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coal-bearing sequences in Britain and elsewhere in Western Europe. Four units were originally ascribed to the Carboniferous, in ascending order, the Old Red Sandstone, Carboniferous Limestone, Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures. These four units were placed into a formalised Carboniferous unit by William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, and later into the Carboniferous System by Phillips in 1835. The Old Red Sandstone was later considered Devonian in age. Subsequently, separate stratigraphic schemes were developed in Western Europe, North America, and Russia. The first attempt to build an international timescale for the Carboniferous was during the Eighth International Congress on Carboniferous Stratigraphy and Geology in Moscow in 1975, when all of the modern ICS stages were proposed. Stratigraphy The Carboniferous is divided into two subsystems, the lower Mississippian and upper Pennsylvanian, which are sometimes treated as separate geological periods in North American stratigraphy. Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation, the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) ratify global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype) identifying the lower boundary of the stage. The ICS subdivisions from youngest to oldest are as follows: ICS units The Mississippian was first proposed by Alexander Winchell, and the Pennsylvanian was proposed by J. J. Stevenson in 1888, and both were proposed as distinct and independent systems by H. S. Williams in 1881. The Tournaisian was named after the Belgian city of Tournai. It was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1832. The GSSP for the base of the Tournaisian is located at the La Serre section in Montagne Noire, southern France. It is defined by the first appearance datum of the conodont Siphonodella sulcata, which was ratified in 1990. However, the GSSP was later shown to have issues, with Siphonodella sulcata being shown to occur 0.45 m below the proposed boundary. The Viséan Stage was introduced by André Dumont in 1832. Dumont named this stage after the city of Visé in Belgium's Liège Province. The GSSP for the Visean is located in Bed 83 at the Pengchong section, Guangxi, southern China, which was ratified in 2012. The GSSP for the base of the Viséan is the first appearance datum of fusulinid (an extinct group of forams) Eoparastaffella simplex. The Serpukhovian Stage was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin. It is named after the city of Serpukhov, near Moscow. The Serpukhovian Stage currently lacks a defined GSSP. The proposed definition for the base of the Serpukhovian is the first appearance of conodont Lochriea ziegleri. The Bashkirian was named after Bashkiria, the then Russian name of the republic of Bashkortostan in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. The stage was introduced by Russian stratigrapher Sofia Semikhatova in 1934. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is located at Arrow Canyon in Nevada, USA, which was ratified in 1996. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus. The Moscovian is named after Moscow, Russia, and was first introduced by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The Moscovian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The Kasimovian is named after the Russian city of Kasimov, and originally included as part of Nikitin's original 1890 definition of the Moscovian. It was first recognised as a distinct unit by A.P. Ivanov in 1926, who named it the "Tiguliferina" Horizon after a kind of brachiopod. The Kasimovian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The Gzhelian is named after the Russian village of Gzhel (), nearby Ramenskoye, not far from Moscow. The name and type locality were defined by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The base of the Gzhelian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The GSSP for the base of the Permian is located in the Aidaralash River valley near Aqtöbe, Kazakhstan, which was ratified in 1996. The beginning of the stage is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus postfusus. Regional stratigraphy North America In North American stratigraphy, the Mississippian is divided, in ascending order, into the Kinderhookian, Osagean, Meramecian and Chesterian series, while the Pennsylvanian is divided into the Morrowan, Atokan, Desmoinesian, Missourian and Virgilian series. The Kinderhookian is named after the village of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. It corresponds to the lower part of the Tournasian. The Osagean is named after the Osage River in St. Clair County, Missouri. It corresponds to the upper part of the Tournaisian and the lower part of the Viséan. The Meramecian is named after the Meramec Highlands Quarry, located the near the Meramec River, southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. It corresponds to the mid Viséan. The Chesterian is named after the Chester Group, a sequence of rocks named after the town of Chester, Illinois. It corresponds to the upper Viséan and all of the Serpukhovian. The Morrowan is named after the Morrow Formation located in NW Arkansas, it corresponds to the lower Bashkirian. The Atokan was originally a formation named after the town of Atoka in southwestern Oklahoma. It corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and lower Moscovian The Desmoinesian is named after the Des Moines Formation found near the Des Moines River in central Iowa. It corresponds to the middle and upper Moscovian and lower Kasimovian. The Missourian was named at the same time as the Desmoinesian. It corresponds to the middle and upper Kasimovian. The Virgilian is named after the town of Virgil, Kansas, it corresponds to the Gzhelian. Europe The European Carboniferous is divided into the lower Dinantian and upper Silesian, the former being named for the Belgian city of Dinant, and the latter for the Silesia region of Central Europe. The boundary between the two subdivisions is older than the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary, lying within the lower Serpukhovian. The boundary traditionally been as first appearance of the ammonoid Cravenoceras leion. In Europe, the Dinantian is primarily marine, the so-called "Carboniferous Limestone", while the Silesian primarily known for its coal measures. The Dinantian is divided up into two stages, the Tournaisian and Viséan. The Tournaisian is the same length as the ICS stage, but the Viséan is longer, extending into the lower Serpukhovian. The Silesian is divided into three stages, in ascending order, the Namurian, Westphalian, Stephanian. The Autunian, which corresponds to the middle and upper Gzhelian, is considered a part of the overlying Rotliegend. The Namurian is named after the city of Namur in Belgium. It corresponds to the middle and upper Serpukhovian and the lower Bashkirian. The Westphalian is named after the region of Westphalia in Germany it corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and all but the uppermost Moscovian. The Stephanian is named after the city of Saint-Étienne in eastern France. It corresponds to the uppermost Moscovian, the Kasimovian, and the lower Gzhelian. Palaeogeography A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian reversed early in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread inland seas and the carbonate deposition of the Mississippian. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwanaland was glaciated throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the Devonian or not. These conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major marine extinction, one that hit crinoids and ammonites especially hard. This sea level drop and the associated unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian Subperiod from the Pennsylvanian Subperiod. This happened about 323 million years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation. The Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building as the supercontinent Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with North America–Europe (Laurussia) along the present line of eastern North America. This continental collision resulted in the Hercynian orogeny in Europe, and the Alleghenian orogeny in North America; it also extended the newly uplifted Appalachians southwestward as the Ouachita Mountains. In the same time frame, much of present eastern Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line of the Ural Mountains. Most of the Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea was now assembled, although North China (which would collide in the Latest Carboniferous), and South China continents were still separated from Laurasia. The Late Carboniferous Pangaea was shaped like an "O". There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous: Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the "O" in the Carboniferous Pangaea. Other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed: the Rheic Ocean (closed by the assembly of South and North America), the small, shallow Ural Ocean (which was closed by the collision of Baltica and Siberia continents, creating the Ural Mountains), and the Proto-Tethys Ocean (closed by North China collision with Siberia/Kazakhstania). Climate Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were high: approximately 20 °C (68 °F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12 °C (54 °F). Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fell during the Carboniferous Period from roughly 8 times the current level in the beginning, to a level similar to today's at the end. The Carboniferous is considered part of the Late Paleozoic icehouse, which began in the latest Devonian, with the formation of small glaciers in Gondwana. During the Tournaisian the climate warmed, before cooling, there was another warm interval during the Viséan, but cooling began again during the early Serpukhovian. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian around 323 million years ago, glaciers began to form around the South Pole, which would grow to cover a vast area of Gondwana. This area extended from the southern reaches of the Amazon basin and covered large areas of southern Africa, as well as most of Australia and Antarctica. Cyclothems, which began around 313 million years ago, and continue into the following Permian indicate that the size of the glaciers were controlled by Milankovitch cycles akin to recent ice ages, with glacial periods and interglacials. Deep ocean temperatures during this time were cold due to the influx of cold bottom waters generated by seasonal melting of the ice cap. The cooling and drying of the climate led to the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse (CRC) during the late Carboniferous. Tropical rainforests fragmented and then were eventually devastated by climate change. Rocks and coal Carboniferous rocks in Europe and eastern North America largely consist of a repeated sequence of limestone, sandstone, shale and coal beds. In North America, the early Carboniferous is largely marine limestone, which accounts for the division of the Carboniferous into two periods in North American schemes. The Carboniferous coal beds provided much of | by J. J. Stevenson in 1888, and both were proposed as distinct and independent systems by H. S. Williams in 1881. The Tournaisian was named after the Belgian city of Tournai. It was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Hubert Dumont in 1832. The GSSP for the base of the Tournaisian is located at the La Serre section in Montagne Noire, southern France. It is defined by the first appearance datum of the conodont Siphonodella sulcata, which was ratified in 1990. However, the GSSP was later shown to have issues, with Siphonodella sulcata being shown to occur 0.45 m below the proposed boundary. The Viséan Stage was introduced by André Dumont in 1832. Dumont named this stage after the city of Visé in Belgium's Liège Province. The GSSP for the Visean is located in Bed 83 at the Pengchong section, Guangxi, southern China, which was ratified in 2012. The GSSP for the base of the Viséan is the first appearance datum of fusulinid (an extinct group of forams) Eoparastaffella simplex. The Serpukhovian Stage was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin. It is named after the city of Serpukhov, near Moscow. The Serpukhovian Stage currently lacks a defined GSSP. The proposed definition for the base of the Serpukhovian is the first appearance of conodont Lochriea ziegleri. The Bashkirian was named after Bashkiria, the then Russian name of the republic of Bashkortostan in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. The stage was introduced by Russian stratigrapher Sofia Semikhatova in 1934. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is located at Arrow Canyon in Nevada, USA, which was ratified in 1996. The GSSP for the base of the Bashkirian is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus. The Moscovian is named after Moscow, Russia, and was first introduced by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The Moscovian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The Kasimovian is named after the Russian city of Kasimov, and originally included as part of Nikitin's original 1890 definition of the Moscovian. It was first recognised as a distinct unit by A.P. Ivanov in 1926, who named it the "Tiguliferina" Horizon after a kind of brachiopod. The Kasimovian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The Gzhelian is named after the Russian village of Gzhel (), nearby Ramenskoye, not far from Moscow. The name and type locality were defined by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The base of the Gzhelian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The GSSP for the base of the Permian is located in the Aidaralash River valley near Aqtöbe, Kazakhstan, which was ratified in 1996. The beginning of the stage is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus postfusus. Regional stratigraphy North America In North American stratigraphy, the Mississippian is divided, in ascending order, into the Kinderhookian, Osagean, Meramecian and Chesterian series, while the Pennsylvanian is divided into the Morrowan, Atokan, Desmoinesian, Missourian and Virgilian series. The Kinderhookian is named after the village of Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. It corresponds to the lower part of the Tournasian. The Osagean is named after the Osage River in St. Clair County, Missouri. It corresponds to the upper part of the Tournaisian and the lower part of the Viséan. The Meramecian is named after the Meramec Highlands Quarry, located the near the Meramec River, southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. It corresponds to the mid Viséan. The Chesterian is named after the Chester Group, a sequence of rocks named after the town of Chester, Illinois. It corresponds to the upper Viséan and all of the Serpukhovian. The Morrowan is named after the Morrow Formation located in NW Arkansas, it corresponds to the lower Bashkirian. The Atokan was originally a formation named after the town of Atoka in southwestern Oklahoma. It corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and lower Moscovian The Desmoinesian is named after the Des Moines Formation found near the Des Moines River in central Iowa. It corresponds to the middle and upper Moscovian and lower Kasimovian. The Missourian was named at the same time as the Desmoinesian. It corresponds to the middle and upper Kasimovian. The Virgilian is named after the town of Virgil, Kansas, it corresponds to the Gzhelian. Europe The European Carboniferous is divided into the lower Dinantian and upper Silesian, the former being named for the Belgian city of Dinant, and the latter for the Silesia region of Central Europe. The boundary between the two subdivisions is older than the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary, lying within the lower Serpukhovian. The boundary traditionally been as first appearance of the ammonoid Cravenoceras leion. In Europe, the Dinantian is primarily marine, the so-called "Carboniferous Limestone", while the Silesian primarily known for its coal measures. The Dinantian is divided up into two stages, the Tournaisian and Viséan. The Tournaisian is the same length as the ICS stage, but the Viséan is longer, extending into the lower Serpukhovian. The Silesian is divided into three stages, in ascending order, the Namurian, Westphalian, Stephanian. The Autunian, which corresponds to the middle and upper Gzhelian, is considered a part of the overlying Rotliegend. The Namurian is named after the city of Namur in Belgium. It corresponds to the middle and upper Serpukhovian and the lower Bashkirian. The Westphalian is named after the region of Westphalia in Germany it corresponds to the upper Bashkirian and all but the uppermost Moscovian. The Stephanian is named after the city of Saint-Étienne in eastern France. It corresponds to the uppermost Moscovian, the Kasimovian, and the lower Gzhelian. Palaeogeography A global drop in sea level at the end of the Devonian reversed early in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread inland seas and the carbonate deposition of the Mississippian. There was also a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwanaland was glaciated throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice sheets were a holdover from the Devonian or not. These conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of the northernmost glaciers. Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major marine extinction, one that hit crinoids and ammonites especially hard. This sea level drop and the associated unconformity in North America separate the Mississippian Subperiod from the Pennsylvanian Subperiod. This happened about 323 million years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation. The Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building as the supercontinent Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with North America–Europe (Laurussia) along the present line of eastern North America. This continental collision resulted in the Hercynian orogeny in Europe, and the Alleghenian orogeny in North America; it also extended the newly uplifted Appalachians southwestward as the Ouachita Mountains. In the same time frame, much of present eastern Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line of the Ural Mountains. Most of the Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea was now assembled, although North China (which would collide in the Latest Carboniferous), and South China continents were still separated from Laurasia. The Late Carboniferous Pangaea was shaped like an "O". There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous: Panthalassa and Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the "O" in the Carboniferous Pangaea. Other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed: the Rheic Ocean (closed by the assembly of South and North America), the small, shallow Ural Ocean (which was closed by the collision of Baltica and Siberia continents, creating the Ural Mountains), and the Proto-Tethys Ocean (closed by North China collision with Siberia/Kazakhstania). Climate Average global temperatures in the Early Carboniferous Period were high: approximately 20 °C (68 °F). However, cooling during the Middle Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about 12 °C (54 °F). Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels fell during the Carboniferous Period from roughly 8 times the current level in the beginning, to a level similar to today's at the end. The Carboniferous is considered part of the Late Paleozoic icehouse, which began in the latest Devonian, with the formation of small glaciers in Gondwana. During the Tournaisian the climate warmed, before cooling, there was another warm interval during the Viséan, but cooling began again during the early Serpukhovian. At the beginning of the Pennsylvanian around 323 million years ago, glaciers began to form around the South Pole, which would grow to cover a vast area of Gondwana. This area extended from the southern reaches of the Amazon basin and covered large areas of southern Africa, as well as most of Australia and Antarctica. Cyclothems, which began around 313 million years ago, and continue into the following Permian indicate that the size of the glaciers were controlled by Milankovitch cycles akin to recent ice ages, with glacial periods and interglacials. Deep ocean temperatures during this time were cold due to the influx of cold bottom waters generated by seasonal melting of the ice cap. The cooling and drying of the climate led to the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse (CRC) during the late Carboniferous. Tropical rainforests fragmented and then were eventually devastated by climate change. Rocks and coal Carboniferous rocks in Europe and eastern North America largely consist of a repeated sequence of limestone, sandstone, shale and coal beds. In North America, the early Carboniferous is largely marine limestone, which accounts for the division of the Carboniferous into two periods in North American schemes. The Carboniferous coal beds provided much of the fuel for power generation during the Industrial Revolution and are still of great economic importance. The large coal deposits of the Carboniferous may owe their existence primarily to two factors. The first of these is the appearance of wood tissue and bark-bearing trees. The evolution of the wood fiber lignin and the bark-sealing, waxy substance suberin variously opposed decay organisms so effectively that dead materials accumulated long enough to fossilise on a large scale. The second factor was the lower sea levels that occurred during the Carboniferous as compared to the preceding Devonian Period. This promoted the development of extensive lowland swamps and forests in North America and Europe. Based on a genetic analysis of mushroom fungi, it was proposed that large quantities of wood were buried during this period because animals and decomposing bacteria and fungi had not yet evolved enzymes that could effectively digest the resistant phenolic lignin polymers and waxy suberin polymers. They suggest that fungi that could break those substances down effectively only became dominant towards the end of the period, making subsequent coal formation much rarer. The Carboniferous trees made extensive use of lignin. They had bark to wood ratios of 8 to 1, and even as high as 20 to 1. This compares to modern values less than 1 to 4. This bark, which must have been used as support as well as protection, probably had 38% to 58% lignin. Lignin is insoluble, too large to pass through cell walls, too heterogeneous for specific enzymes, and toxic, so that few organisms other than Basidiomycetes fungi can degrade it. To oxidize it requires an atmosphere of greater than 5% oxygen, or compounds such as peroxides. It can linger in soil for thousands of years and its toxic breakdown products inhibit decay of other substances. One possible reason for its |
in 1978, despite the deputies of Mayotte voting for increased integration with France. A referendum was held on all four of the islands. Three voted for independence by large margins, while Mayotte voted against, and remains under French administration. On 6 July 1975, however, the Comorian parliament passed a unilateral resolution declaring independence. Ahmed Abdallah proclaimed the independence of the Comorian State (État comorien; دولة القمر) and became its first president. The French recognised the new state. Independence (1975) The next 30 years were a period of political turmoil. On 3 August 1975, less than one month after independence, president Ahmed Abdallah was removed from office in an armed coup and replaced with United National Front of the Comoros (FNUK) member Said Mohamed Jaffar. Months later, in January 1976, Jaffar was ousted in favour of his Minister of Defence Ali Soilih. The population of Mayotte voted against independence from France in three referenda during this period. The first, held on all the islands on 22 December 1974, won 63.8% support for maintaining ties with France on Mayotte; the second, held in February 1976, confirmed that vote with an overwhelming 99.4%, while the third, in April 1976, confirmed that the people of Mayotte wished to remain a French territory. The three remaining islands, ruled by President Soilih, instituted a number of socialist and isolationist policies that soon strained relations with France. On 13 May 1978, Bob Denard returned to overthrow President Soilih and reinstate Abdallah with the support of the French, Rhodesian and South African governments. During Soilih's brief rule, he faced seven additional coup attempts until he was finally forced from office and killed. In contrast to Soilih, Abdallah's presidency was marked by authoritarian rule and increased adherence to traditional Islam and the country was renamed the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros (République Fédérale Islamique des Comores; جمهورية القمر الإتحادية الإسلامية). Abdallah continued as president until 1989 when, fearing a probable coup, he signed a decree ordering the Presidential Guard, led by Bob Denard, to disarm the armed forces. Shortly after the signing of the decree, Abdallah was allegedly shot dead in his office by a disgruntled military officer, though later sources claim an antitank missile was launched into his bedroom and killed him. Although Denard was also injured, it is suspected that Abdallah's killer was a soldier under his command. A few days later, Bob Denard was evacuated to South Africa by French paratroopers. Said Mohamed Djohar, Soilih's older half-brother, then became president, and served until September 1995, when Bob Denard returned and attempted another coup. This time France intervened with paratroopers and forced Denard to surrender. The French removed Djohar to Reunion, and the Paris-backed Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim became president by election. He led the country from 1996, during a time of labour crises, government suppression, and secessionist conflicts, until his death November 1998. He was succeeded by Interim President Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde. The islands of Ndzwani and Mwali declared their independence from the Comoros in 1997, in an attempt to restore French rule. But France rejected their request, leading to bloody confrontations between federal troops and rebels. In April 1999, Colonel Azali Assoumani, Army Chief of Staff, seized power in a bloodless coup, overthrowing the Interim President Massounde, citing weak leadership in the face of the crisis. This was the Comoros' 18th coup, or attempted coup d'état since independence in 1975. Azali failed to consolidate power and reestablish control over the islands, which was the subject of international criticism. The African Union, under the auspices of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, imposed sanctions on Ndzwani to help broker negotiations and effect reconciliation. Under the terms of the Fomboni Accords, signed in December 2001 by the leaders of all three islands, the official name of the country was changed to the Union of the Comoros; the new state was to be highly decentralised and the central union government would devolve most powers to the new island governments, each led by a president. The Union president, although elected by national elections, would be chosen in rotation from each of the islands every five years. Azali stepped down in 2002 to run in the democratic election of the President of the Comoros, which he won. Under ongoing international pressure, as a military ruler who had originally come to power by force, and was not always democratic while in office, Azali led the Comoros through constitutional changes that enabled new elections. A Loi des compétences law was passed in early 2005 that defines the responsibilities of each governmental body, and is in the process of implementation. The elections in 2006 were won by Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, a Sunni Muslim cleric nicknamed the "Ayatollah" for his time spent studying Islam in Iran. Azali honoured the election results, thus allowing the first peaceful and democratic exchange of power for the archipelago. Colonel Mohammed Bacar, a French-trained former gendarme elected President of Ndzwani in 2001, refused to step down at the end of his five-year mandate. He staged a vote in June 2007 to confirm his leadership that was rejected as illegal by the Comoros federal government and the African Union. On 25 March 2008 hundreds of soldiers from the African Union and the Comoros seized rebel-held Ndzwani, generally welcomed by the population: there have been reports of hundreds, if not thousands, of people tortured during Bacar's tenure. Some rebels were killed and injured, but there are no official figures. At least 11 civilians were wounded. Some officials were imprisoned. Bacar fled in a speedboat to the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte to seek asylum. Anti-French protests followed in the Comoros (see 2008 invasion of Anjouan). Bacar was eventually granted asylum in Benin. Since independence from France, the Comoros experienced more than 20 coups or attempted coups. Following elections in late 2010, former Vice-President Ikililou Dhoinine was inaugurated as president on 26 May 2011. A member of the ruling party, Dhoinine was supported in the election by the incumbent President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi. Dhoinine, a pharmacist by training, is the first President of the Comoros from the island of Mwali. Following the 2016 elections, Azali Assoumani, from Ngazidja, became president for a third term. In 2018 Azali held a referendum on constitutional reform that would permit a president to serve two terms. The amendments passed, although the vote was widely contested and boycotted by the opposition, and in April 2019, and to widespread opposition, Azali was re-elected president to serve the first of potentially two five-year terms. In January 2020, the legislative elections in Comoros were dominated by President Azali Assoumani's party, the Convention for the Renewal of Comoros, CRC. It took an overwhelming majority in the parliament, meaning his hold on power strengthened. CRC took 17 out of 24 seats of the parliament. Geography The Comoros is formed by Ngazidja (Grande Comore), Mwali (Mohéli) and Ndzwani (Anjouan), three major islands in the Comoros Archipelago, as well as many minor islets. The islands are officially known by their Comorian language names, though international sources still use their French names (given in parentheses above). The capital and largest city, Moroni, is located on Ngazidja. The archipelago is situated in the Indian Ocean, in the Mozambique Channel, between the African coast (nearest to Mozambique and Tanzania) and Madagascar, with no land borders. At , it is one of the smallest countries in the world. The Comoros also has claim to of territorial seas. The interiors of the islands vary from steep mountains to low hills. The areas and populations (at the 2017 Census) of the main islands are as follows: Ngazidja is the largest of the Comoros Archipelago, with an area of 1,147 km2. It is also the most recent island, and therefore has rocky soil. The island's two volcanoes, Karthala (active) and La Grille (dormant), and the lack of good harbours are distinctive characteristics of its terrain. Mwali, with its capital at Fomboni, is the smallest of the four major islands. Ndzwani, whose capital is Mutsamudu, has a distinctive triangular shape caused by three mountain chains – Shisiwani, Nioumakele and Jimilime – emanating from a central peak, (). The islands of the Comoros Archipelago were formed by volcanic activity. Mount Karthala, an active shield volcano located on Ngazidja, is the country's highest point, at . It contains the Comoros' largest patch of disappearing rainforest. Karthala is currently one of the most active volcanoes in the world, with a minor eruption in May 2006, and prior eruptions as recently as April 2005 and 1991. In the 2005 eruption, which lasted from 17 to 19 April, 40,000 citizens were evacuated, and the crater lake in the volcano's caldera was destroyed. The Comoros also lays claim to the Îles Éparses or Îles éparses de l'océan indien (Scattered Islands in the Indian Ocean) – Glorioso Islands, comprising Grande Glorieuse, Île du Lys, Wreck Rock, South Rock, (three islets) and three unnamed islets – one of France's overseas districts. The Glorioso Islands were administered by the colonial Comoros before 1975, and are therefore sometimes considered part of the Comoros Archipelago. Banc du Geyser, a former island in the Comoros Archipelago, now submerged, is geographically located in the Îles Éparses, but was annexed by Madagascar in 1976 as an unclaimed territory. The Comoros and France each still view the Banc du Geyser as part of the Glorioso Islands and, thus, part of its particular exclusive economic zone. Climate The climate is generally tropical and mild, and the two major seasons are distinguishable by their raininess. The temperature reaches an average of in March, the hottest month in the rainy season (called kashkazi/kaskazi [meaning north monsoon], which runs from November to April), and an average low of in the cool, dry season (kusi (meaning south monsoon), which proceeds from May to October). The islands are rarely subject to cyclones. Biodiversity The Comoros constitute an ecoregion in their own right, Comoros forests. It had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.69/10, ranking it 33rd globally out of 172 countries. In December 1952 a specimen of the coelacanth fish was re-discovered off the Comoros coast. The 66 million-year-old species was thought to have been long extinct until its first recorded appearance in 1938 off the South African coast. Between 1938 and 1975, 84 specimens were caught and recorded. Protected areas There are six national parks in the Comoros – Karthala, Coelocanth, and Mitsamiouli Ndroudi on Grande Comore, Mount Ntringui and Shisiwani on Anjouan, and Mohéli National Park on Mohéli. Karthala and Mount Ntrigui national parks cover the highest peaks on the respective islands, and Coelocanth, Mitsamiouli Ndroudi, and Shisiwani are marine national parks that protect the island's coastal waters and fringing reefs. Mohéli National Park includes both terrestrial and marine areas. Government Politics of the Comoros takes place in a framework of a federal presidential republic, whereby the President of the Comoros is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. The Constitution of the Union of the Comoros was ratified by referendum on 23 December 2001, and the islands' constitutions and executives were elected in the following months. It had previously been considered a military dictatorship, and the transfer of power from Azali Assoumani to Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi in May 2006 was a watershed moment as it was the first peaceful transfer in Comorian history. Executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. The preamble of the constitution guarantees an Islamic inspiration in governance, a commitment to human rights, and several specific enumerated rights, democracy, "a common destiny" for all Comorians. Each of the islands (according to Title II of the Constitution) has a great amount of autonomy in the Union, including having their own constitutions (or Fundamental Law), president, and Parliament. The presidency and Assembly of the Union are distinct from each of the islands' governments. The presidency of the Union rotates between the islands. Despite widespread misgivings about the durability of the system of presidential rotation, Ngazidja holds the current presidency rotation, and Azali is President of the Union; Ndzwani is in theory to provide the next president. Legal system The Comorian legal system rests on Islamic law, an inherited French (Napoleonic Code) legal code, and customary law (mila na ntsi). Village elders, kadis or civilian courts settle most disputes. The judiciary is independent of the legislative and the executive. The Supreme Court acts as a Constitutional Council in resolving constitutional questions and supervising presidential elections. As High Court of Justice, the Supreme Court also arbitrates in cases where the government is accused of malpractice. The Supreme Court consists of two members selected by the president, two elected by the Federal Assembly, and one by the council of each island. Political culture Around 80 percent of the central government's annual budget is spent on the country's complex administrative system which provides for a semi-autonomous government and president for each of the three islands and a rotating presidency for the overarching Union government. A referendum took place on 16 May 2009 to decide whether to cut down the government's unwieldy political bureaucracy. 52.7% of those eligible voted, and 93.8% of votes were cast in approval of the referendum. Following the implementation of the changes, each island's president became a governor and the ministers became councillors. Foreign relations In November 1975, the Comoros became the 143rd member of the United Nations. The new nation was defined as comprising the entire archipelago, although the citizens of Mayotte chose to become French citizens and keep their island as a French territory. The Comoros has repeatedly pressed its claim to Mayotte before the United Nations General Assembly, which adopted a series of resolutions under the caption "Question of the Comorian Island of Mayotte", opining that Mayotte belongs to the Comoros under the principle that the territorial integrity of colonial territories should be preserved upon independence. As a practical matter, however, these resolutions have little effect and there is no foreseeable likelihood that Mayotte will become de facto part of the Comoros without its people's consent. More recently, the Assembly has maintained this item on its agenda but deferred it from year to year without taking action. Other bodies, including the Organization of African Unity, the Movement of Non-Aligned Countries and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, have similarly questioned French sovereignty over Mayotte. To close the debate and to avoid being integrated by force in the Union of the Comoros, the population of Mayotte overwhelmingly chose to become an overseas department and a region of France in a 2009 referendum. The new status was effective on 31 March 2011 and Mayotte has been recognised as an outermost region by the European Union on 1 January 2014. This decision legally integrates Mayotte in the French Republic. The Comoros is a member of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Indian Ocean Commission and the African Development Bank. On 10 April 2008, the Comoros became the 179th nation to accept the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Comoros signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. In May 2013 the Union of the Comoros became known for filing a referral to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) regarding the events of "the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid on the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for [the] Gaza Strip". In November 2014 the ICC Prosecutor eventually decided that the events did constitute war crimes but did not meet the gravity standards of bringing the case before ICC. The emigration rate of skilled workers was about 21.2% in 2000. Military The military resources of the Comoros consist of a small standing army and a 500-member police force, as well as a 500-member defence force. A defence treaty with France provides naval resources for protection of territorial waters, training of Comorian military personnel, and air surveillance. France maintains the presence of a few senior officers in the Comoros at government request, as well as a small maritime base and a Foreign Legion Detachment (DLEM) on Mayotte. Once the new government was installed in May–June 2011, an expert mission from UNREC (Lomé) came to the Comoros and produced guidelines for the elaboration of a national security policy, which were discussed by different actors, notably the national defence authorities and civil society. By the end of the programme in end March 2012, a normative framework agreed upon by all entities involved in SSR will have been established. This will then have to be adopted by Parliament and implemented by the authorities. Human rights Both male and female same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Comoros. Such acts are punished with up to five years imprisonment. Economy The level of poverty in the Comoros is high, but "judging by the international poverty threshold of $1.9 per person per day, only two out | authorities. Human rights Both male and female same-sex sexual acts are illegal in Comoros. Such acts are punished with up to five years imprisonment. Economy The level of poverty in the Comoros is high, but "judging by the international poverty threshold of $1.9 per person per day, only two out of every ten Comorians could be classified as poor, a rate that places the Comoros ahead of other low-income countries and 30 percentage points ahead of other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa." Poverty declined by about 10% between 2014 and 2018, and living conditions generally improved. Economic inequality remains widespread, with a major gap between rural and urban areas. Remittances through the sizable Comorian diaspora form a substantial part of the country's GDP and have contributed to decreases in poverty and increases in living standards. According to ILO's ILOSTAT statistical database, between 1991 and 2019 the unemployment rate as a percent of the total labor force ranged from 4.38% to 4.3%. An October 2005 paper by the Comoros Ministry of Planning and Regional Development, however, reported that "registered unemployment rate is 14.3 percent, distributed very unevenly among and within the islands, but with marked incidence in urban areas." In 2019, more than 56% of the labor force was employed in agriculture, with 29% employed in industry and 14% employed in services. The islands' agricultural sector is based on the export of spices, including vanilla, cinnamon, and cloves, and thus susceptible to price fluctuations in the volatile world commodity market for these goods. The Comoros is the world's largest producer of ylang-ylang, a plant whose extracted essential oil is used in the perfume industry; some 80% of the world's supply comes from the Comoros. High population densities, as much as 1000 per square kilometre in the densest agricultural zones, for what is still a mostly rural, agricultural economy may lead to an environmental crisis in the near future, especially considering the high rate of population growth. In 2004 the Comoros' real GDP growth was a low 1.9% and real GDP per capita continued to decline. These declines are explained by factors including declining investment, drops in consumption, rising inflation, and an increase in trade imbalance due in part to lowered cash crop prices, especially vanilla. Fiscal policy is constrained by erratic fiscal revenues, a bloated civil service wage bill, and an external debt that is far above the HIPC threshold. Membership in the franc zone, the main anchor of stability, has nevertheless helped contain pressures on domestic prices. The Comoros has an inadequate transportation system, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the labour force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. Agriculture contributes 40% to GDP and provides most of the exports. The government is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, to privatise commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve health services, to diversify exports, to promote tourism, and to reduce the high population growth rate. The Comoros is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). Demographics With fewer than a million people, the Comoros is one of the least populous countries in the world, but is also one of the most densely populated, with an average of . In 2001, 34% of the population was considered urban, but that is expected to grow, since rural population growth is negative, while overall population growth is still relatively high. Almost half the population of the Comoros is under the age of 15. Major urban centres include Moroni, Mitsamihuli, Fumbuni, Mutsamudu, Domoni, and Fomboni. There are between 200,000 and 350,000 Comorians in France. Ethnic groups The islands of the Comoros share mostly African-Arab origins. Minorities include Malagasy and Indian (mostly Ismaili). There are recent immigrants of Chinese origin in Grande Comore (especially Moroni). Although most French left after independence in 1975, a small Creole community, descended from settlers from France, Madagascar and Réunion, lives in the Comoros. Languages The most common languages in the Comoros are the Comorian languages, collectively known Shikomori. They are related to Swahili, and the four different variants (Shingazidja, Shimwali, Shindzwani and Shimaore) are spoken on each of the four islands. Arabic and Latin scripts are both used, Arabic being the more widely used, and an official orthography has recently been developed for the Latin script. Arabic and French are also official languages, along with Comorian. Arabic is widely known as a second language, being the language of Quranic teaching. French is the administrative language and the language of most non-Quranic formal education. Religion Sunni Islam is the dominant religion, followed by as much as 99% of the population. Comoros is the only Muslim-majority country in Southern Africa and the second southernmost Muslim-majority territory after the French territory of Mayotte. A minority of the population of the Comoros are Christian, both Catholic and Protestant denominations are represented, and most Malagasy residents are also Christian. Immigrants from metropolitan France are mostly Catholic. Health There are 15 physicians per 100,000 people. The fertility rate was 4.7 per adult woman in 2004. Life expectancy at birth is 67 for females and 62 for males. Education Almost all children attend Quranic schools, usually before, although increasingly in tandem with regular schooling. Children are taught about the Qur'an, and memorise it, and learn the Arabic script. Most parents prefer their children to attend Koran schools before moving on to the French-based schooling system. Although the state sector is plagued by a lack of resources, and the teachers by unpaid salaries, there are numerous private and community schools of relatively good standard. The national curriculum, apart from a few years during the revolutionary period immediately post-independence, has been very much based on the French system, both because resources are French and most Comorians hope to go on to further education in France. There have recently been moves to Comorianise the syllabus and integrate the two systems, the formal and the Quran schools, into one, thus moving away from the secular educational system inherited from France. Pre-colonization education systems in Comoros focused on necessary skills such as agriculture, caring for livestock and completing household tasks. Religious education also taught children the virtues of Islam. The education system underwent a transformation during colonization in the early 1900s which brought secular education based on the French system. This was mainly for children of the elite. After Comoros gained independence in 1975, the education system changed again. Funding for teachers' salaries was lost, and many went on strike. Thus, the public education system was not functioning between 1997 and 2001. Since gaining independence, the education system has also undergone a democratization and options exist for those other than the elite. Enrollment has also grown. In 2000, 44.2% of children ages 5 to 14 years were attending school. There is a general lack of facilities, equipment, qualified teachers, textbooks and other resources. Salaries for teachers are often so far in arrears that many refuse to work. Prior to 2000, students seeking a university education had to attend school outside of the country, however in the early 2000s a university was created in the country. This served to help economic growth and to fight the "flight" of many educated people who were not returning to the islands to work. About fifty-seven percent of the population is literate in the Latin script while more than 90% are literate in the Arabic script. Comorian has no native script, but both Arabic and Latin scripts are used. Culture Traditionally, women on Ndzwani wear red and white patterned garments called shiromani, while on Ngazidja and Mwali colourful shawls called leso are worn. Many women apply a paste of ground sandalwood and coral called msinzano to their faces. Traditional male clothing is a long white shirt known as a nkandu, and a bonnet called a kofia. Marriage There are two types of marriages in Comoros, the little marriage (known as Mna daho on Ngazidja) and the customary marriage (known as ada on Ngazidja, harusi on the other islands). The little marriage is a simple legal marriage. It is small, intimate, and inexpensive and the bride's dowry is nominal. A man may undertake a number of Mna daho marriages in his lifetime, often at the same time, a woman fewer; but both men and women will usually only undertake one ada, or grand marriage, and this must generally be within the village. The hallmarks of the grand marriage are dazzling gold jewelry, two weeks of celebration and an enormous bridal dowry. Although the expenses are shared between both families as well as with a wider social circle, an ada wedding on Ngazidja can cost up to €50,000 (74,000 US dollars). Many couples take a lifetime to save for their ada, and it is not uncommon for a marriage to be attended by a couple's adult children. The ada marriage marks a man's transition in the Ngazidja age system from youth to elder. His status in the social hierarchy greatly increases, and he will henceforth be entitled to speak in public and participate in the political process, both in his village and more widely across the island. He will be entitled to display his status by wearing a mharuma, a type of shawl, across his shoulders, and he can enter the mosque by the door reserved for elders, and sit at the front. A woman's status also changes, although less formally, as she becomes a "mother" and moves into her own house. The system is less formalised on the other islands, but the marriage is nevertheless a significant and costly event across the archipelago. The ada is often criticized because of its great expense, but at the same time it is a source of social cohesion and the main reason why migrants in France and elsewhere continue to send money home. Increasingly, marriages are also being taxed for the purposes of village development. Kinship and social structure Comorian society has a bilateral descent system. Lineage membership and inheritance of immovable goods (land, housing) is matrilineal, passed in the maternal line, similar to many Bantu peoples who are also matrilineal, while other goods and patronymics are passed in the male line. However, there are differences between the islands, the matrilineal element being stronger on Ngazidja. Music Twarab music, imported from Zanzibar in the early 20th century, remains the most influential genre on the islands and is popular at ada marriages. Media There are two daily national newspapers published in the Comoros, the government-owned Al-Watwan, and the privately owned La Gazette des Comores, both published in Moroni. There are a number of smaller newsletters published on an irregular basis as well as a variety of news websites. The government-owned ORTC (Office de Radio et Télévision des Comores) provides national radio and television service. There is a TV station run by the Anjouan regional government, and regional governments on the islands of Grande Comore and Anjouan each operate a radio station. There are also a few independent and small community radio stations that operate on the islands of Grande Comore and Mohéli, and these two islands have access to Mayotte Radio and French TV. See also Index of Comoros-related articles Outline of Comoros Notes References Citations Sources This article incorporates text from |
and measure their validity by how well they withstand criticism. "Critical philosophy" is also used as another name for Kant's philosophy itself. Kant said that philosophy's proper inquiry is not about what is out there in reality, but rather about the character and foundations of experience itself. We must first judge how human reason works, and within what limits, so that we can afterwards correctly apply it to sense experience and determine whether it can be applied at all to metaphysical objects. The principal three sources on which the critical philosophy is based are the three critiques, namely Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason and Critique of Judgement, published between | of knowledge before advancing to knowledge itself (from the Greek kritike (techne), or "art of judgment"). The basic task of philosophers, according to this view, is not to establish and demonstrate theories about reality, but rather to subject all theories—including those about philosophy itself—to critical review, and measure their validity by how well they withstand criticism. "Critical philosophy" is also used as another name for Kant's philosophy itself. Kant said that philosophy's proper inquiry is not about what is out there |
1978 to $14.28 trillion by 2019. China's economic growth has been consistently above 6 percent since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978. China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. Between 2010 and 2019, China's contribution to global GDP growth has been 25% to 39%. China had one of the largest economies in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since economic reforms began in 1978, China has developed into a highly diversified economy and one of the most consequential players in international trade. Major sectors of competitive strength include manufacturing, retail, mining, steel, textiles, automobiles, energy generation, green energy, banking, electronics, telecommunications, real estate, e-commerce, and tourism. China has three out of the ten largest stock exchanges in the world—Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen—that together have a market capitalization of over $15.9 trillion, as of October 2020. China has four (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen) out of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers, which is more than any country in the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index. By 2035, China's four cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) are projected to be among the global top ten largest cities by nominal GDP according to a report by Oxford Economics. China has been the world's No. 1 manufacturer since 2010, after overtaking the US, which had been No. 1 for the previous hundred years. China has also been No. 2 in high-tech manufacturing since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation. China is the second largest retail market in the world, next to the United States. China leads the world in e-commerce, accounting for 40% of the global market share in 2016 and more than 50% of the global market share in 2019. China is the world's leader in electric vehicles, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars (BEV and PHEV) in the world in 2018. China is also the leading producer of batteries for electric vehicles as well as several key raw materials for batteries. China had 174 GW of installed solar capacity by the end of 2018, which amounts to more than 40% of the global solar capacity. Foreign and some Chinese sources have claimed that official Chinese government statistics overstate China's economic growth. However, several Western academics and institutions have stated that China's economic growth is higher than indicated by official figures. China has a large informal economy, which arose as a result of the country's economic opening. The informal economy is a source of employment and income for workers, but it is unrecognized and suffers from lower productivity. Wealth in China As of 2020, China was second in the world, after the US, in total number of billionaires and total number of millionaires, with 698 Chinese billionaires and 4.4 million millionaires. In 2019, China overtook the US as the home to the highest number of people who have a net personal wealth of at least $110,000, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse. According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, China is home to five of the world's top ten cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th spots, respectively) by the highest number of billionaires, which is more than any other country. China had 85 female billionaires as of January 2021, two-thirds of the global total, and minted 24 new female billionaires in 2020. However, it ranks behind over 60 countries (out of around 180) in per capita economic output, making it an upper-middle income country. Additionally, its development is highly uneven. Its major cities and coastal areas are far more prosperous compared to rural and interior regions. China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million. China reduced the extreme poverty rate—per international standard, it refers to an income of less than $1.90/day—from 88% in 1981 to 1.85% by 2013. According to the World Bank, the number of Chinese in extreme poverty fell from 756 million to 25 million between 1990 and 2013. The portion of people in China living below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day (2011 PPP) fell to 0.3% in 2018 from 66.3% in 1990. Using the lower-middle income poverty line of $3.20 per day, the portion fell to 2.9% in 2018 from 90.0% in 1990. Using the upper-middle income poverty line of $5.50 per day, the portion fell to 17.0% from 98.3% in 1990. Economic growth From its founding in 1949 until late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and unprofitable ones were closed outright, resulting in massive job losses. Modern-day China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership, and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism. The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008. In 2018, private enterprises in China accounted for 60% of GDP, 80% of urban employment and 90% of new jobs. In the early 2010s, China's economic growth rate began to slow amid domestic credit troubles, weakening international demand for Chinese exports and fragility in the global economy. China's GDP was slightly larger than Germany's in 2007; however, by 2017, China's $12.2 trillion-economy became larger than those of Germany, UK, France and Italy combined. In 2018, the IMF reiterated its forecast that China will overtake the US in terms of nominal GDP by the year 2030. Economists also expect China's middle class to expand to 600 million people by 2025. In 2020, China was the only major economy in the world to grow, recording a 2.3% growth due to its success in taming the coronavirus within its borders. China in the global economy China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international trade value of US$4.62 trillion in 2018. Its foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.1 trillion as of 2019, making its reserves by far the world's largest. In 2012, China was the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $253 billion. In 2014, China's foreign exchange remittances were $US64 billion making it the second largest recipient of remittances in the world. China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $62.4 billion in 2012, and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies. China is a major owner of US public debt, holding trillions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury bonds. China's undervalued exchange rate has caused friction with other major economies, and it has also been widely criticized for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods. Following the 2007–08 financial crisis, Chinese authorities sought to actively wean off of its dependence on the U.S. dollar as a result of perceived weaknesses of the international monetary system. To achieve those ends, China took a series of actions to further the internationalization of the Renminbi. In 2008, China established dim sum bond market and expanded the Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity. This was followed with bilateral agreements to settle trades directly in renminbi with Russia, Japan, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Canada. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the eighth-most-traded currency in the world, an emerging international reserve currency, and a component of the IMF's special drawing rights; however, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, Dollar and Japanese Yen in international trade volumes. Class and income inequality China has had the world's largest middle class population since 2015, and the middle class grew to a size of 400 million by 2018. In 2020, a study by the Brookings Institution forecast that China's middle-class will reach 1.2 billion by 2027 (almost 4 times the entire U.S. population today), making up one fourth of the world total. Wages in China have grown a lot in the last 40 years—real (inflation-adjusted) wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007. By 2018, median wages in Chinese cities such as Shanghai were about the same as or higher than the wages in Eastern European countries. China has the world's highest number of billionaires, with nearly 878 as of October 2020, increasing at the rate of roughly five per week. China has a high level of economic inequality, which has increased in the past few decades. In 2018 China's Gini coefficient was 0.467, according to the World Bank. Science and technology Historical China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming dynasty. Ancient Chinese discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder (the Four Great Inventions), became widespread across East Asia, the Middle East and later Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use negative numbers. By the 17th century, the Western hemisphere surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement. The causes of this early modern Great Divergence continue to be debated by scholars. After repeated military defeats by the European colonial powers and Japan in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning. After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology was promoted as one of the Four Modernizations, and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed. Modern era Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research and is quickly catching up with the US in R&D spending. In 2017, China spent $279 billion on scientific research and development. According to the OECD, China spent 2.11% of its GDP on research and development (R&D) in 2016. Science and technology are seen as vital for achieving China's economic and political goals, and are held as a source of national pride to a degree sometimes described as "techno-nationalism". According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators, China received 1.54 million patent applications in 2018, representing nearly half of patent applications worldwide, more than double the US. In 2019, China was No. 1 in international patents application. China was ranked 12th, 3rd in Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, it has increased its ranking considerably since 2013, where it was ranked 35th. China ranks first globally in the important indicators, including patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports and it also has 2 (Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively) of the global top 5 science and technology clusters, which is more than any other country. Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE were the top 2 filers of international patents in 2017. Chinese-born academicians have won the Nobel Prize in Physics four times, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and Fields Medal once respectively, though most of them conducted their prize-winning research in western nations. China is developing its education system with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); in 2009, China graduated over 10,000 PhD engineers, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country. China also became the world's largest publisher of scientific papers in 2016. Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing, and Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful. China has been the world's largest market for industrial robots since 2013 and will account for 45% of newly installed robots from 2019 to 2021. The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active. In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth country to do so independently. In 2003, China became the third country to independently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; , thirteen Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women. In 2011, China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, was launched, marking the first step in a project to assemble a large crewed station by the early 2020s. In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover onto the lunar surface. In 2016, the first quantum science satellite was launched in partnership with Austria dedicated to testing the fundamentals of quantum communication in space. In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the moon. In 2020, the first experimental 6G test satellite was launched and Chang'e 5 successfully returned moon samples to the Earth, making China the third country to do so independently after the United States and the Soviet Union. In 2021, China became the second nation in history to independently land a rover (Zhurong) on Mars, joining the United States. Infrastructure After a decades-long infrastructural boom, China has produced numerous world-leading infrastructural projects: China has the world's largest bullet train network, the most supertall skyscrapers in the world, the world's largest power plant (the Three Gorges Dam), the largest energy generation capacity in the world, a global satellite navigation system with the largest number of satellites in the world, and has initiated the Belt and Road Initiative, a large global infrastructure building initiative with funding on the order of $50–100 billion per year. The Belt and Road Initiative could be one of the largest development plans in modern history. Telecommunications China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1.5 billion subscribers, as of 2018. It also has the world's largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 800 million Internet users —equivalent to around 60% of its population—and almost all of them being mobile as well. By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total. China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the biggest of them all, had 925 million users, as of 2018. Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China. Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military. China has developed its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012 as well as global services by the end of 2018. Upon the completion of the 35th Beidou satellite, which was launched into orbit on 23 June 2020, Beidou followed GPS and GLONASS as the third completed global navigation satellite in the world. Transport Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of national highways and expressways. In 2018, China's highways had reached a total length of , making it the longest highway system in the world. China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents, though the number of fatalities in traffic accidents fell by 20% from 2007 to 2017. In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – , there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China. China's railways, which are state-owned, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006. As of 2017, the country had of railways, the second longest network in the world. The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when the world's largest annual human migration takes place. China's high-speed rail (HSR) system started construction in the early 2000s. By the end of 2020, high speed rail in China had reached of dedicated lines alone, making it the longest HSR network in the world. Services on the Beijing–Shanghai, Beijing–Tianjin, and Chengdu–Chongqing Lines reach up to , making them the fastest conventional high speed railway services in the world. With an annual ridership of over 2.29 billion passengers in 2019 it is the world's busiest. The network includes the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, the single longest HSR line in the world, and the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which has three of longest railroad bridges in the world. The Shanghai Maglev Train, which reaches , is the fastest commercial train service in the world. Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated. , 44 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation and 39 more have metro systems approved. As of 2020, China boasts the five longest metro systems in the world with the networks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen being the largest. There were approximately 229 airports in 2017, with around 240 planned by 2020. China has over 2,000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping. In 2017, the Ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Tianjin ranked in the Top 10 in the world in container traffic and cargo tonnage. Water supply and sanitation Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in China is facing challenges such as rapid urbanization, as well as water scarcity, contamination, and pollution. According to data presented by the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF in 2015, about 36% of the rural population in China still did not have access to improved sanitation. The ongoing South–North Water Transfer Project intends to abate water shortage in the north. Demographics The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China as approximately 1,370,536,875. About 16.60% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 70.14% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% were over 60 years old. The population growth rate for 2013 is estimated to be 0.46%. China used to make up much of the world's poor; now it makes up much of the world's middle class. Although a middle-income country by Western standards, China's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions—800 million, to be more precise—of its people out of poverty since 1978. By 2013, less than 2% of the Chinese population lived below the international poverty line of US$1.9 per day, down from 88% in 1981. From 2009 to 2018, the unemployment rate in China has averaged about 4%. Given concerns about population growth, China implemented a two-child limit during the 1970s, and, in 1979, began to advocate for an even stricter limit of one child per family. Beginning in the mid 1980s, however, given the unpopularity of the strict limits, China began to allow some major exemptions, particularly in rural areas, resulting in what was actually a "1.5"-child policy from the mid-1980s to 2015 (ethnic minorities were also exempt from one child limits). The next major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child. In 2016, the one-child policy was replaced in favor of a two-child policy. Data from the 2010 census implies that the total fertility rate may be around 1.4, although due to under-reporting of births it may be closer to 1.5–1.6. According to one group of scholars, one-child limits had little effect on population growth or the size of the total population. However, these scholars have been challenged. Their own counterfactual model of fertility decline without such restrictions implies that China averted more than 500 million births between 1970 and 2015, a number which may reach one billion by 2060 given all the lost descendants of births averted during the era of fertility restrictions, with one-child restrictions accounting for the great bulk of that reduction. The policy, along with traditional preference for boys, may have contributed to an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth. According to the 2010 census, the sex ratio at birth was 118.06 boys for every 100 girls, which is beyond the normal range of around 105 boys for every 100 girls. The 2010 census found that males accounted for 51.27 percent of the total population. However, China's sex ratio is more balanced than it was in 1953, when males accounted for 51.82 percent of the total population. Ethnic groups China legally recognizes 56 distinct ethnic groups, who altogether comprise the Zhonghua Minzu. The largest of these nationalities are the ethnic Chinese or "Han", who constitute more than 90% of the total population. The Han Chinese – the world's largest single ethnic group – outnumber other ethnic groups in every provincial-level division except Tibet and Xinjiang. Ethnic minorities account for less than 10% of the population of China, according to the 2010 census. Compared with the 2000 population census, the Han population increased by 66,537,177 persons, or 5.74%, while the population of the 55 national minorities combined increased by 7,362,627 persons, or 6.92%. The 2010 census recorded a total of 593,832 foreign nationals living in China. The largest such groups were from South Korea (120,750), the United States (71,493) and Japan (66,159). Languages There are as many as 292 living languages in China. The languages most commonly spoken belong to the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family, which contains Mandarin (spoken by 70% of the population), and other varieties of Chinese language: Yue (including Cantonese and Taishanese), Wu (including Shanghainese and Suzhounese), Min (including Fuzhounese, Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan and Hakka. Languages of the Tibeto-Burman branch, including Tibetan, Qiang, Naxi and Yi, are spoken across the Tibetan and Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. Other ethnic minority languages in southwest China include Zhuang, Thai, Dong and Sui of the Tai-Kadai family, Miao and Yao of the Hmong–Mien family, and Wa of the Austroasiatic family. Across northeastern and northwestern China, local ethnic groups speak Altaic languages including Manchu, Mongolian and several Turkic languages: Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Salar and Western Yugur. Korean is spoken natively along the border with North Korea. Sarikoli, the language of Tajiks in western Xinjiang, is an Indo-European language. Taiwanese aborigines, including a small population on the mainland, speak Austronesian languages. Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds. Mongolian, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang and various other languages are also regionally recognized throughout the country. Chinese characters have been used as the written script for the Sinitic languages for thousands of years. They allow speakers of mutually unintelligible Chinese varieties to communicate with each other through writing. In 1956, the government introduced simplified characters, which have supplanted the older traditional characters in mainland China. Chinese characters are romanized using the Pinyin system. Tibetan uses an alphabet based on an Indic script. Uyghur is most commonly written in Persian alphabet-based Uyghur Arabic alphabet. The Mongolian script used in China and the Manchu script are both derived from the Old Uyghur alphabet. Zhuang uses both an official Latin alphabet script and a traditional Chinese character script. Urbanization China has urbanized significantly in recent decades. The percent of the country's population living in urban areas increased from 20% in 1980 to over 60% in 2019. It is estimated that China's urban population will reach one billion by 2030, potentially equivalent to one-eighth of the world population. China has over 160 cities with a population of over one million, including the 19 megacities (cities with a population of over 10 million) of Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Harbin, Shijiazhuang, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Baoding, Linyi, Changsha, Dongguan and Qingdao. Shanghai is China's most populous urban area while Chongqing is its largest city proper. By 2025, it is estimated that the country will be home to 221 cities with over a million inhabitants. The figures in the table below are from the 2017 census, and are only estimates of the urban populations within administrative city limits; a different ranking exists when considering the total municipal populations (which includes suburban and rural populations). The large "floating populations" of migrant workers make conducting censuses in urban areas difficult; the figures below include only long-term residents. Education Since 1986, compulsory education in China comprises primary and junior secondary school, which together last for nine years. In 2019, about 89.5 percent of students continued their education at a three-year senior secondary school. The Gaokao, China's national university entrance exam, is a prerequisite for entrance into most higher education institutions. In 2010, 27 percent of secondary school graduates are enrolled in higher education. This number increased significantly over the last years, reaching a tertiary school enrolment of 58.42 percent in 2020. Vocational education is available to students at the secondary and tertiary level. More than 10 million Chinese students graduated from vocational colleges nationwide every year. China has the largest education system in the world, with about 282 million students and 17.32 million full-time teachers in over 530,000 schools. In February 2006, the government pledged to provide completely free nine-year education, including textbooks and fees. Annual education investment went from less than US$50 billion in 2003 to more than US$817 billion in 2020. However, there remains an inequality in education spending. In 2010, the annual education expenditure per secondary school student in Beijing totalled ¥20,023, while in Guizhou, one of the poorest provinces in China, only totalled ¥3,204. Free compulsory education in China consists of primary school and junior secondary school between the ages of 6 and 15. In 2020, the graduation enrollment ratio at compulsory education level reached 95.2 percent, exceeding average levels recorded in high-income countries, and around 91.2% of Chinese have received secondary education. China's literacy rate has grown dramatically, from only 20% in 1949 and 65.5% in 1979. to 96% of the population over age 15 in 2018. In the same year, China (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang) was ranked the highest in the world in the Programme for International Student Assessment ranking for all three categories of Mathematics, Science and Reading. China ranks first in the all-time medal count at the International Mathematical Olympiad with 168 goal medals since its first participation in 1985. China also ranks first in the all-time medal count at the International Physics Olympiad, the International Chemistry Olympiad, and the International Olympiad in Informatics. China had over 3,000 universities, with over 40 million students enrolled in mainland China. As of 2020, China had the world's second-highest number of top universities. Currently, China trails only the United States in terms of representation on lists of top 200 universities according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). China is home to the two best universities (Tsinghua University and Peking University) in the whole Asia-Oceania region and emerging countries according to the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Both are members of the C9 League, an alliance of elite Chinese universities offering comprehensive and leading education. Health The National Health and Family Planning Commission, together with its counterparts in the local commissions, oversees the health needs of the Chinese population. An emphasis on public health and preventive medicine has characterized Chinese health policy since the early 1950s. At that time, the Communist Party started the Patriotic Health Campaign, which was aimed at improving sanitation and hygiene, as well as treating and preventing several diseases. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid and scarlet fever, which were previously rife in China, were nearly eradicated by the campaign. After Deng Xiaoping began instituting economic reforms in 1978, the health of the Chinese public improved rapidly because of better nutrition, although many of the free public health services provided in the countryside disappeared along with the People's Communes. Healthcare in China became mostly privatized, and experienced a significant rise in quality. In 2009, the government began a 3-year large-scale healthcare provision initiative worth US$124 billion. By 2011, the campaign resulted in 95% of China's population having basic health insurance coverage. In 2011, China was estimated to be the world's third-largest supplier of pharmaceuticals, but its population has suffered from the development and distribution of counterfeit medications. , the average life expectancy at birth in China is 76 years, and the infant mortality rate is 7 per thousand. Both have improved significantly since the 1950s. Rates of stunting, a condition caused by malnutrition, have declined from 33.1% in 1990 to 9.9% in 2010. Despite significant improvements in health and the construction of advanced medical facilities, China has several emerging public health problems, such as respiratory illnesses caused by widespread air pollution, hundreds of millions of cigarette smokers, and an increase in obesity among urban youths. China's large population and densely populated cities have led to serious disease outbreaks in recent years, such as the 2003 outbreak of SARS, although this has since been largely contained. In 2010, air pollution caused 1.2 million premature deaths in China. The COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in Wuhan in December 2019. Further studies are being carried out around the world on a possible origin for the virus. The Chinese government has been criticized for its handling of the epidemic and accused of concealing the extent of the outbreak before it became an international pandemic. Religion The government of the People's Republic of China officially espouses state atheism, and has conducted antireligious campaigns to this end. Religious affairs and issues in the country are overseen by the State Administration for Religious Affairs. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by China's constitution, although religious organizations that lack official approval can be subject to state persecution. Over the millennia, Chinese civilization has been influenced by various religious movements. The "three teachings", including Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism (Chinese Buddhism), historically have a significant role in shaping Chinese culture, enriching a theological and spiritual framework which harks back to the early Shang and Zhou dynasty. Chinese popular or folk religion, which is framed by the three teachings and other traditions, consists in allegiance to the shen (), a character that signifies the "energies of generation", who can be deities of the environment or ancestral principles of human groups, concepts of civility, culture heroes, many of whom feature in Chinese mythology and history. Among the most popular cults are those of Mazu (goddess of the seas), Huangdi (one of the two divine patriarchs of the Chinese race), Guandi (god of war and business), Caishen (god of prosperity and richness), Pangu and many others. China is home to many of the world's tallest religious statues, including the tallest of all, the Spring Temple Buddha in Henan. Clear data on religious affiliation in China is difficult to gather due to varying definitions of "religion" and the unorganized, diffusive nature of Chinese religious traditions. Scholars note that in China there is no clear boundary between three teachings religions and local folk religious practice. A 2015 poll conducted by Gallup International found that 61% of Chinese people self-identified as "convinced atheist", though it is worthwhile to note that Chinese religions or some of their strands are definable as non-theistic and humanistic religions, since they do not believe that divine creativity is completely transcendent, but it is inherent in the world and in particular in the human being. According to a 2014 study, approximately 74% are either non-religious or practice Chinese folk belief, 16% are Buddhists, 2% are Christians, 1% are Muslims, and 8% adhere to other religions including Taoists and folk salvationism. In addition to Han people's local religious practices, there are also various ethnic minority groups in China who maintain their traditional autochthone religions. The various folk religions today comprise 2–3% of the population, while Confucianism as a religious self-identification is common within the intellectual class. Significant faiths specifically connected to certain ethnic groups include Tibetan Buddhism and the Islamic religion of the Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz and other peoples in Northwest China. The 2010 population census reported the total number of Muslims in the country as 23.14 million. A 2021 poll from Ipsos and the Policy Institute at King's College London found that 35% of Chinese people said there was tension between different religious groups, which was the second lowest percentage of the 28 countries surveyed. Culture Since ancient times, Chinese culture has been heavily influenced by Confucianism. For much of the country's dynastic era, opportunities for social advancement could be provided by high performance in the prestigious imperial examinations, which have their origins in the Han dynasty. The literary emphasis of the exams affected the general perception of cultural refinement in China, such as the belief that calligraphy, poetry and painting were higher forms of art than dancing or drama. Chinese culture has long emphasized a sense of deep history and a largely inward-looking national perspective. Examinations and a culture of merit remain greatly valued in China today. The first leaders of the People's Republic of China were born into the traditional imperial order but were influenced by the May Fourth Movement and reformist ideals. They sought to change some traditional aspects of Chinese culture, such as rural land tenure, sexism, and the Confucian system of education, while preserving others, such as the family structure and culture of obedience to the state. Some observers see the period following the establishment of the PRC in 1949 as a continuation of traditional Chinese dynastic history, while others claim that the Communist Party's rule has damaged the foundations of Chinese culture, especially through political movements such as the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, where many aspects of traditional culture were destroyed, having been denounced as "regressive and harmful" or "vestiges of feudalism". Many important aspects of traditional Chinese morals and culture, such as Confucianism, art, literature, and performing arts like Peking opera, were altered to conform to government policies and propaganda at the time. Access to foreign media remains heavily restricted. Today, the Chinese government has accepted numerous elements of traditional Chinese culture as being integral to Chinese society. With the rise of Chinese nationalism and the end of the Cultural Revolution, various forms of traditional Chinese art, literature, music, film, fashion and architecture have seen a vigorous revival, and folk and variety art in particular have sparked interest nationally and even worldwide. A poll in October 2020 of respondents in Spain, Slovakia, Latvia, Serbia, and Russia found that majorities in those countries considered China to be "culturally attractive". Tourism in China China received 55.7 million inbound international visitors in 2010, and in 2012 was the third-most-visited country in the world. It also experiences an enormous volume of domestic tourism; an estimated 740 million Chinese holidaymakers traveled within the country in October 2012. China hosts the world's second-largest number of World Heritage Sites (56) after Italy, and is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world (first in the Asia-Pacific). It is forecast by Euromonitor International that China will become the world's most popular destination for tourists by 2030. Literature Chinese literature is based on the literature of the Zhou dynasty. Concepts covered within the Chinese classic texts present a wide range of thoughts and subjects including calendar, military, astrology, herbology, geography and many others. Some of the most important early texts include the I Ching and the Shujing within the Four Books and Five Classics which served as the Confucian authoritative books for the state-sponsored curriculum in dynastic era. Inherited from the Classic of Poetry, classical Chinese poetry developed to its floruit during the Tang dynasty. Li Bai and Du Fu opened the forking ways for the poetic circles through romanticism and realism respectively. Chinese historiography began with the Shiji, the overall scope of the historiographical tradition in China is termed the Twenty-Four Histories, which set a vast stage for Chinese fictions along with Chinese mythology and folklore. Pushed by a burgeoning citizen class in the Ming dynasty, Chinese classical fiction rose to a boom of the historical, town and gods and demons fictions as represented by the Four Great Classical Novels which include Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber. Along with the wuxia fictions of Jin Yong and Liang Yusheng, it remains an enduring source of popular culture in the East Asian cultural sphere. In the wake of the New Culture Movement after the end of the Qing dynasty, Chinese literature embarked on a new era with written vernacular Chinese for ordinary citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun were pioneers in modern literature. Various literary genres, such as misty poetry, scar literature, young adult fiction and the xungen literature, which is influenced by magic realism, emerged following the Cultural Revolution. Mo Yan, a xungen literature author, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012. Cuisine Chinese cuisine is highly diverse, drawing on several millennia of culinary history and geographical variety, in which the most influential are known as the "Eight Major Cuisines", including Sichuan, Cantonese, Jiangsu, Shandong, Fujian, Hunan, Anhui, and Zhejiang cuisines. All of them are featured by the precise skills of shaping, heating, and flavoring. Chinese cuisine is also known for its width of cooking methods and ingredients, as well as food therapy that is emphasized by traditional Chinese medicine. Generally, China's staple food is rice in the south, wheat-based breads and noodles in the north. The diet of the common people in pre-modern times was largely grain and simple vegetables, with meat reserved for special occasions. The bean products, such as tofu and soy milk, remain as a popular source of protein. Pork is now the most popular meat in China, accounting for about three-fourths of the country's total meat consumption. While pork dominates the meat market, there is also the vegetarian Buddhist cuisine and the pork-free Chinese Islamic cuisine. Southern cuisine, due to the area's proximity to the ocean | projects already in the first half of 2021. The country also had significant water pollution problems: 8.2% of China's rivers had been polluted by industrial and agricultural waste in 2019. China had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.14/10, ranking it 53rd globally out of 172 countries. In 2020, a sweeping law was passed by the Chinese government to protect the ecology of the Yangtze River. The new laws include strengthening ecological protection rules for hydropower projects along the river, banning chemical plants within 1 kilometer of the river, relocating polluting industries, severely restricting sand mining as well as a complete fishing ban on all the natural waterways of the river, including all its major tributaries and lakes. China is also the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization, with $52 billion invested in 2011 alone; it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects. By 2015, over 24% of China's energy was derived from renewable sources, while most notably from hydroelectric power: a total installed capacity of 197 GW makes China the largest hydroelectric power producer in the world. China also has the largest power capacity of installed solar photovoltaics system and wind power system in the world. Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest, as is renewable energy in China. Political geography The People's Republic of China is the second-largest country in the world by land area after Russia. China's total area is generally stated as being approximately . Specific area figures range from according to the Encyclopædia Britannica, to according to the UN Demographic Yearbook, and the CIA World Factbook. China has the longest combined land border in the world, measuring and its coastline covers approximately from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin. China borders 14 nations and extends across much of East Asia, bordering Vietnam, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma) in Southeast Asia; India, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in South Asia; Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia. Additionally, China shares maritime boundaries with South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Politics The Chinese constitution states that The People's Republic of China "is a socialist state governed by a people’s democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," and that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism." The PRC is one of the world's only socialist states governed by a communist party. The Chinese government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian and corporatist, with heavy restrictions in many areas, most notably against free access to the Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right to have children, free formation of social organizations and freedom of religion. Its current political, ideological and economic system has been termed by its leaders as a "consultative democracy" "people's democratic dictatorship", "socialism with Chinese characteristics" (which is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances) and the "socialist market economy" respectively. Communist Party Since 2018, the main body of the Chinese constitution declares that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)." The 2018 amendments constitutionalized the de facto one-party state status of China, wherein the CCP General Secretary (party leader) holds ultimate power and authority over state and government and serves as the informal Paramount leader. The current General Secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012, and was re-elected on 25 October 2017. The electoral system is pyramidal. Local People's Congresses are directly elected, and higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National People's Congress (NPC) are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below. Another eight political parties, have representatives in the NPC and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). China supports the Leninist principle of "democratic centralism", but critics describe the elected National People's Congress as a "rubber stamp" body. Since both the CCP and the People's Liberation Army (PLA) promote according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership. In official discourse, each group of leadership is identified with a distinct extension of the ideology of the party. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the People's Republic of China by reference to these "generations". Government China is a one-party state led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The National People's Congress in 2018 altered the country's constitution to remove the two-term limit on holding the Presidency of China, permitting the current leader, Xi Jinping, to remain president of China (and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party) for an unlimited time, earning criticism for creating dictatorial governance. The President is the titular head of state, elected by the National People's Congress. The Premier is the head of government, presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers and the heads of ministries and commissions. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China's paramount leader. The incumbent premier is Li Keqiang, who is also a senior member of the CCP Politburo Standing Committee, China's de facto top decision-making body. In 2017, Xi called on the communist party to further tighten its grip on the country, to uphold the unity of the party leadership, and achieve the "Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation". Political concerns in China include the growing gap between rich and poor and government corruption. Nonetheless, the level of public support for the government and its management of the nation is high, with 80–95% of Chinese citizens expressing satisfaction with the central government, according to a 2011 survey. A 2020 survey from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research also found that 75% of Chinese were satisfied with the government on information dissemination amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, while 67% were satisfied with its delivery of daily necessities. Administrative divisions The People's Republic of China is officially divided into 23 provinces, five autonomous regions (each with a designated minority group), and four municipalities—collectively referred to as "mainland China"—as well as the special administrative regions (SARs) of Hong Kong and Macau. Geographically, all 31 provincial divisions of mainland China can be grouped into six regions: North China, Northeast China, East China, South Central China, Southwest China, and Northwest China. China considers Taiwan to be its 23rd province, although Taiwan is governed by the Republic of China (ROC), which rejects the PRC's claim. Conversely, the ROC constitution claims sovereignty over all divisions governed by the PRC. Foreign relations The PRC has diplomatic relations with 175 countries and maintains embassies in 162. In 2019, China had the largest diplomatic network in the world. Its legitimacy is disputed by the Republic of China and a few other countries; it is thus the largest and most populous state with limited recognition, with a population of more than 1.4 billion. In 1971, the PRC replaced the Republic of China as the sole representative of China in the United Nations and as one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. China was also a former member and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and still considers itself an advocate for developing countries. Along with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, China is a member of the BRICS group of emerging major economies and hosted the group's third official summit at Sanya, Hainan in April 2011. Under its interpretation of the One-China policy, Beijing has made it a precondition to establishing diplomatic relations that the other country acknowledges its claim to Taiwan and severs official ties with the government of the Republic of China. Chinese officials have protested on numerous occasions when foreign countries have made diplomatic overtures to Taiwan, especially in the matter of armament sales. Much of current Chinese foreign policy is reportedly based on Premier Zhou Enlai's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, and is also driven by the concept of "harmony without uniformity", which encourages diplomatic relations between states despite ideological differences. This policy may have led China to support states that are regarded as dangerous or repressive by Western nations, such as Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran. China has a close economic and military relationship with Russia, and the two states often vote in unison in the UN Security Council. Trade relations China became the world's largest trading nation in 2013, as measured by the sum of imports and exports, as well as the world's biggest commodity importer. comprising roughly 45% of maritime's dry-bulk market. By 2016, China was the largest trading partner of 124 other countries. China is the largest trading partner for the ASEAN nations, with a total trade value of $345.8 billion in 2015 accounting for 15.2% of ASEAN's total trade. ASEAN is also China's largest trading partner. In 2020, China became the largest trading partner of the European Union for goods, with the total value of goods trade reaching nearly $700 billion. China, along with ASEAN, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, is a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest free-trade area covering 30% of the world's population and economic output. China became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. In 2004, it proposed an entirely new East Asia Summit (EAS) framework as a forum for regional security issues. The EAS, which includes ASEAN Plus Three, India, Australia and New Zealand, held its inaugural summit in 2005. China has had a long and complex trade relationship with the United States. In 2000, the United States Congress approved "permanent normal trade relations" (PNTR) with China, allowing Chinese exports in at the same low tariffs as goods from most other countries. China has a significant trade surplus with the United States, its most important export market. In the early 2010s, US politicians argued that the Chinese yuan was significantly undervalued, giving China an unfair trade advantage. Since the turn of the century, China has followed a policy of engaging with African nations for trade and bilateral co-operation; in 2019, Sino-African trade totalled $208 billion, having grown 20 times over two decades. According to Madison Condon "China finances more infrastructure projects in Africa than the World Bank and provides billions of dollars in low-interest loans to the continent’s emerging economies." China maintains extensive and highly diversified trade links with the European Union. China has furthermore strengthened its trade ties with major South American economies, and is the largest trading partner of Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, and several others. China's Belt and Road Initiative has expanded significantly over the last six years and, as of April 2020, includes 138 countries and 30 international organizations. In addition to intensifying foreign policy relations, the focus here is particularly on building efficient transport routes. The focus is particularly on the maritime Silk Road with its connections to East Africa and Europe and there are Chinese investments or related declarations of intent at numerous ports such as Gwadar, Kuantan, Hambantota, Piraeus and Trieste. However many of these loans made under the Belt and Road program are unsustainable and China has faced a number of calls for debt relief from debtor nations. Territorial disputes Taiwan Ever since its establishment after the Chinese Civil War, the PRC has claimed the territories governed by the Republic of China (ROC), a separate political entity today commonly known as Taiwan, as a part of its territory. It regards the island of Taiwan as its Taiwan Province, Kinmen and Matsu as a part of Fujian Province and islands the ROC controls in the South China Sea as a part of Hainan Province and Guangdong Province. These claims are controversial because of the complicated Cross-Strait relations, with the PRC treating the One-China policy as one of its most important diplomatic principles. Land border disputes China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them. As of 2020, China currently has a disputed land border with only India and Bhutan. Maritime border disputes China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over the ownership of several small islands in the East and South China Seas, such as the Senkaku Islands and the Scarborough Shoal. Sociopolitical issues and human rights China uses a massive espionage network of cameras, facial recognition software, sensors, surveillance of personal technology, and a social credit system as a means of social control of persons living in the country. The Chinese democracy movement, social activists, and some members of the Chinese Communist Party believe in the need for social and political reform. While economic and social controls have been significantly relaxed in China since the 1970s, political freedom is still tightly restricted. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights" of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, in practice, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the state. Although some criticisms of government policies and the ruling Communist Party are tolerated, censorship of political speech and information, most notably on the Internet, are routinely used to prevent collective action. By 2020, China plans to give all its citizens a personal "social credit" score based on how they behave. The social credit system, first piloted in 2014, is considered a form of mass surveillance which uses big data analysis technology. A number of foreign governments, foreign press agencies, and NGOs have criticized China's human rights record, alleging widespread civil rights violations such as detention without trial, forced abortions, forced confessions, torture, restrictions of fundamental rights, and excessive use of the death penalty. The government suppresses popular protests and demonstrations that it considers a potential threat to "social stability", as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The Chinese state is regularly accused of large-scale repression and human rights abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang, including violent police crackdowns and religious suppression throughout the Chinese nation. At least one million members of China's Muslim Uyghur minority have been detained in mass detention camps, termed "Vocational Education and Training Centers", aimed at changing the political thinking of detainees, their identities, and their religious beliefs. According to the U.S. Department of State, actions including political indoctrination, torture, physical and psychological abuse, forced sterilization, sexual abuse, and forced labor are common in these facilities. The state has also sought to control offshore reporting of tensions in Xinjiang, intimidating foreign-based reporters by detaining their family members. According to a 2020 report, China's treatment of Uyghurs meets UN definition of genocide, and several groups called for a UN investigation. On 19 January 2021, the United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced that the United States Department of State had determined that "genocide and crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by China against the Uyghurs. Global studies from Pew Research Center in 2014 and 2017 ranked the Chinese government's restrictions on religion as among the highest in the world, despite low to moderate rankings for religious-related social hostilities in the country. The Global Slavery Index estimated that in 2016 more than 3.8 million people were living in "conditions of modern slavery", or 0.25% of the population, including victims of human trafficking, forced labor, forced marriage, child labor, and state-imposed forced labor. The state-imposed forced system was formally abolished in 2013, but it is not clear to which extent its various practices have stopped. The Chinese penal system includes labor prison factories, detention centers, and re-education camps, collectively known as laogai ("reform through labor"). The Laogai Research Foundation in the United States estimated that there were over a thousand slave labor prisons and camps in China. In 2019, a study called for the mass retraction of more than 400 scientific papers on organ transplantation, because of fears the organs were obtained unethically from Chinese prisoners. While the government says 10,000 transplants occur each year, a report by the Falun Gong-linked IETAC alleged that between 60,000 and 100,000 organs are transplanted each year and claimed that this gap was being made up by executed prisoners of conscience. Military With nearly 2.2 million active troops, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the largest standing military force in the world, commanded by the Central Military Commission (CMC). China has the second-biggest military reserve force, only behind North Korea. The PLA consists of the Ground Force (PLAGF), the Navy (PLAN), the Air Force (PLAAF), the Rocket Force (PLARF) and the Strategic Support Force (PLASSF). According to the Chinese government, military budget for 2017 totalled US$151.5 billion, constituting the world's second-largest military budget, although the military expenditures-GDP ratio with 1.3% of GDP is below world average. However, many authorities – including SIPRI and the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense claim that China hides its real level of military spending, which is allegedly much higher than the official budget. China boasts the world's third-most powerful military, with the world's third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons. Economy Since 2010, China has had the world's second-largest economy in terms of nominal GDP, totaling approximately US$15.66 trillion (101.6 trillion Yuan) as of 2020. In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP GDP), China's economy has been the largest in the world since 2014, according to the World Bank. China is also the world's fastest-growing major economy. According to the World Bank, China's GDP grew from $150 billion in 1978 to $14.28 trillion by 2019. China's economic growth has been consistently above 6 percent since the introduction of economic reforms in 1978. China is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. Between 2010 and 2019, China's contribution to global GDP growth has been 25% to 39%. China had one of the largest economies in the world for most of the past two thousand years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since economic reforms began in 1978, China has developed into a highly diversified economy and one of the most consequential players in international trade. Major sectors of competitive strength include manufacturing, retail, mining, steel, textiles, automobiles, energy generation, green energy, banking, electronics, telecommunications, real estate, e-commerce, and tourism. China has three out of the ten largest stock exchanges in the world—Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen—that together have a market capitalization of over $15.9 trillion, as of October 2020. China has four (Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen) out of the world's top ten most competitive financial centers, which is more than any country in the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index. By 2035, China's four cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen) are projected to be among the global top ten largest cities by nominal GDP according to a report by Oxford Economics. China has been the world's No. 1 manufacturer since 2010, after overtaking the US, which had been No. 1 for the previous hundred years. China has also been No. 2 in high-tech manufacturing since 2012, according to US National Science Foundation. China is the second largest retail market in the world, next to the United States. China leads the world in e-commerce, accounting for 40% of the global market share in 2016 and more than 50% of the global market share in 2019. China is the world's leader in electric vehicles, manufacturing and buying half of all the plug-in electric cars (BEV and PHEV) in the world in 2018. China is also the leading producer of batteries for electric vehicles as well as several key raw materials for batteries. China had 174 GW of installed solar capacity by the end of 2018, which amounts to more than 40% of the global solar capacity. Foreign and some Chinese sources have claimed that official Chinese government statistics overstate China's economic growth. However, several Western academics and institutions have stated that China's economic growth is higher than indicated by official figures. China has a large informal economy, which arose as a result of the country's economic opening. The informal economy is a source of employment and income for workers, but it is unrecognized and suffers from lower productivity. Wealth in China As of 2020, China was second in the world, after the US, in total number of billionaires and total number of millionaires, with 698 Chinese billionaires and 4.4 million millionaires. In 2019, China overtook the US as the home to the highest number of people who have a net personal wealth of at least $110,000, according to the global wealth report by Credit Suisse. According to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020, China is home to five of the world's top ten cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 10th spots, respectively) by the highest number of billionaires, which is more than any other country. China had 85 female billionaires as of January 2021, two-thirds of the global total, and minted 24 new female billionaires in 2020. However, it ranks behind over 60 countries (out of around 180) in per capita economic output, making it an upper-middle income country. Additionally, its development is highly uneven. Its major cities and coastal areas are far more prosperous compared to rural and interior regions. China brought more people out of extreme poverty than any other country in history—between 1978 and 2018, China reduced extreme poverty by 800 million. China reduced the extreme poverty rate—per international standard, it refers to an income of less than $1.90/day—from 88% in 1981 to 1.85% by 2013. According to the World Bank, the number of Chinese in extreme poverty fell from 756 million to 25 million between 1990 and 2013. The portion of people in China living below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day (2011 PPP) fell to 0.3% in 2018 from 66.3% in 1990. Using the lower-middle income poverty line of $3.20 per day, the portion fell to 2.9% in 2018 from 90.0% in 1990. Using the upper-middle income poverty line of $5.50 per day, the portion fell to 17.0% from 98.3% in 1990. Economic growth From its founding in 1949 until late 1978, the People's Republic of China was a Soviet-style centrally planned economy. Following Mao's death in 1976 and the consequent end of the Cultural Revolution, Deng Xiaoping and the new Chinese leadership began to reform the economy and move towards a more market-oriented mixed economy under one-party rule. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized, while foreign trade became a major new focus, leading to the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and unprofitable ones were closed outright, resulting in massive job losses. Modern-day China is mainly characterized as having a market economy based on private property ownership, and is one of the leading examples of state capitalism. The state still dominates in strategic "pillar" sectors such as energy production and heavy industries, but private enterprise has expanded enormously, with around 30 million private businesses recorded in 2008. In 2018, private enterprises in China accounted for 60% of GDP, 80% of urban employment and 90% of new jobs. In the early 2010s, China's economic growth rate began to slow amid domestic credit troubles, weakening international demand for Chinese exports and fragility in the global economy. China's GDP was slightly larger than Germany's in 2007; however, by 2017, China's $12.2 trillion-economy became larger than those of Germany, UK, France and Italy combined. In 2018, the IMF reiterated its forecast that China will overtake the US in terms of nominal GDP by the year 2030. Economists also expect China's middle class to expand to 600 million people by 2025. In 2020, China was the only major economy in the world to grow, recording a 2.3% growth due to its success in taming the coronavirus within its borders. China in the global economy China is a member of the WTO and is the world's largest trading power, with a total international trade value of US$4.62 trillion in 2018. Its foreign exchange reserves reached US$3.1 trillion as of 2019, making its reserves by far the world's largest. In 2012, China was the world's largest recipient of inward foreign direct investment (FDI), attracting $253 billion. In 2014, China's foreign exchange remittances were $US64 billion making it the second largest recipient of remittances in the world. China also invests abroad, with a total outward FDI of $62.4 billion in 2012, and a number of major takeovers of foreign firms by Chinese companies. China is a major owner of US public debt, holding trillions of dollars worth of U.S. Treasury bonds. China's undervalued exchange rate has caused friction with other major economies, and it has also been widely criticized for manufacturing large quantities of counterfeit goods. Following the 2007–08 financial crisis, Chinese authorities sought to actively wean off of its dependence on the U.S. dollar as a result of perceived weaknesses of the international monetary system. To achieve those ends, China took a series of actions to further the internationalization of the Renminbi. In 2008, China established dim sum bond market and expanded the Cross-Border Trade RMB Settlement Pilot Project, which helps establish pools of offshore RMB liquidity. This was followed with bilateral agreements to settle trades directly in renminbi with Russia, Japan, Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Canada. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the eighth-most-traded currency in the world, an emerging international reserve currency, and a component of the IMF's special drawing rights; however, partly due to capital controls that make the renminbi fall short of being a fully convertible currency, it remains far behind the Euro, Dollar and Japanese Yen in international trade volumes. Class and income inequality China has had the world's largest middle class population since 2015, and the middle class grew to a size of 400 million by 2018. In 2020, a study by the Brookings Institution forecast that China's middle-class will reach 1.2 billion by 2027 (almost 4 times the entire U.S. population today), making up one fourth of the world total. Wages in China have grown a lot in the last 40 years—real (inflation-adjusted) wages grew seven-fold from 1978 to 2007. By 2018, median wages in Chinese cities such as Shanghai were about the same as or higher than the wages in Eastern European countries. China has the world's highest number of billionaires, with nearly 878 as of October 2020, increasing at the rate of roughly five per week. China has a high level of economic inequality, which has increased in the past few decades. In 2018 China's Gini coefficient was 0.467, according to the World Bank. Science and technology Historical China was a world leader in science and technology until the Ming dynasty. Ancient Chinese discoveries and inventions, such as papermaking, printing, the compass, and gunpowder (the Four Great Inventions), became widespread across East Asia, the Middle East and later Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use negative numbers. By the 17th century, the Western hemisphere surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement. The causes of this early modern Great Divergence continue to be debated by scholars. After repeated military defeats by the European colonial powers and Japan in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the Self-Strengthening Movement. After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the Soviet Union, in which scientific research was part of central planning. After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology was promoted as one of the Four Modernizations, and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed. Modern era Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research and is quickly catching up with the US in R&D spending. In 2017, China spent $279 billion on scientific research and development. According to the OECD, China spent 2.11% of its GDP on research and development (R&D) in 2016. Science and technology are seen as vital for achieving China's economic and political goals, and are held as a source of national pride to a degree sometimes described as "techno-nationalism". According to the World Intellectual Property Indicators, China received 1.54 million patent applications in 2018, representing nearly half of patent applications worldwide, more than double the US. In 2019, China was No. 1 in international patents application. China was ranked 12th, 3rd in Asia & Oceania region and 2nd for countries with a population of over 100 million in the Global Innovation Index in 2021, it has increased its ranking considerably since 2013, where it was ranked 35th. China ranks first globally in the important indicators, including patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, and creative goods exports and it also has 2 (Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou and Beijing in the 2nd and 3rd spots respectively) of the global top 5 science and technology clusters, which is more than any other country. Chinese tech companies Huawei and ZTE were the top 2 filers of international patents in 2017. Chinese-born academicians have won the Nobel Prize in Physics four times, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and Fields Medal once respectively, though most of them conducted their prize-winning research in western nations. China is developing its education system with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); in 2009, China graduated over 10,000 PhD engineers, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country. China also became the world's largest publisher of scientific papers in 2016. Chinese technology companies such as Huawei and Lenovo have become world leaders in telecommunications and personal computing, and Chinese supercomputers are consistently ranked among the world's most powerful. China has been the world's largest market for industrial robots since 2013 and will account for 45% of newly installed robots from 2019 to 2021. The Chinese space program is one of the world's most active. In 1970, China launched its first satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, becoming the fifth country to do so independently. In 2003, China became the third country to independently send humans into space, with Yang Liwei's spaceflight aboard Shenzhou 5; , thirteen Chinese nationals have journeyed into space, including two women. In 2011, China's first space station module, Tiangong-1, was launched, marking the first step in a project to assemble a large crewed station by the early 2020s. In 2013, China successfully landed the Chang'e 3 lander and Yutu rover onto the lunar surface. In 2016, the first quantum science satellite was launched in partnership with Austria dedicated to testing the fundamentals of quantum communication in space. In 2019, China became the first country to land a probe—Chang'e 4—on the far side of the moon. In 2020, the first experimental 6G test satellite was launched and Chang'e 5 successfully returned moon samples to the Earth, making China the third country to do so independently after the United States and the Soviet Union. In 2021, China became the second nation in history to independently land a rover (Zhurong) on Mars, joining the United States. Infrastructure After a decades-long infrastructural boom, China has produced numerous world-leading infrastructural projects: China has the world's largest bullet train network, the most supertall skyscrapers in the world, the world's largest power plant (the Three Gorges Dam), the largest energy generation capacity in the world, a global satellite navigation system with the largest number of satellites in the world, and has initiated the Belt and Road Initiative, a large global infrastructure building initiative with funding on the order of $50–100 billion per year. The Belt and Road Initiative could be one of the largest development plans in modern history. Telecommunications China is the largest telecom market in the world and currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1.5 billion subscribers, as of 2018. It also has the world's largest number of internet and broadband users, with over 800 million Internet users —equivalent to around 60% of its population—and almost all of them being mobile as well. By 2018, China had more than 1 billion 4G users, accounting for 40% of world's total. China is making rapid advances in 5G—by late 2018, China had started large-scale and commercial 5G trials. China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom, are the three large providers of mobile and internet in China. China Telecom alone served more than 145 million broadband subscribers and 300 million mobile users; China Unicom had about 300 million subscribers; and China Mobile, the biggest of them all, had 925 million users, as of 2018. Combined, the three operators had over 3.4 million 4G base-stations in China. Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military. China has developed its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012 as well as global services by the end of 2018. Upon the completion of the 35th Beidou satellite, which was launched into orbit on 23 June 2020, Beidou followed GPS and GLONASS as the third completed global navigation satellite in the world. Transport Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of national highways and expressways. In 2018, China's highways had reached a total length of , making it the longest highway system in the world. China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and production. A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents, though the number of fatalities in traffic accidents fell by 20% from 2007 to 2017. In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – , there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China. China's railways, which are state-owned, are among the busiest in the world, handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006. As of 2017, the country had of railways, the second longest network in the world. The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the Chinese New Year holiday, when the world's largest annual human migration takes place. China's high-speed rail (HSR) system started construction in the early 2000s. By the end of 2020, high speed rail in China had reached of dedicated lines alone, making it the longest HSR network in the world. Services on the Beijing–Shanghai, Beijing–Tianjin, and Chengdu–Chongqing Lines reach up to , making them the fastest conventional high speed railway services in the world. With an annual ridership of over 2.29 billion passengers in 2019 it is the world's busiest. The network includes the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen High-Speed Railway, the single longest HSR line in the world, and the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which has three of longest railroad bridges in the world. The Shanghai Maglev Train, which reaches , is the fastest commercial train service in the world. Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated. , 44 Chinese cities have urban mass transit systems in operation and 39 more have metro systems approved. As of 2020, China boasts the five longest metro systems in the world with the networks in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenzhen being the largest. There were approximately 229 airports in 2017, with around 240 planned by 2020. China has over 2,000 river and seaports, about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping. In 2017, the Ports of Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Tianjin ranked in the Top 10 in the world in container traffic and cargo tonnage. Water supply and sanitation Water supply and sanitation infrastructure in China is facing challenges such as rapid urbanization, as well as water scarcity, contamination, and pollution. According to data presented by the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF in 2015, about 36% of the rural population in China still did not have access to improved sanitation. The ongoing South–North Water Transfer Project intends to abate water shortage in the north. Demographics The national census of 2010 recorded the population of the People's Republic of China as approximately 1,370,536,875. About 16.60% of the population were 14 years old or younger, 70.14% were between 15 and 59 years old, and 13.26% were over 60 years old. The population growth rate for 2013 is estimated to be 0.46%. China used to make up much of the world's poor; now it makes up much of the world's middle class. Although a middle-income country by Western standards, China's rapid growth has pulled hundreds of millions—800 million, to be more precise—of its people out of poverty since 1978. By 2013, less than 2% of the Chinese population lived below the international poverty line of US$1.9 per day, down from 88% in 1981. From 2009 to 2018, the unemployment rate in China has averaged about 4%. Given concerns about population growth, China implemented a two-child limit during the 1970s, and, in 1979, began to advocate for an even stricter limit of one child per family. Beginning in the mid 1980s, however, given the unpopularity of the strict limits, China began to allow some major exemptions, particularly in rural areas, resulting in what was actually a "1.5"-child policy from the mid-1980s to 2015 (ethnic minorities were also exempt from one child limits). The next major loosening of the policy was enacted in December 2013, allowing families to have two children if one parent is an only child. In 2016, the one-child policy was replaced in favor of a two-child policy. Data from the 2010 census implies that the total |
less seasonal and more year-round, further straining California's water security. Etymology The Spaniards gave the name to the peninsula of Baja California and to Alta California, the region that became the present-day state of California. The name likely derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia, as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. This work was the fifth in a popular Spanish chivalric romance series that began with Amadís de Gaula. Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons, as well as griffins and other strange beasts. In the fictional paradise, the ruler Queen Calafia fought alongside Muslims and her name may have been chosen to echo the title of a Muslim leader, the Caliph. It is possible the name California was meant to imply the island was a Caliphate. Shortened forms of the state's name include CA, Cal, Cali, Calif, Califas, and US-CA. History First inhabitants Settled by successive waves of arrivals during at least the last 13,000 years, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Various estimates of the native population have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000. The indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their political organization with bands, tribes, villages, and on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms, such as the Chumash, Pomo and Salinan. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups. Spanish rule The first Europeans to explore the California coast were the members of a Spanish sailing expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island. Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of the California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco. The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay. Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain, putting ashore in Monterey. Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into the 18th century. After the Portolà expedition of 1769–70, Spanish missionaries led by Junipero Serra began setting up 21 California Missions on or near the coast of Alta (Upper) California, beginning in San Diego. During the same period, Spanish military forces built several forts (presidios) and three small towns (pueblos). The San Francisco Mission grew into the city of San Francisco, and two of the pueblos grew into the cities of Los Angeles and San Jose. Several other smaller cities and towns also sprang up surrounding the various Spanish missions and pueblos, which remain to this day. During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the California coast and in 1812 established a trading post at Fort Ross. Russia's early 19th-century coastal settlements in California were positioned just north of the northernmost edge of the area of Spanish settlement in San Francisco Bay, and were the southernmost Russian settlements in North America. The Russian settlements associated with Fort Ross were spread from Point Arena to Tomales Bay. Mexican rule In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave Mexico (including California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained as a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico. The missions, which controlled most of the best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become a commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush. From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and the future Canada arrived in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail, California Trail, Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham. In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to the Graham Affair, which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials. One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh. After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as the best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. He invited immigrants to stay on his ranch until they could get settled, and assisted in their obtaining passports. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. The armies of each met at the Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles. Marsh had been forced against his will to join Micheltorena's army. Ignoring his superiors, during the battle, he signaled the other side for a parley. There were many settlers from the United States fighting on both sides. He convinced these men that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States. California Republic and conquest In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during the Bear Flag Revolt. Afterwards, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide, who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–48). When Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay and began the military occupation of California by the United States, Northern California capitulated in less than a month to the United States forces. After a series of defensive battles in Southern California, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing American control in California. Early American period Following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah. The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as a part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769. In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both the state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California Gold Rush. By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870, the population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000. California was suddenly no longer a sparsely populated backwater, but seemingly overnight it had grown into a major population center. The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin. In 1849, a state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only a short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento. Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood. On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state and September9 a state holiday. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastwards to Washington in support of the Union. However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army were unofficially associated with the state of California, such as the "California 100 Company", due to a majority of their members being from California. At the time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to the state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Indigenous peoples Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which the indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's harsh governmental policies towards its own indigenous people did not improve. As in other American states, many of the native inhabitants were soon forcibly removed from their lands by incoming American settlers such as miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as a free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians" were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1853 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians. There were also massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed. Between 1850 and 1860, the California state government paid around 1.5million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias whose purpose was to protect settlers from the indigenous populations. In later decades, the native population was placed in reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from the government to sustain the populations living on them. As a result, the rise of California was a calamity for the native inhabitants. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo, have described the actions of the California government as a genocide. 1900–present In the twentieth century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to the US and California specifically to attempt to purchase and own land in the state. However, the state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act, excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps such as at Tule Lake and Manzanar. In 2020, California officially apologized for this internment. Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6.0% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 89.5% non-Hispanic white. To meet the population's needs, major engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts; the Oroville and Shasta Dams; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built across the state. The state government also adopted the California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop a highly efficient system of public education. Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's wide variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 8.7 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking third (behind New York and Michigan) among the 48 states. California however easily ranked first in production of military ships during the war (transport, cargo, [merchant ships] such as Liberty ships, Victory ships, and warships) at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. After World War II, California's economy greatly expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War. Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in California instead of leaving the state, and develop a high-tech region in the area now known as Silicon Valley. As a result of these efforts, California is regarded as a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the United States center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust, California had the fifth-largest economy in the world among nations. Yet since 1991, and starting in the late 1980s in Southern California, California has seen a net loss of domestic migrants in most years. This is often referred to by the media as the California exodus. In the mid and late twentieth century, a number of race-related incidents occurred in the state. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to violent riots, such as the 1965 Watts riots and 1992 Rodney King riots. California was also the hub of the Black Panther Party, a group known for arming African Americans to combat perceived racial injustice. Additionally, Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 1970s. During the 20th century, two great disasters happened in California. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain the deadliest in U.S history. Although air pollution problems have been reduced, health problems associated with pollution have continued. The brown haze known as "smog" has been substantially abated after the passage of federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust. An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts, soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism. Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase; a modest home which in the 1960s cost $25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses they never intended to live in, expecting to make a huge profit in a matter of months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as everyone assumed the prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007-8 as housing prices began to crash and the boom years ended. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared as many financial institutions and investors were badly hurt. In the twenty-first century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred in the state. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive. Geography California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas. California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California, comprising the ten southernmost counties, and Northern California, comprising the 48 northernmost counties. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and it shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America, alongside Baja California Sur). In the middle of the state lies the California Central Valley, bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland. Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as the watershed of the Sacramento River, while the southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley is the watershed for the San Joaquin River. Both valleys derive their names from the rivers that flow through them. With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained deep enough for several inland cities to be seaports. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a critical water supply hub for the state. Water is diverted from the delta and through an extensive network of pumps and canals that traverse nearly the length of the state, to the Central Valley and the State Water Projects and other needs. Water from the Delta provides drinking water for nearly 23million people, almost two-thirds of the state's population as well as water for farmers on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley. Suisun Bay lies at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. The water is drained by the Carquinez Strait, which flows into San Pablo Bay, a northern extension of San Francisco Bay, which then connects to the Pacific Ocean via the Golden Gate strait. The Channel Islands are located off the Southern coast, while the Farallon Islands lie west of San Francisco. The Sierra Nevada (Spanish for "snowy range") includes the highest peak in the contiguous 48 states, Mount Whitney, at . The range embraces Yosemite Valley, famous for its glacially carved domes, and Sequoia National Park, home to the giant sequoia trees, the largest living organisms on Earth, and the deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra Nevada are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential migratory bird habitat. In the western part of the state is Clear Lake, the largest freshwater lake by area entirely in California. Although Lake Tahoe is larger, it is divided by the California/Nevada border. The Sierra Nevada falls to Arctic temperatures in winter and has several dozen small glaciers, including Palisade Glacier, the southernmost glacier in the United States. The Tulare Lake was the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. A remnant of Pleistocene-era Lake Corcoran, Tulare Lake dried up by the early 20th century after its tributary rivers were diverted for agricultural irrigation and municipal water uses. About 45 percent of the state's total surface area is covered by forests, and California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Many of the trees in the California White Mountains are the oldest in the world; an individual bristlecone pine is over 5,000 years old. In the south is a large inland salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave; to the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest and hottest place in North America, the Badwater Basin at . The horizontal distance from the bottom of Death Valley to the top of Mount Whitney is less than . Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with routine extreme high temperatures during the summer. The southeastern border of California with Arizona is entirely formed by the Colorado River, from which the southern part of the state gets about half of its water. A majority of California's cities are located in either the San Francisco Bay Area or the Sacramento metropolitan area in Northern California; or the Los Angeles area, the Inland Empire, or the San Diego metropolitan area in Southern California. The Los Angeles Area, the Bay Area, and the San Diego metropolitan area are among several major metropolitan areas along the California coast. As part of the Ring of Fire, California is subject to tsunamis, floods, droughts, Santa Ana winds, wildfires, landslides on steep terrain, and has several volcanoes. It has many earthquakes due to several faults running through the state, the largest being the San Andreas Fault. About 37,000 earthquakes are recorded each year, but most are too small to be felt. Climate Although most of the state has a Mediterranean climate, due to the state's large size the climate ranges from polar to subtropical. The cool California Current offshore often creates summer fog near the coast. Farther inland, there are colder winters and hotter summers. The maritime moderation results in the shoreline summertime temperatures of Los Angeles and San Francisco being the coolest of all major metropolitan areas of the United States and uniquely cool compared to areas on the same latitude in the interior and on the east coast of the North American continent. Even the San Diego shoreline bordering Mexico is cooler in summer than most areas in the contiguous United States. Just a few miles inland, summer temperature extremes are significantly higher, with downtown Los Angeles being several degrees warmer than at the coast. The same microclimate phenomenon is seen in the climate of the Bay Area, where areas sheltered from the sea experience significantly hotter summers than nearby areas closer to the ocean. Northern parts of the state have more rain than the south. California's mountain ranges also influence the climate: some of the rainiest parts of the state are west-facing mountain slopes. Northwestern California has a temperate climate, and the Central Valley has a Mediterranean climate but with greater temperature extremes than the coast. The high mountains, including the Sierra Nevada, have an alpine climate with snow in winter and mild to moderate heat in summer. California's mountains produce rain shadows on the eastern side, creating extensive deserts. The higher elevation deserts of eastern California have hot summers and cold winters, while the low deserts east of the Southern California mountains have hot summers and nearly frostless mild winters. Death Valley, a desert with large expanses below sea level, is considered the hottest location in the world; the highest temperature in the world, , was recorded there on July 10, 1913. The lowest temperature in California was on January 20, 1937, in Boca. The table below lists average temperatures for January and August in a selection of places throughout the state; some highly populated and some not. This includes the relatively cool summers of the Humboldt Bay region around Eureka, the extreme heat of Death Valley, and the mountain climate of Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada. Ecology California is one of the richest and most diverse parts of the world, and includes some of the most endangered ecological communities. California is part of the Nearctic realm and spans a number of terrestrial ecoregions. California's large number of endemic species includes relict species, which have died out elsewhere, such as the Catalina ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus). Many other endemics originated through differentiation or adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions such as the California lilac (Ceanothus). Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat. Flora and fauna California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora: the largest trees, the tallest trees, and the oldest trees. California's native grasses are perennial plants. After European contact, these were generally replaced by invasive species of European annual grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a characteristic golden-brown in summer. Because California has the greatest diversity of climate and terrain, the state has six life zones which are the lower Sonoran Desert; upper Sonoran (foothill regions and some coastal lands), transition (coastal areas and moist northeastern counties); and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic Zones, comprising the state's highest elevations. Plant life in the dry climate of the lower Sonoran zone contains a diversity of native cactus, mesquite, and paloverde. The Joshua tree is found in the Mojave Desert. Flowering plants include the dwarf desert poppy and a variety of asters. Fremont cottonwood and valley oak thrive in the Central Valley. The upper Sonoran zone includes the chaparral belt, characterized by forests of small shrubs, stunted trees, and herbaceous plants. Nemophila, mint, Phacelia, Viola, and the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica, the state flower) also flourish in this zone, along with the lupine, more species of which occur here than anywhere else in the world. The transition zone includes most of California's forests with the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the "big tree" or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), among the oldest living things on earth (some are said to have lived at least 4,000 years). Tanbark oak, California laurel, sugar pine, madrona, broad-leaved maple, and Douglas-fir also grow here. Forest floors are covered with swordfern, alumnroot, barrenwort, and trillium, and there are thickets of huckleberry, azalea, elder, and wild currant. Characteristic wild flowers include varieties of mariposa, tulip, and tiger and leopard lilies. The high elevations of the Canadian zone allow the Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine to thrive. Brushy areas are abundant with dwarf manzanita and ceanothus; the unique Sierra puffball is also found here. Right below the timberline, in the Hudsonian zone, the whitebark, foxtail, and silver pines grow. At about , begins the Arctic zone, a treeless region whose flora include a number of wildflowers, including Sierra primrose, yellow columbine, alpine buttercup, and alpine shooting star. Common plants that have been introduced to the state include the eucalyptus, acacia, pepper tree, geranium, and Scotch broom. The species that are federally classified as endangered are the Contra Costa wallflower, Antioch Dunes evening primrose, Solano grass, San Clemente Island larkspur, salt marsh bird's beak, McDonald's rock-cress, and Santa Barbara Island liveforever. , 85 plant species were listed as threatened or endangered. In the deserts of the lower Sonoran zone, the mammals include the jackrabbit, kangaroo rat, squirrel, and opossum. Common birds include the owl, roadrunner, cactus wren, and various species of hawk. The area's reptilian life include the sidewinder viper, desert tortoise, and horned toad. The upper Sonoran zone boasts mammals such as the antelope, brown-footed woodrat, and ring-tailed cat. Birds unique to this zone are the California thrasher, bushtit, and California condor. In the transition zone, there are Colombian black-tailed deer, black bears, gray foxes, cougars, bobcats, and Roosevelt elk. Reptiles such as the garter snakes and rattlesnakes inhabit the zone. In addition, amphibians such as the water puppy and redwood salamander are common too. Birds such as the kingfisher, chickadee, towhee, and hummingbird thrive here as well. The Canadian zone mammals include the mountain weasel, snowshoe hare, and several species of chipmunks. Conspicuous birds include the blue-fronted jay, mountain chickadee, hermit thrush, American dipper, and Townsend's solitaire. As one ascends into the Hudsonian zone, birds become scarcer. While the gray-crowned rosy finch is the only bird native to the high Arctic region, other bird species such as Anna's hummingbird and Clark's nutcracker. Principal mammals found in this region include the Sierra coney, white-tailed jackrabbit, and the bighorn sheep. , the bighorn sheep was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fauna found throughout several zones are the mule deer, coyote, mountain lion, northern flicker, and several species of hawk and sparrow. Aquatic life in California thrives, from the state's mountain lakes and streams to the rocky Pacific coastline. Numerous trout species are found, among them rainbow, golden, and cutthroat. Migratory species of salmon are common as well. Deep-sea life forms include sea bass, yellowfin tuna, barracuda, and several types of whale. Native to the cliffs of northern California are seals, sea lions, and many types of shorebirds, including migratory species. , 118 California animals were on the federal endangered list; 181 plants were listed as endangered or threatened. Endangered animals include the San Joaquin kitfox, Point Arena mountain beaver, Pacific pocket mouse, salt marsh harvest mouse, Morro Bay kangaroo rat (and five other species of kangaroo rat), Amargosa vole, California least tern, California condor, loggerhead shrike, San Clemente sage sparrow, San Francisco garter snake, five species of salamander, three species of chub, and two species of pupfish. Eleven butterflies are also endangered and two that are threatened are on the federal list. Among threatened animals are the coastal California gnatcatcher, Paiute cutthroat trout, southern sea otter, and northern spotted owl. California has a total of of National Wildlife Refuges. , 123 California animals were listed as either endangered or threatened on the federal list. Also, , 178 species of California plants were listed either as endangered or threatened on this federal list. Rivers The most prominent river system within California is formed by the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, which are fed mostly by snowmelt from the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and respectively drain the north and south halves of the Central Valley. The two rivers join in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, flowing into the Pacific Ocean through San Francisco Bay. Many major tributaries feed into the Sacramento–San Joaquin system, including the Pit River, Feather River and Tuolumne River. The Klamath and Trinity Rivers drain a large area in far northwestern California. The Eel River and Salinas River each drain portions of the California coast, north and south of San Francisco Bay, respectively. The Mojave River is the primary watercourse in the Mojave Desert, and the Santa Ana River drains much of the Transverse Ranges as it bisects Southern California. The Colorado River forms the state's southeast border with Arizona. Most of California's major rivers are dammed as part of two massive water projects: the Central Valley Project, providing water for agriculture in the Central Valley, and the California State Water Project diverting water from northern to southern California. The state's coasts, rivers, and other bodies of water are regulated by the California Coastal Commission. Regions Cities and towns The state has 482 incorporated cities and towns, of which 460 are cities and 22 are towns. Under California law, the terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable; the name of an incorporated municipality in the state can either be "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)". Sacramento became California's first incorporated city on February 27, 1850. San Jose, San Diego, and Benicia tied for California's second incorporated city, each receiving incorporation on March 27, 1850. Jurupa Valley became the state's most recent and 482nd incorporated municipality, on July 1, 2011. The majority of these cities and towns are within one of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Riverside-San Bernardino Area, the San Diego metropolitan area, or the Sacramento metropolitan area. Demographics Population The United States Census Bureau reported that the population of California was 39,538,223 on April 1, 2020, a 6.13% increase since the 2010 United States census. The population was projected to reach forty million by 2020. Between 2000 and 2009, there was a natural increase of 3,090,016 (5,058,440 births minus 2,179,958 deaths). During this time period, international migration produced a net increase of 1,816,633 people while domestic migration produced a net decrease of 1,509,708, resulting in a net in-migration of 306,925 people. The state of California's own statistics show a population of 38,292,687 for January 1, 2009. However, according to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, since 1990 almost 3.4million Californians have moved to other states, with most leaving to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. According to the Department of Finance, California's population declined by 182,083 people in 2020, the first time that there has been a net decrease in population since 1900. Within the Western hemisphere California is the second most populous sub-national administrative entity (behind the state of São Paulo in Brazil) and third most populous sub-national entity of any kind outside Asia (in which wider category it also ranks behind England in the United Kingdom, which has no administrative functions). California's population is greater than that of all but 34 countries of the world. The Greater Los Angeles Area is the 2nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States, after the New York metropolitan area, while Los Angeles, with nearly half the population of New York City, is the second-largest city in the United States. Conversely, San Francisco, with nearly one-quarter the population density of Manhattan, is the most densely populated city in California and one of the most densely populated cities in the United States. Also, Los Angeles County has held the title of most populous United States county for decades, and it alone is more populous than 42 United States states. Including Los Angeles, four of the top 20 most populous cities in the U.S. are in California: Los Angeles (2nd), San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), and San Francisco (17th). The center of population of California is located four miles west-southwest of the city of Shafter, Kern County. As of 2018, the average life expectancy in California was 80.8 years, above the national average of 78.7, which is the second highest in the country. Starting in the year 2010, for the first time since the California Gold Rush, California-born residents make up the majority of the state's population. Along with the rest of the United States, California's immigration pattern has also shifted over the course of the late 2000s to early 2010s. Immigration from Latin American countries has dropped significantly with most immigrants now coming from Asia. In total for 2011, there were 277,304 immigrants. Fifty-seven percent came from Asian countries versus 22% from Latin American countries. Net immigration from Mexico, previously the most common country of origin for new immigrants, has dropped to zero / less than zero since more Mexican nationals are departing for their home country than immigrating. As a result, it is projected that Hispanic citizens will constitute 49% of the population by 2060, instead of the previously projected 2050, due primarily to domestic births. The state's population of undocumented immigrants has been shrinking in recent years, due to increased enforcement and decreased job opportunities for lower-skilled workers. The number of migrants arrested attempting to cross the Mexican border in the Southwest decreased from a high of 1.1million in 2005 to 367,000 in 2011. Despite these recent trends, illegal aliens constituted an estimated 7.3 percent of the state's population, the third highest percentage of any state in the country, totaling nearly 2.6million. In particular, illegal immigrants tended to be concentrated in Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, Imperial, and Napa Counties—the latter four of which have significant agricultural industries that depend on manual labor. More than half of illegal immigrants originate from Mexico. The state of California and some California cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, have adopted sanctuary policies. Race and ethnicity According to the United States Census Bureau in 2018 the population self-identified as (alone or | a number of terrestrial ecoregions. California's large number of endemic species includes relict species, which have died out elsewhere, such as the Catalina ironwood (Lyonothamnus floribundus). Many other endemics originated through differentiation or adaptive radiation, whereby multiple species develop from a common ancestor to take advantage of diverse ecological conditions such as the California lilac (Ceanothus). Many California endemics have become endangered, as urbanization, logging, overgrazing, and the introduction of exotic species have encroached on their habitat. Flora and fauna California boasts several superlatives in its collection of flora: the largest trees, the tallest trees, and the oldest trees. California's native grasses are perennial plants. After European contact, these were generally replaced by invasive species of European annual grasses; and, in modern times, California's hills turn a characteristic golden-brown in summer. Because California has the greatest diversity of climate and terrain, the state has six life zones which are the lower Sonoran Desert; upper Sonoran (foothill regions and some coastal lands), transition (coastal areas and moist northeastern counties); and the Canadian, Hudsonian, and Arctic Zones, comprising the state's highest elevations. Plant life in the dry climate of the lower Sonoran zone contains a diversity of native cactus, mesquite, and paloverde. The Joshua tree is found in the Mojave Desert. Flowering plants include the dwarf desert poppy and a variety of asters. Fremont cottonwood and valley oak thrive in the Central Valley. The upper Sonoran zone includes the chaparral belt, characterized by forests of small shrubs, stunted trees, and herbaceous plants. Nemophila, mint, Phacelia, Viola, and the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica, the state flower) also flourish in this zone, along with the lupine, more species of which occur here than anywhere else in the world. The transition zone includes most of California's forests with the redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) and the "big tree" or giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum), among the oldest living things on earth (some are said to have lived at least 4,000 years). Tanbark oak, California laurel, sugar pine, madrona, broad-leaved maple, and Douglas-fir also grow here. Forest floors are covered with swordfern, alumnroot, barrenwort, and trillium, and there are thickets of huckleberry, azalea, elder, and wild currant. Characteristic wild flowers include varieties of mariposa, tulip, and tiger and leopard lilies. The high elevations of the Canadian zone allow the Jeffrey pine, red fir, and lodgepole pine to thrive. Brushy areas are abundant with dwarf manzanita and ceanothus; the unique Sierra puffball is also found here. Right below the timberline, in the Hudsonian zone, the whitebark, foxtail, and silver pines grow. At about , begins the Arctic zone, a treeless region whose flora include a number of wildflowers, including Sierra primrose, yellow columbine, alpine buttercup, and alpine shooting star. Common plants that have been introduced to the state include the eucalyptus, acacia, pepper tree, geranium, and Scotch broom. The species that are federally classified as endangered are the Contra Costa wallflower, Antioch Dunes evening primrose, Solano grass, San Clemente Island larkspur, salt marsh bird's beak, McDonald's rock-cress, and Santa Barbara Island liveforever. , 85 plant species were listed as threatened or endangered. In the deserts of the lower Sonoran zone, the mammals include the jackrabbit, kangaroo rat, squirrel, and opossum. Common birds include the owl, roadrunner, cactus wren, and various species of hawk. The area's reptilian life include the sidewinder viper, desert tortoise, and horned toad. The upper Sonoran zone boasts mammals such as the antelope, brown-footed woodrat, and ring-tailed cat. Birds unique to this zone are the California thrasher, bushtit, and California condor. In the transition zone, there are Colombian black-tailed deer, black bears, gray foxes, cougars, bobcats, and Roosevelt elk. Reptiles such as the garter snakes and rattlesnakes inhabit the zone. In addition, amphibians such as the water puppy and redwood salamander are common too. Birds such as the kingfisher, chickadee, towhee, and hummingbird thrive here as well. The Canadian zone mammals include the mountain weasel, snowshoe hare, and several species of chipmunks. Conspicuous birds include the blue-fronted jay, mountain chickadee, hermit thrush, American dipper, and Townsend's solitaire. As one ascends into the Hudsonian zone, birds become scarcer. While the gray-crowned rosy finch is the only bird native to the high Arctic region, other bird species such as Anna's hummingbird and Clark's nutcracker. Principal mammals found in this region include the Sierra coney, white-tailed jackrabbit, and the bighorn sheep. , the bighorn sheep was listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fauna found throughout several zones are the mule deer, coyote, mountain lion, northern flicker, and several species of hawk and sparrow. Aquatic life in California thrives, from the state's mountain lakes and streams to the rocky Pacific coastline. Numerous trout species are found, among them rainbow, golden, and cutthroat. Migratory species of salmon are common as well. Deep-sea life forms include sea bass, yellowfin tuna, barracuda, and several types of whale. Native to the cliffs of northern California are seals, sea lions, and many types of shorebirds, including migratory species. , 118 California animals were on the federal endangered list; 181 plants were listed as endangered or threatened. Endangered animals include the San Joaquin kitfox, Point Arena mountain beaver, Pacific pocket mouse, salt marsh harvest mouse, Morro Bay kangaroo rat (and five other species of kangaroo rat), Amargosa vole, California least tern, California condor, loggerhead shrike, San Clemente sage sparrow, San Francisco garter snake, five species of salamander, three species of chub, and two species of pupfish. Eleven butterflies are also endangered and two that are threatened are on the federal list. Among threatened animals are the coastal California gnatcatcher, Paiute cutthroat trout, southern sea otter, and northern spotted owl. California has a total of of National Wildlife Refuges. , 123 California animals were listed as either endangered or threatened on the federal list. Also, , 178 species of California plants were listed either as endangered or threatened on this federal list. Rivers The most prominent river system within California is formed by the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, which are fed mostly by snowmelt from the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and respectively drain the north and south halves of the Central Valley. The two rivers join in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, flowing into the Pacific Ocean through San Francisco Bay. Many major tributaries feed into the Sacramento–San Joaquin system, including the Pit River, Feather River and Tuolumne River. The Klamath and Trinity Rivers drain a large area in far northwestern California. The Eel River and Salinas River each drain portions of the California coast, north and south of San Francisco Bay, respectively. The Mojave River is the primary watercourse in the Mojave Desert, and the Santa Ana River drains much of the Transverse Ranges as it bisects Southern California. The Colorado River forms the state's southeast border with Arizona. Most of California's major rivers are dammed as part of two massive water projects: the Central Valley Project, providing water for agriculture in the Central Valley, and the California State Water Project diverting water from northern to southern California. The state's coasts, rivers, and other bodies of water are regulated by the California Coastal Commission. Regions Cities and towns The state has 482 incorporated cities and towns, of which 460 are cities and 22 are towns. Under California law, the terms "city" and "town" are explicitly interchangeable; the name of an incorporated municipality in the state can either be "City of (Name)" or "Town of (Name)". Sacramento became California's first incorporated city on February 27, 1850. San Jose, San Diego, and Benicia tied for California's second incorporated city, each receiving incorporation on March 27, 1850. Jurupa Valley became the state's most recent and 482nd incorporated municipality, on July 1, 2011. The majority of these cities and towns are within one of five metropolitan areas: the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, the San Francisco Bay Area, the Riverside-San Bernardino Area, the San Diego metropolitan area, or the Sacramento metropolitan area. Demographics Population The United States Census Bureau reported that the population of California was 39,538,223 on April 1, 2020, a 6.13% increase since the 2010 United States census. The population was projected to reach forty million by 2020. Between 2000 and 2009, there was a natural increase of 3,090,016 (5,058,440 births minus 2,179,958 deaths). During this time period, international migration produced a net increase of 1,816,633 people while domestic migration produced a net decrease of 1,509,708, resulting in a net in-migration of 306,925 people. The state of California's own statistics show a population of 38,292,687 for January 1, 2009. However, according to the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, since 1990 almost 3.4million Californians have moved to other states, with most leaving to Texas, Nevada, and Arizona. According to the Department of Finance, California's population declined by 182,083 people in 2020, the first time that there has been a net decrease in population since 1900. Within the Western hemisphere California is the second most populous sub-national administrative entity (behind the state of São Paulo in Brazil) and third most populous sub-national entity of any kind outside Asia (in which wider category it also ranks behind England in the United Kingdom, which has no administrative functions). California's population is greater than that of all but 34 countries of the world. The Greater Los Angeles Area is the 2nd-largest metropolitan area in the United States, after the New York metropolitan area, while Los Angeles, with nearly half the population of New York City, is the second-largest city in the United States. Conversely, San Francisco, with nearly one-quarter the population density of Manhattan, is the most densely populated city in California and one of the most densely populated cities in the United States. Also, Los Angeles County has held the title of most populous United States county for decades, and it alone is more populous than 42 United States states. Including Los Angeles, four of the top 20 most populous cities in the U.S. are in California: Los Angeles (2nd), San Diego (8th), San Jose (10th), and San Francisco (17th). The center of population of California is located four miles west-southwest of the city of Shafter, Kern County. As of 2018, the average life expectancy in California was 80.8 years, above the national average of 78.7, which is the second highest in the country. Starting in the year 2010, for the first time since the California Gold Rush, California-born residents make up the majority of the state's population. Along with the rest of the United States, California's immigration pattern has also shifted over the course of the late 2000s to early 2010s. Immigration from Latin American countries has dropped significantly with most immigrants now coming from Asia. In total for 2011, there were 277,304 immigrants. Fifty-seven percent came from Asian countries versus 22% from Latin American countries. Net immigration from Mexico, previously the most common country of origin for new immigrants, has dropped to zero / less than zero since more Mexican nationals are departing for their home country than immigrating. As a result, it is projected that Hispanic citizens will constitute 49% of the population by 2060, instead of the previously projected 2050, due primarily to domestic births. The state's population of undocumented immigrants has been shrinking in recent years, due to increased enforcement and decreased job opportunities for lower-skilled workers. The number of migrants arrested attempting to cross the Mexican border in the Southwest decreased from a high of 1.1million in 2005 to 367,000 in 2011. Despite these recent trends, illegal aliens constituted an estimated 7.3 percent of the state's population, the third highest percentage of any state in the country, totaling nearly 2.6million. In particular, illegal immigrants tended to be concentrated in Los Angeles, Monterey, San Benito, Imperial, and Napa Counties—the latter four of which have significant agricultural industries that depend on manual labor. More than half of illegal immigrants originate from Mexico. The state of California and some California cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco, have adopted sanctuary policies. Race and ethnicity According to the United States Census Bureau in 2018 the population self-identified as (alone or in combination): 72.1% White (including Hispanic Whites), 36.8% non-Hispanic whites, 15.3% Asian, 6.5% Black or African American, 1.6% Native American and Alaska Native, 0.5% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and 3.9% two or more races. By ethnicity, in 2018 the population was 60.7% non-Hispanic (of any race) and 39.3% Hispanic or Latino (of any race). Hispanics are the largest single ethnic group in California. Non-Hispanic whites constituted 36.8% of the state's population. Californios are the Hispanic residents native to California, who make up the Spanish-speaking community that has existed in California since 1542, of varying Mexican American/Chicano, Criollo Spaniard, and Mestizo origin. , 75.1% of California's population younger than age 1 were minorities, meaning they had at least one parent who was not non-Hispanic white (white Hispanics are counted as minorities). In terms of total numbers, California has the largest population of White Americans in the United States, an estimated 22,200,000 residents. The state has the 5th largest population of African Americans in the United States, an estimated 2,250,000 residents. California's Asian American population is estimated at 4.4million, constituting a third of the nation's total. California's Native American population of 285,000 is the most of any state. According to estimates from 2011, California has the largest minority population in the United States by numbers, making up 60% of the state population. Over the past 25 years, the population of non-Hispanic whites has declined, while Hispanic and Asian populations have grown. Between 1970 and 2011, non-Hispanic whites declined from 80% of the state's population to 40%, while Hispanics grew from 32% in 2000 to 38% in 2011. It is currently projected that Hispanics will rise to 49% of the population by 2060, primarily due to domestic births rather than immigration. With the decline of immigration from Latin America, Asian Americans now constitute the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in California; this growth is primarily driven by immigration from China, India and the Philippines, respectively. Languages English serves as California's de jure and de facto official language. In 2010, the Modern Language Association of America estimated that 57.02% (19,429,309) of California residents age5 and older spoke only English at home, while 42.98% spoke another language at home. According to the 2007 American Community Survey, 73% of people who speak a language other than English at home are able to speak English "well" or "very well," while 9.8% of them could not speak English at all. Like most U.S. states (32 out of 50), California law enshrines English as its official language, and has done so since the passage of Proposition 63 by California voters. Various government agencies do, and are often required to, furnish documents in the various languages needed to reach their intended audiences. In total, 16 languages other than English were spoken as primary languages at home by more than 100,000 persons, more than any other state in the nation. New York State, in second place, had nine languages other than English spoken by more than 100,000 persons. The most common language spoken besides English was Spanish, spoken by 28.46% (9,696,638) of the population. With Asia contributing most of California's new immigrants, California had the highest concentration nationwide of Vietnamese and Chinese speakers, the second highest concentration of Korean, and the third highest concentration of Tagalog speakers. California has historically been one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world, with more than 70 indigenous languages derived from 64 root languages in six language families. A survey conducted between 2007 and 2009 identified 23 different indigenous languages among California farmworkers. All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization. As a result of the state's increasing diversity and migration from other areas across the country and around the globe, linguists began noticing a noteworthy set of emerging characteristics of spoken American English in California since the late 20th century. This variety, known as California English, has a vowel shift and several other phonological processes that are different from varieties of American English used in other regions of the United States. Religion The largest religious denominations by number of adherents as a percentage of California's population in 2014 were the Catholic Church with 28 percent, Evangelical Protestants with 20 percent, and Mainline Protestants with 10 percent. Together, all kinds of Protestants accounted for 32 percent. Those unaffiliated with any religion represented 27 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions is 1% Muslim, 2% Hindu and 2% Buddhist. This is a change from 2008, when the population identified their religion with the Catholic Church with 31 percent; Evangelical Protestants with 18 percent; and Mainline Protestants with 14 percent. In 2008, those unaffiliated with any religion represented 21 percent of the population. The breakdown of other religions in 2008 was 0.5% Muslim, 1% Hindu and 2% Buddhist. The American Jewish Year Book placed the total Jewish population of California at about 1,194,190 in 2006. According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) the largest denominations by adherents in 2010 were the Catholic Church with 10,233,334; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 763,818; and the Southern Baptist Convention with 489,953. The first priests to come to California were Catholic missionaries from Spain. Catholics founded 21 missions along the California coast, as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco. California continues to have a large Catholic population due to the large numbers of Mexicans and Central Americans living within its borders. California has twelve dioceses and two archdioceses, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and the Archdiocese of San Francisco, the former being the largest archdiocese in the United States. A Pew Research Center survey revealed that California is somewhat less religious than the rest of the states: 62 percent of Californians say they are "absolutely certain" of their belief in God, while in the nation 71 percent say so. The survey also revealed 48 percent of Californians say religion is "very important", compared to 56 percent nationally. Culture The culture of California is a Western culture and most clearly has its modern roots in the culture of the United States, but also, historically, many Hispanic Californio and Mexican influences. As a border and coastal state, Californian culture has been greatly influenced by several large immigrant populations, especially those from Latin America and Asia. California has long been a subject of interest in the public mind and has often been promoted by its boosters as a kind of paradise. In the early 20th century, fueled by the efforts of state and local boosters, many Americans saw the Golden State as an ideal resort destination, sunny and dry all year round with easy access to the ocean and mountains. In the 1960s, popular music groups such as The Beach Boys promoted the image of Californians as laid-back, tanned beach-goers. The California Gold Rush of the 1850s is still seen as a symbol of California's economic style, which tends to generate technology, social, entertainment, and economic fads and booms and related busts. Mass media and entertainment Hollywood and the rest of the Los Angeles area is a major global center for entertainment, with the U.S. film industry's "Big Five" major film studios (Columbia, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros.) being based in or around the area. The four major American television broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) all have production facilities and offices in the state. All four, plus the two major Spanish-language networks (Telemundo and Univision) each have at least two owned-and-operated TV stations in California, one in Los Angeles and one in the San Francisco Bay Area. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to several prominent internet media and social media companies, including three of the "Big Five" technology companies (Apple, Facebook, and Google) as well as other services such as Netflix, Pandora Radio, Twitter, Yahoo!, and YouTube. One of the oldest radio stations in the United States still in existence, KCBS (AM) in the Bay Area, was founded in 1909. Universal Music Group, one of the "Big Four" record labels, is based in Santa Monica. California is also the birthplace of several international music genres, including the Bakersfield sound, Bay Area thrash metal, g-funk, nu metal, stoner rock, surf music, West Coast hip hop, and West Coast jazz. Sports California has nineteen major professional sports league franchises, far more than any other state. The San Francisco Bay Area has six major league teams spread in its three major cities: San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland, while the Greater Los Angeles Area is home to ten major league franchises. San Diego and Sacramento each have one major league team. The NFL Super Bowl has been hosted in California 12 times at four different stadiums: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, Stanford Stadium, and San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. A thirteenth, Super Bowl LVI, was held at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood on February 13, 2022. California has long had many respected collegiate sports programs. California is home to the oldest college bowl game, the annual Rose Bowl, among others. California is the only U.S. state to have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. The 1932 and 1984 summer games were held in Los Angeles. Squaw Valley Ski Resort in the Lake Tahoe region hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Los Angeles will host the 2028 Summer Olympics, marking the fourth time that California will have hosted the Olympic Games. Multiple games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup took place in California, with the Rose Bowl hosting eight matches (including the final), while Stanford Stadium hosted six matches. Education Public secondary education consists of high schools that teach elective courses in trades, languages, and liberal arts with tracks for gifted, college-bound and industrial arts students. California's public educational system is supported by a unique constitutional amendment that requires a minimum annual funding level for grades K–12 and community colleges that grows with the economy and student enrollment figures. In 2016, California's K–12 public school per-pupil spending was ranked 22nd in the nation ($11,500 per student vs. $11,800 for the U.S. average). For 2012, California's K–12 public schools ranked 48th in the number of employees per student, at 0.102 (the U.S. average was 0.137), while paying the 7th most per employee, $49,000 (the U.S. average was $39,000). A 2007 study concluded that California's public school system was "broken" in that it suffered from overregulation. California public postsecondary education is organized into three separate systems: The state's public research university system is the University of California (UC). As of fall 2011, the University of California had a combined student body of 234,464 students. There are ten UC campuses. Nine are general campuses offering both undergraduate and graduate programs which culminate in the award of bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and doctorates. There is one specialized campus, UC San Francisco, which is entirely dedicated to graduate education in health care, and is home to the UCSF Medical Center, the highest ranked hospital in California. The system was originally intended to accept the top one-eighth of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become even more selective. The UC system historically held exclusive authority to award the doctorate, but this has since changed and CSU now has limited statutory authorization to award a handful of types of doctoral degrees independently of UC. The California State University (CSU) system has almost 430,000 students. The CSU (which takes the definite article in its abbreviated form, while UC does not) was originally intended to accept the top one-third of California high school students, but several of the campuses have become much more selective. The CSU was originally authorized to award only bachelor's and master's degrees, and could award the doctorate only as part of joint programs with UC or private universities. Since then, CSU has been granted the authority to independently award several doctoral degrees (in specific academic fields that do not intrude upon UC's traditional jurisdiction). The California Community Colleges system provides lower-division coursework culminating in the associate degree, as well as basic skills and workforce training culminating in various kinds of certificates. It is the largest network of higher education in the U.S., composed of 112 colleges serving a student population of over 2.6million. California is also home to such notable private universities as Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the California Institute of Technology, and the Claremont Colleges. California has hundreds of other private colleges and universities, including many religious and special-purpose institutions. Twinned regions California has twinning arrangements with the region of Catalonia in Spain and with the Province of Alberta in Canada. Economy California's economy ranks among the largest in the world. , the gross state product (GSP) was $3.2trillion ($80,600 per capita), the largest in the United States. California is responsible for one seventh of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP). , California's nominal GDP is larger than all but four countries (the United States, China, Japan, and Germany). In terms of Purchasing power parity (PPP), it is larger than all but eight countries (the United States, China, India, Japan, Germany, Russia, Brazil and Indonesia). California's economy is larger than Africa and Australia and is almost as large as South America. The state recorded total, non-farm employment of 16,677,800 among 966,224 employer establishments (). The five largest sectors of employment in California are trade, transportation, and utilities; government; professional and business services; education and health services; and leisure and hospitality. In output, the five largest sectors are financial services, followed by trade, transportation, and utilities; education and health services; government; and manufacturing. California has an unemployment rate of 7.3% . California's economy is dependent on trade and international related commerce accounts for about one-quarter of the state's economy. In 2008, California exported $144billion worth of goods, up from $134billion in 2007 and $127billion in 2006. Computers and electronic products are California's top export, accounting for 42 percent of all the state's exports in 2008. Agriculture is an important sector in California's economy. Farming-related sales more than quadrupled over the past three decades, from $7.3billion in 1974 to nearly $31billion in 2004. This increase has occurred despite a 15 percent decline in acreage devoted to farming during the period, and water supply suffering from chronic instability. Factors contributing to the growth in sales-per-acre include more intensive use of active farmlands and technological improvements in crop production. In 2008, California's 81,500 farms and ranches generated $36.2billion products revenue. In 2011, that number grew to $43.5billion products revenue. The Agriculture sector accounts for two percent of the state's GDP and employs around three percent of its total workforce. According to the USDA in 2011, the three largest California agricultural products by value were milk and cream, shelled almonds, and grapes. Per capita GDP in 2007 was $38,956, ranking eleventh in the nation. Per capita income varies widely by geographic region and profession. The Central Valley is the most impoverished, with migrant farm workers making less than minimum wage. According to a 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, the San Joaquin Valley was characterized as one of the most economically depressed regions in the United States, on par with the region of Appalachia. Using the supplemental poverty measure, California has a poverty rate of 23.5%, the highest of any state in the country. However, using the official measure the poverty rate was only 13.3% as of 2017. Many coastal cities include some of the wealthiest per-capita areas in the United States. The high-technology sectors in Northern California, specifically Silicon Valley, in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties, have emerged from the economic downturn caused by the dot-com bust. In 2019, there were 1,042,027 millionaire households in the state, more than any other state in the nation. In 2010, California residents were ranked first among the states with the best average credit score of 754. State finances State spending increased from $56billion in 1998 to $127billion in 2011. California, with 12% of the United States population, has one-third of the nation's welfare recipients. California has the third highest per capita spending on welfare among the states, as well as the highest spending on welfare at $6.67billion. In January 2011, California's total debt was at least $265billion. On June 27, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed a balanced budget (no deficit) for the state, its first in decades; however the state's debt remains at $132billion. With the passage of Proposition 30 in 2012 and Proposition 55 in 2016, California now levies a 13.3% maximum marginal income tax rate with ten tax brackets, ranging from 1% at the bottom tax bracket of $0 annual individual income to 13.3% for annual individual income over $1,000,000 (though the top brackets are only temporary until Proposition 55 expires at the end of 2030). While Proposition 30 also enacted a minimum state sales tax of 7.5%, this sales tax increase was not extended by Proposition 55 and reverted to a previous minimum state sales tax rate of 7.25% in 2017. Local governments can and do levy additional sales taxes in addition to this minimum rate. All real property is taxable annually; the ad valorem tax is based on the property's fair market value at the time of purchase or the value of new construction. Property tax increases are capped at 2% annually or the rate of inflation (whichever is lower), per Proposition 13. Infrastructure Energy Because it is the most populous state in the United States, California is one of the country's largest users of energy. However, because of its high energy rates, conservation mandates, mild weather in the largest population centers and strong environmental movement, its per capita energy use is one of the smallest of any state in the United States. Due to the high electricity demand, California imports more electricity than any other state, primarily hydroelectric power from states in the Pacific Northwest (via Path 15 and Path 66) and coal- and natural gas-fired production from the desert Southwest via Path 46. As a result of the state's strong environmental movement, California has some of the most aggressive renewable energy goals in the United States, with a target for California to obtain a third of its electricity from renewables by 2020. Currently, several solar power plants such as the Solar Energy Generating Systems facility are located in the Mojave Desert. California's wind farms include Altamont Pass, San Gorgonio Pass, and Tehachapi Pass. The Tehachapi area is also where the Tehachapi Energy Storage Project is located. Several dams across the state provide hydro-electric power. It would be possible to convert the total supply to 100% renewable energy, including heating, cooling and mobility, by 2050. The state's crude oil and natural gas deposits are located in the Central Valley and along the coast, including the large Midway-Sunset Oil Field. Natural gas-fired power plants typically account for more than one-half of state electricity generation. California is also home to two major nuclear power plants: Diablo Canyon and San Onofre, the latter having been shut down in 2013. More than 1,700tons of radioactive waste are stored at San Onofre, which sits in an area where there is a record of past tsunamis. Voters banned the approval of new nuclear power plants since the late 1970s because of concerns over radioactive waste disposal. In addition, several cities such as Oakland, Berkeley and Davis have declared themselves as nuclear-free zones. Transportation California's vast terrain is connected by an extensive system of controlled-access highways ('freeways'), limited-access roads ('expressways'), and highways. California is known for its car culture, giving California's cities a reputation for severe traffic congestion. Construction and maintenance of state roads and statewide transportation planning are primarily the responsibility of the California Department of Transportation, nicknamed "Caltrans". The rapidly growing population of the state is straining all of its transportation networks, and California has some of the worst roads in the United States. The Reason Foundation's 19th Annual Report on the Performance of State Highway Systems ranked California's highways the third-worst of any state, with Alaska second, and Rhode Island first. The state has been a pioneer in road construction. One of the state's more visible landmarks, the Golden Gate Bridge, was the longest suspension bridge main span in the world at between 1937 (when it opened) and 1964. With its orange paint and panoramic views of the bay, this highway bridge is a popular tourist attraction and also accommodates pedestrians and bicyclists. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (often abbreviated the "Bay Bridge"), completed in 1936, transports about 280,000 vehicles per day on two-decks. Its two sections meet at Yerba Buena Island through the world's largest diameter transportation bore tunnel, at wide by high. The Arroyo Seco Parkway, connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, opened in 1940 as the first freeway in the Western United States. It was later extended south to the Four Level Interchange in downtown Los Angeles, regarded as the first stack interchange ever built. Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the 4th busiest airport in the world in 2018, and San Francisco International Airport (SFO), the 25th busiest airport in the world in 2018, are major hubs for trans-Pacific and transcontinental traffic. There are about a dozen important commercial airports and many more general aviation airports throughout the state. California also has several important seaports. The giant seaport complex formed by the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach in Southern California is the largest in the country and responsible for handling about a fourth of all container cargo traffic in the United States. The Port of Oakland, fourth largest in the nation, also handles trade entering from the Pacific Rim to the rest of the country. The Port of Stockton is the farthest inland port on the west coast of the United States. The California Highway Patrol is the largest statewide police agency in the United States in employment with more than 10,000 employees. They are responsible for providing any police-sanctioned service to anyone on California's state-maintained highways and on state property. The California Department of Motor Vehicles is by far the largest in North America. By the end of 2009, the California DMV had 26,555,006 driver's licenses and ID cards on file. In 2010, there were 1.17million new vehicle registrations in force. Inter-city rail travel is provided by Amtrak California; the three routes, the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner, and San Joaquin, are funded by Caltrans. These services are the busiest intercity rail lines in the United States outside the Northeast Corridor and ridership is continuing to set records. The routes are becoming increasingly popular over flying, especially on the LAX-SFO route. Integrated subway and light rail networks are found in Los Angeles (Metro Rail) and San Francisco (MUNI Metro). Light rail systems are also found in San Jose (VTA), San Diego (San Diego Trolley), Sacramento (RT Light Rail), and Northern San Diego County (Sprinter). Furthermore, commuter rail networks serve the San Francisco Bay Area (ACE, BART, Caltrain, SMART), Greater Los Angeles (Metrolink), and San Diego County (Coaster). The California High-Speed Rail Authority was created in 1996 by the state to implement an extensive rail system. Construction was approved by the voters during the November 2008 general election, with the first phase of construction estimated to cost $64.2billion. Nearly all counties operate bus lines, and many cities operate their own city bus lines as well. Intercity bus travel is provided by Greyhound, Megabus, and Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach. Water California's interconnected water system is the world's largest, managing over of water per year, centered on six main systems of aqueducts and infrastructure projects. Water use and conservation in California is a politically divisive issue, as the state experiences periodic droughts and has to balance the demands of its large agricultural and urban sectors, especially in the arid southern portion of the state. The state's widespread redistribution of water also invites the frequent scorn of environmentalists. The California Water Wars, a conflict between Los Angeles and the Owens Valley over |
any river in the world. The Columbia and its tributaries have been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They have been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosts many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish—especially the salmon species—provided the core subsistence for native peoples. The first documented European discovery of the Columbia River occurred when Bruno de Heceta sighted the river's mouth in 1775. In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river; in 1792 William Robert Broughton of the British Royal Navy navigated past the Oregon Coast Range into the Willamette Valley. In the following decades, fur-trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links. Since the late 19th century, public and private sectors have extensively developed the river. To aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The 14 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of total U.S. hydroelectric generation. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river. Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the United States. These developments have greatly altered river environments in the watershed, mainly through industrial pollution and barriers to fish migration. Course The Columbia begins its journey in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench in British Columbia (BC). Columbia Lake – above sea level – and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the river's headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. For its first , the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, a region known in British Columbia as the Columbia Valley, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns sharply south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes. Revelstoke, the Big Bend, and the Columbia Valley combined are referred to in BC parlance as the Columbia Country. Below the Arrow Lakes, the Columbia passes the cities of Castlegar, located at the Columbia's confluence with the Kootenay River, and Trail, two major population centers of the West Kootenay region. The Pend Oreille River joins the Columbia about north of the U.S.–Canada border. The Columbia enters eastern Washington flowing south and turning to the west at the Spokane River confluence. It marks the southern and eastern borders of the Colville Indian Reservation and the western border of the Spokane Indian Reservation. The river turns south after the Okanogan River confluence, then southeasterly near the confluence with the Wenatchee River in central Washington. This C‑shaped segment of the river is also known as the "Big Bend". During the Missoula Floods 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, much of the floodwater took a more direct route south, forming the ancient river bed known as the Grand Coulee. After the floods, the river found its present course, and the Grand Coulee was left dry. The construction of the Grand Coulee Dam in the mid-20th century impounded the river, forming Lake Roosevelt, from which water was pumped into the dry coulee, forming the reservoir of Banks Lake. The river flows past The Gorge Amphitheatre, a prominent concert venue in the Northwest, then through Priest Rapids Dam, and then through the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Entirely within the reservation is Hanford Reach, the only US stretch of the river that is completely free-flowing, unimpeded by dams and not a tidal estuary. The Snake River and Yakima River join the Columbia in the Tri‑Cities population center. The Columbia makes a sharp bend to the west at the Washington–Oregon border. The river defines that border for the final of its journey. The Deschutes River joins the Columbia near The Dalles. Between The Dalles and Portland, the river cuts through the Cascade Range, forming the dramatic Columbia River Gorge. No other rivers except for the Klamath and Pit River completely breach the Cascades—the other rivers that flow through the range also originate in or very near the mountains. The headwaters and upper course of the Pit River are on the Modoc Plateau; downstream the Pit cuts a canyon through the southern reaches of the Cascades. In contrast, the Columbia cuts through the range nearly a thousand miles from its source in the Rocky Mountains. The gorge is known for its strong and steady winds, scenic beauty, and its role as an important transportation link. The river continues west, bending sharply to the north-northwest near Portland and Vancouver, Washington, at the Willamette River confluence. Here the river slows considerably, dropping sediment that might otherwise form a river delta. Near Longview, Washington and the Cowlitz River confluence, the river turns west again. The Columbia empties into the Pacific Ocean just west of Astoria, Oregon, over the Columbia Bar, a shifting sandbar that makes the river's mouth one of the most hazardous stretches of water to navigate in the world. Because of the danger and the many shipwrecks near the mouth, it acquired a reputation as the "Graveyard of Ships". The Columbia drains an area of about . Its drainage basin covers nearly all of Idaho, large portions of British Columbia, Oregon, and Washington, ultimately all of Montana west of the Continental Divide, and small portions of Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada; the total area is similar to the size of France. Roughly of the river's length and 85 percent of its drainage basin are in the US. The Columbia is the twelfth-longest river and has the sixth-largest drainage basin in the United States. In Canada, where the Columbia flows for and drains , the river ranks 23rd in length, and the Canadian part of its basin ranks 13th in size among Canadian basins. The Columbia shares its name with nearby places, such as British Columbia, as well as with landforms and bodies of water. Discharge With an average flow at the mouth of about , the Columbia is the largest river by discharge flowing into the Pacific from the Americas and is the fourth-largest by volume in the US. The average flow where the river crosses the international border between Canada and the United States is from a drainage basin of . This amounts to about 15 percent of the entire Columbia watershed. The Columbia's highest recorded flow, measured at The Dalles, was in June 1894, before the river was dammed. The lowest flow recorded at The Dalles was on April 16, 1968, and was caused by the initial closure of the John Day Dam, upstream. The Dalles is about from the mouth; the river at this point drains about or about 91 percent of the total watershed. Flow rates on the Columbia are affected by many large upstream reservoirs, many diversions for irrigation, and, on the lower stretches, reverse flow from the tides of the Pacific Ocean. The National Ocean Service observes water levels at six tide gauges and issues tide forecasts for twenty-two additional locations along the river between the entrance at the North Jetty and the base of Bonneville Dam, the head of tide. Geology When the rifting of Pangaea, due to the process of plate tectonics, pushed North America away from Europe and Africa and into the Panthalassic Ocean (ancestor to the modern Pacific Ocean), the Pacific Northwest was not part of the continent. As the North American continent moved westward, the Farallon Plate subducted under its western margin. As the plate subducted, it carried along island arcs which were accreted to the North American continent, resulting in the creation of the Pacific Northwest between 150 and 90 million years ago. The general outline of the Columbia Basin was not complete until between 60 and 40 million years ago, but it lay under a large inland sea later subject to uplift. Between 50 and 20 million years ago, from the Eocene through the Miocene eras, tremendous volcanic eruptions frequently modified much of the landscape traversed by the Columbia. The lower reaches of the ancestral river passed through a valley near where Mount Hood later arose. Carrying sediments from erosion and erupting volcanoes, it built a thick delta that underlies the foothills on the east side of the Coast Range near Vernonia in northwestern Oregon. Between 17 million and 6 million years ago, huge outpourings of flood basalt lava covered the Columbia River Plateau and forced the lower Columbia into its present course. The modern Cascade Range began to uplift 5 to 4 million years ago. Cutting through the uplifting mountains, the Columbia River significantly deepened the Columbia River Gorge. The river and its drainage basin experienced some of the world's greatest known catastrophic floods toward the end of the last ice age. The periodic rupturing of ice dams at Glacial Lake Missoula resulted in the Missoula Floods, with discharges exceeding the combined flow of all the other rivers in the world, dozens of times over thousands of years. The exact number of floods is unknown, but geologists have documented at least 40; evidence suggests that they occurred between about 19,000 and 13,000 years ago. The floodwaters rushed across eastern Washington, creating the channeled scablands, which are a complex network of dry canyon-like channels, or coulees that are often braided and sharply gouged into the basalt rock underlying the region's deep topsoil. Numerous flat-topped buttes with rich soil stand high above the chaotic scablands. Constrictions at several places caused the floodwaters to pool into large temporary lakes, such as Lake Lewis, in which sediments were deposited. Water depths have been estimated at at Wallula Gap and over modern Portland, Oregon. Sediments were also deposited when the floodwaters slowed in the broad flats of the Quincy, Othello, and Pasco Basins. The floods' periodic inundation of the lower Columbia River Plateau deposited rich sediments; 21st-century farmers in the Willamette Valley "plow fields of fertile Montana soil and clays from Washington's Palouse". Over the last several thousand years a series of large landslides have occurred on the north side of the Columbia River Gorge, sending massive amounts of debris south from Table Mountain and Greenleaf Peak into the gorge near the present site of Bonneville Dam. The most recent and significant is known as the Bonneville Slide, which formed a massive earthen dam, filling of the river's length. Various studies have placed the date of the Bonneville Slide anywhere between 1060 and 1760 AD; the idea that the landslide debris present today was formed by more than one slide is relatively recent and may explain the large range of estimates. It has been suggested that if the later dates are accurate there may be a link with the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. The pile of debris resulting from the Bonneville Slide blocked the river until rising water finally washed away the sediment. It is not known how long it took the river to break through the barrier; estimates range from several months to several years. Much of the landslide's debris remained, forcing the river about south of its previous channel and forming the Cascade Rapids. In 1938, the construction of Bonneville Dam inundated the rapids as well as the remaining trees that could be used to refine the estimated date of the landslide. In 1980, the eruption of Mount St. Helens deposited large amounts of sediment in the lower Columbia, temporarily reducing the depth of the shipping channel by . Indigenous peoples Humans have inhabited the Columbia's watershed for more than 15,000 years, with a transition to a sedentary lifestyle based mainly on salmon starting about 3,500 years ago. In 1962, archaeologists found evidence of human activity dating back 11,230 years at the Marmes Rockshelter, near the confluence of the Palouse and Snake rivers in eastern Washington. In 1996 the skeletal remains of a 9,000-year-old prehistoric man (dubbed Kennewick Man) were found near Kennewick, Washington. The discovery rekindled debate in the scientific community over the origins of human habitation in North America and sparked a protracted controversy over whether the scientific or Native American community was entitled to possess and/or study the remains. Many different Native Americans and First Nations peoples have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia. South of the Canada–US border, the Colville, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Palus, Umatilla, Cowlitz, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs live along the US stretch. Along the upper Snake River and Salmon River, the Shoshone Bannock tribes are present. The Sinixt or Lakes people lived on the lower stretch of the Canadian portion, while above that the Shuswap people (Secwepemc in their own language) reckon the whole of the upper Columbia east to the Rockies as part of their territory. The Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin outlines the traditional homelands of the Canadian Kootenay–Ktunaxa. The Chinook tribe, which is not federally recognized, who live near the lower Columbia River, call it or in the Upper Chinook (Kiksht) language, and it is Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana to the Sahaptin (Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit)-speaking peoples of its middle course in present-day Washington. The river is known as by the Sinixt people, who live in the area of the Arrow Lakes in the river's upper reaches in Canada. All three terms essentially mean "the big river". Oral histories describe the formation and destruction of the Bridge of the Gods, a land bridge that connected the Oregon and Washington sides of the river in the Columbia River Gorge. The bridge, which aligns with geological records of the Bonneville Slide, was described in some stories as the result of a battle between gods, represented by Mount Adams and Mount Hood, in their competition for the affection of a goddess, represented by Mount St. Helens. Native American stories about the bridge differ in their details but agree in general that the bridge permitted increased interaction between tribes on the north and south sides of the river. Horses, originally acquired from Spanish New Mexico, spread widely via native trade networks, reaching the Shoshone of the Snake River Plain by 1700. The Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Flathead people acquired their first horses around 1730. Along with horses came aspects of the emerging plains culture, such as equestrian and horse training skills, greatly increased mobility, hunting efficiency, trade over long distances, intensified warfare, the linking of wealth and prestige to horses and war, and the rise of large and powerful tribal confederacies. The Nez Perce and Cayuse kept large herds and made annual long-distance trips to the Great Plains for bison hunting, adopted the plains culture to a significant degree, and became the main conduit through which horses and the plains culture diffused into the Columbia River region. Other peoples acquired horses and aspects of the plains culture unevenly. The Yakama, Umatilla, Palus, Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene maintained sizable herds of horses and adopted some of the plains cultural characteristics, but fishing and fish-related economies remained important. Less affected groups included the Molala, Klickitat, Wenatchi, Okanagan, and Sinkiuse-Columbia peoples, who owned small numbers of horses and adopted few plains culture features. Some groups remained essentially unaffected, such as the Sanpoil and Nespelem people, whose culture remained centered on fishing. Natives of the region encountered foreigners at several times and places during the 18th and 19th centuries. European and American vessels explored the coastal area around the mouth of the river in the late 18th century, trading with local natives. The contact would prove devastating to the Indian tribes; a large portion of their population was wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie crossed what is now interior British Columbia in 1793. From 1805 to 1807, the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the Oregon Country along the Clearwater and Snake rivers, and encountered numerous small settlements of natives. Their records recount tales of hospitable traders who were not above stealing small items from the visitors. They also noted brass teakettles, a British musket, and other artifacts that had been obtained in trade with coastal tribes. From the earliest contact with westerners, the natives of the mid- and lower Columbia were not tribal, but instead congregated in social units no larger than a village, and more often at a family level; these units would shift with the season as people moved about, following the salmon catch up and down the river's tributaries. Sparked by the 1847 Whitman Massacre, a number of violent battles were fought between American settlers and the region's natives. The subsequent Indian Wars, especially the Yakima War, decimated the native population and removed much land from native control. As years progressed, the right of natives to fish along the Columbia became the central issue of contention with the states, commercial fishers, and private property owners. The US Supreme Court upheld fishing rights in landmark cases in 1905 and 1918, as well as the 1974 case United States v. Washington, commonly called the Boldt Decision. Fish were central to the culture of the region's natives, both as sustenance and as part of their religious beliefs. Natives drew fish from the Columbia at several major sites, which also served as trading posts. Celilo Falls, located east of the modern city of The Dalles, was a vital hub for trade and the interaction of different cultural groups, being used for fishing and trading for 11,000 years. Prior to contact with westerners, villages along this stretch may have at times had a population as great as 10,000. The site drew traders from as far away as the Great Plains. The Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River Gorge, and Kettle Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Washington, were also major fishing and trading sites. In prehistoric times the Columbia's salmon and steelhead runs numbered an estimated annual average of 10 to 16 million fish. In comparison, the largest run since 1938 was in 1986, with 3.2 million fish entering the Columbia. The annual catch by natives has been estimated at . The most important and productive native fishing site was located at Celilo Falls, which was perhaps the most productive inland fishing site in North America. The falls were located at the border between Chinookan- and Sahaptian-speaking peoples and served as the center of an extensive trading network across the Pacific Plateau. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent. Salmon canneries established by white settlers beginning in 1866 had a strong negative impact on the salmon population, and in 1908 US President Theodore Roosevelt observed that the salmon runs were but a fraction of what they had been 25 years prior. As river development continued in the 20th century, each of these major fishing sites was flooded by a dam, beginning with Cascades Rapids in 1938. The development was accompanied by extensive negotiations between natives and US government agencies. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a coalition of various tribes, adopted a constitution and incorporated after the 1938 completion of the Bonneville Dam flooded Cascades Rapids; Still, in the 1930s, there were natives who lived along the river and fished year round, moving along with the fish's migration patterns throughout the seasons. The Yakama were slower to do so, organizing a formal government in 1944. In the 21st century, the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes all have treaty fishing rights along the Columbia and its tributaries. In 1957 Celilo Falls was submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam, and the native fishing community was displaced. The affected tribes received a $26.8 million settlement for the loss of Celilo and other fishing sites submerged by The Dalles Dam. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs used part of its $4 million settlement to establish the Kah-Nee-Ta resort south of | remains of a 9,000-year-old prehistoric man (dubbed Kennewick Man) were found near Kennewick, Washington. The discovery rekindled debate in the scientific community over the origins of human habitation in North America and sparked a protracted controversy over whether the scientific or Native American community was entitled to possess and/or study the remains. Many different Native Americans and First Nations peoples have a historical and continuing presence on the Columbia. South of the Canada–US border, the Colville, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Palus, Umatilla, Cowlitz, and the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs live along the US stretch. Along the upper Snake River and Salmon River, the Shoshone Bannock tribes are present. The Sinixt or Lakes people lived on the lower stretch of the Canadian portion, while above that the Shuswap people (Secwepemc in their own language) reckon the whole of the upper Columbia east to the Rockies as part of their territory. The Canadian portion of the Columbia Basin outlines the traditional homelands of the Canadian Kootenay–Ktunaxa. The Chinook tribe, which is not federally recognized, who live near the lower Columbia River, call it or in the Upper Chinook (Kiksht) language, and it is Nch’i-Wàna or Nchi wana to the Sahaptin (Ichishkíin Sɨ́nwit)-speaking peoples of its middle course in present-day Washington. The river is known as by the Sinixt people, who live in the area of the Arrow Lakes in the river's upper reaches in Canada. All three terms essentially mean "the big river". Oral histories describe the formation and destruction of the Bridge of the Gods, a land bridge that connected the Oregon and Washington sides of the river in the Columbia River Gorge. The bridge, which aligns with geological records of the Bonneville Slide, was described in some stories as the result of a battle between gods, represented by Mount Adams and Mount Hood, in their competition for the affection of a goddess, represented by Mount St. Helens. Native American stories about the bridge differ in their details but agree in general that the bridge permitted increased interaction between tribes on the north and south sides of the river. Horses, originally acquired from Spanish New Mexico, spread widely via native trade networks, reaching the Shoshone of the Snake River Plain by 1700. The Nez Perce, Cayuse, and Flathead people acquired their first horses around 1730. Along with horses came aspects of the emerging plains culture, such as equestrian and horse training skills, greatly increased mobility, hunting efficiency, trade over long distances, intensified warfare, the linking of wealth and prestige to horses and war, and the rise of large and powerful tribal confederacies. The Nez Perce and Cayuse kept large herds and made annual long-distance trips to the Great Plains for bison hunting, adopted the plains culture to a significant degree, and became the main conduit through which horses and the plains culture diffused into the Columbia River region. Other peoples acquired horses and aspects of the plains culture unevenly. The Yakama, Umatilla, Palus, Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene maintained sizable herds of horses and adopted some of the plains cultural characteristics, but fishing and fish-related economies remained important. Less affected groups included the Molala, Klickitat, Wenatchi, Okanagan, and Sinkiuse-Columbia peoples, who owned small numbers of horses and adopted few plains culture features. Some groups remained essentially unaffected, such as the Sanpoil and Nespelem people, whose culture remained centered on fishing. Natives of the region encountered foreigners at several times and places during the 18th and 19th centuries. European and American vessels explored the coastal area around the mouth of the river in the late 18th century, trading with local natives. The contact would prove devastating to the Indian tribes; a large portion of their population was wiped out by a smallpox epidemic. Canadian explorer Alexander Mackenzie crossed what is now interior British Columbia in 1793. From 1805 to 1807, the Lewis and Clark Expedition entered the Oregon Country along the Clearwater and Snake rivers, and encountered numerous small settlements of natives. Their records recount tales of hospitable traders who were not above stealing small items from the visitors. They also noted brass teakettles, a British musket, and other artifacts that had been obtained in trade with coastal tribes. From the earliest contact with westerners, the natives of the mid- and lower Columbia were not tribal, but instead congregated in social units no larger than a village, and more often at a family level; these units would shift with the season as people moved about, following the salmon catch up and down the river's tributaries. Sparked by the 1847 Whitman Massacre, a number of violent battles were fought between American settlers and the region's natives. The subsequent Indian Wars, especially the Yakima War, decimated the native population and removed much land from native control. As years progressed, the right of natives to fish along the Columbia became the central issue of contention with the states, commercial fishers, and private property owners. The US Supreme Court upheld fishing rights in landmark cases in 1905 and 1918, as well as the 1974 case United States v. Washington, commonly called the Boldt Decision. Fish were central to the culture of the region's natives, both as sustenance and as part of their religious beliefs. Natives drew fish from the Columbia at several major sites, which also served as trading posts. Celilo Falls, located east of the modern city of The Dalles, was a vital hub for trade and the interaction of different cultural groups, being used for fishing and trading for 11,000 years. Prior to contact with westerners, villages along this stretch may have at times had a population as great as 10,000. The site drew traders from as far away as the Great Plains. The Cascades Rapids of the Columbia River Gorge, and Kettle Falls and Priest Rapids in eastern Washington, were also major fishing and trading sites. In prehistoric times the Columbia's salmon and steelhead runs numbered an estimated annual average of 10 to 16 million fish. In comparison, the largest run since 1938 was in 1986, with 3.2 million fish entering the Columbia. The annual catch by natives has been estimated at . The most important and productive native fishing site was located at Celilo Falls, which was perhaps the most productive inland fishing site in North America. The falls were located at the border between Chinookan- and Sahaptian-speaking peoples and served as the center of an extensive trading network across the Pacific Plateau. Celilo was the oldest continuously inhabited community on the North American continent. Salmon canneries established by white settlers beginning in 1866 had a strong negative impact on the salmon population, and in 1908 US President Theodore Roosevelt observed that the salmon runs were but a fraction of what they had been 25 years prior. As river development continued in the 20th century, each of these major fishing sites was flooded by a dam, beginning with Cascades Rapids in 1938. The development was accompanied by extensive negotiations between natives and US government agencies. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, a coalition of various tribes, adopted a constitution and incorporated after the 1938 completion of the Bonneville Dam flooded Cascades Rapids; Still, in the 1930s, there were natives who lived along the river and fished year round, moving along with the fish's migration patterns throughout the seasons. The Yakama were slower to do so, organizing a formal government in 1944. In the 21st century, the Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla, and Warm Springs tribes all have treaty fishing rights along the Columbia and its tributaries. In 1957 Celilo Falls was submerged by the construction of The Dalles Dam, and the native fishing community was displaced. The affected tribes received a $26.8 million settlement for the loss of Celilo and other fishing sites submerged by The Dalles Dam. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs used part of its $4 million settlement to establish the Kah-Nee-Ta resort south of Mount Hood. New waves of explorers Some historians believe that Japanese or Chinese vessels blown off course reached the Northwest Coast long before Europeans—possibly as early as 219 BCE. Historian Derek Hayes claims that "It is a near certainty that Japanese or Chinese people arrived on the northwest coast long before any European." It is unknown whether they landed near the Columbia. Evidence exists that Spanish castaways reached the shore in 1679 and traded with the Clatsop; if these were the first Europeans to see the Columbia, they failed to send word home to Spain. In the 18th century, there was strong interest in discovering a Northwest Passage that would permit navigation between the Atlantic (or inland North America) and the Pacific Ocean. Many ships in the area, especially those under Spanish and British command, searched the northwest coast for a large river that might connect to Hudson Bay or the Missouri River. The first documented European discovery of the Columbia River was that of Bruno de Heceta, who in 1775 sighted the river's mouth. On the advice of his officers, he did not explore it, as he was short-staffed and the current was strong. He considered it a bay, and called it Ensenada de Asunción (Assumption Cove). Later Spanish maps, based on his sighting, showed a river, labeled Río de San Roque (The Saint Roch River), or an entrance, called Entrada de Hezeta, named for Bruno de Hezeta, who sailed the region. Following Hezeta's reports, British maritime fur trader Captain John Meares searched for the river in 1788 but concluded that it did not exist. He named Cape Disappointment for the non-existent river, not realizing the cape marks the northern edge of the river's mouth. What happened next would form the basis for decades of both cooperation and dispute between British and American exploration of, and ownership claim to, the region. Royal Navy commander George Vancouver sailed past the mouth in April 1792 and observed a change in the water's color, but he accepted Meares' report and continued on his journey northward. Later that month, Vancouver encountered the American captain Robert Gray at the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Gray reported that he had seen the entrance to the Columbia and had spent nine days trying but failing to enter. On May 12, 1792, Gray returned south and crossed the Columbia Bar, becoming the first known explorer of European descent to enter the river. Gray's fur trading mission had been financed by Boston merchants, who outfitted him with a private vessel named Columbia Rediviva; he named the river after the ship on May 18. Gray spent nine days trading near the mouth of the Columbia, then left without having gone beyond upstream. The farthest point reached was Grays Bay at the mouth of Grays River. Gray's discovery of the Columbia River was later used by the United States to support its claim to the Oregon Country, which was also claimed by Russia, Great Britain, Spain and other nations. In October 1792, Vancouver sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton, his second-in-command, up the river. Broughton got as far as the Sandy River at the western end of the Columbia River Gorge, about upstream, sighting and naming Mount Hood. Broughton formally claimed the river, its drainage basin, and the nearby coast for Britain. In contrast, Gray had not made any formal claims on behalf of the United States. Because the Columbia was at the same latitude as the headwaters of the Missouri River, there was some speculation that Gray and Vancouver had discovered the long-sought Northwest Passage. A 1798 British map showed a dotted line connecting the Columbia with the Missouri. When the American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark charted the vast, unmapped lands of the American West in their overland expedition (1803–05), they found no passage between the rivers. After crossing the Rocky Mountains, Lewis and Clark built dugout canoes and paddled down the Snake River, reaching the Columbia near the present-day Tri-Cities, Washington. They explored a few miles upriver, as far as Bateman Island, before heading down the Columbia, concluding their journey at the river's mouth and establishing Fort Clatsop, a short-lived establishment that was occupied for less than three months. Canadian explorer David Thompson, of the North West Company, spent the winter of 1807–08 at Kootanae House near the source of the Columbia at present-day Invermere, British Columbia. Over the next few years he explored much of the river and its northern tributaries. In 1811 he traveled down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, arriving at the mouth just after John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company had founded Astoria. On his return to the north, Thompson explored the one remaining part of the river he had not yet seen, becoming the first Euro-descended person to travel the entire length of the river. In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established Fort Vancouver on the bank of the Columbia, in what is now Vancouver, Washington, as the headquarters of the company's Columbia District, which encompassed everything west of the Rocky Mountains, north of California, and south of Russian-claimed Alaska. Chief Factor John McLoughlin, a physician who had been in the fur trade since 1804, was appointed superintendent of the Columbia District. The HBC reoriented its Columbia District operations toward the Pacific Ocean via the Columbia, which became the region's main trunk route. In the early 1840s Americans began to colonize the Oregon country in large numbers via the Oregon Trail, despite the HBC's efforts to discourage American settlement in the region. For many the final leg of the journey involved travel down the lower Columbia River to Fort Vancouver. This part of the Oregon Trail, the treacherous stretch from The Dalles to below the Cascades, could not be traversed by horses or wagons (only watercraft, at great risk). This prompted the 1846 construction of the Barlow Road. In the Treaty of 1818 the United States and Britain agreed that both nations were to enjoy equal rights in Oregon Country for 10 years. By 1828, when the so-called "joint occupation" was renewed for an indefinite period, it seemed probable that the lower Columbia River would in time become the border between the two nations. For years the Hudson's Bay Company successfully maintained control of the Columbia River and American attempts to gain a foothold were fended off. In the 1830s, American religious missions were established at several locations in the lower Columbia River region. In the 1840s a mass migration of American settlers undermined British control. The Hudson's Bay Company tried to maintain dominance by shifting from the fur trade, which was in decline, to exporting other goods such as salmon and lumber. Colonization schemes were attempted, but failed to match the scale of American settlement. Americans generally settled south of the Columbia, mainly in the Willamette Valley. The Hudson's Bay Company tried to establish settlements north of the river, but nearly all the British colonists moved south to the Willamette Valley. The hope that the British colonists might dilute the American presence in the valley failed in the face of the overwhelming number of American settlers. These developments rekindled the issue of "joint occupation" and the boundary dispute. While some British interests, especially the Hudson's Bay Company, fought for a boundary along the Columbia River, the Oregon Treaty of 1846 set the boundary at the 49th parallel. As part of the treaty, the British retained all areas north of the line while the U.S. acquired the south. The Columbia River became much of the border between the U.S. territories of Oregon and Washington. Oregon became a U.S. state in 1859, while Washington later entered into the Union in 1889. By the turn of the 20th century, the difficulty of navigating the Columbia was seen as an impediment to the economic development of the Inland Empire region east of the Cascades. The dredging and dam building that followed would permanently alter the river, disrupting its natural flow but also providing electricity, irrigation, navigability and other benefits to the region. Navigation American captain Robert Gray and British captain George Vancouver, who explored the river in 1792, proved that it was possible to cross the Columbia Bar. Many of the challenges associated with that feat remain today; even with modern engineering alterations to the mouth of the river, the strong currents and shifting sandbar make it dangerous to pass between the river and the Pacific Ocean. The use of steamboats along the river, beginning with the British Beaver in 1836 and followed by American vessels in 1850, contributed to the rapid settlement and economic development of the region. Steamboats operated in several distinct stretches of the river: on its lower reaches, from the Pacific Ocean to Cascades Rapids; from the Cascades to the Dalles-Celilo Falls; from Celilo to Priests Rapids; on the Wenatchee Reach of eastern Washington; on British Columbia's Arrow Lakes; and on tributaries like the Willamette, the Snake and Kootenay Lake. The boats, initially powered by burning wood, carried passengers and freight throughout the region for many years. Early railroads served to connect steamboat lines interrupted by waterfalls on the river's lower reaches. In the 1880s, railroads maintained by companies such as the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company began to supplement steamboat operations as the major transportation links along the river. Opening the passage to Lewiston As early as 1881, industrialists proposed altering the natural channel of the Columbia to improve navigation. Changes to the river over the years have included the construction of jetties at the river's mouth, dredging, and the construction of canals and navigation locks. Today, ocean freighters can travel upriver as far as Portland and Vancouver, and barges can reach as far inland as Lewiston, Idaho. The shifting Columbia Bar makes passage between the river and the Pacific Ocean difficult and dangerous, and numerous rapids along the river hinder navigation. Pacific Graveyard, a 1964 book by James A. Gibbs, describes the many shipwrecks near the mouth of the Columbia. Jetties, first constructed in 1886, extend the river's channel into the ocean. Strong currents and the shifting sandbar remain a threat to ships entering the river and necessitate continuous maintenance of the jetties. In 1891, the Columbia was dredged to enhance shipping. The channel between the ocean and Portland and Vancouver was deepened from to . The Columbian called for the channel to be deepened to as early as 1905, but that depth was not attained until 1976. Cascade Locks and Canal were first constructed in 1896 around the Cascades Rapids, enabling boats to travel safely through the Columbia River Gorge. The Celilo Canal, bypassing Celilo Falls, opened to river traffic in 1915. In the mid-20th century, the construction of dams along the length of the river submerged the rapids beneath a series of reservoirs. An extensive system of locks allowed ships and barges to pass easily from one reservoir to the next. A navigation channel reaching to Lewiston, Idaho, along the Columbia and Snake rivers, was completed in 1975. Among the main commodities are wheat and other grains, mainly for export. As of 2016, the Columbia ranked third, behind the Mississippi and Paraná rivers, among the world's largest export corridors for grain. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens caused mudslides in the area, which reduced the Columbia's depth by for a stretch, disrupting Portland's economy. Deeper shipping channel Efforts to maintain and improve the navigation channel have continued to the present day. In 1990 a new round of studies examined the possibility of further dredging on the lower Columbia. The plans were controversial from the start because of economic and environmental concerns. In 1999, Congress authorized deepening the channel between Portland and Astoria from , which will make it possible for large container and grain ships to reach Portland and Vancouver. The project has met opposition because of concerns about stirring up toxic sediment on the riverbed. Portland-based Northwest Environmental Advocates brought a lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers, but it was rejected by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2006. The project includes measures to mitigate environmental damage; for instance, the US Army Corps of Engineers must restore 12 times the area of wetland damaged by the project. In early 2006, the Corps spilled of hydraulic oil into the Columbia, drawing further criticism from environmental organizations. Work on the project began in 2005 and concluded in 2010. The project's cost is estimated at $150 million. The federal government is paying 65 percent, Oregon and Washington are paying $27 million each, and six local ports are also contributing to the cost. Dams In 1902, the United States Bureau of Reclamation was established to aid in the economic development of arid western states. One of its major undertakings was building Grand Coulee Dam to provide irrigation for the of the Columbia Basin Project in central Washington. With the onset of World War II, the focus of dam construction shifted to production of hydroelectricity. Irrigation efforts resumed after the war. River development occurred within the structure of the 1909 International Boundary Waters Treaty between the US and Canada. The United States Congress passed the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1925, which directed the Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Power Commission to explore the development of the nation's rivers. This prompted agencies to conduct the first formal financial analysis of hydroelectric development; the reports produced by various agencies were presented in House Document 308. Those reports, and subsequent related reports, are referred to as 308 Reports. In the late 1920s, political forces in the Northwestern United States generally favored private development of hydroelectric dams along the Columbia. But the overwhelming victories of gubernatorial candidate George W. Joseph in the 1930 Republican primary, and later his law partner Julius Meier, were understood to demonstrate strong public support for public ownership of dams. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill that enabled the construction of the Bonneville and Grand Coulee dams as public works projects. The legislation was attributed to the efforts of Oregon Senator Charles McNary, Washington Senator Clarence Dill, and Oregon Congressman Charles Martin, among others. In 1948, floods swept through the Columbia watershed, destroying Vanport, then the second largest city in Oregon, and impacting cities as far north as Trail, British Columbia. The flooding prompted the United States Congress to pass the Flood Control Act of 1950, authorizing the federal development of additional dams and other flood control mechanisms. By that time local communities had become wary of federal hydroelectric projects, and sought local control of new developments; a public utility district in Grant County, Washington, ultimately began construction of the dam at Priest Rapids. In the 1960s, the United States and Canada signed the Columbia River Treaty, which focused on flood control and the maximization of downstream power generation. Canada agreed to build dams and provide reservoir storage, and the United States agreed to deliver to Canada one-half of the increase in US downstream power benefits as estimated five years in advance. Canada's obligation was met by building three dams (two on the Columbia, and one on the Duncan River), the last of which was completed in 1973. Today the main stem of the Columbia River has 14 dams, of which three are in Canada and 11 in the US. Four mainstem dams and four lower Snake River dams contain navigation locks to allow ship and barge passage from the ocean as far as Lewiston, Idaho. The river system as a whole has more than 400 dams for hydroelectricity and irrigation. The dams address a variety of demands, including flood control, navigation, stream flow regulation, storage and delivery of stored waters, reclamation of public lands and Indian reservations, and the generation of hydroelectric power. The larger U.S. dams are owned and operated by the federal government (some by the Army Corps of Engineers and some by the Bureau of Reclamation), while the smaller dams are operated by public utility districts, and private power companies. The federally operated system is known as the Federal Columbia River Power System, which includes 31 dams on the Columbia and its tributaries. The system has altered the seasonal flow of the river in order to meet higher electricity demands during the winter. At the beginning of the 20th century, roughly 75 percent of the Columbia's flow occurred in the summer, between April and September. By 1980, the summer proportion had been lowered to about 50 percent, essentially eliminating the seasonal pattern. The installation of dams dramatically altered the landscape and ecosystem of the river. At one time, the Columbia was one of the top salmon-producing river systems in the world. Previously active fishing sites, such as Celilo Falls in the eastern Columbia River Gorge, have exhibited a sharp decline in fishing along the Columbia in the last century, and salmon populations have been dramatically reduced. Fish ladders have been installed at some dam sites to help the fish journey to spawning waters. Chief Joseph Dam has no fish ladders and completely blocks fish migration to the upper half of the Columbia River system. Irrigation The Bureau of Reclamation's Columbia Basin Project focused on the generally dry region of central Washington known as the Columbia Basin, which features rich loess soil. Several groups developed competing proposals, and in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the Columbia Basin Project. The Grand Coulee Dam was the project's central component; upon completion, it pumped water up from the Columbia to fill the formerly dry Grand Coulee, forming Banks Lake. By 1935, the intended height of the dam was increased from a range between to , a height that would extend the lake impounded by the dam all the way to the Canada–US border; the project had grown from a local New Deal relief measure to a major national project. The project's initial purpose was irrigation, but the onset of World War II created a high demand for electricity, mainly for aluminum production and for the development of nuclear weapons at the Hanford Site. Irrigation began in 1951. The project provides water to more than of fertile but arid land in central Washington, transforming the region into a major agricultural center. Important crops include orchard fruit, potatoes, alfalfa, mint, beans, beets, and wine grapes. Since 1750, the Columbia has experienced six multi-year droughts. The longest, lasting 12 years in the mid‑19th century, reduced the river's flow to 20 percent below average. Scientists have expressed concern that a similar drought would have grave consequences in a region so dependent on the Columbia. In 1992–1993, a lesser drought affected farmers, hydroelectric power producers, shippers, and wildlife managers. Many farmers in central Washington build dams on their property for irrigation and to control frost on their crops. The Washington Department of Ecology, using new techniques involving aerial photographs, estimated there may be as many as a hundred such dams in the area, most of which are illegal. Six such dams have failed in recent years, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage to crops and public roads. Fourteen farms in the area have gone through the permitting process to build such dams legally. Hydroelectricity The Columbia's heavy flow and large elevation drop over a short distance, , give it tremendous capacity for hydroelectricity generation. In comparison, the Mississippi drops less than . The Columbia alone possesses |
of mycorrhizal associations and tapetal raphides. Estimates differ as to when the Commelinales evolved, but most suggest an origin and diversification sometime during the mid- to late Cretaceous. Depending on the methods used, studies suggest a range of origin between 123 and 73 million years, with diversification occurring within the group 110 to 66 million years ago. The order's closest relatives are in the Zingiberales, which includes ginger, bananas, cardamom, and others. Taxonomy According to the most recent classification scheme, the APG IV of 2016, the order includes five families: Commelinaceae Haemodoraceae Hanguanaceae Philydraceae Pontederiaceae This is unchanged from the APG III of 2009 and the APG II of | closest relatives are in the Zingiberales, which includes ginger, bananas, cardamom, and others. Taxonomy According to the most recent classification scheme, the APG IV of 2016, the order includes five families: Commelinaceae Haemodoraceae Hanguanaceae Philydraceae Pontederiaceae This is unchanged from the APG III of 2009 and the APG II of 2003, but different from the older APG system of 1998, which did not include Hanguanaceae. Previous classification systems The older Cronquist system of 1981, which was based purely on |
the rosid group of dicotyledons. This order mostly belongs to tropical areas, with limited presence in subtropic and temperate regions. The order includes shrubs and trees, together with many herbs and climbers. One major characteristic of the Cucurbitales is the presence of unisexual flowers, mostly pentacyclic, with thick pointed petals (whenever present). The pollination is usually performed by insects, but wind pollination is also present (in Coriariaceae and Datiscaceae). The order consists of roughly 2600 species in eight families. The largest families are Begoniaceae (begonia family) with around 1500 species and Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) with around 900 species. These two families include the only economically important plants. Specifically, the Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) include some food species, such as squash, pumpkin (both from Cucurbita), watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris), and cucumber and melons (Cucumis). The Begoniaceae are known for their horticultural species, of which there are over 130 with many more varieties. Overview The Cucurbitales are an order of plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, particularly diverse in the tropics. Most are herbs, climber herbs, woody lianas or shrubs but some genera include canopy-forming evergreen lauroid trees. Members of the Cucurbitales form an important component of low to montane tropical forest with greater representation in terms of the number of species. Although not known with certainty the total number of species in the order, conservative estimates indicate about 2600 species worldwide, distributed in 109 genera. Compared to other flowering plant orders, the taxonomy is poorly understood due to their great diversity, difficulty in identification, and limited study. The order Cucurbitales in the eurosid I clade comprises almost 2600 species in 109 or 110 genera in eight families, tropical and temperate, of very different sizes, morphology, and | Cucurbitales is the presence of unisexual flowers, mostly pentacyclic, with thick pointed petals (whenever present). The pollination is usually performed by insects, but wind pollination is also present (in Coriariaceae and Datiscaceae). The order consists of roughly 2600 species in eight families. The largest families are Begoniaceae (begonia family) with around 1500 species and Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) with around 900 species. These two families include the only economically important plants. Specifically, the Cucurbitaceae (gourd family) include some food species, such as squash, pumpkin (both from Cucurbita), watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris), and cucumber and melons (Cucumis). The Begoniaceae are known for their horticultural species, of which there are over 130 with many more varieties. Overview The Cucurbitales are an order of plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, particularly diverse in the tropics. Most are herbs, climber herbs, woody lianas or shrubs but some genera include canopy-forming evergreen lauroid trees. Members of the Cucurbitales form an important component of low to montane tropical forest with greater representation in terms of the number of species. Although not known with certainty the total number of species in the order, conservative estimates indicate about 2600 species worldwide, distributed in 109 genera. Compared to other flowering plant orders, the taxonomy is poorly understood due to their great diversity, difficulty in identification, and limited study. The order Cucurbitales in the eurosid I clade comprises almost 2600 species in 109 or 110 genera in eight families, tropical and temperate, of very different sizes, morphology, and ecology. It is a case of divergent evolution. In contrast, there is convergent evolution with other groups not related due to ecological or physical drivers toward a similar solution, including analogous structures. Some species are trees that have similar foliage to the true laurels due to convergent evolution. The patterns of speciation in the Cucurbitales are diversified in a high number of species. They have a pantropical distribution with centers of diversity in Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. They most likely originated in West Gondwana 67–107 million years ago, so the oldest split could relate to the break-up of Gondwana in the middle Eocene to late Oligocene, 45–24 million years ago. The group reached their current distribution by multiple intercontinental dispersal events. One factor was product of aridification, other groups responded to favorable climatic periods and expanded across the available habitat, occurring as opportunistic species across wide distribution; other groups diverged over long periods within isolated areas. The Cucurbitales comprise the families: Apodanthaceae, Anisophylleaceae, Begoniaceae, Coriariaceae, Corynocarpaceae, Cucurbitaceae, Tetramelaceae, and Datiscaceae. Some of |
delight of the dancers. Generally, a leader, known as a caller, will teach each individual dance just before the music for that dance begins. During this introductory walk-through, participants learn the dance by walking through the steps and formations, following the caller's instructions. The caller gives the instructions orally, and sometimes augments them with demonstrations of steps by experienced dancers in the group. The walk-through usually proceeds in the order of the moves as they will be done with the music; in some dances, the caller may vary the order of moves during the dance, a fact that is usually explained as part of the caller's instructions. After the walk-through, the music begins and the dancers repeat that sequence some number of times before that dance ends, often 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the length of the contra lines. Calls are normally given at least the first few times through, and often for the last. At the end of each dance, the dancers thank their partners. The contra dance tradition in North America is to change partners for every dance, while in the United Kingdom typically people dance with the same partner the entire evening. One who attends an evening of contra dances in North America does not need to bring his or her own partner. In the short break between individual dances, the dancers invite each other to dance. Booking ahead by asking partner or partners ahead of time for each individual dance is common at some venues, but has been discouraged by some. Most contra dances do not have an expected dress code. No special outfits are worn, but comfortable and loose-fitting clothing that does not restrict movement is usually recommended. Lightweight skirts are often worn, at some dances by men as well as women, as these have a very pretty effect when swinging or twirling. However, low heeled, broken-in, soft-soled, non-marking shoes, such as dance shoes, sneakers, or sandals, are recommended and, in some places, required. As dancing can be aerobic, dancers are sometimes encouraged to bring a change of clothes. As in any social dance, cooperation is vital to contra dancing. Since over the course of any single dance, individuals interact with not just their partners but everyone else in the set, contra dancing might be considered a group activity. As will necessarily be the case when beginners are welcomed in by more practiced dancers, mistakes are made; most dancers are willing to help beginners in learning the steps. However, because the friendly, social nature of the dances can be misinterpreted or even abused, some groups have created anti-harassment policies. Form Formations Contra dances are arranged in long lines of couples. A pair of lines is called a set. Sets are generally arranged so they run the length of the hall, with the top of the set being the end closest to the band and caller. Correspondingly, the bottom of the set is the end farthest from the caller. Couples consist of two people, traditionally (but not necessarily) one male (typically referred to by the caller as the gent, lead, man, lark, or left) and one female (typically referred to by the caller as the lady, follow, woman, raven, robin, or right). Couples interact primarily with an adjacent couple for each round of the dance. Each sub-group of two interacting couples is known to choreographers as a minor set and to dancers as a foursome or hands four. Couples in the same minor set are neighbors. Minor sets originate at the head of the set, starting with the topmost dancers as the 1s (the active couple or actives); the other couple are twos (or inactives). The ones are said to be above their neighboring twos; twos are below. If there is an uneven number of couples dancing, the bottom-most couple will "wait out" the first time through the dance. There are four common ways of arranging couples in the minor sets: proper, improper, Becket, and triple formations. There are many additional forms a contra dance may take. Five of them are: triplet, indecent, four-face-four, and whole-set. (For diagrams and full descriptions, see Contra dance form main article.) Progression A fundamental aspect of contra dancing is that each dancer interacts with several different people within the span of each song. During a single dance, the same pattern is repeated over and over (one time through lasts roughly 30 seconds), but each time, a pair of dancers will dance with new neighbors. Dancers do not need to memorize these patterns in advance, since the dance leader, or "caller", will generally explain the pattern for each song before the music begins, and give people a chance to "walk through" the pattern so both new and experienced dancers can learn the moves. The "walk through" also helps an understanding of how the dance pattern leads toward new people each time. Once the music starts, the caller continues to talk on their microphone and describe each move until the dancers are comfortable with that dance pattern. The dance progression toward new people is built into the contra dance pattern as continuous motion with the music, and does not interrupt the dancing. While all dancers in the room are part of the same dance pattern, half of the couples in the room are moving toward the band at any moment and half are facing away from the music, so when everybody steps forward, they find new people to dance with for the next 30–40 seconds. This effect is almost like having a checker board with red and black pieces evenly arranged across the whole board, and all red pieces gradually moving toward one side while all black pieces progress toward the other side. Once people reach the edge of the room, or "set", they may switch direction, wait one 30-second cycle of the dance, and step back into the dance set to continue as long as music is still being played. Contra dances patterns usually organize the entire room of dancers into smaller groups of four people, or two couples. While teaching each dance pattern, the caller may refer to the people who start closer to the band as "ones" and the people who started a few steps further from the music (but are facing toward the band) as "twos" (or the second couple). As the dance pattern progresses the "ones" within each group of four people move down the hall away from the music to find new dancers, while the "twos" in each group of four move up the hall toward the caller and the music. In the span of 10–15 minutes, every dancer will often have danced with everybody in the entire set of dancers. A single dance runs around ten minutes, long enough to progress at least 15-20 times. If the sets are short to medium length the caller often tries to run the dance until each couple has danced with every other couple both as a one and a two and returned to where they started. A typical room of contra dancers may include about 120 people; but this varies from 30 people in smaller towns, to over 300 people in cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles, or New York. With longer sets (more than 60 people) time for one song does not allow dancing with every dancer in the group. Choreography Contra dance choreography specifies the dance formation, the figures, and the sequence of those figures in a dance. Notably, contra dance figures (with a few exceptions) do not have defined footwork; within the limits of the music and the comfort of their fellow dancers, individuals move according to their own taste. Most contra dances consist of a sequence of about 6 to 12 individual figures, prompted by the caller in time to the music as the figures are danced. As the sequence repeats, the caller may cut down his or her prompting, and eventually drop out, leaving the dancers to each other and the music. A figure is a pattern of movement that typically takes eight counts, although figures with four or 16 counts are also common. Each dance is a collection of figures assembled to allow the dancers to progress along the set (see "Progression", above). A count (as used above) is one half of a musical measure, such as one quarter note in time or three eighth notes in time. A count may also be called a step, as contra dance is a walking form, and each count of a dance typically matches a single physical step in a figure. Typical contra dance choreography comprises four parts, each 16 counts (8 measures) long. The parts are called A1, A2, B1 and B2. This nomenclature stems from the music: Most contra dance tunes (as written) have two parts (A and B), each 8 measures long, and each fitting one part of the dance. The A and B parts are each played twice in a row, hence, A1, A2, B1, B2. While the same music is generally played in, for example, parts A1 and A2, distinct choreography is followed in those parts. Thus, a contra dance is typically 64 counts, and goes with a 32 measure tune. Tunes of this form are called "square"; tunes that deviate from this form are called "crooked". Sample contra dances: Traditional - the actives do most of the movement Chorus jig (proper duple minor) A1 (16) Actives down the outside and back. (The inactives stand still or substitute a swing). A2 (16) Actives down the center, turn individually, come back, and cast off. (The inactives stand still for the first , take a step up the hall, and then participate in the cast). B1 (16) Actives turn contra corners.[The inactives participate in half the turns. B2 (16) Actives meet in the middle for a balance and swing, end swing facing up. The inactives stand still. Note: inactives will often clog in place or otherwise participate in the dance, even though the figures do not call for them to move. Modern - the dance is symmetrical for actives and inactives "Hay in the Barn" by Chart Guthrie (improper duple minor) A1 (16) Neighbors balance and swing A2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start. B1 (16) Partners balance and swing. B2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start. Many modern contra dances have these characteristics: longways for as many as will first couples improper, or Becket formation flowing choreography no-one stationary for more than 16 beats (e.g. first couple balance and swing, finish facing down to make lines of four) containing at least one swing and normally both a partner swing and a neighbor swing the vast majority of the moves from a set of well-known moves that the dancers know already composed mostly of moves that keep all dancers connected generally danced to 32 bar jigs or reels played at between 110 and 130 bpm danced with a smooth walk with many spins and twirls An event which consists primarily (or solely) of dances in this style is sometimes referred to as a "modern urban contra dance". Music The most common contra dance repertoire is rooted in the Anglo-Celtic tradition as it developed in North America. Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, and Old-time tunes are common, and Klezmer tunes have also been used. The old-time repertoire includes very few of the jigs common in the others. Tunes used for a contra dance are nearly always "square" 64-beat tunes, in which one time through the tune is each of two 16-beat parts played twice (this is notated AABB). However, any 64-beat tune will do; for instance, three 8-beat parts could be played AABB AACC, or two 8-beat parts and one 16-beat part could be played AABB CC. Tunes not 64 beats long are called "crooked" and are almost never used for contra dancing, although a few crooked dances have been written as novelties. Contra tunes are played at a narrow range of tempos, between 108 and 132 bpm. In terms of instrumentation, fiddles are considered to be the primary melody instrument in contra dancing, though other stringed instruments can also be used, such as the mandolin or banjo, in addition to a few wind instruments, for example, the accordion. The piano, guitar, and double bass are frequently found in the rhythm section of a contra dance band. Occasionally, percussion instruments are also used in contra dancing, such as the Irish bodhran or less frequently, the dumbek or washboard. The last few years have seen some of the bands incorporate the Quebecois practice of tapping feet on a board while playing an instrument (often the fiddle). Until the 1970s it was traditional to play a single tune for the duration of a contra dance (about 5 to 10 minutes). Since then, contra dance musicians have typically played tunes in sets of two or three related (and sometimes contrasting) tunes, though single-tune dances are again | the dance, and step back into the dance set to continue as long as music is still being played. Contra dances patterns usually organize the entire room of dancers into smaller groups of four people, or two couples. While teaching each dance pattern, the caller may refer to the people who start closer to the band as "ones" and the people who started a few steps further from the music (but are facing toward the band) as "twos" (or the second couple). As the dance pattern progresses the "ones" within each group of four people move down the hall away from the music to find new dancers, while the "twos" in each group of four move up the hall toward the caller and the music. In the span of 10–15 minutes, every dancer will often have danced with everybody in the entire set of dancers. A single dance runs around ten minutes, long enough to progress at least 15-20 times. If the sets are short to medium length the caller often tries to run the dance until each couple has danced with every other couple both as a one and a two and returned to where they started. A typical room of contra dancers may include about 120 people; but this varies from 30 people in smaller towns, to over 300 people in cities like Washington DC, Los Angeles, or New York. With longer sets (more than 60 people) time for one song does not allow dancing with every dancer in the group. Choreography Contra dance choreography specifies the dance formation, the figures, and the sequence of those figures in a dance. Notably, contra dance figures (with a few exceptions) do not have defined footwork; within the limits of the music and the comfort of their fellow dancers, individuals move according to their own taste. Most contra dances consist of a sequence of about 6 to 12 individual figures, prompted by the caller in time to the music as the figures are danced. As the sequence repeats, the caller may cut down his or her prompting, and eventually drop out, leaving the dancers to each other and the music. A figure is a pattern of movement that typically takes eight counts, although figures with four or 16 counts are also common. Each dance is a collection of figures assembled to allow the dancers to progress along the set (see "Progression", above). A count (as used above) is one half of a musical measure, such as one quarter note in time or three eighth notes in time. A count may also be called a step, as contra dance is a walking form, and each count of a dance typically matches a single physical step in a figure. Typical contra dance choreography comprises four parts, each 16 counts (8 measures) long. The parts are called A1, A2, B1 and B2. This nomenclature stems from the music: Most contra dance tunes (as written) have two parts (A and B), each 8 measures long, and each fitting one part of the dance. The A and B parts are each played twice in a row, hence, A1, A2, B1, B2. While the same music is generally played in, for example, parts A1 and A2, distinct choreography is followed in those parts. Thus, a contra dance is typically 64 counts, and goes with a 32 measure tune. Tunes of this form are called "square"; tunes that deviate from this form are called "crooked". Sample contra dances: Traditional - the actives do most of the movement Chorus jig (proper duple minor) A1 (16) Actives down the outside and back. (The inactives stand still or substitute a swing). A2 (16) Actives down the center, turn individually, come back, and cast off. (The inactives stand still for the first , take a step up the hall, and then participate in the cast). B1 (16) Actives turn contra corners.[The inactives participate in half the turns. B2 (16) Actives meet in the middle for a balance and swing, end swing facing up. The inactives stand still. Note: inactives will often clog in place or otherwise participate in the dance, even though the figures do not call for them to move. Modern - the dance is symmetrical for actives and inactives "Hay in the Barn" by Chart Guthrie (improper duple minor) A1 (16) Neighbors balance and swing A2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start. B1 (16) Partners balance and swing. B2 (8) Ladies chain across, (8) half hey, ladies pass right shoulders to start. Many modern contra dances have these characteristics: longways for as many as will first couples improper, or Becket formation flowing choreography no-one stationary for more than 16 beats (e.g. first couple balance and swing, finish facing down to make lines of four) containing at least one swing and normally both a partner swing and a neighbor swing the vast majority of the moves from a set of well-known moves that the dancers know already composed mostly of moves that keep all dancers connected generally danced to 32 bar jigs or reels played at between 110 and 130 bpm danced with a smooth walk with many spins and twirls An event which consists primarily (or solely) of dances in this style is sometimes referred to as a "modern urban contra dance". Music The most common contra dance repertoire is rooted in the Anglo-Celtic tradition as it developed in North America. Irish, Scottish, French Canadian, and Old-time tunes are common, and Klezmer tunes have also been used. The old-time repertoire includes very few of the jigs common in the others. Tunes used for a contra dance are nearly always "square" 64-beat tunes, in which one time through the tune is each of two 16-beat parts played twice (this is notated AABB). However, any 64-beat tune will do; for instance, three 8-beat parts could be played AABB AACC, or two 8-beat parts and one 16-beat part could be played AABB CC. Tunes not 64 beats long are called "crooked" and are almost never used for contra dancing, although a few crooked dances have been written as novelties. Contra tunes are played at a narrow range of tempos, between 108 and 132 bpm. In terms of instrumentation, fiddles are considered to be the primary melody instrument in contra dancing, though other stringed instruments can also be used, such as the mandolin or banjo, in addition to a few wind instruments, for example, the accordion. The piano, guitar, and double bass are frequently found in the rhythm section of a contra dance band. Occasionally, percussion instruments are also used in contra dancing, such as the Irish bodhran or less frequently, the dumbek or washboard. The last few years have seen some of the bands incorporate the Quebecois practice of tapping feet on a board while playing an instrument (often the fiddle). Until the 1970s it was traditional to play a single tune for the duration of a contra dance (about 5 to 10 minutes). Since then, contra dance musicians have typically played tunes in sets of two or three related (and sometimes contrasting) tunes, though single-tune dances are again becoming popular with some northeastern bands. In the Celtic repertoires it is common to change keys with each tune. A set might start with a tune in G, switch to a tune in D, and end with a tune in Bm. Here, D is related to G as its dominant (5th), while D and Bm share a key signature of two sharps. In the old-time tradition the musicians will either play the same tune for the whole dance, or switch to tunes in the same key. This is because the tunings of the five-string banjo are key-specific. An old-time band might play a set of tunes in D, then use the time between dances to retune for a set of tunes in A. (Fiddlers also may take this opportunity to retune; tune- or key-specific fiddle tunings are uncommon in American Anglo-Celtic traditions other than old-time.) In the Celtic repertoires it is most common for bands to play sets of reels and sets of jigs. However, since the underlying beat structure of jigs and reels is the same (two "counts" per bar) bands will occasionally mix jigs and reels in a set. Some of the most popular contra dance bands in recent years are Great Bear, Perpetual E-Motion, Buddy System, Crowfoot, Elixir, the Mean Lids, Nor'easter, Nova, Pete's Posse, the Stringrays, the Syncopaths, and Wild Asparagus. Techno contras In recent years, younger contra dancers have begun establishing "crossover contra" or "techno contra" — contra dancing to techno, hip-hop, and other modern forms of music. While challenging for DJs and callers, the fusion of contra patterns with moves from hip-hop, tango, and other forms of dance has made this form of contra dance a rising trend since 2008. Techno differs from other contra dancing in that it is usually done to recorded music, although there are some bands that play live for techno dances. Techno has become especially prevalent in Asheville, NC, but regular techno contra dance series are spreading up the East Coast to locales such as Charlottesville, VA, Washington, D.C., Amherst, MA, Greenfield, MA, and various North Carolina dance communities, with one-time or annual events cropping up in locations farther west, including California, Portland, OR, and Washington state. They also sometimes appear as late night events during contra dance weekends. In response to the demand for techno contra, a number of contra dance callers have developed repertoires of recorded songs to play that go well with particular contra dances; these callers are known as DJs A kind of techno/traditional contra fusion has arisen, with at least one band, Buddy System, playing live music melded with synth sounds for techno contra dances. See also Ceili dance Country Dance and Song Society International folk dance Quadrille Dutch crossing References Bibliography See chapter VI, "Frolics for Fun: Dances, Weddings and Dinner Parties, pages 109 - 124. (Reprint: first published in 1956 by American Squares as a part of the American Squares Dance Series) See chapter entitled "Country Dancing," Pages 57 – 120. (The first edition was published in 1939.) External links Contra dance associations Country Dance and Song Society (CDSS) preserves a variety of Anglo-American folk traditions in North America, including folk music, folk song, English country dance, contra dance and morris dance. Anglo-American Dance Service Based in Belgium, promoting contra dance and English dance in Western Europe. Descriptions & definitions Gary Shapiro's What Is Contra Dance? Hamilton Contra Dances A Contra Dance Primer Sharon Barrett Kennedy's "Now, What in the World is Contra Dancing?" Different traditions and cultures in contra dance Colin Hume's Advice to Americans in England Mary Dart's book Contra Dance Choreography, A Reflection of Social Change Research resources University of New Hampshire Special Collections: New Hampshire Library of Traditional Music and Dance Finding contra dances CDSS Dance Map - interactive, crowd sourced map of contra and folk dances around the world Contra Dance Links - comprehensive, up-to-date lists of local dances, weekend dances, musicians, callers, etc. The Dance Gypsy - locations of contra dances, and many other folk dances, around the world Try Contra = Find Contra Dances using ZIP Code search. National Contra Grid = Look up dances by day-of-week & City. ContraDance.org |
coin (for example, during the annual release of Canadian numismatic collectibles from the Royal Canadian Mint). The speculator might hope to buy the coin in large lots and sell at a profit within weeks or months. Speculators may also buy common circulation coins for their intrinsic metal value. Coins without collectible value may be melted down or distributed as bullion for commercial purposes. Typically they purchase coins that are composed of rare or precious metals, or coins that have a high purity of a specific metal. A final type of collector is the inheritor, an accidental collector who acquires coins from another person as part of an inheritance. The inheritor type may not necessarily have an interest in or know anything about numismatics at the time of the acquisition. Collector types Casual coin collectors often begin the hobby by saving notable coins found by chance. These coins may be pocket change left from an international trip or an old coin found in circulation. If the enthusiasm of the novice increases over time, random coins found in circulation may not be enough to satisfy their interest. The hobbyist may then trade coins in a coin club or buy coins from dealers or mints. Their collection then takes on a more specific focus. Some enthusiasts become generalists and accumulate a few examples from a broad variety of historical or geographically significant coins. Given enough resources, this can result in a vast collection. King Farouk of Egypt was a generalist with a collection famous for its scope and variety. Most collectors decide to focus their financial resources on a narrower, specialist interest. Some collectors focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period. Some collect coins by themes (or 'subjects') that are featured on the artwork displayed on the coin. Others will seek error coins. Still others might focus on exonumia such as medals, tokens or challenge coins. Some collectors are completists and seek an example of every type of coin within a certain category. Perhaps the most famous of these is Louis Eliasberg, the only collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States. Coin collecting can become a competitive activity, as prompted by the recent emergence of PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation) Registry Sets. Registry Sets are private collections of coins verified for ownership and quality by numismatic grading services. The grading services assess collections, seal the coins in clear plastic holders, then register and publish the results. This can lead to very high prices as dedicated collectors compete for the very best specimens of, for example, each date and mint mark combination. Common themes A few common themes are often combined into a collection goal: Country collections: Many enthusiasts focus their collection on only a single country—often their own. In contrast, some collectors attempt to obtain a sample from every country that has issued a coin. Year collections: Rather than being satisfied with a single specimen of a type, a great many collectors collect type by year; for example, one Memorial Lincoln Cent for every year from 1959 (the year it was first minted) to 2008 (the last year it was minted). This is perhaps one of the most practical ways to collect a national currency since probably the majority of coin reference books and coin albums catalogue in the same manner. Mint mark collections: Many collectors consider different mint marks significant enough to justify representation in their collection. When collecting coins by year, this multiplies the number of specimens needed to complete a collection. Some mint marks are more common than others. Variety collections: Because mints generally issue thousands or millions of any given coin, they use multiple sets of coin dies to produce the same coin. Occasionally these dies have slight differences. This was more common on older coins because the coin dies were hand carved. But differences—intentional or accidental—still exist on coins today. Generally this is in a very small detail, such as the number of leaves on the ear of corn on the recent US Wisconsin state quarter (see File:2004 WI Proof.png). Type collections: Often a collection consists of an examples of major design variants for a period of time in one country or region. For example, United States coinage type set, Euro coins carry a "common side" that shows the denomination and a "national side" that varies in design from state to state within the Eurozone. Likewise, a type collection might focus on an unusual design feature such as coins with a hole in the middle, coins that are not circular in shape or coins with brockage. Composition collections: For some, the metallurgical composition of the coin itself is of interest. For example, a collector might collect only bimetallic coins. Precious metals like gold, silver, copper and platinum are of frequent interest to collectors, but enthusiasts also pursue historically significant pieces like the 1943 steel cent or the 1974 aluminum cent. (Note that because the latter example was a pattern coin (a proposed design that was never produced for circulation), until recently, the U.S. Government considered private ownership of the 1974 aluminum cent illegal.) Subject collections: Collectors with an interest in a certain theme or subject (such as, ships or eagles) may collect only coins depicting that interest. Period collections: Collectors may restrict themselves to coins of the 18th or 19th century, while others collect ancient and medieval coins. Coins of Roman, Byzantine, Greek origin are amongst the more popular ancient coins collected. Some collect coins minted during a particular ruler's reign or a representative coin from each ruler. Collectors may also take interest in money issued during the administration of a historically significant bureaucrat such as a central bank governor, treasurer or finance secretary. For example, Reserve Bank of India governor James Braid Taylor presided over the country's move from silver currency to fiat money. Coins reflect the events of the time in which they are produced, so coins issued during historically important periods are especially interesting to collectors. Printed value collections: A currency collection might be modeled around the theme of a specific printed value, for example, the number 1. This collection might include specimens of the US 1 dollar coin, the Canadian Loonie, the Euro, 1 Indian rupee and 1 Singapore dollar. Volume collections (Hoards): Collectors may have an interest in acquiring large volumes of a particular coins (e.g., as many pennies as they can store). These usually are not high-value coins, but the interest is in collecting a large volume of them either for the sake of the challenge, as a store of value, or in the hope that the intrinsic metal value will increase. Copy collections: Some collectors enjoy acquiring copies of coins, sometimes to complement the authentic coins in their collections. Copies might be: contemporaneous ancient copies minted as official coins by other cities or rulers contemporaneous ancient copies minted as counterfeits (often gold- or silver-plated) to fool merchants and consumers contemporaneous modern copies minted as counterfeits to fool merchants and consumers modern copies of older coins minted as forgeries to fool collectors modern copies sold as replicas (often, but not always, marked as such) modern copies minted for museums to be displayed instead of the originals modern copies made to be used in jewelry modern copies as official circulating coins that pay tribute to the original coin modern copies as bullion collectable coins that pay tribute to the original coin modern copies as medals or tokens that pay tribute to the original coin Collecting counterfeits and forgeries is a controversial area because of the possibility that counterfeits might someday reenter the coin market as authentic coins, but US statutory and case law do not explicitly prohibit possession of counterfeit coins. Geo-Political collections : Some individuals enjoy collecting coins from various nations which were once united by one dominant Geo-political force or movement. Examples include communist states such as the (PRC China) and the Soviet Union and satellite or constituent nations which shared similar iconography. Another common Geo-political coin collection may include coins from nations within the former and current British Empire, such as Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Canada, nations of the Caribbean, South Africa, Rhodesia, and other nations from Africa and South America, as well as Asia, such as Hong Kong and Europe, for example Northern Ireland a.k.a. "the Provence". Such collections can be broken down into geographical regions, such as British territories in Europe, from Africa, from Asia, the Americas, or from the Pacific, and even the smaller region of Oceania. Such coin collections can include a wide variety of coin shape and constituent materials, on the other hand they can also include periods where coins were very similar either in/or both composition and dimensions, with one face of the coin depicting local variance. There are many different Geo-political movements/ forces to choose from, including political movements such as Communism Fascism and Nationalism, and Empires such as those of the great European expansionists including England, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Collectors of coins from empires have a wide time-span to choose from as there have been various forms of | principle of caveat emptor applies and study is recommended before buying. Likewise, as with most collectibles, a coin collection does not produce income until it is sold, and may even incur costs (for example, the cost of safe deposit box storage) in the interim. Coin hoarders may be similar to investors in the sense that they accumulate coins for potential long-term profit. However, unlike investors, they typically do not take into account aesthetic considerations; rather they gather whatever quantity of coins they can and hold them. This is most common with coins whose metal value exceeds their spending value. Speculators, be they amateurs or commercial buyers, may purchase coins in bulk or in small batches, and often act with the expectation of delayed profit. They may wish to take advantage of a spike in demand for a particular coin (for example, during the annual release of Canadian numismatic collectibles from the Royal Canadian Mint). The speculator might hope to buy the coin in large lots and sell at a profit within weeks or months. Speculators may also buy common circulation coins for their intrinsic metal value. Coins without collectible value may be melted down or distributed as bullion for commercial purposes. Typically they purchase coins that are composed of rare or precious metals, or coins that have a high purity of a specific metal. A final type of collector is the inheritor, an accidental collector who acquires coins from another person as part of an inheritance. The inheritor type may not necessarily have an interest in or know anything about numismatics at the time of the acquisition. Collector types Casual coin collectors often begin the hobby by saving notable coins found by chance. These coins may be pocket change left from an international trip or an old coin found in circulation. If the enthusiasm of the novice increases over time, random coins found in circulation may not be enough to satisfy their interest. The hobbyist may then trade coins in a coin club or buy coins from dealers or mints. Their collection then takes on a more specific focus. Some enthusiasts become generalists and accumulate a few examples from a broad variety of historical or geographically significant coins. Given enough resources, this can result in a vast collection. King Farouk of Egypt was a generalist with a collection famous for its scope and variety. Most collectors decide to focus their financial resources on a narrower, specialist interest. Some collectors focus on coins of a certain nation or historic period. Some collect coins by themes (or 'subjects') that are featured on the artwork displayed on the coin. Others will seek error coins. Still others might focus on exonumia such as medals, tokens or challenge coins. Some collectors are completists and seek an example of every type of coin within a certain category. Perhaps the most famous of these is Louis Eliasberg, the only collector thus far to assemble a complete set of known coins of the United States. Coin collecting can become a competitive activity, as prompted by the recent emergence of PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) and NGC (Numismatic Guarantee Corporation) Registry Sets. Registry Sets are private collections of coins verified for ownership and quality by numismatic grading services. The grading services assess collections, seal the coins in clear plastic holders, then register and publish the results. This can lead to very high prices as dedicated collectors compete for the very best specimens of, for example, each date and mint mark combination. Common themes A few common themes are often combined into a collection goal: Country collections: Many enthusiasts focus their collection on only a single country—often their own. In contrast, some collectors attempt to obtain a sample from every country that has issued a coin. Year collections: Rather than being satisfied with a single specimen of a type, a great many collectors collect type by year; for example, one Memorial Lincoln Cent for every year from 1959 (the year it was first minted) to 2008 (the last year it was minted). This is perhaps one of the most practical ways to collect a national currency since probably the majority of coin reference books and coin albums catalogue in the same manner. Mint mark collections: Many collectors consider different mint marks significant enough to justify representation in their collection. When collecting coins by year, this multiplies the number of specimens needed to complete a collection. Some mint marks are more common than others. Variety collections: Because mints generally issue thousands or millions of any given coin, they use multiple sets of coin dies to produce the same coin. Occasionally these dies have slight differences. This was more common on older coins because the coin dies were hand carved. But differences—intentional or accidental—still exist on coins today. Generally this is in a very small detail, such as the number of leaves on the ear of corn on the recent US Wisconsin state quarter (see File:2004 WI Proof.png). Type collections: Often a collection consists of an examples of major design variants for a period of time in one country or region. For example, United States coinage type set, Euro coins carry a "common side" that shows the denomination and a "national side" that varies in design from state to state within the Eurozone. Likewise, a type collection might focus on an unusual design feature such as coins with a hole in the middle, coins that are not circular in shape or coins with brockage. Composition collections: For some, the metallurgical composition of the coin itself is of interest. For example, a collector might collect only bimetallic coins. Precious metals like gold, silver, copper |
Ontario, with a focus on Germanic folk art. Several other home-made boards dating from southwestern Ontario in the 1870s have been discovered since the 1990s. A board game similar to crokinole was patented on 20 April 1880 by Joshua K. Ingalls (US Patent No. 226,615) Crokinole is often believed to be of Mennonite or Amish origins, but there is no factual data to support such a claim. The reason for this misconception may be due to its popularity in Mennonite and Amish groups. The game was viewed as a rather innocuous pastime – unlike the perception that diversions such as card playing or dancing were considered "works of the Devil" as held by many 19th-century Protestant groups. The oldest roots of crokinole, from the 1860s, suggest the British and South Asian games are the most likely antecedents of what became crokinole. In 2006, a documentary film called Crokinole was released. The world premiere occurred at the Princess Cinema in Waterloo, Ontario, in early 2006. The movie follows some of the competitors of the 2004 World Crokinole Championship as they prepare for the event. Origins of the name The name "crokinole" derives from , a French word today designating: in France, a kind of cookie (or biscuit in British English), similar to a biscotto; in French Canada, a pastry somewhat similar to a doughnut (except for the shape). It also used to designate the action of flicking with the finger (Molière, Le malade imaginaire; or Voltaire, Lettre à Frédéric II Roi de Prusse; etc.), and this seems the most likely origin of the name of the game. was also a synonym of , a word that gave its name to the different but related games of pichenotte and pitchnut. From The Crokinole Book 3rd Edition by Wayne S. Kelly "Is it possible that the English word 'crokinole' is simply an etymological offspring of the French word 'croquignole'? It would appear so for the following reasons. Going back to the entry for Crokinole in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, within the etymological brackets is says: [French croquignole, fillip]. This is a major clue. The word fillip, according to Webster's, has two definitions: "1. a blow or gesture made by the sudden forcible release of a finger curled up against the thumb; a short sharp blow. 2. to strike by holding the nail of a finger curled up against the ball of the thumb and then suddenly releasing it from that position". So it seems evident, then, that our game of crokinole derives its name from the verb form (of croquignole) defining the principle action in the game, that of flicking or 'filliping' a playing piece across the board". The word Crokinole is generally acknowledged to have been derived from the French Canadian word "Croquignole", a word with several meanings, such as fillip, snap, biscuit, bun and a woman's wavy hairstyle popular at the turn of the century. The US state of New York shares border crossings with both of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, all three of which are popular "hotbeds" of Croknole playing. Crokinole | edge of the board is raised slightly to keep errant shots from flying out, with a gutter between the playing surface and the edge to collect discarded pieces. Crokinole boards are typically octagonal or round in shape. The wooden discs are roughly checker-sized, slightly smaller in diameter than the board's central hole, and typically have one side slightly concave and one side slightly convex, mainly due to the inherent features of wood, more than a planned design. Alternatively, the game may be played with ring-shaped pieces with a central hole. Powder The use of any lubricating powder in crokinole is controversial, with some purists reviling the practice. Powder is sometimes used to ensure pieces slide smoothly on the surface. Boric acid was popular for a long time, but is now considered toxic and has been replaced with safer substitutes. The EU has classified Boric acid as a "Serious Health Hazard". In the UK, many players use a version of anti-set-off spray powder, from the printing industry, which has specific electrostatic properties, with particles of 50-micrometre diameter (). The powder is made of pure food-grade plant/vegetable starch. The World Crokinole Championships in Tavistock, Ontario, Canada, states: "The WCC waxes boards, as required, with paste wax. On tournament day powdered shuffleboard wax (CAPO fast speed, yellow and white container) is placed in the ditch. Only tournament organizers will apply quality granular shuffleboard wax. Wax will be placed in the ditch area so that players can rub their discs in the wax prior to shooting, if they desire. Contestants are not allowed to apply lubricants of any type to the board. Absolutely no other lubricant will be allowed". Gameplay Crokinole is most commonly played by two players, or by four players in teams of two, with partners sitting across the board from each other. Players take turns flicking their discs from the outer edge of their quadrant of the board onto the playfield. Shooting is usually done by flicking the disc with a finger, though sometimes small cue sticks may be used. If there are any enemy discs on the board, a player must make contact, directly or indirectly, with an enemy disc during the shot. If unsuccessful, the shot disc is "fouled" and removed from the board, along with any of the player's other discs that were moved during the shot. When there are no enemy discs on the board, many (but not all) rules also state that a player must shoot for the centre of the board, and a shot disc must finish either completely inside the 15-point guarded ring line, or (depending on the specifics of the rules) be inside or touching this line. This is often called the "no hiding" rule, since it prevents players from placing their first shots where their opponent must traverse completely through the guarded centre ring to hit them and avoid fouling. When playing without this rule, a player may generally make any shot desired, and as long as a disc remains completely inside the outer line of the playfield, it remains on the board. During any shot, any disc that falls completely into the recessed central "20" hole (a.k.a. the "Toad" or "Dukie") is removed from play, and counts as twenty points for the owner of the disc at the end of the round, assuming the shot is valid. Scoring occurs after all pieces (generally 12 per player or team) have been played, and is differential: i.e., the player or team with higher score is awarded the difference between the higher and lower scores for the round, thus only one team or player each round gains points. Play continues until a predetermined winning score is reached. History of the game After 30 years of research, Wayne Kelly published his assessment of the first origins of crokinole, in The Crokinole Book, Third Edition, page 28, which leaves the door open to future research and discovery of the origins of the game of crokinole: "The earliest American crokinole board and reference to the game is M. B. Ross's patented New York board of 1880. The earliest Canadian reference is 1867(Sports and Games in Canadian Life: 1700 to the Present by Howell and Howell, Toronto, MacMillan Company of Canada, 1969, p.61, and the oldest piece dated at 1875 by Ekhardt Wettlaufer. Could Ekhardt Wettlaufer have visited friends in New York state, noticed an unusual and entertaining parlour game being played, and upon arrival at home, made an imitation as a gift for his son? After all, he was a talented, and no doubt resourceful, painter and woodworker. Or was it the other way around? Did Mr. M. B. Ross travel to Ontario, take note of a quaint piece of rural folk art, and upon return to New York, put his American entrepreneurial skills to work - complete with patent name - on his new crokinole board? As the trail is more than 100 years old and no other authoritative source can be found, it appears, at the moment, that Eckhardt Wettlaufer or M. B. Ross are as close as we can get to answering the question WHO (made the first crokinole board.)" The earliest known crokinole board was made by craftsman Eckhardt Wettlaufer in 1876 in Perth County, Ontario, Canada. It is said Wettlaufer crafted the board as a fifth birthday present for his son Adam, which is now part of the collection at the Joseph Schneider Haus, a national historic site in Kitchener, Ontario, with a focus |
and others. At this stage capitalist markets are considered developed and are characterized by developed private and public markets for equity and debt, a high standard of living (as characterized by the World Bank and the IMF), large institutional investors and a well-funded banking system. A significant managerial class has emerged and decides on a significant proportion of investments and other decisions. A different future than that envisioned by Marx has started to emerge—explored and described by Anthony Crosland in the United Kingdom in his 1956 book The Future of Socialism and by John Kenneth Galbraith in North America in his 1958 book The Affluent Society, 90 years after Marx's research on the state of capitalism in 1867. The postwar boom ended in the late 1960s and early 1970s and the economic situation grew worse with the rise of stagflation. Monetarism, a modification of Keynesianism that is more compatible with laissez-faire analyses, gained increasing prominence in the capitalist world, especially under the years in office of Ronald Reagan in the United States (1981–1989) and of Margaret Thatcher in the United Kingdom (1979–1990). Public and political interest began shifting away from the so-called collectivist concerns of Keynes's managed capitalism to a focus on individual choice, called "remarketized capitalism". Harvard Kennedy School economist Dani Rodrik distinguishes between three historical variants of capitalism: Capitalism 1.0 during the 19th century entailed largely unregulated markets with a minimal role for the state (aside from national defense, and protecting property rights) Capitalism 2.0 during the post-World War II years entailed Keynesianism, a substantial role for the state in regulating markets, and strong welfare states Capitalism 2.1 entailed a combination of unregulated markets, globalization, and various national obligations by states Relationship to democracy The relationship between democracy and capitalism is a contentious area in theory and in popular political movements. The extension of adult-male suffrage in 19th-century Britain occurred along with the development of industrial capitalism and representative democracy became widespread at the same time as capitalism, leading capitalists to posit a causal or mutual relationship between them. However, according to some authors in the 20th-century, capitalism also accompanied a variety of political formations quite distinct from liberal democracies, including fascist regimes, absolute monarchies and single-party states. Democratic peace theory asserts that democracies seldom fight other democracies, but critics of that theory suggest that this may be because of political similarity or stability rather than because they are "democratic" or "capitalist". Moderate critics argue that though economic growth under capitalism has led to democracy in the past, it may not do so in the future as authoritarian régimes have been able to manage economic growth using some of capitalism's competitive principles without making concessions to greater political freedom. Political scientists Torben Iversen and David Soskice see democracy and capitalism as mutually supportive. Robert Dahl argued in On Democracy that capitalism was beneficial for democracy because economic growth and a large middle class were good for democracy. He also argued that a market economy provided a substitute for government control of the economy, which reduces the risks of tyranny and authoritarianism. In his book The Road to Serfdom (1944), Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) asserted that the free-market understanding of economic freedom as present in capitalism is a requisite of political freedom. He argued that the market mechanism is the only way of deciding what to produce and how to distribute the items without using coercion. Milton Friedman, Andrew Brennan and Ronald Reagan also promoted this view. Friedman claimed that centralized economic operations are always accompanied by political repression. In his view, transactions in a market economy are voluntary and that the wide diversity that voluntary activity permits is a fundamental threat to repressive political leaders and greatly diminishes their power to coerce. Some of Friedman's views were shared by John Maynard Keynes, who believed that capitalism was vital for freedom to survive and thrive. Freedom House, an American think-tank that conducts international research on, and advocates for, democracy, political freedom and human rights, has argued that "there is a high and statistically significant correlation between the level of political freedom as measured by Freedom House and economic freedom as measured by the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation survey". In Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013), Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics asserted that inequality is the inevitable consequence of economic growth in a capitalist economy and the resulting concentration of wealth can destabilize democratic societies and undermine the ideals of social justice upon which they are built. States with capitalistic economic systems have thrived under political regimes deemed to be authoritarian or oppressive. Singapore has a successful open market economy as a result of its competitive, business-friendly climate and robust rule of law. Nonetheless, it often comes under fire for its style of government which, though democratic and consistently one of the least corrupt, operates largely under a one-party rule. Furthermore, it does not vigorously defend freedom of expression as evidenced by its government-regulated press, and its penchant for upholding laws protecting ethnic and religious harmony, judicial dignity and personal reputation. The private (capitalist) sector in the People's Republic of China has grown exponentially and thrived since its inception, despite having an authoritarian government. Augusto Pinochet's rule in Chile led to economic growth and high levels of inequality by using authoritarian means to create a safe environment for investment and capitalism. Similarly, Suharto's authoritarian reign and extirpation of the Communist Party of Indonesia allowed for the expansion of capitalism in Indonesia. The term "capitalism" in its modern sense is often attributed to Karl Marx. In his Das Kapital, Marx analyzed the "capitalist mode of production" using a method of understanding today known as Marxism. However, Marx himself rarely used the term "capitalism" while it was used twice in the more political interpretations of his work, primarily authored by his collaborator Friedrich Engels. In the 20th century, defenders of the capitalist system often replaced the term "capitalism" with phrases such as free enterprise and private enterprise and replaced "capitalist" with rentier and investor in reaction to the negative connotations associated with capitalism. Characteristics In general, capitalism as an economic system and mode of production can be summarised by the following: Capital accumulation: production for profit and accumulation as the implicit purpose of all or most of production, constriction or elimination of production formerly carried out on a common social or private household basis. Commodity production: production for exchange on a market; to maximize exchange-value instead of use-value. Private ownership of the means of production: High levels of wage labor. The investment of money to make a profit. The use of the price mechanism to allocate resources between competing uses. Economically efficient use of the factors of production and raw materials due to maximization of value added in the production process. Freedom of capitalists to act in their self-interest in managing their business and investments. Market In free market and laissez-faire forms of capitalism, markets are used most extensively with minimal or no regulation over the pricing mechanism. In mixed economies, which are almost universal today, markets continue to play a dominant role, but they are regulated to some extent by the state in order to correct market failures, promote social welfare, conserve natural resources, fund defense and public safety or other rationale. In state capitalist systems, markets are relied upon the least, with the state relying heavily on state-owned enterprises or indirect economic planning to accumulate capital. Competition arises when more than one producer is trying to sell the same or similar products to the same buyers. Adherents of the capitalist theory believe that competition leads to innovation and more affordable prices. Monopolies or cartels can develop, especially if there is no competition. A monopoly occurs when a firm has exclusivity over a market. Hence, the firm can engage in rent seeking behaviors such as limiting output and raising prices because it has no fear of competition. A cartel is a group of firms that act together in a monopolistic manner to control output and prices. Governments have implemented legislation for the purpose of preventing the creation of monopolies and cartels. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act became the first legislation passed by the United States Congress to limit monopolies. Wage labor Wage labor, usually referred to as paid work, paid employment, or paid labor, refers to the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer in which the worker sells their labor power under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labor market where wages or salaries are market-determined. In exchange for the money paid as wages (usual for short-term work-contracts) or salaries (in permanent employment contracts), the work product generally becomes the undifferentiated property of the employer. A wage laborer is a person whose primary means of income is from the selling of their labor in this way. Profit motive The profit motive, in the theory of capitalism, is the desire to earn income in the form of profit. Stated differently, the reason for a business's existence is to turn a profit. The profit motive functions according to rational choice theory, or the theory that individuals tend to pursue what is in their own best interests. Accordingly, businesses seek to benefit themselves and/or their shareholders by maximizing profit. In capitalist theoretics, the profit motive is said to ensure that resources are being allocated efficiently. For instance, Austrian economist Henry Hazlitt explains: "If there is no profit in making an article, it is a sign that the labor and capital devoted to its production are misdirected: the value of the resources that must be used up in making the article is greater than the value of the article itself". Private property The relationship between the state, its formal mechanisms, and capitalist societies has been debated in many fields of social and political theory, with active discussion since the 19th century. Hernando de Soto is a contemporary Peruvian economist who has argued that an important characteristic of capitalism is the functioning state protection of property rights in a formal property system where ownership and transactions are clearly recorded. According to de Soto, this is the process by which physical assets are transformed into capital, which in turn may be used in many more ways and much more efficiently in the market economy. A number of Marxian economists have argued that the Enclosure Acts in England and similar legislation elsewhere were an integral part of capitalist primitive accumulation and that specific legal frameworks of private land ownership have been integral to the development of capitalism. Market competition In capitalist economics, market competition is the rivalry among sellers trying to achieve such goals as increasing profits, market share and sales volume by varying the elements of the marketing mix: price, product, distribution and promotion. Merriam-Webster defines competition in business as "the effort of two or more parties acting independently to secure the business of a third party by offering the most favourable terms". It was described by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations (1776) and later economists as allocating productive resources to their most highly valued uses and encouraging efficiency. Smith and other classical economists before Antoine Augustine Cournot were referring to price and non-price rivalry among producers to sell their goods on best terms by bidding of buyers, not necessarily to a large number of sellers nor to a market in final equilibrium. Competition is widespread throughout the market process. It is a condition where "buyers tend to compete with other buyers, and sellers tend to compete with other sellers". In offering goods for exchange, buyers competitively bid to purchase specific quantities of specific goods which are available, or might be available if sellers were to choose to offer such goods. Similarly, sellers bid against other sellers in offering goods on the market, competing for the attention and exchange resources of buyers. Competition results from scarcity, as it is not possible to satisfy all conceivable human wants, and occurs as people try to meet the criteria being used to determine allocation. In the works of Adam Smith, the idea of capitalism is made possible through competition which creates growth. Although capitalism has not entered mainstream economics at the time of Smith, it is vital to the construction of his ideal society. One of the foundational blocks of capitalism is competition. Smith believed that a prosperous society is one where "everyone should be free to enter and leave the market and change trades as often as he pleases." He believed that the freedom to act in one's self-interest is essential for the success of a capitalist society. The fear arises that if all participants focus on their own goals, society's well-being will be water under the bridge. Smith maintains that despite the concerns of intellectuals, "global trends will hardly be altered if they refrain from pursuing their personal ends." He insisted that the actions of a few participants cannot alter the course of society. Instead, Smith maintained that they should focus on personal progress instead and that this will result in overall growth to the whole. Competition between participants, "who are all endeavoring to justle one another out of employment, obliges every man to endeavor to execute his work" through competition towards growth. Economic growth Economic growth is a characteristic tendency of capitalist economies. As a mode of production The capitalist mode of production refers to the systems of organising production and distribution within capitalist societies. Private money-making in various forms (renting, banking, merchant trade, production for profit and so on) preceded the development of the capitalist mode of production as such. The capitalist mode of production proper based on wage-labor and private ownership of the means of production and on industrial technology began to grow rapidly in Western Europe from the Industrial Revolution, later extending to most of the world. The term capitalist mode of production is defined by private ownership of the means of production, extraction of surplus value by the owning class for the purpose of capital accumulation, wage-based labor and, at least as far as commodities are concerned, being market-based. Capitalism in the form of money-making activity has existed in the shape of merchants and money-lenders who acted as intermediaries between consumers and producers engaging in simple commodity production (hence the reference to "merchant capitalism") since the beginnings of civilisation. What is specific about the "capitalist mode of production" is that most of the inputs and outputs of production are supplied through the market (i.e. they are commodities) and essentially all production is in this mode. By contrast, in flourishing feudalism most or all of the factors of production, including labor, are owned by the feudal ruling class outright and the products may also be consumed without a market of any kind, it is production for use within the feudal social unit and for limited trade. This has the important consequence that, under capitalism, the whole organisation of the production process is reshaped and re-organised to conform with economic rationality as bounded by capitalism, which is expressed in price relationships between inputs and outputs (wages, non-labor factor costs, sales and profits) rather than the larger rational context faced by society overall—that is, the whole process is organised and re-shaped in order to conform to "commercial logic". Essentially, capital accumulation comes to define economic rationality in capitalist production. A society, region or nation is capitalist if the predominant source of incomes and products being distributed is capitalist activity, but even so this does not yet mean necessarily that the capitalist mode of production is dominant in that society. Role of government Government agencies regulate the standards of service in many industries, such as airlines and broadcasting, as well as financing a wide range of programs. In addition, the government regulates the flow of capital and uses financial tools such as the interest rate to control such factors as inflation and unemployment. Supply and demand In capitalist economic structures, supply and demand is an economic model of price determination in a market. It postulates that in a perfectly competitive market, the unit price for a particular good will vary until it settles at a point where the quantity demanded by consumers (at the current price) will equal the quantity supplied by producers (at the current price), resulting in an economic equilibrium for price and quantity. The "basic laws" of supply and demand, as described by David Besanko and Ronald Braeutigam, are the following four: If demand increases (demand curve shifts to the right) and supply remains unchanged, then a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price. If demand decreases (demand curve shifts to the left) and supply remains unchanged, then a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price. If demand remains unchanged and supply increases (supply curve shifts to the right), then a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price. If demand remains unchanged and supply decreases (supply curve shifts to the left), then a shortage occurs, leading to a higher equilibrium price. Supply schedule A supply schedule is a table that shows the relationship between the price of a good and the quantity supplied. Demand schedule A demand schedule, depicted graphically as the demand curve, represents the amount of some goods that buyers are willing and able to purchase at various prices, assuming all determinants of demand other than the price of the good in question, such as income, tastes and preferences, the price of substitute goods and the price of complementary goods, remain the same. According to the law of demand, the demand curve is almost always represented as downward-sloping, meaning that as price decreases, consumers will buy more of the good. Just like the supply curves reflect marginal cost curves, demand curves are determined by marginal utility curves. Equilibrium In the context of supply and demand, economic equilibrium refers to a state where economic forces such as supply and demand are balanced and in the absence of external influences the (equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. For example, in the standard text-book model of perfect competition equilibrium occurs at the point at which quantity demanded and quantity supplied are equal. Market equilibrium, in this case, refers to a condition where a market price is established through competition such that the amount of goods or services sought by buyers is equal to the amount of goods or services produced by sellers. This price is often called the competitive price or market clearing price, and will tend not to change unless demand or supply changes. The quantity is called "competitive quantity" or market clearing quantity. Partial equilibrium Partial equilibrium, as the name suggests, takes into consideration only a part of the market to attain equilibrium. Jain proposes (attributed to George Stigler): "A partial equilibrium is one which is based on only a restricted range of data, a standard example is price of a single product, the prices of all other products being held fixed during the analysis". History According to Hamid S. Hosseini, the "power of supply and demand" was discussed to some extent by several early Muslim scholars, such as fourteenth-century Mamluk scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who wrote: "If desire for goods increases while its availability decreases, its price rises. On the other hand, if availability of the good increases and the desire for it decreases, the price comes down". John Locke's 1691 work Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money includes an early and clear description of supply and demand and their relationship. In this description, demand is rent: "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers" and "that which regulates the price... [of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their rent". David Ricardo titled one chapter of his 1817 work Principles of Political Economy and Taxation "On the Influence of Demand and Supply on Price". In Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo more rigorously laid down the idea of the assumptions that were used to build his ideas of supply and demand. In his 1870 essay "On the Graphical Representation of Supply and Demand", Fleeming Jenkin in the course of "introduc[ing] the diagrammatic method into the English economic literature" published the first drawing of supply and demand curves therein, including comparative statics from a shift of supply or demand and application to the labor market. The model was further developed and popularized by Alfred Marshall in the 1890 textbook Principles of Economics. Types There are many variants of capitalism in existence that differ according to country and region. They vary in their institutional makeup and by their economic policies. The common features among all the different forms of capitalism is that they are predominantly based on the private ownership of the means of production and the production of goods and services for profit; the market-based allocation of resources; and the accumulation of capital. They include advanced capitalism, corporate capitalism, finance capitalism, free-market capitalism, mercantilism, social capitalism, state capitalism and welfare capitalism. Other variants of capitalism include anarcho-capitalism, community capitalism, humanistic capitalism, neo-capitalism, state monopoly capitalism, and technocapitalism. Advanced Advanced capitalism is the situation that pertains to a society in which the capitalist model has been integrated and developed deeply and extensively for a prolonged period. Various writers identify Antonio Gramsci as an influential early theorist of advanced capitalism, even if he did not use the term himself. In his writings, Gramsci sought to explain how capitalism had adapted to avoid the revolutionary overthrow that had seemed inevitable in the 19th century. At the heart of his explanation was the decline of raw coercion as a tool of class power, replaced by use of civil society institutions to manipulate public ideology in the capitalists' favour. Jürgen Habermas has been a major contributor to the analysis of advanced-capitalistic societies. Habermas observed four general features that characterise advanced capitalism: Concentration of industrial activity in a few large firms. Constant reliance on the state to stabilise the economic system. A formally democratic government that legitimises the activities of the state and dissipates opposition to the system. The use of nominal wage increases to pacify the most restless segments of the work force. Corporate Corporate capitalism is a free or mixed-market capitalist economy characterized by the dominance of hierarchical, bureaucratic corporations. Finance Finance capitalism is the subordination of processes of production to the accumulation of money profits in a financial system. In their critique of capitalism, Marxism and Leninism both emphasise the role of finance capital as the determining and ruling-class interest in capitalist society, particularly in the latter stages. Rudolf Hilferding is credited with first bringing the term finance capitalism into prominence through Finance Capital, his 1910 study of the links between German trusts, banks and monopolies—a study subsumed by Vladimir Lenin into Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), his analysis of the imperialist relations of the great world powers. Lenin concluded that the banks at that time operated as "the chief nerve centres of the whole capitalist system of national economy". For the Comintern (founded in 1919), the phrase "dictatorship of finance capitalism" became a regular one. Fernand Braudel would later point to two earlier periods when finance capitalism had emerged in human history—with the Genoese in the 16th century and with the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries—although at those points it developed from commercial capitalism. Giovanni Arrighi extended Braudel's analysis to suggest that a predominance of finance capitalism is a recurring, long-term phenomenon, whenever a previous phase of commercial/industrial capitalist expansion reaches a plateau. Free-market A capitalist free-market economy is an economic system where prices for goods and services are set entirely by the forces of supply and demand and are expected, by its adherents, to reach their | good in question, such as income, tastes and preferences, the price of substitute goods and the price of complementary goods, remain the same. According to the law of demand, the demand curve is almost always represented as downward-sloping, meaning that as price decreases, consumers will buy more of the good. Just like the supply curves reflect marginal cost curves, demand curves are determined by marginal utility curves. Equilibrium In the context of supply and demand, economic equilibrium refers to a state where economic forces such as supply and demand are balanced and in the absence of external influences the (equilibrium) values of economic variables will not change. For example, in the standard text-book model of perfect competition equilibrium occurs at the point at which quantity demanded and quantity supplied are equal. Market equilibrium, in this case, refers to a condition where a market price is established through competition such that the amount of goods or services sought by buyers is equal to the amount of goods or services produced by sellers. This price is often called the competitive price or market clearing price, and will tend not to change unless demand or supply changes. The quantity is called "competitive quantity" or market clearing quantity. Partial equilibrium Partial equilibrium, as the name suggests, takes into consideration only a part of the market to attain equilibrium. Jain proposes (attributed to George Stigler): "A partial equilibrium is one which is based on only a restricted range of data, a standard example is price of a single product, the prices of all other products being held fixed during the analysis". History According to Hamid S. Hosseini, the "power of supply and demand" was discussed to some extent by several early Muslim scholars, such as fourteenth-century Mamluk scholar Ibn Taymiyyah, who wrote: "If desire for goods increases while its availability decreases, its price rises. On the other hand, if availability of the good increases and the desire for it decreases, the price comes down". John Locke's 1691 work Some Considerations on the Consequences of the Lowering of Interest and the Raising of the Value of Money includes an early and clear description of supply and demand and their relationship. In this description, demand is rent: "The price of any commodity rises or falls by the proportion of the number of buyer and sellers" and "that which regulates the price... [of goods] is nothing else but their quantity in proportion to their rent". David Ricardo titled one chapter of his 1817 work Principles of Political Economy and Taxation "On the Influence of Demand and Supply on Price". In Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, Ricardo more rigorously laid down the idea of the assumptions that were used to build his ideas of supply and demand. In his 1870 essay "On the Graphical Representation of Supply and Demand", Fleeming Jenkin in the course of "introduc[ing] the diagrammatic method into the English economic literature" published the first drawing of supply and demand curves therein, including comparative statics from a shift of supply or demand and application to the labor market. The model was further developed and popularized by Alfred Marshall in the 1890 textbook Principles of Economics. Types There are many variants of capitalism in existence that differ according to country and region. They vary in their institutional makeup and by their economic policies. The common features among all the different forms of capitalism is that they are predominantly based on the private ownership of the means of production and the production of goods and services for profit; the market-based allocation of resources; and the accumulation of capital. They include advanced capitalism, corporate capitalism, finance capitalism, free-market capitalism, mercantilism, social capitalism, state capitalism and welfare capitalism. Other variants of capitalism include anarcho-capitalism, community capitalism, humanistic capitalism, neo-capitalism, state monopoly capitalism, and technocapitalism. Advanced Advanced capitalism is the situation that pertains to a society in which the capitalist model has been integrated and developed deeply and extensively for a prolonged period. Various writers identify Antonio Gramsci as an influential early theorist of advanced capitalism, even if he did not use the term himself. In his writings, Gramsci sought to explain how capitalism had adapted to avoid the revolutionary overthrow that had seemed inevitable in the 19th century. At the heart of his explanation was the decline of raw coercion as a tool of class power, replaced by use of civil society institutions to manipulate public ideology in the capitalists' favour. Jürgen Habermas has been a major contributor to the analysis of advanced-capitalistic societies. Habermas observed four general features that characterise advanced capitalism: Concentration of industrial activity in a few large firms. Constant reliance on the state to stabilise the economic system. A formally democratic government that legitimises the activities of the state and dissipates opposition to the system. The use of nominal wage increases to pacify the most restless segments of the work force. Corporate Corporate capitalism is a free or mixed-market capitalist economy characterized by the dominance of hierarchical, bureaucratic corporations. Finance Finance capitalism is the subordination of processes of production to the accumulation of money profits in a financial system. In their critique of capitalism, Marxism and Leninism both emphasise the role of finance capital as the determining and ruling-class interest in capitalist society, particularly in the latter stages. Rudolf Hilferding is credited with first bringing the term finance capitalism into prominence through Finance Capital, his 1910 study of the links between German trusts, banks and monopolies—a study subsumed by Vladimir Lenin into Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (1917), his analysis of the imperialist relations of the great world powers. Lenin concluded that the banks at that time operated as "the chief nerve centres of the whole capitalist system of national economy". For the Comintern (founded in 1919), the phrase "dictatorship of finance capitalism" became a regular one. Fernand Braudel would later point to two earlier periods when finance capitalism had emerged in human history—with the Genoese in the 16th century and with the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries—although at those points it developed from commercial capitalism. Giovanni Arrighi extended Braudel's analysis to suggest that a predominance of finance capitalism is a recurring, long-term phenomenon, whenever a previous phase of commercial/industrial capitalist expansion reaches a plateau. Free-market A capitalist free-market economy is an economic system where prices for goods and services are set entirely by the forces of supply and demand and are expected, by its adherents, to reach their point of equilibrium without intervention by government policy. It typically entails support for highly competitive markets and private ownership of the means of production. Laissez-faire capitalism is a more extensive form of this free-market economy, but one in which the role of the state is limited to protecting property rights. In anarcho-capitalist theory, property rights are protected by private firms and market-generated law. According to anarcho-capitalists, this entails property rights without statutory law through market-generated tort, contract and property law, and self-sustaining private industry. Mercantile Mercantilism is a nationalist form of early capitalism that came into existence approximately in the late 16th century. It is characterized by the intertwining of national business interests with state-interest and imperialism. Consequently, the state apparatus is utilized to advance national business interests abroad. An example of this is colonists living in America who were only allowed to trade with and purchase goods from their respective mother countries (e.g. Britain, France and Portugal). Mercantilism was driven by the belief that the wealth of a nation is increased through a positive balance of trade with other nations—it corresponds to the phase of capitalist development sometimes called the primitive accumulation of capital. Social A social market economy is a free-market or mixed-market capitalist system, sometimes classified as a coordinated market economy, where government intervention in price formation is kept to a minimum, but the state provides significant services in areas such as social security, health care, unemployment benefits and the recognition of labor rights through national collective bargaining arrangements. This model is prominent in Western and Northern European countries as well as Japan, albeit in slightly different configurations. The vast majority of enterprises are privately owned in this economic model. Rhine capitalism is the contemporary model of capitalism and adaptation of the social market model that exists in continental Western Europe today. State State capitalism is a capitalist market economy dominated by state-owned enterprises, where the state enterprises are organized as commercial, profit-seeking businesses. The designation has been used broadly throughout the 20th century to designate a number of different economic forms, ranging from state-ownership in market economies to the command economies of the former Eastern Bloc. According to Aldo Musacchio, a professor at Harvard Business School, state capitalism is a system in which governments, whether democratic or autocratic, exercise a widespread influence on the economy either through direct ownership or various subsidies. Musacchio notes a number of differences between today's state capitalism and its predecessors. In his opinion, gone are the days when governments appointed bureaucrats to run companies: the world's largest state-owned enterprises are now traded on the public markets and kept in good health by large institutional investors. Contemporary state capitalism is associated with the East Asian model of capitalism, dirigisme and the economy of Norway. Alternatively, Merriam-Webster defines state capitalism as "an economic system in which private capitalism is modified by a varying degree of government ownership and control". In Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Friedrich Engels argued that state-owned enterprises would characterize the final stage of capitalism, consisting of ownership and management of large-scale production and communication by the bourgeois state. In his writings, Vladimir Lenin characterized the economy of Soviet Russia as state capitalist, believing state capitalism to be an early step toward the development of socialism. Some economists and left-wing academics including Richard D. Wolff and Noam Chomsky, as well as many Marxist philosophers and revolutionaries such as Raya Dunayevskaya and C.L.R. James, argue that the economies of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc represented a form of state capitalism because their internal organization within enterprises and the system of wage labor remained intact. The term is not used by Austrian School economists to describe state ownership of the means of production. The economist Ludwig von Mises argued that the designation of state capitalism was simply a new label for the old labels of state socialism and planned economy and differed only in non-essentials from these earlier designations. The debate between proponents of private versus state capitalism is centered around questions of managerial efficacy, productive efficiency and fair distribution of wealth. Welfare Welfare capitalism is capitalism that includes social welfare policies. Today, welfare capitalism is most often associated with the models of capitalism found in Central Mainland and Northern Europe such as the Nordic model, social market economy and Rhine capitalism. In some cases, welfare capitalism exists within a mixed economy, but welfare states can and do exist independently of policies common to mixed economies such as state interventionism and extensive regulation. A mixed economy is a largely market-based capitalist economy consisting of both private and public ownership of the means of production and economic interventionism through macroeconomic policies intended to correct market failures, reduce unemployment and keep inflation low. The degree of intervention in markets varies among different countries. Some mixed economies such as France under dirigisme also featured a degree of indirect economic planning over a largely capitalist-based economy. Most modern capitalist economies are defined as mixed economies to some degree. Eco-capitalism Eco-capitalism, also known as "environmental capitalism" or (sometimes) "green capitalism", is the view that capital exists in nature as "natural capital" (ecosystems that have ecological yield) on which all wealth depends. Therefore, governments should use market-based policy-instruments (such as a carbon tax) to resolve environmental problems. The term "Blue Greens" is often applied to those who espouse eco-capitalism. Eco-capitalism can be thought of as the right-wing equivalent to Red Greens. Sustainable capitalism Sustainable capitalism is a conceptual form of capitalism based upon sustainable practices that seek to preserve humanity and the planet, while reducing externalities and bearing a resemblance of capitalist economic policy. A capitalistic economy must expand to survive and find new markets to support this expansion. Capitalist systems are often destructive to the environment as well as certain individuals without access to proper representation. However, sustainability provides quite the opposite; it implies not only a continuation, but a replenishing of resources. Sustainability is often thought of to be related to environmentalism, and sustainable capitalism applies sustainable principles to economic governance and social aspects of capitalism as well. The importance of sustainable capitalism has been more recently recognized, but the concept is not new. Changes to the current economic model would have heavy social environmental and economic implications and require the efforts of individuals, as well as compliance of local, state and federal governments. Controversy surrounds the concept as it requires an increase in sustainable practices and a marked decrease in current consumptive behaviors. This is a concept of capitalism described in Al Gore and David Blood’s manifesto for the Generation Investment Management to describe a long-term political, economic and social structure which would mitigate current threats to the planet and society. According to their manifesto, sustainable capitalism would integrate the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects into risk assessment in attempt to limit externalities. Most of the ideas they list are related to economic changes, and social aspects, but strikingly few are explicitly related to any environmental policy change. Capital accumulation The accumulation of capital is the process of "making money", or growing an initial sum of money through investment in production. Capitalism is based on the accumulation of capital, whereby financial capital is invested in order to make a profit and then reinvested into further production in a continuous process of accumulation. In Marxian economic theory, this dynamic is called the law of value. Capital accumulation forms the basis of capitalism, where economic activity is structured around the accumulation of capital, defined as investment in order to realize a financial profit. In this context, "capital" is defined as money or a financial asset invested for the purpose of making more money (whether in the form of profit, rent, interest, royalties, capital gain or some other kind of return). In mainstream economics, accounting and Marxian economics, capital accumulation is often |
to sell cross owned shares if taxes are high because of the immediate reduction in the value of the assets. For example, a company owns $1000 of stock in another company that was originally purchased for $200. If the capital gains tax rate is 25% (like Germany) and the company sells the stock, the company has $800 which is 20 percent less than before it sold the stock. Long term cross ownership of shares combined with a high capital tax rate greatly increases periods of asset deflation both in time and in severity. Media cross ownership Cross ownership also refers to a type of | is a major part of the business culture are: Japan Germany Positives of cross ownership: Closely ties each business to the economic destiny of its business partners Promotes a slow rate of economic change Cross ownership of shares is criticized for: Stagnating the economy Wasting capital that could be used to improve productivity Expanding economic downturns by preventing reallocation of capital A major factor in perpetuating cross ownership of shares is a high capital gains tax rate. A company has less incentive to sell cross owned shares if taxes are high because of the immediate reduction in the value of the assets. For example, a company owns $1000 of stock in another company that was originally purchased for $200. If the capital gains tax rate is 25% (like Germany) and the company sells the stock, the company has $800 which is 20 percent less than before it sold the stock. Long term |
the sub specialty of Cardiology which looks after preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation. Preventive cardiology also deals with routine preventive checkup though non invasive tests specifically Electrocardiography, Stress Tests, Lipid Profile and General Physical examination to detect any cardiovascular diseases at an early age while cardiac rehabilitation is the upcoming branch of cardiology which helps a person regain his overall strength and live a normal life after a cardiovascular event. A subspecialty of preventive cardiology is sports cardiology. Pediatric cardiology Helen B. Taussig is known as the founder of pediatric cardiology. She became famous through her work with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect in which oxygenated and deoxygenated blood enters the circulatory system resulting from a ventricular septal defect (VSD) right beneath the aorta. This condition causes newborns to have a bluish-tint, cyanosis, and have a deficiency of oxygen to their tissues, hypoxemia. She worked with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where they experimented with dogs to look at how they would attempt to surgically cure these "blue babies." They eventually figured out how to do just that by the anastomosis of the systemic artery to the pulmonary artery and called this the Blalock-Taussig Shunt. Tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary atresia, double outlet right ventricle, transposition of the great arteries, persistent truncus arteriosus, and Ebstein's anomaly are various congenital cyanotic heart diseases, in which the blood of the newborn is not oxygenated efficiently, due to the heart defect. Adult congenital heart disease As more children with congenital heart disease are surviving into adulthood, a hybrid of adult & pediatric cardiology has emerged called adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). This field can be entered as either adult or pediatric cardiology. ACHD specializes in congenital diseases in the setting of adult diseases (eg, coronary artery disease, COPD, diabetes) that is, otherwise, atypical for adult or pediatric cardiology. The Heart As the center focus of cardiology, the heart has numerous anatomical features (e.g., atria, ventricles, heart valves) and numerous physiological features (e.g., systole, heart sounds, afterload) that have been encyclopedically documented for many centuries. Disorders of the heart lead to heart disease and cardiovascular disease and can lead to a significant number of deaths: cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and caused 24.95% of total deaths in 2008. The primary responsibility of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body. It pumps blood from the body — called the systemic circulation — through the lungs — called the pulmonary circulation — and then back out to the body. This means that the heart is connected to and affects the entirety of the body. Simplified, the heart is a circuit of the Circulation. While plenty is known about the healthy heart, the bulk of study in cardiology is in disorders of the heart and restoration, and where possible, of function. The heart is a muscle that squeezes blood and functions like a pump. Each part of the heart is susceptible to failure or dysfunction and the heart can be divided into the mechanical and the electrical parts. The electrical part of the heart is centered on the periodic contraction (squeezing) of the muscle cells that is caused by the cardiac pacemaker located in the sinoatrial node. The study of the electrical aspects is a sub-field of electrophysiology called cardiac electrophysiology and is epitomized with the electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG). The action potentials generated in the pacemaker propagate throughout the heart in a specific pattern. The system that carries this potential is called the electrical conduction system. Dysfunction of the electrical system manifests in many ways and may include Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, ventricular fibrillation, and heart block. The mechanical part of the heart is centered on the fluidic movement of blood and the functionality of the heart as a pump. The mechanical part is ultimately the purpose of the heart and many of the disorders of the heart disrupt the ability to move blood. Failure to move sufficient blood can result in failure in other organs and may result in death if severe. Heart failure is one condition in which the mechanical properties of the heart have failed or are failing, which means insufficient blood is being circulated. Coronary circulation Coronary circulation is the circulation of blood in the blood vessels of the heart muscle (myocardium). The vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium are known as coronary arteries. The vessels that remove the deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle are known as cardiac veins. These include the great cardiac vein, the middle cardiac vein, the small cardiac vein and the anterior cardiac veins. As the left and right coronary arteries run on the surface of the heart, they can be called epicardial coronary arteries. These arteries, when healthy, are capable of autoregulation to maintain coronary blood flow at levels appropriate to the needs of the heart muscle. These relatively narrow vessels are commonly affected by atherosclerosis and can become blocked, causing angina or myocardial infarction (aka heart attack). (See also: circulatory system.) The coronary arteries that run deep within the myocardium are referred to as subendocardial. The coronary arteries are classified as "end circulation", since they represent the only source of blood supply to the myocardium; there is very little redundant blood supply, which is why blockage of these vessels can be so critical. Cardiac examination The cardiac examination (also called the "precordial exam"), is performed as part of a physical examination, or when a patient presents with chest pain suggestive of a cardiovascular pathology. It would typically be modified depending on the indication and integrated with other examinations especially the respiratory examination. Like all medical examinations, the cardiac examination follows the standard structure of inspection, palpation and auscultation. Heart disorders Cardiology is concerned with the normal functionality of the heart and the deviation from a healthy heart. Many disorders involve the heart itself but some are outside of the heart and in the vascular system. Collectively, the two together are termed the cardiovascular system and diseases of one part tend to affect the other. Coronary artery disease Coronary artery disease, also known as "ischemic heart disease", is a group of diseases that includes: stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and is one of the causes of sudden cardiac death. It is within the group of cardiovascular diseases of which it is the most common type. A common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may travel into the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw. Occasionally it may feel like heartburn. Usually symptoms occur with exercise or emotional stress, last less than a few minutes, and get better with rest. Shortness of breath may also occur and sometimes no symptoms are present. The first sign is occasionally a heart attack. Other complications include heart failure or an irregular heartbeat. Risk factors include: high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol, among others. Other risks include depression. The underlying mechanism involves atherosclerosis of the arteries of the heart. A number of tests may help with diagnoses including: electrocardiogram, cardiac stress testing, coronary computed tomographic angiography, and coronary angiogram, among others. Prevention is by eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking. Sometimes medication for diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure are also used. There is limited evidence for screening people who are at low risk and do not have symptoms. Treatment involves the same measures as prevention. Additional medications such as antiplatelets including aspirin, beta blockers, or nitroglycerin may be recommended. Procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) may be used in severe disease. In those with stable CAD it is unclear if PCI or CABG in addition to the other treatments improve life expectancy or decreases heart attack risk. In 2013 CAD was the most common cause of death globally, resulting in 8.14 million deaths (16.8%) up from 5.74 million deaths (12%) in 1990. The risk of death from CAD for a given age has decreased between 1980 and 2010 especially in developed countries. The number of cases of CAD for a given age has also decreased between 1990 and 2010. In the United States in 2010 about 20% of those over 65 had CAD, while it was present in 7% of those 45 to 64, and 1.3% of those 18 to 45. Rates are higher among men than women of a given age. Cardiomyopathy Heart failure or formally cardiomyopathy, is the impaired function of the heart and there are numerous causes and forms of heart failure. Cardiac arrhythmia Cardiac arrhythmia, also known as "cardiac dysrhythmia" or "irregular heartbeat", is a group of conditions in which the heartbeat is too fast, too slow, or irregular in its rhythm. A heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults – is called tachycardia and a heart rate that is too slow – below 60 beats per minute – is called bradycardia. Many types of arrhythmia have no symptoms. When symptoms are present these may include palpitations or feeling a pause between heartbeats. More seriously there may be lightheadedness, passing out, shortness of breath, or chest pain. While most types of arrhythmia are not serious, some predispose a person to complications such as stroke or heart failure. Others may result in cardiac arrest. There are four main types of arrhythmia: extra beats, supraventricular tachycardias, ventricular arrhythmias, and bradyarrhythmias. Extra beats include premature atrial contractions, premature ventricular contractions, and premature junctional contractions. Supraventricular tachycardias include atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. Ventricular arrhythmias include ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Arrhythmias are due to problems with the electrical conduction system of the heart. Arrhythmias may occur in children; however, the normal range for the heart rate is different and depends on age. A number of tests can help with diagnosis including an electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter monitor. Most arrhythmias can be effectively treated. Treatments may include medications, medical procedures such as a pacemaker, and surgery. Medications for a fast heart rate may include beta blockers or agents that attempt to restore a normal heart rhythm such as procainamide. This later group may have more significant side effects especially if taken for a long period of time. Pacemakers are often used for slow heart rates. Those with an irregular heartbeat are often treated with blood thinners to reduce the risk of complications. Those who have severe symptoms from an arrhythmia may receive urgent treatment with a jolt of electricity in the form of cardioversion or defibrillation. Arrhythmia affects millions of people. In Europe and North America, as of 2014, atrial fibrillation affects about 2% to 3% of the population. Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter resulted in 112,000 deaths in 2013, up from 29,000 in 1990. Sudden cardiac death is the cause of about half of deaths due to cardiovascular disease or about 15% of all deaths globally. About 80% of sudden cardiac death is the result of ventricular arrhythmias. Arrhythmias may occur at any age but are more common among older people. Cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is a sudden stop in effective blood flow due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively. Symptoms include loss of consciousness and abnormal or absent breathing. Some people may have chest pain, shortness of breath, or nausea before this occurs. If not treated within minutes, death usually occurs. The most common cause of cardiac arrest is coronary artery disease. Less common causes include major blood loss, lack of oxygen, very low potassium, heart failure, and intense physical exercise. A number of inherited disorders may also increase the risk including long QT syndrome. The initial heart rhythm is most often ventricular fibrillation. The diagnosis is confirmed by finding no pulse. While a cardiac arrest may be caused by heart attack or heart failure these are not the same. Prevention includes not smoking, physical activity, and maintaining a healthy weight. Treatment for cardiac arrest is immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and, if a shockable rhythm is present, defibrillation. Among those who survive targeted temperature management may improve outcomes. An implantable cardiac defibrillator may be placed to reduce the chance of death from recurrence. In the United States, cardiac arrest outside of hospital occurs in about 13 per 10,000 people per year (326,000 cases). In hospital cardiac arrest occurs in an additional 209,000 Cardiac arrest becomes more common with age. It affects males more often than females. The percentage of people who survive with treatment is about 8%. Many who survive have significant disability. Many U.S. television shows, however, have portrayed unrealistically high survival rates of 67%. Hypertension Hypertension, also known as "high blood pressure", is a long term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long term high blood pressure, however, is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, vision loss, and chronic kidney disease. Lifestyle factors can increase the risk of hypertension. These include excess salt in the diet, excess body weight, smoking, and alcohol. Hypertension can also be caused by other diseases, or as a side-effect of drugs. Blood pressure is expressed by two measurements, the systolic and diastolic pressures, which are the maximum and minimum pressures, respectively. Normal blood pressure at rest is within the range of 100–140 millimeters mercury (mmHg) systolic and 60–90 mmHg diastolic. High blood pressure is present if the resting blood pressure is persistently at or above 140/90 mmHg for most adults. Different numbers apply to children. Ambulatory blood pressure monitoring over a 24-hour period appears more accurate than office best blood pressure measurement. Lifestyle changes and medications can lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of health complications. Lifestyle changes include weight loss, decreased salt intake, physical exercise, and a healthy diet. If lifestyle changes are not sufficient then blood pressure medications are used. Up to three medications can control blood pressure in 90% of people. The treatment of moderate to severe high arterial blood pressure (defined as >160/100 mmHg) with medications is associated with an improved life expectancy and reduced morbidity. The effect of treatment of blood pressure between 140/90 mmHg and 160/100 mmHg is less clear, with some reviews finding benefit and others finding a lack of evidence for benefit. High blood pressure affects between 16 and 37% of the population globally. In 2010 hypertension was believed to have been a factor in 18% (9.4 million) deaths. Essential vs Secondary hypertension Essential hypertension is the form of hypertension that by | to diagnostic and prognostic procedures. Other therapeutic modalities employed in this field include antiarrhythmic drug therapy and implantation of pacemakers and automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (AICD). The cardiac electrophysiology study (EPS) typically measures the response of the injured or cardiomyopathic myocardium to PES on specific pharmacological regimens in order to assess the likelihood that the regimen will successfully prevent potentially fatal sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) in the future. Sometimes a series of EPS drug trials must be conducted to enable the cardiologist to select the one regimen for long-term treatment that best prevents or slows the development of VT or VF following PES. Such studies may also be conducted in the presence of a newly implanted or newly replaced cardiac pacemaker or AICD. Clinical cardiac electrophysiology Clinical cardiac electrophysiology is a branch of the medical specialty of cardiology and is concerned with the study and treatment of rhythm disorders of the heart. Cardiologists with expertise in this area are usually referred to as electrophysiologists. Electrophysiologists are trained in the mechanism, function, and performance of the electrical activities of the heart. Electrophysiologists work closely with other cardiologists and cardiac surgeons to assist or guide therapy for heart rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). They are trained to perform interventional and surgical procedures to treat cardiac arrhythmia. The training required to become an electrophysiologist is long and requires 7 to 8 years after medical school (within the U.S.). Three years of internal medicine residency, three years of Clinical Cardiology fellowship, and one to two (in most instances) years of clinical cardiac electrophysiology. Cardiogeriatrics Cardiogeriatrics, or geriatric cardiology, is the branch of cardiology and geriatric medicine that deals with the cardiovascular disorders in elderly people. Cardiac disorders such as coronary heart disease, including myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, are common and are a major cause of mortality in elderly people. Vascular disorders such as atherosclerosis and peripheral arterial disease cause significant morbidity and mortality in aged people. Imaging Cardiac imaging includes echocardiography (echo), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), and computed tomography of the heart (CCT). Those who specialize in cardiac imaging may undergo more training in all imaging modes or focus on a single imaging modality. Echocardiography (or "echo") uses standard two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and Doppler ultrasound to create images of the heart. Those who specialize in echo may spend a significant amount of their clinical time reading echos and performing transesophageal echo (TEE), in particular using TEE during procedures such as insertion of a left atrial appendage occlusion device. Cardiac MRI utilizes special protocols to image heart structure and function with specific sequences for certain diseases such as hemochromatosis and amyloidosis. Cardiac CT utilizes special protocols to image heart structure and function with particular emphasis on coronary arteries. Interventional cardiology Interventional cardiology is a branch of cardiology that deals specifically with the catheter based treatment of structural heart diseases. A large number of procedures can be performed on the heart by catheterization, including angiogram, angioplasty, atherectomy, and stent implantation. These procedure all involve insertion of a sheath into the femoral artery or radial artery (but, in practice, any large peripheral artery or vein) and cannulating the heart under X-ray visualization (most commonly Fluoroscopy). This cannulation allows indirect access to the heart, bypassing the trauma caused by surgical opening of the chest. The main advantages of using the interventional cardiology or radiology approach are the avoidance of the scars and pain, and long post-operative recovery. Additionally, interventional cardiology procedure of primary angioplasty is now the gold standard of care for an acute Myocardial infarction. This procedure can also be done proactively, when areas of the vascular system become occluded from Atherosclerosis. The Cardiologist will thread this sheath through the vascular system to access the heart. This sheath has a balloon and a tiny wire mesh tube wrapped around it, and if the cardiologist finds a blockage or Stenosis, they can inflate the balloon at the occlusion site in the vascular system to flatten or compress the plaque against the vascular wall. Once that is complete a Stent is placed as a type of scaffold to hold the vasculature open permanently. Cardiomyopathy/heart failure Specialization of general cardiology to just that of the cardiomyopathies leads to also specializing in heart transplant and pulmonary hypertension. Cardiooncology A recent specialization of cardiology is that of cardiooncology. This area specializes in the cardiac management in those with cancer and, in particular, those with plans for chemotherapy or whom have experienced cardiac complications of chemotherapy. Preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation In recent times, the focus is gradually shifting to Preventive cardiology due to increased Cardiovascular Disease burden at an early age. As per WHO, 37% of all premature deaths are due to cardiovascular diseases and out of this, 82% are in low and middle income countries. Clinical cardiology is the sub specialty of Cardiology which looks after preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation. Preventive cardiology also deals with routine preventive checkup though non invasive tests specifically Electrocardiography, Stress Tests, Lipid Profile and General Physical examination to detect any cardiovascular diseases at an early age while cardiac rehabilitation is the upcoming branch of cardiology which helps a person regain his overall strength and live a normal life after a cardiovascular event. A subspecialty of preventive cardiology is sports cardiology. Pediatric cardiology Helen B. Taussig is known as the founder of pediatric cardiology. She became famous through her work with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart defect in which oxygenated and deoxygenated blood enters the circulatory system resulting from a ventricular septal defect (VSD) right beneath the aorta. This condition causes newborns to have a bluish-tint, cyanosis, and have a deficiency of oxygen to their tissues, hypoxemia. She worked with Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas at the Johns Hopkins Hospital where they experimented with dogs to look at how they would attempt to surgically cure these "blue babies." They eventually figured out how to do just that by the anastomosis of the systemic artery to the pulmonary artery and called this the Blalock-Taussig Shunt. Tetralogy of Fallot, pulmonary atresia, double outlet right ventricle, transposition of the great arteries, persistent truncus arteriosus, and Ebstein's anomaly are various congenital cyanotic heart diseases, in which the blood of the newborn is not oxygenated efficiently, due to the heart defect. Adult congenital heart disease As more children with congenital heart disease are surviving into adulthood, a hybrid of adult & pediatric cardiology has emerged called adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). This field can be entered as either adult or pediatric cardiology. ACHD specializes in congenital diseases in the setting of adult diseases (eg, coronary artery disease, COPD, diabetes) that is, otherwise, atypical for adult or pediatric cardiology. The Heart As the center focus of cardiology, the heart has numerous anatomical features (e.g., atria, ventricles, heart valves) and numerous physiological features (e.g., systole, heart sounds, afterload) that have been encyclopedically documented for many centuries. Disorders of the heart lead to heart disease and cardiovascular disease and can lead to a significant number of deaths: cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and caused 24.95% of total deaths in 2008. The primary responsibility of the heart is to pump blood throughout the body. It pumps blood from the body — called the systemic circulation — through the lungs — called the pulmonary circulation — and then back out to the body. This means that the heart is connected to and affects the entirety of the body. Simplified, the heart is a circuit of the Circulation. While plenty is known about the healthy heart, the bulk of study in cardiology is in disorders of the heart and restoration, and where possible, of function. The heart is a muscle that squeezes blood and functions like a pump. Each part of the heart is susceptible to failure or dysfunction and the heart can be divided into the mechanical and the electrical parts. The electrical part of the heart is centered on the periodic contraction (squeezing) of the muscle cells that is caused by the cardiac pacemaker located in the sinoatrial node. The study of the electrical aspects is a sub-field of electrophysiology called cardiac electrophysiology and is epitomized with the electrocardiogram (ECG/EKG). The action potentials generated in the pacemaker propagate throughout the heart in a specific pattern. The system that carries this potential is called the electrical conduction system. Dysfunction of the electrical system manifests in many ways and may include Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome, ventricular fibrillation, and heart block. The mechanical part of the heart is centered on the fluidic movement of blood and the functionality of the heart as a pump. The mechanical part is ultimately the purpose of the heart and many of the disorders of the heart disrupt the ability to move blood. Failure to move sufficient blood can result in failure in other organs and may result in death if severe. Heart failure is one condition in which the mechanical properties of the heart have failed or are failing, which means insufficient blood is being circulated. Coronary circulation Coronary circulation is the circulation of blood in the blood vessels of the heart muscle (myocardium). The vessels that deliver oxygen-rich blood to the myocardium are known as coronary arteries. The vessels that remove the deoxygenated blood from the heart muscle are known as cardiac veins. These include the great cardiac vein, the middle cardiac vein, the small cardiac vein and the anterior cardiac veins. As the left and right coronary arteries run on the surface of the heart, they can be called epicardial coronary arteries. These arteries, when healthy, are capable of autoregulation to maintain coronary blood flow at levels appropriate to the needs of the heart muscle. These relatively narrow vessels are commonly affected by atherosclerosis and can become blocked, causing angina or myocardial infarction (aka heart attack). (See also: circulatory system.) The coronary arteries that run deep within the myocardium are referred to as subendocardial. The coronary arteries are classified as "end circulation", since they represent the only source of blood supply to the myocardium; there is very little redundant blood supply, which is why blockage of these vessels can be so critical. Cardiac examination The cardiac examination (also called the "precordial exam"), is performed as part of a physical examination, or when a patient presents with chest pain suggestive of a cardiovascular pathology. It would typically be modified depending on the indication and integrated with other examinations especially the respiratory examination. Like all medical examinations, the cardiac examination follows the standard structure of inspection, palpation and auscultation. Heart disorders Cardiology is concerned with the normal functionality of the heart and the deviation from a healthy heart. Many disorders involve the heart itself but some are outside of the heart and in the vascular system. Collectively, the two together are termed the cardiovascular system and diseases of one part tend to affect the other. Coronary artery disease Coronary artery disease, also known as "ischemic heart disease", is a group of diseases that includes: stable angina, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and is one of the causes of sudden cardiac death. It is within the group of cardiovascular diseases of which it is the most common type. A common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may travel into the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw. Occasionally it may feel like heartburn. Usually symptoms occur with exercise or emotional stress, last less than a few minutes, and get better with rest. Shortness of breath may also occur and sometimes no symptoms are present. The first sign is occasionally a heart attack. Other complications include heart failure or an irregular heartbeat. Risk factors include: high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, lack of exercise, obesity, high blood cholesterol, poor diet, and excessive alcohol, among others. Other risks include depression. The underlying mechanism involves atherosclerosis of the arteries of the heart. A number of tests may help with diagnoses including: electrocardiogram, cardiac stress testing, coronary computed tomographic angiography, and coronary angiogram, among others. Prevention is by eating a healthy diet, regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking. Sometimes medication for diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure are also used. There is limited evidence for screening people who are at low risk and do not have symptoms. Treatment involves the same measures as prevention. Additional medications such as antiplatelets including aspirin, beta blockers, or nitroglycerin may be recommended. Procedures such as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) may be used in severe disease. In those with stable CAD it is unclear if PCI or CABG in addition to the other treatments improve life expectancy or decreases heart attack risk. In 2013 CAD was the most common cause of death globally, resulting in 8.14 million deaths (16.8%) up from 5.74 million deaths (12%) in 1990. The risk of death from CAD for a given age has decreased between 1980 and 2010 especially in developed countries. The number of cases of CAD for a given age has also decreased between 1990 and 2010. In the United States in 2010 about 20% of those over 65 had CAD, while it was present in 7% of those 45 to 64, and 1.3% of those 18 to 45. Rates are higher among men than women of a given age. Cardiomyopathy Heart failure or formally cardiomyopathy, is the impaired function of the heart and there are numerous causes and forms of heart failure. Cardiac arrhythmia Cardiac arrhythmia, also known as "cardiac dysrhythmia" or "irregular heartbeat", is a group of conditions in which the heartbeat is too fast, too slow, or irregular in its rhythm. A heart rate that is too fast – above 100 beats per minute in adults – is called tachycardia and a heart rate that is too slow – below 60 beats per minute – is called bradycardia. Many types of arrhythmia have no symptoms. When symptoms are present these may include palpitations or feeling a pause between heartbeats. More seriously there may be lightheadedness, passing out, shortness of breath, or chest pain. While most types of arrhythmia are not serious, some predispose a person to complications such as stroke or heart failure. Others may result in cardiac arrest. There are four main types of arrhythmia: extra beats, supraventricular tachycardias, ventricular arrhythmias, and bradyarrhythmias. Extra beats include premature atrial contractions, premature ventricular contractions, and premature junctional contractions. Supraventricular tachycardias include atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, and paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia. Ventricular arrhythmias include ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. Arrhythmias are due to problems with the electrical conduction system of the heart. Arrhythmias may occur in children; however, the normal range for the heart rate is different and depends on age. A number of tests can help with diagnosis including an electrocardiogram (ECG) and Holter monitor. Most arrhythmias can be effectively treated. Treatments may include medications, medical procedures such as a pacemaker, and surgery. Medications for a fast heart rate may include beta blockers or agents that attempt to restore a normal heart rhythm such as procainamide. This later group may have more significant side effects especially if taken for a long period of time. Pacemakers are often used for slow heart rates. Those with an irregular heartbeat are often treated with blood thinners to reduce the risk of complications. Those who have severe symptoms from an arrhythmia may receive urgent treatment with a jolt of electricity in the form of cardioversion or defibrillation. Arrhythmia affects millions of people. In Europe and North America, as of 2014, atrial fibrillation affects about 2% to 3% of the population. Atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter resulted in 112,000 deaths in 2013, up from 29,000 in 1990. Sudden cardiac death is the cause of about half of deaths due to cardiovascular disease or about 15% of all deaths globally. About 80% of sudden cardiac death is the result of ventricular arrhythmias. Arrhythmias may occur at any age but are more common among older people. Cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is a sudden stop in effective blood flow due to the failure of the heart to contract effectively. Symptoms include loss of consciousness and abnormal or absent breathing. Some people may have chest pain, shortness of breath, or nausea before this occurs. If not treated within |
stolen 1TB of sensitive corporate data and were blackmailing Capcom to pay them to remove the ransomware. By mid-November, the group began putting information from the hack online, which included contact information for up to 350,000 of the company's employees and partners, as well as plans for upcoming games, indicating that Capcom opted to not pay the group. Capcom affirmed that no credit-card or other sensitive financial information was obtained in the hack. In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had purchased a 5% stake in Capcom, for an approximate value of $332 USD million. Corporate structure Development studios In its beginning few years, Capcom's Japan branch had three development groups referred to as "Planning Rooms", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto. Later, games developed internally were created by several numbered "Production Studios", each assigned to different games. Starting in 2002, the development process was reformed to better share technologies and expertise, and the individual studios were gradually restructured into bigger departments responsible for different tasks. While there are self-contained departments for the creation of arcade, pachinko and pachislo, online, and mobile games, the Consumer Games R&D Division is an amalgamation of subsections in charge of game development stages. Capcom has three internal Consumer Games Development divisions: Division 1, headed by Jun Takeuchi, with Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, and other major franchises (usually targeting global audiences) Division 2, headed by Ryozo Tsujimoto (who also the heads Mobile Online Development Division) with Monster Hunter, Onimusha, Ace Attorney, Sengoku Basara, and other franchises with more traditional IP (usually targeting audiences in Asia) Division 3, with Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Lost Planet, Dragon's Dogma, and other online-focused franchises (games focused on online multiplayer and/or tournaments). In addition to these teams, Capcom commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles. However, following poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, its management has decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and newer versions of installments in existing franchises, reserving the development of original titles for its in-house teams. The production of games, budgets, and platform support are decided on in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the marketing, sales and quality control departments. Branches and subsidiaries Capcom Co., Ltd.'s head office building and R&D building are in Chūō-ku, Osaka. The parent company also has a branch office in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo; and the Ueno Facility, a branch office in Iga, Mie Prefecture. The international Capcom Group encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, and East Asia. Affiliated companies include Koko Capcom Co., Ltd. in South Korea, Street Fighter Film, LLC in the United States, and Dellgamadas Co., Ltd. Game-related media In addition to home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko and pachislo games, Capcom publishes strategy guides; maintains its own Plaza Capcom arcade centers in Japan; and licenses its franchise and character properties for tie-in products, movies, television series and stage performances. Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games. Captivate (renamed from Gamers Day in 2008), an annual private media summit, is traditionally used for new game and business announcements. Games Capcom started its Street Fighter franchise in 1987. The series of fighting games are among the most popular in their genre. Having sold almost 50 million copies, it is one of Capcom's flagship franchises. The company also introduced its Mega Man series in 1987, which has sold almost 40 million copies. The company released the first entry in its Resident Evil survival horror series in 1996, which become its most successful game series, selling more than 100 million copies. After releasing the second entry in the Resident Evil series, Capcom began a Resident Evil game for PlayStation 2. As it was significantly different from the existing series' games, Capcom decided to spin it into its own series, Devil May Cry. The first three entries were exclusively for PlayStation 2; further entries were released for non-Sony consoles. The entire series has sold over 20 million copies. Capcom began its Monster Hunter series in 2004, which has sold more than 70 million copies on a variety of consoles. Although the company often relies on existing franchises, it has also published and | and U.S. Gold in the late 1980s. Beginning with a Nintendo Entertainment System port of 1942 (published in Dec. 1985), the company ventured into the market of home console video games, which would eventually become its main business. The Capcom USA division had a brief stint in the late 1980s as a video game publisher for Commodore 64 and IBM PC DOS computers, although development of these arcade ports was handled by other companies. Capcom went on to create 15 multi-million-selling home video game franchises, with the best-selling being Resident Evil (1996). Their highest-grossing is the fighting game Street Fighter II (1991), driven largely by its success in arcades. Capcom has been noted as the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, though it was not entirely by choice. The company's commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. Also, the 2D animated cartoon-style graphics seen in games such as Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors and X-Men: Children of the Atom proved popular, leading Capcom to adopt them as a signature style and use them in more games. In 1990, Capcom entered the bowling industry with Bowlingo. It was a coin-operated, electro-mechanical, fully automated mini ten-pin bowling installation. It was smaller than a standard bowling alley, designed to be smaller and cheaper for amusement arcades. Bowlingo drew significant earnings in North America upon release in 1990. In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name. While commercially successful, it was critically panned. A 2002 adaptation of its Resident Evil series faced similar criticism but was also successful in theaters. The company sees films as a way to build sales for its video games. Capcom partnered with Nyu Media in 2011 to publish and distribute the Japanese independent (dōjin soft) games that Nyu localized into the English language. The company works with the Polish localization company QLOC to port Capcom's games to other platforms; notably examples are DmC: Devil May Crys PC version and its PlayStation 4 and Xbox One remasters, Dragon's Dogmas PC version and Dead Risings version on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. On August 27, 2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage. Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding a play feature in video games. On 2 November 2020, the company reported that its servers were affected by ransomware, scrambling its data, and the threat actors, the Ragnar Locker hacker group, had allegedly stolen 1TB of sensitive corporate data and were blackmailing Capcom to pay them to remove the ransomware. By mid-November, the group began putting information from the hack online, which included contact information for up to 350,000 of the company's employees and partners, as well as plans for upcoming games, indicating that Capcom opted to not pay the group. Capcom affirmed that no credit-card or other sensitive financial information was obtained in the hack. In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund had purchased a 5% stake in Capcom, for an approximate value of $332 USD million. Corporate structure Development studios In its beginning few years, Capcom's Japan branch had three development groups referred to as "Planning Rooms", led by Tokuro Fujiwara, Takashi Nishiyama and Yoshiki Okamoto. Later, games developed internally were created by several numbered "Production Studios", each assigned to different games. Starting in 2002, the development process was reformed to better share technologies and expertise, and the individual studios were gradually restructured into bigger departments responsible for different tasks. While there are self-contained departments for the creation of arcade, pachinko and pachislo, online, and mobile games, the Consumer Games R&D Division is an amalgamation of subsections in charge of game development stages. Capcom has three internal Consumer Games Development divisions: Division 1, headed by Jun Takeuchi, with Resident Evil, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, Dead Rising, and other major franchises (usually targeting global audiences) Division 2, headed by Ryozo Tsujimoto (who also the heads Mobile Online Development Division) with Monster Hunter, Onimusha, Ace Attorney, Sengoku Basara, and other franchises with more traditional IP (usually targeting audiences in Asia) Division 3, with Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Lost Planet, Dragon's Dogma, and other online-focused franchises (games focused on online multiplayer and/or tournaments). In addition to these teams, Capcom commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles. However, following poor sales of Dark Void and Bionic Commando, its management has decided to limit outsourcing to sequels and newer versions of installments in existing franchises, reserving the development of original titles for its in-house teams. The production of games, budgets, and platform support are decided on in development approval meetings, attended by the company management and the marketing, sales and quality control departments. Branches and subsidiaries Capcom Co., Ltd.'s head office building and R&D building are in Chūō-ku, Osaka. The parent company also has a branch office in the Shinjuku Mitsui Building in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo; and the Ueno Facility, a branch office in Iga, Mie Prefecture. The international Capcom Group encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, and East Asia. Affiliated companies include Koko Capcom Co., Ltd. in South Korea, Street Fighter Film, LLC in the United States, and Dellgamadas Co., Ltd. Game-related media In addition to home, online, mobile, arcade, pachinko and pachislo games, Capcom publishes strategy guides; maintains its own Plaza Capcom arcade centers in Japan; and licenses its franchise and character properties for tie-in products, movies, television series and stage performances. Suleputer, an in-house marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs, and other media based on Capcom's games. Captivate (renamed from Gamers Day in 2008), an annual private media summit, is traditionally used |
territorial climax in the early 3rd century under the rule of king Fan Shih-man, extending as far south as Malaysia and as far west as Burma. A system of mercantilism in commercial monopolies was established. Exports ranged from forest products to precious metals and commodities such as gold, elephants, ivory, rhinoceros horn, kingfisher feathers, wild spices like cardamom, lacquer, hides and aromatic wood. Under Fan Shih-man Funan maintained a formidable fleet and was administered by an advanced bureaucracy, based on a "tribute-based economy, that produced a surplus which was used to support foreign traders along its coasts and ostensibly to launch expansionist missions to the west and south". Historians maintain contradicting ideas about Funan's political status and integrity. Miriam T. Stark calls it simply Funan: [The]"notion of Fu Nan as an early "state"...has been built largely by historians using documentary and historical evidence" and Michael Vickery remarks: "Nevertheless, it is...unlikely that the several ports constituted a unified state, much less an 'empire'". Other sources though, imply imperial status: "Vassal kingdoms spread to southern Vietnam in the east and to the Malay peninsula in the west" and "Here we will look at two empires of this period...Funan and Srivijaya". The question of how Funan came to an end is in the face of almost universal scholarly conflict impossible to pin down. Chenla is the name of Funan's successor in Chinese annals, first appearing in 616/617 CE The archaeological approach to and interpretation of the entire early historic period is considered to be a decisive supplement for future research. The "Lower Mekong Archaeological Project" focuses on the development of political complexity in this region during the early historic period. LOMAP survey results of 2003 to 2005, for example, have helped to determine that "...the region’s importance continued unabated throughout the pre-Angkorian period...and that at least three [surveyed areas] bear Angkorian-period dates and suggest the continued importance of the delta." Chenla Kingdom (6th century – 802) The History of the Chinese Sui dynasty contains records that a state called Chenla sent an embassy to China in 616 or 617 CE It says, that Chenla was a vassal of Funan, but under its ruler Citrasena-Mahendravarman conquered Funan and gained independence. Most of the Chinese recordings on Chenla, including that of Chenla conquering Funan, have been contested since the 1970s as they are generally based on single remarks in the Chinese annals, as author Claude Jacques emphasised the very vague character of the Chinese terms 'Funan' and 'Chenla', while more domestic epigraphic sources become available. Claude Jacques summarises: "Very basic historical mistakes have been made" because "the history of pre-Angkorean Cambodia was reconstructed much more on the basis of Chinese records than on that of [Cambodian] inscriptions" and as new inscriptions were discovered, researchers "preferred to adjust the newly discovered facts to the initial outline rather than to call the Chinese reports into question". The notion of Chenla's centre being in modern Laos has also been contested. "All that is required is that it be inland from Funan." The most important political record of pre-Angkor Cambodia, the inscription K53 from Ba Phnom, dated 667 CE does not indicate any political discontinuity, either in royal succession of kings Rudravarman, Bhavavarman I, Mahendravarman [Citrasena], Īśānavarman, and Jayavarman I or in the status of the family of officials who produced the inscription. Another inscription of a few years later, K44, 674 CE, commemorating a foundation in Kampot province under the patronage of Jayavarman I, refers to an earlier foundation in the time of King Raudravarma, presumably Rudravarman of Funan, and again there is no suggestion of political discontinuity. The History of the T'ang asserts that shortly after 706 the country was split into Land Chenla and Water Chenla. The names signify a northern and a southern half, which may conveniently be referred to as Upper and Lower Chenla. By the late 8th century Water Chenla had become a vassal of the Sailendra dynasty of Java – the last of its kings were killed and the polity incorporated into the Javanese monarchy around 790 CE. Land Chenla acquired independence under Jayavarman II in 802 CE The Khmers, vassals of Funan, reached the Mekong river from the northern Menam River via the Mun River Valley. Chenla, their first independent state developed out of Funanese influence. Ancient Chinese records mention two kings, Shrutavarman and Shreshthavarman who ruled at the capital Shreshthapura located in modern-day southern Laos. The immense influence on the identity of Cambodia to come was wrought by the Khmer Kingdom of Bhavapura, in the modern day Cambodian city of Kampong Thom. Its legacy was its most important sovereign, Ishanavarman who completely conquered the kingdom of Funan during 612–628. He chose his new capital at the Sambor Prei Kuk, naming it Ishanapura. Khmer Empire (802–1431) The six centuries of the Khmer Empire are characterised by unparalleled technical and artistic progress and achievements, political integrity and administrative stability. The empire represents the cultural and technical apogee of the Cambodian and Southeast Asian pre-industrial civilisation. The Khmer Empire was preceded by Chenla, a polity with shifting centres of power, which was split into Land Chenla and Water Chenla in the early 8th century. By the late 8th century Water Chenla was absorbed by the Malays of the Srivijaya Empire and the Javanese of the Shailandra Empire and eventually incorporated into Java and Srivijaya. Jayavarman II, ruler of Land Chenla, initiates a mythical Hindu consecration ceremony at Mount Kulen (Mount Mahendra) in 802 CE, intended to proclaim political autonomy and royal legitimacy. As he declared himself devaraja - god-king, divinely appointed and uncontested, he simultaneously declares independence from Shailandra and Srivijaya. He established Hariharalaya, the first capital of the Angkorean area near the modern town of Roluos. Indravarman I (877–889) and his son and successor Yasovarman I (889–900), who established the capital Yasodharapura ordered the construction of huge water reservoirs (barays) north of the capital. The water management network depended on elaborate configurations of channels, ponds, and embankments built from huge quantities of clayey sand, the available bulk material on the Angkor plain. Dikes of the East Baray still exist today, which are more than long and wide. The largest component is the West Baray, a reservoir about long and across, containing approximately 50 million m3 of water. Royal administration was based on the religious idea of the Shivaite Hindu state and the central cult of the sovereign as warlord and protector – the "Varman". This centralised system of governance appointed royal functionaries to provinces. The Mahidharapura dynasty – its first king was Jayavarman VI (1080 to 1107), which originated west of the Dângrêk Mountains in the Mun river valley discontinued the old "ritual policy", genealogical traditions and crucially, Hinduism as exclusive state religion. Some historians relate the empires' decline to these religious discontinuities. The area that comprises the various capitals was spread out over around , it is nowadays commonly called Angkor. The combination of sophisticated wet-rice agriculture, based on an engineered irrigation system and the Tonlé Sap's spectacular abundance in fish and aquatic fauna, as protein source guaranteed a regular food surplus. Recent Geo-surveys have confirmed that Angkor maintained the largest pre-industrial settlement complex worldwide during the 12th and 13th centuries – some three quarters of a million people lived there. Sizeable contingents of the public workforce were to be redirected to monument building and infrastructure maintenance. A growing number of researchers relates the progressive over-exploitation of the delicate local eco-system and its resources alongside large scale deforestation and resulting erosion to the empires' eventual decline. Under king Suryavarman II (1113–1150) the empire reached its greatest geographic extent as it directly or indirectly controlled Indochina, the Gulf of Thailand and large areas of northern maritime Southeast Asia. Suryavarman II commissioned the temple of Angkor Wat, built in a period of 37 years, its five towers representing Mount Meru is considered to be the most accomplished expression of classical Khmer architecture. However, territorial expansion ended when Suryavarman II was killed in battle attempting to invade Đại Việt. It was followed by a period of dynastic upheaval and a Cham invasion that culminated in the sack of Angkor in 1177. King Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1219) is generally considered to be Cambodia's greatest King. A Mahayana Buddhist, he initiates his reign by striking back against Champa in a successful campaign. During his nearly forty years in power he becomes the most prolific monument builder, who establishes the city of Angkor Thom with its central temple the Bayon. Further outstanding works are attributed to him – Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Neak Pean and Sra Srang. The construction of an impressive number of utilitarian and secular projects and edifices, such as maintenance of the extensive road network of Suryavarman I, in particular the royal road to Phimai and the many rest houses, bridges and hospitals make Jayavarman VII unique among all imperial rulers. In August 1296, the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan arrived at Angkor and remained at the court of king Srindravarman until July 1297. He wrote a detailed report, The Customs of Cambodia, on life in Angkor. His portrayal is one of the most important sources of understanding historical Angkor as the text offers valuable information on the everyday life and the habits of the inhabitants of Angkor. The last Sanskrit inscription is dated 1327, and records the succession of Indrajayavarman by Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (1327–1336). The empire was an agrarian state that consisted essentially of three social classes, the elite, workers and slaves. The elite included advisers, military leaders, courtiers, priests, religious ascetics and officials. Workers included agricultural labourers and also a variety of craftsman for construction projects. Slaves were often captives from military campaigns or distant villages. Coinage did not exist and the barter economy was based on agricultural produce, principally rice, with regional trade as an insignificant part of the economy. Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia (1431–1863) The term "Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia", also the "Middle Period" refers to the historical era from the early 15th century to 1863, the beginning of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Reliable sources – particularly for the 15th and 16th century – are very rare. A conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events manifesting the decline of the Khmer Empire has not yet been produced. However, most modern historians contest that several distinct and gradual changes of religious, dynastic, administrative and military nature, environmental problems and ecological imbalance coincided with shifts of power in Indochina and must all be taken into account to make an interpretation. In recent years, focus has notably shifted towards studies on climate changes, human–environment interactions and the ecological consequences. Epigraphy in temples, ends in the third decade of the fourteenth, and does not resume until the mid-16th century. Recording of the Royal Chronology discontinues with King Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (or Jayavarma-Paramesvara) – there exists not a single contemporary record of even a king's name for over 200 years. Construction of monumental temple architecture had come to a standstill after Jayavarman VII's reign. According to author Michael Vickery there only exist external sources for Cambodia's 15th century, the Chinese Ming Shilu annals and the earliest Royal Chronicle of Ayutthaya. Wang Shi-zhen (王世貞), a Chinese scholar of the 16th century, remarked: "The official historians are unrestrained and are skilful at concealing the truth; but the memorials and statutes they record and the documents they copy cannot be discarded." The central reference point for the entire 15th century is a Siamese intervention of some undisclosed nature at the capital Yasodharapura (Angkor Thom) around the year 1431. Historians relate the event to the shift of Cambodia's political centre southward to the region of Phnom Penh, Longvek and later Oudong. Sources for the 16th century are more numerous. The kingdom is centred at the Mekong, prospering as an integral part of the Asian maritime trade network, via which the first contact with European explorers and adventurers does occur. Wars with the Siamese result in loss of territory and eventually the conquest of the capital Longvek in 1594. The Vietnamese on their "Southward March" reach Prei Nokor/Saigon at the Mekong Delta in the 17th century. This event initiates the slow process of Cambodia losing access to the seas and independent marine trade. Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer royal authority decreased to the state of a vassal. In the early 19th century with dynasties in Vietnam and Siam firmly established, Cambodia was placed under joint suzerainty, having lost its national sovereignty. British agent John Crawfurd states: "...the King of that ancient Kingdom is ready to throw himself under the protection of any European nation..." To save Cambodia from being incorporated into Vietnam and Siam, King Ang Duong agreed to colonial France's offers of protection, which took effect with King Norodom Prohmbarirak signing and officially recognising the French protectorate on 11 August 1863. Vietnamese occupations (1811–1845) As the Vietnamese empire consolidated itself over the eastern mainland under energetic Gia Long and Minh Mang, Cambodia fell to the Vietnamese invasion in 1811 which was originally the ruling king Ang Chan II's (r. 1806–35) request to Gia Long to suppress his brothers, Ang Snguon and Ang Em, who were in rebellion against King Chan. The two brothers fled to Thailand, while Ang Chan becoming a Vietnamese vassal. In 1820 Gia Long died and his fourth son Minh Mang inherited the throne. Shared with his father the strong Confucian belief, Minh Mang proven to be a sadistic isolationist and strong ruler. He removed the Viceroy of Cambodia and Saigon in 1832, triggered pro-Catholic Lê Văn Khôi revolt against him in 1833. The Thai army, intended to support the rebellion, launched offensive on Vietnamese occupying Cambodia, forced king Chan to flee to Saigon, as Rama III promised to restore the Kingdom of Cambodia and punish the insolence of the Kingdom of Vietnam. In 1834, the rebellion in Southern Vietnam was suppressed, and Minh Mang ordered troops to launch the second invasion of Cambodia, drove most of Thai forces to the west and reinstalled Ang Chan as puppet king in Phnom Penh, later succeeded by his daughter, Queen Ang Mey (r. 1835–41). In later that year, the Tây Thành Province was established, the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia turned into direct Vietnamese control. For the next six years, the Vietnamese emperor had tried to force the Cambodians to adopt Vietnamese culture by the cultural assimilation progress of what historian David P. Chandler called The Vietnamization of Cambodia. The death of Minh Mang in early 1841 halted the Vietnamization of Cambodia. 35,000 Thai troops, took advantage of dire situation in Vietnam, rushed into the Tây Thành Province, and were able to fend off Vietnamese counteroffensives in late 1845. The new Vietnamese emperor, Thieu Tri, readied to make peace with Siam, and in June 1847 a peace treaty was signed. The Kingdom of Cambodia under Ang Duong regained its independence status after 36 years of brutal Vietnamese occupations and Siamese interventions. French colonial period (1863–1953) In August 1863 King Norodom signed an agreement with the French placing the kingdom under the protection of France. The original treaty left Cambodian sovereignty intact, but French control gradually increased, with important landmarks in 1877, 1884, and 1897, until by the end of the century the king's authority no longer existed outside the palace. Norodom died in 1904, and his two successors, Sisowath and Monivong, were content to allow the French to control the country, but in 1940 France was defeated in a brief border war with Thailand and forced to surrender the provinces of Battambang and Angkor (the ancient site of Angkor itself was retained). King Monivong died in April 1941, and the French placed the obscure Prince Sihanouk on the throne as king, believing that the inexperienced 18-year old would be more pliable than Monivong's middle-aged son, Prince Monireth. Cambodia's situation at the end of the war was chaotic. The Free French, under General Charles de Gaulle, were determined to recover Indochina, though they offered Cambodia and the other Indochinese protectorates a carefully circumscribed measure of self-government. Convinced that they had a "civilizing mission", they envisioned Indochina's participation in a French Union of former colonies that shared the common experience of French culture. Administration of Sihanouk (1953–70) On 9 March 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Cambodia, young king Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed an independent Kingdom of Kampuchea, following a formal request by the Japanese. Shortly thereafter the Japanese government nominally ratified the independence of Cambodia and established a consulate in Phnom Penh. The new government did away with the romanisation of the Khmer language that the French colonial administration was beginning to enforce and officially reinstated the Khmer script. This measure taken by the short-lived governmental authority would be popular and long-lasting, for since then no government in Cambodia has tried to romanise the Khmer language again. After Allied military units entered Cambodia, the Japanese military forces present in the country were disarmed and repatriated. The French were able to reimpose the colonial administration in Phnom Penh in October the same year. Sihanouk's "royal crusade for independence" resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in October 1953. Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and returned in triumph to Phnom Penh. As a result of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers. Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-1960s, parts of Cambodia's eastern provinces were serving as bases for North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front (NVA/NLF) forces operating against South Vietnam, and the port of Sihanoukville was being used to supply them. As NVA/VC activity grew, the United States and South Vietnam became concerned, and in 1969, the United States began a 14-month-long series of bombing raids targeted at NVA/VC elements, contributing to destabilisation. The bombing campaign took place no further than ten, and later inside the Cambodian border, areas where the Cambodian population had been evicted by the NVA. Prince Sihanouk, fearing that the conflict between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam might spill over to Cambodia, publicly opposed the idea of a bombing campaign by the United States along the Vietnam–Cambodia border and inside Cambodian territory. However, Peter Rodman claimed, "Prince Sihanouk complained bitterly to us about these North Vietnamese bases in his country and invited us to attack them". In December 1967 Washington Post journalist Stanley Karnow was told by Sihanouk that if the US wanted to bomb the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, he would not object, unless Cambodians were killed. The same message was conveyed to US President Johnson's emissary Chester Bowles in January 1968. So the US had no real motivation to overthrow Sihanouk. However, Prince Sihanouk wanted Cambodia to stay out of the North Vietnam–South Vietnam conflict and was very critical of the United States government and its allies (the South Vietnamese government). Prince Sihanouk, facing internal struggles of his own, due to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, did not want Cambodia to be involved in the conflict. Sihanouk wanted the United States and its allies (South Vietnam) to keep the war away from the Cambodian border. Sihanouk did not allow the United States to use Cambodian air space and airports for military purposes. This upset the United States greatly and contributed to their view that of Prince Sihanouk as a North Vietnamese sympathiser and a thorn on the United States. However, declassified documents indicate that, as late as March 1970, the Nixon administration was hoping to garner "friendly relations" with Sihanouk. Throughout the 1960s, domestic Cambodian politics became polarised. Opposition to the government grew within the middle class and leftists including Paris-educated leaders like Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). Sihanouk called these insurgents the Khmer Rouge, literally the "Red Khmer". But the 1966 national assembly elections showed a significant swing to the right, and General Lon Nol formed a new government, which lasted until 1967. During 1968 and 1969, the insurgency worsened. However, members of the government and army, who resented Sihanouk's ruling style as well as his tilt away from the United States, did have a motivation to overthrow him. Khmer Republic and the War (1970–75) While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak in the early hours of 18 March 1970. However, as early as 12 March 1970, the CIA Station Chief told Washington that based on communications from Sirik Matak, Lon Nol's cousin, that "the (Cambodian) army was ready for a coup". Lon Nol assumed power after the military coup and immediately allied Cambodia with the United States. Son Ngoc Thanh, an opponent of Pol Pot, announced his support for the new government. On 9 October, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. The new regime immediately demanded that the Vietnamese communists leave Cambodia. Hanoi rejected the new republic's request for the withdrawal of NVA troops. In response, the United States moved to provide material assistance to the new government's armed forces, which were engaged against both CPK insurgents and NVA forces. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces, desperate to retain their sanctuaries and supply lines from North Vietnam, immediately launched armed attacks on the new government. The North Vietnamese quickly overran large parts of eastern Cambodia, reaching to within of Phnom Penh. The North Vietnamese turned the newly won territories over to the Khmer Rouge. The king urged his followers to help in overthrowing this government, hastening the onset of civil war. In April 1970, US President Richard Nixon announced to the American public that US and South Vietnamese ground forces had entered Cambodia in a campaign aimed at destroying NVA base areas in Cambodia (see Cambodian Incursion). The US had already been bombing Vietnamese positions in Cambodia for well over a year by that point. Although a considerable quantity of equipment was seized or destroyed by US and South Vietnamese forces, containment of North Vietnamese forces proved elusive. The Khmer Republic's leadership was plagued by disunity among its three principal figures: Lon Nol, Sihanouk's cousin Sirik Matak, and National Assembly leader In Tam. Lon Nol remained in power in part because none of the others were prepared to take his place. In 1972, a constitution was adopted, a parliament elected, and Lon Nol became president. But disunity, the problems of transforming a 30,000-man army into a national combat force of more than 200,000 men, and spreading corruption weakened the civilian administration and army. The Khmer Rouge insurgency inside Cambodia continued to grow, aided by supplies and military support from North Vietnam. Pol Pot and Ieng Sary asserted their dominance over the Vietnamese-trained communists, many of whom were purged. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge (CPK) forces became stronger and more independent of their Vietnamese patrons. By 1973, the CPK were fighting battles against government forces with little | signify a northern and a southern half, which may conveniently be referred to as Upper and Lower Chenla. By the late 8th century Water Chenla had become a vassal of the Sailendra dynasty of Java – the last of its kings were killed and the polity incorporated into the Javanese monarchy around 790 CE. Land Chenla acquired independence under Jayavarman II in 802 CE The Khmers, vassals of Funan, reached the Mekong river from the northern Menam River via the Mun River Valley. Chenla, their first independent state developed out of Funanese influence. Ancient Chinese records mention two kings, Shrutavarman and Shreshthavarman who ruled at the capital Shreshthapura located in modern-day southern Laos. The immense influence on the identity of Cambodia to come was wrought by the Khmer Kingdom of Bhavapura, in the modern day Cambodian city of Kampong Thom. Its legacy was its most important sovereign, Ishanavarman who completely conquered the kingdom of Funan during 612–628. He chose his new capital at the Sambor Prei Kuk, naming it Ishanapura. Khmer Empire (802–1431) The six centuries of the Khmer Empire are characterised by unparalleled technical and artistic progress and achievements, political integrity and administrative stability. The empire represents the cultural and technical apogee of the Cambodian and Southeast Asian pre-industrial civilisation. The Khmer Empire was preceded by Chenla, a polity with shifting centres of power, which was split into Land Chenla and Water Chenla in the early 8th century. By the late 8th century Water Chenla was absorbed by the Malays of the Srivijaya Empire and the Javanese of the Shailandra Empire and eventually incorporated into Java and Srivijaya. Jayavarman II, ruler of Land Chenla, initiates a mythical Hindu consecration ceremony at Mount Kulen (Mount Mahendra) in 802 CE, intended to proclaim political autonomy and royal legitimacy. As he declared himself devaraja - god-king, divinely appointed and uncontested, he simultaneously declares independence from Shailandra and Srivijaya. He established Hariharalaya, the first capital of the Angkorean area near the modern town of Roluos. Indravarman I (877–889) and his son and successor Yasovarman I (889–900), who established the capital Yasodharapura ordered the construction of huge water reservoirs (barays) north of the capital. The water management network depended on elaborate configurations of channels, ponds, and embankments built from huge quantities of clayey sand, the available bulk material on the Angkor plain. Dikes of the East Baray still exist today, which are more than long and wide. The largest component is the West Baray, a reservoir about long and across, containing approximately 50 million m3 of water. Royal administration was based on the religious idea of the Shivaite Hindu state and the central cult of the sovereign as warlord and protector – the "Varman". This centralised system of governance appointed royal functionaries to provinces. The Mahidharapura dynasty – its first king was Jayavarman VI (1080 to 1107), which originated west of the Dângrêk Mountains in the Mun river valley discontinued the old "ritual policy", genealogical traditions and crucially, Hinduism as exclusive state religion. Some historians relate the empires' decline to these religious discontinuities. The area that comprises the various capitals was spread out over around , it is nowadays commonly called Angkor. The combination of sophisticated wet-rice agriculture, based on an engineered irrigation system and the Tonlé Sap's spectacular abundance in fish and aquatic fauna, as protein source guaranteed a regular food surplus. Recent Geo-surveys have confirmed that Angkor maintained the largest pre-industrial settlement complex worldwide during the 12th and 13th centuries – some three quarters of a million people lived there. Sizeable contingents of the public workforce were to be redirected to monument building and infrastructure maintenance. A growing number of researchers relates the progressive over-exploitation of the delicate local eco-system and its resources alongside large scale deforestation and resulting erosion to the empires' eventual decline. Under king Suryavarman II (1113–1150) the empire reached its greatest geographic extent as it directly or indirectly controlled Indochina, the Gulf of Thailand and large areas of northern maritime Southeast Asia. Suryavarman II commissioned the temple of Angkor Wat, built in a period of 37 years, its five towers representing Mount Meru is considered to be the most accomplished expression of classical Khmer architecture. However, territorial expansion ended when Suryavarman II was killed in battle attempting to invade Đại Việt. It was followed by a period of dynastic upheaval and a Cham invasion that culminated in the sack of Angkor in 1177. King Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1219) is generally considered to be Cambodia's greatest King. A Mahayana Buddhist, he initiates his reign by striking back against Champa in a successful campaign. During his nearly forty years in power he becomes the most prolific monument builder, who establishes the city of Angkor Thom with its central temple the Bayon. Further outstanding works are attributed to him – Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm, Neak Pean and Sra Srang. The construction of an impressive number of utilitarian and secular projects and edifices, such as maintenance of the extensive road network of Suryavarman I, in particular the royal road to Phimai and the many rest houses, bridges and hospitals make Jayavarman VII unique among all imperial rulers. In August 1296, the Chinese diplomat Zhou Daguan arrived at Angkor and remained at the court of king Srindravarman until July 1297. He wrote a detailed report, The Customs of Cambodia, on life in Angkor. His portrayal is one of the most important sources of understanding historical Angkor as the text offers valuable information on the everyday life and the habits of the inhabitants of Angkor. The last Sanskrit inscription is dated 1327, and records the succession of Indrajayavarman by Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (1327–1336). The empire was an agrarian state that consisted essentially of three social classes, the elite, workers and slaves. The elite included advisers, military leaders, courtiers, priests, religious ascetics and officials. Workers included agricultural labourers and also a variety of craftsman for construction projects. Slaves were often captives from military campaigns or distant villages. Coinage did not exist and the barter economy was based on agricultural produce, principally rice, with regional trade as an insignificant part of the economy. Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia (1431–1863) The term "Post-Angkor Period of Cambodia", also the "Middle Period" refers to the historical era from the early 15th century to 1863, the beginning of the French Protectorate of Cambodia. Reliable sources – particularly for the 15th and 16th century – are very rare. A conclusive explanation that relates to concrete events manifesting the decline of the Khmer Empire has not yet been produced. However, most modern historians contest that several distinct and gradual changes of religious, dynastic, administrative and military nature, environmental problems and ecological imbalance coincided with shifts of power in Indochina and must all be taken into account to make an interpretation. In recent years, focus has notably shifted towards studies on climate changes, human–environment interactions and the ecological consequences. Epigraphy in temples, ends in the third decade of the fourteenth, and does not resume until the mid-16th century. Recording of the Royal Chronology discontinues with King Jayavarman IX Parameshwara (or Jayavarma-Paramesvara) – there exists not a single contemporary record of even a king's name for over 200 years. Construction of monumental temple architecture had come to a standstill after Jayavarman VII's reign. According to author Michael Vickery there only exist external sources for Cambodia's 15th century, the Chinese Ming Shilu annals and the earliest Royal Chronicle of Ayutthaya. Wang Shi-zhen (王世貞), a Chinese scholar of the 16th century, remarked: "The official historians are unrestrained and are skilful at concealing the truth; but the memorials and statutes they record and the documents they copy cannot be discarded." The central reference point for the entire 15th century is a Siamese intervention of some undisclosed nature at the capital Yasodharapura (Angkor Thom) around the year 1431. Historians relate the event to the shift of Cambodia's political centre southward to the region of Phnom Penh, Longvek and later Oudong. Sources for the 16th century are more numerous. The kingdom is centred at the Mekong, prospering as an integral part of the Asian maritime trade network, via which the first contact with European explorers and adventurers does occur. Wars with the Siamese result in loss of territory and eventually the conquest of the capital Longvek in 1594. The Vietnamese on their "Southward March" reach Prei Nokor/Saigon at the Mekong Delta in the 17th century. This event initiates the slow process of Cambodia losing access to the seas and independent marine trade. Siamese and Vietnamese dominance intensified during the 17th and 18th century, resulting in frequent displacements of the seat of power as the Khmer royal authority decreased to the state of a vassal. In the early 19th century with dynasties in Vietnam and Siam firmly established, Cambodia was placed under joint suzerainty, having lost its national sovereignty. British agent John Crawfurd states: "...the King of that ancient Kingdom is ready to throw himself under the protection of any European nation..." To save Cambodia from being incorporated into Vietnam and Siam, King Ang Duong agreed to colonial France's offers of protection, which took effect with King Norodom Prohmbarirak signing and officially recognising the French protectorate on 11 August 1863. Vietnamese occupations (1811–1845) As the Vietnamese empire consolidated itself over the eastern mainland under energetic Gia Long and Minh Mang, Cambodia fell to the Vietnamese invasion in 1811 which was originally the ruling king Ang Chan II's (r. 1806–35) request to Gia Long to suppress his brothers, Ang Snguon and Ang Em, who were in rebellion against King Chan. The two brothers fled to Thailand, while Ang Chan becoming a Vietnamese vassal. In 1820 Gia Long died and his fourth son Minh Mang inherited the throne. Shared with his father the strong Confucian belief, Minh Mang proven to be a sadistic isolationist and strong ruler. He removed the Viceroy of Cambodia and Saigon in 1832, triggered pro-Catholic Lê Văn Khôi revolt against him in 1833. The Thai army, intended to support the rebellion, launched offensive on Vietnamese occupying Cambodia, forced king Chan to flee to Saigon, as Rama III promised to restore the Kingdom of Cambodia and punish the insolence of the Kingdom of Vietnam. In 1834, the rebellion in Southern Vietnam was suppressed, and Minh Mang ordered troops to launch the second invasion of Cambodia, drove most of Thai forces to the west and reinstalled Ang Chan as puppet king in Phnom Penh, later succeeded by his daughter, Queen Ang Mey (r. 1835–41). In later that year, the Tây Thành Province was established, the Vietnamese occupation of Cambodia turned into direct Vietnamese control. For the next six years, the Vietnamese emperor had tried to force the Cambodians to adopt Vietnamese culture by the cultural assimilation progress of what historian David P. Chandler called The Vietnamization of Cambodia. The death of Minh Mang in early 1841 halted the Vietnamization of Cambodia. 35,000 Thai troops, took advantage of dire situation in Vietnam, rushed into the Tây Thành Province, and were able to fend off Vietnamese counteroffensives in late 1845. The new Vietnamese emperor, Thieu Tri, readied to make peace with Siam, and in June 1847 a peace treaty was signed. The Kingdom of Cambodia under Ang Duong regained its independence status after 36 years of brutal Vietnamese occupations and Siamese interventions. French colonial period (1863–1953) In August 1863 King Norodom signed an agreement with the French placing the kingdom under the protection of France. The original treaty left Cambodian sovereignty intact, but French control gradually increased, with important landmarks in 1877, 1884, and 1897, until by the end of the century the king's authority no longer existed outside the palace. Norodom died in 1904, and his two successors, Sisowath and Monivong, were content to allow the French to control the country, but in 1940 France was defeated in a brief border war with Thailand and forced to surrender the provinces of Battambang and Angkor (the ancient site of Angkor itself was retained). King Monivong died in April 1941, and the French placed the obscure Prince Sihanouk on the throne as king, believing that the inexperienced 18-year old would be more pliable than Monivong's middle-aged son, Prince Monireth. Cambodia's situation at the end of the war was chaotic. The Free French, under General Charles de Gaulle, were determined to recover Indochina, though they offered Cambodia and the other Indochinese protectorates a carefully circumscribed measure of self-government. Convinced that they had a "civilizing mission", they envisioned Indochina's participation in a French Union of former colonies that shared the common experience of French culture. Administration of Sihanouk (1953–70) On 9 March 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Cambodia, young king Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed an independent Kingdom of Kampuchea, following a formal request by the Japanese. Shortly thereafter the Japanese government nominally ratified the independence of Cambodia and established a consulate in Phnom Penh. The new government did away with the romanisation of the Khmer language that the French colonial administration was beginning to enforce and officially reinstated the Khmer script. This measure taken by the short-lived governmental authority would be popular and long-lasting, for since then no government in Cambodia has tried to romanise the Khmer language again. After Allied military units entered Cambodia, the Japanese military forces present in the country were disarmed and repatriated. The French were able to reimpose the colonial administration in Phnom Penh in October the same year. Sihanouk's "royal crusade for independence" resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in October 1953. Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and returned in triumph to Phnom Penh. As a result of the Geneva Conference on Indochina, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and to withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers. Neutrality was the central element of Cambodian foreign policy during the 1950s and 1960s. By the mid-1960s, parts of Cambodia's eastern provinces were serving as bases for North Vietnamese Army and National Liberation Front (NVA/NLF) forces operating against South Vietnam, and the port of Sihanoukville was being used to supply them. As NVA/VC activity grew, the United States and South Vietnam became concerned, and in 1969, the United States began a 14-month-long series of bombing raids targeted at NVA/VC elements, contributing to destabilisation. The bombing campaign took place no further than ten, and later inside the Cambodian border, areas where the Cambodian population had been evicted by the NVA. Prince Sihanouk, fearing that the conflict between communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam might spill over to Cambodia, publicly opposed the idea of a bombing campaign by the United States along the Vietnam–Cambodia border and inside Cambodian territory. However, Peter Rodman claimed, "Prince Sihanouk complained bitterly to us about these North Vietnamese bases in his country and invited us to attack them". In December 1967 Washington Post journalist Stanley Karnow was told by Sihanouk that if the US wanted to bomb the Vietnamese communist sanctuaries, he would not object, unless Cambodians were killed. The same message was conveyed to US President Johnson's emissary Chester Bowles in January 1968. So the US had no real motivation to overthrow Sihanouk. However, Prince Sihanouk wanted Cambodia to stay out of the North Vietnam–South Vietnam conflict and was very critical of the United States government and its allies (the South Vietnamese government). Prince Sihanouk, facing internal struggles of his own, due to the rise of the Khmer Rouge, did not want Cambodia to be involved in the conflict. Sihanouk wanted the United States and its allies (South Vietnam) to keep the war away from the Cambodian border. Sihanouk did not allow the United States to use Cambodian air space and airports for military purposes. This upset the United States greatly and contributed to their view that of Prince Sihanouk as a North Vietnamese sympathiser and a thorn on the United States. However, declassified documents indicate that, as late as March 1970, the Nixon administration was hoping to garner "friendly relations" with Sihanouk. Throughout the 1960s, domestic Cambodian politics became polarised. Opposition to the government grew within the middle class and leftists including Paris-educated leaders like Son Sen, Ieng Sary, and Saloth Sar (later known as Pol Pot), who led an insurgency under the clandestine Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK). Sihanouk called these insurgents the Khmer Rouge, literally the "Red Khmer". But the 1966 national assembly elections showed a significant swing to the right, and General Lon Nol formed a new government, which lasted until 1967. During 1968 and 1969, the insurgency worsened. However, members of the government and army, who resented Sihanouk's ruling style as well as his tilt away from the United States, did have a motivation to overthrow him. Khmer Republic and the War (1970–75) While visiting Beijing in 1970 Sihanouk was ousted by a military coup led by Prime Minister General Lon Nol and Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak in the early hours of 18 March 1970. However, as early as 12 March 1970, the CIA Station Chief told Washington that based on communications from Sirik Matak, Lon Nol's cousin, that "the (Cambodian) army was ready for a coup". Lon Nol assumed power after the military coup and immediately allied Cambodia with the United States. Son Ngoc Thanh, an opponent of Pol Pot, announced his support for the new government. On 9 October, the Cambodian monarchy was abolished, and the country was renamed the Khmer Republic. |
time of the year. As the Mekong river begins its minimum around this time of the year and its water level falls deeper than the inundated Tonle Sap lake, Tonle Sap river and surrounding wetlands, waters of the lake's basin now drains via the Tonle Sap river into the Mekong. As a result the Tonle Sap River (length around ) flows 6 months a year from South-East (Mekong) to North-West (lake) and 6 month a year in the opposite direction. The mean annual reverse flow volume in the Tonle Sap is , or about half of the maximum lake volume. A further 10% is estimated to enter the system by overland flow from the Mekong. The Mekong branches off into several arms near Phnom Penh and reaches Vietnamese territory south of Koh Thom and Loek Daek districts of Kandal Province. Southern Mountains This region represents the eastern parts of the original extent of the wet evergreen forests that cover the Cardamom - and Elephant Mountains in South-West Cambodia and along the mountains east of Bangkok in Thailand. The densely wooded hills receive rainfall of annually on their western slopes (which are subject to the South-West monsoons) but only on their eastern - rain shadow - slopes. The Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains Occupying Koh Kong Province and Kampong Speu Province, running in a north-western to south-eastern direction and rising to more than . The highest mountain of Cambodia, Phnom Aural, at is located in Aoral District in Kampong Speu Province. The Cardamom Mountains form - including the north-western part of Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, the 'Soi Dao Mountains' - the Cardamom Mountains Moist Forests Ecoregion, that is considered to be one of the most species-rich and intact natural habitats in the region. The climate, size inaccessibility and seclusion of the mountains have allowed a rich variety of wildlife to thrive. The Cardamom and Elephant Mountains remain to be fully researched and documented. The Elephant Mountains Chuŏr Phnum Dâmrei - A north-south-trending range of high hills, an extension of the Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains, in south-eastern Cambodia, rising to elevations of between 500 and 1,000 meters. Extending north from the Gulf of Thailand, they reach a high point in the Bok Koŭ ridge at Mount Bokor near the sea. To the south-west of the Southern mountain ranges extends a narrow coastal plain that contains the Kampong Saom Bay area and the Sihanoukville peninsula, facing the Gulf of Thailand. Northern Mountains The Dangrek Mountains A forested range of hills averaging , dividing Thailand from Cambodia, mainly formed of massive sandstone with slate and silt. A few characteristic basalt hills are located on the northern side of the mountain chain. This east–west-trending range extends from the Mekong River westward for approximately , merging with the highland area near San Kamphaeng, Thailand. Essentially the southern escarpment of the sandstone Khorat Plateau of northeastern Thailand, the Dângrêk range slopes gradually northward to the Mun River in Thailand but falls more abruptly in the south to the Cambodian plain. Its highest point is . The watershed along the escarpment in general terms marks the boundary between Thailand and Cambodia, however there are exceptions. The region is covered in dry evergreen forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, and deciduous dipterocarp forests. Tree species like Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Shorea siamensis and Xylia xylocarpa var. kerrii dominate. Illegal logging are issues on both, the Thai as well as on the Cambodian side, leaving large hill stretches denuded, vulnerable tree species such as Dalbergia cochinchinensis have been affected. Forest fires are common during the dry season. Annamite Range Lying to the east of the Mekong River, the long chain of mountains called the Annamite Mountains of Indochina and the lowlands that surround them make up the Greater Annamites ecoregion. Levels of rainfall vary from annually. Mean annual temperatures are about . This eco-region contains some of the last relatively intact moist forests in Indochina. Moisture-laden monsoon winds, that blow in from the Gulf of Tonkin ensure permanent high air humidity. Plants and animals adapted to moist conditions, to seek refuge here and evolve into highly specialized types that are found nowhere else on Earth. Ethnically diverse More than 30 ethnic groups of indigenous people live in the Annamites, each with their distinctive and traditional music, language, dress and customs. The natural resources of the Greater Annamites are vital to all of these people. Eastern Highlands Tall grasses and deciduous forests cover the ground east of the Mekong River in Mondulkiri, where the transitional plains merge with the eastern highlands at altitudes from . The landscape has suffered from rubber farming, logging and particularly mining, although sizable areas of pristine jungle survive, which are home to rare and endemic wildlife. Coast Cambodia's coastal area covers , distributed among four provinces: Sihanoukville province, Kampot province, Koh Kong province, and Kep province. The total length of the Cambodian coastal area has been disputed. The most widely accepted length is , a 1997 survey by the DANIDA organization announced a length at , and in 1973 the Oil Authority found the coast to be long. The Food and Agriculture Organization claims a length of in one of its studies. The southern mountain ranges drain to the south and west towards the shallow sea. Sediments on the continental shelf are the basis for extensive mangroves marshes, in particular in the Koh Kong province and the Ream National Park. Islands Cambodia’s islands fall under administration of the 4 coastal provinces. "There are 60 islands in Cambodia's coastal waters. They include 23 in Koh Kong province, 2 in Kampot province, 22 in Sihanoukville and 13 in Kep city.[sic]" Most islands are, apart from the two small groups of the outer islands, in relative proximity to the coast. The islands and the coastal region of Koh Kong Province are mainly composed of upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous sandstone massives. The north-westernmost islands near and around the Kaoh Pao river delta (Prek Kaoh Pao) area are to a great extent sediments of estuaries and rivers, very flat and engulfed in contiguous mangrove marshes. Climate Cambodia's climate, like that of much of the rest of mainland Southeast Asia is dominated by monsoons, which are known as tropical wet and dry because of the distinctly marked seasonal differences. The monsoonal air-flows are caused by annual alternating high pressure and low pressure over the Central Asian landmass. In summer, moisture-laden air—the southwest monsoon—is drawn landward from the Indian Ocean. The flow is reversed during the winter, and the northeast monsoon sends back dry air. The southwest monsoon brings the rainy season from mid-May to mid-September or to early October, and the northeast monsoon flow of drier and cooler air lasts from early November to March. Temperatures are fairly uniform throughout the Tonlé Sap Basin area, with only small variations from the average annual mean of around . The maximum mean is about ; the minimum mean, about . Maximum temperatures of higher than , however, are common and, just before the start of the rainy season, they may rise to more than . Minimum night temperatures sporadically fall below . in January, the coldest month. May is the warmest month - although strongly influenced by the beginning of the wet season, as the area constitutes the easternmost fringe of the south-west monsoon. Tropical cyclones only rarely cause damage in Cambodia. The total annual rainfall average is between , and the heaviest amounts fall in the southeast. Rainfall from April to September in the Tonlé Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands area averages annually, but the amount varies considerably from year to year. Rainfall around the basin increases with elevation. It is heaviest in the mountains along the coast in the southwest, which receive from to more than of precipitation annually as the southwest monsoon reaches the coast. This area of greatest rainfall drains mostly to the sea; only a small quantity goes into the rivers flowing into the basin. Relative humidity is high throughout the entire year; usually exceeding 90%. During the dry season daytime humidity rates average around 50 percent or slightly lower, climbing to about 90% during the rainy season. Hydrology The Mekong River and its tributaries comprise one of the largest river systems in the world. The central Tonle Sap, the Great Lake has several input rivers, the most important being the Tonle Sap River, which contributes 62% of the total water supply during the rainy season. Direct rainfall on the lake and the other rivers in the sub-basin contribute the remaining 38%. Major rivers are the Sen river, Sreng River, Stung Pouthisat River, Sisophon River, Mongkol Borei River, and Sangkae River. Smaller rivers in the southeast, the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Range form separate drainage divides. To the east the rivers flow into the Tonle Sap, as in the south-west rivers flow into the Gulf of Thailand. Toward the southern slopes of the Elephant Mountains, small rivers flow south-eastward on the eastern side of the divide. The Mekong River flows southward from the Cambodia-Laos border to a point south of Kratié (town), where it turns west for about and then turns southwest towards Phnom Penh. Extensive rapids run north of Kratie city. From Kampong Cham Province the gradient slopes very gently, and inundation of areas along the river occurs at flood stage. From June through November—through breaks in the natural levees that have built up along its course. At Phnom Penh four major water courses meet at a point called the Chattomukh (Four Faces). The Mekong River flows in from the northeast and the Tonle Sap river emanates from the Tonle Sap—flows in from the northwest. They divide into two parallel channels, the Mekong River proper and the Bassac River, and flow independently through the delta areas of Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. The flow of water into the Tonle Sap is seasonal. In spring, the flow of the Mekong River, fed by monsoon rains, increases to a point where its outlets through the delta can't handle the enormous volume of water. At this point, the water pushes northward up the Tonle Sap river and empties into the Tonle Sap lake, thereby increasing the size of the lake from about to about at the height of the flooding. After the Mekong's waters crest — when its downstream channels can handle the volume of water — the flow reverses, and water flows out of the engorged lake. As the level of the Tonle Sap retreats, it deposits a new layer of sediment. The annual flooding, combined with poor drainage immediately around the lake, transforms the surrounding area into marshlands, unusable for agricultural purposes during the dry season. The sediment deposited into the lake during the Mekong's flood stage appears to be greater than the quantity carried away later by the Tonle Sap River. Gradual silting of the lake would seem to be occurring; during low-water level, it is only about deep, while at flood stage it is between deep. Vegetation & ecoregions Cambodia has one of the highest levels of forest cover in the region as the interdependence of Cambodia’s geography and hydrology makes it rich in natural resources and biological diversity - among the bio-richest countries in Southeast | or about half of the maximum lake volume. A further 10% is estimated to enter the system by overland flow from the Mekong. The Mekong branches off into several arms near Phnom Penh and reaches Vietnamese territory south of Koh Thom and Loek Daek districts of Kandal Province. Southern Mountains This region represents the eastern parts of the original extent of the wet evergreen forests that cover the Cardamom - and Elephant Mountains in South-West Cambodia and along the mountains east of Bangkok in Thailand. The densely wooded hills receive rainfall of annually on their western slopes (which are subject to the South-West monsoons) but only on their eastern - rain shadow - slopes. The Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains Occupying Koh Kong Province and Kampong Speu Province, running in a north-western to south-eastern direction and rising to more than . The highest mountain of Cambodia, Phnom Aural, at is located in Aoral District in Kampong Speu Province. The Cardamom Mountains form - including the north-western part of Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, the 'Soi Dao Mountains' - the Cardamom Mountains Moist Forests Ecoregion, that is considered to be one of the most species-rich and intact natural habitats in the region. The climate, size inaccessibility and seclusion of the mountains have allowed a rich variety of wildlife to thrive. The Cardamom and Elephant Mountains remain to be fully researched and documented. The Elephant Mountains Chuŏr Phnum Dâmrei - A north-south-trending range of high hills, an extension of the Cardamom/Krâvanh Mountains, in south-eastern Cambodia, rising to elevations of between 500 and 1,000 meters. Extending north from the Gulf of Thailand, they reach a high point in the Bok Koŭ ridge at Mount Bokor near the sea. To the south-west of the Southern mountain ranges extends a narrow coastal plain that contains the Kampong Saom Bay area and the Sihanoukville peninsula, facing the Gulf of Thailand. Northern Mountains The Dangrek Mountains A forested range of hills averaging , dividing Thailand from Cambodia, mainly formed of massive sandstone with slate and silt. A few characteristic basalt hills are located on the northern side of the mountain chain. This east–west-trending range extends from the Mekong River westward for approximately , merging with the highland area near San Kamphaeng, Thailand. Essentially the southern escarpment of the sandstone Khorat Plateau of northeastern Thailand, the Dângrêk range slopes gradually northward to the Mun River in Thailand but falls more abruptly in the south to the Cambodian plain. Its highest point is . The watershed along the escarpment in general terms marks the boundary between Thailand and Cambodia, however there are exceptions. The region is covered in dry evergreen forest, mixed dipterocarp forest, and deciduous dipterocarp forests. Tree species like Pterocarpus macrocarpus, Shorea siamensis and Xylia xylocarpa var. kerrii dominate. Illegal logging are issues on both, the Thai as well as on the Cambodian side, leaving large hill stretches denuded, vulnerable tree species such as Dalbergia cochinchinensis have been affected. Forest fires are common during the dry season. Annamite Range Lying to the east of the Mekong River, the long chain of mountains called the Annamite Mountains of Indochina and the lowlands that surround them make up the Greater Annamites ecoregion. Levels of rainfall vary from annually. Mean annual temperatures are about . This eco-region contains some of the last relatively intact moist forests in Indochina. Moisture-laden monsoon winds, that blow in from the Gulf of Tonkin ensure permanent high air humidity. Plants and animals adapted to moist conditions, to seek refuge here and evolve into highly specialized types that are found nowhere else on Earth. Ethnically diverse More than 30 ethnic groups of indigenous people live in the Annamites, each with their distinctive and traditional music, language, dress and customs. The natural resources of the Greater Annamites are vital to all of these people. Eastern Highlands Tall grasses and deciduous forests cover the ground east of the Mekong River in Mondulkiri, where the transitional plains merge with the eastern highlands at altitudes from . The landscape has suffered from rubber farming, logging and particularly mining, although sizable areas of pristine jungle survive, which are home to rare and endemic wildlife. Coast Cambodia's coastal area covers , distributed among four provinces: Sihanoukville province, Kampot province, Koh Kong province, and Kep province. The total length of the Cambodian coastal area has been disputed. The most widely accepted length is , a 1997 survey by the DANIDA organization announced a length at , and in 1973 the Oil Authority found the coast to be long. The Food and Agriculture Organization claims a length of in one of its studies. The southern mountain ranges drain to the south and west towards the shallow sea. Sediments on the continental shelf are the basis for extensive mangroves marshes, in particular in the Koh Kong province and the Ream National Park. Islands Cambodia’s islands fall under administration of the 4 coastal provinces. "There are 60 islands in Cambodia's coastal waters. They include 23 in Koh Kong province, 2 in Kampot province, 22 in Sihanoukville and 13 in Kep city.[sic]" Most islands are, apart from the two small groups of the outer islands, in relative proximity to the coast. The islands and the coastal region of Koh Kong Province are mainly composed of upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous sandstone massives. The north-westernmost islands near and around the Kaoh Pao river delta (Prek Kaoh Pao) area are to a great extent sediments of estuaries and rivers, very flat and engulfed in contiguous mangrove marshes. Climate Cambodia's climate, like that of much of the rest of mainland Southeast Asia is dominated by monsoons, which are known as tropical wet and dry because of the distinctly marked seasonal differences. The monsoonal air-flows are caused by annual alternating high pressure and low pressure over the Central Asian landmass. In summer, moisture-laden air—the southwest monsoon—is drawn landward from the Indian Ocean. The flow is reversed during the winter, and the northeast monsoon sends back dry air. The southwest monsoon brings the rainy season from mid-May to mid-September or to early October, and the northeast monsoon flow of drier and cooler air lasts from early November to March. Temperatures are fairly uniform throughout the Tonlé Sap Basin area, with only small variations from the average annual mean of around . The maximum mean is about ; the minimum mean, about . Maximum temperatures of higher than , however, are common and, just before the start of the rainy season, they may rise to more than . Minimum night temperatures sporadically fall below . in January, the coldest month. May is the warmest month - although strongly influenced by the beginning of the wet season, as the area constitutes the easternmost fringe of the south-west monsoon. Tropical cyclones only rarely cause damage in Cambodia. The total annual rainfall average is between , and the heaviest amounts fall in the southeast. Rainfall from April to September in the Tonlé Sap Basin-Mekong Lowlands area averages annually, but the amount varies considerably from year to year. Rainfall around the basin increases with elevation. It is heaviest in the mountains along the coast in the southwest, which receive from to more than of precipitation annually as the southwest monsoon reaches the coast. This area of greatest rainfall drains mostly to the sea; only a small quantity goes into the rivers flowing into the basin. Relative humidity is high throughout the entire year; usually exceeding 90%. During the dry season daytime humidity rates average around 50 percent or slightly lower, climbing to about 90% during the rainy season. Hydrology The Mekong River and its tributaries comprise one of the largest river systems in the world. The central Tonle Sap, the Great Lake has several input rivers, the most important being the Tonle Sap River, which contributes 62% of the total water supply during the rainy season. Direct rainfall on the lake and the other rivers in the sub-basin contribute the remaining 38%. Major rivers are the Sen river, Sreng River, Stung Pouthisat River, Sisophon River, Mongkol Borei River, and Sangkae River. Smaller rivers in the southeast, the Cardamom Mountains and Elephant Range form separate drainage divides. To the east the rivers flow into the Tonle Sap, as in the south-west rivers flow into the Gulf of Thailand. Toward the southern slopes of the Elephant Mountains, small rivers flow south-eastward on the eastern side of the divide. The Mekong River flows southward from the Cambodia-Laos border to a point south of Kratié (town), where it turns west for about and then turns southwest towards Phnom Penh. Extensive rapids run north of Kratie city. From Kampong Cham Province the gradient slopes very gently, and inundation of areas along the river occurs at flood stage. From June through November—through breaks in the natural levees that have built up along its course. At Phnom Penh four major water courses meet at a point called the Chattomukh (Four Faces). The Mekong River flows in from the northeast and the Tonle Sap river emanates from the Tonle Sap—flows in from the northwest. They divide into two parallel channels, the Mekong River proper and the Bassac River, and flow independently through the delta areas of Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea. The flow of water into the Tonle Sap is seasonal. In spring, the flow of the Mekong River, fed by monsoon rains, increases to a point where its outlets through the delta can't handle the enormous volume of water. At this point, the water pushes northward up the Tonle Sap river and empties into the Tonle Sap lake, thereby increasing the size of the lake from about to about at the height of the flooding. After the Mekong's waters crest — when its downstream channels can handle the volume of water — the flow reverses, and water flows out of the engorged lake. As the level of the Tonle Sap retreats, it deposits a new layer of sediment. The annual flooding, combined with poor drainage immediately around the lake, transforms the surrounding area into marshlands, unusable for agricultural purposes during the dry season. The sediment deposited into the lake during the Mekong's flood stage appears to be greater than the quantity carried away later by the Tonle Sap |
childbirth. Source: UN World Population Prospects Ethnic groups The largest of the ethnic groups in Cambodia are the Khmer, who comprise approximately 90% of the total population and primarily inhabit the lowland Mekong sub region and the central plains. The Khmer historically have lived near the lower Mekong River in a contiguous arc that runs from the southern Khorat Plateau where modern-day Thailand, Laos and Cambodia meet in the northeast, stretching southwest through the lands surrounding Tonle Sap lake to the Cardamom Mountains, then continues back southeast to the mouth of the Mekong River in southeastern Vietnam. Ethnic groups in Cambodia other than the politically and socially dominant Khmer are classified as either "indigenous ethnic minorities" or "non-indigenous ethnic minorities". The indigenous ethnic minorities, more commonly collectively referred to as the Khmer Loeu ("upland Khmer"), constitute the majority in the remote mountainous provinces of Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri and Stung Treng and are present in substantial numbers in Kratie Province. Approximately 17-21 separate ethnic groups, most of whom speak Austroasiatic languages related to Khmer, are included in the Khmer Loeu designation, including the Kuy and Tampuan people. These peoples are considered by the Khmer to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the land. Two of these highland groups, the Rade and the Jarai, are Chamic peoples who speak Austronesian languages descended from ancient Cham. These indigenous ethnic minorities haven't integrated into Khmer culture and follow their traditional animist beliefs. The non-indigenous ethnic minorities include immigrants and their descendants who live among the Khmer and have adopted, at least nominally, Khmer culture and language. The three groups most often included are the Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese and Cham peoples. The Chinese have immigrated to Cambodia from different regions of China throughout Cambodia's history, integrating into Cambodian society and today Chinese Cambodians or Cambodians of mixed Sino-Khmer ancestry dominate the business community, politics and the media. The Cham are descendants of refugees from the various wars of the historical kingdom of Champa. The Cham live amongst the Khmer in the central plains but in contrast to the Khmer who are Theravada Buddhists, the vast majority of Cham follow Islam. There are also small numbers of other minority groups. Tai peoples in Cambodia include the Lao along the Mekong at the northeast border, Thai (urban and rural), and the culturally Burmese Kola, who have visibly influenced the culture of Pailin Province. Even smaller numbers of recent Hmong immigrants reside along the Lao border | southeast to the mouth of the Mekong River in southeastern Vietnam. Ethnic groups in Cambodia other than the politically and socially dominant Khmer are classified as either "indigenous ethnic minorities" or "non-indigenous ethnic minorities". The indigenous ethnic minorities, more commonly collectively referred to as the Khmer Loeu ("upland Khmer"), constitute the majority in the remote mountainous provinces of Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri and Stung Treng and are present in substantial numbers in Kratie Province. Approximately 17-21 separate ethnic groups, most of whom speak Austroasiatic languages related to Khmer, are included in the Khmer Loeu designation, including the Kuy and Tampuan people. These peoples are considered by the Khmer to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the land. Two of these highland groups, the Rade and the Jarai, are Chamic peoples who speak Austronesian languages descended from ancient Cham. These indigenous ethnic minorities haven't integrated into Khmer culture and follow their traditional animist beliefs. The non-indigenous ethnic minorities include immigrants and their descendants who live among the Khmer and have adopted, at least nominally, Khmer culture and language. The three groups most often included are the Chinese Cambodians, Vietnamese and Cham peoples. The Chinese have immigrated to Cambodia from different regions of China throughout Cambodia's history, integrating into Cambodian society and today Chinese Cambodians or Cambodians of mixed Sino-Khmer ancestry dominate the business community, politics and the media. The Cham are descendants of refugees from the various wars of the historical kingdom of Champa. The Cham live amongst the Khmer in the central plains but in contrast to the Khmer who are Theravada Buddhists, the vast majority of Cham follow Islam. There are also small numbers of other minority groups. Tai peoples in Cambodia include the Lao along the Mekong at the northeast border, Thai (urban and rural), and the culturally Burmese Kola, who have visibly influenced the culture of Pailin Province. Even smaller numbers of recent Hmong immigrants reside along the Lao border and various Burmese peoples have immigrated to the capital, Phnom Penh. Khmer 90%, Vietnamese 5%, Chinese 1%, other 4%. Languages Official language Khmer is an Austroasiatic language spoken by over 90% of the Cambodian population. The vast majority of Khmer speakers use the Central Khmer dialect. Central Khmer is the variety spoken in the central plain where the ethnic Khmers most heavily concentrate. Other Khmer dialects include the Phnom Penh variety, as well as Northern Khmer (Surin Khmer), Western Khmer (Cardamom Khmer), Southern Khmer (Khmer Krom), and the Khmer Khe dialect in Stung Treng province. The Northern Khmer dialect is also spoken by over a million Khmers in the southern regions of Northeast Thailand. Western Khmer displays features of the Middle Khmer language, and is considered a conservative dialect. Southern Khmer is the first language of the Khmer Krom people in the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. Minority languages According to Glottolog, 22 languages other than Khmer are spoken in Cambodia, most of which are also Austroasiatic languages. Other Austroasiatic languages of Cambodia include Kuy, Por (Pear), Somray, Chong, Suoy, Sa'och, Tampuan, Kaco', Stieng, Mnong, Brao, Krung (Rade), and Sou (Laven). Many of these languages are also spoken in Vietnam. Vietnamese itself is also spoken in parts of Cambodia. Non-Austroasiatic minority languages of Cambodia include Cham and Jarai (Austronesian) as well as Thai and Lao (Tai-Kadai). Languages of education English and French are used to different extents in education. Sign language Cambodian Sign Language Religions Buddhism: 97.1%, Islam: 2.0%, Christianity: 0.3%, Others: 0.5% CIA World Factbook demographic statistics The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated. Note: estimates for this country take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2016 est.) Population growth rate 1.56% (2016 est.) 1.698% (2011 est.) 1.71% (2010 est.) 1.77% (2009 est.) 1.75% (2008 est.) Sex ratio At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 0.96 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.65 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.6 male(s)/female Total Population: 0.94 male(s)/female |
the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, in recognition of the doctrine of separation of powers. Political sovereignty rests with the Cambodian people, who exercise their power through the three arms of the state. The Royal Government, which wields executive power, is directly responsible to the National Assembly. The judiciary, which is an independent power, is tasked with the protection of citizens' rights and liberties. Buddhism is proclaimed as the state religion. Influences on legal system The legal system of Cambodia is civil law and has been strongly influenced by the legal heritage of France as a consequence of colonial rule. The Soviet-Vietnamese system dominated the country from 1981 until 1989, and Sri Lankan jurist Basil Fernando argues that its elements are present in the current system as well. The role of customary law, based on Buddhist beliefs and unwritten law drawn from the Angkorean period, is also prevalent. Market economy The constitution contains a commitment to the "market economy system", which along with accompanying provisions effects a fundamental change in the role of the state from the past. Security of private property and the right to sell and exchange freely, necessary conditions for the functioning of the market economy, are provided for. The state's powers of expropriation are limited to the extent they serve public interest, to be exercised only when "fair and just" compensation is made in advance. Operating under the slogan "Le Cambodge s'aide lui-même" or "Cambodia will help itself", one of the earliest undertakings of the Royal Government was to implement programs to ensure the economic rehabilitation of Cambodia and its integration in the regional and global economies. On 10 March 1994, the Royal Government declared an "irreversible and irrevocable" move away from a centrally-planned economy towards a market-oriented economy. Monarchy Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, i.e. the King reigns but does not rule, in similar fashion to Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The King is officially the Head of State and is the symbol of unity and "perpetuity" of the nation, as defined by Cambodia's constitution. From September 24, 1993 through October 7, 2004, Norodom Sihanouk reigned as King, after having previously served in a number of offices (including King) since 1941. Under the Constitution, the King has no political power, but as Norodom Sihanouk was revered in the country, his word often carried much influence in the government. While such views are not prevalent in Cambodia, his word was respected by his subjects. The King, often irritated over the conflicts in his government, several times threatened to abdicate unless the political factions in the government got along. This put pressure on the government to solve their differences. This influence of the King was often used to help mediate differences in government. After the abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk in 2004, he was succeeded by his son Norodom Sihamoni. While the retired King was highly revered in his country for dedicating his lifetime to Cambodia, the current King has spent most of his life abroad in France. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the new King's views will be as highly respected as his father's. Although in the Khmer language there are many words meaning "king", the word officially used in Khmer (as found in the 1993 Cambodian Constitution) is preăhmôhaksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាក្សត្រ), which literally means: preăh- ("excellent", cognate of the Pali word vara) -môha- (from Sanskrit, meaning "great", cognate with "maha-" in maharaja) -ksăt ("warrior, ruler", cognate of the Sanskrit word kṣatrá). On the occasion of King Norodom Sihanouk's retirement in September 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly coined a new word for the retired king: preăhmôhavireăkksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាវីរក្សត្រ), where vireăk comes from Sanskrit vīra, meaning "brave or eminent man, hero, chief", cognate of Latin vir, viris, English virile. Preăhmôhavireăkksăt is translated in English as "King-Father" (), although the word "father" does not appear in the Khmer noun. As preăhmôhavireăkksăt, Norodom Sihanouk retained many of the prerogatives he formerly held as preăhmôhaksăt and was a highly respected and listened-to figure. Thus, in effect, Cambodia could be described as a country with two Kings during Sihanouk's lifetime: the one who was the Head of State, the preăhmôhaksăt Norodom Sihamoni, and the one who was not the Head of State, the preăhmôhavireăkksăt Norodom Sihanouk. Sihanouk died of a pulmonary infarction on October 15, 2012. Succession to the throne Unlike most monarchies, Cambodia's monarchy is not necessarily hereditary and the King is not allowed to select his own heir. Instead, a new King is chosen by a Royal Council of the Throne, consisting of the president of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the President of the Senate, the First and Second Vice Presidents of the Senate, the Chiefs of the orders of Mohanikay and Thammayut, and the First and Second Vice-President of the Assembly. The Royal Council meets within a week of the King's death or abdication and selects a new King from a pool of candidates with royal blood. It has been suggested that Cambodia's ability to peacefully appoint a new King shows that Cambodia's government has stabilized incredibly from the situation the country was in during the 1970s (see History of Cambodia). Executive branch The Prime Minister of Cambodia is a representative from the ruling party of the National Assembly. He or she is appointed by the King on the recommendation of the President and Vice Presidents of the National Assembly. In order for a person to become Prime Minister, he or she must first be given a vote of confidence by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister is officially the Head of Government in Cambodia. Upon entry into office, he or she appoints a Council of Ministers who are responsible to the Prime Minister. Officially, the Prime Minister's duties include chairing meetings of the Council of Ministers (Cambodia's version of a Cabinet) and appointing and leading a government. The Prime Minister and his government make up Cambodia's executive branch of government. The current Prime Minister is Cambodian People's Party (CPP) member Hun Sen. He has held this position since the criticized 1998 election, one year after the CPP staged a bloody coup in Phnom Penh to overthrow elected Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, president of the FUNCINPEC party. Legislative branch The legislative branch of the Cambodian government is made up of a bicameral parliament. The National Assembly (, ) has 125 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation. The Senate (, ) has 61 members. Two of these members are appointed by the King, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by "functional constituencies." Members in this house serve a six-year term. The official duty of the Parliament is to legislate and make laws. Bills passed by the Parliament are given to the King who gives the proposed bills royal assent. The King does not have veto power over bills passed by the National Assembly and thus, cannot withhold royal assent. The National Assembly also has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister and his government by a two-thirds vote of no confidence. Senate The upper house of the Cambodian legislature is called the Senate. It consists of sixty-one members. Two of these members are appointed by the King, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by electors from provincial and local governments, in a similar fashion to the Senate of France. Members in this house serve six-year terms. Prior to 2006, elections had last been held for the Senate in 1999. New elections were supposed to have occurred in 2004, but these elections were initially postponed. On January 22, 2006, 11,352 possible voters went | of the nation, as defined by Cambodia's constitution. From September 24, 1993 through October 7, 2004, Norodom Sihanouk reigned as King, after having previously served in a number of offices (including King) since 1941. Under the Constitution, the King has no political power, but as Norodom Sihanouk was revered in the country, his word often carried much influence in the government. While such views are not prevalent in Cambodia, his word was respected by his subjects. The King, often irritated over the conflicts in his government, several times threatened to abdicate unless the political factions in the government got along. This put pressure on the government to solve their differences. This influence of the King was often used to help mediate differences in government. After the abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk in 2004, he was succeeded by his son Norodom Sihamoni. While the retired King was highly revered in his country for dedicating his lifetime to Cambodia, the current King has spent most of his life abroad in France. Thus, it remains to be seen whether the new King's views will be as highly respected as his father's. Although in the Khmer language there are many words meaning "king", the word officially used in Khmer (as found in the 1993 Cambodian Constitution) is preăhmôhaksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាក្សត្រ), which literally means: preăh- ("excellent", cognate of the Pali word vara) -môha- (from Sanskrit, meaning "great", cognate with "maha-" in maharaja) -ksăt ("warrior, ruler", cognate of the Sanskrit word kṣatrá). On the occasion of King Norodom Sihanouk's retirement in September 2004, the Cambodian National Assembly coined a new word for the retired king: preăhmôhavireăkksăt (Khmer regular script: ព្រះមហាវីរក្សត្រ), where vireăk comes from Sanskrit vīra, meaning "brave or eminent man, hero, chief", cognate of Latin vir, viris, English virile. Preăhmôhavireăkksăt is translated in English as "King-Father" (), although the word "father" does not appear in the Khmer noun. As preăhmôhavireăkksăt, Norodom Sihanouk retained many of the prerogatives he formerly held as preăhmôhaksăt and was a highly respected and listened-to figure. Thus, in effect, Cambodia could be described as a country with two Kings during Sihanouk's lifetime: the one who was the Head of State, the preăhmôhaksăt Norodom Sihamoni, and the one who was not the Head of State, the preăhmôhavireăkksăt Norodom Sihanouk. Sihanouk died of a pulmonary infarction on October 15, 2012. Succession to the throne Unlike most monarchies, Cambodia's monarchy is not necessarily hereditary and the King is not allowed to select his own heir. Instead, a new King is chosen by a Royal Council of the Throne, consisting of the president of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister, the President of the Senate, the First and Second Vice Presidents of the Senate, the Chiefs of the orders of Mohanikay and Thammayut, and the First and Second Vice-President of the Assembly. The Royal Council meets within a week of the King's death or abdication and selects a new King from a pool of candidates with royal blood. It has been suggested that Cambodia's ability to peacefully appoint a new King shows that Cambodia's government has stabilized incredibly from the situation the country was in during the 1970s (see History of Cambodia). Executive branch The Prime Minister of Cambodia is a representative from the ruling party of the National Assembly. He or she is appointed by the King on the recommendation of the President and Vice Presidents of the National Assembly. In order for a person to become Prime Minister, he or she must first be given a vote of confidence by the National Assembly. The Prime Minister is officially the Head of Government in Cambodia. Upon entry into office, he or she appoints a Council of Ministers who are responsible to the Prime Minister. Officially, the Prime Minister's duties include chairing meetings of the Council of Ministers (Cambodia's version of a Cabinet) and appointing and leading a government. The Prime Minister and his government make up Cambodia's executive branch of government. The current Prime Minister is Cambodian People's Party (CPP) member Hun Sen. He has held this position since the criticized 1998 election, one year after the CPP staged a bloody coup in Phnom Penh to overthrow elected Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, president of the FUNCINPEC party. Legislative branch The legislative branch of the Cambodian government is made up of a bicameral parliament. The National Assembly (, ) has 125 members, elected for a five-year term by proportional representation. The Senate (, ) has 61 members. Two of these members are appointed by the King, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by "functional constituencies." Members in this house serve a six-year term. The official duty of the Parliament is to legislate and make laws. Bills passed by the Parliament are given to the King who gives the proposed bills royal assent. The King does not have veto power over bills passed by the National Assembly and thus, cannot withhold royal assent. The National Assembly also has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister and his government by a two-thirds vote of no confidence. Senate The upper house of the Cambodian legislature is called the Senate. It consists of sixty-one members. Two of these members are appointed by the King, two are elected by the lower house of the government, and the remaining fifty-seven are elected popularly by electors from provincial and local governments, in a similar fashion to the Senate of France. Members in this house serve six-year terms. Prior to 2006, elections had last been held for the Senate in 1999. New elections were supposed to have occurred in 2004, but these elections were initially postponed. On January 22, 2006, 11,352 possible voters went to the poll and chose their candidates. This election was criticized by local monitoring non-governmental organizations as being undemocratic. , the Cambodian People's Party holds forty-three seats in the Senate, constituting a significant majority. The two other major parties holding seats in the Senate are the Funcinpec party (holding twelve seats) and the Sam Rainsy Party (holding two seats). National Assembly The lower house of the legislature is called the National Assembly. It is made up of 125 members, elected by popular vote to serve a five-year term. Elections were last held for the National Assembly in July 2013. In order to vote in legislative elections, one must be at least eighteen years of age. However, in order to be elected to the Legislature, one must be at least twenty-five years of age. The National Assembly is led by a President and two Vice Presidents who are selected by Assembly members prior to each session. , the Cambodian People's Party holds all 125 seats in the National Assembly. Political parties and elections 2018 general election results Judicial branch The judicial |
to labor standards. However, the Cambodian garment industry remains vulnerable to global competition due to a lack of adequate infrastructure, labor unrest, the absence of a domestic textile industry, and almost complete dependence on imported textile material. GMAC is establishing a specialized training institute to train garment workers. The institute is in Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone and will be completed by late 2016. It aims to train 1,600 garment workers in the first three years and 240 university students each year as part of a separate program. Agriculture Agriculture is the traditional mainstay of the Cambodian economy. Agriculture accounted for 90 percent of GDP in 1985 and employed approximately 80 percent of the work force. Rice is the principal commodity. Major secondary crops include maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, soybeans, sesame seeds, dry beans, and rubber. The principal commercial crop is rubber. In the 1980s it was an important primary commodity, second only to rice, and one of the country's few sources of foreign exchange. Tourism In the 1960s, Cambodia was a prominent tourist destination in the Southeast Asian region. Due to protracted periods of civil war, insurgencies, and especially the genocidal regime of the Khmer Rouge (see Khmer Rouge Genocide), Cambodia's tourism industry was reduced to being virtually non-existent. Since the late 1990s, tourism is fast becoming Cambodia's second largest industry, just behind the garment manufacturing. In 2006, Cambodia's tourism sector generated a revenue of US$1.594 billion, which made up approximately 16% of the country's GDP. Cultural heritage tourism is especially popular in the country, with many foreign tourists visiting the ancient Hindu temple of Angkor Wat located in the Siem Reap province. Other popular tourist attractions include the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, as well as ecotourism spots such as Tonlé Sap Lake and the Mekong River. The tourism industry in Cambodia has been perpetuated by the development of important transportation infrastructure; in particular Cambodia's two international airports in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap respectively. To the Cambodian economy, tourism has been a means for accumulation of foreign currency earnings and employment for the Cambodian workforce, with about 250,000 jobs generated in 2006. Meanwhile, challenges to the industry include a leakage of revenue to foreign markets due to a dependence on foreign goods as well as the prevalence of the Child sex tourism industry. Gambling industry Construction The increase in tourist arrivals has led to growing demand for hotels and other forms of accommodation surrounding tourist hotspots. Siem Reap in particular has seen a construction boom in recent years. The capital Phnom Penh has also witnessed a growth in the construction and real estate sector. Recently, planned projects that have been on the pipeline for several years have been shelved temporarily due to a reduction in foreign investment. From 2009, the Cambodian government has allowed foreigners to own condominiums. This has helped in attracting real estate investors from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries. The construction sector attracted investment of $2.1 billion in 2012 which is a 72 per cent rise compared with 2011. Construction licenses issued stood at 1,694 projects in 2012, which was 20% lower than 2011 but they were higher in value. Resources Oil seeps were discovered in Cambodia as early as the 1950s by Russian and Chinese geologists. Development of the industry was delayed, however, by the Vietnam and Cambodian Civil Wars and the political uncertainty that followed. Further discoveries of oil and natural gas deposits offshore in the early 2000s led to renewed domestic and international interest in Cambodia's production possibilities. As of 2013, the US company Chevron, Japanese JOGMEC and other international companies maintained production sites both on shore and off. Chevron alone had invested over US$160 million and drilled 18 wells. Sok Khavan, acting director general of the Cambodian National Petroleum Authority, estimated that once the contracts are finalized and legal issues resolved, the Cambodian government will receive approximately 70% of the revenues, contributing to an economy in which the GDP is projected to increase five-fold by 2030. In addition, there are 10,000 square miles offshore in the Gulf of Thailand that holds potential reserves of 12-14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and an unspecified amount of oil. The rights to this territory are currently a subject of dispute between Cambodia and Thailand, further delaying any possible production developments. In early 2013 it was reported that the two countries were close to a deal that would allow joint production to begin. Foreign aid Cambodia's emerging democracy has received strong international support. Under the mandate of the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), $1.72 billion (1.72 G$) was spent in an effort to bring basic security, stability and democratic rule to the country. Various news and media reports suggest that since 1993 the country has been the recipient of some US$10 billion in foreign aid. With regards to economic assistance, official donors had pledged $880 million at the Ministerial Conference on the Rehabilitation of Cambodia (MCRRC) in Tokyo in June 1992. In addition to that figure, $119 million was pledged in September 1993 at the International Committee on the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) meeting in Paris, and $643 million at the March 1994 ICORC meeting in Tokyo. Cambodia experienced a shortfall in foreign aid in the year 2005 due to the government's failure to pass anti-corruption laws, opening up a single import/export window, increasing its spending on education, and complying with policies of good governance. In response, the government adopted the National Strategic Development Plan for 2006–10 (also known as the “Third Five-Year Plan”). The plan focused on three major areas: the speeding up of economic growth at an annual rate of 6-7% eradicating corruption developing public structures in favor of quality (i.e. by education, training, and healthcare) over quantity (i.e. rapid population growth) Banking There are no significant barriers to bank entry. At the end of 2013, there stood 35 commercial banks of which most have majority foreign ownership. Since 2011 new banks with offshore funding have begun to enter the market. Telecommunications Energy Cambodia has significant potential for developing renewable energy. The country, however, remains one of the few countries in the ASEAN region that has not adopted renewable energy targets. To attract more investment in renewable energy Cambodia could adopt targets, improve renewable energy governance, develop a regulatory framework, improve project bankability and facilitate market entry for international investors. Due to high vulnerability to climate change, it is recommended that Cambodia focuses on developing renewable energy away from fossil fuels as part of climate change mitigation measures. Transport Child labour Trade - EBA Issues The announcement from February 12, 2020 was to suspend EBA ("Everything But Arms") trade preferences between EU and Cambodia. The country has known | struggles with inadequate basic infrastructure. Nonetheless, Cambodia continues to attract investors because of its low wages, plentiful labor, proximity to Asian raw materials, and favorable tax treatment. Recent economic history Following its independence from France in 1953, the Cambodian state has undergone five periods of political, social, and economic transformation: First Kingdom of Cambodia (1953-1970) Khmer Republic (1970–1975) Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1982, ousted in 1979); became Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea in exile (1982-1993) People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1989), later renamed "State of Cambodia" (1989–1993) Second Kingdom of Cambodia (1993–present) In 1989, the State of Cambodia implemented reform policies that transformed the Cambodian economic system from a command economy to an open market one. In line with the economic reformation, private property rights were introduced and state-owned enterprises were privatized. Cambodia also focused on integrating itself into regional and international economic blocs, such as the Association of South East Asian Nations and the World Trade Organization respectively. These policies triggered a growth in the economy, with its national GDP growing at an average of 6.1% before a period of domestic unrest and regional economic instability in 1997 (1997 Asian financial crisis). However, conditions improved and since 1999, the Cambodian economy has continued to grow at an average pace of approximately 6-8% per annum. In 2007, Cambodia's gross domestic product grew by an estimated 18.6%. Garment exports rose by almost 8%, while tourist arrivals increased by nearly 35%. With exports decreasing, the 2007 GDP growth was driven largely by consumption and investment. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows reached US$600 million (7 percent of GDP), slightly more than what the country received in official aid. Domestic investment, driven largely by the private sector, accounted for 23.4 percent of GDP. Export growth, especially to the US, began to slow in late 2007 accompanied by stiffer competition from Vietnam and emerging risks (a slowdown in the US economy and lifting of safeguards on China's exports). US companies were the fifth largest investors in Cambodia, with more than $1.2 billion in investments over the period 1997-2007. Cambodia was severely damaged by the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and its main economic sector, the garment industry, suffered a 23% drop in exports to the United States and Europe. As a result, 60,000 workers were laid off. However, in the last quarter of 2009 and early 2010, conditions were beginning to improve and the Cambodian economy began to recover. Cambodian exports to the US for the first 11 months of 2012 reached $2.49 billion, a 1 per cent increase year-on-year. Its imports of US goods grew 26 per cent for that period, reaching $213 million. Another factor underscoring the potential of the Cambodian economy is the recent halving of its poverty rate. The poverty rate is 20.5 per cent, meaning that approximately 2.8 million people live below the poverty line. Data The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1986–2020 (with IMF staff estimtates in 2021–2026). Inflation below 5% is in green. The anual unemployment rate is extracted from the World Bank, althought the International Monetary Fund find them unreliable. Economic sectors Garment industry The garment industry represents the largest portion of Cambodia's manufacturing sector, accounting for 80% of the country's exports. In 2012, the exports grew to $4.61 billion up 8% over 2011. In the first half of 2013, the garment industry reported exports worth $1.56 billion. The sector employs 335,400 workers, of which 91% are female. The sector operates largely on the final phase of garment production, that is turning yarns and fabrics into garments, as the country lacks a strong textile manufacturing base. In 2005, there were fears that the end of the Multi Fibre Arrangement would threaten Cambodia's garment industry; exposing it to stiff competition with China's strong manufacturing capabilities. On the contrary, Cambodia's garment industry at present continues to grow rapidly. This is can be attributed to the country's open economic policy which has drawn in large amounts of foreign investment into this sector of the economy. Garment Factories by Ownership Nationality in 2010: In 2010, 236 garment export-oriented factories were operating and registered with GMAC, the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia, with 93% being foreign direct investment (FDI). As seen in the table above, Cambodia's garment industry is characterized by a small percentage of local ownership. This is a reflection of the deficiency of skilled workers in the country as well |
channels, including 1 state-operated station broadcasting from multiple locations, 6 stations either jointly operated or privately owned with some broadcasting from several locations, and 2 TV relay stations - one relaying a French TV station and the other relaying a Vietnamese TV station. Multi-channel cable and satellite systems are also available. Broadcast and cable networks PNN TV Apsara Television (TV11) Bayon Television Bayon News Television Cambodia Cable Television (CCTV) Cambodian News Channel (CNC) Cambodian Television Network (CTN) CTV 8 HD Hang Meas HDTV Khmer Television 9 HDTV (TV9 HDTV) My TV National Television of Cambodia (TVK) One TV (Royal Media Entertainment Corporation, LTD) Phnom Penh Municipal Cable Television (PPCTV Co., LTD) Phnom Penh Television (TV3) TV5 Cambodia One News Provincial television stations Kandal Province - Broadcasting on channel 27, Bayon Television is Cambodia's only UHF channel. A private television company belonging to Prime Minister Hun Sen, it also operates Bayon Radio FM 95 MHz. It was established in January 1998. Mondulkiri - Established in 1999, relays TVK on channel 10. Preah Vihear - Established in 2006, broadcasts on channel 7. Ratanakiri - Established in 1993, relays TVK on channel 7. Siem Reap - Established in 2002, relays TV3 on channel 12. Internet the number of internet users in Cambodia rose to 15.8 million, about 98.5% of the population. According to the Telecommunications Regulator of Cambodia (TRC), the number of registered SIM cards rose by 9.4 percent during the first half of the year, reaching 20.8 million. The SIM card market is saturated, with Cambodia now having more active SIM cards than people. According to TRC, there are six telecommunications firms in the country: Cellcard, Smart Axiata, Metfone, Seatel, Cootel, and qb. Three companies, Metfone, Cellcard, and Smart, account for 90% of users. TRC noted that, as of February 2019, Facebook had seven million users in Cambodia. List of Internet service providers AngkorNet AZ (Online) Cambo Technology (ISP) Co., Ltd. Cambodia Internet Corp Cambotech Camintel Camnet (Telecom Cambodia) CB (Cambodian Broadband) CDC Cellcard (Mobitel) CooTel Chuan Wei CIDC IT Citylink Digi ISP Dragon Royal Telecom EmCom Everyday Ezecom GTD Hiway Telecom Home Internet Kingtel Communications Limited MaxBIT MekongNet (Angkor Data Communication Group) Metfone Mobilastic Neocom ISP (NTC) NTC - NeocomISP Limited Open Net PCP PP Net Phone PPCTV Broadband Internet Service SingMeng Telemedia yes SEATEL Cambodia SINET(S.I Group Co., Ltd) Smart @Home TeleSURF Telecom Cambodia TODAY ISP (Today Communication Co., Ltd) Turbotech Vimean Seile Wicam WIP Wireless Internet Provider WirelessIP Y5Net (BDKTel Co,LTD) Internet censorship and surveillance In its Freedom on the Net 2013 report, Freedom House gives Cambodia a "Freedom on the Net Status" of "partly free". Compared to traditional media in Cambodia, new media, including online news, social networks and personal blogs, enjoy more freedom and independence from government censorship and restrictions. However, the government does proactively block blogs and websites, either on moral grounds, or for hosting content deemed critical of the government. The government restricts access to sexually explicit content, but does not systematically censor online political discourse. Since 2011 three blogs hosted overseas have been blocked for perceived antigovernment content. In 2012, government ministries threatened to shutter internet cafes too near schools—citing moral concerns—and instituted surveillance of cafe premises and cell phone subscribers as a security measure. Early in 2011, very likely at the urging of the Ministry | percent during the first half of the year, reaching 20.8 million. The SIM card market is saturated, with Cambodia now having more active SIM cards than people. According to TRC, there are six telecommunications firms in the country: Cellcard, Smart Axiata, Metfone, Seatel, Cootel, and qb. Three companies, Metfone, Cellcard, and Smart, account for 90% of users. TRC noted that, as of February 2019, Facebook had seven million users in Cambodia. List of Internet service providers AngkorNet AZ (Online) Cambo Technology (ISP) Co., Ltd. Cambodia Internet Corp Cambotech Camintel Camnet (Telecom Cambodia) CB (Cambodian Broadband) CDC Cellcard (Mobitel) CooTel Chuan Wei CIDC IT Citylink Digi ISP Dragon Royal Telecom EmCom Everyday Ezecom GTD Hiway Telecom Home Internet Kingtel Communications Limited MaxBIT MekongNet (Angkor Data Communication Group) Metfone Mobilastic Neocom ISP (NTC) NTC - NeocomISP Limited Open Net PCP PP Net Phone PPCTV Broadband Internet Service SingMeng Telemedia yes SEATEL Cambodia SINET(S.I Group Co., Ltd) Smart @Home TeleSURF Telecom Cambodia TODAY ISP (Today Communication Co., Ltd) Turbotech Vimean Seile Wicam WIP Wireless Internet Provider WirelessIP Y5Net (BDKTel Co,LTD) Internet censorship and surveillance In its Freedom on the Net 2013 report, Freedom House gives Cambodia a "Freedom on the Net Status" of "partly free". Compared to traditional media in Cambodia, new media, including online news, social networks and personal blogs, enjoy more freedom and independence from government censorship and restrictions. However, the government does proactively block blogs and websites, either on moral grounds, or for hosting content deemed critical of the government. The government restricts access to sexually explicit content, but does not systematically censor online political discourse. Since 2011 three blogs hosted overseas have been blocked for perceived antigovernment content. In 2012, government ministries threatened to shutter internet cafes too near schools—citing moral concerns—and instituted surveillance of cafe premises and cell phone subscribers as a security measure. Early in 2011, very likely at the urging of the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, all Cambodian ISPs blocked the hosting service Blogspot, apparently in reaction to a December 2010 post on KI-Media, a blog run by Cambodians from both inside and outside the country. The site, which is often critical of the administration, described the prime minister and other officials as "traitors" after opposition leader Sam Rainsy alleged they had sold land to Vietnam at a contested national border. All ISPs but one subsequently restored service to the sites following customer complaints. In February 2011, however, multiple ISPs reinstated blocks on individual Blogspot sites, including KI-Media, Khmerization—another critical citizen journalist blog—and a blog by the Khmer political cartoonist Sacrava. There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without appropriate legal authority. During 2012 NGOs expressed concern about potential online restrictions. In February and November, the government published two circulars, which, if implemented fully, would require Internet cafes to install surveillance cameras and restrict operations within major urban centers. Activists also reported concern about a draft “cybercrimes” law, noting that it could be used to restrict online freedoms. The government maintained it would only regulate criminal activity. The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press; however, these rights were not always respected in practice. The 1995 press law prohibits prepublication censorship or imprisonment for expressing opinions; however, the government uses the |
Port, also known as Kampong Som, and five minor ports. Phnom Penh, at the junction of the Bassac, the Mekong, and the Tonle Sap Rivers, is the only river port capable of receiving 8,000-ton ships during the wet season and 5,000-ton ships during the dry season. In 2018 the port received 205,000 TEUs totalling 2.9 million tonnes. Its 2018 profits were US$7.35 million, up 36% from 2017. Sihanoukville port reopened in late-1979. It had been built in 1960 with French assistance. In 1980 some 180 Soviet dockworkers, having brought with them forklifts and trucks, were reportedly working at Kampong Som as longshoremen or as instructors of unskilled Cambodian port workers. By 1984 approximately 1,500 Cambodian port workers were handling 2,500 tons of cargo per day. According to official statistics, Sihanoukville had handled only 769,500 tons in the four prior years (1979 to 1983), a level that contrasted sharply with the port's peacetime capacity of about one million tons of cargo per year. Merchant marine Total: 626 ships ( or over) totaling / Ships by type: bulk carrier 41, cargo ship 533, chemical tanker 10, container ship 8, passenger ship/cargo 6, petroleum tanker 11, refrigerated cargo 15, roll-on/roll-off 1, vehicle carrier 1 (2008) Note: 467 foreign-owned: Canada 2, China 193, Cyprus 7, Egypt 13, Gabon 1, Greece 3, Hong Kong 8, Indonesia 22, Japan 1, South Korea 22, Latvia 1, Lebanon 8, Netherlands 1, Romania 1, Russia 83, Singapore 4, Syria 48, Taiwan 1, Turkey 26, Ukraine 34, UAE 34, United States 6 (2008) Airports The country possesses twenty-six airfields, of which only thirteen were usable in the mid-1980s. Eight airfields had permanent-surface runways. Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh is the largest airport; it also serves as the main base for the renascent Cambodian Air Force. Cambodia's second largest airport is Angkor International Airport in the tourist city of Siem Reap. Tourist traffic into Angkor International Airport saw passenger numbers overtake those of Phnom Penh in 2006, the airport now being the country's busiest. Cambodia also opened a new Soviet-built airfield at Ream, Sihanoukville International Airport in late-1983, which never saw commercial air traffic until January 2007. There are additional airports in Battambang and Stung Treng. The new national airline Cambodia Angkor Air was launched in 2009, with an investment from Vietnam Airlines. Aero Cambodia Airline started business in 2011 offering flights to all airports and waterways with seaplanes. Airports with paved runways Total: 6 (2010) 2,500 to 3,000 m: 3 1,500 to 2,500 m: 2 1,000 to 1,500 m: 1 Airports with unpaved runways Total: 11 (2010) 1,500 to 2,500 m: 1 1,000 to 1,500 m: 9 under 1,000 m: 1 Heliports 1 (2010) See also State Secretariat of Civil Aviation Ministry of Public Works and Transport, of Cambodia Transport in Phnom | opposed to cycle rickshaws in neighbouring countries where the cyclist is at the front and pulls the carriage. With 78% mobile phone penetration rate, ride-hailing apps have become popular in recent years. The first locally owned ride-hailing app, ExNet taxi app, was launched in 2016, after which another locally developed PassApp taxi was also introduced. The ExNet and PassApp use the same technology and architect for their application, except that ExNet is a taxi-based ride-hailing service while PassApp is more of rickshaw-based one. Uber and Grab joined the market in 2017. The entry and later merger of Uber and Grab did not negatively affect the local apps as the locals have the first-mover advantage and could secure a large number of patrons. As of today, PassApp is seen as an able competitor for the Singapore-based Grab in the Cambodian transport market. Aside from the private-hire vehicles and ride-hailing service, public transport is also available but only in the capital. Phnom Penh city bus service started in 2015 with only three routes under the assistance of JICA. Today, Phnom Penh City Bus operates 13 routes. Railways Two rail lines exist, both originating in Phnom Penh and totaling about 612 kilometers of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge single track. The first line or the northern line, built by The French colonial government, running from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border, between 1930 and 1940, with Phnom Penh Railway Station opening in 1932. The final connection with Thailand was completed by Royal State Railways in 1942. The service from Bangkok to Battambang was suspended when the French Indochinese Government resumed sovereignty over Battambang and the Sisophon area from Thailand on 17 December 1946, as Thailand was seen as a supporter of Khmer Issarak, the anti-French, Khmer nationalist political movement. A third line is planned to connect Phnom Penh with Vietnam, the last missing link of the planned rail corridor between Singapore and the city of Kunming, China. A new north–south line is also planned. The lines from Phnom Penh to Sisophon and from Sisophon to Poipet have been rehabilitated; starting with Poipet to Srey Sisophon in April 2018 and Sisophon to Phnom Penh in early July (2018). The active part, the southern line, of the network is the Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville line, with stops at Takeo and Kampot. The first line to be re-opened in Cambodia was the 118 km long route from Phnom Penh to Touk Meas and the complete southern line in May 2011 (or Toll Royal Railway). Toll Royal Railway (Cambodia) had been given a 30-year concession from The Royal Government of Cambodia to operate Cambodia's railway network. Routes Phnom Penh - Pursat - Moung Ruessei - Battambang - Sisophon - Poipet Phnom Penh - Takeo - Touk Meas - Damnak Chang'aeur - Veal Renh - Sihanoukville Waterways The nation's extensive inland waterways were important historically in domestic trade. The Mekong and the Tonlé Sap Rivers, their numerous tributaries, and the Tonlé Sap provided avenues of considerable length, including 3,700 kilometers navigable all year by craft drawing 0.6 meters and another 282 kilometers navigable to craft drawing 1.8 meters. In some areas, especially west of the Mekong River and north of the Tonle Sap River, the villages were completely dependent on waterways for communications. Launches, junks, or barges transport passengers, rice, and other food in the absence of roads and railways. According to the Ministry of Communications, Transport, and Post, Cambodia's main ferry services crossing the Bassac River and the middle Mekong River were restored in 1985. The major Mekong River navigation routes also were cleared for traffic. Seaplane service to all waterways and islands in now offered by |
a site of money laundering. There is corruption related to narcotics in parts of the government, military and police. Cambodia is also a possible site of small-scale opium, heroin, and amphetamine production. The country is a large producer of cannabis for the international market. International organization participation ACCT, AsDB, ASEAN, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat (nonsignatory user), International Monetary Fund, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, NAM, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WB, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, WToO, WTrO (applicant) Diplomatic relations Bilateral relations Africa Americas Asia Europe Oceania Country with no relations There are 17 countries that haven't establish any diplomatic relations with Cambodia: See also List of diplomatic missions in Cambodia List of diplomatic missions of Cambodia References Further reading Deth, Sok Udom, and Serkan Bulut, eds. Cambodia's Foreign Relations in Regional and Global Contexts (Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, | 1–26 Acharya, Amitav. The Making of Southeast Asia: International Relations of A Region (Cornell UP, 2012) Chandler, David. The Tragedy of Cambodian History: Politics, War, and Revolution since 1945 (Yale UP, 1991) Ciorciari, John D. "Cambodia in 2019: Backing Further into a Corner." Asian Survey 60.1 (2020): 125–131. online Clymer, Kenton. Troubled Relations: The United States and Cambodia since 1870 (Northern Illinois UP, 2007). Leighton, Marian Kirsch. "Perspectives on the Vietnam-Cambodia border conflict." Asian Survey 18.5 (1978): 448–457. online Leng, Thearith. "2016: A Promising Year for Cambodia?." Southeast Asian Affairs (2017): 133–146. online Morris, Stephen J. Why Vietnam invaded Cambodia: Political culture and the causes of war (Stanford University Press, 1999). Peou, Sorpong. "Cambodia in 2018: a year of setbacks and successes." Southeast Asian Affairs 2019.1 (2019): 104–119. online Richardson, Sophie. China, Cambodia and the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence (Columbia UP, 2010) Smith, Roger. Cambodia's Foreign Policy (Cornell UP, 1965). Un, Kheang, and Jing Jing Luo. "Cambodia in 2019: Entrenching One-Party Rule and Asserting National Sovereignty in the Era of Shifting Global Geopolitics." Southeast Asian Affairs 2020.1 (2020): 117–134. online Westad, Odd Arne, and Sophie Quinn-Judge, |
appear. Preah Ko style (877–886): Hariharalaya was the first capital city of the Khmer empire located in the area of Angkor; its ruins are in the area now called Roluos some fifteen kilometers southeast of the modern city of Siem Reap. The earliest surviving temple of Hariharalaya is Preah Ko; the others are Bakong and Lolei. The temples of the Preah Ko style are known for their small brick towers and for the great beauty and delicacy of their lintels. Bakheng Style (889–923): Bakheng was the first temple mountain constructed in the area of Angkor proper north of Siem Reap. It was the state temple of King Yasovarman, who built his capital of Yasodharapura around it. Located on a hill (phnom), it is currently one of the most endangered of the monuments, having become a favorite perch for tourists eager to witness a glorious sundown at Angkor. Koh Ker Style (921–944): During the reign of King Jayavarman IV, capital of Khmer empire was removed from Angkor region through the north which is called Koh Ker. The architectural style of temples in Koh Ker, scale of buildings diminishes toward center. Brick still main material but sandstone also used. Pre Rup Style (944–968): Under King Rajendravarman, the Angkorian Khmer built the temples of Pre Rup, East Mebon and Phimeanakas. Their common style is named after the state temple mountain of Pre Rup. Banteay Srei Style (967–1000): Banteay Srei is the only major Angkorian temple constructed not by a monarch, but by a courtier. It is known for its small scale and the extreme refinement of its decorative carvings, including several famous narrative bas-reliefs dealing with scenes from Indian mythology. Khleang Style (968–1010): The Khleang temples, first use of galleries. Cruciform gopuras. Octagonal colonettes. Restrained decorative carving. A few temples that were built in this style are Ta Keo, Phimeanakas. Baphuon Style (1050–1080): Baphuon, the massive temple mountain of King Udayadityavarman II was apparently the temple that most impressed the Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan, who visited Angkor toward the end of the 13th century. Its unique relief carvings have a naive dynamic quality that contrast with the rigidity of the figures typical of some other periods. As of 2008, Baphuon is under restoration and cannot currently be appreciated in its full magnificence. Classical or Angkor Wat Style (1080–1175): Angkor Wat, the temple and perhaps the mausoleum of King Suryavarman II, is the greatest of the Angkorian temples and defines what has come to be known as the classical style of Angkorian architecture. Other temples in this style are Banteay Samre and Thommanon in the area of Angkor, and Phimai in modern Thailand. Bayon Style (1181–1243): In the final quarter of the 12th century, King Jayavarman VII freed the country of Angkor from occupation by an invasionary force from Champa. Thereafter, he began a massive program of monumental construction, paradigmatic for which was the state temple called the Bayon. The king's other foundations participated in the style of the Bayon, and included Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Angkor Thom, and Banteay Chmar. Though grandiose in plan and elaborately decorated, the temples exhibit a hurriedness of construction that contrasts with the perfection of Angkor Wat. Post Bayon Style (1243–1431): Following the period of frantic construction under Jayavarman VII, Angkorian architecture entered the period of its decline. The 13th century Terrace of the Leper King is known for its dynamic relief sculptures of demon kings, dancers, and nāgas. Materials Angkorian builders used brick, sandstone, laterite and wood as their materials. The ruins that remain are of brick, sandstone and laterite, the wood elements having been lost to decay and other destructive processes. Brick The earliest Angkorian temples were made mainly of brick. Good examples are the temple towers of Preah Ko, Lolei and Bakong at Hariharalaya. Decorations were usually carved into a stucco applied to the brick, rather than into the brick itself. This because bricks being softer material do not lend itself to sculpting as opposed to stones of different kinds such as the Sandstones or the Granites. However, the tenets of the Sacred Architecture as enunciated in the Vedas and the Shastras, require no adhesives to be used while building blocks are assembled one over the other to create the Temples, as such bricks have been used only in relatively smaller temples such as Lolei and The Preah Ko. Besides, strength of bricks is much lesser as compared to the stones (mentioned here-in) and the former degrade with age. Angkor's neighbor state of Champa was also the home to numerous brick temples that are similar in style to those of Angkor. The most extensive ruins are at Mỹ Sơn in Vietnam. A Cham story tells of the time that the two countries settled an armed conflict by means of a tower-building contest proposed by the Cham King Po Klaung Garai. While the Khmer built a standard brick tower, Po Klaung Garai directed his people to build an impressive replica of paper and wood. In the end, the Cham replica was more impressive than the real brick tower of the Khmer, and the Cham won the contest. Sandstone The only stone used by Angkorian builders was sandstone, obtained from the Kulen mountains. Since its obtainment was considerably more expensive than that of brick, sandstone only gradually came into use, and at first was used for particular elements such as door frames. The 10th-century temple of Ta Keo is the first Angkorian temple to be constructed more or less entirely from Sandstone. Laterite Angkorian builders used laterite, a clay that is soft when taken from the ground but that hardens when exposed to the sun, for foundations and other hidden parts of buildings. Because the surface of laterite is uneven, it was not suitable for decorative carvings, unless first dressed with stucco. Laterite was more commonly used in the Khmer provinces than at Angkor itself. Because the water table in this entire region is well high, Laterite has been used in the underlying layers of Angkor Wat and other temples (especially the larger ones), because it can absorb water and help towards better stability of the Temple. Structures Central sanctuary The central sanctuary of an Angkorian temple was home to the temple's primary deity, the one to whom the site was dedicated: typically Shiva or Vishnu in the case of a Hindu temple, Buddha or a bodhisattva in the case of a Buddhist temple. The deity was represented by a statue (or in the case of Shiva, most commonly by a linga). Since the temple was not considered a place of worship for use by the population at large, but rather a home for the deity, the sanctuary needed only to be large enough to hold the statue or linga; it was never more than a few metres across. Its importance was instead conveyed by the height of the tower (prasat) rising above it, by its location at the centre of the temple, and by the greater decoration on its walls. Symbolically, the sanctuary represented Mount Meru, the legendary home of the Hindu gods. Prang The prang is the tall finger-like spire, usually richly carved, common to much Khmer religious architecture. Enclosure Khmer temples were typically enclosed by a concentric series of walls, with the central sanctuary in the middle; this arrangement represented the mountain ranges surrounding Mount Meru, the mythical home of the gods. Enclosures are the spaces between these walls, and between the innermost wall and the temple itself. By modern convention, enclosures are numbered from the centre outwards. The walls defining the enclosures of Khmer temples are frequently lined by galleries, while passage through the walls is by way of gopuras located at the cardinal points. Gallery A gallery is a passageway running along the wall of an enclosure or along the axis of a temple, often open to one or both sides. Historically, the form of the gallery evolved during the 10th century from the increasingly long hallways which had earlier been used to surround the central sanctuary of a temple. During the period of Angkor Wat in the first half of the 12th century, additional half galleries on one side were introduced to buttress the structure of the temple. Gopura A gopura is an entrance building. At Angkor, passage through the enclosure walls surrounding a temple compound is frequently accomplished by means of an impressive gopura, rather than just an aperture in the wall or a doorway. Enclosures surrounding a temple are often constructed with a gopura at each of the four cardinal points. In plan, gopuras are usually cross-shaped and elongated along the axis of the enclosure wall. If the wall is constructed with an accompanying gallery, the gallery is sometimes connected to the arms of the gopura. Many Angkorian gopuras have a tower at the centre of the cross. The lintels and pediments are often decorated, and guardian figures (dvarapalas) are often placed or carved on either side of the doorways. Hall of Dancers A Hall of Dancers is the structure of a type found in certain late 12th-century temples constructed under King Jayavarman VII: Ta Prohm, Preah Khan, Banteay Kdei and Banteay Chhmar. It is a rectangular building elongated along the temple's east axis and divided into four courtyards by galleries. Formerly it had a roof made of perishable materials; now only the stone walls remain. The pillars of the galleries are decorated with carved designs of dancing apsaras; hence scholars have suggested that the hall itself may have been used for dancing. House of Fire House of Fire, or Dharmasala, is the name given to a type of building found only in temples constructed during the reign of late 12th-century monarch Jayavarman VII: Preah Khan, Ta Prohm and Banteay Chhmar. A House of Fire has thick walls, a tower at the west end and south-facing windows. Scholars theorize that the House of Fire functioned as a "rest house with fire" for travellers. An inscription at Preah Khan tells of 121 such rest houses lining the highways into Angkor. The Chinese traveller Zhou Daguan expressed his admiration for these rest houses when he visited Angkor in 1296 CE. Another theory is that the House of Fire had a religious function as the repository the sacred flame used in sacred ceremonies. Library Structures conventionally known as "libraries" are a common feature of the Khmer temple architecture, but their true purpose remains unknown. Most likely they functioned broadly as religious shrines rather than strictly as repositories of manuscripts. Freestanding buildings, they were normally placed in pairs on either side of the entrance to an enclosure, opening to the west. Srah and baray Srahs and barays were reservoirs, generally created by excavation and embankment, respectively. It is not clear whether the significance of these reservoirs was religious, agricultural, or a combination of the two. The two largest reservoirs at Angkor were the West Baray and the East Baray located on either side of Angkor Thom. The East Baray is now dry. The West Mebon is an 11th-century temple standing at the center of the West Baray and the East Mebon is a 10th-century temple standing at the center of the East Baray. The baray associated with Preah Khan is the Jayataka, in the middle of which stands the 12th-century temple of Neak Pean. Scholars have speculated that the Jayataka represents the Himalayan lake of Anavatapta, known for its miraculous healing powers. Temple mountain The dominant scheme for the construction of state temples in the Angkorian period was that of the Temple Mountain, an architectural representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods in Hinduism. Enclosures represented the mountain chains surrounding Mount Meru, while a moat represented the ocean. The temple itself took shape as a pyramid of several levels, and the home of the gods was represented by the elevated sanctuary at the center of the temple. The first great temple mountain was the Bakong, a five-level pyramid dedicated in 881 by King Indravarman I. The structure of Bakong took shape of stepped pyramid, popularly identified as temple mountain of early Khmer temple architecture. The striking similarity of the Bakong and Borobudur in Java, going into architectural details such as the gateways and stairs to the upper terraces, strongly suggests that Borobudur might have served as the prototype of Bakong. There must have been exchanges of travelers, if not mission, between Khmer kingdom and the Sailendras in Java. Transmitting to Cambodia not only ideas, but also technical and architectural details of Borobudur, including arched gateways in corbelling method. Other Khmer temple mountains include Baphuon, Pre Rup, Ta Keo, Koh Ker, the Phimeanakas, and most notably the Phnom Bakheng at Angkor. According to Charles Higham, "A temple was built for the worship of the ruler, whose essence, if a Saivite, was embodied in a linga... housed in the central sanctuary which served as a temple-mausoleum for the ruler after his death...these central temples also contained shrines dedicated to the royal ancestors and thus became centres of ancestor worship." Elements Bas-relief Bas-reliefs are individual figures, groups of figures, or entire scenes cut into stone walls, not as drawings but as sculpted images projecting from a background. Sculpture in bas-relief is distinguished from sculpture in haut-relief, in that the latter projects farther from the background, in some cases almost detaching itself from it. The Angkorian Khmer preferred to work in bas-relief, while their neighbors the Cham were partial to haut-relief. Narrative bas-reliefs are bas-reliefs depicting stories from mythology or history. Until about the 11th century, the Angkorian Khmer confined their narrative bas-reliefs to the space on the tympana above doorways. The most famous early narrative bas-reliefs are those on the tympana at the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei, depicting scenes from Hindu mythology as well as scenes from the great works of Indian literature, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. By the 12th century, however, the Angkorian artists were covering entire walls with narrative scenes in bas-relief. At Angkor Wat, the external gallery wall is covered with some 12,000 or 13,000 square meters of such scenes, some of them historical, some mythological. Similarly, the outer gallery at the Bayon contains extensive bas-reliefs documenting the everyday life of the medieval Khmer as well as historical events from the reign of King Jayavarman VII. The following is a listing of the motifs illustrated in some of the more famous Angkorian narrative bas-reliefs: bas-reliefs in the tympana at Banteay Srei (10th century) the duel of the monkey princes Vali and Sugriva, and the intervention of the human hero Rama on behalf of the latter the duel of Bhima and Duryodhana at the Battle of Kurukshetra the Rakshasa king Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa, upon which sit Shiva and his shakti Kama firing an arrow at Shiva as the latter sits on Mount Kailasa the burning of Khandava Forest by Agni and Indra's attempt to extinguish the flames bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer gallery at Angkor Wat (mid-12th century) the Battle of Lanka between the Rakshasas and the vanaras or monkeys the court and procession of King Suryavarman II, the builder of Angkor Wat the Battle of Kurukshetra between Pandavas and Kauravas the judgment of Yama and the tortures of Hell the Churning of the Ocean of Milk a battle between devas and asuras a battle between Vishnu and a force of asuras the conflict between Krishna and the asura Bana the story of the monkey princes Vali and Sugriva bas-reliefs on the walls of the outer and inner galleries at the Bayon (late 12th century) battles on land and sea between Khmer and Cham troops scenes from the everyday life of Angkor civil strife among the Khmer the legend of the Leper King the worship of Shiva groups of dancing apsaras Blind door and window Angkorean shrines frequently opened in only one direction, typically to the east. The other three sides featured fake or blind doors to maintain symmetry. Blind windows were often used along otherwise blank walls. Colonette Colonettes were narrow decorative columns that served as supports for the beams and lintels above doorways or windows. Depending on the period, they were round, rectangular, or octagonal in shape. Colonettes were often circled with molded rings and decorated with carved leaves. Corbelling Angkorian engineers tended to use the corbel arch in order to construct rooms, passageways and openings in buildings. A corbel arch is constructed by adding layers of stones to the walls on either side of an opening, with each successive layer projecting further towards the centre than the one supporting it from below, until the two sides meet in the middle. The corbel arch is structurally weaker than the true arch. The use of corbelling prevented the Angkorian engineers from constructing large openings or spaces in buildings roofed with stone, and made such buildings particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained. These difficulties did not, of course, exist for buildings constructed with stone walls surmounted by a light wooden roof. The problem of preventing the collapse of corbelled structures at Angkor remains a serious one for modern conservation. Lintel, pediment, and tympanum A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean Khmer lacked the ability to construct a true arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling. A pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment. The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the Preah Ko style from the late 9th century. Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala, the nāga and the makara, as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna, the god of the ocean, with | of corbelling prevented the Angkorian engineers from constructing large openings or spaces in buildings roofed with stone, and made such buildings particularly prone to collapse once they were no longer maintained. These difficulties did not, of course, exist for buildings constructed with stone walls surmounted by a light wooden roof. The problem of preventing the collapse of corbelled structures at Angkor remains a serious one for modern conservation. Lintel, pediment, and tympanum A lintel is a horizontal beam connecting two vertical columns between which runs a door or passageway. Because the Angkorean Khmer lacked the ability to construct a true arch, they constructed their passageways using lintels or corbelling. A pediment is a roughly triangular structure above a lintel. A tympanum is the decorated surface of a pediment. The styles employed by Angkorean artists in the decoration of lintels evolved over time, as a result, the study of lintels has proven a useful guide to the dating of temples. Some scholars have endeavored to develop a periodization of lintel styles. The most beautiful Angkorean lintels are thought to be those of the Preah Ko style from the late 9th century. Common motifs in the decoration of lintels include the kala, the nāga and the makara, as well as various forms of vegetation. Also frequently depicted are the Hindu gods associated with the four cardinal directions, with the identity of the god depicted on a given lintel or pediment depending on the direction faced by that element. Indra, the god of the sky, is associated with East; Yama, the god of judgment and Hell, with South; Varuna, the god of the ocean, with West; and Kubera, god of wealth, with North. List of Khmer lintel styles Sambor Prei Kuk style : Inward-facing makaras with tapering bodies. Four arches joined by three medallions, the central once carved with Indra. Small figure on each makara. A variation is with figures replacing the makaras and a scene with figures below the arch. Prei Khmeng style : Continuation of Sambor Prei Kuk but makaras disappear, being replaced by incurving ends and figures. Arches more rectilinear. Large figures sometimes at each end. A variation is a central scene below the arch, usually Vishnu Reclining. Kompong Preah style : High quality carving. Arches replaced by a garland of vegetation (like a wreath) more or less segmented. Medallions disappear, central one sometimes replaced by a knot of leaves. Leafy pendants spray out above and below garland. Kulen style : Great diversity, with influences from Champa and Java, including the kala and outward-facing makaras. Preah Ko style : Some of the most beautiful of all Khmer lintels, rich, will-carved and imaginative. Kala in center, issuing garland on either side. Distinct loops of vegetation curl down from garland. Outward-facing makaras sometimes appear at the ends. Vishnu on Garuda common. Bakheng style : Continuation of Preah Ko but less fanciful and tiny figures disappear. Loop of vegetation below the naga form tight circular coils. Garland begins to dip in the center. Koh Ker style : Center occupied by a prominent scene, taking up almost the entire height of the lintel. Usually no lower border. Dress of figures shows a curved line to the sampot tucked in below waist. Pre Rup style : Tendency to copy earlier style, especially Preah Ko and Bakheng. Central figures. Re-appearance of lower border. Banteay Srei style : Increase in complexity and detail. Garland sometimes makes pronounced loop on either side with kala at top of each loop. Central figure. Khleang style : Less ornate than those of Banteay Srei. Central kala with triangular tongue, its hands holding the garland which is bent at the center. Kala sometimes surmounted by a divinity. Loops of garland on either side divided by flora stalk and pendant. Vigorous treatment of vegetation. Baphuon style : The central kala surmounted by divinity, usually riding a steed or a Vishnu scene, typically from the life of Krishna. Loops of garland no longer cut. Another type is a scene with many figures and little vegetation. Angkor Wat style : Centered, framed and linked by garlands. A second type is a narrative scene filled with figures. When nagas appear, they curls are tight and prominent. Dress mirrors that of devatas and apsaras in bas-reliefs. No empty spaces. Bayon style : Most figures disappear, usually only a kala at the bottom of the lintel surmounted by small figure. Mainly Buddhist motifs. In the middle of the period the garland is cut into four parts, while later a series of whorls of foliage replace the four divisions. Stairs Angkorean stairs are notoriously steep. Frequently, the length of the riser exceeds that of the tread, producing an angle of ascent somewhere between 45 and 70 degrees. The reasons for this peculiarity appear to be both religious and monumental. From the religious perspective, a steep stairway can be interpreted as a "stairway to heaven," the realm of the gods. "From the monumental point of view," according to Angkor-scholar Maurice Glaize, "the advantage is clear – the square of the base not having to spread in surface area, the entire building rises to its zenith with a particular thrust." Motifs Apsara and devata Apsaras, divine nymphs or celestial dancing girls, are characters from Indian mythology. Their origin is explained in the story of the churning of the Ocean of Milk, or samudra manthan, found in the Vishnu Purana. Other stories in the Mahabharata detail the exploits of individual apsaras, who were often used by the gods as agents to persuade or seduce mythological demons, heroes and ascetics. The widespread use of apsaras as a motif for decorating the walls and pillars of temples and other religious buildings, however, was a Khmer innovation. In modern descriptions of Angkorian temples, the term "apsara" is sometimes used to refer not only to dancers but also to other minor female deities, though minor female deities who are depicted standing rather than dancing are more commonly called "devatas". Apsaras and devatas are ubiquitous at Angkor, but are most common in the foundations of the 12th century. Depictions of true (dancing) apsaras are found, for example, in the Hall of Dancers at Preah Khan, in the pillars that line the passageways through the outer gallery of the Bayon, and in the famous bas-relief of Angkor Wat depicting the churning of the Ocean of Milk. The largest population of devatas (around 2,000) is at Angkor Wat, where they appear individually and in groups. Dvarapala Dvarapalas are human or demonic temple guardians, generally armed with lances and clubs. They are presented either as a stone statues or as relief carvings in the walls of temples and other buildings, generally close to entrances or passageways. Their function is to protect the temples. Dvarapalas may be seen, for example, at Preah Ko, Lolei, Banteay Srei, Preah Khan and Banteay Kdei. Gajasimha and Reachisey The gajasimha is a mythical animal with the body of a lion and the head of an elephant. At Angkor, it is portrayed as a guardian of temples and as a mount for some warriors. The gajasimha may be found at Banteay Srei and at the temples belonging to the Roluos group. The reachisey is another mythical animal, similar to the gajasimha, with the head of a lion, a short elephantine trunk, and the scaly body of a dragon. It occurs at Angkor Wat in the epic bas reliefs of the outer gallery. Garuda Garuda is a divine being that is part man and part bird. He is the lord of birds, the mythological enemy of nāgas, and the battle steed of Vishnu. Depictions of Garuda at Angkor number in the thousands, and though Indian in inspiration exhibit a style that is uniquely Khmer. They may be classified as follows: As part of a narrative bas relief, Garuda is shown as the battle steed of Vishnu or Krishna, bearing the god on his shoulders, and simultaneously fighting against the god's enemies. Numerous such images of Garuda may be observed in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat. Garuda serves as an atlas supporting a superstructure, as in the bas relief at Angkor Wat that depicts heaven and hell. Garudas and stylized mythological lions are the most common atlas figures at Angkor. Garuda is depicted in the pose of a victor, often dominating a nāga, as in the gigantic relief sculptures on the outer wall of Preah Khan. In this context, Garuda symbolizes the military power of the Khmer kings and their victories over their enemies. Not coincidentally, the city of Preah Khan was built on the site of King Jayavarman VII's victory over invaders from Champa. In free-standing nāga sculptures, such as in nāga bridges and balustrades, Garuda is often depicted in relief against the fan of nāga heads. The relationship between Garuda and the nāga heads is ambiguous in these sculptures: it may be one of cooperation, or it may again be one of domination of the nāga by Garuda. Indra In the ancient religion of the Vedas, Indra the sky-god reigned supreme. In the medieval Hinduism of Angkor, however, he had no religious status, and served only as a decorative motif in architecture. Indra is associated with the East; since Angkorian temples typically open to the East, his image is sometimes encountered on lintels and pediments facing that direction. Typically, he is mounted on the three-headed elephant Airavata and holds his trusty weapon, the thunderbolt or vajra. The numerous adventures of Indra documented in Hindu epic Mahabharata are not depicted at Angkor. Kala The kala is a ferocious monster symbolic of time in its all-devouring aspect and associated with the destructive side of the god Siva. In Khmer temple architecture, the kala serves as a common decorative element on lintels, tympana and walls, where it is depicted as a monstrous head with a large upper jaw lined by large carnivorous teeth, but with no lower jaw. Some kalas are shown disgorging vine-like plants, and some serve as the base for other figures. Scholars have speculated that the origin of the kala as a decorative element in Khmer temple architecture may be found in an earlier period when the skulls of human victims were incorporated into buildings as a kind of protective magic or apotropaism. Such skulls tended to lose their lower jaws when the ligaments holding them together dried out. Thus, the kalas of Angkor may represent the Khmer civilization's adoption into its decorative iconography of elements derived from long forgotten primitive antecedents. Krishna Scenes from the life of Krishna, a hero and Avatar of the god Vishnu, are common in the relief carvings decorating Angkorian temples, and unknown in Angkorian sculpture in the round. The literary sources for these scenes are the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa, and the Bhagavata Purana. The following are some of the most important Angkorian depictions of the life of Krishna: A series of bas reliefs at the 11th-century temple pyramid called Baphuon depicts scenes of the birth and childhood of Krishna. Numerous bas reliefs in various temples show Krishna subduing the nāga Kaliya. In Angkorian depictions, Krishna is shown effortlessly stepping on and pushing down his opponent's multiple heads. Also common is the depiction of Krishna as he lifts Mount Govardhana with one hand in order to provide the cowherds with shelter from the deluge caused by Indra. Krishna is frequently depicted killing or subduing various demons, including his evil uncle Kamsa. An extensive bas relief in the outer gallery of Angkor Wat depicts Krishna's battle with the asura Bana. In battle, Krishna is shown riding on the shoulders of Garuda, the traditional mount of Vishnu. In some scenes, Krishna is depicted in his role as charioteer, advisor and protector of Arjuna, the hero of the Mahabharata. A well-known bas relief from the 10th-century temple of Banteay Srei depicts the Krishna and Arjuna helping Agni to burn down Khandava forest. Linga The linga is a phallic post or cylinder symbolic of the god Shiva and of creative power. As a religious symbol, the function of the linga is primarily that of worship and ritual, and only secondarily that of decoration. In the Khmer empire, certain lingas were erected as symbols of the king himself, and were housed in royal temples in order to express the king's consubstantiality with Siva. The lingas that survive from the Angkorean period are generally made of polished stone. The lingas of the Angkorian period are of several different types. Some lingas are implanted in a flat square base called a yoni, symbolic of the womb. On the surface of some lingas is engraved the face of Siva. Such lingas are called mukhalingas. Some lingas are segmented into three parts: a square base symbolic of Brahma, an octagonal middle section symbolic of Vishnu, and a round tip symbolic of Shiva. Makara A makara is a mythical sea monster with the body of a serpent, the trunk of an elephant, and a head that can have features reminiscent of a lion, a crocodile, or a dragon. In Khmer temple architecture, the motif of the makara is generally part of a decorative carving on a lintel, tympanum, or wall. Often the makara is depicted with some other creature, such as a lion or serpent, emerging from its gaping maw. The makara is a central motif in the design of the famously beautiful lintels of the Roluos group of temples: Preah Ko, Bakong, and Lolei. At Banteay Srei, carvings of makaras disgorging other monsters may be observed on many of the corners of the buildings. Nāga Mythical serpents, or nāgas, represent an important motif in Khmer architecture as well as in free-standing sculpture. They are frequently depicted as having multiple heads, always uneven in number, arranged in a fan. Each head has a flared hood, in the manner of a cobra. Nāgas are frequently depicted in Angkorian lintels. The composition of such lintels characteristically consists in a dominant image at the center of a rectangle, from which issue swirling elements that reach to the far ends of the rectangle. These swirling elements may take shape as either vinelike vegetation or as the bodies of nāgas. Some such nāgas are depicted wearing crowns, and others are depicted serving as mounts for human riders. To the Angkorian Khmer, nāgas were symbols of water and figured in the myths of origin for the Khmer people, who were said to be descended from the union of an Indian Brahman and a serpent princess from Cambodia. Nāgas were also characters in other well-known legends and stories depicted in Khmer art, such as the churning of the Ocean of Milk, the legend of the Leper King as depicted in the bas-reliefs of the Bayon, and the story of Mucalinda, the serpent king who protected the Buddha from the elements. Nāga Bridge Nāga bridges are causeways or true bridges lined by stone balustrades shaped as nāgas. In some Angkorian nāga-bridges, as for example those located at the entrances to 12th century city of Angkor Thom, the nāga-shaped balustrades are supported not by simple posts but by stone statues of gigantic warriors. These giants are the devas and asuras who used the nāga king Vasuki in order to the churn the Ocean of Milk in quest of the amrita or elixir of immortality. The story of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk or samudra manthan has its source in Indian mythology. Quincunx A quincunx is a spatial arrangement of five elements, with four elements placed as the corners of a square and the fifth placed in the center. The five peaks of Mount Meru were taken to exhibit this arrangement, and Khmer temples were arranged accordingly in order to convey a symbolic identification with the sacred mountain. The five brick towers of the 10th-century temple known as East Mebon, for example, are arranged in the shape of a quincunx. The quincunx also appears elsewhere in designs of the Angkorian period, as in the riverbed carvings of Kbal Spean. Shiva Most temples at Angkor are dedicated to Shiva. In general, the Angkorian Khmer represented and worshipped Shiva in the form of a lingam, though they also fashioned anthropomorphic statues of the god. Anthropomorphic representations are also found in Angkorian bas reliefs. A famous tympanum from Banteay Srei depicts Shiva sitting on Mount Kailasa with his consort, while the demon king Ravana shakes the mountain |
(pl. capricorni or capricorns) may refer to: Places Capricorn and Bunker Group, islands of the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa Animals Capricorn, an animal from the ibex family, particularly the Alpine ibex Capricornis, a genus of goat-like or antelope-like animals Astronomy and astrology Capricornus, one of the constellations of the zodiac Capricorn (astrology) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters Capricorn (comics), several Marvel Comics characters Capricorn (Inkworld), Inkheart character Music Groups and labels Capricorn Records, an American record label active 1969-1979 Albums Capricorn (Jay Chou album), 2008 Capricorn (Trevor Powers album), 2020 Capricorn (Mike Tramp album), 1997 "Capricorn (A Brand New | Bunker Group, islands of the southern Great Barrier Reef, Australia Capricorn District Municipality, Limpopo province, South Africa Animals Capricorn, an animal from the ibex family, particularly the Alpine ibex Capricornis, a genus of goat-like or antelope-like animals Astronomy and astrology Capricornus, one of the constellations of the zodiac Capricorn (astrology) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters Capricorn (comics), several Marvel Comics characters Capricorn (Inkworld), Inkheart character |
indicating that they too are interacting. Astronomers predict that the three galaxies may merge millions of years in the future to form a giant elliptical galaxy. History The constellation was first attested in depictions on a cylinder-seal from around the 21st century BCE, it was explicitly recorded in the Babylonian star catalogues before 1000 BCE. In the Early Bronze Age the winter solstice occurred in the constellation, but due to the precession of the equinoxes, the December solstice now takes place in the constellation Sagittarius. The Sun is now in the constellation Capricorn (as distinct from the astrological sign) from late January through mid-February. Although the solstice during the northern hemisphere's winter no longer takes place while the sun is in the constellation Capricornus, as it did until 130 BCE, the astrological sign called Capricorn is still used to denote the position of the solstice, and the latitude of the sun's most southerly position continues to be called the Tropic of Capricorn, a term which also applies to the line on the Earth at which the sun is directly overhead at local noon on the day of the December solstice. The planet Neptune was discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle, near Deneb Algedi (δ Capricorni) on 23 September 1846, as Capricornus can be seen best from Europe at 4:00 in September (although, by modern constellation boundaries established in the early 20th century CE, Neptune lay within the confines of Aquarius at the time of its discovery). Mythology Despite its faintness, the constellation Capricornus has one of the oldest mythological associations, having been consistently represented as a hybrid of a goat and a fish since the Middle Bronze Age, when the Babylonians used "The Goat-Fish" as a symbol of their god Ea. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother, Rhea, saved him from being devoured by his father, Cronos. Amalthea's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or "horn of plenty". Capricornus is also sometimes identified as Pan, the god with a goat's horns and legs, who saved himself from the monster Typhon by giving himself a fish's tail and diving into a river. Visualizations Capricornus's brighter stars are found on a triangle whose vertices are α2 Capricorni (Giedi), δ Capricorni (Deneb Algiedi), and ω Capricorni. Ptolemy's method of connecting the stars of Capricornus has been influential. Capricornus is usually drawn as a goat with the tail of a fish. H. A. Rey has suggested an alternative visualization, which graphically shows a goat. The goat's head is formed by the triangle of stars ι Cap, θ Cap, and ζ Cap. The goat's horn sticks out with stars γ Cap and δ Cap. Star δ Cap, at the tip of the horn, is of the third magnitude. The goat's tail consists of stars β Cap and α2 Cap: star β Cap being of the third magnitude. The goat's hind foot consists of stars ψ Cap and ω Cap. Both of these stars are of the fourth magnitude. Equivalents In Chinese astronomy, constellation Capricornus lies in The Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ). The Nakh peoples called this constellation Roofing Towers (). In the Society Islands, the figure of Capricornus was called Rua-o-Mere, "Cavern of parental yearnings". See also Capricornus in Chinese astronomy Hippocampus (mythology), the mythological sea horse IC 1337, galaxy Citations Citations References External links The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Capricornus Star Tales – Capricornus Warburg Institute Iconographic | a double star also known as Dabih. It is a yellow-hued giant star of magnitude 3.1, 340 light-years from Earth. The secondary is a blue-white hued star of magnitude 6.1. The two stars are distinguishable in binoculars. β Capricorni's traditional name comes from the Arabic phrase for "the lucky stars of the slaughterer," a reference to ritual sacrifices performed by ancient Arabs at the heliacal rising of Capricornus. Another star visible to the naked eye is γ Capricorni, sometimes called Nashira ("bringing good tidings"); it is a white-hued giant star of magnitude 3.7, 139 light-years from Earth. π Capricorni is a double star with a blue-white hued primary of magnitude 5.1 and a white-hued secondary of magnitude 8.3. It is 670 light-years from Earth and the components are distinguishable in a small telescope. Deep-sky objects Several galaxies and star clusters are contained within Capricornus. Messier 30 is a globular cluster located 1 degree south of the galaxy group that contains NGC 7103. The constellation also harbors the wide spiral galaxy NGC 6907. M30 (NGC 7099) is a centrally-condensed globular cluster of magnitude 7.5 . At a distance of 30,000 light-years, it has chains of stars extending to the north that are resolvable in small amateur telescopes. One galaxy group located in Capricornus is HCG 87, a group of at least three galaxies located 400 million light-years from Earth (redshift 0.0296). It contains a large elliptical galaxy, a face-on spiral galaxy, and an edge-on spiral galaxy. The face-on spiral galaxy is experiencing abnormally high rates of star formation, indicating that it is interacting with one or both members of the group. Furthermore, the large elliptical galaxy and the edge-on spiral galaxy, both of which have active nuclei, are connected by a stream of stars and dust, indicating that they too are interacting. Astronomers predict that the three galaxies may merge millions of years in the future to form a giant elliptical galaxy. History The constellation was first attested in depictions on a cylinder-seal from around the 21st century BCE, it was explicitly recorded in the Babylonian star catalogues before 1000 BCE. In the Early Bronze Age the winter solstice occurred in the constellation, but due to the precession of the equinoxes, the December solstice now takes place in the constellation Sagittarius. The Sun is now in the constellation Capricorn (as distinct from the astrological sign) from late January through mid-February. Although the solstice during the northern hemisphere's winter no longer takes place while the sun is in the constellation Capricornus, as it did until 130 BCE, the astrological sign called Capricorn is still used to denote the position of the solstice, and the latitude of the sun's most southerly position continues to be called the Tropic of Capricorn, a term which also applies to the line on the Earth at which the sun is directly overhead at local noon on the day of the December solstice. The planet Neptune was discovered by German astronomer Johann Galle, near Deneb Algedi (δ Capricorni) on 23 September 1846, as Capricornus can be seen best from Europe at 4:00 in September (although, by modern constellation boundaries established in the early 20th century CE, Neptune lay within the confines of Aquarius at the time of its discovery). Mythology Despite its faintness, the constellation Capricornus has one of the oldest mythological associations, having been consistently represented as a hybrid of a goat and a fish since the Middle Bronze Age, when the Babylonians used "The Goat-Fish" as a symbol of their god Ea. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother, Rhea, saved him from being devoured by his father, Cronos. Amalthea's broken horn was transformed into the |
Biya of Cameroon, then President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and resulted in Cameroonian control of the oil-rich peninsula. The northern portion of the territory was formally handed over to the Cameroonian government in August 2006, and the remainder of the peninsula was left to Cameroon 2 years later, in 2008. The boundary change triggered a local separatist insurgency, as many Bakassians refused to accept Cameroonian rule. While most militants laid down their arms in November 2009, some carried on fighting for years. In February 2008, Cameroon experienced its worst violence in 15 years when a transport union strike in Douala escalated into violent protests in 31 municipal areas. In May 2014, in the wake of the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping, presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Idriss Déby of Chad announced they were waging war on Boko Haram, and deployed troops to the Nigerian border. Boko Haram launched several attacks into Cameroon, killing 84 civilians in a December 2014 raid, but suffering a heavy defeat in a raid in January 2015. Cameroon declared victory over Boko Haram on Cameroonian territory in September 2018. Since November 2016, protesters from the predominantly English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of the country have been campaigning for continued use of the English language in schools and courts. People were killed and hundreds jailed as a result of these protests. In 2017, Biya's government blocked the regions' access to the Internet for three months. In September, separatists started a guerilla war for the independence of the Anglophone region as the Federal Republic of Ambazonia. The government responded with a military offensive, and the insurgency spread across the Northwest and Southwest regions. , fighting between separatist guerillas and government forces continues. During 2020, numerous terrorist attacks—many of them carried out without claims of credit—and government reprisals have led to bloodshed throughout the country. Since 2016, more than 450,000 people have fled their homes. The conflict indirectly led to an upsurge in Boko Haram attacks, as the Cameroonian military largely withdrew from the north to focus on fighting the Ambazonian separatists. More than 30,000 people in northern Cameroon fled to Chad after ethnic clashes over access to water between Musgum fishermen and ethnic Arab Choa herders in December 2021. Politics and government The President of Cameroon is elected and creates policy, administers government agencies, commands the armed forces, negotiates and ratifies treaties, and declares a state of emergency. The president appoints government officials at all levels, from the prime minister (considered the official head of government), to the provincial governors and divisional officers. The president is selected by popular vote every seven years. There have been 2 presidents since the independence of Cameroon. The National Assembly makes legislation. The body consists of 180 members who are elected for five-year terms and meet three times per year. Laws are passed on a majority vote. The 1996 constitution establishes a second house of parliament, the 100-seat Senate. The government recognises the authority of traditional chiefs, fons, and lamibe to govern at the local level and to resolve disputes as long as such rulings do not conflict with national law. Cameroon's legal system is a mixture of civil law, common law, and customary law. Although nominally independent, the judiciary falls under the authority of the executive's Ministry of Justice. The president appoints judges at all levels. The judiciary is officially divided into tribunals, the court of appeal, and the supreme court. The National Assembly elects the members of a nine-member High Court of Justice that judges high-ranking members of government in the event they are charged with high treason or harming national security. Political culture Cameroon is viewed as rife with corruption at all levels of government. In 1997, Cameroon established anti-corruption bureaus in 29 ministries, but only 25% became operational, and in 2012, Transparency International placed Cameroon at number 144 on a list of 176 countries ranked from least to most corrupt. On 18 January 2006, Biya initiated an anti-corruption drive under the direction of the National Anti-Corruption Observatory. There are several high corruption risk areas in Cameroon, for instance, customs, public health sector and public procurement. However, the corruption has gotten worse, regardless of the existing anti-corruption bureaus, as Transparency International ranked Cameroon 152 on a list of 180 countries in 2018. President Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) was the only legal political party until December 1990. Numerous regional political groups have since formed. The primary opposition is the Social Democratic Front (SDF), based largely in the Anglophone region of the country and headed by John Fru Ndi. Biya and his party have maintained control of the presidency and the National Assembly in national elections, which rivals contend were unfair. Human rights organisations allege that the government suppresses the freedoms of opposition groups by preventing demonstrations, disrupting meetings, and arresting opposition leaders and journalists. In particular, English-speaking people are discriminated against; protests often escalate into violent clashes and killings. In 2017, President Biya shut down the Internet in the English-speaking region for 94 days, at the cost of hampering five million people, including Silicon Mountain startups. Freedom House ranks Cameroon as "not free" in terms of political rights and civil liberties. The last parliamentary elections were held on 9 February 2020. Foreign relations Cameroon is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. Its foreign policy closely follows that of its main ally, France (one of its former colonial rulers). Cameroon relies heavily on France for its defence, although military spending is high in comparison to other sectors of government. President Biya has engaged in a decades-long clash with the government of Nigeria over possession of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula. Cameroon and Nigeria share a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) border and have disputed the sovereignty of the Bakassi peninsula. In 1994 Cameroon petitioned the International Court of Justice to resolve the dispute. The two countries attempted to establish a cease-fire in 1996; however, fighting continued for years. In 2002, the ICJ ruled that the Anglo-German Agreement of 1913 gave sovereignty to Cameroon. The ruling called for a withdrawal by both countries and denied the request by Cameroon for compensation due to Nigeria's long-term occupation. By 2004, Nigeria had failed to meet the deadline to hand over the peninsula. A UN-mediated summit in June 2006 facilitated an agreement for Nigeria to withdraw from the region and both leaders signed the Greentree Agreement. The withdrawal and handover of control was completed by August 2006. In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Cameroon, signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. Military The Cameroon Armed Forces, (French: Forces armées camerounaises, FAC) consists of the country's army (Armée de Terre), the country's navy (Marine Nationale de la République (MNR), includes naval infantry), the Cameroonian Air Force (Armée de l'Air du Cameroun, AAC), and the Gendarmerie. Males and females that are 18 years of age up to 23 years of age and have graduated high school are eligible for military service. Those who join are obliged to complete 4 years of service. There is no conscription in Cameroon, but the government makes periodic calls for volunteers. Human rights Human rights organisations accuse police and military forces of mistreating and even torturing criminal suspects, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and political activists. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, while 160,000 have been internally displaced by the violence, many reportedly hiding in forests. Prisons are overcrowded with little access to adequate food and medical facilities, and prisons run by traditional rulers in the north are charged with holding political opponents at the behest of the government. However, since the first decade of the 21st century, an increasing number of police and gendarmes have been prosecuted for improper conduct. On 25 July 2018, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed deep concern about reports of violations and abuses in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. Same-sex sexual acts are banned by section 347-1 of the penal code with a penalty of from 6 months up to 5 years' imprisonment. Since December 2020, Human Rights Watch claimed that Islamist armed group Boko Haram has stepped up attacks and killed at least 80 civilians in towns and villages in the Far North region of Cameroon. Administrative divisions The constitution divides Cameroon into 10 semi-autonomous regions, each under the administration of an elected Regional Council. Each region is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. These leaders are charged with implementing the will of the president, reporting on the general mood and conditions of the regions, administering the civil service, keeping the peace, and overseeing the heads of the smaller administrative units. Governors have broad powers: they may order propaganda in their area and call in the army, gendarmes, and police. All local government officials are employees of the central government's Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments also get most of their budgets. The regions are subdivided into 58 divisions (French ). These are headed by presidentially appointed divisional officers (). The divisions are further split into sub-divisions (), headed by assistant divisional officers (). The districts, administered by district heads (), are the smallest administrative units. The three northernmost regions are the Far North (), North (), and Adamawa (). Directly south of them are the Centre () and East (). The South Province () lies on the Gulf of Guinea and the southern border. Cameroon's western region is split into four smaller regions: the Littoral () and South-West () regions are on the coast, and the North-West () and West () regions are in the western grassfields. Geography At , Cameroon is the world's 53rd-largest country. The country is located in Central and West Africa, known as the hinge of Africa, on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Cameroon lies between latitudes 1° and 13°N, and longitudes 8° and 17°E. Cameroon controls 12 nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Tourist literature describes Cameroon as "Africa in miniature" because it exhibits all major climates and vegetation of the continent: coast, desert, mountains, rainforest, and savanna. The country's neighbours are Nigeria and the Atlantic Ocean to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon is divided into five major geographic zones distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. The coastal plain extends inland from the Gulf of Guinea and has an average elevation of . Exceedingly hot and humid with a short dry season, this belt is densely forested and includes some of the wettest places on earth, part of the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests. The South Cameroon Plateau rises from the coastal plain to an average elevation of . Equatorial rainforest dominates this region, although its alternation between wet and dry seasons makes it less humid than the coast. This area is part of the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregion. An irregular chain of mountains, hills, and plateaus known as the Cameroon range extends from Mount Cameroon on the coast—Cameroon's highest point at —almost to Lake Chad at Cameroon's northern border at 13°05'N. This region has a mild climate, particularly on the Western High Plateau, although rainfall is high. Its soils are among Cameroon's most fertile, especially around volcanic Mount Cameroon. Volcanism here has created crater lakes. On 21 August 1986, one of these, Lake Nyos, belched carbon dioxide and killed between 1,700 and 2,000 people. This area has been delineated by the World Wildlife Fund as the Cameroonian Highlands forests ecoregion. The southern plateau rises northward to the grassy, rugged Adamawa Plateau. This feature stretches from the western mountain area and forms a barrier between the country's north and south. Its average elevation is , and its average temperature ranges from to with high rainfall between April and October peaking in July and August. The northern lowland region extends from the edge of the Adamawa to Lake Chad with an average elevation of . Its characteristic vegetation is savanna scrub and grass. This is an arid region with sparse rainfall and high median temperatures. Cameroon has four patterns of drainage. In the south, the principal rivers are the Ntem, Nyong, Sanaga, and Wouri. These flow southwestward or westward directly into the Gulf of Guinea. The Dja and Kadéï drain southeastward into the Congo River. In northern Cameroon, the Bénoué River runs north and west and empties into the Niger. The Logone flows northward into Lake Chad, which Cameroon shares with three neighbouring countries. Education and health In 2013, the total adult literacy rate of Cameroon was estimated to be 71.3%. Among youths age 15–24 the literacy rate was 85.4% for males and 76.4% for females. Most children have access to state-run schools that are cheaper than private and religious facilities. The educational system is a mixture of British and French precedents with most instruction in English or French. Cameroon has one of the highest school attendance rates in Africa. Girls attend school less regularly than boys do because of cultural attitudes, domestic duties, early marriage, pregnancy, and sexual harassment. Although attendance rates are higher in the south, a disproportionate number of teachers are stationed there, leaving northern schools chronically understaffed. In 2013, the primary school enrollment rate was 93.5%. School attendance in Cameroon is also affected by child labour. Indeed, the United States Department of Labor Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor reported that 56% of children aged 5 to 14 were working children and that almost 53% of children aged 7 to 14 combined work and school. In December 2014, a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor issued by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs mentioned Cameroon among the countries that resorted to child labor in the production of cocoa. The quality of health care is generally low. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 56 years in 2012, with 48 healthy life years expected. Fertility rate remains high in Cameroon with an average of 4.8 births per woman and an average mother's age of 19.7 years old at first birth. In Cameroon, there is only one doctor for every 5,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. In 2014, just 4.1% of total GDP expenditure was allocated to healthcare. Due to financial cuts in the health care system, there are few professionals. Doctors and nurses who were trained in Cameroon, emigrate because in Cameroon the payment is poor while the workload is high. Nurses are unemployed even though their help is needed. Some of them help out voluntarily so they will not lose their skills. Outside the major cities, facilities are often dirty and poorly equipped. In 2012, the top three deadly diseases were HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory tract infection, and diarrheal diseases. Endemic diseases include dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis, malaria, meningitis, schistosomiasis, and sleeping sickness. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in 2016 was estimated at 3.8% for those aged 15–49, although a strong stigma against the illness keeps the number of reported cases artificially low. 46,000 children under age 14 were estimated to be living with HIV in 2016. In Cameroon, 58% of those living with HIV know their status, and just 37% receive ARV treatment. In 2016, 29,000 death due to AIDS occurred in both adults and children. Breast ironing, a traditional practice that is prevalent in Cameroon, may affect girls' health. Female genital mutilation (FGM), while not widespread, is practiced among some populations; according to a 2013 UNICEF report, 1% of women in Cameroon have undergone FGM. Also impacting women and girls' health, the contraceptive prevalence rate is estimated to be just 34.4% in 2014. Traditional healers remain a popular alternative to evidence-based medicine. Economy and infrastructure Cameroon's per capita GDP (Purchasing power parity) was estimated as US$3,700 in 2017. Major export markets include the Netherlands, France, China, Belgium, Italy, Algeria, and Malaysia. Cameroon has had a decade of strong economic performance, with GDP growing at an average of 4% per year. During the 2004–2008 period, public debt was reduced from over 60% of GDP to 10% and official reserves quadrupled to over US$3 billion. Cameroon is part of the Bank of Central African States (of which it is the dominant economy), the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). Its currency is the CFA franc. Unemployment was estimated at 3.38% in 2019, and 23.8% of the population was living below the international poverty threshold of US$1.90 a day in 2014. Since the late 1980s, Cameroon has been following programmes advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce poverty, privatise industries, and increase economic growth. The government has taken measures to encourage tourism in the country. An estimated 70% of the population farms, and agriculture comprised an estimated 16.7% of GDP in 2017. Most agriculture is done at the subsistence scale by local farmers using simple tools. They sell their surplus produce, and some maintain separate fields for commercial use. Urban centres are particularly reliant on peasant agriculture for their foodstuffs. Soils and climate on the coast encourage extensive commercial cultivation of bananas, cocoa, oil palms, rubber, and tea. Inland on the South Cameroon Plateau, cash crops include coffee, sugar, and tobacco. Coffee is a major cash crop in the western highlands, and in the north, natural conditions favour crops such as cotton, groundnuts, and rice. Production of Fairtrade cotton was initiated in Cameroon in 2004. Livestock are raised throughout the country. Fishing employs 5,000 people and provides over 100,000 tons of seafood each year. Bushmeat, long a staple food for rural Cameroonians, is today a delicacy in the country's urban centres. The commercial bushmeat trade has now surpassed deforestation as the main threat to wildlife in Cameroon. The southern rainforest has vast timber reserves, estimated to cover 37% of Cameroon's total land area. However, large areas of the forest are difficult to reach. Logging, largely handled by foreign-owned firms, provides the government US$60 million a year in taxes (), and laws mandate the safe and sustainable exploitation of timber. Nevertheless, in practice, the industry is one of the least regulated in Cameroon. Factory-based industry accounted for an estimated 26.5% of GDP in 2017. More than 75% of Cameroon's industrial strength is located in Douala and Bonabéri. Cameroon possesses substantial mineral resources, but these are not extensively mined (see Mining in Cameroon). Petroleum exploitation has fallen since 1986, but this is still a substantial sector such that dips in prices have a strong effect on the economy. Rapids and waterfalls obstruct the southern rivers, but these sites offer opportunities for hydroelectric development and supply most of Cameroon's energy. The Sanaga River powers the largest hydroelectric station, located at Edéa. The rest of Cameroon's energy comes from oil-powered thermal engines. Much of the country remains without reliable power supplies. Transport in Cameroon is often difficult. Only 6.6% of the roadways are tarred. Roadblocks often serve little other purpose than to allow police and gendarmes to collect bribes from travellers. Road banditry has long hampered | Choa herders in December 2021. Politics and government The President of Cameroon is elected and creates policy, administers government agencies, commands the armed forces, negotiates and ratifies treaties, and declares a state of emergency. The president appoints government officials at all levels, from the prime minister (considered the official head of government), to the provincial governors and divisional officers. The president is selected by popular vote every seven years. There have been 2 presidents since the independence of Cameroon. The National Assembly makes legislation. The body consists of 180 members who are elected for five-year terms and meet three times per year. Laws are passed on a majority vote. The 1996 constitution establishes a second house of parliament, the 100-seat Senate. The government recognises the authority of traditional chiefs, fons, and lamibe to govern at the local level and to resolve disputes as long as such rulings do not conflict with national law. Cameroon's legal system is a mixture of civil law, common law, and customary law. Although nominally independent, the judiciary falls under the authority of the executive's Ministry of Justice. The president appoints judges at all levels. The judiciary is officially divided into tribunals, the court of appeal, and the supreme court. The National Assembly elects the members of a nine-member High Court of Justice that judges high-ranking members of government in the event they are charged with high treason or harming national security. Political culture Cameroon is viewed as rife with corruption at all levels of government. In 1997, Cameroon established anti-corruption bureaus in 29 ministries, but only 25% became operational, and in 2012, Transparency International placed Cameroon at number 144 on a list of 176 countries ranked from least to most corrupt. On 18 January 2006, Biya initiated an anti-corruption drive under the direction of the National Anti-Corruption Observatory. There are several high corruption risk areas in Cameroon, for instance, customs, public health sector and public procurement. However, the corruption has gotten worse, regardless of the existing anti-corruption bureaus, as Transparency International ranked Cameroon 152 on a list of 180 countries in 2018. President Biya's Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) was the only legal political party until December 1990. Numerous regional political groups have since formed. The primary opposition is the Social Democratic Front (SDF), based largely in the Anglophone region of the country and headed by John Fru Ndi. Biya and his party have maintained control of the presidency and the National Assembly in national elections, which rivals contend were unfair. Human rights organisations allege that the government suppresses the freedoms of opposition groups by preventing demonstrations, disrupting meetings, and arresting opposition leaders and journalists. In particular, English-speaking people are discriminated against; protests often escalate into violent clashes and killings. In 2017, President Biya shut down the Internet in the English-speaking region for 94 days, at the cost of hampering five million people, including Silicon Mountain startups. Freedom House ranks Cameroon as "not free" in terms of political rights and civil liberties. The last parliamentary elections were held on 9 February 2020. Foreign relations Cameroon is a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations and La Francophonie. Its foreign policy closely follows that of its main ally, France (one of its former colonial rulers). Cameroon relies heavily on France for its defence, although military spending is high in comparison to other sectors of government. President Biya has engaged in a decades-long clash with the government of Nigeria over possession of the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula. Cameroon and Nigeria share a 1,000-mile (1,600 km) border and have disputed the sovereignty of the Bakassi peninsula. In 1994 Cameroon petitioned the International Court of Justice to resolve the dispute. The two countries attempted to establish a cease-fire in 1996; however, fighting continued for years. In 2002, the ICJ ruled that the Anglo-German Agreement of 1913 gave sovereignty to Cameroon. The ruling called for a withdrawal by both countries and denied the request by Cameroon for compensation due to Nigeria's long-term occupation. By 2004, Nigeria had failed to meet the deadline to hand over the peninsula. A UN-mediated summit in June 2006 facilitated an agreement for Nigeria to withdraw from the region and both leaders signed the Greentree Agreement. The withdrawal and handover of control was completed by August 2006. In July 2019, UN ambassadors of 37 countries, including Cameroon, signed a joint letter to the UNHRC defending China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. Military The Cameroon Armed Forces, (French: Forces armées camerounaises, FAC) consists of the country's army (Armée de Terre), the country's navy (Marine Nationale de la République (MNR), includes naval infantry), the Cameroonian Air Force (Armée de l'Air du Cameroun, AAC), and the Gendarmerie. Males and females that are 18 years of age up to 23 years of age and have graduated high school are eligible for military service. Those who join are obliged to complete 4 years of service. There is no conscription in Cameroon, but the government makes periodic calls for volunteers. Human rights Human rights organisations accuse police and military forces of mistreating and even torturing criminal suspects, ethnic minorities, homosexuals, and political activists. United Nations figures indicate that more than 21,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, while 160,000 have been internally displaced by the violence, many reportedly hiding in forests. Prisons are overcrowded with little access to adequate food and medical facilities, and prisons run by traditional rulers in the north are charged with holding political opponents at the behest of the government. However, since the first decade of the 21st century, an increasing number of police and gendarmes have been prosecuted for improper conduct. On 25 July 2018, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein expressed deep concern about reports of violations and abuses in the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. Same-sex sexual acts are banned by section 347-1 of the penal code with a penalty of from 6 months up to 5 years' imprisonment. Since December 2020, Human Rights Watch claimed that Islamist armed group Boko Haram has stepped up attacks and killed at least 80 civilians in towns and villages in the Far North region of Cameroon. Administrative divisions The constitution divides Cameroon into 10 semi-autonomous regions, each under the administration of an elected Regional Council. Each region is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. These leaders are charged with implementing the will of the president, reporting on the general mood and conditions of the regions, administering the civil service, keeping the peace, and overseeing the heads of the smaller administrative units. Governors have broad powers: they may order propaganda in their area and call in the army, gendarmes, and police. All local government officials are employees of the central government's Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments also get most of their budgets. The regions are subdivided into 58 divisions (French ). These are headed by presidentially appointed divisional officers (). The divisions are further split into sub-divisions (), headed by assistant divisional officers (). The districts, administered by district heads (), are the smallest administrative units. The three northernmost regions are the Far North (), North (), and Adamawa (). Directly south of them are the Centre () and East (). The South Province () lies on the Gulf of Guinea and the southern border. Cameroon's western region is split into four smaller regions: the Littoral () and South-West () regions are on the coast, and the North-West () and West () regions are in the western grassfields. Geography At , Cameroon is the world's 53rd-largest country. The country is located in Central and West Africa, known as the hinge of Africa, on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. Cameroon lies between latitudes 1° and 13°N, and longitudes 8° and 17°E. Cameroon controls 12 nautical miles of the Atlantic Ocean. Tourist literature describes Cameroon as "Africa in miniature" because it exhibits all major climates and vegetation of the continent: coast, desert, mountains, rainforest, and savanna. The country's neighbours are Nigeria and the Atlantic Ocean to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon is divided into five major geographic zones distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. The coastal plain extends inland from the Gulf of Guinea and has an average elevation of . Exceedingly hot and humid with a short dry season, this belt is densely forested and includes some of the wettest places on earth, part of the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests. The South Cameroon Plateau rises from the coastal plain to an average elevation of . Equatorial rainforest dominates this region, although its alternation between wet and dry seasons makes it less humid than the coast. This area is part of the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregion. An irregular chain of mountains, hills, and plateaus known as the Cameroon range extends from Mount Cameroon on the coast—Cameroon's highest point at —almost to Lake Chad at Cameroon's northern border at 13°05'N. This region has a mild climate, particularly on the Western High Plateau, although rainfall is high. Its soils are among Cameroon's most fertile, especially around volcanic Mount Cameroon. Volcanism here has created crater lakes. On 21 August 1986, one of these, Lake Nyos, belched carbon dioxide and killed between 1,700 and 2,000 people. This area has been delineated by the World Wildlife Fund as the Cameroonian Highlands forests ecoregion. The southern plateau rises northward to the grassy, rugged Adamawa Plateau. This feature stretches from the western mountain area and forms a barrier between the country's north and south. Its average elevation is , and its average temperature ranges from to with high rainfall between April and October peaking in July and August. The northern lowland region extends from the edge of the Adamawa to Lake Chad with an average elevation of . Its characteristic vegetation is savanna scrub and grass. This is an arid region with sparse rainfall and high median temperatures. Cameroon has four patterns of drainage. In the south, the principal rivers are the Ntem, Nyong, Sanaga, and Wouri. These flow southwestward or westward directly into the Gulf of Guinea. The Dja and Kadéï drain southeastward into the Congo River. In northern Cameroon, the Bénoué River runs north and west and empties into the Niger. The Logone flows northward into Lake Chad, which Cameroon shares with three neighbouring countries. Education and health In 2013, the total adult literacy rate of Cameroon was estimated to be 71.3%. Among youths age 15–24 the literacy rate was 85.4% for males and 76.4% for females. Most children have access to state-run schools that are cheaper than private and religious facilities. The educational system is a mixture of British and French precedents with most instruction in English or French. Cameroon has one of the highest school attendance rates in Africa. Girls attend school less regularly than boys do because of cultural attitudes, domestic duties, early marriage, pregnancy, and sexual harassment. Although attendance rates are higher in the south, a disproportionate number of teachers are stationed there, leaving northern schools chronically understaffed. In 2013, the primary school enrollment rate was 93.5%. School attendance in Cameroon is also affected by child labour. Indeed, the United States Department of Labor Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor reported that 56% of children aged 5 to 14 were working children and that almost 53% of children aged 7 to 14 combined work and school. In December 2014, a List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor issued by the Bureau of International Labor Affairs mentioned Cameroon among the countries that resorted to child labor in the production of cocoa. The quality of health care is generally low. Life expectancy at birth is estimated to be 56 years in 2012, with 48 healthy life years expected. Fertility rate remains high in Cameroon with an average of 4.8 births per woman and an average mother's age of 19.7 years old at first birth. In Cameroon, there is only one doctor for every 5,000 people, according to the World Health Organization. In 2014, just 4.1% of total GDP expenditure was allocated to healthcare. Due to financial cuts in the health care system, there are few professionals. Doctors and nurses who were trained in Cameroon, emigrate because in Cameroon the payment is poor while the workload is high. Nurses are unemployed even though their help is needed. Some of them help out voluntarily so they will not lose their skills. Outside the major cities, facilities are often dirty and poorly equipped. In 2012, the top three deadly diseases were HIV/AIDS, lower respiratory tract infection, and diarrheal diseases. Endemic diseases include dengue fever, filariasis, leishmaniasis, malaria, meningitis, schistosomiasis, and sleeping sickness. The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in 2016 was estimated at 3.8% for those aged 15–49, although a strong stigma against the illness keeps the number of reported cases artificially low. 46,000 children under age 14 were estimated to be living with HIV in 2016. In Cameroon, 58% of those living with HIV know their status, and just 37% receive ARV treatment. In 2016, 29,000 death due to AIDS occurred in both adults and children. Breast ironing, a traditional practice that is prevalent in Cameroon, may affect girls' health. Female genital mutilation (FGM), while not widespread, is practiced among some populations; according to a 2013 UNICEF report, 1% of women in Cameroon have undergone FGM. Also impacting women and girls' health, the contraceptive prevalence rate is estimated to be just 34.4% in 2014. Traditional healers remain a popular alternative to evidence-based medicine. Economy and infrastructure Cameroon's per capita GDP (Purchasing power parity) was estimated as US$3,700 in 2017. Major export markets include the Netherlands, France, China, Belgium, Italy, Algeria, and Malaysia. Cameroon has had a decade of strong economic performance, with GDP growing at an average of 4% per year. During the 2004–2008 period, public debt was reduced from over 60% of GDP to 10% and official reserves quadrupled to over US$3 billion. Cameroon is part of the Bank of Central African States (of which it is the dominant economy), the Customs and Economic Union of Central Africa (UDEAC) and the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). Its currency is the CFA franc. Unemployment was estimated at 3.38% in 2019, and 23.8% of the population was living below the international poverty threshold of US$1.90 a day in 2014. Since the late 1980s, Cameroon has been following programmes advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce poverty, privatise industries, and increase economic growth. The government has taken measures to encourage tourism in the country. An estimated 70% of the population farms, and agriculture comprised an estimated 16.7% of GDP in 2017. Most agriculture is done at the subsistence scale by local farmers using simple tools. They sell their surplus produce, and some maintain separate fields for commercial use. Urban centres are particularly reliant on peasant agriculture for their foodstuffs. Soils and climate on the coast encourage extensive commercial cultivation of bananas, cocoa, oil palms, rubber, and tea. Inland on the South Cameroon Plateau, cash crops include coffee, sugar, and tobacco. Coffee is a major cash crop in the western highlands, and in the north, natural conditions favour crops such as cotton, groundnuts, and rice. Production of Fairtrade cotton was initiated in Cameroon in 2004. Livestock are raised throughout the country. Fishing employs 5,000 people and provides over 100,000 tons of seafood each year. Bushmeat, long a staple food for rural Cameroonians, is today a delicacy in the country's urban centres. The commercial bushmeat trade has now surpassed deforestation as the main threat to wildlife in Cameroon. The southern rainforest has vast timber reserves, estimated to cover 37% of Cameroon's total land area. However, large areas of the forest are difficult to reach. Logging, largely handled by foreign-owned firms, provides the government US$60 million a year in taxes (), and laws mandate the safe and sustainable exploitation of timber. Nevertheless, in practice, the industry is one of the least regulated in Cameroon. Factory-based industry accounted for an estimated 26.5% of GDP in 2017. |
government led to an ongoing civil war known as the Anglophone Crisis in the west of the country, while Islamist insurgents Boko Haram continue to carry out military and terror attacks in the north of the country. Pre-colonial history Prehistory Archaeological research has been relatively scarce in Cameroon due to a lack of resources and transportation infrastructure. Historically the warm, wet climate in many parts of the country was thought inhospitable to the preservation of remains, but recent finds and the introduction of new techniques have challenged that assumption. Evidence from digs at Shum Laka in the Northwest Region shows human occupation dating back 30,000 years while in the dense forests of the south, the oldest evidence of occupation is around 7000 years old. Recent research in southern Cameroon indicates that the Iron Age may have started there as early as 1000 BCE and was certainly well established by 100 BCE at the latest. Linguistic analysis, supported by archaeological and genetic research, has shown that the Bantu expansion, a series of migrations which spread Bantu culture across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, most likely originated in the highlands on the Nigeria-Cameroon border around 1000 BCE. Bantu languages spread with these people along with agricultural methods and possibly iron tools, first east and then south, forming one of the largest language families in Africa. In Cameroon, Bantu people largely displaced Central African Pygmies such as the Baka, who were hunter-gatherers and who now survive in much smaller numbers in the heavily forested southeast. Despite Cameroon being the original homeland of the Bantu people, the great medieval Bantu-speaking kingdoms arose elsewhere, such as Kenya, Congo, Angola, and Southern Africa. Northern Cameroon The earliest civilization to have left clear traces of their presence in the territory of modern Cameroon is known as the Sao civilisation. Known for their elaborate terracotta and broze artwork and round, walled settlements in the Lake Chad Basin, little else is known with any certainty due to the lack of historical records. The culture possibly arose as early as the fourth century BC but certainly, by the end of the first millennium BC, their presence was well established around Lake Chad and near the Chari River. The city-states of the Sao reached their apex sometime between the ninth and fifteenth centuries AD. The Sao were displaced or assimilated by the 16th century. After the Muslim conquest of North Africa in 709, Islam's influence began to spread south with the growth of trans-Saharan trade, including in what is now northern Cameroon. The Kanem-Bornu Empire Empire began in what is now Chad and likely came into conflict with the Sao. The Kanem Empire began in Chad in the 8th century and gradually extended its influence northward into Libya and southward into Nigeria and Cameroon. Slaves from raids in the south were their principal trade good along with mined salt. The Empire was Muslim from at least the 11th century and reached its first peak in the 13th, controlling most of what is now Chad and smaller regions in surrounding countries. After a period of internal instability, the center of power shifted to Bornu with its capital at Ngazargamu, in what is now northwestern Nigeria, and territory was gradually reconquered and new territory in present-day Niger also conquered. The Empire began to decline in the 17th century though it continued to control much of northern Cameroon. From 1804-1808 the Fulani War saw the Bornu pushed north out of Cameroon and the Sokoto Caliphate took control of the region, as well as most of northern Nigeria and large swathes of Niger and Mali. A feudal empire with local rulers pledging allegiance and paying tributes to the Caliph, northern Cameroon was likely part of the Adamawa Emirate within the Caliphate. This structure proved susceptible to exploitation by colonial powers beginning in the 1870s, who sought to undermine local rulers' ties to the Caliphate. Southern Regions The Muslim empires of the Sahara and Sahel never reached further south than the highlands of the Cameroon Line. Further south, there is little archaeological evidence of large empires or kingdoms and no historical record due to the lack of writing in the region. When the Portuguese arrived in the region in the 16th century, a large number of kings, chiefs, and fons ruled small territories. Many ethnic groups, particularly speakers of the Grassfields languages in the west, have oral histories of migrating south fleeing Muslim invaders, likely reference to the Fulani War and subsequent conflicts in Nigeria and northern Cameroon. Malaria prevented significant European settlement or exploration until the late 1870s, when large supplies of the malaria suppressant quinine became available. The early European presence in Cameroon was primarily devoted to coastal trade and the acquisition of slaves. The Cameroon coast was a major hub for the purchase of slaves who were taken across the Atlantic to Brazil, the United States, and the Caribbean. In 1807, the British abolished slavery in the Empire and began military efforts to suppress the slave trade, particularly in West Africa. Combined with the end of legal slave imports in the United States the same year, the international slave trade in Cameroon declined sharply. Christian missionaries established a presence in the late 19th century. Around this time, the Aro Confederacy, was expanding its economic and political influence from southeastern Nigeria into western Cameroon. However, the arrival of British and German colonizers cut short its growth and influence. Colonial Period Scramble for Africa and German Kamerun (1884-1918) The Scramble for Africa beginning in the late 1870s, saw European powers, primarily seeking to establish formal control over the parts of Africa not yet colonized. The Cameroon coast was of interest to both the British, already established in what is now Nigeria and with missionaries outposts in several towns, and the Germans who had extensive trading relationships and plantations established in the Douala region. On July 5, 1884, German explorer and administrator Gustav Nachtigal began signing agreements with Duala leaders establishing a German protectorate in the region. A brief conflict ensued with rival Duala chiefs which Germany and its allies won, leaving the British with little choice but to acknowledge Germany's claim to the region. The borders of modern Cameroon were established through a series of negotiations with the British and French. Germany established an administration for the colony with a capital first at Buea and later at Yaoundé and continued to explore the interior and co-opt or subjugate local rulers. The largest conflicts were the Bafut Wars and the Adamawa Wars which ended by 1907 with German victories. Germany was particularly interested in Cameroon's agricultural potential and entrusted large firms with the task of exploiting and exporting it. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck defined the order of priorities as follows: "first the merchant, then the soldier". It was under the influence of a businessman Adolph Woermann, whose company set up a trading house in Douala, that Bismarck, initially skeptical about the interest of the colonial project, was convinced. Large German trading companies (Woermann, Jantzen & Thormählen) and concession companies (Südkamerun Gesellschaft, Nord-West Kamerun Gesellschaft) established themselves massively in the colony. Letting the big companies impose their order, the administration simply supported them, protected them, and tried to eliminate indigenous rebellions. The Imperial German government made substantial investments in the infrastructure of Cameroon, including the extensive railways, such as the 160-metre single-span railway bridge on the southern branch of Sanaga River. However, the indigenous peoples proved reluctant to work on these projects, so the Germans instigated a harsh and unpopular system of forced labour. In fact, Jesko von Puttkamer was relieved of duty as governor of the colony due to his untoward actions toward the native Cameroonians. In 1911 at the Treaty of Fez after the Agadir Crisis, France ceded a nearly 300,000 km2 portion of the territory of French Equatorial Africa to Kamerun which became Neukamerun (New Cameroon), while Germany ceded a smaller area in the north in present-day Chad to France. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the British invaded Cameroon from Nigeria and the French from French Equatorial Africa in the Kamerun campaign. The last German fort in the country surrendered in February 1916. After the Allied victory, the territory was partitioned between the United Kingdom and France, which was formalized on June 28, 1919 with League of Nations mandates (Class B). France gained the larger geographical share, transferred Neukamerun back to neighboring French colonies, and ruled the rest from Yaoundé as Cameroun (French Cameroons). Britain's territory, a strip bordering Nigeria from the sea to Lake Chad, with a roughly equal population was ruled from Lagos as part of Nigeria, known as Cameroons (British Cameroons). French Cameroon (1918-1960) League of Nations Mandate, Free France, and UN Trust Territory The French administration declined to return much of the property in Cameroon to its prior German owners, reassigning much of it to French companies. This was particularly the case for the Société financière des Caoutchoucs, which obtained plantations put into operation during the German period and became the largest company in French Cameroon. Roads and other infrastructure projects were undertaken with native labor, often in extremely harsh conditions. The Douala-Yaoundé railway line, begun under the German regime, was completed. Thousands of workers were forcibly deported to this site to work fifty-four hours a week. Workers also suffered from lack of food and the massive presence of mosquitoes and related illnesses. In 1925, the mortality rate on the site was 61.7%. However, the other sites were not as deadly, although working conditions were generally very harsh. French Cameroon joined the Free France in August 1940. The system established by Free France was essentially a military dictatorship. Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque established a state of siege throughout the country and abolished almost all public freedom. The objective was to neutralize any potential feelings of independence or sympathy for the former German colonizer. Indigenous people known for their Germanophilia were executed in public places. In 1945, the country was placed under the supervision of the United Nations, as successor to the League of Nations, which left Cameroon under French control as a UN Trust Territory. Independence Movement In 1948, the Union des populations du Cameroun (UPC), a nationalist movement, was founded and Ruben Um Nyobe took over as its leader. In May 1955, the arrests of independence activists were followed by riots in several cities across the country. The repression caused several dozen or hundreds of deaths - the French administration officially lists twenty-two, although secret reports acknowledge many more. The UPC was banned and nearly 800 of its activists were arrested, many of whom would be beaten in prison. Because they were wanted by the police, UPC activists took refuge in the forests, where they formed guerilla bands; they also took refuge in neighboring British Cameroon. The French authorities repressed these events and made arbitrary arrests. The party received the support of personalities such as Gamal Abdel Nasser and Kwame Nkrumah and France's action was denounced at the UN by representatives of countries such as India, Syria, and the Soviet Union. An insurrection broke out among the Bassa people on 18 to 19 December 1956. Several dozen anti-UPC figures were murdered or kidnapped, bridges, telephone lines, and other infrastructure were sabotaged. The French military and native security forces violently repressed these uprisings, which led to many native Cameroonians joining the cause of independence and long-running guerilla war. Several UPC militias were formed though their access to weapons was very limited. Though the UPC was a multi-ethnic movement, the pro-independence movement was seen as particularly strong among the Bamileke and Bassa peoples, and both were targeted by the French for severe repression, including razing of villages, forced relocations, and indiscriminate killings in what was sometimes called the Bamileke War or the Cameroon Independence War. Though the uprising was suppressed, guerilla violence and reprisals continued even after independence. Legislative elections was held on 23 December 1956 and the resulting Assembly passed a decree on 16 April 1957 which made French Cameroon a state. It took back its former status of associated territory as a member of the French Union. Its inhabitants became Cameroonian citizens, and Cameroonian institutions were created under a parliamentary democracy. On 12 June 1958, the Legislative Assembly of French Cameroon asked the French government to: "Accord independence to the State of Cameroon at the ends of their trusteeship. Transfer every competence related to the running of internal affairs of Cameroon to Cameroonians". On 19 October 1958, France recognized the right of its United Nations trust territory to choose independence. On 24 October 1958, the Legislative Assembly of French Cameroon solemnly proclaimed the desire of Cameroonians to see their country accede full independence on 1 January 1960. It enjoined the government of French Cameroon to ask France to inform the General Assembly of the United Nations, to abrogate the trusteeship accord concomitant with the independence of French Cameroon. On 12 November 1958, France asked the United Nations to grant French Cameroon independence and end the Trusteeship. On 5 December 1958, the United Nations’ General Assembly took note of the French government's declaration according to which French Cameroon would gain independence on 1 January 1960. On 13 March 1959, the United Nations’ General Assembly resolved that the UN Trusteeship Agreement with France for French Cameroon would end when French Cameroon became independent on 1 January 1960. British Cameroons (1918-1960) Nigerian Administration The British territory was administered as two areas, Northern Cameroons and Southern Cameroons. Northern Cameroons consisted of two non-contiguous sections, divided by a point where the Nigerian and Cameroon borders met and were governed as part of the Northern Region of Nigeria. Southern Cameroons was administered as a province of Eastern Nigeria. In British Cameroons, many German administrators were allowed to run the plantations of the southern coastal area after World War I. A British parliamentary publication, Report on the British Sphere of the Cameroons (May 1922, p. 62-8), reported that the German plantations there were "as a whole . . . wonderful examples of industry, based on solid scientific knowledge. The natives have been taught discipline and have come to realize what can be achieved by industry. Large numbers who return to their villages take up cocoa or other cultivation on their own account, thus increasing the general prosperity of the country." In the 1930s, most of the white population still consisted of Germans, most of whom were interned in British camps starting in June 1940. The native population showed little interest in volunteering for the British forces during World War II; only 3,500 men did so. When the League of Nations ceased to exist in 1946, British | Ahidjo used emergency powers granted due to the war and the fear of further ethnic conflict to centralize power in himself. He implemented a highly centralized and authoritarian government that used arbitrary police custody, prohibition of meetings and rallies, submission of publications to prior censorship, restriction of freedom of movement through the establishment of passes or curfews, and a prohibition on trade unions to prevent opposition. Anyone accusation of "compromising public safety" was handled outside traditional criminal process - without the right to a lawyer or any appeal. Sentences of life imprisonment at hard labor or death were numerous and executions were often public. In 1966, opposition parties were banned and Cameroon became a one-party state. On 28 March 1970 Ahidjo was re-elected as president with 100% of the vote and 99.4% turnout. Solomon Tandeng Muna became vice president. In 1972, a referendum was held on a new constitution, which replaced the federation between East and West with a unitary state called the United Republic of Cameroon and further expanded the power of the president. Official results claimed 98.2% turnout and 99.99% of votes in favor of the new constitution. Although Ahidjo's rule was authoritarian, he was seen as noticeably lacking in charisma in comparison to many post-colonial African leaders. He didn't follow the anti-western policies pursued by many of these leaders, which helped Cameroon achieve a degree of comparative political stability, retain Western investment, and see fairly steady economic growth. Discovery of oil Cameroon became an oil-producing country in 1977. The accounting of oil revenues was totally opaque and many Cameroonians felt the money was mismanaged or embezzled since. Oil remains a primary driver of the economy, though the country is not as oil-dependent as many other producers in the region. Biya Era (1982-) On 30 June 1975 Paul Biya, a long-serving bureaucrat and administrator in the Ahidjo government, was appointed Prime Minister. On November 4, 1982, Ahidjo resigned as president and Biya was his legal successor. Many observers were surprised, as Biya is a Christian from the south while Ahidjo was a Muslim from the North and Ahidjo was only 59 years old. However, Ahidjo did not resign his role as leader of the governing party, and many speculated that he hoped Biya would be a figurehead, or perhaps even a temporary caretaker, as Ahidjo was rumored to be ill and receiving medical care in France. Rift and coup attempt Despite previous good relations, in 1983 a rift was apparent between Biya and Ahidjo. Ahidjo left for France and publicly accused Biya of abuse of power. Ahidjo sought to use his continuing control over the party apparatus to sideline Biya, by causing the party, not the President to set the government's agenda. However, at the party conference in September, Biya was elected to lead the party and Ahidjo resigned. In January 1984, Biya was elected president of the country, running unopposed. In February, two senior officials were arrested and, along with Ahidjo who was tried in absentia alongside them. On April 6, 1984, supporters of Ahidjo attempted a coup d'état, led by the Republican Guard, an elite force recruited by Ahidjo, mainly from the north. The Republican Guard under Colonel Saleh Ibrahim took control of the Yaounde airport, national radio station, and other key points around the capital. However, Biya was able to hole up in the presidential palace with his bodyguard until troops from outside the capital were able to retake control within two days. Ahidjo denied knowledge or responsibility for the coup attempt but was widely viewed as behind it. Limnic eruptions On August 15, 1984, Lake Monoun exploded in a limnic eruption that released enormous amounts of carbon dioxide, suffocating 37 people to death. On August 21, 1986, another limnic eruption at Lake Nyos killed as many as 1,800 people and 3,500 livestock. The two disasters are the only recorded instances of limnic eruptions, though geologic and sedimentary evidence indicates they may have caused large localized die-offs before historical records began. Brief political loosening Biya had initially seemed supportive of loosening restrictions on civil society, but the coup attempt ended any sign of opening up. However, by 1990, pressure from Western governments was mounting as the end of the Cold War made them less tolerant of authoritarian allies. In December 1990, opposition parties were legalized for the first time since 1966. The first multiparty elections were held in 1992 and were hotly contested. Biya won with 40% of the vote against 36 for his closest competitor and 19 for another opposition party. In Parliament, Biya's ruling party on a plurality with 45% of the votes but failed to obtain a majority. The competitiveness of the election was not to Biya's liking and subsequent elections have been widely criticized by opposition parties and international observers as rigged and suffering from numerous and widespread irregularities. The ruling party has had no trouble gaining large majorities. Pressure from Anglophone groups in former British Cameroons resulted in changes to the constitution in 1996, which purported to decentralize power but fell short of Anglophone demands to reestablish the federal structure. As a result of continued opposition, many of the changes adopted in 1996 have never been fully implemented and power remains highly centralized in the President. Bakassi border conflict Bakassi is a peninsula on the Gulf of Guinea between the Cross River estuary and the Rio del Rey estuary on the east. The area was administered by Nigeria through the colonial era. However, after independence, efforts to demarcate the border revealed that a 1913 agreement between Britain and Germany, placed Bakassi in German Cameroon and accordingly should belong to Cameroon. Nigeria pointed to other colonial-era documents and agreements and their long history of administration to object to this narrative. The competing claims grew contentious after oil was discovered in the region. An agreement between the two countries in 1975 was derailed by a coup in Nigeria. In 1981, clashes between Nigerian and Cameroonian forces resulted in several deaths and nearly led to war between the two nations. The border saw further clashes several times throughout the 1980s. In 1993, the situation worsened with both countries sending large military contingents to the region and numerous reports of skirmishes and attacks against civilians. On 29 March 1994, Cameroon referred the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In October 2002, the International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Cameroon. However, the ruling was resisted by Nigeria. Pressure from the UN and international community and the threat of withdrawal of foreign aid ultimately forced Nigeria to acquiesce and in 2006 the Greentree Agreement laid out a plan for the transfer of administration over two years. The transfer was successfully accomplished but many inhabitants of the peninsula retained their Nigerian citizenship and remain dissatisfied with the transition. Low-level violence continued until it was subsumed in the Anglophone Crisis in 2017. 2008 protests In February 2008, Cameroon experienced widespread violent unrest as a strike by transport workers opposing high fuel prices and poor working conditions coincided with President Paul Biya's announcement that he wanted the constitution to be amended to remove term limits. Biya was scheduled to leave power at the end of his term in 2011. After several days of widespread rioting, looting, and reports of gunfire in all the major cities, calm was eventually restored after a crackdown with thousands arrested, and at least several dozen killed. The government announced lower fuel prices, increased wages for the military and civil servants, and decreased duties on key foodstuffs and construction materials. Many opposition groups reported additional harassment and restrictions on speech, gatherings, and political activity in the wake of the protests. Ultimately, the constitutional term limits were revoked and Biya was reelected in 2011 in an election criticized by the opposition and international observers as plagued by irregularities and low turnout. Contemporary issues Boko Haram In 2014, the Boko Haram insurgency spread into Cameroon from Nigeria. In May 2014, in the wake of the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping, Presidents Paul Biya of Cameroon and Idriss Déby of Chad announced they were waging war on Boko Haram, and deployed troops to the Nigerian border. Cameroon announced in September 2018 that Boko Haram had been repelled, but the conflict persists in the northern border areas nonetheless. Anglophone Crisis In November 2016, major protests broke out in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. In September 2017, the protests and the government's response to them escalated into an armed conflict, with separatists declaring the independence of Ambazonia and starting a guerilla war against the Cameroonian Army. Football Cameroon has received some international attention following the relative success of its football team. It has qualified for the FIFA World Cup on several occasions. Its most notable performance was at Italia 90, when the team beat Argentina, the then reigning Champions in the opening game; Cameroon eventually lost in extra time in the Quarterfinals to England. See also Ambazonia History of Africa Politics of Cameroon List of heads of government of Cameroon List of heads of state of Cameroon Douala history and timeline Yaoundé history and timeline References Background Note: Cameroon from the U.S. Department of State. Bullock, A. L. C. (1939). Germany's Colonial Demands, Oxford University Press. DeLancey, Mark W., and DeLancey, Mark Dike (2000): Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon (3rd ed.). Lanham, Maryland: The Scarecrow Press. Schnee, Heinrich (1926). German |
miniature" because it exhibits all the major climates and vegetation of the continent: mountains, desert, rain forest, savanna grassland, and ocean coastland. Cameroon can be divided into five geographic zones. These are distinguished by dominant physical, climatic, and vegetative features. Natural regions Cameroon's coastal plain extends inland from the Gulf of Guinea (part of the Atlantic Ocean) to the edge of a plateau. In the former western state, however, the mass of Mount Cameroon reaches almost to the sea. The plain is densely forested including areas of Central African mangroves especially around Douala and in the estuary of the Cross River on the border with Nigeria. A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 643km² of tidal flats in Cameroon, making it the 39th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area. The low South Cameroon Plateau, rising from the coastal plain and dominated by tropical rain forest, has an average elevation of . It is less humid than the coast. In western Cameroon is an irregular chain of mountains, hills, and plateaus that extends from Mount Cameroon almost to Lake Chad at the northern tip of the country. This region includes the Bamenda, Bamiléké, and Mambilla highlands. It also contains some of the country's most fertile soils, notably around volcanic Mt. Cameroon. This area of tropical forest has been categorised by the World Wildlife Fund as the Cameroonian Highlands forests ecoregion with Mount Cameroon considered separately because as an active volcano it has a distinct environment from the other mountains. From the forested southern plateau the land rises northward to the grassy, rugged Adamaoua (Adamawa) highlands. Stretching across Cameroon from the western mountain area, the Adamaoua forms a barrier between the north and south. Its average elevation is . The southern savanna plain extends from the edge of the Adamaoua to Lake Chad. Its characteristic vegetation is scrub and grass. This is region of sparse rainfall and high median temperatures has been included as part of the East Sudanian savanna ecoregion. Climate The climate varies with terrain, from tropical along the coast to semiarid and hot in the north. Exceedingly hot and humid, the coastal belt includes some of the wettest places on earth. For example, Debundscha, at the base of Mt. Cameroon, has an average annual rainfall of . Biodiversity The wide diversity of climates and natural regions of Cameroon, as coastline, mountains, savanna, deserts, and tropical forests, allows that the country counts with rich biodiversity. Twenty-two million hectares from the Congo Basin forest ecosystem are located in Cameroon, where 9,000 plant species, 900 bird species, and 320 mammals species live, included 156 endemic plants, eight endemic birds, and 14 endemic mammals. The border with Nigeria has one of the highest concentration of biodiversity in Africa. As part of the conservation efforts to protect threatened natural resources, Cameroon has established protected areas since 1932, included | the Adamaoua to Lake Chad. Its characteristic vegetation is scrub and grass. This is region of sparse rainfall and high median temperatures has been included as part of the East Sudanian savanna ecoregion. Climate The climate varies with terrain, from tropical along the coast to semiarid and hot in the north. Exceedingly hot and humid, the coastal belt includes some of the wettest places on earth. For example, Debundscha, at the base of Mt. Cameroon, has an average annual rainfall of . Biodiversity The wide diversity of climates and natural regions of Cameroon, as coastline, mountains, savanna, deserts, and tropical forests, allows that the country counts with rich biodiversity. Twenty-two million hectares from the Congo Basin forest ecosystem are located in Cameroon, where 9,000 plant species, 900 bird species, and 320 mammals species live, included 156 endemic plants, eight endemic birds, and 14 endemic mammals. The border with Nigeria has one of the highest concentration of biodiversity in Africa. As part of the conservation efforts to protect threatened natural resources, Cameroon has established protected areas since 1932, included national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, faunal reserves, and one flora sanctuary. Cameroon had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 8.00/10, ranking it 29th globally out of 172 countries. Rivers The country has four patterns of drainage. In the south, the principal rivers flow southwestward or westward directly to the Gulf of Guinea – the Wouri, and lesser Dibamba, Bimbia and Mungo to the Cameroon estuary near Douala; Sanaga, Nyong, and Ntem further south along the coast; Akwayafe and Manyu (which joins Nigerian Cross), and the lesser Ndian and Meme north of the coast. The Dja and Kadeï, |
to only 4 466 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.6%, 55.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.5% was 65 years or older. Fertility and births Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011 (DHS Program): Vital statistics Registration of vital events is in Cameroon not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Life expectancy Ethnic groups Cameroon Highlanders 31% Equatorial Bantu 19% Kirdi 11% Fulani 10% Baggara Arabs (also called Arab Shuwa) Hausa Kanuri Northwestern Bantu 8% Eastern Nigritic 7% Other African 13% Non-African less than 1% Languages There are 24 major African language groups in Cameroon; additionally, English and French are official languages. Cameroonian Pidgin English is also widely spoken. Peoples concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces—around Buea and Bamenda—use standard English and Cameroonian Pidgin English, as well as their local languages. In the three northern provinces—Adamawa, North, and Far North—either French or Fulfulde (the language of the Fulani) is widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal second language, although pidgin and some local languages such as Ewondo, the dialect of a Beti clan from the Yaoundé area, have a wide currency. In Far North Region the northernmost constituent province of Cameroon, Arab Shuwa (an Arab dialect) is spoken by the Baggara Arabs (also called Arab Shuwa). Indigenous languages of Cameroon include: Arab Shuwa Bamum Basaa Bikya Bung Kanuri Ngumba Yeni Other demographic statistics Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019. One birth every 36 seconds One death every 2 minutes One net migrant every 111 minutes Net gain of one person every 50 seconds The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 25,640,965 (July 2018 est.) 24,994,885 (2017 est.) Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality | below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.6%, 55.9% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.5% was 65 years or older. Fertility and births Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011 (DHS Program): Vital statistics Registration of vital events is in Cameroon not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Life expectancy Ethnic groups Cameroon Highlanders 31% Equatorial Bantu 19% Kirdi 11% Fulani 10% Baggara Arabs (also called Arab Shuwa) Hausa Kanuri Northwestern Bantu 8% Eastern Nigritic 7% Other African 13% Non-African less than 1% Languages There are 24 major African language groups in Cameroon; additionally, English and French are official languages. Cameroonian Pidgin English is also widely spoken. Peoples concentrated in the Southwest and Northwest Provinces—around Buea and Bamenda—use standard English and Cameroonian Pidgin English, as well as their local languages. In the three northern provinces—Adamawa, North, and Far North—either French or Fulfulde (the language of the Fulani) is widely spoken. Elsewhere, French is the principal second language, although pidgin and some local languages such as Ewondo, the dialect of a Beti clan from the Yaoundé area, have a wide currency. In Far North Region the northernmost constituent province of Cameroon, Arab Shuwa (an Arab dialect) is spoken by the Baggara Arabs (also called Arab Shuwa). Indigenous languages of Cameroon include: Arab Shuwa Bamum Basaa Bikya Bung Kanuri Ngumba Yeni Other demographic statistics Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019. One birth every 36 seconds One death every 2 minutes One net migrant every 111 minutes Net gain of one person every 50 seconds The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 25,640,965 (July 2018 est.) 24,994,885 (2017 est.) Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in |
for an independent election commission, the three major opposition parties boycotted the October 1997 presidential election, which Biya easily won. The leader of one of the opposition parties, Bello Bouba Maigari of the NUDP, subsequently joined the government. Cameroon has a number of independent newspapers. Censorship was abolished in 1996, but the government sometimes seizes or suspends newspapers and occasionally arrests journalists. Although a 1990 law authorizes private radio and television stations, the government has not granted any licenses as of March 1998. The Cameroonian Government's human rights record has been improving over the years but remains flawed. There continue to be reported abuses, including beatings of detainees, arbitrary arrests, and illegal searches. The judiciary is frequently corrupt, inefficient, and subject to political influence. Worthy of note is the fact that Cameroon is the only country in which two Constitutions are applicable side by side. For example, the 1972 Constitution designates the Prime Minister as constitutional successor of the Head of State in case of incapacity, death, resignation or unaccountable absence of the incumbent. Contrarily, the 1996 Constitutional Reform designates the President of the Senate as constitutional successor; but the Senate (provided for by 1996 Reform) does not exist. Apart from increasing the presidential mandate from 5 years to 7 years, very few amendments of the 1996 Constitutional Reform have been applied. Executive branch |President |Paul Biya |Cameroon People's Democratic Movement |6 November 1982 |- |Prime Minister |Joseph Dion Ngute |Cameroon People's Democratic Movement |4 January 2019 |} The 1972 constitution of the Republic of Cameroon as modified by 1996 reforms provides for a strong central government | the 1996 Constitutional Reform have been applied. Executive branch |President |Paul Biya |Cameroon People's Democratic Movement |6 November 1982 |- |Prime Minister |Joseph Dion Ngute |Cameroon People's Democratic Movement |4 January 2019 |} The 1972 constitution of the Republic of Cameroon as modified by 1996 reforms provides for a strong central government dominated by the executive. The president is empowered to name and dismiss cabinet members (regardless of parliamentary representation), judges, generals, provincial governors, prefects, sub-prefects, and heads of Cameroon's parastatal (about 100 state-controlled) firms, obligate or disburse expenditures, approve or veto regulations, declare states of emergency, and appropriate and spend profits of parastatal firms. The president is not required to consult the National Assembly. In 2008, a constitutional amendment was passed that eliminated term limits for president. The judiciary is subordinate to the executive branch's Ministry of Justice. The Supreme court may review the constitutionality of a law only at the president's request. All local government officials are employees of the central government's Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments also get most of their budgets. While the president, the minister of justice, and the president's judicial advisers (the Supreme Court) top the judicial hierarchy, traditional rulers, courts, and councils also exercise functions of government. Traditional courts still play a major role in domestic, property, and probate law. Tribal laws and customs are honored in the formal court system when not in conflict with national law. Traditional rulers receive stipends from the national government. Legislative branch The 180-member National Assembly meets in ordinary session three times a year (March/April, June/July, and November/December), and has seldom, until recently, made major changes in legislation proposed by the executive. Laws are adopted by majority vote of members present or, if the president demands a second reading, of a total membership. Following government pledges to reform the strongly centralized 1972 constitution, the National Assembly adopted a number of amendments in December 1995 which were promulgated in January 1996. The amendments call for the establishment of a 100-member senate as part of a bicameral legislature, the creation of regional councils, and the fixing of the presidential term to 7 years, renewable once. One-third of senators are to be appointed by the President, and the remaining two-thirds are to be chosen by indirect elections. The government has established the Senate in 2013. Political parties and elections Judicial branch The judiciary is subordinate to the executive branch's Ministry of Justice. The |
hampered by a loose regulatory and supervisory framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs). The banking sector is highly concentrated and dominated by foreign commercial banks. 6 out of the 11 largest commercial banks are foreign-owned, and the three largest banks hold more than 50 percent of total financial system assets. While foreign banks generally display good solvency ratios, small domestic banks are in a much weaker position. Their capitalization is well below the average of banks in the CEMAC region and their profits are close to 2 percent, compared to 20 percent for foreign banks in the country. This is partially explained by the high levels of non-performing loans, which reached 12 percent in 2007, leading to most banks holding large amounts of excess reserves as a percentage of deposits and large levels of unutilized liquidity. In 2018, Cameroon's financial system is being requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its tax base to cover the losses from the North-West and South-West Cameroon's regions instabilities, the loss of oil revenue, the failure to deliver on port facilities, and the decline in oil production from mature oil fields. Macro-economic trend Cameroon became an oil-producing country in 1977. Claiming to want to make reserves for difficult times, the authorities manage "off-budget" oil revenues in total opacity (the funds are placed in Paris, Switzerland and New York accounts). Several billion dollars are thus diverted to the benefit of oil companies and regime officials. The influence of France and its 9,000 nationals in Cameroon remains considerable. African Affairs magazine noted in the early 1980s that they "continue to dominate almost all key sectors of the economy, much as they did before independence. French nationals control 55% of the modern sector of the Cameroonian economy and their control over the banking system is total. Recent signs, however, are encouraging. As of | and Nigeria); 302 thousand tons of potato; 301 thousand tons of onion; 249 thousand tons of cotton; In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, such as coffee (33 thousand tons) and natural rubber (55 thousand tons). Finance and banking Cameroon's financial system is the largest in the CEMAC region. Access to financial services is limited, particularly for SMEs. Aside from a traditional tendency for banks to prefer dealing with large, established companies, determining factors are also found in interest rates for loans to SMEs being capped at 15 percent and being heavily taxed. As of 2006, bank loans to SMEs hardly reached 15 percent of total outstanding loans (Molua, 2002). Less than 5 percent of Cameroonians have access to a bank account. While the microfinance sector is consequently becoming increasingly important, its development is hampered by a loose regulatory and supervisory framework for microfinance institutions (MFIs). The banking sector is highly concentrated and dominated by foreign commercial banks. 6 out of the 11 largest commercial banks are foreign-owned, and the three largest banks hold more than 50 percent of total financial system assets. While foreign banks generally display good solvency ratios, small domestic banks are in a much weaker position. Their capitalization is well below the average of banks in the CEMAC region and their profits are close to 2 percent, compared to 20 percent for foreign banks in the country. This is partially explained by the high levels of non-performing loans, which reached 12 percent in 2007, leading to most banks holding large amounts of excess reserves as a percentage of deposits and large levels of unutilized liquidity. In 2018, Cameroon's financial system is being requested by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase its tax base to cover the losses from the North-West and South-West Cameroon's regions instabilities, the loss of oil revenue, the failure to deliver on port facilities, and the decline in oil production from mature oil fields. Macro-economic trend Cameroon became an oil-producing country in 1977. Claiming to want to make reserves for difficult times, the authorities manage "off-budget" oil revenues in total opacity (the funds are placed in Paris, Switzerland and New York accounts). Several billion dollars are thus diverted to the benefit of oil companies and regime officials. The influence of France and its 9,000 nationals in Cameroon remains considerable. African Affairs magazine noted in the early 1980s that they "continue to dominate almost all key sectors of the economy, much as they did before independence. French nationals control 55% of the modern sector of the Cameroonian economy and their control over the banking system is total. Recent signs, however, are encouraging. As of March 1998, Cameroon's fifth IMF program – a 3-year enhanced structural adjustment program approved in August 1997 – |
64th in the world (2012); 4.5 million lines (2007). Telephone system: system includes cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter; Camtel, the monopoly provider of fixed-line service, provides connections for only about 3 per 100 persons; equipment is old and outdated, and connections with many parts of the country are unreliable; mobile-cellular usage, in part a reflection of the poor condition and general inadequacy of the fixed-line network, has increased sharply, reaching a subscribership base of 50 per 100 persons (2011). Communications cables: South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) fiber-optic cable system provides connectivity to Europe and Asia (2011); Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), cable system connecting countries along the west coast of Africa to each other and to Portugal and France, is planned. Satellite earth stations: 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011). Internet Top-level domain: .cm Internet users: 1.1 million users, 113th in the world; 5.7% of the population, 184th in the world (2012). 985,565 users (2011); 749,600 users, 106th in the world (2009). Fixed broadband: 1,006 subscriptions, 180th in the world; less than 0.05% of the population, 190th in the world (2012). Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012). Internet hosts: 10,207 hosts, 134th in the world (2012); 69 hosts (2008). IPv4: 137,728 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 6.8 addresses per 1000 people (2012). Internet service providers (ISPs): Creolink Communications A number of projects are underway that will improve Internet access, telecommunications, and Information and communications technology (ICT) in general: Implementation of the e-post project, connecting 234 post offices throughout the country; Extension of the national optical fiber network, installation of the initial 3,200 km of fiber is complete and studies for the installation of an additional 3,400 km are underway; Construction of multipurpose community telecentres, some 115 telecentres are operating with an additional 205 under construction; Construction of metropolitan optical loops, the urban optical loop of Douala is complete and construction of the Yaounde loop is underway; Construction of submarine cable landing points; Establishment of public key infrastructure (PKI); Construction of a regional technology park to support the development of ICTs. 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. Although the law provides for freedom of speech and press, it also criminalizes media offenses, and the government restricts freedoms of speech and press. Government officials threaten, harass, arrest, and deny equal treatment to individuals or organizations that criticize government policies or express views at | pay an application fee and thereafter pay a high annual licensing fee. Several rural community radio stations function with foreign funding. The government prohibits these stations from discussing politics. In spite of the government's tight control, Reporters Without Borders reported in its 2011 field survey that "[i]t is clear from the diversity of the media and the outspoken reporting style that press freedom is a reality". Telephones Calling code: +237 International call prefix: 00 Main lines: 737,400 lines in use, 88th in the world (2012); 130,700 lines in use (2006). Mobile cellular: 13.1 million lines, 64th in the world (2012); 4.5 million lines (2007). Telephone system: system includes cable, microwave radio relay, and tropospheric scatter; Camtel, the monopoly provider of fixed-line service, provides connections for only about 3 per 100 persons; equipment is old and outdated, and connections with many parts of the country are unreliable; mobile-cellular usage, in part a reflection of the poor condition and general inadequacy of the fixed-line network, has increased sharply, reaching a subscribership base of 50 per 100 persons (2011). Communications cables: South Atlantic 3/West Africa Submarine Cable (SAT-3/WASC) fiber-optic cable system provides connectivity to Europe and Asia (2011); Africa Coast to Europe (ACE), cable system connecting countries along the west coast of Africa to each other and to Portugal and France, is planned. Satellite earth stations: 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011). Internet Top-level domain: .cm Internet users: 1.1 million users, 113th in the world; 5.7% of the population, 184th in the world (2012). 985,565 users (2011); 749,600 users, 106th in the world (2009). Fixed broadband: 1,006 subscriptions, 180th in the world; less than 0.05% of the population, 190th in the world (2012). Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012). Internet hosts: 10,207 hosts, 134th in the world (2012); 69 hosts (2008). IPv4: 137,728 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 6.8 addresses per 1000 people (2012). Internet service providers (ISPs): Creolink Communications A number of projects are underway that will improve Internet access, telecommunications, and Information and communications technology (ICT) in general: Implementation of the e-post project, connecting 234 post offices throughout the country; Extension of the national optical fiber network, installation of the initial 3,200 km of fiber is complete and studies for the installation of an additional 3,400 km are underway; Construction of multipurpose community telecentres, some 115 telecentres are operating with an additional 205 under construction; Construction of metropolitan optical loops, the urban optical loop of Douala is complete and construction of the Yaounde loop is underway; Construction of submarine cable landing points; Establishment of public key infrastructure (PKI); Construction of a regional technology park to support the development of ICTs. 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. |
a subsidiary of French investment group Bolloré. As of May 2014 Camrail operated regular daily services on three routes: Douala - Kumba Douala - Yaoundé Yaoundé - Ngaoundéré There are no rail links with neighboring countries. Roadways Total highways: 50,000 km Paved: 5,000 km Unpaved: 45,000 km (2004) Cameroon lies at a key point in the Trans-African Highway network, with three routes crossing its territory: Dakar-N'Djamena Highway, connecting just over the Cameroon border with the N'Djamena-Djibouti Highway Lagos-Mombasa Highway Tripoli-Cape Town Highway Cameroon's central location in the network means that efforts to close the gaps which exist in the network across Central Africa rely on the Cameroon's participation in maintaining the network, and the network has the potential to have a profound influence on Cameroon's regional trade. Except for the several relatively good toll roads which connect major cities (all of them one-lane) roads are poorly maintained and subject to inclement weather, since only 10% of the roadways are tarred. It is likely for instance that within a decade, a great deal of trade between West Africa and Southern Africa will be moving on the network | Bafang - Bafoussam. N6: Ejagham, border with Nigeria - Bamenda - Bafoussam - Tibati - Lokoti. N7: Edéa - Kribi. N8: Mutengene - Kumba - Mamfé. N9: Mbalmayo - Nki, border with Congo. N10: Yaoundé - Bertoua - Batouri - Kenzou, border with the Central African Republic. N11 Bamenda Ring Road Linking, Mezam, Ngokitujia, Mbui, Boyo and Menchum Prices of petrol rose steadily in 2007 and 2008, leading to a transport union strike in Douala on 25 February 2008. The strike quickly escalated into violent protests and spread to other major cities. The uprising finally subsided on 29 February. Waterways 2,090 km; of decreasing importance. Navigation mainly on the Benue River; limited during rainy season. Seaports and harbors Douala - main port, railhead, and second largest city. Bonaberi - railhead to northwest Garoua Kribi - oil pipeline from Chad Kribi South - proposed iron ore export port, about 40 km south of Kribi. Tiko Pipelines 888 km of oil line (2008) Airports The main international airport is the Douala International Airport and a secondary international airport at Yaoundé Nsimalen International Airport. As of May 2014 Cameroon had regular international air connections with nearly every major international airport in West and Southwest Africa as well as several connections to Europe and East Africa. In 2008 there were 34 airports, only 10 of which had paved runways. List of airports in Cameroon Airports - with paved runways total: 10 over 3,047 m: 2 2,438 to 3,047 m: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2008) Airports - with unpaved runways total: 24 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 914 |
tactical battle unit under the authority of the Chief of Staff of the armed forces. For this to be engaged, the President’s agreement is necessary. Five motorised infantry brigades, supposed to be stationed in one military sector but which can then be engaged without any regard to the territorial division of the country. These brigades currently do not have a general staff. In theory, they consist of 11 motorised infantry battalions; 5 support battalions and 3 backing battalions; however, the motorised battalions are in reality not operational due to a lack of staff, equipment and vehicles. Organization The territory is divided into 5 combined arms military regions (RMIA): RMIA1 (Yaoundé) RMIA2 (Douala) RMIA3 (Garoua) RMIA4 (Maroua) RMIA5 (Bamenda) 1st Military Region 11th Ebolowa Brigade: 11th BCS (command and support battalion) in Ebolowa 12th BIM (motorized infantry battalion) in Ebolowa 12th BIM at Djoum 13th BIM at Ambam 11th BA (support battalion) at Sangmélima 12th Bertoua brigade 12th BCS in Bertoua 14th BIM in Bertoua 15th BIM to Yokadouma 16th BIM at Garoua-Boulaï 12th BA in Bertoua 2nd Military Region Rapid Intervention Brigade Headquarters at Bafoussam Special Amphibious Battalion (BSA) at Tiko Airborne Battalion (BTAP) in Koutaba Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (BBR) in Douala 21st Motorized infantry brigade of Buéa 21st BCS in Buéa 21 BIM in Buéa 22nd BIM at Mamfé 23rd BIM at Loum 24th BIM at Akwaya 21st BA in Kumba 201st Douala Air Base 21st Air Transport Squadron 211st Transport and Assault Transport Squadron 212nd Transport and Assault Transport Squadron 22nd Air Squadron 221st Transport and Assault Transport Squadron 222nd Reconnaissance Squadron Army equipment Note that this list shows acquired equipment and not the equipment that are currently in service. some of listed equipment are out of service. Cameroonian Air Force The air force has bases in Garoua, Koutaba, Yaoundé, Douala and Bamenda. The Cameroonian Air Force was founded in 1960, the year of independence from France. There are under 400 troops in the air force. Cameroon's Air Force has 9 combat-capable aircraft. Cameroon Navy There are about 1,300 troops in the navy including naval infantry. History Around May 1999, Philip Njaru wrote a newspaper article where he alleged ill-treatment of civilians conducted by the 21st Navy Battalion based in Ekondo-Titi. In late May Njaru was approached by the local captain who asked Njaru "to stop writing such articles and to disclose his sources". Refusing to do this, Njaru five days later found his house encircled by armed soldiers, and escaped to Kumba. Here, he was assaulted by police in June 2001, with no particular reason stated. Njaru complained to the local authorities, but later learned that "his complaint had not been received". Cameroon's Marine Nationale République modernised and increased its capabilities during 2000 with the acquisition of a number of small Rodman patrol craft and the retirement of some small older craft. A number of small patrol boats have been acquired or ordered from France. Latest estimates indicate naval strength consists of two combat patrol vessels, three coastal patrol vessels and approximately 30 smaller inshore and river patrol craft allocated to both the navy and the local gendarmerie. These include two 135 tonne Yunnan-class landing craft, which are able to carry and launch smaller craft for troop insertions. Some effort has been made to assess equipment needs to bring L'Audacieux P103 and Bakassi P104 to an effective combat status. This has resulted in weapons capabilities being reduced in favour of an increase in serviceability and the service is now effectively without missile attack capabilities. Bakassi (a Type P 48S missile patrol craft) completed a major refit at | the Cameroonian Navy, which is headquartered at Douala. Under 400 troops are part of the Air Force. There is an additional 9,000 paramilitary troops that serve as a gendarmerie (policing force) or reconnaissance role. The Cameroonian armed forces have bases spread all over Cameroon, including in Ngaoundéré. Air Force bases are located in Garoua, Yaoundé, Douala and Bamenda. It generally has been an apolitical force where civilian control of the military predominates. Traditional dependence on the French defense capability, although reduced, continues to be the case as French military advisers remain closely involved in preparing the Cameroonian forces for deployment to the contested Bakassi Peninsula. "China has an ongoing military-military relationship with Cameroon, which includes training for Cameroonian military students each year in China, technical advisors to assist in repairing Cameroonian military vehicles and naval vessels, and Chinese military sales." Army With 12,500 troops the Army remains the most important component in terms of numbers. The Army is under the responsibility of the Chief of Staff, Major-General Nkoa Atenga, whose staff is in Yaoundé. Currently the organization dates from 2001 with a distribution in several types of units: combat units, response units (unités d'intervention), unités de soutien et d'appui, and finally special reserve units as part of 3 joint military régions (interarmées) and the 10 military land sectors. Army units have been trained and equipped to fight in the swampy coastal terrain facing the Bakassi peninsula. Although prepared for an armed conflict with Nigeria in recent years, the Cameroon Army does not have operational experience against other forces, therefore, it is not possible to assess its ability to respond to changing threats and opposing tactics. Combat units of the army include: The Headquarters Brigade, located in Yaoundé. This brigade is responsible for protecting the capital and supporting the institutions. The President of the Republic has to allow any of its deployments. Three command and support battalions; The Rapid Intervention Battalion (Btaillon d'Intervention Rapide, BIR) The (Brigade d'Intervention Rapide, or also BIR), (which currently has no general staff) and is made up of three rapid response battalions, stationed in Douala, Tiko and Koutaba. These three battalions are respectively the Special Amphibious Battalion (Bataillon Spécial Amphibie; BSA), the Bataillon des Troupes Aéroportées (BTAP), and the Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (Bataillon Blindé de Reconnaissance; BBR) equipped with Type 07P infantry fighting vehicle and PTL-02 tank destroyer bought recently from China. The BSA is inspired by the French Special Forces. This brigade is a tactical battle unit under the authority of the Chief of Staff of the armed forces. For this to be engaged, the President’s agreement is necessary. Five motorised infantry brigades, supposed to be stationed in one military sector but which can then be engaged without any regard to the territorial division of the country. These brigades currently do not have a general staff. In theory, they consist of 11 motorised infantry battalions; 5 support battalions and 3 backing battalions; however, the motorised battalions are in reality not operational due to a lack of staff, equipment and vehicles. Organization The territory is divided into 5 combined arms military regions (RMIA): RMIA1 (Yaoundé) RMIA2 (Douala) RMIA3 (Garoua) RMIA4 (Maroua) RMIA5 (Bamenda) 1st Military Region 11th Ebolowa Brigade: 11th BCS (command and support battalion) in Ebolowa 12th BIM (motorized infantry battalion) in Ebolowa 12th BIM at Djoum 13th BIM at Ambam 11th BA (support battalion) at Sangmélima 12th Bertoua brigade 12th BCS in Bertoua 14th BIM in Bertoua 15th BIM to Yokadouma 16th BIM at Garoua-Boulaï 12th BA in Bertoua 2nd Military Region Rapid Intervention Brigade Headquarters at Bafoussam Special Amphibious Battalion (BSA) at Tiko Airborne Battalion (BTAP) in Koutaba Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (BBR) in Douala 21st Motorized infantry |
Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) against the Government of the Republic of Cameroon, in which the complainants allege that the Republic of Cameroon is illegally occupying the territory of Southern Cameroons. The SCNC and SCAPO ultimately seek the independence of the territory of Southern Cameroons. As of 2008, both parties have submitted briefs and responded to the Human Rights Commissions' inquiries. A ruling by the African Commission on Human Rights is awaited. Bilateral relationships Multilateral relations In addition to the United Nations, Cameroon is very active in other multilateral organisations or global institutions such as the Francophonie, The Commonwealth, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the Group of 77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the African Union and the Economic Community of Central African States. Refugees and internally displaced persons Refugees (country of origin): 20,000-30,000 (Chad); 3,000 (Nigeria); 24,000 (Central African Republic) (2007) See also | exclusive maritime economic zone. As of 10 October 2012, it has been resolved that Cameroon own Bakassi. Cameroon also faces a complaint filed with the African Commission on Human Rights by the Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) and the Southern Cameroons Peoples Organisation (SCAPO) against the Government of the Republic of Cameroon, in which the complainants allege that the Republic of Cameroon is illegally occupying the territory of Southern Cameroons. The SCNC and SCAPO ultimately seek the independence of the territory of Southern Cameroons. As of 2008, both parties have submitted briefs and responded to the Human Rights Commissions' inquiries. A ruling by the African Commission on Human Rights is awaited. Bilateral relationships Multilateral relations In addition to the United Nations, Cameroon is very active in other multilateral organisations or |
and Boa Vista. The islands in the Sotavento group are Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava. All but Santa Luzia are inhabited. Three islands – Sal, Boa Vista, and Maio – generally are level and lack natural water supplies. Mountains higher than are found on Santiago, Fogo, Santo Antão, and São Nicolau. Sand carried by strong winds has caused erosion on all islands, especially the windward ones. Sheer, jagged cliffs rise from the sea on several of the mountainous islands. The lack of natural vegetation in the uplands and coast also contributes to soil erosion. The interior valleys support denser natural vegetation. Data Geographic coordinates Area Total: 4,072 km2 Land: 4,072 km2 Water: 0 km2 (inland water is negligible) Area – comparativeAbout 1.5 times as large as Luxembourg Coastline Maritime claims Measured from claimed archipelagic baselines Territorial sea: Contiguous zone: Exclusive economic zone: Exclusive economic zone EEZ area: Continental shelf: 5,591 km2 Coral reefs: 0.09% of world Sea mounts: 0.04% of world TerrainSteep, rugged, rocky, volcanic. Elevation extremes Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m Highest point: Mount Fogo (a volcano on Fogo Island) Natural resourcesSalt, basalt rock, limestone, kaolin, fish, clay, gypsum Land use agricultural land: 18.6% (2018 est.) arable land: 11.7% (2018 est.) permanent crops: 0.7% (2018 est.) permanent pasture: 6.2% (2018 est.) forest: 21% (2018 est.) other: 60.4% (2018 est.) Irrigated land (2012) Total renewable water resources0.3 km3 (2017) Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural) total: 0.02 km3/yr (6%/1%/93%) per capita: 48.57 m3/yr (2004) Natural hazards Prolonged droughts; seasonal harmattan wind produces obscuring dust; volcanically and seismically active. Geography - note Strategic location 500 km from west coast of Africa near major north-south sea routes; important communications station; important sea and air refueling site. Table of islands Borders Cabo Verde shares maritime boundaries with Mauritania and Senegal. Cabo Verde has signed treaties with Senegal and Mauritania delimiting the specific boundaries. However, the two treaties conflict in their delimitation of the precise borders. Due to the numerous islands it has an Exclusive Economic Zone of . Climate Rainfall is irregular, historically causing periodic droughts and famines. Desalination plants now provide water to more than half the country's population. Experiments with fog collectors have been conducted since 1962, however, such collectors had not been expanded beyond the Serra Malagueta community of Santiago Island, as of 2009. The average precipitation per year in Praia is . During the winter, storms blowing from the Sahara sometimes cloud the sky; however, sunny days are the norm year round. The clearest skies are found between February and June, with very little rainfall during these months. Saharan dust, Harmattan wind, laden with dust come from the Sahara. This occurs between November and March and is generally similar to the "Calima" affecting the Canary Islands. The ocean near Cabo Verde is an area of tropical cyclone formation; since these storms have the whole Atlantic over which to develop as they move westward, they are among the most intense hurricanes, and are called Cape Verde-type hurricanes. The Cape Verde islands are a very degradated area. Also, most islands do not always get a monsoon. In fact, it is not surprising that some atmospheric precipitation of islands are limited in tropical rain. If rain arrives, it is usually between August and October. The first "rainy season" brings high temperatures and high humidity that condenses as dew mountain. The other rainy season is between December and June, when the northeast trade winds are common during this season, only altitudes above 600 m tend to receive regular rain. The island of Sal receives an average of 0 mm in May. When the rain comes, if it comes, it can be very strong. Half of the rain in a particular year can often fall into a single storm. Most of the Cape Verde islands are dry, but on islands with high mountains and farther away from the continental land mass, by orography, the humidity is much higher, giving a rainforest habitat, very degraded by the strong human presence. Northeastern slopes of high mountains often receive a lot of rain and southwestern slopes do not. This is because they are umbria areas, situated in the north hillsides or slopes of the mountainous areas, oriented behind the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, in the shadyside orographic. So the amount of solar radiation that it receive is much lower than it would if it had without the island's relief which intercepts much of the sun. In terms of botanical ecology, these umbria areas are identified as being cool and moist. The current north of the Canaries, has a cooling effect on the islands of Cabo Verde, making the air temperature more bearable than it would expect in any case at this latitude. Conversely, the islands do not receive the upwellings (cold streams) that affect the West African coast, so the air temperature is cooler than in Senegal, but the sea is actually warmer, because the orographic relief of some islands, such as Sao Miguel with steep mountains, cover it with rich woods and luxuriant vegetation where the humid air condenses and soak the plants, rocks, soil, logs, and moss. Hurricanes often begin forming in the waters around the islands of Cabo Verde, but it is rare that the strength of the storm reaches close to the islands. A Cape Verde type hurricane is formed in the area south of the islands, near Sao Miguel, after a tropical wave on the African continent during the rainy season. The storm picks up strength when it crosses the warm waters of Atlantic. The laurel forest is a type of cloud forest, the cloud forests, are developed preferably about mountains, where the dense moisture from the sea or ocean, is precipitated by the action of the relief. Opposing the terrain to a front of warm, moist air mass, it forces to increase the height above sea level of that body wet and warm air mass, which cools and decreases the dew point, causing it to condense part of the moisture that falls as rain or fog, creating a habitat especially cool, saturated with moisture in the air and soil. It is | do not always get a monsoon. In fact, it is not surprising that some atmospheric precipitation of islands are limited in tropical rain. If rain arrives, it is usually between August and October. The first "rainy season" brings high temperatures and high humidity that condenses as dew mountain. The other rainy season is between December and June, when the northeast trade winds are common during this season, only altitudes above 600 m tend to receive regular rain. The island of Sal receives an average of 0 mm in May. When the rain comes, if it comes, it can be very strong. Half of the rain in a particular year can often fall into a single storm. Most of the Cape Verde islands are dry, but on islands with high mountains and farther away from the continental land mass, by orography, the humidity is much higher, giving a rainforest habitat, very degraded by the strong human presence. Northeastern slopes of high mountains often receive a lot of rain and southwestern slopes do not. This is because they are umbria areas, situated in the north hillsides or slopes of the mountainous areas, oriented behind the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, in the shadyside orographic. So the amount of solar radiation that it receive is much lower than it would if it had without the island's relief which intercepts much of the sun. In terms of botanical ecology, these umbria areas are identified as being cool and moist. The current north of the Canaries, has a cooling effect on the islands of Cabo Verde, making the air temperature more bearable than it would expect in any case at this latitude. Conversely, the islands do not receive the upwellings (cold streams) that affect the West African coast, so the air temperature is cooler than in Senegal, but the sea is actually warmer, because the orographic relief of some islands, such as Sao Miguel with steep mountains, cover it with rich woods and luxuriant vegetation where the humid air condenses and soak the plants, rocks, soil, logs, and moss. Hurricanes often begin forming in the waters around the islands of Cabo Verde, but it is rare that the strength of the storm reaches close to the islands. A Cape Verde type hurricane is formed in the area south of the islands, near Sao Miguel, after a tropical wave on the African continent during the rainy season. The storm picks up strength when it crosses the warm waters of Atlantic. The laurel forest is a type of cloud forest, the cloud forests, are developed preferably about mountains, where the dense moisture from the sea or ocean, is precipitated by the action of the relief. Opposing the terrain to a front of warm, moist air mass, it forces to increase the height above sea level of that body wet and warm air mass, which cools and decreases the dew point, causing it to condense part of the moisture that falls as rain or fog, creating a habitat especially cool, saturated with moisture in the air and soil. It is the balance between the dry and warm influence of the subtropical anticyclone, hot and dry summer and orography the responsible for carrying cool wet air. As latitude increases, this increases the impact of the storms, which in its journey from west to east, swept the western coasts of continents, dumping heavy rains as carrying high humidity. Precipitation multiply if these air masses are crossing mountains in the way. The resulting climate is wetter, but with an annual oscillation of |
following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 568,373 (July 2018 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 28.7% (male 82,035 /female 81,082) 15-24 years: 19.64% (male 55,811 /female 55,798) 25-54 years: 40.02% (male 110,646 /female 116,804) 55-64 years: 6.4% (male 16,154 /female 20,245) 65 years and over: 5.24% (male 11,272 /female 18,526) (2018 est.) Median age total: 25.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 153rd male: 25 years female: 26.7 years (2018 est.) Total: 23.1 years Male: 22.3 years Female: 23.9 years (2012 est.) Population growth rate 1.32% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 83rd Birth rate 19.7 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 79th Death rate 6 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 163rd Net migration rate -0.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 128th Total fertility rate 2.21 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 95th Urbanization urban population: 65.7% of total population (2018) rate of urbanization: 1.97% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.) Sex ratio At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.58 male(s)/female Total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (2009 est.) Life expectancy at birth total population: 72.7 years (2018 est.) male: 70.3 years (2018 est.) female: 75.1 years (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 147th Total population: 71 years Male: 68.78 years Female: 73.27 years (2012 est.) HIV/AIDS Adult prevalence rate: 0.035% (2001 est.) People living with HIV/AIDS: 775 (2001) Deaths: 225 (as of 2001) Genetics E1b1a, R1b The predominance of West African mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in their maternal gene pool, the major West African Y-chromosome lineage E3a was observed only at a frequency of 15.9%. Overall, these results indicate that gene flow from multiple sources and sex-specific patterns have been important in the formation of the genomic diversity in the Cabo Verde islands. Religions Catholic 77.3%, Protestant 3.7% (includes Church of the Nazarene 1.7%, Adventist 1.5%, Universal Kingdom of God 0.4%, and God and Love 0.1%), other Christian 4.3% (includes Christian Rationalism 1.9%, Jehovah's Witness 1%, Assembly of God 0.9%, and New Apostolic 0.5%), Islam 1.8%, Other 1.3%, None 10.8%, Unspecified 0.7% (2010 estimate) Languages Portuguese (official), Kriolu Literacy Definition: age 15 and over can read and write Total | literature and songs in Cape Verdean Creole. In religion, the majority of Cape Verdeans follow Catholic Christianity. There are some Protestants, Baháʼís and Muslims. Population According to the total population was in , compared to only 178,000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 31.8%, 62.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 5.9% was 65 years or older. Vital statistics Vital events of Cape Verde are not (yet) available for recent years. The Population Department of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Births and deaths Fertility and births Total fertility rate (TFR) (wanted fertility rate) and crude birth rate (CBR): Fertility data from 2005 (DHS Program): Life expectancy Other demographic statistics Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019. One birth every 46 minutes One death every 180 minutes One net migrant every 360 minutes Net gain of one person every 76 minutes The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 568,373 (July 2018 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 28.7% (male 82,035 /female 81,082) 15-24 years: 19.64% (male 55,811 /female 55,798) 25-54 years: 40.02% (male 110,646 /female 116,804) 55-64 years: 6.4% (male 16,154 /female 20,245) 65 years and over: 5.24% (male 11,272 /female 18,526) (2018 est.) Median age total: 25.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 153rd male: 25 years female: 26.7 years (2018 est.) Total: 23.1 years Male: 22.3 years Female: 23.9 years (2012 est.) Population growth rate 1.32% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 83rd Birth rate 19.7 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 79th Death rate 6 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 163rd Net migration rate -0.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 128th Total fertility rate 2.21 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 95th Urbanization urban population: 65.7% of total population (2018) rate of urbanization: 1.97% annual rate of change (2015-20 est.) |
Attorney General against the judiciary police for alleged fabrication of evidence. The constitution provides for the right to a fair trial. Defendants are presumed to be innocent; they have the right to a public, non-jury trial; to counsel; to present witnesses; and to appeal verdicts. Regional courts adjudicate minor disputes on the local level in rural areas. The Ministry of Justice does not have judicial powers; such powers lie with the courts. The judiciary generally provides due process rights; however, the right to an expeditious trial is constrained by a seriously overburdened and understaffed judicial system. A backlog of cases routinely leads to trial delays of 6 months or more; more than 10,780 cases were pending at year's end. In addition the right of victims to compensation and recovery for pain and mental suffering are overlooked, due both to the low damage assessments imposed and ineffective enforcement of court sentences. Administrative divisions Cape Verde is divided into 22 municipalities (concelhos, singular - concelho): Boa Vista, Brava, Maio, Mosteiros, Paul, Porto Novo, Praia, Ribeira Grande, Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Sal, Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina do Fogo, Santa Cruz, São Domingos, São Filipe, São Lourenço dos Órgãos, São Miguel, São Nicolau, São Salvador do Mundo, São Vicente, Tarrafal, Tarrafal de São Nicolau. Voting rights for non citizens Article 24 of the Cape Verde Constitution states that alinea 3.: "Rights not conferred to foreigners and apatrids may be attributed to citizens of countries with Portuguese as an official language, except for access to functions of sovereignty organs, service in the armed forces or in the diplomatic career." alinea 4. "Active and passive electoral capacity can be attributed by law to foreigners and apatrid residents on the national territory for the elections of the members of the organs of the local municipalities." The website of the governmental Institute of Cape Verde Communities states that such a measure was adopted "to stimulate reciprocity from host countries of Cape Verdian migrants". A law nr. 36/V/97 was promulgated on August 25, 1997 regulating the "Statute of Lusophone Citizen", concerning nationals from any country member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (article 2), stating in its article 3 that "The lusophone citizen with residence in Cape Verde is recognized the active and | supply firm) in which he allegedly embezzled approximately $16,250 (2 million Cape Verdean escudos) from the buyers of the parastatal. The case of four persons accused of church desecration in 1996 also was under investigation. These individuals filed a complaint with the Attorney General against the judiciary police for alleged fabrication of evidence. The constitution provides for the right to a fair trial. Defendants are presumed to be innocent; they have the right to a public, non-jury trial; to counsel; to present witnesses; and to appeal verdicts. Regional courts adjudicate minor disputes on the local level in rural areas. The Ministry of Justice does not have judicial powers; such powers lie with the courts. The judiciary generally provides due process rights; however, the right to an expeditious trial is constrained by a seriously overburdened and understaffed judicial system. A backlog of cases routinely leads to trial delays of 6 months or more; more than 10,780 cases were pending at year's end. In addition the right of victims to compensation and recovery for pain and mental suffering are overlooked, due both to the low damage assessments imposed and ineffective enforcement of court sentences. Administrative divisions Cape Verde is divided into 22 municipalities (concelhos, singular - concelho): Boa Vista, Brava, Maio, Mosteiros, Paul, Porto Novo, Praia, Ribeira Grande, Ribeira Grande de Santiago, Sal, Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina do Fogo, Santa Cruz, São Domingos, São Filipe, São Lourenço dos Órgãos, São Miguel, São Nicolau, São Salvador do Mundo, São Vicente, Tarrafal, Tarrafal de São Nicolau. Voting rights for non citizens Article 24 of the Cape Verde Constitution states that alinea 3.: "Rights not conferred to foreigners and apatrids may be attributed to citizens of countries with Portuguese as an official language, except for access to functions of sovereignty organs, service in the armed forces or in the diplomatic career." alinea 4. "Active and passive electoral capacity can be attributed by law to foreigners and apatrid residents on the national territory for the elections of the members of the organs of the local municipalities." The website of the governmental Institute of Cape Verde Communities states that such a measure was adopted "to stimulate reciprocity from host countries of Cape Verdian migrants". A law nr. 36/V/97 was promulgated on August 25, 1997 regulating the "Statute of Lusophone Citizen", concerning nationals from any country member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (article 2), stating in its article 3 that "The lusophone citizen with residence in Cape Verde is recognized |
2011. Cesária Évora Airport, Sao Vicente Island. Opened in 1960 and became an international airport in 2009. Named Sao Pedro Airport until 2011. International passenger traffic is forecast to exceed 250,000 passengers for 2007. Annual growth, mostly of tourists from Europe is anticipated to continue at just under 20%. (Source ASA Cape Verde airport authority) Main Airlines serving the country: TACV Cabo Verde Airlines Cabo Verde Express Cape Verde Express Halcyonair Cabo Verde Airways - dissolved in 2013 TAP Portugal TACV flies daily international flights from Lisbon to Sal or Praia and once a week from Amsterdam, Munich, Paris, Las Palmas, Fortaleza and Boston to one or other of the international airports. It operates on a frequency varying from daily to thrice weekly on inter-island flights to each of the seven islands with operational airports and also to Dakar. It has a fleet of two Boeing 757s and three ATR42s have been replaced by ATR72s. It is currently (2010) undergoing privatization at the insistence of the World Bank. Road network The road network of Cape Verde is managed by the national government (Instituto de Estradas) and by the municipalities. The total length of the road network is 1,650 km, of which 1,113 km national roads and 537 km municipal roads. Of the national roads, 36% is asphalted. Air Services TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, the national airline, flies weekly from Boston Logan International Airport to Praia International Airport at Praia Santiago island. Currently (2007) these flights are on Wednesdays, but schedules vary and are subject to change. It also has flights four times weekly from Lisbon to Francisco Mendes (the recently opened airport at Praia on Santiago island) and four times weekly from Lisbon to Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal island. There is a flight on Mondays from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Sal and on Thursdays from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport via Munich-Riem Airport to Sal. Return flights are just after midnight on the same day. From Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain there are night flights on Mondays and Thursdays, with departures just after midnight. Return flights are the previous day. There is a service from Praia to Fortaleza, Brazil on Mondays and Thursdays departing early evening and returning at night. All international flights are operated by Boeing 757 aircraft. Most international flights are subject to delay and sometimes cancellation. TAP Air Portugal the Portuguese national carrier operates a daily service from Lisbon to Sal with late evening departures returning after midnight and reaching Lisbon in the early morning. Most flights are delayed and onward connections from Lisbon can be missed as a result. TAP and other European carriers provide connections with most European capitals, enabling same day through flights. From the UK, direct routes by Astraeus from London Gatwick and Manchester to Sal ceased in April 2008; their website has not taken reservations since May 2008. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines opened a route from London Stansted in October 2008 though it was rumoured that flights were being cancelled due to minimum take up though with effect from May 2008, TACV have ceased flights from London Gatwick. There is a Fly TACV website, and you can book from their website. Reservations should be made via the UK TACV office on 0870 774 7338. Thomson Airways have opened additional routes from London Gatwick and Manchester on Mondays and Fridays. Various options and bookings can be made via Thomsonfly to both Sal and Boa Vista. Hamburg International provides a charter service from Hamburg via Düsseldorf on Thursdays and Condor operates from Frankfurt Rhein Main on Tuesdays returning on Wednesday. Neos operates charter flights from Milan Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino and Bologna on Wednesdays. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, the national airline has been a monopoly carrier within the island archipelago (2007). It operates services from the main hub airports at Sal and Santiago to Boa Vista, Fogo, Maio, São Nicolau and São Vicente at frequencies ranging from thrice weekly to thrice daily. Air strips on the other islands of Brava and Santo Antão are closed (2007) and can only be reached by ferry services from other islands. TACV does not publish timetables; flight times are listed on departure boards. Tickets can be bought at the TACV shop at each airport by queuing and paying in cash (euros or escudos). Flights are often delayed and sometimes cancelled due to weather or operational conditions. Services are operated by ATR 42 turboprop aircraft, which are being replaced (2007) by the enlarged ATR 72 aircraft. Inter island tariffs vary depending on the distance but are generally around €180 return. Air passes are obtainable for multiple flights, when buying an international ticket on TACV. Halcyonair a private carrier with Portuguese and Cape Verdean shareholders is commenced operations on inter-island flights during 2007. It has obtained the necessary licensing from the Cape Verde Government. Travel within the islands The frequency and regularity of publicly-accessible ground transportation services vary between the islands and municipalities. There are some common features that can be found throughout Cape Verde. The primary mode of transportation between municipalities is via shared minibuses commonly referred to as a "yasi", because of the Toyota HiAce which makeup the majority of the minibuses in service. While 12-14 passenger "yasi" class minibuses connect the major municipalities at their end points, modified pickup trucks with partially covered cabs and benches installed in the back transport passengers along shorter distances through minor municipalities and the rural areas in between. These modified pickup trucks are referred to as "hilux" after the Toyota Hilux, the common model adapted. Notably, both "yasi" and "hilux" transportation will stop and pickup any passenger that hails them, as well as drop off any passenger that requests to disembark at any point. intermuncipality transportation licenses are granted on an individual basis to each vehicle in the name of the owner by the Direcção Geral dos Transportes e Rodoviários (General Directorate of Transport and Roads). With the exception of the Praia ⇄ Assomada route on Santiago, all yasi and hilux class vehicles licensed to carry passengers act as individual freelancers, not collectively. As such, they do not adhere to scheduling, and have no obligation to provide service. This includes many vehicles running the same route, owned by the same person. Brava Hiluxes and yasis connect Furna and Nova Sintra mostly when boats arrive. Other parts of the island are connected by these vehicles. Fogo Fogo has many yasis running the routes between São Filipe and Mosteiros, São Filipe and Chã das Calderas. Unlike many other islands, these buses depart at roughly the same time every day, and despite the presence of multiple vehicles running each route, passengers can find themselves stranded if they do not board a vehicle during the limited departure window. Yasis tend to depart Mosteiros headed to São Filipe around 6am, and tend to Depart São Filipe headed to Chã around noon. São Vicente Mindelo has a municipal bus service run by the company Transcor. Yasi and hilux transportation connects Mindelo with other parts of the island. Other transportation companies | are now disused. Roadways: total: 10,000 km including unpaved tracks accessible only to four wheel drive vehicles asphalt: 360 km cobbled: 5,000 km (2007 estimates) The majority of Cape Verdean roads are paved with cobblestones cut from local basalt. Recent international aid has allowed the asphalting of many roads including all of the highway between Praia and Tarrafal, all of the highway between Praia and Cidade Velha, and all of the highway between Praia, Pedra Badejo, and Calheta de São Miguel on Santiago, and the dual carriageway between Santa Maria and Espargos on Sal. A new ring road has been built from Praia International Airport around the city of Praia. The primary method of intercity and inter-village transport for Cape Verdeans is by aluguer shared taxis, commonly called Yasi, which is a derived from the name HiAce, because the Toyota HiAce is the most common shared taxi model. Few Cape Verdeans own cars, but ownership is rising rapidly with increasing prosperity, particularly on Santiago Island. Ports and harbors: Mindelo on São Vicente is the main port for cruise liners and the terminus for the ferry service to Santo Antão. A marina for yachts is undergoing enlargement (2007). Praia on Santiago is a main hub for ferry service to other islands. Palmeira on Sal supplies fuel for the main airport on the island, Amílcar Cabral International Airport, and is important for hotel construction on the island. Porto Novo on Santo Antão is the only source for imports and exports of produce from the island as well as passenger traffic since the closure of the airstrip at Ponta do Sol. There are smaller harbors, essentially single jetties at Tarrafal on São Nicolau, Sal Rei on Boa Vista, Vila do Maio (Porto Inglês) on Maio, São Filipe on Fogo and Furna on Brava. These are terminals for inter island ferry service carrying freight and passengers. There are small harbors, with protective breakwaters, used by fishing boats at Tarrafal on Santiago, Pedra de Lume on Sal and Ponta do Sol on Santo Antão. Some offer suitable protection for small yachts. The pier at Santa Maria on Sal used by both fishing and dive boats has been rehabilitated. Merchant marine: total: 10 ships by type: chemical tanker 1, trawler/cargo ship 5, passenger/cargo 5 foreign-owned: 2 (Spain 1, UK 1) (2008) Airports 7 operational in 2014 - 4 international and 3 domestic. 2 non-operational, one on Brava and the other on Santo Antão, closed for safety reasons. Over 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 914 to 1,400 m: 3 International Airports: Amílcar Cabral International Airport, Sal Island. Opened and began operating international flights from 1939. Named Sal International Airport until 1975. Nelson Mandela International Airport, Santiago Island. Opened and began operating international flights from 2005. Named Praia International Airport from 2005 until 2013. Replaced the Francisco Mendes International Airport which served the island from 1961 to 2005, and is now closed. Aristides Pereira International Airport, Boa Vista Island. Airport paved and began operating international traffic in 2007. Named Rabil Airport until 2011. Cesária Évora Airport, Sao Vicente Island. Opened in 1960 and became an international airport in 2009. Named Sao Pedro Airport until 2011. International passenger traffic is forecast to exceed 250,000 passengers for 2007. Annual growth, mostly of tourists from Europe is anticipated to continue at just under 20%. (Source ASA Cape Verde airport authority) Main Airlines serving the country: TACV Cabo Verde Airlines Cabo Verde Express Cape Verde Express Halcyonair Cabo Verde Airways - dissolved in 2013 TAP Portugal TACV flies daily international flights from Lisbon to Sal or Praia and once a week from Amsterdam, Munich, Paris, Las Palmas, Fortaleza and Boston to one or other of the international airports. It operates on a frequency varying from daily to thrice weekly on inter-island flights to each of the seven islands with operational airports and also to Dakar. It has a fleet of two Boeing 757s and three ATR42s have been replaced by ATR72s. It is currently (2010) undergoing privatization at the insistence of the World Bank. Road network The road network of Cape Verde is managed by the national government (Instituto de Estradas) and by the municipalities. The total length of the road network is 1,650 km, of which 1,113 km national roads and 537 km municipal roads. Of the national roads, 36% is asphalted. Air Services TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, the national airline, flies weekly from Boston Logan International Airport to Praia International Airport at Praia Santiago island. Currently (2007) these flights are on Wednesdays, but schedules vary and are subject to change. It also has flights four times weekly from Lisbon to Francisco Mendes (the recently opened airport at Praia on Santiago island) and four times weekly from Lisbon to Amílcar Cabral International Airport on Sal island. There is a flight on Mondays from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport to Sal and on Thursdays from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport via Munich-Riem Airport to Sal. Return flights are just after midnight on the same day. From Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Spain there are night flights on Mondays and Thursdays, with departures just after midnight. Return flights are the previous day. There is a service from Praia to Fortaleza, Brazil on Mondays and Thursdays departing early evening and returning at night. All international flights are operated by Boeing 757 aircraft. Most international flights are subject to delay and sometimes cancellation. TAP Air Portugal the Portuguese national carrier operates a daily service from Lisbon to Sal with late evening departures returning after midnight and reaching Lisbon in the early morning. Most flights are delayed and onward connections from Lisbon can be missed as a result. TAP and other European carriers provide connections with most European capitals, enabling same day through flights. From the UK, direct routes by Astraeus from London Gatwick and Manchester to Sal ceased in April 2008; their website has not taken reservations since May 2008. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines opened a route from London Stansted in October 2008 though it was rumoured that flights were being cancelled due to minimum take up though with effect from May 2008, TACV have ceased flights from London Gatwick. There is a Fly TACV website, and you can book from their website. Reservations should be made via the UK TACV office on 0870 774 7338. Thomson Airways have opened additional routes from London Gatwick and Manchester on Mondays and Fridays. Various options and bookings can be made via Thomsonfly to both Sal and Boa Vista. Hamburg International provides a charter service from Hamburg via Düsseldorf on Thursdays and Condor operates from Frankfurt Rhein Main on Tuesdays returning on Wednesday. Neos operates charter flights from Milan Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino and Bologna on Wednesdays. TACV Cabo Verde Airlines, the national airline has been a monopoly carrier within the island archipelago (2007). It operates services from the main hub airports at Sal and Santiago to Boa Vista, Fogo, Maio, São Nicolau and São Vicente at frequencies ranging from thrice weekly to thrice daily. Air strips on the other islands of Brava and Santo Antão are closed (2007) and can only be reached by ferry services from other islands. TACV does not publish timetables; flight times are listed on departure boards. Tickets can be bought at the TACV shop at each airport by queuing and paying in cash (euros or escudos). Flights are often delayed and sometimes cancelled due to weather |
History Before 1975, Cape Verde was an overseas province of Portugal, having a small Portuguese military garrison that included both Cape Verdean and European Portuguese soldiers. At the same time, some Cape Verdeans were serving in the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (, FARP), the military wing of the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde that was fighting for the joint independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. The FARP became the national armed forces of Guinea-Bissau when its independence was recognized by Portugal in 1974. The Armed Forces of Cape Verde were created when the country became independent in 1975, being also officially designated the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (, FARP). The Cape Verdean FARP consisted of two independent branches, the Army () and the Coast Guard (). In the early 1990s, the designation "FARP" was dropped and the military of Cape Verde was designated the Cape Verdean Armed Forces (, FACV). In 2007, the FACV started a major reorganization that included the transformation of the Army into the National Guard (). Together with the Cape Verdean Police, the FACV carried out Operation Flying Launch (), a successful operation to put an end to a drug trafficking group which smuggled cocaine from Colombia to the Netherlands and Germany using Cape Verde as a reorder point. The operation took more than three years, being a secret operation during the first two years, and ended in 2010. Although located in Africa, Cape Verde has always had close relations with Europe. Because of this, it has been argued that Cape Verde may be eligible for entry into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and NATO. The most recent engagement of the FACV was the Monte Tchota massacre that resulted in 11 deaths. Structure The Cape Verdean Armed Forces are part | Cape Verde that was fighting for the joint independence of Guinea and Cape Verde in the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence. The FARP became the national armed forces of Guinea-Bissau when its independence was recognized by Portugal in 1974. The Armed Forces of Cape Verde were created when the country became independent in 1975, being also officially designated the People's Revolutionary Armed Forces (, FARP). The Cape Verdean FARP consisted of two independent branches, the Army () and the Coast Guard (). In the early 1990s, the designation "FARP" was dropped and the military of Cape Verde was designated the Cape Verdean Armed Forces (, FACV). In 2007, the FACV started a major reorganization that included the transformation of the Army into the National Guard (). Together with the Cape Verdean Police, the FACV carried out Operation Flying Launch (), a successful operation to put an end to a drug trafficking group which smuggled cocaine from Colombia to the Netherlands and Germany using Cape Verde as a reorder point. The operation took more than three years, being a secret operation during the first two years, and ended in 2010. Although located in Africa, Cape Verde has always had close relations with Europe. Because of this, it has been argued that Cape Verde may be eligible for entry into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and NATO. The most recent engagement of the FACV was the Monte Tchota massacre that resulted in 11 deaths. Structure The Cape Verdean Armed Forces are part of the Ministry of National Defense of Cape Verde and include: the military bodies of command: Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Office of the CEMFA Staff of the Armed Forces (EMFA) Personnel Command Logistics Command the National Guard the Coast Guard Chief of Staff The Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Cape Verde (; CEMFA) The CEMFA is a major-general, the highest-ranked officer in the Armed Forces. National Guard The National Guard (Guarda National) is the main branch of the Cape Verdean Armed Forces for the military defense of the country, being responsible for the execution of land and maritime environment operations and the support to internal security. It includes: Territorial commands: 1st Military Region Command 2nd Military Region Command 3rd Military Region Command Corps: Military Police Corps Marine Corps Artillery Corps There is no general command of the National Guard. Each military region command is headed by a lieutenant-colonel directly subordinate to the Chief of Staff of the Armed |
seeks cooperative relations with all friendly states. Angola, Brazil, the People's Republic of China, Cuba, France, Germany, Portugal, Senegal, Russia, South Korea and the United States maintain embassies in Praia. Cape Verde is actively interested in foreign affairs, especially in Africa. It has bilateral relations with some Lusophone nations and holds membership in a | It also participates in most international conferences on economic and political issues. Bilateral relations Multilateral Relations European Union See also List of diplomatic missions in Cape Verde List of diplomatic missions of Cape |
Cayman Islands, which had decided to sink the Kittiwake in June 2009 to form a new artificial reef off Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman. Following several delays, the ship was finally scuttled according to plan on 5 January 2011. The Kittiwake has become a dynamic environment for marine life. While visitors are not allowed to take anything, there are endless sights. Each of the five decks of the ship offers squirrelfish, rare sponges, Goliath groupers, urchins, and more. Experienced and beginner divers are invited to swim around the Kittiwake. Pirates Week is an annual 11-day November festival started in 1977 by then-Minister of Tourism Jim Bodden to boost tourism during the country's tourism slow season. Other Grand Cayman tourist attractions include the ironshore landscape of Hell; the marine theme park "Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter", previously known as "Boatswain's Beach"; the production of gourmet sea salt; and the Mastic Trail, a hiking trail through the forests in the centre of the island. The National Trust for the Cayman Islands provides guided tours weekly on the Mastic Trail and other locations. Another attraction to visit on Grand Cayman is the Observation Tower, located in Camana Bay. The Observation Tower is 75 feet tall and provides 360-degree views across Seven Mile Beach, George Town, the North Sound, and beyond. It is free to the public and climbing the tower has become a popular thing to do in the Cayman Islands. Points of interest include the East End Light (sometimes called Gorling Bluff Light), a lighthouse at the east end of Grand Cayman island. The lighthouse is the centrepiece of East End Lighthouse Park, managed by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands; the first navigational aid on the site was the first lighthouse in the Cayman Islands. Shipping 360 commercial vessels and 1,674 pleasure craft were registered in the Cayman Islands totalling 4.3 million GT. Labour The Cayman Islands has a population of 69,656 () and therefore a limited workforce. Work permits may, therefore, be granted to foreigners. On average, there have been more than 24,000+ foreigners holding valid work permits. Work permits for non-citizens To work in the Cayman Islands as a non-citizen, a work permit is required. This involves passing a police background check and a health check. A prospective immigrant worker will not be granted a permit unless certain medical conditions are met, including testing negative for syphilis and HIV. A permit may be granted to individuals on special work. A foreigner must first have a job to move to the Cayman Islands. The employer applies and pays for the work permit. Work permits are not granted to foreigners who are in the Cayman Islands (unless it is a renewal). The Cayman Islands Immigration Department requires foreigners to remain out of the country until their work permit has been approved. The Cayman Islands presently imposes a controversial "rollover" in relation to expatriate workers who require a work permit. Non-Caymanians are only permitted to reside and work within the territory for a maximum of nine years unless they satisfy the criteria of key employees. Non-Caymanians who are "rolled over" may return to work additional nine-year periods, subject to a one-year gap between their periods of work. The policy has been the subject of some controversy within the press. Law firms have been particularly upset by the recruitment difficulties that it has caused. Other less well-remunerated employment sectors have been affected as well. Concerns about safety have been expressed by diving instructors, and realtors have also expressed concerns. Others support the rollover as necessary to protect Caymanian identity in the face of immigration of large numbers of expatriate workers. Concerns have been expressed that in the long term, the policy may damage the preeminence of the Cayman Islands as an offshore financial centre by making it difficult to recruit and retain experienced staff from onshore financial centres. Government employees are no longer exempt from this "rollover" policy, according to this report in a local newspaper. The governor has used his constitutional powers, which give him absolute control over the disposition of civil service employees, to determine which expatriate civil servants are dismissed after seven years service and which are not. This policy is incorporated in the Immigration Law (2003 revision), written by the United Democratic Party government, and subsequently enforced by the People's Progressive Movement Party government. Both governments agree to the term limits on foreign workers, and the majority of Caymanians also agree it is necessary to protect local culture and heritage from being eroded by a large number of foreigners gaining residency and citizenship. CARICOM Single Market Economy In recognition of the CARICOM (Free Movement) Skilled Persons Act which came into effect in July 1997 in some of the CARICOM countries such as Jamaica and which has been adopted in other CARICOM countries, such as Trinidad and Tobago it is possible that CARICOM nationals who hold the "A Certificate of Recognition of Caribbean Community Skilled Person" will be allowed to work in the Cayman Islands under normal working conditions. Government The Cayman Islands are a British overseas territory, listed by the UN Special Committee of 24 as one of the 16 non-self-governing territories. The current Constitution, incorporating a Bill of Rights, was ordained by a statutory instrument of the United Kingdom in 2009. A 19-seat (not including two non-voting members appointed by the Governor which brings the total to 21 members) Parliament is elected by the people every four years to handle domestic affairs. Of the elected Members of the Parliament (MPs), seven are chosen to serve as government Ministers in a Cabinet headed by the Governor. The Premier is appointed by the Governor. A Governor is appointed by the Queen of the United Kingdom on the advice of the British Government to represent the monarch. Governors can exercise complete legislative and executive authority if they wish through blanket powers reserved to them in the constitution. Bills which have passed the Parliament require royal assent before becoming effective. The Constitution empowers the Governor to withhold royal assent in cases where the legislation appears to him or her to be repugnant to or inconsistent with the Constitution or affects the rights and privileges of the Parliament or the Royal Prerogative, or matters reserved to the Governor by article 55. The executive authority of the Cayman Islands is vested in the Queen and is exercised by the Government, consisting of the Governor and the Cabinet. There is an office of the Deputy Governor, who must be a Caymanian and have served in a senior public office. The Deputy Governor is the acting Governor when the office of Governor is vacant, or the Governor is not able to discharge his or her duties or is absent from the Cayman Islands. The current Governor of the Cayman Islands is Martyn Roper. The Cabinet is composed of two official members and seven elected members, called Ministers; one of whom is designated Premier. The Premier can serve for two consecutive terms after which he or she is barred from attaining the office again. Although an MLA can only be Premier twice any person who meets the qualifications and requirements for a seat in the Parliament can be elected to the Parliament indefinitely. There are two official members of the Parliament, the Deputy Governor and the Attorney General. They are appointed by the Governor in accordance with Her Majesty's instructions, and although they have seats in the Parliament, under the 2009 Constitution, they do not vote. They serve in a professional and advisory role to the MLAs, the Deputy Governor represents the Governor who is a representative of the Queen and the British Government. While the Attorney General serves to advise on legal matters and has special responsibilities in the LA, he is generally responsible for changes to the Penal code among other things. The seven Ministers are voted into office by the 19 elected members of the Parliament of the Cayman Islands. One of the Ministers, the leader of the majority political party, is appointed Premier by the Governor. After consulting the Premier, the Governor allocates a portfolio of responsibilities to each Cabinet Minister. Under the principle of collective responsibility, all Ministers are obliged to support in the Parliament any measures approved by Cabinet. Almost 80 departments, sections and units carry out the business of government, joined by a number of statutory boards and authorities set up for specific purposes, such as the Port Authority, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Immigration Board, the Water Authority, the University College Board of Governors, the National Pensions Board and the Health Insurance Commission. Since 2000, there have been two official major political parties: The Cayman Democratic Party (CDP) and the People's Progressive Movement (PPM). While there has been a shift to political parties, many contending for office still run as independents. The two parties are notably similar, though they consider each other rivals in most cases, their differences are generally in personality and implementation rather than actual policy. The Cayman Islands generally lacks any form of organised political parties. As of the May 2017 General Election, members of the PPM and CDP have joined together with 3 independent members to form a government coalition despite many years of enmity. Law enforcement The law enforcement in the country is provided chiefly by the RCIPS or Royal Cayman Islands Police Service and the CICBC or Cayman Islands Customs & Border Control. These two agencies co-operate in aspects of law enforcement, including their joint marine unit. Military and defence The defence of the Cayman Islands is the responsibility of the United Kingdom which regularly sends Royal Navy or Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships as a part of Atlantic Patrol (NORTH) tasking. These ships' main mission in the region is to maintain British Sovereignty for the Overseas Territories, humanitarian aid and disaster relief during disasters such as hurricanes, which are common in the area, and for counter-narcotic operations. Cayman Islands Regiment On 12 October 2019, the government announced the formation of the Cayman Islands Regiment, a new British Armed Forces unit. The Cayman Islands Regiment which became fully operational in 2020, with an initial 35-50 personnel of mostly reservists. Between 2020 through 2021 the Regiment grew to over a hundred personnel and over the next several years expected to grow to over a several hundred personnel. In mid-December 2019, recruitment for commanding officers and junior officers began, with the commanding officers expected to begin work in Jan 2020 and the junior officers expected to begin in February 2020. In January 2020, the first officers were chosen for the Cayman Islands Regiment. Since the formation of the Regiment, it has been deployed on a few operational tours providing HADR or Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief as well as assisting with the COVid19 Pandemic. Cadet Corps The Cayman Islands Cadet Corps was formed in March 2001 and carries out military-type training with teenage citizens of the country. Coast Guard As of 2018 the PPM led Coalition government have pledged to form a Coast Guard to protect the interests of the Islands, especially in terms of illegal immigration and illegal drug importation as well as Search and Rescue. in Mid 2018 the Commander and 2nd in Command of the Cayman Islands Coast Guard were appointed. The First Commanding officer Appointed is Commander Robert Scotland and Second In Command Lieutenant Commander Leo Anglin In Mid 2019 the Commander and 2nd in Command took part in international joint operations with the United States Coast Guard and the Jamaica Defense Force Coast Guard called Operation Riptide. This making it first deployment for the Cayman Islands Coast Guard and first in 10 years any Cayman Representative has been on a foreign military ship for a counternarcotic operation. In late November 2019 it was announced that the Cayman Islands Coast Guard would become operational in January 2020, with initial total of 21 Coast Guardsman half of which would come from the joint marine unit, with further recruitment in the new year. One of the many taskings of the Coast Guard will be to push enforcement of all laws that apply to the designated Wildlife Interaction Zone On the 5th day of October, 2021 the Cayman Islands Parliament passed the Cayman Islands Coast Guard Act thus establishing the Cayman Islands Coast Guard as a uniformed and disciplined department of Government. Taxation No direct taxation is imposed on residents and Cayman Islands companies. The government receives the majority of its income from indirect taxation. Duty is levied against most imported goods, which is typically in the range of 22% to 25%. Some items are exempted, such as baby formula, books, cameras and certain items are taxed at 5%. Duty on automobiles depends on their value. The duty can amount to 29.5% up to $20,000.00 KYD CIF (cost, insurance and freight) and up to 42% over $30,000.00 KYD CIF for expensive models. The government charges flat licensing fees on financial institutions that operate in the islands and there are work permit fees on foreign labour. A 13% government tax is placed on all tourist accommodations in addition to US$37.50 airport departure tax which is built into the cost of an airline ticket. There are no taxes on corporate profits, capital gains, or personal income. There are no estate or death inheritance taxes payable on Cayman Islands real estate or other assets held in the Cayman Islands. The legend behind the lack of taxation comes from the Wreck of the Ten Sail, when a British prince was supposedly involved in a shipwreck off the north coast of Grand Cayman. Luckily, a local spotted the shipwreck and swam to his aid, rescuing the Prince and his crew. Since that day the Prince declared that in gratitude for the help he received, the citizens of the country of the Cayman Islands would never pay tax. There is, however, no documented evidence for this story, nor even that a British prince was involved in the shipwreck. Foreign relations Foreign policy is controlled by the United Kingdom, as the islands remain an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. Although in its early days, the Cayman Islands' most important relationships were with Britain and Jamaica, in recent years, as a result of economic dependence, a relationship with the United States has developed. Though the Cayman Islands is involved in no major international disputes, they have come under some criticism due to the use of their territory for narcotics trafficking and money laundering. In an attempt to address this, the government entered into the Narcotics Agreement of 1984 and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty of 1986 with the United States, to reduce the use of their facilities associated with these activities. In more recent years, they have stepped up the fight against money laundering, by limiting banking secrecy, introducing requirements for customer identification and record keeping, and requiring banks to co-operate with foreign investigators. Due to their status as an overseas territory of the UK, the Cayman Islands has no separate representation either in the United Nations or in most other international organisations. However, the Cayman Islands still participates in some international organisations, being an associate member of Caricom and UNESCO, and a member of a sub-bureau of Interpol. Infrastructure Ports George Town is the port capital of Grand Cayman. There are no berthing facilities for cruise ships, but up to four cruise ships can anchor in designated anchorages. There are three cruise terminals in George Town, the North, South, and Royal Watler Terminals. The ride from the ship to the terminal is about 5 minutes. Air transport Cayman Airways Education Primary and secondary schools The Cayman Islands Education Department operates state schools. Caymanian children are entitled to free primary and secondary education. There are two public high schools on Grand | Territory, the largest by population, in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the south of Cuba and northeast of Honduras, between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. The capital city is George Town on Grand Cayman, which is the most populous of the three islands. The Cayman Islands is considered to be part of the geographic Western Caribbean Zone as well as the Greater Antilles. The territory is a major world offshore financial centre for international businesses and wealthy individuals, largely as a result of the state not charging taxes on any income earned or stored. History No archaeological evidence for an indigenous presence has been found on the Cayman Islands. Therefore, it is believed that they were discovered by Christopher Columbus on 10 May 1503 during his final voyage to the Americas. He named them 'Las Tortugas' due to the large number of turtles found on the islands (which were soon hunted to near-extinction); however, in the succeeding decades the islands began to be referred to as the Caymans, after the caimans present there. No immediate colonisation occurred following Columbus's discovery; however, a variety of settlers from various backgrounds made their home on the islands, including pirates, shipwrecked sailors, and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica. Sir Francis Drake briefly visited the islands in 1586. The first recorded permanent inhabitant of the Cayman Islands, Isaac Bodden, was born on Grand Cayman around 1661. He was the grandson of the original settler named Bodden who was probably one of Oliver Cromwell's soldiers at the taking of Jamaica in 1655. England took formal control of the Cayman Islands, along with Jamaica, as a result of the Treaty of Madrid of 1670. That same year saw an attack on a turtle fishing settlement on Little Cayman by the Spanish under Manuel Ribeiro Pardal. Following several unsuccessful attempts at settlement in what had by now become a haven for pirates, a permanent English-speaking population in the islands dates from the 1730s. With settlement, after the first royal land grant by the Governor of Jamaica in 1734, came the perceived need for slaves. Many were brought to the islands from Africa; this is evident today with the majority of native Caymanians being of African and/or English descent. The results of the first census taken in the islands in 1802 showed the population on Grand Cayman to be 933, with 545 of those inhabitants being enslaved. Slavery was abolished in the Cayman Islands in 1833. At the time of abolition, there were over 950 people of African ancestry enslaved by 116 white families of English ancestry. On 22 June 1863, the Cayman Islands became officially declared and administered as a dependency of the Crown Colony of Jamaica. The islands continued to be governed as part of the Colony of Jamaica until 1962, when they became a separate Crown colony while Jamaica became an independent Commonwealth realm. On 8 February 1794, the Caymanians rescued the crews of a group of ten merchant ships, including HMS Convert, an incident that has since become known as the Wreck of the Ten Sail. The ships had struck a reef and run aground during rough seas. Legend has it that King George III rewarded the island with a promise never to introduce taxes as compensation for their generosity, as one of the ships carried a member of the King's own family. While this remains a popular legend, the story is not true. In the 1950s, tourism began to take off with the opening of Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA) in 1952, a bank and several hotels, plus a number of scheduled flights and cruise stop-overs. Politically the Cayman Islands were an internally self-governing territory of Jamaica from 1958 to 1962; however, they reverted to direct British rule following the independence of Jamaica in 1962. In 1972, a large degree of internal autonomy was granted by a new constitution, with further revisions being made in 1994. The Cayman Islands government focused on boosting the territory's economy via tourism and off-shore finance, both of which mushroomed from the 1970s onwards. The Caymans have historically been a tax-exempt destination, and the government has always relied on indirect and not direct taxes. The territory has never levied income tax, capital gains tax, or any wealth tax, making them a popular tax haven. The constitution was further modified in 2001 and 2009, codifying various aspects of human rights legislation. On 11 September 2004 the island of Grand Cayman, which lies largely unprotected at sea level, was hit by Hurricane Ivan, creating an 8-ft (2.4 m) storm surge which flooded many areas of Grand Cayman. An estimated 83% of the dwellings on the island were damaged including 4% requiring complete reconstruction. A reported 70% of all dwellings suffered severe damage from flooding or wind. Another 26% sustained minor damage from partial roof removal, low levels of flooding, or impact with floating or wind driven hurricane debris. Power, water and communications were disrupted for months in some areas as Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the islands in 86 years. Grand Cayman began a major rebuilding process and within two years its infrastructure was nearly returned to pre-hurricane status. Due to the tropical location of the islands, more hurricanes or tropical systems have affected the Cayman Islands than any other region in the Atlantic basin; it has been brushed or directly hit, on average, every 2.23 years. Geography The islands are in the western Caribbean Sea and are the peaks of an undersea mountain range called the Cayman Ridge (or Cayman Rise). This ridge flanks the Cayman Trough, deep which lies to the south. The islands lie in the northwest of the Caribbean Sea, east of Quintana Roo, Mexico and Yucatán State, Mexico, northeast of Costa Rica, north of Panama, south of Cuba and west of Jamaica. They are situated about south of Miami, east of Mexico, south of Cuba, and about northwest of Jamaica. Grand Cayman is by far the largest, with an area of . Grand Cayman's two "sister islands", Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, are about east north-east of Grand Cayman and have areas of respectively. The nearest land mass from Grand Cayman is the Canarreos Archipelago (about 240 km or 150 miles away), whereas the nearest from the easternmost island Cayman Brac is the Jardines de la Reina archipelago (about 160 km or 100 miles away) – both of which are part of Cuba. All three islands were formed by large coral heads covering submerged ice-age peaks of western extensions of the Cuban Sierra Maestra range and are mostly flat. One notable exception to this is The Bluff on Cayman Brac's eastern part, which rises to above sea level, the highest point on the islands. Terrain is mostly a low-lying limestone base surrounded by coral reefs. Fauna The mammalian species in the Cayman Islands include the introduced Central American agouti and eight species of bats. At least three now extinct native rodent species were present until the discovery of the islands by Europeans. Marine life around the island of the Grand Cayman includes tarpon, silversides (Atheriniformes), French angelfish (Pomacanthus paru), and giant barrel sponges. A number of cetaceans are found in offshore waters. These species include the goose-beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris), Blainville's beaked whale (Mesoplodon densirostris) and sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). Cayman avian fauna includes two endemic subspecies of Amazona parrots: Amazona leucocephala hesterna or Cuban amazon, presently restricted to the island of Cayman Brac, but formerly also on Little Cayman, and Amazona leucocephala caymanensis or Grand Cayman parrot, which is native to the Cayman Islands, forested areas of Cuba, and the Isla de la Juventud. Little Cayman and Cayman Brac are also home to red-footed and brown boobies. Although the barn owl (Tyto alba) occurs in all three of the islands they are not commonplace. The Cayman Islands also possess five endemic subspecies of butterflies. These butterfly breeds can be viewed at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park on the Grand Cayman. Among other notable fauna at the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park is the critically threatened blue iguana which is also known as the Grand Cayman iguana (Cyclura lewisi). The blue iguana is endemic to the Grand Cayman particularly because of rocky, sunlit, open areas near the island's shores that are advantageous for the laying of eggs. Nevertheless, habitat destruction and invasive mammalian predators remain primary reasons that blue iguana hatchlings do not survive naturally. The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) once inhabited the islands. The name "Cayman" is derived from a Carib word for various crocodilians. Climate The Cayman Islands has a tropical wet and dry climate, with a wet season from May to October, and a dry season that runs from November to April. Seasonally, there is little temperature change. A major natural hazard is the tropical cyclones that form during the Atlantic hurricane season from June to November. On 11 and 12 September 2004, Hurricane Ivan struck the Cayman Islands. The storm resulted in two deaths and caused great damage to the infrastructure on the islands. The total economic impact of the storms was estimated to be $3.4 billion. Demographics According to the Economics and Statistics Office of the Government of the Cayman Islands, the Cayman Islands had a population of 69,656 as of fall 2021. Census workers have noted that a fair amount of the population did not participate in the 2021 census, furthering the assumption that the population is well over 72,000. Of the population, 52.9% are Caymanian, and 45.9% are non-Caymanian; this could be those on work permits, children of work permit holders, permanent residents and more. Most Caymanians are of mixed African and European ancestry. Slavery was not common throughout the islands, and once it was abolished, communities seemed to integrate more compliantly than other Caribbean entities, resulting in a more mixed race population. District populations According to the Cayman Islands 2021 Census, the estimated resident population is 69,656 people, broken down as follows: George Town: 34,399 West Bay: 14,931 Bodden Town: 14,298 North Side: 1,840 East End: 1,749 Cayman Brac and Little Cayman (Sister Islands): 2,163 Religion The predominant religion on the Cayman Islands is Christianity(81.9%). Collectively, Protestants account for 67.8%, while the Catholic Church accounts for 14.1%. Religions practised include United Church, Church of God, Anglican Church, Baptist Church, Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Pentecostal Church. Roman Catholic churches are St. Ignatius Church, George Town and Stella Maris Church, Cayman Brac. Many citizens are deeply religious, regularly going to church. Ports are closed on Sundays and Christian holidays. There is also an active synagogue and Jewish community on the island as well as places of worship in George Town for Jehovah's Witnesses and followers of the Bahá'í faith. Languages The official language of the Cayman Islands is English (90%). Islanders' accents retain elements passed down from English, Scottish, and Welsh settlers (among others) in a language variety known as Cayman Creole. Caymanians of Jamaican origin speak in their own vernacular (see Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English). It is also quite commonplace to hear some residents converse in Spanish as many citizens have relocated from Latin America to work and live on Grand Cayman. The Latin American nations with greatest representation are Honduras, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Spanish speakers comprise approximately between 10 and 12% of the population and is predominantly of the Caribbean dialect. Tagalog is spoken by about 5% of inhabitants most of whom are Filipino residents on work permits. Economy The economy of the Cayman Islands is dominated by financial services and tourism, together accounting for 50-60% of Gross Domestic Product. The nation's low tax rates have led to it being used as a tax haven for corporations; there are 100,000 companies registered in the Cayman Islands, more than the population itself. The Cayman Islands have come under criticism for allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes, including a 2016 statement by former US president Barack Obama that described a particular building which was the registered address of over 12,000 corporations as a "tax scam". The Cayman Islands holds a relatively low unemployment rate of about 4.24% as of 2015, lower than the value of 4.7% that was recorded in 2014. With an average income of US$71,549, Caymanians have the highest standard of living in the Caribbean. According to the CIA World Factbook, the Cayman Islands real GDP per capita is the 10th highest in the world, but the CIA's data for Cayman dates to 2018 and is likely to be lower than present-day values. The territory prints its own currency, the Cayman Islands dollar (KYD), which is pegged to the US dollar US$1.227 to 1 KYD. However, in many retail stores throughout the islands, the KYD is typically traded at US$1.25. Cayman Islands have a high cost of living, even when compared to UK and US. For example, a loaf of multigrain bread is $5.49 (KYD), while a similar loaf sells for $2.47 (KYD) in the US and $1.36 (KYD) in the UK. The minimum wage (as of February 2021) is $6 KYD for standard positions, and $4.50 for workers in the service industry, where tips supplement income. This contributes to wealth disparity. A small segment of the population lives in condemned properties lacking power and running water. The government has established a Needs Assessment Unit to relieve poverty in the islands. Local charities, including Cayman's Acts of Random Kindness (ARK) also provide assistance. The government's primary source of income is indirect taxation: there is no income tax, capital gains tax, or corporation tax. An import duty of 5% to 22% (automobiles 29.5% to 100%) is levied against goods imported into the islands. Few goods are exempt; notable exemptions include books, cameras, gold, and perfume. Tourism One of Grand Cayman's main attractions is Seven Mile Beach, site of a number of the island's hotels and resorts. Named one of the Ultimate Beaches by Caribbean Travel and Life, Seven Mile Beach (due to erosion over the years, the number has decreased to 5.5 miles) is a public beach on the western shore of Grand Cayman Island. Historical sites in Grand Cayman, such as Pedro St. James Castle in Savannah, also attract visitors. All three islands offer scuba diving, and the Cayman Islands are home to several snorkelling locations where tourists can swim with stingrays. The most popular area to do this is Stingray City, Grand Cayman. Stingray City is a top attraction in Grand Cayman and originally started in the 1980s, when divers started feeding squid to stingrays. The stingrays started to associate the sound of the boat motors with food, and thus visit this area year round. There are two shipwrecks off the shores of Cayman Brac, including the MV Captain Keith Tibbetts; Grand Cayman also has several shipwrecks off its shores, including one deliberate one. On 30 September 1994 the was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Vessel Register. In November 2008 her ownership was transferred for an undisclosed amount to the government of the Cayman Islands, which had decided to sink the Kittiwake in June 2009 to form a new artificial reef off Seven Mile Beach, Grand Cayman. Following several delays, the ship was finally scuttled according to plan on 5 January 2011. The Kittiwake has become a dynamic environment for marine life. While visitors are not allowed to take anything, there are endless sights. Each of the five decks of the ship offers squirrelfish, rare sponges, Goliath groupers, urchins, and more. Experienced and beginner divers are invited to swim around the Kittiwake. Pirates Week is an annual 11-day November festival started in 1977 by then-Minister of Tourism Jim Bodden to boost tourism during the country's tourism slow season. Other Grand Cayman tourist attractions include the ironshore landscape of Hell; the marine theme park "Cayman Turtle Centre: Island Wildlife Encounter", previously known as "Boatswain's Beach"; the production of gourmet sea salt; and the Mastic Trail, a hiking trail through the forests in the centre of the island. The National Trust for the Cayman Islands provides guided tours weekly on the Mastic Trail and other locations. Another attraction to visit on Grand Cayman is the Observation Tower, located in Camana Bay. The Observation Tower is 75 feet tall and provides 360-degree views across Seven Mile Beach, George Town, the North Sound, and beyond. It is free to the public and climbing the tower has become a popular thing to do in the Cayman Islands. Points of interest include the East End Light (sometimes called Gorling Bluff Light), a lighthouse at the east end of Grand Cayman island. The lighthouse is the centrepiece of East End Lighthouse Park, managed by the National Trust for the Cayman Islands; the first navigational aid on the site was the first lighthouse in the Cayman Islands. Shipping 360 commercial vessels and 1,674 pleasure craft were registered in the Cayman Islands totalling 4.3 million GT. Labour The Cayman Islands has a population of 69,656 () and therefore a limited workforce. Work permits may, therefore, be granted to foreigners. On average, there have been more than 24,000+ foreigners holding valid work permits. Work permits for non-citizens To work in the Cayman Islands as a non-citizen, a work permit is required. This involves passing a police background check and a health check. A prospective immigrant worker will not be granted a permit unless certain medical conditions are met, including testing negative for syphilis and HIV. A permit may be granted to individuals on special work. A foreigner must first have a job to move to the Cayman Islands. The employer applies and pays for the work permit. |
opportunity to undermine the authorities. This problematic relationship reached its peak during the period leading up to emancipation. Caymanian slaveholders who did not appreciate being deprived of their chattel refused to cooperate with the Slave Registration Act 1817. In response to the Abolition Act 1807, the Slave Registration 1817, and the Emancipation Act of 1834 slaveowners organized resistance efforts against the authorities in Jamaica. Local residents of the Cayman Islands resisted the stationing of troops of the West India Regiments. This animosity stemmed from the fact that the West India Regiment enlisted black men, which the white establishment was upset by. The resisters were insulted at the idea of black soldiers defending their settlements. Dependency of Jamaica The Cayman Islands were officially declared and administered as a dependency of Jamaica from 1863 but were rather like a parish of Jamaica with the nominated justices of the peace and elected vestrymen in their Legislature. From 1750 to 1898 the Chief Magistrate was the administrating official for the dependency, appointed by the Jamaican governor. In 1898 the Governor of Jamaica began appointing a Commissioner for the Islands. The first Commissioner was Frederick Sanguinetti. In 1959, upon the formation of the Federation of the West Indies the dependency status with regards to Jamaica ceased officially although the Governor of Jamaica remained the Governor of the Cayman Islands and had reserve powers over the islands. Starting in 1959 the chief official overseeing the day-to-day affairs of the islands (for the Governor) was the Administrator. Upon Jamaica's independence in 1962, the Cayman Islands broke its administrative links with Jamaica and opted to become a direct dependency of the British Crown, with the chief official of the islands being the Administrator. In 1953 the first airfield in the Cayman Islands was opened as well as the George Town Public hospital. Barclays ushered in the age of formalised commerce by opening the first commercial bank. Governmental changes Following a two-year campaign by women to change their circumstances, in 1959 Cayman received its first written constitution which, for the first time, allowed women to vote. Cayman ceased to be a dependency of Jamaica. During 1966, legislation was passed to enable and encourage the banking industry in Cayman. In 1971 the governmental structure of the islands was again changed, with a governor now running the Cayman Islands. Athel Long CMG, CBE was the last administrator and the first governor of the Cayman Islands. In 1991 a review of the 1972 constitution recommended several constitutional changes to be debated by the Legislative Assembly. The post of chief secretary was reinstated in 1992 after having been abolished in 1986. The establishment of the post of chief minister was also proposed. However, in November 1992 elections were held for an enlarged Legislative Assembly and the Government was soundly defeated, casting doubt on constitutional reform. The "National Team" of government critics won 12 (later reduced to 11) of the 15 seats, and independents won the other three, after a campaign opposing the appointment of chief minister and advocating spending cuts. The unofficial leader of the team, Thomas Jefferson, had been the appointed financial secretary until March 1992, when he resigned over public spending disputes to fight the election. After the elections, Mr. Jefferson was appointed minister and leader of government business; he also held the portfolios of Tourism, Aviation and Commerce in the executive council. Three teams with a total of 44 candidates contested the general election held on November 20, 1996: the governing National Team, Team Cayman and the Democratic Alliance Group. The National Team were returned to office but with a reduced majority, winning 9 seats. The Democratic Alliance won 2 seats in George Town, Team Cayman won one in Bodden Town and independents won seats in George Town, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Although all administrative links with Jamaica were broken in 1962, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica continue to share many links, including a common united church (the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands) and Anglican diocese (although there is debate about this). They also shared a common currency until 1972. In 1999, 38–40% of the expat population of the Cayman Islands was of Jamaican origin and in 2004/2005 little over 50% of the expatriates working in the Cayman Islands (i.e. 8,000) were Jamaicans (with the next largest expatriate communities coming from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada). Hurricane Ivan In September 2004, The Cayman Islands were hit by Hurricane Ivan, causing mass devastation, loss of animal life (both wild and domestic/livestock) and flooding, however there was no loss of human life. Some accounts reported that the majority of Grand Cayman had been underwater and with the lower floors of some buildings being completely flooded in excess of 8 ft. An Ivan Flood Map is available from the Lands & Survey Dept. of The Cayman Islands indicating afflicted areas and their corresponding flood levels. This natural disaster also led to the bankruptcy of a heavily invested insurance company called Doyle. The company had re-leased estimates covering 20% damage to be re-insured at minimal fees when in fact the damage was over 65% and every claim was in the millions. The company simply could not keep paying out and the adjusters could not help lower the payments due to the high building code the Islands adhere to. Much suspense was built around the devastation that Hurricane Ivan had caused as the leader of Government business Mr. Mckeeva Bush decided to close the Islands to any and all reporters, aid and denied permissions to land any aircraft except for Cayman Airways. The line of people wishing to leave but unable to do so because of his actions extended from the airport to the post office each day as thousands stranded with no shelter, food, or fresh water hoped for a chance to evacuate. As a result, most evacuations and the mass exodus which ensued in the aftermath was done so by private charter through personal & Corporate expense, with or without official permission. It was also a collective decision within the government at that time to turn away two British warships that had arrived the day after the storm with supplies. This decision was met by outrage from the Islanders who thought that it should have been their decision to make. Power and water was cut off due to damaged pipes and destroyed utility poles, with all utilities restored to various areas over the course of the next three months. Fortis Inc., a Canadian-owned utility company, sent a team down to Grand Cayman to assist the local power company, CUC, with restoration. The official report, extent of damage, duration and recovery efforts in the words of Mr. Bush himself are first | Grand Cayman have found no evidence that humans occupied the islands prior to the sixteenth century. The first recorded English visitor was Sir Francis Drake in 1586, who reported that the caymanas were edible, but it was the turtles which attracted ships in search of fresh meat for their crews. Overfishing nearly extinguished the turtles from the local waters. Turtles were the main source for an economy on the islands. In 1787, Captain Hull of HMS Camilla estimated between 1,200 and 1,400 turtles were captured and sold at seaports in Jamaica per year. According to historian Edward Long the inhabitants on Grand Cayman had the principal occupation of turtle-fishery. Once Caymanian turtlers greatly reduced the turtle population around the islands they journeyed to the waters of other islands in order to maintain their livelihood. Caymanian folklore explains that the island's first inhabitants were a Welshman named Walters (or Watler) and his companion named Bawden (or Bodden), who first arrived in Cayman in 1658 after serving in Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica. The first recorded permanent inhabitant of the Cayman Islands, Isaac Bodden, was born on Grand Cayman around 1700. He was the grandson of the original settler named Bodden. Most, if not all, early settlers were people who came from outside of the Cayman Islands and were on the fringes of society. Due to this, the Cayman Islands have often been given the term total colonial frontier. Cayman society was a lawless society during the early settlement years. The Cayman Islands remained as a frontier society until well into the twentieth century. The year 1734 marked the rough beginning period of permanent settlement in Grand Cayman. Cayman Brac and Little Cayman were not permanently settled until 1833. A variety of people settled on the islands: pirates, refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, shipwrecked sailors, and slaves. The majority of Caymanians are of African, Welsh, Scottish or English descent, with considerable interracial mixing. During the early years, settlements on the north and west sides of Grand Cayman were often subject to raids by Spanish forces coming from Cuba. On 14 April 1669, the Spanish Privateer Rivero Pardal completed a successful raid on the village of Little Cayman. In the process of the raid, the forces burned twenty dwellings to the ground. Those living on the islands often partook in what is called wrecking. Caymanians enticed passing ships by creating objects that piqued sailors' interests. Often these objects did not look like other vessels. Caymanians made mules or donkeys with lanterns tied to their bodies to walk along the beaches or lit a large bonfire to attract sailors. Having very little knowledge of the area, sailors often became stuck on the reefs in the process of reaching a distance to where they could communicate with those on the island. Once the ships were stuck on the reefs, islanders took canoes to plunder and salvage the ships under the false pretense of providing assistance. British control England took formal control of Cayman, along with Jamaica, under the Treaty of Madrid in 1670 after the first settlers came from Jamaica in 1661-71 to Little Cayman and Cayman Brac. These first settlements were abandoned after attacks by Spanish privateers, but English privateers often used the Cayman Islands as a base and in the 18th century they became an increasingly popular hideout for pirates, even after the end of legitimate privateering in 1713. Following several unsuccessful attempts, permanent settlement of the islands began in the 1730s. The Cayman Islands historically have been popular as a tax haven. In the early morning hours of February 8, 1794, ten vessels which were part of a convoy escorted by HMS Convert, were wrecked on the reef in Gun Bay, on the East end of Grand Cayman. Despite the darkness and pounding surf on the reef, local settlers braved the conditions attempting to rescue the passengers and crew of the fledgling fleet. There are conflicting reports, but it is believed that between six, and eight lives were lost that night, among them, the Captain of the Britannia. However, the overwhelming majority, more than 450 people, were successfully rescued. The incident is now remembered as The Wreck of the Ten Sail. Legend has it that among the fleet, there was a member of the British Royal Family on board. Most believe it to be a nephew of King George III. To reward the bravery of the island's local inhabitants, King George III reportedly issued a decreed that Caymanians should never be conscripted for war service, and shall never be subject to taxation. However, no official documentation of this decree has been found. All evidence for this being the origin of their tax-free status is purely anecdotal. Regardless, the Cayman Islands' status as a tax-free British overseas territory remains to this day. From 1670, the Cayman Islands were effective dependencies of Jamaica, although there was considerable self-government. In 1831, a legislative assembly was established by local consent at a meeting of principal inhabitants held at Pedro St. James Castle on December 5 of that year. Elections were held on December 10 and the fledgling legislature passed its first local legislation on December 31, 1831. Subsequently, the Jamaican governor ratified a legislature consisting of eight magistrates appointed by the Governor of Jamaica and 10 (later increased to 27) elected representatives. The collapse of the Federation of the West Indies created a period of decolonization in the English-speaking Caribbean. In regards to independence, of the six dependent territories, the Cayman Islands were the most opposed because it lacked the natural resources needed. This opposition came from the fear that independence might prevent any special United States visas that aided Caymanian sailors working on American ships and elsewhere in the United States. The people had concerns about their economic viability if the country was to become independent. The Cayman Islands were not the only smaller British territory that was reluctant in regards to gaining independence. The United Kingdom authorities established a new governing constitution framework for the reluctant territories. In place of the Federation of the West Indies, a constitution was created that allowed for the continuation of formal ties with London. In the Cayman Islands, the Governor's only obligation to the British Crown is that of keeping the Executive Council informed. Slavery Grand Cayman was the only island of the three that create the Cayman Islands that had instituted slavery. Although slavery was instituted, Grand Cayman did not hold witness to violent slave revolts. While scholars tend to agree that to an extent a slave society did exist on at least Grand Cayman, there are debates amongst them on how important slavery was to the society as a whole. The slave period for the Cayman Islands lasted between 1734 and 1834. In 1774, George Gauld estimated that approximately four hundred people lived on Grand Cayman; half the inhabitants were free while the other half were constituted slaves. By 1802, the estimation of inhabitants was at 933 with a 545 slaves. An April 1834 census recorded a population of 1,800 with roughly 46 percent considered free Caymanians. By the time of emancipation, slaves outnumbered that of freemen on Grand Cayman. In 1835, Governor Sligo arrived in Cayman from Jamaica to declare all slaves |
geographic coordinates are 19.300° north, 81.383° west. The Cayman Islands have a land area of approximately 1.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. and just larger than Saint Kitts and Nevis. The Cayman Islands have a coastline of . The Cayman Islands make a maritime claim of a exclusive fishing zone and a territorial sea of . Geology The islands are located on the Cayman Rise which forms the northern margin of the Cayman Trough. The trough is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea and forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The Cayman Rise extends from southeastern Cuba along the northern margin of the Cayman Trough toward Costa Rica and resulted from Paleocene to Eocene island arc formation with associated volcanism along an extinct subduction zone. The islands are formed of marine limestone and dolomite that was uplifted during the late Miocene epoch. Due to the Islands' location, the Cayman Islands do get earthquakes. Climate The Cayman Islands have a tropical wet and dry climate, with a wet season from May to December, and a dry season that runs from January to April. Terrain is mostly a low-lying limestone base surrounded by coral reefs. Besides earthquakes another major natural hazard is the tropical cyclones that form during the Atlantic hurricane season from July to November. Environmental issues An important environmental issue is the lack of fresh water resources. Drinking water supplies must be met by rainwater catchment and desalination. There is also a problem with trash washing up on the beaches | maritime claim of a exclusive fishing zone and a territorial sea of . Geology The islands are located on the Cayman Rise which forms the northern margin of the Cayman Trough. The trough is the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea and forms part of the tectonic boundary between the North American Plate and the Caribbean Plate. The Cayman Rise extends from southeastern Cuba along the northern margin of the Cayman Trough toward Costa Rica and resulted from Paleocene to Eocene island arc formation with associated volcanism along an extinct subduction zone. The islands are formed of marine limestone and dolomite that was uplifted during the late Miocene epoch. Due to the Islands' location, the Cayman Islands do get earthquakes. Climate The Cayman Islands have a tropical wet and dry climate, with a wet season from May to December, and a dry season that runs from January to April. Terrain is mostly a low-lying limestone base surrounded by coral reefs. Besides earthquakes another major natural hazard is the tropical cyclones that form during the Atlantic |
the estimated resident population is 54,878 people, broken down as follows: George Town: 27,704 West Bay: 11,269 Bodden Town: 10,341 North Side: 1,437 East End: 1,369 Cayman Brac and Little Cayman (Sister Islands): 2,277 Vital statistics Structure of the population Structure of the population (31.12.2013) (estimates): Ethnic groups Although many Caribbean islands were initially populated by Amerindian groups such as the Taíno and Kalinago, no evidence of this has been found in the Cayman Islands. Therefore, native Caymanians do not have any Amerindian heritage from their own islands; however, a significant number of Jamaicans have settled in the Cayman Islands over the years, so they and their descendants may have some Amerindian blood via Jamaica. Slavery was less common on the Cayman Islands than in many other parts of the Caribbean, resulting in a more even division of African and European ancestry. Those of mixed race make up 40% of the population, with blacks and whites following at 20% each. The remaining 20% belong to various immigrant ethnic groups. According to CIA factbook of 2013, Caymanian people of mixed-race of mixed black African and white European ancestry are the plurality ethnic group in the Cayman Islands, accounting for 40% of the country's population, with white 20%, black 20%, and expatriates | English. Islanders' accents retain elements passed down from English, Scottish, and Welsh settlers (among others) in a language variety known as Cayman Creole. Caymanians of Jamaican origin speak in their own vernacular (see Jamaican Creole and Jamaican English). It is also quite commonplace to hear some residents converse in Spanish as many citizens have relocated from Latin America to work and live on Grand Cayman. The Latin American nations with greatest representation are Honduras, Cuba, Colombia, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic. Spanish speakers comprise approximately between 10 and 12% of the population and is predominantly of the Caribbean dialect. Tagalog is spoken by about 5% of inhabitants most of whom are Filipino residents on work permits. Religion The predominant religion on the Cayman Islands is Christianity. Collectively, Protestants account for 67.8%, while the Roman Catholic Church accounts for 14.1%. Denominations practiced include; Church of God, United Church, Anglican Church, Baptist Church, Roman Catholic Church, Seventh-day Adventist Church, and Pentecostal Church. Roman Catholic churches are St. Ignatius Church, George Town and Stella Maris Church, Cayman Brac. Many citizens are deeply religious, regularly going to church. Ports are closed on Sundays and Christian holidays. There are places of worship in George Town for Jehovah's Witnesses and followers of the Baháʼí Faith. The Cayman Islands also hosts a growing Jewish community. Hinduism is a minority religion in the Cayman Islands and is one of the smallest religions. Although it is unknown as to when Hinduism was introduced to the Cayman Islands. There is no Hindu temple located in the Cayman Islands, but there is at least one home which is set aside for the purpose of worship. There were only 98 Hindus in the Caymans according to the 2000 census (about 0.25% of the population). In the 2008 census, the number of Hindus increased to 510 (1% of the total population). The 2010 Census showed the number of |
MI6, with the consent of the Governor. This caused the trial's collapse, and subsequent release of those charged with wrongdoing. Along with this, the only mole that was known at the time was allowed to leave the country, never to answer for what he (or the United Kingdom) was doing. This infuriated the elected members of the Legislative Assembly as they maintained that the Governor and the United Kingdom had put into question the Cayman Islands' reputation as a tightly regulated offshore jurisdiction. Some saw this as the United Kingdom meddling in the territory's affairs to benefit itself (and the EU), at the expense of the islands' economy. Constitutional | confines of the Government of the Cayman Islands. Constitutional Modernisation Constitutional Modernisation has come to the forefront of politics recently with the collapse of the now defunct Euro Bank Corporation in 2003. The prosecution in the trial was forced to reveal that the British Government had planted moles (and used wire taps) throughout the banking industry using MI6, with the consent of the Governor. This caused the trial's collapse, and subsequent release |
important benefits for the financial services industry in the Cayman Islands. As the Cayman Islands is not subject to EU laws, the implementation of the EUSD is by way of bilateral agreements between each EU member state and the Cayman Islands. The government of the Cayman Islands agreed on a model agreement, which set out how the EUSD would be implemented with the Cayman Islands. A report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in March 2005, assessing supervision and regulation in the Cayman Islands' banking, insurance and securities industries, as well as its money laundering regime, recognised the jurisdiction's comprehensive regulatory and compliance frameworks. "An extensive program of legislative, rule and guideline development has introduced an increasingly effective system of regulation, both formalizing earlier practices and introducing enhanced procedures", noted IMF assessors. The report further stated that "the supervisory system benefits from a well-developed banking infrastructure with an internationally experienced and qualified workforce as well as experienced lawyers, accountants and auditors", adding that, "the overall compliance culture within Cayman is very strong, including the compliance culture related to AML (anti-money laundering) obligations". On 4 May 2009, the United States President, Barack Obama, declared his intentions to curb the use of financial centres by multinational corporations. In his speech, he singled out the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter. The next day, the Cayman Island Financial Services Association submitted an open letter to the president detailing the Cayman Islands' role in international finance and its value to the US financial system. The Cayman Islands was ranked as the world's second most significant tax haven on the Tax Justice Network's "Financial Secrecy Index" from 2011, scoring slightly higher than Luxembourg and falling behind only Switzerland. In 2013, the Cayman Islands was ranked by the Financial Secrecy Index as the fourth safest tax haven in the world, behind Hong Kong but ahead of Singapore. In the first conviction of a non-Swiss financial institution for US tax evasion conspiracy, two Cayman Islands financial institutions pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court in 2016 to conspiring to hide more than $130 million in Cayman Islands bank accounts. The companies admitted to helping US clients hide assets in offshore accounts, and agreed to produce account files of non-compliant US taxpayers. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act On 30 June 2014, the tax jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands was deemed to have an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the United States of America with respect to the "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act" of the United States of America. The Model 1 Agreement recognizes: The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between the United States of America and The Cayman Islands which was signed in London, United Kingdom on 29 November 2013. Page 1 – Clause 2 of the FATCA Agreement. The Government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland provided a copy of the Letter of Entrustment which was sent to the Government of the Cayman Islands, to the Government of the United States of America "via diplomatic note of October 16, 2013". The Letter of Entrustment dated 20 October 2013, The Govt of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, authorized the Govt of the Cayman Islands to sign an agreement on information exchange to facilitate the Implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – Page 1 – Clause 10. On 26 March 2017, the US Treasury site disclosed that the Model 1 agreement and related agreement were | of GDP in 2007 (55% of the total economy), 36% of all employment and 40% of all government revenue. In 2010, the country ranked fifth internationally in terms of value of liabilities booked and sixth in terms of assets booked. It has branches of 40 of the world's 50 largest banks. The Cayman Islands is the second largest captive domicile (Bermuda is largest) in the world with more than 700 captives, writing more than US$7.7 billion of premiums and with US$36.8 billion of assets under management. There are a number of service providers. These include global financial institutions including HSBC, Deutsche Bank, UBS, and Goldman Sachs; over 80 administrators, leading accountancy practices (incl. the Big Four auditors), and offshore law practices including Maples & Calder. They also include wealth management such as Rothschilds private banking and financial advice. Since the introduction of the Mutual Funds Law in 1993, which has been copied by jurisdictions around the world, the Cayman Islands has grown to be the world's leading offshore hedge fund jurisdiction. In June 2008, it passed 10,000 hedge fund registrations, and over the year ending June 2008 CIMA reported a net growth rate of 12% for hedge funds. Starting in the mid-late 1990s, offshore financial centres, such as the Cayman Islands, came under increasing pressure from the OECD for their allegedly harmful tax regimes, where the OECD wished to prevent low-tax regimes from having an advantage in the global marketplace. The OECD threatened to place the Cayman Islands and other financial centres on a "black list" and impose sanctions against them. However, the Cayman Islands successfully avoided being placed on the OECD black list in 2000 by committing to regulatory reform to improve transparency and begin information exchange with OECD member countries about their citizens. In 2004, under pressure from the UK, the Cayman Islands agreed in principle to implement the European Union Savings Directive (EUSD), but only after securing some important benefits for the financial services industry in the Cayman Islands. As the Cayman Islands is not subject to EU laws, the implementation of the EUSD is by way of bilateral agreements between each EU member state and the Cayman Islands. The government of the Cayman Islands agreed on a model agreement, which set out how the EUSD would be implemented with the Cayman Islands. A report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in March 2005, assessing supervision and regulation in the Cayman Islands' banking, insurance and securities industries, as well as its money laundering regime, recognised the jurisdiction's comprehensive regulatory and compliance frameworks. "An extensive program of legislative, rule and guideline development has introduced an increasingly effective system of regulation, both formalizing earlier practices and introducing enhanced procedures", noted IMF assessors. The report further stated that "the supervisory system benefits from a well-developed banking infrastructure with an internationally experienced and qualified workforce as well as experienced lawyers, accountants and auditors", adding that, "the overall compliance culture within Cayman is very strong, including the compliance culture related to AML (anti-money laundering) obligations". On 4 May 2009, the United States President, Barack Obama, declared his intentions to curb the use of financial centres by multinational corporations. In his speech, he singled out the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter. The next day, the Cayman Island Financial Services Association submitted an open letter to the president detailing the Cayman Islands' role in international finance and its value to the US financial system. The Cayman Islands was ranked as the world's second most significant tax haven on the Tax Justice Network's "Financial Secrecy Index" from 2011, scoring slightly higher than Luxembourg and falling behind only Switzerland. In 2013, the Cayman Islands was ranked by the Financial Secrecy Index as the fourth safest tax haven in the world, behind Hong Kong but ahead of Singapore. In the first conviction of a non-Swiss financial institution for US tax evasion conspiracy, two Cayman Islands financial institutions pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court in 2016 to conspiring to hide more than $130 million in Cayman Islands bank accounts. The companies admitted to helping US clients hide assets in offshore accounts, and agreed to produce account files of non-compliant US taxpayers. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act On 30 June 2014, the tax jurisdiction of the Cayman Islands was deemed to have an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the United States of America with respect to the "Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act" of the United States of America. The Model 1 Agreement recognizes: The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) between the United States of America and The Cayman Islands which was signed in London, United Kingdom on 29 November 2013. Page 1 – Clause 2 of the FATCA Agreement. The Government of Great Britain and Northern Ireland provided a copy of the Letter of Entrustment which was sent to the Government of the Cayman Islands, to the Government of the United States of America "via diplomatic note of October 16, 2013". The Letter of Entrustment dated 20 October 2013, The Govt of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, authorized the Govt of the Cayman Islands to sign an agreement on information exchange to facilitate the Implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – Page 1 – Clause 10. On 26 March 2017, the US Treasury site disclosed that the Model 1 agreement and related agreement were "In Force" on 1 July 2014. Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act Under the UK Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2018, beneficial ownership of companies in British overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands must be publicly registered for disclosure by 31 December 2020. The Government of the Cayman Islands plans to challenge this law, arguing that it violates the Constitutional sovereignty granted to the islands. The British National Crime Agency said in September 2018 that the authorities in the Cayman Islands were not supplying information about the beneficial ownership of firms registered in the Cayman Islands. Tourism Tourism is also a mainstay, accounting for about 70% of GDP and 75% of foreign currency earnings. The tourist industry is aimed at the luxury market and caters mainly to visitors from North America. Unspoiled beaches, duty-free shopping, scuba diving, and deep-sea fishing draw almost a million visitors to the islands each year. Due to the well-developed tourist industry, many citizens work in service jobs in that sector. Diversification The Cayman Islands is seeking to diversify beyond its two traditional industries, and invest in health care and technology. Health City Cayman Islands, opened in 2014, is a medical tourism hospital in East End, led by surgeon Devi Shetty. Cayman Enterprise City is a special economic zone that was opened in 2011 for technology, finance, and |
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) Radio Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM 17, shortwave 0 (2006) List of radio stations in Cayman Islands Radios: 36,000 (1997) Television Television broadcast stations: Cayman27 Internet Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (2009) Cable & Wireless, Logic, Tele Cayman Country | market in 2003; introduction of competition in the mobile-cellular market in 2004. FLOW Cayman, Digicel International: Landing points for the MAYA-1, Eastern Caribbean Fiber System, and the Cayman-Jamaica Fiber System submarine cables that provide links to the US and parts of Central and South America. Satellite earth station – 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2007) Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) Radio Radio broadcast stations: AM 0, FM |
the left, and speed is reckoned in miles per hour, same as UK. The legal blood alcohol content is 100mg per 100ml (0.1%), the highest in the world. Seaports Two ports, Cayman Brac and George Town, serve the islands. One hundred and twenty-three ships (of 1,000 GT or more) are registered in the Cayman Islands, with a total capacity of 2,402,058 GT/. Some foreign ships (including vessels from Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Norway, the UK, and US) are registered in the Cayman Islands under a flag of convenience. (All figures are 2002 estimates.) Airports There are three airports on the Islands. The | foreign ships (including vessels from Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Norway, the UK, and US) are registered in the Cayman Islands under a flag of convenience. (All figures are 2002 estimates.) Airports There are three airports on the Islands. The main airport Owen Roberts International Airport serving Grand Cayman, Charles Kirkconnell International Airport serving Cayman Brac and Edward Bodden Airfield serving Little Cayman. Buses A fleet of Share taxi minibuses serves Grand Cayman. A daily service starts at 6.00 from the depot and runs as follows from George Town to: West Bay — every 15 minutes: 6.00–23.00 (24.00 on Fr, Sa). CI$1.50 each way. Bodden Town — every 30 minutes: 6.00–23.00 (24.00 on Fr, Sa). CI$1.50 each way. East End and North Side — every |
issues with foreign governments alone, without intervention from Britain. Although in its early days, the Cayman Islands' most important relationships were with Britain and Jamaica, in recent years, this has shifted, and they now rely more so on the United States and Canada. Though the Cayman Islands are involved in no major international disputes, they have come under some criticism due to the use of their territory for narcotics trafficking and money laundering. In an attempt to address this, the Government entered into the Narcotics Agreement of 1984 and the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty of 1986 with the United States, in order to | overseas territory of the UK, the Cayman Islands have no representation either on the United Nations, or in most other international organizations. However, the Cayman Islands still participates in some international organisations, being a full member of the Central Development Bank and International Olympic Committee, an associate member of Caricom and UNESCO, and a member of a subbureau of Interpol. Bilateral relations India United States References See also Foreign relations |
Massif, a granite plateau with an altitude of . The Central African Republic contains six terrestrial ecoregions: Northeastern Congolian lowland forests, Northwestern Congolian lowland forests, Western Congolian swamp forests, East Sudanian savanna, Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic, and Sahelian Acacia savanna. At , the Central African Republic is the world's 44th-largest country. It is comparable in size to Ukraine, as the Ukraine is in area, according to List of countries and dependencies by area. Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River; the Mbomou River in the east merges with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River, which also comprises portions of the southern border. The Sangha River flows through some of the western regions of the country, while the eastern border lies along the edge of the Nile River watershed. It has been estimated that up to 8% of the country is covered by forest, with the densest parts generally located in the southern regions. The forests are highly diverse and include commercially important species of Ayous, Sapelli and Sipo. The deforestation rate is about 0.4% per annum, and lumber poaching is commonplace. The Central African Republic had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 9.28/10, ranking it 7th globally out of 172 countries. In 2008, Central African Republic was the world's least light pollution affected country. The Central African Republic is the focal point of the Bangui Magnetic Anomaly, one of the largest magnetic anomalies on Earth. Land The Central African Republic is roughly the size of France and is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan and South Sudan to the north and east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa) and the Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) to the south, and Cameroon to the west. The capital, Bangui, is situated on the southern boundary, formed by the Ubangi River, a tributary of the Congo River. Relief, drainage and soils The Central African Republic occupies an immense rolling plateau that forms, along a crest that trends southwest to northeast, the major drainage divide between the Lake Chad and Congo River basins. The country is well supplied with waterways. Tributaries of the Chari River occupy the northern third of the country’s territory. The remaining two-thirds of the terrain drains southward into the Ubangi River, which forms the Central African Republic’s southern border with Congo (Kinshasa). The vast central plains rise gradually in the northeast to the Bongos (Bongo) Massif, extending to an elevation of 4,360 feet (1,330 metres) at Mount Toussoro, and to the Tondou Massif in the east. In the west they rise toward the high granite range of the Karre Mountains, reaching nearly 4,625 feet (1,410 metres) at Mount Ngaoui, the country’s highest point, before declining eastward into sandstone plateaus. In the north the most significant mountains are those of the Dar Challa range, which rise to 4,350 feet (1,326 metres) at Mount Ngaya near the border with Sudan. In the southeast is a plain cut by a number of rivers. Wildlife In the southwest, the Dzanga-Sangha National Park is located in a rain forest area. The country is noted for its population of forest elephants and western lowland gorillas. In the north, the Manovo-Gounda St Floris National Park is well-populated with wildlife, including leopards, lions, cheetahs and rhinos, and the Bamingui-Bangoran National Park is located in the northeast of the Central African Republic. The parks have been seriously affected by the activities of poachers, particularly those from Sudan, over the past two decades. Climate The climate of the Central African Republic is generally tropical, with a wet season that lasts from June to September in the northern regions of the country, and from May to October in the south. During the wet season, rainstorms are an almost daily occurrence, and early morning fog is commonplace. Maximum annual precipitation is approximately in the upper Ubangi region. The northern areas are hot and humid from February to May, but can be subject to the hot, dry, and dusty trade wind known as the Harmattan. The southern regions have a more equatorial climate, but they are subject to desertification, while the extreme northeast regions of the country are a steppe. Prefectures and sub-prefectures The Central African Republic is divided into 16 administrative prefectures (préfectures), two of which are economic prefectures (préfectures economiques), and one an autonomous commune; the prefectures are further divided into 71 sub-prefectures (sous-préfectures). The prefectures are Bamingui-Bangoran, Basse-Kotto, Haute-Kotto, Haut-Mbomou, Kémo, Lobaye, Mambéré-Kadéï, Mbomou, Nana-Mambéré, Ombella-M'Poko, Ouaka, Ouham, Ouham-Pendé and Vakaga. The economic prefectures are Nana-Grébizi and Sangha-Mbaéré, while the commune is the capital city of Bangui. Politics and government Politics in the Central African Republic formally take place in a framework of a semi-presidential republic. In this system, the President is the head of state, with a Prime Minister as head of government. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and parliament. Changes in government have occurred in recent years by three methods: violence, negotiations, and elections. A new constitution was approved by voters in a referendum held on 5 December 2004. The government was rated 'Partly Free' from 1991 to 2001 and from 2004 to 2013. Executive branch The president is elected by popular vote for a six-year term, and the prime minister is appointed by the president. The president also appoints and presides over the Council of Ministers, which initiates laws and oversees government operations. However, as of 2018 the official government is not in control of large parts of the country, which are governed by rebel groups. Acting president since April 2016 is Faustin Archange Touadera who followed the interim government under Catherine Samba-Panza, interim prime minister André Nzapayeké. Legislative branch The National Assembly (Assemblée Nationale) has 140 members, elected for a five-year term using the two-round (or Run-off) system. Judicial branch As in many other former French colonies, the Central African Republic's legal system is based on French law. The Supreme Court, or Cour Supreme, is made up of judges appointed by the president. There is also a Constitutional Court, and its judges are also appointed by the president. Foreign relations The Central African Republic relies heavily on Russian mercenaries for the protection of its diamond mines. Foreign aid and UN Involvement The Central African Republic is heavily dependent upon foreign aid and numerous NGOs provide services that the government does not provide. In 2019, over US$100 million in foreign aid was spent in the country, mostly on humanitarian assistance. In 2006, due to ongoing violence, over 50,000 people in the country's northwest were at risk of starvation, but this was averted due to assistance from the United Nations. On 8 January 2008, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon declared that the Central African Republic was eligible to receive assistance from the Peacebuilding Fund. Three priority areas were identified: first, the reform of the security sector; second, the promotion of good governance and the rule of law; and third, the revitalization of communities affected by conflicts. On 12 June 2008, the Central African Republic requested assistance from the UN Peacebuilding Commission, which was set up in 2005 to help countries emerging from conflict avoid devolving back into war or chaos. In response to concerns of a potential genocide, a peacekeeping force – the International Support Mission to the Central African Republic (MISCA) – was authorized in December 2013. This African Union force of 6,000 personnel was accompanied by the French Operation Sangaris. In 2017, Central African Republic signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Human rights The 2009 Human Rights Report by the United States Department of State noted that human rights in the Central African Republic were poor and expressed concerns over numerous government abuses. The U.S. State Department alleged that major human rights abuses such as extrajudicial executions by security forces, torture, beatings and rape of suspects and prisoners occurred with impunity. It also alleged harsh and life-threatening conditions in prisons and detention centers, arbitrary arrest, prolonged pretrial detention and denial of a fair trial, restrictions on freedom of movement, official corruption, and restrictions on workers' rights. The State Department report also cites widespread mob violence, the prevalence of female genital mutilation, discrimination against women and Pygmies, human trafficking, forced labor, and child labor. Freedom of movement is limited in the northern part of the country "because of actions by state security forces, armed bandits, and other nonstate armed entities", and due to fighting between government and anti-government forces, many persons have been internally displaced. Violence against children and women in relation to accusations of witchcraft has also been cited as a serious problem in the country. Witchcraft is a criminal offense under the penal code. Freedom of speech is addressed in the country's constitution, but there have been incidents of government intimidation of the media. A report by the International Research & Exchanges Board's media sustainability index noted that "the country minimally met objectives, with segments of the legal system and government opposed to a free media system". Approximately 68% of girls are married before they turn 18, and the United Nations' Human Development Index ranked the country 188 out of 188 countries surveyed. The Bureau of International Labor Affairs has also mentioned it in its last edition of the List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. Demographics The population of the Central African Republic has almost quadrupled since independence. In 1960, the population was 1,232,000; as of a UN estimate, it is approximately . The United Nations estimates that approximately 4% of the population aged between 15 and 49 is HIV positive. Only 3% of the country has antiretroviral therapy available, compared to a 17% coverage in the neighbouring countries of Chad and the Republic of the Congo. The nation is divided into over 80 ethnic groups, each having its own language. The largest ethnic groups are the Baggara Arabs, Baka, Banda, Bayaka, Fula, Gbaya, Kara, Kresh, Mbaka, Mandja, Ngbandi, Sara, Vidiri, Wodaabe, Yakoma, Yulu, Zande, with others including Europeans of mostly French descent. Religion According to the 2003 national census, 80.3% of the population was Christian (51.4% Protestant and 28.9% Roman Catholic), 10% was Muslim and 4.5 percent other religious groups, with 5.5 percent having no religious beliefs. More recent work from the Pew Research Center estimated that, as of 2010, Christians constituted 89.8% of the population (60.7% Protestant and 28.5% Catholic) while Muslims made up 8.9%. The Catholic Church claims over 1.5 million adherents, approximately one-third of the population. Indigenous belief (animism) is also practiced, and many indigenous beliefs are incorporated into Christian and Islamic practice. A UN director described religious tensions between Muslims and Christians as being high. There are many missionary groups operating in the country, including Lutherans, Baptists, Catholics, Grace Brethren, and Jehovah's Witnesses. While these missionaries are predominantly from the United States, France, Italy, and Spain, many are also from Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other African countries. Large numbers of missionaries left the country when fighting broke out between rebel and government forces in 2002–3, but many of them have now returned to continue their work. According to Overseas Development Institute research, during the crisis ongoing since 2012, religious leaders have mediated between communities and armed groups; they also provided refuge for people seeking shelter. Languages The Central African Republic's two official languages are French and Sango (also spelled Sangho), a creole developed as an inter-ethnic lingua franca based on the local Ngbandi language. The Central African Republic is one of the few African countries to have an African language as their official language. Economy The per capita income of the Republic is often listed as being approximately $400 a year, one of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on reported sales of exports and largely ignores the unregistered sale of foods, locally produced alcoholic beverages, diamonds, ivory, bushmeat, and traditional medicine. The currency of the Central African Republic is the CFA franc, which is accepted across the former countries of French West Africa and trades at a fixed rate to the euro. Diamonds constitute the country's most important export, accounting for 40–55% of export revenues, but it is estimated that between 30% and 50% of those produced each year leave the country clandestinely. Agriculture is dominated by the cultivation and sale of food crops such as cassava, peanuts, maize, sorghum, millet, sesame, and plantain. The annual real GDP growth rate is just above 3%. The importance of food crops over exported cash crops is indicated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple food of most Central Africans, ranges between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes a year, while the production of cotton, the principal exported cash crop, ranges from 25,000 to 45,000 tonnes a year. Food crops are not exported in large quantities, but still constitute the principal cash crops of the country, because Central Africans derive far more income from the periodic sale of surplus food crops than from exported cash crops such as cotton or coffee. Much of the country is self-sufficient in food crops; however, livestock development is hindered by the presence of the tsetse fly. The Republic's primary import partner is France (17.1%). Other imports come from the United States (12.3%), India (11.5%), and China (8.2%). Its largest export partner is France (31.2%), followed by Burundi (16.2%), China (12.5%), Cameroon (9.6%), and Austria (7.8%). The Central African Republic is a member of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa (OHADA). In the 2009 World Bank Group's report Doing Business, it was ranked 183rd of 183 as regards 'ease of doing business', a composite index which takes into account regulations that enhance business activity and those that restrict it. In 2020 Gdp ppp is 4,73milliards\billions dollars. Gdp pps\per capita ~1014$ Infrastructure Transportation Bangui is the transport hub of the Central African Republic. As of 1999, eight roads connected the city to other main towns in the country, Cameroon, Chad and South Sudan; of these, only the toll roads are paved. During the rainy season from July to October, some roads are impassable. River ferries sail from the river port at Bangui to Brazzaville and Zongo. The river can be navigated most of the year between Bangui and Brazzaville. From Brazzaville, goods are transported by rail to Pointe-Noire, Congo's Atlantic port. The river port handles the overwhelming majority of the country's international trade and has a cargo handling capacity of 350,000 tons; it has length of wharfs and of warehousing space. Bangui M'Poko International Airport is Central African Republic's only international airport. As of June 2014 it had regularly scheduled direct flights to Brazzaville, Casablanca, Cotonou, Douala, Kinshasa, Lomé, Luanda, Malabo, N'Djamena, Paris, Pointe-Noire, and Yaoundé. Since at least 2002 there have been plans to connect Bangui by rail to the Transcameroon Railway. Energy The Central African Republic primarily uses hydroelectricity as there are few other low cost resources for generating electricity. Communications Presently, the Central African Republic has active television services, radio stations, internet service providers, and mobile phone carriers; Socatel is the leading provider for both internet and mobile phone access throughout the country. The primary governmental regulating bodies of telecommunications are the Ministère des Postes and Télécommunications et des Nouvelles Technologies. In addition, the Central African Republic receives international support on telecommunication related operations from ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) within the International Telecommunication Union to improve infrastructure. Education Public education in the Central African Republic is free and is compulsory from ages 6 to 14. However, approximately half of the adult population of the country is illiterate. Higher education The two institutions of higher education in the Central African Republic are the University of Bangui, a public university located in Bangui, which includes a medical school; and Euclid University, an international university. Healthcare The largest hospitals in the country are located in the Bangui district. As a member of the World Health Organization, the Central African Republic receives vaccination assistance, such as a 2014 intervention for the prevention of a measles epidemic. In 2007, female life expectancy at birth was 48.2 years and male life expectancy at birth was 45.1 years. Women's health is poor in the Central African Republic. , the country had the 4th highest maternal mortality rate in the world. The total fertility rate in 2014 was estimated at 4.46 children born/woman. Approximately 25% of women had undergone female genital mutilation. Many births in the country are guided by traditional birth attendants, who often have little or no formal training. Malaria is endemic in the Central African Republic, and one of the leading causes of death. According to 2009 estimates, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is about 4.7% of the adult population (ages 15–49). This is in general agreement with the 2016 United Nations estimate of approximately 4%. Government expenditure on health was US$20 (PPP) per person in 2006 and 10.9% of total government expenditure in 2006. There was only around 1 physician for every 20,000 persons in 2009. Culture Media Sports Basketball is the country's most popular sport and a good way to connect with its people. Its national team won the African Championship twice and was the first Sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the Basketball World Cup, in 1974. The country also has a national football team, which is governed by the Central African Football Federation, and stages matches at the Barthélemy Boganda Stadium. See also Outline of the Central African Republic List of Central African Republic–related topics References Bibliography Balogh, Besenyo, Miletics, Vogel: La République Centrafricaine Further reading Doeden, Matt, Central African Republic in Pictures (Twentyfirst Century Books, 2009). Petringa, Maria, Brazza, A Life for Africa (2006). . Titley, Brian, Dark Age: The Political Odyssey of Emperor Bokassa, 2002. Woodfrok, Jacqueline, Culture and Customs of the Central African Republic (Greenwood Press, 2006). External links Overviews Country Profile from BBC News Central African Republic. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence | Upper-Oubangui, which included present-day Central African Republic. French colonial period The European invasion of Central African territory began in the late 19th century during the Scramble for Africa. Europeans, primarily the French, Germans, and Belgians, arrived in the area in 1885. France seized and colonized Ubangi-Shari territory in 1894. In 1911 at the Treaty of Fez, France ceded a nearly 300,000 km2 portion of the Sangha and Lobaye basins to the German Empire which ceded a smaller area (in present-day Chad) to France. After World War I France again annexed the territory. Modeled on King Leopold's Congo Free State, concessions were doled out to private companies that endeavored to strip the region's assets as quickly and cheaply as possible before depositing a percentage of their profits into the French treasury. The concessionary companies forced local people to harvest rubber, coffee, and other commodities without pay and held their families hostage until they met their quotas. Between 1890, a year after the French first arrived, and 1940, the population declined by half due to diseases, famine and exploitation by private companies. In 1920 French Equatorial Africa was established and Ubangi-Shari was administered from Brazzaville. During the 1920s and 1930s the French introduced a policy of mandatory cotton cultivation, a network of roads was built, attempts were made to combat sleeping sickness, and Protestant missions were established to spread Christianity. New forms of forced labor were also introduced and a large number of Ubangians were sent to work on the Congo-Ocean Railway. Through the period of construction until 1934 there was a continual heavy cost in human lives, with total deaths among all workers along the railway estimated in excess of 17,000 of the construction workers, from a combination of both industrial accidents and diseases including malaria. In 1928, a major insurrection, the Kongo-Wara rebellion or 'war of the hoe handle', broke out in Western Ubangi-Shari and continued for several years. The extent of this insurrection, which was perhaps the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Africa during the interwar years, was carefully hidden from the French public because it provided evidence of strong opposition to French colonial rule and forced labor. In September 1940, during the Second World War, pro-Gaullist French officers took control of Ubangi-Shari and General Leclerc established his headquarters for the Free French Forces in Bangui. In 1946 Barthélemy Boganda was elected with 9,000 votes to the French National Assembly, becoming the first representative of the Central African Republic in the French government. Boganda maintained a political stance against racism and the colonial regime but gradually became disheartened with the French political system and returned to the Central African Republic to establish the Movement for the Social Evolution of Black Africa (Mouvement pour l'évolution sociale de l'Afrique noire, MESAN) in 1950. Since independence (1960–present) In the Ubangi-Shari Territorial Assembly election in 1957, MESAN captured 347,000 out of the total 356,000 votes and won every legislative seat, which led to Boganda being elected president of the Grand Council of French Equatorial Africa and vice-president of the Ubangi-Shari Government Council. Within a year, he declared the establishment of the Central African Republic and served as the country's first prime minister. MESAN continued to exist, but its role was limited. The Central Africa Republic was granted 'independence' within the French Community in 1 December 1958, a status which meant it was still counted as part of the French Empire in Africa. After Boganda's death in a plane crash on 29 March 1959, his cousin, David Dacko, took control of MESAN. Dacko became the country's first president when the Central African Republic formally received independence from France at midnight on 13 August 1960, a date celebrated by the country's Independence Day holiday. Dacko threw out his political rivals, including Abel Goumba, former Prime Minister and leader of Mouvement d'évolution démocratique de l'Afrique centrale (MEDAC), whom he forced into exile in France. With all opposition parties suppressed by November 1962, Dacko declared MESAN as the official party of the state. Bokassa and the Central African Empire (1965–1979) On 31 December 1965, Dacko was overthrown in the Saint-Sylvestre coup d'état by Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa, who suspended the constitution and dissolved the National Assembly. President Bokassa declared himself President for Life in 1972 and named himself Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire (as the country was renamed) on 4 December 1976. A year later, Emperor Bokassa crowned himself in a lavish and expensive ceremony that was ridiculed by much of the world. In April 1979, young students protested against Bokassa's decree that all school attendees would need to buy uniforms from a company owned by one of his wives. The government violently suppressed the protests, killing 100 children and teenagers. Bokassa may have been personally involved in some of the killings. In September 1979, France overthrew Bokassa and restored Dacko to power (subsequently restoring the name of the country and the original government to the Central African Republic). Dacko, in turn, was again overthrown in a coup by General André Kolingba on 1 September 1981. Central African Republic under Kolingba Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta until 1985. He introduced a new constitution in 1986 which was adopted by a nationwide referendum. Membership in his new party, the Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC), was voluntary. In 1987 and 1988, semi-free elections to parliament were held, but Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, were not allowed to participate. By 1990, inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement arose. Pressure from the United States, France, and from a group of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (France, the US, Germany, Japan, the EU, the World Bank, and the UN) finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992 with help from the UN Office of Electoral Affairs. After using the excuse of alleged irregularities to suspend the results of the elections as a pretext for holding on to power, President Kolingba came under intense pressure from GIBAFOR to establish a "Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République" (Provisional National Political Council, CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission", which included representatives from all political parties. When a second round of elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the international community coordinated by GIBAFOR, Ange-Félix Patassé won in the second round of voting with 53% of the vote while Goumba won 45.6%. Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, gained a simple but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant Patassé's party required coalition partners. Patassé government (1993–2003) Patassé purged many of the Kolingba elements from the government and Kolingba supporters accused Patassé's government of conducting a "witch hunt" against the Yakoma. A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 but had little impact on the country's politics. In 1996–1997, reflecting steadily decreasing public confidence in the government's erratic behaviour, three mutinies against Patassé's administration were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. During this time (1996) the Peace Corps evacuated all its volunteers to neighboring Cameroon. To date, the Peace Corps has not returned to the Central African Republic. The Bangui Agreements, signed in January 1997, provided for the deployment of an inter-African military mission, to Central African Republic and re-entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The inter-African military mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force (MINURCA). Since 1997, the country has hosted almost a dozen peacekeeping interventions, earning it the title of "world champion of peacekeeping". In 1998, parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba's RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats. The next year, however, in spite of widespread public anger in urban centers over his corrupt rule, Patassé won a second term in the presidential election. On 28 May 2001, rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou, and General François N'Djadder Bedaya were killed, but Patassé regained the upper hand by bringing in at least 300 troops of the Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and Libyan soldiers. In the aftermath of the failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of Bangui and incited unrest including the murder of many political opponents. Eventually, Patassé came to suspect that General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against him, which led Bozizé to flee with loyal troops to Chad. In March 2003, Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the country. Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organization failed to stop the rebels and Bozizé's forces succeeded in overthrowing Patassé. Civil wars François Bozizé suspended the constitution and named a new cabinet, which included most opposition parties. Abel Goumba was named vice-president, which gave Bozizé's new government a positive image. Bozizé established a broad-based National Transition Council to draft a new constitution, and announced that he would step down and run for office once the new constitution was approved. In 2004, the Central African Republic Bush War began, as forces opposed to Bozizé took up arms against his government. In May 2005, Bozizé won the presidential election, which excluded Patassé, and in 2006 fighting continued between the government and the rebels. In November 2006, Bozizé's government requested French military support to help them repel rebels who had taken control of towns in the country's northern regions. Though the initial public details of the agreement pertained to logistics and intelligence, by December the French assistance included airstrikes by Dassault Mirage 2000 fighters against rebel positions. The Syrte Agreement in February and the Birao Peace Agreement in April 2007 called for a cessation of hostilities, the billeting of FDPC fighters and their integration with FACA, the liberation of political prisoners, integration of FDPC into government, an amnesty for the UFDR, its recognition as a political party, and the integration of its fighters into the national army. Several groups continued to fight but other groups signed on to the agreement, or similar agreements with the government (e.g. UFR on 15 December 2008). The only major group not to sign an agreement at the time was the CPJP, which continued its activities and signed a peace agreement with the government on 25 August 2012. In 2011, Bozizé was reelected in an election which was widely considered fraudulent. In November 2012, Séléka, a coalition of rebel groups, took over towns in the northern and central regions of the country. These groups eventually reached a peace deal with the Bozizé's government in January 2013 involving a power sharing government but this deal broke down and the rebels seized the capital in March 2013 and Bozizé fled the country. Michel Djotodia took over as president. Prime Minister Nicolas Tiangaye requested a UN peacekeeping force from the UN Security Council and on 31 May former President Bozizé was indicted for crimes against humanity and incitement of genocide. By the end of the year there were international warnings of a "genocide" and fighting was largely from reprisal attacks on civilians from Seleka's predominantly Muslim fighters and Christian militias called "anti-balaka." By August 2013, there were reports of over 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) French President François Hollande called on the UN Security Council and African Union to increase their efforts to stabilize the country. On 18 February 2014, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the UN Security Council to immediately deploy 3,000 troops to the country, bolstering the 6,000 African Union soldiers and 2,000 French troops already in the country, to combat civilians being murdered in large numbers. The Séléka government was said to be divided, and in September 2013, Djotodia officially disbanded Seleka, but many rebels refused to disarm, becoming known as ex-Seleka, and veered further out of government control. It is argued that the focus of the initial disarmament efforts exclusively on the Seleka inadvertently handed the anti-Balaka the upper hand, leading to the forced displacement of Muslim civilians by anti-Balaka in Bangui and western Central African Republic. On 11 January 2014, Michael Djotodia and Nicolas Tiengaye resigned as part of a deal negotiated at a regional summit in neighboring Chad. Catherine Samba-Panza was elected as interim president by the National Transitional Council, becoming the first ever female Central African president. On 23 July 2014, following Congolese mediation efforts, Séléka and anti-balaka representatives signed a ceasefire agreement in Brazzaville. By the end of 2014, the country was de facto partitioned with the anti-Balaka in the southwest and ex-Seleka in the northeast. In March 2015, Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said 417 of the country's 436 mosques had been destroyed, and Muslim women were so scared of going out in public they were giving birth in their homes instead of going to the hospital. On 14 December 2015, Séléka rebel leaders declared an independent Republic of Logone. Touadéra government (2016–) Presidential elections were held in December 2015. As no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, a second round of elections was held on 14 February 2016 with run-offs on 31 March 2016. In the second round |
country's administration, which was accompanied by growing corruption and inefficiency, and he expanded the number of civil servants, which greatly increased the portion of the national budget needed to pay salaries. Dacko was torn between his need to retain the support of France and his need to show that he was not subservient to France. In order to cultivate alternative sources of support and display his independence in foreign policy, he cultivated closer relations with the People's Republic of China. By 1965, Dacko had lost the support of most Central Africans and may have been planning to resign from the presidency when he was overthrown. Bokassa and the Central African Empire On 1 January 1966, following a swift and almost bloodless overnight coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumed power as president of the Republic. Bokassa abolished the constitution of 1959, dissolved the National Assembly, and issued a decree that placed all legislative and executive powers in the hands of the president. On 4 March 1972, Bokassa's presidency was extended to a life term. On 4 December 1976, the republic became a monarchy – the Central African Empire – with the promulgation of the imperial constitution and the coronation of the president as Emperor Bokassa I. His authoritarian regime was characterized by numerous human rights violations. On 20 September 1979, Dacko overthrew Bokassa in a bloodless coup. Kolingba Dacko's efforts to promote economic and political reforms proved ineffectual, and on 20 September 1981, he in turn was overthrown in a bloodless coup by General André Kolingba. Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta, the Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN) for four years. In 1985, the CMRN was dissolved, and Kolingba named a new cabinet with increased civilian participation, signaling the start of a return to civilian rule. The process of democratization quickened in 1986 with the creation of a new political party, the Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC), and the drafting of a new constitution that subsequently was ratified in a national referendum. General Kolingba was sworn in as constitutional President on 29 November 1986. The constitution established a National Assembly made up of 52 elected deputies, elected in July 1987. Municipal elections were held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, boycotted these elections because their parties were not allowed to participate. By 1990, inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement became very active. In May 1990, a letter signed by 253 prominent citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference. Kolingba refused this request and instead detained several opponents. Pressure from a group of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (Groupe informel des bailleurs de fonds et representants residents) as well as the United States and France, finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992. Alleging irregularities, Kolingba opted to suspend the results of the elections and held on to power. GIBAFOR applied intense pressure on him to establish a Provisional National Political Council (Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République / CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission", which included representatives from all political parties. Patassé When elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the international community, Ange-Félix Patassé led in the first round and Kolingba came in fourth behind Abel Goumba and David Dacko. In the second round, Patassé won 53% of the vote while Goumba won 45.6%. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya, Kare, and Kaba voters in seven heavily populated prefectures in the northwest while Goumba's support came largely from ten less-populated prefectures in the south and east. Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, gained a plurality but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant it required coalition partners to rule effectively. Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of his military rank of General in March 1994 and then charged several former ministers with various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important, lucrative posts in the government. Two hundred predominantly Yakoma members of the presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned to the army. Kolingba's RDC loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was conducting a "witch hunt" against the Yakoma. A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 and promulgated on 14 January 1995, but this constitution, like those before it, did not have much impact on the country's politics. In 1996–1997, reflecting steadily decreasing public confidence in the government's erratic behaviour, three mutinies against Patassé's administration were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January 1997, the Bangui Agreements, which provided for the deployment of an inter-African military mission, the Mission Interafricaine de Surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB), were signed. Mali's former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief mediator and brokered the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The MISAB mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force, the Mission des Nations Unies en RCA (MINURCA). In 1998, parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba's RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats, constituting a significant political comeback. In 1999, however, Patassé won free elections to become president for a second term, despite widespread public anger in urban centres over his rule. Bozizé On 28 May 2001, rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou, and General François N'Djadder Bedaya were killed, but Patasse retained power with the assistance of troops from Libya and rebel FLC soldiers from the DRC led by Jean-Pierre Bemba. In the aftermath of the failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of the capital, Bangui. They incited unrest which resulted in the destruction of homes as well as the torture and murder of opponents. Patassé came to suspect that General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against him, which led Bozizé to flee with loyal troops to Chad. In March 2003, Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the country. This time, Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organization failed to stop the rebels, who took control of the country and thus succeeded in overthrowing Patassé. On 15 March 2003, rebels moved into Bangui and installed their Bozizé, as president. Patassé was found guilty of major crimes in Bangui. CAR brought a case against him and Jean-Pierre Bemba to the International Criminal Court, accusing them both of multiple crimes in suppressing one of the mutinies against Patasse. Bozizé's won the 2005 presidential election, and his coalition was the leader in the 2005 legislative election. 2003–2007: Bush War After Bozizé seized power in 2003, the Central African Republic Bush War began with the rebellion by the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), led by Michel Djotodia. This quickly escalated into major fighting during 2004. The UFDR rebel forces consisted of three allies, the Groupe d'action patriotique pour la liberation de Centrafrique (GAPLC), the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the People's Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), the Movement of Central African Liberators for Justice (MLCJ), and the Front démocratique Centrafricain (FDC). In early 2006, Bozizé's government appeared stable. On 13 April 2007, a | he was overthrown. Bokassa and the Central African Empire On 1 January 1966, following a swift and almost bloodless overnight coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa assumed power as president of the Republic. Bokassa abolished the constitution of 1959, dissolved the National Assembly, and issued a decree that placed all legislative and executive powers in the hands of the president. On 4 March 1972, Bokassa's presidency was extended to a life term. On 4 December 1976, the republic became a monarchy – the Central African Empire – with the promulgation of the imperial constitution and the coronation of the president as Emperor Bokassa I. His authoritarian regime was characterized by numerous human rights violations. On 20 September 1979, Dacko overthrew Bokassa in a bloodless coup. Kolingba Dacko's efforts to promote economic and political reforms proved ineffectual, and on 20 September 1981, he in turn was overthrown in a bloodless coup by General André Kolingba. Kolingba suspended the constitution and ruled with a military junta, the Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN) for four years. In 1985, the CMRN was dissolved, and Kolingba named a new cabinet with increased civilian participation, signaling the start of a return to civilian rule. The process of democratization quickened in 1986 with the creation of a new political party, the Rassemblement Démocratique Centrafricain (RDC), and the drafting of a new constitution that subsequently was ratified in a national referendum. General Kolingba was sworn in as constitutional President on 29 November 1986. The constitution established a National Assembly made up of 52 elected deputies, elected in July 1987. Municipal elections were held in 1988. Kolingba's two major political opponents, Abel Goumba and Ange-Félix Patassé, boycotted these elections because their parties were not allowed to participate. By 1990, inspired by the fall of the Berlin Wall, a pro-democracy movement became very active. In May 1990, a letter signed by 253 prominent citizens asked for the convocation of a National Conference. Kolingba refused this request and instead detained several opponents. Pressure from a group of locally represented countries and agencies called GIBAFOR (Groupe informel des bailleurs de fonds et representants residents) as well as the United States and France, finally led Kolingba to agree, in principle, to hold free elections in October 1992. Alleging irregularities, Kolingba opted to suspend the results of the elections and held on to power. GIBAFOR applied intense pressure on him to establish a Provisional National Political Council (Conseil National Politique Provisoire de la République / CNPPR) and to set up a "Mixed Electoral Commission", which included representatives from all political parties. Patassé When elections were finally held in 1993, again with the help of the international community, Ange-Félix Patassé led in the first round and Kolingba came in fourth behind Abel Goumba and David Dacko. In the second round, Patassé won 53% of the vote while Goumba won 45.6%. Most of Patassé's support came from Gbaya, Kare, and Kaba voters in seven heavily populated prefectures in the northwest while Goumba's support came largely from ten less-populated prefectures in the south and east. Patassé's party, the Mouvement pour la Libération du Peuple Centrafricain (MLPC) or Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, gained a plurality but not an absolute majority of seats in parliament, which meant it required coalition partners to rule effectively. Patassé relieved former President Kolingba of his military rank of General in March 1994 and then charged several former ministers with various crimes. Patassé also removed many Yakoma from important, lucrative posts in the government. Two hundred predominantly Yakoma members of the presidential guard were also dismissed or reassigned to the army. Kolingba's RDC loudly proclaimed that Patassé's government was conducting a "witch hunt" against the Yakoma. A new constitution was approved on 28 December 1994 and promulgated on 14 January 1995, but this constitution, like those before it, did not have much impact on the country's politics. In 1996–1997, reflecting steadily decreasing public confidence in the government's erratic behaviour, three mutinies against Patassé's administration were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and heightened ethnic tension. On 25 January 1997, the Bangui Agreements, which provided for the deployment of an inter-African military mission, the Mission Interafricaine de Surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB), were signed. Mali's former president, Amadou Touré, served as chief mediator and brokered the entry of ex-mutineers into the government on 7 April 1997. The MISAB mission was later replaced by a U.N. peacekeeping force, the Mission des Nations Unies en RCA (MINURCA). In 1998, parliamentary elections resulted in Kolingba's RDC winning 20 out of 109 seats, constituting a significant political comeback. In 1999, however, Patassé won free elections to become president for a second term, despite widespread public anger in urban centres over his rule. Bozizé On 28 May 2001, rebels stormed strategic buildings in Bangui in an unsuccessful coup attempt. The army chief of staff, Abel Abrou, and General François N'Djadder Bedaya were killed, but Patasse retained power with the assistance of troops from Libya and rebel FLC soldiers from the DRC led by Jean-Pierre Bemba. In the aftermath of the failed coup, militias loyal to Patassé sought revenge against rebels in many neighborhoods of the capital, Bangui. They incited unrest which resulted in the destruction of homes as well as the torture and murder of opponents. Patassé came to suspect that General François Bozizé was involved in another coup attempt against him, which led Bozizé to flee with loyal troops to Chad. In March 2003, Bozizé launched a surprise attack against Patassé, who was out of the country. This time, Libyan troops and some 1,000 soldiers of Bemba's Congolese rebel organization failed to stop the rebels, who took control of the country and thus succeeded in overthrowing Patassé. On 15 March 2003, rebels moved into Bangui and installed their Bozizé, as president. Patassé was found guilty of major crimes in Bangui. CAR brought a case against him and Jean-Pierre Bemba to the International Criminal Court, accusing them both of multiple crimes in suppressing one of the mutinies against Patasse. Bozizé's won the 2005 presidential election, and his coalition was the leader in the 2005 legislative election. 2003–2007: Bush War After Bozizé seized power in 2003, the Central African Republic Bush War began with the rebellion by the Union of Democratic Forces for Unity (UFDR), led by Michel Djotodia. This quickly escalated into major fighting during 2004. The UFDR rebel forces consisted of three allies, the Groupe d'action patriotique pour la liberation de Centrafrique (GAPLC), the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP), the People's Army for the Restoration of Democracy (APRD), the Movement of Central African Liberators for Justice (MLCJ), and the Front démocratique Centrafricain (FDC). In early 2006, Bozizé's government appeared stable. On 13 April 2007, a peace agreement between the government and the UFDR was signed in Birao. The agreement provided for an amnesty for the UFDR, its recognition as a political party, and the integration of its fighters into the army. Further negotiations resulted in an agreement in 2008 for reconciliation, a unity government, and local elections in 2009 and parliamentary and presidential elections in 2010. The new unity government that resulted was formed in January 2009. 2012–2014: Civil War In late 2012, a coalition of old rebel groups under new name of Séléka renewed fighting. Two other, previously unknown groups, the Alliance for Revival and Rebuilding (A2R) and the Patriotic Convention for Saving the Country (CPSK) also joined the coalition, as well as the Chadian group FPR. On 27 December 2012, CAR President Francois Bozizé requested international assistance to help with the rebellion, in particular from France and the United States. French President François Hollande rejected the plea, saying that the 250 French troops stationed at Bangui M'Poko International Airport are there "in no way to intervene in the internal affairs". On 11 January 2013, a ceasefire agreement was signed Libreville, Gabon. The rebels dropped their demand for President François Bozizé to resign, but he had to appoint a new prime minister from the opposition party by 18 January 2013. On 13 January, Bozizé signed a decree that removed Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadéra from power, as part of the agreement with the rebel coalition. On 17 January, Nicolas Tiangaye was appointed Prime Minister. On 24 March 2013, rebel forces heavily attacked the capital Bangui and took control of major structures, including the presidential palace. Bozizé's family fled across the river to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then to Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon where he was granted temporary refuge. Djotodia Séléka leader Michel Djotodia declared himself President. Djotodia said that there would be a three-year transitional period and that Tiangaye would continue to serve as Prime Minister. Djotodia promptly suspended the constitution and dissolved the government, as well as the National Assembly. He then reappointed Tiangaye as Prime Minister on 27 March 2013. Top military and police officers met with Djotodia and recognized him as president on 28 March 2013. Catherine Samba-Panza assumed the office of interim president on 23 January 2014. Peacekeeping largely transitioned from the Economic Community of Central African States-led MICOPAX to the African Union-led MISCA, which was deployed in December 2013. In September 2014, MISCA transferred its authority to the UN-led MINUSCA while the French peacekeeping mission was known as Operation Sangaris. 2015–present: Civil War By 2015, there was little government control outside of the capital, Bangui. The dissolution of Séléka led to ex-Séléka fighters forming new militias that often fought each other. Armed entrepreneurs had carved out personal fiefdoms in which they set up checkpoints, collect illegal taxes, and take in millions of dollars from the illicit coffee, mineral, and timber trades. Noureddine Adam, the leader of the rebel group Popular Front for the Rebirth of Central African Republic (FRPC), declared the autonomous Republic of Logone on 14 December 2015. By 2017, more than 14 armed groups vied for territory, and about 60% of the country's territory was controlled by four notable factions led by ex-Séléka leaders, including the FRP led by Adam; the Union Pour la Paix en Centrafrique (UPC), led by Ali Darassa, the Mouvement patriotique pour la Centrafrique (MPC) led by Mahamat Al-Khatim. The factions have been described as ethnic in nature with the FPRC associated with the Gula and Runga people and the UPC associated with the Fulani. With the de facto partition of the country between ex-Séléka militias in the north and east, and Anti-balaka militias in the south and west, hostilities between both sides decreased but sporadic fighting continued. In February 2016, after a peaceful election, the former Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadéra was elected president. In October 2016, France announced that Operation Sangaris, its peacekeeping mission in the country, was a success and largely withdrew its troops. Tensions erupted in competition between ex-Séléka |
African Republic is the world's 45th-largest country (after Somalia). It is comparable in size to Ukraine. Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River, with the Mbomou River in the east merging with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part of the country. The eastern border lies along the edge of the Congo-Nile watershed. Estimates of the amount of the country covered by forest range up to 8%, with the densest parts in the south. The forest is highly diverse and includes commercially important species of Ayous, Sapele and Sipo. The deforestation rate is 0.4% per annum, and lumber poaching is commonplace. Climate The climate of the C.A.R. is generally tropical. The northern areas are subject to harmattan winds, which are hot, dry, and carry dust. The tip of the northern regions have been subject to desertification. The remainder of the country is prone to flooding from nearby rivers. About one third of the Central African Republic's population do not have access to clean water. Notes Location: Central Africa, north of Democratic | the interior of the African continent. It is bordered by Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. Much of the country consists of flat, or rolling plateau savanna, about above sea level. In the northeast are the Fertit Hills, and there are scattered hills in the southwestern part of the country. To the northwest is the Karre Mountains (also known as Yade Massif), a granite plateau with an altitude of . At , the Central African Republic is the world's 45th-largest country (after Somalia). It is comparable in size to Ukraine. Much of the southern border is formed by tributaries of the Congo River, with the Mbomou River in the east merging with the Uele River to form the Ubangi River. In the west, the Sangha River flows through part of the country. The eastern border lies along the edge of the Congo-Nile watershed. Estimates of the amount of the country covered by forest range up to 8%, with the densest parts in the south. |
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019. One birth every 3 minutes One death every 9 minutes One net migrant every 21 minutes Net gain of one person every 6 minutes The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 5,745,062 (July 2018 est.) 4,920,157 Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2015 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 39.89% (male 1,151,724 /female 1,140,083) 15-24 years: 19.91% (male 574,969 /female 568,942) 25-54 years: 32.64% (male 938,365 /female 936,948) 55-64 years: 4.17% (male 112,310 /female 127,045) 65 years and over: 3.39% (male 75,401 /female 119,275) (2018 est.) Median age total: 19.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 197th male: 19.5 years female: 20.1 years (2018 est.) Total: 21.4 years Male: 19.6 years Female: 20.2 years (2015 est.) Population growth rate 2.11% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 43rd 2.12% (2016 est.) Birth rate 34 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 24th Death rate 12.9 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Net migration rate 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 78th Total fertility rate 4.25 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 29th Sex ratio At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female Total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2015 est.) Life expectancy at birth male: 51.9 years (2018 est.) female: 54.7 years (2018 est.) Dependency ratios total dependency ratio: 90 (2015 est.) youth dependency ratio: 83.1 (2015 est.) elderly | one person every 6 minutes The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 5,745,062 (July 2018 est.) 4,920,157 Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2015 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 39.89% (male 1,151,724 /female 1,140,083) 15-24 years: 19.91% (male 574,969 /female 568,942) 25-54 years: 32.64% (male 938,365 /female 936,948) 55-64 years: 4.17% (male 112,310 /female 127,045) 65 years and over: 3.39% (male 75,401 /female 119,275) (2018 est.) Median age total: 19.8 years. Country comparison to the world: 197th male: 19.5 years female: 20.1 years (2018 est.) Total: 21.4 years Male: 19.6 years Female: 20.2 years (2015 est.) Population growth rate 2.11% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 43rd 2.12% (2016 est.) Birth rate 34 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 24th Death rate 12.9 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Net migration rate 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2017 est.) Country comparison to the world: 78th Total fertility rate 4.25 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 29th Sex ratio At birth: 1.03 male(s)/female Under 15 years: 1.01 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.67 male(s)/female Total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2015 est.) Life expectancy at birth male: 51.9 years (2018 est.) female: 54.7 years (2018 est.) Dependency ratios total dependency ratio: 90 (2015 est.) youth dependency ratio: 83.1 (2015 est.) elderly dependency ratio: 7 (2015 est.) potential support ratio: 14.4 (2015 est) Contraceptive prevalence rate 15.2% (2010/11) School life expectancy total: 7 years (2012) male: 8 years (2012) female: 6 years (2012) HIV/AIDS Adult prevalence rate: 4.7% (2009 est.) People living with HIV/AIDS: 130,000 (2009 est.) Deaths: 11,000 (2010 est.) Major infectious diseases Degree of risk: very high Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever Vectorborne disease: malaria Respiratory disease: meningococcal meningitis Water contact |
2013, a ceasefire was signed by the Séléka rebel coalition, which had aimed to bring down the government of President Bozizé. According to this agreement, a new unity government would be formed. The President would appoint a new prime minister from the opposition parties, and the National Assembly of the Central African Republic would be dissolved and new legislative elections would be held within twelve months. However, two months later, the Séléka rebels felt their terms were not being met, and at the culmination of the Central African Civil War, they attacked and took the capital, Bangui. The president, Bozizé, fled to neighboring Cameroon via the Democratic Republic of Congo on 24 March 2013. On 14 December 2015, a new constitution by referendum and ratified on 27 March 2016. Since 30 March 2016, Faustin-Archange Touadéra is the president of the Central African Republic. Executive branch |President |Faustin-Archange Touadéra |Independent |30 March 2016 |- |Prime Minister |Firmin Ngrébada |Independent |27 February 2019 |- |} The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the prime minister is appointed by the president. The president also appoints and presides over the Council of Ministers, which initiates laws and oversees government operations. Legislative branch Since 27 March 2016, the Parliament | Djotodia assumed the Presidency through takeover by violent means; however, elections were held in March 2005 and promised in 2013. A ceasefire agreement in January 2013 called for a multipartisan unity government. The government was deposed on 13 March 2003 by forces under the rebel leader Bozizé, who promised elections in 18 to 30 months. A new cabinet was set up on 1 April 2003. Elections were held on 13 March 2005. On 11 January 2013, a ceasefire was signed by the Séléka rebel coalition, which had aimed to bring down the government of President Bozizé. According to this agreement, a new unity government would be formed. The President would appoint a new prime minister from the opposition parties, and the National Assembly of the Central African Republic would be dissolved and new legislative elections would be held within twelve months. However, two months later, the Séléka rebels felt their terms were not being met, and at the culmination of the Central African Civil War, they attacked and took the capital, Bangui. The president, Bozizé, fled to neighboring Cameroon via the Democratic Republic of Congo on 24 March 2013. On 14 December 2015, a new constitution by referendum and ratified on 27 March 2016. Since 30 March 2016, Faustin-Archange Touadéra is the president of the Central African Republic. Executive branch |President |Faustin-Archange Touadéra |Independent |30 March 2016 |- |Prime Minister |Firmin Ngrébada |Independent |27 February 2019 |- |} The president is elected by popular vote for a five-year term, the prime minister is appointed by the president. The president also appoints and presides over the Council of |
cotton or coffee. Many rural and urban women also transform some foodcrops into alcoholic drinks such as sorghum beer or hard liquor and derive considerable income from the sale of these drinks. Much of the income derived from the sale of foods and alcohol is not "on the books" and thus is not considered in calculating per capita income, which is one reason why official figures for per capita income are not accurate in the case of the CAR. The per capita income of the CAR is often listed as being around $400 a year, said to be one of the lowest in the world, but this figure is based mostly on reported sales of exports and largely ignores the more important but unregistered sale of foods, locally produced alcohol, diamonds, ivory, bushmeat, and traditional medicines, for example. The informal economy of the CAR is more important than the formal economy for most Central Africans. Central African Republic produced in 2019: 730 thousand tons of cassava; 511 thousand tons of yam (7th largest producer in the world); 143 thousand tons of peanut; 140 thousand tons of taro; 138 thousand tons of banana; 120 thousand tons of sugar cane; 90 thousand tons of maize; 87 thousand tons of plantain; 75 thousand tons of vegetable; 36 thousand tons of orange; 30 thousand tons of sorghum; 21 thousand tons of cotton; 19 thousand tons of pumpkin; 17 thousand tons of pineapple; 12 thousand tons of mango; 10 thousand tons of millet; 10 thousand tons of coffee; 8.5 thousand tons of avocado; 6.7 thousand tons of sesame seed; In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products. Finance and banking The financial sector of the CAR, the smallest in the CEMAC, plays a limited role in supporting economic growth. Suffering from weak market infrastructure and legal and judicial frameworks, the financial system remains small, undeveloped, and dominated by commercial banks. Because of economic and security concerns, financial institutions, and particularly microfinance institutions (MFIs), have consolidated their business in the capital, Bangui, over the past few years. With less than 1% of the total population holding a bank account, access to financial services is extremely limited in the CAR. Microfinance accounts only for 1% of the total credit facilities, serving 0.5 percent of the population. Low levels of mobile penetration – which stand at 30%, a significantly lower percentage than in the rest of the continent – dampen the potential expansion of access to financial services through mobile technology. Economic aid and development The CAR is heavily dependent upon multilateral foreign aid and the presence of numerous NGO's which provide numerous services which the government fails to provide. As one UNDP official put it, the CAR is a country "sous serum," or a country hooked up to an IV. (Mehler 2005:150) The presence of numerous foreign personnel and organizations in the country, including peacekeepers and refugee camps, provides an important source of revenue for many Central Africans. In the 40 years since independence, the CAR has made slow progress toward economic development. Economic mismanagement, poor infrastructure, a limited tax base, scarce private investment, and adverse external conditions have led to deficits in both its budget and external trade. Its debt burden is considerable, and the country has seen a decline in per capita gross national product over the last 40 years. Important constraints to economic development include the CAR's landlocked position, a poor transportation system, a largely unskilled work force, and a legacy of misdirected macroeconomic policies. The 50% devaluation of the currencies of 14 Francophone African nations on 12 January 1994 had mixed effects on the CAR's economy. Diamond, timber, coffee, and cotton exports increased, leading an estimated rise of GDP of 7% in 1994 and nearly 5% in 1995. Military rebellions and social unrest in 1996 were accompanied by widespread destruction of property and a drop in GDP of 2%. Ongoing violence between the government and rebel military groups over pay issues, living conditions, and political representation has destroyed many businesses in the capital and reduced tax revenues for the government. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved an Extended Structure Adjustment Facility in 1998. The government has | and the diamond industry for nearly 54%. Infrastructure Much of the country's limited electrical supply is provided by hydroelectric plants located in Boali. Fuel supplies must be barged in via the Oubangui River or trucked overland through Cameroon, resulting in frequent shortages of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The C.A.R.'s transportation and communication network is limited. The country has only 429 kilometers of paved road, limited international, and no domestic air service, and does not possess a railroad. River traffic on the Oubangui River is impossible from April to July, and conflict in the region has sometimes prevented shipments from moving between Kinshasa and Bangui. The telephone system functions, albeit imperfectly. Four radio stations operate in the C.A.R., as well as one television station. Numerous newspapers and pamphlets are published on a regular basis, and one company provides Internet access. Forestry In 2014, the country exported 59.3 million US dollars of forest products. This accounts for 40% of the countries total export earnings. Natural resources The country has rich natural resources in the form of diamonds, gold, uranium, and other minerals. Diamonds constitute one of the most important exports of the CAR, frequently accounting for 20-30% of export revenues, but an estimated 30-50% of the diamonds produced each year leave the country clandestinely. There may be petroleum deposits along the country's northern border with Chad. (Two billion barrels of oil are present in private estimates). Diamonds are the only of these mineral resources currently being developed; reported sales of largely uncut diamonds made up close to 60% of the CAR's export earnings as of 2001. Industry contributes less than 20% of the country's GDP, with artesian diamond mining, breweries, and sawmills making up the bulk of the sector. Services account for 25% of GDP, largely because of government bureaucracy and high transportation costs arising from the country's landlocked position. Agriculture 74% (2013) of the population in the Central African Republic works in the agriculture industry, so Central African Republic's economy is dominated by the cultivation and sale of foodcrops such as yams, cassava, peanuts, maize, sorghum, millet, sesame, and plantains. The importance of foodcrops over exported cash crops is illustrated by the fact that the total production of cassava, the staple food of most Central Africans, ranges between c. 200,000 and 300,000 |
Other radio and TV stations are run by the state-run Radiodiffusion-Television Centrafricaine and provide little coverage of the political opposition. There are about two dozen privately owned radio stations. Many, such as Radio Notre Dame, run by religious organisations. Starting 24 November 2011 La Radio et la Télévision nationale centrafricaine (TVCA) (Central African Radio (CAR) and National Television) are available via satellite. This move brought state-run national radio and television coverage to the entire country. Telephones Calling code: +236 International call prefix: 00<ref>[http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164C-2011-PDF-E.pdf Dialing Procedures (International Prefix, National (Trunk) Prefix and National (Significant) Number) (in Accordance with ITY-T Recommendation E.164 (11/2010))], Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 994-15.XII.2011, International Telecommunication Union (ITU, Geneva), 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2014.</ref> Main lines: 5,600 lines in use, 209th in the world (2012). Mobile cellular: 1.1 million lines, 157th in the world (2012). Telephone system: The network consists principally of microwave radio relay and low-capacity, low-powered radiotelephone communication; limited telephone service with less than one fixed-line connection per 100 persons; spurred by the presence of multiple mobile-cellular service providers, cellular usage is increasing from a low base; most fixed-line and mobile-cellular telephone services are concentrated in the capital, Bangui (2011). Satellite earth stations: 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011). GSM coverage was for a long time limited to the capital area. But in June 2006 coverage was expanded at least to Berberati in the western part of the country. There are currently two GSM-900 mobile operators, Telecel CAR and NationLink Telecom RCA. A third network, Centrafrique Telecom Plus closed down in late 2005 after failing to attract more than 5,000 subscribers and failing to renew its license, in accordance with the then new Bozize government policies. Internet Top-level domain: .cf Internet users: 151,716 users, 160th in the world; 3.0% of the population, 195th in the world (2012)."Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2012", International Telecommunications Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 22,600 users, 192nd in the world (2009). Internet hosts: 20 hosts, 221st in the world (2012). IPv4: 4,352 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 0.9 addresses per 1000 people (2012).Population, The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Data are mostly for 1 July 2012. Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Moov, Orange, Socatel, and Telecel. Internet censorship and surveillance There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or | time limited to the capital area. But in June 2006 coverage was expanded at least to Berberati in the western part of the country. There are currently two GSM-900 mobile operators, Telecel CAR and NationLink Telecom RCA. A third network, Centrafrique Telecom Plus closed down in late 2005 after failing to attract more than 5,000 subscribers and failing to renew its license, in accordance with the then new Bozize government policies. Internet Top-level domain: .cf Internet users: 151,716 users, 160th in the world; 3.0% of the population, 195th in the world (2012)."Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2012", International Telecommunications Union (Geneva), June 2013, retrieved 22 June 2013 22,600 users, 192nd in the world (2009). Internet hosts: 20 hosts, 221st in the world (2012). IPv4: 4,352 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 0.9 addresses per 1000 people (2012).Population, The World Factbook, United States Central Intelligence Agency. Accessed on 2 April 2012. Note: Data are mostly for 1 July 2012. Internet Service Providers (ISPs): Moov, Orange, Socatel, and Telecel. Internet censorship and surveillance There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight. Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, authorities occasionally arrest journalists critical of the government and in some cases the government impedes individuals’ right to free speech. Imprisonment for defamation and censorship were abolished in 2005; however, journalists found guilty of libel or slander face fines of 100,000 to eight million CFA francs ($200 to US$16,000). The law provides for imprisonment and fines of as much as one million CFA francs (US$2,000) for journalists who use the media to incite disobedience among security forces or incite persons to violence, hatred, or discrimination. Similar fines and imprisonment of six months to two years may be imposed for the publication or broadcast of false or fabricated information that "would disturb the peace." Postal system L'Office National de la Poste et de l'Épargne (ONPE) is the government organization responsible for the postal service. See also Media of the Central African Republic Economy of the Central African Republic Central African Republic References External links Central African Republic profile, BBC News''. Communications in |
23,167 km (1999 est.) Major roads include: RN1 (Route Nationale 1) north from Bangui. 482 km via Bossangoa to Moundou, Chad. RN2 east from Bangui. 1202 km via Bambari and Bangassou to the South Sudanese border at Bambouti. RN3 west from RN1 at Bossembélé. 453 km via Bouar and Baboua to Boulai on the Cameroon border as part of the east-west Trans-African Highway 8 Lagos-Mombasa. RN4 from RN2 at Damara, 76 km north of Bangui, north 554 km via Bouca and Batangafo to Sarh, Chad. RN6 south and west from Bangui, 605 km via Mbaïki, Carnot and Berbérati to Gamboula on the border with Cameroon. RN8 north-east from RN2 at Sibut, 023 km via Kaga Bandoro, Ndéle, and Birao to the Sudanese border. RN10 south from RN6 at Berbérati, 136 km via Bania to Nola. RN11 from Baoro on RN3 south, 104 km to Carnot on RN6. The roads east to Sudan and north to rishon kabur 900 km; traditional trade carried on by means of shallow-draft dugouts; Oubangui is the most important river, navigable all year to craft drawing 0.6 m or less; | trade carried on by means of shallow-draft dugouts; Oubangui is the most important river, navigable all year to craft drawing 0.6 m or less; 282 km navigable to craft drawing as much as 1.8 m. Ports and harbors There is only one river port. It is at the city of Bangui. Airports Airports with paved runways Total: 3 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 (2002) The most important airport in the Central African Republic is Bangui M'Poko International Airport (ICAO: FEFF) Airports with unpaved runways Total: 47 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10 914 to 1,523 m: 23 Under 914 m: 13 |
of the Central African Republic and have been barely functional since the outbreak of the civil war in 2012. Today they are among the world's weakest armed forces, dependent on international support to provide security in the country. In recent years the government has struggled to form a unified national army. It consists of the Ground Force (which includes the air service), the gendarmerie, and the National Police. Its disloyalty to the president came to the fore during the mutinies in 1996–1997, and since then has faced internal problems. It has been strongly criticised by human rights organisations due to terrorism, including killings, torture and sexual violence. In 2013 when militants of the Séléka rebel coalition seized power and overthrew President Bozizé they executed many FACA troops. History Role of military in domestic politics The military has played an important role in the history of Central African Republic. The immediate former president, General François Bozizé was a former army chief-of-staff and his government included several high-level military officers. Among the country's five presidents since independence in 1960, three have been former army chiefs-of-staff, who have taken power through coups d'état. No president with a military background has, however, ever been succeeded by a new military president. The country's first president, David Dacko was overthrown by his army chief-of-staff, Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1966. Following the ousting of Bokassa in 1979, David Dacko was restored to power, only to be overthrown once again in 1981 by his new army chief of staff, General André Kolingba. In 1993, Ange-Félix Patassé became the Central African Republic's first elected president. He soon became unpopular within the army, resulting in violent mutinies in 1996–1997. In May 2001, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt by Kolingba and once again Patassé had to turn to friends abroad for support, this time Libya and DR Congo. Some months later, at the end of October, Patassé sacked his army chief-of-staff, François Bozizé, and attempted to arrest him. Bozizé then fled to Chad and gathered a group of rebels. In 2002, he seized Bangui for a short period, and in March 2003 took power in a coup d'état . Importance of ethnicity When General Kolingba became president in 1981, he implemented an ethnicity-based recruitment policy for the administration. Kolingba was a member of the Yakoma people from the south of the country, which made up approximately 5% of the total population. During his rule, members of Yakoma were granted all key positions in the administration and made up a majority of the military. This later had disastrous consequences when Kolingba was replaced by a member of a northerner tribe, Ange-Félix Patassé. Army mutinies of 1996–1997 Soon after the election 1993, Patassé became unpopular within the army, not least because of his inability to pay their wages (partly due to economic mismanagement and partly because France suddenly ended its economic support for the soldiers' wages). Another reason for the irritation was that most of FACA consisted of soldiers from Kolingba's ethnic group, the Yakoma. During Patassé's rule they had become increasingly marginalised, while he created militias favouring his own Gbaya tribe, as well as neighbouring Sara and Kaba. This resulted in army mutinies in 1996–1997, where fractions of the military clashed with the presidential guard, the Unité de sécurité présidentielle (USP) and militias loyal to Patassé. On April 18, 1996, between 200 and 300 soldiers mutinied, claiming that they had not received their wages since 1992–1993. The confrontations between the soldiers and the presidential guard resulted in 9 dead and 40 wounded. French forces provided support (Operation Almandin I) and acted as negotiators. The unrest ended when the soldiers were finally paid their wages by France and the President agreed not to start legal proceedings against them. On May 18, 1996, a second mutiny was led by 500 soldiers who refused to be disarmed, denouncing the agreement reached in April. French forces were once again called to Bangui (Operation Almadin II), supported by the militaries of Chad and Gabon. 3,500 foreigners were evacuated during the unrest, which left 43 persons dead and 238 wounded. On May 26, a peace agreement was signed between France and the mutineers. The latter were promised amnesty, and were allowed to retain their weapons. Their security was ensured by the French military. On November 15, 1996, a third mutiny took place, and 1,500 French soldiers were flown in to ensure the safety of foreigners. The mutineers demanded the discharge of the president. On 6 December, a negotiation process started, facilitated by Gabon, Burkina-Faso, Chad and Mali. The military — supported by the opposition parties — insisted that Patassé had to resign. In January, 1997, however, the Bangui Agreements were signed and the French EFAO troop were replaced by the 1,350 soldiers of the Mission interafricaine de surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB). In March, all mutineers were granted amnesty. The fighting between MISAB and the mutineers continued with a large offensive in June, resulting in up to 200 casualties. After this final clash, the mutineers calmed. After the mutinies, President Patassé suffered from a typical "dictator's paranoia", resulting in a period of cruel terror executed by the presidential guard and various militias within the FACA loyal to the president, such as the Karako. The violence was directed against the Yakoma tribe, of which it is estimated that 20,000 persons fled during this period. The oppression also targeted other parts of the society. The president accused his former ally France of supporting his enemies and sought new international ties. When he strengthened his presidential guard (creating the FORSIDIR, see below), Libya sent him 300 additional soldiers for his own personal safety. When former President Kolingba attempted a coup d'état in 2001 (which was, according to Patassé, supported by France), the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba in DR Congo came to his rescue. Crimes conducted by Patassé's militias and Congolese soldiers during this period are now being investigated by the International Criminal Court, who wrote that "sexual violence appears to have been a central feature of the conflict", having identified more than 600 rape victims. Present situation The FACA has been dominated by soldiers from the Yakoma ethnic group since the time of Kolingba. It has hence been considered disloyal by the two northerner presidents Patassé and Bozizé, both of whom have equipped and run their own militias outside FACA. The military also proved its disloyalty during the mutinies in 1996–1997. Although Francois Bozizé had a background in FACA himself (being its chief-of-staff from 1997 to 2001), he was cautious by retaining the defence portfolio, as well as by appointing his son Jean-Francis Bozizé cabinet director in charge of running the Ministry of Defence. He kept his old friend General Antoine Gambi as Chief of Staff. Due to failure to curb deepening unrest in the northern part of the country, Gambi was in July 2006 replaced with Bozizé's old friend from the military academy, Jules Bernard Ouandé. Military's relations with the society The forces assisting Bozizé in seizing the power in 2003 were not paid what they were promised and started looting, terrorising and killing ordinary citizens. Summary executions took place with the implicit approval of the government. The situation has deteriorated since early 2006, and the regular army and the presidential guard regularly execute extortion, torture, killings and other human rights violations. There is no possibility for the national judicial system to investigate these cases. | through coups d'état. No president with a military background has, however, ever been succeeded by a new military president. The country's first president, David Dacko was overthrown by his army chief-of-staff, Jean-Bédel Bokassa in 1966. Following the ousting of Bokassa in 1979, David Dacko was restored to power, only to be overthrown once again in 1981 by his new army chief of staff, General André Kolingba. In 1993, Ange-Félix Patassé became the Central African Republic's first elected president. He soon became unpopular within the army, resulting in violent mutinies in 1996–1997. In May 2001, there was an unsuccessful coup attempt by Kolingba and once again Patassé had to turn to friends abroad for support, this time Libya and DR Congo. Some months later, at the end of October, Patassé sacked his army chief-of-staff, François Bozizé, and attempted to arrest him. Bozizé then fled to Chad and gathered a group of rebels. In 2002, he seized Bangui for a short period, and in March 2003 took power in a coup d'état . Importance of ethnicity When General Kolingba became president in 1981, he implemented an ethnicity-based recruitment policy for the administration. Kolingba was a member of the Yakoma people from the south of the country, which made up approximately 5% of the total population. During his rule, members of Yakoma were granted all key positions in the administration and made up a majority of the military. This later had disastrous consequences when Kolingba was replaced by a member of a northerner tribe, Ange-Félix Patassé. Army mutinies of 1996–1997 Soon after the election 1993, Patassé became unpopular within the army, not least because of his inability to pay their wages (partly due to economic mismanagement and partly because France suddenly ended its economic support for the soldiers' wages). Another reason for the irritation was that most of FACA consisted of soldiers from Kolingba's ethnic group, the Yakoma. During Patassé's rule they had become increasingly marginalised, while he created militias favouring his own Gbaya tribe, as well as neighbouring Sara and Kaba. This resulted in army mutinies in 1996–1997, where fractions of the military clashed with the presidential guard, the Unité de sécurité présidentielle (USP) and militias loyal to Patassé. On April 18, 1996, between 200 and 300 soldiers mutinied, claiming that they had not received their wages since 1992–1993. The confrontations between the soldiers and the presidential guard resulted in 9 dead and 40 wounded. French forces provided support (Operation Almandin I) and acted as negotiators. The unrest ended when the soldiers were finally paid their wages by France and the President agreed not to start legal proceedings against them. On May 18, 1996, a second mutiny was led by 500 soldiers who refused to be disarmed, denouncing the agreement reached in April. French forces were once again called to Bangui (Operation Almadin II), supported by the militaries of Chad and Gabon. 3,500 foreigners were evacuated during the unrest, which left 43 persons dead and 238 wounded. On May 26, a peace agreement was signed between France and the mutineers. The latter were promised amnesty, and were allowed to retain their weapons. Their security was ensured by the French military. On November 15, 1996, a third mutiny took place, and 1,500 French soldiers were flown in to ensure the safety of foreigners. The mutineers demanded the discharge of the president. On 6 December, a negotiation process started, facilitated by Gabon, Burkina-Faso, Chad and Mali. The military — supported by the opposition parties — insisted that Patassé had to resign. In January, 1997, however, the Bangui Agreements were signed and the French EFAO troop were replaced by the 1,350 soldiers of the Mission interafricaine de surveillance des Accords de Bangui (MISAB). In March, all mutineers were granted amnesty. The fighting between MISAB and the mutineers continued with a large offensive in June, resulting in up to 200 casualties. After this final clash, the mutineers calmed. After the mutinies, President Patassé suffered from a typical "dictator's paranoia", resulting in a period of cruel terror executed by the presidential guard and various militias within the FACA loyal to the president, such as the Karako. The violence was directed against the Yakoma tribe, of which it is estimated that 20,000 persons fled during this period. The oppression also targeted other parts of the society. The president accused his former ally France of supporting his enemies and sought new international ties. When he strengthened his presidential guard (creating the FORSIDIR, see below), Libya sent him 300 additional soldiers for his own personal safety. When former President Kolingba attempted a coup d'état in 2001 (which was, according to Patassé, supported by France), the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC) of Jean-Pierre Bemba in DR Congo came to his rescue. Crimes conducted by Patassé's militias and Congolese soldiers during this period are now being investigated by the International Criminal Court, who wrote that "sexual violence appears to have been a central feature of the conflict", having identified more than 600 rape victims. Present situation The FACA has been dominated by soldiers from the Yakoma ethnic group since the time of Kolingba. It has hence been considered disloyal by the two northerner presidents Patassé and Bozizé, both of whom have equipped and run their own militias outside FACA. The military also proved its disloyalty during the mutinies in 1996–1997. Although Francois Bozizé had a background in FACA himself (being its chief-of-staff from 1997 to 2001), he was cautious by retaining the defence portfolio, as well as by appointing his son Jean-Francis Bozizé cabinet director in charge of running the Ministry of Defence. He kept his old friend General Antoine Gambi as Chief of Staff. Due to failure to curb deepening unrest in the northern part of the country, Gambi was in July 2006 replaced with Bozizé's old friend from the military academy, Jules Bernard Ouandé. Military's relations with the society The forces assisting Bozizé in seizing the power in 2003 were not paid what they were promised and started looting, terrorising and killing ordinary citizens. Summary executions took place with the implicit approval of the government. The situation has deteriorated since early 2006, and the regular army and the presidential guard regularly execute extortion, torture, killings and other human rights violations. There is no possibility for the national judicial system to investigate these cases. At the end of 2006, there were an estimated 150,000 internally displaced people in CAR. During a UN mission in the northern part of the country in November 2006, the mission had a meeting with a prefect who said that he could not maintain law and order over the military and the presidential guards. The FACA currently conducts summary executions and burns |
donors—including Germany, Japan, the European Union, and the United States—are significant development partners for the C.A.R. Bilateral relations Nineteen countries have resident diplomatic representatives in Bangui, and the C.A.R. maintains approximately the same number of missions abroad. Since early 1989 the government recognizes both Israel and the Palestinian state. The C.A.R. also maintains diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. The C.A.R. generally joins other African and developing country states in consensus positions on major policy issues. The most important countries the C.A.R. maintains bilateral relations include the following. See also List of diplomatic missions in the Central African Republic List of diplomatic missions | relation with neighbours and fellow CEMAC countries, "put aside the incident with Sudan when the border had to be closed since militia entered C.A.R. territory". Participation in international organisations The Central African Republic is an active member in several Central African organizations, including the Economic and Monetary Union (CEMAC), the Economic Community of Central African States (CEEAC), the Central African Peace and Security Council (COPAX- still under formation), and the Central Bank of Central African States (BEAC). Standardization of tax, customs, and security arrangements between the Central African states is a major foreign policy objective of the C.A.R. Government. The C.A.R. is a participant in |
its inhabitants live in poverty as subsistence herders and farmers. Since 2003 crude oil has become the country's primary source of export earnings, superseding the traditional cotton industry. Chad has a poor human rights record, with frequent abuses such as arbitrary imprisonment, extrajudicial killings, and limits on civil liberties by both security forces and armed militias. History In the 7th millennium BC, ecological conditions in the northern half of Chadian territory favored human settlement, and its population increased considerably. Some of the most important African archaeological sites are found in Chad, mainly in the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region; some date to earlier than 2000 BC. For more than 2,000 years, the Chadian Basin has been inhabited by agricultural and sedentary people. The region became a crossroads of civilizations. The earliest of these were the legendary Sao, known from artifacts and oral histories. The Sao fell to the Kanem Empire, the first and longest-lasting of the empires that developed in Chad's Sahelian strip by the end of the 1st millennium AD. Two other states in the region, Sultanate of Bagirmi and Wadai Empire, emerged in the 16th and 17th centuries. The power of Kanem and its successors was based on control of the trans-Saharan trade routes that passed through the region. These states, at least tacitly Muslim, never extended their control to the southern grasslands except to raid for slaves. In Kanem, about a third of the population were slaves. French colonial expansion led to the creation of the in 1900. By 1920, France had secured full control of the colony and incorporated it as part of French Equatorial Africa. French rule in Chad was characterised by an absence of policies to unify the territory and sluggish modernisation compared to other French colonies. The French primarily viewed the colony as an unimportant source of untrained labour and raw cotton; France introduced large-scale cotton production in 1929. The colonial administration in Chad was critically understaffed and had to rely on the dregs of the French civil service. Only the Sara of the south was governed effectively; French presence in the Islamic north and east was nominal. The educational system was affected by this neglect. After World War II, France granted Chad the status of overseas territory and its inhabitants the right to elect representatives to the National Assembly and a Chadian assembly. The largest political party was the Chadian Progressive Party (, PPT), based in the southern half of the colony. Chad was granted independence on 11 August 1960 with the PPT's leader, François Tombalbaye, an ethnic Sara, as its first president. Two years later, Tombalbaye banned opposition parties and established a one-party system. Tombalbaye's autocratic rule and insensitive mismanagement exacerbated inter-ethnic tensions. In 1965, Muslims in the north, led by the National Liberation Front of Chad (, FRONILAT), began a civil war. Tombalbaye was overthrown and killed in 1975, but the insurgency continued. In 1979 the rebel factions led by Hissène Habré took the capital, and all central authority in the country collapsed. Armed factions, many from the north's rebellion, contended for power. The disintegration of Chad caused the collapse of France's position in the country. Libya moved to fill the power vacuum and became involved in Chad's civil war. Libya's adventure ended in disaster in 1987; the French-supported president, Hissène Habré, evoked a united response from Chadians of a kind never seen before and forced the Libyan army off Chadian soil. Habré consolidated his dictatorship through a power system that relied on corruption and violence with thousands of people estimated to have been killed under his rule. The president favoured his own Toubou ethnic group and discriminated against his former allies, the Zaghawa. His general, Idriss Déby, overthrew him in 1990. Attempts to prosecute Habré led to his placement under house arrest in Senegal in 2005; in 2013, Habré was formally charged with war crimes committed during his rule. In May 2016, he was found guilty of human-rights abuses, including rape, sexual slavery, and ordering the killing of 40,000 people, and sentenced to life in prison. Déby attempted to reconcile the rebel groups and reintroduced multiparty politics. Chadians approved a new constitution by referendum, and in 1996, Déby easily won a competitive presidential election. He won a second term five years later. Oil exploitation began in Chad in 2003, bringing with it hopes that Chad would, at last, have some chances of peace and prosperity. Instead, internal dissent worsened, and a new civil war broke out. Déby unilaterally modified the constitution to remove the two-term limit on the presidency; this caused an uproar among the civil society and opposition parties. In 2006 Déby won a third mandate in elections that the opposition boycotted. Ethnic violence in eastern Chad has increased; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has warned that a genocide like that in Darfur may yet occur in Chad. In 2006 and in 2008 rebel forces attempted to take the capital by force, but failed on both occasions. An agreement for the restoration of harmony between Chad and Sudan, signed 15 January 2010, marked the end of a five-year war. The fix in relations led to the Chadian rebels from Sudan returning home, the opening of the border between the two countries after seven years of closure, and the deployment of a joint force to secure the border. In May 2013, security forces in Chad foiled a coup against President Idriss Déby that had been in preparation for several months. Chad is currently one of the leading partners in a West African coalition in the fight against Boko Haram and other Islamist militants. Chad's army announced the death of Déby on 20 April 2021, following an incursion in the northern region by the FACT group, during which the president was killed amid fighting on the front lines. Déby's son, General Mahamat Idriss Déby, has been named interim president by a Transitional Council of military officers. That transitional council has replaced the Constitution with a new charter, granting Mahamat Déby the powers of the presidency and naming him head of the armed forces. Geography Chad is a large landlocked country spanning north-central Africa. It covers an area of , lying between latitudes 7° and 24°N, and 13° and 24°E, and is the twentieth-largest country in the world. Chad is, by size, slightly smaller than Peru and slightly larger than South Africa. Chad is bounded to the north by Libya, to the east by Sudan, to the west by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and to the south by the Central African Republic. The country's capital is from the nearest seaport, Douala, Cameroon. Because of this distance from the sea and the country's largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa". The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north and east by the Ennedi Plateau and Tibesti Mountains, which include Emi Koussi, a dormant volcano that reaches above sea level. Lake Chad, after which the country is named (and which in turn takes its name from the Kanuri word for "lake"), is the remains of an immense lake that occupied of the Chad Basin 7,000 years ago. Although in the 21st century it covers only , and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations, the lake is Africa's second largest wetland. Chad is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: East Sudanian savanna, Sahelian Acacia savanna, Lake Chad flooded savanna, East Saharan montane xeric woodlands, South Saharan steppe and woodlands, and Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands. The region's tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favourable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. Chad's major rivers—the Chari, Logone and their tributaries—flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad. Each year a tropical weather system known as the intertropical front crosses Chad from south to north, bringing a wet season that lasts from May to October in the south, and from June to September in the Sahel. Variations in local rainfall create three major geographical zones. The Sahara lies in the country's northern third. Yearly precipitations throughout this belt are under ; only occasional spontaneous palm groves survive, all of them south of the Tropic of Cancer. The Sahara gives way to a Sahelian belt in Chad's centre; precipitation there varies from per year. In the Sahel, a steppe of thorny bushes (mostly acacias) gradually gives way to the south to East Sudanian savanna in Chad's Sudanese zone. Yearly rainfall in this belt is over . Wildlife Chad's animal and plant life correspond to the three climatic zones. In the Saharan region, the only flora is the date-palm groves of the oasis. Palms and acacia trees grow in the Sahelian region. The southern, or Sudanic, zone consists of broad grasslands or prairies suitable for grazing. As of 2002, there were at least 134 species of mammals, 509 species of birds (354 species of residents and 155 migrants), and over 1,600 species of plants throughout the country. Elephants, lions, buffalo, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelopes, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and many species of snakes are found here, although most large carnivore populations have been drastically reduced since the early 20th century. Elephant poaching, particularly in the south of the country in areas such as Zakouma National Park, is a severe problem. The small group of surviving West African crocodiles in the Ennedi Plateau represents one of the last colonies known in the Sahara today. Chad had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.18/10, ranking it 83rd globally out of 172 countries. Extensive deforestation has resulted in loss of trees such as acacias, baobab, dates and palm trees. This has also caused loss of natural habitat for wild animals; one of the main reasons for this is also hunting and livestock farming by increasing human settlements. Populations of animals like lions, leopards and rhino have fallen significantly. Efforts have been made by the Food and Agriculture Organization to improve relations between farmers, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists in the Zakouma National Park (ZNP), Siniaka-Minia, and Aouk reserve in southeastern Chad to promote sustainable development. As part of the national conservation effort, more than 1.2 million trees have been replanted to check the advancement of the desert, which incidentally also helps the local economy by way of financial return from acacia trees, which produce gum arabic, and also from fruit trees. Poaching is a serious problem in the country, particularly of elephants for the profitable ivory industry and a threat to lives of rangers even in the national parks such as Zakouma. Elephants are often massacred in herds in and around the parks by organized poaching. The problem is worsened by the fact that the parks are understaffed and that a number of wardens have been murdered by poachers. Demographics Chad's national statistical agency projected the country's 2015 population between 13,630,252 and 13,679,203, with 13,670,084 as its medium projection; based on the medium projection, 3,212,470 people lived in urban areas and 10,457,614 people lived in rural areas. The country's population is young: an estimated 47% is under 15. The birth rate is estimated at 42.35 births per 1,000 people, and the mortality rate at 16.69. The life expectancy is 52 years. Chad's population is unevenly distributed. Density is in the Saharan Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region but in the Logone Occidental Region. In the capital, it is even higher. About half of the nation's population lives in the southern fifth of its territory, making this the most densely populated region. Urban life is concentrated in the capital, whose population is mostly engaged in commerce. The other major towns are Sarh, Moundou, Abéché and Doba, which are considerably smaller but growing rapidly in population and economic activity. Since 2003, 230,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to eastern Chad from war-ridden Darfur. With the 172,600 Chadians displaced by the civil war in the east, this has generated increased tensions among the region's communities. Polygamy is common, with 39% of women living in such unions. This is sanctioned by law, which automatically permits polygamy unless spouses specify that this is unacceptable upon marriage. Although violence against women is prohibited, domestic violence is common. Female genital mutilation is also prohibited, but the practice is widespread and deeply rooted in tradition; 45% of Chadian women undergo the procedure, with the highest rates among Arabs, Hadjarai, and Ouaddaians (90% or more). Lower percentages were reported among the Sara (38%) and the Toubou (2%). Women lack equal opportunities in education and training, making it difficult for them to compete for the relatively few formal-sector jobs. Although property and inheritance laws based on the French code do not discriminate against women, local leaders adjudicate most inheritance cases in favour of men, according to traditional practice. Largest cities, towns, and municipalities Ethnic groups The peoples of Chad carry significant ancestry from Eastern, Central, Western, and Northern Africa. Chad has more than 200 distinct ethnic groups, which create diverse social structures. The colonial administration and independent governments have attempted to impose a national society, but for most Chadians the local or regional society remains the most important influence outside the immediate family. Nevertheless, Chad's people may be classified according to the geographical region in which they live. In the south live sedentary people such as the Sara, the nation's main ethnic group, whose essential social unit is the lineage. In the Sahel sedentary peoples live side by side with nomadic ones, such as the Arabs, the country's second major ethnic group. The north is inhabited by nomads, mostly Toubous. Languages Chad's official languages are Arabic and French, but over 100 languages and dialects are spoken. Due to the important role played by itinerant Arab traders and settled merchants in local communities, Chadian Arabic has become a lingua franca. Religion Chad is a religiously diverse country. Various estimates, including from Pew Research Center in 2010, found that 52–58% of the population was Muslim, while 39–44% were Christian. 22% were Catholic and a further 17% were Protestant. Among Muslims, 48% professed to be Sunni, 21% Shia, 4% Ahmadi and 23% non-denominational Muslim. A small proportion of the population continues to practice indigenous religions. Animism includes a variety of ancestor and place-oriented religions whose expression is highly specific. Islam is expressed in diverse ways; for example, 55% of Muslim Chadians belong to Sufi orders. Christianity arrived in Chad with the French and American missionaries; as with Chadian Islam, it syncretises aspects of pre-Christian religious beliefs. Muslims are largely concentrated in northern and eastern Chad, and animists and Christians live primarily in southern Chad and Guéra. The constitution provides for a secular state and guarantees religious freedom; different religious communities generally co-exist without problems. The majority of Muslims in the country are adherents of a moderate branch of mystical Islam (Sufism). Its most common expression is the Tijaniyah, an order followed by the 35% of Chadian Muslims which incorporates some local African religious elements. A small minority of the country's Muslims hold more fundamentalist practices, which, in some cases, may be associated with Saudi-oriented Salafi movements. Roman Catholics represent the largest Christian denomination in the country. Most Protestants, including the Nigeria-based "Winners' Chapel", are affiliated with various evangelical Christian groups. Members of the Baháʼí and Jehovah's Witnesses religious communities also are present in the country. Both faiths were introduced after independence in 1960 and therefore are considered to be "new" religions in the country. Chad is home to foreign missionaries representing both Christian and Islamic groups. Itinerant Muslim preachers, primarily from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, also visit. Saudi Arabian funding generally supports social and educational projects and extensive mosque construction. Education Educators face considerable challenges due to the nation's dispersed population and a certain degree of reluctance on the part of parents to send their children to school. Although attendance is compulsory, only 68 percent of boys attend primary school, and more than half of the population is illiterate. Higher education is provided at the University of N'Djamena. At 33 percent, Chad has one of the lowest literacy rates of Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Chad reported that school attendance of children aged 5 to 14 was as low as 39%. This can also be related to the issue of child labor as the report also stated that 53% of children aged 5 to 14 were working, and that 30% of children aged 7 to 14 combined work and school. A more recent DOL report listed cattle herding as a major agricultural activity that employed underage children. Government and politics Chad's constitution provides for a strong executive branch headed by a president who dominates the political system. The president has the power to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet, and exercises considerable influence over appointments of judges, generals, provincial officials and heads of Chad's para-statal firms. In cases of grave and immediate threat, the president, in consultation with the National Assembly, may declare a state of emergency. The president is directly elected by popular vote for a five-year term; in 2005 constitutional term limits were removed, allowing a president to remain in power beyond the previous two-term limit. Most of Déby's key advisers are members of the Zaghawa ethnic group, although southern and opposition personalities are represented in government. Chad's legal system is based on French civil law and Chadian customary law where the latter does not interfere with public order or constitutional guarantees of equality. Despite the constitution's guarantee of judicial independence, the president names most key judicial officials. The legal system's highest jurisdictions, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council, have become fully operational since 2000. The Supreme Court is made up of a chief justice, named by the president, and 15 councillors, appointed for life by the president and the National Assembly. The Constitutional Court is headed by nine judges elected to nine-year terms. It has the power to review legislation, treaties and international agreements prior to their adoption. The National Assembly makes legislation. The body consists of 155 members elected for four-year terms who meet three times per year. The Assembly holds regular sessions twice a year, starting in March and October, and can hold special sessions when called by the prime minister. Deputies elect a National Assembly president every two years. The president must sign or reject newly passed laws within 15 days. The National Assembly must approve the prime minister's plan of government and may force the prime minister to resign through a majority vote of no confidence. However, if the National Assembly rejects the executive branch's programme twice in one year, the president may disband the Assembly and call for new legislative elections. In practice, the president exercises considerable influence over the National Assembly through his party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), which holds a large majority. Until the legalisation of opposition parties in 1992, Déby's MPS was the sole legal party in Chad. Since then, 78 registered political parties have become active. In 2005, opposition parties and human rights organisations supported the boycott of the constitutional referendum that allowed Déby to stand for re-election for a third term amid reports of widespread irregularities in voter registration and government censorship of independent media outlets during the campaign. Correspondents judged the 2006 presidential elections a mere formality, as the opposition deemed the polls a farce and boycotted them. Chad is listed as a failed state by the Fund for Peace (FFP). In 2007 Chad had the seventh highest score on the failed state index. Since then the trend has been upwards each year. Chad had the fourth highest score (behind Sudan) on the Failed State Index of 2012 and was ranked fifth in 2013. As of 2021, Chad is once again ranked seventh. Corruption is rife at all levels; Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2005 named Chad (tied with Bangladesh) as the most corrupt country in the world. Chad's ranking on the index has improved only marginally in recent years. Since its first inclusion on the index in 2004, Chad's best score has been 2/10 for 2011. Critics of President Déby | transitional council has replaced the Constitution with a new charter, granting Mahamat Déby the powers of the presidency and naming him head of the armed forces. Geography Chad is a large landlocked country spanning north-central Africa. It covers an area of , lying between latitudes 7° and 24°N, and 13° and 24°E, and is the twentieth-largest country in the world. Chad is, by size, slightly smaller than Peru and slightly larger than South Africa. Chad is bounded to the north by Libya, to the east by Sudan, to the west by Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, and to the south by the Central African Republic. The country's capital is from the nearest seaport, Douala, Cameroon. Because of this distance from the sea and the country's largely desert climate, Chad is sometimes referred to as the "Dead Heart of Africa". The dominant physical structure is a wide basin bounded to the north and east by the Ennedi Plateau and Tibesti Mountains, which include Emi Koussi, a dormant volcano that reaches above sea level. Lake Chad, after which the country is named (and which in turn takes its name from the Kanuri word for "lake"), is the remains of an immense lake that occupied of the Chad Basin 7,000 years ago. Although in the 21st century it covers only , and its surface area is subject to heavy seasonal fluctuations, the lake is Africa's second largest wetland. Chad is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: East Sudanian savanna, Sahelian Acacia savanna, Lake Chad flooded savanna, East Saharan montane xeric woodlands, South Saharan steppe and woodlands, and Tibesti-Jebel Uweinat montane xeric woodlands. The region's tall grasses and extensive marshes make it favourable for birds, reptiles, and large mammals. Chad's major rivers—the Chari, Logone and their tributaries—flow through the southern savannas from the southeast into Lake Chad. Each year a tropical weather system known as the intertropical front crosses Chad from south to north, bringing a wet season that lasts from May to October in the south, and from June to September in the Sahel. Variations in local rainfall create three major geographical zones. The Sahara lies in the country's northern third. Yearly precipitations throughout this belt are under ; only occasional spontaneous palm groves survive, all of them south of the Tropic of Cancer. The Sahara gives way to a Sahelian belt in Chad's centre; precipitation there varies from per year. In the Sahel, a steppe of thorny bushes (mostly acacias) gradually gives way to the south to East Sudanian savanna in Chad's Sudanese zone. Yearly rainfall in this belt is over . Wildlife Chad's animal and plant life correspond to the three climatic zones. In the Saharan region, the only flora is the date-palm groves of the oasis. Palms and acacia trees grow in the Sahelian region. The southern, or Sudanic, zone consists of broad grasslands or prairies suitable for grazing. As of 2002, there were at least 134 species of mammals, 509 species of birds (354 species of residents and 155 migrants), and over 1,600 species of plants throughout the country. Elephants, lions, buffalo, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, giraffes, antelopes, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and many species of snakes are found here, although most large carnivore populations have been drastically reduced since the early 20th century. Elephant poaching, particularly in the south of the country in areas such as Zakouma National Park, is a severe problem. The small group of surviving West African crocodiles in the Ennedi Plateau represents one of the last colonies known in the Sahara today. Chad had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 6.18/10, ranking it 83rd globally out of 172 countries. Extensive deforestation has resulted in loss of trees such as acacias, baobab, dates and palm trees. This has also caused loss of natural habitat for wild animals; one of the main reasons for this is also hunting and livestock farming by increasing human settlements. Populations of animals like lions, leopards and rhino have fallen significantly. Efforts have been made by the Food and Agriculture Organization to improve relations between farmers, agro-pastoralists and pastoralists in the Zakouma National Park (ZNP), Siniaka-Minia, and Aouk reserve in southeastern Chad to promote sustainable development. As part of the national conservation effort, more than 1.2 million trees have been replanted to check the advancement of the desert, which incidentally also helps the local economy by way of financial return from acacia trees, which produce gum arabic, and also from fruit trees. Poaching is a serious problem in the country, particularly of elephants for the profitable ivory industry and a threat to lives of rangers even in the national parks such as Zakouma. Elephants are often massacred in herds in and around the parks by organized poaching. The problem is worsened by the fact that the parks are understaffed and that a number of wardens have been murdered by poachers. Demographics Chad's national statistical agency projected the country's 2015 population between 13,630,252 and 13,679,203, with 13,670,084 as its medium projection; based on the medium projection, 3,212,470 people lived in urban areas and 10,457,614 people lived in rural areas. The country's population is young: an estimated 47% is under 15. The birth rate is estimated at 42.35 births per 1,000 people, and the mortality rate at 16.69. The life expectancy is 52 years. Chad's population is unevenly distributed. Density is in the Saharan Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti Region but in the Logone Occidental Region. In the capital, it is even higher. About half of the nation's population lives in the southern fifth of its territory, making this the most densely populated region. Urban life is concentrated in the capital, whose population is mostly engaged in commerce. The other major towns are Sarh, Moundou, Abéché and Doba, which are considerably smaller but growing rapidly in population and economic activity. Since 2003, 230,000 Sudanese refugees have fled to eastern Chad from war-ridden Darfur. With the 172,600 Chadians displaced by the civil war in the east, this has generated increased tensions among the region's communities. Polygamy is common, with 39% of women living in such unions. This is sanctioned by law, which automatically permits polygamy unless spouses specify that this is unacceptable upon marriage. Although violence against women is prohibited, domestic violence is common. Female genital mutilation is also prohibited, but the practice is widespread and deeply rooted in tradition; 45% of Chadian women undergo the procedure, with the highest rates among Arabs, Hadjarai, and Ouaddaians (90% or more). Lower percentages were reported among the Sara (38%) and the Toubou (2%). Women lack equal opportunities in education and training, making it difficult for them to compete for the relatively few formal-sector jobs. Although property and inheritance laws based on the French code do not discriminate against women, local leaders adjudicate most inheritance cases in favour of men, according to traditional practice. Largest cities, towns, and municipalities Ethnic groups The peoples of Chad carry significant ancestry from Eastern, Central, Western, and Northern Africa. Chad has more than 200 distinct ethnic groups, which create diverse social structures. The colonial administration and independent governments have attempted to impose a national society, but for most Chadians the local or regional society remains the most important influence outside the immediate family. Nevertheless, Chad's people may be classified according to the geographical region in which they live. In the south live sedentary people such as the Sara, the nation's main ethnic group, whose essential social unit is the lineage. In the Sahel sedentary peoples live side by side with nomadic ones, such as the Arabs, the country's second major ethnic group. The north is inhabited by nomads, mostly Toubous. Languages Chad's official languages are Arabic and French, but over 100 languages and dialects are spoken. Due to the important role played by itinerant Arab traders and settled merchants in local communities, Chadian Arabic has become a lingua franca. Religion Chad is a religiously diverse country. Various estimates, including from Pew Research Center in 2010, found that 52–58% of the population was Muslim, while 39–44% were Christian. 22% were Catholic and a further 17% were Protestant. Among Muslims, 48% professed to be Sunni, 21% Shia, 4% Ahmadi and 23% non-denominational Muslim. A small proportion of the population continues to practice indigenous religions. Animism includes a variety of ancestor and place-oriented religions whose expression is highly specific. Islam is expressed in diverse ways; for example, 55% of Muslim Chadians belong to Sufi orders. Christianity arrived in Chad with the French and American missionaries; as with Chadian Islam, it syncretises aspects of pre-Christian religious beliefs. Muslims are largely concentrated in northern and eastern Chad, and animists and Christians live primarily in southern Chad and Guéra. The constitution provides for a secular state and guarantees religious freedom; different religious communities generally co-exist without problems. The majority of Muslims in the country are adherents of a moderate branch of mystical Islam (Sufism). Its most common expression is the Tijaniyah, an order followed by the 35% of Chadian Muslims which incorporates some local African religious elements. A small minority of the country's Muslims hold more fundamentalist practices, which, in some cases, may be associated with Saudi-oriented Salafi movements. Roman Catholics represent the largest Christian denomination in the country. Most Protestants, including the Nigeria-based "Winners' Chapel", are affiliated with various evangelical Christian groups. Members of the Baháʼí and Jehovah's Witnesses religious communities also are present in the country. Both faiths were introduced after independence in 1960 and therefore are considered to be "new" religions in the country. Chad is home to foreign missionaries representing both Christian and Islamic groups. Itinerant Muslim preachers, primarily from Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, also visit. Saudi Arabian funding generally supports social and educational projects and extensive mosque construction. Education Educators face considerable challenges due to the nation's dispersed population and a certain degree of reluctance on the part of parents to send their children to school. Although attendance is compulsory, only 68 percent of boys attend primary school, and more than half of the population is illiterate. Higher education is provided at the University of N'Djamena. At 33 percent, Chad has one of the lowest literacy rates of Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor's Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Chad reported that school attendance of children aged 5 to 14 was as low as 39%. This can also be related to the issue of child labor as the report also stated that 53% of children aged 5 to 14 were working, and that 30% of children aged 7 to 14 combined work and school. A more recent DOL report listed cattle herding as a major agricultural activity that employed underage children. Government and politics Chad's constitution provides for a strong executive branch headed by a president who dominates the political system. The president has the power to appoint the prime minister and the cabinet, and exercises considerable influence over appointments of judges, generals, provincial officials and heads of Chad's para-statal firms. In cases of grave and immediate threat, the president, in consultation with the National Assembly, may declare a state of emergency. The president is directly elected by popular vote for a five-year term; in 2005 constitutional term limits were removed, allowing a president to remain in power beyond the previous two-term limit. Most of Déby's key advisers are members of the Zaghawa ethnic group, although southern and opposition personalities are represented in government. Chad's legal system is based on French civil law and Chadian customary law where the latter does not interfere with public order or constitutional guarantees of equality. Despite the constitution's guarantee of judicial independence, the president names most key judicial officials. The legal system's highest jurisdictions, the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Council, have become fully operational since 2000. The Supreme Court is made up of a chief justice, named by the president, and 15 councillors, appointed for life by the president and the National Assembly. The Constitutional Court is headed by nine judges elected to nine-year terms. It has the power to review legislation, treaties and international agreements prior to their adoption. The National Assembly makes legislation. The body consists of 155 members elected for four-year terms who meet three times per year. The Assembly holds regular sessions twice a year, starting in March and October, and can hold special sessions when called by the prime minister. Deputies elect a National Assembly president every two years. The president must sign or reject newly passed laws within 15 days. The National Assembly must approve the prime minister's plan of government and may force the prime minister to resign through a majority vote of no confidence. However, if the National Assembly rejects the executive branch's programme twice in one year, the president may disband the Assembly and call for new legislative elections. In practice, the president exercises considerable influence over the National Assembly through his party, the Patriotic Salvation Movement (MPS), which holds a large majority. Until the legalisation of opposition parties in 1992, Déby's MPS was the sole legal party in Chad. Since then, 78 registered political parties have become active. In 2005, opposition parties and human rights organisations supported the boycott of the constitutional referendum that allowed Déby to stand for re-election for a third term amid reports of widespread irregularities in voter registration and government censorship of independent media outlets during the campaign. Correspondents judged the 2006 presidential elections a mere formality, as the opposition deemed the polls a farce and boycotted them. Chad is listed as a failed state by the Fund for Peace (FFP). In 2007 Chad had the seventh highest score on the failed state index. Since then the trend has been upwards each year. Chad had the fourth highest score (behind Sudan) on the Failed State Index of 2012 and was ranked fifth in 2013. As of 2021, Chad is once again ranked seventh. Corruption is rife at all levels; Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index for 2005 named Chad (tied with Bangladesh) as the |
to 40,018. At the national stadium, filled with detainees, one of those tortured and killed was internationally known poet-singer Víctor Jara (see "Music and Dance", below). The stadium was renamed for Jara in 2003. A new Constitution was approved by a controversial plebiscite on 11 September 1980, and General Pinochet became president of the republic for an eight-year term. After Pinochet obtained rule of the country, several hundred committed Chilean revolutionaries joined the Sandinista army in Nicaragua, guerrilla forces in Argentina or training camps in Cuba, Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. In the late 1980s, largely as a result of events such as the 1982 economic collapse and mass civil resistance in 1983–88, the government gradually permitted greater freedom of assembly, speech, and association, to include trade union and political activity. The government launched market-oriented reforms with Hernán Büchi as Minister of Finance. Chile moved toward a free market economy that saw an increase in domestic and foreign private investment, although the copper industry and other important mineral resources were not opened for competition. In a plebiscite on 5 October 1988, Pinochet was denied a second eight-year term as president (56% against 44%). Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a bicameral congress on 14 December 1989. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertación, received an absolute majority of votes (55%). President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period. 21st century In December 1993, Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the son of previous president Eduardo Frei Montalva, led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%). Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile. In January 2006, Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, of the Socialist Party, defeating Sebastián Piñera, of the National Renewal party, extending the Concertación governance for another four years. In January 2010, Chileans elected Sebastián Piñera as the first rightist President in 20 years, defeating former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the Concertación, for a four-year term succeeding Bachelet. Due to term limits, Sebastián Piñera did not stand for re-election in 2013, and his term expired in March 2014 resulting in Michelle Bachelet returning to office. Sebastián Piñera succeeded Bachelet again in 2018 as the President of Chile after winning the December 2017 presidential election. On 27 February 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15–30 billion, around 10% to 15% of Chile's real gross domestic product. Chile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On 5 August 2010 the access tunnel collapsed at the San José copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó in northern Chile, trapping 33 men below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world. 2019–20 Chilean protests are a series of country-wide protests in response to a raise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, the increased cost of living, privatization and inequality prevalent in the country. On 15 November, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new Constitution, later postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 October 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a new constitution, while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 percent. An election for the members of the Constitutional Convention was held in Chile between 15 and 16 May 2021. On 19 December 2021, leftist candidate, the 35-year-old former student protest leader, Gabriel Boric, won Chile's presidential election to become the country's youngest ever leader. Government and politics The current Constitution of Chile was drafted by Jaime Guzmán in 1980 and subsequently approved via a national plebiscite—regarded as "highly irregular" by some observers—in September of that year, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It entered into force in March 1981. After Pinochet's defeat in the 1988 plebiscite, the constitution was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the Constitution. In September 2005, President Ricardo Lagos signed into law several constitutional amendments passed by Congress. These include eliminating the positions of appointed senators and senators for life, granting the President authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years. The Congress of Chile has a 43-seat Senate and a 155-member Chamber of Deputies. Senators serve for eight years with staggered terms, while deputies are elected every 4 years. The last congressional elections were held on 19 November 2017, concurrently with the presidential election. The current Senate has a 21–15 split in favor of the opposition and 5 independents. The current lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, contains 71 members of the governing coalition, 72 from the opposition, and 12 from parties in no coalition or independents. The Congress is located in the port city of Valparaíso, about west of the capital, Santiago. Chile's congressional elections are governed by the D'Hont method that, a proportional system also used in countries such as Austria, Belgium or The Netherlands. Chile's judiciary is independent and includes a court of appeal, a system of military courts, a constitutional tribunal, and the Supreme Court of Chile. In June 2005, Chile completed a nationwide overhaul of its criminal justice system. The reform has replaced inquisitorial proceedings with an adversarial system more similar to that of the United States. In the 2001 congressional elections, the conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI) surpassed the Christian Democrats for the first time to become the largest party in the lower house. In the 2005 parliamentary election, both leading parties, the Christian Democrats and the UDI lost representation in favor of their respective allies Socialist Party (which became the biggest party in the Concertación block) and National Renewal in the right-wing alliance. In the 2009 legislative elections in Chile, the Communist Party won 3 out of 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 30 years (the Communist Party was not allowed to exist as such during the dictatorship). Chileans voted in the first round of presidential elections on 17 November 2013. None of the nine presidential candidates got more than 50% of the vote. As a result, the top two candidates, center-left Nueva Mayoría coalition's Michelle Bachelet and center-right Alianza coalition's Evelyn Matthei, competed in a run-off election on 15 December 2013, which Bachelet won. This was Chile's sixth presidential election since the end of the Pinochet era. All six have been judged free and fair. The president is constitutionally barred from serving consecutive terms. Bachelet was succeeded by her predecessor, Sebastián Piñera, after his win in December 2017 election. Foreign relations Since the early decades after independence, Chile has always had an active involvement in foreign affairs. In 1837, the country aggressively challenged the dominance of Peru's port of Callao for preeminence in the Pacific trade routes, defeating the short-lived alliance between Peru and Bolivia, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836–39) in the War of the Confederation. The war dissolved the confederation while distributing power in the Pacific. A second international war, the War of the Pacific (1879–83), further increased Chile's regional role, while adding considerably to its territory. During the 19th century, Chile's commercial ties were primarily with Britain, a nation that had a major influence on the formation of the Chilean navy. The French influenced Chile's legal and educational systems and had a decisive impact on Chile, through the architecture of the capital in the boom years at the turn of the 20th century. German influence came from the organization and training of the army by Prussians. On 26 June 1945, Chile participated as a founding member of the United Nations being among 50 countries that signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, California. With the military coup of 1973, Chile became isolated politically as a result of widespread human rights abuses. Since its return to democracy in 1990, Chile has been an active participant in the international political arena. Chile completed a two year non-permanent position on the UN Security Council in January 2005. Jose Miguel Insulza, a Chilean national, was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States in May 2005 and confirmed in his position, being re-elected in 2009. Chile is currently serving on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, and the 2007–2008 chair of the board is Chile's ambassador to the IAEA, Milenko E. Skoknic. The country is an active member of the UN family of agencies and participates in UN peacekeeping activities. It was re-elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 for a three-year term. It was also elected to one of five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council in 2013. Chile hosted the Defense Ministerial of the Americas in 2002 and the APEC summit and related meetings in 2004. It also hosted the Community of Democracies ministerial in April 2005 and the Ibero-American Summit in November 2007. An associate member of Mercosur and a full member of APEC, Chile has been a major player in international economic issues and hemispheric free trade. Border disputes with Peru and Argentina There have been many arguments between Chileans and Peruvians since the 1800s because they both claim boundary coastal lines. Peruvians claim the Northern part of Chile, which is now South West of Peru. This is also known as the "triangulation" which was made to fix the boundary problem between Chile and Peru. The decisions were accomplished on 27 January 1839 by the International Court of Justice This became the War of the Pacific which was in the years 1879–1883. This conflict was caused by the mineral resources Chile had, Peruvians believed they belonged to them as well. Chile had to control sea shipping to Peru and sent out an army to invade Peru on 8 October 1879. The attempt was also made to The United States but failed badly in October 1880. There was a resistance between Peruvians and Chileans for a few years because they could not reach an agreement. The United States offered help with a treaty for both Peru and Chile, better known as the Treaty of Ancón. This was later signed by both of them on 20 October 1883 to keep peace between them. In 2008, Peru took Chile to court over their maritime disputes. Then later in 2014, the International Court of Justice's ruling resulted in Chile losing an area of over from its coast. This ruling severely impacted fishers in the country making Chile lose a valuable trade in Northwest Chile. The Chilean government has diplomatic relations with most countries. It settled all its territorial disputes with Argentina during the 1990s except for part of the border at Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Chile and Bolivia severed diplomatic ties in 1978 over Bolivia's desire to regain sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean after losing it to Chile in the 1879–83 War of the Pacific. The two countries maintain consular relations and are represented at the Consul General level. Military The Armed Forces of Chile are subject to civilian control exercised by the president through the Minister of Defense. The president has the authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces. The commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army is Army General Ricardo Martínez Menanteau. The Chilean Army is 45,000 strong and is organized with an Army headquarters in Santiago, six divisions throughout its territory, an Air Brigade in Rancagua, and a Special Forces Command in Colina. The Chilean Army is one of the most professional and technologically advanced armies in Latin America. Admiral Julio Leiva Molina directs the around 25,000-person Chilean Navy, including 2,500 Marines. Of the fleet of 29 surface vessels, only eight are operational major combatants (frigates). Those ships are based in Valparaíso. The Navy operates its own aircraft for transport and patrol; there are no Navy fighter or bomber aircraft. The Navy also operates four submarines based in Talcahuano. Air Force General (four star) Jorge Rojas Ávila heads the 12,500 strong Chilean Air Force. Air assets are distributed among five air brigades headquartered in Iquique, Antofagasta, Santiago, Puerto Montt, and Punta Arenas. The Air Force also operates an airbase on King George Island, Antarctica. The Air Force took delivery of the final two of ten F-16s, all purchased from the U.S., in March 2007 after several decades of U.S. debate and previous refusal to sell. Chile also took delivery in 2007 of a number of reconditioned Block 15 F-16s from the Netherlands, bringing to 18 the total of F-16s purchased from the Dutch. After the military coup in September 1973, the Chilean national police (Carabineros) were incorporated into the Defense Ministry. With the return of democratic government, the police were placed under the operational control of the Interior Ministry but remained under the nominal control of the Defense Ministry. Gen. Gustavo González Jure is the head of the national police force of 40,964 men and women who are responsible for law enforcement, traffic management, narcotics suppression, border control, and counter-terrorism throughout Chile. In 2017, Chile signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Administrative divisions In 1978 Chile was administratively divided into regions, and in 1979 subdivided into provinces and these into communes. In total the country has 16 regions, 56 provinces and 348 communes. Each region was designated by a name and a Roman numeral assigned from north to south, except for the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which did not have a number. The creation of two new regions in 2007, Arica and Parinacota (XV) and Los Ríos (XIV), and a third region in 2018, Ñuble (XVI) made this numbering lose its original order meaning. Largest cities National symbols The national flower is the copihue (Lapageria rosea, Chilean bellflower), which grows in the woods of southern Chile. The coat of arms depicts the two national animals: the condor (Vultur gryphus, a very large bird that lives in the mountains) and the huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus, an endangered white tail deer). It also has the legend Por la razón o la fuerza (By reason or by force). The flag of Chile consists of two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; there is a blue square the same height as the white band at the hoist-side end of the white band; the square bears a white five-pointed star in the center representing a guide to progress and honor; blue symbolizes the sky, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to achieve independence. The flag of Chile is similar to the Flag of Texas, although the Chilean flag is 21 years older. However, like the Texan flag, the flag of Chile is modeled after the Flag of the United States. Geography A long and narrow coastal Southern Cone country on the west side of the Andes Mountains, Chile stretches over north to south, but only at its widest point east to west and at its narrowest point east to west, with an average width of . This encompasses a remarkable variety of climates and landscapes. It contains of land area. It is situated within the Pacific Ring of Fire. Excluding its Pacific islands and Antarctic claim, Chile lies between latitudes 17° and 56°S, and longitudes 66° and 75°W. Chile is among the longest north–south countries in the world. If one considers only mainland territory, Chile is unique within this group in its narrowness from east to west, with the other long north–south countries (including Brazil, Russia, Canada, and the United States, among others) all being wider from east to west by a factor of more than 10. Chile also claims of Antarctica as part of its territory (Chilean Antarctic Territory). However, this latter claim is suspended under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, of which Chile is a signatory. It is the world's southernmost country that is geographically on the mainland. Chile controls Easter Island and Sala y Gómez Island, the easternmost islands of Polynesia, which it incorporated to its territory in 1888, and the Juan Fernández Islands, more than from the mainland. Also controlled but only temporarily inhabited (by some local fishermen) are the small islands of San Ambrosio and San Felix. These islands are notable because they extend Chile's claim to territorial waters out from its coast into the Pacific Ocean. The northern Atacama Desert contains great mineral wealth, primarily copper and nitrates. The relatively small Central Valley, which includes Santiago, dominates the country in terms of population and agricultural resources. This area is also the historical center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century, when it integrated the northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests, grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. The Andes Mountains are located on the eastern border. Climate The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama Desert—through a Mediterranean climate in the center, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. According to the Köppen system, Chile within its borders hosts at least ten major climatic subtypes. There are four seasons in most of the country: summer (December to February), autumn (March to May), winter (June to August), and spring (September to November). Biodiversity The flora and fauna of Chile are characterized by a high degree of endemism, due to its particular geography. In continental Chile, the Atacama Desert in the north and the Andes mountains to the east are barriers that have led to the isolation of flora and fauna. Add to that the enormous length of Chile (over ) and this results in a wide range of climates and environments that can be divided into three general zones: the desert provinces of the north, central Chile, and the humid regions of the south. Flora and fauna The native flora of Chile consists of relatively fewer species compared to the flora of other South American countries. The northernmost coastal and central region is largely barren of vegetation, approaching the most absolute desert in the world. On the slopes of the Andes, in addition to the scattered tola desert brush, grasses are found. The central valley is characterized by several species of cacti, the hardy espinos, the Chilean pine, the southern beeches and the copihue, a red bell-shaped flower that is Chile's national flower. In southern Chile, south of the Biobío River, heavy precipitation has produced dense forests of laurels, magnolias, and various species of conifers and beeches, which become smaller and more stunted to the south. The cold temperatures and winds of the extreme south preclude heavy forestation. Grassland is found in Atlantic Chile (in Patagonia). Much of the Chilean flora is distinct from that of neighboring Argentina, indicating that the Andean barrier existed during its formation. Some of Chile's flora has an Antarctic origin due to land bridges which formed during the Cretaceous ice ages, allowing plants to migrate from Antarctica to South America. Chile had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.37/10, ranking it 43rd globally out of 172 countries. Just over 3,000 species of fungi are recorded in Chile, but this number is far from complete. The true total number of fungal species occurring in Chile is likely to be far higher, given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7 percent of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered. Although the amount of available information is still very small, a first effort has been made to estimate the number of fungal species endemic to Chile, and 1995 species have been tentatively identified as possible endemics of the country. Chile's geographical isolation has restricted the immigration of faunal life, so that only a few of the many distinctive South American animals are found. Among the larger mammals are the puma or cougar, the llama-like guanaco and the fox-like chilla. In the forest region, several types of marsupials and a small deer known as the pudu are found. There are many species of small birds, but most of the larger common Latin American types are absent. Few freshwater fish are native, but North American trout have been successfully introduced into the Andean lakes. Owing to the vicinity of the Humboldt Current, ocean waters abound with fish and other forms of marine life, which in turn support a rich variety of waterfowl, including several penguins. Whales are abundant, and some six species of seals are found in the area. Topography Chile is located along a highly seismic and volcanic zone, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, due to the subduction of the Nazca and Antarctic plates in the South American plate. Late Paleozoic, 251 million years ago, Chile belonged to the continental block called Gondwana. It was just a depression accumulated marine sediments began to rise at the end of the Mesozoic, 66 million years ago, due to the collision between the Nazca and South American plates, resulting in the Andes. The territory would be shaped by millions of years due to the folding of the rocks, forming the current relief. The Chilean relief consists of the central depression, which crosses the country longitudinally, flanked by two mountain ranges that make up about 80% of the territory: the Andes mountains to the east-natural border with Bolivia and Argentina in the region of Atacama and the Coastal Range west-minor height from the Andes. Chile's highest peak is the Nevado Ojos del Salado, at 6891.3 m, which is also the highest volcano in the world. The highest point of the Coastal Range is Vicuña Mackenna, at 3114 meters, located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna, the south of Antofagasta. Among the coastal mountains and the Pacific is a series of coastal plains, of variable length, which allow the settlement of coastal towns and big ports. Some areas of the plains territories encompass territory east of the Andes, and the Patagonian steppes and Magellan, or are high plateaus surrounded by high mountain ranges, such as the Altiplano or Puna de Atacama. The Far North is the area between the northern boundary of the country and the parallel 26° S, covering the first three regions. It is characterized by the presence of the Atacama desert, the most arid in the world. The desert is fragmented by streams that originate in the area known as the pampas Tamarugal. The Andes, split in two and whose eastern arm runs Bolivia, has a high altitude and volcanic activity, which has allowed the formation of the Andean altiplano and salt structures as the Salar de Atacama, due to the gradual accumulation of sediments over time. To the south is the Norte Chico, extending to the Aconcagua river. Los Andes begin to decrease its altitude to the south and closer to the coast, reaching 90 km away at the height of Illapel, the narrowest part of the Chilean territory. The two mountain ranges intersect, virtually eliminating the intermediate depression. The existence of rivers flowing through the territory allows the formation of transverse valleys, where agriculture has developed strongly in recent times, while the coastal plains begin to expand. The Central area is the most populated region of the country. The coastal plains are wide and allow the establishment of cities and ports along the Pacific. The Andes maintains altitudes above 6000m but descend slowly starts approaching the 4000 meters on average. The intermediate depression reappears becoming a fertile valley that allows agricultural development and human settlement, due to sediment accumulation. To the south, the Cordillera de la Costa reappears in the range of Nahuelbuta while glacial sediments originate a series of lakes in the area of La Frontera. Patagonia extends from within Reloncavi, at the height of parallel 41°S, to the south. During the last glaciation, this area was covered by ice that strongly eroded Chilean relief structures. As a result, the intermediate depression sinks in the sea, while the coastal mountains rise to a series of archipelagos, such as Chiloé and the Chonos, disappearing in Taitao peninsula, in the parallel 47°S. The Andes mountain range loses height and erosion caused by the action of glaciers has caused fjords. East of the Andes, on the continent, or north of it, on the island of Tierra del Fuego are located relatively flat plains, which in the Strait of Magellan cover large areas. The Andes, as he had done previously Cordillera de la Costa, begins to break in the ocean causing a myriad of islands and islets and disappear into it, sinking and reappearing in the Southern Antilles arc and then the Antarctic Peninsula, where it is called Antartandes, in the Chilean Antarctic Territory, lying between the meridians 53°W and 90°W. In the middle of the Pacific, the country has sovereignty over several islands of volcanic origin, collectively known as Insular Chile. Of these, we highlight the archipelago of Juan Fernandez and Easter Island, which is located in the fracture zone between the Nazca plate and the Pacific plate known as East Pacific Rise. Hydrography Due to the characteristics of the territory, Chile is crossed by numerous rivers generally short in length and with low torrential flow. They commonly extend from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean, flowing from East to West. Because of the Atacama desert, in the Norte Grande there are only short endorheic character streams, except for the Loa River, the longest in the country 440 km. In the high valleys, wetland areas generate Chungará Lake, located at 4500 meters above sea level. It and the Lauca River are shared with Bolivia, as well as the Lluta River. In the center-north of the country, the number of rivers that form valleys of agricultural importance increases. Noteworthy are the Elqui with 75 km long, 142 km Aconcagua, Maipo with 250 km and its tributary, the Mapocho with 110 km, and Maule with 240 km. Their waters mainly flow from Andean snowmelt in the summer and winter rains. The major lakes in this area are the artificial lake Rapel, the Colbun Maule lagoon and the lagoon of La Laja. Demographics Chile's 2017 census reported a population of 17,574,003. Its rate of population growth has been decreasing since 1990, due to a declining birth rate. By 2050 the population is expected to reach approximately 20.2 million people. About 85% of the country's population lives in urban areas, with 40% living in Greater Santiago. The largest agglomerations according to the 2002 census are Greater Santiago with 5.6 million people, Greater Concepción with 861,000 and Greater Valparaíso with 824,000. Ancestry and ethnicity Mexican professor Francisco Lizcano, of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, estimated that 52.7% of Chileans were white, 39.3% were mestizo, and 8% were Amerindian. In 1984, a study called Sociogenetic Reference Framework for Public Health Studies in Chile, from the Revista de Pediatría de Chile determined an ancestry of 67.9% European, and 32.1% Native American. In 1994, a biological study determined that the Chilean composition was 64% European and 35% Amerindian. The recent study in the Candela Project establishes that the genetic composition of Chile is 52% of European origin, with 44% of the genome coming from Native Americans (Amerindians), and 4% coming from Africa, making Chile a primarily mestizo country with traces of African descent present in half of the population. Another genetic study conducted by the University of Brasilia in several American countries shows a similar genetic composition for Chile, with a European contribution of 51.6%, an Amerindian contribution of 42.1%, and an African contribution of 6.3%. In 2015 another study established genetic composition in 57% European, 38% Native American, and 2.5% African. A public health booklet from the University of Chile states that 64% of the population is of Caucasian origin; "predominantly White" Mestizos are estimated to amount a total of 35%, while Native Americans (Amerindians) comprise the remaining 5%. Despite the genetic considerations, many Chileans, if asked, would self-identify as White. The 2011 Latinobarómetro survey asked respondents in Chile what race they considered themselves to belong to. Most answered "White" (59%), while 25% said "Mestizo" and 8% self-classified as "indigenous". A 2002 national poll revealed that a majority of Chileans believed they possessed some (43.4%) or much (8.3%) "indigenous blood", while 40.3% responded that they had none. The 1907 census reported 101,118 Natives, or 3.1% of the total population. Only those that practiced their native culture or spoke their native language were considered to be Natives, irrespective of their "racial purity". In 2002 a census took place, directly asking the public whether they considered themselves as part of any of the eight Chilean ethnic groups, regardless of whether or not they maintained their culture, traditions and language, and 4.6% of the population (692,192 people) fitted that description of indigenous peoples in Chile. Of that number, 87.3% declared themselves Mapuche. Most of the indigenous population shows varying degrees of mixed ancestry. Chile is one of 22 countries to have signed and ratified the only binding international law concerning indigenous peoples, the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989. It was adopted in 1989 as the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 169. Chile ratified it in 2008. A Chilean court decision in November 2009 considered to be a landmark ruling on indigenous rights and made use of the convention. The Supreme Court decision on Aymara water rights upheld rulings by both the Pozo Almonte tribunal and the Iquique Court of Appeals, and marks the first judicial application of ILO Convention 169 in Chile. The earliest European immigrants were Spanish colonisers who arrived in the 16th century. The Amerindian population of central Chile was absorbed into the Spanish settler population in the beginning of the colonial period to form the large mestizo population that exists in Chile today; mestizos create modern middle and lower classes. In the 18th and 19th centuries, many Basques came to Chile where they integrated into the existing elites of Castilian origin. Postcolonial Chile was never a particularly attractive destination for migrants, owing to its remoteness and distance from Europe. Europeans preferred to stay in countries closer to their homelands instead of taking the long journey through the Straits of Magellan or crossing the Andes. European migration did not result in a significant change in the ethnic composition of Chile, except in the region of Magellan. Spaniards were the only major European migrant group to Chile, and there was never large-scale immigration such as that to Argentina or Brazil. Between 1851 and 1924, Chile only received 0.5% of European immigration to Latin America, compared to 46% to Argentina, 33% to Brazil, 14% to Cuba, and 4% to Uruguay. However, it is undeniable that immigrants have played a significant role in Chilean society. Most of the immigrants to Chile during the 19th and 20th centuries came from France, Great Britain, Germany, and Croatia, among others. Descendants of different European ethnic groups often intermarried in Chile. This intermarriage and mixture of cultures and races have helped to shape the present society and culture of the Chilean middle and upper classes. Also, roughly 500,000 of Chile's population is of full or partial Palestinian origin, and 800,000 Arab descents. Chile currently has 1.5 million of Latin American immigrants, mainly from Venezuela, Peru, Haiti, Colombia, Bolivia and Argentina; 8% of the total population in 2019, without counting descendants. According to the 2002 national census, Chile's foreign-born | Miguel Carrera (one of the most renowned patriots) and his two brothers Juan José and Luis Carrera, soon gained a wider following. Spanish attempts to re-impose arbitrary rule during what was called the Reconquista led to a prolonged struggle, including infighting from Bernardo O'Higgins, who challenged Carrera's leadership. Intermittent warfare continued until 1817. With Carrera in prison in Argentina, O'Higgins and anti-Carrera cohort José de San Martín, hero of the Argentine War of Independence, led an army that crossed the Andes into Chile and defeated the royalists. On 12 February 1818, Chile was proclaimed an independent republic. The political revolt brought little social change, however, and 19th-century Chilean society preserved the essence of the stratified colonial social structure, which was greatly influenced by family politics and the Roman Catholic Church. A strong presidency eventually emerged, but wealthy landowners remained powerful. Chile slowly started to expand its influence and to establish its borders. By the Tantauco Treaty, the archipelago of Chiloé was incorporated in 1826. The economy began to boom due to the discovery of silver ore in Chañarcillo, and the growing trade of the port of Valparaíso, which led to conflict over maritime supremacy in the Pacific with Peru. At the same time, attempts were made to strengthen sovereignty in southern Chile intensifying penetration into Araucanía and colonizing Llanquihue with German immigrants in 1848. Through the founding of Fort Bulnes by the Schooner Ancud under the command of John Williams Wilson, the Magallanes region joined the country in 1843, while the Antofagasta region, at the time part of Bolivia, began to fill with people. Toward the end of the 19th century, the government in Santiago consolidated its position in the south by the Occupation of Araucanía. The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina confirmed Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan. As a result of the War of the Pacific with Peru and Bolivia (1879–83), Chile expanded its territory northward by almost one-third, eliminating Bolivia's access to the Pacific, and acquired valuable nitrate deposits, the exploitation of which led to an era of national affluence. Chile had joined the stand as one of the high-income countries in South America by 1870. The 1891 Chilean Civil War brought about a redistribution of power between the President and Congress, and Chile established a parliamentary style democracy. However, the Civil War had also been a contest between those who favored the development of local industries and powerful Chilean banking interests, particularly the House of Edwards who had strong ties to foreign investors. Soon after, the country engaged in a vastly expensive naval arms race with Argentina that nearly led to war. 20th century The Chilean economy partially degenerated into a system protecting the interests of a ruling oligarchy. By the 1920s, the emerging middle and working classes were powerful enough to elect a reformist president, Arturo Alessandri, whose program was frustrated by a conservative congress. In the 1920s, Marxist groups with strong popular support arose. A military coup led by General Luis Altamirano in 1924 set off a period of political instability that lasted until 1932. Of the ten governments that held power in that period, the longest lasting was that of General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo, who briefly held power in 1925 and then again between 1927 and 1931 in what was a de facto dictatorship (although not really comparable in harshness or corruption to the type of military dictatorship that have often bedeviled the rest of Latin America). By relinquishing power to a democratically elected successor, Ibáñez del Campo retained the respect of a large enough segment of the population to remain a viable politician for more than thirty years, in spite of the vague and shifting nature of his ideology. When constitutional rule was restored in 1932, a strong middle-class party, the Radicals, emerged. It became the key force in coalition governments for the next 20 years. During the period of Radical Party dominance (1932–52), the state increased its role in the economy. In 1952, voters returned Ibáñez del Campo to office for another six years. Jorge Alessandri succeeded Ibáñez del Campo in 1958, bringing Chilean conservatism back into power democratically for another term. The 1964 presidential election of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva by an absolute majority initiated a period of major reform. Under the slogan "Revolution in Liberty", the Frei administration embarked on far-reaching social and economic programs, particularly in education, housing, and agrarian reform, including rural unionization of agricultural workers. By 1967, however, Frei encountered increasing opposition from leftists, who charged that his reforms were inadequate, and from conservatives, who found them excessive. At the end of his term, Frei had not fully achieved his party's ambitious goals. In the 1970 election, Senator Salvador Allende of the Socialist Party of Chile (then part of the "Popular Unity" coalition which included the Communists, Radicals, Social-Democrats, dissident Christian Democrats, the Popular Unitary Action Movement, and the Independent Popular Action), achieved a partial majority in a plurality of votes in a three-way contest, followed by candidates Radomiro Tomic for the Christian Democrat Party and Jorge Alessandri for the Conservative Party. Allende was not elected with an absolute majority, receiving fewer than 35% of votes. The Chilean Congress conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president Jorge Alessandri, and, keeping with tradition, chose Allende by a vote of 153 to 35. Frei refused to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende, on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the right wing. An economic depression that began in 1972 was exacerbated by capital flight, plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, to increase consumer spending and redistribute income downward. Joint public-private public works projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was nationalized. Many enterprises within the copper, coal, iron, nitrate, and steel industries were expropriated, nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and unemployment fell during the Allende administration's first year. Allende's program included advancement of workers' interests, replacing the judicial system with "socialist legality", nationalization of banks and forcing others to bankruptcy, and strengthening "popular militias" known as MIR. Started under former President Frei, the Popular Unity platform also called for nationalization of Chile's major copper mines in the form of a constitutional amendment. The measure was passed unanimously by Congress. As a result, the Richard Nixon administration organized and inserted secret operatives in Chile, in order to swiftly destabilize Allende's government. In addition, US financial pressure restricted international economic credit to Chile. The economic problems were also exacerbated by Allende's public spending which was financed mostly by printing money and poor credit ratings given by commercial banks. Simultaneously, opposition media, politicians, business guilds and other organizations helped to accelerate a campaign of domestic political and economical destabilization, some of which was backed by the United States. By early 1973, inflation was out of control. The crippled economy was further battered by prolonged and sometimes simultaneous strikes by physicians, teachers, students, truck owners, copper workers, and the small business class. On 26 May 1973, Chile's Supreme Court, which was opposed to Allende's government, unanimously denounced the Allende disruption of the legality of the nation. Although illegal under the Chilean constitution, the court supported and strengthened Pinochet's soon-to-be seizure of power. Pinochet era (1973–1990) A military coup overthrew Allende on 11 September 1973. As the armed forces bombarded the presidential palace, Allende apparently committed suicide. After the coup, Henry Kissinger told U.S. president Richard Nixon that the United States had "helped" the coup. A military junta, led by General Augusto Pinochet, took control of the country. The first years of the regime were marked by human rights violations. Chile actively participated in Operation Condor. In October 1973, at least 72 people were murdered by the Caravan of Death. According to the Rettig Report and Valech Commission, at least 2,115 were killed, and at least 27,265 were tortured (including 88 children younger than 12 years old). In 2011, Chile recognized an additional 9,800 victims, bringing the total number of killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons to 40,018. At the national stadium, filled with detainees, one of those tortured and killed was internationally known poet-singer Víctor Jara (see "Music and Dance", below). The stadium was renamed for Jara in 2003. A new Constitution was approved by a controversial plebiscite on 11 September 1980, and General Pinochet became president of the republic for an eight-year term. After Pinochet obtained rule of the country, several hundred committed Chilean revolutionaries joined the Sandinista army in Nicaragua, guerrilla forces in Argentina or training camps in Cuba, Eastern Europe and Northern Africa. In the late 1980s, largely as a result of events such as the 1982 economic collapse and mass civil resistance in 1983–88, the government gradually permitted greater freedom of assembly, speech, and association, to include trade union and political activity. The government launched market-oriented reforms with Hernán Büchi as Minister of Finance. Chile moved toward a free market economy that saw an increase in domestic and foreign private investment, although the copper industry and other important mineral resources were not opened for competition. In a plebiscite on 5 October 1988, Pinochet was denied a second eight-year term as president (56% against 44%). Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a bicameral congress on 14 December 1989. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertación, received an absolute majority of votes (55%). President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period. 21st century In December 1993, Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the son of previous president Eduardo Frei Montalva, led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%). Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile. In January 2006, Chileans elected their first female president, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, of the Socialist Party, defeating Sebastián Piñera, of the National Renewal party, extending the Concertación governance for another four years. In January 2010, Chileans elected Sebastián Piñera as the first rightist President in 20 years, defeating former President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle of the Concertación, for a four-year term succeeding Bachelet. Due to term limits, Sebastián Piñera did not stand for re-election in 2013, and his term expired in March 2014 resulting in Michelle Bachelet returning to office. Sebastián Piñera succeeded Bachelet again in 2018 as the President of Chile after winning the December 2017 presidential election. On 27 February 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15–30 billion, around 10% to 15% of Chile's real gross domestic product. Chile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On 5 August 2010 the access tunnel collapsed at the San José copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó in northern Chile, trapping 33 men below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world. 2019–20 Chilean protests are a series of country-wide protests in response to a raise in the Santiago Metro's subway fare, the increased cost of living, privatization and inequality prevalent in the country. On 15 November, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new Constitution, later postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 October 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a new constitution, while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 percent. An election for the members of the Constitutional Convention was held in Chile between 15 and 16 May 2021. On 19 December 2021, leftist candidate, the 35-year-old former student protest leader, Gabriel Boric, won Chile's presidential election to become the country's youngest ever leader. Government and politics The current Constitution of Chile was drafted by Jaime Guzmán in 1980 and subsequently approved via a national plebiscite—regarded as "highly irregular" by some observers—in September of that year, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It entered into force in March 1981. After Pinochet's defeat in the 1988 plebiscite, the constitution was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the Constitution. In September 2005, President Ricardo Lagos signed into law several constitutional amendments passed by Congress. These include eliminating the positions of appointed senators and senators for life, granting the President authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years. The Congress of Chile has a 43-seat Senate and a 155-member Chamber of Deputies. Senators serve for eight years with staggered terms, while deputies are elected every 4 years. The last congressional elections were held on 19 November 2017, concurrently with the presidential election. The current Senate has a 21–15 split in favor of the opposition and 5 independents. The current lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, contains 71 members of the governing coalition, 72 from the opposition, and 12 from parties in no coalition or independents. The Congress is located in the port city of Valparaíso, about west of the capital, Santiago. Chile's congressional elections are governed by the D'Hont method that, a proportional system also used in countries such as Austria, Belgium or The Netherlands. Chile's judiciary is independent and includes a court of appeal, a system of military courts, a constitutional tribunal, and the Supreme Court of Chile. In June 2005, Chile completed a nationwide overhaul of its criminal justice system. The reform has replaced inquisitorial proceedings with an adversarial system more similar to that of the United States. In the 2001 congressional elections, the conservative Independent Democratic Union (UDI) surpassed the Christian Democrats for the first time to become the largest party in the lower house. In the 2005 parliamentary election, both leading parties, the Christian Democrats and the UDI lost representation in favor of their respective allies Socialist Party (which became the biggest party in the Concertación block) and National Renewal in the right-wing alliance. In the 2009 legislative elections in Chile, the Communist Party won 3 out of 120 seats in the Chamber of Deputies for the first time in 30 years (the Communist Party was not allowed to exist as such during the dictatorship). Chileans voted in the first round of presidential elections on 17 November 2013. None of the nine presidential candidates got more than 50% of the vote. As a result, the top two candidates, center-left Nueva Mayoría coalition's Michelle Bachelet and center-right Alianza coalition's Evelyn Matthei, competed in a run-off election on 15 December 2013, which Bachelet won. This was Chile's sixth presidential election since the end of the Pinochet era. All six have been judged free and fair. The president is constitutionally barred from serving consecutive terms. Bachelet was succeeded by her predecessor, Sebastián Piñera, after his win in December 2017 election. Foreign relations Since the early decades after independence, Chile has always had an active involvement in foreign affairs. In 1837, the country aggressively challenged the dominance of Peru's port of Callao for preeminence in the Pacific trade routes, defeating the short-lived alliance between Peru and Bolivia, the Peru-Bolivian Confederation (1836–39) in the War of the Confederation. The war dissolved the confederation while distributing power in the Pacific. A second international war, the War of the Pacific (1879–83), further increased Chile's regional role, while adding considerably to its territory. During the 19th century, Chile's commercial ties were primarily with Britain, a nation that had a major influence on the formation of the Chilean navy. The French influenced Chile's legal and educational systems and had a decisive impact on Chile, through the architecture of the capital in the boom years at the turn of the 20th century. German influence came from the organization and training of the army by Prussians. On 26 June 1945, Chile participated as a founding member of the United Nations being among 50 countries that signed the United Nations Charter in San Francisco, California. With the military coup of 1973, Chile became isolated politically as a result of widespread human rights abuses. Since its return to democracy in 1990, Chile has been an active participant in the international political arena. Chile completed a two year non-permanent position on the UN Security Council in January 2005. Jose Miguel Insulza, a Chilean national, was elected Secretary General of the Organization of American States in May 2005 and confirmed in his position, being re-elected in 2009. Chile is currently serving on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors, and the 2007–2008 chair of the board is Chile's ambassador to the IAEA, Milenko E. Skoknic. The country is an active member of the UN family of agencies and participates in UN peacekeeping activities. It was re-elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 for a three-year term. It was also elected to one of five non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council in 2013. Chile hosted the Defense Ministerial of the Americas in 2002 and the APEC summit and related meetings in 2004. It also hosted the Community of Democracies ministerial in April 2005 and the Ibero-American Summit in November 2007. An associate member of Mercosur and a full member of APEC, Chile has been a major player in international economic issues and hemispheric free trade. Border disputes with Peru and Argentina There have been many arguments between Chileans and Peruvians since the 1800s because they both claim boundary coastal lines. Peruvians claim the Northern part of Chile, which is now South West of Peru. This is also known as the "triangulation" which was made to fix the boundary problem between Chile and Peru. The decisions were accomplished on 27 January 1839 by the International Court of Justice This became the War of the Pacific which was in the years 1879–1883. This conflict was caused by the mineral resources Chile had, Peruvians believed they belonged to them as well. Chile had to control sea shipping to Peru and sent out an army to invade Peru on 8 October 1879. The attempt was also made to The United States but failed badly in October 1880. There was a resistance between Peruvians and Chileans for a few years because they could not reach an agreement. The United States offered help with a treaty for both Peru and Chile, better known as the Treaty of Ancón. This was later signed by both of them on 20 October 1883 to keep peace between them. In 2008, Peru took Chile to court over their maritime disputes. Then later in 2014, the International Court of Justice's ruling resulted in Chile losing an area of over from its coast. This ruling severely impacted fishers in the country making Chile lose a valuable trade in Northwest Chile. The Chilean government has diplomatic relations with most countries. It settled all its territorial disputes with Argentina during the 1990s except for part of the border at Southern Patagonian Ice Field. Chile and Bolivia severed diplomatic ties in 1978 over Bolivia's desire to regain sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean after losing it to Chile in the 1879–83 War of the Pacific. The two countries maintain consular relations and are represented at the Consul General level. Military The Armed Forces of Chile are subject to civilian control exercised by the president through the Minister of Defense. The president has the authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces. The commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army is Army General Ricardo Martínez Menanteau. The Chilean Army is 45,000 strong and is organized with an Army headquarters in Santiago, six divisions throughout its territory, an Air Brigade in Rancagua, and a Special Forces Command in Colina. The Chilean Army is one of the most professional and technologically advanced armies in Latin America. Admiral Julio Leiva Molina directs the around 25,000-person Chilean Navy, including 2,500 Marines. Of the fleet of 29 surface vessels, only eight are operational major combatants (frigates). Those ships are based in Valparaíso. The Navy operates its own aircraft for transport and patrol; there are no Navy fighter or bomber aircraft. The Navy also operates four submarines based in Talcahuano. Air Force General (four star) Jorge Rojas Ávila heads the 12,500 strong Chilean Air Force. Air assets are distributed among five air brigades headquartered in Iquique, Antofagasta, Santiago, Puerto Montt, and Punta Arenas. The Air Force also operates an airbase on King George Island, Antarctica. The Air Force took delivery of the final two of ten F-16s, all purchased from the U.S., in March 2007 after several decades of U.S. debate and previous refusal to sell. Chile also took delivery in 2007 of a number of reconditioned Block 15 F-16s from the Netherlands, bringing to 18 the total of F-16s purchased from the Dutch. After the military coup in September 1973, the Chilean national police (Carabineros) were incorporated into the Defense Ministry. With the return of democratic government, the police were placed under the operational control of the Interior Ministry but remained under the nominal control of the Defense Ministry. Gen. Gustavo González Jure is the head of the national police force of 40,964 men and women who are responsible for law enforcement, traffic management, narcotics suppression, border control, and counter-terrorism throughout Chile. In 2017, Chile signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Administrative divisions In 1978 Chile was administratively divided into regions, and in 1979 subdivided into provinces and these into communes. In total the country has 16 regions, 56 provinces and 348 communes. Each region was designated by a name and a Roman numeral assigned from north to south, except for the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which did not have a number. The creation of two new regions in 2007, Arica and Parinacota (XV) and Los Ríos (XIV), and a third region in 2018, Ñuble (XVI) made this numbering lose its original order meaning. Largest cities National symbols The national flower is the copihue (Lapageria rosea, Chilean bellflower), which grows in the woods of southern Chile. The coat of arms depicts the two national animals: the condor (Vultur gryphus, a very large bird that lives in the mountains) and the huemul (Hippocamelus bisulcus, an endangered white tail deer). It also has the legend Por la razón o la fuerza (By reason or by force). The flag of Chile consists of two equal horizontal bands of white (top) and red; there is a blue square the same height as the white band at the hoist-side end of the white band; the square bears a white five-pointed star in the center representing a guide to progress and honor; blue symbolizes the sky, white is for the snow-covered Andes, and red stands for the blood spilled to achieve independence. The flag of Chile is similar to the Flag of Texas, although the Chilean flag is 21 years older. However, like the Texan flag, the flag of Chile is modeled after the Flag of the United States. Geography A long and narrow coastal Southern Cone country on the west side of the Andes Mountains, Chile stretches over north to south, but only at its widest point east to west and at its narrowest point east to west, with an average width of . This encompasses a remarkable variety of climates and landscapes. It contains of land area. It is situated within the Pacific Ring of Fire. Excluding its Pacific islands and Antarctic claim, Chile lies between latitudes 17° and 56°S, and longitudes 66° and 75°W. Chile is among the longest north–south countries in the world. If one considers only mainland territory, Chile is unique within this group in its narrowness from east to west, with the other long north–south countries (including Brazil, Russia, Canada, and the United States, among others) all being wider from east to west by a factor of more than 10. Chile also claims of Antarctica as part of its territory (Chilean Antarctic Territory). However, this latter claim is suspended under the terms of the Antarctic Treaty, of which Chile is a signatory. It is the world's southernmost country that is geographically on the mainland. Chile controls Easter Island and Sala y Gómez Island, the easternmost islands of Polynesia, which it incorporated to its territory in 1888, and the Juan Fernández Islands, more than from the mainland. Also controlled but only temporarily inhabited (by some local fishermen) are the small islands of San Ambrosio and San Felix. These islands are notable because they extend Chile's claim to territorial waters out from its coast into the Pacific Ocean. The northern Atacama Desert contains great mineral wealth, primarily copper and nitrates. The relatively small Central Valley, which includes Santiago, dominates the country in terms of population and agricultural resources. This area is also the historical center from which Chile expanded in the late 19th century, when it integrated the northern and southern regions. Southern Chile is rich in forests, grazing lands, and features a string of volcanoes and lakes. The southern coast is a labyrinth of fjords, inlets, canals, twisting peninsulas, and islands. The Andes Mountains are located on the eastern border. Climate The diverse climate of Chile ranges from the world's driest desert in the north—the Atacama Desert—through a Mediterranean climate in the center, humid subtropical in Easter Island, to an oceanic climate, including alpine tundra and glaciers in the east and south. According to the Köppen system, Chile within its borders hosts at least ten major climatic subtypes. There are four seasons in most of the country: summer (December to February), autumn (March to May), winter (June to August), and spring (September to November). Biodiversity The flora and fauna of Chile are characterized by a high degree of endemism, due to its particular geography. In continental Chile, the Atacama Desert in the north and the Andes mountains to the east are barriers that have led to the isolation of flora and fauna. Add to that the enormous length of Chile (over ) and this results in a wide range of climates and environments that can be divided into three general zones: the desert provinces of the north, central Chile, and the humid regions of the south. Flora and fauna The native flora of Chile consists of relatively fewer species compared to the flora of other South American countries. The northernmost coastal and central region is largely barren of vegetation, approaching the most absolute desert in the world. On the slopes of the Andes, in addition to the scattered tola desert brush, grasses are found. The central valley is characterized by several species of cacti, the hardy espinos, the Chilean pine, the southern beeches and the copihue, a red bell-shaped flower that is Chile's national flower. In southern Chile, south of the Biobío River, heavy precipitation has produced dense forests of laurels, magnolias, and various species of conifers and beeches, which become smaller and more stunted to the south. The cold temperatures and winds of the extreme south preclude heavy forestation. Grassland is found in Atlantic Chile (in Patagonia). Much of the Chilean flora is distinct from that of neighboring Argentina, indicating that the Andean barrier existed during its formation. Some of Chile's flora has an Antarctic origin due to land bridges which formed during the Cretaceous ice ages, allowing plants to migrate from Antarctica to South America. Chile had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.37/10, ranking it 43rd globally out of 172 countries. Just over 3,000 species of fungi are recorded in Chile, but this number is far from complete. The true total number of fungal species occurring in Chile is likely to be far higher, given the generally accepted estimate that only about 7 percent of all fungi worldwide have so far been discovered. Although the amount of available information is still very small, a first effort has been made to estimate the number of fungal species endemic to Chile, and 1995 species have been tentatively identified as possible endemics of the country. Chile's geographical isolation has restricted the immigration of faunal life, so that only a few of the many distinctive South American animals are found. Among the larger mammals are the puma or cougar, the llama-like guanaco and the fox-like chilla. In the forest region, several types of marsupials and a small deer known as the pudu are found. There are many species of small birds, but most of the larger common Latin American types are absent. Few freshwater fish are native, but North American trout have been successfully introduced into the Andean lakes. Owing to the vicinity of the Humboldt Current, ocean waters abound with fish and other forms of marine life, which in turn support a rich variety of waterfowl, including several penguins. Whales are abundant, and some six species of seals are found in the area. Topography Chile is located along a highly seismic and volcanic zone, part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, due to the subduction of the Nazca and Antarctic plates in the South American plate. Late Paleozoic, 251 million years ago, Chile belonged to the continental block called Gondwana. It was just a depression accumulated marine sediments began to rise at the end of the Mesozoic, 66 million years ago, due to the collision between the Nazca and South American plates, resulting in the Andes. The territory would be shaped by millions of years due to the folding of the rocks, forming the current relief. The Chilean relief consists of the central depression, which crosses the country longitudinally, flanked by two mountain ranges that make up about 80% of the territory: the Andes mountains to the east-natural border with Bolivia and Argentina in the region of Atacama and the Coastal Range west-minor height from the Andes. Chile's highest peak is the Nevado Ojos del Salado, at 6891.3 m, which is also the highest volcano in the world. The highest point of the Coastal Range is Vicuña Mackenna, at 3114 meters, located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna, the south of Antofagasta. Among the coastal mountains and the Pacific is a series of coastal plains, of variable length, which allow the settlement of coastal towns and big ports. Some areas of the plains territories encompass territory east of the Andes, and the Patagonian steppes and Magellan, or are high plateaus surrounded by high mountain ranges, such as the Altiplano or Puna de Atacama. The Far North is the area between the northern boundary of the country and the parallel 26° S, covering the first three regions. It is characterized by the presence of the Atacama desert, the most arid in the world. The |
office of the president and exerted authority over the chief executive's cabinet appointees. In turn, Congress was dominated by the landed elites. This was the heyday of classic political and economic liberalism. For many decades thereafter, historians derided the Parliamentary Republic as a quarrel-prone system that merely distributed spoils and clung to its laissez-faire policy while national problems mounted. The characterization is epitomized by an observation made by President Ramón Barros Luco (1910–1915), reputedly made in reference to labor unrest: "There are only two kinds of problems: those that solve themselves and those that can't be solved." At the mercy of Congress, cabinets came and went frequently, although there was more stability and continuity in public administration than some historians have suggested. Chile also temporarily resolved its border disputes with Argentina with the Puna de Atacama Lawsuit of 1899, the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina and the 1902 General Treaty of Arbitration, though not without engaging in an expensive naval arms race beforehand. Political authority ran from local electoral bosses in the provinces through the congressional and executive branches, which reciprocated with payoffs from taxes on nitrate sales. Congressmen often won election by bribing voters in this clientelistic and corrupt system. Many politicians relied on intimidated or loyal peasant voters in the countryside, even though the population was becoming increasingly urban. The lackluster presidents and ineffectual administrations of the period did little to respond to the country's dependence on volatile nitrate exports, spiraling inflation, and massive urbanization. In recent years, however, particularly when the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet is taken into consideration, some scholars have reevaluated the Parliamentary Republic of 1891–1925. Without denying its shortcomings, they have lauded its democratic stability. They have also hailed its control of the armed forces, its respect for civil liberties, its expansion of suffrage and participation, and its gradual admission of new contenders, especially reformers, to the political arena. In particular, two young parties grew in importance – the Democrat Party, with roots among artisans and urban workers, and the Radical Party, representing urban middle sectors and provincial elites. By the early 20th century, both parties were winning increasing numbers of seats in Congress. The more leftist members of the Democrat Party became involved in the leadership of labor unions and broke off to launch the Socialist Workers' Party ( – POS) in 1912. The founder of the POS and its best-known leader, Luis Emilio Recabarren, also founded the Communist Party of Chile ( – PCCh) in 1922. Presidential era (1925–1973) By the 1920s, the emerging middle and working classes were powerful enough to elect a reformist president, Arturo Alessandri Palma. Alessandri appealed to those who believed the social question should be addressed, to those worried by the decline in nitrate exports during World War I, and to those weary of presidents dominated by Congress. Promising "evolution to avoid revolution", he pioneered a new campaign style of appealing directly to the masses with florid oratory and charisma. After winning a seat in the Senate representing the mining north in 1915, he earned the sobriquet "Lion of Tarapacá." As a dissident Liberal running for the presidency, Alessandri attracted support from the more reformist Radicals and Democrats and formed the so-called Liberal Alliance. He received strong backing from the middle and working classes as well as from the provincial elites. Students and intellectuals also rallied to his banner. At the same time, he reassured the landowners that social reforms would be limited to the cities. Alessandri soon discovered that his efforts to lead would be blocked by the conservative Congress. Like Balmaceda, he infuriated the legislators by going over their heads to appeal to the voters in the congressional elections of 1924. His reform legislation was finally rammed through Congress under pressure from younger military officers, who were sick of the neglect of the armed forces, political infighting, social unrest, and galloping inflation, whose program was frustrated by a conservative congress. A double military coup set off a period of great political instability that lasted until 1932. First military right-wingers opposing Alessandri seized power in September 1924, and then reformers in favor of the ousted president took charge in January 1925. The Saber noise (ruido de sables) incident of September 1924, provoked by discontent of young officers, mostly lieutenants from middle and working classes, lead to the establishment of the September Junta led by General Luis Altamirano and the exile of Alessandri. However, fears of a conservative restoration in progressive sectors of the army led to another coup in January, which ended with the establishment of the January Junta as interim government while waiting for Alessandri's return. The latter group was led by two colonels, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and Marmaduke Grove. They returned Alessandri to the presidency that March and enacted his promised reforms by decree. The latter re-assumed power in March, and a new Constitution encapsulating his proposed reforms was ratified in a plebiscite in September 1925. The new constitution gave increased powers to the presidency. Alessandri broke with the classical liberalism's policies of laissez-faire by creating a Central Bank and imposing a revenue tax. However, social discontents were also crushed, leading to the Marusia massacre in March 1925 followed by the La Coruña massacre. The longest lasting of the ten governments between 1924 and 1932 was that of General Carlos Ibáñez, who briefly held power in 1925 and then again between 1927 and 1931 in what was a de facto dictatorship. When constitutional rule was restored in 1932, a strong middle-class party, the Radicals, emerged. It became the key force in coalition governments for the next 20 years. The Seguro Obrero Massacre took place on September 5, 1938, in the midst of a heated three-way election campaign between the ultraconservative Gustavo Ross Santa María, the radical Popular Front's Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and the newly formed Popular Alliance candidate, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. The National Socialist Movement of Chile supported Ibáñez's candidacy, which had been announced on September 4. In order to preempt Ross's victory, the National Socialists mounted a coup d'état that was intended to take down the rightwing government of Arturo Alessandri Palma and place Ibáñez in power. During the period of Radical Party dominance (1932–1952), the state increased its role in the economy. In 1952, voters returned Ibáñez to office for another 6 years. Jorge Alessandri succeeded Ibáñez in 1958. The 1964 presidential election of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva by an absolute majority initiated a period of major reform. Under the slogan "Revolution in Liberty", the Frei administration embarked on far-reaching social and economic programs, particularly in education, housing, and agrarian reform, including rural unionization of agricultural workers. By 1967, however, Frei encountered increasing opposition from leftists, who charged that his reforms were inadequate, and from conservatives, who found them excessive. At the end of his term, Frei had accomplished many noteworthy objectives, but he had not fully achieved his party's ambitious goals. Popular Unity years In the 1970 presidential election, Senator Salvador Allende Gossens won a plurality of votes in a three-way contest. He was a Marxist physician and member of Chile's Socialist Party, who headed the "Popular Unity" (UP or "Unidad Popular") coalition of the Socialist, Communist, Radical, and Social-Democratic Parties, along with dissident Christian Democrats, the Popular Unitary Action Movement (MAPU), and the Independent Popular Action. Allende had two main competitors in the election — Radomiro Tomic, representing the incumbent Christian Democratic party, who ran a left-wing campaign with much the same theme as Allende's, and the right-wing former president Jorge Alessandri. In the end, Allende received a plurality of the votes cast, getting 36% of the vote against Alessandri's 35% and Tomic's 28%. Despite pressure from the government of the United States, the Chilean Congress, keeping with tradition, conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president Jorge Alessandri. This procedure had previously been a near-formality, yet became quite fraught in 1970. After assurances of legality on Allende's part, the murder of the Army Commander-in-Chief, General René Schneider and Frei's refusal to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende – on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the oligarchs – Allende was chosen by a vote of 153 to 35. The Popular Unity platform included the nationalization of U.S. interests in Chile's major copper mines, the advancement of workers' rights, deepening of the Chilean land reform, reorganization of the national economy into socialized, mixed, and private sectors, a foreign policy of "international solidarity" and national independence and a new institutional order (the "people's state" or "poder popular"), including the institution of a unicameral congress. Immediately after the election, the United States expressed its disapproval and raised a number of economic sanctions against Chile. In addition, the CIA's website reports that the agency aided three different Chilean opposition groups during that time period and "sought to instigate a coup to prevent Allende from taking office". The action plans to prevent Allende from coming to power were known as Track I and Track II. In the first year of Allende's term, the short-term economic results of Economics Minister Pedro Vuskovic's expansive monetary policy were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in GDP, accompanied by major declines in inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%). Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, which had the effect of increasing consumer spending and redistributing income downward. Joint public-private public works projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was nationalized. Many enterprises within the copper, coal, iron, nitrate, and steel industries were expropriated, nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and unemployment fell during the administration's first year. However, these results were not sustainable and in 1972 the Chilean escudo had runaway inflation of 140%. An economic depression that had begun in 1967 peaked in 1972, exacerbated by capital flight, plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. The combination of inflation and government-mandated price-fixing led to the rise of black markets in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves. Recognizing that U.S. intelligence forces were trying to destabilize his presidency through a variety of methods, the KGB offered financial assistance to the first democratically elected Marxist president. However, the reason behind the U.S. covert actions against Allende concerned not the spread of Marxism but fear over losing control of its investments. "By 1968, 20 percent of total U.S. foreign investment was tied up in Latin America...Mining companies had invested $1 billion over the previous fifty years in Chile's copper mining industry – the largest in the world – but they had sent $7.2 billion home." Part of the CIA's program involved a propaganda campaign that portrayed Allende as a would-be Soviet dictator. In fact, however, "the U.S.'s own intelligence reports showed that Allende posed no threat to democracy." Nevertheless, the Richard Nixon administration organized and inserted secret operatives in Chile, in order to quickly destabilize Allende's government. In addition, Nixon gave instructions to make the Chilean economy scream, and international financial pressure restricted economic credit to Chile. Simultaneously, the CIA funded opposition media, politicians, and organizations, helping to accelerate a campaign of domestic destabilization. By 1972, the economic progress of Allende's first year had been reversed, and the economy was in crisis. Political polarization increased, and large mobilizations of both pro- and anti-government groups became frequent, often leading to clashes. By 1973, Chilean society had grown highly polarized, between strong opponents and equally strong supporters of Salvador Allende and his government. Military actions and movements, separate from the civilian authority, began to manifest in the countryside. The Tanquetazo was a failed military coup d'état attempted against Allende in June 1973. In its "Agreement", on August 22, 1973, the Chamber of Deputies of Chile asserted that Chilean democracy had broken down and called for "redirecting government activity", to restore constitutional rule. Less than a month later, on September 11, 1973, the Chilean military deposed Allende, who shot himself in the head to avoid capture as the Presidential Palace was surrounded and bombed. Subsequently, rather than restore governmental authority to the civilian legislature, Augusto Pinochet exploited his role as Commander of the Army to seize total power and to establish himself at the head of a junta. CIA involvement in the coup is documented. As early as the Church Committee Report (1975), publicly available documents have indicated that the CIA attempted to prevent Allende from taking office after he was elected in 1970; the CIA itself released documents in 2000 acknowledging this and that Pinochet was one of their favored alternatives to take power. According to the Vasili Mitrokhin and Christopher Andrew, the KGB and the Cuban Intelligence Directorate launched a campaign known as Operation TOUCAN. For instance, in 1976, the New York Times published 66 articles on alleged human rights abuses in Chile and only 4 on Cambodia, where the communist Khmer Rouge killed some 1.5 million people of 7.5 million people in the country. Military dictatorship (1973–1990) By early 1973, inflation had risen 600% under Allende's presidency. The crippled economy was further battered by prolonged and sometimes simultaneous strikes by physicians, teachers, students, truck owners, copper workers, and the small business class. A military coup overthrew Allende on September 11, 1973. As the armed forces bombarded the presidential palace (Palacio de La Moneda), Allende committed suicide. A military government, led by General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, took over control of the country. The first years of the regime were marked by human rights violations. The junta jailed, tortured, and executed thousands of Chileans. In October 1973, at least 72 people were murdered by the Caravan of Death. At least a thousand people were executed during the first six months of Pinochet in office, and at least two thousand more were killed during the next sixteen years, as reported by the Rettig Report. At least 29,000 were imprisoned and tortured. According to the Latin American Institute on Mental Health and Human Rights (ILAS), "situations of extreme trauma" affected about 200,000 persons.; this figure includes individuals killed, tortured or exiled, and their immediate families. About 30,000 left the country. The four-man junta headed by General Augusto Pinochet abolished civil liberties, dissolved the national congress, banned union activities, prohibited strikes and collective bargaining, and erased the Allende administration's agrarian and economic reforms. The junta embarked on a radical program of liberalization, deregulation and privatization, slashing tariffs as well as government welfare programs and deficits. Economic reforms were drafted by a group of technocrats who became known as the Chicago Boys because many of them had been trained or influenced by University of Chicago professors. Under these new policies, the rate of inflation dropped: A new constitution was approved by plebiscite characterized by the absence of registration lists, on September 11, 1980, and General Pinochet became president of the republic for an 8-year term. In 1982–1983 Chile witnessed a severe economic crisis with a surge in unemployment and a meltdown of the financial sector. 16 out of 50 financial institutions faced bankruptcy. In 1982 the two biggest banks were nationalized to prevent an even worse credit crunch. In 1983 another five banks were nationalized and two banks had to be put under government supervision. The central bank took over foreign debts. Critics ridiculed the economic policy of the Chicago Boys as "Chicago way to socialism“. After the economic crisis, Hernan Buchi became Minister of Finance from 1985 to 1989, introducing a more pragmatic economic policy. He allowed the peso to float and reinstated restrictions on the movement of capital in and out of the country. He introduced Bank regulations, simplified and reduced the corporate tax. Chile went ahead with privatizations, including public utilities plus the re-privatization of companies that had returned to the government during the 1982–1983 crisis. From 1984 to 1990, Chile's gross domestic product grew by an annual average of 5.9%, the fastest on the continent. Chile developed a good export economy, including the export of fruits and vegetables to the northern hemisphere when they were out of season, and commanded high prices. The military junta began to change during the late 1970s. Due to problems with Pinochet, Leigh was expelled from the junta in 1978 and replaced by General Fernando Matthei. In the late 1980s, the government gradually permitted greater freedom of assembly, speech, and association, to include trade union and political activity. Due to the Caso Degollados ("slit throats case"), in which three Communist party members were assassinated, César Mendoza, member of the junta since 1973 and representants of the carabineros, resigned in 1985 and was replaced by Rodolfo Stange. The next year, Carmen Gloria Quintana was burnt alive in what became known as the Caso Quemado ("Burnt Alive case"). Chile's constitution established that in 1988 there would be another plebiscite in which the voters would accept or reject a single candidate proposed by the Military Junta. Pinochet was, as expected, the candidate proposed, but was denied a second 8-year term by 54.5% of the vote. Transition to democracy (1990–2022) Aylwin, Frei, and Lagos Chileans elected a new president and the majority of members of a two-chamber congress on December 14, 1989. Christian Democrat Patricio Aylwin, the candidate of a coalition of 17 political parties called the Concertación, received an absolute majority of votes (55%). President Aylwin served from 1990 to 1994, in what was considered a transition period. In February 1991 Aylwin created the National Commission for Truth and Reconciliation, which released in February 1991 the Rettig Report on human rights violations committed during the military rule. This report counted 2,279 cases of "disappearances" which could be proved and registered. Of course, the very nature of "disappearances" made such investigations very difficult. The same problem arose, several years later, with the Valech Report, released in 2004 and which counted almost 30,000 victims of torture, among testimonies from 35,000 persons. In December 1993, Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, the son of previous president Eduardo Frei Montalva, led the Concertación coalition to victory with an absolute majority of votes (58%). Frei Ruiz-Tagle was succeeded in 2000 by Socialist Ricardo Lagos, who won the presidency in an unprecedented runoff election against Joaquín Lavín of the rightist Alliance for Chile, by a very tight score of less than 200,000 votes (51,32%). In 1998, Pinochet traveled to London for back surgery. But under orders of Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, he was arrested there, attracting worldwide attention, not only because of the history of Chile and South America, but also because this was one of the first arrests of a former president based on the universal jurisdiction principle. Pinochet tried to defend himself by referring to the State Immunity Act of 1978, an argument rejected by the British justice. However, UK Home Secretary Jack Straw took the responsibility to release him on medical grounds, and refused to extradite him to Spain. Thereafter, Pinochet returned to Chile in March 2000. Upon descending the plane on his wheelchair, he stood up and saluted the cheering crowd of supporters, including an army band playing his favorite military march tunes, which was awaiting him at the airport in Santiago. President Ricardo Lagos later commented that the retired general's televised arrival had damaged the image of Chile, while thousands demonstrated against him. Bachelet and Piñera The Concertación coalition has continued to dominate Chilean politics for last two decades. In January 2006 Chileans elected their first woman president, Michelle Bachelet, of the Socialist Party. She was sworn in on March 11, 2006, extending the Concertación coalition governance for another four years. In 2002 Chile signed an association agreement with the European Union (comprising a free trade agreement and political and cultural agreements), in 2003, an extensive free trade agreement with the United States, and in 2004 with South Korea, expecting a boom in import and export of local produce and becoming a regional trade-hub. Continuing the coalition's free trade strategy, in August 2006 President Bachelet promulgated a free trade agreement with the People's Republic of China (signed under the previous administration of Ricardo Lagos), the first Chinese free trade agreement with a Latin American nation; similar deals with Japan and India were promulgated in August 2007. In October 2006, Bachelet promulgated a multilateral trade deal with New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei, the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (P4), also signed under Lagos' presidency. Regionally, she has signed bilateral free trade agreements with Panama, Peru and Colombia. After 20 years, Chile went in a new direction with the win of center-right Sebastián Piñera, in the Chilean presidential election of 2009–2010. On 27 February 2010, Chile was struck by an 8.8 MW earthquake, the fifth largest ever recorded at the time. More than 500 people died (most from the ensuing tsunami) and over a million people lost their homes. The earthquake was also followed by multiple aftershocks. Initial damage estimates were in the range of US$15–30 billion, around 10 to 15 percent of Chile's real gross domestic product. Chile achieved global recognition for the successful rescue of 33 trapped miners in 2010. On 5 August 2010, the access tunnel collapsed at the San José copper and gold mine in the Atacama Desert near Copiapó in northern Chile, trapping 33 men below ground. A rescue effort organized by the Chilean government located the miners 17 days later. All 33 men were brought to the surface two months later on 13 October 2010 over a period of almost 24 hours, an effort that was carried on live television around the world. Despite good macroeconomic indicators, there was increased social dissatisfaction, focused on demands for better and fairer education, culminating in massive protests demanding more democratic and equitable institutions. Approval of Piñera's administration fell irrevocably. In 2013, Bachelet, a Social Democrat, was elected again as president, seeking to make the structural changes claimed in recent years by the society relative to education reform, tributary reform, same sex civil union, and definitely end the Binomial System, looking to further equality and the end of what remains of the dictatorship. In 2015 a series of corruption scandals (most notably Penta case and Caval case) became public, threatening the credibility of the political and business class. On 17 December 2017, Sebastián Piñera was elected president of Chile for a second term. He received 36% of the votes, the highest percentage among all 8 candidates. In the second round, Piñera faced Alejandro Guillier, a television news anchor who represented Bachelet's New Majority (Nueva Mayoría) coalition. Piñera won the elections with 54% of the votes. Estallido Social and Consitutional Referendum In October 2019 there were violent protests about costs of living and inequality, resulting in Piñera declaring a state of emergency. On 15 November, most of the political parties represented in the National Congress signed an agreement to call a national referendum in April 2020 regarding the creation of a new Constitution. But the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the date of the elections, while Chile was one of the hardest hit nations in the Americas as of May 2020. On October 25, 2020, Chileans voted 78.28 per cent in favor of a new constitution, while 21.72 per cent rejected the change. Voter turnout was 51 per cent. A second vote was held on April 11, 2021, to select 155 Chileans who form the convention which will draft the new constitution. On 19 December 2021, leftist candidate, the 35-year-old former | administered local municipalities, the most important of which was Santiago, which was the seat of a Royal Appeals Court (Real Audiencia) from 1609 until the end of colonial rule. Chile was the least wealthy realm of the Spanish Crown for most of its colonial history. Only in the 18th century did a steady economic and demographic growth begin, an effect of the reforms by Spain's Bourbon dynasty and a more stable situation along the frontier. Independence (1810–1827) The drive for independence from Spain was precipitated by the usurpation of the Spanish throne by Napoleon's brother Joseph Bonaparte. The Chilean War of Independence was part of the larger Spanish American independence movement, and it was far from having unanimous support among Chileans, who became divided between independentists and royalists. What started as an elitist political movement against their colonial master, finally ended as a full-fledged civil war between pro-Independence Criollos who sought political and economic independence from Spain and royalist Criollos, who supported the continued allegiance to and permanence within the Spanish Empire of the Captaincy General of Chile. The struggle for independence was a war within the upper class, although the majority of troops on both sides consisted of conscripted mestizos and Native Americans. The beginning of the Independence movement is traditionally dated as of September 18, 1810, when a national junta was established to govern Chile in the name of the deposed king Ferdinand VII. Depending on what terms one uses to define the end, the movement extended until 1821 (when the Spanish were expelled from mainland Chile) or 1826 (when the last Spanish troops surrendered and Chiloé was incorporated into the Chilean republic). The independence process is normally divided into three stages: Patria Vieja, Reconquista, and Patria Nueva. Chile's first experiment with self-government, the "Patria Vieja" (old fatherland, 1810–1814), was led by José Miguel Carrera, an aristocrat then in his mid-twenties. The military-educated Carrera was a heavy-handed ruler who aroused widespread opposition. Another of the earliest advocates of full independence, Bernardo O'Higgins, captained a rival faction that plunged the Criollos into civil war. For him and certain other members of the Chilean elite, the initiative for temporary self-rule quickly escalated into a campaign for permanent independence, although other Criollos remained loyal to Spain. Among those favouring independence, conservatives fought with liberals over the degree to which French revolutionary ideas would be incorporated into the movement. After several efforts, Spanish troops from Peru took advantage of the internecine strife to reconquer Chile in 1814, when they reasserted control by the Battle of Rancagua on October 12. O'Higgins, Carrera and many of the Chilean rebels escaped to Argentina. The second period was characterized by the Spanish attempts to reimpose arbitrary rule during the period known as the Reconquista of 1814–1817 ("Reconquest": the term echoes the Reconquista in which the Christian kingdoms retook Iberia from the Muslims). During this period, the harsh rule of the Spanish loyalists, who punished suspected rebels, drove more and more Chileans into the insurrectionary camp. More members of the Chilean elite were becoming convinced of the necessity of full independence, regardless of who sat on the throne of Spain. As the leader of guerrilla raids against the Spaniards, Manuel Rodríguez became a national symbol of resistance. In exile in Argentina, O'Higgins joined forces with José de San Martín. Their combined army freed Chile with a daring assault over the Andes in 1817, defeating the Spaniards at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12 and marking the beginning of the Patria Nueva. San Martín considered the liberation of Chile a strategic stepping-stone to the emancipation of Peru, which he saw as the key to hemispheric victory over the Spanish. Chile won its formal independence when San Martín defeated the last large Spanish force on Chilean soil at the Battle of Maipú on April 5, 1818. San Martín then led his Argentine and Chilean followers north to liberate Peru; and fighting continued in Chile's southern provinces, the bastion of the royalists, until 1826. A declaration of independence was officially issued by Chile on February 12, 1818, and formally recognized by Spain in 1840, when full diplomatic relations were established. Republican era (1818–1891) Constitutional organization (1818–1833) From 1817 to 1823, Bernardo O'Higgins ruled Chile as supreme director. He won plaudits for defeating royalists and founding schools, but civil strife continued. O'Higgins alienated liberals and provincials with his authoritarianism, conservatives and the church with his anticlericalism, and landowners with his proposed reforms of the land tenure system. His attempt to devise a constitution in 1818 that would legitimize his government failed, as did his effort to generate stable funding for the new administration. O'Higgins's dictatorial behavior aroused resistance in the provinces. This growing discontent was reflected in the continuing opposition of partisans of Carrera, who was executed by the Argentine regime in Mendoza in 1821, like his two brothers were three years earlier. Although opposed by many liberals, O'Higgins angered the Roman Catholic Church with his liberal beliefs. He maintained Catholicism's status as the official state religion but tried to curb the church's political powers and to encourage religious tolerance as a means of attracting Protestant immigrants and traders. Like the church, the landed aristocracy felt threatened by O'Higgins, resenting his attempts to eliminate noble titles and, more important, to eliminate entailed estates. O'Higgins's opponents also disapproved of his diversion of Chilean resources to aid San Martín's liberation of Peru. O'Higgins insisted on supporting that campaign because he realized that Chilean independence would not be secure until the Spaniards were routed from the Andean core of the empire. However, amid mounting discontent, troops from the northern and southern provinces forced O'Higgins to resign. Embittered, O'Higgins departed for Peru, where he died in 1842. After O'Higgins went into exile in 1823, civil conflict continued, focusing mainly on the issues of anticlericalism and regionalism. Presidents and constitutions rose and fell quickly in the 1820s. The civil struggle's harmful effects on the economy, and particularly on exports, prompted conservatives to seize national control in 1830. In the minds of most members of the Chilean elite, the bloodshed and chaos of the late 1820s were attributable to the shortcomings of liberalism and federalism, which had been dominant over conservatism for most of the period. The political camp became divided by supporters of O'Higgins, Carrera, liberal Pipiolos and conservative Pelucones, being the two last the main movements that prevailed and absorbed the rest. The abolition of slavery in 1823—long before most other countries in the Americas—was considered one of the Pipiolos' few lasting achievements. One Pipiolo leader from the south, Ramón Freire, rode in and out of the presidency several times (1823–1827, 1828, 1829, 1830) but could not sustain his authority. From May 1827 to September 1831, with the exception of brief interventions by Freire, the presidency was occupied by Francisco Antonio Pinto, Freire's former vice president. In August 1828, Pinto's first year in office, Chile abandoned its short-lived federalist system for a unitary form of government, with separate legislative, executive, and judicial branches. By adopting a moderately liberal constitution in 1828, Pinto alienated both the federalists and the liberal factions. He also angered the old aristocracy by abolishing estates inherited by primogeniture (mayorazgo) and caused a public uproar with his anticlericalism. After the defeat of his liberal army at the Battle of Lircay on April 17, 1830, Freire, like O'Higgins, went into exile in Peru. Conservative Era (1830–1861) Although never president, Diego Portales dominated Chilean politics from the cabinet and behind the scenes from 1830 to 1837. He installed the "autocratic republic", which centralized authority in the national government. His political program enjoyed support from merchants, large landowners, foreign capitalists, the church, and the military. Political and economic stability reinforced each other, as Portales encouraged economic growth through free trade and put government finances in order. Portales was an agnostic who said that he believed in the clergy but not in God. He realized the importance of the Roman Catholic Church as a bastion of loyalty, legitimacy, social control and stability, as had been the case in the colonial period. He repealed Liberal reforms that had threatened church privileges and properties. The "Portalian State" was institutionalized by the Chilean Constitution of 1833. One of the most durable charters ever devised in Latin America, the Portalian constitution lasted until 1925. The constitution concentrated authority in the national government, more precisely, in the hands of the president, who was elected by a tiny minority. The chief executive could serve two consecutive five-year terms and then pick a successor. Although the Congress had significant budgetary powers, it was overshadowed by the president, who appointed provincial officials. The constitution also created an independent judiciary, guaranteed inheritance of estates by primogeniture, and installed Catholicism as the state religion. In short, it established an autocratic system under a republican veneer. Portales also achieved his objectives by wielding dictatorial powers, censoring the press, and manipulating elections. For the next forty years, Chile's armed forces would be distracted from meddling in politics by skirmishes and defensive operations on the southern frontier, although some units got embroiled in domestic conflicts in 1851 and 1859. The Portalian president was General Joaquín Prieto, who served two terms (1831–1836, 1836–1841). President Prieto had four main accomplishments: implementation of the 1833 constitution, stabilization of government finances, defeat of provincial challenges to central authority, and victory over the Peru-Bolivia Confederation. During the presidencies of Prieto and his two successors, Chile modernized through the construction of ports, railroads, and telegraph lines, some built by United States entrepreneur William Wheelwright. These innovations facilitated the export-import trade as well as domestic commerce. Prieto and his adviser, Portales, feared the efforts of Bolivian general Andrés de Santa Cruz to unite with Peru against Chile. These qualms exacerbated animosities toward Peru dating from the colonial period, now intensified by disputes over customs duties and loans. Chile also wanted to become the dominant South American military and commercial power along the Pacific. Santa Cruz united Peru and Bolivia in the Peru–Bolivian Confederation in 1836 with a desire to expand control over Argentina and Chile. Portales got Congress to declare war on the Confederation. Portales was killed by traitors in 1837. The general Manuel Bulnes defeated the Confederation in the Battle of Yungay in 1839. After his success Bulnes was elected president in 1841. He served two terms (1841–1846, 1846–1851). His administration concentrated on the occupation of the territory, especially the Strait of Magellan and the Araucanía. The Venezuelan Andres Bello make in this period important intellectual advances, specially the creation of the University of Santiago. But political tensions, including a liberal rebellion, led to the Chilean Civil War of 1851. Finally the conservatives defeated the liberals. The last conservative president was Manuel Montt, who also served two terms (1851–1856, 1856–1861), but his bad administration led to the liberal rebellion in 1859. Liberals triumphed in 1861 with the election of Jose Joaquin Perez as president. Liberal era (1861–1891) The political revolt brought little social change, however, and 19th century Chilean society preserved the essence of the stratified colonial social structure, which was greatly influenced by family politics and the Roman Catholic Church. A strong presidency eventually emerged, but wealthy landowners remained powerful. Toward the end of the 19th century, the government in Santiago consolidated its position in the south by persistently suppressing the Mapuche during the Occupation of the Araucanía. In 1881, it signed the Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina confirming Chilean sovereignty over the Strait of Magellan, but conceding all of oriental Patagonia, and a considerable fraction of the territory it had during colonial times. As a result of the War of the Pacific with Peru and Bolivia (1879–1883), Chile expanded its territory northward by almost one-third and acquired valuable nitrate deposits, the exploitation of which led to an era of national affluence. In the 1870s, the church influence started to diminish slightly with the passing of several laws that took some old roles of the church into the State's hands such as the registry of births and marriages. In 1886, José Manuel Balmaceda was elected president. His economic policies visibly changed the existing liberal policies. He began to violate the constitution and slowly began to establish a dictatorship. Congress decided to depose Balmaceda, who refused to step down. Jorge Montt, among others, directed an armed conflict against Balmaceda, which soon extended into the 1891 Chilean Civil War. Defeated, Balmaceda fled to Argentina's embassy, where he committed suicide. Jorge Montt became the new president. Parliamentary era (1891–1925) The so-called Parliamentary Republic was not a true parliamentary system, in which the chief executive is elected by the legislature. It was, however, an unusual regime in presidentialist Latin America, for Congress really did overshadow the rather ceremonial office of the president and exerted authority over the chief executive's cabinet appointees. In turn, Congress was dominated by the landed elites. This was the heyday of classic political and economic liberalism. For many decades thereafter, historians derided the Parliamentary Republic as a quarrel-prone system that merely distributed spoils and clung to its laissez-faire policy while national problems mounted. The characterization is epitomized by an observation made by President Ramón Barros Luco (1910–1915), reputedly made in reference to labor unrest: "There are only two kinds of problems: those that solve themselves and those that can't be solved." At the mercy of Congress, cabinets came and went frequently, although there was more stability and continuity in public administration than some historians have suggested. Chile also temporarily resolved its border disputes with Argentina with the Puna de Atacama Lawsuit of 1899, the Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina and the 1902 General Treaty of Arbitration, though not without engaging in an expensive naval arms race beforehand. Political authority ran from local electoral bosses in the provinces through the congressional and executive branches, which reciprocated with payoffs from taxes on nitrate sales. Congressmen often won election by bribing voters in this clientelistic and corrupt system. Many politicians relied on intimidated or loyal peasant voters in the countryside, even though the population was becoming increasingly urban. The lackluster presidents and ineffectual administrations of the period did little to respond to the country's dependence on volatile nitrate exports, spiraling inflation, and massive urbanization. In recent years, however, particularly when the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet is taken into consideration, some scholars have reevaluated the Parliamentary Republic of 1891–1925. Without denying its shortcomings, they have lauded its democratic stability. They have also hailed its control of the armed forces, its respect for civil liberties, its expansion of suffrage and participation, and its gradual admission of new contenders, especially reformers, to the political arena. In particular, two young parties grew in importance – the Democrat Party, with roots among artisans and urban workers, and the Radical Party, representing urban middle sectors and provincial elites. By the early 20th century, both parties were winning increasing numbers of seats in Congress. The more leftist members of the Democrat Party became involved in the leadership of labor unions and broke off to launch the Socialist Workers' Party ( – POS) in 1912. The founder of the POS and its best-known leader, Luis Emilio Recabarren, also founded the Communist Party of Chile ( – PCCh) in 1922. Presidential era (1925–1973) By the 1920s, the emerging middle and working classes were powerful enough to elect a reformist president, Arturo Alessandri Palma. Alessandri appealed to those who believed the social question should be addressed, to those worried by the decline in nitrate exports during World War I, and to those weary of presidents dominated by Congress. Promising "evolution to avoid revolution", he pioneered a new campaign style of appealing directly to the masses with florid oratory and charisma. After winning a seat in the Senate representing the mining north in 1915, he earned the sobriquet "Lion of Tarapacá." As a dissident Liberal running for the presidency, Alessandri attracted support from the more reformist Radicals and Democrats and formed the so-called Liberal Alliance. He received strong backing from the middle and working classes as well as from the provincial elites. Students and intellectuals also rallied to his banner. At the same time, he reassured the landowners that social reforms would be limited to the cities. Alessandri soon discovered that his efforts to lead would be blocked by the conservative Congress. Like Balmaceda, he infuriated the legislators by going over their heads to appeal to the voters in the congressional elections of 1924. His reform legislation was finally rammed through Congress under pressure from younger military officers, who were sick of the neglect of the armed forces, political infighting, social unrest, and galloping inflation, whose program was frustrated by a conservative congress. A double military coup set off a period of great political instability that lasted until 1932. First military right-wingers opposing Alessandri seized power in September 1924, and then reformers in favor of the ousted president took charge in January 1925. The Saber noise (ruido de sables) incident of September 1924, provoked by discontent of young officers, mostly lieutenants from middle and working classes, lead to the establishment of the September Junta led by General Luis Altamirano and the exile of Alessandri. However, fears of a conservative restoration in progressive sectors of the army led to another coup in January, which ended with the establishment of the January Junta as interim government while waiting for Alessandri's return. The latter group was led by two colonels, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo and Marmaduke Grove. They returned Alessandri to the presidency that March and enacted his promised reforms by decree. The latter re-assumed power in March, and a new Constitution encapsulating his proposed reforms was ratified in a plebiscite in September 1925. The new constitution gave increased powers to the presidency. Alessandri broke with the classical liberalism's policies of laissez-faire by creating a Central Bank and imposing a revenue tax. However, social discontents were also crushed, leading to the Marusia massacre in March 1925 followed by the La Coruña massacre. The longest lasting of the ten governments between 1924 and 1932 was that of General Carlos Ibáñez, who briefly held power in 1925 and then again between 1927 and 1931 in what was a de facto dictatorship. When constitutional rule was restored in 1932, a strong middle-class party, the Radicals, emerged. It became the key force in coalition governments for the next 20 years. The Seguro Obrero Massacre took place on September 5, 1938, in the midst of a heated three-way election campaign between the ultraconservative Gustavo Ross Santa María, the radical Popular Front's Pedro Aguirre Cerda, and the newly formed Popular Alliance candidate, Carlos Ibáñez del Campo. The National Socialist Movement of Chile supported Ibáñez's candidacy, which had been announced on September 4. In order to preempt Ross's victory, the National Socialists mounted a coup d'état that was intended to take down the rightwing government of Arturo Alessandri Palma and place Ibáñez in power. During the period of Radical Party dominance (1932–1952), the state increased its role in the economy. In 1952, voters returned Ibáñez to office for another 6 years. Jorge Alessandri succeeded Ibáñez in 1958. The 1964 presidential election of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei Montalva by an absolute majority initiated a period of major reform. Under the slogan "Revolution in Liberty", the Frei administration embarked on far-reaching social and economic programs, particularly in education, housing, and agrarian reform, including rural unionization of agricultural workers. By 1967, however, Frei encountered increasing opposition from leftists, who charged that his reforms were inadequate, and from conservatives, who found them excessive. At the end of his term, Frei had accomplished many noteworthy objectives, but he had not fully achieved his party's ambitious goals. Popular Unity years In the 1970 presidential election, Senator Salvador Allende Gossens won a plurality of votes in a three-way contest. He was a Marxist physician and member of Chile's Socialist Party, who headed the "Popular Unity" (UP or "Unidad Popular") coalition of the Socialist, Communist, Radical, and Social-Democratic Parties, along with dissident Christian Democrats, the Popular Unitary Action Movement (MAPU), and the Independent Popular Action. Allende had two main competitors in the election — Radomiro Tomic, representing the incumbent Christian Democratic party, who ran a left-wing campaign with much the same theme as Allende's, and the right-wing former president Jorge Alessandri. In the end, Allende received a plurality of the votes cast, getting 36% of the vote against Alessandri's 35% and Tomic's 28%. Despite pressure from the government of the United States, the Chilean Congress, keeping with tradition, conducted a runoff vote between the leading candidates, Allende and former president Jorge Alessandri. This procedure had previously been a near-formality, yet became quite fraught in 1970. After assurances of legality on Allende's part, the murder of the Army Commander-in-Chief, General René Schneider and Frei's refusal to form an alliance with Alessandri to oppose Allende – on the grounds that the Christian Democrats were a workers' party and could not make common cause with the oligarchs – Allende was chosen by a vote of 153 to 35. The Popular Unity platform included the nationalization of U.S. interests in Chile's major copper mines, the advancement of workers' rights, deepening of the Chilean land reform, reorganization of the national economy into socialized, mixed, and private sectors, a foreign policy of "international solidarity" and national independence and a new institutional order (the "people's state" or "poder popular"), including the institution of a unicameral congress. Immediately after the election, the United States expressed its disapproval and raised a number of economic sanctions against Chile. In addition, the CIA's website reports that the agency aided three different Chilean opposition groups during that time period and "sought to instigate a coup to prevent Allende from taking office". The action plans to prevent Allende from coming to power were known as Track I and Track II. In the first year of Allende's term, the short-term economic results of Economics Minister Pedro Vuskovic's expansive monetary policy were unambiguously favorable: 12% industrial growth and an 8.6% increase in GDP, accompanied by major declines in inflation (down from 34.9% to 22.1%) and unemployment (down to 3.8%). Allende adopted measures including price freezes, wage increases, and tax reforms, which had the effect of increasing consumer spending and redistributing income downward. Joint public-private public works projects helped reduce unemployment. Much of the banking sector was nationalized. Many enterprises within the copper, coal, iron, nitrate, and steel industries were expropriated, nationalized, or subjected to state intervention. Industrial output increased sharply and unemployment fell during the administration's first year. However, these results were not sustainable and in 1972 the Chilean escudo had runaway inflation of 140%. An economic depression that had begun in 1967 peaked in 1972, exacerbated by capital flight, plummeting private investment, and withdrawal of bank deposits in response to Allende's socialist program. Production fell and unemployment rose. The combination of inflation and government-mandated price-fixing led to the rise of black markets in rice, beans, sugar, and flour, and a "disappearance" of such basic commodities from supermarket shelves. Recognizing that U.S. intelligence forces were trying to destabilize his presidency through a |
in both the government and the two chambers of the National Congress. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature of Chile. The Constitution of Chile was approved in a national plebiscite in September 1980, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It entered into force in March 1981. After Pinochet left power in 1998, saying this country was ready to keep going along with a plebiscite, the Constitution was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the Constitution. In September 2006, President Ricardo Lagos signed into law several constitutional amendments passed by Congress. These include eliminating the positions of appointed senators and senators for life, granting the President authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years while also disabling immediate re-election. up .11 points and from being in the category of "flawed democracies" the previous year. Statistical analysis suggests Chilean politicians in Congress "are not randomly drawn from the population, but over-represent high-income communities". As such Chileans of Castilian-Basque, Palestinian and Jewish ancestry are overrepresented in it. History The autocratic and conservative republic (1831-1861) was replaced by the liberal republic (1861-1891), during which some political conquests were made, such as proportional representation (1871) and the abolition of the condition of ownership to have the right to vote (1885). Parliamentary Republic When the era of the parliamentary republic began in 1891, the struggle between liberals (pipiolos) and conservatives (pelucones) had already evolved due to the emergence of a multi-party system. In the 1880s, the Liberals split into two factions: the moderates, who did not want to impose secularism too quickly and were willing to compromise with the Conservatives, and the radical Liberals, who joined the Radical Party founded in 1863 or the new Democratic Party with more progressive, if not socialist, ideas. European and particularly British companies having appropriated a large part of the country's economy (saltpeter, bank, railway, trade), President José Balmaceda (1886-1891), leader of moderate liberals, decided to react by directing his policy in two directions: the nationalisation of saltpeter mines and the intervention of the State in economic matters. Already facing the conservative aristocracy, he alienated the bankers. He was dismissed by a vote of Parliament and pressure from part of the army. He committed suicide by firearm at the end of the civil war that his supporters lost. Workers' struggles and social reforms A new parliamentary regime emerged from the civil war; it was the government of Fronda aristocrática. From 1906 onwards, the Radical Party demanded social reforms and the establishment of a democratic regime. That same year, the leader of the Federation of Workers, Luis Emilio Recabarren, was elected to the House but his election was canceled by the House. In 1912 he founded the Socialist Workers Party. Despite the country's good economic performance, life remains particularly hard for a large part of the population (12 or 14-hour working days for workers, very low wages, illiteracy of more than 50% in the years 1900–1910, etc.). Trade unionism was organized and fought; strikes and workers' demonstrations multiplied, sometimes very harshly repressed: general strike in Santiago (1905), railways and mines in Antofagasta (1906), a demonstration in Iquique (1907). From 1911 to 1920, there were 293 strikes. Some repressions kill hundreds of people. The workers' movement was organized in the 1910s with the creation of the Chilean Regional Workers' Federation in 1913 and the Chilean branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1919. In 1920, the economic crisis worsened the standard of living of the middle classes, which were politically closer to the working classes. This new situation led to the election of Arturo Alessandri Palma. During his first term in office, he pursued a progressive policy: labor law, the establishment of the tax on property income, the establishment of the Central Bank, creation of social security funds, etc. However, it must constantly deal with the Senate, always under Conservative control, which systematically tries to block its reforms. Shortly before his withdrawal from power, he drew up a new Constitution that | plebiscite in September 1980, under the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. It entered into force in March 1981. After Pinochet left power in 1998, saying this country was ready to keep going along with a plebiscite, the Constitution was amended to ease provisions for future amendments to the Constitution. In September 2006, President Ricardo Lagos signed into law several constitutional amendments passed by Congress. These include eliminating the positions of appointed senators and senators for life, granting the President authority to remove the commanders-in-chief of the armed forces, and reducing the presidential term from six to four years while also disabling immediate re-election. up .11 points and from being in the category of "flawed democracies" the previous year. Statistical analysis suggests Chilean politicians in Congress "are not randomly drawn from the population, but over-represent high-income communities". As such Chileans of Castilian-Basque, Palestinian and Jewish ancestry are overrepresented in it. History The autocratic and conservative republic (1831-1861) was replaced by the liberal republic (1861-1891), during which some political conquests were made, such as proportional representation (1871) and the abolition of the condition of ownership to have the right to vote (1885). Parliamentary Republic When the era of the parliamentary republic began in 1891, the struggle between liberals (pipiolos) and conservatives (pelucones) had already evolved due to the emergence of a multi-party system. In the 1880s, the Liberals split into two factions: the moderates, who did not want to impose secularism too quickly and were willing to compromise with the Conservatives, and the radical Liberals, who joined the Radical Party founded in 1863 or the new Democratic Party with more progressive, if not socialist, ideas. European and particularly British companies having appropriated a large part of the country's economy (saltpeter, bank, railway, trade), President José Balmaceda (1886-1891), leader of moderate liberals, decided to react by directing his policy in two directions: the nationalisation of saltpeter mines and the intervention of the State in economic matters. Already facing the conservative aristocracy, he alienated the bankers. He was dismissed by a vote of Parliament and pressure from part of the army. He committed suicide by firearm at the end of the civil war that his supporters lost. Workers' struggles and social reforms A new parliamentary regime emerged from the civil war; it was the government of Fronda aristocrática. From 1906 onwards, the Radical Party demanded social reforms and the establishment of a democratic regime. That same year, the leader of the Federation of Workers, Luis Emilio Recabarren, was elected to the House but his election was canceled by the House. In 1912 he founded the Socialist Workers Party. Despite the country's good economic performance, life remains particularly hard for a large part of the population (12 or 14-hour working days for workers, very low wages, illiteracy of more than 50% in the years 1900–1910, etc.). Trade unionism was organized and fought; strikes and workers' demonstrations multiplied, sometimes very harshly repressed: general strike in Santiago (1905), railways and mines in Antofagasta (1906), a demonstration in Iquique (1907). From 1911 to 1920, there were 293 strikes. Some repressions kill hundreds of people. The workers' movement was organized in the 1910s with the creation of the Chilean Regional Workers' Federation in 1913 and the Chilean branch of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1919. In 1920, the economic crisis worsened the standard of living of the middle classes, which were politically closer to the working classes. This new situation led to the election of Arturo Alessandri Palma. During his first term in office, he pursued a progressive policy: labor law, the establishment of the tax on property income, the establishment of the Central Bank, creation of social security funds, etc. However, it must constantly deal with the Senate, always under Conservative control, which systematically tries to block its reforms. Shortly before his withdrawal from power, he drew up a new Constitution that was considered to be the advent of true democracy in Chile. This Constitution enshrines the separation of Church and State and religious freedom, declares compulsory primary education, restores presidentialism but, by electing the president by universal suffrage, and above all proclaims that property must be regulated in such a way as to ensure its social function.<ref>Latin America in the 20th century: 1889-19 Legislative branch The bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consists of the Senate (Senado) and the Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados). Chile's congressional elections replace the binominal electoral system applicable to the parliamentary elections, by one of an inclusive proportional nature and strengthens the representativeness of the National Congress (D'Hondt System). Elections are very labor-intensive but efficient, and vote counting normally takes place the evening of the election day. One voting table, with a ballot-box each, is set up for at-most 200 names in the voting registry. Each table is manned by five people (vocales de mesa) from the same registry. Vocales have the duty to work as such during a cycle of elections, and can be penalized legally if they do not show up. A registered citizen can only vote |
remaining under 10%, despite the temporary surge of some inflationary pressures in the year 2008. The Chilean peso's rapid appreciation against the U.S. dollar in recent years has helped dampen inflation. Most wage settlements and loans are indexed, reducing inflation's volatility. The CBoC is granted autonomous status by Chile's National Constitution, providing credibility and stability beyond the political cycle. According to the Basic Constitutional Act of the Central Bank of Chile (Law 18,840), its main objectives are to safeguard "the stability of the currency and the normal functioning of internal and external payments". To meet these objectives, the CBoC is enabled to use monetary and foreign exchange policy instruments, along with some discretion on financial regulation. In practice, the CBoC monetary policy is guided by an inflation targeting regime, while the foreign exchange policy is led by a floating exchange rate and, although unusual, the bank reserves the right to intervene in the foreign exchange markets. Trade policy Chile is strongly committed to free trade and has welcomed large amounts of foreign investment. Chile has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with a whole network of countries, including an FTA with the United States that was signed in 2003 and implemented in January 2004. Chile unilaterally lowered its across-the-board import tariff for all countries with which it does not have a trade agreement to 6% in 2003. Higher effective tariffs are charged only on imports of wheat, wheat flour, and sugar as a result of a system of import price bands. The price bands were ruled inconsistent with Chile's World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations in 2002, and the government has introduced legislation to modify them. Under the terms of the U.S.–Chile FTA, the price bands will be completely phased out for U.S. imports of wheat, wheat flour, and sugar within 12 years. Chile is a strong proponent of pressing ahead on negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and is active in the WTO's Doha round of negotiations, principally through its membership in the G-20 and Cairns Group. Most imports are not subject to the full statutory tariff, due to the extensive preferences negotiated outside the multilateral system through Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). By the last version of the World Trade Organization's Trade Policy Review (October 2009), Chile had signed 21 RTAs with 57 countries and the number has continued to rise in recent years More recently, Chile has also been an active participant of deeper plurilateral trade agreement negotiations. Notably, Chile is currently in talks with eleven other economies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed agreement that would stem from the existing P-4 Agreement between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Chile has signed some form of bilateral or plurilateral agreement with each of the parties at TPP, although with different degrees of integration. Chile is also a party in conversations to establish the Pacific Alliance along with Peru, Mexico and Colombia. Foreign trade 2006 was a record year for Chilean trade. Total trade registered a 31% increase over 2005. During 2006, exports of goods and services totaled US$58 billion, an increase of 41%. This figure was somewhat distorted by the skyrocketing price of copper. In 2006, copper exports reached a historical high of US$33.3 billion. Imports totaled US$35 billion, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year. Chile thus recorded a positive trade balance of US$2.3 billion in 2006. The main destinations for Chilean exports were the Americas (US$39 billion), Asia (US$27.8 billion) and Europe (US$22.2 billion). Seen as shares of Chile's export markets, 42% of exports went to the Americas, 30% to Asia and 24% to Europe. Within Chile's diversified network of trade relationships, its most important partner remained the United States. Total trade with the U.S. was US$14.8 billion in 2006. Since the U.S.–Chile Free Trade Agreement went into effect on 1 January 2004, U.S.–Chilean trade has increased by 154%. Internal Government of Chile figures show that even when factoring out inflation and the recent high price of copper, bilateral trade between the U.S. and Chile has grown over 60% since then. Total trade with Europe also grew in 2006, expanding by 42%. The Netherlands and Italy were Chile's main European trading partners. Total trade with Asia also grew significantly at nearly 31%. Trade with Korea and Japan grew significantly, but China remained Chile's most important trading partner in Asia. Chile's total trade with China reached U.S. $8.8 billion in 2006, representing nearly 66% of the value of its trade relationship with Asia.= The growth of exports in 2006 was mainly caused by a strong increase in sales to the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan. These three markets alone accounted for an additional US$5.5 billion worth of Chilean exports. Chilean exports to the United States totaled US$9.3 billion, representing a 37.7% increase compared to 2005 (US$6.7 billion). Exports to the European Union were US$15.4 billion, a 63.7% increase compared to 2005 (US$9.4 billion). Exports to Asia increased from US$15.2 billion in 2005 to US$19.7 billion in 2006, a 29.9% increase. During 2006, Chile imported US$26 billion from the Americas, representing 54% of total imports, followed by Asia at 22%, and Europe at 16%. Mercosur members were the main suppliers of imports to Chile at US$9.1 billion, followed by the United States with US$5.5 billion and the European Union with US$5.2 billion. From Asia, China was the most important exporter to Chile, with goods valued at US$3.6 billion. Year-on-year growth in imports was especially strong from a number of countries – Ecuador (123.9%), Thailand (72.1%), Korea (52.6%), and China (36.9%). Chile's overall trade profile has traditionally been dependent upon copper exports. The state-owned firm CODELCO is the world's largest copper-producing company, with recorded copper reserves of 200 years. Chile has made an effort to expand nontraditional exports. The most important non-mineral exports are forestry and wood products, fresh fruit and processed food, fishmeal and seafood, and wine. Trade agreements Over the last several years, Chile has signed FTAs with the European Union, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, China, and Japan. It reached a partial trade agreement with India in 2005 and began negotiations for a full-fledged FTA with India in 2006. Chile conducted trade negotiations in 2007 with Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand, as well as with China to expand an existing agreement beyond just trade in goods. Chile concluded FTA negotiations with Australia and an expanded agreement with China in 2008. The members of the P4 (Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brunei) also plan to conclude a chapter on finance and investment in 2008. Successive Chilean governments have actively pursued trade-liberalizing agreements. During the 1990s, Chile signed free trade agreements (FTA) with Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Chile also concluded preferential trade agreements with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. An association agreement with Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay-went into effect in October 1996. Continuing its export-oriented development strategy, Chile completed landmark free trade agreements in 2002 with the European Union and South Korea. Chile, as a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization, is seeking to boost commercial ties to Asian markets. To that end, it has signed trade agreements in recent years with New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, India, China, and most recently Japan. In 2007, Chile held trade negotiations with Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and China. In 2008, Chile hopes to conclude an FTA with Australia, and finalize an expanded agreement (covering trade in services and investment) with China. The P4 (Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brunei) also plan to expand ties through adding a finance and investment chapter to the existing P4 agreement. Chile's trade talks with Malaysia and Thailand are also scheduled to continue in 2008. After two years of negotiations, the United States and Chile signed an agreement in June 2003 that will lead to completely duty-free bilateral trade within 12 years. The U.S.-Chile FTA entered into force 1 January 2004, following approval by the U.S. and Chilean congresses. The FTA has greatly expanded U.S.-Chilean trade ties, with total bilateral trade jumping by 154% during the FTA's first three years. On 1 January 2014, Chile-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement officially took effect. Issues Unemployment hovered at 8–10% after the start of the economic slowdown in 1999, above the 7% average for the 1990s. Unemployment finally dipped to 7.8% in 2006, and continued to fall in 2007, averaging 6.8% monthly (up to August). Wages have risen faster than inflation as a result of higher productivity, boosting national living standards. The percentage of Chileans with household incomes below the poverty line – defined as twice the cost of satisfying a person's minimal nutritional needs – fell from 45.1% in 1987 to 11.7% in 2015, according to government polls. Critics in Chile, however, argue that poverty figures are considerably higher than those officially published; until 2016, the government defined the poverty line based on an outdated 1987 household consumption poll, instead of more recent polls from 1997 or 2007. According to critics who use data from the 1997 poll, the poverty rate goes up to 29%; a study published in 2017 claims that it reaches 26%. Using the relative yardstick favoured in many European countries, 27% of Chileans would be poor, according to Juan Carlos Feres of the ECLAC. Starting in 2016, a new Multidimensional Poverty Index is also used, which reached 20.9% using 2015 data. The percent of total income earned by the richest 20% of the Chilean population in 2000 was 61.0% of GDP, while the percent of total income earned by the poorest 20% of the Chilean population was 3.3% of GDP. Chile's Gini Coefficient in 2003 (53.8) has slightly changed in comparison with the value in 1995 (56.4). In 2005 the 10% poorest among the Chileans received 1.2% of GNP (2000 = 1.4%), while the 10% richest received 47% of GNP (2000 = 46%). Regarding the census, assessments have exhibited mixed results. An initial evaluation by a domestic independent experts panel released in August 2013 placed the omission rate in 9.3%, three times as much as other census in the region, and recommended annulling the census to hold a new version in | It is hoped that this, combined with some tax reforms to encourage domestic and foreign investment in research and development, will bring in additional FDI to new parts of the economy. According to The Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom in 2012, Chile has the strongest private property rights in Latin America, scoring 90 on a scale of 100. Chile's AA- S&P credit rating is the highest in Latin America, while Fitch Ratings places the country one step below, in A+. There are three main ways for Chilean firms to raise funds abroad: bank loans, issuance of bonds, and the selling of stocks on U.S. markets through American Depository Receipts (ADRs). Nearly all of the funds raised through these means go to finance domestic Chilean investment. In 2006, the Government of Chile ran a surplus of $11.3 billion, equal to almost 8% of GDP. The Government of Chile continues to pay down its foreign debt, with public debt only 3.9% of GDP at the end of 2006. Fiscal policy One of Chile's fiscal policy central features has been its counter-cyclical nature. This has been facilitated by the voluntary application since 2001 of a structural balance policy based on the commitment to an announced goal of a medium-term structural balance as a percentage of GDP. The structural balance nets out the effect of the economic cycle (including copper price volatility) on fiscal revenues and constrains expenditures to a correspondingly consistent level. In practice, this means that expenditures rise when activity is low and decrease in booms The target was of 1% of GDP between 2001 and 2007, it was reduced to 0.5% in 2008 and then to 0% in 2009 in the wake of the global financial crisis. In 2005, key elements of this voluntary policy were incorporated into legislation through the Fiscal Responsibility Law (Law 20,128). The Fiscal Responsibility Law also allowed for the creation of two sovereign wealth funds: the Pension Reserve Fund (PRF), to face increased expected old-age benefits liabilities, and the Economic and Social Stabilization Fund (ESSF), to stabilize fiscal spending by providing funds to finance fiscal deficits and debt amortization. By the end of 2012, they had respective market values of US$5.883 million and US$14.998 million. The main taxes in Chile in terms of revenue collection are the value added tax (45.8% of total revenues in 2012) and the income tax (41.8% of total revenues in 2012). The value added tax is levied on sales of goods and services (including imports) at a rate of 19%, with a few exemptions. The income tax revenue comprises different taxes. While there is a corporate income tax of 20% over profits from companies (called First Category Tax), the system is ultimately designed to tax individuals. Therefore, corporate income taxes paid constitute a credit towards two personal income taxes: the Global Complementary Tax (in the case of residents) or the Additional Tax (in the case of non-residents). The Global Complementary Tax is payable by those that have different sources of income, while those receiving income solely from dependent work are subject to the Second Category Tax. Both taxes are equally progressive in statutory terms, with a top marginal rate of 40%. Income arising from corporate activity under the Global Complementary Tax only becomes payable when effectively distributed to the individual. There are also special sales taxes on alcohol and luxury goods, as well as specific taxes on tobacco and fuel. Other taxes include the inheritance tax and custom duties. In 2012, general government expenditure reached 21.5% of GDP, while revenues were equivalent to 22% of GDP. Gross financial debt amounted to 12.2% of GDP, while in net terms it was −6.9% of GDP, both well below OECD averages. Monetary policy Chile's monetary authority is the Central Bank of Chile (CBoC). The CBoC pursues an inflation target of 3%, with a tolerance range of 1% (below or above). Inflation has followed a relatively stable trajectory since the year 2000, remaining under 10%, despite the temporary surge of some inflationary pressures in the year 2008. The Chilean peso's rapid appreciation against the U.S. dollar in recent years has helped dampen inflation. Most wage settlements and loans are indexed, reducing inflation's volatility. The CBoC is granted autonomous status by Chile's National Constitution, providing credibility and stability beyond the political cycle. According to the Basic Constitutional Act of the Central Bank of Chile (Law 18,840), its main objectives are to safeguard "the stability of the currency and the normal functioning of internal and external payments". To meet these objectives, the CBoC is enabled to use monetary and foreign exchange policy instruments, along with some discretion on financial regulation. In practice, the CBoC monetary policy is guided by an inflation targeting regime, while the foreign exchange policy is led by a floating exchange rate and, although unusual, the bank reserves the right to intervene in the foreign exchange markets. Trade policy Chile is strongly committed to free trade and has welcomed large amounts of foreign investment. Chile has signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with a whole network of countries, including an FTA with the United States that was signed in 2003 and implemented in January 2004. Chile unilaterally lowered its across-the-board import tariff for all countries with which it does not have a trade agreement to 6% in 2003. Higher effective tariffs are charged only on imports of wheat, wheat flour, and sugar as a result of a system of import price bands. The price bands were ruled inconsistent with Chile's World Trade Organization (WTO) obligations in 2002, and the government has introduced legislation to modify them. Under the terms of the U.S.–Chile FTA, the price bands will be completely phased out for U.S. imports of wheat, wheat flour, and sugar within 12 years. Chile is a strong proponent of pressing ahead on negotiations for a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) and is active in the WTO's Doha round of negotiations, principally through its membership in the G-20 and Cairns Group. Most imports are not subject to the full statutory tariff, due to the extensive preferences negotiated outside the multilateral system through Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). By the last version of the World Trade Organization's Trade Policy Review (October 2009), Chile had signed 21 RTAs with 57 countries and the number has continued to rise in recent years More recently, Chile has also been an active participant of deeper plurilateral trade agreement negotiations. Notably, Chile is currently in talks with eleven other economies in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed agreement that would stem from the existing P-4 Agreement between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore. Chile has signed some form of bilateral or plurilateral agreement with each of the parties at TPP, although with different degrees of integration. Chile is also a party in conversations to establish the Pacific Alliance along with Peru, Mexico and Colombia. Foreign trade 2006 was a record year for Chilean trade. Total trade registered a 31% increase over 2005. During 2006, exports of goods and services totaled US$58 billion, an increase of 41%. This figure was somewhat distorted by the skyrocketing price of copper. In 2006, copper exports reached a historical high of US$33.3 billion. Imports totaled US$35 billion, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year. Chile thus recorded a positive trade balance of US$2.3 billion in 2006. The main destinations for Chilean exports were the Americas (US$39 billion), Asia (US$27.8 billion) and Europe (US$22.2 billion). Seen as shares of Chile's export markets, 42% of exports went to the Americas, 30% to Asia and 24% to Europe. Within Chile's diversified network of trade relationships, its most important partner remained the United States. Total trade with the U.S. was US$14.8 billion in 2006. Since the U.S.–Chile Free Trade Agreement went into effect on 1 January 2004, U.S.–Chilean trade has increased by 154%. Internal Government of Chile figures show that even when factoring out inflation and the recent high price of copper, bilateral trade between the U.S. and Chile has grown over 60% since then. Total trade with Europe also grew in 2006, expanding by 42%. The Netherlands and Italy were Chile's main European trading partners. Total trade with Asia also grew significantly at nearly 31%. Trade with Korea and Japan grew significantly, but China remained Chile's most important trading partner in Asia. Chile's total trade with China reached U.S. $8.8 billion in 2006, representing nearly 66% of the value of its trade relationship with Asia.= The growth of exports in 2006 was mainly caused by a strong increase in sales to the United States, the Netherlands, and Japan. These three markets alone accounted for an additional US$5.5 billion worth of Chilean exports. Chilean exports to the United States totaled US$9.3 billion, representing a 37.7% increase compared to 2005 (US$6.7 billion). Exports to the European Union were US$15.4 billion, a 63.7% increase compared to 2005 (US$9.4 billion). Exports to Asia increased from US$15.2 billion in 2005 to US$19.7 billion in 2006, a 29.9% increase. During 2006, Chile imported US$26 billion from the Americas, representing 54% of total imports, followed by Asia at 22%, and Europe at 16%. Mercosur members were the main suppliers of imports to Chile at US$9.1 billion, followed by the United States with US$5.5 billion and the European Union with US$5.2 billion. From Asia, China was the most important exporter to Chile, with goods valued at US$3.6 billion. Year-on-year growth in imports was especially strong from a number of countries – Ecuador (123.9%), Thailand (72.1%), Korea (52.6%), and China (36.9%). Chile's overall trade profile has traditionally been dependent upon copper exports. The state-owned firm CODELCO is the world's largest copper-producing company, with recorded copper reserves of 200 years. Chile has made an effort to expand nontraditional exports. The most important non-mineral exports are forestry and wood products, fresh fruit and processed food, fishmeal and seafood, and wine. Trade agreements Over the last several years, Chile has signed FTAs with the European Union, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, China, and Japan. It reached a partial trade agreement with India in 2005 and began negotiations for a full-fledged FTA with India in 2006. Chile conducted trade negotiations in 2007 with Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand, as well as with China to expand an existing agreement beyond just trade in goods. Chile concluded FTA negotiations with Australia and an expanded agreement with China in 2008. The members of the P4 (Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brunei) also plan to conclude a chapter on finance and investment in 2008. Successive Chilean governments have actively pursued trade-liberalizing agreements. During the 1990s, Chile signed free trade agreements (FTA) with Canada, Mexico, and Central America. Chile also concluded preferential trade agreements with Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. An association agreement with Mercosur-Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay-went into effect in October 1996. Continuing its export-oriented development strategy, Chile completed landmark free trade agreements in 2002 with the European Union and South Korea. Chile, as a member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization, is seeking to boost commercial ties to Asian markets. To that end, it has signed trade agreements in recent years with New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, India, China, and most recently Japan. In 2007, Chile held trade negotiations with Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, and China. In 2008, Chile hopes to conclude an FTA with Australia, and finalize an expanded agreement (covering trade in services and investment) with China. The P4 (Chile, Singapore, New Zealand, and Brunei) also plan to expand ties through adding a finance and investment chapter to the existing P4 agreement. Chile's trade talks with Malaysia and Thailand are also scheduled to continue in 2008. After two years of negotiations, the United States and Chile signed an agreement in June 2003 that will lead to completely duty-free bilateral trade within 12 years. The U.S.-Chile FTA entered into force 1 January 2004, following approval by the U.S. and Chilean congresses. The FTA has greatly expanded U.S.-Chilean trade ties, with total bilateral trade jumping by 154% during the FTA's first three years. On 1 January 2014, Chile-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement officially took effect. Issues Unemployment hovered at 8–10% after the start of the economic slowdown in 1999, above the 7% average for the 1990s. Unemployment finally dipped to 7.8% in 2006, and continued to fall in 2007, averaging 6.8% monthly (up to August). Wages have risen faster than inflation as a result of higher productivity, boosting national living standards. The percentage of Chileans with household incomes below the poverty line – defined as twice the cost of satisfying a person's minimal nutritional needs – fell from 45.1% in 1987 to 11.7% in 2015, according to government polls. Critics in Chile, however, argue that poverty figures are considerably higher than those officially published; until 2016, the government defined the poverty line based on an outdated 1987 household consumption poll, instead of more recent polls from 1997 or 2007. According to critics who use data from the 1997 poll, the poverty rate goes up to 29%; a study published in 2017 claims that it reaches 26%. Using the relative yardstick favoured in many European countries, 27% of Chileans would be poor, according to Juan Carlos Feres of the ECLAC. Starting in 2016, a new Multidimensional Poverty Index is also used, which reached 20.9% using 2015 data. The percent of total income earned by the richest 20% of the Chilean population in 2000 was 61.0% of GDP, while the percent of total income earned by the poorest 20% of the Chilean population was 3.3% of GDP. Chile's Gini Coefficient in 2003 (53.8) has slightly changed in comparison with the value in 1995 (56.4). In 2005 the 10% poorest among the Chileans received 1.2% of GNP (2000 = 1.4%), while the 10% richest received 47% of GNP (2000 = 46%). Regarding the census, assessments have exhibited mixed results. An initial evaluation by a domestic independent experts panel released in August 2013 placed the omission rate in 9.3%, three times as much as other census in the region, and recommended annulling the census to hold a new version in 2015. The government sought an assessment by international experts before making a final decision. The team, which included three experts that represented the World Bank and the E.U. Statistics Commission, found "no basis for doubting the usability of the census data for most, if perhaps not all, of the customary uses" and recommended its release subject to the elimination of the imputation of housing units not observed on the ground during the enumeration and the concurrent publication of a methodological and administrative report. Statistics Main economic indicators The following table shows the main economic indicators in 1980–2020 (with IMF staff stimtates in 2021–2026). Inflation below 5% is in green. GDP composition Main macroeconomic aggregates of GDP. Note: Data are preliminary. Source: Cuentas Nacionales de Chile – Evolución de la actividad económica en el año 2015 (p. 29), Central Bank of Chile, accessed on 23 March 2016. GDP by sector Gross domestic product by sector of the economy. Note: |
Mobile cellular: 24.130.754 (2012) (devices) Pre-paid: 17.283.257 Post-paid: 6.847.497 System: privatization began in 1988; advanced telecommunications infrastructure; modern system based on extensive microwave radio relay facilities; fixed-line connections have dropped in recent years as mobile-cellular usage continues to increase, reaching a level of 85 telephones per 100 persons Domestic: extensive microwave radio relay links; domestic satellite system with 3 earth stations international: country code - 56; submarine cables provide links to the US and to Central | Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications, through the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel). Telephone Main lines in use: 3.379 million (2007) Mobile cellular: 24.130.754 (2012) (devices) Pre-paid: 17.283.257 Post-paid: 6.847.497 System: privatization began in 1988; advanced telecommunications infrastructure; modern system based on extensive microwave |
reach a destination than a bus, and the comfort is comparable. Prices also tend to be uncompetitive. Rail freight transport has also suffered at the hands of the trucking industry and will continue to do so due to the immense leverage the truck driver's union can bring to bear if they were to feel threatened. The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a metre gauge railway in the north of the country. It was originally constructed in gauge. The northern rail line out of Santiago is now disused past the intersection with the Valparaíso line. Until there, it is used nearly exclusively for freight. Although the rest of the northern line is still in place, it is in a state of serious disrepair. The southern line runs as far as Puerto Montt and is electrified as far as the city of Temuco, from where diesel locomotives are used. Due to lack of budget and care, the 389 km Temuco to Puerto Montt section was abandoned in 1992 but after a $44m upgrade it has been back in use since 6 December 2005 with daily service between Victoria (north of Temuco) and Puerto Montt; today, however only the service between Victoria and Temuco still operates. Work to build/restore(?) the South Trans-Andean Railway link between Zapala, Argentina and Lonquimay, Chile was underway in 2005. Possible break-of-gauge. Possible rack railway. Construction was undertaken by Patagonia Ferrocanal SA, formed and funded by the province. The first 7 km was completed by January 2006. Commuter rail lines in Santiago are planned to connect to Melipilla and Batuco. There have been repeated case studies regarding the installation of a high-speed line between the cities of Valparaíso and Santiago, some even considering maglev trains, but no serious action has ever been taken on the matter. Rail links with adjacent countries Bolivia - yes - same gauge - from Arica to La Paz, Bolivia Argentina - Central Trans-Andean Railway - abandoned 1984 – 100 km of mountain railway of gauge with rack railway sections - break of gauge / at either end. Concession planned to re-open line. Peru - yes - a single gauge connection between the northern Chilean city of Arica and Tacna in Southern Peru. Cities with Metros Santiago (Metro de Santiago) website Valparaíso (Valparaíso Metro) website Ports and merchant marine Ports Merchant marine total: 45 ships ( or over) totaling / ships by type: (1999 est.) Aviation Airports - with paved runways total: 62 over 3,047 m: 6 2,438 to 3,047 m: 6 1,524 to 2,437 m: 20 914 to | Bus" integrates with the electric train, Biotren, and is based on a dedicated right of way for buses. Railways total: 6,782 km broad gauge: 3,743 km gauge (1,653 km electrified) narrow gauge: 116 km gauge; 2,923 km (40 km electrified) (1995) 40 km (from Arica to Tacna, Peru) Not all lines connect. Chile's railways (except for a few dedicated industrial lines ) are operated by the state owned company Empresa de los Ferrocarriles del Estado (EFE), which completed a major investment programme in 2005. The rail system once served the entire country, running rail lines from Arica in the north to Puerto Montt in the south. Due partly to the nature of the terrain and evolution in transportation systems, rail travel has suffered greatly at the hands of bus and air competition. The train usually takes longer to reach a destination than a bus, and the comfort is comparable. Prices also tend to be uncompetitive. Rail freight transport has also suffered at the hands of the trucking industry and will continue to do so due to the immense leverage the truck driver's union can bring to bear if they were to feel threatened. The Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia is a metre gauge railway in the north of the country. It was originally constructed in gauge. The northern rail line out of Santiago is now disused past the intersection with the Valparaíso line. Until there, it is used nearly exclusively for freight. Although the rest of the northern line is still in place, it is in a state of serious disrepair. The southern line runs as far as Puerto Montt and is electrified as far as the city of Temuco, from where diesel locomotives are used. Due to lack of budget and care, the 389 km Temuco to Puerto Montt section was abandoned in 1992 but after a $44m upgrade it has been back in use since 6 December 2005 with daily service between Victoria (north of Temuco) and Puerto Montt; today, however only the service between Victoria and Temuco still operates. Work to build/restore(?) the South Trans-Andean Railway link between Zapala, Argentina and Lonquimay, Chile was underway in 2005. Possible break-of-gauge. Possible rack railway. Construction was undertaken by Patagonia Ferrocanal SA, formed and funded by the province. The first 7 km was completed by January 2006. Commuter rail lines in Santiago are planned to connect to Melipilla and Batuco. There have been repeated case studies regarding the installation of a high-speed line between the cities of Valparaíso and Santiago, some even considering maglev trains, but no serious action has ever been taken on the matter. Rail links with adjacent countries Bolivia - yes - same gauge - from Arica to La Paz, Bolivia Argentina - Central Trans-Andean Railway - abandoned 1984 – 100 km of mountain railway of gauge with rack railway sections - break of gauge / at either end. Concession planned |
Julio Leiva Molina directs the 19,800-person Chilean Navy, including 3,600 Marines. Of the fleet of 66 surface vessels, eight are major combatant ships and they are based in Valparaíso. The navy operates its own aircraft for transport and patrol; there are no fighters or bomber aircraft but they have attack helicopters. The Navy also operates four submarines based in Talcahuano. Air Force General Arturo Merino Nuñez heads 11,050-strong Chilean Air Force. Air assets are distributed among five air brigades headquartered in Iquique, Antofagasta, Santiago, Puerto Montt, and Punta Arenas. The Air Force also operates an airbase on King George Island, Antarctica. See also Chilean Army order of battle Chilean Navy Chilean | German Leopard 1 and 2 tanks as its main battle tanks, including 170+ Leopard 2A4 and 115 Leopard 1. The army has approximately 40,000 reservists. Navy Admiral Julio Leiva Molina directs the 19,800-person Chilean Navy, including 3,600 Marines. Of the fleet of 66 surface vessels, eight are major combatant ships and they are based in Valparaíso. The navy operates its own aircraft for transport and patrol; there are no fighters or bomber aircraft but they have attack helicopters. The Navy also operates four submarines based in Talcahuano. Air Force General Arturo Merino Nuñez heads 11,050-strong Chilean Air Force. Air assets are distributed among five air brigades headquartered in Iquique, Antofagasta, Santiago, Puerto Montt, and Punta Arenas. The Air Force also operates an airbase on King George Island, Antarctica. See also Chilean Army order of battle Chilean Navy Chilean Air Force Citations References External links Ejército de Chile |
return to democracy in 1990, Chile has been an active participant in the regional and international arena. Chile assumed a two-year non-permanent position on the UN Security Council in January 2003 and was re-elected to the council in October 2013. It is also an active member of the UN family of agencies, serving as a member of the Commission on Human Rights and participating in UN peacekeeping activities. Chile hosted the second Summit of the Americas in 1998, was the chair of the Rio Group in 2001, hosted | The OECD agreed to invite Chile to be among four countries to open discussions in becoming an official member. Chile has been an important actor on international economic issues and hemispheric free trade. The Chilean Government has diplomatic relations with most countries. Diplomatic relations Chile does not currently maintain diplomatic relations with Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Togo, Taiwan, or Yemen. Regarding Western Sahara, Chile has sent contradictory comments. Chile's Senate speaker Sergio Romero has said that Chile does not recognize Western Sahara's independence, but |
Musical Official Version of the anthem) which is the original melody of the second anthem by Carnicer, but using the 1847 lyrics as text, save for the original chorus of the 1819 anthem. This was the version that from 1991 to 2000 was played before broadcasts of Chilean presidential addresses. In 2000, it was replaced by a more stylized version, which was used until 2010. After that, the anthem was scrapped off the addresses. Since the end of the dictatorship, television stations rarely ever used the anthem during their sign-on and sign-off, and the practice fell off definitely during the 1990s. Radio stations in Chile still have a tradition to play the anthem in New Year's Eve, in order to start celebrations. Joe Walsh, famed musician who was part of the United States rock band the Eagles, sang the National Anthem of Chile at a Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim baseball game in 2003. There is also a translation in Mapudungun, the largest and most-commonly spoken indigenous language in Chile, spoken by the Mapuche people. Official lyrics Below are the lyrics of the most played version; it corresponds to Verse V of the full version and the chorus: Full version According to Chilean Constitution [decree 260], only the fifth verse and the chorus are played officially as the National Anthem. 1973–1990 lyrics The following lyrics were used during the military regime in the country. Both the 5th and 3rd verses were used. Notes References External links Himno Nacional Nueva versión Chile - Canción Patriótica Nro. 2 (ca 1810) Chile: | of Chile" (, ), also known as Canción Nacional (; ) or by its incipit Puro, Chile, es tu cielo azulado ('How pure, Chile, is your blue sky'), was adopted in 1828. It has a history of two lyrics and two melodies that made up three different versions. The current version was composed by Ramón Carnicer, with words by Eusebio Lillo, and has six parts plus the chorus. History First national anthem The first Chilean national anthem dates back to 1809, when the government called for, on 13 January, the creation of music and lyrics for this purpose. The composer Manuel Robles and the poet Bernardo de Vera y Pintado fulfilled this mandate and their "National Song" debuted on 20 August 1820 in the Domingo Arteaga theater, although other historians claim that it was played and sung during the festivities of September 1819. In the beginning, everyone would stand for the song. The custom of always singing it at the theater slowly disappeared, until it was requested that it only be sung at the anniversary of the country. The doctor Bernardo Vera, known in the history of the independence, was the author of the verses that were sung to Robles' music. This first hymn was sung until 1828, when it was replaced with what is sung today. Second national anthem The second and current Chilean national anthem |
Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and west of Darwin, Northern Territory. Its closest point to the Australian mainland is from the town of Exmouth, Western Australia. Beaches Christmas Island has of shoreline but only small parts of the shoreline are easily accessible. The island's perimeter is dominated by sharp cliff faces, making many of the island's beaches difficult to get to. Some of the easily accessible beaches include Flying Fish Cove (main beach), Lily Beach, Ethel Beach, and Isabel Beach, while the more difficult beaches to access include Greta Beach, Dolly Beach, Winifred Beach, Merrial Beach, and West White Beach, which all require a vehicle with four wheel drive and a difficult walk through dense rainforest. Climate Christmas Island lies near the southern edge of the equatorial region. It has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) and temperatures vary little throughout the year. The highest temperature is usually around in March and April, while the lowest temperature is and occurs in August. There is a dry season from July to October with only occasional showers. The wet season is between November and June and includes monsoons, with downpours of rain at random times of the day. Tropical cyclones also occur in the wet season, bringing very strong winds, heavy rain, wave action, and storm surge. Demographics As of the 2016 Australian census, the population of Christmas Island is 1,843. 21.2% of the population had Chinese ancestry (up from 18.3% in 2001), 12.7% had generic Australian ancestry (11.7% in 2001), 12% had Malay ancestry (9.3% in 2001), 10% had English ancestry (8.9% in 2001), and 2.3% of the population was of Irish origin (the same share as in 2001). 48.1% of the population has undetermined ancestry. As of 2016, most are people born in Christmas Island and many are of Chinese and Malay origin. 38.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was Malaysia at 20.1%. 27.8% of the population spoke English as their family language, while 17.2% spoke Mandarin Chinese, 17.2% spoke Malay, 3.7% Cantonese and 1.5% Southern Min (Minnan). Additionally, there are small local populations of Malaysian Indians and Eurasians. The 2016 Australian census recorded that the population of Christmas Island was 38.7% female and 61.3% male, while in 2011 the figures had been 29.3% female and 70.7% male. In contrast, the 2016 figures for the whole of Australia were 50.7% female, 49.3% male. Since 1998 there has been no provision for childbirth on the island; expectant mothers travel to mainland Australia approximately one month before their expected date to give birth. Government Christmas Island is a non-self-governing external territory of Australia, , administered by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications (from 29 November 2007 until 14 September 2010, administration was carried out by the Attorney-General's Department, and prior to this by the Department of Transport and Regional Services). The legal system is under the authority of the Governor-General of Australia and Australian law. An administrator appointed by the Governor-General represents the monarch and Australia and lives on the island. The territory falls under no formal state jurisdiction, but the Western Australian Government provides many services as established by the Christmas Island Act. The Australian government provides services through the Christmas Island Administration and the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. Under the federal government's Christmas Island Act 1958, Western Australian laws are applied to Christmas Island; non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government. The act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over Christmas Island. Christmas Island remains constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government. A unicameral Shire of Christmas Island with nine seats provides local government services and is elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Elections are held every two years, with four or five of the members standing for election. Federal politics Christmas Island residents who are Australian citizens vote in Australian federal elections. Christmas Island residents are represented in the House of Representatives by the Division of Lingiari in the Northern Territory and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators. At the 2019 federal election, the Labor Party received majorities from Christmas Island electors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. women held two of the nine seats in the Christmas Island Shire Council. Its second President was Lillian Oh, from 1993 to 1995. Residents' views Residents find the system of administration frustrating, with the island run by bureaucrats in the federal government, but subject to the laws of Western Australia and enforced by federal police. There is a feeling of resignation that any progress on local issues is hampered by the confusing governance system. A number of islanders support self-governance, including shire president Gordon Thompson, who also believes that a lack of news media to cover local affairs had contributed to political apathy among residents. Flag In early 1986, the Christmas Island Assembly held a design competition for an island flag; the winning design was adopted as the informal flag of the territory for over a decade, and in 2002 it was made the official flag of Christmas Island. Economy Phosphate mining had been the only significant economic activity, but in December 1987 the Australian government closed the mine. In 1991, the mine was reopened by Phosphate Resources Limited, a consortium that included many of the former mine workers as shareholders and is the largest contributor to the Christmas Island economy. With the support of the government, the $34 million Christmas Island Casino and Resort opened in 1993 but was closed in 1998. , the resort has re-opened without the casino. The Australian government in 2001 agreed to support the creation of a commercial spaceport on the island; however, this has not yet been constructed and appears that it will not proceed. The Howard government built a temporary immigration detention centre on the island in 2001 and planned to replace it with a larger, modern facility at North West Point until Howard's defeat in the 2007 elections. Culture Ethnicity Historically, the majority of Christmas Islanders were those of Chinese, Malay and Indian origins, the initial permanent settlers. Today, the majority of residents are Chinese, with significant numbers of European Australians and Malays as well as smaller Indian and Eurasian communities too. Since the turn of the 21st century and right up to the present, Europeans have mainly confined themselves to the Settlement, where there is a small supermarket and several restaurants; the Malays live in the Flying Fish Cove, also known as Kampong; and the Chinese reside in Poon San (Cantonese for "in the middle of the hill"). Language The main languages spoken at home on Christmas Island, according to respondents, are English (28%), Mandarin (17%), Malay (17%), with smaller numbers of speakers of Cantonese (4%) and Hokkien (2%). 27% did not specify a language. If the survey results are representative, then approximately 38% speak English, 24% Mandarin, 23% Malay, and 5% Cantonese. Religion In 2016, the population was estimated to be Unspecified 27.7%, Muslim 19.4%, Buddhism 18.3%, None 15.3%, Roman Catholic 8.8%, Anglican 3.6%, Uniting Church 1.2%, Other Protestant 1.7%, Other Christian 3.3% and other religions 0.6% Religious beliefs are diverse and include Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Confucianism. There is a mosque, a Christian church, a Baháʼí centre and around twenty Chinese temples and shrines, which include seven Buddhist temples (like Guan Yin Monastery (观音寺) at Gaze Road), ten Taoist temples (like Soon Tian Kong (顺天宫) in South Point and Grants Well Guan Di Temple) and shrines dedicated to Na Tuk Kong or Datuk Keramat on the island. There are many religious festivals, such as Spring Festival, Chap goh meh, Qingming Festival, Zhong Yuan Festival, Hari Raya, Christmas and Easter. Women's issues The main local organisation that "promotes and supports" the "status and interests" of female Christmas Islanders is the Christmas Island Women's Association which was established in 1989 and is a member organisation of the Associated Country Women of the World. Attractions Christmas Island is well known for its biological diversity. There are many rare species of animals and plants on the island, making nature-walking a popular activity. Along with the diversity of species, many different types of caves exist, such as plateau caves, coastal caves, raised coastal caves and alcoves, sea caves, fissure caves, collapse caves, and basalt caves; most of these are near the sea and have been formed by the action of water. Altogether, there are approximately 30 caves on the island, with Lost Lake Cave, Daniel Roux Cave, and Full Frontal Cave being the most well-known. The many freshwater springs include Hosnies Spring Ramsar, which also has a mangrove stand. The Dales is a rainforest in the western part of the island and consists of seven deep valleys, all of which were formed by spring streams. Hugh's Dale waterfall is part of this area and is a popular attraction. The annual breeding migration of the Christmas Island red crabs is a popular event. Fishing is another common activity. There are many distinct species of fish in the oceans surrounding Christmas Island. Snorkelling and swimming in the ocean are two other activities that are extremely popular. Walking trails are also very popular, for there are many beautiful trails surrounded by extravagant flora and fauna. 63% of the island is national park making it one of the main attractions to experience when visiting. In the 2021 budget the Australian Government committed $A39.1 million to create two new marine parks off Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The parks will cover up to of Australian waters. Flora and fauna Christmas Island was uninhabited until the late 19th century, allowing many species to evolve without human interference. Two-thirds of the island has been declared a National Park, which is managed by the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage through Parks Australia. Christmas Island contains unique species, both of flora and fauna, some of which are threatened with, or have become, extinct. Flora The dense rainforest has grown in the deep soils of the plateau and on the terraces. The forests are dominated by 25 tree species. Ferns, orchids and vines grow on the branches in the humid atmosphere beneath the canopy. The 135 plant species include at least 18 that are found nowhere else. The rainforest is in great condition despite the mining activities over the last 100 years. Areas that have been damaged by mining are now a part of an ongoing rehabilitation project. The island is small and covers 135 square kilometres of land which 63% of that land has been declared National park. Christmas Island's endemic plants include the trees Arenga listeri, Pandanus elatus and Dendrocnide peltata var. murrayana; the shrubs Abutilon listeri, Colubrina pedunculata, Grewia insularis and Pandanus christmatensis; the vines Hoya aldrichii and Zehneria alba; the herbs Asystasia alba, Dicliptera maclearii and Peperomia rossii; the grass Ischaemum nativitatis; the fern Asplenium listeri; and the orchids Brachypeza archytas, Flickingeria nativitatis, Phreatia listeri and Zeuxine exilis. Fauna Two species of native rats, the Maclear's and bulldog rats, have become extinct since the island was settled, while the Javan rusa deer has been introduced. The endemic Christmas Island shrew has not been seen since the mid-1980s and may be already extinct, while the Christmas Island pipistrelle (a small bat) is presumed to be extinct. The fruit bat (flying fox) species Pteropus natalis is only found on Christmas Island; its epithet natalis is a reference to that name. The species is probably the last native mammal, and an important pollinator and rainforest seed-disperser; the population is also in decline and under increasing pressure from land clearing and introduced pest species. The flying fox's low rate of reproduction (one pup each year) and high infant mortality rate makes it especially vulnerable and the conservation status is as critically endangered. Flying foxes are an 'umbrella' species helping forests regenerate and other species survive in stressed environments. The land crabs and seabirds are the most noticeable fauna on the island. Christmas Island has been identified by BirdLife International as both an Endemic Bird Area and an Important Bird Area because it supports five endemic species and five subspecies as well as over one per cent of the world populations of five other seabirds. Twenty terrestrial and intertidal species of crab have been described here, of which thirteen are regarded as true land crabs, being dependent on the ocean only for larval development. Robber crabs, known elsewhere as coconut crabs, also exist in large numbers on the island. The annual red crab mass migration (around 100 million animals) to the sea to spawn has been called one of the wonders of the natural world. This takes place each year around November – after the start of the wet season and in synchronisation with the cycle of the moon. Once at the ocean, the mothers release the embryos where they can survive and grow until they are able to live on land. The island is a focal point for seabirds of various species. Eight species or subspecies of seabirds nest on it. The most numerous is the red-footed booby, which nests in colonies, using trees on many parts of the shore terrace. The widespread brown booby nests on the ground near the edge of the seacliff and inland cliffs. Abbott's booby (listed as endangered) nests on tall emergent trees of the western, northern and southern plateau rainforest, the only remaining nesting habitat for this bird in the world. Another endangered and endemic bird, the Christmas frigatebird, has nesting areas on the northeastern shore terraces. The more widespread great frigatebirds nest in semi-deciduous trees on the shore terrace, with the greatest concentrations being in the North West and South Point areas. The common noddy and two species of bosun or tropicbirds also nest on the island, including the golden bosun (P. l. fulvus), a subspecies of the white-tailed tropicbird that is endemic to the island. Of the ten native land birds and shorebirds, seven are endemic species or subspecies. This includes the Christmas thrush and the Christmas imperial pigeon. Some 86 migrant bird species have been recorded as visitors to the island. Six species of butterfly are known to | government's Christmas Island Act 1958, Western Australian laws are applied to Christmas Island; non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government. The act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over Christmas Island. Christmas Island remains constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government. A unicameral Shire of Christmas Island with nine seats provides local government services and is elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. Elections are held every two years, with four or five of the members standing for election. Federal politics Christmas Island residents who are Australian citizens vote in Australian federal elections. Christmas Island residents are represented in the House of Representatives by the Division of Lingiari in the Northern Territory and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators. At the 2019 federal election, the Labor Party received majorities from Christmas Island electors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. women held two of the nine seats in the Christmas Island Shire Council. Its second President was Lillian Oh, from 1993 to 1995. Residents' views Residents find the system of administration frustrating, with the island run by bureaucrats in the federal government, but subject to the laws of Western Australia and enforced by federal police. There is a feeling of resignation that any progress on local issues is hampered by the confusing governance system. A number of islanders support self-governance, including shire president Gordon Thompson, who also believes that a lack of news media to cover local affairs had contributed to political apathy among residents. Flag In early 1986, the Christmas Island Assembly held a design competition for an island flag; the winning design was adopted as the informal flag of the territory for over a decade, and in 2002 it was made the official flag of Christmas Island. Economy Phosphate mining had been the only significant economic activity, but in December 1987 the Australian government closed the mine. In 1991, the mine was reopened by Phosphate Resources Limited, a consortium that included many of the former mine workers as shareholders and is the largest contributor to the Christmas Island economy. With the support of the government, the $34 million Christmas Island Casino and Resort opened in 1993 but was closed in 1998. , the resort has re-opened without the casino. The Australian government in 2001 agreed to support the creation of a commercial spaceport on the island; however, this has not yet been constructed and appears that it will not proceed. The Howard government built a temporary immigration detention centre on the island in 2001 and planned to replace it with a larger, modern facility at North West Point until Howard's defeat in the 2007 elections. Culture Ethnicity Historically, the majority of Christmas Islanders were those of Chinese, Malay and Indian origins, the initial permanent settlers. Today, the majority of residents are Chinese, with significant numbers of European Australians and Malays as well as smaller Indian and Eurasian communities too. Since the turn of the 21st century and right up to the present, Europeans have mainly confined themselves to the Settlement, where there is a small supermarket and several restaurants; the Malays live in the Flying Fish Cove, also known as Kampong; and the Chinese reside in Poon San (Cantonese for "in the middle of the hill"). Language The main languages spoken at home on Christmas Island, according to respondents, are English (28%), Mandarin (17%), Malay (17%), with smaller numbers of speakers of Cantonese (4%) and Hokkien (2%). 27% did not specify a language. If the survey results are representative, then approximately 38% speak English, 24% Mandarin, 23% Malay, and 5% Cantonese. Religion In 2016, the population was estimated to be Unspecified 27.7%, Muslim 19.4%, Buddhism 18.3%, None 15.3%, Roman Catholic 8.8%, Anglican 3.6%, Uniting Church 1.2%, Other Protestant 1.7%, Other Christian 3.3% and other religions 0.6% Religious beliefs are diverse and include Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Confucianism. There is a mosque, a Christian church, a Baháʼí centre and around twenty Chinese temples and shrines, which include seven Buddhist temples (like Guan Yin Monastery (观音寺) at Gaze Road), ten Taoist temples (like Soon Tian Kong (顺天宫) in South Point and Grants Well Guan Di Temple) and shrines dedicated to Na Tuk Kong or Datuk Keramat on the island. There are many religious festivals, such as Spring Festival, Chap goh meh, Qingming Festival, Zhong Yuan Festival, Hari Raya, Christmas and Easter. Women's issues The main local organisation that "promotes and supports" the "status and interests" of female Christmas Islanders is the Christmas Island Women's Association which was established in 1989 and is a member organisation of the Associated Country Women of the World. Attractions Christmas Island is well known for its biological diversity. There are many rare species of animals and plants on the island, making nature-walking a popular activity. Along with the diversity of species, many different types of caves exist, such as plateau caves, coastal caves, raised coastal caves and alcoves, sea caves, fissure caves, collapse caves, and basalt caves; most of these are near the sea and have been formed by the action of water. Altogether, there are approximately 30 caves on the island, with Lost Lake Cave, Daniel Roux Cave, and Full Frontal Cave being the most well-known. The many freshwater springs include Hosnies Spring Ramsar, which also has a mangrove stand. The Dales is a rainforest in the western part of the island and consists of seven deep valleys, all of which were formed by spring streams. Hugh's Dale waterfall is part of this area and is a popular attraction. The annual breeding migration of the Christmas Island red crabs is a popular event. Fishing is another common activity. There are many distinct species of fish in the oceans surrounding Christmas Island. Snorkelling and swimming in the ocean are two other activities that are extremely popular. Walking trails are also very popular, for there are many beautiful trails surrounded by extravagant flora and fauna. 63% of the island is national park making it one of the main attractions to experience when visiting. In the 2021 budget the Australian Government committed $A39.1 million to create two new marine parks off Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. The parks will cover up to of Australian waters. Flora and fauna Christmas Island was uninhabited until the late 19th century, allowing many species to evolve without human interference. Two-thirds of the island has been declared a National Park, which is managed by the Australian Department of Environment and Heritage through Parks Australia. Christmas Island contains unique species, both of flora and fauna, some of which are threatened with, or have become, extinct. Flora The dense rainforest has grown in the deep soils of the plateau and on the terraces. The forests are dominated by 25 tree species. Ferns, orchids and vines grow on the branches in the humid atmosphere beneath the canopy. The 135 plant species include at least 18 that are found nowhere else. The rainforest is in great condition despite the mining activities over the last 100 years. Areas that have been damaged by mining are now a part of an ongoing rehabilitation project. The island is small and covers 135 square kilometres of land which 63% of that land has been declared National park. Christmas Island's endemic plants include the trees Arenga listeri, Pandanus elatus and Dendrocnide peltata var. murrayana; the shrubs Abutilon listeri, Colubrina pedunculata, Grewia insularis and Pandanus christmatensis; the vines Hoya aldrichii and Zehneria alba; the herbs Asystasia alba, Dicliptera maclearii and Peperomia rossii; the grass Ischaemum nativitatis; the fern Asplenium listeri; and the orchids Brachypeza archytas, Flickingeria nativitatis, Phreatia listeri and Zeuxine exilis. Fauna Two species of native rats, the Maclear's and bulldog rats, have become extinct since the island was settled, while the Javan rusa deer has been introduced. The endemic Christmas Island shrew has not been seen since the mid-1980s and may be already extinct, while the Christmas Island pipistrelle (a small bat) is presumed to be extinct. The fruit bat (flying fox) species Pteropus natalis is only found on Christmas Island; its epithet natalis is a reference to |
visited by sports fishermen, patrols of the French Navy, and by Mexican tuna and shark fishermen. There have been infrequent scientific and amateur radio expeditions, and in 1978 Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited with his team of divers and a survivor from the 1917 evacuation to film a television special called Clipperton: The Island that Time Forgot. It was visited by ornithologist Ken Stager of the Los Angeles County Museum in 1958. Appalled at the depredations visited by feral pigs upon the island's brown booby and masked booby colonies (reduced to 500 and 150 birds, respectively), Stager procured a shotgun and killed all 58 pigs. By 2003, the booby colonies had 25,000 brown boobies and 112,000 masked boobies, the world's second-largest brown booby colony and its largest masked booby colony. When the independence of Algeria in 1962 threatened French nuclear testing sites in Algeria, the French Ministry of Defense considered Clipperton Island as a possible replacement. This was eventually ruled out due to the island's hostile climate and remote location. The French explored reopening the lagoon and developing a harbor for trade and tourism during the 1970s, but this too was abandoned. An automatic weather installation was completed on 7 April 1980, with data collected by this station transmitted directly by satellite to Brittany. In 1981, the Academy of Sciences for Overseas Territories recommended that the island have its own economic infrastructure, with an airstrip and a fishing port in the lagoon. This would mean opening up the lagoon by creating a passage in the atoll rim. For this purpose, an agreement was signed with the French government, represented by the High Commissioner for French Polynesia, whereby the island became French state property. In 1986 a meeting took place regarding the establishment of a permanent base for fishing, between the High Commissioner and the survey firm for the development and exploitation of the island (SEDEIC). Taking into account the economic constraints, the distance from markets, and the small size of the atoll, nothing apart from preliminary studies was undertaken. All plans for development were abandoned. Castaways In early 1962 the island provided a home to nine crewmen of the sunken tuna clipper MV Monarch, stranded for 23 days from 6 February to 1 March. They reported that the lagoon water was drinkable, though they preferred to drink water from the coconuts they found. Unable to use any of the dilapidated buildings, they constructed a crude shelter from cement bags and tin salvaged from Quonset huts built by the American military 20 years earlier. Wood from the huts was used for firewood, and fish caught off the fringing reef combined with some potatoes and onions they had saved from their sinking vessel augmented the island's meager supply of coconuts. The crewmen reported that they tried eating bird's eggs, but found them to be rancid, and they decided after trying to cook a "little black bird" that it did not have enough meat to make the effort worthwhile. Pigs had been eradicated, though the crewmen reported seeing their skeletons around the atoll. The crewmen were eventually discovered by another fishing boat and rescued by the United States Navy destroyer USS Robison. In 1988, five Mexican fishermen became lost at sea after a storm during their trip along the coast of Costa Rica. They drifted within sight of the island but were unable to reach it. Steven Longbaugh and David Heritage, two American deckhands from a fishing boat based in California, were stranded for three weeks in 1998. They were rescued after rebuilding a survival radio and using distress flares to signal for help. 21st century The Mexican and French oceanographic expedition SURPACLIP (UNAM Mexico and UNC Nouméa) made extensive studies in 1997. In 2001, French geographer Christian Jost extended the 1997 studies through his French "Passion 2001" expedition, explaining the evolution of the ecosystem, and releasing several papers, a video film, and a website. In 2003 Lance Milbrand stayed for 41 days on a National Geographic Society expedition, recording his adventure in video, photos, and a written diary (see links below). In 2005, the ecosystem was extensively studied for four months by a scientific mission organized by Jean-Louis Étienne, which made a complete inventory of mineral, plant, and animal species, studied algae as deep as 100 m (330 ft) below sea level, and examined the effects of pollution. A 2008 expedition from the University of Washington's School of Oceanography collected sediment cores from the lagoon to study climate change over the last millennium. On 21 February 2007, administration was transferred from the High Commissioner of the Republic in French Polynesia to the Minister of Overseas France. In 2007 a recreational scuba diving expedition explored the reefs surrounding Clipperton and compared the marine life with the reports of the Connie Limbaugh (Scripps) expeditions in 1956 and 1958. Recreational scuba diving expeditions are now made every spring. During the night of 10 February 2010, the Sichem Osprey, a Maltese chemical tanker, ran aground en route from the Panama Canal to South Korea. The ship contained xylene, a clear, flammable volatile liquid. All 19 crew members were reported safe, and the vessel reported no leaks. The vessel was refloated on 6 March and returned to service. In mid-March 2012, the crew from The Clipperton Project noted the widespread presence of refuse, particularly on the northeast shore and around the Rock. Debris including plastic bottles and containers create a potentially harmful environment for its flora and fauna. This trash is common to only two beaches (North East and South West) and the rest of the island is fairly clean. Other refuse has been left after occupation by Americans 1944–1945, French 1966–1969 and the 2008 scientific expedition. Amateur radio DX-peditions The island has long been an attractive destination for amateur radio groups, due to its remoteness, the difficulty of landing, permit requirements, garish history, and interesting environment. While some radio operation was done ancillary to other expeditions, major DX-peditions include FO0XB (1978), FO0XX (1985), FO0CI (1992), FO0AAA (2000), and TX5C (2008). One DX-pedition was the Cordell Expedition in March 2013 using the callsign TX5K, organized and led by Robert Schmieder. The project combined radio operations with selected scientific investigations. The team of 24 radio operators made more than 114,000 contacts, breaking the previous record of 75,000. The activity included extensive operation at 6 meters, including EME (Earth–Moon–Earth communication or 'moonbounce') contacts. A notable accomplishment was the use of DXA, a real-time satellite-based online graphic radio log web page that allowed anyone anywhere with a browser to see the radio activity. Scientific work carried out during the expedition included the first collection and identification of foraminifera, and extensive aerial imaging of the island using kite-borne cameras. The team included two scientists from the French-Polynesian University of Tahiti and a TV crew from the French documentary television series Thalassa. An April 2015 DX-pedition using callsign TX5P was conducted by Alain Duchauchoy, F6BFH, concurrent with the Passion 2015 scientific expedition to Clipperton Island, and engaging in research of Mexican use of the island during the early 1900s. See also Desert island Lists of islands References Sources External links Clipperton.fr | 1897, French naval authorities found three Americans working for the American Guano Company, who had raised the American flag. U.S. authorities denounced their act, assuring the French that they did not intend to assert American sovereignty. Mexico reasserted its claim late in the 19th century, and on 13 December 1897 sent the gunboat La Demócrata to occupy and annex it. A colony was established, and a series of military governors was posted, the last one being Ramón Arnaud (1906–1916). Guano mining, Mexican colony, and evacuation of 1917 The British Pacific Island Company acquired the rights to guano deposits in 1906 and built a mining settlement in conjunction with the Mexican government. That same year, a lighthouse was erected under the orders of President Porfirio Díaz. By 1914 around 100 people—men, women, and children—were living there, resupplied every two months by a ship from Acapulco. With the escalation of fighting in the Mexican Revolution, the regular resupply visits ceased and the inhabitants were left to their own devices. By 1917 all but one of the male inhabitants had died. Many had perished from scurvy, while others (including Captain Arnaud) died during an attempt to sail after a passing ship to fetch help. Lighthouse keeper Victoriano Álvarez was the last man on the island, together with 15 women and children. Álvarez proclaimed himself "king" and began a campaign of rape and murder, before being killed by Tirza Rendón, who was his favorite victim. Almost immediately after Álvarez's death four women and seven children, the last survivors, were picked up by the US Navy gunship on 18 July 1917. No more attempts were made to colonize it, though it was briefly occupied during the 1930s and 1940s. The story of the Mexican colony has been the subject of several novels, including Ivo Mansmann's Clipperton, Schicksale auf einer vergessenen Insel ("Clipperton, Destinies on a Forgotten Island") in German, Colombian writer Laura Restrepo's La Isla de la Pasión ("Passion Island") in Spanish, and Ana García Bergua's Isla de Bobos ("Island of Fools"), also in Spanish. The history of the Island and of Captain Ramón Arnaud was written by his niece Gabriela Arnaud Clipperton, Una Historia de Honor y Gloria ("Clipperton, A History of Honor and Glory) in Spanish. Final arbitration of ownership France insisted on its ownership, and a lengthy diplomatic correspondence between Mexico and France led to the conclusion of a treaty on 2 March 1909, to seek binding international arbitration by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, with each nation promising to abide by his determination. In 1931, King Victor Emmanuel III issued his arbitral decision in the Clipperton Island Case, declaring Clipperton to be a French possession. Post-World War II developments The island was abandoned by the end of World War II after being briefly occupied by the US from 1944 to 1945. Since then it has been visited by sports fishermen, patrols of the French Navy, and by Mexican tuna and shark fishermen. There have been infrequent scientific and amateur radio expeditions, and in 1978 Jacques-Yves Cousteau visited with his team of divers and a survivor from the 1917 evacuation to film a television special called Clipperton: The Island that Time Forgot. It was visited by ornithologist Ken Stager of the Los Angeles County Museum in 1958. Appalled at the depredations visited by feral pigs upon the island's brown booby and masked booby colonies (reduced to 500 and 150 birds, respectively), Stager procured a shotgun and killed all 58 pigs. By 2003, the booby colonies had 25,000 brown boobies and 112,000 masked boobies, the world's second-largest brown booby colony and its largest masked booby colony. When the independence of Algeria in 1962 threatened French nuclear testing sites in Algeria, the French Ministry of Defense considered Clipperton Island as a possible replacement. This was eventually ruled out due to the island's hostile climate and remote location. The French explored reopening the lagoon and developing a harbor for trade and tourism during the 1970s, but this too was abandoned. An automatic weather installation was completed on 7 April 1980, with data collected by this station transmitted directly by satellite to Brittany. In 1981, the Academy of Sciences for Overseas Territories recommended that the island have its own economic infrastructure, with an airstrip and a fishing port in the lagoon. This would mean opening up the lagoon by creating a passage in the atoll rim. For this purpose, an agreement was signed with the French government, represented by the High Commissioner for French Polynesia, whereby the island became French state property. In 1986 a meeting took place regarding the establishment of a permanent base for fishing, between the High Commissioner and the survey firm for the development and exploitation of the island (SEDEIC). Taking into account the economic constraints, the distance from markets, and the small |
to establish his private residence. Hare had previously served as resident of Banjarmasin, a town in Borneo, and found that "he could not confine himself to the tame life that civilisation affords". Clunies-Ross returned two years later with his wife, children and mother-in-law, and found Hare already established on the island and living with the private harem. A feud grew between the two. Clunies-Ross's eight sailors "began at once the invasion of the new kingdom to take possession of it, women and all". After some time, Hare's women began deserting him, and instead finding themselves mates amongst Clunies-Ross's sailors. Disheartened, Hare left the island. He died in Bencoolen in 1834. Encouraged by members of the former harem, Clunies-Ross then recruited Malays to come to the island for work and wives. Clunies-Ross's workers were paid in a currency called the Cocos rupee, a currency John Clunies-Ross minted himself that could only be redeemed at the company store. On 1 April 1836, under Captain Robert FitzRoy arrived to take soundings to establish the profile of the atoll as part of the survey expedition of the Beagle. To the naturalist Charles Darwin, aboard the ship, the results supported a theory he had developed of how atolls formed, which he later published as The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. He studied the natural history of the islands and collected specimens. Darwin's assistant Syms Covington noted that "an Englishman [he was in fact Scottish] and HIS family, with about sixty or seventy mulattos from the Cape of Good Hope, live on one of the islands. Captain Ross, the governor, is now absent at the Cape." Annexation by the British Empire The islands were annexed by the British Empire in 1857. This annexation was carried out by Captain Stephen Grenville Fremantle in command of . Fremantle claimed the islands for the British Empire and appointed Ross II as Superintendent. In 1878, by Letters Patent, the Governor of Ceylon was made Governor of the islands, and, by further Letters Patent in 1886, responsibility for the islands was transferred to the Governor of the Straits Settlement to exercise his functions as "Governor of Cocos Islands". The islands were made part of the Straits Settlement under an Order in Council of 20 May 1903. Meanwhile, in 1886 Queen Victoria had, by indenture, granted the islands in perpetuity to John Clunies-Ross. The head of the family enjoyed semi-official status as Resident Magistrate and Government representative. In 1901 a telegraph cable station was established on Direction Island. Undersea cables went to Rodrigues, Mauritius, Batavia, Java and Fremantle, Western Australia. In 1910 a wireless station was established to communicate with passing ships. The cable station ceased operation in 1966. World War I On the morning of 9 November 1914, the islands became the site of the Battle of Cocos, one of the first naval battles of World War I. A landing party from the German cruiser captured and disabled the wireless and cable communications station on Direction Island, but not before the station was able to transmit a distress call. An Allied troop convoy was passing nearby, and the Australian cruiser was detached from the convoy escort to investigate. Sydney spotted the island and Emden at 09:15, with both ships preparing for combat. At 11:20, the heavily damaged Emden beached herself on North Keeling Island. The Australian warship broke to pursue Emdens supporting collier, which scuttled herself, then returned to North Keeling Island at 16:00. At this point, Emdens battle ensign was still flying: usually a sign that a ship intends to continue fighting. After no response to instructions to lower the ensign, two salvoes were shot into the beached cruiser, after which the Germans lowered the flag and raised a white sheet. Sydney had orders to ascertain the status of the transmission station, but returned the next day to provide medical assistance to the Germans. Casualties totaled 134 personnel aboard Emden killed, and 69 wounded, compared to four killed and 16 wounded aboard Sydney. The German survivors were taken aboard the Australian cruiser, which caught up to the troop convoy in Colombo on 15 November, then transported to Malta and handed over the prisoners to the British Army. An additional 50 German personnel from the shore party, unable to be recovered before Sydney arrived, commandeered a schooner and escaped from Direction Island, eventually arriving in Constantinople. Emden was the last active Central Powers warship in the Indian or Pacific Ocean, which meant troopships from Australia and New Zealand could sail without naval escort, and Allied ships could be deployed elsewhere. World War II During World War II, the cable station was once again a vital link. The Cocos were valuable for direction finding by the Y service, the worldwide intelligence system used during the war. Allied planners noted that the islands might be seized as an airfield for German planes and as a base for commerce raiders operating in the Indian Ocean. Following Japan's entry into the war, Japanese forces occupied neighbouring islands. To avoid drawing their attention to the Cocos cable station and its islands' garrison, the seaplane anchorage between Direction and Horsburgh islands was not used. Radio transmitters were also kept silent, except in emergencies. After the Fall of Singapore in 1942, the islands were administered from Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and West and Direction Islands were placed under Allied military administration. The islands' garrison initially consisted of a platoon from the British Army's King's African Rifles, located on Horsburgh Island, with two guns to cover the anchorage. The local inhabitants all lived on Home Island. Despite the importance of the islands as a communication centre, the Japanese made no attempt either to raid or to occupy them and contented themselves with sending over a reconnaissance aircraft about once a month. On the night of 8–9 May 1942, 15 members of the garrison, from the Ceylon Defence Force, mutinied under the leadership of Gratien Fernando. The mutineers were said to have been provoked by the attitude of their British officers and were also supposedly inspired by Japanese anti-British propaganda. They attempted to take control of the gun battery on the islands. The Cocos Islands Mutiny was crushed, but the mutineers murdered one non-mutinous soldier and wounded one officer. Seven of the mutineers were sentenced to death at a trial that was later alleged to have been improperly conducted, though the guilt of the accused was admitted. Four of the sentences were commuted, but three men were executed, including Fernando. These were to be the only British Commonwealth soldiers executed for mutiny during the Second World War. On 25 December 1942, the Japanese submarine I-166 bombarded the islands but caused no damage. Later in the war, two airstrips were built, and three bomber squadrons were moved to the islands to conduct raids against Japanese targets in South East Asia and to provide support during the planned reinvasion of Malaya and reconquest of Singapore. The first aircraft to arrive were Supermarine Spitfire Mk VIIIs of No. 136 Squadron RAF. They included some Liberator bombers from No. 321 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF (members of exiled Dutch forces serving with the Royal Air Force), which were also stationed on the islands. When in July 1945 No. 99 and No. 356 RAF squadrons arrived on West Island, they brought with them a daily newspaper called Atoll which contained news of what was happening in the outside world. Run by airmen in their off-duty hours, it achieved fame when dropped by Liberator bombers on POW camps over the heads of the Japanese guards. In 1946, the administration of the islands reverted to Singapore and it became part of the Colony of Singapore. Transfer to Australia On 23 November 1955, the islands were transferred from the United Kingdom to the Commonwealth of Australia. Immediately before the transfer the islands were part of the United Kingdom's Colony of Singapore, in accordance with the Straits Settlements (Repeal) Act, 1946 of the United Kingdom and the British Settlements Acts, 1887 and 1945, as applied by the Act of 1946. The legal steps for effecting the transfer were as follows: The Commonwealth Parliament and the Government requested and consented to the enactment of a United Kingdom Act for the purpose. The Cocos Islands Act, 1955, authorized Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to direct that the islands should cease to form part of the Colony of Singapore and be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth. By the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act, 1955, the Parliament of the Commonwealth provided for the acceptance of the islands as a territory under the authority of the Commonwealth and for its government. The Cocos Islands Order in Council, 1955, made under the United Kingdom Act of 1955, provided that upon the appointed day (23 November 1955) the islands should cease to form part of the Colony of Singapore and be placed under the authority of the Commonwealth of Australia. The reason for this comparatively complex machinery was due to the terms of the Straits Settlement (Repeal) Act, 1946. According to Sir Kenneth Roberts-Wray "any other procedure would have been of doubtful validity". The separation involved three steps: separation from the Colony of Singapore; transfer by United Kingdom and acceptance by Australia. H. J. Hull was appointed the first official representative (now administrator) of the new territory. He had been a lieutenant-commander in the Royal Australian Navy and was released for the purpose. Under Commonwealth Cabinet Decision 1573 of 9 September 1958, Hull's appointment was terminated and John William Stokes was appointed on secondment from the Northern Territory police. A media release at the end of October 1958 by the Minister for Territories, Hasluck, commended Hull's three years of service on Cocos. Stokes served in the position from 31 October 1958 to 30 September 1960. His son's boyhood memories and photos of the Islands have been published. C. I. Buffett MBE from Norfolk Island succeeded him and served from 28 July 1960 to 30 June 1966, and later acted as Administrator back on Cocos and on Norfolk Island. In 1974, Ken Mullen wrote a small book about his time with wife and son from 1964 to 1966 working at the Cable Station on Direction Island. In the 1970s, the Australian government's dissatisfaction with the Clunies-Ross | delayed the vote by one year. While the Home Island Council stated a preference for a traditional communal consensus "vote", the UN insisted on a secret ballot. The referendum was held on 6 April 1984, with all 261 eligible islanders participating, including the Clunies-Ross family: 229 voted for integration, 21 for Free Association, nine for independence, and two failed to indicate a preference. In recent years a series of disputes have occurred between the Muslim and the non-Muslim population of the islands. Indigenous status Descendants of the Cocos Malays brought to the islands from the Malay Peninsula, the Indonesian archipelago, Southern Africa and New Guinea by Hare and by Clunies-Ross as indentured workers, slaves or convicts are seeking recognition from the Australian government to be acknowledged as Indigenous Australians. Government The capital of the Territory of Cocos (Keeling) Islands is West Island while the largest settlement is the village of Bantam (Home Island). Governance of the islands is based on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands Act 1955 and depends heavily on the laws of Australia. The islands are administered from Canberra by the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications through a non-resident Administrator appointed by the Governor-General. They were previously the responsibility of the Department of Transport and Regional Services (before 2007), the Attorney-General's Department (2007–2013), Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development (2013–2017) and Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities (2017-2020). The current Administrator is Natasha Griggs, who was appointed on 5 October 2017 and is also the Administrator of Christmas Island. These two Territories comprise the Australian Indian Ocean Territories. The Australian Government provides Commonwealth-level government services through the Christmas Island Administration and the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development. As per the Federal Government's Territories Law Reform Act 1992, which came into force on 1 July 1992, Western Australian laws are applied to the Cocos Islands, "so far as they are capable of applying in the Territory."; non-application or partial application of such laws is at the discretion of the federal government. The Act also gives Western Australian courts judicial power over the islands. The Cocos Islands remain constitutionally distinct from Western Australia, however; the power of the state to legislate for the territory is power delegated by the federal government. The kind of services typically provided by a state government elsewhere in Australia are provided by departments of the Western Australian Government, and by contractors, with the costs met by the federal government. There also exists a unicameral Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shire Council with seven seats. A full term lasts four years, though elections are held every two years; approximately half the members retire each two years. Federal politics Cocos (Keeling) Islands residents who are Australian citizens also vote in federal elections. Cocos (Keeling) Islanders are represented in the House of Representatives by the member for the Division of Lingiari (in the Northern Territory) and in the Senate by Northern Territory senators. At the 2016 federal election, the Labor Party received absolute majorities from Cocos electors in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Defence and law enforcement Defence is the responsibility of the Australian Defence Force. There are no active military installations or defence personnel on the islands. The Administrator may request the assistance of the Australian Defence Force if required. The 2016 Australian Defence White Paper stated that the airfield in the island would be upgraded to support the RAAF's P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. Civilian law enforcement and community policing is provided by the Australian Federal Police. The normal deployment to the island is one sergeant and one constable. These are augmented by two locally engaged Special Members who have police powers. Courts Since 1992, court services have been provided by the Western Australian Department of the Attorney-General under a service delivery arrangement with the Australian Government. Western Australian Court Services provide Magistrates Court, District Court, Supreme Court, Family Court, Children's Court, Coroner's Court and Registry for births, deaths and marriages and change of name services. Magistrates and judges from Western Australia convene a circuit court as required. Health care Home Island and West Island have medical clinics providing basic health services, but serious medical conditions and injuries cannot be treated on the island and patients are sent to Perth for treatment, a distance of . Economy The population of the islands is approximately 600. There is a small and growing tourist industry focused on water-based or nature activities. In 2016, a beach on Direction Island was named the best beach in Australia by Brad Farmer, an Aquatic and Coastal Ambassador for Tourism Australia and co-author of 101 Best Beaches 2017. Small local gardens and fishing contribute to the food supply, but most food and most other necessities must be imported from Australia or elsewhere. The Cocos Islands Cooperative Society Ltd. employs construction workers, stevedores, and lighterage worker operations. Tourism employs others. The unemployment rate was 6.7% in 2011. Plastic pollution A 2019 study led by Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania's Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies published in the journal Scientific Reports estimated the volume of plastic rubbish on the Islands as around 414 million pieces, weighing 238 tonnes, 93% of which lies buried under the sand. It said that previous surveys which only assessed surface garbage probably "drastically underestimated the scale of debris accumulation". The plastic waste found in the study consisted mostly of single-use items such as bottles, plastic cutlery, bags and drinking straws. Strategic importance The Cocos Islands are strategically important because of their proximity to shipping lanes in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The United States and Australia have expressed interest in stationing surveillance drones on the Cocos Islands. Euronews described the plan as Australian support for an increased American presence in Southeast Asia, but expressed concern that it was likely to upset Chinese officials. James Cogan has written for the World Socialist Web Site that the plan to station surveillance drones at Cocos is one component of former US President Barack Obama's "pivot" towards Asia, facilitating control of the sea lanes and potentially allowing US forces to enforce a blockade against China. After plans to construct airbases were reported on by The Washington Post, Australian defence minister Stephen Smith stated that the Australian government views the "Cocos as being potentially a long-term strategic location, but that is down the track." Communications and transport Transport The Cocos (Keeling) Islands have of highway. There is one paved airport on the West Island. A tourist bus operates on Home Island. The only airport is Cocos (Keeling) Islands Airport with a single paved runway. Virgin Australia operates scheduled jet services from Perth Airport via Christmas Island. After 1952, the airport at Cocos Islands was a stop for airline flights between Australia and South Africa, and Qantas and South African Airways stopped there to refuel. The arrival of long-range jet aircraft ended this need in 1967. The Cocos Islands Cooperative Society operates an interisland ferry, the Cahaya Baru, connecting West, Home and Direction Islands, as well as a bus service on West Island. There is a lagoon anchorage between Horsburgh and Direction islands for larger vessels, while yachts have a dedicated anchorage area in the southern lee of Direction Island. There are no major seaports on the islands. Communications The islands are connected within Australia's telecommunication system (with number range +61 8 9162 xxxx). Public phones are located on both West Island and Home Island. A reasonably reliable GSM mobile phone network (number range +61 406 xxx), run by CiiA (Christmas Island Internet Association), operates on Cocos (Keeling) Islands. SIM cards (full size) and recharge cards can be purchased from the Telecentre on West Island to access this service. Australia Post provides mail services with the postcode 6799. There are post offices on West Island and Home Island. Standard letters and express post items are sent by air twice weekly, but all other mail is sent by sea and can take up to two months for delivery. Internet .cc is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Cocos (Keeling) Islands. It is administered by VeriSign through a subsidiary company eNIC, which promotes it for international registration as "the next .com"; .cc was originally assigned in October 1997 to eNIC Corporation of Seattle WA by the IANA. The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus also uses the .cc domain, along with .nc.tr. Internet access on Cocos is provided by CiiA (Christmas Island Internet Association), and is supplied via satellite ground station on West Island, and distributed via a wireless PPPoE-based WAN on both inhabited islands. Casual internet access is available at the Telecentre on West Island and the Indian Ocean Group Training office on Home Island. The National Broadband Network announced in early 2012 that it would extend service to Cocos in 2015 via high-speed satellite link. The Oman Australia Cable, scheduled for 2021, will feature a branch to the Cocos Islands. Media The Cocos (Keeling) Islands have access to a range of modern communication services. Digital television stations are broadcast from Western Australia via satellite. A local radio station, 6CKI – Voice of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, is staffed by community volunteers and provides some local content. Newspapers The Cocos Islands Community Resource Centre publishes a fortnightly newsletter called The Atoll. It is available in paper and electronic formats. Television Australian The Cocos (Keeling) Islands receives a range of digital channels from Western Australia via satellite and is broadcast from the Airport Building on the West Island on the following VHF frequencies: ABC6, SBS7, WAW8, WOW10 and WDW11 Malaysian From 2013 onwards, Cocos Island received four Malaysian channels via satellite: TV3, ntv7, 8TV and TV9. Education There is a school |
otherwise indicated. Population 596 Nationality noun: Cocos Islander(s) adjective: Cocos Islander Ethnic groups Europeans Cocos Malays Religions Sunni Islam 80% Other 20% Languages Malay (Cocos dialect) English See also Cocos (Keeling) Islands Cocos Malays References Cocos (Keeling) Islands | This article is about the demographic features of the population of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects |
theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event." It cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example, although it also appeared in print as early as April 1870. The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- ("with, together") and spirare ("to breathe"). Robert Blaskiewicz comments that examples of the term were used as early as the nineteenth century and states that its usage has always been derogatory. According to a study by Andrew McKenzie-McHarg, in contrast, in the nineteenth century the term conspiracy theory simply "suggests a plausible postulate of a conspiracy" and "did not, at this stage, carry any connotations, either negative or positive", though sometimes a postulate so-labeled was criticized. The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the subject of a conspiracy theory, which claims the term was popularized by the CIA in order to discredit conspiratorial believers, particularly critics of the Warren Commission, by making them a target of ridicule. In his 2013 book Conspiracy Theory in America, political scientist Lance deHaven-Smith suggested that the term entered everyday language in the United States after 1964, the year in which the Warren Commission published its findings on the Kennedy assassination, with The New York Times running five stories that year using the term. However, deHaven-Smith's suggestion has been criticized by Michael Butter, a Professor of American Literary and Cultural History at the University of Tübingen, on the grounds that a CIA document which deHaven-Smith referenced, Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report, which was publicly released in 1976 after a Freedom of Information Act request, does not contain the phrase "conspiracy theory" in the singular, and only mentions "conspiracy theories" once, in the sentence "Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organisation , for example, by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us." Difference from conspiracy A conspiracy theory is not simply about a conspiracy, which refers to any covert plan involving two or more people. In contrast, the term "conspiracy theory" refers to hypothesized conspiracies that have specific characteristics. For example, conspiracist beliefs invariably oppose the mainstream consensus among those people who are qualified to evaluate their accuracy, such as scientists or historians. Conspiracy theorists see themselves as having privileged access to socially persecuted knowledge or a stigmatized mode of thought that separates them from the masses who believe the official account. Michael Barkun describes a conspiracy theory as a "template imposed upon the world to give the appearance of order to events". Real conspiracies, even very simple ones, are difficult to conceal and routinely experience unexpected problems. In contrast, conspiracy theories suggest that conspiracies are unrealistically successful and that groups of conspirators, such as bureaucracies, can act with near-perfect competence and secrecy. The causes of events or situations are simplified to exclude complex or interacting factors, as well as the role of chance and unintended consequences. Nearly all observations are explained as having been deliberately planned by the alleged conspirators. In conspiracy theories, the conspirators are usually claimed to be acting with extreme malice. As described by Robert Brotherton: Examples A conspiracy theory may take any matter as its subject, but certain subjects attract greater interest than others. Favored subjects include famous deaths and assassinations, morally dubious government activities, suppressed technologies, and "false flag" terrorism. Among the longest-standing and most widely recognized conspiracy theories are notions concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the 1969 Apollo moon landings, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as numerous theories pertaining to alleged plots for world domination by various groups both real and imaginary. Popularity Conspiracy beliefs are widespread around the world. In rural Africa, common targets of conspiracy theorizing include societal elites, enemy tribes, and the Western world, with conspirators often alleged to enact their plans via sorcery or witchcraft; one common belief identifies modern technology as itself being a form of sorcery, created with the goal of harming or controlling the people. In China, one widely published conspiracy theory claims that a number of events including the rise of Hitler, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and climate change were planned by the Rothschild family, which may have led to effects on discussions about China's currency policy. Conspiracy theories once limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media, contributing to conspiracism emerging as a cultural phenomenon in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The general predisposition to believe conspiracy theories cuts across partisan and ideological lines. Conspiratorial thinking is correlated with antigovernmental orientations and a low sense of political efficacy, with conspiracy believers perceiving a governmental threat to individual rights and displaying a deep skepticism that who one votes for really matters. Conspiracy theories are often commonly believed, some even being held by the majority of the population. A broad cross-section of Americans today gives credence to at least some conspiracy theories. For instance, a study conducted in 2016 found that 10% of Americans think the chemtrail conspiracy theory is "completely true" and 20-30% think it is "somewhat true". This puts "the equivalent of 120 million Americans in the 'chemtrails are real' camp." Belief in conspiracy theories has therefore become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists and experts in folklore. Conspiracy theories are widely present on the Web in the form of blogs and YouTube videos, as well as on social media. Whether the Web has increased the prevalence of conspiracy theories or not is an open research question. The presence and representation of conspiracy theories in search engine results has been monitored and studied, showing significant variation across different topics, and a general absence of reputable, high-quality links in the results. One conspiracy theory that propagated through former US President Barack Obama's time in office claimed that he was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii—where he was born. Former governor of Arkansas and political opponent of Obama Mike Huckabee made headlines in 2011 when he, among other members of Republican leadership, continued to question Obama's citizenship status. Types A conspiracy theory can be local or international, focused on single events or covering multiple incidents and entire countries, regions and periods of history. According to Ruseell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum, historically, traditional conspiracism has entailed a "theory", but over time, "conspiracy" and "theory" have become decoupled, as modern conspiracism is often without any kind of theory behind it. Walker's five kinds Jesse Walker (2013) has identified five kinds of conspiracy theories: The "Enemy Outside" refers to theories based on figures alleged to be scheming against a community from without. The "Enemy Within" finds the conspirators lurking inside the nation, indistinguishable from ordinary citizens. The "Enemy Above" involves powerful people manipulating events for their own gain. The "Enemy Below" features the lower classes working to overturn the social order. The "Benevolent Conspiracies" are angelic forces that work behind the scenes to improve the world and help people. Barkun's three types Michael Barkun has identified three classifications of conspiracy theory: Event conspiracy theories. This refers to limited and well-defined events. Examples may include such conspiracies theories as those concerning the Kennedy assassination, 9/11, and the spread of AIDS. Systemic conspiracy theories. The conspiracy is believed to have broad goals, usually conceived as securing control of a country, a region, or even the entire world. The goals are sweeping, whilst the conspiratorial machinery is generally simple: a single, evil organization implements a plan to infiltrate and subvert existing institutions. This is a common scenario in conspiracy theories that focus on the alleged machinations of Jews, Freemasons, Communism, or the Catholic Church. Superconspiracy theories. For Barkun, such theories link multiple alleged conspiracies together hierarchically. At the summit is a distant but all-powerful evil force. His cited examples are the ideas of David Icke and Milton William Cooper. Rothbard: shallow vs. deep Murray Rothbard argues in favor of a model that contrasts "deep" conspiracy theories to "shallow" ones. According to Rothbard, a "shallow" theorist observes an event and asks Cui bono? ("Who benefits?"), jumping to the conclusion that a posited beneficiary is responsible for covertly influencing events. On the other hand, the "deep" conspiracy theorist begins with a hunch and then seeks out evidence. Rothbard describes this latter activity as a matter of confirming with certain facts one's initial paranoia. Lack of evidence Belief in conspiracy theories is generally based not on evidence, but in the faith of the believer. Noam Chomsky contrasts conspiracy theory to institutional analysis which focuses mostly on the public, long-term behavior of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, for example, scholarly documents or mainstream media reports. Conspiracy theory conversely posits the existence of secretive coalitions of individuals and speculates on their alleged activities. Belief in conspiracy theories is associated with biases in reasoning, such as the conjunction fallacy. Clare Birchall at King's College London describes conspiracy theory as a "form of popular knowledge or interpretation". The use of the word 'knowledge' here suggests ways in which conspiracy theory may be considered in relation to legitimate modes of knowing. The relationship between legitimate and illegitimate knowledge, Birchall claims, is closer than common dismissals of conspiracy theory contend. Theories involving multiple conspirators that are proven to be correct, such as the Watergate scandal, are usually referred to as "investigative journalism" or "historical analysis" rather than conspiracy theory. By contrast, the term "Watergate conspiracy theory" is used to refer to a variety of hypotheses in which those convicted in the conspiracy were in fact the victims of a deeper conspiracy. There are also attempts to analyze the theory of conspiracy theories (conspiracy theory theory) to ensure that the term "conspiracy theory" is used to refer to narratives that have been debunked by experts, rather than as a generalized dismissal. Rhetoric Conspiracy theory rhetoric exploits several important cognitive biases, including proportionality bias, attribution bias, and confirmation bias. Their arguments are often take the form of asking reasonable questions, but without providing an answer based on strong evidence. Conspiracy theories are most successful when proponents can gather followers from the general public, such as in politics, religion and journalism. These proponents may not necessarily believe the conspiracy theory, instead using it in an attempt to gain public approval. Conspiratorial claims can act as a successful rhetorical strategy to convince a portion of the public via appeal to emotion. Conspiracy theories typically justify themselves by focusing on gaps or ambiguities in knowledge, and then arguing that the true explanation for this must be a conspiracy. In contrast, any evidence that directly supports their claims is generally of low quality. For example, conspiracy theories are often dependent on eyewitness testimony, despite its unreliability, while disregarding objective analyses of the evidence. Conspiracy theories are not able to be falsified and are reinforced by fallacious arguments. In particular, the logical fallacy circular reasoning is used by conspiracy theorists: both evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of evidence for it are re-interpreted as evidence of its truth, whereby the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith rather than something that can be proved or disproved. The epistemic strategy of conspiracy theories has been called "cascade logic": each time new evidence becomes available, a conspiracy theory is able to dismiss it by claiming that even more people must be part of the cover-up. Any information that contradicts the conspiracy theory is suggested to be disinformation by the alleged conspiracy. Similarly, the continued lack of evidence directly supporting conspiracist claims is portrayed as confirming the existence of a conspiracy of silence; the fact that other people have not found or exposed any conspiracy is taken as evidence that those people are part of the plot, rather than considering that it may be because no conspiracy exists. This strategy lets conspiracy theories insulate themselves from neutral analyses of the evidence, and makes them resistant to questioning or correction, which is called "epistemic self-insulation". Conspiracy theorists often take advantage of false balance in the media. They may claim to be presenting a legitimate alternative viewpoint that deserves equal time to argue its case; for example, this strategy has been used by the Teach the Controversy campaign to promote intelligent design, which often claims that there is a conspiracy of scientists suppressing their views. If they successfully find a platform to present their views in a debate format, they focus on using rhetorical ad hominems and attacking perceived flaws in the mainstream account, while avoiding any discussion of the shortcomings in their own position. The typical approach of conspiracy theories is to challenge any action or statement from authorities, using even the most tenuous justifications. Responses are then assessed using a double standard, where failing to provide an immediate response to the satisfaction of the conspiracy theorist will be claimed to prove a conspiracy. Any minor errors in the response are heavily emphasized, while deficiencies in the arguments of other proponents are generally excused. In science, conspiracists may suggest that a scientific theory can be disproven by a single perceived deficiency, even though such events are extremely rare. In addition, both disregarding the claims and attempting to address them will be interpreted as proof of a conspiracy. Other conspiracist arguments may not be scientific; for example, in response to the IPCC Second Assessment Report in 1996, much of the opposition centered on promoting a procedural objection to the report's creation. Specifically, it was claimed that part of the procedure reflected a conspiracy to silence dissenters, which served as motivation for opponents of the report and successfully redirected a significant amount of the public discussion away from the science. Consequences Historically, conspiracy theories have been closely linked to prejudice, witch hunts, wars, and genocides. They are often strongly believed by the perpetrators of terrorist attacks, and were used as justification by Timothy McVeigh, Anders Breivik and Brenton Tarrant, as well as by governments such as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. AIDS denialism by the government of South Africa, motivated by conspiracy theories, caused an estimated 330,000 deaths from AIDS, while belief in conspiracy theories about genetically modified foods led the government of Zambia to reject food aid during a famine, at a time when 3 million people in the country were suffering from hunger. Conspiracy theories are a significant obstacle to improvements in public health. People who believe in health-related conspiracy theories are less likely to follow medical advice, and more likely to use alternative medicine instead. Conspiratorial anti-vaccination beliefs, such as conspiracy theories about pharmaceutical companies, can result in reduced vaccination rates and have been linked to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Health-related conspiracy theories often inspire resistance to water fluoridation, and contributed to the impact of the Lancet MMR autism fraud. Conspiracy theories are a fundamental component of a wide range of radicalized and extremist groups, where they may play an important role in reinforcing the ideology and psychology of their members as well as further radicalizing their beliefs. These conspiracy theories often share common themes, even among groups that would otherwise be fundamentally opposed, such as the antisemitic conspiracy theories found among political extremists on both the far right and far left. More generally, belief in conspiracy theories is associated with holding extreme and uncompromising viewpoints, and may help people in maintaining those viewpoints. While conspiracy theories are not always present in extremist groups, and do not always lead to violence when they are, they can make the group more extreme, provide an enemy to direct hatred towards, and isolate members from the rest of society. Conspiracy theories are most likely to inspire violence when they call for urgent action, appeal to prejudices, or demonize and scapegoat enemies. Conspiracy theorizing in the workplace can also have economic consequences. For example, it leads to lower job satisfaction and lower commitment, resulting in workers being more likely to leave their jobs. Comparisons have also been made with the effects of workplace rumors, which share some characteristics with conspiracy theories and result in both decreased productivity and increased stress. Subsequent effects on managers include reduced profits, reduced trust from employees, and damage to the company's image. Conspiracy theories can divert attention from important social, political, and scientific issues. In addition, they have been used to discredit scientific evidence to the general public or in a legal context. Conspiratorial strategies also share characteristics with those used by lawyers who are attempting to discredit expert testimony, such as claiming that the experts have ulterior motives in testifying, or attempting to find someone who will provide statements to imply that expert opinion is more divided than it actually is. It is possible that conspiracy theories may also produce some compensatory benefits to society in certain situations. For example, they may help people identify governmental deceptions, particularly in repressive societies, and encourage government transparency. However, real conspiracies are normally revealed by people working within the system, such as whistleblowers and journalists, and most of the effort spent by conspiracy theorists is inherently misdirected. The most dangerous conspiracy theories are likely to be those that incite violence, scapegoat disadvantaged groups, or spread misinformation about important societal issues. Interventions The primary defense against conspiracy theories is to maintain an open society, in which many sources of reliable information are available, and government sources are known to be credible rather than propaganda. Additionally, independent nongovernmental organizations are able to correct misinformation without requiring people to trust the government. Other approaches to reduce the appeal of conspiracy theories in general among the public may be based in the emotional and social nature of conspiratorial beliefs. For example, interventions that promote analytical thinking in the general public are likely to be effective. Another approach is to intervene in ways that decrease negative emotions, and specifically to improve feelings of personal hope and empowerment. Joseph Pierre has also noted that mistrust in authoritative institutions is the core component underlying many conspiracy theories and that this mistrust creates an epistemic vacuum and makes individuals searching for answers vulnerable to misinformation. Therefore, one possible solution is offering consumers a seat at the table to mend their mistrust in institutions. Regarding the challenges of this approach, Dr. Pierre has said, "The challenge with acknowledging areas of uncertainty within a public sphere is that doing so can be weaponized to reinforce a post-truth view of the world in which everything is debatable, and any counter-position is just as valid. Although I like to think of myself as a middle of the road kind of individual, it is important to keep in mind that the truth does not always lie in the middle of a debate, whether we are talking about climate change, vaccines, or antipsychotic medications." It has been suggested that directly countering misinformation can be counterproductive. For example, since conspiracy theories can reinterpret disconfirming information as part of their narrative, refuting a claim can result in accidentally reinforcing it. In addition, publishing criticism of conspiracy theories can result in legitimizing them. In this context, possible interventions include carefully selecting which conspiracy theories to refute, requesting additional analyses from independent observers, and introducing cognitive diversity into conspiratorial communities by undermining their poor epistemology. Any legitimization effect might also be reduced by responding to more conspiracy theories rather than fewer. However, presenting people with factual corrections, or highlighting the logical contradictions in conspiracy theories, has been demonstrated to have a positive effect in many circumstances. For example, this has been studied in the case of informing believers in 9/11 conspiracy theories about statements by actual experts and witnesses. One possibility is that criticism is most likely to backfire if it challenges someone's worldview or identity. This suggests that an effective approach may be to provide criticism while avoiding such challenges. Psychology The widespread belief in conspiracy theories has become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists, and experts in folklore since at least the 1960s, when a number of conspiracy theories arose regarding the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Sociologist Türkay Salim Nefes underlines the political nature of conspiracy theories. He suggests that one of the most important characteristics of these accounts is their attempt to unveil the "real but hidden" power relations in social groups. The term "conspiracism" was popularized by academic Frank P. Mintz in the 1980s. According to Mintz, conspiracism denotes "belief in the primacy of conspiracies in the unfolding of history": Research suggests, on a psychological level, conspiracist ideation—belief in conspiracy theories—can be harmful or pathological, and is highly correlated with psychological projection, as well as with paranoia, which is predicted by the degree of a person's Machiavellianism. The propensity to believe in conspiracy theories is strongly associated with the mental health disorder of schizotypy. Conspiracy theories once limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media, emerging as a cultural phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Exposure to conspiracy theories in news media and popular entertainment increases receptiveness to conspiratorial ideas, and has also increased the social acceptability of fringe beliefs. Conspiracy theories often make use of complicated and detailed arguments, including ones which appear to be analytical or scientific. However, belief in conspiracy theories is primarily driven by emotion. One of the most widely confirmed facts about conspiracy theories is that belief in a single conspiracy theory tends to promote belief in other unrelated conspiracy theories as well. This even applies when the conspiracy theories directly contradict each other, e.g. believing that Osama bin Laden was already dead before his | scientific evidence to the general public or in a legal context. Conspiratorial strategies also share characteristics with those used by lawyers who are attempting to discredit expert testimony, such as claiming that the experts have ulterior motives in testifying, or attempting to find someone who will provide statements to imply that expert opinion is more divided than it actually is. It is possible that conspiracy theories may also produce some compensatory benefits to society in certain situations. For example, they may help people identify governmental deceptions, particularly in repressive societies, and encourage government transparency. However, real conspiracies are normally revealed by people working within the system, such as whistleblowers and journalists, and most of the effort spent by conspiracy theorists is inherently misdirected. The most dangerous conspiracy theories are likely to be those that incite violence, scapegoat disadvantaged groups, or spread misinformation about important societal issues. Interventions The primary defense against conspiracy theories is to maintain an open society, in which many sources of reliable information are available, and government sources are known to be credible rather than propaganda. Additionally, independent nongovernmental organizations are able to correct misinformation without requiring people to trust the government. Other approaches to reduce the appeal of conspiracy theories in general among the public may be based in the emotional and social nature of conspiratorial beliefs. For example, interventions that promote analytical thinking in the general public are likely to be effective. Another approach is to intervene in ways that decrease negative emotions, and specifically to improve feelings of personal hope and empowerment. Joseph Pierre has also noted that mistrust in authoritative institutions is the core component underlying many conspiracy theories and that this mistrust creates an epistemic vacuum and makes individuals searching for answers vulnerable to misinformation. Therefore, one possible solution is offering consumers a seat at the table to mend their mistrust in institutions. Regarding the challenges of this approach, Dr. Pierre has said, "The challenge with acknowledging areas of uncertainty within a public sphere is that doing so can be weaponized to reinforce a post-truth view of the world in which everything is debatable, and any counter-position is just as valid. Although I like to think of myself as a middle of the road kind of individual, it is important to keep in mind that the truth does not always lie in the middle of a debate, whether we are talking about climate change, vaccines, or antipsychotic medications." It has been suggested that directly countering misinformation can be counterproductive. For example, since conspiracy theories can reinterpret disconfirming information as part of their narrative, refuting a claim can result in accidentally reinforcing it. In addition, publishing criticism of conspiracy theories can result in legitimizing them. In this context, possible interventions include carefully selecting which conspiracy theories to refute, requesting additional analyses from independent observers, and introducing cognitive diversity into conspiratorial communities by undermining their poor epistemology. Any legitimization effect might also be reduced by responding to more conspiracy theories rather than fewer. However, presenting people with factual corrections, or highlighting the logical contradictions in conspiracy theories, has been demonstrated to have a positive effect in many circumstances. For example, this has been studied in the case of informing believers in 9/11 conspiracy theories about statements by actual experts and witnesses. One possibility is that criticism is most likely to backfire if it challenges someone's worldview or identity. This suggests that an effective approach may be to provide criticism while avoiding such challenges. Psychology The widespread belief in conspiracy theories has become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists, and experts in folklore since at least the 1960s, when a number of conspiracy theories arose regarding the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. Sociologist Türkay Salim Nefes underlines the political nature of conspiracy theories. He suggests that one of the most important characteristics of these accounts is their attempt to unveil the "real but hidden" power relations in social groups. The term "conspiracism" was popularized by academic Frank P. Mintz in the 1980s. According to Mintz, conspiracism denotes "belief in the primacy of conspiracies in the unfolding of history": Research suggests, on a psychological level, conspiracist ideation—belief in conspiracy theories—can be harmful or pathological, and is highly correlated with psychological projection, as well as with paranoia, which is predicted by the degree of a person's Machiavellianism. The propensity to believe in conspiracy theories is strongly associated with the mental health disorder of schizotypy. Conspiracy theories once limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media, emerging as a cultural phenomenon of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Exposure to conspiracy theories in news media and popular entertainment increases receptiveness to conspiratorial ideas, and has also increased the social acceptability of fringe beliefs. Conspiracy theories often make use of complicated and detailed arguments, including ones which appear to be analytical or scientific. However, belief in conspiracy theories is primarily driven by emotion. One of the most widely confirmed facts about conspiracy theories is that belief in a single conspiracy theory tends to promote belief in other unrelated conspiracy theories as well. This even applies when the conspiracy theories directly contradict each other, e.g. believing that Osama bin Laden was already dead before his compound in Pakistan was attacked makes the same person more likely to believe that he is still alive. One conclusion from this finding is that the content of a conspiracist belief is less important than the idea of a coverup by the authorities. Analytical thinking aids in reducing belief in conspiracy theories, in part because it emphasizes rational and critical cognition. Some psychological scientists assert that explanations related to conspiracy theories can be, and often are "internally consistent" with strong beliefs that had previously been held prior to the event that sparked the conspiracy. People who believe in conspiracy theories tend to believe in other unsubstantiated claims – including pseudoscience and paranormal phenomena. Attractions Psychological motives for believing in conspiracy theories can be categorized as epistemic, existential, or social. These motives are particularly acute in vulnerable and disadvantaged populations. However, it does not appear that the beliefs help to address these motives; in fact, they may be self-defeating, acting to make the situation worse instead. For example, while conspiratorial beliefs can result from a perceived sense of powerlessness, exposure to conspiracy theories immediately suppresses personal feelings of autonomy and control. Furthermore, they also make people less likely to take actions that could improve their circumstances. This is additionally supported by the fact that conspiracy theories have a number of disadvantageous attributes. For example, they promote a negative and distrustful view of other people and groups, who are allegedly acting based on antisocial and cynical motivations. This is expected to lead to increased alienation and anomie, and reduced social capital. Similarly, they depict the public as ignorant and powerless against the alleged conspirators, with important aspects of society determined by malevolent forces, a viewpoint which is likely to be disempowering. Each person may endorse conspiracy theories for one of many different reasons. The most consistently demonstrated characteristics of people who find conspiracy theories appealing are a feeling of alienation, unhappiness or dissatisfaction with their situation, an unconventional worldview, and a feeling of disempowerment. While various aspects of personality affect susceptibility to conspiracy theories, none of the Big Five personality traits are associated with conspiracy beliefs. The political scientist Michael Barkun, discussing the usage of "conspiracy theory" in contemporary American culture, holds that this term is used for a belief that explains an event as the result of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators to achieve a malevolent end. According to Barkun, the appeal of conspiracism is threefold: First, conspiracy theories claim to explain what institutional analysis cannot. They appear to make sense out of a world that is otherwise confusing. Second, they do so in an appealingly simple way, by dividing the world sharply between the forces of light, and the forces of darkness. They trace all evil back to a single source, the conspirators and their agents. Third, conspiracy theories are often presented as special, secret knowledge unknown or unappreciated by others. For conspiracy theorists, the masses are a brainwashed herd, while the conspiracy theorists in the know can congratulate themselves on penetrating the plotters' deceptions." This third point is supported by research of Roland Imhoff, professor in Social Psychology at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The research suggests that the smaller the minority believing in a specific theory, the more attractive it is to conspiracy theorists. Humanistic psychologists argue that even if a posited cabal behind an alleged conspiracy is almost always perceived as hostile, there often remains an element of reassurance for theorists. This is because it is a consolation to imagine that difficulties in human affairs are created by humans, and remain within human control. If a cabal can be implicated, there may be a hope of breaking its power or of joining it. Belief in the power of a cabal is an implicit assertion of human dignity—an unconscious affirmation that man is responsible for his own destiny. People formulate conspiracy theories to explain, for example, power relations in social groups and the perceived existence of evil forces. Proposed psychological origins of conspiracy theorising include projection; the personal need to explain "a significant event [with] a significant cause;" and the product of various kinds and stages of thought disorder, such as paranoid disposition, ranging in severity to diagnosable mental illnesses. Some people prefer socio-political explanations over the insecurity of encountering random, unpredictable, or otherwise inexplicable events. According to Berlet and Lyons, "Conspiracism is a particular narrative form of scapegoating that frames demonized enemies as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm". Origins Some psychologists believe that a search for meaning is common in conspiracism. Once cognized, confirmation bias and avoidance of cognitive dissonance may reinforce the belief. In a context where a conspiracy theory has become embedded within a social group, communal reinforcement may also play a part. Inquiry into possible motives behind the accepting of irrational conspiracy theories has linked these beliefs to distress resulting from an event that occurred, such as the events of 9/11. Additionally, research done by Manchester Metropolitan University suggests that "delusional ideation" is the most likely condition that would indicate an elevated belief in conspiracy theories. Studies also show that an increased attachment to these irrational beliefs lead to a decrease in desire for civic engagement. Belief in conspiracy theories is correlated with low intelligence, lower analytical thinking, anxiety disorders, paranoia, and authoritarian beliefs. Professor Quassim Cassam argues that conspiracy theorists hold their beliefs due to flaws in their thinking and more precisely, their intellectual character. He cites philosopher Linda Trinkaus Zagzebski and her book Virtues of the Mind in outlining intellectual virtues (such as humility, caution and carefulness) and intellectual vices (such as gullibility, carelessness and closed-mindedness). Whereas intellectual virtues help in reaching sound examination, intellectual vices "impede effective and responsible inquiry", meaning that those who are prone to believing in conspiracy theories possess certain vices while lacking necessary virtues. Some researchers have suggested that conspiracy theories could be partially caused by psychological mechanisms the human brain possesses for detecting dangerous coalitions. Such a mechanism could have been useful in the small-scale environment humanity evolved in but are mismatched in a modern, complex society and thus "misfire", perceiving conspiracies where none exist. Projection Some historians have argued that psychological projection is prevalent amongst conspiracy theorists. This projection, according to the argument, is manifested in the form of attribution of undesirable characteristics of the self to the conspirators. Historian Richard Hofstadter stated that: Hofstadter also noted that "sexual freedom" is a vice frequently attributed to the conspiracist's target group, noting that "very often the fantasies of true believers reveal strong sadomasochistic outlets, vividly expressed, for example, in the delight of anti-Masons with the cruelty of Masonic punishments." Sociology In addition to psychological factors such as conspiracist ideation, sociological factors also help account for who believes in which conspiracy theories. Such theories tend to get more traction among election losers in society, for example, and the emphasis of conspiracy theories by elites and leaders tends to increase belief among followers who have higher levels of conspiracy thinking. Christopher Hitchens described conspiracy theories as the "exhaust fumes of democracy": the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people. Conspiracy theories may be emotionally satisfying, by assigning blame to a group to which the theorist does not belong and so absolving the theorist of moral or political responsibility in society. Likewise, Roger Cohen writing for The New York Times has said that, "captive minds; ... resort to conspiracy theory because it is the ultimate refuge of the powerless. If you cannot change your own life, it must be that some greater force controls the world." Sociological historian Holger Herwig found in studying German explanations for the origins of World War I, "Those events that are most important are hardest to understand because they attract the greatest attention from myth makers and charlatans." Justin Fox of Time magazine argues that Wall Street traders are among the most conspiracy-minded group of people, and ascribes this to the reality of some financial market conspiracies, and to the ability of conspiracy theories to provide necessary orientation in the market's day-to-day movements. Influence of critical theory French sociologist Bruno Latour suggests that the widespread popularity of conspiracy theories in mass culture may be due, in part, to the pervasive presence of Marxist-inspired critical theory and similar ideas in academia since the 1970s. Latour notes that about 90% of contemporary social criticism in academia displays one of two approaches, which he terms "the fact position and the fairy position". The "fairy position" is anti-fetishist, arguing that "objects of belief" (e.g., religion, arts) are merely concepts onto which power is projected; Latour contends that those who use this approach show biases towards confirming their own dogmatic suspicions as most "scientifically supported". While the complete facts of the situation and correct methodology are ostensibly important to them, Latour proposes that the scientific process is instead laid on as a patina to one's pet theories to lend a sort of reputation high ground. The "fact position" argues that external forces (e.g., economics, gender) dominate individuals, often covertly and without their awareness. Latour concludes that each of these two approaches in academia has led to a polarized, inefficient atmosphere highlighted (in both approaches) by its causticness. "Do you see now why it feels so good to be a critical mind?" asks Latour: no matter which position you take, "You're always right!" Latour notes that such social criticism has been appropriated by those he describes as conspiracy theorists, including climate-change denialists and the 9/11 Truth movement: "Maybe I am taking conspiracy theories too seriously, but I am worried to detect, in those mad mixtures of knee-jerk disbelief, punctilious demands for proofs, and free use of powerful explanation from the social neverland, many of the weapons of social critique." Fusion paranoia Michael Kelly, a The Washington Post journalist and critic of anti-war movements on both the left and right, coined the term "fusion paranoia" to refer to a political convergence of left-wing and right-wing activists around anti-war issues and civil liberties, which he said were motivated by a shared belief in conspiracism or shared anti-government views. Barkun has adopted this term to refer to how the synthesis of paranoid conspiracy theories, which were once limited to American fringe audiences, has given them mass appeal and enabled them to become commonplace in mass media, thereby inaugurating an unrivaled period of people actively preparing for apocalyptic or millenarian scenarios in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Barkun notes the occurrence of lone-wolf conflicts with law enforcement acting as proxy for threatening the established political powers. Viability As evidence against the reality of an alleged conspiracy grows, the number of alleged conspirators also grow in the minds of conspiracy theorists. This is because alleged conspirators often have competing interests. For example, if Republican President George W. Bush is allegedly responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the Democratic party did not pursue exposing this alleged plot, that must mean that both the Democratic and Republican parties |
Reef, the Willis Group and fifteen other reef/island groups. Cato Island is the highest point in the Territory. History and status The Coral Sea Islands were first charted in 1803. In the 1870s and 1880s the islands were mined for guano but the absence of a reliable supply of fresh water prevented long-term habitation. The Coral Sea Islands became an Australian external territory in 1969 by the Coral Sea Islands Act (prior to that, the area was considered a part of Queensland) and extended in 1997 to include Elizabeth Reef and Middleton Reef nearly 800 km further south. The two latter reefs are much closer to Lord Howe Island, New South Wales, (about ) than to the southernmost island of the rest of the territory, Cato Island. The islands, cays and reefs of the Great Barrier Reef are not part of the territory, belonging to Queensland instead. The outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef is the boundary between Queensland and the Coral Sea Islands Territory. The territory is a possession or external territory of Australia, administered from Canberra by the Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities. Previously it was administered by the Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Transport and Regional Services. Defence is the responsibility of Australia, and the territory is visited regularly by the Royal Australian Navy. Australia maintains automatic weather stations on many of the isles and reefs, and claims a exclusive fishing zone. There is no economic activity (except for a significant but as yet unquantified charter fishing and diving industry), and only a staff of three or four people to run the meteorological station on Willis Island (South Islet), established in 1921. In November 2011, the Australian government announced that a protected area was planned in the Coral Sea. The Supreme Court of Norfolk Island has jurisdiction over the islands, however, the laws of the Australian Capital Territory apply. The territory's FIPS 10-4 code is CR, whereas ISO 3166 includes it in Australia (AU). In June 2004, a symbolic political protest run by gay rights activists based in Australia, declared the coral sea islands to be a sovereign micronation. On 17 November 2017 the same group declared the kingdom to be 'dissolved', following the results of the Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey. Geography There are about 30 separate reefs and atolls, twelve being wholly submerged or drying only during low tide, and 18 others with a total of about 51 islets and cays (18 alone on the atoll Lihou Reef), some of which are vegetated. The atolls exhibit a wide range of size, from a few kilometres in diameter to perhaps the second largest atoll in the world by total area (including lagoon): Lihou Reef, with a lagoon size of and an area of , which compares to a combined land area of the 18 individual islets of only . The islands are all very low. The Willis Islets are important nesting areas for birds and turtles but contain negligible natural resources. They comprise less than of land. There is no port or harbour, only offshore anchorage. Most of the atolls fall into two groups, while Mellish Reef to the east, and Middleton Reef and Elizabeth Reef to the south are grouped separately: Northwestern Group Osprey Reef (submerged atoll roughly oval in shape, measuring , covering around , with lagoon up to deep) Shark Reef (small elongated submerged reef south of Osprey Reef, with a minimum depth of ) Bougainville Reef (small submerged atoll, , area with lagoon, dries at half tide) East Holmes Reef (submerged atoll, about , area with lagoon) West Holmes Reef (submerged atoll east of East Holmes Reef, about , area with lagoon that is open on the West side, two small cays) Flora Reef (small submerged atoll, 5 by 4 km, about ) Diane Bank (sunken atoll, depths of less than 10 m over an area of 65 by 25 km, or , along the northern edge 3 m deep, with Sand Cay in the Northwest, 3 m high) North Moore Reef (small submerged atoll, 4 by 3 km, area including lagoon that is open on the Northwest side) South Moore Reef (small submerged reef 5 km South of North Moore Reef) Willis Islets (sunken atoll, bank 45 by 19 km, bank area more than , 3 islets on the Northwestern side: North Cay, Mid Islet almost 8 m high, South Islet or Willis Island 10 m high) Magdelaine Cays & Coringa Islets (one large, partially sunken atoll structure, almost 90 by 30 km, bank area about | approximately ) and South East Cay (area ); 2 islets of the Coringa Islets 50 to 60 km further Southwest: Southwest Islet or Coringa Islet (area 0.173 km2), and Chilcott Islet (area 0.163 km2) Herald Cays, Northeast Cay (encircled by a reef of 3 by 3 km, total area 6 km2, land area 0.34 km2) Herald Cays, Southwest Cay (4 km Southwest of Northeast Cay, encircled by a reef of 2 by 2 km, total area 3 km2, land area 0.188 km2) Lihou Reef and Cays (largest atoll in the coral sea, with a size of 2500 km2, land area 0.91 km2) Diamond Islets & Tregosse Reefs (large, partially sunken atoll, 100 by 52 km, area of the bank over 3000 km2, with 4 islets and 2 small submerged reefs in the Northeast and Southeast: West Diamond Islet, Central Diamond Islet, East Diamond Islet on the Northeastern rim of the former atoll, and South Diamond Islet, East Tregosse Reef and West Tregosse Reef on the Southern rim) North Flinders Reef (large atoll, 34 by 23 km, area 600 km2, with 2 islets, Flinders Cay being the larger one with a length of 200 m and a height of 3 m) South Flinders Reef (atoll, 15 by 5 km, 60 km2) Herald's Surprise (small submerged reef North of Flinders Reefs, 3 by 2 km) Dart Reef (small submerged reef Northwest of Flinders Reefs, 3 by 3 km, area 6 km2 including small lagoon that is open to the North) Malay Reef (small submerged reef, not clearly defined, no breakers, difficult to see) Abington Reef (submerged reef, nearly awash, 4 by 2.5 km, area 7 km2) Marion Reef (large circular atoll formation that is composed of three main units located on the Eastern side: Marion, Long and Wansfell; and a number of smaller reefs on the west. The formation sits atop a submarine feature known as the Marion Plateau which is separated from the larger Coral Sea Plateau to the north by the Townsville Trough. Three small sand cays are located on the eastern side of Marion Reef: Paget Cay, on Long Reef, Carola Cay, south of Long Reef, and Brodie Cay, on Wansfell Reef. The atolls of the Northwestern Group, except Osprey Reef and Shark Reef in the north, and Marion Reef in the south, are located on the Coral Sea Plateau (Queensland Plateau), a contiguous area of depths less than 1000 m. Flinders Reefs (North and South), Herald's Surprise and Dart Reef form a cluster of reefs of 66 by 26 km. Magdelaine Cays, Coringa Islets and Herald Cays are part of the 8856 km2 Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve, created on 16 August 1982 and located around 400 km east of Cairns and 220 to 320 km from the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef. The 6 islets of the nature reserve have areas from 0.16 to 0.37 km2, for a total of 1.24 km2. Lihou Reef was declared a Nature Reserve on 16 August 1982, with an area of 8440 km2. The Nature Reserves were created to protect wildlife in the respective areas of the territory; together they form the Coral Sea Reserves Ramsar Site. Mellish Reef Mellish Reef, being about 300 km to the east of the Northwestern Group, thus the most distant from the Australian continent of all the reefs and atolls of the Coral Sea Islands Territory, is not considered to be part of any group. It has the outline of a boomerang-shaped platform around 10 km in length and 3 km across, area 25 km2. The surrounding reefs, which enclose a narrow lagoon, are completely submerged at high tide. Near the centre of the lagoon is the only permanent land of the reef - Heralds-Beacon Islet. The island is a small cay measuring 600 m by 120 m, area 57,000 m2, only rising a few ms above the high-water mark. Southeasterly Group Frederick Reefs: The reefs form a semi-enclosed lagoon, known as Anchorage Sound, with an opening on the North side. The complex measures about 10 by 4 km, with an area of 30 km2. On the southern side of the reef lies Observatory Cay, the only permanently dry land, although there are a few of others cays that can be awash at high tide. Kenn Reefs, submerged atoll of about 15 by 8 km, area 40 km2, islet Observatory Cay in the Southeast, 2 m high Saumarez Reefs, southernmost reefs to be located on the Coral Sea Shelf; three main reefs and numerous smaller reefs that form a large crescent-shaped formation open to the northwest, about 27 by 14 km, area less than 300 km2. There are two sand cays: North East Cay and South West Cay. Wreck Reefs: atoll 25 by 5 km, area 75 km2, open on the North. Islets found on the reefs include Bird Islet, West Islet and Porpoise Cay. Cato Reef: Cato bank 21 by 13 km, area |
In 2019, the country produced 99.62% of its electricity from renewable sources and ran completely on renewable sources for 300 continuous days. In 1996, the Forest Law was enacted to provide direct financial incentives to landowners for the provision of environmental services. This helped reorient the forestry sector away from commercial timber production and the resulting deforestation and helped create awareness of the services it provides for the economy and society (i.e., carbon fixation, hydrological services such as producing fresh drinking water, biodiversity protection, and provision of scenic beauty). A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies other challenges facing Costa Rica as it works to expand its economy by working with companies from the US (and probably from other countries). The major concerns identified were as follows: The ports, roads, railways, and water delivery systems would benefit from major upgrading, a concern voiced by other reports too. Attempts by China to invest in upgrading such aspects were "stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns". The bureaucracy is "often slow and cumbersome". Tourism Costa Rica is the most-visited nation in the Central American region, with 2.9 million foreign visitors in 2016, up 10% from 2015. In 2015, the tourism sector was responsible for 5.8% of the country's GDP, or $3.4 billion. In 2016, the highest number of tourists came from the United States, with 1,000,000 visitors, followed by Europe with 434,884 arrivals. According to Costa Rica Vacations, once tourists arrive in the country, 22% go to Tamarindo, 18% go to Arenal, 17% pass through Liberia (where the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport is located), 16% go to San José, the country's capital (passing through Juan Santamaría International Airport), while 18% choose Manuel Antonio and 7% Monteverde. By 2004, tourism was generating more revenue and foreign exchange than bananas and coffee combined. In 2016, the World Travel & Tourism Council's estimates indicated a direct contribution to the GDP of 5.1% and 110,000 direct jobs in Costa Rica; the total number of jobs indirectly supported by tourism was 271,000. A pioneer of ecotourism, Costa Rica draws many tourists to its extensive series of national parks and other protected areas. The trail Camino de Costa Rica supports this by allowing travelers to walk across the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. In the 2011 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, Costa Rica ranked 44th in the world and second among Latin American countries after Mexico in 2011. By the time of the 2017 report, the country had reached 38th place, slightly behind Panama. The Ethical Traveler group's ten countries on their 2017 list of The World's Ten Best Ethical Destinations includes Costa Rica. The country scored highest in environmental protection among the winners. Costa Rica began reversing deforestation in the 1990s, and they are moving towards using only renewable energy. Government and politics Administrative divisions Costa Rica is composed of seven provinces, which in turn are divided into 82 cantons (, plural ), each of which is directed by a mayor. Mayors are chosen democratically every four years by each canton. There are no provincial legislatures. The cantons are further divided into 488 districts (). Foreign relations Costa Rica is an active member of the United Nations and the Organization of American States. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the United Nations University of Peace are based in Costa Rica. It is also a member of many other international organizations related to human rights and democracy, such as the Community of Democracies. The main foreign policy objective of Costa Rica is to foster human rights and sustainable development as a way to secure stability and growth. Costa Rica is a member of the International Criminal Court, without a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the United States military (as covered under Article 98). Costa Rica is an observer of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie. On 10 September 1961, some months after Fidel Castro declared Cuba a socialist state, Costa Rican President Mario Echandi ended diplomatic relations with Cuba through Executive Decree Number 2. This freeze lasted 47 years until President Óscar Arias Sánchez re-established normal relations on 18 March 2009, saying, "If we have been able to turn the page with regimes as profoundly different to our reality as occurred with the USSR or, more recently, with the Republic of China, how would we not do it with a country that is geographically and culturally much nearer to Costa Rica?" Arias announced that both countries would exchange ambassadors. Costa Rica has a long-term disagreement with Nicaragua over the San Juan River, which defines the border between the two countries, and Costa Rica's rights of navigation on the river. In 2010, there was also a dispute around Isla Calero, and the impact of Nicaraguan dredging of the river in that area. On 14 July 2009, the International Court of Justice in the Hague upheld Costa Rica's navigation rights for commercial purposes to subsistence fishing on their side of the river. An 1858 treaty extended navigation rights to Costa Rica, but Nicaragua denied passenger travel and fishing were part of the deal; the court ruled Costa Ricans on the river were not required to have Nicaraguan tourist cards or visas as Nicaragua argued, but, in a nod to the Nicaraguans, ruled that Costa Rican boats and passengers must stop at the first and last Nicaraguan port along their route. They must also have an identity document or passport. Nicaragua can also impose timetables on Costa Rican traffic. Nicaragua may require Costa Rican boats to display the flag of Nicaragua but may not charge them for departure clearance from its ports. These were all specific items of contention brought to the court in the 2005 filing. On 1 June 2007, Costa Rica broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan, switching recognition to the People's Republic of China. Costa Rica was the first of the Central American nations to do so. President Óscar Arias Sánchez admitted the action was a response to economic exigency. In response, the PRC built a new, $100 million, state-of-the-art football stadium in Parque la Sabana, in the province of San José. Approximately 600 Chinese engineers and laborers took part in this project, and it was inaugurated in March 2011, with a match between the national teams of Costa Rica and China. Costa Rica finished a term on the United Nations Security Council, having been elected for a nonrenewable, two-year term in the 2007 election. Its term expired on 31 December 2009; this was Costa Rica's third time on the Security Council. Elayne Whyte Gómez is the Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the UN Office at Geneva (2017) and President of the United Nations Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons. Pacifism On 1 December 1948, Costa Rica abolished its military force. In 1949, the abolition of the military was introduced in Article 12 of the Costa Rican Constitution. The budget previously dedicated to the military is now dedicated to providing health care services and education. According to DW, "Costa Rica is known for its stable democracy, progressive social policies, such as free, compulsory public education, high social well-being, and emphasis on environmental protection." For law enforcement, Costa Rica has the Public Force of Costa Rica police agency. In 2017, Costa Rica signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Environmentalism In 2021 Costa Rica with Denmark launched the "Beyond Oil and Gas alliance" (BOGA) for stopping the use of fossil fuels. The BOGA campaign was presented in the COP26 Climate Summit, where Sweden joined as a core member, while New Zealand and Portugal joined as associate members. Demographics The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people distributed among the following groups: 83.6% whites or mestizos, 6.7% mulattoes, 2.4% Native American, 1.1% black or Afro-Caribbean; the census showed 1.1% as Other, 2.9% (141,304 people) as None, and 2.2% (107,196 people) as unspecified. By 2016, the UN estimation for the population was around million. In 2011, there were over 104,000 Native American or indigenous inhabitants, representing 2.4% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations, distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (in the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Guaymí (southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá border), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and (southern Costa Rica). The population includes European Costa Ricans (of European ancestry), primarily of Spanish descent, with significant numbers of Italian, German, English, Dutch, French, Irish, Portuguese, and Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish community. The majority of the Afro-Costa Ricans are Creole English-speaking descendants of 19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers. The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the population. Native and European mixed-blood populations are far less than in other Latin American countries. Exceptions are Guanacaste, where almost half the population is visibly mestizo, a legacy of the more pervasive unions between Spanish colonists and Chorotega Amerindians through several generations, and Limón, where the vast majority of the Afro-Costa Rican community lives. Costa Rica hosts many refugees, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. As a result of that and illegal immigration, an estimated 10–15% (400,000–600,000) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans. Some Nicaraguans migrate for seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country. Costa Rica took in many refugees from a range of other Latin American countries fleeing civil wars and dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s, notably from Chile and Argentina, as well as people from El Salvador who fled from guerrillas and government death squads. According to the World Bank, in 2010 about 489,200 immigrants lived in the country, many from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while 125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012. In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S. Largest cities Religion Most Costa Ricans identify with a Christian religion, with Catholicism being the one with the largest number of members and also the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion. Costa Rica is the only modern state in the Americas which currently has Catholicism as its state religion; other such countries are microstates in Europe: Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican City and Malta. The Latinobarómetro survey of 2017 found that 57% of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholics, 25% are Evangelical Protestants, 15% report that they do not have a religion, and 2% declare that they belong to another religion. This survey indicated a decline in the share of Catholics and rise in the share of Protestants and irreligious. A University of Costa Rica survey of 2018 show similar rates; 52% Catholics, 22% Protestants, 17% irreligious and 3% other. The rate of secularism is high by Latin American standards. Due to small, but continuous, immigration from Asia and the Middle East, other religions have grown, the most popular being Buddhism, with about 100,000 practitioners (over 2% of the population). Most Buddhists are members of the Han Chinese community of about 40,000 with some new local converts. There is also a small Muslim community of about 500 families, or 0.001% of the population. The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue is near La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San José. Several homes in the neighborhood east of the park display the Star of David and other Jewish symbols. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 35,000 members, and has a temple in San José that served as a regional worship center for Costa Rica. However, they represent less than 1% of the population. Languages The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish, which features characteristics distinct to the country, a form of Central American Spanish. Costa Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere. Of native languages still spoken, primarily in indigenous reservations, the most numerically important are the Bribri, Maléku, Cabécar and Ngäbere languages; some of these have several thousand speakers in Costa Rica while others have a few hundred. Some languages, such as Teribe | Quitirrisí (in the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Guaymí (southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá border), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and (southern Costa Rica). The population includes European Costa Ricans (of European ancestry), primarily of Spanish descent, with significant numbers of Italian, German, English, Dutch, French, Irish, Portuguese, and Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish community. The majority of the Afro-Costa Ricans are Creole English-speaking descendants of 19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers. The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the population. Native and European mixed-blood populations are far less than in other Latin American countries. Exceptions are Guanacaste, where almost half the population is visibly mestizo, a legacy of the more pervasive unions between Spanish colonists and Chorotega Amerindians through several generations, and Limón, where the vast majority of the Afro-Costa Rican community lives. Costa Rica hosts many refugees, mainly from Colombia and Nicaragua. As a result of that and illegal immigration, an estimated 10–15% (400,000–600,000) of the Costa Rican population is made up of Nicaraguans. Some Nicaraguans migrate for seasonal work opportunities and then return to their country. Costa Rica took in many refugees from a range of other Latin American countries fleeing civil wars and dictatorships during the 1970s and 1980s, notably from Chile and Argentina, as well as people from El Salvador who fled from guerrillas and government death squads. According to the World Bank, in 2010 about 489,200 immigrants lived in the country, many from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while 125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012. In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S. Largest cities Religion Most Costa Ricans identify with a Christian religion, with Catholicism being the one with the largest number of members and also the official state religion according to the 1949 Constitution, which at the same time guarantees freedom of religion. Costa Rica is the only modern state in the Americas which currently has Catholicism as its state religion; other such countries are microstates in Europe: Liechtenstein, Monaco, the Vatican City and Malta. The Latinobarómetro survey of 2017 found that 57% of the population identify themselves as Roman Catholics, 25% are Evangelical Protestants, 15% report that they do not have a religion, and 2% declare that they belong to another religion. This survey indicated a decline in the share of Catholics and rise in the share of Protestants and irreligious. A University of Costa Rica survey of 2018 show similar rates; 52% Catholics, 22% Protestants, 17% irreligious and 3% other. The rate of secularism is high by Latin American standards. Due to small, but continuous, immigration from Asia and the Middle East, other religions have grown, the most popular being Buddhism, with about 100,000 practitioners (over 2% of the population). Most Buddhists are members of the Han Chinese community of about 40,000 with some new local converts. There is also a small Muslim community of about 500 families, or 0.001% of the population. The Sinagoga Shaarei Zion synagogue is near La Sabana Metropolitan Park in San José. Several homes in the neighborhood east of the park display the Star of David and other Jewish symbols. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims more than 35,000 members, and has a temple in San José that served as a regional worship center for Costa Rica. However, they represent less than 1% of the population. Languages The primary language spoken in Costa Rica is Spanish, which features characteristics distinct to the country, a form of Central American Spanish. Costa Rica is a linguistically diverse country and home to at least five living local indigenous languages spoken by the descendants of pre-Columbian peoples: Maléku, Cabécar, Bribri, Guaymí, and Buglere. Of native languages still spoken, primarily in indigenous reservations, the most numerically important are the Bribri, Maléku, Cabécar and Ngäbere languages; some of these have several thousand speakers in Costa Rica while others have a few hundred. Some languages, such as Teribe and Boruca, have fewer than a thousand speakers. The Buglere language and the closely related Guaymí are spoken by some in southeast Puntarenas. A Creole-English language, Jamaican patois (also known as Mekatelyu), is an English-based Creole language spoken by the Afro-Carib immigrants who have settled primarily in Limón Province along the Caribbean coast. About 10.7% of Costa Rica's adult population (18 or older) also speaks English, 0.7% French, and 0.3% speaks Portuguese or German as a second language. Culture Costa Rica was the point where the Mesoamerican and South American native cultures met. The northwest of the country, the Nicoya peninsula, was the southernmost point of Nahuatl cultural influence when the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores) came in the 16th century. The central and southern portions of the country had Chibcha influences. The Atlantic coast, meanwhile, was populated with African workers during the 17th and 18th centuries. As a result of the immigration of Spaniards, their 16th-century Spanish culture and its evolution marked everyday life and culture until today, with the Spanish language and the Catholic religion as primary influences. The Department of Culture, Youth, and Sports is in charge of the promotion and coordination of cultural life. The work of the department is divided into Direction of Culture, Visual Arts, Scenic Arts, Music, Patrimony, and the System of Libraries. Permanent programs, such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica and the Youth Symphony Orchestra, are conjunctions of two areas of work: Culture and Youth. Dance-oriented genres, such as soca, salsa, bachata, merengue, cumbia and Costa Rican swing are enjoyed increasingly by older rather than younger people. The guitar is popular, especially as an accompaniment to folk dances; however, the marimba was made the national instrument. In November 2017, National Geographic magazine named Costa Rica as the happiest country in the world, and the country routinely ranks high in various happiness metrics. The article included this summary: "Costa Ricans enjoy the pleasure of living daily life to the fullest in a place that mitigates stress and maximizes joy". It is not surprising then that one of the most recognizable phrases among "Ticos" is "Pura Vida", pure life in a literal translation. It reflects the inhabitant's philosophy of life, denoting a simple life, free of stress, a positive, relaxed feeling. The expression is used in various contexts in conversation. Often, people walking down the streets, or buying food at shops say hello by saying Pura Vida. It can be phrased as a question or as an acknowledgement of one's presence. A recommended response to "How are you?" would be "Pura Vida." In that usage, it might be translated as "awesome", indicating that all is very well. When used as a question, the connotation would be "everything is going well?" or "how are you?". Costa Rica rates 12th on the 2017 Happy Planet Index in the World Happiness Report by the UN but the country is said to be the happiest in Latin America. Reasons include the high level of social services, the caring nature of its inhabitants, long life expectancy and relatively low corruption. Cuisine Costa Rican cuisine is a blend of Native American, Spanish, African, and many other cuisine origins. Dishes such as the very traditional tamale and many others made of corn are the most representative of its indigenous inhabitants, and similar to other neighboring Mesoamerican countries. Spaniards brought many new ingredients to the country from other lands, especially spices and domestic animals. And later in the 19th century, the African flavor lent its presence with influence from other Caribbean mixed flavors. This is how Costa Rican cuisine today is very varied, with every new ethnic group who had recently become part of the country's population influencing the country's cuisine. Sports Costa Rica entered the Summer Olympics for the first time in 1936. They nation has gone on to win 4 Olympic Medals in history, including one Gold one Silver and two Bronze medals. Football is the most popular sport in Costa Rica. The national team has played in five FIFA World Cup tournaments and reached the quarter-finals for the first time in 2014. Its best performance in the regional CONCACAF Gold Cup was runner-up in 2002. Paulo Wanchope, a forward who played for three clubs in England's Premier League in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is credited with enhancing foreign recognition of Costa Rican football. Costa Rica, along with Panama, was granted the hosting rights of 2020 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which was postponed until 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the event would be held in Costa Rica in 2022. Basketball is also a popular sport in Costa Rica even though the country's national team has not yet qualified for a major international tournament such as the FIBA AmeriCup or the FIBA World Cup. As of late 2021, Costa Rica's women's national volleyball team has been the top team in Central America's AFECAVOL (Asociación de Federaciones CentroAmericanas de Voleibol) zone. Costa Rica featured a women's national team in beach volleyball that competed at the 2018–2020 NORCECA Beach Volleyball Continental Cup. Education The literacy rate in Costa Rica is approximately 97 percent and English is widely spoken primarily due to Costa Rica's tourism industry. When the army was abolished in 1949, it was said that the "army would be replaced with an army of teachers". Universal public education is guaranteed in the constitution; primary education is obligatory, and both preschool and secondary school are free. Students who finish 11th grade receive a Costa Rican Bachillerato Diploma accredited by the Costa Rican Ministry of Education. There are both state and private universities. The state-funded University of Costa Rica has been awarded the title "Meritorious Institution of Costa Rican Education and Culture" and hosts around 25.000 students who study at numerous campuses established around the country. A 2016 report by the U.S. government report identifies the current challenges facing the education system, including the high dropout rate among secondary school students. The country needs even more workers who are fluent in English and languages such as Portuguese, Mandarin and French. It would also benefit from more graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs, according to the report. Costa Rica was ranked 56th in the Global Innovation Index in 2020, down from 55th in 2019. Health According to the UNDP, in 2010 the life expectancy at birth for Costa Ricans was 79.3 years. The Nicoya Peninsula is considered one of the Blue Zones in the world, where people commonly live active lives past the age of 100 years. The New Economics Foundation (NEF) ranked Costa Rica first in its 2009 Happy Planet Index, and once again in 2012. The index measures the health and happiness they produce per unit of environmental input. According to NEF, Costa Rica's lead is due to its very high life expectancy |
revolts all across Spanish America. In New Spain, all of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of that area from 1810 to 1821, what today is central Mexico. Once the Viceroy was defeated in the capital city—today Mexico City—in 1821, the news of independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain, including the Intendencies of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala. Costa Rica joined the other Central American Intendancies in a joint declaration of independence from Spain, the 1821 Act of Independence. On October 13, 1821, the documents arrived at Cartago, and an emergency meeting was called upon by Governor . There were many ideas on what to do upon gaining independence, such as joining Mexico, joining Guatemala or Nueva Granada (today Colombia). A group was declared (Junta de Legados), which created the temporary while, "the clouds clear up" ("Mientras se aclaraban los nublados del día"), was a famous phrase of the events of the day. Independence from Spain was acknowledged and ratified on October 29, 1821, by the colonial authorities. It was then ratified in the cities of San José on November 1, 1821, at Cartago on November 3rd, 1821, at Heredia on November 11, 1821, and Alajuela on November 25, 1821. After the declaration of independence, the New Spain parliament intended to establish a commonwealth whereby the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, would also be Emperor of New Spain, but in which both countries were to be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for a member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the New Spain throne. Ferdinand VII did not recognize the colony's independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain. By request of Parliament, the president of the regency, Agustín de Iturbide, was proclaimed emperor of New Spain, which was renamed Mexico. The Mexican Empire was the official name given to this monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendancies and provinces of New Spain proper (including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala) (See: History of Central America). On 5 April 1823 the Battle of Ochomogo was fought between forces from Cartago who wanted to join the Mexican Empire and those who preferred to remain independent. The Republicans won and the capital was moved from Cartago to San José. Central America In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. A new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American Intendancies under General Manuel José Arce. The Intendancies took the new name of States. The United Provinces federation, not strongly united to begin with, rapidly disintegrated under the pressures of intra-provincial rivalries. Following full independence in 1838, Costa Rica had no regular trade routes established to export their coffee to European markets. Lack of infrastructure caused problems in transportation: the coffee-growing areas were mainly in the Central Valley and had access only to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific coast. Before the Panama Canal opened, ships from Europe had to sail around Cape Horn in order to get to the Pacific Coast. In 1843, the country established a trade route to Europe with the help of William Le Lacheur, a Guernsey merchant and shipowner. In 1856, William Walker, an American filibuster, began incursions into Central America. After landing in Nicaragua, he proclaimed himself as president of Nicaragua and re-instated slavery, which had been abolished. He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered that territory, the country declared war against his forces. Led by Commander in Chief of the Army of Costa Rica, President Juan Rafael Mora Porras, the filibusters were defeated and forced out of the country. Costa Rican forces followed the filibusters into Rivas, Nicaragua, where in a final battle, William Walker and his forces were finally pushed back. In this final battle, Juan Santamaría, a drummer boy from Alajuela, lost his life torching the filibusters' stronghold. He is today remembered as a national hero. Republic An era of peaceful democracy in Costa Rica began in 1869 with elections. Costa Rica has avoided much of the violence that has plagued Central America. Since the late nineteenth century, only two brief periods of violence have marred its republican development. In 1917–19, Federico Tinoco Granados ruled as a dictator. In 1948, José Figueres Ferrer led an armed uprising in the wake of a disputed presidential election. "With more than 2,000 dead, the 44-day Costa Rican Civil War resulting from this uprising was the bloodiest event in twentieth-century Costa Rican history." The victorious junta drafted a constitution guaranteeing free elections with universal suffrage and the abolition of the military. Figueres became a national hero, winning the first election under the new constitution in 1953. Since then Costa Rica has been one of the few democracies to operate without a standing army. The nation has held 16 successive presidential elections, all peaceful, the latest being in 2018. Costa Rica's economy went under a transformation in 1978. The country went from being "an economic development success story" to entering a severe socio-economic crisis. Costa Rica relied on the exportation of bananas and coffee. In 1978, coffee prices dropped, and its revenues declined. In 1979, the price of oil, a main imported item, increased sharply and rapidly, plunging the country into crisis. In order to help improve the economy, President Rodrigo Carazo continued to borrow money internationally. This led the country into further debt. Once a largely agricultural country, Costa Rica has transformed to relying on technology industry and services, and eco-tourism. Costa Rica's major source of export income is technology-based. Microsoft, Motorola, Intel and other technology-related firms have established operations in Costa Rica. Local companies create and export software as well as other computer-related products. Tourism is growing at an accelerated pace, and many believe that income from this tourism may soon become the major contributor to the nation's GDP. Traditional agriculture, particularly coffee and bananas, continues to be an important part of Costa Rica's exports. See also José Antonio Lacayo de Briones y Palacios List of presidents of Costa Rica Politics of Costa Rica General: History of Central America Spanish colonization of the Americas References Further reading Booth, John A. Costa Rica: quest for democracy (Routledge, 2018). Gudmundson, | and tend to his own garden due to his poverty. The failure to build a colonial society based on indigenous and slave labor led to a peasant economy in the 1700s. During the time of conquest, as many as twenty distinct indigenous societies, numbering in the hundreds of thousands and speaking many different languages, inhabited the area. The Spanish conquest of Costa Rica lasted more than half a century after it started 1510. The genocidal enslavement of the indigenous societies of Nicoya on the Pacific North coast was the conquest's first stage. Its second phase began with fruitless attempts to consolidate a Spanish settlement on the country's Caribbean side. In the process, Spaniards reduced the indigenous population to the point of extinction through disease, war, reprisals, relocation and brutal exploitation. The Native American population stood at about 120,000 in 1569 and had fallen to 10,000 by 1611. Independence from Spain In the early 19th century, Napoleon's occupation of Spain led to the outbreak of revolts all across Spanish America. In New Spain, all of the fighting by those seeking independence was done in the center of that area from 1810 to 1821, what today is central Mexico. Once the Viceroy was defeated in the capital city—today Mexico City—in 1821, the news of independence was sent to all the territories of New Spain, including the Intendencies of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala. Costa Rica joined the other Central American Intendancies in a joint declaration of independence from Spain, the 1821 Act of Independence. On October 13, 1821, the documents arrived at Cartago, and an emergency meeting was called upon by Governor . There were many ideas on what to do upon gaining independence, such as joining Mexico, joining Guatemala or Nueva Granada (today Colombia). A group was declared (Junta de Legados), which created the temporary while, "the clouds clear up" ("Mientras se aclaraban los nublados del día"), was a famous phrase of the events of the day. Independence from Spain was acknowledged and ratified on October 29, 1821, by the colonial authorities. It was then ratified in the cities of San José on November 1, 1821, at Cartago on November 3rd, 1821, at Heredia on November 11, 1821, and Alajuela on November 25, 1821. After the declaration of independence, the New Spain parliament intended to establish a commonwealth whereby the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, would also be Emperor of New Spain, but in which both countries were to be governed by separate laws and with their own legislative offices. Should the king refuse the position, the law provided for a member of the House of Bourbon to accede to the New Spain throne. Ferdinand VII did not recognize the colony's independence and said that Spain would not allow any other European prince to take the throne of New Spain. By request of Parliament, the president of the regency, Agustín de Iturbide, was proclaimed emperor of New Spain, which was renamed Mexico. The Mexican Empire was the official name given to this monarchical regime from 1821 to 1823. The territory of the Mexican Empire included the continental intendancies and provinces of New Spain proper (including those of the former Captaincy General of Guatemala) (See: History of Central America). On 5 April 1823 the Battle of Ochomogo was fought between forces from Cartago who wanted to join the Mexican Empire and those who preferred to remain independent. The Republicans won and the capital was moved from Cartago to San José. Central America In 1823, a revolution in Mexico ousted Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. A new Mexican congress voted to allow the Central American Intendancies to decide their own fate. That year, the United Provinces of Central America was formed of the five Central American Intendancies under General Manuel José Arce. The Intendancies took the new name of States. The United Provinces federation, not strongly united to begin with, rapidly disintegrated under the pressures of intra-provincial rivalries. Following full independence in 1838, Costa Rica had no regular trade routes established to export their coffee to European markets. Lack of infrastructure caused problems in transportation: the coffee-growing areas were mainly in the Central Valley and had access only to the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific coast. Before the Panama Canal opened, ships from Europe had to sail around Cape Horn in order to get to the Pacific Coast. In 1843, the country established a trade route to Europe with the help of William Le Lacheur, a Guernsey merchant and shipowner. In 1856, William Walker, an American filibuster, began incursions into Central America. After landing in Nicaragua, he proclaimed himself as president of Nicaragua and re-instated slavery, which had been abolished. He intended to expand into Costa Rica and after he entered that territory, the country declared war against his |
Santa Elena Peninsula. The lowest point is sea level, and the highest is Cerro Chirripo: at 3810 m. Climate The climate is tropical and subtropical. Dry season (December to April); rainy season (May to November); cooler in highlands. Because Costa Rica is located between 8 and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. However, the country has many microclimates depending on elevation, rainfall, topography, and by the geography of each particular region. Costa Rica's seasons are defined by how much rain falls during a particular period. The year can be split into two periods, the dry season known to the residents as summer (), and the rainy season, known locally as winter (). The "summer" or dry season goes from December to April, and "winter" or rainy season goes from May to November, which almost coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season, and during this time, it rains constantly in some regions. The location receiving the most rain is the Caribbean slopes of the Cordillera Central mountains, with an annual rainfall of over . Humidity is also higher on the Caribbean side than on the Pacific side. The mean annual temperature on the coastal lowlands is around , in the main populated areas of the Cordillera Central, and below on the summits of the highest mountains. Flora and fauna Costa Rica is a biodiversity hotspot. While the country has only about 0.03% of the world's landmass, it contains 5% of the world's biodiversity. It is home to about 12,119 species of plants, of which 950 are endemic. There are 117 native trees and more than 1,400 types of orchids; a third of them can be found in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Almost a half of the country's land is covered by forests, though only 3.5% is covered by primary forests. Deforestation in Costa Rica has been reduced from some of the worst rates in the world from 1973 to 1989, to almost zero by 2005. The diversity of wildlife in Costa Rica is very high; there are 441 species of amphibians and reptiles, 838 species of birds, 232 species of mammals and 181 species of fresh water fish. Costa Rica has high levels of endemism; 81 species of amphibians and reptiles, 17 species of birds and 7 species of mammals are endemic to the country. However, many species are endangered. According to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 209 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants are endangered. Some of the country's most endangered species are the Harpy eagle, the Giant anteater, the Golden toad and the Jaguar. IUCN reports the Golden toad as extinct. Over 25% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country's protected areas. There 29 national parks of Costa Rica many conservation areas of Costa Rica. Together protected areas comprise over one-fourth of Costa Rican territory. 9.3% of the country is protected under IUCN categories I-V. Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (developing world average 13%, developed world average 8%). Tortuguero National Park is home to monkeys, sloths, birds; and a variety of reptiles. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is home to about 2,000 plant species, including numerous orchids. Over 400 types of birds and more than 100 species of mammals can be found there. Over 840 species of birds have been identified in Costa Rica. As is the case in much of Central America, the avian species in Costa Rica are a mix of North and South American species. The country's abundant fruit trees, many of which bear fruit year round, are hugely important to the birds, some of whom survive on diets that consist only of one or two types of fruit. Some of the | 441 species of amphibians and reptiles, 838 species of birds, 232 species of mammals and 181 species of fresh water fish. Costa Rica has high levels of endemism; 81 species of amphibians and reptiles, 17 species of birds and 7 species of mammals are endemic to the country. However, many species are endangered. According to the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, 209 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and plants are endangered. Some of the country's most endangered species are the Harpy eagle, the Giant anteater, the Golden toad and the Jaguar. IUCN reports the Golden toad as extinct. Over 25% of Costa Rica's national territory is protected by SINAC (the National System of Conservation Areas), which oversees all of the country's protected areas. There 29 national parks of Costa Rica many conservation areas of Costa Rica. Together protected areas comprise over one-fourth of Costa Rican territory. 9.3% of the country is protected under IUCN categories I-V. Around 25% of the country's land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentage of protected areas in the world (developing world average 13%, developed world average 8%). Tortuguero National Park is home to monkeys, sloths, birds; and a variety of reptiles. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve is home to about 2,000 plant species, including numerous orchids. Over 400 types of birds and more than 100 species of mammals can be found there. Over 840 species of birds have been identified in Costa Rica. As is the case in much of Central America, the avian species in Costa Rica are a mix of North and South American species. The country's abundant fruit trees, many of which bear fruit year round, are hugely important to the birds, some of whom survive on diets that consist only of one or two types of fruit. Some of the country's most notable avian species include the resplendent quetzal, scarlet macaw, three-wattled bellbird, bare-necked umbrellabird, and the keel-billed toucan. The Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad is allowed to collect royalties on any biological discoveries of medical importance. Costa Rica is a center of biological diversity for reptiles and amphibians, including the world's fastest running lizard, the spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura similis). Natural resources Hydropower is produced from Lake Arenal, the largest lake in Costa Rica. Total renewable water resources is 112.4 km3. Freshwater withdrawal is 5.77 km3/year (15%/9%/77%), or per capita: 1,582 m3/year. Agriculture is the largest water user demanding around 53% of total supplies while the sector contributes 6.5% to the Costa Rica GDP. Both total and per capita water usage is very high in comparison to other Central American countries but when measured against available freshwater sources, Costa Rica uses only 5% of its available supply. Increasing urbanization will put pressure on water resources management in Costa Rica. Gallery See also List of earthquakes in Costa Rica List of Faults in Costa Rica Costa Rica is party to the following treaties: Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Environmental Modification, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Montreal Protocol, Ramsar Convention, International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling, Desertification Convention, Endangered Species Convention, Basel Convention, Convention on the Law of the Sea, Convention on Marine Dumping, and the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. It has signed but not ratified the Convention on Marine Life Conservation and the Kyoto Protocol. References External |
and 377,900 students attended public and private secondary schools. Costa Rica's main universities are the University of Costa Rica, in San Pedro and the National University of Costa Rica, in Heredia. Costa Rica also has several small private universities. Emigration Costa Rica's emigration is among the smallest in the Caribbean Basin. About 3% of the country's people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States, Spain, Mexico and other Central American countries. In 2005, there were 127,061 Costa Ricans living in another country as immigrants. Remittances were $513,000,000 in 2006 and they represented 2.3% of the country's GDP. Immigration Costa Rica's immigration is among the largest in the Caribbean Basin. According to the 2011 census 385,899 residents were born abroad. The vast majority were born in Nicaragua (287,766). Other countries of origin were Colombia (20,514), United States (16,898), Spain (16,482) and Panama (11,250). Outward Remittances were $246,000,000 in 2006. Migrants According to the World Bank, about 489,200 migrants lived in the country in 2010 mainly from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while 125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012. In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S. European Costa Ricans European Costa Ricans are people from Costa Rica whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Spain. According to DNA studies, around 75% of the population have some level of European ancestry. Percentages of the Costa Rican population by race are known as the national census does have the question of ethnicity included in its form. As for 2012 65.80% of Costa Ricans identify themselves as white/castizo and 13.65% as mestizo, giving around 80% of Caucasian population. This, however, is based in self-identification and not in scientific studies. According to PLoS Genetics Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos study of 2012, Costa Ricans have 68% of European ancestry, 29% Amerindian and 3% African. According to CIA Factbook, Costa Rica has white or mestizo population of the 83.6%. Cristopher Columbus and crew were the first Europeans ever to set foot on what is now Costa Rica in Columbus last trip when he arrived to Uvita Island (modern day Limón province) in 1502. Costa Rica was part of the Spanish Empire and colonized by Spaniards mostly Castilians, Basque and Sefardi Jews. After the independence large migrations of wealthy Americans, Germans, French and British businessmen came to the country encouraged by the government and followed by their families and employees (many of them technicians and professionals) creating colonies and mixing with the population, especially the high and middle classes. Later, more humble migrations of Italians, Spanish (mostly Catalans) and Arab (mostly Lebanese and Syrians) migrants visit the country escaping economical crisis in their home countries, setting in large, more closed colonies. Polish migrants, mostly Ashkenazi Jews escaping anti-Semitism and nazi persecution in Europe also migrated to the country in large numbers. In 1901 president Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra closes the country to all non-white immigration forbidding the entrance of all Black, Chinese, Arab, Turkish or Gypsy migration in the country. After the beginning of the | up of Nicaraguans. The indigenous population today numbers about 60,000 (just over 1% of the population) with some Miskito and Garifuna (a population of mixed African and Carib Amerindian descent) living in the coastal regions. Costa Rica's emigration is the smallest in the Caribbean Basin and is among the smallest in the Americas. By 2015 about just 133,185 (2.77%) of the country's people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States (85,924), Nicaragua (10,772), Panama (7,760), Canada (5,039), Spain (3,339), Mexico (2,464), Germany (1,891), Italy (1,508), Guatemala (1,162) and Venezuela (1,127). Population and ancestry In , Costa Rica had a population of . The population is increasing at a rate of 1.5% per year. At current trends the population will increase to 9,158,000 in about 46 years. The population density is 94 people per square km, the third highest in Central America. Approximately 40% lived in rural areas and 60% in urban areas. The rate of urbanization estimated for the period 2005–2015 is 2.74% per annum, one of the highest among developing countries. About 75% of the population live in the upper lands (above 500 meters) where temperature is cooler and milder. The 2011 census counted a population of 4.3 million people distributed among the following groups: 83.6% whites or mestizos, 6.7% black mixed race, 2.4% Native American, 1.1% black or Afro-Caribbean; the census showed 1.1% as Other, 2.9% (141,304 people) as None, and 2.2% (107,196 people) as unspecified. In 2011, there were over 104,000 Native American or indigenous inhabitants, representing 2.4% of the population. Most of them live in secluded reservations, distributed among eight ethnic groups: Quitirrisí (in the Central Valley), Matambú or Chorotega (Guanacaste), Maleku (northern Alajuela), Bribri (southern Atlantic), Cabécar (Cordillera de Talamanca), Guaymí (southern Costa Rica, along the Panamá border), Boruca (southern Costa Rica) and Térraba (southern Costa Rica). The population includes European Costa Ricans (of European ancestry), primarily of Spanish descent, with significant numbers of Italian, German, English, Dutch, French, Irish, Portuguese, and Polish families, as well a sizable Jewish community. The majority of the Afro-Costa Ricans are Creole English-speaking descendants of 19th century black Jamaican immigrant workers. The 2011 census classified 83.6% of the population as white or Mestizo; the latter are persons of combined European and Amerindian descent. The Mulatto segment (mix of white and black) represented 6.7% and indigenous people made up 2.4% of the population. Native and European mixed blood populations are far less than in other Latin American countries. Exceptions are Guanacaste, where almost half the population is visibly mestizo, a legacy of the more pervasive unions between Spanish colonists and Chorotega Amerindians through several generations, and Limón, where the vast majority of the Afro-Costa Rican community lives. Education According to the United Nations, Costa Rica's literacy rate stands at 95.8%, the fifth highest among American countries. Costa Rica's Education Index in 2006 was 0.882; higher than that of richer countries, such as Singapore and Mexico. Costa Rica's gross enrollment ratio is 73.0%, smaller than that of the neighbors countries of El Salvador and Honduras. All students must complete primary school and secondary school, between 6 and 15 years. Some students drop out because they must work to help support their families. In 2007 there were 536,436 pupils enrolled in 3,771 primary schools and 377,900 students attended public and private secondary schools. Costa Rica's main universities are the University of Costa Rica, in San Pedro and the National University of Costa Rica, in Heredia. Costa Rica also has several small private universities. Emigration Costa Rica's emigration is among the smallest in the Caribbean Basin. About 3% of the country's people live in another country as immigrants. The main destination countries are the United States, Spain, Mexico and other Central American countries. In 2005, there were 127,061 Costa Ricans living in another country as immigrants. Remittances were $513,000,000 in 2006 and they represented 2.3% of the country's GDP. Immigration Costa Rica's immigration is among the largest in the Caribbean Basin. According to the 2011 census 385,899 residents were born abroad. The vast majority were born in Nicaragua (287,766). Other countries of origin were Colombia (20,514), United States (16,898), Spain (16,482) and Panama (11,250). Outward Remittances were $246,000,000 in 2006. Migrants According to the World Bank, about 489,200 migrants lived in the country in 2010 mainly from Nicaragua, Panama, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize, while 125,306 Costa Ricans live abroad in the United States, Panama, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, Canada, Germany, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, and Ecuador. The number of migrants declined in later years but in 2015, there were some 420,000 immigrants in Costa Rica and the number of asylum seekers (mostly from Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua) rose to more than 110,000, a fivefold increase from 2012. In 2016, the country was called a "magnet" for migrants from South and Central America and other countries who were hoping to reach the U.S. European Costa Ricans European Costa Ricans are people from Costa Rica whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Spain. According to DNA studies, around 75% of the population have some level of European ancestry. Percentages of the Costa Rican population by race are known as the national census does have the question of ethnicity included in its form. As for 2012 65.80% of Costa Ricans identify themselves as white/castizo and 13.65% as mestizo, giving around 80% of Caucasian population. This, however, is based in self-identification and not in scientific studies. According to PLoS Genetics Geographic Patterns of Genome Admixture in Latin American Mestizos study of 2012, Costa Ricans have 68% of European ancestry, 29% Amerindian and 3% African. According to CIA Factbook, Costa Rica has white or mestizo population of the 83.6%. Cristopher Columbus and crew were the first Europeans ever to set |
The main opposition to CAFTA came from PAC, labor unions, environmental organizations and public universities. In April 2007, former PLN Presidential candidate and CAFTA opponent José Miguel Corrales Bolaños won a legal battle at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which authorized him to gather over 100,000 signatures to send CAFTA to a referendum and let the people decide the fate of the controversial agreement. As the February 28, 2008 deadline to approve or reject CAFTA loomed, Arias decided to call for the referendum himself, and it took take place on October 7, 2007. CAFTA was approved with 51.5% of voters supporting it, although the election faced criticism due to international, including US, involvement. The Costa Rican general election, 2010 was won by Laura Chinchilla of centrist National Liberation Party, who had been vice-president in the previous Arias administration. In May 2010, she was sworn in as the first female President of Costa Rica. In 2014, Luis Guillermo Solís, PAC's presidential candidate campaigning on a platform of economic reform and anti-corruption, surprised political observers by winning 30.95% of votes in the first round, while PLN candidate Johnny Araya gained the second most votes with 29.95%. Broad Front's José María Villalta Florez-Estrada won 17% of the votes. Soon thereafter, Araya announced that he would cease campaigning, making Solís the favorite. Elections were still be held on April 6, 2014, as required by election law, and Solís won with 77.81% of the votes. According to the BBC, the success of Solís and Villalta is another example of anti-neoliberal politics in Latin America. In April 2018, Carlos Alvarado won the presidential election. He became the new President of Costa Rica, succeeding President Guillermo Solís. Both Solis and Alvarado represented centre-left Citizens' Action Party. Political involvement of government institutions Executive branch Executive responsibilities are vested in a president, who is elected to a term of four years directly by the voters, not by the National Assembly as it would be in a parliamentary system. There also are two vice presidents and the president's cabinet composed of his ministers. A constitutional amendment approved in 1969 limits presidents and deputies to one term, although a deputy may run again for an Assembly seat after sitting out a term. The prohibition was officially recognized as unconstitutional in April 2004, allowing Óscar Arias to run for president a second time in the 2006 Costa Rican presidential elections, which he won with approximately a 1% margin. The President of Costa Rica has limited powers, particularly in comparison to other Latin American Presidents. For example, he cannot veto the legislative budget, and thus Congress is sovereign over the year's single most important piece of legislation. On the other hand, he can appoint anyone to his cabinet without approval from Congress. This provides the single most important power versus Congress that any Costa Rican President has. |President |Carlos Alvarado Quesada |Citizens' Action Party |8 May 2018 |- | Vice President | Epsy Campbell Barr | Citizens' Action Party | 8 May 2018 |- | Vice Presidents | Marvin Rodríguez Cordero | Citizens' Action Party | 8 May 2018 |} Ministries Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship (Costa Rica) Ministry of Environment and Energy (Costa Rica) Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications Legislative branch Legislative powers are held by the Legislative Assembly. Legislators, called deputies, are elected to non-consecutive four-year terms by popular, direct vote, using proportional representation in each of the country's seven provinces. Elections were last held in February 2014 and will be held again in February 2018. As a result, there are nine separate political parties serving in the Legislative Assembly, with National Liberation Party holding 18 seats, the Citizens' Action Party holding 13, and Broad Front and the Social Christian Unity Party each holding 8. Other parties hold the remaining seats. |Legislative Assembly President |Carolina Hidalgo Herrera |Citizens' Action Party |8 May 2018 |} Judicial branch The main arm of the judiciary is the Supreme Court of Justice. Twenty-two magistrates are selected for the CSJ for 8-year terms by the Legislative Assembly, and lower courts. Sala IV, also known as the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, reviews legislation, executive actions, and certain writs for constitutionality. Courts below the Sala IV deal with issues involving legal and criminal disputes. Additionally, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE for its Spanish initials) is an independent branch of the CSJ, responsible for democratic elections. While the judiciary is independent of the politically elected executive and legislative branches, it is often responsible for resolving political and legal conflicts. Institutional oversight A Comptroller General, Procurator General, and an Ombudsman oversee the government and operate autonomously. These institutions have the right to scrutinize, investigate and prosecute government contracts. In addition, they may impose procedural requirements on most political and governmental agencies. The actions of politicians and political parties are frequently researched by these institutions. Elections On the national level, the president, two vice-presidents and a legislature are elected for a four-year term. The Legislative Assembly has 57 members, elected by proportional representation in each | scandals has been José María Figueres, former president from PLN and former head of the World Economic Forum. The 2006 national election was expected to be a landslide for former president (1986–1990) and PLN's candidate Óscar Arias, but it turned out to be the closest in modern history. Although polls just a week before the election gave Arias a comfortable lead of at least 12% (and up to 20%), preliminary election results gave him only a .4% lead over rival Ottón Solís and prompted a manual recount of all ballots. After a month-long recount and several appeals from different parties, Arias was declared the official winner with 40.9% of the votes against 39.8% for Solís. When Óscar Arias returned to office, the political debate shifted to the ratification of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Main supporters of the approval included the President's PLN, which established a coalition with PUSC and ML in Congress to approve the implementation laws in Congress, as well as different business chambers. The main opposition to CAFTA came from PAC, labor unions, environmental organizations and public universities. In April 2007, former PLN Presidential candidate and CAFTA opponent José Miguel Corrales Bolaños won a legal battle at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, which authorized him to gather over 100,000 signatures to send CAFTA to a referendum and let the people decide the fate of the controversial agreement. As the February 28, 2008 deadline to approve or reject CAFTA loomed, Arias decided to call for the referendum himself, and it took take place on October 7, 2007. CAFTA was approved with 51.5% of voters supporting it, although the election faced criticism due to international, including US, involvement. The Costa Rican general election, 2010 was won by Laura Chinchilla of centrist National Liberation Party, who had been vice-president in the previous Arias administration. In May 2010, she was sworn in as the first female President of Costa Rica. In 2014, Luis Guillermo Solís, PAC's presidential candidate campaigning on a platform of economic reform and anti-corruption, surprised political observers by winning 30.95% of votes in the first round, while PLN candidate Johnny Araya gained the second most votes with 29.95%. Broad Front's José María Villalta Florez-Estrada won 17% of the votes. Soon thereafter, Araya announced that he would cease campaigning, making Solís the favorite. Elections were still be held on April 6, 2014, as required by election law, and Solís won with 77.81% of the votes. According to the BBC, the success of Solís and Villalta is another example of anti-neoliberal politics in Latin America. In April 2018, Carlos Alvarado won the presidential election. He became the new President of Costa Rica, succeeding President Guillermo Solís. Both Solis and Alvarado represented centre-left Citizens' Action Party. Political involvement of government institutions Executive branch Executive responsibilities are vested in a president, who is elected to a term of four years directly by the voters, not by the National Assembly as it would be in a parliamentary system. There also are two vice presidents and the president's cabinet composed of his ministers. A constitutional amendment approved in 1969 limits presidents and deputies to one term, although a deputy may run again for an Assembly seat after sitting out a term. The prohibition was officially recognized as unconstitutional in April 2004, allowing Óscar Arias to run for president a second time in the 2006 Costa Rican presidential elections, which he won with approximately a 1% margin. The President of Costa Rica has limited powers, particularly in comparison to other Latin American Presidents. For example, he cannot veto the legislative budget, and thus Congress is sovereign over the year's single most important piece of legislation. On the other hand, he can appoint anyone to his cabinet without approval from Congress. This provides the single most important power versus Congress that any Costa Rican President has. |President |Carlos Alvarado Quesada |Citizens' Action Party |8 May 2018 |- | Vice President | Epsy Campbell Barr | Citizens' Action Party | 8 May 2018 |- | Vice Presidents | Marvin Rodríguez Cordero | Citizens' Action Party | 8 May 2018 |} Ministries Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship (Costa Rica) Ministry of Environment and Energy (Costa Rica) Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications Legislative branch Legislative powers are held by the Legislative Assembly. Legislators, called deputies, are elected to non-consecutive four-year terms by popular, direct vote, using proportional representation in each of the country's seven provinces. Elections were last held in February 2014 and will be held again in February 2018. As a result, there |
in Heredia. The fastest growing aspect of the economy is the provision of corporate services for foreign companies which in 2016 employed approximately 54,000 people in a country with a workforce under 342,000; that was up from 52,400 the previous year. For example, Amazon.com employs some 5,000 people. Many work in the free-trade areas such as Zona Franca America and earn roughly double the national average for service work. This sector generated US$4.6 billion in 2016, nearly as much as tourism. In 2013, the total FDI stock in Costa Rica amounted to about 40 percent of GDP, of which investments from the United States accounted for 64 percent, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain with 6 percent each. Costa Rica's outward foreign direct investment stock is small, at about 3 percent of GDP as of 2011, and mainly concentrated in Central America (about 57 percent of the total outward direct investment stock). Tourism is an important part of the economy, with the number of visitors increasing from 780,000 in 1996, to 1 million in 1999, and to 2.089 million foreign visitors in 2008, allowing the country to earn $2.144-billion in that year. By 2016, 2.6 million tourists visited Costa Rica, spending roughly US$3.4 billion. Tourism directly supported 110,000 jobs and indirectly supported 271,000 in 2016. Costa Rica has not discovered sources of fossil fuels—apart from minor coal deposits—but its mountainous terrain and abundant rainfall have permitted the construction of a dozen hydroelectric power plants, making it self-sufficient in all energy needs, except for refined petroleum. In 2017, Costa Rica was considering the export of electricity to neighbouring countries. Mild climate and trade winds make neither heating nor cooling necessary, particularly in the highland cities and towns where some 90% of the population lives. Renewable energy in Costa Rica is the norm. In 2016, 98.1 per cent of the country's electricity came from green sources: hydro generating stations, geothermal plants, wind turbines, solar panels and biomass plants. Infrastructure Costa Rica's infrastructure has suffered from a lack of maintenance and new investment. The country has an extensive road system of more than 30,000 kilometers, although much of it is in disrepair; this also applies to ports, railways and water delivery systems. According to a 2016 U.S. government report, investment from China which attempted to improve the infrastructure found the "projects stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns". Most parts of the country are accessible by road. The main highland cities in the country's Central Valley are connected by paved all-weather roads with the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and by the Pan American Highway with Nicaragua and Panama, the neighboring countries to the North and the South. Costa Rica's ports are struggling to keep pace with growing trade. They have insufficient capacity, and their equipment is in poor condition. The railroad didn't function for several years, until recent government effort to reactivate it for city transportation. An August 2016 OECD report provided this summary: "The road network is extensive but of poor quality, railways are in disrepair and only slowly being reactivated after having been shut down in the 1990s, seaports quality and capacity are deficient. Internal transportation overly relies on private road vehicles as the public transport system, especially railways, is inadequate." In a June 2017 interview, President Luis Guillermo Solís said that private sector investment would be required to solve the problems. "Of course Costa Rica’s infrastructure deficit is a challenge that outlasts any one government and I hope that we have created the foundations for future administrations to continue building. I have just enacted a law to facilitate Public Private Partnerships, which are the ideal way to develop projects that are too large for the government to undertake. For example the new airport that we are building to serve the capital city will cost $2 billion, so it will need private-sector involvement. There is also the potential for a ‘dry canal’ linking sea ports on our Atlantic and Caribbean Coasts that could need up to $16 billion of investment." The government hopes to bring foreign investment, technology, and management into the telecommunications and electrical power sectors, which are monopolies of the state. ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) has the monopoly on telecommunications, internet and electricity services. Some limited competition is allowed. In 2011, two new private companies began offering cellular phone service and others offer voice communication over internet connections (VOIP) for overseas calls. According to transparency.org, Costa Rica had a reputation as one of the most stable, prosperous, and among the least corrupt in Latin America in 2007. However, in fall 2004, three former Costa Rican presidents, José María Figueres, Miguel Angel Rodríguez, and Rafael Angel Calderon, were investigated on corruption charges related to the issuance of government contracts. After extensive legal proceedings Calderon and Rodriguez were sentenced; however, the inquiry on Figueres was dismissed and he was not charged. More recently, Costa Rica reached 40th place in 2015, with a score of 55 on the Perception of Corruption scale; this is better than the global average. Countries with the lowest perceived corruption rated 90 on the scale. In late May 2017, the country Costa Rica applied to become a member of the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, to be effective in July 2017. Foreign trade Costa Rica has sought to widen its economic and trade ties, both within and outside the region. Costa Rica signed a bilateral trade agreement with Mexico in 1994, which was later amended to cover a wider range of products. Costa Rica joined other Central American countries, plus the Dominican Republic, in establishing a Trade and Investment Council with the United States in March 1998, which later became the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement. Costa Rica has bilateral free trade agreements with the following countries and blocs which took effect on (see date): Canada (November 1, 2002) Caribbean Community (CARICOM)¨ (November 15, 2002) Chile (February 15, 2002) China (August 1, 2011). Colombia (September 2016) Dominican Republic (March 7, 2002) El Salvador Customs union, (1963, re-launched on October 29, 1993) European Free Trade Association (2013) European Union (October 1, 2013) Guatemala Customs union, (1963, re-launched on October 29, 1993) Honduras Customs union, (1963, re-launched on October 29, 1993) Mexico (January 1, 1995) Nicaragua Customs union, (1963, re-launched on October 29, 1993) Panama (July 31, 1973, renegotiated and expanded for January 1, 2009) Perú (June 1, 2013) United States (January 1, 2009, CAFTA-DR) Singapore (April 6, 2010) South Korea (March 18, 2019) There are no significant trade barriers that would affect imports and the country has been lowering its tariffs in accordance with other Central American countries. Costa Rica also is a member of the Cairns Group, an organization of agricultural exporting countries that are seeking access to more markets to increase the exports of agricultural products. Opponents of free agricultural trade have sometimes attempted to block imports of products already grown in Costa Rica, including rice, potatoes, and onions. By 2015, Costa Rica's agricultural exports totalled US$2.7 billion. In 2015, | in English and languages such as Portuguese, Mandarin and French. It would also benefit from more graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs. Some sectors are controlled by a state monopoly which excludes competition but in other respects, "Costa Rican laws, regulations and practices are generally transparent and foster competition". The country has been slow in completing environmental impact assessments which have caused delays in projects being completed. Product registration is a slow process, although this may improve with digitization. In spite of government attempts at improving the enforcement of intellectual property laws, this aspect remains a concern. Natural resources Costa Rica's rainfall, and its location in the Central American isthmus, which provides easy access to North and South American markets and direct ocean access to the European and Asian Continents. Costa Rica has two seasons, both of which have their own agricultural resources: the tropical wet and dry seasons. One-fourth of Costa Rica's land is dedicated to national forests, often adjoining beaches, which has made the country a popular destination for affluent retirees and ecotourists. A full 10.27% of the country is protected as national parks while an additional 17% is set aside for reserves, wildlife refuges and protected zones. Costa Rica has over 50 wildlife refuges, 32 major national parks, more than 12 forest reserves and a few biological reserves. Because of ocean access, 23.7% of Costa Ricas people fish and trade their catches to fish companies; this is viewed as "small scale artisanal coastal" fishing and is most common in the Gulf of Nicoya. Costa Rica also charges licensing fees for commercial fishing fleets that are taking tuna, sardines, banga mary, mahi-mahi, red tilapia, shrimp, red snapper, other snappers, shark, marlin and sailfish. In mid 2017, the country was planning to ban large-scale commercial fishing off the southern Pacific Coast in an area nearly a million acres in size. The bill in congress was intended to "protect the extraordinary marine and coastal resources" from "indiscriminate and unsustainable commercial fishing." Sport fishing is an important part of the tourism industry; species include marlin, sailfish, dorado, tarpon, snook, rooster fish, wahoo, tuna, mackerel, snapper and rainbow bass. In terms of the 2012 Environmental Performance Index ranking, Costa Rica is 5th in the world, and first among the Americas. The World Economic Forum's 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report ranked Costa Rica as third of 136 countries based on natural resources, the number of World Heritage natural sites, protected areas and species as well as eco tourism. Tourism With a $1.92-billion-a-year tourism industry, Costa Rica was the most visited nation in the Central American region, with 2.42 million foreign visitors in 2013. By 2016, 2.6 million tourists visited Costa Rica. The Tourism Board estimates that this sector's spending in the country represented over US$3.4 billion, or about 5.8% of the GDP. The World Travel & Tourism Council's estimates indicate a direct contribution to the 2016 GDP of 5.1% and 110,000 direct jobs in Costa Rica; the total number of jobs indirectly supported by tourism was 271,000. Ecotourism is extremely popular with the many tourists visiting the extensive national parks and protected areas around the country. Costa Rica was a pioneer in this type of tourism and the country is recognized as one of the few with real ecotourism. Other important market segments are adventure, sun and beaches. Most of the tourists come from the U.S. and Canada (46%), and the EU (16%), the prime market travelers in the world, which translates into a relatively high expenditure per tourist of $1000 per trip. In the 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI), Costa Rica reached the 44th place in the world ranking, being the first among Latin American countries, and second if the Caribbean is included. Just considering the subindex measuring human, cultural, and natural resources, Costa Rica ranks in the 24th place at a worldwide level, and 7th when considering just the natural resources criteria. The TTCI report also notes Costa Rica's main weaknesses, ground transport infrastructure (ranked 113th), and safety and security (ranked 128th). The online travel magazine Travelzoo rated Costa Rica as one of five “Wow Deal Destinations for 2012”. The magazine Travel Weekly named Costa Rica the best destination in Central and South America in 2011. In 2017, the country was nominated in the following categories in the World Travel Awards: Mexico & Central America's Leading Beach Destination, Mexico & Central America's Leading Destination and Mexico & Central America's Leading Tourist Board. Agriculture Costa Rica's economy was historically based on agriculture, and this has had a large cultural impact through the years. Costa Rica's main cash crop, historically and up to modern times, was Bananas. The coffee crop had been a major export, but decreased in value to the point where it added only 2.5% to the 2013 exports of the country. Agriculture also plays an important part in the country's gross domestic product (GDP). It makes up about 6.5% of Costa Rica’s GDP, and employs 12.9% of the labor force (2016). By comparison, 18.57% work in industry and 69.02 percent in the services sector. Depending on location and altitude, many regions differ in agricultural crops and techniques. The main agricultural exports from the country include: bananas, pineapples (the second highest export, with over 50% share of the world market), other tropical fruits, coffee (much of it grown in the Valle Central or Meseta Central), sugar, rice, palm oil, vegetables, tropical fruits, ornamental plants, maize, and potatoes. Livestock activity consists of cattle, pigs and horses, as well as poultry. Meat and dairy produce are leading exports according to one source, but both were not in the top 10 categories of 2013. The combined export value of forest products and textiles in 2013 did not exceed that of either chemical products or plastics. Exports, jobs, and energy Mere decades ago, Costa Rica was known principally as a producer of bananas and coffee. Even though bananas, pineapple, sugar, coffee, lumber, wood products and beef are still important exports, in recent times medical instruments, electronics, pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism are now the prime exports. High levels of education and fluency in English among its residents make the country an attractive investing location. In 2015 the following were the major export products (US$): medical instruments ($2 billion), bananas ($1.24B), tropical fruits ($1.22B), integrated circuits ($841 million) and orthopedic appliances ($555M). The total exports in 2015 were US$12.6 billion, down from $18.9B in 2010; bananas and medical instruments were the two largest sectors. Total imports in 2015 were $15B, up from $13.8B in 2010; this resulted in a trade deficit. Over the years, Costa Rica successfully attracted important investments by such companies as Intel Corporation, Procter & Gamble, Abbott Laboratories and Baxter Healthcare. Manufacturing and industry's contribution to GDP overtook agriculture over the course of the 1990s, led by foreign investment in Costa Rica's Free Trade Zones (FTZ) where companies benefit from investment and tax incentives. Companies in such zones must export at least 50% of their services. Well over half of that type of investment has come from the U.S. According to the government, the zones supported over 82 thousand direct jobs and 43 thousand indirect jobs in 2015; direct employment grew 5% over 2014. The average wages in the FTZ increased by 7% and were 1.8 times greater than the average for private enterprise work in the rest of the country. Companies with facilities in the America Free Zone in Heredia, for example, include Dell, HP, Bayer, Bosch, DHL, IBM and Okay Industries. In 2006 Intel's microprocessor facility alone was responsible for 20% of Costa Rican exports and 4.9% of the country's GDP. In 2014, Intel announced it would end manufacturing in Costa Rica and lay off 1,500 staff but agreed to maintain at least 1,200 employees. The facility continued as a test and design center with approximately 1,600 remaining staff. In 2017, Intel had 2000 employees in the country, and was operating a facility which assembles, tests and distributes processors and a Global Innovation Center, both in Heredia. The fastest growing aspect of the economy is the provision of corporate services for foreign companies which in 2016 employed approximately 54,000 people in a country with a workforce under 342,000; that was up from 52,400 the previous year. For example, Amazon.com employs some 5,000 people. Many work in the free-trade areas such as Zona Franca America and earn roughly double the national average for service work. This sector generated US$4.6 billion in 2016, nearly as much as tourism. In 2013, the total FDI stock in Costa Rica amounted to about 40 percent of GDP, of which investments from the United States accounted for 64 percent, followed by the United Kingdom and Spain with 6 percent each. Costa Rica's outward foreign direct investment stock is small, at about 3 percent of GDP as of 2011, and mainly concentrated in Central America (about 57 percent of the total outward direct investment stock). Tourism is an important part of the economy, with the number of visitors increasing from 780,000 in 1996, to 1 million in 1999, and to 2.089 million foreign visitors in 2008, allowing the country to earn $2.144-billion in that year. By 2016, 2.6 million tourists visited Costa Rica, spending roughly US$3.4 billion. Tourism directly supported 110,000 jobs and indirectly supported 271,000 in 2016. Costa Rica has not discovered sources of fossil fuels—apart from minor coal deposits—but its mountainous terrain and abundant rainfall have permitted the construction of a dozen hydroelectric power plants, making it self-sufficient in all energy needs, except for refined petroleum. In 2017, Costa Rica was considering the export of electricity to neighbouring countries. Mild climate and trade winds make neither heating nor cooling necessary, particularly in the highland cities and towns where some 90% of the population lives. Renewable energy in Costa Rica is the norm. In 2016, 98.1 per cent of the country's electricity came from green sources: hydro generating stations, geothermal plants, wind turbines, solar panels and biomass plants. Infrastructure Costa Rica's infrastructure has suffered from a lack of maintenance and new investment. The country has an extensive road system of more than 30,000 kilometers, although much of it is in disrepair; this also applies to ports, railways and water delivery systems. According to a 2016 U.S. government report, investment from China which attempted to improve the infrastructure found the "projects stalled by bureaucratic and legal concerns". Most parts of the country are accessible by road. The main highland cities in the country's Central Valley are connected by paved all-weather roads with the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and by the Pan American Highway with Nicaragua and Panama, the neighboring countries to the North and the South. Costa Rica's ports are struggling to keep pace with growing trade. They have insufficient capacity, and their equipment is in poor condition. The railroad didn't function for several years, until recent government effort to reactivate it for city transportation. An August 2016 OECD report provided this summary: "The road network is extensive but of poor quality, railways are in disrepair |
Road transportation The road system in Costa Rica is not as developed as it might be expected for such a country. However, there are some two-lane trunk roads with restricted access under development. Total: Paved: Unpaved: National road network The Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT), along with the National Road Council (Conavi), are the government organizations in charge of national road nomenclature and maintenance. There are three levels in the national road network: Primary roads: These are trunk roads devised to connect important cities, most of the national roads are connected to the capital city, San José. There are 19 national primary roads, numbered between 1 and 39. Secondary roads: These are roads that connect different cities, or primary routes, directly. There are 129 national secondary roads, numbered between 100 and 257. Tertiary roads: These roads connect main cities to villages | levels in the national road network: Primary roads: These are trunk roads devised to connect important cities, most of the national roads are connected to the capital city, San José. There are 19 national primary roads, numbered between 1 and 39. Secondary roads: These are roads that connect different cities, or primary routes, directly. There are 129 national secondary roads, numbered between 100 and 257. Tertiary roads: These roads connect main cities to villages or residential areas, there are 175 national tertiary roads, numbered between 301 and 935. Waterways , seasonally navigable by small craft Pipelines refined products Ports and harbors In 2016, the government pledged ₡93 million ($166,000) for a new cruise ship terminal for Puerto Limón. Atlantic Ocean Port of Moín, operated by JAPDEVA. Port of Limón, operated by JAPDEVA. Moín Container Terminal, operated by APM Terminals. Pacific Ocean Golfito Puerto Quepos Puntarenas (cruise ships only) Caldera Port Merchant marine total: |
reports directly to the Minister of the Presidency. About 70 members strong, it is organized along military lines, although officially a civilian police unit. The motto of the Public Force is "God, Fatherland, and Honour." Commissioner of Police Juan José Andrade Morales serves as its current Commissioner General. Ranks Equipment Handguns SIG Sauer P226 9×19 mm Smith & Wesson Model 5906 9×19 mm Beretta M9 9×19 mm IWI Jericho 941 9×19 mm Taurus PT92 9×19 mm Glock 17 9×19 mm Submachine guns Heckler & Koch MP5 9×19 mm Shotguns Benelli M4 18.5×76 mm Assault rifles M16 5.56×45 mm M4 5.56×45 mm SIG 556 5.56×45 mm IMI Galil FN FAL 7.62×51 mm IWI Tavor 5.56×45 mm Machine guns M60 machine gun 7.62×51 mm IWI Negev 5.56×45 mm M2 Browning 12.7×99 mm Sniper rifles M24 7.62×51 mm M21 7.62×51 mm Grenade launchers M79 Model 2012Z See also List of countries without armed forces References External links Fuerza Pública de | On 1 December 1948, President José Figueres Ferrer of Costa Rica abolished the military of Costa Rica after achieving victory in the Costa Rican Civil War that year. In a ceremony in the , in the capital San José, Figueres broke a wall with a mallet symbolizing an end to Costa Rica's military spirit. In 1949, the abolition of the military was introduced in Article 12 of the Constitution of Costa Rica. The budget previously dedicated to the military is now dedicated to security, education and culture. Costa Rica maintains Police Guard forces. The museum was placed in the as a symbol of commitment to culture. In 1986, President Oscar Arias Sánchez declared December 1 as the (Military abolition day) with Law #8115. Unlike its neighbors, Costa Rica has not endured a civil war since 1948. Costa Rica maintains small forces capable of law enforcement, but has no permanent standing army. Public Force of the Ministry of Public Security (1996) In 1996, the Ministry of Public Security established the or Public Force, a gendarmerie which reorganised and eliminated the Civil Guard, Rural Assistance Guard, and Frontier Guards as separate entities. They are now under the Ministry and operate on a geographic command basis performing ground security, law enforcement, counter-narcotics, border patrol, and tourism security functions. The |
History Costa Rica gained election as President of the Group of 77 in the United Nations in 1995. That term ended in 1997 with the South-South Conference held in San Jose. Costa Rica occupied a nonpermanent seat in the Security Council from 1997 to 1999 and exercised a leadership role in confronting crises in the Middle East and Africa, as well as in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. It is currently a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. On Jan. 1 2008 Costa Rica started its third year term on the Security Council. Costa Rica strongly backed efforts by the United States to implement UN Security Council Resolution 940, which led to the restoration of the democratically elected Government of Haiti in October 1994. Costa Rica was among the first to call for a postponement of the May 22 elections in Peru when international observer missions found electoral machinery not prepared for the vote count. Costa Rica is also a member of the International Criminal Court, without a Bilateral Immunity Agreement of protection for the US-military (as covered under Article 98) Costa Rica's Relation to Central America In 1987, then President Óscar Arias authored a regional plan that served as the basis for the Esquipulas Peace Agreement and Arias was awarded the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his work. Arias also promoted change in | that country's 1994 free and fair elections. Costa Rica has been a strong proponent of regional arms-limitation agreements. Former President Miguel Ángel Rodríguez recently proposed the abolition of all Central American militaries and the creation of a regional counternarcotics police force in their stead. With the establishment of democratically elected governments in all Central American nations by the 1990s, Costa Rica turned its focus from regional conflicts to the pursuit of neoliberal policies on the isthmus. The influence of these policies, along with the US invasion of Panama, was instrumental in drawing Panama into the Central American model of neoliberalism. Costa Rica also participated in the multinational Partnership for Democracy and Development in Central America. Regional political integration has not proven attractive to Costa Rica. The country debated its role in the Central American integration process under former President Calderon. Costa Rica has sought concrete economic ties with its Central American neighbors rather than the establishment of regional political institutions, and it chose not to join the Central American Parliament. Costa Rica in the UN Costa Rica has been an active member of the United |
Areas of research that are studied by theoretical computational linguistics include: Computational complexity of natural language, largely modeled on automata theory, with the application of context-sensitive grammar and linearly bounded Turing machines. Computational semantics comprises defining suitable logics for linguistic meaning representation, automatically constructing them and reasoning with them Applied computational linguistics is dominated by machine learning, traditionally using statistical methods, since the mid-2010s by neural networks: Socher et al. (2012) was an early Deep Learning tutorial at the ACL 2012, and met with both interest and (at the time) scepticism by most participants. Until then, neural learning was basically rejected because of its lack of statistical interpretability. Until 2015, deep learning had evolved into the major framework of NLP. As for the tasks addressed by applied computational linguistics, see Natural language processing article. This includes classical problems such as the design of POS-taggers (part-of-speech taggers), parsers for natural languages, or tasks such as machine translation (MT), the sub-division of computational linguistics dealing with having computers translate between languages. As one of the earliest and most difficult applications of computational linguistics, MT draws on many subfields and both theoretical and applied aspects. Traditionally, automatic language translation has been considered a notoriously hard branch of computational linguistics. Aside from dichotomy between theoretical and applied computational linguistics, other divisions of computational into major areas according to different criteria exist, including: medium of the language being processed, whether spoken or textual: speech recognition and speech synthesis deal with how spoken language can be understood or created using computers. task being performed, e.g., whether analyzing language (recognition) or synthesizing language (generation): Parsing and generation are sub-divisions of computational linguistics dealing respectively with taking language apart and putting it together. Traditionally, applications of computers to address research problems in other branches of linguistics have been described as tasks within computational linguistics. Among other aspects, this includes Computer-aided corpus linguistics, which has been used since the 1970s as a way to make detailed advances in the field of discourse analysis Simulation and study of language evolution in historical linguistics/glottochronology. Origins Computational linguistics is often grouped within the field of artificial intelligence but was present before the development of artificial intelligence. Computational linguistics originated with efforts in the United States in the 1950s to use computers to automatically translate texts from foreign languages, particularly Russian scientific journals, into English. Since computers can make arithmetic (systematic) calculations much faster and more accurately than humans, it was thought to be only a short matter of time before they could also begin to process language. Computational and quantitative methods are also used historically in the attempted reconstruction of earlier forms of modern languages and sub-grouping modern languages into language families. Earlier methods, such as lexicostatistics and glottochronology, have been proven to be premature and inaccurate. However, recent interdisciplinary studies that borrow concepts from biological studies, especially gene mapping, have proved to produce more sophisticated analytical tools and more reliable results. When machine translation (also known as mechanical translation) failed to yield accurate translations right away, automated processing of human languages was recognized as far more complex than had originally been assumed. Computational linguistics was born as the name of the new field of study devoted to developing algorithms and software for intelligently processing language data. The term "computational linguistics" itself was first coined by David Hays, a founding member of both the Association for Computational Linguistics (ACL) and the International Committee on Computational Linguistics (ICCL). To translate one language into another, it was observed that one had to understand the grammar of both languages, including both morphology (the grammar of word forms) and syntax (the grammar of sentence structure). To understand syntax, one had to also understand the semantics and the lexicon (or 'vocabulary'), and even something of the pragmatics of language use. Thus, what started as an effort to translate between languages evolved into an entire discipline devoted to understanding how to represent and process natural languages using computers. Nowadays research within the scope of computational linguistics is done at computational linguistics departments, computational linguistics laboratories, computer science departments, and linguistics departments. Some research in the field of computational linguistics aims to create working speech or text processing systems while others aim to create a system allowing human-machine interaction. Programs meant for human-machine communication are called conversational agents. Approaches Just as computational linguistics can be performed by experts in a variety of fields and through a wide assortment of departments, so too can the research fields broach a diverse range of topics. The following sections discuss some of the literature available across the entire field broken into four main area of discourse: developmental linguistics, structural linguistics, linguistic production, and linguistic comprehension. Developmental approaches Language is a cognitive skill that develops throughout the life of an individual. This developmental process has been examined using several techniques, and a computational approach is one of them. Human language development does provide some constraints which make it harder to apply a computational method to understanding it. For instance, during language acquisition, human children are largely only exposed to positive evidence. This means that during the linguistic development of an individual, the only evidence for what is a correct form is provided, and no evidence for what is not correct. This is insufficient information for a simple hypothesis testing procedure for information as complex as language, and so provides certain boundaries for a computational approach to modeling language development and acquisition in an individual. Attempts have been made to model the developmental process of language acquisition in children from a computational angle, leading to both statistical grammars and connectionist models. Work in this realm has also been proposed as a method to explain the evolution of language through history. Using models, it has been shown that languages can be learned with a combination of simple input presented incrementally as the child develops better memory and longer attention span. This was simultaneously posed as a reason for the long developmental period of human children. Both conclusions were drawn because of the strength of the artificial neural network which the project created. The ability of infants to develop language has also been modeled using robots in order to test linguistic theories. Enabled to learn as children might, a model was created based on an affordance model in which mappings between actions, perceptions, and effects were created and linked to spoken words. Crucially, these robots were able to acquire functioning word-to-meaning mappings without needing grammatical structure, vastly simplifying the learning process and shedding light on information which furthers the current understanding of linguistic development. It is important to note that this information could only have been empirically tested using a computational approach. As our understanding of the linguistic development of an individual within a lifetime is continually improved using neural networks and learning robotic systems, it is also important to keep in mind that languages themselves change and develop through time. Computational approaches to understanding this phenomenon have unearthed very interesting information. Using the Price equation and Pólya urn dynamics, researchers have created a system which not only predicts future linguistic evolution but also gives insight into the evolutionary history of modern-day languages. This modeling effort achieved, through computational linguistics, what would otherwise have been impossible. It is clear that the understanding of linguistic development in humans as well as throughout evolutionary time has been fantastically improved because of advances in computational linguistics. The ability to model and modify systems at will affords science an ethical method of testing hypotheses that would otherwise be intractable. Structural approaches To create better computational models of language, an understanding of language's structure is crucial. To this end, the English language has been meticulously studied using computational approaches to better understand how the language works on a structural level. One of the most important pieces of being able to study linguistic structure is the availability of large linguistic corpora or samples. This grants computational linguists the raw data necessary to run their models and gain a better understanding of the underlying structures present in the vast amount of data which is contained in any single language. One of the most cited English linguistic corpora is the Penn Treebank. Derived from widely-different sources, such as IBM computer manuals and transcribed telephone conversations, this corpus contains over 4.5 million words of American English. This corpus has been primarily annotated using part-of-speech tagging and syntactic bracketing and has yielded substantial empirical observations related to language structure. Theoretical approaches to the structure of languages have also been developed. These works allow computational linguistics to have a framework within which to work out hypotheses that will further the understanding of the language in a myriad of ways. One of the original theoretical theses on the internalization of grammar and structure of language proposed two types of models. In these models, rules or patterns learned increase in strength with the frequency of their encounter. The work also created a question for computational linguists to answer: how does an infant learn a specific and non-normal grammar (Chomsky normal form) without learning an overgeneralized version and getting stuck? Theoretical efforts like these set the direction for research to go early in the lifetime of a field of study, and are crucial to the growth of the field. Structural information about languages allows for the discovery and implementation of similarity recognition between pairs of text utterances. For instance, it has recently been proven that based on the structural information present in patterns of human discourse, | continually improved using neural networks and learning robotic systems, it is also important to keep in mind that languages themselves change and develop through time. Computational approaches to understanding this phenomenon have unearthed very interesting information. Using the Price equation and Pólya urn dynamics, researchers have created a system which not only predicts future linguistic evolution but also gives insight into the evolutionary history of modern-day languages. This modeling effort achieved, through computational linguistics, what would otherwise have been impossible. It is clear that the understanding of linguistic development in humans as well as throughout evolutionary time has been fantastically improved because of advances in computational linguistics. The ability to model and modify systems at will affords science an ethical method of testing hypotheses that would otherwise be intractable. Structural approaches To create better computational models of language, an understanding of language's structure is crucial. To this end, the English language has been meticulously studied using computational approaches to better understand how the language works on a structural level. One of the most important pieces of being able to study linguistic structure is the availability of large linguistic corpora or samples. This grants computational linguists the raw data necessary to run their models and gain a better understanding of the underlying structures present in the vast amount of data which is contained in any single language. One of the most cited English linguistic corpora is the Penn Treebank. Derived from widely-different sources, such as IBM computer manuals and transcribed telephone conversations, this corpus contains over 4.5 million words of American English. This corpus has been primarily annotated using part-of-speech tagging and syntactic bracketing and has yielded substantial empirical observations related to language structure. Theoretical approaches to the structure of languages have also been developed. These works allow computational linguistics to have a framework within which to work out hypotheses that will further the understanding of the language in a myriad of ways. One of the original theoretical theses on the internalization of grammar and structure of language proposed two types of models. In these models, rules or patterns learned increase in strength with the frequency of their encounter. The work also created a question for computational linguists to answer: how does an infant learn a specific and non-normal grammar (Chomsky normal form) without learning an overgeneralized version and getting stuck? Theoretical efforts like these set the direction for research to go early in the lifetime of a field of study, and are crucial to the growth of the field. Structural information about languages allows for the discovery and implementation of similarity recognition between pairs of text utterances. For instance, it has recently been proven that based on the structural information present in patterns of human discourse, conceptual recurrence plots can be used to model and visualize trends in data and create reliable measures of similarity between natural textual utterances. This technique is a strong tool for further probing the structure of human discourse. Without the computational approach to this question, the vastly complex information present in discourse data would have remained inaccessible to scientists. Information regarding the structural data of a language is available for English as well as other languages, such as Japanese. Using computational methods, Japanese sentence corpora were analyzed and a pattern of log-normality was found in relation to sentence length. Though the exact cause of this lognormality remains unknown, it is precisely this sort of information which computational linguistics is designed to uncover. This information could lead to further important discoveries regarding the underlying structure of Japanese and could have any number of effects on the understanding of Japanese as a language. Computational linguistics allows for very exciting additions to the scientific knowledge base to happen quickly and with very little room for doubt. Without a computational approach to the structure of linguistic data, much of the information that is available now would still be hidden under the vastness of data within any single language. Computational linguistics allows scientists to parse huge amounts of data reliably and efficiently, creating the possibility for discoveries unlike any seen in most other approaches. Production approaches The production of language is equally as complex in the information it provides and the necessary skills which a fluent producer must have. That is to say, comprehension is only half the problem of communication. The other half is how a system produces language, and computational linguistics has made interesting discoveries in this area. In a now famous paper published in 1950 Alan Turing proposed the possibility that machines might one day have the ability to "think". As a thought experiment for what might define the concept of thought in machines, he proposed an "imitation test" in which a human subject has two text-only conversations, one with a fellow human and another with a machine attempting to respond like a human. Turing proposes that if the subject cannot tell the difference between the human and the machine, it may be concluded that the machine is capable of thought. Today this test is known as the Turing test and it remains an influential idea in the area of artificial intelligence. One of the earliest and best-known examples of a computer program designed to converse naturally with humans is the ELIZA program developed by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT in 1966. The program emulated a Rogerian psychotherapist when responding to written statements and questions posed by a user. It appeared capable of understanding what was said to it and responding intelligently, but in truth, it simply followed a pattern matching routine that relied on only understanding a few keywords in each sentence. Its responses were generated by recombining the unknown parts of the sentence around properly translated versions of the known words. For example, in the phrase "It seems that you hate me" ELIZA understands "you" and "me" which matches the general pattern "you [some words] me", allowing ELIZA to update the words "you" and "me" to "I" and "you" and replying "What makes you think I hate you?". In this example ELIZA has no understanding of the word "hate", but it is not required for a logical response in the context of this type of psychotherapy. Some projects are still trying to solve the problem which first started computational linguistics off as its field in the first place. However, methods have become more refined, and consequently, the results generated by computational linguists have become more enlightening. To improve computer translation, several models have been compared, including hidden Markov models, smoothing techniques, and the specific refinements of those to apply them to verb translation. The model which was found to produce the most natural translations of German and French words was a refined alignment model with a first-order dependence and a fertility model. They also provide efficient training algorithms for the models presented, which can give other scientists the ability to improve further on their results. This type of work is specific to computational linguistics and has applications that could vastly improve understanding of how language is produced and comprehended by computers. Work has also been done in making computers produce language in a more naturalistic manner. Using linguistic input from humans, algorithms have been constructed which are able to modify a system's style of production based on a factor such as linguistic input from a human, or more abstract factors like politeness or any of the five main dimensions of personality. This work takes a computational approach via parameter estimation models to categorize the vast array of linguistic styles we see across individuals and simplify it for a computer to work in the same way, making human–computer interaction much more natural. Text-based interactive approach Many of the earliest and simplest models of human–computer interaction, such as ELIZA for example, involve a text-based input from the user to generate a response from the computer. By this method, words typed by a user trigger the computer to recognize specific patterns and reply accordingly, through a process known as keyword spotting. Speech-based interactive approach Recent technologies have placed more of an emphasis on speech-based interactive systems. These systems, such as Siri of the iOS operating system, operate on a similar pattern-recognizing technique as that of text-based systems, but with the former, the user input is conducted through speech recognition. This branch of linguistics involves the processing of the user's speech as sound waves and the interpreting of the acoustics and language patterns for the computer to recognize the input. Comprehension approaches Much of the focus of modern computational linguistics is on comprehension. With the proliferation of the internet and the abundance of easily accessible written human language, the ability to create a program capable of understanding human language would have many broad and exciting possibilities, including improved search engines, automated customer service, and online education. Early work in comprehension included applying Bayesian statistics to the task of optical character recognition, as illustrated by Bledsoe and Browing in 1959 in which a large dictionary of possible letters was generated by "learning" from example letters and then the probability that any one of those learned examples matched the new input was combined to make a final decision. Other attempts at applying Bayesian statistics to language analysis included the work of Mosteller and Wallace (1963) in which an analysis of the words used in The Federalist Papers was used to attempt to determine their authorship (concluding that Madison most likely authored the majority of the papers). In 1971 Terry Winograd developed an early natural language processing engine capable of interpreting naturally written commands within a simple rule-governed environment. The primary language parsing program in this project was called SHRDLU, which was capable of carrying out a somewhat natural conversation with the user giving it commands, but only within the scope of the toy environment designed for the task. This environment consisted of different shaped and colored blocks, and SHRDLU was capable of interpreting commands such as "Find a block which is taller than the one you are holding and put it into the box." and asking questions such as "I don't understand which pyramid you mean." in response to the user's input. While impressive, this kind of natural language processing has proven much more difficult outside the limited scope of the toy environment. Similarly, a project developed by NASA called LUNAR was designed to provide answers to naturally written questions about the geological analysis of lunar rocks returned by the Apollo missions. These kinds of problems are referred to as question answering. Initial attempts at understanding spoken language were based on work done in the 1960s and 1970s in signal modeling where an unknown signal is analyzed to look for patterns and to make predictions based on its history. An initial and somewhat successful approach to applying this kind of signal modeling to language was achieved with the use of hidden Markov models |
country from east to west, and is the transition zone between the coastal forests and the interior savannas. The forest-savanna mosaic interlaces forest, savanna and grassland habitats. Northern Ivory Coast is part of the West Sudanian Savanna ecoregion of the Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. It is a zone of lateritic or sandy soils, with vegetation decreasing from south to north. The terrain is mostly flat to undulating plain, with mountains in the northwest. The lowest elevation in Ivory Coast is at sea level on the coasts. The highest elevation is Mount Nimba, at in the far west of the country along the border with Guinea and Liberia. Rivers The Cavalla River drains the western border area of the Ivory Coast and eastern Liberia. It forms the southern two-thirds of the international boundary between Liberia and Côte d'Ivoire. The Sassandra River forms in the Guinea highlands and drains much of the western part of the Ivory Coast east of the Cavalla River. The Bandama River is the longest river in the Ivory Coast with a length of some draining the east central part of the country. In 1973 the Kossou Dam was constructed at Kossou on the Bandama creating Lake Kossou. The capital, Yamoussoukro, is located near the river south of the lake. The Komoé River originates on the Sikasso Plateau of Burkina Faso, and briefly follows the border between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast before entering Ivory Coast. It drains the northeastern and easternmost portions of the country before emptying into the eastern end of the Ébrié Lagoon and ultimately the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean. Its waters contribute to the Comoé National Park. Climate The climate of Ivory Coast is generally warm and humid, ranging from equatorial in the southern coasts to tropical in the middle and semiarid in the far north. There are three seasons: warm and dry (November to March), hot and dry (March to May), and hot and wet (June to October). Temperatures average between and range from . Crops and natural resources Ivory Coast has a large timber industry due to its large forest coverage. The nation's hardwood exports match that of Brazil. In recent years there has been much concern about the rapid rate of deforestation. Rainforests are being destroyed at a rate sometimes cited as the highest in the world. The only forest left completely untouched in Ivory Coast is Taï National Park (Parc National de Taï), a area in the country's far southwest that is home to over 150 | claims Ivory Coast makes maritime claims of as an exclusive economic zone, of territorial sea, and a continental shelf. Terrain and topography Ivory Coast's terrain can generally be described as a large plateau rising gradually from sea level in the south to almost elevation in the north. The nation's natural resources have made it into a comparatively prosperous nation in the African economy. The southeastern region of Ivory Coast is marked by coastal inland lagoons that starts at the Ghanaian border and stretch along the eastern half of the coast. The southern region, especially the southwest, is covered with dense tropical moist forest. The Eastern Guinean forests extend from the Sassandra River across the south-central and southeast portion of Ivory Coast and east into Ghana, while the Western Guinean lowland forests extend west from the Sassandra River into Liberia and southeastern Guinea. The mountains of Dix-Huit Montagnes region, in the west of the country near the border with Guinea and Liberia, are home to the Guinean montane forests. The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic belt extends across the middle of the country from east to west, and is the transition zone between the coastal forests and the interior savannas. The forest-savanna mosaic interlaces forest, savanna and grassland habitats. Northern Ivory Coast is part of the West Sudanian Savanna ecoregion of the Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome. It is a zone of lateritic or sandy soils, with vegetation decreasing from south to north. The terrain is mostly flat to undulating plain, with mountains in the northwest. The |
education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population According to the total population was in , compared to only 2 630 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.9%, 55.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.8% was 65 years or older . Structure of the population (DHS 2011–2012) (Males 23 630, Females 25 193 = 48 823) : Population Growth: 1.88% (2016 est.) Vital statistics Registration of vital events is in Ivory Coast not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Fertility and Births Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011-2012 (DHS Program): Life expectancy Ethnic groups Ivory Coast has more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan (east and center, including Lagoon peoples of the southeast), Krou (southwest), Southern Mandé (west), Northern Mandé (northwest), Sénoufo/Lobi (north center and northeast). The Baoulés, in the Akan division, probably comprise the largest single subgroup with 15%-20% of the population. They are based in the central region around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Bétés in the Krou division, the Sénoufos in the north, and the Malinkés in the northwest and the cities are the next largest groups, with 10%-15% of the national population. Most of the principal divisions have a significant presence in neighboring countries. Of the more than 5 million non-Ivorian Africans living in Ivory Coast, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso; the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania. The non-African expatriate community includes roughly 50,000 French (this number may be inaccurate due to the evacuation of roughly 8,000 Frenchmen in November 2004) and possibly 40,000 Lebanese. The number of elementary school-aged children attending classes increased from 22% in 1960 to 67% in 1995. Languages French is the official language, while there are 60 living indigenous languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The Dioula dialect of Bambara is the most widely spoken one. Other language groups include the Gur languages, the Senufo languages, the Kru languages (including the Bété languages, Dida, Nyabwa, Wè, and Western Krahn), and the Kwa languages (including Akan, Anyin, and Baoulé). Religion The economic development and relative prosperity of Ivory Coast fostered huge demographic shifts during the 20th century. "In 1922, an estimated 100,000 out of 1.6 million (or 6 percent) of people in Côte d'Ivoire were Muslims. By contrast, at independence (in 1960), their share of the population had increased rapidly, and Muslims were moving southward to the cocoa-producing areas and the southern cities. By 1998, [...], Muslims constituted a majority in the north of the country, and approximately 38.6 percent of the total population. This was a significantly larger population than the next largest religious group, Christians, who constituted approximately 29.1 percent of the total." In earlier decades, this shift was mainly due to large-scale immigration from neighboring countries of the interior, that has been going on since colonial times and continued to be promoted during the | of the population of Ivory Coast, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. Population According to the total population was in , compared to only 2 630 000 in 1950. The proportion of children below the age of 15 in 2010 was 40.9%, 55.3% was between 15 and 65 years of age, while 3.8% was 65 years or older . Structure of the population (DHS 2011–2012) (Males 23 630, Females 25 193 = 48 823) : Population Growth: 1.88% (2016 est.) Vital statistics Registration of vital events is in Ivory Coast not complete. The Population Departement of the United Nations prepared the following estimates. Fertility and Births Total Fertility Rate (TFR) (Wanted Fertility Rate) and Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Fertility data as of 2011-2012 (DHS Program): Life expectancy Ethnic groups Ivory Coast has more than 60 ethnic groups, usually classified into five principal divisions: Akan (east and center, including Lagoon peoples of the southeast), Krou (southwest), Southern Mandé (west), Northern Mandé (northwest), Sénoufo/Lobi (north center and northeast). The Baoulés, in the Akan division, probably comprise the largest single subgroup with 15%-20% of the population. They are based in the central region around Bouaké and Yamoussoukro. The Bétés in the Krou division, the Sénoufos in the north, and the Malinkés in the northwest and the cities are the next largest groups, with 10%-15% of the national population. Most of the principal divisions have a significant presence in neighboring countries. Of the more than 5 million non-Ivorian Africans living in Ivory Coast, one-third to one-half are from Burkina Faso; the rest are from Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Benin, Senegal, Liberia, and Mauritania. The non-African expatriate community includes roughly 50,000 French (this number may be inaccurate due to the evacuation of roughly 8,000 Frenchmen in November 2004) and possibly 40,000 Lebanese. The number of elementary school-aged children attending classes increased from 22% in 1960 to 67% in 1995. Languages French is the official language, while there are 60 living indigenous languages spoken in Ivory Coast. The Dioula dialect of Bambara is the most widely spoken one. Other language groups include the Gur languages, the Senufo languages, the Kru languages (including the Bété languages, Dida, Nyabwa, Wè, and Western Krahn), and the Kwa languages (including Akan, Anyin, and Baoulé). Religion The economic development and relative prosperity of Ivory Coast fostered huge demographic shifts during the 20th century. "In 1922, an estimated 100,000 out of 1.6 million (or 6 percent) of people in Côte d'Ivoire were Muslims. By contrast, at independence (in 1960), their share of the population had increased rapidly, and Muslims were moving southward to the cocoa-producing areas and the southern cities. By 1998, [...], Muslims constituted a majority in the north of the country, and approximately 38.6 percent of the total population. This was a significantly larger population than the next largest religious group, |
The capital since 1983 is Yamoussoukro; however, Abidjan remains the commercial center. Most countries maintain their embassies in Abidjan. A civil war was fought in Ivory Coast between 2002–2004 and a second civil war broke out in March 2011 following contested elections that saw president-elect Alassane Ouattara come into power in 2011 and reelected in 2015. Civil war Troops, mostly hailing from the north of the country, mutinied in the early hours of 19 September 2002. They soon after launched attacks in many cities, including Abidjan. By lunchtime, they had control of the north of the country. Their principal claim relates to the definition of who is a citizen of Ivory Coast (and so who can stand for election as president), voting rights and their representation in government in Abidjan. The events in Abidjan shows that it is not a tribal issue, but a crisis of transition from a dictatorship to a democracy, with the clashes inherent in the definition of citizenship. Forces involved in the conflict include: Government forces, the National Army (FANCI), also called loyalists, formed and equipped essentially since 2003 The Young Patriots: nationalist groups aligned with President Laurent Gbagbo Mercenaries recruited by President Gbagbo: allegedly, Belarusians some former combatants of Liberia, including under-17 youths, forming the so-called "Lima militia" New Forces (Forces Nouvelles, FN), ex-northern rebels, who hold 60% of the country; their political expression is the Mouvement patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire, or MPCI French forces: troops sent within the framework of Operation Unicorn and under UN mandate (United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire), 3000 men in | democracy, with the clashes inherent in the definition of citizenship. Forces involved in the conflict include: Government forces, the National Army (FANCI), also called loyalists, formed and equipped essentially since 2003 The Young Patriots: nationalist groups aligned with President Laurent Gbagbo Mercenaries recruited by President Gbagbo: allegedly, Belarusians some former combatants of Liberia, including under-17 youths, forming the so-called "Lima militia" New Forces (Forces Nouvelles, FN), ex-northern rebels, who hold 60% of the country; their political expression is the Mouvement patriotique de Côte d'Ivoire, or MPCI French forces: troops sent within the framework of Operation Unicorn and under UN mandate (United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire), 3000 men in February 2003 and 4600 in November 2004; Soldiers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), White helmets, also under the UN. Executive branch |President |Alassane Ouattara |Rally of the Republicans |4 December 2011 |- |Vice-President |Daniel Kablan Duncan |Democratic Party |10 January 2017 |- |Prime Minister |Vacant | |8 July 2020 |} Ivory Coast's 1959 constitution provides for strong presidency within the framework of a separation of powers. The executive is personified in the president, elected for a five-year term. The president is commander in chief of the armed forces, may negotiate and ratify certain treaties, and may submit a bill to a national referendum or to the National Assembly. According to the constitution, the President of the National Assembly assumes the presidency in the event of a vacancy, and he completes the remainder of the deceased president's term. The cabinet is selected by and is responsible to the president. Changes are being proposed to some of these provisions, to extend term of office to 7 years, establish a senate, and make president of the senate interim successor to the president. Laurent Gbagbo took power following a popular overthrow of the interim leader Gen. Robert Guéï who had claimed a dubious victory in presidential elections; Gen. Guéï himself had assumed power on 25 December 1999, following a military coup against the government of former President Henri Konan Bédié. Gbagbo was elected president in 2000 in an election boycotted by many oppositional forces. The president is elected by popular vote for |
156 km of railroad links Abidjan to Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso. Built during colonial era by the firm Abidjan-Niger (RAN), this railroad freed several landlocked countries among which were ex-Upper-Volta (Burkina Faso), Niger, and Mali. This railroad, operated by Sitarail, plays a key role as regards to the carriage of the goods (livestock) and the transport of people between Ivory Coast and border countries: 1 million tons of goods have transited in 2006. In 2005, despite the negative impact the crisis had on the sector, benefits engendered by transporting the goods and people via RAN, are estimated respectively at 16 309 et3 837billionCFA. As of 2004, the railway network consisted of a state-controlled 660 km section of a 1,146 km narrow gauge railroad that ran north from Abidjan through Bouaké and Ferkéssédougou to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Road transport Ivory Coast road network spreads over 85 000 km consisting of 75 000 unpaved, 65 000 km, and 224 km highways. It provides national and international traffic with neighbor countries. The Trans–West African Coastal Highway provides a paved link to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, with paved highways to landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso feeding into the coastal highway. When construction of roads and bridges in Liberia and Sierra Leone is complete, the highway will link to another seven Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nations to the west and north-west. At the national level, vehicles are estimated at 600 000, which includes 75% of used cars (second hand) due to the low purchasing power since the beginning of the economic crisis. 20 000 new cars are registered every year. Although maintenance and renovations works are being carried out since middle-2011, over 80% of the Ivorian network is older than 20 years and therefore damaged. In addition, a significant traffic exists throughout Abidjan, the capital. This traffic is mainly composed of taxi, buses and mini-buses locally referred to as Gbaka. The country counts with two 4-laned motorways, the first one running from Abidjan to Yamoussoukro for a length of 224 km., and the second joining Abidjan to Grand-Bassam, with a length of 30 km. Both are built with modern technologies and under international standards of security. Maritime transport Landscape view of the Autonomous Port of Abidjan Ivory Coast | have transited in 2006. In 2005, despite the negative impact the crisis had on the sector, benefits engendered by transporting the goods and people via RAN, are estimated respectively at 16 309 et3 837billionCFA. As of 2004, the railway network consisted of a state-controlled 660 km section of a 1,146 km narrow gauge railroad that ran north from Abidjan through Bouaké and Ferkéssédougou to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Road transport Ivory Coast road network spreads over 85 000 km consisting of 75 000 unpaved, 65 000 km, and 224 km highways. It provides national and international traffic with neighbor countries. The Trans–West African Coastal Highway provides a paved link to Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, with paved highways to landlocked Mali and Burkina Faso feeding into the coastal highway. When construction of roads and bridges in Liberia and Sierra Leone is complete, the highway will link to another seven Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) nations to the west and north-west. At the national level, vehicles are estimated at 600 000, which includes 75% of used cars (second hand) due to the low purchasing power since the beginning of the economic crisis. 20 000 new cars are registered every year. Although maintenance and renovations works are being carried out since middle-2011, over 80% of the Ivorian network is older than 20 years and therefore damaged. In addition, a significant traffic exists throughout Abidjan, the capital. This traffic is mainly composed of taxi, buses and mini-buses locally referred to as Gbaka. The country counts with two 4-laned motorways, the first one running |
of volunteers and low manpower requirements ensured it was only applied selectively. Some of the senior positions in the officer corps and Ministry of Defence continued to be held by French nationals. Since the Ivory Coast could ill afford to divert funds from its economic development programmes into the armed forces, and was already dependent on France for its external defence, the military establishment remained quite modest from 1961 to 1974. Defence spending spiralled upwards between 1974 and 1987, and the number of personnel serving with the armed forces increased to 14,920 men. During this period, the air force and navy embarked on a significant modernisation campaign. An international merchant marine training academy was built in Abidjan and trained personnel from several Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) governments. In 1997, a collapse in civil-military relations became evident when President Henri Konan Bédié dismissed popular general Robert Guéï on suspicion of disloyalty. Two years later, an army mutiny led by disgruntled recruits and junior officers escalated into a major coup d'état which ousted Bédié and installed Guéï in his place. Guéï subsequently stood for office during a subsequent presidential election, although he attempted to annul the election results when Laurent Gbagbo secured the popular vote. This triggered a civil revolt in Abidjan and two days of street battles between Gbagbo supporters and soldiers loyal to Guéï. Most of the armed forces remained neutral until the third day, when the army's elite units and the gendarmerie announced they would recognise Gbagbo as president of the republic. Guéï conceded defeat, going into exile on October 29, 2000. In September 2002, the Ivory Coast endured a second army mutiny, this time by 750 Muslim soldiers who seized Bouaké, citing religious discrimination and grievances against the predominantly Christian government. The mutineers later took control of most of the northern administrative regions, carrying out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and plunging the country into civil war. For a number of years, troops dispatched by France, ECOWAS, and a United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (ONUCI) effort enforced a buffer zone between the south and the rebel-held north. President Gbagbo repeatedly demanded France assist him in crushing the rebel forces. France maintained it would not take sides in the civil war, but allowed Ivorian military aircraft to cross the buffer zone and attack rebel positions. In November 2004, an Ivorian pilot targeted a French base during an air strike on Bouaké, killing nine French soldiers. The French retaliated by launching a follow-up operation to destroy the Ivorian Air Force. In March 2011, a rebel coalition, the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire, launched a renewed offensive on the south with French support, sparking a second civil war. The Ivorian army was quickly overwhelmed, and Gbagbo deposed by the rebels. The Forces Nouvelles established a new national military, known as the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI). Integration problems arising from the incorporation of various rebel factions into the FRCI, as well as former Gbagbo loyalists, continue to persist. In 2014, some army units launched an abortive mutiny over wage disputes. The crisis ended when the Ivorian political leadership agreed to a new financial settlement with the FRCI. A second mutiny occurred on January 7, 2017, with troops in Bouaké demanding higher salaries and improved living conditions; this resulted in a second financial settlement. Army Organization {{Location map many | Ivory Coast |float = right |width=300 |caption = <center>Ivory Coast military units and base in 2008Source: Jane's World Armies Issue 23 – 2008<small>Numbers in brackets indicate parent military regions.Note: French forces of battalion strength are stationed near Abidjan, as well as over 7,000 troops under U.N. command. In 2011, rebel forces overran the country during the Second Ivorian Civil War.</small></center> |label=Armd Bn (I) |pos=right |bg=white |lat_deg=06|lat_min=49|lat_dir=N |lon_deg=05|lon_min=17|lon_dir=W |mark=Gold pog.svg |marksize=5 |label3=AirForcebase |pos3=left |bg3=white |lat3_deg=06|lat3_min=54|lat3_dir=N |lon3_deg=05|lon3_min=22|lon3_dir=W |mark3=Gfi-set01-airport.png |mark3size=12 |label2=Inf Bn +Abn Bn +Air Defence Bn (I) |pos2=right |bg2=white |lat2_deg=05|lat2_min=19|lat2_dir=N |lon2_deg=04|lon2_min=02|lon2_dir=W |mark2=Red pog.svg |label5=Inf Bn (II) |pos5=left |bg5=white |lat5_deg=06|lat5_min=53|lat5_dir=N |lon5_deg=06|lon5_min=27|lon5_dir=W |mark5=Red pog.svg |mark5size=5 |label6=III Region HQ(rebel control) |pos6=left |bg6=white |lat6_deg=07|lat6_min=41|lat6_dir=N |lon6_deg=05|lon6_min=01|lon6_dir=W |mark6=White flag icon.svg |mark6size=18 |label4=IV Region HQ(rebel control) |pos4=left |bg4=white |lat4_deg=09|lat4_min=25|lat4_dir=N |lon4_deg=05|lon4_min=37|lon4_dir=W |mark4=White flag icon.svg |mark4size=18 }} The Ivorian army had three infantry battalions, an armoured battalion, an artillery battery, and seven specialist companies in 1993. The effective strength of the army was about 3,000 troops for the first ten years of Ivorian independence, increasing to over 8,000 in the mid-1980s before declining steadily to about 5,500. It has always remained the largest branch of the armed forces. In 1987, the army was responsible for the country's five military regions, each of which was supervised by a colonel. The First Military Region controlled the concentration of forces in and around Abidjan, its principal units there being a rapid intervention battalion (airborne), an infantry battalion, an armored battalion, and an air defense artillery battalion. The Second Military Region was located in Daloa and comprised one infantry battalion. The Third Military Region was headquartered in Bouaké and was home to an artillery, an infantry, and an engineer battalion. The Fourth Military Region maintained only a Territorial Defense Company headquartered in Korhogo The Fifth Military Region was formerly known as the Western Operational Zone, a temporary command created to respond to the security threat caused by the First Liberian Civil War. By 2010, the system of military regions had been abolished. As of July 2011, General Soumaïla Bakayoko is the chief of staff of the army, and colonel-major Gervais Kouakou Kouassi is the Chief of the Gendarmerie. As of October 2011, previously active units around Abidjan reportedly included the: 1st Infantry Battalion – (1er Bataillon d'infanterie des forces armées terrestres ivoiriennes), at Akouédo (new camp) Armoured Battalion – (Battaillon Blinde), at Akouédo (new camp). The new camp at Akouedo had reportedly been almost completely destroyed. appears to be at 5' 21 7 N, 3' 26 30 W. 1st Parachute Commando Battalion – 1er Bataillon des Commandos Parachutistes (1er BCP), old camp at Akouedo, on the route to the village Ébrié. The 2nd Infantry Battalion appears to have been based at Daloa for some time. A 2003 change of command ushered in the 16th commander of the unit, and there are also reports from 2009 and 2011. Reported special forces units include: Group des Forces Speciales (GFS) Fusiliers Commandos d Air (FUSCOA) Détachement d' Intervention Rapide Fusiliers Marins Commandos (FUMACO/ naval commandos) Current army equipment The Ivorian army has traditionally been equipped with French weapons, most of which were delivered in the 1980s under generous military grants from Paris. During Laurent Ghagbo's administration, large quantities of second-hand Soviet arms were acquired from Angola, Ukraine, and Belarus. Air Force After achieving independence from France in 1960, Ivory Coast maintained strong links with France through bilateral defence agreements.<ref>World Aircraft Information Files. Brightstar Publishing, London. File 338 Sheet 02 </ref> French training and operating techniques has been used since the establishment of the air force. The first equipment supplied included three Douglas C-47's and seven MH.1521 Broussard STOL utility aircraft in 1961. The first jet aircraft to enter service in October 1980 were six Alpha | this period, the air force and navy embarked on a significant modernisation campaign. An international merchant marine training academy was built in Abidjan and trained personnel from several Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) governments. In 1997, a collapse in civil-military relations became evident when President Henri Konan Bédié dismissed popular general Robert Guéï on suspicion of disloyalty. Two years later, an army mutiny led by disgruntled recruits and junior officers escalated into a major coup d'état which ousted Bédié and installed Guéï in his place. Guéï subsequently stood for office during a subsequent presidential election, although he attempted to annul the election results when Laurent Gbagbo secured the popular vote. This triggered a civil revolt in Abidjan and two days of street battles between Gbagbo supporters and soldiers loyal to Guéï. Most of the armed forces remained neutral until the third day, when the army's elite units and the gendarmerie announced they would recognise Gbagbo as president of the republic. Guéï conceded defeat, going into exile on October 29, 2000. In September 2002, the Ivory Coast endured a second army mutiny, this time by 750 Muslim soldiers who seized Bouaké, citing religious discrimination and grievances against the predominantly Christian government. The mutineers later took control of most of the northern administrative regions, carrying out a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing and plunging the country into civil war. For a number of years, troops dispatched by France, ECOWAS, and a United Nations Operation in Côte d'Ivoire (ONUCI) effort enforced a buffer zone between the south and the rebel-held north. President Gbagbo repeatedly demanded France assist him in crushing the rebel forces. France maintained it would not take sides in the civil war, but allowed Ivorian military aircraft to cross the buffer zone and attack rebel positions. In November 2004, an Ivorian pilot targeted a French base during an air strike on Bouaké, killing nine French soldiers. The French retaliated by launching a follow-up operation to destroy the Ivorian Air Force. In March 2011, a rebel coalition, the Forces Nouvelles de Côte d'Ivoire, launched a renewed offensive on the south with French support, sparking a second civil war. The Ivorian army was quickly overwhelmed, and Gbagbo deposed by the rebels. The Forces Nouvelles established a new national military, known as the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast (FRCI). Integration problems arising from the incorporation of various rebel factions into the FRCI, as well as former Gbagbo loyalists, continue to persist. In 2014, some army units launched an abortive mutiny over wage disputes. The crisis ended when the Ivorian political leadership agreed to a new financial settlement with the FRCI. A second mutiny occurred on January 7, 2017, with troops in Bouaké demanding higher salaries and improved living conditions; this resulted in a second financial settlement. Army Organization {{Location map many | Ivory Coast |float = right |width=300 |caption = <center>Ivory Coast military units and base in 2008Source: Jane's World Armies Issue 23 – 2008<small>Numbers in brackets indicate parent military regions.Note: French forces of battalion strength are stationed near Abidjan, as well as over 7,000 troops under U.N. command. In 2011, rebel forces overran the country during the Second Ivorian Civil War.</small></center> |label=Armd Bn (I) |pos=right |bg=white |lat_deg=06|lat_min=49|lat_dir=N |lon_deg=05|lon_min=17|lon_dir=W |mark=Gold pog.svg |marksize=5 |label3=AirForcebase |pos3=left |bg3=white |lat3_deg=06|lat3_min=54|lat3_dir=N |lon3_deg=05|lon3_min=22|lon3_dir=W |mark3=Gfi-set01-airport.png |mark3size=12 |label2=Inf Bn +Abn Bn +Air Defence Bn (I) |pos2=right |bg2=white |lat2_deg=05|lat2_min=19|lat2_dir=N |lon2_deg=04|lon2_min=02|lon2_dir=W |mark2=Red pog.svg |label5=Inf Bn (II) |pos5=left |bg5=white |lat5_deg=06|lat5_min=53|lat5_dir=N |lon5_deg=06|lon5_min=27|lon5_dir=W |mark5=Red pog.svg |mark5size=5 |label6=III Region HQ(rebel control) |pos6=left |bg6=white |lat6_deg=07|lat6_min=41|lat6_dir=N |lon6_deg=05|lon6_min=01|lon6_dir=W |mark6=White flag icon.svg |mark6size=18 |label4=IV Region HQ(rebel control) |pos4=left |bg4=white |lat4_deg=09|lat4_min=25|lat4_dir=N |lon4_deg=05|lon4_min=37|lon4_dir=W |mark4=White flag icon.svg |mark4size=18 }} The Ivorian army had three infantry battalions, an armoured battalion, an artillery battery, and seven specialist companies in 1993. The effective strength of the army was about 3,000 troops for the first ten years of Ivorian independence, increasing to over 8,000 in the mid-1980s before declining steadily to about 5,500. It has always remained the largest branch of the armed forces. In 1987, the army was responsible for the country's five military regions, each of which was supervised by a colonel. The First Military Region controlled the concentration of forces in and around Abidjan, its principal units there being a rapid intervention battalion (airborne), an infantry battalion, an armored battalion, and an air defense artillery battalion. The Second Military Region was located in Daloa and comprised one infantry battalion. The Third Military Region was headquartered in Bouaké and was home to an artillery, an infantry, and an engineer battalion. The Fourth Military Region maintained only a Territorial Defense Company headquartered in Korhogo The Fifth Military Region was formerly known as the Western Operational Zone, a temporary command created to respond to the security threat caused by the First Liberian Civil War. By 2010, the system of military regions had been abolished. As of July 2011, General Soumaïla Bakayoko is the chief of staff of the army, and colonel-major Gervais Kouakou Kouassi is the Chief of the Gendarmerie. As of October 2011, previously active units around Abidjan reportedly included the: 1st Infantry Battalion – (1er Bataillon d'infanterie des forces armées terrestres ivoiriennes), at Akouédo (new |
Vukovar in the extreme east and forms part of the border with Vojvodina. The central and southern regions near the Adriatic coastline and islands consist of low mountains and forested highlands. Natural resources found in the country in quantities significant enough for production include oil, coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, and hydropower. Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps. There are several deep caves in Croatia, 49 of which deeper than , 14 of them deeper than and three deeper than . Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes, a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue. Climate Most of Croatia has a moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification. Mean monthly temperature ranges between in January and in July. The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar where the snowy forested climate is found at elevations above . The warmest areas of Croatia are at the Adriatic coast and especially in its immediate hinterland characterised by the Mediterranean climate, as the temperature highs are moderated by the sea. Consequently, temperature peaks are more pronounced in the continental areas. The lowest temperature of was recorded on 3 February 1919 in Čakovec, and the highest temperature of was recorded on 4 August 1981 in Ploče. Mean annual precipitation ranges between and depending on geographic region and prevailing climate type. The least precipitation is recorded in the outer islands (Biševo, Lastovo, Svetac, Vis) and the eastern parts of Slavonia. However, in the latter case, it occurs mostly during the growing season. The maximum precipitation levels are observed on the Dinara mountain range and in Gorski Kotar. Prevailing winds in the interior are light to moderate northeast or southwest, and in the coastal area, prevailing winds are determined by local area features. Higher wind velocities are more often recorded in cooler months along the coast, generally as the cool northeasterly bura or less frequently as the warm southerly jugo. The sunniest parts of the country are the outer islands, Hvar and Korčula, where more than 2700 hours of sunshine are recorded per year, followed by the middle and southern Adriatic Sea area in general, and northern Adriatic coast, all with more than 2000 hours of sunshine per year. Biodiversity Croatia can be subdivided between several ecoregions because of its climate and geomorphology. The country is consequently one of the richest in Europe in terms of biodiversity. There are four types of biogeographical regions in Croatia—the Mediterranean along the coast and in its immediate hinterland, Alpine in most of Lika and Gorski Kotar, Pannonian along Drava and Danube, and Continental in the remaining areas. The most significant are karst habitats which include submerged karst, such as Zrmanja and Krka canyons and tufa barriers, as well as underground habitats. The country contains three ecoregions: Dinaric Mountains mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Illyrian deciduous forests. The karst geology harbours approximately 7,000 caves and pits, some of which are the habitat of the only known aquatic cave vertebrate—the olm. Forests are also significantly present in the country, as they cover representing 44% of Croatian land area. Other habitat types include wetlands, grasslands, bogs, fens, scrub habitats, coastal and marine habitats. In terms of phytogeography, Croatia is a part of the Boreal Kingdom and is a part of Illyrian and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region and the Adriatic province of the Mediterranean Region. The World Wide Fund for Nature divides Croatia between three ecoregions—Pannonian mixed forests, Dinaric Mountains mixed forests and Illyrian deciduous forests. There are 37,000 known species in Croatia, but their actual number is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. The claim is supported by nearly 400 new taxa of invertebrates discovered in Croatia in the first half of the 2000s alone. There are more than a thousand endemic species, especially in Velebit and Biokovo mountains, Adriatic islands and karst rivers. Legislation protects 1,131 species. The most serious threat to species is the loss and degradation of habitats. A further problem is presented by invasive alien species, especially Caulerpa taxifolia algae. Croatia had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.92/10, ranking it 113th globally out of 172 countries. The invasive algae are regularly monitored and removed to protect the benthic habitat. Indigenous sorts of cultivated plants and breeds of domesticated animals are also numerous. Those include five breeds of horses, five breeds of cattle, eight breeds of sheep, two breeds of pigs, and a poultry breed. The indigenous breeds include nine endangered or critically endangered ones. There are 444 protected areas of Croatia, encompassing 9% of the country. Those include eight national parks, two strict reserves, and ten nature parks. The most famous protected area and the oldest national park in Croatia is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Velebit Nature Park is a part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The strict and special reserves, as well as the national and nature parks, are managed and protected by the central government, while other protected areas are managed by counties. In 2005, the National Ecological Network was set up, as the first step in the preparation of the EU accession and joining of the Natura 2000 network. Politics The Republic of Croatia is a unitary state using a parliamentary system of governance. With the collapse of the ruling communist party in SFR Yugoslavia, Croatia organised its first multi-party elections and adopted its present Constitution in 1990. It declared independence on 8 October 1991 which led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and countries international recognition by the United Nations in 1992. Under its 1990 Constitution, Croatia operated a semi-presidential system until 2000 when it switched to a parliamentary system. Government powers in Croatia are legislative, executive, and judiciary powers. The President of the Republic () is the head of state, directly elected to a five-year term and is limited by the Constitution to two terms. In addition to being the commander in chief of the armed forces, the president has the procedural duty of appointing the prime minister with the parliament and has some influence on foreign policy. The most recent presidential elections were held on 5 January 2020, when Zoran Milanović became the new president. He took the oath of office on 18 February 2020. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister, who has four deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in charge of particular sectors. As the executive branch, it is responsible for proposing legislation and a budget, executing the laws, and guiding the foreign and internal policies. The Government is seated at Banski dvori in Zagreb. Since 19 October 2016, Croatian Prime Minister has been Andrej Plenković. A unicameral parliament () holds legislative power. A second chamber, the House of Counties, set up in 1993 according to the 1990 Constitution, was abolished in 2001. The number of Sabor members can vary from 100 to 160. They are all elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The sessions of the Sabor take place from 15 January to 15 July, and from 15 September to 15 December. The two largest political parties in Croatia are the Croatian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. Law and judicial system Croatia has a civil law legal system in which law arises primarily from written statutes, with judges serving merely as implementers and not creators of law. Its development was largely influenced by German and Austrian legal systems. Croatian law is divided into two principal areas—private and public law. By the time EU accession negotiations were completed on 30 June 2010, Croatian legislation was fully harmonised with the Community acquis. The main law in the country is the Constitution adopted on 22 December 1990. The main national courts are the Constitutional Court, which oversees violations of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of appeal. There are also Administrative, Commercial, County, Misdemeanor, and Municipal courts. Cases falling within judicial jurisdiction are in the first instance decided by a single professional judge, while appeals are deliberated in mixed tribunals of professional judges. Lay magistrates also participate in trials. State's Attorney Office is the judicial body constituted of public prosecutors empowered to instigate prosecution of perpetrators of offences. Law enforcement agencies are organised under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior which consist primarily of the national police force. Croatia's security service is the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA). Foreign relations Croatia has established diplomatic relations with 194 countries. As of 2020, Croatia maintains a network of 57 embassies, 30 consulates and eight permanent diplomatic missions abroad. Furthermore, there are 56 foreign embassies and 67 consulates in the Republic of Croatia in addition to offices of international organisations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and UNICEF. In 2019, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration employed 1,381 personnel and expended 765.295 million kunas (€101.17 million). Stated aims of Croatian foreign policy include enhancing relations with neighbouring countries, developing international co-operation and promotion of the Croatian economy and Croatia itself. Since 2003, Croatian foreign policy has focused on achieving the strategic goal of becoming a member state of the European Union (EU). In December 2011, Croatia completed the EU accession negotiations and signed an EU accession treaty on 9 December 2011. Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July 2013 marking the end of a process started in 2001 by signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and Croatian application for the EU membership in 2003. A recurring obstacle to the negotiations was Croatia's ICTY co-operation record and Slovenian blocking of the negotiations because of Croatia–Slovenia border disputes. The latter should be resolved through an Arbitration Agreement of 4 November 2009, approved by national parliaments and a referendum in Slovenia, but due to the events during arbitration, Croatia does not accept results. As of 2021, Croatia has unsolved border issues with all neighbouring former Yugoslav countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia). Another strategic Croatian foreign policy goal for the 2000s was NATO membership. Croatia was included in the Partnership for Peace in 2000, invited to NATO membership in 2008 and formally joined the alliance on 1 April 2009. Croatia became a member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008–2009 term, assuming the presidency in December 2008. The country is preparing to join the Schengen Area. Military The Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) consist of the Air Force, Army, and Navy branches in addition to the Education and Training Command and Support Command. The CAF is headed by the General Staff, which reports to the Defence Minister, who in turn reports to the President. According to the constitution, the President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In case of immediate threat during wartime, he issues orders directly to the General Staff. Following the 1991–95 war, defence spending and CAF size have been in constant decline. , military spending was an estimated 1.68% of the country's GDP, which placed Croatia 67th. Since 2005 the budget has been kept below 2% of GDP, down from the record high of 11.1% in 1994. Traditionally relying on many conscripts, the CAF also went through a period of reforms focused on downsizing, restructuring and professionalisation in the years before accession to NATO in April 2009. According to a presidential decree issued in 2006, the CAF employs around 18,100 active duty military personnel, 3,000 civilians and 2,000 voluntary conscripts between 18 and 30 years old in peacetime. Compulsory conscription was abolished in January 2008. Until 2008 military service was obligatory for men at age 18 and conscripts served six-month tours of duty, reduced in 2001 from the earlier scheme of nine-month conscription tours. Conscientious objectors could instead opt for an eight-month civilian service. , the Croatian military had 72 members stationed in foreign countries as part of United Nations-led international peacekeeping forces. , 323 troops serve the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan. Another 156 with the KFOR in Kosovo. Croatia also has a military industry sector which exported around 493 million kunas (€65,176 million) worth of military equipment and armament in 2020. Croatian-made weapons and vehicles used by CAF include the standard sidearm HS2000 manufactured by HS Produkt and the M-84D battle tank designed by the Đuro Đaković factory. Uniforms and helmets worn by CAF soldiers are also locally produced and successfully marketed to other countries. Administrative divisions Croatia was first subdivided into counties in the Middle Ages. The divisions changed over time to reflect losses of territory to Ottoman conquest and subsequent liberation of the same territory, changes of the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik, and Istria. The traditional division of the country into counties was abolished in the 1920s when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the subsequent Kingdom of Yugoslavia introduced oblasts and banovinas respectively. Communist-ruled Croatia, as a constituent part of post-World War II Yugoslavia, abolished earlier divisions and introduced municipalities, subdividing Croatia into approximately one hundred municipalities. Counties were reintroduced in 1992 legislation, significantly altered in terms of territory relative to the pre-1920s subdivisions. In 1918, the Transleithanian part of Croatia was divided into eight counties with their seats in Bjelovar, Gospić, Ogulin, Osijek, Požega, Varaždin, Vukovar, and Zagreb, and the 1992 legislation established 14 counties in the same territory. Since the counties were re-established in 1992, Croatia is divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb, the latter having the authority and legal status of a county and a city at the same time. Borders of the counties changed in some instances since, with the latest revision taking place in 2006. The counties subdivide into 127 cities and 429 municipalities. Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) division of Croatia is performed in several tiers. NUTS 1 level places the entire country in a single unit, while there are three NUTS 2 regions. Those are Northwest Croatia, Central and Eastern (Pannonian) Croatia, and Adriatic Croatia. The latter encompasses all the counties along the Adriatic coast. Northwest Croatia includes Koprivnica-Križevci, Krapina-Zagorje, Međimurje, Varaždin, the city of Zagreb, and Zagreb counties and the Central and Eastern (Pannonian) Croatia includes the remaining areas—Bjelovar-Bilogora, Brod-Posavina, Karlovac, Osijek-Baranja, Požega-Slavonia, Sisak-Moslavina, Virovitica-Podravina, and Vukovar-Syrmia counties. Individual counties and the city of Zagreb also represent NUTS 3 level subdivision units in Croatia. The NUTS Local administrative unit divisions are two-tiered. LAU 1 divisions match the counties and the city of Zagreb in effect making those the same as NUTS 3 units, while LAU 2 subdivisions correspond to the cities and municipalities of Croatia. Economy Croatia has a high-income economy. International Monetary Fund data projects that Croatian nominal GDP stands at $60,688 billion, or $14,816 per capita for 2018 while purchasing power parity GDP stands at $107.406 billion, or $26,221 per capita. According to Eurostat, Croatian GDP per capita in PPS stood at 65% of the EU average in 2019. Real GDP growth in 2018 was 2,6 per cent. The average net salary of a Croatian worker in October 2019 was 6,496 HRK per month (roughly 873 EUR), and the average gross salary was 8,813 HRK per month (roughly 1,185 EUR). , the unemployment rate dropped to 7.2% from 9.6% in December 2018. The number of unemployed persons was 106.703. Unemployment Rate in Croatia between 1996 and 2018 averaged 17.38%, reaching an all-time high of 23.60% in January 2002 and a record low of 8.40% in September 2018. In 2017, economic output was dominated by the service sector accounting for 70.1% of GDP, followed by the industrial sector with 26.2% and agriculture accounting for 3.7% of GDP. According to 2017 data, 1.9% of the workforce were employed in agriculture, 27.3% by industry and 70.8% in services. Shipbuilding, food processing, pharmaceuticals, information technology, biochemical, and timber industry dominate the industrial sector. In 2018, Croatian exports were valued at 108 billion kunas (€14.61 billion) with 176 billion kunas (€23.82 billion) worth of imports. Croatia's largest trading partner was the rest of the European Union, with the top three countries being Germany, Italy, and Slovenia. Privatisation and the drive towards a market economy had barely begun under the new Croatian Government when war broke out in 1991. As a result of the war, the economic infrastructure sustained massive damage, particularly the revenue-rich tourism industry. From 1989 to 1993, the GDP fell 40.5%. The Croatian state still controls a significant part of the economy, with government expenditures accounting for 40% of GDP. A particular concern is a backlogged judiciary system, with inefficient public administration, especially land ownership and corruption. In the 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index, published by Transparency International, the country is ranked 60th scoring 48, where zero denotes "highly corrupt" and 100 "very clean". At the end of June 2020, the national debt stood at 85,3% of the GDP. Tourism Tourism dominates the Croatian service sector and accounts for up to 20% of Croatian GDP. Tourist industry income for 2019 was estimated to be €10.5 billion. Its positive effects are felt through the Croatian economy in terms of increased business volume observed in a retail business, processing industry orders and summer seasonal employment. The industry is an export business because it significantly reduces the country's external trade imbalance. Since the end of the Croatian War of Independence, the tourist industry has rapidly grown, recording a fourfold rise in tourist numbers, with more than 11 million tourists each year. The most numerous are tourists from Germany, Slovenia, Austria, Italy, and Poland as well as Croatia itself. Length of a tourist stay in Croatia averaged 4.7 days in 2019. Much of the tourist industry is concentrated along the Adriatic Sea coast. Opatija was the first holiday resort. It first became popular in the middle of the 19th century. By the 1890s, it had become one of the most significant European health resorts. Later many resorts sprang up along the coast and islands, offering services catering to mass tourism and various niche markets. The most significant are nautical tourism, as there are marinas with more than 16 thousand berths, cultural tourism relying on the appeal of medieval coastal cities and cultural events taking place during the summer. Inland areas offer agrotourism, mountain resorts, and spas. Zagreb is also a significant tourist destination, rivalling major coastal cities and resorts. Croatia has unpolluted marine areas with nature reserves and 116 Blue Flag beaches. Croatia ranks as the 23rd most popular tourist destination in the world. About 15% of these visitors, or over one million per year, are involved with naturism, for which Croatia is famous. It was the first European country to develop commercial naturist resorts. Infrastructure The highlight of Croatia's recent infrastructure developments is its rapidly developed motorway network, largely built in the late 1990s and especially in the 2000s (decade). As of December 2020, Croatia had completed of motorways, connecting Zagreb to most other regions and following various European routes and four Pan-European corridors. The busiest motorways are the A1, connecting Zagreb to Split and the A3, passing east to west through northwest Croatia and Slavonia. A widespread network of state roads in Croatia acts as motorway feeder roads while connecting all major settlements. The high quality and safety levels of the Croatian motorway network were tested and confirmed by several EuroTAP and EuroTest programmes. Croatia has an extensive rail network spanning , including of electrified railways and of double track railways. The most significant railways in Croatia are within the Pan-European transport corridors Vb and X connecting Rijeka to Budapest and Ljubljana to Belgrade, both via Zagreb. Croatian Railways operates all rail services. The construction of 2.4-kilometre-long Pelješac Bridge, the biggest infrastructure project in Croatia will connect the two halves of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and shorten the route from the West of Croatia to the Pelješac peninsula and the islands of Korčula and Lastovo by more than 32 km. The construction of the Pelješac Bridge started in July 2018 after Croatian road operator Hrvatske ceste (HC) signed a 2.08 billion kuna deal for the works with a Chinese consortium led by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC). The project is co-financed by the European Union with 357 million euro. There are international airports in Dubrovnik, Osijek, Pula, Rijeka, Split, Zadar, and Zagreb. The largest and busiest is Franjo Tuđman Airport in Zagreb. , Croatia complies with International Civil Aviation Organization aviation safety standards and the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded it to Category 1 rating. The busiest cargo seaport in Croatia is the Port of Rijeka. The busiest passenger ports are Split and Zadar. Many minor ports serve ferries connecting numerous islands and coastal cities with ferry lines to several cities in Italy. The largest river port is Vukovar, located on the Danube, representing the nation's outlet to the Pan-European transport corridor VII. There are of crude oil pipelines in Croatia, connecting the Port of Rijeka oil terminal with refineries in Rijeka and Sisak, and several transhipment terminals. The system has a capacity of 20 million tonnes per year. The natural gas transportation system comprises of the trunk and regional natural gas pipelines, and more than 300 associated structures, connecting production rigs, the Okoli natural gas storage facility, 27 end-users and 37 distribution systems. Croatian production of energy sources covers 85% of nationwide natural gas and 19% of oil demand. In 2008, 47.6% of Croatia's primary energy production structure comprised use of natural gas (47.7%), hydropower (25.4%), crude oil (18.0%), fuelwood (8.4%), and other renewable energy sources (0.5%). In 2009, net total electrical power production reached 12,725 GWh. Croatia imported 28.5% of its electric power energy needs. Krško Nuclear Power Plant supplies a large part of Croatian imports, 50% is owned by Hrvatska elektroprivreda, providing 15% of Croatia's electricity. Demographics With an estimated population of 4.13 million in 2019, Croatia ranks 127th by population in the world. Its population density stood in 2018 at 72,9 inhabitants per square kilometre, making Croatia one of the more sparsely populated European countries. The overall life expectancy in Croatia at birth was 76.3 years in 2018. The total fertility rate of 1.41 children per mother, is one of the lowest in the world, below the replacement rate of 2.1, it remains considerably below the high of 6.18 children born per woman in 1885. Since 1991, Croatia's death rate has continuously exceeded its birth rate. Croatia subsequently has one of the oldest populations in the world, with the average age of 43.3 years. The population of Croatia rose steadily from 2.1 million in 1857 until 1991, when it peaked at 4.7 million, with exception of censuses taken in 1921 and 1948, i.e. following two world wars. The natural growth rate of the population is currently negative with the demographic transition completed in the 1970s. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to increase permit quotas for foreign workers, reaching an all-time high of 68.100 in 2019. In accordance with its immigration policy, Croatia is trying to entice emigrants to return. However, in the last decade, Croatia's population has dropped by 10%. The population decrease was also a result of the Croatian War of Independence. During the war, large sections of the population were displaced and emigration increased. In 1991, in predominantly occupied areas, more than 400,000 Croats were either removed from their homes by the rebel Serb forces or fled the violence. During the final days of the war in 1995, about 150–200,000 Serbs fled before the arrival of Croatian forces during the Operation Storm. After the war, the number of displaced persons fell to about 250,000. The Croatian government has taken care of displaced persons by the social security system, and since December 1991 through the Office of Displaced Persons and Refugees. Most of the territories which were abandoned during the Croatian War of Independence were settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, mostly from north-western Bosnia, while some of the displaced people returned to their homes. According to the 2013 United Nations report, 17.6% of Croatia's population were foreign-born immigrants. Majority of the inhabitants of Croatia are Croats (90.4%), followed by Serbs (4.4%), Bosniaks (0.73%), Italians (0.42%), Albanians (0.41%), Roma (0.40%), Hungarians (0.33%), Slovenes (0.25%), Czechs (0.22%), Montenegrins (0.11%), Slovaks (0.11%), Macedonians (0.10%), and others (2.12%). Approximately 4 million Croats live abroad. Religion Croatia has no official religion. Freedom of religion is a right defined by the Constitution which also defines all religious communities as equal before the law and separated from the state. According to the 2011 census, 91.36% of Croatians identify as Christian; of these, Catholics make | camps, the largest of which was the Jasenovac complex. Anti-fascist Croats were targeted by the regime as well. Several concentration camps (most notably the Rab, Gonars and Molat camps) were also established in Italian-occupied territories, mostly for Slovenes and Croats. At the same time, the Yugoslav Royalist and Serbian nationalist Chetniks pursued a genocidal campaign against Croats and Muslims, aided by fascist Italy. A resistance movement soon emerged. On 22 June 1941, the 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment was formed near Sisak, the first military unit formed by a resistance movement in occupied Europe. That sparked the beginning of the Yugoslav Partisan movement, a communist multi-ethnic anti-fascist resistance group led by Josip Broz Tito. In ethnic terms, Croats were the second-largest contributors to the Partisan movement after the Serbs. In per capita terms, Croats contributed proportionately to their population within Yugoslavia as a whole. By May 1944 (according to Tito), Croats made up 30% of the Partisan's ethnic composition, despite making up 22% of the population. The movement grew fast, and at the Tehran Conference in December 1943, the Partisans gained recognition from the Allies. With Allied support in logistics, equipment, training and airpower, and with the assistance of Soviet troops taking part in the 1944 Belgrade Offensive, the Partisans gained control of Yugoslavia and the border regions of Italy and Austria by May 1945. Members of the NDH armed forces and other Axis troops, as well as civilians, were in retreat towards Austria. Following their surrender, many were killed in the Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators. In the following years, ethnic Germans faced persecution in Yugoslavia, and many were interned in camps. The political aspirations of the Partisan movement were reflected in the State Anti-fascist Council for the National Liberation of Croatia, which developed in 1943 as the bearer of Croatian statehood and later transformed into the Parliament of Croatia in 1945, and AVNOJ—its counterpart at the Yugoslav level. Based on the studies on wartime and post-war casualties by demographer Vladimir Žerjavić and statistician Bogoljub Kočović, a total of 295,000 people from the territory of Croatia (not including territories ceded from Italy after the war) lost their lives, which amounted to 7.3% of the population, among whom were 125–137,000 Serbs, 118–124,000 Croats, 16–17,000 Jews, and 15,000 Roma. In addition, from areas joined to Croatia after the war, a total of 32,000 people died, among whom 16,000 were Italians and 15,000 were Croats. Approximately 200,000 Croats from the entirety of Yugoslavia (including Croatia) and abroad were killed in total throughout the war and its immediate aftermath, a per capita loss of 5.4% of the population. Second Yugoslavia (1945–1991) After World War II, Croatia became a single-party socialist federal unit of the SFR Yugoslavia, ruled by the Communists, but having a degree of autonomy within the federation. In 1967, Croatian authors and linguists published a Declaration on the Status and Name of the Croatian Standard Language demanding equal treatment for Croatian. The declaration contributed to a national movement seeking greater civil rights and redistribution of the Yugoslav economy, culminating in the Croatian Spring of 1971, suppressed by Yugoslav leadership. Still, the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution gave increased autonomy to federal units, basically fulfilling a goal of the Croatian Spring and providing a legal basis for independence of the federative constituents. Following the death of Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito in 1980, the political situation in Yugoslavia deteriorated, with national tension fanned by the 1986 SANU Memorandum and the 1989 coups in Vojvodina, Kosovo, and Montenegro. In January 1990, the Communist Party fragmented along national lines, with the Croatian faction demanding a looser federation. In the same year, the first multi-party elections were held in Croatia, with Franjo Tuđman's win raising nationalist tensions further. Some of the Serbs in Croatia left Sabor and declared the autonomy of what would soon become the unrecognised Republic of Serbian Krajina, intent on achieving independence from Croatia. Croatian War of Independence As tensions rose, Croatia declared independence on 25 June 1991. However, the full implementation of the declaration only came into effect on 8 October 1991. In the meantime, tensions escalated into overt war when the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) and various Serb paramilitary groups attacked Croatia. By the end of 1991, a high-intensity conflict fought along a wide front reduced Croatia's control of only about two-thirds of its territory. The various Serb paramilitary groups then began pursuing a campaign of killing, terror, and expulsion of the Croats in the rebel territories, killing thousands of Croat civilians and expelling or displacing as many as 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs from their homes. Meanwhile, Serbs living in Croatian towns, especially those near the front lines, were subjected to various forms of discrimination. Croatian Serbs in Eastern and Western Slavonia and parts of the Krajina, were also forced to flee or were expelled by Croatian forces, though on a restricted scale and in lesser numbers. The Croatian Government sought to stop such occurrences and were not a part of the Government's policy. On 15 January 1992, Croatia gained diplomatic recognition by the European Economic Community members, and subsequently the United Nations. The war effectively ended in August 1995 with a decisive victory by Croatia; the event is commemorated each year on 5 August as Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day and the Day of Croatian Defenders. Following the Croatian victory, about 200,000 Serbs from the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina fled from the region and hundreds of mainly elderly Serb civilians were killed in the aftermath of the military operation. Their lands were subsequently settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The remaining occupied areas were restored to Croatia following the Erdut Agreement of November 1995, with the UNTAES mission concluded in January 1998. Most sources place the total number of deaths from the war at around 20,000. Independent Croatia (1991–present) After the end of the war, Croatia faced the challenges of post-war reconstruction, the return of refugees, advancing democratic principles, protection of human rights, and general social and economic development. The post-2000 period is characterised by democratisation, economic growth, structural and social reforms, as well as problems such as unemployment, corruption, and the inefficiency of the public administration. Croatia joined the Partnership for Peace on 25 May 2000 and became a member of the World Trade Organization on 30 November 2000. On 29 October 2001, Croatia signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union, submitted a formal application for the EU membership in 2003, was given the status of candidate country in 2004, and began accession negotiations in 2005. In November 2000 and March 2001, the Parliament amended the Constitution, changing its bicameral structure back into historic unicameral and reducing the presidential powers. Although the Croatian economy had enjoyed a significant boom in the early 2000s, the financial crisis in 2008 forced the government to cut public spending, thus provoking a public outcry. On 1 April 2009, Croatia joined NATO. A wave of anti-government protests in early 2011 reflected a general dissatisfaction with the political and economic state. Croatia completed EU accession negotiations in 2011. A majority of Croatian voters opted in favour of country's EU membership at the 2012 referendum, and Croatia joined the European Union effective 1 July 2013. Croatia was affected by the 2015 European migrant crisis in 2015 when Hungary's closure of its borders with Serbia forced over 700,000 refugees and migrants to pass through Croatia on their way to Western Europe. Geography Croatia is in Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the southeast and Slovenia to the northwest. It lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E. Part of the territory in the extreme south surrounding Dubrovnik is a practical exclave connected to the rest of the mainland by territorial waters, but separated on land by a short coastline strip belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina around Neum. The Pelješac Bridge, scheduled to open in 2022, will connect the exclave with the mainland Croatia. The territory covers , consisting of of land and of water. It is the 127th largest country in the world. Elevation ranges from the mountains of the Dinaric Alps with the highest point of the Dinara peak at near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina in the south to the shore of the Adriatic Sea which makes up its entire southwest border. Insular Croatia consists of over a thousand islands and islets varying in size, 48 of which permanently inhabited. The largest islands are Cres and Krk, each of them having an area of around . The hilly northern parts of Hrvatsko Zagorje and the flat plains of Slavonia in the east which is part of the Pannonian Basin are traversed by major rivers such as Danube, Drava, Kupa, and the Sava. The Danube, Europe's second longest river, runs through the city of Vukovar in the extreme east and forms part of the border with Vojvodina. The central and southern regions near the Adriatic coastline and islands consist of low mountains and forested highlands. Natural resources found in the country in quantities significant enough for production include oil, coal, bauxite, low-grade iron ore, calcium, gypsum, natural asphalt, silica, mica, clays, salt, and hydropower. Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps. There are several deep caves in Croatia, 49 of which deeper than , 14 of them deeper than and three deeper than . Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes, a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue. Climate Most of Croatia has a moderately warm and rainy continental climate as defined by the Köppen climate classification. Mean monthly temperature ranges between in January and in July. The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar where the snowy forested climate is found at elevations above . The warmest areas of Croatia are at the Adriatic coast and especially in its immediate hinterland characterised by the Mediterranean climate, as the temperature highs are moderated by the sea. Consequently, temperature peaks are more pronounced in the continental areas. The lowest temperature of was recorded on 3 February 1919 in Čakovec, and the highest temperature of was recorded on 4 August 1981 in Ploče. Mean annual precipitation ranges between and depending on geographic region and prevailing climate type. The least precipitation is recorded in the outer islands (Biševo, Lastovo, Svetac, Vis) and the eastern parts of Slavonia. However, in the latter case, it occurs mostly during the growing season. The maximum precipitation levels are observed on the Dinara mountain range and in Gorski Kotar. Prevailing winds in the interior are light to moderate northeast or southwest, and in the coastal area, prevailing winds are determined by local area features. Higher wind velocities are more often recorded in cooler months along the coast, generally as the cool northeasterly bura or less frequently as the warm southerly jugo. The sunniest parts of the country are the outer islands, Hvar and Korčula, where more than 2700 hours of sunshine are recorded per year, followed by the middle and southern Adriatic Sea area in general, and northern Adriatic coast, all with more than 2000 hours of sunshine per year. Biodiversity Croatia can be subdivided between several ecoregions because of its climate and geomorphology. The country is consequently one of the richest in Europe in terms of biodiversity. There are four types of biogeographical regions in Croatia—the Mediterranean along the coast and in its immediate hinterland, Alpine in most of Lika and Gorski Kotar, Pannonian along Drava and Danube, and Continental in the remaining areas. The most significant are karst habitats which include submerged karst, such as Zrmanja and Krka canyons and tufa barriers, as well as underground habitats. The country contains three ecoregions: Dinaric Mountains mixed forests, Pannonian mixed forests, and Illyrian deciduous forests. The karst geology harbours approximately 7,000 caves and pits, some of which are the habitat of the only known aquatic cave vertebrate—the olm. Forests are also significantly present in the country, as they cover representing 44% of Croatian land area. Other habitat types include wetlands, grasslands, bogs, fens, scrub habitats, coastal and marine habitats. In terms of phytogeography, Croatia is a part of the Boreal Kingdom and is a part of Illyrian and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region and the Adriatic province of the Mediterranean Region. The World Wide Fund for Nature divides Croatia between three ecoregions—Pannonian mixed forests, Dinaric Mountains mixed forests and Illyrian deciduous forests. There are 37,000 known species in Croatia, but their actual number is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. The claim is supported by nearly 400 new taxa of invertebrates discovered in Croatia in the first half of the 2000s alone. There are more than a thousand endemic species, especially in Velebit and Biokovo mountains, Adriatic islands and karst rivers. Legislation protects 1,131 species. The most serious threat to species is the loss and degradation of habitats. A further problem is presented by invasive alien species, especially Caulerpa taxifolia algae. Croatia had a 2018 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 4.92/10, ranking it 113th globally out of 172 countries. The invasive algae are regularly monitored and removed to protect the benthic habitat. Indigenous sorts of cultivated plants and breeds of domesticated animals are also numerous. Those include five breeds of horses, five breeds of cattle, eight breeds of sheep, two breeds of pigs, and a poultry breed. The indigenous breeds include nine endangered or critically endangered ones. There are 444 protected areas of Croatia, encompassing 9% of the country. Those include eight national parks, two strict reserves, and ten nature parks. The most famous protected area and the oldest national park in Croatia is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Velebit Nature Park is a part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The strict and special reserves, as well as the national and nature parks, are managed and protected by the central government, while other protected areas are managed by counties. In 2005, the National Ecological Network was set up, as the first step in the preparation of the EU accession and joining of the Natura 2000 network. Politics The Republic of Croatia is a unitary state using a parliamentary system of governance. With the collapse of the ruling communist party in SFR Yugoslavia, Croatia organised its first multi-party elections and adopted its present Constitution in 1990. It declared independence on 8 October 1991 which led to the break-up of Yugoslavia and countries international recognition by the United Nations in 1992. Under its 1990 Constitution, Croatia operated a semi-presidential system until 2000 when it switched to a parliamentary system. Government powers in Croatia are legislative, executive, and judiciary powers. The President of the Republic () is the head of state, directly elected to a five-year term and is limited by the Constitution to two terms. In addition to being the commander in chief of the armed forces, the president has the procedural duty of appointing the prime minister with the parliament and has some influence on foreign policy. The most recent presidential elections were held on 5 January 2020, when Zoran Milanović became the new president. He took the oath of office on 18 February 2020. The Government is headed by the Prime Minister, who has four deputy prime ministers and 16 ministers in charge of particular sectors. As the executive branch, it is responsible for proposing legislation and a budget, executing the laws, and guiding the foreign and internal policies. The Government is seated at Banski dvori in Zagreb. Since 19 October 2016, Croatian Prime Minister has been Andrej Plenković. A unicameral parliament () holds legislative power. A second chamber, the House of Counties, set up in 1993 according to the 1990 Constitution, was abolished in 2001. The number of Sabor members can vary from 100 to 160. They are all elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms. The sessions of the Sabor take place from 15 January to 15 July, and from 15 September to 15 December. The two largest political parties in Croatia are the Croatian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia. Law and judicial system Croatia has a civil law legal system in which law arises primarily from written statutes, with judges serving merely as implementers and not creators of law. Its development was largely influenced by German and Austrian legal systems. Croatian law is divided into two principal areas—private and public law. By the time EU accession negotiations were completed on 30 June 2010, Croatian legislation was fully harmonised with the Community acquis. The main law in the country is the Constitution adopted on 22 December 1990. The main national courts are the Constitutional Court, which oversees violations of the Constitution, and the Supreme Court, which is the highest court of appeal. There are also Administrative, Commercial, County, Misdemeanor, and Municipal courts. Cases falling within judicial jurisdiction are in the first instance decided by a single professional judge, while appeals are deliberated in mixed tribunals of professional judges. Lay magistrates also participate in trials. State's Attorney Office is the judicial body constituted of public prosecutors empowered to instigate prosecution of perpetrators of offences. Law enforcement agencies are organised under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior which consist primarily of the national police force. Croatia's security service is the Security and Intelligence Agency (SOA). Foreign relations Croatia has established diplomatic relations with 194 countries. As of 2020, Croatia maintains a network of 57 embassies, 30 consulates and eight permanent diplomatic missions abroad. Furthermore, there are 56 foreign embassies and 67 consulates in the Republic of Croatia in addition to offices of international organisations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), World Bank, World Health Organization (WHO), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and UNICEF. In 2019, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration employed 1,381 personnel and expended 765.295 million kunas (€101.17 million). Stated aims of Croatian foreign policy include enhancing relations with neighbouring countries, developing international co-operation and promotion of the Croatian economy and Croatia itself. Since 2003, Croatian foreign policy has focused on achieving the strategic goal of becoming a member state of the European Union (EU). In December 2011, Croatia completed the EU accession negotiations and signed an EU accession treaty on 9 December 2011. Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July 2013 marking the end of a process started in 2001 by signing of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and Croatian application for the EU membership in 2003. A recurring obstacle to the negotiations was Croatia's ICTY co-operation record and Slovenian blocking of the negotiations because of Croatia–Slovenia border disputes. The latter should be resolved through an Arbitration Agreement of 4 November 2009, approved by national parliaments and a referendum in Slovenia, but due to the events during arbitration, Croatia does not accept results. As of 2021, Croatia has unsolved border issues with all neighbouring former Yugoslav countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia). Another strategic Croatian foreign policy goal for the 2000s was NATO membership. Croatia was included in the Partnership for Peace in 2000, invited to NATO membership in 2008 and formally joined the alliance on 1 April 2009. Croatia became a member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2008–2009 term, assuming the presidency in December 2008. The country is preparing to join the Schengen Area. Military The Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) consist of the Air Force, Army, and Navy branches in addition to the Education and Training Command and Support Command. The CAF is headed by the General Staff, which reports to the Defence Minister, who in turn reports to the President. According to the constitution, the President is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In case of immediate threat during wartime, he issues orders directly to the General Staff. Following the 1991–95 war, defence spending and CAF size have been in constant decline. , military spending was an estimated 1.68% of the country's GDP, which placed Croatia 67th. Since 2005 the budget has been kept below 2% of GDP, down from the record high of 11.1% in 1994. Traditionally relying on many conscripts, the CAF also went through a period of reforms focused on downsizing, restructuring and professionalisation in the years before accession to NATO in April 2009. According to a presidential decree issued in 2006, the CAF employs around 18,100 active duty military personnel, 3,000 civilians and 2,000 voluntary conscripts between 18 and 30 years old in peacetime. Compulsory conscription was abolished in January 2008. Until 2008 military service was obligatory for men at age 18 and conscripts served six-month tours of duty, reduced in 2001 from the earlier scheme of nine-month conscription tours. Conscientious objectors could instead opt for an eight-month civilian service. , the Croatian military had 72 members stationed in foreign countries as part of United Nations-led international peacekeeping forces. , 323 troops serve the NATO-led ISAF force in Afghanistan. Another 156 with the KFOR in Kosovo. Croatia also has a military industry sector which exported around 493 million kunas (€65,176 million) worth of military equipment and armament in 2020. Croatian-made weapons and vehicles used by CAF include the standard sidearm HS2000 manufactured by HS Produkt and the M-84D battle tank designed by the Đuro Đaković factory. Uniforms and helmets worn by CAF soldiers are also locally |
of the Zeta, Vrbas, Drina and Danube Banates. It had a reconstructed Croatian Parliament which would choose a Croatian Ban and Viceban. This Croatia included a part of Bosnia, most of Herzegovina and the city of Dubrovnik and the surroundings. World War II and the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945) The Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941 allowed the Croatian radical right Ustaše to come into power, forming the "Independent State of Croatia" (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), led by Ante Pavelić, who assumed the role of Poglavnik. Following the pattern of other fascist regimes in Europe, the Ustashi enacted racial laws, formed eight concentration camps targeting minority Serbs, Romas and Jewish populations, as well as Croatian and Bosnian Muslim partisans. The biggest concentration camp was Jasenovac in Croatia. The NDH had a program, formulated by Mile Budak, to purge Croatia of Serbs, by "killing one third, expelling the other third and assimilating the remaining third". The main targets for persecution were the Serbs, of whom approximately 330,000 were killed. Various Serbian nationalist Chetnik groups also committed atrocities against Croats across many areas of Lika and parts of northern Dalmatia. During World War II in Yugoslavia, the Chetniks killed an estimated 18,000-32,000 Croats. The anti-fascist communist-led Partisan movement, based on pan-Yugoslav ideology, emerged in early 1941, under the command of Croatian-born Josip Broz Tito, spreading quickly into many parts of Yugoslavia. The 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment, often hailed as the first armed anti-fascist resistance unit in occupied Europe, was formed in Croatia, in the Brezovica Forest near the town of Sisak. As the movement began to gain popularity, the Partisans gained strength from Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, Slovenes, and Macedonians who believed in a unified, but federal, Yugoslav state. By 1943, the Partisan resistance movement had gained the upper hand and in 1945, with help from the Soviet Red Army (passing only through small parts such as Vojvodina), expelled the Axis forces and local supporters. The ZAVNOH, state anti-fascist council of people's liberation of Croatia, functioned since 1942 and formed an interim civil government by 1943. NDH's ministers of War and Internal Security Mladen Lorković and Ante Vokić tried to switch to Allied side. Pavelić was in the beginning supporting them but when he found that he would need to leave his position he imprisoned them in Lepoglava prison where they were executed. Following the defeat of the Independent State of Croatia at the end of the war, a large number of Ustaše, civilians supporting them (ranging from sympathizers, young conscripts, anti-communists, and ordinary serfs who were motivated by Partisan atrocities), Chetniks and anti-Communists attempted to flee in the direction of Austria hoping to surrender to British forces and to be given refuge. Following the Yugoslav Partisan pursuit of Nazi collaborators, they were instead interned by British forces, returned to the Partisans, and were then subject to mass executions. Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991) Tito's leadership of the LCY (1945–1980) Croatia was a Socialist Republic part of a six-part Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Under the new communist system, privately owned factories and estates were nationalized, and the economy was based on a type of planned market socialism. The country underwent a rebuilding process, recovered from World War II, went through industrialization and started developing tourism. The country's socialist system also provided free apartments from big companies, which with the workers' self-management investments paid for the living spaces. From 1963, the citizens of Yugoslavia were allowed to travel to almost any country because of the neutral politics. No visas were required to travel to eastern or western countries, or to capitalist or communist nations. Such free travel was unheard of at the time in the Eastern Bloc countries, and in some western countries as well (e.g., Spain or Portugal, both dictatorships at the time). This proved to be very helpful for Croatia's inhabitants who found working in foreign countries more financially rewarding. Upon retirement, a popular plan was to return to live in Croatia (then Yugoslavia) to buy a more expensive property. In Yugoslavia, the people of Croatia were guaranteed free healthcare, free dental care, and secure pensions. The older generation found this very comforting as pensions would sometimes exceed their former paychecks. Free trade and travel within the country also helped Croatian industries that imported and exported throughout all the former republics. Students and military personnel were encouraged to visit other republics to learn more about the country, and all levels of education, especially secondary education and higher education, were free. In reality the housing was inferior with poor heat and plumbing, the medical care often lacking even in availability of antibiotics, schools were propaganda machines and travel was a necessity to provide the country with hard currency. The propagandists, who want people to believe "neutral policies" equalized Serbs and Croats, severely restricted free speech and did not protect citizens from ethnic attacks. Membership in the party was as much a prerequisite for admission to colleges and for government jobs as in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin or Nikita Khrushchev. Private sector businesses did not grow as the taxes on private enterprise were often prohibitive. Inexperienced management sometimes ruled policy and controlled decisions by brute force. Strikes were forbidden, owners/managers were not permitted to make changes or decision which would impact their productivity or profit. The economy developed into a type of socialism called samoupravljanje (self-management), in which workers controlled socially owned enterprises. This kind of market socialism created significantly better economic conditions than in the Eastern Bloc countries. Croatia went through intensive industrialization in the 1960s and 1970s with industrial output increasing several-fold and with Zagreb surpassing Belgrade for the amount of industry. Factories and other organizations were often named after Partisans who were declared national heroes. This practice also spread to street names, names of parks and buildings, and some more trivial features. Before World War II, Croatia's industry was not significant, with the vast majority of the people employed in agriculture. By 1991, the country was completely transformed into a modern industrialized state. By the same time, the Croatian Adriatic coast had taken shape as an internationally popular tourist destination, all coastal republics (but mostly SR Croatia) profited greatly from this, as tourist numbers reached levels still unsurpassed in modern Croatia. The government brought unprecedented economic and industrial growth, high levels of social security and a very low crime rate. The country completely recovered from WWII and achieved a very high GDP and economic growth rate, significantly higher than those of the present-day republic. The constitution of 1963 balanced the power in the country between the Croats and the Serbs and alleviated imbalance coming from the fact that the Croats were again in a minority position. Trends after 1965 (like the fall of OZNA and UDBA chief Aleksandar Ranković from power in 1966), however, led to the Croatian Spring of 1970–71, when students in Zagreb organized demonstrations to achieve greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy. The regime stifled the public protest and incarcerated the leaders, but this led to the ratification of a new constitution in 1974, giving more rights to the individual republics. Radical Ustaše cells of Croatian émigrés based in Australia and in Western Europe planned and attempted to carry out acts of sabotage inside Yugoslavia, including an incursion from Austria of 19 armed men in June 1971, who unsuccessfully aimed to incite a popular Croatian uprising against what they called the "Serbo-communist" regime in Belgrade. Until the breakup of Yugoslavia (1980–1991) In 1980, after Tito's death, economic, political, and religious difficulties started to mount and the federal government began to crumble. The crisis in Kosovo and, in 1986, the emergence of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia provoked a very negative reaction in Croatia and Slovenia; politicians from both republics feared that his motives would threaten their republics' autonomy. With the climate of change throughout Eastern Europe during the 1980s, the communist hegemony was challenged (at the same time, the Milošević government began to gradually concentrate Yugoslav power in Serbia and calls for free multi-party elections were becoming louder). In June 1989 the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was founded by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by Franjo Tuđman, a former fighter in Tito's Partisan movement and JNA General. At this time Yugoslavia was still a one-party state and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were dangerous so a new party was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner. It was only on 13 December 1989 that the governing League of Communists of Croatia agreed to legalize opposition political parties and hold free elections in the spring of 1990. On 23 January 1990 at its 14th Congress the Communist League of Yugoslavia voted to remove its monopoly on political power, but the same day effectively ceased to exist as a national party when the League of Communists of Slovenia walked out after SR Serbia's President Slobodan Milošević blocked all their reformist proposals, which made the League of Communists of Croatia to further distance themselves from the idea of a joint state. Republic of Croatia (1991–present) Political changes On 22 April and 7 May 1990, the first free multi-party elections were held in Croatia. Franjo Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won by a 42% margin against Ivica Račan's reformed communist Party of Democratic Change (SDP) who won 26%. However, Croatia's first-past-the-post election system enabled Tuđman to form the government relatively independently as the win translated into 205 mandates (out of 351 total). The HDZ's intentions were to secure independence for Croatia, contrary to the wishes of a part of the ethnic Serbs in the republic, and federal politicians in Belgrade. The excessively polarized climate soon escalated into complete estrangement between the two nations and spiralled into sectarian violence. On 25 July 1990, a Serbian Assembly was established in Srb, north of Knin, as the political representation of the Serbian people in Croatia. The Serbian Assembly declared "sovereignty and autonomy of the Serb people in Croatia". Their position was that if Croatia could secede from Yugoslavia, then the Serbs could secede from Croatia. Milan Babić, a dentist from the southern town of Knin, was elected president. The rebel Croatian Serbs established a number of paramilitary militias under the leadership of Milan Martić, the police chief in Knin. On 17 August 1990, the Serbs of Croatia began what became known as the Log Revolution, where barricades of logs were placed across roads throughout the South as an expression of their secession from Croatia. This effectively cut Croatia in two, separating the coastal region of Dalmatia from the rest of the country. The Croatian government responded to the blockade of roads by sending special police teams in helicopters to the scene, but they were intercepted by SFR Yugoslav Air Force fighter jets and forced to turn back to Zagreb. The Croatian constitution was passed in December 1990 categorizing Serbs as a minority group along with other ethnic groups. Babić's administration announced the creation of a Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (or SAO Krajina) on 21 December 1990. Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they would also join SAO Krajina and ceased paying taxes to the Zagreb government. On Easter Sunday, 31 March 1991, the first fatal clashes occurred when Croatian police from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) entered the Plitvice Lakes national park to expel rebel Serb forces. Serb paramilitaries ambushed a bus carrying Croatian police into the national park on the road north of Korenica, sparking a day-long gun battle between the two sides. During the fighting, two people, one Croat and one Serb policeman, were killed. Twenty other people were injured and twenty-nine Krajina Serb paramilitaries and policemen were taken prisoner by Croatian forces. Among the prisoners was Goran Hadžić, later to become the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. On 2 May 1991, the Croatian parliament voted to hold a referendum on independence. On 19 May 1991, on an almost 80% turnout, 93.24% voted for independence. Krajina boycotted the referendum. They held their own referendum a week earlier on 12 May 1991 in the territories they controlled and voted to remain in Yugoslavia which the Croatian government did not recognize as valid. On 25 June 1991, the Croatian Parliament declared independence from Yugoslavia. Slovenia declared independence from Yugoslavia on the same day. War of Independence (1991–1995) The civilian population fled the areas of armed conflict en masse: generally speaking, hundreds of thousands of Croats moved away from the Bosnian and Serbian border areas. In many places, masses of civilians were forced out by the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), who consisted mostly of conscripts from Serbia and Montenegro, and irregulars from Serbia, in what became known as ethnic cleansing. The border city of Vukovar underwent a three-month siege during the Battle of Vukovar. It left most of the city destroyed and a majority of the population was forced to flee. The city was taken over by the Serbian forces on 18 November 1991 and the | from Cetingrad area from Ottomans, he withdrew from Bihać. Croatian romantic nationalism emerged in the mid-19th century to counteract the apparent Germanization and Magyarization of Croatia. The Illyrian movement attracted a number of influential figures from the 1830s on, and produced some important advances in the Croatian language and culture. In the Revolutions of 1848 the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, driven by fear of Magyar nationalism, supported the Habsburg court against Hungarian revolutionary forces. However, despite the contributions of its ban Jelačić in quenching the Hungarian war of independence, Croatia, not treated any more favourably by Vienna than the Hungarians themselves, lost its domestic autonomy. In 1867 the Dual Monarchy was created; Croatian autonomy was restored in 1868 with the Croatian–Hungarian Settlement which was comparatively favourable for the Croatians, but still problematic because of issues such as the unresolved status of Rijeka. World War I brought an end to the Habsburg Empire. Croatia suffered great loss of life in the war, and while there was some late effort to establish a Croatian section of the Empire, ultimately the military defeat led to the establishment of a separate South Slavic state, which would later be named Yugoslavia. Shortly before the end of the First World War in 1918, the Croatian Parliament severed relations with Austria-Hungary as the Entente armies defeated those of the Habsburgs. Croatia and Slavonia became a part of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs composed out of all South Slavic territories of the now former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy with a transitional government headed in Zagreb. Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) The creation of Yugoslavia happened in late 1918: after Srijem left Croatia-Slavonia and joined Serbia together with Vojvodina, shortly followed by a referendum to join Bosnia and Herzegovina to Serbia, the People's Council of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Narodno vijeće), guided by what was by that time a half a century long tradition of pan-Slavism and without sanction of the Croatian sabor, joined the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Although the state inherited much of Austro-Hungary's military arsenal, including the entire fleet, the Kingdom of Italy moved rapidly to annex the state's most western territories, promised to her by the Treaty of London of 1915. An Italian Army eventually took Istria, started to annex the Adriatic islands one by one, and even landed in Zadar. Partial resolution to the so-called Adriatic Question would come in 1920 with the Treaty of Rapallo. The Kingdom underwent a crucial change in 1921 to the dismay of Croatia's largest political party, the Croatian Peasant Party (Hrvatska seljačka stranka). The new constitution abolished the historical/political entities, including Croatia and Slavonia, centralizing authority in the capital of Belgrade. The Croatian Peasant Party boycotted the government of the Serbian People's Radical Party throughout the period, except for a brief interlude between 1925 and 1927, when external Italian expansionism was at hand with her allies, Albania, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria that threatened Yugoslavia as a whole. In the early 1920s the Yugoslav government of Serbian prime minister Nikola Pasic used police pressure over voters and ethnic minorities, confiscation of opposition pamphlets and other measures of election rigging to keep the opposition, and mainly the Croatian Peasant Party and its allies in minority in Yugoslav parliament. Pasic believed that Yugoslavia should be as centralized as possible, creating in place of distinct regional governments and identities a Greater Serbian national concept of concentrated power in the hands of Belgrade. During a Parliament session in 1928, the Croatian Peasant Party's leader Stjepan Radić was mortally wounded by Puniša Račić, a deputy of the Serbian Radical People's Party, which caused further upsets among the Croatian elite. In 1929, King Aleksandar proclaimed a dictatorship and imposed a new constitution which, among other things, renamed the country the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The territory of Croatia was largely divided into the territories of the Sava and Littoral Banates. Political parties were banned from the start and the royal dictatorship took on an increasingly harsh character. Vladko Maček, who had succeeded Radić as leader of the Croatian Peasant Party, the largest political party in Croatia, was imprisoned, and members of a newly emerging insurgent movement, the Ustaše, went into exile. According to the British historian Misha Glenny the murder in March 1929 of Toni Schlegel, editor of a pro-Yugoslavian newspaper Novosti, brought a "furious response" from the regime. In Lika and west Herzegovina in particular, which he described as "hotbeds of Croatian separatism," he wrote that the majority-Serb police acted "with no restraining authority whatsoever." In the words of a prominent Croatian writer, Shlegel's death became the pretext for terror in all forms. Politics was soon "indistinguishable from gangsterism." Even in this oppressive climate, few rallied to the Ustaša cause and the movement was never able to organise within Croatia. But its leaders did manage to convince the Communist Party that it was a progressive movement. The party's newspaper Proleter (December 1932) stated: "[We] salute the Ustaša movement of the peasants of Lika and Dalmatia and fully support them." In 1934, King Aleksandar was assassinated abroad, in Marseille, by a coalition of the Ustaše and a similarly radical movement, the Bulgarian IMRO. The Serbian-Croatian Cvetković-Maček government that came to power, distanced Yugoslavia's former allies of France and the United Kingdom, and moved closer to Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in the period of 1935–1941. A national Banovina of Croatia was created in 1939 out of the two Banates, as well as parts of the Zeta, Vrbas, Drina and Danube Banates. It had a reconstructed Croatian Parliament which would choose a Croatian Ban and Viceban. This Croatia included a part of Bosnia, most of Herzegovina and the city of Dubrovnik and the surroundings. World War II and the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1945) The Axis occupation of Yugoslavia in 1941 allowed the Croatian radical right Ustaše to come into power, forming the "Independent State of Croatia" (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH), led by Ante Pavelić, who assumed the role of Poglavnik. Following the pattern of other fascist regimes in Europe, the Ustashi enacted racial laws, formed eight concentration camps targeting minority Serbs, Romas and Jewish populations, as well as Croatian and Bosnian Muslim partisans. The biggest concentration camp was Jasenovac in Croatia. The NDH had a program, formulated by Mile Budak, to purge Croatia of Serbs, by "killing one third, expelling the other third and assimilating the remaining third". The main targets for persecution were the Serbs, of whom approximately 330,000 were killed. Various Serbian nationalist Chetnik groups also committed atrocities against Croats across many areas of Lika and parts of northern Dalmatia. During World War II in Yugoslavia, the Chetniks killed an estimated 18,000-32,000 Croats. The anti-fascist communist-led Partisan movement, based on pan-Yugoslav ideology, emerged in early 1941, under the command of Croatian-born Josip Broz Tito, spreading quickly into many parts of Yugoslavia. The 1st Sisak Partisan Detachment, often hailed as the first armed anti-fascist resistance unit in occupied Europe, was formed in Croatia, in the Brezovica Forest near the town of Sisak. As the movement began to gain popularity, the Partisans gained strength from Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, Slovenes, and Macedonians who believed in a unified, but federal, Yugoslav state. By 1943, the Partisan resistance movement had gained the upper hand and in 1945, with help from the Soviet Red Army (passing only through small parts such as Vojvodina), expelled the Axis forces and local supporters. The ZAVNOH, state anti-fascist council of people's liberation of Croatia, functioned since 1942 and formed an interim civil government by 1943. NDH's ministers of War and Internal Security Mladen Lorković and Ante Vokić tried to switch to Allied side. Pavelić was in the beginning supporting them but when he found that he would need to leave his position he imprisoned them in Lepoglava prison where they were executed. Following the defeat of the Independent State of Croatia at the end of the war, a large number of Ustaše, civilians supporting them (ranging from sympathizers, young conscripts, anti-communists, and ordinary serfs who were motivated by Partisan atrocities), Chetniks and anti-Communists attempted to flee in the direction of Austria hoping to surrender to British forces and to be given refuge. Following the Yugoslav Partisan pursuit of Nazi collaborators, they were instead interned by British forces, returned to the Partisans, and were then subject to mass executions. Socialist Yugoslavia (1945–1991) Tito's leadership of the LCY (1945–1980) Croatia was a Socialist Republic part of a six-part Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia. Under the new communist system, privately owned factories and estates were nationalized, and the economy was based on a type of planned market socialism. The country underwent a rebuilding process, recovered from World War II, went through industrialization and started developing tourism. The country's socialist system also provided free apartments from big companies, which with the workers' self-management investments paid for the living spaces. From 1963, the citizens of Yugoslavia were allowed to travel to almost any country because of the neutral politics. No visas were required to travel to eastern or western countries, or to capitalist or communist nations. Such free travel was unheard of at the time in the Eastern Bloc countries, and in some western countries as well (e.g., Spain or Portugal, both dictatorships at the time). This proved to be very helpful for Croatia's inhabitants who found working in foreign countries more financially rewarding. Upon retirement, a popular plan was to return to live in Croatia (then Yugoslavia) to buy a more expensive property. In Yugoslavia, the people of Croatia were guaranteed free healthcare, free dental care, and secure pensions. The older generation found this very comforting as pensions would sometimes exceed their former paychecks. Free trade and travel within the country also helped Croatian industries that imported and exported throughout all the former republics. Students and military personnel were encouraged to visit other republics to learn more about the country, and all levels of education, especially secondary education and higher education, were free. In reality the housing was inferior with poor heat and plumbing, the medical care often lacking even in availability of antibiotics, schools were propaganda machines and travel was a necessity to provide the country with hard currency. The propagandists, who want people to believe "neutral policies" equalized Serbs and Croats, severely restricted free speech and did not protect citizens from ethnic attacks. Membership in the party was as much a prerequisite for admission to colleges and for government jobs as in the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin or Nikita Khrushchev. Private sector businesses did not grow as the taxes on private enterprise were often prohibitive. Inexperienced management sometimes ruled policy and controlled decisions by brute force. Strikes were forbidden, owners/managers were not permitted to make changes or decision which would impact their productivity or profit. The economy developed into a type of socialism called samoupravljanje (self-management), in which workers controlled socially owned enterprises. This kind of market socialism created significantly better economic conditions than in the Eastern Bloc countries. Croatia went through intensive industrialization in the 1960s and 1970s with industrial output increasing several-fold and with Zagreb surpassing Belgrade for the amount of industry. Factories and other organizations were often named after Partisans who were declared national heroes. This practice also spread to street names, names of parks and buildings, and some more trivial features. Before World War II, Croatia's industry was not significant, with the vast majority of the people employed in agriculture. By 1991, the country was completely transformed into a modern industrialized state. By the same time, the Croatian Adriatic coast had taken shape as an internationally popular tourist destination, all coastal republics (but mostly SR Croatia) profited greatly from this, as tourist numbers reached levels still unsurpassed in modern Croatia. The government brought unprecedented economic and industrial growth, high levels of social security and a very low crime rate. The country completely recovered from WWII and achieved a very high GDP and economic growth rate, significantly higher than those of the present-day republic. The constitution of 1963 balanced the power in the country between the Croats and the Serbs and alleviated imbalance coming from the fact that the Croats were again in a minority position. Trends after 1965 (like the fall of OZNA and UDBA chief Aleksandar Ranković from power in 1966), however, led to the Croatian Spring of 1970–71, when students in Zagreb organized demonstrations to achieve greater civil liberties and greater Croatian autonomy. The regime stifled the public protest and incarcerated the leaders, but this led to the ratification of a new constitution in 1974, giving more rights to the individual republics. Radical Ustaše cells of Croatian émigrés based in Australia and in Western Europe planned and attempted to carry out acts of sabotage inside Yugoslavia, including an incursion from Austria of 19 armed men in June 1971, who unsuccessfully aimed to incite a popular Croatian uprising against what they called the "Serbo-communist" regime in Belgrade. Until the breakup of Yugoslavia (1980–1991) In 1980, after Tito's death, economic, political, and religious difficulties started to mount and the federal government began to crumble. The crisis in Kosovo and, in 1986, the emergence of Slobodan Milošević in Serbia provoked a very negative reaction in Croatia and Slovenia; politicians from both republics feared that his motives would threaten their republics' autonomy. With the climate of change throughout Eastern Europe during the 1980s, the communist hegemony was challenged (at the same time, the Milošević government began to gradually concentrate Yugoslav power in Serbia and calls for free multi-party elections were becoming louder). In June 1989 the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) was founded by Croatian nationalist dissidents led by Franjo Tuđman, a former fighter in Tito's Partisan movement and JNA General. At this time Yugoslavia was still a one-party state and open manifestations of Croatian nationalism were dangerous so a new party was founded in an almost conspiratorial manner. It was only on 13 December 1989 that the governing League of Communists of Croatia agreed to legalize opposition political parties and hold free elections in the spring of 1990. On 23 January 1990 at its 14th Congress the Communist League of Yugoslavia voted to remove its monopoly on political power, but the same day effectively ceased to exist as a national party when the League of Communists of Slovenia walked out after SR Serbia's President Slobodan Milošević blocked all their reformist proposals, which made the League of Communists of Croatia to further distance themselves from the idea of a joint state. Republic of Croatia (1991–present) Political changes On 22 April and 7 May 1990, the first free multi-party elections were held in Croatia. Franjo Tuđman's Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won by a 42% margin against Ivica Račan's reformed communist Party of Democratic Change (SDP) who won 26%. However, Croatia's first-past-the-post election system enabled Tuđman to form the government relatively independently as the win translated into 205 mandates (out of 351 total). The HDZ's intentions were to secure independence for Croatia, contrary to the wishes of a part of the ethnic Serbs in the republic, and federal politicians in Belgrade. The excessively polarized climate soon escalated into complete estrangement between the two nations and spiralled into sectarian violence. On 25 July 1990, a Serbian Assembly was established in Srb, north of Knin, as the political representation of the Serbian people in Croatia. The Serbian Assembly declared "sovereignty and autonomy of the Serb people in Croatia". Their position was that if Croatia could secede from Yugoslavia, then the Serbs could secede from Croatia. Milan Babić, a dentist from the southern town of Knin, was elected president. The rebel Croatian Serbs established a number of paramilitary militias under the leadership of Milan Martić, the police chief in Knin. On 17 August 1990, the Serbs of Croatia began what became known as the Log Revolution, where barricades of logs were placed across roads throughout the South as an expression of their secession from Croatia. This effectively cut Croatia in two, separating the coastal region of Dalmatia from the rest of the country. The Croatian government responded to the blockade of roads by sending special police teams in helicopters to the scene, but they were intercepted by SFR Yugoslav Air Force fighter jets and forced to turn back to Zagreb. The Croatian constitution was passed in December 1990 categorizing Serbs as a minority group along with other ethnic groups. Babić's administration announced the creation of a Serbian Autonomous Oblast of Krajina (or SAO Krajina) on 21 December 1990. Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they would also join SAO Krajina and ceased paying taxes to the Zagreb government. On Easter Sunday, 31 March 1991, the first fatal clashes occurred when Croatian police from the Croatian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) entered the Plitvice Lakes national park to expel rebel Serb forces. Serb paramilitaries ambushed a bus carrying Croatian police into the national park on the road north of Korenica, sparking a day-long gun battle between the two sides. During the fighting, two people, one Croat and one Serb policeman, were killed. Twenty other people were injured and twenty-nine Krajina Serb paramilitaries and policemen were taken prisoner by Croatian forces. Among the prisoners was Goran Hadžić, later to become the President of the Republic of Serbian Krajina. On 2 May 1991, the Croatian parliament voted to hold a referendum on independence. On 19 May 1991, on an almost 80% turnout, 93.24% voted for independence. Krajina boycotted the referendum. They held their own referendum a week earlier on 12 May 1991 in the territories they controlled and voted to remain in Yugoslavia which the Croatian |
Serbs (4.5%), and 21 other ethnicities (less than 1% each) recognised by the constitution. Since the counties were re-established in 1992, Croatia is divided into 20 counties and the capital city of Zagreb. The counties subdivide into 127 cities and 429 municipalities. The average urbanisation rate in Croatia stands at 56%, with a growing urban population and shrinking rural population. The largest city and the nation's capital is Zagreb, with an urban population of 797,952 in the city itself and a metropolitan area population of 978,161. The populations of Split and Rijeka exceed 100,000, and five more cities in Croatia have populations over 50,000. Area and borders Croatia's territory covers , making it the 127th largest country in the world. The physical geography of Croatia is defined by its location—it is described as a part of Southeast Europe Croatia borders Bosnia–Herzegovina (for 1,009.1 km) and Serbia (for 317.6 km) in the east, Slovenia for 667.8 km in the west, Hungary for 355.5 km in the north and Montenegro for 22.6 km and the Adriatic Sea in the south. It lies mostly between latitudes 42° and 47° N and longitudes 13° and 20° E. Part of the extreme south of Croatia is separated from the rest of the mainland by a short coastline strip around Neum belonging to Bosnia–Herzegovina. Croatia's border with Hungary was inherited from Yugoslavia. Much of the border with Hungary follows the Drava River or its former river bed; that part of the border dates from the Middle Ages. The border in Međimurje and Baranya was defined as a border between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, later renamed the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, pursuant to the Treaty of Trianon of 1920. The present outline of the border with Bosnia–Herzegovina and border with Montenegro is largely the result of the Ottoman conquest and subsequent recapture of territories in the Great Turkish War of 1667–1698 formally ending with the Treaty of Karlowitz, as well as the Fifth and Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars. This border had minor modifications in 1947 when all borders of the former Yugoslav constituent republics were defined by demarcation commissions implementing the AVNOJ decisions of 1943 and 1945 regarding the federal organisation of Yugoslavia. The commissions also defined Baranya and Međimurje as Croatian territories, and moreover set up the present-day border between Serbia and Croatia in Syrmia and along the Danube River between Ilok and the Drava river's mouth and further north to the Hungarian border; the Ilok/Drava section matched the border between the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia and Bács-Bodrog County that existed until 1918 (the end of World War I). Most of the border with Slovenia was also defined by the commissions, matching the northwestern border of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, and establishing a new section of Croatian border north of the Istrian peninsula according to the ethnic composition of the territory previously belonging to the Kingdom of Italy. Pursuant to the 1947 Treaty of Peace with Italy the islands of Cres, Lastovo and Palagruža and the cities of Zadar and Rijeka and most of Istria went to communist Yugoslavia and Croatia, while carving out the Free Territory of Trieste (FTT) as a city-state. The FTT was partitioned in 1954 as Trieste itself and the area to the north of it were placed under Italian control, and the rest under Yugoslav control. The arrangement was made permanent by the Treaty of Osimo in 1975. The former FTT's Yugoslav part was partitioned between Croatia and Slovenia, largely conforming to the area population's ethnic composition. In the late 19th century, Austria-Hungary established a geodetic network, for which the elevation benchmark was determined by the Adriatic Sea's average level at the Sartorio pier in Trieste. This benchmark was subsequently retained by Austria, adopted by Yugoslavia, and kept by the states that emerged after its dissolution, including Croatia. Extreme points The geographical extreme points of Croatia are Žabnik in Međimurje County as the northernmost point, Rađevac near Ilok in Vukovar-Syrmia County as the easternmost point, Cape Lako near Bašanija in Istria County as the westernmost point and the islet of Galijula in Palagruža archipelago in Split-Dalmatia County as the southernmost point. On the mainland, Cape Oštra of the Prevlaka peninsula in Dubrovnik-Neretva County is the southernmost point. Maritime claims Italy and Yugoslavia defined their delineation of the continental shelf in the Adriatic Sea in 1968, with an additional agreement on the boundary in the Gulf of Trieste signed in 1975 in accordance with the Treaty of Osimo. All the successor states of former Yugoslavia accepted the agreements. Prior to Yugoslavia's break-up, Albania, Italy and Yugoslavia initially proclaimed territorial waters, subsequently reduced to the international-standard ; all sides adopted baseline systems. Croatia also declared its Ecological and Fisheries Protection Zone (ZERP)—a part of its Exclusive Economic Zone—as extending to the continental shelf boundary. Croatia's territorial waters encompass ; its internal waters located within the baseline cover an additional . Border disputes Maritime border disputes Croatia and Slovenia started negotiations to define maritime borders in the Gulf of Piran in 1992 but failed to agree, resulting in a dispute. Both countries also declared their economic zones, which partially overlap. Croatia's application to become an EU member state was initially suspended pending resolution of its border disputes with Slovenia. These were eventually settled with an agreement to accept the decision of an international arbitration commission set up via the UN, enabling Croatia to progress towards EU membership. The dispute has caused no major practical problems in areas other than the EU membership negotiations progress, even before the arbitration agreement. The maritime boundary between Bosnia–Herzegovina and Croatia was formally settled in 1999, but a few issues are still contested—the Klek peninsula and two islets in the border area. The Croatia–Montenegro maritime boundary is disputed in the Bay of Kotor, at the Prevlaka peninsula. The situation was exacerbated by the peninsula's occupation by the Yugoslav People's Army and later by the Serbian-Montenegrin army, which in turn was replaced by a United Nations observer mission that lasted until 2002. Croatia took over the area with an agreement that allowed Montenegrin presence in Croatian waters in the bay, and the dispute has become far less contentious since the independence of Montenegro in 2006. Land border disputes The land border disputes pertain to comparatively small strips of land. The Croatia–Slovenia border disputes are: along the Dragonja River's lower course where Slovenia claims three hamlets on the river's left bank; the Sveta Gera peak of Žumberak where exact territorial claims were never made and appear to be limited to a military barracks on the peak itself; and along the Mura River where Slovenia wants the border to be along the current river bed instead of along a former one and claims a (largely if not completely uninhabited) piece of land near Hotiza. These claims are likewise in the process of being settled by binding arbitration. There are also land border disputes between Croatia and Serbia. The two countries presently control one bank of the present-day river each, but Croatia claims that the border line should follow the cadastral borders between the former municipalities of SR Croatia and SR Serbia along the Danube, as defined by a Yugoslav commission in 1947 (effectively following a former river bed); borders claimed by Croatia also include the Vukovar and Šarengrad islands in the Danube as its territory. There is also a border dispute with Bosnia–Herzegovina, specifically Croatia claims Unčica channel on the right bank of Una as the border at Hrvatska Kostajnica, while Bosnia and Herzegovina claims Una River course as the border there. Physical geography Geology The geology of Croatia has some Precambrian rocks mostly covered by younger sedimentary rocks and deformed or superimposed by tectonic activity. The country is split into two main onshore provinces, a smaller part of the Pannonian Basin and the larger Dinarides. These areas are very different. The carbonate platform karst landscape of Croatia helped to create the weathering conditions to form bauxite, gypsum, clay, amphibolite, granite, spilite, gabbro, diabase and limestone. Topography Most of Croatia is lowlands, with elevations of less than above sea level recorded in 53.42% of the country. Most of the lowlands are found in the country's northern regions, especially in Slavonia, representing a part of the Pannonian Basin. Areas with elevations of above sea level encompass 25.61% of Croatia's territory, and the areas between above sea level cover 17.11% of the country. A further 3.71% of the land is above sea level, and only 0.15% of Croatia's territory is elevated greater than above sea level. The greatest concentration of ground at relatively high elevations is found in the Lika and Gorski Kotar areas in the Dinaric Alps, but such areas are found in all regions of Croatia to some extent. The Pannonian Basin and the Dinaric Alps, along with the Adriatic Basin, represent major geomorphological parts of Croatia. Adriatic Basin Croatia's Adriatic Sea mainland coast is long, while its 1,246 islands and islets have a further of coastline. The distance between the extreme points of Croatia's coastline is . The number of islands includes all islands, islets, and rocks of all sizes, including ones emerging only at low tide. The largest islands in the Adriatic are Cres and Krk, each covering ; the tallest is Brač, reaching above sea level. The islands include 47 permanently inhabited ones, the most populous among them being Krk and Korčula. The shore is the most indented coastline in the Mediterranean. The majority of the coast is characterised by a karst topography, developed from the Adriatic Carbonate Platform. Karstification there largely began after the final raising of the Dinarides in the Oligocene and Miocene epochs, when carbonate rock was exposed to atmospheric effects such as rain; this extended to below the present sea level, exposed during the Last Glacial Maximum's sea level drop. It is estimated that some karst formations are related to earlier drops of sea level, most notably the Messinian salinity crisis. The eastern coast's largest part consists of carbonate rocks, while flysch rock is significantly represented in the Gulf of Trieste coast, on the Kvarner Gulf coast opposite Krk, and in Dalmatia north of Split. There are comparably small alluvial areas of the Adriatic coast in Croatia—most notably the Neretva river delta. Western Istria is gradually subsiding, having sunk about in the past 2,000 years. In the Middle Adriatic Basin, there is evidence of Permian volcanism in the area of Komiža on the island of Vis, in addition to the volcanic islands of Jabuka and Brusnik. Earthquakes are frequent in the area around the Adriatic Sea, although most are too faint to be felt; an earthquake doing significant damage happens every few decades, with major earthquakes every few centuries. Dinaric Alps The Dinaric Alps are linked to a Late Jurassic to recent times fold and thrust belt, itself part of the Alpine orogeny, extending southeast from the southern Alps. The Dinaric Alps in Croatia encompass the entire Gorski Kotar and Lika regions, as well as considerable parts of Dalmatia, with their northeastern edge running from Žumberak to the Banovina region, along the Sava River, and their westernmost landforms being Ćićarija and Učka mountains in Istria. The Dinaric Alps contain the highest mountain in Croatia— Dinara—as well as all other mountains in Croatia higher than : Biokovo, Velebit, Plješivica, Velika Kapela, Risnjak, Svilaja and Snježnik. Karst topography makes up about half of Croatia and is especially prominent in the Dinaric Alps. There are numerous caves in Croatia, 49 of which are deeper than , 14 deeper than and 3 deeper than . The longest cave in Croatia, Kita Gaćešina, is at the same time the longest cave in the Dinaric Alps at . Pannonian Basin The Pannonian Basin took shape through Miocenian thinning and subsidence of crust structures formed during the Late Paleozoic Variscan orogeny. The Paleozoic and Mesozoic structures are visible in Papuk and other Slavonian mountains. The processes also led to the formation of a stratovolcanic chain in the basin 12–17 Mya; intensified subsidence was observed until 5 Mya as well as flood basalts at about 7.5 Mya. The contemporary tectonic uplift of the Carpathian Mountains severed water flow to the Black Sea and the Pannonian Sea formed in the basin. Sediments were transported to the basin from the uplifting Carpathian and Dinaric mountains, with particularly deep fluvial sediments being deposited in the Pleistocene epoch during the Transdanubian Mountains' formation. Ultimately, up to of sediment was deposited in the basin, and the sea eventually drained through the Iron Gate gorge. The results are large plains in eastern Slavonia's Baranya and Syrmia regions, as well as in river valleys, especially along the Sava, Drava and Kupa. The plains are interspersed by horst and graben structures, believed to have broken the Pannonian Sea's surface as islands. The tallest among such landforms are Ivanšćica and Medvednica north of Zagreb—both are also at least partially in Hrvatsko Zagorje—as well as Psunj and Papuk that are the tallest among the Slavonian mountains surrounding Požega. Psunj, Papuk and adjacent Krndija consist mostly of Paleozoic rocks from 300 to 350 Mya. Požeška gora, adjacent to Psunj, consists of much more recent Neogene rocks, but there are also Upper Cretaceous sediments and igneous rocks forming the main, ridge of the hill; these represent the largest igneous landform in Croatia. A smaller piece of igneous terrain is also present on Papuk, near Voćin. The two, as well as the Moslavačka gora mountains, are possibly remnants of a volcanic arc from the same tectonic plate collision that caused the Dinaric Alps. Hydrography The largest part of Croatia—62% of its territory—is encompassed by the Black Sea drainage basin. The area includes the largest rivers flowing in the country: the Danube, Sava, Drava, Mura and Kupa. The rest belongs to the Adriatic Sea drainage basin, where the largest river by far is the Neretva. The longest rivers in Croatia are the Sava, Drava, Kupa and a section of the Danube. The longest rivers emptying into the Adriatic Sea are the Cetina and an only section of the Neretva. The largest lakes in Croatia are Lake Vrana located in the northern Dalmatia, Lake Dubrava near Varaždin, Peruća Lake (reservoir) on the Cetina River, Lake Prokljan near Skradin and Lake Varaždin reservoir through which the Drava River flows near Varaždin. Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes, a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue. Croatia has a remarkable wealth in terms of wetlands. Four of those are included in | Carpathian Mountains severed water flow to the Black Sea and the Pannonian Sea formed in the basin. Sediments were transported to the basin from the uplifting Carpathian and Dinaric mountains, with particularly deep fluvial sediments being deposited in the Pleistocene epoch during the Transdanubian Mountains' formation. Ultimately, up to of sediment was deposited in the basin, and the sea eventually drained through the Iron Gate gorge. The results are large plains in eastern Slavonia's Baranya and Syrmia regions, as well as in river valleys, especially along the Sava, Drava and Kupa. The plains are interspersed by horst and graben structures, believed to have broken the Pannonian Sea's surface as islands. The tallest among such landforms are Ivanšćica and Medvednica north of Zagreb—both are also at least partially in Hrvatsko Zagorje—as well as Psunj and Papuk that are the tallest among the Slavonian mountains surrounding Požega. Psunj, Papuk and adjacent Krndija consist mostly of Paleozoic rocks from 300 to 350 Mya. Požeška gora, adjacent to Psunj, consists of much more recent Neogene rocks, but there are also Upper Cretaceous sediments and igneous rocks forming the main, ridge of the hill; these represent the largest igneous landform in Croatia. A smaller piece of igneous terrain is also present on Papuk, near Voćin. The two, as well as the Moslavačka gora mountains, are possibly remnants of a volcanic arc from the same tectonic plate collision that caused the Dinaric Alps. Hydrography The largest part of Croatia—62% of its territory—is encompassed by the Black Sea drainage basin. The area includes the largest rivers flowing in the country: the Danube, Sava, Drava, Mura and Kupa. The rest belongs to the Adriatic Sea drainage basin, where the largest river by far is the Neretva. The longest rivers in Croatia are the Sava, Drava, Kupa and a section of the Danube. The longest rivers emptying into the Adriatic Sea are the Cetina and an only section of the Neretva. The largest lakes in Croatia are Lake Vrana located in the northern Dalmatia, Lake Dubrava near Varaždin, Peruća Lake (reservoir) on the Cetina River, Lake Prokljan near Skradin and Lake Varaždin reservoir through which the Drava River flows near Varaždin. Croatia's most famous lakes are the Plitvice lakes, a system of 16 lakes with waterfalls connecting them over dolomite and limestone cascades. The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from turquoise to mint green, grey or blue. Croatia has a remarkable wealth in terms of wetlands. Four of those are included in the Ramsar list of internationally important wetlands: Lonjsko Polje along the Sava and Lonja rivers near Sisak, Kopački Rit at the confluence of the Drava and Danube, the Neretva Delta and Crna Mlaka near Jastrebarsko. Average annual precipitation and evaporation rates are and , respectively. Taking into consideration the overall water balance, the total Croatian water resources amount to per year per capita, including per year per capita from sources inside Croatia. Climate Most of Croatia has a moderately warm and rainy oceanic climate (Cfb) as defined by the Köppen climate classification. Mean monthly temperatures range between (in January) and (in July). The coldest parts of the country are Lika and Gorski Kotar where a snowy forested climate is found at elevations above . The warmest areas of Croatia are at the Adriatic coast and especially in its immediate hinterland, which are characterised by a Mediterranean climate since temperatures are moderated by the sea. Consequently, temperature peaks are more pronounced in the continental areas: the lowest temperature of was recorded on 4 February 1929 in Gospić, and the highest temperature of was recorded on 5 August 1981 in Ploče. The mean annual precipitation is depending on the geographic region and prevailing climate type. The least precipitation is recorded in the outer islands (Vis, Lastovo, Biševo, and Svetac) and in the eastern parts of Slavonia; however, in the latter case it is mostly during the growing season. The most precipitation is observed on the Dinara mountain range and in Gorski Kotar, where some of the highest annual precipitation totals in Europe occur. The prevailing winds in the interior are light to moderate northeast or southwest; in the coastal area, the prevailing winds are determined by local area features. Higher wind velocities are more often recorded in cooler months along the coast, generally as cool northeasterly buras or, less frequently, as warm southerly jugos. The sunniest parts of the country are the outer islands, Hvar and Korčula, where more than 2,700 hours of sunshine are recorded per year, followed by the southern Adriatic Sea area in general, northern Adriatic coast, and Slavonia, all with more than 2,000 hours of sunshine per year. Biodiversity Croatia can be subdivided between a number of ecoregions because of its climate and geomorphology, and the country is consequently one of the richest in Europe in terms of biodiversity. There are four types of biogeographical regions in Croatia: Mediterranean along the coast and in its immediate hinterland, Alpine in most of Lika and Gorski Kotar, Pannonian along the Drava and Danube, and continental in the remaining areas. Among the most significant are karst habitats; these include submerged karst, such as Zrmanja and Krka canyons and tufa barriers, as well as underground habitats. The karst geology has produced approximately 7,000 caves and pits, many of which are inhabited by troglobitic (exclusively cave-dwelling) animals such as the olm, a cave salamander and the only European troglobitic vertebrate. Forests are also significant in the country, as they cover representing 46.8% of Croatia's land surface. The other habitat types include wetlands, grasslands, bogs, fens, scrub habitats, coastal and marine habitats. In terms of phytogeography, Croatia is part of the Boreal Kingdom; specifically, it is part of the Illyrian and Central European provinces of the Circumboreal Region and the Adriatic province of the Mediterranean Region. The World Wide Fund for Nature divides land in Croatia into three ecoregions—Pannonian mixed forests, Dinaric Mountains mixed forests and Illyrian deciduous forests. Biomes in Croatia include temperate broadleaf/mixed forest and Mediterranean forests, woodlands and scrub; all are in the Palearctic realm. Croatia has 38,226 known taxa, 2.8% of which are endemic; the actual number (including undiscovered species) is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000. The estimate is supported by nearly 400 new taxa of invertebrates discovered in Croatia in 2000–2005 alone. There are more than a thousand endemic species, especially in the Velebit and Biokovo mountains, Adriatic islands and karst rivers. Legislation protects 1,131 species. Indigenous cultivars of plants and breeds of domesticated animals are also numerous; they include five breeds of horses, five breeds of cattle, eight breeds of sheep, two breeds of pigs and a poultry breed. Even the indigenous breeds include nine endangered or critically endangered ones. There are 444 Croatian protected areas, encompassing 8.5% of the country. These include 8 national parks, 2 strict reserves and 11 nature parks, accounting for 78% of the total protected area. The most famous protected area and the oldest national park in Croatia is the Plitvice Lakes National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Velebit Nature Park is a part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme. The strict and special reserves, as well as the national and nature parks, are managed and protected by the central government, while other protected areas are managed by counties. In 2005, the National Ecological Network was set up as the first step in preparation for EU membership and joining the Natura 2000 network. Habitat destruction represents a threat to biodiversity in Croatia, as developed and agricultural land is expanded into previous natural habitats, while habitat fragmentation occurs as roads are created or expanded. A further threat to biodiversity is the introduction of invasive species, with Caulerpa racemosa and C. taxifolia identified as especially problematic ones. The invasive algae are monitored and regularly removed to protect the benthic habitat. Agricultural monocultures have also been identified as a threat to biodiversity. Ecology The ecological footprint of Croatia's population and industry varies significantly between the country's regions since 50% of the population resides in 26.8% of the nation's territory, with a particularly high impact made by the city of Zagreb and Zagreb County areas—their combined area comprises 6.6% of Croatia's territory while encompassing 25% of the population. The ecological footprint is most notably from the increased development of settlements and the sea coast leading to habitat fragmentation. Between 1998 and 2008, the greatest changes of land use pertained to artificially developed areas, but the scale of development is negligible compared to EU member states. The Croatian Environment Agency (CEA), a public institution established by the Government of Croatia to collect and analyse information on the environment, has identified further ecological problems as well as various degrees of progress in terms of curbing their environmental impact. These problems include inadequate legal landfills as well as the presence of illegal landfills; between 2005 and 2008, 62 authorised and 423 illegal landfills were rehabilitated. In the same period, the number of issued waste management licences doubled, while the annual municipal solid waste volume increased by 23%, reaching per capita. The processes of soil acidification and organic matter degradation are present throughout Croatia, with increasing soil salinity levels in the Neretva river plain and spreading areas of alkali soil in Slavonia. Croatian air pollution levels reflect the drop in industrial production recorded in 1991 at the onset of the Croatian War of Independence—pre-war emission levels were only reached in 1997. The use of desulfurised fuels has led to a 25% reduction of sulphur dioxide emissions between 1997 and 2004, and a further 7.2% drop by 2007. The rise in NOx emissions halted in 2007 and reversed in 2008. The use of unleaded petrol reduced emissions of lead into the atmosphere by 91.5% between 1997 and 2004. Air quality measurements indicate that the air in rural areas is essentially clean, and in urban centres it generally complies with legal requirements. The most significant sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Croatia are energy production (72%), industry (13%) |
1 female between the ages of 15 and 64. But at ages over 64 the ratio is 0.64 males per 1 female. The ratio for the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female. In contrast to the shrinking native population, since the late 1990s there has been a positive net migration into Croatia, reaching a level of more than 7,000 net immigrants in 2006. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to add 40% to work permit quotas for foreign workers. In accordance with its immigration policy, Croatia is also trying to entice emigrants to return. There were 8,468 immigrants to Croatia in 2009, more than half of them (57.5%) coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sharp decline from the previous year's 14,541. In the same year, there were 9,940 emigrants from the country, 44.8% of them leaving to Serbia. The number of emigrants represents a substantial increase compared to the figure of 7,488 recorded in 2008. In 2009, the net migration to and from abroad peaked in the Sisak-Moslavina County (−1,093 persons) and the city of Zagreb (+830 persons). In 2009, a total of 22,382 marriages were performed in Croatia as well as 5,076 divorces. The 2001 census recorded 1.47 million households in the country. Census data The first modern population census in the country was conducted in 1857, and 15 more have been performed since then. Since 1961 the censuses are conducted in regular ten-year intervals, with the latest one in 2011. The first institution set up in the country specifically for the purposes of maintaining population statistics was the State Statistical Office, founded in 1875. Since its founding, the office changed its name and structure several times and was alternately subordinated to other institutions and independent, until the most recent changes in 1992, when the institution became the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. The 2011 census was performed on 1–28 April 2011, recording situation as of 31 March 2011. The first census results, containing the number of the population by settlement, were published on 29 June 2011, and the final comprehensive set of data was published in December 2012. The 2011 census and processing of the data gathered by the census was expected to cost 171.9 million kuna (23.3 million euro). The 2011 census was performed using new methodology: the permanent population was determined as the enumerated population who lived in the census area for at least 12 months prior to the census, or plans to live in the same area for at least 12 months after the census. This method was also retroactively applied to the 2001 census data. Total Fertility Rate from 1880 to 1899 The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World in Data and Gapminder Foundation. Total Fertility Rate from 1915 to 1940 Vital statistics Births and deaths before WWI Births and deaths after WWII Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics Current vital statistics Marriages and divorces Vital statistics, marriages and divorces by decade Births and fertility rates Ethnic groups Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats (90.42%), while minority groups include Serbs (4.36%), Bosniaks, Hungarians, Italians, Albanians, Slovenes, Germans, Czechs, Roma and others (5.22%). The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia explicitly identifies 22 minorities. Those are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Istro-Romanians ("Vlachs"), Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Ruthenians, Macedonians, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Russians, Bulgarians, Poles, Roma, Turks and Albanians. 1900–1931 1948–2011 Significant migrations The demographic history of Croatia is characterised by significant migrations, starting with the arrival of the Croats in the area. According to the work De Administrando Imperio written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, the Croats arrived in the area of modern-day Croatia in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries. Following the establishment of a personal union of Croatia and Hungary in 1102, and the joining of the Habsburg Empire in 1527, the Hungarian and German-speaking population of Croatia began gradually increasing in number. The processes of Magyarization and Germanization varied in intensity but persisted to the 20th century. The Ottoman conquests initiated a westward migration of parts of the Croatian population; the Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of some of those settlers. To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the Orthodox populations of Bosnia and Serbia to provide military service in the Croatian Military Frontier. Serb migration into this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39. Similarly, Venetian Republic rule in Istria and in Dalmatia, following the Fifth and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars ushered gradual growth of Italian speaking population in those areas. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the Hungarian population declined, especially in the areas north of the Drava river, where they represented the majority before World War I. The period between 1890 and World War I was marked by large economic emigration from Croatia to the United States, and particularly to the areas of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Besides the United States, the main destination of the migrants was South America, especially Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. It is estimated that 500,000 people left Croatia during this period. After World War I, the main focus of emigration shifted to Canada, where about 15,000 people settled before the onset of World War II. During World War II and in the period immediately following the war, there were further significant demographic changes as the German-speaking population, the Volksdeutsche, were either forced or otherwise compelled to leave—reducing their number from the prewar German population of Yugoslavia of 500,000, living in parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, to the figure of 62,000 recorded in the 1953 census. A similar fate was suffered by the Italian population in Yugoslavia populating parts of present-day Croatia and Slovenia, as 350,000 left for Italy. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by colonisation of settlements where the displaced Germans used to live by people from the mountainous parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and migrations to larger cities spurred on by the development of industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, another wave of economic migrants left Croatia. They largely moved to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe. During this period, 65,000 people left for Canada, and by the mid-1970s there were 150,000 Croats who moved to Australia. Particularly large European emigrant communities of Croats exist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which largely stem from the 1960s and 1970s migrations. The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In 1991, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were displaced by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence in areas with significant Serb populations. During the final days of the war, in 1995, between 120,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled the country following the Operation Storm. Ten years after the war, only a small portion of Serb refugees returned out of the 400,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of the Serbs in Croatia who remained never lived in areas occupied during the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited; some of these areas were later settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Demographic losses in the 20th century wars and pandemics In addition to demographic losses through significant migrations, the population of Croatia suffered significant losses due to wars and epidemics. In the 20th century alone, there were several such events. The first was World War I, when the loss of the population of Croatia amounted to an estimated 190,000 persons, or about 5.5% of the total population recorded by the 1910 census. The 1918 flu pandemic started to take its toll in Croatia in July 1918, with peaks of the disease occurring in October and November. Available data is scarce, but it is estimated that the pandemic caused at least 15,000–20,000 deaths. Around 295,000 people were killed on the territory of present-day Croatia during World War II, according to the demographer Bogoljub Kočović. The demise of the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia and of the civilians accompanying the troops at the end of World War II was followed by the Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators. A substantial number of people were executed, but the exact number is disputed. The claims range from 12,000–15,000 to as many as 80,000 killed in May 1945. Finally, approximately 20,000 were killed or went missing during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. The figure pertains only to those persons who would have been recorded by the 1991 census as living in Croatia. Other demographic statistics Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review. One birth every 14 minutes One death every 10 minutes Net loss of one person every 22 minutes One net migrant every 72 minutes The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 4,270,480 (July 2018 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 14.21% (male 312,805 /female 293,931) 15-24 years: 11.09% (male 242,605 /female 230,853) 25-54 years: 40.15% (male 858,025 /female 856,455) 55-64 years: 14.65% (male 304,054 /female 321,543) 65 years and over: 19.91% | is 0.64 males per 1 female. The ratio for the total population is 0.93 males per 1 female. In contrast to the shrinking native population, since the late 1990s there has been a positive net migration into Croatia, reaching a level of more than 7,000 net immigrants in 2006. In recent years, the Croatian government has been pressured each year to add 40% to work permit quotas for foreign workers. In accordance with its immigration policy, Croatia is also trying to entice emigrants to return. There were 8,468 immigrants to Croatia in 2009, more than half of them (57.5%) coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, a sharp decline from the previous year's 14,541. In the same year, there were 9,940 emigrants from the country, 44.8% of them leaving to Serbia. The number of emigrants represents a substantial increase compared to the figure of 7,488 recorded in 2008. In 2009, the net migration to and from abroad peaked in the Sisak-Moslavina County (−1,093 persons) and the city of Zagreb (+830 persons). In 2009, a total of 22,382 marriages were performed in Croatia as well as 5,076 divorces. The 2001 census recorded 1.47 million households in the country. Census data The first modern population census in the country was conducted in 1857, and 15 more have been performed since then. Since 1961 the censuses are conducted in regular ten-year intervals, with the latest one in 2011. The first institution set up in the country specifically for the purposes of maintaining population statistics was the State Statistical Office, founded in 1875. Since its founding, the office changed its name and structure several times and was alternately subordinated to other institutions and independent, until the most recent changes in 1992, when the institution became the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. The 2011 census was performed on 1–28 April 2011, recording situation as of 31 March 2011. The first census results, containing the number of the population by settlement, were published on 29 June 2011, and the final comprehensive set of data was published in December 2012. The 2011 census and processing of the data gathered by the census was expected to cost 171.9 million kuna (23.3 million euro). The 2011 census was performed using new methodology: the permanent population was determined as the enumerated population who lived in the census area for at least 12 months prior to the census, or plans to live in the same area for at least 12 months after the census. This method was also retroactively applied to the 2001 census data. Total Fertility Rate from 1880 to 1899 The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World in Data and Gapminder Foundation. Total Fertility Rate from 1915 to 1940 Vital statistics Births and deaths before WWI Births and deaths after WWII Source: Croatian Bureau of Statistics Current vital statistics Marriages and divorces Vital statistics, marriages and divorces by decade Births and fertility rates Ethnic groups Croatia is inhabited mostly by Croats (90.42%), while minority groups include Serbs (4.36%), Bosniaks, Hungarians, Italians, Albanians, Slovenes, Germans, Czechs, Roma and others (5.22%). The Constitution of the Republic of Croatia explicitly identifies 22 minorities. Those are Serbs, Czechs, Slovaks, Italians, Istro-Romanians ("Vlachs"), Hungarians, Jews, Germans, Austrians, Ukrainians, Romanians, Ruthenians, Macedonians, Bosniaks, Slovenes, Montenegrins, Russians, Bulgarians, Poles, Roma, Turks and Albanians. 1900–1931 1948–2011 Significant migrations The demographic history of Croatia is characterised by significant migrations, starting with the arrival of the Croats in the area. According to the work De Administrando Imperio written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, the Croats arrived in the area of modern-day Croatia in the early 7th century. However, that claim is disputed, and competing hypotheses date the event between the 6th and the 9th centuries. Following the establishment of a personal union of Croatia and Hungary in 1102, and the joining of the Habsburg Empire in 1527, the Hungarian and German-speaking population of Croatia began gradually increasing in number. The processes of Magyarization and Germanization varied in intensity but persisted to the 20th century. The Ottoman conquests initiated a westward migration of parts of the Croatian population; the Burgenland Croats are direct descendants of some of those settlers. To replace the fleeing Croats the Habsburgs called on the Orthodox populations of Bosnia and Serbia to provide military service in the Croatian Military Frontier. Serb migration into this region peaked during the Great Serb Migrations of 1690 and 1737–39. Similarly, Venetian Republic rule in Istria and in Dalmatia, following the Fifth and the Seventh Ottoman–Venetian Wars ushered gradual growth of Italian speaking population in those areas. Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, the Hungarian population declined, especially in the areas north of the Drava river, where they represented the majority before World War I. The period between 1890 and World War I was marked by large economic emigration from Croatia to the United States, and particularly to the areas of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Cleveland, Ohio, and Chicago, Illinois. Besides the United States, the main destination of the migrants was South America, especially Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru. It is estimated that 500,000 people left Croatia during this period. After World War I, the main focus of emigration shifted to Canada, where about 15,000 people settled before the onset of World War II. During World War II and in the period immediately following the war, there were further significant demographic changes as the German-speaking population, the Volksdeutsche, were either forced or otherwise compelled to leave—reducing their number from the prewar German population of Yugoslavia of 500,000, living in parts of present-day Croatia and Serbia, to the figure of 62,000 recorded in the 1953 census. A similar fate was suffered by the Italian population in Yugoslavia populating parts of present-day Croatia and Slovenia, as 350,000 left for Italy. The 1940s and the 1950s in Yugoslavia were marked by colonisation of settlements where the displaced Germans used to live by people from the mountainous parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and migrations to larger cities spurred on by the development of industry. In the 1960s and 1970s, another wave of economic migrants left Croatia. They largely moved to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Western Europe. During this period, 65,000 people left for Canada, and by the mid-1970s there were 150,000 Croats who moved to Australia. Particularly large European emigrant communities of Croats exist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, which largely stem from the 1960s and 1970s migrations. The most recent significant migrations came as a result of the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. In 1991, more than 400,000 Croats and other non-Serbs were displaced by the Croatian Serb forces or fled the violence in areas with significant Serb populations. During the final days of the war, in 1995, between 120,000 and 200,000 Serbs fled the country following the Operation Storm. Ten years after the war, only a small portion of Serb refugees returned out of the 400,000 displaced during the entire war. Most of the Serbs in Croatia who remained never lived in areas occupied during the Croatian War of Independence. Serbs have been only partially re-settled in the regions they previously inhabited; some of these areas were later settled by Croat refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Demographic losses in the 20th century wars and pandemics In addition to demographic losses through significant migrations, the population of Croatia suffered significant losses due to wars and epidemics. In the 20th century alone, there were several such events. The first was World War I, when the loss of the population of Croatia amounted to an estimated 190,000 persons, or about 5.5% of the total population recorded by the 1910 census. The 1918 flu pandemic started to take its toll in Croatia in July 1918, with peaks of the disease occurring in October and November. Available data is scarce, but it is estimated that the pandemic caused at least 15,000–20,000 deaths. Around 295,000 people were killed on the territory of present-day Croatia during World War II, according to the demographer Bogoljub Kočović. The demise of the armed forces of the Independent State of Croatia and of the civilians accompanying the troops at the end of World War II was followed by the Yugoslav death march of Nazi collaborators. A substantial number of people were executed, but the exact number is disputed. The claims range from 12,000–15,000 to as many as 80,000 killed in May 1945. Finally, approximately 20,000 were killed or went missing during the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence. The figure pertains only to those persons who would have been recorded by the 1991 census as living in Croatia. Other demographic statistics Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review. One birth every 14 minutes One death every 10 minutes Net loss of one person every 22 minutes One net migrant every 72 minutes The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook. Population 4,270,480 (July 2018 est.) Age structure 0-14 years: 14.21% (male 312,805 /female 293,931) 15-24 years: 11.09% (male 242,605 /female 230,853) 25-54 years: 40.15% (male 858,025 /female 856,455) 55-64 years: 14.65% (male 304,054 /female 321,543) 65 years and over: 19.91% (male 342,025 /female 508,184) (2018 est.) Median age total: 43.3 years. Country comparison to the world: 20th male: 41.4 years female: 45.3 years (2018 est.) Birth rate 8.8 births/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 208th Death rate 12.4 deaths/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 16th Total fertility rate 1.41 children born/woman (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 212nd Net migration rate -1.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 150th Population growth rate -0.51% (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 221st Mother's mean age at first birth 28 years (2014 est.) Life expectancy at birth total population: 76.3 years (2018 est.) Country comparison to the world: 87th male: 73.2 years (2018 est.) female: 79.6 years (2018 est.) Ethnic groups Croat 90.4%, Serb 4.4%, other 4.4% (including Bosniak, Hungarian, Slovene, Czech, and Romani), unspecified 0.8% (2011 est.) Languages Croatian (official) 95.6%, Serbian 1.2%, other 3% (including Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Albanian), unspecified 0.2% (2011 est.) Religions Roman Catholic 86.3%, Orthodox 4.4%, Muslim 1.5%, other 1.5%, unspecified 2.5%, not religious or atheist 3.8% (2011 est.) Nationality noun: Croat(s), Croatian(s) adjective: Croatian note: the French designation of "Croate" to Croatian mercenaries in the 17th century eventually became "Cravate" and later came to be applied to the soldiers' scarves – the cravat; Croatia celebrates Cravat Day every 18 October Dependency ratios total dependency ratio: 50.9 (2015 est.) youth dependency ratio: 22.4 (2015 est.) elderly dependency ratio: 28.5 (2015 est.) potential support ratio: 3.5 (2015 est.) Urbanization urban population: 56.9% of total population (2018) rate of urbanization: -0.08% annual rate of change (2015–20 est.) Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write (2015 est.) total population: 99.3% male: 99.7% female: 98.9% (2015 est.) School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) total: 15 years male: 14 years female: 16 years (2016) Unemployment, youth ages 15–24 total: 31.3% (2016 est.) Country comparison to the world: 26th male: 31.2% (2016 est.) female: 31.3% (2016 est.) Languages Croatian is the official language of Croatia, and one of 24 official languages of the European Union since 2013. Minority languages are in official use in local government units where more than a third of the population consists of national minorities or where local legislation mandates their use. These languages are Czech, Hungarian, Italian, Ruthenian, Serbian and Slovak. Besides these, the following languages are also recognised: Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, German, Hebrew, Macedonian, |
rights and freedoms. The State Attorney's Office represents the state in legal proceedings. Legal framework Croatia is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic. Following the collapse of the ruling Communist League, Croatia adopted a new constitution in 1990 – which replaced the 1974 constitution adopted by the Socialist Republic of Croatia – and organised its first multi-party elections. While the 1990 constitution remains in force, it has been amended four times since its adoption—in 1997, 2000, 2001 and 2010. Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia on 8 October 1991, which led to the breakup of Yugoslavia. Croatia's status as a country was internationally recognised by the United Nations in 1992. Under its 1990 constitution, Croatia operated a semi-presidential system until 2000 when it switched to a parliamentary system. Government powers in Croatia are divided into legislative, executive and judiciary powers. The legal system of Croatia is civil law and, along with the institutional framework, is strongly influenced by the legal heritage of Austria-Hungary. By the time EU accession negotiations were completed on 30 June 2010, Croatian legislation was fully harmonised with the Community acquis. Croatia became a member state of the European Union on 1 July 2013. Executive The President of the Republic () is the head of state. The president is directly elected and serves a five-year term. The president is the commander in chief of the armed forces, has the procedural duty of appointing the prime minister with the consent of the Sabor (Parliament) through a majority vote (majority of all MPs), and has some influence on foreign policy. The most recent presidential election was held on 11 January 2015 and was won by Zoran Milanovic. He took the oath of office on ?. The constitution limits holders of the presidential office to a maximum of two terms and prevents the president from being a member of any political party. Consequently, the president-elect withdraws from party membership before inauguration. The government (), the main executive power of Croatia, is headed by the prime minister who has four deputies, who also serve as government ministers. There are 16 other ministers who are appointed by the prime minister with the consent of the Sabor (majority of all MPs); these are in charge of particular sectors of activity. As of 19 October 2016, the Deputy Prime Ministers are Martina Dalić, Davor Ivo Stier, Ivan Kovačić, and Damir Krstičević. Government ministers are from the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), and the Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST) with five independent ministers. The executive branch is responsible for proposing legislation and a budget, executing the laws, and guiding the country's foreign and domestic policies. The government's official residence is at Banski dvori. As of 19 October 2016, the prime minister is Andrej Plenković. |President |Zoran Milanović |Social Democratic Party of Croatia |19 February 2021 |- |Prime Minister |Andrej Plenković |Croatian Democratic Union |19 October 2016 |} Legislature The Parliament of Croatia () is a unicameral legislative body. A second chamber, the Chamber of Counties (), was set up in 1993 pursuant to the 1990 Constitution. The Chamber of Counties was originally composed of three deputies from each of the twenty counties and the city of Zagreb. However, as it had no practical power over the Chamber of Representatives, it was abolished in 2001 and its powers were transferred to the county governments. The number of Sabor representatives can vary from 100 to 160; they are all elected by popular vote and serve four-year terms. 140 members are elected in multi-seat constituencies, up to six members are chosen by proportional representation to represent Croatians living abroad and five members represent ethnic and national communities or minorities. The two largest political parties in Croatia are the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) and the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP). The last parliamentary election was held on 11 September 2016 in Croatia and on 10 and 11 September 2016 abroad. The Sabor meets in public sessions in two periods; the first from 15 January to 30 June, and the second from 15 September to 15 December. Extra sessions can be called by the President of the Republic, by the president of the parliament or by the government. The powers of the legislature include enactment and amendment of the constitution, enactment of laws, adoption of the state budget, declarations of war and peace, alteration of the country's boundaries, calling and conducting referenda and elections, appointments and relief of office, supervising the work of the Government of Croatia and other holders of public powers responsible to the Sabor, and granting amnesty. Decisions are made based on a majority vote if more than half of the Chamber is present, except in cases of constitutional issues. Elections The Croatian constitution and legislation provides for regular elections for the office of the President of the Republic, parliamentary, county prefects, county assemblies, city and municipal mayors and city and municipal councils. The President of the Republic is elected to a five-year term by a direct vote of all citizens of Croatia. A majority vote is required to win. A runoff election round is held in cases where no candidate secures the majority in the first round of voting. The presidential elections are regulated by the constitution and dedicated legislation; the latter defines technical details, appeals and similar issues. 140 members of parliament are elected to a four-year term in ten multi-seat constituencies, which are defined on the basis of the existing county borders, with amendments to achieve a uniform number of eligible voters in each constituency to within 5%. Citizens of Croatia living abroad are counted in an eleventh constituency; however, its number of seats was not fixed for the last parliamentary election. It was instead calculated based on numbers of votes cast in the ten constituencies in Croatia and the votes cast in the eleventh constituency. In the 2007 parliamentary election the eleventh constituency elected five MPs. Constitutional changes first applied in the 2011 parliamentary election have abolished this scheme and permanently assigned three MPs to the eleventh constituency. Additionally, eight members of parliament are elected by voters belonging to twenty-two recognised minorities in Croatia: the Serb minority elects three MPs, Hungarians and Italians elect one MP each, Czech and Slovak minorities elect one MP jointly, while all other minorities elect two more MPs to the parliament. The Standard D'Hondt formula is applied to the vote, with a 5% election threshold. The last parliamentary election, held in 2016, elected 151 MPs. The county prefects and city and municipal mayors are elected to four-year terms by majority of votes cast within applicable local government units. A runoff election is held if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. Members of county, city, and municipal councils are elected to four-year terms through proportional representation; the entire local government unit forms a single constituency. The number of council members is defined by the councils themselves based on applicable legislation. Electoral committees are then tasked with determining whether the national minorities are represented in the council as required by the constitution. If the minorities are not represented, further members, who belong to the minorities and who have not been elected through the proportional representation system, are selected from electoral candidate lists and added to the council. Latest presidential election Latest parliamentary election Judiciary Croatia has a three-tiered, independent judicial system governed by the constitution and national legislation enacted by the Sabor. The Supreme Court () is the highest court of appeal in Croatia; its hearings are open and judgments are made publicly, except in cases where the privacy of the accused is to be protected. Judges are appointed by the National Judicial Council and judicial office is permanent until seventy years of age. The president of the Supreme Court is elected for a four-year term by the Croatian Parliament at the proposal of the President of the Republic. As of 2017, the president of the Supreme Court is Đuro Sessa. The Supreme Court has civil and criminal departments. The lower two levels of the three-tiered judiciary consist of county courts and municipal courts. There are fifteen county courts and sixty-seven municipal courts in the country. There are other specialised courts in Croatia; commercial courts and the Superior Commercial Court, misdemeanour courts that try trivial offences such as traffic violations, the Superior Misdemeanour Court, the Administrative Court and the Croatian Constitutional Court (). The Constitutional Court rules on matters regarding compliance of legislation with the constitution, repeals unconstitutional legislation, reports any breaches of provisions of the constitution to the government and the parliament, declares the speaker of the parliament acting president upon petition from the government in the event the country's president becomes incapacitated, issues consent for commencement of criminal procedures against or arrest of the president, and hears appeals against decisions of the National Judicial Council. The court consists of thirteen judges elected by members of the parliament for an eight-year term. The president of the Constitutional Court is elected by the court judges for a four-year term. As of June 2012, the president of the Constitutional Court is Jasna Omejec. The National Judicial Council () consists of eleven members, specifically seven judges, two university professors of law and two parliament members, nominated and elected by the Parliament for four-year terms, and may serve no more than two terms. It appoints all judges and court presidents, except in case of the Supreme Court. As of January 2015, the president of the National Judicial Council is Ranko Marijan, who is also a Supreme Court judge. The State Attorney's Office represents the state in legal procedures. As of April 2018, Dražen Jelenić is the General State Attorney, and there are twenty-three deputies in the central office and lower-ranking State Attorneys at fifteen county and thirty-three municipal State Attorney's Offices. The General State Attorney is appointed by the parliament. A special State Attorney's Office dedicated to combatting corruption and organised crime, USKOK, was set up in late 2001. Local government Croatia was first subdivided into counties () in the Middle Ages. The divisions changed over time to reflect losses of territory to Ottoman conquest and the subsequent recapture of the same territory, and changes to the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria. The traditional division of the country into counties was abolished in the 1920s, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the subsequent Kingdom of Yugoslavia introduced oblasts and banovinas respectively. After 1945 under Communist rule, Croatia, as a constituent part of Yugoslavia, abolished these earlier divisions and introduced municipalities, subdividing Croatia into approximately one hundred municipalities. Counties, significantly altered in terms of territory relative to the pre-1920s subdivisions, were reintroduced in 1992 legislation. In 1918, the Transleithanian part of Croatia was divided into eight counties with their seats in Bjelovar, Gospić, Ogulin, Požega, Vukovar, Varaždin, Osijek and Zagreb; the 1992 legislation established fifteen counties in the same territory. Since the counties were re-established in 1992, Croatia is divided into twenty counties and the capital city of Zagreb, the latter having the authority and legal status of a county and a city at the same time. | more MPs to the parliament. The Standard D'Hondt formula is applied to the vote, with a 5% election threshold. The last parliamentary election, held in 2016, elected 151 MPs. The county prefects and city and municipal mayors are elected to four-year terms by majority of votes cast within applicable local government units. A runoff election is held if no candidate achieves a majority in the first round of voting. Members of county, city, and municipal councils are elected to four-year terms through proportional representation; the entire local government unit forms a single constituency. The number of council members is defined by the councils themselves based on applicable legislation. Electoral committees are then tasked with determining whether the national minorities are represented in the council as required by the constitution. If the minorities are not represented, further members, who belong to the minorities and who have not been elected through the proportional representation system, are selected from electoral candidate lists and added to the council. Latest presidential election Latest parliamentary election Judiciary Croatia has a three-tiered, independent judicial system governed by the constitution and national legislation enacted by the Sabor. The Supreme Court () is the highest court of appeal in Croatia; its hearings are open and judgments are made publicly, except in cases where the privacy of the accused is to be protected. Judges are appointed by the National Judicial Council and judicial office is permanent until seventy years of age. The president of the Supreme Court is elected for a four-year term by the Croatian Parliament at the proposal of the President of the Republic. As of 2017, the president of the Supreme Court is Đuro Sessa. The Supreme Court has civil and criminal departments. The lower two levels of the three-tiered judiciary consist of county courts and municipal courts. There are fifteen county courts and sixty-seven municipal courts in the country. There are other specialised courts in Croatia; commercial courts and the Superior Commercial Court, misdemeanour courts that try trivial offences such as traffic violations, the Superior Misdemeanour Court, the Administrative Court and the Croatian Constitutional Court (). The Constitutional Court rules on matters regarding compliance of legislation with the constitution, repeals unconstitutional legislation, reports any breaches of provisions of the constitution to the government and the parliament, declares the speaker of the parliament acting president upon petition from the government in the event the country's president becomes incapacitated, issues consent for commencement of criminal procedures against or arrest of the president, and hears appeals against decisions of the National Judicial Council. The court consists of thirteen judges elected by members of the parliament for an eight-year term. The president of the Constitutional Court is elected by the court judges for a four-year term. As of June 2012, the president of the Constitutional Court is Jasna Omejec. The National Judicial Council () consists of eleven members, specifically seven judges, two university professors of law and two parliament members, nominated and elected by the Parliament for four-year terms, and may serve no more than two terms. It appoints all judges and court presidents, except in case of the Supreme Court. As of January 2015, the president of the National Judicial Council is Ranko Marijan, who is also a Supreme Court judge. The State Attorney's Office represents the state in legal procedures. As of April 2018, Dražen Jelenić is the General State Attorney, and there are twenty-three deputies in the central office and lower-ranking State Attorneys at fifteen county and thirty-three municipal State Attorney's Offices. The General State Attorney is appointed by the parliament. A special State Attorney's Office dedicated to combatting corruption and organised crime, USKOK, was set up in late 2001. Local government Croatia was first subdivided into counties () in the Middle Ages. The divisions changed over time to reflect losses of territory to Ottoman conquest and the subsequent recapture of the same territory, and changes to the political status of Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Istria. The traditional division of the country into counties was abolished in the 1920s, when the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the subsequent Kingdom of Yugoslavia introduced oblasts and banovinas respectively. After 1945 under Communist rule, Croatia, as a constituent part of Yugoslavia, abolished these earlier divisions and introduced municipalities, subdividing Croatia into approximately one hundred municipalities. Counties, significantly altered in terms of territory relative to the pre-1920s subdivisions, were reintroduced in 1992 legislation. In 1918, the Transleithanian part of Croatia was divided into eight counties with their seats in Bjelovar, Gospić, Ogulin, Požega, Vukovar, Varaždin, Osijek and Zagreb; the 1992 legislation established fifteen counties in the same territory. Since the counties were re-established in 1992, Croatia is divided into twenty counties and the capital city of Zagreb, the latter having the authority and legal status of a county and a city at the same time. In some instances, the boundaries of the counties have been changed, with the latest revision taking place in 2006. The counties subdivide into 128 cities and 428 municipalities. The county prefects, city and municipal mayors are elected to four-year terms by a majority of votes cast within applicable local government units. If no candidate achieves a majority in the first round, a runoff election is held. Members of county, city and municipal councils are elected to four-year terms, through proportional representation with the entire local government unit as a single constituency. The number of members of the councils is defined by the councils themselves, based on applicable legislation. Electoral committees are then tasked with determining whether the national ethnic minorities are represented on the council as required by the constitution. Further members who belong to the minorities may be |
in the number of unemployed during the month of November 2016 from 16.1% to 12.7%. 2020 – present COVID-19 Pandemic has caused more than 400,000 workers to file for economic aid of 4000.00 HRK./month. In the first quarter of 2020, Croatian GDP rose by 0.2% but then in Q2 Government of Croatia announced the biggest quarterly GDP plunge of -15.1% since GDP has been measured. Economic activity also plunged in Q3 2020 when GDP slid by an additional -10.0%. In autumn 2020 European Commission estimated total GDP loss in 2020 to be -9.6%. Growth was set to pick up in the last month of Q1 2021 and the second quarter of 2021 respectively +1.4% and +3.0%, meaning that Croatia was set to reach 2019 levels by 2022. In July 2021 projection was improved to 5.4% due to the strong outturn in the first quarter and the positive high-frequency indicators concerning consumption, construction, industry and tourism prospects. In November 2021 Croatia outperformed these projections and the real GDP growth was calculated to be 8.1% for the year 2021, improving its projection of 5.4% GDP growth made in July. The recovery was supported by strong private consumption, the better-than-expected performance of tourism and the ongoing resilience of the export sector. Preliminary data point to tourism-related expenditure already exceeding 2019 levels, which has been supportive of both employment and consumption. Exports of goods have also continued to perform strongly (up 43%yoy in 2Q21) pointing to resilient competitiveness. Expressed in euros, Croatian merchandise exports in the first nine months of 2021 amounted to 13.3 billion euros, an annual increase of 24.6 per cent. At the same time, imports rose 20.3 per cent to 20.4 billion euros. The coverage of imports by exports for the first nine months is 65.4 per cent. This made 2021 Croatian export's record year as the score from 2019 was exceeded by 2 billion euros. Exports recovered in all major markets, more precisely with all EU countries and CEFTA countries. Specifically, on the EU market, only a lower export result is recorded in relations with Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg. Italy is again the main market for Croatian products, followed by Germany and Slovenia. Apart from the high contribution of crude oil that Ina sends to Hungary to the Mol refinery for processing, the export of artificial fertilizers from Petrokemija also has a significant contribution to growth. For 2022, the Commission revised downwards its projection for Croatia's economic growth to 5.6% from 5.9% previously predicted in July 2021. Commission again confirmed that the volume of Croatia's GDP should reach its 2019 level during 2022, while in 2023 the GDP will grow by 3.4%. The Commission warned that the key downside risks stem from Croatia’s relatively low vaccination rates, which could lead to stricter containment measures, and continued delays of the earthquake-related reconstruction. On the upside, potential entry into the Schengen area and euro adoption towards the end of the forecast period could benefit investment and trade. On Friday, 12th of November 2021 Fitch raised Croatia’s credit rating by one level, from ‘BBB-‘ to ‘BBB’, Croatia's highest credit rating in history, with a positive outlook, noting progress in preparations for Eurozone membership and a strong recovery of the Croatian economy from the pandemic crisis. This is also secured by the failure of the eurosceptic party Hrvatski Suverenisti in a bid on the referendum to block Euro adoption in Croatia. In December 2021 Croatia’s industrial production increased for the thirteenth consecutive month, observing the growth of production increasing in all of the five aggregates. meaning that industrial production in 2021 increased by 6.7 percent. Sectors Industry Tourism Tourism is a notable source of income during the summer and a major industry in Croatia. It dominates the Croatian service sector and accounts for up to 20% of Croatian GDP. Annual tourist industry income for 2011 was estimated at €6.61 billion. Its positive effects are felt throughout the economy of Croatia in terms of increased business volume observed in retail business, processing industry orders and summer seasonal employment. The industry is considered an export business, because it significantly reduces the country's external trade imbalance. Since the conclusion of the Croatian War of Independence, the tourist industry has grown rapidly, recording a fourfold rise in tourist numbers, with more than 10 million tourists each year. The most numerous are tourists from Germany, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic as well as Croatia itself. Length of a tourist stay in Croatia averages 4.9 days. The bulk of the tourist industry is concentrated along the Adriatic Sea coast. Opatija was the first holiday resort since the middle of the 19th century. By the 1890s, it became one of the most significant European health resorts. Later a large number of resorts sprang up along the coast and numerous islands, offering services ranging from mass tourism to catering and various niche markets, the most significant being nautical tourism, as there are numerous marinas with more than 16 thousand berths, cultural tourism relying on appeal of medieval coastal cities and numerous cultural events taking place during the summer. Inland areas offer mountain resorts, agrotourism and spas. Zagreb is also a significant tourist destination, rivalling major coastal cities and resorts. Croatia has unpolluted marine areas reflected through numerous nature reserves and 116 Blue Flag beaches. Croatia is ranked as the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world. About 15% of these visitors (over one million per year) are involved with naturism, an industry for which Croatia is world-famous. It was also the first European country to develop commercial naturist resorts. Agriculture Croatian agricultural sector subsists from exports of blue water fish, which in recent years experienced a tremendous surge in demand, mainly from Japan and South Korea. Croatia is a notable producer of organic foods and much of it is exported to the European Union. Croatian wines, olive oil and lavender are particularly sought after. Croatia produced in 2018: 2.1 million tons of maize; 776 thousand tons of sugar beet (the beet is used to manufacture sugar and ethanol); 744 thousand tons of wheat; 245 thousand tons of soybean; 227 thousand tons of barley; 182 thousand tons of potato; 155 thousand tons of rapeseed; 146 thousand tons of grape; 110 thousand tons of sunflower seed; In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like apple (93 thousand tons), triticale (62 thousand tons) and olive (28 thousand tons). Infrastructure Transport The highlight of Croatia's recent infrastructure developments is its rapidly developed motorway network, largely built in the late 1990s and especially in the 2000s. By September 2011, Croatia had completed more than of motorways, connecting Zagreb to most other regions and following various European routes and four Pan-European corridors. The busiest motorways are the A1, connecting Zagreb to Split and the A3, passing east–west through northwest Croatia and Slavonia. A widespread network of state roads in Croatia acts as motorway feeder roads while connecting all major settlements in the country. The high quality and safety levels of the Croatian motorway network were tested and confirmed by several EuroTAP and EuroTest programs. Croatia has an extensive rail network spanning , including of electrified railways and of double track railways. The most significant railways in Croatia are found within the Pan-European transport corridors Vb and X connecting Rijeka to Budapest and Ljubljana to Belgrade, both via Zagreb. All rail services are operated by Croatian Railways. There are international airports in Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Osijek and Pula. As of January 2011, Croatia complies with International Civil Aviation Organization aviation safety standards and the Federal Aviation Administration upgraded it to Category 1 rating. The busiest cargo seaport in Croatia is the Port of Rijeka and the busiest passenger ports are Split and Zadar. In addition to those, a large number of minor ports serve an extensive system of ferries connecting numerous islands and coastal cities in addition to ferry lines to several cities in Italy. The largest river port is Vukovar, located on the Danube, representing the nation's outlet to the Pan-European transport corridor VII. Energy There are of crude oil pipelines in Croatia, connecting the Port of Rijeka oil terminal with refineries in Rijeka and Sisak, as well as several transhipment terminals. The system has a capacity of 20 million tonnes per year. The natural gas transportation system comprises of trunk and regional natural gas pipelines, and more than 300 associated structures, connecting production rigs, the Okoli natural gas storage facility, 27 end-users and 37 distribution systems. Croatian production of energy sources covers 85% of nationwide natural gas demand and 19% of oil demand. In 2008, 47.6% of Croatia's primary energy production structure comprised use of natural gas (47.7%), crude oil (18.0%), fuel wood (8.4%), hydro power (25.4%) and other renewable energy sources (0.5%). In 2009, net total electrical power production in Croatia reached 12,725 | Croats emigrated from Austria-Hungary between 1880 and 1914. In 1910 8.5% of the population of Croatia-Slavonia lived in urban settlements. In 1918 Croatia became part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which was in the interwar period one of the least developed countries in Europe. Most of its industry was based in Slovenia and Croatia, but further industrial development was modest and centered on textile mills, sawmills, brick yards and food-processing plants. The economy was still traditionally based on agriculture and raising of livestock, with peasants accounting for more than half of Croatia's population. In 1941 the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a World War II puppet state of Germany and Italy, was established in parts of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The economic system of NDH was based on the concept of "Croatian socialism". The main characteristic of the new system was the concept of a planned economy with high levels of state involvement in economic life. The fulfillment of basic economic interests was primarily ensured with measures of repression. All large companies were placed under state control and the property of the regime's national enemies was nationalized. Its currency was the NDH kuna. The Croatian State Bank was the central bank, responsible for issuing currency. As the war progressed the government kept printing more money and its amount in circulation was rapidly increasing, resulting in high inflation rates. After World War II, the new Communist Party of Yugoslavia resorted to a command economy on the Soviet model of rapid industrial development. By 1948 almost all domestic and foreign-owned capital had been nationalized. The industrialization plan relied on high taxation, fixed prices, war reparations, Soviet credits, and export of food and raw materials. Forced collectivization of agriculture was initiated in 1949. At that time 94% of agricultural land was privately owned, and by 1950 96% was under the control of the social sector. A rapid improvement of food production and the standard of living was expected, but due to bad results the program was abandoned three years later. Throughout the 1950s Croatia experienced rapid urbanization. Decentralization came in 1965 and spurred growth of several sectors including the prosperous tourist industry. SR Croatia was, after SR Slovenia, the second most developed republic in Yugoslavia with a 25% higher GDP per capita than the Yugoslav average. Croatia and Slovenia accounted for nearly half of the total Yugoslav GDP, and this was reflected in the overall standard of living. In the mid-1960s, Yugoslavia lifted emigration restrictions and the number of emigrants increased rapidly. In 1971 224,722 workers from Croatia were employed abroad, mostly in West Germany. Foreign remittances contributed $2 billion annually to the economy by 1990. Profits gained through Croatia's industry were used to develop poor regions in other parts of former Yugoslavia, leading to Croatia contributing much more to the federal Yugoslav economy than it gained in return. This, coupled with austerity programs and hyperinflation in the 1980s, led to discontent in both Croatia and Slovenia which eventually fuelled political movements calling for independence. Transition and war years In the late 1980s and early 1990s, with the collapse of socialism and the beginning of economic transition, Croatia faced considerable economic problems stemming from: the legacy of longtime communist mismanagement of the economy; damage during the internecine fighting to bridges, factories, power lines, buildings, and houses; the large refugee and displaced population, both Croatian and Bosnian; the disruption of economic ties; and mishandled privatization At the time Croatia gained independence, its economy (and the whole Yugoslavian economy) was in the middle of recession. Privatization under the new government had barely begun when war broke out in 1991. As a result of the Croatian War of Independence, infrastructure sustained massive damage in the period 1991–92, especially the revenue-rich tourism industry. Privatization in Croatia and transformation from a planned economy to a market economy was thus slow and unsteady, largely as a result of public mistrust when many state-owned companies were sold to politically well-connected at below-market prices. With the end of the war, Croatia's economy recovered moderately, but corruption, cronyism, and a general lack of transparency stymied economic reforms and foreign investment. The privatization of large government-owned companies was practically halted during the war and in the years immediately following the conclusion of peace. As of 2000, roughly 70% of Croatia's major companies were still state-owned, including water, electricity, oil, transportation, telecommunications, and tourism. The early 1990s were characterized by high inflation rates. In 1991 the Croatian dinar was introduced as a transitional currency, but inflation continued to accelerate. The anti-inflationary stabilization steps in 1993 decreased retail price inflation from a monthly rate of 38.7% to 1.4%, and by the end of the year, Croatia experienced deflation. In 1994 Croatia introduced the kuna as its currency. As a result of the macro-stabilization programs, the negative growth of GDP during the early 1990s stopped and turned into a positive trend. Post-war reconstruction activity provided another impetus to growth. Consumer spending and private sector investments, both of which were postponed during the war, contributed to the growth in 1995–1997. Croatia began its independence with a relatively low external debt because the debt of Yugoslavia was not shared among its former republics at the beginning. In March 1995 Croatia agreed with the Paris Club of creditor governments and took 28.5% of Yugoslavia's previously non-allocated debt over 14 years. In July 1996 an agreement was reached with the London Club of commercial creditors, when Croatia took 29.5% of Yugoslavia's debt to commercial banks. In 1997 around 60 percent of Croatia's external debt was inherited from former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of 1998 value-added tax was introduced. The central government budget was in surplus in that year, most of which was used to repay foreign debt. Government debt to GDP had fallen from 27.30% to 26.20% at the end of 1998. However, the consumer boom was disrupted in mid 1998, as a result of the bank crisis when 14 banks went bankrupt. Unemployment increased and GDP growth slowed down to 1.9%. The recession that began at the end of 1998 continued through most of 1999, and after a period of expansion GDP in 1999 had a negative growth of −0.9%. In 1999 the government tightened its fiscal policy and revised the budget with a 7% cut in spending. In 1999 the private sector share in GDP reached 60%, which was significantly lower than in other former socialist countries. After several years of successful macroeconomic stabilization policies, low inflation and a stable currency, economists warned that the lack of fiscal changes and the expanding role of the state in the economy caused the decline in the late 1990s and were preventing sustainable economic growth. Economy since 2000 The new government led by the president of SDP, Ivica Račan, carried out a number of structural reforms after it won the parliamentary elections on 3 January 2000. The country emerged from the recession in the 4th quarter of 1999 and growth picked up in 2000. Due to overall increase in stability, the economic rating of the country improved and interest rates dropped. Economic growth in the 2000s was stimulated by a credit boom led by newly privatized banks, capital investment, especially in road construction, a rebound in tourism and credit-driven consumer spending. Inflation remained tame and the currency, the kuna, stable. In 2000 Croatia generated 5,899 billion kunas in total income from the shipbuilding sector, which employed 13,592 people. Total exports in 2001 amounted to $4,659,286,000, of which 54.7% went to the countries of the EU. Croatia's total imports were $9,043,699,000, 56% of which originated from the EU. Unemployment reached its peak in late 2002, but has since been steadily declining. In 2003, the nation's economy would officially recover to the amount of GDP it had in 1990. In late 2003 the new government led by HDZ took over the office. Unemployment continued falling, powered by growing industrial production and rising GDP, rather than only seasonal changes from tourism. Unemployment reached an all-time low in 2008 when the annual average rate was 8.6%, GDP per capita peaked at $16,158, while public debt as percentage of GDP decreased to 29%. Most economic indicators remained positive in this period except for the external debt as Croatian firms focused more on empowering the economy by taking loans from foreign resources. Between 2003 and 2007, Croatia's private-sector share of GDP increased from 60% to 70%. The Croatian National Bank had to take steps to curb further growth of indebtedness of local banks with foreign banks. The dollar debt figure is quite adversely affected by the EUR/USD ratio—over a third of the increase in debt since 2002 is due to currency value changes. 2009–2015 Economic growth has been hurt by the global financial crisis. Immediately after the crisis it seemed that Croatia did not suffer serious consequences like some other countries. However, in 2009, the crisis gained momentum and the decline in GDP growth, at a slower pace, continued during 2010. In 2011 the GDP stagnated as the growth rate was zero. Since the global crisis hit the country, the unemployment rate has been steadily increasing, resulting in the loss of more than 100,000 jobs. While unemployment was 9.6% in late 2007, in January 2014 it peaked at 22.4%. In 2010 Gini coefficient was 0,32. In September 2012, Fitch ratings agency unexpectedly improved Croatia's economic outlook from negative to stable, reaffirming Croatia's current BBB rating. The slow pace of privatization of state-owned businesses and an overreliance on tourism have also been a drag on the economy. Croatia joined the European Union on 1 July 2013 as the 28th member state. The Croatian economy is heavily interdependent on other principal economies of Europe, and any negative trends in these larger EU economies also have a negative impact on Croatia. Italy, Germany and Slovenia are Croatia's most important trade partners. In spite of the rather slow post-recession recovery, in terms of income per capita it is still ahead of some European Union member states such as Bulgaria, and Romania. In terms of average monthly wage, Croatia is ahead of 9 EU members (Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovakia, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria). The annual average unemployment rate in 2014 was 17.3% and Croatia has the third-highest unemployment rate in the European Union, after Greece (26.5%), and Spain (24.%). Of particular concern is the heavily backlogged judiciary system, combined with inefficient public administration, especially regarding the issues of land ownership and corruption in the public sector. Unemployment is regionally uneven: it is very high in eastern and southern parts of the country, nearing 20% in some areas, while relatively low in the north-west and in larger cities, where it is between 3 and 7%. In 2015 external debt rose by 2.7 billion euros since the end of 2014 and is now around €49.3 billion. 2016–2020 During 2015 the Croatian economy started with slow but upward economic growth, which continued during 2016 and conclusive at the end of the year seasonally adjusted was recorded at 3.5%. The better than expected figures during 2016 enabled the Croatian Government and with more tax receipts enabled the repayment of debt as well as narrow the current account deficit during Q3 and Q4 of 2016 This growth in economic output, coupled with the reduction of government debt has made a positive impact on the financial markets with many ratings agencies revising their outlook from negative to stable, which was the first upgrade of Croatia's credit rating since 2007. Due to consecutive months of economic growth and the demand for labour, plus the outflows of residents to other European countries, Croatia had recorded the biggest fall in the number of unemployed during the month of November 2016 from 16.1% to 12.7%. 2020 – present COVID-19 Pandemic has caused more than 400,000 workers to file for economic aid of 4000.00 HRK./month. In the first quarter of 2020, Croatian GDP rose by 0.2% but then in Q2 Government of Croatia announced the biggest quarterly GDP plunge of -15.1% since GDP has been measured. Economic activity also plunged in Q3 2020 when GDP slid by an additional -10.0%. In autumn 2020 European Commission estimated total GDP loss in 2020 to be -9.6%. Growth was set to pick up in the last month of Q1 2021 and the second quarter of 2021 respectively +1.4% and +3.0%, meaning that Croatia was set to reach 2019 levels by 2022. In July 2021 projection was improved to 5.4% due to the strong outturn in the first quarter and the positive high-frequency indicators concerning consumption, construction, industry and tourism prospects. In November 2021 Croatia outperformed these projections and the real GDP growth was calculated to be 8.1% for the year 2021, improving its projection of 5.4% GDP growth made in July. The recovery was supported by strong private consumption, the better-than-expected performance of tourism and the ongoing resilience of the export sector. Preliminary data point to tourism-related expenditure already exceeding 2019 levels, which has been supportive of both employment and consumption. Exports of goods have also continued to perform strongly (up 43%yoy in 2Q21) pointing to resilient competitiveness. Expressed in |
the Slovenian border via Zagreb, Novska, Vinkovci to the Serbian border (lines M101 through M105). In places the line's speed limit has been raised from to , and plans have been made to raise this further to on certain sections. The railway line of the Pan-European Corridor Vb, from the Hungarian border via Koprivnica, Zagreb, Karlovac to the Port of Rijeka (lines M201, M102 and M202) has a slow section through Gorski Kotar, which is planned to undergo a major overhaul. The railway line of the Pan-European Corridor Vc, from the Hungarian border via Beli Manastir, Osijek, Đakovo or Vinkovci, Slavonski Šamac, to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina (lines M301, M302 and M303), is also being modernised, the aim is to allow speeds of up to 160 km/h along the entire length. The official rail speed record in Croatia is . Maximum speed reached in regular service is on parts of the Novska–Tovarnik line. Recently Croatian Railways introduced a series of modern tilting trains produced by the German branch of Bombardier Transportation. They usually deployed on the mountainous route between the two largest Croatian cities, Zagreb and Split. Although they can sometimes be found on other routes in the country. Contrary to regular overnight fast trains between Zagreb and Split with scheduled travelling time of circa 8 hours in total, tilting trains on the Zagreb–Split route (lines M202 and M604) offer passengers a faster journey with a journey time of about 6 hours. Croatian Railways aims to revitalize rail traffic through further improvements. Thus, establishing rail as serious competitor to the car, particularly during the busy the summer months. Croatian Railways' plan to build their first high-speed railway service is progressing. Construction of an entirely new line from Karlovac to Rijeka, and reconstruction of the line from the Hungarian border to Karlovac should have originally begun in the fall of 2007. The line is going to be entirely electrified and in order to speed up the journey even more shall be long from end to end, shorter than the existing line. The journey from Zagreb to Rijeka will be cut to one hour compared to 4 hours with the existing track. The line is intended to carry the increasing amount of goods that enter Europe, at the Croatian Port of Rijeka and are then transported to destinations across central and eastern Europe. The plans have originally foreseen 2008-2010 as the date for completion. Due to the world economic crisis, building start date is prolonged to a yet undefined date. The project plans have been drawn, however. Pan-European Corridor X is going to be upgraded to higher speed sometime in the future. Possibly by building a new high capacity connection line from Sisak via Kutina to Lipovljani. The line should allow for speeds of up to 250 km/h. Statistics The total railway length () consists of , of which: standard gauge (): electrified Rail links with adjacent countries Slovenia Hungary Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Road transport From the time of Napoleon and building the Louisiana road, the road transport in Croatia has significantly improved, topping most European countries. Croatian highways are widely regarded as being one of the most modern and safe in Europe. This is because the largest part of the Croatian motorway and expressway system (autoceste and brze ceste, resp.) has been recently constructed (mainly in the 2000s), and further construction is continuing. The motorways in Croatia connect most major Croatian cities and all major seaports. The two longest routes, the A1 and the A3, span the better part of the country and the motorway network connects most major border crossings. Tourism is of major importance for the Croatian economy, and as most tourists come to vacation in Croatia in their own cars, the highways serve to alleviate summer jams. They have also been used as a means of stimulating urgently needed economic growth, and for the sustainable development of this country. Croatia now has a considerable highway density for a country of its size, helping it cope with the consequences of being a transition economy and having suffered in the Croatian War of Independence. , Croatia has a total of of roads. Travel Organiser (2007) Traffic laws The traffic signs adhere to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. The general speed limits are: in inhabited areas 50 km/h outside of inhabited areas 90 km/h on marked expressways 110 km/h on marked motorways 130 km/h In 2004, a controversial new traffic law was introduced, which provides for drastic safety measures for drunken or dangerous driving: it reduced the blood alcohol limit to 0‰ of alcohol in blood. In 2008 this law was reversed to 0.5‰ of alcohol in blood. Some of the more technical safety measures include that all new Croatian tunnels have modern safety equipment and there are several control centers, which monitor highway traffic. Motorways Motorways (, plural ) in Croatia applies to dual carriageway roads with at least two traffic lanes in each driving direction and an emergency lane. Direction road signs at Croatian motorways have green background with white lettering similar to the Swiss Autobahn. The designations of motorways are "A" and the motorway number. , the Croatian motorway network is long, with additional of new motorways under construction. The list of completed motorways is as follows (see individual articles for further construction plans and status): A1, Zagreb - Bosiljevo - Split - Ploče (E71, E65) A2, Zagreb - Krapina - Macelj (E59) A3, Bregana - Zagreb - Lipovac (E70) A4, Goričan - Varaždin/Čakovec - Zagreb (E71) A5, Osijek - Đakovo - Sredanci (E73) A6, Bosiljevo - Rijeka (E65) A7, Rupa - Rijeka bypass (E61) A8, Kanfanar interchange - Matulji (E751) A9, Umag - Pula (E751) A10, A1 Ploče interchange - Metković border crossing A11, Velika Gorica - Lekenik Toll is charged on most Croatian motorways, and exceptions are the A11 motorway, Zagreb bypass and Rijeka bypass, as well as sections adjacent to border crossings (except eastbound A3). Payment in kuna, all major credit cards and euros are accepted at all toll gates. Most motorways are covered by the closed toll collection system, where a driver receives a ticket at the entrance gates and pays at the exit gates according to the number of sections travelled. Open toll collection is used on some bridges and tunnels and short stretches of tolled highway, where drivers immediately pay the toll upon arriving. Various forms of prepaid electronic toll collection systems are in place which allow quicker collection of toll, usually at a discounted rate, as well as use of dedicated toll plaza lanes (for ENC system of the electronic toll collection). All heavily traveled routes towards Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia are motorway connections, and almost all parts of Croatia are now easy to reach using motorways. The 479 km long motorway A1 Zagreb - Split - Ploče connects the continental part of Croatia with Mediterranean Dalmatia. It is complete with two lanes in both directions in its full length. The highway winds itself as a panoramic road through the Croatian hills. The highway currently ends near the Ploče sea port, but is planned to continue further on to Dubrovnik. The most important edifice on the A1 is the Sveti Rok Tunnel (5.687 m), which goes through the famous Velebit mountain range barrier. The most modern, and at the same time the longest Croatian tunnel, is also along the A1: the Mala Kapela | 3 : 3 under : 10 Airports with unpaved runways (2017): total: 45 : 1 : 6 under : 38 Heliports: 1 (2013) Airports: Franjo Tuđman Airport Split Airport Rijeka Airport Osijek Airport Zadar Airport Dubrovnik Airport Pula Airport Brač Airport Lošinj Airport Rail transport The Croatian railway network is classified into three groups: railways of international, regional and local significance. The most important railway lines follow Pan-European corridors V (branch B) and X, they connect at Zagreb with each other. There are connections to the railway networks of Slovenia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. The railways need to be modernized because the lion's share of the railway infrastructure in Croatia dates back from the pre-WW2 period and more than half of the core routes were, in fact, built during the Habsburg Monarchy i.e. before the First World War. As a result, most of the routes are not electrified, are only single track traffic around 'bends' and lag significantly behind the West-European standards. Some limited improvements, however, have been made in recent times. A result of this has been an increase in the maximum speed on the railway line on the Pan-European Corridor X, from the Slovenian border via Zagreb, Novska, Vinkovci to the Serbian border (lines M101 through M105). In places the line's speed limit has been raised from to , and plans have been made to raise this further to on certain sections. The railway line of the Pan-European Corridor Vb, from the Hungarian border via Koprivnica, Zagreb, Karlovac to the Port of Rijeka (lines M201, M102 and M202) has a slow section through Gorski Kotar, which is planned to undergo a major overhaul. The railway line of the Pan-European Corridor Vc, from the Hungarian border via Beli Manastir, Osijek, Đakovo or Vinkovci, Slavonski Šamac, to the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina (lines M301, M302 and M303), is also being modernised, the aim is to allow speeds of up to 160 km/h along the entire length. The official rail speed record in Croatia is . Maximum speed reached in regular service is on parts of the Novska–Tovarnik line. Recently Croatian Railways introduced a series of modern tilting trains produced by the German branch of Bombardier Transportation. They usually deployed on the mountainous route between the two largest Croatian cities, Zagreb and Split. Although they can sometimes be found on other routes in the country. Contrary to regular overnight fast trains between Zagreb and Split with scheduled travelling time of circa 8 hours in total, tilting trains on the Zagreb–Split route (lines M202 and M604) offer passengers a faster journey with a journey time of about 6 hours. Croatian Railways aims to revitalize rail traffic through further improvements. Thus, establishing rail as serious competitor to the car, particularly during the busy the summer months. Croatian Railways' plan to build their first high-speed railway service is progressing. Construction of an entirely new line from Karlovac to Rijeka, and reconstruction of the line from the Hungarian border to Karlovac should have originally begun in the fall of 2007. The line is going to be entirely electrified and in order to speed up the journey even more shall be long from end to end, shorter than the existing line. The journey from Zagreb to Rijeka will be cut to one hour compared to 4 hours with the existing track. The line is intended to carry the increasing amount of goods that enter Europe, at the Croatian Port of Rijeka and are then transported to destinations across central and eastern Europe. The plans have originally foreseen 2008-2010 as the date for completion. Due to the world economic crisis, building start date is prolonged to a yet undefined date. The project plans have been drawn, however. Pan-European Corridor X is going to be upgraded to higher speed sometime in the future. Possibly by building a new high capacity connection line from Sisak via Kutina to Lipovljani. The line should allow for speeds of up to 250 km/h. Statistics The total railway length () consists of , of which: standard gauge (): electrified Rail links with adjacent countries Slovenia Hungary Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Road transport From the time of Napoleon and building the Louisiana road, the road transport in Croatia has significantly improved, topping most European countries. Croatian highways are widely regarded as being one of the most modern and safe in Europe. This is because the largest part of the Croatian motorway and expressway system (autoceste and brze ceste, resp.) has been recently constructed (mainly in the 2000s), and further construction is continuing. The motorways in Croatia connect most major Croatian cities and all major seaports. The two longest routes, the A1 and the A3, span the better part of the country and the motorway network connects most major border crossings. Tourism is of major importance for the Croatian economy, and as most tourists come to vacation in Croatia in their own cars, the highways serve to alleviate summer jams. They have also been used as a means of stimulating urgently needed economic growth, and for the sustainable development of this country. Croatia now has a considerable highway density for a country of its size, helping it cope with the consequences of being a transition economy and having suffered in the Croatian War of Independence. , Croatia has a total of of roads. Travel Organiser (2007) Traffic laws The traffic signs adhere to the Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals. The general speed limits are: in inhabited areas 50 km/h outside of inhabited areas 90 km/h on marked expressways 110 km/h on marked motorways 130 km/h In 2004, a controversial new traffic law was introduced, which provides for drastic safety measures for drunken or dangerous driving: it reduced the blood alcohol limit to 0‰ of alcohol in blood. In 2008 this law was reversed to 0.5‰ of alcohol in blood. Some of the more technical safety measures include that all new Croatian tunnels have modern safety equipment and there are several control centers, which monitor highway traffic. Motorways Motorways (, plural ) in Croatia applies to dual carriageway roads with at least two traffic lanes in each driving direction and an emergency lane. Direction road signs at Croatian motorways have green background with white lettering similar to the Swiss Autobahn. The designations of motorways are "A" and the motorway number. , the Croatian motorway network is long, with additional of new motorways under construction. The list of completed motorways is as follows (see individual articles for further construction plans and status): A1, Zagreb - Bosiljevo - Split - Ploče (E71, E65) A2, Zagreb - Krapina - Macelj (E59) A3, Bregana - Zagreb - Lipovac (E70) A4, Goričan - Varaždin/Čakovec - Zagreb (E71) A5, Osijek - Đakovo - Sredanci (E73) A6, Bosiljevo - Rijeka (E65) A7, Rupa - Rijeka bypass (E61) A8, Kanfanar interchange - Matulji (E751) A9, Umag - Pula (E751) A10, A1 Ploče interchange - Metković border crossing A11, Velika Gorica - Lekenik Toll is charged on most Croatian motorways, and exceptions are the A11 motorway, Zagreb bypass and Rijeka bypass, as well as sections adjacent to border crossings (except eastbound A3). Payment in kuna, all major credit cards and euros are accepted at all toll gates. Most motorways are covered by the closed toll collection system, where a driver receives a ticket at the entrance gates and pays at the exit gates according to the number of sections travelled. Open toll collection is used on some bridges and tunnels and short stretches of tolled highway, where drivers immediately pay the toll upon arriving. Various forms of prepaid electronic toll collection systems are in place which allow quicker collection of toll, usually at a discounted rate, as well as use of dedicated toll plaza lanes (for ENC system of the electronic toll collection). All heavily traveled routes towards Slovenia, Hungary and Serbia are motorway connections, and almost all parts of Croatia are now easy to reach using motorways. The 479 km long motorway A1 Zagreb - Split - Ploče connects the continental part of Croatia with Mediterranean Dalmatia. It is complete with two lanes in both directions in its full length. The highway winds itself as a panoramic road through the Croatian hills. The highway currently ends near the Ploče sea port, but is planned to continue further on to Dubrovnik. The most important edifice on the A1 is the Sveti Rok Tunnel (5.687 m), which goes through the famous Velebit mountain range barrier. The most modern, and at the same time the longest Croatian tunnel, is also along the A1: the Mala Kapela Tunnel (length 5,780 m), which passes through the Mala Kapela mountain range. The Sveti Ilija Tunnel through Biokovo (4,249 m) connects the Makarska riviera with the A1. Since June 2005 the Istrian Y extends from the Slovenian border in Istria and the A7 connects Slovenia to Rijeka. The A2 connection between Zagreb via Hrvatsko Zagorje to Maribor was completed in May 2007. Motorway A3 extends from Slovenia via the Zagreb bypass through the length of Slavonia to the Serbian border. In Slavonia there is now another motorway, A5, along the European route E73 (European north–south corridor Vc) between the Hungarian border at Beli Manastir, Osijek and the Bosnian border. This route will eventually continue as a modern motorway towards Sarajevo and further |
in Croatian budgetary expenditure due to the Croatian War of Independence. For example, 1995 Croatian defence budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 10% of GDP, which was also the highest defence expenditure rate ever. In late 2019, Croatian Government issued revised defence expenditure which will see country increase defence expenditure to meet 2% NATO target by 2020, with 2019 and 2020 defence budgets seeing immediate revisions and increases to meet new spending plan. Defence expenditure in 2024 therefore based on current projections could reach 9.4 billion kuna or around 2% NATO requirement. Defence expenditures in recent years (source Croatian MOD); (*) - projected expenditure (**) - proposed expenditure Although the budget has been decreased in percentage of BDP from year to year, overall budget increased and the Croatian Armed Forces were able to maintain military readiness and to participate in major NATO exercises in Croatia and overseas. Downsizing of the armed forces has allowed for more funds to be allocated to modernization over the past few years with an average of 1.6 billion HRK spent on modernization, infrastructure and construction of new facilities. A $3 billion modernization plan was proposed by the then Prime Minister Ivica Račan of the SDP led government in 2003., with planned modernization starting in 2006. and ending in 2015.. However it has been delayed due to the subsequent economic recession that has cost the Croatian MOD several billion HRK since 2006.. A new plan under former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović should define exactly how and what the Croatian armed forces should look like by 2023.. A defense white paper was published in 2015 with emphasis placed on modernization of the Army. Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy The Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy, named after Franjo Tuđman, acts as a school of higher learning responsible for training and educating future generations of military personnel. The academy consists of several schools including "Ban Josip Jelačić", "Blago Zadro", "Katarina Zrinska", the Officers Academy, and a school for non commissioned officers. The academy has 300 full-time staff and is the only military academy in Croatia. Each year also 100–120 foreign nationals attend the academy. Commander The Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organisation of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, with consent of the Minister of Defence. The Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime components. The peacetime component is composed of the active military officers, civil servants and employees in the Croatian Armed Forces, cadets, and conscripts serving a 6-month national service and reservists when on military exercise. The wartime component of the Armed Forces includes all other reservists. The General Staff is part of the Ministry of Defence in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces. It also has a number of units under its direct command, including the Special Operations Battalion, Honour Guard Battalion and several others. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defence. In war and in cases where the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling his orders, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander. The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defence strategy, defence budget, and defence laws. Special Forces Command Special Forces Command (Zapovjedništvo specijalnih snaga, ZSS) was established in February 2015, succeeding the Special Operations Battalion (Croatia), in accordance with the Long-term Development Plan of the Croatian Armed Forces in the period 2015–2024. The command staff is composed of the members who served in the special units, guards brigades and reconnaissance units of the Croatian Armed Forces. The main mission of the Special Forces Command is to ensure combat readiness of the special forces in the protection of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Croatia, as well as for the participation in NATO-led operations. Colonel Perica Turalija is the current commanding officer of the command. The Croatian General Staff exercises direct command over the battalion which thus elevates the unit to strategic level deployment for quicker reaction and overall better and faster response to tactical and strategic situations. Also, this means that members of all three branches of the Croatian armed forces can apply for selection. Other special operations units are the Military Intelligence Battalion (Vojno-obavještajna bojna, VOB) and Special Military Police Company (Satnija specijalne vojne policije, SS VP). The duties of an Honor Guard are performed by the Honor Guard Battalion (Počasno zaštitna bojna), located at Zagreb in the Tuškanac military base. Projects A long term modernization plan for 2015–2024 has been published outlining overall goals and is available for download (102 pages) at the Ministry of Defense of Croatia website. According to earlier reports from the government, the Croatian Armed Forces are set to receive vitally needed new equipment. Army Modernisation of M-84A and M-84A4 Snajper MBTs and upgrade to M-84D standard. The programme is at a standstill and is unlikely to receive further funding due to high costs involved of nearly 20 million kuna per tank, but overhaul of existing fleet might be completed by the end of 2017 at cost of 120 million kuna (24 vehicles already overhauled at cost of 60 million kuna). The Croatian Army is looking at replacing 128 M80A IFV in its inventory, Croatian Army requires 108 Vehicles, 88 Infantry combat vehicles, 4 Driver training vehicles, 8 Armoured Ambulance vehicles and 8 command vehicles. It's announced that M2 Bradley in M2A2 ODS variant was chosen, 60 + 24 vehicles for spare parts will be delivered in 2020 as a donation from United States and modernised in Croatia by BAE Systems. Talks are being held with US and German governments on possible purchase of M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, Croatian requirements call for initially 8 systems to form a two battery teams at independent Artillery regiment, with potential for further 16 systems to equip 2 active brigades for total of 24 systems + simulators and training aids. Number of systems Croatian Army might purchase will solely depend on price of the entire purchase and delivery dates, Croatian Defence budget has set aside some 200 million kuna or $32 million for this programme, although it is likely said systems might be donated by the US for symbolic price in turn Croatian MOD paying only VAT. The initial order of 8 Elbit UT30Mk2 CRO unmanned turrets for Patria AMV, armed with 30mm gun and Spike launchers in 2019, value of the contract: $14.9 million. Scores of smaller programmes, communication equipment, night vision capability, electronic sensors, NBC equipment, battlefield management systems and modernisation of artillery systems with new sights and electronic fire control systems are planned. Procurement of advanced short to medium range NATO SAM system. As of now no real funding has been mentioned other than the statement that this project is a priority and current requirements call for one battery. Estimated value – $50–70 million for new system. Alternately a second-hand system might be obtained as a donation by the United States, in which case only the VAT cost will be incurred. Procurement of short range SAM systems – no indication of what system | Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo - HRZ) The Croatian Armed Forces are charged with protecting the Republic as well as supporting international peacekeeping efforts, when mandated by the NATO, United Nations and/or European Union. The Army has 650 AFVs, around 150 pieces of artillery, 100 MLRSs, around 70 tanks, and 20 SPGs. The Air Force has 12 MiG-21 jet fighters, 10 combat-transport Mi-171 and 16 OH-58 attack helicopters. The Navy has 29 ships, out of which five 60-80 metre fast attack craft are used in offensive capabilities. Strength The total number of active military personnel in the Croatian Armed Forces stands at 14,506 and 6,000 reserves working in various service branches of the armed forces. In May 2016, Armed Forces had 16,019 members, of which 14,506 were active military personnel and 1,513 civil servants. Of the 14,506 active military personnel, 3,183 were officers, 5,389 non-commissioned officers, 5,393 soldiers, 520 military specialists, 337 civil servants and 1,176 other employees. Total available male manpower aged 16–49 numbers 1,035,712, of which 771,323 are technically fit for military service. Male citizens are now no longer subject to compulsory military service since January 1, 2008. However, the last generation of 2007 servicemen was also absolved of compulsory service by an act from then Minister of Defence Berislav Rončević. Budget The Croatian military budget for the past 6–7 years was kept below 2% of GDP, a vast difference from the 1990s when defence expenditure represented a major stake in Croatian budgetary expenditure due to the Croatian War of Independence. For example, 1995 Croatian defence budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 10% of GDP, which was also the highest defence expenditure rate ever. In late 2019, Croatian Government issued revised defence expenditure which will see country increase defence expenditure to meet 2% NATO target by 2020, with 2019 and 2020 defence budgets seeing immediate revisions and increases to meet new spending plan. Defence expenditure in 2024 therefore based on current projections could reach 9.4 billion kuna or around 2% NATO requirement. Defence expenditures in recent years (source Croatian MOD); (*) - projected expenditure (**) - proposed expenditure Although the budget has been decreased in percentage of BDP from year to year, overall budget increased and the Croatian Armed Forces were able to maintain military readiness and to participate in major NATO exercises in Croatia and overseas. Downsizing of the armed forces has allowed for more funds to be allocated to modernization over the past few years with an average of 1.6 billion HRK spent on modernization, infrastructure and construction of new facilities. A $3 billion modernization plan was proposed by the then Prime Minister Ivica Račan of the SDP led government in 2003., with planned modernization starting in 2006. and ending in 2015.. However it has been delayed due to the subsequent economic recession that has cost the Croatian MOD several billion HRK since 2006.. A new plan under former Prime Minister Zoran Milanović should define exactly how and what the Croatian armed forces should look like by 2023.. A defense white paper was published in 2015 with emphasis placed on modernization of the Army. Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy The Dr. Franjo Tuđman Military Academy, named after Franjo Tuđman, acts as a school of higher learning responsible for training and educating future generations of military personnel. The academy consists of several schools including "Ban Josip Jelačić", "Blago Zadro", "Katarina Zrinska", the Officers Academy, and a school for non commissioned officers. The academy has 300 full-time staff and is the only military academy in Croatia. Each year also 100–120 foreign nationals attend the academy. Commander The Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organisation of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, with consent of the Minister of Defence. The Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime components. The peacetime component is composed of the active military officers, civil servants and employees in the Croatian Armed Forces, cadets, and conscripts serving a 6-month national service and reservists when on military exercise. The wartime component of the Armed Forces includes all other reservists. The General Staff is part of the Ministry of Defence in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces. It also has a number of units under its direct command, including the Special Operations Battalion, Honour Guard Battalion and several others. In peace, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through the Minister of Defence. In war and in cases where the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling his orders, the Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander. The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control |
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