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Vassal state

A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to the era of the Egyptian, Hittite, and Mitanni conflict, as well as Ancient China.

The relationships between vassal rulers and empires were dependent on the policies and agreements of each empire. While payment of tribute and military service was common amongst vassal states, the degree of independence and benefits given to vassal states varied. Today, more common terms are puppet state, protectorate, client state, associated state, or satellite state.

Ancient Egypt
The reign of Thutmose III (1479 BC – 1425 BC) laid the foundations for the systems that functioned during the Amarna period of Egypt. Vassal states in the Levant became fully integrated in Egypt's economy with the construction of harbours – allowing for greater communication and collection of tax between Egypt and its vassal states during this period.

Much of what is known about Egypt's vassal states from the reigns of Amenhotep III and Tutankhamun (1390 BC – 1323 BC) stems from the Amarna letters – a collection of 350 cuneiform tablets. The different ways vassal rulers communicated with the Pharaoh via grovelling and obsequiousness is a key method of extrapolating relationships between Egypt and vassal states.

Egypt's key vassal states were located on the northern frontier, and included states such as Nuhašše, Qatna, and Ugarit. These were located on the fringes of the territory claimed by Egypt and were a potential threat from acting with the Hittites in Anatolia, or the Mitanni in Iraq and Syria. Due to these vassal states’ distance from the Nile, and their value as a buffer zone from rival kingdoms, these states appeared to have a more high-status relationship with the Pharaoh and Egypt. These states could also solicit the Pharaoh for various requests. The fulfilment of these asks by Egypt may have served the purpose of ensuring the loyalty of these distant vassal states. However, these vassal states were claimed by the Hittite Empire following the death of Akhenaten (1353 BC – 1336 BC) and were never reclaimed.

Under Ramesses II (1279 BC – 1213 BC), Egypt engaged in several military campaigns against the Hittites, eventually capturing the kingdoms of Kadesh and Amurru by taking advantage of growing problems in the Hittite Empire. In 1258 BC, Ramesses and the Hittite King Ḫattušili III signed a peace treaty that created a border from north of Byblos to Damascus between the two empires.

Byblos
The Kingdom of Byblos was significant in linking the worlds of Egypt, the Near East and the Aegean to one another. It is first attested during the reign of Thutmose III. Through Byblos, the Egyptians had access to products from Lebanon and Syria, while also using the kingdom as a base for military activity. Byblos held religious importance to Egypt, as the local goddess appeared in the form of Hathor, and was associated with Isis. Byblos was also valuable for Egypt as a trade partner, as it allowed the latter to interact with the regional trade connections between Byblos and other small cities. Byblos seemed to have a large amount of influence itself. Rib-Hadda's letters indicate that Byblos had control over its own territory, until it was taken in conflict with Amurru.

Correspondence with the Kingdom of Byblos is well documented, as the longest interaction between Egypt and a vassal state and spanned a period of 12 years. The subject king in these letters – Rib-Hadda – is unique among vassal rulers as his letters are more verbose than other small rulers in the Near East. Despite his loyalty to the Pharaoh, Rib-Hadda never received any meaningful reply from Egypt during times of need and was eventually exiled from his own kingdom by his brother.

While Rib-Hadda's brother was on the throne, Byblos continued to communicate with the Egyptians, although there is some contention over potential alliances between Byblos and Amurru and the Hittite Empire as well.

Interactions between Byblos and Egypt declined in the 12th and 11th centuries BC with the fall of the New Kingdom. Following Egypt's resurgence, kingdoms such as Tyre and Sidon were favoured over Byblos. By the Early Iron Age, Byblos no longer had connections to any great powers in the region. While the city still had religious authority until the Roman Empire, it had long lost its economic and political importance.

Hittite Empire

The Hittite Empire incorporated vassal states that extended over much of Anatolia and Northern Syria. The addition of vassal states reached its peak under the reigns of Šuppiluliuma I and Muršili II in the 14th century BC. The relationships between the Hittites and their vassal states centered around the Hittite king and the vassal ruler; the terms of their relationship were imposed unilaterally by the former, and accepted by the latter. Whenever a new Hittite king or vassal ruler came into power, a new treaty would be drawn up.

In rare cases, local rulers were given kiurwana (protectorate status). While they had distinct privileges – such as exemption from tribute –  they did not have any more freedom of activity than other vassal states. All relations among the regions under Hittite control were strictly determined by the king. While this led to the belief that contact between vassal states was limited, it has also been thought that such restrictions were limited to the enemies of the Hatti.

The treaties imposed on vassal states came with military obligations, though vassals were also promised military assistance in return. Some treaties also contained details of annual tribute. Treaties were often concluded with a marriage between a vassal ruler and a Hatti princess of the royal family. The princess would hold greater power than other wives of the vassal, and succession would pass down her descendants.

Vassal states were obliged to support and swear fealty to the king's legitimate successors as well. In the event of a usurper taking the throne, the vassal state was freed from all treaty obligations except to help restore a legitimate king to the throne. In doing so, vassal rulers were guaranteed sovereignty from themselves and their successors in their region.

Ugarit
The relations of Ugarit are the most well-known of the Hittite's vassal states. Sources on Ugarit's role and relationship with the Hittites mostly comes from the Ugarit Archives, with only a few from Hittite sources. From the sources, it is believed that Ugarit held economic and commercial importance to the Hittite Empire, as many letters and documents relate to trade. Ugarit also maintained a relationship with Egypt, due to contacts with the Pharaoh's court. Most evidence of this contact comes from the era of the Pax Hethitica, which came after peace between Egypt and the Hittite Empire.

Amurru
Amurru's relationship to the Hittite Empire is attested to in documents recovered from Ugarit and Hattusa. Unlike Ugarit, Amurru does not appear to have been a trading centre. Rather, Hitttite sources place importance on the political and military role this kingdom played in the empire, as it was located on the border of Hatti territory and Egypt. Previously a vassal state of Egypt, the Kingdom defected to the Hittites under the ruler Aziru. Amurru was loyal to the Hittite Empire from the end of the Amarna Period until the reign of Muwatalli II, when they switched allegiances back to Egypt. The defection was punished with a temporary replacement of the king with a more loyal ruler. Two marriages occurred between Hittites and Amurru royalty at this time, raising Amurru's importance within the empire. Amurru's relationship with the Hittite Empire was maintained until the collapse of the latter in the 12th century BC. A shift from Semitic names used by descendants of Aziru suggest a lasting impact of Hittite influence in the region.

Carchemish
While Carchemish was a leading power in Syria and delegate for Syrian affairs, not much is known about their interactions with the Great Powers of the region. What is known comes from archives at Hattusa, Emar, and Ugarit. When the city was conquered by Suppiluliuma I, he installed his son on the throne Due to this, the later kings of Carchemish acted as representatives for the Hittite Empire in Syria. In the 13th century, Carchemish was trading directly with Assyria, and had relations with Babylonia as well. Carchemish also survived the end of the Hittite Empire, and became its own city-state in the Early Iron Age. In the 8th century BC, it was annexed by the Assyrian Empire.

Neo-Assyrian Empire
The vassal states of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911 BC – 609 BC) had a unique relationship with the empire they became a part of. While vassal states were necessary to the politics of the empire and connected by administrative and economic means, they are not considered to be ‘properly Assyrian’. Neo-Assyrian imperial ideology placed importance on unified diversity, and as such vassal states maintained a degree of cultural independence. While territorial expansion slowed in the 7th century BC, the amount of vassal states increased in number, suggesting a change in foreign policy.

Assyrian kings expressed their hold over vassal states through the collection of flora and fauna from these regions. The earliest records of this practice date back to Tiglath-Pileser I (1114 BC – 1076 BC) in the Middle Assyrian Period. It was revived by Ashurnasirpal in the Neo-Assyrian Period by creating a garden with specimens from across the empire. Later Neo-Assyrian rulers would expand on this practice; Sargon II created a garden that imitated the forests of Northern Syria, while Sennacherib created a swamp that reflected the landscape of Southern Babylonia. In artistic representations, subjects of vassal states are depicted bringing tribute to Assyria. These representatives are shown bowing or crouching before the king. The gifts offered range from horses and monkeys to wineskins. These scenes of tribute and audience with the king express how vassal states participated in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

By the 8th century BC, the southern vassal states of the empire saw an increase in settlement. In comparison to the northern regions of the empire – which were previously devastated – these kingdoms become denser and the more prosperous parts of the empire. The kingdoms west of the Euphrates river were considered vassal states until the 7th century BC, when they were incorporated into the proper provincial system of the empire, though they still had various degrees of political control depending on location. In Judah, there was a further increase in settlement in the 7th century that was greater than the 8th. It was the same in Jordan, showing that Neo-Assyrian control over the region was a successful period for these kingdoms.

Achaemenid Persia
While the Persians made use of satraps (appointed Persian governors) rather than vassal rulers in subject regions, there were rare cases of vassal states being utilised. Herodotus writes that negotiations took place between King Amyntas I of Macedonia and the Persians after the former's subjugation by the Achaemenids by 513 BC. The Macedonians became further connected to the Persians as Amyntas married his daughter to a Persian nobleman (Hdt. 5.21.). Under Darius I, Macedonia was organised into a regular tax district of the Empire (Hdt. 6.44.). Their control over Macedonia is attested in the DNA inscription at Naqsh-I-Rustam. Amyntas’ son Alexander I supported Xerxes I during the Persian invasion of Greece. In 479 BC, the Achaemenid forces were defeated by the Greeks, and Macedonia was no longer considered Greek by other city-states.

Another region considered a vassal state rather than a satrap was Arabia. According to Herodotus, they aided Cambyses II in his invasion of Egypt (525 BC). As such, Arabia did not become a satrap and was exempt from paying annual tribute. Instead, they are attested to in the Behistun inscription and in the Persepolis Fortification Tablets as providing 1000 talents per year. In Xerxes’ invasion of Greece, Herodotus mentions the Arabians among the different sections of the Persian Army as being led by Arsamenes – the son of Darius I.

Despite the size of the Achaemenid Empire, there was efficient communication and connectivity between different regions. The Royal Road which ran through most of the empire allowed for the movement and sharing of goods, culture, and ideas between the Achaemenid satraps and vassal states.

Ancient China
From the time of the Zhou dynasty (1046–770 BC) until the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), a varying number of vassal states existed in Ancient China.

These ranged in size from small city states to vassals which controlled large swathes of territory such as the states of Chu and Qi. One of these vassal states would go on to conquer China and unite the country under the first emperor Qin Shi Huang.

Controversy on Status of Joseon
The Qing dynasty of China viewed the Joseon dynasty of Korea as an autonomous vassal state. The Joseon dynasty was autonomous in its internal and external affairs. It was not a colony or dependency of China. However, China abandoned its conventional laissez-faire policy of noninterference toward Korea and adopted a radical interventionist policy of interference in the late 19th century. Yuan Shikai argued that Korea was a dependent "vassal state"; Owen N. Denny argued that Korea was an independent "tributary state". William W. Rockhill said that calling Korea a vassal state was "misleading". According to Rockhill: "The tribute sent to Peking by all the 'vassal states,' and also by the Tibetans, and the Aboriginal tribes of Western China, is solely a quid pro quo for the privilege of trading with the Chinese under extraordinarily favorable conditions." Rockhill argued that Korea viewed China not as a suzerain but as a family head: Korea likened the Ming dynasty to a father and the Qing dynasty to an older brother. According to Rockhill: "As to the custom of submitting to the Emperor the choice made by the king of an heir to the throne, or of a consort, or informing him of the death of his mother, of his wife, etc., we can look at them as only strictly ceremonial relations, bearing with them no idea of subordination."

Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (1299–1923) controlled a number of tributary or vassal states in the peripheral areas of its territory. Vassalage took a number of different forms with some states permitted to elect their own leaders. Other states paid tribute for their lands.

During the 18th century, the Ottoman Empire controlled many vassal and tributary states such as the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, and the Crimean Khanate.

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Frederick Buscombe

Frederick Buscombe (September 2, 1862 – July 21, 1938), was the 11th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He served from 1905 to 1906. A glassware and china merchant, he was a President of the Vancouver Board of Trade in 1900.

Buscombe was born in 1862 in Bodmin, Cornwall, England, to Edwin and Isabella Oliver Grilles Buscombe. He immigrated to Canada with his family in 1870, settling near Hamilton, Ontario, where his father became a builder. He first worked in Hamilton from 1878 to James A. Skinner & Company, a glassware and china company, as a travelling salesman from 1878 to 1891. In 1891, his job with the company brought him west to Vancouver, where he established an office with his brother, George. Prior to 1891, he visited the Vancouver area twice, in 1884 and 1886. He served as a partner of the company in Vancouver until 1899, when he bought out the company, and established Frederick Buscombe & Co. Ltd. china, glassware and earthenware with his brother, which grew to be one of the largest businesses of the kind in the Canadian West. He was also president of the Pacific Coast Lumber & Sawmills Company, and director of the Pacific Marine Insurance Company. In 1899, he commissioned the Buscombe Building, located at 342 Water Street & 403 West Cordova Street, in Gastown, Vancouver, which is now the site of a restaurant and various businesses.

Buscombe was elected Mayor of Vancouver in 1905. During the election, he advocated for improved financial management within the municipal affairs, earning support from three newspapers, and many businessmen. He served two terms, until 1906. During his mayoralty, he helped develop the Greater Vancouver Water Board. The city council also passed a motion to request suspension of immigration of East Indians to Vancouver due to public discontent of immigrants working in the growing construction trade.

Buscombe served as president of Vancouver's Board of Trade from 1900 to 1901, and as president of the Vancouver Tourist Association in 1901. A Mason, he was also a member of the Vancouver Club, Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Terminal City Club, Jericho Country Club, and the Sons of England Society. He died at Vancouver 1938 and was buried at Mountain View Cemetery. At the time of his death, he was married to Cora Elsie Bird.

He married Lydia Rebecca Mattice on May 6, 1886, with whom he had five children. He lived in Dundurn, Vancouver. A member of the Church of England, he enjoyed yachting, fishing and golf.

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

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Alexander Bethune (politician)

Alexander Bethune (January 31, 1852 – June 10, 1947), merchant, was the 12th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, serving from 1907 to 1908. He had previously served seven years as alderman.

Early and family life
Bethune was born in Peterborough, Ontario to William B. and Catherine (née Dingwall) Bethune.

He married Catherine MacIntosh of Paisley, Ontario in 1878, and they had two daughters. A Presbyterian church, Bethune enjoyed hunting, fishing and motoring as hobbies. He was also a Freemason and founding member of Acacia Lodge No. 22.

Career
After completing his education in Ontario, he moved to Manitou, Manitoba in 1887 where he entered the hardware business. He also served as postmaster of Manitou as well as on the city council as an alderman. He moved further west in 1890, to Vancouver. In Vancouver he would establish a shoe store, Mills & Bethune, operating from 1896 to 1900, when he entered the building business.

Bethune was elected to Vancouver City Council in 1900 and served until 1907, when he was elected mayor. He was also the head of the Electoral Union slate. During the election, which was at the time overshadowed by the ongoing provincial election, the main issue of contention was whether to have a stop in the city along the Vancouver Westminster and Yukon Railway.

During his term, he was faced with the September 1907 Vancouver riots in which he permitted demonstrators from the Asiatic Exclusion League to hold a rally at city hall in which speeches were delivered in support of the prohibition of Asian immigration to the city. Bethune was also a founder, paying member and ardent supporter of the organization. After the city hall rally, the crowd descended upon Vancouver's Chinatown and Japantown, continuing protests, smashing windows and even beating residents. Bethune would later express regret about the riot and urged citizens to use moderation. Bethune was also against the immigration of Indians, prohibiting them from settling in Vancouver during his term in 1907.

Death and legacy
He died in 1947 at Los Angeles County, California, but his remains were returned to Vancouver, for interment at Mountain View Cemetery.

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Talk:Flat-panel display

NanoChromics Displays
Should this one be added to the electronic paper section? --Khokkanen 10:56, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Flat screen
I noticed that "flat screen" redirected here. CRTs can be "flat screen" if their screen isn't curved. -Aknorals 10:52, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Disambiguated for now. Shawnc 02:18, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

This info is out of date

DLP and LCOS Displays are not Flat Panels
DLP and LCOS displays are projection-based, and therefore are not "flat". For this reason, I have removed them.

Flat Panel Measurements
How about an item explaining how the 19 inch or 17 inch etc for monitors is arrived at? (It is a slightly different method to that used for CRT tubes.) Also, how is size measured on the widescreen versions?

 * I agree that this article should at least link to viewable image size, possibly with a short explanation that "19 inch monitor" refers to the length of the diagonal across the image area. --DavidCary (talk) 17:50, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Flat Panel History
Should this page have a history of flat-panel technology, like when it emerged and when the first truly flat-panel television hit the market? Too many pages discuss what things are and how they work without giving their all-important backgrounds. Silly sad machine 16:07, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

 * ✅. flat-panel display is a good start, but I'm sure there are many more things to say. --DavidCary (talk) 17:50, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

all types included?
Are the types DSTN (Dual Scan Twisted Nematic) und TFT (Thin Film Transitor, Active Matrix) already included? Produced around 1995. See p3+8+11 in http://www.notebook-manuals.com/laptop-manuals/service_manual_for_HP_OmniBook_600C_091d584fce_OMNIBOOK%20600C%20600CT%20FAMILIARIZATION%20GUIDE.pdf --Helium4 (talk) 16:27, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

Look out for possible copyright violations in this article
This article has been found to be edited by students of the India Education Program project as part of their (still ongoing) course-work. Unfortunately, many of the edits in this program so far have been identified as plain copy-jobs from books and online resources and therefore had to be reverted. See the India Education Program talk page for details. In order to maintain the WP standards and policies, let's all have a careful eye on this and other related articles to ensure that no material violating copyrights remains in here. --Matthiaspaul (talk) 12:54, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Electronic Papers are non-volatile
While there may be some volatile electronic paper technologies in use in the industry, neither of the two listed here as an example are volatile, and should be moved to the Static section. (neither require constant refreshing to maintain the image, which is one of the advantages of electronic paper.) Corwin MacGregor (talk) 10:21, 14 April 2016 (UTC)

Market share chart
It would be neat to have a chart showing the market share of flat panels vs. CRTs over time. -- Beland (talk) 20:24, 16 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Examples:  -- Beland (talk) 20:27, 16 June 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 20:36, 12 March 2019 (UTC)
 * 2008 Taichung IT Month Day2 CHT MOD HiPlus solution.jpg

Possible merge candidate
See Electronic visual display, which I just cross-linked in the lead of both articles.

I'm going to propose this myself, since I'm a tumbleweed. It's far from clear how these two article intend to be dissected, if they remain distinct. Either clarity on this issue, or elimination of the duplication is a desired outcome. — MaxEnt 01:09, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

India Education Program course assignment
This article was the subject of an educational assignment at Department of Electronics and Telecommunication, College of Engineering, Pune, India supported by Wikipedia Ambassadors through the India Education Program during the 2011 Q3 term. Further details are available on the course page.

The above message was substituted from by PrimeBOT (talk) on 19:55, 1 February 2023 (UTC)

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Charles Douglas (Canadian politician)

Charles Stanford Douglas (October 1, 1852 – April 15, 1917) born in Madison, Wisconsin, co-journalist and realtor, was the 13th Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, serving one term of office in 1909. He represented Emerson from 1883 to 1888 in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Conservative.

The son of John A. Douglas, Emerson was educated at Wayland University in Wisconsin. In 1877, he came to Canada, settling in Fort William, Ontario, where he was the publisher of the Fort William Day Book. Douglas moved to Emerson, Manitoba the following year and established a new newspaper, The Emerson International, there. In 1881, he married Annie Johnston. Emerson was the U.S. vice-consul at Emerson, served on the town council and was mayor of Emerson in 1888. He was elected to the Manitoba assembly in an 1883 by-election held after Frederick Burnham was unseated for bribery and was reelected in 1886.

In 1909, Douglas married Elizabeth Manley (née Fisher), a widow, after the death of his first wife.

He died in Vancouver at the age of 64.

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John the Cappadocian

John the Cappadocian (Ἰωάννης ὁ Καππαδόκης) (fl. 530s, living 548) was a praetorian prefect of the East (532–541) in the Byzantine Empire under Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565). He was also a patrician and the consul ordinarius of 538.

Biography
Both John the Lydian and Zacharias Rhetor report that John was a native of Caesarea, Cappadocia. Procopius, John Malalas, the Chronicon Paschale, and Zacharias called him "John the Cappadocian" for disambiguation reasons, as the name John ("Ioannes" in Greek and "Johannes" in Latin) was widely used by his time. John the Lydian and John Malalas at times mention him only as "the Cappadocian". John occasionally styled himself as "Flavius Marianus Michaelius Gabrielius Archangelus Ioannes", although most of these names were probably just honorifics, as by that time most individuals were known by a single name. His family connections are obscure and only two relatives are known with certainty. Those are his only daughter Euphemia and a kinsman called Ioannes Maxilloplumacius.

Rise to power
His contemporary historians were biased against him, particularly Procopius and John the Lydian, and their accounts are often coloured by their prejudices. Procopius calls John poorly educated, though he grudgingly admits the Cappadocian's great natural abilities led to his rise to prominence. He first appears in the sources as a scriniarius (notary) in the service of an unidentified magister militum. His administrative ideas reportedly attracted the attention of Emperor Justinian, resulting in his promotion to positions with financial responsibilities. From there, he gained enough favour to become a vir illustris and eventually the acting Prefect. There is a theory that his close relationship with Emperor Justinian may date to Justinian's service as magister militum praesentalis in the 520s, prior to his elevation to the Byzantine throne.

John was appointed to lead the first commission on Emperor Justinian's new legal code, the Corpus Juris Civilis, and became Justinian's chief legal advisor. He was also appointed praetorian prefect of the East, giving him the power to introduce new taxes on the population. The new taxes were very unpopular, and the mob involved in the Nika riots of 532 demanded that both John the Cappadocian and the quaestor sacri palatii Tribonian be dismissed. Emperor Justinian did so, until the riots had been suppressed, after which he reinstated John as prefect and Tribonian as quaestor. After the riots, which had been supported by upper-class Senators, John, who had the same lower-class background as Justinian, became even more important in political affairs. John influenced Emperor Justinian's military decisions, helping to draft the Perpetual Peace with Khosrow I (531–579) and convincing Justinian not to empty the treasury with a large expedition against the Vandal kingdom in North Africa. John worked with the Byzantine emperor to reduce the size of the bureaucracy, both in Constantinople and in the provinces, developing a rudimentary meritocracy.

Zacharias reports that the Cappadocian was widely feared for his influence on Emperor Justinian and a tendency to bring accusations against many people. He was reportedly aided by several flatterers in his service. John the Lydian reports that the Cappadocian constructed a prison within the Praetorium of Constantinople. There, prisoners were regularly tortured and executed. John the Lydian asserts that the Cappadocian extracted money from his victims and gives an eyewitness testimony to the execution of one such victim.

John the Lydian goes on to report other changes to life in the Praetorium. The Cappadocian transferred his quarters upstairs, offering the traditional living quarters of the Prefect to his followers. The Prefect reportedly treated his official staff as common slaves. He converted the baths of the Praetorium to a stable for his horses, building a new elevated bathroom for himself equipped with fountains. He reportedly used his official residence to give lavish feasts and indulge "in all manners of debaucheries" while maintaining a luxurious private residence at the same time. Procopius seems to agree, reporting that the Cappadocian would spend his mornings robbing the taxpayers, devoting the rest of the day to "unrestrained debauchery". Procopius also claims that John employed thousands of bodyguards to ensure his security.

Downfall and exile
John the Cappadocian's downfall seems to have been the result of an ongoing rivalry with Empress Theodora and general Belisarius. He was considered a rival of Theodora for independent and unique influence over Emperor Justinian. At that time the influence of both on the emperor was in fact so great that they became very hostile to each other and each supposedly accused the other to him, so that they could influence the government alone. Belisarius had reportedly gained much popular support following his return from the Gothic War and the Cappadocian considered him another rival favorite. According to Procopius, Theodora and Antonina, wife of Belisarius, allied against the Prefect. Antonina arranged a private meeting with John, supposedly to conspire against Justinian. John agreed to meet her at the palace of Rufinianae near Chalcedon, reportedly violating a direct order by Justinian to avoid secret meetings with Antonina. Their supposedly private conversation was actually overheard by Marcellus and Narses, as pre-arranged by the two women. Marcellus and Narses were ordered by Theodora to kill John if he spoke out in favor of treason. In the ensuing scuffle, however, John escaped and fled to a church, while Marcellus was wounded by one of John's guards. John was removed from office immediately after and banished to Cyzicus.

Theodotus succeeded John as praetorian prefect in late May or early June 541. A continuation of Marcellinus Comes reports that the private residence of John at Constantinople passed to the ownership of Belisarius. The Cappadocian was ordained a priest against his will, but he reportedly avoided practicing his priesthood in fear that this would ruin his chances for a return to power. His wealth was confiscated, but Justinian was reluctant to be overly harsh to his old favourite and restored part of John's private property to him at a later date. Procopius noted that John remained wealthy enough to live a life of luxury, but his troubles were not over. He was hostile to his new superior, Eusebius, Bishop of Cyzicus, and when Eusebius was murdered, the Cappadocian found himself accused of complicity in the crime.

John was imprisoned, his captors beating him to produce a confession. His guilt was not established, but his wealth was again confiscated. This time Justinian was much harsher to him. His new place of exile was Antinoe in Egypt. He was transported there by ship, forced to only wear a cheap cloak and earn his living as a beggar at every stop on the way. Procopius wrote his account on the third year of John's exile, that is in 544. John still didn't lose his hopes for restoration to power. He had taken to accusing various citizens of Alexandria for tax avoidance. Procopius notes Theodora's continued efforts to put John on trial for murder, but the residents of Cyzicus would not testify against him.

In 548, Theodora died, and Justinian recalled John to Constantinople. However, the Cappadocian never returned to political power and was not allowed to resign his unwanted priesthood. John Malalas notes that the Cappadocian died peacefully at Constantinople some time later. His contemporary historians acknowledge his ability to identify problems and produce solutions, but decry his wickedness, greed, and the way he squandered his wealth.

Cultural depiction
John is the main antagonist of Theodora, Slave Empress, a 1954 sword and sandal film depicting Justinian's early reign. The character is played by Henri Guisol.

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Yoweri Museveni

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. His government is considered autocratic.

Born in Ntungamo, Museveni studied political science from the University of Dar es Salaam where he initiated the University Students' African Revolutionary Front. In 1972, he participated in the abortive invasion of Uganda against the regime of President Idi Amin. The next year, Museveni established the Front for National Salvation and fought alongside Tanzanian forces in the Tanzania–Uganda War, which overthrew Amin. Museveni contested the subsequent 1980 general election on the platform of Uganda Patriotic Movement, though claimed electoral fraud after losing to the unpopular Milton Obote. Museveni unified the opposition under the National Resistance Movement and started the Ugandan Bush War. In January 1986, after the decisive Battle of Kampala, Museveni was sworn as president.

As president, Museveni suppressed the Ugandan insurgency and oversaw involvement in the Rwandan Civil War and the First Congo War. He ordered an intervention against the Lord's Resistance Army in an effort to halt their insurgency. His rule has been described by scholars as competitive authoritarianism, or illiberal democracy. The press has been under the authority of government. His presidency has been characterized by an upsurge in anti-gay legislation and activity and numerous constitutional amendments like the scrapping of presidential term and age limits in 2005 and 2017, respectively.

On 16 January 2021, Museveni was reelected to a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote, despite many videos and reports showing ballot box stuffing, over 400 polling stations with 100% voter turnout and human rights violations. , after 36 years of his authoritarian rule, Uganda has been ranked 166th in GDP (nominal) per capita and 167th by Human Development Index.

Early life and education
Museveni was estimated to be born on 15 September 1944 to parents Mzee Amos Kaguta (1916–2013), a cattle keeper, and Esteri Kokundeka Nganzi (1918–2001), in Ntungamo. He is an ethnic Hima of the kingdom of Mpororo (now part of Ankole).

According to Julius Nyerere, Museveni's father, Amos Kaguta, was a soldier in the King's African Rifles' 7th battalion during World War II. Yoweri was born, relatives used to say, "His father was a mu-seven" (meaning "in the seventh"). This is how he obtained the name Museveni.

His family migrated to Ntungamo, then within the British Protectorate of Uganda. Museveni attended Kyamate Elementary School, Mbarara High School, and Ntare School for his primary and secondary education. He attended the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania for his tertiary education, where he studied economics and political science. The university at the time was a hot bed of radical pan-African and Marxist political thought. While at university, he formed the University Students' African Revolutionary Front student activist group and led a student delegation to FRELIMO-held territory in Portuguese Mozambique where they received military training. Studying under the leftist Walter Rodney, among others, Museveni wrote a university thesis on the applicability of Frantz Fanon's ideas on revolutionary violence to post-colonial Africa.

1971–1979: Front for National Salvation and the toppling of Amin
The exile forces opposed to Idi Amin invaded Uganda from Tanzania in September 1972 and were repelled. In October, Tanzania and Uganda signed the Mogadishu Agreement that denied the rebels the use of Tanzanian soil for aggression against Uganda. Museveni broke away from the mainstream opposition and formed the Front for National Salvation (FRONASA) in 1973. In August of the same year, he married Janet Kainembabazi.

In October 1978, Ugandan troops invaded the Kagera Salient in northern Tanzania, initiating the Uganda–Tanzania War. Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere ordered the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) to counter-attack and mobilized Ugandan dissidents to fight Amin's regime. Museveni was pleased by this development. In December 1978 Nyerere attached Museveni and his forces to Tanzanian troops under Brigadier Silas Mayunga. Museveni and his FRONASA troops subsequently accompanied the Tanzanians during the counter-invasion of Uganda. He was present during the capture and destruction of Mbarara in February 1979, and involved in the Western Uganda campaign of 1979.

In course of these operations, he alternatively spent time at the frontlines and in Tanzania where he discussed the cooperation of various anti-Amin rebel groups as well as the political future of Uganda with Tanzanian politicians and other Ugandan opposition figures such as Obote. He played a significant part in the Moshi Conference which led to the unification of the opposition as the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF). Yusuf Lule was appointed as UNLF chairman and the potential President of Uganda after Amin's overthrow. Museveni felt dissatisfied with the results of the conference, believing that he and his followers were not granted enough representation.

Obote II and the National Resistance Army
With the overthrow of Amin in 1979 and the contested election that returned Milton Obote to power in 1980, Museveni returned to Uganda with his supporters to gather strength in their rural strongholds in the Bantu-dominated south and south-west to form the Popular Resistance Army (PRA). They planned a rebellion against the second Obote regime (Obote II) and its armed forces, the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). The insurgency began with an attack on an army installation in the central Mubende district on 6 February 1981. The PRA later merged with former president Yusufu Lule's fighting group, the Uganda Freedom Fighters, to create the National Resistance Army (NRA) with its political wing, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). Two other rebel groups, the Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) and the Former Uganda National Army (FUNA), engaged Obote's forces. The FUNA was formed in the West Nile sub-region from the remnants of Amin's supporters.

The NRA/NRM developed a "Ten-point Programmed" for an eventual government, covering: democracy; security; consolidation of national unity; defending national independence; building an independent, integrated, and self-sustaining economy; improvement of social services; elimination of corruption and misuse of power; redressing inequality; cooperation with other African countries; and a mixed economy.

The Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook estimates that the Obote regime was responsible for more 100,000 civilian deaths across Uganda.

1985 Nairobi Agreement
On 27 July 1985, sub factionalism within the Uganda People's Congress government led to a successful military coup against Obote by his former army commander, Lieutenant-General Tito Okello, an Acholi. Museveni and the NRM/NRA were angry that the revolution for which they had fought for four years had been "hijacked" by the UNLA, which they viewed as having been discredited by gross human rights violations during Obote II.

Despite these reservations, the NRM/NRA eventually agreed to peace talks presided over by a Kenyan delegation headed by President Daniel arap Moi. The talks, which lasted from 26 August to 17 December, were notoriously acrimonious and the resultant ceasefire broke down almost immediately. The final agreement, signed in Nairobi, called for a ceasefire, demilitarization of Kampala, integration of the NRA and government forces, and absorption of the NRA leadership into the Military Council. These conditions were never met.

Battle of Kampala
While involved in the peace negotiations, Museveni was courting General Mobutu Sésé Seko of Zaire to forestall the involvement of Zairean forces in support of Okello's military junta. On 20 January 1986, several hundred troops loyal to Amin were accompanied into Ugandan territory by the Zairean military. The forces intervened following secret training in Zaire and an appeal from Okello ten days previously.

By 22 January, government troops in Kampala had begun to quit their posts and masse as the rebels gained ground from the south and south-west.

Presidency
Museveni was sworn in as president on 29 January. "This is not a mere change of guard, it is a fundamental change," said Museveni, after a ceremony conducted by British-born Chief Justice Peter Allen. Speaking to crowds of thousands outside the Ugandan parliament, Museveni promised a return to democracy: "The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to a democratic government. It is not a favor from any regime. The sovereign people must be the public, not the government."

Political and economic regeneration
Uganda began participating in an IMF Economic Recovery Program in 1987. Its objectives included the restoration of incentives in order to encourage growth, investment, employment, and exports; the promotion and diversification of trade with particular emphasis on export promotion; the removal of bureaucratic constraints and divestment from ailing public enterprises so as to enhance sustainable economic growth and development through the private sector and the liberalization of trade at all levels.

Human rights and internal security
The NRM came to power promising to restore security and respect for human rights. This was part of the NRM's ten-point programmed, as Museveni noted in his swearing in speech:

"The second point on our programme is security of person and property. Every person in Uganda must [have absolute] security to live wherever he wants. Any individual, any group who threatens the security of our people must be smashed without mercy. The people of Uganda should die only from natural causes which are beyond our control, but not from fellow human beings who continue to walk the length and breadth of our land."

Although Museveni headed a new government in Kampala, the NRM could not project its influence fully across Ugandan territory, finding itself fighting a number of insurgencies. From the beginning of Museveni's presidency, he drew strong support from the Bantu-speaking south and southwest, where Museveni had his base. Museveni managed to get the Karamojong, a group of semi-nomads in the sparsely populated northeast that had never had a significant political voice, to align with him by offering them a stake in the new government. The northern region along the Sudanese border proved more troublesome. In the West Nile sub-region, inhabited by Kakwa and Lugbara (who had previously supported Amin), the UNRF and FUNA rebel groups fought for years until a combination of military offensives and diplomacy pacified the region.

The leader of the UNRF, Moses Ali, gave up his struggle to become the second deputy prime minister. People from the northern parts of the country viewed the rise of a government led by a person from the south with great trepidation. Rebel groups sprang up among the Lango, Acholi, and Teso peoples, though they were overwhelmed by the strength of the NRA except in the far north where the Sudanese border provided a safe haven. The Acholi rebel Uganda People's Democratic Army (UPDA) failed to dislodge the NRA occupation of Acholiland, leading to the desperate chiliasm of the Holy Spirit Movement (HSM). The defeat of both the UPDA and HSM left the rebellion to a group that eventually became known as the Lord's Resistance Army, which turned upon the Acholi themselves.

The NRA subsequently earned a reputation for respecting the rights of civilians, although Museveni later received criticism for using child soldiers. Undisciplined elements within the NRA soon tarnished a hard-won reputation for fairness. "When Museveni's men first came they acted very well—we welcomed them", said one villager, "but then they started to arrest people and kill them".

In March 1989, Amnesty International published a human rights report on Uganda, Uganda, the Human Rights Record 1986–1989. It documented gross human rights violations committed by NRA troops. According to Olara Otunnu, a United Nations Diplomat argued that Museveni pursued a genocide to Nilotic – Luo people living in the Northern part of the country. In one of the most intense phases of the war, between October and December 1988, the NRA forcibly cleared approximately 100,000 people from their homes in and around Gulu town. Soldiers committed hundreds of extrajudicial executions as they forcibly moved people, burning down homes and granaries. In its conclusion, the report offered some hope:

Any assessment of the NRM government's human rights performance is, perhaps inevitably, less favourable after four years in power than it was in the early months. However, it is not true to say, as some critics and outside observers, that there has been a continuous slide back towards gross human rights abuse, that in some sense Uganda is fated to suffer at the hands of bad government.

On 13 September 2019, Museveni's former Inspector General of Police (IGP) General Kale Kayihura was placed on the United States Department of the Treasury sanctions list for gross violation of Human rights during his reign as the IGP (from 2005 to March 2018). This was due to activities of the Uganda Police's Flying Squad Unit that involved torture and corruption. Kayihura was subsequently replaced with Martin Okoth Ochola.

Elections
The first elections under Museveni's government were held on 9 May 1996. Museveni defeated Paul Ssemogerere of the Democratic Party, who contested the election as a candidate for the "Inter-party forces coalition", and the upstart candidate Kibirige Mayanja. Museveni won with 75.5 percent of the vote from a turnout of 72.6 percent of eligible voters. Although international and domestic observers described the vote as valid, both the losing candidates rejected the results. Museveni was sworn in as president for the second time on 12 May 1996.

In 1997 he introduced free primary education.

The second set of elections were held in 2001. Museveni got 69 percent of the vote to beat his rival Kizza Besigye. Besigye had been a close confidant of the president and was his physician during the Ugandan Bush War. They had a terrible fallout shortly before the 2001 elections, when Besigye decided to stand for the presidency. The 2001 election campaigns were a heated affair with Museveni threatening to put his rival "six feet under".

The election culminated in a petition filed by Besigye at the Supreme Court of Uganda. The court ruled that the elections were not free and fair but declined to nullify the outcome by a 3–2 majority decision. The court held that although there were many cases of election malpractice, they did not affect the result in a substantial manner. Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki and Justices Alfred Karokora and Joseph Mulenga ruled in favor of the respondents while Justices Aurthur Haggai Oder and John Tsekoko ruled in favor of Besigye.

International recognition
Museveni was elected chairperson of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1991 and 1992.

Perhaps Museveni's most widely noted accomplishment has been his government's successful campaign against AIDS. During the 1980s, Uganda had one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world, but now Uganda's rates are comparatively low, and the country stands as a rare success story in the global battle against the virus. One of the campaigns headed by Museveni to fight against HIV/AIDS was the ABC program. The ABC program had three main parts "Abstain, Be faithful, or use Condoms if A and B are not practiced." In April 1998, Uganda became the first country to be declared eligible for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative, receiving US$700 million in aid.

Museveni was lauded by some for his affirmative action program for women in the country. He had a female vice-president, Specioza Kazibwe, for nearly a decade, and has done much to encourage women to go to college. On the other hand, Museveni has resisted calls for greater women's family land rights (the right of women to own a share of their matrimonial homes).

The New York Times in 1997 said about Museveni:

"These are heady days for the former guerilla who runs Uganda. He moves with the measured gait and sure gestures of a leader secure in his power and his vision. It is little wonder. To hear some of the diplomats and African experts tell it, President Yoweri K. Museveni started an ideological movement that is reshaping much of Africa, spelling the end of the corrupt, strong-man governments that characterized the cold-war era. These days, political pundits across the continent are calling Mr. Museveni an African Bismarck. Some people now refer to him as Africa's 'other statesman', second only to the venerated South African President Nelson Mandela."

In official briefing papers from Madeleine Albright's December 1997 Africa tour as Secretary of State, Museveni was claimed by the Clinton administration to be a "beacon of hope" who runs a "uni-party democracy", despite Uganda not permitting multiparty politics.

Museveni has been an important ally of the United States in the War on Terror.

Regional conflict
Following the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the new Rwandan government felt threatened by the presence across the Rwandan border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) of former Rwandan soldiers and members of the previous regime. These soldiers were aided by Mobutu Sese Seko, leading Rwanda (with the aid of Museveni) and Laurent Kabila's rebels during the First Congo War to overthrow Mobutu and take power in the DRC.

In August 1998, Rwanda and Uganda invaded the DRC again during the Second Congo War, this time to overthrow Kabila, who was a former ally of Museveni and Kagame. Museveni and a few close military advisers alone made the decision to send the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) into the DRC. A number of highly placed sources indicate that the Ugandan parliament and civilian advisers were not consulted over the matter, as is required by the 1995 constitution. Museveni apparently persuaded an initially reluctant High Command to go along with the venture. "We felt that the Rwandese started the war and it was their duty to go ahead and finish the job, but our President took time and convinced us that we had a stake in what is going on in Congo", one senior officer is reported as saying.

The official reasons Uganda gave for the intervention were to stop a "genocide" against the Banyamulenge in the DRC in concert with Rwandan forces, and that Kabila had failed to provide security along the border and was allowing the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) to attack Uganda from rear bases in the DRC. In reality, the UPDF were deployed deep inside the DRC, more than 1000 km to the west of Uganda's border with the DRC.

Troops from Rwanda and Uganda plundered the country's rich mineral deposits and timber. The United States responded to the invasion by suspending all military aid to Uganda, a disappointment to the Clinton administration, which had hoped to make Uganda the centerpiece of the African Crisis Response Initiative. In 2000, Rwandan and Ugandan troops exchanged fire on three occasions in the DRC city of Kisangani, leading to tensions and a deterioration in relations between Kagame and Museveni. The Ugandan government has also been criticized for aggravating the Ituri conflict, a sub-conflict of the Second Congo War. The Ugandan army officially withdrew from the Congo in 2003 and a contingent of UN peace keepers was deployed. In December 2005, the International Court of Justice ruled that Uganda must pay compensation to the DRC for human rights violations during the Second Congo War.

2001 elections
In 2001, Museveni won the presidential elections by a substantial majority, with his former friend and personal physician Kizza Besigye as the only real challenger. In a populist publicity stunt, a pentagenarian Museveni travelled on a bodaboda motorcycle taxi to submit his nomination form for the election. Boda-boda is a cheap and somewhat dangerous (by western standards) method of transporting passengers around towns and villages in East Africa.

There was much recrimination and bitterness during the 2001 presidential elections campaign, and incidents of violence occurred following the announcement of the win by Museveni. Besigye challenged the election results in the Supreme Court of Uganda. Two of the five judges concluded that there were such illegalities in the elections and that the results should be rejected. The other three decided that the illegalities did not affect the result of the election in a substantial manner, but stated that "there was evidence that in a significant number of polling stations there was cheating" and that in some areas of the country, "the principle of free and fair election was compromised."

Political pluralism and constitutional change

After the elections, political forces allied to Museveni began a campaign to loosen constitutional limits on the presidential term, allowing him to stand for election again in 2006. The 1995 Ugandan constitution provided for a two-term limit on the tenure of the president.

Moves to alter the constitution and alleged attempts to suppress opposition political forces have attracted criticism from domestic commentators, the international community, and Uganda's aid donors. In a press release, the main opposition party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), accused Museveni of engaging in a "life presidency project", and for bribing members of parliament to vote against constitutional amendments, FDC leaders claimed:

"The country is polarized with many Ugandans objecting to [the constitutional amendments]. If Parliament goes ahead and removes term limits, this may cause serious unrest, political strife and may lead to turmoil both through the transition period and thereafter ... We would therefore like to appeal to President Museveni to respect himself, the people who elected him, and the Constitution under which he was voted President in 2001 when he promised the country and the world at large to hand over power peacefully and in an orderly manner at the end of his second and last term. Otherwise, his insistence to stand again will expose him as a consummate liar and the biggest political fraudster this country has ever known."

As observed by some political commentators, including Wafula Oguttu, Museveni had previously stated that he considered the idea of clinging to office for "15 or more" years ill-advised. Comments by the Irish anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof sparked a protest by Museveni supporters outside the British High Commission in Kampala. "Get a grip Museveni. Your time is up, go away", said Geldof in March 2005, explaining that moves to change the constitution were compromising Museveni's record against fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS. In an opinion article in the Boston Globe and in a speech delivered at the Wilson Center, former U.S. Ambassador to Uganda Johnnie Carson heaped more criticism on Museveni. Despite recognizing the president as a "genuine reformer" whose "leadership [has] led to stability and growth", Carson also said, "we may be looking at another Mugabe and Zimbabwe in the making". "Many observers see Museveni's efforts to amend the constitution as a re-run of a common problem that afflicts many African leaders – an unwillingness to follow constitutional norms and give up power".

In July 2005, Norway became the third European country in as many months to announce symbolic cutbacks in foreign aid to Uganda in response to political leadership in the country. The UK and Ireland made similar moves in May. "Our foreign ministry wanted to highlight two issues: the changing of the constitution to lift term limits, and problems with opening the political space, human rights and corruption", said Norwegian Ambassador Tore Gjos. Of particular significance was the arrest of two opposition MPs from the FDC. Human rights campaigners charged that the arrests were politically motivated. Human Rights Watch stated that "the arrest of these opposition MPs smacks of political opportunism".

A confidential World Bank report leaked in May suggested that the international lender might cut its support to non-humanitarian programmed in Uganda. "We regret that we cannot be more positive about the present political situation in Uganda, especially given the country's admirable record through the late 1990s", said the paper. "The Government has largely failed to integrate the country's diverse peoples into a single political process that is viable over the long term... Perhaps most significant, the political trend-lines, as a result of the President's apparent determination to press for a third term, point downward."

Museveni responded to the mounting international pressure by accusing donors of interfering with domestic politics and using aid to manipulate poor countries. "Let the partners give advice and leave it to the country to decide ... [developed] countries must get out of the habit of trying to use aid to dictate the management of our countries." "The problem with those people is not the third term or fighting corruption or multiparters", added Museveni at a meeting with other African leaders, "the problem is that they want to keep us there without growing".

In July 2005, a constitutional referendum lifted a 19-year restriction on the activities of political parties. In the non-party "Movement system" (so-called "the movement") instituted by Museveni in 1986, parties continued to exist, but candidates were required to stand for election as individuals rather than representative of any political grouping. This measure was ostensibly designed to reduce ethnic divisions, although many observers have subsequently claimed that the system had become nothing more than a restriction on opposition activity. Before the vote, the FDC spokesperson stated, "Key sectors of the economy are headed by people from the president's home area... We have got the most sectarian regime in the history of the country in spite of the fact that there are no parties." Many Ugandans saw Museveni's conversion to political pluralism as a concession to donors – aimed at softening the blow when he announces he wants to stay on for a third term. Opposition MP Omara Atubo has said Museveni's desire for change was merely "a façade behind which he is trying to hide ambitions to rule for life".

==== Death of John Garang De Mabior ==== On 30 July 2005, Sudanese vice-president John Garang was killed when the Ugandan presidential helicopter crashed while he was flying back to Sudan from talks in Uganda. Garang had been Sudan's vice-president for three weeks before his death.

Widespread speculation as to the cause of the crash led Museveni, on 10 August, to threaten the closure of media outlets that published "conspiracy theories" about Garang's death. In a statement, Museveni claimed that the speculation was a threat to national security. "I will no longer tolerate a newspaper which is like a vulture. Any newspaper that plays around with regional security, I will not tolerate it – I will close it." The following day, popular radio station KFM had its license withdrawn for broadcasting a debate on Garang's death. Radio presenter Andrew Mwenda was eventually arrested for sedition in connection with comments made on his KFM talk show.

February 2006 elections
On 17 November 2005, Museveni was chosen as NRMs presidential candidate for the February 2006 elections. His candidacy for a further third term sparked criticism, as he had promised in 2001 that he was contesting for the last time.

The arrest of the main opposition leader Kizza Besigye on 14 November – charged with treason, concealment of treason, and rape – sparked demonstrations and riots in Kampala and other towns. Museveni's bid for a third term, the arrest of Besigye, and the besiegement of the High Court during a hearing of Besigye's case (by a heavily armed Military Intelligence group dubbed by the press as the "Black Mambas Urban Hit Squad"), led Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom to withhold economic support to Museveni's government because of their concerns about the country's democratic development. On 2 January 2006, Besigye was released after the High Court ordered his immediate release.

The 23 February 2006 elections were Uganda's first multi-party elections in 25 years and were seen as a test of its democratic credentials. Although Museveni did worse than in the previous election, he was elected for another five-year tenure, having won 59 percent of the vote against Besigye's 37 percent. Besigye alleged fraud and rejected the result. The European Union and independent Ugandan electoral observers described the 2006 elections as not a fair and free contest. The Supreme Court of Uganda later noted that the election was marred by intimidation, violence, voter disenfranchisement and other irregularities; it voted 4–3 to uphold the results.

Third term (2006–2011)
In 2007, Museveni deployed troops to the African Union's peacekeeping operation in Somalia.

Also in this term, Museveni held meetings with investors that included Wisdek, to promote Uganda's call centre and outsourcing industry and create employment to the country.

September 2009 riots
In September 2009 Museveni refused Kabaka Muwenda Mutebi, the Buganda King, permission to visit some areas of the Buganda Kingdom, particularly the Kayunga district. Riots occurred and over 40 people were killed while others were imprisoned. Furthermore, nine more people were killed during the April 2011 "Walk to Work" demonstrations. According to the Human Rights Watch 2013 World Report on Uganda, the government failed to investigate the killings associated with both of these events.

Fundamentalist Christianity
In 2009, MSNBC and NPR reported on Jeff Sharlet's investigation regarding ties between Museveni and the American fundamentalist Christian organization The Fellowship (also known as "The Family"). Sharlet reports that Douglas Coe, leader of The Fellowship, identified Museveni as the organization's "key man in Africa".

LGBT rights
Further international scrutiny accompanied the 2009 Ugandan efforts to institute the death penalty for homosexuality, with British, Canadian, French, and American leaders expressing concerns for human rights. British newspaper The Guardian reported that Museveni "appeared to add his backing" to the legislative effort by, among other things, claiming "European homosexuals are recruiting in Africa", and saying gay relationships were against God's will.

Museveni and members of NRM continue to use the terms 'gay' and 'homosexuals' to degrade opponents and in particular members of the National Unity Platform. In 2023, Museveni signed an anti-LGBTQ+ bill and called on other African leaders to reject the "promotion of homosexuality".

Fourth term (2011–2016)
Museveni was reelected on 20 February 2011 with a 68 percent majority with 59 percent of registered voters having voted. The election results were disputed by both the European Union and the opposition. "The electoral process was marred with avoidable administrative and logistical failures", according to the European Union election observer team.

Following the fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Museveni became the fifth-longest serving African leader.

In October 2011, the annual inflation rate reached 30.5 percent, principally due to food and fuel increases. Earlier in 2011, opposition leader Kizza Besigye staged "Walk to Work" protests against the high cost of living. On 28 April 2011, Besigye was arrested because Museveni said Besigye had attacked first, a charge he denied. Besigye's arrest led to more riots in Kampala. Besigye promised that "peaceful demonstrations" would continue. The government's response to the riots has been condemned by donor nations. In more recent years, infringements on press freedom have increasingly been a central focus. According to Human Rights Watch, "Between January and June [2013], a media watchdog organization registered 50 attacks on journalists, despite multiple pledges to respect media freedom." During this period, two widely read periodicals, The Daily Monitor and The Red Pepper, were shut down and seized by the government because they published allegations about a "plot to assassinate senior government and military officials who [were] opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni ... and his plans to hand over power to his son when he retires".

Another issue of human rights became an issue in early 2014 when Museveni signed an anti-homosexuality bill into law. In an interview with CNN, Museveni called homosexuals "disgusting" and said that homosexuality was a learned trait. Western leaders, including United States President Obama, condemned the law.

Museveni has criticized the US's involvement in the Libyan Civil War, and in a UN speech argued that military intervention from African countries produces more stable countries in the long term, which he calls "African solutions for African problems".

2016 election
The presidential candidates included Museveni and Kizza Besigye, who complained of rigging and violence at polling stations. Voting was extended in several locations after reports of people not being allowed to cast their votes. According to the Electoral Commission, Museveni was reelected (18 February 2016) with 61 percent of the vote to Besigye's 35 percent. Opposition candidates claimed that the elections were marred by widespread fraud, voting irregularities, the repeated arrest of opposition politicians, and a climate of voter intimidation.

2018 age limit bill
Museveni, as the incumbent president of Uganda, signed the Constitutional Amendment Bill No. 2 2017, commonly known as the "Age Limit" bill on 27 December 2017. The bill was passed by the 10th parliament of Uganda on 20 December 2017. As of 27 December 2017, in accordance with articles 259 and 262 of the Constitution of Uganda, the bill has effectively amended the Constitution to remove the presidential age limit caps. Before the amendment, article 102 (b) barred people above 75 and below 35 from running for the highest office. The current age limit bill also extends the term of office of parliament from five years to seven. The bill also restores presidential two-term limits which had been removed in a 2005 constitutional amendment.

Challenge to the bill
After Museveni signed the 2018 Age Limit Bill into law on 27 December 2017 (but parliament received the letter on 2 January 2018), the general public protested as they had been doing prior to the signing of the bill, using all avenues including on social media. In October 2017, some MPs returned what they alleged were bribes to facilitate the bill.

The Uganda Law Society and members of the opposition house sued and challenged the bill in court, citing that the process leading to the vote was in violation of Articles 1, 2, 8A, 44 (c), 79 and 94 of the Ugandan constitution because the Speaker of Parliament [Kadaga] closed debate on the Amendment after only 124 out of 451 legislators had debated the bill. They also argue that the use of force by the army and police during the bill debate was inconsistent with and in contravention of Articles 208(2), 209 and 259 among others. The third argument they make is that the bill violates other constitutional clauses in relation to the extension of terms and electoral procedures. One legislature [Mbwaketamwa Gaffa] is quoted as saying, "when the president ascents to the bill, it might be legal, but it will be illegitimate, and we are going to challenge it."

Public reaction to the new bill
The law enforcement agencies in Uganda, i.e. the police, the military etc., have arrested at least 53 people, including opposition leader Kizza Besigye, for demonstrating against the bill to scrap the presidential age limit.

A group of legislators from the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), clandestinely agitated to remove the age limit because it would give Museveni leeway to run for another term in the 2021 elections.

A three-month survey conducted between September and November by civil society organizations recorded that 85 percent of the sampled population opposed the removal of the age limit, with only 15 percent in support.

Ugandan lawmakers have voted predominantly to remove the presidential age limits because they want to pave way for the Museveni to spend a sixth term in office. Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo said that removing the age limit – one of the most important safeguards – will entrench a dictatorial and autocratic regime in Uganda.

Sixth term (2021–present)
On 16 January 2021 the electoral commission of Uganda announced that Museveni had won reelection to a sixth term with 58.6% of the vote. Runner-up Bobi Wine, and other opposition leaders refused to accept the results, claiming that the election was the most fraudulent in Uganda's history. During the campaign for the presidential elections on 19 November 2020, Museveni described Wine's campaign as being financed by foreigners, and, in particular, foreign homosexuals. Independent organizations and democracy experts confirmed the elections were neither free or fair. The Electoral Commission published a Declaration of Results form that turned out to be fraudulent. The Electoral Commission promised an investigation which did not take place. Wine was placed under house arrest on 15 January. Independent international observers called for investigation into potential election fraud amidst a nationwide internet shutdown, human rights abuses, and denied accreditation requests. Wine was released on 26 January.

In June 2021, 44 people were arrested at an LGBT center, with the pretext of violating COVID SOPs.

In July 2022, Museveni hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying that "We don't believe in being enemies of somebody's enemy."

In October 2022 Museveni apologized to Kenya on behalf of his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba who tweeted that he could invade Kenya in two weeks.

In July 2023, Museveni attended the 2023 Russia–Africa Summit in Saint Petersburg and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Without specifically mentioning the Russian invasion of Ukraine or any other war, Museveni said that the "only justified wars are the just wars, like the anti-colonial wars. Wars of hegemony will fail and waste time and opportunity. Dialogue is the correct way."

After the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, Museveni expressed concern over the situation and called for dialogue and a two-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.

Personal life
Museveni is an Anglican and a member of the Church of Uganda.

He is married to Janet Kataaha Museveni, née Kainembabazi, with whom he has four children:
 * gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba – born in 1974, general in the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) in the UPDF
 * Natasha Karugire – born in 1976, fashion designer and consultant, married to Edwin Karugire, private secretary to the president of Uganda for household affairs.
 * Patience Rwabwogo – born in 1978, pastor of Covenant Nations Church, Buziga, Kampala, married to Odrek Rwabwogo.
 * Diana Kamuntu – born in 1980, married to Geoffrey Kamuntu.

Foreign honours

 * 🇰🇪 Kenya
 * Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya.svg Chief of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya
 * 🇷🇸 Serbia
 * Orden Republike Srbije 2.gif Order of the Republic of Serbia, Second Class
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * Ord.GoodHope-ribbon.gif Grand Cross of the Order of Good Hope

Books

 * Museveni, Yoweri (1997). Sowing the Mustard Seed: The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy in Uganda, Macmillan Education. ISBN 0333642341.
 * Museveni, Yoweri (2000). What Is Africa's Problem?. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0816632782
 * Ondoga Ori Amaza. Museveni's Long March from Guerrilla to Statesman, Fountain Publishers. ISBN 9970021354
 * Tripp, Aili Mari. Museveni's Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime. Lynne Rienner Publishers. ISBN 978-1588267078
 * Epstein, Helen C. (2017). Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda and the War on Terror, New York: Columbia Global Reports. ISBN 978-0997722925

Academic papers

 * "Uganda, 1979–85: Leadership in Transition", Jimmy K. Tindigarukayo, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 26, No. 4. (December 1988), pp. 607–622. (JSTOR)
 * "Neutralising the Use of Force in Uganda: The Role of the Military in Politics", E. A. Brett, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 1. (March 1995), pp. 129–152. (JSTOR)
 * "Called to Account: How African Governments Investigate Human Rights Violations", Richard Carver, African Affairs, Vol. 89, No. 356. (July 1990), pp. 391–415. (JSTOR)
 * "Uganda after Amin: The Continuing Search for Leadership and Control", Cherry Gertzel, African Affairs, Vol. 79, No. 317. (October 1980), pp. 461–489. (JSTOR)
 * "Social Disorganisation in Uganda: Before, during, and after Amin", Aidan Southall, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4. (December 1980), pp. 627–656. (JSTOR)
 * "Ugandan Relations with Western Donors in the 1990s: What Impact on Democratisation?", Ellen Hauser, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 37, No. 4. (December 1999), pp. 621–641. (JSTOR)
 * "Reading Museveni: Structure, Agency and Pedagogy in Ugandan Politics", Ronald Kassimir, Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol. 33, No. 2/3, Special Issue: "French-Speaking Central Africa: Political Dynamics of Identities and Representations". (1999), pp. 649–673. (JSTOR)
 * "Uganda: The Making of a Constitution", Charles Cullimore, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 32, No. 4. (December 1994), pp. 707–711. (JSTOR)
 * "Uganda's Domestic and Regional Security since the 1970s", Gilbert M. Khadiagala, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 31, No. 2. (June 1993), pp. 231–255. (JSTOR)
 * "Exile, Reform, and the Rise of the Rwandan Patriotic Front", Wm. Cyrus Reed, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Vol. 34, No. 3. (September 1996), pp. 479–501. (JSTOR)
 * "Operationalising Pro-Poor Growth", A Country Case Study on Uganda, John A. Okidi, Sarah Ssewanyana, Lawrence Bategeka, Fred Muhumuza, October 2004
 * "'New-Breed' Leadership, Conflict, and Reconstruction in the Great Lakes Region of Africa: A Sociopolitical Biography of Uganda's Yoweri Kaguta Museveni", Joseph Oloka-Onyango, Africa Today – Volume 50, Number 3, Spring 2004, pp. 29–52 (Project MUSE)
 * "No-Party Democracy" in Uganda, Nelson Kasfir, Journal of Democracy – Volume 9, Number 2, April 1998, pp. 49–63 (Project MUSE)
 * "Explaining Ugandan intervention in Congo: evidence and interpretations", John F. Clark, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 39: 261–287, 2001 (Cambridge Journals)
 * "Uganda's 'Benevolent' Dictatorship", J. Oloka-Onyango, University of Dayton website
 * , James Katorobo, No. 17, Les Cahiers d'Afrique de l'est
 * "Hostile to Democracy: The Movement System and Political Repression in Uganda" Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch, 1 October 1999
 * "Uganda: From one party to multi-party and beyond", Ronald Elly Wanda, The Norwegian Council for Africa, October 2005.
 * "Protracted conflict, elusive peace – Initiatives to end the violence in northern Uganda", editor Okello Lucima, Accord issue 11, Conciliation Resources, 2002
 * "Profiles of the parties to the conflict", Balam Nyeko and Okello Lucima
 * "Reaching the 1985 Nairobi Agreement", Bethuel Kiplagat

title: Yoweri Museveni


text:
Corporate action

A corporate action is an event initiated by a public company that brings or could bring an actual change to the securities—equity or debt—issued by the company. Corporate actions are typically agreed upon by a company's board of directors and authorized by the shareholders. For some events, shareholders or bondholders are permitted to vote on the event. Examples of corporate actions include stock splits, dividends, mergers and acquisitions, rights issues, and spin-offs.

Some corporate actions such as a dividend (for equity securities) or coupon payment (for debt securities) may have a direct financial impact on the shareholders or bondholders; another example is a call (early redemption) of a debt security. Other corporate actions such as stock split may have an indirect financial impact, as the increased liquidity of shares may cause the price of the stock to decrease. Some corporate actions, such as name changes or ticker symbol changes to better reflect a company's business focus, have no direct financial impact on the shareholders; securities may be listed under a different security identifier (e.g. ISIN, CUSIP, Sedol) however. For example, "Apple Computers" changed its name to Apple Inc.

Types
There are three types of corporate actions: voluntary, mandatory, and mandatory with choice.

 * Mandatory corporate action: A mandatory corporate action is an event initiated by the board of directors of the corporation that affects all shareholders. Participation of shareholders are mandatory for these corporate actions. An example of a mandatory corporate action is cash dividend. A shareholder does not need to act to receive the dividend. Other examples of mandatory corporate actions include stock splits, mergers, pre-refunding, return of capital, bonus issue, asset ID change, and spin-offs. Strictly speaking, the word "mandatory" is not appropriate because the shareholder is not required to do anything; the shareholder is just a passive beneficiary in all the cases cited above. There is nothing the shareholder has to do or does in a Mandatory Corporate Action.
 * Voluntary corporate action: A voluntary corporate action is an action where the shareholders elect to participate in the action. A response is required for the corporation to process the action. An example of a voluntary corporate action is a tender offer. A corporation may request shareholders to tender their shares at a predetermined price. The shareholder may or may not participate in the tender offer. Shareholders send their responses to the corporation's agents, and the corporation will send the proceeds of the action to the shareholders who elect to participate.
 * Mandatory with choice corporate action: This corporate action is a mandatory corporate action where shareholders are given a chance to choose among several options. An example is cash or stock dividend option with one of the options as default. Shareholders may or may not submit their elections. In case a shareholder does not submit the election, the default option will be applied.

Some market participants use a different method to distinguish the corporate action types. For example, "mandatory corporate action" and "mandatory with choice corporate action" may be used together. DTC uses the terms distributions, redemptions and reorganizations.

Purpose

The primary reasons companies use corporate actions are:
 * Return profits to shareholders: Cash dividends are a classic example where a public company declares a dividend to be paid on each outstanding share. Bonus is another case where the shareholder is rewarded. In a stricter sense, the bonus issue should not impact the share price but in reality, in rare cases, it does and results in an overall increase in value.
 * Influence the share price: If the price of a stock is too high or too low, the liquidity of the stock suffers. Stocks priced too high will not be affordable to all investors and stocks priced too low may be delisted. Corporate actions such as stock splits or reverse stock splits increase or decrease the number of outstanding shares to decrease or increase the stock price respectively. Buybacks are another example of influencing the stock price where a corporation buys back shares from the market in an attempt to reduce the number of outstanding shares thereby increasing the price.
 * Corporate restructuring: Corporations restructure in order to increase profitability. Examples include mergers (where two companies that are competitive or complementary join forces) and spin-offs (where a company breaks itself up in order to focus on its core competencies).

Impact

As an owner, the impact of a corporate action is usually measured in terms of changes to the securities and/or cash positions, so corporate actions can be divided into two categories:
 * Benefits: Actions that result in an increase to the position holder’s securities or cash position, without altering the underlying security. Examples include bonus issues, which is a Mandatory With Options Action/Event.
 * Reorganizations: Actions that reshape or restructure the beneficial owner's underlying securities position, which sometimes also results in a cash payout. Examples include equity restructures, conversions, and subscriptions.

Notification requirement
In order to keep investors and the market informed of corporate actions, they need to be announced. For public companies listed on exchanges, the exchanges themselves handle the announcement, notifying shareholders as well as making information about the corporate action available online. For companies that trade in the over-the-counter (OTC) marketplace, U.S. federal securities regulators task Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory organization, with processing the corporate action announcement.

The event information flow for public companies where shareholders or bondholders can vote usually involves numerous parties. The information is first announced by the company to the exchange. Financial data companies which provide economic and financial data to customers collect such information and disseminate it via their own services to banks, institutional investors, managed service providers, and other market participants. In addition, the central securities depository (CSD) of the respective market collects the data and informs the CSD participants holding the respective share or bond in custody about the upcoming corporate action. The CSD sets a deadline for its participants by which the elections must be returned. The CSD participants then further disseminate the information to its clients (e.g. banks, institutional investors or private clients), which in turn must submit their election by the deadline set by the CSD participant.

title: Corporate action


text:
David (Donatello)

David is the title of two statues of the biblical hero by the Italian Early Renaissance sculptor Donatello. They consist of an early work in marble of a clothed figure (1408–09), and a far more famous bronze figure that is nude except for helmet and boots, and dates to the 1440s or later. Both are now in the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence. The first was Donatello's most important commission up to that point, and had a religious context, placed on Florence Cathedral. The bronze remains his most famous work, and was made for a secular context, commissioned by the Medici family.

The biblical text
The story of David and Goliath comes from 1 Samuel 17. The Israelites are fighting the Philistines, whose champion – Goliath – repeatedly offers to meet the Israelites' best warrior in single combat to decide the whole battle. None of the trained Israelite soldiers is brave enough to fight the giant Goliath, until David – a shepherd boy who is too young to be a soldier – accepts the challenge. Saul, the Israelite leader, offers David armour and weapons, but the boy is untrained and refuses them. Instead, he goes out with his sling, and confronts the enemy. He hits Goliath in the head with a stone, knocking the giant down, and then grabs Goliath's sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines withdraw as agreed and the Israelites are saved. David's special strength comes from God, and the story illustrates the triumph of good over evil.

The marble David
Donatello, then in his early twenties, was commissioned to carve a marble statue of David in 1408, to be placed on the tribune of the dome at one of the buttresses on the north side of Florence Cathedral. Nanni di Banco was assigned to carve an equal statue of Isaiah. One of the statues was lifted into place in 1409, but with just under two metres high was found to be too small to be easily visible from the ground and was taken down; both statues then languished in the workshop of the opera for several years.

In 1416, the Signoria of Florence commanded that the David be sent to the Palazzo della Signoria; evidently the young David was seen as an effective political symbol, as well as a religious hero. Donatello was asked to make some adjustments to the statue, that would now be seen at close range (especially Goliath's head was worked over), and a pedestal with an inscription was made for it: ("To those who fight bravely for the fatherland the gods lend aid even against the most terrible foes").

The marble David is Donatello's earliest known important commission, and it is a work closely tied to tradition, giving few signs of the innovative approach to representation that the artist would develop as he matured. Although the positioning of the legs hints at a classical contrapposto, the figure stands in an elegant Gothic sway that derives from Donatello's solely documented teacher Lorenzo Ghiberti. the face appears rather blank (that is, if one expects naturalism, but very typical of the International Gothic style), and David seems almost unaware of the head of his vanquished foe that rests between his feet. Nevertheless, at its time the statue was considered "as an achievement of great significance", and some scholars have seen an element of personality – a kind of cockiness – suggested by the twist of the torso and the akimbo placement of the left arm, but overall the effect of the figure is rather bland. The head of Goliath, lying at David's feet, "is carved with great assurance and reveals the sculptor's genuinely Renaissance interest in an ancient Roman type of mature, bearded head".

The experience with the inappropriate size contingent upon the beholder's point of view was probably decisive for Donatello. The consequence was the Joshua, a five meter high colossal statue made of whitened terracotta (to imitate marble), which was erected in 1412 on one of the buttresses of the dome. However, permanent repairs soon became necessary and finally the decaying sculpture was dismantled in the 18th century. Donatello's friend and colleague Filippo Brunelleschi probably already was involved in the project of the Joshua, because in 1415/16 the opera commissioned both of them to look for alternative material and technical possibilities, to make the twelve actually planned sculptures more resistant to climatic influences, for example by using gilded lead as a protective coating. However, it never came to that.

After another but abruptly aborted attempt in 1464 by Agostino di Duccio on a huge block of marble that had been acquired by the opera, and a short-lived engagement by Antonio Rossellino ten years later, it was finally Michelangelo who managed to carve a colossal David out of the neglected deformed block, which, however, was not installed on the cathedral either, but in front of the Palazzo della Signoria (today a copy), because again of his vital symbolic meaning for the city-state.

The bronze David
Donatello's bronze statue (circa 1440s) is famous as the first unsupported standing work of bronze cast during the Renaissance, and the first freestanding nude male sculpture made since antiquity. It depicts David with an enigmatic smile, posed with his foot on Goliath's severed head just after defeating the giant. The youth is completely naked, apart from a laurel-topped hat and boots, and bears the sword of Goliath.

The creation of the work is undocumented. Most scholars assume the statue was commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici, but the date of its creation is unknown and widely disputed; suggested dates vary from the 1420s to the 1460s (Donatello died in 1466), with the majority opinion recently falling in the 1440s, when the new Medici Palace designed by Michelozzo was under construction.

According to one theory, it was commissioned by the Medici family in the 1430s to be placed in the center of the courtyard of the old Medici Palace. Alternatively it may have been made for that position in the new Palazzo Medici, where it was placed later, which would place the commission in the mid-1440s or even later. The statue is only recorded there by 1469. The Medici family were exiled from Florence in 1494, and the statue was moved to the courtyard of the Palazzo della Signoria along with Donatello's bronze Judith, which had an equal topic and potent symbolic meaning. The David lost its place (and its column) in the middle of the courtyard to a fountain in the 1450s and was installed in a niche flanking the doorway near the stairs, where the Judith stood since the early 1500s.

In the 17th century the David was moved to the Palazzo Pitti, to the Uffizi in 1777, and then finally, in 1865, to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, where it remains today.

According to Vasari, the statue stood on a column designed by Desiderio da Settignano in the middle of the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici; an inscription seems to have explained the statue's significance as a political monument. A quattrocento manuscript containing the text of the inscription is probably an earlier reference to the statue; unfortunately the manuscript is not dated. Although a political meaning for the statue is widely accepted, what that meaning is has been a matter of considerable debate among scholars.

The iconography of the bronze David follows that of the marble David: a young hero stands with weapon in hand, the severed head of his enemy at his feet. Visually, however, this statue is startlingly different. David is both physically delicate and remarkably effeminate. The head has been said to have been inspired by classical sculptures of Antinous, a favourite of Hadrian renowned for his beauty. The statue's physique, contrasted with the large sword in hand, shows that David has overcome Goliath not by physical prowess, but through God. The boy's nakedness further implies the idea of the presence of God, contrasting the youth with the heavily-armoured giant. David is presented uncircumcised, which is customary for male nudes in Italian Renaissance art.

Controversy
There are no indications of contemporary responses to the David. However, the fact that the statue was placed in the town hall of Florence in the 1490s indicates that it was not viewed as controversial. In the early 16th century, the Herald of the Signoria mentioned the sculpture in a way that suggested there was something unsettling about it: "The David in the courtyard is not a perfect figure because its right leg is tasteless." By mid-century Vasari was describing the statue as so naturalistic that it must have been made from life. However, among 20th- and 21st-century art historians there has been considerable controversy about how to interpret it.

Goliath's beard curls around David's sandaled foot, as if the young hero is running his toes through his dead opponent's hair. Goliath is wearing a winged helmet. David's right foot stands firmly on the short right wing, while the left wing, considerably longer, works its way up his right leg to his groin.

The figure has been interpreted in a variety of ways. One has been to suggest that Donatello was homosexual and that he was expressing that sexual attitude through this statue. A second is to suggest that the work refers to homosocial values in Florentine society without expressing Donatello's personal tendencies. A third interpretation is that David represents Donatello's effort to create a unique version of the male nude, to exercise artistic licence rather than copy the classical models that had thus far been the sources for the depiction of the male nude in Renaissance art.

Identification
The traditional identification of the figure was questioned in 1939 by, with an interpretation leaning toward ancient mythology, the hero's helmet especially suggesting Hermes or Mercury. A number of scholars since have followed Lányi, sometimes referring to the statue as David-Mercury. If the figure were indeed meant to represent Mercury, it may be supposed that he stands atop the head of the vanquished giant Argus Panoptes. However, all quattrocento references to the statue identify it as David.

Restoration
The statue underwent restoration from June 2007 to November 2008. This was the first time the statue had ever been restored, but concerns about layers of "mineralised waxings" on the surface of the bronze led to the 18-month intervention. The statue was scraped with scalpels (on the non-gilded areas) and lasered (on the gilded areas) to remove surface build-up.

Copies and influence
David continued to be a subject of great interest for Italian patrons and artists. Later representations of the biblical hero include Following the model of Donatello's David for other figures are for example Pollaiuolo's bronzetto of Hercules at Rest (c. 1480), two figures of Andrea del Castagno's cycle of Illustrous Men and Women from the Villa Carducci at Legnaia (detached frescoes, 1448–49, Uffizi, Florence). Pontormo and Francesco da Sangallo are among the artists who made sketches of the bronze David, that have been preserved (c. 1514 and 1455 resp., Uffizi).
 * Desiderio da Settignano, Martelli David, marble, c. 1462–64, finished by someone else, possibly by Bertoldo di Giovanni(?), c. 1465–70, Washington, National Gallery of Art
 * Verrocchio's, partly gilded bronze, c. 1468–70, Bargello, Florence
 * Antonio del Pollaiuolo, panel painting, c. 1470, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
 * Bartolomeo Bellano, ormolu bronzetto, 1470s, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
 * Domenico Ghirlandaio, fresco, c. 1485, S. Maria Novella, Florence
 * Michelangelo's David, marble, 1501–1504, Accademia, Florence
 * Bernini's David, marble, 1623–24, Galleria Borghese, Rome.

Plaster casts taken from original sculptures that were otherwise unobtainable, were bought by museums and other collections or have their own plaster workshop like the Staatliche Museen in Berlin. Among the 7000 casts the workshop produced since 1819 is also a copy of the bronze David, that was taken from the original some time before 1880, and served itself again for over a dozen plaster copies in the last century alone.

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London has also a David in their huge plaster collection, although with a broken sword. Full-size white marble copies are to be found in the Temperate House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey (near London), and at the Slater Museum at the Norwich Free Academy in Norwich, Connecticut, United States.

title: David (Donatello)


text:
Character (mathematics)

In mathematics, a character is (most commonly) a special kind of function from a group to a field (such as the complex numbers). There are at least two distinct, but overlapping meanings. Other uses of the word "character" are almost always qualified.

Multiplicative character
A multiplicative character (or linear character, or simply character) on a group G is a group homomorphism from G to the multiplicative group of a field, usually the field of complex numbers. If G is any group, then the set Ch(G) of these morphisms forms an abelian group under pointwise multiplication.

This group is referred to as the character group of G. Sometimes only unitary characters are considered (thus the image is in the unit circle); other such homomorphisms are then called quasi-characters. Dirichlet characters can be seen as a special case of this definition.

Multiplicative characters are linearly independent, i.e. if $$\chi_1,\chi_2, \ldots, \chi_n $$ are different characters on a group G then from $$a_1\chi_1+a_2\chi_2 + \dots + a_n \chi_n = 0 $$ it follows that $$a_1=a_2=\cdots=a_n=0 $$.

Character of a representation
The character $$\chi : G \to F$$ of a representation $$\phi \colon G\to\mathrm{GL}(V)$$ of a group G on a finite-dimensional vector space V over a field F is the trace of the representation $$\phi$$, i.e.

 * $$\chi_\phi(g) = \operatorname{Tr}(\phi(g))$$ for $$g \in G$$

In general, the trace is not a group homomorphism, nor does the set of traces form a group. The characters of one-dimensional representations are identical to one-dimensional representations, so the above notion of multiplicative character can be seen as a special case of higher-dimensional characters. The study of representations using characters is called "character theory" and one-dimensional characters are also called "linear characters" within this context.

Alternative definition
If restricted to finite abelian group with $$1 \times 1$$ representation in $$\mathbb{C}$$ (i.e. $$\mathrm{GL}(V) = \mathrm{GL}(1, \mathbb{C})$$), the following alternative definition would be equivalent to the above (For abelian groups, every matrix representation decomposes into a direct sum of $$1 \times 1$$ representations. For non-abelian groups, the original definition would be more general than this one):

A character $$\chi$$ of group $$(G, \cdot)$$ is a group homomorphism $$\chi: G \rightarrow \mathbb{C}^*$$ i.e. $$ \chi (x \cdot y)=\chi (x) \chi (y)$$ for all $$ x, y \in G.$$

If $$G$$ is a finite abelian group, the characters play the role of harmonics. For infinite abelian groups, the above would be replaced by $$\chi: G \to \mathbb{T}$$ where $$\mathbb{T}$$ is the circle group.

title: Character (mathematics)