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Icarians

The Icarians were a French-based utopian socialist movement, established by the followers of politician, journalist, and author Étienne Cabet. In an attempt to put his economic and social theories into practice, Cabet led his followers to the United States of America in 1848, where the Icarians established a series of egalitarian communes in the states of Texas, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and California. The movement split several times due to factional disagreements.

The last community of Icarians, located a few miles outside Corning, Iowa, disbanded voluntarily in 1898. The 46 years of tenure at this location made the Corning Icarian Colony one of the longest-lived non-religious communal living experiments in US history.

Cabet as radical French politician

Étienne Cabet was born in Dijon, France in 1788 to a middle-class family of artisans. Cabet attended a Roman Catholic secondary school and continued his education, ultimately earning a Doctorate of Law degree in 1812. Cabet was not inclined towards jurisprudence, however, preferring the rough and tumble of politics and journalism. Following the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815, Cabet became active in the struggle against conservative theocratic monarchism, participating in political groups which espoused a constitutional and republican form of government under monarchical leadership.

In 1820 Cabet moved to Paris, the political center of the French nation. There he continued to participate in secret revolutionary societies, at considerable personal risk. It ultimately took a decade for this underground political effort to bear fruit when in July 1830 revolution erupted seeking the fundamental change of the conservative regime which had gained power in the Bourbon Restoration following the fall of Napoleon.

This Revolution of 1830 in a matter of a few frenzied days forced the abdication of the conservative monarch Charles X and returned constitutional government to France. Cabet played a leading role in the revolution as a leading member of the so-called "Insurrection Committee," activity for which he was recognized with appointment as Attorney-General for Corsica following the coronation of Louis Philippe as king.

Historian Morris Hillquit has argued that the posting of Cabet to Corsica was a calculated "shrewd move on the part of the government" to remove a prominent radical critic from the political hothouse of Paris "under the guise of a reward for his services during the revolution." Be that as it may, despite his employment as a government functionary in Corsica, Cabet moved into criticism of the new Orléanist regime for its conservatism and half-measures with respect to constitutional rule and the democratic rights of the people. This brought about Cabet's prompt removal from office by the new regime in Paris, at whose pleasure Cabet served. Following his dismissal as Corsican Attorney-General, Cabet turned his hand to writing, authoring a four-volume history of the French Revolution. He also remained active in politics and was elected as a deputy to the lower chamber of the National Assembly in 1834. Cabet emerged as a fierce opponent of the new conservative regime and a potential revolutionary leader, drawing the attention of the regime and its repressive mechanism. In an effort to eliminate the dangerous democratic agitator, Cabet was given the choice of two years' imprisonment or five years in foreign exile. He decided upon the latter punishment and immediately went into exile in England.

During his five years of English exile, Cabet dedicated himself to philosophical and economic study, carefully considering the relationship between political structures and economic welfare throughout history. Cabet's findings were later summarized thus by one of his acolytes:

"Studying, pondering the history of all ages and countries, he at length arrived at the conclusion that mere political reforms are powerless to give to society the ... welfare which it obstinately seeks. ... He found at all epochs the same phenomena: society sundered in twain; on one side a minority, cruel, idle, arrogant, usurping exclusive enjoyment of the products of a majority, passive, toiling, ignorant, who remained wholly destitute. ... To change all this, to find the means of preventing one portion of humanity from being eternally the prey of the other — such was his desire, the goal of all his efforts."

Cabet turned to the idea of reorganization of society on a communal basis — known as "Communism" in the terminology of the day. His ideas for the modification of society closely paralleled those of a man he met in English exile, Robert Owen.

Voyage en Icarie

In 1839, his five years' exile in England complete, Cabet returned to France. He soon began writing a book to expound his economic and social ideas. Following the example of Thomas More in using the form of an allegorical novel allowed not only the exposition of his ideal form of administration but an opportunity for cloaked criticism of the existing regime.

The result of Cabet's writing was Voyage et aventures de Lord William Carisdall en Icarie (Voyage and Adventures of Lord William Carisdall in Icaria), published in a special edition for friends in 1839, and a general public edition in 1840. A new edition in 1842 shortened the title to Voyage en Icarie.

Cabet serialized a rough English translation in Icarian periodicals of the 1850s. Academic specialist Robert P. Sutton, professor of history at Western Illinois University, made a translation into English that has been deposited with the Library of Congress, although it remains unpublished. In 2003, Syracuse University Press published a translation by Leslie J. Roberts, Travels in Icaria.

A basic plot outline was published by Morris Hillquit in 1903:

"Lord Carisdall, a young English nobleman, has by chance learned of the existence of a remote and isolated country known as Icaria. The unusual mode of life, habits, and form of government of the Icarians excite his lordship's curiosity, and he decides to visit their country. Voyage en Icarie purports to be a journal in which our traveler records his remarkable experiences and discoveries in the strange country.

The first part of the book contains a glowing account of the blessings of the cooperative system of industry of the Icarians, their varied occupations and accomplishments, comfortable mode of life, admirable system of education, high morality, political freedom, equality of sexes, and general happiness. The second part contains a history of Icaria. It appears that the social order of the country had been similar to that prevailing in the rest of the world, until 1782, when the great national hero, Icar, after a successful revolution, established the system of communism.

This recital gives Cabet the opportunity for a scathing criticism of the faults of the present social structure, and also to outline his favorite measures for the transition from that system to the new regime.

... The last part of the book is devoted to the history of development of the idea of communism, and contains a summary of the views of almost all known writers on the subject, from Plato down to the famous utopians of the early part of the 19th Century."

Although regarded today as a "plodding melodrama" in which the reader was inundated with "tedious details of incidental aspects of Icarian life," Cabet's book was well received by readers of his day, with the principles it outlined viewed by many as a blueprint for advancement from a disappointing present to a glorious future. Multiple editions of the book followed in quick succession and with public interest awakened Cabet quickly made the transition from author to builder of a practical movement to advance the communal ideas which he had expounded. In March 1841 Cabet launched a monthly magazine, Le Populaire, as well as an annual Icarian Almanac to help propagandize and organize the new political movement's supporters.

So-called "Icarianism" attracted numerous supporters in such French cities as Reims, Leon, Nantes, Toulouse, and Toulon, with Cabet claiming the existence of 50,000 adherents of his ideas by the end of 1843. These supporters began to see Cabet as a political messiah and sought to implement the leader's ideas in a practical setting. It was gradually decided in this period that France did not present a favorable economic, political, or social environment for the implementation of the Icarian ideas; instead, the United States of America was chosen as a more fitting site for colonization – a nation with vast expanses of relatively inexpensive land and a democratic political tradition.

In May 1847, Cabet's organ Le Populaire carried a lengthy article entitled "Allons en Icarie" (Let Us Go to Icaria), detailing the proposal to establish an American colony based upon the Icarian political and economic ideals and calling for those committed to building an artisanal and agrarian community to volunteer. The wheels were thus set in motion for the formation of what was intended to be a prosperous and enviable collective entity.

Colonization begins
Cabet believed that at least 10,000 or 20,000 working men would immediately enlist in the American colonization scheme, with the number soon swelling to a million skilled workers and artisans. Towns and huge cities bursting with industry would shortly follow, with accompanying schools and cultural facilities assuring the good life for a happy and fulfilled community. Announcement of the plan was met with enthusiasm, and offers of participation along with gifts of money, seeds, farm implements, clothing, books, and other valuable and useful items began to flow in.

Cabet gave himself the task of choosing a precise location for colonization. Cabet turned to his friend Robert Owen for advice, traveling to London in September 1847 to consult with his British co-thinker. Owen recommended colonization in the new American state of Texas, a location reckoned to possess vast tracts of unoccupied land which would be as inexpensive as it was plentiful. Cabet made contact with a Texas land agent, The Peters Company, which agreed to present to Owen title for 1 million acres of land so long as it was colonized by July 1, 1848.

Denton County, Texas

On February 3, 1848 a so-called "advance guard" of 69 Icarians departed from Le Havre, France for a new life in Texas, leaving aboard the sailing ship Rome. These were to proceed to the port of New Orleans and to make their way from there to the designated area in Texas, which was represented as being in close proximity to the Red River. The advance guard arrived in America on March 27, 1848.

They were quick to discover that they had been deceived and that the actual lands designated for colonization were fully 25 miles away from the Red River; moreover, colony lands were not contiguous, but rather were separated into a checkerboard fashion, alternating state and private lands, making integrated communal life not possible. Moreover, instead of the promised 1 million acres, actual contractual terms of the land distribution provided for the distribution of 320 acres of land to 3,125 individuals or families who each had to construct a log cabin and occupy their allotment by the deadline date of July 1, 1848. With only 69 hands available for the construction, there was little hope for construction of more than about 30 cabins by the deadline. The promised 1 million acres was thereby transformed into perhaps 10,000. By 1849, only 281 Icarians stayed loyal to Cabet and remained to rebuild, whereas the rest went back to France.

The party could only proceed by boat to Shreveport. A wagon was obtained and loaded it with provisions for a difficult overland trek via the Bonham Trail to a resting place halfway to the final destination. The first group of 25 men departed on April 8, followed in a second wagon by 14 others shortly thereafter. Both wagons broke down en route and the 39 Icarians were forced to proceed in small groups, packing what they could on their backs. It was not until April 21 that they arrived at their resting place, still more than a hundred difficult miles from their goal.

Only 27 intrepid French settlers were able to make the final leg of the trip from the farm designated as a resting place to their new Texan utopia, a site located in today's Denton County in Texas (northwest of Dallas). The small group arrived June 2, 1848, and immediately began a frenzied effort to construct dwellings in order to stake their land claims, attempting at the same time to plow and farm the prairie. Virtually no time remained to meet the terms of the land concession. The hot summer sun began to bake the ground. Poorly fed, poorly housed, overworked and exhausted, the Icarian colonists next fell victim to an outbreaks of cholera and malaria, illnesses which killed four and sickened the rest. Making a bad situation still worse, the one medical doctor in the company broke down into a state of insanity and deserted his fellows.

Back home in France, the Revolution of 1848 had long been in full swing and King Louis Philippe overthrown. The necessity of emigration to achieve democratic reforms seemed less compelling and the volunteers for Icarian colonization in America melted away. Some 1500 settlers were planned for the next wave of settlers; only 19 made the trip, of whom barely more than half ever made it to Texas to join the beleaguered "advance guard" in their Sisyphean task.

The grim reality of their situation now clear, the Texas colonization venture was written off as a total loss by the participants and the survivors divided into small groups to make their way back to Shreveport and from there to New Orleans. Four more died en route. Finally arriving in New Orleans late in 1848, the Texas pioneers were met by several hundred colonization enthusiasts from France, who had been slowly congregating in that city. Their mood was grim.

News of the Texas catastrophe reached Cabet in France and on December 13, 1848, he set out from Liverpool for America in an attempt to shore up the project. After landing in New York, he shipped out again for New Orleans, disembarking there on January 19, 1849. Cabet found his supporters in disarray, "in the deplorable spirit of a defeated army," to borrow words from an official history by the group. A portion of the prospective colonists sought to abandon the project and to return to France; others sought to continue the colonization project in a more suitable locale.

On January 21 the colonists held a general meeting to decide their fate. Cabet declared that if a majority sought to return home to France, he would support the decision — although with all the costs absorbed in the previous year such a move would have meant financial disaster for all. A small majority of 280 decided to continue with the colonization project if a more suitable locale was found; 200 sought to return. A formal split of the Icarians along these lines immediately followed, the first of three great factional rifts which would split the movement.

An amount of money was pared from the treasury to send the 200 disaffected Icarians home to Le Havre. Once back in France, many of the former Icarian colonists initiated legal proceedings against Cabet for fraud – charges which he was ultimately forced home to answer.

The majority, consisting of about 280 people, joined Cabet in setting out for the Mississippi River town of Nauvoo, located in Hancock County, Illinois, where the Icarian experiment finally began in earnest.

Nauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo was founded in 1839 for the gathering of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Even though Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, was killed in 1844, by 1845 Nauvoo had grown to a community of about 15,000 people – dwarfing the city of Chicago, which had only about 8,000 inhabitants at that time. Under threat of continuing violence from the surrounding communities and following a succession crisis, most of the Latter-day Saints, under Brigham Young left in 1846 for Salt Lake City, Utah, the current headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Latter-day Saints later sold their land to the Icarians in 1849.

Nauvoo would become the first permanent Icarian Community, the Icarians immediately adopting the charter and structure described in Cabet's Voyage en Icarie. The structure included an annually elected president and one officer each to administer finance, farming, industry, and education. New members were admitted by a majority approval vote by the adult males, after living in the commune for four months, forfeiting all personal property, and pledging $80. Nonetheless, visitors were welcome to stay as long as they wished in a hotel.

Every family used the same amount of space (two rooms in an apartment building), and were allowed the same amount of furniture. After the age of four, children lived apart from their parents at a boarding school, and visited families only on Sundays. This was intended to foster a love for the community "without developing special affection for parents" from a young age, theoretically instrumental to the smooth working of a Utopian society. Sundays were not what would be a typical religious Sunday. The Icarians practiced no religion, but there were days people voluntarily gathered in a fellowship called "Cours icarien" to discuss Cabet's writings and Christian morals and ethics. Because long-term celibacy was viewed askance by the community, marriage was the norm. Divorce was acceptable under the assumption individuals would remarry soon.

With the basic need of shelter immediately settled, a short period of energetic growth and relative prosperity followed. Farmland was rented, a saw mill and flour mill opened, workshops established, and schools and a theater founded. A periodical press was launched, publishing in French, English, and German, and an office was established in Paris to recruit adherents for the American colony. The Nauvoo cultural life thrived. The Icarians held regular band concerts and theatre productions. Their library consisted of an extensive collection, ranging from reference works to applied science to popular novels, all in English and French, and totaling over 4,000 volumes. By 1855 there would be more than 500 participants in the Icarian project.

Political disagreements and personal animosities would lead to the second major split of the Icarians in America. Étienne Cabet began in America in 1849 with the authority of the sect's unquestioned leader, status which was freely granted to him by those inspired to action by the man's writings. This individual status as supreme decision-maker stood in marked contradiction to the democratic ideals of the community, however. Cabet himself realized as much and in 1850 he proposed a constitution which provided for an elected president and board of directors, which would supplant the absolute, personal authority of the unitary leader. This system functioned effectively for a time.

In 1852, a lawsuit was filed in Paris against Cabet by a number of dissident former Icarians, who claimed their property was obtained by him by means of fraud. Cabet returned to France for 18 months to fight these charges. When he returned to America, he began to push through a series of restrictive rules, including the prohibition of talking in workshops, banning the use of tobacco and alcohol, and other regulations which were unpopular with some members of the community. He also moved to reestablish his own personal decision-making authority over the entire community, proposing in December 1855 to revise the constitution to provide for a powerful president elected to a four-year term. This president, under Cabet's new scheme, would have the ability to control all aspects of the community's government. This position by Cabet was anathema to a majority of the Icarian cooperators, who were deeply inspired and influenced by the history and traditions of the Great French Revolution and its democratic ideals. Cabet's position was deeply held by him as essential to the preservation of the community's moral fiber, however, and in his position he was staunchly supported by "a strong minority."

The factional battle continued for a year between the Dissidents (led by Alexis Armel Marchand and Jean Baptist Gerard) and the Cabetists, finally resolving itself in a formal split. The Cabetists were expelled, and Cabet led about 170 of his followers out of Nauvoo in October 1856, heading downriver to St. Louis to establish a new colony in that vicinity.

Shattered by the loss of about 40% of its members and no longer able to raise financial support in France, the Nauvoo colony of the majority faction ultimately encountered insurmountable financial difficulties and was forced to disband in 1860. Many of the participants of the defunct Nauvoo colony would join the parallel Icarian colony in Iowa.

One legacy still continues in Nauvoo. Emile and Annette Baxter joined the Icarian community in 1855, staying with it through the 1857 breakup. They remained in Nauvoo and founded Baxter's Vineyards and Winery. It has been operated by several generations of the family and is Illinois' oldest winery.

Cheltenham, Missouri
The Icarians who had left Nauvoo owing to their support of personal leadership of Cabet and his restrictive behavioral agenda arrived in St. Louis on November 6, 1856. In an ironic twist of fate, the leader for whom they had executed the split of Icaria in Nauvoo, Étienne Cabet, died just two days later. The new leader became a thirty-two-year-old lawyer named Benjamin Mercadier.

On February 15, 1858, a group of 151 Icarians took possession of a few hundred acres in Cheltenham, St. Louis, Missouri. These Cabetists used Cabet's money and put down $500 on a $25,000 mortgage for thirty-nine acres and three buildings southwest of this city. Adjusting to a new area and new locals was difficult, but the Icarians adopted a constitution, a replica of the Nauvoo one, worked in the city, and enrolled their children into the local public schools. The colony quickly fell into various arguments. During the Civil War, many young men joined the Union cause. By 1864, only about twenty residents remained on the property. For the rest of the people, epidemics of dysentery and cholera occurred in the warmer months. Because the Icarians could not meet the mortgage payments, in March 1864, Arsène Sauva returned the keys to the property to St. Louis banker Thomas Allen (from whom the property had been purchased in 1858), leaving a large debt. That same year, most members left the community, and the Cheltenham Icaria was no longer extant.

In 1872, the buildings went into a state of disrepair, and in 1875, a fire destroyed the buildings on this property, removing the last evidence of the Icarian colony.

Corning, Iowa

In 1852, Icarians purchased land in Adams County, Iowa to form a new permanent settlement, and Icarians began settling southwest of Queen City in 1853. In 1860, when the Nauvoo colony went bankrupt, many members of the community moved to the new site in Iowa. The settlers arrived with nothing but their skills along with $20,000 of debt. Their land was that of 4000 acre where they first found shelter in mud hovels and then in crudely built log cabins. The colony near what became Corning, Iowa was granted a charter of incorporation by the state of Iowa in 1860. The community prospered during the Civil War by selling food at good prices, and they were able to pay their collective debt by 1870.

In the spring of 1874 the Icarian colony near Corning was visited by Charles Nordhoff, who was travelling the United States doing investigative research on such communities in preparation for writing a book. At that time Nordhoff found a two-story building, 60 feet by 24, which served as a collective dining hall, washhouse, and school About a dozen cheaply built frame houses sheltered the colonists, who at the time included about 65 members in 11 families. Most of those in the community were of French ethnicity, and French was the language spoken by the colonists, although among their number were included "one American, one Swiss, a Swede, a Spaniard, and two Germans."

Nordhoff wrote:

"The children look remarkably healthy, and on Sunday were dressed with great taste. The living is still of the plainest. In the common dining-hall they assemble in groups at the tables, which were without a cloth, and they drink out of tin cups, and pour their water from tin cans. 'It is very plain,' said one to me; 'but we are independent — no man's servants — and we are content.'"

Nordhoff noted that the Iowa colony sold to the market about 2,500 pounds of wool annually, as well as cattle and hogs and the product of its manufacturing facilities. The group continued to operate under an elaborate constitution written by Cabet, "which lays down with great care the equality and brotherhood of mankind, and the duty of holding all things in common; abolishes servitude or service (or servants); commands marriage, under penalties; provides for education; and requires that the majority shall rule." Governance was based upon weekly meetings of all adults each Saturday, with a President elected annually as formal head of the colony but officers for the conduct of meetings elected each week. In addition to the President there were four elected directors, in charge of agriculture, clothing, industry, and construction, respectively.

Nordhoff noted that the community had no formal religious observances. Instead, "Sunday is a day of rest from labor, when the young men go out with guns, and the society sometimes has theatrical representations, or music, or some kind of amusement. The principle is to let each one do as he pleases." In the 1870s, the Icarian colony near Corning had another split. The "vieux icariens" were against allowing women the right to vote, but the "jeunes icariens" were in favor. By a vote of 31–17, the community electors voted against the franchise for women. After that, the jeunes icariens moved to a new site on the same property about one mile southeast. The move was done by moving eight frame houses from the original colony. The vieux icariens community was no longer viable and was forced to disband due to bankruptcy in 1878. The new community established a new constitution in 1879.

In 1898, this last community of Icarians disbanded voluntarily; the members chose to integrate into the surrounding towns. Its 46 years in existence made the Corning Icarian community the longest-lived non-religious communal living experiment in American history until the 21st century.

A historical exhibit about the Icarians can be found in the lobby of the Adams County hall in Corning, and a living history site is being rebuilt on the location of the site where the Icarians lived until 1898.

Cloverdale, California
A new colony of "Icaria Speranza" was established by Jules Leroux (brother of French socialist philosopher Pierre Leroux) and Armand Dehay, who in 1881 moved from Jeune Icarie to an area just south of Cloverdale, California. The group bought the 885-acre Bluxome ranch on the Russian River, which included vineyards, orchards, and arable land. Originally named Speranza, after Leroux's review L'Esperance, the community gained remaining members of Young Icaria and became Icaria-Speranza. At its height, the settlement had an estimated population of 55 individuals. This settlement disbanded in 1886. Today there is an historical marker just south of town marking where their schoolhouse was.

Admissions
A charter created by the Society in 1853 specified that residents of the Nauvoo colony were required to donate all their worldly goods to the community, which had to include a minimum of $60. Those who passed a probationary period of four months would be allowed to move to the permanent colony in Iowa.

Equality
The Icarians lived in communal dwellings of dormitories that shared central living and dining areas. All families lived in two equal rooms in an apartment building and had the same kind of furniture. Children were raised in a communal creche, not just by their own parents. Tasks were divided among the group; one might be a seamstress and never need to cook.

Housing
When the Icarians first arrived at Nauvoo on March 15, 1849, they purchased a number of buildings, grounds, houses, cattle and the burned-out Mormon Temple which they intended to use as an academy or school.

After all purchases and repairs were done, the Nauvoo Icarian village consisted of a dwelling of individual apartments, two schools (one for girls and the other for boys), two infirmaries, a pharmacy, a large community kitchen with dining hall, a bakery, a butchery, and a room for laundry facilities. Soon thereafter, a steam-powered flour mill, a distillery, pigsty and sawmill were added. A local coal mine was worked for fuel.

Work

All work was divided by sex. Men worked as tailors, masons, wheelwrights, shoemakers, mechanics, blacksmiths, carpenters, tanners, and butchers. Women worked as cooks, seamstresses, washerwomen and ironers.

To earn money, the Icarians established commerce with the outside world by a small store outside St. Louis. Here they sold their handmade shoes, boots and dresses, and also sold items made by the mills and distillery.

Religion
The Icarians believed in a higher power and had a ten-section principle that briefly stated what they thought was needed in a perfect society.

The religion of choice should have an understanding of the following:
 * Evil, Misfortune
 * Intelligence
 * Causes of Evil
 * God and Perfection
 * Destiny of Humanity, Happiness
 * Sociability
 * Perfectibility
 * The Remedy
 * God, Father of the Human Race

At eighteen years of age, the Icarians were instructed on world religions. Marriage in the community was highly encouraged, almost insisted upon. Divorce was allowed; however, members were encouraged to remarry as soon as possible.

Cabet's book Vrai christianisme (True Christianity) was often read from and formed the dominant influence on religious thought, though it was not intended as a specific instruction on religious observances. In the Iowa colony, the Icarians adopted the practice of an informal religious gathering known as the "Cours Icariens" ("Icarian Course") on Sunday afternoons. In addition to reading from Vrai christianisme and other books, these gatherings included quiet games and conversation.

Culture
Culture in Icaria was the second highest priority, second only to education. The community held several concerts and theatrical productions for the entertainment of its members, performing works such as "The Salamander", "Death to the Rats", "Six Heads in a Hat", or "Fisherman's Daughter".

In Nauvoo, there was a library of over 4,000 books, the biggest in Illinois at the time. The community also distributed a biweekly newspaper titled Colonie Icarienne.

The most important holidays were February 3, the anniversary of the First Departure of Icarians from France, and July 4, the summer festival. On July 4, the refectory was decorated with garlands and boughs; cardboard signs declared "Equality", "Freedom", and "Unity", and banners had quotations like "All for Each; Each for All", "To Each According to Their Needs", and "First Right is to Live; First Duty is to Work". They raised the American flag and played the "Star Spangled Banner" and "America". They travelled into Corning to watch the Fourth of July parade, but they remained apart from the anglophone Americans. At the end of the day, they returned to Icaria (three miles east) for a banquet, dance, and theatrical presentation. Icarians also celebrated Christmas, New Year's Day, and the Fete du Mais, a fall harvest corn festival similar to Thanksgiving.

Women's rights
Men and women were given equal participation opportunities in weekly community assemblies, voting on admissions, constitutional changes, and the election of the officer in charge of clothing and lodging.

Works
''These works are solely by Étienne Cabet except where noted. They are in order by publication year then by title, with translations noted accordingly.''

title: Icarians


text:
Hemlock Lake

Hemlock Lake is one of the minor Finger Lakes. It is mostly located in Livingston County, New York, south of Rochester, with a portion overlapping into Ontario County. Hemlock is a translation of the Seneca name for the lake, O-neh-da Te-car-ne-o-di. It is one of two Finger Lakes whose shorelines are virtually undeveloped.

Description
Hemlock Lake is 7 mi long, and approximately 0.5 mi wide along most of its uniform north-south length. It has a surface area of 1800 acre, and maximum and mean depths of 91 ft and 45 ft respectively. Because the lake is a water source to Rochester, shore development is restricted and boats can be no longer than 16 feet and outboard motors no larger than 10 horsepower. Swimming is not permitted in the lake.

A feature of the lake is its land-locked salmon. In addition, the lake contains rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, rock bass, chain pickerel, brown bullhead, yellow perch, walleye, and black crappie.

History
The Seneca people used the lake and its surrounding area for hunting and fishing near the south end of the lake up until the late 1770s. In September 1779 General John Sullivan and his army drove the natives away from the lake as part of the Sullivan Expedition.

In the 1790s Hemlock Lake natives were removed from their homeland, and displaced by its first white settlers. Most of these settlers were involved in the lumber industry and built their homes out of wooden slabs by the outlet which is located at the north end of the lake. For a time this place was known as "Slab City". The lake was used to float logs to Slab City in the summer months as well as to haul logs on the ice in the winter time.

Over the years Hemlock Lake became populated with over one hundred cottages and five hotels. There were five large boats that sailed the lake in the 1800s, including its first steam boat "The Seth Green". The lake was a popular summer vacation destination for the wealthy, many of whom came from Rochester.

In 1852 the City of Rochester approved the construction of a 16 mi pipeline after a severe outbreak of illness caused by contaminated city water. In 1876 the gravity-fed pipeline connecting Hemlock Lake to Rochester was opened. To improve water quality, the city purchased the land surrounding both Hemlock Lake and neighboring Canadice Lake; the lakes' cottages, hotels, and farms were condemned and torn down beginning in 1895. Property owners who refused to sell to the city became the subject of eminent domain. Including the land around Hemlock and Canadice lakes, the city owned over 5000 acres of land, of which 3900 acres were forested.

In 2010 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) purchased both Hemlock and Canadice Lakes from the City of Rochester for $13.7 million. The State has pledged to keep the lakes forever wild. Public access to the lake is permitted and encouraged, however boats are restricted to 17 ft in length and to outboard motors must be 10 horse-power or less.

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

title: Hemlock Lake


text:
Delocalized electron

In chemistry, delocalized electrons are electrons in a molecule, ion or solid metal that are not associated with a single atom or a covalent bond.

The term delocalization is general and can have slightly different meanings in different fields:
 * In organic chemistry, it refers to resonance in conjugated systems and aromatic compounds.
 * In solid-state physics, it refers to free electrons that facilitate electrical conduction.
 * In quantum chemistry, it refers to molecular orbital electrons that have extended over several adjacent atoms.

Resonance
In the simple aromatic ring of benzene, the delocalization of six π electrons over the C6 ring is often graphically indicated by a circle. The fact that the six C-C bonds are equidistant is one indication that the electrons are delocalized; if the structure were to have isolated double bonds alternating with discrete single bonds, the bond would likewise have alternating longer and shorter lengths. In valence bond theory, delocalization in benzene is represented by resonance structures.

Electrical conduction
Delocalized electrons also exist in the structure of solid metals. Metallic structure consists of aligned positive ions (cations) in a "sea" of delocalized electrons. This means that the electrons are free to move throughout the structure, and gives rise to properties such as conductivity.

In diamond all four outer electrons of each carbon atom are 'localized' between the atoms in covalent bonding. The movement of electrons is restricted and diamond does not conduct an electric current. In graphite, each carbon atom uses only 3 of its 4 outer energy level electrons in covalently bonding to three other carbon atoms in a plane. Each carbon atom contributes one electron to a delocalized system of electrons that is also a part of the chemical bonding. The delocalized electrons are free to move throughout the plane. For this reason, graphite conducts electricity along the planes of carbon atoms, but does not conduct in a direction at right angles to the plane.

Molecular orbitals
Standard ab initio quantum chemistry methods lead to delocalized orbitals that, in general, extend over an entire molecule and have the symmetry of the molecule. Localized orbitals may then be found as linear combinations of the delocalized orbitals, given by an appropriate unitary transformation.

In the methane molecule, ab initio calculations show bonding character in four molecular orbitals, sharing the electrons uniformly among all five atoms. There are two orbital levels, a bonding molecular orbital formed from the 2s orbital on carbon and triply degenerate bonding molecular orbitals from each of the 2p orbitals on carbon. The localized sp3 orbitals corresponding to each individual bond in valence bond theory can be obtained from a linear combination of the four molecular orbitals.

title: Delocalized electron


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Man-at-arms

A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a knight's or nobleman's retinue, or a mercenary in a company serving under a captain. Such men could serve for pay or through a feudal obligation. The terms knight and man-at-arms are often used interchangeably, but while all knights equipped for war were men-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights.

Terminology
Though in English the term man-at-arms is a fairly straightforward rendering of the French homme d'armes, in the Middle Ages, there were numerous terms for this type of soldier, referring to the type of arms he would be expected to provide: In France, he might be known as a lance or glaive, while in Germany, Spieß, Helm or Gleve, and in various places, a bascinet. In Italy, the term barbuta was used, and in England from the late 14th century, men-at-arms were known as lances or spears.

In the Early Medieval period, any well-equipped horseman could be described as a "knight", or in Latin, miles. In the course of the 12th century knighthood became a social rank with a distinction being made between milites gregarii (non-noble cavalrymen) and milites nobiles (true knights). As a fully armoured cavalryman could be of a lesser social status than a knight, an alternative term describing this type of soldier came into use which was, in French, homme d'armes or gent d'armes, and in English man-at-arms. This evolution differed in detail and timeline across Europe but by 1300, there was a clear distinction between the military function of the man-at-arms and the social rank of knighthood. The term man-at-arms thus primarily denoted a military function, rather than a social rank.

Military function
The military function that a man-at-arms performed was serving as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman; though he could, and in the 14th and 15th centuries often did, also fight on foot. In the course of the 16th century, the man-at-arms was gradually replaced by other cavalry types, the demi-lancer and the cuirassier, characterised by less-extensive armour coverage and the use of weapons other than the heavy lance.

Arms and armour

Throughout the Medieval period and into the Renaissance the armour of the man-at-arms became progressively more effective and expensive. Throughout the 14th century, the armour worn by a man-at-arms was a composite of materials. Over a quilted gambeson, mail armour covered the body, limbs and head. Increasingly during the century, the mail was supplemented by plate armour on the body and limbs. In the 15th century, full plate armour was developed, which reduced the mail component to a few points of flexible reinforcement.

From the 14th to 16th century, the primary weapon of the man at arms on horseback was the lance. The lance of the 14th century was essentially a simple spear, 12 ft in length, usually of ash. In response to the development of improved armour, however, heavier lances weighing up to 18 kg were developed, combined with a new method of using them in conjunction with a lance rest (arrêt) fixed to the breastplate. This combination of heavy lance and arrêt enabled the mounted man-at-arms to enjoy a new effectiveness on the battlefields of the later 15th and 16th centuries. Not all men-at-arms in the 15th century carried the heavy lance. A lighter weapon called a demi-lance evolved and this gave its name to a new class of a lighter-equipped man-at-arms, the demi-lancer, towards the end of the 15th century.

When fighting on foot, men-at-arms initially modified their ordinary cavalry weapons. English men-at-arms in Italy in the 1360s are recorded as advancing in close order with two men holding a cavalry lance. On other occasions, such as at the Battle of Agincourt, men-at-arms cut down their lances to a more manageable size of 5 ft. In the 15th century, the increased protection of plate armour led to the development of a specialist foot combat weapon, the two-handed poleaxe.

Horses
The horse was an essential part of a man-at-arm's equipment. The type of horse, however, varied according to wealth and status. Andrew Ayton in an in-depth study of English warhorses of the 13th and 14th centuries has shown that three types predominate: the destrier, the courser and an animal simply known as a "horse" (L:equus Med Fr : chival). Destriers were both rare and expensive, making up 5% of men-at-arms horses. Ayton also calculated the value of the average man-at-arm's horse in thirteen campaigns between 1282 and 1364, showing it varied between £7.6 and £16.4. In only two campaigns in the mid-14th century did the majority of horses cost more than £10. The horse was, therefore, a major item of expenditure in the equipment of a man-at-arms. It has been calculated that a French gendarme's horse in the mid-15th century cost the equivalent of six months' wages. The cost of horses meant that the professional soldier might not wish to risk his expensive asset in combat. A system evolved in the 13th century for employers to compensate for horses lost in action. In England this was called by the Latin name restauro equorum and similar systems were in use in France and Italy. In order to secure this insurance scheme, the man-at-arms had the value of his horse assessed and details of its appearance recorded. The assessment system also allowed employers to insist on a minimum value (and hence quality) of horse be presented at muster. In 14th-century England, the minimum value appears in most cases to be 100 shillings (£5).

Horse armour
As early as the late 13th century, Edward I decreed that all his men-at-arms should be mounted on equus coopertus, that is armoured, or barded, horses. Horse armour was not at that time always made of metal, with leather and quilted fabric armour also in use. Metal horse armours were made from mail or brigandine, with plate reserved for the head in the form of a chamfron. In the 15th century, plate armour for horses was introduced and was a common feature of the equipment of the gendarme into the 16th century.

Social status
The social structure of the Anglo-Norman society of England was relatively rigid. One of the easiest ways for a man to improve his social rank was through military service; another method was through the church. In the Norman states, unlike in many other contemporary societies, the knighting of men of common birth who had demonstrated ability and courage on the field of battle was possible. Although rare, some non-knightly men-at-arms did advance socially to the status of knights. The knighting of squires and men-at-arms was sometimes done in an ignoble manner, simply to increase the number of knights within an army (such practice was common during the Hundred Years' War). In chivalric theory, any knight could bestow knighthood on another, however, in practice this was usually done by sovereigns and the higher nobility. It is recorded that the great mercenary captain Sir John Hawkwood knighted a number of his followers, as many as twenty on one occasion, though he could reasonably be expected to provide the income his created knights required to maintain their new status. Attempts to restrict the power of commanders to make knights would increase during the 16th century and by the end of Elizabeth I's reign, the practice had all but ceased.

Although a knight bachelor, a knight banneret and all grades of nobility usually served as men-at-arms when called to war, the bulk of men-at-arms from the later 13th century came from an evolving social group which became known as the gentry. The man-at-arms could be a wealthy mercenary of any social origin, but more often he had some level of social rank based on income, usually from land. Some came from the class known as serjeants but increasingly during the 14th century they were drawn from an evolving class of esquire. Esquires were frequently of families of knightly rank, wealthy enough to afford the arms of a knight but who had thus far not been advanced to knightly status or perhaps had avoided it because they did not want the costs and responsibilities of that rank. Also found serving as men-at-arms were the lowest social group of the gentry, known by the 15th century simply as gentlemen.

The proportion of knights among the men-at-arms varied through time. Between the 1280s and 1360s, figures between 20 and 30% were commonplace. Thereafter, there was a rapid decline, with the figure dropping to 6.5% in 1380. A slight rise is recorded to 8% at Agincourt, perhaps because this was a royal army, but thereafter the figure continued to decline and by 1443, the Duke of Somerset mustered only 1.3% knights among his men-at-arms.

Conditions of service
Social status affected the types of military service performed by men-at-arms. Garrison duty was considered unattractive and was often carried out by soldiers of lesser status. For example, the English garrison in the Scottish town of Roxburgh in 1301 consisted of just three knights compared to twenty seven men-at-arms of lesser status.

The social stratification of men who served as men-at-arms is illustrated by their rates of pay on campaign. In the mid 1340s a knight was paid two shillings a day, an ordinary man-at-arms was paid half this amount; for comparison a foot archer received two or three pence (12 pennies to the shilling). A man-at-arms was also recompensed differentially according to the quality of his principal war-horse, if the horse was to die or was killed in battle. An ordinary esquire might own a war-horse worth only five pounds whilst a great nobleman might own a horse worth up to 100 pounds.

Military role
English men-at-arms before the second quarter of the 14th century were indistinguishable from their continental counterparts, serving as heavy cavalry on the field of battle. The Battle of Dupplin Moor in 1332, against the Scots, signalled a major change in the battlefield role of the English man-at-arms. This battle was the first major encounter where the tactical combination of dismounted men-at-arms with longbow-armed archers was deployed; the men-at-arms functioning as heavy close-combat infantry. This combination was later employed very effectively against the French in the Hundred Years' War. The English man-at-arms remained highly trained in mounted combat, though his use of the warhorse became largely confined to the pursuit of a broken enemy, skirmishing and in the chevauchée. In the late 15th century a resurgence in the effectiveness of the heavy lancer in combat took place in Europe. This was reflected to some extent in England, exemplified by Richard III's mounted charge at the Battle of Bosworth (1485) and the English cavalry charge at the Battle of the Spurs (1513).

The last major battle in which English men-at-arms were prominent was fought against a Scottish army in 1547 at Pinkie Cleugh. The outnumbered Scots cavalry were easily driven off by the English horse (the Scots cavalry having lost heavily in an engagement the day before), the Scots then made a sudden advance with their massed pikemen. To slow their onset and give time for the English infantry to receive them the English heavy horse (men-at-arms and demi-lancers) were thrown against the pikes. The English cavalry crashed into the pikemen with great elan but sustained considerable losses. However, they halted the Scots attack, buying time for the English infantry and artillery to deploy effectively; the battle resulted in a heavy defeat for the Scots.

In France

French men-at-arms were, as elsewhere, drawn from the broad class of gentil hommes. Up to the middle of the 14th century, they attended the royal army either in company of their feudal lords or as individuals. In 1351, the first in a series of ordonnances was proclaimed, attempting to regularise the organisation of men-at-arms into units of 25 to 80 combatants. New ordonnances were issued occasionally to either reinforce or reform previous ones. The ordonnance of 1363 attempted to create a standing army of 6,000 men-at-arms, although it might not have achieved more than 3,000 in reality. In 1445, a more radical overhaul was attempted. 15 companies of the ordonnance were created, each of 100 lances. Each lance contained a man-at-arms, a coustillier, three mounted archers and a page. In 1446, the scheme was extended to add another five companies, giving a total of 2,000 men-at-arms. Eventually, the number of these gens d'ordonnance du roi raised by Louis XI would reach 15,816 men, including 2,636 men-at-arms.

The 16th century
The number of men-at-arms would continue to fluctuate, dependent on military circumstances, into the 16th century. In the first quarter of the century, they varied between a peacetime minimum of 1500 lances in 1505 and a wartime maximum of 3847 in 1523. The changes were made both by raising and disbanding whole companies and by varying the number of men in ordonnance companies. In 1559, for example, Francis II reduced the number of lances in each company by 20.

By the 1580s the traditional French gendarme, as a lance-armed heavily armoured cavalryman, was in sharp decline. The Battle of Coutras (October 20, 1587), between Henry of Navarre, and the Duc de Joyeuse, during the French Wars of Religion, illustrates the demise of the heavy lancer. Navarre's cavalry were 1,300 armoured pistoleers whilst the Royalists under Joyeuse were 2,000 heavy lancers (gendarmes). Within a few minutes of combat the lancers had been routed, many being captured and held for ransom. All later French cavalry named 'gendarmes' were more lightly armoured, eventually becoming unarmoured, and employed firearms and a sword, rather than the heavy lance.

Later history
Louis XIV on his accession to the throne found only eight companies of gendarmes surviving out of an original total of more than one hundred, but after the victory of Fleurus (1690), which had been decided by their courage, he increased their number to sixteen. The four first companies were designated by the names of Gendarmes ecossais, Gendarmes anglais, Gendarmes bourguignons and Gendarmes flamands, from the nationality of the soldiers who had originally composed them, but at that time they consisted entirely of French soldiers and officers. These four companies had a captain-general, who was the king. The fifth company was that of the queen and the others bore the name of the princes who respectively commanded them. This organisation was dissolved in 1788.

Evolution into a paramilitary police force
A military corps having such duties was first created in 1337 and was placed under the orders of the Constable of France (connétable), and therefore named connétablie. In 1626 after the abolition of the title of connétable, it was put under the command of the Maréchal of France, and renamed Maréchaussée. Its main mission was protecting the roads from highwaymen. In 1720 the maréchaussée was subordinated to the gendarmerie; after the French Revolution the maréchaussée was abolished and the gendarmerie took over its duties in 1791.

In Spain

Spain had multiple factors contributing to the strong chivalric ethos exemplified by Spanish knights and men-at-arms. One factor leading to the prominence of chivalric orders in Spain, is the Reconquista in which Christian kingdoms attempted to regain land from, and eventually expel from the peninsula, the Muslim states. The greatest foes of the Spanish Christian knight were, above all, Muslims; who were a local and deeply entrenched enemy, not as distant as the 'infidel' was for the knights of other European regions. However, warfare between the Christian states of the Iberian Peninsula was also not uncommon. It can be argued that in Spain the existence of a common enemy had some role in uniting Christian kingdoms in the cause of the Crusades and Reconquista.

In the 12th–13th century most of the prominent Spanish Knightly orders were formed. The early history of chivalric orders in the peninsula was unstable. In Calatrava, during the middle of the 12th century Castilian Knights established a fortress, which would later be abandoned due to the threat of Muslim attack, then again within fifty years the castle of the Order of Calatrava was then rebuilt and became a fortified monastic community.

In the Italian Wars the Spanish man-at-arms was prominent in the campaigns. One example is at the Battle of Cerignola, which began with two charges by the French heavy cavalry against the center of the Spanish army, but these were scattered by Spanish heavy artillery and arquebus fire. The next assault tried to force the right flank, but many of the French cavalrymen fell into the Spanish trench and the attack was then broken by a storm of fire from the Spanish arquebusiers.

The Spanish leader Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba then called for a counterattack against the now disorganized enemy by both the Spanish infantry and the heavy Spanish cavalry waiting in reserve. Mounted arquebusiers surrounded and routed the remaining French gendarmes, but the Swiss pikeman managed to retreat in a relatively organized fashion.

In Italy
Men-at-arms formed the core troops of the Italian condottiere companies from the 14th to the 16th century. Although the man-at-arms always remained essentially a mounted soldier, in the 14th century, they often fought on foot, following the example of English mercenaries who, from the second half of the century, commonly fought there. The system of condotte or contracts which gave the condottieri their name led to the construction of armies from a number of contract holders, usually grouped under a main contractor. Perhaps the best known of these is the White Company led by Sir John Hawkwood in the 14th century. Organisation of these companies was in lanze of three men, initially two fighting men and a page but later a man-at-arms, an armed servant (piatto) and a page (ragazzo). 5 lanze were grouped to form a posta and five of these made a bandiera.

In the 15th century, the structure of the companies changed. A company would be organised into a number of squadrons. One of these would be the household squadron of the captain, known as the casa, which contained both fighting troops and headquarters staff, such as a marshal, chaplain, chancellors, cooks and servants. The size of squadrons varied but would contain about 25 lanze.

In the second half of the century, these structures began to be supplemented by the practice of states hiring alongside companies individual men-at-arms, who were then grouped under a commander appointed by the state. These were originally recruited from men-at-arms whose company commander had died or retired and so were known as lanze spezzate or broken lances. At the same time, changes were seen in the components of the lanze, with the introduction of the corazzo, a larger unit but still containing just one man-at-arms, and the recognition of two types of men-at-arms in condotte; true men-at-arms known as armigeri veri and lighter-equipped elmetti. Towards the end of the 15th century, squadrons of men-at-arms begin to be organised into larger formations known as columns led by a senior condottiero called a colonello. A column typically contained eight to ten squadrons.

title: Man-at-arms


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Economic Cooperation Organization

The Economic Cooperation Organization or ECO is a Eurasian political and economic intergovernmental organization that was founded in 1985 in Tehran by the leaders of Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey. It provides a platform to discuss ways to improve development and promote trade and investment opportunities. The ECO is an ad hoc organisation under the United Nations Charter. The objective is to establish a single market for goods and services, much like the European Union. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the ECO expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan in 1992.

The current framework of the ECO expresses itself mostly in the form of bilateral agreements and arbitration mechanisms between individual and fully sovereign member states. That makes the ECO similar to ASEAN in that it is an organisation that has its own offices and bureaucracy for implementation of trade amongst sovereign member states. This consists of the historically integrated agricultural region of the Ferghana Valley which allows for trade and common agricultural production in the border region between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan has free trade agreements with both Afghanistan and Iran which are in the process of implementation.

In 2017, a free trade agreement between Turkey and Iran was proposed to be signed in the future, in addition to a proposed Pakistan-Turkey Free Trade Agreement. The Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement is designed to facilitate trade for goods and services for Central Asia via both Afghanistan and Pakistan. That is in addition to the Ashgabat agreement, which is a multi-modal transport agreement between the Central Asian states. Further cooperation amongst members is planned in the form of the Iran–Pakistan gas pipeline, as well as a Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan pipeline. Current pipelines include the Tabriz–Ankara pipeline in addition to the planned Persian Pipeline. This is in addition to the transportation of oil and gas from Central Asian states such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to supply the industrialisation underway in Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and beyond. Pakistan plans to diversify its source of oil and gas supplies towards the Central Asian states, including petroleum import contracts with Azerbaijan.

The ECO's secretariat and cultural department are in Iran, its economic bureau is in Turkey, and its scientific bureau is in Pakistan.

History
The Economic Cooperation Organization was the successor organisation of what was the Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD), founded in 1964, which ended activities in 1979. In 1985 Iran, Pakistan and Turkey joined to form the ECO. By the fall of 1992, the ECO expanded to include seven new members; Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The date of the expansion to its present strength, 28 November, is referred to as "ECO Day". The status and power of the ECO is growing. However, the organisation faces many challenges. Most importantly, the member states are lacking appropriate infrastructure and institutions which the Organization is primarily seeking to develop, to make full use of the available resources in the region and provide sustainable development for the member nations. The Economic Cooperation Organisation Trade Agreement (ECOTA) was signed on 17 July 2003 in Islamabad. ECO Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) is a new organization for trade promotion among member states located in Iran (2009). Under the agreement reached between ECO members, the common trade market should be established by 2015.

Official names
The official working language of the Economic Cooperation Organization is English. The official names of the organization are:
 * Azerbaijani: İqtisadi Əməkdaşlıq Təşkilatı
 * Kazakh: Экономикалық ынтымақтастық ұйымы / Ekonomikalyq yntymaqtastyq ūiymy
 * Kyrgyz: Экономикалык Кызматташтык Уюму
 * Pashto: د اقتصادي همکاريو سازمان
 * Persian: سازمان همکاری اقتصادی (Sāzmān-e Hamkāri-ye Eqtesādi)
 * Russian: Организация экономического сотрудничества
 * Tajik: Созмони Ҳамкории Иқтисодӣ
 * Turkish: Ekonomik İşbirliği Teşkilatı
 * Turkmen: Ykdysady Hyzmatdaşlyk Guramasy
 * Urdu: اقتصادی تعاون تنظیم (iqtisadi taawun tanzeem)
 * Uzbek: Иқтисодий Ҳамкорлик Ташкилоти

Objectives and principles

 * Sustainable economic development of Member States;
 * Progressive removal of trade barriers and promotion of intraregional trade; the Greater role of ECO region in the growth of world trade; Gradual integration of the economies of the Member States with the world economy;
 * Development of transport & communications infrastructure linking the Member States with each other and with the outside world;
 * Economic liberalization and privatization;
 * Mobilization and utilization of ECO region's material resources;
 * Effective utilization of the agricultural and industrial potentials of ECO region.
 * Regional cooperation for drug abuse control, ecological and environmental protection and strengthening of historical and cultural ties among the peoples of the ECO region; and
 * Mutually beneficial cooperation with regional and international organizations.
 * Sovereign equality of the Member States and mutual advantage;
 * Linking of national economic, development plans with ECO's immediate and long-term objectives to the extent possible;
 * Joint efforts to gain freer access to markets outside the ECO region for the raw materials and finished products of the Member States;
 * Effective utilization of ECO institutions, agreements and cooperative arrangements with other regional and international organizations including multilateral financial institutions;
 * Common endeavors to develop a harmonized approach for participation in regional and global arrangements;
 * Realization of economic cooperation strategy; and Exchanges in educational, scientific, technical and cultural fields

Observers

 * undefined
 * Organization of Turkic States
 * International Energy Charter

Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers (COM) is the highest policy and decision-making body and is composed of the various Ministers of Foreign Affairs or such other representatives of the ministerial rank as may be designated by the respective governments. The COM meets at least once a year by rotation among the member states.

Council of Permanent Representatives
The Council of Permanent Representatives (CPR) consists of the Permanent Representatives/Ambassadors of the member states accredited to the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as to the ECO and the Director-General for ECO Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Regional Planning Council
The Regional Planning Council (RPC) is composed of the Heads of the Planning Organizations of member states or other representatives of corresponding authorities.

General Secretariat
The General Secretariat (GS) consists of six directorates under the supervision of the Secretary-General and his deputies. Two specialized agencies and six regional institutes are acting under the supervision of the GS.
 * ECO Directorate of Industry & Agriculture
 * ECO Directorate of Trade & Investment
 * ECO Directorate of Energy, Mineral & Environment
 * ECO Directorate of Transport & Communications
 * ECO Directorate of Economic Research & Statistics
 * ECO Directorate of Project Research & Development

Activities
Activities of ECO are conducted through directorates under the supervision of Secretary-General and his Deputies which consider and evolve projects and programs of mutual benefit in the fields of:
 * Trade and Investment
 * Transport and Telecommunications
 * Energy, Minerals and Environment
 * Agriculture, Industry and Tourism
 * Human Resources & Sustainable Development
 * Project & Economic Research and Statistics

A Transport Council to develop clearer transport and transit policies is proposed.

ECO has selected Shakhrisabz as its tourism capital for 2024.

ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry
ECO-CCI was established on 10 June 1993. Its objectives are to contribute to enhancing economic cooperation and relations in trade, industry, agriculture, tourism, contracting, engineering and banking sectors as well as to realize joint investments among the Member States. National Chambers of Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Turkey are members of ECO-CCI. The 7th General Assembly Meeting of ECO Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECO-CCI), held on 20 April 2004 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The participating member states offered some proposals for developing new mechanism and modalities for better interaction between member chambers and to re-activate ECO-CCI.

ECO Reinsurance Company
In March 1995, Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey agreed to establish ECO Reinsurance Company. The purpose is to supplement the existing reinsurance services in the region, promote the growth of the national underwriting and retention capacities, minimize the outflow of foreign exchange from the region and to support economic development in the region. The three-member countries decided to form a Trilateral Interim Committee to pave the way for the establishment of this important institution. The Trilateral Interim Committee in its various meetings reviewed the relevant issues such as the development of the business plan and signing of the Articles of Agreement already finalized by a group of Experts from the three founding member countries.

ECO Consultancy & Engineering Company
Governments of all the ECO Member States has established a central resource pool in the shape of ECO Consultancy and Engineering Company (Pvt.) Ltd., or ECO-CEC, to assist in the development projects sponsored by the ECO Member States or by its Trade and Development Bank. The founder States are the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Republic of Turkey which holds an equal share in ECO-CEC, Turkey being represented by two companies and Iran and Pakistan, by one each. The Iranian and Turkish Companies specialize mainly in oil and gas pipelines, refineries, petrochemical and industrial engineering, while the Pakistani partner in all other fields of development engineering, including communications, power, urban development public health, telecommunications, water resources development and agriculture. ECO-CEC provides its expertise in the entire range of consultancy operations, starting from conception, project planning and appraisal, through pre-feasibility, feasibility and financial studies, investigation and exploration, site selection to engineering design, material and equipment specifications, construction supervision, contract management, quality control and preparation of technical manuals for the operation and maintenance of the projects.

ECO Trade and Development Bank
The Economic Cooperation Organization Trade and Development Bank (ETDB) was established by the three founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in 2005 which are the Islamic Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Republic of Turkey. The Republic of Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Kyrgyz Republic became the member of the ETDB in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.

As of 31 December 2015, paid in the share capital of the ETDB was SDR 310,870 thousand since Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Kyrgyzstan are in process of payment of their paid-in capital contributions.

The Bank has successfully started its operations in 2008. Its headquarters is in Istanbul (Turkey) and representative offices are in Karachi (Pakistan) and Tehran (Iran). The primary objective of the Bank is to provide financial resources for projects and programmes in member countries. The Bank offers a range of medium-to-long term products i.e. project finance, corporate finance, trade finance and loans to support small and medium-sized enterprises directly or through financial intermediaries to private and state-owned entities. 11

ECO Cultural Institute (ECI)
ECO Cultural Institute (ECI) is affiliated with ECO and aims at fostering understanding and the preservation of the rich cultural heritage of its members through common projects in the field of the media, literature, art, philosophy, sport and education.

Others

 * ECO Supreme Audit Institutions
 * ECO Cultural Institute
 * ECO Science Foundation
 * ECO Educational Institute
 * ECO Drug Control Coordination Unit
 * ECO Trade Promotion Unit
 * ECO Post
 * ECO Shipping Company
 * ECO Regional Center for Risk Management of Natural Disasters

Relationship with other organizations
All the ECO states are also member-states of the Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC), while ECO itself has observer status in the OIC since 1995.

Leaders of ECO member states, as of 2022
Leaders are either heads of state or heads of government, depending on which is constitutionally the chief executive of the nation's government.

title: Economic Cooperation Organization


text:
Canada Steamship Lines

Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) is a shipping company with headquarters in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The business has been operating for well over a century and a half.

Beginnings
CSL had humble beginnings in Canada East in 1845, operating river boats on the Saint Lawrence River in general commerce. The Richelieu Navigation Company was established by Jacques-Félix Sincennes and other Montreal businessmen. The company was amalgamated with Sir Hugh Allan's Canadian Navigation Company, to form the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company, in 1875. Subsequent growth over the years was tied to expansion of the canal system on the upper St. Lawrence River (the precursor to the Saint Lawrence Seaway), and to a new Welland Canal connecting to the upper Great Lakes.

The year of 1911 saw the merger of Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Company with James Playfair's Northern Navigation Company. In 1911 the Richelieu And Ontario Navigation Co. were allowed to increase their capital stock. At a special meeting of shareholders held on June 26, it was decided to increase the stock from $5,000,0000 to $10,000,000, with the distribution of new shares to be issued by the directors. The majority of the shares of the Northern Navigation Co. Ltd. and of the Inland Lines Ltd. were purchased and paid for with fully paid up stock of the R. And O Navigation Co. Five additional directors were added to the reorganized Richelieu And Ontario Navigation Co. James Playfair became the vice president and managing director. The companies were allowed to continue operating under their respective names from that time.

In 1912 the Richelieu and Ontatio Navigation Co. took over the Niagara Navigation Company, covering operation of the steamboats Cayuga, Chicora, Chippewa, Carona and Ongiara, operating under the banner of the Niagara-Toronto Division and the Hamilton Division including the Hamilton Steamboat Company's steamships Macassa and Modjeska were also acquired along with the Turbinia, formerly owned by the Turbine Steamship Co. Both companies had been absorbed into the Niagara Navigation Company. From that time, on, the new company advertised their services via the tag line "Niagara To The Sea" in brochures, indicating their coverage of the passenger trades from the Niagara to the St. Lawrence regions.

The launching of the Northern Navigation SS Noronic was set for June 2, 1913. A large number of Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Co.'s directors and guests went from Sarnia, Ontario on the Hamonic to witness the event. Shortly after the Hamonic entered Lake Superior, the managing director James Playfair was notified of the passing of his father John S. Playfair and he was transferred mid-lake to an R and O freighter, about 80 mi from Sault Ste. Marie and returned to Toronto by special train. The christening of the Noronic was performed by Mrs. E. Bristol, the wife of another director, instead of by Mrs. Playfair, as at first intended.

A special meeting of the shareholders of Richelieu And Ontario Navigation Co. was held in the company's office in Montreal, on June 19, 1913, to ratify an agreement of sale of the company's assets to a new company formed for that purpose. The new company was to be called Canada Transportation Lines Limited and would include acquisition of: Richelieu And Ontario Navigation Company Ltd.; Inland Lines Ltd.; Northern Navigation Co. Ltd,; St. Lawrence River Steamboat Co. Ltd.; Richelieu And Ontario Navigation Co. of the United States.; Quebec Steamship Co. Ltd.; Canada Interlake Line, Ltd.; Ontario and Quebec Navigation Co., Ltd.; Merchants' Montreal Line; SS Haddington and Thousand Island Steamboat Co., Ltd.

In the early part of December it was announced that Canada Transportation Lines would be renamed Canada Steamship Lines Limited.

Growth and disaster on the Great Lakes
CSL's growth through the industrial booms of both world wars was largely tied to the increasing importance of the steel industry in Ontario, where mills were built, or soon to be built, in Sault Ste. Marie, Hamilton, and Nanticoke. CSL also tapped into the last of the remaining coal traffic from Pennsylvania across the Great Lakes to railways in Canada. Following railway dieselization, subsequent coal traffic would be moved by CSL to large fossil-fuel burning electrical power plants.

In addition to its cargo shipping, the company expanded its overnight passenger shipping traffic as well. Most notably the popular SS Hamonic, SS Huronic and SS Noronic of the old Niagara Navigation Company 1902–1912 lineage (roughly 6,000 GRT and 350 foot a piece). Their last passenger ships, however, came out in 1928. They were the cruise ships St. Lawrence, Quebec and Tadoussac; all built at the Davie Shipbuilding and Repair Co. in Lauzon, P.Q. "St. Lawrence" was built in 1927, and Quebec and Tadoussac were identical sister ships of 1928. They ran together with Richelieu, the former Narraganset (1913) of Long Island Sound, which was purchased by CSL about the same time the other three were built by Davie. The three ships were all 350 feet in length, had a breadth of 70 feet, and were 8,000 tones GRT; Richelieu was slightly smaller. They sailed on the St Lawrence and Saguenay Rivers, departing from Montreal and stopping at Quebec City, Murray Bay and Tadoussac (where the company owned hotels) and up the Saguenay to Bagotville (La Baie). Richelieu was able to go on to Chicoutimi because of her shallower draft. Quebec burned at Tadoussac in 1950 with the loss of seven lives, and the other three ships continued on the route until 1965. After the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, Tadoussac's bow was modified to make her able to make a few trips into Lake Ontario, and even made occasional trips through the updated Welland Canal to Buffalo and Detroit in the early 1960s. With the SS Yarmouth Castle fire in 1965 near the Bahamas, stricter coast guard safety regulations in the form of the new international SOLAS program put an end to the three ship's long careers. The Richelieu, St. Lawrence, and Tadoussac were all sold to Joseph de Smedt of Belgium. Tadoussac was renamed Passenger No. 2 and Richelieu, Passenger No. 3. Passenger No. 2 and the old St. Lawrence were eventually scrapped after serving as accommodation ships in the early 1970s, while Passenger No. 3 was sold to Danish interests and was renamed St. Lawrence 2 and served as an accommodation ship for Eastern Bloc refugees before being sold to Arab interests in 1975 as workers' barracks in Sharjah, UAE, where she became half-buried in sand by 1981, and scrapped down by 1990. The earlier Hamonic had burned due to a dock side fire in 1945 at Point Edward and was later scrapped. Huronic had already been converted to carry only freight by 1944, was retired and scrapped in 1950.

CSL was found responsible for the disastrous September 1949 fire and destruction of its ship the SS Noronic in Toronto Harbour. The fire swept through the ship killing 118 to 139 passengers (many as they slept), but no members of the crew. Inadequate alarm, passenger evacuation plans, and neglected extinguishing systems are found at fault. The captain was suspended one year for abandoning the ship before ensuring crew and passengers were safe. She was demolished in 1950.

No new passenger ships were built by this line or most other shipping lines due to the declining passenger ferry trade. To date, and despite something of a resurgence in passenger traffic on the Great Lakes in recent years, CSL has no known plans for a cruise ship service on or off of the Great Lakes.

Power Corporation
In 1951, Sir James Dunn, the owner of Algoma Steel, gained effective control over the company.

CSL saw operations increase exponentially in the late 1950s with the opening of the expanded Saint Lawrence Seaway and the timely discovery and exploitation of some of the world's largest iron ore deposits on the Labrador Peninsula in Labrador City, Schefferville, and Mont Wright. Ore was moved to Sept-Îles and Port-Cartier by the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway and Cartier Railway respectively, where it was then loaded into bulk carriers for transfer to Canadian and U.S. steel mills on the Great Lakes. CSL exploited this traffic by continually refining its self-unloading bulk carrier designs, coupled with improvements in stevedoring at various ports to arrive at a minimal number of human operators required.

Following his passing in 1956, Dunn's estate would eventually sell off the CSL shares. In 1963, a non-controlling share of CSL was purchased by Montreal-headquartered Power Corporation, a Quebec industrial conglomerate with interests in electricity generation, pulp and paper, and oil and gas. CSL continued operating and expanding its Great Lakes shipping line and the Collingwood and Lauzon shipyards through the 1960s, and witnessed several labour disputes.

Paul Martin joins the board
In 1969, Power Corporation took a controlling-share in CSL. On December 2, 1970, Paul Martin, the 32-year-old executive assistant to Power Corporation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maurice Strong, was appointed to the CSL board of directors. In 1971 CSL minority shareholders sold outstanding shares to Power Corporation, making CSL a Power Corporation subsidiary.

At this time, CSL was given elevated status, where in the words of Power Corporation "...in order to increase its [Power Corporation's] own cash flow and take advantage of new federal tax regulations benefitting operating companies over holding companies, CSL took over most of Power's investment portfolio at book value."

Paul Martin becomes president
CSL suffered losses in 1972 when forced to cover unexpected cost overruns in the construction of three 80,000-ton ocean-going tankers at Davie Shipbuilding. On November 22, 1973 Paul Martin was appointed President and CEO of the CSL Group. In 1974, CSL earnings were further hurt by an eight-week strike on the Great Lakes.

In 1976, Power Corporation reversed itself and took over the investment portfolio which had been sold to CSL five years earlier. CSL reverted to an operating division of Power Corporation at this time. On June 7, 1981, CSL President and CEO Paul Martin announced plans to expand outside of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River: "The Great Lakes are essentially a Canadian pond... Canadians have captured 95 percent of the business. Now we want our chance to try our wings on the oceans."

Paul Martin buys CSL Group Inc.
One month later, in July 1981, Power Corporation announced it was selling its subsidiary CSL Group for CA$195 million. CSL Group at this time included the shipping company, shipyards, engineering firms, and a bus service (Voyageur, previously known as Provincial Transport). The following month, in August 1981, Paul Martin and his friend Lawrence Pathy with the help of Gordon Black, secured financing and announced their intention to purchase CSL Group Incorporated for the price advertised by Power Corporation.

On August 9, 1983, citing federal government interference in the shipping industry, Martin stated: "then... they are going to come in with some grand and glorious package that will give the government control of the industry because they don't understand private enterprise."

By the mid-1980s, CSL's only remaining shipyard (Collingwood) was undergoing financial difficulties and was closed on September 12, 1986, with the loss of 800 jobs. At the same time, CSL Group Inc.'s expansion outside of Canada was well underway. In November 1988, President and CEO Paul Martin was elected as a Member of Parliament and stepped aside from directing the day-to-day operations of the company.

In March 1991, following changes to Canada's taxation laws regarding international earnings, CSL backed away from threats to move its headquarters outside of Canada, however in December the president who replaced Martin resigned in opposition to plans to move international operations outside the country.

Replacement management in April 1992 formed a new CSL Group Inc. subsidiary headquartered in Massachusetts to be called CSL International Inc. Canada Steamship Lines Inc. would remain as the Canadian operation under CSL Group Inc., and the conglomerate would remain headquartered in Montreal.

In November 1993, the newly re-elected Paul Martin was appointed to the cabinet and named Minister of Finance. On February 1, 1994, Martin placed his shares in CSL Group Inc. under a "Supervisory Agreement" to be managed by lawyers and financial advisors, although he would be allowed to intervene in company decision-making should events warrant.

In June 2002, Martin quit the cabinet as Minister of Finance to pursue a bid for leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. On March 11, 2003, Martin bowed to public and media pressure on his interest in CSL Group Inc. and announced that he would sell his interests in the company to his three sons, saying that his ownership would "provide an unnecessary distraction during the leadership race."

On December 12, 2003, Martin became the 21st Prime Minister of Canada. On January 28, 2004, the federal government, in response to opposition party and media enquiries, revealed that CSL Group Inc. had received CA$162 million in federal government contracts, grants and loans since Paul Martin became Minister of Finance in 1993. Earlier figures released in 2003 had suggested CSL Group Inc. had only earned CA$137,000 in federal government contracts during this time period.

Flag of convenience controversy
Throughout the 1990s, CSL Group Inc. oversaw the reflagging of several former Canadian-registered vessels which were placed under the shipping registries of nations commonly referred to as flags of convenience, where safety and labour laws were relaxed to be more business-friendly. Canadian crews were replaced with cheaper Ukrainian ones.

Operations
CSL Group Incorporated operates Canadian (Canada Steamship Lines) and international (CSL International) subsidiaries. In 2001, they overtook Asia Pacific Marine Container Lines, also a Canadian shipping company, becoming the world's largest fleet of dry-bulk self-unloading vessels.

CSL fleet
These lake freighters are all in the 700-footer class which are between 729 and 739 ft long:

Self-unloading vessels
Atlantic Huron, Baie Comeau,  Baie St. Paul, CSL Assiniboine, CSL Laurentien, CSL Niagara,  CSL Tadoussac, Frontenac, ''Rt. Hon. Paul J. Martin'', Thunder Bay,  Whitefish Bay

Gearless bulk vessels
CSL St-Laurent, CSL Welland, Spruceglen, Oakglen

CSL Americas fleet (formerly CSL International)
Alice Oldendorff, Ambassador,  Bahama Spirit,  Balder,  Ballangen,  Barkald,  Bauta,  Bernhard Oldendorff,  CSL Acadian,  CSL Atlas,  CSL Argosy,  CSL Cabo,  CSL Metis,  CSL Spirit,  CSL Trailblazer,  Eastern Power,  Harmen Oldendorff,  Honourable Henry Jackman,  Johanna Oldendorff,  Nelvana,  Pioneer,  Sheila Ann,  Sophie Oldendorff,  Yeoman Brook,  Weser Stahl*

 * Asterisk (*) denotes vessels owned by CSL Group Inc. All other vessels are "pooled" with pool partners Egon Oldendorff, Marbulk Shipping Inc (50% owned by The CSL Group), and the Torvald Klaveness Group, of which CSL Group Inc. owns partial or controlling shares.

New Trillium classes
In the early 2010s, CSL introduced two new classes of vessels, both named the Trillium-class freighter. Baie St. Paul, commissioned in 2012, was the first lake freighter Trillium-class ship. The other ships in this fleet, Whitefish Bay,  Thunder Bay and  Baie Comeau entered service in 2013.

''Rt. Hon. Paul E. Martin'', entered service in 2012, was the first panamax Trillium-class ship. CSL Tecumseh, commissioned in 2013, was CSL's second panamax Trillium-class vessel. CSL Tacoma, also entered service in 2013, was the third ship in this group.

The first of two Trillium-class bulk vessels, CSL Welland departed Yangfan Shipyard in early November 2014, and reached Montreal on January 2, 2015. The second one, CSL St-Laurent, passed through the Panama Canal in January 2015.

Nukumi
In 2022 CSL received MV Nukumi. The ship was built for servicing Windsor Salt.

title: Canada Steamship Lines


text:
Talk:Douglas SBD Dauntless

Operational History
If I recall correctly, in Richard Frank's Guadalcanal, he noted that the effectiveness of the SBDs based at Henderson Field kept the Japanese from entering Ironbottom Sound in daylight (except for the desperate and disastrous effort during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal), and that the limit of the SBD's combat radius from Henderson was the closest they could approach in daylight before running in at night. That's why neutralizing Henderson was, in Frank's opinion, the key to recapturing the island. If that's confirmed, the paragraph on Guadalcanal under Operational History should be revised accordingly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.122.245.234 (talk) 18:58, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

Trapeze
This bomber was fitted with a trapeze to clear the main, centreline carried, bomb away from the propeller arc during diving attacks, yes? This does not seem to be mentioned as a design feature in the article.

Furthermore, if this design feature has been addressed, what was the maximum weight of ordnance that could be suspended and released by the trapeze? I have long been under the impression that this would have been a 1,000lb bomb, but the modern statistics about this aircraft's maximum payload seem to all about the 2,250lb figure, without specifying what types of ordnance this payload would be made up of.

For such an important aircraft, it weould seem that one of us should know this and could contribute it to the article. 2A00:23C7:3119:AD01:909B:62F2:2BAA:1168 (talk) 14:59, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Douglas SBD Dauntless


text:
Olive Garden

Olive Garden is an American casual dining restaurant chain specializing in Italian-American cuisine. It is a subsidiary of Darden Restaurants, Inc., which is headquartered in Orange County, Florida. As of 2022, Olive Garden restaurants accounted for $4.5 billion of the $9.63 billion revenue of its parent, Darden.

History
The Olive Garden started as a unit of General Mills. The Olive Garden's first restaurant was opened on December 13, 1982, in Orlando, Florida, by co-founders Blaine Sweatt, Mark Given, Gino DeSantis and Dave Manuchia. By 1989, there were 145 The Olive Garden restaurants, making it the fastest-growing units in the General Mills restaurant division. The Olive Garden restaurants were uniformly popular, and the chain's per-store sales soon matched former sister company Red Lobster. The company eventually became the largest chain of Italian-themed full-service restaurants in the United States.

General Mills spun off its restaurant holdings as Darden Restaurants (named after Red Lobster founder Bill Darden), a stand-alone company, in 1995. Olive Garden removed "The" from its name in 1998 as part of a rebranding which introduced the slogan "When you're here, you're family". In 2009, Olive Garden was Darden's most inexpensive restaurant chain with an average check per person of $15.00 (USD) versus over $90 at its sibling Capital Grille.

Brad Blum, a former president of Olive Garden, said that sales in existing restaurants sharply decreased, with a 12% decline occurring at one point, even though the company was quickly establishing new restaurants. Sandra Pedicini of the Orlando Sentinel said that "Darden reinvented the Olive Garden in the 1990s, from a floundering chain into an industry star".

As part of a February 2011, Darden analyst conference, the parent group announced it intended to add more than 200 Olive Garden locations in the following few years. The announcement came after a previous announcement that the company would be expanding into potential new international markets for the chain, including the Middle East and Asia, due to the maturity of the North American market. The company also announced it would begin licensing franchising partnerships, a new direction for the chain and its parent, which had traditionally relied on expansion via company-owned locations exclusively.

In 2011, Darden announced that it was going to begin co-locating Olive Garden and sibling chain Red Lobster locations. The new restaurants were designed for smaller markets and had separate entrances and dining areas, but unified kitchen and support areas. Menus remained separate, with customers only able to order from the location they are seated in. In 2014, Darden Restaurants announced intentions to sell Red Lobster, to close two Olive Garden and Red Lobster co-locations in Georgia and South Carolina, and to convert the remaining four co-locations into standalone Olive Garden restaurants.

In 2010, Olive Garden generated $3.3 billion in sales. Its closest competitor, Carrabba's Italian Grill, had generated $650.5 million in sales during the same year. By 2012, sales had decreased at Olive Garden. At the final quarter of 2011, sales at established Olive Garden locations had decreased by 2.5%. The Darden president and chief operating officer, said that Olive Garden at that point was "a beloved, but somewhat expected brand". The company introduced a three-course meal for $12.95 to try to stop the decline.

In 2011, Olive Garden implemented a mandatory tip-out program which allowed them to cut more of their employees' hourly wages to $2.13 per hour. In October 2012, Olive Garden became one of the first national restaurant chains to test converting most of its staff to part-time, aiming to limit the cost of paying for health care benefits for full-time employees.

On July 9, 2014, Olive Garden launched a new logo and restaurant design. This included the addition of online ordering and smaller lunch portions.

In August 2019, Darden responded to false claims that Olive Garden was financing Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign, stating: "We don’t know where this information came from, but it is incorrect. Our company does not donate to presidential candidates." Financial records prove Olive Garden had not contributed to the campaign.

Following the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Anderson Cooper quipped the D.C. rioters would be going to celebrate at Olive Garden when they vacated the Capitol. Darden also replied to rumors that the chain would revoke its lifetime pasta pass to Sean Hannity was a "spoof".

Advertising and marketing
Olive Garden's original slogan was "Good Times, Great Salad, Olive Garden". This was used when their main advertising focus was unlimited salad. When unlimited soup and breadsticks were added to the menu, the slogan was changed to "When you're here, you're family". The slogan changed in early 2013 to "We're all family here".

In the fall of 2013, Olive Garden started a promotion for the "Never Ending Pasta Bowl", where customers can eat all the pasta they want starting at $9.99. During the event, the restaurant served over 13 million bowls of pasta. In 2014, the restaurant continued the promotion but added the "Never Ending Pasta Pass", where customers can eat all the pasta they wanted during a seven-week period for $99. This promotion was limited to the first 1000 people to purchase the pass online. The Pasta Pass promotion has been offered every year since. In 2019, Olive Garden added the "Lifetime Pasta Pass" offered to first fifty diners to sign up for the never ending one. After granted the first pass selectees were then offered the chance to sign up for the second one.

Tuscan Institute
Despite Olive Garden's advertising that it has a cooking institute in Tuscany, news outlets have reported that, in fact, there is no institute or school. Olive Garden does send a number of managers, trainers, and cooks to Tuscany each year, but they stay in a rented hotel and spend only a few hours at a time at a local restaurant in its off-season.

Locations

Newer restaurants are styled after a farmhouse in the town of Castellina in Chianti, Tuscany, on the grounds of the Rocca delle Macie winery. The farmhouse is home to the Riserva di Fizzano restaurant adjoining the company's Culinary Institute of Tuscany which was founded in 1999.

As of February 13, 2022, the company operates 922 restaurants globally. Countries outside of the United States where Olive Garden operates are:

Menu
Olive Garden serves several types of Italian-American cuisine, including pasta dishes, steaks, and salads. The company advertises its breadstick product and centers its lunch menu around it. Additionally, the company advertises that its soups and sauces are made fresh in each location daily, instead of importing them from a commissary or outside vendor.

In June 2010, Olive Garden began to import parts of menu formats from its sibling chain, Seasons 52; it began selling smaller dessert portions which it called "dolcini". These new products were modeled after Season 52's "mini-indulgences" product line.

Activist investor critique
In September 2014, Starboard Value, an activist hedge fund that had acquired a significant portion of Darden's stock and was challenging Darden's management, released a 294-slide presentation assembled by its founder Jeff Smith, that focused on ways the company was wasting money and failing to satisfy customers. Chief among them was the shortcomings of Olive Garden, which earned considerable media attention. Starboard claimed they justified replacing Darden's directors in an upcoming election with a slate of new directors sponsored by the hedge fund.

It cited details such as the unlimited breadsticks the chain offered diners, of which too many went to waste since they tended to go stale, Smith claimed, and paying extra for custom-length straws. The chain's menu was too complex, with some of its 96 items making no sense, such as vegetable lasagna topped with chicken ("if you wanted meat on your lasagna, you would order the meat lasagna" the slide read). The chain also had stopped the common practice of adding salt to the water in which it cooked its pasta in order to secure longer warranties on the pots, which had Smith incredulous: "Pasta is Olive Garden's core dish and must be cooked properly." He included photos of poorly executed dishes purchased at Olive Gardens compared with the photos on the chain's website, along with quotes from online reviews posted by disappointed customers.

Darden's management responded with a much shorter presentation two days later. Without going into specifics, it conceded most of Starboard's critique was valid and that the company was already responding to those issues. It defended the unlimited breadsticks policy as "convey[ing] Italian hospitality" and rebutted another claim the hedge fund had made: packaging for take-out food, which the hedge fund had claimed was dishwasher-safe and thus needlessly expensive, was in fact merely microwave-safe. Nevertheless, a month later shareholders voted to replace the company's entire board of directors with Starboard's slate.

title: Olive Garden