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Portuguese conquest of Ceuta

The Portuguese conquest of Ceuta took place on 21 August 1415, between Portuguese forces under the command of King John I of Portugal and the Marinid sultanate of Morocco at the city of Ceuta. The city's defenses fell under Portuguese control after a carefully prepared attack, and the successful capture of the city marked the beginning of the Portuguese Empire. Ceuta was held under Portuguese control until being transferred to Spain in 1668.

Background
Ceuta is a north African coastal city strategically located on the Strait of Gibraltar. In 711, shortly after the Arab conquest of North Africa, the city was used as a departure point for in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania. However, the city was destroyed in 740 and only rebuilt in the 9th century, passing to the Caliphate of Córdoba in the 10th century. In the subsequent centuries it was ruled by the Almoravids, the Almohads as well as various Andalusian Taifas. Ceuta then experienced a period of political instability, under competing interests from the Marinid Empire and the Kingdom of Granada. A Nasrid fleet sent by Abu Said Faraj, Governor of Málaga, conquered Ceuta from the 'Azafids in May 1306; later, in 1309, the city was taken by the Marinids with the support of an Aragonese fleet.

The city featured rich trade with the Levant, Egypt, Libya, abundant tuna fishing stocks in its surrounding waters as well as coral, which constituted its main export industry, besides being also a notorious pirate haven, where Berber pirates sold their prey after raiding Iberian coasts and shipping. Ceuta's position opposite the straits of Gibraltar gave it control of one of the main outlets of the trans-African Sudanese gold trade; and it could enable Portugal to flank its most dangerous rival, Castile. It was defended by a composite system of walls, built and added to by various Moroccan dynasties throughout the centuries, most recently the Marinids, and with a high number of gates which could prove difficult to defend. It included a strong citadel built by the Marinids.

Relations between the Muslim Marinids of Morocco and the Nasrids Granada in southern Iberia were strained after Abu Said Uthman III had attempted to capture Gibraltar in 1411, while Yusuf of Granada in turn instigated a revolt in Morocco as a response.

After defeating a Castillian army that had invaded Portugal in 1385 at the Battle of Aljubarrota, the recently crowned King John I of Portugal signed a peace treaty with Castille, in 1411.

Even before signing peace with its only neighbour, King John I cast an eye at gaining Ceuta and began preparations as early as 1409. The chief promoter of the Ceuta expedition was João Afonso, royal overseer of finance. The children of King John, prince-heir Duarte, prince Peter and Prince Henry (later nicknamed 'the Navigator') eagerly supported the project, as the prospect of taking Ceuta offered them an opportunity to win wealth and glory.

Preparations for the conquest
Preparations for the conquest of Ceuta, such as the gathering of materials and money started years beforehand and carried out slowly, though the objective was kept a secret. No taxes were raised because such a course of action demanded a gathering of Cortes and it would risk leaking the objective of the projected expedition. Nor was currency debased. Loans were taken, foreign ships chartered, galleys repaired and new ones built, until 30 had been assembled by the admiral of Portugal Carlos Pesanha, and expenses closely controlled.

Prince Henry, later surnamed 'the Navigator' was tasked with organizing the recruitment of men in the provinces of Beira and Trás-os-Montes and assemble them in the city of Porto. Henry's brother Peter was tasked with enlisting in the southern provinces of Extremadura, Alentejo and Algarve, with the gathering point at Lisbon. Prince-heir Duarte handled paperwork and judicial matters, though he fell into depression.

Faux embassy to Sicily
In order to scout the defenses of Ceuta beforehand, King John nominated the Prior of Crato Dom Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo as ambassador to the then regent and heir of the Kingdom of Sicily Blanche of Navarre. He was to take two galleys commanded by general-of-the-sea Afonso Furtado de Mendoça and officially propose to Blanche the marriage of Prince Peter, but stop at Ceuta to take in supplies. They stopped at Ceuta for four days, and measured the depth of the harbour. Having successfully reached Sicily and received a negative reply, as King John had anticipated, they headed back to Portugal, again stopping at Ceuta.

After returning to Portugal, at the royal Palace of Sintra Dom Álvaro drew for King John and the princes in private a map of Ceuta and its surrounding geography with sand and thread.

Disclosure of the plan to the privy council
Only after he was in possession of these precise informations about Ceuta did King John then disclose his intentions to capture Ceuta to his wife Queen Philippa of Lancaster. By occasion of a hunting trip in Montemor-o-Novo later, the king then disclosed the project to the Constable of Portugal, the renowned general Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, who approved it in earnest.

Finally, the King disclosed the project to the highest members of the Court, at Torres Novas, to where he summoned the Queen, the princes, the Constable Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira, the royal chancellor João das Regras, the archbishop of Braga Dom Lourenço, the grandmaster of the Orders of Christ Dom Lopo Dias de Sousa, the grandmaster of the Portuguese order of Santiago Dom Fernando Afonso de Albuquerque, the grandmaster of Aviz Fernão Rodrigues de Sequeira, the prior of the Hospitallers Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo, the Marshal of Portugal Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho, lord Martim Afonso de Mello, and the royal ensign João Gomes da Silva. By order of the King, the Constable expressed his vote in favor of the expedition first, the council then voting unanimously in favour too.

Faux embassy to Holland

The secretive nature of the expeditions purpose caused numerous theories to rise among Portuguese society as to its true objective, some speculating the King meant to undertake a Crusade to the Levant, others to conquer the Kingdom of Sicily, still others (correctly) guessing Ceuta. By that point, rumours of the preparations being carried out in Portugal against a secret objective spread to many neighbouring realms and their rulers. The residents of Ibiza and Sicily made preparations to resist a possible Portuguese attack, in which they incurred considerable expense. Some French wrote to King Ferdinand of Aragon expressing their suspicion that the Portuguese were preparing to participate in the Hundred Years War alongside the English, in France.

King John II of Castile, King Ferdinand I of Aragon and the emir of Granada Yusuf III all sent embassies to the Portuguese Court enquiring on the purpose of King John's preparations; the Castilian and Aragonese ambassadors were reassured that the purpose of the armada aimed neither Kingdom, but the ambassador of Granada was only given evasive answers.

In order to conceal the true objective of the expedition, John dispatched Fernão Fogaça as an ambassador to the Count of Holland William VI, with the official mission of publicly demanding from the Count a compensation over a number of abuses the Hollanders had supposedly carried out at sea against Portuguese mariners. The Count had in fact been informed by King John of the true purpose of this phony embassy beforehand, hence he entertained Fogaça with a public audience in which he offered such a rude reply that it might be understood as a declaration of war. As a result, rumour thus spread that King John was about to depart on an expedition to attack Holland.

Final gathering in Lisbon
In the Spring of 1415, plague broke out in Lisbon, forcing the Court to relocate to the nearby town of Sacavém. On July 10, 1415, Prince Henry called at Lisbon with a fleet of 7 galleys and 20 naus bearing a numerous corps of well-equipped men. Among them was Aires Gonçalves de Figueiredo, a 90 year old fidalgo at the command of a nau.

The Portuguese fleet probably numbered 59 galleys, 33 carracks or naus and 120 smaller vessels, bearing as many as 50,000 men, of which about 20,000 were combat personnel. It featured English, French and German mercenaries or soldiers of fortune. One German baron commanded 50 men of his household, while an Englishman by the name of Mondo commanded four ships. The expedition included among its ranks some of the most important persons in Portugal at the time besides the king, such as prince-heir Duarte, prince Peter, prince Henry, the Count of Barcelos Dom Afonso de Cascais, the Constable of Portugal Dom Nuno Álvares Pereira and his nephew Dom Álvaro Pereira, the Grandmaster of the Order of Christ Dom Lopo Dias de Sousa, the prior of the Knights Hospitaller Dom Álvaro Gonçalves Camelo, the Admiral Carlos Pessanha, the Count of Viana Dom Diarte de Meneses, the General of the Sea Afonso Furtado de Mendonça, the first Duke of Braganza Dom Afonso, the Marshal of Portugal Gonçalo Vascques Countinho and the Royal Ensign João Gomes da Silva, among others. All of the main noble houses in Portugal participated in the expedition, with the notable exception of the Lima family.

Shortly before their departure, Queen Fillippa fell ill from the plague that was then affecting Lisbon. She moved from Lisbon to Sacavém and called her sons to her bedside so that she could give them her blessing. Philippa presented her three eldest sons with jewel-encrusted swords, which they would use in their impending knighthoods, and gave each a portion of the True Cross, "enjoining them to preserve their faith and to fulfil the duties of their rank".

Though he had been reluctant to marry her, the king had grown quite fond of his wife, and it is said that he was "so grieved by [her] mortal illness… that he could neither eat nor sleep". In her final hours, Philippa was said to be lucid and without pain. According to legend she was roused by a wind which blew strongly against the house and asked what wind it was, upon hearing it was the north wind, she claimed it quite beneficial for her son's and husband's voyage to Africa, which she had coordinated. At her death she prayed with several priests and, "without any toil or suffering, gave her soul into the hands of Him who created her, a smile appearing on her mouth as though she disdained the life of this world". The expedition was nearly called off, but King John decided to carry it through. A day of mourning was decreed, at the end of which Prince Henry commanded that all participants wear their best, the ships be decorated and trumpets be sounded with fanfare.

The grandmaster of the Order of Aviz was appointed to administer Portugal in the kings absence on July 23, and that day King John embarked on the royal galley. Two days later, the entire fleet weighted anchor and departed from Lisbon, while the citizens and local inhabitants watched from the surrounding hills and beaches.

From Sacavém, the Aragonese spy Ruy Dias de Vega wrote a few days later to the King of Aragon Ferdinand I that the objective of the expedition was rumoured to be either Ceuta or Gibraltar.

Itinerary of the Portuguese fleet
From the mouth of the Tagus River, the Portuguese fleet sailed south along the south-western coast of Portugal and rounded the Cape St. Vincent on July 26, and that night anchored at Lagos.

Lagos
The king disembarked at Lagos the day after arriving to hear Sunday mass, at the cathedral of Lagos by the royal chaplain the Franciscan João de Xira, who on the occasion read to the royal family and commanders the Crusade bull issued by the Pope in favour of all who would participate in the attack against Ceuta.

Faro
On 30 July the fleet weighted anchor to Faro, and as the wind blew weak, the fleet remained by that city till August 7, when they got on their way again. By late afternoon the Portuguese sighted Cape Espartel and turned out to sea, that night entered the Strait of Gibraltar and anchored by the Castilian town of Tarifa. Many members of the expedition were at that point convinced the ultimate goal of the fleet was to attack Sicily.

Tarifa
The settlement was then governed by the Portuguese Martim Fernandes Porto-Carreiro, who offered the king supplies and lifestock as refreshments. Since the fleet was well provided, King John refused the gift, but Porto-Carreiro was so offended by such rejection that he had the animals slaughtered and abandoned on the beach. As a compensation for this spirited act, the King and the royal princes gifted Porto-Carreiro rich jewels and 1000 dobras.

Algeciras
From Tarifa, the fleet next anchored at Algeciras, then belonging to the Emirate of Granada, subject to the Marinids of Morocco. King John ordered the attack on Ceuta from Tarifa on August 12, but when they moved out strong currents and contrary winds blew the Portuguese carracks east almost as far as Málaga, while the oarships proceeded to Ceuta and anchored in its harbour.

The attack on Ceuta
After the Portuguese galleys were in the harbour, the Marinid governor of Ceuta Salah ben Salah evacuated many of the women and children to the surrounding lands and was reinforced by the tribal inhabitants of the region, voluntarily led by religious leaders. So many took up arms in the defense of Ceuta that the Portuguese would later claim no less than 100,000 had reinforced it. Ceuta received no aid whatsoever from the Sultan Abu Said Uthman III of Fez, either because the Marinid dynasty was too embroiled in internal disputes to be able to organize relief or because Salah ben Salah had been acting in an independent manner in recent years.

The first engagements between the Portuguese and the defenders of Ceuta then took place, with the Portuguese galleys being shot at from the walls, the vessel of the Admiral Carlos Pessanha being damaged the worst, as it was the closest to shore. Despite the separation of the fleet, Pessanha landed a detachment of men to skirmish with the Moroccans ashore.

Having gathered the armada in front of Ceuta on the 16th, King John determined to assault the city the following day, but heavy winds then scattered the Portuguese fleet once more, forcing the king to seek refuge in the bay of Algeciras with the oarships, while the carracks were blown further east.

Seeing the Portuguese fleet scatter and believing the attack would not longer take place, many of the undisciplined warriors and militias that had gathered in the city for its defense withdrew to their lands, while governor Salah ben Salah took the fatal decision of demobilizing the rest of the volunteers to prevent further conflict, leaving nothing but the usual garrison.

Interlude
From Algeciras, Prince Henry was instructed to bring back all the scattered carracks in tow of the galleys. Plague broke out among the fleet and ravaged the crews. King John then held a Council of war with his command while anchored off Punta Carnero, Spain, but he rejected the opinion of those who suggested calling off the attack. On the night of August 20 the Portuguese fleet set out again, and anchored in the harbour of Ceuta, with the landing scheduled for the following day.

Salah Ben Salah ordered that as many available men as possible be posted on the walls and as many lights and candles be lit to give the impression of readiness and of a large and well-garrisoned city, but although brilliant the effect proved null on the Portuguese.

Assault of Ceuta
On the morning of 21 August 1415, John I of Portugal gave out the orders for the landing of the troops and a general assault on the city. As the king boarded a longboat to be taken ashore however, he was wounded in a leg. Prince Henry was signalled to lead the troops ashore instead.

The first to land was Ruy Gonsalves, who encountered resistance upon landing at Playa San Amaro. Prince Henry was the first prince to land at the head of a squadron of men. He was followed by his brother, the prince-heir Edward, and at the head of about 300 men both succeeded in driving the Muslims defenders back to the Almedina gate, which was breached by the Portuguese before it could be securely shut.

The Moroccans managed to put up some resistance within the cramped urban environment just beyond the gate, encouraged by a very large Nubian or Sudanese who stood his ground hurling large stones. After he was slain by Vasco Martins de Albergaria however, the Muslims turned and fled, chased deeper into the city by prince Pedro, prince Henry and the Constable at the head of the Portuguese troops.

As the Portuguese poured into the city, Salah ben Salah descended from the high citadel to try and check the advance of the attackers in the narrow streets, so the residents could at least flee in time with their families and belongings. Disregarding the open gate through which Prince Henry had breached into the city, Vasco Fernandes de Ataíde attempted to open another gate at the head of a squadron of men, however they were repulsed and Ataíde mortally wounded.

Prince Henry left behind a detachment of men to secure the gate while they waited for rest of the army; it arrived shortly afterwards commanded by the King, prince Pedro and the Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira. King John would however take no further part in the fighting, and sat by the gate. During the urban fighting, rumour spread among the Portuguese troops that prince Henry had perished, as he could not be located. Upon being informed of the rumoured death of his son, king John is supposed to have replied that "such is the end which soldiers must expect".

Salah ben Salah held the citadel of Ceuta till sundown, but seeing no way to resist the Portuguese, he fled the city with a number of his men, taking their families and all they could carry. Only in the following morning of 21 August did the Portuguese realize the citadel was deserted. Ceuta was entirely in Portuguese hands and fighting ceased. Most of Ceutas residents fled the city, though a considerable number was killed in the action, and a few women, children and elderly unable to flee or take up arms could still be found in their houses.

Álvaro Vaz de Almada, 1st Count of Avranches was first hoisted the flag of Lisbon (or of Saint Vicent) over the Ceuta castle per orders of the king. This symbol still stands today as the flag of Ceuta, but in which the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Portugal were added to the center.

John's son Henry the Navigator distinguished himself in the battle, being wounded during the conquest.

Aftermath
On the 21st of August the Portuguese consecrated the main mosque into the city's cathedral. The Portuguese later found in its minaret two bells, which had previously been plundered by pirates from a Portuguese church in Lagos. Ceuta was constituted into a diocese, and the English Franciscan confessor of late Queen Philippa, friar Aymar d'Aurillac was appointed first bishop of Ceuta. That night was spent in careful watchfulness, and the morning of 22 of August was stormy with rain and hail.

The looting of the city was immense, though still less profitable than king John had expected. The Count of Barcelos Dom Afonso plundered more than 600 columns of marble and alabaster from the palace of Salah ben Salah and other buildings, along with an entire vaulted roof built with elaborate gilt work from a town square, for his residence in Portugal.

King John dispatched envoys to various European Courts notifying them of the victory. Among them, King John invited King Ferdinand of Aragon to join him in conquering north African lands, which Ferdinand appreciated, but died shortly after receiving the message.

Against the wishes of a considerable number of his men, he ultimately decided to keep the city, in order to pursue further enterprises in the area.

Appointing a governor proved unexpectedly difficult however, as many high-ranking nobles such as the Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira, the Marshal Gonçalo Vasques Coutinho and the head of the royal bodyguard Dom Martim Afonso de Melo all turned down the proposal of the king, but the Count of Viana Dom Pedro de Meneses willingly volunteered for the dangerous position. The father of Dom Pedro had sided with Castile against King John during the 1383–1385 Civil War, which may explain why Dom Pedro so eagerly sought the distinction.

The king ordered nearly 3000 men to stay behind as a garrison. It included 300 squires of the royal household, 300 squires of the household of prince-heir Edward, 250 squires of the household of prince Peter, 300 squires of the household of prince Henry, 600 crossbowmen on foot and horse, an unrecorded number of squires from the cities of Évora and Beja plus a number of nobles with their followers. Many common foot-soldiers deeply resented the prospect of living in an isolated frontier city, surrounded by hostile Muslim powers eager to obtain revenge on Christians, and fearing certain death or captivity, begged to be taken back, bribed officials to sneak them back aboard the ships or feigned illnesses. Some willingly settled in the city as militia, such as craftsmen. Others eagerly embraced the life of frontiersmen. Likely many were nobles and their vassals, seeking wealth and glory in service overseas, such as Rui de Sousa, who stayed behind with 40 retainers. Such nobles could have become a serious factor of internal destabilization and conflict after peace had been signed with Castile in 1411.

Later history

As soon as the Portuguese fleet returned home with most of the army, the residents of Ceuta who had sought refuge in the surrounding hills and orchards attempted to recover the city numerous times, however they were easily fought back by the garrison in almost daily skirmishes. Dom Pedro had the houses, towers, orchards and groves around the city pulled down and ditches filled up so as to clear the line of sight around the city, and prevent ambushes.

After the conquest of Ceuta, the Casa de Ceuta was established in Portugal, being a royal institution with clerks, treasurers, warehouse officials and factors and numerous offices in Lisbon, Porto, Santarém and elsewhere, in charge of overseeing the supply of the city.

In 1419, the Marinid Sultan of Morocco Abu Said Uthman III laid siege to Ceuta with the help of the Nasrid Emir of Granada Muhammad VIII in an attempt to recover it, however the Portuguese successfully repulsed the attack under the able command of Dom Pedro de Meneses. Blamed for losing Ceuta, the sultan was later assassinated when a coup took place in Fez in 1420, leaving only a child as his heir. Morocco descended into anarchic chaos, as rival pretenders vied for the throne and local governors carved out regional fiefs for themselves, selling their support to the highest bidder. The political crisis in Morocco released the pressure on Ceuta for the next few years.

In time, Ceuta became a formidable military base, and one of the main havens for Christian privateering in the western Mediterranean, and the main base from which Portuguese ships raided hostile Muslim shipping from Salé to Granada and Tunis, an activity which yielded the captain of Ceuta Dom Pedro de Meneses and King John I valuable profits. On the other hand, Christian navigation in the Strait of Gibraltar became safer. Portuguese raids caused the Moroccan shores to be abandoned by a considerable number of inhabitants, who fled inland, while foreign trade gradually faltered. Ceuta was sought by soldiers of fortune of various nationalities, such as Castilians, Aragonese, Flemings, Germans and even Poles looking to gain wealth and glory.

Prince Henry distinguished himself at Ceuta as a daring commander. Later, Henry V of England, Pope Martin V, Emperor Sigismund and King John II of Castile all offered Prince Henry the command of their armies upon hearing of his reputation; however, Henry turned down these offers.

Under King John's son, Duarte, the stronghold of Ceuta rapidly became a drain on the Portuguese treasury. Trans-Sahara caravans journeyed instead to Tangier. It was soon realised that without the city of Tangier, possession of Ceuta was worthless.

After Edward succeeded king John on the throne of Portugal, in 1437 Henry and Ferdinand persuaded him to launch a new attack on the Marinid sultanate. The resulting attack on Tangier, led by Henry, was a debacle. In the resulting treaty, Henry handed his brother Ferdinand to the Moroccans as a hostage and promised to deliver Ceuta back to the Marinids in return for allowing the Portuguese army to depart unmolested.

Possession of Ceuta would indirectly lead to further Portuguese expansion. The main area of Portuguese expansion, at this time, was the coast of Morocco, where there was grain, cattle, sugar, and textiles, as well as fish, hides, wax, and honey.

Ceuta had to endure alone for 43 years, until the position of the city was consolidated with the taking of Ksar es-Seghir (1458), Arzila and Tangier (1471). The city was recognized as a Portuguese possession by the Treaty of Alcáçovas (1479) and by the Treaty of Tordesilhas (1494).

Ceuta was transferred to Spain under the Treaty of Lisbon in 1668 after the Restoration War.

title: Portuguese conquest of Ceuta


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Jeongeup

Jeongeup, also known as Jeongeup-si, is a city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. The city limits include Naejang-san National Park, a popular destination particularly in autumn due to its foliage. Jeongeup is on the Honam Expressway and Honam Line, with the Seohaean Expressway also within easy reach, providing links to Seoul and Mokpo.

Demographics
Jeongeup's population is in decline, with an average of 56 people moving to the city every day but 91 leaving, with the birth and death rates being equal. The divorce rate currently runs at 50%.

Geography
The main hills in Jeongeup are Naejang-san National Park and Ibamsan, though there are also several smaller hills in the city. It is the east of the city which is more mountainous, the west being a plain around the Dongjin River. There are several streams in Jeongeup, most notably the Jeongeupcheon, a tributary of the Dongjin. This over went a makeover by the city council in December 2009.

Attractions
Jeongeup, like many cities in Korea, had a hyanggyo, or Confucian school, where people were trained in Confucian ways. This building is a tourist attraction today, but is not open to the public.

Jeongeup is known for a traditional song from the Baekje Kingdom era, known as Jeongeup-ga. The song tells the tale of the lamenting heart of a woman waiting for her peddler husband's return.

Naejangsa Temple: first erected in 636, but most of its current buildings were built after the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1597 and the Korean War. On 31 October 2012, the temple was destroyed in a fire that broke out.

Festivals
A maple festival around Naejang-san is held annually. The maple leaves here are widely regarded as some of the most beautiful in the country. The festival was abolished in 2002 but was revived in 2007. This festival includes several events regarding the chrysanthemum love.

Additionally, a century ago, Jeongeup was the site of a revolution by the religious movement of Cheondoism. A lot of peasants joined the movement against the Japanese invaders. For this, Jeongeup holds an annual ceremony to commemorate the event.

Notable people

 * Seung Hwan Oh, professional baseball player, Olympic gold medalist
 * Song Dae-kwan, singer
 * Yu Sung-yup, politician

Twin towns – sister cities
Jeongeup is twinned with:
 * Jongno-gu, Seoul
 * Sacheon, South Gyeongsang
 * Sokcho, Gangwon
 * Suseong-gu, Daegu
 * Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
 * 🇯🇵 Narita, Chiba, Japan

Climate
Jeongeup has a cooler version of a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa).

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

title: Jeongeup


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Talk:Platinum group

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 6 January 2020 and 7 April 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Mattwells5.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 06:46, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Discussion comments 2003-2008

 * (per page history, seven comments were added to this discussion page in 2008 or before. This section heading was created in June 2009 to set those comments off from future discussion items. N2e (talk) 21:21, 27 June 2009 (UTC))

An earlier version of this article was adapted from the public domain USGS Minerals Information publication "Platinum-Group Metals Statistics and Information", available online at http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/platinum/ Please update as necessary.

The section "Sources of platinum group metals" (taken from Wikipedia element articles) is unnecessarily repetitive, and could do with a good copyedit. -- The Anome 01:31, 9 Dec 2003 (UTC)
 * I disagree. The Sources section is excellent.--McTrixie 21:36, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I don't care it's OK I guess —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.14.16.70 (talk) 22:54, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Relation to Iron group?
The non-similarity to the iron group metals (iron, cobalt, nickel) and its causes should be explained. Normally you'd expect them to be chemically similar, since they are located above the platinum group in the periodic system. -- 92.229.88.194 (talk) 11:33, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

Good topic?
Bringing this article to GA would allow another good topic. Double sharp (talk) 05:46, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

Properties
The article contains the following statement: "They have similar physical and chemical properties,...". This is repeated in the Palladium lede. In fact there are innumerable differences in reactivity and physical properties between these metals. Just for example, ruthenium and osmium form highly reactive volatile tetroxides, while the other four do not. Platinum is soluble in Aqua regia while iridium is not. Platinum is soft and the most ductile of metals while iridium and osmium are very hard and brittle. The melting point of Pd is an unremarkable 1555°C while that of Osmium is 3033°C, making it 4th highest element. What, then is the rationale for the statement that they are similiar. On the face of it their properties look very highly individualistic. Can we identify and state clearly which of their properties are similar enough to justify their grouping together as PGMs? Plantsurfer (talk) 10:20, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

Mining platinum group metals from extraterrestrial resources
Looks like a company has been formed, backed by multiple billionaires and a few hundred-millionaires to mine platinum group metals from extraterrestrial resources, in particular near-Earth asteroids. (Mining Quarries Millions Of Miles From Earth, National Public Radio, 27 Apr 2012) If this were to work, we could see considerably different economics for platinum group metals after 2025–2035. N2e (talk) 01:03, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
 * It is certainly interesting, but I do not believe their production volumes will become significant any time soon (i.e. within the next 100 years). Billionaires have various quirks and motives, their support does not mean the enterprise will be practical for large-scale production of platinum group metals. Materialscientist (talk) 06:06, 29 April 2012 (UTC)
 * I agree with you, in the main; their production volumes will not become significant any time soon. But I would differ with you on the time frame and say that it will not be significant in the next 10 or 15 years.  But that's just speculation.  As is your 100 year number.  Truth is, no one knows when asteroidal resources will become economically significant.  That's why it called entrepreneurship; such folks undertake projects, at risk, and if they make profits, then that shows resources in their enterprise are being put to good use.  If they make losses, then that would show they are wasting resources that could be put to better use by others.  It will be quite some time before we know the answer on the outcome of that company, or should they get competition, of that "indusstry."  Cheers.  N2e (talk) 15:34, 1 May 2012 (UTC)

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness
The parents, in this case, being Lutetium and Lawrencium in the periodic table. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.9.55.132 (talk) 09:44, 4 April 2017 (UTC)
 * Fixed (missing pipes were the problem). Double sharp (talk) 10:03, 19 March 2018 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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Wiki Education assignment: ERTH 4303 Resources of the Earth
— Assignment last updated by Naeim9146 (talk) 21:48, 26 January 2023 (UTC)

poorly written
This is a poorly written article. The editors can't even distinguish between "than" and "then". I wonder if the editors even know that "groups 8, 9, and 10 are also referred to as Group VIIIB as well as Group VIII (yes, all of them together). Hint: these older designations explain WHY the 6 are called "platinum group". There is a 1996 usage table...almost 30 years old! That table has one use type as "autocatalysts". Uh, an autocatalyst is a chemical compound that catalyzes its own reaction, which is completely different from an internal combustion engine exhaust decomposition catalyst. The editors apparently believe that list all of the obsolete and exotic aliases is important. It is not. The FIRST thing the lead should do is NAME the 6 elements. Do they all occur elementally? IDK, but if they do that's important enough to mention up-front. Is their Periodic Table period and row important? I don't think so, but if it is, WHY it is ought to be explained. (That is, it is NOT important enough to be in the lead, imho.) It is absurd that the periodic table displayed shows neither the Period Numbers nor Row Numbers. There's half a dozen, at least, other issues I have with this but life's too short.98.21.213.85 (talk) 08:00, 28 November 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Platinum group


text:
Roscoe Mitchell

Roscoe Mitchell (born August 3, 1940) is an American composer, jazz instrumentalist, and educator, known for being "a technically superb – if idiosyncratic – saxophonist". The Penguin Guide to Jazz described him as "one of the key figures" in avant-garde jazz; All About Jazz stated in 2004 that he had been "at the forefront of modern music" for more than 35 years. Critic Jon Pareles in The New York Times has mentioned that Mitchell "qualifies as an iconoclast". In addition to his own work as a bandleader, Mitchell is known for cofounding the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM).

Early life
Mitchell, who is African American, was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He also grew up in the Chicago area, where he played saxophone and clarinet at around age twelve. His family was always involved in music with many different styles playing in the house when he was a child as well as having a secular music background. His brother, Norman, in particular was the one who introduced Mitchell to jazz. While attending Englewood High School in Chicago, he furthered his study of the clarinet. In the 1950s, he joined the United States Army, during which time he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany and played in military parades with fellow saxophonists Albert Ayler and Rubin Cooper, the latter of whom, Mitchell commented, "took me under his wing and taught me a lot of stuff". He also studied under the first clarinetist of the Heidelberg Symphony while in Germany. Mitchell returned to the United States in the early 1960s, relocated to the Chicago area, and performed in a band with Wilson Junior College undergraduates Malachi Favors (bass), Joseph Jarman, Henry Threadgill, and Anthony Braxton (all saxophonists). Mitchell also studied with Muhal Richard Abrams and played in his band, the Muhal Richard Abrams' Experimental Band, starting in 1961.

AACM and the Art Ensemble of Chicago
In 1965, Mitchell was one of the first members of the non-profit organization Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), along with Jodie Christian (piano), Steve McCall (drums), and Phil Cohran (composer). The following year Mitchell, Lester Bowie (trumpet), Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (tenor saxophone), Favors, Lester Lashley (trombone), and Alvin Fielder (drums), recorded their first studio album, Sound. The album was "a departure from the more extroverted work of the New York-based free jazz players", due in part to the band recording with "unorthodox devices" such as toys and bicycle horns.

From 1967, Mitchell, Bowie, Favors and, on occasion, Jarman performed as the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble, then the Art Ensemble, and finally in 1969 were billed as the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The group included Phillip Wilson on drums for short span before he joined Paul Butterfield's band. The group lived and performed in Europe from 1969 to 1971, though they arrived without any percussionist after Wilson left. To fill the void, Mitchell commented that they "evolved into doing percussion ourselves". The band did eventually get a percussionist, Don Moye, who Mitchell had played with before and was living in Europe at that time. For performances, the band often wore brilliant costumes and painted their faces. The Art Ensemble of Chicago have been described as becoming "possibly the most highly acclaimed jazz band" in the 1970s and 1980s.

Creative Arts Collective and beyond
Mitchell and the others returned to the States in 1971. After having been back in Chicago for three years, Mitchell then established the Creative Arts Collective (CAC) in 1974 that had a similar musical aesthetic to the AACM. The group was based in East Lansing, Michigan and frequently performed in auditoriums at Michigan State University. Mitchell also formed the Sound Ensemble in the early 1970s, an "outgrowth of the CAC" in his words, that consisted mainly of Mitchell, Hugh Ragin, Jaribu Shahid, Tani Tabbal, and Spencer Barefield.

In the 1990s, Mitchell started to experiment in classical music with such composers/artists such as Pauline Oliveros, Thomas Buckner, and Borah Bergman, the latter two of which formed a trio with Mitchell called Trio Space. Buckner was also part of another group with Mitchell and Gerald Oshita called "Space" in the late 1990s. He then conceived the Note Factory in 1992 with various old and new collaborators as another evolution of the Sound Ensemble.

He lived in the area of Madison, Wisconsin and performed with a re-assembled Art Ensemble of Chicago. In 1999, the band was hit hard with the death of Bowie, but Mitchell fought off the urge to recast his position in the group, stating simply "You can't do that" in an interview with Allaboutjazz.com editor-in-chief Fred Jung. The band continued on despite the loss.

Mitchell has made a point of working with younger musicians in various ensembles and combinations, many of whom were not yet born when the first Art Ensemble recordings were made. Mainly from Chicago, these players include trumpeter Corey Wilkes, bassist Karl E. H. Seigfried, and drummer Isaiah Spencer.

In 2007, Mitchell was named Darius Milhaud Chair of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, where he currently lives. Mitchell was chosen by Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in March 2012 in Minehead, England.

Teaching
Mitchell has taught at the University of Illinois, the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and the California Institute of the Arts. From 2007 to 2019 Mitchell has taught at Mills College in Oakland, California. Among his notable students is David Sulzer.

Awards and honors
The following are referenced from Mitchell's biography at the official AACM website.

Awards
 * DownBeat magazine: Talent Deserving Wider Recognition, Best Jazz Group (Established, Art Ensemble of Chicago), Record of the Year (Nonaah)
 * Madison Music Legend, Madison magazine
 * Certificate of Appreciation, St. Louis Public Schools Role Model Experiences Program
 * Certificate of Appreciation, Art Ensemble of Chicago (Smithsonian Institution)
 * Honorary Citizen of Atlanta, Georgia
 * International Jazz Critics Poll
 * Jazz Personality of the Year, City of Madison, Wisconsin
 * Image Award, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
 * Jazz Master, National Endowment for the Arts
 * Outstanding Service to Jazz Education Award, National Association of Jazz Educators

Grants
 * Arts Midwest Jazz Masters
 * Comnicut Foundation
 * Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission Project Grant, Madison Committee for the Arts
 * Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (1996)
 * Institut de Recherche at Coordination Acoustique Musique, Paris, France
 * Madison Festival of the Lakes Grant
 * Meet the Composer, Cultural Series Grant, Center for International Performance and Exhibition, Chicago
 * Michigan State University matching grant
 * Minnesota Composer's Forum
 * National Endowment for the Arts
 * Wisconsin Arts Board

Solo albums and other ensembles

 * Before There Was Sound (Nessa, 1965; 2011)
 * Sound (Delmark, 1966)
 * Solo Saxophone Concerts (Sackville, 1974)
 * Roscoe Mitchell Quartet (Sackville, 1976)
 * Nonaah (Nessa, 1976)
 * Duets with Anthony Braxton (Sackville, 1977)
 * L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples (Nessa, 1978)
 * Sketches from Bamboo (Moers Music, 1979)
 * Snurdy McGurdy and Her Dancin' Shoes (Nessa, 1981)
 * 3 x 4 Eye (Black Saint, 1981)
 * More Cutouts (Cecma, 1981)
 * Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound and Space Ensembles (Black Saint, 1983)
 * An Interesting Breakfast Conversation (1750 Arch, 1984)
 * The Flow of Things (Black Saint, 1986)
 * Live at the Muhle Hunziken (Cecma, 1986)
 * Live at the Knitting Factory (Black Saint, 1987)
 * Four Compositions (Lovely Music, 1987)
 * Live in Detroit (Cecma, 1988)
 * Songs in the Wind (Victo, 1991)
 * After Fallen Leaves (Silkheart, 1992)
 * Duets & Solos (Black Saint, 1993)
 * This Dance Is for Steve McCall (Black Saint, 1993)
 * The Italian Concert (with Borah Bergman) (Soul Note, 1994)
 * Hey Donald (Delmark, 1995)
 * First Meeting (Knitting Factory, 1995)
 * Pilgrimage (Lovely Music, 1995)
 * Sound Songs (Delmark, 1997)
 * The Day and the Night (Dizim, 1997)
 * Nine to Get Ready (ECM, 1999)
 * In Walked Buckner (Delmark, 1999)
 * 8 O'Clock: Two Improvisations (Mutable Music, 2001)
 * Song for My Sister (Pi, 2002)
 * The Bad Guys (Around Jazz, 2003)
 * Solo [3] (Mutable, 2004)
 * First Look, Chicago Duos (Southport, 2005)
 * Turn (RogueArt, 2005)
 * No Side Effects (RogueArt, 2006)
 * Composition/Improvisation Nos. 1, 2 & 3 with Evan Parker (ECM, 2007)
 * Contact (RogueArt, 2007)
 * Spectrum (Mutable, 2010)
 * Far Side with The Note Factory (ECM, 2010)
 * Numbers (RogueArt, 2011)
 * Three Compositions with Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble (RogueArt, 2012)
 * Duets with Tyshawn Sorey and Special Guest Hugh Ragin (Wide Hive, 2013)
 * Improvisations (Otoroku, 2013) with Tony Marsh and John Edwards
 * Conversations I (Wide Hive Records, 2014) with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku
 * Conversations II (Wide Hive Records, 2014) with Craig Taborn and Kikanju Baku
 * In Pursuit of Magic (482 Music, 2014) with Mike Reed
 * Angel City (RogueArt, 2014) Roscoe Mitchell Trio with James Fei & William Winant
 * Celebrating Fred Anderson (Nessa, 2015)
 * Four Ways (Nessa, 2017) with Yuganaut
 * Bells for the South Side (ECM, 2017)
 * Discussions (Wide Hive Records, 2017)
 * Accelerated Projection (RogueArt, 2018) with Matthew Shipp
 * Ride the Wind (Nessa, 2018)
 * Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra Littlefield Concert Hall Mills College (Wide Hive Records, 2019)
 * Flow States (ScienSonic, 2020) with Marshall Allen, Milford Graves, and Scott Robinson

As sideman
With Anthony Braxton
 * Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista, 1976)
 * For Trio (Arista, 1978)

With Jodie Christian
 * Rain or Shine (Delmark, 1994)
 * Soul Fountain (Delmark, 1998)

With Jack DeJohnette
 * Made in Chicago (ECM, 2013 [2015]) with Muhal Richard Abrams, Larry Gray and Henry Threadgill

With Sunny Murray
 * Sunshine (BYG, 1969)

With Evan Parker
 * Boustrophedon (ECM, 2004)

With Mike Reed's Loose Assembly
 * Empathetic Parts (482 Music, 2010)

With Matthew Shipp
 * 2-Z (2.13.61, 1996)

With Alan Silva
 * Seasons (BYG, 1971)

With Wadada Leo Smith
 * Budding of a Rose (Moers Music, 1979)

title: Roscoe Mitchell