Life.

Noth was born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony. He studied at the universities of Erlangen, Rostock, and Leipzig and taught at Greifswald and Königsberg.  From 1939-41 and 1943–45, Noth served as a German soldier during World War II. After the war he taught at Bonn, Göttingen, Tübingen, Hamburg, and University of Basel. He died during an expedition in the Negev, Israel.

Influence.

Noth first attracted widespread attention with "Das System der zwölf Stämme Israels" (“The Scheme of the Twelve Tribes of Israel”, 1930), positing that the Twelve Tribes of Israel did not exist prior to the covenant assembly at Shechem described in the book of Joshua.  "A History of Pentateuchal Traditions," (1948, English translation 1972) set out a new model for the composition of the Pentateuch, or Torah. Noth supplemented the dominant model of the time, the documentary hypothesis, seeing the Pentateuch as composed of blocks of traditional material accreted round some key historical experiences. He identified these experiences as "Guidance out of Egypt," "Guidance into the Arable Land," "Promise to the Patriarchs," "Guidance in the Wilderness" and "Revelation at Sinai," the details of the narrative serving to fill out the thematic outline. Later, Robert Polzin showed that some of his main conclusions were consistent with arbitrary or inconsistent use of the rules that he proposed.  Even more revolutionary and influential, and quite reorienting the emphasis of modern scholarship, was "The Deuteronomistic History". In this work, Noth argued that the earlier theory of several Deuteronomist redactions of the books from Joshua to Kings did not explain the facts, and instead proposed that they formed a unified "Deuteronomic history", the product of a single author working in the late 7th century.  Noth also published commentaries on all the five books of the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Noth considered that the book of Deuteronomy was more closely related to the following books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings (the Deuteronomistic History), thus he preferred the term Tetrateuch to refer to the first four books of the Old Testament.

Martin Noth (3 August 1902 – 30 May 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic history of the Hebrews. With Gerhard von Rad he pioneered the traditional-historical approach to biblical studies, emphasising the role of oral traditions in the formation of the biblical texts.

Martin Noth (* 3. August 1902 in Dresden; † 30. Mai 1968 in Schivta/Subeita im Negev) war ein deutscher evangelischer Theologe. Im Mittelpunkt seines wissenschaftlichen Werkes stehen historisch-kritische Forschungen zum Alten Testament und zur Geschichte Israels.


Location.

Świecie is located on the west bank of river Vistula at the mouth of river Wda, approximately north-east of Bydgoszcz, 105 kilometers south of Gdańsk and 190 kilometers south-west of Kaliningrad.

History.

A fishermen's village existed at the site of the present-day town in the Early Middle Ages. The area became part of the emerging Polish state in the 10th century. The name of the town comes from the Polish word "świecić", which means "shine". During the period of the fragmentation of Poland, Świecie became the residence of Pomeranian Duke Grzymisław, when in 1198 the St. Mary's church was erected there. Grzymisław's duchy included part of Gdańsk Pomerania with prominent towns of Starogard Gdański and Lubiszewo Tczewskie, as well as Skarszewy. The Teutonic Order conquered Gdańsk in 1309 and in 1310 bought the region in Soldin from the Margraves of Brandenburg, who claimed the region, which however legally formed part of Poland. By then, the settlement already had the status of "Civitas", just as Gdańsk and Tczew did. Świecie was granted a municipal form of government by the Teutonic Order, when it was still located on the high west bank of the Vistula. Probably because of destruction by fire, during the period 1338–1375 the town was relocated down into the valley at the Vistula. The town was briefly recaptured by the Poles after their victory in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410. In 1454, in the beginning stages of the Thirteen Years' War, it was captured by the Prussian Confederation, which opposed Teutonic rule, and upon the request of which King Casimir IV Jagiellon re-incorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland that same year. The Teutonic Knights renounced any claims to the town, and recognized it as part of Poland in 1466. Administratively it formed part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship in the province of Royal Prussia in the Greater Poland Province. The town prospered due to its location at the intersection of the Amber Road and the trade route connecting Western Pomerania with Warmia, Masuria and Lithuania. In the 17th century, Świecie suffered as a result of the Swedish invasion of Poland and an epidemic.  In 1772, during the First Partition of Poland, the town was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia, and as "Schwetz" was integrated into the newly formed Province of West Prussia. In 1905 the town had a Protestant church, two Catholic churches and a synagogue. After World War I Świecie became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship with the provincial capital in Toruń of the Second Republic of Poland. In 1920, Stanisław Kostka, a distinguished Polish activist who was active in Grudziądz and Świecie under Prussian rule, became the mayor of the town. Stanisław Kostka built new flood embankments that protect Świecie from floods to this day, and under his administration the town developed economically and culturally. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany occupied Świecie and annexed it on 8 October 1939, making it the seat of the "Kreis" county of Schwetz. It was administered as part of Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. Prominent Poles were arrested using secret politically targeted hit list and murdered using the "Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz" paramilitaries. Local Poles were murdered in large massacres in Świecie, Grupa and Mniszek.  The Germans also murdered the staff and 1,350 patients of the local psychiatric hospital in large massacres in the Szpęgawski and Luszkówko forests. Local Poles were also subjected to expulsions.  The town was captured by combined Polish and Soviet forces on February 10, 1945, and restored to Poland, where it became part of the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship formed in 1946 in the People's Republic of Poland. The town grew rapidly with population reaching 13,500 by 1961. Sugar refinery was expanded, meat, cattle feed plants, and mills were built, including the paper factory launched in 1968, with 4,600 employees. In 1988 Świecie was awarded with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of Poland's highest state orders.

Świecie () is a town in northern Poland with 25,968 inhabitants (2006), situated in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship (since 1999); it was in Bydgoszcz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. It is the capital of Świecie County.

Świecie ([],, "Schwetz an der Weichsel") ist eine Stadt im Powiat Świecki der Woiwodschaft Kujawien-Pommern in Polen. Die Stadt mit etwa 26.000 Einwohnern ist Sitz des Powiats und der gleichnamigen Stadt-und-Land-Gemeinde mit etwa 34.100 Einwohnern.


Early life and education.

Talabani was born in Kelkan village. of the Koysinjaq branch of the Talabani family. The Talabani lineage has produced many leading social figures including the poet Riza Talabani, his grandfather, Abd al-Karim Qasim prime minister (1958–1963) and former National Democratic Party's member Hasan Talabani and Mukarram Talabani, a prominent member of the Communist party.  Talabani received his elementary and intermediate school education in Koya (Koysanjak) and his high school education in Erbil and Kirkuk. When he was in his teens, Talabani's peers began referring to him as "Mam" Jalal, as'mam' meaning "paternal uncle" in Kurdish, and the Kurds have called him by this affectionate name ever since. In 1957, during the final year of his studies for a degree in law at Baghdad University, he was expelled because of his political activities.

Career.

Rights for Kurds.

When in September 1961, the Kurdish uprising for the rights of the Kurds in northern Iraq was declared against the Baghdad government of Abdul Karim Qassem, Talabani took charge of the Kirkuk and Silemani battlefronts and organized and led separatist movements in Mawat, Rezan and the Karadagh regions. In March 1962, he led a coordinated offensive that brought about the liberation of the district of Sharbazher from Iraqi government forces. When not engaged in fighting in the early and mid-1960s, Talabani undertook numerous diplomatic missions, representing the Kurdish leadership at meetings in Europe and the Middle East.  The Kurdish separatist movement collapsed in March 1975, after Iran ended their support in exchange for a border agreement with Iraq. This agreement was the 1975 Algiers Agreement, where Iraq gave up claims to the Shatt al-Arab (Arvand Rūd) waterway and Khuzestan, which later became the basis for the Iran–Iraq War. Believing it was time to give a new direction to the Kurdish separatists and to the Kurdish society, Talabani, with a group of Kurdish intellectuals and activists, founded the Kurdish Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (Yekiaiti Nishtimani Kurdistan).  In 1976, he began organizing an armed campaign for Kurdish independence inside Iraqi Kurdistan. During the 1980s, Talabani sided with Iran and led a Kurdish struggle from bases inside Iraq until the crackdown against Kurdish separatists from 1987 to 1988.  In 1991, he helped inspire a renewed effort for Kurdish independence. He negotiated a ceasefire with the Iraqi Ba'athist government that saved the lives of many Kurds and worked closely with the United States, United Kingdom, France and other countries to set up the safe haven in Iraqi Kurdistan. In 1992 the Kurdistan Regional Government was founded.  Talabani pursued a negotiated settlement to the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War, as well as the larger issue of Kurdish rights in the current regional context. He worked closely with other Kurdish politicians as well as the rest of the Iraqi opposition factions. In close coordination with Masoud Barzani, Talabani and the Kurds played a key role as a partner of the U.S. led Coalition in the invasion of Iraq.  Talabani was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council which negotiated the Transitional Administrative Law (TAL), Iraq's interim constitution. The TAL governed all politics in Iraq and the process of writing and adopting the final constitution.

Presidency.

Talabani was elected President of Iraq on April 6, 2005, by the Iraqi National Assembly and sworn into office the following day.  On 22 April 2006, Talabani began his second term as President of Iraq, becoming the first President elected under the country's new constitution. His office was part of the Presidency Council of Iraq. Nawshirwan Mustafa was Talabani's deputy until Mustafa resigned in 2006 and formed an opposition party called Gorran.  He supported Barzani's extended presidency of the Kurdistan Region post-2013.

Personal life.

Talabani was married to Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, daughter of Ibrahim Ahmed. He has two sons, Bafel and Qubad. Qubad is the deputy Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Erbil since 2014.

Health and death.

On 18 December 2012, Talabani suffered a stroke and was in intensive care in Baghdad, where his condition eventually stabilized after reports that he was in a coma. A statement on the President's official website said that he was being treated for blocked arteries. On 20 December, Talabani's condition had improved enough to allow travel to Germany for treatment. The head of Talabani's medical team in Iraq has been Governor Najmiddin Karim. On 19 July 2014, Jalal Talabani returned to Iraq after more than 18 months of medical treatment. Due to his absence from politics, as a result of his illness, the PUK became consumed by a succession crisis.  Jalal Talabani died on 3 October 2017, at the age of 83, in Berlin, Germany, of a cerebral hemorrhage as complications of the stroke he suffered in 2012. He died a few days after the referendum about the independence of Iraqi Kurdistan was approved by the voters. Masoud Barzani, President of Kurdistan Regional Government and for years his Kurdish rival, announced seven days of mourning in Iraqi Kurdistan in memory of Talabani. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi also announced three days of mourning in the country. His state funeral was held on 6 October 2017. Millions turned out across the cities and memorials were held across the globe.

Jalal Talabani ( / ; ; 1933 – 3 October 2017) was an Iraqi Kurdish politician who served as the sixth President of Iraq from 2006 to 2014, as well as the President of the Governing Council of Iraq. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. He is known as "Mam Jalal" (uncle Jalal) in the Middle East. The surname Talabani originates from the Arabic word, meaning'student' or'scholar'.

Dschalal Talabani (, ; * 12. November 1933 in Kelkan, Irak; † 3. Oktober 2017 in Berlin, Deutschland) war von 2005 bis 2014 Staatspräsident des Irak und Vorsitzender der Patriotischen Union Kurdistans (PUK) im Irak, neben der Demokratischen Partei Kurdistans (KDP) eine der beiden großen Parteien im kurdischen Teil des Irak.


History.

Congo red was first synthesized in 1883 by Paul Böttiger, who had been employed at Friedrich Bayer Company in Elberfeld, Germany. He was looking for textile dyes that did not require a mordant step. The company was not interested in this bright red color, so he filed the patent under his own name and sold it to the AGFA company of Berlin. AGFA marketed the dye under the name "Congo red", a catchy name in Germany at the time of the 1884 Berlin West Africa Conference, an important event in the Colonisation of Africa. The dye was a major commercial success for AGFA. In the following years, for the same reason, other dyes were marketed using the "Congo" name: Congo rubine, Congo corinth, brilliant Congo, Congo orange, Congo brown, and Congo blue. Once of economic significance, Congo red has fallen into disuse as have all benzidine-derived dyes, owing to their carcinogenic activity.  It is prepared by azo coupling of the bis(diazonium) derivative of benzidine with naphthionic acid.

Behavior in solution.

Due to a color change from blue to red at pH 3.0–5.2, Congo red can be used as a pH indicator. Since this color change is an approximate inverse of that of litmus, it can be used with litmus paper in a simple parlor trick: add a drop or two of Congo red to both an acid solution and a base solution. Dipping red litmus paper in the red solution will turn it blue, while dipping blue litmus paper in the blue solution will turn it red. This property gives Congo red a metachromatic property as a dye, both in strongly acidic solutions and with strongly acidophilic tissue.  Congo red has a propensity to aggregate in aqueous and organic solutions. The proposed mechanisms suggest hydrophobic interactions between the aromatic rings of the dye molecules, leading to a π–π stacking phenomenon. Although these aggregates are present under various sizes and shapes, the "ribbon-like micelles" of a few molecules seem to be the predominant form (even if the "micelle" term is not an entirely appropriate name for it). This aggregation phenomenon is more prevalent in high Congo red concentrations, at high salinity and/or low pH.

Diagnostic use.

In histology and microscopy, Congo red is used for staining in amyloidosis, and for the cell walls of plants and fungi, and for the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria. Apple-green birefringence of Congo red stained preparations under polarized light is indicative of the presence of amyloid fibrils. Additionally, Congo red is used for the diagnostics of the "Shigella flexneri" serotype 2a, where the dye binds the bacterium's unique lipopolysaccharide structure. Furthermore, Congo red may also be used to induce expression of the type III secretion system of "Shigella flexneri", bringing about the secretion of IpaB and IpaC, which form translocation pores within host cell membrane, allowing effector proteins to pass through and alter the host cell's biochemistry. The dye can also be used in flow cytometry experiments for the detection of "Acanthamoeba", "Naegleria" and other amoebal cysts.

Congo red is an organic compound, the sodium salt of 3,3′-([1,1′-biphenyl]-4,4′-diyl)bis(4-aminonaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid). It is an azo dye. Congo red is water-soluble, yielding a red colloidal solution; its solubility is greater in organic solvents. However, the use of Congo red has long been abandoned, primarily because of its carcinogenic properties.

Kongorot gehört, wie auch Methylorange und Methylrot, zur Gruppe der Azofarbstoffe und wird unter anderem als pH-Indikator verwendet. Die Farbe von Kongorot schlägt bei pH 3,0 bis 5,2 von Blauviolett nach Rotorange um. Es eignet sich daher als Indikator für die Säure-Base-Titration.


History.

Undernet was established in October 1992 by Danny Mitchell, Donald Lambert, and Laurent Demally as an experimental network running a modified version of the EFnet irc2.7 IRCd software, created in an attempt to make it less bandwidth-consumptive and less chaotic, as netsplits and takeovers were starting to plague EFnet. The Undernet IRC daemon became known as "ircu". Undernet was formed at a time when many small IRC networks were being started and subsequently disappearing; however, it managed to grow into one of the largest and oldest IRC networks despite some initial in-fighting and setbacks. For a period in 1994, Undernet was wracked by an ongoing series of flame wars. Again in 2001, it was threatened by automated heavy spamming of its users for potential commercial gain. Undernet survived these periods relatively intact and its popularity continues to the present day.  It is notable as being the first network to utilize timestamping, originally made by Carlo Wood, in the IRC server protocol as a means to curb abuse.

Services.

Undernet uses GNUworld to provide X, its channel service bot. X operates on a username basis; a username is independent from a nickname, which cannot be registered on Undernet.  As Undernet limits channel registration to "established channels" or channels with an active userbase, Undernet introduced a version of "ChanFix" (under the nickname "C") designed to work like EFNet's CHANFIX. Its use is to protect unregistered channels. ChanFix tracks channel op usage by username basis and restores ops if channels become opless or are taken over.  Undernet also runs an open proxy scanner. This scans users currently connecting to the network for open WinGate, SOCKS version 4/5, and HTTP proxy servers. IP addresses hosting open proxy servers are automatically G-lined from the network. These changes were put in place after the 2001 Denial-of-service attacks almost destroyed the network and left Undernet without the registered channel service bot for months. In 2010, Undernet also started to g-line Tor exit nodes, instead of assigning those users a cloak like e.g. Quakenet.

The Undernet is the fourth largest publicly monitored Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network, c. 2016, with about 19 client servers serving 17,444 users in 6621 channels at any given time.

Undernet ist ein IRC-Netzwerk. Es entstand im Sommer 1993 als Folge von Streitigkeiten zwischen den Betreibern des EFnets. Die Macher des Undernets legten Wert auf eine bessere Kontrolle der Vorgänge im Netzwerk. Hierzu wurde eine eigene Server-Software entwickelt, die als undernet-ircu auch von anderen Netzwerken eingesetzt wird. Undernet-Programmierer waren es, die den Timestamp-Patch einführten, mit dem jede Benutzeraktion registriert wurde. So konnten erstmals neue Channels oder Nicknames einem Benutzer zugeordnet werden und womöglich illegale Aktivitäten im Netz besser verfolgt werden.


History.

The earliest known mention of Radziejów is found in a document from 1142, which states that it was given by the High Duchess consort of Poland Salomea of Berg to the monastery in Mogilno. Later it passed to the Diocese of Płock. In the second half of the 13th century it grew into a significant center of local administration. It was granted town rights in 1252 by Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia, confirmed in 1298 by future Polish King Władysław I Łokietek, who granted it Magdeburg Law. Kings Władysław I Łokietek and Władysław II Jagiełło vested it with new trade privileges and Sigismund I the Old established a weekly fair. Władysław I Łokietek founded the Franciscan monastery with the Gothic Church of the Feast of the Cross, one of the landmarks of the town.  It was a royal town, located in the Brześć Kujawski Voivodeship in the Greater Poland Province of the Polish Crown. The sejmiks for entire Kuyavia were held in Radziejów. The local royal castle was demolished by the Swedes in 1702, during the Great Northern War. In 1720 the first Piarist college of Poland was founded in Radziejów. It was moved to Włocławek in 1819.  In 1793 the town found itself in Prussia following the Second Partition of Poland. In 1807 it passed to the short lived Polish Duchy of Warsaw, and then in 1815 it became a part of the Congress Poland in the Russian Empire. In the course of the 19th century the town declined. As part of Russian reprisals after the failed Polish January Uprising, the Franciscan monastery was closed down in 1864, and in 1867 Radziejów lost its city charter. In 1918 it became a part of reconstituted, independent Poland, was again granted city rights in 1919 and developed again afterwards. It enjoyed In 1931 it had 4,025 inhabitants.  The town had a Jewish community since the 18th century, with 15 Jews (5% of the population) recorded in 1793. Restrictions on Jewish settlement were in force from 1822 to 1862. According to the 1921 census the town had a Jewish community consisting of 599 people, or 19.0 percent of its total population.  In 1933 Radziejów obtained a railway connection as the newly built Polish Coal Trunk-Line passed just 3 km west of the town. Though no dedicated Radziejów station was built, the inhabitants of the town could board trains in nearby Chełmce.  During World War II, the German army entered the town on September 9, 1939. During the German occupation, the town was part of Reichsgau Wartheland, a portion of Poland directly annexed by Germany. In 1943 the Germans renamed the town to "Rädichau".  In the course of the Holocaust, the town's Jewish population was confined in a ghetto which existed from 1941 until 1942, with about 800 inmates. The ghetto was liquidated in 1942 when its population was transported to Chelmno extermination camp in April, 1942 where they were killed in gas vans by carbon monoxide exhaust. The town was liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet army on January 20, 1945.  After the war, some Jewish survivors returned to Radziejów in the summer of 1945, where they found their houses and businesses taken over by Poles. After the murder on the night of 29/30 September 1945 of two Jews in nearby village Osięciny, Radziejów's Jews fled the town, but returned a few weeks later. In 1946 they organized a local branch of the Central Committee of Polish Jews (Centralny Komitet Żydów Polskich), which functioned until 1948 by which time most of its members left Radziejów. After 1949 no organised Jewish community existed and only a few individual Jews remained in the town during the subsequent decades.  In 1979 a new hospital opened in Radziejów designed to accommodate 272 patient beds (today functioning as "Samodzielny Publiczny Zakład Opieki Zdrowotnej w Radziejowie").  In 2018, "The Nazi, the Princess, and the Shoemaker" was published, describing the relationship of Poles and Jews in Radziejow prior to World War II as well as the Nazi occupation of the town and what happened to its Jewish population.

Radziejów () is a town in Poland, in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, about 45 km south of Toruń. It is the capital of Radziejów County. Its population is 5,804 (2004).

Radziejów [] ( "Rädichau") ist eine Stadt in der polnischen Woiwodschaft Kujawien-Pommern und liegt etwa 35 km westlich von Włocławek. Radziejów ist Sitz des Powiat Radziejowski und hat ca. 6.000 Einwohner.


Construction, use and history.

In May 1883 the population of Chemnitz exceeded 100,000 and it became the 15th city in Germany. The supply of drinking water to the city had been provided by a waterworks built in 1872–1874, that could no longer cope with the increasing water consumption of the growing city. An increase in its capacity was no longer possible due to the limitations of terrain and rising pollution of the Zwönitz, which meant that the source of water supply had to be switched from ground to surface water. The local council of Einsiedel, which lay below the proposed dam, had unsuccessfully objected against the dam site in Stadtguttal in light of the breach of the South Fork Dam in 1889 that had caused approximately 2,200 deaths. Between 7 November 1890 (laying of the foundation stone) and 14 June 1894 (dam opening) the oldest drinking water-retaining dam in Saxony emerged which, after the Eschbach Dam and Panzer Dam, is also the third oldest in Germany. It cost 1.3 million marks and an average of 142 workers were employed in its construction. A water works was built below the dam that led the treated water through a 3.3 km long tunnel into Chemnitz's water supply network. At the time of commissioning the Einsiedel Dam was considered a technical masterpiece. It was assessed as excellent at the World Exhibitions in Paris (1900) and St. Louis. The Einsiedel barrage is a curved gravity dam made of quarrystone, based partly on the Intze principle, but without the Intze wedge, retaining wall drainage and water-side protective layer (facing). It is a "large dam" by ICOLD criteria and impounds the waters of the "Stadtguttalbach", it also receives water channeled from the Neunzehnhain I Reservoir. The reservoir is used for drinking water, which is why swimming, fishing and recreational sports, etc., are not permitted in the reservoir. The dam is also used to a limited extent for flood control.

Einsiedel Dam () is located in the German Free State of Saxony. Its reservoir supplies drinking water to Chemnitz and, in conjunction with the Central Ore Mountains reservoir system, that includes the reservoirs of Neunzehnhain I, II and Saidenbach also supplies water to the entire region covered by the South Saxony Long Distance Water Association ("Zweckverband Fernwasser Südsachsen").

Die Talsperre Einsiedel ist eine Talsperre im Freistaat Sachsen. Sie dient der Trinkwasserversorgung von Chemnitz und im Verbund mit dem Talsperrensystem „Mittleres Erzgebirge“ neben den Talsperren Neunzehnhain I, II und Saidenbach dem ganzen Versorgungsgebiet des Zweckverbandes Fernwasser Südsachsen.


Early life and education.

Bernhard Karlgren was born on 15 October 1889 in Jönköping, Sweden. His father, Johannes Karlgren, taught Latin, Greek, and Swedish at the local high school. Karlgren showed ability in linguistics from a young age, and was interested in Sweden's dialects and traditional folk stories. He mastered classical languages and was an accomplished translator of Greek poetry into his native language. He displayed an early interest in China, and wrote a drama, "The White Hind," set in that country in his early teens. His first scholarly article, a phonetic transcription, based on a system devised by Johan August Lundell, of traditional folk stories from his native province of Småland, was completed when he was 14. and published in 1908 when he was only 18 years old. He studied Russian at Uppsala University under Johan August Lundell, a Slavicist interested in comparative linguistics. He graduated in 1909 with a bachelor's degree in Nordic, Greek, and Slavonic languages. Although he initially intended to specialize in the Scandinavian languages, on the advice of his elder brother Anton Karlgren (18821973) he decided to focus on Chinese instead, attracted to it also by the fact that, as Lundell had told him, Chinese contained a great number of dialects. He departed for St. Petersburg, which, under the guidance of Vasily Vasilyev, had created one of the major European centres for the study of Chinese. While there, Karlgren, studying under A. I. Ivanov, won a grant to study Chinese dialects, even though he had no background in Chinese at that point.  Karlgren lived in China from 1910 to 1912. He achieved basic fluency and literacy after only a few months of study, and prepared a questionnaire of 3,100 Chinese characters to gather information on Chinese dialects. After his grant money ran out, Karlgren supported himself by teaching French and, famously, English, which, according to one anecdote, he had never been taught but had picked up from English-speaking passengers on the ship from Europe to China. In fact he had received a high credit in English in his final High School exams. He eventually gathered data on 19 different Mandarin dialects, as well as Shanghainese, the Fuzhou dialect of Eastern Min, and Cantonese, plus the Vietnamese and Japanese pronunciations of the characters in his questionnaire.

Career.

Karlgren returned to Europe in January 1912, first staying in London, then in Paris, before arriving in Uppsala, where in 1915 he produced his doctoral dissertation, ""Études sur la phonologie chinoise"" ("Studies on Chinese Phonology"). Although his dissertation was written in French, most of his subsequent scholarly works were in English. After obtaining his doctorate, Karlgren taught at the University of Gothenburg, serving as its rector from 1931 to 1936.  In 1939, Karlgren succeeded Johan Gunnar Andersson as director of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Östasiatiska Museet), a post he held until 1959. This public museum was founded in 1926 on Andersson's pioneering discoveries of prehistoric archaeology made in China in the 1920s, and later expanded to cover later periods as well as other parts of Asia. Karlgren had been in close contact with Andersson for many years, and also succeeded Andersson as editor of the museum's journal, the "Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities" (BMFEA, 1929–) and continued in this position until the 1970s. Karlgren himself first published many of his own major works in this annual journal, or as books in the monograph series of the museum.  In 1946, Karlgren began a far-reaching attack on the then rather loosely argued historiography of ancient China. Reviewing the literature on China's pre-Han history in his article "Legends and Cults in Ancient China", he pointed out that "a common feature to most of these treatises is a curious lack of critical method in the handling of the material". In particular, Karlgren criticised the unselective use of documents from different ages when reconstructing China's ancient history. "In this way very full and detailed accounts have been arrived at—but accounts that are indeed caricatures of scientifically established ones."  In 1950, Karlgren was inducted into the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Death and legacy.

Karlgren died on 20 October 1978 in Stockholm at age 89.  Karlgren was the first scholar to use European-style principles of historical linguistics to study the Chinese language. He was also the first one to reconstruct the sounds of what is now called Middle Chinese and Old Chinese (what he called "Ancient Chinese" and "Archaic Chinese" respectively). Karlgren suggested that at the very earliest stage recoverable, the personal pronouns were declined for case.  Karlgren attempted to unearth Chinese history itself from its linguistic development and diffusion. As he writes in his English adaptation "Sound and Symbol in Chinese" (1923), Chapter I: "Thus, though Chinese traditions give no hint whatever of an immigration from any foreign country, and though there consequently is no external chronological "point d'appui", we are nonetheless able to state, from internal evidence, that the Chinese tradition which places the reign of the emperor Yao in the twenty-fourth century B.C. is correct; that the Chinese even in those remote times were skilled astronomers; that they put down in writing in the Chinese language records of memorable events, and in all probability wrote their accounts soon after the events; in short, that a well-developed Chinese civilization—resting undoubtedly on foundations many centuries old—together with the Chinese language, existed on Chinese soil two thousand years before Christ."  Although important as a pioneer of historical Chinese linguistics, Karlgren's original findings have been surpassed. Today the phonological systems proposed by Karlgren have largely been superseded, as their weaknesses are obvious: "Karlgren saw himself as reconstructing phonetics, not phonology, and paid little attention to phonological structure. As a result, the systems he reconstructed often lack the symmetry and pattern which are in the phonological systems of natural languages." Nevertheless, Karlgren's groundbreaking works laid the foundation of modern Chinese historical linguistics and many of his works are still used as works of reference.

Selected works.

In Swedish he published numerous popular works on Chinese language, culture and history. In the 1940s, he published three novels under the pen name Klas Gullman.

Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (; 15 October 1889 – 20 October 1978) was a Swedish sinologist and linguist who pioneered the study of Chinese historical phonology using modern comparative methods. In the early 20th century, Karlgren conducted large surveys of the varieties of Chinese and studied historical information on rhyming in ancient Chinese poetry, then used them to create the first ever complete reconstructions of what is now called Middle Chinese and Old Chinese.

Klas Bernhard Johannes Karlgren (* 5. Oktober 1889 in Jönköping; † 20. Oktober 1978 in Stockholm; chinesisches Pseudonym ) war ein schwedischer Sprachwissenschaftler und Sinologe, der als einer der ersten versuchte, das Lautsystem des Mittel- und Altchinesischen zu rekonstruieren (Karlgren-Li-Rekonstruktion des Mittelchinesischen). Karlgren war von 1939 bis 1959 Leiter des Ostasiatischen Museums in Stockholm. 1968 wurde er zum korrespondierenden Mitglied der British Academy gewählt.


Early life.

Coverdale was born on 22 September 1951, in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Riding of Yorkshire, England son of Thomas Joseph Coverdale and Winnifred May (Roberts) Coverdale. Around the age of 14, he began performing professionally and developing his voice. "I don't think my voice had broken," he explained to "Sounds" in 1974. "And that's when I first learnt how to sing with my stomach, which sounds silly, but it's totally different from a normal voice." Coverdale started performing with local bands Vintage 67 (1966–68), The Government (1968–72) and Fabulosa Brothers (1972–73).

Early career.

Deep Purple (1973–1976).

In 1973 Coverdale saw an article in a copy of "Melody Maker", which said that Deep Purple was auditioning for singers to replace Ian Gillan. Coverdale had fronted a local group called The Government, which had played with Deep Purple on the same bill in 1969, so he and the band were familiar with one another, and after sending a tape and later auditioning, Coverdale was admitted into the band, with bassist Glenn Hughes adding his own vocals as well.  In February 1974 Deep Purple released their first album with Coverdale and Hughes, titled "Burn", which was certified Gold in the US on 20 March 1974 and in the UK on 1 July. In April 1974 Coverdale and Deep Purple performed to over 200,000 fans on his first trip to the United States at the California Jam.  In December 1974 "Burn" was followed-up by "Stormbringer", which also ranked at Gold album status in the US and the UK. The funk and soul influences of the previous record were even more prominent here and this was one of the reasons why guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left the band in June 1975.  Rather than disbanding, Coverdale was instrumental in persuading the band to continue with American guitarist Tommy Bolin (of Billy Cobham and The James Gang fame). As Jon Lord put it, "David Coverdale came up to me and said, 'Please keep the band together.' David played me the album that Tommy did with Billy Cobham. We liked his playing on it and invited Tommy to audition.'" The band released one studio album with Bolin, "Come Taste the Band" in 1975. The album was less successful than previous records, and at the end of the tour, in March 1976, Coverdale reportedly walked off in tears and handed in his resignation, to which he was told there was no band left to quit. The decision to disband Deep Purple had been made some time before the last show by Lord and Ian Paice (the last remaining original members), who had not told anyone else. The break-up was finally made public in July 1976. Said Coverdale in an interview: "I was frightened to leave the band. Purple was my life, Purple gave me my break, but all the same I wanted out."

Solo (1977–1978).

After the demise of Deep Purple, Coverdale embarked on a solo career. He released his first album in February 1977, titled "White Snake". All songs were written by Coverdale and guitarist Micky Moody. As his first solo effort, Coverdale later admitted: "It's very difficult to think back and talk sensibly about the first album. "White Snake" had been a very inward-looking, reflective and low-key affair in many ways, written and recorded as it was in the aftermath of the collapse of Deep Purple." Even though the album was not successful, its title inspired the name of Coverdale's future band.  In 1978 Coverdale released his second solo album "Northwinds", which was received much better than the previous album. But before the album's release, he had already formed a new band.

Early Whitesnake era (1978–1982).

After recording "Northwinds", Coverdale soon formed the band Whitesnake, with Bernie Marsden and Micky Moody both handling guitar duties. This was originally a touring band for Coverdale's first solo album, it soon developed into a full-time band. In early 1978, the band released the "Snakebite EP", which was later repackaged as a full album (titled "Snakebite", released in June 1978), with the B-side taken from Coverdale's "Northwinds" album. For the follow-up album, "Trouble", Coverdale was joined by his former Deep Purple colleague, keyboardist Jon Lord. For Whitesnake's 1980 album, "Ready an' Willing", drummer Ian Paice also joined the group. "Ready an' Willing" also featured the band's biggest hit up to that point, the song "Fool for Your Loving", which reached No. 13 on the British charts and No. 53 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. "Ready an' Willing" was followed up by the even more successful "Come an' Get It" in 1981. During 1982 Coverdale took some time off to look after his sick daughter and decided to put Whitesnake on hold. When David Coverdale returned to music he reformed the band, which thereafter recorded the album "Saints & Sinners".  In 1982, according to British heavy metal magazine "Kerrang!", Coverdale was considered for the vocalist position with Black Sabbath following the departure of Ronnie James Dio, which he declined.

Breakthrough.

International success of Whitesnake (1983–1991).

Whitesnake gained significant popularity in the UK, Europe, and Asia, but North American success remained elusive. In 1984, the album "Slide It In" dented the US charts (reaching #40), but not enough to be considered a hit. In time for the US release of "Slide It In", Coverdale made a calculated attempt at updating Whitesnake's sound and look by recruiting guitarist John Sykes from the remnants of Thin Lizzy. Sykes brought a more contemporary, aggressive guitar sound with him and had stage manners to match. The last remaining Deep Purple connections were severed when Jon Lord left after recording "Slide It In" to re-form Deep Purple. (Ian Paice had left Whitesnake in 1982.)  In 1985 Sykes and Coverdale started working on new songs for the next album, but Coverdale soon contracted a serious sinus infection that made recording close to impossible for much of 1986 and which had doctors thinking he might never sing again. Coverdale eventually recovered, and recordings were continued. But before their upcoming album was fully recorded and released, Coverdale had dismissed Sykes from the band. The split with Sykes was, reportedly, not amicable.  In many period interviews, Coverdale stated that the next album was a make-or-break album for Whitesnake, and if not successful he would disband Whitesnake altogether. During 1987 and 1988, North America was finally won over, with the multi-platinum self-titled "Whitesnake" album, co-written for the most part with now-departed Sykes, but including guitar virtuoso Adrian Vandenberg, as a session musician.  The 1987 album has sold 8 times platinum since its release, propelled by hit singles such as "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love", and finally made Whitesnake a bona fide concert headliner in North America. Through the late 80s and early 90s, caught in the "hair-band" era, Coverdale kept Whitesnake going with great success despite changing line-ups.  In 1989 Coverdale recruited Vandenberg to record a new album, "Slip of the Tongue". Vandenberg co-wrote the entire album with Coverdale, but a wrist injury sidelined him from contributing the solo guitar work. Steve Vai was recruited, re-recording most of Vandenberg's existing parts and finishing the album. Upon release, it was a great commercial success in Europe and the US.  The album peaked at number 10 in the US, and has achieved platinum status. Critical response was mixed, with Allmusic critics Steve Erlwine and Greg Prato noting that despite high sales, "Slip of the Tongue" "was a considerable disappointment after the across-the-board success of "Whitesnake"". The following tour, for which Vandenberg returned to play along with Vai, cemented Whitesnake's reputation as a giant in the world of hard rock. The tour continued until the end of 1990.  At that point Coverdale had grown uncomfortable with the entity he felt Whitesnake had become and admitted that he got "caught up in it". In one interview, Coverdale stated:  It got louder and louder, and so did I, to the point now where I have to get dressed up like a "girly man" and tease one's questionable bangs or hair and it's all becoming a bit... boring. In 1990 Coverdale sang and co-wrote (with Hans Zimmer and Billy Idol) the song "The Last Note of Freedom" for the Tony Scott film "Days of Thunder".  On 26 September 1990, after the last show on the "Slip of the Tongue" tour in Tokyo, Coverdale disbanded Whitesnake indefinitely. Tired of the business in general, the rigors of touring and troubled by his separation and later divorce from Tawny Kitaen, Coverdale wanted to find other values in life and took "private time to reflect" and re-assess his career direction.

Coverdale and Page (1991–1993).

In the early spring of 1991, a collaboration was set up with guitarist Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin fame. Both parties have said that the collaboration revitalised them on many levels. This collaboration resulted in the "Coverdale-Page" album released in March 1993. The album was a hit all over the world reaching number 4 in the UK and number 5 in the US, and was certified Platinum in the US on 7 April 1995, but the US tour for the album had to be cancelled due to slow ticket sales. After a limited Japanese tour, Coverdale and Page parted ways. In part, the problem had been the comparison to Robert Plant who had fronted Led Zeppelin, as vocalist, with Jimmy Page. Some of their audience criticised Coverdale, feeling he was merely a Plant clone; Plant himself referred to the team-up as ‘David Cover-version’. Others felt the short-lived collaboration only served to inspire Page to once again hook up with Plant, a year later.

Later years.

Return of Whitesnake (1994, 1997–1998).

In 1994 Coverdale assembled a new line-up of Whitesnake (with the exception of Coverdale's musical partner, guitarist Adrian Vandenberg and bassist Rudy Sarzo, both of whom had been in Whitesnake since 1987) to tour for the release of Whitesnake's "Greatest Hits" album. The band again broke up after the tour. After this Coverdale once again retreated from the music business, for three years. In 1997 Coverdale returned and released "Restless Heart" (with Vandenberg on guitar). The album was originally supposed to be Coverdale's solo album, but the record company forced it to be released under the moniker "David Coverdale & Whitesnake". The tour was billed as Whitesnake's farewell tour, during which Coverdale and Vandenberg played two unplugged shows, one in Japan and the other for VH1. The first of the two shows was released the next year under the title "Starkers in Tokyo". After the Restless Heart-tour ended, Coverdale once again folded Whitesnake and took another short break from music.

Back to solo (1999–2002).

In 2000 Coverdale released his first solo album in 22 years, titled "Into The Light". Even though the album was not a hit, it did return Coverdale to the music business.

Re-reformation of Whitesnake (2002–present).

In December 2002 Coverdale re-reformed Whitesnake for an American and European tour, with Tommy Aldridge on drums, Marco Mendoza (bass), Doug Aldrich (guitar), Reb Beach (Ex-WINGER guitarist) and keyboardist Timothy Drury. 2004–2005 saw Whitesnake embark on a tour of the United States, South America and Europe. A live DVD, shot during the 2004 tour at the legendary Hammersmith Apollo was released in February 2006. In June 2006 Coverdale signed a new record deal with Steamhammer Records. The first release under the new contract was the double live album "" (released 27 November 2006); the album also contained 4 brand new studio tracks written by Coverdale and Aldrich.  In 2008 the band (with a new bassist and drummer) released its first new studio album in over 10 years titled "Good to Be Bad". The band toured the album extensively. Also in 2008, Whitesnake embarked on a European Tour as part of a double bill with fellow Yorkshire rockers Def Leppard.  In 2009 Whitesnake toured with Judas Priest on the "British Steel" 30th Anniversary Tour. On 11 August 2009 Whitesnake were playing a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado when Coverdale suffered some kind of vocal injury. After seeing a specialist, it was announced on 12 August 2009 that Coverdale had been suffering from severe vocal fold edema and a left vocal fold vascular lesion. The remainder of the tour with Judas Priest was cancelled so that this injury would not worsen.  In early February 2010 David Coverdale announced that his voice had seemed to have fully recovered from the trauma that sidelined him and the band on the Priest tour. He stated he had been recording new demos, aiming for a new Whitesnake album, and that on tape his voice was sounding full and strong. The studio album "Forevermore" was released on 25 March 2011, with Aldrich and Beach on board.  In May 2015, with the addition of guitar virtuoso Joel Hoekstra (formerly Of Night Ranger) the band released "The Purple Album" with cover versions of the songs that Coverdale had originally performed with "Deep Purple". It was followed by a tour.  In 2016 Whitesnake embarked on the "Great Hits" tour, in selected cities in North America and Europe.

Personal life.

Coverdale was married in 1974 to Julia Borkowski from Germany, and their daughter Jessica was born in 1978. Coverdale's second marriage was to former model and actress Tawny Kitaen, from 17 February 1989 until they divorced two years later, in April 1991. Kitaen was known for her provocative appearances in Whitesnake's music videos for "Here I Go Again", "Is This Love" and "Still of the Night." Since 1997, he has lived with his third wife, Cindy, an author ("The Food That Rocks"); they have one son named Jasper.  On 1 March 2007, Coverdale became a US citizen, in a ceremony in Reno, Nevada, and now holds dual US/UK citizenship. He has lived in Incline Village, Nevada for more than 20 years.

David Coverdale (born 22 September 1951) is an English rock singer best known for his work with Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978 which achieved multi-platinum success in 1987 with their self titled album Whitesnake. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after which he established his solo career. A collaboration with Jimmy Page resulted in a 1993 album that was certified Platinum. In 2016, Coverdale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple, giving one of the band's induction speeches. Coverdale is known in particular for his powerful blues-tinged voice.

David Coverdale (* 22. September 1951 in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Grafschaft North Yorkshire, England) ist ein britischer Hardrock-Sänger. Der ehemalige Deep-Purple-Sänger (1973–1976) gründete 1978 Whitesnake, deren Bandleader er noch heute ist. Ein weiteres Projekt war die Band Coverdale/Page (1991–1993).


History.

Prayers of thanks and special thanksgiving ceremonies are common among almost all religions after harvests and at other times. The Thanksgiving holiday's history in North America is rooted in English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation. It also has aspects of a harvest festival, even though the harvest in New England occurs well before the late-November date on which the modern Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated.  In the English tradition, days of thanksgiving and special thanksgiving religious services became important during the English Reformation in the reign of Henry VIII and in reaction to the large number of religious holidays on the Catholic calendar. Before 1536 there were 95 Church holidays, plus 52 Sundays, when people were required to attend church and forego work and sometimes pay for expensive celebrations. The 1536 reforms reduced the number of Church holidays to 27, but some Puritans wished to completely eliminate all Church holidays, including Christmas and Easter. The holidays were to be replaced by specially called Days of Fasting or Days of Thanksgiving, in response to events that the Puritans viewed as acts of special providence. Unexpected disasters or threats of judgement from on high called for Days of Fasting. Special blessings, viewed as coming from God, called for Days of Thanksgiving. For example, Days of Fasting were called on account of drought in 1611, floods in 1613, and plagues in 1604 and 1622. Days of Thanksgiving were called following the victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588 and following the deliverance of Queen Anne in 1705. An unusual annual Day of Thanksgiving began in 1606 following the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and developed into Guy Fawkes Day on November 5.

In Canada.

According to some historians, the first celebration of Thanksgiving in North America occurred during the 1578 voyage of Martin Frobisher from England in search of the Northwest Passage. Other researchers, however, state that "there is no compelling narrative of the origins of the Canadian Thanksgiving day."  The origins of Canadian Thanksgiving are also sometimes traced to the French settlers who came to New France in the 17th century, who celebrated their successful harvests. The French settlers in the area typically had feasts at the end of the harvest season and continued throughout the winter season, even sharing food with the indigenous peoples of the area.  As settlers arrived in Nova Scotia from New England after 1700, late autumn Thanksgiving celebrations became commonplace. New immigrants into the country—such as the Irish, Scottish, and Germans—also added their own traditions to the harvest celebrations. Most of the US aspects of Thanksgiving (such as the turkey) were incorporated when United Empire Loyalists began to flee from the United States during the American Revolution and settled in Canada.

In the United States.

Pilgrims and Puritans who emigrated from England in the 1620s and 1630s carried the tradition of Days of Fasting and Days of Thanksgiving with them to New England. The modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition is traced to a well-recorded 1619 event in Virginia and a sparsely documented 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The 1619 arrival of 38 English settlers at Berkeley Hundred in Charles City County, Virginia, concluded with a religious celebration as dictated by the group's charter from the London Company, which specifically required "that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned... in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God." The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest, which the Pilgrims celebrated with Native Americans, who helped them get through the previous winter by giving them food in that time of scarcity.  Several days of Thanksgiving were held in early New England history that have been identified as the "First Thanksgiving", including Pilgrim holidays in Plymouth in 1621 and 1623, and a Puritan holiday in Boston in 1631. According to historian Jeremy Bangs, director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum, the Pilgrims may have been influenced by watching the annual services of Thanksgiving for the relief of the siege of Leiden in 1574, while they were staying in Leiden. Now called "Oktober Feest," Leiden's autumn thanksgiving celebration in 1617 was the occasion for sectarian disturbance that appears to have accelerated the pilgrims' plans to emigrate to America. Later in Massachusetts, religious thanksgiving services were declared by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford, who planned the colony's thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.  Thanksgiving proclamations were made mostly by church leaders in New England up until 1682, and then by both state and church leaders until after the American Revolution. During the revolutionary period, political influences affected the issuance of Thanksgiving proclamations. Various proclamations were made by royal governors, John Hancock, General George Washington, and the Continental Congress, each giving thanks to God for events favorable to their causes. As President of the United States, George Washington proclaimed the first nationwide thanksgiving celebration in America marking November 26, 1789, "as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God".

Debate about the nation's first celebrations.

The question of where the first Thanksgiving was held in the United States has been a subject of debate, primarily between New England and Virginia, complicated by the concept of Thanksgiving as a holiday celebration versus a religious service. James Baker maintains, "The American holiday's true origin was the New England Calvinist Thanksgiving. Never coupled with a Sabbath meeting, the Puritan observances were special days set aside during the week for thanksgiving and praise in response to God's providence." Baker calls the debate a "tempest in a beanpot" and "marvelous nonsense" based on regional claims. However, the day for Thanksgiving services specifically codified in the founding charter of Berkeley Hundred in 1619 was instrumental in President John F. Kennedy's attempt to strike a compromise between the regional claims, by issuing Proclamation 3560 on November 5, 1963, stating, "Over three centuries ago, our forefathers in Virginia and in Massachusetts, far from home in a lonely wilderness, set aside a time of thanksgiving. On the appointed day, they gave reverent thanks for their safety, for the health of their children, for the fertility of their fields, for the love which bound them together, and for the faith which united them with their God."  Other claims include an earlier religious service by Spanish explorers in Texas at San Elizario in 1598. Robyn Gioia and Michael Gannon of the University of Florida argue that the earliest Thanksgiving service in what is now the United States was celebrated by the Spanish on September 8, 1565, in current Saint Augustine, Florida.

Fixing date.

Canada.

The earlier Thanksgiving celebrations in Canada has been attributed to the earlier onset of winter in the North, thus ending the harvest season earlier. Thanksgiving in Canada did not have a fixed date until the late 19th century. Prior to Canadian Confederation, many of the individual colonial governors of the Canadian provinces had declared their own days of Thanksgiving. The first official Canadian Thanksgiving occurred on April 15, 1872, when the nation was celebrating the Prince of Wales' recovery from a serious illness. By the end of the 19th century, Thanksgiving Day was normally celebrated on November 6. In the late 1800s, the Militia staged "sham battles" for public entertainment on Thanksgiving Day. The Militia militated for an earlier date for the holiday so they could use the warmer weather to draw bigger crowds. However, when World War I ended, the Armistice Day holiday was usually held during the same week. To prevent the two holidays from clashing with one another, in 1957 the Canadian Parliament proclaimed Thanksgiving to be observed on its present date on the second Monday of October.

United States.

Thanksgiving in the United States has been observed on differing dates. From the time of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln, the date of observance varied from state to state. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century, coinciding with, and eventually superseding the holiday of Evacuation Day (commemorating the day the British exited the United States after the Revolutionary War). Modern Thanksgiving was proclaimed for all states in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. Influenced by Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote letters to politicians for approximately 40 years advocating an official holiday, Lincoln set national Thanksgiving by proclamation for the final Thursday in November, explicitly in celebration of the bounties that had continued to fall on the Union and for the military successes in the war. Because of the ongoing Civil War, a nationwide Thanksgiving celebration was not realized until Reconstruction was completed in the 1870s.  On October 31, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a presidential proclamation changing the holiday to the next to last Thursday in November, for business reasons. On December 26, 1941, he signed a joint resolution of Congress changing the national Thanksgiving Day to the fourth Thursday in November.  Since 1971, when the American Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect, the American observance of Columbus Day has coincided with the Canadian observance of Thanksgiving.

Observance.

Australia.

In the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Wednesday of November, similar to the pre–World War II American observance on the last Thursday of the month. This means the Norfolk Island observance is the day before or six days after the United States' observance. The holiday was brought to the island by visiting American whaling ships.

Brazil.

In Brazil, National Thanksgiving Day was instituted by President Gaspar Dutra, through Law 781 of August 17, 1949, at the suggestion of Ambassador Joaquim Nabuco, who was enthusiastic about the commemorations he saw in 1909 in St. Patrick's Cathedral as an ambassador in Washington. In 1966, Law 5110 established that the Thanksgiving celebration would take place on the fourth Thursday of November. This date is celebrated by many families of American origin, by some Protestant Christian denominations, such as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (which is of American origin), the Presbyterian Church, the Baptist Church, the Methodist Church, and the Church of the Nazarene, and Methodist denominational universities. The day is also celebrated by evangelical churches such as the Foursquare Gospel Church in Brazil.

Canada.

Thanksgiving (), occurring on the second Monday in October, is an annual Canadian holiday to give thanks at the close of the harvest season. Although the original act of Parliament references God and the holiday is celebrated in churches, the holiday is mostly celebrated in a secular manner. Thanksgiving is a statutory holiday in all provinces in Canada, except for New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. While businesses may remain open in these provinces, the holiday is nonetheless recognized and celebrated regardless of its status.

Grenada.

In the West Indian island of Grenada, in the Caribbean, there is a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day which is celebrated on October 25. Even though it bears the same name, and is celebrated at roughly the same time as the American and Canadian versions of Thanksgiving, this holiday is unrelated to either of those celebrations. Instead the holiday marks the anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of the island in 1983, in response to the deposition and execution of the socialist Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop by a military government from within his own party.

Liberia.

In the West African country of Liberia, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the first Thursday of November. The Thanksgiving tradition there is rooted in the nation's founding as a colony of the American Colonization Society in 1821 by free people of color from the United States. Although recognized throughout the country, Thanksgiving is practiced chiefly by Americo-Liberians, descendants of Liberia's original African-American settlers.

Netherlands.

Many of the Pilgrims who migrated to the Plymouth Plantation resided in the city of Leiden from 1609–1620, and had recorded their births, marriages, and deaths at the Pieterskerk (St. Peter's church). In commemoration, a non-denominational Thanksgiving Day service is held each year on the morning of the American Thanksgiving Day in the Pieterskerk, a Gothic church in Leiden, noting the hospitality the Pilgrims received in Leiden on their way to the New World.  Thanksgiving is observed by orthodox Protestant churches in The Netherlands on the first Wednesday in November (). It is not a public holiday. Those who observe the day either go to church in the evening or take the day off and go to church in the morning (and occasionally afternoon) too.

Philippines.

The Philippines, while it was an American colony in the first half of the 20th century, celebrated Thanksgiving as a special public holiday on the same day as the Americans. During the Japanese occupation during World War II, both the Americans and Filipinos celebrated Thanksgiving in secret. After Japanese withdrawal in 1945, the tradition continued until 1969. It was revived by President Ferdinand Marcos, but the date was changed to be on every September 21, when martial law was imposed in the country. After Marcos' ouster in 1986, the tradition was no longer continued, due to the controversial events that occurred during his long administration.  Today Thanksgiving Day is now recently being celebrated as a commercial and cultural holiday, albeit stripped of its official status. SM Supermalls led the way in the slow revival of Thanksgiving Day on the same day as in the US, as in the old days. Many malls and hotels offer special sales on this day, which is part of the long celebration of Christmas in the Philippines, which begins in September (unlike on Black Friday in the United States).

Saint Lucia.

The nation of Saint Lucia celebrates Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October.

United States.

Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November since 1941 due to federal legislation, has been an annual tradition in the United States by presidential proclamation since 1863 and by state legislation since the Founding Fathers of the United States. Traditionally, Thanksgiving has been a celebration of the blessings of the year, including the harvest. What Americans call the "Holiday Season" generally begins with Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is celebrated both with family and in public places with parades such as Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York City, ABC Dunkin' Donuts Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, America's Hometown Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth, Massachusetts, McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade in Chicago, and Bayou Classic Thanksgiving Parade in New Orleans. The first day after Thanksgiving Day—Black Friday—marks the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Similar holidays.

Germany.

The Harvest Thanksgiving Festival,, is a popular German Christian festival on the first Sunday of October. The festival has a significant religious component, and unlike its North American counterpart, it usually does not include large dinners. Many churches are decorated with autumn crops, beautifully arranged in front of the altar. In some places, there are religious processions or parades. Many Bavarian beer festivals, like the Munich Oktoberfest, take place within the vicinity of "Erntedankfest."  The United States has observed German-American Day annually on October 6, within the vicinity of Erntedankfest, from 1883 until the early 1910s, then again from 1983 to the present day.

Japan.

is a national holiday in Japan. It takes place annually on November 23. The law establishing the holiday, which was adopted during the American occupation after World War II, cites it as an occasion for commemorating labor and production and giving one another thanks. It has roots in the ancient Shinto harvest ceremony ().

United Kingdom.

The Harvest Festival of Thanksgiving does not have an official date in the United Kingdom; however, it is traditionally held on or near the Sunday of the harvest moon that occurs closest to the autumnal equinox. Harvest Thanksgiving in Britain also has pre-Christian roots when the Saxons would offer the first sheaf of barley, oats, or wheat to fertility gods. When the harvest was finally collected, communities would come together for a harvest supper. When Christianity arrived in Britain many traditions remained, and today the Harvest Festival is marked by churches and schools in late September/early October (same as Canada) with singing, praying and decorating with baskets of food and fruit to celebrate a successful harvest and to give thanks. Collections of food are usually held which are then given to local charities which help the homeless and those in need.

India.

Pongal is celebrated in countries such as India, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia. In other parts of India, similar harvest festivals are celebrated as Makar Sankranti and Monti Fest. It is a four-day festival, which according to the Gregorian calendar is normally celebrated from January 14 to January 16. This corresponds to the period from the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of the Tamil month Thai and in the end of the Kannada month Dannur which is usually on 14th day of January. The festival is mainly celebrated to convey appreciation to the Sun God for a successful harvest. Part of the celebration is the boiling of the first rice of the season consecrated to the Sun – the Surya Maangalyam. The origins of the Thai Pongal festival may date back more than 1000 years.  In Western Odisha, the day of Pousa Purnima on the saka calendar is commonly known as Pus Puni. It is marked as a day of thanksgiving to mother nature for a good harvest and is celebrated by making regional food items cultivated and harvested by farmers, all food items are given out and served as a reminder of being caretakers of the harvest.

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, some of the Caribbean islands, and Liberia. It began as a day of giving thanks and sacrifice for the blessing of the harvest and of the preceding year. Similarly named festival holidays occur in Germany and Japan. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and Brazil, and around the same part of the year in other places. Although Thanksgiving has historical roots in religious and cultural traditions, it has long been celebrated as a secular holiday as well.

Thanksgiving ( für „Danksagung“) ist ein in den Vereinigten Staaten und Kanada gefeiertes Erntedankfest, dessen Form stark von der europäischen Tradition dieses Festes abweicht.


History.

Antiquity.

Archaeologists believe that Saint-Nazaire is built upon the remnants of Corbilo, an Armorican Gaulish city populated by the Namnetes tribe, which (according to the Greek navigator Pytheas) was the second-largest Gaulish city, after Massilia (now Marseille). Archeology suggests that the area has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period, as evidenced by the presence of monuments like the tumulus of Dissignac, the dolmen located in the centre of the present-day city, and ancient bronzes found in the vicinity.  According to the 15th-century chronicler Alain Bouchart, Brutus of Troy, the mythical ancestor of the Bretons, travelled to Saint-Nazaire to set foot upon the new homeland of his people. Historical accounts note that at the end of the Roman Empire, some Britons colonized the Loire estuary and later the peninsula containing Guérande. The farthest extent of the Breton language in the Loire region is Donges, to the east of Saint-Nazaire.

Middle Ages.

According to the late-6th-century writer Gregory of Tours, the Roman Church sheltered the remains of the martyr Nazarius in a local basilica. According to legend, the Breton chief Waroch II sent an emissary to seize these relics. The plot was foiled when the emissary fractured his skull upon the lintel of the church door. Waroch, interpreting this as a miracle, was deterred and the village thenceforth took the name of Sanctus Nazarius de Sinuario.  After this point, the history of Saint-Nazaire, like much of Europe during the Dark Ages, is not well documented. Battles occurred, such as in 1380 when Jehan d'Ust defended the city in the name of John V, Duke of Brittany (known in France as Jean IV) against the Castilian fleet during the Hundred Years' War. After this time, Saint-Nazaire became the seat of a parish extending from Penhoët to Pornichet, part of the Viscountcy of Saint-Nazaire.  Like the whole of Brittany, Saint-Nazaire formed part of the Duchy of Brittany until 1532, when it was annexed by France. In 1624, the city was threatened by the Calvinists. In 1756, a fort was built on the order of the governor of Brittany to protect the town, which by then had 600 inhabitants. Until the French Revolution, Saint-Nazaire belonged to the province of Brittany.

19th century industrialisation.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the port only consisted of one simple harbour. As the town was so far inland, its main economy was not based on commercial fishing but on its strategic location as the lowest possible navigation point for large ships and on supplying pilots for navigation further up the Loire. In 1800, the parish of Saint-Nazaire had 3,216 inhabitants.  The modern Saint-Nazaire was created by the administration of Napoleon III. The population of 3,216 in 1800 shows its battered history, with a mainly local (Brière), of Lower Brittany (of Morbihan in the Finistère-south), and minor representation from most other areas of France. From this point forward the population of Saint-Nazaire experienced exponential growth, which was reflected in its nickname of "Little Breton California", or "Liverpool of the West".  In 1802, a road was built to develop the port, which extended by 1835 to a breakwater with a navigational lighthouse at its end. The development included new basins for ships to unload to barges that carried goods further up the river. This development moved the town into the area of the city which is now called the district of "Little Morocco". This development made the town the base for the passenger steamships of the Nantes–Saint-Nazaire line, as well as making the town the alternate port for ships which could not access Nantes.  In 1856, the first wet dock was dug in "Halluard City", making it possible for ships to moor and turn. This led to the construction of the town's first railway connection. In 1857, the Chemin de Fer de Paris à Orléans (railroad company of Orléans) connected Saint-Nazaire to Nantes. In 1862, the first transatlantic telegraph lines were installed from France to South America, coming ashore at Saint-Nazaire. 1862 also saw the construction of major shipbuilding facilities, including those of Chantier Scott, which launched the first French metal-hulled ships. In 1868, Saint-Nazaire became a sub-prefecture of the town of Savenay. A second dock basin was created at Penhoët in 1881, to allow the handling of larger ships, but a lock gate built to access it cut the town in two, thus creating Old Saint-Nazaire and an artificial island called "Little Morocco".  In early 1870, Nantes-born Pierre Waldeck-Rousseau joined the bar in Saint-Nazaire. In September he became, in spite of his youth, secretary to the municipal commission temporarily appointed to carry on the town's business. He organized the National Defense at Saint-Nazaire, and marched out with his contingent, though they saw no active service due to lack of ammunition (their private store having been commandeered by the state). In 1873, he moved to the bar of Rennes, following the establishment of the Third Republic in 1871.  On 30 March 1894, a strike occurred at the forging mills of Trignac in opposition to a reduction of the work force. What had seemed a small dispute escalated after a shooting in Fourmies, resulting in the town getting its national nickname of "Red City". Socialists flocked to the town in defense of the striking workers, joining in the declaration of the "Fusillade de Fourmies".  In 1900, the commune of Pornichet was created by separating from the larger commune of Saint-Nazaire.

World War I.

During World War I, the city became an important debarkment port of Allied troops, particularly in the latter stages for the United States Army. When they entered the war in 1917, they developed the town and port infrastructure, by adding additional drinking water storage ponds for the town's water treatment plants, and a refrigeration terminal to the docks for shipment and storage of meat and dairy products to supply their troops.  However, the presence of legal brothels ("Maisons Tolérée") resulted in a diplomatic incident. As a result of strict reformist public health concerns at home, the American Expeditionary Force placed the "Maisons Tolérée" off limits, resulting in a dispute between the town's brothel owners backed by the mayor, versus the US Army forces. With the dispute escalating, Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau sent a memo to General John Pershing offering a compromise: American medical authorities would control designated brothels operated solely for American soldiers. Pershing passed the proposal to Raymond Fosdick, who on giving it to Secretary of War Newton D. Baker promptly responded: "For God's sake, Raymond, don't show this to the president or he'll stop the war." Only after the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, when the United States Army could no longer plead military necessity as grounds for curtailing leave, did venereal disease rates among United States Army troops rise quickly.

Inter-war period.

The post-war period brought about a period of economic depression for the shipbuilders, who consequently diversified into building seaplanes from 1922. In 1926 the district of Paimbœuf was merged with the district of Saint-Nazaire, thus reinforcing the influence of the city on the south bank of the Loire River.  Although having built, between 1913 and 1921, and between 1925 and 1926, as a result of the 1930s Great Depression the French government commissioned a series of state programs to aid national economic activity. The state-owned shipping company Compagnie Générale Transatlantique commissioned the ship builders of Saint-Nazaire to construct a new large passenger ship, which as a result between 1928 and 1934 created the Albert Caquot–engineered the Louis Joubert dry dock – at, the largest of its kind in the world at the time – necessary to be able to accommodate the construction of. In 1932, the Saint-Nazaire casino went bankrupt and was resold to the town of Nantes: the site was redeveloped in 1935 as the first home of the current Saint-Louis school.  As a result of the national general strike of June 1936, to ensure completion of the nationally prestigious project SS "Normandie", the government nationalised the various private shipyards into one state-owned entity, the 1861-founded Chantiers de l'Atlantique.

World War II.

After the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany's Wehrmacht army at the start of World War II, the combined forces of the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force failed to hold the oncoming onslaught. As part of Operation Ariel, Saint-Nazaire, like Dunkirk, became an evacuation point to England for the British, with those embarking including the writer John Renshaw Starr.

Sinking of the Lancastria.

On 17 June 1940 an estimated 9,000 British Army soldiers were embarked aboard the Clyde-built cruise liner, later converted to troopship,, which was attacked and sunk by German Junkers Ju 88 bombers, mainly from Kampfgeschwader 30, taking with her around 4,000 victims. This is the worst disaster in British maritime history and the worst loss of life for British forces in the whole of World War II. Winston Churchill banned all news coverage of the disaster on learning of it and it remains largely forgotten by history. A "Lancastria" memorial is located near the U-boat pens in Saint-Nazaire.

Miracle of St Nazaire.

The ball turret gunner of an American B-17F bomber fell onto the glass roof of the train station, even though his parachute had been destroyed by German flak while still in his plane. The US airman, called Alan Magee, survived the fall. A German military surgeon was able to save his nearly severed arm. The airman credits his survival to a prayer to "the Almighty" as he recovered consciousness during his fall.

U-boat pens.

Following the surrender of France to German forces later in June 1940, the port immediately became a base of operations for the "Kriegsmarine" and was as such the target of Allied operations. A heavily fortified U-boat Saint-Nazaire submarine base was built by Organisation Todt shortly after occupation, with a concrete ceiling capable of withstanding almost any bomb in use at the time.  The base provided a home during the war to many of the best-known U-boat staff, including:  The base still stands today as its extremely sturdy construction makes demolition uneconomical. The base is now used by cafes, a bar and on the roof is an exhibition about Saint-Nazaire.

St Nazaire Raid.

The huge Joubert drydock built for SS "Normandie" was the only port on the Atlantic capable of servicing the German battleships and. This made the port strategically important to both the Axis Powers and the Allies during World War II. After Operation Rheinübung on 18–27 May 1941, in which "Bismarck" and the heavy cruiser which resulted in the sinking of and the sinking of "Bismarck", the need for the Allies to take the Joubert dry dock out of operation was increased. The "Bismarck" and the "Tirpitz" were to have ended their raid at Saint-Nazaire. On 28 March 1942, a force of 611 British Commandos and the Royal Navy launched the St Nazaire Raid against the shipyards of Saint-Nazaire, codenamed Operation Chariot. An obsolete American-built destroyer was used as a ram-ship loaded with explosives, and it and the commandos succeeded in destroying the gates and machinery of the Joubert drydock, preventing its further use by the Germans during the war. Of the 200 who were expected to return, 120 were alive and half were wounded. Five Victoria Crosses and 69 other decorations were awarded. The Joubert dry dock was not brought back into operation until 1948.

After Operation Chariot.

The U-boat threat to supply convoys across the Atlantic made Saint-Nazaire a constant target of Allied air forces, in the face of determined Luftwaffe fighter opposition to raids by United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force bombers. On 3 January 1943 Colonel Curtis LeMay led 85 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses of the 1st Bombardment Wing against the U-boat pens at Saint-Nazaire, on the Eighth Air Force's sixth raid against the facility. LeMay also introduced the combat box defensive formation, echeloning three-plane elements within a squadron, and squadrons within a group, to concentrate defensive firepower against fighter opposition. Only 76 aircraft found and hit the target and during the mission seven bombers were shot down and 47 damaged.  As a result of the raid, on 14 January 1943 under directive (S.46239/?? A.C.A.S. Ops), the Allies implemented incendiary bomb tactics against U-boat pens, under the Area bombing directive. To minimize civilian casualties during air attacks, the Allies devised a plan to force an evacuation of the town. For three days in 1943, British Royal Air Force and American aircraft dropped scores of leaflets warning the population of a planned fire-bombing raid. At the end of the third day, the raid came and burned the entire city to the ground. Casualties were light as most of the civilians had heeded the warning and fled to the safety of the countryside but after that point, except for the self-contained U-boat base, Saint-Nazaire remained abandoned until the end of the war.  After D-day and the liberation of most of France in 1944, German troops in Saint-Nazaire's submarine base refused to surrender, and they holed up (as did their counterparts in the La Rochelle and Lorient bases). Since the Germans could no longer conduct major submarine operations from the bases without a supply line, the SHAEF commander, U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower decided to simply bypass these ports, and the Allied armies focused their resources on the invasion of Germany. Saint-Nazaire and the other two German "pockets" remained under German control until after the last day of the war in Europe, 8 May 1945.

After World War II.

The town of St. Nazaire was rebuilt in the late 1940s in a minimalist functional style.  The submarine base was used by the French Navy from 1945 to 1948. It then came under the control of various chemical companies and shipbuilders., the French diesel submarine "Espadon" is moored within the U-boat pens. Tours of the submarine are available to the public.  After the construction of in 1961, the last Compagnie Générale Transatlantique liner and the subsequent closure of the Suez Canal, Chantiers de l'Atlantique began building large oil tankers, including,, and. A new dry dock (Basin C) was planned for the construction of tankers over 1,000,000 tonnes but this fell through with the reopening of the Suez Canal. was constructed at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in 2003.

Geography.

The town of Saint-Nazaire is located on the north bank of the Loire estuary (its territory includes the tip of Chémoulin which marks the end of the estuary), 50 km west of Nantes. It is near the marshes of Brière, an important regional natural park with many animal and plant species, the second largest wetland in France after the Camargue.  According to INSEE, Saint-Nazaire is the commune-center of an urban unit (commonly: agglomeration ) which counts 153 596 inhabitants in 2010, gathering ten communes located on the right bank of the Loire estuary and on its oceanic prolongation, from Donges to Croisic. This unit is the urban center of the urban area of Saint-Nazaire (23 towns), which has 196 596 inhabitants in 2010 and extending over Brière and almost all of the Guérande peninsula. The eastern part of the town is on the alluvial terrain between the Brière and the Loire estuary. The western part, more extensive, corresponds to the extension of the hillside of Guérande: the relief is hilly and of higher altitude, where one finds a granite and metamorphic base. Geologically, Saint-Nazaire is located in the Armorican massif.

Climate.

In close proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, the climate of Saint-Nazaire is, as with the rest of the Loire-Atlantique, of temperate oceanic type. This climate is very much influenced by the Loire estuary. The winters are mild (Min 3 °C / Max 10 °C ), and summer is mild too (Min 12 °C / Max 24 °C ). Snowfall is rare, but rain is frequent (113 days a year with precipitation) but not very intense, the annual rainfall being 743.3 mm. Precipitation is however relatively variable from one year to the next. The sunshine is 1,826 hours a year, but there are only 53 days of strong sunshine.  Saint-Nazaire receives mainly southwestern sector winds related to the Atlantic depressions and northeastern sector winds when the weather is more stable. The annual average wind of 4.5 m / s and there are 60 days per year of strong wind.

Education.

Schools.

The primary schools of Saint-Nazaire (Carnot, Jean-Jaurès, Lamartine, Jules Ferry, Ferdinand Bush, Boncourt, etc.) educate nearly 8,000 pupils in 30 school complexes. The junior schools have nearly 7,000 pupils in 12 colleges: public colleges Albert Vinçon; Pierre Norange; Manon Roland; Jean de Neyman; Jean Moulin, accommodate around 1,350 pupils each. Private colleges include:  The high schools educate 6,000 pupils into 11 colleges, with the technical school Aristide Briand having some 3,500 pupils, one of the largest colleges of France; an experimental college, public lycée managed jointly by the teachers and the pupils; the private college of Saint-Louis mainstream education; the hotel private college Sainte-Anne; the private of mainstream education and technological college Our-Lady-in Espérance. The Cité Scolaire of Saint-Nazaire is one of largest of France, with nearly 4,000 high-school pupils.

University.

The University of Saint-Nazaire is a college of the University of Nantes, the second largest university in France with approximately 35,000 students, including nearly 5,000 on the university campus of Saint-Nazaire.

Transport.

The Route nationale N165/N161 (E60 route) connects Saint-Nazaire to Nantes and Rennes via the Pont de Saint-Nazaire, which crosses the Loire. Paris is then accessed via the A10/A11 in Nantes. Valves, Lorient, Quimper and Brest are accessed via the N165.  A project to review a second crossing of the Loire between Nantes and Saint Nazaire is being considered, planned to be constructed and operational by 2025.

Railway.

Saint-Nazaire railway station is served by both the TGV and regional trains and buses of the TER Pays de la Loire. TGV (high speed train) connection to Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Lille, and Strasbourg, with trains to Paris via the LGV Atlantique taking just over 2 hours. TER Pays de la Loire provides links to Nantes, Angers, Le Mans, La Roche sur Yon, and other regional cities and towns.

Air travel.

Saint-Nazaire airport is located south-east of Saint-Nazaire, in the "commune" of Montoir-de-Bretagne. It has an annual capacity of approximately 150,000 passengers, and is the operational and maintenance base for Eagle Aviation France.  International travel is via Nantes Atlantique Airport, the biggest airport in western France, linking with several French and European cities as well as Montreal in Canada (seasonally) and some cities in North Africa. It is currently planned that this airport will be supplemented by a new Aéroport du Grand Ouest that will be situated to the north-west of Nantes in the "commune" of Notre-Dame-des-Landes. The €580 million project was approved in February 2008, with construction expected to start in 2014 and an opening date in 2017.

Economy.

The economy of the city is founded on the activity of the port, including export of manufactured goods but also on the services, being given sizeable size of the city. Commercial fishing has almost completely disappeared in spite of the existence of a small fleet of fisheries and fishing vessels.  Saint-Nazaire suffered heavily from the downsizing of shipbuilding activity in western Europe in the 1960s and 1970s, after the completion of the national passenger liner, SS "France". For a long time in the 1980s, Saint-Nazaire remained an economically depressed area with unemployment rates above 20%. Today, the local economy is more diversified and its situation is more in line with that of France as a whole. The major industries are:

International relations.

Twin towns - sister cities.

Saint-Nazaire is twinned with:

Breton language.

In 2008, 0.41% of the children attended bilingual primary schools.

Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: "Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer") is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire River estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean. The town is at the south of the second-largest swamp in France, called "la Brière". Given its location, Saint-Nazaire has a long tradition of fishing and shipbuilding. The Chantiers de l'Atlantique, one of the largest shipyards in the world, has constructed notable superliners such as,, and, the largest passenger ship in the world.

Saint-Nazaire (bretonisch: "Sant-Nazer") ist eine Gemeinde und Hafenstadt mit Einwohnern (Stand ) an der Loiremündung in Frankreich. Sie gehört zum Département Loire-Atlantique in der Region Pays de la Loire und ist Sitz einer Unterpräfektur. Der Ortsname kann auf den heiligen Nazarius zurückgeführt werden.


Etymology and meaning.

"Bhagavān" literally means "fortunate", "blessed" (from the noun ', meaning "fortune", "wealth", cognate to Slavic'"god", Polish "bogaty" Serbo-Croatian "bogat", Russian " (bogatyj)" "wealthy"), and hence "illustrious", "divine", "venerable", "holy", etc.  The "Vishnu Purana" defines "Bhagavān" as follows, The same text defines Bhaga and provides the etymological roots as follows as translated by Wilson,  Bhagavan is related to the root "Bhaj" (भज्, "to revere", "adore"), and implies someone "glorious", "illustrious", "revered", "venerable", "divine", "holy" (an epithet applied to gods, holy or respectable personages). The root "Bhaj" also means "share with", "partake of", "aportion". Clooney and Stewart state that this root, in Vaishnava traditions, implies Bhagavan as one perfect creator that a devotee seeks to partake from, share his place with, by living in god, in the way of god, the loving participation between the two being its own reward.  Buddha is referred to as Bhagavan in ancient and medieval Theravada, Mahayana and Tantra Buddhist texts, where it connotes, "Lord", "Blessed One", "Fortunate One".

Hinduism.

Literature.

The Vedic texts neither mention nor provide a basis to explain the origin of the Bhagavān concept.  The root of "Bhagavan, "Bhaga" is mentioned in the "Mundaka Upanishad", but it does not mean or imply "Bhagavan"':  The "Mundaka Upanishad" then answers this question in two parts over verses 1.1.4 through 3.2.11. These verses split knowledge into two sections: lower knowledge and higher knowledge. Lower knowledge includes Vedas, phonetics, grammar, etymology, meter, astronomy and ceremony rituals. The higher knowledge indicates, the Upanishad asserts, is Self-knowledge and realizing its oneness with Brahman—the one which cannot be seen, nor seized, which has no origin, no qualities, no hips, nor ears, no hands, nor feet, one that is the eternal, all-pervading, infinitesimal, imperishable. The word Bhagavan does not appear in the "Mundaka Upanishad" and other early or middle Upanishads.  Later and medieval era Upanishads mention Bhagavān. For example, the very first verse of the "Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣhad" uses the term, as follows,  Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa, a minor Upanishad, then proceeds to disclose, among other things, two Bhagavan names in the Hare Krishna mantra in verse 2. This verse is sung by International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) devotees.  In "Bhagavata Dharma", it denotes Narayana Vasudeva's four vyuha formations. Ishvara or God is called Bhagavan and the person dedicated to Bhagavan is called a Bhagavata. The Bhagavata Purana (I.iii.28) identifies Krishna as Narayana, Vāsudeva, Vishnu and Hari—Bhagavan present in human form. Bhagavan is the complete revelation of the Divine; Brahman, the impersonal Absolute, is unqualified and therefore, never expressed. Paramatman is Bhagavan in relation to Prakṛti and the Jiva. The Yoga of Devotion implies that if a Bhagavata, the devotee of Bhagavan, seeks and longs for Bhagavan, then Bhagavan too seeks his devotee in equal measure.  The term Bhagavan appears extensively in the "Bhagavad Gita", as Krishna counsels Arjuna. For example,

Vaishnavism.

The Bhāgavat traditions of Hinduism invoke Bhagavan in "Narayan Upakheyam" and in the Bhagavad Gita of Bhishma Parva of the Mahabharata. The devotion to Lord Vishnu (identified as Vasudeva in Mahabharata) is described as ten incarnations of Vishnu. It introduced the "Chatur – vyuha" concept and laid emphasis on the worship of five Vrisini-warriors, reached the peak of its popularity during the Gupta Period.

Significance.

In Hinduism, the word, Bhagavān, indicates the Supreme Being or Absolute Truth conceived as a Personal God. This personal feature indicated by the word Bhagavān differentiates its usage from other similar terms such as Brahman, the "Supreme Spirit" or "spirit", and thus, in this usage, Bhagavan is analogous to the Christian concept of God the Father. In Vaisnavism, a devotee of Bhagvān Krishna is called a Bhāgavata.  The "Bhagavata Purana" (1.2.11) states the definition of Bhagavān to mean the supreme most being: The Learned Know the Absolute Truth call this non-dual substance "Brahman", "Paramatma" or "Bhagavan". Bhagavān used as a title of veneration is often directly used as Lord, as in Bhagavān Rama, Bhagavān Krishna, Bhagavān Shiva, etc. In Buddhism and Jainism, Gautama Buddha, Mahavira and other Tirthankaras, Buddhas and bodhisattvas are also venerated with this title. The feminine of Bhagavat is Bhagawatī and is an epithet of Durga and other goddesses. This title is also used by a number of contemporary spiritual teachers in India who claim to be Bhagavan or have realized impersonal Brahman.  Bhakti (devotion to God) consists of actions performed dedicated to the Paramatman, the individuated existence which has free-will and who is the final cause of the world; the Vedic Rishis describe the goals originated from God as Bhagavān, the Ananda aspect of God where God has manifested His personality is called Bhagavān when consciousness (pure self-awareness) aligns with those goals to cause the unified existence and commencement of works follow.

Buddhism.

Literature.

Some Buddhist texts, such as the Pali "suttas", use the word Bhagavā for Buddha, meaning "the fortunate one". The term Bhagavā has been used in Pali Anussati or recollections as one of the terms that describes the "Tathāgata" as one full of good qualities, as "arahant", "sammā-sambuddho" and "sugato" (Dīgha Nikāya II.93).  In the Buddha Anussati, Bhagavan is defined the following way:  Several Tibetan Buddhist tantra texts use the word Bhagavān. For example, the Pradipoddyotana manuscript of Guhyasamāja tantra-Samdhivyakarana uses the word Bhagavān, which Alex Wayman translates as "Lord". The text, elsewhere refers to "Bhagavan Sarvatathagatakayavakcittadipatih", which John Campbell translates as "Lord, Master of the Vajras of Body, Speech, and Mind of all Buddhas." Elsewhere, it states,  Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, a sutra of Mahāyāna Buddhism, for example, uses the word Bhagavān over three hundred times, which is either left untranslated by scholars, or translated as "Lord or Blessed One". The devotional meditational text "Sukhavati Vyuhopadesa" by Vasubandhu uses the term Bhagavān in its invocations.

Significance.

The term Bhagavān is found in liturgical practices of Theravada Buddhism, where it is used as an epithet that means the "Blessed One". Examples of such usage is found in Sri Lanka's "Bodhi Puja" (or "Atavisi Buddha Puja", Worship of the Twenty Eight Buddhas).

Inscriptions.

Greek.

A word derived from Bhagavan is documented epigraphically from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar; in which Heliodorus, an Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila to the court of a Shunga king, addresses himself as a "Bhagvatena" (devotee) of Vishnu. ("Heliodorena Bhagavata", Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909)):  This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva (Vishnu), the God of Gods was erected here by the Bhagavatena (devotee) Heliodoros, the son of Dion, a man of Taxila, sent by the Great Greek (Yona) King Antialcidas, as ambassador to King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign."

Buddhist vase.

"Sākamunisa bhagavato" is recorded in the kharoshthi dedication of a vase placed in a Buddhist stupa by the Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus:

Brass pillars and stupas.

James Prinsep identified several engravings and inscriptions on ancient Buddhist artifacts that include the word Bhagavan and related words. For example,

Bhagavān (Sanskrit:, ) or Bhagwan is an epithet for a deity, particularly for Krishna and other avatars of Lord Vishnu in Vaishnavism and for Lord Shiva in the Shaivism tradition of Hinduism. The term is used by Jains to refer to the Tirthankaras, particularly Mahavira, and by Buddhists to refer to Lord Buddha in India. In many parts of India and South Asia, Bhagavān represents the abstract concept of a universal God to Hindus who are spiritual and religious but do not worship a specific deity. Bhagwan itself is an acronym of the combination of the 5 elements of nature. Bha means Bhoomi (Earth), Ga means gaggan (Space/Sky), Va means Vayu (Air), A means Agni (Fire) and finally, N means Neer (Water)

Bhagvan, auch Bhagwan oder Bhagavan (Sanskrit, m., भगवत्, "bhagavat", Nom./Vok. Sing.: "bhagavan"), ist in Indien der Ausdruck für Gesegneter, Erhabener, Gott, Herr, Glücklicher, Verehrungswürdiger, Liebenswerter. Das Wort Bhagavat steckt u. a. auch in Ausdrücken wie Bhagavata und Bhagavad Gita, übersetzt „der Gesang Gottes“, wobei sich „Bhagvan“ auf Krishna bezieht.