Names.

In the Scandinavian sources they are the descendants of Yngvi-Frey of Vanaheim. "Yngling" means "descendant of Frey", and in the "Gesta Danorum" of Saxo Grammaticus they are called the "sons of Frey". Several of these kings appear in "Beowulf": Eadgils (Adils), Onela (Ale), and Ohthere (Ottar Vendelkråka), but here they are called "Scylfings" (see the Beowulf section below).  Snorri Sturluson hints at a less divine origin in "Skáldskaparmál" for this dynasty: "One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Land." In the 13th century, the official Swedish/Scandinavian term for the modern-day Southern Finland was "Eastern Land", Österland, i.e. the eastern half of Sweden at the time.  In "Ynglinga Saga" in 1220 AD, Snorri Sturluson discusses marriages between Swedish and Finnish royal families. In 1220 AD (c.), in the Skáldskaparmál section of Edda, Sturluson discusses King Halfdan the Old, Nór's great-grandson, and nine of his sons who are the forefathers of various royal lineages, including ""Yngvi, from whom the Ynglings are descended"". According to "Orkneyinga Saga" in 1230 AD, "Nór" founded Norway. He was a direct descendant of Fornjótr, the King of ""Gotland, Kvenland and Finnland"". Many Scandinavian historians name Halfdan the Old as an ancestor to Rollo, the Viking conqueror who founded Normandy and took the name Robert I (the first) after converting to Christianity. He was William the Conqueror's great-great-great-grandfather.  In 1387 AD, "Hversu Noregr byggðist" ('How Norway was founded') is an account of the origin of various legendary Norwegian lineages. It too traces the descendants of the primeval Finnish ruler Fornjotr back through Nór and his siblings, Góí and Gór; Nór being here the eponym and first great king of Norway, and then gives details of the descendants of Nór and of his brother Gór in the following section known as the Ættartölur ('Genealogies', a.k.a. Fundinn Noregr, 'Founding of Norway'). The Hversu account is closely paralleled by the opening of the Orkneyinga saga.  The 'genealogies' also claim that many heroic families famed in Scandinavian tradition but not located in Norway were of a Finn-Kven stock, mostly sprung from Nór's great-grandson Halfdan the Old. Almost all the lineages sprung from Halfdan are then shown to reconvert in the person of Harald Fairhair, the first king of "all Norway". This information can be confirmed in other sources.  The 'Ættartölur' account ends to a genealogy of Harald's royal descendants down to Olaf IV of Norway with the statement that the account was written in 1387, and with a list of the kings of Norway from this Olaf back to Harald Fair-hair.  Another origin for the name "skilfing" is possible: Snorri described Erik and Alrik, the sons of "Skjalf" to be the de facto ancestors of this Norse-Finnish clan.

From Sweden to Norway.

According to Snorri Sturluson, the dynasty led the settlement of the Swedish provinces and established themselves as the kings of its provinces, accepting the overlordship of the Swedish king at Uppsala, until the dynasty all but exterminated itself with Ingjald Ill-Ruler and his downfall. A survivor Olof Trätälja was the ancestor of the Norwegian branch.

Remaining in Sweden.

However, both Snorri (as in the earlier quote) and Saxo described the clan as remaining in Sweden after this date.  Saxo on the Battle of Bråvalla (ca 750):  Moreover, both in Icelandic sources and in the "Gesta Danorum", king Sigurd Hring would become the ancestor of the houses of Ragnar Lodbrok and would thus be the semi-legendary ancestor of the House of Munsö through Björn Ironside, and the Danish royal house through Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye. Ragnar's eldest son Ivar the Boneless was the leader of the Great Heathen Army and appears to have been the founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty of the Kingdom of York and Kingdom of Dublin.

The family tree.

This is the mythic Yngling family tree based on "Historia Norwegiæ", "Ynglinga saga", "Beowulf" and other Old Norse sources. The names of Swedish kings are shown in bold.  Notes:

The name Scylfing.

In Old English several kings who are generally identified as Ynglings are called Scylfings. The genealogy is given as:  Ohthere ("Ottar") also occurs as the father of Aedgils ("Adils") in Ynglingatal. There Skilfing ("Skilfingr") appears as a synonym of Yngling, in a line on "Egil", the father of "Ottar", so that Ongentheow is considered identical to "Egil".  Likewise in the "Skáldskaparmál" the Scylfings are described as an eastern family and "East King" was a conventional kenning for a Swedish king.  However, in the "Ættartolur", (the genealogies attached to Hversu Noregr byggdist), the Skilfings are of Norwegian origin and include a family identified as "Skjöldungs". In the eddic poem "Grímnismál" (stanza 55), "Skilfing" appears as one of Odin's names, the information there also appearing in the "Gylfaginning"..

Beowulf.

In the Old English poem "Beowulf", the word "Scylfing" occurs twice in the singular and twice in the plural. For alliterative purposes the name could be extended, such as the form "Heathoscylfing" 'Battle-Scylfing', which occurs once in the singular and twice in the plural. A Scylfing whose name is partly missing but ends in "-ela" married the sister of Hrothgar and Halga. Specifically identified as Scylfings are Ongentheow, king of Sweden, and by extension his subject Wiglaf son of Weohstan. Wiglaf and Weohstan belonged to the family of the Wægmundings to which Beowulf and his father Ecgtheow also belonged. Another extended form is "helm Scylfinga". This literally means 'Scylfings'-helmet'; it is a kenning meaning both "ruler of the Scylfings" and "protector of the Scylfings". The "Beowulf" poet uses it to refer to Ongentheow's son Onela.

In Norse tradition.

From the "Hyndluljóð".

The eddic poem "Hyndluljóð", in stanza 16 speaks of descendants of an ancient king named Halfdan the Old:Hence come the Skjöldungs, hence the Skilfings, Hence the Ödlings ["Ǫðlingar"], hence the Ylfings,...

From the "Skáldskaparmál".

In the "Skáldskaparmál", Snorri Sturluson speaks of the second group of nine sons of Halfdan the Old, from whom many families of legend descend, one of these sons being Yngvi, purported ancestor of the Yngling lineage. But neither Skylfings or Skjöldungs are specifically derived from these sons. Snorri continues with examples of famous descendants of three of those lineages, followed by: "Of the house of the Ylfings was Eirík the Eloquent ("Eiríkr inn málspaki")." But Ylfings have not been previously mentioned. Then follows the names of four ancestors of four lineages not descended from Halfdan, which include Yngvi and the Ynglings a second time. There is obvious confusion or corruption in this passage or its source. The fourth lineage is identified: One war-king was named Skelfir; and his house is called the House of Skilfings: his kindred is in the Eastern Region. A connection with the east might mean a connection to Sweden, but the vagueness of expression suggests Snorri knows no more about these Skilfings than he has written.  Snorri also gives "Skilfing" as a kenning for "king" and it appears as a kenning for "sword" in the "thulur" found in some versions of the "Skáldkskaparmál".

From the "Ættartǫlur".

The Ættartǫlur connected to "Hversu Noregr byggdist" are a longer variant of the genealogical passages in the "Skáldskaparmál", also speaking of Halfdan the Old and lineages descended from him and of other notable lineages, but in much greater detail. In this list of the sons of Halfdan, Yngvi the ancestor of the Ynglings is missing and Skelfir the ancestor of the Skilfings appears in his place. This might be a remembrance of an earlier identity or connection of the Swedish Ynglings and the Swedish Scylfings in "Beowulf". But nothing in the following genealogy is "necessarily" Swedish though possible Swedish parallels do appear, particular the names Alrek and Eirík as discussed below.  There are many oddities in this account.  It claims Skelfir was king of Vörs ("Vǫrs"), modern Voss in northern Hordaland in southwestern Norway, but Halfdan's inheritance was in southeastern Norway.  Skelfir was the father of Skjöld ("Skjǫldr"). The account ends by saying that lineage of Skelfir was called the Skilfing lineage or the Skjöldung lineage, seemingly identifying the two. But Skjöldungs are normally the legendary royal family of the rulers of Denmark and no connection with Denmark is made here. Indeed, the "Ættartǫlur" later twice gives a quite different list of descendants of the Danish Skjöld who is there made a son of Odin as commonly in Norse texts. Skjöld as son of Skelfir might be related to English traditions of Scyld being a son or descendant of Sceafa (as discussed under Sceafa), though here too (at least in "Beowulf") the connection is to Danish matters, not to Norway.  This Norwegian Skjöld, ancestor of the Norwegian Skjöldungs, is father of Eirík, father of Alrek ("Alrekr"), father of Eirík the Eloquent, whom the "Skáldskaparmál" presented as an Ylfing. These two mentions are the only occurrences of Eirík the Eloquent in Norse texts. But what seems to be the same figure appears prominently in book 5 of Saxo Grammaticus' "Gesta Danorum" as Ericus disertus. This Ericus disertus is indeed a Norwegian, but his father is not named Alrek but rather Regnerus pugilex, that is Ragnar the Champion. The "Gesta Danorum" then somewhat forcibly identifies Ericus disertus with Eirík, a legendary king of Sweden, a king who in the "Ynglinga saga" and elsewhere has an elder brother (rather than a father) named Alrek. See Alrek and Eirík for details.  In the "Ynglinga saga" the mother of the Swedish kings Alrek and Eirík is named Skjálf, which might also be an eponym for Skilfing.  Returning to the "Ættartǫlur", there Eirík the Eloquent is father of Alrek, father of Víkar ("Víkarr"), father of Vatnar. This Víkar is the famous Víkar, king of Hördaland, who was sacrificed to Odin by Starkad. The chain of descent from Alrek to Víkar to Vatnar is also found in "Hálfs saga ok Hálfsrekka" ('The saga of Hálf and his heroes'). However "Gautreks saga" gives an entirely different ancestry and different descendants to Víkar. See Víkar for details.  This genealogy may have been based on attempts to ascribe a Norwegian origin to both Swedish Scylfings and Danish Skjöldungs and also be related to Saxo's account of the Norwegian Ericus desertus. If so, as it stands, it has been edited to remove material that would obviously conflict with the standard genealogies of the Skjöldungs and Ynglings which also appear in the "Ættartǫlur".

Variant spellings.

"Other anglicized spellings:" Eirík: "Eirik" ; Eirík the Eloquent: "Eirik the Eloquent", "Eiríkr the Wise in Speech" ; Halfdan the Old: "Hálfdan the Old" ; Skjöld: "Skjold", "Skiold", "Scyld" ; Starkad: "Starkath" ; Víkar: "Vikar" ; Vörs: "Vor".

The Ynglings were the oldest known Scandinavian dynasty, originating from Sweden. It can refer to the clans of the Scylfings (Old Norse "Skilfingar"), the semi-legendary royal Swedish clan during the Age of Migrations, with kings such as Eadgils, Onela and Ohthere (Aðils, Åle and Ottar). When "Beowulf" (Boðvar Bjarke) and "Ynglingatal" were composed sometime in the eighth to tenth centuries, the respective scop and skald (poet) expected his audience to have a great deal of background information about these kings, which is shown in the allusiveness of the references.

Die Ynglinger oder „Inglinger“ waren das älteste Königsgeschlecht in Schweden. Es residierte in Sigtuna und Alt-Uppsala und übte eine Oberherrschaft über die Gaukönige der Stämme aus. Unter ihrer Herrschaft begannen sich die norwegischen Kleinfürsten unter einer gemeinsamen Krone zu versammeln. Unter ihrem zweiten historisch belegten König, Olof Skötkonung, hielt das Christentum Einzug in die Region.


Collection.

Inheritance works.

These works were begun by one historian and completed by an heir, usually of the next generation.

Related works.

There were attempts at producing new historiographies after the Qing dynasty, but they either never gained widespread acceptance as part of the official historical canon or they remain unfinished.

Modern attempts at creating the official Qing history.

In 1961, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of China (ROC), the ROC government in Taiwan published the "History of Qing", adding 21 supplementary chapters to the "Draft History of Qing" and revising many existing chapters to denounce the People's Republic of China (PRC) as an illegitimate, impostor regime. It also removed passages that were derogatory towards the Xinhai Revolution. This edition has not been widely accepted as the official Qing history because it is recognized that it was a rushed job motivated by political objectives. It does not correct most of the errors known to exist in the "Draft History of Qing".  An additional project, attempting to write a "New History of Qing" incorporating new materials and improvements in historiography, lasted from 1988 to 2000. Only 33 chapters out of the projected 500 were published. This project was later abandoned following the rise of the Pan-Green Coalition, which sees Taiwan as a distinct entity from Mainland China, both culturally and politically. As such, it is argued that it is not the duty of the Taiwanese regime to compile the Qing history.  In 1961, the PRC also attempted to complete the Qing history, but historians were prevented from doing so against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution.  In 2002, the PRC once again announced that it would complete the "History of Qing". The project is under the leadership of Dai Yi. As of December 2013, the project has been delayed twice and will not be completed until 2016.

Modern editions.

In China, the Zhonghua Book Company ("Zhonghua Shuju") have edited a number of these histories. They have been collated, edited, and punctuated by Chinese specialists.  From 1991 to 2003, it translated Classical Chinese into modern Written vernacular Chinese, edited by Xu Jialu and other scholars.

Translations.

One of the "Twenty-Four Histories" is in the process of being fully translated into English: "Records of the Grand Historian" by William Nienhauser, in nine volumes,  In Korean and Vietnamese, only the "Records" has been translated. Most of the histories have been translated into Japanese.

The Twenty-Four Histories (), also known as the Orthodox Histories (), are the Chinese official historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.

Die 24 Dynastiegeschichten () sind die grundlegenden Werke der chinesischen Historiographie. Es handelt sich dabei um einen Chronikenzyklus, der von der Zeit um das 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis zur ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts zusammengestellt wurde. Die 24 Dynastiegeschichten beschreiben in 3249 Bänden mit etwa 40 Millionen Schriftzeichen 4000 Jahre der chinesischen Geschichte.


History.

Hellenistic and Byzantine Kallinikos.

The area of Raqqa has been inhabited since remote antiquity, as attested by the mounds (tells) of Tall Zaydan and Tall al-Bi'a, the latter being identified with the Babylonian city Tuttul.  The modern city traces its history to the Hellenistic period, with the foundation of the city of Nikephorion (, Latinized as "Nicephorion" or "Nicephorium") by Seleucid King Seleucus I Nicator (reigned 301–281 BC). His successor, Seleucus II Callinicus (r. 246–225 BC), enlarged the city and renamed it after himself as Kallinikos (, Latinized as "Callinicum"). Isidore of Charax, in the Parthian Stations, writes that it was a Greek city, founded by Alexander the Great.  In Roman times, it was part of the Roman province of Osrhoene but had declined by the fourth century. Rebuilt by Byzantine Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474 AD) in 466, it was named Leontopolis (in Greek Λεοντόπολις or "city of Leon") after him, but the name "Kallinikos" prevailed. The city played an important role in the Byzantine Empire's relations with Sassanid Persia and the wars fought between the two empires. By treaty, the city was recognized as one of the few official cross-border trading posts between the two empires, along with Nisibis and Artaxata.  The town was near the site of a battle in 531 between Romans and Sasanians, when the latter tried to invade the Roman territories, surprisingly via arid regions in Syria, to turn the tide of the Iberian War. The Persians won the battle, but the casualties on both sides were high. In 542, the city was destroyed by the Persian Emperor Khusrau I (r. 531–579), who razed its fortifications and deported its population to Persia, but it was subsequently rebuilt by Byzantine Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). In 580, during another war with Persia, the future Emperor Maurice scored a victory over the Persians near the city during his retreat from an abortive expedition to capture Ctesiphon.

Early Islamic period.

In the year 639 or 640, the city fell to the Muslim conqueror Iyad ibn Ghanm. Since then, it has figured in Arabic sources as "al-Raqqah". At the surrender of the city, the Christian inhabitants concluded a treaty with Ibn Ghanm that is quoted by al-Baladhuri. The treaty allowed them freedom of worship in their existing churches but forbade the construction of new ones. The city retained an active Christian community well into the Middle Ages (Michael the Syrian records 20 Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) bishops from the 8th to the 12th centuries), and it had at least four monasteries, of which the Saint Zaccheus Monastery remained the most prominent one. The city's Jewish community also survived until at least the 12th century, when the traveller Benjamin of Tudela visited it and attended its synagogue.  Ibn Ghanm's successor as governor of Raqqa and the Jazira, Sa'id ibn Amir ibn Hidhyam, built the city's first mosque. The building was later enlarged to monumental proportions, measuring some, with a square brick minaret added later, possibly in the mid-10th century. The mosque survived until the early 20th century, being described by the German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld in 1907, but has since vanished. Many companions of Muhammad lived in Raqqa.  In 656, during the First Fitna, the Battle of Siffin, the decisive clash between Ali and the Umayyad Mu'awiya took place about west of Raqqa. The tombs of several of Ali's followers (such as Ammar ibn Yasir and Uwais al-Qarani) are in Raqqa and have become sites of pilgrimage. The city also contained a column with Ali's autograph, but it was removed in the 12th century and taken to Aleppo's Ghawth Mosque.  The strategic importance of Raqqa grew during the wars at the end of the Umayyad Caliphate and the beginning of the Abbasid Caliphate. Raqqa lay on the crossroads between Syria and Iraq and the road between Damascus, Palmyra and the temporary seat of the caliphate Resafa, al-Ruha'.  Between 771 and 772, the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur built a garrison city about to the west of Raqqa for a detachment of his Khorasanian Persian army. It was named al-Rāfiqah, "the companion", whose city wall is still visible.  Raqqa and al-Rāfiqah merged into one urban complex, together larger than the former Umayyad capital, Damascus. In 796, the caliph Harun al-Rashid chose Raqqa/al-Rafiqah as his imperial residence. For about 13 years, Raqqa was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, which stretched from Northern Africa to Central Asia, but the main administrative body remained in Baghdad. The palace area of Raqqa covered an area of about north of the twin cities. One of the founding fathers of the Hanafi school of law, Muḥammad ash-Shaibānī, was chief qadi (judge) in Raqqa. The splendour of the court in Raqqa is documented in several poems, collected by Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahāni in his "Book of Songs" ("Kitāb al-Aghāni"). Only the small, restored so-called Eastern Palace at the fringes of the palace district gives an impression of Abbasid architecture. Some of the palace complexes dating to the period have been excavated by a German team on behalf of the Director General of Antiquities. There was also a thriving industrial complex located between the twin cities. Both German and English teams have excavated parts of the industrial complex, revealing comprehensive evidence for pottery and glass production. Apart from large dumps of debris, the evidence consisted of pottery and glass workshops, containing the remains of pottery kilns and glass furnaces.  Approximately west of Raqqa lay the unfinished victory monument Heraqla from the time of Harun al-Rashid. It is said to commemorate the conquest of the Byzantine city of Herakleia in Asia Minor in 806. Other theories connect it with cosmological events. The monument is preserved in a substructure of a square building in the centre of a circular walled enclosure, in diameter. However, the upper part was never finished because of the sudden death of Harun al-Rashid in Greater Khorasan.  After the return of the court to Baghdad in 809, Raqqa remained the capital of the western part of the Abassid Caliphate.

Decline and period of Bedouin domination.

Raqqa's fortunes declined in the late 9th century because of continuous warfare between the Abbasids and the Tulunids, and then with the Shia movement of the Qarmatians. Under the Hamdānids in the 940s, the city declined rapidly. From the late 10th century to the early 12th century, Raqqa was controlled by Bedouin dynasties. The Banu Numayr had their pasture in the Diyār Muḍar, and the Banu Uqay had their centre in Qal'at Ja'bar.

Second blossoming.

Raqqa experienced a second blossoming, based on agriculture and industrial production, during the Zangid and Ayyubid dynasties during the 12th and the former half of the 13th century. Most famous is the blue-glazed so-called Raqqa ware. The still-visible "Bāb Baghdād" (Baghdad Gate) and the so-called Qasr al-Banāt (Castle of the Ladies) are notable buildings of the period. The famous ruler 'Imād ad-Dīn Zangī, who was killed in 1146, was initially buried in Raqqa, which was destroyed during the 1260s Mongol invasions of the Levant. There is a report on the killing of the last inhabitants of the urban ruin in 1288.

Ottoman period.

In the 16th century, Raqqa again entered the historical record as an Ottoman customs post on the Euphrates. The eyalet (province) of Raqqa (in Ottoman form sometimes spelled as "Rakka") was created. However, the capital of the "eyalet" and seat of the vali was not Raqqa but Al-Ruha', which is about north of Raqqa.  from the 1820s, Raqqa was a place of wintering for the semi-nomadic Arab 'Afadla tribal confederation and was practically an empty place that presented only its extensive archeological remains. It was the establishment in 1864 by the Ottomans of a Janissary garrison 'Karakul' in the south-east corner of the Abbasid enclosure, that led to the revival of the modern city of Raqqa. It attracted many families from Iraq, other parts of Syria and southeastern Turkey. Over the following decades, the province became the centre of the Ottoman Empire's tribal settlement ("iskân") policy.  The first families that settled in Raqqa were nicknamed <nowiki>"The Ghul"</nowiki> by the surrounding Arab semi-nomadic tribes from which they bought the right to settle within the Abbasid enclosure, near the Ottoman garrison. They recovered the ancient bricks of the enclosure to build the first buildings of modern Raqqa. They came under the protection of the surrounding Arab semi-nomadic tribes because they feared attacks from other neighboring tribes on their herds. As a result, these families decided to form an alliance of two gatherings. one of them was called "Al-Akrad", which means "the Kurds" in Arabic. This gathering included Kurds but also Arabs and perhaps Turks as well. Even today there is still a controversy about the fact that some families in the Al-Akrad gathering refuse the Kurdish designation. The Akrad say that they mostly belong to the Mîlan tribe and the Dulaym tribe. Which might explain some of the controversy within the gathering due to the Mîlan tribe being mostly Kurdish and the Dulaym tribe being Arabs. Most of the Kurdish families in this gathering came from an area called <nowiki>"</nowiki>Nahid Al-Jilab<nowiki>"</nowiki>, which is northeast of Şanliurfa. Prior to the Syrian Civil War, there were many families that still belonged to the Kurdish Mîlan tribe such as Khalaf Al-Qasim, Al-Jado, Al-Hani and Al-Shawakh. They claimed the area west of Ottoman garrison.  The Kurds of the Mîlan tribe have been present in Raqqa since 1711. The Ottomans issued an order to deport them from the Nahid Al-Jilab region to the Raqqa area. However most of the tribe was returned to their original home as a result of diseases among their cattle and frequents deaths due to the inappropriate weather in the region of Raqqa. In the med-18th century the Ottomans recognised Kurdish tribal chiefs and appointed the Kurdish chief <nowiki>"Mahmud Kalash Abdi"</nowiki> as head of iskân policy in the region. The tribal chiefs had the power to impose taxes and control over other tribes in the region.  Some of the Kurdish families were displaced to the northern countryside of Raqqa as a result of imposed tax by force by the Arab 'Annazah tribe, after they had co-operated with French forces against the Kurds  The other gathering <nowiki>"Asharin"</nowiki>, hailed from the town of Al-Asharah, located on the southern banks of the Euphrates. The gathering included several Arab tribes and they say that they belongs to the Al-Bu Badran and Mawali tribes. The claimed the area east of the Ottoman garrison.

20th century.

In the early 20th century, two waves of Cherkess refugees from the Caucasian War were granted lands west of the Abbasid enclosure by the Ottomans.  In 1915, Armenians fleeing the Armenian Genocide were also collected in Raqqa by the Arab Ujayli family. Most of them returned to Aleppo in the 1920s, but they have since then formed the majority of Raqqa's Christian community. In the 1950s, the worldwide cotton boom stimulated an unprecedented growth of the city and the recultivation of this part of the middle Euphrates area. Cotton is still the main agricultural product of the region.  The growth of the city meant, on the other hand, the removal of the archaeological remains of the city's past. The palace area is now almost covered with settlements as well as the former area of the ancient al-Raqqa (today Mishlab) and the former Abbasid industrial district (today al-Mukhtalţa). Only parts were archaeologically explored. The 12th-century citadel was removed in the 1950s (today Dawwār as-Sā'a, the clock-tower circle). In the 1980s, rescue excavations in the palace area began as well as the conservation of the Abbasid city walls with the Bāb Baghdād and the two main monuments intra muros, the Abbasid mosque and the Qasr al-Banāt.  There is a museum, known as the Raqqa Museum, housed in an administration building that was erected during the French Mandate.

Syrian Civil War and ISIL.

In March 2013, during the Syrian Civil War, Islamist jihadist militants from Al-Nusra Front and other groups (including the Free Syrian Army) overran the government loyalists in the city during the Battle of Raqqa and declared it under their control after they had taken the central square and pulled down the statue of the former president of Syria, Hafez al-Assad.  The Al Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front set up a sharia court at the sports centre and in early June 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said that it was open to receive complaints at its Raqqa headquarters.

Migrations.

Migration from Aleppo, Homs, Idlib and other inhabited places to the city occurred as a result of the ongoing civil war in the country, and Raqqa was known as the "hotel of the revolution" by some because of the number of people who moved there.

Control by the Islamic State (January 2014–October 2017).

ISIL took complete control of Raqqa by 13 January 2014. ISIL proceeded to execute Alawites and suspected supporters of Bashar al-Assad in the city and destroyed the city's Shia mosques and Christian churches such as the Armenian Catholic Church of the Martyrs, which was then converted into an ISIL police headquarters and an Islamic centre, tasked to recruit new fighters. The Christian population of Raqqa, which had been estimated to be as much as 10% of the total population before the civil war began, largely fled the city. On 15 November 2015, France, in response to attacks in Paris two days earlier, dropped about 20 bombs on multiple ISIL targets in Raqqa.  Pro-government sources said that an anti-IS uprising took place between 5 and 7 March 2016.  On 26 October 2016, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that an offensive to take Raqqa from IS would begin within weeks.  The SDF, supported by the US, launched the Second Battle of Raqqa on 6 June 2017 and declared victory in the city on 17 October 2017. Bombardment by the US-led coalition led to destruction of most of the city, including civilian infrastructure. Some 270,000 people were said to have fled Raqqa with no homes to which to return.

Aftermath.

At the end of October 2017, the government of Syria issued a statement that said: "Syria considers the claims of the United States and its so-called alliance about the liberation of Raqqa city from ISIS to be lies aiming to divert international public opinion from the crimes committed by this alliance in Raqqa province... more than 90% of Raqqa city has been leveled due to the deliberate and barbaric bombardment of the city and the towns near it by the alliance, which also destroyed all services and infrastructures and forced tens of thousands of locals to leave the city and become refugees. Syria still considers Raqqa to be an occupied city, and it can only be considered liberated when the Syrian Arab Army enters it".

Control by Syrian Democratic Forces (October 2017–present).

By June 2019, 300,000 residents had returned to the city, including 90,000 IDPs, and many shops in the city have reopened. By the efforts of the Global Coalition and the Raqqa Civil Council, several public hospitals and schools have been reopened, public buildings like the stadium, the Raqqa Museum, mosques and parks have been restored, anti-extremism educational centers for youth have been established and the rebuilding and restoration of roads, roundabouts and bridges, installation of solar-powered street lighting, water restoration, demining, re-institution of public transportation and rubble removal has taken place.  However, the Global Coalition's funding of the stabilization of the region has been limited, and the Coalition has stated that any large scale aid will be halted until a peace agreement for the future of Syria through the Geneva process has been reached. Rebuilding of residential houses and commercial buildings has been placed solely in the hands of civilians, there is a continued presence of rubble, unreliable electricity and water access in some areas, schools still lacking basic services and the presence of ISIL sleeper cells and IEDs. Some sporadic protests against the SDF have taken place in the city in the summer of 2018.  On 7 February 2019, the SDF media center announced the capture of 63 ISIL operatives in the city. According to the SDF, the operatives were a part of a sleeper cell and were all arrested within a 24-hour time span, ending the day-long curfew that was imposed on the city the day before.  In mid-February 2019, a mass grave holding an estimated 3,500 bodies was discovered below a plot of farmland in the Al-Fukheikha agricultural suburb. It was the largest mass grave discovered post-ISIL rule thus far. The bodies were reported to be the victims of executions when ISIL ruled the city.  In 2019 a project called the "Shelter Project" was launched by international organisations in coordination with the Raqqa Civil Council, providing funding to residents of partially destroyed buildings in order to aid with their reconstruction. In April 2019 the rehabilitation of the Old Raqqa Bridge over the Euphrates was finished. The bridge was originally built by British forces during World War Two in 1942. The National Hospital in Raqqa was reopened after rehabilitation work in May 2019.  As a consequence of the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, the SDF called on the Syrian Arab Army to enter the areas under its rule, including in the area of Raqqa as part of a deal to prevent Turkish troops from capturing any more territory in northern Syria.

Scanning for Syria project (2017–2018).

The Raqqa Museum had numerous clay tablets with cuneiform writing and many other objects vanishing in the fog of war. A particular set of those tablets were excavated by archaeologists from Leiden at the Tell Sabi Abyad. The excavation team casted silicone rubber moulds of the tablets before the war to create cast copies for subsequent studies in the Netherlands. As the original tablets were looted, those moulds became the only evidence of parts of the 12th century BC in Northern Syria. Having a lifespan of roughly thirty years, the moulds proved not be a durable solution, hence the need for digitization to counter the loss of the originals. Therefore the "Scanning for Syria" (SfS) project was initiated by the Leiden University and Delft University of Technology under the auspices of the "Leiden-Delft-Erasmus Centre for Global Heritage and Development". The project received a NWO–KIEM Creatieve Industrie grant to use of 3D acquisition and 3D printing technology to make high quality reproductions of the clay tablets. In collaboration with the Catholic University of Louvain and the Heidelberg University several imaging technologies were explored to find the best solution to capture the precious texts hidden within the concavities of the moulds. In the end, the X-ray micro-CT scanner housed at the TU Delft laboratory of "Geoscience and Engineering" turned out to be a good compromise between time-efficiency, accuracy and text recovery. Accurate digital 3D reconstructions of the original clay tablets were created using the CT data of the silicon moulds. Furthermore, the "Forensic Computational Geometry Laboratory" in Heidelberg dramatically decreased the time for decipherment of a tablet by automatically computing high quality images using the GigaMesh Software Framework. These images clearly show the cuneiform characters in publication quality, which otherwise would have taken many hours to manually craft a matching drawing. The 3D-models and high-quality images have become accessible to both scholar and non-scholar communities worldwide. Physical replicas were produced using 3D-printing. The 3D-prints serve as teaching material in Assyriology classes as well as for visitors of the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden to experience the ingenuity of Assyrian cuneiform writing. In 2020 the SfS has received the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage of the Europa Nostra in the category research.

Ecclesiastical history.

In the 6th century, Kallinikos became a center of Assyrian monasticism. "Dayra d'Mār Zakkā", or the Saint Zacchaeus monastery, situated on Tall al-Bi'a, became renowned. A mosaic inscription there is dated to the year 509, presumably from the period of the foundation of the monastery. Daira d'Mār Zakkā is mentioned by various sources up to the 10th century. The second important monastery in the area was the Bīzūnā monastery or "Dairā d-Esţunā", the'monastery of the column'. The city became one of the main cities of the historical Diyār Muḍar, the western part of the Jazīra. Michael the Syrian records twenty Syriac Orthodox (Jacobite) bishops from the 8th to the 12th centuries—and had at least four monasteries, of which the Saint Zaccheus Monastery remained the most prominent.  In the 9th century, when Raqqa served as capital of the western half of the Abbasid Caliphate, Dayra d'Mār Zakkā, or the Saint Zacchaeus Monastery, became the seat of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, one of several rivals for the apostolic succession of the Ancient patriarchal see, which has several more rivals of Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Bishopric.

Callinicum early became the seat of a Christian diocese. In 388, Byzantine Emperor Theodosius the Great was informed that a crowd of Christians, led by their bishop, had destroyed the synagogue. He ordered the synagogue rebuilt at the expense of the bishop. Ambrose wrote to Theodosius, pointing out he was thereby "exposing the bishop to the danger of either acting against the truth or of death", and Theodosius rescinded his decree.  Bishop Damianus of Callinicum took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451 and in 458 was a signatory of the letter that the bishops of the province wrote to Emperor Leo I the Thracian after the death of Proterius of Alexandria. In 518 Paulus was deposed for having joined the anti-Chalcedonian Severus of Antioch. Callinicum had a Bishop Ioannes in the mid-6th century. In the same century, a "Notitia Episcopatuum" lists the diocese as a suffragan of Edessa, the capital and metropolitan see of Osrhoene.

Titular sees.

No longer a residential bishopric, Callinicum has been listed by the Catholic Church twice as a titular see, as suffragan of the Metropolitan of the Late Roman province of Osroene : first as Latin - (meanwhile suppressed) and currently as Maronite titular bishopric.

Callinicum of the Romans.

No later than the 18th century, the diocese was nominally restored as Latin Titular bishopric of Callinicum (Latin), adjective "Callinicen(sis)" (Latin) / Callinico (Curiate Italian).  In 1962 it was suppressed, to establish immediately the Episcopal Titular bishopric of Callinicum of the Maronites ("see below")  It has had the following incumbents, all of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :

Callinicum of the Maronites.

In 1962 the simultaneously suppressed Latin Titular see of Callinicum ("see above") was in turn restored, now for the Maronite Church (Eastern Catholic, Antiochian Rite) as Titular bishopric of Callinicum (Latin), "Callinicen(sis) Maronitarum" (Latin adjective) / Callinico (Curiate Italian).  It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :

Media.

The Islamic State banned all media reporting outside its own efforts, kidnapping and killing journalists. However, a group calling itself Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently operated within the city and elsewhere during this period. In response, ISIL has killed members of the group. A film about the city made by RBSS was released internationally in 2017, premiering and winning an award at that year's Sundance Film Festival.  In January 2016, a pseudonymous French author named Sophie Kasiki published a book about her move from Paris to the besieged city in 2015, where she was lured to perform hospital work, and her subsequent escape from ISIL.

Transportation.

Prior to the Syrian Civil War the city was served by Syrian Railways.

Raqqa ( '), also called Raqa, Rakka and ar-Raqqah, is a city in Syria on the northeast bank of the Euphrates River, about east of Aleppo. It is located east of the Tabqa Dam, Syria's largest dam. The Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine city and bishopric Callinicum (formerly a Latin and now a Maronite Catholic titular see) was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate between 796 and 809, under the reign of Harun al-Rashid. It was also the capital of the Islamic State from 2014 to 2017. With a population of 220,488 based on the 2004 official census, Raqqa is the sixth largest city in Syria.

Ar-Raqqa (, auch "ar-Raqqah", "Reqa", ) ist die Hauptstadt des gleichnamigen Gouvernements am mittleren Euphrat im Norden von Syrien. Die heutige Stadt ist eine Neugründung vom Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts an der Stelle einer Anfang des 8. Jahrhunderts angelegten abbasidischen Stadt. Für 2010 wurden 200.268 Einwohner berechnet.


Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood

Robert Cecil, 1. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood

Early life and legal career.

Cecil was born at Cavendish Square, London, the sixth child and third son of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, three times prime minister, and Georgina, daughter of Sir Edward Hall Alderson. He was the brother of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury, Lord William Cecil, Lord Edward Cecil and Lord Quickswood and the cousin of Arthur Balfour. He was educated at home until he was thirteen and then spent four years at Eton College. He claimed in his autobiography to have enjoyed his home education most. He studied law at University College, Oxford, where he became a well-known debater. A first job was as private secretary to his

Unionist free trader.

At the 1906 general election, Cecil was elected as a Conservative Member of Parliament representing Marylebone East. Cecil was a convinced believer in free trade, opposing Joseph Chamberlain's agitation for Tariff Reform, denouncing it as "a rather sordid attempt to ally Imperialism with State assistance for the rich". In February 1905, he compiled for party leader Arthur Balfour a memorandum on ‘The Attack on Unionist Free Trade Seats’ in which he quoted a letter to "The Times" by a member of the Tariff Reform League that stated it would oppose free trade candidates, whether Unionist or Liberal. Cecil argued that he had identified at least 25 seats in which such attacks

Minister during First World War.

At 50 during the outbreak of the First World War, too old for military service, Cecil went to work for the Red Cross. He was made Vicar-General to the Archbishop of York on account of his deep religious convictions and commitment to pacifism. Following the formation of the 1915 coalition government, he became Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on 30 May 1915, on 16 June

Formation of League of Nations.

In September 1916, he wrote and circulated a "Memorandum on Proposals for Diminishing the Occasion of Future Wars" in the Cabinet. Cecil noted the suffering and destruction of the war, along with the threat to European civilisation and the likelihood of postwar disputes. He urged an alternative to war as a means of settling international disputes and claimed that neither the destruction of German militarism nor a postwar settlement based on self-determination would guarantee peace. Cecil rejected compulsory arbitration but claimed a regular conference system would be unobjectionable. Peaceful procedures for settling disputes should be compulsory before there was any outbreak of fighting. Sanctions, including blockade, would be necessary to force countries to submit to peaceful procedures. If overwhelming naval and financial power could be combined in a peace system, "no modern State could ultimately resist its pressure". He hoped that America might be willing to "join in organized economic action to preserve peace". He later said that it was the "first document from which sprang British official advocacy of the League of Nations".  In May 1917 Cecil circulated his "Proposals for Maintenance of Future Peace" in which the signatories would agree to keep the postwar territorial settlement for five years, followed by a conference to consider and, if necessary, to implement necessary or desirable territorial changes. Countries would also agree to submit their international disputes to a conference and they would be forbidden to act until the conference had made a decision. However, states would be allowed to act unilaterally if after three months, the conference had failed to make a decision. All decisions made by conferences would be enforced by all the signatories, "if necessary by force of arms". If a country resorted to war without submitting the dispute to a conference, the other countries would combine to enforce a commercial and financial blockade. Cecil had originally included proposals for disarmament but these were deleted from the final draft after a diplomat, Sir Eyre Crowe, submitted them to a "devastating critique" that persuaded Cecil they were impractical.  In November 1917, Cecil requested from Balfour the creation of a committee to consider the proposals for a League of Nations. Balfour granted it and in January 1918, a committee, chaired by Lord Phillimore, was established. In May 1918, with the Cabinet's permission, Cecil forwarded the Phillimore Report to the American President Woodrow Wilson and his advisor Colonel House.  In October 1918, Cecil circulated a paper on League proposals to the Cabinet after their request for advice. He argued that "no very elaborate machinery" would be required as the proposals rejected any form of international government, but the League would be limited to a treaty binding the signatories never to go to war until a conference had been called. If a country went to war unilaterally, the signatories would use all the power at their command, economic and military, to defeat the aggressor. Cecil viewed the three months'

League of Nations Union.

Upon returning to Britain, Cecil eagerly planned the activities of the League of Nations Union. Cecil's public life from then on was almost totally devoted to the League; he was its president of the Union from 1923 to 1945. He chaired a reconstruction committee of the Union in July 1919, his primary aim being to ensure that the Union built a powerful pro-League lobby in Britain to make sure that the government put the League at the centre of its foreign policy. Cecil also sought to broaden the membership of the Union, which had largely consisted of Asquithian Liberals, by soliciting the support of Conservatives and Labour.  Cecil was an Esperantist, and, in 1921, he proposed that the League of Nations adopt Esperanto as solution to the language problem.  From 1920 to 1922, he represented the Dominion of South Africa in the League Assembly. In 1923, he made a five-week tour of the United States, explaining the League to American audiences.  He believed that "the war ha[d] shattered the prestige of the European governing classes" and that their disappearance had created a vacuum that needed to be filled if disaster was to be averted. The primary solution was the construction of a European order on the basis of Christian morality, with a machinery of legal conciliation by which "Junkerism and Chauvinism" would be destroyed. The Treaty of Versailles had failed to create that.  His belief in free trade and the League were part of his Cobdenite vision of a world where trade, self-sacrifice and international co-operation went together, along with international adjudication and mutual guarantees of peace. The League was not just a solution to war but also guaranteed that civilisation would be preserved within each member state, including in Britain where "the League point of view [ran] through all politics - Ireland, Industry, even Economy...[involving] a new way of looking at things political - or rather a reversion" to Victorian morality.

Possible party realignment.

Cecil regarded "class war, whether the class attacked be landowners or Labour, [as] the most insidious form of national disintegration". From 1920, Cecil wanted to bring down Lloyd George and his coalition government by forming a progressive alliance between anti-coalition and anti-socialist forces. He had been an enemy of Lloyd George for longer than any other major politician.  He wanted to create an anti-socialist centre party led by former Foreign Secretary Viscount Grey, regarding him as the embodiment of "justice" which had been Britain's "greatest

Traditional Tory in a modernizing world.

In Baldwin's Conservative administrations of 1923 to 1924 and 1924 to 1927, he was the minister responsible, under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Secretary, for British activities in League affairs. On 28 May 1923, Cecil returned to the cabinet as Lord Privy Seal, a position held by several members of his family.  Cecil wrote to Baldwin on 29 October 1923, offering his support on tariff reform if Baldwin would adopt a vigorous pro-League policy in return. He stated that Britain's economic problems could not be solved by tariffs, rather by solving the collapse of European credit, war debts and "international suspicion" and withdrawing support from all international organisations except the League. Because of his disagreement with the Conservatives' policy of tariffs,

Cecil and appeasement.

After Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, Cecil was still hopeful of progress in disarmament. He favoured "the total abolition of naval and military aircraft, plus the creation of an international" civil air force along with German equality in aircraft. Later still in 1933 he advocated "the abolition of aggressive arms" as "the power of the defensive" would mean that "France and the smaller countries would be safer than...in any other way". In October, a month before the Germans left the conference, Cecil said in a broadcast that the "rules governing [German] disarmament" should be "the same in principle as those governing the armaments of any other civilised power" and in a letter to Gilbert Murray he said "Goebbels [had] made rather a favourable impression at Geneva and [was] said to be quite pleased with the League". He deplored the Nazis education policy, however.  In April 1934 Cecil wrote to Philip Noel-Baker that Baldwin had told him that an attempt by Hankey to find a practical way of internationalising civil aviation had failed to which Cecil replied that he "did not think Hankey was a very good adviser on such questions as he disapproved of peace and disarmament". Hankey had been an early critic of the feasibility of a League of Nations: in 1919 he complained that the British representatives on the League Commission,

Later life.

He lived for thirteen more years, occasionally occupying his place in the House of Lords, and supporting international efforts for peace through his honorary life presidency of the United Nations Association.  In his last speech in the House of Lords on 23 April 1953, Cecil reiterated his commitment to world peace. He admitted that it is "the essence of national sovereignty that independent nations cannot be compelled, except by force of arms, to take action of which their Governments disapprove—and that remains true, whatever may be the terms of any general agreement they may have made. No elaborate or ingenious organisation will alter that fact".  He added that any plan

Honours.

Cecil's career brought him many honours. In addition to his peerage, he was appointed Companion of Honour in 1956, was elected chancellor of the University of Birmingham (1918–1944) and rector of the University of Aberdeen (1924–1927). He was given the Peace Award of

Legacy.

Lord Home paid tribute to Cecil in the House of Lords two days after his death:  He was one of the first people, perhaps, in the modern world...to foresee the absolute need for nations to meet round the table in discussion of their national affairs in the interests of peace. He was one of the architects of the League of Nations. And your Lordships will recall the unflagging enthusiasm with which he pursued the cause of peace wherever he went. His vision of a world disarmed, where conciliation would hold the day, was time and again disappointed...all since have been convinced of the rightness of his ideal, although the world has not proved itself yet great enough to match his great conception. In the United Nations, which was the successor of the League of Nations, there is many a living monument to Lord Cecil. Many of the committees which do great work in the international field were the result of his conception and are daily drawing people closer and closer together in interdependence. I, myself, because my father was very keen and with him did much in the League of Nations field, remember Lord Robert Cecil coming to stay at home; and many a time at dinner, when I was a comparatively young man, I would watch him, with his long figure, slide more and more under the table, until only the distinguished head was left above his plate, and he would tell us of all his plans for the future peace of the world. Ever since then I have felt that so long as he was alive there was one among us who, however bitter the strife and however blind the world, never despaired of finding peace in our time.  Viscount Alexander of Hillsborough said that Cecil "impressed me by his complete devotion to the cause which ought to be, if it is not, the main cause in all our lives—to try to secure peace and to establish the brotherhood of man...I am sure that the whole nation mourns the loss of a great public figure, to whom and to whose work we are all greatly indebted". Clement Attlee also paid tribute: "I think the whole world has lost a very great man and a very great friend. Wherever the cause of peace is mentioned, the name of Lord Cecil will always come up, and the complete devotion that he gave to that cause for so many years". Lord Pethick-Lawrence said of Cecil that his "life was devoted not to self, not to his own aggrandisement or some advantage of a personal kind, but to the well-being of his fellow human beings and the good fortune of this country and the whole world".  Salvador de Madariaga summed up Cecil's character:  The gaunt, stooping, clerical figure of Robert Cecil seemed ever drawn forward by an eager zest which one fancied sharpened his long pointed nose and flashed in his powerful eye (only one: in Cecil the other eye did not matter). That cross hanging from his waistcoat pocket witnessed to the religious basis of his political faiths; but the sharp tongue, the determined chin, the large, powerful hand, the air of a man used to be obeyed, proud towards men if humble before God, did suggest that in that tall figure striding with his long legs the thronged corridors of the League, the levels of Christian charity were kept high above the plane of fools.

Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, (14 September 1864 – 24 November 1958), known as Lord Robert Cecil from 1868 to 1923, was a British lawyer, politician and diplomat. He was one of the architects of the League of Nations and a defender of it, whose service to the organisation saw him awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937.

Edgar Algernon Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 1. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, kurz Robert Cecil (* 14. September 1864 in Salisbury; † 24. November 1958 in Tunbridge Wells, Kent) war ein britischer Politiker und Diplomat. Als Gründer und Präsident der Internationalen Friedenskampagne erhielt er 1937 den Friedensnobelpreis.


Biography.

Jose Maria Arguedas was born on 18 January 1911 in Andahuaylas, a province in the southern Peruvian Andes. He was born into a well-off family, but his mother died when he was two years old. Because of the absence of his father, a lawyer who traveled frequently, and his bad relationship with his step-mother and step-brother, he comforted himself in the care of the family's indigenous servants, allowing him to immerse himself in the language and customs of the Andes, which came to form an important part of his personality. He went to primary school in San Juan de Lucana, Puquio, and Abancay, and completed his secondary studies in Ica, Huancayo, and Lima.  He began studying at National University of San Marcos (Lima) in 1931; there he graduated with a degree in Literature. He later took up studies in Ethnology, receiving his degree in 1957 and his doctorate in 1963. Between 1937 and 1938 he was sent to prison for protesting an envoy sent to Peru by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.  Arguedas also worked for the Ministry of Education, where he put into practice his interests in preserving and promoting Peruvian culture, in particular traditional Andean music and dance. He was the director of the Casa de la Cultura (1963) and of the National Museum of History (1964–1966).  Arguedas shot himself on November 29, 1969 in his office at the National Agrarian University in La Molina, leaving behind very specific instructions for his funeral, a diary depicting his depression, and a final unfinished manuscript, "The Fox From Up Above and the Fox From Down Below".  This work includes portions of Arguedas’s diary, memories of his distressing childhood, thoughts on Peruvian culture, and his reasons for suicide. He depicts his struggle between his desire to authentically illuminate the life of the Andean Indians and his personal anguish trapping him in depression:  The title of the book originates in a Quechua myth that Arguedas translated into Spanish earlier in his life. “El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo” refers to the Quechua symbols for life and death, and modernity and tradition.

Literary career.

Arguedas began his literary career by writing short stories about the indigenous environment familiar to him from his childhood. He wrote in a Spanish highly influenced by Quechua syntax and vocabulary.  By the time he published his first novel in 1941, "Yawar Fiesta" ("Blood Fest"), he had begun to explore the theme that would interest him for the rest of his career: the clash between Western "civilization" and the Indigenous"traditional" way of life. He was thus considered part of the indigenista movement in South American literature, and continued to explore this theme in his next two books "Los ríos profundos" ("Deep Rivers," 1958) and "Todas las Sangres" ("All the Bloods," 1964). Yet he also was conscious of the simplistic portrayal of the indigenous peoples in other "indigenista" literature and worked hard to give the Andean Indians a true voice in his works. This effort was not always successful as some critics contend that Arguedas portrayed Indian characters as too gentle and childlike. Another theme in Arguedas' writing is the struggle of mestizos of Indian-Spanish descent and their navigation between the two seemingly separate parts of their identity. Many of his works also depicted the violence and exploitation of race relations in Peru's small rural towns and haciendas.  Arguedas was moderately optimistic about the possibility of a rapprochement between the forces of "tradition" and the forces of "modernity" until the 1960s when he became more pessimistic. In his last (unfinished) work, "El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo" ("The Fox From Up Above and the Fox From Down Below," 1969), he abandoned the realism of his earlier works for a more postmodern approach. This novel expressed his despair, caused by his fear that the "primitive" ways of the Indians could not survive the onslaught of modern technology and capitalism. At the same time that Arguedas was becoming more pessimistic about race relations in his country, younger Peruvian intellectuals became increasingly militant, often criticizing his work in harsh terms for his poetic, romanticized treatment of indigenous and rural life. An instance of the debate that ensued can be seen in the famous "Mesa redonda sobre Todas las Sangres" (Roundtable on All the Bloods) of 1965, in which Arguedas's penultimate novel was the object of blunt criticism from several social scientists at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos.

Bibliography.

Poetry.

Arguedas wrote his poems in Quechua and later translated them into Spanish.

José María Arguedas Altamirano (18 January 1911 – 2 December 1969) was a Peruvian novelist, poet, and anthropologist. Arguedas was an author of Spanish descent, with a rare fluency in the native Quechua language, gained by living in two Quechua households from the age of 7 to 11 - first in the indigenous servant quarters of his step-mother's home, then, escaping her "perverse and cruel" son, with an indigenous family approved by his father - who wrote novels, short stories, and poems in both Spanish and Quechua.

José María Arguedas Altamirano (* 18. Januar 1911 in Andahuaylas, Peru; † 2. Dezember 1969 in Lima) war ein peruanischer Schriftsteller. Er zählt mit zu den bedeutendsten Schriftstellern des "indigenismo".


Use.

In the interest of bathers and swimmers, many bathing lakes prohibit ships and boats, fishing, dogs etc. Because of conservation reasons, open fires and use of soap or shampoo is also usually prohibited. Contrary to non-European countries (such as India), bathing in the lakes is nowadays not done primarily to cleanse the body, but rather for entertainment and social reasons.  Most bathing lakes are free of charge to use. Larger bathing lakes have institutions to protect the security of the bathers, such as DLRG or Wasserwacht in Germany. Contrary to bathing areas with an entrance fee, most bathing lakes have neither changing rooms or toilets. However, better-equipped bathing lakes have culinary services with toilets. Bathing lakes are also used for night swimming and naked swimming.

Purpose.

A bathing lake provides inhabitants with a possibility to relax and participate in sports in their own neighbourhood. A bathing lake can significantly increase the attractiveness of a neighbourhood.  Sometimes parts of the shore of a bathing lake are separated into land lots and sold to private persons.

Installation of artificial lakes as bathing lakes.

Artificial lakes made by holding groundwater on a pebble or loam surface, and sometimes having water input from springs, are often used as bathing lakes. Usually a land restoration is done after construction of the lake bottom, providing a comfortable environment for bathers. In principle, every lake can be used as a bathing lake. Thus reservoirs can also be used as bathing lakes. However, artificial lakes have added value to the inhabitants.  In a big enough private garden a bathing lake can be formed with a natural pool.

Naked bathing.

At some bathing lakes, particularly in Germany, naturism, in other words full nudity, is allowed. Often specific areas of the lake shore are designated for naturism. Women are allowed to expose their breasts for bathing or sunbathing at most public bathing lakes in Europe. Otherwise a bathing suit is required.

A bathing lake is a natural or artificial lake that is used for public bathing and swimming. In the water, bathers mostly remain close to the shore and use the area for recreational purposes, such as sport, games and sunbathing. In Europe, because of climate conditions, bathing lakes are mostly used in the summer.

Badegewässer sind Seen, Flüsse und Küsten, die zum öffentlichen Baden und Schwimmen genutzt werden. Badegewässer und ihre zumeist touristisch erschlossenen Ufer dienen der Naherholung und der Freizeitgestaltung wie beispielsweise zum Sport, Spiel und zum Sonnenbaden. Die Mindestanforderungen an die Qualität der Badegewässer und deren Bewirtschaftung sind für die Mitgliedsstaaten der Europäischen Union in der Richtlinie 2006/7/EG (Badegewässerrichtlinie) definiert. In der Badesaison 2015 gab es in Deutschland 2.292 Badegewässer, die nach der EG-Badegewässerrichtlinie überwacht wurden. Davon lagen 367 an der Küste von Nord- und Ostsee, 1.925 an Binnengewässern (1.893 an Seen; 32 an Flüssen).


Design.

The Hobie 16 is manufactured in France by the Hobie Cat company, and by the Hobie Cat of America company in the United States.  The Hobie 16 normally carries two sails, the mainsail and the jib. There is a kit to allow an H16 to fly a spinnaker but this is only class legal for youth racing.  Each hull has two pylons (the forward ones are vented to allow the pressure inside the hull to equalise) and the frame fits onto these pylons. The frame consists of four aluminium alloy beams which slot into four aluminium alloy corner castings and are secured with rivets. The trampoline slots along the inside of the beams and is tensioned by rope or shock cord.  Earlier masts were one piece, of aluminium alloy, but were changed to two pieces with a non-conductive composite fiberglass tip (known as "comptip"), after a few people in the United States of America were electrocuted trying to raise masts under power lines and their families sued Hobie Cat. The mast foot casting forms a ball which steps into a cup-shaped shoe riveted onto the forward crossmember and there is a Teflon disk separating the two. The downward compressive force from the mast is partially carried by the crossmember and partially by a stainless steel compression post and tensioned tie rod assembly called a "dolphin striker".  The H16 may be equipped with two trapeze wires either side to allow both the helm and crew to trapeze. "Cat seats" can be fitted to allow disabled sailors to sail the H16.  The rudder assembly consists of a rudder on each hull fitted to a Hobie-patented automatically releasing stock comprising a casting, a cam, and a spring-loaded plunger. This allows the rudders to spring up when they hit ground, to avoid damage. The rudders are connected to two short tillers which are in turn attached via a ball and socket joint to a connecting rod called the tiller bar. The tiller attaches to the centre of the tiller bar and is typically extendable for operation while trapezing.  The mainsheet has a maximum of a 6:1 purchase and has a traveller that allows movement over the entire aft crossmember of the frame. The jib sheets are of a 2:1 purchase and attach on the front beams with their own two travellers.  The boat has a 3:1 purchase downhaul (upgradable to 6:1) to tension the mainsail and an outhaul (standard 1:1, upgradable to 2:1) to flatten the mainsail along the boom. Both the mainsail and jib are fully battened.

The ISAF International Class Hobie 16 (H16) is a popular catamaran manufactured by the Hobie Cat Company for racing and day sailing. The craft was the driving force behind the popularization of beachcats and was recently inducted into the Sailing Hall Of Fame.

Der Hobie 16 ist ein Sport-Segelkatamaran. Er wurde 1970 als großer Bruder des Hobie Cat 14 von Hobart Alter (Spitzname „Hobie“) entworfen und bis jetzt mehr als 135.000 Mal gebaut. Damit ist er die weltweit am häufigst gesegelte Katamaranklasse. 1989 bekam der Hobie 16 durch die International Sailing Federation (ISAF) offiziell den internationalen Status als Einheitsklasse.


History.

Planning.

Kazan is a historic and cultural centre on the middle Volga. The first plans to have a rapid-transit system were proposed back in the days of the Russian Empire, but after the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War little was left for the design. Nevertheless, in the 1930s, Kazan, being the capital of the Tatar ASSR—one of the most visible autonomous republics and rapidly growing as an industrial centre—prompted some to propose a rapid transit system for the future, particularly after the successful construction of Moscow Metro in 1935.  However, World War II ended such attempts, and in the post-war USSR only the largest capitals of Union republics could afford a Metro system. Nevertheless, in 1979 the Kazan city's population passed the one million mark: a Soviet requirement for a Metro to be allowed. 1983 was the year when the Supreme Soviet of the Tatar ASSR authorised planning a metro system. The original design was to prove the final, as the City of Kazan effectively followed a typical Soviet model with a historical centre on the inflow of the Kazanka River into the Volga, and the various industrial and "bedroom" districts (housing complexes) on the edges. The first line would follow a north-south axis beginning in the Transit Railway Station in the north, passing through the post-war Stalinist buildings and then down south of the Kazanka, next to the Kazan Kremlin and through the historical centre to the microdistrict of Gorki.  The first geological survey began in 1984, and by 1989 the construction of the first stage was drawn up and submitted for final authorisation to begin construction. It was not to be. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up and the economic, as well as political turmoil that rocked Tatarstan and Russia, caused the Kazan Metro project to be axed.

Construction.

Luckily for Kazan, throughout the 1990s, the status of it being the most visible autonomous capital reinforced its position; enough for the Federal government to issue a review of the project in 1995 and authorising the construction. The most prominent deadline was the city's millennium anniversary in 2005. After securing financing and training, the first stone was laid on August 27, 1997.  The first stage of six stations features deep-level tunnels all built by tunnel boring machines, and the stations are either sub-surface or elevated. Little of the original Soviet station plans remain in the architecture of the stations, with the emphasis being on traditional Tatar and Islamic motifs as part of modern high-tech designs. The first shield arrived in Kazan at the end of 1999 and was launched in May 2000.  Initially, the pace was slow and the financial problems were about to prevent the construction to be completed on time. In a desperate attempt, in late 2003 the Russian Ministry of Transport ordered metro brigades from Samara and Moscow to assist and the first stage was made one station shorter, leaving the difficult path under the Kazanka River to open at a later time. Another contribution was made by the Almaty Metro construction brigade from Kazakhstan. Thus, by the late 2004, a total of eight tunnel boring mechanisms were in operation. Overall, a total of thirteen individual tunnels had to be bored.  Despite a rocky start, Kazan Metro was opened on August 27, 2005, by the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, the President of Tatarstan Mintimer Shaymiyev, and the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, as well as the mayor of Kazan and the heads of all existing Russian Metros.  The extension to Prospekt Pobedy opened on December 29, 2008, as the first extension south of Gorki station in the second stage. In 2010 the Metro extended across the Kazanka River, with the opening of the Kozya Sloboda station. The Kazan metro opened a three-station northern extension on May 9, 2013.

Operation.

At present, the Kazan Metro is a single-line system that stretches nearly sixteen kilometres and has eleven stations. The newest of the Russian systems, it is also the most modern. Smart-card ticketing and semi-automated train drive are features that at the time were just being introduced in selected Moscow stations. The system is operated by the municipality company "MetroElektroTrans" ().  Like all Metros in Russia and the former USSR, each station has its own architectural theme. At present two stations are single-vault, and two are pillar-spans. In addition, one station exists on a combined glazed flyover.

Service.

The metro runs from 6:00 to 23:00. The metro also sells smart-tokens valid for one day and smart cards (passes) which are valid for several trips or a specified length of time. There are discounted fares for pensioners, students, and children. Security is a major issue in the Kazan Metro. Like all modern systems, it is outfitted with CCTV cameras. Each station has its own police group for public order. Professional photography is prohibited.  All information and announcements are given in three languages — Russian, Tatar, and English.

Rolling Stock.

Only the 81-553.3/554.3 «Kazan» model was maintained in Kazan metro since 2005. Trains were produced by Saint Petersburg-based "Vagonmash" factory in cooperation with Škoda Dopravní Technika of Plzeň, Czech Republic in 2005. These are the most modern models currently in service in Russia and the former Soviet Union and they are fully automated. As a result, they do not require an engineer or a driver on board, just a supervisor. A total of 16 cars (4 trains) are currently in operation with a capacity of ~250 people each.  In 2011 new 3-car 81-740/741 «Rusich» trains vere bought for opening of new Kozia sloboda station. A total of 27 cars (9 trains) are currently in operation with a capacity of ~350 people each. 12 trains (1 train is reserved) provide 5-minute intervals on the line in rush hours.  In 2019 a contract was signed by delivering one train of type 81-765/766/767. The train was built by April 2020 and was sent to Kazan by May 2020.

Future.

Future lines include «Savinovo Radius» and «Azino radius» connecting respective districts with city centre, and «Savinovo-Azino Line». Priority of these lines is not clear.

Kazan Metro (; ) is a rapid-transit system that serves the city of Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The metro system was the seventh opened in Russia, and the fifteenth in the former Soviet Union region. Opened on August 27, 2005, it is the newest system in Russia.

Die Metro Kasan (,, eigentlich "Kasaner Metro"), bestehend aus einer Linie mit zehn Stationen, wurde rechtzeitig zum 1000-jährigen Jubiläum Kasans, der Hauptstadt Tatarstans, am 27. August 2005 eröffnet.


Early life and education.

Born in May 1737, Curchod was the daughter of Louis Antoine Curchod, Protestant pastor of the Swiss village of Crassier near Lausanne, and Magdelaine d'Albert de Nasse. The family was of modest means, but Suzanne was well educated (largely by her father), becoming fluent in Latin and showing aptitude for mathematics and science. Her first salon was a literary group called the Académie des Eaux comprising a circle of Lausanne-based students with Curchod as president.  In 1757 Curchod met the historian Edward Gibbon, who fell in love with her, writing in a later recollection of their courtship that he "found her learned without pedantry, lively in conversation, pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners." He wished to marry her, but paternal disapproval on both sides, Gibbon's own wavering, and Suzanne's refusal to leave Switzerland for England thwarted their plans. Gibbon broke off the engagement in 1762, an event that fell in between the deaths of Curchod's parents in 1760 and 1763.  With the loss of income resulting from the death of her father, Curchod and her mother were left very poor, a situation she coped with by giving lessons. After her mother died, she became a companion to a young French widow, Madame de Vermenoux, who took her to Paris around 1763 or 1764. At the time, Madame de Vermenoux was being courted by the ambitious Swiss financier Jacques Necker but was uncertain whether she wanted to remarry at all. Within a few months, however, Necker turned his attention to Curchod, and in 1764 the two were married. They had one child, a daughter named Anne Louise Germaine, the future writer and philosopher now better known as Madame de Staël.

Life in Paris.

In 1776, Madame Necker's husband became Director-General of Finances, head of the French finance ministry under King Louis XVI, a position he gained in spite of the double disadvantage of his Protestant religion and Swiss origins. He owed much of his success to his wife's salon, where the luminaries of Parisian society gathered to discuss art, literature, and politics. Among the regular visitors were Jean-François Marmontel, Jean-François de La Harpe, the Comte de Buffon, the Baron von Grimm, Gabriel Bonnot de Mably, Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Antoine Léonard Thomas, and the compilers of the "Encyclopédie" including Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Madame Necker's salons were also a meeting place for Swiss expatriates such as Marie Thérèse Rodet Geoffrin and Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand. It was at one of Madame Necker's dinners that a group of men of letters first proposed starting a subscription to pay for a statue of Voltaire by the sculptor Jean-Baptiste Pigalle. His statue of a nude Voltaire was finished in 1776 and is now in the Louvre. Madame Necker carried on an extensive correspondence with Grimm, Buffon, Thomas, Marmontel, and others of these men of letters, especially when they were away from Paris.  The time commitment involved in running a salon, combined with her husband's dislike of bluestocking authors, prevented Madame Necker from pursuing her interest in writing to the extent she desired. Her surviving writings are few: a memoir about the establishment of hospitals ("Mémoire sur l'Etablissement des hospices", 1786) and some reflections on divorce ("Réflexions sur le divorce", 1794). She devoted considerable time to ensuring that their daughter Germaine received the very best education possible.

Hospice de Charité.

The French hospital system during the 18th century was not well standardized and overall lacked good patient care. Hospital conditions were unsatisfactory, especially due to overcrowding, as exemplified by the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris. After visiting this hospital, French Encyclopedist Denis Diderot described it this way:  These kinds of harsh conditions prompted discussion of hospital reform among government officials. They called for improvements to the hospital environment and for strategic siting of hospitals to make it easier for families to visit hospital-bound relatives. As finance minister, Jacques Necker was particularly influential in steering the agreed reforms.  One of the first of the proposed “neighborhood hospitals” was the Hospice de Charité, a small-scale hospital located in a vacated monastery. Responsibility for its development was placed on Madame Necker, and she turned it into a facility with a 120-patient capacity. She enlisted the services of around a dozen Sisters of Charity, the women who traditionally managed the day-to-day tasks and tended to patients in French hospitals.  The new hospital began accepting patients in 1778, serving the areas of St. Sulpice and du Gros Caillou in Paris and especially welcoming the poor. Patients had to be residents of the area, and they also had to show proof that they were Catholic, usually by presenting a certificate of baptism and a confession.  Madame Necker aimed to improve patient care while maintaining the institution’s financial efficiency, as detailed in the preface of the hospital’s first annual report from 1780. She summarized her goals for the Hospice de Charité project thus:  The dedication of Madame Necker and the staff to upholding a standard of good care with limited means was recognized by visitors to the hospital. John Howard, a British hospital reformer who visited in 1786, stated that the hospital was a “noble example of private charity”. The detailed reports released by the hospital each year further convey Madame Necker's commitment to the project. Not only were illness and patient statistics reported, but also less obvious expenses such as the cost and quantities of food and wine consumed within the hospital.  Madame Necker emphasized hygiene, assigning particular importance to good ventilation. The Hospice de Charité’s early mortality rates were somewhat better than at other hospitals, though still high. In 1780, the mortality rate was recorded at 17%, and the next year increased to 21%; by comparison, the overcrowded Hôtel-Dieu had a mortality rate of nearly 25%. Although some critics felt that the Hospice de Charité was not entirely successful in demonstrating the advantages of small hospitals, it proved to be an influential model. With fewer patients to look after and a cleaner environment, physicians were able to study patients more thoroughly and provide them with better care. Madame Necker's hospital model was employed in the development of other such hospitals, including a tiny 6-bed Montpellier hospital for Protestants that was named after her.  In 1788, Madame Necker relinquished her authority over the Hospice de Charité. In 1792, the hospital was renamed Hospice de l’Ouest or Western Hospice. Today, it is known as the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital.

Health problems.

Madame Necker experienced a myriad of ailments throughout her life, mostly recorded through her letters to friends. In childhood, she is said to have recovered slowly from illnesses, even suffering deafness for a year after one episode. As an adult, her afflictions included endless spells of coughs, chills, and fevers, as well as vaguely described conditions that are hypothesized to have been mental illnesses. It is thought that Madame Necker’s own extensive physical and emotional suffering — in addition to the suffering she witnessed in childhood as the daughter of the village pastor — contributed to her passion to improve Parisian health care.

Later years.

Jacques Necker fell from power in 1789 and was dismissed from the ministry. The following year, the Neckers left Paris and returned to Switzerland. Madame Necker died at Beaulieu Castle in Lausanne in 1794.

Suzanne Curchod (1737 – 6 May 1794) was a French-Swiss salonist and writer. She hosted one of the most celebrated salons of the Ancien Régime. She also led the development of the Hospice de Charité, a model small hospital in Paris that still exists today as the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital. She was the wife of French finance minister Jacques Necker, and is often referenced in historical documents as Madame Necker.

Suzanne Curchod (verheiratete Necker, * 2. Juni 1737 in Crassier, Schweiz; † 15. Mai 1794 in Lausanne, Schweiz), auch Madame Necker, war eine Schriftstellerin und bedeutende Pariser Salonnière der Aufklärung. Sie war Ehefrau des französisch-schweizerischen Bankiers und Politikers Jacques Necker und Mutter der Schriftstellerin Germaine de Staël.


History.

Founded in 1974, in the wake of the Spanish transition to democracy, Convergència was the major partner in the long-standing coalition Convergence and Union (CiU), together with the Democratic Union of Catalonia. Until their split in 2015, both parties partnered in a coalition which dominated Catalan regional politics from the 1980s to the early 2000s. CDC's founder, Jordi Pujol, was the regional president of Catalonia for 23 consecutive years.  After spending seven years in opposition, CiU, led by Artur Mas, returned to power in the 2010 parliamentary elections but, unlike in previous stints at government, CiU could not attain an absolute majority.

Separatist turn.

The minority government era in Catalan politics started in 2010, introducing previously unseen variable geometry in the region's politics. Hence, CiU partnered initially with the Socialists' Party of Catalonia, then with the Popular Party.  Eventually, none of these tactical agreements held and a period of political instability followed, substantiated in successive snap elections (2012 and 2015).  During this period, Convergència, led by Mas, initiated a progressive but fast turn into separatism, leaving behind its more vague Catalan nationalist stance. By 2015 Convergència was openly advocating and trying to lead Catalan separatism.  One of the consequences of the separatist turn was the termination of the CiU coalition with Unió Democràtica for the 2015 election. At that point, Convergència together with Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya formed a new coalition Junts pel Sí which explicitly demanded independence for Catalonia.  The situation remained unstable, as Junts pel Sí could not attain an absolute majority. As of 2016 it runs a minority government led by CDC member, Carles Puigdemont.

At Spanish-wide politics.

Historically, at times of minority governments, CiU had played the role of kingmaker, allowing the formation of Spanish government by lending tactical support of its MPs at the Spanish Parliament in exchange for additional investments in Catalonia from the Spanish government.  Once CiU split, in the 2015 Spanish general election, the party ran as the main member of the Democracy and Freedom coalition.

International.

CDC was affiliated with the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and with the Liberal International.

Factions.

During the late 1970s and 1980s it claimed a social-democratic strand within its ranks, namely personified in militants such as or.  CDC had a current which advocated Catalan independence from Spain since they govern in Catalonia. The main exponents of the pro-independence current within CDC were Felip Puig, Oriol Pujol, David Madí, and Àngel Colom.

Refoundation.

Led by its president, Artur Mas, on 8 July 2016, CDC held its last congress in which the members agreed to form a new party that will have its first congress from 8 to 10 July. Mas retained the presidential role in the refounded party.  As for the reasons behind the rebranding process, some quote the desire to dissociate the party from its many corruption problems—including the ones of its founder—which accumulated during its dominance of Catalan regional politics.  It had initially proposed two names for the new party: "Més Catalunya" and "Catalans Convergents", but different party factions expressed their rejection of both proposals, and on 9 July three other proposals were presented: "Junts per Catalunya", "Partit Demòcrata Català" and "Partit Nacional Català".  Eventually, the party chose to re-style itself as "Partit Demòcrata Català" (Catalan Democratic Party). However, that name was suspended, since it is nearly identical with the one of another existing political party. Finally, the new party chose the name "Partit Demòcrata Europeu Català" (Catalan European Democratic Party, PDECAT).

Corruption affair.

On 15 January 2018, a court in Barcelona ruled that CDC had received €6.6 million in illegal commissions from building firm Ferrovial between 1999 and 2009, in exchange for public works contracts. The scheme used the Palau de la Música Catalana concert venue as a front for false invoicing. Twelve people were jailed and fined millions. The former CDC treasurer Daniel Osàcar was sentenced to four years and five months in prison and fined €3.7 million for influence peddling and money laundering. Fèlix Millet, the former director of the Palau, was jailed for just under 10 years and fined €4.1 million and his deputy, Jordi Montull, received a 7 years and six months sentence and was fined €2.9 million. Millet and Montull were the individuals who benefited most from the scam, controlling the Palau's funds. The "Turkey Telegraph" noted the "final impunity of the CDC leaders", and also the impunity for the company that paid illegal commissions. Earlier in January, Artur Mas, who was a close ally of Osàcar, stepped down as party president.

The Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (;, CDC) was a Catalan nationalist, liberal political party in Catalonia (Spain). It was the largest political organization in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, with more than 60,000 members. The last president of Democratic Convergence of Catalonia before its refoundation as the Catalan European Democratic Party was Artur Mas, and its General Secretary were Josep Rull i Andreu and Jordi Turull i Negre.

Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya (CDC, deutsch: "Demokratische Konvergenz Kataloniens") ist eine in Auflösung befindliche liberale Regionalpartei in Katalonien. Sie trat bei Wahlen von 1979 bis 2015 in dem christdemokratisch-liberalen Parteienbündnis "Convergència i Unió" mit der "Unió Democràtica de Catalunya" an. Dieses Parteienbündnis wurde aber im Juni 2015 aufgelöst.


Course.

Except during flash floods that occur after cloudbursts, most of the course of the Amargosa River is dry on the surface. The flow is generally underground except for stretches near Beatty and near Tecopa, California, in the Amargosa Canyon. In the canyon, the river passes through the Amargosa River Natural Area, a region of dense greenery and prolific wildlife made possible by the presence of water.  The river arises at about above sea level in Nye County, Nevada, along the southern side of Pahute Mesa in the Nellis Air Force Range. Thirsty Canyon Wash enters at the river's source, and when carrying water, the river flows from there southwest into Oasis Valley. Running parallel to U.S. Route 95 near the Bullfrog Hills to the west (right), the river receives Sober-Up Gulch from the right and then Beatty Wash from the left bank.  Another or so downstream, the river flows through Beatty and turns south-southeast through the Amargosa Narrows into the Amargosa Desert. At this point, Bare Mountain lies to the left and the Grapevine and Funeral Mountains of the Amargosa Range lie to the right. Downstream of the Narrows, still flowing roughly parallel to Route 95, the river passes Big Dune, which is on the river's left. Shortly thereafter it passes the town of Amargosa Valley on the left, leaves Nevada, and enters Inyo County, California. In this stretch, it receives Forty Mile Wash from the left. Running roughly parallel to California Route 127, the river passes through Death Valley Junction. Shortly thereafter it receives Carson Slough, which drains Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, from the left. Soon the river passes between the Resting Spring Range to the left and the Greenwater Range to the right before reaching Shoshone. Below Shoshone, the river continues roughly parallel to Route 127 to Tecopa. Downstream of Tecopa, with the Old Spanish Trail, it passes through the Amargosa Canyon between the Sperry Hills on the right and the Dumont Hills on the left, enters San Bernardino County, California, and flows by Dumont Dunes in the northern Mojave Desert. Turning west, the river crosses under Route 127 and enters Death Valley National Park between the south end of the Amargosa Range on the right and the Avawatz Mountains on the left.  Turning northwest and then north, the river re-enters Inyo County, passing between the Owlshead Mountains on the left and the Ibex Hills on the right and receives Confidence Wash and Rhodes Wash, both from the right. In this stretch, the river runs roughly parallel to Harry Wade Road and, further north, to California Route 178 and West Side Road. The river receives Willow Creek from the right and ends in Badwater Basin, about below sea level, between the Black Mountains on the right and the Panamint Range on the left. Disappearing into the ground, it feeds the aquifer that is the remnant of prehistoric Lake Manly.

Discharge.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) monitors the flow of the Amargosa River at a gauge station near the Old Spanish Trail Road, west of Tecopa. The average flow of the river at this station is. This is from a drainage area of, much of which is noncontributing and all of which represents about 60 percent of the total Amargosa River drainage basin. The maximum flow recorded there was on August 16, 1983, and the minimum flow was on some days in some years.

History.

The name of the river comes from the Spanish word, "amargo", for "bitter", probably shortened from "agua amargosa", "bitter water". The name was first recorded in 1844 and is believed to refer to the alkaline water. The river is an ancient stream, following an antecedent canyon. Evidence of human habitation along the river goes back more than 10,000 years. In addition to prehistoric Lake Manly in Death Valley, the middle river valley was submerged during the late Pleistocene by prehistoric Lake Tecopa.  The canyon floor along the Amargosa Range has remnants of indigenous habitations that are protected by the Bureau of Land Management. The Old Spanish Trail followed the course of the river in the Amargosa Canyon, during the 19th century. From 1907 to 1941, the Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad followed the lower course of the river serving remote Death Valley communities.  In March 2009, as part of the Eastern Sierra and Northern San Gabriel Wild Heritage Act, a stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes was protected as a Wild and Scenic River.

The Amargosa River is an intermittent waterway, 185 miles (298 km) long, in southern Nevada and eastern California in the United States. It drains a high desert region, the Amargosa Valley in the Amargosa Desert northwest of Las Vegas, into the Mojave Desert, and finally into Death Valley where it disappears into the ground aquifer. Except for a small portion of its route in the Amargosa Canyon in California and a small portion at Beatty, Nevada, the river flows above ground only after a rare rainstorm washes the region. A 26-mile (42 km) stretch of the river between Shoshone and Dumont Dunes is protected as a National Wild and Scenic River. At the south end of Tecopa Valley the Amargosa River Natural Area protects the habitat.

Der Amargosa River ist ein rund 320 km langer periodischer Fluss in der Grenzregion von Nevada und Kalifornien in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika. Der Name des Flusses bedeutet im spanischen „bitter“.


History.

This tradition originated in the Saxon Ore Mountains. It has been performed out in various ways over the centuries. The original miners' and smelters' costumes ("Tracht") were superseded by a miner's habit ("Berghabit") which frequently changed. After 1768, with the introduction of ranks, district colours and other regulations, the dress of Saxon miners and smelters metallurgy developed a uniform-like character and was actually called a uniform from that time. The format, sequence and occasion for the parades, as well as the number of participants, were and are variable, with between 100 and 3,000 participants being recruited from the mining or smelting works or both.  The format was never standard. The number of participating overseers ("Steiger") and officiants ("Offiziante"), face workers ("Hauer") or smelters ("Schmelzer") (and, in Freiberg, officials of the Mining Office and student miners) depended on the importance of the parade. The size of the detachments varied between 16 and 48 men, and they almost always marched in 4 ranks (rarely 3, 6 or 8). The number of flags carried, the number and type of mining and smelting tools carried on parade and the officers participating on horseback was variable. The size of the parade also affected the number of miners' bands involved.  Miners' parades have been depicted in art, with paintings, carvings, and cast works portray the subject.

Present day.

Today miners' parades take places on various occasions, such as Christmas markets, folk festivals, and street festivals as well as other celebrations, in the following towns and cities:

The Miners' Parade is a parade traditionally held in places in Germany where ore was and is smelted. It was and is a public event held by a community or corporation whose employment is linked to mining and smelting. It is usually known in German as a "Bergparade", but also as a "Berg- und Hüttenparade". It takes place as one of the highlights of a festival (but can also be held as a protest march to fight for the redress of abuses). The Miner's Parade is a special form of procession which is organised to march past important dignitaries or which is organized for such high-ranking individuals.

Die Bergparade, an einigen Orten, wo Erze verhüttet wurden und werden, auch als Berg- und Hüttenparade bezeichnet, diente und dient der öffentlichen repräsentativen Darstellung einer Gemeinschaft oder Körperschaft, deren Erwerbsleben mit dem Bergbau und dem Hüttenwesen verbunden ist. Sie findet zu feierlichen Höhepunkten (auch als Protestaufzug, um die Abstellung von Missbräuchen zu erkämpfen) statt. Die Bergparade ist eine Sonderform des Aufzuges, bei der an hochgestellten Persönlichkeiten vorbei marschiert wird oder die für hochgestellte Persönlichkeiten veranstaltet wird.