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Minority government

A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the legislature. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support or consent of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. In bicameral legislatures, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government (generally, the lower house).

A minority government tends to be less stable than a majority government because, if they can unite, opposing parliamentary members have sufficient numbers to vote against legislation, or even bring down the government with a vote of no confidence. If, however, the minority government forms supporting partnerships with some parliamentary parties, it can be as stable as majority governments.

Coalitions and alliances
To deal with situations in parliamentary systems where no clear majority to form a government exists, two or more parties may establish a formal coalition government, commanding a clear majority of the parliamentary members. A party might also enter into less formal alliances or agreements with other parties or individual members to allow the minority government to stay in office.

A common situation is a governance with "jumping majorities", where the cabinet stays as long as it can negotiate support from a majority in the parliament, even though that majority may be differently formed from issue to issue or bill to bill. On occasion, the legislature may permit a minority cabinet to continue in office despite having been defeated on a given vote, and a minority government might even bring on a confidence vote and threaten to resign should the legislature vote against it.

An alternative arrangement is a looser alliance of parties, exemplified by Sweden. There the long-governing Social Democrats have ruled with more or less formal support from other parties – in the mid-20th century from Agrarians, after 1968 from Communists, and more recently from Greens and ex-Communists – and have thus been able to retain executive power and (in practice) legislative initiative. This is also common in Canada, where nine elections from 1921 to 2005 effectively produced minority federal governments. The parties can rarely cooperate enough to establish a formal coalition but operate under a loose agreement instead.

Occasionally, a confidence and supply agreement may be formed. This is a more formal pact that still falls short of creating a coalition government. In the Canadian province of Ontario, the Liberal Party formed a minority government from 1985 to 1987 on the basis of a formal accord with the New Democratic Party (NDP): the NDP agreed to support the Liberals for two years on all confidence motions and budgetary legislation, in exchange for the passage of certain legislative measures proposed by the NDP. This was not a formal coalition, because the NDP remained an opposition party and was not given seats in the cabinet. In this case, the Liberals did not even have a plurality of seats: the Progressive Conservatives were the largest single party with 52 seats, whereas the Liberals had 48 and the NDP had 25.

New Zealand's 48th Parliament operated with both a coalition and a looser agreement: the government was a coalition between the Labour Party and the Progressives, while United Future and New Zealand First had an agreement to support the government on confidence matters, while the Green Party abstained.

Simple plurality system
In most Westminster system nations, each constituency elects one member of parliament by simple plurality voting. This system heavily biases the vote towards increasing the number of seats of the top two parties and reducing the seats of smaller parties, a principle known in political science as Duverger's law, and thus minority governments are relatively uncommon. Advocates of this system see this as one of its advantages. A party with less than 40% of the popular vote can often win an outright majority of the seats. (For instance, in the 2005 UK General Election, the governing Labour party won by a majority of 66 seats in the House of Commons with only 35.2% of the popular vote.) If support for some parties is regionally concentrated, however, then Duverger's law applies separately to each region, and so no party can be sufficiently dominant in each region to receive a majority of the seats. This was the situation in Canada in the 2004, 2006, 2008, 2019, and 2021 federal elections, with no party obtaining a majority due in part to the dominance of the Bloc Québécois in the province of Quebec.

In Westminster systems, in minority situations, the incumbent government usually has the first opportunity to attempt to win the confidence of the House. This is so even if the incumbents have fewer seats – the incumbent prime minister still holds their commission for the duration of the writ period and immediately following an election. If they cannot form a government that commands the confidence of the House then it is expected that they will resign that commission voluntarily – it is not considered acceptable for the Sovereign (or his representative) to revoke said commission unless the prime minister was acting in serious breach of constitutional protocol. Nevertheless, usually, an incumbent government that loses its plurality in the House simply resigns, especially if the main opposition party is only a few seats short of having a majority or if it feels it has no chance of winning the support of enough members of smaller parties to win an initial confidence vote.

Nevertheless, the now-common practice of the party with the most seats forming the government has led to a widespread misconception among voters that a convention exists whereby the party with the most seats always gets to form the government. In fact, the most compelling reason for this practice is that the party with the most seats can survive confidence votes so long as smaller party (or parties) simply abstain from confidence votes, whereas a governing party without a plurality in the House needs at least one other party to vote with it at all times (assuming the largest party will always vote no confidence, but that is almost certain to occur when they are denied the opportunity to govern). This means that in most situations, the party with the most seats has the best chance and the least complicated route to winning a confidence vote, regardless of its place on the political spectrum.

At the Canadian federal level, in the four most recent of the five occasions a governing party lost the plurality without another winning a majority (1957, 1963, 1979, and 2006), the incumbent governments resigned rather than attempt to stay in power.

Whatever party forms the government must either form a coalition with one or more other parties, or they must win some form of support from the other parties or independents so as to avoid no-confidence motions. Because of no-confidence motions, minority governments are frequently short-lived or fall before their term is expired. The leader of a minority government will also often call an election in hopes of winning a stronger mandate from the electorate. In Canada, for instance, federal minority governments last an average of 18 months.

Australia
The unprecedentedly close 2010 Australian federal election produced a federal minority government in Australia for the first time since 1940. The Labor Party and Coalition both won 72 seats, 4 short of a majority. Labor won the two-party preferred vote by 0.24%. Six crossbenchers, consisting of four independents, one Greens MP, and one WA Nationals MP, held the balance of power. Ultimately, four crossbenchers gave confidence and supply to Labor, allowing them to form an extremely narrow minority government. This government stood until the 2013 election.

After the 2016 federal election, the Coalition formed a majority government of just one seat. They lost their majority after the 2018 leadership spill which deposed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, as National Party MP Kevin Hogan moved to the crossbench. The government lost another seat after the 2018 Wentworth by-election, which was won by independent Kerryn Phelps. They lost another seat after MP Julia Banks resigned from the Liberal Party, reducing the government to 73 seats. However, they retained confidence from all three MPs, enabling them to remain in government.

Belgium
Belgium is not unfamiliar with minority governments. Moreover, this type of government is not explicitly provided for in the Constitution, even though the Constitution does not prevent its existence. More often than not, minority governments emerge following elections when the government that was in power loses its majority and has to become a caretaker government pending the formation of a new government.

Legal grounds
In Belgium, it is the King who appoints the government. However, as Belgium is a democratic state, constitutional custom requires that this appointment must be approved by the Chamber of Representatives, the democratically elected body. This consent is given by a vote of confidence. There is, however, a small constitutional trick, since the majority required to obtain confidence is not calculated on the basis of all the members of parliament, but on the basis of the votes cast. As the specialist on minority governments in Belgium, Lucien Rigaux, points out, this means that the majority is calculated on the basis of the members present and does not require more than 76 votes (the majority of the 150 seats in the Chamber). Moreover, confidence is obtained if there are more votes in favour than against. For example, out of 100 votes cast, a minority government can be invested with 40 affirmative votes, 20 negative votes and 40 abstentions. The abstention of parties that, for various reasons, do not wish to enter the government thus makes it possible to form an emergency government with full powers and democratic legitimacy.

History
Never in the federated entities has a minority government been formed spontaneously. On the other hand, at the central and then federal state level, there have been five attempts to form a minority government. Three of these attempts were transformed. As Lucien Rigaux points out in an issue devoted to the history of minority governments in Belgium: "The first two attempts were failures. In 1925, the Liberals experienced an electoral debacle. They preferred to stay away from a government majority. The Catholic Party and the Belgian Workers' Party each won approximately 40 percent of the seats so they could not govern alone. However, within the Catholic Party, there remains serious reluctance to collaborate with the Socialists. It must be said that strong tensions between the two camps, particularly over the Flemishisation of the Ghent University and the management of external affairs, had led to the fall of the homogeneous Catholic government. After 38 days of caretaker government – which was relatively long for the time – the King appointed a Catholic cabinet. The latter was finally nipped in the bud by Parliament since the latter decided not to grant its confidence because the proposed Catholic coalition did not respect "Flemish national law", that it "was not qualified to resolve the difficulties of the parliamentary situation" and that it did not make it possible to fight the bourgeoisie".

In 1946, the government of national unity, which followed World War II, had already served its purpose. The Liberals felt that their new electoral defeat invited them to undergo an opposition cure. Socialists and Catholics clashed during the election campaign over the royal question of the return of King Leopold III to Belgium, which made the political climate particularly tense. The Socialists reject the invitation of the Catholic informer to form a government because the former want to associate the Communists, who have obtained a better result than the Liberal Party, with the government, while the Catholic Party categorically refuses to do so. After a month of political crisis, a cabinet composed solely of socialists is appointed by the King. In the parliamentary gallery, the then Prime Minister, Paul-Henri Spaak, declared: "if you think you can quickly give the country a government other than the one before you, stronger, based on a stable majority, do not hesitate, overthrow us. But if you don't have that assurance, if you foresee, after a negative vote, a long period of hesitation, conciliations, abortive attempts, then think carefully about what you are going to do". He nevertheless succumbs a few days later, since with as many votes in his favour as against him, he does not enjoy the confidence of Parliament. The defeat must have been all the more difficult to swallow as two Socialist MEPs had left before the vote in order not to miss their train to Liège.

On the other hand, the last three attempts were successful.

Firstly in 1958 a minority government received, for the first time, the support of Parliament. The Social Christian Party obtained a remarkable score that had nothing to envy to its results of the 19th century with 104 seats out of 212. However, the government's formation patinated notably on the school question which pitted Catholics and lay people against each other and which related to the financing of Catholic and public schools. Both the socialists and the liberals have the impression that they are playing a fool's game where the lowest bidder will have the chance to claim a few positions in a government that will carry out the entire Christian program. The Christian Social Party then tries to capitalize on its 104 seats to gain confidence. Contrary to all expectations, the abstention of one Volksunie member and two Liberals was enough to gain the confidence of Parliament. The Eyskens II minority government thus received the support of a relative majority of the members present, 106 in favour and 104 against. A few months later, the minority government became a majority government when the Liberal Party joined the government team after an agreement was reached on the school issue.

Then, in 1974, the political context was that of the state reforms initiated in 1970. Community autonomy was achieved, but the implementation of regionalisation was at a standstill, in particular because the Brussels dossier was repeatedly put on ice. Fifteen days after the elections of 10 March 1974, Léo Tindemans (CVP) was appointed formator. He is entering into negotiations with the Liberals and the Socialists to form a government that can benefit from a broad parliamentary base. While the liberals seem to be acquiescing, the negotiations with the socialists reveal divergences, mainly on the implementation of regionalisation, on the question of state interference in economic affairs and on the method of "community to community" negotiation involving so-called community parties rather than political families. The socialists, who had campaigned strongly on the left, decided in the Namur Congress to withdraw from the negotiations and denounced the formation of a "coalition of the rights". Not giving up on forming a large majority, the social-Christian and liberal political families negotiated with the community parties. A partial agreement is reached in Steenokkerzeel. For the Walloon Rally as long as there is no agreement on everything, there is no agreement on anything. Nevertheless, it decides to grant its benevolent abstentions to the Christian Liberal coalition so that a government can be formed quickly. With 100 votes in favour, 63 against and, above all, 47 abstentions, the minority Tindemans I government won the confidence of the House and the Senate five days later. The Walloon Rally also joined the coalition, which became a majority a few months later.

Finally, the last successful attempt was made in 2020 to fight the COVID-19 crisis. While the negotiations have been stalled since the last elections on 26 May 2019, the coronavirus crisis has brought down the cards. A sort of national union to which the N-VA does not, however, adhere, the Vlaams Belang and the PTB decided to give its confidence to the Wilmès II government in order to give it full powers and, above all, democratic legitimacy to deal with the health crisis.

Advantages and disadvantages
As with day-to-day business, the minority government provides a flexible institutional response in times of crisis that allows the state to continue to function and to be able to carry out its essential tasks. However, unlike a majority government, the action of a minority government is not locked to current affairs, day-to-day business or urgent decisions. It benefits from the fullness of its competences since it is constituted on the basis of a democratic decision which grants it de facto a certain democratic legitimacy.

The main disadvantage of minority government by the elected assembly is that it can be instituted without a majority of the members of Parliament having voted in favour of it, but that, on the other hand, a majority of the members of the assembly is required to dismiss it (76 minimum).

Canada
Minority governments can occur in the federal Parliament of Canada, and the legislatures of most provinces and territories except the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, which have non-partisan legislatures and operate as a consensus government.

During the history of federal Canadian politics, there have been fifteen minority governments, in fourteen separate minority parliaments. Federal minority governments typically last less than two years. Exceptions to this include the 26th, 27th, 39th and 40th Canadian parliaments, which all lasted for longer than two years. The 14th Canadian Parliament functioned as a minority government for half of its duration, owing to floor-crossings and by-elections. The 15th Canadian Parliament was the only federal minority parliament that saw two different minority governments form. The most recent minority parliament elected at the federal level is the 44th Canadian Parliament, whose composition was determined in September 2021.

Minority governments also occur in all provincial legislatures, as well as the Yukon Legislative Assembly. However, minority governments do not occur as frequently in these legislatures as they do at the federal level. Ontario has seen six minority legislatures in its political history, the most among the 10 provinces and the territory of Yukon. Alberta is the only province that has never had a minority government in its provincial legislature.

While minority governments may occur in Canadian politics, the formation of a formal coalitions is rare, with past minority governments relying on cooperation and confidence and supply arrangements to govern instead. Historically, several coalition governments have formed in the 1840s and 1850s, in the Parliament of the Province of Canada. The formation of the Great Coalition in 1864 eventually led to Canadian Confederation in 1867. Since Canadian Confederation, only one wartime coalition between the Conservatives and Liberals has formed in federal Canadian politics in 1917. Coalition governments have occurred more frequently in provincial legislatures, with several provincial coalition governments having been formed in the 20th and 21st century.

Denmark
Denmark has a rich tradition of minority governments. Despite the country's electoral system of proportional representation, which almost always results in the winning party coming nowhere near a majority, single-party minority governments are still a regular occurrence in Danish politics.

Since 1982 even most of multi-party coalition governments in Denmark are minority ones; thus, the government of the day is still required to make deals with non-governing parties. More often small far-left or far-right parties provide confidence support of centre-left or centre-right coalition governments led by Social Democrats or Venstre. For many years, Danish politics has been divided into "Red" and "Blue" blocs, whose parliamentarians are typically expected to support Social Democratic and Venstre cabinets, respectively.

The Frederiksen Cabinet elected in the 2019 Danish general election is a single-party minority government of the Social Democrats (who received about 25% of the vote in the previous election) supported by three other parties; the previous cabinet, Lars Løkke Rasmussen III, was a three-party minority coalition led by Venstre and supported by the Danish People's Party. An earlier cabinet of Rasmussen's, Lars Løkke Rasmussen II, was a single-party Venstre minority government, a particularly notable feat, as Venstre only received about 20% of the vote in the election, finishing third.

Estonia
Estonia has had several minority governments. A minority cabinet can occur:

 * 1) when the governing coalition loses support due to a coalition member leaving the governing coalition (Vähi II and Ansip II cabinets);
 * 2) when the Prime Minister asks the ministers of a coalition party to be relieved of their duties (Kaja Kallas cabinet);
 * 3) when MPs leave party factions (Ratas cabinet);
 * 4) when a minority government is appointed with additional parliamentary support (Tõnisson IV, Vähi Interim, Siimann and Siim Kallas cabinets); or
 * 5) when the government is voted into office with a plurality and some MPs abstain from voting (Birk, Tõnisson II, Piip and Akel cabinets).

Additional support is possible also because MPs leaving a party faction are not allowed to officially join another faction until the next elections. A government can be a minority government either throughout its term or just a part of its term, usually the latter. A list of minority cabinets:

 * A. Birk cabinet (1920)
 * J. Tõnisson II cabinet (1920)
 * A. Piip cabinet (1920–1921)
 * F. K. Akel cabinet (1924)
 * J. Tõnisson IV cabinet (1933)
 * T. Vähi Interim cabinet (1992)
 * T. Vähi II cabinet (1996–1997)
 * M. Siimann cabinet (1997–1999)
 * S. Kallas cabinet (2002–2003)
 * A. Ansip II cabinet (2009–2011)
 * J. Ratas cabinet (2018–2019)
 * K. Kallas I cabinet (2022)

France
Since the joint establishment of the Fifth Republic and of the two-round system for parliamentary elections in 1958, France has known only a few minority governments: indeed, the majoritarian electoral system usually produces seizable parliamentary majorities on which governments can rely, but there are some exceptions. Since 1958, only 2 out of 16 legislative elections resulted in a hung parliament: the 1988 and 2022 elections. In both instances, minority governments were formed following the elections, with no formal coalition or confidence-and-supply agreement being put in place to guarantee stability.

In fact, the French Constitution provides a large number of institutional tools to ensure political stability at the detriment of parliamentary sovereignty, constitutional tools that become critical when the executive power has to govern in minority:

These are the four minority governments in the history of France's Fifth Republic as of 2023:
 * Article 44: allows the government to reject proposed amendments that have not been discussed in committee prior to the general discussion (44 paragraph 2); allows the government to ask for a parliamentary chamber to vote on the entirety or a part of a bill while overturning all amendments that have not been proposed or sponsored by the ministers (44 paragraph 3);
 * Articles 47 and 47-1: if Parliament has not voted on the Government Budget (47) or the Social Security Budget (47-1) within the constitutional time limit (70 days for the Government Budget, 50 days for the Social Security Budget), then the government can implement its budget by decrees;
 * Article 49: allows the government the possibility to avoid a vote of confidence on its program or general policy declaration in the lower house (49 paragraph 1); requires the absolute majority of the lower house's entire membership to pass a motion of no confidence (49 paragraph 2); allows the government to "commit its responsibility" on a bill per parliamentary session (apart from Government and Social Security budgets on which this special power can be used without numerical limit), the bill is considered passed without a vote unless a no-confidence motion is adopted by the lower house, thus effectively treating the bill as an issue of a vote of confidence (49 paragraph 3/49.3)

The previous Borne government was a three-party minority coalition government as result of the June 2022 parliamentary elections that saw President Macron's coalition lose its parliamentary majority in the National Assembly, going from a 115-seat majority to a hung parliament in which the centrist presidential coalition was the largest bloc but 38 short of an overall majority. The Borne cabinet survived to 31 motions of no confidence and Prime Minister Borne triggered constitutional article 49.3 23 times, mostly to pass the 2023 Government and Social Security Budgets but also to pass its pension system reform in March 2023. Nonetheless, the government lost several parliamentary votes, an oddity under the Fifth Republic.

Germany
Minority government is unusual in Germany, though it was more common historically during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic. In the Federal Republic (since 1949), the constructive vote of no confidence theoretically grants minority governments a high degree of longevity, but they are rare in practice. No minority government has ever been invested on the federal level, though brief periods of minority government have existed when a government has lost its majority mid-term. Minority governments have also existed at the state level, sometimes for substantial periods. The viability of minority government varies between states, as some require an absolute majority vote by parliament for a government to be invested, while others require only a simple majority or plurality.

Between 1949 and December 2017, there were 31 periods of minority government in Germany, including four at the federal and 27 at the state level. All four federal instances were the result of an incumbent government losing its majority: the fourth Adenauer cabinet after the withdrawal of the FDP; the second Erhard cabinet, also after the withdrawal of the FDP; the first Brandt cabinet after parliamentary defections; and the third Schmidt cabinet after the dismissal of the FDP. Of these, only the second Erhard and third Schmidt cabinets are considered "true" minority governments, as the fourth Adenauer cabinet was quickly dissolved and replaced by the fifth Adenauer cabinet, and the first Brandt cabinet retained a technical majority due to the Bundestag delegation from Berlin. Erhard and Schmidt's minority governments were short-lived, lasting less than a month, and both ended with the Chancellor leaving office.

Between 1949 and December 2017, nine different states had at least one period of minority government, with some having as many as four. Compared to the federal level, state-level minority governments usually survived much longer, lasting an average of 333 days. The longest was the two SPD-led minority governments of Reinhold Höppner in Saxony-Anhalt, which served two complete terms (1,452 and 1,406 days, respectively) between 1994 and 2002. These governments, enabled by the abstention of the PDS during confidence votes, were dubbed the "Magdeburger model". However, most minority governments still resulted from the loss of a majority – on 13 occasions due to the withdrawal of a coalition partner, on 12 occasions due to defeat in an election, and on four occasions due to parliamentary defections. Only seven minority governments were formed on a "tolerance" basis similar to the Magdeburger model. Furthermore, only two minority governments lasted more than a single term: the aforementioned Höppner governments in Saxony-Anhalt, and from 1982 to 1983 and 1983–85 in Hesse, when the Greens tolerated two consecutive SPD minority governments (this arrangement ended in 1985 when the SPD and Greens entered into coalition.)

Other examples of a minority government on a state level include the first government of Klaus Wowereit in Berlin, comprising a minority coalition of the SPD and Greens supported by the PDS, which was invested after a corruption scandal led to the collapse of the previous CDU government; it served on an interim basis from June 2001 until the October state election. The first government of Hannelore Kraft in North Rhine-Westphalia, comprising a coalition of the SPD and Greens tolerated by The Left, was formed after the 2010 state election and served until the 2012 election. The second government of Bodo Ramelow in Thuringia, a coalition of The Left, SPD, and Greens, was invested with the tolerance of the CDU to resolve the 2020 Thuringian government crisis.

Ireland
The Irish parliamentary system broadly works on a simple majority system, where the Taoiseach is elected by the Dáil when they achieve 50% + 1 of the votes in favour of their nomination. The Taoiseach then appoints the members of the government with the approval of the Dáil. Since the 1980s, the popularity of other parties has increased such that coalition governments are now typical and expected, with one of the two major parties being the senior partner, and with one or more junior partners ensuring that the coalition retains a majority in the Dáil.

A minority government is formed when a party (or a coalition) secures agreement from one or more other parties or independent TDs who are not members of the government to support their nomination for Taoiseach and achieve majority support. Support for bills and other items requiring a Dáil majority vote is then negotiated on a bill-by-bill basis.

If no agreement can be reached to nominate an individual to lead a government, the outgoing Taoiseach (continuing to act in a caretaker capacity) can seek dissolution of the Dáil and call a new general election. However, this circumstance has not occurred to date.

The last Dáil with a single-party simple majority government was the 21st Dáil elected at the 1977 general election. Fifteen of the 32 governments in Irish history were minority governments, most of which were formed by Fianna Fáil.

 * 1922
 * 1923
 * June 1927
 * September 1927
 * 1932 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1933 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1937 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1943 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1951 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1961 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1981 (Fine Gael–Labour Party)
 * February 1982 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1987 (Fianna Fáil)
 * 1997 (Fianna Fáil–Progressive Democrats)
 * 2016 (Fine Gael)

Netherlands
Coalitions in the Netherlands are formed with the support from parliamentary parties, elected by proportional representation. Although very rare, minority governments can be formed during the formation period of a Dutch cabinet, if an election result makes a majority coalition impossible. More often, a minority government is formed when one of the cabinet's coalition partners withdraws its support, or when all ministers of a given parliamentary party resign. In these cases, the Prime Minister offers the full cabinet's resignation to the Dutch Monarch.

At this point, the Monarch may choose to dissolve Parliament and hold a general election. The cabinet continues to serve as demissionary. A demissionary cabinet is not a minority government but a form of caretaker government, enjoying only limited powers until the new Parliament assembles.

If the Monarch does not dissolve Parliament, the remaining cabinet continues as a minority cabinet, in full possession of its powers. It can finish any legislation already before underpreparation, if Parliament passes it by majority vote; this necessitates the support of parties outside the government. Theoretically, early general elections need not be held, but they are often necessary in practice, since the coalition agreement no longer has parliamentary support.

A third option is available to the Monarch: the formation of a new cabinet of different Parliamentary parties (which may include the defecting coalition partner). Elections are then held as scheduled at the end of the parliamentary term, since the Monarch does not dissolve parliament if an informateur has been able to negotiate a new coalition agreement.

The Netherlands had a minority government in 2010–2012: the First Rutte cabinet. This government was supported in parliament by the Party For Freedom, which all together provided the government a majority. The Second Rutte cabinet (2012–2017) consisted of the conservative liberal VVD and the social-democratic PvdA and had a majority in the House of Representatives, but a plurality in the Senate. On 11 October 2013, the cabinet reached a budgetary agreement with the social-liberal D66 and the smaller Christian parties CU and SGP. This provided the VVD/PvdA cabinet a single-seat majority in the Senate (see also: Purple (government)).

Norway
As of January 20, 2020 Norway has a minority government. In the beginning of 2019, the Christian Democratic party KrF joined Erna Solberg's cabinet, that had been ruling with a minority since 2013, to form a majority. On January 20, 2020, the Progress party, FrP, announced that they would withdraw from their role in government, and become an opposition party, despite continuing their support of Erna Solberg as Prime Minister.

Norway has had multiple minority governments throughout history, including cabinets led by John Lyng, Kjell Magne Bondevik, and Jens Stoltenberg.

Sweden
Sweden has had several minority governments, most of the time led by the Swedish Social Democratic Party, with the support of the Socialist Left Party until 2006. The centre-right Alliance, then led by the Moderate Party, formed a minority coalition government from 2010 to 2014. The recent minority government is led by the Moderate Party, which is supported by Sweden Democrats.

Turkey
A list of minority governments in Turkey:
 * 38th government of Turkey (17 November 1974 – 31 March 1975)
 * 40th government of Turkey (21 June 1977 – 21 July 1977)
 * 43rd government of Turkey (12 November 1979 – 11 September 1980)
 * 51st government of Turkey (5 October 1995 – 30 October 1995)
 * 56th government of Turkey (11 January 1999 – 28 May 1999)

United Kingdom
There have been many occasions since 1900 when a single party has not commanded a parliamentary majority, although the 2010–2015 Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition government was the first formal coalition of its type in Britain since the National Government between 1931 and 1945. Westminster and the British media tend to perceive minority governments as unstable and ineffective, as it causes problems such as governments lacking the strength to pass legislation, a vulnerability to a Motion of no confidence and the necessity for a Coalition government which would result in policy compromises and a diluted political agenda. Coalition governments could also be viewed as unstable possibly due to examples of minority governments (Callaghan and Major) occurring as the result of governments in decline. Examples of minority governments include:

Harold Wilson (1974-1979)
The Labour Party, led by Harold Wilson, formed a minority government for seven months after the General Election of February 1974. That situation lasted until the prime minister called another election in October that year, following which the Labour Government obtained a small majority of three. The following administration also became a minority government after the collapse of the Lib-Lab pact in 1978, and the then British Prime Minister James Callaghan's Government fell in March 1979 as the result of a vote of no confidence which was carried by a single vote.

John Major (1996-1997)
A minority Government held power in the UK between December 1996 and the general election in May 1997. The Conservative Party, led by John Major, had won the 1992 General Election with an absolute majority of 21 seats over all other parties. That majority was progressively whittled away through defections and by-elections defeats, the most notable of the latter including those in Newbury, South East Staffordshire and Wirral South, resulting in the eventual loss of the Major government's majority in Parliament. However, the Conservatives maintained support from Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party and Democratic Unionist Party.

David Cameron (2010-2015)
In the 2010 General Election, the Conservatives won the most seats and votes, but only a minority of seats in parliament. There was some discussion after the election of the possibility of creating a Conservative minority government and, because the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown had the first opportunity to form a government, there were also talks about creating some sort of alliance between the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats and the other smaller parties. However Brown waived his right, acknowledging that because the Conservative Party had won the largest number of seats in the House of Commons, it should have the first opportunity to form a government. Further discussions then led to the establishment of a formal coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which enabled the formation of a majority government, because it was thought that would ensure more stability.

Theresa May (2017-2019)
In 2016, Theresa May took over from David Cameron as Prime Minister, after he resigned as a result of the Brexit referendum, where the UK voted to leave the EU. May decided to call for a Snap election in 2017 to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. In the 2017 General Election, the Conservatives won the most seats and votes but lost their majority in the House of Commons which instead weakened their hand in the Brexit negotiations. The Conservative Party, led by Theresa May, formed a minority government, with 317 seats, on 9 June 2017. On 10 June, the Prime Minister's Office announced a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party which would see the DUP support the Conservative government on a confidence and supply arrangement. However, the DUP later announced that no such deal had been reached. This remained the case until 26 June 2017, when a deal was agreed and announced between the two parties.

Boris Johnson (2019)
After Theresa May resigned in May 2019, Boris Johnson became the new party leader and Prime Minister. For much of the Johnson Ministry up until the 2019 general election, the government was a minority government. The suspension of the whip of 21 Conservative MPs on 24 July 2019 resulted in the working majority of the government being – 43. The government lost several Parliamentary votes in the Autumn of 2019 before a general election was called. Johnson gained the Conservatives biggest majority since Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in 1987 after the 2019 United Kingdom general election, ending this run of minority governments.

2007
After the 2007 general election, the Scottish National Party led by Alex Salmond formed a minority government in the Scottish Parliament.

This was because the SNP gained 47 seats out of 129 in the election, which was some way short of achieving an absolute majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament, but more than any other single party gained. The SNP were unable to negotiate a majority coalition government with any other party, but as no other combination of parties were able to agree on a deal, the SNP chose to form a one-party minority government. They often negotiated with confidence and supply support from the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Conservative Party to pass certain legalisation.

2016
After the 2016 general election, The SNP won 63 out of 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, losing their governing majority they won in 2011, but they went on to form a one-party minority government, led by Nicola Sturgeon. Throughout the parliamentary term, they informally co-operated with Scottish Green Party.

2021-2024
Following the 2021 general election, the Scottish National Party fell one seat short of an overall majority. They went on to form another minority government, led by Nicola Sturgeon. The SNP then formed a coalition government with the Scottish Greens in August 2021, lifting Sturgeon's third government out of minority status.

On 25 April 2024, First Minister Humza Yousaf suspended the power sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens resulting in an SNP minority government.

John Swinney won the Scottish National Party leadership election and formed a minority government.

Wales
After the 2007 Assembly election, the Welsh Labour Party led by Rhodri Morgan initially formed a minority government in the National Assembly of Wales. This was because they gained 26 seats in the election, which was short of an absolute majority of seats in the Assembly. Whilst Labour were initially unable to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, a 'Rainbow Coalition' of the Conservative Party (UK), Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru failed to come to fruition. However, on 6 July 2007, Welsh Labour Party members voted for a coalition with Plaid, which was followed by a similar result from Plaid Cymru members the next day. As a result, the Welsh Assembly was controlled by the Labour-Plaid alliance with Rhodri Morgan as First Minister (up until his retirement in 2009 and subsequent replacement by Carwyn Jones as First Minister) and Plaid Leader Ieuan Wyn Jones as his deputy. After the 2011 Welsh General Election, Welsh Labour won 30 seats and entered into a new government, with a minority of 0. In 2016 Welsh Labour returned with 29 seats out of 30 and formed a minority government of 0 with the one remaining Liberal Democrat AM. A minority government was also formed following the 2021 Senedd election, where Welsh Labour returned 30 seats, half of the legislature's available 60, but one short of a working majority (31), yet no coalition government was formed, with Labour relying on bipartisanship (minimally 1 extra vote from a non-Labour seat) for the passing of any legislation.

List of current minority governments
These are the countries with a minority government as of 2024.

title: Minority government


text:
Winnetka

Winnetka may refer to:

One of the following places in the United States:

 * Winnetka, Los Angeles
 * Winnetka, Illinois
 * Winnetka Heights, Dallas, Texas

Or to the following educational experiment:
 * The Winnetka Plan

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

title: Winnetka


text:
Shake

Shake, The Shakes, Shaking, or Shakin' may refer to:

 * Handshake, a greeting and parting custom
 * Milkshake, a sweet cold beverage similar to very soft ice cream, often called a shake
 * Tremor, a medical symptom
 * Vibration

It may also refer to:

People

 * Shake (singer) (Sheikh Abdullah Ahmad), Malaysian singer
 * Xie Keyin (born 1997), Chinese singer, rapper and songwriter known as Shaking
 * Shake Milton (born 1996), American basketball player
 * 070 Shake (born 1997), American rapper and singer
 * Christi Shake (born 1980), 2002 Playboy playmate
 * Anthony "Shake" Shakir, Detroit techno producer
 * Shakin' Stevens (born 1948), Welsh rock and roll singer

Albums

 * Shake! (album) (1968), by the Siegel–Schwall Band
 * Shakin' (album), 1986 work by country music group Sawyer Brown
 * Shake (John Schlitt album) (1995)
 * Shake (2001), by Zucchero Fornaciari
 * Shake (The Thing album) (2015)

Songs

 * "Shake" (Sam Cooke song) (1964), notably covered by Otis Redding
 * "Shake" (1981), by GQ
 * "Shake!" (The Time song) (1990)
 * "Shake" (1993), from the album Concentration by Machines of Loving Grace
 * "Shake" (1999), by Double
 * "Shake" (EliZe song) (2004)
 * "Shake" (Ying Yang Twins song) (2005)
 * "Shake" (Jesse McCartney song) (2010)
 * "Shake" (Little Boots song) (2011)
 * "Shake" (Flavour N'abania song) (2012)
 * "Shake" (2013), a 2013 song by Victoria Justice
 * "Shake" (2013), from Let's Be Still by The Head and the Heart
 * "Shake" (CNBLUE song) (2017)
 * "Shake" (2009), from The Alesha Show: The Encore by Alesha Dixon
 * Shakin' (Eddie Money song) (1982)
 * Shakin' (Sawyer Brown song) (1986)
 * "Shakin' " (2000), from Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia by The Dandy Warhols
 * "The Shake" (Laurie Johnson) (1965), the theme song to the TV series The Avengers Theme
 * "The Shake" (Neal McCoy song) (1997)
 * "The Shake" (Kisschasy song) (2005)

Other music

 * The Shake (American rock band)
 * The Shake (dance), a fad dance of the 1960s
 * Shake (music) (more commonly known as a trill), a musical ornament

Other

 * Shake (company), a legal document startup
 * Shake (shingle), a wooden shingle made from split logs
 * Shake (software), an image-compositing package produced by Apple Inc
 * Shakes (timber), cracks in timber
 * Shake (unit), an informal unit of time equal to ten nanoseconds
 * Shake, Zimbabwe
 * SHAKE algorithm, a time integration algorithm for molecular dynamics simulation
 * 10 Shake, an Australian TV channel
 * Camera shake, an effect fixed with image stabilization
 * Master Shake, a character in Aqua Teen Hunger Force
 * Shake, another name for Sake language, used in parts of Gabon
 * Shake (social class)

title: Shake


text:
Wayland

Wayland may refer to:

Computers

 * Wayland (protocol), a graphical display system for Unix-like computers

Fiction

 * Jace Wayland, a character in the Mortal Instruments book series
 * Wayland (Star Wars), a planet in the Star Wars fictional universe
 * Turk Wayland, in the Rennie Stride mystery series by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison

Music

 * Wayland (band), a US rock music band

Mythology and folklore

 * Wayland the Smith, figure from northern European folklore

United Kingdom

 * HM Prison Wayland, Norfolk
 * Wayland, Norfolk
 * Wayland Wood, near Watton, Norfolk
 * Wayland Rural District, merged into Breckland District, Norfolk, UK
 * Wayland's Smithy, a Neolithic site in the UK

United States

 * Wayland, Iowa
 * Wayland, Kentucky
 * Wayland, Massachusetts
 * Wayland, Michigan
 * Wayland, Missouri
 * Wayland, New York
 * Wayland (village), New York
 * Wayland, Ohio
 * Wayland Baptist University (Alaska)
 * Wayland Baptist University (Texas)
 * Wayland Seminary, the Washington, D.C. school of the National Theological Institute
 * Wayland Square, Providence, Rhode Island
 * Wayland Township, Michigan, which borders the city in Allegan County
 * Wayland Township, Chariton County, Missouri

Given name

 * Wayland Flowers (1939–1988), American puppeteer
 * Wayland Young (1923–2009), British writer and SDP and Labour Party politician
 * Wayland Becker (1910–1984), American football player
 * Wayland Dean (1902–1930), Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Wayland Drew (1932–1998), writer born in Oshawa, Ontario
 * Wayland Hand (1907–1986), American folklorist
 * Wayland Holyfield (born 1942), prominent American songwriter
 * Wayland Hoyt (1838–1910), American Baptist minister and author
 * Wayland Minot (1889–1957), American football player
 * Wayland Maxfield Parrish (1887–?), writer
 * Wayland Tunley (1937–2012), British architect

Surname

 * Francis Wayland (1796–1865), American Baptist educationist and former president of Brown University
 * John Wayland (1849–1890), President of the Chico Board of Trustees, the governing body of Chico, California from 1889 to 1890
 * Julius Wayland (1854–1912), US socialist
 * Susan Wayland (born 1980), German fashion model who features in adult photography
 * Tom Wayland (born 1974), American voice actor
 * April Halprin Wayland (born 1954), American children's and young adult author, poet, and teacher
 * Hank Wayland (1906–1983), American swing jazz double-bassist
 * Newton Wayland (1940–2013), American orchestral conductor, arranger, composer and keyboardist
 * William Wayland (1869–1950), English Conservative Party politician

title: Wayland


text:
Chesil Beach

Chesil Beach (also known as Chesil Bank) in Dorset, England is one of three major shingle beach structures in Britain. Its name is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle". It runs for a length of 29 km from West Bay to the Isle of Portland and in places is up to 15 m high and 200 m wide. Behind the beach is the Fleet, a shallow tidal lagoon. Both are part of the Jurassic Coast and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and together form an SSSI and Ramsar Site.

The beach is often identified as a tombolo, although research into the geomorphology of the area has revealed that it is in fact a barrier beach which has "rolled" landwards, joining the mainland with the Isle of Portland and giving the appearance of a tombolo.

The beach curves sharply at the eastern end, near the village of Chiswell, and forms Chesil Cove against the cliffs of the Isle of Portland, and this protects the low-lying village from flooding. It has been the scene of many shipwrecks and was named "Dead Man's Bay" by Thomas Hardy. The beach provides shelter from the prevailing winds and waves for the town of Weymouth, Dorset and the village of Chiswell on Portland.

Simon Jenkins rates the view of Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury along the coast to Portland Bill as one of the top ten in England.

Origin

The origin of Chesil Beach has been argued over for some time. Originally it was believed that beach material was from the Budleigh Salterton pebble beds to the west and later from Portland to the south east. The differences between the pebbles on the beach and nearby sources is now put down to the Flandrian isostatic sea level rise, so the feature could also be considered a barrier beach or bar, that happens to connect the mainland to an island rather than a 'true' tombolo. Normally, tombolos are created due to the effects of the island on waves (through refraction) and to sediment transport, which usually produces a beach perpendicular to the mainland rather than parallel to it.

History

There have been many shipwrecks on Chesil Beach, particularly during the age of sail. The beach was particularly dangerous within the English Channel, as it forms an extended lee shore during south-westerly gales. A ship coming up the Channel had to clear Portland Bill to be safe, but the wind and tide would be pushing it northwards into Lyme Bay. When sailing ships were common, a strong string of coastguards were based along the beach, with lookouts and cottages at Chiswell, Wyke Regis, Chickerell, Langton Herring, Abbotsbury, East Bexington, Burton Bradstock and West Bay. At present there are no manned Coastguard lookouts along the beach, with coverage provided when required from the National Maritime Operations Centre based at Fareham. However, their observational role has been taken over by the National Coastwatch Institution, who have lookouts at Burton Bradstock (operational 2010) and Charmouth (operational 2016).

The local fishermen, particularly at Portland, developed a purpose-built vessel to withstand the sea actions of Chesil Beach. The boat, known as a lerret, is a double-ended open fishing boat — 16 - 17 ft long — used for seine net fishing. It is usually rowed by four people with a fifth to steer and deploy the net.

Much of the villages of Fleet and Chiswell were destroyed in the Great Storm of 1824. Over the centuries Chiswell had battled with the sea and was regularly flooded during rough winter storms. In the storms the sea would pour through the upper part of the bank, and for this reason plans to drain the Fleet were abandoned in 1630. The great storm of November 1824 struck the village with disastrous results - an event from which Chiswell would never fully recover. Since then various defences have been set-up to aid the village, notably the sea wall and promenade which commenced work in 1958, and was completed in 1965.

The Weymouth to Portland Railway line was opened in 1865, and built along the southern end of the beach. It closed to passengers in 1952 and finally closed to all traffic in 1965. The line included a viaduct across Ferry Bridge. Over the last 150 years there have been a number of proposals to build a line from Weymouth to Bridport running the length of Chesil Beach. A line was built from Upwey to Abbotsbury but could not be continued through lack of money. A line was also built from Maiden Newton to Bridport and then onwards to West Bay. A more recent proposal was to build a light railway between Weymouth and West Bay.

A rifle range, built around 1907, is situated on Chesil Beach, near Ferry Bridge. It had 100 yard increments up to 800 yards, and some remains of this structure can still be seen today. The Royal Navy operated a minesweeping trials range off West Bexington for many years following World War II. It was abandoned in the mid-1980s. The cables came ashore under the beach at the West Bexington car park, and today the range control building can still be seen behind the car park, while one of the theodolite stations is located near the entrance to the Cogden Beach car park.

Second World War defences
The beach and the Fleet were used as an experimental bombing range by the RAF before and during World War II because of the low population density of nearby areas, as well as their proximity to the naval base on Portland. The beach was also used for machine gun training and Highball bouncing bomb testing during the war.

A double row of anti-tank blocks divides the beach near Abbotsbury, where the Fleet Lagoon begins. Most of the seaward blocks have been destroyed, but the parallel lines of blocks on the landward side still survive in good condition. Within the same spot are two remaining Type 26 pillboxes. They were constructed in 1940 and were situated within the Abbotsbury Defence area. An anti-tank ditch was located within this area behind Chesil Beach. An observation post still exists on the landward side of the Fleet, with the open front facing Chesil Beach.

The portion of the beach to the east of the anti-tank division in front of Fleet Lagoon had no passive defences against a landing, whereas the beach to the west was protected with miles of Admiralty scaffolding, with anti-tank ditches and minefields and flame fougasse installations a little farther inland.

The Fleet Lagoon
From West Bay to Cliff End the beach is piled up against the cliff. At Cliff End a hollow forms behind the beach and at Abbotsbury a stretch of saline (or brackish) water called the Fleet Lagoon begins. This is up to 3m in depth. The Fleet is home to many wading birds and Abbotsbury Swannery, and fossils can be found in the sand and mud. The Fleet connects to Portland Harbour at Ferry Bridge. Initially a ferry boat was used to connect Portland to the mainland, until the first bridge was constructed in 1839. An iron bridge replaced this in 1896, and this was in turn replaced with a concrete bridge in 1985.

Both Chesil Beach and the Fleet Lagoon are a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and the view of the beach from Abbotsbury has been voted by Country Life magazine as Britain's third best view.

An arrangement of nets and poles to lure ducks into a closed area of netting is a duck decoy located within Abbotsbury Swannery. It was originally installed to provide food for the local monks, but is now used to catch ducks for ringing. It may be the oldest surviving decoy in England. Located in the Upper Fleet, within Abbotsbury Swannery, is Bum Point, and adjacent to this is an artificial island known as Tern Island, which was created to provide a nesting site for common terns.

The lagoon is a designated bass nursery area, and the species are frequently seen on an underwater camera connected to the Chesil Beach Visitor Centre. Accordingly, angling for the fish is only permitted in the lower Fleet area, from the Narrows to Ferrybridge, and only from the shore and even this has been discouraged by the Southern-IFCA (Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority) as a conservation measure. A shallow draft boat, named the Fleet Observer, featuring a transparent bottom, takes visitors around the lower Fleet to observe the wildlife above and below the water.

The main site of the Wyke Regis Training Area is found to the west of the Wyke Regis village, where it lies on the north side of the Fleet. This site, a bridging camp, was constructed in 1928 by Royal Engineers. Since then the site has been in continuous use for the training of Royal Engineers, amongst other armed forces, including both regular and reserve forces in the construction of both bridges and ferries, along with other types of military training. The Bridging Camp's inner training area allows Sappers to hone their skills on everything from raft building to familiarising themselves with state of the art weaponry. Due to the close proximity of the lagoon, water based training is held there.

A commercial oyster farm is situated on the sandbanks on the north side of the lower Fleet. The species farmed is the Pacific oyster, rather than the local oyster, and the farm racks are always visible at low tide.

At Seabarn, a 68 m hill located in the mid-Fleet, between Butterstreet Cove and Herbury, is a disused control tower and landing pad for the navy helicopter firing range in Lyme Bay. The range was closed when the Navy left Portland in 1995. There are also the remains of an anti-aircraft battery from the Second World War.

Fossils occur all along the landward shore of the Fleet and along the landward side of Chesil Beach from Abbotsbury to West Bay. The main site is at Burton Bradstock.

Assortment of pebble size
The pebbles show a remarkable gradation in size along Chesil Beach, from around 5cm long at the Chiswell end to pea-sized at West Bay. People landing on the beach at night having been fishing, or smuggling, are said to have been able to work out their location based on the pebbles' size. The sorting of the pebbles is due to the difference in wave height and direction along the beach. The natural processes leading to this separation by size have been able to produce this effect as there are no sea defences along the beach to interrupt them, and few stones are being added or removed from the beach (either naturally or artificially).

Wildlife
Due to the bird nesting season from 1 April until the end of August, access along, and to all parts of the beach from the Portland boundary stone to Abbotsbury is not permitted. Additionally access to the Fleet slope of the beach from Wyke to Abbotsbury is not permitted at any time in effort to protect and conserve the delicate environment. The Upper Fleet has some parts restricted to protect sensitive habitats.

The little egret, Egretta garzetta, once a rare visitor to the UK, but is now regularly seen along the shores of the Fleet. The scaly cricket, a small insect, is only found at three sites in the UK, including Chesil Beach. Two species of eelgrass are found in the Fleet: Zostera marina and Zostera noltii. These species both grow submerged in the shallow waters of the mid and upper Fleet, where large quantities die off in the early autumn.

Chesil Beach is a popular location for sea angling, with access at Chiswell, Ferry Bridge, Abbotsbury, Cogden, Burton Bradstock and West Bay. Angling is also allowed in the lower Fleet from the shore. Commercial fishing, which often involved seine nets, has now virtually disappeared from Chesil Beach compared with the level of activity a century ago. Within the Fleet there is still a small controlled fishery for eels using fyke nets. The grey mullet is a common fish of the Fleet, occurring in large numbers along its entire length.

In 1971, the Japanese seaweed, Sargassum muticum, arrived in Britain, where it first appeared in the Isle of Wight. However, in the following years it spread along the south coast to the Fleet. It soon dominated the environment despite a number of attempts to limit its impact. It has since died back to a much lower level of occupancy in the Narrows and lower Fleet, however the current amount of growth is often dependent on a number of factors and as such varies from year to year.

Due to issue with litter, both natural and man-made, brought to the beach by south-westerly gales, regular litter picks are organised, which involves volunteers to help alleviate the problem. A boom is in place at Ferry Bridge to minimise the impact on the Fleet of any oil pollution from within Portland Harbour.

In popular culture
In the novel The Well-Beloved: A Sketch of a Temperament by Thomas Hardy he calls Chesil Beach Deadman's Bay. The Fleet Lagoon and Chesil Beach feature in the novel Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner (1898), in which the village of Moonfleet is based on the real village of Fleet. Despite being the setting for the novel Moonfleet it was not used as a location for the film adaptation Moonfleet (1954) which was filmed entirely in Hollywood, California.

Ian McEwan's Booker Prize nominated novel On Chesil Beach is, primarily, set in a hotel overlooking Chesil Beach. In the final sections of the book, there are scenes on Chesil Beach itself. This was adapted into a 2017 film of the same name.

The cover of the 1980 UK single "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins was based on the Chesil Beach bar.

Chesil Beach: a Peopled Solitude (2021) by Judith Stinton is a non-fiction account of the history of Chesil Beach.

Chesil Beach and The Fleet Lagoon have been used as a location in films including The Dam Busters (1955), The Damned (1963), On Chesil Beach (2017), and The Sands Of Summers Past (2017), as well as being the setting for the climax of The Small Back Room (1949).

title: Chesil Beach


text:
White oak (disambiguation)

The white oaks are species of trees in the genus Quercus section Quercus.

White oak, White Oak or Whiteoak may also refer to:

Tree species

 * Quercus alba, the species most commonly known as the white oak
 * Quercus bicolor, swamp white oak
 * Quercus arizonica, Arizona white oak
 * Quercus garryana, Oregon white oak or Garry oak
 * Quercus lobata, California white oak or valley oak
 * Quercus polymorpha, Mexican white oak or Monterrey oak
 * Lagunaria patersonia, the Queensland white oak

Places in the United States

 * White Oak, Georgia
 * Whiteoak, Indiana
 * White Oak, Kentucky
 * White Oak, Maryland
 * White Oak, Missouri
 * White Oak, North Carolina
 * White Oak, Ohio (in Hamilton County)
 * White Oak, Brown County, Ohio
 * White Oak, Fayette County, Ohio
 * White Oak, Oklahoma
 * White Oak, Pennsylvania
 * White Oak, Texas
 * White Oak, Virginia
 * White Oak, Raleigh County, West Virginia
 * White Oak, Wisconsin
 * White Oaks, New Mexico

Bodies of water or wetlands

 * White Oak Bayou in Texas
 * White Oak Lake in White Oak Lake State Park, Arkansas
 * White Oak Pocosin in North Carolina
 * White Oak Pond in New Hampshire
 * White Oak River in North Carolina
 * Whiteoak Creek Falls in North Carolina

Other uses

 * Whiteoaks Communications Group, a broadcasting company that owns several radio stations in Golden Horseshoe region of southern Ontario, Canada.
 * White Oak (film), a 1921 silent western starring William S. Hart
 * Whiteoak High School, Mowrystown, Ohio
 * White Oak, Kent, part of the town of Swanley, in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, United Kingdom

title: White oak (disambiguation)


text:
User:Chan~enwiki

Hello, there!

My name is Charlie Han, and I am currently a senior in Computer Science at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. I immigrated to the United States about 6 years ago from Seoul, S. Korea.

I learned about this cool place from my friend User:Mbecker, who started the pyWikiAPI project. (https://sourceforge.net/projects/pywikiapi) Hopefully, we end up with a nice useful API for serious wiki programming.

I still need to wonder around and learn this place, so hopefully I update this page soon.

I'm a newbie here!!!

P.S. Thanks for reading this far~ :)

title: User:Chan~enwiki


text:
User talk:Chan~enwiki

Hello there Chan, welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. If you ever need editing help visit How does one edit a page or how to format them visit our manual of style. Experiment at Sandbox. If you need pointers on how we title pages visit Naming conventions. If you have any other questions about the project then check out Help or add a question to the Village pump. MB 15:44 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Chan. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Chan~enwiki that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name. If you think you might own all of the accounts with this name and this message is in error, please visit Special:MergeAccount to check and attach all of your accounts to prevent them from being renamed.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 22:58, 19 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 11:31, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Chan~enwiki


text:
Talk:Trench art

Older comments
Is this subject necessarily limited to the Great War? If so, what would one call artwork made in trenches by soliders in other wars? Also, where, if anywhere, in Wikipedia is there information about artwork made by soldiers in other situations, or, in general, artwork made by people in such situations as POW camps or concentration camps? --Daniel C. Boyer 15:45 18 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Trench Art - Legacy of (?)
I was introduced to the idea of trench art by Texas-based sculptor Dario Robelto, whose work alludes to this form. I've lately taken an interest in art (and unofficial photography) made by soldiers in or near battle situations. If anyone can suggest further resources, I would be grateful.

Another view:

Some purists view Trench Art as only applying to WW I but much of that work was actually done after the war to make money for out of work artisans or as therapy for wounded soldiers. Trench art encompasses artwork done by military people and also by artisans using military related materials. One of the most common would be empty artillery shells. These have been used since the Spanish American War and were fairly common from the Vietnam War, less so since then. Soup bones, aircraft fragments, rifle stocks and coins have all been crafted into Trench Art. In some cases, such as artillery shells it is fairly easy to identify, but in the case of POW beadwork or carved soup bones reliable provenance is necessary to connect the art with the genre. Mike Leister, collector

Copyright
"TRENCH ART BY Nicholas J. Saunders" - appropriate content?

217.155.21.238

The article is a wholsale steal from a good book- and presented in a big chunk without illustrations it's boring.--Saxophobia 11:49, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Saunders page, can someone drop him an email

 * Here is the archive of the above link: Oiyarbepsy (talk) 04:08, 16 July 2015 (UTC)

Article issues
Please do not remove the maintenance tags until the issues tagged for and those outlined above have been sufficiently addressed to warrant removal. -- Broken Sphere Msg me 22:32, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Tone - needs to be written in a neutral, encyclopedic manner. The current tone of the article sounds like it was copied from a third party source.  A complete rewrite may be necessary.
 * Citations - inline cites needed to verify assertions made, such as the definition and the 4 categories of trench art.

Bradford Khaki Handicrafts Club link
The link doesn't work. Here is one that does but It's a long time since I've added a link on wiki and never on a mobile so I'm hoping someone else can do it: https://www.trc-leiden.nl/trc-needles/organisations-and-movements/charities/bradford-khaki-handicrafts-club Dakinijones (talk) 14:13, 13 September 2017 (UTC) Yeah i just wasted 5 minutes trying to get it to work but it just wont embed for some reason Creeper Ninja (talk) 19:01, 27 February 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Trench art


text:
Karlsburg, Winnemark

Karlsburg or Carlsburg, formerly known by the Danish name Gereby, is a village in the municipality of Winnemark in Schleswig-Holstein.

title: Karlsburg, Winnemark


text:
User:Flits

no-one out of the ordinary here.

For the morbidly curious, I study aikido and kickboxing. I enjoy reading, writing, walking, movies and training in martial arts. I work in computer support for a multi national company.

I am currently engaged in an earnest search for the Meaning of Life.

title: User:Flits


text:
Schwansen

Schwansen (Svans or Svansø, meaning "swan island/peninsula") is a peninsula in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, protruding into the Baltic Sea. It is located between Eckernförde Bay to the south and the Schlei inlet to the north.

The Danish dialect South Jutlandic in the Angel Danish variant was still spoken in Schwansen around 1780 (the last time in the villages near the Schlei). Denmark lost Schwansen following the Second Schleswig War in 1864.

Schwansen is the name of the former Amt ("collective municipality") Schwansen, which covered most of the peninsula. The seat of the Amt was in Damp.

title: Schwansen


text:
Lipovans

The Lipovans or Lippovans (Липоване; Lipoveni; Липовани; Липованци) are ethnic Russian Old Believers living in Romania, Ukraine, Moldova and Bulgaria who settled in the Principality of Moldavia, in the east of the Principality of Wallachia (Muntenia), and in the regions of Dobruja and Budjak during the 17th and 18th centuries. According to the 2011 Romanian census, there are a total of 23,487 Lipovans in Romania, mostly living in Northern Dobruja, in the Tulcea County but also in the Constanța County, and in the cities of Iași, Brăila and Bucharest. In Bulgaria, they inhabit two villages: Kazashko and Tataritsa.

Name
The origin of the name of the Lipovans is not known exactly, but it may come from the linden trees ("Lipa" or "Липа" in Russian) of the area they populate bordering the Wild Fields. Linguist Victor Vascenco considers this to be folk etymology. Another hypothesis claims the name derives from the name "Filipp" (1672-1742) which is alleged to have been the true name of the son of Nikita Pustosvyat (d.1683) who according to a legend led the group of dissenters who emigrated to what is now Romania, his adepts being named Filippovtsy which became Lipovtsi and finally Lipovane. Another hypothesis derives it from "Filippovka", a holiday name dedicated to Saint Philip of Moscow.

History
The Lipovans emigrated from Russia in the 18th century, as dissenters from the main Russian Orthodox Church. They settled along the Prut River in Moldavia and in the Danube Delta. They have maintained strong religious traditions which predate the reforms of the Russian Orthodox Church undertaken during the rule of Patriarch Nikon. When the Patriarch made changes to worship in 1652, some believers carried on worshipping in the "old way". In that sense, they continued to speak Old Russian, to cross themselves with two fingers instead of three, and to keep their beards. The Russian government and the Orthodox Church persecuted them, and as a result various sects arose whose goal was to commit suicide, e.g., by burning themselves (self-burners: сожигатели, sozhigateli), with many others being forced to emigrate.

Lipovans were considered to be schismatic by the Russian Orthodox Church, although relations have improved recently. (See main article on Old Believers.)

Population
The main centre of the Lipovan community in Ukraine is the town of Vylkove, which has its own church, the St Nicholas Church. In order to construct their homes, the Lipovans create islets of dry land by digging mud out from trenches and making a series of canals. The house walls are made of reed and mud, and thatching is standard for the roofing.

title: Lipovans


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Radama II

Radama II (September 23, 1829 – May 12, 1863 [contested]) was the son and heir of Queen Ranavalona I and ruled from 1861 to 1863 over the Kingdom of Madagascar, which controlled virtually the entire island. Radama's rule, although brief, was a pivotal period in the history of the Kingdom of Madagascar. Under the unyielding and often harsh 33-year rule of his mother, Queen Ranavalona I, Madagascar had successfully preserved its cultural and political independence from European colonial designs. Rejecting the queen's policy of isolationism and persecution of Christians, Radama II permitted religious freedom and re-opened Madagascar to European influence. Under the terms of the Lambert Charter, which Radama secretly contracted in 1855 with French entrepreneur Joseph-François Lambert while Ranavalona still ruled, the French were awarded exclusive rights to the exploitation of large tracts of valuable land and other lucrative resources and projects. This agreement, which was later revoked by Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony, was key to establishing France's claim over Madagascar as a protectorate and, in 1896, as a colony.

The dramatic contrast between Ranavalona's isolationism and her son's pro-European stance represented an abrupt reversal of policy that threatened the traditional sociopolitical order. Radama's absolutism in pursuing dramatic reforms in disregard of the advice of his ministers ultimately turned them against him. In a coup led by his prime minister, Rainivoninahitriniony, Radama II was strangled on May 12, 1863. His wife Rabodo, who took the throne name Rasoherina, was allowed by the ministers to succeed her husband on the condition that she and future sovereigns would no longer rule unilaterally, but rather in concert with the Hova (the class of free citizens) as represented by the position of prime minister. The public was informed that Radama had committed suicide and that his body had been unceremoniously interred in a tomb in Ilafy. However, there soon emerged rumors – believed by prominent foreigners Jean Laborde and William Ellis – that Radama lived and was making plans to reclaim the throne. A strong case has since been made on the basis of significant evidence that Radama may indeed have revived after the strangling and lived to old age in anonymity near Lake Kinkony in the northwestern part of the island.

Upbringing and early years
Radama II was born Prince Rakoto (Rakotosehenondradama) on September 23, 1829, in the Imasoandro building on the compound of the Rova of Antananarivo. He was officially recognized as the son of King Radama I and his widow Queen Ranavalona I, although the king had died more than nine months before the prince's birth. He was likely fathered by a lover of his mother, Andriamihaja, a progressive young officer of the Merina army who the queen may have been tricked into putting to death by conservative ministers at court.

After his mother succeeded Radama I on the throne, she instituted an increasingly regressive regime that attempted to restore traditional values and contain or eliminate westernization. The prince, however, who had been highly influenced by the French adviser to the queen, Joseph-François Lambert, was favorably impressed by European culture, knowledge and its state of economic, political and technological development, and was troubled by some of the socially repressive policies pursued by Ranavalona I. According to a British account, the French played on this sympathy in 1855 by pressuring Prince Rakoto into signing a request for French aid that would have enabled France to establish control over Madagascar had the true nature of the letter and its signing not been uncovered by Rakoto and his British contacts. An alternate explanation was offered by Lambert, who maintained that the prince had knowingly supported the attempt to put an end to his mother's harsh policies, and was a willing collaborator in a failed 1857 plot to remove her from the throne.

Prior to Queen Ranavalona's death, the conservative and progressive factions within the Merina court waged a tactical power struggle to secure a successor favorable to their own political agenda. The conservative faction favored Ramboasalama, the son of the Queen's sister, while the Queen's prime minister, Rainivoninahitriniony and head of the army, Rainilaiarivony, brothers and progressives, supported Radama II. The latter successfully obtained key strategic allies within the court that enabled Radama to seize the throne without violence following his mother's death. Ramboasalama was obliged to swear a public oath of allegiance to Radama, and was later sent into exile in the highland village of Ambohimirimo where he died in April 1862.

Reign
Prince Rakoto acceded to the throne on August 16, 1861, upon the natural death of his mother, Queen Ranavalona I, assuming the throne name Radama II. His coronation ceremony was held the following year on September 23, 1862. Once upon the throne, he immediately initiated a rapid and dramatic reversal of many of his mother's traditionalist policies. He reopened the country to foreign powers and concluded treaties of friendship with Britain and France. The Lambert Charter opened up business possibilities for French investors. Freedom of religion was declared, persecution of Christians ceased, missionaries returned to the island and their schools were reopened. Radama abolished the traditional trial by ordeal of tangena, in which the guilt or innocence of an accused person was determined based on the outcome of consuming the poison of the tangena nut, and inhabitants of Antananarivo were permitted to raise swine within the city walls, a practice previously forbidden by a fady (taboo) forbidding them from being kept near the royal talismans (sampy). The sampy were dispersed to the sacred villages where they had originated under 16th-century Merina king Ralambo and other early monarchs. Significantly, Radama freed numerous political prisoners captured under Ranavalona I during provincial wars of subjugation and offered repatriation of confiscated property. This pardon was reciprocated by many of the beneficiary ethnic groups around the island, and good will between the coasts and central administration at Antananarivo improved significantly. These changes, and the king himself, were unequivocally praised by Madagascar's European partners:

""It is most remarkable that Radama II should have formed views of policy so large and liberal, so enlightened, humane and patriotic as those which form the foundation of his throne; that the son of such a mother, trained up under a despotism so dark, and restrictive and cruel, should have adopted such principles of religious freedom and political economy, as equal civil liberty and universal free trade principles, which our own nation has been so slow to learn, and which are still repudiated in many lands where civilization is far advanced.""

The reaction within Imerina was less one-sided. The abrupt and dramatic policy changes pursued by the progressive king both alienated and disfranchised the established conservative factions among the andriana (nobles) and Hova (freemen) at court. Especially controversial were the special privileges accorded to Joseph-François Lambert and his partners under the Lambert Charter, including the exclusive implementation of public works projects (felling trees, making roads, building canals etc.), control over minting coinage, lucrative mining rights and more as part of the purview of Lambert's proposed Compagnie de Madagascar (French Madagascar Company). The citizens' concern stemmed primarily from clauses in the agreement that would have permitted Lambert's company to become permanent owners of Malagasy lands. Until this point, land in Madagascar, which was viewed by the populace as the sacred ground of the ancestors, could only ever be temporarily possessed by foreigners until their death, at which point the land would revert to the crown. The threat of permanently losing any part of sacred Malagasy soil to foreigners was deeply troubling.

Assassination plot
The legalization of dueling was ultimately the issue that brought to a head the tension between King Radama II's entourage (mostly friends and some established political figures, known collectively as the menamaso or "red-eyes") and representatives of the opposition led by Radama's prime minister Rainivoninahitriniony. On May 7, 1863, Radama II announced his intention to allow disputes to be settled by a duel, much to the disapproval of many of his advisers at court who feared the practice would lead to anarchy. The prime minister prevented the law from being publicly declared at the Zoma (Friday) market the following day. Friday afternoon, the prime minister's younger brother, Rainilaiarivony, who was head of the army, called several thousand troops into the city to besiege a number of the menamaso and members of the royal family at the Rova palace compound, and by Saturday morning the decision had been made and carried out to execute eleven of the menamaso and other key political figures who had counseled Radama to legalize dueling. On Sunday, May 10, Rainivoninahitriniony demanded that Radama hand over the menamaso he was sheltering in the palace, which he refused to do until the prime minister agreed to spare their lives; they were handed over but by Monday morning had all been speared to death.

The drama ended on Tuesday morning, May 12, 1863, when a group of officers and soldiers forced their way into the Rova and seized the king. His wife, Queen Rabodo, pleaded for his life to be spared and attempted to stop them but was forcibly removed. The soldiers threw a lamba over Radama's head and strangled him with a silk sash until he was believed to be dead, thereby avoiding the shedding of royal blood as was the custom for royal executions in Imerina.

The nobles informed Rabodo that she would have their support as queen on the condition that she would accept to abide by certain articles that would form a new contract between rulers and ruled in Madagascar:

""For the future the word of the sovereign alone was not to be law, but that the sovereign, the nobles and the heads of the people were to unite in making the laws; that the friendship with foreigners was to be maintained; that no one was to be put to death on the word of the sovereign alone, but that the nobles and the heads of the people must concur in the sentence before it could be inflicted; that religion and worship were to be equally free to all – to natives and foreigners, to Christians and non-Christians – excepting in Ambohimanga where there should be no public worship. The ordeal of tangena was not to be used, but death should be inflicted for great crimes.""

Rabodo agreed to these conditions. The next morning, it was publicly announced in the marketplace that Radama had taken his own life due to grief over the deaths of his compatriots the menamaso and that Rabodo would succeed him as Queen Rasoherina. To cement the new power-sharing agreement between the ruler, the nobles and the heads of the people, a political marriage was contracted between the queen and Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony, who had been instrumental in her first husband's death. Radama's name was struck from the list of kings and it was declared illegal to mourn his death.

Rumors of survival
Following Radama II's apparent death, rumors spread that he had only been rendered unconscious by the attempt on his life and had revived as his body was being transported to Ilafy for interment in his designated tomb. French historian Delval presents evidence that supports a scenario wherein the group tasked with carrying Radama's body to Ilafy became frightened as the king began to revive, prompting them to abandon the body and then falsely maintain that they had completed their task to place him in the tomb. Within months after his reported death, rumors began circulating that Radama was alive, residing on the west coast of the island and was amassing supporters for a political comeback. The rumors persisted to the point of causing political turmoil in Antananarivo. These claims may have had some substance judging by the actions of others. Prominent Christian missionaries outside the capital made extensive efforts to visit and support Radama but seemingly never succeeded. Traditionalist factions within the government were concerned enough by the rumors to have put to death sixteen of his supporters, as well as fining hundreds of others. According to evidence in Delval's study, Radama may indeed have survived and, failing to regain the throne, lived to old age as an ordinary citizen in the north of the island.

With the apparent murder of Radama II, the power of the Merina monarchs was broken. Subsequent monarchs were controlled by influential Hova, particularly Rainilaiarivony, who became prime minister after his brother and successively married all three remaining queens of the monarchy: Rasoherina, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III.

title: Radama II


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Rasoherina

Rasoherina (1814 – 1 April 1868) (also Rasoherina-Manjaka) was Queen of Madagascar from 1863 to 1868, succeeding her husband Radama II following his presumed assassination.

Early years
Rasoherina, niece of Queen Ranavalona I, was born Princess Rabodozanakandriana in 1814, the daughter of Prince Andriantsalamanandriana, of Ambohitraina and Princess Rafaramanjaka (Ramirahavavy). As a young woman, she married Raharolahy (Raharola), a successful statesman in his own right who received 15 state honors and served as Secretary to the Embassy to the United Kingdom (1836–37), Second Minister for Foreign Affairs in French matters (1862), Minister for the Interior (1862–64), Counselor of Government (1864–65) and Governor of Toamasina (1865). The couple divorced in 1847 and that same year she was married to Ranavalona's son and heir, Rakoto. When he succeeded his mother in 1861 as King Radama II, she was crowned with him as queen consort.

Accession to the throne
Rasoherina acted as queen consort for only two years before her husband's political decisions succeeded in displeasing his ministers to such an extent that a coup was organized in which Radama II was believed assassinated. A study conducted in the 1960s provides evidence that Radama in fact survived the assassination attempt and lived to old age as a regular citizen outside the capital, although rumors to this end were never proven to be true at the time, and the evolution of life at court pursued its course as if Radama had died. The day of his believed death in 1863, the council of Hova government officials responsible for organizing the coup, headed by the brothers Rainivoninahitriniony and Rainilaiarivony, invited Rabodo to succeed to the throne on the condition that she sign a contract stipulating conditions that in effect created a constitutional monarchy placing the real ruling power in the hands of the prime minister. These conditions included the suppression of tangena (a traditional trial by ordeal) as well as the monarchy's defense of freedom of religion. Rabodo was crowned on 13 May 1863 under the throne name of Rasoherina.

Reign
The real power of the kingdom at the beginning of Rasoherina's reign was Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony, instigator of the coup against her husband. The Prime Minister entered into a political marriage with Rasoherina a few weeks after the crowning. Rainivoninahitriniony effectively operated unhindered in his running of state affairs at court where the conservative faction empowered under Ranavalona I was still active under the leadership of her former prime minister, Rainijohary. However, Rainivoninahitriniony's progressives formed a majority in the Queen's Council and their advocacy for a moderately pro-European policy of modernization won out over the reversal of the policies of Radama II that were demanded by Rainijohary's conservatives. However, Rainivoninahitriniony became increasingly despotic and exhibited habitual drunkenness and frequent violence as his power grew, reportedly threatening Queen Rasoherina at knife point on several occasions. One year after taking the throne, Rasoherina deposed Rainivoninahitriniony, appointed his younger brother Rainilaiarivony as prime minister in his stead and contracted a political marriage with him in turn. During the reign of Queen Rasoherina, ambassadors were sent to London and Paris and Sunday markets were prohibited. The controversial Lambert Charter enacted by Radama II was declared void, much to the displeasure of France; a sum of 240,000 ariary (~ 1,200,000 French francs) was paid to France in reparations for the breach of this lucrative trade agreement. On 27 June 1865, she signed a treaty with the United Kingdom giving British citizens the right to rent land and property on the island and to have a resident ambassador. On 14 February 1867, she signed a treaty with the United States of America that limited the importation of weapons and the export of cattle. A treaty with France was under consideration during her reign but was not signed into effect until after her death and the succession of Ranavalona II to the throne.

Succession conspiracy and death
In the final days of the queen's life, a succession conspiracy came to light that would have removed Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony from power and ensured the succession of a prince named Rasata to the throne upon Rasoherina's death. On Friday, 27 March 1868, at two in the afternoon, a massive crowd armed with guns and swords attempted to storm the Rova of Antananarivo, residence of Queen Rasoherina. Disgraced former Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony was believed to be the chief instigator of the action as he would have re-established himself as prime minister and ruled through young Rasata's puppet government. The rebel group successfully captured a number of key figures, including the head of the Queen's Guard; a group of guards, however, managed to escape and raced to notify Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony who was visiting Ambohimanga where Queen Rasoherina was gravely ill from dysentery. The Prime Minister gave the order to arrest the conspirators, several of whom were promptly captured upon the soldiers' return to the city. At five in the evening, Rasoherina delivered a public address, asking those favorable to her rule to walk with her through the capital; a massive crowd paraded with her through the city, demonstrating their support for her continued authority. The queen then delivered a speech at Andohalo ordering the public to turn in any known conspirators to bring them to justice, before returning to the Rova to reassume her royal duties. The windows along the route to the palace were reportedly all ordered shut, either to protect the Queen from projectiles or to keep the nobles inhabiting the upper town from viewing the advanced state of her infirmity.

The queen died four days later, on 1 April 1868. On her deathbed, she was received into the Roman Catholic Church and conferred the care of her two orphaned adoptive children, Prince Ratahiry and Princess Rasoaveromanana, to her first cousin and successor, Ramoma, another of Radama II's wives, who would succeed her and take the throne name Ranavalona II.

title: Rasoherina


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User:Sin5cents

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title: User:Sin5cents


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Talk:Swansea, Germany

I'm sorry. Who exactly calls this place Swansea? A google testhttp://www.google.com/search?q=Swansea%20Schwansen shows only one page containing both of these place names, and it appears the be the itinery of a cyling tour which takes in Swansea in Wales and Schwansen in Germany.

title: Talk:Swansea, Germany


text: Talk:Schwansen

title: Talk:Schwansen


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Ranavalona II

Ranavalona II (1829 – 13 July 1883) was Queen of Madagascar from 1868 to 1883, succeeding Queen Rasoherina, her first cousin. She is best remembered for Christianizing the royal court during her reign.

Early life
Ranavalona II was born Princess Ramoma in 1829 at Ambatomanoina, near Antananarivo in the central highlands to Prince Razakaratrimo and his wife Princess Rafarasoa Ramasindrazana. As a young woman she, like her cousin Rasoherina, was married to King Radama II and was widowed upon his assassination in the nobles' coup of 1863. The prime minister at the time, Rainivoninahitriniony, played a major role in the assassination plot and public condemnation of the action forced him from his post. The position of prime minister was then filled by his younger brother Rainilaiarivony, who married Queen Rasoherina and then, upon her death, helped to designate Ranavalona II the next monarch of Madagascar and consequently married her to retain his position.

During her years at court, young Ramoma was tutored by Protestant missionaries who greatly influenced her religious and political views. She became increasingly favorable toward the beliefs of the Christian religion.

Reign
Ranavalona II succeeded to the throne upon the death of Queen Rasoherina on 1 April 1868. On 21 February 1869, she entered into a political marriage with her prime minister, Rainilaiarivony, in a public ceremony at Andohalo wherein the court officially underwent conversion to Christianity. This conversion was effected to bring the increasingly powerful Protestant faction under the influence of the royal court. Declaring Madagascar a Christian nation, Ranavalona had the traditional royal talismans (sampy) burned in a bonfire in September 1869 and replaced their authority with that of the Bible.

Under her rule the problem of deforestation was considered. The queen authorized construction using brick and other durable materials within the walls of Antananarivo (previously forbidden by King Andrianampoinimerina ). She also banned the traditional practice of tavy (swidden, slash-and-burn agriculture), charcoal making and construction of houses within forests.

A European visitor to the court of Ranavalona II in 1873 described the queen in the following terms: "I should think the queen was about 45 years of age, with a dark olive complexion, and a face full of kindness and benevolence. She was very queenly, and dressed in a gray shot-silk dress, and a silk lamba fell negligently from her shoulders. Her hair was black, and beautifully arranged; 'crown she did not wear', but from the hair at the top of her head there depended the long fine gold chain ending in a gold tassel, which only the queen can wear."

Death and succession
Ranavalona II died in 1883 and was buried in Ambohimanga. In a bid to desacralize the holy city, in 1897 the French colonial authority disinterred her remains along with those of other monarchs buried in Ambohimanga and transferred them to the tombs on the compound of the Rova of Antananarivo, where her bones were interred in the tomb of Queen Rasoherina. She was succeeded by Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch of the kingdom.

title: Ranavalona II