Physical structure.

Tropical cyclones are areas of relatively low pressure in the troposphere, with the largest pressure perturbations occurring at low altitudes near the surface. On Earth, the pressures recorded at the centers of tropical cyclones are among the lowest ever observed at sea level. The environment near the center of tropical cyclones is warmer than the surroundings at all altitudes, thus they are characterized as "warm core" systems.

Wind field.

The near-surface wind field of a tropical cyclone is characterized by air rotating rapidly around a center of circulation while also flowing radially inwards. At the outer edge of the storm, air may be nearly calm; however, due to the Earth's rotation, the air has non-zero absolute angular momentum. As air flows radially inward, it begins to rotate cyclonically (counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere) to conserve angular momentum. At an inner radius, air begins to ascend to the top of

Eye and center.

At the center of a mature tropical cyclone, air sinks rather than rises. For a sufficiently strong storm, air may sink over a layer deep enough to suppress cloud formation, thereby creating a clear "eye". Weather in the eye is normally calm and free of clouds, although the sea may be extremely violent. The eye is normally circular and is typically in diameter, though eyes as small as and as large as have been observed.  The cloudy outer edge of the eye is called the "eyewall". The eyewall typically expands outward with height, resembling an arena football stadium; this phenomenon is sometimes referred to as

Rapid intensification.

On occasion, tropical cyclones may undergo a process known as rapid intensification, a period in which the maximum sustained winds of a tropical cyclone increase by 30 knots within 24 hours. For rapid intensification to occur, several conditions must be in place. Water temperatures must be extremely high (near or above 30 °C, 86 °F), and water of

Size.

There are a variety of metrics commonly used to measure storm size. The most common metrics include the radius of maximum wind, the radius of 34-knot wind (i.e. gale force), the radius of outermost closed isobar (ROCI), and the radius of vanishing wind. An additional metric is the radius at which the cyclone's relative vorticity field decreases to 1×10 s.  On Earth, tropical cyclones span a large range of sizes, from as measured by the radius of vanishing wind. They are largest on average in the northwest Pacific Ocean basin and smallest in the northeastern Pacific Ocean basin. If

Physics and energetics.

The three-dimensional wind field in a tropical cyclone can be separated into two components: a "primary circulation" and a "secondary circulation". The primary circulation is the rotational part of the flow; it is purely circular. The secondary circulation is the overturning (in-up-out-down) part of the flow; it is in the radial and vertical directions. The primary circulation is larger in magnitude, dominating the surface wind field, and is responsible for the majority of the damage a storm causes, while the secondary circulation is slower but governs the energetics of the storm.

Secondary circulation: a Carnot heat engine.

A tropical cyclone's primary energy source is heat from the evaporation of water from the surface of a warm ocean, previously heated by sunshine. The energetics of the system may be idealized as an atmospheric Carnot heat engine. First, inflowing air near the surface acquires heat primarily via evaporation of water (i.e. latent heat) at the temperature of the warm ocean surface (during evaporation, the ocean cools and the air warms). Second, the warmed air rises and cools within the eyewall while conserving total heat content (latent heat is simply converted to sensible heat during

Primary circulation: rotating winds.

The primary rotating flow in a tropical cyclone results from the conservation of angular momentum by the secondary circulation. Absolute angular momentum on a rotating planet formula_1 is given by  where formula_3 is the Coriolis parameter, formula_4 is the azimuthal (i.e. rotating) wind speed, and formula_5 is the radius to the axis of rotation. The first term on the right hand side is the component of planetary angular momentum that projects onto the local vertical (i.e. the axis of rotation). The second term on the right hand side is the relative angular momentum of the circulation itself

Maximum potential intensity.

Due to surface friction, the inflow only partially conserves angular momentum. Thus, the sea surface lower boundary acts as both a source (evaporation) and sink (friction) of energy for the system. This fact leads to the existence of a theoretical upper bound on the strongest wind speed that a tropical cyclone can attain. Because evaporation increases linearly with wind speed (just as climbing out of a pool feels much colder on a windy day), there is a positive feedback on energy input into the system known as the Wind-Induced Surface Heat Exchange (WISHE) feedback. This feedback is offset when frictional dissipation, which increases with the cube of the wind speed, becomes sufficiently large. This

Derivation.

A tropical cyclone may be viewed as a heat engine that converts input heat energy from the surface into mechanical energy that can be used to do mechanical work against surface friction. At equilibrium, the rate of net energy production in the system must equal the rate of energy loss due to frictional dissipation at the surface, i.e.  The rate of energy loss per unit surface area from surface friction, formula_19, is given by  where formula_21 is the density of near-surface air ([kg/m]) and formula_22 is the near surface wind speed ([m/s]).  The rate of energy production per unit surface area, formula_23 is given by  where formula_25 is the heat engine efficiency and formula_26 is the total rate of heat input into the system per unit surface area. Given that a tropical cyclone may be idealized as a, the Carnot heat engine efficiency is given by  Heat (enthalpy) per unit mass is given by  where formula_29 is the heat capacity of air, formula_30 is air temperature, formula_31 is the latent heat of vaporization,

Characteristic values and variability on Earth.

On Earth, a characteristic temperature for formula_9 is 300 K and for formula_10 is 200 K, corresponding to a Carnot efficiency of formula_51. The ratio of the surface exchange coefficients, formula_52, is typically taken to be 1. However, observations suggest that the drag coefficient formula_13 varies with wind speed and may decrease at high wind speeds within the boundary layer of a mature hurricane. Additionally, formula_12 may vary at high wind speeds due to the effect of sea spray on evaporation within the boundary layer.  A characteristic value of the maximum potential intensity, formula_7, is. However, this quantity varies significantly across space and time,

Interaction with the upper ocean.

The passage of a tropical cyclone over the ocean causes the upper layers of the ocean to cool substantially, which can influence subsequent cyclone development. This cooling is primarily caused by wind-driven mixing of cold water from deeper in the ocean with the warm surface waters. This effect results in a negative feedback process that can inhibit further development or lead to

Major basins and related warning centers.

There are six Regional Specialized Meteorological Centres (RSMCs) worldwide. These organizations are designated by the World Meteorological Organization and are responsible for tracking and issuing bulletins, warnings, and advisories about tropical cyclones in their designated areas of responsibility. Also, there are six Tropical Cyclone Warning Centres (TCWCs) that provide information to smaller regions.  The RSMCs and TCWCs are not the only organizations that provide information about tropical cyclones to the public. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) issues advisories

Formation.

Worldwide, tropical cyclone activity peaks in late summer, when the difference between temperatures aloft and sea surface temperatures is the greatest. However, each particular basin has its own seasonal patterns. On a worldwide scale, May is the least active month, while September is the most active month. November is the only month in which all the tropical cyclone basins are in season.

Times.

In the Northern Atlantic Ocean, a distinct cyclone season occurs from June 1 to November 30, sharply peaking from late August through September. The statistical peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10. The Northeast Pacific Ocean has a broader period of activity, but in a similar time frame to the

Factors.

The formation of tropical cyclones is the topic of extensive ongoing research and is still not fully understood. While six factors appear to be generally necessary, tropical cyclones may occasionally form without meeting all of the following conditions. In most situations, water temperatures of at least are needed down to a depth of at least ; waters of this temperature cause the overlying atmosphere to be unstable enough to sustain convection and thunderstorms. For tropical transitioning cyclones (i.e. Hurricane Ophelia (2017)) a water temperature of at least has been suggested.  Another

Locations.

Most tropical cyclones form in a worldwide band of thunderstorm activity near the equator, referred to as the Intertropical Front (ITF), the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), or the monsoon trough. Another important source of atmospheric instability is found in tropical waves, which contribute to the development of about 85% of intense tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean and

Movement.

The movement of a tropical cyclone (i.e. its "track") is typically approximated as the sum of two terms: "steering" by the background environmental wind and "beta drift".

Environmental steering.

Environmental steering is the dominant term. Conceptually, it represents the movement of the storm due to prevailing winds and other wider environmental conditions, similar to "leaves carried along by a stream". Physically, the winds, or flow field, in the vicinity of a tropical cyclone may be treated as having two parts: the flow associated with the storm itself, and the large-scale background flow of the environment in which the storm takes place. In this way, tropical cyclone motion may be represented to first-order simply as advection of the storm by the local environmental

Beta drift.

In addition to environmental steering, a tropical cyclone will tend to drift slowly poleward and westward, a motion known as "beta drift". This motion is due to the superposition of a vortex, such as a tropical cyclone, onto an environment in which the Coriolis force varies with latitude, such as on a sphere or beta plane. It is induced indirectly by the

Multiple storm interaction.

A third component of motion that occurs relatively infrequently involves the interaction of multiple tropical cyclones. When two cyclones approach one another, their centers will begin orbiting cyclonically about a point between the two systems. Depending on their

Interaction with the mid-latitude westerlies.

Though a tropical cyclone typically moves from east to west in the tropics, its track may shift poleward and eastward either as it moves west of the subtropical ridge axis or else if it interacts

Landfall.

The landfall of a tropical cyclone occurs when a storm's surface center (eye if a stronger cyclone) moves over a coastline. Storm conditions may be experienced on the coast and inland hours before landfall; in fact, a

Changes caused by El Niño–Southern Oscillation.

Most tropical cyclones form on the side of the subtropical ridge closer to the equator, then move poleward past the ridge axis before recurving into the main belt of the Westerlies. When the subtropical ridge position shifts due to El Niño, so will the preferred tropical cyclone tracks. Areas west of Japan and Korea tend to experience much fewer September–November tropical cyclone impacts during El Niño

Dissipation.

Factors.

A tropical cyclone can cease to have tropical characteristics in several different ways. One such way is if it moves over land, thus depriving it of the warm water it needs to power itself, quickly losing strength. Most strong storms lose their strength very rapidly after landfall and become disorganized areas of low pressure within a day or two, or evolve into extratropical cyclones. There is a chance a tropical cyclone could regenerate if it managed to get back over open warm water, such as with Hurricane Ivan. If it remains over mountains for even a short time, weakening will accelerate. Many storm fatalities occur in mountainous terrain, when diminishing cyclones unleash their moisture as torrential rainfall. This rainfall may lead to deadly floods and mudslides, as was the case with Hurricane Mitch around Honduras in October 1998. Without warm surface water, the storm cannot survive.  A tropical cyclone can dissipate when it moves over waters significantly below. This will cause the storm to lose its tropical

Artificial dissipation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the United States government attempted to weaken hurricanes through Project Stormfury by seeding selected storms with silver iodide. It was thought that the seeding would cause supercooled water in the outer rainbands to freeze, causing the inner eyewall to collapse and thus reducing the winds. The winds of Hurricane Debbie—a hurricane seeded in Project Stormfury—dropped as much as 31%, but Debbie regained its strength after each of two seeding forays. In an earlier episode in 1947, disaster struck when a hurricane east of Jacksonville, Florida promptly changed its course after being seeded, and smashed into Savannah, Georgia. Because there was so much uncertainty about the behavior of these storms, the federal government would not approve seeding operations unless the hurricane had a less

Effects.

Tropical cyclones out at sea cause large waves, heavy rain, flood and high winds, disrupting international shipping and, at times, causing shipwrecks. Tropical cyclones stir up water, leaving a cool wake behind them, which causes the region to be less favorable for subsequent tropical cyclones. On land, strong winds can damage or destroy vehicles, buildings, bridges, and other outside objects, turning loose debris into deadly flying projectiles. The storm surge, or the increase in sea level due to the cyclone, is typically the worst effect from landfalling tropical cyclones, historically resulting in 90% of tropical cyclone deaths. The broad rotation of a landfalling tropical cyclone, and vertical wind shear at its periphery, spawns tornadoes. Tornadoes can also be spawned as a result of eyewall mesovortices, which persist until landfall.  Over the past two centuries, tropical cyclones have been responsible for the deaths of about 1.9 million people worldwide. Large areas of standing water caused by flooding lead to infection, as well as contributing to mosquito-borne illnesses. Crowded evacuees in shelters increase the risk of disease propagation. Tropical cyclones significantly interrupt infrastructure, leading to power outages, bridge destruction, and the hampering of reconstruction efforts. On average, the Gulf and east coasts of the United States suffer approximately US$5 billion (1995 US $) in cyclone damage every year. The majority (83%) of tropical cyclone damage is caused by severe hurricanes, category 3 or greater. However, category 3 or greater hurricanes only account for about one-fifth of cyclones that make landfall every year.  Although cyclones take an enormous toll in lives and personal property, they may be important factors in the precipitation regimes of places they impact, as they may bring much-needed precipitation to otherwise dry regions. Tropical cyclones also help maintain the global heat balance by moving warm, moist tropical air to the middle latitudes and polar regions, and by regulating the thermohaline circulation through upwelling. The storm surge and winds of hurricanes may be destructive to human-made structures, but they also stir up the waters of coastal estuaries, which are typically important fish breeding locales. Tropical cyclone destruction spurs redevelopment, greatly increasing local property values.  When hurricanes surge upon shore from the ocean, salt is introduced to many freshwater areas and raises the salinity levels too high for some habitats to withstand. Some are able to cope with the salt and recycle it back into the ocean, but others can not release the extra surface water quickly enough or do not have a large enough freshwater source to replace it. Because of this, some species of plants and vegetation die due to the excess salt. In addition, hurricanes can carry toxins and acids onto shore when they make landfall. The flood water can pick up the toxins from different spills and contaminate the land that it passes over. The toxins are very harmful to the people and animals in the area, as well as the environment around them. The flooding water can also spark many dangerous oil spills.

Observation and forecasting.

Observation.

Intense tropical cyclones pose a particular observation challenge, as they are a dangerous oceanic phenomenon, and weather stations, being relatively sparse, are rarely available on the site of the storm itself. In general, surface observations are available only if the storm is passing over an island or a coastal area, or if there is a nearby ship. Real-time measurements are usually taken in the periphery of the cyclone, where conditions are less catastrophic and its true strength cannot be evaluated. For this reason, there are teams of meteorologists that move into the path of tropical cyclones to help evaluate their strength at the point of landfall.  Tropical cyclones far from land are tracked by weather satellites capturing visible and infrared images from

Forecasting.

Because of the forces that affect tropical cyclone tracks, accurate track predictions depend on determining the position and strength of high- and low-pressure areas, and predicting how those areas will change during the life of a tropical system. The deep layer mean flow, or average wind through the depth of the troposphere, is considered the best tool in determining track direction and speed. If storms are significantly sheared, use of wind speed measurements at a lower altitude, such as at the 70 kPa pressure surface ( above sea level) will produce better predictions. Tropical forecasters also

Classifications, terminology, and naming.

Intensity classifications.

Around the world, tropical cyclones are classified in different ways, based on the location, the structure of the system and its intensity. For example, within the Northern Atlantic and Eastern Pacific basins, a tropical cyclone with wind speeds of over is called a hurricane, while it is called

Identification codes.

Tropical cyclones that develop around the world are assigned an identification code consisting of a two-digit number and suffix letter by the warning centers that monitor them.

Naming.

The practice of using names to identify tropical cyclones goes back many years, with systems named after places or things they hit before the formal start of naming. The system currently used provides positive identification of severe weather systems in a brief form, that is readily understood and recognized by the public. The credit for the first usage of personal names for weather systems is generally given to the Queensland Government Meteorologist Clement Wragge who named systems between 1887 and 1907. This system of naming weather systems subsequently fell into disuse for several years after Wragge retired, until it was revived in the latter part of World War II for the Western Pacific. Formal naming schemes have subsequently been introduced for the North and

Notable tropical cyclones.

Tropical cyclones that cause extreme destruction are rare, although when they occur, they can cause great amounts of damage or thousands of fatalities.  The 1970 Bhola cyclone is considered to be the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, which killed around 300,000 people, after striking the densely populated Ganges Delta region of Bangladesh on November 13, 1970. Its powerful storm surge was responsible for the high death toll. The North Indian cyclone basin has historically been the deadliest basin. Elsewhere, Typhoon Nina killed nearly 100,000 in China in 1975 due to a 100-year flood that caused 62 dams including the Banqiao Dam to fail. The Great Hurricane of 1780 is the deadliest North Atlantic hurricane on record, killing about 22,000 people in the Lesser Antilles. A tropical cyclone does not need to be particularly strong to cause memorable damage, primarily if the deaths are from rainfall or mudslides. Tropical Storm Thelma in November 1991 killed thousands in the Philippines, although the strongest typhoon to ever make landfall on record was Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013, causing widespread devastation in Eastern Visayas, and killing at least 6,300 people in the Philippines alone. In 1982, the unnamed tropical depression that eventually became Hurricane Paul killed around 1,000 people in Central America.  Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Katrina are estimated to be the costliest tropical cyclones to impact the United States mainland, each causing damage estimated at $125 billion. Harvey killed at least 90 people in August 2017 after making landfall in Texas as a low-end Category 4 hurricane. Hurricane Katrina is estimated as the second-costliest tropical cyclone worldwide, causing $81.2 billion in property damage (2008 USD) alone, with overall damage estimates exceeding $100 billion (2005 USD). Katrina killed at least 1,836 people after striking Louisiana and Mississippi as a major hurricane in August 2005. Hurricane Maria is the third most destructive tropical cyclone in U.S.

Long-term activity trends.

While the number of storms in the Atlantic has increased since 1995, there is no obvious global trend; the annual number of tropical cyclones worldwide remains about 87 ± 10 (Between 77 and 97 tropical cyclones annually). However, the ability of climatologists to make long-term data analysis in certain basins is limited by the lack of reliable historical data in some basins, primarily in the Southern Hemisphere, while noting that a significant downward trend in tropical cyclone numbers has been identified for the region near Australia (based on high quality data and accounting for the influence of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation). In spite of that, there is some evidence that the intensity of hurricanes is increasing. Kerry Emanuel stated, "Records of hurricane activity worldwide show an upswing of both the maximum wind speed in and the duration of hurricanes. The energy released by the average hurricane (again considering all hurricanes worldwide) seems to have increased by around 70% in the past 30 years or so, corresponding to about a 15% increase in the maximum wind speed and a 60% increase in storm lifetime."  Atlantic storms are becoming more destructive financially, as evidenced by the fact that the ten most expensive storms in United States history have occurred since 1990. According to the World Meteorological Organization, "recent increase in societal impact from tropical cyclones has been caused largely by rising concentrations of population and infrastructure in coastal regions." Political scientist Pielke "et al." (2008) normalized mainland US hurricane damage from 1900–2005 to 2005 values and found no remaining trend of increasing absolute damage. The 1970s and 1980s were notable because of the extremely low amounts of damage compared to other decades. The decade 1996–2005 was the second most damaging among the past 11 decades, with only the decade 1926–1935 surpassing its costs.  Often in part because of the threat of hurricanes, many coastal regions had sparse population between major ports until the advent of automobile tourism; therefore, the most severe portions of hurricanes striking the coast may have gone unmeasured in some instances. The combined effects of ship destruction and remote landfall severely limit the number of intense hurricanes in the official record before the era of hurricane reconnaissance aircraft and satellite meteorology. Although the record shows a distinct increase in the number and strength of intense hurricanes, therefore, experts regard the early data as suspect.  The number and strength of Atlantic hurricanes may undergo a 50–70 year cycle, also known as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Nyberg "et al." reconstructed Atlantic major hurricane activity back to the early 18th century and found five periods averaging 3–5 major hurricanes per year and lasting 40–60 years, and six other averaging 1.5–2.5 major hurricanes per year and lasting 10–20 years. These periods are associated with the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Throughout, a decadal oscillation related to solar irradiance was responsible for enhancing/dampening the number of major hurricanes by 1–2 per year.  Although more common since 1995, few above-normal hurricane seasons occurred during 1970–94. Destructive hurricanes struck frequently from 1926 to 1960, including many major New England hurricanes. Twenty-one Atlantic tropical storms formed in 1933, a record only recently exceeded in 2005, which saw 28 storms. Tropical hurricanes occurred infrequently during the seasons of 1900–25; however, many intense storms formed during 1870–99. During the 1887 season, 19 tropical storms formed, of which a record 4 occurred after November 1 and 11 strengthened into hurricanes. Few hurricanes occurred in the 1840s to 1860s; however, many struck in the early 19th century, including an 1821 storm that made a direct hit on New York City. Some historical weather experts say these storms may have been as high as Category 4 in strength.  These active hurricane seasons predated satellite coverage of the Atlantic basin. Before the satellite era began in 1960, tropical storms or hurricanes went undetected unless a reconnaissance aircraft encountered one, a ship reported a voyage through the storm, or a storm hit land in a populated area.  Proxy records based on paleotempestological research have revealed that major hurricane activity along the Gulf of Mexico coast varies on timescales of centuries to millennia. Few major hurricanes struck the Gulf coast during 3000–1400 BC and again during the most recent millennium. These quiescent intervals were separated by a hyperactive period during 1400 BC and 1000 AD, when the Gulf coast was struck frequently by catastrophic hurricanes and their landfall probabilities increased by 3–5 times. This millennial-scale variability has been attributed to long-term shifts in the position of the Azores High, which may also be linked to changes in the strength of the North Atlantic oscillation.  According to the Azores High hypothesis, an anti-phase pattern is expected to exist between the Gulf of Mexico coast and the Atlantic coast. During the quiescent periods, a more northeasterly position of the Azores High would result in more hurricanes being steered towards the Atlantic coast. During the hyperactive period, more hurricanes were steered towards the Gulf coast as the Azores High was shifted to a more southwesterly position near the Caribbean. Such a displacement of the Azores High is consistent with paleoclimatic evidence that shows an abrupt onset of a drier climate in Haiti around 3200 C years BP, and a change towards more humid conditions in the Great Plains during the late-Holocene as more moisture was pumped up the Mississippi Valley through the Gulf coast. Preliminary data from the northern Atlantic coast seem to support the Azores High hypothesis. A 3000-year proxy record from a coastal lake in Cape Cod suggests that hurricane activity increased significantly during the past 500–1000 years, just as the Gulf coast was amid a quiescent period of the last millennium.

Related cyclone types.

In addition to tropical cyclones, there are two other classes of cyclones within the spectrum of cyclone types. These kinds of cyclones, known as extratropical cyclones and subtropical cyclones, can be stages a tropical cyclone passes through during its formation or dissipation. An "extratropical cyclone" is a storm that derives energy from horizontal temperature differences, which are typical in higher latitudes. A tropical cyclone can become extratropical as it moves toward higher latitudes if its energy source changes from heat released by condensation

Popular culture.

In popular culture, tropical cyclones have made several appearances in different types of media, including films, books, television, music, and electronic games. These media often portray tropical cyclones that are either entirely fictional or based on real events. For example, George Rippey Stewart's "Storm", a best-seller published in 1941, is thought to have influenced meteorologists on their decision to assign female names to Pacific tropical cyclones. Another example is the hurricane in "The Perfect Storm", which describes the sinking of the "Andrea Gail" by the 1991 Perfect Storm. Hypothetical hurricanes have been featured in parts of the plots of series such as "The Simpsons", "Invasion", "Family Guy", "Seinfeld", "Dawson's Creek", "Burn Notice" and "". The 2004 film "The Day After Tomorrow" includes several mentions of actual tropical cyclones and features fantastical "hurricane-like", albeit non-tropical, Arctic storms.

A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain or squalls. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by different names, including hurricane (), typhoon (), tropical storm, cyclonic storm, tropical depression, and simply cyclone. A hurricane is a tropical cyclone that occurs in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean, and a typhoon occurs in the northwestern Pacific Ocean; in the south Pacific or Indian Ocean, comparable storms are referred to simply as "tropical cyclones" or "severe cyclonic storms".

Tropická cyklóna je atmosférický útvar charakteru cyklóny (tlakové níže) v podobě obrovského víru s charakteristickým okem ve středu. Jedná se o rozsáhlý rotující bouřkový systém s velmi nízkým tlakem. Velikost se pohybuje od 100 do 2000 km v průměru a rychlost větru může dosáhnout i 300 km/h. Tropické cyklóny vznikají v tropických oblastech, nikoliv však přímo v oblasti rovníku (důvod viz kapitola "Fyzikální struktura"). Hlavním motorem tropických cyklón je moře prohřáté do určité hloubky a nad určitou teplotu. Proto také dostane-li se cyklóna nad pevninu, výrazně oslabí nebo zcela zanikne. V různých oblastech světa se tropická cyklóna označuje místními názvy: cyklón v Indii a v Austrálii, hurikán v Atlantském oceánu, tajfun v jihovýchodní Asii, apod.


History.

Drafting.

The drafting for European Constitution began in a call for a new debate on the future of Europe at the Laeken European Council in December 2001. A European Convention was founded shortly afterward which was chaired by former French President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and composed of two Members of Parliament (generally one from the governing majority and one from the opposition) of each Member State and applicant state, 16 MEPs, 2 members of the European Commission and a representative from each government. It met in public. Giscard d'Estaing proposed to draft a Constitution. Romano Prodi, the President of the European Commission backed a draft text, called the 'Penelope Project', which contained a deeper integration of the countries and a clearer institutional model.  After protracted negotiations in the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) during the Italian presidency, disputes arose over the proposed framework for qualified majority voting: the final text of the TCE was settled in June 2004 under the Irish presidency.

Signing.

The "Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe" was signed in Rome on 29 October 2004 by 53 senior political figures from the 25 member states of the European Union. In most cases heads of state designated plenipotentiaries to sign the treaty, but some presidents also signed on behalf of states which were republics. Most designated plenipotentiaries were prime ministers and foreign ministers.

Ratification.

On 12 January 2005 the European Parliament voted a legally non-binding resolution in support of the Constitution by 500 votes in favour to 137 votes against, with 40 abstentions.  Before an EU treaty can enter into force, it must be ratified by all member states. Ratification takes different forms in each country, depending on its traditions, constitutional arrangements and political processes. Most member states ratify EU treaties following parliamentary votes, while some — notably Ireland and Denmark — sometimes hold referendums, in Ireland's case where the treaty requires a constitutional amendment as all amendments have to be approved by referendum. As a reaction to what was seen as the novel nature of the Constitution, many advocates and opponents of the Constitution argued that it should be subjected to referendums across the European Union.  On 20 April 2004 then British prime minister Tony Blair unexpectedly announced an intention to hold a referendum, a proposal which he had previously rejected. A further seven member states announced or had already announced that they would hold referendums on the Constitution, these being Denmark, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.  Spain was the first country to hold a referendum on the Constitution. On 20 February 2005, Spanish voters backed the treaty with 76% voting in favour to 24% against, on a turnout of 43%.  On 29 May 2005 the French people rejected the Constitution by margin of 55% to 45% on a turnout of 69%. On 1 June, the Dutch rejected the constitution by a margin of 61% to 39% on a turnout of 62%.  Notwithstanding the rejection in France and the Netherlands, Luxembourg held a referendum on 10 July 2005 approving the Constitution by 57% to 43%. It was the last referendum to be held on the Constitution as all of the other member states that had proposed to hold referendums cancelled them.

Post-rejection.

After the French and Dutch referendum results European leaders decided to hold a "period of reflection" on what to do next. As part of this reflection period a "group of wise men" was set up to consider possible courses of action. This group of high-level European politicians – former prime ministers, ministers and members of the European Commission – first met on 30 September 2006 in Rome.  On 4 June 2007, this group, known as the Amato Group, presented its report. They proposed to establish a new Inter-Governmental Conference with a view to writing a new treaty which would rewrite the Maastricht Treaty, amend the Treaty of Rome and give the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union a legally binding status. The new treaty would be based on the first and fourth parts of the Constitution, the rest of the Constitution's changes being achieved through amendments to the Treaty of Rome.  In the June 2007 European summit meeting, Member States agreed to abandon the constitution and to amend the existing treaties, which would remain in force. They also agreed a detailed mandate for a new intergovernmental conference to negotiate a new treaty containing such amendments to the existing treaties (primarily the Treaty of Rome and the Treaty of Maastricht). These negotiations were completed by the end of the year. The new treaty, which had previously been referred to as the "Reform Treaty", became the Lisbon Treaty on its signing in Lisbon on 13 December 2007.

Content.

Institutional structure.

Under the TCE, the Council of the European Union would have been formally renamed the "Council of Ministers", which is already its informal title. The "General Affairs Council" would have been formally split from the "Foreign Affairs Council", which had informally held meetings separately since June 2002.  The TCE proposed the formal recognition of a flag, an anthem and a motto for the Union, although none of them were new.

Conferral, subsidiarity, proportionality.

The TCE would have reiterated several key principles of how the Union functions:  The TCE would have specified that the EU is a union of member states, and that all its competences (areas of responsibility) are voluntarily conferred on it by its member states according to the principle of conferral. The EU would have no competences by right, and thus any areas of policy not explicitly specified in the Constitution would have remained the domain of the sovereign member states (notwithstanding the ‘flexibility clause').  According to the TCE, the EU may act (i.e. make laws) only where its member states agree unanimously that actions by individual countries would be insufficient. This is the principle of subsidiarity, and is based on the legal and political principle that governmental decisions should be taken as close to the people as possible while still remaining effective. It is a main argument against claims that Europe limits national sovereignty but critics say that it is a principle to which lip service only is paid, and, in practice, the reach of the EU has been increasingly ambitious.

Primacy of Union law.

Amongst European countries, the European Court of Justice has consistently ruled since 1964 that EU law has primacy over the laws of member states in the areas where member states allow it to legislate. National law which is incompatible with an agreement already made at European level is deemed to be 'disapplied' when questions arise in courts. This controversial and fundamental principle of European Community law was first recognised in the case of "Van Gend en Loos" in 1963 which was followed in "Costa v. ENEL" in 1964.

A European Constitutional Court.

To enforce compliance of the European Law with the EU Constitution, especially for the Acts approved by the Parliament, the Council and the Commission, the Treaty doesn't mention a European Constitutional Court, nor names it explicitly with this traditional clause for the EU member States.  According to the European Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), natural or legal persons are allowed to: At the Article 256 it is stated that the "General Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine actions or proceedings brought against decisions of the specialised courts" and also it has "jurisdiction in all first instance actions or proceedings". Such a type includes direct "actions for annulment of acts of the institutions, bodies, offices or agencies of the EU or for failure to act brought against the institutions by individuals or legal persons"  Also the European Court of Human Rights (EHCR) has competence on EU constitutional matters. It enforces the EU Convention for Human Rights, promulgated and currently concerning with the Council of Europe: the Treaty of Lisbon states that the "agreement on Union accession to the Convention for Human Rights" shall be acted and approved unanimously by the Council, and "after obtaining the consent of the European Parliament". The Council -which is an unelective organism- shall adopt any decision without involving the Parliament, "where agreements relate exclusively to the common foreign and security policy". The EU Constitution mentions the EHCR explicitly only in the declarations as a regularly dialoguing counterpart of the Court of Justice, and with Czech Republic stressing that "nothing in the Charter may be interpreted as restricting or adversely affecting human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognised...by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms".  In the "Loizidou v. Turkey" case of 1995, the ECHR defined itself as "a constitutional instrument of European public order" and, in the Bosphorus case of 2005, as the (ultimate) competent Court when an EU member State "could as a matter of law exercise independent discretion". It also ruled that "the Contracting Parties to the ECHR are not prohibited from transferring sovereign power to an international organisation, but that they remain responsible for all acts and omissions of their organs, regardless whether the act or omission was a consequence of domestic law or of the necessity to comply with international legal obligations", providing that "Convention rights continue to be ‘secured’".

Common values of the Union's member states.

As stated in and, the Union is open to all European States that respect the member states' common values, namely:  Member states also declare that the following principles prevail in their society:  Some of these provisions would have been codified for the first time in the TCE.

Aims of the Union.

The aims of the EU were stated to be ():  In its relations with the wider world the Union's objectives are:

Scope of the Union.

Competences.

The EU has six "exclusive competences", policy areas in which member states have agreed that they should act exclusively through the EU and not legislate at a national level. The list remains unchanged from the previous treaties:  There are a number of "shared competences". These are areas in which member states agree to act individually only where they have not already acted through the EU, or where the EU has ceased to act (though these are areas where member states may act both nationally and through the EU if they wish). Three new competences have been added to those in previous treaties.  There are a number of areas where the EU may take only "supporting, coordinating or complementary action". In these areas, member states do not confer any competences on the Union, but they agree to act through the Union in order to support their work at national level. Again, three new competences have been added to those from previous treaties.

Flexibility clause.

The TCE's flexibility clause allows the EU to act in areas not made explicit in the TCE, but only:  This clause has been present in EU law since the original Treaty of Rome, which established the EEC in 1958.

Common foreign and security policy.

The EU is charged with defining and implementing a common foreign and security policy in due time. The wording of this article is taken from the existing Treaty on European Union.

New provisions.

Legal personality.

The TCE was going to state explicitly that the EU had a legal personality. Prior to this, the treaties explicitly stated that the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom each had their own separate legal personality, but remained silent over whether the European Union itself had one. They did mandate the EU "to assert its identity on the international scene", and permitted the European Union to enter into treaties. Brsakoska-Bazerkoska, and Choutheete and Ndoura argue that the EU had an implicit legal personality prior to the Treaty of Lisbon; the latter treaty also contained an express statement that the EU had a legal personality.

New competences.

The TCE would have conferred upon the EU as new'shared competences' the areas of territorial cohesion, energy, and space. These are areas where the EU may act alongside its individual member states. The EU has conferred upon it as new areas of'supporting, coordinating or complementary action' the areas of tourism, sport, and administrative co-operation.

Criminal justice proceedings.

Member states would have continued to co-operate in some areas of criminal judicial proceedings where they agree to do so, as at present. Under the TCE, seven new areas of co-operation would have been added:

Solidarity clause.

The new solidarity clause of the TCE specifies that any member state which falls victim to a terrorist attack or other disaster will receive assistance from other member states, if it requests it. The type of assistance to be offered is not specified. Instead, the arrangements will be decided by the Council of Ministers should the situation arise.

European Public Prosecutor.

Provision exists for the creation of a European Public Prosecutor's Office, if all member states agree to it and if the European Parliament gives its consent.

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The TCE includes a copy of the Charter already agreed to by all EU member states. This is included in the Constitution so that EU institutions themselves are obliged to conform to the same standards of fundamental rights. At the time of the Charter's original agreement, the British Government said that it did not have binding effect. Incorporation into TCE would have put its importance beyond doubt.

Simplification.

Simplified jargon and legal instruments.

The TCE made an effort to simplify jargon and reduce the number of EU legal instruments. However, it is a long document couched in technical terms, which proved unpopular when presented (for example) to French voters in their referendum on the TCE.  The TCE unifies legal instruments across areas of policy (referred to as pillars of the European Union in previous treaties). Specifically:

Position of Union Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Under the TCE, the role of High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy would be amalgamated with the role of the Commissioner for External Relations. This would create a new Union Minister for Foreign Affairs who would also be a Vice President of the Commission. This individual would be responsible for co-ordinating foreign policy across the Union, representing the EU abroad in areas where member states agree to speak with one voice.

Functioning of the institutions.

Qualified majority voting.

More day-to-day decisions in the Council of Ministers would be to be taken by qualified majority voting, requiring a 55% majority of members of the Council representing a 65% majority of citizens. (The 55% is raised to 72% when the Council acts on its own initiative rather than on a legislative proposal from the Commission or the Union Minister for Foreign Affairs.) The unanimous agreement of all member states would only be required for decisions on more sensitive issues, such as tax, social security, foreign policy and defence.

President of the European Council.

The six-month rotating Presidency of the European Council would switch to a chair chosen by the heads of government, in office for 21⁄2 years and renewable once. The role itself would remain administrative and non-executive, but rather than the Presidency being held by a member state as at present, it would be held by an individual elected by and accountable to the Council.

President of the Council of Ministers.

The six-month rotating Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which currently coincides with the Presidency of the European Council, would be changed to an 18-month rotating Presidency shared by a trio of member countries, in an attempt to provide more continuity. The exception would be the Council's Foreign Affairs configuration, which would be chaired by the newly created Union Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Smaller Commission.

The Commission would be reduced in size from 27 to 18 by the year 2014. There would be fewer Commissioners, with member states taking it in turn to nominate Commissioners two times out of three.

Further integration, amendment and withdrawal.

Enhanced co-operation.

There would have been a tightening of existing rules for 'enhanced cooperation', where some member states would have chosen to act together more closely and others not. A minimum of one third of member states would now be forced to participate in any enhanced cooperation, and the agreement of the European Parliament is needed. The option for enhanced cooperation would also be widened to all areas of agreed EU policy.

Treaty revisions.

Traditionally amendments to the EU treaties were considered in inter-governmental conferences in which the European Council would meet in long private sessions in order to reach unanimous agreement on the proposed changes. The Convention which wrote the draft constitutional treaty was quite different in this regard. It met in public and was composed of a mix of national and European politicians. The Constitution proposed that amendments to the Constitution would be drafted by a convention unless both the Council of Minister and the European Parliament agreed otherwise.  A simplified revision was created for changes which might be proposed to be made to Title III of Part III of the TCE on the internal policies and action of the Union. Changes to this Title could be made by a decision of the European Council subject to it being ratified by all member states.  The Constitution also proposed a general 'passerelle clause' () with which the European Council could agree to: in a specific policy area.  Although the Lisbon Treaty, was itself drafted behind closed doors, it adopted the amendment procedures proposed by the Constitution.

Withdrawal clause.

A new clause in the TCE provided for the unilateral withdrawal of any member state from the Union (clause I-60). Under this clause, when a country notifies the Council of its intent to withdraw, a settlement is agreed in the Council with the consent of Parliament. If negotiations are not agreed within two years, the country leaves anyway. An identical provision was subsequently inserted into the treaties by the Lisbon Treaty.

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union (EU). It would have replaced the existing European Union treaties with a single text, given legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and expanded Qualified Majority Voting into policy areas which had previously been decided by unanimity among member states.

Smlouva o Ústavě pro Evropu představuje návrh nového základního dokumentu Evropské unie, který má za cíl nahradit složitou strukturu smluv EU jediným právním předpisem. V návrhu byla také zapracována nová ustanovení a několik zásadních změn ve fungování Unie oproti předchozímu stavu. Tento dokument je nicméně mnohými považován za kontroverzní a je předmětem časté kritiky.


Legal status.

Around the world, attitudes towards prostitution and how and if it should be regulated vary considerably, and have varied over time. Part of the discussion impacts on whether the operation of brothels should be legal, and if so, to what sort of regulations they should be subjected.  On 2 December 1949, the United Nations General Assembly approved the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. The Convention came into effect on 25 July 1951 and by December 2013 had been ratified by 82 states. The Convention seeks to combat prostitution, which it regards as "incompatible with the dignity and worth of the human person." Parties to the Convention agreed to abolish regulation of individual prostitutes, and to ban brothels and procuring. Some countries not parties to the Convention also ban prostitution or the operation of brothels. Various United Nations commissions, however, have differing positions on the issue. For example, in 2012, a Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) convened by Ban Ki-moon and backed by United Nations Development Programme and UNAIDS, recommended decriminalization of brothels and procuring. In the European Union, there is no uniform policy and no consensus on the issue; and laws vary widely from country to country. Netherlands and Germany have the most liberal policies; in Sweden (and in Norway and Iceland outside the EU) the buying, but not selling, of sex, is illegal; in most former Communist countries the laws target the prostitutes; while in countries such as the UK (except Northern Ireland), Italy, and Spain the act of prostitution is not itself illegal, but soliciting, pimping and brothels are, making it difficult to engage in prostitution without breaking any law. The European Women's Lobby condemns prostitution as "an intolerable form of male violence" and supports the "Swedish model".  In February 2014, the members of the European Parliament voted in a non-binding resolution, (adopted by 343 votes to 139; with 105 abstentions), in favor of the "Swedish Model" of criminalizing the buying, but not the selling of sex.  Prostitution and the operation of brothels is illegal in many countries, though known illegal brothels may be tolerated or laws not strictly enforced. Such situations exist in many parts of the world, but the region most often associated with these policies is Asia. When brothels are illegal they may nevertheless operate in the guise of a legitimate business, such as massage parlors, saunas or spas.  In other places, prostitution itself may be legal, but many activities which surround it (such as operating a brothel, pimping, and soliciting in a public place) are illegal, often making it very difficult for people to engage in prostitution without breaking any law. This is the situation, for example, in the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.  In a few countries, prostitution and operating a brothel is legal and regulated. The degree of regulation varies widely by country. Most of these countries allow brothels, at least in theory, as they are considered to be less problematic than street prostitution. In parts of Australia, for example, brothels are legal and regulated. Regulation includes planning controls and licensing and registration requirements, and there may be other restrictions. However, the existence of licensed brothels does not stop illegal brothels from operating. According to a report in the Australian "Daily Telegraph", illegal brothels in Sydney in 2009 outnumbered licensed operations by four to one; while in Queensland only 10% of prostitution happens in licensed brothels, with the rest being either independent sex workers (which is legal) or illegal operations. The introduction of legal brothels in Queensland was to help improve the safety of sex workers, punters and the community at large and reduce crime. This is believed to have been successful in many ways in Queensland with The Viper Room being one of the most well known, clean, safe and most highly regard brothels in Brisbane and Queensland. The Netherlands has one of the most liberal prostitution policies in the world, and attracts sex tourists from many other countries. Amsterdam is well known for its red-light district and is a destination for sex tourism. Germany also has very liberal prostitution laws. The largest brothel in Europe is the Pascha in Cologne. Although the Dumas Hotel in Butte, Montana operated legally from 1890 until 1982, brothels are currently illegal throughout the United States, except in rural Nevada; prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal throughout the state. All forms of prostitution are illegal in Clark County, which contains the Las Vegas–Paradise metropolitan area.

History.

The earliest recorded mention of prostitution as an occupation appears in Sumerian records from ca. 2400 BCE and describes a temple-bordello operated by Sumerian priests in the city of Uruk. The 'kakum' or temple was dedicated to the goddess Ishtar and housed three grades of women. The first group performed only in the temple sex-rites; the second group had the run of the grounds and catered to its visitors as well; and the third and lowest class lived on the temple grounds but were free to seek out customers in the streets. In later years, sacred prostitution and similar classifications of females were known to have existed in Greece, Rome, India, China, and Japan.

Europe.

State brothels/bordellos with regulated prices existed in ancient Athens, created by the legendary lawmaker Solon. These brothels catered for a predominantly male clientele, with women of all ages and young men providing sexual services (see Prostitution in ancient Greece). In ancient Rome female slaves provided sexual services for soldiers, with brothels being located close to barracks and city walls. Brothels existed everywhere. The custom was to display lit candles to signal that they were open.  Before the appearance of effective contraception, infanticide was common in brothels. Unlike usual infanticide—where historically girls were more likely to be killed at birth— a brothel site at Ashkelon in Israel revealed that nearly all of the babies were boys. Cities first began setting up municipal brothels between 1350 and 1450 CE. Municipalities often owned, operated, and regulated the legal brothels. Governments would set aside certain streets where a keeper could open a brothel. These separate sections of town were the precursors to the so-called "red light districts". Not only did the towns restrict where a keeper could open a brothel, but they also put constraints on when the brothel could be open. For example, most brothels were forbidden to be open for business on Sunday and religious holidays. The reason for this is not completely clear. Some scholars believe these restrictions were enforced to make the prostitutes go to church but others argue that it was to keep parishioners in church and out of the brothels. Either way, it was a day of no revenue for the keeper.  Although brothels were set up as a sexual outlet for men, not all men were allowed to enter them. Clerics, married men, and Jews were prohibited. Often, foreigners such as sailors and traders were the main source of revenue. Local men who frequented the brothels mainly consisted of single men; laws restricting the patrons were not always enforced. Government officials or police would periodically do searches of the brothels to cut down on the number of unpermitted customers. However, since the government was so closely related to the church, common punishments were minor. These restrictions were put in place to protect the wives of married men from any sort of infection. Multiple restrictions were placed on the residents of brothels. One limitation prohibited prostitutes from borrowing money from her brothel keeper. Prostitutes paid high prices to the brothel keeper for the basic necessities of life: room and board, food, clothes, and toiletries. Room and board was often a price set by the local government but the price for everything else could add up to a common woman's entire earnings. Prostitutes were sometimes prohibited from having a special lover. Some regulations put on prostitutes were made to protect their clients. A woman was kicked out if she was found to have a sexually transmitted disease. Also, the prostitutes were not allowed to pull men into the brothel by their clothing, harass them in the street, or detain them over unpaid debts. Clothing worn by prostitutes was regulated as well and had to be distinguishable from that of respectable women. In some places, a prostitute had to have a yellow stripe on her clothing while in others red was the differentiating color. Other towns required harlots to don special headdresses or restricted the wardrobe of proper women. All restrictions placed on prostitutes were put in place not only to protect them but nearby citizens as well.  Even with all the regulations placed on legalized brothels and those people associated with the establishments, they were fated to be done away with. Because of a syphilis epidemic throughout Europe, many brothels were shut down during the end of the Middle Ages. This epidemic had been brought on by Spanish and French military pillages after the return of Christopher Columbus from the newly discovered Americas. The church and citizens alike feared that men who frequented brothels would bring the disease home and infect morally upright people.  From the 12th century, brothels in London were located in a district known as the Liberty of the Clink. This area was traditionally under the authority of the Bishop of Winchester, not the civil authorities. From 1161, the bishop was granted the power to license prostitutes and brothels in the district. This gave rise to the slang term "Winchester Goose" for a prostitute. Women who worked in these brothels were denied Christian burial and buried in the unconsecrated graveyard known as Cross Bones.  By the 16th century, the area was also home to many theatres, (including the Globe Theatre, associated with William Shakespeare), but brothels continued to thrive. A famous London brothel of the time was "Holland's Leaguer". Patrons supposedly included James I of England and his favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. It was located in a street that still bears its name and also inspired the 1631 play, "Holland's Leaguer". Charles I of England licensed a number of brothels including the Silver Cross Tavern in London, which retains its licence to modern day because it was never revoked.  The authorities of Medieval Paris followed the same path as those in London and attempted to confine prostitution to a particular district. Louis IX (1226–1270) designated nine streets in the Beaubourg Quartier where it would be permitted. In the early part of the 19th century, state-controlled legal brothels (then known as ""maisons de tolérance"" or ""maisons closes"") started to appear in several French cities. By law, they had to be run by a woman (typically a former prostitute) and their external appearance had to be discreet. The "maisons" were required to light a red lantern when they were open (from which is derived the term red-light district) and the prostitutes were only permitted to leave the "maisons" on certain days and only if accompanied by its head. By 1810, Paris alone had 180 officially approved brothels.  During the first half of the 20th century, some Paris brothels, such as le Chabanais and le Sphinx, were internationally known for the luxury they provided. The French government sometimes included a visit to the "Chabanais" as part of the program for foreign guests of state, disguising it as a "visit with the President of the Senate" in the official program. The "Hotel Marigny", established in 1917 in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, was one of several that were well known for catering to gay male clients. Premises suspected of being gay brothels, including the Hotel Marigny, were however subject to frequent police raids, perhaps indicating less tolerance for them from the authorities.  In most European countries, brothels were made illegal after World War II. France outlawed brothels in 1946, after a campaign by Marthe Richard. The backlash against them was in part due to their wartime collaboration with the Germans during the occupation of France. Twenty-two Paris brothels had been commandeered by the Germans for their exclusive use; some had made a great deal of money by catering for German officers and soldiers. One brothel in the Monmartre District of the French capital was part of an escape network for POWs and downed airmen.  Italy made brothels illegal in 1959. The 2010s decade has seen the introduction of sex dolls and sexbots on the premises of some brothels.

East Asia.

Brothels have been used formally in China for prostitution and entertainment since Ancient China in its feudal period. For much of China's ancient and imperial history, brothels were owned by wealthy merchants, typically stereotyped as "madams", and engaged in business in urban areas such as the Capital city. Prostitutes, or "courtesans" as they were known, were well-dressed and groomed to the proper table and drinking manners(禮). A Chinese prostitute may have been artistic and skilled at practices such as dancing, playing musical instruments, singing and conversing in verse. Prostitution was not outlawed in ancient and imperial China (although prostitutes were not considered fit for marriage to men of respectable social ranking) and instead prostitutes hosted in street brothels were popularly placed in the same social class as female artisans and regarded as elegant, albeit tainted, beings, most notably courtesans who used similar means to entertain members of nobility. Both young women and men worked as prostitutes in these elaborate brothel settings, though historical records and works of literature have widely romanticized the free-flowing, artistic nature of female prostitutes.  The practice of hosting prostitutes in these elaborate brothels spread to surrounding regions of Chinese cultural influence, notably in Japan after the sixth century AD, where prostitutes and courtesans evolved to develop the "Oiran" and "Geisha" entertainment professions. Again, the "geisha" of Japan emphasized good table manners, artistic skills, elegant styling and sophisticated, tactical conversational skills. The practice also spread to Korea, where prostitutes evolved into the Korean "kisaeng".

India.

The governments of many Indian princely states had regulated prostitution in India prior to the 1860s. The British Raj enacted the Cantonment Act of 1864 to regulate prostitution in colonial India as a matter of accepting a necessary evil so that the British soldiers could seek sexual gratification when away from their homes. The Cantonment Acts regulated and structured prostitution in the British military bases which provided for about twelve to fifteen Indian women kept in brothels called "chaklas" for each regiment of thousand British soldiers. They were licensed by military officials and were allowed to consort with soldiers only.  Brothels in India came into life in the early 1920s, when certain dance styles in states like Maharashtra, such as "Lavani," and dance-drama performance artists, "called Tamasha" artists, starting working as prostitutes. Notably, such professions were strongly connected to caste and income levels.

United States.

From 1911 to 1913 the United States Department of Justice undertook the task of collecting information on the numbers of prostitutes in brothels in order to use this information against the much feared "White Slave Traffic". This effort collected information from 318 cities of 26 Eastern states. It estimated about 100,000 women to be working in brothels at the time, yet some estimated the total number of prostitutes to be as high as 500,000.  During the late nineteenth century, brothels in the United States were no secret. George Kneeland articulated his growing concern about the organized sex business in America well, saying that prostitution had grown into a "highly commercialized and profitable business that penetrated the deepest recesses of the political, cultural and economic life of the city." Brothels were commonly referred to as "disorderly houses", and their residents were called by many names, some euphemistic—e.g., "abandoned woman", "bawd good-time daisy", "fallen angel", "fille de joie", "jeweled bird", "lady of the evening", "shady lady", "soiled dove", "wanton woman", and "woman of the town"—and some less kind—e.g., "hooker", "slut", and "whore". As the 19th century went on, prostitution as a profession became more common, rather than just occasionally necessitated soliciting. As a result of these changes, the way prostitution was practiced changed. Many prostitutes still practiced their trade independently, but the new class of professional prostitutes created a demand for a location to do their regular business, and the brothel served this purpose. Visitors could easily find disorderly houses by merely opening up the local or statewide directories, such as the 1895 "Travelers' Guide of Colorado". This 66-page manual helped the interested client decide which brothel was right for him. These manuals did not attract by using euphemistic language, and though bold by standards of the time, were not crude. Some examples read: "Twenty young ladies engaged nightly to entertain guest", and "Strangers cordially welcome". In some areas, brothels simply could not be ignored. A nineteenth-century authority describes the city of New Orleans as such: "The extent of licentiousness and prostitution here is truly appalling and doubtless without a parallel in the whole civilized world. The indulgence and practice is so general and common that men seldom seek to cover up their acts or go in disguise."  The average house held five to twenty working girls; some higher end brothels also employed staff servants, musicians, and a bouncer. The typical brothel contained several bedrooms, all furnished. Some upscale brothels were much larger; such is the case with that owned by Mary Ann Hall of Arlington, Virginia. It is described as "a rather grand house with twenty-five rooms and was enclosed by a brick wall. The interior was elegantly furnished. The principal rooms on the first floor contained large oil paintings, Brussels carpets, red plush 'parlor furniture', étagères (a shelf for small ornaments), and numerous items of silver plate." An archeological dig of the area outside of Mary Ann Hall's estate revealed refuse of a quality superior to that in surrounding working-class areas. This included many champagne bottles and corks, wire cages from such bottles, perfume bottles, high-quality porcelain with gilt edging, along with remnants of exotic foods—coconut shells and berry seeds, bones from beef, fish, and pork indicating that elegant meals were being eaten at this high-class brothel. These "five and ten dollar parlor houses" attracted wealthy men, who used the facilities much as a gentlemen's social club, where they made business and political connections, met with associates, and had exquisite dinners with wine, champagne, and women. Brothels were not only for the wealthy. "One-dollar houses" were visited by those of the working class. A 1910 Kansas vice report compares the two: "A few brothels were equipped with expensive furniture and furnishings including the finest of upholstered chairs, well-done paintings and costly rugs, while others were hovels of repulsive squalor."  Women joined brothels from all walks of life. The average prostitute was approximately 21, but many were as young as 13 or as old as 50. Typically thought of as an escape for young, poor, troubled women, brothels sometimes attracted those less expected. Trained musicians and singers sometimes were lured into it by their interest in easy money and fun times. Some others turned to brothels to get out of their boring, abusive, or otherwise unfulfilling marriages. Although they might be of various classes, ethnicities, and ages, most women who began or joined brothels had a shared goal: quick money. Ironically, many found themselves always indebted to their mistresses. Her lack of credit made a prostitute unable to buy items necessary for her trade (powder, cosmetics, perfumes, and "evening wear"), and she was forced to buy them through her madam.  Some madams, often former prostitutes themselves, rose to become independently wealthy. One was Mary Ann Hall of Arlington, Virginia. Clearly attractive and a good businesswoman, Mary Ann purchased a lot and built a brick house. That would be the location of an upscale brothel for another 40 years, sitting right at the foot of Capitol Hill. Her brothel was very lucrative, and Mary Ann was able to buy multiple slaves and even a summer home. She was responsible for the behavior of her prostitutes, which could prove challenging since drug abuse was common. A large focus for madams was keeping their business transactions discreet and staying on the good side of the law, which they did by contributing money to charitable organizations, schools, and churches.  Despite those efforts, much of the profit still went to legal fines and fees, since prostitution was largely illegal. Timely payment of these fines could guarantee a madam that her business could continue without fear of being shut down, usually. Brothels were expected to pay significantly higher rent than other tenants. Another upscale bordello was the Big Brick in Charleston, South Carolina, built and operated by Grace Peixotto, the daughter of the Rev. Solomon Cohen Peixotto, and the madam of the most infamous brothel in the history of the city.  A madam stayed involved in her business. Running a house with so many in it required skill. A brothel required the purchase of regular food and food preparation. A madam had to monitor the cleanliness of the brothel, including the sheets, which had to be changed several times in an evening, and a stock of wines and liquors for clientele. She was the boss of the brothel and so a madam fired and hired servants, maids, and prostitutes. New faces in the brothel were desired by patrons and so madams had to find new women to recruit. Sometimes, that meant taking in a less-than-desired woman but one with youth and good looks. The "new" prostitute received training, cosmetics, and clothes from the madam. A prostitute from Kansas City is recorded as saying that she is no match for the "proper" behavior and dress required for the famous Ice Palace in Chicago.  Disorderly houses or any other dwelling used for purposes of selling sex or other lewd acts in the early 20th century were illegal with a few exceptions: the states of Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, and South Carolina. Penalties could range from $1,000 and time in jail, to much smaller fines.

Military brothels.

Until recently, in several armies around the world, mobile brothels were attached to the army as auxiliary units, especially attached to combat units on long-term deployments abroad. Because it is a controversial subject, military brothels and the women who provided sex services in them were often designated with creative euphemisms. Examples of such jargon are (), replacing the term "". France used mobile brothels during the First World War, the Second World War and the First Indochina War to supply sex services to French soldiers who were facing combat in areas where brothels were unusual, such as at the front line or in isolated garrisons. Brothels were outlawed in France in 1946; but the French Foreign Legion continued to use mobile brothels until the late 1990s.  During the Second World War, women drawn from throughout the Far East were forced into sexual slavery by the occupation armies of Imperial Japan in brothels known as Ianjo. These women were referred to as "comfort women" (kanji=慰安婦; hiragana=いあんふ). During the Second World War in Europe, Nazi Germany created military brothels where an estimated 34,140 enslaved women from Nazi-occupied Europe, particularly Poland, were forced to work as prostitutes in brothels.  After the Japanese surrender following the Second World War, the Japanese government formed the Recreation and Amusement Association and recruited 55,000 of its "patriotic women" to "sacrifice themselves" to the G.I. occupation, to protect the chastity of pure Japanese womenfolk.  In South Korea, women who worked as prostitutes for UN forces were called Western princesses. Between the 1950s and 1960s, 60% of South Korean prostitutes worked near the US military bases. Korean leader Park Chung-hee encouraged the sex trade, particularly with the U.S. military, in order to generate revenue. Since the mid-1990s, Filipina and Russian women have worked as prostitutes for U.S. servicemen in South Korea. In 2010, the Philippine government stopped approving contracts that promoters use to bring Filipinas to South Korea to work near U.S. military bases.

Sex doll brothel.

A number of brothels offering only sex dolls exist in Japan. There is also one in Barcelona, and recently one named Bordoll opened in Germany. Another was set to open on 8 September 2018 in Toronto, Canada though it was deemed to be contrary to a by-law in the city, forcing its shutdown. Australia has recently seen its first sex doll available for use in a brothel as well. February 2018 yet another opened in Aarhus, Denmark.

A brothel, bordello, ranch or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. Technically, any premises where prostitution commonly takes place qualifies as a brothel. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub parlours, studios, or by some other description. Sex work in a brothel is considered safer than street prostitution.

Nevěstinec, vykřičený dům, veřejný dům, dům radosti, dům rozkoše, erotický klub, "knižně" lupanar, lupanár či lupanarium, hovorově často bordel či hampejz je budova používaná k poskytování zejména sexuálních služeb za úplatu, tedy k prostituci. Poskytuje prostitutkám (či prostitutům) místo k setkávání a provozování sexuálních praktik s klienty. V některých zemích jsou legální licencované nevěstince, jinde je prostituce zakázána a postihována, jinde podléhá pouze určitým regulacím a například masážní salony mohou sloužit tomuto účelu.


General description.

The term phylum was coined in 1866 by Ernst Haeckel from the Greek (, "race, stock"), related to (, "tribe, clan"). Haeckel noted that species constantly evolved into new species that seemed to retain few consistent features among themselves and therefore few features that distinguished them as a group ("a self-contained unity"). ""Wohl aber ist eine solche reale und vollkommen abgeschlossene Einheit die Summe aller Species, welche aus einer und derselben gemeinschaftlichen Stammform allmählig sich entwickelt haben, wie z. B. alle Wirbelthiere. Diese Summe nennen wir Stamm (Phylon)."" which translates as: However, perhaps such a real and completely self-contained unity is the aggregate of all species which have gradually evolved from one and the same common original form, as, for example, all vertebrates. We name this aggregate [a] "Stamm" [i.e., race] ("Phylon").) In plant taxonomy, August W. Eichler (1883) classified plants into five groups named divisions, a term that remains in use today for groups of plants, algae and fungi. The definitions of zoological phyla have changed from their origins in the six Linnaean classes and the four'of Georges Cuvier.  Informally, phyla can be thought of as groupings of organisms based on general specialization of body plan. At its most basic, a phylum can be defined in two ways: as a group of organisms with a certain degree of morphological or developmental similarity (the phenetic definition), or a group of organisms with a certain degree of evolutionary relatedness (the phylogenetic definition). Attempting to define a level of the Linnean hierarchy without referring to (evolutionary) relatedness is unsatisfactory, but a phenetic definition is useful when addressing questions of a morphological nature—such as how successful different body plans were.

Definition based on genetic relation.

The most important objective measure in the above definitions is the "certain degree" that defines how different organisms need to be members of different phyla. The minimal requirement is that all organisms in a phylum should be clearly more closely related to one another than to any other group. Even this is problematic because the requirement depends on knowledge of organisms' relationships: as more data become available, particularly from molecular studies, we are better able to determine the relationships between groups. So phyla can be merged or split if it becomes apparent that they are related to one another or not. For example, the bearded worms were described) in the middle of the 20th century, but molecular work almost half a century later found them to be a group of annelids, so the phyla were merged (the bearded worms are now an annelid family). On the other hand, the highly parasitic phylum Mesozoa was divided into two phyla (Orthonectida and Rhombozoa) when it was discovered the Orthonectida are probably deuterostomes and the Rhombozoa protostomes.  This changeability of phyla has led some biologists to call for the concept of a phylum to be abandoned in favour of cladistics, a method in which groups are placed on a "family tree" without any formal ranking of group size.

Definition based on body plan.

A definition of a phylum based on body plan has been proposed by paleontologists Graham Budd and Sören Jensen (as Haeckel had done a century earlier). The definition was posited because extinct organisms are hardest to classify: they can be offshoots that diverged from a phylum's line before the characters that define the modern phylum were all acquired. By Budd and Jensen's definition, a phylum is defined by a set of characters shared by all its living representatives.  This approach brings some small problems—for instance, ancestral characters common to most members of a phylum may have been lost by some members. Also, this definition is based on an arbitrary point of time: the present. However, as it is character based, it is easy to apply to the fossil record. A greater problem is that it relies on a subjective decision about which groups of organisms should be considered as phyla.  The approach is useful because it makes it easy to classify extinct organisms as "stem groups" to the phyla with which they bear the most resemblance, based only on the taxonomically important similarities. However, proving that a fossil belongs to the crown group of a phylum is difficult, as it must display a character unique to a sub-set of the crown group. Furthermore, organisms in the stem group of a phylum can possess the "body plan" of the phylum without all the characteristics necessary to fall within it. This weakens the idea that each of the phyla represents a distinct body plan.  A classification using this definition may be strongly affected by the chance survival of rare groups, which can make a phylum much more diverse than it would be otherwise.

Known phyla.

Animals.

Total numbers are estimates; figures from different authors vary wildly, not least because some are based on described species, some on extrapolations to numbers of undescribed species. For instance, around 25,000–27,000 species of nematodes have been described, while published estimates of the total number of nematode species include 10,000–20,000; 500,000; 10 million; and 100 million.

Plants.

The kingdom Plantae is defined in various ways by different biologists (see Current definitions of Plantae). All definitions include the living embryophytes (land plants), to which may be added the two green algae divisions, Chlorophyta and Charophyta, to form the clade Viridiplantae. The table below follows the influential (though contentious) Cavalier-Smith system in equating "Plantae" with Archaeplastida, a group containing Viridiplantae and the algal Rhodophyta and Glaucophyta divisions.  The definition and classification of plants at the division level also varies from source to source, and has changed progressively in recent years. Thus some sources place horsetails in division Arthrophyta and ferns in division Pteridophyta, while others place them both in Pteridophyta, as shown below. The division Pinophyta may be used for all gymnosperms (i.e. including cycads, ginkgos and gnetophytes), or for conifers alone as below.  Since the first publication of the APG system in 1998, which proposed a classification of angiosperms up to the level of orders, many sources have preferred to treat ranks higher than orders as informal clades. Where formal ranks have been provided, the traditional divisions listed below have been reduced to a very much lower level, e.g. subclasses.

Fungi.

Phylum Microsporidia is generally included in kingdom Fungi, though its exact relations remain uncertain, and it is considered a protozoan by the International Society of Protistologists (see Protista, below). Molecular analysis of Zygomycota has found it to be polyphyletic (its members do not share an immediate ancestor), which is considered undesirable by many biologists. Accordingly, there is a proposal to abolish the Zygomycota phylum. Its members would be divided between phylum Glomeromycota and four new subphyla "incertae sedis" (of uncertain placement): Entomophthoromycotina, Kickxellomycotina, Mucoromycotina, and Zoopagomycotina.

Protista.

Kingdom Protista (or Protoctista) is included in the traditional five- or six-kingdom model, where it can be defined as containing all eukaryotes that are not plants, animals, or fungi. Protista is a polyphyletic taxon (it includes groups not directly related to one another), which is less acceptable to present-day biologists than in the past. Proposals have been made to divide it among several new kingdoms, such as Protozoa and Chromista in the Cavalier-Smith system.  Protist taxonomy has long been unstable, with different approaches and definitions resulting in many competing classification schemes. The phyla listed here are used for Chromista and Protozoa by the Catalogue of Life, adapted from the system used by the International Society of Protistologists.  The Catalogue of Life includes Rhodophyta and Glaucophyta in kingdom Plantae, but other systems consider these phyla part of Protista.

Bacteria.

Currently there are 29 phyla accepted by List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN)

Archaea.

Currently there are five phyla accepted by List of Prokaryotic names with Standing in Nomenclature (LPSN).

In biology, a phylum (; plural: phyla) is a level of classification or taxonomic rank below kingdom and above class. Traditionally, in botany the term division has been used instead of phylum, although the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants accepts the terms as equivalent. Depending on definitions, the animal kingdom Animalia or Metazoa contains approximately 35 phyla; the plant kingdom Plantae contains about 14, and the fungus kingdom Fungi contains about 8 phyla. Current research in phylogenetics is uncovering the relationships between phyla, which are contained in larger clades, like Ecdysozoa and Embryophyta.

Kmen (latinsky phylum) je základní taxonomická kategorie hierarchické klasifikace organismů, vyšší než třída ("classis") a nižší než říše ("regnum"). Příslušníci určitého kmene jsou vždy charakterizováni znaky odlišnými od příslušníků jiných kmenů. Několik kmenů tvoří říši, zatímco každý kmen se skládá z jedné až několika tříd.