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Whiro

Whiro-te-tipua (aka Whiro) is the lord of darkness and embodiment of all evil in Māori mythology. Usually depicted as a lizard-like creature, he inhabits the underworld and is responsible for the ills of all people, a contrast to his brother and enemy Tāne.

According to some tribes, when people die, their bodies descend into the underworld, where they are eaten by Whiro. Each time Whiro eats a body, he becomes stronger. This process will eventually make him sufficiently powerful to break free of the underworld, at which point he will come to the surface and devour everything and everyone on it. Cremation is therefore recommended to prevent this, because Whiro cannot gain strength from ashes.

Taiwhetuki – Whiro's House of Death – is a deep and dark cave where all things evil are preserved, such as black magic. It is a place in which countless personifications of illnesses and diseases dwell.

Geckos, skinks, and tuatara were feared because of their spiritual association with Whiro.

Confusion
Whiro-te-tipua (Iro in Rarotonga) was a Polynesian voyager who shared a name with the offspring of Papatūānuku and Ranginui. Little was known as to whether he actually arrived in New Zealand, though some of the tribes trace their lineage from him, especially perhaps the people of Whanganui.

title: Whiro


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Chubby Checker

Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song "The Twist", and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song "Pony Time". His biggest UK hit, "Let's Twist Again", was released one year later (in 1962); that year, he also popularized the song "Limbo Rock", originally a previous-year instrumental hit by the Champs to which he added lyrics, and its trademark Limbo dance, as well as other dance styles such as The Fly. In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained for an August 2013 update of the list.

Early life
Checker was born Ernest Evans in Spring Gully, South Carolina. He was raised in the projects of South Philadelphia, where he lived with his parents, Raymond and Eartle Evans, and two brothers. By age eleven, Evans formed a street-corner harmony group. By the time he entered high school, Ernest had learned to play the piano a little at Settlement Music School. He entertained his classmates by performing vocal impressions of popular entertainers of the day, such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. One of his classmates and friends at South Philadelphia High School was Fabian Forte, who would become a popular performer of the late 1950s and early 1960s as Fabian.

After school Evans would entertain customers at his various jobs, including Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market on Ninth Street and at the Produce Market, with songs and jokes. It was his boss at the Produce Market, "Tony A.", who gave Evans the nickname "Chubby". The owner of Fresh Farm Poultry, Henry Colt, was so impressed by the boy's performances for the customers that he, along with his colleague and friend Kal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records, arranged for young Chubby to do a private recording for American Bandstand host Dick Clark. After hearing Chubby's Fats Domino impression, Clark's wife Barbara suggested that Chubby be called "Chubby Checker" in homage to Fats Domino.

1950s–1960s
In December 1958, Checker privately recorded a novelty single for Clark in which the singer portrayed a school teacher with an unruly classroom of musical performers. The premise allowed Checker to imitate such acts as Fats Domino, The Coasters, Elvis Presley, Cozy Cole, and The Chipmunks, each singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb". Clark sent the song out as his Christmas greeting, and it received such good response that Cameo-Parkway signed Checker to a recording contract. Titled "The Class", the single became Checker's first release, charting at No. 38 in the spring of 1959.

Checker introduced his version of "The Twist" at the age of 18 in July 1960 in Wildwood, New Jersey at the Rainbow Club. "The Twist" went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 not just once in 1960, but yet again in a separate chart run in late 1961. The first success was attributed to teens, and the unprecedented second number-one Billboard ranking was driven by older audiences following a spirited live performance of the song by Checker on The Ed Sullivan Show, seen by over 10 million viewers. (Bing Crosby's "White Christmas" had also achieved number one twice on Billboard's earlier chart.)

"The Twist" had previously peaked at No. 16 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart, in the 1959 version recorded by its author, Hank Ballard, whose band The Midnighters first performed the dance on stage. Checker's "Twist", however, was a nationwide smash, aided by his many appearances on Dick Clark's American Bandstand, the top 10 American Bandstand ranking of the song, and the teenagers on the show who enjoyed dancing the Twist. The song was so ubiquitous that Checker felt that his critics thought he could only succeed as a dance demonstrator. Checker later lamented: ""The Twist" really ruined my life. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and "The Twist" just wiped it out ... It got so out of proportion. No one ever believes I have talent." By 1965 alone, "The Twist" had sold over 15 million copies, and was awarded multiple gold discs by the RIAA.

Despite Checker's initial disapproval, he found follow-up success with a succession of up-tempo dance tracks, including "The Hucklebuck" (#14), "The Fly" (#7), "Dance the Mess Around" (#24), and "Pony Time", which became his second No. 1 single. Checker's follow-up "twist" single, "Let's Twist Again", won the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Recording. A 1962 duet with Dee Dee Sharp, "Slow Twistin'", reached No. 3 on the national charts. Other substantial hits included "Dancin' Party", "Popeye the Hitchhiker", "Twenty Miles", "Birdland", "Loddy Lo", and a Christmas duet with Bobby Rydell, "Jingle Bell Rock". "Limbo Rock" reached No. 2 on 22–29 December 1962, becoming Checker's last top ten hit. Checker continued to have top 40 singles until 1965, his last being "Let's Do the Freddie" (#40), a variation on Freddie and the Dreamers' dance tune "Do the Freddie", with new melody and lyrics. Changes in public tastes, owing mostly to the British Invasion and counterculture era, ended his hit-making career. He spent much of the rest of the 1960s touring and recording in Europe.

1970s–1990s
"The Twist" was recorded for Cameo-Parkway Records and along with the label's other material, became unavailable after the early 1970s because of the company's internal legal disputes. For decades, almost all compilations of Checker's hits consisted of re-recordings. The 1970s saw a shift and resurgence for his career, including a temporary stint as a disco artist. Checker continued to be a superstar in Europe with television and records. A dance-floor cover version of the Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R." released in 1969 on Buddah Records, his first chart entry in three years, reached No. 82. It was Checker's last chart appearance until 1982 when he hit No. 91 with "Running".

In 1971, Checker at his own insistence recorded a psychedelic album filled with music he felt was "current" that was initially only released in Europe. Originally named Chequered!, it was renamed over the years in subsequent re-releases as New Revelation, The Other Side Of Chubby Checker, and sometimes as Chubby Checker. The songs were all written by Checker and produced by former Jimi Hendrix producer Ed Chalpin, but the studio musicians' names are unknown. The album flopped. Later in the decade, he recorded an album of "audiophile re-creations" of his greatest hits, for producer Stan Shulman.

In 1988, Chubby teamed up with hip-hop trio The Fat Boys with their version of The Twist (Yo, Twist): this reached No 2 in the UK.

2000s and beyond
Checker had a single at No. 1 on Billboard's dance chart in July 2008 with "Knock Down the Walls". The single also made the top 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Roger Filgate of Wishbone Ash is featured on lead guitar.

In 2009, Checker recorded a public service announcement (PSA) for the Social Security Administration to help launch a new campaign to promote recent changes in Medicare law. In the PSA, Checker encourages Americans on Medicare to apply for Extra Help, "A new 'twist' in the law makes it easier than ever to save on your prescription drug plan costs."

On February 25, 2013, Checker released a new single, the ballad "Changes," via iTunes; it was posted on YouTube and amassed over 160,000 views. "Changes" was produced by the hill & hifi and reached 43 on the Mediabase Top 100 AC Chart and 41 on the Gospel Chart. Checker performed it on July 5, 2013, on NBC's Today show. In 2015, Checker joined forces with Howard Perl Entertainment to produce live events, such as "Rock and Roll to The Rescue", a tour designed to raise funds for rescue animals in need nationwide.

Controversies
In 2002, Checker protested outside of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, over the lack of radio airplay of his hit "The Twist" and his perception that the Hall of Fame had snubbed him. Seymour Stein, president of the Rock Hall's New York chapter and member of the nomination committee, claimed "I think that Chubby is someone who will be considered. He has in certain years."

In 2013, Checker sued HP over a WebOS application using his name. The application, before being pulled in September 2012, was used to unscientifically estimate penis size from shoe size. The district court said that Checker's trademark claim survived HP's motion to dismiss, but his other claims were dismissed per Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Film and musical depictions
Checker performed as well as appeared as a version of himself in Twist Around the Clock (1961) and Don't Knock the Twist (1962). In both films he provided advice and crucial breaks for the protagonist.

In 1988, Checker appeared as himself performing alongside the Purple People Eater in the film of the same name.

Checker later appeared as himself in the 1989 Quantum Leap episode entitled "Good Morning, Peoria" where he walks into a radio station in 1959 hoping to have his demo record played on the air. The show's main character, Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), persuades the station owner to play the song "The Twist", inadvertently teaching Checker himself how to do The Twist.

In 2001, Checker again guest-starred as himself singing "The Twist" in the fourth season of Ally McBeal. He also performed the track in the tenth season of Murphy Brown.

Awards
In 2008, Checker's "The Twist" was named the biggest chart hit of all time by Billboard magazine. Billboard looked at all singles that made the charts between 1958 and 2008. He was also honored by Settlement Music School as part of the school's centennial celebration and named to the Settlement 100, a list of notable people connected to the school.

Checker received the prestigious Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award on November 9, 2013, from the Artists Music Guild. Checker was the host of the 2013 AMG Heritage Awards and was given the honor during the television broadcast. The award was presented to him by longtime friend and labelmate Dee Dee Sharp.

In 2014, Checker was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame.

Personal life
On December 12, 1963, Checker proposed to Catharina Lodders, a 21-year-old Dutch model and Miss World 1962 from Haarlem. Checker said he met Lodders in Manila the prior January. The song "Loddy Lo" is about her. They were married on April 12, 1964, at Temple Lutheran Church in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Their first child, Bianca Johanna Evans, was born in a Philadelphia hospital on December 8, 1966. Their other two children are Ilka Evans and musician Shan Egan (Evans), lead singer of Funk Church, a band in the Philadelphia area. Checker is also the father of WNBA player Mistie Bass.

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

title: Chubby Checker


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Ratumaibulu

In the mythology of Fiji, Ratumaibulu is a god of great importance who presides over agriculture. In the month called Vula-i-Ratumaibulu, he comes from Bulu, the world of spirits, to make the breadfruit and other fruit trees blossom and yield fruit. He is said to be a snake god.

title: Ratumaibulu


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Samulayo

In the mythology of Fiji, Samulayo is a god or spirit of war and those dead souls who died in battle.

He lives in underworld.

title: Samulayo


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Miru (goddess)

Miru is a goddess in the Polynesian mythology of the Cook Islands who lives in Avaiki beneath Mangaia.he is known to feast on the souls of dead people. One way she eats the souls is by putting them into a bowl of live centipdes, causing them to writhe in agony. Miru then encourages them to seek relief by diving into a lake, where the drown. They then can be cooked and eaten at her leisure.

This goddess is also mentioned within a poem by Alistair Te Ariki Campbell, written during his travels to the Cook Islands. Although briefly, his mentions of Miru tell of the belief that upon entering Savaiki (the original homeland of the Polynesian people), the dead's souls could be trapped by Miru and her assistants, "stupifying" the souls on Kava (a drink that causes similar symptoms to being drunk) and hanging them on trees to be devoured.

The Tapairu are her daughters, and Tau-Titi is her daughter.

Miru also features in Maori mythology (New Zealand) as the Goddess of Death.

title: Miru (goddess)


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Tau-Titi

In the mythology of Mangaia, Tau-Titi is a son of Miru.

A nocturnal dance dedicated to and named after him was practised, occasionally with the Tapairu, Tau-Titi's sisters. As soon as the dawn arrives, the Tapairu returned to their home in Avaiki.

title: Tau-Titi


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Tapairu

In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, the Tapairu are elves or fairies, who are named after the four daughters of Miru, the deformed goddess of the underworld. They were said to have been present when mortals danced in honor of their brother, Tau-Titi. They were also associated with the god Tane.

title: Tapairu


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Islington

Islington is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy High Street, Upper Street, Essex Road (former "Lower Street"), and Southgate Road to the east.

Etymology
The manor of Islington was named by the Saxons Giseldone (1005), then Gislandune (1062). The name means "Gīsla's hill" from the Old English personal name Gīsla and dun ("hill", "down"). The name later mutated to Isledon, which remained in use well into the 17th century when the modern form arose. The manor, which was served by the ancient parish of Islington, later sub-divided, with new estates such as Neweton Berewe, Bernersbury,  Hey-bury and  Canonesbury – names first recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries) co-existing with the rump of the manor of Islington. The ancient parish of Islington continued to serve the rump manor of Islington and also the various manors that had broken away from it.

Origins
Some roads on the edge of the area, including Essex Road, were known as streets by the medieval period, possibly indicating a Roman origin, but little physical evidence remains. What is known is that the Great North Road from Aldersgate came into use in the 14th century, connecting with a new turnpike (toll road) up Highgate Hill. This was along the line of modern Upper Street, with a toll gate at The Angel defining the extent of the village. The Back Road, the modern Liverpool Road, was primarily a drovers' road where cattle would be rested before the final leg of their journey to Smithfield. Pens and sheds were erected along this road to accommodate the animals.

The first recorded church, St Mary's, was erected in the twelfth century and was replaced in the fifteenth century. Islington lay on the estates of the Bishop of London and the Dean and Chapter of St Pauls. There were substantial medieval moated manor houses in the area, principally at Canonbury and Highbury. In 1548, there were 440 communicants listed and the rural atmosphere, with access to the City and Westminster, made it a popular residence for the rich and eminent. The local inns harboured many fugitives and sheltered recusants.

Water sources
The hill on which Islington stands has long supplied the City of London with water, the first projects drawing water through wooden pipes from the many springs that lay at its foot, in Finsbury. These included Sadler's Wells, London Spa and Clerkenwell.

By the 17th century these traditional sources were inadequate to supply the growing population and plans were laid to construct a waterway, the New River, to bring fresh water from the source of the River Lea, in Hertfordshire to New River Head, below Islington in Finsbury. The river was opened on 29 September 1613 by Sir Hugh Myddelton, the constructor of the project. His statue still stands where Upper Street meets Essex Road. The course of the river ran to the east of Upper Street, and much of its course is now covered and forms a linear park through the area.

The Regent's Canal passes through Islington, for much of which in an 886 m tunnel that runs from Colebrook Row east of the Angel, to emerge at Muriel Street near Caledonian Road. The stretch is marked above with a series of pavement plaques so walkers may find their way from one entrance to the other. The area of the canal east of the tunnel and north of the City Road was once dominated by much warehousing and industry surrounding the large City Road Basin and Wenlock Basin. Those old buildings that survive here are now largely residential or small creative work units. This stretch has an old double-fronted pub The Narrowboat, one side accessed from the towpath.

The canal was constructed in 1820 to carry cargo from Limehouse into the canal system. There is no tow-path in the tunnel so bargees had to walk their barges through, braced against the roof. Commercial use of the canal has declined since the 1960s.

Market gardens and entertainments
In the 17th and 18th centuries the availability of water made Islington a good place for growing vegetables to feed London. The manor became a popular excursion destination for Londoners, attracted to the area by its rural feel. Many public houses were therefore built to serve the needs of both the excursionists and travellers on the turnpike. By 1716, there were 56 ale-house keepers in Upper Street, also offering pleasure and tea gardens, and activities such as archery, skittle alleys and bowling. By the 18th century, music and dancing were offered, together with billiards, firework displays and balloon ascents. The King's Head Tavern, now a Victorian building with a theatre, has remained on the same site, opposite the parish church, since 1543. The founder of the theatre, Dan Crawford, who died in 2005, disagreed with the introduction of decimal coinage. For twenty-plus years after decimalisation (on 15 February 1971), the bar continued to show prices and charge for drinks in pre-decimalisation currency.

By the 19th century many music halls and theatres were established around Islington Green. One such was Collins's Music Hall, the remains of which are now partly incorporated into a bookshop. The remainder of the Hall has been redeveloped into a new theatre, with its entrance at the bottom of Essex Road. It stood on the site of the Landsdowne Tavern, where the landlord had built an entertainment room for customers who wanted to sing (and later for professional entertainers). It was founded in 1862 by Samuel Thomas Collins Vagg and by 1897 had become a 1,800-seat theatre with 10 bars. The theatre suffered damage in a fire in 1958 and has not reopened. Between 92 and 162 acts were put on each evening and performers who started there included Marie Lloyd, George Robey, Harry Lauder, Harry Tate, George Formby, Vesta Tilley, Tommy Trinder, Gracie Fields, Tommy Handley and Norman Wisdom.

The Islington Literary and Scientific Society was established in 1833 and first met in Mr. Edgeworth's Academy on Upper Street. Its goal was to spread knowledge through lectures, discussions, and experiments, politics and theology being forbidden. A building, the Literary and Scientific Institution, was erected in 1837 in Wellington (later Almeida) Street, designed by Roumieu and Gough in a stuccoed Grecian style. It included a library (containing 3,300 volumes in 1839), reading room, museum, laboratory, and lecture theatre seating 500. The subscription was two guineas a year. After the library was sold off in 1872, the building was sold or leased in 1874 to the Wellington Club, which occupied it until 1886. In 1885 the hall was used for concerts, balls, and public meetings. The Salvation Army bought the building in 1890, renamed it the Wellington Castle barracks, and remained there until 1955. The building became a factory and showroom for Beck's British Carnival Novelties for a few years from 1956, after which it stood empty. In 1978 a campaign began with the goal to redevelop the building as a theatre. A public appeal was launched in 1981, and a festival of avant-garde theatre and music was held there and at other Islington venues in 1982. What has become the successful Almeida Theatre was founded.

Royal Agricultural Hall
The Royal Agricultural Hall was built in 1862 on the Liverpool Road site of William Dixon's Cattle Layers. The hall was 75 ft high and the arched glass roof spanned 125 ft. It was built for the annual Smithfield Show in December of that year but was popular for other purposes, including recitals and the Royal Tournament. It was the primary exhibition site for London until the 20th century and the largest building of its kind, holding up to 50,000 people. It was requisitioned for use by the Mount Pleasant sorting office during World War II and never re-opened. The main hall has now been incorporated into the Business Design Centre.

Housing
Some early development took place to accommodate the popularity of the nearby Sadler's Wells, which became a resort in the 16th century, but the 19th century saw the greatest expansion in housing, soon to cover the whole parish. In 1801, the population was 10,212, but by 1891 this had increased to 319,143. This rapid expansion was partly due to the introduction of horse-drawn omnibuses in 1830. Large well-built houses and fashionable squares drew clerks, artisans and professionals to the district. However, from the middle of the 19th century the poor were being displaced by clearances in inner London to build the new railway stations and goods yards. Many of the displaced settled in Islington, with the houses becoming occupied by many families. This, combined with the railways pushing into outer Middlesex, reduced Islington's attraction for the "better off" as it became "unfashionable". The area fell into a long decline; and by the mid-20th century, it was largely run-down and a byword for urban poverty.

The aerial bombing of World War II caused much damage to Islington's housing stock, with 3,200 dwellings destroyed. Before the war, a number of 1930s council housing blocks had been added to the stock. After the war, partly as a result of bomb site redevelopment, the council housing boom got into its stride, reaching its peak in the 1960s: several extensive estates were constructed, by both the Metropolitan Borough of Islington and the London County Council. Clearance of the worst terraced housing was undertaken, but Islington continued to be very densely populated, with a high level of overcrowding. The district has many council blocks, and the local authority has begun to replace some of them.

From the 1960s, the remaining Georgian terraces were rediscovered by middle-class families. Many of the houses were rehabilitated, and the area became newly fashionable. This displacement of the poor by the aspirational has become known as gentrification. Among the new residents were a number of figures who became central in the New Labour movement, including Tony Blair before his victory in the 1997 general election. According to The Guardian in 2006, "Islington is widely regarded as the spiritual home of Britain's left-wing intelligentsia." The Granita Pact between Gordon Brown and Tony Blair is said to have been made at a now defunct restaurant on Upper Street.

The African National Congress's headquarters in exile was based on Penton Street. It was the target of a bomb attack in 1982.

The completion of the Victoria line and redevelopment of Angel tube station created the conditions for developers to renovate many of the early Victorian and Georgian townhouses. They also built new developments. Islington remains a district with diverse inhabitants, with its private houses and apartments not far from social housing in immediately neighbouring wards such as Finsbury and Clerkenwell to the south, Bloomsbury and King's Cross to the west, and Highbury to the north west, and also the Hackney districts of De Beauvoir and Old Street to the north east.

Islington is the most densely populated borough in the UK according to the 2011 census, with a population density of 138.7 people per hectare, compared to an average of 52.0 for London.

Great North Road
The urbanisation of Islington began with ribbon development along the Great North Road (the modern A1). which is known (south to north) as Islington High Street, Upper Street, Holloway Road and Archway Road as it passes through the district. In 1716 the Great North Road came under the control of the newly formed Islington Turnpike Trust. The Trust grew rapidly, and soon had control of most major roads in the area, building a number of major road arteries through the expanding residential areas, including Caledonian Road, Euston Road, City Road and New North Road.

Islington High Street
Islington High Street runs approximately 500 m from the intersection of Pentonville Road and City Road at the south end to Islington Green at the north end, where it branches into Upper Street and Essex Road (former Lower Street). The earliest reference to Islington High Street is its appearance on a 1590 map of the area. At this time, nine inns (including the famous Angel, which has subsequently given its name to the area around High Street), as well as housing and a public pond were shown lining the street.

The Peacock Inn at 11 Islington High Street dates from 1564, although the current façade dates from 1857. It featured in Tom Brown's Schooldays as the inn at which Tom stays prior to travelling to Rugby School. It closed in 1962, although the building still stands.

Angel tube station on Islington High Street has the longest escalator on the London Underground system, at 318 steps. In 2006 a Norwegian man made headlines after skiing down the escalator at the station.

Upper Street
Upper Street is Islington's main shopping street. The parish church, St Mary's, is located on Upper Street.

Business and employment
The Angel business improvement district (BID), is an area centred on the Angel tube station, and which includes parts of southern Islington and neighbouring Clerkenwell.

In culture
Islington features extensively in modern English literature and culture:

Books

 * Islington locations appear in many novels and other writings by Charles Dickens, including:
 * Oliver Twist (1837–1839): Mr Brownlow's house is in Pentonville, and several scenes take place in and around Islington.
 * The Christmas story The Lamplighter (1838) is partially set in Canonbury, near Canonbury Tower.
 * Martin Chuzzlewit (1844): Tom Pinch and his sister, Ruth, take lodgings in Islington.
 * David Copperfield (1849–50): Wilkins Micawber lives in City Road early in the novel.
 * Bleak House (1852–53): William Guppy, a law clerk, lives in Pentonville.
 * Our Mutual Friend (1864–65): the Wilfers live in Holloway.
 * In The Way We Live Now (1875) by Anthony Trollope, the glamorous widow, Mrs Hurtle, has lodgings in Islington. In the same book the upper class cad Sir Felix visits a music hall on the City Road with Ruby, who vainly hopes to marry him.
 * In The Diary of a Nobody (first serialized in Punch magazine in 1888–89 and first printed in book form, in 1892), an English comic novel written by George Grossmith and his brother Weedon Grossmith, the main character lives off the Holloway Road in Brickfield Terrace.
 * Upper Street and other Islington locations appear throughout George Gissing's The Nether World (1889).
 * In Sinister Street (1914), by Compton MacKenzie, Michael Fane, the main protagonist, undertakes teenage rebellion by leaving boring, respectable, upper-middle class South Kensington for a couple of visits to the exciting, louche, working class Holloway district of Islington.
 * Islington is referred to in the M. R. James short ghost story "Two Doctors" published in A Thin Ghost and Others in 1919.
 * The Royal Agricultural Hall on Liverpool Road features as the location for a Victorian walking match in Peter Lovesey's novel Wobble to Death, (1970) and its BBC Radio's Saturday Night Theatre adaptation.
 * Simon Gray's play Otherwise Engaged (1975) is set in Islington.
 * Douglas Adams lived in Arlington Avenue. The phone number of his house was 226 7709. In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect are rescued in ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, the probability of that happening was 2 to the power of 267,709 to one against. Douglas also used Islington as a setting in his novels, and named a character in his famous Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy (1978) series, Hotblack Desiato, after a well-known local estate agent. Islington was also the place in which Arthur Dent meets Trillian during a party in a flat.
 * Martha Grimes's fictional detective, Richard Jury, lives in a flat in Islington. He first appeared in the novel The Man With a Load of Mischief (1981).
 * In Douglas Adams's Dirk Gently series commencing with Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (1987), Richard MacDuff's flat, and Susan Way's flat are all in Islington (though Dirk's office is on a fictional street).
 * In Neil Gaiman's best-selling novel Neverwhere (1996), Islington is a fallen angel that lives under London, named after the Angel tube station.
 * Nick Hornby's novels About a Boy (1998) and Slam (2007) are set in Islington.
 * Zoë Heller's novel Notes on a Scandal (2003) is set in Islington.
 * In the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, commencing with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2003), the eponymous Order is headquartered at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, a fictitious street in Islington. The house belonged to Sirius Black and Harry, Ron, and Hermione used it as a hideout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
 * Islington features throughout Charlie Higson's post-apocalyptic, young adult horror series, The Enemy, set in and around London. For example, in The Dead (2010), Islington is the destination of the group travelling on Greg's bus. Greg tells everyone but his son, Liam: "Get some sleep. We'll push on in the morning. I'll take you all as far as Islington. After that you're on your own."
 * The Gaspard the Fox series of children's books commencing in 2018, are set in Islington, inspired by the remarkable relationship between an urban fox and local author Zeb Soanes, who lives in Canonbury. James Mayhew's illustrations feature numerous local landmarks including the Islington Green War Memorial, De Beauvoir Square and the Regent's Canal.

Music

 * In Arthur Sullivan and B. C. Stephenson's comic opera, The Zoo (1875), two of the main characters are the Duke of Islington and his beloved, whom he asks to become the Duchess of Islington.
 * In 2008, Sparks played their first 20 albums in 20 nights at the O2 Academy Islington to promote Exotic Creatures of the Deep. They marked the occasion with an exclusive release of the humorous song "Islington N1", in which sophisticated locals complain that the band's presence cheapens their neighbourhood (where "Everyone has all they need/Every dog is pedigreed").

Film

 * In the 1979 film Scum, Donald Woods (played by John Fowler), inmate 3310, is revealed to live in Islington, on Almeida Street. Woods receives a letter from his parents concerning his dog, which recently had puppies. As Woods cannot read, he hires fellow inmate Ben Archer, played by Mick Ford, inmate number 4721, to read the entire letter to him aloud, including the Islington mailing address.

Sports
There are over 60 sports and other types of physical activity on offer to the public in Islington, at more than approximately one hundred clubs, leisure centres, parks, community centres, and other venues. The Islington Boxing Club, on Hazellville Road, was founded in January 1974 and was originally based in the community hall of York Way Court, close to Kings Cross Station.

The borough is home to top-flight professional football club Arsenal, whose sixty-thousand capacity stadium is in Holloway.

Transport
The area is served by numerous bus routes, with a major bus interchange located near the Angel tube station. Red route and residents' parking restrictions apply throughout the area.

Nearby places

 * Barnsbury
 * Canonbury
 * De Beauvoir Town
 * Dalston
 * Finsbury
 * Highbury
 * Hoxton
 * Holloway
 * King's Cross
 * Pentonville
 * St Luke's

Nearby stations

 * Angel tube station
 * Arsenal tube station
 * Drayton Park railway station
 * Essex Road railway station
 * Farringdon station
 * Highbury & Islington station
 * King's Cross railway station
 * King's Cross St Pancras tube station
 * St Pancras railway station

Education
According to latest figures published by the Department for Education, there are 47 primary and 10 state-funded secondary schools in Islington.

Listed buildings
Grade II*

English Heritage list three Grade II* listed buildings within Central Islington (and many more in surrounding districts):

 * The Union Chapel
 * 3 Terrett's Place (an 18th-century house on Upper Street)
 * St Paul's Church, St Paul's Road (designed by Sir Charles Barry, now the St Paul's Steiner Project)
 * Canonbury Tower

Grade II (selected):

The area contains numerous Georgian townhouses, shops and pubs. Many whole terraces are listed including much of Liverpool Road (one side of which is in Barnsbury) and Islington High Street/Upper Street. Other multiply listed streets include Arlington Square (one of the UK's top 10 garden squares) Camden Passage, Compton Terrace, Colebrooke Row, Cross Street, Duncan Terrace, Essex Road, Gibson Square and Milner Square.

Other Grade II listed structures include:

 * The Almeida Theatre.
 * The Angel Baptist Church, Cross Street.
 * The Angel building (formerly a public house and hotel, Lyons Corner House and Co-operative Bank), Islington High Street. Gives its name to the area.
 * The Business Design Centre (part of which is the former Royal Agricultural Hall), Upper Street.
 * The Camden Head public house, Camden Passage.
 * The Hope and Anchor public house, Upper Street.
 * Ironmonger Row Baths.
 * Islington Town Hall.
 * M Manze's Pie and Eel Shop, Chapel Market.
 * The Old Queen's Head public house, Essex Road.
 * Resurrection Manifestations GracePoint church (originally the Carlton Cinema, Essex Road, and later a Mecca Bingo Hall).
 * St John's Church, Duncan Terrace.
 * St Mary's Church, Upper Street (rebuilt after World War 2 – only the spire remains from the original).
 * South Library, Essex Road.
 * The York public house.
 * Emirates Stadium
 * London Art House

title: Islington


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Avaiki

Avaiki is one of the many names by which the peoples of Polynesia refer to their ancestral and spiritual homelands.

Samoa, Hawaii, Cook Islands
By no means certain, but certainly possible, is an origin in the large islands of Samoa, namely Savaii and Upolu. Variants include, in order of migration, Havaii, the old name for Raiatea in French Polynesia; the far better known Hawaii in the United States, Avaiki in the Cook Islands and Niue and Hawaiki in New Zealand.

There are endless local variants. In the Cook Islands, for example, on the capital island of Rarotonga, northern facing volcanic rocks, tumbling onto the shore millennia ago and still set in place, are well known as the ancient departure point for souls bound for Avaiki - the afterworld or heaven.

In fact each island, vaka or ngati (family line) has its own Avaiki or interpretation of it. For instance it would be somewhere in the Manu'a islands group (American Samoa) for the Ngati Karika (Te au o Tonga tribe - Rarotonga). For the Ngati Tangi'ia (Takitumu tribe-Rarotonga), it would be at Tahiti. Others locate Avaiki at Raiatea...

Mythology
In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Avaiki is the "underworld" or "netherworld". It is described like a hollow of a vast coconut shell. Varima-te-takere, the mother of Vatea, lives in the lowest depths of the interior of this coconut shell. Nevertheless, the New Zealand anthropologist Peter Buck (Te Rangi Hīroa), gives a less mystical interpretation of this Mangaian Avaiki: "when Tangi'ia came to Rarotonga from Tahiti, he brought with him some rankless "manahune" [commoners] ... As they had no chance of rising in social status, some of them under the leadership of Rangi migrated to Mangaia to start a new life (c.1450–1475). Their antagonism toward Rarotonga made them conceal the land of origin and invent an origin from a spiritual homeland in the netherworld of Avaiki."

Solomon Islands connection
While Solomon Islands is mostly considered Melanesia, the province of Rennell and Bellona is Polynesian. The province consists of Rennell Island, Bellona Island and the uninhabited Indispensable Reefs.

The locals call Rennell Island “MUNGAVA” and they call Bellona Island “MUNGIKI”. They then combine the last three letters of each Island and come up with a word called AVAIKI. If someone local does something silly you might hear someone say ‘That’s the Avaiki way’. A further example of this nomenclature can also be evidenced with the identification of the name of the Province, Renbel which combines Rennell and Bellona. MV Renbel is also the name of the ferry that supplies the province from Honiara.

There is also a rugby and netball team on Rennell Island called Avaiki.

title: Avaiki


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Vari

Vari (Βάρη) is a southern suburb of Athens and former municipality in East Attica, Greece along the Athens coast. The ancient Athenian deme of Anagyrous was situated here.

Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 22.633 km2.

Geography
It lies at the southwestern end of the Mesogeia plain and the southeast shoulder of the Hymettus mountain, near the Saronic Gulf coast. Greek National Road 91 connects Vari with Athens city centre and Sounio. Vari's beach is located in an area called Varkiza, a fishing village that joined the municipality of Vari, in 1997. This particular beach has won the blue flag many years in the past, including 2009.

After 1 January 2011 Vari joined Voula and Vouliagmeni, according to Kallikratis regulations, in a joined municipality. Grigoris Konstantellos is the incumbent mayor, elected for a second term at May 26, 2019, for the unified municipality of Vari-Voula-Vouliagmeni.

Archaeology
A 2,000-year-old marble engraving found near Vari might indicate an Archaic temple on the Acropolis of Athens. It is possible that sheep and goat herders carved the engraving in the 6th century BC. It depicts a temple facade with at least five columns and includes an inscription in Old Attic alphabet referring to the "Hekatompedon" by someone named Mikon. The term ἑκατόμπεδος, meaning "of a hundred feet", has been used in sacred contexts, and the Acropolis is the most likely location due to its association with the term. The engraving could refer to the Bluebeard Temple or the Gigantomachy Temple, both on the Acropolis.

title: Vari


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Wākea

In the Hawaiian religion, Wākea, the Sky father weds Papahānaumoku, the earth mother. The two are considered the parent couple of the ruling chiefs of Hawaii.

Wākea was the eldest son of Kahiko ("Ancient One"), who lived in Olalowaia. He is the ancestor of the aliʻi (nobility of Hawaii), the ruling class that make up the aristocracy known as the noho ali‘i o Hawai‘i (ruling chiefs of Hawai‘i). Wākea is the grandson of Welaahilaninui. The priests and common people come from his brothers, one of whom was called Makuʻu.

Wākea means expansive space, zenith, or heaven and Papa means foundation or surface; together, they create a symbol of land and sky or heaven and earth. Departed souls were believed to travel to the home of Wākea. If they proved themselves pure, they would remain in his realm's comfort, but if otherwise they were sent to Lua-o-Milu.

Wākea's first high priest was called Komoawa.

When Wākea was on Earth in ancient times, he was a High Chief.

Consorts
In one legend, Wākea lives in Hihiku and marries Papahānaumoku, who is a princess of Olalo-i-mehani and a granddaughter of Princess Kaoupe-alii. The Hawaiian Islands were created by Wākea and Papahānaumoku. Their daughter was Hoʻohokukalani, who was a mother of Haloa by Wākea.

Family
In the genealogies, Wākea and Papahānaumoku are 37th in the Kumuhonua genealogy, and 28th in the Kumuʻuli. Kumuhonua, the ancestor of the Kumuhonua genealogy, was believed to be the first man in one tradition.

Together, Papahānaumoku and Wākea created Hawaii, Maui, Kauai, and Ho’ohokukalani.

After Wākea committed incest with his daughter, Ho’ohokukalani, she gave birth to Haloa-naka-lau-kapalili, meaning trembling long stalk. It was a stillborn baby, which they later planted and became the first kalo or taro, a staple of the Hawaiian diet. After Haloa-naka, Ho’ohokukalani gave birth to another child named Haloa, meaning long stalk, and he became the first kanaka or Hawaiian person.

The relationship between Haloa-naka and Haloa describes the balance of relationships between the land and the people that live in it. Haloa-naka, as the elder sibling, is responsible for the well-being of their younger siblings, that of which being Haloa. As Kalo, Haloa-naka upholds this by providing sustainance for the people, while the people take care of their older sibling by ensuring the life of the Kalo. Likewise, it is also inappropriate to argue in front of Kalo at any time as well as it is not allowed to argue in front of your older siblings, nor elders. Wākea also had an affair with Goddesses Hina and Ka'ula while Papa was in Kahiki to create the islands of Molokai and Lāna'i. Papa later returned and was aware of Wākea's affair, so she gained revenge by sleeping with Lua to create the island of O'ahu.

Later on, Wākea reunites with Papahānaumoku and they create Kaua'i, Ni'ihau, Lehua, and Kaʻula.

In one tradition, the first person on Earth was the woman Laʻilaʻi. She and her husband Kealiʻiwahilani are the parents of Kahiko, the father of Wākea. Wākea made the land and sea from the calabash or gourd (‘ipu) of Papahānaumoku. He threw it up high, and it became the heavens. He made the rain from its juice and from the seeds he made the sun, moon, and stars.

Gender roles
Wanting to sleep with his daughter, Wākea made a bargain with his high priest, Komo’awa, to make Papahānaumoku go away for four nights. In her seclusion, it was kapu or restricted for her to eat certain foods; a tradition known as ʻaikapu, which was a sacred eating arrangement established by Wākea. The purpose of the ʻaikapu was to separate the women from the men. In traditional Hawaiian society, men were responsible for cooking.

Examples of some foods that Hawaiian women could not eat:
 * Pigs
 * Coconuts
 * Bananas
 * Red colored fish
 * Certain seafood

title: Wākea


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Rebel Alliance

The Rebel Alliance (known formally in-universe as the Alliance to Restore the Republic) is an organization that features in the fictional world of the Star Wars franchise. The Alliance is portrayed as a stateless coalition of rebel dissidents and defectors who oppose the Galactic Empire and its authoritarian rule. Its stated goal is to restore the liberal governance of the previous Galactic Republic, which had been dissolved after its leader Palpatine seized absolute power and declared himself emperor. It is the main protagonistic faction of the original Star Wars trilogy.

In the Star Wars universe, the Rebel insurgency conducts covert operations on Imperial garrison worlds, utilizing a stateless strategy in conjunction with wolfpack-guerrilla warfare against the Imperial fleet throughout the galaxy. Capital ships are portrayed as having no place in the Rebellion, as they are described as expensive to build, maintain, and to keep fully crewed. The Rebellion is portrayed as far too limited in both manpower and resources to justify putting so much of both into a giant target. The Galactic Empire, on the other hand, is portrayed as capable of always fielding greater numbers and greater firepower. Being able to hit high-valued targets and get out is therefore depicted as being much more important to the Empire. While the Empire labels all dissenters and rebels as extremists and terrorists in Imperial propaganda, the Alliance is depicted and portrayed in various Star Wars media as a group of resilient freedom fighters, based on tolerance, self-empowerment, and hope for a better future using insurgency weapons and tactics.

The Rebel Alliance was first featured as the main protagonistic faction in the films A New Hope (1977), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). The faction's origins were alluded to in Revenge of the Sith (2005), and their early activities are featured in the Disney XD television series Rebels, the anthology film Rogue One (2016), and the Disney+ series Andor.

Origins
Note: All dates in this article are in the BBY/ABY format. This is a fictional in-universe dating system centred on the Battle of Yavin in Episode IV: A New Hope in which the first Death Star is destroyed. BBY is Before the Battle of Yavin; ABY is After the Battle of Yavin.

Founding members

 * Senator Mon Mothma – Co-founder; current commander-in-chief
 * Senator Bail Organa – Co-founder; early constituting member and head of the Alliance Council
 * Died during Episode IV: A New Hope, when the Death Star destroys Alderaan
 * Senator Padmé Amidala – Co-founder; early constituting member. She died a few days after founding the Alliance. (While the scene from Revenge of the Sith was deleted from the film, the information was affirmed by other official sources. Scene still present on Disney+)
 * Died during Episode III: Revenge of the Sith while giving birth to twins Luke and Leia; the latter was adopted by Organa.

Early insurgency
Significant dates in the uprising are:
 * 19 BBY with the Delegation of 2000 Senators which demanded Chancellor Palpatine to lay down his emergency powers;
 * 2 BBY with Mon Mothma's formal Declaration of Rebellion.

Delegation of 2000 (19 BBY)
The earliest possible origins of the Alliance to Restore the Republic are told during the events of Revenge of the Sith. In deleted scene 2 called "A Stirring in the Senate", a group of six Senators including Padmé Amidala, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa meet in the latter's office to discuss ways to counter the already unjustified extraordinary powers of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine "subverting the Constitution" as the Clone Wars were waning, with Mothma stating their goal was "preserving democracy within the Republic". Amidala was initially skeptical of Palpatine's evil intentions because he had supported her during the Trade Federation's occupation of Naboo (The Phantom Menace, 32 BBY), but Organa and Mon Mothma announced the formation of an anti-Palpatine 'organization'; the six Senators agreed to a pact of silence. In deleted scene 3 titled "Seeds of Rebellion" (in Amidala's apartment with two new Senators joining the group), it is explained that the Delegation of 2000 disgruntled Senators will present a petition to the Chancellor. Amidala was more willing to oppose Palpatine now, but wanted to involve the Jedi, at least Anakin Skywalker. However, aside from one Senator agreeing, the others doubted whether the Jedi Council would be loyal to the Republic or the Chancellor, and opted to wait. Amidala died in premature childbirth not long after her last-ditch attempt to prevent Anakin's fall. In The Imperial Handbook, Grand Moff Tarkin related that most members of the Delegation of 2000 were arrested; Mothma and Organa retained their Senatorship by remaining outwardly obedient to Palpatine, while secretly leading the unification of disparate bands of insurgents into what they termed the Rebel Alliance.

First major battles, rebel fleet (5 BBY)
The Disney series Rebels depicts the development of the rebellion against the Galactic Empire beginning five years before A New Hope (5 BBY) and fourteen years after the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order in Revenge of the Sith (19 BBY). The show focuses on a motley group of rebels (all of whom have been affected by the Empire in one form or another) that banded together aboard a freighter starship called Ghost. They called themselves the Spectres and were led by Hera Syndulla. By the end of the first season, it is revealed that there were various clandestine cell systems that were resisting the Empire, such as Jun Sato's Phoenix Squadron. Senator Bail Organa (along with his wife, queen Breha Organa) of Alderaan and former Jedi Ahsoka Tano both play a pivotal role in coordinating these splinter cells into a legitimate threat capable of challenging Imperial rule. Funded primarily by the Royal House of Alderaan, the alliance began to allocate resources towards a united front against Imperial rule. The Spectres and Phoenix Squadron were later integrated into the Massassi Group based on Yavin 4, which by Rogue One (1 BBY) and A New Hope (0 BBY) was commanded by General Jan Dodonna. One last important rebel cell that later became part of the Rebel Alliance was the Mon Calamari Exodus Fleet, commanded by Admiral Raddus and Admiral Ackbar, formed out of civilian spacecraft during the Imperial occupation of Mon Cala in 18 BBY (1 year into the Empire, 18 years prior to the Battle of Yavin).

Declaration of Rebellion (2 BBY)
Near the end of the third season of Rebels, in "Secret Cargo", Alliance co-founder Senator Mon Mothma, escaped assassination for condemning the Ghorman Massacre and speaking out against the Emperor (2 BBY). She called out to the various rebel cells and insurgency factions to unite into a unified coalition: "We, the beings of the Rebel Alliance, do this day send forth this Declaration to His Majesty, the Emperor, and to all sentient beings in the Galaxy, to make clear to all the Purposes and Goals of this Rebellion. We believe that the Galactic Empire has willfully and malignantly usurped the rights of the free beings of the Galaxy and therefore, it is our unalienable right to abolish it from the Galaxy. We, the Rebel Alliance, do therefore in the name—and by the authority—of the free beings of the Galaxy, solemnly publish and declare our intentions:
 * To fight and oppose you and your forces, by any and all means at our disposal;
 * To refuse any Imperial law contrary to the rights of free beings;
 * To bring about your destruction and the destruction of the Galactic Empire;
 * To make forever free all beings in the galaxy.

To these ends, we pledge our property, our honor, and our lives."

Many Rebel ships arrive at a rendezvous point above Dantooine to unite and form the "Alliance to Restore the Republic".

Senior civil government and military high command

 * Gial Ackbar – Admiral and Commander of the Alliance fleet at the Battle of Endor.
 * Cassian Andor – Pilot and Intelligence Officer.
 * Killed in action during Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, in the Battle of Scarif.
 * Crix Madine – General of the Alliance Special Forces.
 * Ahsoka Tano – Former Jedi Padawan; covert operations spymaster and first 'Fulcrum' agent.
 * Breha Organa – Adoptive mother of Leia Organa; ruling monarch of Alderaan; manager of the Rebel Alliance's funds, as revealed in the 2017 novel, Leia: Princess of Alderaan. Played a pivotal role in securing Alderaan's support for the Rebel Alliance as its primary galactic advocate.
 * Killed during Episode IV: A New Hope, when the Death Star destroys Alderaan.
 * Wedge Antilles – Commander of Rogue Squadron.
 * Raymus Antilles – Captain of the famous Alderaanian cruiser Tantive IV. Escort to members of the Royal House of Alderaan.
 * Killed in action during Episode IV: A New Hope by Darth Vader.
 * Lando Calrissian – General and former Cloud City administrator.
 * Carlist Rieekan – General and Commander of the Alliance's Echo Base on Hoth.
 * Jan Dodonna – General and Commander of the Alliance's Base One on Yavin 4.
 * Hera Syndulla – General and pilot of the Ghost.
 * Luke Skywalker – Commander and Jedi Knight; former Commander of Rogue Squadron and former Grand Master of the New Jedi Order.
 * Leia Organa – Representative of the planet Alderaan in the Imperial Senate and Senior diplomat of the Alliance; General of the Resistance.
 * Han Solo – General and former smuggler pilot of the Millennium Falcon.

Military
The Alliance Military and its activities were overseen by Alliance High Command, who managed the logistical and strategic matters of the Rebellion's efforts against the dominant Galactic Empire. Alliance Intelligence was headed by Spymaster Bail Organa and Spymaster Ahsoka Tano, which proved essential for maintaining communications, finding missions for the various Alliance Cells, and coordinating the Alliance's highly decentralized structure. At the time of the Battle of Endor, its chief commanders were: Gial Ackbar serving as Admiral of the Alliance Starfleet; Jan Dodonna serving as General of the Alliance Grand Army; Crix Madine serving as General of Alliance Pathfinders.

Alliance Grand Army
The Alliance military could never decisively win a "land war" with the Empire. Generally speaking, the quality of Alliance infantry varied greatly by unit. Due to the highly decentralized structure of the Alliance, these units often operated independently with little oversight, and were frequently lacking in discipline, equipment, intelligence and combat skills. They often consisted of convicts, street thugs, pirates, outlaws, and anyone whose profession placed them at odds with the Empire. These infantry were tolerated by Alliance Command, both for their willingness to mount an insurgency against the Empire, and for them being expendable.

Alliance Pathfinders
Mission critical operations were carried out by few standardized special forces units, dubbed "pathfinders", who had previous military training for infiltration, asymmetrical warfare, and were capable of operating without resupply. Pathfinders volunteered in the Battle of Scarif under Cassian Andor, and spearheaded the ground assault during the Battle of Endor.

Alliance Starfleet
The Alliance military largely consisted of mothballed, improvised, repurposed, or stolen civilian ships from dozens of manufacturers; they lacked the means, resources or shipyards to build, maintain and crew thousands of military-grade capital ships. The Alliance constantly had to change bases and their carrier ships routinely had to escape into hyperspace before recovering their fighter complement. The biggest and most powerful warship they had available were several MC80 star cruisers supplied to the Alliance by Mon Calamari, but the Alliance Fleet kept these in reserve and never risked deploying them, even when strategically-critical bases in Atollon, Yavin, and Hoth came under siege. The Alliance fleet is geared towards fabian strategy, space superiority, wolfpack operations, hit-and-run tactics, secret missions, subterfuge, and general elements of a stateless military grand strategy. They used gunships and corvettes to screen Imperial starfighters. Their warships carried a complement of expensive starfighters equipped with FTL hyperdrives and deflector shields that traveled alongside the fleet. This was in contrast to Imperial naval doctrine, whose TIE-series starfighters were lightly armored and lacked hyperdrives to lower unit cost and discourage pilot defection. The Alliance's focus on small light combat ships and on starfighters allowed them to effectively fight the Galactic Empire's well-funded and well-armed military.

The Alliance Starfleet almost never become decisively engaged or placed their ships at risk; they avoided pitched battles, frontal assaults, wars of attrition and conventional, symmetric engagements with the Imperials at all costs. Instead of engaging the Imperials in open firefights, the Rebel Alliance largely embraced flexible non-committal attack tactics utilizing mainly fast attack CR90 corvettes supplied to the Alliance by Alderaan. The Imperial leadership considered collateral damage as "acceptable margins" in rooting out insurgents; this contrasted against the Alliance's surgical precision to avoid civilian casualties. To minimize losses, the Alliance military leadership heavily favored carrier battle groups supporting starfighter strike crafts for fast-attack style of warfare, thereby leveraging a decisive advantage over the Galactic Empire's "big powerful ships" doctrine. Anti-Imperial operations emphasized depredation and delayed actions, covertly relocating compromised bases to another secured system, interdiction in slowing down the Imperials' momentum, and inflicting maximum damage on the enemy without, in principle, becoming decisively engaged.

Alliance Starfighter Corps
The Alliance finds its strength almost entirely in the starfighter arena, offering some of the most effective and versatile small strike craft within Star Wars canon. The Alliance was plagued by lack of resources: it was low on fighters, manpower, real estate. Jan Dodonna believed unsupported hyperspace-capable starfighters could undermine the Empire's control of space and demonstrated this to the galaxy by winning high-profile victories: Star Destroyers, shipyards, local fleets and the Death Star. Despite the Corps' high-maintenance costs and being chronically understaffed, with starfighter logistics, aerospace engineers and veteran pilots being limited in numbers, the Alliance doctrine—raiding targets before they could mount a defense, then leaving—proved flawless in singling out vulnerable targets and attacking only when they had strength, and only when the results were spectacular. Seventy percent of sorties were reconnaissance missions: finding targets for starfighter raids became the top priority of Alliance intelligence. The introduction of the A-wing, B-wing and X-wing, along with the former Imperial officers who piloted them, only improved upon that advantage.

 * Gold Squadron, commanded by Jon Vander, was an BTL-A4 Y-wing light bomber squadron that served as part of the Rebel Alliance's elite starfighter corps during the Galactic Civil War. This unit was instrumental in escorting Senator Mon Mothma safely to Dantooine, participated in the Battle of Scarif, and was nearly wiped out by Darth Vader in the Battle of Yavin. Under the command of Lando Calrissian, it succeeded in destroying the second Death Star's reactor during the Battle of Endor.
 * Green Squadron, commanded by Arvel Crynyd, was a RZ-1 A-wing interceptor squadron that served as part of the Rebel Alliance's starfighter corps during the Galactic Civil War. The squadron most notably participated in the Alliance's most decisive campaigns, including: the Battle of Atollon; the Battle of Scarif; and the Battle of Endor. It was Arvel Cyrnyd who crashed his A-wing into the bridge of the Executor, thereby disabling the ship.
 * Red Squadron, commanded by Garven Dreis, was a T-65B X-wing starfighter squadron that served as part of the Rebel Alliance's starfighter corps during the Galactic Civil War. The squadron most notably participated in the Alliance's most decisive campaigns, including: the Battle of Scarif; the Battle of Vrogas Vas; the Battle of Hoth; and the Battle of Endor.
 * Blue Squadron, commanded by Antoc Merrick, was an airspeeder and starfighter squadron that served as part of the Rebel Alliance's elite starfighter corps during the Galactic Civil War. The squadron most notably participated in the Alliance's most decisive campaigns, including: the Battle of Scarif; the Siege on Tureen VII; the Battle of Hoth; and the Battle of Endor.
 * Rogue Squadron, commanded by Wedge Antilles, was a starfighter squadron in the Star Wars franchise. The squadron appears in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) as "Rogue Group". In the 2016 film Rogue One, Rebel fighters on a suicide mission to steal the plans for the Death Star (which causes the Battle of Scarif) self-identify as "Rogue One", a possible precursor to Rogue Squadron.

Galactic Civil War
The fall of the Old Republic and the birth of the Empire, as depicted in Revenge of the Sith, marked the beginning of the bloody Galactic Civil War.

Decisive losses and victories
The Rebels episode, "Zero Hour", demonstrates the Imperials' absolute naval supremacy when they successfully entrapped the "Phoenix Fleet" during the Battle of Atollon, and forced them in engaging on equal footing; resulting a decisive victory for the Imperials and the total decimation of the Rebel fleet.

During the events of Rogue One and A New Hope, the Alliance learns of the construction of the 'Death Star', an enormous superweapon capable of obliterating entire planets, intended to cement the Empire's rule of terror. Intelligence gathered reveals that a Death Star engineer antipathetic to the causes of the Empire had intentionally included a design flaw that, if exploited, could bring down the entire station. With the help of the Rogue One squad led by Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, a Rebel assault on an Imperial facility on the heavily-defended planet Scarif successfully manages to capture schematics of the Death Star. The Battle of Scarif was the first major engagement against the Empire, and ended in a pyrrhic victory; all members of Rogue One are killed in action, and the Rebel fleet was decimated.

After successfully capturing the Death Star plans, Alderaanian soldiers aboard a Mon Calamari flagship barely manage to escape the 501st Legion and Death Squadron with the stolen data plans. Right after the battle, the Tantive IV, an Alderaanian corvette carrying Princess Leia Organa is captured by Vader's flagship, Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Devastator, while attempting to deliver the plans to Bail Organa on Alderaan. All members of the Alderaanian Consular Security onboard are either killed or taken prisoner and Princess Leia Organa is held hostage for a time by Darth Vader. In order to punish both her and her home planet government's central involvement in the Rebel Alliance, Leia is forced to witness Alderaan's destruction by the Death Star. The Princess is subsequently rescued by Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who then deliver the station schematics to the Alliance. Subsequent analysis of the schematics reveals the critical vulnerability to be an exhaust port leading directly to the station's reactor core.

The Empire discovers the location of the primary Alliance headquarters on a moon of the planet Yavin through a tracking device covertly planted on Han Solo's vessel, and deploys the Death Star to destroy the base and crush the insurgency once and for all. During the ensuing battle of Yavin, Rebel starfighter squadrons lead an assault on the Death Star in a last-ditch attempt to exploit the vulnerability before it could fire upon the Rebel base. Despite fighters sustaining heavy losses, one pilot—the Force-sensitive Luke Skywalker—successfully guides torpedoes down the exhaust port. The Death Star is obliterated in a catastrophic explosion, and the battle ends in a decisive Rebel victory.

In the Star Wars comics, the Rebellion wins numerous victories against the Empire after the destruction of the Death Star, destroying its major weapons factory on Cymoon 1, breaking an Imperial blockade around the Rebel world of Tureen VII by stealing the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer Harbinger and recruiting the Mon Calamari trading fleet to be refitted as an assault fleet. Such firepower would finally allow the Alliance to attack the Empire on a larger scale. However, one of the Rebellion's allies, Queen Trios of Shu-Torun (whose world's technology had been fitted into the ships of the new Rebel fleet), revealed herself as an undercover Imperial agent sent by Darth Vader to sabotage their efforts. With their ships unexpectedly paralyzed by the Shu-Torun technology, the gathered Rebel fleet could do little as they were targeted for destruction by Vader's Imperial fleet. Half the Rebel ships were destroyed in the battle before Leia found a way around the sabotage and allowed the remaining ships to escape. However, Generals Jan Dodonna and Davits Draven, as well as several other high-ranking Rebel officers, were killed during the battle and the remaining Rebel ships were separated in their flight. Mon Mothma instructed all Rebel cells to regroup in time while striking out at the Empire when and how they could. Not until the Battle of Endor would the whole force of the Rebellion be once again united in a single place.

In The Empire Strikes Back, the Alliance suffers a crushing defeat on Hoth when one of their main command centers, Echo Base, is overrun by the Darth Vader's elite personal Imperial armed forces, the Death Squadron and the 501st Legion. The remaining forces of the Rebellion are forced to stay mobile, using Admiral Ackbar's flagship, Home One, as their headquarters.

By Return of the Jedi, the Alliance has regrouped and learned that a second, more powerful Death Star is being constructed, and will be completed under Emperor Palpatine's personal supervision. Mon Mothma has Admiral Ackbar and Lando Calrissian command the Alliance fleet and dispatches Han Solo and Princess Leia in leading Alliance's elite special forces to disable the station's defenses while Luke distracts Darth Vader. The Alliance subsequently wins the Battle of Endor, in which Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, the Death Squadron-Imperial armada, and much of the Imperial hierarchy are killed in action. The loss of the second Death Star and other invaluable Imperial naval assets, along with the deaths of Imperial leaders aboard, marked the beginning of the end of Imperial rule over the galaxy.

Successor
Following their victory at the Battle of Endor, a provisional New Republic was officially formed by Alliance members. This, combined with the Imperial power vacuum, political infighting, and Operation Cinder—Palpatine's scorched earth contingency plan—encouraged thousands of inhabited planets to either declare independence from the collapsing Empire or defect to the Alliance.

The New Republic found itself with no shortage of recruits and resources: the declining popularity of the Empire pushed many long time Imperial loyalists to the Rebel cause, including those of Inferno Squadron, who after Operation Cinder, which saw the destruction of countless Imperial worlds, opened the eyes of many to the atrocities of the Empire. Even the most dedicated Imperials such as Inferno Squadron commander Iden Versio were moved to defect after the witnessing the destruction of her homeworld Vardos. Finally realizing the Empire's propaganda had deceived them, many Imperials began to feel shame over their actions, in particular over the destruction of Alderaan.

Despite fact that the New Republic was now winning the war, had a lot more resources than before—and a lot more recruits—the New Republic was suffering from logistic nightmares. The decentralized structure that served them well became a liability; described as "a ragtag force strategically ill-fed and cobbled together of incompatible ships and squadrons". The Alliance fleet shifted military doctrine; the guerrilla warfare aspect of the grand strategy was de-emphasized, and conventional forces took over the primary prosecution of the war. Once the New Republic became powerful enough, the Alliance fleet was reorganized into the New Republic Military, charged with the defense of the New Republic.

About a year after the Battle of Endor, the Rebellion defeated Imperial forces during the Battle of Jakku, formally established the New Republic government, and suspends offensive operations. Thus, the Galactic Civil War came to a close. Three decades later, by the time of The Force Awakens, the New Republic backed the Resistance army, a successor of the Alliance, to stand against the First Order, a new military power formed by hardline remnants from the Empire.

Legends
After Disney's acquisition of the franchise, Lucasfilm announced in 2014 that previous works outside the theatrical films and The Clone Wars would no longer be considered canon, but began to be republished under the Legends banner.

 * According to Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, the Cantham House Meetings of Coruscant, including the participation of Senators Mon Mothma and Bail Organa, take place with the purpose of discussing the formation of a Galactic Alliance in opposition to Palpatine's Galactic Empire. In addition, the RPG tells that although throughout the galaxy many sectors are already fighting against Imperial interests, resistance is relatively quiet until the incident on the planet Ghorman, which takes place 18 years before the Battle of Yavin. The incident begins when an Imperial military cruiser commanded by Captain Wilhuff Tarkin is blocked by peaceful anti-Empire protesters who refuse to move off the ship's landing pad. With implied permission from the Emperor, Tarkin lands the ship anyway, injuring and killing many, an incident that history would record as the Ghorman Massacre. The myriad of civilizations which are fighting the Empire continue to grow in number and progressively coalesce into a ragtag organization known as the Resistance. They intend upon removing the evil Emperor, but the growing ruthlessness of the Imperial state forces them into secrecy, as they are initially unable to undermine the Empire's regime. The RPG tells that part of the strategy of the Rebel Alliance is the Doctrine of Space Denial, wherein the Rebellion would attack Imperial shipping frigates in hit and run raids, both to disrupt Imperial supplies and operations, and also to loot desperately needed materials. These Rebel starfighters were equipped with hyperdrive capability along prearranged routes which would allow this kind of harassment and escape before the Empire may react.
 * The video game The Force Unleashed presents a differing view of the Alliance's beginnings, hinting that the Emperor actually secretly pushed for its formation. Palpatine clandestinely bids for the creation of another opposing force, intent on starting yet another war in order to consolidate his power with the fledgling Empire, just as he had done earlier with the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The Emperor orders his apprentice Darth Vader to use his own secret apprentice, Galen Marek (called "Starkiller"), as a pawn to gather together the Empire's enemies, manipulating him into believing that the intention is to start a rebellion. Vader quickly realizes that this is obviously a ploy by Palpatine in order to lure any significant rebels into a trap; however, it is unclear whether Vader (or the Emperor) had intended for the Rebellion to survive. At the supposedly secret meeting known as the Corellian Treaty, Mon Mothma, Bail Organa, Garm Bel Iblis, Jedi-General Rahm Kota, and others meet to formally create the Rebellion against the Empire. However, the proceedings are ambushed by Vader under orders from the Emperor, whom had actually secretly orchestrated the Treaty himself in order to gather all the Rebel leaders together and eliminate them. Starkiller, now aligned with the Rebellion after two betrayals by his former master, manages to save the principal founders from the Empire, though at the cost of his own life. Regrouping on Kashyyyk, the Senators formally proclaim an open Declaration of Rebellion, which states the grievances of the Empire against the Alliance to Restore the Republic and concludes with an open threat to depose the Emperor. This marks the formal "founding" of the Rebel Alliance, and Galen Marek's family crest is chosen by Leia as its official symbol. Thus, the Rebel Alliance is effectively founded by Darth Vader himself, and, by extension, Emperor Palpatine, though it is clear neither had imagined that the Alliance would actually ever become a serious threat. The Galactic Civil War consequently ensues, during which the Rebellion confronts the Empire many times throughout the galaxy.
 * Empire at War depicts various allies contributing secretly to the Alliance, slowly making the united Rebel Force more powerful. The most notable equipment contributions include the defection of the Incom Corporation staff and all relevant material involved in the development of an advanced spacefighter, the X-wing.
 * A "Declaration of Rebellion" was depicted in the 1990 book The Star Wars Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.
 * After its victory on Endor, the Rebellion was temporarily stationed there and renamed the "Alliance of Free Planets".

Members
Canon members:
 * General Leia Organa
 * Senator Bail Organa
 * Admiral Raddus – Captain of the Profundity
 * Nien Nunb – Rebel Engineer and pilot
 * Han Solo – Captain of the Millennium Falcon
 * Hera Syndulla – Pilot, leader of the Phoenix Squadron
 * Commander Sato
 * Jyn Erso – Member of the Rogue One group

Founders

 * Senator Bana Breemu – Co-founder; early constituting member (deceased)
 * Senator Garm Bel Iblis – Co-founder; financed private army to fight against the Empire; rejoined Alliance during the Thrawn campaign.
 * Senator Bail Organa of the Imperial Senate (deceased)
 * Senator Mon Mothma of the Imperial Senate

Senior civil government and military high command

 * Col Serra – Commander of Renegade Squadron
 * Ylenic It'kla – Commander and Jedi Knight who escaped Order 66, serving as a personal aide to Bail Organa on Alderaan. Works with Alderaanian authorities to coordinate rebel activity.
 * Qu Rahn – General and Jedi Master who survived Order 66, mostly due to his connection and training with Yoda.
 * Rahm Kota – General and former Jedi Master who survived Order 66, thanks to the aid of his own private militia.
 * Echuu Shen-Jon – General and Jedi Master who survived Order 66, thanks to his exile on Krant.
 * Talon Karrde – General and former smuggler who aided the New Republic during the Thrawn campaign.

Brief list of appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005; founded in a deleted scene)
 * Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018)
 * Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018)
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
 * Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
 * Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
 * Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
 * Star Wars Battlefront (2015)
 * Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)

title: Rebel Alliance


text:
Talk:Benton County, Washington

Untitled
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Ref: County seat controversy Prosser has always had a well-organized group of politically-active people willing to defend Prosser as the county seat. On the other hand, Richland and Kennewick seldom cooperate; a move by Kennewick to put more of the County operations in Kennewick is not supported, sometimes opposed, by Richland. As more of the county records move on-line the physical location of the county seat will be less important. Most of the judicial activities (courts) have been moved to Kennewick although the jail is still in Prosser. This controversy will re-awake when it comes time to renovate the Courthouse in Prosser - will it make sense to spend money re-building the historic brick structure or should we start over somewhere more convenient the bulk of the citizens?

no controversy
There is no "county seat controversy" in Benton County. It is one man's crusade to move the county seat, for reasons unknown to most of the population. The only time the subject ever comes up is when he brings it up. It is a non-issue in every segment of the community. The crusader cannot even get 15,000 people in a county of 150,000 to support putting a measure on the ballot to address the "controversy". Most people feel, if it isn't broken, don't fix it; and that addage applies here. The people's needs are met in this county, and the level of service delivery is very high. The gentleman should probably find something more constructive to do with his retirement.

Link farm
I'm moving this hear because the county article is incredibly inappropriate to have a WP:DIRECTORY in. Now some of these wineries are truly notable and deserve a wikipedia article. (I'm currently working on one for Chinook Wines) After an article is written, we can find a way to include a wiki link in this article. AgneCheese/Wine 21:37, 8 June 2012 (UTC)

Tri-Cities tasting rooms

 * Badger Mountain (organic) Vineyard, Kennewick
 * Bernard Griffin Winery, Richland
 * Bookwalter Winery, Richland
 * Goose Ridge Vineyards, Richland
 * Powers Winery, Kennewick
 * Tagaris Winery and Taverna, Richland

Red Mountain and other Benton City tasting rooms

 * Buckmaster Cellers, Benton City
 * Hedges Cellars, Benton City
 * Kiona Vineyards Winery, Benton City
 * Oakwood Cellars, Benton City
 * Terra Blanca, Benton City
 * Seth Ryan Winery, Benton City
 * Tapteil Vineyard Winery, Benton City
 * Cañon de Sol, Benton City
 * Chandler Ranch Vineyards Estate Winery, Benton City
 * Sandhill Winery, Benton City

Prosser and other tasting rooms

 * Alexandria Nicole Cellars, Prosser
 * C R Sandidge Wines, winery in Chelan, tasting room in Prosser
 * Chateau Champoux, Prosser
 * Chinook Wines, Prosser
 * Columbia Crest Winery, Paterson
 * Cowan Vineyards, Prosser
 * Coyote Canyon Winery, Prosser
 * Desert Wind Vineyard, Prosser
 * Eaton Hill Winery
 * Fox Estate Winery, Mattawa
 * Frenchman Hills Vineyard
 * Hinzerling Winery and Vintner's Inn, Prosser
 * Hogue Cellars Winery, Prosser
 * Kestrel Winery, Prosser
 * Sleeping Dog Wines, Benton City
 * Snipes Gap Vineyards, Prosser
 * Snoqualmie Vineyards, Prosser
 * Thurston Wolfe Winery, Prosser

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title: Talk:Benton County, Washington