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Rise of the Ottoman Empire

The rise of the Ottoman Empire is a period of history that started with the emergence of the Ottoman principality (Turkish: Osmanlı Beyliği) in c. 1299, and ended c. 1453. This period witnessed the foundation of a political entity ruled by the Ottoman Dynasty in the northwestern Anatolian region of Bithynia, and its transformation from a small principality on the Byzantine frontier into an empire spanning the Balkans, Anatolia, Middle East and North Africa. For this reason, this period in the empire's history has been described as the "Proto-Imperial Era". Throughout most of this period, the Ottomans were merely one of many competing states in the region, and relied upon the support of local warlords Ghazis and vassals (Beys) to maintain control over their realm. By the middle of the fifteenth century the Ottoman sultans were able to accumulate enough personal power and authority to establish a centralized imperial state, a process which was achieved by Sultan Mehmed II ((r. 1451–1481 – undefined)). The conquest of Constantinople in 1453 is seen as the symbolic moment when the emerging Ottoman state shifted from a mere principality into an empire therefore marking a major turning point in its history.

The cause of Ottoman success cannot be attributed to any single factor, and they varied throughout the period as the Ottomans continually adapted to changing circumstances.

The earlier part of this period, the fourteenth century, is particularly difficult for historians to study due to the scarcity of sources. Not a single written document survives from the reign of Osman I, and very little survives from the rest of the century. The Ottomans, furthermore, did not begin to record their own history until the fifteenth century, more than a hundred years after many of the events they describe. It is thus a great challenge for historians to differentiate between fact and myth in analyzing the stories contained in these later chronicles, so much so that one historian has even declared it impossible, describing the earliest period of Ottoman history as a "black hole".

Turkish historian Halil Inalcik has emphasized the importance of religious zeal—expressed through jihad—as a primary motivation for the conquests of the Ottomans: “The ideal of gaza, holy war, was an important factor in the foundation and development of the Ottoman state. Society in the frontier principalities conformed to a particular cultural pattern imbued with the ideal of continuous Holy War and continuous expansion of the Dar ul Islam—the realms of Islam—until they covered the whole world.” This is known as the Gaza Thesis, a now largely-criticised theory of early Ottoman expansion.

Anatolia before the Ottomans
After the Battle of Manzikert (1071) Anatolia was divided between two relatively powerful states: the Byzantine Empire in the west and the Anatolian Seljuks in the central plateau. Equilibrium between them was disrupted by the Mongol invasion and conquest of the Seljuks following the Battle of Köse Dağ in 1243, and the reconquest of Constantinople by the Byzantine Palaiologos dynasty in 1261, which shifted Byzantine attention away from the Anatolian frontier. Mongol pressure pushed nomadic Turkish tribes to migrate westward, into the now poorly-defended Byzantine territory. For the next two centuries, Anatolian Beyliks were under the suzerainty of the Mongols, especially the Ilkhanate. All coins minted during this period in Anatolia show Ilkhanate rulers. From the 1260s onward Anatolia increasingly began to slip from Byzantine control, as Turkish Anatolian beyliks were established both in formerly Byzantine lands and in the territory of the fragmenting Seljuk Sultanate.

Political authority in western Anatolia was thus extremely fragmented by the end of the thirteenth century, split between locally established rulers, tribal groups, holy figures, and warlords, with Byzantine and Seljuk authority ever present but rapidly weakening. The fragmentation of authority has led several historians to describe the political entities of thirteenth and fourteenth-century Anatolia as Taifas, or "petty kings", a comparison with the history of late-medieval Muslim Spain. The power of these groups was largely dependent upon their ability to attract military manpower. Western Anatolia was then a hotbed of raiding activity, with warriors switching allegiance at will to whichever chief seemed most able to provide them with opportunities for plunder and glory.

Origin of the Ottoman state
The Ottoman dynasty is named after the first ruler of the Ottoman polity, Osman I. According to later Ottoman tradition, he was descended from a Turkic tribe which migrated out of Central Asia in the wake of the Mongol Conquests. As evidenced by coins minted during his reign, Osman's father was named Ertuğrul, but beyond this the details "are too mythological to be taken for granted."

The origin of the Ottoman dynasty isn't known for sure but it is known that it was established by Turks from Central Asia, who migrated to Anatolia and were under Mongol suzerainty.

Likewise, nothing is known about how Osman first established his principality (beylik) as the sources, none of them contemporary, provide many different and conflicting origin stories. What is certain is that at some point in the late thirteenth century Osman emerged as the leader of a small principality centered on the town of Söğüt in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. The emergence of Osman as a leader is marked by him issuing coins in his name, unlike his predecessors in the last two centuries who issued coins in the name of the Illkhanates. Osman's principality was initially supported by the tribal manpower of nomadic Turkish groups, whom he led in raids against the Byzantine territories of the region. This Ottoman tribe was based not on blood-ties, but on political expedience. Thus it was inclusive of all who wished to join, including people of Byzantine origin. The Ottoman enterprise came to be led by several great warrior families, including the family of Köse Mihal, which had a Greek Christian origin and the family of Hranislav, which was Bulgarian. Islam and Persian culture were part of Ottoman self-identity from the start, as evidenced by a land grant issued by Osman's son Orhan in 1324, describing him as "Champion of the Faith".

Gaza and gazis in early Ottoman history
In 1938 the Austrian historian Paul Wittek published an influential work entitled The Rise of the Ottoman Empire, in which he put forth the argument that the early Ottoman state was constructed upon an ideology of Islamic holy war against non-Muslims. Such a war was known as gaza, and a warrior fighting in it was called a gazi. Wittek's formulation, subsequently known as the "Gaza Thesis," was influential for much of the twentieth century, and led historians to portray the early Ottomans as zealous religious warriors dedicated to the spread of Islam. Beginning in the 1980s, historians increasingly criticized Wittek's thesis. Scholars now recognize that the terms gaza and gazi did not have strictly religious connotations for the early Ottomans, and were often used in a secular sense to simply refer to raids. Additionally, the early Ottomans were neither strict orthodox Muslims nor were they unwilling to cooperate with non-Muslims, and several of the companions of the first Ottoman rulers were either non-Muslims or recent converts. The idea of holy war existed during the fourteenth century, but it was only one of many factors influencing Ottoman behavior. It was only later, in the fifteenth century, that Ottoman writers retroactively began to portray the early Ottomans as zealous Islamic warriors, in order to provide a noble origin for their dynasty which, by then, had constructed an intercontinental Islamic empire.

Demography
Anatolia and the Balkans were greatly impacted by the arrival of the Black Death after 1347. Urban centers and settled regions were devastated, while nomadic groups suffered less of an impact. The first Ottoman incursions into the Balkans began shortly thereafter. Depopulation resulting from the plague was thus almost certainly a major factor in the success of early Ottoman expansion into the Balkans, and contributed to the weakening of the Byzantine Empire and the depopulation of Constantinople.

Government
During this early period, before the Ottomans were able to establish a centralized system of government in the middle of the fifteenth century, the rulers' powers were "far more circumscribed, and depended heavily upon coalitions of support and alliances reached" among various power-holders within the empire, including Turkic tribal leaders and Balkan allies and vassals.

When the Ottoman polity first emerged at the end of the thirteenth century under the leadership of Osman I, it had a tribal organization without a complex administrative apparatus. As Ottoman territory expanded, its rulers were faced with the challenge of administering an ever-larger population. Early on, the Ottomans adopted the Seljuks of Rum as models for administration and the Illkhanates as models for military warfare, and by 1324 were able to produce Persian-language bureaucratic documents in the Seljuk style.

The early Ottoman state's expansion was fueled by the military activity of frontier warriors (gazi), of whom the Ottoman ruler was initially merely primus inter pares. Much of the state's centralization was carried out in opposition to these frontier warriors, who resented Ottoman efforts to control them. Ultimately, the Ottomans managed to harness gazi military power while increasingly subordinating them.

The early Ottomans were noteworthy for the low tax rates which they imposed on their subjects. This reflected both an ideological concern for the well-being of their subjects, and also a pragmatic need to earn the loyalty of newly conquered populations. In the fifteenth century, the Ottoman state became more centralized and the tax burden increased, prompting criticism from writers.

An important factor in Ottoman success was their ability to preserve the empire across generations. Other Turkic groups frequently divided their realms between the sons of a deceased ruler. The Ottomans consistently kept the empire united under a single heir.

State centralization
The process of centralization is closely connected with an influx of Muslim scholars from Central Anatolia, where a more urban and bureaucratic Turkish civilization had developed under the Seljuks of Rum. Particularly influential was the Çandarlı family, which supplied several Grand Viziers to the early Ottomans and influenced their institutional development. Some time after 1376, Kara Halil, the head of the Çandarlı family, encouraged Murad I to institute a tax of one-fifth on slaves taken in war, known as the pençik. This gave the Ottoman rulers a source of manpower from which they could construct a new personal army, known as the Janissaries (yeniçeri). Such measures frustrated the gazi, who sustained Ottoman military conquests, and created lasting tensions within the state. It was also during the reign of Murad I that the office of military judge (Kazasker) was created, indicating an increasing level of social stratification between the emerging military-administrative class (askeri) and the rest of society. Murad I also instituted the practice of appointing specific frontier warriors as "Lords of the Frontier" (uc begleri). Such power of appointment indicates that the Ottoman rulers were no longer merely primus inter pares. As a way of openly declaring this new status, Murad became the first Ottoman ruler to adopt the title of sultan.

Beginning in the 1430s, but most likely earlier, the Ottomans conducted regular cadastral surveys of the territory under their rule, producing record-books known as tahrir defters. These surveys enabled the Ottoman state to organize the distribution of agricultural taxation rights to the military class of timariots, cavalrymen who collected revenue from the land in exchange for serving in the Ottoman army. Timariots came from diverse backgrounds. Some achieved their position as a reward for military service, while others were descended from the Byzantine aristocracy and simply continued to collect revenue from their old lands, now serving in the Ottoman army as well. Of the latter, many were converts to Islam, while others remained Christian.

Of great symbolic importance for Ottoman centralization was the practice of Ottoman rulers to stand upon hearing martial music, indicating their willingness to participate in gaza. Shortly after the Conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed II discontinued this practice, indicating that the Ottoman ruler was no longer a simple frontier warrior, but the sovereign of an empire. The empire's capital shifted from Edirne, the city symbolically connected with the frontier warrior ethos of gaza, to Constantinople, a city with deeply imperial connotations due to its long history as the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This was seen, both symbolically and practically, as the moment of the empire's definitive shift from a frontier principality into an empire.

Military
Osman's army at the beginning of the fourteenth century consisted largely of mounted warriors. These he used in raids, ambushes, and hit-and-run attacks, allowing him to control the countryside of Bithynia. However, he initially lacked the means to conduct sieges. Bursa, the first major town conquered by the Ottomans, surrendered under threat of starvation following a long blockade rather than from an assault. It was under Orhan (r. 1323/4-1362) and Murad I (r. 1362-1389) that the Ottomans mastered the techniques of siege warfare.

The warriors in Osman's service came from diverse backgrounds. Known variously as gazis and akıncıs (raiders), they were attracted to his success and joined out of a desire to win plunder and glory. Most of Osman's early followers were Muslim Turks of tribal origin, while others were of Byzantine origin, either Christians or recent converts to Islam.

The Ottomans began employing gunpowder weapons in the 1380s at the latest. By the 1420s they were regularly using cannons in siege warfare. Cannons were also used for fortress defense, and shore batteries allowed the Ottomans to bypass a Crusader blockade of the Dardanelles in 1444. By that time, handheld firearms had also come into use, and were adopted by some of the janissaries.

Cultural and intellectual life
By the early fifteenth century, the Ottoman court was actively fostering literary output, much of it borrowing from the longstanding literary tradition of other Islamic courts further east. The first extant account of Ottoman history ever written was produced by the poet Ahmedi, originally meant to be presented to Sultan Bayezid I but, following the latter's death in 1402, written for his son Süleyman Çelebi instead. This work, entitled the İskendernāme, ("The Book of Alexander") was part of a genre known as "mirror for princes" (naṣīḥatnāme), meant to provide advice and guidance to the ruler with regard to statecraft. Thus rather than providing a factual account of the dynasty's history, Ahmedi's goal was to indirectly criticize the sultan by depicting his ancestors as model rulers, in contrast to the perceived deviance of Bayezid. Specifically, Ahmedi took issue with Bayezid's military campaigns against fellow Muslims in Anatolia, and thus depicted his ancestors as totally devoted to holy war against the Christian states of the Balkans.

Osman I (c. 1299–1323/4)

Osman's origins are extremely obscure, and almost nothing is known about his career before the beginning of the fourteenth century. The date of 1299 is frequently given as the beginning of his reign, however this date does not correspond with any historical event, and is purely symbolic. By 1300 he had become the leader of a group of Turkish pastoral tribes, through which he ruled over a small territory around the town of Söğüt in the north-western Anatolian region of Bithynia. He led frequent raids against the neighboring Byzantine Empire. Success attracted warriors to his following, particularly after his victory over a Byzantine army in the Battle of Bapheus in 1301 or 1302. Osman's military activity was largely limited to raiding because, by the time of his death, in 1323-4, the Ottomans had not yet developed effective techniques for siege warfare. Although he is famous for his raids against the Byzantines, Osman also had many military confrontations with Tatar groups and with the neighboring principality of Germiyan.

Osman was adept at forging political and commercial relationships with nearby groups, Muslim as well as Christian. Early on, he attracted several notable figures to his side, including Köse Mihal, a Byzantine village headman whose descendants (known as the Mihaloğulları) enjoyed primacy among the frontier warriors in Ottoman service. Köse Mihal was noteworthy for having been a Christian Greek; while he eventually converted to Islam, his prominent historical role indicates Osman's willingness to cooperate with non-Muslims and to incorporate them in his political enterprise.

Osman I strengthened his legitimacy by marrying the daughter of Sheikh Edebali, a prominent local religious leader who was said to have been at the head of a community of dervishes on the frontier. Later Ottoman writers embellished this event by depicting Osman as having experienced a dream while staying with Edebali, in which it was foretold that his descendants would rule over a vast empire.

Orhan (1323/4–1362)
Upon Osman's death his son Orhan succeeded him as leader of the Ottomans. Orhan oversaw the conquest of Bithynia's major towns, as Bursa (Prusa) was conquered in 1326 and the rest of the region's towns fell shortly thereafter. Already by 1324, the Ottomans were making use of Seljuk bureaucratic practices, and had developed the capacity to mint coins and utilize siege tactics. It was under Orhan that the Ottomans began to attract Islamic scholars from the east to act as administrators and judges, and the first medrese (University) was established in Iznik in 1331.

In addition to fighting the Byzantines, Orhan also conquered the Turkish principality of Karesi in 1345-6, thus placing all potential crossing points to Europe in Ottoman hands. The experienced Karesi warriors were incorporated into the Ottoman military, and were a valuable asset in subsequent campaigns into the Balkans.

Orhan married Theodora, the daughter of Byzantine prince John VI Cantacuzenus. In 1346 Orhan openly supported John VI in the overthrowing of the emperor John V Palaeologus. When John VI became co-emperor (1347–1354) he allowed Orhan to raid the peninsula of Gallipoli in 1352, after which the Ottomans gained their first permanent stronghold in Europe at Çimpe Castle in 1354. Orhan decided to pursue war against Europe, Anatolian Turks were settled in and around Gallipoli to secure it as a springboard for military operations in Thrace against the Byzantines and Bulgarians. Most of eastern Thrace was overrun by Ottoman forces within a decade and was permanently brought under Orhan's control by means of heavy colonization. The initial Thracian conquests placed the Ottomans strategically astride all of the major overland communication routes linking Constantinople to the Balkan frontiers, facilitating their expanded military operations. ln addition, control of the highways in Thrace isolated Byzantium from direct overland contact with any of its potential allies in the Balkans and in Western Europe. Byzantine Emperor John V was forced to sign an unfavorable treaty with Orhan in 1356 that recognized his Thracian losses. For the next 50 years, the Ottomans went on to conquer vast territories in the Balkans, reaching as far north as modern-day Serbia.

In taking control over the passageways to Europe, the Ottomans gained a significant advantage over their rival Turkish principalities in Anatolia, as they now could gain immense prestige and wealth from conquests carried out on the Balkan frontier.

Murad I (1362–1389)
Soon after Orhan's death in 1362, Murad I became Sultan.

Edirne, 1362
Murad's first major offensive was the conquest of the Byzantine city of Adrianople in 1362. He renamed it to Edirne and made it his new capital in 1363. By transferring his capital from Bursa in Anatolia to that newly won city in Thrace, Murad signaled his intentions to continue Ottoman expansion in Southeast Europe. Before the conquest of Edirne, most Christian Europeans regarded the Ottoman presence in Thrace as merely the latest unpleasant episode in a long string of chaotic events in the Balkans. After Murad I designated Edirne as his capital, they realized that the Ottomans intended to remain in Europe.

The Balkan states of Byzantium, Bulgaria, and Serbia were frightened by Ottoman conquests in Thrace, and were ill-prepared to deal with the threat. Byzantine territory was reduced and fragmented. It consisted mostly of the capital, Constantinople and its Thracian environs, the city of Thessaloniki and its immediate surroundings, and the Despotate of the Morea in the Peloponnese. Contact between Constantinople and the two other regions was only feasible via a tenuous sea route through the Dardanelles, kept open by the Italian maritime powers of Venice and Genoa. The weakened Byzantine Empire no longer possessed the resources to defeat Murad on its own. Concerted action on the part of the Byzantines, often divided by civil war, was impossible. The survival of Constantinople itself depended on its legendary defensive walls, the lack of an Ottoman navy, and the willingness of Murad to honor provisions in the 1356 treaty, which permitted the city to be provisioned.

Bulgaria under Tsar Ivan Aleksandar was expanding and prosperous. However, at the end of his rule, the Bulgarian Tsar made the fatal mistake to divide the Second Bulgarian Empire into three appanages held by his sons. Bulgaria's cohesion was shattered further in the 1350s by a rivalry between the holder of Vidin, Ivan Sratsimir, Ivan Aleksandar's sole surviving son by his first wife, and Ivan Shishman, the product of Aleksandar's second marriage and the tsar's designated successor. In addition to internal problems, Bulgaria was further crippled by a Hungarian attack. In 1365 Hungarian King Louis I invaded and seized Vidin province, whose ruler Ivan Sratsimir was taken captive. Despite the concurrent loss of most Bulgarian Thracian holdings to Murad, Ivan Aleksandar became fixated on the Hungarians in Vidin. He formed a coalition against them with the Bulgarian ruler of Dobrudja Dobrotitsa and Voievod Vladislav I Vlaicu of Wallachia. Although the Hungarians were repulsed and Ivan Sratsimir restored to his throne, Bulgaria emerged more intensely divided. Ivan Sratsimir proclaimed himself tsar of an "Empire" of Vidin in 1370, and Dobrotitsa received de facto recognition as independent despot in Dobrudzha. Bulgaria's efforts were squandered to little domestic purpose and against the wrong enemy.

Given Serbia's preeminence in the Balkans under Tsar Stefan Dušan, its rapid dissolution following his death in 1355 was dramatic. The powerful regional Serb nobles demonstrated little respect for his successor, Stefan Uroš V. Young, weak Uroš was incapable of ruling as his father had. The separatist-minded bojars were quick to take advantage of the situation, and Serbia fragmented.

First to throw off Serbian control were the Greek provinces of Thessaly and Epiros as well as Dušan's former Albanian holdings. A series of small independent principalities arose in western and southern Macedonia, while the Hungarians encroached deeper into Serb lands in the north. Uros held only the core Serbian lands, whose nobles, although more powerful than their prince, generally remained loyal. These core lands consisted of: The western lands, including Montenegro (Zeta); the southern lands, held by Jovan Uglješa in Serres, encompassing all of eastern Macedonia; and the central Serbian lands, stretching from the Danube south into central Macedonia, co-ruled by Uroš and the powerful noble Vukasin Mrnjavcevic, who held Prilep in Macedonia. Far from preserving Serb unity, Uroš's loosely amalgamated domains were wracked by constant civil war among the regional nobles, leaving Serbia vulnerable to the rising Ottoman threat. Murad I did rise to the power of the Ottoman Empire in 1362.

Gallipoli, 1366
By 1370 Murad controlled most of Thrace, bringing him into direct contact with Bulgaria and the southeastern Serbian lands ruled by Uglješa. Uglješa, the most powerful Serb regional ruler, unsuccessfully attempted to forge an anti-Ottoman alliance of Balkan states in 1371. Byzantium, vulnerable to the Turks because of its food supply situation, refused to cooperate. Bulgaria, following Ivan Aleksandar's death early that year, lay officially divided into the "Empire" of Vidin, ruled by Stratsimir (1370–96), and Aleksandar's direct successor Tsar Ivan Shishman (1371–95), who ruled central Bulgaria from Turnovo. Young, his hold on the throne unsteady, threatened by Stratsimir, and probably pressured by the Turks, Shishman could not afford to participate in Uglješa's scheme. Of the regional Serb bojars, only Vukašin, protector of Uroš and Uglješa's brother, joined in the effort. The others either failed to recognize the Ottoman danger or refused to participate lest competitors attacked while they were in the field.

Maritsa, 1371

The Battle of Maritsa took place at the Maritsa River near the village of Chernomen on September 26, 1371 with sultan Murad's lieutenant Lala Shahin Pasha and the Serbs numbering some 70,000 men under the command of the Serbian king of Prilep Vukašin Mrnjavčević and his brother despot Uglješa. Despot Uglješa wanted to make a surprise attack in their capital city, Edirne, while Murad I was in Asia Minor. The Ottoman army was much smaller, but due to superior tactics (night raid on the allied camp), Şâhin Paşa was able to defeat the Christian army and kill King Vukašin and despot Uglješa. Macedonia and parts of Greece fell under Ottoman power after this battle. Both Uglješa and Vukašin perished in the carnage. So overwhelming was the Ottoman victory that the Turks referred to the battle as the Rout (or Destruction) of the Serbs.

What little unity Serbia possessed collapsed after the catastrophe at Ormenion (Chernomen). Uroš died before the year was out, ending the Nemanjić dynasty, and large areas of central Serbia broke away as independent principalities, reducing it to half of its former size. No future ruler ever again officially held the office of car, and no single bojar enjoyed enough power or respect to gain recognition as a unifying leader. Vukasin's son, Marko, survived the slaughter and proclaimed himself Serbian "king" (kralj) but was unable to enforce his claim beyond his lands around Prilep, in central Macedonia. Serbia slipped into accelerated fragmentation and internecine warfare among the proliferating regional princes.

In the aftermath of the Ormenion battle, Ottoman raids into Serbia and Bulgaria intensified. The enormity of the victory and the incessant raids into his lands convinced Turnovo Bulgarian Tsar Shishman of the necessity for coming to terms with the Ottomans. By 1376 at the latest, Shishman accepted vassal status under Murad and sent his sister as the sultan's "wife" to the harem at Edirne. The arrangement did not prevent Ottoman raiders from continuing to plunder inside Shishman's borders. As for Byzantium, Emperor John V definitively accepted Ottoman vassalage soon after the battle, opening the door to Murad's direct interference in Byzantine domestic politics.

The Bulgarians and Serbs enjoyed a brief respite during the 1370s and into the 1380s when matters in Anatolia and increased meddling in Byzantium's political affairs kept Murad preoccupied. In Serbia, the lull permitted the northern Serb ‘’bojar’’ Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic (1371-89), with the support of powerful Bulgarian and Montenegrin nobles and the backing of the Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate of Pec, to consolidate control over much of the core Serbian lands. Most of the Serb regional rulers in Macedonia, including Marko, accepted vassalage under Murad to preserve their positions, and many of them led Serb forces in the sultan's army operating in Anatolia against his Turkish rivals.

Dubravnica, 1381
By the mid-1380s Murad's attention once again focused on the Balkans. With his Bulgarian vassal Shishman preoccupied by a war with Wallachian Voievod Dan I of Wallachia (ca. 1383-86), in 1385 Murad took Sofia, the last remaining Bulgarian possession south of the Balkan Mountains, opening the way toward strategically located Niš, the northern terminus of the important Vardar-Morava highway.

Saurian Field, 1385
Savra field battle was fought on 18 September 1385 between Ottoman and Serbian forces. The Ottomans were victorious and most of the local Serbian and Albanian lords became vassals.

Plocnik, 1386
Murad captured Niš in 1386, perhaps forcing Lazar of Serbia to accept Ottoman vassalage soon afterward. While he pushed deeper into the north—central Balkans, Murad also had forces moving west along the ‘’Via Ingatia’’ into Macedonia, forcing vassal status on regional rulers who until that time had escaped that fate. One contingent reached the Albanian Adriatic coast in 1385. Another took and occupied Thessaloniki in 1387. The danger to the continued independence of the Balkan Christian states grew alarmingly apparent.

When Anatolian affairs forced Murad to leave the Balkans in 1387, his Serbian and Bulgarian vassals attempted to sever their ties to him. Lazar formed a coalition with Tvrtko I of Bosnia and Stratsimir of Vidin. After he refused an Ottoman demand that he live up to his vassal obligations, troops were dispatched against him. Lazar and Tvrtko met the Turks and defeated them at Plocnik, west of Niš. The victory by his fellow Christian princes encouraged Shishman to shed Ottoman vassalage and reassert Bulgarian independence.

Bileća, 1388
Murad returned from Anatolia in 1388 and launched a lightning campaign against the Bulgarian rulers Shishman and Sratsimir, who swiftly were forced into vassal submission. He then demanded that Lazar proclaim his vassalage and pay tribute. Confident because of the victory at Plocnik, the Serbian prince refused and turned to Tvrtko of Bosnia and Vuk Brankovic, his son-in-law and independent ruler of northern Macedonia and Kosovo, for aid against the certain Ottoman retaliatory offensive.

Kosovo, 1389
On St. Vitus' Day, June 15, 1389, the Ottoman army, personally commanded by Sultan Murad, fought the Serbian army led by Serbian Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, which also included contingents led by Vuk Branković, and a contingent sent from Bosnia by King Tvrtko I, commanded by Vlatko Vuković. Estimates of army sizes vary, with the Ottomans having greater numbers (27,000–40,000) than the Orthodox army (12,000–30,000). The battle resulted in a draw. Both armies were mostly wiped out. Both Lazar and Murad lost their lives. Although the Ottomans managed to annihilate the Serbian army, they also suffered high casualties which delayed their progress. The Serbs were left with too few men to effectively defend their lands, while the Turks had many more troops in the east. Consequently, one after the other, the Serbian principalities that were not already Ottoman vassals became so in the following years. The Battle of Kosovo is particularly important to modern Serbian history, tradition, and national identity. Lazar's young and weak successor Stefan Lazarević (1389–1427) concluded a vassal agreement with Bayezid in 1390 to counter Hungarian moves into northern Serbia, while Vuk Branković, the last independent Serb prince, held out until 1392.

Bayezid I (1389–1402)
Bayezid I (often given the epithet Yıldırım, "the Thunderbolt") succeeded to the sultanship upon the assassination of his father Murad. In a rage over the attack, he ordered all Serbian captives killed; Beyazid became known as Yıldırım, the lightning bolt, for the speed with which his empire expanded.

Bayezid, "the Thunderbolt", lost little time in expanding Ottoman Balkan conquests. He followed up on his victory by raiding throughout Serbia and southern Albania, forcing most of the local princes into vassalage. Both to secure the southern stretch of the Vardar-Morava highway and to establish a firm base for permanent expansion westward to the Adriatic coast, Bayezid settled large numbers of ‘’yürüks’’ along the Vardar River valley in Macedonia.

The appearance of Turk raiders at Hungary's southern borders awakened the Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxemburg (1387–1437) to the danger that the Ottomans posed to his kingdom, and he sought out Balkan allies for a new anti-Ottoman coalition.

By early 1393 Turnovo Bulgaria's Ivan Shishman, hoping to throw off his onerous vassalage, was in secret negotiations with Sigismund, along with Wallachian Voievod Mircea the Old (1386–1418) and, possibly, Vidin's Ivan Sratsimir. Bayezid got wind of the talks and launched a devastating campaign against Shishman. Turnovo was captured after a lengthy siege, and Shishman fled to Nikopol. When that town fell to Bayezid, Shishman was captured and beheaded. All his lands were annexed by the sultan, and Sratsimir, whose Vidin holdings had escaped Bayezid's wrath, was forced to reaffirm his vassalage.

Having dealt harshly and effectively with his disloyal Bulgarian vassals, Bayezid then turned his attention south to Thessaly and the Morea, whose Greek lords had accepted Ottoman vassalage in the 1380s. Their incessant bickering among themselves, especially those of the Greek Morean magnates, required Bayezid's intervention. He summoned a meeting of all his Balkan vassals at Serres in 1394 to settle these and other outstanding matters. Among the sultan's attending vassals were the Thessalian and Morean nobles, Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (1391–1425), and Serbian Prince Lazarevic. At the meeting, Bayezid acquired possession of all disputed territories, and all of the attendees were required to reaffirm their vassal status.

When the Moreans later reneged on their Serres agreement with Bayezid, the angered Ottoman ruler blockaded the Morean despot's imperial brother Manuel II in Constantinople and then marched southward and annexed Thessaly. The Duchy of Athens accepted Ottoman overlordship when Turkish forces appeared on its border. Although a massive Ottoman punitive raid into the Peloponnese in 1395 netted much booty, events in the Balkans’ northeast saved Morea from further direct attack at the time.

While Bayezid was occupied in Greece, Mircea of Wallachia conducted a series of raids across the Danube into Ottoman territory. In retaliation, Bayezid's forces, which included Serb vassal troops led by Lazarevic and Kralj Marko, struck into Wallachia in 1395 but were defeated at Rovine, where Marko was killed. The victory saved Wallachia from Turkish occupation, but Mircea accepted vassalage under Bayezid to avert further Ottoman intervention. The sultan took consolation for his less than victorious efforts in annexing Dobrudzha and in supporting a pretender, Vlad I (1395–97), to the Wallachian throne. Two years of civil war ensued before Mircea regained complete control of the principality.

Nicopolis

In 1396 Hungarian King Sigismund finally pulled together a crusade against the Ottomans. The crusader army was composed primarily of Hungarian and French knights, but included some Wallachian troops. Though nominally led by Sigismund, it lacked command cohesion. The crusaders crossed the Danube, marched through Vidin, and arrived at Nikopol, where they met the Turks. The headstrong French knights refused to follow Sigismund's battle plans, resulting in their crushing defeat. Because Sratsimir had permitted the crusaders to pass through Vidin, Bayezid invaded his lands, took him prisoner, and annexed his territories. With Vidin's fall, Bulgaria ceased to exist, becoming the first major Balkan Christian state to disappear completely by direct Ottoman conquest.

Following Nikopol, Bayezid contented himself with raiding Hungary, Wallachia, and Bosnia. He conquered most of Albania and forced the remaining northern Albanian lords into vassalage. A new, halfhearted siege of Constantinople was undertaken but lifted in 1397 after Emperor Manuel II, Bayezid's vassal, agreed that the sultan should confirm all future Byzantine emperors. Soon thereafter Bayezid was called back to Anatolia to deal with continuing problems with the Ottomans’ Turkish rivals and never returned to the Balkans.

Ankara, 1402
Bayezid took with him an army composed primarily of Balkan vassal troops, including Serbs led by Lazarevic. He soon faced an invasion of Anatolia by the Central Asian ruler Timur Lenk. Around 1400, Timur entered the Middle East. Timur Lenk pillaged a few villages in eastern Anatolia and commenced the conflict with the Ottoman Empire. In August, 1400, Timur and his horde burned the town of Sivas to the ground and advanced into the mainland. Their armies met outside of Ankara, at the Battle of Ankara, in 1402. The Ottomans were routed and Bayezid was taken prisoner, later dying in captivity. A civil war, lasting from 1402 to 1413, broke out among Bayezid's surviving sons. Known in Ottoman history as the Interregnum, that struggle temporarily halted active Ottoman expansion in the Balkans.

Ottoman Interregnum (1402–1413)
After the defeat at Ankara followed a time of total chaos in the Empire. Mongols roamed free in Anatolia and the political power of the sultan was broken. After Beyazid was captured, his remaining sons, Suleiman Çelebi, İsa Çelebi, Mehmed Çelebi, and Musa Çelebi fought each other in what became known as the Ottoman Interregnum.

The Ottoman Interregnum brought a brief period of semi-independence to the vassal Christian Balkan states. Suleyman, one of the late sultan's sons, held the Ottoman capital at Edirne and proclaimed himself ruler, but his brothers refused to recognize him. He then concluded alliances with Byzantium, to which Thessaloniki was returned, and with Venice in 1403 to bolster his position. Suleyman's imperious character, however, turned his Balkan vassals against him. In 1410 he was defeated and killed by his brother Musa, who won the Ottoman Balkans with the support of Byzantine Emperor Manuel II, Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarevic, Wallachian Voievod Mircea, and the two last Bulgarian rulers’ sons. Musa then was confronted for sole control of the Ottoman throne by his younger brother Mehmed, who had freed himself of Mongol vassalage and held Ottoman Anatolia.

Concerned over the growing independence of his Balkan Christian vassals, Musa turned on them. Unfortunately, he alienated the Islamic bureaucratic and commercial classes in his Balkan lands by continually favoring the lower social elements to gain wide popular support. Alarmed, the Balkan Christian vassal rulers turned to Mehmed, as did the chief Ottoman military, religious, and commercial leaders. In 1412 Mehmed invaded the Balkans, took Sofia and Nis, and joined forces with Lazarevicys Serbs. In the following year, Mehmed decisively defeated Musa outside of Sofia. Musa was killed, and Mehmed I (1413–21) emerged as the sole ruler of a reunited Ottoman state.

Mehmed I (1413–1421)
When Mehmed Çelebi stood as victor in 1413 he crowned himself in Edirne (Adrianople) as Mehmed I. His was the duty to restore the Ottoman Empire to its former glory. The Empire had suffered hard from the interregnum; the Mongols were still at large in the east, even though Timur had died in 1405; many of the Christian kingdoms of the Balkans had broken free of Ottoman control; and the land, especially Anatolia, had suffered hard from the war.

Mehmed moved the capital from Bursa to Adrianople. He faced a delicate political situation in the Balkans. His Bulgarian, Serbian, Wallachian, and Byzantine vassals were virtually independent. The Albanian tribes were uniting into a single state, and Bosnia remained completely independent, as did Moldavia. Hungary retained territorial ambitions in the Balkans, and Venice held numerous Balkan coastal possessions. Prior to Bayezid's death, Ottoman control of the Balkans appeared a certainty. At the end of the interregnum, that certainty seemed open to question.

Mehmed generally resorted to diplomacy rather than militancy in dealing with the situation. While he did conduct raiding expeditions into neighboring European lands, which returned much of Albania to Ottoman control and forced Bosnian King-Ban Tvrtko II Kotromanić (1404–09, 1421–45), along with many Bosnian regional nobles, to accept formal Ottoman vassalage, Mehmed conducted only one actual war with the Europeans — a short and indecisive conflict with Venice.

The new sultan had grave domestic problems. Musa's former policies sparked discontent among the Ottoman Balkans’ lower classes. In 1416 a popular revolt of Muslims and Christians broke out in Dobruja, led by Musa's former confidant, the scholar-mystic Şeyh Bedreddin, and supported by Wallachian voivode Mircea I. Bedreddin preached such concepts as merging Islam, Christianity, and Judaism into a single faith and the social betterment of free peasants and nomads at the expense of the Ottoman bureaucratic and professional classes. Mehmed crushed the revolt and Bedreddin died. Mircea then occupied Dobruja, but Mehmed wrested the region back in 1419, capturing the Danubian fort of Giurgiu and forcing Wallachia back into vassalage.

Mehmed spent the rest of his reign reorganizing Ottoman state structures disrupted by the interregnum. When Mehmed died in 1421, one of his sons, Murad, became sultan.

Murad II (1421–1451)
Murad II spent his early years on the throne disposing of rivals and rebellions, most notably the revolts of the Serbs. He also had problems at home. He subdued the rebels of his uncle Mustafa Çelebi and brother Küçük Mustafa.

Constantinople, 1422
In 1422, Murad II laid siege to Constantinople for several months and lifted it only after forcing the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palaiologos to pay additional tribute.

In 1422 the first regular war against Venice began with the Siege of Thessalonica (1422–30). Byzantine involvement in the war ended with the transfer of the city to the Venetian Republic in 1423, which ended Murad's siege of Constantinople. Thessalonica continued to be under siege until 1430, with the Turkish sack of the city.

Thessalonika, 1430
On the request of its inhabitants, Venetian troops took control of the city of Salonika (Thessaloniki). The Ottoman army that laid siege to the city knew nothing of the transfer of power, and a number of Venetian soldiers were killed by Ottoman troops, believing them to be Greeks. Murad II had been on peaceful terms with Venice, so the Venetians deemed the act unacceptable and declared full war.

Murad acted swiftly, besieging Constantinople and sending his armies to Salonika. The Venetians had gained reinforcements by sea but, when the Ottomans stormed the city, the outcome was forgone and the Venetians fled to their ships. But when the Turks entered and began plundering the city, the Venetian fleet started bombarding the city from the sea-side. The Ottomans fled and the fleet was able to hold off the Ottomans until new Venetian reinforcements arrived to recapture the city. The outcome of the Battle of Salonika was a setback for Murad. Serbia and Hungary allied themselves with Venice. Pope Martin V encouraged other Christian states to join the war against the Ottomans, though only Austria ever sent troops to the Balkans.

The war in the Balkans began as the Ottoman army moved to recapture Wallachia, which the Ottomans had lost to Mircea I of Wallachia during the Interregnum and that now was a Hungarian vassal state. As the Ottoman army entered Wallachia, the Serbs started attacking Bulgaria and, at the same time, urged by the Pope, the Anatolian emirate of Karamanid attacked the Empire from the back. Murad had to split his army. The main force went to defend Sofia and the reserves had to be called to Anatolia. The remaining troops in Wallachia were crushed by the Hungarian army that was now moving south into Bulgaria where the Serbian and Ottoman armies battled each other. The Serbs were defeated and the Ottomans turned to face the Hungarians who fled back into Wallachia when they realized they were unable to attack the Ottomans from the back. Murad fortified his borders against Serbia and Hungary but did not try to retake Wallachia. Instead, he sent his armies to Anatolia where they defeated Karaman in 1428.

In 1430 a large Ottoman fleet attacked Salonika by surprise. The Venetians signed a peace treaty in 1432. The treaty gave the Ottomans the city of Salonika and the surrounding land. The war by Serbia and Hungary against the Ottoman Empire had come to a standstill in 1441, when the Holy Roman Empire, Poland, Albania, and the Jandarid and Karamanid emirates (in violation of the peace treaty) intervened against the Ottomans. Niš and Sofia fell to the Christians in 1443. In 1444, the Empire suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Jalowaz. On July 12, 1444, Murad signed a treaty which gave Wallachia and the Bulgarian province of Varna to Hungary and gave western Bulgaria (including Sofia) to Serbia. It forced Murad to abdicate in favor of his twelve-year-old son Mehmed. Later the same year the Christians violated the peace treaty and attacked anew.

Varna, 1444
On November 10, 1444, Murad defeated the Polish–Hungarian army of Wladislaus III of Poland led by Janos Hunyadi at the Battle of Varna.

Murad was reinstated with the help of the Janissaries in 1446. Another peace treaty was signed in 1448 giving the Empire Wallachia and Bulgaria and a part of Albania. After the Balkan front was secured, Murad turned east and defeated Timur Lenk's son, Shah Rukh, and the emirates of Candar and Karaman in Anatolia.

Kosovo, 1448
At 1448, John Hunyadi saw the right moment to lead a campaign against the Ottoman Empire. After the Defeat of Varna (1444), he raised another army to attack the Ottomans. His strategy based on possible revolt of Balkan people and the surprise attack, also the assumption to destroy the main force of the Ottomans in a single battle. Hunyadi was totally immodest and led his forces without leaving any escort behind.

Murad died in the winter 1450–1451 in Edirne. Some have it that he was wounded in a battle against Skanderbeg's Albanian guerillas.

Mehmed II (1451–1481)
Mehmed II (called Fatih, the Conqueror) again came to the Ottoman throne following Murad's death in 1451. But by conquering and annexing the emirate of Karamanid (May–June, 1451) and by renewing the peace treaties with Venice (September 10) and Hungary (November 20) Mehmed II proved his skills both on the military and the political front and was soon accepted by the noble class of the Ottoman court.

Older and a good deal wiser, he made capturing Constantinople his first priority, believing that it would solidify his power over the high military and administrative officials who had caused him such problems during his earlier reign. Good reasons underlay his decision. So long as Constantinople remained in Christian hands, his enemies could use it as either a potential base for splitting the empire at its center or as an excuse for the Christian West's continued military efforts. Constantinople's location also made it the natural "middleman" center for both land and sea trade between the eastern Mediterranean and central Asia, possession of which would ensure immense wealth. Just as important, Constantinople was a fabled imperial city, and its capture and possession would bestow untold prestige on its conqueror, who would be seen by Muslims as a hero and by Muslims and Christians alike as a great and powerful emperor.

Mehmed spent two years preparing for his attempt on the Byzantine capital. He built a navy to cut the city off from outside help by sea; he purchased an arsenal of large cannons from the Hungarian gunsmith Urban; he sealed the Bosphorus north of the city by erecting a powerful fortress on its European shore to prevent succor arriving from the Black Sea; and he meticulously concentrated in Thrace every available military unit in his lands. A trade agreement with Venice prevented the Venetians from intervening on behalf of the Byzantines, and the rest of Western Europe unwittingly cooperated with Mehmed's plans by being totally absorbed in internecine wars and political rivalries.

Constantinople, 1453
When in 1451 the bankrupt Byzantines asked Mehmed to double the tribute for holding an Ottoman pretender for the throne, he used the request as a pretext for annulling all treaties with the Byzantine Empire. Nevertheless, when he proposed in 1452 to siege Constantinople most of the divan, and especially the Grand Vizier, Çandarlı Halil Pasha, was against it and criticized the Sultan for being too rash and overconfident in his abilities. On April 15, 1452, Mehmed ordered preparations to be made for the siege of Constantinople.

In April 1453, Mehmed laid siege to Constantinople. Although the city's defenders, led by Giovanni Giustiniani under Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos's (1448–53) authority, put up a heroic defense, without the benefit of outside aid their efforts were doomed. The formerly impregnable land walls were breached after two months of constant pounding by Mehmed's heavy artillery. In the predawn hours of 29 May 1453, Mehmed ordered an all-out assault on the battered ramparts. After a brief but vicious melee at the walls in which Giustiniani was severely injured coupled with Ottoman troops breaching the walls through a sally port door left open, the Ottoman troops were able to breach the walls and rout the defenders. According to Christian sources, Emperor Constantine died bravely rushing into the oncoming Ottoman troops not to be seen again. However, according to Ottoman sources such as Tursun Beg he threw off his mantle and attempted to flee before being cut down by an injured Ottoman soldier. The Ottoman Army broke through and swept over the city. Constantinople, for a millennium considered by many Europeans the divinely ordained capital of the Christian Roman Empire, fell to Mehmed and was transformed into what many Muslims considered the divinely ordained capital of the Islamic Ottoman Empire. The fabled city's imperial legacy lived on. After the conquest, the sultan had his grand vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha killed. His following four granviziers were of devshirme origin. During the growth of the Empire Turks seldom were appointed to the high positions.

Following the capture of Constantinople, Mehmed built the Topkapı Palace in 1462 and moved the Ottoman capital there from Adrianople. Mehmed had himself titled "Kaiser-i-Rum", or "Roman Caesar", and modelled the state after the old Byzantine Empire, thinking of himself as the successor to the Roman throne. Later, when he invaded Otranto, his goal was to capture Rome and reunite the Roman Empire for the first time since 751. Justinian's cathedral of Hagia Sophia was converted into an imperial mosque, as eventually were numerous other churches and monasteries. The rights of non-Muslim inhabitants were protected to ensure continuity and stability for commercial activities. Never fully recovered from the sack of 1204, and suffering from Byzantium's two centuries of near poverty, Constantinople by the time of Mehmed's conquest was but a hollow shell of its former self. Its population had dwindled, and much property was either abandoned or in a state of disrepair. The sultan immediately began to repopulate the city. Civic and private properties were offered to the public to entice much-needed skilled artisans, craftsmen, and traders of all religions and ethnicities back to the city. Newly conquered Constantinople rapidly grew into a multiethnic, multicultured, and bustling economic, political, and cultural center for the Ottoman state, whose distant frontiers guaranteed it peace, security, and prosperity.

title: Rise of the Ottoman Empire


text:
Talk:Paraffin wax

What is paraffin? and what is the density of paraffine wax??
I would like to know the maximum length of the alkane chain found in common paraffin, e.g. in paraffin candles. -- Leocat 14:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC) I believe 40 carbons' the max normally considered paraffin, though you'll probably find a bit of heavier impurities. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.96.7.25 (talk) 01:27, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Where does paraffin occur in nature? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.212.118.150 (talk) 15:49, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

The term "paraffin oil"
I suggest that this article mention the various meanings of the term "paraffin oil". Apparently in the UK it refers to kerosine (US kerosene), but at least in the US it can also mean "An oil either pressed or dry-distilled from paraffin distillate. Liquid petrolatum is also known as paraffin oil. Combustible. ... Used as a floor treatment; lubricant; when purified, as medicine" [Gessner G. Hawley, Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 9th edn. New York-London, etc.: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1977.] -- User:Thomas.Hedden 10:15, 19 December 2006 (EST) On further reflection, I wonder whether the best term for this (at least in the US) is mineral oil (see the Wikipedia article on this). —Preceding unsigned comment added by Thomas.Hedden (talk • contribs) 20:41, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
 * I have made the link to the Mineral oil article more obvious, with a tag. Does this fix the problem? --Old Moonraker (talk) 21:24, 30 April 2008 (UTC)
 * The term "Mineral Oil" is not mentioned in the introduction but is featured as a section heading. There is already a more complete Mineral oil article. Why not reference that instead? I am also confused about Kerosene. The introduction of the Kerosene article contains a more understandable rundown on how these terms are used regionally and how they relate to one another. --Kvng (talk) 14:40, 28 July 2008 (UTC)
 * I also think the term "Mineral Oil" should be mentioned very soon after the start of the article. It;s good that it's a section heading, but it should also be mentioned in the introduction, among a short summary of the types of paraffin. 115.70.85.100 (talk) 02:46, 19 October 2009 (UTC)Judith
 * Mineral oil added to lead, next to octane. --Old Moonraker (talk) 08:55, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Is paraffin digestible?
(question asked by anon user at Reference desk)

Is the wax they sell for canning and for adding to some candy recipies digestible or is it like fiber in that it just passes?

 * As long as it's food-grade paraffin wax, it's edible but not digestable. Which means it passes right through the body without being broken down. As long as you don't eat too much or swallow a large lump of it (might cause a blockage), it's safe to eat. As you say, it is used in some candies to make them look shiny. (Eating too much of it might cause olestra-like distress, though...) Note: non-food grade paraffin wax can contain oils and other impurities which may be toxic or harmful, so it should not be eaten. -- DrBob

 * It is ingestible but not digestible. --ManInStone 14:35, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

 * Actually, I asked myself the same question. In The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, somebody is caught in a cave and eats all candles he can find by feeling around. It seems that couldn't really help him... Or maybe 19th century candles contained something digestible? -- dnjansen 18:25, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * Probably tallow. Rmhermen 18:35, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)
 * Paraffin was not used in candles prior to 1850, before this they were either beeswax or tallow. Beeswax candles were expensive and only used by the rich. As the story was set in about 1841, they would not have had access to paraffin candles. Even after 1850, many poor people continued to use tallow candles as they could make them themselves instead of buying manufactured paraffin ones. -- 205.175.225.5 20:13, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

Manufacture
The article should explain more about where we get paraffin. I'm guessing it's the very high-molecular-weight fraction of crude petroleum, but I don't know; maybe it's made by reducing lower-molecular-weight hydrocarbons? Somebody who knows ... please add this info to the article.

ACW 02:39, 7 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'd like to see the number of carbon atoms per chain in candle wax, parrafin oil, etc. added to this article. It would be most useful, does anyone know?

 * --TerrorBite 19:58, 25 Jan 2006 (AEST)

Paraffin wax price
Does anyone know where to get info on the paraffin wax price in relative to crude oil prices ?? HI PL Z I WANT TO KNOW THE PRICE OFF 20 TONS OF FULLY REFINED PARAFFIN WAX 60-62 WHITE — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.129.1.5 (talk) 13:05, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

Paraffin oil to stop Mosquito's breeding in a Water Tank.
I've been told to use Paraffin Oil (or kerosene) to stop mosquito's breeding in a water tank. http://www.health.vic.gov.au/ideas/diseases/mosbites.htm#tanks

Would Paraffin Oil, which I imagine I can get from a hardware store, be harmful. I'm thinking it would be better than Kerosean. Know any better ideas?

Is it likley I can buy 'food grade' Paraffin oil easily? Or could I just use another 'food-grade' oil like sunflower oil or somthing.

Thanks, Evolve2k

Density
What is the density of paraffin? At 20°C 900-910Kg m3

Why has the density of liquid paraffin not been mentioned? Waqqasd (talk) 13:39, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Probably the effects of cloaking by the somebody else's problem field--Old Moonraker (talk) 13:37, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Making Paraffin wax
I'm on a mission to prove the show Mythbusters wrong and am on a personal quest to make some paraffin wax, which I will then mix with carbon to make it burn more evenly. Is any one commercially available form of paraffin wax more flammable than another. I am assuming that food grade paraffin is not the best choice for this project. I'll be using the paraffin wax, and an oxidizer to propel a Civil War Era rocket. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

~Josh

 * Waxes burn, albeit pretty slowly. Paraffin wax is just like any other wax, but it does burn very cleanly, as its mainly normal alkanes. Depending on the oxidizer your using, you may want to consider fully refined paraffin, or food grade, which is <1% oil content, or a slack wax, which is anywhere form ~4% - 40% oil. Doing searches on the websites of several major oil conglomerates may also help... such as Exxon Mobil, PetroCanada, or Hase Petroleum. IGI also deals in paraffin waxes. Hope this helps.

 * Food grade paraffin really burns the best? I'm probably using CO2 for my oxidizer, but depending on what I turn up, I may be using NO2, because I can fit a lot more NO2 into the canister, but I’m not sure how well it would work as an oxidizer (again, still checking). I'm going to mix carbon into the paraffin wax (and it has to be paraffin wax for the test), so it will burn better. Thanks for your help.

 * CO2 is not a good oxydizer (it can be reduced to CO, but I doubt if this reaction can be used to propel a rocket). NO2 is a strong oxydizer, but it is very poisonous, so you should be very careful (I recommend wearing a gas mask when dealing with NO2).

-- Leocat 14:22, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

What is the volumetric change ratio of paraffin as it changes from the solid to the liquid state?
I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the volumetric change ratio is when wax goes through a phase change from its solid to liquid state? Noctroglyph 21:18, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * About ten to twenty percent --Old Moonraker 16:26, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Paraffin in Magic Shell?
Not according to the Smucker's website. Illinoisavonlady 16:35, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Units
I changed units to SI units. Plese use only SI units. Those British-Amerivan ubits are not good choice for international use.

Burning Temperature
I couldn't find this anywhere? Does anyone know what it is? Turgonml 16:54, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

The disks
I wonder what "the disks to be tested" refers to. Unfree (talk) 03:58, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Fixed: not clear at all. --Old Moonraker (talk) 07:16, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Mineral Oil as lamp oil
I had bought a small oil lamp. The instructions said to use 'liquid paraffin'. Either this article, or the one on mineral oil said that mineral oil is liquid paraffin. Having mineral oil handy, I tried it. It did not work well, either with the glass fiber wick which came with the lamp, or with a fiber wick. It burned, but the flame was very low. When I tried lamp oil, the lamp worked 'as advertised'. Dnorm (talk) 20:22, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Food and drink Tagging
This article talk page was automatically added with WikiProject Food and drink banner as it falls under Category:Food or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. The bot was instructed to tagg these articles upon consenus from WikiProject Food and drink. You can find the related request for tagging here. Maximum and carefull attention was done to avoid any wrongly tagging any categories, but mistakes may happen... If you have concerns, please inform on the project talk page -- TinucherianBot (talk) 17:43, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Oil spillage cleaning.
Did the stuff mentioned here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBIH5LCmrmM

ever become a large scale option for cleaning up oil spills? Or did it fade away or prove to be more problematic than other methods? Just wondering if anyone knows. --Hellahulla (talk) 19:05, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Melting point of paraffin wax
The referenced range given in the text refers to waxes with different carbon numbers. Temperatures below the quoted range are found, but only in impure wax with an admixture of oil (from: ) It's wrong to give a lower temperature, as this only applies to impure mixtures of wax and oil, and I've been reverting it. The explanation is now in the footnote. --Old Moonraker (talk) 06:25, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Another reference work is not so dogmatic, allowing ≥36.4 °C. Added. --Old Moonraker (talk) 20:54, 9 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I'll offer that identifying the melting point of an impure and highly variable material to the tenth of a degree is in itself a form of dogmatism! --kradak (talk) 21:52, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Now it says "begins to melt above approximately 37 °C" in the introduction and "typical melting point between about 46 and 68 °C" in the body. Although strictly speaking it's consistent, it makes no sense. bungalo (talk) 10:46, 7 March 2015 (UTC)

Type of wax used in phase-changing temperature controling panels
example: http://www.micronal.de/portal/basf/ien/dt.jsp?setCursor=1_290798

I just edited out a qoute that C25H52 wax is used in these panels. It can't be, because C25H52 melts at 53° - 56°C (Reference: http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.11900.html)

What kind of wax is used in these panels? JohnnyBatina (talk) 21:49, 11 June 2012 (UTC) After searching - if it's made from a single type of wax (not a mixture), its probably C17H36 - heptadecane http://www.chemspider.com/Chemical-Structure.11892.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by JohnnyBatina (talk • contribs) 22:02, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Translucence
I have heard that solid wax has its characteristic appearance because it is a polycrystal where each crystal is birefringant. Does that sound right? Any sources for that? —Ben FrantzDale (talk) 15:16, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Synthesis??????
There is nothing in this article on how these paraffins are derived or how they are synthesized. 2602:306:C518:62C0:14F0:1BF1:7E93:9EB8 (talk) 06:23, 19 August 2012 (UTC)

Merge with alkane?
I thought that paraffin is a synonym for alkane, if so we should merge the two articles. In my world, sometimes it refers to a particular kind of wax, in which case we might alert readers in the lead paragraph of alkane. Suggestions and comments are welcome. Maybe I am missing something.--Smokefoot (talk) 01:41, 9 December 2012 (UTC)
 * The two articles do seem to be talking about the same thing, however I'm not sure if there's much content to merge. I also think that paraffin wax (as opposed to paraffin as a synonym of alkane) probably deserves its own article, and there's a reasonable amount of content about that here. I suggest the following: Merge any content to alkane; Make this article about the wax only; move this to Paraffin wax; and make Paraffin a disambiguation page pointing readers to Alkane, Paraffin wax, Liquid paraffin (medicinal), and Kerosene (which is known in my part of the world as paraffin). Quasihuman (talk • contribs) 10:19, 10 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Good idea. We could refocus this article onto paraffin wax.   I was going to give this discussion another week or so. Thanks for the helpful suggestion. --Smokefoot (talk) 14:42, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

 * Sorry, I'm against this because paraffin warrants its own article. Although, it needs to be rewritten to focus more on paraffin than on alkanes. Plasmic Physics (talk) 10:00, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
 * No merger. I took the advice above and move the article to paraffin wax. I removed content about hydrocarbons in general, added an image of a typical waxy molecule, and expanded the language about disambiguation.  --Smokefoot (talk) 13:28, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Research
This article should detail health effects. There's lots of pseudoscientific websites claiming it's deadly, though there seem to be some, probably a lot of papers (under a subscription service) that may say otherwise (1 2). All of this should be documented. ɱ (talk) · vbm  · coi) 16:34, 20 July 2017 (UTC)

Paraffin based emollients and fire risk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-39308748 https://www.gov.uk/drug-safety-update/paraffin-based-skin-emollients-on-dressings-or-clothing-fire-risk https://www.swyapc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Paraffin-containing-skin-products-and-fire-risk-FINAL-24-3-17.pdf http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-43009261/fire-tests-show-dangers-of-paraffin-based-skin-creams — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.121.52.82 (talk) 08:42, 14 February 2018 (UTC)

Paraffin wax
Is there any substitute for paraffin wax? Mopkielisha (talk) 23:32, 4 September 2018 (UTC)

Article needs major rewrite
Parrafin wax is ubiquitous globally and yet this article is tiny. it contains barely any information on its health and safety, if its biodegradable, what concerns are involved, even its day to day use. just a long list of what its used in and some basic chemical background. when i search for info, all i find in articles is extremely niche oil-funded research papers (eg. "it biodegrades at 70 C in a crude oil pipe using this engineered bacteria strain" - great!) and completely useless copy-cat articles all saying the same things.

i dont know how to flag this but this definately needs a big rewrite! 84.66.216.95 (talk) 03:51, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

 * Nobody appears to be looking after it, anyways. I can't see a single article in this talk page that has had a response in over 10 years. I wouldn't expect this to get a meaningful reply, just going on the history of this talk page.
 * I really hope I'm proven wrong on this. But, it's not the first such page I've seen.
 * I don't blame the staff, by any means. The problem is that according to the Wikipedians page Wikipedians as of right now (May 19, 2024) there are 121,000 registered users who have made ANY contributions in the past 30 days. Anything from major edits to fixing a simple typo. Keeping track of the number over the last few months, it tends to hover between 100,000 and 150,000.
 * And there are 6,825,000 articles.
 * Assuming every one of those people is a significant contributor, which they wouldn't be, but just for simplicity's sake. The idea of having 125,000 or so people to look after 6,825,000 articles is a bit ambitious to say the least. Never mind addressing every issue brought up on the talk pages, which practically doubles their workload. It would be nice if we had more serious contributors. But realistically, we have to make due with what we get.
 * Personally, I think besides the occasional fundraiser, Wikipedia should have similar events where they try to drum up interest in becoming contributors in a similar way. Even if it only helps a little. Any bit helps. They could just explain the situation in numbers the way I have, and end it with a plea for more people to contribute.
 * I wish I could help more than just explaining the apparently dire situation with contributors. But that's part of the problem. People just don't have or don't want to take the time to learn how to edit in a more comprehensive manner than just changing the text on a page. Or if you need staff to do something for you, like add to a locked page. VoidHalo (talk) 23:47, 19 May 2024 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Paraffin wax


text:
Talk:Rise of the Ottoman Empire

Mehmed II, not Mehmed I campaigned against Dracula
This source lists the wrong sultan as campaigning against Vlad Dracula. To be fair, I have seen some otherwise professional sources get the sultans wrong because the writer is more knowledgable about European campaigns than the Ottoman Empire, and I have seen just the opposite problem with books on the Ottoman Empire. Ignorance of Eastern European history is even more astounding than ignorance of Ottoman history, not just with wikipedia contributers but with almost all Western historians. But while it is forgivable on those grounds, clearly this needs correcting.Shield2 05:20, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

= Comments =

Discussion
This should be in Ottoman Empire, no? DJ Clayworth 17:19, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Nice, I am waiting for the continuation. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus 15:58, 27 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Improvement Drive
The article History of the Balkans has been listed to be improved on This week's improvement drive. You can add your vote there if you would like to support the article.--Fenice 17:18, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, fell in 1385
As I know at this time Sofia is NOT the capital of Bulgaria.

Start class?
I think this deserves at leats a C class or B class. It got loads. Tourskin 23:59, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * At this point, I would personally rate it at one of those two classes - it is seriously lacking in references, however, and some sections seriously need to be expanded. Otherwise, I agree, it is not quite at the incomprehensible level of start-class.  Master&  Expert ( Talk ) 02:50, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

Inconsistencies?
I noticed two inconsistencies in this great atricle:

- It sais Murad I moves the capital from Bursa to Edirne (around 1365). The same is said for Mehmed I (around 1413). There is no mention of the capital moving back to Bursa in between.

- The article sais Mehmed I forced Walachia back into vassalage in 1419, but also sais that Murad II around 1422 invaded Walachia because it has been a Hungarian vasal state since the interregnum. One of those statements must be wrong. 85.146.80.156 (talk) 10:40, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Down-rating
I down-rated this article due to a major omission in its coverage: almost nothing is said about how the Ottoman conquered & consolidated its Anatolian territories. I'm hazy about its activities in the 14th century, prior to Timurlane's invasion & victory in 1402 (the conquest of Philadelphia eliminated the last Byzantine outpost in Asia Minor beyond the borders of the Empire of Trebizond, but there were two major victories the Ottoman Sultan enjoyed in the 15th century deserving mention: (1) its conquest of the Karamanids in the 1460s, who were one ancient rivals of the Ottomans; & (2) the Battle of Otlukbeli 11 August 1473, where Mehmet II's most powerful rival, Uzun Hassan, was decisively defeated.

The materials are available to fill these gaps -- one is Franz Babinger's, Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, another Halil Inalcik's History of the Ottoman Empire Classical Age: 1300–1600 -- which is all the more reason I down-rated this article. -- llywrch (talk) 03:38, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
 * Both of these sources you've mentioned are very out of date and should be used only with extreme caution, always checking against modern sources. Chamboz (talk) 03:33, 20 September 2016 (UTC)

Section removal proposal
Rise of the Ottomans period is between 1299-1453 but Battle of Breadfield has occured in 1479. So I propose to remove "Battle of Breadfield" section.

title: Talk:Rise of the Ottoman Empire


text:
Robert Beltran

Robert Adame Beltran (born November 19, 1953) is an American actor known for his role as Commander Chakotay on the 1990s television series Star Trek: Voyager. He is also known for stage acting in California, and for playing Raoul Mendoza in the 1982 black comedy film Eating Raoul.

Early life
Beltran was born in Bakersfield, California, the son of Aurelia and Luis Beltran Perez, immigrants from Mexico. He attended East Bakersfield High School and Bakersfield College. He has two sisters and seven brothers, including Latin Jazz musician Louie Cruz Beltran.

Career
Beltran graduated from California State University, Fresno with a degree in Theater Arts and moved to Los Angeles to begin his acting career. He had his first film role in Zoot Suit in 1981, but his breakthrough came in 1982 when he played the title character in the independently produced dark comedy Eating Raoul. Beltran had a supporting role as Chuck Norris' partner Trooper Kayo Ramos in the 1983 film Lone Wolf McQuade. He then starred in the 1984 TV film The Mystic Warrior as Native American brave Ahbleza, and as Hector in 1984's Night of the Comet. He played Father Michael in a 1993 episode of “Murder She Wrote” (S9, E12). He played Commander Chakotay, the Native American first officer of the starship Voyager, in the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager from 1995 to 2001. During this time, he won the Nosotros Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Television Series in 1997. He was also nominated in 1996 for the NCLR Bravo Award for Outstanding Television Series Actor in a Crossover Role, and the ALMA Award for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role in 1998 and 1999.

Beltran founded and co-directed the East LA Classic Theater Group. He is also a member of the Classical Theater Lab, an ensemble of professional actors who co-produced his production of Hamlet in 1997, which he directed and starred in.

Beltran has collaborated with amateur actors in performing plays and scenes of plays of William Shakespeare. He produced and starred in a Los Angeles production of "The Big Knife" by Clifford Odets, a play which explores the Hollywood environment under the big studio system of the 1940s.

In May 2009, Beltran played the dual roles of Don Fermin and Older Eusebio in the American Conservatory Theater's staging of José Rivera's Boleros for the Disenchanted. He had the recurring role of Jerry Flute in Seasons 3 and 4 of HBO's Big Love.

Recordings
Latino Poetry – Excerpts from a live performance by Beltran, recorded at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, April 2002

title: Robert Beltran


text:
Talk:Radical Party (UK)

There was no such thing as a "Radical Party". There were Radicals, who generally ranged themselves to the left of, but allied to, the Whigs. They were never an organized party. There should be an article on the radical movement, but this implies a degree of organization which was absent. We don't even have Whig Party (UK) (it's a redirect to Whig) and the Whigs were surely a more organized faction at times than the Radicals. john 17:25, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Radical Party (UK)


text:
In da Club

"In da Club" is a song by American rapper 50 Cent from his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003). Written by 50 Cent alongside producers Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo, the song, which uses an unconventional off-beat rhythm, was released on January 7, 2003, as the album's lead single and peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming 50 Cent's first number-one single.

"In da Club" received praise from critics; at the 46th Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song. The accompanying music video for "In da Club" won Best Rap Video and Best New Artist at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. In 2009, the song was listed at number 24 in Billboard's Hot 100 Songs of the Decade. It was listed at number 13 in Rolling Stone's "Best Songs of the Decade". In 2010, it was ranked 448th in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It was performed by 50 Cent in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on February 13, 2022.

Background
After 50 Cent was discovered by fellow rapper Eminem in 2002, he flew to Los Angeles where he was introduced to record producer Dr. Dre. "In da Club" was the first of seven tracks he recorded in five days with Dr. Dre. 50 Cent described the studio sessions, saying: "Dre, he'll play dope beats ... [He'll say], 'These are the hits, 50. So pick one of these and make a couple of singles or something.' The very first time he heard [me rap on] 'In Da Club' he said, 'Yo, I didn't think you was going to go there with it, but, you know, it works.' He was probably thinking of going in a different direction with that song. Then he expanded it into a hit record."

The production was originally given to the hip-hop group D12, but was passed on to 50 Cent because the group did not know how to approach the song. He recorded the track with only the drum beat present. Since much of the content on Get Rich or Die Tryin' was "dark", he wanted to write material that was "the exact opposite". He called the song a "celebration of life. Every day it's relevant all over 'cause every day is someone's birthday."

Critical reception
"In da Club" received universal acclaim by music critics. AllMusic described it as "a tailor-made mass-market good-time single". The Source called the song a "guaranteed party starter" with its "blaring horns, funky organs, guitar riffs and sparse hand claps". The BBC also wrote that the song is "a spectacular party anthem" that "highlights 50 Cent's ability to twist his words effortlessly". Entertainment Weekly noted that 50 Cent "boasts unashamedly of his career objectives and newly flush bank account" with lyrics such as "I'm feelin' focus, man, my money on my mind/Got a mil out the deal and I'm still on the grind."

Rolling Stone wrote that the song sports "a spare yet irresistible synth hook augmented by a tongue-twisting refrain". The Guardian called the track "irresistible" due to its "sparse orchestral samples and snaking chorus", and Pitchfork Media said, "the bounce on 'In da Club' is straight-up irresistible, Dre at both minimalist best and most deceptively infectious." Splendid magazine called the song an "insanely catchy" single with its "stanky, horn-addled thump". The track was listed at number ten on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". In 2008, it was ranked at number 18 on VH1's "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs".

Chart performance

 * "Dr. Dre produced, 'If I Can't'. But Em wanted 'In Da Club'. In the end they were deadlocked, so they asked me and I told them, real quiet, 'In Da Club'.' – 50 Cent"

"In da Club" debuted on the US Billboard charts on issue date of January 11, 2003, and debuted at number 67. A couple of weeks later the song ascended to the top 10; after eight weeks, the song topped the charts, becoming his first number one, and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, blocking R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)" for five weeks. The song was later replaced by Sean Paul's "Get Busy" and remained in the top 10 for 17 weeks, and on the chart for 30 weeks. The track also reached number one on the Top 40 Tracks, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and Hot Rap Tracks charts. In March 2003, it broke a Billboard record as the "most listened-to" song in radio history within a week. Billboard also ranked it as the number one song for 2003. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the track Gold. In 2023, it was certified Diamond by the RIAA.

Nominated for Best Male Rap Solo Performance and Best Rap Song at the 2004 Grammy Awards, it lost to Eminem's "Lose Yourself".

Across Europe, it reached number one in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands, and number three in the UK. In Australia, the single peaked at number one, was certified two times Platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association, and on the 2003 year-end chart, it was listed at number five.

Music video
Philip Atwell directed the music video on December 10–11, 2002. Almost all the film footage was used in the video except for a scene where 50 Cent raps in a glass box. Set in a fictional hip hop boot camp known as the Shady/Aftermath Artist Development Center, the video begins with a black Hummer driving to the facility at an unknown location. Video clips from Eminem's single "Without Me" are seen playing in the entrance on flat-screen TVs. Eminem and Dr. Dre are seen looking down at the lab from a lab balcony with windows. 50 Cent is introduced by hanging upside down from a gym roof. Atwell commented, "I think I could have done better with it, but I really liked the way that it turned out". The video also contains a shooting range, which Atwell deemed appropriate because 50 Cent had been shot nine times. He said, "creatively, I felt like we were able to put guns in a video and have it play. And I like it when you are able to play within the standards and still give the artist something symbolic of what they are going for."

The video ends with the camera zooming out of the club to reveal a two-way mirror with Eminem and Dr. Dre in white lab uniforms, observing 50 Cent and taking notes. Atwell stated that "seeing 50 with Dre and Em having his back is as big a visual statement as it is a musical statement" and the shot was significant because it made clear the club was inside the center and not unrelated performance footage. On January 27, 2003, the video debuted on MTV's Total Request Live at number nine and stayed on the chart for fifty days. It also reached number one on the MuchMusic video charts. At the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, the video was awarded Best Rap Video and Best New Artist and was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Male Video, and Viewer's Choice. Cameos include: Dr. Dre, Eminem, D12, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, The Game (in his first cameo appearance), Bang' Em Smurf, Young Buck, Xzibit and DJ Whoo Kid.

The music video on YouTube has received over 2 billion views as of March 2024.

Lawsuit
In January 2006, 50 Cent was sued for copyright infringement by former 2 Live Crew manager Joseph Weinberger, who owns the rights to the rap group's catalog. He claimed that 50 Cent plagiarized the lines "it's your birthday" from the eponymous second track of former 2 Live Crew frontman Luther Campbell's 1994 album Freak for Life 6996 (also known simply as Freak for Life). The lawsuit was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Paul Huck, who ruled that the phrase was a "common, unoriginal and noncopyrightable element of the song". 50 Cent's attorneys in the litigation included noted entertainment litigator Jeffrey D. Goldman.

"Sexy Lil Thug"
In 2003, American recording artist Beyoncé recorded a remix version of "In da Club" titled "Sexy Lil Thug". Her version sampled the original's instrumental and melody with the singer singing her own, newly added verses. In the song, she references Jimmy Choo shoes, Marilyn Monroe, Marc Jacobs, and Bailey Bank and Biddle. Makkada B. Selah of The Village Voice said, "Her version of 'In da Club' outed 50 Cent as a singing-ass rapper with lines like 'Don't wanna be your girl/I ain't lookin' for no love/So come give me a hug/You a sexy little thug. Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle coined Beyoncé's cover version as a "female spin" on the original. The song was officially released on Beyoncé's mixtape Speak My Mind. According to Guerra of the Houston Chronicle, the song was never an official single, likely because of permission issues. Beyoncé's version of the song charted for 7 weeks and peaked at number 67 on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. In 2013, Mike Wass of the website Idolator put "Sexy Lil Thug" at number six on his list of "Beyonce's 10 Best Unreleased and Rare Tracks". He described it as a "radio staple" in 2003, adding that it "remains something of a lost gem" and concluded "Queen Bey spit iconic lyrics like 'I’m that classy mami with the Marilyn Monroe body.

Sampling
"In da Club" has been sampled or interpolated in at least more than 90 songs, including "Mi Gna" by Super Sako, "Good Life" by Kanye West, and "Genesis" by Justice.

Appearances in other media
The song is featured in the films Soul Plane, Shark Tale, Beauty Shop, Dead Tone, and Detention, as well as the theatrical trailers for horror films Happy Death Day (2017) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019). It is also featured in the television shows The Wire, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Revenge, Lucifer, and The Fall. It was performed by 50 Cent in the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on February 13, 2022. It also was released on Fuser, being one of the first songs to be announced for the game.

Track listing

 * UK CD single
 * 1) "In da Club" (Single Version) (Clean) – 3:46
 * 2) "In da Club" (Single Version) (Explicit) – 3:45
 * 3) "Wanksta" – 3:41
 * German CD single
 * 1) "In da Club" (Single Version) (Explicit) – 3:48
 * 2) "Wanksta" – 3:41
 * German and Australian CD single
 * 1) "In da Club" (Single Version) (Explicit) – 3:48
 * 2) "Wanksta" – 3:41
 * 3) "In da Club" (Instrumental) – 6:18
 * 4) "In da Club" (Music Video) – 3:53
 * 5) "Wanksta" (Music Video) - 3:43

Personnel
Information taken from the liner notes of Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
 * Producer: Dr. Dre
 * Co-producer: Mike Elizondo
 * Audio mixing: Dr. Dre
 * Recording engineers: Mauricio "Veto" Iragorri, Sha Money XL
 * Assistant engineers: James "Flea" McCrone, Francis Forde, Ruben Rivera
 * Keyboards, guitars, bass: Mike Elizondo
 * Percussion: DJ Quik

title: In da Club


text:
P.I.M.P.

"P.I.M.P." is a song recorded by American rapper 50 Cent for his debut studio album Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2003). It features production from Mr. Porter of D12 and was mixed by Dr. Dre. The song was released as the third single from Get Rich or Die Tryin' alongside its remix, featuring American rappers Snoop Dogg, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck, on June 24, 2003, by Interscope Records, Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment.

Upon its release, "P.I.M.P." was a significant commercial success, especially in the United States, where it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching the top ten of numerous national charts worldwide. The song was later certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Although the remix was not originally part of the track listing for Get Rich or Die Tryin', it was later added as a bonus track on some digital editions of the album.

Content
Musically, the song is based on a highly steelpan prominent production from Mr. Porter from D12, and although it is predominantly a rap song, features elements of other genres, especially reggae, or music similar to that of the Caribbean. Lyrically, the song glorifies 50 Cent's supposed involvement in the 'pimp' lifestyle.

Music video
The music video features the four rappers rapping with topless women. The video comes in two slightly different versions: one with the topless women and a "clean" version without. On July 15, 2003, the video debuted on MTV's Total Request Live at number nine and stayed on the chart for fifty days. At the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap Video, but lost to Jay-Z's "99 Problems".

The video had 50 Cent trying to audition to become a member of the P.I.M.P. Legion of Doom that is led by Snoop Dogg's character. When asked why they should let him join the P.I.M.P. Legion of Doom as he doesn't have a Cadillac and/or a perm, 50 Cent ends up winning their favor by showing off his Magic Stick.

The music video on YouTube has received over 665 million views as of June 2024.

Samples and covers
In 2008, the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band released a cover version of "P.I.M.P." from their album Look-A Py Py. It was such a faithful cover that many people incorrectly believed that it was the source of the steel drum melody used in the 50 Cent single, though the Bacao single was released five years after 50 Cent had released "P.I.M.P.". This cover features heavily in the French legal thriller Anatomy of a Fall.

Additional covers of the song include those on Hip Hop Baby (a 2004 compilation album of kid-friendly tunes from the group Tunes for Baby That Won't Drive You Crazy), and "P.I.N.T.", a parody version by British rapper 50 Pence (from his 2004 album 50 Pence Presents).

Legal controversy
In June 2016, producer Brandon Parrott and business manager Erica Tucker sued almost everyone involved with the 50 Cent record Get Rich or Die Tryin', claiming that he was tricked into licensing the use of a beat from his track "BAMBA". Aftermath Records and Universal requested that the case be dismissed on the grounds that Parrott had already been compensated in an earlier settlement. Judge S. James Otero dismissed the complaint without leave to amend in November 2016.

Track listing

 * UK CD single
 * 1) "P.I.M.P." – 4:09
 * 2) "P.I.M.P. (Remix)" (featuring Snoop Dogg, Lloyd Banks and Young Buck) – 4:47
 * 3) "8 More Miles" (featuring G-Unit) – 3:08
 * 4) "P.I.M.P." – The Video (Director's cut) – 4:10

title: P.I.M.P.


text:
User:JE

Welcome to my User page.

About me
My name is Eric Jones. A quick history: In my early teenager years I felt a deep interest in technology. In the early 1990's I owned a Commodore 64. Later, I dumpster dived for parts to build my own computer. My first interaction with a true operating system was MS-DOS running Windows 3.0 on a 386 computer. I learned Novell-based networking while assisting the network administrator in middle school. I later starting using Linux as my main operating system in the late 90's. I have over the years managed every version of Windows and many distributions of Linux.

In 2008 I enlisted into the United States Air Force Security Forces, the law enforcement and security arm of the Air Force. I performed many duties in Law Enforcement and Security operations. I deployed several times. During the end of my enlistment handled a multitude of information systems as I had the experience prior. I left the military in 2015, a decision I do regret at times. I officially returned to the IT field shortly after as a Systems Engineer.

I have dabbled in Wikipedia for over a decade. I was very active at one point but due to life I have been very limited on time. I continue to make small edits where necessary. If you have any questions or inquires about my edits please let me know in my Talk page.

Thanks!

title: User:JE


text:
Talk:Desiccation

[Untitled]
Article moved from mispelled entry.

Removed text from this original entry:

''dessication

''n 1: dryness resulting from the removal of water [syn: dehydration] 2: the process of extracting moisture (as by heat) [syn: dehydration, drying up, evaporation]

''Source: WordNet ® 1.6, © 1997 Princeton University

which is, literally, a dictionary definition.

Reinstated the comment about coconut from the mispelled version. If it's removed again, it's normal to add it to the talk page. Andrewa 17:31, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

article is mis-spelled
This is mis-spelled: should be desiccation etc. See for example http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=desiccation and http://www.hyperdictionary.com/dictionary/desiccation

OOPS. So it is. A very common mistake, and it will be a pain to fix here while preserving the histories. Mea culpa so I'll have a go. Andrewa 17:38, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Ah me. Cut and pasted from the now-deleted original talk page from the correctly (as it turned out) spelled version:

''Redirect to correct spelling needed as

''1. It's quite a common misspelling, what links here includes Arthrobacter, Vacuum, Ichthyostega and Berber as I write. Of course these should be fixed, but they demonstrate how common it is.

''2. History should be preserved. Of course it could be merged.

''Andrewa 17:39, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

''Misspellings above corrected, see, , , for the misspelled versions. Andrewa 18:03, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

...just so it's clear I'm not covering my tracks. The only significant author whose history has been lost is me. I don't think that's a problem. Now to fix those 'corrections' I made before!!! Moral: Google is a lousy spell checker. Andrewa 18:05, 13 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Added a link
I added a link to the Silica Gel Page (it has a LOT of information!) --fixman88 00:50, May 21, 2005 (UTC)

Desiccator Question
Hello, I got a question concerning drying agents. Which of the following is suitable for use in / as a desiccator?

Calcium hydride/Magnesium perchlorate/Magnesium sulphate/Lithium Aluminium Hydride

I suppose all of them can be used, so maybe which is the most suitable. --Cjingren 12:55, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

 * LiAlH4? Nooooo way, especially not if my solvent is an alcohol. That would react with hydroxyls like nobody's business, being a most powerful reducing agent. Anhydrous magnesium sulfate would be the best be. GreatMizuti 09:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Commonly used is self-indicating silica gel. Take a look at the picture in desiccator. If you need it to be exceptionally dry, a desiccator may not be the best solution. Maybe a glove box. --Rifleman 82 10:48, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Incorrect use of terms
"A desiccant is a substance that absorbs or adsorbs water."

absorbtion is where there is bonding between a substance and a fluid, adsorption occurs between a solid and another substance. It is my understanding that all desiccants are solids and therefore only adsorption occurs, not absorption.

Also this sentence is a bit confusing and requires clarification.

Chris

 * Your understanding is perhaps a little weak but your premise is correct. A fluid is itself a substance that can indeed by absorbed by a solid (eg crystal structure of epsomite [|epsomite] vs anhydrous magnesium sulfate )in the case of some dessicants there is actually a reaction between water and the dessicant in order to purge the system of water, so a dessicant need not absorb or adsorb water in order to serve its function. GreatMizuti 11:02, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Hey, I have to do a project on desiccation in plants for school. Does anyone know anything about how farmers use desiccation in their plants? Thank you! 196.210.245.171 (talk) 18:58, 17 April 2012 (UTC)Cheri

Complex vs Compound
When one is writing the formula for a complex the counter-ion isn't relevant, certainly in this case the counter-ion is in now way responsible for the colour that the complex appears to have. If you're writing the the formula for a co-ordination compound then certainly the counter-ion must be written.GreatMizuti 04:03, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

Desert Desiccation
This is the term for the gradual growing of the Sahara and other deserts. ~ 71.109.149.49 (talk) 03:49, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Desiccation