Tribes.

According to the "Histories" of Herodotus, there were six Median tribes: The six Median tribes resided in Media proper, the triangular area between Rhagae, Aspadana and Ecbatana. In present-day Iran, that is the area between Tehran, Isfahan and Hamadan, respectively. Of the Median tribes, the Magi resided in Rhagae, modern Tehran. They were of a sacred caste which ministered to the spiritual needs of the Medes. The Paretaceni tribe resided in and around Aspadana, modern Isfahan, the Arizanti lived in and around Kashan (Isfahan Province), and the Busae tribe lived in and around the future Median capital of Ecbatana, near modern Hamadan. The Struchates and the Budii lived in villages in the Median triangle.

Etymology.

The original source for their name and homeland is a directly transmitted Old Iranian geographical name which is attested as the Old Persian "Māda-" (). The meaning of this word is not precisely known. However, the linguist W. Skalmowski proposes a relation with the proto-Indo European word "med(h)-", meaning "central, suited in the middle", by referring to the Old Indic "madhya-" and Old Iranian "maidiia-" which both carry the same meaning. The Latin "medium", Greek "méso" and German "mittel" are similarly derived from it.  Greek scholars during antiquity would base ethnological conclusions on Greek legends and the similarity of names. According to the "Histories" of Herodotus (440 BC):

Mythology.

In the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, Medea is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis and a paternal granddaughter of the sun-god Helios. Following her failed marriage to Jason while in Corinth, for one of several reasons depending on the version, she marries King Aegeus of Athens and bears a son Medus. After failing to make Aegeus kill his older son Theseus, she and her son fled to "Aria", where the Medes take their name from her, according to several Greek and later Roman accounts, including in Pausanias' "Description of Greece" (1st-century AD). According to other versions, such as in Strabo's "Geographica" (1st-century AD) and Justin's "Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum" (2nd or 3rd century AD), she returned home to conquer neighboring lands with her husband Jason, one of which was named after her; while another version related by Diodorus Siculus in "Bibliotheca Historica" (1st-century BC) states that after being exiled she married an Asian king and bore Medus, who was greatly admired for his courage, after whom they took their name.

Archaeology.

The discoveries of Median sites in Iran happened only after the 1960s. For 1960 the search for Median archeological sources has mostly focused in an area known as the “Median triangle,” defined roughly as the region bounded by Hamadān and Malāyer (in Hamadan Province) and Kangāvar (in Kermanshah Province). Three major sites from central western Iran in the Iron Age III period (i.e. 850–500 BC) are: These sources have both similarities (in cultural characteristics) and differences (due to functional differences and diversity among the Median tribes). The architecture of these archaeological findings, which can probably be dated to the Median period, show a link between the tradition of columned audience halls often seen in the Achaemenid Empire (for example in Persepolis) and Safavid Iran (for example in Chehel Sotoun from the 17th century AD) and what is seen in Median architecture.  The materials found at Tepe Nush-i Jan, Godin Tepe, and other sites located in Media together with the Assyrian reliefs show the existence of urban settlements in Media in the first half of the 1st millennium BC which had functioned as centres for the production of handicrafts and also of an agricultural and cattle-breeding economy of a secondary type. For other historical documentation, the archaeological evidence, though rare, together with cuneiform records by Assyrian make it possible, regardless of Herodotus' accounts, to establish some of the early history of Medians.

Geography.

An early description of Media from the end of the 9th century BC to the beginning of the 7th century BC comes from the Assyrians. The southern border of Media, in that period, is named as the Elamite region of Simaški in present-day Lorestan Province. To the west and northwest, Media was bounded by the Zagros Mountains and from the east by the Dasht-e Kavir desert. This region of Media was ruled by the Assyrians and for them the region fell "along the Great Khorasan Road from just east of Harhar to Alwand, and probably beyond." The location of Harhar is suggested to be "the central or eastern" Mahidasht District in Kermanshah Province.  Its borders were limited in the north by the non-Iranian states of Gizilbunda and Mannea, and to its south by Ellipi and Elam. Gizilbunda was located in the Qaflankuh Mountains, and Ellipi was located in the south of modern Lorestan Province. On the east and southeast of Media, as described by the Assyrians, another land with the name of "Patušarra" appears. This land was located near a mountain range which the Assyrians call "Bikni" and describe as "Lapis Lazuli Mountain". There are differing opinions on the location of this mountain. Mount Damavand of Tehran and Alvand of Hamadan are two proposed sites. This location is the most remote eastern area that the Assyrians knew of or reached during their expansion until the beginning of the 7th century BC.  In Achaemenid sources, specifically from the Behistun Inscription (2.76, 77–78), the capital of Media is Ecbatana, called "Hamgmatāna-" in Old Persian (Elamite:"Agmadana-"; Babylonian: "Agamtanu-") corresponding to modern-day Hamadan.  The other cities existing in Media were Laodicea (modern Nahavand) and the mound that was the largest city of the Medes, Rhages (present-day Rey). The fourth city of Media was Apamea, near Ecbatana, whose precise location is now unknown. In later periods, Medes and especially Mede soldiers are identified and portrayed prominently in ancient archaeological sites such as Persepolis, where they are shown to have a major role and presence in the military of the Achaemenid Empire.

History.

Prehistory.

At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Iranian tribes emerged in the region of northwest Iran. These tribes expanded their control over larger areas. Subsequently, the boundaries of Media changed over a period of several hundred years. Iranian tribes were present in western and northwestern Iran from at least the 12th or 11th centuries BC. But the significance of Iranian elements in these regions were established from the beginning of the second half of the 8th century BC. By this time the Iranian tribes were the majority in what later become the territory of the Median Kingdom and also the west of Media proper. A study of textual sources from the region shows that in the Neo-Assyrian period, the regions of Media, and further to the west and the northwest, had a population with Iranian speaking people as the majority.  This period of migration coincided with a power vacuum in the Near East with the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1020 BC), which had dominated northwestern Iran and eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus, going into a comparative decline. This allowed new peoples to pass through and settle. In addition Elam, the dominant power in Iran, was suffering a period of severe weakness, as was Babylonia to the west.  In western and northwestern Iran and in areas further west prior to Median rule, there is evidence of the earlier political activity of the powerful societies of Elam, Mannaea, Assyria and Urartu. There are various and up-dated opinions on the positions and activities of Iranian tribes in these societies and prior to the "major Iranian state formations" in the late 7th century BC. One opinion (of Herzfeld, "et al.") is that the ruling class were "Iranian migrants" but the society was "autonomous" while another opinion (of Grantovsky, "et al.") holds that both the ruling class and basic elements of the population were Iranian.

Rise and fall.

From the 10th to the late 7th centuries BC, the western parts of Media fell under the domination of the vast Neo-Assyrian Empire based in northern Mesopotamia, which stretched from Cyprus in the west, to parts of western Iran in the east, and Egypt and the north of the Arabian Peninsula. Assyrian kings such as Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, Ashurbanipal and Ashur-etil-ilani imposed "Vassal Treaties" upon the Median rulers, and also protected them from predatory raids by marauding Scythians and Cimmerians.  During the reign of Sinsharishkun (622–612 BC), the Assyrian empire, which had been in a state of constant civil war since 626 BC, began to unravel. Subject peoples, such as the Medes, Babylonians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Scythians, Cimmerians, Lydians and Arameans quietly ceased to pay tribute to Assyria.  Neo-Assyrian dominance over the Medians came to an end during the reign of Median King Cyaxares, who, in alliance with King Nabopolassar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, attacked and destroyed the strife-riven empire between 616 and 609 BC. The newfound alliance helped the Medes to capture Nineveh in 612 BC, which resulted in the eventual collapse of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by 609 BC. The Medes were subsequently able to establish their Median Kingdom (with Ecbatana as their royal capital) beyond their original homeland and had eventually a territory stretching roughly from northeastern Iran to the Kızılırmak River in Anatolia. After the fall of Assyria between 616 BC and 609 BC, a unified Median state was formed, which together with Babylonia, Lydia, and ancient Egypt became one of the four major powers of the ancient Near East.  Cyaxares was succeeded by his son King Astyages. In 553 BC, his maternal grandson Cyrus the Great, the King of Anshan/Persia, a Median vassal, revolted against Astyages. In 550 BC, Cyrus finally won a decisive victory resulting in Astyages' capture by his own dissatisfied nobles, who promptly turned him over to the triumphant Cyrus. After Cyrus's victory against Astyages, the Medes were subjected to their close kin, the Persians. In the new empire they retained a prominent position; in honour and war, they stood next to the Persians; their court ceremony was adopted by the new sovereigns, who in the summer months resided in Ecbatana; and many noble Medes were employed as officials, satraps and generals.

Median dynasty.

The list of Median rulers and their period of reign is compiled according to two sources. Firstly, Herodotus who calls them "kings" and associates them with the same family. Secondly, the Babylonian Chronicle which in "Gadd's Chronicle on the Fall of Nineveh" gives its own list. A combined list stretching over 150 years is thus:  However, not all of these dates and personalities given by Herodotus match the other near eastern sources.  In Herodotus (book 1, chapters 95–130), Deioces is introduced as the founder of a centralised Median state. He had been known to the Median people as "a just and incorruptible man" and when asked by the Median people to solve their possible disputes he agreed and put forward the condition that they make him "king" and build a great city at Ecbatana as the capital of the Median state. Judging from the contemporary sources of the region and disregarding the account of Herodotus puts the formation of a unified Median state during the reign of Cyaxares or later.

Culture and society.

Greek references to "Median" people make no clear distinction between the "Persians" and the "Medians"; in fact for a Greek to become "too closely associated with Iranian culture" was "to become Medianized, not Persianized". The Median Kingdom was a short-lived Iranian state and the textual and archaeological sources of that period are rare and little could be known from the Median culture which nevertheless made a "profound, and lasting, contribution to the greater world of Iranian culture".

Language.

Median people spoke the Median language, which was an Old Iranian language. Strabo's "Geographica" (finished in the early first century) mentions the affinity of Median with other Iranian languages: "The name of" Ariana "is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, but with slight variations".  No original deciphered text has been proven to have been written in the Median language. It is suggested that similar to the later Iranian practice of keeping archives of written documents in Achaemenid Iran, there was also a maintenance of archives by the Median government in their capital Ecbatana. There are examples of "Median literature" found in later records. One is according to Herodotus that the Median king Deioces, appearing as a judge, made judgement on causes submitted in writing. There is also a report by Dinon on the existence of "Median court poets". Median literature is part of the "Old Iranian literature" (including also Saka, Old Persian, Avestan) as this Iranian affiliation of them is explicit also in ancient texts, such as Herodotus's account that many peoples including Medes were "universally called Iranian".  Words of Median origin appear in various other Iranian dialects, including Old Persian. A feature of Old Persian inscriptions is the large number of words and names from other languages and the Median language takes in this regard a special place for historical reasons. The Median words in Old Persian texts, whose Median origin can be established by "phonetic criteria", appear "more frequently among royal titles and among terms of the chancellery, military, and judicial affairs". Words of Median origin include:

Religion.

There are very limited sources concerning the religion of Median people. Primary sources pointing to religious affiliations of Medes found so far include the archaeological discoveries in Tepe Nush-e Jan, personal names of Median individuals, and the Histories of Herodotus. The archaeological source gives the earliest of the temple structures in Iran and the "stepped fire altar" discovered there is linked to the common Iranian legacy of the "cult of fire". Herodotus mentions Median Magi as a Median tribe providing priests for both the Medes and the Persians. They had a "priestly caste" which passed their functions from father to son. They played a significant role in the court of the Median king Astyages who had in his court certain Medians as "advisers, dream interpreters, and soothsayers".  Classical historians "unanimously" regarded the Magi as priests of the Zoroastrian faith. From the personal names of Medes as recorded by Assyrians (in 8th and 9th centuries BC) there are examples of the use of the Indo-Iranian word "arta-" (lit. "truth") which is familiar from both Avestan and Old Persian and also examples of theophoric names containing "Maždakku" and also the name "Ahura Mazdā". Scholars disagree whether these are indications of Zoroastrian religion amongst the Medes. Diakonoff believes that "Astyages and perhaps even Cyaxares had already embraced a religion derived from the teachings of Zoroaster" and Mary Boyce believes that "the existence of the Magi in Media with their own traditions and forms of worship was an obstacle to Zoroastrian proselytizing there". Boyce wrote that the Zoroastrian traditions in the Median city of Ray probably goes back to the 8th century BC. It is suggested that from the 8th century BC, a form of "Mazdaism with common Iranian traditions" existed in Media and the strict reforms of Zarathustra began to spread in western Iran during the reign of the last Median kings in the 6th century BC.  It has also been suggested that Mithra is a Median name and Medes may have practised Mithraism and had Mithra as their supreme deity.

Kurds and Medes.

Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form a majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds. He also states that the Medes who invaded the region in the eighth century BC, linguistically resembled the Kurds. This view was accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the twentieth century. However, Martin van Bruinessen, a Dutch scholar, argues against the attempt to take the Medes as ancestors of the Kurds. "Though some Kurdish intellectuals claim that their people are descended from the Medes, there is no evidence to permit such a connection across the considerable gap in time between the political dominance of the Medes and the first attestation of the Kurds" - van Bruinessen  Contemporary linguistic evidence has challenged the previously suggested view that the Kurds are descendants of the Medes. Gernot Windfuhr, professor of Iranian Studies, identified the Kurdish languages as Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum. David Neil MacKenzie, an authority on the Kurdish language, said Kurdish was closer to Persian and questioned the “traditional” view holding that Kurdish, because of its differences from Persian, should be regarded a Northwestern Iranian language. Garnik Asatrian stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called Southern Tati) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median is not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects — Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, etc."

The Medes (, Old Persian "",, "Madai") were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Late 9th to early 7th centuries BC, the region of Media was bounded by the Zagros Mountains to its west, to its south by the Garrin Mountain in Lorestan Province, to its northwest by the Qaflankuh Mountains in Zanjan Province, and to its east by the Dasht-e Kavir desert. Its neighbors were the kingdoms of Gizilbunda and Mannea in the northwest, and Ellipi and Elam in the south.


Life.

Military career.

Ancien Régime.

He entered the École de cavalerie de Besançon, then served as a volunteer in the régiment de Fumel-cavalerie (1756), and was promoted to cornette (1757). In the course of the Seven Years' War, he was involved in the Hanover campaign, rising to captain in 1760 and was demobilized at the peace.  Immediately re-entering the régiment de Conti-dragons, he taught the theory of major cavalry manoeuvres at the École de Besançon and published a book on tactics : "Instruction à l'usage du régiment de dragons Conti". He rose to major (1768), mestre de camp (1773) with the rank of colonel, brigadier (1 January 1784) and was promoted to maréchal de camp on 10 March 1788, all the while remaining the commander of his regiment. He was made a knight of Saint Louis in 1773.

French Revolution.

In 1790, he was one of the generals charged with verifying the regimental accounts and gathering their grievances. He was sent into Brittany in 1791 and 1792 to appease insurrection movements that had just broken out there, and to repress those that had not yet broken out. He brought himself to note by moderation and conciliatory spirit, winning a brilliant success near Quimper on 8 July.  On 7 September 1792 he was made lieutenant général and commander of the 13e division militaire, and was put in charge of embarking at Brest the troops intended for Saint-Domingue.  Made lieutenant general on 7 September 1792, the French National Convention put him in command of the Army of the Coasts of Brest. With scarcely 12,000 men, he successfully defended Nantes on 29 June 1793, after several fierce and deadly clashes repulsing an attack by a Vendéen army of 50,000 Vendéens under Jacques Cathelineau. Victorious again at the battle of Montaigu (against François de Charette, who he would defeat again at Mortagne-sur-Sèvre), he was defeated at the battle of Tiffauges and suspended from his command. Despite a subsequent success at Saint-Symphorien, he was then replaced on 29 September. He then retired to one of his estates, at the Château du Saussay (Essonne), but was recalled after the revolution of 9 thermidor year II (1794) and again made supreme commander of the Army of the West. He seconded Lazare Hoche to this army around the time of the counter-revolutionary invasion of France in 1795, sending him for some of the reinforcements he needed. Hoche replaced him in command later in 1795, and Canclaux retired from the army.

Administrative career.

Sent to the MIDI in 1796 to organise the army intended for Italy (what would become the Army of Italy), at the end of that year he was made ministre plénipotentiaire to the court of Naples, a role he held until 1797.  In 1799, he was recalled to state service as a member of the military committee established after the Directory. After the Coup of 18 Brumaire, he adhered to Napoleon's party, and as during the Consulate Napoleon put him in command of the 14e division militaire, at Caen, where he and general Gabriel Marie Joseph, comte d'Hédouville were charged with pacifying Normandy.  In 1800 he briefly became commander of the Army of Reserve of the Second Line, which formed the nucleus of the Army of the Grisons. He became inspector-general of the army's cavalry, and on 22 October 1804, he was appointed to the Sénat conservateur.  En 1806 and 1807, he was commander of the gardes nationaux of Seine-Inférieure and the Somme. In 1808 he was made a comte d'Empire.  In December 1813, he was extraordinary-commissioner in Ille-et-Vilaine.  In 1814, he voted in the Senate in favour of deposing Napoleon.

Restoration and the Hundred Days.

Made a pair de France on the Restoration, Napoleon kept him as such during the Hundred Days but Canclaux refused to support him, though this did not prevent him being struck from the list of peers by the royal ordinance of 24 July 1815.  On 10 August 1815, he again became a pair de France and voted in favour of the death of Ney.  His name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe (west side)

Jean Baptiste Camille de Canclaux (2 August 1740, in Paris – 27 December 1817, in Paris) was a French army commander during the French Revolution and a Peer of France. He joined a cavalry regiment the French Royal Army in 1756 and fought at Minden in the Seven Years' War. He attained the rank of maréchal de camp (brigadier general) in 1788 and lieutenant general in 1792. He commanded the Army of the Coasts of Brest from May until October 1793 fighting several actions during the War in the Vendée. Replaced for political reasons, he led the Army of the West in 1794–1795. He held interior posts during the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars and under the First French Empire of Napoleon.


Early life.

John Celivergos Zachos, was born in Constantinople now Istanbul Turkey. His parents were Nicholas and Euphrosyne Zachos. They were from Athens Greece. Nicholas Zachos was a general in the Greek army during the Greek Revolution. Zachos died in 1824 during battle.  Samuel Gridley Howe an American Surgeon and Philhellene was also fighting for Greek independence. He brought John Celivergos Zachos along with other young Greek people back to the United States to educate them.  Namely traveling with Zachos and Howe was a young refuge who survived the Chios massacre named Christophoros P. Kastanes. In 1851, he wrote a book on his travels called "The Greek Exile, Or, a Narrative of the Captivity and Escape of Christophorus Plato Castanis." This book includes John C. Zachos and other Greek children.

Education and Marriage.

In 1830, John Celivergos Zachos was in the United States. He was placed in a Preliminary school in Amherst Massachusetts with Christophoros P. Kastanes and other greek children. In 1836, he enrolled at Kenyon College in Gambier Ohio. He graduated from the institution by 1840. As a young adult he was noted for fine speaking, he won prizes whenever he competed. He was the founder of the Society of Kenyon College.  He went off to study medicine at Miami University in Oxford Ohio, he graduated in the mid eighteen forties. When he finished his studies he moved to Cincinnati where he founded a Shakespearian Society. He married Harriet Tompkins Canfield Zachos on July 26, 1849.  Harriet Tompkins was born on January 15, 1824 to George Washington Canfield and Catherine A Clark. They had 6 children. Born between 1850 to 1865. His daughter Mary Helena Zachos became an American college professor and elocutionist.

Career & Later Life.

In the eighteen fifties John C. Zachos was well known locally as an elocutionist, he traveled around Ohio lecturing about literature at various institutions. Zachos became associate dean at Antioch College which was in Yellow Springs Ohio. He worked under his close friend Horace Mann. Mann was also associated with Samuel Gridley Howe. At Antioch College Zachos read Shakespeare and lectured courses on the English Poets.  In 1862 he was the editor of the Ohio Journal. During the outbreak of the civil war Zachos served under General Rufus Saxton as a surgeon for the Union Army. He was stationed at Paris Island South Carolina. During the civil war he was commissioned by the New York and Boston educational society to demonstrate that African Americans were capable of acquiring knowledge. He also educated them. He is noted for writing and reciting poetry to the freed slaves.  After 2 years of service in the Civil War he traveled to Boston where he became a Unitarian Minister. He gave twelve lectures at the Lowell Institute. He began to gain notoriety as a Literature Professor in the east. For 3 years he was Professor of Public Speech and Literature at the Meadville Lombard Theological School. While at the Theological School he established another Literary Society. American author, historian, and Unitarian minister Edward Everett Hale spoke very highly of John C. Zachos.  In 1871, now 51 he moved to New York City where he would stay until the time of his death. Peter Cooper and John C. Zachos became good friends. Zachos influenced the foundation of Cooper Union. He taught literature and public speech. In 1876 he was Peter Cooper's first biographer. He was a Professor and Library Curator at Cooper Union.  On December 24th, 1875 he filed patent number 175892 for type writers and phenotypic notation application. The machine was a stenotype used for printing legible English text at a high speed. He obtained 10,000 dollars in investment capital for his invention.. He continued his advancement of oratory the next two decades.  He was a proponent of the Delsarte System of Oratory founded by François Delsarte. He also advocated the James Rush classic, "The Philosophy of the Human Voice". James Rush was the son of Benjamin Rush.  Zachos lectures were very popular at Cooper Union. Namely on Tuesdays and Saturdays the crowd would exceed 100 to 200 people. Peter Cooper told William Cullen Bryant to personally observe Professor Zachos lecture. In "The Letters of William Cullen Bryant" Bryant called Zachos an oratory genius. Due to his poetry lectures he also gained the recognition of Ralph Waldo Emerson and James Russell Lowell.  His writing was not confined to literature. Zachos also wrote about philosophy, mathematics, science, metaphysics and other scientific branches. Under the pseudonym "Cadmus" Dr Zachos wrote about financial and economic subjects that were published in various New York City publications.  On January 7, 1896 Harriet Tompkins Zachos passed away. Roughly two years later on March 20, 1898, John Celivergos Zachos died. His Funeral was held at the Church of the Messiah (Manhattan). Among the many in attendance were his pallbearers S. Packard, Augustus D. Juilliard Former NYC mayor William Lafayette Strong and Union army brevet brigadier general Henry Lawrence Burnett. At the time of his death his residence was 113 west 84th street New York City.

John Celivergos Zachos (December 20, 1820 – March 20, 1898) was a physician, literary scholar, elocutionist, author, lecturer, inventor, and educational pioneer. He was an early proponent of equal education rights for African Americans and women. He advocated and expanded the Oratory systems of François Delsarte and James Rush.


Early years.

Augustin Laurent was born on 9 September 1896 in Wahagnies, Nord, to a family of miners. He began working in the mines when he was very young. During World War I (1914–18) he fought at the front for 46 months. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre.  Laurent became involved in the socialist movement in the Nord, and in 1931 was elected to the General Council of Nord. In the 1936 general elections he was the Popular Front candidate for the 6th district of Lille and was elected in the second round of voting. In the chamber he sat with the socialist group of the "Section Française de l'Internationale Ouvrière" (SFIO, French Section of the Workers' International). He was a member of the executive committee of the SFIO.

World War II.

Laurent was absent from Vichy on 10 July 1940 when Marshal Philippe Pétain was granted full powers, and immediately showed his hostility to the Vichy France regime. He became one of the leaders of the French Resistance. From October 1940 he wrote articles for "L'Homme libre", a clandestine publication edited by his friend Jean-Baptiste Lebas, and then from the end of 1941 wrote for its successor "Quatrième République". Laurent became organizing secretary in the clandestine executive committee of the Socialist Party, coordinating activity between the occupied zone and the free zone. He was almost arrested, and in 1942 moved to Lyon, where he was a member of the political committee for the "Libération-Sud" movement, and led the "France au combat" network. He often visited the north to maintain links and transmit orders and information, and also participated in editing, publishing and distributing clandestine journals. He was encouraged to represent the Socialist Party in the National Council of the Resistance, but refused since he preferred to focus on organizing the resistance in the Nord.  In January 1944 Laurent settled permanently in Lille, where he supervised the departmental committee of liberation. He moved frequently to avoid the Gestapo. When Lille was liberated Laurent and some members of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) took possession of the offices of the prefecture in the name of the Republic. He was made head of the socialist federation of Nord. He took over the presses of the collaborationist journal "Le Réveil du Nord" and created "Nord Matin". He was political director of "Nord Matin" until 1979. Due to his Resistance activity and his position in the Socialist Party he was invited by General Charles de Gaulle to take the position of Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones in the provisional government on 10 September 1944. He became openly hostility to de Gaulle, and resigned on 27 June 1945. The ostensible reason was to recover from surgery. From 1945 Laurent was secretary of the Socialist Federation of Nord.

Post-war career.

In the 21 October 1945 elections for the Constituent Assembly Laurent was at the head of the Socialist SFIO list for the second district of Nord and was elected. The SFIO won three of the nine seats in the district, the Christian Democratic "Mouvement Républicain Populaire" (MRP, Popular Republican Movement) led by Maurice Schumann won four and the communists led by Arthur Ramette won two. Laurent voted for the nationalizations and approved the draft constitution of the French Fourth Republic on 19 April 1946. However, the constitution was rejected in the referendum of 5 May 1946. Fresh election were held for the second Constituent Assembly, and Laurent was again elected. After the new constitution was ratified by plebiscite he was elected to the National Assembly on 10 November 1946. Laurent was also elected president of the general council of Nord in 1946. He was Minister of State from 16 December 1946 to 22 January 1947 in the government of Léon Blum.  After leaving the cabinet Laurent was active in questions on social issues such as family benefits and home assistance to the elderly and disabled. He showed himself as moderate socialist in the tradition of Jules Guesde. While supporting the interests of the working classes, he was firmly anti-communist. Talking of the strikes in the Nord collieries on November 1948 he supported the claims of the miners but said the strike could have been avoided if it had been led by genuine trade-unionists instead of professional Communist Party agitators.  Laurent did not run for reelection in the elections on 17 June 1951, preferring to focus on local politics in Nord. He was elected to the Lille municipal council in 1953 and became mayor in 1955. In 1963 he resigned as secretary of the Socialist Federation of Nord, and in 1967 resigned from the SFIO executive. He left the office of mayor of Lille in 1973. He died on 1 October 1990 in Wasquehal, Nord, at the age of 94.

Augustin Laurent (9 September 1896 – 1 October 1990) was a French coal miner, journalist and socialist politician. He was a national deputy both before and after World War II (1939–45). During the war he was active in the French Resistance. After the liberation of France he was Minister of Posts, Telegraphs, and Telephones in the provisional government between September 1944 and June 1945. He was active as a socialist in the post-war legislature until 1951, when he decided to focus on local politics. He was mayor of Lille from 1955 to 1973.


The path to negotiation.

News of the surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown reached Britain late in November 1781, shortly before Parliament was due to debate the military spending estimates for the following year. The hastily revised plan was that forces in America were to be retained at their existing level, but the policy of "offensive" war and long campaigns away from well-supplied strongholds (which had also led to the Saratoga defeat four years earlier) was to be abandoned in favour of a new approach, details of which had to remain secret. The budget was passed by a large majority, but a few days later news was received that the British fleet in the Bay of Biscay had been able to capture only a fraction of a very large French fleet, carrying troops for invasions of British colonies around the world. Parliament immediately ordered an inquiry into the administration of the Royal Navy, to be held after the Christmas recess. At the beginning of January, it was learned that French forces had begun capturing small British-held islands in the West Indies even without the help of the new fleet (which had been driven back to France by storms), so a large British fleet was sent westwards as soon as possible. Also in that month, the government appointed a new commander for the American forces, General Carleton who had defeated the American invasion of Canada in the early phase of the war, and the Colonial Secretary, Lord George Germain, was replaced by the hawkish Welbore Ellis.  The inquiry into Navy administration was followed by a Parliamentary vote on 20 February in which the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Sandwich, narrowly escaped dismissal. The following week, Parliament voted for a guarantee of the "no offensive war" claim made the previous autumn, on the grounds that increased military commitment to America would, among other things, be "the means of weakening the efforts of this country against her European enemies". On 27 February 1782, the House voted against further war in America, by 19 votes. At the beginning of March news arrived which absolutely confirmed the wisdom of this position — the loss of two more West Indian islands in January (with a third seemingly at the mercy of the French navy), and of the Mediterranean base on Menorca in February. The opposition in Parliament then began tabling motions alleging that Great Britain had no confidence in its government; the first of these was rejected by just 10 votes, another a week later by 9 votes. Hours before yet another such vote was due, on 20 March, the government leader, Lord North, persuaded the King to accept his resignation (this set a precedent that successful Parliamentary votes of "no confidence" would automatically force a Prime Minister to resign). The King's choice as replacement, Lord Shelburne (who, though an old friend of Benjamin Franklin, had initially stated in February that he "would never consent, under any possible given circumstances, to acknowledge the independency of America") refused the post, leading to the formation of a strange new government team, nominally led by Lord Rockingham, whom the King hated, with Shelburne and Charles James Fox, who hated each other, as Secretaries of State.

The negotiation process.

Establishing ground rules.

Rockingham's team recognised that their priority was to get Britain out of its four linked wars, and that time might be short—within days of his appointment, news came from the West Indies that three more British islands had been captured by the French. Therefore, the decision was made to build on the "no offensive war" policy and begin peace talks with the Americans. Three factors made this the logical approach: first, the stated aim of the 1778 Treaty of Alliance between the United States and France was specifically to maintain the independence of the United States. Second, for well over a year, informal discussions had been held with Henry Laurens, an American envoy captured on his way to Amsterdam. On 31 December 1781 Laurens had been released on parole, and now he was offered the chance to help begin negotiations. Third, on hearing of Lord North's resignation, Benjamin Franklin immediately wrote from Paris, making it clear that the Americans were ready to begin talking. However, Laurens, Franklin, and John Adams (then representing America in the Dutch Republic) all made it clear to the British that America could not, under the 1778 alliance treaty, make peace without French agreement. What none of them knew was that France, under its completely separate treaty of alliance with Spain, could not make peace without Spanish agreement; indeed, not without a guarantee that the British stronghold of Gibraltar, commanding the narrow entrance to the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, would be handed over to Spain. Spanish and French forces had been besieging Gibraltar for nearly three years without success, so it was likely that they would have to negotiate with Britain to exchange it for some other territory, perhaps some of the captured West Indian islands. For Britain that would be a tough decision—although the West Indies produced vast profits, holding Gibraltar allowed unhindered sea trade with all the Mediterranean countries.  The British government decided to resist accepting American independence as a precondition for negotiation, as they were aware that the French government was nearly bankrupt, and that the British reinforcements sent to the West Indies might well reverse the situation there at any moment (the fleet was commanded by Admiral Rodney, who had returned to England from the Caribbean on sick-leave just before the French fleet there sailed north to blockade Yorktown; he also faced numerous expensive lawsuits over his looting of the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius—in short, a glorious victory was his only option). The British negotiator sent to Paris was Richard Oswald, an old slave-trading partner of Henry Laurens, who had been one of his visitors in the Tower of London. His first talks with Franklin led to a proposal that Britain should hand over Canada to the Americans. On 23 April, Lord Shelburne, without specifically referring to the terms of that proposal, which he kept a secret from nearly all his colleagues, replied with an offer to accept full American independence, but on the existing borders. A second British envoy, Thomas Grenville (unaware of the Canada suggestion), was now sent to begin talks with the French government, based on this proposal. He indicated that the French could help to secure American independence, their avowed reason for entering the war back in 1778, by offering to return the British possessions they had captured in the West Indies, but the French rejected this, and separated their own peace demands from America's. That did indeed violate the spirit of their 1778 treaty of alliance with America, and fundamentally affected the future of the negotiations. Another factor which gave added power to the Americans was the decision on 19 April of the Dutch Republic (otherwise known as the United Provinces of the Netherlands, its 200-year-old federal government structure being a model from which the United States would learn) to recognise John Adams as the ambassador of an independent country. This led swiftly to the offer of a much-needed loan from the Netherlands, following which Adams went to Paris to join the impending peace negotiations.

British government changes again.

On 18 May, the decision to keep full independence as a point for negotiation was vindicated by the arrival in Europe of news that, over a month previously, Admiral Rodney had gained the victory over the French in the Caribbean, which he and Britain so desperately needed, capturing the French Admiral de Grasse. Grenville was sent back to France to negotiate with both the Americans and the French, but found himself making little progress with either—only when Oswald told him about the Canada proposal did he begin to understand why, and he wrote an indignant letter to Charles Fox, who was no happier about what his hated rival Shelburne was doing. Having exposed the trickery to his colleagues, at the end of June Fox proposed a vote that the independence of the United States should be accepted without preconditions, but in the light of Rodney's victory and the consequent French weakness, this was rejected (though the news that a combined Spanish and American fleet had forced the surrender to Spain of the Bahamas arrived in Britain at about this time).  On 1 July Lord Rockingham, the figurehead leader of the government, died, so Shelburne was forced to take over, which led to the resignation of Fox and a massive split in the anti-war Whig party in Parliament. Regardless of this, the remainder of the negotiations would be carried out under Shelburne's devious leadership. For example, he took advantage of the great delay in trans-Atlantic communication to send a letter to George Washington stating that Britain was accepting American independence without preconditions, while not authorising Richard Oswald to make any such promise when he returned to Paris to negotiate with Franklin and his colleagues (John Jay had by this time returned from Spain).

Diplomatic manoeuvres.

While the British were busy trying to stabilise their second new government of the year, Franklin neutralised what could have been France's biggest weapon against the United States—the vagueness of the repayment terms for the loans the French had been making to the Americans every few months since 1778. These totalled 18,000,000 livres (equivalent to over 2.5 million Spanish dollars—the preferred hard currency in America) plus an additional 10,000,000 livres (nearly 1.5 million dollars) which had been borrowed from the Dutch by the King of France on America's behalf in 1781 when no international lender would loan anything directly to the Americans. By a contract dated 16 July 1782, America was to pay this money back on very favourable terms, with no payments due at all until three years after peace was finalised (a stipulation which would lead fairly directly to the next great milestone in American history, the Constitution of 1787).  The French too played their diplomatic cards with some skill. While preparing to aid the Spanish forces in a massive assault on the fortress at Gibraltar, they stalled for time by insisting on American independence as a precondition for negotiation. They also sent a secret envoy to speak directly with Shelburne in England, for there were some matters on which they were seriously opposed to the Americans. The most notable of these was the rich Newfoundland fishery, one of the main factors which had drawn the French across the Atlantic over 250 years earlier, and which they had managed to retain as a concession when the British took Canada in 1763. As British colonists, the Americans had rights to fish in these waters, but as the United States they would have no legal right to fish there unless it could be written into the peace treaty. For Britain, the logical course would be to make France give its rights to the Americans. The Americans also wanted fishing rights in the Gulf of Mexico, to which again they had previously been entitled thanks to the British colonies in Florida (now partly controlled by Spain).  The French and Spanish negotiators were also concerned about the American insistence on the Mississippi River as a western border; the existing area of the thirteen States was already about as large as France and Spain combined, and the proposed border would double that. In particular Spain's territories in Louisiana (New France) (and the newly reconquered West Florida) would be severely threatened if the American trend of economic growth based on expanded land holdings continued. The situation of the American Indians in these lands was noted, but for practical purposes ignored because they could not significantly defend themselves. In their opposition to this expansion, ironically, the French and Spanish governments were effectively supporting the British on one of the points which had begun the move towards revolution in the 1760s—the use of military forces (paid for by taxes) to maintain a clear border between the colonies and the American Indian lands west of the Appalachians. Meanwhile, the American case was strengthened by the charters of the earliest colonies, which specified, in deliberate disregard of the claims of other nations, that they could expand from the east coast of America to the west coast.

Anglo-American understanding.

Franklin became ill with gout towards the end of summer, but when John Jay learned in September of the secret French mission to England, and the French position on the fisheries, he sent a message to Shelburne himself, explaining in some detail why he should avoid being influenced too much by the French and Spanish. At the same time Richard Oswald was asking if the terms of his commission to negotiate with the Americans could be slightly reworded to acknowledge that the 13 so-called colonies referred to themselves as "United States", and about 24 September, the Americans received word that this had been done. This was one of the best-timed British moves of the whole war. From 20 September, reports of the great French and Spanish assault on Gibraltar began to reach Paris; all were negative, and by 27 September it was clear that the operation, involving more troops than had ever been in service at one time on the entire North American continent, had been a horrific disaster. The French had done all they could to help the Spanish achieve their essential war aim, and began serious discussions on alternative exit strategies, urging Spain to offer Britain some very large concessions in return for Gibraltar. Nonetheless, the fortress remained under siege.  In Paris, the British and American negotiators left the French and Spanish to argue between themselves, but John Adams was also still negotiating actively with the Dutch Republic, and on 8 October, the United Provinces and the United States signed a full treaty of amity and commerce. By this time the American envoys were aware of the letter to George Washington, so independence was taken as a done deal, and discussions concentrated on the details. Remarkably, Britain accepted the American demand that the boundary with Canada should revert to its state after the Seven Years' War in 1763, not the revision of the Quebec Act in 1774. The difference between the two was the whole area east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio River—the Northwest Territory, from which five-and-a-half new States would later emerge. John Adams can claim credit for smoothing the peace talks by separating the issues of personal debts and war reparations. The latter were a particular problem for the British, because as early as 1775 Loyalists in some parts of the then-colonies had been forced into exile by local statutes imposing an "Army Test"—nearly all males of suitable age had to join the local militia, which, as had become clear in the first battles of the Revolution, would be expected to fight against the forces of the legal ruler, King George III. Possessions these law-abiding people could not take with them had quickly been confiscated and sold off. It was equally clear that those who had stayed in America and fought for their legitimate sovereign would be even more heavily penalised unless safeguards could be built into the treaty. Franklin countered this argument by suggesting that reparations could be demanded for the massive destruction of American property by British forces, which had been a very deliberate policy in the later stages of the war, and for the "kidnap" of tens of thousands of valuable slaves (who had roughly the same consideration in these negotiations as the American Indians); besides which, the confiscations of Loyalist property had been made by individual State governments, not the Congress. French negotiator the Comte de Vergennes intervened in this discussion on the British side, but the result was a messy compromise, in which Congress was instructed merely to urge the State governments to make reparations to the Loyalists.

Peace with the United States.

In the Caribbean at this time, the British were not using their fleet to recapture islands which would then have to be defended, but concentrating on holding the few that remained. The same principle applied everywhere, and in September 1782, the Royal Navy had sent a large supply convoy to Gibraltar on the assumption that by the time it arrived, either the fortress would have been conquered, or the great assault would have been repelled and the siege weakened. The convoy was protected by 33 of the Navy's biggest ships, and on 10 October, as hoped, unloading of supplies at Gibraltar began. A large combined French and Spanish fleet hovered nearby, so on 20 October the British fleet, without seriously engaging for battle, lured them away. News that Gibraltar was fully resupplied, with no problems for the convoy, reached London on 7 November, and probably reached Paris about the same time. The objections of Spain ceased to be of any relevance, and the French accepted the preliminary peace treaty between Great Britain and the United States, on 30 November, with protests but no action.

Peace with France and Spain.

Over the next few weeks, serious negotiations began between Britain, France and Spain (for which Britain's chief negotiator was Alleyne Fitzherbert, and Spain's the Count of Aranda). Although a French naval expedition had destroyed British trading posts in Hudson Bay during the summer, no territory had actually been captured. From time to time, news would arrive from India of continuing stalemate, both in the land wars (which involved the French only as supporters to local rulers) and in naval battles; the British still appeared to hold all the French territory there that they had captured in 1778–79, while the French held no British territory. In the West Indies, on the other hand, the French still held all the territory they had captured, while the British held only one French island, St. Lucia. The Spanish held West Florida, the Bahamas and Menorca, and they were still maintaining an increasingly futile siege of Gibraltar. An attempt to exchange Puerto Rico for Gibraltar collapsed, probably because it would have brought too much competition for Jamaican products into the protected British market.  In the preliminary treaties signed with France and Spain on 20 January 1783, France and Britain therefore returned to each other nearly all the territories they had taken from each other since 1778, except for Tobago, which the French had captured in 1781 and were allowed to keep. France also gained some territory around the Senegal River in Africa which it had lost to Britain in 1763. The whole arrangement for fishing around the Newfoundland coast had to be renegotiated because of the rights awarded to the Americans. The Spanish did much better. They did not have to hand back West Florida or Menorca, and were also given East Florida in exchange for the Bahamas (so tens of thousands of refugees who had fled to East Florida from the United States had to move again). Both East Florida and part of West Florida had been Spanish possessions before 1763, so the 1783 treaty did not specify boundaries, allowing the Spanish to claim that the 1763 boundaries still applied (the remainder of West Florida had been part of French Louisiana before 1763, and the rest of Louisiana had then been handed over to Spain). The opportunity was taken to resolve long-standing disputes about logwood cutting in Central America. The British, however, continued to hold Gibraltar after the siege was abandoned.  Although France was an ally of both the United States and Spain, Spain was not an ally of the United States, though an informal alliance had existed since at least 1776 between the Americans and Bernardo de Gálvez, Spanish governor of Louisiana, one of the most successful leaders in the war. Spain's economy depended almost entirely on its colonial empire in the Americas, and a successful revolt by subjects of another colonial empire could set a ruinous example. In fact, there had been a series of three rebellions by native South Americans against Spain between 1777 and 1781, led by Tomás Katari, Tupac Amaru II, and Julian Apasa (who adopted the name Tupac Katari)—all had been crushed with utter ruthlessness. With such considerations in mind, Spain continually thwarted John Jay's attempts to establish diplomatic relations during his long assignments in Madrid, and was the last participant in the American Revolutionary War to acknowledge the independence of the United States, a fortnight after the preliminary peace treaty with Britain, on 3 February 1783.

Peace with the Dutch republic.

The Dutch had never captured anything from the British, and only French military action had saved them from losing virtually all their colonies. They could exercise no leverage over Britain, Spain, France or the United States in the peace negotiations, and did not make a preliminary treaty until 2 September 1783, the day before the other three treaties were formalised. Britain agreed to return nearly all Dutch possessions captured in the East Indies (the most important of which, Trincomalee on Ceylon, had already been retaken by the French anyway) but kept Negapatnam on the Indian coast. In a major concession Britain also secured free trade rights in parts of the Dutch East Indies.

Sealing the deal.

The terms of the peace, particularly the proposed treaty with the United States, caused a political storm in Britain. The concession of the Northwest Territory and the Newfoundland fisheries, and especially the apparent abandonment of Loyalists by an Article which the individual States would inevitably ignore, were condemned in Parliament. The last point was the easiest solved—British tax revenue saved by not continuing the war would be used to compensate Loyalists. Nevertheless, on 17 February 1783 and again on 21 February, motions against the treaty were successful in Parliament, so on 24 February Lord Shelburne resigned, and for five weeks the British government was without a leader. Finally, a solution similar to the previous year's choice of Lord Rockingham was found. The government was to be led, nominally, by the Duke of Portland, while the two Secretaries of State were to be Charles Fox and, remarkably, Lord North. Richard Oswald was replaced by a new negotiator, David Hartley, but the Americans refused to allow any modifications to the treaty—partly because they would have to be approved by Congress, which, with two Atlantic crossings, would take several months. Therefore, on 3 September 1783, at Hartley's hotel in Paris, the treaty as agreed by Richard Oswald the previous November was formally signed, and at Versailles the separate treaties with France and Spain were also formalized.

Treaty with the United States of America.

Based on preliminary articles made 30 November 1782, and approved by the Congress of the Confederation on 15 April 1783, this treaty was signed on 3 September 1783, and ratified by Congress on 14 January 1784, formally ending the American Revolutionary War.

Treaty with France.

Preliminary articles had been signed 20 January 1783, at Versailles  Signed at Versailles, 3 September 1783, by George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester and Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes.  "Supplementary notes indicate that the use of the French language for the treaties shall not be deemed to set a precedent; and clarify arrangements for preventing local disputes between British and French fishermen on Newfoundland, etc."

Treaty with Spain.

Preliminary articles had been signed 20 January 1783, at Versailles.  Signed at Versailles, 3 September 1783, by George Montagu, 4th Duke of Manchester and the Count of Aranda.

Treaty with the Dutch Republic.

Preliminary articles were signed 2 September 1783 at Paris.  Signed at Paris, 20 May 1784, by Daniel Hailes; Lestevenon van Berkenroode and Gerard Brantsen.

The Peace of Paris of 1783 was the set of treaties that ended the American Revolutionary War. On 3 September 1783, representatives of King George III of Great Britain signed a treaty in Paris with representatives of the United States of America—commonly known as the Treaty of Paris (1783)—and two treaties at Versailles with representatives of King Louis XVI of France and King Charles III of Spain—commonly known as the Treaties of Versailles (1783). The previous day, a preliminary treaty had been signed with representatives of the States General of the Dutch Republic, but the final treaty which ended the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War was not signed until 20 May 1784; for convenience, however, it is included in the summaries below.


Geography.

Gujiao is located in central Shanxi. It's a county-level city, part of the prefecture-level city of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province. Its geographical area are in between latitude of 37° 40'-38° 8' N, and longitude of 111° 43'-112° 21' E. It's connected to the Wanbailin district of Taiyuan to the east, Loufan county to the west, Yangqu county and Jingle county to the north and Qingxu county and Jiaocheng county to the south. Its east-west width is about 50 kilometers, and north-south length is about 53 kilometers. The total area of Gujiao is about 1551 square kilometres.

Demography.

The population of Gujiao in 1999 stood at 192,458. Its estimated population in 2017 is about 222,000.

Economy.

The economy of Gujiao is largely based on coal-related industries, with major companies in coal, coal-chemistry, electricity, metallic parts casting, construction materials, etc. Gujiao is the largest production cite of coking coal (metallurgical coal) in China.

History.

Gujiao was part of the State of Jin during the Spring and Autumn period, and part of Zhao in the Warring States period. It was the western part of Jinyang throughout the following dynasties of Han, Wei, Jin and Northern Dynasties.  During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the part of Gujiao to the south of Fen River, the majority part of nowadays Gujiao, was part of Jiaocheng County and the minor part to the north of Fen River was part of Yangqu County. In the year 596 AD in Sui dynasty, the western part of Jinyang was separated to set up the county of Jiaocheng, and the county seat was in Gujiao. In 691 AD, the county seat of Jiaocheng was moved to Dalingzhuang, part of today's Jiaocheng County, in order to get easier access of the national roads of Sui dynasty. In 713 AD, the northern part of Jiaocheng County is separated to set up Luchuan County, with the county seat at Luyukou at today's Gujiao. In 714, the Luchuan county was removed, and divided by the Fen River, Gujiao was split between Jiaocheng County and Yangqu County ever after, for more than one thousand years.  In 1958, Gujiao industrial and mining district (古交工矿区) of Taiyuan was established. In 1988, the district was replaced with a county-level city, and it has remained so ever since.

Natural resources.

Gujiao is abundant with many minerals, especially coal. The coal mine is about 754 square kilometres, with the coal reserve of about 8.04 billion tons. The iron core reserve is about 30 million tons. The bauxite reserve is about 65.9 million tons. The limestone reserve is about 5.6 million tons. The dolomite reserve is about 2.65 billion tons. The coalbed methane reserve is about 5.66 billion cubic meters.

Gujiao () is a county-level city of Shanxi Province, North China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Taiyuan. The estimated population of Gujiao in 2017 is about 222,000.


History.

Bettens is first mentioned in 1141 as "Betanis". In 1149 it was mentioned as "Bectens".

Geography.

Bettens has an area,, of. Of this area, or 72.8% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 14.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 12.3% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes.  Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 3.2% and transportation infrastructure made up 4.3%. Power and water infrastructure as well as other special developed areas made up 4.8% of the area Out of the forested land, 13.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.3% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 58.1% is used for growing crops and 13.3% is pastures, while 1.3% is used for orchards or vine crops. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.  The municipality was part of the Cossonay District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Bettens became part of the new district of Gros-de-Vaud.  The municipality is located east of the Venoge river.

Coat of arms.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Per pale Argent and Gules, an annulet counterchanged."

Demographics.

Bettens has a population () of., 9.8% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009) the population has changed at a rate of 16.1%. It has changed at a rate of 8.4% due to migration and at a rate of 8% due to births and deaths.  Most of the population () speaks French (311 or 94.2%), with German being second most common (14 or 4.2%) and Italian being third (4 or 1.2%).  Of the population in the municipality 99 or about 30.0% were born in Bettens and lived there in 2000. There were 147 or 44.5% who were born in the same canton, while 41 or 12.4% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 37 or 11.2% were born outside of Switzerland.  In there was 1 live birth to Swiss citizens and 1 death of a Swiss citizen. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens remained the same while the foreign population remained the same. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources, including moves across municipal borders) was an increase of 3 and the non-Swiss population decreased by 5 people. This represents a population growth rate of -0.6%.  The age distribution,, in Bettens is; 46 children or 13.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 61 teenagers or 17.6% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 32 people or 9.2% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 44 people or 12.7% are between 30 and 39, 82 people or 23.7% are between 40 and 49, and 38 people or 11.0% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 22 people or 6.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 10 people or 2.9% are between 70 and 79, there are 10 people or 2.9% who are between 80 and 89, and there is 1 person who is 90 and older. , there were 155 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 161 married individuals, 6 widows or widowers and 8 individuals who are divorced. , there were 112 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.8 persons per household. There were 24 households that consist of only one person and 10 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 116 households that answered this question, 20.7% were households made up of just one person and there was 1 adult who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 28 married couples without children, 48 married couples with children There were 9 single parents with a child or children. There were 2 households that were made up of unrelated people and 4 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.  The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 31.2% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (17.43%), the Green Party (15.32%) and the SP (14.45%). In the federal election, a total of 98 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.0%.

Economy.

, Bettens had an unemployment rate of 2.4%., there were 29 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 13 businesses involved in this sector. 9 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 4 businesses in this sector. 12 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 6 businesses in this sector. There were 177 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.4% of the workforce. , there were 12 workers who commuted into the municipality and 129 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net exporter of workers, with about 10.8 workers leaving the municipality for every one entering. Of the working population, 7.9% used public transportation to get to work, and 66.7% used a private car.

Religion.

From the, 82 or 24.8% were Roman Catholic, while 188 or 57.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, and there were 8 individuals (or about 2.42% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There was 1 individual who was Islamic. 39 (or about 11.82% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 12 individuals (or about 3.64% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education.

In Bettens about 124 or (37.6%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 51 or (15.5%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 51 who completed tertiary schooling, 52.9% were Swiss men, 25.5% were Swiss women, 9.8% were non-Swiss men and 11.8% were non-Swiss women.  In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 51 students in the Bettens school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 296 children of which 96 children (32.4%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There were 27 students in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were 23 students in those schools. There were also 1 students who were home schooled or attended another non-traditional school. , there were 6 students in Bettens who came from another municipality, while 41 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

"For people with the surname, see Bettens (surname)." Bettens is a municipality in the district of Gros-de-Vaud in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.


Pre-Spanish history.

The Taíno people called the island "Quisqueya" (mother of all lands) and "Ayiti" (land of high mountains). At the time

Spanish colony: 1492–1795.

Arrival of the Spanish.

Christopher Columbus reached the island of Hispañola on his first voyage, in December 1492. On Columbus' second voyage in 1493, the colony of La Isabela was built on the northeast shore. Isabela nearly failed because of hunger and disease. In 1496 Santo Domingo was built and became the new capital. Here the New World's first cathedral was erected, and for a few decades, Santo Domingo was also the administrative heart of the expanding empire. Before they embarked on their prosperous endeavors, men like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro lived and worked in Santo Domingo.  Caonabo, the cacique, (leader or chief), of Maguana, one of five Taino geographical divisions on Hispaniola, attacked Columbus on January 13, 1493. Shooting arrows and wounding a few Spaniards, the Tainos halted the

Sixteenth century.

Hundreds of thousands of Tainos living on the island were enslaved to work in gold mines. As a consequence of disease, forced labor, famine, and mass killings, by 1508, only 60,000 were still alive. In 1501, the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand I and Isabella, first granted permission to the colonists of the Caribbean to import African slaves, who began arriving to the island in 1503. The first enslaved blacks were purchased in Lisbon, Portugal. Some had been transported there from the West African Guinea coast, and others had been born and raised in Portugal or Spain. Southern Spain and Portugal were multiethnic and multiracial regions long before the “discovery” of the New World, and many Africans, free and enslaved, participated in the Iberian Peninsula's conquest and colonization of the Americas.  In 1510, the first sizable shipment, consisting of 250 Black Ladinos, arrived in Hispaniola from Spain. Eight years later African-born slaves arrived in the West Indies. Many of the Africans brutally jammed into the slave ships had been the losers in Africa's endemic and endless wars. Others were kidnapped from the coast or taken from villages inland. The Colony of Santo Domingo was organized as the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo in 1511. Sugar cane was introduced to Hispaniola from the Canary Islands, and the first sugar mill in the New

Seventeenth century.

In 1605, Spain was infuriated that Spanish settlements on the northern and western coasts of the island were carrying out large scale and illegal trade with the Dutch, who were at that time fighting a war of independence against Spain in Europe, and the English, a very recent enemy state, and so decided to forcibly resettle their inhabitants closer to the city of Santo Domingo. This action, known as the "Devastaciones de Osorio", proved disastrous; more than half of the

Eighteenth century.

The House of Bourbon replaced the House of Habsburg in Spain in 1700 and introduced economic reforms that gradually began to revive trade in Santo Domingo. The crown progressively relaxed the rigid controls and restrictions on commerce between Spain and the colonies and among the colonies. The last "flotas" sailed in 1737; the monopoly port system was abolished shortly thereafter. By the middle of the century, the population was bolstered by emigration from the Canary Islands, resettling the northern part of the colony and planting tobacco in the Cibao Valley, and importation of slaves was renewed. The population of Santo Domingo

Spanish colony: 1809–1821.

The population of the new Spanish colony stood at approximately 104,000. Of this number, about 30,000 were slaves, and the rest a mixture of white, Indian, and black. The European Spaniards were few, and consisted principally of Catalans. In 1812, a group of blacks and mulattoes staged a rebellion, with the goal of annexation to the Republic of Haiti. On August 15 and 16, mulattoes José Leocadio, Pedro Seda, and Pedro Henriquez, with other conspirators, attacked the Mendoza hacienda in Mojarra in the municipality of Guerra near the capital. Seda and Henriquez were apprehended and executed; Leocadio was captured within days, hanged, dismembered, and boiled in oil.

Unification of Hispaniola 1822–1844.

The twenty-two-year Haitian occupation that followed is recalled by Dominicans as a period of brutal military rule, though the reality is more complex. It led to large-scale land expropriations and failed efforts to force production of export crops, impose military services, restrict the use of the Spanish language, and eliminate traditional customs such as cockfighting. It reinforced Dominicans' perceptions of themselves as different from Haitians in "language, race, religion and domestic customs". Yet, this was also a period that definitively ended slavery as an institution in the eastern part of the island.  Haiti's constitution forbade whites from owning land, and the major landowning families were forcibly deprived of their properties. Due to the economic crisis in Santo Domingo during the España Boba period, many whites did not go consider owning slaves. The few whites who wanted to force slavery in the colony had to emigrate to the few

Independence: First Republic 1844–1861.

On July 16, 1838, Juan Pablo Duarte together with, Juan Isidro Pérez, Felipe Alfau, Benito González, Félix María Ruiz, Juan Nepumoceno Ravelo and Jacinto de la Concha founded a secret society called "La Trinitaria" to win independence from Haiti. A short time later, they were joined by Ramón Matías Mella, and Francisco del Rosario Sánchez. In 1843 they allied with a Haitian movement in overthrowing Boyer. Because they had revealed themselves as revolutionaries working for Dominican independence, the new Haitian president, Charles Rivière-Hérard, exiled or imprisoned the leading "Trinitarios" (Trinitarians). At the same time, Buenaventura Báez, an Azua mahogany exporter and deputy in the Haitian National Assembly, was negotiating with the French Consul-General for the establishment of a French protectorate. In an uprising timed to preempt Báez, on February 27, 1844, the Trinitarios declared independence from Haiti, backed by Pedro Santana, a wealthy cattle-rancher from El Seibo who commanded a private army of peons who worked on his estates.

First Republic.

The Dominican Republic's first constitution was adopted on November 6, 1844. The state was commonly known as Santo Domingo in English until the early 20th century. It featured a presidential form of government with many liberal tendencies, but it was marred by Article 210, imposed by Pedro Santana on the constitutional assembly by force, giving him the privileges of a dictatorship until the war of independence was over. These privileges not only served him to win the war but also allowed him to persecute, execute and drive into exile his political opponents, among which Duarte was the most important. In Haiti after the fall of Boyer, black leaders had ascended to the power once enjoyed exclusively by the mulatto elite.  Hérard sent three columns of Haitian troops, each numbering 10,000 men, to reestablish his authority. In the south, Santana defeated Hérard

Spanish colony: 1861–1865.

Pedro Santana inherited a bankrupt government on the brink of collapse. Having failed in his initial bids to secure annexation by the U.S. or France, Santana initiated negotiations with Queen Isabella II of Spain and the Captain-General of Cuba to have the island reconverted into a Spanish colony. The American Civil War rendered the United States incapable of enforcing the Monroe Doctrine. In Spain, Prime Minister Don Leopoldo O'Donnell advocated renewed colonial expansion, waging a campaign in northern Morocco that conquered the city of Tetuan. In March 1861, Santana officially restored the Dominican Republic to Spain.  Santana initially was named Capitan-General of the new Spanish province, but it soon became obvious that Spanish authorities planned to deprive him of his power, leading him to resign in 1862. Restrictions on trade, discrimination against the mulatto majority, and an unpopular campaign by the new Spanish Archbishop, Bienvenido Monzón, against extramarital unions, which were widespread after decades of abandonment by the Catholic Church, all fed resentment of Spanish rule.  Monzón also persecuted Freemasons, whose activities were widespread before the annexation, barring them from communion until they canted their vows and gave up their Masonic documents and practices. Monzón actively persecuted Protestants as well. Protestant churches in Samaná and Santo Domingo were taken over, burned, or confiscated for military purposes, forcing many Dominican Protestants to consider moving to Haiti in search of religious toleration.  On August 16, 1863, a national war of restoration began in Santiago, where the rebels established a provisional government. "Before God, the entire world, and the throne of Castile, just and legal reasons have obliged us to take arms to restore the Dominican Republic and reconquer our liberty," the provisional government's declaration of independence read. Dominicans were divided. Some fought for the reserve forces alongside Spanish troops. Santana returned to lead them.

War of Restoration.

The Spanish forces of the Cibao valley were obliged to concentrate in Fort San Luis, at Santiago, where they were besieged by the insurgents. The rebels had possession of three forts which face the Puerto Plata road. They undertook to make a general assault on the fort where the Spanish troops were concentrated. The besieged forces let the enemy's bands come near, and when within musket range opened a tremendous fire of artillery, which, committing great destruction, drove them back in disorder. They, however, tried their luck again, and this time set fire to the houses

Restoration: Second Republic 1865–1916.

Second Republic.

By the time the Spanish departed, most of the main towns lay in ruins and the island was divided among several dozen "caudillos". José María Cabral controlled most of Barahona and the southwest with the support of Báez's mahogany-exporting partners, while cattle rancher Cesáreo Guillermo assembled a coalition of former "Santanista" generals in the southeast, and Gregorio Luperón controlled the north coast. Once the Spanish were vanquished, the numerous military and guerrilla leaders began to fight among themselves. From the Spanish withdrawal to 1879, there were twenty-one changes of government and at least fifty military uprisings. Haiti served as a haven for Dominican political exiles and a base of operations for insurgents, often with the support of the Haitian government, during the frequent civil wars and revolutions of the period.  In the course of these conflicts, two parties emerged. The Partido Rojo (Literally "Red

Ulises Heureaux and U.S. protectorate.

Allying with the emerging sugar interests, the dictatorship of General Ulises Heureaux, who was popularly known as Lilís, brought unprecedented stability to the island through an iron-fisted rule that lasted almost two decades. The son of a Haitian father and a mother from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, Lilís was distinguished by his blackness from most Dominican political leaders, with the exception of Luperón. He served as President 1882–1883, 1887, and 1889–1899, wielding power through a series of puppet presidents when not occupying the office. Incorporating both "Rojos" and "Azules" into his government, he developed an extensive network of spies and informants to crush potential opposition. His government undertook a number of major infrastructure projects, including the electrification of Santo Domingo, the beginning of telephone and telegraph service, the construction of a bridge over the Ozama River, and the completion of a single-track railroad linking Santiago and Puerto Plata, financed by the Amsterdam-based Westendorp Co.

United States occupation: 1916–1924.

Conventional campaign.

United States Marines landed in Santo Domingo on May 15, 1916. Prior to their landing, Jimenes resigned, refusing to exercise an office "regained with foreign bullets". On June 1, Marines occupied Monte Cristi and Puerto Plata. They occupied Monte Cristi without meeting resistance, but at Puerto Plata they had to fight their way into the city under heavy but inaccurate fire from about 500 pro-Arias irregulars. During this landing the Marines sustained several casualties, including the death of Captain Herbert J.

Occupation.

The Dominican Congress elected Dr. Francisco Henríquez y Carvajal as President, but in November, after he refused to meet the U.S. demands, Wilson announced the imposition of a U.S. military government, with Rear Admiral Harry Shepard Knapp as Military Governor. The American military government implemented many of the institutional reforms carried out in the United States during the Progressive Era, including reorganization of the tax system, accounting and administration, expansion of primary education, the creation of a nationwide police force to unify the country, and the construction of a national system of roads, including a highway linking Santiago to Santo Domingo.  Despite the reforms, virtually all Dominicans resented the loss of their sovereignty to foreigners, few of whom spoke Spanish or displayed much real concern for the nation's welfare, and the military

Withdrawal.

In the 1920 United States presidential election Republican candidate Warren Harding criticized the occupation and promised eventual U.S. withdrawal. While Jimenes and Vásquez sought concessions from the United States, the collapse of sugar prices discredited the military government and gave rise to a new nationalist political organization, the Dominican National Union, led by Dr. Henríquez from exile in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, which demanded unconditional withdrawal. They formed alliances with frustrated nationalists in Puerto Rico and Cuba, as well as critics of the occupation in the United States itself, most notably "The Nation" and the Haiti-San Domingo Independence Society. In May 1922, a Dominican lawyer,

The rise and fall of Trujillo: Third Republic 1924–1965.

Horacio Vásquez 1924–1930.

The occupation ended in 1924, with a democratically elected government under president Vásquez. The Vásquez administration brought great social and economic prosperity to the country and respected political and civil rights. Rising export commodity prices and government borrowing allowed the funding of public works projects and the expansion and modernization of Santo Domingo.  Though considered to be a relatively principled man, Vásquez had risen amid many years of political infighting. In a move directed against his chief opponent Federico Velasquez, in 1927 Vásquez agreed to have his term extended from four to six years. The change was approved by the Dominican Congress, but was of debatable legality; "its enactment effectively invalidated the constitution

The era of Trujillo 1931–1961.

Trujillo established absolute political control while promoting economic development—from which mainly he and his supporters benefitted—and severe repression of domestic human rights. Trujillo treated his political party, "El Partido Dominicano" (The Dominican Party), as a rubber-stamp for his decisions. The true source of his power was the "Guardia Nacional"—larger, better armed, and more centrally controlled than any military force in the nation's history. By disbanding the regional militias, the Marines eliminated the main source of potential opposition, giving the Guard "a virtual monopoly on power". By 1940, Dominican military spending was 21% of the national budget. At the same time, he developed an elaborate system of espionage agencies. By the late 1950s, there were at least seven categories of intelligence agencies, spying on each other as well as the public. All citizens were required to carry identification cards and good-conduct passes from the secret police. Obsessed with adulation, Trujillo promoted an extravagant cult of personality. When a hurricane struck Santo Domingo in 1930, killing over 3,000 people, he rebuilt the city and renamed it "Ciudad Trujillo": "Trujillo City"; he also renamed the country's and the Caribbean's highest mountain, Pico Duarte (Duarte Peak), "Pico Trujillo". Over 1,800 statues of Trujillo were built, and all public works projects were required to have a plaque with the inscription "Era of Trujillo, Benefactor of the Fatherland". As sugar estates turned to Haiti for seasonal migrant labor, increasing numbers settled in the Dominican Republic permanently. The census of 1920, conducted by the U.S.

The post-Trujillo instability 1961–1965.

At the insistence of the United States, Balaguer was forced to share power with a seven-member Council of State, established on January 1, 1962, and including moderate members of the opposition. OAS sanctions were lifted January 4, and, after an attempted coup, Balaguer resigned and went into exile on January 16. The reorganized Council of State, under President Rafael Filiberto Bonnelly headed the Dominican government until elections could be held. These elections, in December 1962, were won by Juan Bosch, a scholar and poet who had founded the opposition "Partido Revolucionario Dominicano" (Dominican Revolutionary Party, or PRD) in exile, during the Trujillo years. His leftist policies, including land redistribution, nationalization of certain foreign holdings, and attempts to bring the military under civilian control, antagonized the military officer corps, the Catholic

Dominican Civil War and second United States occupation 1965–66.

On April 16, 1965, growing dissatisfaction generated another military rebellion on April 24, 1965 that demanded Bosch's restoration. The insurgents, reformist officers and civilian combatants loyal to Bosch commanded by Colonel Francisco Caamaño, and who called themselves the Constitutionalists, staged a coup, seizing the national palace. Immediately, conservative military forces, led by Wessin and calling themselves Loyalists, struck back with tank assaults and aerial bombings against Santo Domingo. A few days of upheaval saw heavy fighting in the streets of the city and a pitched battle fought on the main bridge across the Ozama River, where civilians used guns supplied by their military allies to repulse the tank corps loyal to the military government, preventing it from entering the capital.  On April 28, these anti-Bosch army elements requested U.S. military intervention and U.S. forces landed, ostensibly to protect U.S. citizens and to evacuate U.S. and other foreign nationals. U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, convinced of the defeat of the Loyalist forces and fearing the creation of "a second Cuba" on America's doorstep, ordered U.S. forces to restore order. In what was initially known as Operation Power Pack, 27,677 U.S. troops were ultimately ordered to the Dominican Republic. The 4th Marine Expeditionary Force and the army's 82nd Airborne Division spearheaded the occupation. Psychological Warfare and Special Forces units also took part in the action.  Denied a military victory, the Constitutionalist rebels quickly had a Constitutionalist congress elect Caamaño president of the country. U.S. officials countered by backing General Antonio Imbert. On May 7, Imbert was sworn in as president of the Government of National Reconstruction. The next step in the stabilization process, as envisioned by Washington and the OAS, was to arrange an agreement between President Caamaño and President Imbert to form a provisional government committed to early elections. However, Caamaño refused to meet with Imbert until several of the Loyalist

Fourth Republic 1966–present.

Balaguer's second Presidency 1966–1978.

In June 1966, Joaquín Balaguer, leader of the Reformist Party (which later became the Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), was elected and then re-elected to office in May 1970 and May 1974, both times after the major opposition parties withdrew late in the campaign because of the high degree of violence by pro-government groups. On November 28, 1966 a constitution was created, signed, and put into effect. The constitution stated that the president was elected to a four-year term. If there was a close election there would be a second round of voting to decide the winner. The voting age was eighteen, but married people under eighteen could also vote.  Remnants of the constitutionalist movement and some scattered groups of the Dominican left started to plan for a revolution and in February 1973 Caamaño suddenly landed on a desolate beach in the southwest. Together with a small group of just ten men he made it for the mountains which they intended to make into a center for a campaign against the government of Balaguer. They were soon traced and hunted down

Guzmán / Blanco interregnum 1978–1986.

Guzmán's inauguration on August 16 marked the country's first peaceful transfer of power from one freely elected president to another. By the late 1970s, economic expansion slowed considerably as sugar prices declined and oil prices rose. Rising inflation

Balaguer's third Presidency 1986–1996.

Balaguer completed his return to power in 1986 when he won the Presidency again and remained in office for the next ten years. Elections in 1990 were marked by violence and suspected electoral

Fernández: First administration 1996–2000.

In 1996, U.S.-raised Leonel Fernández Reyna of Bosch's "Partido de la Liberación Dominicana" (Dominican Liberation Party) secured more than 51% of the vote, through an alliance with Balaguer. The first

Mejía's administration 2000–2004.

In May 2000 the center-left Hipólito Mejía of the PRD was elected president amid popular discontent over power outages in the recently privatized electric industry. His presidency saw major inflation and instability of the peso in 2003 because of the bankruptcy of three major commercial banks in the country due to the

Fernández: Second administration 2004–2012.

Fernández instituted austerity measures to deflate the peso and rescue the country from its economic crisis, and in the first half of 2006, the economy grew 11.7%. The peso is currently (2019) at the exchange rate of c. 52 DOP to US$1.  Over the last three decades, remittances ("remesas") from Dominicans living abroad, mainly in the United States, have become increasingly important to the economy. From 1990 to 2000, the Dominican population of the U.S. doubled in size, from 520,121 in 1990 to 1,041,910, two-thirds of whom were born in the Dominican Republic itself. More than half of all Dominican Americans live in New York City, with the largest concentration in the neighborhood of Washington Heights in northern Manhattan. Over the

Danilo Medina: 2012–present.

Danilo Medina began his tenure with a series of controversial

The recorded history of the Dominican Republic began when the Genoa-born navigator Christopher Columbus, working for the Spanish Crown, happened upon a large island in the region of the western Atlantic Ocean that later came to be known as the Caribbean. It was inhabited by the Taíno, an Arawakan people, who variously called their island Ayiti, Bohio, or Quisqueya (Kiskeya). Columbus promptly claimed the island for the Spanish Crown, naming it La Isla Española ("the Spanish Island"), later Latinized to Hispaniola. What would become the Dominican Republic was the Spanish Captaincy General of Santo Domingo until 1821, except for a time as a French colony from 1795 to 1809. It was then part of a unified Hispaniola with Haiti from 1822 until 1844. In 1844, Dominican independence was proclaimed and the republic, which was often known as Santo Domingo until the early 20th century, maintained its independence except for a short Spanish occupation from 1861 to 1865 and occupation by the United States from 1916 to 1924.


Life and career.

Born into an ordinary family in Yuzhou, Henan province, Zhang joined the military at the age of 17. After four years in the army, he went back to his hometown to work on a farm. He then went to school at the Northeastern Heavy Machinery Institute (now Yanshan University). After graduating, he obtained a state-assigned job at the No. 3 Machinery Ministry, working as an aerospace engineering technician. At a research institute under the ministry, Zhang quickly made a name for himself and rose through the ranks, eventually becoming leader of the institute. In 1991, he was identified as a young talent by the party organization. He was transferred to Beijing to work for the Ministry of Supervision, then was transferred to the China National Food and Packaging Machinery Corporation to serve as chief executive.  In August 1995, Zhang was sent to Yunnan province to become assistant to the governor, then vice-governor, overseeing science and technology. Two years later, Zhang headed back to Beijing to serve as deputy minister, and later minister, of transport from 1998 to 2005.  In 2005, Zhang became the Communist Party secretary of Hunan province. In 2006, Zhang simultaneously took on the role of chairman of the Hunan Provincial People's Congress. Zhang replaced Wang Lequan as secretary of the Communist Party of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in April 2010 and was replaced by Zhou Qiang in his role as secretary of the Communist Party and chairman of the provincial People's Congress. Zhang was credited with bringing bus rapid transit (BRT) to Urumqi's major thoroughfares, the construction of the Xinjiang International Convention Centre, and the resumption of internet connections in the region following a one-year long ban in the aftermath of the July 2009 Ürümqi riots.  He has been a member of the 16th, 17th and 18th Central Committees. He was elected to the 18th Politburo of the Communist Party of China in 2012.  Zhang is known for his use of a popular microblog service supported by Tencent, which spiked in usage during the 2011 National People's Congress. He was the highest-ranking Chinese official of his generation to maintain a microblog.

After Xinjiang.

After Zhang departed Xinjiang, he was named the deputy leader of the Leading Group for Party Building, a group headed by Liu Yunshan. Political analysts noted that his involvement in party cohesion and organization was a promotion, possibly even an indication that he would be groomed to take on a more substantial party affairs role following the 19th Party Congress. His first public appearance as part of the Party Building group was a visit to the Communist revolutionary heartland of Yan'an. However, other observers have interpreted the move more pessimistically, noting that it in fact mirrors Wang Lequan's own departure from Xinjiang six years earlier when he was given a seemingly token role as a deputy to then security-tsar Zhou Yongkang. Zhang was considered a candidate for ascension to the Politburo Standing Committee at the Congress in 2017, but ultimately did not make the cut. He relinquished his Politburo membership in 2017 but maintained his Central Committee membership.  On March 17, 2018, Zhang was elected as the Vice Chairperson of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Zhang Chunxian (born May 1953) is a Chinese politician, best known for his term as the Communist Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, and the Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps from 2010 to 2016. From 2005 to 2010 he was the Party Secretary of Hunan Province.