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Alor Setar

Alor Setar (Jawi:, Kedahan: Loqstaq) is the state capital of Kedah, Malaysia. It is the second-largest city in the state after Sungai Petani and one of the most-important cities on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It is home to the third-tallest telecommunication tower in Malaysia, the Alor Setar Tower.

Its location along the main travel corridor from Malaysia to Thailand has long made it a major transportation hub in the northern Malay Peninsula. Alor Setar sits along the country's longest expressway, located 430 km from Kuala Lumpur and 79 km north of George Town, Penang. From Thailand, the city is easily accessible via the Padang Besar–Sadao Highway, it is 51.8 km from Sadao and 106 km from Hat Yai.

The city was originally founded as Kota Setar in 1785. Owing to the long status as the capital of Kedah, Alor Setar is regarded as one of the core cultural centres for the Kedahan Malays. It is also among the key pioneer in the Malayan transportation history, the railway station is commissioned in 1915 followed by its airport in 1929.

Alor Setar is home to the Central State Administration Centre and is the administrative centre of Kota Setar District. At present, the city covers a land area of 666 km2, which is occupied by more than 400,000 inhabitants (as per the 2020 census). At the local-government level, Alor Setar is administered by the Alor Setar City Council.

It is the birthplace of two pivotal prime ministers of Malaysia; namely Tunku Abdul Rahman, the founding father of the nation (in office from 1957 to 1970) and Mahathir Mohamad, the country's longest-serving prime minister of 24 years (in office from 1981 to 2003, from 2018 to 2020).

Etymology
The name came from the combination of two Malay words: Alor ("small stream") and Setar (Bouea macrophylla Griff.; known as the marian plum, gandaria, or plum mango), a tree which is related to mango.

The city's name was changed to Alor Star during a 21 December 2003 ceremony proclaiming it a city. The city's previous name was restored on 15 January 2009.

Origin
Alor Setar was established on 31 December 1735 by Kedah's 19th Ruler, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II and was the state's eighth administrative centre since the establishment of the Kedah Sultanate in 1136. The earlier administrative centres were located in Kota Bukit Meriam, Kota Sungai Emas, Kota Siputeh, Kota Naga, Kota Sena, Kota Indera Kayangan and Kota Bukit Pinang.

The pre-existing settlement was originally a small village. However, the sultan found the area to be in a strategic location, he was drawn to the area as it was covered in a lush greenery and a center between the two estuaries of Kedah River converged. Upon the agreement with fellow Kedahan ministers, they agreed to institute a new town known as "Kota Setar" (the "Town of Setar"). The name was derived from Bouea macrophylla, a type of tree that can be found in the area.

Period of turbulence
A new administration institution was constructed in the settlement, with the sultan resided in Istana Kota Setar. However, the capital suffered a major attack when the Bugis armanda led by Raja Haji managed to destroy both the Istana Kota Setar (Royal Palace) and Balai Besar (Grand Hall) in 1770. In 1771, the British represented by Francis Light and Sultan Abdullah Mukaram Shah entered an agreement to halt the Bugis influence in Kedah.

During the coronation ceremony of Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II of Kedah on 17 March 1805, Siamese forces managed to occupy the capital. The sultan was forced to retreat to Penang and later Malacca. The settlement was put on a standstill for 20 years. He was restored to the crown in 1842 and the capital was temporary relocated to Kota Kuala Muda before returning to Kota Setar.

Recovery and growth
In October 1883, James F. Agustin, an Englishmen arrived in Kuala Sungai Kedah (now known as Kuala Kedah) about 10 km from the capital. He and a few other English explorers embarked their journey towards inland areas of Kedah where he met several Malay settlement on the riverbanks of the Kedah river.

Upon his arrival in Kampung Kota Setar, he befriended several local Malays and they invited him to the sultan's palatial residence. Agustin remarked on the beauty of the palatial architecture and its landscape covered with the stalk trees. He was well received by the sultan and both parties exchanged goods between one another.

The visit by Agustin spurred a growth for a more active and direct trade relations between the area and outside commercial powerhouse. The city attracted various cosmopolitan trading activities from the British, Indian, Chinese together with other local and regional merchants. The town prospered from a small settlement into a bustling town designated to accommodate further population growth, commerce and administration. The British especially, was quite drawn to the potential of Kota Setar (as it was then known).

Gradually, Kota Setar thrived and further evolved into a commercial, transportation and communication hub of Kedah. The name was then changed from Kota Setar into Alor Setar, a reflection of its geographical features located in a small stream (known as "Alor" in Malay) which was frequented by the Malay traders from the neighbouring states. However, the name Kota Setar was retained as sub-district under Alor Setar.

19th and 20th century
Other significant events during the turn of the 20th century includes the reunification of Perlis and Setul (now Satun) to Kedah by the Siamese in May 1897 (both provinces had been separated from Kedah in 1821) held in Balai Besar. The event was attended by the Crown Prince of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Aziz as a representative of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah. In 1904, the city witnessed the grand wedding of the five children of Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, lasting for 3 months and the cost estimated to be 3 million Ringgit.

On 25 July 1905, the Legislative Council of Kedah (Majlis Mesyuarat Negeri) was formed in Alor Setar, with the Crown Prince, Tuanku Abdul Aziz held as its president. Following the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 on 7 July 1909, the transfer of power from the Siamese to British administration was held on 15 July 1909 Balai Besar.

Alor Setar fell to the Japanese occupation on 13 December 1945 and was annexed to the Siamese until 1946. The handover ceremony from Siamese to the British was held in Padang Court, Alor Setar 18 October 1946.

The town joined the protest against Malayan Union during the post-war period. The mass protest was attended by 10,000 against the British backed-proposal. It was led by Tunku Abdul Rahman together with key leaders from UMNO. The town also witnessed the 4th UMNO General Assembly which lay the draft for the foundation of the present-day Constitution of Malaysia.

The coronation ceremony of Abdul Halim of Kedah, the 28th Sultan of Kedah was held in Balai Besar on 20 February 1959. The city celebrates the silver jubilee of Sultan Abdul Halim in 1983.

The change of status of Alor Setar throughout the 20th century was also closely parallel by the rise of its urban development, demographic and population growth. The council was upgraded to Kota Setar Municipal Council on 1 February 1978, which traced its origin to Kota Setar District Council on 1 March 1976, Alor Star Municipal Board in 1958 and Alor Star Sanitary Board in 1905.

The town celebrated its 250th birthday in 1985. A proposal to upgrade the town into a city status was propossed by the Malaysian Ministry of Housing and Local Government in 2000.

21st century
Alor Setar was proclaimed a city – the ninth in Malaysia – on 21 December 2003. A ceremony was held at Dataran Tunku, Alor Setar, attended by the Kedah's Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, his consort Che' Puan Haminah Hamidun, the heir apparent, other royalty and politicians.

During the ceremony, the city was formally renamed as "Alor Star", the third time the city has changed its name, from Kota Setar to Alor Setar and Alor Star. On 15 January 2009, the historical spelling "Alor Setar" was returned to be its official designation.

Governance
Alor Setar is being represented by three Members of Parliament and nine State Legislative Assembly.

State government
As the state capital, Alor Setar holds a pivotal role on maintaining the political and economic interest of Kedah. The city is the seat of the local government where all of the state ministries and agencies are primarily located. The Office of the Chief Minister and the Kedah State Legislative Assembly are both based in Wisma Darul Aman. The official residence of Sultan of Kedah, is located in Anak Bukit.

Local government
Alor Setar has been governed by a town council form of government since 1905 following the establishment of Alor Star Sanitary Board. By 2013, it was elevated to be a city status by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and being administered as Majlis Bandaraya Alor Setar. The current Mayor of Alor Setar is Mohd Zohdi Saad.

Geography
Alor Setar is located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia, at the edge of the Malacca Strait which separates Malaysia from Indonesia. The Kota Setar district includes Alor Setar, and borders the districts of Kubang Pasu, Pokok Sena and Pendang.

The city encompasses an area of 666 km2, including the neighbouring district of Pokok Sena which falls under the jurisdiction of the Alor Setar City Council. Alor Setar is surrounded by important river systems such as the Kedah, Langgar, Tajar, Anak Bukit, Alor Malai and Alor Merah Rivers. Alor Setar's Hausberg is a 217.9m (715 feet) high mogote, Mount Keriang (Gunung Keriang), where there is a network of limestone caves located within it, as well as housing geodes of calcite crystals.

Climate
Alor Setar features a tropical monsoon climate (Am) under the Köppen climate classification. Alor Setar has a very lengthy wet season. As is common in several regions with this climate, precipitation is seen even during the short dry season. Temperatures are relatively consistent throughout the course of the year, with average high temperatures around 32 degrees Celsius and average low temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius. Alor Setar has an average 2300 mm of annual precipitation.

Demographics
There is no well-known nor formal adjective or demonyms for the people from Alor Setar. A casual way to address a person from the city is "Orang Alor Setar"; the term derived from Malay where people is being referred to "Orang".

Ethnicity and religion
The following is based on Department of Statistics Malaysia 2010 census.

The city of Alor Setar recorded a population of 357,176, according to 2010 census data. The 2010 Malaysian census reported that ethnic Malays formed the majority of the city with 262,027 (73.3%), predominantly of Kedahan Malay origin, with smaller numbers of Malays from other territories. The Alor Setar-Chinese forming 78,542 (21.9%). The local Chinese community are mainly Hokkien-speaking together with other Chinese-dialect minorities. Other visible communities includes Indians (mostly Tamils) with 8,298 (2.3%) and other Bumiputeras with 610 (0.1%), as well as other ethnicities (mainly Siamese) with 1,253 (0.3%). The Non-Malaysian constitute 6,446 (1.8%) of the local population.

Languages

The dominant Malay dialect spoken is the Kedah-Northern Malay dialect and functioned as the lingua franca. However, standard Malay (sometimes Johor-Riau Malay dialect), English and Manglish (the latter being a localised vernacular version of English) are still widely understood in the city.

The Han Chinese, the second largest community in Alor Setar are primarily Hokkien-speaking. However, significant Mandarin and Cantonese are also well known amongst the local Chinese. Additionally, there are also pockets of Hakka, Teochew and other Chinese dialects.

Other languages spoken in Alor Setar includes Tamil, among the Alor Setar Indian population and Southern Thai by the Kedah-Siamese community.

Religion
A majority of the population adhered to the Islamic faith, which correlates to the strong Malay/Muslim ethnoreligious identity. This is signified with the city's two main mosque - Masjid Zahir and Masjid Al Bukhary. Zahir Mosque is the state mosque of Kedah and enjoys a royal history and patronage. Built in 1912, its official opening ceremony was held on 15 October 1915 by the late Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah. The architecture of the mosque was inspired by the Azizi Mosque, the state mosque of Langkat Sultanate in Sumatera. Other major mosque in the city includes Masjid Al Bukhary, completed in 1999, its design draws inspiration from a fusion in the Islamic World, especially from Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, Medina; Qaytbay Mosque, Cairo and Imam al-Bukhari Complex, Samarkand. There is also a gallery located together with the mosque. The Muslim life in Alor Setar is centered on the 69 mosques and a large numbers of suraus located around the city.

Buddhism also have a large number of followers in the city, mainly amongst the ethnic Chinese and Siamese communities. Among the main Buddhist shrine located in the city includes Wat Nikrodharam. Its architecture reflects strong Thai elements with minor Chinese motifs. It offers a quiet oasis in the city centre. Both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions are observed here. While the Tou Mu Kung Temple (Chinese: 斗母宫), is a Taoist temple situated on Jalan Gangsa. Worshipping the Empress Registrar of Birth or Dou Mu (斗母) and Nine Emperor (九皇大帝/九皇大帝) deities, the temple has both Taoist and Buddhist influences.

In addition to Islam and Buddhism, other religions and faiths are also practiced in the city, including Hinduism, Christianity and Sikhism. There are many house of worship constructed to accommodate the religious observance of these communities. For Hindus, one of the main temples that can be visited is Sri Maha Mariamman Devasthanam Hindu Temple, located in Jalan Bakar Bata. For Christian adherents, almost all churches located in the city are from various Protestant churches such as Alor Setar Baptist Church located in Jalan Mahdali, just behind Alor Setar Tower and Alor Setar (Chinese & Tamil) Methodist Church located in Lebuhraya Darulaman. In addition, Church of St. Michael, located in Jalan Langgar is the only Roman Catholic Church that exist within the city. While for Sikh adherents, Gurdwara Sahib Alor Setar is the only worship place for Sikhs that can be founded in the same road, not far from the Church of St. Michael.

Economy
Alor Setar is one of the important commercial and industrial centres in Kedah, alongside Sungai Petani and Kulim. There are many international and national-level commercial banks established their branches in the city, together with a few insurance companies.

Agricultural industry, especially rice production was traditionally the economic core of the community. However, by the 21st century the local economy is also equally driven by various forms of primary-based industry and tertiary sector. Other significant economic activities in Alor Setar includes manufacturing, commerce and retail, hospitality and tourism, financial services, food processing and fishery. The main industrial areas located in Alor Setar includes Mergong Barrage, Mergong 1 & 2, Tandop, Kristial Light Industrial Park and 2010 Industrial Park.

Transportation
The capital of Kedah is well connected to all parts of Peninsular Malaysia by all transport modes.

Land
The North–South Expressway, which extends from Bukit Kayu Hitam (Malaysia–Thai border town) to Singapore, has made it easy to drive to Kedah. It is a 6–7-hour drive from Kuala Lumpur and a 1.5-hour drive from Penang via expressway. Songkhla province in Thailand is also about a 1-hour drive from Alor Setar via Padang Besar–Sadao Highway.

Alor Setar is approached from the east coast via East–West Highway (Lebuhraya Timur Barat). Towns such as Butterworth and Kangar etc., can also be accessed from Alor Setar. Car rental services are available.

Bus
Most of bus companies in Peninsular Malaysia provide air-conditioned express bus services. Tickets can be bought at bus terminals or ticket offices. All buses that arrive in Alor Setar stop at Shahab Perdana Terminal Bus. Those who wish to travel to other towns, including Thailand, can board their bus at this terminal. Local bus services are also available, serving almost all towns in Kedah.

Rail
Train services are provided by Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) through their ETS services. Train are available between Alor Setar and Kuala Lumpur, Butterworth, Padang Besar, and Gemas. The city' two railway stations are Alor Setar railway station and Anak Bukit railway station. Tickets can be obtained from the train station or online booking.

Air
Built in 1929, the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport (Alor Setar Airport, IATA code: AOR) is the second oldest airport in Malaysia. It is located at Kepala Batas, 15 km north of the city. It caters almost exclusively on domestic routes. Malaysia Airlines, Firefly, Malindo Air, and AirAsia provides multiple daily connections to and from Alor Setar and Kuala Lumpur; the airport also served flights connecting Alor Setar to Johor Bahru four times per-week from 1 October 2018. Since 9 September 2013, Malaysian Airline System connects Alor Setar with a seasonal international direct flights to Madinah and Jeddah for the Hajj pilgrims.

Sea
Passenger ferry services to and from Langkawi to Kuah Ferry Service are provided at Jeti Kuala Kedah, Alor Setar. The jetty is located 15 km west of the city. Travellers can take bus, taxi or e-hailing from the city centre to the jetty.

Administration
According to the Ninth Malaysia Plan, by the year 2010, Bandar Muadzam Shah in Anak Bukit will become the new Administrative Centre after Alor Setar city. Bandar Muadzam Shah (Anak Bukit) is going through major infrastructure development, including the new Anak Bukit police station, new National Registration Department (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara) of Kedah and also new state government buildings.

Anak Bukit railway station was established in 2015, to enhance the connectivity between the administrative centre to the Peninsula Malaysia's rail network.

Courts of law and legal enforcement
The Alor Setar Court Complex located in Jalan Suka Menanti. The complex houses High Court, Magistrates' court and the Sessions Court. For the Islamic family matters, the cases are mainly heard in Syariah Court in Bandar Muadzam Shah.

The Kedah Police Contingent Headquarters is located in Jalan Stadium. While the Kota Setar district headquarters in Jalan Raja. There are also several police stations located in Kuala Kedah, Anak Bukit, Kepala Batas and Alor Jaggus.

Sports venue
There are several large sports venue in the city. The largest of which would be the Darul Aman Stadium, opened in 1962 it can accommodate 30,000 seating capacity. The stadium also has hosted the 2006 Sukma Games. It was one of the venues for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Other major sports venues in the city includes Sultan Abdul Halim Stadium, Kedah Aquatic Centre, Muadzam Shah Complex and MBAS Swimming Pool Complex.

Parks and recreation
There are several public parks maintained by the city council. Among the best known urban park in Alor Setar is the Taman Jubli Perak (Silver Jubilee Park). The park contains two restored century old traditional Malay Houses (Rumah Seri Banai and Rumah Tok Su) in the Heritage Village (Kampung Warisan). The Heritage Village is located beside the Warrior Square (Dataran Pahlawan).

Other parks located in the city includes Taman Jubli Emas, known for its Tengkolok monument constructed for Golden jubilee celebration of Sultan Abdul Halim named the Jubli Emas Monumental Tower in 2008; Dataran Tanjung Chali (Cape Chali Square) with Rumah Api Tanjung Cahli (Cape Chali Lighthouse); Taman Persisiran Sungai Kedah, where the annual water sports events are usually held; Taman Rekreasi Medan Peremba and Taman Rekreasi Medan Merdeka.

Healthcare
The city is served by one public hospital, two private hospitals, three 1Malaysia clinics together with many public health and other type of health clinics.

Inaugurated in 2007, replacing the old Alor Setar Hospital, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital is the largest and the main medical centre in the state, equipped with 1040 beds. As one of the important and major medical facilities in the northern Kedah, Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital also served as the tertiary referral hospital for twelve public health clinic in the Kota Setar/Pendang district, eight government hospitals and eleven private hospitals.

Education

There are many government schools available in the city, which are managed by Kota Setar District Education Office (Pejabat Pendidikan Daerah Kota Setar). Among the well established schools in the city includes Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultanah Asma, Jalan Langgar, Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid, Keat Hwa Secondary School and Sekolah Menengah Teknik Alor Setar.

Alor Setar is home to several institute of higher learning. The city is the main campus for two universities, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah International Islamic University (UniSHAMS) and Albukhary International University (AIU), which offers scholarship to international students. Other colleges and universities located in Alor Setar includes Kolej Poly-Tech MARA, Royal Air Force College, Universiti Tun Abdul Razak, Mara Industrial Institute, Medical Assistant College and Alor Setar Nursing College.

Alor Setar is home to Kedah State Library (Perpustakaan Negeri Kedah), the main public library of the State of Kedah and the headquarters of the Kedah Public Library Corporation (Perbadanan Perpustakaan Awam Kedah, abbreviated as PPAK).

Historical & Cultural sites

 * Balai Besar -Initially the function of the building was as the Balai Rong Seri or Balai Penghadapan (grand audience hall), that was situated at the back of the Kota Setar Palace complex (Istana Kota Setar). The original building was built in 1735 by Sultan Muhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin II, the 19th Sultan of Kedah. The pillars, roofs and floors were made of wood. Two Kedah sultans were officially installed at the Balai Besar: Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Shah II in 1805, and Sultan Abdul Halim in 1959.
 * Balai Nobat - This 18 m three-tiered octagonal tower's sole purpose is to house the royal musical instruments including the serunai (wooden flute), nafiri, gendang (drum) and nobat (gong). The original Balai Nobat, constructed of wood, was among the early buildings already completed when Alor Setar town was officially founded in 1735. It has been rebuilt twice, most recently in 1906 in concrete and metal with a dome representing the Islamic element.
 * Istana Anak Bukit - Anak Bukit is the birthplace and royal palace of Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah and of the current ruler, Sultan Sallehuddin. Sungai Anak Bukit which is situated behind the royal palace, flows through Alor Setar and is connected by the Kedah River to Kuala Kedah. Since 2008, it has been used in royal ceremonies, replacing the old Balai Besar, and is the very palace were Sultan Sallehuddin was officially enthroned and installed.
 * Kedah Royal Mausoleum -The Kedah royal mausoleum is located in Langgar, near the city centre.
 * Kota Kuala Kedah - Kota Kuala Kedah (a.k.a. Kota Kuala Bahang) is the remains of a fort on the bank of the Kedah River (Sungai Kedah), which for centuries protected the Kuala Kedah Kingdom from naval attacks.  The fort was originally constructed to provide protection against the Portuguese, and also stood against attacks from the Achenese from Sumatra and the Bugis. The fort was rebuilt in 1771–1780. A museum and a lighthouse are also located inside the fort complex.
 * Wan Mat Saman Canal - Wan Mat Saman Aqueduct is the longest aqueduct in Malaysia. It connects Kedah River in Alor Setar to Gurun at the south, and was built to boost the state's rice production.
 * Pekan Rabu - Pekan Rabu is located near the city's government offices. Although the name literally means "Wednesday Market", this market is open all week long. It sells a variety of handicrafts and is a popular spot for tourists and locals.
 * Rumah Tok Su & Rumah Sri Banai - Two restored classical Kedahan Malay houses, located in the Heritage Village (Perkampungan Warisan), Taman Jubli Perak.
 * Pekan Cina & Pekan Melayu - lit. "Chinatown" and "Malaytown". The old town of Alor Setar where presevered old shophouses are still in use.
 * Istana Sepachendera - The Sepachendera Palace, a palace constructed for Che Sepachendera in 1882, Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah's first consort. As Che Sepachendera is from Siam, visible elements of Siamese architecture style was incorporated throughout the building. The palace ground is currently abandoned, however there are plans to restore the complex into a museum.

Museums and Galleries

 * Kedah State Museum (Muzium Negeri Kedah) houses a large collection of Kedah's historical, cultural, and royal heritage. The collection includes early Chinese porcelain, artefacts from the archaeological excavations in Bujang Valley, and a pokok bunga emas or 'gold tree' produced as a tribute to the Thais. The museum is also a research centre which specialises on Kedah's cultural history. Before the present premises were built in 1936, parts of the museum's collection were on display at the Balai Besar. The museum was officially opened on 3 February 1957.
 * National Science Centre Northern Region Branch (Pusat Sains Negara Cawangan Wilayah Utara, abbreviated as PSNCWU) is located at Gunung Keriang next to the Alor Setar Aquatic Centre and Paddy Museum. It is the first science centre built in northern Malaysia.
 * Paddy Museum (Muzium Padi) is the first paddy museum in Malaysia, and the fourth in the world after Japan, Germany and the Philippines. The museum showcases the rice cultivation process in Malaysia and the tools and equipment used. Murals feature the work of 60 artists from North Korea.
 * Kedah State Art Gallery (Balai Seni Negeri Kedah) was set up with the objective of fostering interest in and an appreciation of art in the state. Its collection includes paintings, photographs, musical instruments and handicrafts.
 * Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah Gallery (Galeri Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah) originally housed the Alor Setar High Court, before it was moved to Kompleks Mahkamah Alor Setar in Suka Menanti. This building is located at the junction of Jalan Putera, adjacent to the Balai Nobat.
 * Kedah Royal Museum (Muzium Diraja Kedah) had originally been part of the Kota Setar palace. It was rebuilt after attacks by the Bugis (1770) and Siamese (1821). The current concrete building was completed during the reign of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Mukarram Shah, who once stayed in this palace with his queen. This palace is also known as the "Pelamin Palace" after it was extended to include a pavilion and additional rooms, when Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah arranged marriages for his five children. The grand wedding ceremony lasted for three months in 1904. After 1941, the palace was used as a school and an office for several organisations including the office for the St. John Ambulance and the Scout movements. On 25 July 1983, the palace was declared the Kedah Royal Museum.
 * Alor Setar Tower (Menara Alor Setar) - Located in the heart of Alor Setar, this 165.5 m tower is a prominent modern landmark that signifies the rapid development in Kedah. It serves as a telecommunications tower and tourist attraction, offering a panoramic view of the city and surroundings.
 * Mahathir Birth House (Rumah Kelahiran Mahathir) - The birthplace of Tun Dr Mahathir, the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, has been designated as a historic building. Located at No. 18 Lorong Kilang Ais, off Jalan Pegawai, it was restored by the National Archives in 1992.
 * Independence House (Rumah Merdeka) is a designated historic building which houses the collection and memorial of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia. It is owned by the national archives.

Arts

 * Singers: Yunalis Zarai, Shanon Shah
 * Actors: Azean Irdawaty, Bront Palarae, Angelica Lee, Farid Kamil, Rozita Che Wan, Jit Murad
 * Writers and Arts: Dato' Abdullah Hussain, Dato' Shahnon Ahmad

Sports

 * Badminton: Tan Boon Heong, Lee Zii Jia
 * Football: Mohd Helmi Eliza Elias, Mohd Khyril Muhymeen Zambri
 * Team manager: Dato' Paduka Ahmad Basri Akil
 * Football manager: Tan Cheng Hoe

Government and politics

 * Politicians:
 * Tunku Abdul Rahman, first Prime Minister of Malaysia, 1957–70
 * Mahathir Mohamad, fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, 1981-2003 and 2018–2020
 * Daim Zainuddin, Finance Minister 1984-91
 * Fadzil Noor, PAS President 1989–2002,

 * Judiciary:
 * Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi
 * Tun Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim
 * Tun Mohamed Azmi Mohamed
 * Tun Syed Sheh Hassan Barakbah

Businessmen

 * Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary

title: Alor Setar


text:
Joseph Funk

Joseph Funk (1778–1862) was a pioneer American music teacher, publisher, and an early American composer. He invented a shape note system in 1851 for the Harmonia Sacra.

Funk was born April 6, 1778 (though his gravestone states March 9, 1777), in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry and Barbara (Showalter) Funk, and a grandson of Bishop Heinrich Funck, a German Palatine settler of Bernese Swiss descent. Bishop Funck came to America in 1719, and was the first Mennonite bishop in America. As a boy, Joseph moved with his parents to Rockingham County, Virginia, and spent the rest of his life there.

In 1804, Funk married Elizabeth Rhodes, and they had five children. After her death, he married Rachel Britton, and they raised nine children.

He was a member of the Mennonite Church. In 1847, he established the first Mennonite printing house in the United States, at Mountain Valley, Virginia (renamed Singers Glen in 1860). Funk and his sons were active in organizing and teaching many singing schools in Virginia.

Funk died December 24, 1862, and is buried in the cemetery at Singers Glen. Funk compiled and published seven books and periodicals:
 * Ein allgemein nützliche Choral-Music (1816)
 * A Compilation of Genuine Church Music (1832)
 * The Confession of Faith (1837)
 * A Collection of Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (1847)
 * The Reviewer Reviewed (1857)
 * The Southern Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend
 * J. and D. Brenneman, Hymns

The 1847 fourth edition of Funk's A Compilation of Genuine Church Music was the first publication by Joseph Funk and Sons at Singers Glen. The name was changed to Harmonia Sacra in 1851. The book is still is in use by Mennonites today. The Southern Musical Advocate and Singer's Friend was a 16-page monthly periodical published by Funk from 1859 to 1861. It was a forerunner of The Musical Million and Fireside Friend, a periodical published by Funk's grandson, Aldine S. Kieffer. Joseph Funk's sons continued the printing business after his death. The Ruebush-Kieffer Company purchased the press in 1878.

The Joseph Funk House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

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

title: Joseph Funk


text:
Carlos Arias Navarro

Carlos Arias Navarro, 1st Marquess of Arias Navarro (11 December 1908 – 27 November 1989) was the prime Minister of Spain during the final years of the Francoist dictatorship and the beginning of the Spanish transition to democracy.

Arias Navarro was a hardline politician and was involved in the White Terror, having signed thousands of death warrants during the dismantling of the Spanish Republic. Later, he was a more moderate leader during his premiership.

Early life
Arias Navarro was born in Madrid on 11 December 1908. He served in the Ministry of Justice since 1929 as attorney in Málaga and Madrid.

Francoist Spain

Arias was close to the right-wing sectors and joined the Francoist side during the Spanish Civil War. He was public prosecutor in the trials set up by the Francoists in Málaga after the conquest of the city. There, he earned the nickname the "Butcher of Málaga" (Carnicero de Málaga) for his role in the imposition of capital punishment to true or perceived sympathizers of the Republicans, In one of the harshest repressions following the Francoist victory, an estimated total of 17,000 people were summarily executed.

He married María de la Luz del Valle y Menéndez, without issue.

After serving in various positions, including Mayor of Madrid from 1965 to June 1973, Arias became Minister of Government (Minister of the Interior) in June 1973. After the assassination of Prime Minister (Presidente del Gobierno) Luis Carrero Blanco he was appointed his successor on 31 December 1973, a position he continued to hold after the death of Franco. Arias Navarro had the support of the Franco family, most notably Carmen Polo, and retained the post during the transition to democracy. However, the garroting of the Catalan anarchist Salvador Puig Antich in March 1974 had already shown his aversion to political liberalization, while other events, including the executions in September 1974, the organization of the Green March in November 1975 by King Hassan II of Morocco, and the illness and death of Franco (which Arias announced on television), displayed his weaknesses and further eroded his authority.

Franco's successor as head of state, King Juan Carlos I, continued his appointment, so that it was his government (which included Manuel Fraga Iribarne and José María de Areilza) that instituted the first reforms, however unwillingly. He tried to continue Franco's late policies, opposing any change. After a lengthy power struggle, Juan Carlos forced his resignation on 1 July 1976.

The next day, the King granted him the hereditary title of Marqués de Arias Navarro (English: Marquess of Arias Navarro), together with the dignity Grande de España (English: Grandee of Spain). On his death, the title of Marquess was inherited by his nephew Miguel Ángel Arias-Navarro.

Arias was succeeded by Adolfo Suárez, named general secretary of the Francoist official party Movimiento Nacional in December 1975. In June 1977, during the first free general elections held since 1936, Arias joined the Alianza Popular, a right-wing party created by Manuel Fraga. He then led the Búnker group of hard-liners opposed to any reforms, along with the leader of the Francoist party Fuerza Nueva, Blas Piñar. Arias, however, never again occupied a relevant position in the later Spanish government.

Both left and extreme right attacked him, calling him by the nickname "The Old Pusillanimous".

Later years
In his first democratic election his party joined the Popular Alliance (AP), led by Manuel Fraga, running as a senate candidate for Madrid, but he was not elected. He died on 27 November 1989 at 80 years of age from an infarction, and was buried at Mingorrubio Cemetery in El Pardo. His wife died in 1997.

Spain and Portugal
According to the Spanish daily El País, files released by the US National Archives and Records Administration show that, following the left-wing Carnation Revolution in Portugal on 25 April 1974, Arias met with the United States Deputy Secretary of State Robert S. Ingersoll in March 1975 and offered to invade Portugal in order to stop the spread of communism. The report Ingersoll forwarded to the then-Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, on 18 March, stated that "appropriate steps" were being taken to ensure that "the events in Portugal did not cross the border into Spain."

Ingersoll went on to add that Spain wanted Washington to support Spain in the event of war, precisely at a time when the US was renegotiating the status of its military bases, and Arias wanted Washington to support Spain's future membership of NATO.

title: Carlos Arias Navarro


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Fernando Poe

Fernando Poe may refer to:

 * Fernando Poe Sr. (1916–1951), Filipino actor
 * Fernando Poe Jr. (1939–2004), Filipino actor, film director, and politician
 * Andy Poe (Fernando Poe Jr.; 1943–1995), Filipino actor
 * Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue (formerly Roosevelt Avenue), a road in Quezon City
 * Fernando Poe Jr. station (formerly Roosevelt station), an LRT station

title: Fernando Poe


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The Washington Quarterly

The Washington Quarterly (abbreviated as TWQ) is a magazine of international affairs covering topics and issues concerning global security, diplomatic relations, and policy implications. Founded by prestigious think tank, Center for Strategic and International Studies, TWQ is published by the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, in Washington, DC.

History
The Washington Quarterly was founded in 1978 at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, one of the top think tanks in the United States. TWQ's original publisher was MIT Press.

In 2014, TWQ came under the patronage of the George Washington University, via the Elliott School of International Affairs. In 2008, TWQ's publishing agreement with MIT Press had ended and it began to be published by Taylor & Francis.

title: The Washington Quarterly


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Wiener Werkstätte

The Wiener Werkstätte (engl.: Vienna Workshop), established in 1903 by the graphic designer and painter Koloman Moser, the architect Josef Hoffmann and the patron Fritz Waerndorfer, was a productive association in Vienna, Austria that brought together architects, artists, designers and artisans working in ceramics, fashion, silver, furniture and the graphic arts. The Workshop was "dedicated to the artistic production of utilitarian items in a wide range of media, including metalwork, leatherwork, bookbinding, woodworking, ceramics, postcards and graphic art, and jewelry." It is regarded as a pioneer of modern design, and its influence can be seen in later styles such as Bauhaus and Art Deco.

Following World War I, the workshop was beset by financial troubles and material shortages. Attempts to expand the workshop's base were unsuccessful, as was a reorganization under the direction of Austrian artist Philipp Häusler. In 1926, Workshop financier Otto Primavesi's bank failed and the Workshop limped through the stock market crash in 1929. Ultimately it was forced to close in 1932.

Origins
The enterprise evolved from the Vienna Secession, founded in 1897 as a progressive alliance of artists and designers. From the start, the Secession had placed special emphasis on the applied arts, and its 1900 exhibition surveying the work of contemporary European design workshops prompted the young architect Josef Hoffmann and his artist friend Koloman Moser to consider establishing a similar enterprise. Finally in 1903, with backing from the industrialist Fritz Wärndorfer, the Wiener Werkstätte began operations in three small rooms; it soon expanded to fill a three-story building with separate, specially designed facilities for metalwork, leatherwork, bookbinding, furniture and a paint shop. The range of product lines also included leather goods, enamel, jewellery, textiles, millinery fashion, lace, postcards and ceramics.

Style
The Workshop "derived inspiration from the rich tradition of the glorious past" with fine workmanship and high attention to detail, hearkening back to a more civilized, and secure, time. Beginning with the 14th Exhibition of the Vienna Secession in 1902, the radical distinctiveness of certain Viennese artists began to emerge, setting a foundation for the widespread Modernist movement; this became known as Wiener-Werkstätte-Stil (literally, the Vienna Workshops Style). Among the innovators were the Austrian designers Gisela Falke von Lilienstein and Else Unger, and the Viennese architect Josef Hoffmann. The latter's cubist sculpture created in 1902 marked a break into independence for many Viennese artists. His works from this period are especially remarkable when one considers that the term "cubism" only found its way into the art lexicon around 1907 to describe the work of Pablo Picasso.

Dresses by Eduard Josef Wimmer-Wisgrill inspired Paul Poiret's when the latter visited the Workshop's Berlin exhibition in 1913. The work was considered both highly fashionable as well as functional. Other pieces at the exhibition included day and evening clothes, housedresses and negligees. Some of the earliest productions of the fashion workshop were artists smocks for Klimt and sculptor Anton Hanack

Josef Hoffman wrote in a 1928 retrospective on the 25th anniversary of the Workshop that:

"The Wiener Werkstatte...is an undertaking that furthers and nurtures all artistic and qualitative endeavors in the field of modern craftsmanship....Our main achievement has been to give practical and appropriate forms to all objects and then to make these unique and valuable through pleasing proportions and harmonious shapes. The materials, the tools, and sometimes the machine are our only means of expression. We do not dictate to an artist, but seek only to encourage him to follow his own intuition and develop his creative power."

Production
Most of the objects produced in the Wiener Werkstatte were stamped with a number of different marks: the trademark of the Wiener Werkstatte, the monogram of the designer and that of the craftsman, who created it. The Wiener Werkstatte had about 100 employees in 1905, of whom 37 were masters of their trade.

The seat of the venture was in Neustiftgasse 32–34, where a new building was adapted to their requirements. Eventually the project exhausted Wärndorfer's fortune. The circle of customers of the Wiener Werkstatte and Josef Hoffmann mainly consisted of artists and Jewish upper middle class supporters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Several branches of the workshop were opened in Karlsbad 1909, Marienbad, Zürich 1916–1917, New York 1922, Berlin 1929. In architectural commissions such as the Sanatorium Purkersdorf and the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, the Wiener Werkstätte was able to realize its ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk (total artwork), a coordinated environment in which everything down to the last detail was consciously designed as an integral part of the whole project.

For several years, beginning in 1904, the Wiener Werkstätte had its own carpentry workshop, though only few pieces of furniture were made there. Josef Hoffmann designed a furniture line noted for its simple forms for the firm of Jacob & Josef Kohn. Most of the furniture known as Wiener Werkstätte Furniture was made by cabinet-makers such as Portois & Fix, Johann Soulek, Anton Herrgesell, Anton Pospisil, Friedrich Otto Schmidt and Johann Niedermoser. Some historians now believe that there are no existing original products of the Wiener Werkstätte Furniture division.

From 1905, the Wiener Werkstatte produced handpainted and printed silks. The Backhausen firm was responsible for the machine-printed and woven textiles. In 1907, the Wiener Werkstätte took over distribution for the Wiener Keramik, a ceramics workshop headed by Michael Powolny and Berthold Löffler. And in the same year Moser, embittered by the financial squabbling, left the Wiener Werkstätte, which subsequently entered a new phase, both stylistically and economically.

Expansion

The founding of textile and fashion divisions in 1909 and 1910 brought a further shift in the Wiener Werkstätte's emphasis. After a close brush with bankruptcy in 1913, Wärndorfer left for America and the following year Otto Primavesi, a banker from Moravia, took over as chief financier and patron.

During and immediately following the First World War the Wiener Werkstatte was influenced by a new generation of artists and craftsmen, especially Dagobert Peche, who became creative director in 1915, and the director of the Zürich branch in 1917. Peche's playfully theatrical aesthetic reimagined decorative motifs of the Baroque and Rococo in a modern way. After the war, material shortages encouraged experimentation with cheaper, less durable materials such as wood, ceramics and papier-mâché. One of the ceramics contributors was Walter Bosse.

At the beginning of the 1920s, Philipp Hausler attempted to eliminate the "bad habits" and "extravagances" which devoured so much money by broadening the workshop's base. The WW artists, however, insisted upon their accustomed exclusivity, and Hausler left in 1925." Attempts to expand the workshop's scope—adding such items as wallpaper to its limited program of industrial licenses, and establishing branches in Berlin, New York and Zurich—were not particularly successful. The Werkstätte's financial situation grew desperate due to the effects of the war and the onset of the worldwide Depression in 1929. In the 1932 it was compelled to declare bankruptcy and closed.

Legacy
With its avant-garde, artistic, yet timeless designs, the Wiener-Werkstaette-Stil influenced generations of architects and designers in the 20th century. The Bauhaus in Germany, Art Deco in America from 1920 to 1940, Scandinavian design from 1940–1960 (see for example Arne Jacobsen), as well as Italian design (see Mario Bellini) between 1960 and 1980, were all strongly influenced by the Wiener Werkstätte.

A work representative is the Stoclet Palace in Brussels, which is considered a Gesamtkunstwerk of the company.

The chocolate company Altmann & Kühne uses many of the designs of the company for its chocolate boxes, as does Demel.

title: Wiener Werkstätte


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Talk:Right or Wrong

Should be merged with Right or Wrong Matt 03:03, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Right or Wrong


text: Category:Cepheid variables

title: Category:Cepheid variables


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Massagetae

The Massagetae or Massageteans, also known as Sakā tigraxaudā or Orthocorybantians, were an ancient Eastern Iranian Saka people who inhabited the steppes of Central Asia and were part of the wider Scythian cultures. The Massagetae rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, when they started a series of events with wide-reaching consequences by expelling the Scythians out of Central Asia and into the Caucasian and Pontic Steppes. The Massagetae are most famous for their queen Tomyris's alleged defeating and killing of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Achaemenid Empire.

The Massagetae declined after the 3rd century BCE, after which they merged with some other tribes to form the Alans, a people who belonged to the larger Sarmatian tribal confederation, and who moved westwards into the Caucasian and European steppes, where they participated in the events of the Migration Period.

Massagetae
The name is the Latin form of the Ancient Greek name  (Massagetai).

The Iranologist Rüdiger Schmitt notes that although the original name of the Massagetae is unattested, it appears that the most plausible etymon is the Iranian. is the plural form, containing the East Iranian suffix, which is reflected in Greek. The singular form is and is composed of the Iranian  and, meaning "fish," derived from Young Avestan  (cognate with Vedic मत्स्य). The name literally means "concerned with fish," or "fisherman." This corresponds with the remark made by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (1.216.3) that "they live on their livestock and fish." Schmitt notes that objections to this reasoning, based on the assumption that, instead of, a derivation from Iranian "fish" (compare Ossetian кӕф ) would be expected, is "not decisive." Schmitt states that any other interpretations on the origin of the original Iranian name of the Massagetae are "linguistically unacceptable."

The Iranologist János Harmatta has, however, criticised the proposal of 's derivation from, meaning "fish-eating (men)," as being semantically and phonologically unacceptable, and instead has suggested that the name might be derived from an early Bactrian language name , from an earlier related to the Young Avestan terms  ,  ,  , meaning "men," with the ending of the name being derived from the East Iranian suffix  or from the collective formative syllable from which the suffix evolved. According to Harmatta's hypothesis, the Bactrian name would have corresponded to the name, meaning "men," used by the Massagetae for themselves.

The Old Persian name (𐎿𐎣𐎠 𐏐 𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠) meant "Saka who wear pointed hats", with the descriptive  (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭), meaning "wearer of pointed hats," being composed of the terms  (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼), "pointed," and  (𐎧𐎢𐎭𐎠), "cap." This name was a reference to the Phrygian cap worn by the ancient Iranian peoples, of which the wore an unusually tall and pointed form.

The name given to the / is derived from the Latin name, which is derived from the Ορθοκορυβαντες, which is itself the literal translation of the Old Persian name  (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭), meaning "wearer of pointed hats.",

Apasiacae
The proposed etymologies for the Massagataean sub-tribe of the Apasiacae, whose name is not attested in ancient Iranian records, include, meaning "Water-Sakas," and , meaning "rejoicing at water," which have so far not been conclusive.

The Iranologist János Harmatta has identified the Massagetae as being the same as the people named (“Sakā who wear pointed caps”) by the Persians and  by Graeco-Romans. Harmatta's identification is based on the mention of the as living between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Massagetae.

The scholar Marek Jan Olbrycht has also identified the Massagetae with the.

János Harmatta has also identified the / with the Dahae, with this identification being based on the location of the former between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers, where Arrian also located the Dahae. The scholars A. Abetekov and H. Yusupov have also suggested that the were a constituent tribe of the Massagetae. C. J. Brunner suggested that the Daha were either neighbours of the Saka Tigraxauda or that both groups were part of the same people.

The scholar Y. A. Zadneprovskiy has instead suggested that the Dahae were descendants of the Massagetae.

Marek Jan Olbrycht considers the as being a separate group from the Saka, and therefore as not identical with the Massagetae/.

Based on Strabo's remark that the Massagetae lived partly on the plains, the mountains, the marshes, and the islands in the country irrigated by the Araxes river, the Iranologist Rüdiger Schmitt has also suggestive a tentative connection with the (Ancient Egyptian ), the "Saka of the Marshes, Saka of the Land," mentioned in the Suez Inscriptions of Darius the Great.

Sub-tribes
The Massagetae were composed of multiple sub-tribes, including:
 * the (Απασιακαι)
 * the (Αυγασιοι)
 * the (Δερβικες; Δερβικκαι, romanized: ; Δερβεκιοι, romanized:  )

Location

The Massagetae lived in the Caspian Steppe as well as in the lowlands of Central Asia located to the east of the Caspian Sea and the south-east of the Aral Sea, more precisely across the large area stretching from the lands around the Amu Darya and Zarafshan rivers up to the steppes and the deserts to the north of the Khorasan mountain corridor, that is in the region including the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts and the Ustyurt Plateau, especially the area between the Oxus and Iaxartes rivers and around Chorasmia. The territory of the Massagetae thus included the area corresponding to modern-day Turkmenistan and might possibly have extended to parts of Hyrcania as well.

One of the Massagetaean sub-groups, the Apasiacae, lived either on the east coast of the Aral Sea between the Oxus and Tanais/Iaxartes rivers, or possibly along the Oxus in western Bactria, or between the Caspian and Aral Seas"

Another Massagetaean sub-group, the Derbices, lived in the arid area to the north of the Atrek river bordered by the Caspian Sea to the west, by Hyrcania to the south, the Oxus river in the east, and the Balkhan Mountain and the Ochus river and its estuary were in their territory. During the Achaemenid period, some Derbices had migrated to the southwest along the shore of the Caspian Sea and reached central Tabaristan. The Derbices shared the region between the Caspian Sea and the Oxus with the Dahae, who might however have been identical with the Massagetae, and the Derbices might have extended to the east of the Oxus, with the Greek author Ctesias even extending their range up to the borders of Bactria and India.

The imprecise description of where the Massagetae lived by ancient authors has however led modern scholars to ascribe to them various locations, such as the Oxus delta, the Iaxartes delta, between the Caspian and Aral seas or further to the north or north-east, but without basing these suggestions on any conclusive arguments.

Early history
The Massagetae rose to power in the 8th to 7th centuries BCE, when they migrated from the east into Central Asia, from where they expelled the Scythians, another nomadic Iranian tribe to whom they were closely related. After this, they came to occupy large areas of the region, including the Caspian Steppe where they supplanted the Scythians. The Massagetae displacing the early Scythians and forcing them to the west across the Araxes river and into the Caucasian and Pontic steppes started a significant movement of the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian Steppe, following which the Scythians displaced the Cimmerians and the Agathyrsi, who were also nomadic Iranian peoples closely related to the Massagetae and the Scythians, conquered their territories, and invaded Western Asia. There, their presence had an important role in the history of the ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Egypt, and Iran.

The had close contact with the Median Empire, whose influence had stretched to the lands east of the Caspian Sea, before it was replaced by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC.

Death of Cyrus
During the 6th century BCE, the Massagetae had to face the successor of the Median Empire, the newly formed Persian Achaemenid Empire, whose founder, Cyrus II, carried out a campaign against them in 530 BCE. According to Herodotus, Cyrus captured a Massagetaean camp by ruse, after which the Massagetae queen Tomyris led the tribe's main force against the Persians, defeated them, killed Cyrus, and placed his severed head in a sack full of blood. According to another version of the death of Cyrus recorded by Ctesias, it was the Derbices, who were the tribe against whom Cyrus died in battle: according to this version, he was mortally wounded by the Derbices and their Indian allies, after which Cyrus's ally, the king Amorges of the Amyrgians, intervened with his own army and helped the Persian soldiers defeat the Derbices, following which Cyrus endured for three days, during which he organised his empire and appointed Spitaces son of Sisamas as satrap over the Derbices, before finally dying. The reason why the Derbices, and not the Massagetae, are named as the people against whom Cyrus died fighting is because the Derbices were members or identical with the Massagetae. According to Strabo, Cyrus died fighting against the Saka (of which the Massagetae were a group), and according to Quintus Curtius Rufus he died fighting against the Abiae.

The Babylonian scribe Berossus, who lived in 3rd century BCE, instead recorded that Cyrus died in a battle against the Dahae; according to the Iranologist Muhammad Dandamayev, Berossus identified the Dahae rather than the Massagetae as Cyrus's killers because they had replaced the Massagetae as the most famous nomadic tribe of Central Asia long before Berossus's time; although some scholars identified the Dahae as being identical with the Massagetae or as one of their sub-groups.

Achaemenid rule

Little more is known about the Massagetae after the war with Cyrus. During the Achaemenid period, they were pressing on Hyrcania, and by around 520 BCE and possibly earlier, they were ruled by a king named Skuⁿxa, who rebelled against the Persian Empire until one of the successors of Cyrus, the Achaemenid king Darius I, carried out a campaign against the Sakas from 520 to 518 BCE during which he conquered the Massagetae/, captured Skuⁿxa, and replaced him with a ruler who was loyal to Achaemenid power. According to Polyaenus, Darius fought against three armies led by three kings, respectively named Sacesphares, Thamyris (whose name might be related to that of Tomyris), and Amorges or Homarges, with Polyaenus's account being based on Persian historical records.

The territories of the Saka were absorbed into the Achaemenid Empire as part of Chorasmia, which included much of the territory between the Oxus and the Iaxartes rivers, and the Saka supplied the Achaemenid army with a large number of mounted bowmen. After Darius's administrative reforms of the Achaemenid Empire, the were included within the same tax district as the Medes.

During the Macedonian invasion of the Achaemenid Empire, the Massagetae provided the Achaemenid army with 40,000 troops, which was a larger number than the troops furnished by all the other inhabitants of the coast of the Caspian Sea put together.

Later history
The Massagetae, along with the Sogdians and Bactrians, participated in the rebellion of Spitamenes against Alexander III of Macedon, but they later submitted to him again after Spitamenes was murdered.

Among the scholars who do not identify the Massagetae with the Dahae, Rüdiger Schmitt suggests that the Massagetae were instead absorbed by the Dahae by the later Hellenistic period. Muhammad Dandamayev has suggested that the Dahae had replaced the Massagetae as the most known people of the Central Asian steppes. Marek Jan Olbrycht suggests that the Dahae migrated to the west from the areas east of the Aral Sea and around the Iaxartes valley and expelled the Derbices from their homeland, after which the latter split, with a part of them migrating into Hyrcania and others to the lower Uzboy river.

During the Hellenistic period, a section of the Massagetaean sub-tribe of the Derbices had migrated to the southwest along the coast of the Caspian Sea and reached central Tabaristan, while another sub-group moved to the south-east into Margiana.

Around 230 BCE, the Parnian king and founder of the Parthian Empire, Arsaces I, sought refuge from the Seleucid king Seleucus II Callinicus by fleeing among the Massagataean sub-tribe of the Apasiacae. Seleucus's attempted campaign to recover the eastern satrapies of his empire was initially successful. However, the outbreak of revolts in the western part of his empire prevented him from continuing his war against the Parthians, who, with the backing of the Apasiacae, were ultimately successful.

Disappearance
The dominance of the Massagetae in Central Asia ended in the 3rd century BCE, following the Macedonian conquest of Persia, which cut off the relations between the steppe nomads and the sedentary populations of the previous Persian Achaemenid Empire. The succeeding Seleucid Empire started attacking the Massagetae, Saka and Dahae nomads who had lived to the north of its borders, which in turn led to these peoples putting westward pressure from the east on a related nomadic Iranian people, the Sarmatians. The Sarmatians, taking advantage of the decline of Scythian power in the west, crossed the Don river and invaded Scythia starting in the late 4th century and the early 3rd century BCE.

The Massagetae themselves merged with tribal groups in Central Asia to form the Alans, a people who themselves belonged to the larger Sarmatian group. Related to the Asii who had invaded Bactria in the 2nd century BCE, the Alans were pushed by the Kang-chü people to the west into the Caucasian and Pontic steppes, where they came in contact and conflict with the Parthian and Roman empires. By the 2nd century CE, they had conquered the steppes of the north Caucasus and the north Black Sea area and created a powerful confederation of tribes under their rule.

In 375 CE, the Huns conquered most of the Alans living to the east of the Don river, massacred a significant number of them and absorbed them into their tribal polity, while the Alans to the west of the Don remained free from Hunnish domination and participated in the movements of the Migration Period. Some free Alans fled into the mountains of the Caucasus, where they participated in the ethnogenesis of populations including the Ossetians and the Kabardians, and other Alan groupings survived in Crimea. Other free Alans migrated into Central and then Western Europe, from where some of them went to Britannia and Hispania, and some Alans joined the Germanic Vandals into crossing the Strait of Gibraltar and creating the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa.

Legacy
Byzantine authors later used the name "Massagetae" as an archaising term for the Huns, Turks, Tatars and other related peoples who were completely unrelated to the populations the name initially designated in Antiquity.

A 9th century work by Rabanus Maurus, De Universo, states: "The Massagetae are in origin from the tribe of the Scythians, and are called Massagetae, as if heavy, that is, strong Getae." In Central Asian languages such as Middle Persian and Avestan, the prefix massa means "great," "heavy," or "strong."

Some authors, such as Alexander Cunningham, James P. Mallory, Victor H. Mair, and Edgar Knobloch have proposed relating the Massagetae to the Gutians of 2000 BC Mesopotamia, and/or a people known in ancient China as the "Da Yuezhi" or "Great Yuezhi" (who founded the Kushan Empire in South Asia). Mallory and Mair suggest that Da Yuezhi  may at one time have been pronounced d'ad-ngiwat-tieg, connecting them to the Massagetae. These theories are not widely accepted, however.

Many scholars have suggested that the Massagetae were related to the Getae of ancient Eastern Europe.

Tadeusz Sulimirski notes that the Sacae also invaded parts of Northern India. Weer Rajendra Rishi, an Indian linguist has identified linguistic affinities between Indian and Central Asian languages, which further lends credence to the possibility of historical Sacae influence in Northern India.

Lifestyle
According to Strabo, the Massagetae lived on the plains, the mountains, the marshes, and the islands in the country irrigated by the Araxes river.

Some Massagetae were primarily fishermen, and other groups of the tribe bred sheep for their milk and wool, but also harvested root vegetables and wild fruits. None of the Massagetae, however, practised any form of agriculture, and their food consisted of meat and fish, and they primarily drank milk, but not wine. According to the Greek author Strabo, the Derbices did not consume any female animals.

Gold and bronze were plentiful where the Massagetae lived, but they did not use any iron or silver because these were not available in their country.

The Massagetae might possibly have practised cranial deformation.

Clothing
Like all ancient Iranian peoples, the Massagetae/ wore knee-length tunics which were either straight and closed (following Median fashion) or open with lapels, both styles being fastened by a belt at the waist (following typically Scythic fashion). Underneath, they wore narrow trousers and moccasins. Over these, they sometimes wore a cloak with long and narrow sleeves, and the pointed cap, although their tribe wore a distinctive form of this headdress which had a sharp point, and from which the names given to them by the Persians (𐎫𐎡𐎥𐎼𐎧𐎢𐎭 ) and the Greeks (Ορθοκορυβαντες ), both meaning "wearer of pointed caps," were derived. The use of the Median closed tunic among the was the result of extensive contact between the  and the Medes during the period of the Median Empire.

The fishermen wore seal skins, while the sheep-breeders wore clothing made of wool.

The Massagetae wore golden headdresses, belts, shoulder straps, and used golden harnesses and bronze armour for their horses.

Warfare
The Massagetae fought both on foot and on horseback, and their weapons consisted of bows and arrows, spears, and battle-axes, and their horse armour, spearheads, and arrowheads were golden.

The Massagetae especially used spears whose blades were made of copper or iron, due to which the Greek called them the (αιχμοφοροι), meaning "spear-bearers."

Language
The name of the Massagetaean prince, recorded in the Greek form (Σπαργαπισης) and reflecting the Scythian form, is of Scythian language origin, and his name and the name of the Agathyrsi king Spargapeithes and the Scythian king Spargapeithes (Scythian: ) are variants of the same name, and are cognates with the Avestan name.

The name of the king Skuⁿxa might be related to the Ossetian term meaning "distinguishing oneself," and attested as   in the Digor dialect, and as   in the Iron dialect.

Religion
Herodotus mentioned that the Massagetae worshipped only the sun god, to whom they sacrificed horses. This is seen to indicate the cult of the Iranian sun god Mithra, who was associated with the worship of fire and horses. When Cyrus attacked the Massagetae, their queen Tomyris swore by the Sun to kill him if he did not return to his kingdom.

However, Strabo recorded that the Derbices, who were either identical with the Massagetae or one of their sub-tribes, worshipped "Mother Earth," interpreted as the Earth and Water goddess Api.

Marriage customs
The Massagetae contracted monogamous marriages, although the wives could have sexual relations with other men. When a Massagetaean man wanted to have sexual relations with a woman, he would hang his gorytos outside of her tent, inside of which the couple would proceed to have intercourse. Edvard Westermarck, however, in The History of Human Marriage, suggested that Herodotus and Strabo, on whose writings this understanding of Massagetaean marriage customs is based, might have been mistaken, and that the relevant custom was instead one, said to be common in Central Asia, by which brothers shared a single wife.

Funeral customs
According to Herodotus, members of the Massagetae were sacrificed and cooked and eaten with the meat of sacrificial animals. Members of the Massagetae who died of illness were buried or left as food for wild animals.

title: Massagetae


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Sound of the Underground (album)

Sound of the Underground is the debut studio album by English-Irish girl group Girls Aloud, formed through the ITV television series Popstars: The Rivals. It was released in Ireland on 23 May 2003, in the United Kingdom and Europe on 26 May 2003, and reissued on 17 November 2003 through Polydor. Girls Aloud worked with a variety of musicians and producers on Sound of the Underground, which was largely inspired by 1980s music. Comparisons were made with artists such as Bananarama, The Bangles, Blondie and Spice Girls.

Sound of the Underground debuted to generally favourable reviews from contemporary music critics, who noted the high quality of the album compared to output from other reality show contestants. The album was certified platinum in the United Kingdom by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It yielded four singles, including the title track, which topped the UK Singles Chart for a month. The album has sold 368,000 copies in the United Kingdom alone.

The album was re-released on 16 June 2023, in celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, available in vinyl format for the first time.

Background and recording
Girls Aloud were formed through the ITV1 programme Popstars: The Rivals by a public vote on 30 November 2002. Their debut single "Sound of the Underground" was one of sixty songs that Brian Higgins and Miranda Cooper had written with the aim of launching their own girl group. The song was originally recorded in 2001 by London girl group Orchid, who disbanded before gaining a firm record deal. It was produced by Xenomania and chosen by Girls Aloud's manager Louis Walsh as their debut single. "Sound of the Underground" was 2002's Christmas number one single and spent a further three weeks at number one. "Sound of the Underground" and another Xenomania production, Sugababes' "Round Round", have been called "two huge groundbreaking hits", credited with reshaping British pop music for the 2000s.

Following the single's success, Girls Aloud proceeded to begin recording their debut album, which shares its title with the single. As the team grew, their music began to take over the nation. Girls Aloud worked with a variety of mostly British musicians and producers, such as Betty Boo, the Beatmasters, Graham Stack, Steve Anderson and Tim Kellett, and reunited with Higgins and Xenomania. Girls Aloud deliberately waited five months after the release of "Sound of the Underground" in order to ensure they would have a strong second single. Referring to their second single "No Good Advice", Higgins said that Girls Aloud initially did not like the song – "we played them some of it, and they said: 'That's not our sound.' I objected to the use of that phrase 'our sound'. I told them they had five minutes to talk about whether or not they wanted to continue with me. They went away and spoke about it and since then it's been fine. They come in expecting to work, and there's a trust there which, I think, dates back to that day."

Sound of the Underground remains Girls Aloud's only studio album not to be entirely written and produced by Higgins and Xenomania, who had initially only created two songs for the album, "Sound of the Underground" and "No Good Advice". When Higgins heard the remaining ten tracks that Girls Aloud had recorded for the album, he promptly called Polydor to complain about the lack of creative content. Higgins said, "They'd sent them off to these other Swedish guys and different people in the UK [...] I said, 'There are two completely separate groups on this record. We need to get rid of six tracks and I'll replace them'. We did that and allowed the album to stand up as a body of work." This last-minute decision resulted in Girls Aloud returning to the studio to record a further four tracks with Xenomania – "Some Kind of Miracle", "Life Got Cold", "Stop" and "Love/Hate". The album was completed in April 2003 and described as a mix of "Blondie and Bananarama, with a smattering of the Spice Girls at their best thrown in."

During the summer of 2003, Girls Aloud would again work with Higgins and Xenomania, recording a further three tracks – a cover version of the Duran Duran hit "Girls on Film", which would become the B-side of "Life Got Cold", "You Freak Me Out" for the film Freaky Friday and a cover version of The Pointer Sisters song "Jump" for the film Love Actually. They also re-recorded "Some Kind of Miracle", which was originally intended to be the fourth single from the album before it was scrapped in favour of "Jump". These four tracks, alongside an altered mix of "Life Got Cold", would eventually surface on a reissued version of Sound of the Underground, which was released on 17 November 2003.

Music and lyrics
Sound of the Underground takes influence from a number of 1980s genres, such as synthpop, power pop, and new wave, and 1990s styles like big beat, drum and bass, and garage. The album received comparisons to girl groups such as Bananarama, The Bangles and Spice Girls. Similarities to Kylie Minogue and Madonna were also noted. A majority of the songs make use of guitars and electronic beats. The rise of indie rock also inspired Brian Higgins to "blur the edges between commercial music and so-called "indie" music." He continued, "pop music was on its backside and indie music was about to rise, through The Strokes and everything else. We were an independent company and we were as indie as the other bands around us. The guitar riff on "No Good Advice" is very very similar to the riff on the track "Michael" by Franz Ferdinand."

It was said that the album's "lyrics [were] curiously insistent upon Girls Aloud's musical credibility and autonomy of thought." Higgins said that "No Good Advice" reflected his general mood of failure after a special deal between Xenomania and London Records fell through in 2000, and about persisting in spite of what people told him to do or not to do. "Life Got Cold" was labelled "surprisingly poignant."

Songs
"Sound of the Underground", which opens the album, drew comparisons to Fatboy Slim. It was labelled "an enticing blend of spiky guitars and Fatboy Slim beats topped off with an irresistibly catchy chorus." "Sound of the Underground" was further described as "a mechanistic sashay of twangy surf guitar and sultry gang vocals – Girls Aloud explodes like a five-headed Kylie Minogue." "No Good Advice" was labelled "a disco track with guitar – a cross between Blondie and The Bangles." Unlike many other songs, it was said to be "not obsessed with trying to be a cutting-edge club hit, [...] with at least three different killer hooks welded together" that borrowed heavily from the 1980s. "Some Kind of Miracle", which is "a breezy summer pop song about trying to bag a guy", follows. The Xenomania production had "layered vocals with its slow tempo despite being more formulaic." The song was compared to "a 21st century Bangles", as well as former Spice Girls member and Popstars: The Rivals judge Geri Halliwell.

"All I Need (All I Don't)" was described as "a Kylie-type tune set to squelchy techno", as well as "a disco-funk workout with traces of Cameo and Bedtime Stories vintage Madonna". "Life Got Cold", the album's first ballad and third single, was a late addition to the album, completed by Xenomania shortly before the album's release. The song received attention because of similarities between the guitar riff of "Life Got Cold" and that of the Oasis hit "Wonderwall" (1995). Warner/Chappell Music has since credited Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher. The song was called a "charming ballad" that was "a sweet but slightly sad pop song". The song begins with a rap. "Mars Attack", produced by Betty Boo and the Beatmasters, "is hip hop-referencing surf punk."

"Stop", a Xenomania production sung entirely by Nadine Coyle apart from the chorus, "starts like the Skids' "Into the Valley" but gets sultry instead of surreal." The album's eighth track, "Girls Allowed", was co-written by Westlife member Brian McFadden. It was described as both "Basement Jaxx meets Spice Girls" and "Donna Summer meets Dannii Minogue". "Forever and a Night" was described as "a soppy love song earmarked as a Christmas single", but slated for sounding like "every girl-group slushy song ever written." "Love/Hate", another song crafted by Xenomania, "lays vocals over garage beats." A second contribution from Betty Boo and the Beatmasters, "Boogie Down Love", follows. It was said that it "mixes the hook of Blondie's "Call Me" with the bells from "Rapture"", as well as being deemed "electro stomping". "Don't Want You Back" was co-written by Anders Bagge, who also wrote Samantha Mumba's "Gotta Tell You", which bears similarities. It was labelled as "love song" in which Girls Aloud are "swooning over bois [sic]". "White Lies" was co-written and produced by Tim Kellett, a former member of The Durutti Column, Simply Red, and Olive.

The original UK edition of the album featured two bonus tracks. "Love Bomb", another Betty Boo collaboration, was compared to Boo's "Where Are You Baby?". "Everything You Ever Wanted" borrows its opening line from The Rolling Stones. In December 2003, the album was re-released with the omission of "Don't Want You Back" and the bonus tracks. Three new songs appeared instead. "Jump", a cover of song "Jump (for My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters, was recorded for the soundtrack to Love Actually (2003). Cheryl Cole noted in Girls Aloud's autobiography Dreams That Glitter – Our Story (2008) that the single "was the point when we realized everything we'd been doing was quite down and moody [...] and that's not what people wanted." "You Freak Me Out" is a pop-rock song that was written and recorded specifically for the Disney film Freaky Friday (2003), Also included was Girls Aloud's cover of "Girls on Film", originally a Duran Duran classic, that originally appeared as a B-side to "Life Got Cold".

Release and promotion
Sound of the Underground was released in Ireland on 23 May 2003 and in the United Kingdom and European countries three days later, through Polydor Records and Universal Music Group. The international versions of the album exclude the bonus tracks "Love Bomb" and "Everything You Ever Wanted". A reissue of Sound of the Underground was released on 17 November 2003. It replaced the original bonus tracks and "Don't Want You Back" with three new songs: "Jump", "You Freak Me Out", and "Girls on Film". The radio edit of "Life Got Cold" and a remix of "Some Kind of Miracle", also replaced the original versions. Originally, the album would be promoted with a tour with their fellow Popstars: The Rivals contestants; however, the tour was cancelled due to poor ticket sales. Instead, the group promoted the album on their What Will the Neighbours Say...? Tour (2005) along with their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? (2004). Sound of the Underground and other Girls Aloud releases were made available for sale on the US iTunes Store on 26 June 2007 through Interscope Records.

On 26 March 2023, it was reported that the remaining members of Girls Aloud are to share unreleased tracks from the archives, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album. On 28 April 2023, the band released the promotional single "Sound Of The Underground (Alternative Vocal Mix)", revealed the tracklisting for the forthcoming album reissue, and released a new 4k version of the original music video. The 2023 reissue will be available on vinyl for the very first time.

Singles
"Sound of the Underground", Girls Aloud's debut single, was released on 16 December 2002. Competing against the Popstars: The Rivals boyband, One True Voice, they used a combative "Buy girls, bye boys" slogan to persuade the public to buy their single. "Sound of the Underground" received a positive response from most music critics. The music video was shot in a London warehouse just days after Girls Aloud's formation in the last week of competition of Popstars: The Rivals. "Sound of the Underground" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart and spent four consecutive weeks at number one, earning a platinum certification in March 2003. "No Good Advice" was released five months later in May 2003. In 2003, the song won the Popjustice £20 Music Prize, awarded to the best British pop single of the past year. The video for "No Good Advice" features the members of Girls Aloud clad in metallic, silver, futuristic outfits which can also be seen on the cover of this album. The song debuted at number two. The third single was intended to be "Some Kind of Miracle", but was changed to fan favourite "Life Got Cold". The music video depicts the band members in stunted movement, wandering around an abandoned city setting. The song failed to achieve the success of Girls Aloud's first two singles, peaking at number three. "Some Kind of Miracle" was replaced again, this time with their cover of "Jump", recorded for the Love Actually soundtrack. The music video for "Jump" was made to appear like it was intertwined with Love Actually. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. "You Freak Me Out" was due for release, with Girls Aloud even performing it on television; however, Girls Aloud proceeded to record their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say?.

Critical reception
Sound of the Underground received generally favourable reviews from music critics. The Times noted that Sound of the Underground "is packed with everything you want from a pop record – attitude, aggression, guitars, disco beats and steals from Phil Spector." Yahoo! Music said that Girls Aloud "have made a seriously fine debut album. OK, so it's not Blonde on Blonde, Innervisions or OK Computer, but it may well be another Spice." A number of reviews noted the high quality of the album compared to output from other reality show contestants. It was said that "Girls Aloud are on the better end of the commercial pop scale." Ian Youngs of BBC News bluntly stated, "Reality pop is not supposed to be this good." BBC Music said "time will tell if they are set to take the mantle as the new Spice Girls or slip rapidly down pops dumper as the new Hear'Say. But their debut album is sure to shut up at least some of their cynics, myself included."

However, many reviewers agreed that the album's quality declined towards the end. RTÉ.ie wrote, "After a while it does start sounding a bit samey but for a manufactured pop album, this is a fairly standard fault." The ballads featured on Sound of the Underground were slated. Andrew Lynch of entertainment.ie said that "the ill-advised attempt to show off their sensitive side results in some truly dismal ballads."

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart behind Justin Timberlake's debut studio album Justified (2002). Selling 38,000 copies in its first week it went on to sell 300,000, achieving a platinum certificate, their first of many. Spending only eighteen weeks in the charts the album was later re-released to feature new songs. This release only managed to peak at number forty-two but is now the only commercial print of the album.

The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 6 June 2003. It was certified platinum five months later.

Track listing
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Sound of the Underground.

 * Covers and other appearances
 * "Jump" is a cover of The Pointer Sisters.
 * "Girls on Film" is a cover of the UK band Duran Duran.
 * The track "Girls on Film" appeared as a B-side to their single "Life Got Cold".
 * The tracks "Love Bomb" and "Girls Allowed" appeared as B-sides to their single "Jump".
 * "You Freak Me Out" was recorded specially for the film Freaky Friday.

title: Sound of the Underground (album)


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File:Susan Werner - Last of the Good Straight Girls.jpg

Cover for album Last of the Good Straight Girls by Susan Werner.

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text: Category:W Virginis variables

title: Category:W Virginis variables


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Southerly buster

A southerly buster is the colloquial name of an abrupt southerly wind change in the southern regions of New South Wales and Victoria, Australia, which approaches from the southeast, mainly on a hot day, bringing in cool, usually severe weather and a dramatic temperature drop, thus ultimately replacing and relieving the prior hot conditions. Marking the boundary between hot and cool air masses, a southerly buster is sometimes represented by a roll-up cloud perpendicular to the coast, which appears from the south and coexists with the wind change, though sometimes there is little visual signal of the southerly's arrival.

Southerly busters occur in the backside of a low pressure trough in the Tasman Sea, followed by the speedy advance of an anticyclone south of Western Australia and South Australia (around the Great Australian Bight). They are caused by the interaction of a shallow cold front with the blocking mountain range that aligns the coast, and frictional contrasts over the mainland and the ocean that disconnect the flow. Southerly busters occur about 32 times each year on the coast of southeastern Australia, with variable strength, usually in spring and summer. Although southerly busters are often associated with NSW and Victoria, they also occur on the east coast of Tasmania, New Zealand, and in Argentina and Chile.

19th century
In 1819, Australian explorer William Wentworth describes the southerly buster experienced in Sydney:

"...They [hot northwesterly winds] seldom, however, continue for more than two days at a time, and are always superseded by a cold southerly gale, generally accompanied with rain. The thermometer then sinks sometimes as low as 60 °F, and a variation of temperature of from 30 to 40 F takes place in half an hour. These southerly gales usually last at this season from twelve to twenty-four hours, and then give way to the regular sea and land breezes..."

From the early days of settlement at Sydney Cove, sudden southerly squalls had been a problem for boats in the harbour. In 1829, a brickfielder as these squalls as were then called, laid the boat carrying Governor Ralph Darling and his family on its beam ends. Later Port Jackson boatmen would call it, the "Sútherly Búster". During the early days of the European settlement, Sydney's summer storms were accompanied by rolling red dust from the colony's brickworks.

In 1869, following the connection of lighthouses and signal stations on the east coast of NSW to the electric telegraph network, a system was instituted to give shipping warning of approaching gales. It would give boats in Port Jackson warning of approaching busters. The new signals were included in Gowland's amendments to the NSW Sailing Directory The signal was a diamond shape (see Day shapes) on the southern yard-arm of the signal mast to indicate a squall approaching from the south, and numeral pendants per John Nicholson's Code of Signals flying on the masthead to show the location of the squall. The numbers were those already in use from 1842 for identifying ports, e.g. Jervis Bay was 46 and Wollongong, added in 1854, was 82. The signal masts were at South Head Signal Station and Fort Phillip. These masts had two yard-arms at right angles aligned north–south and east–west. The success of the system was seen in 1870 when a newspaper reported, "About 9 o'clock, however, intelligence of a southerly burster was telegraphed from Eden, and by half-past 12 the expected 'brickfielder' blew over the city."

From 1876 signals would be displayed at two additional places - the new flagstaff at Bradley's Head and the Floating Light Vessel at the entrance to the Harbour. This direction specified that a cone signal on the flagstaff would indicate the approach of a southerly squall. This signal, "A cone, with the point downwards, shows that a gale is probable; at first from the southward.", was introduced in England 1861 by Robert Fitzroy, but this appears to be the first time it was used in Port Jackson. In 1879, George Herbert Gibson published a book called Southerly Busters, where a buster wreaks havoc near Hyde Park, Sydney.

In November 1898, the Postmaster General, Varney Parkes, announced that a white flag with the letters E, J.B. or W would be flown from the flagstaff on the clock tower of the General Post Office, Sydney to signal the approach of a southerly buster. As the wind reached Eden, Jervis Bay or Wollongong the relevant flag would be hoisted. The J.B. flag was hoisted for the first time on 10 February 1899 but the wind did not travel beyond Kiama. The day had been hot and oppressive and the much anticipated cool change did not eventuate. The original intention was to change the flags as the change moved north but this did not always happen. It was possibly later reduced to just two flags, JB and W.

20th century
On the night of 16 December 1908 a new signal, also on the GPO clock tower, made its debut. For warnings at night a red light had been installed in the lantern - the glass enclosed room below the flagstaff. It continued until 1940. Capsizes still occurred, but fishing boats did heed the warnings.

In 1931, with the addition of signals for southerly busters, the practice of displaying the Bureau of Meteorology weather forecast with flags was extended, with the cooperation of the Royal Australian Navy, to the signal staff on Garden Island. The weather flags had been flown since 1912 from the flagstaffs on prominent buildings but as well, at Garden Island, a diamond shape would be hoisted for warnings during the day and a red light at night when a southerly buster was expected. In 1932 Navy League sea cadets flew the same signals as at Garden Island at their station on Snapper Island (New South Wales). The Weather beacon on the top of MLC Building, North Sydney, built in 1957, could also warn of 'southerly busters'. Generally, the forecasts displayed by the lights were updated three times a day but could be changed at anytime if a sudden change was imminent. If a 'buster' was expected the red lights at the bottom of the beacon would flash at half second intervals. This signal, indicating strong winds and rain, was not specific to 'southerly busters', but as the jingle advised: Flashes short, prepare for gales, Gather the washing, furl the sails."

Author Ruth Park makes a reference to the southerly buster in her novel Poor Man's Orange (1949):

"After an unbearably hot day, the old men on the balconies were sniffing the air and saying, 'Here she comes!' The Southerly Buster, the genie of Sydney, flapped its coarse wing over the city ... The women undid the fronts of their frocks and the little children lifted up their shirts and let it blow on their sweaty bottoms."

Formation
On a hot day, a strong offsea gale develops from the south usually in the late afternoon and early evening, causing a rapid fall in temperature as it arrives, and sometimes a short rain and/or thunderstorm may accompany, especially if it is affiliated with a cold front coming from the south and a trough, with the strongest winds being at the leading edge of the buster. The southerly buster, which usually trails a thick layer of low stratus clouds bringing episodic drizzle, banks up against the Great Dividing Range, thus resulting in the transmission of the cool maritime air near the southeastern part of the ranges and the blocking of the airflow on the mountains' west side. The Buster progresses into a strongly stable boundary layer with warm, prefrontal landmass air that is between 100 and 200 metres deep transporting over the cooler waters.

In some occasions, a cold front in the Southern Ocean may interact with the Great Dividing Range and develop into a Southerly Buster. It is worth noting that some Southerly Busters are not southern ocean fronts, as they have developed on the pre-frontal trough south of Australia or have possibly originated on the southern NSW coast in affiliation with a shallow mesoscale low development. As the Southerly Buster advances to the north, its force would decrease, though in rare occasions it can fortify north of the Hunter Valley due to upslope motion on the valley's north, which allows the flow to produce anticyclonic vorticity akin to the original obstruction and arrangement of the Southerly Buster in Victoria.

However, the southerly buster does not always create precipitation, aside from light drizzle and light rain, which tend to occur a day after the southerly buster's arrival as its effects may still persist for 24 hours, in addition to creating a weather pattern similar to that of a June Gloom experienced in Southern California. It is proposed that the southerly buster is basically a coastal gravity current that is held against the mountains by the Coriolis force and in transverse geostrophic balance, and is generated when a cold front is obstructed, experiencing anticyclonic distortion near the Great Dividing Range, spreading northward as a coastal trapped orographic jet.

The southerly buster is caused by its interaction with the Great Dividing Range, as the cool air becomes trapped against the ranges, oftentimes in the Gippsland area of Victoria, where the mountains create a channelling effect as the southerly winds move across the New South Wales coast. When the inland portion of the cold front is held against the mountains, the part over the sea proceeds to move along the shore, twisting the front into an 'S' shape. This activity continues on the southern New South Wales coast, while areas leading the front are still experiencing hot northwesterly winds. Other phenomena that lead to the temperature gradient between the warm air mass and the cold density current include; hot north-westerly or warm dry foehn wind that precede the squall. Furthermore, severe thunderstorms may come from the forced elevation of warm, humid air.

Characteristics
The main distinguishing feature of a southerly buster is the sudden, squally southerly change in wind direction which replace the continental northwesterly winds. This is accompanied by a marked temperature drop and sea level pressure rise. Wind gusts in excess of 40 kn near ground level averages about three per year, which usually come about after very hot days and would tremendously ease within 30 to 60 minutes after the Buster's arrival, becoming rather light within a few hours. A regular southerly buster is between 20 and 60 nautical miles wide, with the heavier winds concentrated on the seaward strip, with its depth being around 1000m, restricted by the height of the mountains to west.

An orographic jet, the southerly buster is clearly a mesoscale phenomenon, developing on about one day. Because busters seldom keep a staunch speed while advancing along the coast, its arrival has always been difficult to foretell, though meteorologists nowadays have the gain of satellite imagery and weather radar to foresee it, with wind warning issued by the Bureau of Meteorology. Temperature changes can be dramatic, with falls of 10 to 15 C-change often occurring in a few minutes. In extreme conditions, a southerly buster may lower the temperatures from 40 C to 19 C. To note, some southerly busters can be mild and not very pronounced, where they would arrive on lukewarm days and even during sultry thunderstorm events, bringing in light, though still noticeably cooler winds in the evening, with its affects still remaining in the following few days as well in some cases.

Regions

 * In New South Wales, southerly busters generally reach their maximum intensity between Nowra in the South Coast and Newcastle, rarely passing beyond the Mid North Coast or Port Macquarie – When they do they are usually strengthened by the presence of a tropical cyclone off the north coast of the state. Sydney receives an average of about five Southerly Busters a year, mostly in late spring and early summer, with the stronger ones generally reaching the city in the late afternoon or early evening on a hot day, though at times it would arrive after several days of hot weather. It is a crucial weather feature in the Sydney area, particularly for yachtsmen.
 * In Victoria, most notably in Melbourne, southerly busters occur during the afternoons where the domineering heat, brought on by north-westerly winds from central Australia, suddenly gives way to a rapid drop in temperature, followed by rain, thunderstorms and a relatively cool night. They would reach as far inland as Swan Hill in the north and Omeo to the east, but would be less pronounced more inland to the north. Temperature drops in these parts of Victoria are more dramatic than those in the east coast of New South Wales, where a 10 °C drop can occur within half an hour (part of the easily changeable weather). Southerly busters most emerge in spring, as the landmass northbound of Melbourne starts to warm up. Meanwhile, though, the Southern Ocean, which provides cool breezes to Victoria from the west, does not warm up as swiftly as the mainland. As such, the temperature difference between hot air from the north and cold from the ocean would be very great, thus providing good conditions for the formation of thunderstorms.
 * In South Australia, Mount Gambier would the most affected by southerly busters in the state due to its southeasterly location. The buster may also reach Adelaide and Whyalla in some occasions.
 * In Western Australia, the Buster occasionally reaches Eucla due to its location near the Southern Ocean in the warm months, where it can experience dramatic temperature drops.
 * In Wellington, New Zealand these storms are normally short and frequently have winds gusting between 120 km/h and 160 km/h though higher speeds are known.
 * In South America, these southerly fronts frequently encroach on the southern coast of Chile and Argentina and would then advance northwards on both sides of the Andes.

Records
The strongest recorded Southerly Buster fell around 4:30 pm on 12 March 2010 in Wellington, New Zealand, with a maximum gust recorded of 72 kn.

Henry Ambrose Hunt in "An Essay on Southerly Bursters" included the Dandenong Gale in his list of bursters and wrote "the wind attained, locally, to the abnormal velocity of 153 mph in a gust, the rate of one hundred and twelve miles for ten minutes and fifty seven miles per hour for nine hours." The sail-steamer Dandenong foundered off Jervis Bay during the gale with the loss of forty lives. - hence the name of the gale.

This velocity is no longer officially recognised but the 'Kurnell Tornado' in December 2015 shows gusts in excess of 200 km/h are possible in the area, and the day before the tornado the possibility of a southerly buster on the following day had been proposed.

Incidents
On 21 November 2016, at around 6pm, a powerful southerly change occurred in Melbourne, which resulted in the death of 10 people, who were asthmatic and succumbed to respiratory failure. Thousands of others across the city experienced allergic reactions and asthma-like symptoms triggered by the storm. This was due to a stark southerly wind (60 km/hour) that distributed ryegrass pollen into the moist air, rupturing them into very fine specks, small enough particles to enter people's lungs, as they were sucked up into the warm updraft of air forming the storm cells, before they returned to earth in the storm's cool down-draft, spreading across the land in the storm's efflux area. Hospitals and medical centres in the city had to arduously manage 8,500 emergency calls in the space of just five hours, and the hospitalisation of 1,400 people.

title: Southerly buster