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Battle of Inchon

The Battle of Inchon, also spelled Battle of Incheon, was an amphibious invasion and a battle of the Korean War that resulted in a decisive victory and strategic reversal in favor of the United Nations Command (UN). The operation involved some 75,000 troops and 261 naval vessels and led to the recapture of the South Korean capital of Seoul two weeks later. The code name for the Inchon operation was Operation Chromite.

The battle began on 15 September 1950 and ended on 19 September. Through a surprise amphibious assault far from the Pusan Perimeter that UN and Republic of Korea Army (ROK) forces were desperately defending, the largely undefended city of Incheon was secured after being bombed by UN forces. The battle ended a string of victories by the North Korean Korean People's Army (KPA). The subsequent UN recapture of Seoul partially severed the KPA's supply lines in South Korea.

The UN and ROK forces were commanded by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur of the United States Army. MacArthur was the driving force behind the operation, overcoming the strong misgivings of more cautious generals to a risky assault over extremely unfavorable terrain. The battle was followed by a rapid collapse of the KPA; within a month of the Incheon landing, the Americans had taken 135,000 KPA troops prisoner.

Pusan Perimeter
From the outbreak of the Korean War following the invasion of South Korea by North Korea on 25 June 1950, the KPA had enjoyed superiority in both manpower and ground combat equipment over the ROK and UN forces dispatched to South Korea to prevent it from collapsing. The North Korean strategy was to aggressively pursue UN and ROK forces on all avenues of approach south and to engage them, attacking from the front and initiating a double envelopment of both flanks of the defending units, which allowed the KPA to surround and cut off the opposing force, forcing it to retreat in disarray. From their initial 25 June offensive to fighting in July and early August, the KPA used this tactic to defeat the UN forces they encountered and push southward. However, with the establishment of the Pusan Perimeter in August, UN forces held a continuous line which the KPA could not flank. The KPA advantages in numbers decreased daily as the superior UN logistical system brought in more troops and supplies to the UN forces.

When the KPA approached the Pusan Perimeter on 5 August, they attempted the same frontal assault technique on the four main avenues of approach into the perimeter. Throughout August, they conducted direct assaults resulting in the Battle of Masan, the Battle of Battle Mountain, the First Battle of Naktong Bulge, the Battle of Taegu, and the Battle of the Bowling Alley. On the east coast of the Korean Peninsula, the ROK repulsed three KPA divisions at the Battle of P'ohang-dong. The KPA attacks stalled as UN forces repelled the attack. All along the front, the KPA reeled from these defeats, the first time in the war North Korean tactics had failed.

By the end of August the KPA had been pushed beyond their limits and many of the original units were at far reduced strength and effectiveness. Logistic problems wracked the KPA, and shortages of food, weapons, equipment and replacement soldiers proved devastating for their units. However, the KPA retained high morale and enough supply to allow for another large-scale offensive. On 1 September the KPA threw their entire military into one final bid to break the Pusan Perimeter, the Great Naktong Offensive, a five-pronged simultaneous attack across the entire perimeter. The attack caught UN forces by surprise and almost overwhelmed them. KPA troops attacked Kyongju, surrounded Taegu and Ka-san, recrossed the Naktong Bulge, threatened Yongsan, and continued their attack at Masan, focusing on Nam River and Haman. However, despite their efforts, in one of the most brutal fights of the Korean War, the KPA were unsuccessful. Unable to hold their gains, the KPA retreated from the offensive a much weaker force, and vulnerable to counterattack.

Planning
Days after the beginning of the war, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the US Army officer in command of all UN forces in Korea, envisioned an amphibious assault to retake the Seoul area. The city had fallen in the first days of the war in the First Battle of Seoul. MacArthur later wrote that he thought the KPA would push the ROK back far past Seoul. He also said he decided days after the war began that the battered, demoralized, and under-equipped ROK, many of whom did not support the South Korean government put in power by the United States, could not hold off the KPA even with American support. MacArthur felt that he could turn the tide if he made a decisive troop movement behind KPA lines, and preferred Incheon, over Chumunjin-up or Kunsan as the landing site. He had originally envisioned such a landing, code-named Operation Bluehearts, for 22 July, with the US Army's 1st Cavalry Division landing at Incheon. However, by 10 July the plan was abandoned as it was clear the 1st Cavalry Division would be needed on the Pusan Perimeter. On 23 July, MacArthur formulated a new plan, code-named Operation Chromite, calling for an amphibious assault by the US Army's 2nd Infantry Division and the United States Marine Corps (USMC)'s 5th Marine Regiment in mid-September 1950. This, too fell through as both units were moved to the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur decided instead to use the US Army's 7th Infantry Division, his last reserve unit in East Asia, to conduct the operation as soon as it could be raised to wartime strength.

In preparation for the invasion, MacArthur activated the US Army's X Corps to act as the command for the landing forces, and appointed Major General Edward Almond, his chief of staff, as Corps' commander, anticipating the operation would mean a quick end to the war. Throughout August, MacArthur faced the challenge of re-equipping the 7th Infantry Division as it had sent 9,000 of its men to reinforce the Pusan Perimeter and was far understrength. He also faced the challenge that the USMC, reduced in size following World War II, had to rebuild the 1st Marine Division, using elements of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade fighting at Pusan as well as the 1st Marine Regiment and the 7th Marine Regiment, which pulled US Marines from as far away as the Mediterranean Sea to Korea for the task. MacArthur ordered Korean Augmentation To the United States Army (KATUSA) troops, ROK conscripts assigned to US Army units, to reinforce the 7th Infantry Division, while allocating all equipment coming into Korea to X Corps, despite it being crucially needed by the US Army's Eighth Army on the Pusan Perimeter.

MacArthur decided to use the Joint Strategic and Operations Group (JSPOG) of his United States Far East Command (FECOM). The initial plan was met with skepticism by the other generals because Incheon's natural and artificial defenses were formidable. The approaches to Incheon were two restricted passages, which could be easily blocked by naval mines. The current of the channels was also dangerously quick—3 to 8 knot—and tides were so extreme as to prevent immediate follow-on landings. Finally, the anchorage was small and the harbor was surrounded by tall seawalls. United States Navy Commander Arlie G. Capps noted that the harbor had "every natural and geographic handicap." US Navy leaders favored a landing at Kunsan, closer to the Pusan perimeter and the KPA main axis of supply through Taejon, but MacArthur did not think landing there would produce a sufficiently decisive victory. He also felt that the KPA, who also thought the conditions of the Incheon channel would make a landing impossible, would be surprised and caught off-guard by the attack.

On 23 August, the commanders held a meeting at MacArthur's headquarters in Tokyo. Chief of Staff of the United States Army General Joseph Lawton Collins, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Forrest Sherman, and United States Air Force (USAF) operations deputy Lieutenant General Idwal H. Edward all flew from Washington, D.C., to Japan to take part in the briefing; Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force General Hoyt Vandenberg did not attend, possibly because he "did not want to legitimize an operation that essentially belong[ed] to the Navy and the Marines." The Marine Corps staff, who were to be responsible for leading the landing at Incheon, were not invited, which became a contentious issue. During the briefing, nine members of the staff of US Navy Admiral James H. Doyle spoke for nearly 90 minutes on every technical and military aspect of the landing. MacArthur told the officers that although a landing at Kunsan would bring a relatively easy linkup with the Eighth Army, it "would be an attempted envelopment that would not envelop" and would place more troops in a vulnerable pocket of the Pusan Perimeter. MacArthur won over Sherman by speaking of his affection for the US Navy and relating the story of how the Navy carried him out of Corregidor to safety in 1942 during World War II. Sherman agreed to support the Incheon operation, leaving Doyle furious.

MacArthur spent 45 minutes after the briefing explaining his reasons for choosing Incheon. He said that, because it was so heavily defended, the North Koreans would not expect an attack there, that victory at Incheon would avoid a brutal winter campaign, and that, by invading a northern strong point, UN forces could cut off KPA lines of supply and communication. Sherman and Collins returned to Washington, D.C., and reported back to Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson. The Joint Chiefs of Staff approved MacArthur's plan on 28 August. President Truman also provided his approval.

The landing at Incheon was not the first large-scale amphibious operation since World War II. That distinction belonged to the United Nations landing that took place on 18 July 1950 at Pohang, South Korea. However, that operation was not made in KPA-held territory and was unopposed.

Admiral Arthur Dewey Struble's Joint Task Force 7 consisted of Fast Carrier Task Force 77 for fighter cover, interdiction, and ground attack; Royal Navy Admiral William Andrewes' Task Force 91 for Blockade and Covering Force; Rear Admiral George R. Henderson's Task Force 99 for Patrol and Reconnaissance; Captain Bernard L. Austin's Service Squadron 3, operating Task Force 79 for Logistics Support; Admiral James H. Doyle's Invasion Force - Attack Task Force 90; and the Military Sea Transportation Service, which was to bring in the United States Army's 7th Infantry Division on 18 September 1950.

Prelude
Before the main land battle, UN forces landed spies in Incheon and bombarded the city's defenses via air and sea. Deception operations were also carried out to draw North Korean attention away from Incheon.

Maintaining surprise
With men, supplies, and ships obviously concentrating at Pusan and in Japanese ports for a major amphibious operation and the press in Japan referring to the upcoming landings as "Operation Common Knowledge," the UN command feared that it would fail to achieve surprise in the Incheon landings. Exacerbating this fear, the leader of a North Korean-Japanese spy ring arrested in Japan in early September 1950 had a copy of the plan for Operation Chromite, and the UN forces did not know whether he had managed to transmit the plan to North Korea before his arrest. US Navy patrol aircraft, surface warships, and submarines operated in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and the Yellow Sea to detect any reaction by North Korean, Soviet, or People's Republic of China military forces, and on 4 September 1950 F4U Corsair fighters of Fighter Squadron 53 (VF-53) operating from the aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge (CV-45) shot down a Soviet Air Force A-20 Havoc bomber after it opened fire on them over the Yellow Sea as it flew toward the UN naval task force there.

In order to ensure surprise during the landings, UN forces staged an elaborate deception operation to draw North Korean attention away from Incheon by making it appear that the landing would take place 105 mi to the south at Kunsan. On 5 September 1950, aircraft of the USAF's Far East Air Forces began attacks on roads and bridges to isolate Kunsan, typical of the kind of raids expected prior to an invasion there. A naval bombardment of Kunsan followed on 6 September, and on 11 September USAF B-29 Superfortress bombers joined the aerial campaign, bombing military installations in the area.

In addition to aerial and naval bombardment, UN forces took other measures to focus North Korean attention on Kunsan. On the docks at Pusan, USMC officers briefed their men on an upcoming landing at Kunsan within earshot of many Koreans, and on the night of 12–13 September 1950 the Royal Navy frigate HMS Whitesand Bay (F633) landed US Army special operations troops and Royal Marine Commandos on the docks at Kunsan, making sure that North Korean forces noticed their visit.

UN forces conducted a series of drills, tests, and raids elsewhere on the coast of Korea, where conditions were similar to Incheon, before the actual invasion. These drills were used to perfect the timing and performance of the landing craft, but also were intended to confuse the North Koreans further as to the location of the invasion.

Incheon infiltration

17 August 1950, ROK Navy Intelligence Unit infiltrated in Yonghung-do (Yeongheung Island) and Tokchok-do (Deokjeok Island) conducted Operation X-ray (ko:X-ray 작전) to obtain information on the conditions there until 14 September.

Separately, 1 September 1950, UN reconnaissance team (members were from US military intelligence Unit including KLO, CIA) also infiltrated in Yonghung-do (Yeongheung Island) to obtain information on the conditions there.

The team, led by US Navy Lieutenant Eugene F. Clark, landed at Yonghung-do (Yeongheung Island), an island in the mouth of the harbor. From there, the team relayed intelligence back to the UN Command. With the help of locals, Clark gathered information about tides, beach composition, mudflats, and seawalls. A separate reconnaissance mission codenamed Operation Trudy Jackson (ko:트루디 잭슨 작전), which dispatched Youn Joung (former ROK Navy Lieutenant) and Ke In-ju (former ROK Army Colonel) to Incheon to collect further intelligence on the area, was mounted by the US military.

The tides at Incheon have an average range of 29 ft and a maximum observed range of 36 ft, making the tidal range there one of the largest in the world and the littoral maximum in all of Asia. Clark observed the tides at Incheon for two weeks and discovered that American tidal charts were inaccurate, but that Japanese charts were quite good. Clark's team provided detailed reports on KPA artillery positions and fortifications on the island of Wolmi-do (Wolmi Island), at Incheon and on nearby islands. During the extended periods of low tide, Clark's team located and removed some North Korean naval mines, but, critically to the future success of the invasion, Clark reported that the North Koreans had not in fact systematically mined the channels.

When the KPA discovered that the agents had landed on the islands near Incheon, they made multiple attacks, including an attempted raid on Yonghung-do with six junks. Clark mounted a machine gun on a sampan and sank the attacking junks. In response, the KPA killed perhaps as many as 50 civilians for helping Clark.

Bombardments of Wolmi-do and Incheon
On 10 September 1950, five days before the Incheon landing, 43 American warplanes flew over Wolmi-do, dropping 93 napalm canisters to "burn out" its eastern slope in an attempt to clear the way for American troops.

The flotilla of ships that landed and supported the amphibious force during the battle was commanded by Vice Admiral Arthur D. Struble, an expert in amphibious warfare. Struble had participated in amphibious operations in World War II, including the Normandy landings and the Battle of Leyte. He got underway for Incheon in his flagship, the heavy cruiser USS Rochester (CA-124), on 12 September 1950. Among his ships were the Gunfire Support Group, consisting of Rochester, the heavy cruiser USS Toledo (CA-133), the British light cruisers HMS Jamaica (C44) and HMS Kenya (14), and the six US destroyers of Task Element 90.62, made up of USS Collett (DD-730), USS De Haven (DD-727), USS Gurke (DD-783), USS Henderson (DD-785), USS Lyman K. Swenson (DD-729), and USS Mansfield (DD-728). Royal Canadian Navy destroyers HMCS Cayuga (R04), HMCS Athabaskan (R79) and HMCS Sioux (R64) also participated in the invasion task force.

At 07:00 on 13 September, the U.S. Navy's Destroyer Squadron 9, headed by Mansfield, steamed up Flying Fish Channel and into Incheon Harbor, where it fired upon KPA gun emplacements on Wolmi-do and in Incheon. Between them, two British cruisers and six American destroyers fired almost a thousand 5-inch (127-mm) and 6-inch (152-mm) shells onto the fortifications. The attacks tipped off the KPA that a landing might be imminent, and the KPA officer in command on Wolmi-do assured his superiors that he would throw their enemies back into the sea. North Korea's 918th Coastal Artillery Regiment returned fire, hitting Collett seven times, Gurke three times, and Lyman K. Swenson twice. Aboard Lyman K. Swenson, Lieutenant (junior grade) David H. Swenson was killed and eight others were wounded.

The American destroyers withdrew after bombarding Wolmi-do for an hour and Rochester, Toledo, Jamaica, and Kenya proceeded to bombard the KPA batteries for the next three hours from the south of the island. Lieutenant Clark and his South Korean squad watched from hills south of Incheon, plotting locations where KPA machine guns were firing at the flotilla. They relayed this information to the invasion force via Japan in the afternoon.

During the night of 13–14 September, Struble decided on another day of bombardment, and the destroyers moved back up the channel off Wolmi-do on 14 September. They and the cruisers bombarded the island again that day, and planes from the carrier task force bombed and strafed it.

At 00:50 on 15 September 1950, Lieutenant Clark and his South Korean squad activated the lighthouse on the island of Palmido. Later that morning, the ships carrying the amphibious force followed the destroyers toward Incheon and entered Flying Fish Channel, and the US Marines of the invasion force got ready to make the first landings on Wolmi-do.

Naval mine clearance
Within weeks of the outbreak of the Korean War, the Soviet Union had shipped naval mines to North Korea for use in coastal defense, with Soviet naval mine warfare experts providing technical instruction in laying and employment of the mines to North Korean personnel. Some of the mines were shipped to Incheon. The UN forces did not become aware of the presence of mines in North Korean waters until early September 1950, raising fears that this would interfere with the Incheon invasion. It was too late to reschedule the landings, but the North Koreans laid relatively few and unsophisticated mines at Incheon. Destroyers in the assault force visually identified moored contact mines in the channel at low tide and destroyed them with gunfire. When the invasion force passed through the channel at high tide to land on the assault beaches, it passed over any remaining mines without incident.

Green Beach
At 06:30 on September 15, 1950, the lead elements of X Corps hit "Green Beach" on the northern side of Wolmido. The landing force consisted of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Taplett and nine M26 Pershing tanks from the USMC 1st Tank Battalion. One tank was equipped with a flamethrower and two others had bulldozer blades. The battle group landed from tank landing ships (LSTs). The entire island was captured by noon at the cost of just 14 casualties.

The KPA defenders were outnumbered by more than six to one by the UN troops. KPA casualties included over 200 killed and 136 captured, primarily from the 918th Artillery Regiment and the 226th Independent Marine Regiment. The forces on Green Beach had to wait until 19:50 for the tide to rise, allowing another group to land. During this time, extensive shelling and bombing, along with anti-tank mines placed on the only bridge, kept the small KPA force from launching a significant counterattack. The second wave came ashore at "Red Beach" and "Blue Beach".

The North Koreans had not been expecting an invasion at Incheon. After the storming of Green Beach, the KPA assumed (probably because of deliberate American disinformation) that the main invasion would happen at Kunsan. As a result, only a small force was diverted to Incheon. Even those forces were too late, and they arrived after the UN forces had taken Blue Beach and Red Beach. The troops already stationed at Incheon had been weakened by Clark's guerrillas, and napalm bombing runs had destroyed key ammunition dumps. In total, 261 ships took part.

For Red Beach and Blue Beach, Vice Admiral James H. Doyle, commander of an amphibious ready group, announced that H-Hour, time of landing, would be 17:30.

The KPA 22nd Infantry Regiment had moved to Incheon before dawn on September 15, 1950, but retreated to Seoul after the main landing that evening.

Red Beach

The Red Beach forces, made up of the Regimental Combat Team 5, which included the 3rd Battalion of the Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC), used ladders to scale the sea walls. Lieutenant Colonel Raymond L. Murray, serving as commanding officer of the 5th Marines, had the mission of seizing an area 3000 yd long and 1000 yd deep, extending from Cemetery Hill (northern) at the top down to the Inner Tidal Basin (near Tidal Basin at the bottom) and including the promontory in the middle called Observatory Hill. (See Map) The 1st Battalion, 5th Marines would be on the left, against Cemetery Hill and northern half of Observatory Hill. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines would take the southern half of Observatory Hill and Inner Basin.

Late on the afternoon of September 15, the LSTs approached Red Beach and as the lead ships, they came under heavy mortar and machine gun fire from KPA defenders on Cemetery Hill. Despite the concentrated fire, they disembarked assault troops and unloaded vital support equipment. In addition, their guns wiped out KPA batteries on the right flank of Red Beach. Three (USS King County (LST-857), USS Lafayette County (LST-859), and LST 973) of the eight LSTs took some hits from mortar and machine gun fire, which killed a sailor and injured a few others. The LSTs completed unloading and cleared the beach at high tide early on 16 September.

After neutralizing KPA defenses at Incheon on the night of September 15, units from Red Beach opened the causeway to Wolmi-do, allowing the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines and the tanks from Green Beach to enter the battle for Incheon.

Blue Beach
The 1st Marine Regiment, under the command of Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, landed at Blue Beach, 2.5 mi southeast of Red and Green beaches. Their mission, once the beach was secure, was to capture the suburb of Yongdungpo, cross the Han River, and form the right flank of the attack on Seoul itself. As the 1st Marine Regiment approached the coast, the combined fire from several KPA gun emplacements sank one LST. Destroyer fire and bombing runs silenced the KPA defenses. When the Blue Beach forces finally arrived, the KPA forces at Incheon had already surrendered, so they met little opposition and suffered few additional casualties. The 1st Marine Regiment spent much of its time strengthening the beachhead and preparing for the move inland.

Immediately after KPA resistance was extinguished in Incheon, the supply and reinforcement process began. Seabees and Underwater Demolition Teams (UDTs) that had arrived with the US Marines constructed a pontoon dock on Green Beach and cleared debris from the water. The dock was then used to unload the remainder of the LSTs. Early that morning of September 16, Lieutenant Colonel Murray and Colonel Puller had their operational orders from 1st Marine Division commander General Oliver P. Smith. The 1st Marines and 5th Marines began moving along the Incheon-Seoul road.

Early morning on September 16, the 5th Marines (from Red and Green Beaches) started generally east along the Incheon-Seoul road, intending to link up with the left of the 1st Marine Regiment so both regiments could move on Seoul. Six solitary T-34 tanks moving west towards Incheon appeared as the advancing 5th Marines reached the village of Kansong-ni. A strike force of eight Marine F4U Corsairs from VMF-214 attacked the tanks, destroying two and driving the others off. M26 Pershing tanks of the 1st Tank Battalion destroyed three more KPA tanks shortly thereafter. South of the 5th Marines, the 1st Marines, having spent most of the day consolidating its scattered units, did not move east until about 16:00 hrs.

Just before dawn on September 17, two companies of the 5th Marines, supported by artillery and M26 tanks, defeated a counterattack by a column of six T-34 tanks and two hundred infantry, inflicting heavy casualties.

Air attack on USS Rochester and HMS Jamaica
Just before daylight at 05:50 on 17 September, two Soviet-made North Korean aircraft—probably Yakovlev Yak-9s—were seen overhead from Jamaica, and while trying to identify them any doubts about their allegiance and intentions were resolved by the explosion of a bomb close to the port side of Rochester. Four bombs were dropped, one hitting and denting Rochester's crane but not exploding. There were no American casualties. As the aircraft turned away Jamaica opened fire with her port 4 in battery on the leading aircraft. The second aircraft then turned to port to strafe Jamaica, scoring several hits: one armor-piercing round entering Y turret through the armor at the back of the gun house and wounding a man in the leg; one chipping the side armor of the ship; one exploding round burst on the plate surrounding the loaders of a quadruple pom-pom, wounding three men (one of whom died later of his wounds after being transferred to the hospital ship USS Consolation (AH-15)); and one on the foremast at the level of the gun direction platform, scattering small splinters. Every close range weapon available opened fire on this aircraft, which disintegrated as it went over the ship, crashing close to the starboard side of Jamaica.

Kimpo Airfield
The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines flared off to the left (north) on September 17 to secure Kimpo airfield, west of Seoul. Kimpo airfield was the largest and most important in Korea. On September 17, General MacArthur was extremely urgent in his request for the early capture of Kimpo airfield. Once it was secured, the Fifth Air Force and USMC aviation units could bring fighters and bombers over from Japan to operate more easily against North Korea. The attack on Kimpo airfield was carried out by 2nd Battalion 5th Marines. The night of September 17–18 at Kimpo, the KPA unsuccessfully attempted to recapture Kimpo with those forces that had not already fled across the Han River, under the command of Brigadier General Wan Yong (the commander of the North Korean Air Force). The counterattacks were repelled by entrenched Marine Corps infantry, armor and artillery.

By morning the North Koreans were all gone, and Kimpo airfield was securely in the hands of the Marines. Kimpo airfield was in excellent shape; the North Koreans had not had time to do any major demolition. In fact, several North Korean planes were still on the field. Kimpo would now become the center of UN land-based air operations.

On September 19, US engineers repaired the local railroad up to 8 mi inland. After the capture of Kimpo airfield, transport planes began flying in gasoline and ordnance for the aircraft stationed there. The Marines continued unloading supplies and reinforcements. By September 22, they had unloaded 6,629 vehicles and 53,882 troops, along with 25,512 tons (23,000 tonnes) of supplies.

Battle of Seoul

In contrast to the quick victory at Incheon, the advance on Seoul was slow and bloody. The KPA launched another T-34 attack, which was trapped and destroyed, and a Yak bombing run in Incheon harbor, which did little damage. The KPA attempted to stall the UN offensive to allow time to reinforce Seoul and withdraw troops from the south. Although warned that the process of taking Seoul would allow remaining KPA forces in the south to escape, MacArthur felt that he was bound to honor promises given to the South Korean government to retake the capital as soon as possible.

On the second day, vessels carrying the 7th Infantry Division arrived in Incheon Harbor. Almond was eager to get the division into position to block a possible KPA movement from the south of Seoul. On the morning of September 18, the division's 2nd Battalion, 32nd Infantry Regiment landed at Incheon and the remainder of the regiment went ashore later in the day. The next morning, the 2nd Battalion moved up to relieve a Marine battalion occupying positions on the right flank south of Seoul. Meanwhile, the 7th Division's 31st Infantry Regiment came ashore at Incheon. Responsibility for the zone south of Seoul highway passed to the 7th Division at 18:00 on September 19. The 7th Infantry Division then engaged in heavy fighting with KPA forces on the outskirts of Seoul.

Before the battle, North Korea had just one understrength division in the city, with the majority of its forces south of the capital. MacArthur personally oversaw the 1st Marine Regiment as it fought through KPA positions on the road to Seoul. Control of Operation Chromite was then given to Almond, the X Corps commander. Almond was in an enormous hurry to capture Seoul by September 25, exactly three months after the North Korean assault across the 38th Parallel. On September 22, the Marines entered Seoul to find it fortified. Casualties mounted as the forces engaged in house-to-house fighting. On September 26, the Hotel Bando (which had served as the US Embassy) was cleared by E Company of 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines. During this fight several Marines were wounded.

Almond declared Seoul liberated the evening of September 25, a claim repeated by MacArthur the following day. However, at the time of Almond's declaration, US Marines were still engaged in house-to-house combat as the KPA remained in most of the city. It was not until September 28 that the last of the KPA elements were driven out or destroyed.

Pusan Perimeter breakout
While the 5th Marines came ashore at Incheon, the last KPA troops in South Korea still fighting were defeated when Walton H. Walker's Eighth Army breakout from the Pusan Perimeter started on 16 September, joining the Army's X Corps in a coordinated attack on KPA forces. By 22 September the KPA forces around the Perimeter were in full retreat and the Eighth Army and ROK forces began a full counteroffensive to pursue the KPA on 23 September. Of the 70,000 KPA troops around Pusan, in the aftermath of the Pusan Perimeter battle, KPA casualties from September 1 to September 15 ranged from 36,000 to 41,000 killed and captured, with an unknown total number of wounded. However, because UN forces had concentrated on taking Seoul rather than cutting off the KPA's withdrawal north, the remaining 30,000 KPA soldiers escaped to the north, where they were soon reconstituted as a cadre for the formation of new KPA divisions hastily re-equipped by the Soviet Union. The UN assault continued into North Korea on 30 September.

Analysis
Most military scholars consider the battle one of the most decisive military operations in modern warfare. Spencer C. Tucker, the American military historian, described the Incheon landings as "a brilliant success, almost flawlessly executed," which remained "the only unambiguously successful, large-scale US combat operation" for the next 40 years. Commentators have described the Incheon operation as MacArthur's "greatest success" and "an example of brilliant generalship and military genius."

However, Russell Stolfi argues that the landing itself was a strategic masterpiece but it was followed by an advance to Seoul in ground battle so slow and measured that it constituted an operational disaster, largely negating the successful landing. He contrasts the US military's 1950 Incheon-Seoul operation with the German offensive in the Baltic in 1941. American forces achieved a strategic masterpiece in the Incheon landing in September 1950 and then largely negated it by a slow, tentative, 11-day advance on Seoul, only 20 mi away. By contrast, in the Baltic region in 1941 the German forces achieved strategic surprise on the first day of their offensive and then, exhibiting a breakthrough mentality, pushed forward rapidly, seizing key positions and advancing almost 200 mi in four days. The American advance was characterized by cautious, restrictive orders, concerns about phase lines, limited reconnaissance and command posts well in the rear, while the Germans positioned their leaders as far forward as possible, relied on oral or short written orders, reorganized combat groups to meet immediate circumstances, and engaged in vigorous reconnaissance. Despite this criticism, Incheon was taken within 24 hours with the loss of only a few dozen U.S. troops and General Walton Walker refused to go on the offensive in southeastern South Korea unless the Incheon landings were successful, as shown in the Pusan Perimeter Offensive.

In popular culture

 * Inchon (1981), directed by Terence Young with Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur. Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon was an executive producer of the film.
 * Wolmi Island (film) (1982) North Korean film.
 * Operation Chromite (2016), directed by John H. Lee (Lee Jae-han). Starring Lee Jung-jae, Lee Beom-soo, and Liam Neeson as General MacArthur.

title: Battle of Inchon


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Sequel (album)

Sequel is the ninth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, released in 1980 (see 1980 in music). It was the last complete album released during Harry's lifetime. A tenth studio album, The Last Protest Singer, made up of material he was working on at the time of his death, was released about six years after he died.

The title song reports further events in the lives of Harry and Sue, the characters in Chapin's hit song "Taxi", and peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart (the original went to No. 24). A follow-up single, "Story of a Life", failed to reach the Hot 100 chart (peaking at No. 105), but is historic as it was Chapin's final 45.

The album was re-released under the title Remember When the Music with the addition of two previously unreleased tracks. It was re-released with only the original ten tracks as Storyteller in 1999. It was also remastered in 2001 with four additional tracks.

Critical reception
The Boston Globe wrote that "the album is bogged down in gushing sentimentality, and is ultimately 44 minutes, 35 seconds of maudlin musical waste."

Track listing

 * Tracks 7–10 on side two are bonus tracks on the 2001 remastered edition

Personnel

 * Harry Chapin – guitar, vocals
 * Howard Albert – synthesizer
 * Yvonne Cable – cello
 * Charles Chalmers – vocals
 * Sandra Chalmers – vocals
 * Steve Chapin – piano, vocals
 * Tom Chapin – banjo, guitar
 * Howie Fields – drums
 * Chuck Kirkpatrick – vocals, electric guitar
 * Joe Lala – percussion
 * Donna Rhodes – vocals
 * Doug Walker – electric guitar
 * John Wallace – bass guitar, vocals

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

title: Sequel (album)


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Dagger of the Mind

"Dagger of the Mind" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. Written by Shimon Wincelberg (under the pen name "S. Bar-David") and directed by Vincent McEveety, it first aired on November 3, 1966.

In the episode, the Enterprise visits a rehabilitation facility for the criminally insane where the chief doctor has been using a device which destroys the human mind.

This episode introduces the Vulcan mind meld.

The title is taken from a soliloquy by the title character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth.

Plot
The USS Enterprise, commanded by Captain Kirk, makes a supply run to planet Tantalus V, a colony where the criminally insane are confined for treatment. The facility's director is Dr. Tristan Adams, a psychiatrist famous for advocating more humane treatment of such patients. After the Enterprise delivers supplies and receives cargo from Tantalus, a man emerges from the container taken aboard and assaults a technician. Reaching the bridge, the intruder demands asylum, but Spock subdues him with a Vulcan nerve pinch. In sickbay, the intruder identifies himself as Simon van Gelder, and a computer check reveals that he is not a patient, but Dr. Adams' assistant.

When they inform Tantalus of van Gelder's capture, Dr. Adams claims that van Gelder's testing of an experimental treatment device on himself is responsible for his disturbed condition. McCoy, suspicious, urges Kirk to investigate. Kirk transports down to the colony with one of the ship's psychiatrists, Dr. Helen Noel.

Adams introduces them to a strangely emotionless therapist, Lethe, and gives Kirk and Noel a tour of the colony. Although he is affable and accommodating, his staff, like Lethe, all seem lacking in affect. Adams shows Kirk and Noel the treatment device he referred to: a "neural neutralizer". He claims that the machine, harmless at low intensity, is used only to calm agitated inmates. Noel is satisfied with his explanation, but Kirk remains suspicious.

On the Enterprise van Gelder becomes increasingly frantic, warning that the landing party is in danger, but when he tries to explain the danger and refers to the neural neutralizer, he is convulsed with pain. Spock mind-melds with van Gelder to enable him to tell his story. Spock learns that the neural neutralizer can empty a mind of thoughts, leaving only an unbearable feeling of loneliness, and that Adams has been using it on inmates and staff to gain total control of their minds. The first officer assembles a security team, but the colony's force field blocks transport and communication.

Unaware of events on the ship, Kirk decides to secretly test the neutralizer on himself, with Noel at the controls. She finds that she can easily implant thoughts into Kirk's mind, even altering his memory of a recent Christmas-party encounter between the two of them. Adams appears, overpowers Noel, seizes the controls, increases the neutralizer's intensity, and proceeds to convince Kirk that he has been madly in love with Noel for years. Kirk and Noel are then confined to quarters.

On Kirk's orders, Noel enters the facility's physical plant through a ventilation duct, and interrupts Kirk's next neutralizer session by shutting off power to the entire complex. Freed from the neutralizer, Kirk attacks Adams, leaving him alone and unconscious in the treatment room. A guard discovers Noel's sabotage, they fight and she defeats him with an athletic kick that sends him hurtling into the electric circuitry, killing him. With the force field now off, Spock beams down to the planet, disables the force field, and restores power to the colony. This reactivates the neural neutralizer, which empties Adams' mind completely, killing him.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk is informed that van Gelder has destroyed the neural neutralizer. McCoy is surprised that loneliness could be lethal, but Kirk, after his experience, is not.

Production
The episode's title was taken from William Shakespeare's Macbeth. Macbeth is planning to murder the King of Scotland, and sees a dagger that he attempts to grasp, but it's only a hallucination. Is this a dagger which I see before me The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation Proceeding from the heat-oppressèd brain? Shimon Wincelberg originally wrote a reference to Hillel's “Torah on one leg” parable, but Roddenberry mandated an attribution to “the ancient skeptic.” Wincelberg, incensed by Roddenberry's rewrites, requested a name change to S. Bar-David for the airing.

Playing mentally disturbed Van Gelder took a toll on the actor Morgan Woodward. Reportedly when he finished filming the episode he went home and took a rest for four days.

Reception
In 2010, SciFiNow ranked this the eighth best episode of the original series.

Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B" rating, noting that the episode had "a handful of excellent moments (the mind-meld, that damn booth) that don't fit as well as they should". Handlen noted Kirk and Noel's relationship as the plot's "weakest element", and that Adams did not make a compelling villain. On the other hand, he felt that Nimoy made Spock's mind meld sequence "fairly effective". The booth and its effect on Adams were also cited as memorable moments in the episode.

Legacy and influence

 * In articles in the magazines Starlog and Entertainment Weekly, actor Morgan Woodward called the role of Dr. Simon Van Gelder the most physically and emotionally exhausting acting job of his career. Desperate to get out of Westerns and expand his range, he was cast against type for this episode and was so well regarded that he came on board next season to play the tragic Capt. Ronald Tracey in "The Omega Glory". Playing Van Gelder did take its toll on his personal life, as he confessed that for three weeks afterwards he was anti-social towards friends and family. He was grateful that this episode opened up whole new opportunities for him.
 * The second-season South Park episode "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods" is a parody of this episode.

title: Dagger of the Mind


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George Kirbye

George Kirbye (c. 1565 – buried 6 October 1634) was an English composer of the late Tudor period and early Jacobean era. He was one of the members of the English Madrigal School, but also composed sacred music.

Little is known of the details of his life, though some of his contacts can be inferred. He worked at Rushbrooke Hall near Bury St Edmunds, evidently as a tutor to the daughters of Sir Robert Jermyn. In 1598 he married Anne Saxye, afterwards moving to Bury St Edmunds. Around this time he probably made the acquaintance of John Wilbye, a much more famous madrigalist, who lived and worked only a few miles away, and whose style he sometimes approaches. In 1626 his wife died, and he is known to have been a churchwarden at St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds during the next several years until his death.

Kirbye's most significant musical contributions were the psalm settings he wrote for East's psalter, The Whole Book of Psalmes (1592), the madrigals he wrote for the Triumphs of Oriana (1601), the famous collection dedicated to Elizabeth I, and an independent set of madrigals published in 1597. Kirbye was employed by East to arrange tunes featured in his psalter, and it is his arrangement, with the melody in the tenor, of Tye's melody to accompany Psalm 84 "How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place" which is today sung to While Shepherds watched their flocks by night.

Stylistically, his madrigals have more in common with the Italian models provided by Marenzio than do many of the others by his countrymen: they tend to be serious, in a minor mode, and show a careful attention to text setting; unlike Marenzio, however, he is restrained in his specific imagery.

Kirbye avoided the light style of Morley, which was hugely popular, and brought into the madrigal serious style of pre-madrigal English music. He is not as often sung as Morley, Weelkes or Wilbye, but neither was he as prolific; still, some of his madrigals appear in modern collections, such as the Oxford Book of English Madrigals.

title: George Kirbye


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User:Ilya (usurped)/Grothendieck

This is a draft version of new project's title page. Remember that many links aren't working yet! You may also look at User:Ilya/Grothendieck/general stuff In the past time I shamelessy promoted Math_1.0 page. You may glance at it too. =Main page=

Welcome to the Grothendieck Project, a wiki-based collection of various texts produced by Alexander Grothendieck that are being typeset by various volunteers. Read our general stuff page or ask a question on village pump.

Work in progress: Récoltes et Semailles (or in English, in Russian)

Future plans:
 * La longue marche a travers la theorie de Galois
 * Motifs
 * Pursuing Stacks and Les Derivateurs

Already available on the net:
 * Esquisse d'un programme
 * EGA: 1 2 3 4 5 6
 * SGA: 1 2 3 4 4.5 5? 6

See also: Motive, Motivic homotopy program, Anabelian geometry, Topos, Homotopic algebra, Galois-Teichmüller theory

title: User:Ilya (usurped)/Grothendieck


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Rouen Business School

The Rouen Business School (Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Rouen) was a leading French business school. It was founded in 1871 and on 24 April 2013, Rouen Business School and Reims Management School announced the merger of the two Schools into a single entity - NEOMA Business School.

Rouen Business School's quality is recognised by its "triple-crown" accreditations (AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS) and its Financial Times' ranking 13th position best European Master in Management. The Financial Times also highlights the particular quality of the education it provides in finance, ranking the "Grande Ecole" program 8th best in Europe and 4th best in France.

History
Established in 1871 in the then-vibrant industrial city of Rouen, it is the second business school to be created in France.

Groupe ESC Rouen was formed in 1996, gathering together four independent schools, all managed and financed mainly by the Rouen Chamber of Commerce and Industry. These schools are ESC Rouen, the leading school of the group, IFI, ISPP and ECAL - each school having a distinctive mission and student base.

ESC Rouen is a founding member of the Chapitre des Ecoles du Management de la Conférence des Grandes Ecoles (Chapter of Management Schools belonging to the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles). The school is also a member of EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) and AACSB (International Association for Management Education).

ESC Rouen received EQUIS accreditation from the European Foundation for Management Development for a second time in May 2005. Later, the school has received AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) and AMBA (Association of Masters of Business Administration) accreditations.

Notable faculty

 * Louis Le Duff, billionaire businessman

title: Rouen Business School


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User:Zor

One of the founders of Ancient Anguish.

title: User:Zor


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Sugar plantations in the Caribbean

Sugar plantations in the Caribbean were a major part of the economy of the islands in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Most Caribbean islands were covered with sugar cane fields and mills for refining the crop. The main source of labor, until the abolition of chattel slavery, was enslaved Africans. After the abolition of slavery, indentured laborers from India, China, Portugal and other places were brought to the Caribbean to work in the sugar industry. These plantations produced 80 to 90 percent of the sugar consumed in Western Europe, later supplanted by European-grown sugar beet.

Sugar cane development in the Americas
The Portuguese introduced sugar plantations in the 1550s off the coast of their Brazilian settlement colony, located on the island Sao Vincente. As the Portuguese and Spanish maintained a strong colonial presence in the Caribbean, the Iberian Peninsula amassed tremendous wealth from the cultivation of this cash crop. Other imperial states observed the economic boom catalyzed by the plantation system and began colonizing the remaining American territories, hoping to capitalize on the lucrative cultivation and trade of natural resources.

Sugar was the most important crop throughout the Caribbean, although other crops such as coffee, indigo, and rice were also grown. Sugar cane was best grown on relatively flat land near coastal waters, where the soil was naturally yellow and fertile; mountainous parts of the islands were less likely to be used for cane cultivation. The coastal placement of commercial ports gave imperial states a geographic advantage to ship the crop throughout the transatlantic world.

Sugar created a unique political ecology, the relationship between labor, profits, and ecological consequences, in the Caribbean. Imperial powers forcefully displaced west African peoples to cultivate sugar using slave labor. By exploiting labor and the natural world, imperial conflicts arose in the Caribbean vying for political and economic control. For example, conflicts among the English, Spanish, French, Dutch, and various indigenous peoples manifested for territorial gain; regarding the region's political ecology, these European states exploited the environment's resources to such an extent that sugar production began to stagnate. Due to the loss of trees, needed for timber in the sugar refinement process, European imperial powers began competing and fighting over the Caribbean during the middle 17th century. This process would not have been possible without the invention of windmills to produce sugar more efficiently.

Following European settlers’ entry into the Caribbean world, massive demographic changes occurred. Indigenous populations began dying at unprecedented rates due to the influx of old world diseases brought by colonists. Estimates of these population losses vary from 8.4 million to 112.5 million. This extreme diminishment of native populations cleared room for plantation construction and lessened the conflicts between Europeans and indigenous peoples.

Move from South America to the Caribbean
Although the sugar trade in the Americas was initially dominated by the Portuguese Empire, the Dutch–Portuguese War would cause a shift which would have knock-on effects for the further growth of the sugar trade in the Caribbean and particularly the production of rum (made from sugar cane juice). In 1630, the Dutch seized Recife near Pernambuco in what is today Brazil (the Dutch called this New Holland after they took over) and this territory included some sugar plantations worked by African slaves who had been brought to the territory earlier. Some of the slave plantation owners were Cristão-Novo, i.e. "New Christian" Sephardic Jews who had been forced to convert to the Catholic Church. As the Portuguese Inquisition was in operation and the Dutch Calvinists were generally more tolerant of Jews, they were happy to side with them over the Catholic Portuguese and remained in the area operating their substantial sugar-orientated slave plantations, now under Dutch sovereignty. They even founded the first public synagogue in the Americas there in 1636; the Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue.

Further north in the Caribbean, the Protestant Kingdom of England was beginning to challenge the interest of the Catholic powers in the region such as the Spanish Empire and the Kingdom of France, taking control of a number of islands, including Jamaica and Barbados. One of these men, Colonel James Drax who had interests in Barbados, visited Dutch Brazil in 1640 and purchased a triple-roller sugar mill and a set of copper cauldrons (used for turning sugar cane into molasses, i.e. sugar cane juice used in rum production). This technology, although originating in Sicily had spread to the New World and had been improved to aid the sugar plantations in other ways, bringing their expert knowledge of technologies in cultivating rum from the sugar cane and working as merchants, supplying them with African slaves to work the plantations, helping to make Barbados the sugar capital of the Caribbean and the rum capital of the world. By 1706, the laws against Jews owning sugar plantations in Barbados has been dropped.

During the colonial period, the arrival of sugar culture deeply impacted the society and economy in the Caribbean. It not only dramatically increased the ratio of slaves to free men, but it increased the average size of slave plantations. Early sugar plantations made extensive use of slaves because sugar was considered a cash crop that exhibited economies of scale in cultivation; it was most efficiently grown on large plantations with many workers. People from Africa were imported and made to work on the plantations. For example, prior to 1650 more than three-quarters of the islands' population were of European descent. In 1680, the median size of a plantation in Barbados had increased to about 60 slaves. Over the decades, the sugar plantations began expanding as the transatlantic trade continued to prosper. In 1832, the median-size plantation in Jamaica had about 150 slaves, and nearly one of every four bondsmen lived on units that had at least 250 slaves. For about 100 years, Barbados remained the richest of all the European colonies in the Caribbean region. The colony's prosperity remained regionally unmatched until sugar cane production expanded in larger colonies, such as Saint-Domingue and Jamaica. As part of the mass sugar industry, sugar cane processing gave rise to related commodities such as rum, molasses, and falernum.

The West India Interest was formed in the 1740s, when the British merchants joined with the West Indian sugar planters. The British and West Indies shared profits and needs. This organization was the first sugar-trading organization which had a large voice in Parliament.

In the 1740s, Jamaica and Saint Domingue (Haiti) became the world's main sugar producers. They increased production in Saint Domingue by using an irrigation system that French engineers built. The engineers also built reservoirs, diversion dams, levees, aqueducts, and canals. In addition, they improved their mills and used varieties of cane and grasses.

19th century
According to a 2021 study, "historical property rights institutions [in Haiti] created high transaction costs for converting land to cane production", relative to the other Caribbean countries. As a result, Haiti lost its place as the leading sugar producer in the world.

After the end of slavery in Saint Domingue at the turn of the 19th century, with the Haitian Revolution, Cuba became the most substantial sugar plantation colony in the Caribbean, outperforming the British islands.

In the 19th century, sugar dominated Martinique, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Croix, Barbados, the Leeward Islands, Saint Domingue, Cuba, as well as many other islands that had been run by French, British, or Spanish owners. During the late 19th and 20th centuries, the sugar cane industry came to dominate Puerto Rico's economy, both under the colonial rule of Spain and under the United States.

After slavery, sugar plantations used a variety of forms of labour including workers imported from colonial India and Southern China working as indentured servants on European owned plantations (coolie). In the 20th century, large-scale sugar production using wage labour continued in many parts of the region.

Slavery on Caribbean sugar plantations
The Europeans forced the indigenous peoples of various Caribbean islands to provide the physical labor necessary for the production of sugarcane. The indigenous populations of the Caribbean were decimated by illness after initial colonization and were left with few numbers. In order to continue production for the crop, Europeans introduced African slaves to the island through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The time at which this happened varies from island to island.

Sugarcane harvesting during the time of colonization in the Caribbean was a labor-intensive process. Firstly, it was harvested by hand, and the sucrose inside needed to be harvested quickly to not be spoiled. To extract the juice, it must be chopped, ground, pressed, pounded, or soaked in liquid before it is heated. Once heated, the liquids evaporate until only the crystals remain. Each step is labor-intensive and requires technical knowledge and skill. These tasks were performed by enslaved individuals until emancipation.

In 1807, Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, prohibiting the trade of slaves in the British Empire. This act extended to the Caribbean plantations under British control. Without the labor influx of slaves through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, the system became harder to maintain. Years later, in 1838, more than half a million people in the Caribbean were emancipated from slavery as a result of the 1833 Emancipation Bill.

Enslaved women
Slavery on Plantations in the Caribbean involved a series of interconnected relationships and power dynamics between the enslaved and the more elite population on the island. Women were integral in the social dynamic of the plantations and in the labor itself. "There was a gendering of health, wealth and energy on sugar plantations. The majority of field slaves were women and the majority of women worked in the field.”. Women were heavily involved in the labor of the plantations and were also having children and going to work in the fields at the same time. The Newton Slave Burial Ground showed the evidence of this brutality towards enslaved women, "which may point towards greater levels of interpersonal abuse or even domestic violence for women". The brutality towards enslaved women is reflected in the archaeological evidence on the Newton Burial Ground.

Environmental impact
The sugar cane industry had an adverse impact on the environment as this industry grew in Caribbean countries. These included the destruction of forests, water pollution, and loss of fertility and erosion of soils. These problems were seen on various different scales in the Dominican Republic in the 16th century; the Lesser Antilles in the 17th century; Jamaica and Haiti in the 18th century; and Cuba and Puerto Rico in the 19th century.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus arrived on the northern coast of Hispaniola and Spanish colonization began to establish itself. By the late 16th century, demand and production for sugar, one of the central exports of the island, had increased. Much of the indigenous population suffered from disease and famine, and many pre-colonial smaller-scale farms were replaced by larger-scale farms. These farms required more land and moist soil close to water sources, resulting in deforestation and water pollution.

During the 17th century in the Lesser Antilles, many of the islands in the Lesser Antilles suffered ecological losses after the introduction of monoculture for sugar plantations. On the Caribbean island Nevis in particular, the island was nearly deforested during the mid-1600s and much of the topsoil quality deteriorated as a result of a large influx of plantations.

Although these nations have taken measures to mitigate the impacts of the sugar revolution, in some there are still traces of what the environmental historian of the Caribbean and Latin America, Reinaldo Funes Monzote, describes as a "serious deterioration" of the natural environment, with socio-economic consequences.

The impacts concerning irrigation and pollution of water runoff are seen as the most profound issues in sugar cane cultivation.

title: Sugar plantations in the Caribbean


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Rob Fleming

Rob Fleming (born November 11, 1971) is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 2005 provincial election, defeating the one-term Liberal Party incumbent, Sheila Orr. Initially representing Victoria-Hillside, he was re-elected in subsequent elections in the renamed constituency of Victoria-Swan Lake. A member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP), he was named to the cabinet of British Columbia in July 2017 as Minister of Education, before assuming his current post as Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure in November 2020. Prior to entering provincial politics, he was a city councillor in Victoria, British Columbia from 1999 to 2005.

In the 38th Parliament Fleming was the New Democrat critic for Advanced Education, sat on the Select Standing Committee on Education, and introduced two education-related private member bills: the Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007 and the Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008. He was also assigned to the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and introduced the Payday Lending Act, 2006 which sought to regulate the conditions of payday loans and led to the government adopting the Business Practices and Consumer Protection (Payday Loans) Amendment Act a year later.

In the 39th Parliament Fleming became the NDP's environment critic. He introduced the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act and sat on the subsequent Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides which investigated potential bans or regulations on pesticides used for cosmetic purposes. Fleming also introduced the Species at Risk Protection Act, after the government delayed a promise to review its species-at-risk legislation, and the Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011 which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to report on provincial sustainability-related indicators. Fleming sat on the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives which considered the petition seeking the repeal of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

In the 40th Parliament Fleming was appointed to be the NDP's education critic. He introduced the private member bill Youth Voter Registration Act that would have allowed provisional voter registration of people between the ages of 16 and 18, a measure that was later adopted in 2019.

Background
Born in Windsor, Ontario, Fleming and his family moved to BC when he was three years old, settling on Greater Vancouver's North Shore. In the 1988 federal election, he assisted in the New Democratic Party's campaign in the riding of Capilano—Howe Sound. From 1993 to 1995 he attended the university transfer program at Camosun College in Saanich, which later awarded him the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award. While at Camosun, Fleming served as communications coordinator for the student society.

He then enrolled in the University of Victoria (UVic), where he majored in history. As president of the UVic Students' Society, he was active in acquiring universal access to BC Transit for students through a U-Pass system. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 2002, he started work with a communication consulting business.

He met his wife Maura Parte while attending UVic; they have two children together.

Municipal politics
While still at university, he stood as a candidate for Victoria City Council in the 1999 municipal elections as a member of the Victoria Civic Electors, which ran a joint slate of seven candidates with the Green Party. Fleming finished third in voting, securing him a seat on the eight-member council. He was re-elected councillor in 2002, this time receiving the second highest vote count. He traveled to El Salvador in 2004, as part of a 13-member delegation of election observers to monitor the presidential election.

While on Victoria City Council, Fleming gained a reputation for being a "fiscally prudent democratic socialist". He supported the legalization of secondary suites, the construction of the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (but voted against the option to have it privately operated), and amendments to bylaws to target aggressive panhandling. As a director on the board of the Capital Regional District (CRD), Fleming was vice-chair of the CRD Housing Corporation where he advocated for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He sat on the Victoria Regional Transit Commission and has advocated for transit service expansion and light rail in Greater Victoria. He was a member of the Provincial Capital Commission and was the only member to vote against, due to concerns with the long-term lease agreement and risks involved, replacing the plant and animal conservatory Crystal Gardens with the multi-media tourist attraction, The B.C. Experience, which filed for bankruptcy protection three months after opening.

Provincial politics
With the 2005 BC general election still a year away, Fleming declared his interest in seeking the NDP nomination in the Victoria-Hillside riding. Within a few months, former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Steve Orcherton, who had won the riding in 1996 but lost in 2001, declared his candidacy for the NDP nomination. The primary was billed as a contest between the hard line "old-school union man" Orcherton versus the "new wave" moderate Fleming which was seen as the symbolic struggle that was occurring throughout the party. Fleming won the NDP nomination in January and began campaigning in April for the general election. Fleming was one of five candidates across the province who were endorsed by the Conservation Voters of British Columbia. In the May general election Fleming defeated the incumbent BC Liberal Sheila Orr and Green Party candidate and small business owner Steve Filipovic. Fleming resigned from his position as Victoria city councillor to become a New Democratic MLA, as part of the Official Opposition.

38th Parliament
In the 38th Parliament, Fleming and chaired the Select Standing Committee on Public Accounts and part way through the 2nd session he was assigned to the Select Standing Committee on Education which focused on adult literacy. He introduced several pieces of legislation, including the Payday Lending Act, 2006, which sought to license payday lenders and regulate the conditions of payday loans, including plain language rules, rights to cancellation, signage requirements. While Solicitor General John Les stated he was in favour of many of the regulations, he felt the bill was premature and that changes to the federal Criminal Code were required before proceeding with such regulations, despite other provinces already having passed similar legislation. The bill was granted first reading on May 8, 2006, but without the government support the bill was not adopted. However, a year later, a similar bill, introduced by Les, the Business Practices and Consumer Protection (Payday Loans) Amendment Act, 2007 was introduced and adopted concurrent with federal amendments to the Criminal Code.

Fleming was assigned the role of critic for advanced education. He introduced the Private Post-Secondary Accountability and Student Protection Act, 2007 which was intended to increase the accountability of private career training institutions and increasing the enforcement abilities of the Degree Quality Assessment Board. He spoke out against deregulation that allowed diploma mills like Rutherford University and Kingston College which advertised to foreign students. He introduced the Restoring Credibility to Universities Act, 2008 which sought to repeal the World Trade University Canada Establishment Act and portions of the 2007 Education Statutes Amendment Act concerning private post-secondary institutions. Fleming also took on the role as the NDP tourism critic and objected to Tourism Minister Bill Bennett's decision not to participate in the National Vigil Project (a light display honouring Canadians killed World War One) due to costs and, in response to funding cuts to Tourism BC, he criticized government self-promotional advertising.

39th Parliament
While his riding was re-aligned to create Victoria-Swan Lake, Fleming easily won re-election facing no opposition for the NDP nomination and receiving 61% of the votes in the May 2009 general election. In the 39th Parliament, his party once again formed the Official Opposition to a BC Liberal majority government. Party leader Carole James assigned him the role of environment critic with the intent of re-casting the party's image on environmental issues following the party's negatively received campaign plank of repealing the carbon tax. Fleming, and the party, stopped calling for a repeal of the carbon tax and instead emphasized a more nuanced position in providing alternatives which would improve the tax. He linked planned increases in transit fares to global warming and spoke out against fee increases at provincial park campsites.

In November 2009, and again in April 2010, he introduced the Cosmetic Pesticide and Carcinogen Control Act (Bill M-203) which would have prohibited the sale or use of cosmetic pesticides, other than those deemed low-risk. The Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticides was struck, with Fleming as deputy chair, to investigate the potential for regulating or banning the use or sale of pesticides used for cosmetic purposes. They first convened in July 2011 and reported in 2012.

In the August 2009 Throne Speech the BC government committed to striking a task force on the topic of species-at-risk, but with no action since then, Fleming introduced his own Species at Risk Protection Act (Bill M-207) in May 2010, based on similar legislation in Ontario. The Minister of Environment Barry Penner responded in June by striking a ten member species-at-risk task force consisting of academics and representatives of industry and non-profit organizations, who were told to make recommendations to directly cabinet. The task force report was submitted in January 2011 but, with the government not making the report public, Fleming re-introduced his legislation (Bill M-211) in June 2011 (the report was made public less than a month later).

In addition, Fleming participated in two committees. In the first two sessions he was deputy chair of the Select Standing Committee on Parliamentary Reform, Ethical Conduct, Standing Orders and Private Bills, which met once in each session to review private bills. He was member of the Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives, the committee that only met twice, both times in September 2010, to deal with a petition seeking the repeal of the Harmonized Sales Tax; Fleming and the three other New Democratic Party members voted to recommend introducing the draft HST Extinguishment Act into the Legislative Assembly, while the five BC Liberal members voted to initiate the 2011 British Columbia sales tax referendum.

During the BC NDP leadership election to replace Carole James, Fleming supported Mike Farnworth, though Adrian Dix eventually won. Dix kept Fleming as the critic for Environment. When Parliament re-convened for a fourth session Fleming introduced another private member bill, the Sustainable Development Indicators and Reporting Act, 2011 (Bill M-207) which sought to create a Sustainable Development Board to measure and report on indicators of BC's economic, environmental and social sustainability.

40th Parliament
With the May 2013 election approaching, the 41-year-old Fleming sought re-election in the Victoria-Swan Lake riding. He defeated the BC Liberal candidate, small-business owner Christina Bates, and the BC Green candidate Spencer Malthouse. Despite his win and favourable polling, Fleming's party lost the general election and again formed the official opposition. Fleming was critical of party leader Adrian Dix's positive-only campaigning during the election, partly blamed for the upset loss, saying that it allowed their opponents to define who they were and then attack that without response. Dix appointed Fleming to the role of education critic, moving his previous role of environment critic to Spencer Chandra Herbert.

Upon Dix's resignation as leader of the BC NDP, Fleming was considered as a potential candidate and actively considered seeking the role. However, after both John Horgan and Mike Farnworth announced their intention to run, Fleming decided he would not; he later endorsed Horgan's candidacy. Horgan went on to become the leader and kept Fleming in his education critic role.

In December 2015, Fleming fired his constituency assistant who was subsequently arrested, in July 2016, for defrauding the Victoria-Swan Lake constituency office of $120,420 since March 2009. Fleming sponsored the private member bill Youth Voter Registration Act, 2015 (Bill M-205) which sought allow provisional voter registration of people between the ages or 16 and 18, one of the recommendations of a 2011 report by the Chief Electoral Officer. The bill was not advanced and he re-introduced it in February 2017 as the Election (Increasing Youth Participation) Amendment Act, 2017 (Bill M-218). The measure was eventually adopted during the 41st Parliament as part of the Election Amendment Act, 2019.

41st Parliament
For the 2017 general election Fleming was challenged by digital media management consultant Stacey Piercey for the BC Liberal Party, Vancouver medical researcher Chris Maxwell for the Green Party, and David Costigane for the Vancouver Island Party. Fleming was again re-elected with his party forming the Official Opposition, but this time in a BC Liberal minority government. However, in the first session of the 41st Parliament the BC Liberal government lost a confidence vote and the second session began with the BC NDP forming a minority government. In July 2017, Premier John Horgan appointed Fleming Minister of Education in the Executive Council of British Columbia. In that role he oversaw the suspension of in-class learning in the province's schools during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020; that August he announced the re-opening of schools on September 10, 2020 for the new school year.

42nd Parliament
In the October 2020 snap election called by Premier John Horgan, Fleming handily won re-election with more than 59% of the vote. Following a cabinet shuffle on November 26, 2020, he was reassigned to the position of the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, replacing Claire Trevena, the incumbent minister who declined to seek re-election. He was in turn replaced by Jennifer Whiteside as Minister of Education.

In the new cabinet announced by Premier David Eby on December 7, 2022, Fleming retained the post of Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

title: Rob Fleming