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University of al-Qarawiyyin

The University of al-Qarawiyyin (جامعة القرويين), also written Al-Karaouine or Al Quaraouiyine, is a university located in Fez, Morocco. It was founded as a mosque by Fatima al-Fihri in 857–859 and subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and educational centers of the Islamic Golden Age. It was incorporated into Morocco's modern state university system in 1963 and officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later. The mosque building itself is also a significant complex of historical Moroccan and Islamic architecture that features elements from many different periods of Moroccan history.

Scholars consider al-Qarawiyyin to have been effectively run as a madrasa until after World War II. Many scholars distinguish this status from the status of "university", which they view as a distinctly European invention. They date al-Qarawiyyin's transformation from a madrasa into a university to its modern reorganization in 1963. Some sources, such as UNESCO and the Guinness World Records, have cited al-Qarawiyyin as the oldest university or oldest continually operating higher learning institution in the world.

Education at the University of al-Qarawiyyin concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in, Classical Arabic grammar/linguistics and Maliki Sharia, though lessons on non-Islamic subjects are also offered to students. Teaching is still delivered in the traditional methods. The university is attended by students from all over Morocco and Muslim West Africa, with some also coming from further abroad. Women were first admitted to the institution in the 1940s.

Name
The Arabic name of the university, جَامِعَةُ الْقَرَوِيِّينَ means "University of the People from Kairouan (القَيْرَوَان )". Factors such as the provenance of Fatima al-Fihriya's family in Tunisia, the presence of the letter Qāf (ق) – a voiceless uvular plosive which has no equivalent in European languages – the ويّي triphthong in the university's name, and the French colonization of Morocco have resulted in a number of different orthographies for the romanization of the university's name, including al-Qarawiyyin, a standard anglicization; Al Quaraouiyine, following French orthography; and Al-Karaouine, another rendering using French orthography.

Foundation of the mosque
In the 9th century, Fez was the capital of the Idrisid dynasty, considered to be the first Moroccan Islamic state. According to one of the major early sources on this period, the Rawd al-Qirtas by Ibn Abi Zar, al-Qarawiyyin was founded as a mosque in 857 or 859 by Fatima al-Fihri, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed al-Fihri. The al-Fihri family had migrated from Kairouan (hence the name of the mosque), Tunisia to Fez in the early 9th century, joining a community of other migrants from Kairouan who had settled in a western district of the city. Fatima and her sister Mariam, both of whom were well educated, inherited a large amount of money from their father. Fatima vowed to spend her entire inheritance to build a mosque suitable for her community. Similarly, her sister Mariam is also reputed to have founded al-Andalusiyyin Mosque the same year.

This foundation narrative has been questioned by some modern historians who see the symmetry of two sisters founding the two most famous mosques of Fez as too convenient and likely originating from a legend. Ibn Abi Zar is also judged by contemporary historians to be a relatively unreliable source. One of the biggest challenges to this story is a foundation inscription that was rediscovered during renovations to the mosque in the 20th century, previously hidden under layers of plaster for centuries. This inscription, carved onto cedar wood panels and written in a Kufic script very similar to foundation inscriptions in 9th-century Tunisia, was found on a wall above the probable site of the mosque's original mihrab (prior to the building's later expansions). The inscription, recorded and deciphered by Gaston Deverdun, proclaims the foundation of "this mosque" ("هذا المسجد") by Dawud ibn Idris (a son of Idris II who governed this region of Morocco at the time) in Dhu al-Qadah 263 AH (July–August of 877 CE). Deverdun suggested the inscription may have come from another unidentified mosque and was moved here at a later period (probably 15th or 16th century) when the veneration of the Idrisids was resurgent in Fez, and such relics would have held enough religious significance to be reused in this way. However, Chafik Benchekroun argued more recently that a more likely explanation is that this inscription is the original foundation inscription of al-Qarawiyyin itself and that it might have been covered up in the 12th century just before the Almohads' arrival in the city. Based on this evidence and on the many doubts about Ibn Abi Zar's narrative, he argues that Fatima al-Fihri is quite possibly a legendary figure rather than a historical one. Péter T. Nagy has also stated that the uncovered foundation inscription is more convincing evidence of the mosque's original foundation date than the traditional historiographical narrative.

Early history
Some scholars suggest that some teaching and instruction probably took place at al-Qarawiyyin Mosque from a very early period  or from its beginning. Major mosques in the early Islamic period were typically multi-functional buildings where teaching and education took place alongside other religious and civic activities. The al-Andalusiyyin Mosque, in the district across the river, may have also served a similar role up until at least the Marinid period, though it never equaled the Qarawiyyin's later prestige. It is unclear at what time al-Qarawiyyin began to act more formally as an educational institution, partly because of the limited historical sources that pertain to its early period. The most relevant major historical texts like the Rawd al-Qirtas by Ibn Abi Zar and the Zahrat al-As by Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Jazna'i do not provide any clear details on the history of teaching at the mosque, though al-Jazna'i (who lived in the 14th century) mentions that teaching had taken place there before his time. Otherwise, the earliest mentions of halaqa (circles) for learning and teaching may not have been until the 10th or the 12th century. Historian Abdelhadi Tazi indicates the earliest clear evidence of teaching at al-Qarawiyyin in 1121. Moroccan historian Mohammed Al-Manouni believes that the mosque acquired its function as a teaching institution during the reign of the Almoravids (1040–1147). Historian Évariste Lévi-Provençal dates the beginning of teaching to the Marinid period (1244–1465).

In the 10th century, the Idrisid dynasty fell from power and Fez was contested between the Fatimid and Córdoban Umayyad caliphates and their allies. During this period, the Qarawiyyin Mosque progressively grew in prestige. At some point the khutba (Friday sermon) was transferred from the Shurafa Mosque of Idris II (today the Zawiya of Moulay Idris II) to the Qarawiyyin Mosque, granting it the status of Friday mosque (the community's main mosque). This transfer happened either in 919 or in 933, both dates that correspond to brief periods of Fatimid domination over the city, and suggests that the transfer may have occurred by Fatimid initiative. The mosque and its learning institution continued to enjoy the respect of political elites, with the mosque itself being significantly expanded by the Almoravids and repeatedly embellished under subsequent dynasties. Tradition was established that all the other mosques in Fez based the timing of their call to prayer (adhan) according to that of al-Qarawiyyin.

Apogee during the Marinid period
Many scholars consider al-Qarawiyyin's high point as an intellectual and scholarly center to be in the 13th and 14th centuries, when the curriculum was at its broadest and its prestige had reached new heights after centuries of expansion and elite patronage. Among the subjects taught around this period or shortly after were traditional religious subjects such as the Quran and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), and other sciences like grammar, rhetoric, logic, medicine, mathematics, astronomy and geography. By contrast, some subjects like alchemy/chemistry were never officially taught as they were considered too unorthodox. Starting in the late 13th century, and especially in the 14th century, the Marinid dynasty was responsible for constructing a number of formal madrasas in the areas around al-Qarawiyyin's main building. The first of these was the Saffarin Madrasa in 1271, followed by al-Attarine in 1323, and the Mesbahiya Madrasa in 1346. A larger but much later madrasa, the Cherratine Madrasa, was also built nearby in 1670. These madrasas taught their own courses and sometimes became well-known institutions, but they usually had narrower curricula or specializations. One of their most important functions seems to have been to provide housing for students from other towns and cities – many of them poor – who needed a place to stay while studying at al-Qarawiyyin. Thus, these buildings acted as complimentary or auxiliary institutions to al-Qarawiyyin itself, which remained the center of intellectual life in the city. Al-Qarawiyyin also compiled a large selection of manuscripts that were kept at a library founded by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1349. The collection housed numerous works from the Maghreb, al-Andalus, and the Middle East. Part of the collection was gathered decades earlier by Sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub (ruled 1258–1286), who persuaded Sancho IV of Castile to hand over a number of works from the libraries of Seville, Córdoba, Almeria, Granada, and Malaga in al-Andalus/Spain. Abu Yusuf initially housed these in the nearby Saffarin Madrasa (which he had recently built), but later moved them to al-Qarawiyyin. Among the most precious manuscripts currently housed in the library are volumes from the Al-Muwatta of Malik written on gazelle parchment, a copy of the Sirat by Ibn Ishaq, a 9th-century Quran manuscript (also written on gazelle parchment), a copy of the Quran given by Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur in 1602, a copy of Ibn Rushd's Al-Bayan Wa-al-Tahsil wa-al-Tawjih (a commentary on Maliki fiqh) dating from 1320,  and the original copy of Ibn Khaldun's book Al-'Ibar (including the Muqaddimah) gifted by the author in 1396. Recently rediscovered in the library is an ijazah certificate, written on deer parchment, which some scholars claim to be the oldest surviving predecessor of a Medical Doctorate degree, issued to a man called Abdellah Ben Saleh Al Koutami in 1207 CE under the authority of three other doctors and in the presence of the chief qadi (judge) of the city and two other witnesses. The library was managed by a qayim or conservator, who oversaw the maintenance of the collection. By 1613 one conservator estimated the library's collection at 32,000 volumes. Students were male, but traditionally it has been said that "facilities were at times provided for interested women to listen to the discourse while accommodated in a special gallery (riwaq) overlooking the scholars' circle". The 12th-century cartographer Mohammed al-Idrisi, whose maps aided European exploration during the Renaissance, is said to have lived in Fez for some time, suggesting that he may have worked or studied at al-Qarawiyyin. The institution has produced numerous scholars who have strongly influenced the intellectual and academic history of the Muslim world. Among them are Ibn Rushayd al-Sabti (d. 1321), Mohammed Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi (d. 1336), Abu Imran al-Fasi (d. 1015) – a leading theorist of the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, and Leo Africanus. Pioneer scholars such as Muhammad al-Idrissi (d.1166 AD), Ibn al-Arabi (1165–1240 AD), Ibn Khaldun (1332–1395 AD), Ibn al-Khatib (d. 1374), Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) (d. 1294), and Ali ibn Hirzihim (d. 1163) were all connected with al-Qarawiyyin as either students or lecturers. Some Christian scholars visited al-Qarawiyyin, including Nicolas Cleynaerts (d. 1542) and the Jacobus Golius (d. 1667). The 19th-century orientalist Jousé Ponteleimon Krestovitich also claimed that Gerbert d'Aurillac (later Pope Sylvester II) studied at al-Qarawiyyin in the 10th century. Although this claim about Gerbert is sometimes repeated by modern authors, modern scholarship has not produced evidence to support this story.

Decline and reforms
Al-Qarawiyyin underwent a general decline in later centuries along with Fez. The strength of its teaching stagnated and its curriculum decreased in range and scope, becoming focused on traditional Islamic sciences and Arabic linguistic studies. Even some traditional Islamic specializations like tafsir (Quranic exegesis) were progressively neglected or abandoned. In 1788–89, the 'Alawi sultan Muhammad ibn Abdallah introduced reforms that regulated the institution's program, but also imposed stricter limits and excluded logic, philosophy, and the more radical Sufi texts from the curriculum. Other subjects also disappeared over time, such as astronomy and medicine. In 1845 Sultan Abd al-Rahman carried out further reforms, but it is unclear if this had any significant long-term effects. Between 1830 and 1906 the number of faculty decreased from 425 to 266 (of which, among the latter, only 101 were still teaching).

By the 19th century, the mosque's library also suffered from decline and neglect. A significant portion of its collection was lost over time, most likely due to lax supervision and to books that were not returned. By the beginning of the 20th century, the collection had been reduced to around 1,600 manuscripts and 400 printed books, though many valuable historic items were retained.

By the late 19th century, Western scholars began to recognize al-Qarawiyyin as a "university", a description which would become more established during the French protectorate period in the 20th century.

20th century and transformation into state university
At the time Morocco became a French protectorate in 1912, al-Qarawiyyin worsened as a religious center of learning from its medieval prime, though it retained some significance as an educational venue for the sultan's administration. The student body was rigidly divided along social strata: ethnicity (Arab or Berber), social status, personal wealth, and geographic background (rural or urban) determined the group membership of the students who were segregated by the teaching facility, as well as in their personal quarters.

The French administration implemented a number of structural reforms between 1914 and 1947, including the institution of calendars, appointment of teachers, salaries, schedules, general administration, and the replacement of the ijazah with the shahada alamiyha, but did not modernize the contents of teaching likewise which were still dominated by the traditional worldviews of the ulama. At the same time, the student numbers at al-Qarawiyyin decreased to 300 in 1922 as the Moroccan elite sent their children to the newly founded Western-style colleges and institutes elsewhere in the country. Moroccan and French authorities began planning further reforms for al-Qarawiyyin in 1929. In 1931 and 1933, on the orders of Muhammad V, the institution's teaching was reorganized into elementary, secondary, and higher education.

Al-Qarawiyyin also played a role in the Moroccan nationalist movement and in protests against the French colonial regime. Many Moroccan nationalists had received their education here and some of their informal political networks were established due to the shared educational background. In July 1930, al-Qarawiyyin strongly participated in the propagation of Ya Latif, a communal prayer recited in times of calamity, to raise awareness and opposition to the Berber Dahir decreed by the French authorities two months earlier. In 1937 the mosque was one of the rallying points (along with the nearby R'cif mosque) for demonstrations in response to a violent crackdown on Moroccan protesters in Meknes, which ended with French troops being deployed across Fes el-Bali and at the mosques. In 1947, al-Qarawiyyin was integrated into the state educational system, and women were first admitted to study there during the 1940s. In 1963, after Moroccan independence, al-Qarawiyyin was officially transformed by royal decree into a university under the supervision of the ministry of education. Classes at the old mosque ceased and a new campus was established at a former French Army barracks. While the dean took his seat at Fez, four faculties were founded in and outside the city: a faculty of Islamic law in Fez, a faculty of Arab studies in Marrakech, and two faculties of theology in Tétouan and near Agadir. Modern curricula and textbooks were introduced and the professional training of the teachers improved. Following the reforms, al-Qarawiyyin was officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" in 1965.

In 1975, General Studies was transferred to the newly founded Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University; al-Qarawiyyin kept the Islamic and theological courses of studies. In 1973, Abdelhadi Tazi published a three-volume history of the establishment entitled جامع القرويين (The al-Qarawiyyin Mosque).

In 1988, after a hiatus of almost three decades, the teaching of traditional Islamic education at al-Qarawiyyin was resumed by King Hassan II in what has been interpreted as a move to bolster conservative support for the monarchy.

Education and curriculum
Education at al-Qarawiyyin University concentrates on the Islamic religious and legal sciences with a heavy emphasis on, and particular strengths in, Classical Arabic grammar/linguistics and Maliki law, though some lessons on other non-Islamic subjects such as French and English are also offered to students. Teaching is delivered with students seated in a semi-circle around a sheikh, who prompts them to read sections of a particular text; asks them questions on particular points of grammar, law, or interpretation; and explains difficult points. Students from Morocco and Islamic West Africa attend al-Qarawiyyin, though some come from Muslim Central Asia. Spanish Muslim converts frequently attend the institution, largely attracted by the fact that the sheikhs of al-Qarawiyyin, and Islamic scholarship in Morocco in general, are heirs to the rich, religious, and scholarly heritage of Muslim al-Andalus.

Most students at al-Qarawiyyin range are between 13 and 30 years old, and study towards high school-level diplomas and university-level bachelor's degrees, although Muslims with a sufficiently high level of Arabic can attend lecture circles on an informal basis, given the traditional category of visitors "in search of [religious and legal] knowledge" ("zuwwaar li'l-talab fii 'ilm"). In addition to being Muslim, prospective students of al-Qarawiyyin are required to have fully memorized the Quran, as well as other shorter medieval Islamic texts on grammar and Maliki law, and to be proficient in classical Arabic.

Architecture of the mosque
Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque was founded in the 9th century, but its present form is the result of a long historical evolution over the course of more than 1,000 years. Successive dynasties expanded the mosque until it became the largest in Africa, with a capacity of 22,000 worshipers. The present-day mosque covers an extensive area of about half a hectare. Broadly speaking, it consists of a large hypostyle interior space for prayers (the prayer hall), a courtyard with fountains (the sahn), a minaret at the courtyard's western end, and a number of annexes around the mosque itself.

Early history (9th–10th centuries)
The original mosque building was built in the 9th century. A major modern study of the mosque's structure, published by French archeologist and historian Henri Terrasse in 1968, determined that traces of the original mosque could be found in the layout of the current building. This initial form of the mosque occupied a large space immediately to the south of the sahn, in what is now the prayer hall. It had a rectangular floor plan measuring 36 by 32 meters, covering an area of 1520 square meters, and was composed of a prayer hall with four transverse aisles running roughly east–west, parallel to the southern qibla wall. It probably also had a courtyard of relatively small size, and the first minaret, also of small size, reportedly stood on the location now occupied by the wooden anaza (at the central entrance to the prayer hall from the courtyard). Water for the mosque was initially provided by a well dug within the mosque's precinct.

As Fez grew and the mosque increased in prestige, the original building was insufficient for its religious and institutional needs. During the 10th century, the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba and the Fatimid Caliphate constantly fought for control over Fez and Morocco, seen as a buffer zone between the two. Despite this uncertain period, the mosque received significant patronage and had its first expansions. The Zenata Berber emir Ahmed ibn Abi Said, one of the rulers of Fez during this period who was aligned with the Umayyads, wrote to the caliph Abd al-Rahman III in Córdoba for permission and funds to expand the mosque. The caliph approved, and the work was carried out or completed in 956. It expanded the mosque on three sides, encompassing the area of the present-day courtyard to the north and up to the current eastern and western boundaries of the building. It also replaced the original minaret with a new, larger minaret still standing today. Its overall form, with a square shaft, was indicative of the subsequent development of Maghrebi and Andalusian minarets.

The mosque was embellished when the Amirid ruler al-Muzaffar (son of al-Mansur) led a military expedition to Fez in 998. The embellishments included a new minbar and a dome topped by talismans in the shape of a rat, a serpent, and a scorpion. Of these, only the dome itself, whose exterior is distinctively fluted or grooved, survives today, located above the courtyard entrance to the prayer hall. A similar dome, located across the courtyard over the northern entrance of the mosque (Bab al-Ward or "Gate of the Rose"), likely also dates from the same time.

Almoravid expansion (12th century)
One of the most significant expansions and renovations was carried out between 1134 and 1143 under the patronage of the Almoravid ruler Ali ibn Yusuf. The prayer hall was extended by dismantling the existing southern wall and adding three more transverse aisles for a total of ten, while replicating the format of the existing arches of the mosque. This expansion required the purchase and demolition of a number of neighboring houses and structures, including some that were apparently part of the nearby Jewish neighbourhood (before the Mellah of Fez).

The new expansion of the mosque involved not only a new mihrab in the middle of the new southern wall, but also the reconstruction or embellishment of the prayer hall's central nave (the arches along its central axis, in a line perpendicular to the southern wall and to the other rows of arches) leading from the courtyard to the mihrab. This involved not only embellishing some of the arches with new forms but also adding a series of highly elaborate cupola ceilings composed in muqarnas (honeycomb or stalactite-like) sculpting and further decorated with intricate reliefs of arabesques and Kufic letters. The craftsmen who worked on this expansion are mostly anonymous, except for two names that are carved on the bases of two of the cupolas: Ibrāhīm and Salāma ibn Mufarrij, who may have been of Andalusi origin. Lastly, a new minbar in similar style and of similar artistic provenance as the minbar of the Koutoubia Mosque was completed and installed in 1144. It is made of wood in an elaborate work of marquetry, and decorated with inlaid materials and intricately carved arabesque reliefs. Its style was emulated for later Moroccan minbars.

Elsewhere, many of the mosque's main entrances were given doors made of wood overlaid with ornate bronze fittings, which today count among the oldest surviving bronze artworks in Moroccan architecture. Another interesting element added to the mosque was a small secondary oratory, known as the Jama' al-Gnaiz ("Funeral Mosque" or "Mosque of the Dead"), which was separated from the main prayer hall and dedicated to providing funerary rites for the deceased before their burial. The annex is also decorated with a muqarnas cupola and ornate archways and windows.

Almohad period (12th–13th centuries)
Later dynasties continued to embellish the mosque or gift it with new furnishings, though no works as radical as the Almoravid expansion were undertaken again. The Almohads (later 12th century and 13th century) conquered Fez after a long siege in 1145–1146. Historical sources (particularly the Rawd al-Qirtas) report a story claiming that the inhabitants of Fez, fearful that the "puritan" Almohads would resent the lavish decoration placed inside the mosque, used whitewash to cover up the most ornate decorations from Ibn Yusuf's expansion near the mihrab. Terrasse suggests this operation may have actually been carried out a few years later by the Almohad authorities themselves. The Almoravid ornamentation was only fully uncovered again during renovations in the early 20th century. The plaster used to cover the Almoravid decoration seems to have been prepared too quickly and did not fully bond with the existing surface. This ended up making its removal easier during modern restorations and has helped to preserve much of the original Almoravid decoration now visible again today.

Under the reign of Muhammad al-Nasir (r. 1199–1213), the Almohads added and upgraded a number of elements in the mosque, some of which were nonetheless marked with strong decorative flourishes. The ablutions facilities in the courtyard were upgraded, a separate ablutions room was added to the north, and a new underground storage room was created. They also replaced the mosque's grand chandelier with one made of bronze, which Terrasse described as "the largest and most beautiful chandelier in the Islamic world," and which hangs in the central nave of the mosque today. It was commissioned by Abu Muhammad 'Abd Allah ibn Musa, the khatib of the mosque during the years 1202 to 1219. The chandelier has the shape of a 12-sided cupola surmounted by a large cone, around which are nine levels that hold candlesticks. It could originally hold 520 oil candles; the cost of providing the oil was so significant that it was only lit on special occasions, such as on the nights of Ramadan. The Marinid sultan Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (r. 1286–1307), upon seeing the cost, ordered that it only be lit for the last day of Ramadan. The visible surfaces of the chandelier are carved and pierced with intricate floral arabesque motifs as well as Kufic Arabic inscriptions. The chandelier is the oldest surviving chandelier in the western Islamic world, and it likely served as a model for the Marinid chandelier in the Great Mosque of Taza.

Marinid period (13th–14th centuries)
The Marinids, who were responsible for building many of the madrasas around Fez, made various contributions to the mosque. In 1286 they restored and protected the 10th-century minaret, which had been made from deteriorating poor-quality stone with whitewash. At its southern foot, they also built the Dar al-Muwaqqit, a chamber for the timekeeper (muwaqqit) of the mosque who was responsible for determining the precise times of prayer. The chamber was equipped with astrolabes and other scientific equipment of the era in order to aid in this task. Several water clocks were built for it in this period. The first two do not exist anymore, but are described by al-Jazna'i in the Zahrat al-As. The first was commissioned by Abu Yusuf Ya'qub in the 13th century and designed by Muhammad ibn al-Habbak, a faqih and muwaqqit. The second was built in 1317 or 1318 (717 AH), under the reign of Abu Sa'id, by a scholar named Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Sanhaji. Its time divisions were engraved by Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-Saddina al-Qarsatuni. The clock was neglected then restored between 1346 and 1349 (747–749 AH) by a new muwaqqit, Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn al-'Arabi. A third and final water clock, built on the orders of Sultan Abu Salim Ali II (ruled 1359–1361), is still partly preserved today. It was designed by Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Laja'i and completed on November 20, 1361 (21 Muharram 763 AH), as recorded by an original inscription. It features a large astrolabe with a diameter of 71 cm, which is embedded into a wooden structure in the corner of the room, but its mechanism is no longer present. A number of ornate metal chandeliers hanging in the mosque's prayer hall date from the Marinid era. Three of them were made from church bells which Marinid craftsmen used as a base onto which they grafted ornate copper fittings. The largest of them, installed in the mosque in 1337, was a bell brought back from Gibraltar by the son of Sultan Abu al-Hasan, Abu Malik, after its reconquest from Spanish forces in 1333.

The mosque's library was officially founded by Sultan Abu Inan in 1349 (750 AH), as dated by an inscription over its doorway. This first Marinid library was located at the mosque's northeastern corner (as opposed to the library's current southern location). In 1361, Sultan Abu Salim added a room to it, which was built above and over the adjacent street, and dedicated to readings of the Quran.

Saadian and 'Alawi period (16th-century to modern era)
The Saadians embellished the mosque by adding two prominent pavilions to the western and eastern ends of the courtyard, each of which sheltered a new fountain. The Saadian sultan Ahmad al-Mansur was responsible for building the first pavilion to the east in 1587–88, while the western pavilion was added by his grandson Abdallah al-Ghalib II in 1609. The pavilions emulate the ones in the Court of Lions of the Alhambra palaces (in Granada, Spain). Al-Mansur also built a new room for the library on the south side of the mosque (around the library's current location), which was connected to the mosque via a door in the qibla wall.

The 'Alawi dynasty, which has ruled Morocco from the 17th century onward, continued to perform minor additions and regular maintenance on the mosque. A ribbed cupola in the central nave, where the 1337 Marinid chandelier hangs, has been dated by Terrasse to the 'Alawi period, although Xavier Salmon has more recently argued that at least some elements of the dome seem to date from the Marinid era. The stucco decoration of the central archway at the courtyard entrance to the prayer hall (i.e. the arch inside which the Marinid-era anaza stands) also dates from the 'Alawi period; an inscription at the top of the arch gives the year 1864–1865 (1281 AH).

The present library building dates mainly from a major expansion and modification in the 20th century, particularly in the 1940s. The new library expansion, which included a large new reading room, was inaugurated in 1949.

Exterior
Al-Qarawiyyin's exterior does not generally present a monumental appearance and is integrated with the dense urban fabric around it. By one count there are 18 separate gates and entrances distributed around its perimeter. The gates vary from small rectangular doorways to enormous horseshoe arches with huge doors preceded by wooden roofs covering the street in front of them. While the doors are generally made of wood, some of the gates have extensive ornate bronze overlays crafted during the Almoravid period. The most ornate and best-preserved examples include the doors of the principal northern gate, Bab al-Ward (which opens onto the courtyard), the western gate called Bab Sbitriyyin, and the southwestern gate Bab al-Gna'iz, which leads to the Jama' al-Gna'iz. While the doors of Bab al-Ward preserve original pieces and were restored in 2005–2007, the doors of Bab al-Gna'iz and Bab Sbitriyyin are replicas made in the 1950s that replaced the originals, whose fragments are kept by the Dar Batha Museum. The northwestern gates of the mosque, Bab al-Shama'in (or Bab Chemaine) and Bab al-Maqsura, also have heavy bronze fittings, including some ornate knockers that date from the Almoravid period.

Adjacent to Bab al-Ward, on its west side, is another doorway, Bab al-Hafa ("Gate of the Barefooted"). This gate dates to the Almohad era. It is distinguished by a small water channel that runs across the floor just inside it. The channel allowed worshipers entering the mosque to wash their feet on the way in, helping with initial ablutions.

Next to the mosque is a tower known as the Borj Neffara (برج النفارة, "Tower of the Trumpeters"), an observation tower that is sometimes confused as a minaret but was actually part of another Dar al-Muwaqqit.

Prayer hall
The interior hypostyle prayer hall takes up most of the mosque's area. Like the interior of most traditional mosques in Moroccan architecture, it is a relatively austere space with mostly plain walls, wooden roofs, and rows upon rows of arches. The main area, south of the courtyard, is a vast space divided into ten transverse aisles by rows of arches running parallel to the southern wall. The southern wall of this hall also marks the qibla. The central axis of the prayer hall, perpendicular to the qibla wall, is marked by a central nave running between two extra lines of arches along this axis, perpendicular to the other arches. This nave leads towards the mihrab: a niche in the qibla wall which symbolizes the direction of prayer, and in front of which the imam usually leads prayers and delivers sermons. This overall layout (a hypostyle hall with a central nave emphasized against the others) is a familiar layout for North African mosques generally. The mihrab, which dates from the Almoravid (12th-century) expansion, is decorated with carved and painted stucco, as well as several windows of coloured glass. The mihrab niche itself is a small alcove which is covered by a small dome of muqarnas (stalactite or honeycomb-like sculpting). On each side of the mihrab 's opening is a pair of engaged marble columns topped by deeply-carved capitals. These capitals are spolia from al-Andalus, dating from the time of the Caliphate of Córdoba, which were re-appropriated by the Almoravids for Ali Ibn Yusuf's expansion of the mosque. On the mihrab's façade, the stucco ornamentation of the lower parts, immediately around the arch itself, was most likely redone in the 18th and/or early 19th centuries. The stucco decoration of the upper wall above this still dates from the Almoravid period. The Almoravid decoration prioritizes floral motifs, which contain more diversity than the later restorations below, over which bands of Kufic inscriptions have also been carved.

The central nave that runs along the axis of the mihrab is distinguished from the rest of the mosque by a number of architectural embellishments. The arches that run along it are of varying shapes, including both horseshoe arches and multi-lobed arches. Instead of the plain timber ceilings, most sections of the nave are covered by a series of intricate muqarnas ceilings and cupolas, each slightly different from the other, as well as two "ribbed" dome cupolas (similar to the domes of the Great Mosque of Córdoba and Cristo de la Luz Mosque in Toledo) dating from the Almoravid and 'Alawi periods. The muqarnas vaults are made of plaster and are suspended from a hidden framework of wooden struts above them. Many of the muqarnas compositions are further embellished with intricate reliefs of arabesques and Arabic inscriptions in both Kufic and cursive letters, highlighted with blue and red colours. Additionally, there are several elaborately carved bronze chandeliers hanging in the nave which were gifted to the mosque during the Almohad and Marinid eras; at least three of which were made from bells (probably church bells) brought back from victories in Spain.

To the right of the mihrab is the minbar of the mosque, which could also be stored in a small room behind a door in the qibla wall. The minbar is most likely of similar origins as the Almoravid minbar of the Koutoubia Mosque, made by a workshop in Córdoba not long after the latter and installed in al-Qarawiyyin Mosque in 1144 (at the end of the Almoravid works on the mosque). It is another exceptional work of marquetry and woodcarving, decorated with geometric compositions, inlaid materials, and arabesque reliefs.

Aside from the embellishments of the central nave, the rest of the mosque is architecturally uniform, but there are some minor irregularities in the floor plan. For example, the arches in the western half of the prayer hall are shorter than those in the eastern half, and some of the transverse aisles are slightly wider than others. These anomalies have not been fully explained but they appear to have been present since the early centuries of the mosque; they may be due to early reconstructions or alterations which have gone unrecorded in historical chronicles.

Courtyard
The courtyard (sahn) is rectangular, surrounded by the prayer hall on three sides and by a gallery to the north. The floor is paved with typical Moroccan mosaic tiles (zellij) and at the center is a fountain. From outside the mosque, the courtyard is accessed by the main northern gate, called Bab al-Ward, whose vestibule is covered by a Marinid-era white dome which is fluted on the outside and covered in painted and carved stucco on the inside. Opposite this gate, situated on the mihrab axis, is the central entrance to the interior prayer hall, guarded by a carved and painted wooden screen called the anaza which also acted as a symbolic "outdoor" or "summer" mihrab for prayers taking place in the courtyard. (These features are visible to visitors standing outside the gate.) Both this entrance to the prayer hall and the outer gate across from it have facades decorated with carved and painted stucco.

At the western and eastern ends of the courtyard stand two ornate Saadian pavilions each sheltering another fountain. The pavilions have pyramidal domes and emulate the pavilions in the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra (Spain). They are decorated with carved wood and stucco, mosaic-tiled walls, and marble columns. Behind these pavilions are extensions of the main prayer hall divided into four naves by rows of arches. The gallery and arched hall on the northeastern sides of the courtyard are a prayer space reserved for women.

Minaret
The minaret was constructed in the 10th century under the sponsorship of the Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, Abd al-Rahman III. It overlooks the courtyard from the west. Along with the contemporary minaret of the Mosque of the Andalusians, it is the oldest preserved minaret in Morocco. It was constructed in local limestone of relatively poor quality and was covered in whitewash by the Marinids in the 13th century in order to protect it from deterioration. It has a square shaft and is topped by a dome, as well as a parapet from which the muezzin historically issued the call to prayer (adhan). The full structure is 26.75 meters tall. One feature of the minaret is the lower window on its southern facade, which is shaped like a "triple" horseshoe arch, elongated vertically, which is unique to this structure. On the minaret's southern side, just above the gallery of the courtyard, is the Dar al-Muwaqqit.

Funerary annex (Jama' al-Gnaiz)
A number of annexes are attached around the mosque, serving various functions. The northwestern edge of the building is occupied by latrines. Behind the southern qibla wall, to the west of the mihrab axis, is the Jama' al-Gnaiz, which served as a separate oratory reserved for funerary rites. This type of facility was not particularly common in the Islamic world but there are several examples in Fez, including at the Chrabliyine and Bab Guissa Mosques. It was kept separate from the main mosque to preserve the purity of the latter as a regular prayer space, which could be soiled by the presence of a dead body. This oratory dates back to the Almoravid period and also features embellishments such as a muqarnas cupola and a number of ornate archways in varying forms. Spoliated capitals from al-Andalus are also re-used here in the doorways leading from the prayer hall to the funerary annex and in the columns supporting the muqarnas cupola.

Library
Behind the southern wall of the mosque and east of the mihrab axis is the historic library of the mosque and university. It is sometimes cited as the world's oldest library that remains open. The first purpose-built library structure was added to the mosque by the Marinid sultan Abu Inan Faris in 1349 CE, though it was located at the mosque's northeastern corner instead of to the south. The first structure still exists embedded near the women's section of the mosque, and consists of a square chamber measuring 5.4 meters per side. Its entrance is covered by a wooden screen from the Marinid period which features an inscription carved in cursive Arabic above the doorway recording Abu Inan's foundation of the library.

The current library building dates in part from a Saadian construction by Ahmad al-Mansur (late 16th century), who built a chamber called al-Ahmadiyya behind the qibla wall. Most of the building dates from a major 20th-century expansion commissioned by King Mohammed V that started in 1940. It included the current grand reading room, which measures 23 metres long and features an ornately-painted wooden ceiling, and also added an entrance outside the mosque which made it accessible to non-Muslims. This new library expansion was inaugurated in 1949. The library complex underwent another major restoration in recent years led by Aziza Chaouni and was set to reopen in 2016 or 2017.

Status as world's oldest university
UNESCO has previously described al-Qarawiyyin to be the "oldest university in the world" in the World Heritage Sites entry for Medina of Fez. UNESCO describes the University of Bologna (founded in 1088 and usually recognized as the oldest medieval European university) as the "oldest university of the Western world". Some historians and scholars also refer to al-Qarawiyyin as the world's oldest existing university. The claim is also published by the Guinness World Records, under its entry for "[o]ldest higher-learning institution, oldest university", where it describes al-Qarawiyyin as the "oldest existing, and continually operating educational institution in the world", while the University of Bologna is described as the "oldest one in Europe". Similarly, the Encyclopædia Britannica dates al-Qarawiyyin University's foundation to the mosque's foundation in 859 and generally considers that "universities" existed outside Europe before the advent of the European university model. Other sources also refer to the historical or pre-modern al-Qarawiyyin as a "university" or an "Islamic university".

Many scholars consider the term university to be applicable only to the educational institutions that initially took form in medieval Christian Europe, and argue that the first universities were located in Western Europe, with those of Paris and Bologna often cited as the earliest examples. The modern Western university model is thus widely argued to descend from this European tradition, even if other models of higher education existed in other parts of the world. Jacques Verger says that while the term university is occasionally applied by scholars to madrasas and other pre-modern higher learning institutions out of convenience, the European university marked a major disruption between earlier institutions of higher learning and was the earliest true modern university. Many scholars consider that the university was only adopted outside the West, including into the Islamic world, in the course of modernization programs or under European colonial regimes since the beginning of the 19th century. Rüegg, Walter: "Foreword. The University as a European Institution", in Ridder-Symoens, Hilde de (ed.): A History of the University in Europe. Vol. I: Universities in the Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-36105-2, pp. XIX-XX: "The university is a European institution; indeed, it is the European institution par excellence. There are various reasons for this assertion. As a community of teachers and taught, accorded certain rights, such as administrative autonomy and the determination and realization of curricula (courses of study) and of the objectives of research as well as the award of publicly recognized degrees, it is a creation of medieval Europe, which was the Europe of papal Christianity... No other European institution has spread over the entire world in the way in which the traditional form of the European university has done. The degrees awarded by European universities – the bachelor's degree, the licentiate, the master's degree, and the doctorate – have been adopted in the most diverse societies throughout the world. The four medieval faculties of artes – variously called philosophy, letters, arts, arts and sciences, and humanities –, law, medicine, and theology have survived and have been supplemented by numerous disciplines, particularly the social sciences and technological studies, but they remain nonetheless at the heart of universities throughout the world. Even the name of the Universitas, which in the Middle Ages was applied to corporate bodies of the most diverse sorts and was accordingly applied to the corporate organization of teachers and students, has in the course of centuries been given a more particular focus: the university, as a universitas litterarum, has since the eighteenth century been the intellectual institution which cultivates and transmits the entire corpus of methodically studied intellectual disciplines."

Among opposing views, Yahya Pallavicini claims that the university model did not spread in Europe until the 12th century and that it was found throughout the Muslim world from the founding of al-Qarawiyyin in the 9th century until at least European colonialism. Some scholars, noting certain parallels between such madrasas and European medieval universities, have proposed that the latter may have been influenced by the madrasas of the Muslim world, in particular via Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily. Other scholars have questioned this, citing the lack of evidence for an actual transmission from the Islamic world to Christian Europe and highlighting the differences in the structure, methodologies, procedures, curricula and legal status of the madrasa versus the European university.

Some scholars consider that al-Qarawiyyin operated essentially as an Islamic madrasa until after World War II. These scholars date al-Qarawiyyin's transformation into a university to its modern reorganization in 1963. In the wake of these reforms, al-Qarawiyyin was officially renamed "University of Al Quaraouiyine" two years later. Organization at the pre-modern al-Qarawiyyin differed from European universities and other Muslim institutions at al-Azhar (in Cairo) and al-Zaytouna (in Tunis) in that there was no defined scholastic year, registration was not imposed, study durations were not fixed, and there was no examination to ratify studies. Students were expected to attend courses for a minimum of five years and would receive an ijazah if they were proven to have reached a high level of expertise.

The earliest date of formal teaching at al-Qarawiyyin is also uncertain. The most relevant major historical texts like the Rawd al-Qirtas and the Zahrat al-As do not provide clear details on the history of teaching at the mosque. In the Rawd al-Qirtas, Ibn Abi Zar mentions the mosque but not its educational function. Al-Jazna'i, the 14th-century author of the Zahrat al-As, mentions that teaching had taken place there well before his time, but with no other details. Otherwise, the earliest mentions of halaqa for learning and teaching may not have been until the 10th or the 12th century. Moroccan historian Mohammed Al-Manouni believes that it was during the reign of the Almoravids (1040–1147) that the mosque acquired its function as a teaching institution. French historian Évariste Lévi-Provençal dates the beginning of the madrasa and teaching to the later Marinid period (1244–1465). Another Moroccan historian, Abdelhadi Tazi, indicated the earliest evidence of teaching at al-Qarawiyyin in 1121. Upon reviewing the evidence in Abdelhadi Tazi's work, Abdul Latif Tibawi states that: "This is considerably later than the beginning of instruction at the al-Azhar under the Fatimids. So it is very difficult to sustain the claim that the University of Qarawiyyin is the 'oldest university', and not only in the Muslim world! The mosque school or college did not assume the name of university until 1960 when in a ceremony Muhammad V invested it with that dignified title."

Notable alumni
A number of well-known philosophers, scholars, and politicians in the history of Morocco and the western Mediterranean have either studied or taught at the Qarawiyyin since its founding.

 * Maimonides (1135/1138–1204), Jewish philosopher
 * Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Sufi philosopher
 * Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), historian and philosopher
 * Leo Africanus (1494–1554), author
 * Ahmed Mohammed al-Maqqari (1632-1577), historian and theologian, appointed imam and mufti by the Saadi Sultan Zaydan
 * Imam al-Bannani (1727–1780), faqīh (Muslim jurist)
 * Ahmad ibn Idris (1760–1837), Moroccan Sufi scholar
 * Muhammad al-Kattani (1873–1909), writer and political leader
 * Abd el-Krim el-Khattabi (1882–1963), Rifian-Moroccan political and military leader
 * Allal al-Fassi (1910–1974), Moroccan politician
 * Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali (1893–1987), translator
 * Abdullah al-Ghumari (1910–1993), faqīh (Muslim jurist)
 * Fatima al-Kabbaj (1932–), Member of High Council of Knowledge (Islamic council) Notably, one of the first few women to be admitted.

title: University of al-Qarawiyyin


text:
Atlantic Coast Line, Cornwall

The Atlantic Coast Line is a 20+3/4 mi Network Rail branch line which includes a community railway service in Cornwall, England. The line runs from the English Channel at Par, to the Atlantic Ocean at Newquay.

Route
The Atlantic Coast Line starts from Par station, in the village and port of Par. The station is on the Cornish Main Line, and trains to Newquay use a curve of almost 180 degrees before joining the route of the Cornwall Minerals Railway (CMR), near the former St Blazey station. Parts of the line were originally built by Treffry as a standard-gauge tramway in the later 1840s to serve Newquay Harbour, and opened from Newquay in 1849.

It was upgraded for locomotives in 1874 after it had been acquired by the CMR, which extended the railway across Goss Moor from Bugle to St Dennis to complete the route from St Blazey to Newquay.

Passenger services began between Newquay and Fowey on 20 June 1876. There was no rail connection with the present Par station until 1892 when the broad-gauge main line was 'narrowed' to standard gauge by the Great Western Railway and the connecting curve was built from St Blazey. From St Blazey, the CMR was built along the course of the even earlier Par Canal, originally built to serve the nearby Fowey Consols mine, as far as its terminus at Pontsmill, where the Luxulyan Valley is entered. The thickly wooded terrain and steep granite slopes of this valley surround the fast-flowing River Par, contain a large concentration of early 19th century industrial remains and have been designated a World Heritage Site.

Shortly before reaching Luxulyan station, the line passes under the Treffry Viaduct, an historic railway viaduct and aqueduct that was built in 1844. This both supplied water to the Fowey Consoles mine, and also carried the original line of the Treffry Tramways, a precursor to the CMR.

After Luxulyan, the line passes close to several former and current china clay works, before passing through Bugle and Roche stations.

Between Roche and St Columb Road stations, the line passes through Goss Moor nature reserve, where a low bridge carrying the railway over the A30 road had been the site of accidents when vehicles collided with it. There was a 1986 proposal to abolish the bridge by diverting the line so that trains would have started from St Austell railway station and continued via Burngullow and the old Newquay and Cornwall Junction Railway freight-only line, joining the current route between Roche and St Columb Road at St Dennis Junction. This proposal was later abandoned after a new route for the road was found that avoids the bridge.

After St Columb Road, the line passes through the last intermediate station at Quintrell Downs before reaching the terminus at Newquay.

Mid Cornwall Metro
Government funding of nearly £50,000,000 was announced in January 2023 to create the Mid Cornwall Metro, which will include the Newquay branch. A second platform at Newquay and an additional passing loop on Goss Moor will allow hourly services between Newquay, St Austell, Truro, Penryn, Falmouth Town and Falmouth Docks. The scheme is calculated to cost £56,800,000, including local contributions, and will also pay for other improvements to Newquay station, such as a larger concourse, ticket machines, platform canopies and a bus interchange. There will also be new signalling at Goonbarrow, Tregoss Moor and Newquay, along with minor changes on the Maritime Line.

Passenger volume
The busiest station on the line is Newquay, where about seven times more passengers arrive and depart than the other stations added together.

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Community rail
The Atlantic Coast Line is one of the routes covered by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is publicised in several ways, including regular timetable and scenic line guides as well as leaflets highlighting attractions on the route.

The Atlantic Coast Line rail ale trail was launched in 2005 to encourage rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. There are three in Newquay, one at St Columb Road, five in and around Par, and two at Quintrell Downs, one each at Roche, Bugle and Luxulyan. With 10 stamps, people can claim a free tour shirt.

The local passenger service on the line was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail service in September 2006. This aims to increase the number of passengers and reduce costs and includes the investigation of how to get a better spread of train times during the day, and how to increase train services in the peak summer season. The line itself is not a community railway (unlike the other Cornish branches) because it also carries intercity trains during the summer and freight trains throughout the year.

Focal, a local "friends of the line" group helped to achieve a 75% increase in Par to Newquay passenger services through negotiation and cooperation with the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and Great Western Railway.

Operation
The line is single from St Blazey to Newquay, apart from one passing loop at Goonbarrow Junction, just south of Bugle. It is used by china clay traffic and also passenger trains in the summer, when there is more than one passenger train on the branch. The loop uses semaphore signals.

Passenger services
Most passenger services are operated by Great Western Railway, including all local stopping services which are all operated by Class 150 units. In the summer on Saturdays, local services are replaced by express services to and from London Paddington with operation of Class 802 units. Until 2020, CrossCountry operated on the line on summer weekends, with trains to and from Northern England. All express services do not call at intermediate stations on the branch line, instead running non-stop between Par and Newquay.

In 2007, a daily through service between London and Newquay began running on weekdays in July and August in addition to the two services on summer Saturdays and one service on summer Sundays. This service was also named the Atlantic Coast Express, along with the existing weekend trains to London, which had gained this name in 1987 when InterCity 125 High Speed Trains started serving Newquay.

Freight services
The eastern section of the line - as far as Goonbarrow Junction - sees a large amount of china clay freight traffic operated by DB Cargo UK with a depot operated at St Blazey.

A freight spur connects the line at St Blazey with Par Harbour, passing under the main line from Par to St Austell to reach the harbour. Although originally built as part of the Cornwall Minerals Railway to convey mineral traffic to the harbour, today it is principally used to convey dried china clay from the clay dries at the harbour.

Accidents
On 25 May 1991 the first train of the day from Newquay to London Paddington derailed in the Luxulyan Valley. The train was formed of a High Speed Train. The passengers were transferred to the rear power car which was then uncoupled and run slowly back to Luxulyan railway station where the passengers were transferred to road vehicles to continue their journey.

On 9 March 2005, the 18th wagon of a Goonbarrow to Fowey Docks china clay freight train derailed at the lower end of the valley on Prideaux Viaduct, with the next 14 wagons also derailing. The driver had felt the judder and applied the brakes but the train continued on for a further 115 meters before stopping causing extensive track damage beyond the viaduct, leaving some of the wagons hanging precariously over the edge of the embankment and in danger of sliding into the river. All the wagons stayed coupled together.

On 30 December 2006 heavy rainfall caused a landslide on an embankment near St Blazey, blocking the line. A replacement bus service was run to cover for the passenger service, until the line reopened on 8 January 2007.

On 12 June 2007 a train collided with a car at Chapel level crossing, on the outskirts of Newquay. The crossing is an Automatic Open Level Crossing, where warning lights and a siren give warning of the approach of trains but no barrier is provided. The siren and lights were found to be working. The car driver was injured, but no-one on the train was hurt.

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

title: Atlantic Coast Line, Cornwall


text:
Hucclecote

Hucclecote is a suburb in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, comprising a ward (population 8,826) in the City of Gloucester. It is located on the periphery of the city, between Barnwood and Brockworth, along Ermin Way, an old Roman road connecting Gloucester with Cirencester and the Cotswolds.

History and background
Hucclecote has been settled since ancient times, and a Roman villa dating from the second or third century AD has been found at Hucclecote. By the time that the Domesday Book was written in 1086, the village comprised 16 households. Administratively, it was recorded as lying within the hundred of Dudstone, in the county of Gloucestershire.

Later, Hucclecote was a hamlet in the ancient parish of Churchdown.

Hucclecote was a small village until development began prior to the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Development was halted during the war and the area was bombed by the Luftwaffe due to the aircraft factories and other industrial facilities in the area, which were originally within the boundary of Brockworth. Due to redistricting, the airfield from which the world's first jet fighter, the Gloster Meteor, took off for test flights is now within the boundary of Hucclecote. The area bordering Brockworth is currently undergoing redevelopment, with the derelict land that formerly housed the airfield and factory having made way for Coopers Edge, a housing development of 1,900 homes, as well as shops and a school. The nearby Gloucester Business Park currently has a Tesco Supermarket, a Premier Inn, and many office buildings, with restaurants and other retail facilities currently being added.

Ermin Way through Hucclecote was a major trunk route until the construction of the Brockworth Bypass in 1995. Until the construction of the Severn Bridge in 1966, this was a strategic route from the south of England to south Wales, as the lowest bridge crossing of the River Severn was at Gloucester.

Hucclecote is split into two parts; with the dividing line being the M5 Motorway bridge. The part to the west of the bridge, and thus closest to Gloucester, is the larger part, and falls under Gloucester City Council, while to the east of the bridge, the Parish of Hucclecote is part of Tewkesbury Borough Council.

Origin of the name 'Hucclecote'
Possibly, though very doubtfully, Hucclecote derives from Welsh: 'Uchel'+'coed' = high wood (cf Wotton & Barnwood) meaning that the name 'Hucclecote' could be rendered as 'tall trees' or 'lofty woods'.

A "cote" is: A small shed or shelter for sheep or birds. [Middle English, from Old English.] cote
 * 2 (k t). tr.v. cot·ed, cot·ing, cotes Obsolete. To go around by the side of; skirt.

Eilert Ekwall gives the meaning as The COT of Hucel's people.

Floods of Summer 2007
During the floods of Summer 2007, Hucclecote escaped the damage on the scale that afflicted other parts of Gloucester. However, on Friday 20 July 2007, a few roads were submerged, which prevented access to many homes, and were blocked off by the Police. During the period, many homes were without water for two weeks, and some were also without electricity.

The Dinglewell area was badly affected, with one house receiving 18" of brook water throughout the lower floors.

Amenities
Hucclecote has many locally owned shops and two pubs; The Royal Oak and The Wagon & Horses, both operated by national chains. There's also the Community Centre Club Bar. National brands such as The Co-operative and Lloyds Pharmacy have branches in the village. There are three schools in Hucclecote: Hillview primary school and Dinglewell Infants and Juniors.

The locals like to refer themselves as villagers.

In 2018, over 10,000 visitors are expected to the Hucclecote Show, a fayre held in George V playing fields and run by the Hucclecote Community Association.

Economy
The average household income was £27,040 in 2012.

Notable residents
The antiquary Richard Furney lived in Hucclecote.

Mr Twix, the Village Cat

The noted amateur rose grower Conway Jones (1846-1929) lived at Blenheim House.

The local solicitor, amateur botanist, poet and bibliophile John Wilton Haines (1875-1960) was a friend of the Dymock poets and his archive includes correspondence with various twentieth century literary figures.

title: Hucclecote


text:
Template talk:Hiero/2cartouche

This template is designed to display the names of Egyptian pharaohs in Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is specifically used for those who are mostly known by their two names: praenomen and nomen. For other possibilities, see Template talk:Hiero.

The parameters that are used with this template are:
 * — sets the position of the template: left, center or right.
 * — sets the colours of the template by predefined era: see Template talk:Hiero.
 * — the name in English for the header.
 * — the praenomen in hieroglyphs with hiero tags - see Help:WikiHiero syntax.
 * — the nomen in hieroglyphs with hiero tags.

Gareth Hughes 00:47, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Hiero/2cartouche


text:
Lovemap

The lovemap is a concept originated by sexologist John Money in his discussions of how people develop their sexual preferences. Money defined it as "a developmental representation or template in the mind and in the brain depicting the idealized lover and the idealized program of sexual and erotic activity projected in imagery or actually engaged in with that lover."

History
John Money first wrote the word lovemap in 1980 for an article later published under the title "Pairbonding and Limerence". Prior to that, Money discussed lovemaps in a precursory form with his students in lectures, employing the term as a replacement for the expression, "an idealized and highly idiosyncratic image." In a 1997 article in the controversial and non-peer reviewed journal Medical Hypotheses, Money revisited the concept of 'love map' and expanded it to three categories, haptoerotic (cutaneous), morphoerotic (visual) and gnomoerotic (narrative).

Since its inception, the concept of "love maps", applied to interpersonal relationships, has found some acceptance and is frequently referenced in books about love and sexuality. Glenn Wilson and Chris McLaughlin discussed it in their 2001 book The Science of Love.

Development and expression
Money describes the formation of an individual's lovemap as similar to the acquisition of a native language, in that it becomes established at an early age and bears the mark of the person's unique individuality, like an accent in a spoken language. According to Money, lovemaps are not present at birth, but begin to develop shortly thereafter, and manifest in full after puberty. The individual may not discover certain aspects of their lovemap until triggered by a relevant experience (such as pornography use) later in life.

Psychologist Gregory Lehne states that lovemaps may be influenced by genetic or prenatal factors, but that their specific content must come from the senses. Lehne says that some perceptions are encoded in the person's lovemap after becoming sexualized for uncertain reasons, possibly because of their associations with provoked or random autonomic arousal, sexual arousal, or hormonal fluctuations. These associations typically form during experiences before the age of eight, Money proposes. As an example, Lehne argues that a child who accidentally becomes sexually aroused during spanking may go on to develop an interest in erotic spanking. Once formed, the lovemap is extremely difficult to alter.

A lovemap is usually quite specific as to details of the physiognomy, build, race, color, temperament, and manner of the ideal lover. Money suggests that love is like an inkblot test, where pair-bonding occurs if projections (shaped by a person's lovemap) on the other are mutual, typically in a courtship phase of mating.

Variations
Money analyzed a large range of sexual predilections and behaviors using his model of the "lovemap". In his book on the subject, some of the most notable concepts include:

 * Heterosexual lovemaps – love mappings associative to persons of the opposite gender.
 * Homosexual lovemaps – love mappings associative to persons of the same gender.
 * Bisexual lovemaps – love mappings associative to persons of both genders.
 * Vandalized lovemaps – According to Money, these occur when the love mapping process becomes traumatized, as when a young child is either exposed to, or forced to participate in such inappropriate behaviors as child sexual abuse, incest, or sadomasochism. He states that such a lovemap is typically formed between the ages of five and eight. A vandalized lovemap may be paraphilic or hyposexual.
 * Paraphilic lovemaps – when lust is attached to fantasies and practices that are socially forbidden, disapproved of, ridiculed, or penalized. According to Money, it can result from lust being displaced from a "vandalized" area of an ordinary lovemap following abuse. Alternatively, Money suggests that a paraphilic lovemap could arise from a non-sexual childhood experience that induced genital arousal in the child.

title: Lovemap


text:
AnnaLee Saxenian

AnnaLee Saxenian is a professor and the former Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Information, known widely for her work on technology clusters and social networks in Silicon Valley. She received her BA from Williams College in 1976 and her PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989.

In her book Regional Advantage: Culture and Competition in Silicon Valley and Route 128 (1994), Saxenian proposes a hypothesis to explain why California's Silicon Valley was able to keep up with the fast pace of technological progress during the 1980s, while the vertically integrated firms of the Route 128 beltway fell behind. She argues that the key was Silicon Valley's decentralized organizational form, non-proprietary standards, and tradition of cooperative exchange (sharing information and outsourcing for component parts), in opposition to hierarchical and independent industrial systems in the East Coast of the US.

Her 2006 book, The New Argonauts: Regional Advantage in a Global Economy, explores the globalization of the technology workforce that has occurred as the "brain drain" becomes a "brain circulation" with immigrant Indian, Chinese, and Israeli professionals taking the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial model to their home countries while also maintaining connections with the US.

title: AnnaLee Saxenian


text:
USS Snapper

USS Snapper has been the name of more than one United States Navy ship, and may refer to:

 * USS Snapper (Submarine No. 16), a submarine commissioned in 1910, renamed USS C-5 (SS-16) in 1911, and decommissioned in 1919
 * USS Snapper (SP-2714), a patrol boat in commission from 1918 to 1919
 * USS Snapper (SS-185), a submarine in commission from 1937 to 1945

title: USS Snapper


text:
Maritime Line

The Maritime Line is a railway line that runs in the valley of the River Fal from Truro, the county town, to Falmouth on the south coast of Cornwall, England.

History

The railway line, now known as The Maritime Line, was built by the Cornwall Railway as a broad gauge line of gauge from Plymouth to Falmouth. The purpose of the scheme was to link London with Falmouth, a port where packet ships sailed to destinations in Europe, Africa, and America. As the main line of the company, the line was intended to be constructed as double-track throughout.

Construction commenced in 1847 but the main contractor suffered financial problems which put a temporary stop to any work. Efforts restarted in 1859 on completion of the line from Plymouth to Truro which opened on 4 May that year. The inhabitants of Falmouth soon put pressure on the company to complete the line to their town as originally intended, and a further Act of Parliament was obtained in 1861. The line was costly to build with six viaducts and two tunnels and it opened on 24 August 1863, by which time the packet ships had been diverted elsewhere. The connection from Falmouth station to the docks was opened in 1864.

After the West Cornwall Railway was converted to broad gauge in 1867, the Truro to Falmouth line tended to be operated as a branch, with the trains from London Paddington operating to Penzance instead.

The original stations on the line were at Truro, Perranwell (known as Perran until 19 February 1864), Penryn and Falmouth (now Falmouth Docks). Penmere was added on 1 July 1925, and Falmouth Town (originally known as Falmouth and later as The Dell) opened on 7 December 1970. The line terminated at the Town station for five years before reopening to the original terminus at the docks in 1975 to permit through services from London.

Great Western and BR
The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. Following the amalgamation, plans were put in place for conversion to standard gauge, which took place over the weekend of 21 May 1892. The Great Western Railway was nationalised into British Railways on 1 January 1948.

Privatisation
Britain's railways were privatised in the 1990s. At privatisation, the line was operated by Wales & West train operating company for a few years until the company split. From 14 October 2001, the Maritime Line became the responsibility of Wessex Trains.

When the franchise became due for renewal, the tender was won by First Great Western (which has since rebranded as Great Western Railway) and the company took over the operation on 1 April 2006.

Community rail
The Maritime Line is one of the railway lines supported by the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership, an organisation formed in 1991 to promote railway services in the area. The line is promoted by many means such as regular timetable and scenic line guides, as well as leaflets highlighting leisure opportunities such as walking, birdwatching, and visiting country pubs.

The Maritime Line rail ale trail was launched in 2003 to encourage rail travellers to visit pubs near the line. Of the 14 participating pubs, four are in Truro, one in Perranwell, three in Penryn, and four in Falmouth. 10 stamps collected in the Rail Ale Trail leaflet entitle the participant to claim special Maritime Line Rail Trail tour shirt. The Rail Partnership promote a Foodie Guide to the line to encourage people to visit local cafes, restaurants and food events.

Wessex Trains painted a Class 150 two-car DMU (number 150265) in coloured pictures promoting the line and named it The Falmouth Flyer. The unit continued in service with First Great Western when the company won the franchise but it has now been repainted in the standard fleet colours. While in the pictorial livery the unit worked throughout the southwest, and not just on its named line.

The branch was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail line in September 2006. This aims to increase the number of passengers and reduce costs. Strategies for investigation include more effective revenue collection, a passing loop, improved bus links, and working with ferry operators and colleges in the area.

Improvements in 2009
The line was originally double track at Penryn, to provide a crossing place. Evidence of the double track can be seen at Penryn station, where two platforms are still visible. The Beeching Report in the 1960s instigated the reduction of the line there from two to one. In 2004 a proposal was put forward to reinstate a passing loop on the line, to allow for a doubling of service frequency. Funding was agreed with £4.67 million coming from European Union funds, £2.5 million from Cornwall Council, and £600,000 from Network Rail. The new 400 m loop was installed over two long weekends in October 2008 and work on the platform extension was also started. The loop was brought into use ahead of schedule and to budget, with the formal opening by Kevin Lavery, the Chief Executive of Cornwall Council, taking place at Penryn station on 18 May 2009. Works included a new car park and waiting shelter at Penryn, in addition to the new loop, signalling and platform lengthening.

Communities served
Truro – Perranarworthal – Penryn – Falmouth.

Route description
Maritime Line trains start from Truro railway station, usually originating from the bay platform, at the left side of the main platform beyond the footbridge. The trains join the main line for the first half-mile to Penwithers Junction, passing through the 70 yd-long Higher Town Tunnel on the way. At this point the line to Penzance curves away to the right; the line to Falmouth was originally the Cornwall Railway main line and so runs straight ahead while the Penzance line was built by the West Cornwall Railway Company. When originally built, tho two lines here ran as parallel single line but were completely separate; the connection at Penwithers Junction only being made in 1893 when the section was converted to double track. The Maritime Line today only has a junction with the westbound (down) line; trains running towards Truro (the up direction) come inbound on the down main line, the same line used by trains departing Truro for Penzance. The line from Penwithers Junction to Falmouth Docks has always been single track.

From the tunnel the line emerges into the countryside outside Truro. The small excavated area of land on the left is a local nature reserve which supports rare plants due to its unusual position in a triangle of rail routes - the Maritime Line, the disused continuation of the West Cornwall Railway to the riverside at Newham, and a never-built route allowing Cornwall Railway trains to reach Newham. The route to Newham is now a cycle path round the edge of the city.

One and a half miles from the junction, the line enters Sparnick Tunnel, which is a little over a quarter of a mile long. Although the line has only ever had a single track, most of the engineering, including the tunnels, was designed to carry a second one.

The line, which heads south-westwards until this point, now heads towards the south and passes high above the silted-up Restronguet Creek on Carnon viaduct. This valley was the route of the Redruth and Chasewater Railway down to quays at Devoran, about a mile beyond the viaduct. It is now part of the Mineral Tramway Trails.

A half-mile later, the line comes to Perranwell railway station, nearly four miles from Truro. A modern shelter is situated on the platform, built in a style inspired by older railway buildings. As with all stations except for Truro, the platform is on the left as the train travels towards Falmouth. In the forecourt is the old Cornwall Railway goods shed.

The line now begins to head west, passing over the short Perran Viaduct and then south again along the hillside above Perranwell village before passing through the 374 yd-long Perran Tunnel.

Turning south-eastwards, the line now passes over Ponsanooth Viaduct, the tallest on the line. Ponsanooth village is on the hillside to the right, while the River Kennal runs below to join up with Restronguet Creek.

The line passes beneath the A39 road from Truro to Falmouth at Treluswell, Four Cross, and then shortly enters Penryn which grew up at the head of a large inlet of the River Fal. Penryn railway station is at the top of the town, and there are views across the town to St Gluvias on the other side of the harbour. The station is eight and a quarter miles from Truro, and the platform shelter is identical to the one at Perranwell. Beyond the station the line passes over the Collegewood Viaduct. The last timber railway viaduct in Cornwall was here, but was replaced by this stone structure on 22 July 1934.

At Penryn there is a wide open space now occupied by student housing for the Tremough Campus of the University of Falmouth. This was the goods yard where wagons were loaded and unloaded. There is also another platform visible on the other side of the train, though it is overgrown.

The line soon enters the outskirts of Falmouth. The town was established at the entrance to the inlet that leads to Penryn; it has now nearly spread to reach that town. Trains first call at the Penmere railway station, useful for people heading for the top of The Moor in the town centre, or for the newer western suburbs.

Passengers get a quick glimpse on their right of Falmouth Bay before trains call at the concrete platform of Falmouth Town railway station, which is nearer the National Maritime Museum, the waterside, and the shops. The station itself was constructed using items that were reclaimed from Perranporth Beach Halt after that station closed.

It is now just a short distance to the terminus at Falmouth Docks railway station, 11.75 mi from Truro. Falmouth Docks are below the station on the left, Pendennis Castle overlooks both these and the Gyllyngvase Beach on the other side of the line. Sidings serve the docks but are little used.

Infrastructure
When the line opened the signals were controlled by 'policemen' who walked between them. Signals and points at Truro station were in 1874 and signal boxes built in 1876. Other signal boxes were built at
 * Penwithers Junction. Opened by 1879, rebuilt 1893, closed 7 November 1971. 36 Levers.
 * Perranwell. Opened 1894, closed 18 April 1966. Built in an elevated position next to the platform above a siding. 21 levers.
 * Penryn. Opening date unknown, rebuilt 1894 and again 14 June 1923, closed 7 November 1971 when replaced by a Ground Frame which was itself removed in 1979. 32 levers from 1923.
 * Falmouth. Opening date unknown, rebuilt 1894, closed 27 February 1966 when replaced by a Ground Frame.

The Maritime Line crosses several steep-sided valleys that carry tributaries of the River Fal and there were originally eight viaducts built to cross these:
 * Penwithers Viaduct. 90 foot high and 813 foot long. Originally ten stone piers each topped by a wooden fan but buried in an embankment as an alternative to rebuilding in 1926.
 * Ringwell Viaduct. 70 foot high and 366 foot long. Originally of stone piers topped by a series of wooden fans. Scheduled for rebuilding in 1880 but replaced by an embankment in 1933.
 * Carnon Viaduct. 96 foot high and 756 foot long. Originally eleven stone piers each topped by a wooden fan but a new viaduct of 9 stone piers built adjacent in 1933.
 * Perran Viaduct. 56 foot high and 339 foot long. Originally five stone piers each topped by a wooden fan but a new viaduct also of 5 stone piers built adjacent in 1927.
 * Ponsanooth Viaduct. 139 foot high and 645 foot long. Originally of stone piers topped by a series of wooden fans but a new viaduct built adjacent in 1930.
 * Pascoe Viaduct. 70 foot high and 390 foot long. Originally of stone piers topped by a series of wooden fans but made redundant when the track was realigned on an embankment in 1923.
 * Penryn Viaduct. 83 foot high and 342 foot long. Originally of five stone piers each topped by a wooden fan but made redundant with a major track realignment in 1923 that also involved changing the location of Penryn Station.
 * Collegewood Viaduct. 100 foot high and 954 foot long. Originally fourteen stone piers each topped by a wooden fan built on a left-handed curve (travelling in the down direction). It was replaced by a stone version built alongside in 1934 by which time it was the last surviving Brunel wooden viaduct in Cornwall.

Passenger volume
The majority of passengers on the Maritime Line travel between Truro and the three stations in Falmouth, the busiest of which is Falmouth Town although passenger numbers at Falmouth Docks increased faster. Comparing the year from April 2008 to that which started in April 2002, passenger numbers at the Docks station increased by 214% while those at the Town station increased by 38% and at Penmere increased by 42%. Since the doubling of train frequency the increases have been greater still. For example, between the years starting 2002 and 2010 Penryn's passenger count rose by 247%, Penmere by 126% and Falmouth Docks by 266%. Falmouth Town has increased further by 109%. Even Perranwell (where the extra trains do not always stop) has increased by a healthy 93%

The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Passenger services
At the opening of the Cornwall Railway there were five trains to and from Falmouth daily with two trains running on Sundays, with trains carrying first, second and third class accommodation.

After the connection between the Cornwall Railway and the West Cornwall Railway the line to Falmouth was considered a branch line and local services were run on an out-and-back basis from Truro.

Before World War I the winter timetable for the Cornish Riviera Express showed that it included at least one through carriage for Falmouth, this being detached/attached at Truro, and this facility continued until the summer of 1939 until the advent of World War 2 when that train ran through to Penzance only without any portions being attached/detached for any of the Cornish branches.

During the 1950s through trains were again a feature of traffic on the line, and other than London Paddington, Bradford was one of the less likely destinations for a though train.

Since the 1970s trains have only run between Falmouth Docks and Truro. Connections are made at Truro with services on the Cornish Main Line to Penzance, Plymouth and beyond.

Service in the 1960s was 16 or 17 trains daily, and had been reduced to 12 by 1975. In 1984 there were still 12 trains each way every day on summer Saturdays with 11 trains each way on weekdays and winter Saturdays, although the last train from Falmouth left earlier on summer Saturdays than on weekdays. In addition there were 8 trains each way on summer Sundays with the first train not leaving Truro until 10.35 but there was no Sunday service after 9 September.

By 2008 there were 13 trains each way, but with the new loop installed at Penryn the May 2009 timetable provides for 29 allowing for a service interval of 30 minutes. The enhanced timetable resulted in trains being formed with one coach instead of the former two, but the increase in demand has resulted in GWR allocating sufficient stock to enable both services to be operated by two car units from 2012. Perranwell was a request stop for many years, but trains have called without being requested since 2017.

Locomotives and stock
During the 1960s and 1970 local services between Truro and Falmouth were operated by Diesel multiple units based at Plymouth Laira including Metro-Cammell Class 101s, BRCW Class 118s, BR Swindon Class 120s and Gloucester single units.

Locomotive-hauled trains between Paddington and Falmouth were restored during the summer timetable from 1975 but ceased again at the end of the 1979 summer timetable. During this period the services consisted on BR Mk2 D/E/F coaches typically hauled by a Class 50.

In the 2000s, passenger services were operated by Class 150 "Sprinters" or Class 153 "Super Sprinters", although Class 158 units did substitute on occasion.

An unusual working in March 2000 was a visit to Falmouth Docks by preserved Warship Class locomotive number D821 which was renamed Cornwall alongside the Royal Navy ship HMS Cornwall

Mid-Cornwall Metro proposal
The proposed Mid-Cornwall Metro scheme would see hourly extensions of the service from Falmouth beyond Truro to St Austell and Newquay (with a reversal at Par), creating a coast to coast through-service with the aim of easing road congestion for people living along the route. In 2022 the scheme was chosen to reach the next stage of the government's Restoring your Railway programme.

title: Maritime Line


text: Category:Sesame Street human characters

title: Category:Sesame Street human characters


text:
Josh Howard

Joshua Jay Howard (born April 28, 1980) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is the head coach of the UNT Dallas Trailblazers men's basketball team. He played college basketball for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. He played 10 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), predominantly with the Dallas Mavericks.

Early life
Howard was born to Kevin Robinson and Nancy Henderson. His father was absent throughout his childhood and Howard was primarily raised by his maternal grandmother, Helen Howard, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howard was born with bowed legs and they had to be broken below the knee and reset twice before his second birthday.

High school career
Howard attended Glenn High School in Kernersville, North Carolina, where he was a First-Team All-State selection in his senior year and averaged six blocks per game while shooting 70%. He also averaged a double-double during his junior and senior years, during which time he also received the Frank Spencer Award (for the top player in Northwest North Carolina) twice. During his senior year Howard was handcuffed outside of a BP gas station the night before his SAT examination. Howard had been loitering on the premises with some of his friends, and undercover cops, believing the teenagers had been selling drugs, detained them.

In order to get into Wake Forest University Howard needed an SAT score of at least 950. He did not get a 950, saying his score was "somewhere in the 500s". In lieu, he spent a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, where he averaged a double-double, with 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game. Howard led Hargrave to a 27–3 record, shooting well on the floor with 56%. He also averaged 44% from behind the three-point line and 85% from the free throw line. Howard participated in the ACC–SEC game between new signings from the two conferences. Howard scored 14 points in 15 minutes to help lift the ACC team to a 145–115 win over the SEC.

College career
Howard chose to sign with Wake Forest in 1999 over many other colleges due to the proximity of the campus to his family and friends. He majored in sociology and minored in international studies. During his first year, Howard played in all thirty-six games, starting in all but two. He led the team with 44 steals and ranked fourth on the team with 9.1 points per game. His season high came in a game against Duke during an ACC tournament. Howard scored 19 points, going 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-2 from behind the three-point line.

During his sophomore season Howard was selected to second-team All-ACC. He missed a few games because of the flu, playing in 29 games and starting 28. He led the team in scoring that year with 13.6 points per game. Howard earned third-team All-ACC and second team NABC All-District while trailing Darius Songaila in team scoring with 13.9 points per game during his junior season.

Deciding to come back for his senior year at Wake Forest, Howard became the first member of his family to graduate from college. He was the unanimous selection as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) player of the year in 2003 (first since David Thompson in 1975 ) and led Wake Forest to its first outright regular season league championship in 41 years. He is the second ACC player (after Shane Battier) to amass 1000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 200 steals, 100 blocks, and 100 three-pointers. Howard was named the national player of the year by FOX, College Insider and Basketball Digest. He was also a finalist for the John R. Wooden Award and the James Naismith Award in 2003. In his senior season, Howard averaged 19.5 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.1 apg, and 1.5 bpg, and won multiple awards, including ACC Player of the Year, All ACC First Team, ACC All-Defensive Team, and AP First Team All-America. Coming into the league, Howard was projected as a mid to late 1st round pick in the 2003 NBA Draft because of his apparent lack of upside.

Dallas Mavericks (2003–2010)
Howard was selected in the 2003 NBA draft by the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (29th overall). He played in 67 games (29 starts) during his rookie year, averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game earning him NBA All-Rookie 2nd team honors.

In his second season, Howard continued coming off the bench and tasked to do "mop-up minutes" until a nagging injury to Marquis Daniels gave Howard a spot at small forward in the starting lineup. Howard averaged 12.6 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 1.53 steals in 32 minutes of play for the season.

In the 2005–06 season, Howard averaged a career-high in scoring (15.6 points) and three-point field goal percentage (.429), in addition to tallying 6.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. He was limited to 59 games due to injury. In the 2006 NBA playoffs, Howard was vital to the Mavs' run to the Finals to the point where the team was 23–0 when Howard scored more than 20 points a game. In game 5 of the 2006 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat, it was asserted by referees that Howard called for a timeout during Dwyane Wade's free throw attempts, which only allowed Dallas to inbound the ball at full court instead of setting up for a play at half court. Howard asserted that in fact no timeout was called and that even referee Joey Crawford agreed with him. After Dwyane Wade hit his second foul shot to put the Miami Heat up by one point, Dallas was unable to advance the ball to halfcourt for an attempt at a game-winning shot.

Early in 2006, Team USA director Jerry Colangelo invited Howard to serve as one of Team USA's possible defensive specialists (the other two being Shane Battier of the Memphis Grizzlies and Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs) in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Howard turned down the offer, instead going back to run his annual youth camp in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

During the 2006–07 season, Howard missed 2 games (Seattle at Dallas, and Dallas at Memphis ). His 18.9 points per game combined with 6.8 rebounds a game helped lead the Dallas Mavericks to a season-best 67–15 record; however, he was left out of All-Star weekend at first. After injuries to Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer, Howard was offered the extra spot. Hall of Famer Magic Johnson commented on Howard's omission at first, saying "I've got a problem with it, I really do". Johnson also went on to say "Josh Howard should be an All-Star. Period."

On December 8, 2007, Howard scored a career high 47 points against the Utah Jazz.

On April 25, 2008, hours before Game 3 of the Mavericks' first-round series with the New Orleans Hornets, Howard told Michael Irvin in an interview on ESPN Radio 103.3 FM that he smoked marijuana in the offseason, and that while he would not smoke during the season even if the NBA did not conduct random testing, he did not "think that's stopping me from doing my job." He called his marijuana use "my personal choice". He had previously discussed his marijuana use and its possible link to him slipping to the 29th pick in 2003 NBA draft with TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbot.

Washington Wizards (2010–2011)
On February 13, 2010, Howard was traded to the Washington Wizards along with Drew Gooden, James Singleton and Quinton Ross for Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson.

On March 16, 2010, Howard underwent surgery after tearing his ACL against the Chicago Bulls on February 22. Howard was expected to miss 6 to 8 months.

Utah Jazz (2011–2012)
On December 15, 2011, Howard agreed to a one-year contract worth around $3 million with the Utah Jazz.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2012)
On November 15, 2012, Howard signed a one-year contract for the veteran's minimum with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was waived on December 20, 2012, after suffering a torn ACL on December 14, 2012. That game where Howard suffered the ACL tear ended up being the final game of his NBA career. Howard recorded 3 points and 2 rebounds in the Timberwolves' 113 – 102 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.

Austin Toros (2013–2014)
On October 25, 2013, Howard signed with the San Antonio Spurs. However, he was waived just a day later. On October 31, Howard was acquired by the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League, the Spurs' D-League affiliate. On February 27, 2014, he was waived by the Toros due to a season-ending injury.

In July 2014, Howard joined the New Orleans Pelicans for the 2014 NBA Summer League.

Coaching career
In July 2016, Howard was hired by Piedmont International University to be their new head coach. He led the team to a 49–49 record in four seasons. In April 2020, he was hired as the head coach of the University of North Texas at Dallas, which will begin play as an NAIA member in the 2020–21 season.

Awards and achievements

 * ACC Player of the Year: 2003
 * All ACC First Team: 2003
 * ACC All-Defensive Team: 2003
 * AP First Team All-America: 2003
 * NBA All-Rookie Second Team: 2004
 * NBA All-Star: 2007

title: Josh Howard


text: User talk:66.31.54.220

title: User talk:66.31.54.220


text:
Template talk:Hiero/1cartouche

This template is designed to display the names of Egyptian pharaohs in Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is specifically used for those who are mostly known by one cartouche name. For other possibilities, see Template talk:Hiero.

The parameters that are used with this template are:
 * — sets the position of the template: left, center or right.
 * — sets the colours of the template by predefined era: see Template talk:Hiero.
 * — the name in English for the header.
 * — the nomen in hieroglyphs with hiero tags - see Help:WikiHiero syntax.

Gareth Hughes 00:51, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Hiero/1cartouche


text: User talk:216.61.163.1

title: User talk:216.61.163.1


text:
USS Tarpon

Two submarines of the United States Navy have been named USS Tarpon for the tarpon, a large, herring-like fish found abundantly in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

 * The first Tarpon (Submarine No. 14) was a C-class submarine that was renamed C-3.
 * The second USS Tarpon (SS-175) was a Porpoise-class submarine that served during World War II.

title: USS Tarpon


text:
Template talk:Hiero/serekh

This template is designed to display the names of Egyptian pharaohs in Egyptian hieroglyphs. It is specifically used for those who are mostly known by their Horus name. For other possibilities, see Template talk:Hiero.

The parameters that are used with this template are:
 * — sets the position of the template: left, center or right.
 * — sets the colours of the template by predefined era: see Template talk:Hiero.
 * — the name in English for the header.
 * — the Horus name in hieroglyphs with hiero tags - see Help:WikiHiero syntax.

Gareth Hughes 00:54, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

No Horizontal Serekh
As far as I know, out in the wild there is not a single horizontal serekh. With de:Modul:Hiero/Cartouche there is a possibility to write any cartouche or serekh even vertically. And there's a template which along with the module documentation I'm willing to port into English. But please answer my question: Which form should be default when calling this template to draw a Horus name without border information? A vertical one with serekh or a horizontal one without. --Vollbracht (talk) 17:00, 1 January 2022 (UTC)

title: Template talk:Hiero/serekh