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# Ferromagnetism
## Materials
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Material | Curie\ |
| | `{{abbr|temp.|temperature}}`{=mediawiki} (K) |
+================+==============================================+
| Co | 1388 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Fe | 1043 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Fe~2~O~3~ | 948 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| NiOFe~2~O~3~ | 858 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| CuOFe~2~O~3~ | 728 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| MgOFe~2~O~3~ | 713 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| MnBi | 630 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Ni | 627 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Nd~2~Fe~14~B | 593 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| MnSb | 587 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| MnOFe~2~O~3~ | 573 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Y~3~Fe~5~O~12~ | 560 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| CrO~2~ | 386 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| MnAs | 318 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Gd | 292 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Tb | 219 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Dy | 88 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| EuO | 69 |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
| | |
+----------------+----------------------------------------------+
: Curie temperatures for some crystalline ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials
Ferromagnetism is an unusual property that occurs in only a few substances. The common ones are the transition metals iron, nickel, and cobalt, as well as their alloys and alloys of rare-earth metals. It is a property not just of the chemical make-up of a material, but of its crystalline structure and microstructure. Ferromagnetism results from these materials having many unpaired electrons in their d-block (in the case of iron and its relatives) or f-block (in the case of the rare-earth metals), a result of Hund\'s rule of maximum multiplicity. There are ferromagnetic metal alloys whose constituents are not themselves ferromagnetic, called Heusler alloys, named after Fritz Heusler. Conversely, there are non-magnetic alloys, such as types of stainless steel, composed almost exclusively of ferromagnetic metals.
Amorphous (non-crystalline) ferromagnetic metallic alloys can be made by very rapid quenching (cooling) of an alloy. These have the advantage that their properties are nearly isotropic (not aligned along a crystal axis); this results in low coercivity, low hysteresis loss, high permeability, and high electrical resistivity. One such typical material is a transition metal-metalloid alloy, made from about 80% transition metal (usually Fe, Co, or Ni) and a metalloid component (B, C, Si, P, or Al) that lowers the melting point.
A relatively new class of exceptionally strong ferromagnetic materials are the rare-earth magnets. They contain lanthanide elements that are known for their ability to carry large magnetic moments in well-localized f-orbitals.
The table lists a selection of ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic compounds, along with their Curie temperature (*T*~C~), above which they cease to exhibit spontaneous magnetization.
### Unusual materials {#unusual_materials}
Most ferromagnetic materials are metals, since the conducting electrons are often responsible for mediating the ferromagnetic interactions. It is therefore a challenge to develop ferromagnetic insulators, especially multiferroic materials, which are both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric.
A number of actinide compounds are ferromagnets at room temperature or exhibit ferromagnetism upon cooling. PuP is a paramagnet with cubic symmetry at room temperature, but which undergoes a structural transition into a tetragonal state with ferromagnetic order when cooled below its `{{Nowrap|1=''T''<sub>C</sub> = 125 K}}`{=mediawiki}. In its ferromagnetic state, PuP\'s easy axis is in the ⟨100⟩ direction.
In NpFe~2~ the easy axis is ⟨111⟩. Above `{{nowrap|''T''<sub>C</sub> ≈ 500 K}}`{=mediawiki}, NpFe~2~ is also paramagnetic and cubic. Cooling below the Curie temperature produces a rhombohedral distortion wherein the rhombohedral angle changes from 60° (cubic phase) to 60.53°. An alternate description of this distortion is to consider the length `{{Mvar|c}}`{=mediawiki} along the unique trigonal axis (after the distortion has begun) and `{{Mvar|a}}`{=mediawiki} as the distance in the plane perpendicular to `{{Mvar|c}}`{=mediawiki}. In the cubic phase this reduces to `{{nowrap|{{Mvar|c}}/{{Mvar|a}} {{=}}`{=mediawiki} 1.00}}. Below the Curie temperature, the lattice acquires a distortion
: $\frac{c}{a} - 1 = -(120 \pm 5) \times 10^{-4},$
which is the largest strain in any actinide compound. NpNi~2~ undergoes a similar lattice distortion below `{{nowrap|''T''<sub>C</sub> {{=}}`{=mediawiki} 32 K}}, with a strain of (43 ± 5) × 10^−4^. NpCo~2~ is a ferrimagnet below 15 K.
In 2009, a team of MIT physicists demonstrated that a lithium gas cooled to less than one kelvin can exhibit ferromagnetism. The team cooled fermionic lithium-6 to less than `{{nowrap|150 nK}}`{=mediawiki} (150 billionths of one kelvin) using infrared laser cooling. This demonstration is the first time that ferromagnetism has been demonstrated in a gas.
In rare circumstances, ferromagnetism can be observed in compounds consisting of only s-block and p-block elements, such as rubidium sesquioxide.
In 2018, a team of University of Minnesota physicists demonstrated that body-centered tetragonal ruthenium exhibits ferromagnetism at room temperature.
### Electrically induced ferromagnetism {#electrically_induced_ferromagnetism}
Recent research has shown evidence that ferromagnetism can be induced in some materials by an electric current or voltage. Antiferromagnetic LaMnO~3~ and SrCoO have been switched to be ferromagnetic by a current. In July 2020, scientists reported inducing ferromagnetism in the abundant diamagnetic material iron pyrite (\"fool\'s gold\") by an applied voltage. In these experiments, the ferromagnetism was limited to a thin surface layer.
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# Ferromagnetism
## Explanation
The Bohr--Van Leeuwen theorem, discovered in the 1910s, showed that classical physics theories are unable to account for any form of material magnetism, including ferromagnetism; the explanation rather depends on the quantum mechanical description of atoms. Each of an atom\'s electrons has a magnetic moment according to its spin state, as described by quantum mechanics. The Pauli exclusion principle, also a consequence of quantum mechanics, restricts the occupancy of electrons\' spin states in atomic orbitals, generally causing the magnetic moments from an atom\'s electrons to largely or completely cancel. An atom will have a *net* magnetic moment when that cancellation is incomplete.
### Origin of atomic magnetism {#origin_of_atomic_magnetism}
One of the fundamental properties of an electron (besides that it carries charge) is that it has a magnetic dipole moment, i.e., it behaves like a tiny magnet, producing a magnetic field. This dipole moment comes from a more fundamental property of the electron: its quantum mechanical spin. Due to its quantum nature, the spin of the electron can be in one of only two states, with the magnetic field either pointing \"up\" or \"down\" (for any choice of up and down). Electron spin in atoms is the main source of ferromagnetism, although there is also a contribution from the orbital angular momentum of the electron about the nucleus. When these magnetic dipoles in a piece of matter are aligned (point in the same direction), their individually tiny magnetic fields add together to create a much larger macroscopic field.
However, materials made of atoms with filled electron shells have a total dipole moment of zero: because the electrons all exist in pairs with opposite spin, every electron\'s magnetic moment is cancelled by the opposite moment of the second electron in the pair. Only atoms with partially filled shells (i.e., unpaired spins) can have a net magnetic moment, so ferromagnetism occurs only in materials with partially filled shells. Because of Hund\'s rules, the first few electrons in an otherwise unoccupied shell tend to have the same spin, thereby increasing the total dipole moment.
These unpaired dipoles (often called simply \"spins\", even though they also generally include orbital angular momentum) tend to align in parallel to an external magnetic field`{{snd}}`{=mediawiki} leading to a macroscopic effect called paramagnetism. In ferromagnetism, however, the magnetic interaction between neighboring atoms\' magnetic dipoles is strong enough that they align with *each other* regardless of any applied field, resulting in the spontaneous magnetization of so-called domains. This results in the large observed magnetic permeability of ferromagnetics, and the ability of magnetically hard materials to form permanent magnets.
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# Ferromagnetism
## Explanation
### Exchange interaction {#exchange_interaction}
When two nearby atoms have unpaired electrons, whether the electron spins are parallel or antiparallel affects whether the electrons can share the same orbit as a result of the quantum mechanical effect called the exchange interaction. This in turn affects the electron location and the Coulomb (electrostatic) interaction and thus the energy difference between these states.
The exchange interaction is related to the Pauli exclusion principle, which says that two electrons with the same spin cannot also be in the same spatial state (orbital). This is a consequence of the spin--statistics theorem and that electrons are fermions. Therefore, under certain conditions, when the orbitals of the unpaired outer valence electrons from adjacent atoms overlap, the distributions of their electric charge in space are farther apart when the electrons have parallel spins than when they have opposite spins. This reduces the electrostatic energy of the electrons when their spins are parallel compared to their energy when the spins are antiparallel, so the parallel-spin state is more stable. This difference in energy is called the exchange energy. In simple terms, the outer electrons of adjacent atoms, which repel each other, can move further apart by aligning their spins in parallel, so the spins of these electrons tend to line up.
This energy difference can be orders of magnitude larger than the energy differences associated with the magnetic dipole--dipole interaction due to dipole orientation, which tends to align the dipoles antiparallel. In certain doped semiconductor oxides, RKKY interactions have been shown to bring about periodic longer-range magnetic interactions, a phenomenon of significance in the study of spintronic materials.
The materials in which the exchange interaction is much stronger than the competing dipole--dipole interaction are frequently called *magnetic materials*. For instance, in iron (Fe) the exchange force is about 1,000 times stronger than the dipole interaction. Therefore, below the Curie temperature, virtually all of the dipoles in a ferromagnetic material will be aligned. In addition to ferromagnetism, the exchange interaction is also responsible for the other types of spontaneous ordering of atomic magnetic moments occurring in magnetic solids: antiferromagnetism and ferrimagnetism. There are different exchange interaction mechanisms which create the magnetism in different ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, and antiferromagnetic substances---these mechanisms include direct exchange, RKKY exchange, double exchange, and superexchange.
### Magnetic anisotropy {#magnetic_anisotropy}
Although the exchange interaction keeps spins aligned, it does not align them in a particular direction. Without magnetic anisotropy, the spins in a magnet randomly change direction in response to thermal fluctuations, and the magnet is superparamagnetic. There are several kinds of magnetic anisotropy, the most common of which is magnetocrystalline anisotropy. This is a dependence of the energy on the direction of magnetization relative to the crystallographic lattice. Another common source of anisotropy, inverse magnetostriction, is induced by internal strains. Single-domain magnets also can have a *shape anisotropy* due to the magnetostatic effects of the particle shape. As the temperature of a magnet increases, the anisotropy tends to decrease, and there is often a blocking temperature at which a transition to superparamagnetism occurs.
### Magnetic domains {#magnetic_domains}
*Main article: Magnetic domain*
The spontaneous alignment of magnetic dipoles in ferromagnetic materials would seem to suggest that every piece of ferromagnetic material should have a strong magnetic field, since all the spins are aligned; yet iron and other ferromagnets are often found in an \"unmagnetized\" state. This is because a bulk piece of ferromagnetic material is divided into tiny regions called *magnetic domains* (also known as *Weiss domains*). Within each domain, the spins are aligned, but if the bulk material is in its lowest energy configuration (i.e. \"unmagnetized\"), the spins of separate domains point in different directions and their magnetic fields cancel out, so the bulk material has no net large-scale magnetic field.
Ferromagnetic materials spontaneously divide into magnetic domains because the exchange interaction is a short-range force, so over long distances of many atoms, the tendency of the magnetic dipoles to reduce their energy by orienting in opposite directions wins out. If all the dipoles in a piece of ferromagnetic material are aligned parallel, it creates a large magnetic field extending into the space around it. This contains a lot of magnetostatic energy. The material can reduce this energy by splitting into many domains pointing in different directions, so the magnetic field is confined to small local fields in the material, reducing the volume of the field. The domains are separated by thin domain walls a number of molecules thick, in which the direction of magnetization of the dipoles rotates smoothly from one domain\'s direction to the other.
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# Ferromagnetism
## Explanation
### Magnetized materials {#magnetized_materials}
Thus, a piece of iron in its lowest energy state (\"unmagnetized\") generally has little or no net magnetic field. However, the magnetic domains in a material are not fixed in place; they are simply regions where the spins of the electrons have aligned spontaneously due to their magnetic fields, and thus can be altered by an external magnetic field. If a strong-enough external magnetic field is applied to the material, the domain walls will move via a process in which the spins of the electrons in atoms near the wall in one domain turn under the influence of the external field to face in the same direction as the electrons in the other domain, thus reorienting the domains so more of the dipoles are aligned with the external field. The domains will remain aligned when the external field is removed, and sum to create a magnetic field of their own extending into the space around the material, thus creating a \"permanent\" magnet. The domains do not go back to their original minimum energy configuration when the field is removed because the domain walls tend to become \'pinned\' or \'snagged\' on defects in the crystal lattice, preserving their parallel orientation. This is shown by the Barkhausen effect: as the magnetizing field is changed, the material\'s magnetization changes in thousands of tiny discontinuous jumps as domain walls suddenly \"snap\" past defects.
This magnetization as a function of an external field is described by a hysteresis curve. Although this state of aligned domains found in a piece of magnetized ferromagnetic material is not a minimal-energy configuration, it is metastable, and can persist for long periods, as shown by samples of magnetite from the sea floor which have maintained their magnetization for millions of years.
Heating and then cooling (annealing) a magnetized material, subjecting it to vibration by hammering it, or applying a rapidly oscillating magnetic field from a degaussing coil tends to release the domain walls from their pinned state, and the domain boundaries tend to move back to a lower energy configuration with less external magnetic field, thus demagnetizing the material.
Commercial magnets are made of \"hard\" ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic materials with very large magnetic anisotropy such as alnico and ferrites, which have a very strong tendency for the magnetization to be pointed along one axis of the crystal, the \"easy axis\". During manufacture the materials are subjected to various metallurgical processes in a powerful magnetic field, which aligns the crystal grains so their \"easy\" axes of magnetization all point in the same direction. Thus, the magnetization, and the resulting magnetic field, is \"built in\" to the crystal structure of the material, making it very difficult to demagnetize.
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# Ferromagnetism
## Explanation
### Curie temperature {#curie_temperature}
As the temperature of a material increases, thermal motion, or entropy, competes with the ferromagnetic tendency for dipoles to align. When the temperature rises beyond a certain point, called the Curie temperature, there is a second-order phase transition and the system can no longer maintain a spontaneous magnetization, so its ability to be magnetized or attracted to a magnet disappears, although it still responds paramagnetically to an external field. Below that temperature, there is a spontaneous symmetry breaking and magnetic moments become aligned with their neighbors. The Curie temperature itself is a critical point, where the magnetic susceptibility is theoretically infinite and, although there is no net magnetization, domain-like spin correlations fluctuate at all length scales.
The study of ferromagnetic phase transitions, especially via the simplified Ising spin model, had an important impact on the development of statistical physics. There, it was first clearly shown that mean field theory approaches failed to predict the correct behavior at the critical point (which was found to fall under a *universality class* that includes many other systems, such as liquid-gas transitions), and had to be replaced by renormalization group theory
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# Francesco Cossiga
**Francesco Maurizio Cossiga** `{{post-nominals|post-noms=[[Order of Merit of the Italian Republic|OMRI]]}}`{=mediawiki} (`{{IPA|it|franˈtʃesko kosˈsiːɡa|lang|It-Francesco Cossiga.ogg}}`{=mediawiki}; *Frantziscu Maurìtziu Còssiga*, `{{IPA|sc|ˈkosiɣa|IPA}}`{=mediawiki}; `{{Nowrap|26 July}}`{=mediawiki} 1928 -- `{{Nowrap|17 August}}`{=mediawiki} 2010) was an Italian politician who served as President of Italy from 1985 to 1992. A member of Christian Democracy, he was Prime Minister of Italy from 1979 to 1980. Cossiga is widely considered one of the most prominent and influential politicians of the First Italian Republic.
Cossiga served as a minister on several occasions, most notably as Italian Minister of the Interior. In that position, he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. Due to his repressive approach to public protests, he was described as a strongman and labelled \"Iron Minister\". He was in office at the time of the kidnapping and murder of Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades, and resigned as the interior minister when Aldo Moro was found dead in May 1978. Cossiga was the prime minister during the 1980 Bologna station massacre. Before his political career, he was also a professor of constitutional law at the University of Sassari.
## Early life {#early_life}
Francesco Cossiga was born in Sassari on 26 July 1928, to a republican and anti-fascist middle-bourgeois family. His parents were Giuseppe Cossiga and Maria \"Mariuccia\" Zanfarino. He was the second-degree cousin of brothers Enrico and Giovanni Berlinguer (whose parents were Mario Berlinguer and Maria \"Mariuccia\" Loriga) because their respective maternal grandfathers, Antonio Zanfarino and Giovanni Loriga, were half-brothers on their mother\'s side. Although his last name is commonly pronounced `{{IPA|it|kosˈsiːɡa|}}`{=mediawiki} (with the stress falling on the second syllable), the original pronunciation is `{{IPA|sc|ˈkosiɣa|}}`{=mediawiki} (with the stress falling on the first syllable), italianized as `{{IPA|it|ˈkɔssiɡa|}}`{=mediawiki}. His surname in Sardinian and Sassarese means \"Corsica\", likely pointing to the family\'s origin.
At the age of sixteen, he graduated, three years in advance, at the classical lyceum Domenico Alberto Azuni. The following year he joined in the Christian Democracy, and three years later, at only 19 years old, he graduated in law and started a university career as a professor of constitutional law at the faculty of jurisprudence of the University of Sassari.
During his period at the university, he became a member of the Catholic Federation of University Students (FUCI), becoming the association\'s leader for Sassari.
## Beginnings of his political career {#beginnings_of_his_political_career}
After the 1958 general election Cossiga was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the first time, representing the constituency of Cagliari--Sassari.
In February 1966 he became the youngest Undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, in the government of Aldo Moro. In this role he had to face the aftermath of Piano Solo, an envisaged plot for an Italian *coup d\'état* requested by then President Antonio Segni, two years before.
From November 1974 to February 1976 Cossiga was Minister of Public Administration in Moro\'s fourth government.
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# Francesco Cossiga
## Minister of the Interior {#minister_of_the_interior}
On 12 February 1976, Cossiga was appointed Minister of the Interior, by Prime Minister Moro. During his term he re-structured the Italian police, civil protection and secret services. Cossiga has been often described as a strongman and labeled \"iron minister\", for repressing public protests. Moreover, during his tenure his surname was often stylized as \"Koiga\", using the *SS* symbol.
### 1977 protests and riots {#protests_and_riots}
In 1977 the city of Bologna was the scene of violent street clashes. In particular, on 11 March a militant of the far-left organization *Lotta Continua*, Francesco Lorusso, was killed by a gunshot to the back (probably fired by a policeman), when police dispersed protesters against a mass meeting of Communion and Liberation, which was being held that morning at the university. This event served as a detonator for a long series of clashes with security forces for two days, which affected the entire city of Bologna. Cossiga sent armoured vehicles into the university area and other hot spots of the city to quell what he perceived as guerrilla warfare. Clashes with the police caused numerous casualties among people who got caught up in the riots, including uninvolved locals. No old leftist party, except the Youth Socialist Federation, led by local secretary Emilio Lonardo, participated at the funeral of the student Lorusso, showing the dramatic split between the movement and the historical left parties.
Turin was also the scene of bloody clashes and attacks. On 1 October 1977, after a procession had started with an attack on the headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a group of militants of *Lotta Continua* reached a downtown bar, *L\'angelo azzurro* (The Blue Angel), frequented by young right-wing activists. They threw two Molotov cocktails, and Roberto Crescenzio, a totally apolitical student, died of burns. The perpetrators of the murder were never identified. *Lotta Continua* leader Silvio Viale called it a \"tragic accident\".
Another innocent victim of the riots of that year was Giorgiana Masi, who was killed in Rome by a gunshot during an event organized by the Radical Party to celebrate the third anniversary of the victory in the referendum on divorce. As the perpetrators of the murder remained unknown, the movement attributed the responsibility of the crime to police officers in plain clothes, who were immortalized at that time dressed in clothing of the style of young people of the movement.
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# Francesco Cossiga
## Minister of the Interior {#minister_of_the_interior}
### Kidnapping of Aldo Moro {#kidnapping_of_aldo_moro}
Cossiga was in office at the time of the kidnapping and murder of the Christian Democratic leader Aldo Moro by the Marxist-Leninist extreme-left terrorist group Red Brigades. On the morning of 16 March 1978, the day on which the new cabinet led by Giulio Andreotti was supposed to have undergone a confidence vote in the Italian Parliament, the car of Moro, former prime minister and then president of DC, was assaulted by a group of Red Brigades terrorists in Via Fani in Rome. Firing automatic weapons, the terrorists killed Moro\'s bodyguards, (two Carabinieri in Moro\'s car and three policemen in the following car) and kidnapped him.
Cossiga formed immediately two \"crisis committees\". The first one was a technical-operational-political committee, chaired by Cossiga himself and, in his absence, by undersecretary Nicola Lettieri. Other members included the supreme commanders of the Italian Police Forces, of the Carabinieri, the Guardia di Finanza, the recently named directors of SISMI and SISDE (respectively, Italy\'s military and civil intelligence services), the national secretary of CESIS (a secret information agency), the director of UCIGOS and the police prefect of Rome. The second one was an information committee, including members of CESIS, SISDE, SISMI and SIOS, another military intelligence office.
A third unofficial committee was created which never met officially, called the *comitato di esperti* (\"committee of experts\"). Its existence was not disclosed until 1981, by Cossiga himself, in his interrogation by the Italian Parliament\'s Commission about the Moro affair. He omitted to reveal the decisions and the activities of the committee however. This committee included: Steve Pieczenik, a psychologist of the anti-terrorism section of the US State Department, and notable Italian criminologists. Pieczenik later declared that there were numerous leaks about the discussions made at the committee, and accused Cossiga.
However, on 9 May 1978 Moro\'s body was found in the trunk of a Renault 4 in Via Caetani after 55 days of imprisonment, during which Moro was submitted to a political trial by the so-called \"people\'s court\" set up by the Brigate Rosse and the Italian government was asked for an exchange of prisoners. Despite the common interpretation, the car location in Via Caetani was not halfway between the locations of the national offices of DC and of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in Rome. After two days, Cossiga resigned as Minister of the Interior. According to Italian journalist Enrico Deaglio, Cossiga, to justify his lack of action, \"accused the leaders of CGIL and of the Communist Party of knowing where Moro was detained\". Cossiga was also accused by Moro himself, in his letters who wrote during his detention, saying that \"his blood will fall over him\".
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# Francesco Cossiga
## Prime Minister of Italy {#prime_minister_of_italy}
One year after Moro\'s death and the subsequent Cossiga\'s resignation as Interior Minister, he was appointed Prime Minister of Italy. He led a government coalition composed of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Democratic Socialists, Republicans and Liberals.
### Bologna massacre {#bologna_massacre}
Cossiga was head of the government during the Bologna massacre, a terrorist bombing of the Bologna Central Station on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 200. The attack was attributed to the neo-fascist terrorist organization *Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari* (Armed Revolutionary Nucleus), which always denied any involvement; other theories have been proposed, especially in correlation with the strategy of tension.
Francesco Cossiga first assumed the explosion to have been caused by an accident (the explosion of an old boiler located in the basement of the station). Nevertheless, soon the evidence gathered on site of the explosion made it clear that the attack constituted an act of terrorism. *L\'Unità*, the newspaper of the Communist Party on 3 August already attributed responsibility for the attack to neo-fascists. Later, in a special session to the Senate, Cossiga supported the theory that neofascists were behind the attack, \"unlike leftist terrorism, which strikes at the heart of the state through its representatives, black terrorism prefers the massacre because it promotes panic and impulsive reactions.\"
Later, according to media reports in 2004, taken up again in 2007, Cossiga, in a letter addressed to Enzo Fragala, leader of the National Alliance section in the Mitrokhin Committee, suggested Palestinian involvement of George Habash\'s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Separate group of Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, known as \"Carlos the Jackal\". In addition, in 2008 Cossiga gave an interview to *BBC* in which it reaffirmed his belief that the massacre would not be attributable to black terrorism, but to an \"incident\" of Palestinian resistance groups operating in Italy. He declared also being convinced of the innocence of Francesca Mambro and Giuseppe Valerio Fioravanti, the two neo-fascist terrorists accused of the massacre. The PFLP has always denied responsibility.
### Resignation
In October 1980, Cossiga resigned as Prime Minister after the rejection of the annual budget bill by the Italian Parliament.
Following the 1983 general election, Cossiga became a member of the Italian Senate; on 12 July, he was elected President of the Senate.
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# Francesco Cossiga
## President of Italy {#president_of_italy}
In the 1985 presidential election, Cossiga was elected as President of Italy with 752 votes out of 977. His candidacy was endorsed by the Christian Democracy but supported also by communists, socialists, social democrats, liberals and republicans. This was the first time an Italian presidential candidate had won the election on the first ballot, where a two-thirds majority is necessary. He took office on 29 June 1985 on an interim basis after the resignation of Outgoing President Sandro Pertini, but was not sworn in until a few days later, on 3 July.
The Cossiga presidency was essentially divided into two phases related to the attitudes of the head of state. In the first five years, Cossiga played its role in a traditional way, caring for the role of the republican institutions under the Constitution, which makes the President of the Republic a kind of arbitrator in relations between the powers of the state.
### \"Pickaxe-wielder\" president {#pickaxe_wielder_president}
It was in his last two years as president that Cossiga began to express some unusual opinions regarding the Italian political system. He opined that the Italian parties, especially the Christian Democrats and the Communists had to take into account the deep changes brought about by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. According to him, DC and PCI would therefore have been seriously affected by this change, but Cossiga believed that political parties and the same institutions refused to recognize it.
Thus, a period of conflict and political controversy began, often provocative and deliberately excessive, and with very strong media exposure. These statements, soon dubbed \"*esternazioni*\", or \"mattock blows\" (*picconate*), were considered by many to be inappropriate for a President, and often beyond his constitutional powers; also, his mental health was doubted and Cossiga had to declare \"I am the fake madman who speaks the truth.\" Cossiga suffered from bipolar disorder and depression in the last years of his life.
Among the statements of the President, there were also allegations of excessive politicization of the judiciary system, and the stigmatization of the fact that young magistrates, who just came into service, were immediately destined for the Sicilian prosecutor to carry out mafia proceedings.
For his changed attitude, Cossiga received various criticisms from almost every party, with the exception of the Italian Social Movement, which stood beside him in defence of the \"picconate\". He will, amongst other things, be considered one of the first \"cleansers\" of MSI, who recognized it as a constitutional and democratic force.
### Revelation of Gladio and resignation {#revelation_of_gladio_and_resignation}
Tension developed between Cossiga and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. This tension emerged when Andreotti revealed the existence of Gladio, a stay-behind organization with the official aim of countering a possible Soviet invasion through sabotage and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. Cossiga acknowledged his involvement in the establishment of the organization. The Democratic Party of the Left (successor to the Communist Party) started the procedure of impeachment (Presidents of Italy can be impeached only for high treason against the state or for an attempt to overthrow the Constitution). Although he threatened to prevent the impeachment procedure by dissolving Parliament, the impeachment request was ultimately dismissed.
Cossiga resigned two months before the end of his term, on 25 April 1992. In his last speech as president he stated \"To young people I want to say to love the fatherland, to honour the nation, to serve the Republic, to believe in freedom and to believe in our country\".
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# Francesco Cossiga
## After the presidency {#after_the_presidency}
According to the Italian Constitution, after his resignation from the office of President, Cossiga became Lifetime Senator, joining his predecessors in the upper house of Parliament, with whom he also shared the title of President Emeritus of the Italian Republic.
On 12 January 1997, Cossiga survived unscathed a railway accident (:it:Incidente ferroviario di Piacenza), while travelling on a high-speed train from Milan to Rome that derailed near Piacenza.
In February 1998, Cossiga created the Democratic Union for the Republic (UDR), a Christian democratic political party, declaring it to be politically central. The UDR was a crucial component of the majority that supported the Massimo D\'Alema cabinet in October 1998, after the fall of the Romano Prodi\'s government which lost a vote of confidence. Cossiga declared that his support for D\'Alema was intended to end the conventional exclusion of the former communist leaders from the premiership in Italy.
In 1999 UDR was dissolved and Cossiga returned to his activities as a Senator, with competences in the Military Affairs\' Commission.
In May 2006, Cossiga gave his support to the formation of Prodi\'s second government. In the same month, he brought in a bill that would allow the region of South Tyrol to hold a referendum, where the local electorate could decide whether to remain within the Republic of Italy, take independence, or become part of Austria again.
On 27 November 2006, he resigned from his position as a lifetime senator. His resignation was, however, rejected on 31 January 2007 by a vote of the Senate.
In May 2008, Cossiga voted in favour of the government of Silvio Berlusconi.
| 274 |
Francesco Cossiga
| 5 |
11,809 |
# Francesco Cossiga
## Death and legacy {#death_and_legacy}
Cossiga died on 17 August 2010 from respiratory problems at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. After his death, four letters written by Cossiga were sent to the four highest authorities of the state in office at the time of his death, President of the Republic Giorgio Napolitano, President of the Senate Renato Schifani, President of the Chamber of Deputies Gianfranco Fini and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The funeral took place in his hometown, Sassari, at the Church of San Giuseppe. Cossiga is buried in the public cemetery of Sassari, in the family tomb, not far from one of his predecessors as President of Italy, Antonio Segni.
In 2020, Cossiga was depicted in the film *Rose Island*, which told the story of the Republic of Rose Island, played by Luca Della Bianca.
## Controversies
In 2000, he criticized world champion Michael Schumacher for his conduct when the Italian National Anthem was played on the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix.
In 2007, Cossiga referred to the 2001 September 11 attacks as a false flag: \"all democratic circles in America and of Europe, especially those of the Italian centre-left, now know that the disastrous attack was planned and realized by the American CIA and Mossad with the help of the Zionist world, to place the blame on Arab countries and to persuade the Western powers to intervene in Iraq and Afghanistan\". The previous year Cossiga had stated that he rejects theoretical conspiracies and that it \"seems unlikely that September 11 was the result of an American plot.\"
In the statement, Cossiga was indeed mocking Italian media claiming that a videotape circulated by Osama bin Laden\'s al Qaeda and containing threats against Silvio Berlusconi was \"produced in the studios of Mediaset in Milan\" and forwarded to the \"Islamist Al-Jazeera television network.\" According to the media, the purpose of that video tape (which was actually an audio tape) was to raise \"a wave of solidarity to Berlusconi\" who was, at the time, facing political difficulties.
In 2008, Francesco Cossiga said that Mario Draghi was \"a craven moneyman\".
Cossiga blamed the loss of Itavia Flight 870, a passenger jet that crashed in 1980 with the loss of all 81 people on board, on a missile fired from a French Navy aircraft. On 23 January 2013, Italy\'s top criminal court ruled that there was \"abundantly\" clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a missile fired from a French Navy aircraft.
## Electoral history {#electoral_history}
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| Election | House | Constituency | Party | | Votes |
+==========+========================+===========================+===================================+=======+==================+
| 1958 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 57,787 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1963 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 58,809 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1968 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 102,814 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1972 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 94,855 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1976 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 174,209 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1979 | Chamber of Deputies | Cagliari--Sassari--Nuoro | | DC | 136,383 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
| 1983 | Senate of the Republic | Sardinia -- Tempio-Ozieri | | DC | 40,024 |
+----------+------------------------+---------------------------+-----------------------------------+-------+------------------+
## Honours and awards {#honours_and_awards}
As President of the Republic, Cossiga was Head (and also Knight Grand Cross with Grand Cordon) of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (from 3 July 1985 to 28 April 1992), Military Order of Italy, Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, Order of Merit for Labour and Order of Vittorio Veneto and Grand Cross of Merit of the Italian Red Cross. He has also been given honours and awards by other countries
| 619 |
Francesco Cossiga
| 6 |
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# Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
**Frederick Augustus II** (*Friedrich August II.*; 18 May 1797 -- 9 August 1854) was King of Saxony and a member of the House of Wettin.
He was the eldest son of Maximilian, Prince of Saxony -- younger son of the Elector Frederick Christian of Saxony -- by his first wife, Caroline of Bourbon, Princess of Parma.
## Life
### Early years {#early_years}
From his birth, it was clear that one day Frederick Augustus would become the ruler of Saxony. His father was the only son of the Elector Frederick Christian of Saxony who left surviving male issue. When King Frederick Augustus I died (1827) and Anton succeeded him as King, Frederick Augustus became second in line to the throne, preceded only by his father Maximilian. However, he took no part in the administration of the country.
He was an officer in the War of the Sixth Coalition. However, he had little interest in military affairs.
### Co-Regent to the Kingdom {#co_regent_to_the_kingdom}
The July Revolution of 1830 in France marked the beginning of disturbances in Saxony that autumn. The people claimed a change in the constitution and demanded a young regent of the kingdom to share the government with the King Anton. On 1 September the Prince Maximilian renounced his rights of succession in favor of his son Frederick Augustus, who was proclaimed Prince Co-Regent (de: *Prinz-Mitregenten*) of Saxony. On 2 February 1832 Frederick Augustus brought Free Autonomy to the cities. Also, by an edict of 17 March of that year, the farmers were freed from the corvée and hereditary submission. His popularity and liberal reforms quickly ended the discontent.
### King of Saxony {#king_of_saxony}
On 6 June 1836, King Anton died and Frederick Augustus succeeded him. As an intelligent man, he was quickly popular with the people as he had been since the time of his regency. The new king solved political questions only from a pure sense of duty. Mostly he preferred to leave these things on the hands of his ministers.
A standardized jurisdiction for Saxony created the Criminal Code of 1836. During the Revolutionary disturbances of 1848 (March Revolution), he appointed liberal ministers in the government, lifted censorship, and remitted a liberal electoral law. Later his attitude changed. On 28 April Frederick August II dissolved the Parliament, and in 1849 he was forced to flee to the Königstein Fortress. The May Uprising was crushed by Saxon and Prussian troops and Frederick was able to return after only a few days.
From that time onward his reign was tranquil and prosperous. Later Count Beust, leader of the Austrian and feudal party in Saxony, became his principal minister and guided his policy on most occasions.
### Journey through England and Scotland {#journey_through_england_and_scotland}
In 1844 Frederick Augustus, accompanied by his personal physician Carl Gustav Carus, made an informal (*incognito*) visit to England and Scotland. Among places they visited were Lyme Regis where he purchased from the local fossil collector and dealer, Mary Anning, an ichthyosaur skeleton for his own extensive natural history collection. It was not a state visit, but the King was the guest of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Windsor Castle, visited many of the sights in London and in the university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, and toured widely in England, Wales and Scotland.
In addition to his interest in fossils, Frederick Augustus devoted his leisure hours chiefly to the study of botany. He made botanical excursions into different countries, and his *Flora Marienbadensis, oder Pflanzen und Gebirgsarten, gesammelt und beschrieben* was published in Prague in 1837.
## Accidental death {#accidental_death}
During a journey in Tyrol, he had an accident in Brennbüchel in which he fell in front of a horse that stepped on his head. On 8 August 1854, he died in the Gasthof Neuner. He was buried on 16 August in the Katholische Hofkirche of Dresden. In his memory, the Dowager Queen Maria arranged to establish the Königskapelle (King\'s Chapel) at the accident place, which was consecrated one year later, some of the last members of the Saxon royal family, including Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, are buried beside the chapel.
| 693 |
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
| 0 |
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# Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
## Marriages
In Vienna on 26 September 1819 (by proxy) and again in Dresden on 7 October 1819 (in person), Frederick Augustus married firstly with the Archduchess Maria Caroline of Austria (Maria Karoline Ferdinande Theresia Josephine Demetria), daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. They had no children.
In Dresden on 24 April 1833 Frederick Augustus married secondly with the Princess Maria Anna of Bavaria (Maria Anna Leopoldine Elisabeth Wilhelmine), daughter of the King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. Like his first marriage, this was childless.
The musician Theodor Uhlig (1822--1853) was an illegitimate son of Frederick Augustus.
Without legitimate issue, after his death Frederick Augustus was succeeded by his younger brother, Johann
| 119 |
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony
| 1 |
11,844 |
# GeekSpeak
**GeekSpeak** is a podcast with two to four hosts who focus on technology and technology news of the week. Though originally a radio tech call-in program, which first aired in 1998 on KUSP, GeekSpeak has been a weekly podcast since 2004.
The program\'s slogan is *\"Bridging the gap between geeks and the rest of humanity\".*
## History
GeekSpeak was created and originally broadcast on KUSP by Chris Neklason of Cruzio, Steve Schaefer of Guenther Computer, and board operator Ray Price from KUSP. Shortly thereafter Mark Hanford of Cruzio joined the program.
Currently, the host/producer is Lyle Troxell, who took over in September 2000.
In April 2016, citing financial difficulties, KUSP stopped broadcasting GeekSpeak with its final broadcast on May 5, 2016.
GeekSpeak episodes have been distributed as an archive on the internet since 2001. The podcast went live prior to March 5, 2005, with its first episode December 3, 2004
| 152 |
GeekSpeak
| 0 |
11,856 |
# Gnutella
**Gnutella** is a peer-to-peer network protocol. Founded in 2000, it was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model.
In June 2005, Gnutella\'s population was 1.81 million computers increasing to over three million nodes by January 2006. In late 2007, it was the most popular file-sharing network on the Internet with an estimated market share of more than 40%.
## History
The first client (also called Gnutella) from which the network got its name was developed by Justin Frankel and Tom Pepper of Nullsoft in early 2000, soon after the company\'s acquisition by AOL. On March 14, the program was made available for download on Nullsoft\'s servers. The event was prematurely announced on Slashdot, and thousands downloaded the program that day. The source code was to be released later, under the GNU General Public License (GPL); however, the original developers never got the chance to accomplish this purpose.
The next day, AOL stopped the availability of the program over legal concerns and restrained Nullsoft from doing any further work on the project. This did not stop Gnutella; after a few days, the protocol had been reverse engineered, and compatible free and open source clones began to appear. This parallel development of different clients by different groups remains the *modus operandi* of Gnutella development today.
Among the first independent Gnutella pioneers were Gene Kan and Spencer Kimball, who launched the first portal aimed to assemble the open-source community to work on Gnutella and also developed \"GNUbile\", one of the first open-source (GNU-GPL) programs to implement the Gnutella protocol.
The Gnutella network is a fully distributed alternative to such semi-centralized systems as FastTrack (KaZaA) and the original Napster. The initial popularity of the network was spurred on by Napster\'s threatened legal demise in early 2001. This growing surge in popularity revealed the limits of the initial protocol\'s scalability. In early 2001, variations on the protocol (first implemented in proprietary and closed source clients) allowed an improvement in scalability. Instead of treating every user as client and server, some users were now treated as *ultrapeers*, routing search requests and responses for users connected to them.
This allowed the network to grow in popularity. In late 2001, the Gnutella client LimeWire Basic became free and open source. In February 2002, Morpheus, a commercial file sharing group, abandoned its FastTrack-based peer-to-peer software and released a new client based on the free and open source Gnutella client Gnucleus.
The word *Gnutella* today refers not to any one project or piece of software, but to the open protocol used by the various clients.
The name is a portmanteau of *GNU* and *Nutella*, the brand name of an Italian hazelnut flavored spread: supposedly, Frankel and Pepper ate a lot of Nutella working on the original project, and intended to license their finished program under the GNU General Public License. Gnutella is not associated with the GNU project or GNU\'s own peer-to-peer network, GNUnet.
On October 26, 2010, the popular Gnutella client LimeWire was ordered shut down by Judge Kimba Wood of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York when she signed a Consent Decree to which recording industry plaintiffs and LimeWire had agreed. This event was the likely cause of a notable drop in the size of the network, because, while negotiating the injunction, LimeWire staff had inserted remote-disabling code into the software. As the injunction came into force, users who had installed affected versions (newer than 5.5.10) were cut off from the P2P network. Since LimeWire was free software, nothing had prevented the creation of forks that omitted the disabling code, as long as LimeWire trademarks were not used. The shutdown did not affect, for example, FrostWire, a fork of LimeWire created in 2004 that carries neither the remote-disabling code nor adware.
On November 9, 2010, LimeWire was resurrected by a secret team of developers and named LimeWire Pirate Edition. It was based on LimeWire 5.6 BETA. This version had its server dependencies removed and all the PRO features enabled for free.
| 680 |
Gnutella
| 0 |
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# Gnutella
## Design
thumb\|upright=1.5\|alt=A diagram of Gnutella nodes and their connections.\|The gnutella search and retrieval protocol To envision how Gnutella originally worked, imagine a large circle of users *(called nodes),* each of whom has Gnutella client software. On initial startup, the client software must bootstrap and find at least one other node. Various methods have been used for this, including a pre-existing address list of possibly working nodes shipped with the software, using updated web caches of known nodes (called *Gnutella Web Caches*), UDP host caches and, rarely, even IRC. Once connected, the client requests a list of working addresses. The client tries to connect to the nodes it was shipped with, as well as nodes it receives from other clients until it reaches a certain quota. It connects to only that many nodes, locally caching the addresses which it has not yet tried and discarding the addresses which it tried and found to be invalid.
When the user wants to do a search, the client sends the request to each actively connected node. In version 0.4 of the protocol, the number of actively connected nodes for a client was quite small (around 5). In that version of the protocol, each node forwards the request to all its actively connected nodes, who, in turn, forward the request. This continues until the packet has reached a predetermined number of *hops* from the sender (maximum 7).
Since version 0.6 (2002), Gnutella is a composite network made of leaf nodes and ultra nodes (also called ultrapeers). The leaf nodes are connected to a small number of ultrapeers (typically 3) while each ultrapeer is connected to more than 32 other ultrapeers. With this higher outdegree, the maximum number of *hops* a query can travel was lowered to 4.
Leaves and ultrapeers use the Query Routing Protocol to exchange a Query Routing Table (QRT), a table of 64 Ki-slots and up to 2 Mi-slots consisting of hashed keywords. A leaf node sends its QRT to each of the ultrapeers to which it is connected, and ultrapeers merge the QRT of all their leaves (downsized to 128 Ki-slots) plus their own QRT (if they share files) and exchange that with their own neighbors. Query routing is then done by hashing the words of the query and seeing whether all of them match in the QRT. Ultrapeers do that check before forwarding a query to a leaf node, and also before forwarding the query to a peer ultra node provided this is the last hop the query can travel.`{{fact|date=April 2025}}`{=mediawiki}
If a search request turns up a result, the node that has the result contacts the searcher. In the classic Gnutella protocol, response messages were sent back along the route taken by the query, as the query itself did not contain identifying information for the node. This scheme was later revised, to deliver search results over UDP, directly to the node that initiated the search, usually an ultrapeer of the node. Thus, in the current protocol, the queries carry the IP address and port number of either node. This lowers the amount of traffic routed through the Gnutella network, making it significantly more scalable.
If the user decides to download the file, they negotiate the file transfer. If the node which has the requested file is not firewalled, the querying node can connect to it directly. However, if the node is firewalled, stopping the source node from receiving incoming connections, the client wanting to download a file sends it a so-called *push request* to the server for the remote client to initiate the connection instead (to *push* the file). At first, these push requests were routed along the original chain it used to send the query. This was rather unreliable because routes would often break and routed packets are always subject to flow control. *push proxies* were introduced to address this problem. These are usually the ultrapeers of a leaf node and they are announced in search results. The client connects to one of these *push proxies* using an HTTP request and the proxy sends a *push request* to a leaf on behalf of the client. Normally, it is also possible to send a push request over UDP to the push proxy, which is more efficient than using TCP. Push proxies have two advantages: First, ultrapeer-leaf connections are more stable than routes. This makes push requests much more reliable. Second, it reduces the amount of traffic routed through the Gnutella network.
Finally, when a user disconnects, the client software saves a list of known nodes. This contains the nodes to which the client was connected and the nodes learned from pong packets. The client uses that as its seed list, when it next starts, thus becoming independent of bootstrap services.
In practice, this method of searching on the Gnutella network was often unreliable. Each node is a regular computer user; as such, they are constantly connecting and disconnecting, so the network is never completely stable. Also, the bandwidth cost of searching on Gnutella grew exponentially to the number of connected users, often saturating connections and rendering slower nodes useless. Therefore, search requests would often be dropped, and most queries reached only a very small part of the network. This observation identified the Gnutella network as an unscalable distributed system, and inspired the development of distributed hash tables, which are much more scalable but support only exact-match, rather than keyword, search.
To address the problems of bottlenecks, Gnutella developers implemented a tiered system of *ultrapeers* and *leaves*. Instead of all nodes being considered equal, nodes entering the network were kept at the \'edge\' of the network, as a leaf. Leaves don\'t provide routing. Nodes which are capable of routing messages are promoted to ultrapeers. Ultrapeers accept leaf connections and route searches and network maintenance messages. This allows searches to propagate further through the network and allows for numerous alterations in topology. This greatly improved efficiency and scalability.`{{fact|date=April 2025}}`{=mediawiki}
Additionally, gnutella adopted a number of other techniques to reduce traffic overhead and make searches more efficient. Most notable are Query Routing Protocol (QRP) and Dynamic Querying (DQ). With QRP, a search reaches only those clients which are likely to have the files, so searches for rare files become far more efficient. With DQ, the search stops as soon as the program has acquired enough search results. This vastly reduces the amount of traffic caused by popular searches.
One of the benefits of having Gnutella so decentralized is to make it very difficult to shut the network down and to make it a network in which the users are the only ones who can decide which content will be available. Unlike Napster, where the entire network relied on the central server, Gnutella cannot be shut down by shutting down any one node. A decentralized network prevents bad actors from taking control of the contents of the network and/or manipulating data by controlling the central server.
| 1,156 |
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| 1 |
11,856 |
# Gnutella
## Protocol features and extensions {#protocol_features_and_extensions}
Gnutella once operated on a purely query flooding-based protocol. The outdated Gnutella version 0.4 network protocol employs five different packet types, namely:
- ping: discover hosts on network
- pong: reply to ping
- query: search for a file
- query hit: reply to query
- push: download request for firewalled servants
These packets facilitate searches. File transfers are instead handled by HTTP.
The development of the Gnutella protocol is currently led by the Gnutella Developers Forum (The GDF). Many protocol extensions have been and are being developed by the software vendors and by the free Gnutella developers of the GDF. These extensions include intelligent query routing, SHA-1 checksums, query hit transmission via UDP, querying via UDP, dynamic queries via TCP, file transfers via UDP, XML metadata, source exchange (also termed *the download mesh*) and parallel downloading in slices (swarming).
There are efforts to finalize these protocol extensions in the Gnutella 0.6 specification, at the Gnutella protocol development website. The Gnutella 0.4 standard is outdated but it remains the latest protocol specification because all extensions, so far, exist as proposals. In fact, it is hard or impossible to connect today with 0.4 handshakes. According to developers in the GDF, version 0.6 is what new developers should pursue using the [work-in-progress specifications](https://web.archive.org/web/20080724010901/http://gnet-specs.gnufu.net/).
The Gnutella protocol remains under development. Despite attempts to make a clean break with the complexity inherited from the old Gnutella 0.4 and to design a clean new message architecture, it remains one of the most successful file-sharing protocols to date.
## Software
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of applications supporting the Gnutella network. The tables do **not** attempt to give a complete list of Gnutella clients. The tables are limited to clients that can participate in the current Gnutella network.`{{fact|date=April 2025}}`{=mediawiki}
### General specifications {#general_specifications}
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Name | Platform | License | Project active?\ | Latest release | Heritage |
| | | | (otherwise discontinued) | | |
+===========================================+================+=========+==========================+=====================+=================+
| Acquisition | macOS | | | | LimeWire |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| BearFlix | Windows | | | 5.2.6.0 | BearShare |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| BearShare | Windows | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Cabos | Java | | | | LimeWire |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| CitrixWire | Windows | | | 2014 | Addax |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| CocoGnut | RISC OS | | | 1.21 (2005-06-21) | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| FilesWire (P2P) | Java | | | Beta 1.1 (2007) | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| giFT (Gnutella plug-in) | Cross-platform | | | 0.0.11 (2006-08-06) | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Gnucleus-GnucDNA | Windows | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| gtk-gnutella | Cross-platform | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| KCeasy | Windows | | | | giFT |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Kiwi Alpha | Windows | | | | GnucDNA |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| LimeWire | Java | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Morpheus | Windows | | | | GnucDNA |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Phex | Java | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Poisoned | macOS | | | | giFT |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Shareaza | Windows | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Symella | Symbian | | | | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| WireShare (aka *LimeWire Pirate Edition*) | Java | | | 6.0.2 (2022-10-04) | LimeWire |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| Zultrax | Windows | | | 4.33 (April 2009) | *Original work* |
+-------------------------------------------+----------------+---------+--------------------------+---------------------+-----------------+
| 591 |
Gnutella
| 2 |
11,856 |
# Gnutella
## Software
### Gnutella features {#gnutella_features}
Client Hash search Chat Buddy list Handles [large files](https://github.com/gtk-gnutella/gtk-gnutella/blob/devel/doc/public/GGEP/LF) (\> 4 GB) Unicode-compatible query routing UPnP port mapping NAT traversal NAT port mapping RUD TCP push proxy UDP push proxy Ultrapeer GWebCache UDP host cache TLS
------------------------ -- ------------- ------ ------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ------------------- --------------- ------------------ ----- ---------------- ---------------- ----------- ----------- ---------------- -- -----
BearShare
giFT (core & plug-ins)
GnucDNA
gtk-gnutella (Dropped)
LimeWire
WireShare
Phex
Shareaza
#### Notes
- Morpheus differs significantly and may have completely independent code from the GnucDNA engine. Morpheus can function as a *modern* ultrapeer whereas other GnucDNA clients cannot.
- Gnucleus and Kiwi Alpha use the GnucDNA engine.
- BearFlix, a functionally limited version of the BearShare 5.2 series, can search only for images or videos and shared videos are limited to a relatively short length.
- giFTcurs, Apollon, FilePipe, giFToxic, giFTui, giFTwin32, KCeasy, Poisoned, and Xfactor are GUI front-ends for the giFT engine.
- etomi uses outdated Shareaza networking code.
- MP3 Rocket, 360Share, LemonWire, MP3Torpedo, and DexterWire are variants of LimeWire.
- FrostWire (up to version 4.21.8) is nearly identical to LimeWire 4.18 but versions greater than 5.00 no longer use gnutella.
- Acquisition and Cabos are custom front-ends overlaying the LimeWire engine.
- LimeWire Pirate Edition (5.6.2) is a resurrected version of the unreleased LimeWire 5.6.1 alpha, thus has similar features minus automatic updates (with nags) and centralized remote controls to disable core functions like searches and downloads were removed.
## Gnutella2
The Gnutella2 protocol (often referred to as G2), despite its name, is not a successor protocol of Gnutella nor related to the original Gnutella project, but rather is a completely different protocol that forked from the original project and piggybacked on the Gnutella name. A sore point with many Gnutella developers is that the *Gnutella2* name conveys an upgrade or superiority, which led to a flame war. Other criticism included the use of the Gnutella network to bootstrap G2 peers and poor documentation of the G2 protocol. Additionally, the more frequent search retries of the Shareaza client, one of the initial G2 clients, could unnecessarily burden the Gnutella network.
Both protocols have undergone significant changes since the fork in 2002. G2 has advantages and disadvantages compared to Gnutella. An advantage often cited is that Gnutella2\'s hybrid search is more efficient than the original Gnutella\'s query flooding. However, Gnutella replaced query flooding with more efficient search methods, starting with Query Routing in 2002. This was proposed in 2001 by Limewire developers. An advantage of Gnutella is its large user base, which numbers in the millions. The G2 network is approximately an order of magnitude smaller. It is difficult to compare the protocols in their current form. The choice of client, on either network, probably affects the end user just as much
| 468 |
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| 3 |
11,863 |
# Gotland County
**Gotland County** (*Gotlands län*) is a county or *\[\[län\]\]* of Sweden. Gotland is located in the Baltic Sea to the east of Öland, and is the largest of Sweden\'s islands. Counties are usually sub-divided into municipalities, but Gotland County consists of only one county council, which also serves as a municipality, Region Gotland. Gotland County is the only county in Sweden that is not governed by a municipal council. The municipality handles the tasks that are otherwise handled by the county council: mainly health care and public transport. Like other counties, Gotland has a County Administrative Board, which oversees implementation of the Swedish state government. Both the County Administrative Board and the municipality have their seat in the largest city, Visby, with over 22,000 inhabitants. Princess Leonore, the daughter of Princess Madeleine, is Duchess of Gotland.
## Province
The provinces of Sweden are no longer officially administrative units but are used in reporting population size, politics, etc. In that case, the province, the county and the municipality all have identical borders and cover an area of 3151 km^2^
## Administration
Gotland is the only Swedish county that is not administered by a county council. Instead, the municipality is tasked with the responsibilities of a county, including public health care and public transport.
The main aims of the County Administrative Board are to fulfil the goals set in national politics by the Riksdag and the Government, to coordinate the interests and promote the development of the county, to establish regional goals and safeguard the due process of law in the handling of each case. The County Administrative Board is a Government agency headed by a Governor.
Mats Löfving is the regional police chief for both Stockholm and Gotland Counties.
## Politics
During a trial period the County Council provisions for Gotland has been evolved to provisions for a Regional Council, meaning that it has assumed certain tasks from the County Administrative Board. Similar provisions are applicable to the counties of Västra Götaland and Skåne during the trial period.
## Governors
## Localities in order of size {#localities_in_order_of_size}
The five most populous localities of Gotland County in 2010:
\# Locality Population
---- ------------ ------------
1 Visby 22,593
2 Hemse 1,715
3 Slite 1,483
4 Klintehamn 1,363
5 Vibble 1,286
### Foreign background {#foreign_background}
Statistics Sweden have collected statistics on backgrounds of residents since 2002. These tables consist of all who have two foreign-born parents or are born abroad themselves. The chart lists election years and the last year on record alone.
Location 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2019
-------------- ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------
Gotland 4.8 5.2 5.8 6.4 8.8 9.2
Source: SCB
## Heraldry
Gotland County inherited its coat of arms from the province of Gotland. When it is shown with a royal crown it represents the County Administrative Board
| 473 |
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| 0 |
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# Transport in Germany
As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense transport infrastructure.
One of the first limited-access highway systems in the world to have been built, the extensive German Autobahn network has no general speed limit for light vehicles (although there are speed limits in many sections today, and there is an 80 km/h limit for trucks). The country\'s most important waterway is the river Rhine, and largest port is that of Hamburg. Frankfurt Airport is a major international airport and European transport hub. Air travel is used for greater distances within Germany but faces competition from the state-owned Deutsche Bahn\'s rail network. High-speed trains called ICE connect cities for passenger travel with speeds up to 300 km/h. Many German cities have rapid transit systems and public transport is available in most areas. Buses have historically only played a marginal role in long-distance passenger service, as all routes directly competing with rail services were technically outlawed by a law dating to 1935 (during the Nazi era). Only in 2012 was this law officially amended and thus a long-distance bus market has also emerged in Germany since then.
Since German reunification substantial effort has been made to improve and expand transport infrastructure in what was formerly East Germany. Due to Germany\'s varied history, main traffic flows have changed from primarily east--west (old Prussia and the German Empire) to primarily north--south (the 1949-1990 German partition era) to a more balanced flow with both major north--south and east--west corridors, both domestically and in transit. Infrastructure, which was further hampered by the havoc wars and scorched earth policies as well as reparations wrought, had to be adjusted and upgraded with each of those shifts.
***Verkehrsmittel**\'\' (`{{IPA|de|fɛɐ̯ˈkeːɐ̯sˌmɪtl̩|lang|audio=De-Verkehrsmittel.ogg}}`{=mediawiki})***and Verkehrszeichen**\'\' - Transportation signs in Germany are available here in German and English.
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# Transport in Germany
## Road and automotive transport {#road_and_automotive_transport}
### Overview
The volume of traffic in Germany, especially goods transportation, is at a very high level due to its central location in Europe. In the past few decades, much of the freight traffic shifted from rail to road, which led the Federal Government to introduce a motor toll for trucks in 2005. Individual road usage increased resulting in a relatively high traffic density to other nations. A further increase of traffic is expected in the future. In 2023, 286 billion tonnes-kilometres are travelled by freight. In 2018, 630 billion kilometers were driven by german cars. In 2023, 591 billion kilometers were driven by german cars.
From 2019 to 2021, road death per billion traveled kilometres is in range 3.7 to 4.0. The Common strategy for road safety activities in Germany from 2021 to 2030 is known as the "Road Safety Pact".
In Germany urban mobility is mostly performed as a driver by car (about 58%) by urban rail or by train (about 14%) or as passenger car (12%).
Germany has 229,601 kilometers of road in its road network, which make a density of 0.60 kilometer of road per square kilometer. 5.7% of those roads are known as motorways in European English and eventually in British English (Autobahn).
High-speed vehicular traffic has a long tradition in Germany given that the first freeway (Autobahn) in the world, the AVUS, and the world\'s first automobile were developed and built in Germany. Germany possesses one of the most dense road systems of the world. German motorways have no blanket speed limit for light vehicles. However, posted limits are in place on many dangerous or congested stretches as well as where traffic noise or pollution poses a problem (20.8% under static or temporary limits and an average 2.6% under variable traffic control limit applications as of 2015).
The German government has had issues with upkeep of the country\'s autobahn network, having had to revamp the Eastern portion\'s transport system since the unification of Germany between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). With that, numerous construction projects have been put on hold in the west, and a vigorous reconstruction has been going since the late 1990s. However, ever since the European Union formed, an overall streamlining and change of route plans have occurred as faster and more direct links to former Soviet bloc countries now exist and are in the works, with intense co-operation among European countries.
Intercity bus service within Germany fell out of favour as post-war prosperity increased, and became almost extinct when legislation was introduced in the 1980s to protect the national railway. After that market was deregulated in 2012, some 150 new intercity bus lines have been established, leading to a significant shift from rail to bus for long journeys. The market has since consolidated with Flixbus controlling over 90% of it and also expanding into neighboring countries.
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# Transport in Germany
## Road and automotive transport {#road_and_automotive_transport}
### Roads
Germany has approximately 650,000 km of roads, of which 231,000 km are non-local roads. The road network is extensively used with nearly 2 trillion km travelled by car in 2005, in comparison to just 70 billion km travelled by rail and 35 billion km travelled by plane.
The Autobahn is the German federal highway system. The official German term is **Bundesautobahn** (plural **Bundesautobahnen**, abbreviated \'BAB\'), which translates as \'federal motorway\'. Where no local speed limit is posted, the advisory limit *(Richtgeschwindigkeit)* is 130 km/h. The *Autobahn* network had a total length of about 12996 km in 2016, which ranks it among the most dense and longest systems in the world. Only federally built controlled-access highways meeting certain construction standards including at least two lanes per direction are called *\"Bundesautobahn\"*. They have their own, blue-coloured signs and their own numbering system. All *Autobahnen* are named by using the capital letter A, followed by a blank and a number (for example A 8).
The main *Autobahnen* going all across Germany have single digit numbers. Shorter highways of regional importance have double digit numbers (like A 24, connecting Berlin and Hamburg). Very short stretches built for heavy local traffic (for example ring roads or the A 555 from Cologne to Bonn) usually have three digits, where the first digit depends on the region.
East--west routes are usually even-numbered, north--south routes are usually odd-numbered. The numbers of the north--south *Autobahnen* increase from west to east; that is to say, the more easterly roads are given higher numbers. Similarly, the east--west routes use increasing numbers from north to south.
The autobahns are considered the safest category of German roads: for example, in 2012, while carrying 31% of all motorized road traffic, they only accounted for 11% of Germany\'s traffic fatalities.
German autobahns are still toll-free for light vehicles, but on 1 January 2005, a blanket mandatory toll on heavy trucks was introduced.
The national roads in Germany are called *Bundesstraßen* (federal roads). Their numbers are usually well known to local road users, as they appear (written in black digits on a yellow rectangle with black border) on direction traffic signs and on street maps. A Bundesstraße is often referred to as \"B\" followed by its number, for example \"B1\", one of the main east--west routes. More important routes have lower numbers. Odd numbers are usually applied to north--south oriented roads, and even numbers for east--west routes. Bypass routes are referred to with an appended \"a\" (alternative) or \"n\" (new alignment), as in \"B 56n\".
Other main public roads are maintained by the *Bundesländer* (states), called *Landesstraße* (country road) or *Staatsstraße* (state road). The numbers of these roads are prefixed with \"L\", \"S\" or \"St\", but are usually not seen on direction signs or written on maps. They appear on the kilometre posts on the roadside. Numbers are unique only within one state.
The *Landkreise* (districts) and municipalities are in charge of the minor roads and streets within villages, towns and cities. These roads have the number prefix \"K\" indicating a *Kreisstraße*.
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# Transport in Germany
## Rail transport {#rail_transport}
### Overview {#overview_1}
Germany features a total of 43,468 km railways, of which at least 19,973 km are electrified (2014).
Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) is the major German railway infrastructure and service operator. Though Deutsche Bahn is a private company, the government still holds all shares and therefore Deutsche Bahn can still be called a state-owned company. Since its reformation under private law in 1994, Deutsche Bahn no longer publishes details of the tracks it owns; in addition to the DBAG system there are about 280 privately or locally owned railway companies which own an approximate 3,000 km to 4,000 km of the total tracks and use DB tracks in *open access*.
Railway subsidies amounted to €17.0 billion in 2014 and there are significant differences between the financing of long-distance and short-distance (or local) trains in Germany. While long-distance trains can be run by any railway company, the companies also receive no subsidies from the government. Local trains however are subsidised by the German states, which pay the operating companies to run these trains and indeed in 2013, 59% of the cost of short-distance passenger rail transport was covered by subsidies. This resulted in many private companies offering to run local train services as they can provide cheaper service than the state-owned Deutsche Bahn. Track construction is entirely and track maintenance partly government financed both for long and short range trains. On the other hand, all rail vehicles are charged track access charges by DB Netz which in turn delivers (part of) its profits to the federal budget.
High speed rail started in the early 1990s with the introduction of the Inter City Express (ICE) into revenue service after first plans to modernize the rail system had been drawn up under the government of Willy Brandt. While the high speed network is not as dense as those of France or Spain, ICE or slightly slower (max. speed 200 km/h) Intercity (IC) serve most major cities. Several extensions or upgrades to high speed lines are under construction or planned for the near future, some of them after decades of planning.
The fastest high-speed train operated by Deutsche Bahn, the InterCityExpress or ICE connects major German and neighbouring international centres such as Zürich, Vienna, Copenhagen, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels. The rail network throughout Germany is extensive and provides services in most areas. On regular lines, at least one train every two hours will call even in the smallest of villages during the day. Nearly all larger metropolitan areas are served by S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Straßenbahn and/or bus networks.
The German government on 13 February 2018 announced plans to make public transportation free as a means to reduce road traffic and decrease air pollution to EU-mandated levels. The new policy will be put to the test by the end of the year in the cities of Bonn, Essen, Herrenberg, Reutlingen and Mannheim. Issues remain concerning the costs of such a move as ticket sales for public transportation constitute a major source of income for cities.`{{update inline|date=November 2023}}`{=mediawiki}
### International freight trains {#international_freight_trains}
While Germany and most of contiguous Europe use `{{RailGauge|1435mm|allk=on}}`{=mediawiki}, differences in signalling, rules and regulations, electrification voltages, etc. create obstacles for freight operations across borders. These obstacles are slowly being overcome, with international (in- and outgoing) and transit (through) traffic being responsible for a large part of the recent uptake in rail freight volume. EU regulations have done much to harmonize standards, making cross border operations easier. Maschen Marshalling Yard near Hamburg is the second biggest in the world and the biggest in Europe. It serves as a freight hub distributing goods from Scandinavia to southern Europe and from Central Europe to the port of Hamburg and overseas. Being a densely populated prosperous country in the center of Europe, there are many important transit routes through Germany. The Mannheim--Karlsruhe--Basel railway has undergone upgrades and refurbishments since the 1980s and will likely undergo further upgrades for decades to come as it is the main route from the North Sea Ports to northern Italy via the Gotthard Base Tunnel.
### S-Bahn {#s_bahn}
Almost all major metro areas of Germany have suburban rail systems called S-Bahnen (*Schnellbahnen*). These usually connect larger agglomerations to their suburbs and often other regional towns, although the Rhein-Ruhr S-Bahn connects several large cities. An S-Bahn calls at all intermediate stations and runs more frequently than other trains. In Berlin and Hamburg the S-Bahn has a U-Bahn-like service and uses a third rail whereas all other S-Bahn services rely on catenary power supply.
### Rapid transit (U-Bahn) {#rapid_transit_u_bahn}
Relatively few cities have a full-fledged underground U-Bahn system; S-Bahn (suburban commuter railway) systems are far more common. In some cities the distinction between U-Bahn and S-Bahn systems is blurred; for instance, some S-Bahn systems run underground, have frequencies similar to U-Bahn, and form part of the same integrated transport network. A larger number of cities has upgraded their tramways to light rail standards. These systems are called Stadtbahn (not to be confused with S-Bahn).
Cities with U-Bahn systems are:
- Berlin (U-Bahn)
- Hamburg (U-Bahn)
- Munich (U-Bahn)
- Nuremberg/Fürth (U-Bahn)
With the exception of Hamburg, all of those aforementioned cities also have a tram system, often with new lines built to light rail standards. Berlin and Hamburg (as well as the then independent city of Schöneberg whose lone subway line is today\'s line 4 of the Berlin U-Bahn) began building their networks before World War I whereas Nuremberg and Munich - despite earlier attempts in the 1930s and 1940s - only opened their networks in the 1970s (in time for the 1972 Summer Olympics in the case of Munich).
Cities with *Stadtbahn* systems can be found in the article Trams in Germany. Locals sometimes confuse *Stadtbahn* and \"proper\" *U-Bahn* as the logo for the former sometimes employs a white U on a blue background similar to the logo of the latter (in most cases, however, the Stadtbahn-logo includes additions to that U-logo). Furthermore, Stadtbahn systems often include partially or wholly underground sections (especially in city centers) and in the case of Frankfurt U-Bahn what is properly a *Stadtbahn* is even officially called an U-Bahn. To some extent this confusion was deliberate at the time of the opening of the Stadtbahn networks, as it was seen at the time to be more desirable to have a \"proper\" U-Bahn system than a \"mere\" tram system and many cities which embarked on Stadtbahn building projects did so with the official goal of eventually converting the entire network to U-Bahn standards.
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# Transport in Germany
## Rail transport {#rail_transport}
### Trams (Straßenbahn) {#trams_straßenbahn}
Germany was among the first countries to have electric streetcars, and Berlin has one of the longest tram networks in the world. Many West German cities abandoned their previous tram systems in the 1960s and 1970s while others upgraded them to \"Stadtbahn\" (\~light rail) standard, often including underground sections. In the East, most cities retained or even expanded their tram systems and since reunification a trend towards new tram construction can be observed in most of the country. Today the only major German city without a tram or light rail system is Hamburg. Tram-train systems like the Karlsruhe model first came to prominence in Germany in the early 1990s and are implemented or discussed in several cities, providing coverage far into the rural areas surrounding cities. Trams exist in all but two of the states of Germany (Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein being the exception) and in 13 of the 16 state capitals (Wiesbaden being the capital outside the aforementioned states without a tram system). While there have been attempts to (re)-establish tram systems in many cities that formerly had them (for example Aachen, Kiel, Hamburg) as well as in some cities that never had them, but are comparatively close to a city that does (for example Erlangen, Wolfsburg), only a handful of such proposals have come to fruition since World War II - the Saarbahn (trams defunct in 1965; Saarbahn established in 1997) in Saarbrücken, Heilbronn Stadtbahn (defunct in 1955, re-established as an extension of Stadtbahn Karlsruhe in 1998) and a few extensions across the border - the Strasbourg tramway to Kehl and the Trams in Basel to Weil am Rhein.
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# Transport in Germany
## Air transport {#air_transport}
Short distances and the extensive network of motorways and railways make airplanes uncompetitive for travel within Germany. Only about 1% of all distance travelled was by plane in 2002. But due to a decline in prices with the introduction of low-fares airlines, domestic air travel is becoming more attractive. In 2013 Germany had the fifth largest passenger air market in the world with 105,016,346 passengers. However, the advent of new faster rail lines often leads to cuts in service by the airlines or even total abandonment of routes like Frankfurt-Cologne, Berlin-Hannover or Berlin-Hamburg.
### Airlines
: *see: List of airlines of Germany*
Germany\'s largest airline is Lufthansa, which was privatised in the 1990s. Lufthansa also operates two regional subsidiaries under the Lufthansa Regional brand and a low-cost subsidiary, Eurowings, which operates independently. Lufthansa flies a dense network of domestic, European and intercontinental routes. Germany\'s second-largest airline was Air Berlin, which also operated a network of domestic and European destinations with a focus on leisure routes as well as some long-haul services. Air Berlin declared bankruptcy in 2017 with the last flight under its own name in October of that year.
Charter and leisure carriers include Condor, TUIfly, MHS Aviation and Sundair. Major German cargo operators are Lufthansa Cargo, European Air Transport Leipzig (which is a subsidiary of DHL) and AeroLogic (which is jointly owned by DHL and Lufthansa Cargo).
### Airports
: *see: List of airports in Germany*
Frankfurt Airport is Germany\'s largest airport, a major transportation hub in Europe and the world\'s twelfth busiest airport. It is one of the airports with the largest number of international destinations served worldwide. Depending on whether total passengers, flights or cargo traffic are used as a measure, it ranks first, second or third in Europe alongside London Heathrow Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. Germany\'s second biggest international airport is Munich Airport, followed by Berlin Brandenburg Airport and Düsseldorf Airport.
There are several more scheduled passenger airports throughout Germany, mainly serving European metropolitan and leisure destinations. Intercontinental long-haul routes are operated to and from the airports in Frankfurt, Munich, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Hamburg and Stuttgart.
**Airports --- with paved runways:**
- total: 318
- over 3,047 m: 14
- 2,438 to 3,047 m: 49
- 1,524 to 2,437 m: 60
- 914 to 1,523 m: 70
- under 914 m: 125 (2013 est.)
**Airports --- with unpaved runways:**
- total: 221
- over 3,047 m: 0
- 2,438 to 3,047 m: 0
- 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1
- 914 to 1,523 m: 35
- under 914 m: 185 (2013 est.)
**Heliports:** 23 (2013 est.)
## Water transport {#water_transport}
**Waterways:** 7,467 km (2013); major rivers include the Rhine and Elbe; Kiel Canal is an important connection between the Baltic Sea and North Sea and one of the busiest waterways in the world, the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal links Rotterdam on the North Sea with the Black Sea. It passes through the highest point reachable by ocean-going vessels from the sea. The Canal has gained importance for leisure cruises in addition to cargo traffic. There are also regular boat trips on lakes, such as Lake Constance (*Bodensee*).
**Pipelines:** oil 2,400 km (2013)
**Ports and harbours:** Berlin, Bonn, Brake, Bremen, Bremerhaven, Cologne, Dortmund, Dresden, Duisburg, Emden, Fürth, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kiel, Lübeck, Magdeburg, Mannheim, Nuremberg, Oldenburg, Rostock, Stuttgart, Wilhelmshaven
The port of Hamburg is the largest sea-harbour in Germany and ranks #3 in Europe (after Rotterdam and Antwerpen), #17 worldwide (2016), in total container traffic.
**Merchant marine:**\
total: 427 ships\
**Ships by type:** barge carrier 2, bulk carrier 6, cargo ship 51, chemical tanker 15, container ship 298, Liquified Gas Carrier 6, passenger ship 4, petroleum tanker 10, refrigerated cargo 3, roll-on/roll-off ship 6 (2010 est.)
Ferries operate mostly between mainland Germany and its islands, serving both tourism and freight transport. Car ferries also operate across the Baltic Sea to the Nordic countries, Russia and the Baltic countries. Rail ferries operate across the Fehmahrnbelt, from Rostock to Sweden (both carrying passenger trains) and from the Mukran port in Sassnitz on the island of Rügen to numerous Baltic Sea destinations (freight only)
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# History of geometry
thumb\|300px \|Part of the \"`{{smallcaps|Tab.Geometry.}}`{=mediawiki}\" (Table of Geometry) from the 1728 *Cyclopaedia* `{{General geometry}}`{=mediawiki}
Geometry (from the *γεωμετρία*; *geo-* \"earth\", *-metron* \"measurement\") arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers (arithmetic).
Classic geometry was focused in compass and straightedge constructions. Geometry was revolutionized by Euclid, who introduced mathematical rigor and the axiomatic method still in use today. His book, *The Elements* is widely considered the most influential textbook of all time, and was known to all educated people in the West until the middle of the 20th century.
In modern times, geometric concepts have been generalized to a high level of abstraction and complexity, and have been subjected to the methods of calculus and abstract algebra, so that many modern branches of the field are barely recognizable as the descendants of early geometry. (See Areas of mathematics and Algebraic geometry.)
## Early geometry {#early_geometry}
The earliest recorded beginnings of geometry can be traced to early peoples, such as the ancient Indus Valley (see Harappan mathematics) and ancient Babylonia (see Babylonian mathematics) from around 3000 BC. Early geometry was a collection of empirically discovered principles concerning lengths, angles, areas, and volumes, which were developed to meet some practical need in surveying, construction, astronomy, and various crafts. Among these were some surprisingly sophisticated principles, and a modern mathematician might be hard put to derive some of them without the use of calculus and algebra. For example, both the Egyptians and the Babylonians were aware of versions of the Pythagorean theorem about 1500 years before Pythagoras and the Indian Sulba Sutras around 800 BC contained the first statements of the theorem; the Egyptians had a correct formula for the volume of a frustum of a square pyramid.
### Egyptian geometry {#egyptian_geometry}
The ancient Egyptians knew that they could approximate the area of a circle as follows:
:
: Area of Circle ≈ \[ (Diameter) × 8/9 \]^2^.
Problem 50 of the Ahmes papyrus uses these methods to calculate the area of a circle, according to a rule that the area is equal to the square of 8/9 of the circle\'s diameter. This assumes that `{{pi}}`{=mediawiki} is 4×(8/9)^2^ (or 3.160493\...), with an error of slightly over 0.63 percent. This value was slightly less accurate than the calculations of the Babylonians (25/8 = 3.125, within 0.53 percent), but was not otherwise surpassed until Archimedes\' approximation of 211875/67441 = 3.14163, which had an error of just over 1 in 10,000.
Ahmes knew of the modern 22/7 as an approximation for `{{pi}}`{=mediawiki}, and used it to split a hekat, hekat x 22/x x 7/22 = hekat; however, Ahmes continued to use the traditional 256/81 value for `{{pi}}`{=mediawiki} for computing his hekat volume found in a cylinder.
Problem 48 involved using a square with side 9 units. This square was cut into a 3x3 grid. The diagonal of the corner squares were used to make an irregular octagon with an area of 63 units. This gave a second value for `{{pi}}`{=mediawiki} of 3.111\...
The two problems together indicate a range of values for `{{pi}}`{=mediawiki} between 3.11 and 3.16.
Problem 14 in the Moscow Mathematical Papyrus gives the only ancient example finding the volume of a frustum of a pyramid, describing the correct formula:
$$V = \frac{1}{3} h(a^2 + ab + b^2)$$ where *a* and *b* are the base and top side lengths of the truncated pyramid and *h* is the height.
### Babylonian geometry {#babylonian_geometry}
The Babylonians may have known the general rules for measuring areas and volumes. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct if *π* is estimated as 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the base and the height, however, the volume of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the sum of the bases. The Pythagorean theorem was also known to the Babylonians. Also, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used *π* as 3 and 1/8. The Babylonians are also known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven miles today. This measurement for distances eventually was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time. There have been recent discoveries showing that ancient Babylonians may have discovered astronomical geometry nearly 1400 years before Europeans did.
### Vedic India geometry {#vedic_india_geometry}
The Indian Vedic period had a tradition of geometry, mostly expressed in the construction of elaborate altars. Early Indian texts (1st millennium BC) on this topic include the *Satapatha Brahmana* and the *Śulba Sūtras*.
The *Śulba Sūtras* has been described as \"the earliest extant verbal expression of the Pythagorean Theorem in the world, although it had already been known to the Old Babylonians.\" They make use of Pythagorean triples, which are particular cases of Diophantine equations.
According to mathematician S. G. Dani, the Babylonian cuneiform tablet Plimpton 322 written c. 1850 BC \"contains fifteen Pythagorean triples with quite large entries, including (13500, 12709, 18541) which is a primitive triple, indicating, in particular, that there was sophisticated understanding on the topic\" in Mesopotamia in 1850 BC. \"Since these tablets predate the Sulbasutras period by several centuries, taking into account the contextual appearance of some of the triples, it is reasonable to expect that similar understanding would have been there in India.\" Dani goes on to say:
> As the main objective of the *Sulvasutras* was to describe the constructions of altars and the geometric principles involved in them, the subject of Pythagorean triples, even if it had been well understood may still not have featured in the *Sulvasutras*. The occurrence of the triples in the *Sulvasutras* is comparable to mathematics that one may encounter in an introductory book on architecture or another similar applied area, and would not correspond directly to the overall knowledge on the topic at that time. Since, unfortunately, no other contemporaneous sources have been found it may never be possible to settle this issue satisfactorily.
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# History of geometry
## Greek geometry {#greek_geometry}
### Thales and Pythagoras {#thales_and_pythagoras}
Thales (635--543 BC) of Miletus (now in southwestern Turkey), was the first to whom deduction in mathematics is attributed. There are five geometric propositions for which he wrote deductive proofs, though his proofs have not survived. Pythagoras (582--496 BC) of Ionia, and later, Italy, then colonized by Greeks, may have been a student of Thales, and traveled to Babylon and Egypt. The theorem that bears his name may not have been his discovery, but he was probably one of the first to give a deductive proof of it. He gathered a group of students around him to study mathematics, music, and philosophy, and together they discovered most of what high school students learn today in their geometry courses. In addition, they made the profound discovery of incommensurable lengths and irrational numbers.
### Plato
Plato (427--347 BC) was a philosopher, highly esteemed by the Greeks. There is a story that he had inscribed above the entrance to his famous school, \"Let none ignorant of geometry enter here.\" However, the story is considered to be untrue. Though he was not a mathematician himself, his views on mathematics had great influence. Mathematicians thus accepted his belief that geometry should use no tools but compass and straightedge -- never measuring instruments such as a marked ruler or a protractor, because these were a workman\'s tools, not worthy of a scholar. This dictum led to a deep study of possible compass and straightedge constructions, and three classic construction problems: how to use these tools to trisect an angle, to construct a cube twice the volume of a given cube, and to construct a square equal in area to a given circle. The proofs of the impossibility of these constructions, finally achieved in the 19th century, led to important principles regarding the deep structure of the real number system. Aristotle (384--322 BC), Plato\'s greatest pupil, wrote a treatise on methods of reasoning used in deductive proofs (see Logic) which was not substantially improved upon until the 19th century.
### Hellenistic geometry {#hellenistic_geometry}
#### Euclid
Euclid (c. 325--265 BC), of Alexandria, probably a student at the Academy founded by Plato, wrote a treatise in 13 books (chapters), titled *The Elements of Geometry*, in which he presented geometry in an ideal axiomatic form, which came to be known as Euclidean geometry. The treatise is not a compendium of all that the Hellenistic mathematicians knew at the time about geometry; Euclid himself wrote eight more advanced books on geometry. We know from other references that Euclid\'s was not the first elementary geometry textbook, but it was so much superior that the others fell into disuse and were lost. He was brought to the university at Alexandria by Ptolemy I, King of Egypt.
*The Elements* began with definitions of terms, fundamental geometric principles (called *axioms* or *postulates*), and general quantitative principles (called *common notions*) from which all the rest of geometry could be logically deduced. Following are his five axioms, somewhat paraphrased to make the English easier to read.
1. Any two points can be joined by a straight line.
2. Any finite straight line can be extended in a straight line.
3. A circle can be drawn with any center and any radius.
4. All right angles are equal to each other.
5. If two straight lines in a plane are crossed by another straight line (called the transversal), and the interior angles between the two lines and the transversal lying on one side of the transversal add up to less than two right angles, then on that side of the transversal, the two lines extended will intersect (also called the parallel postulate).
Concepts, that are now understood as algebra, were expressed geometrically by Euclid, a method referred to as Greek geometric algebra.
#### Archimedes
Archimedes (287--212 BC), of Syracuse, Sicily, when it was a Greek city-state, was one of the most famous mathematicians of the Hellenistic period. He is known for his formulation of a hydrostatic principle (known as Archimedes\' principle) and for his works on geometry, including Measurement of the Circle and On Conoids and Spheroids. His work On Floating Bodies is the first known work on hydrostatics, of which Archimedes is recognized as the founder. Renaissance translations of his works, including the ancient commentaries, were enormously influential in the work of some of the best mathematicians of the 17th century, notably René Descartes and Pierre de Fermat.
#### After Archimedes {#after_archimedes}
After Archimedes, Hellenistic mathematics began to decline. There were a few minor stars yet to come, but the golden age of geometry was over. Proclus (410--485), author of *Commentary on the First Book of Euclid*, was one of the last important players in Hellenistic geometry. He was a competent geometer, but more importantly, he was a superb commentator on the works that preceded him. Much of that work did not survive to modern times, and is known to us only through his commentary. The Roman Republic and Empire that succeeded and absorbed the Greek city-states produced excellent engineers, but no mathematicians of note.
The great Library of Alexandria was later burned. There is a growing consensus among historians that the Library of Alexandria likely suffered from several destructive events, but that the destruction of Alexandria\'s pagan temples in the late 4th century was probably the most severe and final one. The evidence for that destruction is the most definitive and secure. Caesar\'s invasion may well have led to the loss of some 40,000--70,000 scrolls in a warehouse adjacent to the port (as Luciano Canfora argues, they were likely copies produced by the Library intended for export), but it is unlikely to have affected the Library or Museum, given that there is ample evidence that both existed later.
Civil wars, decreasing investments in maintenance and acquisition of new scrolls and generally declining interest in non-religious pursuits likely contributed to a reduction in the body of material available in the Library, especially in the 4th century. The Serapeum was certainly destroyed by Theophilus in 391, and the Museum and Library may have fallen victim to the same campaign.
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# History of geometry
## Classical Indian geometry {#classical_indian_geometry}
In the Bakhshali manuscript, there is a handful of geometric problems (including problems about volumes of irregular solids). The Bakhshali manuscript also \"employs a decimal place value system with a dot for zero.\" Aryabhata\'s *Aryabhatiya* (499) includes the computation of areas and volumes.
Brahmagupta wrote his astronomical work *`{{IAST|Brāhma Sphuṭa Siddhānta}}`{=mediawiki}* in 628. Chapter 12, containing 66 Sanskrit verses, was divided into two sections: \"basic operations\" (including cube roots, fractions, ratio and proportion, and barter) and \"practical mathematics\" (including mixture, mathematical series, plane figures, stacking bricks, sawing of timber, and piling of grain). In the latter section, he stated his famous theorem on the diagonals of a cyclic quadrilateral:
**Brahmagupta\'s theorem:** If a cyclic quadrilateral has diagonals that are perpendicular to each other, then the perpendicular line drawn from the point of intersection of the diagonals to any side of the quadrilateral always bisects the opposite side.
Chapter 12 also included a formula for the area of a cyclic quadrilateral (a generalization of Heron\'s formula), as well as a complete description of rational triangles (*i.e.* triangles with rational sides and rational areas).
**Brahmagupta\'s formula:** The area, *A*, of a cyclic quadrilateral with sides of lengths *a*, *b*, *c*, *d*, respectively, is given by
: $A = \sqrt{(s-a)(s-b)(s-c)(s-d)}$
where *s*, the semiperimeter, given by: $s=\frac{a+b+c+d}{2}.$
**Brahmagupta\'s Theorem on rational triangles:** A triangle with rational sides $a, b, c$ and rational area is of the form:
$$a = \frac{u^2}{v}+v, \ \ b=\frac{u^2}{w}+w, \ \ c=\frac{u^2}{v}+\frac{u^2}{w} - (v+w)$$ for some rational numbers $u, v,$ and $w$.
Parameshvara Nambudiri was the first mathematician to give a formula for the radius of the circle circumscribing a cyclic quadrilateral. The expression is sometimes attributed to Lhuilier \[1782\], 350 years later. With the sides of the cyclic quadrilateral being *a, b, c,* and *d*, the radius *R* of the circumscribed circle is:
$$R = \sqrt {\frac{(ab + cd)(ac + bd)(ad + bc)}{(- a + b + c + d)(a - b + c + d)(a + b - c + d)(a + b + c - d)}}.$$
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# History of geometry
## Chinese geometry {#chinese_geometry}
The first definitive work (or at least oldest existent) on geometry in China was the *Mo Jing*, the Mohist canon of the early philosopher Mozi (470--390 BC). It was compiled years after his death by his followers around the year 330 BC. Although the *Mo Jing* is the oldest existent book on geometry in China, there is the possibility that even older written material existed. However, due to the infamous Burning of the Books in a political maneuver by the Qin dynasty ruler Qin Shihuang (r. 221--210 BC), multitudes of written literature created before his time were purged. In addition, the *Mo Jing* presents geometrical concepts in mathematics that are perhaps too advanced not to have had a previous geometrical base or mathematic background to work upon.
The *Mo Jing* described various aspects of many fields associated with physical science, and provided a small wealth of information on mathematics as well. It provided an \'atomic\' definition of the geometric point, stating that a line is separated into parts, and the part which has no remaining parts (i.e. cannot be divided into smaller parts) and thus forms the extreme end of a line is a point. Much like Euclid\'s first and third definitions and Plato\'s \'beginning of a line\', the *Mo Jing* stated that \"a point may stand at the end (of a line) or at its beginning like a head-presentation in childbirth. (As to its invisibility) there is nothing similar to it.\" Similar to the atomists of Democritus, the *Mo Jing* stated that a point is the smallest unit, and cannot be cut in half, since \'nothing\' cannot be halved. It stated that two lines of equal length will always finish at the same place, while providing definitions for the *comparison of lengths* and for *parallels*, along with principles of space and bounded space. It also described the fact that planes without the quality of thickness cannot be piled up since they cannot mutually touch. The book provided definitions for circumference, diameter, and radius, along with the definition of volume.
The Han dynasty (202 BC -- 220 AD) period of China witnessed a new flourishing of mathematics. One of the oldest Chinese mathematical texts to present geometric progressions was the *Suàn shù shū* of 186 BC, during the Western Han era. The mathematician, inventor, and astronomer Zhang Heng (78--139 AD) used geometrical formulas to solve mathematical problems. Although rough estimates for pi (π) were given in the *Zhou Li* (compiled in the 2nd century BC), it was Zhang Heng who was the first to make a concerted effort at creating a more accurate formula for pi. Zhang Heng approximated pi as 730/232 (or approx 3.1466), although he used another formula of pi in finding a spherical volume, using the square root of 10 (or approx 3.162) instead. Zu Chongzhi (429--500 AD) improved the accuracy of the approximation of pi to between 3.1415926 and 3.1415927, with ^355^⁄~113~ (密率, Milü, detailed approximation) and ^22^⁄~7~ (约率, Yuelü, rough approximation) being the other notable approximation. In comparison to later works, the formula for pi given by the French mathematician Franciscus Vieta (1540--1603) fell halfway between Zu\'s approximations.
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# History of geometry
## Chinese geometry {#chinese_geometry}
### *The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art* {#the_nine_chapters_on_the_mathematical_art}
*The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art*, the title of which first appeared by 179 AD on a bronze inscription, was edited and commented on by the 3rd century mathematician Liu Hui from the Kingdom of Cao Wei. This book included many problems where geometry was applied, such as finding surface areas for squares and circles, the volumes of solids in various three-dimensional shapes, and included the use of the Pythagorean theorem. The book provided illustrated proof for the Pythagorean theorem, contained a written dialogue between of the earlier Duke of Zhou and Shang Gao on the properties of the right angle triangle and the Pythagorean theorem, while also referring to the astronomical gnomon, the circle and square, as well as measurements of heights and distances. The editor Liu Hui listed pi as 3.141014 by using a 192 sided polygon, and then calculated pi as 3.14159 using a 3072 sided polygon. This was more accurate than Liu Hui\'s contemporary Wang Fan, a mathematician and astronomer from Eastern Wu, would render pi as 3.1555 by using ^142^⁄~45~. Liu Hui also wrote of mathematical surveying to calculate distance measurements of depth, height, width, and surface area. In terms of solid geometry, he figured out that a wedge with rectangular base and both sides sloping could be broken down into a pyramid and a tetrahedral wedge. He also figured out that a wedge with trapezoid base and both sides sloping could be made to give two tetrahedral wedges separated by a pyramid. Furthermore, Liu Hui described Cavalieri\'s principle on volume, as well as Gaussian elimination. From the *Nine Chapters*, it listed the following geometrical formulas that were known by the time of the Former Han dynasty (202 BCE -- 9 CE).
**Areas for the** `{{col-begin}}`{=mediawiki} `{{col-4}}`{=mediawiki}
- Square
- Rectangle
- Circle
- Isosceles triangle
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Rhomboid
- Trapezoid
- Double trapezium
- Segment of a circle
- Annulus (\'ring\' between two concentric circles)
**Volumes for the** `{{col-begin}}`{=mediawiki} `{{col-4}}`{=mediawiki}
- Parallelepiped with two square surfaces
- Parallelepiped with no square surfaces
- Pyramid
- Frustum of pyramid with square base
- Frustum of pyramid with rectangular base of unequal sides
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Cube
- Prism
- Wedge with rectangular base and both sides sloping
- Wedge with trapezoid base and both sides sloping
- Tetrahedral wedge
```{=html}
<!-- -->
```
- Frustum of a wedge of the second type (used for applications in engineering)
- Cylinder
- Cone with circular base
- Frustum of a cone
- Sphere
Continuing the geometrical legacy of ancient China, there were many later figures to come, including the famed astronomer and mathematician Shen Kuo (1031--1095 CE), Yang Hui (1238--1298) who discovered Pascal\'s Triangle, Xu Guangqi (1562--1633), and many others.
## Islamic Golden Age {#islamic_golden_age}
Thābit ibn Qurra, using what he called the method of reduction and composition, provided two different general proofs of the Pythagorean theorem for all triangles, before which proofs only existed for the theorem for the special cases of a special right triangle.
A 2007 paper in the journal *Science* suggested that girih tiles possessed properties consistent with self-similar fractal quasicrystalline tilings such as the Penrose tilings.
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# History of geometry
## Renaissance
The transmission of the Greek Classics to medieval Europe via the Arabic literature of the 9th to 10th century \"Islamic Golden Age\" began in the 10th century and culminated in the Latin translations of the 12th century. A copy of Ptolemy\'s *Almagest* was brought back to Sicily by Henry Aristippus (d. 1162), as a gift from the Emperor to King William I (r. 1154--1166). An anonymous student at Salerno travelled to Sicily and translated the *Almagest* as well as several works by Euclid from Greek to Latin. Although the Sicilians generally translated directly from the Greek, when Greek texts were not available, they would translate from Arabic. Eugenius of Palermo (d. 1202) translated Ptolemy\'s *Optics* into Latin, drawing on his knowledge of all three languages in the task. The rigorous deductive methods of geometry found in Euclid\'s *Elements of Geometry* were relearned, and further development of geometry in the styles of both Euclid (Euclidean geometry) and Khayyam (algebraic geometry) continued, resulting in an abundance of new theorems and concepts, many of them very profound and elegant.
Advances in the treatment of perspective were made in Renaissance art of the 14th to 15th century which went beyond what had been achieved in antiquity. In Renaissance architecture of the *Quattrocento*, concepts of architectural order were explored and rules were formulated. A prime example of is the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence by Filippo Brunelleschi (1377--1446).
In c. 1413 Filippo Brunelleschi demonstrated the geometrical method of perspective, used today by artists, by painting the outlines of various Florentine buildings onto a mirror. Soon after, nearly every artist in Florence and in Italy used geometrical perspective in their paintings, notably Masolino da Panicale and Donatello. Melozzo da Forlì first used the technique of upward foreshortening (in Rome, Loreto, Forlì and others), and was celebrated for that. Not only was perspective a way of showing depth, it was also a new method of composing a painting. Paintings began to show a single, unified scene, rather than a combination of several.
As shown by the quick proliferation of accurate perspective paintings in Florence, Brunelleschi likely understood (with help from his friend the mathematician Toscanelli), but did not publish, the mathematics behind perspective. Decades later, his friend Leon Battista Alberti wrote *De pictura* (1435/1436), a treatise on proper methods of showing distance in painting based on Euclidean geometry. Alberti was also trained in the science of optics through the school of Padua and under the influence of Biagio Pelacani da Parma who studied Alhazen\'s *Optics*.
Piero della Francesca elaborated on Della Pittura in his *De Prospectiva Pingendi* in the 1470s. Alberti had limited himself to figures on the ground plane and giving an overall basis for perspective. Della Francesca fleshed it out, explicitly covering solids in any area of the picture plane. Della Francesca also started the now common practice of using illustrated figures to explain the mathematical concepts, making his treatise easier to understand than Alberti\'s. Della Francesca was also the first to accurately draw the Platonic solids as they would appear in perspective.
Perspective remained, for a while, the domain of Florence. Jan van Eyck, among others, was unable to create a consistent structure for the converging lines in paintings, as in London\'s The Arnolfini Portrait, because he was unaware of the theoretical breakthrough just then occurring in Italy. However he achieved very subtle effects by manipulations of scale in his interiors. Gradually, and partly through the movement of academies of the arts, the Italian techniques became part of the training of artists across Europe, and later other parts of the world. The culmination of these Renaissance traditions finds its ultimate synthesis in the research of the architect, geometer, and optician Girard Desargues on perspective, optics and projective geometry.
The *Vitruvian Man* by Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1490) depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise *De Architectura*.
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# History of geometry
## Modern geometry {#modern_geometry}
### The 17th century {#the_17th_century}
In the early 17th century, there were two important developments in geometry. The first and most important was the creation of analytic geometry, or geometry with coordinates and equations, by René Descartes (1596--1650) and Pierre de Fermat (1601--1665). This was a necessary precursor to the development of calculus and a precise quantitative science of physics. The second geometric development of this period was the systematic study of projective geometry by Girard Desargues (1591--1661). Projective geometry is the study of geometry without measurement, just the study of how points align with each other. There had been some early work in this area by Hellenistic geometers, notably Pappus (c. 340). The greatest flowering of the field occurred with Jean-Victor Poncelet (1788--1867).
In the late 17th century, calculus was developed independently and almost simultaneously by Isaac Newton (1642--1727) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646--1716). This was the beginning of a new field of mathematics now called analysis. Though not itself a branch of geometry, it is applicable to geometry, and it solved two families of problems that had long been almost intractable: finding tangent lines to odd curves, and finding areas enclosed by those curves. The methods of calculus reduced these problems mostly to straightforward matters of computation.
### The 18th and 19th centuries {#the_18th_and_19th_centuries}
#### Non-Euclidean geometry {#non_euclidean_geometry}
The very old problem of proving Euclid\'s Fifth Postulate, the \"Parallel Postulate\", from his first four postulates had never been forgotten. Beginning not long after Euclid, many attempted demonstrations were given, but all were later found to be faulty, through allowing into the reasoning some principle which itself had not been proved from the first four postulates. Though Omar Khayyám was also unsuccessful in proving the parallel postulate, his criticisms of Euclid\'s theories of parallels and his proof of properties of figures in non-Euclidean geometries contributed to the eventual development of non-Euclidean geometry. By 1700 a great deal had been discovered about what can be proved from the first four, and what the pitfalls were in attempting to prove the fifth. Saccheri, Lambert, and Legendre each did excellent work on the problem in the 18th century, but still fell short of success. In the early 19th century, Gauss, Johann Bolyai, and Lobachevsky, each independently, took a different approach. Beginning to suspect that it was impossible to prove the Parallel Postulate, they set out to develop a self-consistent geometry in which that postulate was false. In this they were successful, thus creating the first non-Euclidean geometry. By 1854, Bernhard Riemann, a student of Gauss, had applied methods of calculus in a ground-breaking study of the intrinsic (self-contained) geometry of all smooth surfaces, and thereby found a different non-Euclidean geometry. This work of Riemann later became fundamental for Einstein\'s theory of relativity. It remained to be proved mathematically that the non-Euclidean geometry was just as self-consistent as Euclidean geometry, and this was first accomplished by Beltrami in 1868. With this, non-Euclidean geometry was established on an equal mathematical footing with Euclidean geometry.
While it was now known that different geometric theories were mathematically possible, the question remained, \"Which one of these theories is correct for our physical space?\" The mathematical work revealed that this question must be answered by physical experimentation, not mathematical reasoning, and uncovered the reason why the experimentation must involve immense (interstellar, not earth-bound) distances. With the development of relativity theory in physics, this question became vastly more complicated.
#### Introduction of mathematical rigor {#introduction_of_mathematical_rigor}
All the work related to the Parallel Postulate revealed that it was quite difficult for a geometer to separate his logical reasoning from his intuitive understanding of physical space, and, moreover, revealed the critical importance of doing so. Careful examination had uncovered some logical inadequacies in Euclid\'s reasoning, and some unstated geometric principles to which Euclid sometimes appealed. This critique paralleled the crisis occurring in calculus and analysis regarding the meaning of infinite processes such as convergence and continuity. In geometry, there was a clear need for a new set of axioms, which would be complete, and which in no way relied on pictures we draw or on our intuition of space. Such axioms, now known as Hilbert\'s axioms, were given by David Hilbert in 1894 in his dissertation *Grundlagen der Geometrie* (*Foundations of Geometry*).
#### Analysis situs, or topology {#analysis_situs_or_topology}
In the mid-18th century, it became apparent that certain progressions of mathematical reasoning recurred when similar ideas were studied on the number line, in two dimensions, and in three dimensions. Thus the general concept of a metric space was created so that the reasoning could be done in more generality, and then applied to special cases. This method of studying calculus- and analysis-related concepts came to be known as analysis situs, and later as topology. The important topics in this field were properties of more general figures, such as connectedness and boundaries, rather than properties like straightness, and precise equality of length and angle measurements, which had been the focus of Euclidean and non-Euclidean geometry. Topology soon became a separate field of major importance, rather than a sub-field of geometry or analysis.
#### Geometry of more than 3 dimensions {#geometry_of_more_than_3_dimensions}
The 19th century saw the development of the general concept of Euclidean space by Ludwig Schläfli, who extended Euclidean geometry beyond three dimensions. He discovered all the higher-dimensional analogues of the Platonic solids, finding that there are exactly six such regular convex polytopes in dimension four, and three in all higher dimensions.
In 1878 William Kingdon Clifford introduced what is now termed geometric algebra, unifying William Rowan Hamilton\'s quaternions with Hermann Grassmann\'s algebra and revealing the geometric nature of these systems, especially in four dimensions. The operations of geometric algebra have the effect of mirroring, rotating, translating, and mapping the geometric objects that are being modeled to new positions.
### The 20th century {#the_20th_century}
Developments in algebraic geometry included the study of curves and surfaces over finite fields as demonstrated by the works of among others André Weil, Alexander Grothendieck, and Jean-Pierre Serre as well as over the real or complex numbers. Finite geometry itself, the study of spaces with only finitely many points, found applications in coding theory and cryptography. With the advent of the computer, new disciplines such as computational geometry or digital geometry deal with geometric algorithms, discrete representations of geometric data, and so forth
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# Genus–differentia definition
A **genus--differentia definition** is a type of intensional definition, and it is composed of two parts:
1. **a genus** (or family): An existing definition that serves as a portion of the new definition; all definitions with the same genus are considered members of that genus.
2. **the differentia**: The portion of the definition that is not provided by the genus.
For example, consider these two definitions:
- *a triangle*: A plane figure that has 3 straight bounding sides.
- *a quadrilateral*: A plane figure that has 4 straight bounding sides.
Those definitions can be expressed as one genus and two *differentiae*:
1. *one genus*:
- *the genus for both a triangle and a quadrilateral*: \"A plane figure\"
2. *two differentiae*:
- *the differentia for a triangle*: \"that has 3 straight bounding sides.\"
- *the differentia for a quadrilateral*: \"that has 4 straight bounding sides.\"
The use of a genus (Greek: *genos*) and a differentia (Greek: *diaphora*) in constructing a definition goes back at least as far as Aristotle (384--322 BCE). Furthermore, a genus may fulfill certain characteristics (described below) that qualify it to be referred to as *a species*, a term derived from the Greek word *eidos*, which means \"form\" in Plato\'s dialogues but should be taken to mean \"species\" in Aristotle\'s corpus.
## Differentiation and abstraction {#differentiation_and_abstraction}
The process of producing new definitions by *extending* existing definitions is commonly known as **differentiation** (and also as **derivation**). The reverse process, by which just part of an existing definition is used itself as a new definition, is called **abstraction**; the new definition is called *an abstraction* and it is said to have been *abstracted away from* the existing definition.
For instance, consider the following:
- *a square*: a quadrilateral that has interior angles which are all right angles, and that has bounding sides which all have the same length.
A part of that definition may be singled out (using parentheses here):
- *a square*: (a quadrilateral that has interior angles which are all right angles), and that has bounding sides which all have the same length.
and with that part, an abstraction may be formed:
- *a rectangle*: a quadrilateral that has interior angles which are all right angles.
Then, the definition of *a square* may be recast with that abstraction as its genus:
- *a square*: a rectangle that has bounding sides which all have the same length.
Similarly, the definition of *a square* may be rearranged and another portion singled out:
- *a square*: (a quadrilateral that has bounding sides which all have the same length), and that has interior angles which are all right angles.
leading to the following abstraction:
- *a rhombus*: a quadrilateral that has bounding sides which all have the same length.
Then, the definition of *a square* may be recast with that abstraction as its genus:
- *a square*: a rhombus that has interior angles which are all right angles.
In fact, the definition of *a square* may be recast in terms of both of the abstractions, where one acts as the genus and the other acts as the differentia:
- *a square*: a rectangle that is a rhombus.
- *a square*: a rhombus that is a rectangle.
Hence, abstraction is a means of simplifying definitions.
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# Genus–differentia definition
## Multiplicity
When multiple definitions could serve equally well, then all such definitions apply simultaneously. Thus, *a square* is a member of both the genus *\[a\] rectangle* and the genus *\[a\] rhombus*. In such a case, it is notationally convenient to consolidate the definitions into one definition that is expressed with multiple genera (and possibly no differentia, as in the following):
- *a square*: a rectangle and a rhombus.
or completely equivalently:
- *a square*: a rhombus and a rectangle.
More generally, a collection of $n>1$ equivalent definitions (each of which is expressed with one unique genus) can be recast as one definition that is expressed with $n$ genera. Thus, the following:
- *a Definition*: a Genus~1~ that is a Genus~2~ and that is a Genus~3~ and that is a\... and that is a Genus~n-1~ and that is a Genus~n~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
- *a Definition*: a Genus~2~ that is a Genus~1~ and that is a Genus~3~ and that is a\... and that is a Genus~n-1~ and that is a Genus~n~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
- *a Definition*: a Genus~3~ that is a Genus~1~ and that is a Genus~2~ and that is a\... and that is a Genus~n-1~ and that is a Genus~n~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
- \...
- *a Definition*: a Genus~n-1~ that is a Genus~1~ and that is a Genus~2~ and that is a Genus~3~ and that is a\... and that is a Genus~n~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
- *a Definition*: a Genus~n~ that is a Genus~1~ and that is a Genus~2~ and that is a Genus~3~ and that is a\... and that is a Genus~n-1~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
could be recast as:
- *a Definition*: a Genus~1~ and a Genus~2~ and a Genus~3~ and a\... and a Genus~n-1~ and a Genus~n~, which has some non-genus Differentia.
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# Genus–differentia definition
## Structure
A genus of a definition provides a means by which to specify an *is-a relationship*:
- A square is a rectangle, which is a quadrilateral, which is a plane figure, which is a\...
- A square is a rhombus, which is a quadrilateral, which is a plane figure, which is a\...
- A square is a quadrilateral, which is a plane figure, which is a\...
- A square is a plane figure, which is a\...
- A square is a\...
The non-genus portion of the differentia of a definition provides a means by which to specify a *has-a relationship*:
- A square has an interior angle that is a right angle.
- A square has a straight bounding side.
- A square has a\...
When a system of definitions is constructed with genera and differentiae, the definitions can be thought of as nodes forming a hierarchy or---more generally---a directed acyclic graph; a node that has no predecessor is *a most general definition*; each node along a directed path is *more **differentiated*** (or *more **derived***) than any one of its predecessors, and a node with no successor is *a most differentiated* (or *a most derived*) definition.
When a definition, *S*, is the tail of each of its successors (that is, *S* has at least one successor and each direct successor of *S* is a most differentiated definition), then *S* is often called *the **species*** of each of its successors, and each direct successor of *S* is often called *an **individual*** (or *an **entity***) of the species *S*; that is, the genus of an individual is synonymously called *the species* of that individual. Furthermore, the differentia of an individual is synonymously called *the identity* of that individual. For instance, consider the following definition:
- *\[the\] John Smith*: a human that has the name \'John Smith\'.
In this case:
- The whole definition is *an individual*; that is, *\[the\] John Smith* is an individual.
- The genus of *\[the\] John Smith* (which is \"a human\") may be called synonymously *the species* of *\[the\] John Smith*; that is, *\[the\] John Smith* is an individual of the species *\[a\] human*.
- The differentia of *\[the\] John Smith* (which is \"that has the name \'John Smith\'\") may be called synonymously *the identity* of *\[the\] John Smith*; that is, *\[the\] John Smith* is identified among other individuals of the same species by the fact that *\[the\] John Smith* is the one \"that has the name \'John Smith\'\".
As in that example, the identity itself (or some part of it) is often used to refer to the entire individual, a phenomenon that is known in linguistics as a *pars pro toto synecdoche*
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# Gemini 10
**Gemini 10** (officially **Gemini X**) was a 1966 crewed spaceflight in NASA\'s Gemini program. It was the 8th crewed Gemini flight, the 16th crewed American flight, and the 24th spaceflight of all time (includes X-15 flights over 100 km). During the mission, flown by Command Pilot John Young and Pilot Michael Collins, Collins became the first person to perform two extravehicular activities.
## Crew
### Backup crew {#backup_crew}
### Support crew {#support_crew}
- Edwin E. \"Buzz\" Aldrin (Houston CAPCOM)
- L. Gordon Cooper Jr. (Cape and Houston CAPCOM)
Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin had originally been named the backup crew, but after Charles Bassett and Elliot See died in a T-38 crash, they were moved to the backup crew for Gemini 9 and Alan Bean and Clifton Williams were moved to the Gemini 10 flight.`{{Reference page|page=123}}`{=mediawiki}
## Mission parameters {#mission_parameters}
- **Mass:** 3,762.6 kg
- **Perigee:** 159.9 km
- **Apogee:** 268.9 km
- **Inclination:** 28.87°
- **Period:** 88.79 min
### Docking
- **Docked**: July 19, 1966 - 04:15:00 UTC
- **Undocked**: July 20, 1966 - 19:00:00 UTC
### Space walk {#space_walk}
- Collins - EVA 1 (stand up)
- **Start**: July 19, 1966, 21:44:00 UTC
- **End**: July 19, 1966, 22:33:00 UTC
- **Duration**: 0 hours, 49 minutes
- Collins - EVA 2
- **Start**: July 20, 1966, 23:01:00 UTC
- **End**: July 20, 1966, 23:40:00 UTC
- **Duration**: 0 hours, 39 minutes
## Objectives
Gemini 10 was designed to achieve rendezvous and docking with an Agena Target Vehicle (ATV), and EVA. It was also planned to dock with the ATV from the Gemini 8 mission. This Agena\'s battery power had failed months earlier, and an approach and docking would demonstrate the ability to rendezvous with a passive object. It would also be the first mission to fire the Agena\'s own rocket, allowing them to reach higher orbits.
Gemini 10 established that radiation at high altitude was not a problem. After docking with their Agena booster in low orbit, Young and Collins used it to climb temporarily to 763.8 km. After leaving the first Agena, they then rendezvoused with the derelict Agena left over from the aborted Gemini 8 flight---thus executing the program\'s first double rendezvous. With no electricity on board the second Agena, the rendezvous was accomplished with eyes only---no radar. After the rendezvous, Collins spacewalked over to the dormant Agena at the end of a 50 ft tether, making him the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit. Collins then retrieved a cosmic dust-collecting panel from the side of the Agena. As he was concentrating on keeping his tether clear of the Gemini and Agena, Collins\' Hasselblad camera worked itself free and drifted away, so he was unable to take photographs during the spacewalk.
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# Gemini 10
## Flight
The Agena launched perfectly for the second time, after problems had occurred with the targets for Gemini 6 and 9. Gemini 10 followed 100 minutes later and entered a 159.9 by orbit. They were 1800 km behind the Agena. Two anomalous events occurred during the launch. At liftoff, a propellant fill umbilical became snared with its release lanyard. It ripped out of the LC-19 service tower and remained attached to the second stage during ascent. Tracking camera footage also showed that the first stage oxidizer tank dome ruptured after staging and released a cloud of nitrogen tetroxide. The telemetry package on the first stage had been disabled at staging, so visual evidence was the only data available. Film review of the Titan II ICBM launches found at least seven other instances of post-staging tank ruptures, most likely caused by flying debris, second stage engine exhaust, or structural bending. NASA finally decided that this phenomenon did not pose any safety risk to the astronauts and took no corrective action.
Gemini 10 Agena Info
------------- -------------------
Agena GATV-5005
NSSDC ID: 1966-065A
Mass
Launch site LC-14
Launch date July 18, 1966
Launch time 20:39:46 UTC
1st perigee
1st apogee
Period 90.46 m
Inclination 28.85
Reentered December 29, 1966
### First rendezvous {#first_rendezvous}
Collins was unable to use the sextant for navigation as it did not seem to work as expected. At first he mistook airglow as the real horizon when trying to make some fixes on stars. When the image didn\'t seem right he tried another instrument, but this was not practical to use as it had a very small field of view.
They had a backup in the form of the computers on the ground. They made their first burn to put them into a 265 by orbit. However Young didn\'t realize that during the next burn, he had the spacecraft turned slightly, which meant that they introduced an out-of-plane error. This meant two extra burns were necessary, and by the time they had docked with the Agena, 60% of their fuel had been consumed. It was decided to keep the Gemini docked to the Agena as long as possible, as this would mean that they could use the fuel on board the Agena for attitude control.
The first burn of the Agena engine lasted 80 seconds and put them in a 294 by orbit. This was the highest a person had ever been, although the record was soon surpassed by Gemini 11, which went to over 1000 km. This burn was quite a ride for the crew. Because the Gemini and Agena docked nose-to-nose, the forces experienced were \"eyeballs out\" as opposed to \"eyeballs in\" for a launch from Earth. The crew took a couple of pictures when they reached apogee but were more interested in what was going on in the spacecraft --- checking the systems and watching the radiation dosage meter.
After this they had their sleep period which lasted for eight hours and then they were ready for another busy day. The crew\'s first order of business was to make a second burn with the Agena engine to put them into the same orbit as the Gemini 8 Agena. This was at 20:58 UTC on July 19 and lasted 78 seconds and took 105 m/s off their speed, putting them into a 294 by orbit. They made one more burn of the Agena to circularize their orbit to 377.6 km.
### EVA 1 {#eva_1}
The first of two EVAs on Gemini 10 was a standup EVA, where Collins would stand in the open hatch and take photographs of stars as part of experiment S-13. They used a 70 mm general purpose camera to image the southern Milky Way in ultraviolet. After orbital sunrise Collins photographed a color plate on the side of the spacecraft (MSC-8) to see whether film reproduced colors accurately in space. He reentered the spacecraft six minutes early when both astronauts found that their eyes were irritated, which was caused by a minor leak of lithium hydroxide in the astronauts\' oxygen supply. After repressurizing the cabin, they ran the oxygen at high rates and flushed the environment system.
After the exercise of the EVA Young and Collins slept in their second \'night\' in space. The next \'morning\' they started preparing for the second rendezvous and another EVA.
### Second rendezvous {#second_rendezvous}
After undocking from their Agena, the crew thought they sighted the Gemini 8 Agena. It however turned out to be their own Agena 5.5 km away, while their target was 176 km away. It was not until just over 30 km away that they saw it as a faint star. After a few more correction burns, they were station-keeping 10 ft away from the Gemini 8 Agena. They found the Agena to be very stable and in good condition.
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# Gemini 10
## Flight
### EVA 2 {#eva_2}
At 48 hours and 41 minutes into the mission, the second EVA began. Collins\' first task was to retrieve a Micrometeorite Collector (S-12) from the side of the spacecraft. This he accomplished with some difficulty (similar to that encountered by Eugene Cernan on Gemini 9A). The collector floated out of the cabin at some time during the EVA, and was lost.
Collins next traveled over to the Agena and tried to grab onto the docking cone but found this impossible as it was smooth and had no grip. He used a nitrogen-propelled Hand-Held Maneuvering Unit (HHMU) to move himself towards the Gemini and then back to the Agena. This time he was able to grab hold of some wire bundles and retrieved the Micrometeorite Collector (S-10) from the Agena. He decided against replacing it as a piece of shroud had come loose on the Agena which could have snared the umbilical, and returning to the Gemini was deemed the safest course of action.
The last tasks remaining on this EVA were to test out the HHMU, test orbital mechanics using a tether between the Gemini and Agena, and for Young in the spacecraft to translate over to a passive Collins. However, due to low propellant quantity remaining, combined with intermittent telemetry to monitor it, these fuel costly manoeuvres were abandoned and the EVA was finished after only 39 minutes. During this time, it took the crew eight minutes to close the hatch as they had some difficulty with the 50 ft umbilical. It was jettisoned along with the chestpack used by Collins an hour later when they opened the hatch for the third and final time.
### Experiments
There were ten other experiments that the crew performed during the mission. Three were interested in radiation: MSC-3 was the Tri-Axis Magnetometer which measured levels in the South Atlantic Anomaly. There was also MSC-6, a beta spectrometer, which measured potential radiation doses for Apollo missions, and MSC-7, a bremsstrahlung spectrometer which detected radiation flux as a function of energy when the spacecraft passed through the South Atlantic Anomaly.
S-26 investigated the ion and electron wake of the spacecraft. This provided limited results due to the lack of fuel for attitude control, but found that electron and ion temperatures were higher than expected and it registered shock effects during docking and undocking.
The S-5 and S-6 experiments were performed, which were previously carried on Gemini 9A; these were Synoptic Terrain and Synoptic Weather photography respectively. There was also S-1 which was intended to image the Zodiacal light. All of these experiments were of little use as the film used was only half as sensitive as Gemini 9A and the dirty windows lowered the transmission of light by a factor of six.
The crew also tried to perform D-5, a navigation experiment. They were only able to track five stars, with six needed for accurate measurements. The last experiment, D-10, was to investigate an ion-sensing attitude control system. This experiment measured the attitude of the spacecraft from the flow of ions and electrons around the spacecraft in orbit. The results from this experiment showed the system to be accurate and responsive.
### Re-entry {#re_entry}
The last day of the mission was short and retrofire came at 70 hours and 10 minutes into the mission. They landed only 5.6 km away from the intended landing site and were recovered by `{{USS|Guadalcanal|LPH-7|6}}`{=mediawiki}.
The Gemini 10 mission was supported by the following U.S. Department of Defense resources: 9,067 personnel, 78 aircraft and 13 ships.
## Insignia
The patch is simple in design but highly symbolic. The main feature is a large X with a Gemini and Agena orbiting around it. The two stars have a variety of meanings: the two rendezvous attempts, Castor and Pollux in Gemini or the two crew members. This is one of the few crew patches without the crew\'s name. It is able to be displayed \"upside down\" but is correctly shown with the spacecraft to the right. It was designed by Young\'s first wife, Barbara.
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# Gemini 10
## Spacecraft location {#spacecraft_location}
For many years the spacecraft was the centerpiece of a space exhibition at Norsk Teknisk Museum, Oslo, Norway. It was returned on request in 2002.
The spacecraft is currently on display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas
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# Son of Godzilla
is a 1967 Japanese *kaiju* film directed by Jun Fukuda, with special effects by Sadamasa Arikawa, under the supervision of Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced and distributed by Toho Co., Ltd, it is the eighth film in the *Godzilla* franchise. It stars Tadao Takashima, Akira Kubo, Akihiko Hirata, and Beverly Maeda, with Hiroshi Sekita, Seiji Onaka, and Haruo Nakajima as Godzilla, and Marchan the Dwarf as Minilla.
*Son of Godzilla* received a theatrical release in Japan on December 16, 1967, it received mixed reactions from critics and audience. It was released directly to television in the United States in 1969 through the Walter Reade Organization.
The film was followed by *Destroy All Monsters*, released on August 1, 1968.
## Plot
A team of scientists are trying to perfect a weather-controlling system. Their efforts are hampered by the arrival of a nosy reporter and by the sudden presence of giant mantises. A reporter, Maki Goro, arrives on the island to find the scientists somewhat stir-crazy from the events, and is allowed to stay as a maintenance worker. Whilst there he also glimpses a mysterious woman the scientists were unaware of, apparently living in the jungle. The first test of the weather control system goes awry when the remote control for a radioactive balloon is jammed by an unexplained signal coming from the center of the island. Eventually finding the woman, Saeko Matsumiya, she is revealed to be the daughter of a previous researcher on the island who warned about a gigantic species of spider. The balloon detonates prematurely, creating a radioactive storm that causes the giant mantises to grow to enormous sizes. Investigating the mantises, which are named Kamacuras (Gimantis in the English-dubbed version), the scientists find the monstrous insects digging an egg out from under a pile of earth.
The egg hatches, revealing a baby Godzilla. The scientists realize that the baby\'s telepathic cries for help were the cause of the interference that ruined their experiment. Shortly afterwards, Godzilla arrives on the island in response to the infant\'s cries, demolishing the scientists\' base while rushing to defend the baby. Godzilla kills two of the Kamacuras during the battle while one manages to fly away to safety. Saeko introduces herself to and bonds with the baby kaiju, feeding him a mango. Godzilla then returns and adopts the baby as his son.
The baby Godzilla, named Minilla, quickly grows to about half the size of the adult Godzilla, and Godzilla begins instructing him on the important monster skills of roaring and using the atomic ray, as Maki and Saeko observe them. At first, Minilla has difficulty producing anything more than atomic smoke rings, but Godzilla discovers that stressful conditions (i.e. stomping on his tail) or motivation produces a true radioactive blast. Minilla comes to the aid of Saeko when she is attacked by a Kamacuras, but inadvertently awakens Kumonga (Spiga in the English-dubbed version), a giant spider that was sleeping in a valley which Saeko\'s father witnessed roaming on the island before. Kumonga attacks Saeko\'s cave where the scientists are hiding and Minilla stumbles into the fray.
Kumonga traps Minilla and the final Kamacuras with its webbing, but as Kumonga begins to feed on the deceased Kamacuras, Godzilla arrives. Godzilla saves Minilla and they work together to defeat Kumonga by using their atomic rays on the giant spider. Hoping to keep the monsters from interfering in their attempt to escape the island, the scientists finally use their perfected weather altering device on the island and the once tropical island becomes buried in snow and ice. As the scientists are saved by an American submarine, Godzilla and Minilla embrace and begin to hibernate as they wait for the island to become tropical again.
## Cast
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# Son of Godzilla
## Production
### Writing
For the second *Godzilla* film in a row, Toho produced an island themed adventure with a smaller budget than most of their monster films from this time period. While the a-list crew of talent was hired to work on that year\'s *King Kong Escapes*, (Ishirō Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Akira Ifukube), the second string crew of cheaper talent was once again tapped to work on this project as they had done with *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep*. This included Jun Fukuda (director), Sadamasa Arikawa (special effects), and Masaru Sato (composer). This was the first film where Arikawa was officially listed as the director of Special Effects, although he did receive some supervision from Tsuburaya when he was available.
The early draft of the film, done by Kazue Shiba, titled Two Godzilla\'s: Japan S.O.S. (2つのゴジラ：日本S.O.S.!, Gojira: Tsu no Nihon S.O.S.!). The overall plot is the same but Kumonga and the Kamacuras are not in the story.
### Filming
Filming took place in Guam and areas in Japan including Gotemba, Lake Yamana, the Fuji Five Lakes region, and Oshima.
Toho wanted to create a baby Godzilla to appeal to the \"date crowd\" (a genre of films that were very popular among young couples during this time period), with the idea that girls would like a \"cute\" baby monster. For the idea behind Minilla, Fukuda stated, \"We wanted to take a new approach, so we gave Godzilla a child. We thought it would be a little strange if we gave Godzilla a daughter, so instead we gave him a son\". Fukuda also wanted to portray the monsters almost as people in regards to the father-son relationship between Godzilla and Minilla, as Fukuda stated \"We focused on the relationship between Godzilla and his son throughout the course of *Son of Godzilla*.
At the time, Sekizawa was already tired of writing the series and likely complained that he had run out of ideas for further monster movies, and director Jun Fukuda heartily agreed. Producer Tomoyuki Tanaka then proposed the idea of introducing a son to Godzilla.
The budget for the film was 260,000,000 yen. When Son of Godzilla was released on December 16, 1967 in Japan, it sold 2,480,000 tickets. When the film was re-issued on August 1, 1973, it received 610,000 attendees, adding up to a rough attendance total of 3,090,000.
### Special effects {#special_effects}
The Godzilla suit built for this film was the biggest in terms of size and girth. This was done in order to give Godzilla a \"paternal\" appearance and to give a parent-like stature in contrast next to Minilla. Because of the size of the suit, seasoned Godzilla suit actor Haruo Nakajima was only hired to play Godzilla in two scenes because the suit was much too big for him to wear. The smaller suit he had worn for the films *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep* and *Invasion of Astro-Monster* was used for these sequences. The much larger Seji Onaka instead played Godzilla in the film, although he was replaced midway through filming by Hiroshi Sekita after he broke his fingers.
Minilla was designed to incorporate features of not only a baby Godzilla but a human baby was well. Minilla\'s face was patterned after the character Chibita from the popular manga *Osomatsu-kun* published by Shogakukan in Weekly Shonen Saturday at the time. \"Marchan the Dwarf\" was hired to play the character due to his ability to play-act and to give the character a childlike ambiance. He was also hired because of his ability to perform athletic rolls and flips inside the thick rubber suit.
Outside of the two monster suits, various marionettes and puppets were used to portray the Island\'s gigantic inhabitants. The various giant preying mantises known as Kamacuras and the huge spider Kumonga. Arikawa would usually have 20 puppeteers at a time working on the various marionettes. The massive Kumonga puppet needed 2 to 3 people at a time to operate each leg.
Styrofoam and paraffin were used for the snow falling on Solgell Island.
### Deleted scenes {#deleted_scenes}
Many scenes were shot but deleted showing Godzilla being mean or harsh to Minilla. One sequence shows Godzilla leaving Minilla behind on the freezing Sollgel Island and making it to shore before turning back was cut from the final film\'s ending. A portion of this sequence has been preserved in both the trailer and an outtake reel included with the Godzilla Final Box DVD collection as supplemental material. More deleted footage included Godzilla expecting the newborn Minilla to get up and walk after the Kamacuras have been defeated. Another featured Godzilla head-butting Minilla to make him stop following Saeko. One scene included Minilla being able to fire his own type of atomic breath during his fight with Kamacuras. However, in the final film, the smoke rings and his Godzilla breath were utilized instead. It is unknown who was responsible for these bits being deleted, but it was possibly Tsuburaya since he would not have allowed time and resources to be wasted shooting each such scenes if he was not okay with them in the first place.
## Release
### Theatrical
*Son of Godzilla* was distributed theatrically in Japan by Toho on December 16, 1967. The film was released theatrically in the United Kingdom in August 1969, as a double feature with *Ebirah, Horror of the Deep*. *Son of Godzilla* was never released theatrically in the United States, instead being released directly to television by Walter Reade Sterling as well as American International Pictures (AIP-TV) in some markets in 1969. The American television version was cut to 84 minutes.
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# Son of Godzilla
## Release
### Home media {#home_media}
In 2005, the film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures in its original uncut length with the original Japanese audio and Toho\'s international English dub. In 2019, the Japanese version and export English version was included in a Blu-ray box set released by the Criterion Collection, which included all 15 films from the franchise\'s Shōwa era.
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# Son of Godzilla
## Reception
In a contemporary review, the *Monthly Film Bulletin* declared the film to be \"out of the top drawer of the Toho Company\'s monster file, with the special effects department achieving their best results in monster locomotion\" and that the film \"has the advantage of a more soundly constructed story than most of its predecessors and a delightful vein of humor that allows for a gentle parody of the genre.\"
According to the Polish writer Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm, the film appealed to Polish journalist Melchior Wańkowicz: \"On August 9, Tomuś\'s birthday, we all went to see *Son of Godzilla*. I was afraid \[Melchior\] would be irritated by this film\'s type. I was again surprised, I watched with what interest he looked at the picture. Later he said that he had never seen this genre, but he was delighted with the technique of realization
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# Girth (graph theory)
In graph theory, the **girth** of an undirected graph is the length of a shortest cycle contained in the graph. If the graph does not contain any cycles (that is, it is a forest), its girth is defined to be infinity. For example, a 4-cycle (square) has girth 4. A grid has girth 4 as well, and a triangular mesh has girth 3. A graph with girth four or more is triangle-free.
## Cages
A cubic graph (all vertices have degree three) of girth `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki} that is as small as possible is known as a `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki}-cage (or as a `{{math|(3,''g'')}}`{=mediawiki}-cage). The Petersen graph is the unique 5-cage (it is the smallest cubic graph of girth 5), the Heawood graph is the unique 6-cage, the McGee graph is the unique 7-cage and the Tutte eight cage is the unique 8-cage. There may exist multiple cages for a given girth. For instance there are three nonisomorphic 10-cages, each with 70 vertices: the Balaban 10-cage, the Harries graph and the Harries--Wong graph.
Image:Petersen1 tiny.svg\|The Petersen graph has a girth of 5 Image:Heawood_Graph.svg\|The Heawood graph has a girth of 6 Image:McGee graph.svg\|The McGee graph has a girth of 7 Image:Tutte eight cage.svg\|The Tutte--Coxeter graph (*Tutte eight cage*) has a girth of 8
## Girth and graph coloring {#girth_and_graph_coloring}
For any positive integers `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki} and `{{math|χ}}`{=mediawiki}, there exists a graph with girth at least `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki} and chromatic number at least `{{math|χ}}`{=mediawiki}; for instance, the Grötzsch graph is triangle-free and has chromatic number 4, and repeating the Mycielskian construction used to form the Grötzsch graph produces triangle-free graphs of arbitrarily large chromatic number. Paul Erdős was the first to prove the general result, using the probabilistic method. More precisely, he showed that a random graph on `{{mvar|n}}`{=mediawiki} vertices, formed by choosing independently whether to include each edge with probability `{{math|''n''<sup>(1–''g'')/''g''</sup>}}`{=mediawiki}, has, with probability tending to 1 as `{{mvar|n}}`{=mediawiki} goes to infinity, at most `{{math|{{sfrac|''n''|2}}}}`{=mediawiki} cycles of length `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki} or less, but has no independent set of size `{{math|{{sfrac|''n''|2''k'' }}}}`{=mediawiki}. Therefore, removing one vertex from each short cycle leaves a smaller graph with girth greater than `{{mvar|g}}`{=mediawiki}, in which each color class of a coloring must be small and which therefore requires at least `{{mvar|k}}`{=mediawiki} colors in any coloring.
Explicit, though large, graphs with high girth and chromatic number can be constructed as certain Cayley graphs of linear groups over finite fields. These remarkable *Ramanujan graphs* also have large expansion coefficient.
## Related concepts {#related_concepts}
The **odd girth** and **even girth** of a graph are the lengths of a shortest odd cycle and shortest even cycle respectively.
The **`{{visible anchor|circumference}}`{=mediawiki}** of a graph is the length of the *longest* (simple) cycle, rather than the shortest.
Thought of as the least length of a non-trivial cycle, the girth admits natural generalisations as the 1-systole or higher systoles in systolic geometry.
Girth is the dual concept to edge connectivity, in the sense that the girth of a planar graph is the edge connectivity of its dual graph, and vice versa. These concepts are unified in matroid theory by the girth of a matroid, the size of the smallest dependent set in the matroid. For a graphic matroid, the matroid girth equals the girth of the underlying graph, while for a co-graphic matroid it equals the edge connectivity.
## Computation
The girth of an undirected graph can be computed by running a breadth-first search from each node, with complexity $O(nm)$ where $n$ is the number of vertices of the graph and $m$ is the number of edges. A practical optimization is to limit the depth of the BFS to a depth that depends on the length of the smallest cycle discovered so far. Better algorithms are known in the case where the girth is even and when the graph is planar. In terms of lower bounds, computing the girth of a graph is at least as hard as solving the triangle finding problem on the graph
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# Gun safety
thumb\|upright=1.35\|A yellow flag demonstrates the rifle\'s bolt is open and the breech is clear.
**Gun safety** is the study and practice of managing risk when using, transporting, storing and disposing of firearms, airguns and ammunition in order to avoid injury, illness or death.
Gun safety includes the training of users, the design of firearms, as well as the formal and informal regulation of gun production, distribution, and usage. This includes mishaps like accidental discharge, negligent discharge, and firearm malfunctions, as well as secondary risks like hearing loss, lead poisoning from bullets, and pollution from other hazardous materials in propellants and cartridges.
## History
Accidental explosions of stored gunpowder date to the 13th century in Yangzhou, China. Early handheld muskets using matchlock or wheel lock mechanisms were limited by poor reliability and the risk of accidental discharge, which was improved somewhat by the introduction of the flintlock, though unintentional firing continued to be a serious drawback. Percussion caps, introduced in the 1820s, were more reliable, and by 1830 security pins had been designed to prevent accidental discharges.
Trigger guards, grip safeties and integrated trigger safety represent further iterations on the various safeties built into modern firearms to prevent discharge from dropping, or without positive and deliberate manipulation of the trigger.
As mechanical reliability improved, human error became a more significant cause of harm. In 1902, the English politician and game shooting enthusiast Mark Hanbury Beaufoy wrote some much-quoted verses on gun safety, known as \"A Father\'s Advice\" or \"The Beaufoy Verses\" meant to instill safe practices in his son. Various similar sayings have since been popularized.
There were 47,000 unintentional firearm deaths worldwide in 2013.
## Overview
Most firearm safety relates to management of human factors. This includes training to mitigate unsafe handling, as well as restricting physical access to firearms by untrained or unfit persons (such as unsupervised children). Handling practices and doctrines necessarily vary between use cases with additional mechanical and procedural mitigations implemented as required.
Environmental hazards such as lead exposure and noise pollution are managed via shooting range design, maintenance procedures, and the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Firearm safety practices are built around the Swiss cheese model, such that potential harm caused by a malfunction or a lapse in handling is mitigated (or prevented entirely) by other safety practices. For instance, use of an unloading facility ensures that if a procedural error is made during unloading and a round remains chambered, the resulting discharge when the handler eases springs is captured by a safe backstop.
## Training
A leading cause of accidents with firearms results from unsafe handling due to ignorance or negligence.
Role-specific training varies in nature, although a few common principles underpin most doctrines including:
- Trigger discipline
- Muzzle discipline
- Separation of firearm and ammunition whenever the firearm is not directly in use
Where firearms must be carried loaded (such as by law enforcement and military personnel), training and periodic re-qualification is particularly important as a control against unintentional discharge. Emphasis is often placed on loading and unloading practices as well as mechanical considerations such as holster design, and integrated trigger safety catches.
Jeff Cooper, an influential figure in US firearms training, formalized and popularized \"Four Rules\" of safe firearm handling.
Other lists of gun safety rules include as few as three basic safety rules or as many as ten rules including broader range safety and sporting etiquette rules. Such rulesets often include activity-specific best practice for niches including defensive use, hunting, and range or target shooting. Many organisations provide similar sets of rules.
In addition to basic safe handling practices, training includes identification and immediate actions to handle faults such as misfires and squib rounds that could lead to dangerous mishaps such as a barrel failure or breech explosion.
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# Gun safety
## Storage
Proper storage prevents both damage and the unauthorized use or theft of firearms and ammunition.
Where a full cabinet is not practicable, locks may be used to prevent the firearm being loaded or discharged.
### Gun cabinets {#gun_cabinets}
A gun safe or gun cabinet is commonly used to physically prevent access to firearms and ammunition. Various standards like the British Standard BS 7558:1992 or the California DOJ criteria define minimum requirements to qualify a container as a firearm storage device.
Local laws may mandate or simply recommend use of a cabinet for storage, and may require that cabinets meet a particular standard. Some jurisdictions require that ammunition is stored separately to the firearm. Some jurisdictions may require that main components of the firearm such as the bolt, is stored separately to the firearm, effectively deactivating it.
Many small safes sold as suitable for handguns have been found not to meet standards by independent researchers and professional hackers. Locking mechanism plays an important role in overall safety of the small safe.
Handloaders must take special precautions for storing primers and powders.
<File:Gun> safes for visitors firearms at a courthouse in Prague, Czech Republic.jpg\|Gun safes for private firearms at a courthouse. <File:Interior> of a gun safe for visitors at a courthouse in Prague, Czech Republic.jpg\|Visitor\'s unloaded pistol and a pepper spray within a courthouse gun safe <File:Gun> Safes.JPG\|A large gun safe for rifles and shotguns. An internal lockbox for ammunition is fitted at top left
### Locks
There are several types of locks that serve to make it difficult to discharge a firearm. Locks are considered less effective than keeping firearms in a safe since locks typically do not prevent the removal or theft of the firearm, after which the handler can bypass the lock at their leisure. Some manufacturers, such as Taurus, build locks into the firearm itself.
Some jurisidictions such as the US state of California require that locks be tested by a laboratory and receive approval for sale.
#### Trigger lock {#trigger_lock}
Trigger locks prevent trigger manipulation. Some trigger locks are integrated into the design of the firearm, requiring no external parts besides the key. External trigger locks usually involve two pieces locking together from either side behind the trigger. This physically prevents the trigger from being depressed to discharge the firearm. They may also form part of a larger mechanism which locks the entire action. Other more commercially common types of trigger locks do not go behind the trigger, but encompass the full area within the trigger guard, making the trigger inaccessible to users. Advanced models may also feature anti-tamper alarms. A common critique of trigger locks is the time taken to unlock them, limiting their usefulness in a self-defense scenario. One proposed solution to this is the use of biometric locks which can be removed by the owner near-instantaneously.
There is controversy surrounding manufacturing standards, usage, and legislation of trigger locks. Supporters argue that they protect children by preventing accidents, whilst critics note some models have been shown to be easily removed by children with very little force and common household tools. Additionally, many firearms can discharge when dropped without operating the trigger. Trigger locks are not designed for use on loaded firearms as the locking mechanism itself may foul or manipulate the trigger if pressure is exerted on the lock or during installation/removal; critics argue that this may make the firearm more dangerous by creating the illusion of safety. A former senior product manager at Master Lock was quoted as saying *\"If it is a loaded gun, there isn\'t a lock out there that will keep it from being fired\... If you put a trigger lock on any loaded gun, you are making the gun more dangerous.\"*
#### Chamber & cable locks {#chamber_cable_locks}
Chamber locks aim to block ammunition from being chambered, since most firearms typically cannot be discharged unless the ammunition is in the correct position. They are used to prevent live ammunition from being loaded into a firearm by blocking the chamber with a dummy cartridge or a chamber plug. Another type is one in which a steel rod locked into the safety cartridge with a key. As long as the rod and safety cartridge are engaged, the dummy round cannot eject nor can live ammunition be loaded into the firearm. Chamber locks work with most firearm types including revolvers, pistols, rifles and shotguns. They are available in any caliber and length, and may include such features as unique keying, rapid removal.
Cable locks usually thread through the receiver via the ejection port and magazine well of repeating firearms. These locks physically obstruct the movements of the bolt, and also prevent a magazine from being inserted on magazine-fed firearms. preventing the cycling of the action.
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# Gun safety
## Malfunctions
## Smart gun {#smart_gun}
**Smart guns** featuring \"authorised user\" technology, are intended to prevent unauthorized use with built-in locks that are released by fingerprint recognition, RFID chips, magnetic rings, a microchip implant or other proximity devices.
Their reliability has been disputed and no models have been commercially marketed.
## Shooting range management {#shooting_range_management}
**Shooting ranges** augment physical design features with supervisory measures to ensure safe operation. In addition to generic gun safety rules, local rules or \"Range Standing Orders\" may be implemented to address specific features of a range.
Ranges will typically be operated under the command of a \"Range Conducting Officer\" (RCO or RO) or \"Range Safety Officer\" (RSO) who issues start and stop commands and checks that firearms are clear before being removed from the firing point, or before participants go forward to change targets. At competitions, the RCO may have a secondary responsibility of enforcing rules and fair play.
### Safety flags {#safety_flags}
**Safety flags** or **breech flags** are commonly mandated on shooting ranges to demonstrate that the firearm\'s bolt or action is open and no round is chambered. For firearms with magazines, the flag may also indicate that the magazine well is clear. Most competition rules mandate the usage of flags whenever a firearm is not directly in use.
**Safety lines** or **clear barrel indicators** are mandated for air rifles and air pistols under ISSF rules. Safety lines typically consist of a nylon cord which shows the action is open and that no pellet is present in the breech or barrel.
In clay pigeon shooting, break-barrel shotguns are typically carried in a \"broken\" state to show that they cannot be fired. Semi-automatic shotguns are typically required to use a breech flag.
Grunig & Elmiger Racer 3 with breech flag.jpg\|Rifle with a red breech flag inserted <File:Green> Safety flag.jpg\|Safety line inserted in a Steyr Evo 10 <File:1LT> Amber English wins gold in skeet at 2020 Summer Olympic Games (51347892087).jpg\|Skeet shooter carries a shotgun \"broken\", indicating it is in a safe state
### Safety areas {#safety_areas}
In practical shooting sports, a **safety area** or **safety zone** is a bay where competitors can handle unloaded firearms without the supervision of a Range Officer (RO). Safety areas are used in dynamic shooting sport disciplines such as IPSC, PPC 1500 and Steel Challenge, where the lack of a fixed firing point (where firearms would be unboxed in most target disciplines), necessitates provision of a safe location for firearms to be unboxed and holstered before a competitor starts a stage. They may be used to pack, unpack or holster a gun, cleaning or repair, dry firing and training with empty magazines.
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# Gun safety
## Unsafe users {#unsafe_users}
### Impaired users {#impaired_users}
Firearms should never be handled by persons who are under the influence of alcohol or any drugs which may affect their judgment. Gun safety teachers advocate zero tolerance of their use. In the United States, this recommendation is codified in many states\' penal codes as a crime of \"carrying under the influence\", with penalties similar to DWI/DUI. Other sources of temporary impairment include exhaustion, dehydration, and emotional stress. These can affect reaction time, cognitive processing, sensory perception, and judgment.
Many jurisdictions prohibit the possession of firearms by people deemed generally incapable of using them safely, such as the mentally ill or convicted felons.
### Children
In most jurisdictions, unsupervised access to firearms by children is prohibited by law. Conditions for supervised training and usage, and penalties for allowing a child to access firearms vary with jurisdiction.
#### United States {#united_states}
In the United States, the NRA\'s Eddie Eagle program is intended to teach children to avoid firearm accidents when they encounter guns that have not been securely stored.
Eddie Eagle has been criticised for casting responsibility onto children instead of placing the onus on the adult firearm owner to secure their firearm. Studies have cast doubt on the effectiveness of such programmes, whilst finding that Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws are more effective in reducing firearm injuries and deaths amongst children. In K-12 school shootings, more than 80% of shooters stole their guns from family members.
Eddie Eagle has been described as a \"Trojan Horse\" programme, designed as a way to deter lawmakers from passing CAP laws or mandating secure storage.
Unsupervised access to firearms is a major risk factor for youth suicide. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises that keeping a gun in the home, especially a handgun, increases the risk of injury and death for young people.
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# Gun safety
## Secondary hazards {#secondary_hazards}
While a firearm\'s primary danger lies in the discharge of ammunition, there are other ways a firearm may pose hazards to the health of the handler and bystanders.
### Noise
When a firearm is discharged it emits a very loud noise, typically close to the handler\'s ears. This can cause temporary or permanent hearing damage such as tinnitus. Hearing protection such as earplugs, or earmuffs, or both, can reduce the risk of hearing damage. Some earmuffs or headphones made for shooting and similar loud situations use active noise control. Firearms may also have silencers which reduce the sound intensity from the barrel.
### Hot gases and debris {#hot_gases_and_debris}
Firearms emit hot gases, powder, and other debris when discharged. Some firearms, such as semi-automatic and fully automatic firearms, typically eject spent cartridge casings at high speed. Casings are also dangerously hot when ejected. Revolvers store spent casings in the chamber, but may emit a stream of hot gases and fine particulate debris laterally from the interface between the revolving chamber and the barrel.
Any of these may hurt the handler or bystanders through burning or impact damage. Because eyes are particularly vulnerable to this type of damage, eye protection should be worn to reduce the risk of injury. Prescription lenses and various tints to suit different light conditions are available. Some eye protection products are rated to withstand impact from birdshot loads, which offers protection against irresponsible firearms use by other game bird shooters.
### Compressed air & CO~2~ {#compressed_air_co2}
Pre-charged pneumatic airguns use air cylinders with operating pressures in excess of 200 bar. These are commonly refilled from diving cylinders, which are periodically recharged at a dive shop. Mishandling of pressure vessels can result in serious injury or death. Tanks and cylinders should be maintained and inspected in accordance with manufacturer\'s instructions, and only used by trained individuals.
### Toxins and pollutants {#toxins_and_pollutants}
In recent years the toxic effects of ammunition and firearm cleaning agents have been highlighted.
- Lead dust may build up on indoor ranges.
- Lead ammunition left in nature may become mobilized by acid rain.
- Older ammunition may have mercury-based primers.
- Lead accumulates in shooting range backstops.
Indoor ranges require good ventilation to remove pollutants such as powder, smoke, and lead dust from the air around the shooters, and regular cleaning and maintenance to prevent buildup of contaminants.
Indoor and outdoor ranges typically require extensive decontamination when they are decommissioned to remove all traces of lead, copper, and powder residues from the area. Lead, copper and other metals will also be released when a firearm is cleaned. Highly aggressive solvents and other agents used to remove lead and powder fouling may also present a hazard to health. Installing good ventilation, washing hands after handling firearms, and cleaning the space where the firearm was handled lessens the risk of unnecessary exposure
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# Go Down Moses
\"**Go Down Moses**\" is an African American spiritual that describes the Hebrew Exodus, specifically drawing from the Book of Exodus 5:1, in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. \"And the LORD spoke unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me\".
As is common in spirituals, the song refers to freedom, both the freedom of the Israelites, and that of runaway enslaved people. As a result of those messages, it was outlawed by many enslavers.
The opening verse, as published by the Jubilee Singers in 1872: `{{poemquote|When Israel was in Egypt's land
Let my people go
Oppress'd so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Refrain:
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt's land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go}}`{=mediawiki}
Lyrically, the song refers to the liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. That story held a second meaning for enslaved African Americans, because they related their experiences under slavery to those of Moses and the Israelites who were enslaved by the pharaoh, and the idea that God would come to the aid of the persecuted resonated with them. \"Go Down Moses\" also makes reference to the Jordan River, commonly associated in spirituals with reaching freedom, because the act of running away often involved crossing one or more rivers.
Since the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as further south, and thus, lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land, heading to Egypt means going \"down\" while going away from Egypt is \"up\". In the context of American slavery, that ancient sense of \"down\" converged with the concept of \"down the river\" (the Mississippi), where enslaved people\'s conditions were notoriously worse. Later verses also draw parallels between the Israelites\' freedom from slavery and humanity\'s freedom won by Christ.
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# Go Down Moses
## \"Oh! Let My People Go\" {#oh_let_my_people_go}
Although usually thought of as a spiritual, the earliest written record of the song was as a rallying anthem for the Contrabands at Fort Monroe sometime before July 1862. White people who reported on the song presumed it was composed by them. It became the first spiritual known to be recorded in sheet music.
While the Reverend Lewis Lockwood, the chaplain of the Contrabands, was visiting Fortress Monroe in 1861, he heard runaway enslaved people singing the song, transcribed what he heard, and eventually published it in the *National Anti-Slavery Standard*. Soon after, sheet music was published titled \"Oh! Let My People Go: The Song of the Contrabands\", arranged by Horace Waters. Lockwood stated in the sheet music that the song was from Virginia, dating from about 1853.
However, the song was not included in *Slave Songs of the United States*, despite its being a very prominent spiritual among enslaved people. Furthermore, the original version of the song sung by enslaved people almost definitely sounded very different from what Lockwood transcribed by ear, especially following an arrangement by a person who had never heard the song as it was originally sung. The opening verse, as recorded by Lockwood, is: `{{poemquote|The Lord, by Moses, to Pharaoh said: Oh! let my people go
If not, I'll smite your first-born dead—Oh! let my people go
Oh! go down, Moses
Away down to Egypt's land
And tell King Pharaoh
To let my people go}}`{=mediawiki}
Sarah Bradford\'s authorized biography of Harriet Tubman, *Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman* (1869), quotes Tubman as saying she used \"Go Down Moses\" as one of two code songs used with fugitive enslaved people to communicate when fleeing Maryland. Tubman began her underground railroad work in 1850 and continued until the beginning of the Civil War, so it is possible Tubman\'s use of the song predates the origin claimed by Lockwood. Some people even hypothesize that she herself may have written the spiritual. Others claim that Nat Turner, who led one of the most well-known slave revolts in history, either wrote or was the inspiration for the song.
## Recordings
- The Tuskegee Institute Singers [recorded the song](https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-11026/) for Victor in 1914.
- The Kelly Family recorded the song twice: live version is included on their album *Live* (1988) and a studio version on *New World* (1990). The latter also features on their compilation album *The Very Best - Over 10 Years* (1993).
- The Golden Gate Quartet (Duration: 3:05; recorded in 1957 for their album *Spirituals*).
- Louis Armstrong recorded it for the 1958 album *Louis and the Good Book*.
- \"Go Down Moses\" was recorded by the Robert Shaw Chorale on RCA Victor 33 record LM/LSC 2580, copyright 1964, first side, second band, lasting 4 minutes and 22 seconds. Liner notes by noted African-American author Langston Hughes
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# Geography of Gabon
`{{MapLibrary|Gabon_sat.png|Gabon}}`{=mediawiki}
**Gabon** is a country in Central Africa, lying along the Atlantic Ocean, just south of the Bight of Biafra.
## Area and borders {#area_and_borders}
Area:
:\* Total: 267,668 km²
:\*\**country rank in the world:* 76th/77th
:\* Land: 257,670 km²
:\* Water: 10,000 km²
Area comparative
:\* Australia comparative: approximately `{{sfrac|1|6}}`{=mediawiki} larger than Victoria
:\* Canada comparative: approximately `{{sfrac|2|3}}`{=mediawiki} the size of Newfoundland and Labrador
:\* United Kingdom comparative: approximately `{{sfrac|1|10}}`{=mediawiki} larger than the United Kingdom
:\* United States comparative: slightly smaller than Colorado
:\* EU comparative: approximately `{{sfrac|1|10}}`{=mediawiki} smaller than Italy
Gabon has a total of 3,261 km of international boundaries. It borders Equatorial Guinea (335 km) and Cameroon (349 km) to the north and the Republic of the Congo (2,567 km) to the east and south. Gabon lies on the equator.
Maritime claims:
:\* Territorial sea: 12 nmi
:\* Contiguous zone: 24 nmi
:\* Exclusive economic zone: 200 nmi
## Terrain
Land Use \(2012\)
------------------- ----------
• Arable land 1.26%
• Permanent crops 0.66%
• Other 98.08%
Narrow coastal plain with patches of Central African mangroves; hilly interior; savanna in east and south. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 420 km^2^ of tidal flats in Gabon, making it the 50th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.
- Irrigated land: 44.5 km^2^ (2003)
- Total renewable water resources: 164 km^3^ (2011)
## Environment
**International agreements:**
**Party to:** Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands, Whaling
## Climate
The equatorial location of Gabon means that it has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen *Am*) and a tropical savanna climate (Köppen *Aw*), with the temperature being hot year-round and humid, although the Benguela Current can moderate temperatures.
### Climate change {#climate_change}
Gabon is highly vulnerable to climate change due to its dense coastal population, economic hubs along the shore, and dependence on rain-fed agriculture. Rising sea levels threaten to erode the coastline and contaminate freshwater sources with saltwater. The country is already experiencing more frequent and severe extreme weather events, such as floods, droughts, and storms, which damage infrastructure, displace communities, and disrupt food security and livelihoods.
To adapt, Gabon prioritises protecting its coastal areas, as well as its fishing, agriculture, and forestry industries. Gabon\'s vast forests act as a net carbon sink. It is recognized as a global leader in climate action and is widely considered the most carbon-positive country in the world, due to its strong conservation efforts. However, Gabon's economy remains heavily dependent on oil and other natural resources, leaving it exposed to global market shifts and climate-related risks. In 2023, the country accounted for just over 0.04% of global greenhouse gas emissions (24.7 million tonnes). Gabon has pledged to stay carbon neutral beyond 2050 and, with adequate support, aims to maintain net carbon removals of 100 million tons CO₂ equivalent per year beyond that date. It also seeks to expand its renewable energy sector
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# Politics of Gabon
The politics of Gabon takes place in a framework of a republic whereby the president of Gabon is head of state and in effect, also the head of government, since he appoints the prime minister and his cabinet. The government is divided into three branches: the executive headed by the prime minister (although previously held by the president), the legislative which is formed by the two chambers of parliament, and the judicial branch. The judicial branch is technically independent and equal to the two other branches, although in practice, since the president appoints its judges, it is beholden to the same president. Since independence, the party system has been dominated by the conservative Gabonese Democratic Party. In March 1991, a new constitution was adopted. Among its provisions are a Western-style bill of rights, the creation of the National Council of Democracy that also oversees the guarantee of those rights and a governmental advisory board which deals with economic and social issues. Multi-party legislative elections were held in 1990-91 even though opposition parties were not declared formally legal.
## Political developments {#political_developments}
Under the 1961 constitution (revised in 1975 and rewritten in 1991), Gabon became a republic with a presidential form of government. The National Assembly of Gabon has 120 deputies elected for five years. The president is elected by universal suffrage for a seven-year term. The president appoints the prime minister, the cabinet, and judges of the independent Supreme court. The government 1990 made major changes in the political system. A transitional constitution was drafted in May as an outgrowth of a national political conference in March--April and later revised by a constitutional committee. Among its provisions were a Western-style bill of rights; creation of a National Council of Democracy, which oversees the guarantee of those rights; a governmental advisory board on economic and social issues; and an independent judiciary. After approval by the National Assembly, the PDG Central Committee, and the president, the Assembly unanimously adopted the constitution in March 1991. Multi-party legislative elections were held in 1990-91, although opposition parties were not declared formally legal.
After a peaceful transition, the elections produced the first representative, multi-party, National Assembly. In January 1991, the Assembly passed by unanimous vote a law governing the legalization of opposition parties. The president was re-elected in a disputed election in 1993 with 51% of the votes cast. Social and political disturbances led to the 1994 Paris Conference and Accords, which provided a framework for the next elections. Local and legislative elections were delayed until 1996--1997. In 1997, constitutional amendments were adopted to create an appointed Senate, the position of Vice President, and to extend the president\'s term to seven years. Facing a divided opposition, President Omar Bongo was re-elected in December 1998, with 66% of the votes cast. Although the main opposition parties claimed the elections had been manipulated, there was none of the civil disturbance that followed the 1993 election. The president retains strong powers, such as the authority to dissolve the National Assembly, declare a state of siege, delay legislation, conduct referendums, and appoint and dismiss the prime minister and cabinet members. For administrative purposes, Gabon is divided into nine provinces, which are further divided into 36 prefectures and eight separate subprefectures. The president appoints the provincial governors, the prefects, and the subprefects.
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# Politics of Gabon
## Political conditions {#political_conditions}
At the time of Gabon\'s independence in 1960, two principal political parties existed: the Bloc Democratique Gabonais (BDG), led by Leon M\'Ba, and the Union Démocratique et Sociale Gabonaise (UDSG), led by Jean-Hilaire Aubame. In the first post-independence election, held under a parliamentary system, neither party was able to win a majority. The BDG obtained support from three of the four independent legislative deputies, and M\'Ba was named prime minister. Soon after concluding that Gabon had an insufficient number of people for a two-party system, the two party leaders agreed on a single list of candidates. In the February 1961 election, held under the new presidential system, M\'Ba became president and Aubame foreign minister.
This coalition appeared to work until February 1963, when the larger BDG forced the UDSG members to choose between a merger of the parties or resignation. The UDSG cabinet ministers resigned, and M\'Ba called an election for February 1964 and a reduced number of National Assembly deputies (from 67 to 47). The UDSG failed to muster a list of candidates able to meet the requirements of the electoral decrees. When the BDG appeared likely to win the election by default, the Gabonese military toppled M\'Ba in a bloodless coup on February 18, 1964. French troops re-established his government the next day. Elections were held in April with many opposition participants. BDG-supported candidates won 31 seats and the opposition 16. Late in 1966, the constitution was revised to provide for automatic succession of the vice president should the president die in office. In March 1967, Leon M\'Ba and Omar Bongo (then Albert Bongo) were elected president and vice president. M\'Ba died later that year, and Omar Bongo became president.
In March 1968, Bongo declared Gabon a one-party state by dissolving the BDG and establishing a new party---the Gabonese Democratic Party. He invited all Gabonese, regardless of previous political affiliation, to participate. Bongo was elected president in February 1975 and re-elected in December 1979 and November 1986 to seven-year terms. In April 1975, the office of vice president was abolished and replaced by the office of prime minister, who had no right to automatic succession. Under the 1991 constitution, in the event of the president\'s death, the prime minister, the National Assembly president, and the defence minister share power until a new election is held. Using the PDG as a tool to submerge the regional and tribal rivalries that have divided Gabonese politics in the past, Bongo sought to forge a single national movement in support of the government\'s development policies.
Opposition to the PDG continued, however, and in September 1990, two coup attempts were uncovered and aborted. Economic discontent and a desire for political liberalization provoked violent demonstrations and strikes by students and workers in early 1990. In response to grievances by workers, Bongo negotiated with them on a sector-by-sector basis, making significant wage concessions. In addition, he promised to open up the PDG and organize a national political conference in March--April 1990 to discuss Gabon\'s future political system. The PDG and 74 political organizations attended the conference. Participants essentially divided into two loose coalitions, the ruling PDG and its allies and the United Front of Opposition Associations and Parties, consisting of the breakaway Morena Fundamental and the Gabonese Progress Party.
The April conference approved sweeping political reforms, including the creation of a national senate, decentralization of the budgetary process, freedom of assembly and press, and cancellation of the exit visa requirement. In an attempt to guide the political system\'s transformation into a multi-party democracy, Bongo resigned as PDG chairman and created a transitional government headed by a new Prime Minister, Casimir Oye-Mba. The Gabonese Social Democratic Grouping (RSDG), as the resulting government was called, was smaller than the previous government and included representatives from several opposition parties in its cabinet. The RSDG drafted a provisional constitution that provided a basic bill of rights and an independent judiciary but retained strong executive powers for the president. After further review by a constitutional committee and the National Assembly, this document came into force in March 1991.
Despite further anti-government demonstrations after the untimely death of an opposition leader, the first multi-party National Assembly elections in almost 30 years took place in September--October 1990, with the PDG garnering a large majority. Following President Bongo\'s re-election in December 1993 with 51% of the vote, opposition candidates refused to validate the election results. Serious civil disturbances, which were heavily repressed by the presidential guard, led to an agreement between the government and opposition factions to work toward a political settlement. These talks led to the Paris Accords in November 1994, in which several opposition figures were included in a government of national unity. This arrangement soon broke down, and the 1996 and 1997 legislative and municipal elections provided the background for renewed partisan politics. The PDG won a landslide victory in the legislative election, but several major cities, including Libreville, elected opposition mayors during the 1997 local election. President Bongo coasted to an easy re-election in December 1998 with 66% of the vote against a divided opposition. While Bongo\'s major opponents rejected the outcome as fraudulent, international observers characterized the result as representative, even if the election suffered from serious administrative problems. There was no serious civil disorder or protests following the election, in contrast to the 1993 election.
President Omar Ali Bongo narrowly beat rival Jean Ping in the official results of the presidential election in 2016. With results showing a trend of success for Ping, the final province\'s results were released after significant delays, showing a remarkable 99.5% support for President Bongo in Haut-Ogooue. This was conveniently just enough to push Ali Bongo into first place. An EU Election Observation Mission present in the country declared that observers had incurred problems accessing the process of vote counting. The right to demonstrate or express oneself was described by the mission as \'restrictive\'. The electoral regulations benefitted President Bongo, according to the Mission\'s report.
On 31 August 2023, army officers who seized power, ending the Bongo family\'s 55-year hold on power, named Gen Brice Oligui Nguema as the country\'s transitional leader. On 4 September 2023, General Nguema was sworn in as interim president of Gabon. The October 2024 Gabon constitutional referendum is the next development.
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# Politics of Gabon
## Executive branch {#executive_branch}
\|President \|Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema \|Independent \|30 August 2023 \|- \|Prime Minister \|Raymond Ndong Sima \|Independent \|7 September 2023 \|} The president is elected by popular vote for a seven-year term. He appoints the prime minister. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the prime minister in consultation with the president. President El Hadj Omar Bongo Ondimba, in power since 1967 and the longest-serving African head of state, was re-elected to another seven-year term according to poll results returned from elections held on November 27, 2005. According to figures provided by Gabon\'s Interior Ministry, this was achieved with 79.1% of the votes cast. In 2003, the President amended the Constitution of Gabon to remove any restrictions on the number of terms a president is allowed to serve. The president retains strong powers, such as the authority to dissolve the National Assembly, declare a state of siege, delay legislation, conduct referendums, and appoint and dismiss the prime minister and cabinet members.
## Legislative branch {#legislative_branch}
The Parliament (*Parlement*) has two chambers. The National Assembly (*Assemblée Nationale*) has 120 members, 111 members elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies and nine members appointed by a head of state - the president. The Senate (*Sénat*) has 91 members, elected for a six-year term in single-seat constituencies by local and departmental councillors.
## Political parties and elections {#political_parties_and_elections}
## Judicial branch {#judicial_branch}
Gabon\'s Supreme Court or *Cour Supreme* consists of three chambers - Judicial, Administrative, and Accounts; Constitutional Court; Courts of Appeal; Court of State Security; County Courts
## Administrative divisions {#administrative_divisions}
There are nine provincial administrations. These are headquartered in Estuaire, Haut-Ogooue, Moyen-Ogooue, Ngounie, Nyanga, Ogooué-Ivindo, Ogooué-Lolo, Ogooue-Maritime and Woleu-Ntem
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# Telecommunications in Gabon
**Telecommunications in Gabon** include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
## Radio and television {#radio_and_television}
**Radio stations:**
- state owns and operates 2 radio stations; a private radio station; transmissions of at least 2 international broadcasters are accessible (2007);
- 6 AM, 7 FM, and 4 shortwave stations (2001).
**Radios:** 208,000 (1997).`{{update after|2014|2|11}}`{=mediawiki}
**Television stations:**
- state owns and operates 2 TV stations; a private TV station; satellite service subscriptions are available (2007);
- 4 stations plus 4 low-power repeaters (2001).
**Television sets:** 63,000 (1997).`{{update after|2014|2|11}}`{=mediawiki}
There are two main broadcasters in Gabon. The state broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Télévision Gabonaise (RTG), operates two main networks - a national network in French and a provincial network in French and vernacular languages. There is also a special programme on RTG\'s FM frequencies.
Perhaps the most important station in Gabon and one that many shortwave radio listeners are familiar with is the privately owned Afrique Numero Un (Africa Number One) which operates on FM in the capital, Libreville, area and also broadcasts via shortwave. Afrique Numero Un also has relay stations in mostly French-speaking African countries.
Radio France Internationale (RFI) has relay stations throughout Gabon. Other privately owned stations also operate in Gabon, though concentrated mostly in the Libreville area.
Like many former French colonies, Gabon uses the SECAM-K television standard. Two television channels, 4 and 8, are found in the Libreville area. All other channels and repeaters relay channel 4.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights, although the government has suspended newspapers and television stations for disrupting public order or libel.
## Telephones
**Calling code:** +241
**International call prefix:** 00
**Main lines:**
- 17,000 lines in use, 194th in the world (2012);
- 26,500 lines in use, 182nd in the world (2007);
- 39,100 lines in use, 169th in the world (2005).
**Mobile cellular:**
- 2.9 million lines, 133rd in the world (2012);
- 1.2 million lines, 129th in the world (2007);
- 649,800 lines, 125th in the world (2005).
**Telephone system:** adequate system of cable, microwave radio relay, tropospheric scatter, radiotelephone communication stations, and a domestic satellite system with 12 earth stations; a growing mobile-cellular network with multiple providers is making telephone service more widely available with mobile-cellular teledensity exceeding 100 per 100 persons.
**Satellite earth stations:** 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011).
**Communications cables:** South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) fiber-optic cable system provides connectivity to Europe and Asia; Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), cable system connecting countries along the west coast of Africa to each other and to Portugal and France.
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# Telecommunications in Gabon
## Internet
**Top-level domain:** .ga
**Internet users:**
- 138,584 users, 166th in the world; 8.6% of the population, 175th in the world (2012).
- 98,800 users, 160th in the world (2009);
- 67,000 users, 144th in the world (2005).
**Fixed broadband:**
In 2013, [Government signs](http://projects.worldbank.org/P158299?lang=en) with the World Bank to develop the Central African Backbone. Over 1200 km of fiber optic is deployed around the country. In 2017, over 20 cities and villages are serviced by this new network operated by Axione (Bouygues French company). 70% of the gabonese population can access mobile broadband services.
5,147 subscriptions, 160th in the world; 0.3% of the population, 154th in the world (2012).
**Wireless broadband:**
Introducing 3G/4G licences in 2014
Unknown (2012).
**Internet hosts:**
- 127 hosts, 205th in the world (2012);
- 88 hosts, 192nd in the world (2008).
**IPv4:** 169,472 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 105.4 addresses per 1000 people (2012).
**Internet Service Providers (ISPs):** Solsi Gabon, TLDC offer a WiMax network all over Libreville and Port-Gentil.
### ICTS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AWARDS 2015 {#icts_in_sustainable_development_awards_2015}
Through his leadership of the Gabonese Republic, President Ali Bongo Ondimba has led his nation to receive much international recognition for its commitment to progress in the field of ICT in the Central and Francophone Africa region as well as on the African continent.
President Ali Bongo Ondimba has stressed the necessity of establishing infrastructure, access to ICTs, as well as ameliorating broadband connections in both the public and private sectors, especially within households. President Ondimba has affirmed his position on the importance of ICTs in the development of Gabon, stating during the 2011 Broadband Leadership Summit at ITU Telecom World in Geneva that he promised to make high-speed Internet access an irrevocable right for all Gabonese citizens.
### Internet censorship and surveillance {#internet_censorship_and_surveillance}
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority.
The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. Libel can be either a criminal offense or a civil matter. Editors and authors of libelous material may be jailed for two to six months and fined 500,000 to five million CFA francs (\$1,008 to \$10,080). Penalties for libel, disrupting public order, and other offenses also include a one- to three-month publishing suspension for a first offense and a three- to six-month suspension for repeat offenses.
Although the constitution and law prohibit arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, the government does not always respect these prohibitions in practice. As part of criminal investigations, police request and easily obtain search warrants from judges, sometimes after the fact. Authorities reportedly monitor private telephone conversations, personal mail, and the movement of citizens
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# Transport in Gabon
Modes of transport in Gabon include rail, road, water and air. The one rail link, the Trans-Gabon Railway, connects the port of Owendo with the inland town of Franceville. While most of the country is connected by roads, not all areas are accessible. Much of the road network remains unpaved, and it primarily revolves around seven \"national routes\" labeled N1 through N7. The largest seaports are Port-Gentil and the newer Owendo, and 1,600 km of inland waterways are navigable. There are three international airports, eight other paved airports, and over 40 with unpaved runways. Nearly 300 km of pipelines carry petroleum products, mainly crude oil.
## Rail transport {#rail_transport}
Until the 1970s, Gabon had no permanent railroads, though temporary Decauville rail tracks were in use in the logging industry as early as 1913 (Gray and Ngolet, 1999, pp.102).
In 2003, the railway began the process of installing a satellite based telecommunications system. As of 2004, Gabon State Railways totalled 814 km of standard-gauge track.
*total:* 814 km (Gabon State Railways or OCTRA)\
*standard gauge:* 814 km 1.435-m gauge; single track (1994)
### Maps
- [UN Map - shows line to Franceville](https://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/gabon.pdf)
- [UNHCR map - does not show line to Franceville](http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/publ/opendoc.pdf?tbl=PUBL&id=441688290)
- [TravelPortal map - shows major rivers](http://www.travelportal.info/go_frames.php?unid=10174&linkid=9179&newlanguage=english)
- [UNJLC Rail map of Southern Africa - does not show line to Franceville](http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/fullMaps_Af.nsf/luFullMap/BC0EF176D6BCADE385256C0800474100/$File/wfp_safr_rails0702.pdf?OpenElement)
### Cities served by rail {#cities_served_by_rail}
Existing
- Libreville - capital
- Owendo - port
- Sahoué - port
- Franceville - railhead
- Ndjolé
- Lopé
- Booué - likely junction for branchline to Makokou
- Lastoursville
- Moanda
- Ntoum - proposed junction for iron ore traffic to Santa Clara
- Kango
- Four-Place
- Mounana - ?
Proposed
- Makokou - iron ore
- Cape Santa Clara - proposed deep water port for Makokou iron ore.
- Bélinga - possible iron ore mine.
### 2006
- China signs a deal for an iron ore mine with associated rail and port upgrades from Belinga to Santa Clara [1](http://chinaconfidential.blogspot.com/2006/06/high-iron-ore-prices-push-china-to_12.html)
[2](http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-162298942.html)
### 2007 {#section_1}
- New rail line from Belinga will go 450 km all the way to the coast, rather than to be a branch off an existing line.
- Pan-African issues
## Road transport {#road_transport}
*total:* 7,670 km\
*paved:* 629 km (including 30 km of expressways)\
*unpaved:* 7,041 km (1996 est.)
Roads in Gabon link most areas of the country, and many of the main roads are of a reasonable standard. However, remoter areas along the coast and in the east are often not connected to the road network. Major roads are denoted national routes and numbered, with a prefix \"N\" (sometimes \"RN\"):
- N1 road: Libreville -- Kougouleu -- Bifoun -- Lambaréné -- Mouila -- Ndendé -- Tchibanga - (Republic of Congo)
- N2 road: Bifoun -- Alembe -- Viate -- Mitzic -- Bibasse -- Oyem -- Bitam -- Éboro -- (Cameroon)
- N3 road: Alembe -- Kazamabika -- Lastoursville -- Moanda -- Franceville
- N4 road: Viate -- Ekonlong -- Makokou -- Mékambo
- N5 road: Kougouleu -- Bibasse
- N6 road: Mayumba -- Tchibanga -- Ndendé -- Lébamba - Koulamoutou -- Lastoursville
- N7 road: Makokou -- Bakwaka -- Okondja -- Lékori - Akiéni -- Ngouoni -- Franceville
## Water transport {#water_transport}
### Merchant marine {#merchant_marine}
As of 2002, there was one merchant marine vessel, with a gross tonnage of 2,419/`{{DWT|3,205|metric|disp=long}}`{=mediawiki}.
### Waterways
Gabon has 1,600 km of perennially navigable waterways, including 310 km on the Ogooué River.
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# Transport in Gabon
## Air transport {#air_transport}
There are three international airports: Libreville, Port-Gentil, and Franceville.
### Airports - with paved runways {#airports___with_paved_runways}
*total:* 11\
*over 3,047 m:* 1\
*2,438 to 3,047 m:* 1\
*1,524 to 2,437 m:* 8\
*914 to 1,523 m:* 1 (1999 est.)
### Airports - with unpaved runways {#airports___with_unpaved_runways}
*total:* 45\
*1,524 to 2,437 m:* 9\
*914 to 1,523 m:* 16\
*under 914 m:* 25 (1999 est
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# Armed Forces of Gabon
The **Armed Forces of Gabon** (*Forces armées gabonaises*), officially the **Gabonese Defense and Security Forces** (*links=no*), is the national professional military of Gabon, divided into the Army, Air Force, Navy, and a National Gendarmerie, consisting of about 5,000 personnel. The armed forces includes a well-trained, well-equipped 1,800-member guard that provides security for the President of Gabon. Although the President of Gabon has authority over all of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense administers it.
## Organizational structure {#organizational_structure}
### Army
The **Gabonese Army** (*Armée de terre gabonaise*) is the land component of the armed forces, specializing in infantry and mechanized reconnaissance. It was created on December 6, 1960, by decree of president Léon M\'ba from non-commissioned officers who served in the French colonial army, mainly the 2nd company of the 21st BIMA. Following independence, Gabon signed defense agreements with France, mainly on technical assistance and training. Until June 1964, the title of Chief of Staff of the Gabonese Armed Forces was held by a senior French Army officer. In 1962 a detachment of the Auxiliary Women of the Gabonese Armed Forces (AFFAG), commanded by Lieutenant Ba Oumar at the military camp of Owendo, was created. President M\'ba promoted the initiative following a visit to Tel Aviv, Israel, where he met female staff in its Defense Forces.
#### Order of battle {#order_of_battle}
- Republican Guard Battalion (Libreville)
- - 1 Light Armoured recon unit
- 3 Infantry companies
- 1 Artillery battery
- 1 Air Defence battery
- Airborne Regiment
- 1 Command company
- 1 Recon & Support company
- 3 Airborne companies
- 1 Light Armoured Recon Battalion
- 2 Armoured squads
- 1 Command & Logistics company
- Support Command Regiment
- 1 Artillery battery
- 1 Mortar battery
- 1 MRLS battery (8 Teruel MRL)
- 1 Engineer company
- Logistic units
- 7 Military Regions
- 7 Motorised infantry battalions (1 battalion for each region)
### Air Force {#air_force}
#### Order of battle {#order_of_battle_1}
- Fighter Squadron 1-02 Leyou at BA02 Franceville with:
- Mirage F-1AZ
- MB-326M Impala I
- Heavy Transport Squadron at BA01 Libreville with:
- C-130 Hercules
- CN-235
- Ministerial Air Liaison Group (*Groupe de Liaison Aérien Ministériel* or GLAM) at BA01 Libreville with:
- 1 Falcon-900EX
- 1 Gulfstream-III
#### Facilities
- BA01 Libreville
- BA02 Franceville
- Tchibanga
### Navy
*Main article: Gabonese Navy* The **Gabonese Navy** (*Marine Nationale du Gabon*) is the official maritime branch of the armed forces. It was created in December 1960 as part of the army, and only became an independent entity in 1983. The navy\'s core purpose is to monitor the country\'s coastal waters, including 800 km of coastline.
- Headquarters Staff (Libreville)
- Port-Gentil Naval Base
- Mayumba Naval Base
- Port-Gentil Aviation Base
- Marine Rifle Battalion (since 1984)
## Other security forces {#other_security_forces}
### National Gendarmerie {#national_gendarmerie}
The **National Gendarmerie of Gabon** (*Gendarmerie nationale gabonaise*) is the national police force of Gabon responsible for law enforcement in the country. It was formed on March 10, 1960, when Gabon, formerly French Equatorial Africa, gained its independence from France. It originated from Libreville Gendarmerie Detachment 1929, which was commanded by Governor General of French Equatorial Africa, Félix Eboue. The main tasks of the gendarmerie are to defend the country\'s borders, ensure public safety, and to enforce actions taken by judicial and government authorities. The National Gendarmerie is under the direct command of the President of Gabon.
### Republican Guard {#republican_guard}
The Gendarmerie is also in charge of the Republican Guard (*Garde républicaine, GR*). It is viewed as the most powerful and sophisticated of the security forces. It is primarily tasked with protecting the president and ensures regime stability.
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# Armed Forces of Gabon
## Equipment
### Small arms {#small_arms}
Name Origin Type Variant Notes
----------- --------------- ----------------------------- --------- ----------------
M16 rifle United States Assault rifle
FN FAL Belgium Battle rifle
FN CAL Belgium Assault rifle
FN MAG Belgium General-purpose machine gun
AK-47 Soviet Union Assault rifle
AKM Soviet Union Assault rifle
RPD Soviet Union Light machine gun
FAMAS France Assault rifle Bullpup design
MILAN France Anti-tank guided missile
M40 United States Recoilless rifle M40A1
### Armour
Name Origin Type In Service Notes
----------------------------- --------------------- --------------------------------- ------------ -----------------------------------------------
Armored fighting vehicles
AML-60/AML-90 France/South Africa Reconnaissance vehicle 24 Including the South African Eland derivative.
EE-3 Jararaca Brazil Reconnaissance vehicle 12
EE-9 Cascavel Brazil Reconnaissance vehicle 14
ERC-90F4 Sagaie France Reconnaissance vehicle 6
RAM MK3 Israel Reconnaissance vehicle 7
Véhicule Blindé Léger France Reconnaissance vehicle 14
EE-11 Urutu Brazil Infantry fighting vehicle 12 Armed with 20 mm gun.
VN-1 China Infantry fighting vehicle 5
Type 07P China Infantry fighting vehicle 14
V-150 Command United States Armoured personnel carrier 9
Bastion France Armoured personnel carrier 5
WZ-523 China Armoured personnel carrier 3
Véhicule de l\'Avant Blindé France Armoured personnel carrier 5
VXB-170 France Armoured personnel carrier 12
Pandur I Austria Armoured personnel carrier 1
ZFB-05 China Armoured personnel carrier 3
Aravis France Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected 8
Matador South Africa Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected 24
Ashok Leyland MPV India Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected 34
### Artillery
Name Origin Type In Service Notes
----------- --------------- --------------------------------- ------------ -------
M101 United States 105 mm towed howitzer 4
Type 63 China 107 mm multiple rocket launcher 16
Type 90 China 122 mm multiple rocket launcher 4
Teruel Spain 140 mm multiple rocket launcher 8
MO-120-RT France 120 mm mortar 4
### Air defense {#air_defense}
Name Origin Type In Service Notes
--------- -------------- ------------------------------------------ ------------ -------
ERC-20 France 20mm self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon 4
ZPU-4 Soviet Union 14.5mm towed anti-aircraft gun Unknown
ZU-23-2 Soviet Union 23 mm towed anti-aircraft gun 24
M1939 Soviet Union 37 mm towed anti-aircraft gun 10
L/70 Sweden 40 mm towed anti-aircraft gun 3
### Current inventory {#current_inventory}
### Retired aircraft {#retired_aircraft}
Previous aircraft operated were the CM.170 Magister, Embraer EMB 110, Fokker F28, Aérospatiale N 262, Reims C.337, and the Alouette II helicopter.
### Naval equipment {#naval_equipment}
Vessel Origin Type In service Notes
--------- -------- ----------------- ------------ ------------------------------
Kership France Offshore patrol 1 on order
P400 France Coastal patrol 3
BATRAL France Landing craft 1 2 ordered, only one received
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# Armed Forces of Gabon
## Ceremonial traditions {#ceremonial_traditions}
- In April 2001, then-Defense Minister Bongo visited China, during which he reviewed the PLA honor guard upon arrival, and proposed to his Chinese counterpart Chi Haotian that members of the battalion will go to Gabon to help set up and train professional ceremonial units in the Gabonese military. In March 2003, after just under three years, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense sent four officers led by Lieutenant Colonel Wang Yuanjing to Libreville by the end of November of that year, after which they stayed to train the Gabonese guard of honour for more than six months.
- The Principal Music Band of the Gabonese Defense Forces was created in 2010. It brings together elements of the Band of the National Gendarmerie, the Armed Forces and the Prytanée militaire de Libreville. It has a staff of 50 professional currently directed by Captain Jean-Baptiste Rabimbinongo. Its conductor, Lieutenant Léa Nzoufa Nze, was the first woman to conduct a military band to the Saumur International Festival of Military Bands. It takes part in many official ceremonies such as National Flag Day and the military parade marking the country\'s independence
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# Telecommunications in Georgia (country)
**Telecommunications in Georgia** include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
## Radio and television {#radio_and_television}
- Radio broadcast stations: AM 7, FM 12, shortwave 4 (1998). There are 35 FM stations in the country, as of 2021.
- Radios: 3.02 million (1997).
- Television broadcast stations: 25 (plus repeaters) (2011).
- Televisions: 2.57 million (1997).
## Cellular Networks {#cellular_networks}
- Calling code: +995
- Mobile Phone subscribers: 4,955,272 million lines (April 2021)
There are three cellular telephone networks: MagtiCom LTD, Silknet JSC, and Cellfie Mobile (Formerly known as Beeline). The cellular network market counts more than 4,955,272 active customers in total.
Coverage extends to over 98% of the populated territory as of 2010; In urban areas there are 20 telephones per 100 people and in rural areas 4 telephones per 100 people.
In 2020, the Georgian National Communications Commission announced its plans to introduce Mobile virtual network operators in 2021. The first MVNO in the country, [Hallo](https://hallo.ge/), launched in Q4 of 2022 and it is based on Silknet\'s infrastructure. [Tele 1](https://tele1.ge/) (also marketed as Tele One) is going to launch soon. It is not yet clear which operator\'s infrastructure the company will use. Tele 1 has already started operating in the country partially, but its services (video and audio calling) are available only through their apps as of now (VoIP).
The Georgian National Communications Commission has announced an auction for the 5G spectrum. It will be held in August 2023 and most of the lots come with a requirement for MNOs to start talks with MVNOs, which means they will not be able to keep their infrastructure closed off if they want to buy licenses for specific 5G frequencies.
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# Telecommunications in Georgia (country)
## Fixed Telephony, Internet and IP Television {#fixed_telephony_internet_and_ip_television}
- Internet Service Providers: at least 10 ISPs.
- Fixed Internet Subscribers: 977,6 thousand lines (April 2021)
- Internet Protocol television Subscribers: 551 thousand lines (April 2021)
- Fixed Phone Subscribers: 830,222 lines in use (2009), 366,250 lines in use (April 2021)
- Top-level domain: .ge
The fixed telephony, internet and IP television in Georgia is mainly operated by MAGTICOM, Silknet and New Net, all of which controlled 90% of the market in 2018. By the end of 2008, there were 618,000 fixed telephone users in Georgia. In urban areas there are 20 telephones per 100 people, and in rural areas there are four telephones per 100 people.
Additionally, Datahouse Global LLC, Geonet LLC, Inexphone LLC, and Myphone LLC are providing VoIP-based fixed telephony services over the country.
Fiber-optic lines connect the major cities and Georgia and Bulgaria are connected with fiber-optic line between Poti and Varna (Bulgaria). The home internet provider industry in Georgia is heavily monopolized by 2 major competitors: Silknet and MAGTICOM. There are other smaller, more obscure providers as well, but these two are the most popular and have the biggest nationwide coverage. Both companies offer TV and mobile packages that can be combined with home internet as well.
### Internet censorship and surveillance {#internet_censorship_and_surveillance}
Listed as engaged in selective Internet filtering in the political and conflict/security areas and as no evidence of filtering in the social and Internet tools areas by the OpenNet Initiative (ONI) in November 2010.
Access to Internet content in Georgia is largely unrestricted as the legal constitutional framework, developed after the 2003 Rose Revolution, established a series of provisions that should, in theory, curtail any attempts by the state to censor the Internet. At the same time, these legal instruments have not been sufficient to prevent limited filtering on corporate and educational networks. Georgia\'s dependence on international connectivity makes it vulnerable to upstream filtering, evident in the March 2008 blocking of YouTube by Türk Telekom.
On March 14, 2016, access to YouTube was restricted nationwide. This restriction of access was to presumably prevent Georgian citizens from accessing a video which threatened a number of journalists and opposition figures with the exposure of covertly recorded video tapes of sex acts. YouTube access went down throughout Georgia until the threatening video was removed from the internet
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# Transport in Georgia (country)
For Soviet transportation, see Transport in the Soviet Union.
## Railways
*Main article: Georgian Railway*\
*total:* 1,683 km in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines\
*broad gauge:* 1,583 km of `{{RailGauge|1520mm}}`{=mediawiki} gauge (1993)\
*narrow gauge:* 100 km of `{{RailGauge|914mm}}`{=mediawiki} gauge.
City with metro system: Tbilisi (see Tbilisi Metro).
- In April 2005, an agreement was signed to build a railway from Turkey through Georgia to Azerbaijan (see Kars Baku Tbilisi railway line). The line under construction is using Standard gauge until Akhalkalaki. There will be axle change station for wagons to proceed with broad gauge to Baku.
- In August 2007, Georgia handed over the management rights of the state-owned Georgian Railway company to the U.K.-based company Parkfield Investment for 89 years.
### Railway links with adjacent countries {#railway_links_with_adjacent_countries}
- Russia - yes - `{{RailGauge|1520mm}}`{=mediawiki} - via the breakaway Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia - closed for political reasons.
- Azerbaijan - yes - `{{RailGauge|1520mm}}`{=mediawiki}.
- Armenia - yes `{{RailGauge|1520mm}}`{=mediawiki}
- Turkey - yes - break-of-gauge with through `{{RailGauge|sg}}`{=mediawiki} (Standard Gauge).
### 2007
- February 7 - agreement signed for Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway
### Towns served by rail {#towns_served_by_rail}
- Poti - port
- Batumi - port
- Kutaisi
- Akhaltsike
## Highways
The total length of the road network is approximately 21000 km kilometers (2020), divided over roughly 1600 km of international trunk roads, 7000 km of domestic main roads and some 12400 km local roads. Only a limited number of kilometers are express roads or motorways which are in good condition. The quality of the other roads varies greatly.
Number E Route name Length (km) Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- --------------------------------------------- ------------- -------
Tbilisi - Senaki - Leselidze 544
Senaki - Poti - Sarpi 119
Mtskheta - Stepantsminda - Larsi 139
Tbilisi - Red Bridge 57
Tbilisi -- Bakurtsikhe -- Lagodekhi 160
Ponichala -- Marneuli -- Guguti 98
Marneuli -- Sadakhlo 34
Khashuri -- Akhaltsikhe -- Vale 97
Tbilisi Bypass 49
Gori -- Tskhinvali -- Gupta -- Java -- Roki 92,5
Akhaltsikhe -- Ninotsminda 112
Samtredia - Lanchkhuti - Grigoleti 57
Akhalkalaki - Kartsakhi 36,5
This table is based on the 2017 list of roads of the Government of Georgia.
: **Main roads**
### Motorways
Georgia has a limited multilane expressroad/motorway system, that is under development. In 2021 these sections are:
- S1 highway Mukhatgverdi (Tbilisi West) - Surami 113 km
- S1 highway Argveta - Samtredia 58 km
- S4 highway Ponichala (Tbilisi) - Rustavi 9 km
- S12 highway Japana - Lanchkhuti 14 km
Additionally, the S2 highway has 32 km limited access two-lane freeway (Kobuleti Bypass).
## Pipelines
Crude oil 370 km; refined products 300 km; natural gas 440 km (1992)
## Ports and harbours {#ports_and_harbours}
Batumi, Poti, Sokhumi, Kulevi Oil Terminal
## Merchant marine {#merchant_marine}
\
*total:* 17 ships (with a volume of `{{GT|1,000|disp=long}}`{=mediawiki} or over) totaling `{{GT|103,080}}`{=mediawiki}/`{{DWT|158,803|metric|disp=long}}`{=mediawiki}\
*ships by type:* cargo ship 10, chemical tanker 1, petroleum tanker 6 (1999 est.)
## Airports
28 (1994 est.) In February 2007 a brand new, modern and fully equipped international Airport was inaugurated in Tbilisi.
- Tbilisi - Shota Rustaveli Airport
- Batumi - Alexander Kartveli Airport
- Kutaisi - David The Builder Airport
- Mestia - Queen Tamar Airport
- Ambrolauri - Ambrolauri Airport
- Poti - Poti International Airport
### Airports - with paved runways {#airports___with_paved_runways}
*total:* 14\
*over 3,047 m:* 1\
*2,438 to 3,047 m:* 7\
*1,524 to 2,437 m:* 4\
*914 to 1,523 m:* 1\
*under 914 m:* 1 (1994 est.)
### Airports - with unpaved runways {#airports___with_unpaved_runways}
*total:* 14\
*over 3,047 m:* 1\
*2,438 to 3,047 m:* 1\
*1,524 to 2,437 m:* 1\
*914 to 1,523 m:* 5\
*under 914 m:* 6 (1994 est
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# Geography of Ghana
Ghana is a West African country in Africa, along the Gulf of Guinea.
Ghana encompasses plains, low hills, rivers, Lake Volta, the world\'s largest artificial lake, Dodi Island and Bobowasi Island on the south Atlantic Ocean coast of Ghana. Ghana can be divided into four different geographical ecoregions. The coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams. The northern part of Ghana features high plains. South-west and south-central Ghana is made up of a forested plateau region consisting of the Ashanti uplands and the Kwahu Plateau. The hilly Akwapim-Togo ranges are found along Ghana\'s eastern international border.
The Volta Basin takes up most of south-central Ghana and Ghana\'s highest point is Mount Afadja which is 885 m and is found in the Akwapim-Togo ranges. The climate is tropical and the eastern coastal belt is warm and comparatively dry, the south-west corner of Ghana is hot and humid, and the north of Ghana is warm and wet. Lake Volta, the world\'s largest artificial lake, extends through small portions of south-eastern Ghana and many tributary rivers such as the Oti and Afram rivers flow into it.
The northernmost part of Ghana is Pulmakom and the southernmost part of Ghana is Cape Three Points near Axim. Ghana lies between latitudes 4° and 12°N. South Ghana contains evergreen and semi-deciduous forests consisting of trees such as mahogany, odum, ebony and it also contains much of Ghana\'s oil palms and mangroves with shea trees, baobabs and acacias found in the northern part of Ghana. Its southernmost coast at Cape Three Points is 4° 30\' north of the equator. From here, the country extends inland for some 670 km to about 11° north. The distance across the widest part, between longitude 1° 12\' east and longitude 3° 15\' west, measures about 560 km.
The Greenwich Meridian, which passes through London, also traverses the eastern part of Ghana at Tema.
## Area and boundaries {#area_and_boundaries}
Area:
:\* Total: 238,537 km²
- - *country rank in the world:* 80th
:\* Land: 227,533 km²
:\* Water: 11,000 km²
Area comparative
:\* Australia comparative: slightly larger than Victoria
:\* Canada comparative: slightly less than half the size of the Yukon
:\* United Kingdom comparative: slightly smaller than the United Kingdom
:\* United States comparative: approximately twice the size of Pennsylvania
:\* EU comparative: approximately equal in size to Romania
Land boundaries
:\*total: 2,420 km
:\*border countries: Burkina Faso (602 km) to the north, Ivory Coast (720 km) to the west, and Togo (1,098 km) to the east.
## Terrain of Ghana {#terrain_of_ghana}
The terrain consists of desert mountains with the Kwahu Plateau in the south-central area. Half of Ghana lies less than 152 m above sea level, and the highest point is 883 m. The 537 km coastline is mostly a low, sandy shore backed by plains and scrub and intersected by several rivers and streams, most of which are navigable only by canoe.
A tropical rain forest belt, broken by heavily forested hills and many streams and rivers, extends northward from the shore, near the Ivory Coast frontier. This area, known as the \"Ashanti,\" produces most of Ghana\'s cocoa, minerals, and timber. North of this belt, the elevation varies from 91 to above sea level and is covered by low bushes, park-like savanna, and grassy plains.
**Irrigated land:**\
309 km2 (2003)
**Total renewable water resources:**\
53.2 km3 (2011)
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# Geography of Ghana
## Geographical regions {#geographical_regions}
Ghana is characterized in general by low physical relief. The Precambrian rock system that underlies most of the nation has been worn down by erosion almost to a plain. The highest elevation in Ghana, Mount Afadja in the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, rises 880 m above sea level.
There are four distinct geographical regions. Low plains stretch across the southern part of Ghana. To their north lie three regions---the Ashanti Uplands, the Akwapim-Togo Ranges, and the Volta Basin. The fourth region, the high plains, occupies the northern and northwestern sector of Ghana. Like most West African countries, Ghana has no natural harbours. Because strong surf pounds the shoreline, two artificial harbours were built at Takoradi and Tema (the latter completed in 1961) to accommodate Ghana\'s shipping needs.
### Low plains {#low_plains}
The low plains comprise the four subregions of the coastal savanna, the Volta Delta, the Accra Plains, and the Akan lowlands or peneplains. A narrow strip of grassy and scrubby coast runs from a point near Takoradi in the west to the Togo border in the east. This coastal savanna, only about 8 km in width at its western end, stretches eastward through the Accra Plains, where it widens to more than 80 km, and terminates at the southeastern corner of the country at the lower end of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges.
Almost flat and featureless, the Accra Plains descend gradually to the gulf from a height of about 150 m. The topography east of the city of Accra is marked by a succession of ridges and spoonshaped valleys. The hills and slopes in this area are the favoured lands for cultivation. Shifting cultivation is the usual agricultural practice because of the swampy nature of the very lowlying areas during the rainy seasons and the periodic blocking of the rivers at the coast by sandbars that form lagoons. A plan to irrigate the Accra Plains was announced in 1984. Should this plan come to reality, much of the area could be opened to large-scale cultivation.
To the west of Accra, the low plains contain wider valleys and rounded low hills, with occasional rocky headlands. In general, however, the land is flat and covered with grass and scrub. Dense groves of coconut palms front the coastline. Several commercial centres, including Winneba, Saltpond, and Cape Coast are located here. Winneba has a small livestock industry and palm tree cultivation is expanding in the area away from the coast, with the predominant occupation of the coastal inhabitants being fishing via dug-out canoe.
The Volta Delta, which forms a distinct subregion of the low plains, extends into the Gulf of Guinea in the extreme southeast. The delta\'s rock formation---consisting of thick layers of sandstone, some limestone, and silt deposits---is flat, featureless, and relatively young. As the delta grew outward over the centuries, sandbars developed across the mouths of the Volta and smaller rivers that empty into the gulf in the same area, forming numerous lagoons, some quite large, making road construction difficult.
To avoid the lowest-lying areas the road between Accra and Keta makes a detour inland just before reaching Ada, and approaches Keta from the east along the narrow spit on which the town stands. Road links with Keta continue to be a problem. By 1989 it was estimated that more than 3,000 houses in the town had been swallowed by flooding from the lagoon. About 1,500 other houses were destroyed by erosion caused by the powerful waves of the sea.
This flat, silt-composed delta region with its abundance of water supports shallot, corn, and cassava cultivation in the region. The sandy soil of the delta gave rise to the copra industry. Salt-making, from the plentiful supply in the dried beds of the lagoons, provides additional employment. The main occupation of the delta people is fishing, an industry that supplies dried and salted fish to other parts of the country.
The largest part of the low plains is the Akan Lowlands. Some experts prefer to classify this region as a subdivision of the Ashanti Uplands because of the many characteristics they share. Unlike the uplands, the height of the Akan Lowlands is generally between sea level and 150 m. Some ranges and hills rise to about 300 m, but few exceed 600 m. The lowlands that lie to the south of the Ashanti Uplands receive the many rivers that make their way to the sea.
The Akan Lowlands contain the basins of the Densu River, the Pra River, the Ankobra River, and the Tano River, all of which play important roles in the economy of Ghana. The Densu River Basin, location of the important urban centres of Koforidua and Nsawam in the eastern lowlands, has an undulating topography. Many of the hills here have craggy summits, which give a striking appearance to the landscape. The upper section of the Pra River Basin, to the west of the Densu, is relatively flat. The topography of its lower reaches resembles that of the Densu Basin and is a rich cocoa and food-producing region. The valley of the Birim River, one of the main tributaries of the Pra, is Ghana\'s most important diamond-producing area.
The Ankobra River Basin and the middle and lower basins of the Tano River to the west of the lowlands form the largest subdivision of the Akan Lowlands. Here annual rainfall between 1,500 and helps assure a dense forest cover. In addition to timber, the area is rich in minerals. The Tarkwa goldfield, the diamond operations of the Bonsa Valley, and high-grade manganese deposits are all found in this area. The middle and lower Tano basins have been intensely explored for oil and natural gas since the mid-1980s. The lower basins of the Pra, Birim, Densu, and Ankobra rivers are also sites for palm tree cultivation.
Comprising the Southern Ashanti Uplands and the Kwahu Plateau, the Ashanti Uplands lie just north of the Akan Lowlands and stretch from the Ivory Coast border in the west to the elevated edge of the Volta Basin in the east. Stretching in a northwest-to-southeast direction, the Kwahu Plateau extends 193 km between Koforidua in the east and Wenchi in the northwest. The average elevation of the plateau is about 450 m, rising to a maximum of 762 m. The relatively cool temperatures of the plateau were attractive to Europeans, particularly missionaries, who founded many well-known schools and colleges in this region.
The plateau forms one of the important physical divides in Ghana. From its northeastern slopes, the Afram and Pru Rivers flow into the Volta River, while from the opposite side, the Pra, Birim, Ofin, Tano, and other rivers flow south toward the sea. The plateau also marks the northernmost limit of the forest zone. Although large areas of the forest cover have been destroyed through farming, enough deciduous forest remains to shade the head waters of the rivers that flow from the plateau.
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# Geography of Ghana
## Geographical regions {#geographical_regions}
### Low plains {#low_plains}
The Southern Ashanti Uplands, extending from the foot of the Kwahu Plateau in the north to the lowlands in the south, slope gently from an elevation of about 300 m in the north to about 150 m in the south. The region contains several hills and ranges as well as several towns of historical and economic importance, including Kumasi, Ghana\'s second largest city and former capital of the Asante. Obuasi and Konongo, two of the country\'s gold-mining centres, are also located here. The region is Ghana\'s chief producer of cocoa, and its tropical forests continue to be a vital source of timber for the lumber industry.
### Volta Basin {#volta_basin}
Taking the central part of Ghana, the Volta Basin covers about 45 percent of the nation\'s total land surface. Its northern section, which lies above the upper part of Lake Volta, rises to a height of 150 to above sea level. Elevations of the Konkori Scarp to the west and the Gambaga Scarp to the north reach from 300 to. To the south and the southwest, the basin is less than 300 m. The Kwahu Plateau marks the southern end of the basin, and forms a natural part of the Ashanti Uplands.
The basin is characterized by poor soil, generally of Voltaian sandstone. Annual rainfall averages between 1,000 and. The most widespread vegetation type is savanna, the woodlands of which, depending on local soil and climatic conditions, may contain such trees as red ironwood and shea.
The basin\'s population, principally farmers, is low in density, especially in the central and northwestern areas of the basin, where tsetse flies are common. Archeological finds indicate that the region was once more heavily populated. Periodic burning occurred over extensive areas for perhaps more than a millennium, exposing the soil to excessive drying and erosion, rendering the area less attractive to cultivators.
In contrast with the rest of the region are the Afram Plains, located in the southeastern corner of the basin. Here the terrain is low, averaging 60 to in elevation, and annual rainfall is between 1,140 mm and about 1,400 mm. Near the Afram River, much of the surrounding countryside is flooded or swampy during the rainy seasons. With the creation of Lake Volta (8500 km2 in area) in the mid-1960s, much of the Afram Plains was submerged. Despite the construction of roads to connect communities displaced by the lake, road transportation in the region remains poor. Renewed efforts to improve communications, to enhance agricultural production, and to improve standards of living began in earnest in the mid-1980s.
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# Geography of Ghana
## Geographical regions {#geographical_regions}
### High plains {#high_plains}
The general terrain in the northern and northwestern part of Ghana outside the Volta Basin consists of a dissected plateau, which averages between 150 and in elevation and, in some places, is even higher. Rainfall averages between 1,000 and annually, although in the northwest it is closer to 1,350 mm. Soils in the high plains are more arable than those in the Volta Basin, and the population density is considerably higher. Grain and cattle production are the major economic activities in the high plains of the northern region.
Since the mid-1980s, when former United States President Jimmy Carter\'s Global 2000 program adopted Ghana as one of a select number of African countries whose local farmers were to be educated and financially supported to improve agricultural production, there has been a dramatic increase in grain production in northern Ghana. The virtual absence of tsetse flies in the region has led to increased livestock raising as a major occupation in the north. The region is Ghana\'s largest producer of cattle.
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# Geography of Ghana
## Rivers and lakes {#rivers_and_lakes}
Ghana is drained by a large number of streams and rivers. In addition, there are a number of coastal lagoons, the huge man-made Lake Volta, and Lake Bosumtwi, southeast of Kumasi, which has no outlet to the sea. In the wetter south and southwest areas of Ghana, the river and stream pattern is denser, but in the area north of the Kwahu Plateau, the pattern is much more open, making access to water more difficult. Several streams and rivers also dry up or experience reduced flow during the dry seasons of the year, while flooding during the rainy seasons is common.
The major drainage divide runs from the southwest part of the Akwapim-Togo Ranges northwest through the Kwahu Plateau and then irregularly westward to the Ivory Coast border. Almost all the rivers and streams north of this divide form part of the Volta system. Extending about 1,600 km in length and draining an area of about 388,000 km2, of which about 158,000 km2 lie within Ghana, the Volta and its tributaries, such as the Afram River and the Oti River, drain more than two thirds of Ghana. To the south of the divide are several smaller, independent rivers. The most important of these are the Pra River, the Tano River, the Ankobra River, the Birim River, and the Densu River. With the exception of smaller streams that dry up in the dry seasons or rivers that empty into inland lakes, all the major rivers in Ghana flow into the Gulf of Guinea directly or as tributaries to other major rivers. The Ankobra and Tano are navigable for considerable distances in their lower reaches.
Navigation on the Volta River has changed significantly since 1964. Construction of the dam at Akosombo, about 80 km upstream from the coast, created the vast Lake Volta and the associated hydroelectric project. Arms of the lake extended into the lower-lying areas, forcing the relocation of 78,000 people to newly created townships on the lake\'s higher banks. The Black Volta River and the White Volta River flow separately into the lake. Before their confluence was submerged, the rivers came together in the middle of Ghana to form the main Volta River.
The Oti River and the Daka River, the principal tributaries of the Volta in the eastern part of Ghana, and the Pru River, the Sene River, and the Afram River, major tributaries to the north of the Kawhu Plateau, also empty into flooded extensions of the lake in their river valleys. Lake Volta is a rich source of fish, and its potential as a source for irrigation is reflected in an agricultural mechanization agreement signed in the late 1980s to irrigate the Afram Plains. The lake is navigable from Akosombo through Yeji in the middle of Ghana. A 24 m pontoon was commissioned in 1989 to link the Afram Plains to the west of the lake with the lower Volta region to the east. Hydroelectricity generated from Akosombo supplies Ghana, Togo, and Benin.
On the other side of the Kwahu Plateau from Lake Volta are several river systems, including the Pra, Ankobra, Tano and Densu. The Pra is the easternmost and the largest of the three principal rivers that drain the area south of the Volta divide. Rising south of the Kwahu Plateau and flowing southward, the Pra enters the Gulf of Guinea east of Takoradi. In the early part of the twentieth century, the Pra was used extensively to float timber to the coast for export. This trade is now carried by road and rail transportation.
The Ankobra, which flows to the west of the Pra, has a relatively small drainage basin. It rises in the hilly region of Bibiani and flows in a southerly direction to enter the gulf just west of Axim. Small craft can navigate approximately 80 km inland from its mouth. At one time, the Ankobra helped transport machinery to the gold-mining areas in the vicinity of Tarkwa. The Tano, which is the westernmost of the three rivers, rises near Techiman in the centre of the country. It also flows in a southerly direction, and it empties into a lagoon in the southeast corner of Ivory Coast. Navigation by steam launch is possible on the southern sector of the Tano for about 70 km.
A number of rivers are found to the east of the Pra. The two most important are the Densu and Ayensu, both of which rise in the Atewa Range, and which are important as sources of water for Accra and Winneba respectively. The country has one large natural lake, Lake Bosumtwi, located about 32 km southeast of Kumasi. It occupies the steep-sided meteoric crater and has an area of about 47 km2. A number of small streams flow into Lake Bosumtwi, but there is no drainage from it. Apart from providing an opportunity for fishing for local inhabitants, the lake serves as a tourist attraction.
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# Geography of Ghana
## Climate
The country\'s warm, humid climate has an annual mean temperature between 26 and. Variations in the principal elements of temperature, rainfall, and humidity that govern the climate are influenced by the movement and interaction of the dry tropical continental air mass, or the harmattan, which blows from the northeast across the Sahara, and the opposing tropical maritime or moist equatorial system. The cycle of the seasons follows the apparent movement of the sun back and forth across the equator. During summer in the northern hemisphere, a warm and moist maritime air mass intensifies and pushes northward across the country. A low-pressure belt, or intertropical front, in the airmass brings warm air, rain, and prevailing winds from the southwest. As the sun returns south across the equator, the dry, dusty, tropical continental front, or harmattan, prevails. Climatic conditions across the country are hardly uniform. The Kwahu Plateau, which marks the northernmost extent of the forest area, also serves as an important climatic divide. To its north, two distinct seasons occur. The harmattan season, with its dry, hot days and relatively cool nights from November to late March or April, is followed by a wet period that reaches its peak in late August or September. To the south and southwest of the Kwahu Plateau, where the annual mean rainfall from north to south ranges from 1,250 to, four separate seasons occur. Heavy rains fall from about April through late June. After a relatively short dry period in August, another rainy season begins in September and lasts through November, before the longer harmattan season sets in to complete the cycle.
The extent of drought and rainfall varies across the country. To the south of the Kwahu Plateau, the heaviest rains occur in the Axim area in the southwest corner of Ghana. Farther to the north, Kumasi receives an average annual rainfall of about 1,400 mm, while Tamale in the drier northern savanna receives rainfall of 1,000 mm per year. From Takoradi eastward to the Accra Plains, including the lower Volta region, rainfall averages only 750 to a year.
Temperatures are usually high at all times of the year throughout the country. At higher elevations, temperatures are more comfortable. In the far north, temperature highs of 31 °C are common. The southern part of the country is characterized by generally humid conditions. This is particularly so during the night, when 95 to 100 percent humidity is possible. Humid conditions also prevail in the northern section of the country during the rainy season. During the harmattan season, however, humidity drops as low as 25 percent in the north.
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# Geography of Ghana
## Natural hazards {#natural_hazards}
Dry, dusty, harmattan winds occur from January to March. Ghana is also prone to droughts, and was severely affected by floods in 2007 and 2009.
## Environmental issues {#environmental_issues}
Environmental issues include recurrent drought in the north, severely affecting agricultural activities, deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, poaching and habitat destruction threatens wildlife populations, water pollution, and inadequate supplies of potable water
**International agreements (ratified):**
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands.
**International agreements (signed, but not ratified)**
Marine Life Conservation.
## Other
Volta Lake, the largest artificial lake in the world, extends from the Akosombo Dam in southeastern Ghana to the town of Yapei, 520 km to the north. The lake generates electricity, provides inland transportation, and is a potentially valuable resource for irrigation and fish farming.
Ghana has a large and well-preserved national park system that includes Kakum National Park in the Central Region, Mole National Park in the Northern Region, Digya National Park along the western bank of the Volta Lake.
## Extreme points {#extreme_points}
This is a list of the extreme points of Ghana, the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.
- Northernmost point -- the point at which the border with Burkina Faso enters the Morbira river immediately south of the Burkinabè village of Kanhiré, Upper East Region
- Easternmost point -- the southernmost section of the border with Togo, Volta Region\*
- Southernmost point -- Cape Three Points, Western Region
- Westernmost point - the point where the border with Ivory Coast enters the Manzan river, Western Region
- *Note: Ghana does not have an easternmost point, the border at this section being defined along the line of longitude at 1°12\'05.73\"E*
## Gallery
<File:Tropical> Luxury Resort, Coast of Ghana.jpg\|Tropical climate in the Greater Accra region <File:Savanna>, North Ghana.jpg\|Semi-arid climate of the Upper West region and Upper East region <File:Busua> - Seashore, Western region, Ghana.jpg\|Seashores and lagoons of the Western region <File:Savanna> landscape, Northern region, Ghana.jpg\|Tropical savanna climate and safaris of the Northern Region <File:Resort>, Ghana Coastline.jpg\|Reefs and resorts in the Greater Accra region Capital of Ghana <File:Kintampo> waterfalls.jpg\|Kintampo Waterfalls of the Brong-Ahafo region <File:Mountains> of Volta region.jpg\|Humid subtropical climate and mountains of the Volta region <File:Wli> Lower Fall-4.jpg\|Springs and waterfalls in the Volta region <File:Forests> and Woodlands, Ashanti region, South Ghana.jpg\|Tropical rainforest climate; forests and woodlands in the Ashanti region <File:Wetland> and Western Reef Heron, Greater Accra region, Ghana.jpg\|Wetlands and western reef herons in the Greater Accra region <File:Sea> Coastline and Beach, Central region, South Ghana.jpg\|Tropical monsoon climate; coastlines and beaches of the Central region <File:Untouched> pool in Ankasa - Ghana 14 IMG 0830 (16010557179)
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# Demographics of Ghana
Demographic features of the population of Ghana include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, religious affiliations, and other aspects.
Ghana\'s population is 30,832,019 (2021 census).
## Population
**Year** **Total recorded population**
------------------- -------------------------------
Pre-independence
1891 764,613
1901 1,549,661
1911 1,503,911
1921 2,296,400
1931 3,160,386
1948 4,118,459
Post-independence
1960 6,726,815
1970 8,559,313
1984 12,296,081
2000 18,912,079
2010 24,658,823
2021 30,832,019
: Ghana\'s Population in Census Years
### Population distribution {#population_distribution}
Population density increased steadily from 36 per square kilometer in 1970 to 52 per square kilometer in 1984. In 1990 63 persons per square kilometer was the estimate for Ghana\'s overall population density. These averages did not reflect variations in population distribution. For example, while the Northern Region, one of ten administrative regions, showed a density of seventeen persons per square kilometer in 1984, in the same year Greater Accra Region recorded nine times the national average of 52 per square kilometer.
As was the case in the 1960 and 1970 figures, the greatest concentration of population in 1984 was to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The highest concentration of habitation continued to be within the Accra-Kumasi-Takoradi triangle, largely because of the economic productivity of the region. All of Ghana\'s mining centres, timber-producing deciduous forests, and cocoa-growing lands lie to the south of the Kwahu Plateau. The Accra-Kumasi-Takoradi triangle is linked to the coast by rail and road systems---making this area an important magnet for investment and labor.
A large part of the Volta Basin is sparsely populated. The far north is heavily populated. The population density of the Upper East Region is well above the national average. This may be explained in part by the better soil found in some areas.
### Urban--rural disparities {#urbanrural_disparities}
Localities of 5,000 persons and above have been classified as urban since 1960. The 1960 urban population totalled 1,551,174 persons, or 23.1% of total population. By 1970, the urban percentage had increased to 28%. That percentage rose to 32% in 1984 and was estimated at 33% for 1992.
Urban areas in Ghana have customarily been supplied with more amenities than rural locations. Consequently, Kumasi, Accra, and many settlements within the southern economic belt attracted more people than the savanna regions of the north; only Tamale in the north has been an exception. The linkage of the national electricity grid to the northern areas of the country in the late 1980s may help to stabilize the north-to-south flow of internal migration. Ghana has a hugely rural population that is dependent on subsistence agriculture. Ghana has continued to be a nation of rural communities. Rural residency was estimated to be 67% of the population in 1992. In the 1970s, 72% of Ghana\'s population lived in rural areas. The \"Rural Manifesto,\" which assessed the causes of rural underdevelopment, was introduced in April 1984. Development strategies were evaluated, and some were implemented to make rural residency more attractive. The Bank of Ghana established more than 120 rural banks to support rural entrepreneurs, and the rural electrification program was intensified in the late 1980s. The government presented its plans for district assemblies as a component of its strategy for rural improvement through decentralized administration.
### Demographic trends {#demographic_trends}
Ghana\'s first post independence population census in 1961 counted about 6.7 million inhabitants. Between 1965 and 1989, a constant 45% of Ghana total female population was of childbearing age.
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# Demographics of Ghana
## Population
### Age structure {#age_structure}
Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 26.IX.2010):
Age Group Male Female Total \%
----------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ---------
Total 12 024 845 12 633 978 24 658 823 100
0--4 1 731 787 1 673 619 3 405 406 13.81
5--9 1 589 632 1 539 320 3 128 952 12.69
10--14 1 477 525 1 438 515 2 916 040 11.83
15--19 1 311 112 1 298 877 2 609 989 10.58
20--24 1 100 727 1 222 764 2 323 491 9.42
25--29 943 213 1 106 898 2 050 111 8.31
30--34 790 301 888 508 1 678 809 6.81
35--39 676 768 744 635 1 421 403 5.76
40--44 572 620 613 730 1 186 350 4.81
45--49 452 975 485 123 938 098 3.80
50--54 394 600 438 498 833 098 3.38
55--59 258 582 265 113 523 695 2.12
60--64 227 050 248 799 475 849 1.93
65--69 136 244 157 627 293 871 1.19
70--74 149 512 201 818 351 330 1.42
75--79 89 149 116 804 205 953 0.84
80--84 62 357 96 727 159 084 0.65
85--89 32 937 50 133 83 070 0.34
90--94 19 004 32 077 51 081 0.21
95+ 8 750 14 393 23 143 0.09
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0--14 4 798 944 4 651 454 9 450 398 38.32
15--64 6 727 948 7 312 945 14 040 893 56.94
65+ 497 953 669 579 1 167 532 4.73
Population Estimates by Sex and Age Group (01.VII.2015) (Data based on the 2010 Population Census.):
Age Group Male Female Total \%
----------- ------------ ------------ ------------ ---------
Total 13 562 093 14 108 081 27 670 174 100
0--4 2 020 776 1 978 634 3 999 410 14.45
5--9 1 688 452 1 624 426 3 312 878 11.97
10--14 1 567 043 1 530 309 3 097 352 11.19
15--19 1 414 987 1 410 591 2 825 578 10.21
20--24 1 251 759 1 286 040 2 537 799 9.17
25--29 1 083 877 1 168 616 2 252 493 8.14
30--34 935 947 1 031 219 1 967 166 7.11
35--39 785 200 880 037 1 665 237 6.02
40--44 661 789 742 520 1 404 309 5.08
45--49 546 030 599 902 1 145 932 4.14
50--54 445 531 487 737 933 268 3.37
55--59 348 118 379 884 728 002 2.63
60--64 270 642 299 974 570 616 2.06
65--69 196 219 223 282 419 501 1.52
70--74 142 378 170 878 313 256 1.13
75--79 96 514 126 573 223 087 0.81
80+ 106 831 167 459 274 290 0.99
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0--14 5 276 271 5 133 369 10 409 640 37.62
15--64 7 743 880 8 286 520 16 030 400 57.93
65+ 541 942 688 192 1 230 134 4.45
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# Demographics of Ghana
## Vital statistics {#vital_statistics}
In July 2022, the United Nations published its 2022 World Population Prospects, a biennially updated database where key demographic indicators are estimated and projected worldwide down to the country level. They prepared the following estimates of demographic indicators in Ghana for every year from 1950 to 2021, as well as projections for future decades.
Mid-year population Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000) Total fertility rate (TFR) Infant mortality (per 1000 live births) Life expectancy (in years)
------ --------------------- ------------- ----------- ---------------- ----------------------------- ----------------------------- --------------------------- ---------------------------- ----------------------------------------- ----------------------------
1950 5 078 000 237 000 114 000 123 000 46.8 22.6 24.2 6.59 149.2 43.11
1951 5 220 000 250 000 116 000 135 000 48.0 22.2 25.8 6.64 145.5 43.65
1952 5 373 000 263 000 117 000 145 000 49.0 21.9 27.1 6.68 142.2 44.07
1953 5 535 000 276 000 119 000 157 000 49.8 21.5 28.3 6.73 139.0 44.59
1954 5 706 000 287 000 121 000 167 000 50.3 21.1 29.2 6.75 136.1 45.08
1955 5 887 000 298 000 122 000 176 000 50.7 20.8 29.9 6.77 133.2 45.50
1956 6 077 000 309 000 124 000 185 000 50.9 20.4 30.5 6.80 130.6 45.90
1957 6 276 000 319 000 126 000 193 000 50.8 20.0 30.8 6.81 128.3 46.26
1958 6 479 000 328 000 128 000 201 000 50.7 19.7 31.0 6.82 126.2 46.50
1959 6 690 000 337 000 129 000 207 000 50.4 19.3 31.0 6.83 124.6 46.87
1960 6 912 000 344 000 131 000 213 000 49.8 19.0 30.8 6.85 123.1 47.10
1961 7 109 000 352 000 133 000 219 000 49.3 18.7 30.7 6.89 122.0 47.33
1962 7 281 000 359 000 137 000 222 000 49.2 18.7 30.4 6.95 121.2 47.41
1963 7 458 000 367 000 140 000 226 000 49.0 18.7 30.3 6.98 120.6 47.58
1964 7 640 000 371 000 143 000 228 000 48.4 18.7 29.7 6.93 120.1 47.72
1965 7 828 000 376 000 146 000 230 000 47.9 18.6 29.3 6.89 120.0 47.78
1966 8 020 000 381 000 150 000 231 000 47.4 18.6 28.7 6.88 120.0 47.73
1967 8 216 000 389 000 153 000 236 000 47.2 18.6 28.6 6.91 120.2 47.68
1968 8 418 000 398 000 157 000 241 000 47.2 18.7 28.5 6.91 120.3 47.57
1969 8 630 000 409 000 161 000 248 000 47.3 18.6 28.7 6.96 120.3 47.57
1970 8 862 000 418 000 163 000 255 000 47.2 18.4 28.8 6.95 120.1 47.81
1971 9 109 000 428 000 166 000 261 000 46.9 18.3 28.7 6.94 119.7 47.80
1972 9 366 000 436 000 166 000 270 000 46.5 17.8 28.8 6.91 118.4 48.03
1973 9 637 000 446 000 167 000 279 000 46.2 17.3 28.9 6.87 116.7 48.40
1974 9 919 000 455 000 168 000 287 000 45.8 16.9 29.0 6.83 114.5 48.78
1975 10 210 000 464 000 168 000 296 000 45.4 16.4 29.0 6.77 112.0 49.25
1976 10 509 000 473 000 168 000 305 000 45.0 15.9 29.0 6.72 109.1 49.76
1977 10 825 000 484 000 169 000 315 000 44.7 15.6 29.1 6.68 106.6 50.09
1978 11 163 000 498 000 171 000 327 000 44.7 15.3 29.3 6.61 104.4 50.57
1979 11 516 000 514 000 175 000 339 000 44.7 15.2 29.5 6.56 102.8 50.93
1980 11 865 000 532 000 179 000 353 000 44.8 15.1 29.7 6.52 101.6 51.12
1981 12 213 000 549 000 181 000 368 000 45.0 14.8 30.1 6.47 100.8 51.27
1982 12 585 000 563 000 183 000 380 000 44.8 14.6 30.2 6.38 100.2 51.38
1983 12 984 000 582 000 187 000 395 000 44.8 14.4 30.4 6.31 98.9 51.62
1984 13 342 000 602 000 190 000 412 000 44.9 14.2 30.8 6.24 97.1 52.05
1985 13 651 000 608 000 189 000 418 000 44.3 13.8 30.5 6.19 94.9 52.42
1986 13 972 000 613 000 186 000 427 000 43.8 13.3 30.5 6.15 92.2 53.13
1987 14 311 000 618 000 184 000 434 000 43.0 12.8 30.2 6.09 89.1 53.82
1988 14 672 000 618 000 181 000 437 000 42.0 12.3 29.7 5.96 85.8 54.51
1989 15 052 000 620 000 178 000 441 000 41.1 11.8 29.3 5.83 82.7 55.19
1990 15 447 000 625 000 178 000 447 000 40.4 11.5 28.9 5.71 79.8 55.62
1991 15 843 000 629 000 178 000 451 000 39.6 11.2 28.4 5.59 77.6 56.01
1992 16 242 000 630 000 179 000 451 000 38.7 11.0 27.7 5.47 75.7 56.23
1993 16 644 000 632 000 181 000 451 000 37.9 10.9 27.0 5.36 74.3 56.42
1994 17 041 000 627 000 187 000 441 000 36.8 10.9 25.8 5.19 73.7 56.11
1995 17 439 000 632 000 186 000 445 000 36.2 10.7 25.5 5.07 72.6 56.57
1996 17 844 000 633 000 188 000 445 000 35.4 10.5 24.9 4.93 71.4 56.82
1997 18 268 000 644 000 189 000 456 000 35.3 10.3 24.9 4.87 70.2 57.20
1998 18 715 000 660 000 190 000 471 000 35.3 10.1 25.1 4.84 68.6 57.60
1999 19 177 000 680 000 191 000 489 000 35.4 10.0 25.5 4.84 66.6 58.03
2000 19 666 000 706 000 195 000 510 000 35.9 9.9 25.9 4.85 64.3 58.20
2001 20 196 000 719 000 201 000 518 000 35.6 10.0 25.7 4.79 62.1 58.11
2002 20 758 000 733 000 202 000 531 000 35.3 9.7 25.6 4.72 59.9 58.61
2003 21 330 000 745 000 203 000 542 000 34.9 9.5 25.4 4.63 58.0 59.11
2004 21 906 000 756 000 207 000 549 000 34.5 9.5 25.1 4.53 56.3 59.19
2005 22 497 000 785 000 208 000 577 000 34.9 9.2 25.6 4.54 54.9 59.76
2006 23 099 000 788 000 211 000 577 000 34.1 9.1 25.0 4.41 53.5 59.99
2007 23 708 000 795 000 214 000 581 000 33.6 9.0 24.5 4.31 52.0 60.22
2008 24 326 000 807 000 217 000 591 000 33.2 8.9 24.3 4.25 50.5 60.49
2009 24 951 000 823 000 217 000 606 000 33.0 8.7 24.3 4.21 48.8 60.95
2010 25 575 000 844 000 221 000 624 000 33.0 8.6 24.4 4.21 47.0 61.16
2011 26 206 000 864 000 221 000 643 000 33.0 8.4 24.5 4.19 45.2 61.65
2012 26 859 000 883 000 221 000 662 000 32.9 8.2 24.6 4.18 43.4 62.08
2013 27 526 000 896 000 223 000 673 000 32.5 8.1 24.4 4.14 41.7 62.42
2014 28 196 000 898 000 220 000 677 000 31.8 7.8 24.0 4.05 40.2 63.05
2015 28 871 000 916 000 225 000 691 000 31.7 7.8 23.9 4.05 38.7 63.18
2016 29 554 000 902 000 220 000 682 000 30.5 7.5 23.1 3.91 37.4 63.89
2017 30 222 000 876 000 223 000 652 000 29.0 7.4 21.6 3.71 36.2 64.01
2018 30 871 000 897 000 228 000 669 000 29.0 7.4 21.7 3.73 35.1 64.12
2019 31 259 000 872 000 229 000 642 000 27.9 7.3 20.6 3.59 34.5 64.5
2020 31 888 000 875 000 237 000 637 000 27.4 7.4 20.0 3.54 33.5 64.3
2021 32 519 000 879 000 243 000 636 000 27.0 7.5 19.6 3.49 32.5 64.3
2022 33 149 000 882 000 235 000 646 000 26.6 7.1 19.5 3.43 31.6 65.2
2023 33 788 000 889 000 238 000 651 000 26.3 7.0 19.3 3.40 30.7 65.5
### Demographics and Health Surveys {#demographics_and_health_surveys}
Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR) Demographics Health Survey:
Year Total Urban
------ ----------- ------------ -----------
CBR TFR (WFR) CBR TFR (WFR)
1993 38.0 5.5 (4.2) 32.9
1998 32.7 4.55 (3.7) 25.4
2003 32.6 4.4 (3.7) 26.6
2007 33.3 4.6 28.4
2008 30.8 4.0 (3.5) 27.1
2014 30.6 4.2 (3.6) 27.9
2017 30.0 3.9 28.3
2022 27.9 3.9 (3.4) 25.1
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# Demographics of Ghana
## Vital statistics {#vital_statistics}
### Fertility and births (Census 2000 and 2010) {#fertility_and_births_census_2000_and_2010}
Year Total Urban
------ ------- ------ -------
CBR TFR CBR TFR
2000 31.1 3.99 26.7
2010 25.3 3.28 23.0
: Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR):
Year Population Live births Deaths Natural increase Crude birth rate Crude death rate Rate of natural increase TFR
------ ------------ ------------- --------- ------------------ ------------------ ------------------ -------------------------- ------
2010 24,200,000 623,700 163,534 460,166 25.3 6.6 18.7 3.28
: Births and deaths
Region Total fertility rate Percentage of women aged 15--49 currently pregnant Mean number of children ever born to women aged 40--49
--------------- ---------------------- ---------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------
Western 3.6 6.9 4.8
Central 4.7 7.8 5.2
Greater Accra 2.8 6.9 3.4
Volta 4.3 6.1 4.8
Eastern 4.2 7.9 4.9
Ashanti 4.2 5.8 4.8
Brong Ahafo 4.8 7.6 5.1
Northern 6.6 8.9 6.4
Upper East 4.9 7.9 5.7
Upper West 5.2 6.8 6.4
: Fertility data as of 2014 (DHS Program):
Region Total fertility rate (Wanted fertility rate) 2014 Total fertility rate (Wanted fertility rate) 2022
--------------- --------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Western 3.6 (3.3) 3.6 (3.0)
Central 4.7 (3.8) 3.6 (2.8)
Greater Accra 2.8 (2.5) 2.9 (2.6)
Volta 4.3 (3.6) 3.2 (2.7)
Eastern 4.2 (3.4) 3.5 (3.0)
Ashanti 4.2 (3.5) 3.5 (3.0)
Western North 3.8 (3.3)
Brong Ahafo 4.8 (3.9) 4.3 (3.7)
Bono 3.7 (3.4)
Bono East 4.7 (4.3)
Oti 5.2 (4.6)
Northern 6.6 (6.2) 5.6 (5.1)
Savannah 5.8 (5.4)
North East 6.6 (6.5)
Upper East 4.9 (4.5) 4.6 (4.5)
Upper West 5.2 (4.5) 4.5 (4.2)
: Fertility and wanted fertility data as of 2014 and 2022 (DHS Program):
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# Demographics of Ghana
## Ethnic groups {#ethnic_groups}
Ghana has more than seventy native ethnic groups. Major native African ethnic groups in Ghana include the Akan at 45.7% of the population, the Mole-Dagbon at 18.5%, the Ewe at 13.9%, the Ga-Dangme at 7.1%, the Gurma at 6.4%, the Guan at 3.2%, the Grusi at 2.7%, Mande at 2% and others at 1.6%.
More than 10,000 Lebanese people live in Ghana.
## Languages
Ghana is a multilingual country in which about 80 languages are spoken. English is the official language and lingua franca. Of the languages indigenous to Ghana, Akan is the most widely spoken.
Ghana has more than seventy ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language. Languages that belong to the same ethnic group are usually mutually intelligible.
Eleven languages have the status of government-sponsored languages: four Akan ethnic languages (Akuapem Twi, Asante Twi, Fante and Nzema) and two Mole--Dagbani ethnic languages (Dagaare and Dagbanli). The rest are Ewe, Dangme, Ga, Gonja, and Kasem, Hausa.
## Religion
Christian: 71.3% (Pentecostal/Charismatic 31.6%, Protestant 17.4%, Catholic 10%, other 12.3%), Muslim 19.9%, traditionalist 3.2%, 2.1% Hindu, other 1.3%, none 1.1% (2021 est
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# Telecommunications in Ghana
**Telecommunications in Ghana** include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
Telecommunications is the main economic sector of Ghana according to the statistics of the World Bank due to the Ghana liberal policy around Information and communications technology (ICT). Among the main sectors of investments, 65% is for ICT, 8% for communications and 27% is divided for public administration.
## Freedom of the press {#freedom_of_the_press}
After the overthrow of the elected government by Jerry Rawlings in December 1981 the Provisional National Defence Council repealed the liberal media reforms of previous governments, abolished the Third Constitution and the Press Commission, and passed laws that prevented criticism of the government or its policies, dismissed editors critical of Rawlings or the provisional council, the Preventive Custody and Newspaper Licensing Law which allowed indefinite detention of journalists without trial, and the Newspaper Licensing Law which stifled private media development. Ghanaian press freedom was restored with the promulgation of a new constitution in 1992, presidential and parliamentary elections in November and December 1992, and a return to multiparty democratic rule on 7 January 1993.
The mass media of Ghana is \"among the most liberal in Africa\", with Ghana ranking as the third freest in Africa and 30th in the world on the *2013 World Press Freedom Index* from Reporters Without Borders. Article 21 of the Constitution of Ghana guarantees freedom of the press and other media, freedom of speech and expression, thought, and information.
## Internet
`{{See also |New media in Ghana}}`{=mediawiki}
The top-level domain of Ghana is .gh.
Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to connect to the Internet. With an average household download speed of 5.8 Mbit/s Ghana had the third fastest speed on the African continent and the 110th fastest out of 188 countries worldwide in February 2014.
In 2009 the number of Internet users stood at 1.3 million, 93rd in the world. In 2012 the number of Internet users reached 4.2 million (69th in the world) or 17.1% of the population (149th in the world).
In 2012 there were 62,124 fixed (109th in the world; 0.3% of the population, 156th in the world) and 8.2 million wireless (27th in the world; 33.3% of the population, 49th in the world) broadband subscriptions.
In 2012 there were 59,086 Internet hosts operating in Ghana, 93rd in the world, and Ghana had been allocated 332,544 IPv4 addresses, 102nd in the world, with less than 0.05% of the world total, and 13.2 addresses per 1000 people.
In 2010 there were 165 authorised Internet service providers of which 30 were operating.
### Internet censorship and surveillance {#internet_censorship_and_surveillance}
There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight. Individuals and groups engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
While the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, the government sometimes restricts those rights. The police arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists. Some journalists practice self-censorship. The constitution prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government respects these prohibitions in practice.
In 2002 the government of Ghana censored Internet media coverage of tribal violence in Northern Ghana.
## Radio and television {#radio_and_television}
`{{See also |List of radio stations in Ghana}}`{=mediawiki}
In 2007 Ghana was served by one state-owned TV station, two state-owned radio networks; privately owned TV stations and a number of privately owned radio stations. International broadcasters and cable and satellite TV subscription services were available. In 2010, there were 140 authorised radio stations with 84 in operation and 32 authorised television stations with approximately 26 in operation. Television broadcasters include First Digital TV (ATV, BTA, FAITH TV, CHANNEL D, STAR TV, FTV, SPORTS 24, CINIMAX, PLANET KIDZ) TV Africa, Metro TV, TV3, GTV, GH One TV and Viasat 1.
The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) founded by decree in 1968 is the state agency that provides civilian radio and television services. It was created for the development of the education and entertainment sectors and to enhance the knowledge of the people of Ghana.
The television industry has increased over this period in the country. There have been a lot of television stations established within the country and whether we like it or not, it has shaped the societies in many ways. The Top 5 TV stations in Ghana according to Green Views Residential Projects are GTV (Ghana Television), [Citi TV](https://cititvonline.com/), [UTV](https://www.utvghana.com/) (United Television), TV3, and GH One TV(Ghana One Television).
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# Telecommunications in Ghana
## Telephones
`{{See also |Telephone numbers in Ghana}}`{=mediawiki}
The prefix code of Ghana for international calls is +233.
As of 2012 there were 285,000 fixed telephone lines in use, 120th in the world, and 25.6 million mobile cellular lines, 42nd in the world.
The telephone system has a fixed-line infrastructure concentrated in Accra and some wireless local loop installed, domestic trunks primarily use microwave radio relay. There are 4 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) satellite earth stations. Microwave radio relay links Ghana to its neighbours (2009).
The SAT-3/WASC, Main One, GLO-1, and ACE international optical fibre submarine cables provide links to countries along the west coast of Africa and on to Europe and Asia.
In 2010 two fixed line and six mobile phone companies were authorised to operate in Ghana of which 5 were operating, 13 satellite providers were authorised of which 8 were operating, 176 VSAT providers were authorised of which 57 were operating, and 99 public and private network operators were authorised of which 25 were operating. Authorized telecommunications companies include Mobile Telecommunications Networks (MTN), Vodafone Ghana which purchased Telecom Ghana, Tigo which replaced Mobitel (Millicom International Cellular), Bharti Airtel and Zain which acquired Western Telesystems Ltd (Westel), Glo Mobile Ghana Limited, and Expresso Telecom which acquired Kasapa Telecom. In 2017, Tigo Ghana and Airtel Ghana merged to form AirtelTigo.
Competition among mobile-cellular providers has spurred growth, with a mobile phone teledensity in 2009 of more than 80 per 100 persons and rising. The cost of mobile phones is increased by taxes of around 38%.
The Ghana\'s telecom market has undergone several changes in recent years, following the privatisation of the incumbent telco Ghana Telecom and its rebranding as Vodafone Ghana. Two of the key players merged to form AirtelTigo in 2017, though in mid-2020 the parent companies of the operator decided to exit the market. The sale and transfer of AirtelTigo to the state was completed in November 2021.
According to the Ghana Telecom Services Market Reports, the telecom services market size in Ghana was valued at \$1.9 billion in 2022. The market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.1% during the forecast period, 2022--2027. Initiatives such as Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Projects and Smart City Project will be driving the telecom sector in the country. The reports shows the leading telecom Companies in Ghana; MTN Ghana, Vodafone Ghana, AirtelTigo Ghana and Glo Ghana.
As the telecommunication giant in the county, MTN Ghana is on course to expand and improve its network by 2025 with \$1 billion investment. This will go a long way to improve the telecommunication services in the country.
## Covid-19 impact {#covid_19_impact}
COVID-19 pandemic had a negligible impact on the Ghana telecom industry that brought about change in the industry. In March 2020, business hours broadband consumption has increased, as the country adjusted to life with COVID-19. The telecom sector witnessed growth in weekday viewership, movie rentals and purchases. Live viewing is increased by 15% and free video-on-demand is increased by 25% during the week as more people were in lock-down staying at home.
Ghana Telecom Market has witnessed strong growth in recent years and is expected to have continued growth over the forecast period to 2025. The growth in the industry is mainly due to increasing urban population with rising adoption of the mobile phones that supports 3G, 4G and 5G services across the country. Telecom sector is further expected to have strong growth over the forecast period with rising adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) in the sector that connects with wired and wireless broadband
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# Ghana Armed Forces
The **Ghana Armed Forces** (**GAF**) is the state military organisation of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is the president of Ghana, who is also the supreme military commander of the Border Guard Unit (BGU). The armed forces are managed by the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Staff.
## History
In 1879, the Gold Coast Constabulary was established by personnel of the Hausa Constabulary of Southern Nigeria, to perform internal security and police duties in the British colony of the Gold Coast. In this guise, the regiment earned its first battle honour as part of the Ashanti campaign. The Gold Coast Constabulary was renamed in 1901 as the Gold Coast Regiment, following the foundation of the West African Frontier Force, under the direction of the Colonial Office of the British Government. The regiment raised a total of five battalions for service during the First World War, all of which served during the East Africa campaign. During the Second World War, the regiment raised nine battalions, and saw action in Kenya\'s Northern Frontier District, Italian Somaliland, Abyssinia and Burma as part of the 2nd (West Africa) Infantry Brigade. Gold Coast soldiers returning from the Far East carried different perspectives from when they had departed.
### Internal operations {#internal_operations}
The Ghana Armed Forces were formed in 1957. Major General Stephen Otu was appointed Chief of Defence Staff in September 1961. From 1966, the Armed Forces were extensively involved in politics, mounting several coups. Kwame Nkrumah had become Ghana\'s first prime minister when the country became independent in 1957. As Nkrumah\'s rule wore on, he began to take actions which disquieted the leadership of the armed forces, including the creation and expansion of the President\'s Own Guard Regiment (POGR).
As a result, on February 24, 1966, a small number of Army personnel and senior police officials, led by Colonel Emmanuel Kotoka, commander of the Second Brigade at Kumasi, Major Akwasi Afrifa, (staff officer in charge of army training and operations), Lieutenant General (retired) Joseph Ankrah, and J.W.K. Harlley, (the police inspector general), successfully launched \"Operation Cold Chop\", the 1966 Ghanaian coup d\'état, against the Nkrumah regime. The group formed the National Liberation Council, which ruled Ghana from 1966 to 1969.
The Armed Forces seized power again in January 1972, after the reinstated civilian government cut military privileges and started changing the leadership of the army\'s combat units. Lieutenant Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong (temporary commander of the First Brigade around Accra) led the bloodless 1972 Ghanaian coup d\'état that ended the Second Republic. Thus the National Redemption Council was formed. Acheampong became head of state, and the NRC ruled from 1972 to 1975.
On October 9, 1975, the NRC was replaced by the Supreme Military Council (SMC). Council members were Colonel Acheampong, (chairman, who was also promoted straight from Colonel to General), Lt. Gen. Fred Akuffo, (the Chief of Defence Staff), and the army, navy, air force and Border Guard Unit commanders.
In July 1978, in a sudden move, the other SMC officers forced Acheampong to resign, replacing him with Lt. Gen. Akuffo. The SMC apparently acted in response to continuing pressure to find a solution to the country\'s economic dilemma; inflation was estimated to be as high as 300% that year. The council was also motivated by Acheampong\'s failure to dampen rising political pressure for changes. Akuffo, the new SMC chairman, promised publicly to hand over political power to a new government to be elected by July 1, 1979.
The decree lifting the ban on party politics went into effect on January 1, 1979, as planned. However, in June, just before the scheduled resumption of civilian rule, a group of young armed forces officers, led by Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings, mounted the 1979 Ghanaian coup d\'état. They put in place the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, which governed until September 1979. However, in 1981, Rawlings deposed the new civilian government again, in the 1981 Ghanaian coup d\'état. This time Rawlings established the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC). The PNDC remained in government until January 7, 1993. In the last years of the PNDC, Jerry Rawlings assumed civilian status; he was elected as a civilian President in 1993 and continued as president until 2001.
<File:Ghana> Armed Forces -- Military Sergeant Soldier.jpg\|A female sergeant from the Ghana Army on a military exercise. <File:Ghanain> Army 2005-095.jpg\|Ghana Army soldiers during a simulated amphibious landing in Southwest Ghana. <File:USMC-110309-M-DF801-045.jpg%7CPosed> photograph from a U.S. Marine Corps -Ghana jungle warfare training exercise. <File:Members> of the Ghana Army 2nd Engineer Battalion prepare to practice riot control techniques during a nonlethal training demonstration June 26, 2013, in Accra, Ghana, as part of exercise Western Accord 2013 130626-A-ZZ999-023.jpg\|2nd Engineer Battalion Snatch Squad engaged in flying wedge and riot control. <File:Members> of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Center honor guard stand in formation during a welcoming ceremony for Ivory Coast Gen. Soumaila Bakayoko, the Economic Community of West African 130626-A-ZZ999-016.jpg\|Honour guards from Ghana Air Force during a welcoming ceremony for Ivory Coast Gen. Soumaila Bakayoko, the ECOWAS chair of chiefs of defence staff, during Exercise Western Accord 13.
### External operations {#external_operations}
The Armed Forces\' first external operation was the United Nations Operation in the Congo in the early 1960s. The GAF operated in the Balkans, including with UNMIK. Ghanaian operations within Africa included the UNAMIR deployment which became entangled in the Rwandan genocide. In his book *Shake Hands with the Devil*, Canadian Forces commander Romeo Dallaire gave the Ghanaian soldiers high praise for their work during that deployment. During the Liberian Civil War, Ghanaian activities helped pave the way for the Accra Comprehensive Peace Agreement, among others. Additional operations in Asia have included Iran and Iraq in the Iran--Iraq War, Kuwait and Lebanon civil war among others.
A total of 3,359 Ghana Army soldiers and 283 Ghana Military Police operated as part of UNTAC in Cambodia. The UNTAC operation lasted two years, 1992−1993. After the long running Cambodia civil war ignited by external interventions, a resolution was accepted by the four warring factional parties. Operation UNTAC was the largest Ghanaian external operation since Ghana\'s first external military operation, ONUC in the Congo in the 1960s. Operation UNTAC and its contingent UNAMIC had a combined budget of more than \$1.6 billion.
In 2012, closer military cooperation was agreed with the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2013, the Armed Forces agreed closer military cooperation with the China People\'s Liberation Army, and with the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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# Ghana Armed Forces
## Ghana Army {#ghana_army}
The Ghana Army is structured as follows:
- The Northern Command with headquarters in Tamale, Central Command with headquarters in Kumasi and the Southern Command with headquarters in Accra. In March 2000 Northern and Southern Commands were formed after the two infantry brigades were upgraded in status. Previously there were three brigades: 1st Infantry Brigade (HQ in Teshie), 2nd Infantry Brigade (HQ in Kumasi) and Support Services Brigade (HQ in Burma Camp).
- 6 Infantry Battalions of the Ghana Regiment. 3rd Battalion of Infantry, 4th Battalion of Infantry and 6th Battalion of Infantry in the Northern Command, 1st Battalion of Infantry, 2nd Battalion of Infantry and 5th Battalion of Infantry in the Southern Command.
- two Airborne companies attached to Northern Command; Airborne Force
- 64 Infantry Regiment, a presidential guard force (formerly known as President\'s Own Guard Regiment)
- 1 Training Battalion
- One Staff College
- Reconnaissance Armoured Regiment (two armoured reconnaissance squadrons)
- Defence Signal Regiment (Ghana)
- Two Engineer Regiments (48 Engineer Regiment and 49 Engineer Regiment)
- 66 Artillery Regiment
In 1996, the Support Services Brigade was reorganized and transferred from the Army to be responsible to the Armed Forces GHQ. From that point its units included 49 Engineer Regiment, the Ghana Military Police, Defence Signal Regiment (Ghana), FRO, Forces Pay Office, 37 Military Hospital, Defence Mechanical Transport Battalion (Def MT Bn), Base Ordnance Depot, Base Ammunition Depot, Base Supply Depot, Base Workshop, Armed Forces Printing Press (AFPP), Armed Forces Fire Service (AFFS), the Ghana Armed Forces Central Band, Ghana Armed Forces Institution (GAFI), 1 Forces Movement Unit (Tema Port), 5 Forces Movement Unit, Base Engineer Technical Services (BETS), 5 Garrison Education Centre (5 GEC), the Armed Forces Museum, Army Signals Training School, and the Armed Forces Secondary Technical School (AFSTS). By 2016 the Forces Pay Office had been upgraded to the Forces Pay Regiment.
The Armed Forces uses imported weaponry and locally manufactured secondary equipment. M16 rifles, AK-47s, Type 56 assault rifles, ballistic vests and personal armor are standard issue, while much of the secondary equipment used by the Army and Air Force are manufactured internally by the Defence Industries Holding Company (DIHOC). External suppliers include Russia, Iran, and China.
### Peacekeeping Operations {#peacekeeping_operations}
The Armed Forces are heavily committed to international peacekeeping operations. Ghana prefers to send its troops to operations in Africa. However the United Nations has used Ghanaian forces in countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo, Georgia, Nepal, Cambodia and Lebanon. Currently, Ghanaian armed forces are posted to United Nations peacekeeping missions in:
- MONUC (Democratic Republic of Congo) − 464
- UNMIL (Liberia) − 852 (disestablished 2018)
- UNAMSIL (Sierra Leone) − 782
- UNIFIL (Lebanon) − 651
Ghana armed forces provided the first Force Commander of the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), Lieutenant General Arnold Quainoo. Quainoo led the force from July 1990 to September 1990.
Ghana Armed Forces peacekeepers have many roles: patrolling, as military police, electoral observers, de-miners (bomb disposal units and clearance divers), ceasefire monitors, humanitarian aid workers, and even special forces or frogmen against insurgents.
### Niger Coup {#niger_coup}
A group of opposition political parties and civil society organizations, comprising the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Ghana Union Movement (GUM), has jointly urged the Akufo-Addo administration to refrain from deploying the Ghana Armed Forces to restore the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted from power by General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
However, Hon. Kennedy Ohene Agyapong, the Chairperson of the Interior and Defense Committee in Parliament, has expressed his endorsement of the nation\'s deployment of troops to Niger.
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# Ghana Armed Forces
## Ghana Air Force {#ghana_air_force}
The Ghana Air Force is headquartered in Burma Camp in Accra, and operates from bases in Accra (main transport base), Tamale (combat and training base)and Sekondi-Takoradi (training base). The GHF military doctrine and stated mission is to perform counterinsurgency operations within Ghana or externally and to provide logistical support to the Ghana Army.
## Ghana Navy {#ghana_navy}
The Ghana Navy\'s mission is to provide defence of Ghana and its territorial waters, fishery protection, exclusive economic zone, and internal security on Lake Volta. It is also tasked with resupplying GA (Ghana Army) peacekeepers in Africa, fighting maritime criminal activities such as Piracy, disaster and humanitarian relief operations, and evacuation of Ghanaian citizens and other nationals from troubled spots. In 1994 the Navy was re-organized into an Eastern command, with headquarters at Tema, and a Western command, with headquarters at Sekondi-Takoradi.
## GAF Business {#gaf_business}
### GAF Military private bank {#gaf_military_private_bank}
The Ghana Armed Forces, in addition to owning its own arms industry weapons and military technology and equipment manufacturer (DIHOC − Defence Industries Holding Company), operates its own private bank. The military private bank is sited at Burma Camp and serves Ghanaian military personnel and their civilian counterparts.
### Military hospitals {#military_hospitals}
The GAF has two hospitals, the 37 Military Hospital in Accra and the Kumasi Military Hospital in the north. The 37 Military Hospital has recently undergone expansion and its facilities include a twenty-four-hour Emergency Department (ED).
The GAF main military hospital has been organized into departments and divisions, which created structure within the establishment. The Divisions and Departments (the units) are developed and joined according to medical, paramedical and administrative lines and each of these units has its own departmental head. The GAF military hospital is staffed by GAF military personnel and also houses a medical education training facility. 37 Military Hospital is also accredited for post-graduate medical education teaching. Vyacheslav Lebedev, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Russia, expressed gratitude following his emergency treatment at the hospital.
## Cadets and schools {#cadets_and_schools}
The Ghana Army operates a Cadet Corps for GAF Cadets whom go on to Military Education and Training and Recruit Training graduation from the GAF Military Academy for Army Recruit and Seaman Recruit prior to enlistment into the Army, Navy or Air Force.
Training institutions include the Ghana Military Academy and the Ghana Army-sponsored Cadet Corps. Also located in Accra is the internationally funded Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, which is not part of the Armed Forces but provides a wide-ranging of peace operations training, including to GAF personnel.
### Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College {#ghana_armed_forces_command_and_staff_college}
The Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFCSC) dates back to 1963. It was to provide training for Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) officers and affiliated officers from Africa, focusing on command and staff duties. Throughout its history, it has hosted and educated individuals from neighboring African states. It focuses on military and defense courses, culminating in the issuance of the Pass Staff College (PSC) certificate.
The range of programs expanded, driven by the demands of the global environment. The Ghana Armed Forces have been engaged in peacekeeping operations since 1960. This meant broadening the array of courses provided by GAFCSC. Consequently, the college aimed to establish partnerships with the University of Ghana and GIMPA to offer diverse peacekeeping and other courses. With the attainment of Institutional Accreditation, the college is now prepared to conduct its own courses, while still maintaining its collaborative association with the University of Ghana and GIMPA.
## Defence budget {#defence_budget}
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ghana Military--industrial complex and Defence industry budgetary history
Ghana Armed Forces Defence budget percentage growth rate
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
### Salary Structure {#salary_structure}
The Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS) is the payment made to the Ghana Arm Forces. The salary structure started in 2010 has increased the income of the military. Payment structure with the Single Spine differs from each officer depending on their ranking.
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# Ghana Armed Forces
## Military clothing and prohibition of photography {#military_clothing_and_prohibition_of_photography}
Ghanaian statutory law officially prohibits civilians and foreign nationals from wearing military apparel such as camouflage clothing, or clothing which resembles military dress. Officially, fines and/or short prison sentences can be passed against civilians seen in military dress in public. In addition, Ghanaian law prohibits the photographing of Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) Ghana Military Police (GMP) police or GAF military personnel and vehicles while on duty, strategic sites such as Kotoka International Airport when in use, and the seat of the Ghanaian government, Jubilee House
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# Demographics of Gibraltar
Demographic features of the population of Gibraltar include ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects.
## Ethnic origins {#ethnic_origins}
One of the main features of Gibraltar\'s population is the diversity of their ethnic origins. The demographics of Gibraltar reflects Gibraltarians\' racial and cultural fusion of the many European and non-European immigrants who came to the Rock over three hundred years. They are the descendants of economic migrants that came to Gibraltar after the majority of the Spanish population left in 1704.
### Spanish
The majority of the Spanish population in Gibraltar (about 5000), with few exceptions, left Gibraltar when the Dutch and English took the city in 1704. The few Spaniards who remained in Gibraltar in August 1704 were augmented by others who arrived in the fleet with Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, possibly some two hundred in all, mostly Catalans.
Menorcans began migrating to Gibraltar at the beginning of the common British rule in 1713, thanks to the links between both British possessions during the 18th century. Initially, Menorcans came to Gibraltar looking for work in several trades, especially when Gibraltar was rebuilt after the 1783 Grand Siege. Immigration continued even after Menorca (the original English name was \"Minorca\") was returned to Spain in 1802 by the Treaty of Amiens.
Immigration from Spain (like the exiles from the Spanish Civil War) and intermarriage with Spaniards from the surrounding Spanish towns was a constant feature of Gibraltar\'s history until the then Spanish dictator, General Francisco Franco, closed the border with Gibraltar in 1969, cutting off many Gibraltarians from their relatives on the Spanish side of the frontier.
Together, Gibraltarians of Spanish origin are one of the bigger groups (more than 24% according to last names, even more taking into account the fact that many Spanish women married native Gibraltarians).
### British
Britons have come and settled or gone since the first days of the conquest. One group of Britons have had temporary residence in Gibraltar (to work in the administration and the garrison). This group, who represented a larger proportion in the beginning of the British period, are nowadays only about 3% of the total population (around 1,000 persons).
A larger group is formed by the Britons who moved to Gibraltar and settled down. Some of them, since the beginning, moved to Gibraltar to earn a living as traders and workers. Others moved to Gibraltar on a temporary assignment and then married local women. Major construction projects, such as the dockyard in the late 1890s and early 20th century brought large numbers of workers from Great Britain.
13% of Gibraltarian residents are from the United Kingdom and the electoral roll shows that 27% of Gibraltar\'s population has British surnames.
### Genoese and other Italians {#genoese_and_other_italians}
Genoese came during the 18th and 19th centuries, especially from the poorer parts of Liguria, some of them annually following fishing shoals, as repairmen for the British navy, or as successful traders and merchants; many others came during the Napoleonic period to avoid obligatory conscription to the French Army. Genoese formed the larger group of the new population in the 18th century and middle 19th century. Other Italians came from islands like Sardinia and Sicily. Nowadays, people with Genoese/Italian last names represent about 20% of the population.
### Portuguese
Portuguese were one of the earliest groups to move to Gibraltar, especially from the Algarve region in the far south of Portugal. Most of them went to work as labourers and some as traders. Their number increased significantly during the 18th century. Interestingly, in 1814 out of 49 lightermen, 43 were from Portugal and they were part of a community comprising around 650 working men aged 17 and above. A notable example of the Portuguese presence in Gibraltair is the existence, in the territory, of an example of calçada portuguesa.
A further increase in the community occurred when many Spaniards left their jobs in Gibraltar after General Franco closed the border in 1969. In the 1970s and 1980s many Portuguese worked in Gibraltar, especially in construction. Even today many Portuguese still live in the territory and many are still working in the construction sector, both working inbuilding sites and importing material from Portugal. As of 2023, for instance, a Portuguese company was in charge of building the tallest building in Gibraltar.
About 10% of last names in Gibraltar have Portuguese origin; the Portuguese are part of a wider Portuguese-speaking community comprising also Luso-Indians and Brazilians. Moreover, today there are around 500 Portuguese who live in La Línea de la Concepción and commute to Gibraltar for work every day. A notable Luso-Gibraltarian is football player Bernardo Lopes.
### Moroccans
Moroccans have always had a significant presence in Gibraltar. However, the modern community has more recent origins. Moroccans began arriving in Gibraltar soon after the Spanish government imposed the first restrictions on Spanish workers in Gibraltar in 1964. By the end of 1968 there were at least 1,300 Moroccan workers resident in Gibraltar and this more than doubled following the final closure of the frontier with Spain in June 1969. There is also a significant number of Moroccan Jews in Gibraltar, representing Jews of both Sephardic origin and Arabic speaking Jews of Morocco (although almost no Gibraltarian Jews today speak Arabic as a first language). Most notably the Hassan family which runs Gibraltar\'s largest law firm Hassans International Law Firm and the late Sir Joshua Hassan who served four terms as Chief Minister for a total of 20 years.
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# Demographics of Gibraltar
## Ethnic origins {#ethnic_origins}
### Other groups {#other_groups}
Other groups include:
- Malta was in the same imperial route to the east as Gibraltar. Maltese people came to Gibraltar when jobs were scarce at home, or to escape the law in Malta.
- Jews, most of them of Sephardi origin, were able to re-establish their rites, forbidden in Catholic Spain, right after the British occupation in 1704. Also a significant number of Jews from London settled in Gibraltar, especially since the Great Siege.
- Indians, came as merchants after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1870; many others migrated as workers after the closure of the frontier with Spain in 1969 to replace Spanish ones.
- French, many of whom came after the French Revolution in 1789, set up trade and commerce.
## National censuses {#national_censuses}
### Nationality
Nationality 1970 census 1981 census 1991 census
--------------- ------------- -------- ------------- -------- -------------
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Gibraltarian 18,873 19,825 20,022
Other British 3,001 3,706 3,811
Moroccan 2,140 1,798
Spanish
Other EU
Other 2,798 808 1,072
Total 24,672 26,479 26,703
### Birth Place {#birth_place}
Birth Place 1970 census 1981 census 1991 census
------------------ ------------- -------- ------------- -------- -------------
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage
Gibraltar 15,490 16,640 17,994
United Kingdom 2,503 3,459 3,025
Spain 3,392 2,964 2,392
Portugal 248 172
Morocco 2,341 2,389 2,021
Other/Not stated 698 855 1,271
Total 24,672 26,479 26,703
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# Demographics of Gibraltar
## Population overview {#population_overview}
The population of Gibraltar was 29,752 in 2011.
### Vital statistics {#vital_statistics}
Average population Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1000) Crude death rate (per 1000) Natural change (per 1000)
--------- -------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------- ---------------- ----------------------------- ----------------------------- ---------------------------
1934 17,000 448 279 169 26.4 16.4 9.9
1935 18,000 457 338 119 25.4 18.8 6.6
1936 18,000 476 355 121 26.4 19.7 6.7
1937 19,000 491 366 125 25.8 19.3 6.6
1938 19,000 488 335 153 25.7 17.6 8.1
1939 19,000 508 345 163 26.7 18.2 8.6
1940^1^ 14,000 241 326 -85 17.2 23.3 -6.1
1941^1^ 10,000 4 94 -90 0.4 9.4 -9.0
1942^1^ 10,000 1 145 -144 0.1 14.5 -14.4
1943^1^ 10,000 3 130 -127 0.3 13.0 -12.7
1944^1^ 15,000 50 126 -76 3.3 8.4 -5.1
1945 20,000 614 192 422 30.7 9.6 21.1
1946 21,000 449 206 224 21.4 9.8 10.7
1947 22,000 471 184 246 21.4 8.4 11.2
1948 23,000 491 211 280 21.3 9.2 12.2
1949 23,000 525 215 310 22.8 9.3 13.5
1950 23,000 459 207 252 20.0 9.0 11.0
1951 23,000 544 285 259 23.7 12.4 11.3
1952 23,000 551 226 325 24.0 9.8 14.1
1953 23,000 525 228 297 22.8 9.9 12.9
1954 24,000 566 235 331 23.6 9.8 13.8
1955 24,000 561 224 337 23.4 9.3 14.0
1956 24,000 571 227 344 23.8 9.5 14.3
1957 24,000 550 250 300 22.9 10.4 12.5
1958 24,000 600 219 381 25.0 9.1 15.9
1959 24,000 550 231 319 22.9 9.6 13.3
1960 24,000 616 221 395 25.7 9.2 16.5
1961 23,900 560 241 319 23.4 10.1 13.3
1962 24,100 561 212 349 23.3 8.8 14.5
1963 24,300 642 182 460 26.4 7.5 18.9
1964 24,500 629 222 407 25.7 9.1 16.6
1965 25,300 679 243 436 26.8 9.6 17.2
1966 25,400 597 204 393 23.5 8.0 15.5
1967 25,700 535 244 291 20.8 9.5 11.3
1968 25,900 542 216 326 20.9 8.3 12.6
1969 26,200 557 246 311 21.3 9.4 11.9
1970 26,500 573 268 305 21.6 10.1 11.5
1971 28,000 594 238 356 21.2 8.5 12.7
1972 29,000 581 244 337 20.0 8.4 11.6
1973 29,600 536 244 292 18.1 8.2 9.9
1974 29,000 575 204 371 19.8 7.0 12.8
1975 29,700 525 231 294 17.7 7.8 9.9
1976 30,000 510 253 247 17.0 8.8 8.2
1977 30,100 506 248 258 16.8 8.2 8.6
1978 29,400 520 253 267 17.7 8.6 9.1
1979 29,700 472 257 215 15.9 8.7 7.2
1980 29,700 550 282 268 18.5 9.5 9.0
1981 29,700 511 231 280 17.2 7.8 9.4
1982 29,500 566 223 343 19.2 7.6 11.6
1983 29,100 510 252 258 17.5 8.7 8.9
1984 28,800 506 265 241 17.6 9.2 8.4
1985 28,600 498 276 222 17.4 9.7 7.8
1986 29,000 507 290 217 17.5 10.0 7.5
1987 29,500 531 217 314 18.0 7.4 10.6
1988 30,100 523 293 230 17.4 9.7 7.6
1989 30,700 530 219 311 17.3 7.1 10.1
1990 30,900 531 279 252 17.2 9.0 8.2
1991 30,000 567 255 312 18.9 8.5 10.4
1992 28,800 569 205 364 19.7 7.1 12.6
1993 28,100 518 275 243 18.5 9.8 8.7
1994 27,100 509 261 248 18.8 9.6 9.1
1995 27,200 435 205 230 16.0 7.5 8.5
1996 27,100 445 221 224 16.4 8.2 8.3
1997 27,200 427 263 164 15.7 9.7 6.0
1998 27,000 411 267 144 15.2 9.9 5.3
1999 27,200 381 277 104 14.0 10.2 3.8
2000 27,000 408 262 146 15.1 9.7 5.4
2001 28,200 374 249 125 13.2 8.8 4.4
2002 28,500 371 242 129 13.0 8.5 4.5
2003 28,600 372 234 138 13.0 8.2 4.8
2004 28,800 421 242 179 14.6 8.4 6.2
2005 28,800 418 249 169 14.5 8.7 5.9
2006 28,900 373 230 143 12.9 8.0 5.0
2007 29,300 400 202 198 13.7 6.9 6.8
2008 29,300 400 227 173 13.7 7.8 5.9
2009 29,400 417 234 183 14.2 8.0 6.2
2010 29,441 493 231 262 16.7 7.8 8.9
2011 29,752 442 241 201 14.9 8.1 6.8
2012 461 264 197 15.4 8.8 6.6
2013 426 230 196 13.0 7.0 6.0
2015 492 235 257 14.7 7.0 7.7
2016 424 249 175 12.5 7.3 5.2
2017 286
2018 402 315
2019 423 268
2020 383{{Cite web \|title=Thomas and Anna; Gibraltar\'s most popular baby names 2020 access-date=2024-06-08\|website=www.gbc.gi}} 270
2021 417{{Cite web \|title=Kai and Sophia most popular baby names of 2021 on the Rock access-date=2024-06-08\|website=www.gbc.gi}}
2022 364{{Cite web \|title=Sienna, Leo & Elijah - most popular baby names of 2022 access-date=2024-06-08\|website=www.gbc.gi}}
2023 318{{Cite web \|title=Luca, Ava and Lucia top 2023 baby names list, as number of births drops access-date=2024-06-08\|website=www.gbc.gi}}
^1^During World War II a large part of the civilian population (including most women) were evacuated.
### Structure of the population {#structure_of_the_population}
Age Group Male Female Total \%
----------- -------- -------- -------- ---------
Total 16 061 16 133 32 194 100
0--4 982 970 1 952 6.06
5--9 967 927 1 894 5.88
10--14 1 050 937 1 987 6.17
15--19 1 038 959 1 997 6.20
20--24 1 042 986 2 028 6.30
25--29 999 986 1 985 6.17
30--34 1 107 1 047 2 154 6.69
35--39 1 080 1 137 2 217 6.89
40--44 1 076 1 122 2 198 6.83
45--49 1 203 1 181 2 384 7.41
50--54 1 072 1 086 2 158 6.70
55--59 1 054 987 2 041 6.34
60--64 1 034 920 1 954 6.07
65--69 853 802 1 655 5.14
70--74 563 613 1 176 3.65
75--79 456 565 1 021 3.17
80--84 297 435 732 2.27
85--89 141 296 437 1.36
90--94 37 143 180 0.56
95--99 10 29 39 0.12
100+ 0 5 5 0.02
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0--14 2 999 2 834 5 833 18.12
15--64 10 705 10 411 21 116 65.59
65+ 2 357 2 888 5 245 16.29
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# Demographics of Gibraltar
## CIA World Factbook demographic statistics {#cia_world_factbook_demographic_statistics}
The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
### Population age {#population_age}
: *0-14 years:* 19.99% (male 3,034; female 2,888)
: *15-64 years:* 62.62% (male 9,357; female 9,197)
: *65 years and over:* 17.39% (male 2,523; female 2,630) (2023 est.)
### Sex ratio {#sex_ratio}
: *At birth:* 1.05 males/female
: *0-14 years:* 1.05 males/female
: *15-64 years:* 1.02 males/female
: *65 years and over:* 0.96 males/female
: *total population:* 1.01 males/female (2023 est.)
The median age is:
: total: 36.6 years
: male: 36 years
: female: 37.2 years (2023 est.)
### Life expectancy at birth {#life_expectancy_at_birth}
: *total population:* 80.7 years
: *male:* 77.8 years
: *female:* 83.6 years (2023 est.)
### Fertility
1.9 children born/woman (2023 est.)
### Infant mortality {#infant_mortality}
: *total:* 6.9 deaths/1,000 live births
: *male:* 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births
: *female:* 6.1 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
### Nationality {#nationality_1}
: *noun:* Gibraltarian(s)
: *adjective:* Gibraltar
### Religions
---------------------- --
Roman Catholic
Church of England
Other Christian
Muslim
Jewish
Hindu
other or unspecified
none
---------------------- --
(2012 census)
### Languages
English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish. Most Gibraltarians converse in *Llanito*, an Andalusian Spanish based vernacular. It consists of an eclectic mix of Andalusian Spanish and British English as well as languages such as Maltese, Portuguese, Italian of the Genoese variety and Haketia. Among more educated Gibraltarians, it also typically involves code-switching to English. Arabic is spoken by the Moroccan community, just like Hindi and Sindhi is spoken by the Indian community of Gibraltar. Maltese is still spoken by some families of Maltese descent
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# Politics of Gibraltar
The **politics of Gibraltar** takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic British Overseas Territory, whereby the Monarch of the United Kingdom is the constitutional head of state represented by the Governor of Gibraltar. The Chief Minister of Gibraltar is the head of Government. As a British Overseas Territory, the Government of Gibraltar is not subordinate to the Government of the United Kingdom. The British Government, however, is responsible for defence and external affairs but Gibraltar has full internal self-government under its 2006 Constitution.
The government of Spain continues with an irredentist territorial claim to Gibraltar, which was ceded in perpetuity to the British Crown in 1713 by Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht. In a referendum held in 2002, a proposal for shared sovereignty was overwhelmingly rejected by the Gibraltar electorate with 98.97% voting against. The sovereignty issue remains an important factor in local politics.
Gibraltar has a number of political parties which have developed to address local issues. The preamble to the 2006 Constitution repeated from the 1969 Constitution states that *\"Her Majesty\'s Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes.\"*
## Executive branch {#executive_branch}
As an overseas territory of Britain, the head of state is King Charles III, who is represented by the Governor of Gibraltar. Britain retains responsibility for defence, foreign relations, internal security and overall financial stability .
\|Monarch \|King Charles III \|*N/A* \|8 September 2022 \|- \|Governor \|Sir Ben Bathurst \|*N/A* \|4 June 2024 \|- \|Chief Minister \|Fabian Picardo \|*GSLP/Liberals Alliance* \|9 December 2011 \|}
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## Government
The Government of Gibraltar is elected for a term of four years. The head of government is the chief minister, currently the Hon. Fabian Picardo of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party (GSLP), who has been in office since 9 December 2011, in alliance with the Liberal Party of Gibraltar (Liberals), following the 2011 General Election. The Leader of the Opposition is the Hon. Keith Azopardi of the Gibraltar Social Democrats (GSD) since 2019.
The composition of the Government of Gibraltar is the following:
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| **Picture** | **Name** | **Party** | **Ministerial Role** | **Responsibilities** |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Chief Minister | - The economy & financial stability (with consultation with the U.K government since they have overall responsibility) |
| | Fabian Picardo KC, MP | | | - Public finance and the Treasury |
| | | | | - International representation of Gibraltar and its people |
| | | | | - International treaties |
| | | | | - Personal status including immigration, residence and adoption |
| | | | | - Elections |
| | | | | - The Civil Service and the public sector as a whole, including state-owned enterprises |
| | | | | - The Government Companies |
| | | | | - Customs |
| | | | | - ITLD and Digital Services |
| | | | | - Cyber-Security and Prevention of Online Harms |
| | | | | - Social Security |
| | | | | - Broadcasting |
| | | | | - The Gibraltar Regulatory Authority |
| | | | | - Matters related to Armed Forces Veterans and relationship with the MOD |
| | | | | - Chairman, Borders and Coastguard Agency |
| | | | | - Chairman, Gibraltar Development Corporation |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for Moorish Castle, Calpe and the Upper Town |
| | | | | - The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid, overall responsibility and supervision of Government departments and public administration |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | LPG | Deputy Chief Minister | - Working in close partnership with the Chief Minister in his exercise of overall responsibility for and supervision of Government departments |
| | Dr. Joseph Garcia, MP | | | - External action, coordination of the external action of the Government of Gibraltar in particular |
| | | | | - The European Union |
| | | | | - The United Nations |
| | | | | - Relations with the Commonwealth |
| | | | | - International political lobbying |
| | | | | - Promotion of the right to self-determination |
| | | | | - Work on the future partnership negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union |
| | | | | - Work on implementation of a Treaty in the event that one is concluded |
| | | | | - Work on planning for a No Negotiated Outcome to the Treaty negotiations, in the event that no treaty is concluded |
| | | | | - Responsibility for Gibraltar representative offices abroad |
| | | | | - Political, democratic and civic reform |
| | | | | - Transparency, Open Government and Information |
| | | | | - Lands and oversight of Government projects |
| | | | | - Civil Aviation |
| | | | | - Oversight of manifesto implementation |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for the Lower Town |
| | | | | - The administration of Government departments charged with the aforesaid. |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for Economic Development, Enterprise, Telecommunications & the Gibraltar Savings Bank | - Economic development and inward investment |
| | Joe Bossano, MP | | | - Post-Brexit economic plan |
| | | | | - International trade |
| | | | | - Telecommunications |
| | | | | - Enterprise |
| | | | | - Public Sector Efficiency |
| | | | | - Procurement |
| | | | | - Training, apprenticeships and skills |
| | | | | - The Gibraltar Savings Bank |
| | | | | - Gibraltar National Mint |
| | | | | - Constituency MP with Special Responsibility for Senior Citizens |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for the Environment, Sustainability, Climate Change and Education | - Education |
| | Dr. John Cortes, MP | | | - The quality of life |
| | | | | - Green Gibraltar |
| | | | | - The child-friendly city |
| | | | | - The environment |
| | | | | - Environmental health |
| | | | | - Climate change, conservation and sustainability |
| | | | | - Heritage |
| | | | | - Upper Rock |
| | | | | - Marine resources |
| | | | | - Maintenance, administration and operation of tourist sites and beaches |
| | | | | - Pollution prevention and control |
| | | | | - Urban renewal |
| | | | | - Refuse Collection and Disposal |
| | | | | - Technical Services Department |
| | | | | - Infrastructure |
| | | | | - Transport and Urban Mobility including: |
| | | | | - public service vehicles, public transport, traffic, parking, roads, licensing and vehicles |
| | | | | - Implementation of the Sustainable Traffic and Transport Plan (STTP) |
| | | | | - Developing relations with Morocco |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for Alameda Estate and the South District |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for Health, Care and Business | - Gibraltar Health Authority |
| | Gemma Arias-Vasquez, MP | | | - The Care Agency |
| | | | | - Elderly Residential Services |
| | | | | - Public Health Gibraltar |
| | | | | - The Quality of Care (including the regulation of professionals and services) |
| | | | | - Business |
| | | | | - The Port |
| | | | | - Maritime Services including ship and yacht registration |
| | | | | - Office of Fair Trading |
| | | | | - Town Planning |
| | | | | - Procurement |
| | | | | - Public Utilities |
| | | | | - Chair, AquaGib |
| | | | | - Chair, Gibraltar Electricity Authority |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for the Westside Area |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | LPG | Minister for Industrial Relations, Civil Contingencies and Sport | - Sport |
| | Leslie Bruzon, MP | | | - Leisure |
| | | | | - Industrial Relations |
| | | | | - Civil Contingencies |
| | | | | - Gibraltar Fire and Rescue Services |
| | | | | - Airport Fire and Rescue Services |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for the Eastside and Catalan Bay |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry | - Financial Services |
| | Nigel Feetham KC, MP | | | - Gaming |
| | | | | - Taxation including Coordination of International Exchange of Information |
| | | | | - Postal Services |
| | | | | - Data Protection |
| | | | | - Chair, Gibtelecom |
| | | | | - Justice, including: |
| | | | | |
| | | | | 1. The Anti-Corruption Authority |
| | | | | 2. Sanctions |
| | | | | 3. The Legal System |
| | | | | 4. Probation Services |
| | | | | 5. Tribunals |
| | | | | 6. Community Services Schemes |
| | | | | 7. Access to justice/legal aid and assistance |
| | | | | 8. Law Drafting |
| | | | | 9. Policing |
| | | | | 10. His Majesty\'s Prison Service of Gibraltar |
| | | | | 11. Safeguarding |
| | | | | |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for Glacis Estate, Laguna Estate, Ocean Village and Bayside |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for Housing | - Housing |
| | Patricia Orfila, MP | | | - The Housing Works Agency |
| | | | | - Development of affordable, co-ownership estates |
| | | | | - Development of rental housing |
| | | | | - The University of Gibraltar |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for the area of Bayview, Cumberland, Nelson\'s View, The Anchorage, Rosia Plaza, Rosia Dale and Europa Point |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | The Hon.\ | GSLP | Minister for Equality, Employment, Culture and Tourism | - Equality and minorities |
| | Christian Santos GMD, MP | | | - Supported needs (including disability strategy) |
| | | | | - Employment |
| | | | | - Supported Employment |
| | | | | - Youth |
| | | | | - Training, Apprenticeships and Skills |
| | | | | - Health and Safety |
| | | | | - Culture |
| | | | | - Tourism |
| | | | | - Entry points into Gibraltar |
| | | | | - Commercial Aviation and Gibraltar Air Terminal Ltd |
| | | | | - Chair, inter-ministerial committee on the prevention of drugs misuse, including substance abuse and rehabilitation |
| | | | | - The control of drugs misuse including substance abuse, rehabilitation and responsibility for Bruce\'s Farm |
| | | | | - Constituency MP for Varyl Begg Estate, Sir William Jackson Grove and Mid Harbours |
| | | | | - The administration of Government Departments charged with the aforesaid |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| | | | | |
+-------------+--------------------------+-----------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
## Legislature
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## Legislature
The Gibraltar Parliament (previously the House of Assembly) consists of seventeen elected members, and the Speaker. Under the electoral system of partial bloc voting used since 1969, voters (since 2007) could choose up to ten candidates, who do not necessarily need to be from the same party (but usually are). The winning candidates are then chosen by simple plurality; consequently, a party seeking to form a government stands ten candidates, and the party that forms the government is usually successful in having all ten of its candidates elected; the remaining seats are usually won by the \'best loser\' which then forms the opposition. The last election was held on 17 October 2019. The next election is scheduled to be held on 12 October 2023.
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## Governor
King Charles III is represented by the governor and commander-in-chief, presently Lieutenant General Sir Ben Bathurst (sworn in June 2024). After an election, the governor appoints the leader of the largest party in the unicameral parliament, as chief minister. The governor is not involved in the day-to-day administration of Gibraltar, and his role is largely as a ceremonial head of state. The governor is responsible for matters of defence and security only.
## Political parties and general elections {#political_parties_and_general_elections}
There are three political parties currently represented in the Gibraltar Parliament: Gibraltar Social Democrats; Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party and the Liberal Party of Gibraltar. All parties support Gibraltar\'s right to self-determination, and reject any concessions on the issue of sovereignty.
## European Parliament elections {#european_parliament_elections}
Until the United Kingdom\'s withdrawal from the European Union in January 2020, Gibraltar was part of the EU under the British Treaty of accession, but had not voted in elections for the European Parliament although its membership of the European Union meant it was affected by European Union law. A ten-year campaign to acquire the vote culminated in the case of Matthews v. United Kingdom. Denise Matthews, a British Citizen resident in Gibraltar, claimed that the exclusion of the Gibraltar electorate from enfranchisement in the European Parliamentary elections was a breach of human rights. The European Court of Human Rights decided in her favour, ruling that the European Parliament formed a part of Gibraltar\'s legislature and held that the UK was bound by its conventions to secure the right for the people of Gibraltar to elect the European Parliament. The UK Government passed the European Parliament (Representation) Act in 2003 to comply with the ruling. Gibraltar was included in the South West England Region for the purposes of European Parliament elections, and first voted in the 2004 election.
The 2004 European Election was the first UK election in which Gibraltar participated. The Conservative Party took 69.52% of the vote, which has generally been interpreted as a protest against the handling of Gibraltar by the Labour Party. The Conservatives also campaigned strongly, with the support of the Gibraltar branch of the party and a visit from the party leader Michael Howard.
In 2009, the Conservatives again topped the poll with 54% but in contrast to 2004 the turnout at 35% was much lower, being comparable to other EU states.
In 2014 the Liberal Democrat Party topped the poll, but the votes cast in South West England resulted in the none of the Liberal Democrat candidates becoming MEPs. Six MEPs were returned, two UKIP, two Conservative, one Labour and one Green.
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## Constitutional reform {#constitutional_reform}
### Select Committee proposals {#select_committee_proposals}
In 1999, the Government of Gibraltar established a Select Committee on Constitutional Reform, to consider how the 1969 Constitution should be reformed.
In March 2006, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced in the British House of Commons that the details of a new constitution had been agreed. There were some differences between the draft constitution and the one to which the UK agreed, namely that the Governor\'s title would remain unchanged, and that the Police Authority would remain independent of the Government of Gibraltar.
### 2006 Constitution
In December 2006 Gibraltar was granted a new constitution, providing a modern constitutional relationship between Gibraltar and the United Kingdom, not based on colonialism. The constitution does not in any way diminish British sovereignty of Gibraltar, and the United Kingdom retains its full internal responsibility for Gibraltar, including Gibraltar\'s external relations and defence, and the Member State responsible for Gibraltar in the European Union.
Writing to the Spanish Foreign Minister, Jack Straw stated:
: \"My own view \[is\] that the label \"colonial\" is misleading and anachronistic in this context; regardless of the United Nations dimension. As Peter Caruana and I said in our joint statement on Monday, the new Constitution provides for \"a modern and mature\" relationship between the UK and Gibraltar. I do not think that this description would apply to any relationship based on colonialism.\"
After several months of political wrangling, the Gibraltar Government published the draft Constitution Order, which includes the existing preamble promising that there would be no transfer of sovereignty against the wishes of the Gibraltarians and a new addition explaining the status.
: *\"Whereas Gibraltar is part of Her Majesty's dominions and Her Majesty's Government have given assurances to the people of Gibraltar that Gibraltar will remain part of Her Majesty's dominions unless and until an Act of Parliament otherwise provides, and furthermore that Her Majesty's Government will never enter into arrangements under which the people of Gibraltar would pass under the sovereignty of another state against their freely and democratically expressed wishes:\"*
```{=html}
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```
: *\"And whereas the people of Gibraltar have in a referendum held on \[date\] freely approved and accepted the Constitution annexed to this Order which gives the people of Gibraltar that degree of self-government which is compatible with British Sovereignty of Gibraltar and with the fact that the UK remains fully responsible for Gibraltar's external relations.\"*
The proposal was put to the people in a referendum and approved. The constitution took effect in 2007 and 29 January declared a public holiday in celebration.
### Integration with the UK {#integration_with_the_uk}
Various groups in Gibraltar have campaigned in favour of a far closer relationship with Britain, in the form of devolved integration or incorporation into Britain itself. This is similar to the offer made to Malta in 1955, under which Malta would be represented in the British House of Commons and be placed under the Home Office, while retaining internal self-government. This would be a similar status to France\'s overseas departments and to Spain\'s North African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla, claimed by Morocco. One of Spain\'s arguments in rejecting comparisons between Gibraltar and these territories is that they are part of Spain, whereas Gibraltar is a British overseas territory and not part of the UK.
However, the British Foreign Office rejected the idea in 1976, along with independence, on the grounds that any further constitutional reform or decolonisation would have to take into account the so-called \"Spanish dimension\". Similarly, this has also been opposed by governments in Gibraltar itself; in its election manifesto in 2003, the Gibraltar Social Democrats argued that integration would \"necessarily involve the loss of a significant degree of this vital self-government\" and \"would simply hand power over our vital affairs (and therefore our ability to survive) to people in London.\"
While there is still attachment to the idea of Gibraltar being British, some, like leader of the Liberal Party, Joseph Garcia, see the Rock\'s future as being within a larger \'Europe of the Regions\', rather than as part of one nation state or another.
### Condominium
The idea of a condominium, with sovereignty over Gibraltar shared between the UK and Spain, has been proposed. In 1985, during talks with British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe, Spanish Foreign Minister Fernando Morán proposed a condominium or leaseback period of between 15 and 20 years, before Spain regained full sovereignty, but this received no reply from the British government.
In 1991, the Spanish Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, was reported to have proposed a plan for joint sovereignty, under which Gibraltar would become effectively autonomous, with the British and Spanish monarchs as joint heads of state, but this was rejected by the Government of Gibraltar in July of that year.
In 1997, the then Spanish Foreign Minister Abel Matutes put forward a proposal for joint sovereignty over Gibraltar, which also entailed full Spanish sovereignty after a transitional period, but his British counterpart, Robin Cook, stated that there was \"no question of compromise on sovereignty\".
Although the co-principality of Andorra, in which the president of France and the bishop of Urgell are joint heads of state, has been suggested as a model for Gibraltar, in 2010, its then chief minister, Peter Caruana, argued that this was not a case of joint sovereignty between Spain and France, as under Andorra\'s 1993 Constitution, neither country exercised sovereignty over the Principality.
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## United Nations {#united_nations}
Gibraltar was caught unaware when the whole issue of the relationship between the territory and the UK, as well as the question of Spain was brought before the United Nations Committee on Decolonization, otherwise known as the *Committee of 24*, in 1963.
Resolution 2231 (XXI), which formed part of the Spanish claim, stated that \"any colonial situation which partially or completely destroys the national unity and territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.\"
Resolution 2353 (XXII) also urged the United Kingdom and Spain to overcome their differences, respecting the \"interests\" of the people of Gibraltar and declared the 1967 referendum to be a \"contravention of the provisions of Resolution 2231.
It was supported by 73 countries (mainly Latin American, Arab, African and Eastern European countries), rejected by 19 (United Kingdom and the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations), while 27 countries abstained (Western Europe and the United States).
Since then and up to the present time, representatives of Gibraltar have regularly petitioned the *UNC24* and the *UNC4*, although no progress has been achieved. The Committees regularly roll out their \'consensus resolution\' which:
- *(a) Urges both Governments, while listening to the interests and aspirations of Gibraltar, to reach, in the spirit of the statement of 27 November 1984, a definitive solution to the question of Gibraltar, in the light of relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and applicable principles, and in the spirit of the Charter of the United Nations;*
- *(b) Welcomes the ongoing successful implementation of the first package of measures concluded at the Tripartite Forum for Dialogue on Gibraltar.*
The commitment of the British Government is not to hold the talks envisaged by the above resolution without the consent of the Gibraltarians.
: *The \[British\] Government will never -- \"never\" is a seldom-used word in politics -- enter into an agreement on sovereignty without the agreement of the Government of Gibraltar and their people. In fact, we will never even enter into a process without that agreement. The word \"never\" sends a substantial and clear commitment and has been used for a purpose. We have delivered that message with confidence to the peoples and the Governments of Gibraltar and Spain. It is a sign of the maturity of our relationship now that that is accepted as \[Britain\]\'s position.*
The effective stalemate has led Peter Caruana to conclude that attending future meetings of the Committee of 24 is a pointless exercise.
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## Relations with Spain {#relations_with_spain}
In a referendum on 10 September 1967, the people of Gibraltar voted by 12,138 to 44 to reject the transfer of sovereignty to Spain and to remain under British sovereignty. This day is now celebrated as Gibraltar\'s National Day. In a referendum organised by the Government of Gibraltar on 7 November 2002, voters overwhelmingly rejected the principle that Spain and the United Kingdom should share sovereignty over Gibraltar, by 17,900 votes to 187 on a turnout of almost 88%.
Unlike most other British territories, Gibraltar has not been offered independence by the UK. It has been suggested that this is on the grounds that the Treaty of Utrecht, under which Spain ceded the territory to the British Crown, states that, if the British Crown should ever wish to dispose of Gibraltar, it must first be offered to Spain. However, the Government of Gibraltar has pointed out at the UN that Article 103 of the UN Charter overrules and annuls this \"reversionary clause\".
Neither the United Kingdom nor Spain seem keen to test the legal status of Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht in court. The remaining parts of the treaty that regulated such things as the slave trade, and the transfer of Menorca to the British, have become obsolete.
Spain argues that Gibraltar\'s status is an anachronism, and that it should become an autonomous community of Spain, similar to Catalonia or the Basque Country. It also argues that the principle of territorial integrity, not self-determination applies, drawing parallels with the British handover of Hong Kong to the People\'s Republic of China in 1997.
At the same time, the British government continues to state that there can be no change in the status of Gibraltar without their democratic consent .
The Gibraltarian government has asked the UN Committee of 24 to refer the issues to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion, but Spain has lobbied against this. The government of Gibraltar has also invited the committee to visit the territory, but so far, despite no objection from the United Kingdom, they have not done so.
The 2006 constitution further increases the level of self-government in the territory, and the colonial status of Gibraltar is now considered to be over. In a letter to the United Nations describing this, the British Foreign Secretary stated that \"*I do not think that this description would apply to any relationship based on colonialism.*\"
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# Politics of Gibraltar
## Pressure groups {#pressure_groups}
In addition to the parties there are a number of pressure groups active in Gibraltar, not aligned to any political party.
### Gibraltar Women\'s Association {#gibraltar_womens_association}
The Gibraltar Women\'s Association was founded on 16 February 1966, by Mrs Angela Smith.
It was originally known as the Gibraltar Housewives Association, and subsequently, in the early eighties it was changed to the Gibraltar Women\'s Association keeping in with more modern times that not all women were solely housewives.
### Equality Rights Group GGR {#equality_rights_group_ggr}
Launched in September 2000 by Felix Alvarez, initially named GGR (Gib Gay Rights) now has a wider human rights platform in Gibraltar and is known as Equality Rights Group GGR [2](http://equalityrightsggr.blogspot.com/).
Although it still defends sexual minorities it has also been active on issues regarding the disabled, and issues regarding the protection of children against sex abuse.
### Environmental Safety Group {#environmental_safety_group}
The Environmental Safety Group (ESG) is a non-governmental organisation that was formed in 2000. It is a registered charity and works to promote environmental issues within the community. Concerns of: air and water quality, pollution, preservation of our green areas, traffic, need for renewable energy, litter/recycling and climate change have been the focus of many ESG campaigns. The group is apolitical and enjoys widespread support from the community. Its membership runs into several hundred and many others are regularly invited to support or participate in local and global environmental campaigns.
### Gibraltar Local Disability Movement {#gibraltar_local_disability_movement}
The Gibraltar Local Disability Movement (GLDM) was established in 1985 to improve the lives of disabled people in Gibraltar, promote equal opportunities and tackle discrimination. The movement ceased to be active for several years during the 1990s and early 2000s, but was reactivated in 2005 to address the situation for disabled people in Gibraltar, which did not see great improvement for several years. Although the 2006 Equal Opportunities Act protects disabled people in Gibraltar from discrimination, Gibraltar remains behind the UK and other countries on issues such as disability allowances and wheelchair access to both private and government buildings. [www.disability.gi](http://www.disability.gi/)
### Voice of Gibraltar Group {#voice_of_gibraltar_group}
The Voice of Gibraltar Group was founded in 1996. In 1997 it organised a march attended by 10,000 people campaigning for Spanish recognition of Gibraltarians\' rights within the EU for the support of the new British Labour Government in this matter. In 2001 it drew criticism from the Government of Gibraltar for pressuring the Select Committee of the House of Assembly to accelerate completion of its work and for introducing what the Government claimed were partisan politics into the matter of Gibraltar remaining British. The same year, in concert with the Self-Determination for Gibraltar Group, the VOGG organised a demonstration attended by an estimated 10,000 people. Joining a Government-sponsored initiative led by local musicians under the auspices of Rock on the Rock Club, a non-political organisation, the VOGG mounted protest in Neath, the constituency of Peter Hain the UK Minister for Europe. It campaigned, with others, for a \"no\" vote in the 2002 referendum It has been described as \"Gibraltar\'s most-hardline protest group\".
### Integration With Britain Movement {#integration_with_britain_movement}
The Integration With Britain Movement (IWBM) is a pressure group advocating further integration with the United Kingdom. They aim for Gibraltar to attain a state of devolved integration similar to that pertaining in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. They are led by Joe Caruana and are successors to the defunct Integration With Britain Party (IWBP)
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# Transport in Gibraltar
**Transportation in Gibraltar** includes roadway, bus, air, aerial cable car and sea. Due to Gibraltar\'s compact size and density, walking is the most popular mode of transport making up 48% of trips. Private vehicles make up 30% of trips while a further 15% of trips are made on motorcycles or mopeds.
## Road
### Private transport {#private_transport}
Gibraltar has 49.9 km of highways, all of which are paved. It has one of the highest levels of per capita car ownership in the world, with as many motor vehicles as people. Unlike the United Kingdom and other British Overseas Territories, traffic in Gibraltar drives on the right, as it shares a land border with Spain. Traffic formerly drove on the left; the change to driving on the right was made at 5.00 a.m. on 16 June 1929.
Older roads in Gibraltar, primarily in the city centre, are fairly narrow with a typical speed limit of 50 km/h. Gibraltar has ten fuelling stations, and fuel prices are lower than in neighbouring Spain due to lower fuel duty. Some people from Spain even enter Gibraltar for the sole purpose of purchasing fuel.
Gibraltar\'s international vehicle registration is GBZ, and vehicle registration plates of Gibraltar consist of the letter \'G\' followed by up to five digits (1-99999) or four digits (1000-9999) and a single letter. These are as standard, the same shape, type face and colours as those in the UK, however non-standard number plates have been permitted. The Chief Minister\'s official car has the registration number *G1*, while the Governor\'s car, following tradition, has a crown, in place of a number.
The two highways in Spain leading in the vicinity are the A-383 which ends in La Linea, and the CA-34, which leads to the border.
The traditional sole road into Spain, Winston Churchill Avenue, intersected with the airport\'s runway requiring movable barricades to close when aircraft landed or departed resulting in congestion. A new tunnel was constructed to solve this problem although delays pushed back its official opening until 31 March 2023. The new road and tunnel is named Kingsway with the approval of Charles III and passes under the terminal and the eastern edge of the runway before connecting with Devil\'s Tower Road. Runway access is now closed to everyday road traffic but is still available for exceptional or emergency use as well as pedestrians, cyclists and mobility scooters.
### Public transport {#public_transport}
There are a total of eight different bus routes in Gibraltar. There are two companies who provide stage-carriage bus services in Gibraltar: Gibraltar Bus Company and Calypso Transport.
The Government of Gibraltar owned Gibraltar Bus Company operates routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 with a fleet of 21 buses, 18 of which are Dennis Dart low-floor midibus with Caetano Nimbus bodies and featuring 28 seats and three Mercedes-Benz Sprinter minibuses with Unvi bodies and catering for 15 seated passengers. The Darts entered service the day the company was officially formed, Saturday 10 April 2004, when it took over the operation of private company Rock City Services, who had been unwilling to invest in its fleet. The trio of Sprinters entered service during November 2010 and operate Service 1 to the Moorish Castle Estate in the Upper Town area of the city.
Calypso Transport operates route 5 between the Frontier (the land border with Spain), the airport and the city centre and tickets between this route and those operated by the Gibraltar Bus Company are not inter-changeable. An adult single fare on either operators\' services currently costs £1.00 and an all-day Hoppa ticket costs £1.50. A year-long trial period where free travel was permitted aboard the buses of the Gibraltar Bus Company ended in May 2012 and only qualifying residents, commuters and military personnel now qualify for free travel in the territory.
#### Bus Fares - Both Operators\' Services {#bus_fares___both_operators_services}
Single All Day Pass
----------- -------- --------------
Adult £1.80 £2.50
Pensioner £1.00 £1.50
Child £1.50 £2.00
Calypso Transport uses a fleet of red double-decker buses.
Route 5 buses operate every 15 minutes Monday to Saturdays, and every 20 minutes on Sundays, this is a shuttle between Reclamation Road (British Steps) near John Macintosh Square and the Frontier/Airport terminus via the Market Place bus station Grand Casemates Square.
Gibraltar Bus Company increased the bus fares for all routes in Gibraltar in May 2013.
### Taxis
Taxis are available from a number of taxi ranks around the Rock. Many taxis cater specifically for tours of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve and these can be picked up from the frontier or the city centre, however, taxi drivers are also obliged to take standard fares as well as tours.
## Rail
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# Transport in Gibraltar
## Rail
### Historical
There are no extant railways in Gibraltar. There was formerly an extensive railway within the Gibraltar Dockyard, and neighbouring works and storage facilities. It included tunnels, one of which went through the Rock of Gibraltar, and is still in use today as a road tunnel. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries there was also a temporary industrial railway in Gibraltar. At the period when both railways were operational, it was possible to travel right round the entire coastline of Gibraltar by train. The dockyard railway had a roster of 17 locomotives, distinguished by numbers, but four of which also carried names: *Gibraltar*, *Catalan*, *Rosia*, and *Calpe*.
### Access to the rail system in Spain {#access_to_the_rail_system_in_spain}
Whilst railway track extends to the outskirts of La Linea from the aborted San Roque-La Línea railway line expansion project in the 1970s, the nearest actual railway station (in Spain) is *\"San Roque - La Línea\"* station on the ADIF Algeciras-Bobadilla railway line Junction via Ronda. In 2021, after details emerged about a possible accession agreement of Gibraltar into the Schengen Area, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo commented on the potential of railway development upwards towards Europe.
Until 1969 a ferry from Gibraltar provided convenient access to Algeciras station, which along with the railway line to Ronda was built by a British company known as the Algeciras Gibraltar Railway Company.
### Access to the rail system in Morocco {#access_to_the_rail_system_in_morocco}
Ferries by *FRS* running twice a week from Gibraltar to Tanger-Med port provide access to the Moroccan railway system.
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# Transport in Gibraltar
## Sea
Being a peninsula, the sea has long been vital to Gibraltar\'s transport links. The Royal Navy Dockyard was formerly Gibraltar\'s major employer.
There is still a harbour on the west side of the territory. The Gibraltar-registered merchant marine consists of 26 ships of 1000 tonnes and above. There is an irregular direct regular fast ferry service to Tanger-Med port, Morocco but many passengers now travel from Algeciras or Tarifa due to a more regular service being present at those ports.
The ferry between Gibraltar and Algeciras, which existed until 1969, when communications with Spain were severed by the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, was reopened on 16 December 2009, served by the Spanish company Transcoma, which used a catamaran, *Punta Europa Segundo* in memory of the original ferry that served the cross-Bay route in the 1960s. The maritime operations of Transcoma were taken over by Grupo Medex on 10 November 2010, which announced a higher-capacity new ship for 2011. Freight ferries between Gibraltar and Algeciras for shipments of food goods were started after the UK\'s withdrawal from the EU.
Various cruise liners visit the Port of Gibraltar throughout the year, and dock at the Gibraltar Cruise Terminal on the Western Arm of the North Mole. This provides the means of transport for a significant proportion of day-tripper tourists arriving in the territory.
## Air
During World War I, the Royal Naval Air Service brought one of the first seaplanes to come to Gibraltar, a Wight Seaplane, to search for submarines.
In 1931 the seaplane Saro Windhover Captained by Edgar Percival for GB Airways was the first of regular passenger flights from Gibraltar to Morocco. If there was a levant wind, then the seaplane would land on an aerodrome in Morocco instead of Tangier harbour.
Work began in 1939 to build what is today Gibraltar Airport and is the territory\'s only airport. It is situated very close to the border with Spain. Winston Churchill Avenue the road which runs from the Gibraltar--Spain border, crosses the runway, requiring the road to be closed each time an aircraft lands or takes off. Scheduled civilian passenger flights are operated by EasyJet, British Airways and Royal Air Maroc.
Following an agreement signed in Córdoba between the Governments of the United Kingdom, Spain and Gibraltar in September 2006, the use of Gibraltar Airport by both Gibraltarian and Spanish services was agreed. Gibraltar Airport will be adapted to have an entrance from Spain (as well as Gibraltar), in a similar manner to Basel and Geneva airports (which are also adjacent to borders).
Iberia commenced direct flights between Madrid and Gibraltar on 16 December 2006 with GB Airways following on 1 May 2007. However, GB Airways discontinued its Madrid service on 30 September 2007 and Iberia subsequently considered using smaller aircraft, possibly from its Air Nostrum regional partner -- indicating that neither operator may have been able to fill their planes with passengers. Iberia eventually withdrew its service in September 2008. In 2009 Ándalus Líneas Aéreas started flights between Gibraltar and Madrid. However, on 13 August 2010, the airline ceased operations because the Spanish aviation authorities withdrew their licence.
Following the takeover by EasyJet, GB Airways dropped its direct Gibraltar--London Heathrow service on 28 October 2006 despite apparently remaining popular. The reason cited by GB Airways was the \"convenience of\" concentrating all its London services onto a single hub at Gatwick. Later, a sale of several of GB Airways\' Heathrow slots is believed to have netted GB Airways with up to £80m. In late 2007 GB Airways was bought by EasyJet (and thus ceased to be a British Airways franchise partner); all flights were rebranded as EasyJet in 2008.
Flights are available from Gibraltar to London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Luton, Bristol, Casablanca, Tangier and Manchester airports. During 2012 bmibaby offered a service to East Midlands Airport, but the airline ceased operations in September 2012.
## Cable car {#cable_car}
A cable car runs from just south of the city centre to the Ape\'s Den and the Top of the Rock, which despite its name is actually the second highest peak of the Rock.
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# Transport in Gibraltar
## Proposed tunnel {#proposed_tunnel}
In January 2021, it was reported that the United Kingdom and Morocco would discuss building a Strait of Gibraltar crossing between Gibraltar and Tangiers.
## Dispute with Spain {#dispute_with_spain}
The road crossing into Spain was closed by the Spanish authorities in 1969 and only reopened for pedestrians in 1982 and for vehicles in 1985.
A ferry operated between Algeciras and Gibraltar until 1969. For a few months in 2004 Spain banned cruise ships which had visited Gibraltar from going to Spanish ports on the same journey. In 2003, the land frontier was closed for a day by Spain on the grounds that a visiting cruise liner, the MV *Aurora*, was affected by contagious food poisoning. No cases in Gibraltar were reported.
The airport is built on the isthmus which the Spanish Government claim not to have been ceded in the Treaty of Utrecht, thus the integration of Gibraltar Airport in the Single European Sky system has been blocked by Spain. The 1987 agreement for joint control of the airport with Spain was rejected by the then Government of Gibraltar. All successive Governments of Gibraltar have rejected it, although welcoming joint use of the airport (which being next to the border could operate in a similar manner to Geneva Airport or EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg). Following the *Cordoba Agreement* (between the UK, Spain and Gibraltar) in 2006, the joint use of the airport was finally agreed.
The road crossing from Gibraltar into Spain can often be subject to long delays. A loop road is located next to the border to hold cars waiting in the queue to cross into Spain. Motorists (and sometimes pedestrians) crossing the border are randomly subjected to long delays and searches by the Spanish authorities
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