title: Viking metal

text: Viking metal features the Vikings as its subject matter and for evocative imagery. The Vikings were Northern European seafarers and adventurers who, during the Middle Ages, relied on sailing vessels such as longships, "knerrir", and "karvi" to explore, raid, pirate, trade, and settle along the North Atlantic, Baltic, Mediterranean, Black Sea, and Caspian coasts and Eastern European river systems. The Viking Age is generally cited as beginning in 793, when a Viking raid struck Lindisfarne, and concluding in 1066, with the death of Harald Hardrada and the Norman conquest of England. During this two-hundred-year period, the Vikings ventured west as far as Ireland and Iceland in the North Atlantic and Greenland and what is now Newfoundland in North America, south as far as the Kingdom of Nekor (Morocco), Italy, Sicily, and Constantinople in the Mediterranean, and southeast as far as what are now Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine in Eastern Europe, Georgia in the Caucasus, and Baghdad in the Middle East.


title: Viking metal

text: The Vikings originated from the Nordic countries and the Baltic states, and consisted mostly of Scandinavians, though Finns, Estonians, Curonians, and Sámi people went on voyages as well. While otherwise disparate peoples, they shared some commonalities in that they were not considered "civilized" and were not, at first, adherents to Christianity, instead following their indigenous Nordic and Finnic religions. They often adopted Christianity upon settling in an area, intermixing the faith with their own pagan traditions, and by the end of the Viking Age, all Scandinavian kingdoms were Christianized and what remained of Viking cultures were absorbed into Christian Europe.


title: Viking metal

text: Nordic folk music encompasses traditions from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and the dependent countries Åland, Faroe Islands, and Greenland, and nearby regions. Specific instruments vary between countries and regions, but some common instruments include the lur, säckpipa, Hardanger fiddle, keyed fiddle, willow flute, harp, mouth harp, and animal horns. Common genres in Nordic folk include ballads, herding music, and dance music, genres which trace back to the medieval era. Often, Nordic melodies will contain the phrase C-B-G.


title: Viking metal

text: In Swedish folk music, songs are monophonic, unemotional, and solemn in character, though working and festive songs might be more lively and rhythmic. Danish songs melodies tend to lean toward the major. In Icelandic folk music, the "rímur", a form of epic poem dating back to the medieval era and Viking Age, is prominent. Faroese music contains dances directly descended from medieval ballad and epic poems, particularly from literature in the Icelandic tradition, and often follows unusual time signatures. Many Norwegian folk ballads follow a four-stanza structure known as stev. Stev alternate a trochaic tetrameter with a trimeter, and lines typically rhyme following an ABCB scheme, though stev are not standardized. Finnish folk music tends to be based on Karelian traditions and the meter and thematic material found in the "Kalevala". These themes include magic, mysticism, shamanism, Viking sea voyages, Christian legends, and ballads and dance songs. The older "runo" song tradition follows meters such as , , or . Under Swedish and German influence, a newer, round-dance tradition based on the "runo" emerged – the "rekilaulu" – and these usually follow a or time. Sámi music traditions (music from the Sámi people throughout Fennoscandia) historically were rather insular, exerting little influence on the music surrounding cultures. Sámi music is known for joiking, improvised singing particular to the performer. These songs are often sung accompanied by a drum.


title: Viking metal

text: Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that, mostly in Europe, emerged from speed metal and thrash metal in the 1980s. A "first wave" began in the early to mid-1980s, through the work of bands such as Venom, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Mercyful Fate, and Bathory. The name black metal is taken from the 1982 album of the same name by Venom, while Bathory's 1984 self-titled release is generally regarded as the first true black metal record. A "second wave" developed in part as a reaction to the burgeoning death metal genre, and in part inspired by the Teutonic thrash metal scene. It was headed by the early Norwegian black metal scene, through artists such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor, Satyricon, Thorns, Ulver, and Gorgoroth. The early Norwegian scene became infamous for murders, assaults, and numerous church arsons committed by members of the scene. Black metal lyrical themes are focused on Satan and Satanism, which many first-wave bands used with a tongue-in-cheek approach, contrary to the more serious beliefs and vehement anti-Christian sentiment of many second-wave bands.


title: Viking metal

text: Musically, the first wave of bands were just considered to be playing heavier forms of metal – Venom was part of the new wave of British heavy metal, Celtic Frost was variously described as thrash metal or death metal, and Quorthon of Bathory simply labeled his music "heavy metal". It was not until the second wave that black metal was more clearly defined. A key development during that period was a guitar playing style featuring fast, un-muted tremolo picking or "buzz picking", introduced by Euronymous of Mayhem and Snorre Ruch ("Blackthorn") of Thorns. Other common traits for guitar playing include a high-pitched or treble guitar tone and heavy distortion. Solos and dropped tunings are rare. Overall, the guitar sound tends to be "thin and brittle" compared to other heavy metal genres, with the idea of "heaviness" conveyed through harshness and timbral density rather than low frequency. The bass guitar tends to be buried under the guitar tones, even non-existent. Drums and even vocals are likewise often mixed low, with these production techniques resulting in a blurred "wash" of sound. Vocals are usually high-pitched and raspy shrieks, screams, and snarls, and rarely gutturals and death growls are also employed. The use of keyboards is also frequent.


title: Viking metal

text: The influence of Scandinavian folk music within Norwegian black metal is apparent in the use by some guitarists belonging to that scene of drones and modal melodies reminiscent of the folk tradition. Terje Bakken of Windir explained that ancient Nordic folk is easily integrated into metal idiom due to the "sad atmosphere" the two genres have in common. Production values within black metal are often raw and lo-fidelity. Originally, this was merely because many early second-wave bands lacked the resources to record properly, but the practice was continued by successful bands in order to identify with their genre's underground origins. Though featuring these common traits, black metal spawned diverse musical approaches and subgenres, with some bands taking more experimental and avant-garde directions. Other bands, such as Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, embraced a more commercial sound and production aesthetic instead.


title: Viking metal

text: The use of Viking themes and imagery in hard rock and heavy metal music predates the advent of Viking metal. For instance, the lyrics to Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" (1970) and "No Quarter" (1973) feature allusions to Viking voyages, violence, and exploration, the former being inspired by the band's visit to Iceland while on tour. The Swedish band Heavy Load often wrote Viking-themed songs, such as the 1978 song "Son of the Northern Light", and Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic claims that the 1983 song "Stronger than Evil" establishes a case for Heavy Load as the first Viking metal group. Swedish neoclassical metal guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen sometimes featured themes of hyper-masculinity, heroic warriors, and Vikings; for example, on his 1985 album" Marching Out". The German band Grave Digger and American band Manowar, both of which formed in 1980, drew upon Norse myth as envisioned in Richard Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen". Faithful Breath – which wore fur and horned helmet costumes – and TNT also experimented with Viking themes. Manowar adopted Viking imagery much more heavily than other bands, and became known as the "champions of the furry loincloth"; they met with ridicule even within the metal community, but attracted a cult following. Unlike the later Viking metal bands, Manowar did not bother with the historicity of popular Viking image, and did not in any way identify with the Vikings, religiously or racially. Trafford and Pluskowski explain that "the Manowar version of the Vikings owes as much to Conan the Barbarian as it does to history, saga, or Edda: What matters to Manowar is untamed masculinity, and the Vikings are for them merely the archetypal barbarian males."


title: Viking metal

text: The term "Viking metal" has sometimes been used as a nickname for the 1990s Norwegian black metal scene, which was "noisy, chaotic, and often augmented by sorrowful keyboard melodies". It has also been variously described as a subgenre of black metal, albeit one that abandoned black metal's Satanic imagery, "slow black metal" with influences from Nordic folk music, straddling black metal and folk metal almost equally, or running the gamut from "folk to black to death metal". Typically, Viking metal artists rely extensively on keyboards, which are often played at a "swift, galloping pace". These artists often add "local cultural flourishes" such as traditional instruments and ethnic melodies. It is similar to folk metal, and is sometimes categorized as such, but it uses folk instruments less extensively. For vocals, Viking metal incorporates both singing and the typical black metal screams and growls.


title: Viking metal

text: Overall, Viking metal is hard to define since, apart from certain elements like anthem-like choruses, it is not based entirely on musical features and overlaps with other metal genres, with origins in black and death metal. Some bands, such as Unleashed and Amon Amarth, play death metal, but incorporate Viking themes and thus are labeled as part of the genre. Generally, Viking metal is defined more by its thematic material and imagery than musical qualities. Rather than being a mock-up of medieval music, "it is in the band names, album titles, artwork of album covers and, especially, in the song lyrics that Viking themes are so evident." Viking metal, and the closely related style pagan metal, is more of a term or "etiquette" than a musical style. Since they are defined chiefly by lyrical focus, any musical categorizations of these two styles is controversial. Thus, Viking metal is more of a cross-genre term than a descriptor of a certain sound. Ashby and Schofield write that "The term 'Viking metal' is one of many that falls within a complex web of genres and subgenres, the precise form of which is constantly shifting, as trends and fads emerge and fade." From its origins in black metal, Viking metal "has diversified (at least in aural terms), and now covers a range of styles that run the gamut between black metal and what one might justifiably term classic rock".


title: Viking metal

text: Starting with the album "Blood Fire Death", one of the first definitive Viking metal releases, Bathory incorporated a diverse range of musical elements. While retaining the noise and chaos of previous recordings, the band took a more sorrowful and melodic approach, working in ballads based on Germanic and Norse folklore, shanty-like melodies and folk music elements such as bourdon sounds, Jew's harps, and fifes. Bathory added natural found sounds, such as ocean waves, thunder, and wild animal noises, in a style similar to that of "musique concrète". Instruments were sometimes used to create onomatopoeic effects such as drum sounds imitating thunder or a sledgehammer. The songs typically featured multi-sectional formal structures, following a pattern of three instrumental sections – introduction, bridge, and finale – and two vocal sections – stanza and refrain.


title: Viking metal

text: Enslaved, a formative band in Viking metal, performs primarily a black metal style, but has over time become more progressive. Eduardo Rivadavia described the hallmarks of Enslaved as "Viking themes, razor sharp guitars, blastbeat drums, and an ear for orchestration resulting in complex structures, bountiful harmonies and time changes." The band evolved significantly with every album since "Mardraum – Beyond the Within" (2000).


title: Viking metal

text: The Faroese band Týr has a standard rock band lineup with electric instruments, but makes extensive use of traditional Faroese music in its songs. Faroese ballads typically involve unusual time signatures, most commonly or the alternative rhythms or . In an attempt to replicate these uneven signatures, Týr often places the accent on the weak beat of the bar. In songs based on old Faroese ballads, Týr usually play in harmonic or melodic minor scale or else in mixolydian mode.


title: Viking metal

text: Mulvany states that "Viking metal ... is much less concerned with traditional aural materials like instruments and melodies. Instead, Viking bands limit themselves mainly to the use of Norse mythology as a textual source, which they often augment with stylized shanty-like melodies that are meant to evoke apropos images". He elaborates: According to Mulvany, Viking metal draws heavily on sea shanties and media images of pirates and Vikings, an influence evident in two basic forms of the genre. The first type "is largely stepwise in motion with many repeated note figures", is frequently in minor key, and is primarily sung in unison. The second type uses an "arching ascent-descent structure" and is less dependent on lyrics, making it "more evocative of rolling waves on the open sea". As examples of the first type, Mulvany examined the structures of sea shanties such as "Drunken Sailor", the 1934 and 1996 film soundtrack versions of "Dead Man's Chest", Mario Nascimbene's "Viking" song for the 1958 film "The Vikings", and the chant from Monty Python's "Spam" sketch, and found similar structures in compositions by Viking and black metal bands such as Einherjer, Mithotyn, Naglfar, and Vargevinter. The second type, that of arching ascent and descent, Mulvany noticed in compositions by Einherjer and Borknagar.


title: Viking metal

text: The shanty influence results from stereotyping in which certain aural associations are equated with "images of sailors, sea-borne marauders, and Vikings", and "though rooted in traditional sea shanties, these aural images have been perpetuated through the media of pirate movies and television shows, and they have been extended – by association – to Vikings". Ashby and Schofield agree with Mulvany that musically, Viking metal bands generally are unconnected with a real Viking past, but instead connote a broader sense of the maritime, presuming that "this conflation of maritime contexts is a knowing one, but one nonetheless felt to be somehow evocative."


title: Viking metal

text: Keith Fay of the folk metal band Cruachan has also noted the influence of sea shanties on Viking metal, although disparagingly. In an interview with British magazine "Terrorizer", he said that there is "no real defined 'Viking music', so all these Nordic bands use 'sea shanty' type tunes to match their music. A lot of these bands, especially the bigger ones, are called folk metal but they don't really understand what real folk music is; though I know this is not true for all of them."


title: Viking metal

text: Thematically, Viking metal draws extensively on elements of black metal, but the lyrics and imagery are pagan and Norse rather than anti-Christian or Satanic. It combines the exaltation of violence and virility through weapons and battlefields, which is common to many death and black metal bands, with an interest in ancestral roots, particularly a pre-Christian heritage, which is expressed through Viking mythology and imagery of northern landscapes. Some bands such as Sorhin keep the Satanic elements of black metal but musically are influenced by more recent folk tunes. Visuals such as album art, band photos, website design, and merchandise all highlight the dark and violent outlook of Viking metal lyrics and themes. Seascapes and Viking ships are commonly invoked by Viking metal artists. For example, the cover to "Blodhemn" (1998) by Enslaved, which features the band as Viking warriors with their boat anchored behind them, or the cover to "Dödsfärd" (2003) by Månegarm, which features a stereotypical Viking funeral. The art on albums by Viking metal artists frequently depicts Viking Age archeological finds: Thor's hammers are especially common, but other artifacts such as Oseberg posts, runestones, and even the Sutton Hoo helmet have appeared (though this last artifact is neither Viking nor from the Viking age). Some bands incorporate far more ancient, pre-medieval imagery, such as the Finnish band Moonsorrow's use of prehistoric rock carvings and megaliths. Other Finnish bands, such as Ensiferum, Turisas, and Korpiklaani, focus on Sámi traditions and shamanism, further stretching the definition of Viking metal. Not all bands rely on Viking-related visuals or other ancestral images to aid their musical character: for instance, the members of Týr do not wear Viking costumes on stage, and only their folk-influenced music and lyrical themes distinguish them from other heavy metal bands.


title: Viking metal

text: While heavy metal throughout its history has referenced the occult, Viking metal bands use a very specific mythology, which informs their textual choices, album imagery, and, frequently, musical compositions. Despite a whole pantheon of Norse gods to choose from, Viking metal bands typically focus on Odin, the god of war, and on Thor and his hammer. Alcohol, particularly mead, is also a common lyrical focus. Viking metal bands tend to follow one of two approaches. The first is one of romanticism and escapist ideas, where bands cultivate an image of strength and barbarism and quote passages from various poems and sagas. The second approach emphasizes historical accuracy, typically relying on Norse mythology as the sole focus of lyricism and identity. Many Viking metal bands identify first with local roots – for instance, Moonsorrow with Finland or Einherjer with Norway – with a wider northern European identity coming second.


title: Viking metal

text: Many songs are composed in English, but Viking metal bands often write lyrics in other languages, usually of the North Germanic family – Norwegian, Old Norse, Swedish, Danish and, less commonly, Icelandic and Faroese – and also in Finnish, which is non-Germanic. Other European languages, such as German, Old High German, Latin, Dutch, Sámi languages, or Gaulish are sometimes used. Heavy metal fans around the world sometimes learn languages such as Norwegian or Finnish in order to understand the lyrics of their favorite bands and improve their appreciation of the music. Irina-Maria Manea considers this preference to sing in a native language, along with the imagery of album covers, and stage performances which often involve warrior costumes, weapons, and sometimes reenactments, a demonstration of a völkisch aspect to Viking metal. Specifically, the thematic focus of Viking metal bands conceptualizes ethnicity as uniform, unchanged history from "time immemorial," which is, state Manea, "precisely in the "völkisch" framework."


title: Viking metal

text: The imagery in Viking metal draws upon the material culture created during the Viking Age, but — according to Trafford and Pluskowski — it also "encompasses the broad semiotic system favored by many black and death metal bands, not least of all the exultation of violence and hyper-masculinity expressed through weapons and battlefields". In Viking metal this semiotic system is melded with an interest in ancestral roots, specifically a pre-Christian heritage, "expressed visually through Viking mythology and the aesthetics of northern landscapes". Extreme and obsessive loathing of Christianity had long been the norm for black and death metal bands, but in the 1990s Bathory and many other bands began turning away from Satanism as the primary opposition to Christianity, instead placing their faith in the Vikings and Odin. Many artists claim affiliation to the modern Pagan religion of Heathenry, treating Christianity as a foreign influence that was forcibly imposed, and therefore as a wrong to be righted.


title: Viking metal

text: Some members of the Norwegian black metal scene were motivated to take violent action against this influence – for instance, the church burnings by black metal musicians Varg Vikernes, Samoth, Faust, and Jørn Inge Tunsberg, among others. While most bands or individuals did not go that far, an undercurrent of racism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism continues to permeate parts of the black metal scene. Many Viking metal artists, including bands such as Enslaved and Einherjer, simply express interest in Vikings and Norse mythology and entirely reject the Satanic inclination of black metal, writing almost exclusively on Norse themes, without any racist or anti-Semitic undertones. Whereas black metal during the 1990s took a militant and destructive stance toward the status quo, Viking metal looked to the past and took a populist, anti-system approach which eschewed violence. Viking metal is both pre-Christian and post-apocalyptic – it looks to a pre-Christian past and imagines a post-Christian future. While opposition to Christianity drove the formation of Viking metal, some bands that play, or have played, Viking metal, such as Slechtvalk, Drottnar, Vardøger, and Holy Blood, subscribe to Christian beliefs.


title: Viking metal

text: David Keevill argues that the explicitly anti-Christian attitude of most Viking metal artists is an anachronistic view of the Viking Age. Keevill explains that "while bands have used [Viking mythology] as the basis for their musical existence ... the historical reality of the Viking Age (late 8th century to the 11th century) is a chequered backdrop of a multitude of belief systems and disparate political mechanisms". As an historical example, he cites the raid on Lindisfarne in 793, an event considered the beginning of the Viking Age and celebrated by Enslaved in its song "793 (Slaget Om Lindisfarne)". He contends that this attack was merely an opportunistic raid, not a concerted attack on the growing power of Christianity, and that the terms "heathen" and "pagan" historically did not necessarily mean "anti-Christian", but that the people in question did not fit under a denominational label. Furthermore, Norse religion and Christianity intermingled and influenced each other throughout the era, and Christianity was often imposed through monarchical regimes such as Harald Klak and Harald Bluetooth or conversion movements such as those initiated by Ansgar. Keevill concludes that, "It's not that bands like Amon Amarth shouldn't flout their Norse heritage, the bellicose nature of the ancestors or the kind of practices that would have taken place in far flung tribal societies, it's just that ruling out the presence of an overbearing Christian influence on the Viking Age is incredibly close-minded."


title: Viking metal

text: Viking metal has been considered the progenitor of the pagan metal genre, with Bathory's "Hammerheart" as the first pagan metal recording. Weinstein writes that "it is fitting that pagan metal began with Viking metal, given that the Vikings were Europe's last Pagans, converted slowly and with reluctance to Christianity". Imke von Helden explains some key differences: "[Pagan metal] deals mainly with Pagan religions and lies in a broader context where not only Old Norse mythology is dealt with, but also Celtic myths and history, fairy tales and other elements of folklore. Traditional instruments like the violin or flute are used more often in pagan than in Viking metal music." The idea of incorporating and revering exclusively national or regional myths, stories, and tales first took root in the work of artists such as Adorned Brood, Falkenbach, Black Messiah, Enslaved or Einherjer, but, as a musical phenomenon, has grown far beyond Europe into a global trend in which artists express their affinity with an ethnic heritage. Viking metal, along with pagan and folk metal, forms part of a trend within cultural heritage movements toward wider acceptance of the heritage of ordinary and the everyday life, not just nationally significant and the iconic imagery, and also a trend to explore the outer reaches of heritage, where the definitions of heritage and heritage communities are stretched and contested.


title: Viking metal

text: The Viking image in popular understanding is that of hypermasculinity, and thus Viking metal is inherently patriarchal. While some bands, such as Kivimetsän Druidi, Storm, and Irminsul, have included female members, and female fans comprise a substantial part of Viking metal's audience, it is argued that women are subordinated within the Viking metal scene, and are rarely present in the production of Viking metal music, which can be seen as a form of "nation-building": while women may participate in the nation building process, it is still controlled by men. Within Viking metal, themes of war and masculinity predominate.


title: Viking metal

text: Some artists, such as Burzum, link manliness with Norse tradition and gender ideals, and thus see the Viking male as representing traditional masculinity. Most of the Norse references in black metal are heroic, masculine, and militaristic in theme – Mjölnir, Odin, the Iron Cross, and berserkers and einherjar. Conversely, Jesus, though a male figure, is seen in songs such as "Jesu død" by Burzum as cold, dark, and life-extinguishing. Christianity is viewed as stigmatizing and suppressing the natural "dark" sides of men, and so, from the perspective of black metal, true masculinity is achieved through exploring the dark sides of man's nature – warfare and killing. Cultural historian Nina Witoszec found that within Norway, images of nature are often symbolic with cultural affiliation to Norway. Witoszec traces the roots of this ideal to Tacitus's German-heathen identity narrative which romanticized the Germanic people as superior through their connection with nature, and whose brutality and belligerence opposed the apathetic and decadent Roman elite. Within black metal, Norse imagery is used to build a view of natural and authentic masculinity to counter the oppressive force of the Judeo-Christian tradition.


title: Viking metal

text: The roots of Viking metal are generally found in Scandinavian metal, particularly the death and black metal scenes of the late 1980s. Inspired by the Viking themes used by Manowar, some bands identified with the Vikings far more completely than Manowar. At the forefront of this movement stood the Swedish band Bathory. The band's fourth album "Blood Fire Death", released in 1988, includes two early examples of Viking metal – the songs "A Fine Day to Die" and "Blood Fire Death". The cover to "Blood Fire Death" even features "The Wild Hunt of Odin", a painting by Norwegian artist Peter Nicolai Arbo which depicts the Norse god Odin on a Wild Hunt. Bathory followed up on this Viking theme in 1990 with the release of "Hammerheart", a concept album fully devoted to Vikings. Like its predecessor, this album features a Viking-themed painting, this time "The Funeral of a Viking" by Sir Frank Dicksee. Following up this release were 1991's "Twilight of the Gods", titled after Wagner's opera of the same name, and "Blood on Ice", recorded in 1988–1989 but released in 1996. "Hammerheart" is considered a landmark that introduced the metal world to the Viking metal archetype. With this album, Quorthon, the band's founder, inspired a generation of Nordic teens, and seeded a deep anti-Christian sentiment which culminated in the violence and hate crimes committed by members of the Norwegian black metal community in the early 1990s. The artistic choices by Quorthon contain völkisch elements which emphasize a return to heathen Europe rather than a "destructive" Christianity. Quorthon later explained, in the liner notes to "Blood on Ice", that his shift to Viking themes was an intentional move away from Satanism:


title: Viking metal

text: Bathory's Viking metal features Wagnerian-style epics, ostentatious arrangements, choruses, and ambient keyboards. Mulvany notes that Bathory's 1990s work marks the beginning of a Viking-themed trend initially slow, even confusing, in formation. For example, the Austrian black metal band Abigor incorporated Viking themes and Germanic paganism in "Unleashed Axe-Age", the first track on its 1994 album "Nachthymnen", but said it "should not be seen as a part of the upcoming Viking trend". According to Mulvany, "The Viking trend presaged by Abigor was actually taking place around them, and it remains more 'true' to how black metal is often defined than the folk influenced metal that followed. Its folk elements are predominantly textual or musically evocative rather than musically-historically accurate."


title: Viking metal

text: Enslaved, formed in Norway in 1991, has also been cited as the first truly Viking metal band, with the 1993 EP by the band, "Hordanes Land", named as the first true Viking metal release. A review of "Eld" (1997) noted that "Among the countless bands who were inspired by Bathory's seminal Viking metal, arguably none were as true to its gospel as Norway's Enslaved, whose utmost commitment even extended to donning vintage Norse armor and outfits on-stage". The band's 1994 debut album "Vikingligr Veldi" had "many melodies being borrowed from ethnic Scandinavian folk music to lend additional authenticity to the vicious, fast-paced black metal". Inspired by Bathory, Enslaved set out to "create Viking metal devoted to retelling Norway's legends and traditions of old – not attacking Christianity by means of its own creation: Satan." Its second album "Frost", also released in 1994, served as "an important release for the extreme music subgenre of Viking metal". Though the previous recordings by Enslaved all featured the same thematic material, "Frost" was the first album that Enslaved described as Viking metal. This album also defined the band's lyrical approach. "Decibel" explains that on "Frost", bassist and vocalist Grutle Kjellson "knew it was time to reclaim the gods and goddesses of his ancestors, especially if it meant his version of things would inevitably clash with the Christianized fairytales so often associated with Nordic myth."


title: Viking metal

text: Ideologically, Varg Vikernes's one-man project Burzum helped inspire the Viking metal scene through his strongly held racist, nationalistic, and anti-Judeo-Christian beliefs, and his longing for a return to paganism. In Trafford and Pluskowski's opinion, Vikernes' beliefs, which had culminated in the burning of several churches, including the twelfth-century Fantoft Stave Church in Bergen, reveal the confused nature of ideas about Vikings in the Norwegian black metal scene. They note, "His tastes seem originally not for the unmediated medieval itself as for J. R. R. Tolkien: he adopted the name 'Count Grishnackh', based upon an orc in "The Lord of the Rings", and named Burzum after a Tolkienian word for 'darkness'." They postulate that only in retrospect did Vikernes "cloak his actions in an Oðinic garb and claim the motivation of an attempt to restore Norse paganism for his church burning". While in prison, Vikernes released the book "Vargsmål", which Trafford and Pluskowski call an echoing of the "Hávamál," though with "an eye on "Mein Kampf"". According to Trafford and Pluskowski, "proving both that it is not just the early medieval past to which he looks for inspiration, and that he will use any historical weapon at his disposal to offend Norwegian liberal opinion, it is notable that he has recently added the name Quisling to his own, and is even attempting to claim some sort of kinship to the wartime collaborator".


title: Viking metal

text: Vikernes himself has connected the church burnings to an idea of resurgent Viking paganism. The first such burning, that of Fantoft Church on June 6, 1992, was thought by many to be related to Satanism, since the burning occurred on the sixth day of the week, on day six of the sixth month and was thus a reference to the Number of the Beast. Vikernes contends that the date June 6 was really picked because the first recorded Viking raid (upon Lindisfarne) occurred, according to Vikernes, on June 6, 793. Quorthon acknowledged that nationalist elements had always been present in the Viking metal scene, and, in the early 1990s, these elements hardened into explicit racism and anti-Semitism, particularly among Heathen adherents. By the late 1990s, Viking metal pulled back from the neo-Nazi direction toward which it was headed, once many musicians from the Oslo scene died or were jailed.


title: Viking metal

text: Besides Bathory, Enslaved, and Burzum, several other artists are credited as pioneers of the style. The original bassist for Emperor, Håvard Ellefsen, also known as Mortiis, was "an indispensable force in the genesis of Norway's epic Viking metal sound." Despite Ellefsen's short tenure in the band, it was his musical interests that catalyzed the band to mix chaotic black metal with synthesizer melodies based on Norwegian folk music.


title: Viking metal

text: Helheim was another major pioneer in the early scene. Helheim emerged on the scene before other bands such as Einherjer and Thyrfing, when even Enslaved was in its infancy. Not only was Helheim one of the first bands to meld black metal with Viking themed-music, but one of the first to include stylistically unconventional instruments such as horns and violins. Robert Müller of "Metal Hammer" "Germany" argues that Viking metal never solidified as a genre, and attributes this to "Jormundgand", Helheim's 1995 debut album. "Jormundgand" included an ambitious track – "Galder" – but that song was considered incompatible with metal, and audiences, looking for a specific musical style, merged with the pagan metal scene, which had no particular "Viking" identity.


title: Viking metal

text: Other highly influential Viking metal bands are Borknagar, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Einherjer, Ensiferum, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing, and Windir. Trafford and Pluskowski regard Einherjer, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing, and Windir as the "most influential" Viking metal bands, with Einherjer's album covers, which include many images of Viking artifacts, giving Einherjer the most Viking feel of all bands except Enslaved. Einherjer's artwork spans the full chronology of Viking art: 8th- and 9th-century Oseberg to 11th- and 12th-century Urnes.


title: Viking metal

text: Amon Amarth and Unleashed's music could be described as death metal, but it incorporates Viking lyrical themes and thus the bands are considered to have broadened the scope of Viking metal. While Norse myths were mostly important for black metal, especially the early 1990s Norwegian scene, as well as for the younger pagan metal genre, bands as the Swedish Unleashed started fitting these myths into death metal even before Amon Amarth appeared. Unleashed set a precedent for many of the coming black metal bands by shying away from the common death metal theme of gore and instead focusing on pre-Christian Swedish heathenism, particularly the Viking Age and old Norse religion. Amon Amarth and Unleashed resist the Viking metal label. Johan Hegg of Amon Amarth stated, "It's weird to label a band after the lyrical content because, in that case, Iron Maiden is a Viking metal band, Black Sabbath is a Viking metal band, Led Zeppelin is a Viking metal band." Johnny Hedlund of Unleashed maintains that the band has always played and always will play death metal, commenting, "The Viking lyrics you will find on about three to five songs on every Unleashed album from 1991 and on. I don't think that fact alone re-defines our style in some way."


title: Viking metal

text: Some members of the Viking metal scene believe that it is impossible for someone to be a Viking unless they themselves are of northern European descent. According to Trafford and Pluskowski, the members of practically all Viking metal bands claim Viking ancestry, and after its inception in Scandinavia, Viking metal spread to areas historically settled by Vikings, including England, Russia, and Normandy. Viking metal bands have even formed in the United States and Canada, with their members claiming Viking descent either directly from Scandinavia or through England. The scene also spread to other parts of Northern Europe in areas united by a common Germanic heritage, such as Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands. For instance, the Austrian band Valhalla makes extensive use of Viking iconography, including horned helmets. Another Austrian example is Amestigon, which on the cover of its promotional album "Remembering Ancient Origins" depicts a wood carved scene of Sigurd killing Regin, an image taken from a panel held in Hylestad Stave Church.


title: Viking metal

text: One of the first non-Nordic Viking metal bands was the German project Falkenbach. Formed in 1989 and primarily the work of front-man Vratyas Vakyas, Falkenbach performs a mixture of black metal and folk music, with lyrics drawing from Western and Northern European mythologies, religions, and folk traditions. The Dutch bands Heidevolk, Slechtvalk, and Fenris have also been labeled as Viking metal, though Heidevolk's former vocalist Joris Boghtdrincker claims that Heidevolk has never tried to "play the Viking card or the Pan-Germanic card", instead choosing to write about local Dutch history. The Swiss band Eluveitie jokingly calls its music "the new wave of folk metal", which vocalist Chrigel Glanzmann explains was because the "whole folk metal thing was still quite new back then, and the scene and the music press was looking for new labels for that kind of music, so they came up with Forest Metal, Viking Metal, Heathen Metal, Pagan Metal, blah blah blah, and we just felt like it was really really ridiculous."


title: Viking metal

text: Catherine Hoad finds the issue of national and racial identity central to Viking metal. For instance, she writes that when Trafford and Pluskowski claim that Manowar could not claim religious or racial identity with the Vikings when the band had a bandleader with the "'less than wholly Scandinavian name of Joey di Maio', [Trafford and Pluskowski] are approaching a more complex and racially-charged issue than their offhandedness would suggest." While Viking imagery may be readily appropriated, according to Hoad the definition of a "true" Viking is quite rigid, a rigidity which non-Nordic, and especially non-White, musicians must contend with. As an example, she cites the Brazilian band Viking Throne, which claims legitimacy through European ancestry and historical references to explorations of South America by Nordic countries, and quotes their front-man, Count Nidhogg: "Some people understand perfectly that it doesn't matter where you live, what's really important is your heritage and ancestry. Even living in a South American country as Brazil we all have European blood." Hoad argues that Viking Throne illustrates the cultural importance of claiming Viking ancestry, a culture that operates on largely geographic lines. In contrast to Viking Throne, she cites the band Slechtvalk, which is well known for its brand of Christian Viking metal, but is rarely criticized as inauthentic by the scene. Hoad speculates that the European ethnicity of the band is enough to compensate for its otherwise counter-intuitive music.


title: Viking metal

text: According to Weinstein, "Viking metal has travelled further than any Viking ship. Self-defined pagan metal bands who describe their music as Viking metal can be found in the United States, Brazil and Uruguay, among other places." The sensationalism of the early Norwegian black metal scene might be responsible for some of this popularity, but Weinstein considers the genre's greatest influence to be "the inspiration it has given to others to explore their own roots". This impact was particularly strong in the Baltic states, where Viking metal influenced the development of a distinct pagan metal scene known as "Baltic war metal". The Lithuanian band Obtest, formed as a black metal band in 1993 with Lithuanian lyrics, birthed the war metal scene with the 1997 album "Tūkstantmetis." Michael F. Strmiska comments that despite the claim that Scandinavia was home to the last pagans in Europe, within the scene: "A point of particular pride is the knowledge that Lithuania was the last country in all of Europe to officially abandon its native Pagan traditions and convert to Christianity in 1387." Another Baltic band influenced by Viking metal is the Latvian project Skyforger, which composes its lyrics in the Latvian language. A third example of the influence of Viking metal on pagan metal is the national socialist black metal band Graveland from Poland, which on its second album, "Thousand Swords", released in 1995, featured a variety of folk styles mixed in with the band's black metal sound, and introduced lyrics about Polish history and Slavic gods. Viking metal has also influenced the Russian Rodnoverie movement, particularly the texts of Varg Vikernes, many of which have been translated into Russian. Though some of his readers within Rodnoverie distance themselves from the racism and political statements within Vikernes' work, other followers have embraced racist and National Socialist ideas. Contemporaneous to the rise of Viking metal has been the emergence of Celtic metal in Ireland, France, and even Germany, a style which sounds essentially like Viking metal, apart from the addition of harps, but with lyrics celebrating Celtic gods and myths.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: Vincent Marseglia (born January 24, 1986) is an American professional wrestler, known for his time in Impact Wrestling, where he was a member of Honor No More. He is best known for his tenure in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a record setting 4-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion, with 3 of his reigns as part of The Kingdom.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: Marseglia made his Ring of Honor (ROH) Television debut on April 7, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland losing to Rhyno in a squash match. On April 30, 2016 Marseglia unsuccessfully challenged Jay Lethal for the ROH World Championship in West Warwick, Rhode Island.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: Marseglia made his comeback on October 1, 2016, in Lowell, Massachusetts as a part of the revamped Kingdom stable alongside Matt Taven and T. K. O'Ryan. In their debut as a trio, they defeated The Bullet Club (Adam Cole and The Young Bucks). On the November 19 episode of ROH TV The Kingdom defeated Team CMLL (Hechicero, Okumura and Ultimo Guerrero) in the semi-finals to advance to the finals at the Final Battle 2016 PPV.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: On December 2, 2016, The Kingdom became the first-ever ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions by defeating Kushida, Lio Rush & Jay White. They lost the title to Bully Ray and The Briscoes on March 11, 2017, in a match, where Silas Young replaced an injured T. K. O'Ryan.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: On May 9, 2018 at ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Tour, The Kingdom would regain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship by defeating SoCal Uncensored. On March 16, 2019 at Survival of the Fittest, They were defeated by Villain Enterprises for the Six-Man Tag Team Championship. On ROH Television, Marseglia attacked Taven in the ring and On December 13, 2019 at Final Battle Marseglia defeated Taven.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: At Hard To Kill (2022) Vincent made his Impact Wrestling debut after a 10-man Hardcore War tag team match attacking Rich Swann, Eddie Edwards, Heath and Rhino alongside former Kingdom stablemate Matt Taven, Mike Bennett, Maria Kanellis, and PCO.


title: Vinny Marseglia

text: On October 8, 2022, it was announced that Bennett, Kanellis, Taven and Vincent had left "Impact Wrestling".


title: Rap-A-Lot Records

text: Rap-A-Lot is a hip hop record label co-founded by James Prince and Cliff Blodget in 1986. Smoke-a-Lot Records is a subsidiary.


title: Rap-A-Lot Records

text: Rap-A-Lot was first distributed by A&M Records with the release of Raheem's 1988 debut "The Vigilante". The label was distributed through the 1990s by EMI's Priority Records (1991–1994), Noo Trybe Records (1994-1998), and Virgin Records (1998–2002). In the 2000s, it was distributed by Asylum Records and then Fontana Distribution.


title: Rap-A-Lot Records

text: The label was formed filling in a gap for recognition and promotion of southern talent especially in the Houston area. This was in part to label executives in other parts of the country passing on southern hip hop acts. During this period, DJ's from the east coast had been exploiting the region and pushing music from their domestic territories instead.


title: BBC's 100 Greatest Television Series of the 21st Century

text: The 100 Greatest TV Series of the 21st Century is a list compiled in October 2021 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), chosen by a voting poll of 206 television experts (critics, journalists, academics and industry figures) from 43 countries.


text: It was compiled by collating the top ten series submitted by the experts who were asked to list the best series that began airing since the year 2000. Television that began in the 20th century but continued airing in the 21st century weren't eligible for inclusion (e.g. "Doctor Who", "South Park", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "The Sopranos"). The of "Twin Peaks" (subtitled "The Return") is eligible due to it being commissioned as a stand-alone miniseries as opposed to a revival of the original series. "Breaking Bad" (#3) and "The Good Wife" (#33) are the only programmes to also have spin-off series place on the list, with "Better Call Saul" (#23) and "The Good Fight" (#47), respectively. Only 7 programmes do not fall under the scripted live action genre; four animated shows — "BoJack Horseman" (#11), "" (#61), "Rick and Morty" (#76) and "Steven Universe" (#99) — and three non-fiction shows — the reality competition series "RuPaul's Drag Race" (#67) and the non-fiction docuseries "Planet Earth" (#73) & "" (#81). Damon Lindelof is the creator with the most shows on the list with three; "The Leftovers" (#7); "Lost" (#19) and "Watchmen" (#26).


text: BBC Culture asked 206 television experts from around the world to rank the ten television programs produced in the twenty-first century that they considered the greatest. Participants were permitted to choose from titles released between January 2000 to July 2021 (when all responses were collected). Each program listed in these responses was then given points based on their ranking. If a program was ranked first in a critic's list, that program would get ten points, whereas the one ranked in tenth place would get one point. The list features three ties: "Downton Abbey" and "Band of Brothers" for the 36th-place ranking; "The Good Place" and "Pose" for the 62nd-place ranking and "Narcos" and "Normal People" for the 84th-place ranking.


text: A total of 206 critics from 43 countries participated in the poll, with the largest number (52) from the United Kingdom, followed by 29 from the United States. Out of the 206, 104 are men, 100 are women, and two are non-binary.


title: 1992 Cricket World Cup squads

text: This is a list of the final 14 man squads named for the 1992 Cricket World Cup held in Australia and New Zealand which took place from 22 February 1992 to 25 March 1992. The oldest player at the 1992 Cricket World Cup was John Traicos (44) of Zimbabwe while the youngest player was Zahid Fazal (18) of Pakistan.


title: Willie Pep

text: Guglielmo Papaleo (September 19, 1922 – November 23, 2006) was an American professional boxer, better known as Willie Pep who held the World Featherweight championship twice between the years of 1942 and 1950. Pep boxed a total of 1,956 rounds in the 241 bouts during his 26-year career, a considerable number of rounds and bouts even for a fighter of his era. His final record was 229–11–1 with 65 knockouts. Pep, known for his speed, finesse and elusiveness, is considered to be one of the best fighters of the 20th century; after his 199th win, Kid Campeche described his experience by saying, "Fighting Willie Pep is like trying to stomp out a grass fire." Pep was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. Pep was voted as the No. 1 featherweight of the 20th century by the Associated Press and ranked the No. 1 featherweight of all-time by the International Boxing Research Organization in 2005. He is currently ranked by BoxRec as the 31st greatest pound-for-pound fighter of all time.


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep first fought as an amateur in 1937. At the time, amateur boxers from Connecticut were allowed to fight for money. It was during the Great Depression and Pep's father was earning $15 per week at the Works Progress Administration. Pep worked as a shoeshine boy in downtown Hartford alongside Johnny Duke. Both boys joined a gym together and became sparring partners. Willie was soon earning more in one night of fighting each week. When his parents found out he was boxing, his mother was worried for him, but his father said that if he was making so much fighting on Fridays, maybe he should see about fighting on Tuesdays as well. "My old man, he was a sports fan" Pep later quipped.


title: Willie Pep

text: In 1938 Pep fought Sugar Ray Robinson in the attic of a feed store in Norwich, Connecticut. According to Pep's later telling, Robinson was an amateur champion in the state of New York, where amateurs were not paid, so he took a pseudonym to get bouts for money in Connecticut. Because of this, Pep did not know who he was fighting at the time. Before the fight he was told his unknown opponent was not good, but he recalls quickly learning otherwise once the bout began and Robinson was "all over me".


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep started boxing professionally on July 10, 1940, beating James McGovern by a decision in four rounds in Hartford, Connecticut. Like many boxers of the first half of the 20th century, Pep concentrated his early fighting career on boxing in New England, and he split his first 25 contests between Connecticut and Massachusetts. He was undefeated during that span and for fight number 26, he finally headed west, beating Eddie Flores by a knockout in the first round at Thompsonville, Michigan. A couple of fights later, he travelled further west and made his California debut, beating Billy Spencer by a decision in four rounds at Los Angeles.


title: Willie Pep

text: By the time Pep stepped up his quality of opposition he was undefeated at 41–0, and met world title challenger Joey Archibald in 1942. He beat Archibald by a decision in ten rounds and, in his next bout, challenged Abe Denner for the New England-area featherweight title. He won the fight by a decision in 12, and his status among the world's top featherweights continued to climb. He won ten more bouts to reach 52–0, including a rematch win over Archibald, before he was given his first world championship try, in October. He became the World Featherweight Champion by outpointing the defending world champ Chalky Wright over the 15 round distance. He fought twice more to finish the year, winning both by knockout.


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep began 1943 by winning six bouts in a row to find himself with a record of 62–0. But in his seventh bout of 1943, he suffered his first defeat, at the hands of Sammy Angott, another world champion boxer. Angott beat Pep over the ten round distance, by decision. Ten days later, Pep was back in the ring, beating Bobby McIntyre by a decision. He closed 1943 winning five fights in a row, including two over future world champion Sal Bartolo and one over Jackie Wilson. The second win over Bartolo was in a defense of the world title.


title: Willie Pep

text: 1944 was a very good year for Pep. He won all 16 of his bouts that year, including wins over bantamweight champions Willie Joyce and Manuel Ortiz. He fought and beat Wright two more times, with Pep's featherweight title on the line once. He also made his first fight abroad, beating fringe contender Jackie Lemus in Canada.


title: Willie Pep

text: On June 6, 1944, he fought near featherweight contender, and rated lightweight Julie Kogon before a record crowd of 7,751 in an extraordinary bout in Hartford, Connecticut, and won soundly in an eight-round decision. Pep was given eight rounds by one of the judges.


title: Willie Pep

text: He had eight fights in 1945, winning seven and drawing one. He beat former world champion Phil Terranova to retain the title, and had a ten-round draw with Jimmy McAllister.


title: Willie Pep

text: In 1946, Pep had 18 fights, and won all of them, including a 12-round knockout of Bartolo and a three-round knockout of Wright. He had a six-fight knockout win streak during a span that year.


title: Willie Pep

text: Despite being severely injured in a plane crash on January 5, Pep fought 10 bouts in 1947, again going undefeated. Many thought he had lost something as a fighter, especially after unexpectedly struggling in fights against Archie Wilmer (Pep won a majority decision) and Pedro Biesca (Pep was floored in the fourth round). He defended the world featherweight belt once that year, knocking out Jock Leslie in twelve rounds at Flint, Michigan.


title: Willie Pep

text: Nineteen forty-eight was a year that would become important in Pep's life: He won 15 bouts before going into what would be the first fight of his four-fight series with Sandy Saddler. He retained the title by beating Humberto Sierra by a knockout in 10 and he beat former world champion Paddy DeMarco, also in ten, but by decision. Then, on October 29, he lost the world featherweight title to Saddler in a fourth-round knockout.


title: Willie Pep

text: After two wins, he and Saddler met in 1949. On their rivalry's second installment, Pep recovered the World Featherweight Championship by beating Saddler in a 15-round decision, and then he engaged in a series of exhibition and ten round bouts before defending the crown against Eddie Campo, winning by a knockout in the seventh. He finished that year beating former bantamweight champion Harold Dade by a decision in ten at St. Louis.


title: Willie Pep

text: In 1950, he won nine fights before meeting Saddler for a third time. Those nine bouts included defenses against Charlie Riley, knocked out in five, and France's Ray Famechon, beaten by decision in 15. Then came the third fight with Saddler. Pep once again lost his World Featherweight Championship to Saddler, being unable to come out for the eighth round due to a separated shoulder suffered at the end of the seventh round. Pep was ahead on all scorecards (5–2, 5–2, 4–2).


title: Willie Pep

text: Nineteen fifty-one brought a hint of controversy to Pep's life. He won eight bouts in a row to start the year, but his ninth bout, the last chapter of the rivalry with Saddler, was his most important bout that year. Pep quit because blood from his right eye was bothering him. According to Nat Fleischer in "The Ring", December 1951, this was an extremely dirty fight, with "wrestling, heeling, eye gouging, tripping, thumbing- in fact every dirty trick known to the old timers..." Referee Ray Miller "let the bout get out of hand..." "The pattern of the 'contest' never varied. Pep wouldn't make a fight of it and Sandy couldn't. Pep too frequently backed around the ring and Saddler just as often missed as he kept boring in trying to corner his man. Then when he did, the rowdy tactics got under way and ended only when either both were sprawled on the canvas still wrestling each other, or the referee was outside the ring trying pull the boys apart or both fighters and official were entangled in a pretzel formation on the ring floor." Pep was ahead on the scorecards of the officials after eight rounds, but he quit after nine rounds, "declaring he no longer could continue because of severe pains caused by a deep cut over the right eye."


title: Willie Pep

text: In 1952, Pep had 12 fights, winning 11. He was knocked out in six by Tommy Collins, but also held two wins over Billy Lima that year.


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep won all 11 fights in 1953, and entered 1954 on a 17-fight winning streak. After beating David Seabrooke by a decision, he lost to fringe contender Lulu Perez by TKO after a delayed reaction to a punch. Pep ended up winning three more bouts before the end of the year.


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep went on boxing for five more years, retiring in 1960, and then he came back in 1964 and boxed for two more years. During that last period of his boxing career, he won 43 bouts and lost only five, but his only opponent of note during that time was Hogan Kid Bassey, a future World Featherweight Champion who knocked Pep out in nine rounds. Pep boxed in Caracas, Venezuela, losing to Sonny Leon by a decision in 10, and in his last fight, in 1966, he lost to Calvin Woodland by a decision in six.


title: Willie Pep

text: After retiring, he and Saddler were involved in a series of exhibition bouts, and in 1980, Pep sued "Sports Illustrated" for running a story suggesting that he threw his fight with Perez. Pep lost the lawsuit, the jury deliberating just 15 minutes.


title: Willie Pep

text: In March 2006, Pep resided at a nursing home in Connecticut, diagnosed with dementia pugilistica, before his death on November 23, 2006. He is buried in Rocky Hill, CT. He left four children, William "Billy" Papaleo, Mary Papaleo, Michael Papaleo and Melissa Papaleo, and three stepchildren, April, L.J., Holly Miller.


title: Willie Pep

text: Pep was ranked sixth on "Ring" Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years in 2002. Pep was also named the third greatest fighter of all time by Bert Sugar.


title: Willie Pep

text: Willie Pep was voted as the Greatest Featherweight Ever by the Houston Boxing Hall Of Fame in 2014. The HBHOF is a voting body composed totally of current and former fighters.


title: Willie Pep

text: In 2011, the city of Middletown, Connecticut constructed the Willie Pep Skatepark named in honor of Pep.


title: Willie Pep

text: In 2021, a feature film based on Pep's life went into production in Hartford, CT. Directed by Robert Kolodny, the film stars James Madio as Willie Pep and focuses primarily on Pep's 1965 comeback. Lawrence Gilliard Jr. portrays Sandy Saddler, Stephen Lang plays Pep's trainer Bill Gore, Keir Gilchrist is Pep's son Billy, Ron Livingston is Pep's manager Bob Kaplan and Ruby Wolf portrays Pep's young wife Linda.


title: Willie Pep

text: There are claims that Pep won the third round in his fight against Jackie Graves in a fight on July 25, 1946, without throwing a punch. The "no-punch" winning round is disputed; several contemporary newspaper articles make no mention of it, and an account in "The Minneapolis Star" describes the third round as "toe to toe slugging with Pep inflicting his best punishment with a right to the body". Pep supposedly tipped off a few ringside reporters before the bout and told them he would win the third round without throwing "a punch of anger."


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The Shorts Blowpipe is a man-portable (MANPADS) surface-to-air missile that was in use with the British Army and Royal Marines from 1975. It also saw service in other military forces around the world. Most examples were retired by the mid-1990s. It is unique among MANPADS in that it is manually guided to its target with a small joystick, sending guidance corrections to the missile over a radio control link.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Blowpipe underwent a protracted and controversial development between the programme's initial conception in 1966 and 1975 when it finally entered service. It had its first use during active combat in the Falklands War in 1982 when it was used by both sides of the conflict. Its demonstrated performance was poor, with only two confirmed kills.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: As a result of the poor performance of the system, an improved version offering semi-automatic guidance was introduced as Javelin. This was further improved with a laser designator system in Javelin S15, which was later renamed Starburst. Both Javelin systems were used only briefly before being replaced by the dramatically more powerful Starstreak in the 1990s.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Several advanced variants and alternative launchers, including a submarine-based system, did not see production. Approximately 35,000 missiles were produced in total.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Short Brothers began development of a man-portable anti-aircraft system in the early 1960s as a private venture (i.e. without any government orders or funding), with prototype testing starting in 1965 and Shorts receiving funding for development from 1968. Development of Blowpipe traces to a 1966 Ministry of Defence industry contract for a MANPADS system. Whether or not there was a need for such a weapon was constantly debated, with the Secretary of State for Defence stating as late as 1968 that the question remained open. Ultimately, the decision was made in 1968 to start development of the Shorts proposal, which won the contract specifically because it was believed to be the least expensive option.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: To reduce cost, Shorts' design did not include a guidance system. Instead, the guidance was on the launcher, which communicated with the missile using a radio command system. This meant the missile itself had fewer components, and expensive components, such as a seeker head, were not expended when firing. Shorts, additionally, claimed that this system made it suitable for head-on engagements, while infrared homing systems of the era, like the FIM-43 Redeye, were only useful in tail-chase engagements, where the missile's short-range would make it almost useless.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Concerns about the control fins at the front of the missile led to one of the distinguishing features of Blowpipe. It was considered to be a difficult problem to make movable control fins that also folded for storage so the decision was made to have the guidance fins unfoldable. This required the forward section of the launcher to be large enough to hold them in their flight positions, which leads to the seemingly oversized cylinder at the front of the launcher. The rear fins, used for stabilization only, are placed at the rear of this cylinder on a separate ring, and the missile flies through it until they reach the end of the fuselage where the ring locks into place. As they exit the tube, the tips of the rear fins fold out further.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The programme immediately ran into problems. On 7 May 1969, Minister of Defence for Equipment Sir John Morris in Parliament claimed that the Blowpipe's development was "...proceeding satisfactorily but is at too early a stage for any firm production order." Two years later, on 11 February 1971, Minister of State for Defence Robert Lindsay noted that "The development programme for this missile continues to make progress although it will still be some time before it is completed. It would be contrary to normal policy to give detailed forecasts of the Forces' production requirements." On 16 March 1972, Under-Secretary for Defence for the Army Geoffrey Johnson-Smith said of Blowpipe "This is now in an advanced stage of development and some successful trials with it have been carried out. It, too, should be in service in about two years' time."


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: A low-rate production contract was finally signed in September of that year. On 24 July 1973 it was stated that the system was still undergoing flight tests and ground tests, which were not officially completed until 1975. The missile entered service later that year. On 10 June 1976, further controversy sparked when it was revealed the Royal Air Force (RAF) was reluctant to use the weapon in test launches because of its high cost, limiting training to only two launches per year. By 1979, only half the units slated to receive Blowpipe actually had them.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: After requests from the Israeli and Brazilian navies for a submarine-launched weapon, Blowpipe was developed in a cluster of six missiles on a mast that could be raised from the submarine's conning tower. Known as "Submarine Launched Airflight Missile", or SLAM, the system was trialled on the World War II-era HMS "Aeneas" in 1972. These were for a time installed on Israeli "Gal" class submarines but later removed. The Brazilians never installed the system.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: A four-round launcher similar to the one developed for SLAM was also considered for mounting on the M113 and FV103 Spartan, but it is unclear if either reached trials. The programmes were officially ended in June 1981. The basic concept was later re-introduced as the three-round "Lightweight Multiple Launchers" (LML) for Blowpipe or Javelin. A larger five-round mount was later offered as "Sea Javelin".


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: In the 1970s, Northrop introduced a new MANPADS combining the Blowpipe missile with a semi-active laser guidance system into the competition that was ultimately won by the Raytheon FIM-92 Stinger. This was the guidance system that was ultimately used by Starburst.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The missile is supplied as a single round in a storage cylinder/firing tube. The aiming unit is clipped to the launch tube and fired from the operator's shoulder. To reduce the overall size of the container, the rear fins of the missile are stored in the larger diameter cylinder at the front of the tube (this also contains the Yagi antenna for transmitting guidance signals); during firing, the fins slip onto the rear of the missile as it flies through and are held there by heat-activated adhesive tapes. This gives the launch container a unique shape, seemingly oversized at the front and extremely thin at the rear. The missile is powered by a short duration solid rocket for launch, then by a sustainer motor once it is well clear of the launch tube.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The Blowpipe's guidance is initially semi-automatic with the missile gathered to the centre of the sight's crosshairs by the infrared optic atop the aiming unit. Two to three seconds after launch, missile guidance is switched to fully MCLOS mode and the operator regains full control of the missile. The operator has to steer the missile all the way to its target manually via a small thumb joystick. The operator can opt not to use auto-gathering when engaging low flying targets such as helicopters but then has to super-elevate the launcher to ensure that the missile does not hit the ground. Four flares in the tail of the missile make it visible in flight, first to the infrared optic, then to the operator. Detonation is either by proximity or contact fuse. In emergencies, the operator can end an engagement by shutting off the power to the transmitter with the system switch, after which the missile will immediately self-destruct. The aiming unit can then be removed from the empty missile container and fitted to a new round.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Blowpipe was used by both sides during the Falklands War in 1982. With the targets being fast-flying aircraft, flying low and using the ground to hide their approach, the Blowpipe operator had about 20 seconds to spot the target, align the unit and fire. Brigadier Julian Thompson compared using the weapon to "trying to shoot pheasants with a drainpipe". During the conflict, British forces fired 95 missiles, of which approximately half suffered failures of various kinds, and only nine managed to destroy their targets and all of these were slow flying planes and helicopters. A later report determined that only one kill could be attributed with certainty to Blowpipe, that of an Argentine Navy Aermacchi MB-339 (0766 (4-A-114)) during the Battle of Goose Green on May 28. Blowpipe was also used on the Argentine side, with one British Harrier GR3 (XZ972) being claimed by Argentine Army 601 Commando Company, though the pilot believed he was hit by anti-aircraft guns.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Blowpipe was found to be particularly ineffective when used to engage a crossing target or to chase a target moving rapidly away from the operator. Its poor performance led to it being withdrawn from British service. In 1986, some of the mothballed units were sent clandestinely to equip the Mujahideen whom Britain was supporting, fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan. The system again proved ineffective, and was eventually supplanted by the US Stinger missile. While Blowpipe was available on the international arms market and therefore its origins were open to speculation, the Stinger was restricted, which at the time indicated a more open acknowledgement of Western support for the Mujahideen. Blowpipe missile systems were still being found in weapon caches as recently as May 2012 in Afghanistan.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The Canadian military took Blowpipe from storage to provide protection for their naval contribution to the 1991 Gulf War, although age had degraded the weapons, and nine out of 27 missiles tested misfired. The Javelin GL, which was backward compatible to the Blowpipe, was then hastily purchased as a replacement.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Blowpipe saw use in the Cenepa War of 1995 between Ecuador and Peru, where it was deployed mainly against Peruvian Mil Mi-17 and Mil Mi-18 helicopters. Although there are claims of some success, none of these have been verified.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Production of the Blowpipe ended in 1993, with an official total of 34,382 missiles and approximately 3,000 launchers produced. These numbers include test rounds. In contrast to the claimed low-cost of the system, in 1994 the missile was US$55,570, and the aiming unit approximately $94,000. This makes it much more expensive than Stinger, which was roughly $35,000 at the same time.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Blowpipe was replaced by the Javelin surface-to-air missile, which was of a generally similar design but with an improved performance and a semi-automatic guidance system (SACLOS) – the operator now controls the missile by keeping the target in his sight, and the aiming unit steers the missile to remain centred in the sight. A computer in the missile launcher calculates the difference between the current aim spot and the missile's location and sends commands to the missile via radio to bring it to an impact point.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: The basic Javelin missile body was retained in the upgraded Javelin S15, which replaced the original's radio command guidance system with a semi-automatic laser system. This uses a laser in the launcher to "paint" the target, and a seeker in the missile nose cone sees the reflected signal and homes in on it. This renders it largely immune to any possible jamming. S15 was better known as Starburst, although it was known by a variety of names in service.


title: Blowpipe (missile)

text: Starburst was used only briefly, before being replaced by Starstreak. Starstreak uses the same beam-riding concept as Starburst, but dramatically improves the missile and warhead. In Starstreak, the missile quickly accelerates to Mach 3.5, then separates to release three dart-like interceptors. Each dart is independently guided by riding the laser beam, thus improving the chances of a hit. The darts are also effective against armour.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (born 3 October 1967) is an Indian politician from Rajasthan who is currently serving as Union Cabinet Minister in Ministry of Jal Shakti. He is a member of parliament from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) representing Jodhpur in the Lok Sabha.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: He was born in Jaisalmer in the Indian state of Rajasthan. His father, Shankar Singh Shekhawat, was a senior government officer in the public health department and travelled on frequent assignments across the state, so Shekhawat was educated at several different schools. He received a Master of Arts and master of philosophy from Jai Narain Vyas University, Jodhpur.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: Shekhawat began his political career in student politics when in 1992 he was elected as president of the Student Union at JNVU University, gaining more votes than any other previous Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad supporter. Shekhawat was appointed National General Secretary of the BJP Kisan Morcha, the farmers wing of the Bharatiya Janta Party. He was also a member of the Rajasthan State Executive of the Bharatiya Janata Party.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: He was elected as a member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014, with the highest ever winning margin (4,10,051 votes) from the constituency of Jodhpur. One of his major achievements during his tenure as an MP has been the expansion of the Jodhpur Airport, a demand that had continuously been raised during the last 18 years.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: Known for his use of social media, Shekhawat is the most followed Indian politician on Quora. His Quora profile has more than 73,380 followers and his answers on the social media platform have been viewed 6.5 million times. He also served as the Chairperson of the Fellowship Committee, member of the All India Council of Sports (AICS) and member of the Standing Committee on Finance.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: On 3 September 2017 he was appointed Union Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. He defeated Vaibhav Gehlot, the son of Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan from Jodhpur by a margin of 2.74 lakh votes in 2019 Indian general elections. Shekhawat became the Minister of Jal Shakti on 31 May 2019. On 20 August 2020, Shekhawat tested positive for COVID-19.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: Before entering electoral politics, Shekhawat held many positions in many forums and organisations; he was the co-convener of the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, the economic wing of the Sangh Parivar and the General Secretary of Seema Jan Kalyan Samiti, an organisation dedicated to strengthening national security by developing border towns and villages.


title: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

text: . As General Secretary, he was instrumental in building a second line of defense that consisted of civilians residing near the border area of Rajasthan. He was also instrumental in furthering the impact of civil defence by setting up 40 schools and four hostels along the Indo-Pak border.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turkish diaspora ( or "Türk gurbetçiler") refers to ethnic Turkish people who have migrated from, or are the descendants of migrants from, the Republic of Turkey, Northern Cyprus or other modern nation-states that were once part of the former Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the Turkish diaspora is not only formed by people with roots from mainland Anatolia and Eastern Thrace (i.e. the modern Turkish borders); rather, it is also formed of Turkish communities which have also left traditional areas of Turkish settlements in the Balkans (such as Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania etc.), the island of Cyprus, the region of Meskhetia in Georgia, and the Arab world (such as Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria).


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In particular, most mainland Turkish migration has been to Western and Northern Europe. Meanwhile, almost all the Turkish minorities in former Ottoman lands have a large diaspora in Turkey, many having migrated as "muhacirs" (refugees); furthermore, the Cretan Turks have migrated throughout the Levant; Cypriot Turks have a significant diaspora in the English-speaking countries (especially the UK and Australia); the Meskhetian Turks have a large diaspora in Central Asia; and Algerian Turks and Tunisian Turks have mostly settled in France. Since Bulgarian Turks and Romanian Turks gained EU citizenship in 2007, their diasporas in Western Europe significantly increased once restrictions on movement came to a halt in 2012.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: As early as 1997 Professor Servet Bayram and Professor Barbara Seels said that there was 10 million Turks living in Western Europe and the Balkans (i.e. excluding Cyprus and Turkey). By 2010, Boris Kharkovsky from the Center for Ethnic and Political Science Studies said that there was up to 15 million Turks living in the European Union. According to Dr Araks Pashayan 10 million "Euro-Turks" alone were living in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium in 2012. Furthermore, there are significant Turkish communities living in Austria, the UK, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein and the Scandinavian countries. Meanwhile, approximately 400,000 Meskhetian Turks live in the European regions of the Post-Soviet states (i.e. Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine).


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In addition to the modern Turkish diaspora in Europe, there are also traditional Turkish communities in post-Ottoman nation-states. For example, Turkish Cypriots and Turkish settlers living in North Cyprus number around 300,000 to 500,000. In addition, in Southeastern Europe there is over 1 million Turks living in the Balkan countries (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Serbia). Since the 20th century, these ethnic Turkish communities have also migrated to Western Europe and have enlarged the Turkish diaspora significantly (e.g. Algerian Turks have mostly settled in France; Bulgarian Turks have migrated mostly to Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden; Turkish Cypriots have a large population in the UK; Macedonian Turks have migrated mostly to Sweden; Tunisian Turks have migrated mostly to France and Italy; and Western Thrace Turks have mostly migrated to Germany and the Netherlands). More recently, since the "European migrant crisis" (2014–20), Iraqi Turks, Kosovo Turks and Syrian Turks have also settled in areas where there are large Turkish diasporas.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Consequently, within the diaspora, ethnic Turkish people now form the largest minority group in Austria, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turkish-Germans are the largest ethnic minority group in Germany and also the largest Turkish community in the Turkish diaspora.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The German census counts around three million Turks living in Germany. This does not only count those born in Turkey, but also descendants. The majority of ethnic Turks living in Germany have either arrived from or originate from Turkey; however, there are also significant ethnic Turkish communities which have come from (or descend from) other post-Ottoman nation-states in the Balkans (especially from Bulgaria and Greece), as well as from the island of Cyprus, and Lebanon. More recently, since the European migrant crisis (2014–19), there has also been a significant increase in the number of ethnic Turks from Syria, Iraq and Kosovo who have come to Germany.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turks living in France form one of the largest Turkish communities in Western Europe. Official data on the total number of French Turks is not available because the French census only records statistics on the country of birth rather than one's ethnic affiliation.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Although the majority of French Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey, there has also been significant Turkish migration from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to France from North Africa (especially Algeria and Tunisia), the Balkans (e.g. from Bulgaria, Greece, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Romania), the island of Cyprus, and more recently from Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2014 Professor reported in "L'Express" that the Turkish population was around 800,000. However, an earlier academic publication in 2010 by Dr Jean-Gustave Hentz and Dr Michel Hasselmann said that there was already 1 million Turks living in France. Professor İzzet Er, as well as the French-Armenian politician Garo Yalic (who is an advisor to Valerie Boyer), also said that there was 1,000,000 Turks in France in 2011 and 2012 respectively. More recently, the Turkish-French population has been estimated to be more than one million according to French-published articles in "Le Petit Journal" (2019) and "Marianne" (2020).


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turkish-Dutch community form the largest ethnic minority group in the Netherlands. The majority of Dutch Turks descend from the Republic of Turkey; however there has also been significant Turkish migration waves from other post-Ottoman countries including ethnic Turkish communities which have come to the Netherlands from the Balkans (e.g. especially from Bulgaria, Greece, and North Macedonia), the island of Cyprus, and more recently during the European migrant crisis from Syria, Iraq and Kosovo. In addition, there has been migration to the Netherlands from the Turkish diaspora; many Turkish-Belgians and Turkish-Germans have arrived in the country as Belgian and German citizens.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Dutch official census only collects data on country of birth, rather than ethnically; consequently, the total number of ethnic Turkish migrants (regardless of country of birth) nor the third, fourth or fifth generation of the Turkish-Dutch community have been collectively counted. Assistant Professor Suzanne Aalberse, Professor Ad Backus and Professor have said that "over the years" the Dutch-Turkish community "must have numbered half a million". However, there are significantly higher estimates. As early as 2003, the political scientist and international relations expert Dr Nathalie Tocci said that there was already "two million Turks in Holland". Rita van Veen also reported in "Trouw" that there was 2 million Turks in the Netherlands in 2007. More recently, in 2020, a report published in "" estimated that there are more than 2 million Dutch-Turks. "Voetbal International" also reported in 2020 that the Dutch football club Fortuna Sittard will be carrying out annual scouting activities to find "Turkish talent" among the approximately 2 million Turkish-Dutch community.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2009 "The Sophia Echo" reported that Bulgarian Turks were now the fastest-growing group of immigrants in the Netherlands.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turkish community, including descendants, form the largest ethnic minority in Austria. In 2011 a report by the said that there was 360,000 people of Turkish origin living in Austria. This figure has also been echoed by the former Austrian Foreign Minister and Chancellor of Austria Sebastian Kurz. However, the former Austrian MEP, Andreas Mölzer, has claimed that there are 500,000 Turks in the country.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2012 Professor Raymond Taras said that the Belgian-Turkish community was over 200,000. More recently, in 2019 Dr Altay Manço and Dr Ertugrul Taş said that there was 250,000 Belgian residents of Turkish origin.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2011 the Home Affairs Committee stated here was 500,000 British Turks made up of 300,000 Turkish Cypriots, 150,000 Turkish nationals (i.e. people from Turkey), and smaller groups of Bulgarian Turks and Romanian Turks. Despite a lack of statistics on the collective number of Turks who have immigrated from their traditional homelands, it is known that Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and France all have larger Turkish diaspora communities than the UK.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2009 the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs said that there was almost 100,000 people with a Turkish background living in Sweden. More recently, in 2018 the Swedish Consul General, Therese Hyden, said that the population was now around 150,000.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2017 there was over 120,000 Turks living in Switzerland. They mostly live in German-speaking regions, especially in the cantons of Zurich, Aargau and Basel. Figures on naturalization and migration from Turkey has been declining, however, the Swiss population with a Turkish migration background continues to grow.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The Turkish community form the largest ethnic minority in Denmark. In 2008, it was estimated that Danes of Turkish origin numbered 70,000.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2020 there were 50,000 Turkish citizens living in Italy; however, this figure does not include naturalized Italian citizens of Turkish origin or their descendants. Between 2008 and 2020 some 5,295 Turkish citizens acquired Italian citizenship.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In addition to the diaspora, some of the population in Moena has identified as Turkish since the 17th century.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2010 Professor Zeki Kütük said that there was approximately 10,000 people of Turkish origin living in Finland.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2013 data from the Institute of Public Affairs showed that there was 5,000 Turks living in Poland.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2021 data from the National Statistical Institute showed that there were 1,363 Turks legally living in Portugal. In addition, between 2002 and 2020, 270 Turks acquired Portuguese citizenship.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Liechtenstein does not record data on the ethnicity of its citizens; however, in 2009, the Turkish community was estimated to number approximately 1,000 out of a total population of 35,000. Hence, estimates suggest that the Turks form around 3% of Liechtenstein's total population and that they are the fifth largest ethnic group in the country.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 1996 Professor John J. Grabowski estimated that there was 500,000 Turks living in the United States. By 2009, Erdal Şafak said that the Turkish American community was approximately 850,000 to 900,000. More recently, in 2012 the former United States Secretary of Commerce, John Bryson, confirmed at the Center for American Progress that the Turkish American community was now over 1,000,000:


title: Turkish diaspora

text: There are, however, much higher estimates. Non-governmental Turkish organizations in the USA claim that there are at least 3,000,000 people of Turkish origin living in the United States, including Turkish Americans as well as new Turkish migrant workers, students and illegal migrants. Consequently, since the twenty-first century, the Turkish American population is fast approaching the significant number of Turks in Germany because most students, expats, etc. decide to live permanently in the United States.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: According to the 2016 Canadian census, 63,955 people voluntarily declared their ethnicity as "Turkish". However, in 2018, the Canadian Ambassador Chris Cooter said that there was approximately 100,000 Turkish Canadians living in the country, as well as several thousand Turkish students:


title: Turkish diaspora

text: The "Federation of Canadian Turkish Associations" and the "Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham" have also reported that there was over 100,000 Turkish Canadians living in the country.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: According to statistics, there are likely around 27,000 people of Turkish ancestry in Venezuela. This refers to people who are either descendants of immigrants who came from the Ottoman Empire before 1923 or who came from the Republic of Turkey since then. Additionally, Turks who immigrated from countries neighboring Turkey are also counted in this figure. It's likely that most of the Turkish Venezuelans trace their ancestry to immigrants from the Ottoman Empire, who arrived to Venezuela at the same time most of the Arab diaspora in South America had emigrated as well.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: There are 6,300 people of Turkish ancestry currently living in Brazil. According to Brazilian statistics there are 2,347 Turkish-born people living in Brazil as of 2021.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 1994 a report by "The Age" estimated that the Turkish Australian community numbered 150,000. By 2013 Louise Asher, who was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, said that the Turkish Australian community in Melbourne alone had numbered 300,000. More recently, the number of Turkish Australians who originate from Turkey reached 200,000 in 2017; in addition, the Turkish Cypriot-Australian community was estimated to number 120,000 in 2016.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2010 the Turkish-New Zealander population was estimated to number between 2,000 to 3,000; in addition, the Turkish Cypriot-New Zealander population was 1,600 in 2016.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Initially, the first wave of migration occurred in 1830 when many Turks were forced to leave the region once the French took control over Algeria; approximately 10,000 were shipped off to Turkey whilst many others migrated to other regions of the Ottoman Empire, including Palestine, Syria, Arabia, and Egypt. Furthermore, some Turkish/Kouloughli families also settled in Morocco (such as in Tangier and Tétouan).


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In regards to modern migration, there are many Algerian Turks who have emigrated to Europe and, hence, make up part of Algeria's diaspora. For example, there is a noticeable Algerian community of Turkish descent living in England. Many Algerians attend the Suleymaniye Mosque which is owned by the British-Turkish community. There are also thousands of Algerian Turks living in France. Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Spain are also top receiving countries of Algerian citizens.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Most Iraqi Turkmen migrate to Turkey followed by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. There are also Iraqi Turkmen communities living in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: There are many established Iraqi Turkmen diaspora communities, such as the Canadian Iraqi Turkmen Culture Association, based in Canada.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Due to the numerous wars in Lebanon since the 1970s onwards, many Lebanese Turks have sought refuge in Turkey and Europe, particularly in Germany. Indeed, many Lebanese Turks were aware of the large German-Turkish population and saw this as an opportunity to find work once settling in Europe. In particular, the largest wave of Lebanese-Turkish migration occurred once the Israel-Lebanon war of 2006 began. During this period more than 20,000 Turks fled Lebanon, particularly from Beirut, and settled in Germany.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Both during and after the 1947–1949 Palestine war, some members of Palestine's Turkish minority fled the region (particularly the Jezreel Valley region and the Golan Heights) and settled in Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, hundreds of thousands of Syrian Turkmen have been internally displaced and/or forced to leave the country, and most of them have sought refuge in neighbouring states and Western Europe. In particular, approximately 300,000 to 500,000 Syrian Turkmen have taken refuge in the Republic of Turkey. Moreover, there are between 125,000 and 150,000 Syrian Turkmen refugees in Lebanon, which means they outnumber the long-established Turkish minority in Lebanon.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2020 it was reported that 1 million Syrian Turkmen were living in Turkey and demanding that the Turkish government grant them Turkish citizenship.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 2012, it was estimated that around 280,000 Jews living in Israel were from Turkey or of Turkish descent. In Israel, the Arkadaş Association was founded by Turkish Jews to maintain their relationship with Turkey.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: In 1990, it was estimated that around 300,000 to 400,000 Western Thrace Turks had migrated to Turkey since 1923. Moreover, from the 1950s onwards, Turks of Western Thrace began to immigrate to Western Europe alongside other Greek citizens. Whilst many Western Thrace Turks had intended to return to Greece after working for a number of years, a new Greek law was introduced which effectively forced the minority to remain in their host countries. Article 19 of the 1955 Greek Constitution essentially stripped the Western Thrace Turks living abroad (particularly those in Germany and Turkey) of their Greek citizenship.


title: Turkish diaspora

text: This law continued to effect Western Thrace Turks studying in Turkey and Germany in the late 1980s. A report published by the Human Rights Watch in 1990 confirmed that:


title: Turkish diaspora

text: Despite many being stripped of their Greek citizenship since 1955, Western Thrace Turks continued to migrate to Western Europe the 1960s and 1970s because the Thracian tobacco industry was affected by a severe crisis and many tobacco growers lost their income. Between 1970 and 2010, approximately 40,000 Western Thrace Turks arrived in Western Europe, most of which settled in Germany. In addition, between 2010 and 2018, a further 30,000 Western Thrace Turks left for Western Europe due to the Greek government-debt crisis. Thus, in addition to the thousands who migrated in the 1950s and 1960s, 70,000 Western Thrace Turks have migrated to Western Europe between 1970 and 2018. Around 80% of the Western Thracian Turks in Western Europe are living in Germany. The remainder have emigrated to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria and Italy; furthermore, outside of Europe, they have built communities in Australia, Canada and the United States.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene counted some of the greatest men in the realm among its benefactors, including Britain's premier noble the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Buckingham and Lord Chief Justice Christopher Wray. Thomas Audley, Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII, was responsible for the refoundation of the college and also established its motto—"garde ta foy" (Old French: "keep your faith"). Audley's successors in the Mastership and as benefactors of the College were, however, prone to dire ends; several benefactors were arraigned at various stages on charges of high treason and executed.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: The college remains one of the smaller in the University, numbering some 300 undergraduates. It has maintained strong academic performance over the past decade, achieving an average of ninth in the Tompkins Table and coming second in 2015. Magdalene is home to the Pepys Library, which holds a vast collection of rare books and manuscripts belonging to the English diarist Samuel Pepys, an alumnus of the college.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Magdalene College was first founded in 1428 as "Monk's Hostel", which hosted Benedictine student monks. The secluded location of the hostel was chosen because it was separated from the town centre by the River Cam and protected by Cambridge Castle. The main buildings of the college were first constructed in the 1470s under the leadership of John de Wisbech, then Abbot of Crowland. Under the patronage of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, the institution was renamed "Buckingham College".


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: In the 16th century, the Church of England broke away from the Papacy. With the subsequent Dissolution of the Monasteries, the parent abbey of Buckingham College, Crowland Abbey, was dissolved. However, the college remained in operation.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Walden Abbey, one of the Benedictine abbeys associated with Buckingham College, came into the possession of Thomas Audley after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. On 3 April 1542 Audley refounded Buckingham College as the College of Saint Mary Magdalene. Derived from Audley were the arms of Magdalene, including the motto "Garde Ta Foy" (from Old French for "keep your faith"), and the wyvern as the crest.


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: Thomas Audley died in 1544 aged 56, only two years after he re-founded the college. He donated to the college seven acres of property at Aldgate in London, which was his reward from Henry VIII for disposing of Anne Boleyn. This property would have brought enormous income had it been retained by the college. However, under the conspiracy of the Elizabethan banker Benedict Spinola, the property was permanently alienated to the Crown in 1574. The transaction involved Spinola luring the master and fellows of the time to accept an increase in the annual rental from £9 to £15 a year in exchange for the property. The loss of the Aldgate property left the college in extreme poverty, and the street front of the college was only completed in the 1580s under the generosity of Christopher Wray, then Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench. The transaction was "almost certainly illegal", and was contested multiple times without success. The first and most famous such lawsuit was pursued in 1615 by Barnaby Goche, who was master of the college between 1604 and 1626. This court case landed Goche and the senior fellow in prison for two years. Goche was subsequently offered £10,000 as a compromise, which he refused to accept. When the Quayside development site of Magdalene College was completed in 1989, a gargoyle of Spinola which spits water into the Cam was installed as a "revenge at last".


title: Magdalene College, Cambridge

text: In 1650, Samuel Pepys joined the college. He was best known for his private diaries, known to critics as the "Pepys Diary", which provided a major eyewitness account for the Great Fire of London of 1666. Pepys was remembered by the Pepys Library, built around 1700, where the original manuscripts of his diaries and naval records are kept, in addition to his collection of printed books and engravings in their original bookcases. Pepys stipulated in his will that the library was to be left to Magdalene, and have been kept at the college since their donation by Pepys's nephew, John Jackson, in 1724. The building is also home to Magdalene College library.