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Orange Free State

The Orange Free State (Oranje Vrijstaat; Oranje-Vrystaat) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Empire at the end of the Second Boer War in 1902. It is one of the three historical precursors to the present-day Free State province.

Extending between the Orange and Vaal rivers, its borders were determined by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1848 when the region was proclaimed as the Orange River Sovereignty, with a British Resident based in Bloemfontein. Bloemfontein and the southern parts of the Sovereignty had previously been settled by Griqua and by Trekboere from the Cape Colony.

The Voortrekker Republic of Natalia, founded in 1837, administered the northern part of the territory through a landdrost based at Winburg. This northern area was later in federation with the Republic of Potchefstroom which eventually formed part of the South African Republic (Transvaal).

Following the granting of sovereignty to the Transvaal Republic, the British sought to drop their defensive and administrative responsibilities between the Orange and Vaal rivers, while local European residents wanted the British to remain. This led to the British recognising the independence of the Orange River Sovereignty and the country officially became independent as the Orange Free State on 23 February 1854, with the signing of the Orange River Convention. The new republic incorporated the Orange River Sovereignty and continued the traditions of the Winburg-Potchefstroom Republic.

The Orange Free State was annexed as the Orange River Colony in 1900. It ceased to exist as an independent Boer republic on 31 May 1902 with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging at the conclusion of the Second Boer War. Following a period of direct rule by the British, it attained self-government in 1907 and joined the Union of South Africa in 1910 as the Orange Free State Province, along with the Cape Province, Natal, and the Transvaal. In 1961, the Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa.

The Republic's name derives partly from the Orange River, which was named by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, whose name in turn derived from its partial origins in the Principality of Orange in French Burgundy. The official language in the Orange Free State was Dutch.

First settlements
Europeans first visited the country north of the Orange River towards the close of the 18th century. One of the most notable visitors was the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon, who mapped the region and gave the Orange River its name. At that time, the population was sparse. The majority of the inhabitants appear to have been members of the Sotho people but in the valleys of the Orange and Vaal were Korana (Khoikhoi) and a section of Barolong  in the Drakensberg and on the western border lived numbers of Nomadic Southern Africans. Early in the 19th century Griqua established themselves north of the Orange.

Boer immigration
In 1824 farmers of Dutch, French Huguenot and German descent known as Trekboers (later named Boers by the English) emerged from the Cape Colony, seeking pasture for their flocks and to escape British governmental oversight, settling in the country. Up to this time the few Europeans who had crossed the Orange had come mainly as hunters or as missionaries. These early migrants were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left the Cape Colony for various reasons, but all shared the desire for independence from British authority. The leader of the first large party, Hendrik Potgieter, concluded an agreement with Makwana, the chief of the Bataung tribe of Batswana, ceding to the farmers the country between the Vet and Vaal rivers. When Boer families first reached the area they discovered that the country had been devastated, in the northern parts by the chief Mzilikazi and his Matabele in what was known as the Mfecane, and also by the Difaqane, in which three tribes roamed across the land attacking settled groups, absorbing them and their resources until they collapsed because of their sheer size. Consequently, large areas were depopulated. The Boers soon came into collision with Mzilikazi's raiding parties, which attacked Boer hunters who crossed the Vaal River. Reprisals followed, and in November 1837 the Boers decisively defeated Mzilikazi, who thereupon fled northward and eventually established himself on the site of the future Bulawayo in Zimbabwe.

In the meantime another party of Cape Dutch emigrants had settled at Thaba Nchu, where the Wesleyans had a mission station for the Barolong. These Barolong had trekked from their original home under their chief, Moroka II, first south-westwards to the Langberg, and then eastwards to Thaba Nchu. The emigrants were treated with great kindness by Moroka, and with the Barolong the Boers maintained uniformly friendly relations after they defeated Mzilikazi. In December 1836 the emigrants beyond the Orange drew up in general assembly an elementary republican form of government. After the defeat of Mzilikazi the town of Winburg (so named by the Boers in commemoration of their victory) was founded, a Volksraad elected, and Piet Retief, one of the ablest of the Voortrekkers, chosen "governor and commandant-general". The emigrants already numbered some 500 men, besides women and children and many servants. Dissensions speedily arose among the emigrants, whose numbers were constantly added to, and Retief, Potgieter and other leaders crossed the Drakensberg and entered Natal. Those that remained were divided into several parties.

British rule
Meanwhile, a new power had arisen along the upper Orange and in the valley of the Caledon. Moshoeshoe, a minor Basotho chief, had welded together a number of scattered and broken clans which had sought refuge in that mountainous region after fleeing from Mzilikazi, and had formed the Basotho nation which acknowledged him as king. In 1833 he had welcomed as workers among his people a band of French Protestant missionaries, and as the Boer immigrants began to settle in his neighborhood he decided to seek support from the British at the Cape. At that time the British government was not prepared to exercise control over the immigrants. Acting upon the advice of Dr John Philip, the superintendent of the London Missionary Society’s stations in South Africa, a treaty was concluded in 1843 with Moshoeshoe, placing him under British protection. A similar treaty was made with the Griqua chief Adam Kok III. By these treaties, which recognised native sovereignty, the British sought to keep a check on the Boers and to protect both the natives and Cape Colony. The effect was to precipitate collisions between all three parties.

The year in which the treaty with Moshoeshoe was made, several large parties of Boers recrossed the Drakensberg into the country north of the Orange, refusing to remain in Natal when the British annexed the newly formed Boer republic of Natalia to form the Colony of Natal. During their stay in Natal the Boers inflicted a severe defeat on the Zulus under Dingane in the Battle of Blood River in December 1838, which, following on the flight of Mzilikazi, greatly strengthened the position of Moshoeshoe, whose power became a menace to that of the Boer farmers. Trouble first arose, however, between the Boers and the Griqua in the Philippolis district. Some of the Boer farmers in this district, unlike their fellows dwelling farther north, were willing to accept British rule. This fact induced Mr Justice Menzies, one of the judges of the Cape Colony then on circuit at Colesberg, to cross the Orange and proclaim the country British territory in October 1842. The proclamation was disallowed by the Governor, Sir George Napier, who, nevertheless, maintained that the Boer farmers remained British subjects. After this episode the British negotiated their treaties with Adam Kok III and Moshoeshoe.

The treaties gave great offence to the Boers, who refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of the native chiefs. The majority of the Boer farmers in Kok's territory sent a deputation to the British commissioner in Natal, Henry Cloete, asking for equal treatment with the Griquas, and expressing the desire to come under British protection under such terms. Shortly afterwards hostilities between the farmers and the Griqua broke out. British troops moved up to support the Griquas, and after a skirmish at Zwartkopjes (2 May 1845) a new arrangement was made between Kok and Peregrine Maitland, the then Governor of Cape Colony, virtually placing the administration of his territory in the hands of a British resident, a post filled in 1846 by Captain Henry Douglas Warden. The place purchased by Captain (afterwards Major) Warden as the seat of his court was known as Bloemfontein, and it subsequently became the capital of the whole country. Bloemfontein lay to the south of the region settled by Voortrekkers.

Boer governance
The Volksraad at Winburg during this period continued to claim jurisdiction over the Boers living between the Orange and the Vaal and was in federation with the Volksraad at Potchefstroom, which made a similar claim upon the Great Boers living north of the Vaal. In 1846 Major Warden occupied Winburg for a short time, and the relations between the Boers and the British were in a continual state of tension. Many of the farmers deserted Winburg for the Transvaal. Sir Harry Smith became governor of the Cape at the end of 1847. He recognised the failure of the attempt to govern on the lines of the treaties with the Griquas and Basotho, and on 3 February 1848 he issued a proclamation declaring British sovereignty over the country between the Orange and the Vaal eastward to the Drakensberg. Sir Harry Smith's popularity among the Boers gained for his policy considerable support, but the republican party, at whose head was Andries Pretorius, did not submit without a struggle. They were, however, defeated by Sir Harry Smith in the Battle of Boomplaats on 29 August 1848. Thereupon Pretorius, with those most bitterly opposed to British rule, retreated across the Vaal.

Orange River Sovereignty
In March 1849 Major Warden was succeeded at Bloemfontein as civil commissioner by Mr C. U. Stuart, but he remained the British resident until July 1852. A nominated legislative council was created, a high court established and other steps taken for the orderly government of the country, which was officially styled the Orange River Sovereignty. In October 1849 Moshoeshoe was induced to sign a new arrangement considerably curtailing the boundaries of the Basotho reserve. The frontier towards the Sovereignty was thereafter known as the Warden line. A little later the reserves of other chieftains were precisely defined.

The British Resident had, however, no force sufficient to maintain his authority, and Moshoeshoe and all the neighboring clans became involved in hostilities with one another and with the Europeans. In 1851 Moshoeshoe joined the republican party in the Sovereignty in an invitation to Pretorius to recross the Vaal. The intervention of Pretorius resulted in the Sand River Convention of 1852, which acknowledged the independence of the Transvaal but left the status of the Sovereignty untouched. The British government (under the first Russell administration), which had reluctantly agreed to the annexation of the country, had, however, already repented its decision and had resolved to abandon the Sovereignty. Lord Henry Grey, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, in a dispatch to Sir Harry Smith dated 21 October 1851, declared, "The ultimate abandonment of the Orange Sovereignty should be a settled point in our policy."

A meeting of representatives of all European inhabitants of the Sovereignty, elected on manhood suffrage, held at Bloemfontein in June 1852, nevertheless declared in favour of the retention of British rule. At the close of that year a settlement was at length concluded with Moshoeshoe, which left, perhaps, that chief in a stronger position than he had hitherto been. There had been ministerial changes in England and the Aberdeen ministry, then in power, adhered to the determination to withdraw from the Sovereignty. Sir George Russell Clerk was sent out in 1853 as special commissioner "for the settling and adjusting of the affairs" of the Sovereignty, and in August of that year he summoned a meeting of delegates to determine upon a form of self-government.

At that time there were some 15,000 Europeans in the country, many of them recent immigrants from Cape Colony. There were among them numbers of farmers and tradesmen of British descent. The majority of the whites still wished for the continuance of British rule provided that it was effective and the country guarded against its enemies. The representations of their delegates, who drew up a proposed constitution retaining British control, were unavailing. Sir George Clerk announced that, as the elected delegates were unwilling to take steps to form an independent government, he would enter into negotiations with other persons. " And then," wrote George McCall Theal, "was seen forced the strange spectacle of an English commissioner addressing men who wished to be free of British control as the friendly and well-disposed inhabitants, while for those who desired to remain British subjects and who claimed that protection to which they believed themselves entitled he had no sympathising word." While the elected delegates sent two members to England to try and induce the government to alter their decision, Sir George Clerk speedily came to terms with a committee formed by the republican party and presided over by Mr J. H. Hoffman. Even before this committee met a royal proclamation had been signed (30 January 1854) "abandoning and renouncing all dominion" in the Sovereignty.

The Orange River Convention, recognising the independence of the country, was signed at Bloemfontein on 23 February by Sir George Clerk and the republican committee, and in March the Boer government assumed office and the republican flag was hoisted. Five days later the representatives of the elected delegates had an interview in London with the colonial secretary, the Duke of Newcastle, who informed them that it was now too late to discuss the question of the retention of British rule. The colonial secretary added that it was impossible for England to supply troops to constantly advancing outposts, "especially as Cape Town and the port of Table Bay were all she really required in South Africa." In withdrawing from the Sovereignty the British government declared that it had "no alliance with any native chief or tribes to the northward of the Orange River with the exception of the Griqua chief Captain Adam Kok [III]". Kok was not formidable in a military sense, nor could he prevent individual Griquas from alienating their lands. Eventually, in 1861, he sold his sovereign rights to the Free State for £4000 and moved with his followers to the district later known as Griqualand East.

On the abandonment of British rule, representatives of the people were elected and met at Bloemfontein on 28 March 1854, and between then and 18 April were engaged in framing a constitution. The country was declared a republic and named the Orange Free State. All persons of European blood possessing a six months' residential qualification were to be granted full burgher rights. The sole legislative authority was vested in a single popularly elected chamber of the Volksraad. Executive authority was entrusted to a president elected by the burghers from a list submitted by the Volksraad. The president was to be assisted by an executive council, was to hold office for five years and was eligible for re-election. The constitution was subsequently modified but remained of a liberal character. A residence of five years in the country was required before aliens could become naturalised. The first president was Josias Philip Hoffman, but he was accused of being too complaisant towards Moshoeshoe and resigned, being succeeded in 1855 by Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff, one of the voortrekkers, who had previously taken an active part in the affairs of the Natalia Republic.

Conflict with the South African Republic

Distracted among themselves, with the formidable Basotho power on their southern and eastern flank, the troubles of the infant state were speedily added to by the action of the Transvaal Boers of the South African Republic. Marthinus Pretorius, who had succeeded to his father's position as commandant general of Potchefstroom, wished to bring about a confederation between the two Boer states. Peaceful overtures from Pretorius were declined, and some of his partisans in the Orange Free State were accused of treason in February 1857. Thereupon Pretorius, aided by Paul Kruger, conducted a raid into the Orange Free State's territory. On learning of the invasion, President Jacobus Nicolaas Boshoff proclaimed martial law throughout the country. The majority of the burghers rallied to his support, and on 25 May, the two opposing forces faced one another on the banks of the Rhenoster. President Boshoff not only got together some 800 men within the Orange Free State, but he received offers of support from Commandant Stephanus Schoeman, the Transvaal leader in the Zoutpansberg district and from Commandant Joubert of Lydenburg. Pretorius and Kruger, realising that they would have to sustain attack from both north and south, abandoned their enterprise. Their force, too, only amounted to some three hundred. Kruger came to Boshoff's camp with a flag of truce, the "army" of Pretorius returned north and on 2 June a treaty of peace was signed, each state acknowledging the absolute independence of the other.

The conduct of Pretorius was stigmatised as "blameworthy." Several of the malcontents in the Orange Free State who had joined Pretorius permanently settled in the Transvaal, and other Orange Free Staters who had been guilty of high treason were arrested and punished. This experience did not, however, heal the party strife within the Orange Free State. In consequence of the dissensions among the burghers, President Boshoff tendered his resignation in February 1858, but was for a time induced to remain in office. The difficulties of the state were at that time so great that the Volksraad in December 1858 passed a resolution in favour of confederation with the Cape Colony. This proposition received the strong support of Sir George Grey, the then Governor of Cape Colony, but his view did not commend itself to the British government, and was not adopted.

In the same year, the disputes between the Basotho and the Boers culminated in open war. Both parties laid claims to land beyond the Warden line, and each party had taken possession of what it could, the Basotho being also expert cattle-lifters. In the war the advantage rested with the Basotho; thereupon the Orange Free State appealed to Sir George Grey, who induced Moshoeshoe to come to terms. On 15 October 1858, a treaty was signed defining the new boundary. The peace was nominal only, while the burghers were also involved in disputes with other tribes. Mr. Boshoff again tendered his resignation in February 1859 and retired to Natal. Many of the burghers would have at this time welcomed union with the Transvaal, but learning from Sir George Grey that such a union would nullify the conventions of 1852 and 1854 and necessitate the reconsideration of Great Britain's policy towards the native tribes north of the Orange and Vaal rivers, the project was dropped. Commandant Marthinus Wessel Pretorius was, however, elected president in place of Boshoff. Though unable to effect a durable peace with the Basotho, or to realise his ambition for the creation of a single united Boer republic, Pretorius oversaw a period of increased strength and prosperity for the Orange Free State. The fertile district of Bethulie as well as Adam Kok's territory was acquired, and there was a considerable increase in the Boer population. The burghers generally, however, had little confidence in their elected rulers and little desire for taxes to be levied. Wearied like Boshoff, and disillusioned with the affairs of the Orange Free State, Pretorius resigned the presidency in 1863 and moved to the Transvaal.

After an interval of seven months, Johannes Brand, an advocate at the Cape bar, was elected president. He assumed office in February 1864. His election proved a turning-point in the history of the country, which, under his guidance, became peaceful and prosperous. But before peace could be established an end had to be made of the difficulties with the Basothos. Moshoeshoe continued to menace the Free State border. Attempts at accommodation made by the Governor of Cape Colony, Sir Philip Wodehouse, failed, and war between the Orange Free State and Moshoeshoe was renewed in 1865. The Boers gained considerable successes, and this induced Moshoeshoe to sue for peace. The terms exacted were, however, too harsh for a nation yet unbroken to accept permanently. A treaty was signed at Thaba Bosiu in April 1866, but war again broke out in 1867, and the Free State attracted to its side a large number of adventurers from all parts of South Africa. The burghers thus reinforced gained at length a decisive victory over their great antagonist, every stronghold in Basutoland save Thaba Bosiu being stormed. Moshoeshoe now turned to Sir Philip Wodehouse for preservation. His call was heeded, and in 1868 he and his country were taken under British protection. Thus the thirty years' strife between the Basothos and the Boers came to an end. The intervention of the Governor of Cape Colony led to the conclusion of the treaty of Aliwal North (12 February 1869), which defined the borders between the Orange Free State and Basutoland. The country lying to the north of the Orange River and west of the Caledon River, formerly a part of Basutoland, was ceded to the Orange Free State, and became known as the Conquered Territory.

A year after the addition of the Conquered Territory to the state another boundary dispute was settled by the arbitration of Robert William Keate, lieutenant-governor of Natal. By the Sand River Convention, independence had been granted to the Boers living "north of the Vaal", and the dispute turned on the question as to what stream constituted the true upper course of that river. Keate decided on 19 February 1870 against the Free State and fixed the Klip River as the dividing line, the Transvaal thus securing the Wakkerstroom and adjacent districts.

Diamonds discovered
The Basutoland difficulties were no sooner arranged than the Free Staters found themselves confronted with a serious difficulty on their western border. In the years 1870–1871 a large number of foreign diggers had settled on the diamond fields near the junction of the Vaal and Orange rivers, which were situated in part on land claimed by the Griqua chief Nicholas Waterboer and by the Orange Free State.

The Free State established a temporary government over the diamond fields, but the administration of this body was satisfactory neither to the Free State nor to the diggers. At this juncture Waterboer offered to place the territory under the administration of Queen Victoria. The offer was accepted, and on 27 October 1871 the district, together with some adjacent territory to which the Transvaal had laid claim, was proclaimed, under the name of Griqualand West, British territory. Waterboer's claims were based on the treaty concluded by his father with the British in 1834, and on various arrangements with the Kok chiefs; the Free State based its claim on its purchase of Adam Kok's sovereign rights and on long occupation. The difference between proprietorship and sovereignty was confused or ignored. That Waterboer exercised no authority in the disputed district was admitted. When the British annexation took place a party in the Volksraad wished to go to war with Britain, but the counsels of President Johannes Brand prevailed. The Free State, however, did not abandon its claims. The matter involved no little irritation between the parties concerned until July 1876. It was then disposed of by Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, at that time Secretary of State for the Colonies, who granted to the Free State a £90,000 payment "in full satisfaction of all claims which it considers it may possess to Griqualand West." Lord Carnarvon declined to entertain the proposal made by Mr Brand that the territory should be given up by Great Britain. In the opinion of historian George McCall Theal, the annexation of Griqualand West was probably in the best interests of the Free State. "There was," he stated, "no alternative from British sovereignty other than an independent diamond field republic."

At this time, largely owing to the struggle with the Basothos, the Free State Boers, like their Transvaal neighbors, had drifted into financial straits. A paper currency had been instituted, and the notes, known as "bluebacks", soon dropped to less than half their nominal value. Commerce was largely carried on by barter, and many cases of bankruptcy occurred in the state. The influx of British and other immigrants to the diamond fields, in the early 1870s, restored public credit and individual prosperity to the Boers of the Free State. The diamond fields offered a ready market for stock and other agricultural produce. Money flowed into the pockets of the farmers. Public credit was restored. "Bluebacks" recovered par value, and were called in and redeemed by the government. Valuable diamond mines were also discovered within the Free State, of which the one at Jagersfontein was the richest. Capital from Kimberley and London was soon provided with which to work them.

Gold discovered
In 1934, new geophysical prospecting methods allowed for the discovery of deep gold-bearing reefs in the Orange Free State, which began the Free State Gold Rush. From 1936 to 1947, approximately 190 miles of drilling had been accomplished by over 50 companies for prospecting the area, and in 1951, the first gold bar was produced from these fields. By 1981, gold mining was contributing 37.4% of the provinces GDP, and the city of Welkom and town of Riebeeckstad had been established to accommodate the labour forces.

Peaceful relations with neighbours
The relations between the British and the Orange Free State, after the question of the boundary was settled, remained perfectly amicable down to the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899. From 1870 onward the history of the state was one of quiet, steady progress. At the time of the first annexation of the Transvaal the Free State declined Lord Carnarvon's invitation to federate with the other South African communities. In 1880, when a rising of the Boers in the Transvaal was threatening, President Brand showed every desire to avert the conflict. He suggested that Sir Henry de Villiers, Chief Justice of Cape Colony, should be sent into the Transvaal to endeavour to gauge the true state of affairs in that country. This suggestion was not acted upon, but when war broke out in the Transvaal, Brand declined to take any part in the struggle. In spite of the neutral attitude taken by their government a number of the Orange Free State Boers, living in the northern part of the country, went to the Transvaal and joined their brethren then in arms against the British. This fact was not allowed to influence the friendly relations between the Free State and Great Britain. In 1888 Sir Johannes Brand died.

During the period of Brand's presidency a great change, both political and economic, had come over South Africa. The renewal of the policy of British expansion had been answered by the formation of the Afrikaner Bond, which represented the aspirations of the Afrikaner people, and had active branches in the Free State. This alteration in the political outlook was accompanied, and in part occasioned, by economic changes of great significance. The development of the diamond mines and of the gold and coal industries – of which Brand saw the beginning – had far-reaching consequences, bringing the Boer republics into contact with the new industrial era. The Orange Free Staters, under Brand's rule, had shown considerable ability to adapt their policy to meet the altered situation. In 1889 an agreement made between the Orange Free State and the Cape Colony government, whereby the latter was empowered to extend, at its own cost, its railway system to Bloemfontein. The Orange Free State retained the right to purchase this extension at cost, a right it exercised after the Jameson Raid.

Having accepted the assistance of the Cape government in constructing its railway, the state also in 1889 entered into a Customs Union Convention with them. The convention was the outcome of a conference held at Cape Town in 1888, at which delegates from Natal, the Free State and the Cape Colony attended. Natal at this time had not seen its way to entering the Customs union, but did so at a later date.

Renewal of hostilities
In January 1889 Francis William Reitz was elected president of the Orange Free State. Reitz had no sooner got into office than a meeting was arranged with Paul Kruger, president of the South African Republic, at which various terms were discussed and decided upon regarding an agreement dealing with the railways, terms of a treaty of amity and commerce, and what was called a political treaty. The political treaty referred in general terms to a federal union between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State, and bound each of them to help the other, whenever the independence of either should be assailed or threatened from without, unless the state so called upon for assistance should be able to show the injustice of the cause of quarrel in which the other state had engaged. While thus committed to an alliance with its northern neighbour no change was made in internal administration. The Free State, in fact, from its geographical position reaped the benefits without incurring the anxieties consequent on the settlement of a large Uitlander population on the Witwatersrand. The state, however, became increasingly identified with the reactionary party in the South African Republic.

In 1895 the Volksraad passed a resolution, in which they declared their readiness to entertain a proposition from the South African Republic in favour of some form of federal union. In the same year Ritz retired from the presidency of the Orange Free State. The 1896 presidential election to succeed him was won by M. T. Steyn, a judge of the High Court, who took office in February 1896. In 1896 President Steyn visited Pretoria, where he received an ovation as the probable future president of the two Republics. A further offensive and defensive alliance between the two Republics was then entered into, under which the Orange Free State took up arms on the outbreak of hostilities between the British and the South African Republic in October 1899.

In 1897 President Kruger, bent on still further cementing the union with the Orange Free State, had visited Bloemfontein. It was on this occasion that Kruger, referring to the London Convention, spoke of Queen Victoria as a kwaaje Vrouw (angry woman), an expression which caused a good deal of offence in England at the time, but which, in the phraseology of the Boers, was not meant by President Kruger as insulting.

In December 1897 the Free State revised its constitution in reference to the franchise law, and the period of residence necessary to obtain naturalization was reduced from five to three years. The oath of allegiance to the state was alone required, and no renunciation of nationality was insisted upon. In 1898 the Free State also acquiesced in the new convention arranged with regard to the Customs Union between the Cape Colony, Natal, Basutoland and the Bechuanaland Protectorate. But events were moving rapidly in the Transvaal, and matters had proceeded too far for the Free State to turn back. In May 1899 President Steyn suggested the conference at Bloemfontein between President Kruger and Sir Alfred Milner, but this act was too late. The Free Staters were practically bound to the South African Republic, under the offensive and defensive alliance, in case hostilities arose with Great Britain.

The Orange Free State began to expel British subjects in 1899, and the first act of the Second Boer War was committed by Orange Free State Boers, who, on 11 October 1899, seized a train upon the border belonging to Natal. For President Steyn and the Free State of 1899, neutrality was impossible. A resolution was passed by the Volksraad on 27 September declaring that the state would observe its obligations to the Transvaal whatever might happen.

After the surrender of Piet Cronjé in the Battle of Paardeberg on 27 February 1900, Bloemfontein was occupied by the British troops under Lord Roberts from 13 March onward, and on 28 May a proclamation was issued annexing the Free State to the British dominions under the title of Orange River Colony. For nearly two years longer the burghers kept the field under Christiaan de Wet and other leaders, but by the articles of peace signed on 31 May 1902 British sovereignty was acknowledged.

Politics
The 1854 constitution outlined that the unicameral legislature, Volksraad, was the supreme authority. Executive branch was led by State President who was elected by the Burghers from a list of candidates nominated by the Volksraad.

Divisions
The country was divided into the following districts:

 * 1) Bloemfontein district: Bloemfontein, Reddersburg, Brandfort, Bethany, Edenburg
 * 2) Caledon River district: Smithfield
 * 3) Winburg district: Winburg, Ventersburg
 * 4) Harrismith district: Harrismith, Frankfort
 * 5) Kroonstad district: Kroonstad, Heilbron
 * 6) Boshof district: Boshof
 * 7) Jacobsdal district: Jacobsdal
 * 8) Philippolis district: Philippolis
 * 9) Bethulie district: Bethulie
 * 10) Bethlehem district: Bethlehem
 * 11) Rouxville district: Rouxville
 * 12) Lady Brand district: Lady Brand, Ficksburg
 * 13) Pniel district: Pniel

Foreign relations
The Orange Free State was one of two Boer Republics, alongside the Transvaal, able to persist and prosper long enough to gain international recognition. The Orange Free State would eventually establish diplomatic relations with the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, the United States, and the United Kingdom. In addition to connections with the Great Powers, the Orange Free State maintained political ties, manifested in varying forms with neighboring Transvaal and regularly sent and received official missions to and from regional significant native African tribes.

Despite the republic's small size, immense distance and relative historical poverty, the Orange Free State established consuls of official representation in several European states and in the United States of America between 1855 and 31 May 1902, when the republic ceased to exist. The first, and throughout the existence of the republic, most important consular post was the Consulate General of the Orange Free State in the Netherlands. Between 1871 and 1902, the consul general in the Netherlands at times also held diplomatic prerogatives, with the title of 'special envoy'. In this capacity the incumbent was charged with negotiating and concluding treaties with other states and international organisations on behalf of the Orange Free State government.

Demographics
An estimate in 1875: White: 75,000; Native and Coloured: 25,000. The first census, carried out in March 1880, reported 61,022 Europeans and 72,496 Black natives, total 133,518 inhabitants, out of which 70,150 were men. 'Europeans' made up 45.7% of the population. Bloemfontein, the capital, had 2,567 inhabitants. The 1890 census, which was reportedly not very accurate, found a population of 207,503.

In 1904 the colonial census was taken. The population was 387,315, of whom 225,101 (58.11%) were blacks, 142,679 (36.84%) were whites, 19,282 (4.98%) were coloureds and 253 (0.07%) were Indians. The largest cities were Bloemfontein (33,883) (whites – 15,501 or 45.74%), Harrismith (8,300) (whites – 4,817 or 58.03%), Kroonstad (7,191) (whites – 3,708 or 51.56%).

In 1911 population was 528,174, of whom 325,824 (61.68%) were blacks, 175,189 (33.16%) were whites, 26,554 (5.02%) were coloureds and 607 (0.11%) were Indians. The capital, Bloemfontein, had a population of 26,925.

title: Orange Free State


text:
Orange River

The Orange River (from Afrikaans/Dutch: Oranjerivier) is a river in Southern Africa. It is the longest river in South Africa. With a total length of 2432 km, the Orange River Basin extends from Lesotho into South Africa and Namibia to the north. It rises in the Drakensberg mountains in Lesotho, flowing westwards through South Africa to the Atlantic Ocean. The river forms part of the international borders between South Africa and Lesotho and between South Africa and Namibia, as well as several provincial borders within South Africa. Except for Upington, it does not pass through any major cities. The Orange River plays an important role in the South African economy by providing water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The river was named the Orange River in honour of the Dutch ruling family, the House of Orange, by the Dutch explorer Robert Jacob Gordon. Other names include simply the word for river, in Khoekhoegowab orthography written as !Garib, which is rendered in Afrikaans as Gariep River with the intrusion of a velar fricative in place of the alveolar click, Groote River (derived from Kai !Garib) or Senqu River (used in Lesotho), derived from ǂNū "Black". It is known in isiZulu as isAngqu.

Course
The Orange rises in the Drakensberg mountains along the border between South Africa and Lesotho, about 193 km west of the Indian Ocean and at an altitude of over 3,000 m. The extremity of the Orange River inside Lesotho is known as the Senqu. Parts of the Senqu River freeze in winter because of the high altitude. This creates droughts downstream, which mainly affect goat and cattle production.

The Orange River then runs westward through South Africa, forming the south-western boundary of the Free State province. In this section, the river flows first into the Gariep Dam and later into the Vanderkloof Dam. From the border of Lesotho to below the Vanderkloof Dam, the river bed is deeply incised. Further downstream, the land is flatter, and the river is used extensively for irrigation.

At the western point of the Free State, southwest of Kimberley, the Orange meets with its main tributary, the Vaal River, which forms much of the northern border of the province. From here, the river flows further westward through the arid wilderness of the southern Kalahari region and Namaqualand in the Northern Cape province to meet with Namibia at 20°E longitude. From here, it flows westward for 550 km, forming the international border between the province and Namibia's ǁKaras Region. On the border, the river passes the town of Vioolsdrif, the main border post between South Africa and Namibia. In the last 800 km of its course, the Orange receives many intermittent streams, and several large wadis lead into it. In this section, the Namib Desert terminates on the north bank of the river, so under normal circumstances, the volume of water added by these tributaries is negligible. Here, the bed of the river is once again deeply incised. The Augrabies Falls are located on this section of the Orange, where the river descends 122 m in a course of 26 km.

The Orange empties into the Atlantic Ocean between the small towns of Oranjemund (meaning "Orange mouth") in Namibia and Alexander Bay in South Africa, about equidistant between Walvis Bay and Cape Town. Some 33 km from its mouth, it is obstructed by rapids and sand bars and is generally not navigable for long stretches.

The river has a total length of 2432 km.

Catchment and rainfall
In the dry season, the volume of the water in the river is considerably reduced because of the rapid run-off and evaporation. At the source of the Orange, the rainfall is about 2,000 mm per annum, but precipitation decreases as the river flows westward; at its mouth, the rainfall is less than 50 mm per year. The factors that support evaporation, though, tend to increase in a westerly direction. In the wet season (summer), the Orange river becomes a brown coloured torrent. The huge mass of sediment carried constitutes a long-term threat to engineering projects on the river.

The total catchment of the Orange River (including the Vaal) extends over 973,000 km2, i.e. equivalent to about 77% of the land area of South Africa (1,221,037 km2). Around 366,000 km2 (38%), however, are situated outside the country in Lesotho, Botswana, and Namibia.

Tributaries

 * Vaal River - 1,458 km
 * Caledon River - 642 km
 * Khubelu River - 144 km

Dams

 * Armenia Dam
 * Egmont Dam
 * Gariep Dam
 * Newberry Dam
 * Vanderkloof Dam
 * Welbedacht Dam

Etymology
Some of the earliest precolonial inhabitants called the river ǂNūǃarib, referring to its black colour, or sometimes just Kai !Arib ("Great River"), from which is derived the Afrikaans version Gariep, and translation "Groote Rivier". The early Dutch name for the river was just that translation, Groote Rivier, meaning "Great River". The river was named the Orange River by Colonel Robert Gordon, commander of the United East India Company (VOC) garrison at Cape Town, on a trip to the interior in 1779. Gordon named the river in honor of William V of Orange. A popular but incorrect belief is that the river was named after the supposedly orange color of its water, as opposed to the color of its tributary, the Vaal River, which name is derived from the name ǀHaiǃarib "pale river" (vaal being Afrikaans for pale or grey). Since the end of apartheid, the name "Gariep" has had greater favour in official correspondence in South Africa, although the name "Orange" has greater international recognition. In Lesotho, where the river rises, it is known as the Senqu River, derived from the original Khoemana name. The Eastern Cape Geographical Names Committee has advertised its intention to consider a name change from the colonial name, for that portion of the river that forms the border between the Eastern Cape and the Free State, with suggestions being IGqili or Senqu. The advertisement placed in the Aliwal Weekblad newspaper states that the "present name is perceived to have a strong association with the history of colonial subjugation and has therefore no place under the current democratic dispensation."

The Grootslang
In South African folklore, the Orange River is often associated with the Grootslang, a mythical being resembling a giant serpent, which is often connected to the river's alluvial diamonds. The Grootslang is described as living in a gem-filled cave connected to the Orange River by a natural pipe through which the diamonds gradually enter the river. Other sites said to be lairs of the creature include the pool beneath the King George Cataract at Aughrabies Falls, which is also said to be a source of diamonds, and a large rock in the middle of the river itself. In this version of the legend, the Grootslang is also said to prey on cattle from the river's banks.

Economy

As the collection point for the majority of South Africa's water, the Orange River plays a major role in supporting agriculture, industry, and mining. To assist in this, two large water schemes have been created, the Orange River Project and the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Historically, the river played an important role in the South African diamond rush, with the first diamonds in the country being discovered in alluvial deposits on the Orange. Today, several commercial diamond mines operate along the final stretch of the Orange River and around its mouth.

Because of the lack of dangerous animals and high water levels during summer, the river is used for recreational canoeing and rafting. Orange River rafting has become very popular with many companies using their camps along the river from which to operate. The most popular trips are four-day and six-day river trips that take place either along the gorge below the Augrabies Falls or along the Richtersveld area.

Orange River Project
The Orange River Project (ORP) was one of the largest and most imaginative projects of its kind in South Africa. It was constructed by Hendrik Verwoerd's government at the height of the apartheid era. The ORP was built to exploit the waters of the Orange River—which, without the Vaal River, represents some 14.1% of the total runoff in South Africa—and in the process, to satisfy an increasing demand for water. The main objectives of the project were:
 * to stabilise river flow,
 * the generation and transmission of hydroelectric power,
 * to provide a reliable water supply for users in the Orange River basin, and
 * to give a new lease on life to water-deficient areas in the Eastern Cape, such as the Great Fish and Sundays River valleys.

The Gariep Dam near Colesberg is the main storage structure within the Orange River. From here, the water is supplied in two directions, westward along the Orange River (via hydroelectric power generators) to the Vanderkloof Dam and southward through the Orange-Fish Tunnel to the Eastern Cape.

Hydroelectricity
Eskom operates hydroelectric power stations at both the Gariep Dam and the Vanderkloof Dam. The hydroelectric power station at the Vanderkloof Dam was the first power-generation station in South Africa situated entirely underground. The towns Oviston and Oranjekrag were established to facilitate the construction and operation of the new infrastructure.

Irrigation

Irrigation in the vast area downstream of the Vanderkloof Dam, which has turned thousands of hectares of arid veld into highly productive agricultural land, was made possible by the construction of the Gariep and Vanderkloof Dams. Old established irrigation schemes such as those at Buchuberg, Upington, Kakamas, and Vioolsdrif have also benefitted because regulation of the flow is now possible. On the Namibian side of the river, Aussenkehr produces grapes with the help of water from the Orange.

In recent years, the wine-producing areas along the Orange River have grown in importance. Irrigation in the Eastern Cape has also received a tremendous boost, not only from the additional water being made available, but also owing to improvement in water quality. Without this improvement, the citrus farmers along the Lower Sundays River would almost certainly have continued to suffer losses of productivity.

Lesotho Highlands Water Project
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project was conceived to supplement the water supply in the Vaal River System. Water is delivered to South Africa by means of the delivery tunnel which passes under the Lesotho South Africa border at the Caledon River, and then under the Little Caledon River south of Clarens in the Free State, and discharges into the Ash River about 30 km further to the north. The scheme became viable when water demands in Gauteng reached levels that could no longer be supported economically by alternative schemes such as the Tugela River-Vaal River pumped storage scheme, which used the Sterkfontein Dam, located near Harrismith in the Free State.

Alluvial diamonds
In 1867, the first diamond discovered in South Africa, the Eureka Diamond, was found near Hopetown on the Orange River. Two years later, a much larger diamond known as the Star of South Africa was found in the same area, causing a diamond rush. This was soon eclipsed by the diamond rush to mine diamonds directly from kimberlite at Kimberley in 1871, although alluvial diamonds continued to be found in the Orange. Today, several commercial diamond mines operate on the last stretch of the river, as well as the beaches around its mouth. Diamond mines also operate on the middle stretch of the river.

Rafting and canoeing
During the temperate months of March and April, given good rains and the sluices of the dams being open, a canoeist (or rafter) can easily travel 30 km per day. The lower reaches of the river are most popular, because of the spectacular topography. Commercial tours are available, and these expeditions depart from the border town of Vioolsdrif.

Wildlife
The Orange River has no large animals. It lies outside the range of the Nile crocodile, and although hippopotami were once abundant, they were hunted to extermination in the 19th century. The Orange River has a relative paucity of species diversity. Surveys from 1995 to 2001 in the Lower Orange River found 19 different fish species from eight different families. The two non-native species recorded in the surveys were Cyprinus carpio and Oreochromis mossambicus, the latter of which had increased rapidly in abundance since the early 1980s. Another exotic species, rainbow trout, is found in the river headwaters in Lesotho. Seven species are endemic to the Vaal-Orange River system:
 * Rock-catfish (Austroglanis sclateri)
 * Maluti redfin or Maloti minnow (Pseudobarbus quathlambae)
 * Namaquab barb (Barbus hospes)
 * River sardine (Mesobola brevianalis)
 * Smallmouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus aeneus)
 * Largemouth yellowfish (Labeobarbus kimberlyensis)
 * Orange River Mudfish (Labeo capensis)

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

title: Orange River


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Biogeographic realm

Ecozones.svg's system.

{{legend|#a6b866|Nearctic }} {{legend|#b75a5a|Palearctic}} {{legend|#7188a5|Afrotropical}} {{legend|#c09551|Indomalayan}} {{legend|#d78637|Australasian }} {{legend|#a18fa4|Neotropical}} {{legend|#808080|Oceanian}} {{legend|#f9f9f9|Antarctic (not shown)}} ]]

A biogeographic realm is the broadest biogeographic division of Earth's land surface, based on distributional patterns of terrestrial organisms. They are subdivided into bioregions, which are further subdivided into ecoregions. A biogeographic realm is also known as "ecozone", although that term may also refer to ecoregions.

Description
The realms delineate large areas of Earth's surface within which organisms have evolved in relative isolation over long periods of time, separated by geographic features, such as oceans, broad deserts, or high mountain ranges, that constitute natural barriers to migration. As such, biogeographic realm designations are used to indicate general groupings of organisms based on their shared biogeography. Biogeographic realms correspond to the floristic kingdoms of botany or zoogeographic regions of zoology.

From 1872, Alfred Russel Wallace developed a system of zoogeographic regions, extending the ornithologist Philip Sclater's system of six regions.

Biogeographic realms are characterized by the evolutionary history of the organisms they contain. They are distinct from biomes, also known as major habitat types, which are divisions of the Earth's surface based on life form, or the adaptation of animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants to climatic, soil, and other conditions. Biomes are characterized by similar climax vegetation. Each realm may include a number of different biomes. A tropical moist broadleaf forest in Central America, for example, may be similar to one in New Guinea in its vegetation type and structure, climate, soils, etc., but these forests are inhabited by animals, fungi, micro-organisms and plants with very different evolutionary histories.

The distribution of organisms among the world's biogeographic realms has been influenced by the distribution of landmasses, as shaped by plate tectonics over the geological history of the Earth.

Concept history
The "biogeographic realms" of Udvardy were defined based on taxonomic composition. The rank corresponds more or less to the floristic kingdoms and zoogeographic regions.

The usage of the term "ecozone" is more variable. Beginning in the 1960s, it was used originally in the field of biostratigraphy to denote intervals of geological strata with fossil content demonstrating a specific ecology. In Canadian literature, the term was used by Wiken in macro level land classification, with geographic criteria (see Ecozones of Canada). Later, Schultz would use it with ecological and physiognomical criteria, in a way similar to the concept of biome.

In the Global 200/WWF scheme, originally the term "biogeographic realm" in Udvardy sense was used. However, in a scheme of BBC, it was replaced by the term "ecozone".

WWF / Global 200 biogeographic realms
The World Wildlife Fund scheme is broadly similar to Miklos Udvardy's system, the chief difference being the delineation of the Australasian realm relative to the Antarctic, Oceanic, and Indomalayan realms. In the WWF system, the Australasia realm includes Australia, Tasmania, the islands of Wallacea, New Guinea, the East Melanesian Islands, New Caledonia, and New Zealand. Udvardy's Australian realm includes only Australia and Tasmania; he places Wallacea in the Indomalayan Realm, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and East Melanesia in the Oceanian Realm, and New Zealand in the Antarctic Realm.

The Palearctic and Nearctic are sometimes grouped into the Holarctic realm.

Morrone biogeographic kingdoms
Following the nomenclatural conventions set out in the International Code of Area Nomenclature, Morrone defined the next biogeographic kingdoms (or realms) and regions:
 * Holarctic kingdom Heilprin (1887)
 * Nearctic region Sclater (1858)
 * Palearctic region Sclater (1858)
 * Holotropical kingdom Rapoport (1968)
 * Neotropical region Sclater (1858)
 * Ethiopian region Sclater (1858)
 * Oriental region Wallace (1876)
 * Austral kingdom Engler (1899)
 * Cape region Grisebach (1872)
 * Andean region Engler (1882)
 * Australian region Sclater (1858)
 * Antarctic region Grisebach (1872)
 * Transition zones:
 * Mexican transition zone (Nearctic–Neotropical transition)
 * Saharo-Arabian transition zone (Palearctic–Ethiopian transition)
 * Chinese transition zone (Palearctic–Oriental transition zone transition)
 * Indo-Malayan, Indonesian or Wallace's transition zone (Oriental–Australian transition)
 * South American transition zone (Neotropical–Austral transition)

Freshwater biogeographic realms

The applicability of Udvardy scheme to most freshwater taxa is unresolved.

The drainage basins of the principal oceans and seas of the world are marked by continental divides. The grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the ocean.

Marine biogeographic realms

According to Briggs and Morrone:

• Indo-West Pacific region

• Eastern Pacific region

• Western Atlantic region

• Eastern Atlantic region

• Southern Australian region

• Northern New Zealand region

• Western South America region

• Eastern South America region

• Southern Africa region

• Mediterranean–Atlantic region

• Carolina region

• California region

• Japan region

• Tasmanian region

• Southern New Zealand region

• Antipodean region

• Subantarctic region

• Magellan region

• Eastern Pacific Boreal region

• Western Atlantic Boreal region

• Eastern Atlantic Boreal region

• Antarctic region

• Arctic region

According to the WWF scheme:

• Arctic realm

• Temperate Northern Atlantic realm

• Temperate Northern Pacific realm

• Tropical Atlantic realm

• Western Indo-Pacific realm

• Central Indo-Pacific realm

• Eastern Indo-Pacific realm

• Tropical Eastern Pacific realm

• Temperate South America realm

• Temperate Southern Africa realm

• Temperate Australasia realm

• Southern Ocean realm

title: Biogeographic realm


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Precious metal

Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less chemically reactive than most elements. They are usually ductile and have a high lustre. Historically, precious metals were important as currency but are now regarded mainly as investment and industrial raw materials. Gold, silver, platinum, and palladium each have an ISO 4217 currency code.

The best known precious metals are the coinage metals, which are gold and silver. Although both have industrial uses, they are better known for their uses in art, jewelry, and coinage. Other precious metals include the platinum group metals: ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, of which platinum is the most widely traded. The demand for precious metals is driven not only by their practical use but also by their role as investments and a store of value. Historically, precious metals have commanded much higher prices than common industrial metals.

Bullion
A metal is deemed to be precious if it is rare. The discovery of new sources of ore or improvements in mining or refining processes may cause the value of a precious metal to diminish. The status of a "precious" metal can also be determined by high demand or market value. Precious metals in bulk form are known as bullion and are traded on commodity markets. Bullion metals may be cast into ingots or minted into coins. The defining attribute of bullion is that it is valued by its mass and purity rather than by a face value as money.

Purity and mass

The level of purity varies from issue to issue. "Three nines" (99.9%) purity is common. The purest mass-produced bullion coins are in the Canadian Gold Maple Leaf series, which go up to 99.999% purity. A 100% pure bullion is nearly impossible: as the percentage of impurities diminishes, it becomes progressively more difficult to purify the metal further. Historically, coins had a certain amount of weight of alloy, with the purity a local standard. The Krugerrand is the first modern example of measuring in "pure gold": it should contain at least 12/11 ounces of at least 11/12 pure gold. Other bullion coins (for example the British Sovereign) show neither the purity nor the fine-gold weight on the coin but are recognized and consistent in their composition. Many coins historically showed a denomination in currency (example: American double eagle: $20).

Coinage

Many nations mint bullion coins. Although nominally issued as legal tender, these coins' face value as currency is far below that of their value as bullion. For instance, Canada mints a gold bullion coin (the Gold Maple Leaf) at a face value of $50 containing one troy ounce (31.1035 g) of gold—as of January 2022. The USD to CAD exchange rate averaged 1.129 in July 2009 according to OANDA Historical Exchange Rates. Although the exact moment that the $1,075 figure was determined is unknown, it may be considered a reasonable value for the time. Bullion coins' minting by national governments gives them some numismatic value in addition to their bullion value, as well as certifying their purity.

One of the largest bullion coins in the world was the 10,000-dollar Australian Gold Nugget coin minted in Australia which consists of a full kilogram of 99.9% pure gold. In 2012, the Perth Mint produced a 1-tonne coin of 99.99% pure gold with a face value of $1 million AUD, making it the largest minted coin in the world with a gold value of around $50 million AUD. China has produced coins in very limited quantities (less than 20 pieces minted) that exceed 8 kg of gold. Austria has minted a coin containing 31 kg of gold (the Vienna Philharmonic Coin minted in 2004 with a face value of 100,000 euro). As a stunt to publicise the 99.999% pure one-ounce Canadian Gold Maple Leaf series, in 2007 the Royal Canadian Mint made a 100 kg 99.999% gold coin, with a face value of $1 million, and now manufactures them to order, but at a substantial premium over the market value of the gold.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe mints the gold Mosi-oa-Tunya (coin) which is recognized as legal tender at the market value for its gold content.

Economic use
Gold and silver, and sometimes other precious metals, are often seen as defensive assets against both inflation and economic downturn. Silver coins have become popular with collectors due to their relative affordability, and, unlike most gold and platinum issues which are valued based upon the markets, silver issues are more often valued as collectibles, far higher than their actual bullion value.

Aluminium
Aluminium is now commonplace but was considered to be a precious metal until the late 1800s. Although aluminium is the third most abundant element and most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, it was at first found to be exceedingly difficult to extract the metal from its various non-metallic ores. The great expense of refining the metal made the small available quantity of pure aluminium more valuable than gold. Bars of aluminium were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle of 1855, and Napoleon III's most important guests were given aluminium cutlery, while those less worthy dined with mere silver. In 1884, the pyramidal capstone of the Washington Monument was cast of 100 ounces of pure aluminium. By that time, aluminium was as expensive as silver. The statue of Anteros atop the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain (1885–1893) in London's Piccadilly Circus is also of cast aluminium. Over time, however, the price of the metal has dropped. The dawn of commercial electric generation in 1882 and the invention of the Hall–Héroult process in 1886 caused the price of aluminium to drop substantially over a short period of time.

title: Precious metal


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Talk:I Pagliacci

Synopsis from Melitz 1921. - Dreamword 06:27 Feb 7, 2003 (UTC)

The English translations! who can recognize anything? "Ding-dong the shadows fall" (!) Or "To jest with my heart maddened with sorrow." -- is that 'Vesti la giubba'? Is this a Wilipedia convention? User:Wetman

title: Talk:I Pagliacci


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Talk:Sphynx cat

Cloned
Looks like the causative mutation has been cloned: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20953787/ - probably worth a mention. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.252.16.121 (talk) 23:50, 11 March 2011 (UTC)

Ted Nude-Gent
The link to SGC Belfry Ted Nude-Gent is dead. Could someone update it to something relevant, perhaps an article on the subject? 128.235.242.53

 * Okay, done. I asked the lady who started the sphynx.nu site but she's been unable to provide the photos any more.  So I pointed to an interview with Ted.
 * Also the site has changed ownership so I removed the other links to it.
 * User:Steverapaport
 * It might also be worth adding the image http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8f/Ted_Nude_Gent.jpg to the page somewhere...it's the image from the page "Dr Evil" (scroll down) and is of the hairless Mr Bigglesworth which is mentioned on this page SmUX 21:08, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Harry Potter
When it says a sphynx was to star in Harry Potter, are we sure that we aren't confusing kinds of sphynx's. :) I don't remember any hairless cats in the books... --Eean 02:15, 12 January 2006 (UTC)
 * There wasn't a sphynx cat in the book, it was the sphinx they were referring to. I'm also not aware of ever seeing the cat used in any of the movies.[[User:Heath Buckmaster|Heath Buckmaster

]] 01:55, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Popular culture
Could someone point out any other instances where the Sphynx breed was in the movies or is Mr Bigglesworth the only one? Secondly, If anyone shows the Sphynx cats, could someone come up with an actual definition of medium sized as per the breed standard? 63.200.184.126 (talk) 18:20, 14 January 2008 (UTC) Sara http://www.aliencattery.com

External link removed
Removed external link to www.angelsphynx.com (Sphynx Cats, about care and breed) - it's a non-English site, which English version is just a commercial breeder's self-promotion (User [whatever my IP is today]) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.64.103.172 (talk) 17:58, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

Interwiki
I can't put the interwiki for ru:Канадский сфинкс. Spam filter - www.vandvis.com. But there is no such link in the article. --Vaya 23:48, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I just made an update to some content, and received the spamfilter message, and removed the vandvis link.Heath Buckmaster 01:55, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

The second picture covers up a small portion of the text. Nothing serious, just looks a little bad. Wib30 19:36, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

I think it would be nice to add some information about the use of these cats in moves / TV such as in "Austin Powers" (The Dr.Evil's cat) and in "Friends" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.69.142.42 (talk) 20:15, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

the kitten named belfry grog owned by michelle berge was sent down for the shooting of gold member to play mini mr bigglesworth.. but they ended up not using him cuz vern troyer had trouble holding him. also the cat named belfry mel gibskin was on an episode of friends.. this was told to me by the breeder michelle berge of the belfry cattery.

Origin
I think this page needs more on the sphynx origin. I will be tring to make work on it in the next few days.--Talon (talk) 21:57, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

I need help the book I got the info from (4.(book) The new Encyclopedia of the Cat By: Bruce Fogle ISBN: 0789480212) well it wont let me make a References on it.--Talon (talk) 02:46, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

Well here is some more stuff i found on the net about the origin of this cat "In 1970 the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) granted provisional status to the "Canadian Hairless." The next year, however, CFA withdrew recognition due to the health problems and breeding difficulties. At the time, it was believed that the gene associated with hairlessness was lethal. That line became extinct.

The Sphynx as we know it today began in 1975, when Minnesota farm owners Milt and Ethelyn Pearson discovered a hairless kitten had been born to their normal-coated farm cat, Jezabelle. This kitten, appropriately named Epidermis, was joined the next year by another hairless kitten named Dermis. Both were sold to Oregon breeder Kim Mueske, who used the kittens to develop the breed. Minnesota breeder Georgiana Gattenby also worked with kittens from the Pearson line, using rex cats to widen and strengthen the gene pool. These lines proved to be healthy. The name "Sphynx" was chosen, named after the Great Sphinx of Giza." End Qoute, so yeah maybe you can do something with this —Preceding unsigned comment added by ChesterTheWorm (talk • contribs) 07:02, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

Is anyone else getting this?
At the top of this page, it says "The Wikipedia Community would like to wish Avril Lavigne a happy birthday!". I edited it to view the source, and it didn't even say "Avril Lavigne" once. And it happens only on this page.--dicttrshp 10:58, 28 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Here's why 86.154.15.177 (talk) 02:31, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

hi there!

hi

Sorry --
There must have been some lag in the server; the edit I reverted as "rvv" was not in fact vandalism. For some reason the vandalized version with File:Benedict Cumberbatch filming Sherlock cropped.jpg was showing as the default. 63.249.101.182 (talk) 20:32, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

Robust - what is the source?
The article claims "The Canadian Sphynx is recognized by cat fancy associations as being a healthy robust breed." But also states alot of health issues that seem to be rather common, so what is the source and also proof for this statement?--Inugami-bargho (talk) 19:28, 20 September 2012 (UTC)

breed or condition?
I don't think is a new breed is a condition of recesive genes — Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.202.219.242 (talk) 12:06, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

The Rabbi's Cat
Is the cat featured in the animated movie, The Rabbi's Cat (comics) a sphynx? Jooojay (talk) 01:57, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Sound file
I am not familiar with sound files, but I noticed when I play the video of the cat meowing, the sound is music instead. Perhaps this needs to be relinked? Jooojay (talk) 07:39, 1 February 2016 (UTC)
 * OR maybe this is just a new video? I find the sound is very distracting if that is the case. Jooojay (talk) 07:40, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 06:41, 30 April 2016 (UTC)

In popular culture
Harizotoh9, last time I checked we don't just delete huge chunks of cited material. Instead, we add clean up templates? Please explain why you think this was an appropriate approach to the issue. Jooojay (talk) 17:57, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
 * Moved to the talk page for later clean up - less "trivia-based" and instead turned into sentences/paragraphs with better citations. Jooojay (talk) 04:00, 31 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Actually, "In culture" sections tend to be discouraged for the reason that they do tend to collect trivia, so it needs to be a very significant cultural thing to be included. None of the trivia below qualifies and should, in fact, have been removed. Happy editing. --SilverTiger12 (talk) 14:24, 23 July 2021 (UTC)
 * The point was that it can be re-written and not be trivia–based information, it was moved here for the development of that. There are notable sources for some of these already (including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, etc) and the rest would need development. Jooojay (talk) 14:32, 23 July 2021 (UTC)

Television The 1984 television musical movie for the band Falco, Heros of Today (also known as Falcon, Helden von heute) was a movie made of a series of music videos and in the video Can There Be Love (also known as, Kann es Liebe sein) he drives off with a Sphynx cat in his arms. In the television series Friends (season 5), episode 21, The One with the Ball (aired in 1999), the character Rachel buys a Sphynx cat. The television series Kid vs. Kat (2008–2011) features a character named Kat who resembles a Sphynx cat. The 2009 informational television series Cat 101, season 1, episode 1 features Sphynx cats and focuses on the cat breed and behavior.

The 2011 reality television series My Cat from Hell featured on season 2, episode 6 Spitting Mad a family caught in the middle of their two violent Sphynx cats. Film The Austin Powers film series features an orange Sphynx cat, Mr. Bigglesworth. The Sphynx is owned by Dr. Evil (originally, Mr. Bigglesworth had fur, but ended up hairless when Evil was unfrozen in 1997 as the melting process did not recognize feline DNA). The 2010 film Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore features a Sphynx cat named Kitty Galore, although she wasn't a natural Sphynx as she had actually lost all her fur from a freak chemical accident during a mission. The 2010 film The Book of Eli has an opening sequence with a Sphynx cat that is killed. The 2016 animated movie The Secret Life of Pets features a territory-protective Sphynx cat; the voice is played by Steve Coogan.

heat-seeking
Why was the phrase "heat-seeking" removed? It made this article better!
 * It had no citation, also it may not be a universal trait. Jooojay (talk) 04:48, 27 October 2020 (UTC)

Photo
The cat in the main photo for this article does not seem to be breed standard, or at least is not exemplary, as it lacks the pot belly. I would change it, but I wanted to confirm here with breed experts first. — HTGS (talk) 21:22, 16 May 2021 (UTC)
 * I removed a lede image of a thin black Sphynx cat in a collar because it is highly stylized. Also there is much debate around using collars on this breed. Ideally the lede image would show the body of the cat, meet breed standards, and be on a white background with proper lighting. PigeonChickenFish (talk) 22:25, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

Redirect - Bingus
Why does "Bingus" redirect to this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Unkownreader

 * "Bingus" was a "meme" in 2020, but it got zero attention which made it not notable. The Bingus WP article was deleted in February 2021 (see Articles for deletion/Bingus). The redirect should also be deleted. Joojay (talk) 21:38, 23 August 2021 (UTC)

"Bingus" listed at Redirects for discussion
A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Bingus. The discussion will occur at Redirects for discussion/Log/2021 August 23 until a consensus is reached, and readers of this page are welcome to contribute to the discussion. Joojay (talk) 21:41, 23 August 2021 (UTC)

origin
I don't think sphinx cats originated in Canada. I'm from there and they would not survive. thank you 149.76.91.42 (talk) 20:47, 24 February 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 09:38, 25 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Cheb Sphynx Cat.jpg

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
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 * Sphynx Xitten.jpg

Wiki Education assignment: The Free Internet
— Assignment last updated by ReadyMadeAl (talk) 17:19, 19 October 2023 (UTC)

Decoding Sphynx Cat Prices: A Comprehensive Guide to Affordable and High-Quality Sphynx Cats"
Introduction: Sphynx Cat Price, known for their distinctive hairless appearance and affectionate nature, have become a popular choice among cat enthusiasts. However, understanding the pricing factors associated with Sphynx cats is crucial for those looking to bring these unique feline companions into their homes. In this guide, we will delve into the various elements that contribute to Sphynx cat prices, providing insights into both cost-effective and high-quality options.

Factors Influencing Sphynx Cat Prices:

Pedigree and Bloodlines: Sphynx cats with well-documented pedigrees and desirable bloodlines often come with a higher price tag. Breeders invest time and resources in maintaining the integrity of the breed, resulting in cats with a strong genetic background. Health Screening and Veterinary Care: Reputable breeders prioritize the health of their Sphynx cats, conducting thorough health screenings and providing necessary veterinary care. This commitment to well-being contributes to the overall cost of acquiring a Sphynx cat.

Age and Availability:

The age of the Sphynx cat and its availability in the market can impact pricing. Kittens from reputable breeders may be priced differently than adult cats, and the rarity of certain color variations or markings can also influence costs.

Navigating Affordable Options:

Adoption from Shelters and Rescues: For those on a budget, exploring adoption options from shelters and rescues can be a cost-effective way to bring a Sphynx cat into the family. These organizations often have cats in need of loving homes at more affordable prices.

Local Breeders and Special Offers:

Researching local breeders and keeping an eye out for special offers or promotions can lead to finding reasonably priced Sphynx cats without compromising on quality. Connecting with breeders in your area may provide insights into upcoming litters or available cats at competitive prices.

Conclusion:

Understanding the intricacies of Sphynx cat prices empowers potential owners to make informed decisions based on their preferences, budget, and ethical considerations. Whether opting for a high-end pedigree or exploring more affordable adoption options, the key is to prioritize the well-being of the cat and ensure a loving and responsible home. By considering the factors outlined in this guide, individuals can navigate the world of Sphynx cat prices with confidence, ultimately finding the perfect feline companion to enrich their lives. 85.107.95.155 (talk) 22:25, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

 * Wikipedia isn't a guidebook. Traumnovelle (talk) 04:58, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sphynx cat


text:
James LaBrie

Kevin James LaBrie (born May 5, 1963) is a Canadian singer, best known as the lead singer of American progressive metal band Dream Theater, which he has been fronting since 1991.

Early life
Kevin James LaBrie was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada and started playing drums at age five. By his mid-teens, he was a member of several bands as a front man that attempted singing and/or drumming. He stopped playing drums at age 17 and in 1981, at age 18, he moved to Toronto.

Coney Hatch
LaBrie joined Coney Hatch in 1986 when they were attempting a new lineup. The band recorded a number of demonstration tapes in their rehearsal studio and performed live in Ontario clubs for several months. When their record company (Anthem) expressed their disapproval of the lineup, the band replaced LaBrie with Phil Naro in one last ditched attempt at forging ahead without Carl Dixon. That lineup was to be short lived as well.

Winter Rose
Soon after parting ways with Coney Hatch, LaBrie became the vocalist for the glam metal band Winter Rose. The group also included Richard Chycki on guitar and bass, Randy Cooke on drums, and (in an earlier incarnation), Sebastian Bach on vocals. Chycki had also worked with Bach under the band names 'Hope', and later 'Sebastian', before settling on 'Winter Rose'. The band recorded a series of demos through 1988 and 1989 with supporting musicians Bruce Dies and Rob Laidlaw. Most tracks weren't commercially released until 1997 when a self-titled album was released by Inside Out Music, a full 7 years after the group had disbanded. Their track "I'll Never Fall In Love Again" was released with a promo video in 1989 and would later be included on the album. All songs on the album were written by Richard Chycki and James LaBrie, save two which were written in whole by Richard Chycki.

Dream Theater
In 1990, LaBrie learned that American progressive metal band Dream Theater was looking for a new singer, so he submitted a tape and was quickly flown to New York for a full audition. The tryout went well, and he was chosen ahead of 200 other hopefuls to fill the full-time vocalist position in that band.

LaBrie has since had a significant impact on the vocal melodies on each Dream Theater album, but until recently has had little input on the instrumentation of Dream Theater's music; 2011's A Dramatic Turn of Events features LaBrie in the music credits on three songs. To date he has written or co-written lyrics for at least one song on ten of the fifteen albums Dream Theater has released with him in the band, Images and Words, Black Clouds & Silver Linings, Dream Theater and The Astonishing containing none of them.

Asked by Prog-Sphere.com what is his favorite Dream Theater song to play live, James says "The favorite song for me is Scarred, I love performing that live. And... well, Octavarium, that whole freakin’ thing."

Solo
With Matt Guillory, LaBrie has released five solo albums under various names (Mullmuzzler, James LaBrie's Mullmuzzler, and simply James LaBrie).

In an interview from Beyond The Dark Horizon on June 12, 2010, James LaBrie stated that his next solo album entitled Static Impulse, is in the mixing stages and will contain 12 tracks. James stated "It's very heavy and I'm really excited."

On July 27, 2010 it was announced on Dream Theater's website that Static Impulse would be released on September 27, 2010 through Inside Out Music. It features longtime collaborator Matt Guillory on keyboards, Marco Sfogli (who also played on LaBrie's earlier album Elements of Persuasion) on guitars, Peter Wildoer of the Swedish melodic death metal band Darkane on drums and screaming vocals, and Ray Riendeau on bass.

James LaBrie stated "The release of Static Impulse is one that the whole band is psyched about. This is modern metal and as heavy and relevant as any other band out there going in a similar musical direction. There are riffs that will blow your head off and melodies both musically and vocally that are hypnotic. Get in the driver's seat and let the ears bleed. Enjoy and see you out there with a tour to follow up and support this release."

In 2011's interview for Prog-Sphere.com, LaBrie stated that the US tour got cancelled, saying "Because it was so disorganized last time. That's why I basically said, 'You don't have the visas yet. Where we're at this point, by the time you get the visas processed, we're gonna have one rehearsal and then we're gonna go out.' And I said, 'I'm not doing that.'"

In July 2013, LaBrie's album Impermanent Resonance was released by Inside Out Music.

Other projects
Throughout his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie has lent his voice to many other artists' records as well as tribute albums. In 1991, not long after joining Dream Theater (and before ever appearing on a Dream Theater recording), he sang background vocals on the song "Life in Still Water" on Fates Warning's Parallels album. He has appeared on many Trent Gardner releases (including Leonardo: The Absolute Man and Explorer's Club), as well as appearing on albums by such artists as Shadow Gallery, Tim Donahue and Frameshift.

LaBrie provided the lead vocals for the main character in the rock opera album The Human Equation by Ayreon; in 2015, he reprised his role for a live version, The Theater Equation. He was also featured as the character "The Historian" in the album The Source.

LaBrie is also a featured vocalist on Henning Pauly's "Babysteps" project released in 2006; LaBrie plays the role of the arrogant doctor.

Since 2004, LaBrie has been working with the True Symphonic Rockestra project, along with Thomas Dewald, Vladimir Grishko, Dirk Ulrich, Christoph Wansleben, Sandro Martinez, Paul Mayland, Marvin Philippi, and Igor Marin. Their album, Concerto in True Minor - 3 Rock Tenors was released on iTunes and for download on Amazon on March 28, 2008, by Brainworx and Marinsound.

In 2016 LaBrie was the special guest on the Last Union debut album firstly meant to be named "Most Beautiful Day". He sang in three songs: "President Evil", "Taken" and "A Place In Heaven". Eventually the album was called "Twelve" and finally released on December 21, 2018. "Twelve" was written and pieced together over a $2 1/2$-year period.

Personal life
LaBrie had said in many older interviews that he was Christian, and actively practiced the religion. However, in 2005 he revealed that he's since strayed from organized religion, and now considers himself "a more spiritual-directed person".

In an interview with Elizabeth Zharoff, LaBrie said he met his wife Karen in high school. As of 2022, they have been married for 33 years.

Influences
His musical influences comes from many different genres, including such artists as Sebastian Bach, Aerosmith, Don Dokken, Metallica, The Doors, Ludwig van Beethoven, Nat King Cole, Queen, Sting, and Muse whose inspiration, according to LaBrie, is shown on Dream Theater's album, Octavarium. LaBrie lists Freddie Mercury as his "all-time favorite" singer, and also admires such singers as Steve Perry, Lou Gramm, Rob Halford, Steven Tyler, Robert Plant, and Jeff Buckley, among others.

Reception
He was voted by fans to #16 on MusicRadar's "The greatest vocalists of all time" in 2010. During his career with Dream Theater, LaBrie's singing voice has received both praise and criticism. In response to detractors of his vocal abilities, LaBrie has said, "These people are pathetic and need to move on. I say get a life and maybe work on making your life a better one instead of thinking the answer lies in cutting someone else up to raise your miserable spirit".

Food poisoning incident
On December 30, 1994, while vacationing in Cuba, LaBrie was stricken with a severe case of food poisoning from contaminated pork and while vomiting, he ruptured his vocal cords. He saw three throat specialists who all said there was nothing they could do except have him rest his voice as much as possible. However, on January 12, 1995, against doctor's orders, he was on the Waking Up the World Tour in Japan promoting Dream Theater's Awake album with his voice far from normal. LaBrie has said he did not feel vocally "normal" until at least 2002. He has also said that this era was a very hard time for him as a singer, and depression as a result caused him to consider departing from the band, although his bandmates supported him and urged him to stay. After the World Tourbulence tour, he discovered that his voice had fully returned. He said that his voice was fully healed by time and training. However, while speaking to Greg Prato of Songfacts in 2019, LaBrie explained how the incident affected his vocal range. "So, instead of hitting D's and E's and F-sharps and all that stuff, I was able to hit C, C-sharp, and D. But I had to really watch it. I have hit F notes here and there, but I have to really watch it. But that was probably the darkest moment in my life, for sure."

Lip syncing allegations
In February of 2022, rumors emerged of LaBrie lip syncing during the North American leg of Dream Theater's Top of the World Tour as fan recordings from the tour were posted online. Specifically, fans pointed to the post-chorus section of the song "Bridges In The Sky" as evidence of LaBrie lip syncing to a pre-recorded vocal track. LaBrie addressed the controversy onstage during the band's performance in Houston, Texas, on March 18, 2022, denying the allegations and claiming he has never lip synced in his entire life.

Discography
Winter Rose
 * Winter Rose (1989)

Dream Theater
 * Images and Words (1992)
 * Awake (1994)
 * A Change of Seasons (1995)
 * Falling into Infinity (1997)
 * Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999)
 * Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002)
 * Train of Thought (2003)
 * Octavarium (2005)
 * Systematic Chaos (2007)
 * Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2009)
 * A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011)
 * Dream Theater (2013)
 * The Astonishing (2016)
 * Distance over Time (2019)
 * A View from the Top of the World (2021)

MullMuzzler
 * Keep It to Yourself (1999)
 * MullMuzzler 2 (2001)

Solo
 * Elements of Persuasion (2005)
 * Static Impulse (2010)
 * Impermanent Resonance (2013)
 * I Will Not Break (2014) (Compilation EP)
 * Beautiful Shade of Grey (2022)

Others
 * Fates Warning - Parallels (1991)
 * Explorers Club – Age of Impact (1998)
 * Various Artists (A tribute to Rush) – Working Man – A Tribute to Rush (1996)
 * Various Artists (A tribute to Queen) – Dragon Attack (1997)
 * Shadow Gallery - Tyranny (1998)
 * Various Artists (A tribute to Emerson, Lake & Palmer) – Encores, Legends & Paradox (1999)
 * Explorers Club – Raising the Mammoth (2002)
 * Frameshift - Unweaving the Rainbow'' (2003)
 * Tim Donahue - Madmen & Sinners (2004)
 * Ayreon - The Human Equation (2004)
 * Henning Pauly - Babysteps (2006)
 * John Macaluso & Union Radio - The Radio Waves Goodbye (2007)
 * True Symphonic Rockestra - Concerto in True Minor (2008)
 * Redemption - Snowfall on Judgment Day (2009)
 * Roswell Six - Terra Incognita: Beyond the Horizon (2009)
 * Eden's Curse - Trinity (2011)
 * Rik Emmett & RESolution9 - RES9 (2016)
 * Ayreon - The Source (2017)
 * Last Union - Twelve (2018)
 * Jordan Rudess - Wired for Madness (2019)
 * Symphony North - The Bell Ringer (2019)
 * Evergrey - Escape of the Phoenix (2021)
 * Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Enigma Birth (2021)
 * Khalil Turk & Friends - Turkish Delight II (2023)
 * Various Artists - Meddle Reimagined - A Tribute to Pink Floyd (2023)

title: James LaBrie


text:
Palearctic realm

The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa.

The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Siberian region; the Mediterranean Basin; the Sahara and Arabian Deserts; and Western, Central and East Asia. The Palaearctic realm also has numerous rivers and lakes, forming several freshwater ecoregions.

The term 'Palearctic' was first used in the 19th century, and is still in use as the basis for zoogeographic classification.

History
In an 1858 paper for the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, British zoologist Philip Sclater first identified six terrestrial zoogeographic realms of the world: Palaearctic, Aethiopian/Afrotropic, Indian/Indomalayan, Australasian, Nearctic, and Neotropical. The six indicated general groupings of fauna, based on shared biogeography and large-scale geographic barriers to migration.

Alfred Wallace adopted Sclater's scheme for his book The Geographical Distribution of Animals, published in 1876. This is the same scheme that persists today, with relatively minor revisions, and the addition of two more realms: Oceania and the Antarctic realm.

Major ecological regions
The Palearctic realm includes mostly boreal/subarctic-climate and temperate-climate ecoregions, which run across Eurasia from western Europe to the Bering Sea.

Euro-Siberian region
The boreal and temperate Euro-Siberian region is the Palearctic's largest biogeographic region, which transitions from tundra in the northern reaches of Russia and Scandinavia to the vast taiga, the boreal coniferous forests which run across the continent. South of the taiga are a belt of temperate broadleaf and mixed forests and temperate coniferous forests. This vast Euro-Siberian region is characterized by many shared plant and animal species, and has many affinities with the temperate and boreal regions of the Nearctic realm of North America. Eurasia and North America were often connected by the Bering land bridge, and have very similar mammal and bird fauna, with many Eurasian species having moved into North America, and fewer North American species having moved into Eurasia. Many zoologists consider the Palearctic and Nearctic to be a single Holarctic realm. The Palearctic and Nearctic also share many plant species, which botanists call the Arcto-Tertiary Geoflora.

Mediterranean Basin
The lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea in southern Europe, north Africa, and western Asia are home to the Mediterranean Basin ecoregions, which together constitute the world's largest and most diverse mediterranean climate region of the world, with generally mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers. The Mediterranean basin's mosaic of Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub are home to 13,000 endemic species. The Mediterranean basin is also one of the world's most endangered biogeographic regions; only 4% of the region's original vegetation remains, and human activities, including overgrazing, deforestation, and conversion of lands for pasture, agriculture, and urbanization, have degraded much of the region. Formerly the region was mostly covered with forests and woodlands, but heavy human use has reduced much of the region to the sclerophyll shrublands known as chaparral, matorral, maquis, or garrigue. Conservation International has designated the Mediterranean basin as one of the world's biodiversity hotspots.

Sahara and Arabian deserts
A great belt of deserts, including the Atlantic coastal desert, Sahara desert, and Arabian desert, separates the Palearctic and Afrotropic ecoregions. This scheme includes these desert ecoregions in the palearctic realm; other biogeographers identify the realm boundary as the transition zone between the desert ecoregions and the Mediterranean basin ecoregions to the north, which places the deserts in the Afrotropic, while others place the boundary through the middle of the desert.

Western and Central Asia
The Caucasus mountains, which run between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, are a particularly rich mix of coniferous, broadleaf, and mixed forests, and include the temperate rain forests of the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests ecoregion.

Central Asia and the Iranian plateau are home to dry steppe grasslands and desert basins, with montane forests, woodlands, and grasslands in the region's high mountains and plateaux. In southern Asia the boundary of the Palearctic is largely altitudinal. The middle altitude foothills of the Himalaya between about 2000–2500 m form the boundary between the Palearctic and Indomalaya ecoregions.

East Asia
China, Korea and Japan are more humid and temperate than adjacent Siberia and Central Asia, and are home to rich temperate coniferous, broadleaf, and mixed forests, which are now mostly limited to mountainous areas, as the densely populated lowlands and river basins have been converted to intensive agricultural and urban use. East Asia was not much affected by glaciation in the ice ages, and retained 96 percent of Pliocene tree genera, while Europe retained only 27 percent. In the subtropical region of southern China and southern edge of the Himalayas, the Palearctic temperate forests transition to the subtropical and tropical forests of Indomalaya, creating a rich and diverse mix of plant and animal species. The mountains of southwest China are also designated as a biodiversity hotspot. In Southeastern Asia, high mountain ranges form tongues of Palearctic flora and fauna in northern Indochina and southern China. Isolated small outposts (sky islands) occur as far south as central Myanmar (on Nat Ma Taung, 3050 m), northernmost Vietnam (on Fan Si Pan, 3140 m) and the high mountains of Taiwan.

Freshwater
The realm contains several important freshwater ecoregions as well, including the heavily developed rivers of Europe, the rivers of Russia, which flow into the Arctic, Baltic, Black, and Caspian seas, Siberia's Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake on the planet, and Japan's ancient Lake Biwa.

Flora and fauna
One bird family, the accentors (Prunellidae), is endemic to the Palearctic region. The Holarctic has four other endemic bird families: the divers or loons (Gaviidae), grouse (Tetraoninae), auks (Alcidae), and waxwings (Bombycillidae).

There are no endemic mammal orders in the region, but several families are endemic: Calomyscidae (mouse-like hamsters), Prolagidae, and Ailuridae (red pandas). Several mammal species originated in the Palearctic and spread to the Nearctic during the Ice Age, including the brown bear (Ursus arctos, known in North America as the grizzly), red deer (Cervus elaphus) in Europe and the closely related elk (Cervus canadensis) in far eastern Siberia, American bison (Bison bison), and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus, known in North America as the caribou).

Megafaunal extinctions
Several large Palearctic animals became extinct from the end of the Pleistocene into historic times, including Irish elk (Megaloceros giganteus), aurochs (Bos primigenius), woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), North African elephant (Loxodonta africana pharaoensis), Chinese elephant (Elephas maximus rubridens), cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), Straight tusked elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) and European lion (Panthera leo europaea).

General references

 * Amorosi, T. "Contributions to the zooarchaeology of Iceland: some preliminary notes" in The Anthropology of Iceland (eds. E.P. Durrenberger & G. Pálsson). Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, pp. 203–227, 1989.
 * Buckland, P.C., et al. "Holt in Eyjafjasveit, Iceland: a paleoecological study of the impact of Landnám" in Acta Archaeologica 61: pp. 252–271. 1991.
 * http://www.Merriam-Webster.com
 * http://www.Canadianbiodiversity.mcgill.ca
 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/ecozones/Palearctic_ecozone
 * Edmund Burke III, "The Transformation of the middle Eastern Environment, 1500 B.C.E.–2000 C.E." in The Environment and World History, ed. Edmund Burke III and Kenneth Pomeranz. Berkeley: University of California Press. 2009, 82–84.

title: Palearctic realm