Etymology.

The origins of Lahore's name are unclear. Lahore's name had been recorded by early Muslim historians as "Lūhar", "Lūhār", and "Rahwar". Al-Biruni referred to the city as "Luhāwar" in his 11th century work, "Qanun," while the poet Amir Khusrow, who lived during the Delhi Sultanate, recorded the city's name as "Lāhanūr". Yaqut al-Hamawi records the city's name as Lawhūr, mentioning that it's famously known as Lahāwar. Rajput sources recorded the city's name as "Lavkot".  One theory suggests that Lahore's

History.

Early.

No definitive records exist to elucidate Lahore's earliest history, and Lahore's ambiguous early history have given rise to various theories about its establishment and history. Hindu legend states that Keneksen, the founder of the Great Suryavansha dynasty, is believed to have migrated out from the city. Early records of Lahore are scant, but Alexander the Great's historians make no mention of any city near Lahore's location during his invasion in 326 BCE, suggesting the city had not been founded by that point, or was unimportant.  Ptolemy mentions in his "Geographia" a city called "Labokla" situated near the

Medieval.

Ghaznavid.

Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni captured Lahore on an uncertain date, but under Ghaznavid rule, Lahore emerged effectively as the empire's second capital. In 1021, Sultan Mahmud appointed Malik Ayaz to the Throne of Lahore—a governorship of the Ghaznavid Empire. The city was captured by Nialtigin, the rebellious Governor of Multan, in 1034, although his forces were expelled by Malik Ayaz in 1036.  With the support of Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznavi, Malik Ayaz rebuilt and repopulated the city which had been devastated after

Mamluk.

In 1187, the Ghurids invaded Lahore, ending Ghaznavid rule over Lahore. Lahore was made capital of the Mamluk Dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate following the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor in 1206. Under the reign of Mamluk sultan Qutbu l-Din Aibak, Lahore attracted poets and scholars from as far away as Turkestan, Greater Khorasan, Persia, and Mesopotamia. Lahore at this time had more poets writing in Persian than any city in Persia or Khorasan.  Following the death of Aibak, Lahore came to be disputed among Ghurid officers. The city first came under control of the Governor of Multan, Nasir ad-Din Qabacha, before being briefly captured by the sultan of the Mamluks in Delhi, Iltutmish, in 1217.  In an alliance with local Khokhars in 1223, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu of the Khwarazmian dynasty of modern-day Uzbekistan captured Lahore after fleeing Genghis Khan's invasion of Khwarazm. Jalal ad-Din's

Tughluq.

Lahore briefly flourished again under the reign of Ghazi Malik of the Tughluq dynasty between 1320 and 1325, though the city was again sacked in 1329, by Tarmashirin of the Central Asian Chagatai Khanate, and then again by the Mongol

Late Sultanates.

Timur gave control of the Lahore region to Khizr Khan, Governor of Multan, who later established the Sayyid dynasty in 1414 – the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. Lahore was briefly occupied by the Timurid Governor of Kabul in 1432-33. Lahore began to be incurred upon yet again the Khokhar tribe, and so the city was granted to Bahlul Lodi in 1441 by the Sayyid dynasty in Delhi, though Lodi would then displace the Sayyids in 1451 by establishing himself upon the throne of Delhi.  Bahlul Lodi installed his cousin, Tatar Khan, to be governor of the city, though Tatar Khan died in battle with Sikandar Lodi in 1485. Governorship of Lahore was transferred by Sikandar Lodi to Umar Khan Sarwani, who quickly left management of this city to his son Said Khan Sarwani. Said Khan was removed from power in 1500 by Sikandar Lodi, and Lahore came under the governorship of Daulat Khan Lodi, son of Tatar Khan and former employer of Guru Nanak – founder of the Sikh faith.

Mughals.

Early Mughal.

Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, captured Lahore in 1524 after being invited to invade by Daulat Khan Lodi, the Lodi governor of Lahore. The city became refuge to Humayun and his cousin Kamran Mirza when Sher Shah Suri rose in power on the Gangetic Plains, displacing Mughal power. Sher Shah Suri continued to rise in power, and seized Lahore in 1540, though Humayun reconquered Lahore in February 1555. The establishment of Mughal rule eventually led to the most prosperous

Akbar.

Beginning in 1584, Lahore became the Mughal capital when Akbar began re-fortifying the city's ruined citadel, laying the foundations for the revival of the Lahore Fort. Akbar made Lahore one of his original twelve "subah" provinces, and in 1585–86 relegated governorship of the city and "subah" to Bhagwant Das, brother of Mariam-uz-Zamani, who was commonly known as "Jodhabhai".  Akbar also rebuilt

Jahangir.

During the reign of Emperor Jahangir in the early 17th century, Lahore's bazaars were noted to be vibrant, frequented by foreigners, and stocked with a wide array of goods. In 1606, Jehangir's rebel son Khusrau Mirza laid siege to Lahore after obtaining the blessings

Shah Jahan.

Jahangir's son, Shah Jahan reigned between 1628 and 1658 and was born in Lahore in 1592. He renovated large portions of the Lahore Fort with luxurious white marble and erected the iconic Naulakha Pavilion in 1633. Shah Jahan lavished

Aurangzeb.

Shah Jahan's son, and last of the great Mughal Emperors, Aurangzeb, further contributed to the development of Lahore. Aurangzeb built the "Alamgiri Bund" embankment along the Ravi River in 1662 in order to prevent its shifting course

Late Mughal.

Civil wars regarding succession to the Mughal throne following Aurangzeb's death in 1707 lead to weakening control over Lahore from Delhi, and a prolonged period of decline in Lahore. Mughal preoccupation with the Marathas in the Deccan eventually resulted in Lahore being governed by a series of governors who pledged nominal allegiance to the ever weaker Mughal emperors in Delhi.  Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah I died en route to Lahore as part of a campaign in 1711 to subdue Sikh rebels under the leadership of Banda Singh Bahadur. His

Durrani Empire.

Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire, captured Lahore in January 1748, Following Ahmed Shah Durrani's quick retreat, the Mughals entrusted Lahore to Mu’īn al-Mulk Mir Mannu. Ahmad Shah Durrani again invaded in 1751, forcing Mir Mannu into signing a treaty that submitted Lahore to Afghan rule. The Mughal Wazīr Ghazi Din Imad al-Mulk would seize Lahore in 1756, provoking Ahmad Shah Durrani

Sikh.

Early.

Expanding Sikh "Misls" secured control over Lahore in 1767, when the Bhangi Misl state captured the city. In 1780, The city was divided among three rulers, Gujjar Singh, Lahna Singh, and Sobha Singh. Instability resulting from this arrangement allowed nearby Amritsar to establish itself as the area's primary commercial centre in place of

Sikh Empire.

Following Zaman Shah’s 1799 invasion of Punjab, Ranjit Singh of nearby Gujranwala to consolidate his position in the aftermath of the invasion. Singh was able to seize control of the region after a series of battles with the Sikh "Bhangi Misl" chiefs who had seized Lahore in 1780. His army marched to Anarkali, where according to legend, the gatekeeper of the Lohari Gate, Mukham Din Chaudhry, opened the gates allowing Ranjit Singh's army to enter Lahore. After capturing the Lahore, Sikh soldiers immediately began plundering Muslim areas of the city until their actions were reined in by Ranjit Singh.  Ranjit Singh's rule restored some of Lahore's lost grandeur, but at the expense of destroying the remaining Mughal architecture for its building materials. He established a mint in the city in 1800, and moved into the Mughal palace at the Lahore Fort after repurposing it for his own use in governing the Sikh Empire. In 1801, he established the Gurdwara Janam Asthan Guru Ram Das to mark the site where Guru Ram Das

Late.

The Sikh royal court, or the "Lahore Durbar", underwent a quick succession of rulers after the death of Ranjit Singh. His son Kharak Singh quickly died after taking the throne on 6 November 1840, while the next appointed successor Nau Nihal Singh to the throne died in an accident at Lahore's Hazuri Bagh also on 6 November 1840 - the very same day of Kharak Singh's death. Maharaja Sher Singh was then selected as Maharajah, though his claim to the throne was quickly challenged by Chand Kaur, widow of Kharak Singh and mother of Nau Nihal Singh, who quickly seized the throne. Sher Singh raised an army that attacked Chand Kaur's

British.

The British East India Company seized control of Lahore in February 1846 from the collapsing Sikh state, and occupied the rest of Punjab in 1848. Following the defeat of the Sikhs at the Battle of Gujrat, British troops formally deposed Maharaja Duleep Singh in Lahore that same year. Punjab was then annexed to the British Indian Empire in 1849.  At the commencement of British rule, Lahore was estimated to have a population of 120,000. Prior to annexation by the British, Lahore's environs consisted mostly of the Walled City surrounded by plains interrupted by settlements to the south and east, such as Mozang and Qila Gujar Singh, which have since been engulfed by

Partition.

The 1941 census showed that city of Lahore had a population of 671,659, of which was 64.5% Muslim, with the remainder 35% being Hindu and Sikh, alongside a small Christian community. The population figure was disputed by Hindus and Sikhs before the Boundary Commission that would draw the Radcliffe Line to demarcate the border of the two new states based on religious demography. In a bid to have Lahore awarded to India, they argued that the city was only 54% Muslim, and that Hindu and Sikh domination of the city's economy and educational institutions should trump Muslim demography. Two-thirds of shops, and 80% of Lahore's factories belonged to the Hindu and Sikh community. Kuldip Nayyar reported that Cyril Radcliffe in 1971 had told him that he originally had planned to give Lahore to the new Dominion of India, but decided to place it within the Dominion of Pakistan, which he saw as lacking a major city as he had already

Modern.

Partition left Lahore with a much weakened economy, and a stymied social and cultural scene that had previously been invigorated by the city's Hindus and Sikhs. Industrial production dropped to one third of pre-Partition levels by end of the 1940s, and only 27% of its manufacturing units were operating by 1950, and usually well-below capacity. Capital flight further weakened the city's economy while Karachi industrialized and became more prosperous. The city's weakened economy, and proximity to the Indian border, meant that the city was deemed unsuitable to be the Pakistani capital after independence. Karachi was therefore chosen to be capital on account of its relative tranquility during the Partition period, stronger economy, and better infrastructure. After independence, Lahore slowly regained its significance as an economic and cultural centre of western Punjab. Reconstruction began in 1949 of the Shah Alami Bazaar, the former commercial heart of

Geography.

Lying between 31°15′—31°45′ N and 74°01′—74°39′ E, Lahore is bounded on the north and west by the Sheikhupura District, on the east by Wagah, and on the south by Kasur District. The Ravi River flows on the northern side of Lahore. Lahore city covers a total land area of. Lahore is located approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi) from the border with India.

Climate.

Lahore has a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification "BSh"). The hottest month is June, when average highs routinely exceed. The monsoon season starts in late June, and the wettest month is July, with heavy rainfalls and evening thunderstorms with the possibility of cloudbursts. The coolest month is January with dense fog.  The city's record high temperature was

Demographics.

Population.

The results of the 2017 Census determined the population to be at 11,126,285, with an annual growth rate of 4.07% since 1998. Gender-wise, 52.35% of the population is

Religion.

The city has a Muslim majority (97%), Christian (2%) minority population, Sikh and Hindu constitute (1%) combined. There is also a small but longstanding Zoroastrian community. Additionally, Lahore contains some of Sikhism's holiest sites, and is a major Sikh pilgrimage site.  According to

Languages.

The Punjabi language is the most-widely spoken native language in Lahore, with 87% of Lahore counting it as their first language according to the 1998 Census, Lahore is the largest Punjabi-speaking city in the world.  Urdu and English are used

Cityscape.

Urban form.

Lahore's modern cityscape consists of the historic Walled City of Lahore in the northern part of the city, which contains several world and national heritage sites. Lahore's urban planning was not based on geometric design but was instead built piecemeal, with small cul-de-sacs, "katrahs" and "galis" developed in the context of neighbouring buildings. Though certain neighbourhoods were named for particular religious or ethnic communities, the neighbourhoods themselves typically were diverse and were not dominated by the namesake group.  By the end of the

Architecture.

Lahore is home to numerous monuments from the Mughal Dynasty, Sikh Empire, and British Raj. The architectural style of the Walled City of Lahore has traditionally been influenced by Mughal and Sikh styles. The leafy suburbs to the south of the Old City, as well as the Cantonment southwest of the Old City, were largely developed under British colonial rule, and feature colonial-era buildings built alongside leafy avenues.

Sikh period.

By the arrival of the Sikh Empire, Lahore had decayed from its former glory as the Mughal capital. Rebuilding efforts under Ranjit Singh and his successors were influenced by Mughal practices, and Lahore was known as the 'City of Gardens' during the Ranjit Singh period. Later British maps of the area surrounding Lahore dating from the mid-19th century show many walled private gardens which were confiscated from the Muslim noble families bearing the names of prominent Sikh nobles – a pattern of patronage which was inherited from the Mughals.  While much of

British period.

As capital of British Punjab, British colonialists made a lasting architectural impression on the city. Structures were built predominantly in the Indo-Gothic style – a syncretic architectural style that blends elements of Victorian and Islamic architecture, or in the distinct Indo-Saracenic style. The British also built neoclassical Montgomery Hall, which today serves as the Quaid-e-Azam Library.  Lawrence Gardens were also laid near Civil Station, and were paid for by donations solicited from both Lahore's European community, as well as from wealthy locals. The gardens featured over 600 species of plants, and were tended to by a horticulturist sent from London's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.  The British authorities built several important structures around the time of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887 in the distinct Indo-Saracenic style. The Lahore Museum and Mayo School of Industrial Arts were both established around this in this style. Other prominent examples of the Indo-Saracenic style in Lahore include Lahore's prestigious Aitchison College, the Punjab Chief Court (today the Lahore High Court), Lahore Museum and University of the Punjab. Many of Lahore's most important buildings were designed by Sir Ganga Ram, who is sometimes called the "Father of modern Lahore."

Parks and gardens.

The Shalimar Gardens were laid out during the reign of Shah Jahan and were designed to mimic the Islamic paradise of the afterlife described in the Qur'an. The gardens follow the familiar charbagh layout of four squares, with three descending terraces.  The Lawrence Garden was established in 1862 and was originally named after Sir John Lawrence, late

Economy.

, the city's gross domestic product (GDP) by purchasing power parity (PPP) was estimated at $40 billion with a projected average growth rate of 5.6 percent. This is at par with Pakistan's economic hub, Karachi, with Lahore (having half the population) fostering an economy that is 51% of the size of Karachi's ($78 billion in 2008). The contribution of Lahore to the national economy is estimated to be 11.5% and 19% to the provincial economy of Punjab. As a whole Punjab has $115 billion economy making it first and to date only Pakistani Subdivision of economy more than $100 billion at the rank 144. Lahore's GDP is projected to be $102 billion by the year 2025, with a slightly higher growth rate of 5.6% per

Transport.

Public transportation.

Lahore's main public transportation system is operated by the Lahore Transport Company (LTC) and Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA). The backbone of its public transport network is the PMTA's Lahore Metrobus and soon to be Orange Line of the Lahore Metro train. LTC and PMTA also operates an extensive network of buses, providing bus service to many parts of the city and acting as a feeder system for the Metrobus.

Metro Bus.

The Lahore Metrobus, is a bus rapid transit service operating in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. Lahore Metrobus service is integrated with Lahore Transport Company's local bus service to operate as one urban transport system, providing seamless transit service across Lahore District with connections to neighboring suburban communities.

Metro Train.

Orange Line.

The Orange Line Metro Train is an automated rapid transit system in Lahore. The Orange line is the first of the three proposed rail lines proposed for the Lahore Metro. The line spans with elevated and underground and have a cost of 251.06 billion Rupees($1.6 billion). The line consists of

Blue Line.

The "Blue Line" is a

Purple Line.

The "Purple Line" is a proposed 32 km Airport rail link.

Taxi and Rickshaw.

Radio cab services Uber and Careem are available in the city. These taxis need to be booked in advance by apps or by calling their number. Motorcycle ride is also available in the city which have been introduced by private companies. These motorcycles need to be booked in advance

Urban (LOV) Wagon / Mini Bus.

Medium-sized vans/wagons or LOVs(Low Occupancy Vehicle) run on routes throughout

Intercity transportation.

Lahore Junction Station serves as the main railway station for Lahore, and serves as a major hub for all Pakistan Railway services in northern Pakistan. It includes services to Peshawar and national capital

Airports.

Pakistan's third busiest airport, Allama Iqbal International Airport (IATA: LHE), straddles the city's eastern boundary. The new passenger terminal was opened in 2003, replacing the old terminal which now serves as a VIP and Hajj lounge. The airport was named after the national poet-philosopher, Muhammad Iqbal. and is a secondary hub for the national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines. Walton Airport in Askari provides general aviation

Roads.

There are a number of

Government.

Metropolitan Corporation.

Under Punjab Local Government Act 2013, Lahore is a metropolitan area and under the authority of the Metropolitan Corporation Lahore. The district is divided into 9 zones, each with its own elected Deputy Mayor. The Metropolitan Corporation Lahore is a body of those 9 deputy, as well as the city's mayor – all of whom are elected in popular elections. The Metropolitan Corporation approves zoning and land use, urban design and planning, environmental protection laws, as well as provide municipal services.

Mayor.

As per the Punjab Local Government Act 2013, the Mayor of Lahore is the elected head of the Metropolitan Corporation of Lahore. The mayor is directly elected in municipal elections every four years alongside 9 deputy town mayors. Mubashir Javed of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) was elected mayor of Lahore in 2016. The mayor is responsible for the administration of government services, the composition of councils and committees overseeing Lahore City District departments and serves as the chairperson for meeting of Lahore Council. The mayor also functions to help devise long-term development plans in consultation with other stakeholders and bodies to improve the condition, livability, and sustainability of urban areas.

Neighbourhoods.

Lahore District is a subdivision of the Punjab, and is further divided

Politics.

The 2015 Local Government elections for

Festivals.

The people of Lahore celebrate many festivals and events throughout the year, including Islamic, traditional Punjabi, Christian, and national holidays and festivals.  Many people decorate their houses and light candles to illuminate the streets and houses during public holidays; roads and businesses may be lit for days. Many of Lahore's dozens of Sufi shrines hold annual festivals called urs to honor their respective saints. For example, the mausoleum of Ali Hujwiri at the Data Darbar shrine has an annual "urs" that attracts up to one million visitors per year. The popular Mela Chiraghan festival in Lahore takes place at the shrine of Madho Lal Hussain, while other large urs take place at the shrines of Bibi Pak Daman, and at the

Tourism.

Lahore remains a major tourist destination in Pakistan. The Walled City of Lahore was renovated in 2014 and is popular due to the presence of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Among the most popular sights are the Lahore Fort, adjacent to the Walled City, and home to the Sheesh Mahal, the Alamgiri Gate, the Naulakha pavilion, and the Moti Masjid. The fort along with the adjoining Shalimar Gardens has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1981.  The city is home to several ancient religious sites including prominent Hindu temples, the Krishna Temple and Valmiki Mandir. The Samadhi of Ranjit Singh, also located near the Walled City, houses the funerary urns of the Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The most prominent religious building is the Badshahi Mosque, constructed in 1673; it was the largest mosque in the world upon construction. Another popular sight is the Wazir Khan Mosque, known for its extensive "faience" tile work and constructed in 1635.

Religious sites.

Other well-known religious

Havelis.

There are many havelis inside the Walled City of Lahore, some in good condition while others

Education.

Lahore is known as Pakistan's educational capital, with more colleges and universities than any other city in Pakistan. Lahore is Pakistan's largest producer of professionals in the fields of science, technology, IT, law, engineering, medicine, nuclear sciences, pharmacology, telecommunication, biotechnology and microelectronics, nanotechnology and

Sports.

Lahore has successfully hosted many international sports events including the finals of the 1990 Men's Hockey World Cup and the 1996 Cricket World Cup. The headquarters of all major sports governing bodies are located here in Lahore including Cricket, Hockey, Rugby, Football etc. and also has the head office of Pakistan Olympic Association.  Gaddafi Stadium is a Test cricket ground in Lahore. It was completed in 1959 and later in the 1990s, renovations were carried out by Pakistani architect Nayyar Ali Dada.  Lahore is home to several golf courses. The Lahore Gymkhana Golf Course, the Lahore Garrison Golf and Country Club,

Twin towns and sister cities.

The following international cities have been declared twin towns and sister cities of Lahore.

Lahore (; ;, ) is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab, and is the country's 2nd largest city after Karachi, as well as the 18th largest city proper in the world. Lahore is one of Pakistan's wealthiest cities, with an estimated GDP of $65.14 billion (PPP) as of 2017. Lahore is the largest city and historic cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.

Lahore (ourdou : لاہور) est une ville du Pakistan située sur la rivière Ravi, affluent de l'Indus. Elle compte plus de onze millions d'habitants, faisant d'elle la deuxième ville du Pakistan après Karachi et la du monde. Capitale de la province du Pendjab, elle est un grand centre universitaire et culturel et dispose de la plus grande mosquée d'Asie, Moyen-Orient exclu.


Central ideas.

The later Wittgenstein held that the meanings of words reside in their ordinary uses and that this is why philosophers trip over words taken in abstraction. From this came the idea that philosophy had gotten into trouble by trying to use words outside of the context of their use in ordinary language. For example, "understanding" is what you mean when you say "I understand". "Knowledge" is what you mean when you say "I know that". The point is, you "already know" what "understanding" or "knowledge" are, at least implicitly. Philosophers are ill-advised to construct new definitions for these terms, because this is necessarily a "re"definition, and the argument may unravel into self-referential nonsense. Rather, philosophers must explore the definitions that these terms already have, without forcing a convenient redefinition onto them.  The controversy really begins when ordinary language philosophers apply the same leveling tendency to questions such as "What is Truth?" or "What is Consciousness?" Philosophers in this school would insist that we cannot assume that (for example) 'Truth' 'is' a 'thing' (in the same sense that tables and chairs are 'things'), which the word 'truth' represents. Instead, we must look at the differing ways in which the words 'truth' and 'conscious' actually function in ordinary language. We may well discover, after investigation, that there is no single entity to which the word 'truth' corresponds, something Wittgenstein attempts to get across via his concept of a 'family resemblance' (cf. "Philosophical Investigations"). Therefore, ordinary language philosophers tend to be anti-essentialist.  Anti-essentialism and the linguistic philosophy associated with it are often important to contemporary accounts of feminism, Marxism, and other social philosophies that are critical of the injustice of the status quo. The essentialist 'Truth' as 'thing' is argued to be closely related to projects of domination, where the denial of alternate truths is understood to be a denial of alternate forms of living. Similar arguments sometimes involve ordinary language philosophy with other anti-essentialist movements like post-structuralism. However, strictly speaking, this is not a position derived from Wittgenstein, as it still involves'misuse' (ungrammatical use) of the term "truth" in reference to "alternate truths".

History.

Early analytic philosophy had a less positive view of ordinary language. Bertrand Russell tended to dismiss language as being of little philosophical significance, and ordinary language as just being too confused to help solve metaphysical and epistemological problems. Frege, the Vienna Circle (especially Rudolf Carnap), the young Wittgenstein, and W.V. Quine, all attempted to improve upon it, in particular using the resources of modern logic. Wittgenstein's view in the "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" more or less agreed with Russell's that language ought to be reformulated so as to be unambiguous, so as to accurately represent the world, so that we could better deal with the questions of philosophy.  By contrast, Wittgenstein would later describe his task as bringing "words back from their metaphysical to their everyday use". The sea-change brought on by his unpublished work in the 1930s centered largely on the idea that there is nothing "wrong" with ordinary language as it stands, and that many traditional philosophical problems were only illusions brought on by misunderstandings about language and related subjects. The former idea led to rejecting the approaches of earlier analytic philosophy – arguably, of any earlier philosophy – and the latter led to replacing them with the careful attention to language in its normal use, in order to "dissolve" the appearance of philosophical problems, rather than attempt to solve them. At its inception, ordinary language philosophy (also called linguistic philosophy) had been taken as either an extension of or as an alternative to analytic philosophy. Now that the term "analytic philosophy" has a more standardized meaning, ordinary language philosophy is viewed as a stage of the analytic tradition that followed logical positivism and that preceded the yet-to-be-named stage analytic philosophy continues in today. According to Preston, analytic philosophy is now in a fifth, eclectic or pluralistic, phase he calls 'post-linguistic analytic philosophy' that tends to 'emphasize precision and thoroughness about a narrow topic, and to deemphasize the imprecise or cavalier discussion of broad topics'.  Ordinary language analysis largely flourished and developed at Oxford in the 1940s, under Austin and Gilbert Ryle, and was quite widespread for a time before declining rapidly in popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is now not uncommon to hear that Ordinary Language philosophy is no longer an active force. Wittgenstein is perhaps the only one among the major figures of linguistic philosophy to retain anything like the reputation he had at that time. On the other hand, the attention to language remains one of the most important techniques in contemporary analytic thought, and many of the effects of ordinary language philosophy can still be felt across many academic disciplines.

Criticism.

One of the most ardent critics of ordinary language philosophy was a student at Oxford, Ernest Gellner who said: Gellner, effectively, criticized ordinary language philosophy in his book "Words and Things" published in 1959.

Ordinary language philosophy is a philosophical methodology that sees traditional philosophical problems as rooted in misunderstandings philosophers develop by distorting or forgetting what words actually mean in everyday use. "Such 'philosophical' uses of language, on this view, create the very philosophical problems they are employed to solve." Ordinary language philosophy is a branch of linguistic philosophy closely related to logical positivism.

La philosophie du langage ordinaire fut un courant dans la philosophie analytique qui prétendait éviter les « théories » philosophiques, les excès de formalisme pour donner plus d'attention aux usages et aux pratiques du langage ordinaire et du sens commun.


Early life.

The son of émigré Italian scholar Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti and his wife Frances Mary Lavinia Polidori, Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti was born in London, on 12 May 1828. His family and friends called him Gabriel, but in publications he put the name Dante first in honour of Dante Alighieri. He was the brother of poet Christina Rossetti, critic William Michael Rossetti, and author Maria Francesca Rossetti. His father was a Roman Catholic, at least prior to his marriage, and his mother was an Anglican; ostensibly Gabriel was baptised as and was a practising Anglican. John William Polidori, who had died seven years before his birth, was Rossetti's maternal uncle. During his childhood, Rossetti was home educated and later attended King's College School, and often read the Bible, along with the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Sir Walter Scott, and Lord Byron.  The youthful Rossetti is described as "self-possessed, articulate, passionate and charismatic" but also "ardent, poetic and feckless". Like all his siblings, he aspired to be a poet and attended King's College School, in its original location near the Strand in London. He also wished to be a painter, having shown a great interest in Medieval Italian art. He studied at Henry Sass' Drawing Academy from 1841 to 1845, when he enrolled in the Antique School of the Royal Academy, which he left in 1848. After leaving the Royal Academy, Rossetti studied under Ford Madox Brown, with whom he retained a close relationship throughout his life.  Following the exhibition of William Holman Hunt's painting "The Eve of St. Agnes", Rossetti sought out Hunt's friendship. The painting illustrated a poem by John Keats. Rossetti's own poem, "The Blessed Damozel", was an imitation of Keats, and he believed Hunt might share his artistic and literary ideals. Together they developed the philosophy of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which they founded along with John Everett Millais.  The group's intention was to reform English art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo and the formal training regime introduced by Sir Joshua Reynolds. Their approach was to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art. The eminent critic John Ruskin wrote:  For the first issue of the brotherhood's magazine, "The Germ", published early in 1850, Rossetti contributed a poem, "The Blessed Damozel", and a story about a fictional early Italian artist inspired by a vision of a woman who bids him combine the human and the divine in his art. Rossetti was always more interested in the medieval than in the modern side of the movement, working on translations of Dante and other medieval Italian poets, and adopting the stylistic characteristics of the early Italians.

Career.

Beginnings.

Rossetti's first major paintings in oil display the realist qualities of the early Pre-Raphaelite movement. His "Girlhood of Mary Virgin" (1849) and "Ecce Ancilla Domini" (1850) portray Mary as a teenage girl. William Bell Scott saw "Girlhood" in progress in Hunt's studio and remarked on young Rossetti's technique:  Stung by criticism of his second major painting, "Ecce Ancilla Domini", exhibited in 1850, and the "increasingly hysterical critical reaction that greeted Pre-Raphaelitism" that year, Rossetti turned to watercolours, which could be sold privately. Although his work subsequently won support from John Ruskin, Rossetti only rarely exhibited thereafter.

Dante and Medievalism.

In 1850, Rossetti met Elizabeth Siddal, an important model for the Pre-Raphaelite painters. Over the next decade, she became his muse, his pupil, and his passion. They were married in 1860. Rossetti's incomplete picture "Found", begun in 1853 and unfinished at his death, was his only major modern-life subject. It depicted a prostitute, lifted from the street by a country drover who recognises his old sweetheart. However, Rossetti increasingly preferred symbolic and mythological images to realistic ones,  For many years, Rossetti worked on English translations of Italian poetry including Dante Alighieri's "La Vita Nuova" (published as "The Early Italian Poets" in 1861). These and Sir Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur" inspired his art of the 1850s. He created a method of painting in watercolours, using thick pigments mixed with gum to give rich effects similar to medieval illuminations. He also developed a novel drawing technique in pen-and-ink. His first published illustration was "The Maids of Elfen-Mere" (1855), for a poem by his friend William Allingham, and he contributed two illustrations to Edward Moxon's 1857 edition of Alfred, Lord Tennyson's "Poems" and illustrations for works by his sister Christina Rossetti.  His visions of Arthurian romance and medieval design also inspired William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. Neither Burne-Jones nor Morris knew Rossetti, but were much influenced by his works, and met him by recruiting him as a contributor to their "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine" which Morris founded in 1856 to promote his ideas about art and poetry.  In February 1857, Rossetti wrote to William Bell Scott: That summer Morris and Rossetti visited Oxford and finding the Oxford Union debating-hall under construction, pursued a commission to paint the upper walls with scenes from "Le Morte d'Arthur" and to decorate the roof between the open timbers. Seven artists were recruited, among them Valentine Prinsep and Arthur Hughes, and the work was hastily begun. The frescoes, done too soon and too fast, began to fade at once and now are barely decipherable. Rossetti recruited two sisters, Bessie and Jane Burden, as models for the Oxford Union murals, and Jane became Morris's wife in 1859.

Book arts.

Literature was integrated into the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's artistic practice from the beginning (including that of Rossetti), with many paintings making direct literary references. For example, John Everett Millais' early work, "Isabella" (1849), depicts an episode from John Keats' "Isabella, or, the Pot of Basil" (1818). Rossetti was particularly critical of the gaudy ornamentation of Victorian gift books and sought to refine bindings and illustrations to align with the principles of the Aesthetic Movement. Rossetti's key bindings were designed between 1861 and 1871. He collaborated as a designer/illustrator with his sister, poet Christina Rossetti, on the first edition of "Goblin Market" (1862) and "The Prince's Progress" (1866). One of Rossetti's most prominent contributions to illustration was the collaborative book, "Poems" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson (published by Edward Moxon in 1857 and known colloquially as the 'Moxon Tennyson'). Moxon envisioned Royal Academicians as the illustrators for the ambitious project, but this vision was quickly disrupted once Millais, a founding member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, became involved in the project. Millais recruited William Holman Hunt and Rossetti for the project, and the involvement of these artists reshaped the entire production of the book. In reference to the Pre-Raphaelite illustrations, Laurence Housman wrote "[...] The illustrations of the Pre-Raphaelites were personal and intellectual readings of the poems to which they belonged, not merely echoes in line of the words of the text." The Pre-Raphaelites’ visualization of Tennyson’s poems indicated the range of possibilities in interpreting written works, as did their unique approach to visualizing narrative on the canvas.  Pre-Raphaelite illustrations do not simply refer to the text in which they appear; rather, they are part of a bigger program of art: the book as a whole. Rossetti’s philosophy about the role of illustration was revealed in an 1855 letter to poet William Allingham, when he wrote, in reference to his work on the Moxon Tennyson:  "I have not begun even designing for them yet, but fancy I shall try the "Vision of Sin", and "Palace of Art" etc.—those where one can allegorize on one’s own hook, without killing for oneself and everyone a distinct idea of the poet’s."  This passage makes apparent Rossetti’s desire not to just support the poet’s narrative, but to create an allegorical illustration that functions separately from the text as well. In this respect, Pre-Raphaelite illustrations go beyond depicting an episode from a poem, but rather function like subject paintings within a text. Illustration is not subservient to text and vice versa. Careful and conscientious craftsmanship is practiced in every aspect of production, and each element, though qualifiedly artistic in its own right, contributes to a unified art object (the book).

Religious influence on works.

England began to see a revival of religious beliefs and practices starting in 1833 and moving onward to about 1845. The Oxford Movement, also known as the Tractarian Movement, had recently begun a push toward the restoration of Christian traditions that had been lost in the Church. Rossetti and his family had been attending Christ Church, Albany Street since 1843. His brother, William Michael Rossetti recorded that services had begun changing in the church since the start of the "High Anglican movement". Rev. William Dodsworth was responsible for these changes, including the addition of the Catholic practice of placing flowers and candles by the altar. Rossetti and his family, along with two of his colleagues (one of which cofounded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) had also attended St. Andrew's on Wells Street, a High Anglican church. It is noted that the Anglo-Catholic revival very much affected Rossetti in the late 1840s and early 1850s. The spiritual expressions of his painting "The Girlhood of Mary Virgin," finished in 1849, are evident of this claim. The painting's altar is decorated very similarly to that of a Catholic altar, proving his familiarity with the Anglo-Catholic revival. The subject of the painting, the Blessed Virgin, is sewing a red cloth, a significant part of the Oxford Movement that emphasized the embroidering of altar cloths by women. Oxford Reformers identified two major aspects to their movement, that "the end of all religion must be communion with God," and "that the Church was divinely instituted for the very purpose of bringing about this consummation."  From the beginning of the Brotherhood's formation in 1848, their pieces of art included subjects of noble or religious disposition. Their aim was to communicate a message of "moral reform" through the style of their works, exhibiting a "truth to nature". Specifically in Rossetti's "Hand and Soul," written in 1849, he displays his main character Chiaro as an artist with spiritual inclinations. In the text, Chiaro's spirit appears before him in the form of a woman who instructs him to "set thine hand and thy soul to serve man with God." The Rossetti Archive defines this text as "Rossetti's way of constellating his commitments to art, religious devotion, and a thoroughly secular historicism." Likewise, in "The Blessed Damozel," written between 1847 and 1870, Rossetti uses biblical language such as "From the gold bar of Heaven" to describe the Damozel looking down to Earth from Heaven. Here we see a connection between body and soul, mortal and supernatural, a common theme in Rossetti's works. In "Ave" (1847), Mary awaits the day that she will meet her son in Heaven, uniting the earthly with the heavenly. The text highlights a strong element in Anglican Marian theology that describes Mary's body and soul having been assumed into Heaven.

A new direction.

Around 1860, Rossetti returned to oil painting, abandoning the dense medieval compositions of the 1850s in favour of powerful close-up images of women in flat pictorial spaces characterised by dense colour. These paintings became a major influence on the development of the European Symbolist movement. In them, Rossetti's depiction of women became almost obsessively stylised. He portrayed his new lover Fanny Cornforth as the epitome of physical eroticism, whilst Jane Burden, the wife of his business partner William Morris, was glamorised as an ethereal goddess. "As in Rossetti's previous reforms, the new kind of subject appeared in the context of a wholesale reconfiguration of the practice of painting, from the most basic level of materials and techniques up to the most abstract or conceptual level of the meanings and ideas that can be embodied in visual form." These new works were based not on medievalism, but on the Italian High Renaissance artists of Venice, Titian and Veronese.  In 1861, Rossetti became a founding partner in the decorative arts firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. with Morris, Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, Philip Webb, Charles Faulkner and Peter Paul Marshall. Rossetti contributed designs for stained glass and other decorative objects.  Rossetti's wife, Elizabeth, died of an overdose of laudanum in 1862, possibly a suicide, shortly after giving birth to a stillborn child. Rossetti became increasingly depressed, and on the death of his beloved Lizzie, buried the bulk of his unpublished poems with her at Highgate Cemetery, though he later had them dug up. He idealised her image as Dante's Beatrice in a number of paintings, such as "Beata Beatrix".

Cheyne Walk years.

After the death of his wife, Rossetti leased a Tudor House at 16, Cheyne Walk, in Chelsea, where he lived for 20 years surrounded by extravagant furnishings and a parade of exotic birds and animals. Rossetti was fascinated with wombats, asking friends to meet him at the "Wombat's Lair" at the London Zoo in Regent's Park, and spending hours there. In September 1869, he acquired the first of two pet wombats, which he named "Top". It was brought to the dinner table and allowed to sleep in the large centrepiece during meals. Rossetti's fascination with exotic animals continued throughout his life, culminating in the purchase of a llama and a toucan, which he dressed in a cowboy hat and was trained to ride the llama round the dining-table for his amusement.  Rossetti maintained Fanny Cornforth (described delicately by William Allington as Rossetti's "housekeeper") in her own establishment nearby in Chelsea, and painted many voluptuous images of her between 1863 and 1865.  In 1865, he discovered auburn-haired Alexa Wilding, a dressmaker and would-be actress who was engaged to model for him on a full-time basis and sat for "Veronica Veronese", "The Blessed Damozel", "A Sea–Spell", and other paintings. She sat for more of his finished works than any other model, but comparatively little is known about her due to the lack of any romantic connection with Rossetti. He spotted her one evening in the Strand in 1865 and was immediately struck by her beauty. She agreed to sit for him the following day, but failed to arrive. He spotted her again weeks later, jumped from the cab he was in and persuaded her to go straight to his studio. He paid her a weekly fee to sit for him exclusively, afraid that other artists might employ her. They shared a lasting bond; after Rossetti's death Wilding was said to have travelled regularly to place a wreath on his grave.  Jane Morris, whom Rossetti had used as a model for the Oxford Union murals he painted with William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones in 1857, also sat for him during these years, she "consumed and obsessed him in paint, poetry, and life". Jane Morris was also photographed by John Robert Parsons, whose photographs were painted by Rossetti. In 1869, Morris and Rossetti rented a country house, Kelmscott Manor at Kelmscott, Oxfordshire, as a summer home, but it became a retreat for Rossetti and Morris to have a long-lasting and complicated liaison. They spent summers there with the Morris's children, while Morris travelled to Iceland in 1871 and 1873.  During these years, Rossetti was prevailed upon by friends, in particular Charles Augustus Howell, to exhume his poems from his wife's grave which he did, collating and publishing them in 1870 in the volume "Poems by D. G. Rossetti". They created controversy when they were attacked as the epitome of the "fleshly school of poetry". Their eroticism and sensuality caused offence. One poem, "Nuptial Sleep", described a couple falling asleep after sex. It was part of Rossetti's sonnet sequence "The House of Life", a complex series of poems tracing the physical and spiritual development of an intimate relationship. Rossetti described the sonnet form as a "moment's monument", implying that it sought to contain the feelings of a fleeting moment, and reflect on their meaning. "The House of Life" was a series of interacting monuments to these moments – an elaborate whole made from a mosaic of intensely described fragments. It was Rossetti's most substantial literary achievement. The collection included some translations, including his "Ballad Of Dead Ladies", an 1869 translation of François Villon's poem "Ballade des dames du temps jadis". (The word "yesteryear" is credited to Rossetti as a neologism used for the first time in this translation.)  In 1881, Rossetti published a second volume of poems, "Ballads and Sonnets", which included the remaining sonnets from "The House of Life" sequence.

Decline and death.

The savage reaction of critics to Rossetti's first collection of poetry contributed to a mental breakdown in June 1872, and although he joined Jane Morris at Kelmscott that September, he "spent his days in a haze of chloral and whisky". The next summer he was much improved, and both Alexa Wilding and Jane sat for him at Kelmscott, where he created a soulful series of dream-like portraits. In 1874, Morris reorganised his decorative arts firm, cutting Rossetti out of the business, and the polite fiction that both men were in residence with Jane at Kelmscott could not be maintained. Rossetti abruptly left Kelmscott in July 1874 and never returned. Toward the end of his life, he sank into a morbid state, darkened by his drug addiction to chloral hydrate and increasing mental instability. He spent his last years as a recluse at Cheyne Walk.  On Easter Sunday, 1882, he died at the country house of a friend, where he had gone in a vain attempt to recover his health, which had been destroyed by chloral as his wife's had been destroyed by laudanum. He died of Bright's Disease, a disease of the kidneys from which he had been suffering for some time. He had been housebound for some years on account of paralysis of the legs, though his chloral addiction is believed to have been a means of alleviating pain from a botched hydrocele removal. He had been suffering from alcohol psychosis for some time brought on by the excessive amounts of whisky he used to drown out the bitter taste of the chloral hydrate. He is buried in the churchyard of All Saints at Birchington-on-Sea, Kent, England.

Collections and critical assessment.

Tate Britain, Birmingham, Manchester, Salford Museum and Art Galleries and Wightwick Manor National Trust, all contain large collections of Rossetti's work; Salford was bequeathed a number of works following the death of L. S. Lowry in 1976. Lowry was president of the Newcastle-based 'Rossetti Society', which was founded in 1966. Lowry's private collection of works was chiefly built around Rossetti's paintings and sketches of Lizzie Siddal and Jane Morris, and notable pieces included "Pandora", " Proserpine" and a drawing of Annie Miller.  In an interview with Mervyn Levy, Lowry explained his fascination with the Rossetti women in relation to his own work: "I don't like his women at all, but they fascinate me, like a snake. That's why I always buy Rossetti whenever I can. His women are really rather horrible. It's like a friend of mine who says he hates my work, although it fascinates him." The friend Lowry referred to was businessman Monty Bloom, to whom he also explained his obsession with Rossetti's portraits: "They are not real women.[...] They are dreams.[...] He used them for something in his mind caused by the death of his wife. I may be quite wrong there, but significantly they all came after the death of his wife."  The popularity, frequent reproduction, and general availability of Rossetti's later paintings of women have led to this association with "a morbid and languorous sensuality". His small-scale early works and drawings are less well known, but it is in these that his originality, technical inventiveness, and significance in the movement away from Academic tradition can best be seen. As Roger Fry wrote in 1916, "Rossetti more than any other artist since Blake may be hailed as a forerunner of the new ideas" in English Art.

Media.

Rossetti was played by Oliver Reed in Ken Russell's television film "Dante's Inferno" (1967). The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood has been the subject of two BBC period dramas. The first, "The Love School", (1975) features Ben Kingsley as Rossetti. The second was "Desperate Romantics", in which Rossetti is played by Aidan Turner. It was broadcast on BBC Two on Tuesday, 21 July 2009.  Dr. Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer) appears in an episode of "Cheers" as Dante Gabriel Rossetti for his Hallowe'en costume. His wife Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane appears as Rossetti's sister, Christina. Their son Frederick is dressed as Spiderman.

Fiction.

Gabriel Rossetti and other members of the Rossetti family are characters in Tim Powers' novel "Hide Me Among the Graves," in which both the Rossettis' uncle John Polidori and Gabriel's wife Lizzie act as hosts for vampiric beings, and whose influence inspires the artistic genius of the family.

Influence.

Rossetti's poem "The Blessed Damozel" was the inspiration for Claude Debussy's cantata "La Damoiselle élue" (1888).  John Ireland (18791962) set to music as one of his "Three Songs" (1926), Rossetti's poem "The One Hope" from "Poems" (1870).  In 1904 Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) created his song cycle "The House of Life" from six poems by Rossetti. One song in that cycle, Silent Noon, is one of Vaughan Williams's best known and most frequently performed songs.  In 1904, Phoebe Anna Traquair painted "The Awakening", inspired by a sonnet from Rossetti's "The House of Life".  There is evidence to suggest that a number of paintings by Paula Modersohn-Becker (1876-1907) were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Rossetti.

Selected works.

Double works.

"Rossetti divided his attention between painting and poetry for the rest of his life" - Poetry Foundation

Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator, and a member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement, most notably William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a major precursor of the Aesthetic movement.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, né le à Londres et mort le à Birchington-on-Sea (Kent) est un peintre, poète, traducteur et écrivain britannique.


History.

Until the 1990s, it was not thought possible that a television programme could be squeezed into the limited telecommunication bandwidth of a copper telephone cable to provide a streaming television service of acceptable quality, as the required bandwidth of a digital television signal was around 200Mbps, which was 2,000 times greater than the bandwidth of a speech signal over a copper telephone wire. Streaming services were only made possible as a result of two major technological developments: discrete cosine transform (DCT) video compression and asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) data transmission. DCT is a lossy compression technique that was first proposed by Nasir Ahmed in 1972, and was later adapted into a motion-compensated DCT algorithm for video coding standards such as the H.26x formats from 1988 onwards and the MPEG formats from 1991 onwards. Motion-compensated DCT video compression significantly reduced the amount of bandwidth required for a television signal, while at the same time ADSL increased the bandwidth of data that could be sent over a copper telephone wire. ADSL increased the bandwidth of a telephone line from around 100kbps to 2Mbps, while DCT compression reduced the required bandwidth of a digital television signal from around 200Mbps down to about 2Mpps. The combination of DCT and ADSL technologies made it possible to practically implement streaming services at around 2Mbps bandwidth in the 1990s.

1995 to 2000.

In April 1995, "Rox", a small public access program from Bloomington, Indiana, became the first series distributed via the web, with an episode titled "Global Village Idiots".  Later that year, New York advertising creative Scott Zakarin persuaded his employers Fattal and Collins to finance an online television drama along the lines of the contemporary television drama "Melrose Place". "The Spot" became the first episodic fiction website, the first web soap opera. Fattal and Collins asked their Vice President, Sheri Herman, to obtain venture capital to finance it, because it was draining the resources of this boutique agency. Herman raised 7 million in a round led by Intel. She brought in advertisers including Visa and Apple to sponsor both The Spot and additional pieces through via banner ads and product placement. This was the first time advertising sponsored novel fictional content on the web. The Spot featured beautiful actors in a Santa Monica, California beach house called “The Spot”. The characters authored what would be later termed blogs, with movie clips and photos of their current activities. Viewers could post to the site and email the cast to offer advice and became part of the storyline. Audience opinion was used by the writers to shift the plot-lines around.  According to Zakarin, at its height the site received over 100,000 hits a day. The site earned one of the original Webby Awards, however the business was unable to generate sufficient revenue against competitors such as "The East Village". Zakarin sold his interest in 1996 to investors who formed American Cybercast and was later fired. Zakarin produced another comic soap, "Grape Jam", before returning to television and film (notably producing the Shatner-Nimoy dialogue "Mind Meld") before returning to the Internet with "Soup of the Day" and "Roommates". "The Spot" continued alongside other American Cybercast web series, notably the first sci-fi series" Eon-4" and "The Pyramid", until the company fell into bankruptcy in 1997.  In January 1999, Showtime licensed the animated sci-fi web series "WhirlGirl", making it the first independently produced web series licensed by a national television network. A month later, the series, created by David B. Williams and produced by his Visionary Media studio, premiered on Showtime in a first-ever simultaneous web/telecast. The WhirlGirl character went on to appear occasionally on Showtime, hosting a “Lethal Ladies” programming block, for example, but spent most of her time online, appearing in 100 webisodes.  In 1999, Santa Monica based Television Internet premiered the eight-minute weekly series "Muscle Beach". It was a sitcom, news and fitness program in one, viewable for free with the just introduced Windows Media Player. The series lasted three seasons.  In 2000, The Raven started Daytona Beach Live. The station showed video about life, events, and attractions in the Daytona Beach area for up to 17,000 viewers.

2000 to 2005.

In the early 2000s, the Japanese anime industry began broadcasting original net animation (ONA), a type of original video animation (OVA) series, on the Internet. Early examples of ONA series include "Infinite Ryvius: Illusion" (2000), "Ajimu" (2001), and "Mahou Yuugi" (2001).  In 2004, Greek internet television with name Tvonline created by Film Director Angelos Diamantoulakis, was the first web TV in the world with full program and only web productions. Was built in 2004 and it had 1.500.000 viewers per day.  As broadband bandwidth began to increase in speed and availability, delivering high quality video over the Internet became a reality. The video-sharing site YouTube was launched in early 2005, allowing users to share television programs. YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim said the inspiration for YouTube first came from Janet Jackson's role in the 2004 Super Bowl incident, when her breast was exposed during her performance, and later from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Karim could not easily find video clips of either event online, which led to the idea of a video sharing site.  Web Central TV, Vimeo and DailyMotion soon launched their own services to deliver original digital video. Shows such as "Rocketboom" appeared and post-dot-com-bust video networks such as ManiaTV!, iSTATION TV and the Ripe Digital Entertainment networks launched. In 2003, The Spot executive producer and head writer Stewart St. John revived the brand for online audiences with a new cast, and created a separate mobile series to air on Sprint PCS Vision-enabled phones. St. John and partner Todd Fisher produced over 2,500 daily videos of the first American mobile phone soap, driving story lines across platforms to the web counterpart, The Spot (2.0). By 2005, St. John-Fisher created and launched the first online half-hour scripted drama, "California Heaven". In 2004–2005, Spanish producer Pedro Alonso Pablos recorded a series of video interviews featuring international well-known actors and directors like Guillermo del Toro or Keanu Reeves, plus other successful Spanish filmmakers like Santiago Segura or Álex de la Iglesia, which were distributed through his own website.

2006.

In mid-2006, several independent Web series began to achieve popularity, most notably "lonelygirl15" (created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders and Greg Goodfried),"Soup of the Day" (Zakarin and Rob Cesternino), "California Heaven" (St. John and Todd Fisher), "The Burg" (Dinosaur Diorama) and "SamHas7Friends" (Big Fantastic). These series were distributed independently, often using online video portals YouTube and Revver. All series acquired audiences in the millions, led by "lonelygirl15"s over 100 million views during its 26-month run. The series was so successful that it secured a sponsorship deal with Neutrogena. "Soup of the Day" was later re-crafted and edited as a feature-length film, making it the first web series distributed on disc by distribution company Echo Bridge Entertainment. "SamHas7Friends" was nominated for an Emmy and temporarily removed from the Internet when it was acquired by Michael Eisner. March 2006 also saw the debut of "Goodnight Burbank" (created by Hayden Black) as a "webisodic" series. The original series was named one of iTunes best podcasts of 2006. Also hitting the scene during the summer towards the end of the year was Feed Me Bubbe which ended up showcasing that even a Grandmother and Grandson can achieve internet celebrity status. Fortuna TV Channel is the first web TV in Turkey.  Alejo & Valentina, an Argentine flash cartoon series launched in 2002, began to be broadcast by MTV in 2005.

2007.

In 2007, Beckett and Goodfried followed up their "lonelygirl15" success with "KateModern", a series which debuted on social network Bebo, and took place in the same fictional universe as "lonelygirl15". Big Fantastic created and produced "Prom Queen", which was financed and distributed by Michael Eisner's nascent online studio Vuguru, and debuted on MySpace. These web serials highlighted interactivity with the audience in addition to the narrative on relatively low budgets.  In contrast, the web series "Sanctuary", starring actor/producer Amanda Tapping, cost $4.3 Million to produce. Both "Sanctuary" and "Prom Queen" were nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Award-winning producer/director Marshall Herskovitz created "Quarterlife", which debuted on MySpace and was later distributed on NBC. Meanwhile, IronSink produced "Roommates", the second original series hosted by MySpace. "Roommates" ran for two seasons, was sponsored by companies such as Ford, and was known for its sophisticated product placement. Felicia Day created and starred in the independent comedy web series "The Guild", which won the 2007 YouTube Video Award for Best Series.

2008.

The Internet continued to grow as a marketing tool and outlet for independent creators to display their work. Web television continued to improve in quality, rivaling network television. Online viewing was becoming less foreign to viewers and creativity flourished. Independent producers gained popularity, demonstrating that web television was a legitimate medium, and that web series would be more than a passing fad. The major networks and studios took notice of the trend, and began to debut their own original series.  ABC started the year with the comedy web series "Squeegies," created by Handsome Donkey and produced by digital studio Stage 9. NBC debuted "Gemini Division", a science fiction series starring Rosario Dawson, produced and created by Electric Farm Entertainment (the creators of the cult web series "Afterworld"). Warner Bros. relaunched The WB as an online network beginning with their first original web series, "Sorority Forever", created and produced by Big Fantastic and executive produced by McG. With the rise of studio based web series, MTV announced a new original series created by Craig Brewer that brought together the indie music world and new media expansion. In 2008 Bravo launched its first weekly web series called "The Malan Show". It followed New York fashion designer Malan Breton through the process of making it in America as an independent fashion designer.  Established creators also started producing high-profile original web series in 2008. Joss Whedon created, produced and self-financed "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" starring Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day. Big Fantastic wrote and produced "Foreign Body", a mystery web series that served as a prequel to Robin Cook's novel of the same name. Beckett and Goodfried founded a new Internet studio, EQAL, and produced a spin-off from '"lonelygirl15"" entitled "". Dedicated media coverage of the web television space debuted with organizations such as GigaOm's NewTeeVee and Tubefilter News. Mainstream press also began converate. In the UK, KateModern ended its run on Bebo. That site also hosted a six-month-long reality/travel show, "The Gap Year", produced by Endemol UK, who also made Kirill, a drama for MSN.  Australia emerged separate market for online series. Most notable was the made-for-MySpace series the MySpace Road Tour produced by FremantleMedia Australia. The first series, which ran from July to October 2008 drew the MySpace audience and the show received positive press. During MipCom in October 2008 MySpace announced plans for a second series and indicated that it was in talks with cable network Foxtel to distribute series 1 on network television. Additionally MySpace spoke of their plans to produce versions of the MySpace Road Tour in other countries.

2009.

The International Academy of Web Television formed in 2009, followed by the first awards program for the web television industry, called the Streamy Awards.  The emerging potential for success in web video caught the attention of top entertainment executives in America, including former Disney executive and current head of the Tornante Company, Michael Eisner. Torante's Vuguru subdivision partnered with Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Media on October 26, securing plans to produce upwards of 30 new web shows a year. Rogers Media agreed to help fund and distribute Vuguru's upcoming productions, thereby solidifying a connection between old and new media.

2010–present.

Several produced-for-web shows gained mainstream popularity and media coverage in 2012, 2013, and 2014, including "House of Cards", "Orange Is the New Black", and the revival of "Arrested Development" on Netflix.  Amazon Studios produced a number of shows for Amazon Video, including "Alpha House", "Betas", and various situation comedy and children's shows. Amazon's "Transparent", went on to win a Golden Globe for Best Series.  There were brief revivals of the long running soap operas "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" on Hulu and iTunes before the shows were cancelled again a short time later.  On July 13, 2015, Comcast, a cable company announced an HBO plus broadcast TV package at a price discounted from basic broadband plus basic cable.  On November 12, 2019, The Walt Disney Company launched Disney+, debuting many original exclusive web series including "The Mandalorian" and "The World According to Jeff Goldblum".

Production and distribution.

The rise in the popularity of the Internet and improvements in streaming video technology mean that producing and distributing a web series is relatively cheap by traditional standards and allows producers to reach a potentially global audience who can access the shows 24 hours a day.

Web television is original episodic online video content produced for broadcast on the Internet via the World Wide Web. The phrase "web television" is also sometimes used to refer to Internet television in general, which includes Internet-transmission of programs produced for both online and traditional terrestrial, cable, or satellite broadcast.

La web TV ou webtélé, est la diffusion de programmes télévisuels sur le Web. Le terme de Web TV désigne des chaînes de télévision uniquement diffusées par internet, en opposition aux chaines de télévision classiques qui peuvent être diffusées sur le web en direct ou en rattrapage télé en complément des autres modes de diffusions (câble, IPTV, satellite).


Current use.

Italy.

In Italy, various possibilities were explored (including one early design for fixed carriages with tilting seats). A number of prototypes were built and tested, including an "automotrice" (self-propelled) derived from ALn 668 diesel car and provided with tilting seats. The first working prototype using a tilting carbody was ETR Y 0160, an electrically powered car launched by FIAT in 1969. This was the first to be christened "Pendolino".  It led to the construction of a whole EMU in 1975, the ETR 401, built in two units by FIAT. One was put into public service on 2 July 1976 on the Rome-Ancona (later extended to Rimini) line, operated by Italian State Railways. Between Roma and Ancona (km. 295) the train took 2 hours and 50 minutes while the ordinary trains took 3 hours and 30 minutes. The train had four cars and was mostly considered a travelling laboratory for the new technology. The second unit was adapted for service to the broad gauge RENFE Spanish lines.  In 1982, FS retired the ETR 401 from service, due to high maintenance cost, and FIAT transformed it in a train-laboratory, to test the parts for the successor of the ETR 401, ETR 450. After 1988, the trainset went around Europe to demonstrate the greatness of the tilting revolutionary technology and between 1994 and 2001 it was utilised as a charter train. In 2001 the ETR 401 was put aside in Ancona and since 2013, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first official pendolino service, it has been partly restored.  On 29 May 1988, the ETR 450 became the first pendolino to enter in a high-speed regular service in the world. The project of the new train was really similar to the predecessor, but it utilised many electronic parts, as the chopper and the automatic gear. Characterized by a 9-car configuration, the 15 trainsets ETR 450 could run the Rome-Milan line in under four hours, at speeds up to 250 km/h, with a comfort level as the best TEE's cars at the speed of 180–200 km/h. Passenger numbers increased from 220,000 in 1988 to 2.2 million in 1993.  In 1994, the next generation, the ETR 460, styled by Giorgetto Giugiaro, began service. Though plagued by technical teething problems, the ETR 460 introduced several innovations, such as more powerful AC asynchronous motors. Further, the pistons actuating the anti-tilting action were placed in the bogie instead of on the carbody sides: this permitted the reorganisation of the vestibules and passenger compartment areas, improving comfort. The bogie-to-body connection is extremely simple and easy to make, with clear advantages for maintenance.  ETR 460 keeps axle load to an extremely low level (14.5 ton/axle) to allow the train to negotiate curves up to 35% faster than conventional intercity trains (loco plus coaches). The body, which exploits large aluminium extrusion technology, has substantial modularity and allows for extremely low axle weight, whilst fully respecting the highest safety standards, and allows the best exploitation of the space with different loading gauges.  ETR 460 was built in only 10 units. Improved versions include 9 ETR 470 for the Italo-Swiss Cisalpino company and 15 ETR 480 / 485 used by Trenitalia under AC lines such as those in France and Switzerland. A total of 34 EMUs of the ETR 460/470/480 - 485 series were built.  FIAT Ferroviaria was sold to the French Alstom company in 2000. The development of the Pendolino technology continued in the Italian factories of Alstom and the next generation, the New Pendolino, was delivered to Trenitalia and Cisalpino as the ETR 600 and the ETR 610 from 2006.

Spain.

Even before the first Pendolino EMU was built in Italy, in 1972, Fiat and RENFE signed an agreement for cooperation in tilting-train development. The first fruit of the cooperation was the equipment of a RENFE Class 432 EMU with the active tilting suspension in September 1972. After successful tests, Spanish trainmaker Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles and Fiat built a prototype similar to the ETR 401, which was delivered in 1976 as RENFE Class 443, nicknamed "Platanito" (Little banana) for its yellow livery. The four-car train had a commercial top speed of 180 km/h and achieved a then speed record for Spain of 206 km/h on 6 May 1987. However, the train remained a unique specimen, as RENFE favoured the entirely domestic Talgo Pendular, a tilting train with passive suspension introduced in 1980. After revenue service in 1979-1982, the train was used for charter and test runs.  Two decades later, to speed up services along its Madrid-Valencia conventional line, Renfe ordered ten Pendolini in 1996. The trains, based on the ETR 460 and ETR 470, were delivered by a joint consortium of Fiat Ferroviaria and GEC-Alsthom from 1998 as RENFE Class 490. The three-car trains are suited for 220 km/h on RENFE's conventional lines electrified with 3 kV DC. The Class 490 took up the new Madrid-Valencia Alaris services in 1999. With growing demand, the capacity of the Class 490 was no longer sufficient, and from February 2008, the trains were transferred to the Mediterráneo line between Valencia and Barcelona.  For medium-distance services along its high-speed lines, RENFE ordered a non-tilting variant of the Pendolino, based on the ETR 480, in 2001. The 20 four-car trains with a service top speed of 250 km/h were built jointly by Alstom and CAF and delivered as the RENFE Class 104. RENFE deployed them for the new Avant services along the Madrid-Seville high-speed line from 29 December 2004.  RENFE ordered another 30 non-tilting medium-distance high-speed trains from Alstom/CAF in a follow-on order, which was later reduced to 13 units. However, these trains are based on the New Pendolino design. The first train of the new class designated RENFE Class 114 was presented in autumn 2008.

Germany.

The West German federal railways DB experimented with tilting technology in the 1970s, but abandoned it. Then in 1987, DB commissioned a study on whether electrification or purchasing diesel tilting trains would be the better option for the Nuremberg-Hof line, and decided for the latter. In 1988, DB ordered 10 tilting DMUs, and another 10 in 1990. All 20 trains of the new DB Class 610 were delivered in 1992. The two-car trains with a top speed of 160 km/h were produced by a consortium of five German companies and Fiat Ferroviaria. Fiat supplied the bogies, the hydraulic tilting suspension, and the other parts of the tilting technology, thus the trains could be called "Pendolino" (a Fiat trademarked brand name).  Deutsche Bahn ordered more regional and express tilting DMUs with other technology (class 611 and class 612: Adtranz/Bombardier, ICE TD/class 605: Siemens). However, for the 230 km/h electric ICE T trains ordered in 1994 for service on conventional lines, Pendolino technology was chosen again. Fiat (Alstom) supplied the bogies and tilting technology for the 32 7-car class 411 and 11 5-car class 415 express trains that entered service from 1999. In 2002, DB placed another order for slightly modified class 411 trains, Alstom Ferroviaria was again supplier of bogies and tilt technology when the 28 trains were delivered from 2004 to 2006.

Switzerland.

Since the failure of Cisalpino, a joint venture between the Italian Trenitalia and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the Pendolinos used for transalpine transport between Switzerland and Italy were split between Trenitalia (5 ETR 470 and 7 ETR 610) and SBB (4 ETR 470 and 7 ETR 610). The low reliability of the timetable and of the ETR 470 has led SBB and Trenitalia to always have a reserve train ready at each terminus of the Milan-Zürich route.  In 2012 SBB ordered 8 new ETR 610 with delivery in 2015 to be operated on the routes Milan - Geneva and Milan - Zürich.

Finland.

The Finnish model, the class Sm3, is based on the ETR 460 but was adapted to the specific requirements of VR Group (formerly the Finnish State Railways) and to the cold climatic conditions. The first two units were assembled in 1995 by Rautaruukki-Transtech. A total of sixteen additional units were purchased from Alstom and shipped to Finland between 2000 and 2006. Sm3 trains operate from Helsinki to the cities of Turku, Tampere, Jyväskylä, Oulu, Kouvola and Vaasa.  The trains are composed of six carriages. Four cars are fitted with two asynchronous three-phase AC motors (one for each bogie); two are unpowered but are fitted with pantographs. One of these coaches is a restaurant carriage. The motors deliver a continuous power of and propel the train at a maximum speed of.  The Sm3 has received a lot of bad publicity in Finland for its reliability issues, mostly caused by technical problems with the tilting system and couplers. VR has tried to mitigate the problem by coupling trains only at termini instead of intermediate stations and switching the tilting system off during winter. The trains will go through an extensive maintenance cycle between 2012 and 2014, which will include changes to the couplers and the tilting system in order to make the train more reliable.

Russia.

Karelian Trains, a 50-50 joint venture between Finnish VR and Russian Railways, operates four 1522 mm gauge seven-car Pendolinos for use on 220 km/h Saint Petersburg–Helsinki services. Branded "Allegro" (""). Service started on December 12, 2010, reducing travel time between the cities from five and a half hours to three and a half hours at first and later to three hours. The bogies are specially constructed to allow for 220 km/h speed both at the Finnish gauge and the Russian gauge.

Portugal.

In Portugal the Pendolino is named Alfa Pendular and is operated by the Portuguese state railway company CP. It connects the cities of Guimarães, Braga, Porto, Aveiro, Coimbra, Santarém, Lisbon, Albufeira and Faro, among others, and has a top speed of 220 km/h (136.7 mph). The bogies had to be redesigned for operation on Portugal's broad gauge track, and the trains were assembled by Adtranz Portugal at the Amadora plant (former Sorefame). Main contractor was Fiat Ferroviaria later acquired by Alstom with two main subcontractors Adtranz and Siemens that was responsible for the traction and train control.  Ten six-car train sets were produced between 1998 and 2001, with commercial operation from early 1999. Based on the ETR 460 the Portuguese Pendolino differs mainly from its predecessor from the carbody width that takes advantage of the Iberian gauge.

Slovenia.

Slovenian Railways ordered three Pendolino tilting trains for its main lines. The 3-car trains, delivered as SŽ series 310, were derived from the ETR 460. The series 310 can reach a maximum speed of 200 km/h, but in revenue service on the Slovenian railway network, the maximum it reaches is 160 km/h between Maribor and Pragersko stations, as well as between Grobelno and Celje stations.  Since 24 September 2000, the series 310 runs the InterCitySlovenija (ICS) service, linking the major cities of Slovenia in one line: Koper (only in summer), Ljubljana, Zidani Most, Celje and Maribor, with a frequent service that acts as a high-speed shuttle. Until April 2008, once per day the route from Maribor to Ljubljana was extended as international train to Venice via Monfalcone serving Trieste.  Train offers 1st and 2nd class and on-board bar.

United Kingdom.

In 1999, 53 Class 390 "Pendolinos" were ordered by Virgin Trains West Coast to operate services on the West Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom. All were built by Alstom with the body shells built at its Savigliano factory in Italy and fitted out at its former Metro-Cammell factory in Washwood Heath, England.  Owing to cutbacks by Railtrack to the West Coast Main Line upgrade to provide in-cab signalling, these are limited in service to 125 mph (200 km/h) operation rather than their 140 mph (225 km/h) design speed.  In 2008, the Department for Transport announced that 31 of the existing 9-car sets would be lengthened to 11 cars to increase capacity. Four new 11-car sets were also to be built. The longer units required major infrastructure changes to allow stations and depots to accommodate the 11-car units. With the closure of the Washwood Heath works, the additional vehicles were manufactured at Savigliano. The first new sets were built with 11 cars and delivered in 2011. The lengthening project was completed in December 2012.  In the early 1980s, British Rail had planned to bring tilting train technology to the same line with the Class 370 "Advanced Passenger Train" project. Technical problems caused by pressure to launch the service early and lack of the political will to provide sufficient funding to overcome them forced the abandonment of this early attempt, although much of the technology was used to design and build Pendolino trains.  On 23 February 2007, a Virgin Trains Pendolino train derailed in the Grayrigg rail crash, Virgin chairman Richard Branson credited the robust construction of the Pendolino with saving lives in the crash. Although only some carriages were damaged, the set was written off.  All remaining 56 sets passed to Avanti West Coast with the West Coast Partnership franchise in December 2019.

Czech Republic.

In 1995 consortium consisting of ČKD, MSV Studénka, FIAT Ferroviaria and Siemens won tender for the construction of ten tilting trains for the Czech Railways ČD, intended for international service Berlin - Prague - Vienna. After ČKD bankruptcy in 2000 Alstom (as new owner of FIAT Ferroviaria) took over whole order, reducing number of sets to seven and raising total price, while provided an improved version of ETR 470, equipped to work on, and 3,000 V DC, thus suitable to operate in Germany, Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The first set was delivered in 2004 as Pendolino ČD 680. While testing between Brno and Břeclav on November 18, 2004, the Pendolino reached a speed of 237 km/h and created a new Czech railway speed record.  During the testing period, the train had problems with the Czech signalling system. The problems were said to be solved and the trains entered regular service in December 2005 between Prague and Ostrava. As of late January 2006, all five Czech Pendolino trains in service suffered from software and functional problems, which were later fixed, but the trains still did not receive permission to operate abroad. In December 2006, the trains were given permission to operate in Slovakia and Austria, but as of 2010 permission for Germany has not yet been granted.  A Czech Pendolino train appeared in the 2006 James Bond film" Casino Royale" and in Timur Bekmambetov's 2008 film "Wanted" starring Angelina Jolie.

Slovakia.

Czech Railways ČD has been operating Pendolino as an international train between the Czech Republic and Slovakia for many years. At first it started operating trains from Prague to Bratislava in December 2005 and later also trains from Prague to Košice in December 2014.

Poland.

Polish state railways PKP ordered 14 Pendolinos in 1998, but the order was cancelled in 2000 due to a shortage of funds.  In 2010 Alstom won a PKP Intercity tender for high-speed trains with an offer of 20 New Pendolino trains. Similarly to the CRH5, these are non-tilting. Like the ČD class 680, the Pendolinos are equipped to operate on 15 kV 16·7 Hz and 25 kV 50 Hz as well as 3 kV DC for operation in Poland, and have the train control systems needed to operate in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. However, certification for international operation is not seen as a priority, as the trains are restricted to domestic services for an initial 10 years under the terms of a grant from the EU Cohesion Fund which covered 22% of the project cost.  On 30 May 2011 the Polish state railways PKP signed an agreement with Alstom for 20 Pendolinos ETR 610 for delivery in 2014. The first Pendolino was delivered on August 12, 2013. Each seven-car Class ED250 trainset has seats for 57 first class and 345 second class passengers, with a buffet/bar and three four-seat business or family compartments. The Pendolinos were to operate on the high-speed CMK Central Rail Line from Kraków/Katowice to Warsaw, and on the routes from Gdynia to Warsaw and from Wrocław to Warsaw.  High speed tests using the new Pendolino ED250 on the CMK Central Rail Line began in November 2013. On the first day of tests, November 16, the Pendolino reached. On 17 November 2013 a new speed record for Polish railways was set at km 184.000 of Polish Line No. 4 when Pendolino ED250 reached a speed of, breaking the 19-year record of. On 24 November 2013 the final day of tests on the CMK Central Rail Line the Pendolino reached.  The contract between the Polish operator PKP Intercity and Alstom called for the first eight Pendolino ED250 trainsets to be delivered on 6 May 2014, tested ('homologated') for operation at using European Train Control System Level 2 signalling. The tests had not been performed by May, and PKP announced that Alstom had failed to meet the contract terms and would be charged penalties as of May 6. Alstom responded that homologation in Poland at 250 km/h using ETCS Level 2 was impossible, since ETCS Level 2 was not operational anywhere in Poland, and the Central Rail Line (Poland) where the first ED250 Pendolino had reached 293 km/h in testing was equipped with ETCS Level 1, not Level 2. On 26 June 2014 a compromise was reached between PKP and Alstom under which the Pendolinos would be delivered under a two-stage homologation, first homologated for operation using ETCS Level 1 and eventually to be homologated for ETCS Level 2. The Pendolinos were put in service on 14 December 2014.  In addition to the Central Rail Line from Warsaw to Kraków and Katowice, and from Warsaw to Wrocław, the Pendolinos also operate on the 350 km (221 miles) route from Warsaw to Gdańsk and Gdynia on the Baltic Sea. In 2011-2015 the Warsaw-Gdańsk-Gdynia route underwent a major upgrading costing $3 billion, partly funded by the European Investment Bank, including track replacement, realignment of curves and relocation of sections of track to allow speeds up to, and modernization of stations. Installation of European Train Control System Level 2 was under way in 2016. When Pendolino services started on 14 December 2014 the previous Warsaw–Gdańsk rail travel time of 4-1/2 to 6 hours was reduced to 2 hours 58 minutes by Pendolino, and reduced further to 2 hours 39 minutes in December 2015.  Introduction of the fast, modern Pendolinos in December 2014 had a major effect on rail ridership in Poland. In the first five months of 2015, Warsaw–Kraków rail ridership rose by 50 percent. In May 2015 alone, Warsaw–Kraków ridership was 70 percent higher than a year earlier.  In October 2018 Pendolinos operating in Poland still have no access to wireless internet. Thus, as not all of the telecom operators cover 100% of area with 4G support it makes it quite troublesome to do any business critical operations while traveling. Supposedly PKP Intercity has finally signed contract with Pendolinos' producer - Alstom to install necessary equipment in their trains. Estimated deadline for this is the verge of 2018 and 2019.

China.

China Railway High-speed (CRH) purchased technologies from Alstom to assemble 60 sets of high speed EMU trains, which have been named CRH5 and are based on the New Pendolino trains. The CRH5 are non-tilting trains. 30 additional sets were ordered in 2009 and 20 additional sets was ordered in 2010 to complete the current fleet operating on China's northern and eastern lines.

United States.

On August 2016, Amtrak and Alstom unveiled the new Avelia Liberty EMU that will take passengers between Washington D.C. and Boston, MA as part of a Northeast Corridor rehabilitation project starting in 2021, replacing the aged Acela Express. The train has safety features that comply with Federal Railroad Administration standards, along with greater comfort, more capacity, built in Wi-Fi, Tiltronix, and with speeds up to.

Cancelled orders.

In 1998 Romanian railways CFR announced its intent to order two Pendolinos by the end of the year, and wanted to sign another agreement about the local production of 19 more units under a license agreement the next year. However, these plans were not followed up.  In 2002, Slovak railways ZSSK considered purchasing four Pendolinos, in close cooperation with ČD of the Czech Republic. The trains were to run as ZSSK class 650. This project was given up in 2004 for lack of funds.  The State Administration of Railway transport of Ukraine announced its intent to buy 7 Pendolinos for the UEFA Euro 2012 in 2008, but failed to secure the financing later.

Pendolino (from Italian "pendolo" "pendulum", and "-ino," a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, Switzerland and China. Based on the design of the Italian ETR 401 and the British Advanced Passenger Train, it was further developed and manufactured by Fiat Ferroviaria, which was taken over by Alstom in 2000.

Les trains Pendolino sont des rames automotrices pendulaires conçues, mises au point et construites par la société italienne Fiat Ferroviaria (rachetée en 2000 par Alstom), capables de rouler sur des voies normales à des vitesses supérieures de 30 à 35 % par rapport aux autres convois. Le système de pendulation est de type "actif" car l'inclinaison de la rame est programmée.