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Sokoto Caliphate

The Sokoto Caliphate (دولة الخلافة في بلاد السودان), also known as the Sultanate of Sokoto, was a Sunni Muslim caliphate in West Africa. It was founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani jihads after defeating the Hausa Kingdoms in the Fulani War. The boundaries of the caliphate are part of present-day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. By 1837, the Sokoto state had a population of around 10-20 plus million people, becoming the most populous empire in West Africa. It was dissolved when the British, French and Germans conquered the area in 1903 and annexed it into the newly established Northern Nigeria Protectorate, Senegambia and Niger and Kamerun respectively.

The caliphate emerged after the Hausa King Yunfa attempted to assassinate Usman dan Fodio in 1802. In order to escape persecution, Usman and his followers migrated towards Gudu in February 1804. Usman's followers pledged allegiance to Usman as the Commander of the Faithful. By 1808, the Sokoto Caliphate had gained control over Hausaland and several surrounding states. Under the sixth caliph Ahmadu Rufai, the state reached its maximum extent, covering a large swath of West Africa. In 1903, the twelfth and last caliph Attahiru was assassinated by British forces, marking the end of the caliphate.

Developed in the context of multiple independent Hausa Kingdoms, at its peak, the caliphate linked over 30 different emirates and 10–20+ million people in the largest independent polity in the continent at the time. According to historian John Iliffe, Sokoto was the most developed state of pre-modern Subsaharan Africa. The caliphate was a loose confederation of emirates that recognized the suzerainty of the Amir al-Mu'minin, the Sultan of Sokoto.

An estimated 1 to 2.5 million non-Muslim slaves were captured during the Fulani War. Slaves worked plantations and much of the population were forcibly converted to Islam. By 1900, Sokoto had "at least 1 million and perhaps as many as 2.5 million slaves" second only to the American South (which had four million in 1860) in size among all modern slave societies.

Although European colonists abolished the political authority of the caliphate, the title of sultan was retained and remains an important religious position for Sunni Muslims in the region to the current day. Usman dan Fodio's jihad provided the inspiration for a series of related jihads in other parts of the Sudanian Savanna and the Sahel far beyond the borders of what is now Nigeria that led to the foundation of Islamic states in the regions that are now in modern-day Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, Chad, the Central African Republic, and Sudan.

The legacy of the Sokoto Caliphate and Usman dan Fodio's teachings has left a lasting impact on the region's history, including contemporary Nigeria and West Africa. The Sokoto era produced some of the most renowned writers in West Africa with the three main reformist leaders, Usman, Abdullahi and Bello, writing more than three hundred books combined on a wide variety of topics including logic, tafsir, mathematics, governance, law, astronomy, grammar, medicine and so on. Some other famous scholars of that era were Shaikh Dan Tafa and Nana Asma'u. All of these scholars are still being widely studied around West Africa and some as far as the Middle East.

Background
The major power in the region in the 17th and 18th centuries had been the Bornu Empire. However, revolutions and the rise of new powers decreased the power of the Bornu empire and by 1759 its rulers had lost control over the oasis town of Bilma and access to the Trans-Saharan trade. Vassal cities of the empire gradually became autonomous, and the result by 1780 was a political array of independent states in the region.

The fall of the Songhai Empire in 1591 to Morocco also had freed much of the central Bilad as-Sudan, and a number of Hausa sultanates led by different Hausa aristocracies had grown to fill the void. Three of the most significant to develop were the sultanates of Gobir, Kebbi (both in the Rima River valley), and Zamfara, all in present-day Nigeria. These kingdoms engaged in regular warfare against each other, especially in conducting slave raids. In order to pay for the constant warfare, they imposed high taxes on their citizens.

The region between the Niger River and Lake Chad was largely populated with the Fulani, the Hausa, and other ethnic groups that had immigrated to the area such as the Tuareg.

Much of the population had converted to Islam in the centuries before; however, local pagan beliefs persisted in many areas, especially in the aristocracy. In the end of the 1700s, an increase in Islamic preaching occurred throughout the Hausa kingdoms. A number of the preachers were linked in a shared Tariqa of Islamic study. Maliki scholars were invited or traveled to the Hausa lands from the Maghreb and joined the courts of some sultanates such as in Kano. These scholars preached a return to adherence to Islamic tradition. The most important of these scholars is Muhammad al-Maghili, who brought the Maliki jurisprudence to Nigeria.

Fulani Jihad
Usman dan Fodio, an Islamic scholar and an urbanized Fulani, had been actively educating and preaching in the city of Gobir with the approval and support of the Hausa leadership of the city. However, when Yunfa, a former student of dan Fodio, became the sultan of Gobir, he restricted dan Fodio's activities, eventually forcing him into exile in Gudu. A large number of people left Gobir to join dan Fodio, who also began to gather new supporters from other regions. Feeling threatened by his former teacher, Sultan Yunfa declared war on dan Fodio on February 21, 1804.Usman dan Fodio was elected as the "Commander of the Faithful" by his followers, marking the beginning of the Sokoto state. Usman dan Fodio then created a number of flag bearers amongst those following him, creating an early political structure of the empire. Declaring a jihad against the Hausa kings, dan Fodio rallied his primarily Fulani "warrior-scholars" against Gobir. Despite early losses at the Battle of Tsuntua and elsewhere, the forces of dan Fodio began taking over some key cities starting in 1805. The Fulani used guerrilla warfare to turn the conflict in their favor, and gathered support from the civilian population, which had come to resent the despotic rule and high taxes of the Hausa kings. Even some non-Muslim Fulani started to support dan Fodio. The war lasted from 1804 until 1808 and resulted in thousands of deaths. The forces of dan Fodio were able to capture the states of Katsina and Daura, the important kingdom of Kano in 1807, and finally conquered Gobir in 1809. In the same year, Muhammed Bello, the son of dan Fodio, founded the city of Sokoto, which became the capital of the Sokoto state.

The jihad had created "a new slaving frontier on the basis of rejuvenated Islam." By 1900, the Sokoto state had "at least 1 million and perhaps as many as 2.5 million slaves", second only to the United States (which had 4 million in 1860) in size among all modern slave societies.

Expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate
From 1808 until the mid-1830s, the Sokoto state expanded, gradually annexing the plains to the west and key parts of Yorubaland. It became one of the largest states in Africa, stretching from modern-day Burkina Faso to Cameroon and including most of northern Nigeria and southern Niger. At its height, the Sokoto state included over 30 different emirates under its political structure. The political structure of the state was organized with the Sultan of Sokoto ruling from the city of Sokoto (and for a brief period under Muhammad Bello from Wurno). The leader of each emirate was appointed by the sultan as the flag-bearer for that city but was given wide independence and autonomy. Much of the growth of the state occurred through the establishment of an extensive system of ribats as part of the consolidation policy of Muhammed Bello, the second Sultan. Ribats were established, founding a number of new cities with walled fortresses, schools, markets, and other buildings. These proved crucial in expansion through developing new cities, settling the pastoral Fulani people, and supporting the growth of plantations which were vital to the economy.

The expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate had significant impacts on local populations. In many cases, conquered peoples were assimilated into the Caliphate, adopting Islam and becoming part of the Caliphate's political and social structures. In other cases, communities resisted the Caliphate's rule, leading to conflicts and tensions that sometimes persisted for years. The most significant impact was the spread of Islam among the local populations. The Sokoto Caliphate was intensely Islamic, and it actively sought to convert the peoples of the territories it conquered. As a result, Islam became the dominant religion in the region, with profound implications for local cultures, legal systems, and social norms. The imposition of Islamic law (Sharia) brought about changes in areas such as property rights, marriage, and criminal justice. Not all local populations accepted the Caliphate's rule, and there were instances of resistance. Some communities maintained their traditional religions and practices despite the Caliphate's efforts to enforce Islam. There were also armed rebellions against the Caliphate's rule, some of which were successful in achieving local autonomy. The expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate can be understood as a three-stage process. Initially, from 1804 to 1808, the consolidation of power occurred in Gobir and the neighboring Hausa states. The successful military campaigns against these rulers won him considerable support, establishing the foundation for the forthcoming expansion. The second stage (1809-1815) marked the eastward and southward expansion, reaching the Bornu Empire and Yorubaland. Dan Fodio and his lieutenants led a series of jihads, framed as a battle against un-Islamic practices. The success of these jihads was due not only to military prowess, but he appealed to the Fulani through the desire for conquest and enslavement of the polytheists. The Fulani were instrumental in the expansion of the Caliphate. The final stage (1815-1840) involved further consolidation and minor campaigns against resistant elements. By this time, the Caliphate had grown into one of the largest empires in Africa, extending over present-day northern Nigeria, parts of Niger, Cameroon, and Benin.

This expansion led to profound changes on local populations. The spread of Islam was a significant outcome, transforming the religious landscape of the region. Islamic law was imposed, affecting local customs and norms, especially concerning property rights, marriage, and criminal justice. This religious influence continues to shape the socio-cultural dynamics of the region. Moreover, the Caliphate's administrative and social structures were imposed on conquered territories. The Caliphate established a system of emirates, with appointed emirs overseeing local governance. The social hierarchy saw the Sultan and the ruling elite at the top, followed by free Muslims, non-Muslims, and slaves. This system significantly altered the political fabric of the region.

Into the Nupe Kingdom
The Nupe Kingdom, historically a powerful state in Central Nigeria, was conquered by the Sokoto Caliphate in the early 19th century as part of its expansionist campaigns. The Sokoto forces, under the leadership of Usman dan Fodio's brother, Abdullahi dan Fodio, advanced towards the Nupe Kingdom c. 1806. The Nupe Kingdom, under the rule of Etsu Majiya II, was a prosperous state known for its military prowess. However, the kingdom was internally divided due to succession disputes and other political tensions. Abdullahi dan Fodio exploited these internal divisions and launched a military campaign against the Nupe Kingdom. Despite the initial resistance, the Nupe Kingdom was eventually defeated. Etsu Majiya II was killed in battle, and the kingdom fell to the Sokoto forces c. 1808. After the conquest, the Sokoto Caliphate established the Bida Emirate in the Nupe Kingdom. The Caliphate appointed a local Fulani leader, known Mallam Dendo, as the emir, who ruled on behalf of the Sultan of Sokoto. The emir was expected to enforce Islamic law and pay tribute to the Sultan. The conquest of the Nupe Kingdom had significant impacts on the region. Islam became the dominant religion, and the Arabic script was introduced for writing the local Nupe language. The Sokoto Caliphate also established new trade routes and markets in the region, leading to economic changes.

Into the Oyo Empire
The Oyo Empire, located in present-day southwestern Nigeria, was one of the most powerful kingdoms in West Africa during the 18th century. However, by the early 19th century, the Oyo Empire was in decline due to internal conflicts, succession disputes, and pressures from external enemies. The Sokoto Caliphate, on the other hand, was on the rise. The Sokoto Caliphate's main involvement with the Oyo Empire was through Ilorin, a northern Yoruba vassal state of the Oyo Empire. The Ilorin, backed by the Sokoto Caliphate, launched a series of attacks against the Oyo Empire. These attacks, combined with internal conflicts, led to the final collapse of the Oyo Empire by the mid-19th century.

Into other parts of Hausaland
Parts of present-day Niger, particularly the regions bordering Nigeria, were conquered by the Sokoto Caliphate. The town of Birnin Konni, for instance, was a significant center of the Caliphate in this region. The Sokoto Caliphate extended its influence into the northern areas of present-day Benin, which borders Nigeria to the west. The process of expansion into these regions was similar to that within Nigeria. The Caliphate launched military campaigns against local rulers, often exploiting internal conflicts and divisions. Upon conquering an area, the Caliphate would typically establish an emirate, appointing an emir to govern on behalf of the Sultan of Sokoto. The new rulers were expected to enforce Islamic law and pay tribute to the Sultan.

Into the Kanem-Bornu empire
The last major expansion of the Fulani jihadists was their part in the fall of the Sayfawa dynasty in 1846. The Sokoto Caliphate did not directly overthrow the dynasty that ruled the Bornu Empire, but the jihadist movements of the 19th century certainly had an impact on it. The empire was weakened by internal conflicts, as well as by external threats, including the expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate and the encroachment of other jihadist groups. The Fulani jihadists, under Usman dan Fodio's banner tried to conquer Borno, who was governed by Mai Dunama IX Lefiami, in 1808. They partly succeeded. They burnt the capital, Ngazargamu and defeated the main army of the Mai of Borno.

Influence on other Fula Jihad states
The 19th century was a period of significant Islamic reform and jihads in West Africa, and the Sokoto Caliphate was just one of several powerful states that emerged during this time. In present-day Mali, the Massina Empire and the Toucouleur Empire were examples of states established through similar processes of Islamic reform and military expansion. The Massina Empire, also known as the Diina of Hamdullahi, was an early 19th-century Fulani Jihad state centered in the Inner Niger Delta area of present-day Mali. This West African state was founded by Seku Amadu, also known as Sheikh Amadu Sheikh, who started a jihad movement among the Fulani people in the region. In the early 1800s, Seku Amadu, inspired by the teachings of Usman dan Fodio and the success of the Sokoto Caliphate, was authorized by Fodio to carry out jihad in the Massina region. Seku Amadu's forces succeeded in overthrowing the ruling elites and establishing a new jihadist state. The capital of the Massina Empire was Hamdullahi, a city founded by Seku Amadu. The expansion of the Massina Empire occurred mainly through military conquest. The Empire extended its control over the Inner Niger Delta and parts of the surrounding Sahelian and savannah regions. Some of the notable areas that came under the control of the Massina Empire include Timbuktu and Djenné, key centers of trans-Saharan slave trade. The Massina Empire's rule was characterized by a strict interpretation of Islamic law. Seku Amadu implemented legal and social reforms, including the outlawing of many traditional polytheist practices as well as forcing many polytheists into slavery. However, the Massina Empire also faced resistance. Some local communities resisted the imposition of Islamic law and the centralization of political power. Furthermore, the Massina Empire faced external threats from neighboring states, including the Toucouleur Empire under El Hadj Umar Tall. The Massina Empire fell to the Toucouleur Empire in 1862. Despite its relatively short lifespan, the Massina Empire had a significant impact on the region. It played a key role in spreading Islam. The Toucouleur Empire, also known as the Tukulor Empire, was a significant West African state that emerged during the 19th century, in what is now Mali, Senegal, and Guinea. It was founded by El Hadj Umar Tall, an Islamic leader of Tukulor descent, who sought to establish a jihadist state and conquer and enslave the polytheists in the region. Umar Tall began his jihad, or holy war, in the 1850s after studying in the Sokoto Caliphate. In 1854, Umar Tall declared a jihad against the un-Islamic practices of the local rulers. He assembled a large army, which included his fellow Toucouleurs, as well as other Muslim groups and enslaved individuals. With this army, he undertook a series of successful military campaigns against various West African kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Segou in 1861 and the Massina Empire in 1862. At its height, the Toucouleur Empire stretched from modern-day Senegal in the west to Timbuktu in the east. Its capital was established at Segou, in present-day Mali.

Though not strictly a jihadist state, the Wassoulou Empire, founded by Samori Ture, was a significant Islamic state during this period. Located in what is now Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast. The Wassoulou Empire was known for its strict implementation of Islam and enslavement of polytheists.

During and subsequent to the 18th century, the Wolof people were significantly affected by the tumultuous jihads spreading across West Africa. These militant Islamic campaigns faced heavy resistance from the Wolof kingdoms. However, in the 19th century, as the French colonial forces began taking territory in West Africa, the Wolof resisted French rule and increasingly turned towards Islam.

Despite their eventual dissolution, these jihadist states played a significant role in the spread of Islam and shaping of West Africa. They marked a crucial phase in the regional spread of Islam and a turbulent period in the region's indigenous political and social structures. Many of the jihadist movements began with the overthrow of traditional rulers who were accused of un-Islamic practices. These rulers were often replaced with leaders who had led the jihad and who sought to establish governance in diverse communities such as the Yoruba Kingdoms, based on their new rules. The jihads often led to shifts in the social hierarchy.

Decline
European attention had been focusing on the region for colonial expansion for much of the last part of the 19th century. The French in particular had sent multiple exploratory missions to the area to assess colonial opportunities after 1870.

French explorer Parfait-Louis Monteil visited Sokoto in 1891 and noted that the Caliphate was at war with the Emir of Argungu, defeating Argungu the next year. Monteil claimed that Fulani power was tottering because of the war and the accession of the unpopular Caliph Abderrahman dan Abi Bakar.

However, following the Berlin Conference, the British had expanded into Southern Nigeria, and by 1901 had begun to move into the Sokoto Caliphate while simultaneous German efforts occurred in Cameroon. British General Frederick Lugard used rivalries between many of the emirs in the south and the central Sokoto administration to prevent any defense as he marched toward the capital, while the Germans conquered Adamawa. As the British approached the city of Sokoto, the new Sultan Muhammadu Attahiru I along with Muhammad bin Anabwani organized a quick defense of the city and fought the advancing British-led forces. The British force quickly won, sending Attahiru I and thousands of followers on a Mahdist hijra.

Muslim supporters and officials moved from Hausaland, Segu, Massina and Adamawa towards to Burmi, a military station on the far-eastern border of the Empire.

The now shattered Caliphate was partitioned by Britain and Germany. On March 13, 1903, at the grand market square of Sokoto, the last Vizier of the Caliphate officially conceded to British Rule. The British appointed Muhammadu Attahiru II as the new Caliph. Fredrick Lugard abolished the Caliphate, but retained the title Sultan as a symbolic position in the newly organized Northern Nigeria Protectorate. This remnant became known as "Sokoto Sultanate Council". In June 1903, the British defeated the remaining forces of Attahiru I in an engagement where he was killed in action; by 1906, armed resistance to British rule had ended.

Administrative structure
The Sokoto state was largely organized around a number of largely independent emirates pledging allegiance to the sultan of Sokoto. The administration was initially built to follow those of Muhammad during his time in Medina, but also the theories of Al-Mawardi in "The Ordinances of Government". The Hausa kingdoms prior to Usman dan Fodio had been run largely through hereditary succession.

The early rulers of Sokoto, dan Fodio and Bello, abolished systems of hereditary succession, preferring leaders to be appointed by virtue of their Islamic scholarship and moral standing. Emirs were appointed by the sultan; they traveled yearly to pledge allegiance and deliver taxes in the form of crops, cowry shells, and slaves. When a sultan died or retired from the office, an appointment council made up of the emirs would select a replacement. Direct lines of succession were largely not followed, although each sultan claimed direct descent from dan Fodio.

The caliphate absorbed many of the structures of governments of their Hausa predecessors which they had conquered. It ruled under Islamic law with powers falling to the emirates which made up the caliphate. A large number of emirs and senior officials were Fulani clerics and scholars who participated in the Fulani War.

The major administrative division was between Sokoto and the Gwandu Emirate. In 1815, Usman dan Fodio retired from the administrative business of the state and divided the area taken over during the Fulani War with his brother Abdullahi dan Fodio ruling in the west with the Gwandu Emirate and his son Muhammed Bello taking over administration of the Sokoto Sultanate. The Emir at Gwandu retained allegiance to the Sokoto Sultanate and spiritual guidance from the sultan, but the emir managed the separate emirates under his supervision independently from the sultan. The administrative structure of loose allegiances of the emirates to the sultan did not always function smoothly. There was a series of revolutions by the Hausa aristocracy in 1816–1817 during the reign of Muhammed Bello, but the sultan ended these by granting the leaders titles to land. There were multiple crises that arose during the 19th century between the Sokoto Sultanate and many of the subservient emirates: notably, the Adamawa Emirate and the Kano Emirate. A serious revolt occurred in 1836 in the city-state of Gobir, which was crushed by Muhammed Bello at the Battle of Gawakuke.

The Sufi community throughout the region proved crucial in the administration of the state. The Tariqa brotherhoods, most notably the Qadiriyya, to which every successive sultan of Sokoto was an adherent, provided a group linking the distinct emirates to the authority of the sultan. Scholars Burnham and Last claim that this Islamic scholarship community provided an "embryonic bureaucracy" which linked the cities throughout the Sokoto state.

Viziers of Sokoto
The Caliphate and its resulting emirates each had Viziers (Waziris) as they are called in the Caliphate. Those Viziers mostly came from the most learned families in Sokoto, learned not only in the legal and political aspects of Islam but also in its mystical side. The classical vizierate is based on some verses from the Quran.

The vizierate in Sokoto was based on the Abbasid Caliphate version of the position. Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio's book, Bayan wujab al-hijra, justifies the existence of the position in the caliphate:"The first pillar [of a kingdom] is an upright wazir (vizier) over the wilaya who wakens [the king] if he sleeps and gives him sight if he cannot see and reminds him if he is heedless. The greatest catastrophe which could befall the wilaya and its subjects is to be deprived of good wazirs and helpers. One of the requirements of a wazir is that he should truly be benevolent and kind-hearted towards the people."The first Grand Vizier of Sokoto was Abdullahi dan Fodio. He was described as a 'helper' to the Shaikh, the most important of his helpers. The 2nd Grand Vizier was Waziri Gidado bin Abu Bakr who was under Sultan Muhammad Bello. All subsequent 'Grand Vizier of Sokoto' came from his family, with his great-grandson, Gidado Idris, continuing the tradition of being the 'helper' to a Head of State by serving as Secretary to the Government of the Federation under the government of General Sani Abacha.

Waziri Gidado was married to the Shaikh's daughter Nana Asma'u dan Fodio. Abdullahi dan Fodio, the previous Grand Vizier, refused to relinquish the position even though Sultan Bello chose Gidado but he later formally recognised Gidado as the new vizier after his reconciliation with Muhammad Bello, giving Gidado his robes in token. As Vizier, Gidado had considerable freedom of judgement. He retired the Emir of Daura, Ishaq, and appointed his son, Zubair bin Ishaq which was later approved by Sultan Bello.

The position had a 'considerable following'. The Scottish explorer Hugh Clapperton in 1826 speaks of 'a numerous train of attendants on horseback and on foot'; another explorer Paul Staudinger in 1886 says the Vizier had considerable 'house-power' ('eine ziemliche Hausmacht'), having a hundred gunmen in his following. He had several estates and villages under him but their inhabitants are often scattered and distant from Sokoto only joining him for a major expedition.

Foreign visitors between 1880 and 1890 often saw the position as all-powerful. The Scottish geologist and explorer Joseph Thomson described him as being 'more powerful than the Sultan himself' since 'nothing is done except by his advice'; Staudinger reported that he was the most powerful of ministers, almost more so than the Sultan, since all government business went through him; William Wallace found that 'the grand Vizier practically rules the Fulah Empire' and holds 'all the real power, the Sultans being completely hedged in by formalities'. Though these impressions are exaggerated, the Vizier did appear to have the whole civil service under his control. The vizierate never rivalled the Caliph's position. The Vizier was the chief supporter, adviser and friend to the Caliph, and in that position was able to reassert the Islamic tradition in Sokoto.

Military
The military, which was commanded by the Sarkin Yaki (war commander) the title still held by the descendants of Ali Jedo, at the time of the jihad was organized into a standing army and a cavalry. The standing army was composed of Hausa and Fulani warriors who were trained in warfare and were responsible for the Caliphate's defense and the expansion of its territories. The cavalry was an essential part of the military, as horses were the primary mode of transportation during this period. During the expansion, the Caliphate's military utilized a strategy of establishing emirates in conquered territories. These emirates were governed by emirs, who were either appointed by the Sultan or were local rulers who had submitted to the Caliphate's authority. This strategy helped in maintaining control over the vast territories of the Caliphate.

The Sokoto Caliphate relied heavily on the use of cavalry in its military campaigns. The Fulani horsemen, renowned for their equestrian skills, formed the core of the Caliphate's cavalry. They were instrumental in the rapid expansion of the Caliphate's territories. Parfait-Louis Monteil, the french explorer who visited the caliphate in 1890, claimed that he witnessed Sultan Umaru bin Ali raise "an army of forty thousand men, half of whom were cavalry, to lay siege to Argungu."

Additionally, the Caliphate's military strategy involved a system of alliances with local rulers. In some cases, these rulers were allowed to maintain their positions under the condition that they pledged allegiance to the Caliphate and adopted Islam. This strategy helped to solidify the Caliphate's control over conquered territories. The military expansion of the Sokoto Caliphate had significant social, political, and economic impacts. It led to the spread of Islam and the Fulani language and culture in the region. The Caliphate's rule also resulted in changes in local governance systems and the economy, with the introduction of new administrative structures and trade networks.

Scholarship
Islamic scholarship was a crucial aspect of the Caliphate from its founding. Sultan Usman dan Fodio, Sultan Muhammed Bello, Emir Abdullahi dan Fodio, Sultan Abu Bakr Atiku, and Nana Asma'u devoted significant time to chronicling histories, writing poetry, and Islamic studies. A number of manuscripts are available, and they provide crucial historical information and important spiritual texts. This role did diminish after the reign of Bello and Atiku.

Although veiling was practiced, it did not stop women from being educated in the caliphate. Many of the women around Shaikh Uthman dan Fodio, like his wives and daughters, were also his students and attained great learning. Slaves were encouraged to become Muslims and their children were given Muslim education and were taught Arabic.

Economy

After the establishment of the Caliphate, there were decades of economic growth throughout the region, particularly after a wave of revolts in 1816–1817. They had significant trade over the trans-Saharan routes.

After the Fulani War, all land in the empire was declared waqf or owned by the entire community. However, the Sultan allocated land to individuals or families, as could an emir. Such land could be inherited by family members but could not be sold. Exchange was based largely on slaves, cowries or gold. Major crops produced included cotton, indigo, kola and shea nuts, grain, rice, tobacco, and onion.

Considerable numbers of scholars and the poor depended on the "great houses" for basic amenities like food and clothing. Food was prepared in the houses, which then acted like communal canteens. Clothing came largely from the payments from the other emirates in the caliphate and was redistributed to the community. This system helped Sokoto maintain a large scholar community.

Slavery remained a large part of the economy, although its operation had changed with the end of the Atlantic slave trade. Slaves were gained through raiding and via markets as had operated earlier in West Africa. The founder of the Caliphate allowed slavery only for non-Muslims; slavery was viewed as a process to bring such peoples into the Muslim community. At least half of the Caliphate's population was enslaved in the 19th century. There was a huge expansion of slaves due to the jihad campaigns, frontier wars and slave raids. The expansion of agricultural plantations under the Caliphate was dependent on slave labor. These plantations were established around the ribats, and large areas of agricultural production took place around the cities of the empire. The institution of slavery was mediated by the lack of a racial barrier among the peoples, and by a complex and varying set of relations between owners and slaves, which included the right to accumulate property by working on their own plots, manumission, and the potential for slaves to convert and become members of the Islamic community. There are historical records of slaves reaching high levels of government and administration in the Sokoto Caliphate.

Its commercial prosperity was also based on Islamic traditions, market integration, internal peace and an extensive export-trade network.

Culture
The Fulani ruling class engaged in marriage alliances with Hausa families. The Hausa language became the language of administration and main medium of poetry in the caliphate.

Legacy
Although it has lost its former political power, the Sokoto Sultanate Council continues to exist, and the Sokoto Sultans are still "leading figures in Nigerian society". Even the Presidents of Nigeria have sought their support.

Due to its impact, the Sokoto Caliphate is also revered by Islamists in modern Nigeria. For example, the Jihadist militant group Ansaru has vowed to revive the Sokoto Caliphate in order to restore the "lost dignity of Muslims in black Africa".

The influence of the Sokoto Caliphate can also be seen in extremist groups like Boko Haram. Boko Haram, based in northeastern Nigeria, promotes an extremist interpretation of Islam and seeks to establish an Islamic state governed by strict Sharia law. While they have occasionally referenced Usman dan Fodio's legacy to justify their actions, presenting their struggle as a continuation of the original jihad, there are fundamental differences between the two jihadist movements. The Sokoto Jihad's intellectual thought, according to historian Michael Cook, can be described as part of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries Islamic world's "conservative orientation towards intellectual innovation". The three leaders of the jihad, namely Usman, Abdullahi and Bello, drew heavily from Maliki and Qadriyya texts, with connections to wider Islamic intellectual networks. In contrast, Boko Haram operates in a globalized world and draws influences from Salafi and Wahhabi ideology and is connected and influenced by global Salafi jihadist networks.

Boko Haram operates primarily in Borno State, and it is indeed important to acknowledge the historical context of the state, which is the central fragment of the old Kanem-Bornu empire of the Kanuri people. Bornu, led by Shaikh al-Kanemi, had a history of resistance against the Sokoto jihad and actively opposed the encroachment and ideology of the caliphate. There were intense debates and correspondence between Bello and al-Kanemi during the jihad, reflecting their differing perspectives. While the Sokoto Caliphate had limited success in fully subjugating Bornu, it is worth noting that Boko Haram, founded by Muhammad Yusuf and later led by Shekau, also emerged from the Kanuri community. Their ideology criticized the established Islamic tradition of the Sokoto Caliphate, considering it impure and in need of reform. They sought to return to what they perceived as more orthodox practices based on Salafi thought, rejecting the Maliki law and Sufi influences of the Sokoto Caliphate. Influential Salafi scholars in Nigeria critique Boko Haram, highlighting their leaders' lack of proper education in fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) and their misinterpretation and misuse of Salafi texts. This is in contrast to the Sokoto jihad leaders who were renowned Maliki scholars, with Usman and Abdullahi already being respected scholars prior to the jihad.

title: Sokoto Caliphate


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User:Bojin

My name is Bojin  ( Божин )and I am from Bulgaria.

bg:Потребител:Bart cs:Wikipedista:Bojin de:Benutzer:Bojin fr:Utilisateur:Bojin it:Utente:Bojin nl:Gebruiker:Bojin pl:Wikipedysta:Bojin ro:Utilizator:Bojin ru:Участник:Bojin sv:Användare:Bojin

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

title: User:Bojin


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Gun show

As of this moment, has very little to do with what a gun show is or its relevance. -- Grunt (talk) 17:47, 2004 Jul 18 (UTC)


text: User talk:83.216.136.74

title: User talk:83.216.136.74


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George F. R. Ellis

George Francis Rayner Ellis, FRS, Hon. FRSSAf (born 11 August 1939), is the emeritus distinguished professor of complex systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. He co-authored The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with University of Cambridge physicist Stephen Hawking, published in 1973, and is considered one of the world's leading theorists in cosmology. From 1989 to 1992 he served as president of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation. He is a past president of the International Society for Science and Religion. He is an A-rated researcher with the NRF.

Ellis, an active Quaker,  was a vocal opponent of apartheid during the National Party reign in the 1970s and 1980s, and it is during this period that Ellis's research focused on the more philosophical aspects of cosmology, for which he won the Templeton Prize in 2004. He was also awarded the Order of the Star of South Africa by Nelson Mandela, in 1999. On 18 May 2007, he was elected a fellow of the British Royal Society.

Life
Born in 1939 to George Rayner Ellis, a newspaper editor, and Gwendoline Hilda MacRobert Ellis in Johannesburg, George Francis Rayner Ellis attended the University of Cape Town, where he graduated with honours in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics with distinction. He represented the university in fencing, rowing and flying.

While a student at St John's College, Cambridge, where he received a PhD in applied maths and theoretical physics in 1964, he was on college rowing teams.

At Cambridge, Ellis served as a research fellow from 1965 to 1967, was assistant lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics until 1970, and was then appointed university lecturer, serving until 1974.

Ellis became a visiting professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago in 1970, a lecturer at the Cargese Summer School in Corsica in 1971 and the Erice Summer School in Sicily in 1972, and a visiting H3 professor at the University of Hamburg, also in 1972.

The following year, Ellis co-wrote The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time with Stephen Hawking, debuting at a strategic moment in the development of General Relativity Theory.

In the following year, Ellis returned to South Africa to accept an appointment as professor of applied mathematics at the University of Cape Town, a position he held until his retirement in 2005.

In 2005 Ellis appeared as a guest speaker at the Nobel Conference in St. Peter, Minnesota.

Work
George Ellis has worked for many decades on anisotropic cosmologies (Bianchi models) and inhomogeneous universes, and on the philosophy of cosmology. He is currently writing on the emergence of complexity, and the way this is enabled by top-down causation in the hierarchy of complexity. Recently Ellis has also collaborated with Teppo Felin, Denis Noble, and Jan Koenderink on a set of articles published in the journal ''Genome Biology. '' In terms of philosophy of science, Ellis is a Platonist.

Papers
Ellis has over 500 published articles; including 17 in Nature. Notable papers include:

Honours
In 2019 Rhodes University in Grahamstown announced it would award Ellis an honorary doctorate in laws (LLD, hc)

title: George F. R. Ellis


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3,000 strikeout club

In Major League Baseball (MLB), the 3,000 strikeout club is the group of 19 pitchers who have struck out 3,000 or more batters in their careers. Walter Johnson became the first member in 1923, and was the only one until Bob Gibson joined in 1974. The most recent addition is Max Scherzer, who joined on September 12, 2021. The group includes three left-handed pitchers: CC Sabathia, Steve Carlton, and Randy Johnson. Randy Johnson reached the mark with the fewest games pitched and innings pitched. The Minnesota Twins were the first of four franchises to see multiple pitchers record their 3,000th strikeout: Walter Johnson (while the franchise was called the Washington Senators) in 1923 and Bert Blyleven in 1986. The other teams with multiple members are the Chicago Cubs (Ferguson Jenkins and Greg Maddux), the New York Yankees (Phil Niekro and Sabathia), and the Houston Astros (Nolan Ryan and Justin Verlander). César Gerónimo is the only player struck out by two pitchers for their 3,000th strikeout: Gibson in 1974 and Ryan in 1980. Ten 3,000-strikeout pitchers are also members of the 300-win club. Seven members were named to the All-Century Team, a list of MLB's best 100 players; fans later elected four of them as starters. Thirteen members of the club also won a Cy Young Award in their careers.

The club is considered to almost be a guarantee of entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Fourteen members of the 3,000-strikeout club have been elected to the Hall, most recently Randy Johnson, Pedro Martínez, and John Smoltz, all voted in during the 2015 balloting. Three more members - Sabathia, Scherzer, and Verlander - are not yet eligible for election, being neither dead for six months nor retired for five seasons. The remaining two, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, made their first appearances on the ballot for the elections and received about half of the total votes needed for induction before falling off the ballot in 2022. Clemens' future election is seen as uncertain because of his alleged links to use of performance-enhancing drugs.

title: 3,000 strikeout club


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User:Vahe Sarkissian

Greetings
I haven't done a lot with this page yet, but I don't want it to be completely empty.

I work in computing science, but I have a wide variety of interests. My spelling and grammar are pretty good, so in the beginning I plan on working mainly on pages needing cleanup.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back again soon and I'll try to have something interesting here.

title: User:Vahe Sarkissian


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Talk:Lists of Jews by country

Intentions
Hope the intention of this page is to link to different lists that have the list of Jews from a particular country; and that one notable person from each country is just a beginning. Jay 18:01, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Merge?
I think that merging this to Jews by country is a good idea. -- Jmabel | Talk 05:30, 25 December 2005 (UTC)

Major overhaul (moves, merges, renames, and additions)
Hello Wikipedians. Based on talk discussions and merge templates, I was bold and shuffled a ton of content tonight. In summary:
 * I moved all historical population data (particularly from Jewish population) to Jews by country/Historical comparison and then renamed that article Historical Jewish population comparisons.
 * I merged all current population data from Jews by country to Jewish population.
 * I repurposed Jews by country to house a table that offers links to articles about current Jews in a country, the history of Jews in that country, and the "List of Jews" of that country.
 * I redirected Lists of Jews by country to Jews by country.
 * I added a "Total population" section to Jewish population.

I tried to move all the references properly, but please feel free to check things over. Several of the tables need to be converted into Wiki syntax, and I will try to get to that.

I am cross-posting this message to:
 * Talk:Jews by country
 * Talk:Jewish population
 * Talk:Historical Jewish population comparisons
 * Talk:Lists of Jews by country

Thanks! — Reinyday, 08:20, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Lists of Jews by country


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Talk:James Jones

FYI -- I couldn't find anything on a "James T. Jones" who is a poet, but there is plenty on google about a professor by that name who writes about Jack Kerouac. If there really is a more notable poet, somebody correct me. - Nat Krause 18:03, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

=James T. Jones= The listing says something about the Southwest Missouri State University professor. First off the school dropped the southwest and is just Missouri State University and the link doesnt go to that James T. Jones.--Pollard666 21:01, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:James Jones


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Herodian

Herodian or Herodianus (Ἡρωδιανός) of Syria, sometimes referred to as "Herodian of Antioch" (c. 170 – c. 240), was a minor Roman civil servant who wrote a colourful history in Greek titled History of the Empire from the Death of Marcus (τῆς μετὰ Μάρκον βασιλείας ἱστορία) in eight books covering the years 180 to 238. His work is not considered entirely reliable, although his less biased account of Elagabalus may be more useful than that of Cassius Dio. Herodian himself may have been a Syrian   (perhaps from Antioch), though he appears to have lived for a considerable period of time in Rome, possibly without holding any public office. From his extant work, it seems that he was still living at an advanced age during the reign of Gordianus III, who ascended the throne in 238. Beyond this, nothing is known of his life.

Herodian writes (1.1.3; 2.15.7) that the events described in his history occurred during his lifetime. Photius (Codex 99) gives an outline of the contents of this work and passes a flattering encomium on the style of Herodian, which he describes as clear, vigorous, agreeable, and preserving a happy medium between an utter disregard of art and elegance and a profuse employment of the artifices and prettinesses which were known under the name of Atticism, as well as between boldness and bombast. He appears to have used Thucydides as a model to some extent, both for style and for the general composition of his work, often introducing speeches wholly or in part imaginary.

Birth, life, and death
The dates of the birth and death of Herodian are unknown. All available information concerning his life is derived from what he himself wrote, so the evidence is scarce. One can assume that he must have reached the age of ten by the year 180 due to the attentive detail in his descriptions of the events of that time. One notion is that Herodian must have finished writing around 240, which would have made him about 70. He mentions, “My aim is to write a systematic account of the events within a period of seventy years, covering the reigns of several emperors, of which I have personal experience.” (2.15.7) This reaffirms the notion that Herodian was about 70 years of age when this was written and that the actions did indeed occur during his lifetime. However, it is possible that his history was composed at a later date. Herodian's descriptions of Gordian III are less than flattering, and it is doubtful that he released such a negative review of a current emperor. Following this logic, his history was finished in 244 at the earliest, when Gordian III died. In his first and third books, Herodian mentions the games of Commodus in 192, and the Secular Games of Septimius Severus in 204. If Herodian attended the games of Commodus, he had been at least 14 at the time, which is to say that he was born in 178 at the latest.

The nationality of Herodian is also unclear. He was not from Italy, for he says the Alps were bigger than anything “in our part of the world.” (2.11.8) It has been suggested that Herodian was from Alexandria since he placed such a large emphasis on Caracalla's massacre of this city and its inhabitants. It is also believed that he could have possibly been an eyewitness to these attacks. Herodian does refer to Alexandria as the second city of the empire; however, this may be disregarded since he also applies the same title to Antioch and Carthage. It has been proposed that Herodian was the son of Aelius Herodianus, an Alexandrian grammarian. Although this does fit chronologically, there is no other evidence to support it. The popular speculation, however, is that Herodian was from Antioch. Herodian describes the character of the Syrians as quick-witted and mentions them twice more. However, there are also gaps in Herodian's knowledge of Syrian affairs which lead one to believe that he might not have been from the region at all. For example, he confuses two Parthian kings, and his chronology and geography of the Parthian campaign in 197–198 are deeply flawed. These flaws could be explained with a lack of knowledge of a small part of the empire; however, one would assume that an inhabitant of Syria would have had access to this knowledge. In short, unless an inscription is discovered, Herodian's place of birth will never be known for certain.

Occupation and social status
Neither the occupation nor the social status of Herodian is known. Herodian mentions, “I have written a history of the events following the death of Marcus which I saw and heard in my lifetime. I had a personal share in some of these events during my imperial and public service.” (1.2.5) It has been suggested that Herodian was a senator due to his knowledge of the senatus consultum tacitum, which was a secret declaration by the senate when they chose the emperors Pupienus and Balbinus. However, it is also stated that news of this was leaked by some senators, and it certainly would not have remained a secret for the entirety of Herodian's lifetime. It is possible, however, that Herodian was a freedman. This fits the profile perfectly, for he would not have cared for the larger political issues, and instead, would have concentrated on personalities and intricacies. Still yet, Herodian could have been an apparitor, a scribe or an attendant to the emperor. This would be suiting, for he would have had access to senatorial documents, traveled extensively, and been knowledgeable in the field of fiscal affairs, which Herodian repetitively stressed in his history.

The Roman History
Herodian's Roman History is a collection of eight books covering the period from the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 A.D. to the beginning of Gordian III's reign in 238. It provides a first person account of one of the most politically diverse times of the Roman Empire. The first book describes the reign of Commodus from 180 to 192, and the second discusses the Year of the Five Emperors in 193. Book Three encompasses the reign of Septimius Severus from 193 to 211, while the fourth discusses the reign of Caracalla from 211 to 217. Book five is about the reign of Elagabalus from 218 through 222, and book six deals with the reign of Severus Alexander from 222 to 235. The seventh book recounts the reign of Maximinus Thrax from 235 to 238, and the final one describes the Year of the Six Emperors in 238. Most likely, Herodian is writing for an eastern audience, for he often explains different Roman customs and beliefs that would have seemed foreign to Easterners.

Herodian has been both praised and criticized by scholars. The first person on record to review Herodian is the ninth-century patriarch of Constantinople, Photius. Of Herodian, Photius wrote “he neither exaggerates with hyperbole nor omits anything essential; in short, in all the virtues of historiography there are few men who are his superior.” Zosimus used him as a source as did John of Antioch when writing his World Chronicle. An English translator of the Roman History wrote in 1705 that Herodian "still preserves a Majesty suitable to the Greatness of the Subject which he treats, and has something in him so pleasing and comely, as perhaps all the Art and Labour of other Men can never reach.” Altheim commended Herodian's wide vision of the period, and F.A. Wolf acclaimed Herodian's lack of bias and superstition. However, not all views of Herodian are positive. For example, Wolf also charged Herodian with a deficiency in critical faculty. While the author of the Historia Augusta drew from Herodian, he also censured him for bias, and Herodian was by no means Zosimus’ first choice. Similarly, Joannes Zonaras only utilized Herodian where Cassius Dio's history leaves off.

Herodian has long been criticized for a lack of historical accuracy, but recent studies have tended to side with him, legitimizing his historical facts. In the second book, Herodian states that his intention was to “narrate only the most important and conclusive…actions separately and in chronological order.” (2.15.7) Because of this, Herodian sometimes conflates a large number of events into a single reference or two. For example, all of Caracalla's campaign in the north during 213 through 214 is condensed into two short allusions. Similarly, a single reference to a winter in Sirmium sums up Maximinus’ battles on the Rhine and Danube in 236 through 238. Herodian also occasionally falls short in his descriptions of geography. He confuses Arabia Scenite with Arabia Felix and claims that Issus was where the final battle and capture of Darius III took place.

In regard to Cassius Dio, both he and Herodian admittedly make many errors in their histories. Dio is credited as the expert when it comes to the senate; however, Herodian challenges Dio on his description of the people's reaction to the proclamation of Septimius Severus as their new emperor. Dio's work is not always the more accurate of the two and must not be immediately chosen over Herodian's.

title: Herodian


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Codename Eagle

Codename Eagle is a first-person shooter video game developed by Refraction Games and published by Take-Two Interactive and TalonSoft. Codename Eagle was released initially in the United Kingdom in November 1999, and later in North America in March 2000.

In 2000, DICE acquired Refraction Games and inherited the in-development Battlefield 1942. Codename Eagle is considered a spiritual predecessor to Battlefield 1942.

Gameplay
Codename Eagle is an open-world first-person shooter with drivable land, air and sea vehicles. In multiplayer mode, the players can battle in one of three modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.

Plot
The game is set in an alternate timeline, centered around events starting in Petrograd, Russia in 1917. World War I and the 1917 October Revolution never happened. Germany has yet to become involved with any of the other world powers. The story starts when Tsar Nicholas of the Russian Empire is betrayed by one of his closest friends, General Popov. One night, Popov sends assassins to kill the Tsar and the rest of the Royal Family to ensure that there are absolutely no living heirs to the throne of Russia. Popov would later cover up the murder by addressing the Russian people that a "terrible accident had befallen the Royal Family". The villainous general then later presents Lieutenant Oleg to the people of Russia as the "sole surviving son of Tsar Nicholas: Prince Alexander" and has Oleg crowned as the new Tsar.

Unknown to Popov, Colonel Sergei of the Army Staff somehow managed to overhear the General's plans, and he immediately rescues two children from the doomed family: the real Prince Alexander and Princess Anastasia, who earlier was "shot and left for dead, somehow managing to survive". It is unknown how Anastasia managed to still be in Russia, but Sergei arranges Dr. Meier of the famous Russian Scientific Institute to hypnotize Prince Alexander to temporarily erase his memory of his real heritage and replace it with that of a "farm boy who grew up in the countryside of England". This is a precaution to save Alexander from giving himself away as the true son of Tsar Nicholas. Meanwhile, with Oleg as a fake Tsar, General Popov, who is hell-bent on world domination, manages to take over almost all of Europe, throwing the continent into a bloody war. Soon, all free nations of the world form an alliance known as "Shadow Command" to rebel against the evil might of the Russian Empire.

Ten years later, in 1927, Prince Alexander (with his temporary memory) has grown up to become "Agent Red" of Shadow Command, and he is assigned the most difficult missions that the alliance has to offer. He is also the only playable character in the game. Red's main friends who fight on his side are Captain Potter, his instructor for his missions, the female "Agent Goggles", and the male "Agent Mortar". The main goal of Shadow Command is to defeat the Russian Empire, using whatever means possible to defeat the Russian war machine from within.

Along the way, Red meets up with Colonel Sergei, who he at first mistakes for an enemy officer, but later listens to the Colonel as he is told of his true heritage. Red has a hard time believing this story, but he soon starts having frequent flashbacks of his real family being murdered by General Popov's henchmen as a result of this. Red rescues Dr. Meier, who soon reveals the whole story of his true heritage and restores his memory back to normal. With his memory restored, Red soon meets up with his sister Anastasia. At first, Red/Alexander was to be the new Tsar of Russia, but now, his mind's made up, asking his sister to address the Russian people and reveal the truth about General Popov and his evil actions against their family and take the throne, becoming Tsarina of Russia. At first, Anastasia disagrees with him, but her brother says to her that his destiny now "lies with Shadow Command. I'm sworn to them, and must honor my promise". Following this chat, Red soon seeks out the last remains of an Allied spy airship mission that was forced down in the Alps to retrieve secret document from it.

When he gets there, Red finds Agent Mortar alive and well, now a traitor who's turned against Shadow Command. Mortar stole the documents earlier, even set Red up at an earlier point when Red saved Dr. Meier, who warned him of his friends. After a brief confrontation of his old friend, Mortar tries unsuccessfully to deliver the Allied documents to General Popov, but Red manages to stop him from getting away. Following this, Red finally reaches the Tsar's palace but not before disarming a doomsday device on a train on the way there. When he gets there, he finds the fake Tsar Oleg and manages (with some difficulty) to eliminate him. While dying, Oleg reveals to Red that General Popov is headed for London with another Doomsday Device in a double-structured Zeppelin.

Following this, in the last level of the game, Red then reaches the destination of Popov's Zeppelin on board the British aircraft carrier HMS York. First, Red has to man the AA guns on the carrier to defend the carrier against the fighter-bomber escorts of the Zeppelin. After this threat is dealt with, Popov's Zeppelin (escorted by two more zeppelins) enters the area. Red then takes off in his plane to shoot down the Zeppelin to avenge his murdered family. After a real difficult battle, the General's Zeppelin is shot down. Popov tries to escape in another Russian bomber, which Red shoots down, killing the evil man who had killed his family ten years earlier. The world is saved, and Russia is now under rule of Tsarina Anastasia. Most online sources cover up the true story and say that the main villain is Pietre instead of Popov, whose father died earlier.

Reception
The game received mixed reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.

According to former DICE employee Sean Decker, the game sold about 20,000 units.

title: Codename Eagle


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Fritz Kortner

Fritz Kortner (born Fritz Nathan Kohn, 12 May 1892 – 22 July 1970) was an Austrian stage and film actor and theatre director.

Life and career
Kortner was born in Vienna as Fritz Nathan Kohn into a Jewish family. He studied at the Vienna Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. After graduating, he joined Max Reinhardt in Berlin in 1911 and then Leopold Jessner in 1916. After his breakthrough performance in Ernst Toller's Transfiguration in 1919, he became one of Germany's best-known character actors and the nation's foremost performer of Expressionist works. He also appeared in over ninety films beginning in 1916.

His specialty was in playing sinister and threatening roles, although he also appeared in the title role of Dreyfus (1930). He originally gained attention for his explosive energy on stage and his powerful voice; but as the 1920s progressed, his work began to incorporate greater realism, as he opted for a more controlled delivery and greater use of gestures.

With the coming to power of the Nazis, Kortner fled Germany in 1933 with his wife, actress Johanna Hofer, returning first to his native Vienna and, from there, on to Great Britain, and finally, in 1937, to the United States, where he found work as a character actor and theater director.

He returned to Germany in 1949, where he became noted for his innovative staging and direction of classics by William Shakespeare and Molière, such as a Richard III (1964) in which the king crawls over piles of corpses at the finale.

Death
Kortner died at Munich in 1970, aged 78, of leukemia.

Selected filmography

 * Manya, die Türkin (1915)
 * Im Banne der Vergangenheit (1915)
 * Das Geheimnis von D.14 (1915)
 * Police Nr. 1111 (1915) – Mac Waldy
 * Das zweite Leben (1916)
 * Martyr of His Heart (1918) – Ludwig van Beethoven
 * The Other I (1918) – Professor
 * Frauenehre (1918, Short) – Mathias Enger
 * Der Sonnwendhof (1918)
 * Else of Erlenhof (1919)
 * The Eye of the Buddha (1919) – indischer Diener
 * Without Witnesses (1919)
 * Satan (1920) – Pharao Amenhotep
 * Gerechtigkeit (1920)
 * Va banque (1920) – S. M. Wulff
 * The Brothers Karamazov (1921) – Der alte Karamasoff
 * Catherine the Great (1920) – Potemkin
 * The Skull of Pharaoh's Daughter (1920)
 * Weltbrand (1920) – Iwan Becker
 * The Night of Queen Isabeau (1920) – Connetable
 * Die Verschleierte (1920)
 * Christian Wahnschaffe (1920)
 * The Maharaja's Favourite Wife (1921) – Bruder von Maharadscha Bhima
 * The Strongest Instinct (1921)
 * The Railway King (1921)
 * The House on the Moon (1921) – Jan van Haag – Wachsfigurenhändler
 * The House of Torment (1921) – Arzt
 * Hashish, the Paradise of Hell (1921) – Sultan
 * The Conspiracy in Genoa (1921) – Gianettino
 * Country Roads and the Big City (1921) – Mendel Hammerstein
 * Danton (1921)
 * Aus dem Schwarzbuch eines Polizeikommissars (1921) – Der Krüppel
 * The Hunt for the Truth (1921)
 * Backstairs (1921) – Der Postbote
 * The Railway King (1921)
 * On the Red Cliff (1922) – Henning Rinkens
 * Luise Millerin (1922) – Miller
 * The Earl of Essex (1922) – Lord Nottingham
 * Peter the Great (1922) – Patriarch Adrian
 * A Dying Nation (1922)
 * The Call of Destiny (1922)
 * What Belongs to Darkness (1922) – Gangster
 * At the Edge of the Great City (1922)
 * Nora (1923) – Krogstadt, Lawyer
 * Schatten – Eine nächtliche Halluzination (1923) – The count
 * A Woman, an Animal, a Diamond (1923) – Urmensch
 * Le revenant au baiser mortel (1923)
 * Poor Sinner (1923) – Canary
 * The Hands of Orlac (1924) – Nera
 * Modern Marriages (1924) – Diener
 * Kiedy kobieta zdradza meza (1924) – Lokaj
 * Doctor Wislizenus (1924) – Dr. Wislizenus
 * Should We Be Silent? (1926) – Der annoncierender Arzt
 * The Life of Beethoven (1927) – Ludwig van Beethoven
 * Mata Hari (1927) – Graf Bobrykin
 * Students' Love (1927) – Karsten
 * Alpine Tragedy (1927) – Mairas Vater
 * Caught in Berlin's Underworld (1927) – Lord
 * The Mistress of the Governor (1927) – Zarewitsch Alexander / Gouverneurs Sohn
 * Mary Stuart (1927) – Marschall Bothwell
 * Draga Maschin (1927)
 * Dame Care (1928) – Der alte Meyhöfer
 * Odette (1928) – Frontenac
 * Spy of Madame Pompadour (1928) – Zar Paul von Rußland
 * The Last Night (1928) – Montaloup
 * Pandora's Box (1929) – Dr. Ludwig Schön
 * Somnambul (1929) – Fabrikant Bingen
 * The Woman One Longs For (1929) – Dr. Karoff
 * The Woman in the Advocate's Gown (1929) – Konsul Backhaug
 * The Ship of Lost Souls (1929) – Kapitän Vela – Captain Fernando Vela
 * The Night of Terror (1929) – Prince Wagarin
 * Atlantik (1929) – Heinrich Thomas, author
 * Giftgas (1929) – Konzernpräsident Straaten
 * The Other (1930) – Prosecutor Hallers
 * Dreyfus (1930) – Alfred Dreyfus
 * Menschen im Käfig (1930) – Captain Kell
 * The Great Longing (1930) – Himself, Fritz Kortner
 * The Virtuous Sinner (1931, director)
 * Danton (1931) – Danton
 * The Murderer Dimitri Karamazov (1931) – Dimitri Karamasoff
 * You Don't Forget Such a Girl (1932, director)
 * Chu Chin Chow (1934) – Abu Hasan
 * Little Friend (1934) – Giant
 * Evensong (1934) – Arthur Kober
 * Abdul the Damned (1935) – Sultan Abdul Hamid II / Kelar – his double
 * The Crouching Beast (1935) – Ahmed Bey
 * Pagliacci (1936, writer)
 * Midnight Menace (1937) – Minister Peters of Grovnia
 * The Purple V (1943) – Thomas Forster
 * The Strange Death of Adolf Hitler (1943) – Bauer
 * The Hitler Gang (1944) – Gregor Strasser
 * The Wife of Monte Cristo (1946) – Maillard
 * Somewhere in the Night (1946) – Anzelmo aka Dr. Oracle
 * The Razor's Edge (1946) – Kosti
 * The Brasher Doubloon (1947) – Rudolph Vannier
 * Berlin Express (1948) – Franzen
 * The Vicious Circle (1948) – Joseph Schwartz
 * The Last Illusion (1949) – Professor Mauthner
 * The Orplid Mystery (1950) – Mr. P. L. Hoopman
 * Bluebeard (1951) – Haushofsmeister
 * Secrets of the City (1955, director)
 * Sarajevo (1955, director)
 *  (1961, TV film, director)
 * Clavigo (1970, TV film, director)

Autobiographical works

 * 1971: Letzten Endes. Fragmente. (posthumous autobiography, edited by Johanna Kortner)
 * 1996: Aller Tage Abend. Autobiographie. Droemer-Knaur, München, 1996, ISBN 3-426-02336-9.
 * Aller Tage Abend. Autobiographie. Alexander Verlag, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89581-098-3.
 * 2005: Aller Tage Abend. Auszüge, gelesen von Fritz Kortner. Alexander Verlag, Berlin ISBN 3-89581-137-8.

title: Fritz Kortner


text:
User talk:Andrewferrier

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

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ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:48, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Andrewferrier


text:
Airolo

Airolo (Airöö in Lombard, in ) is a municipality in the district of Leventina in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.

Geography
Airolo is located in Leventina valley and the Lepontine Alps, on the southern flank of the St. Gotthard Pass. Both the Gotthard rail tunnel, on the important Gotthard railway linking northern and southern Europe, and the Gotthard road tunnel, on the A2 motorway, have their southern portal in Airolo. It is the largest municipality in the canton of Ticino, and consists of the village of Airolo and the hamlets of Valle, Madrano, Brugnasco, Nante and Fontana. The municipalities of Airolo and Quinto are considering a merger some time in the future into a new municipality which will be known as Airolo-Quinto.

Airolo has an area,, of 94.37 km2. Of this area, 3.64 km2 or 3.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while 20.48 km2 or 21.7% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 2.7 km2 or 2.9% is settled (buildings or roads), 2.3 km2 or 2.4% is either rivers or lakes and 39.3 km2 or 41.6% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 1.8%. Out of the forested land, 14.9% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.5% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 3.2% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the municipality, 1.5% is in lakes and 0.9% is in rivers and streams. Of the unproductive areas, 20.2% is unproductive vegetation and 21.4% is too rocky for vegetation.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Azure on a base Vert a fir tree Argent issuant and a lion rampant Or.

Demographics
Airolo has a population of. , 21.5% of the population are foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1997–2007) the population has changed at a rate of −14.6%.

Most of the population speaks Italian (85.6%), with German being second most common (3.6%) and Serbo-Croatian being third (3.3%). Of the Swiss national languages, 57 speak German, 8 people speak French, 1,363 people speak Italian, and 1 person speaks Romansh. The remainder (164 people) speak another language.

, the gender distribution of the population was 49.9% male and 50.1% female. The population was made up of 577 Swiss men (37.6% of the population), and 189 (12.3%) non-Swiss men. There were 641 Swiss women (41.8%), and 128 (8.3%) non-Swiss women.

In there were 6 live births to Swiss citizens and 6 births to non-Swiss citizens, and in same time span there were 20 deaths of Swiss citizens. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 14 while the foreign population increased by 6. There was 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. At the same time, there were 2 non-Swiss men who emigrated from Switzerland to another country and 5 non-Swiss women who immigrated from another country to Switzerland. The total Swiss population change in 2008 (from all sources) was a decrease of 2 and the non-Swiss population change was a decrease of 28 people. This represents a population growth rate of −1.9%.

The age distribution,, in Airolo is as follows: 114 children or 7.4% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 131 teenagers or 8.5% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 184 people or 12.0% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 198 people or 12.9% are between 30 and 39, 215 people or 14.0% are between 40 and 49, and 234 people or 15.2% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 221 people or 14.4% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 130 people or 8.5% are between 70 and 79, there are 108 people or 7.0% who are over 80.

, there were 700 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. there were 503 single family homes (or 66.4% of the total) out of a total of 757 inhabited buildings. There were 88 two family buildings (11.6%) and 114 multi-family buildings (15.1%). There were also 52 buildings in the municipality that were multipurpose buildings (used for both housing and commercial or another purpose).

The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 3.31%. there were 1,325 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was the 3 room apartment of which there were 393. There were 78 single room apartments and 314 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 698 apartments (52.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 585 apartments (44.2%) were seasonally occupied and 42 apartments (3.2%) were empty. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0.6 new units per 1000 residents.

The historical population is given in the following table:
 * Population during construction of the St. Gotthard Tunnel

Heritage sites
The Hospice Complex on the St. Gotthard Pass with old station, house and barn, the Forte Airolo and Forte Foppa, the prehistoric settlement and Roman era necropolis of Madrano and the prehistoric settlement on the St. Gotthard Pass (known as Alpe di Rodont) are listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town of Airolo and the village of Fontana are listed in the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites.

Church
In 1877 a fire destroyed almost all of the town, including most of the church dedicated to Santi Nazario e Celso, which had been built in the 12th century and is first documented in 1224. The tower, crowned by a double row of twin arches has survived from the Romanesque building. In 1879 the church was rebuilt, under the auspices of an Uri lawyer based in Airolo, Carl Alois (Luigi) Müller, who was married to Genovefa Lombardi, the daughter of Felice Lombardi, Director of the St Gotthard hospice. There is a marble plaque in the church recording his efforts to get the church rebuilt.

St Gotthard Tunnel Memorial
This is a bronze bas-relief by the Ticinese sculptor Vincenzo Vela (1820–1891) commemorating the labourers who died building the tunnel in the 1880s.

Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 36.19% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the FDP (29.1%), the Ticino League (16.16%) and the SP (9.11%). In the federal election, a total of 676 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 64.3%.

In the Gran Consiglio election, there were a total of 1,109 registered voters in Airolo, of which 870 or 78.4% voted. 13 blank ballots and 2 null ballots were cast, leaving 855 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD+GenGiova which received 298 or 34.9% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 243 or 28.4%), the SSI (with 119 or 13.9%) and the LEGA (with 88 or 10.3%).

In the Consiglio di Stato election, 9 blank ballots and 3 null ballots were cast, leaving 857 valid ballots in the election. The most popular party was the PPD which received 290 or 33.8% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were; the PLRT (with 239 or 27.9%), the LEGA (with 140 or 16.3%) and the SSI (with 105 or 12.3%).

Economy
, Airolo had an unemployment rate of 2.58%. , there were 65 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 24 businesses involved in this sector. 356 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 20 businesses in this sector. 596 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 74 businesses in this sector. There were 774 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 34.5% of the workforce.

, there were 451 workers who commuted into the municipality and 161 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 2.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 5.6% used public transportation to get to work, and 47.4% used a private car.

, there were 8 hotels in Airolo with a total of 137 rooms and 322 beds.

Ski facilities
Airolo is also home to a small ski-resort with 30 km of prepared slopes.

Religion
From the, 1,287 or 80.8% were Roman Catholic, while 34 or 2.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. There are 243 individuals (or about 15.25% of the population) who belong to another church (not listed on the census), and 29 individuals (or about 1.82% of the population) did not answer the question.

Weather
Airolo has an average of 121.4 days of rain or snow per year and on average receives 1662 mm of precipitation. The wettest month is October during which time Airolo receives an average of 193 mm of rain or snow. During this month there is precipitation for an average of 9.3 days. The month with the most days of precipitation is May, with an average of 13, but with only 184 mm of rain or snow. The driest month of the year is January with an average of 88 mm of precipitation over 9.3 days.

Education
In Airolo about 61.3% of the population (between age 25–64) have completed either non-mandatory upper secondary education or additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule).

In Airolo there was a total of 218 students. The Ticino education system provides up to three years of non-mandatory kindergarten and in Airolo there were 35 children in kindergarten. The primary school program lasts for five years and includes both a standard school and a special school. In the municipality, 67 students attended the standard primary schools and 0 students attended the special school. In the lower secondary school system, students either attend a two-year middle school followed by a two-year pre-apprenticeship or they attend a four-year program to prepare for higher education. There were 52 students in the two-year middle school and 1 in their pre-apprenticeship, while 11 students were in the four-year advanced program.

The upper secondary school includes several options, but at the end of the upper secondary program, a student will be prepared to enter a trade or to continue on to a university or college. In Ticino, vocational students may either attend school while working on their internship or apprenticeship (which takes three or four years) or may attend school followed by an internship or apprenticeship (which takes one year as a full-time student or one and a half to two years as a part-time student). There were 19 vocational students who were attending school full-time and 31 who attend part-time.

The professional program lasts three years and prepares a student for a job in engineering, nursing, computer science, business, tourism and similar fields. There were 2 students in the professional program.

, there were 14 students in Airolo who came from another municipality, while 31 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Transport
Airolo is served by Airolo station, on the Gotthard railway, which is situated in the village centre. The station is served by an hourly InterRegio train between Arth-Goldau and Locarno, most of which start from either Basel SBB or Zürich HB. Bus services include an hourly service to Bellinzona, together with a less frequent route across the Novena Pass to Oberwald.

Famous people

 * Felice Lombardi (1791–1863), son of Giuseppe, Ticino cantonal parliament was in 1841 appointed by the Ticino State Council as Head of the Hospice on the Gotthard Pass.
 * Emilio Motta (1855–1920), historian
 * Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862–1947) (Citizenship Hospental), painter, son of Alois and Genovefa Müller-Lombardi
 * Giuseppe Motta (1871–1940), Swiss politician (CIP), Bundesrat.
 * Eugenio Corecco (1931–1995), Roman Catholic bishop in Diocese of Lugano in the canton Ticino
 * Giorgio Orelli (1921–2013), Swiss writer, literary critic, translator and lecturer.
 * Giovanni Lombardi (born 1926), Swiss engineer, known for tunnel and dam projects
 * Marco Lombardi (1941–2014), lawyer, former President of the Hockey Club Ambri-Piotta
 * Filippo Lombardi (born 1956), Swiss politician (CVP) and entrepreneur, President of States (2012 and 2013)
 * Katrin Müller (born 1989) is a Swiss freestyle skier, ski crosser
 * Lara Gut (born 1991), skier, lives in Canobbio

title: Airolo


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Kodungallur

Kodungallur (also Cranganore, Portuguese: Cranganor; formerly known as Mahodayapuram, Shingly, Vanchi, Muchiri, Muyirikkode, and Muziris) is a historically significant town situated on the banks of river Periyar on the Malabar Coast in Thrissur district of Kerala, India. It is 29 km north of Kochi (Cochin) by National Highway 66 and 38 km from Thrissur. Kodungallur, being a port city at the northern end of the Kerala lagoons, was a strategic entry point for the naval fleets to the extensive Kerala backwaters.

As of the 2011 India Census, Kodungallur Municipality had a population of 33,935. It had an average literacy rate of 95.10%. Around 64% of the population follows Hinduism, 32% Islam and 4% Christianity. Schedule Caste (SC) constitutes 7.8% while Schedule Tribe (ST) were 0.1% of total population in Kodungallur.

Kodungallur is the headquarters of the Kodungallur sub-district (tehsil) in Thrissur district. Kodungallur Kerala Legislative Assembly constituency is a part of Chalakudi Lok Sabha Constituency. Kodungallur is well connected to other towns in Kerala through the road network. Aluva Railway Station in Ernakulam district (28 km) is the major railway station near Kodungallur.

Fort Cranganore (Fortaleza São Tomé), known locally as Kottappuram Fort, was constructed in Kodungallur by Portuguese in 1523. The fort was enlarged in 1565, and passed into the hands of the Dutch in 1663. Thiruvanchikulam Mahadeva Temple, dedicated to the god Siva, is one of the major Siva temples in South India. Siva in the Thiruvanchikulam Temple was the patron deity of the Chera Perumals of Kerala and remains the family deity of the Cochin Royal Family.Kodungallur Bhagavathy Temple is a Hindu temple at Kodungallur dedicated to the goddess Bhadrakali, a form of Mahakali or simply Durga or Aadi Parashakthi worshipped and significantly revered in Kerala. The goddess is known also by the names "Sri Kurumba"" (The Mother of Kodungallur). This temple is the head of 64 Bhadrakali temples in Kerala and is one of the oldest functioning temples in India.

It was here that one of Jesus's disciples, St. Thomas reached during 1st century AD to preach Christianity.

The first case of COVID-19 in India was reported at Kodungallur in a medical student who returned from Wuhan University.

Etymology
Origin of the modern name 'Kodungallur' has multiple interpretations: In the medieval period (from c. ninth century CE), Kondungallur was part of the city of Makothai Vanchi (Sanskrit: Mahodaya Pura, Malayalam: Mahodaya Puram). It was the seat of the Kerala branch of the Chera clan, the Perumals, for about three hundred years. Kodungallur is well known in ancient times due to trade, and also due to the Baghavathy kshethram, and as well as the seat of Kannagi's resting place in the ksethram, after she burns down the capital of the Pandya rulers Madurai, who falsely accuse her husband of stealing the anklet of the royal Queen. This is steeped in the folklore of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which is evident in the temple festivals, and has it roots in Dharma, which the Pandya ruler failed to follow, and incurs the wrath of the chaste Kannagi. This is also the story of the classical Tamil epic Chilappatikaram, written by royal born, but later turned ascetic Ilango Adigal, brother of the Chera King Sengottuvan. It was also known as Muchiri Pattanam, Muyirikkode, Mahavanchimana Pattanam, and Thrikulasekarapuram.
 * From koṭuṁ-kall-ūr, meaning 'place of the grand stone' in old tamil, because of a huge stone that the Chera king Cheran Chenguttuvan brought from the Himalayas to establish a shrine dedicated to the legendary Tamil woman Kannagi.
 * From koṭuṁ-kōl-ūr, meaning the 'city of good governance'.  ('kōl' literally means a sceptre)
 * From koṭuṁ-kāḷi-ūr because of the existence of temple dedicated to goddess Kali.
 * From koṭuṁ-kolai-ūr, meaning a 'bloody killing field', because of a 16th-century battle between Zamorin of Calicut and Kingdom of Cochin which was fought here.

Kodungallur was also known as Jangli, Gingaleh, Cyngilin, Shinkali, Chinkli, Jinkali, Shenkala, and Cynkali, which are all derived from the name of the River Changala (or the Chain River, i.e., Shrinkhala in Sanskrit), a tributary of the Periyar.

Early historic harbour
Scholars believe that Muziris, an ancient harbour located on the mouth of Periyar, coincides with modern-day Kodungallur. Central Kerala and western Tamil Nadu in early historic south India was ruled by the Chera line of rulers. The harbour was visited by navigators from all over the world, especially from the Mediterranean world. The Roman Empire had a continuous trading connection with the West Coast of India. Along with spices (black pepper), commodities including pearls, muslin, ivory, diamonds, silk and perfumes were acquired by the sailors from central Kerala.

A traditional belief among the Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala is that Thomas the Apostle landed in or around Kodungallur in the middle of the first century CE and founded Seven Churches: Kodungallur, Niranam, Nilackal (Chayal), Kokkamangalam, Kottakkavu, Palayoor and Kollam. According to Kerala Muslim tradition, Kodungallur was home to the oldest mosque in the Indian subcontinent. According to the Legend of Cheraman Perumals, the first Indian mosque was built in 624 AD at Kodungallur with the mandate of the last the ruler (the Cheraman Perumal) of Chera dynasty, who left from Dharmadom to Mecca and converted to Islam during the lifetime of Muhammad (c. 570–632). According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that Malik Dinar died at Thalangara in Kasaragod town.

Sometime between the fourth and eighth century, the Knanaya Community is believed to have arrived from the Middle East under the leadership of the Syrian merchant Thomas of Cana. The community settled on the southern side of Cranganore and eventually established three churches in the names of St. Thomas, St. Kuriakose, and St. Mary. The Knanaya left their settlement after its destruction during a battle between the Kingdom of Cochin and Zamorin of Calicut in the 16th century.

According to one tradition, a Cochin Jew colony in Malabar Coast, probably established before the sixth century BCE, attracted the Apostle to this region.

Medieval port of Kodungallur
The economic and political prestige of the harbour of Kodungallur remained even in medieval South India. Sulaiman, a West Asian visitor to India during this period, recorded the "economic prosperity" of the region. Also, he describes the Chinese traders in the city; they are described as purchasing articles such as spices (pepper and cinnamon), ivory, pearls, cotton fabrics and teak wood.

The port was sacked by the Chola rulers in the 11th century CE. After the dissolution of the Chera Perumal rule (early 12th century CE), Kodungallur emerged as a principality, named Padinjattedathu Swaroopam, under the control of the royal family of Kodungallur Kovilakam. The city state was "allied" either to the kingdom of Cochin (Kochi) or to Calicut (Kozhikode).

It is postulated that the harbour at Kodungallur was devastated by natural calamities—a flood or an earthquake—in 1341, and consequently lost its commercial/strategic importance thereafter. Consequently, the trade got diverted to other ports of the Malabar Coast, such as Cochin (Kochi) and Calicut (Kozhikode). It is speculated that the floods split the left branch of the River Periyar into two, just before the town of Aluva. The flood silted the right branch (known as the River Changala) and the natural harbour at the mouth of the river to make it poorly navigable for large vessels.

Portuguese era
Portuguese navigators began operating in South India from the early 16th century CE. During this period, Kodungallur was a "tributary state" of the kingdom of Kozhikode (Calicut) of Zamorins (Samoothiris). Since Kodungallur was sandwiched between the kingdom of Kozhikode and the kingdom of Kochi, it was a matter of frequent dispute for both the kings. The chieftain of Kodungallur often switched allegiance from one king to another.

The Portuguese spice trade was challenged by the kings of Kozhikode in the Indian Ocean. The port of Kodungallur had a sizeable Jewish, native Christian and Muslim population at the time. Portuguese Company extended their aggression on Calicut to allied coastal city-states, including Kodungallur. The port was almost completely destroyed by the Portuguese (Suarez de Menezes) on 1 September 1504.

Kodungallur, being a port city at the northern end of the Vembanad lagoon, was a strategic entry point for Zamorin's army and fleet into the Kerala backwaters. Hence, in October 1504 Zamorin dispatched a force to fortify Kodungallur. Reading this movement as a preparation for a renewed attack on Kochi, the Portuguese commander, Lopo Soares, ordered a preemptive strike. A squadron of around ten fighting ships, accompanied by numerous fighting boats from Kochi, headed up to Kodungallur. The heavier ships, unable to make their way into the shallow channels, anchored at Palliport (Pallipuram, on the outer edge of Vypin island), while the smaller frigates progressed to the destination.

Converging on Kodungallur, the Portuguese-Kochi fleet quickly dispersed the Calicut forces on the beach using cannons, and launched their composite army – some 1,000 Portuguese soldiers and 1,000 Nair warriors of Kochi – who took on the rest of the enemy force in Kodungallur. The assault troops captured and sacked the city of Kodungallur, and was set on fire by the squads led by Duarte Pacheco Pereira and Diogo Fernandes Correa. Nonetheless, according to some records, Portuguese arsonists spared the Saint Thomas Christian quarters in the city. (At the time the community was in a tenuous position: though thriving in the spice trade and protected by their own militia, the local political sphere was volatile and the Saint Thomas Christians had found themselves under pressure from the rajas of Calicut, Cochin and other small kingdoms in the area. Hence the community had sought an alliance with the Portuguese newcomers. Since they were one of the major suppliers of pepper in the region, the Portuguese also found the relationship reciprocating. ) This might have helped the ancient Christian community of Kodungallur from extinction during the 1504 assault on the city.

Calicut fleet
The Calicut fleet, some five ships and 80 paraus, that had been dispatched to save the city was intercepted by the idling Portuguese ships near Palliport and defeated in a naval encounter. In the meantime, the raja of the Kingdom of Tanur (Vettattnad), whose kingdom lay to the north, on the road between Calicut and Kodungallur, and who had a spoiled relation with the Zamorin, offered to place himself under Portuguese suzerainty. It is recorded that the military of Calicut, which was led by Zamorin in person, was defeated on their way to Kodungallur by a sizeable Portuguese army with the assistance of the Tanur ruler.

The raid on Cranganore and the defection of the Tanur raja were serious setbacks to the Zamorin of Calicut, pushing the frontline north and effectively placing the Vembanad lagoon out of the Zamorin's reach. The battle set the scene for Portuguese to expand their colonial authority over a significant area of the Malabar coast. By 1510, their fluid power in the Malabar coast solidified into a perceptible territorial entity.

In 1662, the Dutch entered the competition, sacked the Portuguese in a fortnightly war, with the help of Zamorin, and occupied Kodungallur. The Dutch took the control of Kodungallur fort in 1663 and it eventually protected southern Kerala, especially Travancore, from the Mysorean invasion in 1776. In 1786, Mysorean troops again marched to northern Kerala, but failed to progress ahead of Kodungallur. On 31 July 1789, the Dutch handed over their establishments in Kodungallur and Azhikode to the Kingdom of Travancore for 300,000 Surat silver rupees.

Muziris Heritage Project
The Muziris Heritage Project was launched by the Government of Kerala's Department of Cultural Affairs in 2006 to "scientifically retrieve and preserve the historical heritage of the region, extending from North Paravur to Kodungallur". The Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), identified as the nodal agency for the Muziris Heritage Project, provides academic guidance and undertakes archaeological and historical research in the region.

Notable people

 * K. H. Hussain, type designer.
 * V. Aravindakshan, writer and thinker.
 * Bahadoor, actor
 * Naslen K. Gafoor, actor

title: Kodungallur