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European Anti-Fraud Office

The European Anti-Fraud Office (commonly known as OLAF, from the Office européen de lutte antifraude) is a body mandated by the European Union (EU) with protecting the Union's financial interests. It was founded on 28 April 1999, under the European Commission Decision 1999/352. Its tasks are threefold: OLAF achieves its mission by conducting, in full independence, internal and external investigations. It coordinates the activities of its anti-fraud partners in the Member States in the fight against fraud. OLAF supplies EU member states with the necessary support and technical know-how to help them in their anti-fraud activities. It contributes to the design of the anti-fraud strategy of the European Union, and takes the necessary initiatives to strengthen the relevant legislation.
 * to fight fraud affecting the EU budget;
 * investigate corruption by staff of EU institutions; and
 * develop anti-fraud legislation and policies.

OLAF conducts administrative investigations. It has no judicial powers to oblige national law enforcement authorities to act on its follow-up recommendations.

Legal basis
Regulation No 883/2013, governing the work of OLAF, entered into force on 1 October 2013. This Regulation builds on the experience gained by OLAF since its creation. It provides a clear statutory basis that codifies past practice and reinforces the effectiveness of OLAF's investigative activities. The Regulation also sets the basis for a better exchange of information between OLAF and its partners.

Structure
OLAF has a hybrid status. On the one hand, it is a Directorate General of the European Commission, under the responsibility of the Vice-President in charge of Budget and Human Resources. On the other hand, it is independent for its investigative activities.

OLAF has a staff of about 420: police, customs and legal experts from the member states of the European Union (EU).

Ville Itälä was appointed OLAF Director-General by the European Commission, following consultation with the European Parliament and Council. He took up his functions on 1 August 2018.

History
OLAF was created in 1999. Following the events that led to the resignation of the Santer Commission, its predecessor UCLAF (Unité de coordination de lutte anti-fraude) was replaced with a new anti-fraud body (OLAF) with stronger powers. These also included conducting investigations within EU institutions.

OLAF results in figures
Between 2010 and 2018, OLAF:

 * Concluded over 1900 investigations
 * Recommended the recovery of over €6.9 billion on the EU budget
 * Issued over 2500 recommendation for judicial, financial, disciplinary and administrative action to be taken by the competent authorities of the Member States and the EU

As a results of OLAF's investigative work, sums unduly spent were gradually returned to the EU budget, criminals faced prosecution before national courts and better anti-fraud safeguards were put in place throughout Europe.

Success stories
OLAF's concluded investigations include cases relating to EU staff, direct expenditure, external aid, customs and cigarette smuggling.

Embezzlement of research funding
A 2017 investigation led to OLAF putting an end to an intricate fraud scheme through which more than EUR 1.4 million worth of European Union funds, meant for emergency response hovercraft prototypes, had been misappropriated.

OLAF uncovered the fraud pattern as part of its investigation into alleged irregularities in a Research and Innovation project granted to a European consortium. The Italian-led consortium, with partners in France, Romania and the United Kingdom, was tasked with creating two hovercraft prototypes to be used as emergency nautical vehicles able to reach remote areas in case of environmental accidents. During on-the-spot checks performed in Italy by OLAF and the Italian Guardia di Finanza, OLAF discovered various disassembled components of one hovercraft, as well as another hovercraft which was completed after the deadline of the project. It became evident that, in order to obtain the EU funds, the Italian partners had falsely attested to the existence of the required structural and economic conditions to carry out the project.

Investigative activities carried out by OLAF in the UK revealed that the British partner only existed on paper and that the company was in fact created and owned by the same Italian partners. To simulate the actual development of the project and to divert funds, fictitious costs had also been recorded. In practice, once the EU funds were obtained, the Italian grantees used accounting artifices to syphon off money, forging documents attesting false expenses.

A thorough analysis of more than 12 000 financial transactions and payments made in the project showed that part of the EU funds received by the Italian and UK partners had been used to pay off a mortgage on a castle facing foreclosure. OLAF concluded its investigation in 2017 with two judicial recommendations – to the Public Prosecutor's Office of Genoa and to the City of London Police in the UK – and a financial recommendation to the Directorate- General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission to recover the defrauded funds. The Italian authorities are already following up on OLAF's recommendations and investigating the persons concerned for embezzlement and fraud against the EU, false accounting, fraudulent bankruptcy and fraudulent statements.

Ending solar panel anti-dumping duty evasion
In 2017 OLAF also investigated another major case involving the evasion of anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed on solar panels originating in, or consigned from, the People's Republic of China. It was alleged that solar panels were incorrectly declared on importation into the European Union as being of Taiwanese origin. In the framework of this investigation, OLAF, in cooperation with representatives of the Dutch and French customs agencies and the competent Taiwanese authorities, carried out joint enquiries in Taiwan. Further checks took place in Antwerp, in cooperation with Belgian customs.

OLAF collected and analysed transhipment data, EU import data, as well as other documents, while also conducting five company visits of Taiwanese exporters/consignors and visits to eleven shipping agents in Belgium and Taiwan. It was revealed that approximately 2500 container loads of Chinese solar panels had been transhipped via Taiwan to the EU. OLAF discovered that these consignments of solar panels imported into the European Union were not actually of Taiwanese origin, as declared. The solar panels were shipped from solar panel producers in the People's Republic of China to the Free Zone in Taiwan, where the solar panels were loaded into other containers and shipped to the EU with new documents claiming Taiwanese origin. It was established that, in reality, the goods came from the People's Republic of China and therefore anti-dumping and countervailing duties were applicable. As a result, OLAF issued a financial recommendation amounting to EUR 135 million.

UK not acting on China import fraud
In March 2022 the European court of justice (ECJ)—the highest court,from which there is no further appeal—made a final ruling that the UK government, when a member of the EU, had been negligent from 2011 to 2017 in allowing criminal gangs to import cheap Chinese-made clothes and shoes with false invoices understating their value, which were then re-exported into other EU countries. The court considered that EU-wide anti-fraud measures set out by OLAF should have been used. Although Britain had left the EU, the country remains subject to ECJ jurisdiction for breaches of EU law while a member state. The EU claimed compensation of over €2 billion.

Fight against cigarette smuggling
OLAF is not only competent to investigate matters relating to fraud, corruption and other offences affecting all EU expenditure, but also relating to some areas of EU revenue, mainly customs duties. Tobacco smuggling causes huge losses to national and the EU budget, hence OLAF investigates and coordinates criminal cases relating to large-scale, international cigarette smuggling.

In addition to its investigative work, OLAF also supports the EU Institutions and Member States in shaping tobacco anti-smuggling policy. Following litigation before US courts, and to address the problem of contraband and counterfeit cigarettes, the EU Member States and the European Commission signed (between 2004 and 2010) legally binding and enforceable agreements with the world's four largest tobacco manufacturers. The companies agreed to pay a collective total of $2.15 billion to the EU and Member States. With the agreements, the manufacturers have also committed themselves to comprehensive rules concerning sales and distribution practices to promote compliance with EU and national rules as well as to ensure that their genuine cigarettes are sold, distributed, stored and shipped in accordance with all legal requirements.

OLAF brings significant added value to operations like these, where contraband networks operate across borders and can only be countered by coordinated EU-wide efforts.

Fight against wood laundering
OLAF handles illegal logging and smuggling of precious wood and timber into the EU (wood laundering)

Challenges
While OLAF is a largely successful organisation, it is not without faults and challenges. Most notably is how reliant it is on the cooperation of European Member States. OLAF is not a sanctioning body, it does not have any powers to prosecute or discipline, only to make recommendations. It is up to the relevant judicial bodies and EU institutions to follow the recommendations and take action or not. Responses to OLAF's recommendations vary between states, EU institutions and smaller judiciary bodies. For example, most Hungarian authorities have all refused to sign cooperation agreements with OLAF and rarely follow recommendations despite there being high levels of corruption within the country. It has been suggested that Hungary refuses to cooperate because the corruption is in the interests of the authorities, and OLAF lacks the influence needed to force cooperation. EUROPOL and EUROJUST are two organisations OLAF struggles to work with, because OLAF feels like they encroach on its jurisdiction and have no place in fraud investigations. There is no one legal code to protect the European Budget – each Member State has their own legal systems, with their own law enforcement and evidence collecting methods and this can reduce the efficiency of OLAF. Its efficiency is also hindered by reliance on state/agency cooperation, cultural, legal and language barriers and complications arising from cross-border investigations.

Criticism
Legal Basis

The legal basis of OLAF has been a subject for criticism. While OLAF is not a law enforcement agency its recommendations hold substantial sway in the EU structures. This raises concerns regarding the transparency of OLAF's actions and basic rights of the subjects under investigation. Helen Xanthaki, Professor of Law at UCL, has stated: "OLAF is entangled in an ad hoc, fragmented, conflicting and uncodified mess of largely self-imposed operational conventions that are supposed to be applied within the tight constrictions of legitimacy and constitutionality in criminal investigations. Even the jurisdictional identity of legitimacy and constitutionality is fluid. Which law and which Constitution would the unavoidably confused OLAF staff work under: Belgian, EU, that of the jurisdiction with competence over the investigation, or that with competence over the actual, indeed usually cross-border, action under investigation? And really, what is the nature of OLAF and the task of its staff: are they investigators, prosecutors or something in between?”

Selectivity and partiality

OLAF has been criticized by Ingeborg Gräßle, a former member of the budgetary control committee of the European Parliament, who has indicated that less than a third of OLAF's staff is dealing with the EU's agricultural and structural funds, even though they represent more than 80 percent of the EU budget. Furthermore, Gräßle pointed out that OLAF's resources are disproportionately allocated to counterfeiting investigations: "They [OLAF] have the luxury industry with a clear interest to help them finding counterfeit goods, but in my view OLAF is not a European FBI. OLAF’s mandate is clearly to protect the financial interests of the EU. This means to protect the EU budget".

Dalligate

OLAF conducted the investigation that lead to the forced resignation of John Dalli, former European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy. Basing on OLAF's report, Dalli was accused by José Manuel Barroso, the former President of the European Commission, of using an associate to ask for a bribe from a Swedish tobacco company.

However, none of the accusations against Dalli were found to be substantiated and when OLAF's report leaked, the document was criticized as biased and amateurish. The initial complaint against Dalli was made by Swedish Match, a tobacco company. According to Dalli, the objective of the affair was to impede the EU Tobacco Products Directive, which imposed stricter regulations on tobacco marketing. Leaked documents from Philip Morris International later revealed that the tobacco company had employed 161 people and spent vast sums in an effort to delay the Tobacco Products Directive. At the time of the Dalli affair Philip Morris International had ties with both Swedish Match and OLAF, the former being a strategic partner in a venture to commercialize snus globally and the latter being part of an anti-contraband agreement between the European Commission and PMI which saw PMI provide information as well as funds to OLAF. Corporate Europe Observatory, a lobbying transparency NGO has questioned whether the Dalli affair had been a politically motivated tobacco industry trap.

Criminal investigation of Giovanni Kessler

Belgian authorities opened an investigation against the former Director-General of OLAF Giovanni Kessler who was suspected of illegally listening in to a telephone conversation whilst probing into the Dalli case. In 2016 Kessler was stripped of EU immunity. The investigation remains ongoing.

title: European Anti-Fraud Office


text:
Lake Shore Drive

Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, The Outer Drive, The Drive, LSD or DLSD) is an expressway that runs alongside the shoreline of Lake Michigan, and adjacent to parkland and beaches, in Chicago, Illinois. Except for the portion north of Foster Avenue (5200 North), the Drive is designated as part of U.S. Highway 41. A portion of the highway on the Outer Drive Bridge and its bridge approaches is multilevel.

Previously, from the Chicago River south to 57th Street, it was named Leif Ericson Drive in 1927, for Norse explorer Leif Ericson. The roadway was also nicknamed Field Boulevard. The entire road was renamed Lake Shore Drive in 1946, and its scenic views of the waterfront, beaches, parks, towers and high-rises have become symbolic of Chicago.

On June 25, 2021, the Chicago City Council approved a compromise ordinance renaming the outer portion of Lake Shore Drive for the city's first non-indigenous settler, Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable.

The Lakefront Trail, an 18 mi multi-use trail, parallels Lake Shore Drive on the east side for most of its length. Pedestrians can access the lake at several points along Lake Shore Drive through underpasses and overpasses that connect the lake with the rest of the city.

Route description

The southern portion of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Ewing Avenue (US 41), Harbor Avenue, and Mackinaw Avenue. Lake Shore Drive runs through the former South Works steel plant as a four-lane divided highway, effectively bypassing the built-up area in South Chicago. Lake Shore Drive ends at the intersection of 79th Street and South Shore Drive; US 41 continues north through South Shore via South Shore Drive.

The main section of Lake Shore Drive begins at the intersection of Jeffery Drive and Marquette Drive. After 57th Street, Lake Shore Drive becomes an expressway. Exits to Hyde Park Boulevard and 53rd Street are only accessible for southbound traffic. The interchange design at 47th Street is unusual as traffic would exit or enter on the left side of northbound Lake Shore Drive instead of on the right side. South of McCormick Place, Lake Shore Drive meets I-55 at a Y-interchange, where I-55 begins/ends. There was once an inverted SPUI north of I-55; however, the overpass became pedestrianized and became part of McCormick Place in the mid-1990s, leading to the closure of this interchange. That same year, northbound traffic on Lake Shore Drive shifted west onto its current configuration west of Soldier Field and Museum Campus.

The controlled-access portion ceases between Waldron Drive and Monroe Drive and again at Chicago Avenue. Lake Shore Drive briefly becomes double-decked between Randolph Street and Grand Avenue. The upper deck facilitates expressway-like traffic, while the lower deck facilitates local traffic. After intersecting with Chicago Avenue, Lake Shore Drive travels in a sharp reverse curve at Oak Street Beach before returning to controlled-access once again. In Uptown, three diamond interchanges are spaced 1/4 mi apart. US 41 leaves Lake Shore Drive at an interchange with Foster Avenue. The expressway continues north, serving Bryn Mawr Avenue, before ending at Hollywood Avenue/Sheridan Road in the Edgewater neighborhood.

Outer Drive and Inner Drive
Outer Drive, signed as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, is a limited-access road that runs north from Marquette Drive in Jackson Park to Hollywood Avenue in the Edgewater neighborhood. The outer drive limits the ability of pedestrians to access the lake directly from the street grid. Trucks are prohibited on Outer Drive except for a section between I-55 and 31st Street.

The original Inner Drive, signed as Lake Shore Drive, is used for slower local traffic and is connected to the street grid. The local drive runs from downtown in Streeterville to LaSalle Drive, (becoming Cannon Drive). Then the inner drive reappears just south of Diversey Parkway, continuing north to Irving Park Road. The portion from Belmont to just south of Irving Park was previously named Sheridan Road (which can still be seen carved in stone in at least one vintage high-rise).

Link Bridge

The Outer Drive Bridge, also known as the Link Bridge, is the official name of the bridge carrying the Lake Shore Drive portion of US 41 over the main branch of the Chicago River. It is designed as a bascule bridge, and is one of only two in the city to have an upper and lower deck, both dedicated to automobile traffic (the other being on Michigan Avenue). The Wells Street Bridge and Lake Street Bridge also have two levels, but the upper level is for elevated train traffic into the Loop.

The Link Bridge was constructed in 1937. At the time of its construction, it was considered to be both the widest and longest bascule bridge in the world.

Early history
Lake Shore Drive's origins date back to Potter Palmer, who coerced the city to build the street adjacent to his lakefront property to enhance its value. Palmer built his "castle" at 1350 N. Lake Shore Drive in 1882. The drive was originally intended for leisurely strolls for the wealthy in their carriages, but as the auto age dawned it took on a different role completely.

In 1937, the double-decker Link Bridge (officially the Outer Drive Bridge) over the Chicago River opened, along with viaducts over rail yards and other industrial areas connecting to both ends of it. The lower level was intended for a railroad connection, but it was never used until LSD was rebuilt in 1986. At the time the bridge was built, it was the longest and widest bascule bridge in the world. The Lake Shore Drive (Outer Drive) and Link Bridge Photograph Album, c1937, documents the bridge's construction. The album is held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago.

North of the river, LSD intersected Ohio Street at grade, and then passed over Grand Avenue and Illinois Street on its way to the bridge South of the river. LSD came from the south on its current alignment, but continued straight at the curve north of Monroe Street, rising onto a viaduct. It intersected Randolph Street at grade and then continued north above the Illinois Central Railroad's yard. At the river, it made a sharp turn to the right, and another sharp turn to the left onto the bridge. This reverse curve (actually a pair of 90-degree turns) was known locally as the "S-Curve" or the "S-Turn" and was a bottleneck to drivers for many years until the 1980s reconstruction.

Lake Shore Drive was extended from Belmont Avenue (3200n) north to Foster Avenue (5200n) in 1933, where it terminated until the 1950s when it was extended — first briefly to Bryn Mawr (5600n) and then in 1957 to its present terminus at Hollywood Avenue (5700n). The landfill used for the 1930s extension was mostly dirt, but the 1950s extension included rubble and debris from the destruction of homes razed for the construction of the Congress Expressway (now the Eisenhower Expressway). Portions of the drive between Irving Park Road and Foster Avenue still contain the original concrete from the 1930s but have been paved over in 2009.

Prior to the extension to Hollywood, traffic was funneled onto Foster, then north onto Sheridan Road, which still remains a wide 4-lane street to this day, though most traffic doesn't rejoin Sheridan until LSD ends at Hollywood Avenue now. Sheridan Road south of Foster narrows to 2 lanes of traffic with street parking on each side as well.

Interstate 494
In the 1950s and 1960s, Illinois and Cook County presented plans for an Interstate 494 to run along part of LSD. I-494 was initially planned to run from the Chicago Skyway at Stony Island Avenue to the Kennedy Expressway at the Ohio Street feeder ramp. The freeway would travel along Stony Island Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, and Ohio Street, bisecting Jackson Park in the process. Later, it was planned to connect south towards the currently-named Bishop Ford Freeway. The extension of a proposed freeway would have continued south along Stony Island Avenue, including the present-day feeder ramp, connecting to present-day Bishop Ford Freeway. An I-494 proposal was also considered around the same time for the Crosstown Expressway. In 1966, the I-494 designation was relocated to the Crosstown Expressway. At the same time, further extensions and upgrades on the freeway were canceled.

Later history
When Wacker Drive was extended east to LSD in the 1970s, its upper level ended at LSD at the west curve (the lower level dead-ended underneath). A new development at the northeast corner of the Randolph Street intersection resulted in an extension of Randolph across LSD.

Construction began in 1982 on a realignment of LSD south of the river (along with a reconstruction north of the river). A whole new alignment was built, greatly smoothing the S-curve. The northbound side opened in October 1985, and the southbound side opened in November 1986. A new lower level was built, using the lower level of the bridge, and providing access to the new Wacker Drive and the roads on the north side of the river.

The old road south of Randolph became a Cancer Survivors Plaza; the east–west part was reconstructed as part of Wacker Drive (which was being rebuilt at the time). The rest, between Randolph and Wacker, was kept for several years as Field Boulevard but was demolished in 1994. Only some old street lighting, sidewalks & fire hydrants remain, marking the former route. Current plans are for new upper-level streets in the area as part of the Lakeshore East development.

On November 10, 1996, new northbound lanes opened next to the original southbound lanes at Soldier Field, eliminating the original wide median from 1943. Prior to this 1996 reconstruction, the northbound lane ran on the east side of Soldier Field while the southbound lane ran on the west side.

On March 20, 2003, some 15,000 anti-war protesters marched along Lake Shore Drive the day after the United States invasion of Iraq, stopping all traffic for several hours. The spontaneous direct action occurred after the original protest route through downtown Chicago, as planned by the Chicago Coalition Against War & Racism, was blocked by law enforcement. Approximately 900 marchers were arrested and a City Council investigation was held before all charges were dropped.

During the Groundhog Day Blizzard, Lake Shore Drive had to be closed because of the large amount of snow present on the roadway. The city estimated 900 vehicles became stuck on Lake Shore Drive, with the Associated Press reporting approximately 1,500 vehicles stuck. Hundreds of motorists had become stranded on Lake Shore Drive, some for as long as 12 hours. Crews worked around the clock to remove the vehicles and clear the roadway, and Lake Shore Drive was reopened just before dawn on February 3, 2011.

A thirty-year development plan estimated to cost $4 billion was approved by Chicago in September 2010, for the former site of the US Steel plant in South Chicago, which operated along the neighborhood's shoreline from 1880 to 1992, and which has undergone extensive demolition and environmental remediation since; included in the plan was an extension of Lake Shore Drive through the property. This extension opened at 9 am October 27, 2013.

Renaming in honor of du Sable
As early as 1993, a proposal to rename Lake Shore Drive in honor of du Sable was backed by former Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle (4th Ward) and Madeline Haithcock (2nd Ward). However, this plan was rejected by former Mayor Richard M. Daley, citing high cost.

Then, in October 2019, a 1993 proposal was reintroduced by 4th Ward Alderman David Moore and co-sponsored by ten others. This time, the plan gained traction in response to a changing political landscape following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd. In December 2020, a hearing was established but the vote was delayed to April 2021 as then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot sought alternatives to honor du Sable. Also, the plan was amended to reduce the price tag, only renaming outer Lake Shore Drive from Hollywood Avenue to 67th Street. In late April 2021, the amended plan was approved by the City Council Committee. The vote was expected to take place in late May but was delayed again to late June due to the mayor's opposition. In late June, the proposal was passed by the City Council, voting 33-15 in favor of it. A majority of non-white residents were in favor of the renaming plan, as were a majority of non-white aldermen voting on the name change. In contrast, a majority of white residents were opposed to the plan, and two-thirds of the aldermen who voted against the renaming ordinance identified as non-Hispanic white.

Future
By contrast to the 2010s southern extension, the extension of Lake Shore Drive to the north has been the subject of controversy in recent years. In 2004, a private foundation solicited plans, and the Chicago Park District considered a feasibility study, to extend Lake Shore Drive farther north through Rogers Park and into Evanston. Residents protested against cutting neighborhoods off from the lake, and Rogers Park and Edgewater voters rejected the extension in a referendum placed on the ballot by citizen initiative in November 2004. However, in spring 2005, the Chicago Park District spent $350,000 on plans for new marinas along Lake Shore Drive, including one at Devon-Granville, and in July 2005, Cong. Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) obtained federal funding reported variously as $800,000 and $1 million for a study of the possible extension of the Chicago North lakefront path; both of these developments fueled residents' suspicion of a secret city plan to extend the Drive. The controversy remained an issue through the 2007 aldermanic election in the 49th Ward. In 2008, proposals by Friends of the Parks to extend the lakefront park system north, possibly through offshore manmade islands linked by bike paths, met with similar resident opposition. Despite statements by FOP that no extension of the Drive was contemplated, activists contended that the Park District "has plans already drawn up that clearly show Lake Shore Drive immediately east of" Edgewater and Rogers Park.

Throughout the 2010s and the 2020s, IDOT, CDOT, and the Chicago Park District worked on a project (dubbed "Redefine the Drive") to reconstruct a portion of Lake Shore Drive north of downtown, citing traffic congestion, deteriorating infrastructure, and safety issues. The project also sought to expand the lakefront as well as adding amenities to the lakefront (including the Lakefront Trail) and straightening the S-curve near Oak Street Beach. Organizations like Active Transportation Alliance emphasized the need to make the lakefront more welcoming to pedestrians and cyclists, suggesting that Lake Shore Drive be downsized. One proposal put forward in 2017 was to place the straightened Scurve underground. In the fall of 2020, planners narrowed the lane configuration options down to 5: keep the existing lanes except for the addition of queue jump lane, add a bus lane (the "Addition"), turn the left lane into a bus lane (the "Exchange"), turn the left lane into toll lane (the "Flex"), and turn two left lanes into toll lanes (the "Double Flex").

Major intersections
The Drive connects the following Chicago community areas from South to North: South Shore; Woodlawn; Hyde Park; Kenwood; Oakland; Douglas; Near South Side; The Loop; Near North Side; Lincoln Park; Lake View; Uptown; and Edgewater.

Locations

 * 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments
 * The Aquitania
 * Burnham Park
 * Chicago Yacht Club
 * Drake Hotel
 * DuSable Park
 * Edgewater Beach Apartments
 * Grant Park
 * Harbor Point Condominium
 * International Museum of Surgical Science
 * Jackson Park
 * 63rd Street Beach

 * Kwanusila Totem Pole
 * Lake Point Tower
 * Lincoln Park
 * McCormick Place
 * Montrose Beach
 * Museum Campus Chicago
 * Adler Planetarium
 * Field Museum of Natural History
 * Shedd Aquarium

 * Museum of Science and Industry
 * Navy Pier
 * North Avenue Beach
 * Northerly Island
 * Oak Street Beach
 * One Museum Park
 * Playboy Enterprises
 * Promontory Point
 * Soldier Field
 * Temple Sholom

Neighborhoods

 * Bronzeville
 * Edgewater
 * Hyde Park
 * Kenwood
 * Lakeview
 * Lincoln Park
 * Gold Coast
 * Streeterville
 * South Shore
 * South Loop
 * Uptown
 * Woodlawn

Parks
Much of Chicago's shoreline is given over to public parks. The Drive, running through or alongside these parks, gives travelers views and access to these parks and their many amenities. In addition, the Chicago Lakefront Trail (abbreviated as LFT) is an 18-mile multi-use path that often runs in the parks near the Drive. It is popular with cyclists and joggers. From north to south, the parks are Lincoln Park, Grant Park, Burnham Park and Jackson Park.

As political moniker
In the 20th century, the tiny neighborhoods near Lake Shore Drive came to be occupied by exclusive high-rise apartments, condominiums and co-op buildings. To the political columnist Mike Royko, Lake Shore Drive was goo-goo territory, a land occupied by Chicago's wealthy "good-government" types. Royko sometimes used Lake Shore Drive as a political moniker. Though he often agreed with the reformers, he looked upon them with the same cynical eye as his fictional Chicago everyman, Slats Grobnik.

In motorsport
A part of the Chicago Street Course uses Lakeshore Drive as a part of the track.

In popular culture
Many films based in Chicago feature scenes on Lake Shore Drive, including Cheaper by the Dozen, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Blues Brothers, The Break-Up, Risky Business, Love Jones, My Best Friend's Wedding, Somewhere in Time and National Lampoon's Vacation. In When Harry Met Sally..., the title characters are seen taking Lake Shore Drive in the opposite compass direction to that which their origin point and destination would require.

In television, Lake Shore Drive is seen in AT&T's/"The New Cingular's" "Weight" ad with the ad's protagonist driving south along Lake Shore Drive towards the John Hancock Building. The opening credits of the late 1980s and early 1990s sitcom Married... with Children features a flyover of Lake Shore Drive. Also, the medical drama ER has shot scenes at or near Lake Shore Drive over the show's 15 season run.

The 1971 song "Lake Shore Drive" by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah is a reference to the road. Styx mentions the road in their 1979 song "Borrowed Time" as well as "Back to Chicago" from 1990. The road is also mentioned in the 2005 Kanye West songs "Drive Slow" and "Grammy Family", as well as in his verse in the Boost Mobile promotional single "Whole City Behind Us." The song "Lake Shore Drive" by Art Porter Jr. is also about the famous road. It is also mentioned in Fall Out Boy's song, "Lake Effect Kid": "joke us, joke us 'till Lake Shore Drive comes back into focus."

Lake Shore Drive is also featured in the 1999 Microsoft game Midtown Madness.

In the Electronic Arts NASCAR video game series, 2005: Chase for the Cup, 06: Total Team Control, 07, 08, and 09 all include a fictional street course that uses part of the real-life Lake Shore Drive, along with a few side streets. In Chase for the Cup, it is referred to as Lakeshore Drive, and must be unlocked by using a cheat code. In the latter four games, it goes by Wal-Mart Raceway, and is available from the start.

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

title: Lake Shore Drive


text:
Food distribution

Food distribution is the process where a general population is supplied with food. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) considers food distribution as a subset of the food system. The process and methodology behind food distribution varies by location. Food distribution has been a defining characteristic of human behavior in all societies, and recordings of food distribution date back for thousands of years. Most governments and societies are highly shaped by the systems created to support food distribution.

There are a multitude of risk factors that can affect food distribution. War, economic failure, political problems, and weather conditions all play a role in determining the efficiency of any food system. Two recent examples of war and economic failure impacting food distribution includes the decline of food distribution in Japan during World War II and food recession in Sub-Saharan Africa during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In both cases, food distribution was hindered and the population in these areas consequently suffered.

Special organizations exist today to prevent any total collapses in food distribution, assist in developing food distribution and food systems in underdeveloped areas, and respond to food distribution crises. At the international level, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) plays a key role in facilitating the growth of food distribution systems all over the world. At the national level different countries have developed more complex support systems; by example, a mixture of federal, non-profit, and volunteer organizations function in the United States to safeguard the well-being of the US food distribution system. Within the United States, there is an issue of food insecurity where food distribution is one of the key solutions to target food insecurity. This creates a "food bank industry" where many organizations use tactics of business and trade skills within the food distribution sector to give food to communities that are in need.

History
One clear and defined documentation of historical food distribution comes from the Roman Republic and Empire. Many Roman rulers and emperors sought to determine the best method of distributing food throughout the Mediterranean, and as the demands of the Roman people changed in time, so too did their leaders’ plans. In the few centuries after the death of Christ, the annona became a prominent aspect in Roman food distribution. As the Empire expanded and the accessibility to certain foods changed, the demand for grain and wine drastically increased, and became a defining aspect of Roman food culture.

Societies prominent after the fall of the Romans continued to deal with the ever-present dilemma of food distribution. The distribution systems of the United States and Latin America have developed in unique ways, and faced different problems in the past century. The United States' food distribution system is vast in size and strength, and is dominated by corporations and industry. Current methods of food distribution in the US rely on the country's advanced network of infrastructure and transportation. In less developed parts of the world like Latin America, food distribution differs from the US.

Rome
The traditional Roman diet consisted of grain, fruits, olive oil, meat and wine. Of all these, grain was extremely important to the Roman people. During Rome's height, it is estimated that the city itself needed 150,000 tons of grain and millions of liters of water and wine every year to survive. It was traditionally the responsibility of the Roman government to guarantee that there was enough food for distribution among the people. In times of shortages, bad harvests, or interference by pirates, the government made sure to fulfill its obligation to food distribution. Officials would sometimes buy food themselves and then sell it back to the people at little to no cost. When Rome eventually established its Empire, foreign lands would send taxes in grain to Rome, which helped decrease the chance of a food distribution crisis.

The Annona
The first indication of a collective, organized food distribution system within the Roman Republic comes from the annona. Originally meaning "yearly return", the annona became the administrative term for governmental bread and grain distribution. Over time, annona came to represent the distribution of all pertinent foods in the Roman diet. The annona was originally organized between 500 and 50 BCE, and gained increasing influence in the centuries to come. The practice of specifically distributing grain to the plebeian class, known as frumentationes, gained prominence around 120 BCE and supplemented the efforts of the annona to feed the Roman people. Emperor Augustus officially changed the annona system between 8 and 14 CE. He established the position of praefectus annonae, Prefect of the Annona. Up to this point in time, the annona was handled by local government officials called aediles. Augustus’ Prefect of the Annona oversaw all transportation, weighing, inspection, and storing of state foods.

The physical distribution of foods throughout the Roman Empire varied by location and type of food. Some foods were shipped by boat and then distributed once they reached port. Others, specifically meat, were transported by land and brought into urban areas. Special regulations were put in place for the distribution of olive oil, as the Empire made contracts with olive oil producers all over the Mediterranean. Free daily distributions of olive oil were enacted by Emperor Severus during his reign from 192 to 211 CE. His distribution policy lasted for at least a few centuries, but scholars are unsure if the policy continued thereafter. Wine was not as freely distributed as olive oil, but was sold for a very low price starting around 300 CE.

US food distribution from 1900 to 1960
The United States' food distribution system has experienced major changes in the past hundred years. Food distribution primarily relied on small, local farms in the 1940s, but quickly grew to become a large business in the 1960s. Three economic advances that allowed for the growth in food distribution between 1910 and 1960 were the establishment of chain stores, retail cooperatives, and supermarkets.

Chain stores
Chain stores did not become popular in the United States until the end of World War I. It was reported in 1929 that chain stores accounted for 39% of all grocery sales in the United States. Chain stores' success is related to their ability to undersell smaller distributors. An anti-chain movement arose in response to the success of the chain stores during the Great Depression, but caused little detriment to the success and profitability of the chains.

Retail cooperatives
Another response to the success of the chain stores was the development of retail cooperatives. These organizations were founded by groups of individual food distributors who saw the benefits of using chain-style pricing. Retail cooperatives accounted for 7% to 8% of the food market in 1930, and an increase in their popularity with independent food distributors rose retail cooperative's market share to 13% by 1958.

Supermarkets
The third and final change to US food distribution in the first half of the 20th century involved the establishment of supermarkets. The Ford Motor Company performed the first experiment regarding the profitability of large-scale supermarkets after the end of World War I. Supermarkets officially began gaining prominence in the 1930s and steadily continued their growth into the post-WWII era.

Modern US food distribution
Modern food distribution in the United States is a result of continued growth since the 1960s. In an increasingly connected world, food distribution efforts in the US reach from coast to coast. A network of infrastructure, warehouses, factories, and commercial retailers comprise the bulk of US food distribution. It is estimated that food served in the United States may travel close to 1,500 miles between growers and consumers. While many products, specifically meat and grain, are distributed in different fashions, there are common trends to the distribution of most modern foods. An increase in the use of technology for farming has transformed the small local farm of the 1940s in to large production facilities. Several federal agencies, such as the US Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration, manage and sustain the productivity of the US food distribution system.

Food distribution in Latin America
Food distribution in Latin America is mainly dominated by large distributors and chains. Efforts have been made to compete with the industrialization of the food distribution system through the establishment of four types of organizations: consumer purchasing organizations, consumer cooperatives, voluntary chains, and retailer purchasing associations. Consumer purchasing organizations are groups of families who buy food together. The benefits of joining one of these organizations are the reduced cost and improved variety in diet that comes from purchasing food with other families. Consumer cooperatives differ from consumer purchasing organizations in that they are constituted by groups of individuals who work together to secure high quality food for low prices. The cooperatives are analogous to a food union that actively works to secure the rights of its consumers. Voluntary chains are organizations of privately owned retailers and food wholesalers who operate as one economic body. These groups form contracts to work under, but are economically independent of one another. Retailer purchasing organizations are groups of retailers who purchase products as though they were a single buyer. Members within these organizations are all involved in the purchasing of goods, but do not form contracts.

Global food distribution
Along with Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Cargill, the Louis Dreyfus Company is one of the four "ABCD" companies that dominate world agricultural commodity trading.

Risk factors affecting food distribution and examples of failed policy
Prominent risk factors that can affect the food distribution within a society include war, economic failure, political instability, and weather conditions. Each of these factors affects individual groups of people differently, but all share the common attribute of being detrimental to local food distribution and food systems. Two prominent examples of risk factors' negative effect on a society's food distribution system are the situation in Japan during World War II and Africa during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Japan
Japanese food distribution drastically decreased from the effects of World War Two and the country's economic shortcomings. The need for food during the 1920s and 1930s rose drastically as Japan's population and average lifestyle increased. Japan was importing large amounts of rice, sugar, soybeans, and wheat from its colonies by 1935, and had a dependence on colonial possessions to distribute food to her people. 95% of Japanese rice between 1936 and 1938, just a few years before major conflict arose with the United States, was imported from its colonies in Korea and Formosa. Only 2% of Japan's rice came from foreign countries.

As war engulfed Japan after 1941, food distribution efforts began to suffer. Japan lost a tremendous amount of cargo ships and was surrounded by an effective US blockade for most of the war. Imports were down, which cut off Japan from its primary source of food. Rationing programs, ran by Japan's Central Foodstuff Corporation and Local Foodstuff Corporations, were an attempt to distribute food equally among the general population. Changes in tax collection and price control were also created to feed Japan, but these measures ultimately did not supply the Japanese people with enough food for survival. The average ration allowance consisted of a flour mixture which was often unhealthy and barely edible. Normal consumers age 16 to 60 received an average 330 g of ration per day in May 1943, and the situation only became more desperate as the war progressed. Rationing programs were reduced even further in July 1945, just before the war's end.

Sub-Saharan Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa, the food distribution crisis of the 1970s and 1980s was a result of a multitude of food distribution risk factors including political problems, economic failures, and weather conditions. The heart of the political problems and economic failures affecting food distribution included poor agricultural pricing and a lack of state involvement with rural development. Some of the political problems can be traced back to the colonial period. Colonial policy supported the exportation of goods, even if it meant decreasing the amount of food for the local economy. Components of these colonial policies continued to be used after African countries gained their freedom from European nations. The usage of these failed policies caused malignant consequences on the economic situation of the peasant class, including the exploitation of peasant agriculture and in removal of peasants from their land. The weather and environmental issues regarding the Sub-Saharan African food distribution crisis also have roots in failed colonial policy. Labor migration cycles used during colonial times were ecologically damaging to the local environment and failed to create new areas for growing crops. As a result, desertification and a loss of soil fertility hurt the local agricultural sector, which then in turn negatively affected food distribution.

The world’s farmers produce enough food to feed 12 billion people, but the inequal food distribution leaves hundreds of millions hungry.

The FAO

One of the largest organizations working to avoiding food distribution crises on the global stage in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The FAO is a branch of the United Nations, and actively works to improve food distribution in countries that need support

Federal and large-scale
Several different organizations exist to mitigate and respond to food distribution crises in the United States. Prominent contributors to large-scale food distribution effort in the US include the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Salvation Army. FEMA and the USDA work together during food distribution crises to coordinate the procurement and transportation of nonperishable food, water, and other resources to afflicted areas. The Salvation Army receives federal supplies from FEMA and the USDA, and then works on the local level to distribute necessary goods. All food given to civilians during a crisis is typically distributed at mass emergency feeding stations.

Volunteer and local

Groups like FEMA, the USDA, and the Salvation Army could not operate without help from volunteers and small nonprofit groups. Prominent contributors to local food disaster efforts include groups like Emergency Communities and the American Rainbow Rapid Response (ARRR). These organizations typically focus on supplying rural and lower income areas that do not receive priority from large food distribution groups during a crisis.

The American Red Cross
Another group that works out of the United States is the American Red Cross. The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross, and 95% of all workers within the American Red Cross are volunteers. In the case of all crises, whether food related or not, the American Red Cross in engaged in relieving disaster victims. The Red Cross coordinates with local communities to provide essentials such as food, water, and hot meals for those in need during a crisis.

Food Distribution and Food Insecurity
Organizations that are founded to target food insecurity have relied on food distribution to serve people in need of regular nutritious foods. Food banks are the proper term to call these kind of organizations where they use "government sector, private sector, and civil society" to distribute and recover food that will ultimately go to waste. In the United States, there are many organizations all over the country that have the same similar goal however, there is not much effective collaboration between all organizations because it is challenging to coordinate efficient communication within one another. There is one large organization that focuses on distributing food to people who need it in the United States, Feeding America has over 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries. There are more organizations that focus on distributing food that work independently and are not as big as Feeding America that contribute to distributing food to help with the issue of food insecurity.

title: Food distribution


text:
Björn Kurtén

Björn Olof Lennartson Kurtén  (19 November 1924 – 28 December 1988) was a Finnish vertebrate paleontologist, belonging to the Swedish-speaking minority of his country.

At the University of Helsinki, there is a community of paleontologists known as the Björn Kurtén Club, which has inspired the establishment of the Paleontological Society of Finland.

Early life and education
Kurtén was born in Vaasa.

Career
He was a professor in paleontology at the University of Helsinki from 1972 up to his death in 1988. He also spent a year as lecturing guest professor at Harvard University in 1971.

In Not from the Apes (1971) Kurtén argued that man's development has been separate from the apes since the Miocene, and that man did not descend from anthropoids, but rather the reverse:

He was also the author of a series of books about modern man's encounter with Neanderthals, such as Dance of the Tiger (1978, 1980). When asked what genre these works belonged in, Kurtén coined the term paleofiction to describe his oeuvre. The genre was popularized by Jean M. Auel in her Earth's Children series of books. He received several awards for his books popularizing science, among others the Kalinga Prize from UNESCO.

In the 1980s, Kurtén also hosted a 6-part TV series about the ice age, co-produced by several Scandinavian TV channels.

Partial bibliography
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 * Pleistocene Mammals of Europe (Transaction Publishers, 1968; Routledge, 2017)
 * Istiden (The Ice Age) (Forum, 1969)
 * Not from the Apes (Pantheon, 1971)
 * The Age of Mammals (Columbia University Press, NY, 1973)
 * The Cave Bear Story: Life and Death of a Vanished Animal (Columbia University Press, NY, 1976)
 * Den svarta tigern (1978) (Dance of the Tiger, 1980)
 * Pleistocene Mammals of North America (1980), with Elaine Anderson
 * Mammutens rådare (1982) (Singletusk)
 * How to Deep-Freeze a Mammoth (1986)
 * On Evolution and Fossil Mammals (Columbia University Press, 1988)
 * De skuldlösa mördarna (1987) (The Innocent Assassins, Columbia University Press, 1991)
 * Before the Indians, Columbia University Press, 1988, softbound, 8 1/2 by 11"
 * Our Earliest Ancestors (Columbia University Press, 1993),

Kurtén also published some fifty scientific works, two of them in collaboration with the Spanish paleontologist Miquel Crusafont Pairó.

title: Björn Kurtén


text:
Record of the Nephites

Within the religions of the Latter-day Saint movement that developed in the U.S. during the early 1800s, the phrase record of the Nephites has two distinct but related usages. The primary use is to describe the collection of inscribed metal plates on which the Nephites purportedly recorded their history. An abridged version of this record, reportedly inscribed on gold plates, was the source of the Book of Mormon, according to Joseph Smith. The Record of the Nephites was also the manuscript title of the Book of Mormon. The Whitmerite branch of the Latter-Day Saint movement used The Record of the Nephites as the title for their version of the Book of Mormon.

Inscribed plates
Beginning with Nephi, various people in the Book of Mormon were charged with keeping a record of the secular and sacred history of the Nephites. These records were inscribed on metal plates. The record keeper was usually a prophet, although there are some minor authors who were not. For some portion of the Book of Mormon history the records were kept by Nephite rulers, either kings or chief judges, many of whom were also prophets.

There were several sets of plates that constituted the record of the Nephites. Some of the plates are specifically mentioned in the Book of Mormon, including the brass plates of Laban, the history of the Jaredites, and the large and small plates of Nephi.

According to the Book of Mormon, Mormon, one of the last of the Nephites, abridged the record on the Golden Plates. Mormon states that he took his account primarily from the large plates of Nephi, but he also included the unabridged, small plates of Nephi.

Mormon's son, Moroni, added to Mormon's account but stated that he would have written more, "if I had room upon the plates, but I have not; and ore I have none" (Mormon 8:5). Moroni had been commanded by his father to seal the plates and "hide up the record in the earth" (Mormon 8:4). Adherents of Mormonism believe that Moroni, as an angel, appeared to Joseph Smith in 1823 and directed him to where the plates were hidden. According to Joseph Smith's account, this was the Hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York.

Manuscript title
The Book of Mormon is sometimes published as The Record of the Nephites. It is also called The Nephite Record and The Stick of Joseph, depending on the publisher. The term Stick of Joseph is a reference to the verses in the King James Version of the Bible, Book of Ezekiel chapter 37, which the Latter Day Saint movement believes to be a prophecy of the Record of the Nephites.

Such titles may indicate that the text is from an unedited copy of the first edition, published 1830 by Egbert Grandin in Palmyra, New York.

Existing versions of the manuscript and first editions available for public perusal through archives such as The Joseph Smith Papers use the standard name the Book of Mormon.

title: Record of the Nephites


text:
Andrew Marshall (screenwriter)

Andrew Paul Marshall (born 27 August 1954) is a British comedy screenwriter, most noted for the domestic sitcom 2point4 children. He was also the inspiration for Marvin the Paranoid Android in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Although he had also previously adapted stories for Agatha Christie's Poirot, in 2002 he made a further move into writing "straight" drama, with the fantasy horror series Strange. He has also written several screenplays.

Career
Born in Lowestoft, Marshall attended Fen Park School and then Lowestoft Grammar School, and afterwards Borough Road College where he studied mathematics and psychology. Around the same time, he worked regularly on Radio 4's Week Ending, together with David Renwick, Douglas Adams, Alistair Beaton, John Lloyd, Simon Brett and others. Shortly afterwards he began writing The Burkiss Way with David Renwick and John Mason (who later dropped out to go to acting school). Renwick and Marshall remained scriptwriting partners for many years.

Brought by Humphrey Barclay to London Weekend Television, originally to repeat his 'nursery slopes comedy' Do Not Adjust Your Set with End of Part One, Marshall and Renwick went on to write a series of television satires, including Whoops Apocalypse, Hot Metal and If You See God, Tell Him — the latter originally for Channel 4, but postponed for several years when the channel refused to let them direct it, and finally ending up at the BBC later.

They also experimented with a type of neo-Vaudeville style in The Steam Video Company for Thames Television, ultimately ending up at the BBC, writing, with Alexei Sayle, Alexei Sayle's Stuff. Along the way they also wrote the screenplay for a film version of Whoops Apocalypse and adapted Tom Sharpe's novel Wilt for a film of the same title.

After a tentative and unsuccessful attempt at solo writing with Sob Sisters at Central Television, Marshall found long-lasting success BBC One's 2point4 children, adding to it Health and Efficiency and later, Dad. He also found time to adapt Alexei Sayle's short story "Lose Weight, Ask Me How" for the series Spinechillers, in which Sayle also starred.

Having also contributed to Agatha Christie's Poirot on ITV, he next wrote drama with the telefantasy series Strange for Saturday nights on BBC One. However, due to scheduling issues, a one-year gap between the pilot episode and the series and the BBC's decision not to repeat the pilot before the series began, the series failed to find a large audience in its Saturday night slot and was not recommissioned for a second run.

Until recently Marshall has avoided publicity of any kind, explaining that "it's very bad for you", and cites his major influences as "Alfred Hitchcock and Walt Disney... which explains a lot." In 2005, he had a small cameo appearance on-screen in an episode of David Renwick's comedy-drama Love Soup on BBC One, alongside Renwick himself, as members of a sitcom scriptwriting team. He also appeared as a member of the Critics Panel on several editions of BBC 7's "Serious About Comedy" in 2006–7.

More recently he began a new collaboration with Rob Grant, producing directing and writing the Radio 4 Series "The Quanderhorn Xperimentations" - and also the novel version published by Gollancz. In a further unexpected turn, he and Rob Grant launched a Radio 4 sketch Series "The Nether Regions" as writer/performers in October 2019. Grant and Marshall are working together on other projects as well.

With David Renwick

 * The Burkiss Way (BBC Radio 4)
 * End of Part One (London Weekend Television for ITV)
 * Whoops Apocalypse (London Weekend Television for ITV)
 * Whoops Apocalypse (movie version)
 * The Steam Video Company (Thames Television for ITV)
 * Alexei Sayle's Stuff (BBC) - also with Alexei Sayle
 * There's a Lot of It About (BBC) - also with Spike Milligan
 * If You See God, Tell Him (BBC)
 * Hot Metal (LWT)
 * Wilt

With John Lloyd

 * Hordes of the Things (BBC Radio 4)

With Rob Grant

 * The Quanderhorn Xperimentations (BBC Radio 4) and Gollancz
 * The Nether Regions (BBC Radio 4)

Solo

 * Sob Sisters (ITV)
 * 2point4 children (BBC)
 * Strange (BBC)
 * Dad (BBC)
 * Health and Efficiency (BBC)
 * Poirot: The Victory Ball; How Does Your Garden Grow? (LWT)

title: Andrew Marshall (screenwriter)


text:
Zambo

Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian and African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the Americas to refer to persons who are of mixed African and Indigenous American ancestry.

The equivalent term in Brazil is cafuzo. However, in Portugal and Portuguese-speaking Africa, cafuzo is used to refer to someone born of an African person and a person of mixed African and European ancestry.

Background
The word is believed to have originated from one of the Romance languages or Latin and its direct descendants. The feminine word is zamba (not to be confused with the Argentine Zamba folk dance.)

In some parts of colonial Spanish America, the term zambo applied to the children of one African and one Amerindian parent, or the children of two zambo parents. In New Spain (colonial Mexico), the term for those of mixed African and indigenous ancestry was lobo ("wolf"). This term of classification appears in official marriage registers and other official documentation.

During this period, many other terms denoted individuals of African-Amerindian ancestry in ratios smaller or greater than the 50:50 of zambos: cambujo (zambo-Amerindian mixture) for example. Today in parts of Spanish America, zambo refers to all people with significant or visible amounts of both African and Amerindian ancestry.

History
The term zambo was not formally used in Spanish territories. Competing terms, such as mulato, were also used. From the beginning the early sixteenth century, when African slaves were first imported to Hispaniola, unions between them and indigenous peoples, and Spanish colonists, began to take place. The two non-European groups sometimes worked together in the mines or on the plantations of Hispaniola, and on other Spanish Caribbean islands following the introduction of sugar cane production in the 1520s. In other cases, Africans took refuge in indigenous communities after escaping slavery.

The term zambos was generally used to refer to persons who did not have European ancestry, but all sorts of unions took place through the centuries, of course. In the eighteenth century, the Spanish began making formal racial classifications, and defined zambo in what became its final, official meaning.

Some zambo groups became well known after being created by runaway or rebel Africans who mixed with or took over indigenous communities. In the unconquered regions of Esmeraldes, in what would become Ecuador, for example, a small group of shipwrecked former slaves gained control of some indigenous communities, eventually representing them before Spanish authorities in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

The Misquito Zambos developed as the descendants of a group of African slaves who revolted in 1640 on a slave ship. They wrecked it at Cape Gracias a Dios on the border between Honduras and Nicaragua, to escape into the interior. There they united with the indigenous Miskito people. By the early eighteenth century, Afro-Miskito people came to dominate the kingdom. They led warriors on many extensive slave raids to capture slaves for sale to Europeans. Their alliance and protection of English-speaking merchants and settlers in the area helped Great Britain found the colony of British Honduras (present day Belize).

Today
Officially, zambos represent sizeable minorities in the northwestern South American countries of Colombia, Brazil, Venezuela, Guyana, and Ecuador, as well as in the Central American country of Panama. A small, but noticeable number of zambos, resulting from recent unions of Amerindian men to Afro-Ecuadorian women, and they are common in major coastal cities of Ecuador and in Imbabura province. Prior to rural-to-urban migration in Ecuador, Amerindians and Afro-Ecuadorians were ethnicities that were mostly confined to the Andes region and Esmeraldas Province and the Chota Valley in Imbabura Province, respectively.

In Central America, two indigenous-African mixed groups have developed: the Miskito and the Garifuna. The Garifuna originated from the combination of Africans who were shipwrecked or fled from neighboring islands to St. Vincent during the 17th and the 19l8th centuries. In 1797, they were deported by the British for supporting France during the French Revolutionary Wars to the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras. From there, they reached the mainland and developed communities along the coast of Central America from Nicaragua to Belize.

In Mexico, where zambos were sometimes known as lobos (literally meaning wolves), they form a sizeable minority. According to the 2015 Intercensus Estimate, 896,829 people identified as both Afro-Mexican and Indigenous Mexican. The vast majority of the country's Afro-descended population has been absorbed into the wider mestizo population. Greater concentrations can be found only in communities scattered around the southern coastal states, including Michoacán, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Campeche, Quintana Roo, Yucatán, and Veracruz, where many of the country's Afro-Mexicans reside.

Culturally, Mexican lobos followed Amerindian traditions, rather than African influences, as they often had Amerindian mothers and were brought up in her culture. Such acculturation also took place in Bolivia, where the Afro-Bolivian community absorbed and retained many aspects of Amerindian cultural influences, such as dress and the use of the Aymara language. Those communities of Afro-Bolivians reside in the Yungas region of the Bolivian department of La Paz.

Racism and discrimination
The populations of African and Amerindian ancestry have generally been marginalized and discriminated against.

In March 2008, the then US Senator Barack Obama reflected in a speech the difficult situation faced by the populations of African and Amerindian ancestors, thereby demonstrating his concern for the Zamba population of his country.

title: Zambo


text:
Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai

Philippe-Antoine Merlin, known as Merlin de Douai (, 30 October 1754 – 26 December 1838) was a French politician and lawyer.

Early life
Merlin de Douai was born at Arleux, Nord, and was called to the Flemish bar association in 1775. He collaborated in the Répertoire de jurisprudence, the later editions of which appeared under Merlin's superintendence, and contributed to other important legal compilations. In 1782 he purchased a position as royal secretary at the chancellery of the Flanders parlement. His reputation spread to Paris and he was consulted by leading magistrates. The Duke of Orléans selected him to be a member of his privy council.

As an elected member of the States-General for the Third Estate in Douai, he was one of the chief of those who applied the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the National Constituent Assembly's Tennis Court Oath of 20 June 1789.

Career
On behalf of the committee, appointed to deal with the Ancien Régime’s nobility rights, Merlin de Douai presented to the Assembly reports on manorialism and the subjects of redistribution with compensation, and topics associated with them (hunting and fishing rights, forestry etc.). He carried legislation for the abolition of primogeniture and secured equality of inheritance between relatives of the same degree and between men and women. He also prepared the report for the Assembly that argued that no compensation should be paid to the German princes whose lands in Alsace were forfeit when France incorporated them.

His numerous reports were supplemented by popular exposition of current legislation in the Journal de legislation. On the dissolution of the Assembly, he became judge of the criminal court at Douai.

National Convention
Although not always an advocate of violent measures, as a deputy to the National Convention in The Mountain, Merlin de Douai voted for the execution of King Louis XVI. Later, as a member of the council of legislation, he presented to the Convention the Law of Suspects (17 September 1793), permitting the detention of suspects, (a document backed by Georges Couthon and Maximilien Robespierre). He exercised missions in his native region and accused General Charles François Dumouriez of having betrayed the country during the Campaign of the Low Countries (after the Battle of Neerwinden).

Merlin de Douai was closely allied with his namesake Merlin of Thionville and, after the start of the Thermidorian Reaction, which brought about the fall of Robespierre in 1794, became president of the Convention and a member of the Committee of Public Safety. His efforts were primarily directed to the prevention of any new gathering of powers by the Jacobin Club, the Commune and the Revolutionary Tribunal.

Merlin de Douai convinced the Committee of Public Safety to agree with the closing of the Jacobin Club on the ground that it was an administrative, rather than a legislative, measure. Merlin de Douai recommended the readmission of the survivors of the Girondin party to the Convention and drew up a law limiting the right of insurrection. He had also a considerable share in the foreign policy of the French Republic.

Merlin de Douai had been commissioned in April 1794 to report on the civil and criminal legislation of France, and, after eighteen months work, he produced the Rapport et projet de code des délits et des peines (10 Vendémiaire, an IV). Merlin's code abolished confiscation, branding and life imprisonment and was based chiefly on the penal code that had been drawn up in September 1791.

Directory
He was made Minister of Justice (30 October 1795) and later Minister of the General Police (2 January 1796) under the Directory, before moving back to the Justice Ministry (3 April 1796) keeping tight surveillance of the Royalist émigrés. After the coup d'état known as 18 Fructidor, he became one of the five Directors on 5 September 1797. He was accused of the bankruptcy and various other failures of the government and was forced to retire into private life during the Coup of 30 Prairial VII on 18 June 1799.

Consulate and Empire
Merlin de Douai had no share in Napoleon Bonaparte's 18 Brumaire coup. Under the Consulate, Merlin de Douai accepted a minor position in the Cour de cassation, where he soon became procureur-général (Attorney General). Although he had no share in drawing up the Napoleonic Code, he was very involved in matters regarding its application. He became a member of the Conseil d'État, Count of the Empire, and Grand Officier de la Légion d'honneur.

Exile and July Monarchy
Having resumed his functions during the Hundred Days, he was one of those banished on the Second Bourbon Restoration.

The years of his exile were devoted to his Répertoire de jurisprudence (5th ed., 18 vols., Paris, 1827–1828) and to his Recueil alphabétique des questions de droit (4th ed., 8 vols., Paris, 1827–1828). At the 1830 July Revolution, he returned to France and re-entered the Institut de France, of which he had been an original member. He was admitted to the Academy of Political and Moral Sciences by the July Monarchy. He died in Paris.

Personal life
Merlin de Douai's son, Antoine François Eugène Merlin (1778–1854), was a well-known general in the French Revolutionary Army and served in most of the Napoleonic Wars.

title: Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai