Overview.

Since 1933, Portugal had been governed by an authoritarian dictatorship, the "Estado Novo" or New State. The Estado Novo, in turn, evolved from the Ditadura Nacional (National Dictatorship) set up after the 28 May 1926 coup d'etat (called the "National Revolution" under the Estado Novo).  The revolution changed the government to a democracy and produced enormous social, economic, territorial, demographic and political changes. These changes evolved during (and after) a two-year transitional period known as Processo Revolucionário Em Curso (PREC, Ongoing Revolutionary Process), which was characterised by social turmoil and power disputes between left- and right-wing political forces.  Despite repeated radio appeals by the revolutionaries asking the population to stay home, thousands of Portuguese citizens descended on the streets and mingled with the military insurgents. The military-led coup returned democracy to Portugal, ending the unpopular Colonial War (in which thousands of Portuguese citizens had been conscripted into military service) and replacing the Estado Novo regime and its secret police (which curbed civil liberties and political freedom). It began as a protest by Portuguese Armed Forces captains against a law: the Dec Lei no 353/73 of 1973.  A group of low-ranking Portuguese officers organised as the Armed Forces Movement (MFA, Movimento das Forças Armadas), including some who had fought pro-independence guerrillas in the Portuguese Empire's territories in Africa, and overthrew the Estado Novo regime which had ruled Portugal since the 1930s. Portugal's new regime pledged to end the colonial wars, and began negotiations with the African independence movements. By the end of 1974, Portuguese troops were withdrawn from Portuguese Guinea and the latter was a UN member state. This was followed by the independence of Cape Verde, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and Angola in 1975. The Carnation Revolution also led to Portugal's withdrawal from East Timor in south-east Asia. These events prompted a mass exodus of Portuguese citizens from Portugal's African territories (mostly from Angola and Mozambique), creating over a million Portuguese refugees – the "retornados".  Although PIDE (the Estado Novo's political police) killed four people before surrendering, the revolution was unusual because the revolutionaries did not use violence to achieve their goals. Holding red carnations (), many people joined revolutionary soldiers on the streets of Lisbon in apparent joy and audible euphoria. Red is the colour of socialism and communism, the ideological tendencies of many anti-Estado Novo insurgents. It was the end of the Estado Novo (the longest-lived authoritarian regime in Western Europe), and the dissolution of the Portuguese Empire. In the aftermath of the revolution, a new constitution was drafted, censorship was prohibited, free speech was permitted, political prisoners were released and the Portuguese overseas territories in sub-Saharan Africa were granted independence. East Timor was also offered independence, shortly before it was invaded by Indonesia.

History.

At the beginning of the 1970s, nearly a half-century of authoritarian rule weighed on Portugal. After the 28 May 1926 coup d'état, Portugal implemented an authoritarian regime incorporating social Catholicism and integralism. In 1933, the regime was recast and renamed Estado Novo (New State). António de Oliveira Salazar was prime minister until 1968, when he had a stroke. Salazar was replaced in September 1968 by Marcello Caetano, who was deposed during the revolution.  Portugal's Estado Novo government was initially tolerated by its NATO partners due to its anti-communist stance. Elections were rarely contested; the opposition used the limited political freedoms allowed during the brief election period to protest against the regime, withdrawing their candidates before the election to deny the regime political legitimacy. In 1958, General Humberto Delgado (a former member of the regime) stood against the regime's presidential candidate, Américo Tomás, and refused to allow his name to be withdrawn.  Tomás won the election amidst claims of widespread electoral fraud. Immediately after the election, the Salazar government abandoned the practice of popularly electing the president and gave the task to the National Assembly, which was firmly under the regime's control. During Caetano's time in office, he made minor attempts at political reform that did not go nearly far enough for a generation that had no memory of the instability that preceded the 1926 coup. However, even these meager reforms were obstructed by Salazarist elements in the regime. The hardliners were supported by Tomás, who was unwilling to give Caetano as free a hand as Salazar had. The Estado Novo's political police, the PIDE (Polícia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado, later the DGS, Direcção-Geral de Segurança and originally the PVDE, Polícia de Vigilância e Defesa do Estado), persecuted opponents of the regime, who were often tortured, imprisoned or killed.  The international community disliked the Portuguese regime. The Cold War was near its peak; Western- and Eastern-bloc states were supporting guerrillas in the Portuguese colonies, attempting to bring them under American or Soviet influence. The overseas policy of the Portuguese government after the Carnation Revolution and the fall of the regime in April 1974 was to pursue decolonization.

Colonial war.

Independence movements began in the African colonies of Portuguese Mozambique, Portuguese Congo, Portuguese Angola, and Portuguese Guinea. The unrest forced the Salazar and Caetano regimes to spend more of Portugal's budget on colonial administration and military expenditure, and the country became increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. During the war, Portugal faced increasing dissent, arms embargoes and other international sanctions.  The war became more unpopular in Portugal due to its length and cost, the worsening of diplomatic relations with other United Nations member states, and its role in perpetuating the Estado Novo regime. Its escalation led to the mutiny of FAP in the Carnation Revolution. Atrocities such as the Wiriyamu Massacre undermined the war's popularity and the government's diplomatic position, although details of the massacre are still disputed.  Many left-wing students and anti-war activists were forced to leave Portugal to escape conscription, imprisonment and torture by government forces. Between 1945 and 1974, however, three generations of right-wing militants in Portuguese schools were guided by a revolutionary nationalism partially influenced by European neo-fascism. The core of the radical students' struggle was an uncompromising defense of the Portuguese Empire and an authoritarian regime.

Economic conditions.

The Estado Novo regime's economic policy encouraged the formation of large conglomerates. The regime maintained a policy of corporatism which resulted in the placement of much of the economy in the hands of a number of strong conglomerates, including those founded by the families of António Champalimaud (Banco Totta & Açores, Banco Pinto & Sotto Mayor, Secil, Cimpor), José Manuel de Mello (Companhia União Fabril), Américo Amorim (Corticeira Amorim) and the dos Santos family (Jerónimo Martins).  The Companhia União Fabril (CUF) was one of the largest and most-diversified Portuguese conglomerates; its core businesses included cement, petrochemicals, agrochemicals, textiles, beer, beverages, metallurgy, naval engineering, electrical engineering, insurance, banking, paper, tourism and mining. Although its corporate headquarters was in mainland Portugal, it had branches, plants and projects throughout the Portuguese Empire (especially in the territories of Cabinda, Angola and Mozambique).  Other medium-sized family companies specialised in textiles (such as those in Covilhã and the northwest), ceramics, porcelain, glass and crystal (such as those in Alcobaça, Caldas da Rainha and Marinha Grande), engineered wood (such as SONAE, near Porto), canned fish (Algarve and the northwest), fishing, food and beverages (liqueurs, beer and port wine), tourism (in Estoril, Cascais, Sintra and the Algarve) and agriculture (the Alentejo, known as the breadbasket of Portugal) by the early 1970s. Rural families engaged in agriculture and forestry.  During the 1961–1974 Portuguese Colonial War (a counterinsurgency against guerrillas), Portuguese Congo, Portuguese Angola and Portuguese Mozambique (colonies at the time) experienced economic growth in the production of oil, coffee, cotton, cashews, coconuts, timber, minerals (including diamonds), metals (such as iron and aluminium), bananas, citrus, tea, sisal, beer, cement, fish and other seafood, beef and textiles. Labour unions were prohibited, and minimum wage laws were not enforced. The outbreak of colonial wars in Africa set off significant social changes, among them the rapid incorporation of women into the labour market. Marcelo Caetano fostered economic growth and social improvement, such as a monthly pension to rural workers who had never contributed to Portugal's social security. The objectives of Caetano's pension reform were to increase equity and economic efficiency and reduce fiscal imbalance.  After Salazar's stroke in 1968, Caetano took over as prime minister. He adopted a slogan of "continuous evolution", suggesting reforms of Salazar's system. Caetano's Primavera Marcelista (Marcelist Spring) included greater political tolerance and freedom of the press, and was seen as an opportunity for the opposition to gain concessions from the regime. Portugal had a taste of democracy in 1969, and Caetano authorised the country's first democratic labour-union movement since the 1920s. However, after the elections of 1969 and 1973 it became clear that past political repression would continue against communists, anti-colonialists and other opponents of the regime. By the early 1970s, the Portuguese Colonial War had a steadily-increasing budget. The Portuguese military was overstretched and there was no political solution in sight. Although the number of casualties was relatively small, the war had entered its second decade; Portugal faced criticism from the international community, and was becoming increasingly isolated.  The war had a profound impact on the country. Thousands of young men avoided conscription by emigrating illegally, primarily to France and the United States. The revolutionary Armed Forces Movement (MFA) began as an attempt to liberate Portugal from the Estado Novo regime and challenge new military laws which were coming into force. The laws would reduce the military budget and reformulate the Portuguese military. Younger military-academy graduates resented Caetano's programme of commissioning militia officers who completed a brief training course and had served in the colonies' defensive campaigns at the same rank as academy graduates. The war in the colonies was becoming increasingly unpopular in Portugal, and the military insurgency gained momentum.  After the revolution, the MFA began to negotiate with African pro-independence guerrillas. The new government in Lisbon was no longer inclined to support Portugal's expensive empire, and the Portuguese territories in Africa were rapidly granted independence.

Revolution.

In February 1974, Caetano decided to remove General António de Spínola from the command of portuguese forces in Guinea in the face of Spínola's increasing disagreement with the promotion of military officers and the direction of Portuguese colonial policy. This occurred shortly after the publication of Spínola's book, "Portugal and the Future", which expressed his political and military views of the Portuguese Colonial War. Several military officers who opposed the war formed the MFA to overthrow the government in a military coup. The MFA was headed by Vítor Alves, Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho and Vasco Lourenço, and was joined later by Salgueiro Maia. The movement was aided by other Portuguese army officers who supported Spínola and democratic civil and military reform. It is speculated that Francisco da Costa Gomes actually led the revolution.  The coup had two secret signals. The first was the airing at 10:55 p.m. on 24 April of Paulo de Carvalho's "E Depois do Adeus" (Portugal's entry in the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest) on Emissores Associados de Lisboa, which alerted the rebel captains and soldiers to begin the coup. The second signal came at 12:20 a.m. on 25 April, when Rádio Renascença broadcast "Grândola, Vila Morena" (a song by Zeca Afonso, an influential political folk musician and singer who was banned from Portuguese radio at the time). The MFA gave the signals to take over strategic points of power in the country.  Six hours later, the Caetano government relented. Despite repeated radio appeals from the "captains of April" (the MFA) advising the population to stay home, thousands of Portuguese took to the streets – mingling with, and supporting, the military insurgents. A central gathering point was the Lisbon flower market, then richly stocked with carnations (which were in season). Some of the insurgents put carnations in their gun barrels, an image broadcast on television worldwide which gave the revolution its name. Although no mass demonstrations preceded the coup, spontaneous civilian involvement turned the military coup into a popular revolution "led by radical army officers, soldiers, workers and peasants that toppled the senile Salazar dictatorship, using the language of socialism and democracy. The attempt to radicalise the outcome," noted a contemporary observer of the time, "had little mass support and was easily suppressed by the Portuguese Socialist Party and its allies."  Caetano found refuge in the main Lisbon military police station at the Largo do Carmo. This building was surrounded by the MFA, which pressured him to cede power to General Spínola. Caetano and President Américo Tomás fled to Brazil; Caetano spent the rest of his life there, and Tomás returned to Portugal a few years later. The revolution was closely watched by neighbouring Spain, where the government (and the opposition) were planning the succession of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Franco died a year and a half later, in 1975.

Aftermath.

After the coup, power was held by the National Salvation Junta (a military junta). Portugal experienced a turbulent period, known as the Processo Revolucionário Em Curso (Ongoing Revolutionary Process).  The conservative forces surrounding Spinola and the MFA radicals initially confronted each other (covertly or overtly), and Spinola was forced to appoint key MFA figures to senior security positions. Right-wing military figures attempted an unsuccessful counter-coup, resulting in Spinola's removal from office. Unrest within the MFA between leftist forces (often close to the Communist Party) and more-moderate groups (often allied with the Socialists) eventually led to the group's splintering and dissolution.  This stage of the PREC lasted until the 25 November 1975 pro-communist coup, which was followed by a successful counter-coup by pro-democracy moderates, and was marked by constant friction between liberal-democratic forces and leftist-communist political parties. Portugal's first free election was held on 25 April 1975 to write a new constitution replacing the Constitution of 1933, which prevailed during the Estado Novo era. Another election was held in 1976 and the first constitutional government, led by centre-left socialist Mário Soares, took office.

Decolonisation.

Before April 1974, the intractable Portuguese Colonial War in Africa consumed up to 40 percent of the Portuguese budget. Although part of Guinea-Bissau became independent "de facto" in 1973, Bissau (its capital) and the large towns were still under Portuguese control. In Angola and Mozambique, independence movements were active in more remote rural areas from which the Portuguese Army had retreated.  A consequence of the Carnation Revolution was the sudden withdrawal of Portuguese administrative and military personnel from its overseas colonies. Hundreds of thousands of Portuguese Africans returned to Portugal. These people—workers, small businesspeople, and farmers—often had deep roots in the former colonies and became known as the "retornados".  Angola began a decades-long civil war which involved the Soviet Union, Cuba, South Africa, and the United States. Millions of Angolans died in the aftermath of independence due to armed conflict, malnutrition and disease. After a brief period of stability, Mozambique became embroiled in a civil war which left it one of the poorest nations in the world. The country's situation has improved since the 1990s, and multi-party elections have been held.  East Timor was invaded by Indonesia, and would be occupied until 1999. There were an estimated 102,800 conflict-related deaths from 1974 to 1999 (about 18,600 killings and 84,200 deaths from hunger and illness), most of which occurred during the Indonesian occupation.  After a long period of one-party rule, Guinea-Bissau experienced a brief civil war and a difficult transition to civilian rule in 1998. Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe avoided civil war during the decolonisation period, and established multi-party political systems by the early 1990s. Macau remained a Portuguese colony until 1999, when China took control in a joint declaration and enacted a "one country, two systems" policy similar to that of Hong Kong.

Economic issues.

The Portuguese economy changed significantly between 1961 and 1973. Total output (GDP at factor cost) had grown by 120 percent in real terms. The pre-revolutionary period was characterised by robust annual growth in GDP (6.9 percent), industrial production (nine percent), consumption (6.5 percent), and gross fixed capital formation (7.8 percent). The revolutionary period experienced a slowly-growing economy, whose only impetus was its 1986 entrance into the European Economic Community. Although Portugal never regained its pre-revolution growth, at the time of the revolution it was an underdeveloped country with poor infrastructure, inefficient agriculture and the worst health and education indicators in Europe.  Pre-revolutionary Portugal had some social and economic achievements. After a long period of economic decline before 1914, the Portuguese economy recovered slightly until 1950. It began a period of economic growth in common with Western Europe, of which it was the poorest country until the 1980s. Portuguese economic growth between 1960 and 1973 (under the Estado Novo regime) created an opportunity for integration with the developed economies of Western Europe despite the colonial war. Through emigration, trade, tourism and foreign investment, individuals and companies changed their patterns of production and consumption. The increasing complexity of a growing economy sparked new technical and organisational challenges.  On 13 November 1972, Fundo do Ultramar (The Overseas Fund, a sovereign wealth fund) was enacted with Decreto-Lei n.o 448/ /72 and the Ministry of Defense ordinance Portaria 696/72 to finance the war. The increasing burden of the war effort meant that the government had to find continuous sources of financing. Decretos-Leis n.os 353, de 13 de Julho de 1973, e 409, de 20 de Agosto were enforced to reduce military expenses and increase the number of officers by incorporating militia and military-academy officers as equals.  The collective farms established in Alentejo after the revolution were inefficient. According to government estimates, about of agricultural land were seized between April 1974 and December 1975 as part of land reform; about 32 percent of the appropriations were ruled illegal. In January 1976, The government pledged to restore the illegally-occupied land to its owners in 1976, and enacted the Land Reform Review Law the following year. Restoration of illegally-occupied land began in 1978.  In 1960, Portugal's per-capita GDP was 38 percent of the European Economic Community average. By the end of the Salazar period in 1968 it had risen to 48 percent, and in 1973 it had reached 56.4 percent; the percentages were affected by the 40 percent of the budget which underwrote the African wars). In 1975 (the year of greatest revolutionary turmoil), Portugal's per-capita GDP declined to 52.3 percent of the EEC average. Due to revolutionary economic policies, oil shocks, recession in Europe and the return of hundreds of thousands of overseas Portuguese from its former colonies, Portugal began an economic crisis in 1974–1975.  Real gross domestic product growth resumed as a result of Portugal's economic resurgence since 1985. The country's 1991 per-capita GDP reached 54.9 percent of the EEC average, slightly exceeding the level at the height of the revolutionary period.  A January 2011 story in the "Diário de Notícias" (a Portuguese tabloid newspaper) reported that the government of Portugal encouraged overspending and investment bubbles in public-private partnerships between 1974 and 2010, and the economy has been damaged by risky credit, public debt creation and mismanaged European structural and cohesion funds for almost four decades. Prime Minister José Sócrates' cabinet was unable to foresee or forestall this when symptoms first appeared in 2005, and could not ameliorate the situation when the Portugal was on the verge of bankruptcy in 2011 and required financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.

Freedom of religion.

The constitution of 1976 guarantees all religions the right to practice, and non-Catholic groups are recognised as legal entities with the right to assemble. Non-Catholic conscientious objectors have the right to apply for alternative military service. The Catholic Church, however, still sought to impede other missionary activity.  The ban on Jehovah's Witnesses activity was abolished. The Witnesses were registered as a religious organisation in December 1976, and organised their first Portuguese international convention in Lisbon in 1978.

Freedom Day.

Freedom Day (25 April) is a national holiday, with state-sponsored and spontaneous commemorations of the civil liberties and political freedoms achieved after the revolution. It commemorates the 25 April 1974 coup and Portugal's first free elections on that date the following year.

Commemorations.

Construction of the 25 de Abril Bridge began on 5 November 1962. It opened on 6 August 1966 as the Salazar Bridge, named after Estado Novo leader António de Oliveira Salazar. Soon after the Carnation Revolution, the bridge was renamed the 25 de Abril Bridge to commemorate the revolution. Citizens who removed the large, brass "Salazar" sign from a main pillar of the bridge and painting a provisional "25 de Abril" in its place were recorded on film. Many Portuguese streets and squares are named "vinte e cinco de Abril", for the day of the revolution. The Portuguese Mint chose the 40th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution for its 2014 2 euro commemorative coin.

Analysis.

After an early period of turmoil, Portugal emerged as a democratic country. The country divested itself of almost all of its former colonies and experienced severe economic turmoil. For the Portuguese and their former colonies this was a very difficult period, but civil rights and political freedoms were achieved.  The international community censured the Estado Novo regime for refusing to grant independence to its colonies in Africa. Its leaders, Salazar and Caetano, were accused of being oblivious to what Harold Macmillan called the wind of change in Africa.

The Carnation Revolution (), also known as the 25 April (), was initially a 25 April 1974 military coup in Lisbon which overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime. The revolution began as a coup organised by the Armed Forces Movement (, MFA), composed of military officers who opposed the regime, but it was soon coupled with an unanticipated, popular civil resistance campaign. The revolution led to the fall of the Estado Novo, terminated the Portuguese Colonial War, and started a revolutionary process that would result in a democratic Portugal.

Pojem Karafiátová revoluce (portugalsky "Revolução dos Cravos") označuje levicový vojenský převrat, který započal 25. dubna 1974 v Lisabonu v Portugalsku, a úspěšně tak umožnil přechod od tehdejšího režimu autoritářské diktatury, zvaného též "Estado Novo", k demokratické formě vlády. Masové demonstrace donutily rezignovat vládu, přední představitelé emigrovali do Brazílie.


History.

An early plan to extend the line as far as Freyung and the "Ilztalbahn" with its connexion to Passau was stopped by opposition by the town of Grafenau for a railway route via Riedlhütte and St. Oswald with a station on the "Schwaimberg". This promised a higher return as a result of having a station in the vicinity of the town centre. So the line was routed via the town of Grafenau with two halts at Grossarmschlag and Rosenau to the terminus. Subsequent plans to extend the line to Fürstenstein, in order to achieve a connexion to Passau that way, were also dropped.  In the beginning two Bavarian D X tank locomotives worked the line. Only two days after the line opened, however, one of these two engines fell down the embankment just before Grafenau; fortunately no-one was injured.  From 1930 to 1960 the privately run Zwieselau Forest Railway terminated in Zwieselau station. This large network of 600-mm narrow gauge track was worked by steam and diesel locomotives that transported logs to the standard railway network. Its loading tracks have long since been lifted by the DB. The former log loading station at Klingenbrunn with its extensive trackage and a connexion to the 600 mm Spiegelau Forest Railway ("Spiegelauer Waldbahn") has been reduced today to just one track and classified as a halt ("Haltepunkt").  In 1953 a connexion was temporarily established (until 1956) to Freyung with a road-rail omnibus. In the second half of the 20th century passenger services were provided by Uerdingen railbuses; initially the VT 95 and later the VT 98. In the 1980s discussions again took place about closing the route. Around 1990 the successors to the railbuses, the DB Class V 100s pushed or pulled one or two branch line coaches with driving cars. On 24 May 1993 the "Regentalbahn" took over timetabled services on the route with their Esslingen railbuses under contract from "DB-Regio Bayern". For a short time rebuilt VT 09 and VT 10 diesel railcars (formerly DB Class ETA 150), were used here. Since the beginning of 1997 the link has been worked by modern Regio-Shuttle rakes. Goods traffic came to an end on 1 October 1994.

Current Situation.

After the line had been thoroughly refurbished in 2002 at a cost of 9.6 million euros, a two-hourly timetable was introduced in 2003 with a journey time of 50 minutes. In summer 2007 the 4.7 km long section of the route between Zwiesel and Zwieselau was completely replaced for 2.3 million euros. In October and November 2008 a further 2.9 km between the stations of Frauenau and Spiegelau was renewed. Currently Grafenau station is being worked on. The track layout is being shortened as part of a redesign of the station site. The bus station on the station forecourt is being completely rebuilt and the storage sheds in the immediate vicinity of the station are being torn down. These are no longer required since the cessation of goods services in 1994. On these areas a shopping centre and car park is being built. The town of Grafenau and the rural county of Freyung-Grafenau have invested a total of 1.3 million euros in this conversion, which also includes re-routing the roads. In summer 2008 the construction of a new platform was begun, which is east of the present one at the end of the line opposite the bus stop. This will enable a shorter connexion between bus and railway and a barrier-free access to public transport facilities.  Efforts are being made to increase the frequency of rail services to once an hour. Today you can only travel between the times when the train runs on certain buses, in which railway tickets are accepted. In order to enable hourly rail services, however, significant work would be required. The route would have to be upgraded to take faster trains, safety equipment would have to be installed and a crossing point established. The owner of the line, "DB Netz AG", has said it is only prepared to do this if the route has permanent safety measures and an order has been secured through the "Bayerische Eisenbahngesellschaft". The idea is to enable trains to cross at Spiegelau station, so that, unlike a crossing at the centre of the line in Klingenbrunn, the journey time can be speeded up by several minutes without extending waiting times for connexions at the hub in Zwiesel.

The building of the Zwiesel–Grafenau railway, today route number 906 in the timetable, was begun in 1884 by the Royal Bavarian State Railways and taken into service on 1 September 1890. With a total length of 32 km it linked the towns of Zwiesel and Grafenau in the Bavarian Forest. At Zwiesel railway station it connects to the Bavarian Forest railway ("Bayerische Waldbahn") from Plattling to Bayerisch Eisenstein, built by the Bavarian Ostbahn and opened on 16 September 1877, as well as the line to Bodenmais opened on 3 September 1928.

Železniční trať Zwiesel - Grafenau (v jízdním řádu DB označená číslem 906) je regionální jednokolejná železniční trať v Německu. Spojuje bavorská města Zwiesel a Grafenau. Délka trati je 31,5 km. Uvedena do provozu byla v roce 1890.


History.

Many ancient remains have been excavated at Kafr Yasif, including mosaic floors, Corinthian columns, and cisterns cut in rock. According to a tradition from Kafr Yasif, cited by F.M. Abel, the village was named "Kefar Akko" until Josephus fortified it and named it after himself.  During the Crusader era in Palestine it was known as "Cafresi", "Cafriasif," or "Cafriasim". In 1193 Queen Isabella I and her spouse Henry of Champagne granted the "casale" of Kafr Yasif to prior Heinrich of the Teutonic Knights. In the 13th century it was inhabited by Christians and paid tithes to the Bishop of Acre. In 1257 Kafr Yasif appears in a document relating to a disagreement between the Bishop of Acre and the Teutonic Knights about its income.  At one point it was a "casale" of the Knights Hospitallers. It was part of the domain of the Crusaders during the "hudna" (truce) between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan al-Mansur Qalawun in 1283. No Crusader remains have yet been identified in the village.

Ottoman era.

During Ottoman rule, Kafr Yasif primarily grew olives and cotton. Ottoman tax records from 1596 showed that Kafr Yasif had a population of 58 Muslim households, seven Muslim bachelors and 19 Jewish households. The villagers paid a fixed tax-rate of 25% on various agricultural products, including wheat, barley, fruit trees, cotton, goats and beehives, winter pastures, "jizya" (poll tax), in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 12,877 akçe. All of the revenue went to a waqf.  In the 1740s ten Jewish households under the spiritual leadership of Rabbi Soloman Abadi settled in Kafr Yasif and were joined by a number of other Jews, leaving Safad in the early 1760s as a result of the Near East earthquakes of 1759. According to Jewish travelers, the Jews in Kafr Yasif lived well under the auspices of Arab Zahir al-Umar, the autonomous Ottoman ruler of the Galilee (1730–1775), whose tolerance had allowed for the initial establishment of the village's Jewish community.  A map by Pierre Jacotin from Napoleon's invasion of 1799 showed the place, named as "Koufour Youcef".  In 1838 Kafr Yasif was classified as having a Greek Orthodox Christian majority with Muslim and Druze minorites. In 1880 the village had a population of about 600, of which 500 were Greek Orthodox Christians and 100 were Muslims. A 17th-century church was located in the village and it contained a number of pictures provided by Russia. The village contained a stone-cut well, stone reservoirs and troughs. According to the Palestine Exploration Fund's "Survey of Western Palestine", Kafr Yasif was a stone-built village surrounded by olive groves and arable land, and provided with water from cisterns. The population consisted of 300 Christians, who worshiped at the Greek Orthodox chapel, and 50 Druzes.  A population list from about 1887 showed that Kafr Yasif had about 910 inhabitants; three quarters Greek Catholic Christians, one quarter Muslim.

British Mandate period.

In the 1922 census of Palestine conducted by the British Mandate authorities Kafr Yasif had a population of 870 residents; 665 Christians, 172 Muslims and 33 Druze. On 1 December 1925 Kafr Yasif became one of the few Arab villages in the Galilee to receive local-council status during the British mandate period. Yani Kustandi Yani served as mayor from 1933 to 1948. The 1931 census of Palestine recorded Kafr Yasif's population as 1,057.  In April 1938, during the Arab revolt in Palestine, a group of Palestinian Arab rebels planted a mine on the road near Kafr Yasif which blew up a British military vehicle, killing nine soldiers. The British Army proceeded to start burning Kafr Yasif in retaliation, but were then told by the residents that Kuwaykat's inhabitants were responsible for the attack. Eight (mostly civilian) men were killed by British forces in Kuwaykat afterward. Between 14–17 February 1939 the British Army burned down 68–72 mostly Muslim-owned houses (and a small number of Christian and Druze homes) in response to another mine attack on British soldiers driving on a newly constructed security road which resulted in the death of one soldier and the injury of two others. When some of Kuwaykat's residents came to observe the destruction in Kafr Yasif, nine of their men were shot dead by the British as they approached the village. It was later discovered that the attackers were not from Kafr Yasif. In compensation, the town was rebuilt with a school and a city hall which are still in use. According to the Anglican Chaplain, "The people at Kafr Yasif were very eager to point out that the troops who destroyed their houses were not English but Irish."  In the 1945 statistics Kafr Yasif had a population of 1,400, and the village had 6,763 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey. 350 were Muslim, 1,105 Christians and 40 "other" (Druze). 3,234 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 3,310 were used for cereals, while 75 dunams were built-up (urban) land.

Israeli period.

On 8–14 July 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Carmeli Brigade and the 7th Armored Brigade occupied Kafr Yasif as part of the first stage of Operation Dekel. Unlike in many captured Arab towns, the majority of the population did not flee, and about 700 inhabitants of nearby villages, especially al-Birwa, al-Manshiyya and Kuwaykat, took refuge there. On 28 February 1949, most of them were put into trucks and driven to the front lines, where they were forced to cross the frontier border into Lebanon. On 1 March another 250 refugees were deported. Knesset member Tawfik Toubi strongly protested these expulsions.  Kafr Yasif is one of the few Arab towns in the Galilee that retained most of the land it held before 1948. Of 673 hectares owned in 1945, 458 hectares remained in 1962, with 76 hectares expropriated in 1952–3. On 5 June 1951 the Israeli government reactivated the local council in the only example of an Arab local council that continuously existed after 1948. In the first elections, held in 1954, the former mayor Yani Yani was re-elected mayor as head of a Communist Party and Nationalist Group (Kafr Yassif List) coalition, defeating the Mapai candidate. Yani remained in office until his death in 1962. He became leader of the Arab Popular Front which evolved into the Al Ard movement. The APF campaigned for the protection of Waqf properties in Israel. In 1972–73, Violet Khoury was elected mayor of Kafr Yasif, making her the first Arab woman to head a local council in Israel. The population remained under martial law until 1966.  The first meeting of the Congress of Druze Intellectuals took place in Kafr Yasif on 26 August 1966. The initiative behind the formation of the congress came from the youth of Druze villages in the Galilee, led by Salman Faraj. When the Druze leadership in the Department of Minority Affairs gained knowledge of the congress's planned meeting and failed to persuade Faraj to postpone it, the spiritual head of the Druze community, Sheikh Amin Tarif, locked the gates of the al-Khadr Shrine, where the meeting was to be held. The congress was instead held in a nearby house in the town and one of the clauses of the summit expressed Druze solidarity with the other Arab communities of Israel.  Kafr Yasif became the site of the first major violent incident between Christians and Druze in Israel on 11 April 1981. The clash began during a football match between fans of the town's local team and that of the nearby Druze village of Julis; a young man from Julis was fatally stabbed by a Christian from Kafr Yasif. Although reconciliation talks were immediately arranged to prevent further violence, the local council of Kafr Yasif refused to give up the name of the alleged killer. Hundreds of Druze youths from Julis subsequently entered Kafr Yasif, prompting the mayor to call for emergency back-up from the regional Israeli Police, a request which was denied. On 13 April about 60 armed police-officers positioned themselves in the field between the two villages, and while a "sulha" (traditional Arab peace agreement) was being negotiated, a group of heavily-armed Julis residents stormed the town, burning down 85 houses, 17 stores, a few workshops and 31 cars. A church was also damaged. By the end of the attack three residents of Kafr Yasif had been shot dead and more were wounded. The police did not intervene, with some officers claiming they were not sufficiently armed. None of the attackers, which according to witnesses included some off-duty Druze soldiers from the Israeli Army, were arrested. Most of the compensation for the damage came from the Muslim "waqf" of Israel and a smaller portion from the World Council of Churches.

Demographics.

Kafr Yasif's population was recorded as 1,057 in the 1931 census of Palestine. The population was 1,730 in 1950, of which 300 were internally displaced Palestinians and were 60 Druze. In 1951 27% of Kafr Yasif's 1,930 inhabitants were internally displaced. In the 1961 census there were 2,975 inhabitants (1,747 Christians, 1,138 Muslims and 90 Druzes). In 1995 the population was recorded as 6,700.  In the 2009 census Kafr Yasif had a population of 8,700, with Christians accounting for 56% of the inhabitants, Muslims 40% and Druze 4%.  The largest family in Kafr Yasif is the Safiah clan.

Landmarks.

It is popular belief that the tomb of the monotheistic saint, al-Khadr is located in Kafr Yasif. The site is especially venerated by the Druze, some of whom make annual pilgrimages to the tomb on January 25. The structure is composed of a large convention hall adjacent to the tomb, along with rooms and courtyards that serve both pilgrims and other visitors. Al-Khadr is the Arabic name for Saint George in Christianity. There are four churches and two mosques in the town. The main bishop of the town's Orthodox Christian community is Atallah Makhouli.

Culture and education.

According to the historian Atallah Mansour, Kafr Yasif is the "most academic Arab town in Israel", while journalist Sylvia Smith calls it "the preeminent [Arab] cultural town". With the near total depopulation of the Palestinian Arabs in the major cities of Haifa and Jaffa as a result of the 1948 war, Kafr Yasif became one of a few villages in the newly-established state of Israel to emerge as a central space for Arab culture and politics. Its schools, proximity and location between major cities and other Arab villages, the relatively equal distribution of land ownership among its households and the diversity brought about by the influx of internally displaced Palestinians all contributed to its local importance. In 1948 it was the only Arab locality in the Galilee to contain a high school outside of the cities of Nazareth, Shefa-Amr and Haifa. Following the war, the high school enrolled students from over fifty Arab villages. Several students, including Mahmoud Darwish, became well-known poets, and the village hosted weekly poetry recitals.  The Rabeah Murkus Dance Studio, Israel's first Arab dance studio, is located in Kafr Yasif. Rabeah Murkus, daughter of former Kafr Yasif mayor Nimr Murkus, also opened a dance study track for Arab high school students authorized by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The track serves 10th-12th graders in several Arab communities in northern Israel. A student of the dance studio, Ayman Safiah, born and raised in Kafr Yasif, became the first Palestinian male ballet dancer and, according to Israeli journalist Esti Ahronovitz, was "considered the first Arab classical-modern dancer". Several thousand mourners attended his funeral in Kafr Yasif on 28 May 2020.

Kafr Yasif (, "Kufr Yaseef"; ) is an Arab town in the Northern District of Israel. It is located northeast of the city of Acre and adjacent to Abu Sinan. The population of Kafr Yasif is half Christian (52.1%) with the rest Muslim (44.9%), and a small Druze community.

Kafr Jasif ( כַּפְר יָסִיף nebo כפר יאסיף, كفر ياسيف, v oficiálním přepisu do angličtiny Kafar Yasif) je místní rada (malé město) v Izraeli, v Severním distriktu.


Early life.

Garfunkel was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, the son of Rose (née Pearlman) and Jacob "Jack" Garfunkel, a traveling salesman. Art is a middle child with two brothers, the older named Jules and the younger named Jerome. Jacob's parents had originally immigrated to the United States at the turn of the century, and settled in Manhattan. Before his career in sales, Jacob worked as an actor in Dayton, Ohio. Garfunkel is of Romanian Jewish descent, his paternal grandparents having emigrated from the city of Iași. When he was young, he would often sing in synagogue. His maternal cousin was Lou Pearlman, founder of the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC.  According to the "Across America" DVD, Garfunkel's love for singing originated in the first grade. "When we were lined up in size order, and after everyone else had left, I'd stay behind and enjoy the echo sound of the stairwell tiles and sing 'Unchained Melody' and 'You'll Never Walk Alone', learning to love this goosebumps song from the tender age of five." Later, Garfunkel's father bought him a wire recorder and from then on, Garfunkel spent his afternoons singing, recording, and playing it back, so he could listen for flaws and learn how to improve.  At his bar mitzvah in 1954, Garfunkel performed as a cantor, singing over four hours of his repertoire for his family. As a young teen, Garfunkel became ill with a lung infection, leading to a love for basketball. He explained in a 1998 interview: "In the summer of '55, I had a lung infection. I couldn't run around, but I loved basketball and there was a hoop nearby. Much of the summer I spent methodically hitting 96, 98 foul shots out of 100. Then 102! I never played on a team after junior high school. Just 3 against 3, half court pick up games in the schoolyard." He met future singing partner Paul Simon in the sixth grade at PS 164, when they were both cast in the elementary school graduation play, "Alice in Wonderland". It has been said by Garfunkel that Simon first became interested in singing after hearing Garfunkel sing a rendition of Nat King Cole's "Too Young" in a school talent show.  Between 1956 and 1962, the two performed together as "Tom & Jerry", a moniker coined by their label Big Records, occasionally performing at school dances. Their idols were The Everly Brothers, whom they imitated in their use of close two-part vocal harmony. In 1957, Simon & Garfunkel recorded the song "Hey, Schoolgirl" under the name Tom & Jerry. The single reached number forty-nine on the pop charts.  After graduating from Forest Hills High School alongside Simon, Garfunkel initially majored in architecture at Columbia University, where he was a brother in the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. Garfunkel was a team member in tennis, skiing, fencing, and bowling at the College and also joined the all-male a cappella group on campus, the Columbia Kingsmen. While at Columbia his roommate, Sanford Greenberg, developed glaucoma and went blind. Garfunkel assisted him in his homework by reading his textbooks to Greenberg, who went on to graduate with honors. Greenberg would later give Garfunkel $500 to go and record a demo of "The Sound of Silence". Garfunkel ultimately earned a B.A. in art history in 1965, followed by an M.A. in mathematics education from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1967. He also completed coursework toward a doctorate in the latter discipline at Teachers College during the peak of Simon & Garfunkel's commercial success.

Career.

Simon and Garfunkel.

In 1963, Garfunkel and Simon (who graduated from Queens College before dropping out of Brooklyn Law School) reformed their duo under their own names as "Simon and Garfunkel". They released their first album, "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M." on Columbia Records in October 1964. It was not a critical or commercial success, and the duo split. The next year, producer Tom Wilson lifted the song "The Sound of Silence" from the record, dubbed an electric backing onto it, and released it as a single that went to number one on the "Billboard" pop charts.  Simon had gone to the United Kingdom in 1965 after the initial failure of "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", to pursue a solo career. He briefly teamed with songwriter Bruce Woodley of The Seekers. After "The Sound of Silence" had started to enjoy commercial success, he returned to the States to reunite with Garfunkel. The duo recorded four more influential albums: "Sounds of Silence"; "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme"; "Bookends"; and the hugely successful "Bridge over Troubled Water".  They contributed to the soundtrack of the 1967 Mike Nichols film "The Graduate" (starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft). While writing "Mrs. Robinson", Simon originally considered the title "Mrs. Roosevelt". When Garfunkel reported this indecision over the song's name to the director, Nichols replied, "Don't be ridiculous! We're making a movie here! It's Mrs. Robinson!" Simon & Garfunkel traveled together to England in the fall of 1968. They made a concert appearance at Kraft Hall, which was broadcast on the BBC and featured Garfunkel's solo performance of "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her". He received a standing ovation. While Garfunkel was not a songwriter, he did write the poem "Canticle" as a re-write of Simon's "Side of A Hill" from his debut album, for "Scarborough Fair/Canticle". He worked as the vocal arranger for the duo, working out by whom the songs would be sung and how each song was produced. He is also credited as having written the arrangement on "The Boxer" and creating "Voices of Old People" (an audio montage) on "Bookends".  Citing personal differences and divergence in career interests, they split following the release of their most critically acclaimed album, "Bridge over Troubled Water", in 1970. Each pursued solo projects after 1970. Occasionally they would reunite, as in 1975 for their Top Ten single "My Little Town", which Simon originally wrote for Garfunkel, claiming Garfunkel's solo output was lacking "bite". The song was included on their respective solo albums: Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years" and Garfunkel's "Breakaway". Contrary to popular belief, the song is not autobiographical of Simon's early life but of Garfunkel's childhood in Queens. In 1981, they got together again for the famous concert in Central Park, followed by a world tour and an aborted reunion album "Think Too Much", which was eventually released, by Simon without Garfunkel, as "Hearts and Bones". They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.  In 2003, they reunited when they received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, leading to a US tour: the acclaimed "Old Friends" concert series. It was followed by another in 2004, which culminated in a free concert at the Colosseum in Rome. The concert drew 600,000 people.

1970–1975: Hiatus and first album.

During a three-year hiatus after Simon & Garfunkel's break-up, Garfunkel starred in two Mike Nichols films, "Catch-22" (1970) and "Carnal Knowledge" (1971). He also spent late 1971 to early 1972 working as a mathematics teacher teaching geometry to high school sophomores at the short-lived Litchfield Academy in Connecticut.  In late 1972, with Simon & Garfunkel having released their "Greatest Hits" album and briefly reuniting to perform a benefit concert for presidential candidate George McGovern, Garfunkel felt ready to return to his musical career. His first album was 1973's "Angel Clare", which contained "All I Know" along with "I Shall Sing" and "Travelling Boy" as singles. The album was received with mixed reviews, reaching number 5 in the U.S. In 1974, Garfunkel released the hit record "Second Avenue".  On his next album, 1975's "Breakaway", Garfunkel briefly reunited with Simon for the 1975 hit "My Little Town". The album also included the singles "Break Away" (B-Side: "Disney Girls") and "I Only Have Eyes For You" (a 1934 song written by Harry Warren), which is noted as Garfunkel's first UK number one.

1976–1979: Diversity and disaster.

In 1976, Garfunkel recorded both background and duet vocals for several artists, including Stephen Bishop's "Careless" album, James Taylor's "In The Pocket" album and J.D. Souther's "Black Rose" album. From December 1976 to September 1977, Garfunkel worked on his next album.  Garfunkel's next release was the 1977 album "Watermark" (US No. 19, UK No. 26). It failed to make an impression on the public upon release. Its main single, "Crying in My Sleep" ("Mr. Shuck 'N' Jive") (UK No. 25) didn't reach the US Top 40. After a two-month hiatus, it was re-released in January 1978, with Garfunkel's cover of Sam Cooke's "(What a) Wonderful World" (B-Side: "Wooden Planes"), reaching number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and seventeen on the pop chart. Paul Simon and mutual friend James Taylor had contributed backing vocals to the song which was a huge hit on the US A.C. charts. In 1978, Garfunkel toured the U.S. and Canada extensively with noted guitarist Arlen Roth, John Barlow Jarvis on piano, and Leah Kunkel on second vocals.  Garfunkel's last release of the 1970s was the 1979 album "Fate For Breakfast" (US No. 67, UK No. 2). It was his first US flop. The album's first single, "In A Little While (I'll Be on My Way)" (B-Side: "And I Know") (US AC No. 12) failed to break the top forty, as did his second single, "Since I Don't Have You" (B-Side: "When Someone Doesn't Want You") (US No. 53, US AC No. 5, UK No. 38). The album was a huge success in the UK, scoring a number one hit with "Bright Eyes" (B-Side: "Sail on a Rainbow") (US AC No. 29, UK No. 1) (a song written by Mike Batt). A version of "Bright Eyes" also appeared in the movie "Watership Down".  Garfunkel's girlfriend since 1974, Laurie Bird, committed suicide in June 1979 at their Manhattan apartment, three months after the album's release in March. Garfunkel later admitted that the incident left him in a deep depression for most of the 1980s, hence the lack of musical output during that time.

1980–1995: Depression and withdrawal.

Garfunkel's next album was a low point in his career. The 1981 album, "Scissors Cut" (US No. 113, UK No. 51) (dedicated to Bird), contained three singles, "A Heart in New York" (B-Side: "Is This Love") (US No. 66, US AC No. 10), "Scissors Cut", and "Hang On In". The latter two failed to chart.  Following disappointing sales of "Scissors Cut", Garfunkel reunited with Simon for "The Concert in Central Park" and a world tour. They had significant disagreements during the tour. In 1984, "Stereo Review Magazine" reported that Simon mixed out Garfunkel's voice from a new album. It was initially slated to be a Simon & Garfunkel studio reunion, but was ultimately released as a Simon solo album ("Hearts and Bones"). In 1986, Garfunkel played the part of the butcher on the Mike Batt concept album "The Hunting of the Snark".  Garfunkel released his first compilation album in 1984, "The Art Garfunkel Album" (UK No. 12), never released in the US, which contained the minor hit "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" (UK No. 77, US AC No. 25).  Garfunkel again left the music scene when his father died. In the fall of 1985, he met his future wife, Kathryn "Kim" Cermak; they were married in September 1988. Garfunkel's retirement lasted until his 1988 album, "Lefty" (US, No. 134), which produced three singles, "So Much in Love" (US No. 76, US AC No. 11), "When A Man Loves A Woman", and "This Is The Moment".

1996–2006: Resurgence.

Garfunkel's live 1996 concert "Across America" (UK No. 35), recorded at the registry hall on Ellis Island, featured musical guests James Taylor, Garfunkel's wife, Kim, and his son James.  Garfunkel performed the theme song for the 1991 television series "Brooklyn Bridge" and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" for a 1998 episode of the children's educational television series "Arthur", where he was depicted as a singing moose. Garfunkel's performance of Monty Python member Eric Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" was used in the end credits of the 1997 film "As Good as It Gets".  In 2003, Garfunkel made his debut as a songwriter on his "Everything Waits to Be Noticed" album. Teaming up with singer-songwriters Maia Sharp and Buddy Mondlock, the album contained several songs which were originally poems written by Garfunkel.  In 2003, Simon and Garfunkel reunited again for a successful world tour that extended into 2004. That same year, his song "Sometimes When I'm Dreaming" from "The Art Garfunkel Album" (1984) (written by Mike Batt) was re-recorded by ex-ABBA singer Agnetha Fältskog on her album "My Colouring Book".  In 2006, Garfunkel signed with Rhino Records (revived Atco Records), and his first Rhino/Atco album "Some Enchanted Evening" was released in the United States on January 30, 2007. The album was a dedicated celebration of pop standards of Garfunkel's childhood.

2008–present: Recent events and vocal problems.

In 2009, Garfunkel appeared as himself on the HBO television show "Flight of the Conchords" episode entitled "Prime Minister".  Garfunkel continued to tour in 2009 with four musicians and his son.  On February 13, 2009, Simon and his band re-opened New York's Beacon Theatre, which had been closed for seven months for renovation. As an encore, Simon brought out "my old friend, Art Garfunkel." They sang three songs: "Sound of Silence", "The Boxer", and "Old Friends".  On April 2, 2009, the duo announced a tour of Australia, New Zealand, and Japan for summer 2009. In late October, they participated together in the 25th anniversary of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts at New York's Madison Square Garden. Other artists on the bill included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, U2, Metallica, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Crosby, Stills, & Nash.  In March 2010, Simon & Garfunkel announced a 13-date tour, to kick off in April with a performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Most performances were scheduled for Canada, with four shows in the upper Midwest of the US. According to a press release, the set list would focus on their classic catalog as well as songs from each of their solo careers. On June 17, 2010, Simon & Garfunkel canceled the tour, previously rescheduled for July 2010, which was postponed indefinitely while Garfunkel attempted to recover from a vocal cord paresis.  In November 2010, Garfunkel said that because of quitting smoking he was recovering from paresis and would be touring in 2011.  He tried to resume touring in August 2012 just after releasing a 34-song retrospective, "The Singer". Garfunkel scheduled 19 solo shows in the United States and Sweden between August and December 2012. 16 of the shows were canceled. Garfunkel was due to perform at Night of The Proms in Gothenburg and Malmö, Sweden, on September 28 and 29, 2012, but cancelled at the last minute due to an "unforeseen vocal issue." Speaking about his voice in February 2013, Garfunkel said "It's getting mostly better; I'm pretty much there" and that he was starting to book small shows again. In 2014, he resumed touring, with Tab Laven accompanying him on acoustic guitar, his voice restored.  On the September 30, 2015, episode of "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", Garfunkel took part in the spoof "Black Simon & Garfunkel" skit with members of The Roots.  The Simon and Garfunkel song "America" was used by Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.  On September 26, 2017, Knopf Doubleday published in hardcover Garfunkel's memoir "What Is It All But Luminous: Notes From An Underground Man". Penguin Random House has published it in softcover and audiobook.

Poetry.

Garfunkel, an avid reader and bibliophile, has admitted that while growing up the Garfunkel household was not a literary family and that it was not until entering Columbia University in 1959 that he began to "read a million books and became a reader." Thus began his interest in poetry.  Garfunkel's poetic career began in 1981 while on the Simon & Garfunkel 1981–1982 tour in Switzerland. He was riding a motorcycle and began writing a poem describing the countryside. In 1989, "Still Water", Garfunkel's collection of prose poetry, was released to acclaim. Topics included his depression over the loss of his father; Laurie Bird, his companion who committed suicide; his friendship with Paul Simon; and the joy of returning to music.  Garfunkel's website contains a year-by-year listing of every book he has read since 1968. Currently the list contains more than 1,000 books. He has also read the entire Random House Dictionary. Garfunkel has an interest in the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, having read his book "Confessions" at least three times (according to Garfunkel's website, the book was the 1st, 252nd, and 1000th book he read).

Acting.

Garfunkel pursued an acting career in the early 70s, appearing in two Mike Nichols films: "Catch-22" (1970), in which he played a supporting role as the 19-year-old naive Lieutenant Nately, and "Carnal Knowledge" (1971), a co-starring role in which he played the idealistic character Sandy. His role as Sandy secured him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor in 1972.  He later appeared in Nicolas Roeg's "Bad Timing" (1980) as Alex Linden, an American psychiatrist who serves as the film's main antagonist. The film received the Toronto Festival of Festivals's highest honor, the People's Choice Award, and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.  He appeared in "Good to Go" (1986), directed by Blain Novak, starring as a Washington, D.C., journalist who struggles to clear his name after being framed for rape and murder. Garfunkel then appeared in the medical crime drama "Boxing Helena" (1993), directed by Jennifer Lynch, as Dr. Lawrence Augustine.  Garfunkel's most recent film is "The Rebound" (2010), directed by Bart Freundlich. He played Harry Finklestein, the slightly senile and comic-relief father of the film's main character.

Voice classification.

Garfunkel is a tenor who usually sang the higher parts in Simon & Garfunkel's harmonies. Garfunkel's voice changed almost imperceptibly until his late fifties, when it began to lower after years of smoking. He quit smoking around 2010 to aid his recovery from vocal cord paresis.

Personal life.

Garfunkel married Linda Marie Grossman (b. 1944), an architect, in Nashville on October 1, 1972, and they divorced in 1975. He has claimed that the marriage was turbulent and ended bitterly. Garfunkel has not spoken to her since.  He was romantically involved with actress and photographer Laurie Bird from March 1974 until her suicide in 1979. In a 1986 interview, Garfunkel said "I asked myself constantly why I didn't marry her, because surely she was the apple of my eye. She was everything I was looking for in a woman. But I was very hurt by my first marriage, so as far as marriage to Laurie was concerned, I was extra scared. I was heartbroken. It laid me low. I used to get very sad when the sun went down. The nights were very lonely for me."  Garfunkel had a brief relationship with actress Penny Marshall in the mid-1980s and credits her with helping him through his depression. Their friendship stayed strong even after their romantic relationship ended.  In late 1985, Garfunkel met former model Kathryn (Kim) Cermak (b. 1958; Czech spelling Čermák) while shooting "Good to Go". They married on September 18, 1988, and have two children, James, born December 15, 1990, and Beau Daniel, born October 5, 2005, via a surrogate mother.  Garfunkel has undertaken several long walks in his lifetime, writing poetry along the way. In the early 1980s, he walked across Japan in a matter of weeks. From 1983 to 1997, Garfunkel walked across the United States, taking 40 excursions to complete the route from New York City to the Pacific coast of Washington. In May 1998, Garfunkel launched an installment walk across Europe, from a start in Ireland to his final stop in Istanbul in 2015.  Despite being a native New Yorker, Garfunkel is a lifelong Philadelphia Phillies fan, having written on his website: "I never followed the crowd. So as a Queens kid, I didn't want to be a Dodger, Yankee, or Giant fan. One day when I was 8 I went to Ebbets Field and saw the Phillies with their red pinstripes, Robin Roberts, Pudinhead Jones. Somehow this was for me. The rest is loyalty. Decades of pain."  Art has said his all-time favorite pop song was The Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere" and his all-time favorite album was "Rumours" by Fleetwood Mac. When asked about his musical preferences, he answered, "I have a very sure-footed sense of what I like, and exactly how much I like it. Give me two listenings of a song, and I can tell you exactly how it sits with me... I know my musical taste. I know my ears, I know what I respond to."  Garfunkel has been arrested twice for the possession of marijuana: once in early 2004 and again in August 2005.

Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is a partner with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.

Arthur Ira "Art" Garfunkel (* 5. listopad 1941) je americký zpěvák, textař, básník a herec. Nejznámější je ze svého působení ve folkovém duu Simon & Garfunkel společně s Paulem Simonem. Obdržel 7x cenu Grammy, z toho jednu za celoživotní dílo.


Description.

The fur of the Angolan talapoin is coarsely banded yellow-and-black on the back and flanks and white or greyish white on the chest and belly. The head is round and short-snouted with a hairless face which has a black nose skin bordering the face. The scrotum is coloured pink medially and blue laterally. They show mild sexual dimorphism in body size, the average head and body length is, the average tail length is and the average weight is for males and for females.

Habitat.

The Angolan talapoin is limited to dense evergreen vegetation on the banks of rivers that often flow through miombo ("Brachystegia") woodland or, as that is cleared, areas under cultivation.

Distribution.

The Angolan talapoin occurs in the coastal watersheds south of the Congo River, including the Mebridege River, Loge River, Cuanza River, Nhia River and Cuvo River, they also extend into the upper reaches of the Cuango River. This species is found on the coast of Angola, south to about 13'S, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo as far as the Cuango River and on both sides of the Kasai River.

Biology.

The Angolan talapoin is both diurnal and mainly arboreal, they occasionally descend to the ground while foraging. They are proficient swimmers and a common defensive strategy is to sleep on branches overhanging rivers so that they can dive into the water escape from danger.  The social organisation of the Angola talapoin is that they live in quite large groups of 60 to 100 animals. At night the group is gathered together in trees close to the water, splitting up into smaller sub-groups in the morning so that they can spread out to forage. Each group normally consists of several fully mature males, many females and their offspring. Angolan talapoins do not show any territoriality, which is unlike their close relatives the guenons. They seem to enjoy play and this mostly takes place between juveniles, however, the males tend to engage in social play more often than female.  The home ranges of the Angola talapoin are likely to be larger, and the population densities lower, than is the case with Gabon talapoin because forest strips are narrower and resources scarcer. The fluctuations in climate since the last glaciation have probably reinforced this species' primary adaptation to'strip living' as longer dry seasons and less extensive flooding under the generally cooler and drier climate that now dominates outside the rainforest seems to have favoured more terrestrial habits than are apparent in the Gabon talapoin. It mainly feeds on fruits, but also on seeds, young foliage, and invertebrates.

The Angolan talapoin ("Miopithecus talapoin"), also known as the southern talapoin, is a species of primate in the family Cercopithecidae. Talapoins are the smallest species of Old-World monkeys.

Kočkodan talapoin či talapoin angolský ("Miopithecus talapoin") je úzkonosý primát, je to jeden ze dvou druhů rodu "Miopithecus" Geoffroy, 1862. Žijí ve vlhkých oblastech, jako jsou mokřady, pobřežní oblasti řek, mangrovové porosty a galeriové lesy, centrální Afriky do nadmořské výšky 700 m v areálu od Demokratické republiky Kongo do Angoly.


Geography.

The borders of the historic Carniola region had varied over the centuries. From the time of the duchy's establishment, it was located in the southeastern periphery of the Holy Roman Empire, where the Gorjanci Mountains and the Kolpa River formed the border with Kingdom of Croatia.  In the north, it bordered the Imperial Duchy of Carinthia, from the Predil Pass and Fusine ("Fužine") along the main ridge of the Karawanks range up to Jezersko. In the northeast and east, it bordered on the Duchy of Styria, i.e., the present-day "Štajerska" or Lower Styrian lands beyond the Sava River, which until 1456 were held by the Counts of Celje. In the west, the peaks of the Julian Alps high above Lake Bohinj marked the border with the historic Friulian region, initially held by the Patriarchs of Aquileia, but gradually conquered by the Republic of Venice and incorporated into the "Domini di Terraferma" by 1433. In the southwest, beyond the Dinaric Alps, the Counts of Görz held the remaining Friulian territory, which in 1754 became the Austrian crown land of Gorizia and Gradisca (part of the present-day Slovenian Littoral). The remains of the Margraviate of Istria south of the Karst Plateau and the Brkini Hills were also administered from Carniola.  In its final extent, re-established in 1815, the duchy had an area of. In 1914, before the beginning of World War I, it had a population of a little under 530,000 inhabitants.

Administrative divisions.

According to the topography "The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola" written by the scholar Johann Weikhard von Valvasor (1641–1693), the territory was traditionally divided into three sub-regions:  Until 1860, these sub-regions coincided with the districts ("Kreise") of Ljubljana, Novo Mesto and Postojna. They were later divided into smaller units, called political (or administrative) districts (, ). Between 1861 and 1918, Carniola was divided into eleven districts consisting of 359 municipalities (, ), with the provincial capital serving as the residence of the imperial governor ("Landeshauptmann"). The districts were: Kamnik, Kranj, Radovljica, the neighbourhood of Ljubljana, Logatec, Postojna, Litija, Krško, Novo Mesto, Črnomelj, and Kočevje. The political districts were in turn divided into 31 judicial circuits (, ).

History and administration.

The former March of Carniola, i.e., Upper Carniola and the Windic March, had been separated from the Duchy of Carinthia in 1040 by King Henry III of Germany. It was nevertheless temporarily still held by the Carinthian rulers in personal union, like the "Meinhardiner" duke Henry VI, who died in 1335 without a male heir. His daughter Margaret only was able to keep the County of Tyrol, while the Wittelsbach emperor Louis IV the Bavarian passed Carinthia together with the Carniolan march to the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria.  Albert's son Rudolf IV of Austria, "the Founder", in the course of his "Privilegium Maius", awarded himself the title of a "Duke of Carniola" in 1364—though without consent by the Holy Roman Emperor. Rudolph also founded the town of Novo Mesto in Lower Carniola, then named "Rudolphswerth". After his death, as a result of the quarrels between his younger brothers Albert III and Leopold, Carniola by the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg became part of Inner Austria ruled from Graz by Leopold, ancestor of the Habsburg Leopoldian line. In 1457, the Inner Austrian territories were re-united with the Archduchy of Austria under the rule of the Habsburg emperor Frederick III. When Frederick's descendant, Emperor Ferdinand I, died in 1564, Carniola was separated again as part of Inner Austria under the rule of Ferdinand's son Archduke Charles II. Charles' son, Emperor Ferdinand II, inherited all the dynasty's lands in 1619 and the duchy formed a constituent part of the Habsburg Monarchy ever since.  In the late 15th century, as part of the Habsburg westward expansion, the Duchy of Carniola acquired many new territories: Idrija (previously part of Friuli), Duino and the surrounding parts of the Karst Plateau, Kastav, Opatija, and the interior areas of Istria, centered around Pazin. It also had nominal control over the port of Rijeka, which however de facto remained an autonomous city; in 1717 it was officially placed under direct imperial rule and in 1776 it was transferred to Hungary. In the 19th century, these areas (with the exception of Idrija) were incorporated in the Austrian Littoral, and Carniola thus became a landlocked region once again.  With the Treaty of Schönbrunn in 1809, Napoleon formed the short-lived Illyrian Provinces from the annexed territories in Carniola, Carinthia, Croatia, Gorizia and Gradisca, and Trieste. The Final Act of the 1815 Congress of Vienna restored the Illyrian Provinces to the Austrian Empire. Carniola then formed the central part of the territory of the Austrian Kingdom of Illyria, whose capital was also Ljubljana, including the Carniolan and Carinthian duchies as well as the Austrian Littoral with Gorizia and Gradisca, the Margraviate of Istria and the Imperial Free City of Trieste.  After the disestablishment of the Illyrian Kingdom in 1849, the Duchy of Carniola was constituted by rescript of 20 December 1860, and by imperial patent of 26 February 1861 (February Patent), modified by legislation of 21 December 1867, granting power to the Carniolan "Landtag" (or Carniolan Diet - estates' assembly) to enact all laws not reserved to the Imperial Council in Vienna, at which it was represented by eleven delegates, of whom two elected by the landowners, three by the cities, towns, commercial and industrial boards, five by the village communes, and one by a fifth curia by secret ballot, every duly registered male twenty-four years of age had the right to vote. The home legislature consisted of a single chamber of thirty-seven members, among whom the prince-bishop sat ex-officio. The emperor convened the legislature, and it was presided over by the "k. k. Landeshauptmann" (president of the Carniolan Diet – "Landtag" and its executive board – "Landesausschuss"). The landed interests elected ten members, the cities and towns eight, the commercial and industrial boards two, the village communes sixteen. The business of the chamber was restricted to legislating on agriculture, public and charitable institutions, administration of communes, church and school affairs, the transportation and housing of soldiers in war and during manoeuvres, and other local matters. The land budget of 1901 amounted to 3,573,280 crowns ($714,656).  The Austrian Imperial-Royal government was represented by the Imperial-Royal president ("k. k. Landespräsident" or governor), appointed by the emperor, and the Imperial-Royal Government ("k. k. Landesregierung") in Ljubljana. In the majority of other Austrian crown lands these were known as Imperial-Royal Lieutenant ("k. k. Statthalter") and Imperial-Royal Lieutenancy ("k. k. Statthalterei").  In 1918, the duchy ceased to exist and its territory became part of the newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and subsequently part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (from 1929 called Kingdom of Yugoslavia). The western part of the duchy, with the towns of Postojna, Ilirska Bistrica, Idrija, Vipava and Šturje was annexed to Italy in 1920, but was subsequently also included into Yugoslavia in 1945 except for the town of Fusine in Valromana (Weissenfels, before 1919), which remained in Italy.

Demographics.

The vast majority of the population were Slovene-speaking. A German-speaking minority existed among the local nobles and those craftsmen, who had settled here as citizens of the major towns. German language islands were found in Lower Carniolan Gottschee County, where the rural population spoke Gottscheerish (Granish), a Southern Bavarian dialect, as well as around the Upper Carniolan villages of Zgornja Sorica ("Oberzarz"), Spodnja Sorica ("Unterzarz") and Nemški Rovt ("Deutschgereuth") in the Bohinj Basin.  In 1846, the population of Carniola included:  In 1910, the population of Carniola included:

Coat of arms and flag.

The coat of arms of Carniola dates back to the 13th century, when it most probably evolved as a combination of the coats of arms of the Bavarian counts of Andechs in the Duchy of Merania (eagle) and the Rhenish House of Sponheim in Carinthia (red-white checkerboard). The eagle is also featured in the seal of King Ottokar II of Bohemia in his capacity as ruler of the Carniolan march in 1269. In 1463 Emperor Frederick III, having prevailed against the claims raised by his brother Albert VI of Austria, added the Imperial crown to the eagle and replaced the white in the shield and the checkered crescent with gold. In 1836 Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria restored the original white color to the shield and recognized the white-blue-red combination as the official Carniolan color scheme.  Under the Habsburg rule the white, blue and red from the Carniolan coat of arms (the shield, the eagle and the crescent) were confirmed as the official flag colors of the crownland in 1848. Since the Duchy of Carniola was the main Slovene-populated region of the Austrian Empire, the color scheme was subsequently accepted as the generic Slovene national tricolor by the inhabitants of other Slovene Lands.  As for the coat of arms, it was abandoned after 1918 with the passing of the Duchy of Carniola. The blue eagle of Carniola was, however, briefly resurrected from 1943 to 1945 as the symbol of the Slovenian auxiliary Axis forces, the Slovene Home Guard. It was also used in the Yugoslav Karađorđević dynasty coat-of-arms in the interwar period (and was replaced in the state coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the three stars of the medieval counts of Celje).  The insignia of the Duchy of Carniola have had an important and lasting impact on Slovene national symbols. Thus, the white-blue-red combination of the flag of the Duchy of Carniola is in use today as the official color scheme of the flag of the Republic of Slovenia. The Slovenian coat of arms is also a heraldic composite, incorporating the stars of the counts of Celje, the Carniolan colors and the image of the Slovene holy mountain Triglav. Heir of all Habsburg lines in 1619. See List of rulers of Austria for details.

The Duchy of Carniola (,, ) was a majority Slovene-speaking State of the Holy Roman Empire, established under Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A hereditary land of the Habsburg Monarchy, it became a constituent land of the Austrian Empire in 1804 and part of the Kingdom of Illyria until 1849. A separate crown land from 1849, it was incorporated into the Cisleithanian territories of Austria-Hungary from 1867 until the state's dissolution in 1918. Its capital was Ljubljana ().

Kraňské vévodství ( ', ') nebo také Krajinské vévodství je země, jež existovala v letech 1364–1918 na území současného Slovinska. V letech 1815–1918 bylo korunní zemí Rakouského císařství resp. Rakouska-Uherska. Jeho hlavním městem byla Lublaň, současné hlavní město Slovinska.


History.

In the 4th millennium BCE, the first literate societies emerged in Southern Mesopotamia, often referred to as the Cradle of Civilization, and the first cities and complex state bureaucracies were developed there during the Uruk period. Due to the geographical location and ecological factors of the Fertile Crescent, a crescent-shape fertile area running from the basins of the Nile in Egypt, northwards along the Mediterranean coast in Palestine and Israel, and southwards again along the Euphrates and the Tigris towards the Persian Gulf, civilizations were able to develop agricultural and technological programmes. The crucial trigger was the availability of wild edible plant species. Farming arose early in the Fertile Crescent because the area had a large quantity of wild wheat and pulse species that were nutritious and easy to domesticate.  In the 10th and 11th centuries, the marshes were the site of the state of Batihah founded by 'Imran ibn Shahin.

Marsh Arabs.

The Marsh Arabs are the primary inhabitants of the Mesopotamian Marshes and are theorized by some to be the descendants of ancient Sumerians, as their civilization dates back 5000 years. They live in secluded villages of elaborate reed houses throughout the marshes, often only reached by boat. Fish, rice cultivation, water buffalo and other resources are also used in their daily lives. In the 1950s, there were an estimated 500,000 Marsh Arabs. This population shrank to about 20,000 following the draining and Saddam's violent reprisals, and between 80,000 and 120,000 fled to neighboring Iran. Following the 2003 Iraq invasion, Marsh Arabs have begun to return to the marshes.

Geography.

As their name suggests, the Mesopotamian Marshes are located in the larger region which used to be called Mesopotamia. Modern day Mesopotamia is now occupied by Iraq, eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and southwest Iran. The marshes lie mostly within southern Iraq and a portion of southwestern Iran. Originally covering an area of and divided into three major areas, the Central Marshes lie between the Tigris and Euphrates, while the Hammar Marshes lie south of the Euphrates and the Hawizeh Marshes are bound east of the Tigris. Before the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, about 90% of the marshes had been drained.  The marshes lie on a flat alluvial plain, as the Euphrates decreases only in elevation during its last while the Tigris falls. This delta provides an environment that allows the Tigris and Euphrates to meander, forming distributaries. The Euphrates has often terminated near Nasiriyah into the Hammar Marshes as its flow slows. The Tigris can distribute some of its flow into the Central and Hawizeh marshes as it slows near Amarah. Downstream of Amarah though, several of its tributaries originating in Iran allow the Tigris' flow to increase and maintain a steady course thereafter. The three marshes combined once provided an intertwined environment, particularly during periods of flooding as the rivers overflowed.

Main Marshes.

Central Marshes.

The Central Marshes receive water from influxes of the Tigris's distributaries, namely the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar al-Kabir south of Amarah. The Tigris serves as the marshes' eastern boundary while the Euphrates serves as its southern boundary. Covering an area of, the marshes consist of reed beds and several permanent lakes including Umm al Binni lake. The Al-Zikri and Hawr Umm Al-Binni lakes are two of the notable lakes and are deep.

Hammar Marshes.

The Hammar Marshes is primarily fed by the Euphrates and lies south of it with a western extent to Nasiriyah, eastern border of the Shatt al-Arab and southern extent of Basrah. Normally, the marshes are a area of permanent marsh and lake but during period of flooding can extend to. In periods of flooding, water from the Central Marsh, fed by the Tigris can overflow and supply the marshes with water. Hammar Lake is the largest water body within the marsh and has an area of by, with depths ranging between-. In the summer, large portion of the marshes' and lake's shore are exposed, revealing islands that are used for agriculture.

Hawizeh Marshes.

The Hawizeh Marshes lie east of the Tigris and a portion lie in Iran. The Iranian side of the marshes, known as Hawr Al-Azim, is fed by the Karkheh River, while the Tigris distributaries Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla supply the Iraqi side, only with much less water than the Karkheh. During spring flooding, the Tigris may directly flow into the marshes. The marshes are drained by the Al-Kassarah. This river plays a critical role in maintaining the Al-Hawizeh marshes as a flow-through system and preventing it from becoming a closed saline basin.  The marshes are from north to south and about from east to west, covering a total area of. Permanent portions of the marshes include the northern and central portion while the southern part is generally seasonal. Moderately dense vegetation can be found in the permanent areas along with large -deep lakes in the northern portions. As the Hawizeh Marshes fared the best during the draining, they can facilitate the reproduction of flora, fauna and other species in Central and Hammar marshes.

Draining and subsequent restoration efforts.

The draining of Mesopotamian Marshes began in the 1950s with the Central Marshes and gradually accelerated as it affected the two other main marshes until early in the 21st century with the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The draining of the marshes was intended at first to reclaim land for agriculture along with oil exploration but later served as a punishment for Shia Arabs in response to the 1991 uprisings in Iraq. The draining of the marshes was largely due to dams, dykes and other diversion structures constructed into Iraq but were exacerbated by upstream dam construction in Syria and Turkey.  While the British engineers worked with the Iraqi government, Frank Haigh developed the Haigh Report in 1951. His report recommended a complex of canals, sluices, and dykes on the lower portions of both the Tigris and Euphrates. These water control structures could be used to drain marshes therefore creating profitable farmland. In 1953, construction began on the Third River or Main Outfall Drain and later the Saddam River which would drain water from the Central Marsh under the Euphrates and through a canal eventually into the Persian Gulf. Work on the Third River and other draining projects, particularly for the Hawizeh Marsh, quickly progressed in the 1980s during the Iran–Iraq War in order to afford Iraqis a tactical advantage in the marshes. Part of the Hammar Marshes was also drained in 1985 to clear area for oil exploration.  After the 1991 Gulf War, Shia Muslims in southern Iraq rebelled against Saddam Hussein who in turned crushed the rebellion and further accelerated the draining of the Central and Hammar marshes in order to evict Shias that have taken refuge in the marshes. With the exception of the Nasiriyah Drainage Pump Station, the Third River was completed in 1992 and two other canals were constructed south and nearly parallel to it. One, the Mother of Battles canal, was constructed to divert the flow of the Euphrates south below the Hammar Marsh. Second, the 240 km Loyalty to Leader Canal also known as the Basrah Sweetwater Canal, which originates in the lower Euphrates region, collected water from the terminus of the Gharraf River and diverted it under the Euphrates, away from the Central Marshes and below the Hammar Marshes towards Basrah. The Glory River was also constructed to divert water from the Tigris's southern-flowing distributaries east and parallel along the Tigris until they reached the Euphrates near its confluence with the Tigris at Qurna.  By the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the marshes had lost 90% of their size from the previous decades. The Central and Hammar Marshes were nearly drained and only 35% of the Hawizeh Marshes remained. After the invasion, locals destroyed dikes. The combined efforts of the Iraq government, United Nations, U.S. agencies and record precipitation in Turkey helped begin a restoration of the marshes. As of late 2006, 58% of the original marshes had been reinundated. The Nasiriyah Drainage Pump Station was completed in 2009, affording the Third River to be used for agricultural drainage. However, recent drought and continued upstream dam construction and operation in Turkey, Syria and Iran have reduced the marshes to around 30% of their original size by 2009.  From a high of around 75 percent restored in 2008, the wetlands receded to 58 percent of their average pre-drained level by spring 2015. Meanwhile, as the water level fell, salinity increased to 15,000 parts per million in some areas, up from 300 to 500 ppm in the 1980s. "When the river water levels were high, the low-saline Tigris washed over the marshes, cleansed them, and pushed the salty residue into the saltier Euphrates, which flows along the western edge. But now the Tigris is so low that the Euphrates provides most of the water in the marshes."

Ecology.

The marshes are home to 40 species of bird and several species of fish. It demarcates a range limit for a number of bird species. Flamingos, pelicans and herons inhabit the marshes. The marshes were once home to a large number of birds and the stopover for many other migratory birds as they traveled from Siberia to Africa. At risk are 40% to 60% of the world's marbled teal population that live in the marshes, along with 90% of the world's population of Basra reed-warbler. Also at risk are the sacred ibis and African darter. A subspecies of the hooded crow known as the Mesopotamian crow is found in this part of southern Iraq. Seven species are now extinct from the marshes, including the Indian crested porcupine, the Bunn's short-tailed bandicoot rat and the marsh gray wolf. The draining of the marshes caused a significant decline in bioproductivity; following the Multi-National Force overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime, water flow to the marshes was restored and the ecosystem has begun to recover.  Considerable confusion has existed relating to the status of the Eurasian otter and the endemic "maxwelli" subspecies of the smooth-coated otter in the region, but recent surveys have confirmed that both still survive.

The Mesopotamian Marshes or Iraqi Marshes are a wetland area located in southern Iraq and partially in southwestern Iran and Kuwait. Historically the marshlands, mainly composed of the separate but adjacent Central, Hawizeh and Hammar Marshes, used to be the largest wetland ecosystem of Western Eurasia. It is a rare aquatic landscape in the desert, providing habitat for the Marsh Arabs and important populations of wildlife. Draining of portions of the marshes began in the 1950s and continued through the 1970s to reclaim land for agriculture and oil exploration. However, in the late 1980s and 1990s, during the presidency of Saddam Hussein, this work was expanded and accelerated to evict Shia Muslims from the marshes. Before 2003, the marshes were drained to 10% of their original size. After the fall of Hussein's regime in 2003, the marshes have partially recovered but drought along with upstream dam construction and operation in Turkey, Syria and Iran have hindered the process. Since 2016 the Mesopotamian marshes have been listed as an UNESCO Heritage Site.

Mezopotamská nížina neboli Dolní Mezopotámie je aluviální nížina, která se rozkládá především na území Iráku, ale zasahuje i do Íránu a Kuvajtu. Byla vytvořena středním a dolním tokem řek Eufrat a Tigris a také jejich společným tokem Šatt al-Arab, ústícím do Perského zálivu. Ostatní místní toky jsou krátké a málo vodné, ústí často do bezodtokých pánví a v letním období vysychají a vytvářejí tak typická vádí. Říční síť je zde slabě vyvinuta.