Agni-I.

The two-stage Agni technology demonstrator, with a solid-fuel first stage, was first tested at the Interim Test Range in Chandipur in 1989. It was capable of carrying a conventional payload of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) or a nuclear warhead. This original technology demonstrator evolved into the solid-fuel Agni-1 and Agni-2 missiles. India first developed the two-stage 2000 km range Agni-2, testing it in 1999. It then used the first stage of this system to develop the 700 km range single-stage Agni-1, which was first tested in January 2002.  Weighing 12 tonne with a length of 15 metres, Agni-1 has a range of 700–900 km and is capable of carrying a conventional payload of or a nuclear warhead at a speed of 2.5 km/s. Agni missiles consist of one (short range) or two stages (intermediate range). These are rail and road mobile and powered by solid propellants. Agni-I is used by the Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the Indian Army. The latest missile test occurred on 13 July 2012, when India test fired Agni I successfully at Wheeler Island off Orissa coast. On April 11, 2014 the missile was test fired for the first time in a night trial exercise to its full range of 700 km from the Wheeler island off the Odisha coast. The missile randomly picked from production line was test fired by the Strategic Forces Command after 11 pm in the night. This test was first night after 2 previous test failed due to technical glitches. The missile was test fired from a mobile launcher with logistics support from DRDO at the Integrated Test Range as part of the regular training exercise by the armed forces.  With a special weapons load Agni-I can reach 1200 km. As compared to Agni-II, Agni-I is less costly, simple, accurate and more mobile.

Agni-II.

Agni-II with a range of 2,000–2,500 km is 20 metres long, has a diameter of one metre, and weighs around 18 tonnes. Agni – II uses solid propellant in both of its two stages. They are claimed to be a part of the "credible deterrence" against China and Pakistan. India stated that its nuclear and missile development programmes are not Pakistan-centric, that the Pakistani threat is only a marginal factor in New Delhi's security calculus, and that Agni is at the heart of deterrence in the larger context of Sino-Indian equation.  The 2000 km range nuclear weapon capable missile, already inducted into country's arsenal, was successfully launched as a training exercise by the Strategic Forces Command on 9 August 2012. India on 7 April 2013 conducted its latest test of its nuclear capable Agni-II strategic ballistic missile from a missile testing range in Odisha. The test was conducted from Abdul Kalam Island (formerly known as Wheeler Island) in Bhadrak district, by army personnel as part of a training exercise. India successfully conducted the first night trial of nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile Agni-II from the Abdul Kalam Island of the Odisha coast at 16 Nov 2019. The 20-metre-long, two-stage ballistic missile has a strike range of 2,000 km To 3000 km. It has a launch weight of 17 tonnes and can carry a payload of 1,000 kg.

Agni-III.

Agni-III is the third in the Agni series of missiles. Agni III uses solid propellant in both stages. Agni-III was first tested on 9 July 2006 from Wheeler Island off the coast of the eastern state of Odisha. After the launch, it was reported that the second stage of the rocket did not separate and the missile had fallen well short of its target. Agni-III was again tested on 12 April 2007, this time successfully, again from Wheeler Island. On 7 May 2008 India again successfully test fired this missile. This was the third consecutive test; it validated the missile's operational readiness while extending the reach of India's nuclear deterrent to most high-value targets of the nation's most likely adversaries. Agni-III has a range of 3,500 km, and can take a warhead of 1.5 tonnes.  It has been reported that the missile's circular error probable (CEP) lies in the range of 40 meters, This would make Agni-III the most accurate strategic ballistic missile of its range class in the world. This is of special significance because a highly accurate ballistic missile increases the "kill efficiency" of the weapon; it allows Indian weapons designers to use smaller yield nuclear warheads (200 kiloton thermonuclear or boosted fission) while increasing the lethality of the strike. This permits India to deploy a much larger nuclear force using less fissile/fusion material (plutonium/lithium deuteride) than other nuclear powers. Older ballistic missiles, such as those deployed by earlier nuclear powers required larger yield (1–2 megaton) warheads to achieve the same level of lethality. It has also been reported that with smaller payloads, the Agni-III can hit strategic targets well beyond 3,500 km.

Agni-IV.

Agni-IV is the fourth in the Agni series of missiles which was earlier known as "Agni II prime". Agni-IV was first tested on 15 November 2011 and 19 September 2012 from Wheeler Island off the coast of the eastern state of Orissa for its full range of 4,000 km. The missile lifted off from a road mobile launcher at 11.48 a.m. and after climbing to an altitude of over 800 km, it re-entered the atmosphere and impacted near the pre-designated target in the Indian Ocean with remarkable degree of accuracy following a 20-minute flight. Carrying a payload of explosives weighing a tonne, the missile re-entered the atmosphere and withstood searing temperatures of more than 3,000 °C. With a range of 3,000–4,000 km, Agni-IV bridges the gap between Agni II and Agni III. It was again successfully test fired on 20 January 2014. Agni IV can take a warhead of 1 tonne. It is designed to increase the kill efficiency along with a higher range performance. Agni IV is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, that includes indigenously developed ring laser gyro and composite rocket motor. It is a two-stage missile powered by solid propellant. Its length is 20 meters and launch weight 17 tonnes. It can be fired from a road mobile launcher.

Agni-V.

Agni-V is a solid fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) of India. It will greatly expand India's reach to strike targets more than 5,500 km away. Agni-V was first test fired on 19 April 2012 at 08:07 am IST from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa, the test was successful. Agni-V ICBM has been designed with the addition of a third composite stage to the two-stage Agni-III missile. To reduce the weight it is built with high composite content. The 17.5-metre-long Agni-V would be a canister launch missile system so as to ensure that it has the requisite operational flexibility and can be swiftly transported and fired from anywhere. Agni-V weighs around 49 tonnes; one tonne more than Agni III and a much longer range. The second test launch of Agni-V was successfully done on 15 September 2013 at 08:43 am IST from Wheeler Island. In January 2015, the canisterized version was successfully tested from Wheeler Island.

Agni-VI.

Agni-VI is an intercontinental ballistic missile reported to be in early stages of development by India and is being developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation. It is to be the latest and most advanced version among the Agni missile program. It will be capable of being launched from submarines as well as from land, and will have a strike-range of 8,000–10,000 km with MIRVed warheads.

Further developments.

In May 2008 Indian scientists announced they had developed and patented a path-breaking technology that increases the range of missiles and satellite launch vehicles by at least 40%. The enhanced range is made possible by adding a special-purpose coating of chromium-based material to a rocket's blunt nose cone. The material acts as a reactive-ablative coating that forms a thin low density gaseous layer at the tip of the rocket as it approaches hypersonic speeds; this super-heated gas layer reduces drag by 47% (at mach 7–8), thereby allowing range enhancements at least 40%. It has been announced that this technology will be incorporated in future Agni deployments after having undergone ranging and calibration tests.

The Agni missile (IAST: Agnī ""Fire"") is a family of medium to intercontinental range ballistic missiles developed by India, named after one of the five elements of nature. Agni missiles are long range, nuclear weapons capable surface to surface ballistic missile. The first missile of the series, Agni-I was developed under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) and tested in 1989. After its success, Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing its strategic importance. It was designated as a special program in India's defence budget and provided adequate funds for subsequent development., the missiles in the Agni series are being inducted into service. The family comprises the following:

Agni (, qui peut se traduire par « feu ») est une famille de missiles balistiques à tête nucléaire développée par l'Inde. Les premiers développements remontent aux années 1980 et l'Agni I première version à courte portée (700 km) devient opérationnel et est déployé en 2007. Plusieurs versions de portée moyenne de plus en plus importante sont développés et deviennent opérationnels par la suite : Agni II (2000 km en 2011), Agni III (3200 km en 2014), Agni IV (3500 km en 2018). L'Agni V (5200 km) a effectué plusieurs tirs réussis depuis 2012 et devrait devenir opérationnel en 2020 tandis que le premier missile balistique à longue portée indien est en cours de développement en 2019. Ces missiles emportent selon les versions une charge utile comprise entre 1 et 2 tonnes constituée par une charge nucléaire unique d'une puissance de 40 kilotonnes d'équivalent TNT.


Leaders.

Governor John Haynes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony led 100 people to Hartford in 1636. He and Puritan minister Thomas Hooker are often considered the founders of the Connecticut colony. Hooker delivered a sermon to his congregation on May 31, 1638 on the principles of government, and it influenced those who wrote the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut later that year. The Fundamental Orders may have been drafted by Roger Ludlow of Windsor, the only trained lawyer living in Connecticut in the 1630s; they were transcribed into the official record by secretary Thomas Welles. The Rev. John Davenport and merchant Theophilus Eaton led the founders of the New Haven Colony, which was absorbed into Connecticut Colony in the 1660s.  In the colony's early years, the governor could not serve consecutive terms, so the governorship rotated for 20 years between John Haynes and Edward Hopkins, both of whom were from Hartford. George Wyllys, Thomas Welles, and John Webster, also Hartford men, sat in the governor's chair for brief periods in the 1640s and 1650s.  John Winthrop the Younger of New London was the son of the founder of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he played an important role in consolidating separate settlements into a single colony on the Connecticut River. He also served as Governor of Connecticut from 1659 to 1675, and he was instrumental in obtaining the colony's 1662 charter which incorporated New Haven into Connecticut. His son Fitz-John Winthrop also governed the colony for 10 years starting in 1698.  Major John Mason was the military leader of the early colony. He was the commander in the Pequot War, a magistrate, and the founder of Windsor, Saybrook, and Norwich. He was also Deputy Governor under Winthrop. Roger Ludlow was an Oxford-educated lawyer and former Deputy Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He petitioned the General Court for rights to settle the area, and he led the March Commission in settling disputes over land rights. He is credited as drafting the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1650) in collaboration with Hooker, Winthrop, and others. He was also the first Deputy Governor of Connecticut.  William Leete of Guilford served as governor of New Haven Colony before its merger into Connecticut, and he also served as governor of Connecticut following Winthrop's death in 1675. He is the only man to serve as governor of both New Haven and Connecticut. Robert Treat of Milford served as governor of the colony, both before and after its inclusion in the Dominion of New England under Sir Edmund Andros. His father Richard Treat was one of the original patentees of the colony. Roger Wolcott was a weaver, statesman, and politician from Windsor, and he served as governor from 1751 to 1754. Oliver Wolcott was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and also of the Articles of Confederation, as a representative of Connecticut and the nineteenth governor. He was a major general for the Connecticut Militia in the Revolutionary War serving under George Washington.

Religion.

The original colonies along the Connecticut River and in New Haven were established by separatist Puritans who were connected with the Massachusetts and Plymouth colonies. They held Calvinist religious beliefs similar to the English Puritans, but they maintained that their congregations needed to be separated from the English state church. They had immigrated to New England during the Great Migration. In the middle of the 17th century, the government restricted voting rights with a property qualification and a church membership requirement. Congregationalism was the established church in the colony by the time of the American Revolutionary War.

Economic and social history.

The economy began with subsistence farming in the 17th century and developed with greater diversity and an increased focus on production for distant markets, especially the British colonies in the Caribbean. The American Revolution cut off imports from Britain and stimulated a manufacturing sector that made heavy use of the entrepreneurship and mechanical skills of the people. In the second half of the 18th century, difficulties arose from the shortage of good farmland, periodic money problems, and downward price pressures in the export market. In agriculture, there was a shift from grain to animal products. The colonial government attempted to promote various commodities as export items from time to time, such as hemp, potash, and lumber, in order to bolster its economy and improve its balance of trade with Great Britain.  Connecticut's domestic architecture included a wide variety of house forms. They generally reflected the dominant English heritage and architectural tradition.

The Connecticut Colony or Colony of Connecticut, originally known as the Connecticut River Colony or simply the River Colony, was an English colony in New England which became the state of Connecticut. It was organized on March 3, 1636 as a settlement for a Puritan congregation, and the English permanently gained control of the region in 1637 after struggles with the Dutch. The colony was later the scene of a bloody war between the colonists and Pequot Indians known as the Pequot War. Connecticut Colony played a significant role in the establishment of self-government in the New World with its refusal to surrender local authority to the Dominion of New England, an event known as the Charter Oak incident which occurred at Jeremy Adams' inn and tavern.

La colonie du Connecticut () est une colonie britannique située dans l'Amérique britannique. Faisant partie des Treize colonies, elle est devenue l'État américain du Connecticut.


Politics prior to the convention.

By the 1870s modern economic conditions were well established and accepted by the Samoans, who had just enough of a government that could be manipulated at will by the foreign business interests in Samoa. After the United States concluded a friendship treaty with Samoa in 1878, Germany negotiated her own Favorite Nation Treaty in 1879 with the same Samoan faction as the U.S., while later in 1879 the Anglo-Samoan treaty was completed with a rival faction. Contentions among the whites in Samoa, plus native factional strife led to side-choosing that became deadly warring with the introduction of modern weapons.  Washington conference of 1887  To attempt to resolve some of the problems, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom agreed to a conference at Washington in June 1887. After the surfacing of serious disagreements among the parties, the conference adjourned without results. Fighting by nationals of the three powers with their factional local allies led to a conflict that was only tempered by the Apia hurricane of 1889 that wrecked warships on the verge of hostilities.  Treaty of Berlin of 1889  The seriousness of the situation was finally recognized and German foreign minister Count Herbert von Bismarck (chancellor Otto von Bismarck's son) proposed to reconvene the adjourned Washington conference of 1887. He invited U.S. and British representatives to Berlin in April 1889. Bismarck's pragmatic approach proposed protection for life, property, and commerce of the treaty participants and relegated native government and their unstable "kings" to the Samoans, with which the British concurred. The United States insisted on a three powers authority while preserving native rights. In the Treaty of Berlin of 1889 thus a joint protectorate or condominium was declared, with a European/American chief justice, a municipal council for Apia, and with the "free right of the natives to elect their Chief or King" as the signatory to the act, thus the treaty professed to recognize a Samoan independent government.  No sooner was the native royal figurehead appointed, and after disturbances restored, the other chiefs went into rebellion and civil war ensued. By the end of the 19th century, the failure of the arrangement was freely admitted by the governments of the three powers since the principal protagonists in Samoa acted directly for their own interests, frequently overruling the officials of the condominium. A dissolution of the condominium created by the "entangling alliance" was now in play.

The Tripartite Convention of 1899.

The German government "had never made a secret of their belief that international control of Samoa was visionary and impractical... and they began a series of diplomatic moves intended to eliminate it altogether." German diplomats in Washington had ascertained during the summer of 1899 that the United States administration was satisfied with obtaining the island of Tutuila with its key asset, the existing coaling station at Pago Pago. With "partitioning of Samoa" by then the prevailing understanding, the United States expressed no objections to Britain and Germany "coming to a preliminary agreement."  Kaiser Wilhelm II had accepted an invitation to visit England in November 1899 and his government insisted that an agreement on Samoa should be concluded before his departure for Britain. A settlement was reached at London by 9 November and signed on 14 November. It was therefore this Anglo-German agreement on Samoa in tandem with the informal understanding with the United States that partitioned Samoa. It only remained for the three powers to negotiate a tripartite convention in order to secure the approval of the United States to the whole agreement. The Tripartite Convention of 1899 was duly constituted and documents were signed at Washington on 2 December 1899 by the U.S. Secretary of State John Hay, Baron Theodor von Holleben, German ambassador to the United States, and Sir Julian Pauncefote, British ambassador to the United States, with ratifications exchanged on 16 February 1900.

Positions as a result of the Tripartite Convention of 1899.

United States:  German Empire:  United Kingdom:  These treaty arrangements of the Tripartite Convention of 1899 stayed in place until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

The Tripartite Convention of 1899 concluded the Second Samoan Civil War, resulting in the formal partition of the Samoan archipelago into a German colony and a United States territory.

Le traité de Samoa est un traité tripartite signé entre l'Empire allemand, le Royaume-Uni et les États-Unis à Washington, le. Il met fin au conflit des Samoa en divisant les îles Samoa entre les Allemands et les Américains, les Britanniques recevant d'autres compensations dans le Pacifique et en Afrique. La partie occidentale des Samoa devient protectorat allemand et la partie orientale est attribuée aux Américains.


Background.

Carthage.

Carthage was founded in 814 BC by Phoenician colonists from Tyre, and by the 6th century BC the sailors and merchants of Carthage were known throughout the western Mediterranean. In the 4th century BC, following a series of military conquests, Carthage controlled many territories west of the gulf of Sirte in present-day Libya, and much of the coasts of Numidia and Iberia. The coasts of Sardinia and Corsica were already under Carthaginian control when the city-state attempted, in three wars between 480 and 307 BC, to conquer Sicily. These attempts were stopped by the Greeks, who had, by then, heavily colonized the island. Primarily interested in commerce, Carthage had no standing army, and mostly used mercenary forces composed of Numidian cavalry, Libyans, and Iberians.

Rome.

Rome was founded only seventy years after Carthage (in 753 BC, following Varronian chronology). For the first several centuries of its history, Rome was involved in a lengthy series of wars with its neighbours, which resulted in the Roman army's specialization in land warfare. The Roman economy and social structure began to incorporate the results of these wars: taking loot or tribute, redistributing conquered land, and in all cases, requiring the subjugated peoples to supply troops in support of Rome (becoming "socii", or allies). With respect to maritime commerce, the Romans simply entrusted themselves to the Etruscan and Greek fleets.

Commercial control.

In the 2nd century BC, a great line divided the commerce of the Mediterranean: the Aegean, Adriatic and Ionian seas were largely controlled by the maritime cities of the Greeks (in Greece, Asia Minor, and, after Alexander the Great, Egypt), while the western Mediterranean was the commercial zone of the Carthaginians, with the exception of the Tyrrhenian Sea, which Carthage shared with the Etruscans and the Greek colonies of southern Italy.

First treaty 509 BC.

Background.

The first treaty between the two city-states was signed the year the Roman Republic was founded, in 509 BC as dated by the Varronian method. The calculations of Polybius, a Greek historian whose calculations are based on the years of the Persian expedition against the Greek free cities, produced a slightly different date; he wrote that the events of the treaty took place "twenty-eight years before the passage of Xerxes into Greece". Xerxes, the king of Persia, crossed the Hellespont with his armies in June, 480 BC.  During the war with Ardea, following the overthrow of Tarquin the Proud, Rome found that it needed to secure itself and its supplies, which were controlled for the most part by Greek and Etruscan merchants, since the Etruscan Cerveteri and its port of Pyrgi supplied Rome. Rome therefore tried to gain the support of the Carthaginians who by that time were already operating in Cerveteri, as evidenced by votive writings found in Etruscan and Phoenician.  At the same time, Carthage was engaged in fighting the Greek colonies that had spread from Greece across the western Mediterranean. The presence of Greek cities along the coasts of southern Italy and the eastern part of Sicily limited Phoenician commerce to the region's interior. In Spain and Provence, Carthage fought to compete with Phocaean colonies, and in Sardinia and Corsica, Carthage was joined by the Etruscans in their competition with the Phocaeans, resulting, subsequently, in the Phocaeans being driven out, Corsica and the Tyrrhenian becoming Etruscan, and Sardinia and the western half of Sicily becoming Carthaginian (eastern Sicily would remain Greek for centuries). Additionally, in 510 BC, Carthage had to fight to hold off Spartan incursions into western Sicily.

Terms of the treaty.

This treaty was signed between Rome and Carthage twenty-eight years before the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, according to Polybius. The treaty stated that there "shall be friendship between the Romans and their allies, and the Carthaginians and their allies" on the conditions listed below.

Conditions on Rome and her allies.

The conditions imposed by the treaty on Rome and her allies were that

Conditions on Carthage and her allies.

The conditions imposed by the treaty on Carthage and her allies were that

Implications.

Per the treaty, Carthage did not renounce any military action except against a small territory, Latium, and maintained a free hand for action against the Greeks and Etruscans, both of whom were militarily and economically more powerful and dangerous than Rome.  In the graphic at right, the following areas are highlighted and labeled:  Roman expansion, before the fall of Tarquin the Proud, was directed towards the Tyrrhenian coast to the southwest, and the Roman Republic was proclaimed while Tarquin's army was fighting Ardea. It can be supposed that Rome, with its small size, wanted to formalize the exclusion of competition from Carthage while it began pressuring the Greeks. Otherwise, the contrast of this diplomacy with the war against Ardea would not be so pronounced, nor would it make sense to specifically exclude Carthaginian fortresses.

Second treaty 348 BC.

Background.

After 150 years of campaigning, Rome had conquered a good portion of Etruria, destroyed Veii, and repelled the Gallic invasion of 390 BC, although it felt threatened by the second Gallic invasion of 360 BC. Rome had been and still was shaken by internal strife, especially between the patricians and the plebeians for access to public office and therefore to political activity and the management of land and spoils of the incessant wars. Rome was also fighting the Ernici, the Volsci, the Tiburtini, and the Etruscans, and was preparing for battle with the Samnites, who were coming down from the mountains to raid rich Campania, which Rome also desired.  In Sicily and in southern Italy, where Dionysis the Great had created the beginnings of a unified state, Dionysius the Younger, his son, tried to enlarge his inheritance, but met with resistance from other Greek forces. A flurry of alliances, including some with the Carthaginians, led to the disintegration of Dionysius' power, and his deposition in 345 BC. Taranto, which had been left out of the fighting, grew in power, and other forces arrived from Greece. Rome was beginning to assert its influence in these struggles.  Carthage, after having closed the war with the Cyrenaica, thus stabilizing the eastern boundary of the Phoenician territory, had been always at war with the Greeks and in particular with Syracuse, for control of Sicily. It was also in conflict with the Etruscans, who, blocked by the Gauls from northern Italy, and by the Romans from Latium, applied themselves aggressively to the Tyrrhenian Sea to control traffic there.

Terms of the treaty.

This second treaty was an attempt to copy the first treaty, with the addition of some cities. The Carthaginians added Tyre and Utica, while promising not to attack the coastal cities of Latium that had allied themselves with Rome. Similar to the first treaty, it stated that there "shall be friendship between the Romans and their allies, and the Carthaginians, Tyrians, and [the] township of Utica" on the conditions listed, and that Romans were allowed to trade and do business in the Carthaginian province of Sicily and in Carthage, and Carthaginians were allowed to trade and do business in Rome.

Implications.

Carthage saw Rome as a possible adversary that had resisted invasion and in war was proving itself potentially dangerous. Rome also controlled a large amount of territory, larger—if not richer—than its perennial rival Syracuse. Moreover, the fact that Carthage allowed Phoenician merchants to operate in Rome shows that the former did not fear commercial competition from Rome and that it could operate its own territories, while treating Rome as an upcoming potential client that should be put under its political control.  It is therefore to the credit of Carthaginian diplomacy that the revision to the 509 BC treaty imposed additional restrictions on Rome, written at a time when it was heavily engaged in military (and therefore financial) obligations. Additionally, the prohibition against Rome's founding of cities did not appear in the first treaty, and shows that Carthage may have caught on to the method of Roman expansion; commerce did not interest Rome as much as the control and exploitation of its territory. To the Romans, if an area was deserted it would be substantially occupied; if the area was inhabited, it would be conquered and forced to pay in assets and troops, and eventually to accept Roman or Latin colonies. This was probably foreign to the commercial mentality of the Carthaginians in 509 BC, who founded colonies almost exclusively to support warehouses.

Third treaty 306 BC.

Background.

During this period, Rome was in control of most of southern Etruria and the territory of Campania, and was in the middle of its wars with the Samnites. Begun in 343 BC, these would not be concluded until 290 BC, and had become a regional revolt, with the populations of Latium and Etruria trying to free themselves from Roman rule.  There were other incidents causing unrest, in other parts of the region. Alexander the Great died in June, 323 BC, and the territory he had conquered was being fought over by the Diadochi, the generals of the Macedonian army; Egypt, Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, and Syria were involved in incessant wars that threatened peaceful trade; and Agathocles ascended the throne of Syracuse in 316 BC and began a campaign to rid Sicily of the Carthaginians, and in 311 BC, having been defeated in Sicily, carried the war to Africa before allying himself with Cyrenaica the following year.  In 303 BC, Rome and Taranto concluded a treaty that fixed the limits of Roman navigation at the Lacine promontory (see Capo Colonna) and by 306 BC Rome had come to an agreement with Rhodes, another city undergoing strong commercial expansion.

Existence and terms of the treaty.

While Polybius claimed that this treaty never existed but was a forgery of the pro-carthaginian historian Philinus, recent research suggests that such a treaty did in fact exist. Philinus claimed that the treaty included Rome's agreement not to enter Sicily and Carthage's agreement not to set foot on the peninsula, i.e. the stipulations on Carthage did not change while Rome now found itself shut out of the Sicilian market.

Fourth treaty 279 BC.

Background.

The Samnite Wars officially ended in 290 BC, and the subsequent actions of Rome within its territory had reduced the pressure of the Italian populace on the Greek cities in southern Italy, and in particular Taranto; the Italians themselves were being attacked by the Roman army. Taranto was experiencing a period of wealth and expansion, to the point of securing a treaty that limited Roman navigation (see above). In 282 BC, ten Roman ships appeared in Tarantine waters, violating the treaty, but they were either destroyed or forced to escape. When a Roman delegation was sent to request restitution for the ships and the captured prisoners, it was insulted, and war between the two states began in 281 BC. The Tarantines at first tried to form an anti-Roman league with the Italic populace, but it was considered to be insufficient, and thus, in 280 BC, they requested the assistance of Pyrrhus to lead the war against the Romans.  Pyrrhus arrived with an army of 25,000 men and 20 elephants in Taranto, when it was succumbing to the Roman army, and presented himself as the champion of Greece against the advance of the Italic barbarians. Pyrrhus' attack on Rome was heralded as a success: the Battle of Heraclea in Lucania against the legions under Publius Valerius Laevinus was won thanks to the use of elephants (which the Romans had never seen and called them Lucanian bulls ). In 279 BC, a second great battle, the Battle of Asculum, at Ascoli Satriano, was seen as a victory by Pyrrhus over the forces of the consuls Publius Sulpicius Saverrio and Publius Decius Mus. This battle, however, exacted heavy losses on the victor, so great that it inspired the term "Pyrrhic victory". Pyrrhus subsequently returned to Taranto.  Syracuse remained at war with Carthage and, after the death of Agathocles, was further embroiled in a civil war. The former, trying to change its lot and taking advantage of the fact that Pyrrhus had married Agathocles' daughter, offered him the crown of Sicily in exchange for helping them throw off the Carthaginians. Pyrrhus accepted, partly to leave the peninsula and avoid the Romans. Pyrrhus landed in Sicily, and was successful in pushing the Carthaginians to the Lilybaeum on western coast. These manoeuvres by Syracuse and Pyrrhus prompted Carthage to sign the fourth treaty with Rome.

Terms of the treaty.

The treaty contained the same provisions as the two earlier treaty, with the addition of the following.

Implications and aftermath.

While each party to the treaty was not obliged to come to the aid of the other, it was an attempt by Carthage, which felt itself less able to carry out land warfare, to drag Rome into a land war in Sicily. The Carthaginians would supply ships for the transport of troops, and would pay the cost of supplies and cargo. The treaty also implied that Carthage was offering Rome the help of its navy against Pyrrhus, since Roman generals, such as Publius Cornelius Scipio, commonly used the sailors of its transport ships alongside the soldiers in battle.  An improvement in Rome's condition followed soon after the treaty was put in place, which acknowledged Rome's increased military and economic powers. The treaty, on the other hand, betrayed Carthage's relative weakness in conceding that Rome was an equal, which was probably a result of its difficulties in Sicily. It may also have been this treaty that led the Romans to appreciate the growing importance and power of their Republic and the limits of the power of Carthage. Rome would subsequently defeat Pyrrhus, who by then had defeated the Carthaginians, and needed only to extend its reach to conquer rich Sicily, with its grain reserves.  In 275 BC, after the defeat of Maleventum (Beneventum), Pyrrhus returned to Epirus and Rome was left master of the entire Italian peninsula south of the Tusco-Emilian Apennines. The First Punic war began eleven years later, in 264 BC.

The treaties between Rome and Carthage are the four treaties between the two states that were signed between 509 BC and 279 BC. The treaties influenced the course of history in the Mediterranean, and are important for understanding the relationship between the two most important cities of the region during that era. They reveal changes in how Rome perceived itself and how Carthage perceived Rome, and the differences between the perception of the cities and their actual characteristics.

Les traités entre Rome et Carthage sont essentiels pour comprendre les relations entre les deux cités de la Méditerranée occidentale, mais aussi avec les Grecs de Sicile et de l'Italie grecque, où Syracuse est la dernière ville hellénisée de la zone.


Features.

The foundation of the building comprises vaults resting on Romanesque and Byzantine capitals. Along with the fact that there are no Gothic or Islamic architectural features, this suggests that the original building predates the Crusader period.  The synagogue is located three meters below street level, to comply with Muslim restrictions for Dhimmi houses of prayer not to be higher than mosques.

History.

13th century.

After the Disputation of Barcelona, Nachmanides was exiled from Aragon, and in 1267 he made aliyah to the Land of Israel. In an alleged letter to his son, he described the Jewish community of Jerusalem devastated by the Khwarezmian Tatars: Seventy two years old, he undertook the effort to rebuild the Jewish community and chose a ruined house on Mount Zion to reconstruct it as a synagogue. A number of Jews moved to Jerusalem after hearing of Nachmanides' arrival. The Torah scrolls that were evacuated to Shechem before the Mongol invasion were returned. In three weeks, for Rosh Hashanah, the synagogue was ready for use.

16th century.

In 1586, the synagogue was closed under the order of the Turkish governor of Jerusalem. Subsequently, the Sephardi community established their center in the adjacent place, where the academy belonging to the tanna Yochanan ben Zakai was said to have stood during the Second Temple period. Today the Yochanan ben Zakai Synagogue stands there.  The Nachmanides Synagogue shared a wall with the Sidna Umar Mosque and was described as similar in design. Ottoman authorities issued a Firman to lock the synagogue door due to local complaints of 'noisy ceremonies' and further legal disputes were prohibited after the 1598 confiscation.

19th century.

In 1835, the leaders of the community managed to obtain a permission from the Ottoman authorities for the renovation of the synagogues, which were unified into a single unit.

20th century.

Over the years, the building has been the home to the Sephardi community, was converted into a mosque after being confiscated by a Mufti, and was used as a flour mill and a cheese factory. Today it is used by the Ashkenazi community.  After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the building was destroyed by the Arab Legion. As a result of the 1967 Six-Day War, Jews regained access to the property, and 700 years after Nachmanides revived the ancient building, the synagogue was reopened.

The Ramban Synagogue (), is the second oldest active synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was founded by the scholar and rabbi Nachmanides (also known as Ramban) in 1267, to serve the local Jewish community, which expanded because of the synagogue's presence.

La synagogue Ramban est la deuxième plus vieille synagogue en activité de la vieille ville de Jérusalem après la synagogue karaite Anan Ben David. Sa construction est attribuée à Moïse Nahmanide dit Ramban, en 1267, mais son identification fait encore l'objet de plusieurs objections. Elle se situe "Rehov Ha-Yehudim" (rue des Juifs) dans le quartier juif.


Robotic spacecraft.

The Soviet Union sent the first spacecraft to the vicinity of the Moon, the robotic vehicle Luna 1, on January 4, 1959. It passed within of the Moon's surface, but did not achieve lunar orbit. Luna 3, launched on October 4, 1959, was the first robotic spacecraft to complete a circumlunar free return trajectory, still not a lunar orbit, but a figure-8 trajectory which swung around the far side of the Moon and returned to the Earth. This craft provided the first pictures of the far side of the Lunar surface.  The Soviet Luna 10 became the first spacecraft to actually orbit the Moon in April 1966. It studied micrometeoroid flux, and lunar environment until May 30, 1966. A follow-on mission, Luna 11, was launched on August 24, 1966 and studied lunar gravitational anomalies, radiation and solar wind measurements.  The first United States spacecraft to orbit the Moon was Lunar Orbiter 1 on August 14, 1966. The first orbit was an elliptical orbit, with an apolune of and a perilune of. Then the orbit was circularized at around to obtain suitable imagery. Five such spacecraft were launched over a period of thirteen months, all of which successfully mapped the Moon, primarily for the purpose of finding suitable Apollo program landing sites.  The most recent was the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which became a ballistic impact experiment in 2014.

Crewed spacecraft.

The Apollo program's Command/Service Module (CSM) remained in a lunar parking orbit while the Lunar Module (LM) landed. The combined CSM/LM would first enter an elliptical orbit, nominally by, which was then changed to a circular parking orbit of about. Orbital periods vary according to the sum of apoapsis and periapsis, and for the CSM were about two hours. The LM began its landing sequence with a Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI) burn to lower their periapsis to about, chosen to avoid hitting lunar mountains reaching heights of. After the second landing mission, the procedure was changed on Apollo 14 to save more of the LM fuel for its powered descent, by using the CSM's fuel to perform the DOI burn, and later raising its periapsis back to a circular orbit after the LM had made its landing.

Perturbation effects.

Gravitational anomalies slightly distorting the orbits of some Lunar Orbiters led to the discovery of mass concentrations (dubbed mascons) beneath the lunar surface caused by large impacting bodies at some remote time in the past. These anomalies are of sufficient magnitude to cause a lunar orbit to change significantly over the course of several days. They can cause a plumb bob to hang about a third of a degree off vertical, pointing toward the mascon, and increase the force of gravity by one-half percent. The Apollo 11 first manned landing mission employed the first attempt to correct for the perturbation effect (the frozen orbits were not known at that time). The parking orbit was "circularized" at by, which was expected to become the nominal circular when the LM made its return rendezvous with the CSM. But the effect was overestimated by a factor of two; at rendezvous the orbit was calculated to be by. Study of the mascons' effect on lunar spacecraft led to the discovery in 2001 of "frozen orbits" occurring at four orbital inclinations: 27°, 50°, 76°, and 86°, in which a spacecraft can stay in a low orbit indefinitely. The Apollo 15 subsatellite PFS-1 and the Apollo 16 subsatellite PFS-2, both small satellites released from the Apollo Service Module, contributed to this discovery. PFS-1 ended up in a long-lasting orbit, at 28° inclination, and successfully completed its mission after one and a half years. PFS-2 was placed in a particularly unstable orbital inclination of 11°, and lasted only 35 days in orbit before crashing into the lunar surface.

In astronomy, lunar orbit (also known as a selenocentric orbit) is the orbit of an object around the Moon. As used in the space program, this refers not to the orbit of the Moon about the Earth, but to orbits by various manned or unmanned spacecraft around the Moon. The altitude at apoapsis (point farthest from the center of attraction) for a lunar orbit is known as apolune, apocynthion, or aposelene, while the periapsis (point closest to the center of attraction) is known as perilune, pericynthion, or periselene, from names or epithets of the moon goddess.

En astronomie, l’orbite lunaire, aussi connue comme l’orbite sélénocentrique, se réfère à l'orbite d'un objet autour de la Lune. Tel qu'utilisé dans les programmes spatiaux comme Apollo, cela se réfère non pas à l'orbite de la Lune vis-à-vis de la Terre, mais à des orbites de divers engins spatiaux, habités ou non, autour de la Lune.


Plot.

Background.

The events of the book seem to take place around 1825. In Chapter 29, Miss Monflathers refers to the death of Lord Byron, who died on 19 April 1824. When the inquest rules (incorrectly) that Quilp committed suicide, his corpse is ordered to be buried at a crossroads with a stake through the heart, a practice banned in 1823. Nell's grandfather, after his breakdown, fears that he shall be sent to a madhouse, and there chained to a wall and whipped; these practices went out of use after about 1830. In Chapter 13, the lawyer Mr. Brass is described as "one of Her Majesty's attornies", putting him in the reign of Queen Victoria, which began in 1837, but given all the other evidence, and the fact that Kit, at his trial, is charged with acting "against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King" (referring to George IV), this must be a slip of the pen.

Synopsis.

"The Old Curiosity Shop" tells the story of Nell Trent, a beautiful and virtuous young girl of "not quite fourteen". An orphan, she lives with her maternal grandfather (whose name is never revealed) in his shop of odds and ends. Her grandfather loves her dearly, and Nell does not complain, but she lives a lonely existence with almost no friends her own age. Her only friend is Kit, an honest boy employed at the shop, whom she is teaching to write. Secretly obsessed with ensuring that Nell does not die in poverty as her parents did, her grandfather attempts to provide Nell with a good inheritance through gambling at cards. He keeps his nocturnal games a secret, but borrows heavily from the evil Daniel Quilp, a malicious, grotesquely deformed, hunchbacked dwarf moneylender. In the end, he gambles away what little money they have, and Quilp seizes the opportunity to take possession of the shop and evict Nell and her grandfather. Her grandfather suffers a breakdown that leaves him bereft of his wits, and Nell takes him away to the Midlands of England, to live as beggars.  Convinced that the old man has stored up a large and prosperous fortune for Nell, her wastrel older brother, Frederick, convinces the good-natured but easily led Dick Swiveller to help him track Nell down, so that Swiveller can marry Nell and share her supposed inheritance with Frederick. To this end, they join forces with Quilp, who knows full well that there is no fortune, but sadistically chooses to 'help' them to enjoy the misery it will inflict on all concerned. Quilp begins to try to track Nell down, but the fugitives are not easily discovered. To keep Dick Swiveller under his eye, Quilp arranges for him to be taken as a clerk by Quilp's lawyer, Mr. Brass. At the Brass firm, Dick befriends the mistreated maidservant and nicknames her 'the Marchioness'. Nell, having fallen in with a number of characters, some villainous and some kind, succeeds in leading her grandfather to safety in a far-off village (identified by Dickens as Tong, Shropshire), but this comes at a considerable cost to Nell's health.  Meanwhile, Kit, having lost his job at the curiosity shop, has found new employment with the kind Mr and Mrs Garland. Here he is contacted by a mysterious'single gentleman' who is looking for news of Nell and her grandfather. The'single gentleman' and Kit's mother go after them unsuccessfully, and encounter Quilp, who is also hunting for the runaways. Quilp forms a grudge against Kit and has him framed as a thief. Kit is sentenced to transportation. However, Dick Swiveller proves Kit's innocence with the help of his friend the Marchioness. Quilp is hunted down and dies trying to escape his pursuers. At the same time, a coincidence leads Mr Garland to knowledge of Nell's whereabouts, and he, Kit, and the single gentleman (who turns out to be the younger brother of Nell's grandfather) go to find her. Sadly, by the time they arrive, Nell has died as a result of her arduous journey. Her grandfather, already mentally infirm, refuses to admit she is dead and sits every day by her grave waiting for her to come back until, a few months later, he dies himself.

Framing device.

"Master Humphrey's Clock" was a weekly serial that contained both short stories and two novels ("The Old Curiosity Shop" and "Barnaby Rudge"). Some of the short stories act as frame stories to the novels.  Originally the conceit of the story was that Master Humphrey was reading it aloud to a group of his friends, gathered at his house around the grandfather clock in which he eccentrically kept his manuscripts. Consequently, when the novel begins, it is told in the first person, with Master Humphrey as the narrator. However, Dickens soon changed his mind about how best to tell the story, and abandoned the first-person narrator after chapter three. Once the novel was ended, "Master Humphrey's Clock" added a concluding scene, where Master Humphrey's friends (after he has finished reading the novel to them) complain that the'single gentleman' is never given a name; Master Humphrey tells them that the novel was a true story, that the'single gentleman' was in fact Master Humphrey himself, and that the events of the first three chapters were fictitious, intended only to introduce the characters. This was Dickens' after-the-fact explanation of why the narrator disappeared and why (if he was their near relation) he gave no sign in the first three chapters of knowing who they were. At least one editor thinks this device "need not be taken seriously."  Dickens's original artistic intent was to keep the short stories and the novels together, and the short stories and the novels were published in 1840 in three bound volumes under the title "Master Humphrey's Clock", which retains the original full and correct ordering of texts. However, Dickens himself cancelled "Master Humphrey's Clock" before 1848, and describes in a preface to "The Old Curiosity Shop" that he wishes the story to not be tied down to the miscellany within which it began. Most later anthologies published the short stories and the novels separately.

Literary significance and criticism.

Probably the most widely repeated criticism of Dickens is the remark reputedly made by Oscar Wilde that "One would have to have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without dissolving into tears...of laughter." Nell's deathbed is not actually described, however. Of a similar opinion was the poet Algernon Swinburne, who called Nell "a monster as inhuman as a baby with two heads".  The Irish leader Daniel O'Connell famously burst into tears at the finale, and threw the book out of the window of the train in which he was travelling.  The hype surrounding the conclusion of the series was unprecedented; Dickens fans were reported to have stormed the piers in New York City, shouting to arriving sailors (who might have already read the final chapters in the United Kingdom), "Is Little Nell alive?" In 2007, many newspapers claimed that the excitement at the release of the last instalment of "The Old Curiosity Shop" was the only historical comparison that could be made to the excitement at the release of the last Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".  The Norwegian author Ingeborg Refling Hagen is said to have buried a copy of the book in her youth, stating that nobody deserved to read about Nell, because nobody would ever understand her pain. She compared herself to Nell, because of her own miserable situation at the time.

Allusions to actual history, geography.

A shop named 'The Old Curiosity Shop' can be found at 13–14 Portsmouth Street, Holborn, London, WC2A 2ES, and is now owned by the London School of Economics. The building dates back to the sixteenth century in an area known as Clare Market, but the shop name was added after the novel was released, as it was thought to be the inspiration for Dickens's description of the antique shop. At one time it functioned as a dairy on an estate given by King Charles II to one of his many mistresses. It was built using timber from old ships, and survived the bombs of the Second World War.  Nell and her grandfather meet Codlin and Short in a churchyard in Aylesbury. The horse races where Nell and her grandfather go with the show people are at Banbury. The village where they first meet the schoolmaster is Warmington, Warwickshire. They meet Mrs. Jarley near the village of Gaydon, Warwickshire. The town where they work at Jarley's Waxworks is Warwick. The heavily industrialised town where Nell spends the night by the furnace is Birmingham (after they have travelled on the Warwick and Birmingham Canal). The town in which Nell faints and is rescued by the school master is Wolverhampton in the Black Country. The village where they finally find peace and rest and where Nell dies is Tong, Shropshire.  Other real locations used in the novel include London Bridge, Bevis Marks, Finchley, and Minster-on-Sea.

External links.

Online editions  Other sites

The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels (the other being "Barnaby Rudge") which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial "Master Humphrey's Clock", from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final instalment arrived in 1841. "The Old Curiosity Shop" was printed in book form in 1841.

Le Magasin d'antiquités, en anglais, est, avec "Barnaby Rudge", l'un des deux romans que Charles Dickens (1812-1870) a publiés, en compagnie de quelques nouvelles, dans son anecdotique et éphémère revue "L'Horloge de Maître Humphrey", parue de 1840 à 1841, puis en un volume en 1841. Master Humphrey est censé être le narrateur des premiers chapitres, puis l'histoire est confiée, sans transition, à une autre voix.


Club career.

Youth.

Ćetković began his career with Crvena Stijena and Mladost Podgorica. When he left Mladost, he played in the Montenegrin Second League, at the time one of two third-tier leagues in Serbia and Montenegro's football pyramid.

Zeta.

Ćetković made his top-flight debut with Zeta in the 2006-07 season, the first season after Montenegro split from Serbia. After Zeta won the league, he left a strong impression in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League that season. He scored a goal against FBK Kaunas, after which he played both legs against Rangers. Although Zeta was eliminated, the Rangers' website published a post-match report recognizing Ćetković as "by far and away the stand out player" of his team.

Partizan.

On 31 August 2007, Ćetković signed a four-year contract with Serbian team Partizan. On 5 December 2007, he played in the final of the "Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu" in a 2-0 loss against Real Madrid, coming on as a substitute for Zoran Tošić in the 58th minute.  Initially, Ćetković saw more playing time under coach Miroslav Đukić, but fell out of favor with the subsequent coach, Slaviša Jokanović. After leaving Partizan in July 2008, he told a journalist that the move to Partizan was a mistake in his career.

Mogren.

In August 2008, Ćetković signed for Mogren. At the time of Ćetković's transfer, Mogren was coached by Branislav "Brano" Milačić and had a respected generation of players from the Montenegrin national team involving the likes of Radoslav Batak, Ivan Janjušević, Petar Grbić, Janko Simović, and Draško Božović. Ćetković played regularly for Mogren when they won the Montenegrin First League in 2009, and also scored the winning goal against Budućnost, the previous season's champion.

Jagiellonia.

In July 2011, he joined Polish team Jagiellonia Białystok on a three-year contract. He spent two half-seasons out on loan; first in Thailand with Buriram United F.C. and then with Podbeskidzie Bielsko-Biała. Overall, Ćetković played a total of 19 league games for Jagiellonia.

Budućnost.

After spending two seasons in Poland, Ćetković returned to his homeland and signed for Budućnost in July 2013. He started his 2013–14 season by scoring three goals in 13 games for Budućnost. At the end of the 2014 season, Ćetković was recognized as one of the three best midfielders of Montenegrin First League that season by the Trade Union of Professional Football Players of Montenegro.

Laçi.

On 16 August 2014, Ćetković officially signed with Albanian Superliga side Laçi on a one-year deal, taking the vacant number 20 for the upcoming 2014–15 season. It was also reported that the team's goalkeeper Miroslav Vujadinović had his part on Ćetković's transfer, convincing the player to join the team.  He made his official debut with the club on 24 August in team's opening league match of the season against Partizani Tirana at home, coming on as a second-half substitute. Ćetković scored his first goal of the season in the matchday 5 against Tirana, netting the opening goal of the 2–0 home win, and was selected Man of the Match. Two week later, Ćetković was again in the scoresheet where he converted a penalty-kick to help Laçi conquer Vllaznia Shkodër 3–0 at home.  On 21 July 2015, during the preparations for the new season, Ćetković underwent surgery in his right knee in a hospital in Zagreb that kept him out until November 2015. The constant pain in his leg had concerned him for months, and the surgery was unavoidable. Due to the surgery, Ćetković missed the European campaign and the start of the season.  After an impressive first season in Albanian football he was subject to interest and formal offers from Skënderbeu Korçë, Kukësi, Partizani Tirana and Tirana, but he extended his contract with KF Laçi for another year.  In April 2016, Ćetković scored his team's both goals in the 2015–16 Albanian Cup semi-final tie against Skënderbeu Korçë, as Laçi progressed to the final thanks to the away goal rule. However, in the final, Laçi was defeated 5–3 on penalties after the regular and extra time finished in a 1–1; Ćetković himself scored his team's second penalty shootout attempt. He left the team in June.

Sarajevo.

On 14 June 2016, Ćetković signed with Sarajevo from Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 6 August 2016 he scored a goal in a 1-1 tie against Čelik Zenica. On 10 January 2017, it was announced that he terminated his contract with Sarajevo.

Partizani Tirana.

On 12 January 2017, Ćetković returned in Albanian Superliga by signing a six-month contract with Partizani Tirana, taking squad number 21 for the second part of 2016–17 season.  He made his first appearance for the club came on 28 January in the matchday 19, starting in a 2–0 defeat at Luftëtari Gjirokastër. His first and only goal of the season would come on penultimate week of the season where Partizani defeated Korabi Peshkopi 3–0. He played 16 league matches until the end of the season as Partizani were runner-up in the Albanian Superliga, losing the championship to Kukësi for only three points.  On 12 June 2017, Ćetković left Partizani after deciding not to extend his contract, returning in Montenegro after 10 years.

Return to Mladost Podgorica.

Only one day later, Ćetković returned to his birth country to sign with Mladost Podgorica, returning to the club after 12 years.

Sutjeska Nikšić.

On 13 June 2018 Ćetković signed a one-year contract with Sutjeska Nikšić. At the end of the 2018-19 season, he was nominated as one of the three best midfielders in the league by the Trade Union of Professional Football Players of Montenegro.

International career.

Youth.

Ćetković's first international appearance was for Serbia and Montenegro U17; he debuted on 24 March 2003 against Finland for the second qualifying round of the 2004 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, which finished in a 1–1 draw. Following that, Ćetković made another two appearances, scoring once in the process. Ćetković continued to play for Montenegro U21, making nine appearances from when Montenegro declared independence from Serbia.

Senior.

On 17 November 2010, Ćetković made his debut with the senior side during the friendly match against Azerbaijan, appearing in the last 15 minutes of the 2–0 home win.  He made his competitive debut for Montenegro on 11 October 2011 in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match against Switzerland, playing full-90 minutes in a 2–0 away loss.  Ćetković was called up again in the senior side by its new coach Branko Brnović for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying play-off tie against Czech Republic. In the first leg at Generali Arena on 11 November 2011, Ćetković was even in the bench with the match finishing in a 2–0 loss for Ćetković's side. In the returning leg four days later, he was on the bench but still unable to make his debut with Montenegro who was defeated 1–0 at home and was kicked out with the aggregate 3–0.  On 17 November 2013, he scored his first goal for the Montenegrin national team in a friendly against Luxembourg.

Personal life.

His brother Đorđije is also a Montenegro international who has been capped 7 times by the national team, and his uncle is former Yugoslavia international footballer Predrag Mijatović. He once stated that he loved basketball and that he would have loved to play basketball if he were taller.

Marko Ćetković (Cyrillic; Марко Ћeткoвић, born 10 July 1986 in Podgorica) is a Montenegrin professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Montenegrin club Sutjeska Nikšić. He also played for the Montenegrin national team.

Marko Ćetković, né le à Titograd (alors ville de Yougoslavie), est un footballeur professionnel monténégrin. Il occupe actuellement le poste de milieu de terrain au FK Mladost Podgorica.


Early life.

Solo was born in Richland, Washington on July 30, 1981 to Judy Lynn (née Shaw) and Jeffrey Solo. Her father, an Italian-American Vietnam War veteran, who was in and out of her life as a child and teenager, taught her how to play soccer at a young age. When Solo was seven, her father picked her and her brother Marcus up to go to a baseball game in the nearby city of Yakima, but ended up driving over three hours west to Seattle, where they stayed for several days at a hotel. Solo described how it seemed like a vacation at first, but soon realized it was not. Police later found them at a downtown bank and arrested Jeffrey for alleged kidnapping. Although her parents had divorced when she was six and she lived with her mother, Solo maintained a close relationship with her father after reconnecting with him during her college years at the University of Washington. He continued to be a major influence in her life until his death of a heart attack in June 2007.  As a forward at Richland High School, Solo scored 109 goals, leading her team to three consecutive league titles from 1996 to 1998 and a state championship during her senior year. She was twice named a Parade All American. Solo also played club soccer for the Three Rivers Soccer Club in the Tri-Cities.

Washington Huskies, 1999–2002.

After being heavily recruited by several colleges around the country, Solo attended the University of Washington from 1999 to 2002 where she majored in speech communications. With the Huskies, she switched permanently to goalkeeper under the lead of head coach Lesle Gallimore and goalkeeper coach and former national team player, Amy Griffin. Solo described the transition in her memoir, "In high school, I had been the forward who won games. It was a huge mental adjustment to learn that my job was to save games. To anticipate what was needed. Before, I would stand in goal, the ball would come toward me, and I'd use my athletic ability to make the save. But thanks

Club career.

WUSA and European professional leagues, 2003–05.

Following her college career, Solo was selected in the first round (fourth overall) of the 2003 WUSA Draft by the Philadelphia Charge. She spent most of her first professional season on the bench playing in eight games. Solo started the last three games of the season and earned her first professional shutout against the Atlanta Beat. She also shut out eventual league champions, the Washington Freedom led by top scorers, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach. After the WUSA folded following the 2003 season just six days before the 2003 FIFA Women's World

The WPS years, 2009–11.

Saint Louis Athletica.

On September 16, 2008, Solo was one of three national team players allocated to the Saint Louis Athletica in the WPS as part of the 2008 WPS Player Allocation, with the new league slated to begin play in April 2009. Solo let in six goals in the first four games as Athletica got off to a

Atlanta Beat.

In May 2010, the Saint Louis Athletica folded and Solo signed with WPS expansion team, Atlanta Beat, along with her St. Louis teammates, Tina Ellertson and Eniola Aluko. As her previous jersey number was taken (1), she wore 78 for the Beat. Solo's comments on social networking website Twitter led to two separate controversies after she accused Boston Breakers supporters of offensive chanting and racist remarks toward a teammate, then questioned the integrity of match officials and the league itself following the Beat's 1–0 defeat to Washington Freedom. The second outburst resulted in a $2,500 fine and one-game

magicJack.

Ahead of the 2011 Women's Professional Soccer season, Solo signed for magicJack, formerly the Washington Freedom under new ownership. Between her shoulder surgery recovery, national team commitments and preparation for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, Solo missed a significant part of the season. She made four appearances for the club, tallying a total of 360 minutes. After the season ended, the club lost its franchise on October 25, 2011. The league later suspended operations in early 2012 because of legal and financial difficulties.

Seattle Sounders Women, 2012.

On February 14, 2012, it was announced that Solo had signed with the Seattle Sounders Women. Joining the club the same year were national teammates Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Sydney Leroux. Sounders Women general manager, Amy Carnell, said of the signing, "Hope is undoubtedly the best women's keeper in the game today. Her signing represents the caliber player Sounders Women's fans can expect in 2012.

NWSL: a new era, 2013–2016.

Seattle Reign FC.

On January 19, 2013 it was announced that Solo was one of three members from the United States national team, along with Megan Rapinoe and Amy Rodriguez, allocated to the Seattle Reign FC for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League, as part of the NWSL Player Allocation. Two months later, it was reported that she was undergoing wrist surgery and would miss about half the season because of recovery. Joining news that Amy Rodriguez would be out for the season because of pregnancy and Megan Rapinoe would be returning mid-season after a six-month stint for Olympique Lyonnais, the Reign faced a tough first half of the season and went 0–9–1 in their first ten games. With the return of Solo, Rapinoe, and some additional lineup changes made during the early summer, the Reign turned their regular season record around and finished the season in seventh place with a 5–14–3 record. Solo started in all 14 matches in which she played with a 1.357 goals against

International career.

Solo played for U.S. junior national soccer teams before joining the senior U.S. national team in 2000. Her senior debut came in an 8–0 win over Iceland at Davidson, North Carolina in April 2000. In 2004, Solo joined the national team at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens as an alternate behind primary goalkeeper Briana Scurry and backup Kristin Luckenbill. Solo has been the team's first choice goalkeeper since 2005. She holds the national team record for longest undefeated streak as a goalkeeper with 55 games from March 7, 2002 to July 16, 2008.

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Solo was the starting goalkeeper for the United States in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, giving up two goals in four games including consecutive shutouts of Sweden, Nigeria and England. Heading into the semifinal match against Brazil, U.S. coach Greg Ryan benched Solo in favor of 36-year-old veteran U.S. keeper Briana Scurry, who had a strong history of performance against the Brazilians but had not played a complete game in three months. The U.S. lost to Brazil 4–0, ending a 51–game (regulation time) undefeated streak, while playing much of the match with only 10 players after midfielder Shannon Boxx was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in the first half.

Post-2007 World Cup fallout.

In an impromptu interview following the match, a clearly upset Solo criticized Ryan's decision. "It was the wrong decision, and I think anybody that knows anything about the game knows that. There's no doubt in my mind I would have made those saves. And the fact of the matter is it's not 2004 anymore. It's not 2004. And it's 2007, and I think you have to live in the present. And you can't live by big names. You can't live in the past. It doesn't matter what somebody did in an Olympic gold medal game in the Olympics three years ago. Now is what matters, and that's what I think." Many viewed her comments as being critical of Scurry's performance, although Solo released an apologetic statement the following day

2008 Summer Olympics.

On June 23, 2008, it was announced Solo would be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In a reversal of roles from the 2004 Olympics, Briana Scurry did not make the team, though she was an alternate. On August 21, the U.S. women's team won the gold medal by

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Despite missing much of the qualifying campaign with a shoulder injury, Solo was named to the U.S. roster for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany. After keeping clean sheets in group C wins over North Korea and Colombia, Solo conceded two goals in the 2–1 loss to Sweden which consigned the Americans to second place in the group and a quarterfinal meeting with Brazil.  The quarterfinal match between the U.S. and Brazil was sent into a penalty shoot-out after U.S. forward Abby Wambach tied the game at 2–2 in stoppage time at the end of extra-time. Solo saved the third Brazil penalty kick by Daiane, helping the U.S. secure a semifinal spot against France. After the quarterfinal victory, Solo commented on

2012 Summer Olympics.

Leading up to the Summer Olympics, Solo received a public warning from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after a June 15 urine test concluded the banned substance canrenone had been detected. Solo said in a statement she had been prescribed a pre-menstrual medication and was not aware it contained any banned substances. She cooperated with the USADA and provided them with the necessary information to prove that it was a mistake. Her story checked out and she was cleared with a public warning. The positive test did not require Solo to withdraw from any pre-Olympic matches. In a 4–2 defeat of France in the opening match, France took an early 2–0 lead in 15 minutes. After Abby Wambach reduced the lead to 2–1

2013–2014.

In March 2013, Solo underwent surgery to repair a long-standing injury in her left wrist and did not play for approximately three months. She returned to the national team in June. The team finished 2013 undefeated with a 13–0–3 record.  On June 14, 2014, Solo tied the U.S. record for career shutouts

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

In April 2015, Solo was named to the U.S. roster for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada by head coach Jill Ellis. Solo started and played all possible minutes (630) in all seven of the U.S.' matches, and the U.S. won the tournament, with record-breaking television viewership that topped 750 million in-home TV viewers. After giving up a goal in the 27th minute of the team's first group stage match against Australia, Solo made three

2016: 100th shutout.

On July 9, 2016, Hope Solo earned her 100th international shutout, 150th career win, and 197th cap in

2016 Rio Olympics.

On the occasion of her 200th cap, Solo made "several fine saves" as the United States beat France 1–0, to follow up their opening 2–0 win over New Zealand. In the final group fixture against Colombia, Solo made two errors which allowed their lowly-ranked opponents to secure a 2–2 draw. During the United States' matches Solo had been jeered by the Brazilian crowds, who also chanted "Zika" at her when she touched the ball, in response to her pre-tournament contributions to the 2015–16 Zika virus epidemic debate.  Solo attracted more controversy in the United States' quarter-final defeat by Sweden. During the penalty shootout she caused an interruption of several minutes

Personal life.

Solo is married to former American football player, Jerramy Stevens. They have been together since mid-August 2012 when Solo returned from the Olympics. On November 12, 2012, Stevens was arrested on investigation of assault following an altercation that left Solo injured. The following day, Stevens was released after a judge determined there was not enough evidence to hold him. The couple were wed the next day. In December 2019, Solo announced that she and Stevens are expecting twins, a boy and a girl. The couple welcomed Vittorio Genghis and Lozen Orianna Judith Stevens on March 4, 2020.  In 2014, Solo was one of the victims of the iCloud leaks of celebrity photos, during which several nude pictures of her were leaked online. She expressed solidarity with the other women affected and criticized the perpetrators, "This act goes beyond the bounds of human decency".

Arrest.

On June 21, 2014, Solo was arrested and charged with two misdemeanor counts of assault in the fourth degree; one against her half-sister and the other against her nephew. She was booked under her married name of Hope Amelia Stevens. After pleading not guilty, she was released the following day. In August, her trial was scheduled for November 4, 2014, but this was later delayed until January 20, 2015. On December 30, 2014, the judge ordered more depositions from the defendants and delayed a decision on whether charges against Solo would be dropped until January 6, 2015.  Following her arrest, Solo sat out one game for the Reign and the NWSL allowed her to continue playing soccer through the end of the 2014 season. There was some debate in the media about whether this exemplified a double standard in professional American

Endorsements.

Solo has signed endorsement deals with Seiko, Simple Skincare, Nike, BlackBerry, Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and Gatorade. In July 2011, she signed a one-year endorsement deal with Bank of America. In September 2011, she starred in an EA Sports television commercial along with professional basketball player Steve

Philanthropy.

Solo is a representative of the Women's Sports Foundation, an organization founded by Billie Jean King that is dedicated to "advancing the lives of girls and women through sports and physical activity." She has donated her time and money to the Boys and Girls Club and made appearances at numerous charity

In popular culture.

Television and film.

In 2011, Solo was a contestant on the 13th season of the "Dancing with the Stars" television series. Her partner was Maksim Chmerkovskiy and they were eliminated in the semifinal round, placing fourth overall in the competition.  She has made appearances on "The Late Show with David Letterman", "Piers Morgan Tonight", "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "Chelsea Lately", and "Whitney". Solo was the focus of an ESPN "" episode in 2012. During her interview by Jeremy Schaap, she told of her experience at the 2007 World Cup as well as her childhood. In 2013, she was featured in the PBS documentary, "" and ESPN documentary series, "Nine for IX". The "Nine for IX"

Magazines.

Solo has been featured on the covers of "Fitness", "Sports Illustrated", "Newsweek", "TV Guide", "Seattle Metropolitan Magazine", and "Vogue". In 2011, she appeared nude in The Body Issue of "ESPN The

Autobiography.

On August 14, 2012, after the London Olympics, Solo released her autobiography "Solo: A Memoir of Hope" co-authored with sports columnist and commentator Ann Killion and published by Harper Collins. In her book she provided her accounts of incidents with former U.S. national

Video games.

Solo is featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series starting in "FIFA

Ticker tape parade and White House honor.

Following the United States' win at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Solo and her teammates became the first women's sports team to be honored with

Hope Amelia Solo (born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. After playing at the collegiate level for the University of Washington, she played professionally for the Philadelphia Charge in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA). When the WUSA folded after her first season, she traveled to Europe to play for the top division leagues in Sweden and France. From 2009 to 2011, she played in the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) for Saint Louis Athletica, Atlanta Beat and magicJack. After the WPS ceased operations in early 2012, she played for the Seattle Sounders in the W-League. She most recently played for Seattle Reign FC in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States.

Hope Amelia Solo (née le à Richland, dans l'État de Washington) est une joueuse américaine de football (soccer) évoluant au poste de gardienne de but. Avec l'équipe des États-Unis, elle a notamment été double championne olympique en 2008 et 2012 et championne du monde en 2015.


Rugby career.

Griffiths first came to note as a rugby player when he represented first-class Welsh team Newport. He joined the club in 1902 as a threequarter and continued to represent the club until 1908. As a Newport player Griffiths faced the touring Barbarians at least once in his career; when in the 1905 Winter tour he scored with a conversion in Charlie Pritchard's win over the Baa-Baas. In 1906 he was selected as part of the Newport team to face The Original All Blacks in their first tour of Britain. Again under the captaincy of Pritchard, Griffiths was put into the fullback position by his club. Griffiths did not have a good game; in the first half Canterbury wing Eric Harper easily beat Griffiths to score a try. The tourists furthered their lead with a penalty goal, before Griffiths gave Newport hope with a penalty goal of his own, but despite heroic efforts by scrum-half Tommy Vile, the tourists won the game. Despite becoming the first Newport player to score against the All Blacks, Vile stated after the match that he believed that Newport lost because Griffiths had been positioned at fullback, and Griffiths "was never a fullback".  Although Griffiths was never selected for the Wales team; in 1908 Griffiths was part of Arthur Harding's Anglo-Welsh team that toured Australia and New Zealand. Griffiths played a part in the games against the regional sides but was never selected for the Test Matches, and thus never capped.  Griffiths later moved to France, where he played for Stade Nantais Université Club (Nantes) with Percy Bush (1910–11) and for Racing Club de France (Paris) where he played on the losing side of the final of the 1912 French Championship. In 1912-13, he coached US Perpignanaise (Perpignan, later called "USAP") before settling in Marseilles where he died of typhoid on 4 May 1914 at the age of 29.

Rowland Griffiths (4 March 1886 – 4 May 1914) was a international rugby union player. He was selected for the 1908 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia. Griffiths played club rugby for Newport RFC.

Rowland B. Griffiths, né le à Tintern et mort le à Marseille, est un joueur de rugby à XV gallois qui a évolué au poste de centre.


Commercial Division.

Grupo Elektra offers appliances, consumer electronics, furniture, motorcycles, mobile phones, computers, as well as electronic money transfer business and extended warranties, among many other products.  Elektra is the most important store format of the company. It has 1,143 points of sale throughout Mexico and Central and South America, focused to underserved social classes. The groups older Salinas y Rocha store format has 51 stores and its target market is made of the middle class.  Grupo Elektra sells close to 1 of every 4 televisions commercialized in Mexico, 1 of every 5 refrigerators, 7 of every 10 motorcycles, and pays a substantial proportion of the electronic money transfers from the United States into Mexico.

Financial Division.

It offers its services to sectors that have been underserved by traditional financial institutions through Banco Azteca, Seguros Azteca, Afore Azteca, Advance America and Punto Casa de Bolsa.

Banco Azteca.

Banco Azteca operates in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Peru, and is the largest bank in Mexico in geographical coverage with more than 3,500 points of contact. Banco Azteca Mexico has more than 13 million of deposit accounts and a similar numbers of loan accounts.  Banco Azteca offers consumer and personal loans, credit cards, pawn lending, and group and commercial loans.  On the deposit side, the bank offers a variety of savings products for its target market, with interest-bearing accounts that can be opened with one peso and do not generate commissions.  According to the World Bank, Banco Azteca has a positive impact on the development of numerous communities through micro financing. In the "2014 Global Financial Development Report" about Financial Inclusion, the World Bank indicated that after two years from the start of operations of Banco Azteca in 2002, personal income increased 7% in areas where branches were established, and unemployment decreased 1.4%, due to the increased access to credit, with lower interest rates, compared to other local and microfinance loan providers.  Also, World Bank reported the increase in income was due to the strengthening of small businesses as a result of larger access to funding, while the growth of companies generated jobs. As a result, these sources of work beneficiated low-income population segments that are the target market of Banco Azteca, which improved income distribution.

Advance America.

Advance America is a payday loan provider in the United States, founded in 1997. As of December 31, 2013, Advance America operated over 2,500 lending centers in 29 states and 18 centers in Canada.  Advance America's current President and CEO is J. Patrick O'Shaughnessy, who previously served as the company's CFO. William Webster IV is chairman of the board.  Advance America provides its cash advances in small-denomination, short-term amounts. The advances are due on the customer's next payday.  Advance America does not franchise any of its centers in the United States or Canada and does not provide pawn lending. The company is a member of the Community Financial Services Association of America.

Others.

Seguros Azteca offers life and liability microinsurance that can be acquired at affordable prices in Mexico and Latin America. Afore Azteca offers pension fund management with the support of the extensive geographical coverage of Grupo Elektra. Advance America is a short-term non-bank loan provider in the United States and, Punto Casa de Bolsa offers financial brokerage services to the middle class of the population.

Grupo Elektra is a Mexican financial and retailing corporation established by Hugo Salinas Price. The company has operations in Latin America and is the largest non-bank provider of cash advance services in the United States.

Grupo Elektra est une entreprise mexicaine de distribution fondée en 1950. Elle opère principalement au Mexique, mais contrôle également une banque opérant dans l'ensemble de l'Amérique latine.


Background on Laisrén and Devenish.

Laisrén is chiefly known as the founder of a monastery at Devenish, Irish "Daim-inis "(lit. 'Ox-island'), which was also home to his cult soon after his death.  The "Lives" make clear that the area of Devenish was ruled by the Síl nDaiméni branch of the Uí Chremthainn. To the Irish life is appended a tale of the exile of the Dartraige or Dartrige, presumably because in the 9th century, political control over Devenish and the rest of the region known as Fernmag had changed hands from the Uí Nad Sluaig (a branch of the Uí Chremthann) to the Dartraige.  According to the Irish genealogies of saints, Laisrén belonged to the Uí Chóelbad, who were based in Mag Line (Co Antrim) and formed the leading branch of the Cruithni. The Irish "Life" makes him a member of the Éoganachta of Munster and likewise, borrows a birth-tale from an Éoganacht origin legend, but this appears to be an innovation intended to link the saint with the new rulers based on the idea that the Dartraige were a people exiled from Munster.

Career.

The Latin and Irish "Lives" are the main sources for historical and legendary details of Laisrén's career. One story which links him to famous contemporaries claims that he studied the Gospels under the mentorship of St Finnián of Clonard ("d." 549/51).  Among the more action-packed anecdotes, there is one which relates how Laisrén ran into conflict with a local pagan king, Conall Derg (father of Énna of Aran), who is identified as king of the Síl nDaiméni in the Irish "Life". Utilizing his miraculous powers, the saint is said to have subdued the king, who ceded the island to Laisrén. The last significant events narrated in his "Lives" include a pilgrimage to Rome.  One of his stopping places was at Ferns, where he visited his foster-brother St Máedóc and promised him to do good on his behalf. After his visit to Rome, he is said to have returned to Devenish with relics of Peter and Paul, Laurence and Clement, which were buried with him in the cemetery, so that Devenish could become an Irish Rome.

Death and veneration.

The Irish annals record his death in 564. According to early Irish martyrologies, his festival was observed on 12 September.  A piece of metalwork which bears testimony to his cult is the book reliquary, probably from Devenish, known as "Soiscél Molaise" ('Gospel-book of Molaise'). The original part appears to have been an 8/9th-century portable chasse, but in the early 11th century, it was converted for use as a book shrine at the behest of Cennfaelad ("d". 1025), abbot of Devenish, whose name appears in the inscription. Further decorations were added in a later age. It is currently kept in the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.

Saint Laisrén mac Nad Froích (died 564), or Laisrén of Devenish and Lasserian, also known by his petname Mo Laisse, was the patron saint of Devenish Island in Lough Erne, near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, in the present diocese of Clogher. Laisrén is the subject of both a Latin and an Irish "Life", which offer loose narratives in which a number of miscellaneous anecdotes and miracles have been grouped together.

Lasserian de Devenish, appelé "Molaise" (Saint Lasserian en gaélique irlandais), mort vers 564, est compté parmi les Douze apôtres de l'Irlande. Il ne faut pas le confondre avec l'un des cinq autres saints appelés saint Lasserian. Fête le 12 septembre. Il est réputé être le frère d’Óengus mac Nad Froích, le premier roi chrétien de Munster et on l'appelait « Lasserian mac Nadfraech ». Il fonde le monastère de Devenish sur une île du Lough Erne dans le Comté de Fermanagh.


Background.

Maighread was brought up in Kells, County Meath. (In the 1930s some Irish-speaking families were relocated to Meath as part of a government scheme to create a new Gaeltacht area near Dublin). Her father's family were native Irish-speakers from Rann na Feirste, County Donegal and Maighread was therefore brought up speaking the language, along with her sister Tríona and brothers Éamonn, Mícheál and Conall.  Maighread comes from one of Ireland's best-known musical families. Her father was a well-known song collector and songwriter and her aunt, Néillí Ní Dhomhnaill, was a collector of traditional songs.

Musical career.

Maighread first came to prominence as a member of the group Skara Brae. The other members of the group were Mícheál Ó Domhnaill (her brother), Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill (her sister) and Derry's Dáithí Sproule. The only recording that the group made still remains a classic. " They were the first traditional songs done to guitars – it was the first time the pop music thing was brought to the Irish language. It would be lovely if people knew where it all started. I pressurised Gael Linn to reissue the album. I was on a mission." The songs on her solo albums are mostly sung in Irish. Mícheál and Triona accompanied her on the albums "No Dowry", and on 'Idir an da Sholas'.  Her 1976 debut album was issued under the name "Mairéad Ní Dhomhnaill", but since then she has reverted to the original spelling of her first name to "Maighread". She has also previously used the spelling "Maighréad", but has since removed the accented "e".

Personal life.

Maighread studied nursing and raised a family, giving up music for a while Maighréad was looking after her two children in Dublin, and working part-time on nights as a theatre nurse in Mount Carmel hospital in Dublin: "I loved theatre," she says, with passion.  Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill is married to Cathal Goan, former Director-General of Raidió Teilifís Éireann.

Discography.

Solo albums

Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill (; born 1955) is an Irish traditional singer from Kells, County Meath. Known for her work with the short-lived, but very highly regarded Skara Brae and her collaborations with sister Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, as well as other traditional musicians. Most recently she has recorded and performed with the West Ocean String Quartet (WOSQ).

Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill ( en gaélique d'Irlande), née en 1955 à Kells (comté de Meath), est une chanteuse traditionnelle irlandaise. Elle doit sa célébrité à sa participation au groupe Skara Brae, ainsi qu'à sa collaboration avec sa sœur, Tríona Ní Dhomhnaill, et son frère Mícheál Ó Domhnaill.


Etymology.

The name of the region comes from the Medieval times, it is named after the ruling family of Muzaka (1280 – 1600) which possessed the area. The toponym is first recorded as "Musachia" in 1417.

History.

In antiquity, the Greek colony of Apollonia was founded near the coast. The site of Apollonia lay on the territory of the Taulantii, a cluster of Illyrian tribes that remained closely involved with the settlement for centuries and lived alongside the Greek colonists. The Taulantii controlled much of the plain of Myzeqe in classical antiquity.  In the Middle Ages, and was ruled by various Albanian noble families including the Skuraj and Muzaka families. At various times it was included in the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire, often with the local ruling families serving as vassals to the rulers of the realm. Plenty of Slavic language toponyms are present in Myzeqe.  In the late 13th century the area came under the rule of the officially Catholic and French-tied Angevin Kingdom of Albania. At first, relations were bad between the kingdom's rulers and the local nobility, and at times the nobility, such Gjin Muzaka, collaborated with the Byzantines against the kingdom. However, over time the local house of Muzaka came to view the Angevin royal family of Albania as their allies and protectors especially as the threat of Serbian expansion increased, and became more loyal to them. They were given titles as the region became influenced by the Western style of feudalism. At the same time, the Angevins allowed the local rulers to keep their Orthodox faith. In 1318, Andrea I Muzaka became the first ever Orthodox Albanian to be the head general of the kingdom's army, and the Muzakas played a role in King Charles' battles against the Serbs. In other conflicts, the Muzakas sided again with Byzantium, with Andrea II Muzaka being honored for his service to the Byzantine cause in 1335. The remnants of Byzantine control over the region collapsed during the 1341-1347 Byzantine civil war, creating an opportunity which was taken by the Serbian ruler Stefan Dushan, at the expense of the Kingdom of Albania.  In the middle of the 14th century, the region was conquered by Stefan Dushan for Serbia, but it did not take long for the Serbian Empire's control over the region to fragment as the local families reasserted control. Four decades later, the Battle of Savra (as one of the plains of Myzeqe was known in the Middle Ages) marked the ascendancy of the Ottoman Empire in the region. In the 15th century, the Muzaka family and other local Albanian lords joined Skanderbeg's League of Lezha to try to contain the growing dominance of the Ottomans, but after a long conflict, Myzeqe as well as wider Albania ended up decisively under Ottoman rule until the early 20th century. Some of the local Albanian rulers as well as some of the population ended up fleeing to foreign countries, but some of the rulers stayed and became integrated into the Ottoman power apparatus.  In the 18th century, Ali Pasha of Tepelene, a descendant of the noble Muzaka family, built a large despotate spanning large swaths of Albania, Macedonia and Greece, and gained de facto independence for a time from the Ottoman power center. However, ultimately, Myzeqe as well as the rest of Southern Albania was once again brought back under Ottoman control.  In the late Ottoman era, Myzeqeja had a high rate of malaria, as was generally true of wetter areas in the wider region during that time.  In the 20th century, the region was included in newly independent Albania. The middle of the century brought massive changes to the region as large numbers of Cham Albanian refugees from Greece were settled in it, and its wetlands were rapidly drained and industrialized under Communism, turning it into the "granary" of Albania.

Population.

The oldest population to inhabit the Myzeqe plain are the tribe of the "Lalë" They are a distinct Albanian tribe from the more populous Tosks and Labs. The medieval Muzaka family was related to this tribe as indicated by the name of its progenitor, "Lal Muzhaqi". In the Ottoman period, other Albanian tribes moved to the plain of Myzeqe: the Tosks and Labs. Starting from the late 18th century, a small group of Aromanians from the region of Korçë settled in the region as well. In the first half of the 20th century, refugees from Kosovo and the Sandzak also came in the region after it was annexed by Serbia and Montenegro and then included in Yugoslavia.  These waves of settlement mark Myzeqe as the area where all Albanian subgroups: Gheg, Tosk, and Lab populations meet. Aside from the Vlachs established mainly in Divjake town, and some of the Fier villages and some Romani people practically all the inhabitants of Myzeqe are ethnic Albanians. All people from the region as called "Myzeqarë" ("People from Myzeqe") which is widely used on a geographical point of view.  Myzeqe is notable in its religious makeup as one of the few fairly large regions of Albania where a majority of inhabitants remained Orthodox Christian throughout the Ottoman rule. In the nineteenth century, Fier became a economic and commercial centre of the Myzeqe plain which consisted of small settlements and villages populated by Aromanians, Orthodox Albanians and Muslim Albanians. Around the era of Albanian independence, statistics show that around Fier, roughly 65% of the population was Christian, while in Lushnja the numbers of Christians and Muslims were comparable. During the 20th century, many Muslim-background Cham Albanians were settled in Myzeqe due to the Expulsion of Cham Albanians. Additionally, in Libofshë, some of the residents are Bosniaks who settled in the village in the early 1920s and have become linguistically assimilated.

Economy.

This region is prominent for its agricultural potential, which was not always utilized. Most of today's fields were practically swamps and desolate lands until after World War II. This caused seasonal migration of the population. After World War II, the communist government launched massive campaigns for draining the area. Following the increase in agricultural potential, the region gained significant importance. Since then, Myzeqe has been called the "Albanian granary".

Myzeqe or Myzeqeja (also Musachia) is a plain in the southwestern-central Albania, sometimes referred to as being between the Shkumbin and Seman rivers, and sometimes extending south to the Vjose river north of Vlorë. Administratively, the region falls mainly within Lushnjë and Fier District. Other terms like "Myzeqeja e Vogël" (Small Myzeqe), "Myzeqeja e Beratit" (Berat's Myzeqe), or "Myzeqeja e Vlorës" (Vlora's Myzeqe) are used to point respectively to the Fier part of the region, and to tiny parts that fall into the adjacent districts of Berat and Vlorë. It stretches 65 km north-south and 50 km east-west, with a total area of around 1350 square kilometers.

Myzeqe ou Myzeqeja (en langue aroumaine : "Arman Muzachia"), est le nom d'une région couvrant des grandes plaines centrales et occidentales de l'Albanie.