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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 15

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 * 718 – Forces of the Umayyad Caliphate abandoned their year-long siege of Constantinople, ending the Umayyad goal of conquering the Byzantine Empire.
 * 1018 – Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles captured and blinded Ibatzes of Bulgaria by means of a ruse, ending the last resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.
 * 1038 – Upon the death of his uncle Stephen I, Peter became the second king of Hungary.
 * 1461 – Byzantine–Ottoman wars: The Empire of Trebizond, the longest-surviving Byzantine successor state, was conquered by Ottoman forces following a month-long siege.
 * 1909 – A military coup against the government of Dimitrios Rallis began in the neighbourhood of Goudi in Athens, Greece.
 * 1942 – World War II: The tanker SS Ohio (1940) reached Malta as part of an operation to deliver much-needed supplies during the siege of Malta.
 * 1944 – World War II: Allied forces began their invasion of southern France.
 * 1947 – Jawaharlal Nehru (pictured) took office as the first prime minister of India, a post he held for 16 years.
 * 1963 – President Fulbert Youlou was overthrown in the Republic of Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.
 * 1975 – Mid-ranking army officers overthrew Bangladesh's founding leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (pictured), killing him and most of his family.
 * 1998 – The Troubles: A car bomb attack carried out by the Real Irish Republican Army killed 29 people and injured approximately 220 others in Omagh, Northern Ireland.
 * 2005 – The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending more than 28 years of fighting.
 * Born/died this day: | Nikephoros Phokas Barytrachelos |d|1022|Richard de Vere |b|1385| Eliza Lee Cabot Follen |b|1787| Stephen Breyer |b|1938| Charles Comiskey |b|1859| Gerty Cori |b|1896| Bernard Fanning |b|1969| Ben Affleck |b|1972| Hanna Greally |d|1987| Chief Keef |b|1995| Rosalía Mera |d|2013


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 16

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 * 1777 – American Revolutionary War: American forces routed British and German troops at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
 * 1819 – Around 15 people were killed and 400 to 700 others injured when cavalry charged into a crowd demanding the reform of parliamentary representation in Manchester, England.
 * 1863 – Following Spain's annexation of the Dominican Republic, nationalist rebels raised the Dominican flag in Santiago de los Caballeros to begin the War of Restoration.
 * 1891 – San Sebastian Church in Manila, the only all-steel church in Asia, was officially consecrated.
 * 1900 – Second Boer War: A 10,000-strong column of soldiers led by Lord Kitchener broke a 13-day siege of a small garrison.
 * 1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit by a pitch and died the following day, becoming the only Major League Baseball player to die directly as a result of injuries sustained during a game.
 * 1920 – The Battle of Radzymin, one of the bloodiest and most intense battles of the Polish–Soviet War, concluded with a Polish victory.
 * 1920 – The British parliament's Blind Persons Act received royal assent, becoming the first first disability-specific legislation to be passed anywhere in the world.
 * 1929 – A long-running dispute between Muslims and Jews over access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem escalated into a week-long period of violent riots throughout Palestine.
 * 1942 – The Holocaust: During the deportation of Jews from Slovakia, President Jozef Tiso gave a speech describing Jews as "parasites" and "the eternal enemy".
 * 1945 – The Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong was liberated following the announcement of the surrender of Japan in World War II.
 * 1962 – The English rock band the Beatles fired their drummer Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo Starr (pictured).
 * 1977 – American singer and actor Elvis Presley was found dead in his home in Memphis, Tennessee.
 * 1986 – Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones in the north-western Pacific, lasting 21 days.
 * 2015 – Suicide bombers assassinated Pakistani politician Shuja Khanzada and killed at least 21 others at his home in Attock District.
 * Born/died this day: | Theodore II Laskaris |d|1258| John II of Trebizond |d|1297| Ranavalona I |d|1861| Ramakrishna |d|1886| George Meany |b|1894| Robert Bunsen |d|1899| Georgette Heyer |b|1902|Marian Rejewski|b|1905|   Mal Waldron |b|1925| Angela Bassett|b|1958| Saif Ali Khan |b|1970|Tara Teng |b|1988

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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 17

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 * 986 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: The Bulgarians defeated Byzantine forces at the Battle of the Gates of Trajan near present-day Ihtiman, with Emperor Basil II barely escaping.
 * 1424 – Hundred Years' War: Allied English and Burgundian forces gained a strategically important victory at the bloody Battle of Verneuil in Normandy, France.
 * 1560 – The Scottish Reformation Parliament approved a Protestant confession of faith, initiating the Scottish Reformation and disestablishing Catholicism as the national religion.
 * 1907 – Pike Place Market, one of the oldest continuously operated public farmers' markets in the U.S. and a popular tourist attraction, opened in Seattle, Washington.
 * 1914 – World War I: Ignoring orders to retreat, Hermann von François led a successful counterattack defending East Prussia at the Battle of Stallupönen and scored the first German victory in the Eastern Front.
 * 1915 – American Jew Leo Frank was lynched by a mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia, for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl.
 * 1916 – World War I: Romania signed a secret treaty with the Entente Powers, agreeing to enter the war in return for promised territory in Austria-Hungary.
 * 1943 – Second World War: The Royal Air Force began a strategic bombing campaign against Nazi Germany's V-weapon programme by attacking the Peenemünde Army Research Center.
 * 1945 – The independence of Indonesia was proclaimed by Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, igniting a revolution against the Dutch Empire.
 * 1950 – Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war were massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.
 * 1969 – Hurricane Camille struck the Mississippi coast of the United States, killing 259 people and causing $1.42 billion in damage..
 * 2008 – Michael Phelps won his eighth gold medal of the Beijing Summer Olympics, the most golds by any person at a single games.
 * 2009 – A hydroelectric turbine at the Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam in Russia catastrophically failed, flooding the turbine hall, killing 75 people and causing widespread power outages.
 * Born/died: | Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen |d|1676| Matthew Boulton |d|1809| Gene Stratton-Porter |b|1863| Leslie Groves |b|1896| Maureen O'Hara |b|1920| Margaret Hamilton |b|1936| Billy Fiske |d|1940| Robert De Niro |b|1943|  Sean Penn |b|1960| Dawn Mabalon |b|1972| Thierry Henry |b|1977| Tarja Turunen |b|1977|


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Centre (department)

Centre (French) or Sant (Haitian Creole; both meaning "Center") is a central department (départements; depatman) of Haiti, located in the center of the country along the border with the Dominican Republic. As of 2015, its estimated population was 746,236. Its capital is Hinche.

Taino Period
The department was part of the Marien kasika and Maguana alongside San Juan de la Maguana under the leadership of Caonabo.

Spanish Period
Much of the Centre Departement was Spanish territorial even after the Treaty of Ryswick. Many towns were built and settled by the Spanish like Hincha, Las Caobas, San Rafael and many more.

French Period
The southern part of the department was French territory with towns like Mirebalais.

Haitian Revolution
The department played a big part in the Revolution serving as maroon territory extending to the Baoruco. Toussaint Louverture capture the town of Hinche from the Spanish for the French making it an early Haitian territory.

Independence
David Troy commander of Mirebalais is a signatory of the Haitian Declaration of Independence.

In contemporary times the department played a big role in the fight against the American Marines, being a Caco a refuge for men like Charlemagne Péralte and Benoit Batraville.

Geography
It borders the Dominican Republic with the province of Elías Piña to the east and is the only landlocked department in Haiti. Centre is the only department without access to the sea, but is nevertheless affected by soil erosion as a result of deforestation. In 2004, the floods caused by Hurricane Jeanne resulted in hundreds of deaths, focused in Centre and Artibonite Departments.

It contains the second largest lake in Haiti Lake Péligre, which was created as a result of the construction of the Péligre Dam on the Artibonite River during the 1950s. It is the largest hydroelectric dam in the Caribbean.

The Centre department is a high plateau topographical region. Due to its isolation if one of the greenest departments.

Historical places

 * Hinche: Former Dominican territory. Siece to Republic of Haiti in 1929. Birthplace of Charlemagne Péralte, the leader of the Cacos movement, which opposed the American occupation in 1915.
 * Mirebalais and Lascahobas: Place of bloody fighting of Toussaint Louverture against the English, who were resupplying in the Central Plateau (1795). Birthplace of Benoît Batraville.

Tourism
The department has two of Haiti's most impressive waterfalls, Sodo, which receives much local tourism in August for the Mont-Carmel Vodoun Pilgrimage, and Zim.

Agriculture
Centre is known for their tobacco production, goat and turkey.

Administrative divisions
The Department of Centre is subdivided into four arrondissements, which are further subdivided in 13 communes.

 * Cerca la Source Arrondissement
 * Cerca-la-Source
 * Thomassique
 * Hinche Arrondissement
 * Hinche
 * Cerca-Cavajal
 * Maissade
 * Thomonde
 * Lascahobas Arrondissement
 * Lascahobas
 * Belladere
 * Savanette
 * Baptiste
 * Mirebalais Arrondissement
 * Mirebalais
 * Saut-d'Eau
 * Boucan-Carre

Transport
The RD3 connects it to the North and the West. The RD304 connects it to Gonaives. The RD301 connects it to St-Marc.

title: Centre (department)


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 18

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 * Long Tan Day in Australia (1966)
 * 684 – Second Fitna: Umayyad partisans defeated the supporters of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr near Damascus, cementing Umayyad control of Syria.
 * 1487 – Reconquista: After a four-month siege, the Catholic Monarchs of Spain conquered the city of Málaga from the Emirate of Granada.
 * 1590 – John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony, the first English settlement in North America (located in present-day North Carolina), returned after a three-year absence to find it deserted (depicted).
 * 1612 – The trials of the Pendle and Samlesbury witches (statue pictured), among the most famous of England's witch trials, began at the assizes in Lancaster.
 * 1783 – A meteor procession blazed across the night sky over Great Britain.
 * 1864 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Globe Tavern, Union forces attempted to sever the Weldon Railroad during the Siege of Petersburg.
 * 1891 – A hurricane struck the Caribbean island of Martinique, killing about 700 people, injuring at least 1,000 others, and causing severe damage.
 * 1940 – Second World War: During the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe made an all-out effort to destroy RAF Fighter Command, with both sides combined losing more aircraft on this day than at any other point during the campaign.
 * 1945 – World War II: Amid a Soviet invasion of Japanese-held Sakhalin, Japanese police massacred 18 Koreans in Kamishisuka.
 * 1948 – Australia won the fifth Test of the 1948 Ashes series, becoming the first Test cricket team to go undefeated in England, earning them the nickname "The Invincibles".
 * 1966 – Vietnam War: Members of the 6th Battalion of the Royal Australian Regiment were surrounded by a much larger Viet Cong unit at the Battle of Long Tan, but held them off for several hours until reinforcements arrived.
 * 1983 – Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston, Texas, causing $3 billion in damage and 21 fatalities.
 * 2008 – Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf resigned under pressure from a movement to impeach him.
 * 2017 – Two people were killed and eight others wounded when a rejected asylum seeker went on a knife rampage in Turku, Finland.
 * Born/died this day: | Olaf I of Denmark |d|1095| Knut Alvsson |d|1502| Baji Rao I |b|1700| Ruth Norman |b|1900| Maria Ulfah Santoso |b|1911| Robert Redford |b|1936| Edward Norton |b|1969| Evan Gattis |b|1986|


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 19

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Tu B'Av (Judaism, 2024)
 * 1274 – Shortly after his return from the Ninth Crusade, Edward I was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey, nearly two years after his father's death.
 * 1745 – Bonnie Prince Charlie (pictured) raised the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan, Scotland, in an attempt to regain the British throne for his father, beginning the Jacobite rising of 1745.
 * 1920 – Russian Civil War: Peasants in Tambov Governorate began a rebellion against the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia.
 * 1934 – A referendum supported the recent merging of the posts of Chancellor and President of Germany, consolidating Adolf Hitler's assumption of supreme power.
 * 1953 – The intelligence agencies of the United Kingdom and the United States orchestrated a coup d'état of Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restored the constitutional monarchy of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
 * 2002 – Second Chechen War: A Russian Mil Mi-26 was brought down by Chechen separatists with a man-portable air-defense system near Khankala, killing 127 people in the deadliest helicopter crash in history.
 * 2005 – Thunderstorms in southern Ontario, Canada, spawned at least three tornadoes that caused over C$500 million in damage.
 * 2017 – Around 250,000 farmed non-native Atlantic salmon were accidentally released into the wild near Cypress Island, Washington.
 * Born/died: | Jan Fyt |b|1609| Edward Boscawen |b|1711| Tom Wills |b|1835| C. I. Scofield |b|1843| Gustave Caillebotte |b|1848| Hsing Yun|b|1927|Bernard Levin |b|1928|Bill Clinton |b|1946|John Deacon |b|1951| Clay Walker |b|1969| Aleksander Kreek |d|1977|


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 20

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 * 636 – Rashidun forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid took control of Syria and Palestine in the Battle of the Yarmuk, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests.
 * 917 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Bulgarian forces led by Tsar Simeon I drove the Byzantines out of Thrace with a decisive victory at the Battle of Achelous.
 * 1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: A Spanish Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay was soundly defeated by a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg.
 * 1794 – American troops defeated the Northwestern Confederacy, a Native American alliance, at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, the decisive battle of the Northwest Indian War.
 * 1909 – Pluto was photographed for the first time at the Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, U.S., 21 years before it was officially discovered by Clyde Tombaugh.
 * 1950 – Korean War: United Nations forces repelled an attempt by North Korea to capture the city of Taegu.
 * 1988 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army bombed a bus carrying British Army soldiers in Northern Ireland, killing eight of them and wounding another twenty-eight.
 * 1988 – Fires in the United States' Yellowstone National Park ravaged more than 150000 acre, the single-worst day of the conflagration.
 * 1989 – The final stage of the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Australia, was completed, at the time the world's longest and fastest guided busway with buses travelling a total of 12 km at maximum speeds of up to 100 km/h.
 * 1989 – After colliding with the dredger MV Bowbelle (1964) on the River Thames in London, the pleasure boatMarchioness sank in just thirty seconds, killing 51 people.
 * Born/died: | Henry Every |b|1659| George Tucker |b|1775| James Prinsep |b|1799| Bolesław Prus |b|1847 | Rudolf Bultmann |b|1884|H. P. Lovecraft |b|1890| Terry Sanford |b|1917| Ron Paul |b|1935|Agnes Giberne |d|1939| Amy Adams |b|1974| Jack King |b|1985| Mika Yamamoto |d|2012| B. K. S. Iyengar |d|2014| Kelsey Weems |d|2019


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Makó

Makó (, Makowa, מאַקאָווע Makowe, Macău or Macovia, Makov) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, 10 km from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 21,913 people and it has an area of 229.23 km2, of which 196.8 km2 is arable land. Makó is the fourth-largest town in Csongrád County after Szeged, Hódmezővásárhely and Szentes. The town is 28.6 km from Hódmezővásárhely, 36.2 km from Szeged, 75.4 km from Arad, 85 km from Gyula, 93.5 km from Timișoara (Temesvár), and 200 km from Budapest.

The climate is warmer than anywhere else in Hungary, with hot, dry summers. The town is noted for its onion which is a hungarikum, the spa and the thermal bath. The Makó International Onion Festival, the largest of its kind, is held annually. Makó is a popular tourist destination in Hungary.

The Makó gas field, located near the town, is the largest natural gas field in Central Europe. The gas volume is more than 600 billion cubic metres (21 trillion cubic feet), according to a report by the Scotia Group.

The town's floodplain forests are protected as part of Körös-Maros National Park.

Economy
The economy is based on agriculture. The town is noted for its production of onions and garlic. Both the climate and the soil structure make the town and its surroundings an ideal place for onion farming. Onions have been cultivated in the region since the 16th century. The first records of significant garlic production date to the late 18th century. International recognition of the garlic grown in Makó has been widespread since the Vienna Expo in 1873 and the Brussels Expo in 1888.

The mud of the Maros River has similar properties to some of the best in Hungary and the world; at times it is likened to that of the Dead Sea. The local spa has been one of the main tourist attractions since 1961.

With the political changes in 1989, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, Makó lost jobs in industry. Unemployment has risen in the area, to an estimated 8% in the early 21st century, and is considered a serious issue. Farmers have also suffered more economic difficulties. The town has established an industrial park to encourage that development, and the town hopes to build on its site as "The South-Eastern Gate of the European Union".

Makó has become known in the early 21st century for the nearby Makó Trough, a basin-centered gas accumulation that could be one of the largest natural gas fields in continental Europe. As of March 2007, it was not clear whether the gas can be recovered economically from this area. At the 90% probability rate, Makó had certified recoverable resources of over 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, according to a report by the Scotia Group. This was prepared for the field's exploration concession holder, the Canada-based Falcon Oil and Gas.

History
Makó used to be the capital of Csanád, a historic administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Many notable Hungarian people were born or have lived in Makó. Perhaps the most prominent is the American publisher and journalist, Joseph Pulitzer, who was born to a Jewish family here on April 18, 1847. Emigrating to the United States when young, he developed as a publisher, owning and operating two newspapers in the United States: in Saint Louis, Missouri and New York City; bequeathed funds to Columbia University to establish its school of journalism, and endowed the Pulitzer Prizes in journalism and photography, as well as literature, art and music.

Jewish history
Makó developed a Jewish community beginning in the 18th century. The Orthodox synagogue was reconstructed during the years 1999-2002 and reopened on 10 March 2002.

Jews began to settle in Makó about the middle of the 18th century, under the protection of Stanislavich, the Bishop of Csanád. In 1740, he assigned a special quarter where they soon formed a community, and by 1747 had established a Chevra kadisha.

The first rabbi of Makó was Judah ben Abraham ha-Levi (who occupied the rabbinate from 1778 to 1824). He was succeeded by Salomon Ullman (1826–63). Ullman wrote a commentary on certain sections of Yoreh De'ah, under the title "Yeri'ot Shelomoh" (Vienna, 1854). He was followed by Anton Enoch Fischer (1864–96), former rabbi of Dunaföldvár. Fischer introduced German and (later) Hungarian in his sermons, when the community still spoke mostly Yiddish. In 1904 the rabbi was Dr. A. Kecskemeti".

The community established a Jewish school in Makó in 1851, of which Marcus Steinhardt was a teacher for forty years. The community also set up a Jewish Women's Association, a Jewish students' aid society, and a Jewish women's lying-in hospital.

In 1900, Makó had 1,642 Jews, less than 5% of the total city population of 33,722. The community was destroyed during the Holocaust. The Jewish population was deported to extermination camps, where most were killed in the last year of the war.

Geography
The former community pasture of the town near the Maros River has been preserved as part of the Körös-Maros National Park. The traditional name of the area, Csordajárás, expresses its historic use as grazing ground for cattle.

Climate
Makó and the surrounding region get the most sunshine in Hungary, about 85-90 sunny days a year. The sun shines more than 2,100 hours a year in Makó. The climate is relatively dry, especially in the summer, with the 100-year average of precipitation recorded at 585 mm per year. The average medium temperature is 10.9 C.

Politics

 * Lajos Návay (1870–1919), jurist, politician, Speaker of the House of Representatives (1911–1912)
 * Andrea Mágori, politician
 * Béla Bánhidy, politician
 * László Szászfalvi, politician
 * Ferenc Erdei, politician
 * József Kristóffy, politician, Interior Minister (1905–1906)

Science

 * Geza de Kaplany, physician
 * Béla H. Bánáthy (1919–2003), Hungarian-American linguist, systems scientist, educator, founder of White Stag Leadership Development Program in California
 * József Galamb (1881–1955), Hungarian-American engineer
 * Peter Lantos (born 1939), medical scientist and writer
 * Moritz Löw (1841–1900, Steglitz, Berlin), Jewish Hungarian-German astronomer

Religion

 * Géza Vermes (born 1924-2013), Jewish theologian, orientalist
 * Meshulim Feish Lowy, Grand Rebbe of the Tosh Hasidic dynasty
 * Vasile Erdeli, Romanian bishop of the Diocese of Oradea Mare (1843–1862)
 * Sándor Rosenberg, neolog rabbi

Media/Art/Entertainment

 * Tamás Kátai (born 1975), musician
 * Antal Páger (1899–1986), actor
 * Katalin Berek (1930–2017), actress
 * István Dégi (1935–1992), actor
 * Bea Palya (born 1976), singer
 * Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), Hungarian-American journalist, publisher and philanthropist
 * Albert Pulitzer (1851–1909), Hungarian-American journalist, teacher
 * Andre de Toth (1912–2002), Hungarian-American film director and producer
 * Emil Makai (1871–1901, Budapest), Hungarian poet
 * Jenő Barcsay, painter

Sports

 * József Sütő, long-distance runner
 * Marko Milošević, Bosnian footballer, football manager
 * Gábor Gyömbér, footballer
 * Zsolt Gévay, footballer
 * Krisztina Pigniczki, handballer
 * Zsolt Huszárik, footballer
 * Tamás Szélpál, footballer
 * András Dlusztus, footballer
 * László Köteles, footballer

Twin towns – sister cities
Makó is twinned with:

 * 🇷🇸 Ada, Serbia
 * 🇹🇷 Atça (Sultanhisar), Turkey
 * 🇷🇴 Bodo (Balinț), Romania
 * 🇷🇴 Dumbrava, Romania
 * 🇵🇱 Jasło, Poland
 * 🇮🇱 Kiryat Yam, Israel
 * 🇷🇴 Lugoj, Romania
 * 🇮🇹 Martinsicuro, Italy
 * 🇺🇸 Maumee, United States
 * 🇷🇴 Miercurea Ciuc, Romania
 * 🇵🇱 Radomsko, Poland

 * 🇷🇸 Rusko Selo (Kikinda), Serbia
 * 🇷🇴 Sânnicolau Mare, Romania
 * 🇨🇳 Xinyang, China
 * 🇸🇰 Želiezovce, Slovakia

title: Makó


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 21

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 * 1689 – Jacobite risings: Jacobite clans clashed with a regiment of Covenanters in the streets of Dunkeld, Scotland.
 * 1717 – Austro-Turkish War: Austrian troops under the command of Prince Eugene of Savoy captured the strategically important city of Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire.
 * 1789 – The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour cockade in Genoa.
 * 1808 – Peninsular War: British–Portuguese forces put an end to the first French invasion of Portugal at the Battle of Vimeiro.
 * 1858 – The first of seven debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas (both pictured), candidates for an Illinois seat in the U.S. Senate, was held in Ottawa, Illinois.
 * 1911 – Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa (pictured) was stolen from the Louvre by museum employee Vincenzo Peruggia and was not recovered until two years later.
 * 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army lost the Battle of the Tenaru, the first of its three major land offensives during the Guadalcanal Campaign.
 * 1944 – World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the town of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.
 * 1963 – South Vietnamese special forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, the brother of President Ngô Đình Diệm, raided and vandalised Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving hundreds dead.
 * 2015 – Passengers on a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris confronted and subdued an attacker who attempted a mass shooting.
 * Born/died this day: | Baldwin II of Jerusalem |d|1131| Alphonse, Count of Poitiers |d|1271 John Claypole |b|1625| Lady Mary Wortley Montagu |d|1762| John MacCulloch |d|1835| Christopher Robin Milne |b|1920| Thomas S. Monson |b|1927| Art Farmer |b|1928| Stephen Hillenburg |b|1961| Sergey Brin |b|1973| Eve Torres |b|1984


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 22

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 * 1485 – Lancastrian forces under Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, defeated Yorkist forces under Richard III of England at the Battle of Bosworth Field, decisively ending the Wars of the Roses.
 * 1711 – Queen Anne's War: A British attempt to attack Quebec failed when eight ships wrecked on the St. Lawrence River.
 * 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Benedict Arnold used a ruse to convince the British that a much larger force was arriving, causing them to abandon the siege of Fort Stanwix (reconstructed fort pictured).
 * 1851 – The yacht America won the Cup of One Hundred Sovereigns race, later renamed the America's Cup, near the Isle of Wight, England.
 * 1914 – First World War: German forces captured Rossignol (damaged buildings pictured) in Belgium, taking more than 3,800 French prisoners.
 * 1961 – Ida Siekmann jumped from a window in her tenement building trying to flee to West Berlin, becoming the first person to die at the Berlin Wall.
 * 1864 – Under the leadership of Henry Dunant and the International Committee of the Red Cross, twelve European states signed the First Geneva Convention, establishing rules for the protection of victims of armed conflict.
 * 1985 – A fire broke out on British Airtours Flight 28M, causing 55 deaths mostly due to smoke inhalation and bringing about changes to make aircraft evacuation more effective.
 * 2012 – A series of ethnic clashes between the Orma and Pokomo tribes of Kenya's Tana River District resulted in the deaths of at least 52 people.
 * 2015 – A former military aircraft crashed at an airshow at Shoreham Airport in southern England, killing eleven people.

 * Born/died this day: |John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland |d|1553| Thomas Tredgold |b|1788| James Newland |b|1881| Bill Woodfull |b|1897| Leni Riefenstahl |b|1902| Francis Birch |b|1903| Ralph Merrifield |b|1913| Denton Cooley |b|1920| Wolfdietrich Schnurre |b|1920| Madame Nhu |b|1924| Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. |b|1934| Steve Davis |b|1957


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Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 23

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 * 1305 – William Wallace, a leader of Scottish resistance against England during the Wars of Scottish Independence, was hanged, drawn and quartered.
 * 1514 – Ottoman forces defeated the Safavids at the Battle of Chaldiran, gaining control of eastern Anatolia and northern Iraq.
 * 1898 – The Southern Cross Expedition (dogsled team pictured), the first British venture of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, departed London.
 * 1914 – In their first major action of the First World War, the British Expeditionary Force engaged German troops in Mons, Belgium.
 * 1939 – Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a ten-year mutual non-aggression treaty, which also secretly divided northern and eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence.
 * 1944 – King Michael dismissed the pro-Axis government of General Ion Antonescu, placing Romania on the side of the Allies for the remainder of World War II.
 * 1954 - A prototype C-130 transport aircraft, the longest continuously produced military aircraft, makes its maiden flight from a Lockheed plant in Burbank, California
 * 1989 – Singing Revolution: Approximately two million people joined hands to form a human chain spanning 675.5 kilometres (419.7 mi) across the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet republics to demonstrate their desire for independence.
 * 2006 – Natascha Kampusch, who had been abducted at the age of ten in Vienna, escaped from her captor's house in Strasshof an der Nordbahn after more than eight years in captivity.
 * 2010 – A former Philippine National Police officer hijacked a tourist bus in Manila, holding its occupants hostage for nearly eleven hours and killing eight of them before being killed by police himself.
 * 2011 – A 5.8 MW earthquake struck the Piedmont region of Virginia, and was felt by more people than any other quake in U.S. history.
 * Born/died this day: | Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal |d|1498| Ebussuud Efendi |d|1574| Abraham Yates Jr. |b|1724| Minna Craucher |b|1891| John Sherman Cooper |b|1901| Keith Moon |b|1946|Oscar Hammerstein II |d|1960| Rex Grossman |b|1980| Jeremy Lin |b|1988

August 23: Black Ribbon Day

 * 1775 – King George III issued a proclamation (copy pictured) that declared elements of the American colonies of Great Britain to be in a state of "open and avowed rebellion".
 * 1873 – The Albert Bridge, spanning the River Thames in London, opened to traffic.
 * 1933 – The Chesapeake–Potomac hurricane made landfall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and went on to cause at least 47 deaths in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region.
 * 1943 – Second World War: A decisive Soviet victory against German forces at the Battle of Kursk gave the Red Army the strategic initiative for the rest of the war.
 * 1954 – The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departs from Marseille, France.


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Nord (Haitian department)

Nord (French) or Nò (Haitian Creole; both meaning "North") is one of the ten departments of Haiti and located in northern Haiti. It has an area of 2,114.91 km2 and a population of 1,067,177 (2015). Its capital is Cap-Haïtien.

Taino Period
The department was part of the Chiefdom of Marien with settlements such as Guarico in Limonade and Guanawari in Grande-Rivière-du-Nord.

Spanish Period
After the arrival of Columbus, the Taino granted the Spanish land to build the fort Navidad with their shipwreck, the first Colombian-era shelter built by Europeans in America. The fort was destroyed by Caonabo, leader of the Maguana, in response to the Europeans abusing their stay and locals. The Europeans moved eastward to actual la Isabella in the Dominican Republic.

French Period
After the treaty of Ryswick, the French administer the west side of the island. The capital of the colony from 1697 to 1751 has been Cap-François, the actual Cap-Haitian. The department was the most densely populated with enslaved Africain, making it the beginning with the Bwa-Kayiman and the end with the Battle of Vertières of the Haitian Revolution. In 1789 the Nord Department on the northern shore was the most fertile area with the largest sugar plantations. It was an area of vast economic importance. Here most of the slaves lived in relative isolation, separated from the rest of the colony by a high mountain range known as the Massif. This area was a stronghold of the wealthy planters who wanted greater autonomy for the colony, especially economically, so they could do as they pleased.

Haitian Revolution
Many rebellions have taken place in Haiti notably in the North even before 1791 such as the Makandal Rebellion or the Ogé and Chavannes Insurrection. August 1791 becomes important as a Jamaican maroon Duty Boukmann and manbo or Vodoun priestess Cecile Fatiman organized the enslaved from different African nations. One week after that Congress and essentially what some scholars call the first Haitian Vodoun ceremony the general rebellion has started being led by Toussaint, Dessalines, Papillon, Biassou and many more. Within the next ten days slaves had taken control of the entire northern province in an unprecedented slave revolt that left the whites controlling only a few isolated fortified camps. Within the next two months as the violence escalated, the rebelling slaves killed 2,000 whites and burned or destroyed 280 sugar plantations. Within a year the island was in revolutionary chaos. Slaves burned the plantations where they had been forced to work, and killed masters, overseers, and other whites. This was the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

The Haitians manage to get the complete abolition of slavery with Toussaint's fight, Polverel, and Sonthonax, although many whites and some mulattoes were not satisfied with the outcome. Some blacks were also not satisfied since Toussaint establish strict discipline to cultivate the land and he also reinvite some whites to come back to St-Domingue.

When the expedition arrived in Haiti and Leclerc asked Christophe for a safe harbor for his military vessels and control over Cap-Haitien. After he refuses, in response he burns his own house, then burns the city and runs to the Cap mountains.

After Toussaint's capture, Dessalines and Pétion had a meeting in Plaisance to form the Indigènes Army and the collective focus shifted from liberty and abolition of slavery to Independence.

On November 18, 1803, the Battle of Vertières outside of the city of Le Cap was the last battle in the war for Independence. The glorious and courageous capacity of Dessalines, Cappoix, Christophe, Gabart, and more led to January 1, 1804.

Haitian Period
Henry Christophe the commander of Dondon and Clerveaux commander of Marmelade are signatories of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. The Bataille of Vertières is the last major fight opposing the Armée Indigènes and the french troops and the city was freed on November 19, 1803.

During the First Empire, the North was part of the Great Division of the North under the control of Henry, Clerveaux, and Cappoix.

Kingdom of Hayti
In 1807, after the battle of Sibert, The North declared itself a free state, and later a monarchy and civil war broke out in the north under the leadership of Henri Christophe. Christophe declared the northern dominion a kingdom in 1811 and crowned himself King Henry I of Haiti.

Under the reign of His Majesty Henry 1st of Hayti, the North knew great development in architecture, culture, music, theater legislature, and science. The Kingsmen, Royal Dahomey saw to the application of Code Henry. In 1820, King Henry committed suicide after suffering a stroke that resulted in the loss of control of his army and power. The area was re-claimed by Jean-Pierre Boyer, then the appointed president of Haiti, on October 26, 1820, after Haitian forces captured Cap-Haïtien, re-uniting Haiti.

Nonetheless, Henry Christophe, who fought in Savanah, conspired for a free and independent Haiti, and ruled for nearly 15 years is an important personality in the Haitian History.

Geography
The department is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west by the N-O, the South by the Artibonite, and to the east by the N-E. Topographically, its territory is separated between the Plain of the North or Caracol Plain from Limbé to Samana and the Massif of the North or the Cordillera Septentrional. The biggest rivers are the Northern River or Rivière-du-Nord. The Mapou river goes through the city of Le Cap. The biggest bays are the bay of Cap harboring multiple cays and Acul harboring Amiga island.

Environment
There are mangrove forests on the east side of the bay and along the Mapou river. The National History Park - Citadelle, San-Souci, Ramiers is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Economy
This is the richest department outside of the West.

Tourism
There are multiple major investments in tourism in the department with the biggest one being the Labadie Cruise Port with the Royal Caribbean Cruise line. The Cormier beaches are some of the most revered beaches in the North. This department has the potential to be the hub of historical tourism in the Caribbean.

Mining
Since the Taino period, inhabitants of the island have been harvesting gold artisanally. Up until today, many Haitian families continue to harvest small quantities of gold. Although the presence of gold has been confirmed multiple times, due to a lack of legislature and suspicion of the multinational no contract has been signed between the Haitian government and any other party.

Cuisine
The north is known for their cacao production, Rhum production in Pignon, and djondjon amongst others. A typical dish from the North is a meat stew with cashew nuts.

Architecture
The North has a distinct architecture from the rest of the country with the most brilliant tradition being the Haitian-Royalist-Architecture as seen in Milot, and the Haitian twist on colonial architecture. The department is witness to multiple military architectures, with the biggest fortress in the Western Hemisphere, The Citadelle Henry being the jewel on the crown.

Music
Some of Haiti's most notorious musicians are from the North, such as
 * Orchestre Septentrional
 * Tropicana
 * Ritchie
 * Arly Larivière
 * Troubleboy
 * G-Lex

Art & Literatture
Le Baron the Vastey is probably the first Haitian indigenous writer with a classic such as The Colonial System Decomposed. Philomé Obin is one of Haiti's most renowned painters.

Monuments

 * The Sansousi Palace
 * The Citadelle Henry
 * The Royal Chapel of Milot, a religious establishment located in the Sans Souci Palace in Haiti.
 * Anténor Firmin's house

Transport
The RN1 connects the North to the West through Latibonit. The RN3 connects the North and the West through the Centre. The RN6 connects the North and the Northeast until the Haitian-Dominican Border.

The city of Cap is the only commercial port of the North, with Labadie being a touristic port.

The department has an international airport, Hugo-Chavez connecting the North to Florida and the Dominican Republic.

Administrative divisions
The Department of Nord is subdivided into seven arrondissements, which are further subdivided into nineteen communes.

 * Acul-du-Nord Arrondissement
 * Acul-du-Nord
 * Milot
 * Plaine-du-Nord
 * Borgne Arrondissement
 * Borgne
 * Port-Margot
 * Cap-Haïtien Arrondissement
 * Cap-Haïtien
 * Limonade
 * Quartier-Morin
 * Grand-Rivière-du-Nord Arrondissement
 * Grande-Rivière-du-Nord
 * Bahon
 * Limbé Arrondissement
 * Limbé
 * Bas-Limbé
 * Labadee
 * Plaisance Arrondissement
 * Plaisance
 * Pilate
 * Saint-Raphaël Arrondissement
 * Saint-Raphaël
 * Dondon
 * La Victoire
 * Pignon
 * Ranquitte

title: Nord (Haitian department)


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 24

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 * 410 – Rome was sacked for the first time in approximately 800 years by the Visigoths under Alaric I.
 * 1456 – The oldest known version of the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book produced on a printing press, was completed.
 * 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Near present-day Aurora, Indiana, American Indians led by Joseph Brant killed or captured all members of a Pennsylvania militia.
 * 1814 – War of 1812: British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to various U.S. government buildings, including the White House (damage depicted).
 * 1857 – The New York City branch of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Co. collapsed following widespread embezzlement, leading to a severe recession that caused about 5,000 businesses to fail.
 * 1889 – The predominantly Māori New Zealand Native football team (pictured) played the last match of their 107-game tour, the longest in rugby union history.
 * 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Cer ended with the first Allied victory of the war.
 * 1921 – The Royal Navy's R.38, the world's largest airship at the time, was destroyed by a structural failure over Hull, killing 44 of the 49 crew aboard.
 * 1941 – Adolf Hitler ordered the suspension of the T4 euthanasia program of the mentally ill and disabled, although killings continued in secret for the remainder of World War II.
 * 1942 – World War II: At the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, bombers from the U.S. aircraft carrier Saratoga sank the Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō near Santa Isabel Island, contributing to an Allied victory.
 * 1966 – Cultural Revolution: Red Guards vandalised the Jokhang, the holiest Buddhist temple in Tibet.
 * 1992 – Hurricane Andrew, the third-most intense Category 5 cyclone to impact the United States in the 20th century, made landfall in southern Florida.
 * 2004 – Eighty-nine people died after suicide bombers attacked two airliners flying out of Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport.
 * Born/died: | William Wilberforce |b|1759|Antonio Stoppani |b|1824| Agnes Marshall |b|1852| Zonia Baber |b|1862| Harry Hooper |b|1887| Valentine Baker |b|1888| Jean-Michel Jarre |b|1948| Anna Lee Fisher |b|1949| Louis Prima |d|1978| Anže Kopitar |b|1987Rupert Grint |b|1988|


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Nord-Est (department)

Nord-Est (French, ) or Nodès (Haitian Creole; both meaning "North East") is one of the ten departments of Haiti, located in northern Haiti. It has an area of 1,623 km2, making it the smallest of all the departments. It had an estimated population of 393,967 as of 2015. Its capital is Fort-Liberté. It was a part of the Nord department.

Taino Period
The department was part of the Taino kasika of Marien on the border with the Magua. The Taino settlement of Bayaha around the Fort-Liberté area.

Spanish Period
The city of Fort-Liberté is one of the earliest European settlements in the Caribbean with the creation of Puerto-Real (Port-Royal) in 1503.

French Period
After the Treaty of Ryswick, the town fell into the hands of the French and they establish the town of Fort-Dauphin the actual Fort-Liberty. Many times the Spanish of Montechristi attacks the French resulting in a massacre at the Massacre River. This was a precedent of the Trujillo induce, Haitian Massacre in Dajabòn in 1937, called the Parsley-Perejil Massacre.

The Nord-Est forms part of the northern plains, a historic site of colonial plantations and a key area for the cultivation of chestnut

Haitian Revolution
Toussaint Brave freed the city of Fort Liberté on September 9, 1803. After the Battle of Vertières, on November 29, in the town of Fort-Liberté, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Henry Christophe, and Auguste Clerveaux declared St-Domingue free and declared:

...in the name of the black people, and men of color of St. Domingo...Restored to our primitive dignity, we have asserted our rights; we swear never to yield them to any power on earth...

Independence
Toussaint Brave and Clearveaux of the Armée Indigène and followers of Toussaint Louverture, commander of the first division of the North signatories of the Haitian Declaration of Independence.

Clearveaux died suspectly just before Dessalines assassination.

King Henry was crowned in Fort-Liberté and changed the name to Fort-Royal.

The town played a big role in the fight against the occupation of the 1930s by the United States.

Geography
It is bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Centre department, to the east by the Dominican Republic through the province of Dajabon, and to the west by Nord Department.

Most of the department is part of the Plaine-du-Nord-Cibao-Valley with the southern part being the Massif-du-Nord. The coastal plain has the Bay of Caracol, the biggest mangrove forest in Haiti and the Bay of Fort-Liberty, the island's only bilobal pouched-shape bay of the island is 5 times the size of the Bay of Havana.

Tee bay harbors many islands, cays, and reefs. The biggest island in the Bay is Bayo Island.

The most important rivers are the Manon River and Massacre River.

Three Bays Protected Area is the most important park in the department.

Economy
The economy of the department depends notably on commerce with Ounaminthes-Dajabon.

Tourism
The city of Fort-Liberté has known a reserge in touris-lokal.

Industry
The department has two industrial parks: Caracol and SONAPI.

Transport
The RN3 connects the department to the Centre Department. The RN6 connects the department to the North Department and the Dominican Republic.

The port of Fort-Liberté is not open to foreign commerce.

Administrative divisions
The Department of Nord-Est is subdivided into four arrondissements, which are further subdivided into thirteen communes.

 * Fort-Liberté Arrondissement
 * Fort-Liberté
 * Ferrier
 * Perches
 * Ouanaminthe Arrondissement
 * Ouanaminthe
 * Capotille
 * Mont-Organisé
 * Trou-du-Nord Arrondissement
 * Trou-du-Nord
 * Caracol
 * Sainte-Suzanne
 * Terrier-Rouge
 * Vallières Arrondissement
 * Vallières
 * Carice
 * Mombin-Crochu

title: Nord-Est (department)


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 25

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 * 1227 – Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, died after a lengthy illness during the Mongol conquest of Western Xia.
 * 1258 – George Mouzalon, the regent of the Empire of Nicaea, was assassinated as part of a conspiracy led by nobles under the future emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.
 * 1758 – Seven Years' War: Prussian forces engaged the Russians at the Battle of Zorndorf in present-day Sarbinowo, Poland.
 * 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces attacked the Australian base at Milne Bay on the eastern tip of New Guinea.
 * 1975 – Bruce Springsteen released his commercial breakthrough album, Born to Run.
 * 1989 – The NASA spacecraft Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Neptune and provided definitive proof of the existence of the planet's rings (pictured).
 * 2011 – Mexican drug war: Fifty-two people are killed in an arson at a casino in Monterrey, Mexico.

 * Born/died this day: | Gennadius of Constantinople |d|471| Genghis Khan |d|1227| Henry Morgan |d|1688| Karl Friedrich Bahrdt |b|1741| John Neal |b|1793| Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Duke of Caxias |b|1803| Charles Richet |b|1850| Agnes Mowinckel |b|1875 Mary Tappan Wright |d|1916| Velma Caldwell Melville |d|1924|Sean Connery |b|1930| Babe Siebert |d|1939| Theresa Andrews |b|1962| Stan McCabe |d|1968| Ricardo Rodríguez |b|1992| Ray Jones |d|2007


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 26

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 * 683 – Second Fitna: The Battle of al-Harra was fought between Umayyad forces and the rebel defenders of Medina at a lava field northeast of the city.
 * 1071 – Byzantine–Seljuk wars: Seljuk Turks led by Alp Arslan captured Byzantine emperor Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert.
 * 1346 – Hundred Years' War: English forces established the military supremacy of the English longbow over the French combination of crossbow and armoured knights at the Battle of Crécy (depicted).
 * 1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, was founded in Philadelphia.
 * 1768 – HMS Endeavour departed Plymouth, England, marking the start of the first voyage of explorer James Cook.
 * 1789 – French Revolution: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, defining a set of individual and collective rights of the people, was approved by the National Constituent Assembly.
 * 1914 – World War I: As the British Expeditionary Force and French Fifth Army began their retreat from Mons, the British II Corps delayed the pursuing Germans at the Battle of Le Cateau long enough for the main force to escape.
 * 1914 – First World War: The German colony of Togoland surrendered to French and British forces after a 20-day campaign.
 * 1928 – At a cafe in Paisley, Scotland, a woman found the remains of a snail in her bottle of ginger beer, giving rise to the landmark civil action case Donoghue v Stevenson.
 * 1955 – Pather Panchali, the first film in The Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, was released and went on to win many Indian and international film awards.
 * 1966 – The South African Defence Force launched an attack against SWAPO guerrilla fighters at Omugulugwombashe, starting the South African Border War.
 * 1968 – The U.S. Democratic Party's National Convention opened in Chicago, sparking four days of clashes between anti-Vietnam War protesters and police.
 * 1968 – The Beatles released "Hey Jude", which became the then-longest single to top the UK charts.
 * 1970 – Betty Friedan and the National Organization for Women organized the Women's Strike for Equality in New York City, in which 50,000 women protested the continuing lack of gender equality.
 * 1978 – Aboard the Soviet Soyuz 31 spacecraft, Sigmund Jähn (pictured) became the first German in space.
 * 2008 – After a ceasefire was reached in the Russo-Georgian War, Russia recognized the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
 * 2015 – Two American journalists were murdered on live television while conducting an interview in Moneta, Virginia.
 * Born/died: |  James Franck |b|1882| Sue Bailey Thurman |b|1903| Katherine Johnson |b|1918| Barbara Toomer |b|1929| Geraldine Ferraro |b|1935| Ralph Vaughan Williams |d|1958 Mildred Albert |d|1991| Frederick Reines |d|1998|Amelia Boynton Robinson |d|2015


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Lostprophets

Lostprophets (stylised as lostprophets or LOSTPROPHETS) were a Welsh rock band from Pontypridd, formed in 1997 by singer Ian Watkins and guitarist Lee Gaze. The group was founded after their former band Fleshbind broke up. They later recruited Mike Lewis on guitars, Stuart Richardson on bass and Mike Chiplin on drums.

Lostprophets released five studio albums: The Fake Sound of Progress (2000), Start Something (2004), Liberation Transmission (2006), The Betrayed (2010), and Weapons (2012). They sold 3.5 million albums worldwide, achieving two top-ten singles on the UK Singles Chart ("Last Train Home" and "Rooftops"), a No. 1 single on the US Alternative Songs chart ("Last Train Home"), and several Kerrang! Awards and nominations.

In December 2012, Watkins was charged with multiple sexual offences against minors, infants and animals. Lostprophets cancelled all tour dates and disbanded in October 2013, before the end of Watkins' trial. Watkins pleaded guilty to several charges. In December 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years of imprisonment plus six years of extended supervision on licence. In June 2014, the remaining members joined American singer Geoff Rickly to form a new band, No Devotion.

Early years (1997–2000)
Lostprophets was formed by Ian Watkins and Lee Gaze in 1997 in Pontypridd, Wales, after their previous band Fleshbind disbanded. They could not find a singer, so Watkins decided he would switch from drums to be the frontman and they recruited Mike Chiplin on drums. Mike Lewis joined a few months later as bassist. Both Lewis and Watkins were also in the metalcore band Public Disturbance, until 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Lostprophets started out as part of the fledgling South Wales scene—playing gigs at venues across Wales including T.J.'s in Newport. From there, they went on to tour the UK circuit. The band recorded three demos during this time: Here comes the Party, Para Todas las Putas Celosas, which translates from Spanish as "For all the jealous whores", and The Fake Sound of Progress. These were produced by Stuart Richardson, who joined the band as bassist for the latter recording. Mike Lewis at this point switched to rhythm guitar. The Fake Sound of Progress also included the addition of DJ Stepzak, who would remain with the band for around a year. The first three tracks from their third demo were refined and re-recorded for the release of their debut album of the same name: the title track, "MOAC Supreme" and "Stopquote"—the latter two were renamed "A Thousand Apologies" and "Awkward", respectively. All of the EPs are out of print, and are very rare.

The band caught the attention of the two music publishers Kerrang! and Metal Hammer magazines, receiving glancing reviews from both. In 1999 they signed in with Independent label Visible Noise.

The Fake Sound of Progress (2000–2002)
The band's debut album The Fake Sound of Progress was released through Visible Noise in November. Recorded in less than two weeks for £4,000 the record drew on a wide range of influences. It would be re-released the following year through Columbia Records. Shortly after the completion of the album, DJ Stepzak decided he would not commit to the band and was replaced with musician Jamie Oliver, who was originally the band's photographer, but was told by the bands management that someone who was not part of the band or crew members could not join them on tour, so Oliver bought a set of turntables and quickly became the band's DJ.

The Fake Sound of Progress featured many references to 1980s pop-culture. In addition to the Duran Duran reference in the band's name, there was an image of Venger from the Dungeons & Dragons TV series on the album sleeve notes, as well as song titles like "Shinobi vs. Dragon Ninja" and "Kobrakai". The first song's title was a reference to the video games Shinobi and Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja, while the second was an alternative spelling of Cobra Kai, the name of the karate dojo in the Karate Kid movies. Another reference is the use of the VF-1 Valkyrie in Battroid mode from the 1982 anime The Super Dimension Fortress Macross as part of the album illustration.

The band worked with producer Michael Barbiero to remaster the album, and this new remastered version of the album was released in November 2001. The album appears to have divided the band's existing fan base where the first accusations of selling out were levelled at the band from the underground music scene within which they achieved their first success.

During this period, Lostprophets built up a strong live following with support slots to popular acts such as Pitchshifter, Linkin Park and Deftones, as well as several headlining stints of their own. They also took part in the successful Nu-Titans tour with Defenestration among other new UK metal acts of the time. Co-headlining the 2002 Deconstruction Tour in London, supporting acts included Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the Mad Caddies. Lostprophets featured on a bill consisting of more traditionally punk oriented acts. This provoked hostility from certain members of the audience, who were upset at Lostprophets inclusion on such a bill. The band subsequently toured with Ozzfest, played at Glastonbury and the Reading and Leeds Festival. They also appeared on a number of TV shows, including Top of the Pops, CD:UK and Never Mind the Buzzcocks. They also performed as part of the 2002 NME Carling Awards tour.

Start Something (2003–2004)
After the extensive touring cycle for The Fake Sound of Progress finally ended, the band took a brief break before beginning the process of writing new material for Start Something at Frontline Studios in Caerphilly, Wales. They then entered Los Angeles's Barefoot Studio for a recording process that lasted from March until September 2003, with producer Eric Valentine. Valentine had previously produced albums for Queens of the Stone Age and Good Charlotte.

The first single released from the album was the song "Burn Burn", the music video for which began receiving heavy rotation on satellite and cable channels like MTV2, Kerrang! TV and Scuzz in the UK. The song attracted some criticism, however, as the opening bore a striking resemblance to "Mother Mary", a song from the band Far's Water and Solutions album. The band themselves even conceded in interviews that the singing pattern bore an undeniable similarity to the Adamski song "Killer".

"Burn Burn" was released on 3 November 2003, and was originally scheduled to be closely followed by the release of the album. The release of the album was delayed several times and a headlining tour of the UK, was also postponed during this time. The band rescheduled the cancelled UK shows, with the exception of their scheduled appearance at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, stating in magazine interviews that honouring those commitments would have meant leaving the recording studio while the album was only half completed.

The album's second single "Last Train Home" was released on 27 December 2003, and quickly became a smash hit worldwide. The single became the band's second single to chart in the United States, beating out other UK rock band The Darkness' single "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (released in November 2003), charting twelve spots higher on Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts upon release in December 2003. "Last Train Home" became the highest charting single in the United States from any UK artist released in 2003. The song further gained much popularity in the United States through radio airplay and the music video saw regular rotation on MTV, generating much anticipation for the album in America. The song would later be ranked #10 on Billboard's year-end rock charts in the United States.

The album was released in the UK on 2 February 2004, and was commercially successful, achieving number four in the UK Albums Chart and selling over 415,000 copies. The album has sold over 687,000 copies in the US alone according to Nielsen Soundscan although in a 2012 interview with Gigwise Lee Gaze stated it had sold 890,000 copies in the US. Worldwide the album has sold 2.5 million copies according to BBC Wales. The critical response from mainstream magazines was mostly positive, though the response from rock publications such as Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound was sometimes tepid. To promote the album, they toured North America, Europe and as part of the Big Day Out festival in Australia and New Zealand. The tour for this record culminated on 21 November 2004, at a sold-out show in Cardiff International Arena.

Liberation Transmission (2005–2007)
On 19 June 2005, founding member Mike Chiplin left the group to pursue other musical opportunities. Since then, he joined another band called The Unsung, and played with Accident Music until their split in 2011, which also featured Chris Morgan of Midasuno and former Funeral for a Friend guitarist Darran Smith. He has also opened up his own practice-studio for young people to start bands.

The remaining members began working on material for the next album. Due to the lengthy gap between The Fake Sound of Progress and Start Something, and the backlash that grew against the band because of it, the remaining band members stated in various interviews that they wanted to release their third album in early 2006. As with Start Something, the band wrote and recorded demo tracks for the album (with Ian Watkins playing the drums) in a UK recording studio before completing the album in America. Liberation Transmission was recorded in Hawaii, and saw the band work with Bob Rock. Drummer Josh Freese (of the Vandals and A Perfect Circle) recorded ten out of the twelve drum tracks for this album (Ilan Rubin recorded "Everybody's Screaming!!!" and "For All These Times Son, for All These Times").

The band returned to their roots, playing a series of small venues across South Wales. They also headlined Give It a Name, a two-day event with My Chemical Romance. These shows featured the first live appearance of then-17-year-old Ilan Rubin on drums and the live premiere of songs "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)", "A Town Called Hypocrisy" and "The New Transmission". The album itself was released on 26 June 2006 (27 June in the US), and became the first Lostprophets album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. The album saw the band adopt a more contemporary sound with far less emphasis on screaming than previous releases (exceptions being songs "Everyday Combat" and "For All These Times Son, for All These Times").

Lostprophets began a full-fledged UK tour on 3 July 2006. As with their warm-up gigs prior to the album's release, the band selected South Wales-based support bands for this tour. The band followed this with another UK tour in November, and then followed their UK dates with a European tour in France, Germany, and several other countries. The main support for this was the Blackout. They returned to the UK for an Arena tour in April 2007, from 18 April to 22nd. The scheduled venues were: Glasgow (SECC); Manchester (MEN Arena); Birmingham (NIA) & London (Wembley Arena). Lostprophets also played at the Full Ponty festival in Wales on 26 May 2007. The support acts included Paramore and the Blackout. The album has sold over 625,000 copies worldwide.

The Betrayed (2007–2010)
Writing and recording the band's fourth studio album began in early 2007. Originally the band stated that they wanted the album released in 2007; however, due to both touring and being unhappy with the results of their work in the studio, the band did not keep to their original release plan. Despite recording an entire album's worth of material with producer John Feldmann, this work was shelved in favour of material they later recorded and produced themselves, with recording sessions for what would later be known as The Betrayed beginning in November 2008. Consequently, the album was not released until 13 January 2010, where it reached a peak of 3 on the UK Albums Chart.

Throughout the earlier part of 2008, the band performed several dates, including Download Festival which they headlined on the Sunday night, V Festival and Rock am Ring and Rock im Park, as well as a small number of performances around the UK. They also headlined the NME/Radio 1 tent at 2009's Reading and Leeds Festival.

The band claimed that The Betrayed is "by far the finest, darkest and most real album" of their career. Originally, Ian Watkins stated he wanted the new album to be "nastier" and "darker" than previous efforts, with more energy and vibe than before. In a blog post, guitarist Mike Lewis suggested that Ilan Rubin (who subsequently left the band to join Nine Inch Nails ) was very much a large part of the writing/recording process. Following Rubin's departure, Luke Johnson of Beat Union was officially announced as the band's new drummer in August 2009. During this time, Kerrang! published a "world exclusive" article on Lostprophets, revealing the album's title, and its release date of January 2010. In a later interview with Kerrang in early 2009, Watkins stated that the record was "the most honest album" the band has ever done, and that overall the record was "a lot grittier and sleazier", while also stating that did not mean "it won't be catchy", but that it would not be done "in such a twee way". When speaking about what the record would sound like, Jamie Oliver stated that he felt it had "the bite that Start Something had, with the song-ability of Liberation Transmission but personality of The Fake Sound of Progress".

The first single from the new album, "It's Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here", was aired for the first time on BBC Radio 1 on 19 August. It was subsequently released on 12 October 2009 and reached No. 16 on the Official UK chart. This was followed by "Where We Belong", which was released on 4 January 2010.

The band commenced their UK tour with support from Kids in Glass Houses, Hexes, We are the Ocean, and Sharks, in February 2010. The Doncaster date to the UK tour was cancelled and refunded, but no reason was given for the cancellation. The Port Talbot date of the tour was postponed and moved to a different venue due to a fire at the Afan Lido leisure centre. The show took place on 1 May at the Cardiff International Arena. Lostprophets confirmed that they would tour Australia. The tour took place on 27 March 2010 at The Roundhouse, NSW, Sydney. The band also played at the 2010 Reading and Leeds Festival.

Stuart Richardson commented in 2019 that "towards the end of 2009–2011 we realised Ian had a depressingly sad drug addiction. It just snuck up on us".

Weapons (2011–2012)
In early 2011, the band rented a house in Norfolk that served as their studio while composing a demo and pre-producing for a new album. The band was also featured on British rapper/producer Labrinth's album in late 2011.

In August 2011, the band went on a short UK tour, with dates in Cardiff, Bournemouth, Oxford and Norwich, as well as the two V Festival dates, and an additional appearance at the Sziget Festival in Budapest, Hungary. During this short tour, the band debuted live a new song from the upcoming album, tentatively titled "Bring 'Em Down".

The band's fifth studio album, Weapons, was released through Epic Records on 2 April 2012, leaving their long-time served record Visible Noise. Supported by a subsequent tour in the UK. Weapons was produced by Ken Andrews at NRG Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. The band released a teaser track in anticipation of their new album entitled "Better Off Dead" in January 2012, though it was confirmed the song is not an official single. The band played at Australia's Soundwave festival in February 2012 before heading back to the UK for an extensive tour in support of the new album in April and May supported by Modestep. The band's first official single of the album, "Bring 'em Down", was released on 6 February 2012, after debuting on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.

On 9 April, Lostprophets announced that they had signed to Fearless Records and would release Weapons in the United States on 19 June 2012. Lostprophets played in the Cardiff Motorpoint Arena on 28 April to promote their new album Weapons, and played their second studio album Start Something in its entirety. This show turned out to be a complete disaster for the band; Stuart Richardson commented in 2019 that Watkins "didn't move for the whole set" and that he "sung the wrong words". This led to the band staging an intervention with Watkins, telling him that if he did not clean up his act he would be fired. They were extremely frustrated with him following this performance and even considered disbanding entirely as a result of it. Watkins checked into rehab during a two-month break in the band's touring.

Lostprophets played select shows in Vans Warped Tour 2012, playing from 12 July through 5 August. Watkins relapsed into drug use during this tour and missed a show, leading to the band having to perform a set with Jamie Oliver on lead vocals. Watkins' temporary absence from the tour led to Stuart Richardson having a violent altercation with him.

The band toured the UK extensively again in November 2012 to coincide with a headline performance at the Vans Warped Tour 2012 UK. They performed what would eventually become their final show at the Newport Centre, Newport, Wales on 14 November 2012.

Three videos were released from Weapons. On 3 December 2012, Watkins tweeted, "En route to the big smoke to shoot our new musical video". When the band had previously debuted "Bring 'em down" on Zane Lowe's show in February, Watkins stated that the fourth single was to be a "power ballad". However, a finished video was never released.

Watkins' arrest and band's break-up (2012–2013)
On 19 December 2012, Watkins was charged with thirteen sexual offences against children, including the attempted rape of a one-year-old girl. Watkins originally denied the charges. The other band members posted a message on their website stating that they were "learning about the details of the investigation along with you" and concluding: "It is a difficult time for us and our families, and we want to thank our fans for their support as we seek answers." They subsequently cancelled all tour dates.

On 1 October 2013, Lostprophets announced that they were disbanding "after nearly a year of coming to terms with our heartache". The post was signed by all members of the band except Watkins. On 30 November, the members released a lengthy statement in response to Watkins pleading guilty to attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13, stating that they were "heartbroken, angry, and disgusted". They stated that they had been unaware of his crimes, and that though working with him had become "a constant, miserable challenge", they had "never imagined him capable of behaviour of the type he has now admitted". They urged any other victims to contact the authorities. On 18 December 2013, Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison, plus six years on extended licence, with a possibility of parole after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

Immediately after Watkins was sentenced, the BBC banned the entire Lostprophets back catalogue from being played on their stations.

Aftermath (2014–present)
On 25 April 2014, it was confirmed by ex-Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly that he would be working with the remaining band-members on their new project, from a record label perspective through his own label, Collect Records, as a producer and also joining them as a vocalist. Rickly regarded their new material as having influences from Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. It was announced the new band would be called No Devotion and they released their first and second singles, "Stay", and "Eyeshadow", on 1 July 2014.

In November 2016, it was reported that Watkins' Twitter account had become active again, new clips of music had surfaced via two SoundCloud accounts ("L'Amour La Morgue" and "Megalelz") that were reportedly attributed to him and that Lostprophets' website had been changed to a single page that described them as "The Straight Edge British Metal Band". The site domain has since become inactive, as of 2023 redirecting to an unrelated dead URL. No further activity has since been spotted from Watkins' accounts.

Musical style and lyrical themes
Lostprophets have been categorised as nu metal,    alternative rock,  post-grunge, hard rock,  rap rock,   alternative metal,  heavy metal, post-hardcore, pop-punk, and pop metal. Their music is termed an aggressive style of rock, blending strong driving guitars, groove and bounce, and pop elements and accessibility.

The punk side to the band's music has been noted, again specifically of the pop variety. The influence of heavy metal on their music is also noted, although this varies from song to song. Their music has been praised as powerful, combining softer melodies with an aggressive edge, with screamed vocals and catchy riffs, while some have also stated it has a derivative, formulaic or forgettable nature.

Watkins' lyrics range from sombre to aggressive, and have been described as often conveying a feeling of disillusionment with topics such as relationships or social groups, albeit frequently delivered in a rousing manner even when this is the case. Critics have compared his singing style to Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton, with Watkins citing this band as his biggest influence in 2004. He said, "it's not a conscious thing. But the notes I choose to sing, and the melodies (we write) come from them because I spent so much time listening growing up." Lostprophets also garnered many other comparisons to more contemporary American bands of the early 2000s. Regarding the perception of them as an American influenced band, Watkins commented in 2004 "we don't care if you think we're from Guam. Just as long as you listen."

Band members
Final line-up
 * Ian Watkins – lead vocals (1997–2012); keyboards, turntables (1997–1999)
 * Lee Gaze – lead guitar, backing vocals (1997–2013)
 * Mike Lewis – rhythm guitar (1998–2013), backing vocals (1997–2013); bass (1997–1998)
 * Stuart Richardson – bass, backing vocals (1998–2013)
 * Jamie Oliver – vocals, keyboards, synth, piano, turntables, samples (2000–2013)
 * Luke Johnson – drums, percussion (2009–2013)

Former members
 * Mike Chiplin – drums, percussion (1997–2005)
 * DJ Stepzak – synth, turntables, samples (1999–2000)
 * Ilan Rubin – drums, percussion (2006–2008)

Timeline

Discography

 * The Fake Sound of Progress (2000)
 * Start Something (2004)
 * Liberation Transmission (2006)
 * The Betrayed (2010)
 * Weapons (2012)

Awards
Lostprophets had the most success at the Kerrang! Awards    and Pop Factory Awards,   winning six awards at both. Kerrang! Awards include: Best British Newcomer (2001), Best Single (2004) for the song "Last Train Home", Best Album (2006) for the album Liberation Transmission, Best British Band (2006 and 2007) and The Classic Songwriter Award (2010). Pop Factory Awards include: Best Live Act (2001 and 2006), Best Welsh Act (2004, 2005 and 2006) and Best Album (2006) for the album Liberation Transmission. They also won one award at the NME Awards for Best Metal Act (2002). Lostprophets were also nominated for seven other Kerrang! Awards.

Kerrang! awards

 * style="text-align:center;"| 2001 || Lostprophets|| Best British Newcomer || Won
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2004 || "Last Train Home" || Best Single || Won
 * Start Something|| Best Album || Nominated
 * Lostprophets || Best British Band || Nominated
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2006 || Liberation Transmission || Best Album|| Won
 * Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Won
 * "Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)"|| Best Videoclip || Nominated
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2007 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Won
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2008 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2010 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * It's Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here|| Best Video || Nominated
 * Lostprophets|| The Classic Songwriter Award || Won
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2012 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * }
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2007 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Won
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2008 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2010 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * It's Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here|| Best Video || Nominated
 * Lostprophets|| The Classic Songwriter Award || Won
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2012 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * }
 * It's Not the End of the World, But I Can See It from Here|| Best Video || Nominated
 * Lostprophets|| The Classic Songwriter Award || Won
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2012 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * }
 * style="text-align:center;"| 2012 || Lostprophets|| Best British Band || Nominated
 * }

NME Awards

 * 2002 || Lostprophets || Best Metal Act || Won
 * }
 * }

Pop-Factory-Awards

 * style="text-align:center;"| 2002 ||rowspan="5"| Lostprophets || Best Live Act || Won
 * 2004 ||rowspan="3"| Best Welsh Act || Won
 * 2005 || Won
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2006 || Won
 * Best Live Act || Won
 * Liberation Transmission || Best Album || Won
 * }
 * rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;"| 2006 || Won
 * Best Live Act || Won
 * Liberation Transmission || Best Album || Won
 * }
 * Liberation Transmission || Best Album || Won
 * }

title: Lostprophets


text:
Nord-Ouest (department)

Nord-Ouest (French) or Nòdwès (Haitian Creole; both meaning "North West") is one of the ten departments of Haiti as well as the northernmost one. It has an area of 2,102.88 km2 and a population of 728,807 (2015 Census). Its capital is Port-de-Paix.

Department
There is a proposal for the department to become 2 departments, Nord-Ouest and Bas-Nordouest (Mole-St-Nicolas) with the Horn-of-Artibonite.

Taino Period
The region of the Great North of Haiti was under the administration of the Marien casicazgo, the Taino-chief Guacanaric was the one to have received Christopher Columbus on his first voyage to Ayiti. Columbus explained how the Taino chief offers him safe harbor after one of his boats sunk. Columbus described the place has Paradise Valley or Valparaiso and named the island La Isla Espanola. This department specifically the town of Mole-Saint-Nicolas is believed to be the first place on the island to have received a Christian cross.

The Island of Tortuga was part of the Taino dominion under the name of Cahini.

French Period
The Spaniards lost interest in the western part of the island leaving it vacant for French, Dutch and British pirates, and buccaneers, making Tortuga one of the biggest pirates hubs in the Caribbean. Under the French administration, the Nord-Ouest was part of the Ouest department and many French Governors governed the island from Le Môle.

Haitian Revolution
Early on the N-O departement was a strategic point for Toussaint Louverture, one of the first diplomatic and pre-independence treaty signed between the Indigènes and the British was signed by Toussaint and British Officer Maitland and thus the Indigènes took controlled of the part of Saint-Domingue that was under British rules. After Napoléon sent his troop to capture the Toussaint and put them under French slavery, the Haitian Officer Maurepas under the order of Toussaint burned down the city of Port-de-Paix and went uphill to Les Trois Pavillons fort. Maurepas was later on captured by the French and they drowned him in the Bay of Cap-Haitian.

Francois Lamort Cappois and the 9th demi-brigade freed the city of Port-de-Paix and later on the island of Tortuga on April 12, 1803. Le Mole officially became under Haitian control 10 days after the Battle of Vertières with the help of Vincent Pourcely colonel in the 9th demi-brigade.

Haitian Period
Cappoix-Lamort commander of Port-de-Paix is a signatory of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. Francois Cappoix the brilliant and vaillaint Haitian officers was trapped by Henry 1st men and assassinated in Limonade. The department was in open rebellion with the Crown. Pétion in the West who needed ally after the rebellion of Rigaud in the South and Goman in the Grand'Anse, sent troops to support the N-O. Henry 1st crushed the rebellion and granted amnitice to the rebelled troops.

The town of Môle Saint-Nicolas is located in the Nord-Ouest. Ever since Columbus landed here in 1492 and named the island Hispaniola, Môle St-Nicolas has been of interest to the colonials, including the British, Spanish, French, and the Americans due to its strategic location on the Windward Passage, just miles from Cuba.

The Mole-St-Nicolas affair was a diplomatic incident between the Haitians and the Americans because the Americans wanted a safe harbor to control the Winward Passage after the construction of the Panama Canal. The Haitian intellectual Anténor Firmin was remarkable in that affair. Sometime during the 19th century, it was created out of the Nord and Ouest departments.

Geography
The department is bordered to the north by Cuba, Bahamas, and Florida, and has direct access to the Atlantic through the Tortuga Canal, on the west the Windward Passage, the south Gulf of Gonave and Artibonite Department and the east and North Department.

At the western tip of the department, the Mole Peninsula protects the city of the same name.

With the exception of Tortuga Island (La Tortue) and the coastal area near Port-de-Paix, the northwest is mostly arid and barren. In fact, the department has Haiti's second biggest satellite island under its administrative control, located less than 10 km offshore.

At Les Palmiste on the eastern coast visit a pre-Columbian rock carving presumed to be of native Taino origin of a goddess at La Grotte au Bassin exists.

Due to a lack of water management, the Trois-Rivières often flood the city of Port-de-Paix during the rainy season located on its east shore. On the west shore of the river, there is a lagoon.

Agriculture
Port-de-Paix, which was once a large exporter of coffee and bananas, now imports goods and produce from Miami. The Bombardopolis Plateau is another area of sustainable potential for industry, tourism, ecological reserve, and agriculture. Salt production is a major industry in the area.

Tourism
Tortuga island, once the biggest pirate base in the Caribbean is a popular tourist site and is represented frequently in films and movies based on piracy. Named for the smooth shape that reminded travelers of a turtle's shell, Tortuga's best beach is Pointe Saline at the western tip of the small island.

There are several ruined forts along the coast. On clear nights the Guantánamo Province of Cuba can be seen. This area is dry and offers little shade but has a beautiful shoreline.

Port-à-L'Écu is the point of interest in leisure tourism.

Environment
It is one of Haiti's dryest areas, the N-O still offers a unique scenery in Haitian tourist and ecological package. The Canal and the Tortuga island are more or less well preserved although they need to be reinforced. Although not having a major plain the Trois-Rivières (Three Rivers), the second longest river after Artibonite offers a productive watershed and valley.

Transport
The department has long been isolated from Port-au-Prince, gaining it the nickname of Far-West. The RN5 now connects Gonayiv to Gros-Morne and Port-de-Paix. the RN6 from Ouanaminthes to Cap-Haitian is to be continued until Port-de-Paix.

Port-de-Paix is the second biggest port on the Haitian Atlantic coast.

Port-de-Paix has its own airport.

The mountains overlooking the city of Port-de-Paix have great potential for wind energy.

Culture
The N-O has two of Haiti's major lakoun-Vodoun or Vodoun Yard such as lakoun Vilokan, probably the first lakoun in Ayiti since early Spanish colonial time, and lakoun-Grann-Sent-Àn in Anse-à-Foleur.

Administrative divisions
The Department of Nord-Ouest is subdivided into three arrondissements, which are further subdivided into ten communes.

 * Môle Saint Nicholas Arrondissement
 * Baie de Henne
 * Bombardopolis
 * Jean-Rabel
 * Môle Saint Nicholas
 * Port-de-Paix Arrondissement
 * Bassin Bleu
 * Chansolme
 * La Tortue
 * Port-de-Paix
 * Saint-Louis du Nord Arrondissement
 * Anse-à-Foleur
 * Saint-Louis du Nord

title: Nord-Ouest (department)


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 27

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 * 1776 – British forces led by William Howe defeated the Continental Army under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War.
 * 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated the Royal Navy, preventing them from capturing the harbour of Grand Port on Mauritius.
 * 1832 – Black Hawk, the leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrendered to U.S. authorities to end the Black Hawk War.
 * 1928 – The first three of more than sixty nations signed the Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of national policy.
 * 1979 – The Troubles: IRA bombs killed 18 British soldiers in an ambush near Warrenpoint, and British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore.
 * 1990 – American musician Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the most influential guitarists in the revival of blues in the 1980s, was killed in a helicopter crash.
 * 2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashed while inadvertently attempting to take off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 of the 50 people on board, and causing the Federal Aviation Administration to modify air traffic control rules.
 * 2009 – The Myanmar military junta and ethnic armies began three days of violent clashes in the region of Kokang.

 * Born/died: | Eric III of Denmark |d|1146| Josquin des Prez |d|1521| Francisco de Zurbarán |d|1664| James Thomson |d|1748| Giorgio Mitrovich |b|1795| William Hayden English |b|1822| Rebecca Clarke |b|1886| Man Ray |b|1890| Samuel C. Pomeroy |d|1891| Norman Ramsey Jr. |b|1915 Paul Reubens |b|1952| Brian Epstein |d|1967| Jim Thome |b|1970|


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 28

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 * 475 – Orestes took control of Ravenna, the capital of the Western Roman Empire, forcing Emperor Julius Nepos to flee.
 * 1542 – Ottoman–Portuguese conflicts: During the Battle of Wofla, the Portuguese commander Cristóvão da Gama was captured by the Adal Sultanate and executed the next day.
 * 1640 – Bishops' Wars: Scottish Covenanter forces led by Alexander Leslie defeated the English army near Newburn, England.
 * 1789 – With the first use of his new 1.2 m telescope, then the largest in the world, William Herschel discovered a new moon of Saturn, later named Enceladus.
 * 1830 – Tom Thumb, the first American-built steam locomotive, engaged in an impromptu race against a horse-drawn car in Maryland.
 * 1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833, officially abolishing slavery in most of the British Empire, received royal assent.
 * 1914 – In the first naval battle of the First World War, British ships ambushed a German naval patrol in the Heligoland Bight.
 * 1950 – In tennis, Althea Gibson became the first African-American woman to compete at the U.S. National Championships.
 * 1955 – African-American teenager Emmett Till was lynched near Money, Mississippi, for allegedly flirting with a white woman, energizing the nascent American civil rights movement.
 * 1973 – Swedish police used gas bombs to end a seven-day hostage situation in Stockholm; during the incident the hostages had bonded with their captors, leading to the term Stockholm syndrome.
 * 1993 – The NASA spacecraft Galileo flew by the asteroid 243 Ida and took photographs that later revealed the first known asteroid moon (both pictured).
 * 1993 – The first direct Presidential election in Singapore was held.
 * 2003 – A pizza delivery man in Erie, Pennsylvania, was killed during a complex bank robbery when a bomb that was locked around his neck exploded.
 * 2021 - The second phase of the Thomson-East Coast MRT line opens for service
 * Born/died this day: | He Gui |d|919|Augustine of Hippo |d|430| Johannes Banfi Hunyades |d|1646| Jean Baptiste Point du Sable |d|1818| Edward Dando |d|1832| Vittorio Sella |b|1859| Lindsay Hassett |d|1767| Frederick William von Kleist |b|1913| Jack Kirby |b|1917| Katharine Abraham |b|1954| Béla Guttmann |d|1981| Shulamith Firestone |d|2012


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 29

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 * 1475 – France signed the Treaty of Picquigny with England, freeing Louis XI to deal with the threat posed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy.

 * 1842 – Under the Treaty of Nanking, an "unequal treaty" that ended the First Opium War, the Chinese island from which Hong Kong would grow was ceded to Britain.
 * 1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patented the world's first internal-combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen.
 * 1903 – Slava, the last of five Borodino-class battleships, was launched by the Imperial Russian Navy.
 * 1911 – The last member of the Yahi, known as Ishi, emerged from the wilderness near Oroville, California, to join European American society.
 * 1916 – Congress passed the Philippine Autonomy Act, the first formal and official declaration of the U.S.'s commitment to grant independence to the Philippines.
 * 1930 – The last 36 residents of St Kilda, Scotland, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its natural and cultural qualities, voluntarily evacuated to Morvern.
 * 1949 – The Soviet Union conducted its first nuclear weapons test, detonating the 22-kiloton RDS-1.
 * 1959 – Mona Best opened the Casbah Coffee Club with a performance by the Quarrymen, the precursor of the Beatles.
 * 1984 – Followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (pictured) began deliberately infecting people in The Dalles, Oregon, with Salmonella in the first and largest bioterrorist attack in United States history.
 * 1991 – Italian businessman Libero Grassi was killed by the Sicilian Mafia in Palermo after taking a public stand against their extortion demands.
 * 1996 – Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 crashed on approach to Svalbard Airport, Norway, killing all 141 on board.
 * 2007 – Six nuclear warheads were mistakenly loaded onto a United States Air Force heavy bomber that flew from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.
 * Born/died: Basil I |d|886| Abu Taghlib |d|979| Eystein I of Norway |d|1123| Charles of Taranto |d|1315| Hamida Banu Begum |d|1604| Edmond Hoyle |d|1769| Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres |b|1780| Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.  Juan Bautista Alberdi |b|1810| Henry Bergh |b|1813| Vivien Thomas |b|1910| Otis Boykin |b|1920| Michael Jackson |b|1958| Lale Andersen |d|1972| Ingrid Bergman |bd|1915; 1982 |Mike Enriquez |d|2023

August 29: Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist (Catholicism, Anglicanism)

 * 1350 – Hundred Years' War: Led by King Edward III, a fleet of 50 English ships captured at least 14 Castilian vessels and sank several more at the Battle of Winchelsea.
 * 1786 – Farmers in western Massachusetts angered by high tax burdens and disfranchisement began an armed uprising led by Daniel Shays against the U.S. federal government.
 * 1831 – Michael Faraday (pictured) first experimentally demonstrated electromagnetic induction, leading to the formulation of the law of induction named after him.
 * 1960 – Air France Flight 343 crashed while attempting to land at Yoff Airport, Dakar, killing all 63 occupants.
 * 2016 – Chen Quanguo became the Chinese Communist Party secretary of Xinjiang, later overseeing the creation of the Xinjiang internment camps.


text:
Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 30

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 * 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Tannenberg resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Russian 2nd Army by the German 8th Army.
 * 1942 – British and Australian prisoners of war in Singapore revolted against their Japanese captors, who required them to pledge not to escape.
 * 1942 – Second World War: German field marshal Erwin Rommel launched the last major Axis offensive of the Western Desert campaign, attacking British positions near El Alamein, Egypt.
 * 1959 – Writer and politician Abdul Muis became the first person to be awarded the posthumous title of National Hero of Indonesia.
 * 1974 – An express train carrying foreign workers from Yugoslavia to West Germany derailed in Zagreb, killing 153 people.
 * 1984 – Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program, lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
 * 1990 – Gulf War: US General Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. issued General Order No. 1 prohibiting US troops from consuming alcohol or possessing pornographic material.
 * 1992 – German racing driver Michael Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of his 91 Formula One Grand Prix wins.
 * Born/died: | Hervey le Breton |d|1131| Albert Szenczi Molnár |b|1574| Alexander Carew, 2nd Baronet |b|1608| Agoston Haraszthy |b|1812| Abishabis |d|1843| Theodor Svedberg |b|1884|Paul Kochanski |b|1887| Don Getty |b|1933| Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster |d|1954|| Pavel Nedvěd |b|1972| Jack Marshall |d|1988| Oliver Sacks |d|2015

August 30: Victory Day in Turkey (1922)

 * AD 70 – First Jewish–Roman War: Roman forces led by Titus set fire to the Second Temple during the Siege of Jerusalem.
 * 1574 – Guru Ram Das (pictured) became the fourth of the Sikh gurus, the spiritual masters of Sikhism.
 * 1594 – James VI of Scotland held a masque at the baptism of Prince Henry, his first child.
 * 1959 – South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate.
 * 2007 – A heavy bomber plane that had been unintentionally loaded with nuclear missiles transported them from North Dakota to Louisiana before they were recognized.


text:
Sud (department)

Sud (French) or Sid (Haitian Creole; both meaning "South") is one of the ten departments of Haiti and located in southern Haiti. It has an area of 2653.60 km2 and a population of 774,976. Its capital is Les Cayes.

Taino Period
The department was part of the Xaragua kingdom. The area of Aquin was known as Yakimo a Taino settlement. The island of Vache was named Anigua.

Spanish Period
The area of Les Cayes was a Spanish settlement known as Salvatierra de la Sabana or Land Saved from the Water or Sea.

French Period
Much like the N-O, the South Department was a pirate hub with famous pirates such as Henri Morgan and many more hiding their loot on the multitude of islands from Grosse Cayes to Isle-à-Vache.

Haitian Revolution
The South, in general, was Rigaudin since was under the control of André Rigaud until it definitely switches the hand of Toussaint and the Louverturien. This conflict is known as the Haitian War of Knives opposing two political and economical groups in Haiti even before independence: the Nouveaux-Libres and the Anciens-Libres.

In 1793 after The Great North rebelled after the Bwa-Kayiman Congress, the South was the scene of a group of maroons taking control of a French post at the heights of Les Cayes in Platons and establish their camp. Those maroons were never captured and went higher to Macaya at the attack of the Expedition Troops.

The alliance between the Rigaudin and Louverturien was consolidated at the Congress of Camp-Gerrard, on July 5, 1803, where Dessalines became the leader of the Indigènes Army. Boisrond Tonnerre became a member of Dessalines état-major and Nicolas Geffrard general of the South.

Haitian Period
On October 16, 1803 Nicolas Geffrard Sr. and Coco Herne freed the city of Les Cayes from the french expedition troops under the leadership of Brunet.

Nicolas Geffrard commander of the south and Coco Herne commander of Les Cayes are signatories of the Haitian Declaration of Independence. After the assassination of the Emperor, Haiti was divided into two de jure states, a monarchy and a republic. With the return of André Rigaud, the South became a distinct state separating from Port-au-Prince. With Michel Domingue, the south claimed separation again.

In 1843, the Manifest of Praslin with Charles Rivière Hérard overthrow the president Jean-Pierre Boyer.

Demography
A significant part of the population in this department is of mixed race, people of Arab descent and from the Indian subcontinent. These southern parts of Haiti are where many residents Europeans descended to during tense political turmoil and, in more recent years, have returned and settled alongside black Haitians. Nowadays, this area of the country has become one of the most racially diverse (excluding Port-au-Prince).

Geography
The department is bordered to the north by the Grand'Anse and Nippes, to the west the Winward Passage connecting to Jamaica, south by the Caribbean Sea and to the east by the South-East Department. The Pic Macaya is an ecological reserve on the north side. The Port-Salut Peninsula extends into the Caribbean Sea. From Flamand to Aquin there is a multitude of minor bays. The south is the province with the most islands, cays, and reefs giving it a particular charm and unique scenery. Some of the notable islands are: Locals call them zilè (islands) versus granntè (mainland)
 * Isle-à-Vache
 * Boyer
 * Moustique
 * Ramier
 * Grosse-Caye

Many rivers cross through the South notably
 * La Ravine du Sud
 * Cavaillon

Grotte Marijàn's Cave is the biggest in Haiti and one of the biggest in the Caribbean.

Agriculture
The heart of the department is la Plaine des Cayes one of Haiti's biggest plains, where farmers grow notably rice Many families leave with fishing activities transforming multiple cays into seasonal fishermen settlements.

Tourism
The South is reputed of having some of Haiti's most pristine beaches such as:
 * Port-Salut
 * Gelée

Transport
The main road through the Department is the RN2 connecting Okay to Miragwàn and Pòtoprens The RD203 connects to Jacmel. The RD205 connects to Tiburon.

Les Cayes is a major port town.

Due to political troubles in Port-au-Prince, many locals are considering a port and oil terminal in St-Louis du Sud, making the South completely autonomous.

Les Cayes has a national airport Antoine-Simon, which has the potential for International flights connecting Haiti to Jamaica and Venezuela.

Isle-à-Vache has an airport strip and heliport.

Administrative divisions
The Department of Sud is subdivided into five arrondissements, which are further subdivided into nineteen communes.
 * Aquin Arrondissement
 * Aquin
 * Cavaillon
 * Saint-Louis du Sud
 * Chardonnières Arrondissement
 * Chardonnières
 * Les Anglais
 * Tiburon
 * Côteaux Arrondissement
 * Côteaux
 * Port-à-Piment
 * Roche-à-Bateaux
 * Les Cayes Arrondissement
 * Les Cayes
 * Camp-Perrin
 * Chantal
 * Île à Vache (island)
 * Maniche
 * Torbeck
 * Port-Salut Arrondissement
 * Port-Salut
 * Arniquet
 * Saint-Jean-du-Sud

title: Sud (department)