History.

Origins.

The castle was built by the Teutonic Order after the conquest of Old Prussia. Its main purpose was to strengthen their own control of the area following the Order's 1274 suppression of the Great Prussian Uprising of the Baltic tribes. No contemporary documents survive relating to its construction, so instead the castle's phases have been worked out through the study of architecture and the Order's administrative records and later histories. The work lasted until around 1300, under the auspices of Commander Heinrich von Wilnowe. The castle is located on the southeastern bank of the river Nogat. It was named "Marienburg" after Mary, patron saint of the religious Order. The Order had been created in Acre (present-day Israel). When this last stronghold of the Crusades fell to Muslim Arabs, the Order moved its headquarters to Venice before arriving in Prussia.  Malbork became more and more important in the aftermath of the Teutonic Knights' conquest of Gdańsk (Danzig) and Eastern Pomerania in 1308. The Order's administrative centre was moved to Marienburg from Elbing (now Elbląg). The Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, Siegfried von Feuchtwangen, who arrived in Marienburg from Venice, undertook the next phase of the fortress' construction. In 1309, in the wake of the papal persecution of the Knights Templar and the Teutonic takeover of Danzig, Feuchtwangen relocated his headquarters to the Prussian part of the Order's monastic state. He chose the site of Marienburg conveniently located on the Nogat in the Vistula Delta. As with most cities of the time, the new centre was dependent on water for transportation.  The castle was expanded several times to house the growing number of Knights. Soon, it became the largest fortified Gothic building in Europe, on a nearly site. The castle has several subdivisions and numerous layers of defensive walls. It consists of three separate castles - the High, Middle and Lower Castles, separated by multiple dry moats and towers. The castle once housed approximately 3,000 "brothers in arms". The outermost castle walls enclose, four times the enclosed area of Windsor Castle. The developed part of the property designated as a World Heritage Site is. The favourable position of the castle on the river Nogat allowed easy access by barges and trading ships arriving from the Vistula and the Baltic Sea. During their governance, the Teutonic Knights collected river tolls from passing ships, as did other castles along the rivers. They controlled a monopoly on the trade of amber. When the city became a member of the Hanseatic League, many Hanseatic meetings were held there.  In 1361 the future Grand Duke of Lithuania Kęstutis was briefly imprisoned in the castle. In 1365, Polish King Casimir III the Great visited the castle.  In the summer of 1410, the castle was besieged following the Order's defeat by the armies of Władysław II Jagiełło and Vytautas the Great (Witold) at the Battle of Grunwald. Heinrich von Plauen successfully led the defence in the Siege of Marienburg (1410), during which the city outside was razed.  In 1456, during the Thirteen Years' War, the Order – facing opposition from its cities for raising taxes to pay ransoms for expenses associated with its wars against Kingdom of Poland – could no longer manage financially. Meanwhile, Polish General Stibor de Poniec of Ostoja raised funds from Danzig for a new campaign against them. Learning that the Order's Bohemian mercenaries had not been paid, Stibor convinced them to leave. He reimbursed them with money raised in Danzig. Following the departure of the mercenaries, King Casimir IV Jagiellon entered the castle in triumph in 1457, and in May, granted Danzig several privileges in gratitude for the town's assistance and involvement in the Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) as well as for the funds collected for the mercenaries that left. The mayor of the town around the castle, Bartholomäus Blume, resisted the Polish forces for three more years, but the Poles captured and sentenced him to death in 1460. A monument to Blume was erected in 1864.

Residence of the Polish kings.

In 1466 both castle and town became part of the Polish Malbork Voivodeship in the province of Royal Prussia. Since 1457 it served as one of the several Polish royal residences, fulfilling this function for over 300 years (over twice as long as it was headquarters of the Teutonic Order) until the Partitions of Poland in 1772. During this period the Tall Castle served as the castle's supply storehouse, while the Great Refectory was a place for balls, feasts, and other royal events. Polish Kings often stayed in the castle, especially when travelling to the nearby city of Gdańsk/Danzig. Local Polish officials resided in the castle. From 1568 the castle housed the Polish Admiralty ("Komisja Morska") and in 1584 one of the Polish Royal Mints was established here. Also, the largest arsenal of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was located in the castle. By the decision of King John II Casimir Vasa of 1652, Jesuits took care of the castle chapels of Mary and St. Anne.  During the Thirty Years' War, in 1626 and 1629 Swedish forces occupied the castle. They invaded and occupied it again from 1656 to 1660 during the Deluge. Then the castle was visited by Swedish kings Gustav Adolf (in 1626) and Charles X Gustav (in 1656).

After the Partitions of Poland.

After Prussia and the Russian Empire made the First Partition of Poland in 1772, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia and in 1773 it became part of the newly established province of West Prussia. At that time, the officials used the rather neglected castle as a poorhouse and barracks for the Prussian Army. The last Jesuits left the castle in 1780. In 1794 David Gilly, a Prussian architect and head of the Oberbaudepartement, made a structural survey of the castle, to decide about its future use or demolition. Gilly's son, Friedrich Gilly, produced several engravings of the castle and its architecture, which he exhibited in Berlin and had published by Friedrich Frick from 1799 to 1803. These engravings led the Prussian public to "rediscover" the castle and the history of the Teutonic Knights.  Johann Dominicus Fiorillo published another edition of the engravings on 12 February 1803, also wanting to encourage public interest. Max von Schenkendorf criticized the defacement of the castle. Throughout the Napoleonic period, the army used the castle as a hospital and arsenal. Napoleon has visited the castle in 1807 and 1812. After the War of the Sixth Coalition, the castle became a symbol of Prussian history and national consciousness. Initiated by Theodor von Schön, Oberpräsident of West Prussia, in 1816, restoration of the castle was begun. In 1910 the Naval Academy Mürwik in Flensburg was built. The Marienburg was a pattern for this new "Red Castle". The restoration of the Marienburg was undertaken in stages until World War II started.  With the rise of Adolf Hitler to power in the early 1930s, the Nazis used the castle as a destination for annual pilgrimages of both the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls. The Teutonic Castle at Marienburg served as a blueprint for the Order Castles of the Third Reich built under Hitler's reign. In 1945 during World War II combat in the area, more than half the castle was destroyed.

After World War II.

At the conclusion of the war, the city of Malbork and the castle became again part of Poland. The castle has been mostly reconstructed, with restoration ongoing since 1962 following a fire in 1959 which caused further damage. A significant recent restorative effort was of the main church in the castle (i.e., The Blessed Virgin Mary Church). After being restored just before World War II and then destroyed in battle, it was in a state of disrepair until a new restoration was completed in April 2016. In 1961 the Castle Museum ("") was founded and in 1965 an amber exhibition was opened. Malbork Castle remains the largest brick complex in Europe.

The Castle of the Teutonic Order in Malbork (; ) is a 13th-century Teutonic castle and fortress located near the town of Malbork, Poland. It is the largest castle in the world measured by land area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

马尔堡城堡(德语:Marienburg、波兰语:Zamek w Malborku),条顿骑士团曾称玛丽安堡,位于波兰马尔堡,曾为德意志条顿骑士团总部,有人认为他是欧洲最大的砖构造建筑物。在德意志帝国统治时期,为德意志第一个国家纪念物。第二次世界大战时城堡大半被毁。1945年后,马尔堡成为波兰领土。1962年开始重建工程。1997年为联合国教科文组织列为世界文化遗产。该地区共有两项与条顿骑士团有关的世界遗产,另一项为托伦的中世纪城镇。


History.

Formation and "Contradictions Collapse" (1987–1994).

In 1985, guitarist Fredrik Thordendal formed a band in Umeå, a college town in northern Sweden with a population of 105,000. The band, originally named Metallien, recorded a number of demo tapes, after which it disbanded. Thordendal, however, continued playing under a different name with new band members.  Meshuggah was formed in 1987 by lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Jens Kidman, and took the name Meshuggah from the Yiddish word for "crazy", which is derived from Hebrew word. Kidman found the word in an American street slang dictionary. The band recorded several demos before Kidman left, which prompted the remaining members to disband. Kidman then formed a new band, Calipash, with guitarist Thordendal, bassist Peter Nordin and drummer Niklas Lundgren. Kidman, who also played guitar, and Thordendal decided to restore the name Meshuggah for the new band.  On February 3, 1989, Meshuggah released the self-titled, three-song EP "Meshuggah", which is commonly known as "Psykisk Testbild" (a title that could be translated as "Psychological Test-Picture"). This 12" (30 cm) vinyl EP had only 1,000 copies released, sold by local record store Garageland. The EP's back cover features the band members with cheese doodles on their faces.  After replacing drummer Niklas Lundgren with Tomas Haake in 1990, Meshuggah signed a contract with German heavy metal record label Nuclear Blast and recorded its debut full-length album, "Contradictions Collapse". The LP, originally entitled "(All this because of) Greed", was released on January 1, 1991. The album received positive reviews, but was not a commercial success. Soon after, Kidman decided to concentrate on vocals, and rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström, who had already played in a band with Haake when they were in sixth grade, was recruited. The new lineup recorded the EP "None" at Tonteknik Recordings in Umeå in 1994 for release later that year. A Japanese version was also released, including lyrics printed in Japanese.  During this period, Thordendal, who was working as a carpenter, severed the tip of his left middle finger, while Haake injured his hand in a router accident. As a result, the band was unable to perform for several months. Thordendal's fingertip was later reattached, and he went on to make a full recovery. The "Selfcaged" EP was recorded in April and May 1994, but its release was delayed to later in 1995 due to the accidents.

"Destroy Erase Improve" (1995–1997).

In January 1995, Meshuggah undertook a short European tour organized by its record label Nuclear Blast. Afterwards, the band returned to the studio to record the album "Destroy Erase Improve" at Soundfront Studios in Uppsala, with Daniel Bergstrand as a producer. Shortly thereafter, the band went on a European tour supporting Machine Head for two months. During the tour, Nordin became ill and experienced difficulties with his inner ear balance. Due to the resulting chronic dizziness and vertigo, Nordin was forced to leave the tour and travel to Sweden. Machine Head's bassist Adam Duce offered to cover his absence; however, Meshuggah decided to continue as a four-piece. Sometimes Thordendal played bass, while other times the band performed with two guitars. In this lineup, Hagström would use a pitch shifter to play his guitar at an octave lower than usual.  "Destroy Erase Improve" was released in May 1995, with positive response from critics for the "heady tempos and abstract approach". Kidman described the album cover: "The title fits the pictures we cut out and stole from reference books in the library."  In mid-1995, Meshuggah had a short tour with Swedish band Clawfinger in Scandinavia and Germany. Nordin had to leave the band because of his sickness and was replaced by bassist Gustaf Hielm during the tour. In late 1995, Meshuggah went on a month-long tour with Hypocrisy.  During 1996 and 1997, Thordendal worked on his solo album "Sol Niger Within", which was released in March 1997 in Scandinavia and in April in Japan. He also hosted Mats/Morgan Band's debut. In 1997, Meshuggah recorded an unreleased demo, toured occasionally, and played a few concerts in its hometown. In May, Meshuggah moved to Stockholm to be closer to its management and the record industry in general.  The EP "The True Human Design" was recorded and released in late 1997. It contained one new song entitled "Sane", and one live and two alternate versions of "Destroy Erase Improve"'s opening track "Future Breed Machine". Thordendal's solo album "Sol Niger Within" was simultaneously released in the United States, and Meshuggah started to plan its next album at the end of the year.

"Chaosphere" and "Nothing" (1998–2002).

Hielm officially joined the band in January 1998 after more than two years as a session member. Nuclear Blast re-released "Contradictions Collapse" with the addition of songs from the "None" EP. In May 1998, the title of the next album, "Chaosphere", was reported and recording began. Immediately after recording the album, Meshuggah went on a short US tour, and the album was released later in November 1998. Chaosphere's sound is an almost complete departure from the thrash metal style of the band's previous releases. Shortly after the release, Meshuggah toured Scandinavia with Entombed.  In early 1999, Meshuggah joined Slayer on their U.S. tour. After the new album and the live performances, Meshuggah was beginning to be recognized by mainstream music, guitar, drum and metal magazines. In mid-1999, Meshuggah performed in several Swedish concerts. The band started to write some new material but reported in mid-2000 that "songwriting isn't that dramatic, but we're getting there slowly". While fans were waiting for the next album, a collection of demos (from the "Psykisk Testbild" EP), remixes and unreleased songs from the "Chaosphere" sessions were released as the "Rare Trax" album. Hielm left the band in July 2001 for unclear reasons. Meshuggah joined Tool on a lengthy tour, playing for more than 100,000 people total.  In March 2002, Meshuggah recorded three-track demos with programmed drums in their home studio, which were based on Haake's sample "Drumkit from Hell". The upcoming album was recorded in five to six weeks in May and was produced by the band at Dug-Out Studios in Uppsala and at its home studio in Stockholm. The last-minute decision to join 2002's Ozzfest tour forced the band to mix the album in two days and master it in one. Meshuggah immediately went on another US tour after finishing the recording.  The album "Nothing" was released in August 2002, selling 6,525 copies during its first week in the US and reaching No. 165 on the "Billboard" 200. With this album, Meshuggah became the first band in the history of Nuclear Blast Records to crack the "Billboard" 200 and also became the first band signed to Nuclear Blast to be reviewed in "Rolling Stone" magazine. Meshuggah's previous two releases, 1998's "Chaosphere" and 1995's "Destroy Erase Improve", have sold 38,773 and 30,712 copies to that date, respectively. The CD booklet of "Nothing" has no liner notes, lyrics, or credits, only a hint of one word: "ingenting", which is Swedish for "nothing". All of this information is available on the CD-ROM. At the end of 2002, the band went on another US tour with Tool and a headlining tour of its own.

"I" and "Catch Thirtythree" (2003–2006).

In 2003, Hagström hinted at the direction of the band's next album by saying, "There's only one thing I really feel that is important. We've never measured our success in terms of sales, because we're quite an extreme band. It's more that people understand where we're coming from. I get more out of a fan coming up and saying that we've totally changed their way of looking on metal music, than having like 200 kids buy it. I mean, it would be nice for the money, but that's not why we're in it. So what I'd like to see is that we keep progressing. Keeping the core of what Meshuggah has always been, but exploring the bar, so to speak. "Destroy Erase Improve" was like exploring the dynamics of the band, "Chaosphere" was exploring the aggressiveness, the all-out side, and "Nothing" is more of a sinister, dark, pretty slow album, actually. So honestly, now I don't know where we're going. It might be a mix of all of them." In February 2004, bassist Dick Lövgren joined Meshuggah. The band then recorded and released the "I" EP, which contains a single, 21-minute track, released on Fractured Transmitter Records. Meshuggah spent about six months in total on recording the EP. "Catch Thirtythree", the only Meshuggah album on which programmed drums have been used, was released the following year in May 2005. Seven thousand copies of "Catch Thirtythree" were sold the first week, and it debuted at No. 170 on the "Billboard" 200 chart in June 2005. The video for the track "Shed" was released in June, and the previous album "Nothing" sold approximately 80,000 copies in the United States to that date, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Catch Thirtythree" earned the band a Swedish Grammy nomination. In October 2005, German band Rammstein released a single of their song "Benzin" with a remixed version by Meshuggah.  In December 2005, 10 years after signing its first record deal with the publishing company Warner/Chappell Music Scandinavia, Meshuggah extended its cooperation with the company. In November 2005, Haake said in an interview that the band was not content with the productions of "Chaosphere" and "Nothing", because, being on tour, they had little time to devote to them.<ref name="Allmusic Nothing [CD/DVD]"></ref>  A remixed and remastered version of "Nothing" with rerecorded guitars was released in a custom-shaped slipcase featuring a three-dimensional hologram card on October 31, 2006, via Nuclear Blast Records. The release also includes a bonus DVD featuring the band's appearance at the Download 2005 festival and the official music videos of "Rational Gaze", "Shed" and "New Millennium Cyanide Christ".

"obZen" and "Koloss" (2007–2013).

Meshuggah returned to the studio to record "obZen", which was released in March 2008. The band spent almost a year on the album, its longest recording session yet. A significant portion of the year was spent learning to perform the songs they wrote; the recording itself took six months. "obZen" reached No. 59 on the "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 11,400 U.S. copies in its first week of release and 50,000 copies after six months. With "obZen", Meshuggah received more media attention and attracted new fans. The release was followed by a world tour, which started in the U.S. and proceeded to Europe, Asia and Australia.  In May 2008, Meshuggah published a music video for the song "Bleed", which was produced by Ian McFarland and was written, directed and edited by Mike Pecci and Ian McFarland. Killswitch Productions said: "It's extremely cool to work with a band who is willing to allow the music and imagery to speak for itself and who does not insist on themselves being the prominent focus of the video."  In January 2009, "obZen" was nominated for the Swedish Grammis award in the "Best Hard Rock" category. In February 2009, Haake announced that the band was planning a concert DVD and a studio album. In April, Meshuggah was forced to cancel its Scandinavian shows in early 2009, due to Haake's herniated disc in his lower back, which was causing problems with his right foot when playing. Haake later underwent a surgery and recovered for European summer festivals.  The concert DVD entitled "Alive" was released on February 5, 2010 in Europe and February 9 in North America. Thordendal started to work on a second solo album in June 2010 with the Belgian drummer Dirk Verbeuren.  The seventh studio album, "Koloss", was released on March 23, 2012 in Germany, on March 26 in the rest of Europe, and March 27 in North America. "Koloss" reached No. 17 on the Billboard Top 200, and sold 18,342 copies in its first week. In Sweden, it reached No. 12.

"Pitch Black" and "The Violent Sleep of Reason" (2013–present).

On February 5, 2013, Meshuggah released a free two-track EP entitled "Pitch Black" with Scion A/V. The EP features a previously unreleased track, "Pitch Black", that was recorded by Fredrik Thordendal in 2003 at Fear and Loathing, in Stockholm Sweden. The second track is a live recording of "Dancers to a Discordant System" from "obZen". The track was recorded at Distortion Fest in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on December 9, 2012.  On May 12, 2016, Meshuggah released a teaser video on their YouTube page and confirmed that their next studio album was to be released in late 2016. On July 28, 2016, the title was revealed to be "The Violent Sleep of Reason", and was given an October 7 release date. "The Violent Sleep of Reason" was shortlisted by IMPALA (The Independent Music Companies Association) for the Album of the Year Award 2016, which rewards on a yearly basis the best album released on an independent European label.  On June 2, 2017, Meshuggah announced that Thordendal would take a leave from touring with the band; he will be temporarily replaced by Per Nilsson from Scar Symmetry. In 2018, Meshuggah received a Grammy nomination for their song "Clockworks" under the "Best Metal Performance" category.  In a November 2019 interview, Hagström hinted that the band has begun working on a new album.

Musical style.

Meshuggah's experimentation, stylistic variation and changes during its career cross several musical subgenres. Heavy metal subgenres experimental metal or avant-garde metal are umbrella terms that enable description of the career of the band in general. Extreme metal crosses both thrash metal and death metal (or technical death metal), which are at root of the sound of Meshuggah's music, which has also been described as groove metal. The band has also been labelled as math metal and progressive metal. Meshuggah also incorporates elements of experimental jazz. In its review of "Nothing", Allmusic describes Meshuggah as "masterminds of cosmic calculus metal—call it Einstein metal if you want". Meshuggah's early output was also considered alternative metal. Meshuggah creates a recognizable sonic imprint and distinct style.  Trademarks and characteristics that define Meshuggah's sound and songwriting include polyrhythms, polymetered riff cycles, rhythmic syncopation, rapid key and tempo changes and neo-jazz chromatics. Hagström notes that "it doesn't really matter if something is hard to play or not. The thing is, what does it do to your mind when you listen to it? Where does it take you?" A trademark of Thordendal is jazz fusion-like soloing and improvisation. He is also known for the usage of a "breath controller" device. Haake is known for his cross-rhythm drumming with "jazzlike cadence". The vocal style of Jens Kidman varies between hardcore-style shouts and "robotic" death metal vocals.  In polymeters typically used by Meshuggah, the guitars might play in odd meters such as 5/16 or 17/16, while drums play in 4/4. One particular example of Haake's use of polymeter is 4/4 against 23/16 bimeter, in which he keeps the hi-hat and ride cymbal in 4/4 time but uses the snare and double bass drums in 23/16 time. On "Rational Gaze" (from "Nothing"), Haake plays simple 4/4 time, hitting the snare on each third beat, for 16 bars. At the same time, the guitars and bass are playing same quarter notes, albeit in a different time signature; eventually both sides meet up again at the 64th beat. Hagström notes about the polymeters, "We've never really been into the odd time signatures we get accused of using. Everything we do is based around a 4/4 core. It's just that we arrange parts differently around that center to make it seem like something else is going on."

"Contradictions Collapse", "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere".

The early work of Meshuggah, influenced mainly by Metallica, is "simpler and more straightforward than their more recent material, but some of their more progressive elements are present in the form of time-changes and polyrhythmics, and Fredrik Thordendal's lead playing stands out". According to Allmusic, their debut album is a relatively immature, but original, release. Double bass drums and "angular" riffing also defined the early work of Meshuggah.  With the groundbreaking "Destroy Erase Improve", Meshuggah showed fusion of death metal, thrash metal, progressive metal. Allmusic describes the style as "weaving hardcore-style shouts amongst deceptively (and deviously) simple staccato guitar riffs and insanely precise drumming—often with all three components acting in different time signatures". Thordendal adds the melodic element with his typical lead guitar and uses his "breath controller" device most famously on the opening track "Future Breed Machine".  "Chaosphere" incorporates typically fast, still tempo changing death metal. Allmusic compares the genre also with grindcore fathers Napalm Death. Rockdetector states: "Whilst fans reveled in the maze like meanderings, critics struggled to dissect and analyze, hailing Haake's unconventional use of dual 4/4 and 23/16 rhythm, Kidman's mechanical staccato bark and Thordendal's liberal usage of avant-garde jazz".

"Nothing", "I" and "Catch Thirtythree".

On "Nothing", Meshuggah abandons the fast tempos of "Chaosphere" and concentrates on slow, tuned down tempos and grooves. The album was intended to be recorded using custom-made Nevborn eight-string guitars, but the prototypes were faulty so Thordendal and Hagström used detuned Ibanez seven-string guitars instead. This technique, which involved keeping the instruments untuned during the sessions, created additional problems. When Ibanez provided Meshuggah with special eight-string guitars with two extra-low strings that worked properly after the initial release, the band re-recorded the guitar parts for "Nothing" and re-released it in 2006. Hagström notes that this allowed the band to go lower sonically and to attain bass sounds on guitars.  The "I" EP contains a single, 21-minute song of complex arrangements and was a hint of the forthcoming album, 2005's "Catch Thirtythree". The EP, which has never been played live by the band, was written and recorded during jamming sessions of Haake and Thordendal. On "Catch Thirtythree", Meshuggah again used eight-string guitars, but utilized programmed drums for the first time also for the release, with the exception of two songs from 2001's compilation "Rare Trax". The album was self-produced by the band and was recorded at the studio that Meshuggah shares with Clawfinger. Hagström notes, "The eight-strings really have given us a whole new musical vocabulary to work with. Part of it is the restrictions they impose: you really can't play power chords with them; the sound just turns to mush. Instead, we concentrated on coming up with really unusual single-note parts, new tunings and chord voicings. We wanted to get as far away from any kind of conventions and traditions as we could on the album, so the guitars worked out beautifully."  "Catch Thirtythree" is one 47-minute song divided into 13 sections. It is more mid-tempo guitar riff based, and a more straightforward and experimental full-length album than "Chaosphere" or "Nothing". Nick Terry of "Decibel Magazine" describes the album as a four-movement symphony. Some songs still use Meshuggah's "familiar template combining harsh vocals and nightmarish melodies over coarse, mechanically advancing, oddball tempos", while others explore ambient sounds and quieter dynamics. The first part of "Catch Thirtythree" centers around two simple riffs. In the song "In Death - Is Death", the band uses a combination of noise and silence, which is in contrast with the atypical melodies on "Dehumanization". On "Mind's Mirrors", Meshuggah used electronics, programming and "robotic voices". "Shed" incorporates tribal percussion and whispered vocals.

"obZen".

With 2008's "obZen", Meshuggah moved away from the experimentation of 2002's "Nothing" and 2005's "Catch Thirtythree" to return to the musical style of its previous albums, such as "Contradictions Collapse", "Destroy Erase Improve" and "Chaosphere", while still maintaining its focus on musical and technical innovation. The album loses some of the quick, mathematical rhythmic changes of past releases and the melodic orchestration of "Catch Thirty-Three" and uses "angular" riffs, mid-tempo and common 4/4 beats. The album is a culmination of the band's previous work. Meshuggah decided to self-produce because it sought to retain artistic control over the recording and mixing process.  For "obZen", Haake returned to the drum kit most notably with his performance on the song "Bleed". In an interview for Gravemusic.com, Haake stated, "['Bleed'] was a big effort for me to learn, I had to find a totally new approach to playing the double bass drums to be able to do that stuff. I had never really done anything like that before like the fast bursts that go all the way through the song basically. So I actually spent as much time practicing that track alone as I did with all of the other tracks combined. It's kind of a big feat to change your approach like that and I'm glad we were able to nail it for the album. For a while though we didn't even know if it was going to make it to the album." Hagström also stated, ""obZen" is one of the most highly technical offerings the band has ever put to tape". "Revolver Magazine" confirms this statement: "At first listen, "obZen" seems less challenging to the listener than some of the band's other records, and most of the songs flow smoothly from one syncopated passage to the next. However, careful examination reveals that the material is some of the group's most complicated".

"Koloss".

A common quality in "Koloss" identified by multiple critics and outlets is the album's relative straightforward, more groove-oriented sound, summed up by "Metal Sucks" as the band having "streamlined their compositions to a great extent." The broad style of the record has been described as "primal" and featuring "less jazzy virtuosity" than the band's previous output. "Pitchfork" noted that the record's rawer production style advanced this "tribal" sound further. The album invokes a greater sound of menace and "darkness" according to Metal Injection; additionally, Jens Kidman's vocals were described as "exponetially more anguished" than previous works. "Metal Injection" further compared the sound of the "Koloss"'s closing track "The Last Vigil" to works by the instrumental band Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The record's guitar riffs have been noted as deviating somewhat from Meshuggah's earlier catalog, with "SPIN" identifying a "an almost bluesy swing" in the playing style. "SPIN" further elaborated on the guitar leads, comparing the solos in "The Demon's Name is Surveillance" and "Marrow" to the (non-metal) works of experimental composer Philip Glass and jazz-guitarist Allan Holdsworth respectively.

"The Violent Sleep of Reason".

For their eighth album, the band recorded live in studio, a production style they hadn't pursued in reportedly "20, 25 years". On rejecting the computerized format of recording of their previous albums, Haake said ""Obzen" and "Koloss" are great albums, but, to me, they are a little too perfect. It didn't really capture what we sounded like honestly. But where we recorded live, you get to hear the push and pull, one person might be a little ahead and the other might be a little behind. If you kill that, you can kill the energy."

Reception.

Meshuggah has become known for its innovative musical style that evolves between each release and pushes heavy metal into new territory, and for its technical prowess. Hagström comments: "We try never to repeat ourselves." Rockdetector stated about "Destroy Erase Improve": "[T]he band...stripped Metal down to the bare essentials before completely rebuilding it in a totally abstract form". The official Meshuggah biography comments on "Chaosphere" by noting that "Some fans felt that Meshuggah had left their dynamic and progressive elements behind; while others thought they were only progressing naturally and focusing on their original sound." The band's website also describes "Nothing" as displaying "a very mature and convincing Meshuggah, now focusing on groove and sound...Meshuggah once again divided their fans into the 'ecstatic' and the'slightly disappointed'". The polyrhythms can make the music sound cacophonous, like band members are playing different songs simultaneously. Listeners perceiving a polyrhythm often either extract a composite pattern that is fitted to a metric framework, or focus on one rhythmic stream while treating others as "noise".  "Rolling Stone" labeled Meshuggah as "one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands", and the "Alternative Press" named it the "most important band in metal." Meshuggah has been described as virtuoso or genius-bordering musicians, "recognized by mainstream music magazines, especially those dedicated to particular instruments". In 2007, Meshuggah earned an in-depth analysis by the academic journal "Music Theory Spectrum". Meshuggah has found little mainstream success but is a significant act in extreme underground music, an influence for modern metal bands and has a cult following. Meshuggah inspired the "djent" subgenre in progressive metal, that describes an "elastic, syncopated guitar riff" with its name.

Songwriting, recording and lyrics.

Meshuggah's music is written by Thordendal, Hagström and Haake with assistance from Kidman and Lövgren. During songwriting, a member programs the drums, and records the guitar and bass via computer. He presents his idea to the other members as a finished work. Meshuggah typically adheres to the original idea and rarely changes the song afterwards. Hagström explains that each member has an idea of what the others are doing conceptually, and nobody thinks exclusively in terms of a particular instrument. Kidman does not play guitar in the band anymore, but he is involved in writing riffs.  Except for when Hagström needs a soloist, he and Thordendal rarely record together. Both play guitar and bass while composing. Haake says about his songwriting, "Sometimes I'll sample guitar parts, cut them up, pitch-shift and tweak them until I've built the riffs I want, just for demoing purposes. But most of the time I'll just present the drums, and explain my ideas for the rest of the song, sing some riffs." The band uses Cubase to record the tracks, and the guitars are routed through software amplifier modeling, because it allows them to change the amp settings even after the song was fully recorded.  Approximately once a year, Haake writes most of the band's lyrics, with the exception of finished tracks. His lyrical inspirations are derived from books and films. Aside from their album "Catch Thirtythree", Meshuggah does not usually record concept albums, although the band prefers strong conceptual underpinnings in the background.  Often esoteric and conceptual, Meshuggah's lyrics explore themes such as existentialism. Allmusic describes "Destroy Erase Improve"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> lyrical focus as "the integration of machines with organisms as humanity's next logical evolutionary step". PopMatters' review of "Nothing" singles out the lyrics from "Rational Gaze": "Our light-induced image of truth—filtered blank of its substance / As our eyes won't adhere to intuitive lines / Everything examined. Separated, one thing at a time / The harder we stare the more complete the disintegration." Haake explains that "Catch Thirtythree"<nowiki>'s</nowiki> cover, title and lyrics deal with "the paradoxes/negations/contradictions of life and death (as we see it in our finest moments of unrestrained metaphoric interpretation)".  The main theme of "obZen" is "human evil", according to Haake. The title is a play on the words "obscene" and "Zen"; in addition, "ob" means "anti" in Latin. Therefore, the title suggests that the human species has found harmony and balance in warfare and bloodshed. "Revolver Magazine" finds the lyrics of the title track from "obZen" representative of the entire album: "Salvation found in vomit and blood/Where depravation, lies, corruption/War and pain is god." However, Haake claims, "We don't dwell on hate and bad feelings as people. But with these songs, I think we really wanted to paint a picture lyrically that might be seen as a cautionary tale. We're going, 'Heads up. Here's what some of the parts of being human are about, and this is what we can be at our worst.' So it's more about being aware of negative feelings than actually living them all the time."

Awards and nominations.

Loudwire Music Awards Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards Revolver Golden Gods Awards Decibel Magazine IMPALA Grammy Awards

Meshuggah () is a Swedish extreme metal band from Umeå, formed in 1987. Meshuggah's current lineup consists of founding members lead vocalist Jens Kidman and lead guitarist Fredrik Thordendal, drummer Tomas Haake since 1990, rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström since 1993 and bassist Dick Lövgren since 2004. Since its formation, the band has released eight studio albums, six EPs and eight music videos. Their latest studio album, "The Violent Sleep of Reason", was released on 7 October 2016. Meshuggah has become known for their innovative musical style, complex, polymetered song structures and polyrhythms, thus rose to fame as a significant act in extreme underground music, an influence for modern metal bands and has a cult following. The band was labelled as one of the ten most important hard rock and heavy metal bands by "Rolling Stone" and as the most important band in metal by "Alternative Press". In the late 2000s, the band was an inspiration for the djent subgenre.

Meshuggah 是瑞典于默奥的极端金属乐队,成立于1987年。Meshuggah的阵容有创始人兼主唱Jens Kidman、主音吉他手Fredrik Thordendal、鼓手Tomas Haake(1990年加入)、节奏吉他手Mårten Hagström(1993年加入)以及贝斯手Dick Lövgren(2004年加入)。


Direction de la surveillance du territoire

History.

According to a 2003 book, the DST has never been infiltrated by any foreign agency in all of its history.  During the Algerian War (1954–62), the agency created the Organization of the French Algerian Resistance (ORAF), a group of counter-terrorists whose mission was to carry out false flag terrorist attacks with the aim of quashing any hopes of political compromise.  On 3 December 1973, agents of the DST, disguised as plumbers, were caught trying to install a spy microphone in the offices of the "Canard Enchaîné" newspaper. The resulting scandal forced Interior Minister Raymond Marcellin to leave the government.  Reporter Marie-Monique Robin, author of a book investigating relationship between the Algerian War and Operation Condor, said to "L'Humanité" newspaper that "[the] French have systematized a military technique in urban environments which would be copied and pasted to Latin American dictatorships." Roger Trinquier's famous book on counter-insurgency had a very strong influence in South America. Robin was "shocked" to learn that the DST communicated to the Chilean DINA the name of the refugees who returned to Chile (Operation Retorno), all of whom were later killed.  One of the greatest success of the DST was the recruitment of the Soviet KGB officer Vladimir Vetrov. Between the spring of 1981 and early 1982 he handed almost 4,000 secret documents over to the French, including the complete official list of 250 Line X KGB officers stationed under legal cover in embassies around the world, before being arrested in February 1982 and executed in 1983.

Directors of the DST.

On 1 July 2008 the DST and the DCRG merged, becoming the Direction Centrale du Renseignement Intérieur (DCRI; English: General Directorate for Internal Security). Bernard Squarcini assumed its leadership on 2 July 2008.

The Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST; ) was a directorate of the French National Police operating as a domestic intelligence agency. It was responsible for counterespionage, counterterrorism and more generally the security of France against foreign threats and interference. It was created in 1944 with its headquarters situated at 7 rue Nélaton in Paris. On 1 July 2008, it was merged with the "Direction centrale des renseignements généraux" into the new "Direction centrale du renseignement intérieur".

国土情报监测部门(,缩写为DST)是1944年至2008年间法国的一个对内情报机构。它负责反间谍、反恐怖、反外来威胁和干涉以及维护法国安全的。它创建于1944年,其总部坐落在巴黎。 2008年7月1日,领土监护局和普通情报局(,缩写为DCRG)合并为国内情报总局(,缩写为DCRI)。


Early life and business career.

Hopp grew up in Hoffenheim, a small village in Baden Württemberg, Southern Germany. His father, Emil Hopp, was a Truppführer of the Nazi Party paramilitary organization Sturmabteilung, and led as a commanding officer destruction of a synagogue in Hoffenheim during the Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938.  After graduating from high school with an Abitur, he studied telecommunications engineering in Karlsruhe until 1966. After graduating from university, he worked as a software developer and consultant at IBM.  In 1972, he founded SAP SE with five other former IBM colleagues Hans Werner Hector, Klaus Tschira, Claus Wellenreuther and Hasso Plattner. He remained CEO of SAP SE (then SAP AG) from 1988 until 1998, chairman of its supervisory board from 1998 until 2003 and member of the board from 2003 until 2005. He kept about 10% of the company's shares after leaving the board.  He continues investing into various minor companies and his Dietmar-Hopp-Stiftung, a philantrophic foundation, has spent hundred of millions of Euros for medicine, education and other charity in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Hopp is the chief financial backer of the German football club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, a club located close to his childhood home and which he played for as a teenager.  After suffering a devastating loss in 1990, Hopp decided to invest money into his former club, which was playing in the lowest tiers of the German football league system (Kreisliga) at that time. Due to his financial aid, the club became a major force in the region by the early 2000s, reaching Germany's third division (Regionalliga). In 2005, Hopp massively intensified his investments and aimed for the promotion to the Bundesliga, Germany's top division. Hopp spent large amounts of money on new players and coach Ralf Rangnick and Hoffenheim managed two consecutive promotions and eventually entered the Bundesliga in 2008, which it has played in since then.  Hopp also spent €100 million to build a new 30,000-seat stadium, the Rhein-Neckar-Arena near Sinsheim, for the club.  Altogether, Hopp has estimatedly invested more than €350 million into the club.  Hopp and his influence on the club has been criticised since Hoffenheim's promotion to the Bundesliga. The club has been labeled as a "plastic club", as its success is largely based on Hopp's financial aid. Hopp has been verbally attacked by other fans multiple times, leading to several arrests and fines.

Personal life.

Hopp is married to Anneliese Zeuner, they have two sons, and live in Walldorf, Germany.

Dietmar Hopp (born 26 April 1940) is a German software entrepreneur and billionaire. He was one of the founders of SAP SE in 1972 with other former IBM employees Hans Werner Hector, Klaus Tschira, Claus Wellenreuther and Hasso Plattner.

迪特马·霍普(,1940年-4月26日)是一名德国软件企业家。1972年,他与其他IBM前雇员、、 和哈索·普拉特纳一同创办了SAP公司。


约翰·范·欧登巴内菲尔德

Early political life.

Van Oldenbarnevelt served as a volunteer for the relief of Haarlem (1573) and again at Leiden (1574). He was married in 1575 to Maria van Utrecht. In 1576 he obtained the important post of pensionary of Rotterdam, an office which carried with it official membership of the States of Holland. In this capacity his industry, singular grasp of affairs, and persuasive powers of speech speedily gained for him a position of influence. He was active in promoting the Union of Utrecht (1579) and the offer of the countship of Holland and Zeeland to William the Silent (prevented by William’s death in 1584). He was a fierce opponent of the policies of the Earl of Leicester, the governor‐general at the time, and instead favoured Maurice of Nassau, a son of William. Leicester left in 1587, leaving the military power in the Netherlands to Maurice. During the governorship of Leicester, Van Oldenbarnevelt was the leader of the strenuous opposition offered by the States of Holland to the centralizing policy of the governor.

Becomes Land's Advocate.

On 16 March 1586, Van Oldenbarnevelt, in succession to Paulus Buys, became Land's Advocate of Holland for the States of Holland and West Friesland, an office he held for 32 years. This great office, given to a man of commanding ability and industry, offered unbounded influence in a multi-headed republic without any central executive authority. Though nominally the servant of the States of Holland, Van Oldenbarnevelt made himself the political personification of the province which bore more than half the entire charge of the union. As mouthpiece of the "ridderschap" (College of Nobles), with one vote in the States of Holland, he practically dominated that assembly. In a brief period, he became entrusted with such large and far-reaching authority in all details of administration, that he became the virtual Prime minister of the Dutch republic.  During the two critical years following the withdrawal of Leicester, the Advocate's statesmanship kept the United Provinces from collapsing under their own inherent separatist tendencies. This prevented the United Provinces from becoming an easy conquest for the formidable army of Alexander of Parma. Also of good fortune for the Netherlands, the attention of Philip II of Spain was at its greatest weakness, instead focused on a contemplated invasion of England. Spain's lack of attention coupled with the United Province's lack of central, organized government allowed Van Oldenbarnevelt to gain control of administrative affairs. His task was made easier by receiving whole-hearted support from Maurice of Nassau, who, after 1589, held the office of Stadholderate of five provinces. He was also Captain-General and Admiral of the Union.  The interests and ambitions of Van Oldenbarnevelt and Maurice did not clash. Indeed, Maurice's thoughts were centered on training and leading armies, and he had no special capacity as a statesman or desire for politics. Their first rift came in 1600, when Maurice was forced against his will by the States-General, under the Advocate's influence, to undertake a military expedition to Flanders. The expedition was saved from disaster by desperate efforts that ended in victory at the Nieuwpoort.  In 1598, Van Oldenbarnevelt took part in special diplomatic missions to King Henry IV of France and Queen Elizabeth I of England, and again in 1605 in a special mission sent to congratulate King James I of England on his accession. He initiated and brokered the action that founded the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) amalgamating half a dozen companies that traded on the Far East (the first from 1595) into one in 1602. The VOC would trade for two centuries. In 1612 the VOC developed the model for the corporation of using joint stock ownership by share holders, who could only get their investment back by selling its shares at a stock exchange, also an Oldenbarnevelt initiative. The basic principle of the model was over time adopted worldwide.  As leader of the delegation of Holland in the States-General Oldenbarnevelt also dominated Dutch diplomacy. He led the negotiations with the Spanish Crown which led to the Twelve Years' Truce in 1609.

Religious conflict in the Netherlands.

The immediate effect of the truce was a strengthening of Van Oldenbarnevelt's influence in the government of the Dutch Republic, now recognized as a free and independent state; external peace, however, was to bring with it internal strife. For some years there had been a war of words between the religious parties, the strict Calvinist Gomarists (or Contra-Remonstrants) and the Arminians.  In 1610 the Arminians, henceforth known as Remonstrants, drew up a petition, known as the Remonstrance, in which they asked that their tenets (defined in the Five Articles of Remonstrance) should be submitted to a national synod, summoned by the civil government. It was no secret that this action of the Arminians was taken with the approval and connivance of Van Oldenbarnevelt, who was an upholder of the principle of toleration in religious opinions.  The Gomarists in reply drew up a Contra-Remonstrance in seven articles, and called for a purely church synod. The whole land was henceforth divided into Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants; the States of Holland under the influence of Van Oldenbarnevelt supported the former (Remonstrants), and refused to sanction the summoning of a purely church synod (1613). They likewise (1614) forbade the preachers in the Province of Holland to treat the disputed subjects from their pulpits.  Obedience was difficult to enforce without military help. Riots broke out in certain towns, exacerbated by social tensions due to worsening economic conditions. When Maurice was appealed to, as Captain‐General, he declined to act. Though in no sense a theologian, he then declared himself on the side of the Contra-Remonstrants, and established a preacher of that persuasion in a church in The Hague (1617).

Holland declares sovereign independence (Scherpe Resolutie).

The Advocate now took a bold step. He proposed that the States of Holland should, on their own authority, as a sovereign province, raise a local force of 4000 men ("waardgelders") to keep the peace.  The States-General, meanwhile, by a bare majority (4 provinces to 3) agreed to the summoning of a national church synod. The States of Holland, also by a narrow majority, refused their assent to this, and passed, on 4 August 1617, a strong resolution ("Scherpe Resolutie") by which all magistrates, officials and soldiers in the pay of the province were, on pain of dismissal, required to take an oath of obedience to the States of Holland and to be held accountable not to the ordinary tribunals but to the States of Holland.  The States‐General of the Republic saw it as a declaration of sovereign independence on the part of Holland and decided to take action. A commission was appointed, with Maurice at its head, to compel the disbanding of the "waardgelders". On 31 July 1618, the Stadholder, at the head of a body of troops, appeared at Utrecht, which had thrown in its lot with Holland. At his order the local militias laid down their arms.  His progress through the towns of Holland met with no military opposition. The States party was crushed without a battle being fought.

Arrest and trial.

On 29 August 1618, by order of the States-General, Van Oldenbarnevelt and his chief supporters, Hugo Grotius, Gilles van Ledenberg, and Rombout Hogerbeets, and others were arrested or lost their political positions in government.  Van Oldenbarnevelt was, with his friends, kept in strict confinement until November of that year, and then brought for examination before a commission appointed by the States-General. He appeared more than 60 times before the commissioners and the whole course of his official life was severely examined. During the period of inquest, he was neither allowed to consult papers nor put his defense in writing.  On 20 February 1619, Van Oldenbarnevelt was arraigned before a special court of twenty-four members, only half of whom were Hollanders, and nearly all of whom were personal enemies. This "ad hoc" judicial commission was necessary, because, unlike in the individual provinces, the federal government did not have a judicial branch. Normally the accused would be brought before the "Hof van Holland" or the "Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland," the highest courts in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland; however, in this case, the alleged crime was against the "Generaliteit", or federal government, and required adjudication by the States-General, acting as highest court in the land. As was customary in similar cases (for instance, the later trial of the judges in the case of the Amboyna massacre), the trial was delegated to a commission. Of course, the accused contested the competence of the court, as they contested the residual sovereignty of the States-General, but their protest was disregarded.

Death and legacy.

It was in fact, according to critics, a kangaroo court. The stacked bench of judges decided the verdict on Saturday 11 May 1619 and it was announced to the old man on Sunday afternoon. Attempts to obtain a pardon, or at least a commutation of the sentence of death, were made by Maurice's stepmother, Louise de Coligny and the French ambassador Benjamin Aubery du Maurier, but in vain. On Monday, 13 May 1619, the death sentence was read to Van Oldenbarnevelt and the same morning the old statesman, at the age of seventy-one, was beheaded in the Binnenhof, in The Hague. His last words to the gathered crowd were: "Men, do not believe I am a traitor, I have acted sincerely and piously, as a good patriot, and I shall die this way." Van Oldenbarnevelt's last words to the executioner were purportedly: "Make it short, make it short." He was buried under the Court Chapel (Hofkapel) at the Binnenhof.  During Van Oldenbarnevelt's captivity his servant Jan Francken kept a diary, forty pages long at the time of his execution; a copy was made in 1825 for wider dissemination, but the original then disappeared until it was rediscovered in 2018.  The States of Holland noted in their Resolution book, on 13 May, that Van Oldenbarnevelt had been: "...a man of great business, activity, memory and wisdom – yes, extra-ordinary in every respect." They added the sentence "Die staet siet toe dat hij niet en valle", "He who stands, let him take care that he does not fall", which is a quotation from, which probably should be understood as referring to both how Van Oldenbarnevelt ended after holding one of the highest offices in the Republic and for choosing the side of the Arminians, who were ruled to be standing outside the Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Faith by the Synod of Dort.  Van Oldenbarnevelt left two sons: Reinier van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Groeneveld and Willem van Oldenbarnevelt, lord of Stoutenburg, and two daughters. A conspiracy against the life of Maurice, in which both sons of Van Oldenbarnevelt took part, was discovered in 1623. Stoutenburg, who was the chief accomplice, made his escape and entered the service of Spain; Groeneveld was executed.  In London, "The Tragedy of Sir John van Olden Barnavelt", a Jacobean play by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, was written and produced within three months of its protagonist's execution. Being controversial in terms of English as well as Dutch politics, it suffered considerable censorship before being allowed on the stage.

Namesakes.

The Nederland Line ship "Johan van Oldenbarnevelt" carried his name from 1930 to 1963. The school that he attended in Amersfoort, the former "Latin School", was also named after him, and still exists as the "Stedelijk Gymnasium Johan van Oldenbarnevelt". The Dutch fort on the Bacan Islands in the Moluccas in the 1600s was named for him. Furthermore, several streets and squares have been named after Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. You can find these streets and squares in the following cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bergen op Zoom, Dinteloord, Delft, Haarlem, Dordrecht, Oosterhout, Breda, Vlaardingen, Amersfoort, Tilburg, Nieuw-Beijerland, Zuid-Beijerland, Vlaardingen and Schiedam.

Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (), Heer van Berkel en Rodenrijs (1600), Gunterstein (1611) and Bakkum (1613) (14 September 1547 – 13 May 1619) was a Dutch statesman who played an important role in the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain.

约翰·范·欧登巴内菲尔德( 1547-1619年5月13日),尼德兰七省共和国律师、政治家、开国元勋之一,荷兰东印度公司联合创始人。在1596年英法荷三国同盟的缔结中,欧登巴内菲尔德起到了关键作用。荷兰首相马克·吕特认为他是荷兰历史上最重要的政治家。后因政治、宗教斗争被拿骚的毛里茨处决。


Spain.

Juan Ponce de León was born in the village of Santervás de Campos in the northern part of what is now the Spanish province of Valladolid. Although early historians placed his birth in 1460, and this date has been used traditionally, more recent evidence shows he was likely born in 1474. The surname Ponce de León dates from the 13th century. The Ponce de León lineage began with Ponce Vélaz de Cabrera, descendant of count Bermudo Núñez, and Sancha Ponce de Cabrera, daughter of Ponce Giraldo de Cabrera. Before October 1235, a son of Ponce Vela de Cabrera and his wife Teresa Rodríguez Girón named Pedro Ponce de Cabrera married Aldonza Alfonso, an illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso IX of León. The descendants of this marriage added the "de León" to their patronymic and were known henceforth as the Ponce de León.  The identity of his parents is still unknown, but he appears to have been a member of a distinguished and influential noble family. His relatives included Rodrigo Ponce de León, Marquis of Cádiz, a celebrated figure in the Moorish wars.  Ponce de León was related to another notable family, the Núñez de Guzmáns, and as a young man he served as squire to Pedro Núñez de Guzmán, Knight Commander of the Order of Calatrava. A contemporary chronicler, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, states that Ponce de León gained his experience as a soldier fighting in the Spanish campaigns that defeated the Moors in Granada and completed the re-conquest of Spain in 1492. He married a distant relative of his, Leonor Ponce de León, with whom he would form the first European family living in Puerto Rico.

Arrival in the New World.

Once the war against the Emirate of Granada ended, there was no apparent need for his military services at home, so, like many of his contemporaries, Ponce de León looked abroad for his next opportunity. In September 1493, some 1,200 sailors, colonists, and soldiers joined Christopher Columbus for his second voyage to the New World. Ponce de León was a member of this expedition, one of 200 "gentleman volunteers."  The fleet reached the Caribbean in November 1493. They visited several islands before arriving at their primary destination in Hispaniola. In particular they anchored on the coast of a large island the natives called Borinquen but would eventually become known as Puerto Rico. This was Ponce de León's first glimpse of the place that would play a major role in his future.  Historians are divided on what he did during the next several years, but it is possible that he returned to Spain at some point and made his way back to Hispaniola with Nicolás de Ovando.

Hispaniola.

In 1502 the newly appointed governor, Nicolás de Ovando, arrived in Hispaniola. The Spanish Crown expected Ovando to bring order to a colony in disarray. Ovando interpreted this as authorizing subjugation of the native Taínos. Thus, Ovando authorized the Jaragua massacre in November 1503. In 1504, when Tainos overran a small Spanish garrison in Higüey on the island's eastern side, Ovando assigned Ponce de León to crush the rebellion. Ponce de León was actively involved in the Higüey massacre, about which friar Bartolomé de las Casas attempted to notify Spanish authorities. Ovando rewarded his victorious commander by appointing him frontier governor of the newly conquered province, then named Higüey also. Ponce de León received a substantial land grant which authorized sufficient Indian slave labor to farm his new estate.  Ponce de León prospered in this new role. He found a ready market for his farm produce and livestock at nearby Boca de Yuma where Spanish ships stocked supplies before the long voyage back to Spain. In 1505 Ovando authorized Ponce de León to establish a new town in Higüey, which he named Salvaleón. In 1508 King Ferdinand (Queen Isabella having opposed the exploitation of natives but dying in 1504) authorized Ponce de León to conquer the remaining Taínos and exploit them in gold mining.  Around this time, Ponce de León married Leonora, an innkeeper's daughter. They had three daughters (Juana, Isabel and Maria) and one son (Luis). The large stone house Ponce de León ordered built for his growing family still stands today near the city of Salvaleón de Higüey.

Puerto Rico.

As provincial governor, Ponce de León had occasion to meet with the Taínos who visited his province from neighboring Puerto Rico. They told him stories of a fertile land with much gold to be found in the many rivers. Inspired by the possibility of riches, Ponce de León requested and received permission from Ovando to explore the island.  His first reconnaissance of the island is usually dated to 1508 but there is evidence that he had made a previous exploration as early as 1506. This earlier trip was done quietly because the Spanish crown had commissioned Vicente Yáñez Pinzón to settle the island in 1505. Pinzón did not fulfill his commission and it expired in 1507, leaving the way clear for Ponce de León.  His earlier exploration had confirmed the presence of gold and gave him a good understanding of the geography of the island. In 1508, Ferdinand II of Aragon gave permission to Ponce de León for the first "official" expedition to the island, which the Spanish then called San Juan Bautista. This expedition, consisting of about 50 men in one ship, left Hispaniola on 12 July, 1508 and eventually anchored in San Juan Bay, near today's city of San Juan. Ponce de León searched inland until he found a suitable site about two miles from the bay. Here he erected a storehouse and a fortified house, creating the first settlement in Puerto Rico, Caparra. Although a few crops were planted, the settlers spent most of their time and energy searching for gold. By early 1509 Ponce de León decided to return to Hispaniola. His expedition had collected a good quantity of the precious metal but was running low on food and supplies.  The expedition was deemed a great success and Ovando appointed Ponce de León governor of San Juan Bautista. This appointment was later confirmed by Ferdinand II on 14 August, 1509. He was instructed to extend the settlement of the island and continue mining for gold. The new governor returned to the island as instructed, bringing with him his wife and children.  Back on his island, Ponce de León parceled out the native Taínos amongst himself and other settlers using a system of forced labor known as encomienda. The Indians were put to work growing food crops and mining for gold. Many of the Spaniards treated the Taínos very harshly and newly introduced diseases like smallpox and measles took a severe toll on the local population. By June 1511 the Taínos were pushed to a short-lived rebellion, which was forcibly put down by Ponce de León and a small force of troops armed with crossbows and arquebuses.  Even as Ponce de León was settling the island of San Juan, significant changes were taking place in the politics and government of the Spanish West Indies. On 10 July, 1509, Diego Colón, the son of Christopher Columbus, arrived in Hispaniola as acting Viceroy, replacing Nicolás de Ovando. For several years Diego Colón had been waging a legal battle over his rights to inherit the titles and privileges granted to his father. The Crown regretted the sweeping powers that had been granted to Columbus and his heirs and sought to establish more direct control in the New World. In spite of the Crown's opposition, Colón prevailed in court and Ferdinand was required to appoint him Viceroy. Although the courts had ordered that Ponce de León should remain in office, Colón circumvented this directive on 28 October, 1509 by appointing Juan Ceron chief justice and Miguel Diaz chief constable of the island, effectively overriding the authority of the governor. This situation prevailed until 2 March, 1510, when Ferdinand issued orders reaffirming Ponce de León's position as governor. Ponce de León then had Ceron and Diaz arrested and sent back to Spain.  The political struggle between Colón and Ponce de León continued in this manner for the next few years. Ponce de León had influential supporters in Spain and Ferdinand regarded him as a loyal servant. However, Colón's position as Viceroy made him a powerful opponent and eventually it became clear that Ponce de León's position on San Juan was not tenable. Finally, on 28 November, 1511, Ceron returned from Spain and was officially reinstated as governor.

First voyage to Florida.

Rumors of undiscovered islands to the northwest of Hispaniola had reached Spain by 1511, and Ferdinand was interested in forestalling further exploration and discovery by Colón. In an effort to reward Ponce de León for his services, Ferdinand urged him to seek these new lands outside the authority of Colón. Ponce de León readily agreed to a new venture, and in February 1512 a royal contract was dispatched outlining his rights and authorities to search for "the Islands of Benimy".  The contract stipulated that Ponce de León held exclusive rights to the discovery of Benimy and neighboring islands for the next three years. He would be governor for life of any lands he discovered, but he was expected to finance for himself all costs of exploration and settlement. In addition, the contract gave specific instructions for the distribution of gold, Native Americans, and other profits extracted from the new lands. Notably, there was no mention of a rejuvenating fountain.  Ponce de León equipped three ships with at least 200 men at his own expense and set out from Puerto Rico on 4 March, 1513. The only near contemporary description known for this expedition comes from Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, a Spanish historian who apparently had access to the original ships' logs or related secondary sources from which he created a summary of the voyage published in 1601. The brevity of the account and occasional gaps in the record have led historians to speculate and dispute many details of the voyage.  The three ships in this small fleet were the "Santiago", the "San Cristobal" and the "Santa Maria de la Consolacion". Anton de Alaminos was their chief pilot. He was already an experienced sailor, and would become one of the most respected pilots in the region. After leaving Puerto Rico, they sailed northwest along the great chain of Bahama Islands, known then as the Lucayos. On 27 March, Easter Sunday, they sighted an island that was unfamiliar to the sailors on the expedition. Because many Spanish seamen were acquainted with the Bahamas, which had been depopulated by slaving ventures, some scholars believe that this "island" was actually Florida, as it was thought to be an island for several years after its formal discovery. Other scholars have speculated that this island was one of the northern Bahama islands, perhaps Great Abaco.  For the next several days the fleet crossed open water until 2 April, 1513, when they sighted land which Ponce de León believed was another island. He named it "La Florida" in recognition of the verdant landscape and because it was the Easter season, which the Spaniards called "Pascua Florida" (Festival of Flowers). The following day they came ashore to seek information and take possession of this new land.. The precise location of their landing on the Florida coast has been disputed for many years. Some historians believe it occurred at or near St. Augustine; others prefer a more southern landing at a small harbor now called Ponce de León Inlet; but some also believe that Ponce came ashore even farther south near the present location of Melbourne Beach, a theory that has been criticized by some scholars in recent years. The latitude coordinate recorded in the ship's log closest to the landing site, reported by Herrera (who had the original logbook) in 1601, was 30 degrees, 8 minutes. This sighting was recorded at noon the day before with either a quadrant or a mariner's astrolabe, and the expedition sailed north for the remainder of the day before anchoring for the night and rowing ashore the following morning. This latitude corresponds to a spot north of St. Augustine between what is now the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve and Ponte Vedra Beach.  After remaining in the area of their first landing for about five days, the ships turned south for further exploration of the coast. On 8 April they encountered a current so strong that it pushed them backwards and forced them to seek anchorage. The tiniest ship, the "San Cristobal", was carried out of sight and lost for two days. This was the first encounter with the Gulf Stream where it reaches maximum force between the Florida coast and the Bahamas. Because of the powerful boost provided by the current, it would soon become the primary route for eastbound ships leaving the Spanish Indies bound for Europe.  They continued down the coast hugging the shore to avoid the strong head current. By 4 May the fleet reached and named Biscayne Bay and took on water at an island they named Santa Marta (now Key Biscayne) and explored the Tequesta Miami mound town at the mouth of the Miami River. The Tequesta did not engage the Spanish, they evacuated into the coastal woodlands. On 15 May they left Biscayne Bay and sailed along the Florida Keys, looking for a passage to head north and explore the west coast of the Florida peninsula. From a distance the Keys reminded Ponce de León of men who were suffering, so he named them "Los Martires" (the Martyrs). Eventually they found a gap in the reefs and sailed "to the north and other times to the northeast" until they reached the Florida mainland on 23 May, where they encountered the Calusa, who refused to trade and drove off the Spanish ships by surrounding them with warriors in sea canoes armed with long bows. Again, the exact site of their landfall is controversial. The vicinity of Charlotte Harbor is the most commonly identified spot, while some assert a landing further north at Tampa Bay or even Pensacola. Other historians have argued the distances were too great to cover in the available time and the more likely location was Cape Romano or Cape Sable. Here Ponce de León anchored for several days to take on water and repair the ships. They were approached by Calusa, who might have been initially interested in trading but relations soon turned hostile. Several skirmishes followed with casualties on both sides and the Spaniards took eight Indians captive, including one to become a translator. On 4 June, there was another encounter with natives near Sanibel Island and the Calusa in war canoes, with the Spanish sinking a fourth of them. An unsubstantiated claim to justify Spanish retreat.  On 14 June they set sail again looking for a chain of islands in the west that had been described by their captives. They reached the Dry Tortugas on 21 June. There they captured giant sea turtles, Caribbean monk seals, and thousands of seabirds. From these islands they sailed southwest in an apparent attempt to circle around Cuba and return home to Puerto Rico. Failing to take into account the powerful currents pushing them eastward, they struck the northeast shore of Cuba and were initially confused about their location.  Once they regained their bearings, the fleet retraced their route east along the Florida Keys and around the Florida peninsula, reaching Grand Bahama on 8 July. They were surprised to come across another Spanish ship, piloted by Diego Miruelo, who was either on a slaving voyage or had been sent by Diego Colón to spy on Ponce de León. Shortly thereafter Miruelo's ship was wrecked in a storm and Ponce de León rescued the stranded crew.  From here the little fleet disbanded. Ponce de León tasked the "Santa Maria" with further exploration while he returned home with the rest of crew. Ponce de León reached Puerto Rico on 19 October after having been away for almost eight months. The other ship, after further explorations returned safely on 20 February, 1514.  Although Ponce de León is widely credited with the discovery of Florida, he almost certainly was not the first European to reach the peninsula. Spanish slave expeditions had been regularly raiding the Bahamas since 1494 and there is some evidence that one or more of these slavers made it as far as the shores of Florida. Another piece of evidence that others came before Ponce de León is the Cantino Map from 1502, which shows a peninsula near Cuba that looks like Florida's and includes characteristic place names.

Fountain of Youth.

According to a popular legend, Ponce de León discovered Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth. Though stories of vitality-restoring waters were known on both sides of the Atlantic long before Ponce de León, the story of his searching for them was not attached to him until after his death. In his "Historia general y natural de las Indias" of 1535, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés wrote that Ponce de León was looking for the waters of Bimini to cure his aging. A similar account appears in Francisco López de Gómara's "Historia general de las Indias" of 1551. Then in 1575, Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a shipwreck survivor who had lived with the Native Americans of Florida for 17 years, published his memoir in which he locates the waters in Florida, and says that Ponce de León was supposed to have looked for them there. Though Fontaneda doubted that Ponce de León had really gone to Florida looking for the waters, the account was included in the "Historia general de los hechos de los castellanos" of Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas of 1615. Most historians hold that the search for gold and the expansion of the Spanish Empire were far more imperative than any potential search for such a fountain.  There is a possibility that the Fountain of Youth was an allegory for the Bahamian love vine, which locals brew today as an aphrodisiac. Ponce de León could have been seeking it as a potential entrepreneurial venture. Woodrow Wilson believed Indian servants brewing a "brown tea" in Puerto Rico may have inspired Ponce de León's search for the Fountain of Youth. Arne Molander has speculated that the adventurous conquistador mistook the natives' "vid" (vine) for "vida" (life) – transforming their "fountain vine" into an imagined "fountain of life".

Between voyages.

Upon his return to Puerto Rico, Ponce de León found the island in turmoil. A party of Caribs from a neighboring island had attacked the settlement of Caparra, killed several Spaniards and burned it to the ground. Ponce de León's own house was destroyed and his family narrowly escaped. Colón used the attack as a pretext for renewing hostilities against the local Taíno tribes. The explorer suspected that Colón was working to further undermine his position on the island and perhaps even to take his claims for the newly discovered Florida.  Ponce de León decided he should return to Spain and personally report the results of his recent expedition. He left Puerto Rico in April 1514 and was warmly received by Ferdinand when he arrived at court in Valladolid. There he was knighted, and given a personal coat of arms, becoming the first conquistador to receive these honors. He also visited Casa de Contratación in Seville, which was the central bureaucracy and clearinghouse for all of Spain's activities in the New World. The Casa took detailed notes of his discoveries and added them to the Padrón Real, a master map which served as the basis for official navigation charts provided to Spanish captains and pilots.  During his stay in Spain, a new contract was drawn up for Ponce de León confirming his rights to settle and govern Bimini and Florida, which was then presumed to be an island. In addition to the usual directions for sharing gold and other valuables with the king, the contract was one of the first to stipulate that the Requerimiento was to be read to the inhabitants of the islands prior to their conquest. Ponce de León was also ordered to organize an armada for the purpose of attacking and subduing the Caribs, who continued to attack Spanish settlements in the Caribbean.  Three ships were purchased for his armada and after repairs and provisioning Ponce de León left Spain on 14 May, 1515 with his little fleet. The record of his activities against the Caribs is vague. There was one engagement in Guadeloupe on his return to the area and possibly two or three other encounters. The campaign came to an abrupt end in 1516 when Ferdinand died. The king had been a strong supporter and Ponce de León felt it was imperative he return to Spain and defend his privileges and titles. He did receive assurances of support from Cardinal Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros, the regent appointed to govern Castile, but it was nearly two years before he was able to return home to Puerto Rico.  Meanwhile, there had been at least two unauthorized voyages to "his" Florida both ending in repulsion by the native Calusa Tequesta warriors. Ponce de León realized he had to act soon if he was to maintain his claim.

Last voyage to Florida.

In early 1521, Ponce de León organized a colonizing expedition consisting of some 200 men, including priests, farmers and artisans, 50 horses and other domestic animals, and farming implements carried on two ships. The expedition landed somewhere on the coast of southwest Florida, likely in the vicinity of Charlotte Harbor or the Caloosahatchee River, areas which Ponce de León had visited in his earlier voyage to Florida.  Before the settlement could be established, the colonists were attacked by the Calusa, the indigenous people who dominated southern Florida and whose principal town was nearby. Ponce de León was mortally wounded in the skirmish when, historians believe, an arrow poisoned with the sap of the manchineel tree struck his thigh. The expedition immediately abandoned the colonization attempt and sailed to Havana, Cuba, where Ponce de León soon died of his wounds. He was buried in Puerto Rico, in the crypt of San José Church from 1559 to 1836, when his remains were exhumed and transferred to the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista.

Juan Ponce de León (; 1474 – July 1521), commonly known as Ponce de León (,, ), was a Spanish explorer and "conquistador" known for leading the first official European expedition to Florida and the first governor of Puerto Rico. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain in 1474. Though little is known about his family, he was of noble birth and served in the Spanish military from a young age. He first came to the Americas as a "gentleman volunteer" with Christopher Columbus's second expedition in 1493.

胡安·庞塞·德莱昂(,1474年-1521年-7月,生于西班牙巴利亚多利德,死于古巴哈瓦那),文艺复兴时期西班牙探险家,他参加了对伊斯帕尼奥拉的征服,后成为博里基恩(今波多黎各)的总督。


Description.

The moai are monolithic statues, their minimalist style related to forms found throughout Polynesia. Moai are carved in relatively flat planes, the faces bearing proud but enigmatic expressions. The human figures would be outlined in the rock wall first, then chipped away until only the image was left. The over-large heads (a three-to-five ratio between the head and the trunk, a sculptural trait that demonstrates the Polynesian belief in the sanctity of the chiefly head) have heavy brows and elongated noses with a distinctive fish-hook-shaped curl of the nostrils. The lips protrude in a thin pout. Like the nose, the ears are elongated and oblong in form. The jaw lines stand out against the truncated neck. The torsos are heavy, and, sometimes, the clavicles are subtly outlined in stone. The arms are carved in bas relief and rest against the body in various positions, hands and long slender fingers resting along the crests of the hips, meeting at the hami (loincloth), with the thumbs sometimes pointing towards the navel. Generally, the anatomical features of the backs are not detailed, but sometimes bear a ring and girdle motif on the buttocks and lower back. Except for one kneeling moai, the statues do not have clearly visible legs. Though moai are whole-body statues, they are often referred to as "Easter Island heads" in some popular literature. This is partly because of the disproportionate size of most moai heads, and partly because many of the iconic images for the island showing upright moai are the statues on the slopes of Rano Raraku, many of which are buried to their shoulders. Some of the "heads" at Rano Raraku have been excavated and their bodies seen, and observed to have markings that had been protected from erosion by their burial.  The average height of the moai is about, with the average width at the base around. These massive creations usually weigh around 12.5 tonnes (13.8 tons) each.  All but 53 of the more than 900 moai known to date were carved from tuff (a compressed volcanic ash) from Rano Raraku, where 394 moai in varying states of completion are still visible today. There are also 13 moai carved from basalt, 22 from trachyte and 17 from fragile red scoria. At the end of carving, the builders would rub the statue with pumice.

Characteristics.

Easter Island statues are known for their large, broad noses and strong chins, along with rectangle-shaped ears and deep eye slits. Their bodies are normally squatting, with their arms resting in different positions and are without legs. The majority of the ahu are found along the coast and face inland towards the community. There are some inland ahu such as Ahu Akivi. These moai face the community but given the small size of the island, also appear to face the coast.

Eyes.

In 1979, Sergio Rapu Haoa and a team of archaeologists discovered that the hemispherical or deep elliptical eye sockets were designed to hold coral eyes with either black obsidian or red scoria pupils. The discovery was made by collecting and reassembling broken fragments of white coral that were found at the various sites. Subsequently, previously uncategorized finds in the Easter Island museum were re-examined and recategorized as eye fragments. It is thought that the moai with carved eye sockets were probably allocated to the ahu and ceremonial sites, suggesting that a selective Rapa Nui hierarchy was attributed to the moai design until its demise with the advent of the Birdman religion, Tangata Manu.

Symbolism.

Many archaeologists suggest that "[the] statues were thus symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. Carved stone and wooden objects in ancient Polynesian religions, when properly fashioned and ritually prepared, were believed to be charged by a magical spiritual essence called mana."  Archaeologists believe that the statues were a representation of the ancient Polynesians' ancestors. The moai statues face away from the ocean and towards the villages as if to watch over the people. The exception is the seven Ahu Akivi which face out to sea to help travelers find the island. There is a legend that says there were seven men who waited for their king to arrive. A study in 2019 concluded that ancient people believed that quarrying of the Moai might be related to improving soil fertility and thereby critical food supplies.

"Pukao" topknots and headdresses.

The more recent moai had "pukao" on their heads, which represent the topknot of the chieftains. According to local tradition, the mana was preserved in the hair. The pukao were carved out of red scoria, a very light rock from a quarry at Puna Pau. Red itself is considered a sacred color in Polynesia. The added pukao suggest a further status to the moai.

Markings.

When first carved, the surface of the moai was polished smooth by rubbing with pumice. However, the easily worked tuff from which most moai were carved is easily eroded, such that the best place to see the surface detail is on the few moai carved from basalt or in photographs and other archaeological records of moai surfaces protected by burials.  Those moai that are less eroded typically have designs carved on their backs and posteriors. The Routledge expedition of 1914 established a cultural link between these designs and the island's traditional tattooing, which had been repressed by missionaries a half-century earlier. Until modern DNA analysis of the islanders and their ancestors, this was key scientific evidence that the moai had been carved by the Rapa Nui and not by a separate group from South America.  At least some of the moai were painted; "Hoa Hakananai'a" was decorated with maroon and white paint until 1868, when it was removed from the island. It is now housed in the British Museum, London, but demands have been made for its return to Rapa Nui.

History.

The statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island, mostly between circa 1250 A.D. and 1500 A.D. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols. Each moai presented a status: "The larger the statue placed upon an ahu, the more mana the chief who commissioned it had." The competition for grandest statue was ever prevalent in the culture of the Easter Islanders. The proof stems from the varying sizes of moai.  Completed statues were moved to ahu mostly on the coast, then erected, sometimes with red stone cylinders (pukao) on their heads. Moai must have been extremely expensive to craft and transport; not only would the actual carving of each statue require effort and resources, but the finished product was then hauled to its final location and erected.  The quarries in Rano Raraku appear to have been abandoned abruptly, with a litter of stone tools and many completed moai outside the quarry awaiting transport and almost as many incomplete statues still "in situ" as were installed on ahu. In the nineteenth century, this led to conjecture that the island was the remnant of a sunken continent and that most completed moai were under the sea. That idea has long been debunked, and now it is understood that:

Craftsmen.

It is not known exactly which group in the communities were responsible for carving statues. Oral traditions suggest that the moai were carved either by a distinguished class of professional carvers who were comparable in status to high-ranking members of other Polynesian craft guilds, or, alternatively, by members of each clan. The oral histories show that the Rano Raraku quarry was subdivided into different territories for each clan.

Transportation.

Since the island was largely treeless by the time the Europeans first visited, the movement of the statues was a mystery for a long time; pollen analysis has now established that the island was almost totally forested until 1200 A.D. The tree pollen disappeared from the record by 1650.  It is not known exactly how the moai were moved across the island. Earlier researchers assumed that the process almost certainly required human energy, ropes, and possibly wooden sledges (sleds) and/or rollers, as well as leveled tracks across the island (the Easter Island roads). Another theory suggests that the moai were placed on top of logs and were rolled to their destinations. If that theory is correct it would take 50–150 people to move the moai. The most recent study demonstrates from the evidence in the archaeological record that the statues were harnessed with ropes from two sides and made to "walk" by tilting them from side to side while pulling forward. They would also use a chant, whilst 'walking' the moai. Coordination and cohesion were essential, so they developed a chant in which the rhythm helped them pull at the precise moment necessary.  Oral histories recount how various people used divine power to command the statues to walk. The earliest accounts say a king named Tuu Ku Ihu moved them with the help of the god Makemake, while later stories tell of a woman who lived alone on the mountain ordering them about at her will. Scholars currently support the theory that the main method was that the moai were "walked" upright (some assume by a rocking process), as laying it prone on a sledge (the method used by the Easter Islanders to move stone in the 1860s) would have required an estimated 1500 people to move the largest moai that had been successfully erected. In 1998, Jo Anne Van Tilburg suggested fewer than half that number could do it by placing the sledge on lubricated rollers. In 1999, she supervised an experiment to move a nine-tonne moai. A replica was loaded on a sledge built in the shape of an "A" frame that was placed on rollers and 60 people pulled on several ropes in two attempts to tow the moai. The first attempt failed when the rollers jammed up. The second attempt succeeded when tracks were embedded in the ground. This was on flat ground and used eucalyptus wood rather than the native palm trees. In 1986, Pavel Pavel, Thor Heyerdahl and the Kon Tiki Museum experimented with a five-tonne moai and a nine-tonne moai. With a rope around the head of the statue and another around the base, using eight workers for the smaller statue and 16 for the larger, they "walked" the moai forward by swiveling and rocking it from side to side; however, the experiment was ended early due to damage to the statue bases from chipping. Despite the early end to the experiment, Thor Heyerdahl estimated that this method for a 20-tonne statue over Easter Island terrain would allow per day. Other scholars concluded that it was probably not the way the moai were moved due to the reported damage to the base caused by the "shuffling" motion.  Around the same time, archaeologist Charles Love experimented with a 10-tonne replica. His first experiment found rocking the statue to walk it was too unstable over more than a few hundred yards. He then found that placing the statue upright on two sled runners atop log rollers, 25 men were able to move the statue in two minutes. In 2003, further research indicated this method could explain supposedly regularly spaced post holes (his research on this claim has not yet been published) where the statues were moved over rough ground. He suggested the holes contained upright posts on either side of the path so that as the statue passed between them, they were used as cantilevers for poles to help push the statue up a slope without the requirement of extra people pulling on the ropes and similarly to slow it on the downward slope. The poles could also act as a brake when needed.  Based on detailed studies of the statues found along prehistoric roads, archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo have shown that the pattern of breakage, form and position of statues is consistent with an "upright" hypothesis for transportation. Hunt and Lipo argue that when the statues were carved at a quarry, the sculptors left their bases wide and curved along the front edge. They showed that statues along the road have a center of mass that causes the statue to lean forward. As the statue tilts forward, it rocks sideways along its curved front edge and takes a "step." Large flakes are seen broken off of the sides of the bases. They argue that once the statue was "walked" down the road and installed in the landscape, the wide and curved base was carved down. All of this evidence points to an upright transportation practice.  Recent experimental recreations have proven that it is fully possible that the moai were literally walked from their quarries to their final positions by ingenious use of ropes. Teams of workers would have worked to rock the moai back and forth, creating the walking motion and holding the moai upright. If correct, it can be inferred that the fallen road moai were the result of the teams of balancers being unable to keep the statue upright, and it was presumably not possible to lift the statues again once knocked over. However, the debate continues.

Birdman cult.

Originally, Easter Islanders had a paramount chief or single leader. Through the years the power levels veered from sole chiefs to a warrior class, known as "matatoa". The therianthropic figure of a half bird and half-man was the symbol of the matatoa; the distinct character connected the sacred site of Orongo. The new cult prompted battles of tribes over worship of ancestry. Creating the moai was one way the islanders would honor their ancestors; during the height of the birdman cult there is evidence which suggests that the construction of moai stopped.  "One of the most fascinating sights at Orongo are the hundreds of petroglyphs carved with birdman and Makemake images. Carved into solid basalt, they have resisted ages of harsh weather. It has been suggested that the images represent birdman competition winners. Over 480 birdman petroglyphs have been found on the island, mostly around Orongo." Orongo, the site of the cult's festivities, was a dangerous landscape which consisted of a "narrow ridge between a drop into the ocean on one side and a deep crater on the other". Considered the sacred spot of Orongo, Mata Ngarau was the location where birdman priests prayed and chanted for a successful egg hunt. "The purpose of the birdman contest was to obtain the first egg of the season from the offshore islet Motu Nui. Contestants descended the sheer cliffs of Orongo and swam to Motu Nui where they awaited the coming of the birds. Having procured an egg, the contestant swam back and presented it to his sponsor, who then was declared birdman for that year, an important status position."

Moai Kavakava.

These figures are much smaller than the better-known stone moai. They are made of wood and have a small, slender aspect, giving them a sad appearance. These figures are believed to have been made after the civilization on Rapa Nui began to collapse, which is why they seem to have a more emaciated appearance to them.

1722–1868 toppling of the moai.

At some point after the 1722 Roggeveen visit, all of the moai that had been erected on ahus were toppled, with the last standing statues reported in 1838 by Abel Aubert Dupetit Thouars, and no upright statues by 1868, apart from the partially buried ones on the outer slopes of Rano Raraku.  Oral histories include one account of a clan pushing down a single moai in the night, but others refer to the "earth shaking", and there are indications that at least some of them fell down due to earthquakes. Some of the moai toppled forward such that their faces were hidden, and often fell in such a way that their necks broke; others fell off of the back of their platforms. Today, about 50 moai have been re-erected on their ahus or at museums elsewhere.  The Rapa Nui people were then devastated by the slave trade that began at the island in 1862. Within a year the individuals that remained on the island were sick, injured, and lacking leadership. The survivors of the slave raids had new company from landing missionaries. The society was vulnerable and their conversion to Christianity did not take long. Native Easter Islanders lost their identity, as first their style of clothing and then their tattoos and body paint were banned by the new Christian proscriptions. The history of their ancestors was destroyed (artwork, buildings, sacred objects), leaving little record of the islanders' former lives. They were then subjected to forceful removal from their native lands and made to reside on a much smaller portion of the island, while the rest was used for farming. "Eventually all pure Rapa Nui blood died out. Annexation with Chile brought new influences, and today there are only a few individuals left with ties to the original population."

Removal.

Eleven or more moai have been removed from the island and transported to locations around the world, including six out of the thirteen moai that were carved from basalt.

Preservation and restoration.

From 1955 through 1978, an American archaeologist, William Mulloy, undertook extensive investigation of the production, transportation and erection of Easter Island's monumental statuary. Mulloy's Rapa Nui projects include the investigation of the Akivi-Vaiteka Complex and the physical restoration of Ahu Akivi (1960); the investigation and restoration of Ahu Ko Te Riku and Ahu Vai Uri and the Tahai Ceremonial Complex (1970); the investigation and restoration of two "ahu" at Hanga Kio'e (1972); the investigation and restoration of the ceremonial village at Orongo (1974) and numerous other archaeological surveys throughout the island.  The Rapa Nui National Park and the moai are included in the 1972 UN convention concerning the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage and consequently on the 1994 list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.  The moai have been mapped by a number of groups over the years, including efforts by Father Sebastian Englert and Chilean researchers. The EISP (Easter Island Statue Project) conducted research and documentation on many of the moai on Rapa Nui and the artifacts held in museums overseas. The purpose of the project is to understand the figures' original use, context, and meaning, with the results being provided to the Rapa Nui families and the island's public agencies that are responsible for conservation and preservation of the moai. Other studies include work by Britton Shepardson and Terry L. Hunt and Carl P. Lipo.  In 2008, a Finnish tourist chipped a piece off the ear of one moai. The tourist was fined $17,000 in damages and was banned from the island for three years.  In 2020, an unoccupied truck rolled into a Moai destroying the statue and causing 'incalculable damage'.

Unicode character.

In 2010, Moai was included as an emoji (<unk>) in Unicode version 6.0 under the code point codice_1.  The official unicode name for the emoji is spelled "Moyai". This is the name of near Shibuya Station in Tokyo, which is inspired by, but distinct from, the Easter Island "moai". This has caused inconsistent drawings to be adopted for this emoji by various companies with proprietary emoji images.

Moai, or moꞌai (, meaning "statue" in the local language), are monolithic human figures carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the island's perimeter. Almost all moai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moai are chiefly the living faces ("aringa ora") of deified ancestors ("aringa ora ata tepuna"). The statues still gazed inland across their clan lands when Europeans first visited the island in 1722, but all of them had fallen by the latter part of the 19th century.

摩艾石像(Moai,又译复活节岛人像、摩阿仪、摩埃石像、毛埃石像)位于复活节岛。多数为一体成形,也就是说整体是从一块大石头刻出来的,但有时候石像头上会加一块普卡奥(Pukau)作帽子,一顶帽子可重达十数吨。全复活岛上已知有887尊摩艾石像。多数的摩艾石像产于拉诺拉拉库(Rano Raraku)。当地的火山采石场似乎是突然被遗弃,留下许多未完成的石像,而当地几乎所有完成的摩艾石像到后来都被岛上原住民推倒。