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Princely state

A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to a subsidiary alliance and the suzerainty or paramountcy of the British crown.

At the time of the British withdrawal, 565 princely states were officially recognized in the Indian subcontinent, apart from thousands of zamindari estates and jagirs. In 1947, princely states covered 40% of the area of pre-independence India and constituted 23% of its population. The most important states had their own British political residencies: Hyderabad of the Nizams, Mysore, Pudukkottai and Travancore in the South, Jammu and Kashmir, and Indore in Central India. The most prominent among those – roughly a quarter of the total – had the status of a salute state, one whose ruler was entitled to a set number of gun salutes on ceremonial occasions.

The princely states varied greatly in status, size, and wealth; the premier 21-gun salute states of Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir were each over 200000 km2 in size. In 1941, Hyderabad had a population of over 16 million, while Jammu and Kashmir had a population of slightly over 4 million. At the other end of the scale, the non-salute principality of Lawa covered an area of 49 km2, with a population of just below 3,000. Some two hundred of the lesser states even had an area of less than 25 km2.

History

The Princely states at the time of Indian independence were mostly formed after the disintegration of the Mughal empire. Many Princely states had a foreign origin due to the long period of external migration to India. Some of these were the rulers of Hyderabad (Turks), Bhopal (Afghans), Rampur (Pashtun) and Janjira (Abyssinian). Among the Hindu kingdoms, most of the rulers were Kshatriya. Only the Rajput states and a scattering of South Indian kingdoms could trace their lineage to the pre-Mughal period.

British relationship with the princely states
India under the British Raj (the "Indian Empire") consisted of two types of territory: British India and the native states or princely states. In its Interpretation Act 1889, the British Parliament adopted the following definitions:

(4.) The expression "British India" shall mean all territories and places within Her Majesty's dominions which are for the time being governed by Her Majesty through the Governor-General of India or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.

(5.) The expression "India" shall mean British India together with any territories of any native prince or chief under the suzerainty of Her Majesty exercised through the Governor-General of India, or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.

In general the term "British India" had been used (and is still used) also to refer to the regions under the rule of the East India Company in India from 1774 to 1858.

The British Crown's suzerainty over 175 princely states, generally the largest and most important, was exercised in the name of the British Crown by the central government of British India under the Viceroy; the remaining approximately 400 states were influenced by Agents answerable to the provincial governments of British India under a governor, lieutenant-governor, or chief commissioner. A clear distinction between "dominion" and "suzerainty" was supplied by the jurisdiction of the courts of law: the law of British India rested upon the legislation enacted by the British Parliament, and the legislative powers those laws vested in the various governments of British India, both central and local; in contrast, the courts of the princely states existed under the authority of the respective rulers of those states.

Princely status and titles

The Indian rulers bore various titles – including Maharaja or Raja ("king"), Sultan, Nawab, Emir, Raje, Nizam, Wadiyar (used only by the Maharajas of Mysore, meaning "lord"), Agniraj Maharaj for the rulers of Bhaddaiyan Raj, Chogyal, Nawab ("governor"), Nayak, Wāli, Inamdar, Saranjamdar and many others. Whatever the literal meaning and traditional prestige of the ruler's actual title, the British government translated them all as "prince", to avoid the implication that the native rulers could be "kings" with status equal to that of the British monarch.

More prestigious Hindu rulers (mostly existing before the Mughal Empire, or having split from such old states) often used the title "Raja", Raje" or a variant such as Rai, Rana, Babu "Rao", "Rawat" or Rawal. Also in this 'class' were several Thakurs or Thai ores and a few particular titles, such as Sardar, Mankari (or Mānkari/Maankari), Deshmukh, Sar Desai, Istamuradar, Saranjamdar, Raja Inamdar etc.

The most prestigious Hindu rulers usually had the prefix "maha" ("great", compare for example Grand Duke) in their titles, as in Maharaja, Maharana, Maharao, etc. This was used in many princely states including Mewar, Travancore and Cochin. The state of Travancore also had queens regent styled Maharani, applied only to sister of king in Kerala.

There were also compound titles, such as (Maha)rajadhiraj, Raj-i-rajgan, often relics from an elaborate system of hierarchical titles under the Mughal emperors. For example, the addition of the adjective Bahadur raised the status of the titleholder one level.

Furthermore, most dynasties used a variety of additional titles such as Varma in South India. This should not be confused with various titles and suffixes not specific to princes but used by entire (sub)castes. This is almost analogous to Singh title in North India.

The Sikh princes concentrated at Punjab usually adopted Hindu-type titles when attaining princely rank; at a lower level Sardar was used.

Muslim rulers almost all used the title "Nawab" (the Arabic honorific of naib, "deputy", used of the Mughal governors, who became de facto autonomous with the decline of the Mughal Empire), with the prominent exceptions of the Nizam of Hyderabad & Berar, the Wāli/Khan of Kalat and the Wāli of Swat. Other less usual titles included Darbar Sahib, Dewan, Jam, Mehtar (unique to Chitral) and Mir (from Emir).

Precedence and prestige
However, the actual importance of a princely state cannot be read from the title of its ruler, which was usually granted (or at least recognized) as a favor, often in recognition for loyalty and services rendered to the British Raj. Although some titles were raised once or even repeatedly, there was no automatic updating when a state gained or lost real power. In fact, princely titles were even awarded to holders of domains (mainly jagirs) and even taluqdars and zamindars, which were not states at all. Most of the zamindar who hold the princely titles were in fact erstwhile princely and royal states reduced to zamindari by the British EIC. Various sources give significantly different numbers of states and domains of the various types. Even in general, the definition of titles and domains are clearly not well-established.

In addition to their titles all princely rulers were eligible to be appointed to certain British orders of chivalry associated with India, the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India and the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire. Women could be appointed as "Knights" (instead of Dames) of these orders. Rulers entitled to 21-gun and 19-gun salutes were normally appointed to the highest rank, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India.

Many Indian princes served in the British Army, the Indian Army, or in local guard or police forces, often rising to high ranks; some even served while on the throne. Many of these were appointed as an Aide de camp, either to the ruling prince of their own house (in the case of relatives of such rulers) or indeed to the British monarchs. Many saw active service, both on the subcontinent and on other fronts, during both World Wars.

Apart from those members of the princely houses who entered military service and who distinguished themselves, a good number of princes received honorary ranks as officers in the British and Indian Armed Forces. Those ranks were conferred based on several factors, including their heritage, lineage, gun-salute (or lack of one) as well as personal character or martial traditions. After the First and Second World Wars, the princely rulers of several of the major states, including Gwalior, Patiala, Nabha, Faridkort, Bikaner, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jammu and Kashmir and Hyderabad, were given honorary general officer ranks as a result of their states' contributions to the war effort.
 * Lieutenant/Captain/Flight Lieutenant or Lieutenant-Commander/Major/Squadron Leader (for junior members of princely houses or for minor princes)
 * Commander/Lieutenant-Colonel/Wing Commander or Captain/Colonel/Group Captain (granted to princes of salute states, often to those entitled to 15-guns or more)
 * Commodore/Brigadier/Air Commodore (conferred upon princes of salute states entitled to gun salutes of 15-guns or more)
 * Major-General/Air Vice-Marshal (conferred upon princes of salute states entitled to 15-guns or more; conferred upon rulers of the major princely states, including Baroda, Kapurthala, Travancore, Bhopal and Mysore)
 * Lieutenant-General (conferred upon the rulers of the largest and most prominent princely houses after the First and Second World Wars for their states' contributions to the war effort.)
 * General (very rarely awarded; the Maharajas of Gwalior and Jammu & Kashmir were created honorary Generals in the British Army in 1877, the Maharaja of Bikaner was made one in 1937, and the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1941)

It was also not unusual for members of princely houses to be appointed to various colonial offices, often far from their native state, or to enter the diplomatic corps.

Salute states
The gun salute system was used to set unambiguously the precedence of the major rulers in the area in which the British East India Company was active, or generally of the states and their dynasties. As heads of a state, certain princely rulers were entitled to be saluted by the firing of an odd number of guns between three and 21, with a greater number of guns indicating greater prestige. Generally, the number of guns remained the same for all successive rulers of a particular state, but individual princes were sometimes granted additional guns on a personal basis. Furthermore, rulers were sometimes granted additional gun salutes within their own territories only, constituting a semi-promotion. The states of all these rulers (about 120) were known as salute states.

After Indian Independence, the Maharana of Udaipur displaced the Nizam of Hyderabad as the most senior prince in India, because Hyderabad State had not acceded to the new Dominion of India, and the style Highness was extended to all rulers entitled to 9-gun salutes. When the princely states had been integrated into the Indian Union their rulers were promised continued privileges and an income (known as the Privy Purse) for their upkeep. Subsequently, when the Indian government abolished the Privy Purse in 1971, the whole princely order ceased to be recognised under Indian law, although many families continue to retain their social prestige informally; some descendants of the rulers are still prominent in regional or national politics, diplomacy, business and high society.

At the time of Indian independence, only five rulers – the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Maharaja of Mysore, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir state, the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda and the Maharaja Scindia of Gwalior – were entitled to a 21-gun salute. Six more – the Nawab of Bhopal, the Maharaja Holkar of Indore, the Maharaja of Bharatpur, the Maharana of Udaipur, the Maharaja of Kolhapur, the Maharaja of Patiala and the Maharaja of Travancore – were entitled to 19-gun salutes. The most senior princely ruler was the Nizam of Hyderabad, who was entitled to the unique style Exalted Highness and 21-gun salute. Other princely rulers entitled to salutes of 11 guns (soon 9 guns too) or more were entitled to the style Highness. No special style was used by rulers entitled to lesser gun salutes.

As paramount ruler, and successor to the Mughals, the British King-Emperor of India, for whom the style of Majesty was reserved, was entitled to an 'imperial' 101-gun salute—in the European tradition also the number of guns fired to announce the birth of an heir (male) to the throne.

Non-salute states
There was no strict correlation between the levels of the titles and the classes of gun salutes, the real measure of precedence, but merely a growing percentage of higher titles in classes with more guns. As a rule the majority of gun-salute princes had at least nine, with numbers below that usually the prerogative of Arab Sheikhs of the Aden protectorate, also under British protection.

There were many so-called non-salute states of lower prestige. Since the total of salute states was 117 and there were more than 500 princely states, most rulers were not entitled to any gun salute. Not all of these were minor rulers – Surguja State, for example, was both larger and more populous than Karauli State, but the Maharaja of Karauli was entitled to a 17-gun salute and the Maharaja of Surguja was not entitled to any gun salute at all.

A number of princes, in the broadest sense of the term, were not even acknowledged as such. On the other hand, the dynasties of certain defunct states were allowed to keep their princely status – they were known as political pensioners, such as the Nawab of Oudh. There were also certain estates of British India which were rendered as political saranjams, having equal princely status. Though none of these princes were awarded gun salutes, princely titles in this category were recognised as a form of vassals of salute states, and were not even in direct relation with the paramount power.

Doctrine of lapse
A controversial aspect of East India Company rule was the doctrine of lapse, a policy under which lands whose feudal ruler died (or otherwise became unfit to rule) without a male biological heir (as opposed to an adopted son) would become directly controlled by the company and an adopted son would not become the ruler of the princely state. This policy went counter to Indian tradition where, unlike Europe, it was far more the accepted norm for a ruler to appoint his own heir.

The doctrine of lapse was pursued most vigorously by the Governor-General Sir James Ramsay, 10th Earl (later 1st Marquess) of Dalhousie. Dalhousie annexed seven states, including Awadh (Oudh), whose Nawabs he had accused of misrule, and the Maratha states of Nagpur, Jhansi, Satara, Sambalpur, and Thanjavur. Resentment over the annexation of these states turned to indignation when the heirlooms of the Maharajas of Nagpur were auctioned off in Calcutta. Dalhousie's actions contributed to the rising discontent amongst the upper castes which played a large part in the outbreak of the Indian mutiny of 1857. The last Mughal Badshah (emperor), whom many of the mutineers saw as a figurehead to rally around, was deposed following its suppression.

In response to the unpopularity of the doctrine, it was discontinued with the end of Company rule and the British Parliament's assumption of direct power over India.

Imperial governance

By treaty, the British controlled the external affairs of the princely states absolutely. As the states were not British possessions, they retained control over their own internal affairs, subject to a degree of British influence which in many states was substantial.

By the beginning of the 20th century, relations between the British and the four largest states – Hyderabad, Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir, and Baroda – were directly under the control of the governor-general of India, in the person of a British resident. Two agencies, for Rajputana and Central India, oversaw twenty and 148 princely states respectively. The remaining princely states had their own British political officers, or Agents, who answered to the administrators of India's provinces. The agents of five princely states were then under the authority of Madras, 354 under Bombay, 26 of Bengal, two under Assam, 34 under Punjab, fifteen under the Central Provinces and Berar and two under the United Provinces. The Chamber of Princes (Narender Mandal or Narendra Mandal) was an institution established in 1920 by a royal proclamation of the King-Emperor to provide a forum in which the rulers could voice their needs and aspirations to the government. It survived until the end of the British Raj in 1947.

By the early 1930s, most of the princely states whose agencies were under the authority of India's provinces were organised into new Agencies, answerable directly to the governor-general, on the model of the Central India and Rajputana agencies: the Eastern States Agency, Punjab States Agency, Baluchistan Agency, Deccan States Agency, Madras States Agency and the Northwest Frontier States Agency. The Baroda Residency was combined with the princely states of northern Bombay Presidency into the Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency. Gwalior was separated from the Central India Agency and given its own Resident, and the states of Rampur and Benares, formerly with Agents under the authority of the United Provinces, were placed under the Gwalior Residency in 1936. The princely states of Sandur and Banganapalle in Mysore Presidency were transferred to the agency of the Mysore Resident in 1939.

Principal princely states in 1947. The native states in 1947 included five large states that were in "direct political relations" with the Government of India. For the complete list of princely states in 1947, see [Lists of princely states of India].

In direct relations with the central government
Central India Agency, Gwalior Residency, Baluchistan Agency, Rajputana Agency, Eastern States Agency

Gwalior Residency (two states)

Other states under provincial governments

Madras (5 states)

Bombay (354 states)

Central Provinces (15 states)

Punjab (45 states)

Assam (26 states)

Burma

 * Burma (52 states)

State military forces
The armies of the Native States were bound by many restrictions that were imposed by subsidiary alliances. They existed mainly for ceremonial use and for internal policing, although certain units designated as Imperial Service Troops, were available for service alongside the regular Indian Army upon request by the British government.

According to the, "Since a chief can neither attack his neighbour nor fall out with a foreign nation, it follows that he needs no military establishment which is not required either for police purposes or personal display, or for cooperation with the Imperial Government. The treaty made with Gwalior in 1844, and the instrument of transfer given to Mysore in 1881, alike base the restriction of the forces of the State upon the broad ground of protection. The former explained in detail that unnecessary armies were embarrassing to the State itself and the cause of disquietude to others: a few months later a striking proof of this was afforded by the army of the Sikh kingdom of Lahore. The British Government has undertaken to protect the dominions of the Native princes from invasion and even from rebellion within: its army is organised for the defence not merely of British India, but of all the possessions under the suzerainty of the King-Emperor."

In addition, other restrictions were imposed:

"The treaties with most of the larger States are clear on this point. Posts in the interior must not be fortified, factories for the production of guns and ammunition must not be constructed, nor may the subject of other States be enlisted in the local forces. ... They must allow the forces that defend them to obtain local supplies, to occupy cantonments or positions, and to arrest deserters; and in addition to these services they must recognise the Imperial control of the railways, telegraphs, and postal communications as essential not only to the common welfare but to the common defence."

The Imperial Service Troops were routinely inspected by British army officers and had the same equipment as soldiers in the British Indian Army. Although their numbers were relatively small, the Imperial Service Troops were employed in China and British Somaliland in the first decade of the 20th century, and later saw action in the First World War and Second World War.

Political integration of princely states
In 1920, Congress declared that attainment of swaraj for Indians was its goal. It asked "all the sovereign princes of India to establish full responsible government in their states". Mahatma Gandhi assured the princes that Congress will not intervene in internal affairs of the princely states.

In his presidential address at Lahore session in 1929, Jawaharlal Nehru declared: "The Indian states cannot live apart from the rest of the (sic) India".

In 1937, Gandhi played a major role in formation of federation involving a union between British India and the princely states with an Indian central government.

In July 1946, Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India.

The era of the princely states effectively ended with Indian independence in 1947; by 1950, almost all of the principalities had acceded to either India or Pakistan. The accession process was largely peaceful, except in the cases of Jammu and Kashmir (whose ruler decided to accede to India following an invasion by Pakistan-based forces, resulting in a long-standing dispute between the two countries), Hyderabad State (whose ruler opted for independence in 1947, followed a year later by the invasion and annexation of the state by India), Junagarh and its vassal Bantva Manavadar (whose rulers acceded to Pakistan, but were annexed by India), and Kalat (whose ruler declared independence in 1947, followed in 1948 by the state's accession to Pakistan).

India
At the time of Indian independence on 15 August 1947, India was divided into two sets of territories, the first being the territories of "British India", which were under the direct control of the India Office in London and the governor-general of India, and the second being the "princely states", the territories over which the Crown had suzerainty, but which were under the control of their hereditary rulers. In addition, there were several colonial enclaves controlled by France and Portugal. The integration of these territories into Dominion of India, that had been created by the Indian Independence Act 1947 by the British Parliament, was a declared objective of the Indian National Congress, which the Government of India pursued over the years 1947 to 1949. Through a combination of tactics, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and V. P. Menon in the months immediately preceding and following the independence convinced the rulers of almost all of the hundreds of princely states to accede to India. In a speech in January 1948, Vallabhbhai Patel said:

"As you are all aware, on the lapse of Paramountcy every Indian State became a separate independent entity and our first task of consolidating about 550 States was on the basis of accession to the Indian Dominion on three subjects. Barring Hyderabad and Junagadh all the states which are contiguous to India acceded to Indian Dominion. Subsequently, Kashmir also came in... Some Rulers who were quick to read the writing on the wall, gave responsible government to their people; Cochin being the most illustrious example. In Travancore, there was a short struggle, but there, too, the Ruler soon recognised the aspiration of his people and agreed to introduce a constitution in which all powers would be transferred to the people and he would function as a constitutional Ruler."

Although this process successfully integrated the vast majority of princely states into India, it was not as successful in relation to a few states, notably the former princely state of Kashmir, whose Maharaja delayed signing the instrument of accession into India until his territories were under the threat of invasion by Pakistan, and the state of Hyderabad, whose ruler decided to remain independent and was subsequently defeated by the Operation Polo invasion.

Having secured their accession, Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon then proceeded, in a step-by-step process, to secure and extend the central government's authority over these states and to transform their administrations until, by 1956, there was little difference between the territories that had formerly been part of British India and those that had been princely states. Simultaneously, the Government of India, through a combination of diplomatic and economic pressure, acquired control over most of the remaining European colonial exclaves on the subcontinent. Fed up with the protracted and stubborn resistance of the Portuguese government; in 1961 the Indian Army invaded and annexed Portuguese India. These territories, like the princely states, were also integrated into the Republic of India.

As the final step, in 1971, the 26th amendment to the Constitution of India withdrew recognition of the princes as rulers, took away their remaining privileges, and abolished the remuneration granted to them by privy purses.

As per the terms of accession, the erstwhile Indian princes received privy purses (government allowances), and initially retained their statuses, privileges, and autonomy in internal matters during a transitional period which lasted until 1956. During this time, the former princely states were merged into unions, each of which was headed by a former ruling prince with the title of Rajpramukh (ruling chief), equivalent to a state governor. In 1956, the position of Rajpramukh was abolished and the federations dissolved, the former principalities becoming part of Indian states. The states which acceded to Pakistan retained their status until the promulgation of a new constitution in 1956, when most became part of the province of West Pakistan; a few of the former states retained their autonomy until 1969 when they were fully integrated into Pakistan. The Indian government abolished the privy purses in 1971, followed by the government of Pakistan in 1972.

In July 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru pointedly observed that no princely state could prevail militarily against the army of independent India. In January 1947, Nehru said that independent India would not accept the divine right of kings. In May, 1947, he declared that any princely state which refused to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as an enemy state. There were officially 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent in 1947, but the great majority had contracted with the British viceroy to provide public services and tax collection. Only 21 had actual state governments, and only four were large (Hyderabad State, Mysore State, Jammu and Kashmir State, and Baroda State). They acceded to one of the two new independent countries between 1947 and 1949. All the princes were eventually pensioned off.

Pakistan
During the period of the British Raj, there were four princely states in Balochistan: Makran, Kharan, Las Bela and Kalat. The first three acceded to Pakistan. However, the ruler of the fourth princely state, the Khan of Kalat Ahmad Yar Khan, declared Kalat's independence as this was one of the options given to all princely states. The state remained independent until it was acceded on 27 March 1948. The signing of the Instrument of Accession by Ahmad Yar Khan, led his brother, Prince Abdul Karim, to revolt against his brother's decision in July 1948, causing an ongoing and still unresolved insurgency.

Bahawalpur from the Punjab Agency joined Pakistan on 5 October 1947. The princely states of the North-West Frontier States Agencies. included the Dir Swat and Chitral Agency and the Deputy Commissioner of Hazara acting as the Political Agent for Amb and Phulra. These states joined Pakistan on independence from the British.

Gazetteers

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Stenosis

Stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of a blood vessel or other tubular organ or structure such as foramina and canals. It is also sometimes called a stricture (as in urethral stricture).

Stricture as a term is usually used when narrowing is caused by contraction of smooth muscle (e.g. achalasia, prinzmetal angina); stenosis is usually used when narrowing is caused by lesion that reduces the space of lumen (e.g. atherosclerosis). The term coarctation is another synonym, but is commonly used only in the context of aortic coarctation.

Restenosis is the recurrence of stenosis after a procedure.

Examples
Examples of vascular stenotic lesions include:
 * Intermittent claudication (peripheral artery stenosis)
 * Angina (coronary artery stenosis)
 * Carotid artery stenosis which predispose to (strokes and transient ischaemic episodes)
 * Renal artery stenosis

In heart valves
The types of stenoses in heart valves are:
 * Pulmonary valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the pulmonary valve, therefore causing narrowing
 * Mitral valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the mitral valve (of the left heart), therefore causing narrowing
 * Tricuspid valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the tricuspid valve (of the right heart), therefore causing narrowing
 * Aortic valve stenosis, which is the thickening of the aortic valve, therefore causing narrowing

Elsewhere
Stenoses/strictures of other bodily structures/organs include:
 * Pyloric stenosis (gastric outflow obstruction)
 * Lumbar, cervical or thoracic spinal stenosis
 * Subglottic stenosis (SGS)
 * Tracheal stenosis
 * Obstructive jaundice (biliary tract stenosis)
 * Bowel obstruction
 * Phimosis
 * Non-communicating hydrocephalus due to aqueductal stenosis
 * Stenosing tenosynovitis
 * Atherosclerosis
 * Esophageal stricture
 * Achalasia
 * Prinzmetal angina
 * Vaginal stenosis
 * Meatal stenosis

Causes

 * alcohol
 * atherosclerosis
 * birth defects
 * calcification
 * diabetes
 * headbanging
 * iatrogenic
 * infection
 * inflammation
 * ischemia
 * neoplasm
 * smoking
 * ureteral
 * urethral

Diagnosis
Stenoses of the vascular type are often associated with unusual blood sounds resulting from turbulent flow over the narrowed blood vessel. This sound can be made audible by a stethoscope, but diagnosis is generally made or confirmed with some form of medical imaging (such as ultrasound).

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title: Stenosis


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Liard Highway

The Liard Highway (designated Highway 77 in British Columbia and Highway 7 in the Northwest Territories) is a 378 km two-lane highway in Canada that is the only direct road link between British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Passing through sparsely-populated areas of boreal forest, it serves as the sole land access route for the communities of Fort Liard and Nahanni Butte.

Route
The highway begins at a point on the Alaska Highway 28 km northwest of Fort Nelson and runs 138 km northeast through expanses of the Canadian Boreal Forest to the border of British Columbia and the Northwest Territories. Beyond the border, it continues for 254 km as a very rough packed dirt and gravel road designated as Highway 7. It terminates at a junction with Territorial Highway 1 south of Fort Simpson.

History
The highway was built between 1975 and 1982 and was officially opened to traffic in June 1984. The section in British Columbia was built under contracts with the Ministry of Transportation and Highways at a cost of $26 million (equivalent to $ million in 2021). The section through the Northwest Territories section was built by the federal government at a cost of $55 million (equivalent to $ million in 2021). British Columbia assigned the number 77 to its portion of the route in 1984.

In 2012, Peter's Bros. Construction Ltd. was awarded a contract valued at $8,911,212.00 to pave (level course and overlay) over the existing sealcoat from the end of the existing pavement at 83 km in British Columbia to the border with the Northwest Territories, at 137 km. The project was completed in August 2012.

As of 2018, Highway 77 has been fully paved up to the border with the Northwest Territories.

Major intersections
From south to north:

title: Liard Highway


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Adam Yahiye Gadahn

Adam Yahiye Gadahn (آدم يحيى غدن, Ādam Yaḥyā Ghadan; September 1, 1978 – January 19, 2015) was an American senior operative, cultural interpreter, spokesman and media advisor for the Islamist group al-Qaeda, as well as prolific noise musician. Beginning in 2004, he appeared in a number of videos produced by al-Qaeda as "Azzam the American" ('Azzām al-Amrīki, عزام الأمريكي, sometimes transliterated as Ezzam Al-Amrikee). Gadahn, who converted to Islam in 1995 at a California mosque, was described as "homegrown," a term used by scholars and government officials for Western citizens "picking up the sword of the idea" (in the words of one FBI agent) to commit attacks in the West. American intelligence officials allege that he inspired the 2007 Osama bin Laden video.

In 2004, he was added to the FBI Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list. On October 11, 2006, he was removed from that list, and placed on the Bureau of Diplomatic Security Rewards for Justice Program list of wanted criminals. On the same day, Gadahn was indicted based on the testimony of the FBI case agent E. J. Hilbert II, in the Southern Division of the United States District Court for the Central District of California by a federal grand jury for the capital crime of treason for aiding an enemy of the United States, the first such case since the 1950s. On January 19, 2015, Gadahn was killed in one of a series of unmanned aircraft strikes in Waziristan, Pakistan. Al-Qaeda confirmed Gadahn's death on June 25, 2015.

Early life and education
Gadahn was born on September 1, 1978, in Oregon, United States. Gadahn's paternal grandfather, Carl Pearlman, was a Jewish activist, urologist and on the board of directors of the Anti-Defamation League. Gadahn's paternal grandmother, Agnes Branch, a Christian, was an editor for The Christian Family Chronicles (a genealogical publication for people with the surname "Christian"). Gadahn's father is Philip, a musician who grew up in Orange County, California. Philip and his wife Jennifer legally changed their last name to Gadahn in the mid-1970s, after the Biblical warrior Gideon. Philip Gadahn was involved in the counterculture movement at the University of California at Irvine, and before Adam's birth became a Christian. Gadahn described his father as having been "raised agnostic or atheist, but he became a believer in One God when he picked up a Bible left on the beach." His father's religious perspective was flexible and based upon his own spiritual needs and as a new convert to Islam, Gadahn portrayed his father in a manner sympathetic to his religion of conversion.

Gadahn was raised a Protestant Christian, and homeschooled through high school by his parents on an isolated farm in western Riverside County, California. He played Little League baseball and participated in Christian homeschool support groups. As an adolescent he became very involved in the death metal community, making contact with fans and musicians through alternative magazines. During the summer of 1993, he formed an ambient noise project called Aphasia. Gadahn contributed music reviews and artwork to a zine called Xenocide, and his comments were published. A loyal fan of Carl Barks' tales of Scrooge McDuck, Gadahn submitted drawings of this character to Gladstone Publishing, whose editors did not publish them, but publicly thanked him for his efforts. In 1995, at age 16, Gadahn moved in with his grandparents in the West Floral Park neighborhood of Santa Ana, California. Not long after, he converted to Islam and lamented the estrangement his musical interest caused between him and his family writing, "My relationship with my parents became strained, although only intermittently so. I am sorry even as I write this."

Conversion to Islam
While living with his grandparents in West Floral Park, Santa Ana, Gadahn described himself as having a "yawning emptiness", and he sought ways "to fill that void". He explored Christianity on the internet, radio, and locally, but later said that he found evangelical Christianity's "apocalyptic ramblings" to be "paranoid" and hollow. In 1995, at age 17, Gadahn began studying Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County. Members of Gadahn's study group were young fundamentalists who "targeted the mosque's chairman, Haitham Bundakji", for his practice of "wearing Western clothes and being friendly with Jews".

Gadahn converted to Islam later that year, and shortly thereafter posted an essay to the University of Southern California website describing his conversion, titled "Becoming a Muslim". According to his parents, Adam was "arrested and convicted of assaulting his former mentor Haitham Bundakji in May 1997." He served two days in jail, but his failure to perform 40 hours of community service left a warrant for his arrest active.

Gadahn reportedly moved to Pakistan in 1998, where he married an Afghan refugee and maintained intermittent contact with his family until March 2001, when all contact with his family stopped. He told his parents he had been working as a journalist while in Pakistan—spending time in both Karachi and Peshawar—presumably a euphemism for his media propaganda efforts for al-Qaeda. He began supporting jihadi causes in the late 1990s.

Al-Qaeda affiliation
In a short period of time, Gadahn became a senior advisor to bin Laden and was assumed to be playing the role of "translator, video producer, and cultural interpreter." Gadahn declared his animosity towards the United States by declaring it "enemy soil" and praising the individuals responsible for the September 11 attacks. The first production of al-Qaeda's media division, As-Sahab, was believed to have been in 2001 with the involvement of Gadahn. United States and British intelligence officials believe it to have been run by Gadahn, although it was reported that the media production of these messages had a notable decrease in quality, possibly due to Gadahn's involvement in other tasks for al-Qaeda.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that it wanted Gadahn for questioning in 2004, and on May 26, 2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that Gadahn was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or fall of 2004. Gadahn's name was the only new name released by Mueller in this warning. Two of the other alleged terrorists named on that date were Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani and Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Those two had been listed as FBI Most Wanted Terrorists since 2001, indicted for their roles in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. The others, Amer el-Maati, Aafia Siddiqui, Abderraouf Jdey, and Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah had all been on FBI wanted lists for some time. Jdey had been on the FBI's "Seeking Information" wanted list since January 17, 2002, to which Gadahn was added with the other three as well.

In a 2005 video, Gadahn threatened to attack Los Angeles, for which the United States Department of Justice "indicted him under seal for providing material support to Al Qaeda". As an introduction to the "An Invitation to Islam" video in 2006, Zawahiri encouraged westerners to heed Gadahn's message and praised Gadahn as "a perceptive person who wants to lead his people out of darkness into the light"; "Al Qaeda had never before given one of its members, let alone an American, an endorsement so intimate and direct." As a result of the contents of the "Invitation" video, he was charged with treason because "[h]e chose to join our enemy and to provide it with aid and comfort by acting as a propagandist for Al Qaeda," as Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty explained. He was also placed on the FBI's most wanted list and a million dollar reward was offered for his capture. McNulty explained the severity of Gadahn's crimes: "Terrorists create fear and intimidation through extreme violence. They want Americans to live and walk in fear. They want to demoralize us. That’s why propaganda is so important to them, and why facilitating that propaganda is such an egregious crime."

On propaganda and terrorism, Gadahn criticized specific "jihadi" groups, such as Tehrik-i-Taliban, al-Shabaab, and the Islamic State, for the killing of Muslim non-combatant civilians, which he believed undermined Al-Qaeda's media strategy and objectives.

2004–2006
In late October 2004, ABC News broadcast a 75-minute videotape of a man who identified himself as "Azzam the American" threatening the United States with terrorist attacks. After the network played excerpts of the video, someone from one of Gadahn's mosques told law enforcement officials that he believed the man in the video was Gadahn.

In 2005, on the fourth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, an eleven-minute videotape message purportedly from al-Qaeda was broadcast on the ABC News program Good Morning America. The American English-accented speaker, a man whose face was partially concealed, was identified by U.S. intelligence officials as Gadahn. The speaker praised the "echo of explosions and the slitting of the throats of the infidels" and attacked U.S. foreign policy and military activity, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. He predicted that there would be future attacks in Los Angeles and Melbourne: "Yesterday, London and Madrid. Tomorrow, Los Angeles and Melbourne, God willing. At this time, don't count on us demonstrating restraint or compassion."

Around the same time, he appeared in an al-Qaeda-produced American documentary film Knowledge is for Acting Upon—The Manhattan Raid, a film which traces the organization from its genesis among the anti-Soviet Mujahideen in Afghanistan through its establishment of training camps around the world to its defining moment, the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Gadahn provides Western viewers with an expository look at the group's ideals, philosophy and goals as well as a retrospective look at their perspective on the geopolitical situations which led to their decision to execute the attack. The film culminates with Gadahn's description of the events' aftermath, pre-attack martyrdom videos filmed by the hijackers, and finally a montage of videos portraying the attacks themselves. The high-production-value film, completely captioned for both English and Arabic-speaking audiences, is widely regarded as a tool intended to motivate and attract other Western-born Muslims.

On July 7, 2006, Gadahn appeared unmasked on an al-Qaeda tape made public on the Internet. On the tape he denounced the United States military presence in Iraq as well as rapes and murders committed by American soldiers. Gadahn's family, who had previously said that they could not tell whether or not it was Gadahn who appeared in the al-Qaeda videos, did not respond to the new tape.

On September 2, 2006, a video called "An Invitation to Islam", features a lecture by Adam Gadahn for approximately 44 minutes of its 48 minutes, with a lesser part given to al-Qaeda theorist Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the video, Gadahn stated "If the Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants like Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Michael Scheuer, Steven Emerson, and yes, even the crusader-in-chief George W. Bush were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam." Both Pipes and Spencer have publicly declined to accept Gadahn's invitation to convert to Islam. Gadahn praised British politician George Galloway and journalist Robert Fisk for expressing their "respect and admiration for Islam" and for "acknowledging that it is the truth" and for "demonstrating their sympathy for Muslims their causes", but added "I say to them, isn't it time you stopped sitting on the fence and came over to the side of truth?" Gadahn urged American soldiers to "surrender to the truth", "escape from the unbelieving Army", and "join the winning side."

2007–2008
On May 29, 2007, Gadahn again made headlines when another video, "al-Qaeda Video Warning to US by American Adam Gadahn" was released on the Internet. In this video, Adam Gadahn listed five demands:

 * 1) "Pull every last one of your soldiers, spies, security advisors, trainers, attachés, … out of every Muslim land from Afghanistan to Zanzibar ..."
 * 2) "End "all support and aid, military, political, economic, or otherwise, to the 56-plus apostate regimes of the Muslim world, and abandon them to their well-deserved fate ..."
 * 3) "End all support, moral, military, economic, political, or otherwise, to the bastard state of Israel, and ban your citizens, Zionist Jews, Zionist Christians, and the rest from traveling to occupied Palestine or settling there. Even one penny of aid will be considered sufficient justification to continue the fight."
 * 4) "... impose a blanket ban on all broadcasts to our region ..."
 * 5) "Free all Muslim captives from your prisons, detention facilities, and concentration camps, regardless of whether they have been recipients of what you call a fair trial or not."

Gadahn then threatened that "your failure to heed our demands and the demands of reason means that you and your people will—Allah willing—experience things which will make you forget all about the horrors of September 11th, Afghanistan and Iraq".

American intelligence officials allege that Gadahn inspired bin Laden's September 2007 video, in which bin Laden, among other things, made reference to the subprime mortgage crisis. M.J. Gohel, chief executive of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a London-based security-studies organization, found bin Laden's video "very reminiscent of [Gadahn's] messages in terms of style and content." Officials told reporters that the "high quality" of the English subtitles and the "references to Malcolm X" in al-Qaeda's 2008 post-presidential election video "reflect the influence" of Gadahn. In that video, Barack Obama is attacked as a "House Negro".

On October 4, 2008, a video featuring Gadahn was posted on Laura Mansfield's Web site. The 32-minute video primarily focused on Pakistan, but also referenced economic woes in the United States: "The enemies of Islam are facing a crushing defeat, which is beginning to manifest itself in the extending crisis their economy is experiencing. The crisis, whose primary cause, in addition to the abortive and unsustainable crusades they are waging in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, is they are turning their backs on Allah's revealed laws, which forbid interest-bearing transactions, exploitation, greed and injustice in all its forms and demand the worship of Allah alone to the exclusion of all false gods, including money and power."

2009–2013
In May 2009, Gadahn appeared in a new al-Qaeda video. On December 12, 2009, Gadahn, in another English-language video titled "The Mujahideen Don't Target Muslims", claimed that the organization was being framed by the United States and Pakistan, and blamed the media for helping implicate al-Qaeda in a recent deadly string of attacks in Pakistan that killed hundreds of civilians.

In a video released on March 7, 2010, Gadahn called on Muslims in the West to follow in the footsteps of Nidal Hasan, who committed the 2009 Fort Hood shooting. In the video, titled "A Call to Arms," Gadahn encouraged Americans and other Muslims in the West to "prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam." Gadahn also provided advice on choosing high-value targets for potential terrorist attacks in America and the West, such as military installations and mass transportation systems, as well as symbols of capitalism, whose ruin could cripple the Western economy. Gadahn urged his followers to take action as soon as possible, explaining that "now" is the "golden, once in a lifetime opportunity to reap the rewards of jihad and martyrdom…so unsheath your sharpened sword and rush to take your rightful place among defiant champions of Islam."

On June 21, 2010, a video press release was made in which Gadahn delivered guidelines for al-Qaeda/American peace. Some of the demands contained within the 24 minute message included withdrawal of US troops from Muslim lands and removal of US support for Israel. This video also includes clips of Matthew Hoh and several other U.S. military veteran antiwar activists.

On September 29, 2010, in another video, Gadahn urged Muslims in Pakistan to join Islamist militants fighting their nation's rulers, saying that Islamabad's "sluggish and halfhearted" response to the recent floods underscored the government's indifference towards its constituents. Gadahn's remarks in the video echoed those of al-Qaida's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, in a similar posting on militant websites earlier that month, suggesting the terror organization had decided on a single, simple message to promote, following the floods that affected as many as 20 million people in Pakistan.

On October 23, 2010, in a 48-minute video posted on militant Islamist websites, Adam Gadahn directed his appeal to Muslim immigrants in what he called the "miserable suburbs" of Paris, London and Detroit, as well as those traveling to the West to study or work.

On September 11, 2012, Gadahn appeared in a video marking the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

On December 1, 2013, Gadahn denounced the capture of al-Qaeda operative Abu Anas al-Libi in an audio recording.

2014
On March 29, 2014, an unpublished video was leaked by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that showed Gadahn condemning ISIL and calling them extremists.

Reports of capture
On March 7, 2010, it was reported that Gadahn had been captured in Karachi, Pakistan in late February 2010, shortly after another video came out in which he called on Muslims serving in the U.S. armed forces to emulate the actions of Nidal Hasan. His arrest was not immediately confirmed by United States officials. Gadahn was said to have been arrested in Karachi by Pakistani intelligence officers during the course of a raid on a house located by the Super Highway. Pakistan's Dawn News reported on March 7 that this likely occurred in Sohrab Goth, a major Pashtun area in northern Karachi.

Senior American officials informed The New York Times that the individual arrested was not Gadahn. Subsequent reports indicated the individual arrested was Abu Yahya Mujahdeen Al-Adam, who was born in Pennsylvania and may have been confused with Gadahn. The confusion was apparently caused by an alias of Gadahn's that is similar to the name of the arrested individual. An unnamed Pakistani intelligence officer explained, "The resemblance of the name initially caused confusion but now they have concluded he is not Gadahn." Al-Adam, the arrested individual, was described by an American official as "fair-skinned" and able to speak both English and Pashto and is believed to be connected to the operations division of al-Qaeda. While a Pakistani security official said "he was apparently an American al Qaeda operative", it is unknown whether al-Adam is an American citizen. The Pakistani intelligence officer described the arrested individual as "proud to be a member of al-Qaida." The BBC reported an additional identification of the arrested as Egyptian-American Abu Yahya Azam.

Reports of death
In February 2008, Pakistani news sources reported rumors that Gadahn had been killed by a missile fired by a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator drone, in the strike that killed al-Qaeda leader Abu Laith al-Libi. On March 2, an al-Qaeda spokesperson claimed that Gadahn was alive, but the rumor of Gadahn's death was fueled by a considerable drop in the quality of recent al-Qaeda videos from As-Sahab.

Mansfield wrote: "Normally important messages from Zawahiri contain linguistic indications that they were translated by Adam Gadahn. Gadahn’s translation style is noticeably absent from this video, giving more credence to open source reports from Pakistan regarding the possible death of Gadahn in an American air strike. (There are other plausible explanations for Gadahn's absence from the scene—including his quip in his January video tape that ripping up his passport would not hinder his ability to travel.)"

On September 7, 2008, the Sunday Telegraph reported that Gadahn may have been killed by a Predator attack in January 2008 in Waziristan. This was reported by The Orange County Register and KABC-TV in Los Angeles.

On October 4, 2008, a video by Gadahn appeared on the website of the As-Sahab Foundation for Media Production.

Death
On April 23, 2015, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest released a statement announcing that Gadahn had been killed in a CIA drone strike in Pakistan on January 19, 2015. President Barack Obama announced that, in a separate drone strike that killed American al-Qaeda leader Ahmed Farouq, hostage aid workers Giovanni Lo Porto and Warren Weinstein were killed as collateral damage.

Videos

 * Breaking: Adam Gadahn indicted for terrorism September 7, 2006
 * Breaking: Adam Gadahn to be charged with treason October 11, 2006
 * Video: Al Qaeda tells U.S. to convert or die September 2, 2006

title: Adam Yahiye Gadahn


text:
User talk:Tronia

Hello "Tronia" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

 * Peruse Welcome, newcomers and associated pages, such as
 * How to edit a page
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 * Sign talk page entries with ~, which is automatically converted to a name and date.
 * If you have any questions, see Help, or you can a question to the Help desk.
 * I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian -- Infrogmation 04:20, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Tronia


text:
Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook

Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook (formerly known as Sackville—Eastern Shore and Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore) is a federal electoral district in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.

Demographics
From the 2006 census

Ethnic groups:
 * European Canadian: 89.9%
 * African Canadian: 3.8%
 * First Nations: 2.2%
 * Chinese Canadian: 0.4%
 * Arab Canadian: 0.3%
 * Other: 0.8%

Languages:
 * English: 95.0%
 * French: 3.1%
 * German: 0.4%
 * Arabic: 0.3%
 * Other: 1.2%

Religions:
 * Protestant: 51.3%
 * Catholic: 36.8%
 * Other Christian: 1.2%
 * No religious affiliation: 10.2%

Education:
 * No certificate, diploma or degree: 22.7%
 * High school certificate: 23.9%
 * Apprenticeship or trade certificate or diploma: 13.0%
 * Community college, CEGEP or other non-university certificate or diploma: 21.7%
 * University certificate or diploma: 18.6%

Median Age:
 * 38.4

Median total income:
 * $29,212

Average total income:
 * $34,589

Median household income:
 * $64,588

Average household income:
 * $72,245

Median family income:
 * $71,566

Average family income:
 * $78,873

Unemployment:
 * 5.9%

Geography
The district includes the part of the Halifax Regional Municipality located on the Atlantic coast between Lake Charlotte and Jeddore Harbour in the east to Halifax Harbour in the west excluding the community of Dartmouth and the community of Eastern Passage. It also includes HRM's northern suburbs in the Sackville River valley north to the boundary with Hants County. The land area is 645.18 km2.

History
The electoral district was created in 1996 from Central Nova and Dartmouth ridings, and was known as "Sackville—Musquodoboit Valley—Eastern Shore" from 1999 to 2003. MP Peter Stoffer tabled a Private Members Bill to change the name of the riding to "Sackville—Preston—Eastern Shore". As per the 2012 federal electoral redistribution, this riding was largely dissolved into the new riding of Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook (94%), with small portions going to Central Nova (4%) and Dartmouth—Cole Harbour (2%).

Following the 2022 federal electoral redistribution, the riding will largely be replaced by Sackville—Bedford—Preston. It gains the Bedford, Hammonds Plains and Lucasville areas from Halifax West; it gains the area north of Highways 111 and 118 plus the Lake Charles area from Dartmouth—Cole Harbour; and it loses the Lawrencetown, Porters Lake and the Chezzetcook areas to Central Nova.

Members of Parliament
This riding has elected the following members of Parliament:

title: Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook


text: File:Swans whitelightfromthemouthofinfinity.jpg


text:
Abderraouf Jdey

Abderraouf bin Habib bin Yousef Jdey (عبد الرؤوف جدي, Abd ar-Rawūf Jday) (also known as Farouk al-Tunisi and Al-Rauf Al-Jiddi) (born May 30, 1965) is a Canadian citizen, who was found swearing to die as a shaheed (martyr) on a series of videotapes found in the rubble of Mohammed Atef's house in Afghanistan in 2002.

The United States has issued three separate alerts that Jdey was about to attack inside the country, in January 2002, September 2003 and May 2004. Three years later, the United States announced that he was one of a handful of terrorists actively plotting to attack the country, although none of their predictions ever panned out.

Life
Jdey moved to Canada, using a false passport and seeking asylum, from Tunisia in 1991 and became a Canadian citizen in 1995.

He rented a Can$217 monthly apartment in Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie (a borough of Montreal), and studied biology at the Université de Montréal. In 1999, he wrote a pair of letters to unknown Muslims overseas, explaining how he found religion and speaking with contempt of the United States and United Nations.

American authorities allege that he "may" have trained at Mes Aynak alongside hijackers Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi in Afghanistan, before being assigned to a second wave of attacks. A letter written by Saif al-Adl, and later found by American forces, suggested that Jdey may have originally been slated to have participated in the original September 11 attacks

Jdey returned to Montreal in early 2001. Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, while being harshly interrogated, said that Jdey then backed out of the plan. According to a 2010 Harvard report on al Qaeda by a former CIA officer, Jdey was detained in summer 2001 together with Zacarias Moussaoui. Moussaoui was carrying textbooks on cropdusting; Jdey was carrying textbooks on biology. Jdey was evidently subsequently released. In November 2001, he left Canada, several months after obtaining a replacement passport for one he'd received two years earlier which he claimed to have lost. He was believed to be bound for Europe.

November airline crash
Less than three months after the crash of American Airlines Flight 587 in Queens, New York, rumors were already suggesting that it had been destroyed by an unknown terrorist with a shoe bomb similar to the one found on Richard Reid.

Four months later, Mohammed Mansour Jabarah agreed to cooperate with American authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence. A known colleague of Khalid Sheikh Mohamed, he stated that Mohamed's lieutenant had told him that Reid and Jdey had both been enlisted by the al-Qaeda chief to carry out identical plots as part of a "second wave" of attacks against the United States.

United States 2002 claims
On January 14, 2002, a series of five videocassettes were recovered from the rubble of the destroyed home of Mohammad Atef outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. The tapes showed Jdey, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Abd Al-Rahim, and Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani vowing to die as martyrs. It was the first time authorities had reason to suspect him of any wrongdoing. NBC News said the videos had been recorded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Three days later, the FBI released to the public the first FBI Seeking Information – Terrorism list in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. Already under fire for issuing "excessive and somewhat alarmist" warnings about terrorists plotting against the United States, Attorney General John Ashcroft stated that Jdey and Faker Boussora were likely traveling together and should be considered "extremely dangerous".

A month after Jdey and Boussora were declared fugitives, the Republic of Turkey announced that the pair may be within their borders.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh was interrogated at an American black site in 2003 about his knowledge of Jdey, and confessed that Jdey had been recruited by al-Qaeda. The following year Walid bin 'Attash, similarly interrogated under harsh circumstances at The Dark Prison, confirmed that Jdey had been known to him.

United States 2003 claims
In September 2003, the FBI issued an alert for four people they alleged "pose a threat to U.S. citizens", including Jdey, Adnan G. El Shukrijumah and the previously unknown Zubayr al-Rimi and Karim el-Mejjati.

United States 2004 claims
On May 26, 2004, Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that Jdey was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning terrorist actions for the summer or fall of 2004. The other six named were Shukrijumah, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, Amer El-Maati, Aafia Siddiqui and Adam Yahiye Gadahn. American Democrats labeled the warning "suspicious" and said it was held solely to divert attention from President Bush's plummeting poll numbers and to push the failings of the Invasion of Iraq off the front page. CSIS director Reid Morden voiced similar concerns, saying it seemed more like "election year" politics, than an actual threat, and The New York Times pointed out that one day before the announcement, they had been told by the Department of Homeland Security that there were no current risks.

The day after the announcement, there was a reported sighting of Jdey and Shukrijumah at a Denny's restaurant in Colorado. The following year, another tip suggested that the pair had been seen driving a car with a Massachusetts license plate in Maine.

In April 2005, the U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program offered a reward of up to US$5 million for information leading to the capture of Jdey.

title: Abderraouf Jdey


text:
British Columbia Highway 49

Highway 49, known locally as the Spirit River Highway, is one of the two short connections from Dawson Creek to the border between B.C. and Alberta. Established in 1975, Highway 49 travels due east for 16 km (10 mi) from Dawson Creek to its connection with Alberta Highway 49, which the highway derives its number from, at the provincial border. This highway is the initial westernmost highway of the Northern Woods and Water Route.

Major intersections
For south to north. The entire route is in the Peace River Regional District.

title: British Columbia Highway 49


text:
Talk:Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet

Wilson and the July Crisis
"Note to self and others"

Lurking at the back of my mind is a recollection of Wilson turning up (whether invited or uninvited I couldn't say) looking vaguely sinister to a meeting of Tory politicians on the evening of 1 August. I think it might be in some recollection of Leo Amery. The following day the Tories wrote to Edward Grey urging him to stand firm. Christopher Clark in "The Sleepwalkers" links Wilson to the Tory intrigues but doesn't provide the exact detail.

Slightly tangential, but in his famous speech to the Commons Grey said that it would cost Britain no more to get involved in the war than to stay out - probably because he envisaged (or wanted wavering Liberals to think he was envisaging) a limited commitment, not deploying the BEF to France. Sending Wilson's BEF to France, let alone the vast army which Kitchener called into being, was never as foregone a conclusion as is sometimes assumed.Paulturtle (talk) 01:18, 5 April 2021 (UTC)

Possible addition to...
...the "Modern biographies and popular culture" section: During the second season of the tv series Peaky Blinders, the lead character, Tommy Shelby, is pressured by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), under the direction of Winston Churchill, to kill a British Army officer, "Field Marshal Russell", a former Black and Tans commander who alledgedly committed atrocities in Cork, Ireland. A false flag operation, the plan is to blame the assassination on the IRA, as Churchill, the SIS and a pro-peace faction of the IRA want to undermine the anti-peace faction of the IRA. It would appear that FM Russell is a putative fictionalized version of Sir Henry Wilson. (This is just the info, not the specific wording for any potential addition.) Thoughts...? - w o lf  07:28, 11 June 2022 (UTC)

Killed in action?
No. He was a civilian when he was assassinated. Grassynoel (talk) 14:24, 14 August 2023 (UTC)
 * Was he? DuncanHill (talk) 14:34, 14 August 2023 (UTC)

Too long?
An editor has tagged the page as "too long to read and navigate comfortable". I am removing the tag as I think, in this case, the length is not unreasonable and fragmenting the flow of the article would be unhelpful. I happy to consider proposals from a willing editor as to how they propose to spilt it. Dormskirk (talk) 09:38, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Unfortunately at over 27k words of readable prose, the length is entirely unreasonable - see WP:SIZE and WP:SUMMARY. The article would benefit from significant summarization to make it more accessible to the general readership. Nikkimaria (talk) 14:48, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

 * As already indicated above, I disagree. Are you prepared to do the work to condense it? If not this seems to be a case of WP:DRIVEBY and the tag should not be readded. Dormskirk (talk) 15:09, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Yes, I am absolutely willing to work on it. Nikkimaria (talk) 15:22, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Great. In which case that's fine. Please go-ahead. Many thanks, Dormskirk (talk) 15:26, 26 December 2023 (UTC)

Irish Conscription

 * I agree that the article is too long but I suggest that the reference removed today (Bromage, Mary (1964), Churchill and Ireland, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IL, pg 36., Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 64-20844) be reinserted as it covered the information preceding todays edit: "...acquired a reputation as a political intriguer for his role in agitating for the introduction of conscription in Ireland." With the two Jeffery books representing well over 200 edits, an additional source should be welcomed. Thanks Palisades1 (talk) 16:05, 15 March 2024 (UTC)

The section referred (or did when it was first written) to the reputation which he acquired (fairly or unfairly) in the campaigns for the introduction of conscription in Britain in the Edwardian era (led by Wilson's old patron Lord Roberts of Kandahar), and in the Curragh Incident. Hence Asquith already thought him a "poisonous snake" by the start of the war. The proposed extension of conscription to Ireland was a different matter, in 1917-18 - as every schoolboy knows it was one of the issues which inflamed Irish opinion towards independence, although it is less well remembered that a lot of British opinion felt at the time that the Irish had had more than enough special treatment lately and that it was high time that they were made to pull their weight with the war effort. Wikipedia does not yet have an article on the UK manpower crisis of 1917-18, an enormously important topic (Keith Grieves on manpower and Tony Wrigley on Lloyd George and the unions are probably the main sources); Wilson was busy at Versailles in the winter of 1917-18 and by the time he became CIGS early in 1918 the Irish political situation had already moved on a bit - the manpower situation was absolutely dire in March/April 1918 but historians don't dwell on Wilson's views on Irish conscription in that period, and anyway this is long after he had acquired his slippery reputation. I don't have that 1964 book on Churchill and Ireland so I'm not in a position to check exactly what it says.

As for the "one source" problem, you always get this with biographies. People who hold the highest office (King George V, Asquith, Lloyd George) have multiple biographies, and so do people who are household names (Kitchener, and Haig used to be until recently). Other important people often tend with a few exceptions to have one and only one serious heavyweight biography, and this is true of politicians as well. At the time this article was written Keith Jeffery's highly regarded biography was the most up to date, superseding older ropier ones by people like Collier and Bernard Ash. Since then there has been another, "Wilson's War", which contains all sorts of interesting material, especially on the latter half of the war (Jeffery's weakest chapters are on 1918, as that book correctly points out). But the article will need splitting at that point, and I really don't have time at this instant.Paulturtle (talk) 06:27, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

I've ordered a copy of the Bromage book on Churchill and Ireland and will revert when I've checked what it actually says. I'll dig out my copy of "Wilson's War" as well.Paulturtle (talk) 20:53, 26 April 2024 (UTC)

 * In the index of the Bromage book I think there are 10 pages that refer to Wilson. Palisades1 (talk) 13:41, 29 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet


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Samuil

Samuil may refer to:

 * Samuel of Bulgaria, tsar from 997 to 1014
 * Samuil Municipality, municipality in Bulgaria
 * Samuil (village), its administrative centre
 * Sawyl Penuchel, British king of the sub-Roman period

title: Samuil


text:
Talk:Compactification (mathematics)

As far as i can tell, compactification of extra dimensions in string theory has nothing to do with Stone-Čech compactification in point set topology. In the first case, we simply choose a compact manifold (e.g. CY3) to replace a noncompact one, turning the spacetime M4xR6 into M4xCY3 by fiat. We do not require that there exist an isometry (indeed, there will not be one), or even a continuous embedding from R6 into CY3, nor do we require any uniqueness. In the second case, given a noncompact topological space, we look for a (in some instances unique) compact space with a continuous embedding.

I think they should be in separate articles. The are simply not related. Comments?

 * Well, no. The Stone-Cech is the most complicated compactification, as the one-point is the simplest. Compactification with no continuity condition would be a strange thing (one can Stone-Cech a discrete space if one really has to ...); I suspect that the string theory usage is driven by certain motivations that could be explained, but if you are talking about non-compact to compact manifolds, there must be quite an amount of topology to carry over.

 * So, some examples of compactifications would add to the article.

 * Charles Matthews 08:33, 27 May 2004 (UTC)

You know, for some reason, i thought i was looking at an article entitled "Stone-Cech Compactification". Now i see that the article is titled simply "Compactification". This is fine then. Clearly stringy compactification doesn't belong in an article on stone-cech, but i was mistaken. I think i must have seen the Redirect notice and thought it was the title Lethe

I propose to add to the list of comparctifications also Nagata compactification: any separated scheme of finite tye over a noetherian basis can be embedded as an open subscheme of a proper scheme over the same base. There's no article on Nagata compactification theorem, I think that it should be one but I'm not expert enough to write it; however stating it here and create a red link can be useful, right? -- F4wk3s (talk) 10:40, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

title: Talk:Compactification (mathematics)


text:
Culture of Cuba

The culture of Cuba is a complex mixture of different, often contradicting, factors and influences. The Cuban people and their customs are based on European, African and Amerindian influences.

Music
The music of Cuba, including the instruments and the dances, is mostly of European and African origin. Most forms of the present day are creolized fusions and mixtures of these two great sources. Almost nothing remains of the original Native traditions.

Fernando Ortíz.) the first great Cuban folklorist, described Cuba's musical innovations as arising from the interplay ('transculturation') between African slaves settled on large sugarcane plantations and Spanish or Canary Islanders who grew tobacco on small farms. The African slaves and their descendants reconstructed large numbers of percussive instruments and corresponding rhythms. The great instrumental contribution of the Spanish was their guitar, but even more important was the tradition of European musical notation and techniques of musical composition.

African beliefs and practices are most certainly an influence in Cuba's music. Polyrhythmic percussion is an inherent part of African life & music, as melody is part of European music. Also, in African tradition, percussion is always joined to song and dance, and to a particular social setting. It is not simply entertainment added to life, it is life. The result of the meeting of European and African cultures is that most Cuban popular music is creolized. This creolization of Cuban life has been happening for a long time, and by the 20th century, elements of African belief, music and dance were well integrated into popular and folk forms.

The roots of most Afro-Cuban musical forms lie in the cabildos, self-organized social clubs for the African slaves, separate cabildos for separate cultures. The cabildos were formed mainly from four groups: the Yoruba (the Lucumi in Cuba); the Congolese (Palo in Cuba); Dahomey (the Fon or Arará). Other cultures were undoubtedly present, but in smaller numbers, and they did not leave such a distinctive presence. At the same time, African religions were transmitted from generation to generation throughout Cuba, Haiti, other islands and Brazil. These religions, which had a similar but not identical structure, were known as Lucumi or Regla de Ocha if they derived from the Yoruba, Palo from Central Africa, Vodú from Haiti, and so on. The term Santería was first introduced to account for the way African spirits were joined to Catholic saints, especially by people who were both baptized and initiated, and so were genuinely members of both groups. By the 20th century, elements of Santería music had appeared in popular and folk forms.

One of the main rhythmic fusions in Cuban music is the son. Other typical Cuban forms are the habanera, the guaracha, the danzón, the rumba, the bolero, the chachachá, the mambo, the punto, and many variations on these themes. Cuban music has been immensely popular and influential in other countries. It was the original basis of salsa and contributed not only to the development of jazz, but also to Argentinian tango, Ghanaian high-life, West African Afrobeat, and Spanish nuevo flamenco. Within modern Cuba, there are also popular musicians working in the rock and reggaeton idioms. Artists such as Gente De zona are the vanguard of music revolution as they are the first Cuban duo to reach the Hot Latin Songs chart on Billboard. Other famous Cuban artist include Camila Cabello who has won a Billboard Award.

Cuban hip-hop is one of the latest genres of music to be embraced not only by the country's youth but also, more reluctantly, by the government. Initially, hip-hop was shunned by the authorities, because of its affiliation to America and capitalism. As more Cuban youth put their own energy and style into the music, Cuban hip-hop eventually became more acceptable. "The Cuban government now sees rap music – long considered the music of American imperialism – as a road map to the hearts and minds of the young generation" is one opinion.

Sports
Fidel Castro's belief and practice of communism and the benefits of sports (he loved and used to play baseball) has resulted in Cuba's relative international success for a population of 11 million in sporting events such as the Olympic Games. Unlike in most of Latin America, but like many nations of the Caribbean and some of Central America, football is not a major game in Cuba, but is gaining popularity. Baseball is the most popular sport in Cuba. Introduced by American dockworkers in Havana in the 19th century, the game has played a role in Cuban independence from Spain. Banned in 1895 by the Spanish, secret games funded José Martí's revolt. Cuban peloteros rank highly internationally and some have migrated to Major League Baseball in the United States. The Cuba national baseball team finished second in the first World Baseball Classic against the Japanese national team. Boxing is also rather popular in Cuba. They also enjoy basketball, track and field, volleyball, and rugby union. Every year, Cuba holds the School Sports Games, a competition for students. The best athletes from age 11 to 16 are invited to be tested for the Schools for Sports Initiation (Spanish acronym: EIDE). EIDE students attend regular classes, receive advanced coaching and take part in higher-level competitions. The top graduates from the school enter one of several Schools of Higher Athletic Performance (Spanish acronym: ESPA).

Chess
Cuban chess player, José Capablanca (d.1942) was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927 and his Cuban style influenced future world chess champions Fischer, Botvinnik and Karpov, a span reaching 1999. Capablanca's style of calm positional play while slowly constricting the opponent was likened to Karpov's "boa constrictor".

Cuba hosted the 17th Chess Olympiad in 1966.

Cuisine
A ration book called a libreta is supposed to guarantee a range of products from shops, however, there are still massive shortages and even rations are not guaranteed to be delivered timely or at all.

The Soviet Union's collapse in 1991 ended grain imports from that country, which were used to feed cattle and chickens. In 1991, beef, chicken, milk and eggs became scarce.

A lack of fuel for agricultural machinery meant that crops had to be harvested manually (by people), drastically decreasing Cuba's food production capabilities. These problems have improved a little in recent years, but shortages are still common. To supplement their rations, Cubans resort to non-rationed food stores (where prices are nevertheless several times those of the libreta), or to the black market.

Traditional Cuban food is, as most cultural aspects of this country, a syncretism of Spanish, African and Caribbean cuisines, with a small but noteworthy Chinese influence. The most popular foods are black beans, rice, and meat.

One example of traditional Cuban cuisine, or criollo as it is called, is moros y cristianos, "Moors and Christians", rice with black beans. Criollo uses many different seasonings, with some of the most common being onion and garlic. Cassava, rice, beans, eggs, tomatoes, lettuce, chicken, beef and pork are all common ingredients.

Coffee is of high quality and grown mainly for export.

Religion
Cuba's policy on religion has changed much since 1959, when religious Cubans were persecuted and could be denied jobs or an education by the government.

In the 1970s, the relationship between the government and religious institutions (especially the Roman Catholic Church) began to improve. By 1976, the state granted Cuban citizens religious freedom, with some restrictions. In 1992, the constitution was amended to allow total religious freedom. About 60% of Cubans today are Catholic. Some Catholic traditions were lost, but the church has imported the Mexican Christmas play (pastorela) trying to reconnect Cubans to Christianity. Cuba is a primarily Catholic country.

Another large religion in Cuba is Santería. Santería is a blend of Catholicism and traditional Yoruba religions. When African slaves first arrived in Cuba during the 16th century, they were taught a few simple prayers and were baptised by the Spanish. The slaves combined this limited form of Catholicism with their traditional religions to create Santería, which survives to this day. During colonial times and into the early Republic, many Cubans suffered from intense ethnocentrism and confused Afro-Cuban religion with black magic and witchcraft. This caused them to associate practitioners of Santería and other Afro-Cuban cultures with criminals and the underworld, and to discriminate against practitioners without understanding the nature of their religion. Because most practitioners of Santería in those years were of African heritage, racist attitudes emerged around the religion, and many whites in Cuba considered it to be subversive and threatening. Those who practiced Santería often resorted to secrecy as a way to avoid persecution. Fernando Ortiz, Lydia Cabrera, and Rómulo Lachatañeré are considered the founders of Afro-Cuban studies in Cuba and were the first to give scholarly attention to Santería as an important religion in Cuba.

Language
As a former colony of Spain, Cuba uses the Spanish language. After the Cuban Revolution, the term compañero/compañera, meaning "comrade", came to gradually replace the traditional señor/señora as the universal polite title of address for strangers. A significant number of Afro-Cubans as well as biracial Cubans speak Haitian Creole. Haitian Creole is the second-most spoken language as well as a recognized one in Cuba, with approximately 300,000 speakers - about 4% of the population. (Haiti was a French colony - Saint-Domingue - from the early 17th century, and the final years of the 1791–1804 Haitian Revolution brought a wave of French settlers fleeing with their Haitian slaves to Cuba.)

Many words from Cuban Amerindian languages have entered common usage in both Spanish and English, such as the Taíno words canoa, tobacco and huracán. Some of the place names are Indian, such as Guanabacoa and Guanajay.

English is often used in big cities.

Etiquette
When speaking to the elderly, or to strangers, Cubans speak more formally as a sign of respect. They shake hands upon greeting someone and farewelling them. Men often exchange friendly hugs (abrazos) and it is also common for both men and women to greet friends and family with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Informalities like addressing a stranger with 'mi corazón' (my heart), 'mi vida' (my life), or 'cariño' (dear) occur commonly.

Cuban family life
The Revolution of 1959 sparked the turning point in Cuban family life by promoting women's equality. New laws and policies resulted in women being educated, employed, and increased their civil/human rights. Cuban revolutionary thought promoted class equality rather than gender equality, but women still benefited indirectly from social changes. Because Cubans, like many Latin Americans, tend to live together as a nuclear family, grandparents often provide childcare for women in the household who work outside the home, or attend school. The Maternity Law actually 'created' the working woman in Cuba [state when this law was passed, and what it says]. "Whereas in 1955, 13 percent of the workforce was women, by 1989, the number had risen to 38.7 percent of the workforce in Cuba.". In addition, The Family Code of 1975, especially Article 26 of the code, called for women and men to take equal responsibility for domestic labor and childcare. Marriages, divorce, children's rights, adoption, and marital property were addressed in this new law, as were the division of family responsibilities, equal rights for marriage partners, and the sharing of household tasks. However, there were still 'personal' obligations that women had to assume with marriage, such as 'maternal rights,' which were a norm in Cuban traditional society. Despite progressive measures imposed by law, some traditions remained intact, and new norms for the Cuban family took time to develop.

Marriage
Marriage rates in Cuba have traditionally been stagnant. In the 1980s and the early 1990s marriage rates were relatively high, with 151 and 171 marriages per every 1000 inhabitants respectively. University educated women tended to get married at an older age and have fewer children compared to publicly educated women. Informal relations between a married man and an unmarried woman has been evaluated as such; "28% were women under 30 while the percentage of married women in that time was 23% (as of the late 1980s)." "Women under the age of 20 were 21% opposed to the 7% of women married at that age (still in the same time period).". Yet, this was seen as a typical circumstance in Cuba at that time. Legal marriages vs. illegal marriages are 35% vs. 28%. On average, in the 1980s, most people got married around 19 to 20 years old, still, with a more developed educational system women are becoming more independent, studying, and working better jobs, which has driven change: in "1994 most people [were] getting married around the ages of 30-35." As stipulated by the Family Code of 1977, the legally established minimum age for marriage is 18 years for both girls and boys. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances, girls may marry at the age of 14, and boys at 16, provided they obtain parental consent. In more exceptional cases, court consent may be required.

Divorce
Divorce rates have been a growing fight in Cuba. When the revolution of 1959 occurred, divorce rates were starting to be observed for the first time. Comparing this information throughout different time periods in Cuban life, in "1960 it was 0.1%, 0.3% in the 1980s, 0.35% in 1990, 0.41% in 1991, 0.51% in 1992.". This contributed to the fact Cubans moving away from the Catholic Church and therefore divorce was no longer a social stigma as it had been in the past. Also, when the economy started picking up and in 1998, the divorce rate returned to the rate in "1990 of 0.35%, and 0.354%.". The divorce rate skyrocketed in 1991 and 1992 to a point of collapse, in an almost instantaneous result of the secession of the USSR. "The import/export dropped about 80%," petroleum that was received by Russia ceased, and this did not rebuild (economically) until 2000, when agricultural growth started to pick up. However, Cuba hit rock bottom in 1994, only two years after the succession of the USSR. This was during the Special Period in Cuba which created additional strain on marriages and split families apart for economic reasons.

Birth control/abortion
Cuba is somewhat pro-choice despite the historically strong Catholic influence on moral culture in the nation. When Cuba moved away from the Catholic Church, abortion was legalized and negative social and religious consequences for women faded. The Church has little to no impact on the way women think about abortion. The use of contraceptives, birth control, and abortions seem to keep family sizes somewhat small and "modern" in comparison to other Latin American countries.

One-parent families
"The state does not give any special aid to one parent families; however, it gives special needs to the children of single parent families. The Cuban government supports women being economically independent, though, dislikes the results of higher divorce rates, more underage impregnated teens, and female-headed households.". With the Family Code of 1975, which aimed at strengthening the standard (two-parent nuclear family), was not the case. Remarriage and re-coupling was common, so divorce rates reflected a minority of Cuba's population as divorce. "As of 1992, couples under the ages of 20 were likely to get divorced," as were couples in urban areas. It is estimated that around "200,000 single parents are present in Cuba." As a matter of fact, observations in the Cuban community in "1992 shows that 15-20% of households with children are headed by women alone."

Protection of minors and adoption
Pre-Revolutionary attempts for children shelters, protection houses, and places to keep children off the street were clearly expressed by Skaine: As of the 1600s when the "House of the Abandoned" was founded, however was soon neglected, and in 1705 a new management took over the house and named it "Foundling House" though this too was unsuccessful. The "House of Charity" was founded before the revolution, nevertheless, also took its place in the shadows of success because protection of the children and the conditions in which they lived were not guaranteed. In 1959, the Ministry of Social Welfare was created and the houses were not part of the state. Now it was the state that had to provide for the minors. In 1960 the Government assigned the Federation of Cuban Women (FCW) to take charge of these houses, and set them up accordingly; ages 0–3 (homes with cradles), ages 3–6 (pre-scholastic farms), ages 6–12 (scholastic farms), ages 12–18 (youthful farms). This was then refined with The Family Code of 1975 (giving certain rights/obligations to parents), the Code of the Childhood and the Youth, approved in 1978, and the Decree Law 76 of January 1984 (which created a national network of centers that took care of minors without shelter). This new law centered on children up to the age of 5 with daycare, helped with homes for minors ages 6–17, and also helped children who were in school past the age of 17. This gave rise for adoption. The Family Code of 1975 made adoption legal for the protection of minors who were without families. "There were a few stipulations with this, i.e. the adopters had to be 25 years or older, economically stable, morally sound, and be able to conduct their selves as sound parents." Complete adoption is most prominent in Cuba. Complete adoption consists of severing all ties with the adoptees biological parents and that in the adopted family and the child has all the same rights as an actual 'biological' child of that family. Legally adopted children are looked upon as biological children.

Women
The Castro government claims to have improved women's rights since the revolution, and today, most women work outside of the home. They are assisted by things such as childcare facilities, which are common in Cuba. In 1974, the Family Code was passed, giving men and women equal rights and responsibilities for housework, childrearing and education. However, despite government policy, and as with much of Latin America, machismo is common, and stereotypes of women continue to exist.

In the Special Period of Cuba, the time after the Soviet Union collapsed and was no longer able to support Cuba financially, leading the small communist nation to seek more tourism. As tourism increased, there followed an increase in prostitution in Cuba.

People and dance
A dance style recently emerged, which involves fast and suggestive shaking of the women's lower torso section, simulating sexual activity. With this type of dance, the woman's body is seen as more "solo", with moves such as the despelote (all-over-the-place) and tembleque (shake-shudder) and the subasta de la cintura (waist auction). This idea has offended other women, who see this kind of inappropriate, as degrading, forcing them to live up to expectations of pleasing their male partners.

Fairley says people in Cuba used to dance by facing their partners, and that nowadays it is often a "back to front" dance. She states that the way women dances with reggaeton can be compared with sex position and pornography, and claims that Cuba has "open and healthy attitudes toward sexuality".

Literature
Cuban literature began to develop its own style in the early 19th century. The major works published in Cuba during that time dealt with issues of colonialism, slavery and the mixing of races in a creole society. Notable writers of this genre include Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, and Cirilo Villaverde, whose novel Cecilia Valdés was a landmark. Following the abolition of slavery in 1886, the focus of Cuban literature shifted to themes of independence and freedom as exemplified by José Martí, who led the modernista movement in Latin American literature. The poet Nicolás Guillén's famous Motivos del son focused on the interplay between races. Others like Dulce María Loynaz, José Lezama Lima and Alejo Carpentier dealt with more personal or universal issues. And a few more, such as Reinaldo Arenas and Guillermo Cabrera Infante, earned international recognition in the postrevolutionary era.

Testimonial literature
Cuba is the birthplace of the literary genre that is called testimonial literature. In 1970 Cuba's literary forum Casa de las Américas recognized testimonial literature as an official literary genre. Miguel Barnet's literary texts were foundational in launching this new genre. Specifically Barnet's 1966 Biografía de un Cimarrón (Biography of a Runaway Slave), where he recorded the oral history of former slave Esteban Montejo, is used to place testimonial literature on the literary platform of Casa de las Américas.

Since Casa de las Américas is a government agency responsible for promoting cultural development, the revolutionary government supports this literary addition and finds it aligned with the spirit of the revolution. In this way, testimonial literature serves the revolutionary ideology in providing a voice for the people, specifically a group of people who were underrepresented and formerly oppressed prior to the Cuban Revolution. For the purpose it serves, this literary genre then gets accredited beyond Cuba and becomes a representative genre in other revolutionary countries, where empowering the majority of its people is important.

According to the author of testimonial texts, a testimony is significant because it uses a direct source: A person's account of current aspects in Latin American reality. Testimonial literature is then defined within the boundaries of autobiographical accounts, documentary narratives, eyewitness reports, and oral histories that are later transcribed into a literary format.

Years after the 1950s and 1960s, a time of political and social unrest in Cuba, testimonial literature acknowledged personal accounts of historical figures such as that of Ernesto Che Guevara and other rebel leaders. Testimonial literature also acknowledged the diaries and letters of ordinary people, such as Olga Alonso, Daura Olema, Mercedes Santos, Mirta Muñiz, and Sandra Gonzalez, women that participated in the literacy campaign and other voluntary programs after the triumph of the Revolution.

In 1997 Daisy Rubiera Castillo's testimonial biography of her mother, Maria de los Reyes Castillo Bueno, Reyita: The Life of a Black Cuban Woman in the Twentieth Century, was a finalist in Casa de las Américas' literary competition. Described as the first Cuban testimonial narrative that used gender as an analytical tool, it constitutes the closest perspective with direct knowledge of the experience we have of Black Cuban women's lives since the period of slavery.

Another example of testimonial literature is Juan Francisco Manzano's (1797–1853) Autobiography of a Slave, which is the only known autobiography written by a slave in Cuba. Though self written many years prior to the identification of testimonial literature, Manzano's personal account of his life as a house slave is worthy of mention, as it fits perfectly into the criteria of this genre, providing a voice for the voiceless.

title: Culture of Cuba


text:
User talk:64.252.48.202

Nomination of Muse Watson for deletion
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