text:
Chatti

The Chatti (also Chatthi or Catti) were an ancient Germanic tribe whose homeland was near the upper Weser (Visurgis) river. They lived in central and northern Hesse and southern Lower Saxony, along the upper reaches of that river and in the valleys and mountains of the Eder and Fulda regions, a district approximately corresponding to Hesse-Kassel, though probably somewhat more extensive. They settled within the region in the first century BC. According to Tacitus, the Batavians and Cananefates of his time, tribes living within the Roman Empire, were descended from part of the Chatti, who left their homeland after an internal quarrel drove them out, to take up new lands at the mouth of the Rhine.

19th Century usage
At the Congress of Vienna the Elector of Hesse, restored with the fall of Napoleon, unsuccessfully attempted to get recognized as "King of the Chatti" - though by then the Chatti had long since ceased to exist as a distinct ethnic group

Chasuarii and Chattuarii
Two tribes in northern Germany have names that are sometimes compared to the Chatti. The Chattuarii, whose name appears to mean that they are dwellers upon the Chatti lands, or else Chatti people, lived near the Rhine, probably between IJssel and Lippe. They came to be seen as Franks and apparently moved over the Rhine as a Frankish people, to settle into the corner of land between the Rhine and Maas rivers.

The name of the Chattuarii is in turn, sometimes compared to another people called the Chasuarii mentioned by several classical authors. The Chasuarii were a Germanic tribe mentioned by Tacitus in the Germania. According to him, they dwelt to the north of the Chamavi and Angrivarii, who dwelt in turn to the north of the Bructeri, between Ems and Weser, however the name of the Chasuarii most often is interpreted to mean "dwellers on the Hase [river]", a tributary to the Ems. The second century geographer Claudius Ptolemy mentions that the Kasouarioi lived to the east of the Abnoba mountains, in the vicinity of Hesse, but this account of northern Europe is thought to contain confusions derived from using different sources.

Places named after the Chatti

 * Hesse: probably derived from "Chatti" through the High German consonant shifts.
 * Kassel: derived from the ancient Castellum Cattorum, a castle of the Chatti
 * Katwijk: from Chatti and Dutch wijk, "village/settlement"
 * Katzenelnbogen: historians speculated that the name derives from *Cattimelibocus, a combination of two words: the Chatti and Melibokus, from Μηλίβοκον (Mēlíbokon), the name of a mountain range in Ptolemy's Geography which has been (probably incorrectly) identified with the Malchen.
 * Mont des Cats

In popular culture

 * The Light Bearer (1994), a historical novel by Donna Gillespie.
 * Mark of the Lion Series (1993), a series of historical fiction novels by Francine Rivers.
 * Barbarians (2020), one of the tribes that unites against the Romans prior to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest.

title: Chatti


text:
Warren Sturgis McCulloch

Warren Sturgis McCulloch (November 16, 1898 – September 24, 1969) was an American neurophysiologist and cybernetician, known for his work on the foundation for certain brain theories and his contribution to the cybernetics movement. Along with Walter Pitts, McCulloch created computational models based on mathematical algorithms called threshold logic which split the inquiry into two distinct approaches, one approach focused on biological processes in the brain and the other focused on the application of neural networks to artificial intelligence.

Biography
Warren Sturgis McCulloch was born in Orange, New Jersey, in 1898. His brother was a chemical engineer and Warren was originally planning to join the Christian ministry. As a teenager he was associated with the theologians Henry Sloane Coffin, Harry Emerson Fosdick, Herman Karl Wilhelm Kumm and Julian F. Hecker. He was also mentored by the Quaker, Rufus Jones. He attended Haverford College and studied philosophy and psychology at Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1921. He continued to study psychology at Columbia and received a Master of Arts degree in 1923. Receiving his MD in 1927 from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, he undertook an internship at Bellevue Hospital, New York. Then he worked under Eilhard von Domarus at the Rockland State Hospital for the Insane. He returned to academia in 1934. He worked at the Laboratory for Neurophysiology at Yale University from 1934 to 1941.

In 1941 he moved to Chicago and joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he was a professor of psychiatry, as well as the director of the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute until 1951. From 1952 he worked at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts with Norbert Wiener. He was a founding member of the American Society for Cybernetics and its second president during 1967–1968. He was a mentor to the British operations research pioneer Stafford Beer.

McCulloch had a range of interests and talents. In addition to his scientific contributions he wrote poetry (sonnets), and he designed and engineered buildings and a dam at his farm in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

McCulloch married Ruth Metzger, known as 'Rook', in 1924 and they had three children. He died in Cambridge in 1969.

Work
He is remembered for his work with Joannes Gregorius Dusser de Barenne from Yale and later with Walter Pitts from the University of Chicago. He provided the foundation for certain brain theories in a number of classic papers, including "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" (1943) and "How We Know Universals: The Perception of Auditory and Visual Forms" (1947), both published in the Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics. The former is "widely credited with being a seminal contribution to neural network theory, the theory of automata, the theory of computation, and cybernetics".

McCulloch was the chair of the set of Macy conferences dedicated to Cybernetics. These, greatly due to the diversity of the backgrounds of the participants McCulloch brought in, became the foundation for the field.

Neural network modelling
In the 1943 paper McCulloch and Pitts attempted to demonstrate that a Turing machine program could be implemented in a finite network of formal neurons (in the event, the Turing Machine contains their model of the brain, but the converse is not true ), that the neuron was the base logic unit of the brain. In the 1947 paper they offered approaches to designing "nervous nets" to recognize visual inputs despite changes in orientation or size.

From 1952 McCulloch worked at the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, working primarily on neural network modelling. His team examined the visual system of the frog in consideration of McCulloch's 1947 paper, discovering that the eye provides the brain with information that is already, to a degree, organized and interpreted, instead of simply transmitting an image.

Reticular formation
McCulloch also posited the concept of "poker chip" reticular formations as to how the brain deals with contradictory information in a democratic, somatotopical neural network. His principle of "Redundancy of Potential Command" was developed by von Foerster and Pask in their study of self-organization and by Pask in his Conversation Theory and Interactions of Actors Theory.

Publications
McCulloch wrote a book and several articles:
 * 1965, Embodiments of Mind. MIT Press, Cambridge,
 * 1993, The Complete Works of Warren S. McCulloch. Intersystems Publications: Salinas, CA.

Articles, a selection:
 * 1943, "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity". With Walter Pitts. In: Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics Vol 5, pp 115–133.
 * 1945, "A Heterarchy of Values Determined by the Topology of Nervous Nets". In: Bulletin of Mathematical Biophysics, 7, 1945, 89–93.
 * 1959, "What The Frog's Eye Tells The Frog's Brain". With Jerome Lettvin, H.R. Maturana and W.H. Pitts. In: Proc. of the I. R. E. Vol 47 (11).
 * 1969, "Recollections of the Many Sources of Cybernetics", published in: ASC FORUM Volume VI, Number 2 -Summer 1974.

Papers published by the Chicago Literary Club:
 * 1945, "One Word After Another".
 * 1959, "The Past of a Delusion".
 * 1959, "The Natural Fit".

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Warren Sturgis McCulloch


text:
Talk:Junk DNA

Minor tense suggestion
Perhaps having the word YET used more frequently, as well as having as a second point if not the first, a clarification clarifying / a differentiation differentiating between,..

.

1 matched-with-others-in-surpassed-evolutionary-progressions-and-so-redundant(true junk) DNA,

2 assumed-no-function junk from genetic processes (high confidence - temporary retentions kept longer than needed if needing to be kept at all), and

3 theorised to have no function but of more compatible DNA-chemistry -combinations ... junk (ones that have still matching after-activation matching chemistry with organelles or functional materials in plasma/interstitial spaces, but are without 'context' in nearby genes along the chains, and so seem pointless, despite chemical-compatibility. Compared to things like say, immune system instructions or embryonic stages, ones with clear-purpose) (less-confidence / more reasonable uncertainty - the chemistry suggests a high likelyhood if not outright proof, of past usefullness) ...

.

... could help to introduce the concept FIRST?

Rather than finding the contrast or inferred-problems with the single concept or inferred consistency, further down the page, and the static tense (scientific conclusion-ary) avoiding the still-new problems of the field? i.e. using YET, adds necessary cautionary relativity to a solid concept, but a phenomenon that is sometimes irreversibly presumed static.

---

''i.e. when something THOUGHT junk, is 'let-back-in', at the PREVIOUS time of it being labelled junk, the static nature was less correct, than saying "YET", so,.. yet-confirmed as junk, or yet-re-included back into unknown status rather than confirmed-junk or certified-junk, etc. A big part of that problem is WHO certifies, but that might end up making the page much larger than it should be if that kind of debate/issue should be on a separate page or is not subjectively purposed -  i.e.  at least the 'YET' nature of both corrective processes, reveals just HOW-new, this science is. Sort of like if you re-wrote it entirely, and re-wrote it with constant inferred STATUS inferences, to keep reminding the reader, that DNAs classification can rapidly CHANGE, that DNA is only sometimes statically clearly-purposed, nature's IMperfections, compared to imaginary ideals, etc. That's not opinion, that's hard-science. Human DNA for tails, for example, are recent, but HAD function. Tense with it as an example, would be an easy example to demonstrate the principle of CAUTION with DNA's classification as junk or not-junk.'' 120.21.106.152 (talk) 15:13, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

 * I don't understand your point. Could you give a specific example of something you think should be changed? Genome42 (talk) 22:10, 30 June 2023 (UTC)

The function wars
Junk DNA is DNA that does not have a function so the entire debate hinges on determining which part of the genome is functional. You can't do that unless you can define function in some meaningful way. The debate over the proper meaning of function is called the "function wars" and since 2012 it has almost exclusively been about the best way to describe a selected effect function. I think the "maintenance" function definition is the best one.

This is 2024. There are no other definitions of function that are actively defended in the scientific literature. The causal role function (biochemical activity) was thoroughly debunked a decade ago and I'm not aware of any serious publication that defends biochemical activity as a viable definition of function. In order for biochemical activity to be a serious contender, there would have to be numerous examples of genuine functional regions of the genome that exhibit biochemical activity but are not under purifying selection. In the absence of such examples, the maintenance function definition covers all examples of genuine biochemical activity plus functional regions that don't exhibit traditional biochemical activity.

 Ramos1990 insists on inserting a reference to the ENCODE 2014 paper that casts doubt on the maintenance function by claiming that there are "diverse understandings of 'function' in different fields." The three diverse understandings are genetic, evolutionary, and biochemical.

This is not helpful since we have highlighted the serious shortcomings of biochemical activity as a definition of function and provided references to 10 papers that discuss these shortcomings. There's no good explanation of "genetic" function in this article. (The section under "Genetic function" is useless and should be deleted.) Readers will be left wondering why there are still "diverse understandings" of function when the only one supported by data and logic is the one based on conservation and purifying selection.

The only reason for bringing up biochemical function in this article is to alert readers to the false claim made by the ENCODE researchers in 2012. That claim received such massive coverage in the popular press that there are still many readers (and many scientists) who think that the idea of junk DNA has been abandoned by the experts in the field. By putting undue emphasis on the excuses and rationalizations made by the ENCODE workers in 2014 we are contributing to the misconceptions that they promoted in 2012. Genome42 (talk) 14:42, 2 May 2024 (UTC)
 * I did not cite the 2014 paper. You added it there. Have to stick to what the sources actually say. Also you mentioned that other researchers understand function differently (e.g. Mattick, Kellis, Abascal, etc). Even Linquist 2020 acknowledges different understandings of function are in the literature and that it is unclear much of the time when it is used. Ramos1990 (talk) 00:47, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The two most important points in the 2014 paper are: (1) that the ENCODE researchers admit that biochemical activity on its own is not a reliable indicator of function and (2) there is evidence for junk DNA that they did not mention in their 2012 papers.
 * We all know what this means. It means that they were wrong to claim that their data refuted junk DNA and that at least 80% of the human genome is functional. These are the important points that readers need to know since there is still a widespread belief that the ENCODE data refuted junk DNA.
 * I recently added the following description of the Kellis et al. (2014) paper.
 * "The challengers argued that biochemical activity is not a reliable indicator of function and in 2014 the ENCODE researchers agreed with the challengers and abandoned their claim that 80% of the human genome was functional. They also presented evidence for junk DNA that was missing in their 2012 papers.(Kellis et al., 2014)"
 * You deleted that description and restored the previous version which says,
 * "In 2014, ENCODE researchers responded that there are both limitations and advantages to the different approaches (genetic, evolutionary, biochemical) used to get estimates of functional elements, that there are diverse understandings of "function" in different fields, and that integration of genetic, evolutionary, and biochemical approaches should be used to better define function. (Kellis et al., 2014)"
 * I maintain that your version misrepresents the significance of the ENCODE retraction and perpetuates the myth that their data still refutes junk DNA. Your version makes it look like the ENCODE researchers are defending the notion that biochemical activity could still be a legitimate definition of function in "their" field.
 * Let me remind you of what the ENCODE researchers said in 2012, "These data enabled us to assign biochemical functions for 80% of the genome." That's the conclusion that was promoted in the university press releases and the popular press articles where it was taken to mean that junk DNA was refuted. Many of the ENCODE researchers are on record as supporting the idea that most of the genome is functional and not junk.
 * And here's what those same researchers said in 2014, "The major contribution of ENCODE to date has been high-resolution, highly-reproducible maps of DNA segments with biochemical signatures associated with diverse molecular functions. We believe that this public resource is far more important than any interim estimate of the fraction of the genome that is functional."
 * That's a clear repudiation of their earlier claim that 80% of the genome is functional. How should we explain this to our readers? I look forward to your suggestions. Genome42 (talk) 14:08, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 *  Ramos1990 said, "Even Linquist 2020 acknowledges different understandings of function are in the literature ..."
 * This is correct. Linquist mentions that biochemical activity is a causal role (CR) function. Here's what he says,
 * "I have argued that in the discipline of genomics, component-driven functional investigation runs the risk of causal-role myopia. The tendency to posit one organism-level capacity after another as the putative CR function of some genetic element can proceed indefinitely because (1) the genome is littered with TEs and their partially deactivated descendants which (2) masquerade as components with interesting CR functions and (3) it is experimentally onerous to determine whether a given element lacks any such function. The fact that ENCODE appears to have fallen victim to this kind of reasoning suggests that CR myopia is not a hypothetical concern."
 * Do you think we should put this quotation into the article in order to demonstrate the consensus view of most experts in the field of genomic function? Genome42 (talk) 14:18, 3 May 2024 (UTC)
 * The 2014 paper highlighted strengths and weaknesses of all 3 methods. They stated that "absence of conservation cannot be interpreted as evidence for the lack of function." as well and also noted that conservation estimates provide a lower bound estimate (with problems), not the complete estimate of functional elements. They argue for biochemical activity as a powerful tool and emphasize molecular function in the quote you quoted. They concluded that all 3 approaches should be used to get a more comprehensive understanding of elements in biology and disease. In Abiscal 2020, ENCODE still uses biochemical activity for molecular functionality proxy. In terms of Linquist, he clearly states "However, as a number of authors have noted, the problem is also partly due to a confusion about the various possible meanings of “function” in biology [3–5]." and also acknowledges differing practices of evolutionary biologists, experimental biologists, and genomicists; each with different sets of assumptions, often adaptionist. Of course Abascal and Mattick show different views of function too. I don't think there is a consensus across these fields of what constitutes function. Otherwise there would be no debates of articles seeking clarification on the term (e.g. Kellis, Linquist, Doolittle). Ramos1990 (talk) 02:48, 4 May 2024 (UTC)
 * If I understand your position correctly, you believe that there are several distinctly different definitions in play when it comes to distinguishing between regions of the genome that are functional or junk. You believe that Kellis et al. had a point when they said that genetic and biochemical data are necessary to identify functional regions that can be missed by relying solely on purifying selection, correct?
 * If you think this belief is widespread then I guess we are going to have to address it in the article. I was hoping to avoid diving into the nitty-gritty of the function wars but we will have to in order to make sure our readers are well-informed.
 * I'll prepare a section where I argue that there are no examples of genetic or biochemical function that aren't also under purifying selection but there are plenty of examples of genetic activity and biochemical activity that does not qualify as function.
 * Perhaps you could help by finding papers published in the last ten years (since 2014) showing examples where function can only be detected by genetic or biochemical means because the functional regions are not under purifying selection? We really need to include those papers in order to support the claim the Kellis et al. were making but I haven't been able to find them. Genome42 (talk) 14:33, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
 * When using a source, we have to stick to what the source explicitly says and not add personal interpretation or commentary to it as that would constitute WP:OR - "This includes any analysis or synthesis of published material that reaches or implies a conclusion not stated by the sources.". Wikipedaia is not like a forum, blog, or essay. It is more restrictive because it is shared online space. WP:VERIFY's first three paragraphs explain what I was trying to say. When you wrote about Kallis, it seemed off from what the paper was explicitly saying. Also, this is not about any wikieditor beliefs on the topic (good editors can be neutral and give due weight to opposing views on controversial topics like this), its about following policy. Hope this helps. Ramos1990 (talk) 02:27, 7 May 2024 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia policy does not require editors to report everything that authors say in a publication. With respect to science articles, the role of a good editor is to highlight the important points in order to explain to readers what the general scientific consensus is on controversial issues.
 * In this case, the important issue is whether the knowledgeable scientific community generally accepts the widely publicized claim that at least 80% of the genome is functional. That's what the ENCODE researchers said in 2012 and many of the individual researchers are on record as supporting the idea that junk DNA has been refuted.
 * The Kellis et al. paper is important in this context because the researchers are clearly backing off their original claim. That's what is important. The fact that they make other claims that are not backed up by scientific evidence (or logic) is not something that we have to report, especially since those claims have not been widely repeated or defended in the ten years since the 2012 paper was published.
 * As it stands now, this Wikipedia article on junk DNA explains the significance of purifying selection as a definition of function and it explains that only about 10% of the genome is under purifying selection. This supports the idea that 90% of the genome is junk.
 * If we were to report the unsubstantiated claim of Kellis et al. that genetic and/or biochemical activity may add additional functional regions and reduce the amount of junk DNA, then editors are obliged to expand on that claim and demonstrate how it affects junk DNA. You can't just let the Kellis et al. claim stand on it's own, especially since very few other knowledgeable scientists support it. Genome42 (talk) 14:33, 7 May 2024 (UTC)

Delete 'Measurement and estimates' section
This section of the article serves no purpose since the important material is covered in the rest of the article. I will delete it in a few days unless there are objections from other editors. Genome42 (talk) 16:52, 21 May 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Junk DNA


text:
Childeric I

Childeric I (Childéric; Flavius Childericus; reconstructed Frankish: *Hildirīk; died 481 AD) was a Frankish leader in the northern part of imperial Roman Gaul and a member of the Merovingian dynasty, described as a king (Latin rex), both on his Roman-style seal ring, which was buried with him, and in fragmentary later records of his life. He was father of Clovis I, who acquired effective control over all or most Frankish kingdoms, and a significant part of Roman Gaul.

Biography
Most of early Merovingian history is based on the account of the 6th-century Gregory of Tours. The date of Childeric's accession is not given in the text, but it was after emperor Avitus' death in December 456 (II. 11). The only certain date is the Battle of Vouillé in 507; most of Gregory's other statements are contradictory.

Childeric's father is recorded by several sources to have been Merovech, after whom the dynasty is named. Gregory (II.9) says that Merovech was reputed by some to be a descendant of Chlodio, an earlier Frankish king who had conquered Gaulish areas first in the Silva Carbonaria, then in Tournai, Cambrai and as far south as the Somme. This is roughly the definition of the Roman province of Belgica Secunda (approximately the "Belgium" defined by Julius Caesar centuries earlier, the region stretching from north of Paris to the Flemish coast); later, a letter of Saint Remigius to Childeric's son Clovis I implies that Childeric had been its administrative chief.

Childeric himself is mainly associated with Roman military actions around the Loire River involving the Gallo-Roman general Aegidius. According to Gregory (II.12), Childeric was exiled to "Thuringia" for eight years due to Frankish distaste for his debauchery and his seduction of his subjects' daughters. In the meantime, according to Gregory, Aegidius himself took up the title of king of the Franks. Upon his return from exile, Childeric joined his host's wife, Queen Basina, who bore their son Clovis.

Guy Halsall connects the story to Roman politics, Aegidius being an appointee of Majorian:

"Although this is only one interpretation of the fragmentary sources, an eight-year period ending with Aegidius' death would allow us to associate Childeric's expulsion with Majorian's accession and appointment of Aegidius. ...

Majorian's commander on the Loire, Aegidius, refused to accept Severus as emperor. It is possible that, to legitimise his position, he took the title king of the Franks."

Halsall (p. 269) speculates that Childeric probably began a Roman military career in the service of Flavius Aetius who defeated Attila in Gaul, and he points out that much of his military career appears to have played out far from the Frankish homelands. Ulrich Nonn (map p. 37, and pp. 99–100), following his teacher Eugen Ewig, believes that the exile story reflects a real sequence of events whereby Childeric was a leader of "Salian" or "Belgian" Franks based in the Romanized areas conquered by Chlodio, who were allies under the lordship of Aegidius, but eventually able to take over his power when he and his imperial patron died. (Childeric's son Clovis I later fought Aegidius' son Syagrius who was remembered as a King of Romans, and who had control of Soissons in the south of Belgica Secunda.)

In a passage normally considered to have come from a lost collection of annals, Gregory (II.18) gives a sequence of events which are very difficult to interpret. In 463 Childeric and Aegidius successfully repelled the Visigoths of Theodoric II from Orléans on the Loire. After the death of Aegidius soon after, Childeric and a comes ("count") Paul are recorded defending the Loire region from Saxon raiders, who were possibly coordinating with the Goths now under Euric. Childeric and Paul fought Saxons under the command of a leader named "Adovacrius" (sometimes given by modern authors in either an Anglo-Saxon spelling form, Eadwacer, or in a spelling the same as used for his contemporary the future King of Italy Odoacer, with whom he is sometimes equated). The origin of these "Saxons" is however unclear, and they are described as being based upon islands somewhere in the Loire region.

Soon after this passage, Gregory of Tours (II.19) reports that Childeric coordinated with "Odovacrius", this time normally assumed to be the King of Italy, against Allemanni who had entered Italy. While some authors interpret these Allemani to be Alans, a people established in the Loire region in this period, there is no consensus on this, because the reference in this case is not apparently to events near the Loire.

Marriage, children, and death
Gregory of Tours, in his History of the Franks, mentions several siblings of Clovis within his narrative, apparently thus children of Childeric:
 * 1) Clovis I (died 511), whose mother was Basina.
 * 2) Audofleda, Queen of the Ostrogoths, wife of Theodoric the Great. Gregory III.31 also mentions their daughter Amalasuntha.
 * 3) Lanthechild. Gregory II.31 mentions she had been an Arian but converted to Catholicism with Clovis.
 * 4) Albofleda (died approximately 500). Gregory II.31 mentions that she died soon after being baptized with Clovis.

Childeric is generally considered to have died in 481 or 482 based on Gregory's reports that his son Clovis died in 511 and had ruled 30 years.

Tomb
Childeric's tomb was discovered in 1653 not far from the 12th-century church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, now in Belgium. Numerous precious objects were found, including jewels of gold and garnet cloisonné, gold coins, a gold bull's head, and a ring with the king's name inscribed. Some 300 golden winged insects (usually viewed as bees or cicadas) were also found which had been placed on the king's cloak. Archduke Leopold William, governor of the Southern Netherlands (today's Belgium), had the find published in Latin. The treasure went first to the Habsburgs in Vienna, then as a gift to King Louis XIV of France, who was not impressed with the treasure and stored it in the royal library, which became the Bibliothèque Nationale de France during the Revolution.

On the night of November 5–6, 1831, the treasure of Childeric was among 80 kg of treasure stolen from the Library and melted down for the gold. A few pieces were retrieved from where they had been hidden in the Seine, including two of the bees. The record of the treasure, however, now exists only in the fine engravings made at the time of its discovery and in some reproductions made for the Habsburgs.

Origin of Napoleonic bees
When Napoleon was looking for a heraldic symbol to trump the Capetian fleur-de-lys, he settled on Childeric's bees as symbols of the French Empire. The minutes of a meeting of the Conseil d'État held at Saint-Cloud in June 1804 suggest that it approved the symbolism of the bees on a suggestion by Cambacérès. The design was made by Vivant Denon, Director of the Louvre.

title: Childeric I


text:
437

Year 437 (CDXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aetius and Sigisvultus (or, less frequently, year 1190 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 437 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Europe

 * Flavius Aetius, Roman general (magister militum), secures the besieged city of Narbonne (Southern Gaul) against King Theodoric I. He concludes a peace treaty with the Visigoths, and becomes consul for the second time.
 * July 2 – Valentinian III, age 18, rules as emperor over the Western Roman Empire. His mother Galla Placidia ends her regency, but continues to exercise political influence until her death in 450.
 * October 29 – Valentinian III cements an alliance with the eastern emperor, Theodosius II, by marrying his daughter Licinia Eudoxia in Constantinople. This marks the reunion of the two branches of the House of Theodosius.
 * Battle of Wallop: Ambrosius Aurelianus, leader of the Romano-British, defeats the Anglo Saxons under King Vortigern. He is given all the kingdoms of the western side of Britain (according to Historia Brittonum).

Mesoamerica

 * K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo' dies after an 11-year reign. He is the founder and first ruler of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization centered at Copán (modern Honduras).

Religion

 * A synod at Constantinople attempts to impinge on the Pope's rights in Illyria. Proclus tries to implement the synod's decisions, and Pope Sixtus III reminds the Illyrian bishops of their obligations to his vicar at Thessaloniki.

Births

 * Childeric I, king of the Salian Franks (approximate date)
 * Remigius, bishop of Reims (approximate date)

Deaths

 * Li Jingshou, princess of the Xiongnu state Northern Liang

title: 437


text:
National Parks of Poland

There are 23 national parks in Poland. These were formerly run by the Polish Board of National Parks (Polish: Krajowy Zarząd Parków Narodowych), but in 2004 responsibility for their management was transferred to what is now the Ministry of Climate and the Environment. Most national parks are divided into strictly and partially protected zones. They currently encompass around 186000 hectares of forest, or around 2% of all the country's woodlands.

Polish national parks have carried out numerous research programs and they play an important role in the ecological education. The national parks can be visited as they provide a well-developed tourism infrastructure, though visitors typically need to keep to designated areas such as trails. Many parks furthermore offer thematic trails, educational centres and natural history museums.

Legal basis and governance of Poland's national parks
In order to become a national park, an area needs to be at least 1000 hectares in size and have outstanding environmental and cultural value. The ecosystems in the park need to be in their natural state—or close to it. National parks usually play host to several "valuable" species; usually rare or protected ones.

The area of a national park is divided into different zones using separate methods of conservation. There are strict protection zones, as well as active and landscape-related ones. Additionally, they are usually surrounded by a protective buffer zone called otulina. Human activity is also heavily restricted within the park itself, with strict conservation rules in place. There are also significant restrictions on what can be done within the buffer zones.

Poland's national parks are governed by the Nature Conservation Act, last amended in 2004, and they are funded from the central state budget. Each park is managed by a director, who works closely with an oversight board. They are further supervised by the Ministry of Climate and Environment.

Museums in national parks

 * Museum of Nature and Forest Białowieża National Park, Palace Park, Białowieża
 * Educational Centre of Babia Góra National Park, Zawoja
 * Museum of Natural History Bieszczady National Park, Ustrzyki Dolne
 * Museum of Natural History Kampinos National Park, Kampinos
 * Science Museum at Karkonosze National Park, Jelenia Góra
 * Museum im. prof. Władysława Szafera, Ojców
 * Centre for Education and Museum at Polesie National Park, Załucze Stare
 * Centre for Education and Museum at Roztocze National Park, Zwierzyniec
 * Museum of Nature and Forest at Słowiński National Park, Smołdzino
 * Museum of Natural History at Świętokrzyski National Park, Święty Krzyż
 * Natural History Museum of Tatra National Park, Zakopane
 * Natural History Museum of Wielkopolska National Park, Jeziory
 * Wigler Museum (Museum at Wigry National Park), Stary Folwark
 * Natural History Museum of Wolin National Park, Misdroy
 * Field Station DNP "Bogdanka", Drawno
 * Karkonosze Environmental Education Center, Szklarska Poręba

Legal documents
Ordinances issued by the Polish Council of Ministers, establishing individual national parks (all in Polish, in PDF format).

 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 30 października 1954 r. w sprawie utworzenia Babiogórskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1955 nr 4 poz. 25
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 8 sierpnia 1997 r. w sprawie Babiogórskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1997 nr 99 poz. 608
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 21 listopada 1947 r. o utworzeniu Białowieskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1947 nr 74 poz. 469
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 16 lipca 1996 r. w sprawie Białowieskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1996 nr 93 poz. 424
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 9 września 1993 r. w sprawie utworzenia Biebrzańskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1993 nr 86 poz. 399
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 4 sierpnia 1973 r. w sprawie utworzenia Bieszczadzkiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1973 nr 31 poz. 179
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 14 maja 1996 r. w sprawie utworzenia Parku Narodowego "Bory Tucholskie", Dz.U. 1996 nr 64 poz. 305
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 10 kwietnia 1990 r. w sprawie utworzenia Drawieńskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1990 nr 26 poz. 151
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 8 sierpnia 1980 r. w sprawie utworzenia Gorczańskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1980 nr 18 poz. 66
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 16 września 1993 r. w sprawie utworzenia Parku Narodowego Gór Stołowych, Dz.U. 1993 nr 88 poz. 407
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 16 stycznia 1959 r. w sprawie utworzenia Kampinoskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1959 nr 17 poz. 91
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 16 stycznia 1959 r. w sprawie utworzenia Karkonoskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1959 nr 17 poz. 90
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 24 listopada 1994 r. w sprawie utworzenia Magurskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1994 nr 126 poz. 618
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 1 lipca 1996 r. w sprawie utworzenia Narwiańskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1996 nr 77 poz. 368
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 14 stycznia 1956 r. w sprawie utworzenia Ojcowskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1956 nr 4 poz. 22
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 30 października 1954 r. w sprawie utworzenia Pienińskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1955 nr 4 poz. 24
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 10 kwietnia 1990 r. w sprawie utworzenia Poleskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1990 nr 27 poz. 155
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 10 maja 1974 r. w sprawie utworzenia Roztoczańskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1974 nr 21 poz. 120
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 23 września 1966 r. w sprawie utworzenia Słowińskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1966 nr 42 poz. 254
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 1 kwietnia 1950 r. w sprawie utworzenia Świętokrzyskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1950 nr 14 poz. 133
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 30 października 1954 r. w sprawie utworzenia Tatrzańskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1955 nr 4 poz. 23
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 19 czerwca 2001 r. w sprawie utworzenia Parku Narodowego "Ujście Warty", Dz.U. 2001 nr 67 poz. 681
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 16 kwietnia 1957 r. w sprawie utworzenia Wielkopolskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1957 nr 24 poz. 114
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 27 czerwca 1988 r. w sprawie utworzenia Wigierskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1988 nr 25 poz. 173
 * Rozporządzenie Rady Ministrów z dnia 3 marca 1960 r. w sprawie utworzenia Wolińskiego Parku Narodowego, Dz.U. 1960 nr 14 poz. 79

Websites
Official websites of individual national parks
 * bgpn.pl, Babiogórski Park Narodowy
 * bpn.com.pl, Białowieski Park Narodowy
 * biebrza.org.pl, Biebrzański Park Narodowy
 * bdpn.p, Bieszczadzki Park Narodowy
 * park.borytucholskie.info, Park Narodowy Bory Tucholskie
 * dpn.pl, Drawieński Park Narodowy
 * gorczanskipark.pl, Gorczański Park Narodowy
 * pngs.pulsar.net.pl, Park Narodowy Gór Stołowych
 * kampinoski-pn.gov.pl, Kampinoski Park Narodowy
 * kpnmab.pl, Karkonoski Park Narodowy
 * magurskipn.pl, Magurski Park Narodowy
 * npn.pl, Narwiański Park Narodowy
 * opn.pan.krakow.pl, Ojcowski Park Narodowy
 * pieninypn.pl, Pieniński Park Narodowy
 * poleskipn.pl, Poleski Park Narodowy
 * roztoczanskipn.pl, Roztoczański Park Narodowy
 * slowinskipn.pl, Słowiński Park Narodowy
 * swietokrzyskipn.org.pl, Świętokrzyski Park Narodowy
 * tpn.pl, Tatrzański Park Narodowy
 * pnujsciewarty.gov.pl, Park Narodowy Ujście Warty
 * wielkopolskipn.pl, Wielkopolski Park Narodowy
 * wigry.win.pl, Wigierski Park Narodowy
 * wolinpn.pl, Woliński Park Narodowy

title: National Parks of Poland


text:
Chow Chow

The Chow Chow is a spitz-type of dog breed originally from Northern China. The Chow Chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears with rounded tips. The breed is known for a very dense double coat that is either smooth or rough. The fur is particularly thick in the neck area, giving it a distinctive ruff or mane appearance. The coat may be shaded/self-red, black, blue, cinnamon/fawn, or cream.

History

The Chow Chow has been identified as a basal breed that predates the emergence of the modern breeds in the 19th century. A research study has concluded that the Chow Chow dog breed originated from other indigenous dogs in central China about 8,300 years ago. The ancient breed evolved and manifests both morphological and physiological features, including its dark tongue, coat of fur, and stronger build.

One Chinese legend mentions large war dogs from Central Asia that resembled black-tongued lions. One Chinese ruler was said to own 5,000 Chows. The Chinese also used Chows to pull dog sleds through swampy terrain, and this was remarked upon by Marco Polo.

Today, the American Kennel Club registers approximately 10,000 Chow Chows a year. The Canadian Kennel Club registers approximately 350.

The English name Chow Chow is unlinked to any Chinese name such as the modern 鬆獅狗 (song shi gou, lit. "loose lion dog") for the breed, and hence of uncertain origin - possible and folk etymologies refer to Pidgin English.

Appearance
The Chow Chow is a sturdily built dog, square in profile, with a broad skull and small, triangular, erect ears with rounded tips. The breed is known for a very dense double coat that is either smooth or rough. The fur is particularly thick in the neck area, giving it a distinctive ruff or mane appearance. The coat may be shaded/self-red, black, blue, cinnamon/fawn, or cream. Not all these color varieties are recognized as valid in all countries. Individuals with patchy or multicolored coats are considered to be outside the breed standard. Chow Chow eyes are typically deep set and almond shaped. The breed is unique by their purple/blue-black tongue which no other breed has except Shar Pei, and has very straight hind legs, resulting in a rather stilted gait. The bluish color extends to the Chow Chow's lips; this is the only dog breed with this distinctive bluish color in its lips and oral cavity (other dogs have black or a piebald pattern skin in their mouths). Another distinctive feature is the curly tail. It has thick hair and lies curled on its back. The nose should be black, but blue-coated Chow Chow can have a solid blue or slate-colored nose. According to the American Kennel Club breed standards, any other tone is not acceptable for contests. FCI countries, however, do allow a self-colored nose in the cream.

The blue-black/purple tongue gene appears to be dominant, as most mixed breed dogs that come from a Chow Chow retain that tongue color. However, the blue-black/purple tongue can also be found on the Shar Pei. This is not to say that every mixed breed dog with spots of purple on the tongue is descended from Chow Chow, as purple spots on the tongue can be found on other purebred dogs.

Temperament
Owning a Chow Chow can raise the cost of homeowners insurance because some companies consider them high-risk dogs. In a study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Chow Chow were responsible for 8 out of 238 fatalities related to dog bites from 1979 to 1998.

Colors
Chow Chows can come in a variety of coat colors. The American Kennel Club (AKC) has classified Chow Chow colors as either standard or non-standard (rare colors). The standard colors for Chow Chows are black, blue, red, cream, and cinnamon. However, colors such as fawn, white, and merle are not considered standard for this breed.

Different canine clubs worldwide may acknowledge different coat colors or even use alternative names for the colors mentioned above.

Health
A UK study found the life expectancy of the Chow Chow to be 12.1 years, just higher than the 12 year average for crossbreeds and lower than the 12.7 years average for purebreeds.

Skeletal conditions
A North American study looking at more than a million records of dogs found 6.44% of Chow Chow dogs to have hip dysplasia compared with 3.52% overall. The study also found 4.3% of Chow Chow dogs to have cranial cruciate ligament deficiency compared to 2.52% overall.

Another North American study looking at more than 250,000 elbow scans found the Chow Chow to have the highest prevalence of elbow dysplasia, with 48.6% of dogs over the age of 2 having elbow dysplasia.

Ophthalmological conditions
A North American study looking at glaucoma in dog breeds found the Chow Chow to have the third highest prevalence with 4.7% of Chow Chow dogs having glaucoma compared to 0.89% overall.

Dermatological conditions
A study looking at records from a small animal clinic at the University of Montreal found the Chow Chow to be predisposed to alopecia X.

A review of studies in Australia found the Chow Chow to be prediposed to atopic dermatitis with a 7.1 odds ratio.

A US case study found a predisposition to pemphigus foliaceus with an odds ratio of 12.3.

Gastrointestinal conditions
A UK study looking at exocrine pancreatic insufficiency in breeds found the Chow Chow to be predisposed to the condition.

Neoplastic conditions
An Austrian case series found an odds ratio of 23.53 for contracting stomach cancer.

A US study looking at cases of oral melanoma found the breed to be over-represented with an odds ratio of 7.89.

Reproductive conditions
In a Belgian study Chow Chow bitches made up 6.4% of cases of pyometra despite the breed making up 1.6% of the population. Pyometra was found to be more extreme in the breed with anaemia and endotoxaemia reported.

Other conditions
The Chow Chow can suffer from diabetes mellitus, and gastric cancer. Chow Chows are a high risk breed for autoimmune disease.

Notable dogs

Sigmund Freud had a Chow Chow named Jo-Fi Ling who attended all of his therapy sessions because he felt that dogs had a special sense that allows them to judge a person's character accurately, and admitted he depended on Jo-Fi for an assessment of a patient's mental state.

U.S. Navy admiral George Dewey acquired a Chow Chow in Hong Kong in 1898 and named it Bob. Bob rarely left the admiral's side and had the run of the cruiser USS Olympia (C-6). Bob died in 1899 due to eating chocolates given to Dewey by well-wishers upon Olympia's arrival in New York City.

Walt Disney and his wife, Lillian Disney, had a Chow Chow named Sunnee. It was the couple's first dog. Allegedly, Walt gifted Lilly the Chow Chow inside a hat box, which inspired the scene in Lady and the Tramp where Lady is gifted in the same way.

title: Chow Chow


text:
Mafikeng

Mahikeng, formerly known as Mafikeng and alternatively known as Mafeking, is the capital city of the North West province of South Africa.

Close to South Africa's border with Botswana, Mafikeng is 1400 km northeast of Cape Town and 260 km west of Johannesburg. In 2001 it had a population of 49,300. In 2007 Mafikeng was reported to have a population of 250,000, of which the CBD constituted between 69,000 and 75,000. It is built on the open veld at an elevation of 1500 m, by the banks of the Upper Molopo River. The Madibi goldfields are some 15 km south of the town.

Establishment
Molema's town was founded by Molema Tawana (c. 1822 – January 1882).

In 1857 Molema led an advance guard to scout out the area along the Molopo River. This was a familiar area as they had previously lived in nearby Khunwana. Molema settled a town known in its early years as "Molema's town", while the main body of the Barolong under Montshiwa followed. But Montshiwa did not feel safe at Mafikeng due to the close presence and encroachment of the Boers in the Transvaal. He led his followers to Moshaneng in the territory of the Bangwaketse in present-day Botswana.

Molema remained at Mafikeng to ensure that the Barolong retained a presence there. Several of Montshiwa's other brothers were also stationed at crucial sites in the proximity of the Molopo. Molema had to use all his diplomatic skills on several occasions to prevent Boer incursion and settlement near Mafikeng. He has been described as a man of "strong personality and exceptional gifts...and Montshiwa's chief counsellor in vital matters". (S.M Molema: 35) After negotiations with Molema, Montshiwa decided to return to Mafikeng in 1876.

Molema was a firm believer in Western education, having attended Healdtown; he opened a school for the Barolong once they had settled in the district. Molema became a farmer and businessman, as well as advising his brother Montshiwa. He died in 1882. One of his sons, Silas Molema, became a Doctor and historian of the Barolong. (see S.M. Molema). Later British settlers spelled the name as "Mafeking". The Jameson Raid started from Pitsani Pothlugo (or Potlogo) 24 mi north of Mafeking on December 29, 1895.

For most of the 19th century (1800s), Mafeking appeared in Southern African maps as a part of Bechuanaland, a territory consisting of Tswana tribal territories, stretching from the Bangwato of Khama in present-day Botswana to the Batlhaping in present-day South Africa's Northern Cape and North West provinces.

Bechuanaland was ruled by Paramount Chiefs of the Tswana groups such as the Barolong, Bakwena, Bangwaketse, Bahurutshe, Batlhaping and the Bangwato who under Sekgoma I and Khama III stretched Tswana lands further north to close to present day Zimbabwe and Zambia territories.

The Tswana chieftains had ruled Bechuanaland on the advice of Congregational missionaries of the London Missionary Society, including Robert Moffat who was stationed at Kuruman among the Batlhaping and David Livingstone who was based among Sechele's Bakwena at Kolobeng close to present day Gaborone, Botswana; the Methodist missionaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society among the Barolong; and the Lutheran Hermannsburg Missionary Society among the Bakwena ba ga Mogopa.

In 1852, the Boers of the Transvaal invaded Bechuanaland but were defeated by a Tswana army led by Sechele I (Setshele) of the Bakwena ba ga Sechele at Dimawe in present-day Botswana during the Battle of Dimawe of 1852.

The Boers of the Transvaal would successfully invade Bechuanaland 30 years later in 1882 establishing the Republic of Stellaland and State of Goshen around present day Vryburg and surrounding areas in 1882 to 1883. Stellaland and Goshen unified as the United States of Stellaland in 1883 to 1885.

In response, British Congregational missionary John MacKenzie of the London Missionary Society stationed among the Bangwato at Shoshong advised Tswana Paramount Chiefs to seek British protection.

This led to the Warren expedition of December 1884 to mid 1885, where the British sent 4000 troops from the Cape Colony led by Major General Charles Warren, repelling Boer and German encroachment into Bechuanaland and dissolving Stellaland and Goshen.

Bechuanaland was proclaimed a British protectorate, with Mafeking as the capital. But Bechuanaland was later divided into two; separating Tswana lands along the Molopo and Nossob rivers-those to the north, Bechuanaland Protectorate, remained a British protectorate, eventually gaining independence in 1966 as the republic of Botswana.

Those lands to the south of the Molopo, now part of present-day South Africa's North-West and Northern Cape provinces, including Mafikeng, became British Bechuanaland, a short-lived colony later handed to the Cape Colony. In 1910, the Cape Colony unified with Natal, the Transvaal and Orange Free State to found the Union of South Africa.

Even after the division of Bechuanaland which placed Mafeking outside of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Mafeking remained the capital of Bechuanaland Protectorate (present day Botswana) until Gaborone was established in 1965.

Siege of Mafeking
At the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, the town was besieged by the Boer. The Siege of Mafeking lasted 217 days from October 1899 to May 1900, and turned Robert Baden-Powell into a national hero. In 1900, the British built a concentration camp in Mafeking to house Boer women and children. In September 1904, Lord Roberts unveiled an obelisk at Mafeking bearing the names of those who fell in defence of the town. British losses during the siege were 212 people killed, soldiers and civilians, and more than 600 wounded. Boer losses were significantly higher.

Incorporation into Bophuthatswana
Although it was outside the protectorate's borders, Mafeking served as capital of the Bechuanaland Protectorate from 1894 until 1965, when Gaborone was made the capital of what was to become Botswana. Mafeking also briefly served as capital of the Bantustan of Bophuthatswana in the 1970s, before the adjoining town of Mmabatho was established as capital when Bophuthatswana became nominally independent in 1977.

Following a local referendum, Mafeking joined Bophuthatswana in 1980 and was renamed Mafikeng. The town was treated as a suburb of Mmabatho.

Capital of North-West Province
Following the end of apartheid in 1994, Bophuthatswana was formally reincorporated into South Africa. With that, the merged Mafikeng and Mmabatho became capital of the new North-West Province under the name Mafikeng. In February 2010, Lulu Xingwana, the Minister of Arts and Culture changed the town's name to Mahikeng.

Major facilities

 * North-West University
 * Mafikeng railway station
 * Mmabatho Stadium
 * Mafikeng Airport
 * Mafikeng Game Reserve (4800 Ha)
 * Botsalano Game Reserve (5800 Ha)

Name
The name Mahikeng means "the place of rocks" in the classic Setswana language of the people of the North West province of South Africa and the surrounding country of Botswana. However, the city is commonly pronounced as Mafikeng, in the vernacular of the Batswana people of Mmabatho. Historically it was also known as Mafeking, and is still referred to as such historiographically in the context of the Siege of Mafeking and Relief of Mafeking during the Boer War.

In February 2010, Lulu Xingwana, the Minister of Arts and Culture, approved the town's name to be changed again to Mahikeng. Despite this the town's ANC-run local government and most local residents still refer to the town as Mafikeng both informally and formally.

Mahikeng literally means “place among rocks”. It refers to volcanic rocks that provided temporary shelter for Stone Age humans in order to more easily hunt animals drinking water in the Molopo River.

Notable people
The below are notable people from Mafikeng:
 * Mogoeng Mogoeng, Chief Justice of South Africa
 * Rapulana Seiphemo, actor
 * Presley Chweneyagae, actor and Oscar award winner
 * Vuyo Dabula, actor
 * Katlego Danke, actress
 * Bonang Matheba, media personality and businesswoman
 * Cassper Nyovest, South African recording artist and producer.
 * Tuks Senganga, Motswako musician
 * Hip Hop Pantsula (also known as HHP ), artist
 * Khuli Chana, artist
 * DJ Fistaz, musician
 * Judge Yvonne Mokgoro, former justice at the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
 * Marius Gabriel Cipolla, author writing as Marius Gabriel
 * Zenzo Ngqobe, actor
 * Gail Mabalane, actress and business woman

Climate
Mafikeng has a warm semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) with hot summers and mild, dry winters with cool nights. Mafikeng experiences a significant amount of sunshine throughout the year.

title: Mafikeng


text:
Acadians

The Acadians (Acadiens, ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Today, most descendants of Acadians live in the Northern American region of Acadia, where descendants of Acadians who escaped the Expulsion of the Acadians (aka The Great Upheaval / Le Grand Dérangement) re-settled. Most Acadians in Canada continue to live in majority French-speaking communities, notably those in New Brunswick where Acadians and Francophones are granted autonomy in areas such as education and health. In some cases Acadians intermarried with Indigenous Peoples, in particular, the Mi'kmaq.

Acadia was one of the five regions of New France. Acadia was located in what is now Eastern Canada's Maritime provinces, as well as parts of Quebec and present-day Maine to the Kennebec River. It was ethnically, geographically and administratively different from the other French colonies such as the French colony of Canada. As a result, the Acadians developed a distinct history and culture. The settlers whose descendants became Acadians primarily came from the centerwestern region of France, such as the rural areas of Poitou-Charentes.

During the French and Indian War, (known in Canada as The Seven Years' War ) British colonial officers suspected that Acadians were aligned with France, after finding some Acadians fighting alongside French troops at Fort Beauséjour. Though most Acadians remained neutral during the war, the British, together with New England legislators and militia, carried out the Great Expulsion (Le Grand Dérangement) of the Acadians between 1755 and 1764. They forcefully deported approximately 11,500 Acadians from the maritime region. Approximately one-third perished from disease and drowning. In retrospect, the result has been described as an ethnic cleansing of the Acadians from Maritime Canada.

Acadians speak a variety of French called Acadian French, which has a few regional accents (for example, Chiac in the southeast of New Brunswick, or Brayon in the northwest of New Brunswick). Most can also speak English. The Louisiana Cajun descendants tend to speak English, including Cajun English, and/or Louisiana French, a relative of Acadian French from Canada.

Estimates of contemporary Acadian populations vary widely. The Canadian census of 2006 reported only 96,145 Acadians in Canada, based on self-declared ethnic identity. However, the Canadian Encyclopedia estimates that there are at least 500,000 of Acadian ancestry in Canada, which would include many who declared their ethnic identity for the census as French or as Canadian.

Pre-deportation history

During the early 17th century, about 60 French families were established in Acadia. They developed relations with the peoples of the Wabanaki Confederacy (particularly the regional Mi'kmaq). The Acadians lived mainly in the coastal regions of the Bay of Fundy; they reclaimed farming land from the sea by building dikes to control water and drain certain wetlands.

Living in a contested borderland region between French Canada and the British territories on New England and the coast, the Acadians often became entangled in the conflict between the powers. Their competition in Europe played out in North America as well. Over a period of 74 years, six wars (the four French and Indian Wars, Father Rale's War, and Father Le Loutre's War) took place in Acadia and Nova Scotia, in which the Wabanaki Confederacy and some Acadians fought to keep the British from taking over the region. While France lost political control of Acadia in 1713, the Mí'kmaq did not concede land to the British. Along with Acadians, the Mi'kmaq used military force to resist the British. That was particularly evident in the early 1720s during Dummer's War.

The British had conquered Acadia in 1710. Over the next 45 years, the Acadians refused to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to Britain. Many were influenced by Father Jean-Louis Le Loutre, who from his arrival in 1738 until his capture in 1755, preached against the "English devils". Father Le Loutre led the Acadian people during the Acadian Exodus, as an act of defiance towards British demands and oppression. Acadians took part in various militia operations against the British and maintained vital supply lines to the French Fortress of Louisbourg and Fort Beausejour. During the French and Indian War, the British sought to neutralize any military threat posed by the Acadians and to interrupt the vital supply lines which they provided to Louisbourg by making them sign an oath of allegiance to the crown.

The British founded the town of Halifax and fortified it in 1749 in order to establish a base against the French. The Mi'kmaq resisted the increased number of British (Protestant) settlements by making numerous raids on Halifax, Dartmouth, Lawrencetown, and Lunenburg. During the French and Indian War, the Mi'kmaq assisted the Acadians in resisting the British during the Expulsion of the Acadians.

Many Acadians might have signed an unconditional oath to the British monarchy had the circumstances been better, while other Acadians would not sign because it was religious oath which denied the Catholic faith because the British Monarch was head of the Church of England. Acadians had numerous reasons against signing an oath of loyalty to the British Crown. Acadian men feared that signing the oath would commit them to fighting against France during wartime. They also worried about whether their Mi'kmaq neighbours might perceive an oath as acknowledging the British claim to Acadia rather than that of the indigenous Mi'kmaq. Acadians believed that if they signed the oath, they might put their villages at risk of attack by the Mi'kmaq.

Geographical distribution
Data from this section from Statistics Canada, 2021.

Provinces & territories
Today, the largest Acadian community lives in New Brunswick, in the only Canadian province that is officially bilingual. Some 233,000 people whose mother tongue is French—the great majority of whom are Acadians—represent one third of the province's population. It is also in New Brunswick that we find the greatest number of Acadian institutions, organizations and cultural events.

Deportation

In the Great Expulsion (known by French speakers as le Grand Dérangement), after the Battle of Fort Beauséjour beginning in August 1755 under Lieutenant Governor Lawrence, approximately 11,500 Acadians (three-quarters of the Acadian population in Nova Scotia) were expelled, families were separated, their lands and property confiscated, and in some cases their homes were burned. The Acadians were deported to separated locations throughout the British eastern seaboard colonies, from New England to Georgia, where many were put into forced labour, imprisoned, or put into servitude.

Second Wave
The British conducted a second and smaller expulsion of Acadians after taking control of the north shore of what is now New Brunswick. After the fall of Quebec and defeat of the French, the British lost interest in such relocations.

Some Acadians were deported to England, some to the Caribbean, and some to France. After being expelled to France, many Acadians were eventually recruited by the Spanish government to migrate to Luisiana (present-day Louisiana). These Acadians settled into or alongside the existing Louisiana Creole settlements, sometimes intermarrying with Creoles, and gradually developed what became known as Cajun culture.

Louisiana Acadians
After 1758, thousands were transported to France. Most of the Acadians who later went to Louisiana sailed there from France on five Spanish ships. These had been provided by the Spanish Crown, which was eager to populate their Louisiana colony with Catholic settlers who might provide farmers to supply the needs of New Orleans residents. The Spanish had hired agents to seek out the dispossessed Acadians in Brittany and kept this effort secret in order to avoid angering the French king. These new arrivals from France joined the earlier wave expelled from Acadia, and gradually their descendants developed the Cajun population (which included multiracial unions and children) and culture. They continued to be attached to French culture and language, and Catholicism.

The Spanish offered the Acadians lowlands along the Mississippi River in order to block British expansion from the east. Some would have preferred Western Louisiana, where many of their families and friends had settled. In addition, that land was more suitable to mixed crops of agriculture. Rebels among them marched to New Orleans and ousted the Spanish governor. The Spanish later sent infantry from other colonies to put down the rebellion and execute the leaders. After the rebellion in December 1769, Spanish Governor O'Reilly permitted the Acadians who had settled across the river from Natchez to resettle along the Iberville or Amite rivers closer to New Orleans.

Returnees
In time, some Acadians returned to the Maritime provinces of Canada, mainly to New Brunswick and coastal villages that were not occupied by colonists from New England.

The British prohibited them from resettling their lands and villages in what became Nova Scotia. A few of the Acadians in this area had evaded the British for several years, but the brutal winter weather eventually forced them to surrender. Some returnees settled in the region of Fort Sainte-Anne, now Fredericton, but were later displaced when the Crown awarded land grants to numerous United Empire Loyalists from the Thirteen Colonies after the victory of the United States in the American Revolution. Most of the descendants of Acadian returnees now live primarily on the eastern coast of New Brunswick, Canada. In 2003, at the request of Acadian representatives, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada issued a Royal Proclamation acknowledging the deportation. She established 28 July as an annual day of commemoration, beginning in 2005. The day is called the "Great Upheaval" on some English-language calendars.

Before the American Revolutionary War, the Crown settled Protestant European immigrants and New England Planters in former Acadian communities and farmland. After the war, it made land grants in Nova Scotia to Loyalists. British policy was to establish a majority culture of Protestant religions and to assimilate Acadians with the local populations where they resettled.

Geography
The Acadians today live predominantly in the Canadian Maritime provinces (New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia), as well as parts of Quebec, Canada, and in Louisiana and Maine, United States.

In New Brunswick, Acadians inhabit the northern and eastern shores of New Brunswick. Other groups of Acadians can be found in the Magdalen Islands and the Gaspé Peninsula. Ethnic Acadian descendants still live in and around the area of Madawaska, Maine, where some of the Acadians first landed and settled in what is now known as the St. John Valley. There are also Acadians in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, at Chéticamp, Isle Madame, and Clare. East and West Pubnico, located at the end of the province, are the oldest regions that are predominantly ethnic Acadian.

Other ethnic Acadians can be found in the southern regions of New Brunswick, Western Newfoundland and in New England. Many of these communities have assimilated to varying degrees into the majority culture of English speakers. For many families in predominantly Anglophone communities, French-language attrition has occurred, particularly in younger generations.

The Acadians who settled in Louisiana after 1764 became known as Cajuns for the culture they developed. They have had a dominant cultural influence in many parishes, particularly in the southwestern area of the state, which is known as Acadiana.

Culture
Acadians are a vibrant minority, particularly in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Canada, and in Louisiana (Cajuns) and northern Maine, United States. Since 1994, Le Congrès Mondial Acadien has worked as an organization to unite these disparate communities and help preserve the culture.

In 1881, Acadians at the First Acadian National Convention, held in Memramcook, New Brunswick, designated 15 August, the Christian feast of the Assumption of Mary, as the national feast day of their community. On that day, the Acadians celebrate by having a tintamarre, a big parade and procession for which people dress up with the colors of Acadia and make a lot of noise and music.

The national anthem of the Acadians is "Ave Maris Stella", adopted in 1884 at Miscouche, Prince Edward Island. The anthem was revised at the 1992 meeting of the Société Nationale de l'Acadie. The second, third and fourth verses were translated into French, with the first and last kept in the original Latin.

The Federation des Associations de Familles Acadiennes of New Brunswick and the Société Saint-Thomas d'Aquin of Prince Edward Island have resolved to commemorate 13 December annually as "Acadian Remembrance Day", in memory of the sinking of the Duke William and of the nearly 2,000 Acadians deported from Ile-Saint Jean who died in 1758 while being deported across the North Atlantic: from hunger, disease and drowning. The event has been commemorated annually since 2004; participants mark the day by wearing a black star.

Legacy

American writer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published Evangeline, an epic poem loosely based on the 1755 deportation. The poem became an American classic. Activists used it as a catalyst in reviving a distinct Acadian identity in both Maritime Canada and in Louisiana. Antonine Maillet's novel Pélagie-la-charette concerns the return voyage to Acadia of several deported families, starting 15 years after the Great Expulsion.

In the early 20th century, two statues were made of the fictional figure of "Evangeline" to commemorate the Expulsion: one was installed in St. Martinville, Louisiana and the other in Grand-Pré, Nova Scotia. The Acadian Memorial (Monument Acadien) has an eternal flame; it honors the 3,000 Acadians who settled in Louisiana after the Expulsion. Monuments to the Acadian Expulsion have been erected at several sites in the Maritime Provinces, such as at Georges Island, Nova Scotia, and at Beaubears Island.

Flags
The flag of the Acadians is the French tricolour, with the addition of a golden star in the blue field. This symbolizes Saint Mary, Our Lady of the Assumption, patron saint of the Acadians and widely known as the "Star of the Sea". This flag was adopted in 1884 at the Second Acadian National Convention, held in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island.

Acadians in the diaspora have adopted other symbols. The flag of Acadians in Louisiana, known as Cajuns, was designed by Thomas J. Arceneaux of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In 1974 it was adopted by the Louisiana legislature as the official emblem of the Acadiana region. The state has supported the culture, in part because it has attracted cultural and heritage tourism.

In 2004 New England Acadians, who were attending Le Congrès Mondial Acadien in Nova Scotia, endorsed a design by William Cork for a New England Acadian flag.

Prominent Acadians

 * Noël Doiron (1684–1758). A regional leader, Noel was among the more than 350 Acadians who died during the deportation when the Duke William sank on 13 December 1758. He was widely celebrated and places have been named for him in Nova Scotia.
 * Jean Baptiste Guedry (d. 1726). An example of an Acadian who resisted British rule.  He took over a small ship off Acadia and was tried for piracy. The trial was publicized to the Mi'kmaq tribes as an example of English law.  Guedry's trial was used as a counter to local customs, which allowed the holding of a group—i.e., all Englishmen—responsible for an individual's crimes.  His prosecutors also used his trial as a test case for separating English law as applied to Acadia from law applied to First Nations groups like the Wabanaki Confederacy.
 * Joseph Broussard, an Acadian folk hero and militia leader who joined French priest Jean-Louis Le Loutre in resisting the British occupation of Acadia.

Contemporary Canadian figures

 * Angèle Arsenault, singer
 * Aubin-Edmond Arsenault, the first Acadian premier of any province and the first Acadian appointed to a provincial supreme court
 * Joseph-Octave Arsenault, the first Acadian appointed to the Canadian Senate from Prince Edward Island
 * Jean Paul Bourque (known by the stage name Johnny Burke), singer/songwriter
 * Édith Butler, singer
 * Phil Comeau, film director
 * Rhéal Cormier, Baseball
 * Julie Doiron, singer/songwriter
 * Lyse Doucet, BBC journalist and presenter
 * Yvon Durelle, boxer
 * Jacques LeBlanc, boxer
 * Roméo LeBlanc, former Governor General of Canada
 * Antonine Maillet, writer, first non-European recipient of the Prix Goncourt
 * Robert Maillet, actor and former professional wrestler
 * Louis Robichaud, former New Brunswick premier, modernized education and the government of New Brunswick in the mid-20th century.
 * Jackie Vautour, activist
 * Peter John Veniot, first Acadian to serve as Premier of New Brunswick

Figures in the U.S.

 * William Arceneaux, Louisiana historian and president of the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana
 * Kathleen Blanco, first female governor of Louisiana
 * Dudley J. LeBlanc, senator from Louisiana
 * Phoebe Legere, artist
 * Dustin Poirier, UFC fighter of Acadian descent from Louisiana
 * Zachary Richard, singer/songwriter from Louisiana
 * George Rodrigue, artist
 * Austin Theriault, stock car driver

title: Acadians


text:
François Boucher

François Boucher (, ; ; 29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher, who worked in the Rococo style. Boucher is known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories, and pastoral scenes. He was perhaps the most celebrated painter and decorative artist of the 18th century.

Life
A native of Paris, Boucher was the son of a lesser known painter Nicolas Boucher, who gave him his first artistic training. At the age of seventeen, a painting by Boucher was admired by the painter François Lemoyne. Lemoyne later appointed Boucher as his apprentice, but after only three months, he went to work for the engraver Jean-François Cars.

In 1720, he won the elite Grand Prix de Rome for painting, but did not take up the consequential opportunity to study in Italy until five years later, due to financial problems at the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. On his return from studying in Italy he was admitted to the refounded Académie de peinture et de sculpture on 24 November 1731. His morceau de réception (reception piece) was his Rinaldo and Armida of 1734.

Boucher married Marie-Jeanne Buzeau in 1733. The couple had three children together. Boucher became a faculty member in 1734 and his career accelerated from this point as he was promoted Professor then Rector of the academy, becoming inspector at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory and finally Premier Peintre du Roi (First Painter of the King) in 1765.

Boucher died on 30 May 1770 in his native Paris. His name, along with that of his patron Madame de Pompadour, had become synonymous with the French Rococo style, leading the Goncourt brothers to write: "Boucher is one of those men who represent the taste of a century, who express, personify and embody it."

Boucher is famous for saying that nature is "trop verte et mal éclairée" (too green and badly lit).

Boucher was associated with the gemstone engraver Jacques Guay, whom he taught to draw. He also mentored the Moravian-Austrian painter Martin Ferdinand Quadal as well as the neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David in 1767. Later, Boucher made a series of drawings of works by Guay which Madame de Pompadour then engraved and distributed as a handsomely bound volume to favored courtiers.

Painting
Boucher took inspiration from artists such as Peter Paul Rubens and Antoine Watteau. Boucher's early works celebrate the idyllic and tranquil portrayal of nature and landscape with great elan. However, his art typically forgoes traditional rural innocence to portray scenes with a definitive style of eroticism as his mythological scenes are passionate and intimately amorous rather than traditionally epic. Boucher's paintings of a flirtatious shepherd and shepherdess in a woodland setting, featured in The Enjoyable Lesson (The Flute Players) of 1748 and An Autumn Pastoral (The Grape Eaters) of 1749, were based upon characters in a 1745 play by Boucher's close friend Charles-Simon Favart. Boucher's characters in those paintings later inspired a pair of figurines created by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, c. 1757–66. Marquise de Pompadour (mistress of King Louis XV), whose name became synonymous with Rococo art, was a great admirer of his work. Marquise de Pompadour is often referred to as the "godmother of Rococo" and Boucher's portraits were central to her self-presentation and cultivation of her image. For instance, Boucher's 'Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour', displayed in the Starhemburg room at Waddesdon Manor, acts as a surviving example of the oil preparation prior to the, now lost, portrait. In one hand she holds her hat, in the other she picks up a pearl bracelet with a portrait of the king – symbolising the relationship upon which her status depends.

Boucher's paintings such as The Breakfast (1739), a familial scene, show how he was as a master of the genre scene, where he regularly used his own wife and children as models. These intimate family scenes are contrasting to the licentious style seen in his Odalisque portraits.

The dark-haired version of the Odalisque portraits prompted claims by the art critic Denis Diderot that Boucher was "prostituting his own wife", and the Blonde Odalisque was a portrait that illustrated the extramarital relationships of the King. Boucher gained lasting notoriety through such private commissions for wealthy collectors and, after Diderot expressed his disapproval, his reputation came under increasing critical attack during the last years of his career.

Theatrical and tapestry designs
Along with his painting, Boucher also designed theater costumes and sets, and the ardent intrigues of the comic operas of Charles Simon Favart closely paralleled his own style of painting. Tapestry design was also a concern. For the Beauvais tapestry workshops he first designed a series of Fêtes italiennes ("Italian festivals") in 1736, which proved to be very successful and often rewoven over the years, and then, commissioned in 1737, a suite of the story of Cupid and Psyche. During two decades' involvement with the Beauvais tapestry workshops Boucher produced designs for six series of hangings in all, like the tapestry showing Psyche and the Basketmaker from 1741 to 1742.

Boucher was also called upon for designs for court festivities organized by that section of the King's household called the Menus-Plaisirs du Roi and for the opera and for royal châteaux Versailles, Fontainebleau and Choisy. His designs for all of the aforementioned augmented his earlier reputation, resulting in many engravings from his work and even reproduction of his designs on porcelain and biscuit-ware at the Vincennes and Sèvres factories. The death of Oudry in 1755 put an end to its contribution to Beauvais but his collaboration with the Gobelins lasted until 1765, when he stepped down from his position as an inspector.

Drawings and prints

Boucher was a very prolific and varied draftsman. His drawings served not only as preparatory studies for his paintings and as designs for printmakers but also as finished works of art for which there was a great demand by collectors. Boucher followed standard studio practices of the time, by first working out the overall composition of his major canvases, and then making chalk studies for individual figures, or groups of figures. He also relied on oil and gouache sketches in the preparation of major commissions.

Gradually he made more and more sketches as independent works for the market. The Adoration of the Shepherds (Metropolitan Museum of Art), a free and painterly sketch in gouache, was long considered a preparatory sketch for Madame de Pompadour's private altarpiece La lumière du monde (ca. 1750, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyon). Recent scholarship suggests, however, that it was made at least 10 years later as an autonomous work. In the last decade of his career the artist began to favor brown chalk, a fabricated medium.

Boucher was also a gifted engraver and etcher. Boucher etched some 180 original copperplates. He made many etchings after Watteau. He thus helped propagate a taste for reproductions of drawings. When his own drawings began to sell, 266 of them were etched in stipple substitutes by Gilles Demarteau. These were printed in red ink so they resembled red chalk drawings which could be framed as little pictures. They could then be hung in the small blank spaces of the elaborately decorated paneling of luxury dwellings.

Boucher's most original inventions were decorative, and he contributed to the fashionable style of chinoiserie, after having etched 12 'Figures Chinoises' (Chinese figures) by Watteau.

Works by François Boucher

This is an incomplete list of works by François Boucher.
 * Death of Meleager (c. 1727), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Project for a Cartouche (c. 1727), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Imaginary Landscape with the Palatine Hill from Campo Vaccino (1734), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Monument to Mignard (c. 1735), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Venus and Mercury Instructing Cupid (1738), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Cupid Wounding Psyche (1741), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Les Confidences Pastorales (c. 1745), Los Angeles County Museum of Art
 * Arion on the Dolphin (1748), Princeton University Art Museum
 * Pompadour at Her Toilette (1750), Harvard Art Museums
 * Sketch for a Portrait of Madame de Pompadour (c.1750), Waddesdon Manor
 * The Bird Has Flown (1765), Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, IN
 * The Interrupted Sleep (1750), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * The Love Letter (1750), National Gallery of Art
 * The Toilette of Venus (1751), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Shepherd Boy Playing Bagpipes (c. 1754), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 * Landscape with a Watermill (1755), National Gallery, London
 * Venus in the Workshop of Vulcan (1757), Yale University Art Gallery
 * Fishing (1757), Grand Trianon
 * Lovers in a Park (1758), Timken Museum,
 * Pan and Syrinx (1759), National Gallery,
 * Study of a standing nude young woman seen from behind, raising drapery (1762), Miguel Urrutia Art Museum, Bogotá
 * Angelica and Medoro (1763), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Jupiter, in the Guise of Diana, and Callisto (1763), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * The Judgment of Paris (circa 1763), Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mulhouse
 * Virgin and Child with the Young Saint John the Baptist and Angels (1765), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Halt at the Spring (1765), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 * Return from Market (1767), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
 * Shepherd's Idyll (1768), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Washerwomen (1768), Metropolitan Museum of Art
 * Aurora Heralding the Arrival of the Morning Sun (1765), National Gallery of Art

title: François Boucher


text:
Ossip Zadkine

Ossip Zadkine (Осип Цадкин; 28 January 1888 – 25 November 1967) was a Russian-French artist of the School of Paris. He is best known as a sculptor, but also produced paintings and lithographs.

Early years and education
Zadkine was born on 28 January 1888 as Yossel Aronovich Tsadkin (Иосель Аронович Цадкин) in the city of Vitsebsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus). He was born to a baptized Jewish father and a mother named Zippa-Dvoyra, who he claimed to be of Scottish origin. Archival materials state that Iosel-Shmuila Aronovich Tsadkin was of Jewish faith and studied in the Vitebsk City Technical School between 1900 and 1904. He also studied in the Yury Pen's art school with would-be artists Marc Chagall (then Movsha Shagal) and Victor Mekler (then Avigdor Mekler). Archival materials contradict Zadkine himself and states that his father did not convert to the Russian Orthodox religion and his mother was not of a Scottish extraction. He had 5 siblings: sisters Mira, Roza and Fania and brothers Mark and Moses.

At the age of fifteen, Zadkine was sent by his father to Sunderland to learn English and "good manners". He then moved to London and attended lessons at the Regent Street Polytechnic where he considered the teachers to be too conservative.

Zadkine settled in Paris in 1910. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts for six months. In 1911 he lived and worked in La Ruche. While in Paris he joined the Cubist movement, working in a Cubist idiom from 1914 to 1925. He later developed his own style, one that was strongly influenced by African and Greek art.

Career
In 1921 he obtained French citizenship. Zadkine served as a stretcher-bearer in the French Army during World War I, and was wounded in action. He spent World War II in the US. His best-known work is probably the sculpture The Destroyed City (1951–1953), representing a man without a heart, a memorial to the destruction of the center of the Dutch city of Rotterdam in 1940 by the Nazi-German Luftwaffe.

He taught sculpture classes at Académie de la Grande Chaumière until 1958, students of his included artists Geula Dagan (1925–2008), Gunnar Aagaard Andersen and Genevieve Pezet.

Death and legacy
Zadkine died in Paris in 1967 at the age of 79 after undergoing abdominal surgery and was interred in the Cimetière du Montparnasse.

Museums
His former home and studio in Montparnasse is now the Musée Zadkine. When his former wife Prax died, she donated the house and art studio to the City of Paris for the formation of Musée Zadkine.

There is also a Musée Zadkine in the village of Les Arques in the Midi-Pyrénées region of France. Zadkine lived in Les Arques for a number of years, and while there, carved an enormous Christ on the Cross and Pieta that are featured in the 12th-century church which stands opposite the museum.

Personal life
In August 1920, Zadkine married Valentine Prax (1897–1981), an Algerian-born painter of Sicilian and French-Catalan descent. Prax and Zadkine had no children.

Zadkine was a neighbor in Montparnasse and a friend of Henry Miller and was represented by the character "Borowski" in Miller's novel, Tropic of Cancer (1934). His other neighbors there included Chaïm Soutine, and Tsuguharu Foujita.

While living in Manhattan during wartime from 1942 to 1945, Zadkine had a relationship with American artist Carol Janeway and created several portraits of her.

The artist's only child, Nicolas Hasle (born 1960), was born after an affair with a Danish woman, Annelise Hasle. Since 2009, Hasle, a psychiatrist, who had been acknowledged by the artist and had his parentage legally established in France in the 1980s, has been party to a lawsuit with the City of Paris to establish his claim to his father's estate.

Awards

 * 1950 Venice Biennale sculpture prize
 * 1961 Grand Prix National des Arts

Legacy

 * A school in Rotterdam was named after Zadkine.

Public collections
Among the public collections holding works by Ossip Zadkine are:
 * Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles
 * Musée Zadkine, Paris
 * Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle, Netherlands
 * Museum of Modern Art, New York City
 * National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
 * Tate Gallery, London
 * Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Israel
 * Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands

title: Ossip Zadkine


text:
List of national parks of Canada

Canada's national parks are protected areas under the Canada National Parks Act, owned by the Government of Canada and administered for the benefit, education, and enjoyment of the people of Canada and its future generations. National parks are administered by Parks Canada, a Crown agency operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. The goal of the national parks system is to set aside lands representing the country's 39 distinct natural regions described in the National Parks System Plan, primarily to protect the ecological integrity of the land, and secondarily to allow the public to explore, learn about and enjoy Canada's natural spaces.

Canada's first national park was created in 1885 through an Order-in-Council to reserve 26 sqkm over the Cave and Basin Hot Springs to prevent the land from being sold for private development despite claims being made for it. Modelled after the American experience with Yellowstone National Park, the Rocky Mountains Park Act, adopted in 1887, established the Rocky Mountains Park (now Banff National Park). The idea of a national park was popular and led to numerous proposals for the Ministry of the Interior to consider, including additional sites along the Canadian Pacific Railway (e.g. Yoho and Glacier and an expansion of Banff) and the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway (e.g. Jasper). In 1911 the Rocky Mountains Park Act was replaced by the Dominion Forest Reserves and Parks Act which created the world's first National Park Service, the Dominion Parks Branch, to administer national parks in Canada. These early national parks, including those established under the leadership of JB Harkin who was the first commissioner of the Dominion Parks Branch, were set aside to reserve lands principally for tourism and conservation but also had an exclusionary policy prohibiting First Nations peoples from using their traditional lands within the new parks. In 1922, Wood Buffalo National Park was the first to allow traditional indigenous activities to continue. In 1972, Parks Canada defined national park reserves as lands administered by the agency intended to become national parks pending settlement of indigenous land rights and agreements for continued traditional use of the lands.

, there are 38 national parks, 10 national park reserves, and one national urban park, covering an area of approximately 342456 sqkm, or about 3.3% of the total land area of Canada, and representing 31 of its 39 natural regions. There is at least one park located in every one of the nation's 13 provinces and territories. Parks Canada reported attendance of 15,449,249 at all national parks and reserves in 2016–17, including over four million visits to the busiest park (Banff) and only two persons at the least-visited park (Tuktut Nogait). Parks Canada additionally manages three National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCAs), a single NMCA Reserve, and the country's lone National Landmark. The Canada National Parks Act also allows for recognition of National Historic Sites that commemorate events, landmarks, or objects of national importance, and which may include similar levels of protection and administration as national parks. Feasibility studies are underway to establish further national parks in unrepresented regions.

National parks and national park reserves
National park reserves are indicated by "(Reserve)" after the park name. The national urban park is indicated by "(Urban)" after the park name.

{{Legend|#cfecd2|* UNESCO World Heritage Site|outline=silver}} {{Legend|#cedff2|† UNESCO Biosphere Reserve|outline=silver}} {{legend|#ddcef2|‡ Parks designated in both UNESCO programs|border=solid 1px #AAAAAA}}

Proposed National Park Reserves
The following are areas which Parks Canada is in the process of evaluating as potential parks. While they may be reserved from alienation or have federal-provincial/territorial agreements, they have not been formally established through legislation as parks.

There remain six Natural Regions unrepresented by either current or proposed parks. As Parks Canada has a long-term goal of preserving representative areas of all Natural Regions, future parks will likely be established in these areas. These regions are:
 * the "Boreal Lake Plateau" region of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec
 * the "Laurentian Boreal Highlands" region of Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec
 * the "Northern Interior Plateaux and Mountains" region of British Columbia and Yukon
 * the "Southampton Plain" region of Nunavut
 * the "Ungava Tundra Plateau" region of Quebec and Nunavut
 * the "Whale River" region of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, and Quebec

Abolished national parks

 * Brereton and Vidal were transferred to provincial jurisdiction, both continuing as (renamed) provincial parks.
 * Buffalo, Menissawok, Nemiskam and Wawaskesy were created expressly to protect and regenerate dangerously low populations of bison and pronghorn, and were delisted when those populations improved.

National Marine Conservation Areas
National Marine Conservation Areas (NMCAs) is a program established in 2002 with the goal of preserving marine ecosystems representing the 29 marine regions of Canada. They are designed for sustainable use, although they usually also contain areas designed to protect ecological integrity. National Marine Conservation Area Reserves are protected areas proposed to be added to the NMCA system pending settlement of indigenous land and water rights. In the interim, they are administered under park rules.

, established NMCAs and NMCA Reserves protect 14,846 sqkm of waters, wetlands, and coastlines, representing five of the 29 identified marine regions with studies underway for protected areas in three additional regions.

{{Legend|#cedff2|† UNESCO Biosphere Reserve|outline=silver}}

National Landmarks
The National Landmarks program was established in 1978 to protect specific natural features considered "outstanding, exceptional, unique, or rare to this country. These natural features would typically be isolated entities and of scientific interest." The enabling legislation expired 10 years later, and was not renewed. Pingo National Landmark was the only such unit established in that time.

Provincial parks categorized as national parks
Provincial and territorial parks are administered and funded by their respective governments. However, Quebec has named its provincial parks “national parks”, though none are in the national park system.

Some sub-national parks are categorized by the IUCN under the umbrella term national parks (Category II) in its global Protected Area Management Categories. As of 2011, there were more than 1500 Category II-listed areas across the country, including nearly 700 in B.C., and at least 500 in Ontario. Only Quebec uses the term “national park” for such provincial areas, using the IUCN's category name as justification.

In addition to the national park system, several federal agencies manage natural, scientific, and recreational areas. In the National Capital Region, a number of parklands come under the jurisdiction of the National Capital Commission, including Gatineau Park in Quebec. None of these are part of the national park system.

title: List of national parks of Canada