title: Maraschino

text: Francesco Drioli developed and perfected Giuseppe Carceniga's earlier innovative techniques for the distillation of Marasca cherries and in 1759 he founded the Fabbrica di Maraschino Francesco Drioli (Francesco Drioli Maraschino Factory). By the end of the 18th century his maraschino had already gained widespread fame and had cornered the major markets in Europe, especially in England. In the first advertisement in the London Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, dated 17 June 1779, the firm Johnson and Justerini informed "the nobility and gentry" of having "just imported a large quantity of maraschino from Zara ... of the most exquisite flavour" and in 1804 the Austrian Emperor granted the factory the title entitling it to use the Imperial coat of arms. The liqueur was sought after by distinguished personages, rulers and courts from all over Europe and the Francesco Drioli factory held Royal Warrants, entitling them to use the royal coat of arms, from the royal households of Austria, Great Britain and Italy. British warships were sent from bases in Corfù and Malta to pick up shipments of maraschino for British royalty. In fact in 1877 the Duke of York (the future George V) and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the factory and accepted "with great pleasure a choice buffet" in the Salghetti-Drioli family home and purchased "more cases of rosolio and several jars of maraschino cherries" (, a. XXII, no.77, 28 September 1877). From the outset, however, Drioli Maraschino was subject to counterfeiting, a scourge which would plague the factory even after it closed in 1980, forcing its owners to take repeated legal action. In his Via Facti, Nicolò Tommaseo noted how widespread Drioli Maraschino was (in Italy... and in all five parts of the world) and he wrote, "..." (it is drunk everywhere and faked/copied everywhere).


title: Maraschino

text: The square greenish bottles were supplied by Murano glass factories and in the early 19th century the straw cover (known as a "fiasco") was introduced. This was a typical Venetian method for transporting bottles on long sea voyages and would come to define the brand over the years. Following the restoration of Italian sovereignty in the Veneto, Giuseppe's son Francesco Salghetti-Drioli was instrumental in founding a glass factory in Zadar, bringing skilled workers from Murano and becoming its first president.


title: Maraschino

text: As the reputation of Maraschino grew, so did the name of Zadar, which prompted other factories to emerge and become established, particularly those of Girolamo Luxardo (1821) and Romano Vlahov (1861). Together they formed (the maraschino industry of Zadar) of which the acknowledged founder is Francesco Drioli.


title: Maraschino

text: The Second World War, the persecution of the Tito partisans against the Italian community (some of the Luxardo family, including Pietro and Nicolò Luxardo, were killed by partisans), the bombing of Zadar and its transition to Yugoslav sovereignty, marked the end of an era. In the immediate post-war period the owners of the three most important distilleries, Vittorio Salghetti-Drioli, Giorgio Luxardo and Romano Vlahov, sought refuge in Italy and rebuilt their businesses in Mira, near Venice, Torreglia near Padua and Bologna respectively. By 1946 Vittorio had already resumed production and soon recaptured the company's traditional markets worldwide, in particular the English and English-speaking areas. He expertly reconciled his factory's long-standing and prestigious tradition with the demands for modernisation which such a radically altered post-war period called for. The death of Vittorio Salghetti-Drioli, sixth and last heir of the Dalmatian branch of the historic founding family of the maraschino industry of Zadar, not only saw the extinction of this branch of the family, but also the end of the 200-year history of the Francesco Drioli factory, the oldest Italian liqueur company. After his death in 1974, his heirs set up Distillerie Venete Mira Spa (DI. VE. MI) with the Società Finanziaria Europea. The company was transferred to this new group while ownership of the factory, the brands, and the recipes was retained, and the use of the latter was authorised. In 1980 the Board of Directors decided to cease production and the company went into liquidation.


title: Maraschino

text: The valuable Salghetti-Drioli archive, which dates from the second half of the 18th century up to 1943, stands as testimony to the history of the maraschino of Zadar. The section preserved by the family in Vicenza was designated of "great historical interest" by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage in 1991, and has been catalogued by Prof. Georgetta Bonfiglio-Dosio. The section remaining in Zadar, which was confiscated after the war and the transition of Zadar to Yugoslavia, is preserved in the State Archives in Zadar (Drzavni Arhiv u Zadru) in the Tvornica F. Drioli Fund, and has been catalogued by the archivist Marijan Maroja. The archive as a whole not only documents the history of the factory, its development over seven generations of entrepreneurs and their considerable contribution to the history of Zadar, but lends an insight into historical events that shook the area around the Adriatic. The archive provides an unprecedented resource for historians and archivists from the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797 up until the transition of Zadar to Yugoslav sovereignty in 1947, covering the various periods of Austrian, French and Italian domination.


title: Maraschino

text: The maraschino industry had played a major role in the history of the city of Zadar and in the aftermath of the war, production activities were resumed. Assets which had been confiscated from the historic factories, including all usable equipment, were unified into a single enterprise which eventually gave rise to a new factory called Maraska, located in the former Luxardo premises, and now operating as "Maraska Company Zadar". This company has continued the traditional business, widening its range of liqueurs and syrups to become the most important liqueur producer in


title: Maraschino

text: Maraschino is a very special and notable ingredient in cocktails. Many recipes before prohibition called for Maraschino, it was one of most used and most important ingredients. In last few years, with the growth of the craft cocktail movement, Maraschino is regaining its former status.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson plc is a British multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.


title: Pearson plc

text: It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s. It is the largest education company and was once the largest book publisher in the world. In 2013 Pearson merged its Penguin Books with German conglomerate Bertelsmann. In 2015, the company announced a change to focus solely on education. Pearson plc owns one of the GCSE examining boards for the UK, Edexcel. Pearson has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.


title: Pearson plc

text: The company was founded by Samuel Pearson in 1844 as a building and engineering concern operating in Yorkshire under the name "S. Pearson & Son". In 1880, control passed to his grandson Weetman Dickinson Pearson (later 1st Viscount Cowdray), an engineer, who in 1890 moved the business to London and turned it into one of the world's largest construction companies. Another of its prominent engineers was Ernest William Moir who, after working for Pearson on tunnels in New York City, became the contractor's agent on construction of the Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames in London between 1892 and 1897. The company also built the Admiralty Harbour at Dover, the Halifax Dry Dock in Canada, the East River Railway Tunnels in New York City, the Mexican Grand Canal that drained Mexico City, the Tehuantepec Railway in Mexico, and railways and harbours around the world. In November 1915, the firm began construction of HM Factory, Gretna, the largest cordite factory in the UK during World War I. In 1907 Weetman Pearson founded investment company Whitehall Securities Corporation Ltd which played an important role in the development of British airlines in the 1930s.


title: Pearson plc

text: The construction business was shut down in the 1920s. Its final projects included construction of the Silent Valley Reservoir in Northern Ireland (contract awarded in 1923), and completion of the Sennar Dam, in Sudan, in 1925.


title: Pearson plc

text: In 1919, the firm acquired a 45% stake in the London branch of merchant bankers Lazard Brothers, an interest which was increased to 80% in 1932 during the depression years. Pearson continued to hold a 50% stake until 1999. In 1921, Pearson purchased a number of local daily and weekly newspapers in the United Kingdom, which it combined to form the Westminster Press group.


title: Pearson plc

text: In 1957, it bought the "Financial Times" and acquired a 50% stake in "The Economist". It purchased the publisher Longman in 1968.


title: Pearson plc

text: The company was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969. It bought the paperback publisher Penguin in 1970, and the children's imprint Ladybird Books in 1972. It bought a rival, the educational publisher Pitman Publishing, in 1985. In 1986, Pearson invested in the British Satellite Broadcasting consortium, which, a few years later merged with Sky Television to form a new company, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).


title: Pearson plc

text: During the 1990s, Pearson acquired a number of TV production and broadcasting assets (including former ITV franchisee Thames Television) and sold most of its non-media assets, under the leadership of future U.S. Congressman Bob Turner. Westminster Press was sold to Newsquest in 1996. Pearson acquired the education division of HarperCollins in 1996 from News Corporation and acquired book publishers Scott Foresman & Co. in 1996. In 1998 Pearson acquired Prentice Hall Textbooks/Simon & Schuster Trade Books from Viacom and merged it with its own education unit, Addison-Wesley Longman to form Pearson Education. Pearson sold several of the acquired divisions: first Appleton & Lange was divested to McGraw-Hill and Master Data Central was sold to Master Data Center. Then, Jossey-Bass was sold to John Wiley & Son and the Bureau of Business Practice was sold to Wolters Kluwer. Subsequently, Macmillan Library Reference's children's imprints (Silver Burdett Press, Dillon Press, Crestwood House, Silver Press, New Discovery and Julian Messner) were closed. Then, Gale acquired Macmillan Library Reference (Charles Scribner's Sons Reference, Macmillan Reference, Thorndike Press, G.K. Hall, Twayne Publishers and Schirmer Books). Finally, IDG Books acquired Macmillan General Reference (Frommer's, J.K. Lasser, Betty Crocker Cookbooks, Weight Watchers Dieting and Cookbooks and Howell House Pet Books).


title: Pearson plc

text: In March 1994, Pearson acquired software publisher The Software Toolworks for , which was rebranded Mindscape. In March 1998, Pearson sold Mindscape to The Learning Company for . Pearson took a $346 million loss on the sale.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson acquired Dorling Kindersley, the illustrated reference publisher and integrated it within Penguin, in March 2000 and then acquired National Computer Systems (NCS) in September 2000 so entering the educational assessment and school management systems market in the United States.


title: Pearson plc

text: In 2002, Pearson sold its 22% stake in RTL Group for €1.5 billion, and then purchased Rough Guides, the travel publisher, and brought it under Penguin. Pearson acquired Edexcel, a provider of qualifications in the UK, in 2003 and acquired about 80% stake in Meximerica Media Inc for $16.5 million for the swelling U.S. Hispanic market in 2004.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson purchased a series of other testing and assessment businesses, including Knowledge Technologies in 2004, AGS in 2005, and National Evaluation Systems and Promissor in 2006. Pearson acquired National Evaluation Systems, a provider of customised state assessments for teacher certification in the US, in April 2006 and announced that it had agreed to acquire Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International from Reed Elsevier for $950m in cash in May 2007. Pearson then completed the acquisition of Harcourt Assessment, merging the acquired businesses into Pearson Assessment & Information. Pearson also acquired eCollege, a digital learning technology group for $477m in May 2007.


title: Pearson plc

text: In February 2008, Pearson announced the sale of its Pearson Data Management Division (formerly the scanner manufacturing and servicing division of NCS Inc.) to Scantron Corporation (part of M&F Worldwide) which had been its main competitor.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson acquired Wall Street English for $145m in 2009 and bought the school learning systems division of Sistema Educacional Brasileiro (SEB) for $497m in 2010. Also in 2010, Pearson sold its 61% stake in Interactive Data to investment funds managed by Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus for $2 billion.


title: Pearson plc

text: In July 2011, Pearson announced the creation of Pearson College, a British degree provider based in London. Also in 2011, Pearson acquired Connections Education and agreed to sell its 50% stake in FTSE International Limited to the London Stock Exchange for £450 million. In 2011, Pearson also increased its stake in TutorVista, such that it had a 76% stake, for $127 million.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson entered into talks with rival conglomerate Bertelsmann, over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, Penguin Group and Random House in October 2012. The houses are considered two of the "Big Six" publishing companies. On 29 October 2012, Pearson said it would merge Penguin Books with Bertelsmann's Random House to create the world's biggest consumer book publisher. Then in May 2012 Pearson announced its acquisition of GlobalEnglish Corporation, an American Business English software and solutions company, in an all-cash transaction.


title: Pearson plc

text: In May 2013, Pearson announced a new restructuring plan to invest in digital learning and emerging markets, after predicting weaker earnings.


title: Pearson plc

text: The change supports the decoupling of the Penguin consumer publishing business into a separate entity with Random House (forming Penguin Random House). The new structure combines the separate education companies, Pearson International and Pearson North America under one Pearson company. Pearson will organise around three global lines of business – School, Higher Education and Professional. The Financial Times Group and Pearson English will form part of Pearson Professional.


title: Pearson plc

text: In July 2014, the company announced it had cut 4,000 jobs, representing 10% of the company's workforce.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson announced on 23 July 2015 that it had agreed to sell the FT Group, which includes business daily "Financial Times", to Japanese media group Nikkei for £844 million, or $1.32 billion. The sale does not include FT Group's London property at One Southwark Bridge. Pearson also retained the publishing rights to FT Press and licensed the trademark from Nikkei. In August 2015, Pearson's sold its 50% stake in "The Economist" to the Agnelli family for £469 million who previously held 4.7% of the group. The remaining 50% of The Economist Group is owned by the Schroders, Cadburys and the Rothschilds.


title: Pearson plc

text: On 5 November 2015, the company announced it was rebranding, including the creation of a new logo, with a "100% focus" on education.


title: Pearson plc

text: On 3 July 2017, Pearson sold its Tutor Vista and Edurite lines of business to India-based education technology company, Byju's On 11 July 2017, Pearson agreed to reduce its holding in Penguin Random House to 25%, by selling a 22% stake in the business to Bertelsmann.


title: Pearson plc

text: In August 2017 Pearson announced that it would cut 3,000 staff in an effort to save £300 million annually. On 16 August 2017 Pearson sold the language training subsidiary Global Education to Chinese company Pu-Xin Education for £62 million.


title: Pearson plc

text: In 2019, Pearson sold its US K-12 business to the private equity firm Nexus Capital Management. Pearson also sold its remaining 25% stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann. Pearson CEO John Fallon retired from the company in 2020 and was succeeded by Andy Bird on 19 October 2020.


title: Pearson plc

text: In December 2021, Pearson announced that Omid Kordestani had been appointed as the Board's chair. His position became effective in March 2022.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson in Practice Technology, formerly Zenos IT Academy, was only part of Pearson in Practice and was an institute offering government-funded apprenticeships for learners aged 16 to 24, and paid learning for people outside those boundaries. It focuses on giving its candidates the ability to sit Microsoft exams after an intense learning program that lasts for 12 months. Learners explored the full boundaries of computing, by looking at advanced server technology, internet knowledge, group policies and various other sections related to networks and computers. According to an Ofsted report in 2012, the graduation rate for the Zenos organization was higher than the average college percentages, and lay at 90%.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson announced plans to exit Pearson in Practice on 7 January 2013, although learners already signed up will be supported until the end of their courses. In February 2013 it was transferred to Vision Workforce Skills.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson VUE is an electronic testing company, owned by Pearson PLC. Founded in 1994 by E. Clarke Porter as Virtual University Enterprises, the company now operates in 165 countries with more than 5,000 authorized test centers.


title: Pearson plc

text: Pearson VUE co-sponsored the 10th Annual International Conference on Medical Regulation, which took place at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ontario, Canada in October 2012.


title: Pearson plc

text: Concerns exist around the amount of influence Pearson, being a commercial company, has on public education. Other concerns are around tax avoidance, high value contracts, and in one instance, laying off teachers to offset the high costs of testing. In 2017, more than six out of ten Pearson's shareholders voted against the chief executive's pay package of £1.5m after the company made a record loss. Pearson US has been criticised for using offshore tax avoidance schemes involving a host of companies at a service address in Luxembourg.


title: Pearson plc

text: In the United Kingdom, Pearson owns Edexcel, an education and examination board. Edexcel has produced qualifications which link to Pearson texts, although Edexcel also continues to endorse textbooks published by other companies. Edexcel has also faced criticism over repeated leaks of exam material in consecutive years; police investigations into some of the incidents were referred to prosecutors.


title: Pearson plc

text: In June 2010, Pearson plc received notification that the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) founded by Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi as a sovereign fund, had acquired 24,431,000 shares within the company via Euroclear. On further investigation, Pearson said the LIA may have acquired an additional 2,141,179 shares, resulting in a total interest of 26,572,179 shares. At the time, this represented a major holding of 3.27% within the company and the investment was worth around £280 million.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rüstem Pasha (; ; 1505 – 10 July 1561) was an Ottoman statesman who served as Grand Vizier to Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Rüstem Pasha is also known as Damat Rüstem Pasha (the epithet "damat" meaning 'son-in-law' ) as a result of his marriage to the sultan's daughter, Mihrimah Sultan, in 1539. He is regarded as one of the most influential and successful grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rustem Pasha was taken as a child to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), where he built a military and bureaucratic career. On 26 November 1539, he married Mihrimah Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Suleiman I and his wife Hurrem Sultan. His brother Sinan Pasha was an Ottoman grand admiral.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rustem is referred to as a Croat by Tayib Osman-zade Ahmed, author of 'Hadikatul vuzara' and the Turkish encyclopedia Kamus-ul-alam. He is also referred to as a Croat by the Turkish historiographer Mustafa Âlî, although other sources suggest different Croatian, Bosnian or Serbian birthplaces.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Wherever he was born, Rustem Pasha was a man of very humble origins. He was forcibly recruited through the Devşırme system from Christian parents in the Balkans and brought to Constantinople as a child. There he studied in the Enderun, an institute for the education/indoctrination of talented boys. By the time they graduated, the boys were able to speak, read and write at least three languages, were able to understand the latest developments in science and finance and were able to excel in military leadership as well as in close combat skills. It was a perfect start for a career in the military or officialdom.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: An extremely ambitious man, Rüstem owed the success of his career to the support of Hurrem Sultan, the wife of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. In 1526, he took part in the Battle of Mohacs as a silahdar (a weapon bearer in an elite cavalry division of the Ottoman army). A few years later he advanced to mirahur-i evvel "ağa" (chief supervisor of the sultan's stables) and then rikab-dar (the stirrup holder when the sultan mounted his horse). The mirahur accompanied the Sultan during his travels, so the Süleyman knew Rüstem for a long time before he appointed him - possibly inspired by Hürrem - to be tutor to his sons. In making this decision, he was surely influenced by Rüstem's character. Most historical sources describe Rüstem as a calm and reasonable man with a keen intellect, who always kept a cool head, and who was devoted to his ruler. These characteristics Rüstem, Süleyman the Magnificent, and the famous jurist Ebussuud Efendi (Mehmed Ebussuud Efendi), closer together. A Sunni, Rüstem leaned towards the Islamic Sufism of the Naqshbandi sect.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rüstem Pasha was a sanjak bey who was promoted to become Beylerbey of Diyarbakir. By the time he married Mihrimah Sultan, he was already a vizier. Süleyman the Magnificent appointed him grand vizier for the first time in 1544 but in 1553 he was dismissed, only to recover the position in 1555 and hold on to it until his death in 1561.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: As a diplomat, Rüstem initiated many trade agreements with European countries and India. His biggest success was the agreement, signed in 1547, with King Ferdinand I and the Emperor Charles V, which confirmed, without firing a shot, the western border of the Ottoman Empire for more than fourteen years. Ferdinand renounced his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary and agreed to pay a tax of 30,000 gold ducats a year to the Ottoman treasury. The Emperor's ambassador Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq wrote that Charles tried to revise the unfavourable agreement, several times but that Rüstem always resisted. Rüstem also worked on the agreement with the Safavids, which, in 1544, ended the long-standing Ottoman-Safavid wars, and secured the eastern borders of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: In 1536 Süleyman had his grand vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha executed for complicated reasons (for example, he used a seal saying 'Sultan Ibrahim' and retained most of the confiscated property of Süleyman's 'minister of finance' İskender Çelebi, whose execution he ordered, etc.). Ibrahim was replaced with Ayas Mehmed Pasha, followed in turn by Lütfi Pasha and Hadım Suleiman Pasha. Rüstem Pasha became Grand Vizier eight years after Ibrahim's death.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Later Hurrem and Rüstem conspired against the ambitious crown prince Şehzade Mustafa, the son of Süleyman by Mahidevran Sultan, in favour of Şehzade Mehmed, his son by Hürrem. Mustafa made the mistake of frequently receiving foreign ambassadors and Ottoman commanders without his father's knowledge, and was regarded by them as an important ally against Süleyman. The Austrian ambassador Ghiselin de Busbecq (visiting Mustafa before Süleyman), informed his ruler: "Mustafa will be an excellent sultan, receptive and open to talks." And the Papal ambassador Navagero said: "Mustafa lives with his mother. She says that people adore him." Understanding the danger of the situation, Süleyman remembered how his father Selim I had dethroned his grandfather Bayezid II (who was killed only a month after his abdication in 1512). Officers loyal to the sultan warned him that a part of the army was getting ready to put Mustafa on the throne. In 1552, while preparing a campaign against Persia, Süleyman appointed Rüstem Serasker (commander-in-chief) of the campaign. But soldiers assembled in the military camp in Karaman (in Central Anatolia), rejected the appointment and insisted that Rüstem should be replaced by Mustafa (as admiral of the Ottoman fleet during the Tripolis siege Rüstem's brother Sinan Pasha faced much the same problem although he still won many victories before his death in 1553).


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: The intrigue continued. Mustafa's often-cited correspondence with the Safavids signed 'Sultan Mustafa' (and kept today in the archives) may or may not have been relevant. It might have been authentic; it might have been a Safavid or a Hürrem-Rüstem deception, or it might have been Süleyman's attempt to calm down public opinion after Mustafa's death. Various reports describe Mustafa's death in the Ereğli valley. According to one, Rüstem Pasha asked Mustafa to join his father's army and at the same time warned Süleyman that Mustafa was coming to kill him. According to another, it was Süleyman himself who summoned his son to Ereğli, and Mustafa came, "confident that the army would protect him".


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Only Rüstem appears as the antagonist in all the versions. However, this is not surprising as they are all based on Mustafa's PR chief consultant Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey's elegy, "Şehzade Mustafa Mersiyesi". Even the report of the Austrian ambassador de Busbecq, who claims to have received an account from an eyewitness, had the same origin. Suspended and banished, Rüstem was fair game for takign the blame. No one dared to criticise the Sultan himself. Probably realising this, Süleyman recalled Rüstem to his post two years later.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rüstem's scapegoating as the seemingly dominant figure in the 'conspiracy against Mustafa' radically changed public opinion. And so the Rüstem who had been extolled as the 'pillar of the Ottoman empire', as a brilliant economist and a sophisticated statesman was forgotten along with all his great projects and charitable foundations. Instead he became reviled as Rüstem the 'black heart, the murderer of the loved Prince Mustafa'. Rumours spread about his 'dirty' origin and about possible bribe-taking, and he was slurred as 'the louse of fortune'. Some foreign ambassadors like Ghiselin de Busbecq or Bernardo Navagero, repeated these slurs in their reports. However, Jean Chesneau, the secretary of the French ambassador, still wrote: 'The grand vizier is a man of humble origin, who, thanks to his talent and will, worked his way up from nothing. He is an agreeable companion, engaging your interest with his acute faculty of judgment, an insightful way of thinking and magnanimous manners. During the negotiations, he is calm and dispassionate, although in his views determined.'


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey's elegy, the reports of ambassadors, administrative dossiers, foundation charters and some private documents like Hurrem's and Mihrimah's plea to Süleyman when Rüstem was expelled to Üsküdar, are the only contemporary sources reporting on Rüstem's life. They were also the basis of the oft-cited İbrāhīm Peçevī's work 'Tārīḫ-i Peçevī', published eighty years after Rüstem's death.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Mihrimah Sultan was married to Rüstem, the governor of Diyarbakır, in 1539. By then Rüstem was already a wealthy man and had, since 1538, a splendid career as Governor of Anatolia, one of the two most important administrative regions in the Ottoman Empire, and a post seen as a stepping-stone on the way to becoming Grand Vizier. Mihrimah already knew Rüstem for as the mentor of her brothers and the adviser of her father. After their marriage, he was nominated to the vizierate in November 1544.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rüstem supported Mihrimah's charitable foundations including the Mihrimah Sultan İskele Camii (Mihrimah Sultan Mosque in Üsküdar where her brother-in-law Sinan Pasha was buried in 1553). He was also Mihrimah's ally, particularly concerning political and financial decisions. His will offers evidence of his confidence in his wife. Rüstem and Mihrimah's had a daughter, Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan (born 1541), was firstly married in 1560 to Şemsi Ahmet Pasha, and at least a son, Sultanzade Osman Bey (1546 - 1576).


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: As Grand Vizier, Rüstem amassed vast wealth and he was the first Grand Vizier in the history of the Ottoman Empire who contributed to the development of the state from his own funds. According to most contemporary testimonies (excluding Taşlıcalı Yahya Bey's "Şehzade Mustafa" "Mersiyesi"), he was one of the few state dignitaries who didn't take bribes. He was very wealthy even before his marriage to Mihrimah Sultan. In his will (a part of an endowment charter from 1561), Rüstem left a complete inventory of his property in the hope of securing his great foundation projects after his death. His testament determined exactly which part of his property belonged to the state, to his foundations, to Hurrem Sultan's foundation and to Mihrimah's foundations, as well as what he left to his wife Mihrimah and to their daughter Ayşe Hümaşah Sultan. In an act of faith in her abilities, he nominated his wife Mihrimah Sultan as executor of his will and his daughter as the executor and administrator of his foundations.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Most historians emphasise how hard Rüstem worked to consolidate and improve the troubled economy of the Ottoman Empire which had been impoverished by excessive spending on wars and the lavish lifestyle of the court. Contemporary documents say that he also financed this upswing from his own resources. Toll-free bridges, roads, covered bazaars, granaries, baths, hospices, caravanserais, convents, schools and various other establishments were built on his lands for the public benefit. Their funding was largely secured by the leasing of Rüstem's estates. He supported agriculture, founded new trading centres, like the bazaar in Sarajevo, and established silk factories in Bursa and Istanbul, and assorted social and educational institutions. He developed the domestic economy by encouraging major public works projects such as water distribution systems in Istanbul, Mecca and Jerusalem.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: He also found enough money to finance the building of the Süleymaniye Mosque (1550–57) as well as other monumental architectural projects designed by the architect Mimar Sinan. To reduce protectionism in the state administration, an official instalment fee was introduced, and confiscated when an official abused his authority. However, his reform of the military remained unfinished. At the time of his death in Constantinople on 10 July 1561, his personal property included 815 plots of land in Rumelia and Anatolia, 476 mills, 1700 slaves, 2,900 war horses, 1,106 camels, 800 gold embroidery Holy Qur'ans, 500 books, 5000 caftans, 130 pieces of armours, 860 gold embroidered swords, 1500 silver tolga (helmets), 1000 silver balls, 33 precious jewels etc.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Rüstem Pasha died of hydrocephalus on 10 July 1561. He was buried in the Sehzade Mosque (which was dedicated to Süleyman and Hürrem's son, Şehzade Mehmed) because his dream project, the Rüstem Pasha Mosque, had not yet been built. His tomb sits alongside that of Şehzade Mehmed.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: After her husband's death, Mihrimah completed his work including the construction of the eponymous Rüstem Pasha Mosque (Turkish: "Rüstem Paşa Camii)" which can be found in the Hasırcılar Çarşısı (Strawmat Weavers Market) in Tahtakale in the Fatih district of Istanbul. It was designed by the Ottoman imperial architect Mimar Sinan and built between 1561 and 1563. With its tiled interior and exterior, it is widely regarded as one of Sinan's most beautiful mosques.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: Other buildings in Istanbul that bear the grand vizier's name are the Rüstem Paşa Medresesi (1550, another work of Mimar Sinan) in Çağaloğlu, and the Rüstem Paşa Han (1544-1550, also by Mimar Sinan) in Karaköy.


title: Rüstem Pasha

text: In the acclaimed Turkish television series "Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century)", Rüstem Pasha is portrayed by actor Ozan Güven.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Male chest reconstruction refers to any of various surgical procedures to masculinise the chest by removing breast tissue or altering the nipples and areolae. Male chest reconstruction may be performed in cases of gynecomastia and gender dysphoria. Transmasculine people may pursue chest reconstruction, also known as top surgery, as part of transitioning.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: The removal of breast tissue in male chest reconstruction is a type of mastectomy called a "subcutaneous mastectomy". "Subcutaneous" means "under the skin". This type of mastectomy removes tissue from inside the breast (subcutaneous tissue), as well as excess skin. The surgeon then contours the chest into a masculine shape, altering the size and position of the areolae and nipples as needed.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Male chest reconstruction surgery candidates desire a flat chest that appears masculine. These candidates may include cisgender men with gynecomastia; transgender men who are medically transitioning and have chest dysphoria; and non-binary people with breasts, who, like transgender men, can experience chest dysphoria.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Gynecomastia is a common breast deformity that can occur in men, which may require surgical intervention. Causes of gynecomastia may vary but may include drug side effects or genetics.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: People assigned female at birth who are transitioning to male, masculine, or non-binary genders may experience gender dysphoria caused by their chest and/or gender euphoria after the surgical recovery.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Canadian actor Elliot Page underwent the surgery circa March 2021; he has stated, "It has completely transformed my life… [It’s] not only life-changing but lifesaving.”


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: A transverse inframammary incision with free nipple areolar grafts may be one approach. If there is too much blousing of the skin, the alternatives are to extend the incision laterally (chasing a dog ear) or to make a vertical midline incision (inverted T).


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: The areola is trimmed to a pre-agreed-upon diameter and the nipple sectioned with a pie-shaped excision and reconstituted. There may be varying sensory loss because of nerve disruption.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: One of the most common male chest reconstructive procedures, double incision involves an incision above and below the breast mass, the removal of the fatty and glandular tissue, and the closure of the skin. This method leaves scars under the pectoral muscles, stretching from the underarms to the medial pectoral.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Double incision is usually accompanied by free nipple grafts to make male-looking nipples. The areola and nipple is removed from the breast tissue, cutting away along the circumference and removing the top layer of flesh from the rest of the tissue. After the chest has been reconstructed, the nipples are grafted on in the appropriate male position. The areolae are often sized down as well as the nipples themselves, as female areolae are often larger in circumference and the nipples protrude farther.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Nipple grafts are generally associated with double incision style chest reconstruction, but may be used in any reconstruction procedure if necessary.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: With nipple grafts comes the possibility of rejection. In such cases, the nipple is often tattooed back on cosmetically or further surgical procedures may be applied.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Some sensation will usually return to the grafted nipples over time. However, the procedure severs the nerves that go into the nipple-areola and there is a substantial likelihood for loss of sensation.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: To remove the glandular and fatty tissue which comprise the breast mass and the added skin that drapes the mass, there are three basic approaches.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: a circular incision around the areola, combined with an inner circular incision to remove some of the excess areola. Drawing the skin into the center will result in some puckering, but this often smooths out with time. There will be significant tension on the scar line, and to prevent spreading of the scar, a permanent fixation suture is needed. Leaving outer dermis (raw skin) underneath the marginalized areola helps in its survival.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: The keyhole incision (think skeleton key) augments the periareolar incision further by making a vertical closure underneath (lollipop), which results after the unwanted skin is pulled in from side to side and the excess is removed.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: An anchor incision adds to that a transverse incision usually in the infra mammary fold to further remove excessive skin. Draping or blousing is not desirable. This is reserved for much larger breasts or topographically a larger surface area as seen in women with postpartum breast atrophy.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: The nipple areolar complex may be supported by a pedicle which has the advantage of leaving some sensation and blood supply intact, but can have the disadvantage when the pedicle has sufficient bulk not to provide the flat look most FTM patients desire.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Occasionally the side limbs may be quite long, and the expression doctors use is "chasing a dog ear" into the axilla (or underarm). A dog ear is an unpleasant ruffle of skin in the corner of an incision when there is too much gathering usually at an angle greater than 30 degrees. Using a curved incision can reduce the chances of dog ears developing because it requires less gathering of skin to be done, but some patients dislike the appearance of the curved scar as it can mimic the appearance of breasts.


title: Male chest reconstruction

text: Not uncommonly the surgeon will revise the incision lines after 3 or more months of settling shows some residual problem areas.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Adal Sultanate, or the Adal Empire or the ʿAdal or the Bar Saʿad dīn (alt. spelling "Adel Sultanate, "Adal "Sultanate") () was a medieval Sunni Muslim Empire which was located in the Horn of Africa. It was founded by Sabr ad-Din II after the fall of the Sultanate of Ifat. The kingdom flourished circa 1415 to 1577. The sultanate and state were established by the local inhabitants of Zeila. or the Harar plateau. At its height, the polity under Sultan Badlay controlled the territory stretching from Somaliland to the port city of Suakin in Sudan. The Adal Empire maintained a robust commercial and political relationship with the Ottoman Empire.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Eidal or Aw Abdal, was the Emir of Harar in the eleventh century. In the thirteenth century, the Arab writer al-Dimashqi refers to the Adal Sultanate's capital, Zeila, by its Somali name "Awdal" (). The modern Awdal region of Somaliland, which was part of the Adal Sultanate, bears the kingdom's name.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Locally the empire was known to the Muslims as "Bar Sa'ad ad-din" meaning "The country of Sa'ad ad-din"


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Ethiopian historian Taddesse Tamrat states Adal's central authority in the fourteenth century consisted of the Argobba, Harari and Silt'e people. According to Patrick Gikes, Adal in the sixteenth century designated the ancient Harla and Somali people. Marriage alliances between Argobba, Harari and Somali people were also common within the Adal Sultanate.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Adal Kingdom (also "Awdal", "Adl", or "Adel") was centred around Zeila, its capital. It was established by the local Somali tribes in the early ninth century. Zeila attracted merchants from around the world, contributing to the wealth of the city. Zeila is an ancient city and it was one of the earliest cities in the world to embrace Islam.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: In the late ninth century, Al-Yaqubi, an Armenian Muslim scholar and traveller, wrote that the Kingdom of Adal was a small wealthy kingdom and that Zeila served as the headquarters for the kingdom, which dated back to the beginning of the century.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Islam was introduced to the Horn region early on from the Arabian peninsula, shortly after the hijra. Zeila's two-mihrab Masjid al-Qiblatayn dates to about the seventh century, and is the oldest mosque in Africa. In the late ninth century, Al-Yaqubi wrote that Muslims were living along the northern Somali seaboard. The polity was governed by local Somali dynasties established by the Adelites. Adal's history from this founding period forth would be characterized by a succession of battles with neighbouring Abyssinia.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Yusuf bin Ahmad al-Kawneyn was born in Zeila during the Adal Kingdom period. Al-Kawneyn is a Somali Muslim saint. He is believed to be the ancestor of the royal family known as the Walashma dynasty, which later governed both the Ifat Sultanate and the Adal Sultanate during the Middle Ages.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Sultan Haqq ad-Din II abandoned the former Walasma base for Harar leading to Adal becoming a major threat to Abyssinia surpassing even its predecessor Ifat in this regard. Adal is mentioned by name in the 14th century in the context of the battles between the Muslims of the Somali and Afar seaboard and the Abyssinian King Amda Seyon I's Christian troops.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: In 1332, the King of Adal was slain in a military campaign aimed at halting Amda Seyon's march toward Zeila. When the last Sultan of Ifat, Sa'ad ad-Din II, was killed by Dawit I of Ethiopia at the port city of Zeila in 1410, his children escaped to Yemen, before later returning in 1415. In the early 15th century, Adal's capital was moved further inland to the town of Dakkar, where Sabr ad-Din II, the eldest son of Sa'ad ad-Din II, established a new Adal administration after his return from Yemen. The Emperor of Ethiopia Tewodros I was soon killed by the Adal Sultanate upon the return of Sa'ad ad-Din's heirs to the Horn of Africa. During this period, Adal emerged as a centre of Muslim resistance against the expanding Christian Abyssinian kingdom. Adal would thereafter govern all of the territory formerly ruled by the Ifat Sultanate, as well as the land further east all the way to Cape Guardafui, according to Leo Africanus.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: After 1468, a new breed of rulers emerged on the Adal political scene. The dissidents opposed Walashma rule owing to a treaty that Sultan Muhammad ibn Badlay had signed with Emperor Baeda Maryam of Ethiopia, wherein Badlay agreed to submit yearly tribute. This was done to achieve peace in the region, though tribute was never sent. Adal's Emirs, who administered the provinces, interpreted the agreement as a betrayal of their independence and a retreat from the polity's long-standing policy of resistance to Abyssinian incursions. The main leader of this opposition was the Emir of Zeila, the Sultanate's richest province. As such, he was expected to pay the highest share of the annual tribute to be given to the Abyssinian Emperor. Emir Laday Usman subsequently marched to Dakkar and seized power in 1471. However, Usman did not dismiss the Sultan from office, but instead gave him a ceremonial position while retaining the real power for himself. Adal now came under the leadership of a powerful Emir who governed from the palace of a nominal Sultan. Mohammad Hassan states Adal Sultans began losing control of the state to Harar's aristocracy, the Harari and Harla people.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Adalite armies under the leadership of rulers such as Sabr ad-Din II, Mansur ad-Din, Jamal ad-Din II, Shams ad-Din and Emir Mahfuz subsequently continued the struggle against Abyssinian expansionism.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Emir Mahfuz, who would fight with successive emperors, caused the death of Emperor Na'od and Eskender, but he was in turn killed by the forces of Emperor Dawit II (Lebna Dengel) in 1517. After the death of Mahfuz, a civil war started for the office of Highest Emir of Adal. Five Emirs came to power in only two years. But at last, a matured and powerful leader called Garad Abuun Addus (Garad Abogne) assumed power. When Garad Abogne was in power he was defeated and killed by Sultan Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad, and In 1554, under his initiative, Harar became the capital of Adal. This time not only the young Emirs revolted, but the whole country of Adal rose against Sultan Abu Bakr, because Garad Abogne was loved by the people of the sultanate. Many people went to join the force of a young imam called Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, who claimed revenge for Garad Abogne. Al-Ghazi assumed power in Adal in 1527, however he did not remove the Sultan, but instead left him in his nominal office. Yet, when Abu Bakr waged war on him, Ahmad ibn Ibrahim killed Abu Bakr, and replaced him with Abu Bakr's younger brother Umar Din. They fought under a combination of three banners used by Ahmad al-Ghazi


title: Adal Sultanate

text: In the 16th century, Adal organised an effective army led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi that invaded the Abyssinian empire. This campaign is historically known as the Conquest of Abyssinia or "Futuh al Habash". During the war, Ahmed pioneered the use of cannons supplied by the Ottoman Empire, which were deployed against Solomonic forces and their Portuguese allies led by Cristóvão da Gama. Some scholars argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of firearms such as the matchlock musket, cannons and the arquebus over traditional weapons.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: During Adal's early period, when it was centred on the city of Zeila in the present-day northwestern Awdal region, the kingdom was primarily composed of Somalis, Afars, Hararis, and Arabs. Ethiopian historian Bahru Zewde and others however state the Walasma led sultanate primarily included the Ethiopian Semitic speaking Argobba and Harari people, it later expanded to comprise Afar and Somali peoples. Between the late 1400s to mid 1500s there was a large scale migration of Hadhrami people into Adal.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Among the earliest mentions of the Somali by name has come through a victory poem written by Emperor Yeshaq I of Abyssinia against the king of Adal, as the Simur are said to have submitted and paid tribute. As Taddesse Tamrat writes: "Dr Enrico Cerulli has shown that Simur was an old Harari name for the Somali, who are still known by them as Tumur. Hence, it is most probable that the mention of the Somali and the Simur in relation to Yishaq refers to the king's military campaigns against Adal, where the Somali seem to have constituted a major section of the population."


title: Adal Sultanate

text: According to Leo Africanus (1526) and George Sale (1760), the Adelites were of a tawny brown or olive complexion on the northern littoral, and grew swarthier towards the southern interior. They generally had long, lank hair. Most wore a cotton sarong but no headpiece or sandals, with many glass and amber trinkets around their necks, wrists, arms and ankles. The king and other aristocrats often donned instead a body-length garment topped with a headdress. All were Muslims. In the southern hinterland, the Adelites lived beside pagan "Negroes", with whom they bartered various commodities.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Various languages from the Afro-Asiatic family were spoken in the vast Adal Sultanate. Arabic served as a lingua franca, and was used by the ruling Walashma dynasty. According to the 19th-century Ethiopian historian Asma Giyorgis suggests that the Walashma dynasty themselves spoke Arabic.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: One of the empire's most wealthy provinces was Ifat it was well watered, by the large river Awash. Additionally, besides the surviving Awash River, at least five other rivers in the area between Harar and Shawa plateau existed. The general area was well cultivated, densely populated with numerous villages adjoining each other. Agricultural produce included three main cereals, wheat, sorghum and teff, as well as beans, aubergines, melons, cucumbers, marrows, cauliflowers and mustard. Many different types of fruit were grown, among them bananas, lemons, limes, pomegranates, apricots, peaces, citrons mulberries and grapes. Other plants included sycamore tree, sugar cane, from which kandi, or sugar was extracted and inedible wild figs.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The province also grew the stimulant plant Khat. Which was exported to Yemen. Adal was abundant in large numbers of cattle, sheep, and some goats. There was also chickens. Both buffaloes and wild fowl were sometimes hunted. The province had a great reputation for producing butter and honey. .


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Whereas provinces such as Bale, surrounding regions of Webi Shabelle was known for it cotton cultivation and an age old weaving industry. While the El Kere region produced salt which was an important trading item


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Zeila the headquarters of the Kingdom was a wealthy city and abundantly supplied with provisions. It possessed grain, meat, oil, honey and wax. Furthermore, the citizens had many horses and reared cattle of all kinds, as a result they had plenty of butter, milk and flesh, as well as a great store of millet, barley and fruits; all of which was exported to Aden. The port city was so well supplied with victuals that it exported it's surplus to Aden, Jeddah, Mecca and "All Arabia"" which then was dependent on the supplies/produce from the city which they favoured above all. Zeila was described as a "Port of much provisions for Aden, and all parts of Arabia and many countries and Kingdoms".


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Principal exports, according the Portuguese writer Corsali, were gold, ivory and slaves. A "great number" of the latter was captured from the Ethiopian Empire, then were exported through the port of Zeila to Persia, Arabia, Egypt and India.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: As a result of this flourishing trade, the citizens of Zeila accordingly lived "extremely well" and the city was well built guarded by many soldiers on both foot and horses.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Historian Al-Umari in his study in 1340s about the history of Adal, the medieval state in western and northern parts of historical Somalia and some related areas, Al-Umari of Cairo states that in the land of Zayla’ (Awdal):


title: Adal Sultanate

text: It appears that the historian was referring, in one-way or another, to these still used Somali terms, Karan and Bil. This indicates that the Somali solar calendar citizens of Zeila was using to farm with at that time was very similar to the one they use today and gives us further insight into the local farming practices during that period.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The kingdoms agricultural and other produce was not only abundant but also very cheap according to Maqrizi thirty pounds of meat sold for only half a dirhem, while for only four dirhems you could purchase a bunch of about 100 Damascus grapes.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Trade on the upland river valleys themselves connected with the coast to the interior markets. Created a lucrative caravan trade route between Ethiopian interior, the Hararghe highlands, Eastern Lowlands and the coastal cities such as Zeila and Berbera. The trade from the interior was also important for the reason that included gold from the Ethiopian territories in the west, including Damot and an unidentified district called Siham. The rare metal sold for 80 to 120 dirhems per ounce. The whole empire and the wider region was interdependent on each other and formed a single economy and at the same time a cultural unit interconnected with several important trade routes upon which the economy and the welfare of the whole area depended


title: Adal Sultanate

text: During its existence, Adal had relations and engaged in trade with other polities in Northeast Africa, the Near East, Europe and South Asia. Many of the historic cities in the Horn of Africa such as Abasa, Amud, Awbare and Berbera flourished under its reign with courtyard houses, mosques, shrines, walled enclosures and cisterns. Adal attained its peak in the 14th century, trading in slaves, ivory and other commodities with Abyssinia and kingdoms in Arabia through its chief port of Zeila. The cities of the empire imported intricately coloured glass bracelets and Chinese celadon for palace and home decoration. Adal also used imported currency such as Egyptian dinars and dirhems.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: According to Sada Mire, the flourishing medieval cities and towns in Adal Sultanate such as Zeila, Berbera, Abasa, Amud, Awbube, Awbare, Qoorgaab, Gogesa (near Gabiley), Aw-Barkhaadle (near Hargeisa) Fardowsa (near Sheikh), Maduna, Derbiga, Cad Cad and others were founded and developed by Somali pastoral and trading communities. While Somali locals state ancient towns were built by the Harla people.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Adalite military was divided into several sections such as the infantry consisting of swordsmen, archers and lancers that were commanded by various generals and lieutenants. These forces were complemented by a cavalry force and eventually, later in the empire's history, by matchlock-technology and cannons during the Conquest of Abyssinia. The various divisions were symbolised with a distinct flag.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Elite unit of military warriors in the Adal army was branded with the title Malassay or Malachai (Portuguese spelling). The term often became synonymous with Muslims in Ethiopia to outsiders, but contrary to popular beliefs it did not denote a tribe or clan. Reading the Futūḥ al-Ḥabaša, the Malasāy appear as the basic unit of the army of the imām. Unlike the other groups that make up this army, the Malasāy were a group social and not a tribe or a clan. Unlike the Balaw, Somali or Ḥarla, a man Malasāy is not born. He obtained this title after demonstrating his military capabilities. ‘Arab Faqīh gives a relatively precise definition of what he means by "malasāy:


title: Adal Sultanate

text: of confidence, who could be trusted during the fighting, of the army chiefs who not only do not flee from the battlefield but who protect the retreat of his family.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Adal soldiers donned elaborate helmets and steel armour made up of chain-mail with overlapping tiers. The Horsemen of Adal wore protective helmets that covered the entire face except for the eyes, and breastplates on their body, while they harnessed their horses in a similar fashion. In siege warfare, ladders were employed to scale buildings and other high positions such as hills and mountains.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Ethiopian–Adal war was a military conflict between the Ethiopian Empire (Abyssinia) and the Adal Sultanate that took place from 1529 until 1543. Abyssinian troops consisted of Maya, Amhara, Tigrayan and Agaw ethnic groups. Adal forces consisted mostly of Afar, Somali, Harla, Argobba, and Arab formations, supported by the Ottomans.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: In the mid-1520s, Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi assumed control of Adal and launched a war against Abyssinia, which was then under the leadership of Dawit II (Lebna Dengel). Supplied by the Ottoman Empire with firearms, Ahmad was able to defeat the Abyssinians at the Battle of Shimbra Kure in 1529 and seize control of the wealthy Ethiopian highlands, though the Abyssinians continued to resist from the highlands. In 1541, the Portuguese, who had vested interests in the Indian Ocean, eventually sent aid to the Abyssinians in the form of 400 musketeers. Adal, in response, received 900 from the Ottomans.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Imam Ahmad was initially successful against the Abyssinians while campaigning in the Autumn of 1542, killing the Portuguese commander Cristóvão da Gama in August that year. However, Portuguese musketry proved decisive in Adal's defeat at the Battle of Wayna Daga, near Lake Tana, in February 1543, where Ahmad was killed in battle. The Abyssinians subsequently retook the Amhara plateau and recouped their losses against Adal. The Ottomans, who had their own troubles to deal with in the Mediterranean, were unable to help Ahmad's successors. When Adal collapsed in 1577, the seat of the Sultanate shifted from Harar to Aussa in the desert region of Afar and a new sultanate began.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: After the death of Imam Ahmad, the Adal Sultanate lost most of its territory in Abyssinian lands. In 1550 Nur ibn Mujahid assumed power after he killed Abyssinian emperor Gelawdewos. Due to constant Oromo raids both Adal and Abyssinian rulers struggled to consolidate power outside of their realms. The Adal Sultanate subsequently ended due to infighting with tribes. The Adal Sultanate was weakened after the death of Emir Nur due to the Oromo raids in 1577 and its headquarter were relocated to the oasis of Aussa in the Danakil desert under the leadership of Mohammed Jasa. The Imamate of Aussa declined gradually in the next century and was destroyed by internal rebellions led by Afar and their Harla allies in 1672. Enrico Cerulli states, eventually Zeila and Harar broke free from Aussa as it deteriorated, the semitic Adal nobility now viewed the state as nothing more than a savage Afar domain that pillaged caravans.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: After the conflict between Adal and Abyssinia had subsided, the conquest of the highland regions of Abyssinia and Adal by the Oromo (namely, through military expansion and the installation of the Gadaa socio-political system) ended in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come. In essence, what had happened is that the populations of the highlands had not ceased to exist as a result of the Gadaa expansion, but were simply incorporated into a different socio-political system.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: The Adal Sultanate left behind many structures and artefacts from its heyday. Numerous such historical edifices and items are found in the northwestern Awdal province of Somaliland, as well as other parts of the Horn region where the polity held sway.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Archaeological excavations in the late 19th century and early 20th century at over fourteen sites in the vicinity of Borama in modern-day northwestern Somaliland unearthed, among other artefacts, silver coins identified as having been derived from Qaitbay (1468–89), the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. Most of these finds are associated with the medieval Adal Sultanate. They were sent to the British Museum for preservation shortly after their discovery.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: In 1950, the British Somaliland protectorate government commissioned an archaeological survey in twelve desert towns in present-day Republic of Somaliland, near the border with Ethiopia. According to the expedition team, the sites yielded the most salient evidence of late medieval period affluence. They contained ruins of what were evidently once large cities belonging to the Adal Sultanate. Towns such as Awbare, Awbube, Amud, Abasa and Gogesa, featured between 200 and 300 stone houses. The walls of certain sites still reportedly stood 18 meters high. Excavations in the area yielded 26 silver coins, unlike the copper pieces that were more common in polities below the Horn region. The earliest of these recovered coins had been minted by Sultan Barquq (1382–99), also of the Egyptian Burji dynasty, and the latest were again Sultan Qaitbay issues. All of the pieces had been struck in either Cairo or Damascus. A few gold coins were also discovered during the expedition, making the area the only place in the wider region to yield such pieces. Besides coinage, high quality porcelain was recovered from the Adal sites. The fine celadon ware was found either lying on the surface, or buried at a depth of seven and a half inches, or ensconced within dense middens four to five feet high. Among the artefacts were grey granular sherds with a cracked blue-green or sea-green glaze, and white crystalline fragments with an uncracked green-white glaze. Some Ming dynasty ware was also discovered, including many early Ming blue-and-white bowl sherds. They were adorned with tendril scrolls on a bluish ground and ornamented with black spotting, while other bowls had floral patterns outlined by grey or black-blue designs. Additionally, a few Ming red-and-white sherds were found, as well as white porcelain fragments with bluish highlights. The Adal sites appeared to reach an Indian Ocean terminus at the Sa'ad ad-Din Islands, named for Sultan Sa'ad ad-Din II of the Ifat Sultanate.


title: Adal Sultanate

text: Additionally, local tradition identifies the archaeological site of Tiya in central Ethiopia as "Yegragn Dingay" ("Gran's stone") in reference to Imam Al-Ghazi. According to Joussaume (1995), who led archaeological work there, the site is relatively recent. It has been dated to between the 11th and 13th centuries CE. Tiya contains a number of megalithic pillars, including anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic/non-phallic stelae. Flat in form, these structures are characterized by distinctive, elaborate decorations, among which are swords, a standing human figure with arms akimbo, and plant-like symbols.


title: Inner ear

text: The inner ear (internal ear, auris interna) is the innermost part of the vertebrate ear. In vertebrates, the inner ear is mainly responsible for sound detection and balance. In mammals, it consists of the bony labyrinth, a hollow cavity in the temporal bone of the skull with a system of passages comprising two main functional parts:


title: Inner ear

text: The inner ear is found in all vertebrates, with substantial variations in form and function. The inner ear is innervated by the eighth cranial nerve in all vertebrates.


title: Inner ear

text: The bony labyrinth, or osseous labyrinth, is the network of passages with bony walls lined with periosteum. The three major parts of the bony labyrinth are the vestibule of the ear, the semicircular canals, and the cochlea. The membranous labyrinth runs inside of the bony labyrinth, and creates three parallel fluid filled spaces. The two outer are filled with perilymph and the inner with endolymph.


title: Inner ear

text: In the middle ear, the energy of pressure waves is translated into mechanical vibrations by the three auditory ossicles. Pressure waves move the tympanic membrane which in turns moves the malleus, the first bone of the middle ear. The malleus articulates to incus which connects to the stapes. The footplate of the stapes connects to the oval window, the beginning of the inner ear. When the stapes presses on the oval window, it causes the perilymph, the liquid of the inner ear to move. The middle ear thus serves to convert the energy from sound pressure waves to a force upon the perilymph of the inner ear. The oval window has only approximately 1/18 the area of the tympanic membrane and thus produces a higher pressure. The cochlea propagates these mechanical signals as waves in the fluid and membranes and then converts them to nerve impulses which are transmitted to the brain.


title: Inner ear

text: The vestibular system is the region of the inner ear where the semicircular canals converge, close to the cochlea. The vestibular system works with the visual system to keep objects in view when the head is moved. Joint and muscle receptors are also important in maintaining balance. The brain receives, interprets, and processes the information from all these systems to create the sensation of balance.


title: Inner ear

text: The vestibular system of the inner ear is responsible for the sensations of balance and motion. It uses the same kinds of fluids and detection cells (hair cells) as the cochlea uses, and sends information to the brain about the attitude, rotation, and linear motion of the head. The type of motion or attitude detected by a hair cell depends on its associated mechanical structures, such as the curved tube of a semicircular canal or the calcium carbonate crystals (otolith) of the saccule and utricle.


title: Inner ear

text: The human inner ear develops during week 4 of embryonic development from the auditory placode, a thickening of the ectoderm which gives rise to the bipolar neurons of the cochlear and vestibular ganglions. As the auditory placode invaginates towards the embryonic mesoderm, it forms the auditory vesicle or "otocyst".


title: Inner ear

text: The auditory vesicle will give rise to the utricular and saccular components of the membranous labyrinth. They contain the sensory hair cells and otoliths of the macula of utricle and of the saccule, respectively, which respond to linear acceleration and the force of gravity. The utricular division of the auditory vesicle also responds to angular acceleration, as well as the endolymphatic sac and duct that connect the saccule and utricle.


title: Inner ear

text: Beginning in the fifth week of development, the auditory vesicle also gives rise to the cochlear duct, which contains the spiral organ of Corti and the endolymph that accumulates in the membranous labyrinth. The vestibular wall will separate the cochlear duct from the perilymphatic scala vestibuli, a cavity inside the cochlea. The basilar membrane separates the cochlear duct from the scala tympani, a cavity within the cochlear labyrinth. The lateral wall of the cochlear duct is formed by the spiral ligament and the stria vascularis, which produces the endolymph. The hair cells develop from the lateral and medial ridges of the cochlear duct, which together with the tectorial membrane make up the organ of Corti.


title: Inner ear

text: Rosenthal's canal or the spiral canal of the cochlea is a section of the bony labyrinth of the inner ear that is approximately 30 mm long and makes 2¾ turns about the modiolus, the central axis of the cochlea that contains the spiral ganglion.


title: Inner ear

text: Specialized inner ear cell include: hair cells, pillar cells, Boettcher's cells, Claudius' cells, spiral ganglion neurons, and Deiters' cells (phalangeal cells).


title: Inner ear

text: The hair cells are the primary auditory receptor cells and they are also known as auditory sensory cells, acoustic hair cells, auditory cells or cells of Corti. The organ of Corti is lined with a single row of inner hair cells and three rows of outer hair cells. The hair cells have a hair bundle at the apical surface of the cell. The hair bundle consists of an array of actin-based stereocilia. Each stereocilium inserts as a rootlet into a dense filamentous actin mesh known as the cuticular plate. Disruption of these bundles results in hearing impairments and balance defects.


title: Inner ear

text: Inner and outer pillar cells in the organ of Corti support hair cells. Outer pillar cells are unique because they are free standing cells which only contact adjacent cells at the bases and apices. Both types of pillar cell have thousands of cross linked microtubules and actin filaments in parallel orientation. They provide mechanical coupling between the basement membrane and the mechanoreceptors on the hair cells.


title: Inner ear

text: Boettcher's cells are found in the organ of Corti where they are present only in the lower turn of the cochlea. They lie on the basilar membrane beneath Claudius' cells and are organized in rows, the number of which varies between species. The cells interdigitate with each other, and project microvilli into the intercellular space. They are supporting cells for the auditory hair cells in the organ of Corti. They are named after German pathologist Arthur Böttcher (1831-1889).


title: Inner ear

text: Claudius' cells are found in the organ of Corti located above rows of Boettcher's cells. Like Boettcher's cells, they are considered supporting cells for the auditory hair cells in the organ of Corti. They contain a variety of aquaporin water channels and appear to be involved in ion transport. They also play a role in sealing off endolymphatic spaces. They are named after the German anatomist Friedrich Matthias Claudius (1822-1869).


title: Inner ear

text: Deiters' cells (phalangeal cells) are a type of neuroglial cell found in the organ of Corti and organised in one row of inner phalangeal cells and three rows of outer phalangeal cells. They are the supporting cells of the hair cell area within the cochlea. They are named after the German pathologist Otto Deiters (1834-1863) who described them.


title: Inner ear

text: Hensen's cells are high columnar cells that are directly adjacent to the third row of Deiters’ cells.


title: Inner ear

text: Nuel's spaces refer to the fluid-filled spaces between the outer pillar cells and adjacent hair cells and also the spaces between the outer hair cells.


title: Inner ear

text: Hardesty's membrane is the layer of the tectoria closest to the reticular lamina and overlying the outer hair cell region.


title: Inner ear

text: Reissner's membrane is composed of two cell layers and separates the scala media from the scala vestibuli.


title: Inner ear

text: Huschke's teeth are the tooth-shaped ridges on the spiral limbus that are in contact with the tectoria and separated by interdental cells.


title: Inner ear

text: Venous drainage of the inner ear is through the labyrinthine vein, which empties into the sigmoid sinus or inferior petrosal sinus.


title: Inner ear

text: Neurons within the ear respond to simple tones, and the brain serves to process other increasingly complex sounds. An average adult is typically able to detect sounds ranging between 20 and 20,000 Hz. The ability to detect higher pitch sounds decreases in older humans.


title: Inner ear

text: The human ear has evolved with two basic tools to encode sound waves; each is separate in detecting high and low-frequency sounds. Georg von Békésy (1899-1972) employed the use of a microscope in order to examine the basilar membrane located within the inner-ear of cadavers. He found that movement of the basilar membrane resembles that of a traveling wave; the shape of which varies based on the frequency of the pitch. In low-frequency sounds, the tip (apex) of the membrane moves the most, while in high-frequency sounds, the base of the membrane moves most.


title: Inner ear

text: Interference with or infection of the labyrinth can result in a syndrome of ailments called labyrinthitis. The symptoms of labyrinthitis include temporary nausea, disorientation, vertigo, and dizziness. Labyrinthitis can be caused by viral infections, bacterial infections, or physical blockage of the inner ear.


title: Inner ear

text: Another condition has come to be known as autoimmune inner ear disease (AIED). It is characterized by idiopathic, rapidly progressive, bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. It is a fairly rare disorder while at the same time, a lack of proper diagnostic testing has meant that its precise incidence cannot be determined.


title: Inner ear

text: Birds have an auditory system similar to that of mammals, including a cochlea. Reptiles, amphibians, and fish do not have cochleas but hear with simpler auditory organs or vestibular organs, which generally detect lower-frequency sounds than the cochlea. The cochlea of birds is also similar to that of crocodiles, consisting of a short, slightly curved bony tube within which lies the basilar membrane with its sensory structures.


title: Inner ear

text: In reptiles, sound is transmitted to the inner ear by the stapes (stirrup) bone of the middle ear. This is pressed against the oval window, a membrane-covered opening on the surface of the vestibule. From here, sound waves are conducted through a short perilymphatic duct to a second opening, the round window, which equalizes pressure, allowing the incompressible fluid to move freely. Running parallel with the perilymphatic duct is a separate blind-ending duct, the lagena, filled with endolymph. The lagena is separated from the perilymphatic duct by a basilar membrane, and contains the sensory hair cells that finally translate the vibrations in the fluid into nerve signals. It is attached at one end to the saccule.


title: Inner ear

text: In most reptiles the perilymphatic duct and lagena are relatively short, and the sensory cells are confined to a small basilar papilla lying between them. However, in mammals, birds, and crocodilians, these structures become much larger and somewhat more complicated. In birds, crocodilians, and monotremes, the ducts are simply extended, together forming an elongated, more or less straight, tube. The endolymphatic duct is wrapped in a simple loop around the lagena, with the basilar membrane lying along one side. The first half of the duct is now referred to as the scala vestibuli, while the second half, which includes the basilar membrane, is called the scala tympani. As a result of this increase in length, the basilar membrane and papilla are both extended, with the latter developing into the organ of Corti, while the lagena is now called the cochlear duct. All of these structures together constitute the cochlea.


title: Inner ear

text: In therian mammals, the lagena is extended still further, becoming a coiled structure (cochlea) in order to accommodate its length within the head. The organ of Corti also has a more complex structure in mammals than it does in other amniotes.


title: Inner ear

text: The arrangement of the inner ear in living amphibians is, in most respects, similar to that of reptiles. However, they often lack a basilar papilla, having instead an entirely separate set of sensory cells at the upper edge of the saccule, referred to as the papilla amphibiorum, which appear to have the same function.


title: Inner ear

text: Although many fish are capable of hearing, the lagena is, at best, a short diverticulum of the saccule, and appears to have no role in sensation of sound. Various clusters of hair cells within the inner ear may instead be responsible; for example, bony fish contain a sensory cluster called the macula neglecta in the utricle that may have this function. Although fish have neither an outer nor a middle ear, sound may still be transmitted to the inner ear through the bones of the skull, or by the swim bladder, parts of which often lie close by in the body.


title: Inner ear

text: By comparison with the cochlear system, the vestibular system varies relatively little between the various groups of jawed vertebrates. The central part of the system consists of two chambers, the saccule and utricle, each of which includes one or two small clusters of sensory hair cells. All jawed vertebrates also possess three semicircular canals arising from the utricle, each with an ampulla containing sensory cells at one end.


title: Inner ear

text: An endolymphatic duct runs from the saccule up through the head and ending close to the brain. In cartilaginous fish, this duct actually opens onto the top of the head, and in some teleosts, it is simply blind-ending. In all other species, however, it ends in an endolymphatic sac. In many reptiles, fish, and amphibians this sac may reach considerable size. In amphibians the sacs from either side may fuse into a single structure, which often extends down the length of the body, parallel with the spinal canal.


title: Inner ear

text: The primitive lampreys and hagfish, however, have a simpler system. The inner ear in these species consists of a single vestibular chamber, although in lampreys, this is associated with a series of sacs lined by cilia. Lampreys have only two semicircular canals, with the horizontal canal being absent, while hagfish have only a single, vertical, canal.


title: Inner ear

text: The inner ear is primarily responsible for balance, equilibrium and orientation in three-dimensional space. The inner ear can detect both static and dynamic equilibrium. Three semicircular ducts and two chambers, which contain the saccule and utricle, enable the body to detect any deviation from equilibrium. The macula sacculi detects vertical acceleration while the macula utriculi is responsible for horizontal acceleration. These microscopic structures possess stereocilia and one kinocilium which are located within the gelatinous otolithic membrane. The membrane is further weighted with otoliths. Movement of the stereocilia and kinocilium enable the hair cells of the saccula and utricle to detect motion. The semicircular ducts are responsible for detecting rotational movement.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Ambassador Hotel was a hotel in Los Angeles, California. Designed by architect Myron Hunt, the Ambassador Hotel formally opened to the public on January 1, 1921. Later renovations by architect Paul Williams were made to the hotel in the late 1940s. It was also home to the Cocoanut Grove nightclub, Los Angeles’ premier night spot for decades; host to six Oscar ceremonies and to every United States President from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: Prominent figures such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Barbra Streisand, Bing Crosby, John Wayne, Lucille Ball, Marilyn Monroe, Yma Sumac and The Supremes were some of the many entertainers who attended and performed professionally at the Cocoanut Grove.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The hotel was the site of the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy on June 5, 1968. Due to the decline of the hotel and the surrounding area, the Ambassador Hotel was closed to guests in 1989. In 2001, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) purchased the property with the intent of constructing three new schools within the area. After subsequent litigations to preserve the hotel as a historic site, a settlement allowed the Ambassador Hotel to be demolished in 2005, completed by early 2006.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: Located at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, between Catalina Street and Mariposa Avenue in present-day Koreatown, The Ambassador was set back from Wilshire Boulevard on 24 acres, which included the main hotel structure, a garage and numerous detached bungalows.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Ambassador was built as part of the Ambassador Hotels System. At the time the hotel opened, on New Year's Day 1921, the chain consisted of The Ambassador in Los Angeles, the Hotel Alexandria in Los Angeles, The Ambassador in Santa Barbara, The Ambassador in Atlantic City and The Ambassador in New York. The Santa Barbara property burned down soon after on April 13, 1921, the Alexandria left the chain in 1925, while the Ambassador Palm Beach joined in 1929. The Schine Family owned The Ambassador from its opening in 1921 until 1971.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Ambassador Hotel was frequented by celebrities, some of whom, such as Pola Negri, resided there. From 1930 to 1943, six Academy Awards ceremonies were hosted at the hotel. Perhaps as many as seven U.S. presidents stayed at the Ambassador, from Hoover to Nixon, along with chiefs of state from around the world. For decades, the hotel's famed "Cocoanut Grove" nightclub hosted well-known entertainers, such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Shep Fields, Veloz & Yolanda, Lena Horne, Nancy Wilson, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Liza Minnelli, Martin and Lewis, The Supremes, Merv Griffin, Dorothy Dandridge, Vikki Carr, Evelyn Knight, Vivian Vance, Dick Haymes, Sergio Franchi, Perry Como, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Sammy Davis Jr., Little Richard, Liberace, Natalie Cole, Richard Pryor and Shirley Bassey.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: Designed by American architect Myron Hunt, the Ambassador Hotel opened for business at the stroke of midnight on January 1, 1921, and quickly established a new standard of hotel luxury. Guests were greeted by a grand lobby upon arrival, with an oversized Italian fireplace, crystal chandeliers, oriental carpets and luxurious draperies adorning the lobby, along with a choice of 1,000 guestrooms and bungalows. The hotel occupied 23.7 acres at 3400 Wilshire Boulevard, bordered by Wilshire Boulevard at the north, 8th Street at the south, Catalina Street at the east, and nearly to Mariposa Avenue at the west. When the hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub opened on April 21, 1921, it had officially solidified the hotel's social scene. In the 1980 book, "Are the Stars Out Tonight?", former Ambassador PR Director, Margaret Tante Burk, recalls the Grove's opening night:


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: "…on the night of April 21, 1921… the new club officially opened its Moroccan style, gold leaf and etched palm tree doors... The Cocoanut Grove was aptly named, guests agreed as they were escorted by the maître de and captains down the wide plush grand staircase... Overhead, soaring about the room were cocoanut trees of papier mache, cocoanuts and palm fronds which had been rescued from the sandy beaches of Oxnard where they had served as atmosphere of the 1921 classic, The Sheik. Swinging from their branches were stuffed monkeys blinking at the revelers with their electrified amber eyes. Stars twinkled in the blue ceiling sky, and on the southernmost wall hung a full Hawaiian moon presiding over a painted landscape and splashing waterfall.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Cocoanut Grove was frequented by celebrities such as Louis B. Mayer, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Howard Hughes, Clara Bow, Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Anna May Wong, Norma Talmadge and others. According to "Photoplay", Joan Crawford and Carole Lombard were frequent competitors in the Charleston contests held on Friday nights; Lombard was discovered at the Grove. The famous artificial palm trees that adorned the Cocoanut Grove were left from Rudolph Valentino's 1921 silent romantic drama film "The Sheik". The names of the hotel and its nightclub quickly became synonymous with glamour. As a result, “Cocoanut Grove" would become a trendy name for bars and clubs across the United States.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: Beginning in 1928, Gus Arnheim led the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, in which six to seven songs were sung each night. At one point, there was a two-hour broadcast of the orchestra on radio. By the 1930s, the Cocoanut Grove was frequented by cinema stars like Norma Shearer, Irving Thalberg, Clark Gable, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Loretta Young, Lucille Ball, Ginger Rogers and countless others. On February 29, 1940, the 1939 Academy Awards Ceremony was held in the Cocoanut Grove, with Bob Hope hosting the awards. The 1953 Golden Globe awards were presented at the hotel.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: During World War II, servicemen from the U.S. military mingled with movie stars at the hotel during numerous galas and fundraising events to help with war efforts.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: Loyce Whiteman, singer for the Cocoanut Grove Orchestra, recalled, "the most beautiful thing about the Grove is that they stood in front of you when you sang and just swayed to the music. Joan Crawford would stand at the stand and sing a couple of choruses with the band. It was a house full of stars."


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: On June 5, 1968, the winner of the California Democratic presidential primary election, United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy, gave a victory speech at the Ambassador Hotel to supporters. After the speech in the Embassy Room, Kennedy was shot three times along with five other people in the pantry area of the hotel's main kitchen soon after midnight. Palestinian immigrant Sirhan Sirhan was arrested at the scene and later convicted of the murder. Kennedy died the following day at Good Samaritan Hospital; the other victims all survived. During the demolition of the Ambassador Hotel in late 2005 and early 2006, portions of the area where the 1968 shooting occurred were eliminated from the site. The section of Wilshire Boulevard in front of the hotel has been signed the "Robert F. Kennedy Parkway".


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The death of Robert F. Kennedy marked the demise of the hotel coinciding with the decline of the surrounding neighborhood during the late 1960s and 1970s. The area also saw a surge of illegal drugs, poverty, and gang activity infiltrating the Wilshire corridor. Under the direction of Sammy Davis, Jr., the “Now Grove” replaced the classic Cocoanut Grove in 1970 in order to appeal to a modern nightclub crowd. However, patrons lost interest in both the hotel and the neighborhood surrounding it, which caused the Ambassador Hotel to fall into disrepair throughout the years. The Ambassador Hotel closed to guests in 1989, but it remained opened for filming and hosting private events. In 1991, Donald Trump, who had bought the hotel in hopes of tearing it down to build a 125-story building, sold off silver serving platters with the hotel's eagle-topped crest, tiki-style soup bowls from the famed Cocoanut Grove nightclub, and beds and nightstands from the rooms.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: From 2004 and 2005, the Ambassador Hotel became the topic of a legal struggle between the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), which planned to clear the site and construct a school on the property, and the Los Angeles Conservancy and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles, who wanted the hotel and its various elements preserved and integrated into the future school.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Location Managers Guild organized an event together with the Jefferson High School Academy of Film and Television in March 2005, entitled "Last Looks: The Ambassador Hotel". They mentored students in script breakdown and location scouting, using the hotel as a potential location to be scouted, documenting the property one last time. The images taken by both the students and the professionals were then exhibited side by side at Los Angeles City Hall.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: After much litigation, a settlement was attained at the end of August 2005, allowing the demolition to begin in exchange for the establishment of a $4.9 million fund, reserved for saving historic school buildings in the Los Angeles Unified School District.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: On September 10, 2005, a final public auction was held for the remaining fittings in the hotel's parking lot, with demolition commencing soon afterwards. On January 16, 2006, the last section of the Ambassador Hotel fell, leaving only the annex that housed the hotel's entrance, shopping arcade, coffee shop, and the Cocoanut Grove, which were promised to be preserved in some manner and integrated within the new school. A ceremony commemorating the demolition of the hotel was held across the street on February 2, 2006, at the H.M.S. Bounty restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Gaylord Apartments.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Cocoanut Grove was renovated several times before, which destroyed much of its architectural integrity. It was promised that it would undergo yet another major transformation before becoming the auditorium for the new school. Also promised was preservation of the attached ground floor coffee shop, designed by architect Paul Williams. Studies by the LAUSD determined that the integrity of the Cocoanut Grove was weaker than anticipated and that they could neither use it within the planned school nor move it without risking its destruction. In 2004, the LAUSD board voted in favor of demolishing most of the Cocoanut Grove, retaining only the hotel entrance and east wall of the Grove. Litigation between the district and the Los Angeles Conservancy, which had sought to preserve the Ambassador Hotel, was settled out of court on December 18, 2007; demolition began on January 22, 2008.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Central Los Angeles New Learning Center #1 K–3, and Central Los Angeles New Learning Center #1 4–8/HS, along with the Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park, were built on the site.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The six schools were named as the Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools. The K–3 facility opened on September 9, 2009, and the 4–8 and high school facility began operation on September 14, 2010. The north side of the new school has a slightly similar appearance to the original facade of the hotel and north lawns will remain much the same, as seen from Wilshire Boulevard.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Ambassador Hotel was a filming location and backdrop for movies and television programs, starting with Jean Harlow's 1933 film "Bombshell". An early MGM color short film, "Starlit Days at the Lido" (1935), was filmed in the Lido Spa at the Ambassador Hotel. In the 1980s and early 2000s, the hotel was filmed in "Forrest Gump", "Murder, She Wrote", "Beverly Hills 90210", "S.W.A.T.", "The Italian Job", "Blow", "Mafia!", and much more. This was because the hotel had various rooms that could be utilized in filming without interference from hotel guests. It was also used period films such as "Almost Famous", "Apollo 13", "Catch Me If You Can", "Hoffa", and "That Thing You Do".


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The interactive movie/game based on the 1995 film "Johnny Mnemonic" was filmed here with a $3 million budget.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The last project filmed in the Ambassador Hotel's kitchen was "Spin the Bottle", a 2004 episode of the TV series "Angel". The 2006 film "Bobby" was the last project to film on the hotel property, gaining access in late 2005 to film crucial establishing shots even while portions of the hotel were already in the process of being demolished.


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Ambassador Hotel itself has also been depicted in films. The Cocoanut Grove was recreated in the films "The Thirteenth Floor" and "The Aviator".


title: Ambassador Hotel (Los Angeles)

text: The Cocoanut Grove hosted musician Roy Orbison and several performers on September 30, 1987 for the television special "", first shown on Cinemax on January 3, 1988. Rock band Linkin Park held their press photo shoot for their 2003 album "Meteora" at the hotel. Guns N' Roses filmed the music video for their song, "Patience", in the hotel in 1989. R&B singer Chuckii Booker filmed the music video for his song "Games" from the album "Niice 'n Wiild" at the hotel in 1992. The hotel also served as the filming location for the music video of the 1997 Marilyn Manson single "Long Hard Road Out of Hell" off the soundtrack for the Todd McFarlane motion picture "Spawn". Rock band 311 used the lobby of hotel as the backdrop for a photo shoot of the album cover of their 2003 album "Evolver". In November 1997, punk-rock band Green Day filmed the music video to the song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" in the hotel.


title: The Last Czars

text: The Last Czars is a six-part English-language docudrama that premiered on Netflix on July 3, 2019. The series follows the reign of Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia's Romanov Dynasty, from his accession to the throne in 1894 to his execution along with the Romanov family in 1918.


title: The Last Czars

text: On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 60% with an average rating of 6/10, based on 10 reviews.


title: The Last Czars

text: The series was described by "The Guardian" as "a surreal Wikipedia entry brought to life", in a review which pointed out production errors such as a bottle with the word “vodka” misspelled in Cyrillic, and a shot of Red Square, supposedly in 1905, featuring Lenin's Mausoleum which was not built until 1924.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Hennessey Venom GT is a high performance sports car manufactured by US manufacturer Hennessey Performance Engineering. The Venom GT is based on the Lotus Elise/Exige.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: On January 21, 2013, the Venom GT set a Guinness World Record for the fastest road legal car from with an average acceleration time of 13.63 seconds. In addition, the car set an unofficial record for acceleration at 14.51 seconds, beating the Koenigsegg Agera R's time of 17.68 seconds, making it the unofficial fastest accelerating road legal car in the world.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: On April 3, 2013, the Hennessey Venom GT crested over the course of during testing at United States Naval Air Station Lemoore in Lemoore, California. Hennessey used two VBOX 3i data logging systems to document the run and had VBOX officials on hand to certify the numbers.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: On February 14, 2014, on the Kennedy Space Center's shuttle landing strip in Florida, the Hennessey team recorded a top speed of in a limited distance of with the Director of Miller Motorsport Park, Brian Smith driving the car. As the run was in a single direction, and only 29 cars were produced (to qualify for Guinness World Records a minimum of 30 cars are required to be produced), it does not qualify as the world's fastest production car in the Guinness Book of Records.<br>


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: On March 25, 2016 the Hennessey Venom GT Spyder recorded a top speed of at California's Naval Air Station Lemoore, celebrating Hennessey's 25th anniversary. As with previous speed tests, the run was independently verified by Racelogic as World Fastest road legal open-top sports car. In May, 2016, the Hennessey Team revealed that the car was about down on power due to issues with one of the car's three high capacity fuel pumps. Normally, the forced induction 7.0-liter V8 engine in the Venom GT Spyder generates and of torque.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Venom GT utilizes a heavily modified Lotus Elise/Exige chassis. The manufacturer states that the modified chassis uses components from the Lotus Exige, including the roof, doors, side glass, windscreen, cockpit, floorpan, HVAC system, wiper and head lamps, though the manufacturer is not associated with Lotus Cars. For road use, the car is registered as a Lotus Exige (modified) and is not a series production car.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Venom GT has a curb weight of aided by carbon fiber bodywork and carbon fiber wheels. The brakes have Brembo 6-piston calipers at the front and 4-piston calipers at the rear. The rotors are carbon ceramic units provided by Surface Transforms.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Venom GT is powered by a twin-turbocharged GM LS7 V8 engine. The LS9 architecture incorporates specific design features such as reinforced internal components and additional head bolts with aluminum heads including twin Precision dual ball bearing turbochargers. The engine has a power output of at 6,600 rpm and of torque at 4,400 rpm. Engine power output is adjustable by three settings: , and . The engine has a redline of 7,200 rpm.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The mid-mounted engine is mated to the rear wheels with a Ricardo 6-speed manual transmission, which also had a previous application in the Ford GT.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: A programmable traction control system manages power output. Computational fluid dynamics tested bodywork and downforce also help keep the car stable. Under varying conditions on both the road and racetrack, an active aero system with adjustable rear wing will deploy. An adjustable suspension system allows ride height adjustments by according to speed and driving conditions. The car is fitted with Michelin Pilot Sport 2 tires


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Venom GT Spyder is an open top version of the Venom GT. Having decided to order a Venom GT, Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler approached Hennessey in mid-late 2011 and asked if an open-top version could be created. This involved structural changes which added to the curb weight. Tyler's was the first of five cars scheduled for the 2013 model year. The car was later put up for auction on January 20, 2017 and was sold by Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona for .


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The production of the Spyder was limited to five units with a one-off Spyder being produced as the "Final edition" model bringing the total to 6 units.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The Venom GT "World's Fastest Edition" is a version of the Venom GT coupe limited to 3 units. The model commemorates the Venom GT coupe's 0–300 km/h Guinness World Record.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: The vehicle went on sale for . All three units were sold to customers shortly after their production was announced by the manufacturer.


title: Hennessey Venom GT

text: A single unit of the Venom GT Spyder, called the Final Edition was produced to commemorate the car's six year production run and to mark an end to the production of the Venom GT. The engine output is the same but the curb weight has been decreased by . The livery of the car is a "Glacier Blue" paint job with double narrow white stripes. The vehicle was pre-sold for before its public debut.