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Talk:Mentat

Archive

Canon vs Encyclopedia
I noticed the inclusion of the latin meaning, the including of the canon source of the term by Erasmus, the removal of the latin meaning and its reinstatement. I have to admit that I do agree there is a place in the article for both canon, and for interesting (ie encyclopedic) facts about the book. My only question is whether this is known fact and can be backed up by sources, or whether this is just an assumption (A good one at that I might add) of where Frank Herbert would have gotten the term originally? Sadly, wikipedia is about verifyable and sourced facts... so unless someone can find reference somewhere to it having a latin base, it might have to be added to a different section about speculation just so that other readers do not take that to be gospel that it actually *IS* what Frank Herbert based the term on. Enigmatical 04:31, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * As an example,Brian Herbert has been quoted in sources as saying that the term "Bene Gesserit" was used by Frank specifically because it sounded like "Jesuit" and thus it is a verifiable source of what Frank was thinking at the time. Can a similar quote be sourced anywhere stating the same thing about the use of Mentat? Enigmatical 04:33, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * The Dune Encyclopedia is not facts though. It is fancon, not canon.  Dionyseus 04:41, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I understand that, but wikipedia is about providing not only canon information but also interesting facts and additions which people may want to read. I would like to know the source for teh dune encyclopedia... while its content may not be canon, was there any involvement of Frank Herbert at all? Could any information in there be something of interest outside of the book content itself? See my example above about Bene Gesserit. It isn't "canon" that the name was used specifically to sound like "Jesuit" and yet it certainly should be included in the article because it is an interesting fact which can be verified by other sources coming directly from those involved in the work. I dont think its fair to simply state "its not canon = it doesn't go in". For now however (and to stop an edit war) I think it best to leave it out until a source can be verified to put it in. Enigmatical 04:45, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Well looking at the proposed sentence one can quickly see that it is merely a guess, an assumption, not based on facts. Here's the proposed sentence that I think does not belong in the article: The name mentat is probably derived from, or at least is reminiscent of the latin root "of the mind" (mentis).  Dionyseus 04:50, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Comparable profession
I've read about this quite a bit. Does anyone know if there is a comparable profession in the real word, or is it completely Sci-Fi? Also, perhaps a link to the mentat wiki would be appropriate: http://www.ludism.org/mentat/ Pete Iriarte 08:28, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

 * There's no comparable profession that I can think of, though certain skills or conditions seem to fit (like idiot savants who can multiply 12 digit numbers). The closest fictional archetype I can think of Heinlein's fair witnesses from Stranger in a Strange Land.

 * Links to various 'mentat' web pages have typically been removed because their connection is usually tenuous at best. The Mentat Wiki in particular has been linked and removed, given that it uses the term 'mentat' only in a loose, metaphorical sense that captures the general content of the site as a place for intellectual self-help and development.  If this seems overly strict, it's only because far more lunatic sites have tried link-spamming here, and the editors (myself included) are inclined towards a zero-tolerance policy to avoid arguments of degree. Justin Johnson 00:16, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

 * I think an analyst would be the closest profession. Their purpose is to take in all the available information and then draw correlations and information from it. Enigmatical 22:30, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

 * True, but what really makes mentats what they are is that they do all of that in their heads. As best I can tell, and as best the people on the Science reference desk can tell, nobody has existed who could actually manage that, and even in the age of 12-step programs and magical frauds, I don't know of anyone who's ever claimed to be able to teach it. They're a very, very specialized group with a number of completely unique features, and no, they aren't real. Black Carrot 17:03, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

 * We do have the ability to extrapolate. I know that as a Systems Analyst I often "see" designs in my head and having listened to clients and read all of the available information it sometimes feels as if you are doing computations and comparaisons internally and then coming up with the relevant answers. The whole concept of a mentat is that they are able to discover patterns and perform statistical analysis that indicate the most likely reason for something or predict the most likely outcome based on available data. This is already done in various analysis jobs... but obviously not to the fantastical and fictional scale of a mentat. Still... 10,000 years of "practice" and you would have to wonder what the analysts of that era would be like. Enigmatical 22:54, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

 * 10,000 years is a long time, surely their brains are slightly more evolved than ours. So not only do they have the proper training, their brains are perhaps superior to ours.  Dionyseus 00:57, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

 * Another fictitious parallel is with Donal Graeme in Gordon Dickson's book Dorsai!. Donal is an "intuitive superman", who comes to accurate conclusions as a result of an unexplored intuitive thought process far beyond the human norm, that exceeds logical analysis in every conceivable way.  The parallel is actually quite strong, considering the description of the mentat mental state given by Teg and Duncan in Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse Dune.

 * It's possible to view a mentat as a systems analyst multiplied by many orders of magnitude, but in the original Dune books, Herbert is quite clear that it's more than a practice, it's a cultivated mental discipline involving a particular state of mind more like Zen than anything else. This is part of the reason I'm dismissive of link-spamming to 'mentat' sites that are about memory tricks and mental organization practices. Justin Johnson 04:24, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

-We have to start somewhere.How else are you going to increase the quality and quantity of cognition? Consider how much cognition takes place without memory "tricks" and mental organization practices. These concepts are worth working on and contribute to mentat abilities.What else defines a Mentat other than manifestations of mental acuity derived from active mind enhancing practices? -Vulcan mentat society

 * Actually Zen might be a misnomer when used here. The point of zen is actually "Action without thought". Which means you have practiced something to the point where you no longer have to give it conscious thought or control to perform it. Clearly in this case its the absolute opposite and a mentat must actively engage this state and control it towards reaching their findings. I would liken it more to a Trance than anything else. Enigmatical 22:40, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

The Mentat Mantra
I have removed the following from the article until it can be referenced; my own search of the Prelude text files comes up with no use of the key phrases in this mantra. ("acquire speed", "dream acquires form", etc.) The original mantra is the one used by Piter De Vries in Prelude to Dune: It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. It is by intent that thoughts acquire speed, the dream acquires form, the form pervades reality. It is by will alone I set my mind in motion. TAnthony 02:02, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the "original" have been the movie version? --Gwern (contribs) 02:15, 13 December 2006 (UTC)
 * The mantra does not appear in any of the Dune books, including the Prelude to Dune series. The mantra that TAnthony quoted comes from the original movie.  Dionyseus 02:28, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Popular culture
User gwern> Why did you delete my Altar of Sacrifice section and why didn't you put a motivation/explanation for it here? Altar of Sacrifice section Created on 01:11, 24 May 2007 deleted by user gwern on 01:24, 24 May 2007

62.195.208.30 20:10, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Because there is no reason for it to be included. If the band or whatever isn't important enough to have an article, then how on earth could a mention of Mentats by them be so important it should be included here? --Gwern (contribs) 22:03, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

Ok, maybe i'm off on this but why allow games to be in this article and uses of the word Mentat (mental booster) and not allow this. The group ís important, it just doesn't have an article on (the English) Wikipedia. They produce (like i mentionend and internally linked to) Gabber music wich is, to stick with your terms, 'important' and has a large Wikipedia article on several international Wikipedia editions. The Mentat sample they use is a direct extraction from the movie Dune_%28film%29. To my opinion, the only info wich might have been a bit to extensive and irrelevant was putting the names of all individual members of the group in the Mentat article.

62.195.208.30 22:55, 24 May 2007 (UTC)

 * Gabber seems to be a genre, no? It certainly may be notable, I don't dispute, but I still don't see why this particular group producing gabber-style music (Altar of Sacrifice) is important. --Gwern (contribs) 01:39, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I found the entry in question in the history, and it just doesn't fit in with the rest of the "uses in media" or etc. Uses of the word "Mentat" itself with a similar meaning to the Dune universe may be notable, but references to the Dune media itself (or samples of it) are better off in the main Dune article, if anywhere. If the musicians had sang something like "I am a Mentat, my mind is a computer", I'd agree that it belongs here. This article is about the word itself, not the media around it. Prgrmr@wrk 14:23, 26 May 2007 (UTC)

Ok i guess you guys are prolly right. Thanks for explaining.

62.195.208.30 19:27, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Notability?
Clearly, Mentats are notable within the Dune universe, which itself is one of the most acclaimed sci-fi series in existence. I also think this article is adequately sourced, and not just an expansion on an unimportant term (which would render it not notable). In any case, I believe this user is misinterpreting the notability guidelines in this case, and I'm not sure what we do to guarantee that the article stays. TAnthony 00:11, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
 * User:Gwern removed the tag, it's quite clear that Mentats are one of the most notable subjects of the Dune universe. Dionyseus 01:19, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

I've added a reference to a described mentat outside of the Dune universe, this one from Marvel Comics. Appearing across several unrelated works of fiction as a similar concept should be enough to stave off any notability challenges to the article's existence. 71.225.168.28 (talk) 21:43, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

There is another in Marvel comics Sage in the Xmen: The End set of mini series refers to herself as "Mentat", I'll add something when I cross-check if this was in other more canon storylines as well Czarnibog (talk) 02:41, 3 April 2019 (UTC)

Trivia removed
I've removed the following unsourced bit, which sounds like a huge stretch to me. Also, the editor had the last name as Albus, which does mean "white," but in the novels it is "Albans." TAnthony 15:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
 * The name of the first mentat Gilbertus Albans is a casting into Latin of Gilbert White an early English naturalist, notable for the quality and diligence of his observations.

Supra-logic
This article mentions "supra-logic". What does that mean? It is not in any dictionary and is not in Encyclopedia Brittanica. I have seen other references but only in religious contexts. Nonetheless, if the term "supra-logic" is used in this article, perhaps it should be expanded upon further and/or have a reference link. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.249.47.207 (talk) 20:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Mentat


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Leopold

Leopold may refer to:

People

 * Leopold (given name), including a list of people named Leopold or Léopold
 * Leopold (surname)

Fictional characters

 * Leopold (The Simpsons), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on The Simpsons
 * Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses
 * Leopold "Leo" Fitz, on the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * Leopold "Butters" Stotch, on the television series South Park
 * General Leopold von Flockenstuffen, on the BBC sitcom 'Allo 'Allo!
 * Leopold the Cat, the protagonist of a Soviet/Russian animated short film series
 * Leopold, 3rd Duke of Albany, a lead character of Kate & Leopold, a 2001 romantic comedy film

Businesses

 * Leopold (publisher), a Netherlands-based publishing company
 * Leopold Bros., an American micro-distiller
 * Leopold Cafe, Colaba, Mumbai, India (attacked during the 26 November 2008 Mumbai attacks)
 * Leopold's Ice Cream, an American business

Military

 * Leopold, a German World War II Krupp K5 railway gun
 * USS Leopold (DE-319), a World War II American destroyer escort
 * Belgian frigate Leopold I (F930)

Australia

 * Leopold, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong
 * King Leopold Ranges, now named Wunaamin Miliwundi Ranges, a range of hills in Western Australia

Belgium

 * Espace Léopold, buildings housing the European Parliament, Brussels
 * Leopold Canal (Belgium)
 * Leopold Park, a public park in Brussels
 * Leopold Quarter, a district of Brussels

United States

 * Leopold Township, Perry County, Indiana
 * Leopold, Indiana, an unincorporated community within the township
 * Leopold, Missouri
 * Leopold, West Virginia
 * Leopold Hotel, Bellingham, Washington, on the National Register of Historic Places

Elsewhere

 * Leopold Museum, Vienna, Austria
 * Leopold Island, Nunavut, Canada
 * Leopold Square, Sheffield, England, a mixed development
 * Leopold Canal (Baden-Württemberg), Germany
 * Leopold, Grand'Anse, Haiti, a village

Awards and honors

 * Leopold (prize), a biennial German prize for music for children
 * Order of Leopold (disambiguation), various ceremonial orders

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

title: Leopold


text:
Austrians

Austrians (Österreicher, ) are the citizens and nationals of Austria. The English term Austrians was applied to the population of Habsburg Austria from the 17th or 18th century. Subsequently, during the 19th century, it referred to the citizens of the Empire of Austria (1804–1867), and from 1867 until 1918 to the citizens of Cisleithania. In the closest sense, the term Austria originally referred to the historical March of Austria, corresponding roughly to the Vienna Basin in what is today Lower Austria.

Historically, Austrians were regarded as Germans and viewed themselves as such. The Austrian lands (including Bohemia) were part of the Holy Roman Empire and the German Confederation until the Austro-Prussian War in 1866 which resulted in Prussia expelling the Austrian Empire from the Confederation. Thus, when Germany was founded as a nation-state in 1871, Austria was not a part of it. In 1867, Austria was reformed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918 at the end of World War I, Austria was reduced to a rump state and adopted and briefly used the name the Republic of German-Austria (Republik Deutschösterreich) in an attempt for union with Germany, but was forbidden due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1919). The First Austrian Republic was founded in 1919. Nazi Germany annexed Austria with the Anschluss in 1938.

After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II in Europe, both the political ideology of pan-Germanism and the union with Germany have become associated with Nazism, resulting in Austrians developing their own separate and distinct national identity. Today, the vast majority of Austrians do not identify as German.

Name

The English word Austrian is a derivative of the proper name Austria, which is a latinization of Österreich, the German name for Austria. This word is derived from Ostarrîchi, which first appears in 996. This, in turn, is probably a translation of the Latin Marcha Orientalis, which means "eastern borderland" (viz. delimiting the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire). It was a margraviate of the Duchy of Bavaria, ruled by the House of Babenberg from AD 976. During the 12th century, the Marcha Orientalis under the Babenbergs became independent of Bavaria. What is today known as Lower Austria corresponds to the Marcha Orientalis, while Upper Austria corresponds to the eastern half of the core territory of Bavaria (the western half forming part of the German state of Bavaria).

The adjective Austrian entered the English language in the early 17th century, at the time referring to Habsburg Austria in the sense of "members of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg" (the junior branch emerging from the dynastic split into Austrian and Spanish Habsburgs in 1521), but from the 18th century also "a native or inhabitant of Austria".

Early history
Hallstatt LaTene.png and La Tène cultures: {{legend|#f6bc0a|The core Hallstatt territory (HaC, 800 BC) is shown in solid yellow, }}

The territories of some major Celtic tribes of the late La Tène period are labelled.]] The territory of what is today Austria in the Roman era was divided into Raetia, Noricum and Pannonia. Noricum was a Celtic kingdom, while the Pannonii were of Illyrian stock. The Raetians were an ancient alpine people probably akin to the Etruscans. During the Migration period (c. 6th century), these territories were settled by the Bavarians and other Germanic groups in the west (Alemanni in Vorarlberg, Lombards in Tyrol), and by Slavic groups (principality Carantania), Huns and Avars in the east. In the 8th century, the former territories of Raetia and Noricum fell under Carolingian rule, and were divided into the duchies of Swabia, Bavaria and principality Carantania. Pannonia until the end of the 8th century was part of the Avar Khaganate. The "East March" (Ostmark) during the 9th century was the boundary region separating East Francia from the Avars and the Magyars. The site of Vienna had been settled since Celtic times (as Vindobona), but the city only rose to importance in the High Middle Ages as the chief settlement of the March of Austria (the March river just east of Vienna marks the ancient border between Francia and the Avars).

After the defeat of the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, the East March or March of Austria came to be the easternmost portion of the Holy Roman Empire, bordering on Moravia to the north and on the Kingdom of Hungary to the east. As a consequence, the national character of the Austro-Bavarian speaking majority population of Austria throughout their early modern and modern history remained characterized by their neighbourhood to the West Slavs (Czechs, Slovaks) to the north, the South Slavs (Slovenes, Carinthian Slovenes, Burgenland Croats) to the south, and the Hungarians to the east.

The unification of the various territories of Austria outside of the March of Austria proper (i.e. parts of Bavaria, Swabia and Carinthia) was a gradual process of feudal politics during the High and Late Middle Ages, at first in the Archduchy of Austria under the House of Babenberg during the 12th to 13th centuries, and under the House of Habsburg after 1278 and throughout the 14th and 15th centuries. The various populations of these territories were not unified under the single name of "Austrians" before the early modern period.

Early modern period

The Habsburg, who had ruled the territory of Austria since the Late Middle Ages, greatly increased their political prestige and power with the acquisition of the lands of the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia in 1526. The Hungarian aristocracy was more successful at retaining the Magyars' cultural and political preponderance in multi-ethnic Hungary than Bohemia, on three sides surrounded by German neighbours, which underwent a period of intense German colonisation, germanizing the leading classes of the Czech people as well. The common German identity of lands such as Carinthia, Styria, or Tyrol, and the ruling dynasty made it easier for these lands to accept the central government set up in Vienna in the mid-18th century.

The term Austrian in these times was used for identifying subjects of the Domus Austriae, the House of Austria, as the dynasty was called in Europe, regardless of their ethnic ancestry. Although not formally a united state, the lands ruled by the Habsburgs would sometimes be known by the name "Austria". In reality they remained a disparate range of semi-autonomous states, most of which were part of the complex network of states that was the Holy Roman Empire (the imperial institutions of which were themselves controlled for much of their later existence by the Habsburgs). However, the second half of the 18th century saw an increasingly centralised state begin to develop under the reign of Maria Theresa of Austria and her son Joseph II.

After the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon, the emperor Franz II formally founded the Austrian Empire in 1804 and became as Franz I the first Austrian emperor. For the first time the citizens of the various territories were now subjects of the one same state, while most of the German states, Prussia excluded, still cultivated their Kleinstaaterei and did not succeed in forming a homogenous empire. Following Prussia's victory in the Austro-Prussian war in 1866, Otto von Bismarck successfully unified the German Empire in 1871, which was Prussian-dominated, without the inclusion of Austria and the German Austrians.

After Austria was excluded from Germany in 1866, the following year Austria joined Hungary as a dual empire known as the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A further major change resulted from a reorganisation of the Austrian Empire in 1867 into a dual monarchy, acknowledging the Kingdom of Hungary as an independent state bound to the remaining part of the empire, as well independent, by a personal and real union, the Emperor of Austria being the Apostolic King of Hungary (with both titles on the same level). The Austrian half, a patchwork of crown-lands, broadly coterminous with the modern-day Austria, the Czech Republic, and parts of Slovenia, Poland, Ukraine, Italy, and Croatia, was bound together by the common constitution of 1867, stating that all subjects now would carry "uniform Austrian citizenship" and have the same fundamental rights. These non-Hungarian lands were not officially called the Austrian Empire. Until 1915, they were officially called "the Kingdoms and States Represented in the Imperial Council" and politicians used the technical term Cisleithania (labelling the Hungarian lands as Transleithania). The general public called them Austria, and in 1915, the non-parliamentary Cisleithanian government decreed to use this term officially, too.

19th-century nationalism

The idea of grouping all Germans into one nation-state gave way to a rapid rise of German nationalism within the German Confederation, especially in the two most powerful German states, Austria and Prussia. The question of how a unified Germany was to be formed was a matter of debate. The German Question was to be solved by either unifying all German-speaking peoples under one state as the "Greater German solution" (Großdeutsche Lösung), which was promoted by the Austrian Empire and its supporters. On the other hand, the "Lesser German solution" (Kleindeutsche Lösung) advocated only to unify the northern German states and exclude Austria; this proposal was favored by the Kingdom of Prussia and its supporters. This debate became known as German dualism.

The lands later called Cisleithania (except Galicia and Dalmatia) were members of the German Confederation since 1815 as they had been part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1806. Until 1848, Austria and its chancellor Prince Metternich unanimously dominated the confederation. The developing sense of a German nationality had been accelerated massively as a consequence of the political turmoil and wars that engulfed Central Europe following the French Revolution and the rise to power of Napoleon Bonaparte. Although the years of peace after Napoleon's fall quickly saw German nationalism largely pushed out of the public political arena by reactionary absolutism, the Revolutions of 1848 established it as a significant political issue for a period of nearly hundred years. Political debate now centred on the nature of a possible future German state to replace the Confederation, and part of that debate concerned the issue of whether or not the Austrian lands had a place in the German polity. When Emperor Franz Joseph I ordered to build a monument in Vienna in 1860 to Archduke Charles, victor over Napoleon in the Battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809, it carried the dedication "To the persistent fighter for Germany's honour", to underline the Germanic mission of the House of Austria.

The idea of uniting all ethnic Germans into one nation-state began to be challenged in Austria by the rise of Austrian nationalism, especially within the Christian Social Party that identified Austrians on the basis of their predominantly Catholic religious identity as opposed to the predominantly Protestant religious identity of the Prussians.

Habsburg influence over the German Confederation, which was strongest in the southern member states, was rivalled by the increasingly powerful Prussian state. Political manoeuvering by the Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck resulted in military defeat of the Austrians in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the collapse of the Confederation, both effectively ending any future Austrian influence on German political events.

When asked by Edward VII to abandon Austria-Hungary's alliance with Germany for co-operation with England, Franz Joseph replied "I am a German prince."

The Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of a German Empire in 1871, headed by Prussia and pointedly excluding any of the Austrian lands, let the state turn away from Germany and turn its gaze towards the Balkan Peninsula. Thereby the influence of pan-Germanism was diminished in the Habsburg territories, but as the term "Austrians" still was used supra-national, German-speaking Austrians considered themselves Germans (and were counted as such in the censuses). After Bismarck had excluded Austria from Germany, many Austrians faced a dilemma about their identity which prompted the Social Democratic Leader Otto Bauer to state that the dilemma was "the conflict between our Austrian and German character." The state as a whole tried to work out a sense of a distinctively Austrian identity.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire created ethnic conflict between the German Austrians and the other ethnic groups of the empire. Many pan-German movements in the empire desired the reinforcement of an ethnic German identity and that the empire would collapse and allow for a quick annexation of Austria to Germany. Although it was precisely because of Bismarck's policies that Austria and the German Austrians were excluded from Germany, many Austrian pan-Germans idolized him.

While the high bureaucracy of Austria and many Austrian army officers considered themselves "black-yellow" (the Habsburg colours), i.e. loyal to the dynasty, the term "German Austria" (Deutschösterreich) was a term used in the press to mean all the Austrian districts with an ethnic German majority among the inhabitants. Austrian pan-Germans such as Georg Ritter von Schönerer and his followers agitated against the "multi-national" Austro-Hungarian Empire and advocated for German Austria to join the German Empire. Although many Austrians shared the same views, a lot of them still showed allegiance to the Habsburg monarchy and hoped for Austria to remain an independent country. Although not as radical as Schönerer and his followers, populists such as Karl Lueger used anti-semitism and pan-Germanism as a form of populism to further their own political purposes.

World Wars

The last year of World War I saw the collapse of Habsburg authority throughout an increasingly greater part of its empire. On October 16, 1918, emperor Karl I invited the nations of Austria to create national councils, with the aim to instigate a restructuring of the state under Habsburg rule. The nations followed the invitation (the Czechs had founded their national council already before the invitation) but ignored the will of the emperor to keep them in a restructured Austrian state. Their goal was total independence.

On October 21, the German members of the Austrian parliament, elected in 1911, met in Vienna to found the Provisional National Assembly of German Austria ("Provisorische Nationalversammlung für Deutschösterreich"). On October 30, 1918, they installed the first German Austrian government, leaving the question "monarchy or republic" open. (German nationalists and social democrats favoured the republic, the Christian Socialists wanted to keep the monarchy.) This government in the first days of November took over the duties of the last imperial-royal government in a peaceful way. Initially the new state adopted the name "German Austria", reflecting the republic being the German part of the old Austria and showing the popular desire to unite with the new German republic. On November 12, 1918, the provisional national assembly voted for the republic and for unification with Germany with a large majority.

The creation of the Czecho-Slovak and South Slav states, the dissolution of the real union with Hungary, and the post-war treaties imposed by the victorious Allies combined to see the newly established Austrian republic both with the boundaries it has today, and a largely homogeneous German-speaking population. In the Treaty of Saint-Germain, in September 1919 the union with Germany was prohibited, and the new republic's name "Deutschösterreich" was prohibited by the treaty; instead the term "Republic of Austria" was used. The westernmost province Vorarlberg's wish to unite with Switzerland was also ignored. On October 21, 1919, the state changed its name accordingly. Many German Austrian communities were left scattered throughout the other new states, especially in Czechoslovakia, where more than 3 million German Bohemians had not been allowed to become part of the new Austrian state, as well as in the southern part of Tyrol which now found itself part of Italy. In total, more than 3.5 million German-speaking Austrians were forced to remain outside the Austrian state.

The collapse of the empire caused an apparent struggle for some German Austrians between an "Austrian" and a "German" character. The idea of unifying Austria with Germany was motivated both by a sense of a common German national identity, and also by a fear that the new state, stripped of its one-time imperial possessions, and surrounded by potentially hostile nation-states, would not be economically viable. An Austrian identity emerged to some degree during the First Republic, and although Austria was still considered part of the "German nation" by most, Austrian patriotism was encouraged by the anti-Nazi/anti-Socialist clerico-authoritarianist state ideology known as Austrofascism from 1934 to 1938. The Engelbert Dollfuss/Kurt von Schuschnigg government accepted that Austria was a "German state" and believed Austrians were "better Germans", but strongly opposed the annexing of Austria to Nazi Germany.

By March 1938, with Nazi governments in control of both Berlin and Vienna, the country was annexed to Germany (Anschluss) as Ostmark. In 1942 the name was changed to the "Alpen-und Donau-Reichsgaue" ("Alpine and Danubian Gaue"), thus eradicating any links with a special Austrian past. Some of the most prominent Nazis were native Austrians, including Adolf Hitler, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Franz Stangl, Otto Skorzeny, and Odilo Globocnik, as were 40% of the staff at Nazi extermination camps.

During the war, Austrians' infatuation with Germany faded as Austrian-born Hitler's series of victories ended. When social democrat Adolf Schärf, from 1945 party president and vice-chancellor and from 1957 federal president of Austria, was visited by German friends who wanted to talk about post-war government, he spontaneously explained to his surprised visitors, "love for Germany has been put out in Austrians". When the allies declared that they would reestablish an independent Austrian state after their victory (the Moscow Declaration of 1943) the only Austrians who heard them were those secretly listening to enemy broadcasts ("Feindsender"), which was a criminal offence and heavily prosecuted.

Though the Allied forces treated Austria as a belligerent party in the war and maintained occupation of it after the Nazi capitulation, they accepted the Declaration of Independence which Austrian politicians had signed at Vienna's city hall on April 27, 1945, and they made the first national elections possible in the autumn of that year. By the end of 1945, Austria, under the supervision of the Allied Council in Vienna, had a democratic parliament and government again, acknowledged by all four allied occupation zones.

The Austrian resistance to the Nazi rule started with the Anschluss in 1938. Historians estimate that there were about 100,000 members of resistance facing 700,000 NSDAP members in Austria. The sign of the Austrian resistance was O5, where the 5 stands for E and OE is the abbreviation of Österreich with Ö as OE.

Republic of Austria (1955 to present)

The end of World War II in 1945 saw the re-establishment of an independent Austria, although the Allied Powers remained in occupation until 1955, when the Austrian State Treaty between Austria and them was signed to end occupation and to regain Austrian sovereignty. Immediately after 1945 the majority of Austrians still saw themselves as Germans, as a broader Austrian national identity took time to develop. In a 1956 survey, 46% of Austrians still considered themselves to be Germans. Another survey carried out in 1964 revealed that only 15% of Austrians still considered themselves to be Germans.

In contrast, the Austrian political elite referred to their experiences in concentration camps and in prison, which had brought out a desire for the lost independence of the Austrian state. Kreissler (1993) writes: "It was not until after the (long dark) night of the Third Reich that Austrian identity was brought back to consciousness by resistance and exile". Austrians developed a self-image unambiguously separate from their German neighbour. It was based on cultural achievements of the past, the Moscow Declaration, geopolitical neutrality, language variation, the Habsburg legacy, and the separation of the two empires in the late 19th century. The German Empire was formed without Austria and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the arrangement known as the Kleindeutsche Lösung or "the Little Germany Solution". It proved favourable for Austrians not to be held guilty for World War II, genocide and war crimes, since Austria was considered a victim of Nazi Germany, although some historians call this a "big lie" and have challenged this statement.

Unlike earlier in the 20th century, in 1987 only 6% of Austrians identified themselves as "Germans". Today over 90% of the Austrians see themselves as an independent nation. The logic of the existence of an independent Austrian state is no longer questioned as it was in the inter-war period. Proponents who recognize Austrians as a nation claim that Austrians have Celtic heritage, as Austria is the location of the first characteristically Celtic culture to exist. It is said that Celtic Austria became culturally Romanized under Roman rule and later culturally Germanized after Germanic invasions. Contemporary Austrians express pride in having Celtic heritage and Austria possesses one of the largest collections of Celtic artifacts in Europe.

Austria's multicultural history and geographical location has resulted in post-Soviet era immigration from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Poland. As with neighbouring Germany, there has also been heavy immigration from Turkey and former Yugoslav states such as Croatia and Serbia.

Language
Austrians have historically spoken the German language. The sole official language at the federal level of Austria is German, and the standard used is called Austrian German since German is considered a pluricentric language, like English. Austrian German is defined by the Austrian Dictionary (Österreichisches Wörterbuch), published under the authority of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture. Thus, all websites, official announcements and most of the media are carried out in Austrian German. In terms of native language, it is generally not Austrian German that is used, but instead local dialects of the Austro-Bavarian and Allemannic (in Vorarlberg and the Tiroler Außerfern) family. The Austro-Bavarian dialects are considered to belong either to the Central Austro-Bavarian or Southern Austro-Bavarian subgroups, with the latter encompassing the languages of the Tyrol, Carinthia, and Styria and the former including the dialects of Vienna, Burgenland, Upper Austria, and Lower Austria. The vast majority of Austrians are however able to speak Austrian Standard German in addition to their native dialect, as it is taught in all modern day schools.

The minority languages Slovene, Croatian and Hungarian are spoken and officially recognized by some states of Austria.

Naturalization
Like most of Central Europe, Austria has had high levels of immigration since the 1970s. As with Germany, the largest immigrant group are Turks. An estimated total of 350,000 ethnic Turks lived in Austria in 2010, accounting for 3% of the Austrian population.

The rate of naturalization has increased after 1995, since which dates Turks in Austria could retain their citizenship in Turkey after naturalization in Austria (dual citizenship). After 2007, the rate of naturalizations has decreased due to a stricter nationality law enacted by the Austrian legislature. During the 2000s, an average number of 27,127 foreign nationals per year was naturalized as Austrian citizens, compared to an average 67,688 children per year born with Austrian nationality.

Today, the largest group of foreign nationals are Germans. As of January 2018 - 186,891 Germans lived in Austria.

Consequently, an increasing portion of Austrians is not descended from the historical populations of Austria. While the term "ethnic Austrian" has mostly been reserved for the context of overseas emigration from Austria (Austrian Americans, Austrian Canadians etc.), it can more recently also be used to distinguish the indigenous population from the naturalized immigrant population.

Music
Vienna, the capital city of Austria has long been an important center of musical innovation. Composers of the 18th and 19th centuries were drawn to the city by the patronage of the Habsburgs, and made Vienna the European capital of classical music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Johann Strauss, Jr., among others, were associated with the city. During the Baroque period, Slavic and Hungarian folk forms influenced Austrian music.

Literature
Complementing its status as a land of artists, Austria has always been a country of great poets, writers, and novelists. It was the home of novelists Arthur Schnitzler, Stefan Zweig, Thomas Bernhard, and Robert Musil, and of poets Georg Trakl, Franz Werfel, Franz Grillparzer, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Adalbert Stifter. Famous contemporary Austrian playwrights and novelists include Elfriede Jelinek and Peter Handke. Writers of philosophy include Ernst Mach, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Popper and the members of the Vienna circle.

Cuisine
Austrian cuisine, which is often incorrectly equated with Viennese cuisine, is derived from the cuisine of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In addition to native regional traditions it has been influenced above all by German, Hungarian, Czech, Jewish, Italian and Polish cuisines, from which both dishes and methods of food preparation have often been borrowed. Goulash is one example of this. Austrian cuisine is known primarily in the rest of the world for its pastries and sweets.

Religion
The majority of Austrians are traditionally Catholic. Catholicism in Austria has played a significant role both in the culture and in the politics of Austria. It enabled the House of Habsburg to rule Spain and its empire as a Catholic Monarchy from the 16th century, and it determined the role of Habsburg Austria in the Thirty Years' War. The music in the tradition of Viennese classicism is sacral to a significant extent, including works such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Great Mass in C minor, Joseph Haydn's masses (1750-1802), Ludwig van Beethoven's Mass in C major (1807), down to Anton Bruckner's Te Deum (1903).

Secularism has been on the rise since the 1980s. An estimated 66% of Austrians adhered to Roman Catholicism in 2009, compared to 78% in 1991 and 89% in 1961. There is a traditional Lutheran minority, accounting for 4% of the population in 2009 (down from 6% in 1961). An estimated 17% are nonreligious (as of 2005).

Islam in Austria has grown rapidly during the 1990s and 2000s, rising from 0.8% in 1971 to an estimated 6% in 2010, overtaking the traditional size of the Lutheran community in Austria. This rapid growth was due to the significant immigration to Austria from Turkey and Yugoslavia during the 1990s to 2000s.

title: Austrians


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Tourism in Singapore

Tourism in Singapore is a major industry and contributor to the Singaporean economy. In 2019, 19,114,002 tourists visited the country, which was the highest recorded number of arrivals since independence in 1965. As of 2023, as tourist arrivals recovers from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a total of 13,610,404 international tourists that have visited Singapore, which was more than twice the country's total population.

The country is marketed as a "City In Nature" destination by the Singapore Tourism Board under its 'Made in Singapore' campaign in 2023, with sustainable tourism as part of the campaign efforts. It also claims to be environmentally friendly, and maintains natural and heritage conservation programs. Along with this, it also has one of the world's lowest crime rates. As English is the dominant one of its four official languages, it is generally easier for tourists to understand when speaking to the local population of the country, for example, when shopping. Transport in Singapore exhaustively covers most, if not all public venues in Singapore, which increases convenience for tourists. This includes the well-known Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system. Singapore is the 5th most visited city in the world, and 2nd in Asia-Pacific.

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017 ranks Singapore 13th out of 136 countries overall, which was the third best in Asia only behind Japan (ranked 4th) and Hong Kong (ranked 11th). The report ranks Singapore's business environment, international openness, also travel and tourism policy and enabling conditions as the best in the world (ranked 1st). However, the island nation scored rather low in natural and cultural resources sub-index (ranked 40th).

History
In January 1964, the Singapore Tourism Board (then known as Singapore Tourist Promotion Board), was set up to market Singapore, then a state of Malaysia, as a destination for tourists, to develop and to regulate the tourism industry. The Government of Singapore had aimed to create more jobs, income and to facilitate trade within Singapore, through the development of the tourism industry. Throughout the 1960s to 70s, the tourism board ran multiple advertising campaigns aimed at drawing visitors from different countries and published monthly newsletters to promote multiple attractions in Singapore. The Merlion was also created as the Singapore Tourism Board's logo in 1964 and was used in promotional materials. The Merlion eventually became a well-known Singaporean icon and in 1972, a Merlion statue was erected in the Merlion Park. In 1977, there was a record of 1.5 million visitors to the country and tourist receipts were estimated to be S$628 million as compared to 522,000 visitors and S$269 million in tourist expenditure in 1970.

Throughout the 1980s to 1990s, the tourism board aimed to market the culture of Singapore to visitors through the renewal of infrastructure in historical areas such as Chinatown and development of new venues for hosting concerts and conventions. In 2005, the government of Singapore announced the development of 2 integrated resorts in Marina South and Sentosa. Plans to develop Gardens by the Bay were also announced in that same year. The resorts were part of plans to boost the tourism industry which had been facing intense competition from other destinations around the region, particularly from nearby Bangkok and Hong Kong, which has since also considered legalisation of casinos in the wake of initiatives in Singapore. Marina Bay Sands was officially opened on 23 June 2010, while Gardens by the Bay opened on June 29, 2012 and Resorts World Sentosa was officially opened on December 7, 2012.

Tourism statistics

Visitor arrivals to Singapore has been increasing since the country's independence in 1965. As compared to a total of 99,000 visitors recorded in 1965, Singapore attracted approximately 19.1 million visitors in 2019 with receipts at S$27.7 billion, according to preliminary figures by the Singapore Tourism Board. The total number of visitors increased by 3.3% from 2018, with increased in arrivals in visitors from China, Indonesia and Australia, while visitors from India and Malaysia dropped 2% and 3% respectively. Tourism receipts increased 2.8% from 2018, with most visitors spending in the sightseeing, entertainment and gaming (S$1,593 million), shopping (S$1.457 million), accommodation (S$1.439 million) and food & beverage (S$649 million) categories.

In 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visitor statistics in Singapore fell 85.7% and tourism receipts fell 82.6% (S$4.8 million) from 2019. A total of 2,700,000 visitors were recorded that year, which was the first time visitor statistics fell since the decrease in arrivals in 2014. Visitors coming into Singapore for short-term visits were also barred from entering and transiting from March 23, 2020 to October 19, 2021.

In 2021, visitors arrivals further dipped to 330,059 visitors, which was a 88% decrease as compared to 2020. In December 2021, amid the spread of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Omicron variant, many countries still had travel restrictions, with some governments banning travel completely to curb transmission. Travel into Singapore for short-term visits were only resumed in September 2021 with the introduction of vaccinated travel lanes.

Top markets 2000–2010
Source: Singapore Tourism Analytics Network

Top markets 2011–2020
Source: Singapore Tourism Analytics Network, Singapore Tourism Board

Top markets 2021–present
Source: Singapore Tourism Analytics Network

Tourism impact of COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021)
In early 2020, COVID-19 pandemic has affected the numbers of foreign visitors across the country. In February 2020, Indonesia raised its travel alert for Singapore to level yellow, urging Indonesian citizens to take extra precautions when they visit the city-state. Indonesia is among the top source of foreign visitors to Singapore. It is predicted that the number of visitors could fall between 25 and 30 per cent from the 2019 figure.

On 16 September 2020, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing has announced that all adult Singaporeans will get $100 tourism vouchers, accessible digitally via Singpass, to be used from December 2020 to June 2021. The $320 million SingapoRediscovers Vouchers scheme is part of the government's effort to prop up the tourism sector, which has been decimated by travel restrictions amidst COVID-19 pandemic.

In April 2022 same day as the U.K., Ireland, Finland, Malaysia and other countries, COVID-19 tourism impact in Singapore was officially ended by early April 2022 as the country moves towards the endemic phase.

Popular tourist destinations
The Orchard Road district, which is dominated by multi-storey shopping centres and hotels, can be considered the centre of tourism in Singapore. Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo, River Wonders, Bird Paradise and Night Safari. The Singapore Zoo has embraced the 'open zoo' concept whereby animals are kept in enclosures, separated from visitors by hidden dry or wet moats, instead of caging the animals. River Wonders features 10 different ecosystems around the world, including the River Nile, Yangtze River, Mississippi, Amazon as well as the Tundra and has 300 species of animals, including numerous endangered species. Bird Paradise is another zoological garden centred on birds, which is dedicated towards exposing the public to as much species and varieties of birds from around the world as possible, including a flock of one thousand flamingos. Night Safari allows people to explore Asian, African and American habitats at night without any visible barriers between guests and the wild animals.

The tourist island of Sentosa, which attracted 19 million visitors in 2011, is located in the south of Singapore, consists of about 20–30 landmarks, such as Fort Siloso, which was built as a fortress to defend against the Japanese during World War II. Guns from the World War II era can be seen at Fort Siloso, from a mini-sized to a 16 pound (7 kg) gun. Moreover, the island has built the Tiger Sky Tower, which allows visitors to view the whole of Sentosa, as well as the Sentosa Luge, a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleighs supine and feet-first. Steering is done by shifting the weight or pulling straps attached to the sled's runners.

Among the latest tourists attractions built in Singapore includes the two integrated resorts which houses casinos, namely Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa, a Universal Studios theme park and Gardens by the Bay.

Shopping

There are various shopping belts in Singapore, Marina Bay, Bugis Street, Chinatown, Geylang Serai, Kampong Gelam & Arab Street, Little India, North Bridge Road, Orchard Road, and The Suburbs.

Singapore seeks to be the business hub of Southeast Asia and has an expansive shopping precinct located in the Orchard Road district. Many multistorey shopping centres are located at Orchard Road; the area also has many hotels, and it's the main tourism centre of Singapore, other than the Downtown Core. The local populace also use Orchard Road for shopping extensively.

Island resorts

Sentosa is a relatively large island of Singapore located to its south. Along with a beach-front resort, the island's tourist attractions include Fort Siloso, its historical museum, the SEA Aquarium, and Madame Tussauds Singapore. Singapore also features two casinos (integrated resorts), one the Marina Bay Sands and the other, Resorts World Sentosa (home to Universal Studios Singapore and Adventure Cove Waterpark).

Cultural and historical landmarks
A former British colony, Singapore has various historical and cultural landmarks with British and regional influences in its architecture. Such cultural landmarks include the Masjid Sultan, one of Singapore's most important mosques which was completed in 1826. The Thian Hock Keng Temple, one of Singapore's oldest Chinese temples, which was completed in 1839 and the Sri Mariamman Temple, which was built in 1827, making it the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. Other historical monuments include the Kranji War Memorial, Civilian War Memorial, Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, Yueh Hai Ching Temple, Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery and Istana Kampong Glam.

Singapore has four major museums depicting the art and history of the country and of the region. The Asian Civilisations Museum specialises in the material history of China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia, from which the diverse ethnic groups of Singapore trace their ancestry, while the Peranakan Museum, the first of its kind in the world, explores Peranakan cultures in Singapore and other former Straits Settlements in Malacca and Penang, and other Peranakan communities in Southeast Asia. Singapore's National Museum of Singapore is the oldest museum in the country, with its history dating back to 1849, mainly showcases collections of nation-building and the history of Singapore from the 14th century in a story-telling approach, while the Singapore Art Museum is a contemporary art museum focusing on art practices in Singapore, Southeast Asia and Asia. Other smaller museums include Changi Museum, which showcases collection of paintings, photographs and personal effects donated by former POWs (Prisoners of War) during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore and the Mint Museum of Toys, which has a collection of 3,000 toys and childhood memorabilia from the mid-19th century to mid-20th Century.

Sightseeing Bus fleet
Historically, their fleet was made up of second-hand step-entrance double deckers in 2001–2004 for the City Sightseeing/Singapore Ducktours operation in Singapore, but new open-top buses were used beginning January 2006. Electronic destination displays (which uses Mobitec MobiLED in larger font) were added in January 2006 to replace roller-blinds in stages. , Big Bus Tours has Volvo B9TL/Optare Visionaire or MCV DD103, Dennis Trident 2/East Lancs Lolyne, DAF DB250LF/Plaxton President and Ayats Integral buses, where they will progressively be replaced by Volvo BZL/MCV EvoSeti double decker buses as part of the Singapore Green Plan 2030. City Sightseeing and Gray Line Tours uses Alexander Dennis Enviro400 buses.

Boat fleet

 * 5 Condiesel LARC V (Originally from Singapore Armed Forces, withdrawn in 2000 and converted in 2002. Progressively withdrawn from June 2022 after introduction of electric LARC-EV).
 * 2 Condiesel LARC-EV (Built in January 2022)

Nature sight-seeing
Singapore has a variety of parks and projects which often feature its natural tropical environment.

Singapore has four zoos, namely, the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Bird Paradise and River Wonders. The Singapore Zoo displays animals in 'open' naturalistic, spacious, landscaped enclosures separated from the visitors by hidden barriers, moats, and glass, with various shows and events occurring throughout the day to allow visitors to interact with the animals. Night Safari is the world's first nocturnal zoo, set in a humid tropical forest that is only open at night, it is divided into seven geographical zones, which can be explored either on foot via four walking trails, or by tram. Bird Paradise is the largest bird park in Asia with extensive specimens of exotic bird life from around the world, including a flock of one thousand flamingos. River Wonders features a tropical rainforest setting and features 10 different ecosystems around the world, with 5000 animals of 300 species. Among the main attractions in the River Wonders is a pair of male and female giant pandas – Kai Kai (凯凯) and Jia Jia (嘉嘉) – which are housed in a specially constructed climate-controlled enclosure which change throughout the four seasons emulating their original environment.

Among the various gardens and parks located in the country, Singapore's Singapore Botanic Gardens and Gardens by the Bay are most popular amongst tourists. The Singapore Botanical Gardens, a UNESCO World Heritage Site is a 52 hectares tropical garden, among its main attractions includes the National Orchid collection with over 3000 types of orchids growing. Gardens by the Bay, designed as a series of large tropical leaf-shaped gardens, each with its own specific landscaping design, character and theme. Its main attractions are the two conservatories, the Flower Dome, which replicates a mild, dry climate and features plants found in the Mediterranean and other semi-arid tropical regions, and the Cloud Forest, which replicates the cool moist conditions found in tropical mountain regions between 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) and 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) above sea level, found in South-East Asia, Middle- and South America. Other main attractions include the Supertree Grove, which features tree-like structures, known as Supertrees that dominate the Gardens' landscape. They are vertical gardens that perform a multitude of functions, which include planting, shading and working as environmental engines for the gardens.

Singapore also has two ASEAN Heritage Parks, which are the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, an extensive nature reserve which covers much of the Bukit Timah Hill, and is the only remaining place where primary rainforest still exists on the island, and the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, which is known for its high variety of bird species, crabs, mudskippers and flora and fauna.

Pulau Ubin, is an offshore island situated in the north-eastern island group, is one of the last rural areas to be found in Singapore, where the last of undeveloped kampongs (villages) and wooden jetties, abandoned quarries and plantations, with an abundance of natural flora and fauna. The island forms part of the Ubin–Khatib Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant numbers of visiting and resident birds, some of which are threatened. One of the more popular spots on the island is, Chek Jawa, a previous coral reef 5000 years ago, where several ecosystems can be observed in one area.

Dining
The cuisine of Singapore is often viewed by its population as a prime example of the ethnic diversity of the culture of Singapore. In Singapore's hawker centres – a technical misnomer, to be precise – for example, traditionally Malay hawker stalls selling halal food may serve halal versions of traditionally Tamil or Chinese food. Chinese stalls may introduce Malay or Indian ingredients, cooking techniques or entire dishes into their range of catering. Some dishes introduce elements from all three cultures, while others incorporate influences from the rest of Asia and the West.

This phenomenon makes the cuisine of Singapore significantly rich and a cultural attraction. Much prepared food is available in the hawker centres or food courts (e.g. Lau Pa Sat, Newton Food Centre) rather than actual restaurants. These centres are relatively abundant which often leads to low prices, and encourages a large consumer base.

Food in itself has been heavily promoted as an attraction for tourists, and is usually promoted by various initiatives undertaken by the Singapore Tourism Board or the associations it deals with as one of Singapore's best attractions alongside shopping. The government organises the Singapore Food Festival in July annually to celebrate Singapore's cuisine. The multiculturalism of local food, the ready availability of international cuisine, and their wide range in prices to fit all budgets at all times of the day and year helps create a "food paradise" to rival other contenders claiming the same moniker. The availability of variety of food is often aided by the fact Singapore's port lies along strategic routes. Catherine Ling of CNN listed Fish soup bee hoon, Bak kut teh, Chilli crab, Nasi Padang, Hainanese chicken rice, and Kaya toast as some of the "40 Singapore foods we can't live without".

There is also a proliferation of fast-food chains, such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut, KFC, Burger King, Subway, Long John Silver's, Mos Burger, Five Guys and Shake Shack.

Halal and vegetarian food are also easily available.

Tourist events
Singapore Tourism Board promotes a variety of events all year round for tourists. Some of the anchor events are the Chingay Parade, Singapore Arts Festival and Singapore Garden Festival. The Singapore Food Festival is held every July to celebrate Singapore's cuisine. Other annual events include the Singapore Sun Festival, the Christmas Light Up, and the Singapore Jewel Festival. Singapore hosted a round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship (Singapore Grand Prix). The race, held on a new street circuit at Marina Bay, was the first night-time event in Formula One history. The event was considered an overall success due to the sheer amount of organisation, planning and hard work put into the event. Also in 2010, Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, where the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which say the Games is expected to generate a minimum of 180,000 visitor nights for Singapore.

title: Tourism in Singapore


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Kerch Strait

The Kerch Strait is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula of Russia's Krasnodar Krai in the east. The strait is 3.1 km to 15 km wide and up to 18 m deep. The most important harbor, the Crimean city of Kerch, gives its name to the strait, formerly known as the Cimmerian Bosporus. It has also been called the Straits of Yenikale after the Yeni-Kale fortress in Kerch.

Taman, the most important settlement on the Taman Peninsula side of the strait, sits on Taman Bay, which is separated from the main Kerch Strait by the Chushka Spit to the north and the former Tuzla Spit to the south; the Tuzla Spit is now Tuzla Island, connected to the Taman Peninsula by a 2003 Russian-built 3.8 km dam, and to mainland Crimea by the Crimean Bridge opened in 2018. A major cargo port is under construction near Taman.

Greek and Roman records

The straits are about 35 km long and are 3.1 km wide at the narrowest and separate an eastern extension of Crimea from Taman, the westernmost extension of the Caucasus Mountains. In antiquity, there seem to have been a group of islands intersected by arms of the Kuban River (Hypanis) and various sounds which have since silted up. The Romans knew the strait as the Cimmerian Bosporus (Cimmerius Bosporus ) from its Greek name, the Cimmerian Strait (Κιμμέριος Βόσπορος, Kimmérios Bosporos), which honored the Cimmerians, nearby steppe nomads. In ancient times the low-lying land near the Strait was known as the Maeotic Swamp.

The Cimmerian Bosporus in ancient times was regarded as separating Europe from Asia, just as the Thracian Bosporus did. Most geographers, such as Posidonius, Strabo (Geographica 11.7.4), and Ptolemy, considered the boundary between Europe and Asia to be the river Tanais (Don), which flows into the Sea of Azov from the north; an alternative view, found in the poet Cornelius Gallus was that it was the river Hypanis (Kuban), which flows into the Sea of Azov from the east, close to the Cimmerian Bosporus.

Early modern period
The Kerch Strait was a nearby site of a major naval battle (that became known as the Battle of Kerch Strait) in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792). It was fought in 1790 and ended in Russian victory.

Second World War
During the Second World War, the Kerch Peninsula became the scene of much desperate combat between forces of the Soviet Red Army and Nazi Germany. Fighting frequency intensified in the coldest months of year when the strait froze over, allowing the movement of troops over the ice.

After the Eastern Front stabilized in early 1943, Hitler ordered the construction of a 4.8 km road-and-rail bridge across the Strait of Kerch in the spring of 1943 to support his desire for a renewed offensive to the Caucasus. The cable railway (aerial tramway), which went into operation on 14 June 1943 with a daily capacity of one thousand tons, was only adequate for the defensive needs of the Seventeenth Army in the Kuban bridgehead. Because of frequent earth tremors, this bridge would have required vast quantities of extra-strength steel girders, and their transport would have curtailed shipments of military material to the Crimea. The bridge was never completed, and the Wehrmacht finished evacuating the Kuban bridgehead in September 1943.

In 1944 the Soviets built a "provisional" railway bridge (Kerch railway bridge) across the strait. Construction made use of supplies captured from the Germans. The bridge went into operation in November 1944, but moving ice floes destroyed it in February 1945; reconstruction was not attempted.

Post-war ferry service
After the war, ferry transportation across the strait was established in 1954, connecting Crimea and the Krasnodar Krai (Port Krym – Port Kavkaz line). Originally there were four train ferry ships; later three car-ferry ships were added. Train transportation continued for almost 40 years. The aging train-ferries became obsolete in the late 1980s and were removed from service. In the autumn of 2004, new ships were delivered as replacements and train transportation was re-established. The ferry line stopped operations in late 2020.

Dispute and naval treaty of 2003
A territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine in 2003 centred on Tuzla Island in the Strait of Kerch. Ukraine and Russia agreed to treat the strait and the Azov Sea as shared internal waters.

Storm of November 2007
On Sunday 11 November 2007 news agencies reported a very strong storm on the Black Sea. Four ships sank, six ran aground on a sandbank, and two tankers were damaged, resulting in a major oil spill and the death of 23 sailors.

The Russian-flagged oil tanker Volgoneft-139 encountered trouble in the Kerch Strait where it sought shelter from the above storm. During the storm the tanker split in half, releasing more than 2000 tonnes of fuel oil. Four other boats sank in the storm, resulting in the release of sulphur cargo. The storm hampered efforts to rescue crew members. Another victim of the storm, the Russian cargo ship Volnogorsk, loaded with sulfur, sank at Port Kavkaz on the same day.

Russo-Ukrainian War since 2014
Russia and Ukraine agreed to guarantee each other freedom of navigation for ships of both nations in a 2003 naval treaty. Since the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War and the annexation of Crimea in 2014, however, Russian forces have forcibly established a new status quo, now being the straits' sole controlling power.

New bridge and naval blockade
Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov campaigned for a highway bridge to be constructed across the strait. Since 1944, various bridge projects to span the strait have been proposed or attempted, always hampered by the difficult geologic and geographic configuration of the area. Construction of an approach was actually started in 2003 with the 3.8 km-long dam, provoking the 2003 Tuzla Island conflict.

After the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea the government of Russia decided to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait. The 19-kilometre Crimean Bridge opened to road traffic in 2018 and the rail section opened in 2019.

Russian state-backed media claims that construction of the bridge caused increases in nutrients and planktons in the waters, attracting large numbers of fish and more than 1,000 endangered Black Sea bottlenose dolphins. However, Ukraine claims that the acoustic noise and pollution from both the bridge construction and military exercises may actually be killing Black Sea dolphins.

Kerch Strait incident (2018)
When two Ukrainian navy vessels tried to pass under the bridge to reach Mariupol in November 2018, Russian forces responded by blocking the straits with a large container ship. Upon turning back, the Ukrainian ships and crews were fired upon and seized by the Russian coast guard.

2019 Gas tanker disaster
Two gas carriers collided and exploded in 2019, killing 14 people.

2021 closure by Russia
On 15 April 2021 Russia decided to close the area of Kerch Strait to "warships and other state vessels" from 24 April to 31 October. The stated rationale for the closure are military exercises. The closure partially cut off the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol from the Black Sea. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry protested against the decision, stating that "such actions by the Russian Federation are another attempt to violate the norms and principles of international law to usurp the sovereign rights of Ukraine as a coastal state, as Ukraine has the right to regulate navigation in these areas of the Black Sea". According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the decision is a violation of the freedom of navigation under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The decision to close the strait was preceded by Russia's warning the United States after the Biden administration's plan to send two destroyers (USS Roosevelt and USS Donald Cook ) to the Black Sea amid Russia's increasing military presence near Ukraine. The Biden administration withheld the destroyers after fighting intensified between Ukrainian and Russian-backed separatist forces in an effort to alleviate the tension. Putin had threatened the safety of the US Navy ships, saying that they should stay away from the area “for their own good”. After the destroyers were withheld, Russia took advantage of the opening to close the Kerch Strait.

2021 Donbass ship
On 9 December 2021 Ukrainian command ship Donbas departed from Mariupol and approached Kerch Strait. It didn't give a notice in advance to pass the strait and was warned by Russian coast guard such a notice should be given for the safety of maritime traffic. At the moment around 80 civilian ships were waiting to pass the strait.

Crimean Bridge explosions
In the morning of 8 October 2022 at 06:07 (Moscow time), an explosion occurred on the road portion of the Crimean Bridge, causing major damage. Seven fuel cars of a passing railway train also ignited, causing an extensive fire on the parallel rail bridge, and two half-sections of the road bridge collapsed. On 17 July 2023, explosions under the bridge of two suicide sea drones damaging a span of the road bridge.

Crimean tunnel
In late 2023 The Washington Post reported that Russia, with the help of Chinese companies was contemplating building a Crimean tunnel.

Kerch–Yenikale Canal

In order to improve navigational capabilities of the Strait of Kerch, which is quite shallow in its narrowest point, the Kerch–Yenikale Canal was dredged through the strait. The main channel can accommodate vessels up to 215 meters long with a draft of up to 8 meters with a compulsory pilot assistance. The canal is not straight, and its geometry further complicates safe navigation. The narrowness, limited depth, and turns of the main channel together with the often unpredictable effects of wind and visibility (fog) mean that there are strict procedures regulating strait transit. Transit of large vessels occurs on a one-way (alternating) group convoy basis. Transit procedures have remained unchanged, whether under Soviet, Ukrainian, or Russian jurisdiction. The Vessel Traffic Control Post in Kerch controls and oversees all traffic.

Fishing
Several fish-processing plants are located on the Crimean coast of the strait. The fishing season begins in late autumn and lasts for 2 to 3 months, when many seiners put out into the strait to fish. The Taman Bay is a major fishing ground, with many fishing villages scattered along the coast.

title: Kerch Strait


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List of football clubs in Brazil

This is a list of football clubs located in Brazil. The list is sorted alphabetically by state and includes both active and inactive clubs. These football clubs are all associated with the Brazilian Football Confederation. As with many other football leagues, the structure has changed frequently, including its implementation of the same configuration of European leagues in 2003.

Acre
State championship: Campeonato Acriano

Alagoas
State championship: Campeonato Alagoano

Amapá
State championship: Campeonato Amapaense

Amazonas
State championship: Campeonato Amazonense

Bahia
State championship: Campeonato Baiano

Ceará
State championship: Campeonato Cearense

Distrito Federal
State championship: Campeonato Brasiliense

Espírito Santo
State championship: Campeonato Capixaba

Goiás
State championship: Campeonato Goiano

Maranhão
State championship: Campeonato Maranhense

Mato Grosso
State championship: Campeonato Mato-Grossense

Mato Grosso do Sul
State championship: Campeonato Sul-Mato-Grossense

Minas Gerais
State championship: Campeonato Mineiro

Pará
State championship: Campeonato Paraense

Paraíba
State championship: Campeonato Paraibano

Paraná
State championship: Campeonato Paranaense

Pernambuco
State championship: Campeonato Pernambucano

Piauí
State championship: Campeonato Piauiense

Rio de Janeiro
State championship: Campeonato Carioca

Rio Grande do Norte
State championship: Campeonato Potiguar

Rio Grande do Sul
State championship: Campeonato Gaúcho

Rondônia
State championship: Campeonato Rondoniense

Roraima
State championship: Campeonato Roraimense

Santa Catarina
State championship: Campeonato Catarinense

São Paulo
State championship: Campeonato Paulista

Sergipe
State championship: Campeonato Sergipano

Tocantins
State championship: Campeonato Tocantinense

title: List of football clubs in Brazil


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Alpay (singer)

Ahmet Alpay Nazikioğlu (born 1935 in Ankara), better known simply as Alpay, is a Turkish singer. He began his musical career in 1960, and has experimented with a number of styles, from romantic folk to rock. He also has covered a number of French and Italian songs.

Alpay is best known with his hit songs "Eylülde Gel" and "Fabrika Kızı".

45rpms

 * Norma Mia (Alpay) / Maç Twist (Şanar Yurdatapan) (1964)
 * The Girl In My Town / Mi Sono Innamorato Di Te (1964)
 * Esterella Del Mar / If (1964)
 * First Kiss / Wheeping River (1964, re-released in 1967)
 * Efem / Gelin Ayşem (1965, re-released in 1967)
 * Now I'm Alone / Tango Per Favore (1965, re-released in 1967)
 * Kara Tren / Waiting On The Hills (1965, re-released in 1967)
 * Usted / Luna De Benigrom (1965, re-released in 1967)
 * El Vagabundo / Una Ventura Mas (1965, re-released in 1967)
 * Estrella Del Mar / Rodico (1967)
 * I'll Always Love You / O Mio Signore (1967)
 * Final (Şiir) / Ne Reviens Plus - Kirpiklerin Ok Ok Eyle (1967)
 * Et Je Sais / Little Bird - My Only Desire (1967)
 * E'Finita Cosi / Chove Chova (1967)
 * Son Dakikalarim / Kilimandjaro-Jamaica Fara Well (1967)
 * Cennet Yolu / Dur Dur Gitme (1968)
 * Boş Kadeh / Yağmur (1969)
 * Asla Bir Daha Sevemem / Kimse Bilmez Yarın Ne Olur (1969)
 * Bekle Aynı İskelede / Aşk Rüyası (1969)
 * Bir Tutam Saç / İnsan Hayal Ettiği Müddetçe Yaşar (1969)
 * Şehrazat / Bekleyiş (1969)
 * Raman - Gelin Ayşe / Kara Tren - Efem (1969)
 * Sen Gidince / La La La (1969)
 * Susadım Sana / Seninle Ölmek (1970)
 * Tren / Bir Akşam (1970)
 * Fabrika Kızı / Kolejli Kız (1970)
 * Denizciler / Yapraklar Dökülmeden Gel (1970)
 * Toprak / Sendin Sevgilim (1970)
 * Akça Kızlar / Suna (1971)
 * Dağların Gözyaşları / Ağa Düşmüş Kadın (1972)
 * Hem Okudum Hem Yazdım / Solmuş Gonca Gül (1972)
 * Aşk Böyledir / Gönüllerde Bahar (1972)
 * Can Karagözlüm / Sev Ölesiye (1973)
 * Kalenin Bayır Düzü / Köylü Kızı (1973)
 * Ah Berelim / Ilık Rüzgarlar (1973)
 * Yekte / Seni Dileniyorum (1973)
 * Allah'ım Yeter / Dağlar Engel Oldu (1974)
 * Ben Armudu Dişlerim / Bak Kalbim (1974)
 * Ayrılık Rüzgarı / Mecnun Derlerdi (1975)
 * Geçmiş Zaman Olur ki - "Yağmur"
 * İşte Bak Yeni Bir Gün / Bütün İçkiler Benden Bu Gece (Atilla Engin) (1976)
 * Gözlerin / Sevmiştim Seni (1976)
 * Eylül'de Gel / Gülen Yüzüme Bakıp Da (1977)
 * Aynı Yolun Yolcusu / Dünyalar Benim Olur (1977)
 * Sensizliğimin Şarkısı / Aşkların Bittiği Bir Yer mi Var (1979)
 * Yeşil Gözler Sürmeli / İçimde Dinmez Sızısın (Grup A1 ile) (1979)

Albums

 * Alpay (1967)
 * Alpay (1968)
 * 7 Dilde Alpay (1973)
 * Alpay (Güven Parkı) (1975)
 * Aşk (1978)
 * 82 (1982)
 * Sevgilerle (With Group A1) (1984)
 * Hayalimdeki Resim (1987) (With Group A1, last album as LP, re-released in 1995 as cassette)
 * Dünden Bugüne (1988)
 * Gitme (1990)
 * Senin İçin (1991)
 * Anılarla Alpay (1993)
 * Eylül'de Gel Demiştim (1993)
 * Bu Kaçıncı Sevda (1994)
 * Ve Alpay 1996 (1996)
 * Muhbbet Kuşları (1997)
 * Küçük Bir Öykü/Yüreğine Al Beni (2000)
 * Tango&Latin (2001)
 * Sessiz Kalma (2004)
 * En İyilerle Alpay (2008)
 * Aşka Dair (2012)

title: Alpay (singer)