-lived Madurai Sultanate, which had been established by the remnants of the invading Khalji army. Eventually the empire covered the entire south India. Vijayanagara empire established local governors called Nayaks to rule in the various territories of the empire.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: The Vijayanagar Empire declined in 1565 defeated by the Deccan sultans in the Battle of Talikota. The local Nayak governors declared their independence and started their rule. The Nayaks of Madurai and Thanjavur were the most prominent of them. Ragunatha Nayak (1600–1645) was the greatest of the Tanjavur Nayaks. Raghunatha Nayak encouraged trade and permitted a Danish settlement in 1620 at Tarangambadi. This laid the foundation of future European involvement in the affairs of the country. The success of the Dutch inspired the English to seek trade with Thanjavur, which was to lead to far-reaching repercussions. Vijaya Raghava (1631–1676) was the last of the Thanjavur Nayaks. Nayaks reconstructed some of the oldest temples in the country and their contributions can be seen even today. Nayaks expanded the existing temples with large pillared halls, and tall gateway towers, which is representative of the religious architecture of this period.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: In Madurai, Thirumalai Nayak was the most famous Nayak ruler. He patronised art and architecture creating new structures and expanding the existing landmarks in and around Madurai. On Thirumalai Nayak's death in 1659, the Madurai Nayak kingdom began to break up. His successors were weak rulers and invasions of Madurai recommenced.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Pudukkottai was a kingdom and later a princely state in British India, which existed from 1680 until 1948. The Kingdom of Pudukkottai was founded in about 1680 as a feudatory of Ramnad and grew with subsequent additions from Tanjore, Sivaganga and Ramnad. One of the staunch allies of the British East India Company in the Carnatic, Anglo-Mysore and Polygar Wars, the kingdom was brought under the Company's protection in 1800 as per the system of Subsidiary Alliance. The state was placed under the control of the Madras Presidency from 1800 until 1 October 1923, when the Madras States Agency was abolished, and until 1948 it was under the political control of the Government of India.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Pudukkottai State covered a total area of 1,178 square miles (3,050 km2) and had a population of 438,648 in 1941. It extended over the whole of the present-day Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu (with the exception of Aranthangi taluk which was then a part of Tanjore district). The town of Pudukkottai was its capital.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Shivaji Bhonsle, the Maratha ruler, invaded the south, as did Chikka Deva Raya of Mysore and other Muslim Rulers, resulting in chaos and instability. Rani Mangammal, the Nayak ruler of Madurai, resisted these invasions showing great courage. Shivaji had conquered important forts like Gingee and Vellore by 1678. On the other hand, Ekoji, half brother of Shivaji had established his own rule in Thanjavur.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: Gingee served as the Maratha capital for nine years during the 27-year Mughal-Maratha war. The Mughals captured Gingee in 1698.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: European settlements began to appear in the Tamil country during the Vijayanagara Empire. In 1605, the Dutch established trading posts in the Coromandel Coast near Gingee and in Pulicat. The British East India Company built a 'factory' (warehouse) at Armagaon (Durgarazpatnam), a village around North of Pulicat, as the site in 1626. In 1639, Francis Day, one of the officers of the company, secured the rights over a three-mile (5 km) long strip of land a fishing village called Madraspatnam from the Damarla Venkatadri Nayakudu, the Nayak of Vandavasi. The East India Company built Fort St George and castle on an approximate five square kilometre sand strip. This was the start of the town of Madras. The coromandel coast was ruled by the Vijayanagara King (Aravidu Dynasty), Peda Venkata Raya, based in Chandragiri and Vellore Fort. With his approval the English began to exercise sovereign rights over their strip of land.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: During the Maratha rule of Thanjavur. After Ekoji, his three sons namely Shaji, Serfoji I, Thukkoji alias Thulaja I ruled Thanjavur. The greatest of the Maratha rulers was Serfoji II (1798–1832 ). Serfoji devoted his life to the pursuit of culture and Thanjavur became renowned as a seat of learning. Serfoji's patronised art and literature and built the Saraswati Mahal Library at his palace. The incursion of the Muslim armies from the north forced a southward migration of Hindus from the central Deccan and the Andhra countries to seek shelter under the Nayak and the Maratha kings. The famous Carnatic music composer Tyagaraja (1767–1847), along with the Trinity of Carnatic music flourished in the Thanjavur district during this time.


title: History of Tamil Nadu

text: With the demise of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707, his empire dissolved amidst numerous succession wars and the vassals of the empire began to assert their independence. The administration of the southern districts of Tamil Nadu was fragmented with hundreds of Polygars or "Palayakkarars" governing a few villages each. These local chieftains often fought amongst each other over territory. This turned the political situation in the Tamil country and in South India in general into confusion and chaos. The European traders found themselves in a situation where they could exploit the prevailing confusion to their own advantage.