title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 1911, the area was chartered by the State of Florida as an incorporated town. In the same year, pineapple and tomato canning plants were built. Pineapples became the primary crop of the area. This is reflected in the name of the present day Pineapple Grove neighborhood near downtown Delray Beach.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Prior to 1909, the Delray settlement land was within Dade County. That year, Palm Beach County was carved out of the northern portion of the region. In 1915, Palm Beach County and Dade County contributed nearly equal portions of land to create what is now Broward County between the two, leaving Delray situated within the southeastern portion of Palm Beach County.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: By 1920, Delray's population had reached 1,051. In the 1920s, drainage of the Everglades west of Delray lowered the water table, making it harder to grow pineapples, while the extension of the Florida East Coast Railway to Key West resulted in competition from Cuban pineapples for the markets of the northern United States.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The Florida land boom of the 1920s brought renewed prosperity to Delray. Tourism and real estate speculation became important parts of the local economy. Delray issued bonds to raise money to install water and sewer lines, paved streets, and sidewalks. Several hotels were built. At that time, Delray was the largest town on the east coast of Florida between West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The collapse of the land boom in 1926 left Delray saddled with high bond debts, and greatly reduced income from property taxes.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray was separated from the Atlantic Ocean beach by the Florida East Coast Canal (now part of the Intracoastal Waterway). In 1923 the area between the canal and the ocean was incorporated as Delray Beach. In 1927 Delray and Delray Beach merged into one town named Delray Beach.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Beginning in the mid-1920s, a seasonal Artists and Writers Colony was established in Delray Beach and the adjacent town of Gulf Stream. At the time, the city of Palm Beach did not welcome Hollywood personalities or all types of artists, so the Delray winter colony drew a more eclectic and bohemian populace. Throughout the 1930s and '40s, Delray became a popular winter enclave for artists and authors, especially famous cartoonists. Two nationally syndicated cartoonists – H.T. Webster (creator of "Caspar Milquetoast") and Fontaine Fox of "Toonerville Trolley" fame – had offices upstairs in the Arcade Building over the Arcade Tap Room; a gathering place where the artists and writers might be joined by aristocrats, politicians, entertainers, and sports figures. Other well-known artists and writers of the era who had homes in Delray Beach include: Herb Roth, W.J. "Pat" Enright, Robert Bernstein, Wood Cowan, Denys Wortman, Jim Raymond, Charles Williams, Herb Niblick, Hugh McNair Kahler, Clarence Budington Kelland, Nina Wilcox Putnam, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. These seasonal visitors helped soften the effect of the real estate downturn and The Great Depression on the city.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: During the Depression, not much money was available since the two banks had failed, but progress continued, and the town still looked prosperous because of the previous burst of new buildings during the boom years. The Artists and Writers Colony flourished and Delray Beach's fame as a resort town grew. This era is regarded as Delray Beach's "golden age of architecture;" a period in which the city ranked 50th in population but 10th in building permits in Florida. Prominent architectural styles in Delray Beach from this period include Art Deco, Mediterranean Revival, Mission Revival, Monterey Colonial, Streamline Moderne, bungalows, and 'Key West style' cottage homes for the Artists and Writers Colony winter residents.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: For the four years of World War II, citizens of Delray Beach volunteered to watch the beach and ocean 24 hours a day from the faux bell tower atop the seaside Seacrest Hotel. Military personnel patrolled the beach on horseback. Shipping attacks could be seen from the coast. During WWII Delray Beach also saw an influx of service personnel stationed at the nearby Boca Raton Army Airfield. Some of the veterans who had trained at the airfield returned to settle in Delray Beach after the war. Steady growth of the city continued through the 1950s and 1960s.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: While Delray Beach had a sizeable African-American population from the beginning, it attempted to keep out Jews. In 1959, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith called it "one of the nation's most completely anti-Semitic communities". It quoted an unnamed realtor who "proudly called it the only city on the East Coast [of Florida] fully restricted to Gentiles both in buying and selling".


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: By the early 1960s Delray Beach was becoming known for surfing. Atlantic Avenue was the biggest seller of surfboards in Florida at the time. Delray Beach's surfing fame increased somewhat serendipitously after a 1965 shipwreck. During Hurricane Betsy, the freighter Amaryllis ran aground on Singer Island, creating a windbreak that formed perfectly breaking waves. The ship was dismantled three years later, yet local surfers have retained an association with the area.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In the 1970s, Interstate 95 between Palm Beach Gardens and Miami was fully completed and development began to spread west of the city limits. This pattern continued and accelerated through the 1980s, as downtown and many of the older neighborhoods fell into a period of economic decline.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Revitalization of some historic areas began during the last decade of the twentieth century, as several local landmark structures were renovated. These include the Colony Hotel and Old School Square (the former campus of Delray Elementary School and Delray High School, since turned into a cultural center). The city also established five Historic Districts, listed in the Local Register of Historic Places, and annexed several other historic residential neighborhoods between U.S. Route 1 and the Intracoastal Waterway in an effort to preserve some of the distinctive local architecture.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 2001, the historic home of teacher/principal Solomon D. Spady was renovated and turned into the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum. The Spady Museum houses black archives. In 2007 the museum was expanded by renovating a 1935 cottage as a Kid's Cultural Clubhouse, and the construction of a 50-seat amphitheater named for C. Spencer Pompey, a pioneer black educator.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Downtown Delray, located in the eastern part of the city, along Atlantic Avenue, east of I-95 and stretching to the beach, has undergone a large-scale renovation and gentrification. The Delray Beach Tennis Center has brought business to the area. It has hosted several major international tennis events such as the April 2005 Fed Cup (USA vs. Belgium), the April 2004 Davis Cup (USA vs. Sweden), the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (ATP Event), and the Chris Evert/Bank of America Pro Celebrity.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Atlantic Community High School was rebuilt in 2005 on a different site from the previous school, a plan which was met with much contention.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 2012, Rand McNally "Best of the Road" named Delray Beach America's Most Fun Small Town. Delray Beach was rated as the 3rd Happiest Seaside Town in America by "Coastal Living" in 2015.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach has experienced a drastic spike in opioid overdoses in recent years, reaching record numbers in 2016 and 2017. The number reached its pinnacle of 96 in October 2016. Most overdoses are a result of heroin mixed with Fentanyl.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach's location in Southeastern Palm Beach County is in the middle of Florida's Gold Coast region.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In earlier years, downtown Delray was centered along Atlantic Avenue as far west as Swinton Avenue and as far east as the intracoastal waterway. Downtown has since expanded. By 2010, downtown extended west to I-95 and east as the Atlantic Ocean; The north–south boundaries extend roughly two blocks north and south of Atlantic Avenue.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach has a tropical climate, more specifically a tropical trade-wind rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification "Af"), as its driest month (February) averages 64.8mm of precipitation, meeting the minimum standard of 60mm in the driest month needed to qualify for that designation.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach has hot and humid summers. High summertime temperatures range from 87–93 °F with low temperatures around 75–78 °F. Winters are warm, with a marked drier season. Ordinarily wintertime high temperatures are typically in the range of 74–83 °F and low temperatures 57–65 °F. However, when occasional cold fronts hit South Florida, daytime high temperatures may only reach the low or mid 60s (°F). Overnight lows during these brief periods can sink into the 40s. These cold fronts do not typically last more than a day or two and only occur several times each winter. Its near sea-level elevation, coastal location, position above the Tropic of Cancer, and proximity to the Gulf Stream shapes its climate. Hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through November 30, although hurricanes can develop outside those dates. The most likely time for hurricane activity is during the peak of the Cape Verde season, which is mid-August through the end of September. Delray Beach has received direct or near direct hits from hurricanes in 1903, 1906, 1928, 1947, 1949, 1964, 1965, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2004, and 2005.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 66,846 people, 28,548 households, and 15,030 families residing in the city.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: As of 2010, there were 34,156 households, out of which 20.4% were vacant. As of 2000, 18.9% of households had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.7% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.22 and the average family size was 2.87.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 2000, the city's population was spread out, with 18.2% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 27.1% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 25.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.0 males.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $43,371, and the median income for a family was $51,195. Males had a median income of $33,699 versus $28,469 for females. The per capita income for the city was $29,350. About 8.2% of families and 11.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 17.6% of those under age 18 and 7.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: As of 2000, speakers of English as a first language accounted for 75.44% of all residents, and French Creole accounted for 11.73%, Spanish consisted of 7.02%, French was at 1.87%, Italian at 0.88%, and German made up 0.75% of the population.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: As of 2000, Delray Beach had the sixteenth highest percentage of Haitian residents in the U.S. with 10.50% of the population.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach is covered by two major daily newspapers, the "Palm Beach Post and Sun Sentinel", as well as local publications, including the "Coastal Star", Delray Newspaper and the "Delray Beach Times". There are also two lifestyle magazines, Delray Magazine and Atlantic Ave Magazine. Local television stations covering the county are channel 5 NBC WPTV, channel 25 ABC WPBF, channel 12 CBS WPEC and channel 29 FOX WFLX.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The Delray Beach Open is an ATP World Tour 250 series men's professional tennis tournament held each year. The Delray Beach Tennis Center has hosted the Fed Cup, the Davis Cup, and the Chris Evert Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The ProWorld Tennis Academy is located in Delray Beach. The Delray Beach Tennis Center is a full-service public tennis facility with 14 clay courts, 6 hard courts, and an 8,200-seat stadium located near downtown on Atlantic Avenue. The center includes an upstairs pavilion and conference room, pro-shop with locker rooms, racquet stringing, and merchandise. The club offers a variety of adult and junior programs, leagues, clinics and camps. A second location, the Delray Swim & Tennis Club, features 24 clay courts and a clubhouse that has a pro shop with merchandise and locker rooms.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: On July 20, 2010, the city's commissioners proclaimed that the city's name would be officially changed to Tennis Beach for one week in honor of its nomination by the United States Tennis Association as one of the top tennis towns in the United States.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The city has of public beach accessible from Florida State Road A1A. "Travel Holiday" magazine named Delray Municipal Beach as the top beach in the southeastern United States. The remains of the British Steamship Inchulva that sank on Sept 11, 1903 are located in shallow water near the public beach, acting as habitat for native fish and corals. Known today as the Delray Wreck, the site is noted for snorkeling and scuba diving.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: East Atlantic Avenue is noted for its nightlife, dining, and shopping. Atlantic Avenue is also a regular destination for various art fairs and street festivals.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach has a street-legal golf cart community among residents as well as local businesses. Exhilaride offers street-legal golf cart rentals to visitors and residents by the hour, day or longer. The Downtowner is point-to-point golf cart free ride service available by app and Katch-a-Ride is a similar business, available by phone.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The Pineapple Grove Arts District, located downtown north of Atlantic Avenue, is noted for its galleries, performance art, and cultural organizations.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Arts Garage, a not-for-profit multi-media arts venue, hosts musical concerts, live theatre, arts education and outreach programs, and a visual art gallery.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The Delray Beach Playhouse, which opened in 1947 in Lake Ida East Park, stages plays, musicals, interactive studio theatre, books on stage, children's theatre productions, classes and camps.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Old School Square, the former campus of Delray Elementary School and Delray High School, has since been converted into a cultural center. The Old School Square complex now comprises the Crest Theatre, a venue for the performing arts, in the former High School building; the 1925 Gymnasium, restored to maintain its appearance, which has since become a venue for local events such as wedding receptions and dances; the Cornell Art Museum, built in the restored Elementary School; and The Pavilion, which serves as an outdoor venue for musical performances and other events such as political rallies. The Creative Arts School offers beginner through master level art, photography, and writing classes for children and adults.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Cason Cottage House Museum, once home to a family of Delray Beach pioneers, offers visitors a glimpse at daily life in South Florida from 1915 to 1935. The Museum is maintained and operated by the Delray Beach Historical Society.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The Sandoway Discovery Center, located at the historic J.B. Evans House at 142 South Ocean Boulevard, features native plants, live animals, and a large collection of shells from around the world. The center offers environmental education programs and classes.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The historic Sundy House now operates as a luxury eco resort. The premises includes The Sundy family's former apartments and cottages which have been converted into guest accommodations, a café, an antique shop, and tropical Taru Gardens.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The historic home of teacher/principal Solomon D. Spady was renovated and turned into the Spady Cultural Heritage Museum. The Spady Museum houses black archives and hosts exhibits and programs designed to recognize the efforts of blacks who were instrumental in shaping Delray Beach and Palm Beach County. In 2007 the museum was expanded by renovating a 1935 cottage as a Kid's Cultural Clubhouse, and the construction of a 50-seat amphitheater named for C. Spencer Pompey, a pioneer black educator.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a center for Japanese arts and culture. The campus includes two museum buildings, the Roji-en Japanese Gardens: Garden of the Drops of Dew, a bonsai garden, library, gift shop, and a Japanese restaurant, called the Cornell Cafe, which has been featured on the Food Network. Rotating exhibits are displayed in both buildings, and demonstrations, including tea ceremonies and classes, are held in the main building. Traditional Japanese festivals are celebrated several times a year.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Wakodahatchee Wetlands is a wetlands park open to the public. Facilities include a three-quarter mile (1.2 kilometer) boardwalk that crosses between open water pond areas, emergent marsh areas, shallow shelves, and islands with shrubs and snags to foster nesting and roosting. The site is part of the South section of the Great Florida Birding Trail and offers many opportunities to observe birds in their natural habitats. Over 151 species of birds have been spotted inside the park, including pied-billed grebe, snowy egrets, and black-bellied whistling ducks. The park is home to turtles, alligators, rabbits, frogs, and raccoons.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: The City of Delray Beach maintains five athletic fields, five beach and oceanfront parks, eight community parks, two intracoastal parks, a teen center and skatepark, a splash park, and a pool and tennis club, offering a variety of recreational activities and facilities.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach is one of South Florida's most popular beach destinations. The area is noted for its restaurants, retail shops, nightclubs, art galleries, and hotels.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Downtown Delray Beach has had a building boom since roughly 2003. Recent development reflects trends of New Urbanism downtown, and mansionization of waterfront property, sometimes creating pressures on Historic Districts and historic sites. New mixed-use development projects have recently been constructed, and more are planned, in the areas immediately north and south of Atlantic Avenue. To accommodate the anticipated growth the city has also built two new municipal parking garages.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: In 2007, an article in "The New York Times" labeled Delray Beach the drug recovery capital of the United States because it had one of the country's largest recovery communities and relative number of sober living houses. However, the lucrative local drug rehab industry has received mixed reviews from addiction experts and is considered a public nuisance by some residents and city officials. Persistent complaints of health care fraud, insurance fraud, strain on public resources, and a perceived lack of adequate regulation and rehab facility inspections have received media coverage. In July 2017, several national news outlets, including "The New York Times" and "NBC News", published investigative reports detailing fraud allegations within South Florida's billion-dollar drug rehab industry, focusing on Delray Beach's sober houses. At least 30 arrests for illegal "patient brokering" had been made between July 2016 and July 2017 and more are expected.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: According to Delray Beach's 2018–2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Downtown Delray Beach is accessible by boat via The Intracoastal Waterway. The city has a municipal marina with rental slips south of the Atlantic Avenue crossing. Yacht cruises also launch daily from Veteran's Park north of the Atlantic Avenue drawbridge.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: During the Artists and Writers Colony of the 1930s–1950s, Delray Beach residents and locations were described and depicted—both directly and indirectly—within the cartoon illustrations of Herb Roth, W.J. (Pat) Enright, H.T. Webster, Fontaine Fox, and Jim Raymond.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Delray Beach is referenced in published correspondence from poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, who resided in the city with her husband Eugen Jan Boissevain in 1935–1936 while writing "Conversation at Midnight".


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Popular novels with scenes specifically set in Delray Beach include "La Brava", Elmore Leonard’s 1984 Edgar Award winner for Best Novel, and Elaine Viets’ "Catnapped!" from the national bestselling Dead-End Job mystery series.


title: Delray Beach, Florida

text: Transplanted Greenwich Village folk singer Rod MacDonald’s song “My Neighbors in Delray” was written upon the author's discovery that some of the terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks had spent time in Delray Beach before the attacks.


title: The Sons of the Dragon

text: The Sons of the Dragon is a novella by George R. R. Martin, set in the fictional land of Westeros, the setting of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. The story commences about 270 years before the start of "A Game of Thrones" (1996). It portrays the death of Aegon I, known as "Aegon the Conqueror", and his two sons Aenys I, his successor to the throne, and Maegor I "the Cruel", in their respective successions to the throne thereafter, and the conflicts faced between them. The story concludes with the death of Maegor, and introduces the groundwork for its sequel, being about the life of his successor and nephew Jaehaerys I "the Conciliator", who reigned 55 years as the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.


title: The Sons of the Dragon

text: As with his previous Westerosi "histories", including "The World of Ice and Fire", "The Rogue Prince" and "The Princess and the Queen", Martin wrote "The Sons of the Dragon" from the perspective of a fictional Westerosi scholar, referred to in-universe as some rank of "maester". Unlike the previous works, attributed to Maester Yandel and Archmaester Gyldayn, the maester of "The Sons of the Dragon" remains anonymous throughout the story. At the conclusion of the novella, the unnamed maester notes that the following history of the Targaryen family, concerning the life of Jaehaerys I, would be a "task for another maester".


title: The Sons of the Dragon

text: Following an early 2017 leak that revealed plans for the novella to be included in the anthology "The Book of Swords" (edited by Martin's longtime friend Gardner Dozois), Martin himself confirmed that the anthology was scheduled to be released on October 10, 2017, and confirmed that "The Sons of the Dragon" would be included.


title: The Sons of the Dragon

text: The story was derived from previously written lengthier material that Martin had prepared for the companion book "The World of Ice & Fire", but was removed because the book was becoming too long for the original concept of a fully illustrated book. It and several other stories appeared in abridged versions in other anthologies.


title: The Sons of the Dragon

text: The novella was released by Bantam Spectra in October 2017 in hardcover, paperback and audiobook formats, all as the final story in "The Book of Swords" anthology. The audiobook edition was narrated by Ralph Lister, who previously collaborated with Martin and Dozois as narrator for their 2012 anthology "Down These Strange Streets".


title: Kresy

text: Eastern Borderlands () or simply Borderlands (, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural and extensively multi-ethnic, it amounted to nearly half of the territory of pre-war Poland. Historically situated in the eastern Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, following the 18th-century foreign partitions it was annexed by Russia and partly by the Habsburg monarchy (Galicia), and ceded to Poland in 1921 after the Peace of Riga. As a result of the post-World War II border changes, none of the lands remain in Poland today.


title: Kresy

text: The Polish plural term "Kresy" corresponds to the Russian "okrainy" (), meaning "the border regions". It is also largely co-terminous with the northern areas of the "Pale of Settlement", a scheme devised by Catherine the Great to limit Jews from settling in the homogenously Christian Orthodox core of the Russian Empire, such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The Pale was established after the Second Partition of Poland and lasted until the 1917 revolution, when the Russian Empire ceased to exist. In the aftermath of the Polish–Soviet War and the Peace of Riga, both Austrian and Russian sectors of the Kresy were reincorporated into Poland. However, the population already consisted of various religious and ethnic minorities, which exceeded the number of ethnic Poles, for instance Jews in small towns called shtetls and Ukrainians in the region of Volhynia.


title: Kresy

text: Administratively, the Eastern Borderlands territory was composed of Lwów, Nowogródek, Polesie, Stanisławów, Tarnopol, Wilno, Wołyń, and Białystok voivodeships (provinces). Today, all these regions are divided between Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, and south-eastern Lithuania, with the major cities of Lviv, Vilnius, and Grodno no longer in Poland. During the Second Polish Republic, Eastern Borderlands denoted the lands beyond the Curzon Line proposed after World War I in December 1919 by the British Foreign Office as the eastern border of the re-emerging sovereign Polish Republic, after over a century of partitions. In September 1939, after the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany simultaneously invaded Poland under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, all the territories were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet republics of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, often by means of terror.


title: Kresy

text: Soviet territorial annexations during World War II were later ratified by the Allies at the Tehran Conference, the Yalta Conference and at the Potsdam Conference. At the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Kresy remained within the former Soviet republics as they gained independence. Even though the Eastern Borderlands are no longer part of Poland, the provinces are still home to a Polish minority and the memory of Eastern Borderlands, as a continuation of their centuries-long nationhood, is maintained among many of them.


title: Kresy

text: The Polish word ("borderlands") is the plural form of the word meaning 'edge'. According to , it is "a medieval borrowing from the German word ", which in the Middle Ages meant ("borderline, delineation or circumscribed territory"). Samuel Linde in his "Dictionary of the Polish Language" gives a different etymology of the term. According to him, meant the borderline between Poland and the Crimean Khanate, in the region of the lower Dnieper. The term appeared for the first time in literature in poems, "" (1854) and "". Pol claimed that Kresy was the line between the Dniester and Dnieper rivers, neighbouring the Tatar borderland. Coincidentally in relation to Jewish settlement in the macro region, the notion of the "pale" is an archaic English term derived from the Latin word "", (which in Polish exists as "pal" and also means a stake), extended in this instance to mean the area enclosed by a fence or boundary.


title: Kresy

text: At the beginning of the 20th century, the meaning of the term expanded to include the lands of the former eastern provinces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, east of the line. In the Second Polish Republic, equated to historically Polish settled lands to the east of the notional Curzon line. Currently, the term applies to all the eastern lands of the Second Polish Republic that are no longer within the frontiers of modern Poland, together with lands further east, that had been integral to the Commonwealth before 1772, and where Polish communities continue to exist.


title: Kresy

text: Polish eastern settlements date back to the dawn of Poland as a state. In 1018, King Bolesław I the Brave invaded Kievan Rus (see Boleslaw I's intervention in the Kievan succession crisis, 1018), capturing Kiev, and annexing Red Strongholds. In 1340, Red Ruthenia came under Polish control, which intensified defensive Polish settlement and the introduction of Catholicism. After the Union of Lublin 1569, more Polish settlers moved into the eastern borderlands of the vast Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Most of them came from the Polish provinces of Mazovia and Lesser Poland. They had moved gradually eastwards settling in sparsely populated areas, inhabited by earlier settlers (Lithuanians and Ruthenians). Moreover, the indigenous upper classes of "Kresy" accepted Polish religion, culture and language, resulting in their assimilation and Polonization.


title: Kresy

text: The year 1772 marked the first partition of the Commonwealth of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (see Partitions of Poland). By 1795, the whole eastern half of the state had been annexed by the Russian Empire in concert with the Habsburgs and Prussia's Hohenzollerns. The dramatic westward expansion of the Russian Empire through the annexation of Polish-Lithuanian territory substantially increased the new "Russian" Jewish population. Kresy and the superimposed Pale, in the former Polish and Lithuanian territories, had a Jewish population of over five million, and represented the largest community (40%) of the world Jewish population at that time.


title: Kresy

text: From the Polish perspective, the lands came to be called the "Stolen Lands". Even though Poles were a minority in those areas, owing to forced depopulation, the "Stolen Lands" remained an integral part of Polish national identity, with Polish cultural centres and seats of learning in Wilno University, Jan Kazimierz University and Liceum Krzemienieckie among many others. Since many local educated inhabitants had actively participated in Polish national insurgencies (November Uprising, January Uprising), the Russian authorities resorted to intensified persecution, confiscations of property and land, penal deportation to Siberia, and the systematic attempt at Russification of Poles and their traditional culture and institutions.


title: Kresy

text: From the Russian perspective the "Pale of Settlement" included all of Belarus, Lithuania and Moldova, much of present-day Ukraine, parts of eastern Latvia, eastern Poland, and some parts of western Russia, generally corresponding to the Kresy macroregion and the modern-day western border of Russia. It extended from the eastern "pale", or demarcation line, to the Russian border with the Kingdom of Prussia (later the German Empire) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It also comprised about 20% of the territory of European Russia and largely corresponded to historical lands of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Cossack Hetmanate, and the Ottoman Empire (with Crimean Khanate).


title: Kresy

text: The area included in the Pale, with its large Jewish, Uniate and Catholic populations, was acquired through a series of military conquests and diplomatic manoeuvres, between 1654 and 1815. While the religious nature of the edicts creating the Pale is clear: conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, the state religion, released individuals from the strictures - historians argue that the motivations for its creation and maintenance were primarily economic and nationalistic in nature.


title: Kresy

text: The Russian Empire had abandoned Kresy to decline as a vast rural backwater after the original Polish landowners had been disposed of in the wake of insurrections and the Abolition of serfdom in Poland in 1864. The devastation of country estates put a halt to large scale economic activity which had depended on agriculture, forestry, brewing and small scale industries. Paradoxically, the Southern Kresy (present-day Ukraine) was famous for its fertile soil and was known as the "bread basket of Europe". Towards the end of the 19th century, the decline was so acute that trade and food supplies became problematic and large scale emigration from towns and villages began as Jewish communities, in particular, began heading West, to Europe and the United States. By the time of a newly resurgent Polish state, the provinces had been additionally disadvantaged by having the lowest literacy levels in the country, since education had not been compulsory during Russian rule. The regions had suffered a legacy of decades of neglect and underinvestment so were generally less economically developed than the western parts of interwar Poland.


title: Kresy

text: The years 1918–1921 were especially turbulent for "Kresy", due to the resurgence of the Polish nation-state and the formation of new borders. At that time, Poland had fought three wars to establish its eastern frontier: with Ukraine (see Polish–Ukrainian War), the Soviet Union (see Polish–Soviet War), and with Lithuania (see Polish–Lithuanian War). In all three conflicts Poland emerged victorious, and as a result, it recovered territories that had been previously annexed under Russian conquest and were east of the Curzon line, plus land formerly absorbed into Austrian Eastern Galicia. The region later formed the eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic. Territories that were included in Kresy during the interbellum period comprised the eastern part of Lwów Voivodeship, Nowogródek Voivodeship, Polesie Voivodeship, Stanisławów Voivodeship, Tarnopol Voivodeship, Wilno Voivodeship, Wołyń Voivodeship, and the eastern part of Białystok Voivideship. The Polish government undertook an active policy of re-polonization in those territories (see Osadnik). This led to frequent conflicts with Ukrainian nationalists in the southeastern part of the "Kresy" region (see Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930)).


title: Kresy

text: Numerous Polish communities continued to live beyond the eastern border of the Second Polish Republic, especially around Minsk, Zhytomir and Berdychev. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Soviet authorities created two Polish Autonomous Districts in Belarus and Ukraine, but during the Polish operation of the NKVD, most of the Poles in those areas were murdered, while those remaining were forcibly resettled in Kazakhstan (see also Poles in the former Soviet Union).


title: Kresy

text: As a consequence of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, on September 17, 1939, the Kresy territories were annexed by the Soviet Union (see Soviet invasion of Poland), and a significant part of the ethnic Polish population of "Kresy" was deported to other areas of the Soviet Union including Siberia and Kazakhstan. The new border between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union was re-designated by the German–Soviet Frontier Treaty, signed on September 29, 1939. After the elections to the People's Assemblies of Western Ukraine and Western Belarus, communist governments for Western Ukraine and Western Belarus were formed and immediately announced their intention of joining their respective republics to the Soviet Union (see also Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union). After the German invasion of the USSR, the southeastern part of "Kresy" was absorbed into Greater Germany's General Government, whereas the rest was integrated with the Reichskommissariats Ostland and Ukraine. In 1943–1944, units of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, with the help of Ukrainian peasants, carried out mass exterminations of Poles living in southeastern "Kresy" (see Massacres of Poles in Wołyń).


title: Kresy

text: In January 1944, Soviet troops had reached the former Polish–Soviet border, and by the end of July 1944, they again re-annexed the whole territory that had been taken by the USSR in September 1939 into their control. During the Tehran Conference in 1943, a new Soviet-Polish border was established, in effect sanctioning most of the Soviet territorial acquisitions of September 1939 (except for some areas around Białystok and Przemyśl), ignoring protests from the Polish government-in-exile in London. The Potsdam Conference, via substantive recognition of the pro-Soviet Polish Committee of National Liberation, implicitly consented to the deportation of Polish people from "Kresy" (see Polish population transfers (1944–1946)). Most Polish inhabitants of "Kresy" were ordered by the Soviets to migrate west to Germany's former eastern provinces, newly emptied of their German population and renamed as the "Recovered Territories" of the People's Republic of Poland, based on Polish medieval settlement of the areas. Poles from the southern "Kresy" (now Ukraine) were forced to settle mainly in Silesia, while those from the north (Belarus and Lithuania) moved to Pomerania and Masuria. Polish residents of Lwów settled not only in Wrocław, but also in Gliwice and in Bytom. Those cities had not been destroyed during the war. They were relatively closer to the new eastern border of Poland, which could become significant in case of a sudden hoped for a return to the East.


title: Kresy

text: Frequently, whole "Kresy" villages and towns were deported in a single rail transport to new locations in the west. For instance, the village of Biała, near Chojnów, is still divided into two parts: Lower Biała and Upper Biała. Lower Biała was settled by people who used to live in a Bieszczady village of Polana near Ustrzyki Dolne (this area belonged to the Soviet Union until 1951: see 1951 Polish–Soviet territorial exchange), while inhabitants of the village Pyszkowce near Buczacz moved to Upper Biała. Every year in September, Biała is the scene of an annual festival called "Kresowiana". In Szczecin and Polish West Pomerania, in the immediate postwar period, one-third of Polish settlers were either people from "Kresy" or Sybiraks. In 1948, people born in the Eastern Borderlands made up 47.5% of the population of Opole, 44.7% of Baborów, 47.5% of Wołczyn, 42.1% of Głubczyce, 40.1% of Lewin Brzeski, and 32.6% of Brzeg. In 2011, people with "Kresy" background made up 25% of the population of the Opole Voivodeship. The town of Jasień was settled by people from the area of Ternopil in late 1945 and early 1946, while Poles from Borschiv moved to Trzcińsko-Zdrój and Chojna. The situation was completely different in Wschowa and its county. In 1945–1948, more than 8,000 people moved there. They came from different areas of the "Kresy" — Ashmyany, Stanislawow, Równe, Lwów, Brody, Dziatłava district, and Tarnopol.


title: Kresy

text: Altogether, between 1944 and 1946, more than a million Poles from the "Kresy" were moved to the Recovered Territories, including 150,000 from the area of Wilno, 226,300 from Polesie, 133,900 from Wołyń, 5,000 from Northern Bukovina, and 618,200 from Eastern Galicia. The so-called First Repatriation of Poles (1944–1946) was carried out in a chaotic, disorganized way. People had to spend weeks, even months at railroad stations, waiting for transport. During that time, they were robbed of their belongings by either locals, Soviet soldiers or Soviet rail workers. For lack of railroad cars, in Lithuania at some point the "one-suitcase policy" was introduced, which meant that Poles had to leave behind all their belongings. They travelled in freight or open wagons, and the journeys were long and dangerous, as there was no protection from the military or the police. In the years 1955–1959, the second mass repatriation of Poles from Kresy (Easter Borderlands) took place. As a result, in the years 1945–1960, over 2 million Polish people left Kresy. About 1-2 million more remained in the Kresy after 1960 (especially in the territories of the Lithuanian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR). Even today, Poles constitute the majority of inhabitants in many regions in the Grodno and Vilnius regions.


title: Kresy

text: In the immediate postwar period, Polish Communists, who ceded the Eastern Borderlands to the Soviet Union, were universally regarded as traitors, and Władysław Gomułka, First Secretary of the Polish Workers' Party, was fully aware of it. People who moved from the East to the Recovered Territories talked amongst themselves about their return to Lwów and other eastern locations, and the German return to Silesia, as a result of World War III, in which Western Allies would defeat the Soviets. One of the adages of the postwar period was: "Just one atom bomb, and we will be back in Lwów again.


title: Kresy

text: Just second one is small but strong and we will be back in Wilno again." ("Jedna bomba atomowa i wrócimy znów do Lwowa. Druga mała, ale silna i wrócimy znów do Wilna"). Polish settlers in former German areas were insecure about their future there until the 1970s (see Warschauer Kniefall). Eastern settlers did not feel at home in Lower Silesia, and as a result, they did not care about the machinery, households and farms abandoned by Germans. Lubomierz in 1945 was in good condition, but in the following years, Polish settlers from the area of Czortków in Podolia let it run down and become a ruin. The Germans were aware of it. In 1959, German sources wrote that Lower Silesia had been ruined by the Poles. Zdzisław Mach, a sociologist from the Jagiellonian University, explains that when Poles were forced to resettle in the West, which they resented, they had to leave the land they considered sacred and move to areas inhabited by the enemy. In addition, Communist authorities did not initially invest in the Recovered Territories because, like the settlers, for a long time they were unsure about the future of these lands. As Mach says, people in Western Poland for years lived "on their suitcases", with all their belongings packed in case of return to the East.


title: Kresy

text: The population of "Kresy" was multi-ethnic, primarily comprising Poles, Jews, Ukrainians and Belarusians. According to official Polish statistics from the interwar period, Poles formed the largest linguistic group in these regions, and were demographically the largest ethnic group in the cities. Other national minorities included Lithuanians and Karaites (in the north), Jews (scattered in cities and towns across the area), Czechs and Germans (in Wołyń and East Galicia), Armenians and Hungarians (in Lwów) and also Russians and Tartars.


title: Kresy

text: The proportions of different native languages in each voivodeship in 1931, according to the Polish census of 1931, were as follows:


title: Kresy

text: In addition to ethnic Poles in former eastern Poland, there were also large Polish communities in the USSR and in the Baltic states. Polish population east of the Curzon Line before World War II can be estimated by adding together figures for Former Eastern Poland and for pre-1939 Soviet Union:


title: Kresy

text: In 1931, according to the Polish National Census, the ten largest cities in Polish Eastern Borderlands were: Lwów (pop. 312,200), Wilno (pop. 195,100), Stanisławów (pop. 60,000), Grodno (pop. 49,700), Brześć nad Bugiem (pop. 48,400), Borysław (pop. 41,500), Równe (pop. 40,600), Tarnopol (pop. 35,600), Łuck (pop. 35,600) and Kołomyja (pop. 33,800).


title: Kresy

text: In addition, Daugavpils (pop. 43,200 in 1930) in inter-war Latvia was also a major Polish community with 21% ethnic Polish inhabitants.


title: Kresy

text: Despite the expulsion of most of ethnic Poles from the Soviet Union between 1944 and 1958, the Soviet census of 1959 still counted around 1.5 million ethnic Poles remaining in the USSR:


title: Kresy

text: According to a more recent census, there were about 295,000 Poles in Belarus in 2009 (3.1% of the Belarus population).


title: Kresy

text: A number of influential figures in Polish history were born in the area of "kresy" (note: the redirected list does not include Poles born in the cities of Lwów (Lviv), and Wilno (Vilnius) - see List of Leopolitans, List of Vilnius-related people). The family of former President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, allegedly hails from northern Lithuania. The mother of Bogdan Zdrojewski, Minister of Culture and National Heritage is from Boryslav, and the father of former First Lady Jolanta Kwaśniewska was born in Wołyń, where his sister was murdered in 1943 by the Ukrainian nationalists.


title: Kresy

text: Since some of the most distinguished names of Polish literature and music were born in "Kresy", e.g. Mikołaj Rej, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Karol Szymanowski or Czesław Miłosz, "Eastern Borderlands" have featured repeatedly in the Polish Literary canon. Mickiewicz's Pan Tadeusz begins with the Polish language invocation, "O Lithuania, my fatherland, thou art like good health..." Other notable works located in "Kresy", are Nad Niemnem, Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass, With Fire and Sword, Fire in the Steppe. In Communist Poland, all "Kresy"-related topics, such as Poland's eastern centuries old heritage, including ecclesiastical architecture, country houses and stately homes down to the Massacres of Poles in Wołyń were banned from publication for Soviet propaganda reasons, because these lands now belonged to the Soviet Union. In official documents, people born in the Eastern Borderlands were declared as born in the Soviet Union, and very few "Kresy"-themed books or films were passed by the state censor at that time. One of the exceptions was the immensely popular comedy trilogy by Sylwester Chęciński ("Sami swoi" from 1967, "Nie ma mocnych" from 1974, and "Kochaj albo rzuć" from 1977). The trilogy tells the story of two quarreling families, who after the end of the Second World War were resettled from current Western Ukraine to Lower Silesia, after Poland was shifted westwards.


title: Kresy

text: After the collapse of the Communist system, the old "Kresy" returned as a Polish cultural theme in the form of historical polemics. Numerous books and albums were published about the Eastern Borderlands, frequently with original photos from the prewar era. Examples of such publications include:


title: Kresy

text: In the first half of 2011, "Rzeczpospolita" daily published a series called "The Book of Eastern Borderlands" ("Księga kresów wschodnich"). The July 2012 issue of the Uważam Rze Historia magazine was dedicated to the Eastern Borderlands and their importance in Polish history and culture.


title: Kresy

text: The territory known to Poles as "Kresy" is now partitioned off between the states of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. Ethnic Poles still live in those areas: in Lithuania, they are the largest ethnic minority in the country (see Poles in Lithuania), in Belarus, they are the second largest ethnic minority in the country after Russians (see Poles in Belarus), and in Ukraine, they officially number 144,130, but some Polish organizations claim that the number of Poles in Ukraine may be as many as 2 million, most of them assimilated. (see Poles in Ukraine). Furthermore, there is a 50,000 Polish minority in Latvia. In Lithuania and Belarus, Poles are more numerous than in Ukraine. This is the result of the Polish population transfers (1944–1946) as well as Massacres of Poles in Wołyń Voivodeship. Those Poles who survived the slaughter begged for the opportunity to emigrate.


title: Kresy

text: Many Polish organizations are active in the former Eastern Borderlands, such as the Association of Poles in Ukraine, Association of Polish Culture of the Lviv Land, the Federation of Polish Organizations in Ukraine, Union of Poles in Belarus, and the Association of Poles in Lithuania. There are Polish sports clubs (Pogoń Lwów, FK Polonia Vilnius), newspapers (Gazeta Lwowska, Kurier Wileński), radio stations (in Lviv and Vilnius), many theatres, schools, choirs and folk ensembles. Poles living in "Kresy" are helped by a government-sponsored organization Fundacja Pomoc Polakom na Wschodzie, and by other organizations, such as the Association of Help of Poles in the East Kresy (see also Karta Polaka). Money is frequently collected to help those Poles who live in "Kresy", and there are several annual events, such as "Christmas Package for a Polish Veteran in Kresy", and "Summer with Poland", sponsored by Association "Polish Community", in which Polish children from "Kresy" are invited to visit Poland. Polish language handbooks and films, as well as medicines and clothes are collected and sent to "Kresy". Books are most often sent to Polish schools which exist there — for example, in December 2010, University of Wrocław organized an event called "Become a Polish Santa Claus and Give a Book to a Polish Child in Kresy". Polish churches and cemeteries (such as Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów) are renovated with money from Poland. For example, in Nysa, money is collected to renovate the Roman Catholic church in Łopatyn near Lviv, while residents of Oława collect funds to renovate the church in Sasiv, also in the area of Lviv. Also, physicians from Kraków's organization Doctors of Hope regularly visit Eastern Borderlands, and the Polish Ministry of Education runs a special program, which sends Polish teachers to the former Soviet Union. In 2007, more than 700 teachers worked in the East, most of them in "Kresy". Studio East of Polish TV Wrocław organizes an event called "Save your grandfather's tomb from oblivion" ("Mogiłę pradziada ocal od zapomnienia"), during which students from Lower Silesia visit Western Ukraine, to clean Polish cemeteries there. In July 2011, about 150 students cleaned 16 cemeteries in the areas of Lviv, Ternopil, Podolia and Pokuttya.


title: Kresy

text: Despite wars and ethnic cleansing many treasures of Polish culture still remain in the East. In Vilnius, there is the Wróblewski Library, with 160,000 volumes and 30,000 manuscripts, which now belong to the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. In Lviv, there is the Ossolineum, one of the most important Polish culture centres. Adolf Juzwenko, current president of Wrocław's office of the Ossolineum, says that in 1945, there was a mass public campaign in Poland, aimed at transporting the whole Ossolineum to Wrocław. It succeeded in recovering only 200,000 volumes, as the Soviets decided that the bulk of the library had to remain in Lviv.


title: Kresy

text: Even though Poland lost its Eastern Borderlands in the aftermath of World War II, Poles connected with the Kresy still have some affection for those lands. Since Poles from current Western Ukraine mostly moved to Silesia, the city of Wrocław is regarded as "miasto lwowskie" (city of Lwów affinity), while Toruń, Gdańsk and Olsztyn are regarded as "miasta wileńskie" (cities of Wilno affinity). Lwów's Ossolineum Foundation, its collections and famous library are now located in Wrocław. Polish academics from Lwów established the Polish University of Wrocław (taking over from the old German University of Breslau) and Silesian University of Technology. At the same time, Polish academics from Vilnius founded Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.


title: Kresy

text: There are numerous Kresy-oriented organizations, with the largest one, World Congress of Kresy Inhabitants ("Światowy Kongres Kresowian"), located in Bytom, and branches scattered across Poland, and abroad. The Congress organizes annual World Convention and Pilgrimage of Kresy Inhabitants to Jasna Góra Monastery.


title: Kresy

text: Every year, in the Masurian town of Mrągowo, there is a "Festiwal Kultury Kresowej" (Festival of Kresy Culture), sponsored among others by the Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Minister of Culture, with the patronage of the First Lady. The Festival is broadcast by TVP2 and TVP Polonia, and in 2011 it was organized for the 17th time. Among participants of the 2011 Festival, there were such artists, as Folk Ensemble Mozyrzanka from Mozyr, Children and Youth Band Tęcza from Minsk, Folk Band Kresowianka from Ivyanets, Polish Academic Choir Zgoda from Brest, Instrumental Band Biedronki from Minsk, Vocal Duo Wspólna wędrówka from Minsk, Children's Polonia Ensemble Dolinianka from Stara Huta (Ukraine), Ensemble Fujareczka from Sambir, Ensemble Boryslawiacy from Boryslav, Ensemble Niebo do Wynajecia from Stralhivci (Ukraine), Polish Dance and Song Ensemble Wilenka from Vilnius, Dance and Song Band Troczenie from Trakai, Band Wesołe Wilno from Vilnius, Song and Dance Ensemble Kotwica from Kaunas, and Folk and Polish Folklore Dance and Song Ensemble Syberyjski Krakowiak from Abakan in Siberia.


title: Kresy

text: In Lubaczów is a Museum of Kresy, and there is a project, supported by local government, to create a Museum of Eastern Borderlands in Wrocław, the city where a number of Poles from Kresy settled after World War II. Numerous photo albums and books, depicting cities, towns and landscapes of "Kresy" are published every year in Poland. In Chełm, there is Kresy Bicycle Marathon, Polish Radio Białystok every week broadcasts "Kresy Magazine", dedicated to the history and present times of the Eastern Borderlands. Every Sunday, Polish Radio Katowice broadcasts a program based on famous prewar Lwów's Merry Wave, every Tuesday, Polish Radio Rzeszów broadcasts a program "Kresy Landscapes". In Wrocław, the Association of Remembrance of Victims of Ukrainian Nationalists publishes "Na Rubieży" ("On the Border") magazine. Among best known "Kresy" activists of contemporary Poland are Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski, and Dr. Tadeusz Kukiz, father of popular singer Paweł Kukiz. Since 2007, annual medals Heritage of Eastern Borderlands are awarded in Wrocław. The 2011 recipient was emeritus Archbishop of Wrocław, Henryk Gulbinowicz. Participants of annual Katyń Motorcycle Raid ("Motocyklowy Rajd Katyński") always visit Polish centers in "Kresy", giving presents to children, and meeting local Poles.


title: Kresy

text: The program of 2011 Days of Kresy Culture (October 22–23) in Brzeg covered such events, as: "Kresy" themed cabaret, promotion of "Kresy" books, Eastern Borderlands cuisine, mass in a local church, meetings with "Kresy" activists and scholars, and theatre shows of Brzeg's Garrison Club as well as Lwów Eaglets Middle School number 3 in Brzeg. Organizers of the festival assured that for the two days Brzeg would turn into the "capital of interwar Polish Kresy".


title: Kresy

text: In January, February and March 2012, Centre for Public Opinion Research did a survey, asking Poles about their ties to Kresy. It turned out that almost 15% of the population of Poland (4,3 - 4,6 million people) declared that they either were born in the Kresy, or have a parent or a grandparent from that region. The number of "Kresowiacy" is high in northern and western Poland – as many as 51% of inhabitants of Lubusz Voivodeship, and 47% of inhabitants of Lower Silesian Voivodeship stated that their family has ties to the Kresy. Furthermore, "Kresowiacy" now make 30% of the population of Opole Voivodeship, 25% of the population of West Pomeranian Voivodeship, and 18% of the population of Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.


title: Kresy

text: Since Poles have lived in Kresy for hundreds of years, two groups of Kresy Polish dialects emerged: the northern ("dialekt północnokresowy"), and the southern ("dialekt południowokresowy"). Both dialects have been influenced either by Ukrainian, Belarusian or by Lithuanian. To Polish speakers in Poland, Kresy dialects are easy to distinguish, as their pronunciation and intonation are markedly different from standard Polish. Before World War II, the Kresy provinces were part of Poland, and both dialects were in common usage, spoken by millions of ethnic Poles. After the war and Soviet annexation of Kresy, however, the majority of ethnic Poles were deported westward, resulting in a severe decline in the number of native speakers. The northern Kresy dialect is still used along the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, where Poles still live in large numbers, but the southern Kresy dialect is endangered, as Poles in western Ukraine do not form a majority of the population in any district. Particularly notable among the Kresy dialects is the Lwów dialect which emerged early in the 19th century and was spoken in the city gaining much recognition in the 1920s and 1930s, partly due to the countrywide popularity of numerous Kresy-born and trained actors and comedians whose native speech it was (see also: Dialects of the Polish language).


title: Dosha

text: Dosha (, IAST: "doṣa") is a central term in Ayurveda originating from Sanskrit, which can be translated as "that which can cause problems" (literally meaning "fault" or "defect"), and which refers to three categories or types of substances that are believed to be present in a person's body and mind. Beginning with twentieth-century Ayurvedic literature, the "three-"dosha" theory" (, ) has described how the quantities and qualities of three fundamental types of substances called wind, bile, and phlegm (, , ; , , ) fluctuate in the body according to the seasons, time of day, process of digestion, and several other factors and thereby determine changing conditions of growth, aging, health, and disease.


title: Dosha

text: "Dosha"s are considered to shape the physical body according to a natural constitution established at birth, determined by the constitutions of the parents as well as the time of conception and other factors. This natural constitution represents the healthy norm for a balanced state for a particular individual. The particular ratio of the "dosha"s in a person's natural constitution is associated with determining their mind-body type including various physiological and psychological characteristics such as physical appearance, physique, and personality.


title: Dosha

text: The Ayurvedic three-"dosha" theory is often compared to European Humorism although it is a distinct system with a separate history. The three-"dosha" theory has also been compared to astrology and physiognomy in similarly deriving its tenets from ancient philosophy and superstitions. Using them to diagnose or treat disease is considered pseudoscientific.


title: Dosha

text: The Ayurvedic notion of "dosha"s describes how bad habits, wrong diet, overwork, etc. may cause relative deficiencies or excesses which cause them to become imbalanced in relation to the natural constitution () resulting in a current condition () which may potentially lead to disease. For example, an excess of is blamed for mental, nervous, and digestive disorders, including low energy and weakening of all body tissues. Similarly, excess is blamed for blood toxicity, inflammation, and infection. Excess of is blamed for increase in mucus, weight, oedema, and lung disease, etc. The key to managing all "dosha"s is taking care of , that is taught to regulate the other two.


title: Dosha

text: Yoga is a set of disciplines, some that aim to balance and transform energies of the psyche. At the roots of , and are believed to consist of its subtle counterparts called , and . Unlike the "dosha"s, which in excess create diseases, this is believed to promote health, creativity and well-being.


title: Dosha

text: Ultimately, Ayurveda seeks to reduce disease, particularly those that are chronic, and increase positive health in the body and mind via these three vital essences that aid in renewal and transformation. Increased is associated with enthusiasm, adaptability and creativity, all of which are considered necessary when pursuing a spiritual path in yoga and to enable one to perform. is claimed to provide courage, fearlessness and insight and to be important when making decisions. Lastly, is considered to create peace, confidence and patience to maintain consistent development and sustain continued effort. Eventually, the most important element to develop is , believed to engender physical and psychological endurance. Aims to achieve this include Ayurvedic diet, tonic herbs, control of the senses, a devotion and most importantly celibacy.


title: Dosha

text: Writing in "Skeptical Enquirer", Harriet Hall likened dosha to horoscope. She found that different online dosha websites gave different results in personalized quizzes, and summarized that "Ayurveda is basically superstition mixed with a soupçon of practical health advice." Alternative medicines used in Ayurveda treatments have been found to contain harmful levels of lead, mercury and other heavy metals.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java () is a province of Indonesia, located in the middle of the island of Java. Its administrative capital is Semarang. It is bordered by West Java in the west, the Indian Ocean and the Special Region of Yogyakarta in the south, East Java in the east, and the Java Sea in the north. It has a total area of 32,800.69 km, with a population of 36,516,035 at the 2020 Census making it the third-most populous province in both Java and Indonesia after West Java and East Java. The official estimate as at mid 2021 was 36,742,501. The province also includes the island of Nusakambangan in the south (close to the border of West Java), and the Karimun Jawa Islands in the Java Sea.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java is also a cultural concept that includes the Yogyakarta Special Region, in turn including the city of Yogyakarta; however, administratively that city and its surrounding regencies have formed a separate special region (equivalent to a province) since the country's independence, and is administrated separately. Although known as the "heart" of Javanese culture, there are several other non-Javanese ethnic groups, such as the Sundanese on the border with West Java. Chinese Indonesians, Arab Indonesians, and Indian Indonesians are also scattered throughout the province.


title: Central Java

text: The province has been inhabited by humans since the prehistoric-era. Remains of a "Homo erectus", known as "Java Man", were found along the banks of the Bengawan Solo River, and date back to 1.7 million years ago. What is present-day Central Java was once under the control of several Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the Dutch East Indies colonial government. Central Java was also the centre of the Indonesian independence movement. As the majority of modern-day Indonesians are of Javanese descent, both Central Java and East Java have a major impact on Indonesia's social, political, and economic life.


title: Central Java

text: The origin of the name "Java" can be traced from the Sanskrit chronicle which mentions the existence of an island called yavadvip(a) ("dvipa" means "island", and "yava" means "barley" or also "grain"). Are these grains a millet (Setaria italica) or rice, both of which have been widely found on this island in the days before the entry of Indian influence. It is possible that this island has many previous names, including the possibility of originating from the word "jaú" which means "far away". Yavadvipa is mentioned in one of the Indian epic, Ramayana. According to the epic, Sugriva, the commander of the wanara (ape man) from Sri Rama's army, sent his envoy to Yavadvip ("Java Island") to look for the Hindu goddess Sita.


title: Central Java

text: Another possible assumption is that the word "Java" comes from the root words in a Proto-Austronesian language, "Awa" or "Yawa" (Similar to the words "Awa'i" (Awaiki) or "Hawa'i" (Hawaiki) used in Polynesia, especially Hawaii) which means "home".


title: Central Java

text: An island called "Iabadiu" or "Jabadiu" is mentioned in Ptolemy's work called "Geographia" which was made around 150 AD during the era of the Roman Empire. "Iabadiu" is said to mean "island of barley", also rich in gold, and has a silver city called Argyra at its western end. This name mentioned Java, which most likely origins from the Sanskrit term Java-dvipa (Yawadvipa).


title: Central Java

text: Chinese records from the "Songshu" and the "Liangshu" referred to Java as She-po (5th century AD), He-ling (640–818 AD), then called it She-po again until the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368), where they began to call Zhao-Wa. In the book "Yingyai Shenglan", written by the Chinese Ming explorer Ma Huan, the Chinese call Java as Chao-Wa, and it was once called the She-pó (She-bó). When Giovanni de' Marignolli returned from China to Avignon, he stopped at the kingdom of Saba, which he said had many elephants and was led by a queen; this name Saba might be his interpretation of She-bó.


title: Central Java

text: Java has been inhabited by humans or their ancestors (hominina) since prehistoric times. In Central Java and the adjacent territories in East Java remains known as "Java Man" were discovered in the 1890s by the Dutch anatomist and geologist Eugène Dubois. It belongs to the species "Homo erectus", and are believed to be about 1.7 million years old. The Sangiran site is an important prehistoric site on Java.


title: Central Java

text: Around years ago, Australoid peoples related to modern Australian Aboriginals and Melanesians colonised Central Java. They were assimilated or replaced by Mongoloid Austronesians by about 3,000 BC, who brought technologies of pottery, outrigger canoes, the bow and arrow, and introduced domesticated pigs, fowls, and dogs. They also introduced cultivated rice and millet.


title: Central Java

text: Recorded history began in what is now Central Java in the 7th century AD. The writing, as well as Hinduism and Buddhism, were brought by the Indians from South Asia, at the time of Central Java was a centre of power in Java back then. In 664 AD, the Chinese monk Hui-neng visited the Javanese port city he called "Hēlíng" (訶陵) or "Ho-ling", where he translated various Buddhist scriptures into Chinese with the assistance of the Javanese Buddhist monk Jñānabhadra. It is not precisely known what is meant by the name "Hēlíng". It used to be considered the Chinese transcription of "Kalinga" but it is now most commonly thought of as a rendering of the name "Areng". "Hēlíng" is believed to be located somewhere between Semarang and Jepara.


title: Central Java

text: The first dated inscription in Central Java was the Canggal from 732 AD (or 654 Saka). This inscription, which hailed from Kedu, is written in Sanskrit in Pallava script. It is written that a Shaivite king named Sri Sanjaya established a kingdom called Mataram. Under the reign of Sanjaya's dynasty, several monuments such as the Prambanan temple complex were built. At the same time, a competing dynasty Sailendra arose, which adhered to Buddhism and built the Borobudur temple. After 820 AD, there was no more mention of the "Hēlíng" in Chinese records. This fact coincides with the overthrow of the Sailendras by the Sanjayas who restored Shaivism as the dominant religion. In the middle of the 10th century, however, the centre of power moved to eastern Java. Raden Wijaya founded the Majapahit Empire, and it reached its peak during the reign of Hayam Wuruk (m. 1350–1389). The kingdom claimed sovereignty over the entire Indonesian archipelago, although direct control tended to be limited to Java, Bali and Madura. Gajah Mada was a military leader during this time, who led numerous territorial conquests. The kingdoms in Java had previously based their power on agriculture, but Majapahit had succeeded in seizing ports and shipping lanes, in a bid to become the first commercial empire on Java. The empire suffered a setback after the death of Hayam Wuruk and the entry of Islam into the archipelago.


title: Central Java

text: In the late 16th century, the development of Islam had surpassed Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion in Java. The emergence of the Islamic kingdoms in Java is also inseparable from the role of Walisongo. At first, the spread of Islam was quick and was accepted by ordinary people, until the entrance of "da'wah" and was carried out by the rulers of the island. The Sultanate of Demak was the first recorded Islamic kingdom in Java, first led by one of the descendants of the Majapahit emperor Raden Patah, who converted to Islam. During this period, Islamic kingdoms began to develop from Pajang, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Cirebon, and Banten to establish their power. Another Islamic kingdom, the Sultanate of Mataram, grew into a dominant force from the central and eastern parts of Java. The rulers of Surabaya and Cirebon were subdued under the rule of Mataram, and it was only Mataram and Banten Sultanates that were left behind when the Dutch arrived in the early 17th century. Some kingdoms of Islamic heritage in Java can still be found in several cities, such as Surakarta and Yogyakarta with two kingdoms each, Kasunanan and Mangkunegaran, and the Yogyakarta Sultanate and Pakualaman, respectively.


title: Central Java

text: By the late 16th century, European traders began to frequent central Javanese ports. The Dutch established a presence in the region through their East India Company. Following the collapse of Demak, Mataram under the reign of Sultan Agung was able to conquer almost all of Java and beyond by the 17th century, but internal disputes and Dutch intrigues forced it to cede more land to the Dutch. These cessions finally led to several partitions of Mataram. The first was after the 1755 Treaty of Giyanti, which divided the kingdom in two, the Sultanates of Surakarta and Yogyakarta. In a few years, the former was divided again with the establishment of the Mangkunegaran following the 1757 Treaty of Salatiga.


title: Central Java

text: During the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, Central Java as a Dutch colony was handed over to the British. In 1813, the Sultanate of Yogyakarta was also divided with the establishment of the Pakualaman. Following the departure of the British, the Dutch returned as stipulated in the Congress of Vienna. The Java War between 1825 and 1830 ravaged Central Java, which resulted in a consolidation of the Dutch power. The power and the territories of the already divided Mataram were greatly reduced. After the war, the Netherlands enforced the Cultivation System which was linked to famines and epidemics in the 1840s, first in Cirebon and then Central Java, as cash crops such as indigo and sugar had to be grown instead of rice.


title: Central Java

text: However, the Dutch also brought modernisation to Central Java. In the 1900s, the predecessor of the modern Central Java was created, named "Gouvernement of Midden-Java". Before 1905, central Java consisted of 5 "gewesten" (regions) namely Semarang, Rembang, Kedu, Banyumas, and Pekalongan. Surakarta was still an independent "vorstenland" (autonomous region) which stood alone and consisted of two regions, Surakarta and Mangkunegaran, as well as Yogyakarta. Each "gewest" consisted of districts. At that time, the "Rembang Gewest" also included "Regentschap Tuban" and "Regentschap Bojonegoro". After the enactment of the 1905 "Decentralisatie Besluit" (Decentralisation Decision), the governor was given autonomy and a regional Council was formed. In addition, autonomous "gemeente" (municipal) was formed, namely Pekalongan, Tegal, Semarang, Salatiga, and Magelang. Since 1930, the province has been designated as an autonomous region which also has a "provinciale raad" (provincial council). The province consists of several "residenties" (residencies), which cover several "regentschap" (districts), and are divided into several "kawedanan" (districts). Central Java consists of 5 residences, namely: Pekalongan, Jepara-Rembang, Semarang, Banyumas, and Kedu.


title: Central Java

text: On 1 March 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army landed on Java, and the following week, the Dutch colonial government surrendered unconditionally to Japan. During the Japanese rule, Java and Madura were placed under the supervision of the Japanese 16th Army. Many who lived in areas considered important to the war effort experienced torture, sex slavery, arbitrary arrest and execution, and other war crimes. Thousands of people were taken away as forced labourers ("romusha") for Japanese military projects, including the Burma-Siam and Saketi-Bayah railways, and suffered or died as a result of ill-treatment and starvation. A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result of the Japanese occupation. About 2.4 million people died in Java from famine during 1944–45.


title: Central Java

text: Following the surrender of Japan, Indonesia proclaimed its independence on 17 August 1945. The final stages of warfare were initiated in October when, under the terms of their surrender, the Japanese tried to re-establish the authority they relinquished to the Indonesians in towns and cities. The fiercest fighting involving the Indonesian "pemuda" and the Japanese was in Semarang. In a few days, British forces began to occupy the city, after which retreating Indonesian Republican forces retaliated by killing between 130 and 300 Japanese prisoners they were holding. Five hundred Japanese and 2,000 Indonesians had been killed, and the Japanese had almost captured the city six days later when British forces arrived.


title: Central Java

text: The province of Central Java was formalised on 15 August 1950, excluding Yogyakarta but including Surakarta. There have been no significant changes in the administrative division of the province ever since. In the aftermath of the 30 September Movement in 1965, an anti-communist purge took place in Central Java, in which the army and community vigilante groups killed Communists and leftists, both actual and alleged. Others were interned in concentration camps, the most infamous of which was on the isle of Buru in Maluku, first used as a place of political exile by the Dutch. Some were executed years later, but most were released in 1979 In 1998, near the downfall of longtime president Suharto, anti-Chinese violence broke out in Surakarta (Solo) and surrounding areas, in which Chinese property and other buildings were burnt down. The following year, public buildings in Surakarta were burnt by supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri after Indonesia's parliament chose Abdurrahman Wahid instead of Megawati for the presidency.


title: Central Java

text: The 2006 Yogyakarta earthquake in the south and Yogyakarta devastated many buildings and caused thousands of deaths and more than injuries.


title: Central Java

text: According to the slope level of land in Central Java, 38% of the land has a slope of 0–2%, 31% has a slope of 2–15%, 19% has a slope of 15–40%, and the remaining 12% has a slope of more than 40%.


title: Central Java

text: The northern coastal region of Central Java has a narrow lowland. In the Brebes area, it is 40 km wide from the coast, while in Semarang, it is only 4 km wide. This plain continues with the depression of Semarang-Rembang in the east. Mount Muria at the end of the Ice Age (around 10,000 years BC) was a separate island from Java, which eventually fused because of alluvial deposits from flowing rivers. The city of Demak during the era of the Demak Sultanate was on the edge of the sea and became a thriving port. This sedimentation process is still ongoing on the coast of Semarang.


title: Central Java

text: In the south of the area are the Northern Cretaceous Mountains and the Kendeng Mountains, which are limestone mountains stretching from the east of Semarang from the Southwest end of Pati then east to the Lamongan and Bojonegoro in East Java.


title: Central Java

text: The main range of mountains in Central Java is the North and South Serayu Mountains. The North forms a mountain chain that connects the Bogor range in West Java with the Kendeng Mountains in the east. The width of this mountain range is around 30–50 km; on the western end there is Mount Slamet, which is the highest mountain in Central Java as well as the second-highest mountain in Java, and the eastern part is the Dieng Plateau with peaks of Mount Prahu and Mount Ungaran. Between the series of North and South Serayu Mountains are separated by the Serayu Depression which stretches from Majenang in the Cilacap Regency, Purwokerto, to Wonosobo. East of this depression is the Sindoro and Sumbing volcano, and the east again (Magelang and Temanggung areas) is a continuation of depression which limits Mount Merapi and Mount Merbabu.


title: Central Java

text: The Southern Serayu Mountains are part of the South Central Java Basin located in the southern part of the province. This mandala is a geoantiklin that extends from west to east along 100 kilometres and is divided into two parts separated by the Jatilawang valley, namely the western and eastern regions. The western part is formed by Mount Kabanaran (360 m) and can be described as having the same elevation as the Bandung Depression Zone in West Java or as a new structural element in Central Java. This section is separated from the Bogor Zone by the Majenang Depression.


title: Central Java

text: The eastern part was built by the Ajibarang anticline (narrow anticline) which was cut by the Serayu River stream. In the east of Banyumas, the anticline developed into an anticlinorium with a width reaching 30 km in the Lukulo area (south of Banjarnegara-Midangan) or often called the "Kebumen Tinggi". At the very eastern end of Mandala, the South Serayu Mountains are formed by the dome of the Kulonprogo Mountains (1022 m), which is located between Purworejo and the Progo River.


title: Central Java

text: The area of the south coast of Central Java also has a narrow lowland, with a width of 10–25 km. In addition, there are South Gombong Karst Areas. Sloping hills stretch parallel to the coast, from Yogyakarta to Cilacap. East of Yogyakarta is a limestone mountain area that extends to the southern coast of East Java.


title: Central Java

text: The rivers that empty into the Java Sea include the Bengawan Solo River, Kali Pemali, Kali Comal, and Kali Bodri, while the ones that empty into the Indian Ocean include Serayu River, Bogowonto River, Luk Ulo River and Progo River. Bengawan Solo is the longest river on the island of Java (572 km); has a spring in the Sewu Mountains (Wonogiri Regency), this river flows to the north, crosses the City of Surakarta, and finally goes to East Java and empties into the Gresik area (near Surabaya).


title: Central Java

text: Among the main reservoirs (lakes) in Central Java are Gunung Rowo Lake (Pati Regency), Gajahmungkur Reservoir (Wonogiri Regency), Kedungombo Reservoir (Boyolali and Sragen Regency), Rawa Pening Lake (Semarang Regency), Cacaban Reservoir (Tegal Regency), Malahayu Reservoir (Brebes Regency), Wadaslintang Reservoir (border of Kebumen Regency and Wonosobo Regency), Gembong Reservoir (Pati Regency), Sempor Reservoir (Kebumen Regency) and Mrica Reservoir (Banjarnegara Regency).


title: Central Java

text: The average temperature in Central Java is between and the relative humidity varies between 73% and 94%. While the humidity is high in most low-lying parts of the province, it drops significantly in the upper mountains. The highest average annual rainfall of 3,990 mm with 195 rainy days was recorded in Salatiga.


title: Central Java

text: On the eve of the World War II in 1942, Central Java was subdivided into seven residencies (Dutch: "residentie" or plural "residenties", Javanese "karésiḍènan" or "karésidhènan") which corresponded more or less with the main regions of this area. These residencies were "Banjoemas", "Kedoe", "Pekalongan", "Semarang", and "Djapara-Rembang" plus the so-called "Gouvernement Soerakarta" and "Gouvernement Jogjakarta". However, after the local elections in 1957, the role of these residencies were reduced until they finally disappeared.


title: Central Java

text: Today, Central Java (excluding Yogyakarta Special Region) is divided into 29 regencies ("kabupaten") and six cities ("kota", previously "kotamadya" and "kota pradja"), the latter being independent of any regency. The Southeastern (Solo) area used to be the Surakarta Sunanate until the monarchy was unrecognized by the Indonesian government. These contemporary regencies and cities can further be subdivided into 565 districts ("kecamatan"). These districts are further divided into rural communes or "villages" ("desa") and 764 urban communes ("kelurahan").


title: Central Java

text: The districts are listed below with their areas and populations at the 2000, 2010 and 2020 Censuses, togetherwith the official estimates as at mid 2021, and are grouped (for convenience) according to the now defunct "residenties" in which they were formerly situated.


title: Central Java

text: The regencies now appear in the formal order prescribed by the Indonesian Statistics Board ("Badan Pusat Statistik").


title: Central Java

text: As of the 2010 census, Central Java's population stood at 32.38 million, barely increasing from 2000, compared with the 1990 census when the population was 28 million. This reflected an increase of approximately 13.5% in 20 years. At the 2020 Census the population was 36,516,035, and the official estimate for mid 2021 was 36,742,501. Birthrates had not plunged between 2000 and 2010, instead losses due to domestic outmigration on 2010 figures, reversed themselves in 2020 with pandemic "back to kampung" influence.


title: Central Java

text: The three biggest regencies in terms of population are: Brebes, Cilacap and Banyumas. Together they make up approximately 16% of the province's population. Major urban population centres include Greater Semarang, Greater Surakarta and the Brebes-Tegal-Slawi area in the northwest of the province.


title: Central Java

text: Although the overwhelming majority of Javanese are Muslims, many also profess indigenous Javanese beliefs. Clifford Geertz, in his book about the religion of Java, made a distinction between the so-called "santri" Javanese and "abangan" Javanese. He considered the former as orthodox Muslims and the latter as nominal Muslims that devote more energy to indigenous traditions.


title: Central Java

text: Dutch Protestants were active in missionary activities and were rather successful. The Dutch Catholic Jesuit missionary, F.G.C. van Lith also achieved some success, especially in areas around the central-southern parts of Central Java and Yogyakarta at the beginning of the 20th century, and is buried at the Jesuit necropolis at Muntilan.


title: Central Java

text: Following the upheavals in 1965–66, religious identification of citizens became compulsory, and there has been a renaissance of Buddhism and Hinduism since then. As one has to choose a religion out of the five official religions in Indonesia; i.e. Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, the latter two became alternatives for people who did not want to be Muslims or Christians. Confucianism is also common among Chinese Indonesians. In the post-Suharto era, it is recognised as an official religion along with the aforementioned five.


title: Central Java

text: At approximately 98%, Javanese people form the overwhelming majority of the population, and a minority of the Sundanese people. Central Java is known as the centre of Javanese culture. The cities of Surakarta and Yogyakarta are the centres of the Javanese royal palace that still stands today.


title: Central Java

text: Significant minority ethnic groups include the Chinese Indonesians. They usually reside in urban areas, although they are also found in rural areas. In general, they primarily work in trade and services. Many speak the Javanese language with sufficient fluency as they have lived alongside the Javanese. One can feel the strong influence in Semarang and the town of Lasem in Rembang Regency, which is on the northeastern tip of Central Java. Even Lasem is nicknamed "Le petit chinois" or the Small Chinese City. The urban areas that are densely populated by Chinese Indonesians are called "pecinan", which means "Chinatown". Additionally, in several major cities, the Arab-Indonesian community can also be found. Similar to the Chinese community, they are usually engaged in trade and services.


title: Central Java

text: In areas bordering the province of West Java, there are Sundanese people and Sundanese culture, especially in the Cilacap, Brebes, and Banyumas regions. Sundanese toponyms are common in these regions such as Dayeuhluhur in Cilacap, Ciputih and Citimbang in Brebes and even Cilongok as far away in Banyumas. In the interior of Blora, which borders East Java, there is an isolated Samin community, the case of which is almost the same as the Baduy people in Banten.


title: Central Java

text: Although Indonesian is the official language, people mostly speak Javanese as their daily language. The Solo-Jogja dialect or the Mataram dialect is considered as the standard Javanese Language.


title: Central Java

text: Additionally, there are a number of Javanese dialects but in general, it consists of two, namely "kulonan" and "timuran". The former is spoken in the western part of Central Java, consisting of the Banyumasan dialects and Tegal dialects (also called "Basa Ngapak)". They are quite different in pronunciation from the standard Javanese. The latter dialect is spoken in the eastern part of the province, including the Mataram dialect (Solo-Jogja), Semarang dialect, and the Pati dialect. Between the borders of the two dialects, Javanese is spoken with a mixture of both dialects; these areas are Pekalongan and the Kedu Plain, which composes Magelang and Temanggung.


title: Central Java

text: Some parts of the districts of Brebes and Cilacap speak Sundanese, the western part of Central Java is the border between the Javanese people and Sundanese people worlds in the western of Java.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java is considered to be the heart of the Javanese culture. The ideal conduct and moral of the courts (such as politeness, nobility and grace) has a tremendous influence on the people. They are known as soft-spoken, very polite, extremely class-conscious, apathetic, down-to-earth, etc. These stereotypes form what most non-Javanese see as the "Javanese Culture", when in fact, not all Javanese behave in such manner as most Javanese are far from the court culture.


title: Central Java

text: The Javanese cultural area can be divided into three distinct main regions: Western, Central, and Eastern Javanese culture or in their Javanese names as "Ngapak", "Kejawèn" and "Arèk". The boundaries of these cultural regions coincide with the isoglosses of the Javanese dialects. Cultural areas west of Dieng Plateau and Pekalongan Regency are considered "Ngapak" whereas the border of the eastern cultural areas or "Arèk" lies in East Java. Consequently, culturally, Central Java consists of two cultures, while the Central Javanese Culture proper is not entirely confined to Central Java.


title: Central Java

text: The architecture of Central Java is characterised by the juxtaposition of the old and the new and a wide variety of architectural styles, the legacy of many successive influences from the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, China, and Europe. In particular, northern coastal cities such as Semarang, Tegal, and Pekalongan can boast European colonial architecture. The European and Chinese influence can be seen in Semarang's temple of Sam Poo Kong dedicated to Zheng He and the Domed Church built in 1753. The latter is the second-oldest church in Java and the oldest in Central Java. In the former capital of Surakarta, there are also several European architectures.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java also has some notable religious buildings. The Borobudur and the Prambanan temple complexes are among the largest Buddhist and Hindu structures in the world. In general, a characteristic Javanese mosque does not have a dome as its roof but a "Meru"-like roof which is reminiscent of a Hindu or Buddhist temple. The tower of the famous Mosque of Kudus resembles a Hindu-Javanese or Balinese temple more than a traditional Middle Eastern mosque.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java is famous and well known for its exquisite "batik", a generic wax-resist dyeing technique used on textiles. There are different styles of batik motifs. A centre of batik production is in Pekalongan. Other centres include Surakarta and Yogyakarta. "Batik" in Pekalongan style, which represent "gaya pesisir" (or coastal style), is different from the one in Surakarta and Yogyakarta that represent "batik" from the heartland of Java ("gaya kejawèn").


title: Central Java

text: One can even see the court influences in the art forms. The dances of the courts of Java are usually slow and graceful with no excessive gestures. The people followed this approach, and as a result, slow-paced and graceful movements can even be found in folk dances throughout Central Java, though with some exceptions. One can enjoy the beauty of Central Javanese dances in "Kamajaya-Kamaratih" or "Karonsih", usually performed in a traditional Javanese wedding.


title: Central Java

text: There are several kinds of Central Javanese theatre and performing arts. The most well-known is the Javanese "wayang" theatre, which has several types. These are "wayang kulit", "wayang klitik", "wayang bèbèr", "wayang golèk", and "wayang wong". "Wayang kulit" are shadow puppets theatre with leather puppets. The stories are loosely based on Mahabharata and Ramayana cycles. "Wayang klitik" are puppets theatre with flat wooden puppets. The stories are based on Panji (king) stories. Panji was a native Javanese princes who embarked a 'journeys of desire'. "Wayang bèbèr" is scroll theatre, and it involves "performing" scenes of a story elaborately drawn and painted on rolled sheets. "Wayang golèk" consists of three-dimensional wooden puppets. The narrative can be based on anything, but usually are drawn from Islamic heroic ones. Finally, "wayang wong" is "wayang" theatre involving live figures, actors who are performing a play. The narrative, however, must be based on Mahabharata or Ramayana.


title: Central Java

text: In addition to "wayang", there is another form of theatre called "ketoprak". It is a staged play by actors accompanied by Javanese "gamelan". The narrative is free but cannot be based on Mahabharata or Ramayana.


title: Central Java

text: Central Javanese music is almost synonymous with "gamelan". It is a musical ensemble typically featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums, gongs, bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included. The term refers more to the set of instruments than the players of those instruments. A gamelan as a set of instruments is a distinct entity, built and tuned to stay together. Instruments from different gamelan are not interchangeable. However, gamelan is not typically Central Javanese as it is also known elsewhere.


title: Central Java

text: Contemporary Javanese pop music is called "campursari". It is a fusion between gamelan and Western instruments, much like "kroncong". Usually, the lyrics are in Javanese, though not always. One notable singer is Didi Kempot, born in Sragen, north of Surakarta. He mostly sings in Javanese.


title: Central Java

text: It can be argued that Javanese literature started in Central Java. The oldest-known literary work in the Javanese language is the inscription of Sivagrha from Kedu Plain. This inscription, which is from 856 AD, is written as a "kakawin" or Javanese poetry with Indian metres. The oldest of narrative poems, "Kakawin Ramayana", which tells the well-known story of Ramayana, is believed to have come from Central Java. It can be safely assumed that this "kakawin" were written in the central Java region in the 9th century.


title: Central Java

text: After the shift of Javanese power to eastern Java, it had been quiet from Central Java for several centuries concerning Javanese literature until the 16th century. At this time, the centre of power was shifted back to Central Java. The oldest work written in modern Javanese language concerning Islam is the so-called "Book of Bonang" or also "The Admonitions of Seh Bari". This work is extant in just one manuscript, now kept in the University of Leiden as codex Orientalis 1928. It is assumed that this manuscript originates from Tuban, in eastern Java and was taken to the Netherlands after 1598. However, this work is attributed to Sunan Bonang, one of the nine Javanese saints who spread Islam in Java and Sunan Bonang came from Bonang, a place in Demak Regency, Central Java. It can be argued that this work marked the beginning of Islamic literature in the region.


title: Central Java

text: However, the pinnacle of Central Javanese literature was created at the courts of the kings of Mataram in Kartasura and later in Surakarta and Yogyakarta that are mostly attributed to the Yasadipura family. The most famous member of this family is Rangga Warsita who lived in the 19th century. He is the best-known of all Javanese writers and also one of the most prolific. He is also known as "bujangga panutup" or "the last court poet".


title: Central Java

text: Following independence, the Javanese language as a medium was pushed to the background. Still, one of the greatest contemporary Indonesian authors, Pramoedya Ananta Toer was born in 1925 in Blora. He was an author of novels, short stories, essays, polemics, and histories of his homeland and its people. A well-regarded writer in the West, his outspoken and often politically charged writings faced censorship at home. He faced extrajudicial punishment for opposing the policies of both President Sukarno and Suharto. During imprisonment and house arrest, he became a "cause célèbre" for advocates of freedom of expression and human rights. In his works, he writes much about life and social problems in Java.


title: Central Java

text: Rice is the staple food of Central Java. In addition to rice, dried cassava, known locally as "gaplèk", also serve as a staple food. Javanese food tends to taste sweet. Cooked and stewed vegetables, usually in coconut milk ("santen" in Javanese) are prevalent. Raw vegetable, which is popular in West Java, is less prevalent in Central Java.


title: Central Java

text: Saltwater fish, both fresh and dried are common, especially among coastal areas. Freshwater fish is not popular in Central Java, unlike in West Java, except perhaps for catfish known locally as "lélé". It is usually fried and served with chilli condiment ("sambal") and raw vegetables.


title: Central Java

text: Chicken, mutton and beef are common meat. Certain parts of the population also eat dog meat, known by its euphemism "daging jamu" (literally "traditional medicine meat").


title: Central Java

text: Tofu and tempe serve as the standard replacement to fish and meat. Famous dishes in Central Java include "gudeg" (sweet stew of jackfruit) and "sayur lodeh" (vegetables cooked in coconut milk).


title: Central Java

text: Besides the aforementioned tofu, there is a strong Chinese influence in numerous dishes. Some examples of Sino-Javanese food include noodles, "bakso" (meatballs), "lumpia", "soto" etc. The widespread use of sweet soybeans sauce ("kecap manis") in the Javanese cuisine can also be attributed to the Chinese influence.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java is connected to the Trans-Java Toll Road which currently runs from Merak in Banten to Probolinggo (planned: Banyuwangi), East-Java. Within the province the toll road starts at Brebes, continuing via Semarang then turn southeast to Surakarta until east of Sragen. Along the north coast east of Semarang, the North Coast Road ("Jalur Pantai Utara" or "Jalur Pantura") is the main road. Losari, the Central Javanese gate at the western border on the northern coast, could be reached from Jakarta in 4 hours drive. On the southern coast, there is also a national way which run from Kroya at the Sundanese-Javanese border, through Yogyakarta to Surakarta and then to Surabaya via Kertosono in East Java. There is furthermore a direct connection from Tegal to Purwokerto and from Semarang to Yogyakarta and Surakarta.


title: Central Java

text: Central Java was the province that first introduced a railway line in Indonesia. The very first line began in 1873 between Semarang and Yogyakarta by a private company, but this route is now no longer used. Today there are five lines in Central Java: the northern line which runs from Jakarta via Semarang to Surabaya. Then there is the southern line from Kroya through Yogyakarta and Surakarta to Surabaya. There is also a train service between Semarang and Surakarta and a service between Kroya and Cirebon. At last there is a route between Surakarta and Wonogiri. The line between Kutoarjo and Surakarta, the line from Cirebon to Purwokerto up to Kroya and the entire north coast line (since 2014) are double-track, while second tracks from Surakarta to Kertosono (towards Surabaya) and Purwokerto-Kroya-Kutoarjo are under construction of which the latter will be finished in 2019


title: Central Java

text: On the northern coast Central Java is served by 8 harbours. The main port is Tanjung Mas in Semarang, other harbours are located in Brebes, Tegal, Pekalongan, Batang, Jepara, Juwana and Rembang. The southern coast is mainly served by the port Tanjung Intan in Cilacap.


title: Central Java

text: Finally on mainland Central Java there are five commercial airports. There is one additional commercial airport on the Karimunjawa isles. The airports on the mainland are: Adisumarmo International Airport in Surakarta, Jenderal Ahmad Yani International Airport in Semarang, Ngloram Airport in Cepu, Blora, General Sudirman Airport in Purbalingga and Tunggul Wulung Airport in Cilacap. Karimunjawa is served by Dewadaru Airport.


title: Central Java

text: GDP in the province of Central Java was estimated to be around $US 98 billion in 2010, with a per capita income of around $US 3,300. Economic growth in the province is quite rapid and GDP is forecast to reach $US 180 billion by 2015. The poverty rate of its people is 13% and will be decreased below 6%.