Etymology.

"Kyrgyz" is believed to have been derived from the Turkic word for "forty", about the forty clans of Manas, a legendary hero who united forty regional clans against the Uyghurs. Literally, Kyrgyz means "We are forty". At the time, in the early 9th century AD, the Uyghurs dominated much of Central Asia (including Kyrgyzstan), Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China. "-stan" is a word in

History.

Antiquity.

According to David C. King, Scythians were early settlers in present-day Kyrgyzstan.  The Kyrgyz state reached its greatest expansion after defeating the Uyghur Khaganate in 840 AD. From the 10th century the Kyrgyz migrated as far as the Tian Shan range and maintained their dominance over this territory for about 200 years.  In the 12th century the Kyrgyz dominion had shrunk to the

Russian colonial era.

In the late nineteenth century, the eastern part of what is today Kyrgyzstan, mainly the Issyk-Kul Region, was ceded to the Russian Empire by Qing China through the Treaty of Tarbagatai. The territory, then known in Russian as "Kirghizia", was formally incorporated into the Empire in 1876. The Russian takeover was met with numerous revolts, and many of the Kyrgyz

Soviet Kyrgyzstan.

Soviet power was initially established in the region in 1919, and the Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was created within the Russian SFSR (the phrase Kara-Kirghiz was used until the mid-1920s by the Russians to distinguish them from the Kazakhs, who were also referred to as Kirghiz). On 5 December 1936, the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic was established as a constituent Union Republic of the Soviet Union.  During the 1920s, Kyrgyzstan developed considerably in cultural, educational and social life. Literacy was greatly improved, and a

Independence.

In October 1991, Akayev ran unopposed and was elected president of the new independent Republic by direct ballot, receiving 95 percent of the votes cast. Together with the representatives of seven other Republics that same month, he signed the Treaty of the New Economic Community. Finally, on 21 December 1991, Kyrgyzstan joined with the other four Central Asian Republics to formally enter the new Commonwealth of Independent States. Kyrgyzstan gained full independence a few days later on 25 December 1991. The following day, on 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. In 1992, Kyrgyzstan joined the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). On 5 May 1993, the official name changed from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the Kyrgyz Republic.  In 2005, a popular uprising known as the "Tulip Revolution", took place after the parliamentary elections in March 2005, forced President Askar Akayev's resignation on 4 April 2005. Opposition leaders formed a coalition, and a new government was formed under President Kurmanbek Bakiyev and Prime Minister Feliks Kulov. The nation's capital was looted during the protests.  Political stability appeared to be elusive, however, as various groups and factions allegedly linked to organized crime jockeyed for power. Three of the 75 members of Parliament elected in March 2005 were assassinated, and another member was assassinated on

Geography.

Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia, bordering Kazakhstan, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It lies between latitudes 39° and 44° N, and longitudes 69° and 81° E. It is farther from the sea than any other individual country, and all its rivers flow into closed drainage systems which do not reach the sea. The mountainous region of the Tian Shan covers over 80% of the country (Kyrgyzstan is occasionally referred to as "the Switzerland of Central Asia", as a result), with the remainder made up of valleys and basins. Issyk-Kul Lake, or Ysyk-Köl in Kyrgyz, in the north-eastern Tian Shan is the largest lake in Kyrgyzstan and the second largest mountain lake in the world after Titicaca. The highest peaks are in the Kakshaal-Too range, forming the Chinese border. Peak Jengish Chokusu, at, is the highest point and is considered by geologists to be the northernmost peak over in the world. Heavy snowfall in winter leads to spring floods which often cause serious damage downstream. The runoff from the mountains is also used for hydro-electricity.  Kyrgyzstan has significant deposits of metals including gold and rare-earth metals. Due to the country's predominantly mountainous terrain, less than 8% of the land is cultivated, and this is concentrated in the northern lowlands and the fringes of the Fergana Valley.  Bishkek in the north is the capital and largest city, with 937,400 inhabitants (). The second city is the ancient town of Osh, located in the Fergana Valley near the border with Uzbekistan. The principal river is the Kara Darya, which flows west through the Fergana Valley into Uzbekistan. Across the border in Uzbekistan it meets another major Kyrgyz river, the Naryn.  The confluence forms the Syr Darya, which originally flowed into the Aral Sea., it no longer reaches the sea, as its water is withdrawn upstream to irrigate cotton fields in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and southern Kazakhstan. The Chu River also briefly flows through Kyrgyzstan before entering Kazakhstan.

Climate.

The climate varies regionally. The low-lying Fergana Valley in the southwest is subtropical and extremely hot in summer, with temperatures reaching The northern foothills are temperate and the Tian Shan varies

Enclaves and exclaves.

There is one exclave, the tiny village of Barak (population 627), in the Fergana Valley. The village is surrounded by Uzbek territory. It is located on the road from Osh (Kyrgyzstan) to Khodjaabad (Uzbekistan) about north-west from the Kyrgyz–Uzbek border in the direction of Andijan. Barak is administratively part of Kara-Suu District in Kyrgyzstan's Osh Region.  There are four Uzbek enclaves within Kyrgyzstan. Two of them are the towns of Sokh (area and a population of 42,800 in 1993, although some estimates go as high as 70,000;

Politics.

Political system.

The 1993 constitution defines the form of government as a democratic unicameral republic. The executive branch includes a president and prime minister. The parliament currently is unicameral. The judicial branch comprises a Supreme Court, local courts and a Chief Prosecutor.  In March 2002, in the southern district of Aksy, five people protesting the arbitrary arrest of an opposition politician were shot dead by police, sparking nationwide protests. President Askar Akayev initiated a constitutional reform process which initially included the participation of a broad range of government, civil and social representatives in an open dialogue, leading to a February 2003 referendum marred by voting irregularities.  The amendments to the constitution approved by the referendum resulted

Human rights.

In a move that alarmed human-rights groups, dozens of prominent Uzbek religious and community leaders were arrested by security forces following the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan riots, including journalist and human-rights activist Azimzhan Askarov. A law banning women under the age of 23 from traveling abroad without a parent or guardian, with the purpose of

Military.

The armed forces of Kyrgyzstan were formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union and consist of the Land Forces, Air Forces, internal troops, National Guard, and the border guard. The military works with the US Armed Forces, which leased a facility named the Transit Center at Manas at Manas International Airport near Bishkek until June 2014.

Administrative divisions.

Kyrgyzstan is divided into seven regions (, ;, ). The regions are subdivided into 44 districts (, ;, ). The districts are further subdivided into rural districts at the lowest level of administration, which include all rural

Economy.

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic serves as the central bank of Kyrgyzstan.  Kyrgyzstan was the ninth poorest country in the former Soviet Union, and is today the second poorest country in Central Asia after Tajikistan. 22.4% of the country's population lives below the poverty line.  Despite the backing of major Western lenders, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Kyrgyzstan has had economic difficulties following independence. Initially, these were a result of the breakup of the Soviet trade bloc and resulting loss of markets, which impeded the republic's transition to a demand economy.  The government has reduced expenditures, ended most price subsidies and introduced a value-added tax. Overall, the government appears committed to the transition to a market economy. Through economic stabilization and reform, the government seeks to establish a pattern of long-term consistent growth. Reforms led to Kyrgyzstan's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on 20 December 1998.  The Kyrgyz economy was severely affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting loss of its vast market. In 1990, some 98% of Kyrgyz exports went to other parts of the Soviet Union. Thus, the nation's economic performance in the early 1990s was worse than any other former Soviet republic except war-torn Armenia, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan, as factories and state farms collapsed with the disappearance of their traditional markets in the former Soviet Union. While economic performance has improved considerably in the last few years, and particularly since 1998, difficulties remain in securing adequate fiscal revenues and providing an adequate social safety net. Remittances of around 800,000 Kyrgyz migrants working in Russia represent 40% of Kyrgyzstan's GDP.  Agriculture is an important sector of the economy in Kyrgyzstan (see agriculture in Kyrgyzstan). By the early 1990s, the private agricultural sector provided between one-third and one-half of some harvests. In 2002, agriculture accounted for 35.6% of GDP and about half of employment. Kyrgyzstan's terrain is mountainous, which accommodates livestock raising, the largest agricultural activity, so the resulting wool, meat and dairy products are major commodities. Main crops include wheat, sugar beets, potatoes, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, and fruit. As the prices of imported agrichemicals and petroleum are so high, much farming is being done by hand and by horse, as it was generations ago. Agricultural processing is a key component of the industrial economy as well as one of the most attractive sectors for foreign investment.  Kyrgyzstan is rich in mineral resources but has negligible petroleum and natural gas reserves; it imports petroleum and gas. Among its mineral reserves are substantial deposits of coal, gold, uranium, antimony, and other valuable metals. Metallurgy is an important industry, and the government hopes to attract foreign investment in this field. The government has actively encouraged foreign involvement in extracting and processing gold from the Kumtor Gold Mine and other regions. The country's plentiful water resources and mountainous terrain enable it to produce and export large quantities of hydroelectric energy.  The principal exports are nonferrous metals and minerals, woollen goods and other agricultural products, electric energy and certain engineering goods. Imports include petroleum and natural gas, ferrous metals, chemicals, most machinery, wood and paper products, some foods and some construction materials. Its leading trade partners include Germany, Russia, China, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. After Beijing launched the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, China has expanded its economic presence and initiated a number of sizable infrastructure projects in Kyrgyzstan.  In regards to telecommunication infrastructure, Kyrgyz Republic ranks last in Central Asia in the World Economic Forum's Network Readiness Index (NRI) – an indicator for determining the development level of a country's information and communication technologies. Kyrgyz Republic ranked number 118 overall in the 2014 NRI ranking, unchanged from 2013 (see Networked Readiness Index).  Kyrgyzstan is ranked 78th among countries for economic freedom by the Heritage Institute.

Demographics.

Kyrgyzstan's population is estimated at 6,389,500 in 2019. Of those, 34.4% are under the age of 15 and 6.2% are over 65. The country is rural: only about one-third of the population live in urban areas. The average population density is 25 people per km2.

Ethnic groups.

The nation's largest ethnic group are the Kyrgyz, a Turkic people, who comprise 73.3% of the population. Other ethnic groups include Russians (5.6%) concentrated in the north and Uzbeks (14.6%) living in the south. Small but noticeable minorities include Dungans (1.1%), Uyghurs (1.1%), Tajiks (1.1%), Kazakhs (0.7%), and Ukrainians (0.5%) and other smaller ethnic minorities (1.7%). The country has over 80 ethnic groups.  The Kyrgyz have historically been semi-nomadic herders, living in round tents

Languages.

Kyrgyzstan is one of two former Soviet republics in Central Asia to have Russian as an official language, Kazakhstan being the other. The Kyrgyz language was adopted as the official language in 1991. After pressure from the Russian minority in the country, Kyrgyzstan adopted Russian as an official language as well in 1997, to become an officially bilingual country.  Kyrgyz is a Turkic language of the Kipchak branch, closely related to Kazakh, Karakalpak, and Nogay Tatar. It was written in the

Religion.

Islam is the dominant religion of Kyrgyzstan. The CIA World Factbook estimates that as of 2017, 90% of the population is Muslim, with the majority being Sunni; 7% are Christian, including 3% Russian Orthodoxy, and the remainder are other religions. A 2009 Pew Research Center report indicated 86.3% of Kyrgyzstan's population adhering to Islam. The great majority of Muslims are Sunni, adhering to the Hanafi school of thought, although a 2012 Pew survey report showed that only 23% of respondents to a questionnaire chose to identify themselves as Sunni,

Culture.

Traditions.

Illegal, but still practiced, is the tradition of bride kidnapping. It is debatable whether bride kidnapping is actually traditional. Some

Flag.

The 40-rayed yellow sun in the center of the flag represent the 40 tribes that once made up the entirety of Kyrgyz culture before the intervention of Russia during the rise of the Soviet Union. The lines inside the sun

Public holidays.

In addition to celebrating the New Year each 1 January, the Kyrgyz observe the traditional New Year festival Nowruz on the vernal equinox. This spring holiday

Sports.

Football is the most popular sport in Kyrgyzstan. The official governing body is the Football Federation of Kyrgyz Republic, which was founded in 1992, after the split of the Soviet Union. It administers the Kyrgyzstan national football team.  Wrestling is also very popular. In the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, two athletes from Kyrgyzstan won medals in Greco-Roman wrestling: Kanatbek Begaliev (silver) and Ruslan Tyumenbayev (bronze).  Ice hockey was not as popular in Kyrgyzstan until the first Ice Hockey Championship was organized in 2009. In 2011, the Kyrgyzstan men's national ice hockey team won 2011 Asian Winter Games Premier Division dominating in all six games with six wins. It was the first major international event that Kyrgyzstan's ice

Horse riding.

The traditional national sports reflect the importance of horse riding in Kyrgyz culture.  Very popular, as in all of Central Asia, is "Ulak Tartysh", a team game resembling a cross between polo

Education.

The school system in Kyrgyzstan includes primary (grades 1 to 4, some schools have optional 0 grade), secondary (grades 5 to 9) and high (grades 10 to 11) divisions within one school. Children are usually accepted to primary schools at the age of 6 or 7. It is required that every child finishes 9 grades of school and receives a certificate of completion.

Transport.

Transport in Kyrgyzstan is severely constrained by the country's alpine topography. Roads have to snake up steep valleys, cross passes of altitude and more, and are subject to frequent mudslides and snow avalanches. Winter travel is close to impossible in many of the more remote and high-altitude regions.  Additional problems come from the fact that many roads and railway lines built during the Soviet period are today intersected by international boundaries, requiring time-consuming border formalities to cross where they are not completely closed. Horses are still a much-used transport option, especially in more rural areas; Kyrgyzstan's road infrastructure is not extensive, so horses are able to reach locations that motor vehicles cannot, and they do not require expensive, imported fuel.

Airports.

At the end of the Soviet period there were about 50 airports and airstrips in Kyrgyzstan, many of them built primarily to

Banned airline status.

Kyrgyzstan appears on the European Union's list of prohibited countries for the certification of airlines. This means that no airline which is registered in Kyrgyzstan may operate services

Railways.

The Chuy Valley in the north and the Ferghana valley in the south were endpoints of the Soviet Union's rail system in Central Asia. Following the emergence of independent post-Soviet states, the rail lines which were built without regard for administrative boundaries have been cut by borders, and traffic is

Highways.

With support from the Asian Development Bank, a major road linking the north and southwest from Bishkek to Osh has recently been completed. This considerably eases communication between the two major population

Ports and harbours.

Balykchy (Ysyk-Kol or

Kyrgyzstan ( ;, "Qırğızstan", ), officially the Kyrgyz Republic (; ) and also known as Kirghizia (, ), is a country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west and southwest, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east. Its capital and largest city is Bishkek.

吉尔吉斯共和国(;),通称吉尔吉斯斯坦(;),是一个位于中亚的内陆国家。吉尔吉斯斯坦北边与哈萨克斯坦斯坦相接,西边则为乌兹别克斯坦斯坦,西南为塔吉克斯坦斯坦,东边紧邻中国。比什凯克是吉尔吉斯斯坦的首都和最大城市。


Location.

The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is located at the Moabit district, at the Mitte constituency. In the north is the Europaplatz and Invalidenstraße whereas in the south it leads to Washingtonplatz and the Spree. South of the Hauptbahnhof, it connects to the Spreebogenpark, together with Bundeskanzleramt and Paul-Löbe-Haus. In the east, it leads to the Mitte district, while it also extends to the Humboldthafen.

Function.

The Berlin Hauptbahnhof is part of the mushroom concept that was being made in Berlin, in which the station forms as a connecting point for converging and intersecting lines, of different modes of public transport there.  The station's length is 430 metres, whereas some of the platforms are 80 metres.  Structurally, the entire station complex is a tower station, operationally it is a crossing station similar to all central stations. The complex consists of several independent operating points:

Construction and techniques.

Building.

The station building has two main levels, for suburban traffic as well as three connecting and business levels. Compared to Raffles Place MRT station and Taipei main station, it is one of the most densely packed stations. The upper track consists of six tracks on four bridge structures. The two outside lanes are single track and four others inside are double track. In between, the three platforms at the height of ten metres are arranged. On the lower track level are four platforms of which eight tracks along the north south line, at a depth of 15 metres. This is followed by the eastern end of another platform with two tracks for U55, similar to the Timothy station on the Frankfurt U-Bahn. To the east of the underground station, a similar double track platform is also being built as part of the S21 project.  The bridges in the city level not only spans the station area, but also the adjacenet Humboldthafen and are placed within 680 metres long. According to the lines of the light rail, they are curved in plan and widen due to the broadening of four to six tracks and the additional platforms from 39 to 66 meters wide. The Humboldthafen Bridge spans the Humboldthafen with a span of 60 meters. It consists of a bow with steel tubes and pre-stressed concrete beam as upper flange.  The upper platform hall, which runs east-west, is 321 metres long and consists of the arched, column-free, glass roof structure, which is supported by the two outer railway overpass structures. In the glass surface, a 2700 square meter photovoltaic system with a capacity of 330 kilowatts was integrated. The hall is between 46 and 66 meters wide and a maximum of 16 meters high. It consists of three sections, with the western segment 172 meters and the eastern 107 meters long. In between lies the 50 meters wide and 180 meters long north-south roof, whose barrel vaults with the main roof form a flat viaduct. Parallel to the north-south roof, the two "ironing structures" span the main roof of the platform hall and carry the north-south roof. These ironing structures contain 42,000 square meters of office space.  On the northeastern part of the two diagonally opposite station terraces, the sculpture of Rolling Horse, erected in 2007 by Jürgen Goertz, artificially complements the building and is reminiscent to Lehrter Bahnhof and Lehrter Stadtbahnhof. There are integrated artificial elements, which can be viewed through four portholes.  From the southwestern terrace, it rises the disguised chimney located underneath the Tunnel Tiergarten Spreebogen.  During Cyclone Kyrill, on January 18, 2007, the 8.4 metre long, 1.35 ton horizontal strut 40 metres high, crashed from the lattice-like exterior onto a staircase, onto the southwestern part of the building, another strut was torn from the anchorage. These decorative elements had only been hung up and should only hold their own weight. As a remedy, small sheets were placed above the carrier to prevent further carrier dissolution.

History.

Lehrter Bahnhof from 1871 to 1958.

Between 1868 and 1871, a 239 kilometre railway was built between Hannover and Berlin via Lehrte by the Magdeburg Halberstädter railway company. Lehrter Bahnhof was constructed as the Berlin terminus. It was adjacent to Hamburger Bahnhof, just outside what was then Berlin's boundary at the Humbolthafen port on the river Spree. Its architects were Alfred Lent, Bertold Scholz, and Gottlieb Henri Lapierre.  In contrast to earlier railway stations, built with brick façades, and in keeping with then-current trends, Lehrter Bahnhof was designed in the French Neo-Renaissance style. Its originally planned stone façade was replaced with glazed tiles to save money. With its magnificent architecture, the station was known as a "palace among stations".  The train shed was 188 metres long and 38 metres wide. Its roof was a long barrel vault with steel supports. As was common for the period, the station was divided into an arrival side on the west, and a departure side on the east. Originally there were five tracks, four of which ended at the side and the central platform; the fifth track had no platform and served as a turnaround for the locomotives. At the turn of the century this track was removed to accommodate the widening of the central platform.  Although the front of the building was ornate and had a grand entrance, most passengers entered and left via the east side, where horse-drawn carriages were able to stop.  In 1882 the metropolitan railway, predecessor of the S-Bahn, began service along two of the Stadtbahn tracks; long-distance traffic commenced in 1884 along the other two. With the expansion of Lehrter Bahnhof, it was able to take over the functions of Hamburger Bahnhof. A 300 m connector line was built; on 14 October 1884, traffic towards Hamburg, northeast Germany, and Scandinavia was diverted to Lehrter Bahnhof, and Hamburger Bahnhof closed.  In 1886, the Berlin-Lehrte railway, and with it Lehrter Bahnhof, was nationalized and subsequently came under the control of the Prussian State Railways.  Even in its early years, the line was known as one of the country's fastest: in 1872, express trains could attain a speed of. 19 December 1932 marked the maiden voyage of the famous diesel-powered Fliegender Hamburger (Flying Hamburger), which whisked passengers to Hamburg at.  In the Second World War the station was severely damaged. After the war, the shell was repaired such that it could be used temporarily. However, the postwar division of Germany spelled the end for most of West Berlin's mainline stations. On 28 August 1951 the final train departed from Lehrter Bahnhof, heading for the Wustermark and Nauen. On 9 July 1957 demolition began, and on 22 April 1958 the main entrance was blown up. The biggest challenge in the demolition of the station was to preserve the viaducts of the Stadtbahn, which ran directly overhead. Work was completed in the summer of 1959.

Lehrter Stadtbahnhof from 1882 to 2002.

On 15 May 1882, Lehrter Stadtbahnhof opened, situated on the Stadtbahn viaduct at the northern end of Lehrter Bahnhof concourse. This four-track station on the Stadtbahn was used mainly by suburban trains. The main purpose of the Stadtbahn was to connect central areas of Berlin with the Lehrter Bahnhof, the Schlesischer Bahnhof termini with nearby Charlottenburg, then still a separate city. It was also providing an east–west railway connection across the centre of Berlin.  Because of steadily increasing traffic to Lehrter Stadtbahnhof and its location on a bridge crossing the north end of Lehrter Bahnhof, elaborate changes were made to the track structure in 1912 and again in 1929. On 1 December 1930, the newly electrified suburban trains were given the designation S-Bahn, making the Lehrter Stadtbahnhof an S-Bahnhof.  During the War, in April 1943 the station was bombed by the Polish sabotage and diversionary squad "Zagra-lin".  The Stadtbahnhof survived WWII intact, but came to lose its pre-war significance due to the division of Berlin; with Lehrter Bahnhof closed, the Stadtbahnhof served only a relatively underpopulated area near the border with East Berlin. It was the final stop in West Berlin; the next station, Berlin Friedrichstraße, was in the Soviet zone, although it served as a stop on the West Berlin S- and U-Bahn systems; these parts of the station were sealed off and inaccessible to East Berliners. The S-Bahn, like the mainlines leading to West Berlin, was run by the East German railway, the Deutsche Reichsbahn. The 1961 construction of the Berlin Wall further isolated the station, and led to a boycott of the S-Bahn in West Berlin that lasted until the 1980s, when operation of the West Berlin S-Bahn lines was transferred to the West Berlin transit authority, the BVG.  Berlin’s 750th-anniversary celebration in 1987 saw the station, now under West Berlin control, renovated at a cost of about DM 10 million. Because it had largely been preserved in its original condition, it became a listed building.  However, in 2002, Lehrter Stadtbahnhof was demolished to make way for the new central station, despite its listed status. The argument was that Bellevue and Hackescher Markt stations were architecturally similar. Hackescher Markt, in former East Berlin, had been restored in 1994–1996, after German reunification.

Planning the new station.

Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, city planners began work on a transport plan for reunified Berlin. One element of this became the "Pilzkonzept" (mushroom concept), in which a new north-south railway line intersecting the Stadtbahn was to be constructed. The name derived from the shape formed by the new line and existing lines, which vaguely resembles a mushroom.  In June 1992 the federal government decided that the new station should be built on the site of Lehrter Bahnhof. While close to the centre of Berlin and government buildings, the area was still not heavily populated. The following year, a design competition for the project was held, which was won by the Hamburg architecture firm Gerkan, Marg and Partners.  The design called for five levels. The highest level, on a bridge 10 metres above street level, was to have platforms for both long-distance and S-Bahn trains on the existing Stadbahn. The lowest level, 15 metres underground, was to have platforms served by new tunnels to Potsdamer Platz under the Spree and the Tiergarten, forming a new north-south line running to the northern part of the S-Bahn ring around central Berlin. Platforms for the planned extension to U-Bahn line 5 were also included.  The planning approval for the station and the north-south connection was made on 12 September 1995. In 1997, a financing agreement was signed between Perleberger Straße and Spreebogen, between the federal government and the railway in the total amount of 700 million euros. The federal share amounted to half a billion of euros. Any additional cost increases should be broken down according to a defined key.  New York-based Tishman Speyer Properties was commissioned by Bahn AG to develop the station. Execution planning and construction supervision were carried out by the Stuttgart engineering consultants Schlaich, Bergermann and Partner.  The Hauptbahnhof was planned to have platforms for the cancelled Transrapid maglev train, which is at platform 8. Later on, it was replaced by normal railway tracks.

Building the new station.

The building work took place in several stages. In 1995 the construction of the Tiergarten tunnels began, and this work was finished in 2005 with the completion of the last station tunnel. The tunnels provide four tubes for long-distance and regional services and two tubes in a separate alignment for the U-Bahn, in addition to a road tunnel ventilated by a tower completed in 2004. During its construction, the course of the Spree had to be diverted (1996–1998). Water leaks in the tunnels caused over one year's delay to the construction work.  In 1998, the construction of the station proper began. About 1.5 million cubic meters of material were excavated for the pits, which are 90,000 square meters in total and about 20 meters deep. In their place, 227,000 cubic meters of concrete and 13,000 tons of steel reinforcement were installed. With 27-meter-long buoyancy anchors (a total of 250 kilometers) and 180 kilometers of inclined anchors, the foundation was anchored against the buoyant pressure of groundwater (200 kilonewtons per square meter).  On September 9, 1998, the foundation stone was laid symbolically by Federal Minister of Transport Wissmann, railway director Ludewig and Berlin's governing mayor Eberhard Diepgen in the then 17 -meter-deep excavation pit. The commissioning date was in 2003. Construction costs were estimated at 800 million DM (409 million euros). Every year, 50 million passengers on long-distance and 86 million regional passengers should use the station.  After groundwater had penetrated into the pit of the excavation pit as a result of a leak, the completion date was postponed in the spring of 1999. The incident necessitated a far-reaching change in the safety concept during the construction phase, in order to prevent the groundwater lying about three meters below the ground. Under the new schedule, the station should be finished in 2003 in the shell, 2004, a trial operation begin. In the middle of 2001, commissioning for 2006 was expected.  Construction of the bridges for the new S-Bahn route began in 2001. These needed to span not only the entire length of the station, but also the adjacent Humboldthafen port, and are long. Because of the alignment of the S-Bahn they are curved, and each pair of tracks has a separate bridge. Bridges of this type had never been built before, and represented a special challenge for the Egyptian engineer Hani Azer, the chief construction engineer since 2001.  The main station hall is spanned by a similarly curved glass roof with a surface area of about by, which was installed in February 2002. A photovoltaic system was integrated into the glass surface. The steel and glass construction was a difficult task for the engineers, particularly as the glass roofs were shortened by approximately 100 metres to speed up construction.  Over the first weekend of July 2002 the bridges and main station hall were brought into service so that traffic could be diverted onto the new alignment. The old Lehrter Stadtbahnhof S-Bahn station was closed and rapidly demolished to make way for further new building. On 9 September 2002 the station was renamed "Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Lehrter Bahnhof".  The main concourse, supported by two towers, provides roughly of commercial space. Construction of the towers began in 2005. On two separate weekends, 29 July and 13 August 2005, structural frames were installed, supporting the structure above the east-west tracks. This was built using a new technique: the frames, each weighing 1250 t, were lowered by steel cables at a rate of per hour; the remaining gap between the bow frames upon completion of the lowering process was subsequently closed.  During summer 2003 a survey commissioned by Peter Strieder, Berlin's Senator for City Development and Traffic, and Deutsche Bahn director Hartmut Mehdorn was conducted among Berlin residents with the intention of selecting a name for the station. Of the three possibilities listed on the survey, the majority of participants opted for Lehrter Bahnhof; nevertheless, the station remained "Berlin Hauptbahnhof – Lehrter Bahnhof", an option that was not listed. It was decided early in 2005 that the station would be renamed "Berlin Hauptbahnhof" on the date of its opening, 28 May 2006, to avoid confusing rail passengers. On the same day, Berlin Papestraße station, which was rebuilt as the city's second-largest station, opened officially under its new name, Berlin Südkreuz (South Cross), similar to the existing Ostkreuz and Westkreuz stations. It is also on the new north-south route. Although it was intended to open a further station as Berlin-Nordkreuz (North Cross), the name Berlin-Gesundbrunnen was retained for what became Berlin's fourth biggest railway station for commuter and long distance trains, located in a more northern part of Berlin, where the circle and north-south-line of the S-Bahn cross each other.  In 2005 the bridging segments, which cross over the roof of the station, were lowered. This was the first time, this unique method to build later office rooms was applied.  The architect Meinhard von Gerkan filed a complaint against Deutsche Bahn in October 2005 after Deutsche Bahn altered the station construction timeline without proper authority. The complaint was upheld in late 2006. There may therefore be further construction on the station in the future.  In addition, Deutsche Bahn decided to implement a slightly different version of the "Pilzkonzept" by running intercity trains through the new Tiergarten tunnels rather than via the Stadtbahn. This move was unpopular for its effect on Berlin's two previous main stations; Bahnhof Berlin Zoologischer Garten (Zoo Station) was downgraded to a regional railway station, and the number of main line services to Berlin Ostbahnhof (East Station) was drastically reduced.

Opening ceremony.

On 26 May 2006, the station was ceremonially opened by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who arrived together with transport minister Wolfgang Tiefensee in a specially chartered InterCityExpress from Leipzig. A "Symphony of Light" was performed immediately following the dedication. Reamonn and BAP performed at the station, and there were also events at the other new stations: Gesundbrunnen, Potsdamer Platz and Südkreuz. Berlin Hauptbahnhof officially went into operation on 28 May 2006.  The opening ceremony was marred by an attack by a drunken 16-year-old wielding a knife, who stabbed members of the public leaving the ceremony. Forty-one people were wounded, six seriously, before the youth was arrested. According to police, the youth says he cannot remember his act of violence and is still denying it. One of the first stabbing victims was HIV-positive, leading to worries that other victims may have been infected, although this did not prove to be the case. The youth was charged with attempted murder, and was sentenced to seven years in prison for attempted manslaughter in 33 cases in 2007.

Since opening.

On 18 January 2007, two steel beams of the south-west façade were torn loose during European windstorm Kyrill. One of them, an 8.4 metre long beam weighing 1.35 tonnes, dropped 40 metres onto a staircase below, and the other impacted and damaged a third beam. The station had suffered some flooding and had been evacuated due to the complete cancellation of train service in Germany. Consequently, nobody was injured and the station was cleared for reopening the following day. The beams had not been welded or bolted in place but laid down like shelves in a bookcase. In the next days extra lugs were welded to the remaining beams to secure them in place and the station declared stormproof on 23 January.  The U55 (Berlin U-Bahn) opened in August 2009, connecting the Hauptbahnhof with the Brandenburger Tor station.  The rail link to current Berlin Schönefeld Airport is to be reorganized for its replacement with the new Berlin Brandenburg Airport. The airport express line will maintain a travel time of 30 minutes.  The rail bridge construction leading into the upper level of the station forms a curve, and some of the screws holding it in place loosened. This required a €25 million reconstruction which involved the closure of the upper level rail tracks during a 3-month period in summer 2015.

Operational usage.

The upper level of the station has six tracks (two of which used for the Berlin S-Bahn) served by three island platforms. The lower level has eight tracks served by four island platforms for main-line trains, plus a further island platform for the Berlin U-Bahn. The lower level is often denoted by 'tief' on travel guides, etc. (thus the calling point may be "Berlin Hbf (tief)"). There is no rail connection between the upper and lower level track in the station area (or anywhere else nearby). 1,800 trains call at the station per day and the daily number of passengers is estimated to be at 350,000. , the station is used by InterCityExpress, Intercity, Interregioexpress, RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and S-Bahn trains. The station also hosts several international trains, and the most distant cities reached are Novosibirsk (Russia) and Nur-Sultan (Kazakhstan), with an express named ""Sibirjak"". The upper part of the station, with the east-west tracks, is part of the Berlin Stadtbahn, with trains leading to locations like Hanover or Cologne. The subterranean station, which lies in the north-south Tiergarten tunnel, offers long distance services to Hamburg, Leipzig or Munich.

S-Bahn.

For the north-south connection is in the course of S21 S-platform in the tunnel level initially in a northerly direction with the Ringbahn, later of a continuation as a tunnel section with the Potsdamer Platz are connected. The construction of the northern section began in January 2010 and was initially scheduled to be completed by 2015. The realization of the southern section is after completion of the construction work on the extension of U5 expected to begin of 2019.

U-Bahn.

The U-Bahn platforms are presently served only by the U55, which is not connected to the rest of the U-Bahn network. It was opened on 8 August 2009. This line is operated as a single-track shuttle, and only one of the two platform tracks is currently used. The other is behind a metal fence, mounted in the ground. Construction of a connection to line U5 commenced in April 2010 and is expected to be completed in 2020. In the long term it is planned to extend the U5 from the main station towards the west to Turmstraße and Jungfernheide. Due to lack of funds from the state of Berlin, the northwestern continuation is not expected in the near future.  The underground station is in the second level of the main station, and east of the deep north-south train platforms (tracks 1-8). It has a central platform, which is covered with granite. To exit the platform are three stairs, an escalator and a lift. In addition, the Underground Station is equipped with tactile paving for accessibility.  The platform hall has a length of 140 metres, 11 metres in height and 19 metres in width, the wall cladding consists of enamel plates which are decorated with photographs of the former Berlin head stations. Furthermore, colored lighting illuminates the ceiling space above the platform.  Since it is the terminus of the to-be-extended U5, a short two-pronged branch railway was built to the north. One of the two sweeping track is located at a lockable manhole, through which the U-Bahn carriages can be replaced if necessary with a crane. This currently represents the only way to install U-Bahn carriages in the tunnel, because the line U55 does not yet connect with the rest of the U-Bahn network.  Zoning for an underground line under the Invalidenstraße (U11) is provided for at the station, however this is only likely to be constructed in the far future.

Tram.

In 2009, the plan approval process was to build a tram line extension track that on the Invalidenstraße the station to Berlin soll. In December 2010, had the Administrative Court two complaints from residents and BUND against the planned in connection with the tram extension two lanes - two-lane upgrading the road to traffic from and realized the construction project to be implemented as a was the official start of construction in the spring. 2011. On 14 December 2014, the line M5 was extended from S Hackescher Markt to Hauptbahnhof.  On 29 August 2015 the tram lines M8 and M10 were also extended from S Nordbahnhof to Hauptbahnhof.

Train services.

The station is served by the following service(s):

Berlin Hauptbahnhof () (English: Berlin Central Station) is the main railway station in Berlin, Germany. It came into full operation two days after a ceremonial opening on 26 May 2006. It is located on the site of the historic Lehrter Bahnhof, and on the Berlin S-Bahn suburban railway. The station is operated by DB Station&Service, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG, and is classified as a Category 1 station, one of 21 in Germany and four in Berlin, the others being Berlin Gesundbrunnen, Berlin Südkreuz and Berlin Ostbahnhof.

柏林火车总站(),又译为柏林中央车站,是德国首都柏林最重要的、以及欧洲最大的高架车站。凭借着日均约30万人次的旅客到发量,它也是德国运量第四大车站,仅次于汉堡火车总站、慕尼黑火车总站与法兰克福火车总站。在车站所处的以北区域中,曾建有自1868年至1951年间营运的,以及自1882年至2002年营运的。


Overview.

Under the Constitution of Ireland, the Taoiseach is nominated by a simple majority of the voting members of Dáil Éireann. They are then formally appointed to office by the President, who is required to appoint whomever the Dáil designates, without the option of declining to make the appointment. For this reason, the Taoiseach may, informally, be said to have been "elected" by Dáil Éireann.  If the Taoiseach loses the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann, they are not automatically removed from office. Instead, they are compelled "either" to resign "or" to persuade the President to dissolve the Dáil. If the President refuses to grant a dissolution, this effectively forces the Taoiseach to resign. To date, no president has exercised this prerogative, although the option arose in 1944 and 1994, and twice in 1982. The Taoiseach may lose the support of Dáil Éireann by the passage of a vote of no confidence, or implicitly, through the failure of a vote of confidence. Alternatively, the Dáil may refuse supply. In the event of the Taoiseach's resignation, they continues to exercise the duties and functions of office until the appointment of a successor.  The Taoiseach nominates the remaining members of the Government, who are then, with the consent of the Dáil, appointed by the President. The Taoiseach is authorised to advise the President to dismiss cabinet ministers from office; by convention the President follows this advice. The Taoiseach is further responsible for appointing eleven members of the Seanad.  The Department of the Taoiseach is the government department which supports and advises the Taoiseach in carrying out his/her various duties.

Salary.

Since 2013, the Taoiseach's annual salary is €185,350. It was cut from €214,187 to €200,000 when Enda Kenny took office, before being cut further to €185,350 under the Haddington Road Agreement in 2013.  A proposed increase of €38,000 in 2007 was deferred when Brian Cowen became Taoiseach and in October 2008, the government announced a 10% salary cut for all ministers, including the Taoiseach. However this was a voluntary cut and the salaries remained nominally the same with both ministers and Taoiseach essentially refusing 10% of their salary. This courted controversy in December 2009 when a salary cut of 20% was based on the higher figure before the refused amount was deducted. The Taoiseach is also allowed an additional €118,981 in annual expenses.

Residence.

There is no official residence of the Taoiseach. In 2008 it was reported speculatively that the former Steward's Lodge at Farmleigh adjoining the Phoenix Park would become the official residence of the Taoiseach; however no official statements were made nor any action taken. The house, which forms part of the Farmleigh estate acquired by the State in 1999 for €29.2m, was renovated at a cost of nearly €600,000 in 2005 by the Office of Public Works. Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern did not use it as a residence, but his successor Brian Cowen used it "from time to time".

Salute.

"Mór Chluana" ("More of Cloyne") is a traditional air collected by Patrick Weston Joyce in 1873. "Amhrán Dóchais" ("Song of Hope") is a poem written by Osborn Bergin in 1913 and set to the air. John A. Costello chose the air as his salute. The salute is played by army bands on the arrival of the Taoiseach at state ceremonies. Though the salute is often called "Amhrán Dóchais", Brian Ó Cuív argues "Mór Chluana" is the correct title.

History.

Origins and etymology.

The words and "Tánaiste" (the title of the deputy prime minister) are both from the Irish language and of ancient origin. Though the Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as "the head of the Government or Prime Minister", its literal translation is "chieftain" or "leader". Although Éamon de Valera, who introduced the title in 1937, was neither a Fascist nor a dictator, it has sometimes been remarked that the meaning "leader" in 1937 made the title similar to the titles of Fascist dictators of the time, such as "Führer" (Hitler), "Duce" (Mussolini) and "Caudillo" (Franco). Tánaiste, in turn, refers to the system of tanistry, the Gaelic system of succession whereby a leader would appoint an heir apparent while still living.  In Scottish Gaelic, "tòiseach" translates as clan chief and both words originally had similar meanings in the Gaelic languages of Scotland and Ireland. The related Welsh language word "tywysog" (current meaning: "prince") has a similar origin and meaning. It is hypothesized that both derive ultimately from the proto-Celtic *"towissākos" "chieftain, leader".  The plural of "taoiseach" is "taoisigh" (Northern and Western, Southern ).  Although the Irish form "An Taoiseach" is sometimes used in English instead of "the Taoiseach", the English version of the Constitution states that he or she "shall be called... the Taoiseach".

Debate on the title.

In 1937 when the draft Constitution of Ireland was being debated in the Dáil, Frank MacDermot, an opposition politician, moved an amendment to substitute "Prime Minister" for the proposed "Taoiseach" title in the English text of the Constitution. It was proposed to keep the "Taoiseach" title in the Irish language text. The proponent remarked: The President of the Executive Council, Éamon de Valera, gave the term's meaning as "chieftain" or "Captain". He said he was "not disposed" to support the proposed amendment and felt the word "Taoiseach" did not need to be changed. The proposed amendment was defeated on a vote and "Taoiseach" was included as the title ultimately adopted by plebiscite of the people.

Modern office.

The modern position of Taoiseach was established by the 1937 Constitution of Ireland and is the most powerful role in Irish politics. The office replaced the position of President of the Executive Council of the 1922–1937 Irish Free State.  The positions of Taoiseach and President of the Executive Council differed in certain fundamental respects. Under the Constitution of the Irish Free State, the latter was vested with considerably less power and was largely just the chairman of the cabinet, the Executive Council. For example, the President of the Executive Council could not dismiss a fellow minister on his own authority. Instead, the Executive Council had to be disbanded and reformed entirely to remove a member. The President of the Executive Council also did not have the right to advise the Governor-General to dissolve Dáil Éireann on his own authority, that power belonging collectively to the Executive Council.  In contrast, the Taoiseach created in 1937 possesses a much more powerful role. He can both advise the President to dismiss ministers and dissolve Parliament on his own authority—advice that the President is almost always required to follow by convention. His role is greatly enhanced because under the Constitution, he is both "de jure" and "de facto" chief executive. In most other parliamentary democracies, the head of state is at least the nominal chief executive, while being bound by convention to act on the advice of the cabinet. In Ireland, however, executive power is explicitly vested in the Government, of which the Taoiseach is the leader.  Since the Taoiseach is the head of government, and may remove ministers at will, many of the powers specified, in law or the constitution, to be exercised by the government as a collective body, are in reality at the will of the Taoiseach. The Government almost always backs the Taoiseach in major decisions, and in many cases often merely formalizes that decision at a subsequent meeting after it has already been announced. Nevertheless the need for collective decision making on paper acts as a safeguard against an unwise decision made by the Taoiseach.  Historically, where there have been multi-party or coalition governments, the Taoiseach has been the leader of the largest party in the coalition. One exception to this was John A. Costello, who was not leader of his party, but an agreed choice to head the government, because the other parties refused to accept then Fine Gael leader Richard Mulcahy as Taoiseach. In 2010 Taoiseach Brian Cowen, in the midst of highly unpopular spending cuts after the global financial crash, maintained his position as Taoiseach until new elections, but stood down as leader of Fianna Fáil and allowed Micheál Martin (who had resigned in protest at the way Cowen responded to the crises) to succeed him.

List of office holders.

Before the enactment of the 1937 Constitution, the head of government was referred to as the President of the Executive Council. This office was first held by W. T. Cosgrave of Cumann na nGaedheal from 1922 to 1932, and then by Éamon de Valera of Fianna Fáil from 1932 to 1937. By convention, Taoisigh are numbered to include Cosgrave; for example, Leo Varadkar is considered the 14th Taoiseach, not the 13th.

Further reading.

The book "Chairman or Chief: The Role of the Taoiseach in Irish Government" (1971) by Brian Farrell provides a good overview of the conflicting roles for the Taoiseach. Though long out of print, it may still be available in libraries or from booksellers. Biographies are also available of de Valera, Lemass, Lynch, Cosgrave, FitzGerald, Haughey, Reynolds and Ahern. FitzGerald wrote an autobiography, while an authorised biography was produced of de Valera. There is a chapter by Garret FitzGerald on the role of the Taoiseach in a festschrift to Brian Farrell. There is a chapter by Eoin O'Malley on the Taoiseach and cabinet in "Governing Ireland: From cabinet government to delegated governance" (Eoin O'Malley and Muiris MacCarthaigh eds.) Dublin: IPA 2012.

Biographies.

Some biographies of former Taoisigh and presidents of the Executive Council:

The Taoiseach (, ) is the prime minister and head of government of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas (parliament), and must, to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.

爱尔兰总理(爱尔兰语:,复数称,正式称谓 )是爱尔兰共和国的政府首长和爱尔兰内阁首脑。总理是由爱尔兰众议院选出,再由爱尔兰总统任命。总理在任内必须得到众议院大多数的议员支持。现任总理是爱尔兰统一党的李欧·瓦拉德卡。


Biography.

Rømer was born on 25 September 1644 in Århus to merchant and skipper Christen Pedersen (died 1663), and Anna Olufsdatter Storm ( – 1690), daughter of a well-to-do alderman. Since 1642, Christen Pedersen had taken to using the name Rømer, which means that he was from the Danish island of Rømø, to distinguish himself from a couple of other people named Christen Pedersen. There are few records of Ole Rømer before 1662, when he graduated from the old Aarhus Katedralskole (the Cathedral school of Aarhus), moved to Copenhagen and matriculated at the University of Copenhagen. His mentor at the University was Rasmus Bartholin, who published his discovery of the double refraction of a light ray by Iceland spar (calcite) in 1668, while Rømer was living in his home. Rømer was given every opportunity to learn mathematics and astronomy using Tycho Brahe's astronomical observations, as Bartholin had been given the task of preparing them for publication.  Rømer was employed by the French government: Louis XIV made him tutor for the Dauphin, and he also took part in the construction of the magnificent fountains at Versailles.  In 1681, Rømer returned to Denmark and was appointed professor of astronomy at the University of Copenhagen, and the same year he married Anne Marie Bartholin, the daughter of Rasmus Bartholin. He was active also as an observer, both at the University Observatory at Rundetårn and in his home, using improved instruments of his own construction. Unfortunately, his observations have not survived: they were lost in the great Copenhagen Fire of 1728. However, a former assistant (and later an astronomer in his own right), Peder Horrebow, loyally described and wrote about Rømer's observations.  In Rømer's position as royal mathematician, he introduced the first national system for weights and measures in Denmark on 1 May 1683. Initially based on the Rhine foot, a more accurate national standard was adopted in 1698. Later measurements of the standards fabricated for length and volume show an excellent degree of accuracy. His goal was to achieve a definition based on astronomical constants, using a pendulum. This would happen after his death, practicalities making it too inaccurate at the time. Notable is also his definition of the new Danish mile of 24,000 Danish feet (circa 7,532 m).  In 1700, Rømer persuaded the king to introduce the Gregorian calendar in Denmark-Norway – something Tycho Brahe had argued for in vain a hundred years earlier. Rømer developed one of the first temperature scales while convalescing from a broken leg. Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit visited him in 1708 and improved on the Rømer scale, the result being the familiar Fahrenheit temperature scale still in use today in a few countries.  Rømer also established navigation schools in several Danish cities.  In 1705, Rømer was made the second Chief of the Copenhagen Police, a position he kept until his death in 1710. As one of his first acts, he fired the entire force, being convinced that the morale was alarmingly low. He was the inventor of the first street lights (oil lamps) in Copenhagen, and worked hard to try to control the beggars, poor people, unemployed, and prostitutes of Copenhagen.  In Copenhagen, Rømer made rules for building new houses, got the city's water supply and sewers back in order, ensured that the city's fire department got new and better equipment, and was the moving force behind the planning and making of new pavement in the streets and on the city squares.  Rømer died at the age of 65 in 1710. He was buried in Copenhagen Cathedral, which has since been rebuilt following its destruction in the Battle of Copenhagen (1807). There is a modern memorial.

Rømer and the speed of light.

The determination of longitude is a significant practical problem in cartography and navigation. Philip III of Spain offered a prize for a method to determine the longitude of a ship out of sight of land, and Galileo proposed a method of establishing the time of day, and thus longitude, based on the times of the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter, in essence using the Jovian system as a cosmic clock; this method was not significantly improved until accurate mechanical clocks were developed in the eighteenth century. Galileo proposed this method to the Spanish crown (1616–1617) but it proved to be impractical, because of the inaccuracies of Galileo's timetables and the difficulty of observing the eclipses on a ship. However, with refinements, the method could be made to work on land.  After studies in Copenhagen, Rømer joined Jean Picard in 1671 to observe about 140 eclipses of Jupiter's moon Io on the island of Hven at the former location of Tycho Brahe’s observatory of Uraniborg, near Copenhagen, over a period of several months, while in Paris Giovanni Domenico Cassini observed the same eclipses. By comparing the times of the eclipses, the difference in longitude of Paris to Uranienborg was calculated.  Cassini had observed the moons of Jupiter between 1666 and 1668, and discovered discrepancies in his measurements that, at first, he attributed to light having a finite speed. In 1672 Rømer went to Paris and continued observing the satellites of Jupiter as Cassini's assistant. Rømer added his own observations to Cassini's and observed that times between eclipses (particularly those of Io) got shorter as Earth approached Jupiter, and longer as Earth moved farther away. Cassini made an announcement to the Academy of Sciences on 22 August 1676:  "This second inequality appears to be due to light taking some time to reach us from the satellite; light seems to take about ten to eleven minutes [to cross] a distance equal to the half-diameter of the terrestrial orbit". Oddly, Cassini seems to have abandoned this reasoning, which Rømer adopted and set about buttressing in an irrefutable manner, using a selected number of observations performed by Picard and himself between 1671 and 1677. Rømer presented his results to the French Academy of Sciences, and it was summarised soon after by an anonymous reporter in a short paper, "", published 7 December 1676 in the "Journal des sçavans". Unfortunately, the reporter, possibly in order to hide his lack of understanding, resorted to cryptic phrasing, obfuscating Rømer's reasoning in the process. Rømer himself never published his results.  Rømer's reasoning was as follows. Referring to the illustration, assume the Earth is at point "L", and Io emerges from Jupiter's shadow at point "D". After several orbits of Io, at 42.5 hours per orbit, the Earth is at point "K". If light is not propagated instantaneously, the additional time it takes to reach "K", which he reckoned about 31⁄2 minutes, would explain the observed delay. Rømer observed "immersions" at point "C" from positions "F" and "G", to avoid confusion with eclipses (Io shadowed by Jupiter from "C" to "D") and occultations (Io hidden behind Jupiter at various angles). In the table below, his observations in 1676, including the one on 7 August, believed to be at the opposition point "H", and the one observed at Paris Observatory to be 10 minutes late, on 9 November.  By trial and error, during eight years of observations Rømer worked out how to account for "the retardation of light" when reckoning the ephemeris of Io. He calculated the delay as a proportion of the angle corresponding to a given Earth's position with respect to Jupiter, "Δt" = 22·()<nowiki>[minutes]</nowiki>. When the angle α is 180° the delay becomes 22 minutes, which may be interpreted as the time necessary for the light to cross a distance equal to the diameter of the Earth's orbit, H to E. (Actually, Jupiter is not visible from the conjunction point E.) That interpretation makes it possible to calculate the strict result of Rømer's observations: The ratio of the speed of light to the speed with which Earth orbits the sun, which is the ratio of the duration of a year divided by pi as compared to the 22 minutes  In comparison, the modern value is circa ≈ 10,100.  Rømer neither calculated this ratio, nor did he give a value for the speed of light. However, many others calculated a speed from his data, the first being Christiaan Huygens; after corresponding with Rømer and eliciting more data, Huygens deduced that light travelled Earth diameters per second, which is approximately 212,000 km/s.  Rømer's view that the velocity of light was finite was not fully accepted until measurements of the so-called aberration of light were made by James Bradley in 1727.  In 1809, again making use of observations of Io, but this time with the benefit of more than a century of increasingly precise observations, the astronomer Jean Baptiste Joseph Delambre reported the time for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth as 8 minutes and 12 seconds. Depending on the value assumed for the astronomical unit, this yields the speed of light as just a little more than 300,000 kilometres per second. The modern value is 8 minutes and 19 seconds, and a speed of 299,792.458 km/s.  A plaque at the Observatory of Paris, where the Danish astronomer happened to be working, commemorates what was, in effect, the first measurement of a universal quantity made on this planet.

Inventions.

In addition to inventing the first street lights in Copenhagen, Rømer also invented the meridian circle, the altazimuth, and the passage instrument (also known as the "transit instrument", a type of meridian circle whose horizontal axis is not fixed in the east-west direction).

Ole Rømer Medal.

The is given annually by the Danish Natural Science Research Council for outstanding research.

The Ole Rømer Museum.

The Ole Rømer Museum is located in the municipality of Høje-Taastrup, Denmark, at the excavated site of Rømer's observatory "" at Vridsløsemagle. The observatory opened in 1704, and operated until about 1716, when the remaining instruments were moved to Rundetårn in Copenhagen. There is a large collection of ancient and more recent astronomical instruments on display at the museum. The museum opened in 1979, and has since 2002 been a part of the museum Kroppedal at the same location.

Honours.

In Denmark, Ole Rømer has been honoured in various ways through the ages. He has been portrayed on bank notes, the eponymous is named after him, as are streets in both Aarhus and Copenhagen ("Ole Rømers Gade" and'respectively). Aarhus University's astronomical observatory is named The Ole Rømer Observatory (') in his honour, and a Danish satellite project to measure the age, temperature, physical and chemical conditions of selected stars, was named. The satellite project stranded in 2002 and was never realised though.  The Römer crater on the Moon is named after him.

In popular culture.

In the 1960s, the comic-book superhero The Flash on a number of occasions would measure his velocity in "Roemers", in honour of Ole Rømer's "discovery" of the speed of light.  In Larry Niven's 1999 novel "Rainbow Mars", Ole Rømer is mentioned as having observed Martian life in an alternate history timeline.  Ole Rømer features in the 2012 game "" as a gentleman under Denmark.  On 7 December 2016, a Google Doodle was dedicated to Rømer.

Ole Christensen Rømer (; 25 September 1644 – 19 September 1710) was a Danish astronomer who, in 1676, made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light.

奥勒·罗默(,1644年-9月25日-1710年-9月19日),丹麦天文学家。他学成后,即进入法国路易十四政府从事天文相关事务,17世纪末期返回丹麦祖国。


Presentation.

In many cultures gifts are traditionally packaged in some way. For example, in Western cultures, gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper and accompanied by a gift note which may note the occasion, the recipient's name and the giver's name. In Chinese culture, red wrapping connotes luck. Although inexpensive gifts are common among colleagues, associates and acquaintances, expensive or amorous gifts are considered more appropriate among close friends, romantic interests or relatives.

Gift-giving occasions.

Gift-giving occasions may be:

Promotional gifts.

Promotional gifts vary from the normal gifts. The recipients of the gifts may be either employee of a company or the clients. Promotional gifts are mainly used for advertising purposes. They are used to promote the brand name and increase its awareness among the people. In promotional gifting procedures, the quality and presentation of the gifts hold more value than the gifts itself since it will act as a gateway to acquire new clients or associates.

As reinforcement and manipulation.

Giving a gift to someone is not necessarily just an altruistic act. It may be given in the hope that the receiver reciprocates in a particular way. It may take the form of positive reinforcement as a reward for compliance, possibly for an underhand manipulative and abusive purpose.

Unwanted gifts.

A significant fraction of gifts are unwanted, or the giver pays more for the item than the recipient values it, resulting in a misallocation of economic resources known as a deadweight loss. Unwanted gifts are often regifted, donated to charity, or thrown away. A gift that actually imposes a burden on the recipient, either due to maintenance or storage or disposal costs, is known as a white elephant.  One means of reducing the mismatch between the buyer and receivers' tastes is advance coordination, often undertaken in the form of a wedding registry or Christmas list. Wedding registries in particular are often kept at a single store, which can designate the exact items to be purchased (resulting in matching housewares), and to coordinate purchases so the same gift is not purchased by different guests. One study found that wedding guests who departed from the registry typically did so because they wished to signal a closer relationship to the couple by personalizing a gift, and also found that as a result of not abiding by the recipients' preferences, their gifts were appreciated less often.  An estimated $3.4 billion was spent on unwanted Christmas gifts in the United States in 2017. The day after Christmas is typically the busiest day for returns in countries with large Christmas gift giving traditions. The total unredeemed value of gift cards purchased in the U.S. each year is estimated to be about a billion dollars.

Legal aspects.

At common law, for a gift to have legal effect, it was required that there be (1) intent by the donor to give a gift, and (2) delivery to the recipient of the item to be given as a gift.  In some countries, certain types of gifts above a certain monetary amount are subject to taxation. For the United States, see Gift tax in the United States.  In some contexts, gift giving can be construed as bribery. This tends to occur in situations where the gift is given with an implicit or explicit agreement between the giver of the gift and its receiver that some type of service will be rendered (often outside of normal legitimate methods) because of the gift. Some groups, such as government workers, may have strict rules concerning gift giving and receiving so as to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Religious views.

Lewis Hyde claims in "The Gift" that Christianity considers the Incarnation and subsequent death of Jesus to be the greatest gift to humankind, and that the Jataka contains a tale of the Buddha in his incarnation as the Wise Hare giving the ultimate alms by offering himself up as a meal for Sakka. (Hyde, 1983, 58-60)  In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the bread and wine that are consecrated during the Divine Liturgy are referred to as "the Gifts." They are first of all the gifts of the community (both individually and corporately) to God, and then, after the epiklesis, the Gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ to the Church.  Ritual sacrifices can be seen as return gifts to a deity.

A gift or a present is an item given to someone without the expectation of payment or anything in return. An item is not a gift if that item is already owned by the one to whom it is given. Although gift-giving might involve an expectation of reciprocity, a gift is meant to be free. In many countries, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may sustain social relations and contribute to social cohesion. Economists have elaborated the economics of gift-giving into the notion of a gift economy. By extension the term "gift" can refer to any item or act of service that makes the other happier or less sad, especially as a favor, including forgiveness and kindness. Gifts are also first and foremost presented on occasions such as birthdays and holidays.

礼物,也称礼品,通常是人和人之间互相赠送的物件。而目的是为了取悦对方,或表达善意、敬意。礼物也用来庆祝节日或重要的日子,比如情人节的玫瑰或生日礼物。


Names.

Official names.

The Korean alphabet was originally called Hunminjeong'eum (), after the document that introduced the script to the Korean people in 1446, written by King Sejong the Great.  The name "hangeul" () was coined by Korean linguist Ju Si-gyeong in 1912. The name combines

Other names.

Until the mid-20th century, the Korean elite preferred to write using Chinese characters called Hanja. They referred to Hanja as "jinseo" (진서/真書) or "true letters". Some accounts say the elite referred to the

History.

Creation.

Koreans primarily wrote using Classical Chinese alongside native phonetic writing systems that predate Hangul by hundreds of years, including Idu script, Hyangchal, Gugyeol and Gakpil. However, many lower class Koreans were illiterate due to fundamental differences between the Korean and Chinese languages, and the large number of Chinese characters. To promote literacy among the common people, the fourth king of the Joseon dynasty, Sejong the Great, personally created and promulgated a new alphabet. Although it is widely assumed that King Sejong ordered the Hall of Worthies to invent Hangul, contemporary records such as the "Veritable Records of King Sejong" and Jeong Inji's preface to the "Hunminjeongeum Haerye" emphasize that he invented

Opposition.

The Korean alphabet faced opposition in the 1440s by the literary elite, including Choe Manri and other Korean Confucian scholars. They believed Hanja was the only legitimate writing system. They also saw the circulation of the Korean alphabet as a threat to

Revival.

The late 16th century, however, saw a revival of the Korean alphabet as "gasa" and "sijo" poetry flourished. In the 17th century, the Korean alphabet novels became a major genre. However, the use of the Korean alphabet had gone without orthographical standardization for so long that spelling had become quite irregular. In 1796, the Dutch scholar Isaac Titsingh became the first person to bring a book written in Korean to the Western world. His collection of

Reforms and prohibition under Japanese rule.

After the Japanese annexation, which occurred in 1910, Japanese was made the official language of Korea. However, the Korean alphabet was still taught in Korean-established schools built after the annexation and Korean was written in a mixed Hanja-Hangul script, where most lexical roots were written in Hanja and grammatical forms in the Korean alphabet. Japan banned earlier Korean literature from public schooling, which became mandatory for children.  The orthography of the Korean alphabet was partially standardized in 1912, when the vowel "arae'a" ()–which has now disappeared from Korean–was restricted to Sino-Korean roots: the emphatic consonants were standardized to and final consonants restricted to. Long vowels were marked

Further reforms.

The definitive modern Korean alphabet orthography was published in 1946, just after Korean independence from Japanese rule. In 1948, North Korea attempted to make the script perfectly morphophonemic through the addition of new letters, and in 1953, Syngman Rhee in South Korea attempted to simplify the orthography by returning to the colonial orthography of 1921, but both reforms were abandoned after only a few years.

Contemporary use.

While both North Korea and South Korea claim 99 percent literacy, a 2003 study found that 25 percent of those in the older generation in the South were not completely literate in the Korean alphabet.  The Hunminjeong'eum Society in Seoul attempts to spread the use of the Korean alphabet to unwritten languages of Asia. In

Letters.

Letters in the Korean alphabet are called "jamo" (자모). There are 19 consonants and 21 vowels used in the modern alphabet. They were first named in Hunmongjahoe, a hanja textbook written by Choe Sejin.

Consonants.

The chart below shows all 19 consonants in South Korean alphabetic order with Revised Romanization equivalents for each letter and pronunciation in IPA (see Korean phonology for more).  ᄋ is silent syllable-initially and is used as a placeholder when the syllable starts with a vowel. ᄄ, ᄈ, and ᄍ are never used syllable-finally.  Consonants are broadly categorized into either obstruents (sounds produced when airflow either completely stops (i.e, a plosive consonant) or passes through a narrow opening (i.e, a fricative) or sonorants (sounds produced when air flows out with little to no obstruction through

Vowels.

The chart below shows the 21 vowels used in the modern Korean alphabet in South Korean alphabetic order with Revised Romanization equivalents for each letter and pronunciation in IPA (see Korean phonology for more).  The vowels are generally separated into two categories: monophthongs and diphthongs. Monophthongs are produced with a single articularly movement (hence the prefix mono-), while diphthongs feature an articulatory change. Diphthongs have

Alphabetic order.

Alphabetic order in the Korean alphabet is called the "ganada" order, () after the first three letters of the alphabet. The alphabetical order of the Korean alphabet does not mix consonants and vowels. Rather, first are velar consonants, then coronals, labials, sibilants, etc. The vowels come after the consonants.

Historical orders.

The order from the "Hunminjeong'eum" in 1446 was:  In 1527, Choe Sejin reorganized the alphabet in Hunmongjahoe:  This is the basis of the modern alphabetic orders. It was before the development of the Korean tense consonants

North Korean order.

The new, double, letters are placed at the end of the consonants, just before the ', so as not to alter the traditional order of the rest of the alphabet.  All digraphs and trigraphs, including the old diphthongs and, are placed

South Korean order.

In the Southern order, double letters are placed immediately after their single counterparts:  The modern monophthongal vowels come first, with the derived forms interspersed according to their form: "i" is added first, then iotized, then iotized with added "i". Diphthongs beginning with "w" are ordered according to their spelling, as or plus a second vowel, not

Letter names.

Letters in the Korean alphabet were named by Korean linguist Choe Sejin in 1527. South Korea uses Choe's traditional names, most of which follow the format of "letter" + "i" + "eu" + "letter". Choe described these names by listing Hanja characters with similar pronunciations. However, as the syllables "euk", "eut", and "eut" did not occur in Hanja, Choe gave those letters the modified names "giyeok, "digeut, and "siot", using Hanja that did not fit the pattern (for 기역) or native Korean syllables (for 디<unk> and 시옷).  Originally, Choe gave,,,,, and the irregular one-syllable names of "ji", "chi", "ḳi", "ṭi", "p̣i", and "hi", because they should not be used as final consonants, as specified in "Hunminjeong'eum". However, after establishment of the new orthography in 1933, which let all consonants be used as finals, the names changed to the present forms.  North Korea regularized Choe's original names when it made the Korean alphabet its official orthography.

In North Korea.

The chart below shows names used in North Korea for consonants in the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in North Korean alphabetic order, and the letter names are romanised with the McCune-Reischauer system, which is widely used in North Korea. The

In South Korea.

The chart below shows names used in South Korea for consonants of the Korean alphabet. The letters are arranged in the South

Stroke order.

Letters in the Korean alphabet have adopted certain rules of Chinese calligraphy, although and use a

Letter design.

Scripts typically transcribe languages at the level of morphemes (logographic scripts like Hanja), of syllables (syllabaries like "kana"), of segments (alphabetic scripts like the Latin script used to write English and many other languages), or, on occasion, of distinctive features. The Korean alphabet incorporates aspects of the latter three, grouping sounds into syllables, using distinct symbols for segments, and in some cases using distinct strokes to indicate distinctive features such as place of articulation (labial, coronal, velar, or glottal) and manner of articulation (plosive, nasal, sibilant, aspiration) for consonants, and iotization (a preceding "i-"sound), harmonic class and i-mutation for vowels.  For instance, the consonant ṭ is composed of three strokes, each one meaningful: the top stroke indicates is a plosive, like "ʔ", "g", "d", "j", which have the same stroke (the last is an affricate, a plosive–fricative sequence); the middle stroke indicates that is aspirated, like "h", "ḳ", "ch", which also have this stroke; and the bottom stroke indicates that is alveolar, like "n", "d", and "l". (This element is said to represent the shape of the tongue when pronouncing coronal consonants, though this is not certain.) Two consonants, and, have dual pronunciations, and appear to be composed of two elements corresponding to these two pronunciations: ~silence for and ~ for obsolete.  With vowel letters, a short stroke connected to the main line of the letter indicates that this is one of the vowels that "can" be iotized; this stroke is then doubled when the vowel "is" iotized. The position of the stroke indicates which harmonic class the vowel belongs to, "light" (top or right) or "dark" (bottom or left). In the modern alphabet, an additional vertical stroke indicates i-mutation, deriving,, and from,, and. However, this is not part of the intentional design of the script, but rather a natural development from what were originally diphthongs ending in the vowel. Indeed, in many Korean dialects, including the standard dialect of Seoul, some of these may still be diphthongs. Note: as a morpheme is ᅥ combined with ᅵ as a vertical stroke. As a phoneme, its sound is not by i-mutation of.  Beside the letters, the Korean alphabet originally employed diacritic marks to indicate pitch accent. A syllable with a high pitch () was marked with a dot (<unk>) to the left of it (when writing vertically); a syllable with a rising pitch () was marked with a double dot, like a colon (<unk>). These are no longer used, as modern Seoul Korean has lost tonality. Vowel length has also been neutralized in Modern Korean, and is no longer written.

Obsolete letters.

Numerous obsolete Korean letters and sequences are no longer used in Korean. Some of these letters were only ever used to represent the sounds of Chinese rime tables. Some of the Korean sounds represented by these obsolete letters still exist in some dialects.  In the original Korean alphabet system, double letters were used to represent Chinese voiced ()

Restored letters.

To make the Korean alphabet a better morphophonological fit to the Korean language, North Korea introduced six new letters, which were published in the "New Orthography for the Korean Language" and used officially from 1948 to 1954.  Two obsolete letters were restored: (), which was used to

Unicode.

Hangul Jamo (U+1100–U+11FF) and Hangul Compatibility Jamo (U+3130–U+318F) blocks were added to the Unicode Standard in June 1993 with the release of version 1.1. The characters were relocated to their present locations in July, 1996 with the release of version 2.0.

Morpho-syllabic blocks.

Except for a few grammatical morphemes prior to the twentieth century, no letter stands alone to represent elements of the Korean language. Instead, letters are grouped into syllabic or morphemic blocks of at least two and often three: a consonant or a doubled consonant called the "initial" (초성, 初聲 "choseong" syllable onset), a vowel or diphthong called the "medial" (중성, 中聲 "jungseong" syllable nucleus), and, optionally, a consonant or consonant cluster at the end of the syllable, called the "final" (종성, 終聲 "jongseong" syllable coda). When a syllable has no actual initial consonant, the null initial "ieung" is used as a placeholder. (In the modern Korean alphabet, placeholders are not used for the final position.) Thus, a block contains a minimum of two letters, an initial and a medial. Although the Korean alphabet had historically been organized into syllables, in the modern orthography it is first organized into morphemes, and only secondarily into syllables within those morphemes, with the exception that single-consonant morphemes may not be written alone.  The sets of initial and final consonants are not the same. For instance, "ng" only occurs in final position, while the doubled letters that can occur in final position are limited to "ss" and "kk".  Not including obsolete letters, 11,172 blocks are possible in the Korean alphabet.

Letter placement within a block.

The placement or "stacking" of letters in the block follows set patterns based on the shape of the medial.  Consonant and vowel sequences such as "bs," "wo," or obsolete "bsd," "üye" are written left to right.  Vowels (medials) are written under the initial consonant, to the right, or wrap around the initial from bottom to right, depending on their shape:

Block shape.

Normally the resulting block is written within a square of the same size and shape as a Hanja (Chinese character) by compressing or stretching the letters to fill the bounds of the block, so someone not familiar with the scripts may mistake the Korean alphabet for Hanja or Chinese.  However,

Linear Korean.

There was a minor and unsuccessful movement in the early twentieth century to abolish syllabic blocks and write the letters individually and in a row, in the fashion of writing Latin alphabet as in English and other European languages, instead of the standard convention

Orthography.

Until the 20th century, no official orthography of the Korean alphabet had been established. Due to liaison, heavy consonant assimilation, dialectal variants and other reasons, a Korean word can potentially be spelled in multiple ways. Sejong seemed to prefer morphophonemic spelling (representing the underlying root forms) rather than a phonemic one (representing the actual sounds). However, early in its history the Korean alphabet was dominated by phonemic spelling. Over the centuries the orthography became partially morphophonemic, first in nouns and later in verbs. The modern Korean alphabet is as morphophonemic as is practical. The difference between phonetic Romanization, phonemic orthography and morpho-phonemic orthography can be illustrated with the phrase "motaneun sarami":  After the Gabo Reform in 1894, the Joseon Dynasty and later the Korean Empire started to write all official documents in the Korean alphabet. Under the government's management, proper usage of the Korean alphabet and Hanja, including orthography, was discussed, until the Korean Empire was annexed by Japan in 1910.  The Government-General of Korea popularised a writing style that mixed Hanja and the Korean alphabet, and was used in the later Joseon dynasty. The government revised the spelling rules in 1912, 1921 and 1930, to be relatively phonemic.  The Hangul Society, founded by Ju Si-gyeong, announced a proposal for a new, strongly morphophonemic orthography in 1933, which became the prototype of the contemporary orthographies in both North and South Korea. After Korea was divided, the North and South revised orthographies separately. The guiding text for orthography of the Korean alphabet is called "Hangeul Matchumbeop", whose last South Korean revision was published in 1988 by the Ministry of Education.

Mixed scripts.

Since the Late Joseon dynasty period, various Hanja-Hangul mixed systems were used. In these systems, Hanja were used for lexical roots, and the Korean alphabet for grammatical words and inflections, much as "kanji" and "kana" are used in Japanese. Hanja have been almost entirely phased out of daily

Readability.

Because of syllable clustering, words are shorter on the page than their linear counterparts would be, and the boundaries between syllables are easily visible (which may aid reading, if segmenting words into syllables is more natural for the reader than dividing them into phonemes). Because the component parts of the syllable are relatively simple phonemic characters, the number of strokes per character on average

Style.

The Korean alphabet may be written either vertically or horizontally. The traditional direction is from top to bottom, right to left. Horizontal writing in the style of the Latin script was promoted by Ju Si-gyeong, and has become overwhelmingly prevalent.  In "Hunmin Jeongeum", the Korean alphabet was printed in sans-serif angular lines of even thickness. This style is found in books published before about 1900, and can be found in stone carvings (on statues, for example).  Over the centuries, an ink-brush style of calligraphy developed, employing the same style of lines and angles as traditional Korean calligraphy. This brush style is called "gungche" (), which means "Palace Style" because the style was mostly developed and used by the maidservants ("gungnyeo," ) of the court in Joseon dynasty.  Modern styles that are more suited for printed media were developed in the 20th century. In 1993, new names for both Myeongjo () and Gothic styles were introduced when Ministry of Culture initiated an effort to standardize typographic terms, and the names "Batang" (, meaning "background") and "Dotum" (, meaning "stand out") replaced Myeongjo and Gothic respectively. These names are also used in Microsoft Windows.  A sans-serif style with lines of equal width is popular with pencil and pen writing and is often the default typeface of Web browsers. A minor advantage of this style is that it makes it easier to distinguish "-eung" from "-ung" even in small or untidy print, as the "jongseong ieung" () of such fonts usually lacks a serif that could be mistaken for the short vertical line of the letter "(u)".

The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul (Hangeul) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, was invented by King Sejong the Great in 1443 to write the Korean language. All consonant and vowel letters mimic their articulator's shape and phonetic features when pronouncing them.

谚文,韩国称其为韩字(),朝鲜民主主义人民共和国称其为朝鲜字(),以区别于历史上的名称「朝鲜文」()。其俗称「朝-{}-鲜字母」、「音文」、「训民正音」等,是朝鲜语所使用的表音文字。15世纪,在朝鲜王朝(1392年-1897年)第四代君主世宗(1418年-1450年在位)的倡导下,由世宗本人于1443年正式创建,并在1446年与几位学者颁布使用。


History.

The area of today's Alghero has been settled since pre-historic times. The Ozieri culture was present here in the 4th millennium BC (Necropolis of Anghelu Ruju), while the Nuraghe civilization settled in the area around 1,500 BC.  The Phoenicians arrived by the 8th century BC and the metalworking town of Sant'Imbenia – in the area of later Alghero –, with a mixed Phoenician and Nuragic population, engaged in trade with the Etruscans on the Italian mainland.  Due to its strategic position on the Mediterranean Sea, Alghero had been developed into a fortified port town by 1102, built by the Genoese Doria family. The Dorias ruled Alghero for centuries, apart from a brief period under the rule of Pisa between 1283 and 1284. Alghero's population later grew because of the arrival of Catalan colonists. In the early 16th century Alghero received papal recognition as a bishopric and the status of King's City ("ciutat de l'Alguer") and developed economically.  Historically, the city was founded in the early twelfth century between 1102 and 1112, when the noble Doria family of Genoa was allowed to build the first historical nucleus into an empty section of the coast of the parish of Nulauro in Judicature of Torres (Sassari). For two centuries it remained in the orbit of the Maritime Republics, first and foremost the Genoese, apart from 1283–1284 when the Pisans were able to control it for a year. It is plausible that at this time the town shared, given its commercial and multi-ethnic nature, a language similar to the nascent Sassarese.  The village was conquered by force by the Crown of Aragon, at the behest of King Pere IV of Aragon (r. 1336–1387), who later actively promoted colonisation of the town and the surrounding area, sending numerous families from different counties and provinces of the then Crown of Aragon, including Valencia, Majorca, Catalonia and Aragon. These were granted enticing privileges, and in fact, replaced the original population some of whom were sent to the Iberian Peninsula and Majorca as slaves. The dialects these families spoke in Alghero, were all very similar and derived from the same linguistic family. Over time it settled on its current form of Catalan, despite the subsequent decline of the Crown of Aragon.  The Aragonese were followed by the Spanish Habsburgs, who ruled until 1702 and continued expanding the town. In 1720 Alghero, along with the rest of Sardinia, was handed over to the Piedmont-based House of Savoy. In 1821 a famine led to a revolt by the population, which was bloodily suppressed. At the end of the same century, Alghero was de-militarised.  During the Fascist era, part of the surrounding marshes were reclaimed and the suburbs of Fertilia and S.M. La Palma were founded. During World War II (1943), Alghero was bombed, and its historical centre suffered heavy damage. The presence of malaria in the countryside was finally overcome in the 1950s.  Since then, Alghero has become a popular tourist resort.

Geography.

Location.

Alghero is located in the northwestern coast of Sardinia, along the bay named after the city. In the north of the urban area, there is the Nurra plain; to the northwest, the karstic systems of Capo Caccia, Punta Giglio and Monte Doglia. The south is built mainly by mountains and the plateaus of Villanova Monteleone and Bosa.

Climate.

The climate at Alghero is mild due to the presence of the sea, which attenuates the temperatures especially during the summer. Summers are warm like in most parts of the Mediterranean. Winters are also tempered, with the thermometers showing negative Celsius temperatures just a few days per year.

Language and culture.

A dialect of Catalan is spoken in Alghero, introduced when Catalans settled in the town. Catalan was replaced as the official language of the Island by Spanish in the 17th century, then by Italian. The most recent linguistic research showed that 24.1% of the people have Algherese Catalan as a mother tongue, which is habitually spoken by 18.5% and taught to the children by 8% of the population, whereas 88.2% have some understanding of the language. Since 1997, Catalan has had official recognition and national and regional laws grant its right to be used in the city. Currently, there has been a revival of the arts in Algherese Catalan, with singers such as Franca Masu performing original compositions in the language.  Following a rural exodus from the surrounding villages towards the city, much of the population speaks or has some proficiency in Sardinian, in addition to Italian and Catalan. Historically, the spread of Catalan was limited to the city and part of the coast, as the surrounding countryside has always been populated by Sardinian-speaking people.  Moreover, the ancient part of Alghero shows many characteristics of Catalan medieval architecture. The ‘algueresos’ (Alghero inhabitants) usually refer to their city as ‘Barceloneta’ – 'little Barcelona' – because of their ancestry and fraternity with the Catalan capital. Also the cuisine is a blending of Catalan cuisine and Sardinian cuisine.

Main sights.

The many historical dominances that occurred in Alghero have created a rich variety of monuments, buildings and sights. Back from the Neolithic period from which many settlements remain, up to nowadays, in the last decades Alghero has become a touristic main point not only because of its coast and natural beauties but also because of a fairly well-preserved patrimony.

Archeological sites.

Several archeological sites out of the urban area: the Anghelu Ruju necropolis, the Santu Pedru hill, the Villa Romana of Santa Imbenia or even the Purissima. Many nuraghi in some other points as Palmavera are also well preserved and open to visitors.

Ramparts.

The first ramparts system looks back to the 13th century and was imported from the Genovese system. In 1354 the city was occupied by Catalans, who restored and expanded the defensive system, back then in bad condition. Some features from the old walls were respected, but Ferdinand the Catholic, who wanted to grant more protection to the city, built the majority of them in the 16th Century. Along the walls, 7 towers and 3 forts are found.  The coral of Alghero is known as among the finest in the Mediterranean and the world for the particular reputation of quantity, quality, compression and the ruby red color, much to remember one of the most important economic aspects of the territory, also called the Riviera del Corallo, and have in his coat of arms a branch of the precious red coral on a foundation of rock.

Territory.

Another of Alghero features is its landscape. It has several beaches, bays and natural parks on the shoreline. Capo Caccia promontory and its lighthouse are landmarks.

Transport and infrastructures.

Alghero is well-connected. Roads lead to Sassari, the province's capital. The main port for passengers is 30 kilometers away and Alghero – Fertilia airport has national and international flights.

Trains.

Alghero has a train station in the Pietraia neighborhood, Sant’Agostino, with daily trains to Sassari.

Port.

There is a pleasure and fishing port in the heart of the city. Passenger traffic is handled by Porto Torres, some 30 kilometers north. There are ferry services from there to Genoa, Barcelona and Civitavecchia.

Airport.

The Alghero-Fertilia "Riviera del Corallo" Airport is 10 kilometers from the centre near Fertilia. It's the principal connection with the rest of Italy and Europe. There is an hourly bus service to Fertilia and the centre of Alghero.

Books.

In the 1930s the Swedish writer Amelie Posse Brazdova wrote a book entitled "Sardinia Side Show", where she told the complete story of two years she spent "interned" in Alghero old town during World War I.  <br

Alghero (), also known in the local Algherese dialect as L'Alguer (; ; ), is a town of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. Part of its population descends from Catalan conquerors from the end of the Middle Ages, when Sardinia was part of the Crown of Aragon. Hence, the Catalan language is co-official (a unique situation in Italy) and known as the Alguerès dialect. The name Alghero comes from "Aleguerium", which is a mediaeval Latin word meaning "stagnation of algae" ("Posidonia oceanica").

阿尔盖罗(;)是意大利撒丁大区萨萨里省的一个镇,普遍使用加泰罗尼亚语。