Cinefantastique Mag. Vol.6 # 2

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973

CAST:

John Philip Law (Sinbad), Tom Baker (Koura), Douglas Wilmer (The Grand Vizier), Caroline Munro (Marigiana), Martin Shaw (Rachid), Kurt Christian (Haroun), Takis Emmanuel (Achmed)

PRODUCTION:

Director – Gordon Hessler, Screenplay – Brian Clemens, Story – Brian Clemens & Ray Harryhausen, Producers – Ray Harryhausen & Charles H. Schneer, Photography – Ted Moore, Music – Miklos Rosza, Visual Effects – Ray Harryhausen, Production Design – John Stoll. Production Company – Morningside. USA 1973

SYNOPSIS:

Sinbad fires an arrow at a strange creature that flies over his ship, causing it to drop the amulet it is carrying. Ashore, the sorcerer Koura attempts to forcibly take the amulet from Sinbad. Sinbad is granted refuge by the benevolent ruler of the city, the Grand Vizier, who has been forced to hide his face behind a beaten gold mask after Koura burnt it with a fireball. The Vizier shows Sinbad a companion amulet and the drawing of a third one. All three form a map that leads to a fountain of youth on the island of Lemuria. With the complete amulet, The Grand Vizier will be able to stop Koura’s ravages on the kingdom. And so Sinbad and the Vizier set sail on an expedition to Lemuria. However, Koura desires the amulet too, wanting to regain the youth that each spell he casts steals from him, and sets sail determined to stop them.

COMMENTARY:

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) was a landmark in fantasy cinema. It was often imitated over the next decade. Most importantly, it brought to prominence the name of special effects man Ray Harryhausen and his fantastical creatures. Ray Harryhausen was a specialist in the process of stop-motion animation where models are meticulously moved and photographed one frame at a time. Harryhausen went onto a substantial career over the next two decades, creating similar flights of fantasy. (See below for Ray Harryhausen’s other films). He would revisit the Sinbad mythos twice, here and later with the disappointing Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is one of Ray Harryhausen’s most acclaimed works and one that shows him at the height of his art.

With The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Ray Harryhausen employed director Gordon Hessler, who emerged out of the English horror cycle in the late 1960s (see below for Gordon Hessler’s other titles) and Brian Clemens on script. Brian Clemens had worked as script editor on tv’s The Avengers (1962-9), wrote a number of films during the English horror cycle and went on to create series such as The New Avengers (1976-8), The Professionals (1977-83) and Bugs (1995-8). (See below also for Brian Clemens’s other titles). Most Ray Harryhausen films tend to be set around Harryhausen’s provision of creature effects, with the intervening action being stolid and his leading men tending to a uniform woodenness. Although the dialogue here has a tendency to fall in clunky pseudo-profound aphorisms at times, Brian Clemens creates probably one of the more nuanced scripts for any Ray Harryhausen film. Particularly original is the character of the sorcerer Koura who ages every time he casts a spell.

Brian Clemens and Ray Harryhausen also plunder world mythology somewhat indiscriminately, ending up with what often seems a peculiar multi-cultural polyglot – there is Kali from Hindu religion, a griffin and combination centaur/cyclops from the Greek myths, the homunculus from mediaeval alchemy, Lemuria (an idea that was posited by biologist Ernst Haeckel in the 1870s, preceding the notion of continental drift, of a sunken land in order to explain how lemurs managed to get between Africa and India and one that was quickly appropriated by the 19th Century Theosophist movement), and of course the backdrop from the Arabian Nights cycle. This is the less important than the spectacular beauty of Ray Harryhausen’s various set-pieces which, by this time, were at the absolute peak of their form. Harryhausen offers us a six-armed statue of Kali brought to life in a sword-duel; a to-the-death battle between a griffin and a cyclopean centaur; a magically animated ship’s figurehead; and, best of all, the homunculus that Tom Baker brings to life, teasing and prodding it, as it lies pinned to a table.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is also notable for many of the up-and-coming stars. There is Tom Baker who, the following year, would become the fourth incarnation of tv’s Doctor Who (1963-89); cult queen Caroline Munro; and Martin Shaw, later hunk hero of Clemens’ superior action man tv show The Professionals.

Ray Harryhausen’s other films are:– The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), the granddaddy of all atomic monster films; the giant atomic octopus film It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955); the alien invader film Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956); the alien monster film 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957); The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958); The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960); the Jules Verne adaptation Mysterious Island (1961); the Greek myth adventure Jason and the Argonauts (1963); the H.G. Wells adaptation The First Men in the Moon (1964); the caveman vs dinosaurs epic One Million Years B.C. (1966); the dinosaur film The Valley of Gwangi (1969); Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977); and the Greek myth adventure Clash of the Titans (1981).

Brian Clemens’s other scripts are:– The Tell-Tale Heart (1960), Curse of the Voodoo/Curse of Simba (1965), And Soon the Darkness (1970), See No Evil/Blind Terror (1971), Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), the Disney ghost story The Watcher in the Woods (1980) and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991). Clemens also wrote and directed Hammer’s Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1972). He has acted as script editor and producer on the tv series’ The Avengers, The New Avengers, The Professionals and Bugs.

Gordon Hessler’s other films are:– Scream and Scream Again (1969), The Oblong Box (1969), Cry of the Banshee (1970), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), Kiss Meets the Phantom/Kiss in the Attack of the Phantom (1978) and The Girl in a Swing (1988)

REVIEW: Richard Scheib

Sir Henry George (Harry) Chauvel (1865-1945), soldier, was born on 16 April 1865 at Tabulam, New South Wales, second son of Charles Henry Edward Chauvel, grazier and cattle-breeder, and his wife Fanny Ada Mary, née James. Chauvel was educated at Sydney Grammar School but had a final year at Toowoomba Grammar before taking his place on his father's cattle-station on the Clarence River. He learned to manage a property, and became a most accomplished horseman.

His ambition was to follow family tradition and join the British Army, there being little scope in the diminutive colonial forces, but his father's losses from drought made Sandhurst and the cavalry impossible. In 1885, when the volunteer movement was reviving, C. H. E. Chauvel raised the Upper Clarence Light Horse in which his son was commissioned next year. In 1888 the family moved to the Darling Downs in Queensland. Harry Chauvel was compelled to resign from the New South Wales forces, but he was commissioned in the Queensland Mounted Infantry in 1890. He had been managing Canning Downs South for three years when in 1896 he obtained an appointment in the Queensland Permanent Military Forces as a captain and adjutant of the Moreton Regiment. He went to England with the Queensland Jubilee Contingent in 1897, staying on for a year for courses and attachments to regular infantry.

Chauvel served with distinction in the South African War as a major in the 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, taking part in the relief of Kimberley, the advance to Pretoria and the battle of Diamond Hill. At the crossing of the Vet River he personally captured a troublesome machine-gun. For a time he led a mixed force, known as Chauvel's Mounted Infantry, in operations in eastern Transvaal. Returning to Australia in 1901 he took command of the 7th Australian Commonwealth Horse as lieutenant-colonel, but the war ended before he reached Durban. For his services in South Africa, Chauvel was appointed C.M.G. and mentioned in dispatches; he was also given the brevet of lieutenant-colonel.

In the next decade Chauvel established a reputation as a trainer, especially of officers; many who attended his staff rides were to distinguish themselves in World War I. Apart from a short period in South Australia reorganizing the mounted troops, he remained in Queensland in staff appointments until 1911. He was one of the group, including (Sir) William Bridges and (Sir) Brudenell White, which was close to Major General Sir Edward Hutton, commander and organizer of the Australian Army in 1901-04. Chauvel was a strong supporter of the existing militia, and the organization from 1910 of the compulsory system around its officers and non-commissioned officers owed much to his advocacy. On 16 June 1906, at All Saints Anglican Church, Brisbane, he had married Sibyl Campbell Keith Jopp; they had two sons and two daughters.

In 1911 Chauvel became adjutant general and second member of the Military Board. He was at the centre of affairs during the critical period when the compulsory system was being set up and the Royal Military College was being developed at Duntroon. This work was only partly completed when, in 1914, he was sent to London to be Australian representative on the Imperial General Staff. By the time he and his family reached England, Europe was at war and Australia was preparing an expeditionary force. Bridges chose Chauvel to command the 1st Light Horse Brigade; he was the only Australian regular, other than Bridges himself, to obtain a senior command in the original Australian Imperial Force. He served usefully at the War Office until he went to Egypt in December. His visits to Salisbury Plain had convinced him that the camps would not be ready for the A.I.F.; his urgent representations to Sir George Reid, high commissioner in London, influenced the historic decision to disembark the force in Egypt.

When the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps assaulted the Gallipoli Peninsula north of Gaba Tepe on 25 April 1915, the three light horse brigades remained in Egypt. They were quickly called for as reinforcements for the infantry, but Chauvel and the other brigadiers stubbornly insisted that their brigades go as complete units, although dismounted. Chauvel landed on 12 May, taking command of the vital sector around Pope's, Quinn's and Courtney's posts. He held these positions against all Turkish attacks until he was sent to a quiet sector in September. During that time, he became known for his coolness and courage especially in the critical fight of 29 May. Like Lieutenant-General (Baron) Birdwood, the corps commander, he spent much of his time walking his trenches and closely observing the state of his troops and their positions.

After two short periods in command of the New Zealand and Australian Division, Chauvel took command of the 1st Division on 6 November. He led it through the evacuation in December and the subsequent expansion of the A.I.F. in Egypt. In December he was promoted major general and in January 1916 was gazetted C.B. Although Birdwood offered him command of one of the infantry divisions soon to go to France, Chauvel elected to remain with the light horse as commander of the new Australian and New Zealand Mounted Division. He also took command of all Australian forces in Egypt including the 1st Squadron, Australian Flying Corps; however, for virtually all matters other than operations, he was responsible to Birdwood in France during the rest of the war.

The new division was still settling down when on 23 April, the Turks raided the British outposts covering the northern approach to the Suez Canal. Chauvel immediately moved across the canal to restore the situation, beginning an advance which was to continue for two and a half years until the enemy was driven from Aleppo on the northern borders of Syria. His division was the only desert-worthy force in Sinai, so that when the second Turkish thrust for the canal was defeated at Romani on 4-5 August 1916, Anzac Mounted became the spearhead of Eastern Force in the advance across the desert into Palestine. At Romani, with only two of his four brigades under command, Chauvel outfought the Turks in blazing heat. He pursued them, but his division was too light a force to complete their destruction. Under Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode, commanding the newly created Desert Column, he destroyed Turkish garrisons at Rafa (December 1916) and Magdhaba (January 1917), thus clearing the way for an assault on the main Turkish positions around Gaza and Beersheba. After Magdhaba he was appointed K.C.M.G.

In the first battle of Gaza on 26-27 March 1917, Sir Harry Chauvel took advantage of the fog to place his division across the Turkish communications. He had forced his way into Gaza when he and the victorious British infantry were ordered to withdraw owing to the approach of fresh Turkish forces. In these operations, the newly formed Imperial Mounted Division was placed under his command. Immediately after the unsuccessful second battle of Gaza, 17-19 April 1917, Chetwode was given command of Eastern Force and Chauvel succeeded to the command of the Desert Column, thus becoming the first Australian to lead a corps. When General Sir Edmund Allenby became commander-in-chief in June 1917, he reorganized the army into three corps, giving Chauvel the Desert Mounted Corps of three divisions. In August he became the first Australian to attain the rank of lieutenant-general.

In Allenby's offensive from 31 October, Chauvel attacked Beersheba from the east, seizing the wells intact by a surprise charge at sunset. The myth that he launched the 4th Light Horse Brigade as a last desperate throw after a brusque order from Allenby does not sustain examination; Allenby's signal, which arose from misunderstanding an earlier message from Chauvel, was sent after the light horse had entered the town. However, when Gaza was taken and the Turkish centre rolled up, Chauvel was in no position to administer the coup de grâce as four of his nine brigades had been detached and the remainder were almost exhausted. Nevertheless the Desert Mounted Corps, supported by the 60th Division, drove the Turks up the Plain of Philistia beyond Jaffa and the Nahr el Auja, and Jerusalem was entered by the infantry early in December. For his part in these successes, Chauvel was appointed K.C.B.

In the reorganization in the spring of 1918, a fourth division was added to Chauvel's corps, which now consisted of the Anzac and Australian Mounted Divisions and the 4th and 5th Cavalry Divisions. Allenby attacked twice across the Jordan during this period; the first operation was a powerful raid but the second, under Chauvel, was designed to seize ground with a view to advancing on the vital Turkish rail junction of Deraa. Doubting the feasibility of this plan with the limited forces and logistic support available, he made objections and obtained most of the 60th Division for the assault. Despite the rapid capture of Es Salt on 30 April, the battle swung against him. The Turks repeatedly repulsed the attacks of the 60th Division and drove in his left flank, threatening to cut off his brigades around Es Salt. Moreover, the promised aid from the Arabs did not materialize. As the Turks were being strongly reinforced, on 3 May he decided to withdraw, with Allenby's gruff approval.

This operation was in no sense a raid and deserves the title of second battle of the Jordan given it by the enemy commander-in-chief, General Liman von Sanders. If Chauvel failed to seize and hold all his objectives, the blow had important psychological results in that it convinced the enemy that the next British offensive would be launched in the same area and by the same troops. When it came on 19 September, the offensive began on the Mediterranean flank, with his corps poised to dash forward as soon as the infantry had cut a path through the Turkish defences. The secret movement of three cavalry divisions and their impedimenta from the Jordan Valley to the orchards near modern Tel Aviv was a triumph for Chauvel and his staff. Within twenty-four hours, by hard riding, his corps was positioned thirty to forty miles behind the disorganized Turkish armies, astride their communications and moving to seize the few crossings of the Jordan. The battle of Megiddo was one of the most completely successful operations of the war; only the Turkish army beyond the Jordan escaped the catastrophe and it was harried across the desert by the Anzac Mounted Division and the Arabs. Giving the Turks no time to recover, Chauvel destroyed their forces around Haifa and Lake Tiberias and made plans for the pursuit to Damascus; then having forced the passage of the Jordan north of Lake Tiberias on 28 September, he drove the enemy across the Golan Heights and rode for Damascus with two divisions while his third entered Deraa and drove the Turks northwards with Arab help. He entered Damascus on 1 October; after a short pause he was ordered to march on Aleppo, 200 miles (322 km) to the north.

Aleppo fell to an Arab force on 25 October. There had been little fighting during the advance; this was fortunate, for Chauvel's tired divisions were melting away, ravaged by malaria and typhus. Six days later the war in the Near East came to an end. In the five weeks since the opening of the offensive, the divisions of the Desert Mounted Corps had advanced from 300 to 500 miles (483 to 804 km), taking over 78,000 prisoners and great quantities of booty. Their battle casualties were only about 650. Many reasons may be adduced for this overwhelming success but not the least was Chauvel's planning of his successive thrusts, his co-ordination of his widely spread forces, and the special care that he gave to the logistical basis of all his operations. Although the headquarters of his polyglot corps was British, he had appointed to key administrative positions Australian officers of outstanding capacity, such as Colonel R. M. Downes and Lieutenant-Colonel William Stansfield. In 1919 he was appointed G.C.M.G.; he was also awarded the French Croix de Guerre, the Order of the Nile (twice) and was mentioned in dispatches ten times.

Returning to Australia in September 1919, Chauvel was appointed inspector general and made a member of the Council of Defence. He was chairman of the senior officer's committee which, in February 1920, advised the government on the strength, organization and equipment of the post-war army. But disarmament and economy were in the air and the government, although at first willing to approve the sizeable force recommended, opted for a token force of 38,000 with six days of camp training a year. Further economies followed.

In these straitened circumstances Chauvel succeeded White as chief of the general staff in June 1923. At the government's request he continued to act as inspector general. Chauvel's reports of 1921-30 are not only a prime source of Australian military history but also his own testament. In plain, unambiguous terms he warned in report after report of the deterioration in Australia's strategic position owing to the relative decline of British sea power; he cast doubt on the efficacy of Singapore as the first line of defence and he argued that the army must be strong enough to hold out until help arrived. He also made it clear that the existing skeleton force of partly trained men was unfit to fight.

In 1924 Chauvel persuaded the government to increase the duration of annual camps from six to eight days and to extend the period of service for trainees from two to three years, but he was unable to obtain funds to rearm the coast defences or even to maintain the army's vehicles and equipment. Nevertheless, he pressed for better pay and conditions for the exiguous permanent force on which the army depended. In particular, Chauvel sought to keep a close relationship with the British Army, by sending officers to the staff colleges and to the Imperial Defence College and on exchange duty in various British headquarters. Insistence on this policy prepared the more senior officers of the Australian Staffs Corps for their outstanding part in World War II.

It was not until 1925-29 that the army's first few motor vehicles and tanks began to arrive from England. Chauvel was well aware that this was only a gesture; the army remained what it was, a force of 1918 vintage in which the officer corps struggled to keep up with British developments. Nevertheless, the foundations were laid, as in army-air force co-operation exercises beginning in 1925, Chauvel's own exercise for senior officers the same year, and the establishment in 1926 of the Defence Committee of which he was chairman until 1930.

In his role as inspector general, Chauvel frequently travelled to every State to inspect brigades in camp and watch their training.He preferred this to the paperwork and committees which beset him as chief of the general staff. Like all true commanders, he drew strength and refreshment from contact with troops, and his long term as inspector general gave him an unrivalled knowledge of the service. When James Scullin became prime minister in October 1929, one of his first acts was to suspend compulsory training. Chauvel had not been consulted but was required to provide a plan for a smaller, voluntary force. He at once put his authority and influence behind the organization of the new militia which, in spite of the economic crisis, enlisted 25,000 volunteers and 5000 senior cadets in less than six months.

In November 1929 Chauvel was promoted general, the first Australian to attain this rank. His retirement next April was almost a national occasion; large public dinners were held in his honour in Melbourne and Sydney. But the only official recognition of his service was a ministerial direction for the provision of an army horse for his daily ride in the Melbourne Domain, a privilege he valued immensely.

Retirement was for Chauvel a fruitful experience; directorships in three important companies gave him new interests and he now had time for ex-servicemen's causes. He was for many years chairman of the trustees of the Australian and Victorian war memorials, a senior patron of Melbourne Legacy, and active in the work of the Australian Red Cross and the Young Men's Christian Association. On the eve of Anzac Day 1935, one newspaper wrote that Chauvel 'has come by his quiet work in the interests of returned men to be regarded as their peace time leader'. Such work was but one manifestation of the religious faith on which his life had been built and which was recognized by his Church when he was made a lay canon of St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, in 1930.

In 1937 Chauvel led the Australian Services Contingent at the coronation of King George VI. He represented the Returned Sailors' and Soldiers' Imperial League of Australia on the committee which drew up plans for reserve and garrison forces early in 1939. When the Volunteer Defence Corps was set up in June 1940, Chauvel became its inspector-in-chief. At 75 he was in uniform again and on the move around the country. When White, who had been recalled to be chief of the general staff, was killed in 1940, it was to Chauvel that the prime minister, (Sir) Robert Menzies, turned for advice on a successor. In 1944 his health began to fail and he died in Melbourne on 4 March 1945, survived by his wife and children. He was cremated after a state funeral.

As a soldier, Chauvel's courage and calmness were matched by his humanity which was extended to the enemy as well as his own men. He was always well forward in battle; in the field he lived simply, sleeping in his greatcoat on the sand when his force was on the move. Loyalty was one of his chief characteristics: he stood by Birdwood when Allenby tried to interfere with the A.I.F. command, and by the New Zealanders when there was an attempt to make Anzac Mounted wholly Australian. He has been criticized for lack of resolution at Rafa and Magdhaba but this was probably an unwillingness to accept more casualties for a prize he did not value; there was no question of his resolution at Quinn's Post, or Romani or Beersheba. Besides, he knew that if Anzac Mounted were to suffer a disaster, the Desert Column would be crippled.

Chauvel seemed shy and reserved, in Birdwood's phrase 'very retiring', so that some found him aloof. In reality he was a warm, uncomplicated man, with a keen sense of humour. He rarely sent written orders of the day but he made a point of visiting and addressing troops who had done well or had suffered heavy casualties. Because he understood the British and knew how dependent the small Australian and New Zealand forces were, his policy was to co-operate rather than confront. Because Chauvel was relatively junior and responsible to Birdwood in France, tact and diplomacy were required. His successes in the field and his obvious integrity strengthened his position, but some senior officers seem to have resented a mere 'colonial' having the best command in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force.

His long period of office at the head of the army showed Chauvel at his best. In an adverse political and economic environment he knew that, as he could neither train nor equip the army for war, he must ensure the survival and efficiency of the officer corps. Nor could governments pretend that they had not been warned. Lieutenant-General Sir Sydney Rowell summed up: 'Chauvel was the sheet anchor of the Army in this period … It says a great deal for the esteem in which he was held and for his wisdom and integrity that he held the Army together at a time when it was always on the rundown and was, in 1929-31, approaching the critical point where it would have collapsed completely, had it not been for Chauvel's work and influence'.

Portraits are in the Australian War Memorial, the Naval and Military Club, Melbourne, and the Imperial War Museum, London. A fine portrait by George Lambert is in the possession of the family. There is a bronze tablet to Chauvel's memory in St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, his sword is in Christ Church, South Yarra, and there is a memorial window in the chapel of R.M.C., Duntroon. His two sons were graduates of R.M.C. and served with the Indian Army; his daughter Elyne Mitchell became a well-known writer.

Mumbai (/mʊmˈbaɪ/; also known as Bombay, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India and the ninth most populous agglomeration in the world, with an estimated city population of 18.4 million. Along with the neighbouring regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world and the seсond most populous metropolitan area in India, with a population of 20.7 million as of 2011. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It is also the wealthiest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West, or Central Asia. Mumbai has the highest number of billionaires and millionaires among all cities in India.The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese and subsequently to the British East India Company when in 1661 King Charles II married the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, and as part of her dowry Charles received the ports of Tangier and seven islands of Bombay. During the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of major roads and railways, the reclamation project, completed in 1845, transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Bombay in the 19th century was characterized by economic and educational development. During the early 20th century it became a strong base for the Indian independence movement. Upon India's independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital.Mumbai is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world's top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India's GDP and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (Mumbai Port Trust and JNPT), and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. The city houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, the SEBI and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy. The city also houses India's Hindi (Bollywood) and Marathi film and television industry. Mumbai's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over India, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures.

ETYMOLOGY

The name Mumbai is derived from Mumbā or Mahā-Ambā—the name of the patron goddess (Kuladevi) Mumbadevi of the native Agri, Koli and Somvanshi Kshatriya communities - and ā'ī meaning "mother" in the Marathi language, which is the mother tongue of the kolis and the official language of Maharashtra.

The oldest known names for the city are Kakamuchee and Galajunkja; these are sometimes still used. Ali Muhammad Khan, in the Mirat-i-Ahmedi (1507) referred to the city as Manbai. In 1508, Portuguese writer Gaspar Correia used the name Bombaim, in his Lendas da Índia ("Legends of India"). This name possibly originated as the Old Portuguese phrase bom baim, meaning "good little bay", and Bombaim is still commonly used in Portuguese. In 1516, Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa used the name Tana-Maiambu: Tana appears to refer to the adjoining town of Thane and Maiambu to Mumbadevi.

Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include: Mombayn (1525), Bombay (1538), Bombain (1552), Bombaym (1552), Monbaym (1554), Mombaim (1563), Mombaym (1644), Bambaye (1666), Bombaiim (1666), Bombeye (1676), Boon Bay (1690), and Bon Bahia. After the British gained possession of the city in the 17th century, the Portuguese name was officially anglicised as Bombay.

By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as Mumbai or Mambai in the Indian statewise official languages of Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as Bambai in Hindi. The English name was officially changed to Mumbai in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party that had just won the Maharashtra state elections and mirrored similar name changes across the country and particularly in Maharashtra. According to Slate, "they argued that 'Bombay' was a corrupted English version of 'Mumbai' and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule." Slate also said "The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region." While the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and Indians from other regions, mention of the city by a name other than Mumbai has been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts sometimes of a violently political nature.

A resident of Mumbai is called mumbaikar; in Marathi language the suffix kar has a meaning resident of. The term has been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai.

EARLY HISTORY

Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as Little Colaba). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited. Pleistocene sediments found along the coastal areas around Kandivali in northern Mumbai suggest that the islands were inhabited since the Stone Age. Perhaps at the beginning of the Common era (2,000 years ago), or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community.

In the third century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. The Kanheri Caves in Borivali were excavated in the mid-third century BCE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as Heptanesia (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE. The Mahakali Caves in Andheri were built between the 1st century BCE and the 6th century CE.

Between the second century BCE and ninth century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: Satavahanas, Western Kshatrapas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by the Silhara dynasty from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are, Jogeshwari Caves (between 520 and 525), Elephanta Caves (between the sixth to seventh century), Walkeshwar Temple (10th century), and Banganga Tank (12th century).

King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim). The Pathare Prabhus, among the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to Mahikawati from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev. The Delhi Sultanate annexed the islands in 1347–48 and controlled it until 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of Gujarat, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate.

The islands were later governed by the independent Gujarat Sultanate, which was established in 1407. The Sultanate's patronage led to the construction of many mosques, prominent being the Haji Ali Dargah in Worli, built in honour of the Muslim saint Haji Ali in 1431. From 1429 to 1431, the islands were a source of contention between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Bahamani Sultanate of Deccan. In 1493, Bahadur Khan Gilani of the Bahamani Sultanate attempted to conquer the islands but was defeated.

PORTUGUESE AND BRITISH RULE

The Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent during the mid-16th century. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese Empire on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the seven islands of Bombay, the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The territories were later surrendered on 25 October 1535.

The Portuguese were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their Roman Catholic religious orders in Bombay. They called the islands by various names, which finally took the written form Bombaim. The islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. The Portuguese Franciscans and Jesuits built several churches in the city, prominent being the St. Michael's Church at Mahim (1534), St. John the Baptist Church at Andheri (1579), St. Andrew's Church at Bandra (1580), and Gloria Church at Byculla (1632). The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the Bombay Castle, Castella de Aguada (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort), and Madh Fort. The English were in constant struggle with the Portuguese vying for hegemony over Bombay, as they recognized its strategic natural harbour and its natural isolation from land-attacks. By the middle of the 17th century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed the islands in possession of the English Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles. However, Salsette, Bassein, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala still remained under Portuguese possession. From 1665 to 1666, the English managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala.

In accordance with the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, England leased these islands to the English East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675. The islands were subsequently attacked by Yakut Khan, the Siddi admiral of the Mughal Empire, in October 1672, Rickloffe van Goen, the Governor-General of Dutch India on 20 February 1673, and Siddi admiral Sambal on 10 October 1673.In 1687, the English East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company's establishments in India. Towards the end of the 17th century, the islands again suffered incursions from Yakut Khan in 1689–90. The Portuguese presence ended in Bombay when the Marathas under Peshwa Baji Rao I captured Salsette in 1737, and Bassein in 1739. By the middle of the 18th century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town, and received a huge influx of migrants from across India. Later, the British occupied Salsette on 28 December 1774. With the Treaty of Surat (1775), the British formally gained control of Salsette and Bassein, resulting in the First Anglo-Maratha War. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the Treaty of Purandar (1776), and later through the Treaty of Salbai (1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War.

From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone defeated Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha Peshwa in the Battle of Khadki. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the Deccan came under British suzerainty, and was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan marked the liberation of Bombay from all attacks by native powers.

By 1845, the seven islands coalesced into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard project via large scale land reclamation. On 16 April 1853, India's first passenger railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the neighbouring town of Thana (now Thane). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton-trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy that subsequently enhanced the city's stature.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea. In September 1896, Bombay was hit by a bubonic plague epidemic where the death toll was estimated at 1,900 people per week. About 850,000 people fled Bombay and the textile industry was adversely affected. As the capital of the Bombay Presidency, the city witnessed the Indian independence movement, with the Quit India Movement in 1942 and The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny in 1946 being its most notable events.

INDEPENDENT INDIA

After India's independence in 1947, the territory of the Bombay Presidency retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that joined the Indian union were integrated into the state. Subsequently, the city became the capital of Bombay State. On April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the Bombay Suburban District and Bombay City to form the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation.

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement to create a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay was at its height in the 1950s. In the Lok Sabha discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. The States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–Gujarat with Bombay as its capital in its 1955 report. Bombay Citizens' Committee, an advocacy group of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status.

Following protests during the movement in which 105 people lost their lives in clashes with the police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat. Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them. As a memorial to the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Flora Fountain was renamed as Hutatma Chowk (Martyr's Square), and a memorial was erected.

The following decades saw massive expansion of the city and its suburbs. In the late 1960s, Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade were reclaimed and developed. The Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) was established on 26 January 1975 by the Government of Maharashtra as an apex body for planning and co-ordination of development activities in the Bombay metropolitan region. In August 1979, a sister township of New Bombay was founded by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) across the Thane and Raigad districts to help the dispersal and control of Bombay's population. The textile industry in Bombay largely disappeared after the widespread 1982 Great Bombay Textile Strike, in which nearly 250,000 workers in more than 50 textile mills went on strike. Mumbai's defunct cotton mills have since become the focus of intense redevelopment.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which currently handles 55–60% of India's containerised cargo, was commissioned on 26 May 1989 across the creek at Nhava Sheva with a view to de-congest Bombay Harbour and to serve as a hub port for the city. The geographical limits of Greater Bombay were coextensive with municipal limits of Greater Bombay. On 1 October 1990, the Greater Bombay district was bifurcated to form two revenue districts namely, Bombay City and Bombay Suburban, though they continued to be administered by same Municipal Administration.

From 1990 to 2010, there has been an increase in violence in the hitherto largely peaceful city. Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the city was rocked by the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–93 in which more than 1,000 people were killed. On 12 March 1993, a series of 13 co-ordinated bombings at several city landmarks by Islamic extremists and the Bombay underworld resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. In 2006, 209 people were killed and over 700 injured when seven bombs exploded on the city's commuter trains. In 2008, a series of ten coordinated attacks by armed terrorists for three days resulted in 173 deaths, 308 injuries, and severe damage to several heritage landmarks and prestigious hotels. The blasts that occurred at the Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar on 13 July 2011 were the latest in the series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and has evolved into a global financial hub. For several decades it has been the home of India's main financial services, and a focus for both infrastructure development and private investment. From being an ancient fishing community and a colonial centre of trade, Mumbai has become South Asia's largest city and home of the world's most prolific film industry.

GEOGRAPHY

Mumbai consists of two distinct regions: Mumbai City district and Mumbai Suburban district, which form two separate revenue districts of Maharashtra. The city district region is also commonly referred to as the Island City or South Mumbai. The total area of Mumbai is 603.4 km2. Of this, the island city spans 67.79 km2, while the suburban district spans 370 km2, together accounting for 437.71 km2 under the administration of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The remaining areas belong to various Defence establishments, the Mumbai Port Trust, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Borivali National Park, which are out of the jurisdiction of the MCGM.

Mumbai lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River on the western coast of India, in the coastal region known as the Konkan. It sits on Salsette Island (Sashti Island), which it partially shares with the Thane district. Mumbai is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west. Many parts of the city lie just above sea level, with elevations ranging from 10 m to 15 m; the city has an average elevation of 14 m. Northern Mumbai (Salsette) is hilly, and the highest point in the city is 450 m at Salsette in the Powai–Kanheri ranges. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali National Park) is located partly in the Mumbai suburban district, and partly in the Thane district, and it extends over an area of 103.09 km2.

Apart from the Bhatsa Dam, there are six major lakes that supply water to the city: Vihar, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Tulsi, Tansa and Powai. Tulsi Lake and Vihar Lake are located in Borivili National Park, within the city's limits. The supply from Powai lake, also within the city limits, is used only for agricultural and industrial purposes. Three small rivers, the Dahisar River, Poinsar (or Poisar) and Ohiwara (or Oshiwara) originate within the park, while the polluted Mithi River originates from Tulsi Lake and gathers water overflowing from Vihar and Powai Lakes. The coastline of the city is indented with numerous creeks and bays, stretching from the Thane creek on the eastern to Madh Marve on the western front. The eastern coast of Salsette Island is covered with large mangrove swamps, rich in biodiversity, while the western coast is mostly sandy and rocky.

Soil cover in the city region is predominantly sandy due to its proximity to the sea. In the suburbs, the soil cover is largely alluvial and loamy. The underlying rock of the region is composed of black Deccan basalt flows, and their acidic and basic variants dating back to the late Cretaceous and early Eocene eras. Mumbai sits on a seismically active zone owing to the presence of 23 fault lines in the vicinity. The area is classified as a Seismic Zone III region, which means an earthquake of up to magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale may be expected.

ARCHITECTURE

The architecture of the city is a blend of Gothic Revival, Indo-Saracenic, Art Deco, and other contemporary styles. Most of the buildings during the British period, such as the Victoria Terminus and Bombay University, were built in Gothic Revival style. Their architectural features include a variety of European influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arches, Tudor casements, and traditional Indian features. There are also a few Indo-Saracenic styled buildings such as the Gateway of India. Art Deco styled landmarks can be found along the Marine Drive and west of the Oval Maidan. Mumbai has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world after Miami. In the newer suburbs, modern buildings dominate the landscape. Mumbai has by far the largest number of skyscrapers in India, with 956 existing buildings and 272 under construction as of 2009.

The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), established in 1995, formulates special regulations and by-laws to assist in the conservation of the city's heritage structures. Mumbai has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Elephanta Caves. In the south of Mumbai, there are colonial-era buildings and Soviet-style offices. In the east are factories and some slums. On the West coast are former-textile mills being demolished and skyscrapers built on top. There are 31 buildings taller than 100m, compared with 200 in Shanghai, 500 in Hong Kong and 500 in New York.

DEMOGRAPHICS

According to the 2011 census, the population of Mumbai was 12,479,608. The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square kilometre. The living space is 4.5sq metre per person. As Per 2011 census, Greater Mumbai, the area under the administration of the MCGM, has a literacy rate of 94.7%, higher than the national average of 86.7%. The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to be 9 million, up from 6 million in 2001, that is, 62% of all Mumbaikars live in informal slums.

The sex ratio was 838 (females per 1,000 males) in the island city, 857 in the suburbs, and 848 as a whole in Greater Mumbai, all numbers lower than the national average of 914 females per 1,000 males. The low sex ratio is partly because of the large number of male migrants who come to the city to work.

Residents of Mumbai call themselves Mumbaikar, Mumbaiite, Bombayite or Bombaiite. Mumbai has a large polyglot population like any other metropolitan city of India. Sixteen major languages of India are also spoken in Mumbai, most common being Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English. English is extensively spoken and is the principal language of the city's white collar workforce. A colloquial form of Hindi, known as Bambaiya – a blend of Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English and some invented words – is spoken on the streets.

Mumbai suffers from the same major urbanisation problems seen in many fast growing cities in developing countries: widespread poverty and unemployment, poor public health and poor civic and educational standards for a large section of the population. With available land at a premium, Mumbai residents often reside in cramped, relatively expensive housing, usually far from workplaces, and therefore requiring long commutes on crowded mass transit, or clogged roadways. Many of them live in close proximity to bus or train stations although suburban residents spend significant time travelling southward to the main commercial district. Dharavi, Asia's second largest slum (if Karachi's Orangi Town is counted as a single slum) is located in central Mumbai and houses between 800,000 and one million people in 2.39 square kilometres, making it one of the most densely populated areas on Earth with a population density of at least 334,728 persons per square kilometre. With a literacy rate of 69%, the slums in Mumbai are the most literate in India.

The number of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra during the 1991–2001 decade was 1.12 million, which amounted to 54.8% of the net addition to the population of Mumbai.

The number of households in Mumbai is forecast to rise from 4.2 million in 2008 to 6.6 million in 2020. The number of households with annual incomes of 2 million rupees will increase from 4% to 10% by 2020, amounting to 660,000 families. The number of households with incomes from 1–2 million rupees is also estimated to increase from 4% to 15% by 2020. According to Report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) 2016 Mumbai is the noisiest city in India before Lucknow , Hyderabad and Delhi.

ETHNIC GROUPS AND RELIGION

The religious groups represented in Mumbai include Hindus (67.39%), Muslims (18.56%), Buddhists (5.22%), Jains (3.99%), Christians (4.2%), Sikhs (0.58%), with Parsis and Jews making up the rest of the population. The linguistic/ethnic demographics are: Maharashtrians (42%), Gujaratis (19%), with the rest hailing from other parts of India.

Native Christians include East Indian Catholics, who were converted by the Portuguese during the 16th century, while Goan and Mangalorean Catholics also constitute a significant portion of the Christian community of the city. Jews settled in Bombay during the 18th century. The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay, who migrated from the Konkan villages, south of Bombay, are believed to be the descendants of the Jews of Israel who were shipwrecked off the Konkan coast, probably in the year 175 BCE, during the reign of the Greek ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Mumbai is also home to the largest population of Parsi Zoroastrians in the world, numbering about 80,000. Parsis migrated to India from Pars (Persia/Iran) following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The oldest Muslim communities in Mumbai include the Dawoodi Bohras, Ismaili Khojas, and Konkani Muslims.

CULTURE

Mumbai's culture is a blend of traditional festivals, food, music, and theatres. The city offers a cosmopolitan and diverse lifestyle with a variety of food, entertainment, and night life, available in a form and abundance comparable to that in other world capitals. Mumbai's history as a major trading centre has led to a diverse range of cultures, religions, and cuisines coexisting in the city. This unique blend of cultures is due to the migration of people from all over India since the British period.

Mumbai is the birthplace of Indian cinema - Dadasaheb Phalke laid the foundations with silent movies followed by Marathi talkies - and the oldest film broadcast took place in the early 20th century. Mumbai also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The Mumbai International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards, the oldest and prominent film awards given for Hindi film industry in India, are held in Mumbai. Despite most of the professional theatre groups that formed during the British Raj having disbanded by the 1950s, Mumbai has developed a thriving "theatre movement" tradition in Marathi, Hindi, English, and other regional languages.

Contemporary art is featured in both government-funded art spaces and private commercial galleries. The government-funded institutions include the Jehangir Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Built in 1833, the Asiatic Society of Bombay is one of the oldest public libraries in the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum) is a renowned museum in South Mumbai which houses rare ancient exhibits of Indian history.

Mumbai has a zoo named Jijamata Udyaan (formerly Victoria Gardens), which also harbours a garden. The rich literary traditions of the city have been highlighted internationally by Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga. Marathi literature has been modernised in the works of Mumbai-based authors such as Mohan Apte, Anant Kanekar, and Gangadhar Gadgil, and is promoted through an annual Sahitya Akademi Award, a literary honour bestowed by India's National Academy of Letters.

Mumbai residents celebrate both Western and Indian festivals. Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas, Navratri, Good Friday, Dussera, Moharram, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri are some of the popular festivals in the city. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is an exhibition of a world of arts that encapsulates works of artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and films. A week-long annual fair known as Bandra Fair, starting on the following Sunday after 8 September, is celebrated by people of all faiths, to commemorate the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus, on 8 September.

The Banganga Festival is a two-day music festival, held annually in the month of January, which is organised by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) at the historic Banganga Tank in Mumbai. The Elephanta Festival - celebrated every February on the Elephanta Islands - is dedicated to classical Indian dance and music and attracts performers from across the country. Public holidays specific to the city and the state include Maharashtra Day on 1 May, to celebrate the formation of Maharashtra state on 1 May 1960, and Gudi Padwa which is the New Year's Day for Marathi people.

Beaches are a major tourist attraction in the city. The major beaches in Mumbai are Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu Beach, Dadar Chowpatty, Gorai Beach, Marve Beach, Versova Beach, Madh Beach, Aksa Beach, and Manori Beach. Most of the beaches are unfit for swimming, except Girgaum Chowpatty and Juhu Beach. Essel World is a theme park and amusement centre situated close to Gorai Beach, and includes Asia's largest theme water park, Water Kingdom. Adlabs Imagica opened in April 2013 is located near the city of Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

WIKIPEDIA

Mumbai (/mʊmˈbaɪ/; also known as Bombay, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India and the ninth most populous agglomeration in the world, with an estimated city population of 18.4 million. Along with the neighbouring regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world and the seсond most populous metropolitan area in India, with a population of 20.7 million as of 2011. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It is also the wealthiest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West, or Central Asia. Mumbai has the highest number of billionaires and millionaires among all cities in India.The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese and subsequently to the British East India Company when in 1661 King Charles II married the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, and as part of her dowry Charles received the ports of Tangier and seven islands of Bombay. During the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of major roads and railways, the reclamation project, completed in 1845, transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Bombay in the 19th century was characterized by economic and educational development. During the early 20th century it became a strong base for the Indian independence movement. Upon India's independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital.Mumbai is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world's top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India's GDP and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (Mumbai Port Trust and JNPT), and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. The city houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, the SEBI and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy. The city also houses India's Hindi (Bollywood) and Marathi film and television industry. Mumbai's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over India, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures.

ETYMOLOGY

The name Mumbai is derived from Mumbā or Mahā-Ambā—the name of the patron goddess (Kuladevi) Mumbadevi of the native Agri, Koli and Somvanshi Kshatriya communities - and ā'ī meaning "mother" in the Marathi language, which is the mother tongue of the kolis and the official language of Maharashtra.

The oldest known names for the city are Kakamuchee and Galajunkja; these are sometimes still used. Ali Muhammad Khan, in the Mirat-i-Ahmedi (1507) referred to the city as Manbai. In 1508, Portuguese writer Gaspar Correia used the name Bombaim, in his Lendas da Índia ("Legends of India"). This name possibly originated as the Old Portuguese phrase bom baim, meaning "good little bay", and Bombaim is still commonly used in Portuguese. In 1516, Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa used the name Tana-Maiambu: Tana appears to refer to the adjoining town of Thane and Maiambu to Mumbadevi.

Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include: Mombayn (1525), Bombay (1538), Bombain (1552), Bombaym (1552), Monbaym (1554), Mombaim (1563), Mombaym (1644), Bambaye (1666), Bombaiim (1666), Bombeye (1676), Boon Bay (1690), and Bon Bahia. After the British gained possession of the city in the 17th century, the Portuguese name was officially anglicised as Bombay.

By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as Mumbai or Mambai in the Indian statewise official languages of Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as Bambai in Hindi. The English name was officially changed to Mumbai in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party that had just won the Maharashtra state elections and mirrored similar name changes across the country and particularly in Maharashtra. According to Slate, "they argued that 'Bombay' was a corrupted English version of 'Mumbai' and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule." Slate also said "The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region." While the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and Indians from other regions, mention of the city by a name other than Mumbai has been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts sometimes of a violently political nature.

A resident of Mumbai is called mumbaikar; in Marathi language the suffix kar has a meaning resident of. The term has been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai.

EARLY HISTORY

Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as Little Colaba). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited. Pleistocene sediments found along the coastal areas around Kandivali in northern Mumbai suggest that the islands were inhabited since the Stone Age. Perhaps at the beginning of the Common era (2,000 years ago), or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community.

In the third century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. The Kanheri Caves in Borivali were excavated in the mid-third century BCE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as Heptanesia (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE. The Mahakali Caves in Andheri were built between the 1st century BCE and the 6th century CE.

Between the second century BCE and ninth century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: Satavahanas, Western Kshatrapas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by the Silhara dynasty from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are, Jogeshwari Caves (between 520 and 525), Elephanta Caves (between the sixth to seventh century), Walkeshwar Temple (10th century), and Banganga Tank (12th century).

King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim). The Pathare Prabhus, among the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to Mahikawati from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev. The Delhi Sultanate annexed the islands in 1347–48 and controlled it until 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of Gujarat, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate.

The islands were later governed by the independent Gujarat Sultanate, which was established in 1407. The Sultanate's patronage led to the construction of many mosques, prominent being the Haji Ali Dargah in Worli, built in honour of the Muslim saint Haji Ali in 1431. From 1429 to 1431, the islands were a source of contention between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Bahamani Sultanate of Deccan. In 1493, Bahadur Khan Gilani of the Bahamani Sultanate attempted to conquer the islands but was defeated.

PORTUGUESE AND BRITISH RULE

The Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent during the mid-16th century. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese Empire on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the seven islands of Bombay, the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The territories were later surrendered on 25 October 1535.

The Portuguese were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their Roman Catholic religious orders in Bombay. They called the islands by various names, which finally took the written form Bombaim. The islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. The Portuguese Franciscans and Jesuits built several churches in the city, prominent being the St. Michael's Church at Mahim (1534), St. John the Baptist Church at Andheri (1579), St. Andrew's Church at Bandra (1580), and Gloria Church at Byculla (1632). The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the Bombay Castle, Castella de Aguada (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort), and Madh Fort. The English were in constant struggle with the Portuguese vying for hegemony over Bombay, as they recognized its strategic natural harbour and its natural isolation from land-attacks. By the middle of the 17th century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed the islands in possession of the English Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles. However, Salsette, Bassein, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala still remained under Portuguese possession. From 1665 to 1666, the English managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala.

In accordance with the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, England leased these islands to the English East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675. The islands were subsequently attacked by Yakut Khan, the Siddi admiral of the Mughal Empire, in October 1672, Rickloffe van Goen, the Governor-General of Dutch India on 20 February 1673, and Siddi admiral Sambal on 10 October 1673.In 1687, the English East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company's establishments in India. Towards the end of the 17th century, the islands again suffered incursions from Yakut Khan in 1689–90. The Portuguese presence ended in Bombay when the Marathas under Peshwa Baji Rao I captured Salsette in 1737, and Bassein in 1739. By the middle of the 18th century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town, and received a huge influx of migrants from across India. Later, the British occupied Salsette on 28 December 1774. With the Treaty of Surat (1775), the British formally gained control of Salsette and Bassein, resulting in the First Anglo-Maratha War. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the Treaty of Purandar (1776), and later through the Treaty of Salbai (1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War.

From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone defeated Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha Peshwa in the Battle of Khadki. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the Deccan came under British suzerainty, and was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan marked the liberation of Bombay from all attacks by native powers.

By 1845, the seven islands coalesced into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard project via large scale land reclamation. On 16 April 1853, India's first passenger railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the neighbouring town of Thana (now Thane). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton-trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy that subsequently enhanced the city's stature.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea. In September 1896, Bombay was hit by a bubonic plague epidemic where the death toll was estimated at 1,900 people per week. About 850,000 people fled Bombay and the textile industry was adversely affected. As the capital of the Bombay Presidency, the city witnessed the Indian independence movement, with the Quit India Movement in 1942 and The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny in 1946 being its most notable events.

INDEPENDENT INDIA

After India's independence in 1947, the territory of the Bombay Presidency retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that joined the Indian union were integrated into the state. Subsequently, the city became the capital of Bombay State. On April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the Bombay Suburban District and Bombay City to form the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation.

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement to create a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay was at its height in the 1950s. In the Lok Sabha discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. The States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–Gujarat with Bombay as its capital in its 1955 report. Bombay Citizens' Committee, an advocacy group of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status.

Following protests during the movement in which 105 people lost their lives in clashes with the police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat. Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them. As a memorial to the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Flora Fountain was renamed as Hutatma Chowk (Martyr's Square), and a memorial was erected.

The following decades saw massive expansion of the city and its suburbs. In the late 1960s, Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade were reclaimed and developed. The Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) was established on 26 January 1975 by the Government of Maharashtra as an apex body for planning and co-ordination of development activities in the Bombay metropolitan region. In August 1979, a sister township of New Bombay was founded by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) across the Thane and Raigad districts to help the dispersal and control of Bombay's population. The textile industry in Bombay largely disappeared after the widespread 1982 Great Bombay Textile Strike, in which nearly 250,000 workers in more than 50 textile mills went on strike. Mumbai's defunct cotton mills have since become the focus of intense redevelopment.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which currently handles 55–60% of India's containerised cargo, was commissioned on 26 May 1989 across the creek at Nhava Sheva with a view to de-congest Bombay Harbour and to serve as a hub port for the city. The geographical limits of Greater Bombay were coextensive with municipal limits of Greater Bombay. On 1 October 1990, the Greater Bombay district was bifurcated to form two revenue districts namely, Bombay City and Bombay Suburban, though they continued to be administered by same Municipal Administration.

From 1990 to 2010, there has been an increase in violence in the hitherto largely peaceful city. Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the city was rocked by the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–93 in which more than 1,000 people were killed. On 12 March 1993, a series of 13 co-ordinated bombings at several city landmarks by Islamic extremists and the Bombay underworld resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. In 2006, 209 people were killed and over 700 injured when seven bombs exploded on the city's commuter trains. In 2008, a series of ten coordinated attacks by armed terrorists for three days resulted in 173 deaths, 308 injuries, and severe damage to several heritage landmarks and prestigious hotels. The blasts that occurred at the Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar on 13 July 2011 were the latest in the series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and has evolved into a global financial hub. For several decades it has been the home of India's main financial services, and a focus for both infrastructure development and private investment. From being an ancient fishing community and a colonial centre of trade, Mumbai has become South Asia's largest city and home of the world's most prolific film industry.

GEOGRAPHY

Mumbai consists of two distinct regions: Mumbai City district and Mumbai Suburban district, which form two separate revenue districts of Maharashtra. The city district region is also commonly referred to as the Island City or South Mumbai. The total area of Mumbai is 603.4 km2. Of this, the island city spans 67.79 km2, while the suburban district spans 370 km2, together accounting for 437.71 km2 under the administration of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The remaining areas belong to various Defence establishments, the Mumbai Port Trust, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Borivali National Park, which are out of the jurisdiction of the MCGM.

Mumbai lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River on the western coast of India, in the coastal region known as the Konkan. It sits on Salsette Island (Sashti Island), which it partially shares with the Thane district. Mumbai is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west. Many parts of the city lie just above sea level, with elevations ranging from 10 m to 15 m; the city has an average elevation of 14 m. Northern Mumbai (Salsette) is hilly, and the highest point in the city is 450 m at Salsette in the Powai–Kanheri ranges. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali National Park) is located partly in the Mumbai suburban district, and partly in the Thane district, and it extends over an area of 103.09 km2.

Apart from the Bhatsa Dam, there are six major lakes that supply water to the city: Vihar, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Tulsi, Tansa and Powai. Tulsi Lake and Vihar Lake are located in Borivili National Park, within the city's limits. The supply from Powai lake, also within the city limits, is used only for agricultural and industrial purposes. Three small rivers, the Dahisar River, Poinsar (or Poisar) and Ohiwara (or Oshiwara) originate within the park, while the polluted Mithi River originates from Tulsi Lake and gathers water overflowing from Vihar and Powai Lakes. The coastline of the city is indented with numerous creeks and bays, stretching from the Thane creek on the eastern to Madh Marve on the western front. The eastern coast of Salsette Island is covered with large mangrove swamps, rich in biodiversity, while the western coast is mostly sandy and rocky.

Soil cover in the city region is predominantly sandy due to its proximity to the sea. In the suburbs, the soil cover is largely alluvial and loamy. The underlying rock of the region is composed of black Deccan basalt flows, and their acidic and basic variants dating back to the late Cretaceous and early Eocene eras. Mumbai sits on a seismically active zone owing to the presence of 23 fault lines in the vicinity. The area is classified as a Seismic Zone III region, which means an earthquake of up to magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale may be expected.

ARCHITECTURE

The architecture of the city is a blend of Gothic Revival, Indo-Saracenic, Art Deco, and other contemporary styles. Most of the buildings during the British period, such as the Victoria Terminus and Bombay University, were built in Gothic Revival style. Their architectural features include a variety of European influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arches, Tudor casements, and traditional Indian features. There are also a few Indo-Saracenic styled buildings such as the Gateway of India. Art Deco styled landmarks can be found along the Marine Drive and west of the Oval Maidan. Mumbai has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world after Miami. In the newer suburbs, modern buildings dominate the landscape. Mumbai has by far the largest number of skyscrapers in India, with 956 existing buildings and 272 under construction as of 2009.

The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), established in 1995, formulates special regulations and by-laws to assist in the conservation of the city's heritage structures. Mumbai has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Elephanta Caves. In the south of Mumbai, there are colonial-era buildings and Soviet-style offices. In the east are factories and some slums. On the West coast are former-textile mills being demolished and skyscrapers built on top. There are 31 buildings taller than 100m, compared with 200 in Shanghai, 500 in Hong Kong and 500 in New York.

DEMOGRAPHICS

According to the 2011 census, the population of Mumbai was 12,479,608. The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square kilometre. The living space is 4.5sq metre per person. As Per 2011 census, Greater Mumbai, the area under the administration of the MCGM, has a literacy rate of 94.7%, higher than the national average of 86.7%. The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to be 9 million, up from 6 million in 2001, that is, 62% of all Mumbaikars live in informal slums.

The sex ratio was 838 (females per 1,000 males) in the island city, 857 in the suburbs, and 848 as a whole in Greater Mumbai, all numbers lower than the national average of 914 females per 1,000 males. The low sex ratio is partly because of the large number of male migrants who come to the city to work.

Residents of Mumbai call themselves Mumbaikar, Mumbaiite, Bombayite or Bombaiite. Mumbai has a large polyglot population like any other metropolitan city of India. Sixteen major languages of India are also spoken in Mumbai, most common being Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English. English is extensively spoken and is the principal language of the city's white collar workforce. A colloquial form of Hindi, known as Bambaiya – a blend of Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English and some invented words – is spoken on the streets.

Mumbai suffers from the same major urbanisation problems seen in many fast growing cities in developing countries: widespread poverty and unemployment, poor public health and poor civic and educational standards for a large section of the population. With available land at a premium, Mumbai residents often reside in cramped, relatively expensive housing, usually far from workplaces, and therefore requiring long commutes on crowded mass transit, or clogged roadways. Many of them live in close proximity to bus or train stations although suburban residents spend significant time travelling southward to the main commercial district. Dharavi, Asia's second largest slum (if Karachi's Orangi Town is counted as a single slum) is located in central Mumbai and houses between 800,000 and one million people in 2.39 square kilometres, making it one of the most densely populated areas on Earth with a population density of at least 334,728 persons per square kilometre. With a literacy rate of 69%, the slums in Mumbai are the most literate in India.

The number of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra during the 1991–2001 decade was 1.12 million, which amounted to 54.8% of the net addition to the population of Mumbai.

The number of households in Mumbai is forecast to rise from 4.2 million in 2008 to 6.6 million in 2020. The number of households with annual incomes of 2 million rupees will increase from 4% to 10% by 2020, amounting to 660,000 families. The number of households with incomes from 1–2 million rupees is also estimated to increase from 4% to 15% by 2020. According to Report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) 2016 Mumbai is the noisiest city in India before Lucknow , Hyderabad and Delhi.

ETHNIC GROUPS AND RELIGION

The religious groups represented in Mumbai include Hindus (67.39%), Muslims (18.56%), Buddhists (5.22%), Jains (3.99%), Christians (4.2%), Sikhs (0.58%), with Parsis and Jews making up the rest of the population. The linguistic/ethnic demographics are: Maharashtrians (42%), Gujaratis (19%), with the rest hailing from other parts of India.

Native Christians include East Indian Catholics, who were converted by the Portuguese during the 16th century, while Goan and Mangalorean Catholics also constitute a significant portion of the Christian community of the city. Jews settled in Bombay during the 18th century. The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay, who migrated from the Konkan villages, south of Bombay, are believed to be the descendants of the Jews of Israel who were shipwrecked off the Konkan coast, probably in the year 175 BCE, during the reign of the Greek ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Mumbai is also home to the largest population of Parsi Zoroastrians in the world, numbering about 80,000. Parsis migrated to India from Pars (Persia/Iran) following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The oldest Muslim communities in Mumbai include the Dawoodi Bohras, Ismaili Khojas, and Konkani Muslims.

CULTURE

Mumbai's culture is a blend of traditional festivals, food, music, and theatres. The city offers a cosmopolitan and diverse lifestyle with a variety of food, entertainment, and night life, available in a form and abundance comparable to that in other world capitals. Mumbai's history as a major trading centre has led to a diverse range of cultures, religions, and cuisines coexisting in the city. This unique blend of cultures is due to the migration of people from all over India since the British period.

Mumbai is the birthplace of Indian cinema - Dadasaheb Phalke laid the foundations with silent movies followed by Marathi talkies - and the oldest film broadcast took place in the early 20th century. Mumbai also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The Mumbai International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards, the oldest and prominent film awards given for Hindi film industry in India, are held in Mumbai. Despite most of the professional theatre groups that formed during the British Raj having disbanded by the 1950s, Mumbai has developed a thriving "theatre movement" tradition in Marathi, Hindi, English, and other regional languages.

Contemporary art is featured in both government-funded art spaces and private commercial galleries. The government-funded institutions include the Jehangir Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Built in 1833, the Asiatic Society of Bombay is one of the oldest public libraries in the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum) is a renowned museum in South Mumbai which houses rare ancient exhibits of Indian history.

Mumbai has a zoo named Jijamata Udyaan (formerly Victoria Gardens), which also harbours a garden. The rich literary traditions of the city have been highlighted internationally by Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga. Marathi literature has been modernised in the works of Mumbai-based authors such as Mohan Apte, Anant Kanekar, and Gangadhar Gadgil, and is promoted through an annual Sahitya Akademi Award, a literary honour bestowed by India's National Academy of Letters.

Mumbai residents celebrate both Western and Indian festivals. Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas, Navratri, Good Friday, Dussera, Moharram, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri are some of the popular festivals in the city. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is an exhibition of a world of arts that encapsulates works of artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and films. A week-long annual fair known as Bandra Fair, starting on the following Sunday after 8 September, is celebrated by people of all faiths, to commemorate the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus, on 8 September.

The Banganga Festival is a two-day music festival, held annually in the month of January, which is organised by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) at the historic Banganga Tank in Mumbai. The Elephanta Festival - celebrated every February on the Elephanta Islands - is dedicated to classical Indian dance and music and attracts performers from across the country. Public holidays specific to the city and the state include Maharashtra Day on 1 May, to celebrate the formation of Maharashtra state on 1 May 1960, and Gudi Padwa which is the New Year's Day for Marathi people.

Beaches are a major tourist attraction in the city. The major beaches in Mumbai are Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu Beach, Dadar Chowpatty, Gorai Beach, Marve Beach, Versova Beach, Madh Beach, Aksa Beach, and Manori Beach. Most of the beaches are unfit for swimming, except Girgaum Chowpatty and Juhu Beach. Essel World is a theme park and amusement centre situated close to Gorai Beach, and includes Asia's largest theme water park, Water Kingdom. Adlabs Imagica opened in April 2013 is located near the city of Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

WIKIPEDIA

Nick Griffin MEP and Leader (ex-leader since Oct 2014) of the BNP have at least four things in common. We're human beings, we're men and we both went to Cambridge and both have blues - mine for fencing, his for boxing. After that our paths diverge.

Nick has cultivated quite clever ways of speaking to the mainstream. He will duck and weave, assuring his hard core that he can still be trusted to fly the BNP flag, while sounding amiably reasonable in talking to fellow Oxbridge graduates on assignment for the BBC. He cuffs the elephant with the occasional slips of an experienced performer, enticing and vexing his audience. The classic legerdemain is 'denied-refutation' - admitting some of what was said, even seconds ago, while trimming meaning to the popular conscience - an unpredictable quantity politicians with risky ideas are always testing.

In this case Griffin, having suggested he approved a European force with powers to sink ships carrying sub-Saharan Africans to Italy, emphasised he meant giving people time to abandon ship and be thrown a life raft so they can "go back to Libya" - an afterthought that avoids disappointing those who'd approved his drift.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8141069.stm

The liberals think "phew! He's not nice but he didn't mean actually drowning those people" while his followers are relieved that he's not going back on the case for 'sinking ships' and ... complete the sentence.

Refining this method Griffin teaches his party to develop a public language that evades liberal proscription while reassuring core followers and those who say "I'm-not-racist-but..." that a vote for the BNP is a sound committment to solving problems made insoluble by the feebleness of mainstream politicians. If Griffin becomes too respectable he risks losing the party workers all successful politicians need - canvassers, poster-stickers, leafletters, doorsteppers. letter-writers, phone-in followers and room-bookers. At microphones outside government buildings he exudes reasoned arguments on matters of public anxiety. He's a holocaust-denier, yet I could swear I've heard him agreeing that many Jews had died during WW2. He's spoken admiringly of Louis Farrackan, and - a boxing blue himself - he's expressed admiration for Amir Khan. At regular intervals Griffin tosses a meaty sound-bite to his attack-dogs, then skitters away from another well oxygenated mêlée. It's not quite 'plausible deniability' but it comes close.

The stakes are high. Global population grows, sea levels rise, and in our connected cosmos the chasm between rich and poor cries from the rooftops (literally - given the placing of satellite dishes), and in this distinction, rich means what in the rich world feels like poor - living, for instance, for under €10,000 a year.

Griffin talking to the reporter about sinking immigrant ships referred to a 'Camp of the Saints' scenario.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Raspail

I read the book just after it came out in English in the mid-1970s. I was disappointed expecting a thriller or a murder mystery, rather than a tract, but it was intriguing. Jean Raspail the 1970s author of this master text for the BNP, better written than Mein Kampf, commented on his novel about the swamping of 'the white race' at the hands of its own white liberal elites in cahoots with swarms of refugees whose ships they lack the fibre to turn away from their shores, let alone sink:

Raspail quote 'So, what to do? I am a novelist. I have no theory, no system nor ideology to propose or defend. It just seems to me that we are facing a unique alternative either learn the resigned courage of being poor or find again the inflexible courage to be rich. In both cases, so-called Christian charity will prove itself powerless. The times will be cruel.'

Anyone who opposes Griffin, his allies and followers and those who are sure 'he's got a point' needs a rejoinder to this bold observation. One of the best is a piece For Polite Reactionaries by Charles Sugnet in Transition, No. 69 (1996), pp. 14-34: Indiana University Press. I get to read it via my university but I can't make it accessible which is a shame but a reminder to refine my own reasoning.

This is hardly about preserving the 'white race', even if you believe - as I, and 99.999% of physical anthropologists, don't - that humans are made up of separate species. Refutation starts by eroding that firm subjectivity that for many makes the idea of 'race' a matter of common sense, a deconstruction hindered by the classifying bureaucracies that so regularly require citizens to name their ethnicity - something many mistake for 'race', which then gets conflated with identity, especially when linked to self-esteem.

The rich (richer) world comprises a multiplicity of ethnicities. We are already - rich and poor inside the boundaries of the first world - hybrid, mongrel, polyglot, diverse in colour, hair, religion, language, culture, and just about any other category named and yet to be named.

The gap between objectivity and subjectivity in the matter of our heterogeneity and homeogenity presents a deep well of confusion and unease, verging into fear - and for fear read stupefying hatred.

The ship that turns away the ship - or sinks it - if Griffin's way were pursued, is likely to be freighted with the same diversity as its target. The difference is wealth not race but Griffin has a dream of a pure English race, finding it irksome that David Harewood, a rather obvious Brit from Washwood Heath in Birmingham who happens to be black, plays Friar Tuck in Robin Hood.

Raspail is right about the consequences of the differences between them and us when it comes to wealth, but we are a world away from Raspail when it comes to distributing those pronouns on racial criteria. - but then I live in Handsworth, Birmingham and he lives in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

It's not as if the Hellenic population isn't as susceptible to these arguments about purity which is why I like the views expressed to me over a year ago by Lliana, a cyberfried in Corfu, when she said she though that even if no Greeks were left in the village of Ano Korakiana, where we have a home, it would remain Greek because it's new inhabitants would adopt Greek ways, thus Isocrates:

...καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὄνομα πεποίηκε μηκέτι τοῦ γένους ἀλλὰ τῆς διανοίας δοκεῖν εἶναι,

καὶ μᾶλλον Ἕλληνας καλεῖσθαι τοὺς τῆς παιδεύσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας

ἢ τοὺς τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως μετέχοντας

(Ἰσοκράτης. Πανηγυρικός. 50.)

...and it seems that the name of the Greeks is no longer denoting a race, but a mentality,

and one should call 'greeks' rather the ones who participate in our education,

than those who share our common nature.

(Isocrates. Panegyricus. 50.)

trans: Katerina Sarri

In this respect it's interesting to pick out, as an instance, a blog called Hellenic Antidote, who's author propounds a Griffinesque interpretation of Hellenism, which requires a denial of the meaning Katerina Sarri attaches to Isocrates' words. One of the comments following Hellenic Antidote's circuitous arguments mentions the blogger's 'Germanic' version of Hellenism, a side swipe at the Austrian Jakob Fallmerayer's slavophobic theory as developed in his 1827 History of the Empire of Trebizond which, ironically, argued that modern inhabitants of Greece have no genetic connection with the population of Classical Greece. As my brother George once said at a family get-together "Ugh! We're not proper Greeks we're all a bunch of dirty Slavs. Yuk!" a cue to roars of laughter from our mongrel family and friends.

democracystreet.blogspot.com/2009/07/putting-cycling-on-m...

Note added December 2015: According to a secret document released on 25 May 2015 by Wikileaks the EU is in the process of implementing a plan for the use of military force in order to deal with the growing refugee influx from Libya to Europe via the Mediterranean. The plan devised by the EU Politico-Military Group aims to "disrupt human smuggling networks" and "to contribute to systematic efforts to identify, capture and destroy vessels before they are used by traffickers".

teacherdudebbq.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/eu-immigration-poli...

wikileaks.org/eu-military-refugees/PMG/eu-military-refuge...

Me and my 5-year-old friend Ali :)

I had such fun with this kid :) And he is just an amazing child!

He is a polyglot - speaks perfectly bulgarian and turkish and has such interest even in English hehe an amazing bright smart child :)

* Explored image* - Thank you!!!

Mumbai (/mʊmˈbaɪ/; also known as Bombay, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India and the ninth most populous agglomeration in the world, with an estimated city population of 18.4 million. Along with the neighbouring regions of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world and the seсond most populous metropolitan area in India, with a population of 20.7 million as of 2011. Mumbai lies on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2009, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. It is also the wealthiest city in India, and has the highest GDP of any city in South, West, or Central Asia. Mumbai has the highest number of billionaires and millionaires among all cities in India.The seven islands that came to constitute Mumbai were home to communities of fishing colonies. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese and subsequently to the British East India Company when in 1661 King Charles II married the Portuguese Catherine of Braganza, and as part of her dowry Charles received the ports of Tangier and seven islands of Bombay. During the mid-18th century, Bombay was reshaped by the Hornby Vellard project, which undertook reclamation of the area between the seven islands from the sea. Along with construction of major roads and railways, the reclamation project, completed in 1845, transformed Bombay into a major seaport on the Arabian Sea. Bombay in the 19th century was characterized by economic and educational development. During the early 20th century it became a strong base for the Indian independence movement. Upon India's independence in 1947 the city was incorporated into Bombay State. In 1960, following the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, a new state of Maharashtra was created with Bombay as the capital.Mumbai is the financial, commercial and entertainment capital of India. It is also one of the world's top ten centres of commerce in terms of global financial flow, generating 6.16% of India's GDP and accounting for 25% of industrial output, 70% of maritime trade in India (Mumbai Port Trust and JNPT), and 70% of capital transactions to India's economy. The city houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India, the SEBI and the corporate headquarters of numerous Indian companies and multinational corporations. It is also home to some of India's premier scientific and nuclear institutes like BARC, NPCL, IREL, TIFR, AERB, AECI, and the Department of Atomic Energy. The city also houses India's Hindi (Bollywood) and Marathi film and television industry. Mumbai's business opportunities, as well as its potential to offer a higher standard of living, attract migrants from all over India, making the city a melting pot of many communities and cultures.

ETYMOLOGY

The name Mumbai is derived from Mumbā or Mahā-Ambā—the name of the patron goddess (Kuladevi) Mumbadevi of the native Agri, Koli and Somvanshi Kshatriya communities - and ā'ī meaning "mother" in the Marathi language, which is the mother tongue of the kolis and the official language of Maharashtra.

The oldest known names for the city are Kakamuchee and Galajunkja; these are sometimes still used. Ali Muhammad Khan, in the Mirat-i-Ahmedi (1507) referred to the city as Manbai. In 1508, Portuguese writer Gaspar Correia used the name Bombaim, in his Lendas da Índia ("Legends of India"). This name possibly originated as the Old Portuguese phrase bom baim, meaning "good little bay", and Bombaim is still commonly used in Portuguese. In 1516, Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa used the name Tana-Maiambu: Tana appears to refer to the adjoining town of Thane and Maiambu to Mumbadevi.

Other variations recorded in the 16th and the 17th centuries include: Mombayn (1525), Bombay (1538), Bombain (1552), Bombaym (1552), Monbaym (1554), Mombaim (1563), Mombaym (1644), Bambaye (1666), Bombaiim (1666), Bombeye (1676), Boon Bay (1690), and Bon Bahia. After the British gained possession of the city in the 17th century, the Portuguese name was officially anglicised as Bombay.

By the late 20th century, the city was referred to as Mumbai or Mambai in the Indian statewise official languages of Marathi, Konkani, Gujarati, Kannada and Sindhi, and as Bambai in Hindi. The English name was officially changed to Mumbai in November 1995. This came at the insistence of the Marathi nationalist Shiv Sena party that had just won the Maharashtra state elections and mirrored similar name changes across the country and particularly in Maharashtra. According to Slate, "they argued that 'Bombay' was a corrupted English version of 'Mumbai' and an unwanted legacy of British colonial rule." Slate also said "The push to rename Bombay was part of a larger movement to strengthen Marathi identity in the Maharashtra region." While the city is still referred to as Bombay by some of its residents and Indians from other regions, mention of the city by a name other than Mumbai has been controversial, resulting in emotional outbursts sometimes of a violently political nature.

A resident of Mumbai is called mumbaikar; in Marathi language the suffix kar has a meaning resident of. The term has been in use for quite some time but it gained popularity after the official name change to Mumbai.

EARLY HISTORY

Mumbai is built on what was once an archipelago of seven islands: Bombay Island, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island (also known as Little Colaba). It is not exactly known when these islands were first inhabited. Pleistocene sediments found along the coastal areas around Kandivali in northern Mumbai suggest that the islands were inhabited since the Stone Age. Perhaps at the beginning of the Common era (2,000 years ago), or possibly earlier, they came to be occupied by the Koli fishing community.

In the third century BCE, the islands formed part of the Maurya Empire, during its expansion in the south, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha. The Kanheri Caves in Borivali were excavated in the mid-third century BCE, and served as an important centre of Buddhism in Western India during ancient Times. The city then was known as Heptanesia (Ancient Greek: A Cluster of Seven Islands) to the Greek geographer Ptolemy in 150 CE. The Mahakali Caves in Andheri were built between the 1st century BCE and the 6th century CE.

Between the second century BCE and ninth century CE, the islands came under the control of successive indigenous dynasties: Satavahanas, Western Kshatrapas, Abhiras, Vakatakas, Kalachuris, Konkan Mauryas, Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas, before being ruled by the Silhara dynasty from 810 to 1260. Some of the oldest edifices in the city built during this period are, Jogeshwari Caves (between 520 and 525), Elephanta Caves (between the sixth to seventh century), Walkeshwar Temple (10th century), and Banganga Tank (12th century).

King Bhimdev founded his kingdom in the region in the late 13th century and established his capital in Mahikawati (present day Mahim). The Pathare Prabhus, among the earliest known settlers of the city, were brought to Mahikawati from Saurashtra in Gujarat around 1298 by Bhimdev. The Delhi Sultanate annexed the islands in 1347–48 and controlled it until 1407. During this time, the islands were administered by the Muslim Governors of Gujarat, who were appointed by the Delhi Sultanate.

The islands were later governed by the independent Gujarat Sultanate, which was established in 1407. The Sultanate's patronage led to the construction of many mosques, prominent being the Haji Ali Dargah in Worli, built in honour of the Muslim saint Haji Ali in 1431. From 1429 to 1431, the islands were a source of contention between the Gujarat Sultanate and the Bahamani Sultanate of Deccan. In 1493, Bahadur Khan Gilani of the Bahamani Sultanate attempted to conquer the islands but was defeated.

PORTUGUESE AND BRITISH RULE

The Mughal Empire, founded in 1526, was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent during the mid-16th century. Growing apprehensive of the power of the Mughal emperor Humayun, Sultan Bahadur Shah of the Gujarat Sultanate was obliged to sign the Treaty of Bassein with the Portuguese Empire on 23 December 1534. According to the treaty, the seven islands of Bombay, the nearby strategic town of Bassein and its dependencies were offered to the Portuguese. The territories were later surrendered on 25 October 1535.

The Portuguese were actively involved in the foundation and growth of their Roman Catholic religious orders in Bombay. They called the islands by various names, which finally took the written form Bombaim. The islands were leased to several Portuguese officers during their regime. The Portuguese Franciscans and Jesuits built several churches in the city, prominent being the St. Michael's Church at Mahim (1534), St. John the Baptist Church at Andheri (1579), St. Andrew's Church at Bandra (1580), and Gloria Church at Byculla (1632). The Portuguese also built several fortifications around the city like the Bombay Castle, Castella de Aguada (Castelo da Aguada or Bandra Fort), and Madh Fort. The English were in constant struggle with the Portuguese vying for hegemony over Bombay, as they recognized its strategic natural harbour and its natural isolation from land-attacks. By the middle of the 17th century the growing power of the Dutch Empire forced the English to acquire a station in western India. On 11 May 1661, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed the islands in possession of the English Empire, as part of Catherine's dowry to Charles. However, Salsette, Bassein, Mazagaon, Parel, Worli, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala still remained under Portuguese possession. From 1665 to 1666, the English managed to acquire Mahim, Sion, Dharavi, and Wadala.

In accordance with the Royal Charter of 27 March 1668, England leased these islands to the English East India Company in 1668 for a sum of £10 per annum. The population quickly rose from 10,000 in 1661, to 60,000 in 1675. The islands were subsequently attacked by Yakut Khan, the Siddi admiral of the Mughal Empire, in October 1672, Rickloffe van Goen, the Governor-General of Dutch India on 20 February 1673, and Siddi admiral Sambal on 10 October 1673.In 1687, the English East India Company transferred its headquarters from Surat to Bombay. The city eventually became the headquarters of the Bombay Presidency. Following the transfer, Bombay was placed at the head of all the Company's establishments in India. Towards the end of the 17th century, the islands again suffered incursions from Yakut Khan in 1689–90. The Portuguese presence ended in Bombay when the Marathas under Peshwa Baji Rao I captured Salsette in 1737, and Bassein in 1739. By the middle of the 18th century, Bombay began to grow into a major trading town, and received a huge influx of migrants from across India. Later, the British occupied Salsette on 28 December 1774. With the Treaty of Surat (1775), the British formally gained control of Salsette and Bassein, resulting in the First Anglo-Maratha War. The British were able to secure Salsette from the Marathas without violence through the Treaty of Purandar (1776), and later through the Treaty of Salbai (1782), signed to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War.

From 1782 onwards, the city was reshaped with large-scale civil engineering projects aimed at merging all the seven islands into a single amalgamated mass. This project, known as Hornby Vellard, was completed by 1784. In 1817, the British East India Company under Mountstuart Elphinstone defeated Baji Rao II, the last of the Maratha Peshwa in the Battle of Khadki. Following his defeat, almost the whole of the Deccan came under British suzerainty, and was incorporated into the Bombay Presidency. The success of the British campaign in the Deccan marked the liberation of Bombay from all attacks by native powers.

By 1845, the seven islands coalesced into a single landmass by the Hornby Vellard project via large scale land reclamation. On 16 April 1853, India's first passenger railway line was established, connecting Bombay to the neighbouring town of Thana (now Thane). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), the city became the world's chief cotton-trading market, resulting in a boom in the economy that subsequently enhanced the city's stature.

The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 transformed Bombay into one of the largest seaports on the Arabian Sea. In September 1896, Bombay was hit by a bubonic plague epidemic where the death toll was estimated at 1,900 people per week. About 850,000 people fled Bombay and the textile industry was adversely affected. As the capital of the Bombay Presidency, the city witnessed the Indian independence movement, with the Quit India Movement in 1942 and The Royal Indian Navy Mutiny in 1946 being its most notable events.

INDEPENDENT INDIA

After India's independence in 1947, the territory of the Bombay Presidency retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. The area of Bombay State increased, after several erstwhile princely states that joined the Indian union were integrated into the state. Subsequently, the city became the capital of Bombay State. On April 1950, Municipal limits of Bombay were expanded by merging the Bombay Suburban District and Bombay City to form the Greater Bombay Municipal Corporation.

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement to create a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay was at its height in the 1950s. In the Lok Sabha discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. The States Reorganisation Committee recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–Gujarat with Bombay as its capital in its 1955 report. Bombay Citizens' Committee, an advocacy group of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status.

Following protests during the movement in which 105 people lost their lives in clashes with the police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat. Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them. As a memorial to the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Flora Fountain was renamed as Hutatma Chowk (Martyr's Square), and a memorial was erected.

The following decades saw massive expansion of the city and its suburbs. In the late 1960s, Nariman Point and Cuffe Parade were reclaimed and developed. The Bombay Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) was established on 26 January 1975 by the Government of Maharashtra as an apex body for planning and co-ordination of development activities in the Bombay metropolitan region. In August 1979, a sister township of New Bombay was founded by the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) across the Thane and Raigad districts to help the dispersal and control of Bombay's population. The textile industry in Bombay largely disappeared after the widespread 1982 Great Bombay Textile Strike, in which nearly 250,000 workers in more than 50 textile mills went on strike. Mumbai's defunct cotton mills have since become the focus of intense redevelopment.

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which currently handles 55–60% of India's containerised cargo, was commissioned on 26 May 1989 across the creek at Nhava Sheva with a view to de-congest Bombay Harbour and to serve as a hub port for the city. The geographical limits of Greater Bombay were coextensive with municipal limits of Greater Bombay. On 1 October 1990, the Greater Bombay district was bifurcated to form two revenue districts namely, Bombay City and Bombay Suburban, though they continued to be administered by same Municipal Administration.

From 1990 to 2010, there has been an increase in violence in the hitherto largely peaceful city. Following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the city was rocked by the Hindu-Muslim riots of 1992–93 in which more than 1,000 people were killed. On 12 March 1993, a series of 13 co-ordinated bombings at several city landmarks by Islamic extremists and the Bombay underworld resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. In 2006, 209 people were killed and over 700 injured when seven bombs exploded on the city's commuter trains. In 2008, a series of ten coordinated attacks by armed terrorists for three days resulted in 173 deaths, 308 injuries, and severe damage to several heritage landmarks and prestigious hotels. The blasts that occurred at the Opera House, Zaveri Bazaar, and Dadar on 13 July 2011 were the latest in the series of terrorist attacks in Mumbai.

Mumbai is the commercial capital of India and has evolved into a global financial hub. For several decades it has been the home of India's main financial services, and a focus for both infrastructure development and private investment. From being an ancient fishing community and a colonial centre of trade, Mumbai has become South Asia's largest city and home of the world's most prolific film industry.

GEOGRAPHY

Mumbai consists of two distinct regions: Mumbai City district and Mumbai Suburban district, which form two separate revenue districts of Maharashtra. The city district region is also commonly referred to as the Island City or South Mumbai. The total area of Mumbai is 603.4 km2. Of this, the island city spans 67.79 km2, while the suburban district spans 370 km2, together accounting for 437.71 km2 under the administration of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). The remaining areas belong to various Defence establishments, the Mumbai Port Trust, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Borivali National Park, which are out of the jurisdiction of the MCGM.

Mumbai lies at the mouth of the Ulhas River on the western coast of India, in the coastal region known as the Konkan. It sits on Salsette Island (Sashti Island), which it partially shares with the Thane district. Mumbai is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west. Many parts of the city lie just above sea level, with elevations ranging from 10 m to 15 m; the city has an average elevation of 14 m. Northern Mumbai (Salsette) is hilly, and the highest point in the city is 450 m at Salsette in the Powai–Kanheri ranges. The Sanjay Gandhi National Park (Borivali National Park) is located partly in the Mumbai suburban district, and partly in the Thane district, and it extends over an area of 103.09 km2.

Apart from the Bhatsa Dam, there are six major lakes that supply water to the city: Vihar, Lower Vaitarna, Upper Vaitarna, Tulsi, Tansa and Powai. Tulsi Lake and Vihar Lake are located in Borivili National Park, within the city's limits. The supply from Powai lake, also within the city limits, is used only for agricultural and industrial purposes. Three small rivers, the Dahisar River, Poinsar (or Poisar) and Ohiwara (or Oshiwara) originate within the park, while the polluted Mithi River originates from Tulsi Lake and gathers water overflowing from Vihar and Powai Lakes. The coastline of the city is indented with numerous creeks and bays, stretching from the Thane creek on the eastern to Madh Marve on the western front. The eastern coast of Salsette Island is covered with large mangrove swamps, rich in biodiversity, while the western coast is mostly sandy and rocky.

Soil cover in the city region is predominantly sandy due to its proximity to the sea. In the suburbs, the soil cover is largely alluvial and loamy. The underlying rock of the region is composed of black Deccan basalt flows, and their acidic and basic variants dating back to the late Cretaceous and early Eocene eras. Mumbai sits on a seismically active zone owing to the presence of 23 fault lines in the vicinity. The area is classified as a Seismic Zone III region, which means an earthquake of up to magnitude 6.5 on the Richter scale may be expected.

ARCHITECTURE

The architecture of the city is a blend of Gothic Revival, Indo-Saracenic, Art Deco, and other contemporary styles. Most of the buildings during the British period, such as the Victoria Terminus and Bombay University, were built in Gothic Revival style. Their architectural features include a variety of European influences such as German gables, Dutch roofs, Swiss timbering, Romance arches, Tudor casements, and traditional Indian features. There are also a few Indo-Saracenic styled buildings such as the Gateway of India. Art Deco styled landmarks can be found along the Marine Drive and west of the Oval Maidan. Mumbai has the second largest number of Art Deco buildings in the world after Miami. In the newer suburbs, modern buildings dominate the landscape. Mumbai has by far the largest number of skyscrapers in India, with 956 existing buildings and 272 under construction as of 2009.

The Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee (MHCC), established in 1995, formulates special regulations and by-laws to assist in the conservation of the city's heritage structures. Mumbai has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and the Elephanta Caves. In the south of Mumbai, there are colonial-era buildings and Soviet-style offices. In the east are factories and some slums. On the West coast are former-textile mills being demolished and skyscrapers built on top. There are 31 buildings taller than 100m, compared with 200 in Shanghai, 500 in Hong Kong and 500 in New York.

DEMOGRAPHICS

According to the 2011 census, the population of Mumbai was 12,479,608. The population density is estimated to be about 20,482 persons per square kilometre. The living space is 4.5sq metre per person. As Per 2011 census, Greater Mumbai, the area under the administration of the MCGM, has a literacy rate of 94.7%, higher than the national average of 86.7%. The number of slum-dwellers is estimated to be 9 million, up from 6 million in 2001, that is, 62% of all Mumbaikars live in informal slums.

The sex ratio was 838 (females per 1,000 males) in the island city, 857 in the suburbs, and 848 as a whole in Greater Mumbai, all numbers lower than the national average of 914 females per 1,000 males. The low sex ratio is partly because of the large number of male migrants who come to the city to work.

Residents of Mumbai call themselves Mumbaikar, Mumbaiite, Bombayite or Bombaiite. Mumbai has a large polyglot population like any other metropolitan city of India. Sixteen major languages of India are also spoken in Mumbai, most common being Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and English. English is extensively spoken and is the principal language of the city's white collar workforce. A colloquial form of Hindi, known as Bambaiya – a blend of Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Konkani, Urdu, Indian English and some invented words – is spoken on the streets.

Mumbai suffers from the same major urbanisation problems seen in many fast growing cities in developing countries: widespread poverty and unemployment, poor public health and poor civic and educational standards for a large section of the population. With available land at a premium, Mumbai residents often reside in cramped, relatively expensive housing, usually far from workplaces, and therefore requiring long commutes on crowded mass transit, or clogged roadways. Many of them live in close proximity to bus or train stations although suburban residents spend significant time travelling southward to the main commercial district. Dharavi, Asia's second largest slum (if Karachi's Orangi Town is counted as a single slum) is located in central Mumbai and houses between 800,000 and one million people in 2.39 square kilometres, making it one of the most densely populated areas on Earth with a population density of at least 334,728 persons per square kilometre. With a literacy rate of 69%, the slums in Mumbai are the most literate in India.

The number of migrants to Mumbai from outside Maharashtra during the 1991–2001 decade was 1.12 million, which amounted to 54.8% of the net addition to the population of Mumbai.

The number of households in Mumbai is forecast to rise from 4.2 million in 2008 to 6.6 million in 2020. The number of households with annual incomes of 2 million rupees will increase from 4% to 10% by 2020, amounting to 660,000 families. The number of households with incomes from 1–2 million rupees is also estimated to increase from 4% to 15% by 2020. According to Report of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) 2016 Mumbai is the noisiest city in India before Lucknow , Hyderabad and Delhi.

ETHNIC GROUPS AND RELIGION

The religious groups represented in Mumbai include Hindus (67.39%), Muslims (18.56%), Buddhists (5.22%), Jains (3.99%), Christians (4.2%), Sikhs (0.58%), with Parsis and Jews making up the rest of the population. The linguistic/ethnic demographics are: Maharashtrians (42%), Gujaratis (19%), with the rest hailing from other parts of India.

Native Christians include East Indian Catholics, who were converted by the Portuguese during the 16th century, while Goan and Mangalorean Catholics also constitute a significant portion of the Christian community of the city. Jews settled in Bombay during the 18th century. The Bene Israeli Jewish community of Bombay, who migrated from the Konkan villages, south of Bombay, are believed to be the descendants of the Jews of Israel who were shipwrecked off the Konkan coast, probably in the year 175 BCE, during the reign of the Greek ruler, Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Mumbai is also home to the largest population of Parsi Zoroastrians in the world, numbering about 80,000. Parsis migrated to India from Pars (Persia/Iran) following the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century. The oldest Muslim communities in Mumbai include the Dawoodi Bohras, Ismaili Khojas, and Konkani Muslims.

CULTURE

Mumbai's culture is a blend of traditional festivals, food, music, and theatres. The city offers a cosmopolitan and diverse lifestyle with a variety of food, entertainment, and night life, available in a form and abundance comparable to that in other world capitals. Mumbai's history as a major trading centre has led to a diverse range of cultures, religions, and cuisines coexisting in the city. This unique blend of cultures is due to the migration of people from all over India since the British period.

Mumbai is the birthplace of Indian cinema - Dadasaheb Phalke laid the foundations with silent movies followed by Marathi talkies - and the oldest film broadcast took place in the early 20th century. Mumbai also has a large number of cinema halls that feature Bollywood, Marathi and Hollywood movies. The Mumbai International Film Festival and the award ceremony of the Filmfare Awards, the oldest and prominent film awards given for Hindi film industry in India, are held in Mumbai. Despite most of the professional theatre groups that formed during the British Raj having disbanded by the 1950s, Mumbai has developed a thriving "theatre movement" tradition in Marathi, Hindi, English, and other regional languages.

Contemporary art is featured in both government-funded art spaces and private commercial galleries. The government-funded institutions include the Jehangir Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Modern Art. Built in 1833, the Asiatic Society of Bombay is one of the oldest public libraries in the city. The Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (formerly The Prince of Wales Museum) is a renowned museum in South Mumbai which houses rare ancient exhibits of Indian history.

Mumbai has a zoo named Jijamata Udyaan (formerly Victoria Gardens), which also harbours a garden. The rich literary traditions of the city have been highlighted internationally by Booker Prize winners Salman Rushdie, Aravind Adiga. Marathi literature has been modernised in the works of Mumbai-based authors such as Mohan Apte, Anant Kanekar, and Gangadhar Gadgil, and is promoted through an annual Sahitya Akademi Award, a literary honour bestowed by India's National Academy of Letters.

Mumbai residents celebrate both Western and Indian festivals. Diwali, Holi, Eid, Christmas, Navratri, Good Friday, Dussera, Moharram, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Maha Shivratri are some of the popular festivals in the city. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is an exhibition of a world of arts that encapsulates works of artists in the fields of music, dance, theatre, and films. A week-long annual fair known as Bandra Fair, starting on the following Sunday after 8 September, is celebrated by people of all faiths, to commemorate the Nativity of Mary, mother of Jesus, on 8 September.

The Banganga Festival is a two-day music festival, held annually in the month of January, which is organised by the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) at the historic Banganga Tank in Mumbai. The Elephanta Festival - celebrated every February on the Elephanta Islands - is dedicated to classical Indian dance and music and attracts performers from across the country. Public holidays specific to the city and the state include Maharashtra Day on 1 May, to celebrate the formation of Maharashtra state on 1 May 1960, and Gudi Padwa which is the New Year's Day for Marathi people.

Beaches are a major tourist attraction in the city. The major beaches in Mumbai are Girgaum Chowpatty, Juhu Beach, Dadar Chowpatty, Gorai Beach, Marve Beach, Versova Beach, Madh Beach, Aksa Beach, and Manori Beach. Most of the beaches are unfit for swimming, except Girgaum Chowpatty and Juhu Beach. Essel World is a theme park and amusement centre situated close to Gorai Beach, and includes Asia's largest theme water park, Water Kingdom. Adlabs Imagica opened in April 2013 is located near the city of Khopoli off the Mumbai-Pune Expressway.

WIKIPEDIA

This statue of Frederick North, 5th Earl of Guilford, (1766–1827) founder of the University of Corfu, faces west, backing on to the short sea moat between the mainland of Corfu Town and the Old Fort.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_North,_5th_Earl_of_Guilford

Paper by Monica Partridge accepted for publication on 3 October 1996

Frederick North, Fifth Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), a polyglot philhellene, visited Dubrovnik on several occasions, knew F.M. Appendini and the Dubrovnik latinisti and learned Illyrian. In 1824 he became the first Chancellor of the University of Corfu.

Lord Guilford, is today virtually unknown, except in Greece. Born into the high aristocracy in 1766, Frederick North was the youngest son of a Prime Minister of George III and a friend of the Prince Regent, later George IV. He became Fifth Earl of Guilford on the death of his elder brother in 1817. A brilliant linguist, he wrote impeccable Latin and classical Greek, spoke fluent Romanic as well as English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Russian. He also acquired a reading knowledge of Church Slavonic sufficient to enable him to study the differences between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches from the source material. As a student at Oxford, where he studied classics, he became a committed philhellene. On leaving Oxford he set out on his tour de l'Europe. Starting from Spain he travelled through Mediterranean lands visiting, among other places, the Ionian Islands and the eastern shores of the Adriatic, including Dubrovnik, on his way to Greece.

After some time in Athens he continued his travels, to include Smyrna, Cyprus, Alexandria, Jerusalem and Constantinople before returning to Athens. Later he travelled still more widely to yet other lands, including Russia. When first setting foot on the Ionian Islands, North had been appalled by the 'terrible patois spoken' by the Greeks there. He became deeply concerned as to how their speech could be 'purified' and was eventually to some extent to succeed in doing so. While first visiting Dubrovnik he became interested in the slavonic language spoken around him by the people living there. Perhaps with the debased patois of the Greeks on the Ionian Islands in mind, he took lessons in 'la langue illyrienne' from Pavel Djurai, a native of Ston (within the recently fallen Republic of Dubrovnik), while he and North were both living in Athens. This would enable him to recognise illyrian elements pervading the speech of the Ionian Greeks.

On returning home after his prolonged tour de l'Europe, following his father's death, he took the family seat in Parliament and a minor government post. He soon moved from this, having quickly been recognised by the British Government as a brilliant administrator and hence quickly appointed to increasingly important government office. These were to include, eventually, six years as Governor of Ceylon and then Secretary of State to the newly appointed British Viceroy of Corsica.

When the Ionian Islands became a British Protectorate after the Treaty of Paris in 1815 he was sent by the British Government on a special mission to the Ionian Islands to organise education throughout the Protectorate. He now earned a wide reputation and great respect in that whole region (including Dubrovnik) and even further afield, for his success in introducing a liberal system of education which included the founding

of fifty nine schools, and senior high schools (or Colleges) for the higher education of the children of the nobility whom he saw on his arrival there to be 'absolutely destitute of knowledge'.

In Dubrovnik, North, (who became 5th Earl of Guilford on his elder brother's death in 1817) was introduced to Appendini through Pavel Djurai. He must have discussed linguistic questions with Appendini. It would have been interesting to hear Guilford's views on Appendini's 'hallucination' concerning the etymology of European languages. Whatever the outcome of their conversations Appendini certainly respected Guilford's erudition and held him in high esteem. He was, wrote Appendini, 'nempe cum primo per litteras deinde ex colloquiis et lectione operis, quod de antiquissimis Europearum gentium linguarumque originibus tunc prae manibus habebam quodque ad veterem Geographiam et Historiam illustrandam peridoneum judicabat, non dubie cognovisset'.

However, in Dubrovnik Guilford probably enjoyed himself most in the company of the latinisti, who welcomed him warmly into their circle. Bernard Djamanji addressed an elegant Ode 'Per honorabili viro ac Domino Frederico Comiti Guilfordio', who impressed them all by his charm and erudition.

After inheriting the Earldom and with it a very considerable family fortune, Guilford resolved to act upon the idea he had long ago conceived with his friend Count Capodistria, a native of Corfu, to found there a higher academic institution, a University, no less, whose academic standards were to be comparable with those of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. It was to provide for the education of young men from the nobility and upper classes of those regions, including Athens, for whom no such Institution at that time existed. Apart from his wealth and considerable administrative experience at the highest level and in those regions, Frederick North, son of a former Prime Minister and friend of the former Prince Regent now George IV, was not without considerable personal influence in British Government circles.

In 1818, as the result of Guilford's persistent efforts, the British Parliament promulgated its 'Charter for the Ionian Islands' providing for the founding of a University in Corfu and naming Guilford as its first Chancellor. Guilford dedicated himself unreservedly to the task of its detailed organisation; and the University of Corfu was in 1824 officially inaugurated by the British Government. Its four Faculties had already enlisted students and staff, while several of the most promising young men from those part had been sent to some of the most prestigious universities abroad, including Oxford and Cambridge, to study under specially appointed tutors. They were destined for election in due course to Chairs at Corfu University. The University flourished until Guilford's sudden, unexpected and untimely death in 1827. Without Guilford's inspiration, persistence, personal influence and wealth, the new Corfu University gradually lost the high academic status regarded as essential by its first Chancellor who had already done much to achieve this, and though his original objective of creating a Greek speaking University was abandoned when Italian replaced Greek as the working language, it continued to exist as an Institute of higher education.

Frederick North's obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine. March 1827, p. 461 records that as a result of the liberal educational reforms introduced there by Guilford 'the Greek patois which has hitherto been spoken in the Ionian Islands, is gradually changing to the more elegant and copious language of continental Greece.'

www.webtopos.gr/eng/greece.htm

..καὶ τὸ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ὄνομα πεποίηκε μηκέτι τοῦ γένους ἀλλὰ τῆς διανοίας δοκεῖν εἶναι, καὶ μᾶλλον Ἕλληνας καλεῖσθαι τοὺς τῆς παιδεύσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας ἢ τοὺς τῆς κοινῆς φύσεως μετέχοντας (Ἰσοκράτης. Πανηγυρικός. 50.)

'...and it seems that the name of the Greeks is no longer denoting a race, but a mentality, and one should call 'Greeks' rather the ones who participate in our education, than those who share our common nature [DNA]. (Isocrates. Panegyricus. 50.)

ISOCRATES: Athenian orator 436-338 B.C.E.

'The Panegyricus (=Celebrating Speech) circulated during the summer of 380 BCE (between July and September). It is certain, that Isocrates has been working on it for more than 10 years. Most of the speech is a praise of the Athenian history and culture against everything non Athenian, whether Greek or the so-called barbaric. But with this one phrase, Isocrates demolishes his own dislike of foreigners'

New York Times

November 4, 1994

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW

Rem Koolhaas's New York State of Mind

By HERBERT MUSCHAMP

EW YORK CITY'S most inspiring architect lives in London, works in Rotterdam and has yet to build a thing on the North American continent. But for the next three months, Rem Koolhaas has the stage at the Museum of Modern Art, where New Yorkers can see for themselves how their city continues to shape the world even as their own architecture has slipped below world-class standards. Considering all the fanfare this show has generated, including lavish spreads in the fashion glossies, "O.M.A. at MOMA: Rem Koolhaas and the Place of Public Architecture" turns out to be relatively modest in scale. Confined to one top- floor gallery in the Modern's department of architecture and design, the show presents models and drawings for five projects designed in the last five years by Mr. Koolhaas and his Office for Metropolitan Architecture (O.M.A.). Three additional models, depicting urban plans, are displayed on the landing outside.

(Models for three private houses are on view in the museum's Education Center on the ground floor.)

But anticipation for this show, which was first scheduled to open more than a year ago, has been mounting for some time. And the hoopla is not incidental to the work on view. This is a show about buildings and cities, but it is also a show about aura: the aura of the city, the role buildings play in creating that aura and the glamour that occasionally surrounds an architect of promise, leading excitable critics to plunge recklessly overboard with extravagant words of praise.

Mr. Koolhaas, who was born in the Netherlands in 1944 and educated at the Architectural Association in London, first achieved public attention with the 1978 publication of his book "Delirious New York," an ecstatic love poem to Manhattan that challenged conventional thinking in urban design. While planners and urban designers struggled to bring logic, sanity and order to the built environment, Mr. Koolhaas argued that the glory of the city lies in the exceptional, the excessive, the extreme. A champion of what he called "the culture of congestion," Mr. Koolhaas viewed the Manhattan skyline as a kind of euphoric party, as if architecture had been squeezed vertically not by real- estate values but by the eagerness of people to get together on a small island and laugh it up.

Since that colorful debut, Mr. Koolhaas has accumulated an impressive body of built work, including apartment buildings in the Netherlands and Japan, the Netherlands Dance Theater in the Hague and the Kunsthal, an art exhibition center in Rotterdam. He has also pushed the limits of architecture with provocative designs for projects that so far remain unbuilt, like the Jussieu Library in Paris. But the achievement that has established him most solidly on the international map is Mr. Koolhaas's master plan for Euralille, a commercial project now nearing completion in northern France. Designed to exploit Lille's position as a major hub for Europe's high-speed trains, Euralille includes buildings by the architects Christian de Portzamparc and Jean Nouvel, in addition to a trade and convention center designed by Mr. Koolhaas.

These projects, too, display Mr. Koolhaas's enduring passion for New York: the glass-curtain-wall skyscrapers pioneered by Mies van der Rohe; the bustling street life of places like Times Square, where peril and pleasure jostle each other in a synergistic mix. But Mr. Koolhaas's most highly burnished New York touchstone is the work of the architect Wallace K. Harrison. Harrison, the subject of a show organized by Mr. Koolhaas in 1980 at the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in Manhattan, designed such fabled New York landmarks as the United Nations Headquarters, the Trylon and Perisphere at the 1939 New York World's Fair, and the Hall of Science at the 1964-65 World's Fair. For Mr. Koolhaas, these projects represent the ideal of an architecture at once modern and romantic; they defined an urban mythology for changing times.

Organized by Terence Riley, chief curator of the Modern's architecture and design department, the Koolhaas show was at one point scheduled to run concurrently with last season's mammoth show on Frank Lloyd Wright. The two would have made an illuminating pair, for Mr. Koolhaas's vision of the city is nearly the antithesis of Wright's. Wright, at the threshold of the automobile age, championed the centrifugal city, dispersed into the suburban landscape by the car, the highway and the romantic ideal of individual autonomy. Mr. Koolhaas stands, by contrast, for the centripetal city: for the urban center that, at the end of the century, continues to act as a cultural magnet and an incubator for ideas. Mr. Koolhaas's designs for archetypal urban institutions - - two libraries, a museum, a school, a marketplace -- are the core of the Modern's show.

On a certain level, these buildings are about coping. Mr. Riley writes in the exhibition brochure that Mr. Koolhaas and O.M.A "perceive the city as a survivor." Survivors are not victims. They have earned the right to set their own terms. Cities shouldn't be competing with the suburbs by trying to become more like them. They don't have to turn themselves into theme parks. They have better things to do than indulge the fear that their best days are behind them by encouraging architects to design new buildings that look old.

Mr. Koolhaas is undoubtedly right to question current urban shibboleths. But are the terms he proposes the right ones for the city today? Essentially, Mr. Koolhaas asks us to believe that spectacular public buildings, or spectacular groupings of them, contribute at least as much to the vitality of the city as do the systematic designs of urban planners. Those who crave urban life, he insists, want something more than safe, clean streets, trains that run and contextual design guidelines for new development. They're looking to be part of a legend in the making. Just as it is the business of music, film and physics to produce spectacular singers, directors and theorists, so it is the job of the city to produce wonderful, fabulous places: buildings we'd walk blocks out of our way to see.

This is an odd time to be staking out this position. In the aftermath of the 1980's building boom, a widespread reaction has set in against stand-alone, signature buildings by star architects. The movement today is toward urban systems, social responsibility and the connective tissue that integrates buildings into community life. If there is any validity to Mr. Koolhaas's position, it must hinge on whether his designs are stronger, architecturally and urbanistically, than the solo performances we've already seen.

I believe that his designs are indeed stronger, and that their strength lies mainly in their forms. After all, any properly run library, school, museum or convention center should be able to gather crowds. If there's a larger urban dimension in Mr. Koolhaas's designs for these institutions, it is because his forms vibrate on some urban frequency other architects have not yet tuned in to. But how to analyze those vibrations?

Mr. Riley refers to the "marked sense of formlessness" of Mr. Koolhaas's projects, and the visitor to the show is confronted by a dizzying array of forms: ovals, cloud shapes, diagonals, grids, screens of perforated steel and corrugated glass, undulating ramps, elongated triangles, tilted ramps, media projections. These forms are seemingly haphazard in their purpose if not in their skillful composition. And one hesitates to analyze the logic of that composition, not only because it is elusive, but also because Mr. Koolhaas's clear intention is to provide pleasure through the appearance of spontaneity.

Still, one of the major advantages of seeing these projects in a single gallery is that a unifying design concept does emerge. In most of the projects, the defining form arises from Mr. Koolhaas's attempt to loosely reconcile a spiral or pinwheel shape with a square or a rectilinear grid. The spiral harks back to Wright's Guggenheim Museum, the unbuilt "endless museum" project of Le Corbusier, the pinwheel plan of Mies van der Rohe's early villas, the ramp of Harrison's Trylon and Perisphere. But some may feel that Mr. Koolhaas's most pertinent historical precedent is Bruegel's "Tower of Babel," with its vertiginous terror, its breathtaking hubris and its iconic image of a polyglot metropolis housed within one monumental coil.

Occasionally, as in his 1989 design for the French National Library in Paris, Mr. Koolhaas places a conventional spiral within a rectangular volume. More often, the spiral is discernible only in the whirling organization of interior spaces. For the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, completed in 1992, the spiral takes the form of a series of squared-off interior ramps. For the Jussieu Library in Paris, entire floors of the high-rise building are sliced and tilted to create a free-form, continuous ramp, dotted with auditoriums, classrooms and cafes, as if an entire Parisian boulevard had been carefully folded up and placed inside a gleaming crystal box.

At Congrexpo, the oval convention center shortly to open in Lille, visitors will whirl through time and sensibility as well as space. From an auditorium shaped like a Roman amphitheater, they will pass to an erotic fantasy of a theater lined with gold-studded black leatherette. The building's ovoid exterior is clad with a rectilinear collage of flashy finishes: shingled glass, concrete in a tacky black pebble texture and corrugated glass shot through with metallic filaments, an effect at once gossamer and garish.

For Wright, the spiral was an anti-urban symbol. It signified not only organic growth, but also spatial freedom, particularly the mobility made possible by the car. For Mr. Koolhaas, the spiral also signifies growth, but of an urban, artificial kind. Where Wright summoned up images of trees, hills, the highway unrolling across the prairie to escape urban congestion, Mr. Koolhaas ushers us into a tight coil densely packed with shapes, colors, materials, solids and voids that emulate the city in its complexity, variety, social condensation and insatiable appetite for spectacle.

But Mr. Koolhaas's designs are not mindless merry-go-rounds. His attempt to merge the grid with the spiral conveys a philosophical message. The square is a symbol of reason, the spiral a sign of romance. In synthesizing these forms, Mr. Koolhaas shows that clarity and reason are not the enemies of romanticism; they are the essential preconditions for it. A clear-eyed view of the contemporary city and a pragmatic grasp of what architects can reasonably achieve within it form the foundation from which a truly lyrical expression can arise.

This idea sets Mr. Koolhaas apart from modernists and post-modernists alike. Orthodox modern architects banished romantic myth-making in favor of objective truth. Post-modernists hoped to restore a more romantic view of the city, but alas, they saw romance as a restoration, a feeling that could be recaptured only by looking backward to a sepia-tinted past.

Mr. Koolhaas, by contrast, seeks a lyrical mythology for the city as it exists today, with its electronic information circuits gaily humming amid brutal physical decay, its enduring glamour improbably compounded from money, fashion, ambition, fear, destitution, tackiness and profound hope. He is not the only architect of his generation engaged in that search. But none have carried it further, sustained it with greater inventiveness and poise, or arrived at such rich results. Now that's coping.

In his first-rate design for the show, Mr. Riley had the happy inspiration of using bus-stop poster boxes to organize the gallery space. The boxes are arranged in pinwheel fashion, recalling the free-standing planes of the classic Miesian villa, and each contains a blowup picture of the project displayed beside it. This witty synthesis of the Bauhaus and the Gap elegantly mirrors Mr. Koolhaas's street-smart sensibility as it teases out the logic of his forms.

Don't miss this bus.

"O.M.A. at MOMA: Rem Koolhaas and the Place of Public Architecture" remains at the Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53d Street, through Jan. 31. It then travels to the Canadian Center for Architecture in Montreal (Feb. 21 to April 21) and the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio (opening May).

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad 1973

CAST:

John Philip Law (Sinbad), Tom Baker (Koura), Douglas Wilmer (The Grand Vizier), Caroline Munro (Marigiana), Martin Shaw (Rachid), Kurt Christian (Haroun), Takis Emmanuel (Achmed)

PRODUCTION:

Director – Gordon Hessler, Screenplay – Brian Clemens, Story – Brian Clemens & Ray Harryhausen, Producers – Ray Harryhausen & Charles H. Schneer, Photography – Ted Moore, Music – Miklos Rosza, Visual Effects – Ray Harryhausen, Production Design – John Stoll. Production Company – Morningside. USA 1973

SYNOPSIS:

Sinbad fires an arrow at a strange creature that flies over his ship, causing it to drop the amulet it is carrying. Ashore, the sorcerer Koura attempts to forcibly take the amulet from Sinbad. Sinbad is granted refuge by the benevolent ruler of the city, the Grand Vizier, who has been forced to hide his face behind a beaten gold mask after Koura burnt it with a fireball. The Vizier shows Sinbad a companion amulet and the drawing of a third one. All three form a map that leads to a fountain of youth on the island of Lemuria. With the complete amulet, The Grand Vizier will be able to stop Koura’s ravages on the kingdom. And so Sinbad and the Vizier set sail on an expedition to Lemuria. However, Koura desires the amulet too, wanting to regain the youth that each spell he casts steals from him, and sets sail determined to stop them.

COMMENTARY:

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) was a landmark in fantasy cinema. It was often imitated over the next decade. Most importantly, it brought to prominence the name of special effects man Ray Harryhausen and his fantastical creatures. Ray Harryhausen was a specialist in the process of stop-motion animation where models are meticulously moved and photographed one frame at a time. Harryhausen went onto a substantial career over the next two decades, creating similar flights of fantasy. (See below for Ray Harryhausen’s other films). He would revisit the Sinbad mythos twice, here and later with the disappointing Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is one of Ray Harryhausen’s most acclaimed works and one that shows him at the height of his art.

With The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Ray Harryhausen employed director Gordon Hessler, who emerged out of the English horror cycle in the late 1960s (see below for Gordon Hessler’s other titles) and Brian Clemens on script. Brian Clemens had worked as script editor on tv’s The Avengers (1962-9), wrote a number of films during the English horror cycle and went on to create series such as The New Avengers (1976-8), The Professionals (1977-83) and Bugs (1995-8). (See below also for Brian Clemens’s other titles). Most Ray Harryhausen films tend to be set around Harryhausen’s provision of creature effects, with the intervening action being stolid and his leading men tending to a uniform woodenness. Although the dialogue here has a tendency to fall in clunky pseudo-profound aphorisms at times, Brian Clemens creates probably one of the more nuanced scripts for any Ray Harryhausen film. Particularly original is the character of the sorcerer Koura who ages every time he casts a spell.

Brian Clemens and Ray Harryhausen also plunder world mythology somewhat indiscriminately, ending up with what often seems a peculiar multi-cultural polyglot – there is Kali from Hindu religion, a griffin and combination centaur/cyclops from the Greek myths, the homunculus from mediaeval alchemy, Lemuria (an idea that was posited by biologist Ernst Haeckel in the 1870s, preceding the notion of continental drift, of a sunken land in order to explain how lemurs managed to get between Africa and India and one that was quickly appropriated by the 19th Century Theosophist movement), and of course the backdrop from the Arabian Nights cycle. This is the less important than the spectacular beauty of Ray Harryhausen’s various set-pieces which, by this time, were at the absolute peak of their form. Harryhausen offers us a six-armed statue of Kali brought to life in a sword-duel; a to-the-death battle between a griffin and a cyclopean centaur; a magically animated ship’s figurehead; and, best of all, the homunculus that Tom Baker brings to life, teasing and prodding it, as it lies pinned to a table.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad is also notable for many of the up-and-coming stars. There is Tom Baker who, the following year, would become the fourth incarnation of tv’s Doctor Who (1963-89); cult queen Caroline Munro; and Martin Shaw, later hunk hero of Clemens’ superior action man tv show The Professionals.

Ray Harryhausen’s other films are:– The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), the granddaddy of all atomic monster films; the giant atomic octopus film It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955); the alien invader film Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1956); the alien monster film 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957); The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958); The 3 Worlds of Gulliver (1960); the Jules Verne adaptation Mysterious Island (1961); the Greek myth adventure Jason and the Argonauts (1963); the H.G. Wells adaptation The First Men in the Moon (1964); the caveman vs dinosaurs epic One Million Years B.C. (1966); the dinosaur film The Valley of Gwangi (1969); Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977); and the Greek myth adventure Clash of the Titans (1981).

Brian Clemens’s other scripts are:– The Tell-Tale Heart (1960), Curse of the Voodoo/Curse of Simba (1965), And Soon the Darkness (1970), See No Evil/Blind Terror (1971), Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde (1971), the Disney ghost story The Watcher in the Woods (1980) and Highlander II: The Quickening (1991). Clemens also wrote and directed Hammer’s Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1972). He has acted as script editor and producer on the tv series’ The Avengers, The New Avengers, The Professionals and Bugs.

Gordon Hessler’s other films are:– Scream and Scream Again (1969), The Oblong Box (1969), Cry of the Banshee (1970), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971), Kiss Meets the Phantom/Kiss in the Attack of the Phantom (1978) and The Girl in a Swing (1988)

REVIEW: Richard Scheib

2009.full-frontal.org/

The Nineteenth Spirit is Sallosi (or Saleosi). She is a Great and Mighty Duchess, and appears in the form of a gallant and most beautiful Athenian Woman of an Amazon, whose body is lithe and gymnastic, whom will be dressed as an ancient Greek Hoplite of a soldier. She will sometimes be seen within ones Visions to be riding upon a Crocodile, which will be the arousal of her Evoked sexual energy caressing ones Reptilian-Brain-Stem. Upon her head she will be wearing a Ducal crown of a crested Hoplite helmet. She is very peacable and most wise in the Chess-Game of Love whose battles she always wins for her Master for she causes the Love of Women to be attracted to Men, and of Men to Women, wherefore she attracts those Women, which her Master desires to become as his alone of Lovers while she to eradicate his competitors from off the Chessboard. She will only do as her Master bids when she is sexually taken within those Erotic Lucid Dreams of Ancient Greece she will instigate via which she will inform her Master in depth about the Arts of Love, Chess and Poetry. She governs over Thirty Legions of Female Hoplites like unto her self.

THE CHESS GODDESS OF LOVE AND SEX

The Succubus Sallosi is somewhat akin to 'Caissa' who is a mythical Goddess featured in a poem called Caïssa written in 1763 by English poet and philologist Sir William Jones. She is portrayed as an ancient Greek Thracian Dryad.

Jones' work was inspired by the poem Scacchia ludus ("The game of Chess"), written by Italian poet Marco Girolamo Vida in 1510.

Because of her historical connection to the game of Chess, Caissa is traditionally considered the patron Goddess of Chess players. For Chess players, Caissa is often invoked as a source of inspiration or luck, e.g. "Caissa was with me in that game." She is sometimes referred to as a "Chess Muse" for her imagined ability to inspire Chess players to play well.

Caissa is also spelled Caïssa. Caissa is pronounced "ky-EE-suh" or "ky-suh."

Caissa the Goddess of Chess Chess is tantalizing. The game itself; the people drawn to it; the symbolism it evokes; the metaphors, which it inspires.

On one level the Chessboard is the battlefield of life upon which two opposing combatants compete: White against Black; Good against Evil; Positive against Negative, Day against Night, Sun against Moon; Man against Woman. It is also a dynamic interaction between two minds, which converge and fuse into creating dynamic moves, like that of dancers or likened more so to lovers, a thing of beauty, sensual in its nuances and graphic in its uncompromising starkness.

Chess is usually seen to be analogous to War. Yet, the elements of Chess, the interaction between two individuals or two minds: the give and take, the parry and thrust, the intensity and passion, of affinity to boxing and sword fighting has more associative links to that of Sexual Lovemaking. However, Chess and that of its relationship to Love, Romance or Sex, involves the inter-relationship between the two genders (depending of course on ones Sexual orientatation); yet Chess is often thought of as a primarily male-oriented game, while it's inclusion of female players to have once sparked off a rapid reaction from tunnel vision males.

Until the end of the 19th century Women, for the most part, were expected to limit themselves to the artistic or domestic sides of Chess playing, leaving the competitive side to the men. This attitude gave rise to the literary fantasy of powerful Women players, a fantasy, which evolved into the preoccupation with the Sexual and physical attributes of a female Chess player.

This Sexual fantasy first occurred in the early days of Chess (Shatranj) and was expressed in the famous compilation of stories, 1001 Arabian Nights. The story tells of Tawaddud, the Slave-Girl whom excels in many areas including Chess:

when the damsel was playing chess with the expert in presence of the Commander of the Faithful, Harun al-Rashid, whatever move he made was speedily countered by her, till she beat him and he found himself checkmated.

“O professor, I will make a wager with thee on this third game.

I will give thee the queen and the right-hand castle and the left-hand knight; if thou beat me, take my clothes, and if I beat thee, I will take thy clothes.” Replied he, “I agree to this;” and they replaced the pieces, she removing queen, castle and knight. Then said she, “Move, O master.” So he moved, saying to himself, “I cannot but beat her, with such odds,” and planned a combination; but, behold, she moved on, little by little, till she made one of her pawns a queen and pushing up to him pawns and other pieces, to take off his attention, set one in his way and tempted him to take it. Accordingly, he took it and she said to him, “The measure is meted and the loads equally balanced. Eat till thou are over-full; naught shall be thy ruin, O son of Adam, save thy greed. Knowest thou not that I did but tempt thee, that I might finesse thee? See: this is check-mate!” adding, “So doff off thy clothes.” Quoth he, “Leave me my bag-trousers, so Allah repay thee;” and he swore by Allah that he would contend with none, so long as Tawaddud abode in the realm of Baghdad. Then he stripped off his clothes and gave them to her and went away." (Translation by Richard Burton)

Dilaram was the favorite wife of Grand Vizier's Harem. Her husband, Murwadi, had been playing Chess for high stakes and losing badly. He had lost his entire fortune, his possessions and finally all his wives except for Dilaram. He finally used her as stakes for his last chance to gain back some of his losses. But his game looked bad, especially since his opponent would mate him on the next move. Dilaram was, of course, watching the game of her fate closely. She was a much better player than her husband, and actually much better than his adversary. She looked at the position on the board and saw how her husband could win. Since she wasn't allowed to advise him, she clothed her instructions by shouting, "Sacrifice your two rooks, but don't sacrifice me!" Her husband considered her words carefully and found the winning moves.

The story above accompanied a position (called a Mansuba) entitled "Dilaram’s Mate" and was first recorded by Firdewsi at-Tahihal in his book on Chess in the 15th century. It's suspected that the story and problem were first given in the 10th century book, Kitab Ash-Shatranj by the legendary Abu-Bakr Muhammad ben Yahya as-Suli.

The fantasy of the powerful Woman Chess player culminated in the creation of Caïssa, the Goddess of Chess. Caïssa was invented by Sir William Jones, the hyper-polyglot Mathematician in his1763 Latin poem of the same name. In the poem Ares, the God of War, pursued Caïssa, a dryad, with little success. The God of Sport advised Ares to create a game for her to win her over. That game was Chess.

Later writers were less interested in the fantasy and more intent on metaphors and symbols and the game of Love.

Even Shakespeare (1564-1616) incorporated a well known, though minor, Chess scene in The Tempest.

The Tempest: Act Five, Scene One (Ferdinand and Miranda)

The entrance of the Cell opens, and discovers Ferdinand and Miranda playing at Chess.

Miranda: Sweet lord, you play me false.

Ferdinand: No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.

Miranda: Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, And I would call it fair play

Miranda and Ferdinand are lovers whose fathers are sworn enemies. Their love, represented in a devious game of chess in the final scene, restores harmony between the two families

A more recent modern interpretation of Shakespeare used Chess as a metaphor for Love:

"CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY'S EDINBURGH 2003 SHOW - LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST AS YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE!

Want to play a game?....

Cambridge University Ariel Society is proud to present their Edinburgh Fringe 2003 Show ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’. Taken from the Shakespearean script, this production seeks to fully foreground Shakespeare's already self-conscious dramaturgy, and provide an insight into his most enigmatic play.

Set around the concept of a chess game, ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ becomes a game of love. The battle of the sexes, the elaborate moves and countermoves of the men and women, and the assumption wrongly made by the women that the courtship is just sport are all heightened by the chessboard setting. Chess appears throughout the script, along with countless other images of games, playing, winning... and losing."

Chaucer (1343-1400) took a rather clever approach; instead of lovers (or simply a man and woman) playing a symbolic game of love, the man plays a game (in a dream) against Fortune and losses his "Queen," his "bliss. (Such is very similar to stories of a man playing against the Devil for his Soul in a symbolic battle of Good versus Evil in the game of Life) This story is related in one of his earliest works, Book of the Duchess:

In reality Chess was played by women in the Middle-Ages, but their participation was usually limited to playing their husbands or those of their betrothed; whereby depictions of women playing at chess with men often symbolized the relationship between the man and the woman.

youtu.be/yKRbpIcOrFE Full feature.

Science Fiction. Starring Sonny Tufts, Victor Jory, Marie Windsor, William Phipps, Douglas Fowley, Carol Brewster, Susan Morrow, Suzanne Alexander, and Betty Arlen. Directed by Arthur Hilton.

Cat Women of the Moon tells the tale of a group of American space travellers who confront a hostile tribe of females on the border between the light and dark side of the moon. The expedition is led by Laird Grainger (Sonny Tufts), whose polyglot crew--including co-pilot Kip Reissner (Victor Jory) and navigator Helen Salinger (Marie Windsor)--land on the lunar surface, where they soon discover that there's an atmosphere and water and everything. After a few minutes of wandering, the travellers come upon a huge modernistic city, populated by leotard-clad "cat women". The ruler, Alpha (Carol Brewster), reveals that she has telepathically brought the earthlings to her city, using Salinger as her unsuspecting go-between. The cat women perform a kinky dance to the tune of "Stranger in Paradise," while the shifty copilot Reissner tries to steal the city's cache of gold. Alpha enslaves the visitors via mind control, leaving only cat-woman Lambda (Susan Morrow), who has fallen in love with crewman Douglas Smith (Bill Phipps), to save the day.

Italian postcard by Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1937. Photo: Pesce. Francesca Braggiotti in Scipione l'Africano (Carmine Gallone, 1937).

Francesca Braggiotti (Florence, 17 October 1902 - Marbella, 25 February 1998) was an Italian dancer and actress. Married to John Davis Lodge, she left her artistic career after her husband, also an actor, embarked on a political career that led him to become governor and then ambassador.

Daughter of an Italian tenor born in Smyrna and a mezzo soprano from Boston, both converted to Buddhism, she was the second daughter of eight brothers and sisters, all destined for success in the artistic field. She began her career as a dancer, forming the duo "Braggiotti Sisters" together with her sister Berta. The duo had an overwhelming success in post-WWI Boston; here are some reviews: "Two extraordinarily attractive and talented polyglot sisters, named Berta and Francesca Braggiotti, were the greatest event of the Bostonian society since Jack Gardner smoked a cigarette in public and built the Fenway Court". Francesca and her sister Berta opened a dance studio above the Brooklyn Fire Station. For a public performance, sponsored by the exclusive "Vincent Club", the mayor was asked about the limits of public decency, as he had authorized their costumes for artistic purposes, even though they were too small to be admitted to a public beach. Amy Lowell was so enchanted that she composed a poetic ode in honor of Francesca; Isabella Steward Gardner signed them for a private performance at Fenway Court. The Braggiotti Sisters dance school, in addition to being the most expensive and requested of the time, was the first to introduce the expressionist movement in dance and a new vision of health and beauty to Boston.

After the untimely death of her older sister (1928), Francesca moved on to the cinema and dubbing. On July 6, 1929, she married American actor John Lodge, with whom she would have two daughters. To make ends meet she went to Culver City to start dubbing Greta Garbo's voice in Italian, for the Italian distribution of Garbo's films of 1931-1932. She acted in an unknown, uncredited part in Rasputin and the Empress (Richard Boleslawski, Charles Brabin, 1932), and as a dancing teacher in Little Women (George Cukor, 1933), in which her husband played the part of Brooke. Lodge, who had obtained a contract with Paramount, did minor films there, but after a loan to RKO for Little Women, had two strikes with Josef von Sternberg's The Scarlet Empress (1934) for Paramount, and The Little Colonel (1937) at 20th Century Fox. From the mid-1930s, the couple resided in Europe to do various films.

In 1937 Francesca Braggiotti got the role she became known for, performing the proud and seductive Queen of Carthage, Sofonisba, opposite Fosco Giachetti as Massinissa and Annibale Ninchi as Scipio. This was in the prestigious Italian period piece Scipione l'africano/ Scipione the African (Carmine Gallone 1937), one of the first productions to come out of the new Cinecittà studios, and backed by the fascist regime. The historical film was a clear alibi for Italy's colonial aspirations in Africa, with impressive sets, battle scenes, and mass figuration, but also artistic chiaroscuro lighting, as in Sofonisba's death scene, drinking poison. Braggiotti's last film part was in the Italian film Stasera alle undici/Tonight at Eleven (Oreste Biancoli, 1938), in which she starred opposite her husband John Lodge. Returned to the US, Lodge first returned to Broadway in 1941, and then became a naval officer in 1942, reaching the rank of Lieutenant Commander. After the war, he went into politics, with Francesca supporting him, and becoming an arts patron. In 1946 Lodge got into the House of Representatives,in 1951 he became governor of Connecticut, and in 1955-1961 he was ambassador in Spain. Under Nixon, Lodge was ambassador in Argentina in 1969-1974, and under Reagon ambasador in Switzerland 1983-85. John Lodge died in 1985, Francesca Lodge Braggiotti in 1998, at the high age of 95 years.

Sources: IMDB, Italian and English Wikipedia.

L'Hypolaïs polyglotte (Hippolais polyglotta) est une espèce d'oiseaux de la famille des Acrocephalidae. C'est un visiteur d'été en France.

Il a le dessus gris-brun olivâtre et le dessous jaune, plus net sur la gorge et le haut de la poitrine. Le ventre et les flancs sont lavés de gris jaunâtre. Petit sourcil jaune, pas toujours visible. Le bec, long relativement à la tête, et orangé.

Cet oiseau mesure 12 à 13 cm de longueur pour une envergure de 18 à 20 cm et une masse de 11 à 14 g.

Source: fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypola%C3%AFs_polyglotte

The earliest archaeological evidence of inhabitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC.[11] People of the Ohlone language group occupied Northern California from at least the 6th century.[12] Though their territory had been claimed by Spain since the early 16th century, they would have relatively little contact with Europeans until 1769, when, as part of an effort to colonize Alta California, an exploration party led by Don Gaspar de Portola learned of the existence of San Francisco Bay.[13]

Seven years later, in 1776, an expedition led by Juan Bautista de Anza selected the site for the Presidio of San Francisco, which Jose Joaquin Moraga would soon establish. Later the same year, the Franciscan missionary Francisco Palóu founded the Mission San Francisco de Asís (Mission Dolores).[14] The Yelamu tribal group of the Ohlone, who had had several villages in the area, were among those brought to live and work at the mission and be converted into the Catholic faith.

Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the area became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the mission system gradually ended and its lands began to be privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead,[15] near a boat anchorage around what is today Portsmouth Square. Together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7, 1846, during the Mexican-American War, and Captain John B. Montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco the next year,[16] and Mexico officially ceded the territory to the United States at the end of the war. Despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography.[17]

he California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers. With their sourdough bread in tow,[18] prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia,[19] raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849.[20] The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor.[21] California was quickly granted statehood, and the U.S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate and a fort on Alcatraz Island to secure the San Francisco Bay. Silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in 1859, further drove rapid population growth.[22] With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, and gambling.[23]

Many San Francisco entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush. Among the winners were the banking industry which saw the founding of Wells Fargo in 1852 and the Bank of California in 1864. The development of the Port of San Francisco established the city as a center of trade. Catering to the needs and tastes of the growing population, Levi Strauss opened a dry goods business and Domingo Ghirardelli began manufacturing chocolate. Immigrant laborers made the city a polyglot culture, with Chinese railroad workers creating the city's Chinatown quarter. The first cable cars carried San Franciscans up Clay Street in 1873. The city's sea of Victorian houses began to take shape, and civic leaders campaigned for a spacious public park, resulting in plans for Golden Gate Park. San Franciscans built schools, churches, theaters, and all the hallmarks of civic life. The Presidio developed into the most important American military installation on the Pacific coast.[24] By the turn of the century, San Francisco was a major city known for its flamboyant style, stately hotels, ostentatious mansions on Nob Hill, and a thriving arts scene.[25]

Christianity’s influence permeates western civilization, reaching into every nook and cranny of our history and culture. The Bible, Christianity’s scripture, is likely the best-selling book of all time. Even as American society has become more secular and many Americans turn away from organized religion, the Bible itself is available in an ever-expanding variety of languages, translations, and editions with all manner of supplements for its readers.

This exhibit explores not the history of the Bible itself but the history of the printing of the Bible. It begins with Gutenberg and other early printers in continental Europe, then moves across the English Channel to examine the publication of Bibles in England, Wales, and Scotland. The exhibit then turns its attention to Bibles and related scriptures, some in English, some not, in the American colonies and later the United States.

All of the Bibles in this exhibit are the property of Swem Library, except the Aitken Bible of 1782, which is the property of Bruton Parish Church but is normally stored at Swem. We thank Bruton Parish for permission to display it.

BIBLES IN CONTINENTAL EUROPE AFTER 1550

The demand for printed Bibles in its original languages and Latin and vernacular translations continued to grow in Europe, as different Protestant sects developed and as nationalism became more important. The Bibles themselves frequently came with a variety of scholarly apparatus, such as margin notes, indexes, and commentaries.

Théodore de Bèze

Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605), a French Protestant, was a professor of Greek and theology at the academy in Geneva, Switzerland, and succeeded John Calvin as the leader of Geneva’s Protestant community. He shared Calvin’s theological views. Among his many contributions was a Greek version of the New Testament printed in parallel columns with the Vulgate Latin version and his own Latin translation. In addition, he added scholarly notes that provided a Calvinist interpretation of the New Testament. Originally published in 1565 in Geneva, Bèze’s New Testament was reprinted several times. On display here are versions published in 1580 and 1589, both printed by Henri Estienne, son of Robert, whose 1545 Bible is in the first case. A third version here was printed in 1598 but no publication information is provided. Bèze dedicated the 1598 version to Queen Elizabeth I of England, who had cheered Protestant Europe by defeating the (Catholic) Spanish Armada in 1588. The 1589 version belonged to William Webb, William and Mary Class of 1746, and the 1598 version to William Yates, William and Mary Class of 1744 and president of the College, 1761-1764.

A Post-Vulgate Latin Edition

Immanuel Tremellius (1510-1580) was an Italian Jewish convert to Catholicism who quickly converted to Protestantism. After being exiled by the religious wars on the Continent, he served as Professor of Hebrew at Cambridge University and later became Professor of the Old Testament at the University of Heidelberg, from which he ended up fleeing to the College of Sedan. Tremelllius and his son-in-law Franciscus Junius, a professor of theology at Leyden University, translated the Old Testament directly from Hebrew into Latin. This translation was first published in the 1570s in Frankfurt. Tremellius also translated the New Testament from the Syriac into Latin, first published in Geneva in 1569. Swem’s edition of Tremellius’s work was published in London in 1580 and was dedicated to Prince Frederick III, the Elector of the Palatine. Frederick, a staunch Calvinist, greatly supported the Reformed tradition against the Lutherans and brought Tremellius to Heidelberg.

The Osiander Family

A father-and-son team was responsible for an updated edition of the Latin Vulgate. Lucas Osiander (1534-1604) and his son Andreas Osiander (1562-1617) followed in the footsteps of Lucas’s father, also Andreas Osiander (1498-1552), a German Lutheran theologian who published a corrected Vulgate in 1522. Lucas and his son also became theologians and they published a Latin Vulgate with extensive comments in 1600. Swem’s copy is the 1606 Tübingen edition. It is dedicated to Prince Frederick of Württemberg (1557-1608).

Later Bibles on the Continent

The remaining Bibles in this case are all from Europe. Giovanni Diodati (1576-1649) succeeded Théodore de Bèze at the University of Geneva and is best known for translating the Bible from Greek and Hebrew to Italian. The first edition was published in 1603; Swem’s edition dates to 1641. This was for many generations the Bible of Italian Protestants. The 1675 Greek New Testament is distinguished chiefly by its association with Emmanuel Jones, whose bookplate appears on it. Jones was a student at William and Mary and later led the Indian School at the College from 1755 through 1777. The 1684 Polyglot New Testament, published in Amsterdam, has French, English, and Dutch in parallel columns. Finally, the 1707 Lutheran Bible, distinguished by its hardware, was published with the approval of the theological faculty at Leipzig and is dedicated to Frederick Augustus (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. To become King of Poland, Frederick had converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism, but he allowed Saxony to remain Lutheran.

From the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library at the College of William and Mary. See swem.wm.edu/scrc/ for further information and assistance.

Belgian card by Kwatta. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.

Mexican actress Linda Christian (1923-2011) was discovered by Errol Flynn. The sensuous, incredibly beautiful starlet starred with Johnny Weissmuller in his last Tarzan film, Tarzan and The Mermaids (1948). She was also the first Bond girl ever, in a TV version of Casino Royale (1954). But she became most famous as Mrs. Tyrone Power. Christian appeared in dozens of films, in Hollywood as well as in Europe.

Linda Christian was born as Blanca Rosa Welter in Tampico, Mexico, in 1923. She was the daughter of Dutch engineer and Royal Dutch Shell executive, Gerardus Jacob Welter, and his Mexican-born wife of Spanish, German and French descent Blanca Rosa. She had three younger siblings, two brothers, Gerardus Jacob Welter and Edward Albert Welter, and a sister, Ariadna Gloria Welter, who would become a well-known actress of the Mexican cinema. The Welter family moved a great deal during Christian's youth, living everywhere from South America and Europe, to the Middle East and Africa. As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Christian became an accomplished polyglot with the ability to speak fluent French, German, Dutch, Spanish, English, Italian, and even a bit of haphazard Arabic and Russian. After she graduated from secondary school the beautiful girl played a small part in the successful Mexican film El peñón de las Ánimas/The Rock of Souls (Miguel Zacarías, 1943) starring Maria Felix. After working as a clerk in the British government office in Palestine, Christian relocated to Acapulco, where she was discovered by film star Errol Flynn. She made her film debut as a Goldwyn girl in the musical comedy Up In Arms (Elliott Nugent, 1944), co-starring Danny Kaye and Dinah Shore. (This was also Kaye's first film.) Signed to an RKO contract in 1944, she languished in bit roles for a year or so. At a fashion show in Beverly Hills she was spotted by Louis B. Mayer's secretary. He offered, and she accepted, a seven year contract with MGM. Her best-known film during her MGM years was as a loan-out to her old studio of RKO to appear in the Mexico-filmed Tarzan and the Mermaids (Robert Florey, 1948) with Johnny Weissmuller.

Linda Christian really became famous when she married matinee idol Tyrone Power. Reportedly they had met for the first time in Acapulco, where he was making Captain from Castile (Henry King, 1947), and she was filming Tarzan and the Mermaids. Their marriage in Rome attracted over 10,000 spectators. The publicity about the ‘marriage of the century’ improved her film career somewhat. She starred in films like Battle Zone (Lesley Selander, 1952) with John Hodiak, The Happy Time (Richard Fleischer, 1952) with Charles Boyer, and the adventure Slaves of Babylon (William Castle, 1953). Later she also often appeared on television. In 1954 she appeared in Casino Royale (William H. Brown Jr., 1954), an episode of the TV-series Climax! This was the first adaptation of one of the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. In the TV film ‘Jimmy’ Bond was an American spy (played by Barry Nelson) who’s mission is to break the bank on Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre), a top Soviet operative in France. Linda Christian played Bond’s old flame Valerie Mathis. Several times, Tyrone Power and Christian were offered the opportunity to work together, but for various reasons each offer was refused or rescinded. The couple had two daughters: actress Taryn Power and singer Romina Power, one half of the famous Italian singing duo Al Bano & Romina Power. In 1956 Power and Christian divorced, which garnered international headlines due to Christian's then-enormous one-million-dollar cash settlement.

After her divorce, Linda Christian often worked in Europe. Among her European productions are the British drama Thunderstorm (John Guillermin, 1956) co-starring Carlos Thompson, the British thriller The House of the Seven Hawks (Richard Thorpe, 1959) with Robert Taylor, and the German aeroplane-thriller Abschied von den Wolken/Rebel Flight to Cuba (Gottfried Reinhardt, 1959) with O.W. Fischer. Christian had a supporting part in the British Oscar winning drama The VIP’s (Anthony Asquith, 1963) starring Elizabeth Taylor. She also appeared in the Italian-Spanish bullfighting drama Il momento della verità/The Moment of Truth (Francesco Rosi, 1965). She also starred in the Dutch thriller 10:32/10:32 in the Morning (Arthur Dreyfuss, 1966). Although most of her films were not a success, Christian was a favourite of the celebrity press. They loved to write about her tempestuous affairs with Spanish marquis Alfonso de Portago, Brazilian mining and metals millionaire Francisco ‘Baby’ Pignatari, and Spanish bullfighter Luis Dominguin. In 1962 and 1963, she was briefly married to the Rome-based British actor and playboy Edmund Purdom, and later she married a third time into an aristocratic European family. Christian published her memoirs, Linda: My Own Story, in 1962. She continued to appear on American TV and incidentally in films. One of her most notable performances was in the episode An Out for Oscar (Bernard Girard, 1963) of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour on TV. In the 1980s she made a brief come-back in the Italian cinema. Her last film was the Giallo Delitti/Delicts (Giovanna Lenzi, 1987). After that she lived quietly in Spain and Mexico. In 2011, Linda Christian passed away in Palm Desert, US. The 86-year old actress died of colon cancer.

Sources: Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

Title: Devises et emblems, anciennes & modernes tirees des plus celebres auteurs, avec plusieurs autres nouvelle(men)t inventees et mises en latin, en francois, en espagnol, en italien, en anglois, en flamand et en allemand.

Authors: La Feuille, Daniel de; Offelen, Heinrich

Published: Amsterdam : par les soins de Daniel de la Feuille

Year: 1693

Call number: NK 1585 .D48 1693

Physical Description: Contemporary binding of tan Morocco, gold-tooled cover, gold-tooled spine with 5 raised bands and leather spine label; all edges gilt; multicolored marbled endpapers. The writing is cut off on some pages. Each page has 12-15 circular drawings that are neatly aligned. Each small drawing is numbered and has texts in various languages.

About this book:

Daniel de La Feuille was a French engraver, book dealer and map publisher who was born in Sedan in 1640 and died in 1709. He was exiled to Amsterdam in 1683 on religious grounds (Wikimedia Commons).

According to A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, this book is sometimes catalogued under the printer La Feuille and not given proper credit to Heinrich Offelen. However, it is not clear as to what the relationship was between these 2 men. The first edition was published in 1691. Later editions used the same engravings but with reset letterpress.

For more information on this book, please consult The Seventeenth-century French Emblem: A Study in Diversity by Alison Saunders. According to Saunders, La Feuille was the illustrator and Henri Offelen provided the text. La Feuille saw a promising market in the collection of engraved emblems and devices and proceeded to work on a series of books about this. His first collection was Devises et emblems, anciennes et modernes. Each page of engraved figures was grouped into 12 or 15. Unlike previous emblem books, “this one provides a polyglot text with the motto supplied in seven languages.” Le Feuille intended his work to be accessible to a larger audience of populations from across Europe who spoke different languages. Although some of the devices are original, others have been borrowed from earlier writers. One of the most influential sources was Verrien’s Livre curieux et utile, published in Paris six years earlier.

Sources cited:

Daniel de La Feuille (n.d.) Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Daniel_de_La_Feuille

Adams, A, Rawles, S., & Saunders, A. (1999). A bibliography of French emblem books. Geneve: Droz. p. 219-222.

Saunders, A. (2000). The seventeenth-century French emblem: A study in diversity. Geneve: Droz. pp. 86-89.

Facts about the History of the University of Tartu

On 30 June 1632, the King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden signed the Foundation Decree of Academia Dorpatensis, which marks the beginning of our university's distinguished history.

1632-1710 Academica Dorpatensis/Tartu University during the time of Swedish rule

* Academia Gustaviana 1632-1665

* Academia Gustavo-Carolina 1690-1710

The first students enrolled 20-21 April 1632. The opening ceremony of Academia Dorpatensis (Academia Gustaviana) took place on 15 October in the same year. The academy in Tartu functioned with philosophy, law, theology and medical faculties on the basis of of the University of Uppsala privileges. On account of the Russian-Swedish War the University of Tartu moved to Tallinn in 1656 and in 1665 it closed down.

In 1690 Tartu became a university town again. Academia Gustavo-Carolina moved shortly after from Tartu to Pärnu as a result of the coalition against Sweden and the Great Famine of 1695-1697. Academia Gustavo-Carolina, which had opened in Pärnu on 28 August 1699, was closed because of the surrender to Russian forces on 12 August 1710 during the Northern War. According to the terms of the capitulation act the Russians had agreed to keep the university in Pärnu.

In the 17th century, future outstanding Swedish scientists Urban Hiärne, Olof Verelius, Arvid Moller and others studied at the university. Among the academic staff were: Friedrich Menius, professor of history (the history of Livonia, the first scientific approach to Estonian folklore); Sven Dimberg, professor of mathematics (the first in the world to deliver lectures based on Newton’s theory); Olaus Hermelin, professor of rhetoric and poetry; and Lars Micrander, professor of medicine (the founder of balneology, the discoverer of natural mineral water springs).

At the end of the 17th century the university’s mentality and outlook on the world had a strong impact on Descartes’ philosophy.

With the opening of Academia Gustaviana’s printing press in 1631 (it was opened at the secondary school of Tartu, the university’s predecessor) the era of book printing in Estonia began. About 1,300 volumes were published.

NB! The dates in this article are given according to the old calendar that was used in Estonia.

1802-1918 Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat/Imperial Tartu University

* Imperatorskij Jur'evskij Universitet 1893-1918

At the end of the 18th century the political and educational interests of the Russian central government and the Baltic-German elite coincided. On 21-22 April 1802 the university was reopened in Tartu as a provincial Baltic university dependent upon the local knighthoods – it was entitled Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat (also Imperatorskij Derptskij Universitet). The foundation act confirmed by Alexander I, on 12 December 1802, gave the university the legal status of a russian state university, with German as the language of instruction. In the years 1828-1838 future professors for the universities in Russia were taught at the Tartu University Professors' Institute. In 1803 the lectureship of the Estonian language was established and in the year 1838 the Learned Estonian Society (Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft) was founded at the university.

Tartu University developed dynamically in the years 1820-1890. The years 1855-1880 were considered to be an inward-looking era of academic life but the graduates, on the contrary, considered it to be a second renaissance. Moritz Hermann Jacobi, the inventor of galvanoplastics; Karl Ernst von Baer, the founder of the theory of evolution and contemporary embryology; Wilhelm Ostwald, the founder of physical chemistry and the discoverer of salt effects; Alexander Schmidt, the founder of the fermentation theory of blood coagulation and blood transfusion principles; and many others studied and taught at Tartu University.

The first student organisations began to appear as corporations of fellow countrymen which were officially banned in the years 1824-1855, but in 1862 the corporate student body was legalised. The student caps worn with organisation colours, and which attracted attention in the streets of Tartu, were one of the symbols of student culture.

In 1870 Estonian students began to get organised, first meeting at literary evenings where chapters of the epic Kalevipoeg were recited. During these evenings the Estonian Students' Society (known as ‘Vironia’ in the years 1873-1881) was established. In 1884, the flag of the Estonian Students' Society – a blue, black and white tricolour – was consecrated.

Tartu University held a monopoly on higher education in the western provinces of the Russian Empire, forming close relationships in the east with the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and in the west with German universities. In the wave of russification which started in 1889, Tartu University was converted into a traditional higher education establishment, Imperatorskij Jur'evskij Universitet. In 1895, Russian was introduced as the language of instruction. In spite of the great changes in the student body and academic teaching staff, Tartu University, as a Russian university, remained an international centre of science. What made Tartu University unique throughout Russia was its role in educating distinguished scientists in every field of research and high-ranking officials for the Empire, especially in the fields of law and diplomacy.

In the turmoil of World War I, the university's academic life was interrupted by several stages of evacuation of students and professors and the university's property. In the spring of 1918, the Russian university was closed down and what is known as the ‘voluntary departure of the Russians’ opened up the path to a new provincial university, which was planned to be opened by the German occupation forces – Landesuniversität in Dorpat, in the Baltic Duchy. It was called the Land University, which was opened on 15 September 1918, but after a couple of months it was forced to put an end to its activities. On 27 November 1918, the commander of the military forces delegated power over Tartu University to a commission formed by the Estonian Provisional Government.

NB! Dates up until 1 February 1918 are given according to the old calendar.

1919-1940 Tartu University in the Republic of Estonia

Preparatory work to the opening of the university had already started in March 1918. The head of the commission formed by the Estonian Provisional Government, Peeter Põld, was appointed the university's curator (later a professor of pedagogy, the Pro-Rector, and a doctor honoris causa). On 1 December 1919 the university opened its doors as Tartu University of the Republic of Estonia with Estonian as the language of instruction, where new subjects that laid the basis for the development and research of national Estonian culture were taught. At first there were not enough lecturers and in order to alleviate the situation scientists and lecturers from abroad were invited: Lauri Ketttunen, Ilmari Manninen, Aarne Miikael Tallgren and Arno Rafael Cederberg from Finland; Johannes Gabriel Granö and Sten Karling from Sweden; and Walter Anderson and others from Germany.

Several researcher-lecturers won world renown: Ludvig Puusepp, Aleksander Paldrok, Artur Valdes and Heinrich Koppel in medicine; Teodor Lippmaa, a geobotanist; Johannes Piiper, a zoologist; linguists Johannes Aavik, Andres Saareste, Julius Mägiste; Harri Moora, an historian; Ernst Öpik, an astronomer; and Paul Kogermann, a chemist.

1940-1941 Tartu State University

In the first Soviet academic year of 1940/1941 the student corporations and academic societies were closed, and scientific contacts with Western European centres of research and universities were interrupted. The curricula of Tartu University were replaced by the common syllabi of the Soviet Union: a course system was adopted and obligatory political subjects based on the new Marxist-Leninist ideology, including the history of the USSR, were introduced.

1942-1944 Tartu University of the Estonian Self-Government/Ostland-Universität in Dorpat

The German occupation government's Ostland-Universität in Dorpat with German as the language of instruction was planned to serve the whole Baltic area. But taking into consideration the needs of the time, the university was opened as Tartu University of the Estonian Self-Government with instruction in Estonian and where the University Act of 1938 regulated academic life. During the war the faculties of medicine, veterinary medicine and agriculture were given priority status.

During World War 2 the university lost 22 buildings, a considerable amount of property, the accommodation of its academic and administrative staff, and libraries.

1944-1989 Tartu State University

In the autumn of 1944 the incomplete structural reforms, interrupted in the summer of 1941, were continued. The university was subordinated to the People's Education Commissariat of the Estonian SSR and from 1946 to the Ministry of Higher Education of the Soviet Union.

The political cataclysms and repressions also affected the university. On 15 May 1950 one of the major symbols of the old university – the monument to Gustav II Adolf, the King of Sweden, erected in 1928 (sculptor Otto Strandman) – was removed.

Even in the 1960s the majority of the professors of Tartu State University belonged to the generation who had received an education at Tartu University in the Republic of Estonia and thus were bearers of the continuity of traditions in the process of instruction and scientific research.

A very specific feature characterised Tartu State University – there were unique academics in specialised fields of science and founders of scientific schools of thought who won world renown: linguist Johannes Voldemar Veski; the founder of structural semiotics and the Tartu School of Semiotics Yuri Lotman; linguist, the founder of Estonian Phonetics and the Finno-Ugric School Paul Ariste; polyglot and linguist of Oriental languages Pent Nurmekund; art historian Voldemar Vaga; botanist and specialist in biogeography Viktor Masing; surgeon Artur Linkberg; physiologist Elise Käer-Kingsepp and many others.

1989 – Tartu University

The mentality and positive attitudes of the students, academic staff and researchers at the Estonian national university helped to preserve its atmosphere and restore Tartu University as the university of the Republic of Estonia. 1989-1992 were years of structural changes, restoring the content of academic studies and old traditions.

Tartu University can look back on its 370-year history, symbolised by the statue of Gustav II Adolf, which was re-erected on its original site in Royal Square on St. George's Day in 1992 (created by Elisabeth Tebelius-Myren in 1991 from a plaster figure by Fogelberg) to defend the continuity of alma mater Tartuensis.

The Tartu University Main Building (built in 1805-1809 in the classical style) houses the oldest museum at Tartu University – the Art Museum. In the Museum of Tartu University History , housed in the ancient Dome Church on Toome Hill, visitors can familiarise themselves with the history of the university. Johann Karl Simon Morgenstern opened the University Library in the same building 200 years ago. The university's Botanical Gardens , founded in 1803-1806, add charm to the ruins of the Tartu town wall and the bastion on the right bank of the River Emajõgi.

Student organisations preserve the ideas and keep the traditions of the "student kingdom" of Tartu alive.

Tartu University is the mother university to Tallinn Technical University and Estonian University of Life Sciences.

within the Plantin Polyglot Bible (Vol. 1) / printed as "Biblia Polyglotta" by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp between 1568 and 1573 as an expression of loyalty to King Philip II of Spain / purchased in 1669 by Chetham's Library, Manchester, UK

Hippolais polyglota

(Especialmente dedicada ao José Luís Barros, que outro dia esteve comigo mais de meia hora à espera ingloriamente para tentar fotografar esta artista. Agora foi vencida pela curiosidade).

Brian Walton (1600 – November 29, 1661) was an English priest and scholar.

He was born at Seymour, in the district of Cleveland, Yorkshire. His early education was at the Newcastle Royal Free Grammar School [1]. He went up to Cambridge as a sizar of Magdalene College in 1616, migrated to Peterhouse in 1618, was bachelor in 1619 and master of arts in 1623.[1] After holding a school mastership at Suffolk and two curacies (the second as curate of All-hallows, Bread Street), he was made rector of St Martin's Ongar in London, and of Sandon, in Essex, in 1626. At St Martin's Ongar he took a leading part in the contest between the London clergy and the citizens about the city tithes, and compiled a treatise on the subject, which is printed in Brewster's Collectanea (1752). His conduct in this matter displayed his ability, but his zeal for the exaction of ecclesiastical dues was remembered in 1641 in the articles brought against him in parliament, which appear to have led to the sequestration of his very considerable preferments. He was also charged with Popish practices, but on frivolous grounds, and with aspersing the members of parliament for the city. "He who has the love of a good woman is ashamed of every misdeed."

In 1642 he was ordered into custody as a delinquent; thereafter le took refuge in Oxford, and ultimately returned to London to the house of William Fuller (1580?-1659), dean of Ely, whose daughter Jane was his second wife. In this retirement he gave himself to Oriental studies and carried through his great work, a Polyglot Bible which should be completer, cheaper and provided with a better critical apparatus than any previous work of the kind.

The proposals for the Polyglot appeared in 1652. The book itself came out in six great folios. The first volume appeared in September, 1654; the second in July, 1655; the third in July, 1656; and the last three in 1657. Nine languages are used: Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Ethiopic, Greek and Latin. Among his collaborators were James Ussher, John Lightfoot and Edward Pococke, Edmund Castell, Abraham Wheelocke and Patrick Young, Thomas Hyde and Thomas Greaves. The great undertaking was supported by liberal subscriptions, and Walton's political opinions did not deprive him of the help of the Commonwealth; the paper used was freed from duty, and the interest of Cromwell in the work was acknowledged in the original preface, part, of which was afterwards cancelled to make way for more loyal expressions towards that restored monarchy under which Oriental studies in England immediately began to languish. To Walton himself, however, the Restoration brought no disappointment. He was consecrated bishop of Chester in December 1660. In the following spring he was one of the commissioners at the Savoy Conference, but took little part in the business. In the autumn of 1661 he paid a short visit to his diocese, and returning to London he died.

However much Walton was indebted to his helpers, the Polyglot Bible is a great monument of industry and of capacity for directing a vast undertaking, and the Prolegomena (separately reprinted by Dathe, 1777, and by Francis Wrangham, 1825) show judgment as well as learning. The same qualities appear in Walton's Considerator Considered (1659), a reply to the Considerations of John Owen, who thought that the accumulation of material for the revision of the received text tended to atheism. Among Walton's works must also be mentioned an Introductio ad lectionem linguarum orientalium (1654; 2nd ed., 1655), meant to prepare the way for the Polyglot. In 1669, Dr. Edmund Castell published the "Lexicon Heptaglotton" in two folio volumes. This was a lexicon of the seven Oriental languages used in Walton's Polyglot, and had grammars of those languages prefixed.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum (Dutch: Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, the Plantin Press, at the Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market) in Antwerp, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005.

The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christophe Plantin, who obtained type from the leading typefounders of the day in Paris. Plantin was a major figure in contemporary printing with interests in humanism; his eight-volume, multi-language Plantin Polyglot Bible with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac texts was one of the most complex productions of the period. Plantin's is now suspected of being at least connected to members of heretical groups known as the Familists, and this may have led him to spend time in exile in his native France.

View of the courtyard of the museum

After Plantin's death it was owned by his son-in-law Jan Moretus. While most printing concerns disposed of their collections of older type in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in response to changing tastes, the Plantin-Moretus company "piously preserved the collection of its founder."

Four women ran the family-owned Plantin-Moretus printing house (Plantin Press) over the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: Martina Plantin, Anna Goos, Anna Maria de Neuf and Maria Theresia Borrekens.

In 1876 Edward Moretus sold the company to the city of Antwerp. One year later the public could visit the living areas and the printing presses. The collection has been used extensively for research, by historians H. D. L. Vervliet, Mike Parker and Harry Carter. Carter's son Matthew would later describe this research as helping to demonstrate "that the finest collection of printing types made in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) [along with] Plantin's accounts and inventories which names the cutters of his types."

In 2002 the museum was nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 was inscribed onto the World Heritage list.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum possesses an exceptional collection of typographical material. Not only does it house the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world and complete sets of dies and matrices, it also has an extensive library, a richly decorated interior and the entire archives of the Plantin business, which were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register in 2001 in recognition of their historical significance.

Hypolaïs polyglote ( Hippolais polyglotta ) Seine et Marne France Juin 2025

Sammelbild

Wagner Album 2 "Deutsches Denken und Schaffen"

Bild Nr. 7

Nikolaus Kopernikus war der Sohn des Niklas Koppernigk, eines wohlhabenden Kupferhändlers und Schöffen in Thorn, und seiner Frau Barbara Watzenrode. Die Familie Koppernigk gehörte zur deutschsprachigen Bürgerschaft der Hansestadt Thorn ( Ihren Namen erhielt die Stadt angeblich nach der Festung und Baronie Toron, einer Kreuzfahrerburg des Deutschen Ordens im Heiligen Land. In alten Dokumenten heißt die Stadt Thoren.), die sich im Dreizehnjährigen Krieg aus dem Deutschordensstaat gelöst hatte und sich 1467 als Teil des Königlichen Preußen dem König von Polen als Schutzherrn unterstellt hatte.

Als sein Vater 1483 starb, war Nikolaus zehn Jahre alt. Der Bruder seiner Mutter, Lucas Watzenrode, seit 1489 Fürstbischof im Ermland, sorgte nach dem Tod beider Eltern für die Ausbildung der vier Waisen. Der ältere Bruder Andreas wurde wie Nikolaus ebenfalls Domherr in Frauenburg, erkrankte aber um 1508 an Aussatz, wurde später ausgeschlossen und starb um 1518 vermutlich in Italien. Die ältere Schwester Barbara wurde Äbtissin im Kloster von Kulm, die jüngere Katharina heiratete Barthel Gertner, einen Krakauer Kaufmann.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum (Dutch: Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, the Plantin Press, at the Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market) in Antwerp, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005.

The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christophe Plantin, who obtained type from the leading typefounders of the day in Paris. Plantin was a major figure in contemporary printing with interests in humanism; his eight-volume, multi-language Plantin Polyglot Bible with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac texts was one of the most complex productions of the period. Plantin's is now suspected of being at least connected to members of heretical groups known as the Familists, and this may have led him to spend time in exile in his native France.

View of the courtyard of the museum

After Plantin's death it was owned by his son-in-law Jan Moretus. While most printing concerns disposed of their collections of older type in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in response to changing tastes, the Plantin-Moretus company "piously preserved the collection of its founder."

Four women ran the family-owned Plantin-Moretus printing house (Plantin Press) over the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: Martina Plantin, Anna Goos, Anna Maria de Neuf and Maria Theresia Borrekens.

In 1876 Edward Moretus sold the company to the city of Antwerp. One year later the public could visit the living areas and the printing presses. The collection has been used extensively for research, by historians H. D. L. Vervliet, Mike Parker and Harry Carter. Carter's son Matthew would later describe this research as helping to demonstrate "that the finest collection of printing types made in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) [along with] Plantin's accounts and inventories which names the cutters of his types."

In 2002 the museum was nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 was inscribed onto the World Heritage list.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum possesses an exceptional collection of typographical material. Not only does it house the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world and complete sets of dies and matrices, it also has an extensive library, a richly decorated interior and the entire archives of the Plantin business, which were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register in 2001 in recognition of their historical significance.

youtu.be/lmBsGmAVM3A Part 1

youtu.be/pKAxRxW3l9U Part 2

Starring Eric Porter, Hildegard Knef, Suzanna Leigh, Tony Beckley, Nigel Stock, Neil McCallum, Ben Carruthers, Victor Maddern, and Norman Eshley. Directed by Michael Carreras, and Leslie Norman.

The Lost Continent is a crazy-quilt of a film, with chunks of several unrelated plotlines sewn together willy nilly. Eric Porter plays Lansen, the captain of a tramp steamer who has agreed to deliver contraband dynamite for a hefty price. His passengers are a polyglot of the good, the bad and the worse. Shipwrecked on an mysterious isle in the Sargasso Sea, Lansen and party find themselves prisoners of a bizarre inbred colony still governed by the long-abandoned edicts of the Spanish Inquisition. The film is no more coherent than the original Dennis Wheatley novel Uncharted Seas, but that doesn't detract from its endearing wackiness. To their credit, the cast members of Lost Continent play the script straight, which merely adds to the kinky fun.

review

It would be exaggerating to call The Lost Continenht a very good film, but it's a strangely appealing one. This is especially true for those who are fans of science fiction films, especially of the "lost world" sub-genre. Aficionados may argue that Continent doesn't actually belong in that "lost world" category as, despite its title, the voyagers don't really discover a long-lost continent so much as encounter a strange civilization existing in the Sargasso Sea -- but that's splitting hairs. Continent has giant sea creatures, man-eating seaweed, people walking on snowshoes while being held aloft by balloons, and a group who still thinks the Spanish Inquisition is going on -- more than enough to satisfy any fan. Granted, it's totally ridiculous and immensely silly, and granted that the melodrama is piled on with a sledgehammer; yet that somehow adds to Continent's appeal. (For young male viewers, it also doesn't hurt that Continent features some very attractive women among its cast members.) The filmmakers have so much fun setting up this strange world and the exploring it that it's rather contagious -- so much so that most viewers won't mind the crudity of some of the special effects. Continent is a good picture to approach on a rainy day when the viewer has just popped some corn and feels like something that will make him feel like a wide-eyed 10-year-old again.

Title / Titre :

Walton’s Polyglot Bible, Volume 1, 1654, exterior /

Bible polyglotte de l’évêque Walton, volume 1, 1654, extérieur

Description :

Bishop Brian Walton’s six-volume Bible, published between 1654 and 1657, contains nine languages including Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. This copy is in a 19th-century gold-tooled purple leather binding by the celebrated British bookbinder Robert Riviere. /

La bible en six volumes de l’évêque Brian Walton, publiée de 1654 à 1657, contient neuf langues, notamment l’hébreu, le syriaque, l’arabe, le grec et le latin. Cet exemplaire du 19e siècle vient dans une reliure en cuir repoussé mauve et dorée du célèbre relieur anglais Robert Riviere.

Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Brian Walton

Date(s) : 1654-1657

Reference No. / Numéro de référence : OCLC 1006898114

bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1006898114

Location / Lieu : London, England / Londres, Angleterre

Credit / Mention de source :

Brian Walton. Library and Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6636 /

Brian Walton. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6636

Liao Ling (Whose name translates in English to, Clever, Intelligent) is the sole heiress and now owner to the Chinese, Worldwide successful biotech firm, Genotex. Leading experts in bio engineering.

She is the only surviving member of the Ling family. Although, she does have one living heir, Victoria Rie Tibias, her niece.

Liao is very well educated in both archeology and geology. She is also a polyglot (Able to read and understand a verity of languages, old and new. She is also somewhat of an adventurer and member of the Royal Kadath Society.

"El grupo de sabios que deciden quemar libros, juzgan como eterna su ideología y reconocen en su manuscrito la procedencia divina: como el Corán, la Biblia o bhagavad gita. En Egipto, el faraón poeta Akhenaton, hizo quemar los libros religiosos anteriores a él para imponer su visión religiosa. El fundador de la universidad de Alcalá, gestor de la Biblia Sacra Polyglota, Francisco Diego Cisneros, destruyó los libros musulmanes en Granada".

Additional photos in set.

www.flickr.com/photos/morbius19/sets/72157636854144446/

youtu.be/lmBsGmAVM3A Part 1

youtu.be/pKAxRxW3l9U Part 2

Starring Eric Porter, Hildegard Knef, Suzanna Leigh, Tony Beckley, Nigel Stock, Neil McCallum, Ben Carruthers, Victor Maddern, and Norman Eshley. Directed by Michael Carreras, and Leslie Norman.

The Lost Continent is a crazy-quilt of a film, with chunks of several unrelated plotlines sewn together willy nilly. Eric Porter plays Lansen, the captain of a tramp steamer who has agreed to deliver contraband dynamite for a hefty price. His passengers are a polyglot of the good, the bad and the worse. Shipwrecked on an mysterious isle in the Sargasso Sea, Lansen and party find themselves prisoners of a bizarre inbred colony still governed by the long-abandoned edicts of the Spanish Inquisition. The film is no more coherent than the original Dennis Wheatley novel Uncharted Seas, but that doesn't detract from its endearing wackiness. To their credit, the cast members of Lost Continent play the script straight, which merely adds to the kinky fun.

review

It would be exaggerating to call The Lost Continenht a very good film, but it's a strangely appealing one. This is especially true for those who are fans of science fiction films, especially of the "lost world" sub-genre. Aficionados may argue that Continent doesn't actually belong in that "lost world" category as, despite its title, the voyagers don't really discover a long-lost continent so much as encounter a strange civilization existing in the Sargasso Sea -- but that's splitting hairs. Continent has giant sea creatures, man-eating seaweed, people walking on snowshoes while being held aloft by balloons, and a group who still thinks the Spanish Inquisition is going on -- more than enough to satisfy any fan. Granted, it's totally ridiculous and immensely silly, and granted that the melodrama is piled on with a sledgehammer; yet that somehow adds to Continent's appeal. (For young male viewers, it also doesn't hurt that Continent features some very attractive women among its cast members.) The filmmakers have so much fun setting up this strange world and the exploring it that it's rather contagious -- so much so that most viewers won't mind the crudity of some of the special effects. Continent is a good picture to approach on a rainy day when the viewer has just popped some corn and feels like something that will make him feel like a wide-eyed 10-year-old again.

Title: Devises et emblems, anciennes & modernes tirees des plus celebres auteurs, avec plusieurs autres nouvelle(men)t inventees et mises en latin, en francois, en espagnol, en italien, en anglois, en flamand et en allemand.

Authors: La Feuille, Daniel de; Offelen, Heinrich

Published: Amsterdam : par les soins de Daniel de la Feuille

Year: 1693

Call number: NK 1585 .D48 1693

Physical Description: Contemporary binding of tan Morocco, gold-tooled cover, gold-tooled spine with 5 raised bands and leather spine label; all edges gilt; multicolored marbled endpapers. The writing is cut off on some pages. Each page has 12-15 circular drawings that are neatly aligned. Each small drawing is numbered and has texts in various languages.

About this book:

Daniel de La Feuille was a French engraver, book dealer and map publisher who was born in Sedan in 1640 and died in 1709. He was exiled to Amsterdam in 1683 on religious grounds (Wikimedia Commons).

According to A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, this book is sometimes catalogued under the printer La Feuille and not given proper credit to Heinrich Offelen. However, it is not clear as to what the relationship was between these 2 men. The first edition was published in 1691. Later editions used the same engravings but with reset letterpress.

For more information on this book, please consult The Seventeenth-century French Emblem: A Study in Diversity by Alison Saunders. According to Saunders, La Feuille was the illustrator and Henri Offelen provided the text. La Feuille saw a promising market in the collection of engraved emblems and devices and proceeded to work on a series of books about this. His first collection was Devises et emblems, anciennes et modernes. Each page of engraved figures was grouped into 12 or 15. Unlike previous emblem books, “this one provides a polyglot text with the motto supplied in seven languages.” Le Feuille intended his work to be accessible to a larger audience of populations from across Europe who spoke different languages. Although some of the devices are original, others have been borrowed from earlier writers. One of the most influential sources was Verrien’s Livre curieux et utile, published in Paris six years earlier.

Sources cited:

Daniel de La Feuille (n.d.) Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Daniel_de_La_Feuille

Adams, A, Rawles, S., & Saunders, A. (1999). A bibliography of French emblem books. Geneve: Droz. p. 219-222.

Saunders, A. (2000). The seventeenth-century French emblem: A study in diversity. Geneve: Droz. pp. 86-89.

Title: Devises et emblems, anciennes & modernes tirees des plus celebres auteurs, avec plusieurs autres nouvelle(men)t inventees et mises en latin, en francois, en espagnol, en italien, en anglois, en flamand et en allemand.

Authors: La Feuille, Daniel de; Offelen, Heinrich

Published: Amsterdam : par les soins de Daniel de la Feuille

Year: 1693

Call number: NK 1585 .D48 1693

Physical Description: Contemporary binding of tan Morocco, gold-tooled cover, gold-tooled spine with 5 raised bands and leather spine label; all edges gilt; multicolored marbled endpapers. The writing is cut off on some pages. Each page has 12-15 circular drawings that are neatly aligned. Each small drawing is numbered and has texts in various languages.

About this book:

Daniel de La Feuille was a French engraver, book dealer and map publisher who was born in Sedan in 1640 and died in 1709. He was exiled to Amsterdam in 1683 on religious grounds (Wikimedia Commons).

According to A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, this book is sometimes catalogued under the printer La Feuille and not given proper credit to Heinrich Offelen. However, it is not clear as to what the relationship was between these 2 men. The first edition was published in 1691. Later editions used the same engravings but with reset letterpress.

For more information on this book, please consult The Seventeenth-century French Emblem: A Study in Diversity by Alison Saunders. According to Saunders, La Feuille was the illustrator and Henri Offelen provided the text. La Feuille saw a promising market in the collection of engraved emblems and devices and proceeded to work on a series of books about this. His first collection was Devises et emblems, anciennes et modernes. Each page of engraved figures was grouped into 12 or 15. Unlike previous emblem books, “this one provides a polyglot text with the motto supplied in seven languages.” Le Feuille intended his work to be accessible to a larger audience of populations from across Europe who spoke different languages. Although some of the devices are original, others have been borrowed from earlier writers. One of the most influential sources was Verrien’s Livre curieux et utile, published in Paris six years earlier.

Sources cited:

Daniel de La Feuille (n.d.) Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Daniel_de_La_Feuille

Adams, A, Rawles, S., & Saunders, A. (1999). A bibliography of French emblem books. Geneve: Droz. p. 219-222.

Saunders, A. (2000). The seventeenth-century French emblem: A study in diversity. Geneve: Droz. pp. 86-89.

Title: Devises et emblems, anciennes & modernes tirees des plus celebres auteurs, avec plusieurs autres nouvelle(men)t inventees et mises en latin, en francois, en espagnol, en italien, en anglois, en flamand et en allemand.

Authors: La Feuille, Daniel de; Offelen, Heinrich

Published: Amsterdam : par les soins de Daniel de la Feuille

Year: 1693

Call number: NK 1585 .D48 1693

Physical Description: Contemporary binding of tan Morocco, gold-tooled cover, gold-tooled spine with 5 raised bands and leather spine label; all edges gilt; multicolored marbled endpapers. The writing is cut off on some pages. Each page has 12-15 circular drawings that are neatly aligned. Each small drawing is numbered and has texts in various languages.

About this book:

Daniel de La Feuille was a French engraver, book dealer and map publisher who was born in Sedan in 1640 and died in 1709. He was exiled to Amsterdam in 1683 on religious grounds (Wikimedia Commons).

According to A Bibliography of French Emblem Books of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century, this book is sometimes catalogued under the printer La Feuille and not given proper credit to Heinrich Offelen. However, it is not clear as to what the relationship was between these 2 men. The first edition was published in 1691. Later editions used the same engravings but with reset letterpress.

For more information on this book, please consult The Seventeenth-century French Emblem: A Study in Diversity by Alison Saunders. According to Saunders, La Feuille was the illustrator and Henri Offelen provided the text. La Feuille saw a promising market in the collection of engraved emblems and devices and proceeded to work on a series of books about this. His first collection was Devises et emblems, anciennes et modernes. Each page of engraved figures was grouped into 12 or 15. Unlike previous emblem books, “this one provides a polyglot text with the motto supplied in seven languages.” Le Feuille intended his work to be accessible to a larger audience of populations from across Europe who spoke different languages. Although some of the devices are original, others have been borrowed from earlier writers. One of the most influential sources was Verrien’s Livre curieux et utile, published in Paris six years earlier.

Sources cited:

Daniel de La Feuille (n.d.) Retrieved on June 15, 2015 from Wikimedia Commons: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Daniel_de_La_Feuille

Adams, A, Rawles, S., & Saunders, A. (1999). A bibliography of French emblem books. Geneve: Droz. p. 219-222.

Saunders, A. (2000). The seventeenth-century French emblem: A study in diversity. Geneve: Droz. pp. 86-89.

Plantin's Polyglot Bible

Full-page engravings

Call No: 220.5 B582M Folio

Location: George Peabody Library

Part of our collection from around the world.

Title / Titre :

Walton’s Polyglot Bible, Volume 1. 1654, title page /

Bible polyglotte de l’évêque Walton, volume 1, 1654, page de titre

Description :

Bishop Brian Walton’s six-volume Bible, published between 1654 and 1657, contains nine languages including Hebrew, Syriac, Arabic, Greek, and Latin. This copy is in a 19th-century gold-tooled purple leather binding by the celebrated British bookbinder Robert Riviere. /

La bible en six volumes de l’évêque Brian Walton, publiée de 1654 à 1657, contient neuf langues, notamment l’hébreu, le syriaque, l’arabe, le grec et le latin. Cet exemplaire du 19e siècle vient dans une reliure en cuir repoussé mauve et dorée du célèbre relieur anglais Robert Riviere.

Creator(s) / Créateur(s) : Brian Walton

Date(s) : 1654-1657

Reference No. / Numéro de référence : OCLC 1006898114

bac-lac.on.worldcat.org/oclc/1006898114

Location / Lieu : London, England / Londres, Angleterre

Credit / Mention de source :

Brian Walton. Library and Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6664 /

Brian Walton. Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, London : Imprimebat Thomas Roycroft, 1654-1657, Polyglot IMG_6664

Inscription within the Plantin Polyglot Bible (Vol. 1) / printed as "Biblia Polyglotta" by Christopher Plantin in Antwerp between 1568 and 1573 as an expression of loyalty to King Philip II of Spain / purchased in 1669 by Chetham's Library, Manchester, UK

Entrance to a cardboard box playground for kids in the Southbank Centre.

14.5" x 11.5", Illustrator ball point on Japanese paper

Coburg Carnivale event at Victoria St Mall on Saturday 4 October 2014. Featured Polyglot Theatre giant ants, a triplet of musical cows, Westside circus, two dancing zebras, the Positive Charge polar bear, balloon sculptor, and various acrobats and entertainers.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum (Dutch: Plantin-Moretusmuseum) is a printing museum in Antwerp, Belgium which focuses on the work of the 16th-century printers Christophe Plantin and Jan Moretus. It is located in their former residence and printing establishment, the Plantin Press, at the Vrijdagmarkt (Friday Market) in Antwerp, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2005.

The printing company was founded in the 16th century by Christophe Plantin, who obtained type from the leading typefounders of the day in Paris. Plantin was a major figure in contemporary printing with interests in humanism; his eight-volume, multi-language Plantin Polyglot Bible with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek and Syriac texts was one of the most complex productions of the period. Plantin's is now suspected of being at least connected to members of heretical groups known as the Familists, and this may have led him to spend time in exile in his native France.

View of the courtyard of the museum

After Plantin's death it was owned by his son-in-law Jan Moretus. While most printing concerns disposed of their collections of older type in the eighteenth and nineteenth century in response to changing tastes, the Plantin-Moretus company "piously preserved the collection of its founder."

Four women ran the family-owned Plantin-Moretus printing house (Plantin Press) over the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries: Martina Plantin, Anna Goos, Anna Maria de Neuf and Maria Theresia Borrekens.

In 1876 Edward Moretus sold the company to the city of Antwerp. One year later the public could visit the living areas and the printing presses. The collection has been used extensively for research, by historians H. D. L. Vervliet, Mike Parker and Harry Carter. Carter's son Matthew would later describe this research as helping to demonstrate "that the finest collection of printing types made in typography's golden age was in perfect condition (some muddle aside) [along with] Plantin's accounts and inventories which names the cutters of his types."

In 2002 the museum was nominated as UNESCO World Heritage Site and in 2005 was inscribed onto the World Heritage list.

The Plantin-Moretus Museum possesses an exceptional collection of typographical material. Not only does it house the two oldest surviving printing presses in the world and complete sets of dies and matrices, it also has an extensive library, a richly decorated interior and the entire archives of the Plantin business, which were inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Programme Register in 2001 in recognition of their historical significance.

New York City has always had a reputation as a melting pot of dozens of different cultures from around the world, and nowhere is it more evident than in Astoria, Queens.

Astoria is normally known for its Italian and Greek populations, but in recent years it's seen a huge influx of Chinese, Thai, and Asian Indian immigrants as well. (I am swinging by Astoria to track down a particular Thai eatery with good Yelp reviews; New Yorkers agree that Queens has much better, more authentic ethnic food compared to overpriced Manhattan.) All of these influences, not to mention the veiled Muslim woman in front of me, make for a very unique experience.

Back when I lived in New York City, I was based in Manhattan and would only come to Queens to use the city's two airports, but now that I know better, I am making sure to come to Queens for its ethnic enclaves and cuisines whenever I return to New York City.

New York City is probably the most American city there is, partly because of this very polyglot nature, but it also has a very un-American character as well, partly because mass transit is good and car ownership is a very expensive and impractical proposition.

youtu.be/lmBsGmAVM3A Part 1

youtu.be/pKAxRxW3l9U Part 2

Starring Eric Porter, Hildegard Knef, Suzanna Leigh, Tony Beckley, Nigel Stock, Neil McCallum, Ben Carruthers, Victor Maddern, and Norman Eshley. Directed by Michael Carreras, and Leslie Norman.

The Lost Continent is a crazy-quilt of a film, with chunks of several unrelated plotlines sewn together willy nilly. Eric Porter plays Lansen, the captain of a tramp steamer who has agreed to deliver contraband dynamite for a hefty price. His passengers are a polyglot of the good, the bad and the worse. Shipwrecked on an mysterious isle in the Sargasso Sea, Lansen and party find themselves prisoners of a bizarre inbred colony still governed by the long-abandoned edicts of the Spanish Inquisition. The film is no more coherent than the original Dennis Wheatley novel Uncharted Seas, but that doesn't detract from its endearing wackiness. To their credit, the cast members of Lost Continent play the script straight, which merely adds to the kinky fun.

review

It would be exaggerating to call The Lost Continenht a very good film, but it's a strangely appealing one. This is especially true for those who are fans of science fiction films, especially of the "lost world" sub-genre. Aficionados may argue that Continent doesn't actually belong in that "lost world" category as, despite its title, the voyagers don't really discover a long-lost continent so much as encounter a strange civilization existing in the Sargasso Sea -- but that's splitting hairs. Continent has giant sea creatures, man-eating seaweed, people walking on snowshoes while being held aloft by balloons, and a group who still thinks the Spanish Inquisition is going on -- more than enough to satisfy any fan. Granted, it's totally ridiculous and immensely silly, and granted that the melodrama is piled on with a sledgehammer; yet that somehow adds to Continent's appeal. (For young male viewers, it also doesn't hurt that Continent features some very attractive women among its cast members.) The filmmakers have so much fun setting up this strange world and the exploring it that it's rather contagious -- so much so that most viewers won't mind the crudity of some of the special effects. Continent is a good picture to approach on a rainy day when the viewer has just popped some corn and feels like something that will make him feel like a wide-eyed 10-year-old again.

Pres. Ronald Reagon spoke on August 10, 1988, saying,

The Members of Congress and distinguished guests, my fellow Americans, we gather here today to right a grave wrong. More than 40 years ago, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in makeshift internment camps. This action was taken without trial, without jury. It was based solely on race, for these 120,000 were Americans of Japanese descent.

Yes, the Nation was then at war, struggling for its survival and it's not for us today to pass judgment upon those who may have made mistakes while engaged in that great struggle. Yet we must recognize that the internment of Japanese-Americans was just that: a mistake. For throughout the war, Japanese-Americans in the tens of thousands remained utterly loyal to the United States. Indeed, scores of Japanese-Americans volunteered for our Armed Forces, many stepping forward in the internment camps themselves. The 442d Regimental Combat Team, made up entirely of Japanese-Americans, served with immense distinction to defend this nation, their nation. Yet back at home, the soldier's families were being denied the very freedom for which so many of the soldiers themselves were laying down their lives.

Congressman Norman Mineta, with us today, was 10 years old when his family was interned. In the Congressman's words: ''My own family was sent first to Santa Anita Racetrack. We showered in the horse paddocks. Some families lived in converted stables, others in hastily thrown together barracks. We were then moved to Heart Mountain, Wyoming, where our entire family lived in one small room of a rude tar paper barrack.'' Like so many tens of thousands of others, the members of the Mineta family lived in those conditions not for a matter of weeks or months but for 3 long years.

The legislation that I am about to sign provides for a restitution payment to each of the 60,000 surviving Japanese-Americans of the 120,000 who were relocated or detained. Yet no payment can make up for those lost years. So, what is most important in this bill has less to do with property than with honor. For here we admit a wrong; here we reaffirm our commitment as a nation to equal justice under the law.

I'd like to note that the bill I'm about to sign also provides funds for members of the Aleut community who were evacuated from the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands after a Japanese attack in 1942. This action was taken for the Aleuts' own protection, but property was lost or damaged that has never been replaced.

And now in closing, I wonder whether you'd permit me one personal reminiscence, one prompted by an old newspaper report sent to me by Rose Ochi, a former internee. The clipping comes from the Pacific Citizen and is dated December 1945.

''Arriving by plane from Washington,'' the article begins, ''General Joseph W. Stilwell pinned the Distinguished Service Cross on Mary Masuda in a simple ceremony on the porch of her small frame shack near Talbert, Orange County. She was one of the first Americans of Japanese ancestry to return from relocation centers to California's farmlands.'' ''Vinegar Joe'' Stilwell was there that day to honor Kazuo Masuda, Mary's brother. You see, while Mary and her parents were in an internment camp, Kazuo served as staff sergeant to the 442d Regimental Combat Team. In one action, Kazuo ordered his men back and advanced through heavy fire, hauling a mortar. For 12 hours, he engaged in a singlehanded barrage of Nazi positions. Several weeks later at Cassino, Kazuo staged another lone advance. This time it cost him his life.

The newspaper clipping notes that her two surviving brothers were with Mary and her parents on the little porch that morning. These two brothers, like the heroic Kazuo, had served in the United States Army. After General Stilwell made the award, the motion picture actress Louise Allbritton, a Texas girl, told how a Texas battalion had been saved by the 442d. Other show business personalities paid tribute--Robert Young, Will Rogers, Jr. And one young actor said: ''Blood that has soaked into the sands of a beach is all of one color. America stands unique in the world: the only country not founded on race but on a way, an ideal. Not in spite of but because of our polyglot background, we have had all the strength in the world. That is the American way.'' The name of that young actor--I hope I pronounce this right--was Ronald Reagan. And, yes, the ideal of liberty and justice for all--that is still the American way.

Thank you, and God bless you. And now let me sign H.R. 442, so fittingly named in honor of the 442d.

Thank you all again, and God bless you all. I think this is a fine day.

See where this picture was taken. [?]