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Wikipedia:Stub

A stub is an article deemed too short and incomplete to provide encyclopedic coverage of a subject. This page provides a general guide for dealing with stubs: the first section, Basic information, contains information that is recommended for most users; and the second section, Creating stub types, contains more specialized material. Existing stub categories can be found at WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types.

Basic information
A stub is an article that, although lacking the breadth of coverage expected from an encyclopedia, provides some useful information and is capable of expansion. Non-article pages, such as disambiguation pages, lists, categories, templates, talk pages, and redirects, are not regarded as stubs.

If a stub has little verifiable information, or if its subject has no apparent notability, it may be deleted or be merged into another relevant article.

While a "definition" may be enough to qualify an article as a stub, Wikipedia is not a dictionary. The distinction between dictionary and encyclopedia articles is best expressed by the use–mention distinction:
 * A dictionary article is about a word or phrase and will often have several different definitions for it
 * An encyclopedia article is about the subject denoted by the title but usually has only one definition (or in some cases, several definitions that are largely the same) but there may be several equivalent words (synonyms) or phrases for it.

Sizable articles are usually not considered stubs, even if they have significant problems or are noticeably incomplete. With these larger articles, a cleanup template is usually added instead of a stub template.

How big is too big?
Over the years, different editors have followed different rules of thumb to help them decide when an article is likely to be a stub. Editors may decide that an article with more than ten sentences is too big to be a stub, or that the threshold for another article may be 250 words. Others follow the Did you know? standard of 1,500 characters in the main text, which is usually around 300 words.

There is no set size at which an article stops being a stub. While very short articles are very likely to be stubs, there are some subjects about which very little be written. Conversely, there are subjects about which a lot could be written, and their articles may still be stubs even if they are a few paragraphs long. As such, it is impossible to state whether an article is a stub based solely on its length, and any decision on the article has to come down to an editor's best judgment (the user essay on the Croughton-London rule may be of use when trying to judge whether an article is a stub). Similarly, stub status usually depends on the length of prose text alone; lists, templates, images, and other such peripheral parts of an article are usually not considered when judging whether an article is a stub.

That said, AutoWikiBrowser is frequently set to automatically remove stub tags from any article with more than 500 words. This threshold was chosen because it is very unlikely that any article containing more than 500 words is correctly classified as stub.

Creating and improving a stub article
A stub should contain enough information for other editors to expand upon it. The key is to provide adequate context—articles with little or no context usually end up being speedily deleted. Your initial research may be done either through books or reliable websites. You may also contribute knowledge acquired from other sources, but it is useful to conduct some research beforehand to ensure that your facts are accurate and unbiased. Use your own words: directly copying other sources without giving them credit is plagiarism, and may in some cases be a violation of copyright.

Begin by defining or describing your topic. Avoid fallacies of definition. Write clearly and informatively. State what a person is famous for, where a place is located and what it is known for, or the basic details of an event and when it happened.

Next, try to expand upon this basic definition. Internally link relevant words, so that users unfamiliar with the subject can understand what you have written. Avoid linking words needlessly; instead, consider which words may require further definition for a casual reader to understand the article.

Lastly, a critical step: add sources for the information you have put into the stub; see citing sources for information on how to do so in Wikipedia.

How to mark an article as a stub
After writing a short article, or finding an unmarked stub, you should insert a stub template. Choose from among the templates listed at WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types, or if you are unsure what template to use, just use a generic, which others can sort later. Stubs should never be manually added to stub categories—always use a template.

Per the Manual of Style, the stub template is placed at the end of the article, after the External links section, any navigation templates, and the category tags, so that the stub category will appear after all article content. Leave two blank lines between the first stub template and whatever precedes it. (One blank line leaves the stub category notice butted up against any preceding navigation template; it takes two blank lines in the edited text to produce one blank line in the displayed text.) As with all templates, stub templates are added by simply placing the name of the template in the text between double pairs of curly brackets (e.g., ). Stub templates are transcluded, not substituted.

Stub templates have two parts: a short message noting the stub's topic and encouraging editors to expand it, and a category link, which places the article in a stub category alongside other stubs on the same topic. The naming for stub templates is usually topic-stub; a list of these templates may be found here. You need not learn all the templates—even simply adding stub helps (see this essay for more information). The more accurately an article is tagged, however, the less work it is for other sorters later, and the more useful it is for editors looking for articles to expand.

If a more specific stub template than is currently on an article exists and completely covers the subject of the article, remove the more general template and replace it with the more specific type (for example, an article on Morocco may be stubbed with Africa-stub. If it is solely about Morocco, remove the template and replace it with Morocco-stub – don't simply add Morocco-stub and leave Africa-stub in place). One specific template can often replace multiple more general types (for example, UK-sport-bio-stub can replace both UK-bio-stub and sport-bio-stub).

If an article overlaps several stub categories, more than one template may be used, but it is strongly recommended that only those relating to the subject's main notability be used. A limit of three or, if really necessary, four stub templates is advised.

Stub-related activities are centralised at WikiProject Stub sorting (shortcut Wikipedia:WSS). This project should be your main reference for stub information, and is where new stub types should be proposed for discussion prior to creation.

Removing stub status
Once a stub has been properly expanded and becomes a larger article, any editor may remove its stub template. No administrator action or formal permission is needed. Stub templates are usually located at the bottom of the page, and usually have a name like if you are using the classic wikitext editor rather than VisualEditor.

Many articles still marked as stubs have in fact been expanded beyond what is regarded as stub size. If an article is too large to be considered a stub but still needs expansion, the stub template may be removed and appropriate expand section templates may be added (no article should contain both a stub template and an expand template).

When removing stub templates, users should also visit the talk page and update the WikiProject classifications as necessary.

Be bold in removing stub tags that are clearly no longer applicable.

Locating stubs

 * Category:Stub categories the main list of stub categories and of articles contained within them
 * Category:Stubs deprecated, but still receives a few articles periodically

 * Special:Shortpages

These categories can be used with AutoWikiBrowser (AWB) to make bulk changes to stub types, or the sub-program within AWB called DataBase Scanner can be used to find articles by number of characters or words to locate potential stubs needing categorization or other tagging and/or expansion. This stand-alone application requires the operator be approved and the installation of the program on a personal computer (Linux, Mac, or PC). An alternate process using the web-based tool PetScan (no installation required) can also be used to locate articles by minimum or maximum size, the intersection of stub categories along with another category of interest, templates on the page, date of last edit, and namespace.

Creating stub types
Please propose new stub types at WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals so that they may be discussed before creating them.

In general, a stub type consists of a stub template and a dedicated stub category, although "upmerged" templates are also occasionally created which feed into more general stub categories.

If you identify a group of stub articles that do not fit an existing stub type, or if an existing stub category is growing very large, you can propose the creation of a new stub type which is debated at WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals.

Example
An example of a stub template is, which produces:

The stub category, Category:Website stubs, lists all articles containing the template.

Guidelines
Several guidelines are used to decide whether a new stub type is useful. These include the following:
 * 1) Is there a stub type for this topic already? (Check WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types.)
 * 2) Will the new type be well-defined? (Stub categories are a tool used by editors to expand articles. Good topic definition makes stubs easier to sort accurately.)
 * 3) Does the new stub type cover ground not covered by other type, or create a well-defined subtype that does?
 * 4) Will there be a significant number of existing stubs in this category? (Ideally, a newly created stub type has 100–300 articles. In general, any new stub category should have a minimum of 60 articles. This threshold is modified in the case of the main stub category used by a WikiProject.)
 * 5) Would your new stub type overlap with other stub types? (Stub types form a hierarchy and as such are usually split in specific ways. Compare other stub splits at WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types.)
 * 6) If you are breaking a subtype out of an existing type, will the new creation reduce the size of the parent by a significant amount? (This is not an absolute necessity, but is often a catalyst for the creation of stub categories. Stub categories containing over 800 articles are typically considered to be "over-sized", and in need of such sub-types.)

If you think you have satisfied these guidelines, it is highly recommended that you propose the new stub type at stub type proposals page. This allows for debate on matters relating to the stub type that may not have occurred to the proposer, and also allows for objections if the split does not satisfy stub guidelines. If there are no objections within five days, you may create the new stub type.

New stub templates
After the creation of a new stub type has been discussed at WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals and agreed upon, a template can be created. The name of this should follow the stub type naming conventions, and will usually be decided during the discussion process.

All stub templates should link to a stub category. This may be a category specific to the topic of the template, or the template might be "upmerged" to one or more less specific categories – for example, a template for Andorran history might link to a stub category for European history and a general Andorran stub category. This is often thought to be desirable when a stub type is proposed in anticipation of future use, but is not currently over the size threshold; or where an existing stub type has a finite number of well-defined subdivisions, with some numerically viable as subtypes, and others not.

As stub templates can sort articles into more general categories, the bar for the creation of a stub template is not as high as the bar for the creation of a dedicated stub category; a template should still be used on more than just one or two pages, but does not necessarily require 60. In fact, the creation of a stub template may be a helpful tracking tool for determining whether the topic is approaching the 60-article minimum to justify a category, as the template's "what links here" can be used to count how many articles are using the template.

Adding a small image to the stub template (the "stub icon") is permitted, so long as the image is public domain or has a free license—fair use images must not be used in templates. Stub icons should be small, preferably no more than about 40px in size.

The standard code for stub templates is found at: asbox. This template can be used (without substitution).

New stub categories
The name of the stub category should also have been decided during the proposal process and will also follow the naming guidelines.

The text of a stub category should contain a definition of what type of stubs are contained in it and an indication of what template is used to add stubs to it. The WPSS-cat template should also be placed on the category, to indicate that it has been created after debate at WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals. The new stub category should also be added to the WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types list.

The new stub category should be correctly added into other categories. These should include at least three specific categories:
 * The analogous permanent category ("permcat")
 * At least one higher level ("parent") stub category
 * Category:Stub categories

Thus, for example, Category:France stubs, should be in an equivalent permcat (Category:France), parent stub category (Category:Europe stubs), and Category:Stub categories.

The creation of stub categories can be partially automated by using Stub category as follows:
 * : Insert the description of the category here.
 * : Insert the name of the new stub template here.
 * : Insert the name of an appropriate parent non-stub category.

In the example given above, the formatting would look like this: which would produce this:

This syntax also automatically adds the new category to Category:Stub categories, though parent stub categories and WPSS-cat still need to be added manually. It also automatically pipes the stub category with "Σ", so that appears at the end of the list of subcategories in non-stub category C. This effectively moves it away from navigation categories to place it alongside other editing- and cleanup-related categories.

If you have some doubts or comments regarding any part of the process, do not hesitate to address them or ask for assistance at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Stub sorting.

Stubbing existing articles
On occasion, an article may have significant problems that create opportunities to remove most of its content. This may be done in response to an article that is heavily biased, either for or against its subject; in response to an article that has some verifiable material but is otherwise full of original research, self-published, or primary sources; in response to a VRT complaint; or a variety of other reasons.

If enough content is removed that all that remains is a stub, a stub template should be added to the article, if it does not already have one.

Stub types, WikiProjects, and assessment templates

When a new WikiProject commences, one of the first things its creators often do is decide whether or not a specific stub type should be created for it. Often there is no real problem, as WikiProject topics frequently coincide with subjects of specific stub types. On other occasions, there will be no specific stub type, and thus a new type should be proposed.

Occasionally, a WikiProject will seek to have a stub category which is too small, or a stub type which runs contrary to the way stubs are normally split, and this can create conflict between that project and WikiProject Stub sorting, or, more importantly, between that one stub type and one or more other stub types. Even where there is an existing stub type, there may be conflict, as often the definition of a topic as used for stub sorting may not be identical to that used by its specific WikiProject. It should be remembered in cases like this that, while a specific WikiProject may be looking for a solution for its concerns, WikiProject Stub sorting is attempting to make a coherent and cohesive system that works for all editors. The system needs to be as compatible as possible with the needs of all WikiProjects, and also with the needs of casual editors, and others who are participants in any WikiProject.

Assessment templates are a way around this problem, and more often than not a far more useful tool for WikiProjects. Assessment templates have several distinct advantages over stub types for WikiProjects. The templates are placed on article talk pages, where they are less likely to be seen as controversial (the placing of stub templates on controversial articles has frequently been a source of edit warring). They allow all articles within a topic area to be assessed and catalogued by a related project—not just stub articles. They allow an indication to be made of exactly what work needs to be done on an article. They also allow workgroups that are subgroups of WikiProjects to have their own specific templates that are better suited to their tasks.

title: Wikipedia:Stub


text:
Malthouse Broad

Malthouse Broad is a broad (i.e., lake) at Ranworth in the Norfolk Broads.

The "Helen of Ranworth" is a traditional reedlighter, a boat that carried away the reed harvest. Now it ferries visitors from Malthouse Broad to Ranworth Broad.

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

title: Malthouse Broad


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Wallonia

Wallonia (Wallonie ), officially the Walloon Region (Région wallonne), is one of the three regions of Belgium—along with Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the country, Wallonia is primarily French-speaking. It accounts for 55% of Belgium's territory, but only a third of its population. The Walloon Region and the French Community of Belgium, which is the political entity responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education, are independent concepts, because the French Community of Belgium encompasses both Wallonia and the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region but not the German-speaking Community of Belgium.

During the industrial revolution, Wallonia was second only to the United Kingdom in industrialization, capitalizing on its extensive deposits of coal and iron. This brought the region wealth, and from the beginning of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, Wallonia was the more prosperous half of Belgium. Since World War II, the importance of heavy industry has greatly diminished, and the Flemish Region has exceeded Wallonia in wealth as Wallonia has declined economically. Wallonia now suffers from high unemployment and has a significantly lower GDP per capita than Flanders. The economic inequalities and linguistic divide between the two are major sources of political conflicts in Belgium and a major factor in Flemish separatism.

The capital of Wallonia is Namur, and the most populous city is Charleroi. Most of Wallonia's major cities and two-thirds of its population lie along the east–west aligned Sambre and Meuse valley, the former industrial backbone of Belgium. To the north of this valley, Wallonia lies on the Central Belgian Plateau, which, like Flanders, is a relatively flat and agriculturally fertile area. The south and southeast of Wallonia is made up of the Ardennes, an expanse of forested highland that is less densely populated.

There is a German-speaking minority in eastern Wallonia, resulting from the annexation of three cantons previously part of the German Empire at the conclusion of World War I. This community represents less than 1% of the Belgian population. It forms the German-speaking Community of Belgium, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues.

Wallonia borders Flanders and the Netherlands (the province of Limburg) in the north, France (Grand Est and Hauts-de-France) to the south and west, and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate) and Luxembourg (Capellen, Clervaux, Esch-sur-Alzette, Redange and Wiltz) to the east. Wallonia has been a member of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie since 1980.

Terminology
The term "Wallonia" can mean slightly different things in different contexts. One of the three federal regions of Belgium is still constitutionally defined as the "Walloon Region" as opposed to "Wallonia", but the latter has been adopted by the regional government and is in common use. Prior to 2010, when the renaming came into effect, Wallonia could sometimes refer to the territory governed by the Walloon Region, whereas Walloon Region referred specifically to the government. In practice, the difference between the two terms is small and what is meant is usually clear, based on context.

Wallonia is a cognate of terms such as Wales, Cornwall and Wallachia. The Germanic word Walha, meaning the strangers, referred to Gallic or Celtic people. Wallonia is named after the Walloons, a group of locals who natively speak Romance languages. In Middle Dutch (and French), the term Walloons included both historical secular Walloon principalities, as well as the French-speaking population of the Prince-Bishopric of Liège or the whole population of the Romanic sprachraum within the medieval Low Countries.

History

Julius Caesar conquered Gaul in 57 BC. The Low Countries became part of the larger Gallia Belgica province which originally stretched from southwestern Germany to Normandy and the southern part of the Netherlands. The population of this territory was Celtic with a Germanic influence which was stronger in the north than in the south of the province. Gallia Belgica became progressively romanized. The ancestors of the Walloons became Gallo-Romans and were called the "Walha" by their Germanic neighbours. The "Walha" abandoned their Celtic dialects and started to speak Vulgar Latin.

The Merovingian Franks gradually gained control of the region during the 5th century, under Clovis. Due to the fragmentation of the former Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin regionally developed along different lines and evolved into several langue d'oïl dialects, which in Wallonia became Picard, Walloon and Lorrain. The oldest surviving text written in a langue d'oïl, the Sequence of Saint Eulalia, has characteristics of these three languages and was likely written in or very near to what is now Wallonia around 880 AD. From the 4th to the 7th century, the Franks established several settlements, probably mostly in the north of the province where the romanization was less advanced and some Germanic trace was still present. The language border (that now splits Belgium in the middle) began to crystallize between 700 under the reign of the Merovingians and Carolingians and around 1000 after the Ottonian Renaissance. French-speaking cities, with Liège as the largest one, appeared along the Meuse, while Gallo-Roman cities such as Tongeren, Maastricht and Aachen became Germanized. The Carolingian dynasty dethroned the Merovingians in the 8th century. In 843, the Treaty of Verdun gave the territory of present-day Wallonia to Middle Francia, which would shortly fragment, with the region passing to Lotharingia. On Lotharingia's breakup in 959, the present-day territory of Belgium became part of Lower Lotharingia, which then fragmented into rival principalities and duchies by 1190. Literary Latin, which was taught in schools, lost its hegemony during the 13th century and was replaced by Old French.

In the 15th century, the Dukes of Burgundy took over the Low Countries. The death of Charles the Bold in 1477 raised the issue of succession, and the Liégeois took advantage of this to regain some of their autonomy. From the 16th to the 18th century, the Low Countries were governed successively by the Habsburg dynasty of Spain (from the early 16th century until 1713–14) and later by Austria (until 1794). This territory was enlarged in 1521–22 when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor gained the Tournai region from France.

Present-day Belgium was conquered in 1795 by the French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was annexed to the Republic, which later became the Napoleonic Empire. After the Battle of Waterloo, Wallonia became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under King William of Orange. The Walloons played an active part in the Belgian Revolution in 1830. The Provisional Government of Belgium proclaimed Belgium's independence and held elections for the National Congress.

Belgian period
In the 19th century, the area began to industrialize, and Wallonia was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe. This brought the region great economic prosperity, which was not mirrored in poorer Flanders and the result was a large amount of Flemish immigration to Wallonia. Belgium was divided into two divergent communities. On the one hand, the very Catholic Flemish society was characterized by an economy centred on agriculture; on the other hand, Wallonia was the centre of the continental European Industrial Revolution, where classical liberal and socialist movements were rapidly emerging. Major strikes and general strikes took place in Wallonia, including the Walloon jacquerie of 1886, the Belgian general strikes of 1893, 1902, 1913 (for universal suffrage), 1932 (depicted in Misère au Borinage), and 1936. After World War II, major strikes included the general strike against Leopold III of Belgium (1950), and the 1960-1961 Winter General Strike for autonomy for Wallonia.

The profitability of the heavy industries to which Wallonia owed its prosperity started declining in the first half of the 20th century, and the centre of industrial activity shifted north to Flanders. The loss of prosperity caused social unrest, and Wallonia sought greater autonomy in order to address its economic problems. In the wake of the 1960-1961 Winter General Strike, the process of state reform in Belgium got underway. This reform started partly with the linguistic laws of 1962–63, which defined the four language areas within the constitution. But the strikes of 1960 which took place in Wallonia more than in Flanders are not principally linked with the four language areas nor with the Communities but with the Regions. In 1968, the conflict between the communities burst out. French speakers in Flanders (who were not necessarily Walloons) were driven out of, most notably the Leuven-based Catholic University amid shouts of "Walen buiten!" ("Walloons out!"). After a formal split of the university in two and the creation of a brand new campus in Wallonia, a wider series of State reforms was passed in Belgium, which resulted in the federalisation of the nation and the creation of the Walloon Region and the French Community (comprising both Wallonia and Brussels), administrative entities each of which would gain various levels of considerable autonomy.

Geography

Wallonia is landlocked, with an area of 16901 km², or 55 percent of the total area of Belgium. The Sambre and Meuse valley, from Liège (70 m) to Charleroi (120 m) is an entrenched river in a fault line which separates Middle Belgium (elevation 100 –) and High Belgium (200 –). This fault line corresponds to a part of the southern coast of the late London-Brabant Massif. The valley, along with Haine and Vesdre valleys form the sillon industriel, the historical centre of the Belgian coalmining and steelmaking industry, and is also called the Walloon industrial backbone. Due to their long industrial historic record, several segments of the valley have received specific names: Borinage, around Mons, le Centre, around La Louvière, the Pays noir, around Charleroi and the Basse-Sambre, near Namur.

To the north of the Sambre and Meuse valley lies the Central Belgian plateau, which is characterized by intensive agriculture. The Walloon part of this plateau is traditionally divided into several regions: Walloon Brabant around Nivelles, Western Hainaut (Wallonie picarde, around Tournai), and Hesbaye around Waremme. South of the sillon industriel, the land is more rugged and is characterized by more extensive farming. It is traditionally divided into the regions of Entre-Sambre-et-Meuse, Condroz, Fagne-Famenne, the Ardennes and Land of Herve, as well as the Belgian Lorraine around Arlon and Virton. Dividing it into Condroz, Famenne, Calestienne, Ardennes (including Thiérache), and Belgian Lorraine (which includes the Gaume) is more reflective of the physical geography. The larger region, the Ardennes, is a thickly forested plateau with caves and small gorges. It is host to much of Belgium's wildlife but little agricultural capacity. This area extends westward into France and eastward to the Eifel in Germany via the High Fens plateau, on which the Signal de Botrange forms the highest point in Belgium at 694 metres (2,277 ft).

Subdivisions
The Walloon region covers 16901 km2 and is divided into five provinces, 20 arrondissements and 262 cities or municipalities.

The province of Walloon Brabant is the most recent one, being formed in 1995 after the splitting of the province of Brabant.

Cities
The largest cities in Wallonia are:
 * Charleroi (204,146)
 * Liège (195,790)
 * Namur (110,428)
 * Mons (92,529)
 * La Louvière (81,138)
 * Tournai (69,792)
 * Seraing (63,500)
 * Verviers (56,596)
 * Mouscron (55,687)
 * Herstal (38,969)
 * Braine-l'Alleud (38,748)
 * Châtelet (36,131)

The 10 largest groups of foreign residents in 2018 are:

Science and technology
Contributions to the development of science and technology have appeared since the beginning of the country's history. The baptismal font of Renier de Huy is not the only example of medieval Walloon technical expertise: the words "houille" (coal) or "houilleur" (coal miner) or "grisou" (damp) were coined in Wallonia and are Walloon in origin.

The economically important very deep coal mining in the course of the First Industrial Revolution has required highly reputed specialized studies for mining engineers. But that was already the case before the Industrial Revolution, with an engineer as Rennequin Sualem for instance.

Engineer Zenobe Gramme invented the Gramme dynamo, the first generator to produce power on a commercial scale for industry. Chemist Ernest Solvay gave his name to the Solvay process for production of soda ash, an important chemical for many industrial uses. Ernest Solvay also acted as a major philanthropist and gave its name to the Solvay Institute of Sociology, the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and the International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry which are now part of the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1911, he started a series of conferences, the Solvay Conferences on Physics and Chemistry, which have had a deep impact on the evolution of quantum physics and chemistry.

Georges Lemaître of the Université catholique de Louvain is credited with proposing the Big Bang theory of the origin of the universe in 1927.

Three Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded to Walloons: Jules Bordet (Université libre de Bruxelles) in 1919, Albert Claude (ULB) together with Christian De Duve (UCLouvain) in 1974.

In the present day, Bureau Greisch has acquired an international reputation as consulting engineer and architect in the fields of structures, civil engineering and buildings, including the Millau Viaduct in France.

Economy
Wallonia is rich in iron and coal, and these resources and related industries have played an important role in its history. In ancient times, the Sambre and Meuse valley was an important industrial area in the Roman Empire. In the Middle Ages, Wallonia became a center for brass working and bronze working, with Huy, Dinant and Chimay being important regional centers. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the iron masters of Liège developed a method of refining iron ore by the use of a blast furnace, called the Walloon Method. There were also a few coal mines around Charleroi and the Borinage during this period, but their output was small, and was principally consumed as fuel by various industries such as the important glassmaking industry that sprang up in the Charleroi basin during the 14th century.

In the 19th century, the area began to industrialize, mainly along the so-called sillon industriel. It was the first fully industrialized area in continental Europe, and Wallonia was the second industrial power in the world, in proportion to its population and its territory, after the United Kingdom. The sole industrial centre in Belgium outside the collieries and blast furnaces of Wallonia was the historic cloth making town of Ghent.

The two World Wars curbed the continuous expansion that Wallonia had enjoyed up till that time. Towards the end of the 1950s, things began to change dramatically. The factories of Wallonia were by then antiquated, the coal was running out and the cost of extracting coal was constantly rising. It was the end of an era, and Wallonia has been making efforts to redefine itself. The restoration of economical development is high on the political agenda, and the government is encouraging development of industries, notably in cutting-edge technology and in business parks. The economy is improving, but Wallonia is not yet at the level of Flanders and is still suffering from difficulties.

The current Walloon economy is relatively diversified, although certain areas (especially around Charleroi and Liège) are still suffering from the steel industry crisis, with an unemployment rate of up to 30 percent. Nonetheless, Wallonia has some companies which are world leaders in their specialized fields, including armaments, glass production, lime and limestone production, cyclotrons and aviation parts. The south of Wallonia, bordering Luxembourg, benefits from its neighbour's economic prosperity, with many Belgians working on the other side of the border; they are often called frontaliers. The Ardennes area south of the Meuse is a popular tourist destination for its nature and outdoor sports, in addition to its cultural heritage, with places such as Bastogne, Dinant, Durbuy, and the famous hot springs of Spa.

The Gross domestic product (GDP) of the region was 105.7 billion € in 2018, accounting for 23% of Belgian economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was €25,700 or 85% of the EU27 average in the same year.

Politics and government

Belgium is a federal state made up of three communities and three regions, each with considerable autonomy. One of these is the Walloon Region, which is governed by the Parliament of Wallonia and the executive Government of Wallonia. The Walloon Region's autonomy extends even to foreign policy; Wallonia is entitled to pursue its own foreign policy, including the signing of treaties, and in many domains, even the Belgian federal government is not able to sign an international treaty without the agreement of the Parliament of Wallonia.

Wallonia is also home to about 80 per cent of the population of the French Community of Belgium, a political level responsible for matters related mainly to culture and education, with the remainder living in Brussels. Wallonia is also home to the small German-speaking Community of Belgium in the east, which has its own government and parliament for culture-related issues. Although in Flanders, the Flemish Region assigned all of its powers to the Flemish Community, the Walloon Region remains in principle distinct from and independent from the French Community, and vice versa. Despite this, the French Community's parliament is almost entirely composed of members of Wallonia's and Brussels' parliaments, so the bodies are governed by the same individuals. Additionally, the French Community of Belgium has controversially begun referring to itself exclusively as the 'Wallonia-Brussels Federation' to emphasize the links between the French Community, Wallonia and Brussels.

The Walloon Region has a unicameral parliament with 75 members elected for five years by direct universal suffrage, and an executive, the Government of Wallonia, elected by a political majority in Parliament. The Government has nine members with the president. Each member is called a Walloon minister. The head of the Government is called the Minister-President of Wallonia. The coalition government for the 2014–2019 legislature was a centre-left coalition PS-cdH until July 28 when it was replaced by a centre-left coalition MR-cdH. The current Minister-President is Elio Di Rupo.

History of Walloon autonomy
Following several state reforms, especially the 1993 state reform, Belgium became a federal state made up of three communities and three regions, with Wallonia being represented by the Walloon Region and its two language communities. The directly elected Walloon Parliament was created in June 1995, replacing the Conseil régional wallon (Regional Council of Wallonia). The first Council had sat on 15 October 1980 and was composed of members of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives and the Belgian Senate elected in Wallonia.

Political landscape
Wallonia is considered to be left-wing politically, in contrast to Flanders, which is more right-wing. The region has been described as one of the few places in Europe without a significant right-wing populism presence. In Wallonia, there is a cordon sanitaire in the media, where far-right politicians are banned from interviews and live appearances. The ban has also affected more mainstream right-wing parties such as the N-VA.

Symbols
The first appearance of the French word Wallonie as a reference to the romance world as opposed to Germany is said to date from 1842. Two years later, it was first used to refer to the Romance part of the young country of Belgium. In 1886, the writer and Walloon militant Albert Mockel, first used the word with a political meaning of cultural and regional affirmation, in opposition with the word Flanders used by the Flemish Movement. The word had previously appeared in German and Latin as early as the 17th century.

The rising of a Walloon identity led the Walloon Movement to choose different symbols representing Wallonia. The main symbol is the "bold rooster" (coq hardi), also named "Walloon rooster" (coq wallon, cok walon), which is widely used, particularly on arms and flags. The rooster was chosen as an emblem by the Walloon Assembly on 20 April 1913, and designed by Pierre Paulus on 3 July 1913. The Flag of Wallonia features the red rooster on a yellow background.

An anthem, Le Chant des Wallons (The Walloons' Song), written by Theophile Bovy in 1900 and composed by Louis Hillier in 1901, was also adopted. On September 21, 1913, the "national" feast day of Wallonia took place for the first time in Verviers, commemorating the participation of Walloons during the Belgian Revolution of 1830. It is held annually on the third Sunday of September. The Assembly also chose a motto for Wallonia, "Walloon Forever" (Walon todi), and a cry, "Liberty" (Liberté). In 1998, the Walloon Parliament made all these symbols official except the motto and the cry.

Religion
The population of Wallonia is predominantly of Christian heritage. In 2016, 68% of residents of Wallonia declared themselves to be Roman Catholic (21% were practising Catholics and 47% were non-practising), 3% were Muslim, 3% were Protestant Christian, 1% were of other religions and 25% were non-religious.

Official languages
French is the official language of Wallonia and by far the most used; in the East Cantons, German is also official. The German-speaking Community of Belgium accounts for about 2% of the region's population. Belgian French, which is also spoken in the Brussels-Capital Region, is similar to that spoken in France, with slight differences in pronunciation and some vocabulary differences, notably the use of the words septante (70) and nonante (90), as opposed to soixante-dix and quatre-vingt-dix in France.

There are noticeable Walloon accents, with the accent from Liège and its surroundings being perhaps the most striking. Other regions of Wallonia also have characteristic accents, often linked to the regional language.

Regional languages
Walloons traditionally also speak regional Romance languages, all from the Langues d'oïl group. Wallonia includes almost all of the area where Walloon is spoken, a Picard zone corresponding to the major part of the Hainaut Province, the Gaume (district of Virton) with the Lorrain language and a Champenois zone. There are also regional Germanic languages, such as the Luxembourgish language in Arelerland (Land of Arlon). The regional languages of Wallonia are more important than in France, and they have been officially recognized by the government. With the development of education in French, however, these dialects have been in continual decline. There is currently an effort to revive Walloon dialects; some schools offer language courses in Walloon, and Walloon is also spoken in some radio programmes, but this effort remains very limited.

In Walloon
Literature is written principally in French but also in Walloon and other regional languages, colloquially called Walloon literature. Walloon literature (regional language not French) has been printed since the 16th century. But it did have its golden age, paradoxically, during the peak of the Flemish immigration to Wallonia in the 19th century: "That period saw an efflorescence of Walloon literature, plays and poems primarily, and the founding of many theaters and periodicals."

The New York Public Library possesses a surprisingly large collection of literary works in Walloon, quite possibly the largest outside Belgium, and its holding are representative of the output. Out of nearly a thousand, twenty-six were published before 1880. Thereafter the numbers rise gradually year by year, reaching a peak of sixty-nine in 1903, and then they fall again, down to eleven in 1913. See 'Switching Languages', p. 153. Yves Quairiaux counted 4800 plays for 1860–1914, published or not. In this period plays were almost the only popular show in Wallonia. But this theater remains popular in the present-day Wallonia: Theater is still flourishing, with over 200 non-professional companies playing in the cities and villages of Wallonia for an audience of over 200,000 each year.

There are links between French literature and (the very small) Walloon literature. For instance Raymond Queneau set Editions Gallimard the publication of a Walloon Poets' anthology. Ubu roi was translated in Walloon by André Blavier, a Verviers pataphysician, for the new and important Puppets theater of Liège of Jacques Ancion, the Al Botroûle theater "at the umbilical cord" in Walloon indicating a desire to return to the source (according to Joan Cross). But Jacques Ancion wanted to develop a regular adult audience. From the 19th century, he included the Walloon play Tati l'Pèriquî by E.Remouchamps and the avant-garde Ubu roi by A.Jarry.

For Jean-Marie Klinkenberg, "the dialectal culture is no more a sign of attachment to the past but a way to participate to a new synthesis".

In French
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (member of the Groupe μ) wrote that Wallonia, and literature in Wallonia, has been present in French language since its formation.

In their 'Histoire illustrée des lettres française de Belgique', Charlier and Hanse (editors), La Renaissance du livre, Bruxelles, 1958, published 247 pages (on 655 ), about the "French" literature in the Walloon provinces (or Walloon principalities of the Middle-Age, sometimes also Flemish provinces and principalities), for a period from the 11th to the 18th century. Among the works or the authors, the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (9th century), La Vie de Saint Léger (10th century), Jean Froissart (14th century in the County of Hainaut), Jean d'Outremeuse, Jean Lebel, Jean Lemaire de Belges (16th century from Bavay), the Prince of Ligne (18th century, Beloeil). There is a Walloon Surrealism, especially in Hainaut Province. Charles Plisnier (1896–1952), born in Mons, won the Prix Goncourt in 1936, for his novel Mariages and for Faux Passeports (short stories denouncing Stalinism, in the same spirit as Arthur Koestler). He was the first foreigner to receive this honour. The Walloon Georges Simenon is likely the most widely read French-speaking writer in the world, according to the Tribune de Genève. More than 500 million of his books have been sold, and they have been translated into 55 languages. There is a link between the Jean Louvet's work and the social issues in Wallonia.

In Picard
Picard is spoken in Hainaut Province of western Belgium. Notable Belgian authors who wrote in Picard include Géo Libbrecht, Paul Mahieu, Paul André, Francis Couvreur and Florian Duc.

Mosan art, painting, architecture
Mosan art is a regional style of Romanesque art from the Meuse river valley in present-day Wallonia, and the Rhineland, with manuscript illumination, metalwork, and enamel work from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries. Among them is the masterpiece of Renier de Huy and perhaps of the whole Mosan art Baptismal font at St Bartholomew's Church, Liège. The architecture of Roman churches of Wallonia are also named mosan, exemplified by the Collegiate Church of Saint Gertrude in Nivelles, and the churches of Waha and Hastière, Dinant. The Ornamental brassware is also a part of the Mosan art and among these dinandiers Hugo d'Oignies and Nicholas of Verdun. Jacques du Broeucq was a sculptor of the 16th century.

Flemish art was not confined to the boundaries of modern Flanders and several leading artists came from or worked in areas in which langues d'oïl were spoken, from the region of modern Wallonia, e.g. Robert Campin, Rogier van der Weyden (Rogier de la Pasture) and Jacques Daret. Joachim Patinir Henri Blès are generally called mosan painters. Lambert Lombard (Liège, 1505 – 1566) was a Renaissance painter, architect and theorist for the Prince-Bishopric of Liège. Gérard de Lairesse, Bertholet Flemalle were also important painters in the Prince-Bishopric of Liège.

Gustave Serrurier-Bovy (Liège, 1858 – Antwerp, 1910) architect and furniture designer, credited (along with Paul Hankar, Victor Horta and Henry van de Velde) with creating the Art Nouveau style, coined as a style in Paris by Bing.

George Grard (1901—1984) was a Walloon sculptor, known above all for his representations of the female, in the manner of Pierre Renoir and Aristide Maillol, modelled in clay or plaster, and cast in bronze.

During the 19th and 20th centuries many original romantic, expressionist and surrealist Wallon painters emerged, including Félicien Rops, Paul Delvaux, Pierre Paulus, Fernand Verhaegen, Antoine Wiertz, René Magritte ... The avant-garde CoBrA movement appeared in the 1950s.

Music
There was an important musical life in Prince-Bishopric of Liège since the beginning. Between 1370 and 1468, a school of music flourished in Liège, notably producing Johannes Brassart and Johannes Ciconia (the third Master of Ars Nova).

The vocal music of the so-called Franco-Flemish School developed in the southern part of the Low Countries and was an important contribution to Renaissance culture. Robert Wangermée and Philippe Mercier wrote in their encyclopedic book about the Walloon music that Liège, Cambrai and Hainaut Province played a leading part in the so-called Franco-Flemish School.

Among them were Orlande de Lassus, Gilles Binchois, Guillaume Dufay In the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an emergence of major violinists, such as Henri Vieuxtemps, Eugène Ysaÿe (author of the unique opera in Walloon during the 20th century Piére li houyeû – Pierre the miner – based on a real incident which occurred in 1877 during a miners' strike in the Liège region), and Arthur Grumiaux, while Adolphe Sax (born in Dinant) invented the saxophone in 1846. The composer César Franck was born in Liège in 1822, Guillaume Lekeu in Verviers. More recently, André Souris (1899–1970) was associated with Surrealism. Zap Mama is a more international group.

Henri Pousseur is generally regarded as a member of the Darmstadt School in the 1950s. Pousseur's music employs serialism, mobile forms, and aleatory, often mediating between or among seemingly irreconcilable styles, such as those of Schubert and Webern (Votre Faust), or Pousseur's own serial style and the protest song "We shall overcome" (Couleurs croisées). He was strongly linked to the social strikes in Liège during the 1960s. He worked also with the French writer Michel Butor.

Cinema
Walloon films are often characterized by social realism. It is perhaps the reason why the documentary Misère au Borinage, and especially its co-director Henri Storck, is considered by Robert Stallaerts as the father of the Walloon cinema. He wrote: "Although a Fleming, he can be called the father of the Walloon cinema". For F. André between Misère au Borinage and the films like those of the Dardenne brothers (since 1979), there is Déjà s'envole la fleur maigre (1960) (also shot in the Borinage), a film regarded as a point of reference in the history of the cinema. On the other hand, films such as Thierry Zéno's Vase de noces (1974), Mireille in the life of the others by Jean-Marie Buchet (1979), C'est arrivé près de chez vous (English title: Man bites dog) by Rémy Belvaux and André Bonzel (1992) and the works of Noël Godin and Jean-Jacques Rousseau are influenced by surrealism, absurdism and black comedy. The films of the Dardenne brothers are also inspired by the Bible and Le Fils for instance is regarded as one of the most spiritually significant films.

Festivals
The Ducasse de Mons (Walloon French for Kermesse), is one of the UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. It comprises two important parts: the procession, the descent and the ascent of the shrine of Waltrude, and the combat between Saint George and the dragon. The combat (after the procession), plays out on the Trinity Sunday between 12:30 pm and 1:00 pm on the Mons's central square. It represents the fight between Saint George (the good) and the dragon (the evil). The dragon is a mannequin carried and moved by the white men (fr:Hommes blancs). The dragon fights Saint George by attacking with his tail. Saint George on his horse turns clockwise and the dragon turns in the other direction. Saint George finally kills the dragon.

The Gilles of Binche and the giants' procession in Ath are also UNESCO Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Cuisine
Wallonia is famous for a number of different foods and drinks, a great many of which are specialties of certain cities or regions. The Liège waffle a rich, dense, sweet, and chewy waffle native to Liège, is the most popular type of waffle in Belgium, and can be found in stores and even vending machines throughout the country. Cougnou, or the bread of Jesus, is a sweet bread typically eaten around Christmas time and found throughout the region.

Other specialties include Herve cheese, an apple butter called sirop de Liège, the Garden strawberry of Wépion. Also notable is the Dinant specialty Flamiche: These cheese tarts are not found in window displays as they are meant to be eaten straight from the oven. As one restaurateur stated in a book about Walloon gastronomy "it is the client who waits for the flamiche, as the flamiche does not wait for the client". There are also the Ardennes ham, the tarte al djote from Nivelles, a dessert pie made with beet leaves and cheese, while tarte au riz is a rice-pudding filled pie from Verviers. The Walloons of the Door Peninsula in Wisconsin have a tradition of making what is called a Belgian Pie but which is a flat pie more like a pizza covered with prune purée and topped with a thin cheese layer. These were made by the dozens in outdoor stone ovens for the many kermisses, in a tradition that dates back to immigration in the 1850s.

A signature Walloon sausage is called Belgian Trippe among the Walloon community of Northeastern Wisconsin on the Door Peninsula. It is a blend of pork and cabbage made differently from household to household and probably based on a traditional Walloon sausage such as Boudin Verte d'Orp. Cussette is a fresh cheese which gets its airborne P. roqueforti culture from a tradition of making it in the kitchen. This is aged only one week at 30 degrees C, until it develops a faint blue cast and a tang. Walloon headcheese differs from the German in that it is more finely ground, includes bits of cartilage, and is allowed to sit for a month or two in a cool place before being eaten.

In terms of drink, Wallonia mirrors Belgium as a whole; beer and wine are both popular, and a great diversity of beers are made and enjoyed in Wallonia. Installed in Bierghes in the Senne valley, the Gueuzerie Tilquin is the only gueuze blendery in Wallonia. Wallonia boasts three of the seven Trappist beers (from Chimay, Orval and Rochefort) in addition to a great number of other locally brewed beers. Wallonia is also home to the last bastion of traditional rustic saison, most notably those produced at the Brasserie de Silly and the Brasserie Dupont (located in Tourpes, in the region of Western Hainaut Province historically known for its production of rustic farmhouse ales). Jupiler, the best-selling beer in Belgium, is brewed in Jupille-sur-Meuse in Liège. Wallonia also home to a Jenever called Peket, and a May wine called Maitrank.

Airports
The two largest cities in Wallonia each have an airport. The Brussels South Charleroi Airport has become an important passenger airport, especially with low fares companies such as Ryanair or Wizzair. It serves as a low-cost alternative to Brussels Airport, and it saw 7 303 720 passengers in 2016. The Liège Airport is specialized in freight, although it also operates tourist-oriented charter flights. Today, Liège is the 8th airport for European freight and aims to reach the 5th rank in the next decade.

Railways, motorways, buses
TEC is the single public transit authority for all of Wallonia, operating buses and trams. Charleroi is the sole Walloon city to have a metro system, the Charleroi Pre-metro.

Wallonia has an extensive and well-developed rail network, served by the Belgian National Railway Company, SNCB.

Wallonia's numerous motorways fall within the scope of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). This priority programme run by the European Union provides more than 70,000 km of transport infrastructure, including motorways, express rail lines and roadways, and has been developed to carry substantial volumes of traffic.

Waterways
With traffic of over 20 million tonnes and 26 kilometres of quays, the autonomous port of Liège (PAL) is the third largest inland port in Europe. It carries out the management of 31 ports along the Meuse and the Albert Canal. It is accessible to sea and river transporters weighing up to 2,500 tonnes, and to push two-barge convoys (4,500 tonnes, soon to be raised to 9,000 tonnes). Even if Wallonia does not have direct access to the sea, it is very well connected to the major ports thanks to an extensive network of navigable waterways that pervades Belgium, and it has effective river connections to Antwerp, Rotterdam and Dunkirk.

On the west side of Wallonia, in Hainaut Province, the Strépy-Thieu boat lift, permits river traffic of up to the new 1350-tonne standard to pass between the waterways of the Meuse and Scheldt rivers. Completed in 2002 at an estimated cost of €160 million (then 6.4 billion Belgian francs) the lift has increased river traffic from 256 kT in 2001 to 2,295 kT in 2006.

Trade
The Walloon Export and Foreign Investment Agency (AWEX) is the Wallonia Region of Belgium's government agency in charge of foreign trade promotion and foreign investment attraction.

The AWEX organizes regular trade missions to the promising market of Kazakhstan, where it has a representative office in Almaty. In 2017, the AWEX together with the Flanders Investment and Trade brought a delegation of 30 companies to Astana and Almaty, the two largest cities in Kazakhstan.

Twin towns and sister states

 * 🇯🇵 Aichi, Japan
 * 🇺🇸 Maryland, USA

title: Wallonia


text:
The Call (band)

The Call is an American rock band formed in Santa Cruz, California, in 1980. The main lineup consisted of members Michael Been, Scott Musick, Tom Ferrier, and Jim Goodwin. The band released nine studio albums over the next two decades before disbanding in 2000. Their 1986 song, "I Still Believe (Great Design)", was covered by Tim Cappello and included in the 1987 film The Lost Boys. The band also achieved significant success in 1989 with "Let the Day Begin", which reached No. 1 on the Billboard U.S. Mainstream Rock chart and was later used as a campaign theme song for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential Campaign.

Formation and early career
The Call's original lineup was Been (lead vocals, guitar), Musick (drums, percussion), Ferrier (guitar), and Greg Freeman (bass). This lineup grew to include Steve Huddleston on keyboards from 1981 through 1983. Goodwin joined the band as keyboardist in 1983, replacing Huddleston. Freeman departed in 1984, and Joe Read (of Strapps, The Textones, and Code Blue) took over bass duties on Scene Beyond Dreams. Both originally from Oklahoma, Been and Musick didn't meet until moving independently to California. The Call were earlier known as Airtight and then Motion Pictures, serving as Phil Seymour's band at that time. A version of the John Prine/Phil Spector song "If You Don't Want My Love" with Phil backed by The Call was released on the 2020 album If You Don't Want My Love as part of the Phil Seymour archive series.

Beginning with their 1982 self-titled debut, they went on to produce and release nine studio albums by 2000. The Call recorded its eponymous premiere album in England and Been recalled in a 1987 interview that the band was in an exploratory phase at this point. He further noted, "The Call was a compassionate album, but it probably came out as anger." Peter Gabriel liked the band so much that he called them the "future of American music" and asked them to open for him during his 1982–1983 "Plays Live" tour.

The Call's next album, Modern Romans, was notable for its political content. Been later stated, "There was a great deal happening politically — Grenada, Lebanon, or the government saying the Russians are evil and the Russian government probably saying the same about us. That kind of thinking inspired me to write the last lines of '[The] Walls Came Down'." Garth Hudson of the Band played keyboards on these first two records.

This was followed by Scene Beyond Dreams, which Been referred to as The Call's "metaphysical" album. With a strong poetic sense to the lyrics and a change in musical style, the change in sound is notable.

Commercial hits and extended break
The Call recorded their next album, Reconciled, in mid-1985. By this point, Been had begun performing the bass guitar parts himself. Before this, the band had not been under a recording contract for two years due to what Been described as "legal bickering" between The Call's former record label, Mercury, and their management company." However, when the band signed a new deal with Elektra Records, The Call produced their most commercially successful album to date. Peter Gabriel, Simple Minds' Jim Kerr, Hudson, and Hudson's Band bandmate Robbie Robertson all performed as guests on the album, which Elektra released in 1986. Several tracks from the album became hits on the Mainstream Rock Chart, with one of these tracks, "I Still Believe (Great Design)" (also known simply as "I Still Believe"), appearing on the soundtrack of the 1986 film The Whoopee Boys.

The following year, Tim Cappello covered "I Still Believe" for the film The Lost Boys. In the film, Cappello memorably stole the scene as a muscular bare-chested, oiled-up saxophonist belting out the tune on the beach. Contemporary Christian musician Russ Taff also covered the song on his 1987 self-titled album. More recently the Protomen covered the song on their 2015 cover album The Cover Up. In 2017, Klayton from Celldweller covered "Too Many Tears" on Offworld. In 2018, a cover version of "I Still Believe" appeared in the Paramount Pictures television series Waco about the Branch Davidian tragedy. In 2022, "I Still Believe" also featured prominently in the last episode of the second season of the TV show Reservation Dogs, which included a cameo by Cappello playing the saxophone.

The band released Into the Woods in 1987, which Been referred to as his favorite album. In 1989, they released Let the Day Begin, whose title track reached No. 1 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. Their label under-ordered physical copies of the album and the resultant decline in sales limited their chart position.

The Call released Red Moon, their final studio album for a major label, in 1990. The album included background vocals by U2's Bono on the track "What's Happened to You". The album took a turn into the then-rising genre of Americana and was out of step with the shock of grunge music taking over the airwaves. Following the Red Moon tour, the band took an "extended break".

Reunion and legacy
Been's solo releases in the early 1990s, including the song "To Feel This Way" for the 1992 film Light Sleeper and the 1994 solo album On the Verge of a Nervous Breakthrough fueled rumors about the band's dissolution. However, in 1996, Warner Bros. Records. released The Best of The Call, which featured a selection of old favorites and a few new songs, including full-band re-recordings of Been's solo songs "Us" and "To Feel This Way".

In 1997, they released a new studio album, To Heaven and Back, on Fingerprint Records. A few years later, a music fan tracked Been down and helped him master a recording from their 1990 tour, leading to the release of their first live album, Live Under the Red Moon, in 2000 on the indie label Conspiracy Music. The band disbanded that same year.

Al Gore used "Let the Day Begin" as his campaign song in the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election and Tom Vilsack used it as his song during his brief 2008 U.S. Presidential Election campaign.

In 2009, the Oklahoma History Center held a temporary exhibition titled "Another Hot Oklahoma Night: A Rock & Roll Exhibit", which presented the state's contribution to the history of rock music. The exhibition derived its name from a line in The Call's song "Oklahoma", which was also one of the ten finalists in a 2009 vote for Oklahoma's official state rock song. A book of the same name was published that featured The Call and other Oklahoma musicians.

Michael Been died on August 19, 2010, after suffering a heart attack backstage at the Pukkelpop music festival in Hasselt, Belgium, where he was working as the sound engineer for his son's, Robert Levon Been, band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, also known as BRMC.

On April 18 and 19, 2013, band members Scott Musick, Tom Ferrier and Jim Goodwin reunited for a series of shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles with BRMC's Robert Levon Been taking over bass and lead vocal duties. A Tribute to Michael Been featuring Robert Levon Been (of BRMC) was released on September 2, 2014, and featured songs recorded during those two 2013 shows. The CD version included 14 songs, while the special CD/DVD combo pack and a digital deluxe version featured 19 songs. The band also released the set on limited-edition vinyl. In 2015, an hour-long TV special using footage from the DVD was shown on VH1 Classic and Palladia.

On April 22, 2017, The Call reunited and played a show in New Orleans, Louisiana, at Siberia, with special guest vocalists Ray Ganucheau, Michael Divita, and J.D. Buhl.

On August 28, 2021, The Call was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Scott Musick and Steve Huddleston were present to accept their awards, and Michael Been's sister accepted his posthumous award on his behalf.

In 2023, the remaining band members (Tom Ferrier, Jim Goodwin, and Scott Musick, along with Ralph Patlan) went back to the archives and discovered some live recordings and nearly complete studio tracks featuring Michael Been's voice. They resolved to go back into the studio to finish off these recordings and issue them on a brand new studio album, The Lost Tapes, set to be released in 2024. The Lost Tapes is a new studio album of tracks from prior sessions which were never released. All of these newly finished recordings feature Michael Been, Jim Goodwin, Tom Ferrier and Scott Musick. The album will also include several rarities from 1978–1981 when the band was known as Airtight and Motion Pictures. The remastered versions of Reconciled and Into The Woods are also set for release.

On January 26, 2024, the band released the first new single "Welcome To My World" from The Lost Tapes on Spotify and all other digital services worldwide.

Members

 * Michael Been – lead vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards (1980–2000)
 * Tom Ferrier – guitar, vocals (1980–2000, 2013, 2017, 2023-present)
 * Greg Freeman – bass, vocals (1980–1984)
 * Scott Musick – drums, percussion, vocals (1980–2000, 2013, 2017, 2023-present)
 * Steve Huddleston – keyboards, vocals (1981–1983)
 * Jim Goodwin – keyboards, vocals (1984–2000, 2013, 2017, 2023-present)
 * Joe Read – bass, vocals (1984–1986)

Albums
Studio
 * The Call, 1982
 * Modern Romans, 1983 US No. 84, AUS No. 50
 * Scene Beyond Dreams, 1984 US No. 204
 * Reconciled, 1986 US No. 82
 * Into the Woods, 1987 US No. 123
 * Let the Day Begin, 1989 US No. 64
 * Red Moon, 1990
 * To Heaven and Back, 1997
 * The Lost Tapes, 2024

Live
 * Live Under the Red Moon, 2000
 * A Tribute to Michael Been featuring Robert Levon Been (of BRMC), 2014

Compilation
 * The Walls Came Down: The Best of the Mercury Years, 1991
 * The Best of The Call, 1997
 * 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Call, 2000
 * The Call - Collected, 2019

title: The Call (band)


text:
Ranworth Broad

Ranworth Broad is a 136 ha nature reserve on the Norfolk Broads north-east of Norwich in Norfolk, United Kingdom. It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. it is part of Bure Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and Bure Marshes Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I and National Nature Reverse. It is also part of the Broadland Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and The Broads Special Area of Conservation.

Many species of birds can be seen from the floating Broads Wildlife Centre such as great crested grebes, wigeons, gadwalls, kingfishers and cormorants. There are also areas of woodland and reedbeds.

The poet and critic Edward Thomas spent a holiday on a houseboat on Ranworth Broad with his son and a group of friends in the summer of 1913 at the invitation of the poet and writer Eleanor Farjeon, while Thomas's wife Helen was in Switzerland.

title: Ranworth Broad


text:
Upton Fen

Upton Fen lies within The Broads National Park in Norfolk, England.

It is a nature reserve in the care of Norfolk Wildlife Trust. Notable species found on the reserve include: Eurasian bittern, hobby, Norfolk hawker and Old World swallowtail.

title: Upton Fen


text:
Alderfen Broad

Alderfen Broad is a 21.3 ha biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Broadland Ramsar site and Special Protection Area and The Broads Special Area of Conservation,

This area of fenland peat has open water, alder carr woodland and reedswamp. Breeding birds include the great crested grebe, water rail, grasshopper warbler and reed warbler.

The site is open to the public.

title: Alderfen Broad


text:
Barton Broad

Barton Broad is a large lake that forms part of the River Ant which gives its name to a 164 ha nature reserve north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. The reserve is owned and managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Ant Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserve, and part of it is in the Ant Marshes Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is part of the Broadland Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and The Broads Special Area of Conservation.

History
During the 13th and 14th centuries, large quantities of peat were extracted in Norfolk, and most of the peat extraction was organised by the monks of St Benet's Abbey, the ruins of which are located on the bank of the River Bure, a short distance downstream from its junction with the River Ant. Barton Broad was created in this way in the Middle Ages, and the River Ant was diverted through the peat workings in around 1730, to allow navigation. The activity of the monks was forgotten, but in 1834 Samuel Woodward suggested that the broads might be artificial, rather than naturally occurring features, after studies of Barton Broad. However, this idea was not generally accepted, and the artificial nature of the Broads was not clearly understood until the 1960s. Because of its connection to the North Sea at Great Yarmouth through the River Ant and the River Bure, Barton Broad is slightly tidal, although the water level only varies by about 6 in. The Broad provides habitat for a diverse collection of aquatic plants and fish, and the surrounding fens have nationally rare plants and invertebrates.

It is believed that Lord Nelson learnt to sail on Barton Broad prior to joining the navy when he was aged 12. The broad was owned by his sister at the time. There are several staithes connected to the broad by channels, including Catfield Wood End staithe to the east and Old Lime Kiln Dyke which ends at a staithe at Neatishead to the west. Britain's first solar powered passenger boat, called Ra, operated from Neatishead staithe.

Photographs taken in the late-19th and early-20th centuries show that water quality at the time was good, supporting large lily beds with reed swamp fringing the banks of the broad. In the 1800s, the broad consisted of 284 acre of open water, surrounded by 84 acre of reed swamp. Conditions then deteriorated, with the clear water becoming cloudy and lifeless, while only small clumps of reed swamp remained around the edges. The water was clogged with mud and algae, and algal blooms contained toxins which could be fatal to farm animals and domestic pets. The beautiful Pleasure Island, in the middle of the Broad, became degraded as the reeds which protected it from wash created by boats and from wind-generated waves died back, resulting in the banks being scoured away. The Broad continued to be used by leisure boats, and was also the home of the Nancy Oldfield Trust, a group which helped people with limited mobility to experience the joys of sailing. They recorded the steady decline in water quality and in the depth of water, and by 1985 there was only 2.5 acre of reed swamp left.

There were two main causes of this decline. The growth of population led to the construction of municipal sewage treatment works, which discharged treated effluent containing high concentrations of phosphorus into the rivers. The first was at North Walsham, which commenced operation in 1924. Agricultural practices used high volumes of fertilisers, and resulted in nitrogen leaching into the water. These two chemicals resulted in phytoplankton proliferating. Up to one million of these minute algae, only 10 microns across, could be found in every cubic centimetre of water, starving the native plants of light, and then settling on the bottom of the Broad when they died, reducing the depth of water available for navigation. A survey to assess the size of the problem found that for sailing boats with keels, there was only a narrow central strip of water with sufficient depth, and even that contained shallow spots. The bottom of the Broad was covered in thick black silt topped with a thicker layer of oozy sludge.

Remediation
Those responsible for the Broads decided that a programme of works to rectify the situation needed to be carried out. There would be four parts to the process, which would involve a substantial reduction in the amount of phosphorus discharged into the river system, a similar reduction in the amount of nitrogen entering the waterways, the removal of large volumes of sediment containing these chemicals from the Broad, and some bio-manipulation of the water.

Anglian Water operated two main sewage treatment works that affected Barton Broad, at Stalham and North Walsham. At Stalham they installed tertiary treatment in 1977, and a phosphate-stripping plant in 1982, to remove phosphorus from the treated effluent. At North Walsham, the effluent was diverted away from the river in 1980, and carried by pipeline to be discharged into the North Sea. This resulted in a step change in the levels of phosphorus found in the water. To reduce nitrogen levels, local farmers were given advice about how to use chemicals more responsibly through an education programme. Responsibility for the Broads changed in 1988, when they became a National Park, and the Broads Authority was set up in 1989 to manage the park. The cost of removing huge volumes of contaminated sludge was significant, but an application was made to the National Lottery's Millennium Commission, as the restoration of wetland habitat seems a good fit to the requirements of that fund. The scheme was called the Barton Broad Clear Water 2000 project, and the bid was successful when £1.2 million was awarded to the Broads Authority. This was supplemented by £200,000 from the Soap and Detergent Industry Association, and £1.5 million from the Broads Navigation Committee.

A series of lagoons were created on nearby agricultural land, and a suction dredger was used to pump sludge from the bottom of the Broad through a floating pipeline to the lagoons. The volume of sludge would gradually reduce to about one third of its size through drying and shrinkage. The lagoons covered 52 acre, and eventually held some 340,000 cuyd of silt. This operation started in November 1995 and was completed in August 2000. During this period, Anglian Water installed DynaSand filters at Stalham sewage treatment works, to further reduce levels of phosphorus. Once the sludge had dried out, it was covered with the original top soil from the site, and the land was returned to agriculture.

The fourth stage used bio-manipulation, a process developed by the Broads Authority and the Environment Agency. This uses daphnia, commonly known as water fleas, which naturally filter water and remove bacteria and algae from it. However, they are usually eaten by small fish at a faster rate than they can remove the algae. To overcome this problem, pike and perch were introduced to the Broad, and significantly reduced the numbers of small fish, allowing the daphnia to thrive. This process could not be applied to the whole lake, and so controlled areas were created, separated from the body of the Broad by butyl rubber skirts, attached to a floation collar at the top and a weighted collar at the bottom to act as a seal onto the bed of the lake. Gauze filters at intervals along the skirts allowed water to pass between controlled and non-controlled areas, but prevented the passage of fish. Pleasure Island was reconstructed using gabions filled with stone pebbles to rebuild the edge of the island, which were covered in coir matting planted with reed-swamp flowers. The surface of the island was built up with dredgings topped with peat, and planted with wild flowers.

There is public access to the Barton Broad reserve. The Millennium Commission grant was conditional on public access being improved, and a number of boardwalks were created to allow pedestrians to view and enjoy the broad and nature reserve. The Clear Water 2000 project also included funding for an electric boat and charging shed, but by the time it was purchased, the design had changed a little, and the boat had a roof covered in solar cells to recharge the batteries. The boat was named Ra, and the facilities provided for it on shore were fully compliant with the access for all legislation, enabling wheelchair users to use them and to access the boat. A second boat, the Electric Eel, offered trips along the narrow channels at the edge of the Broad, and canoes can be used to investigate the really narrow connecting waterways. Norfolk Wherries are again able to enter the Broad because of its increased depth, and it is possible to hire one, including a skipper and a cook for a leisurely cruise. Both Ra and Electric Eel have since moved to other locations.

title: Barton Broad


text:
Cockshoot Broad

Cockshoot Broad is a 5 ha nature reserve north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is part of the Bure Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the Broadland Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and The Broads Special Area of Conservation. It is also part of the Bure Marshes National Nature Reserve and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I.

The water quality of this broad is very high and it has large beds of water lilies, which provide a habitat for many insects, including red eyed and variable damselflies.

Access to the boardwalk through the site is by boat only.

title: Cockshoot Broad


text:
Hickling Broad

Hickling Broad is a 600 ha nature reserve 4 km south-east of Stalham, north-east of Norwich in Norfolk. It is managed by the Norfolk Wildlife Trust. It is a National Nature Reserve and part of the Upper Thurne Broads and Marshes Site of Special Scientific Interest and Hickling Broad and Horsey Mere Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. It is in the Norfolk Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and part of the Broadland Ramsar site and Special Protection Area, and The Broads Special Area of Conservation.

It is the broad with the largest surface area, and the water is slightly brackish, due to its proximity to the sea. The navigation channel is only 1.5 m deep, with much of the broad being shallower; it is 1.4 km2, making it one of the largest expanses of open water in East Anglia.

Ecology
It has the largest reed-bed in England and supports rare waterweeds such as the holly-leaved naiad and three rare species of stonewort. Amongst the rare insects is the Swallowtail butterfly, subspecies Papilio machaon brittanicus which feeds on milk-parsley (Peucedanum palustre), the Norfolk hawker Aeshna isosceles and Emperor dragonfly. Birds that visit the reserve during the winter include cranes, common goldeneyes, shovelers and teals, while Eurasian bitterns, marsh harriers, common pochards, water rails and Cetti's warblers stay for most of the year. There is a waymarked walk around the broad.

Sea planes
Hickling Broad was used as reserve station for sea planes by the RNAS, in the period 1916–1918, as an escape for RNAS South Denes. It was known as RNAS Hickling Broads. Contractors started building a concrete slipway, but this was never completed. Eventually, Hickling was only used for two emergency landings. A separate arrangement allowed seaplanes destined for Great Yarmouth to land on the calmer waters of the broad if the sea were too rough (this arrangement stands to this day). RNAS South Denes was located in the area which is now the South Denes Camping and Caravan site. There is a commemorative Blue plaque in Regent Street in Great Yarmouth, it reads "Headquarters of the Royal Naval Air Service Occupied these premises during WWI April 1913-November 1918 Flying land & sea planes from South Denes, Hickling Broads, and heavily involved in anti Zeppelin warfare."

title: Hickling Broad


text:
Saci

Saci may refer to:
 * An alternative spelling for the Hindu goddess Sachi
 * Saci (Brazilian folklore), an impish mythical character of Brazilian folk tales
 * "Saci", a song by Detonator e as Musas do Metal from Metal Folclore: The Zoeira Never Ends...
 * SacI, a restriction enzyme
 * SACI, an art college in Florence, Italy
 * Wellington Saci (born 1985), Brazilian footballer
 * The striped cuckoo, known as saci in Portuguese

title: Saci


text:
Norbert Zongo

Norbert Zongo (31 July 1949 – 13 December 1998), also known under the pen name of Henri Segbo or H.S., was a Burkinabé investigative journalist who managed the newspaper L'Indépendant in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Under Zongo's supervision, L'Indépendant exposed extortion and impunity within the government of Burkina Faso President Blaise Compaoré. He was assassinated after his newspaper began investigating the murder of a driver who had worked for the brother of Compaoré.

Early life and education
Norbert Zongo was born in the Koudougou region, French Upper Volta on 31 July 1949 into the Gnougnoossi family, a prominent subset of the Mossi people. While in secondary school in 1964, he created a newspaper, La Voix du Cours Normal, writing bulletins on his exercise sheets with information gleaned from morning broadcasts from Radio France Internationale, BBC World Service, and other international radio stations. School officials eventually banned his publication after it discussed political topics. After high school, Zongo pursued legal studies at University of Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire and journalism at the University of Benin in Togo. The latter university expelled him and he was imprisoned in Burkina Faso after he published his political novel Le Parachutage. He was able to finish his education in journalism at the University of Yaoundé in Cameroon.

Zongo was a supporter of human rights and also helped found the Movement for Human and Peoples' Rights, an organization in Burkina Faso.

Norbert Zongo's remains are buried in Gounghin Military Cemetery located just east of Ouagadougou.

Career
In 1971, Norbert Zongo began his career as a teacher in Ouagadougou, Kadiogo Province.

Zongo was also a writer. His first novel Le Parachutage was a thinly disguised political critique of Togo's President Gnassingbé Eyadema set in the post-colonial era. In the preface of the novel in 1988, Zongo mentions being arrested and beaten for writing it. He followed this novel with the colonial setting for Rougebeinga two years later, which was also political satire of leadership.

In 1991, Zongo, after working for the national daily paper Sidwaya, founded La Clef with Saturnin Ki. It was the first newspaper in Burkina Faso to openly criticism the government, with Zongo contributing under the pseudonym Henri Sebgo (or H.S.). The paper folded in 1993. That June, Zongo founded the weekly L'Indépendant, which primarily covered government corruption. In 1996, he began investigating a series of fraud and graft cases involving several mining and manufacturing companies with ties to top political officials and President Blaise Compaoré's family. His resulting work severely embarrassed the government. The following year, Zongo directly criticized the Parliament's decision to amend the Constitution to allow Compaoré to seek a third term.

Death
In December 1997, a suspicious disappearance and possible murder of David Ouedraogo, the driver of François Compaoré (President Blaise Campaoré's brother), prompted Zongo to investigate. Ouedrago was tortured and killed for allegedly stealing large sums of money. Zongo reported the case and wrote small excerpts every week for his newspaper. He began getting death threats and the government ignored them. His wife, Genevieve Zongo, confirmed that he was receiving death threats from 1997 to his death in 1998. She was told that Norbert would often be followed by a car while on his motorbike. Zongo was also approached to convince him to drop his investigation, but he continued until his death.

On December 13, 1998, four bodies were found shot and burned in a Toyota Land cruiser on the side of the road in Sapouy, Ziro Province. The remains were identified as Norbert Zongo; Zongo's brother Yembi Ernest Zongo; Blaise Ilboudo, a colleague; and Abdouleye Ablassé Nikiema, who was Zongo's driver. Zongo's death triggered a national crisis and violent protests within Burkina Faso.

In January 1999, François Compaoré was charged with murder and harboring the body of the victim in connection with the death of Ouedraogo. The charges were later dropped by a military tribunal after François Compaoré appealed against them.

Six presidential body guards were identified as suspects in the murder. In August 2000, five members of the presidential security were charged for the murder of Ouedraogo. Marcel Kafando, Edmond Koama and Ousseini Yaro, who are also suspects in the Norbert Zongo case, were convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. Edmond Koama died on January 4, 2001. Marcel Kafando was the only one who was charged for the crime, but the charges were later dropped on July 19, 2006. Marcel Kafando died three years later, in 2009. The judgment was called "scandalous" by Reporters Without Borders.

Businessman Oumarou Kanazoé, who had also been implicated in documents brought forward by Reporters Without Borders, died in October 2011.

In 2013, the case was appealed for the family to have justice for their loss under a court system that was not under control of Burkina Faso. It was believed by the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights that Burkina Faso's government covered up the case and violated the revised treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which allows freedom of expression and journalism. The ACHPR determined that the case should be reopened in order for the victim's families to be compensated for their losses.

Impact
During his funeral, about 20,000 people walked 10 km from the mortuary to the cemetery to pay tribute to him and solidarity with his cause. In 2006, Zongo's case was determined closed with no one found guilty, which enraged civil rights defenders and citizens of Burkino Faso.

Norbert Zongo's widowed wife, Genevieve continued to keep his newspaper, the L'Indépendant, alive after his death. She remains the primary publisher and editor in memory of her late husband.

In 2014, it was determined that Norbert Zongo's case was unfairly excused due to a bias in government.

On the morning of October 29, 2017, François Compaoré was arrested at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, based on a May 2017 international arrest warrant. A French ministerial decree authorized the extradition of Compaoré in March 2020. However, the extradition was suspended in 2021 by the European Court of Human Rights. Subsequently, in the aftermath of the 2022 coup, on December 13, 2023, France made the 2020 ministerial decree obsolete.

Reactions
The Committee to Protect Journalists' Africa program coordinator, Sue Valentine, stated "We praise Burkinabe authorities for taking this step (arresting three presidential soldiers involved in Zongo's murder) and call on them to ensure that the mastermind of this murder is identified and prosecuted. After 17 long years, the family, friends, and colleagues of Norbert Zongo deserve a thorough and transparent investigation leading to full justice."

Reporters Without Borders' head of its Africa desk, Cléa Kahn-Sriber, said, "This ruling constitutes a major turning-point in the Zongo case, which has suffered appallingly from the impunity tolerated for all these years by Burkina Faso's justice system."

Reporters Without Borders, who avidly campaigned for Zongo's case, stated, "This has always been a highly political case. Zongo was killed by members of the presidential guard. François Compaoré, the brother of President Blaise Compaoré, is implicated. The authorities never stopped protecting the killers. The president has got what he always wanted – injustice."

The Independent Commission of Inquiry released the following statement: "Norbert Zongo was assassinated for purely political motives because he practiced investigative journalism. He defended a democratic ideal and had chosen to become involved, with his newspaper, in the struggle for the respect of human rights and justice, and against the poor management of the public sector and impunity."

Legacy and commemoration
Many Burkinabé journalists accredit Zongo with being the first writer in the country to practice investigative journalism.

 * The singer Alpha Blondy wrote a song, Journalistes en danger, about the assassination of Zongo.
 * In 2012, a memorial was erected at the Highway N6 (Ouagadougou – Léo) near Sapouy, at the site of his murder.

Awards
In 2001 Zongo was posthumously given the Integrity Award for his work to expose government corruption.

title: Norbert Zongo


text:
Maruts

In Hinduism, the Maruts (मरुत), also known as the Marutagana and sometimes identified with Rudras, are storm deities and sons of Rudra and Prisni. The number of Maruts varies from 27 to sixty (three times sixty in RV 8.96.8). They are very violent and aggressive, described as armed with golden weapons i.e. lightning and thunderbolts, as having iron teeth and roaring like lions, as residing in the northwest, as riding in golden chariots drawn by ruddy horses.

In the Vedic mythology, the Maruts act as Indra's companions as a troop of young warriors. According to French comparative mythologist Georges Dumézil, they are cognate to the Einherjar and the Wild hunt.

In mythology
Hymn 66 of Mandala VI of the Rig Veda, the ancient collection of sacred hymns, is an eloquent account of how a natural phenomenon of a rain-storm metamorphoses into storm deities.

According to the Rig Veda they wore golden helmets and breastplates, and used their axes to split the clouds so that rain may fall. They were capable causing the mountains to tremble. Though they were the offspring of Rudra, they were previously considered by Indra, The main chieftain of heaven, who was entitled as Marutvant ("Accompanied by the Maruts"). They are also accompanied by a female deity, Rodasi, who rides with them through the heavens. She is variously described as their mother and wife of Rudra, standing on the clouds that are the Maruts' chariot, or their collective wife and beloved, who symbolizes lightning.

The Maruts assist The King of heaven Indra, to defeat Vritra, lending him their power. The myth continues with Indra disputing them their role on the battle, accusing them of having abandoned him after giving him encouragement before the fight, and they quarrel for the sacrifice given by the sage Agastya. However, their place to his side in mythology is accepted, appearing elsewhere with him.

According to later tradition, such as Puranas, the Maruts were born from the broken womb of the goddess Diti, after Indra hurled a thunderbolt at her to prevent her from giving birth to a powerful son. The goddess had intended to remain pregnant for a century before giving birth to a son who would threaten Indra.

title: Maruts