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James Edward Smith

James Edward Smith

:For the mayor of Toronto by this name please see James Edward Smith (Toronto). Sir James Edward Smith (December 2, 1759 – March 17, 1828) was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society. Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in natural history and botany, studied medicine and botany at Edinburgh in 1781, and moved to London in 1783 to continue his studies. Smith was a friend of Sir Joseph Banks who was offered the entire collection of books, manuscripts and specimens of the Swedish natural historian and botanist Carolus Linnaeus, following the death of his son Carolus Linnaeus the Younger. Banks declined the purchase but Smith bought the collection for the bargain price of £1,000. The collection arrived in London in 1784 and in 1786 Smith was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. Between 1786 and 1788 Smith travelled the Grand Tour through the Netherlands, France, Italy and Switzerland visiting botanists, picture galleries and herbaria. He founded the Linnean Society of London in 1788 becoming its first President, a post he held until his death. He returned to live in Norwich in 1796 bringing with him the entire Linnean Collection. His library and botanical collections acquired European fame and were visited by numerous entomologists and botanists throughout the Continent. Smith spent the remaining thirty years of his life writing books and articles upon botany. His books included Flora Britannica and The English Flora (4 volumes, 1824–1828). He contributed 3,348 botanical articles to Rees's Cyclopaedia between 1808 and 1819, following the death of Rev. William Wood, who had started the work. After Smith's death the Linnean Collection, together with Smith's own collections, were bought by the Linnean Society for £3,150. The standard botanical author abbreviation Sm. is applied to plants he described. Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith, James Edward Smith

December 2

December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 29 days remaining.

Events


- 1409 - The University of Leipzig opens.
- 1755 - The second Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed by fire.
- 1804 - At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte is crowned as the first Emperor of France in a thousand years.
- 1805 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Austerlitz - French troops under Napoleon defeat a joint Russo-Austrian force.
- 1823 - Monroe Doctrine: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts.
- 1845 - Manifest Destiny: US President James K. Polk announces to Congress that the United States should aggressively expand into the West.
- 1848 - Franz Josef I becomes Emperor of Austria.
- 1851 - Newly-elected French President Charles Louis Bonaparte overthrows the Second Republic.
- 1852 - Napoleon III becomes Emperor of France.
- 1859 - Militant abolitionist leader John Brown is hanged for his October 16th raid on Harper's Ferry.
- 1867 - In a New York City theater, British author Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the United States.
- 1899 - Philippine-American War: The Battle of Tirad Pass, termed "The Filipino Thermopylae", is fought.
- 1927 - Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A as its new automobile.
- 1930 - Great Depression: US President Herbert Hoover goes before Congress and asks for a US$150 million public works program to help generate jobs and stimulate the economy.
- 1939 - New York City's La Guardia Airport opens.
- 1942 - Manhattan Project: A team led by Enrico Fermi initiate the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction.
- 1946 - British Government invited four Indian leaders, Nehru, Baldev Singh, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan to obtain the participation of all parties in the Constituent Assembly.
- 1947 - Jerusalem Riots of 1947: Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
- 1954 - Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 65 to 22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
- 1961 - In a nationally-broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
- 1962 - Vietnam War: After a trip to Vietnam at the request of US President John F. Kennedy, US Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield becomes the first American official to not make an optimistic public comment on the war's progress.
- 1970 - The United States Environmental Protection Agency begins operations.
- 1971 - Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates.
- 1972 - Gough Whitlam becomes the first Australian Labor Party Prime Minister of Australia for 23 years.
- 1975 - Pathet Lao seizes power in Laos, and establishes the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
- 1980 - Four U.S. nuns and churchwomen, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel, are murdered by a death squad in El Salvador.
- 1982 - At the University of Utah, Barney Clark, becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart.
- 1988 - Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state.
- 1990 - A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932.
- 1991 - Apple release the first version of QuickTime.
- 1993 - Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar is shot and killed in Medellín.
- 1993 - Space Shuttle program: STS-61 - NASA launches the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
- 1999 - The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive.
- 2000 - The Smashing Pumpkins perform for the last time at The Metro in Chicago.
- 2001 - Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
- 2004 - Brian Williams succeeds Tom Brokaw as host of NBC Nightly News.
- 2005 - Microsoft's Xbox 360 is launched in Europe.
- 2005 - Van Tuong Nguyen is executed in Singapore for drug trafficking.
- 2005 - Kenneth Boyd becomes the 1,000th person to be executed in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

Births


- 1578 - Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist (d. 1640)
- 1694 - William Shirley, Colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1771)
- 1703 - Ferdinand Konscak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)
- 1710 - Bertinazzi, Italian actor and writer (d. 1783)
- 1738 - Richard Montgomery, Irish-born American soldier (d. 1775)
- 1760 - John Breckinridge, American politician (d. 1806)
- 1817 - Heinrich von Sybel, German historian (d. 1895)
- 1825 - Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (d. 1891)
- 1846 - Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau, French statesman (d. 1904)
- 1859 - Georges Seurat, French painter and founder of Neoimpressionism (d. 1891)
- 1863 - Charles Ringling, American circus owner (d. 1926)
- 1885 - George Richards Minot, American physician and Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1950)
- 1886 - Harry Burleigh, American composer (d. 1949)
- 1891 - Otto Dix, German painter and graphic artist (d. 1969)
- 1892 - Leo Ornstein, Russian-born American composer and pianist (d. 2002)
- 1895 - Harriet Cohen, British pianist (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Indra Lal Roy, Indian pilot (d. 1918)
- 1899 - John Barbirolli, British conductor (d. 1970)
- 1901 - Raimundo Orsi, Argentinian/Italian international footballer and World Cup winner (d. 1986)
- 1906 - Peter Carl Goldmark, Hungarian-born American Columbia Records engineer (d. 1977)
- 1914 - Adolph Green, American composer (d. 2002)
- 1914 - Ray Walston, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1923 - Maria Callas, American soprano (d. 1977)
- 1924 - Alexander M. Haig, Jr., American politician
- 1925 - Julie Harris, American actress
- 1930 - Gary Becker, American economist and Nobel Prize laureate
- 1931 - Edwin Meese, American politician
- 1933 - Michael Larrabee, American athlete and Olympic gold medalist (d. 2003)
- 1933 - K.Veeramani, Indian leader of Dravidar Kazhagam
- 1934 - Andre Rodgers, American baseball player (d. 2004)
- 1935 - David Hackett Fischer, American historian
- 1939 - Yael Dayan, Palestinian-born Israeli writer and politician
- 1939 - Harry Reid, American politician
- 1943 - Wayne Allard, American politician
- 1944 - Botho Strauß, German author
- 1945 - Penelope Spheeris, American film director
- 1946 - Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer (d. 1997)
- 1946 - John Banks, New Zealand politician
- 1950 - Bob Kevoian, Co-Host, Bob %26 Tom Show
- 1952 - Michael McDonald, American musician
- 1954 - Dan Butler, American actor
- 1954 - Stone Phillips, American television journalist
- 1957 - Dagfinn Høybråten, Norwegian politician
- 1960 - Rick Savage, British bassist (Def Leppard)
- 1966 - Jinsei Shinzaki, Japanese professional wrestler
- 1968 - Lucy Liu, American actress
- 1968 - Nate Mendel, American bassist (Foo Fighters)
- 1968 - Chris Wedge, American animator
- 1970 - Sarah Silverman, American comedian
- 1973 - Monica Seles, Yugoslav-born American tennis player
- 1973 - Jan Ullrich, German cyclist
- 1978 - Nelly Furtado, Canadian singer and songwriter
- 1979 - Yvonne Catterfeld, German singer and actress
- 1981 - Britney Spears, American singer
- 1982 - Matt Ware, American football player

Deaths


- 1348 - Emperor Hanazono of Japan (b. 1297)
- 1381 - John of Ruysbroeck, Flemish mystic
- 1463 - Archduke Albert VI of Austria (b. 1418)
- 1469 - Piero di Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1416)
- 1515 - Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, Spanish general and statesman (b. 1453)
- 1547 - Hernán Cortés, Spanish explorer and conqueror (b. 1485)
- 1552 - Francis Xavier, Spanish Catholic missionary (b. 1506)
- 1594 - Gerardus Mercator, Flemish cartographer (b. 1512)
- 1665 - Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
- 1694 - Pierre Paul Puget, French artist (b. 1622)
- 1719 - Pasquier Quesnel, French Jansenist theologian (b. 1634)
- 1723 - Philip II, Duke of Orléans, regent of France (b. 1674)
- 1726 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (b. 1665)
- 1747 - Vincent Bourne, English classical scholar (b. 1695)
- 1748 - Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, English politician (b. 1662)
- 1774 - Johann Friedrich Agricola, German composer and organist (b. 1720)
- 1814 - Marquis de Sade, French writer (b. 1740)
- 1849 - Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen of William IV of the United Kingdom (b. 1792)
- 1859 - John Brown, American abolitionist (hanged) (b. 1800)
- 1860 - Alfred Bunn, British theatrical manager (b. 1796)
- 1892 - Jay Gould, American entrepreneur (b. 1836)
- 1918 - Edmond Rostand, French poet and dramatist (b. 1868)
- 1931 - Vincent d'Indy, French composer (b. 1851)
- 1943 - Nordahl Grieg - Norwegian author and journalist (b. 1902)
- 1944 - Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist (b. 1874)
- 1944 - Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Italian founder of Futurism (b. 1876)
- 1950 - Dinu Lipatti, Romanian pianist (b. 1917)
- 1957 - Harrison Ford, American actor (b. 1884)
- 1957 - Manfred Sakel, Polish psychiatrist (b. 1902)
- 1963 - Thomas J. Hicks, British-born American marathon runner and Olympic gold medalist (b. 1875)
- 1963 - Sabu Dastagir, Indian-born American actor (b. 1924)
- 1966 - Giles Cooper, Irish-born playwright (b.1918)
- 1969 - Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov, Russian politician (b. 1881)
- 1974 - Max Weber, Swiss Federal Councilor (b. 1897)
- 1976 - Danny Murtaugh, American baseball player and manager (b. 1917)
- 1980 - Chaudhry Muhammad Ali, Prime Minister of Pakistan (b. 1905)
- 1980 - Romain Gary, Russian-born French writer (b. 1914)
- 1982 - Marty Feldman, British comedian, writer and actor (b. 1933)
- 1983 - Fifi d'Orsay, Canadian actress (b. 1904)
- 1985 - Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (b. 1914)
- 1985 - Philip Larkin, English poet, novelist and jazz critic (b. 1922)
- 1986 - Desi Arnaz, Cuban-born actor, musician, band leader, and composer (b. 1917)
- 1987 - Luis Federico Leloir, French-born chemist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906)
- 1987 - Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich, Russian physicist (b. 1914)
- 1988 - Tata Giacobetti, Italian singer and lyricist (Quartetto Cetra)
- 1990 - Aaron Copland, American composer (b. 1900)
- 1993 - Pablo Escobar, Colombian drug dealer (b. 1949)
- 1995 - Robertson Davies, Canadian novelist (b. 1913)
- 1997 - Shirley Crabtree (Big Daddy), British professional wrestler (b. 1930)
- 2002 - Ivan Illich, Austrian priest and philosopher (b. 1926)
- 2002 - Arno Peters, German historian (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Alan Davidson, British food writer (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Mona Van Duyn, American poet (b. 1921)
- 2004 - Alicia Markova, British ballerina (b. 1910)
- 2005 - Van Tuong Nguyen, Australian drug smuggler (hanged) (b. 1980)
- 2005 - Kenneth Lee Boyd, American convicted murderer, 1,000th person to be executed in the U.S. since the re-introduction of capital punishment (b. 1948)

Holidays and observances


- R.C. Saints - St Bibiana
- Laos - National Day
- United Arab Emirates - National Day (independence from Britain, 1971)

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/2 BBC: On This Day] ---- December 1 - December 3 - November 2 - January 2 — listing of all days ko:12월 2일 ms:2 Disember ja:12月2日 simple:December 2 th:2 ธันวาคม

March 17

March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). There are 289 days remaining.

Events


- 45 BC - In his last victory, Julius Caesar defeats the Pompeian forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger in the Battle of Munda.
- 1577 - The Cathay Company is formed to send Martin Frobisher back to the New World for more gold.
- 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet begin their exploration of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi river.
- 1756 - St. Patrick's Day is celebrated in New York City for the first time (at the Crown and Thistle Tavern).
- 1776 - American Revolution: British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts after George Washington places artillery overlooking the city.
- 1805 - The Italian Republic, with Napoleon as president, becomes the Kingdom of Italy, with Napoleon as King.
- 1821 - Mani declared war on the Ottoman Empire starting the Greek War of Independence.
- 1845 - The rubber band is invented
- 1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed.
- 1886 - Carrollton Massacre: 20 African Americans are killed in Mississippi.
- 1891 - The British steamship SS Utopia sinks off the coast of Gibraltar, killing 574.
- 1901 - A showing of 71 Vincent van Gogh paintings in Paris, 11 years after his death, creates a sensation.
- 1910 - Luther Gulick and his wife Charlotte found Camp Fire Girls (now Camp Fire USA) (formally announced in 1912).
- 1921 - The Second Republic of Poland adopts the March Constitution.
- 1931 - Nevada legalizes gambling.
- 1939 - Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945): The Battle of Nanchang between the Kuomintang and the Japanese break out.
- 1941 - In Washington, DC, the National Gallery of Art is officially opened by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1948 - Benelux, France, and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Brussels, a precursor to the NATO Agreement.
- 1950 - University of California, Berkeley researchers announce the creation of element 98, which they name "Californium".
- 1958 - The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite.
- 1959 - Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, flees Tibet and travels to India.
- 1966 - Off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean, the Alvin submarine finds a missing American hydrogen bomb.
- 1969 - Golda Meir of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, becomes Prime Minister of Israel.
- 1970 - My Lai massacre: The United States Army charges 14 officers with suppressing information related to the incident.
- 1985 - Serial killer Richard Ramirez, the "Night Stalker", commits his first two murders in Los Angeles, California murder spree.
- 1988 - A Colombian Boeing 727 jetliner, Avianca Flight 410, crashes into the side of the mountains near the Venezuelan border killing 143.
- 1992 - A suicide car-bomb kills 29 and injures 242 at the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2003 - British Cabinet Minister, Robin Cook, resigns over government plans for war with Iraq.
- 2004 - Massive Unrest in Kosovo. Over 22 killed, 200 wounded, 35 destroyed Serb Orthodox shrines in Kosovo and two mosques in Belgrade and Nis.

Births


- 1231 - Emperor Shijo of Japan (d. 1252)
- 1473 - King James IV of Scotland (d. 1513)
- 1628 - François Girardon, French sculptor (d. 1715)
- 1676 - Thomas Boston, Scottish church leader (d. 1732)
- 1725 - Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (d. 1806)
- 1777 - Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (d. 1864)
- 1780 - Thomas Chalmers, Scottish pastor, social reformer, author, and scientist (d. 1847)
- 1804 - Jim Bridger, American trapper and explorer (d. 1881)
- 1820 - Jean Ingelow, English poet (d. 1897)
- 1834 - Gottlieb Daimler, German engineer and inventor (d. 1900)
- 1846 - Kate Greenaway, English children's author and illustrator (d. 1901)
- 1862 - Silvio Gesell, Belgian economist (d. 1930)
- 1866 - Pierce Butler, Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (d. 1939)
- 1870 - Horace Donisthorpe, British entomologist (d. 1951)
- 1880 - Sir Patrick Hastings, British barrister (d. 1952)
- 1881 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1973)
- 1883 - Urmuz, Romanian writer (d. 1923)
- 1884 - Alcide Nunez, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1934)
- 1892 - Benjamin Drake Van Wissen, Australian Engineer.
- 1894 - Paul Green, American writer (d. 1981)
- 1895 - Shemp Howard, actor (d. 1955)
- 1901 - Alfred Newman, American film composer (d. 1970)
- 1902 - Bobby Jones, American golfer (d. 1971)
- 1908 - Brigitte Helm, German actress (d. 1996)
- 1912 - Bayard Rustin, American civil rights activist (d. 1987)
- 1914 - Sammy Baugh, American football player
- 1916 - Ray Ellington, British singer (d. 1985)
- 1918 - Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
- 1919 - Nat King Cole, American singer (d. 1965)
- 1920 - Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Prime Minister of Bangladesh (d. 1975)
- 1926 - Siegfried Lenz, German writer
- 1930 - James Irwin, astronaut (d. 1991)
- 1936 - Ladislav Kupkovic, Slovakian composer
- 1936 - Ken Mattingly, astronaut
- 1938 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian-born dancer and choreographer (d. 1993)
- 1940 - Mark White, American politician
- 1941 - Paul Kantner, American musician (Jefferson Airplane)
- 1942 - John Wayne Gacy, American serial killer (d. 1994)
- 1944 - Pattie Boyd, British photographer and model
- 1944 - Cito Gaston, baseball player and coach
- 1944 - John Sebastian, American singer and songwriter
- 1945 - Elis Regina, Brazilian singer (d. 1982)
- 1946 - Georges J.F. Kohler, German biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1995)
- 1947 - James Morrow, author
- 1948 - William Gibson, American-born writer
- 1949 - Patrick Duffy, American actor
- 1950 - Patrick Adams, American record producer and songwriter
- 1951 - Kurt Russell, American actor
- 1954 - Lesley-Anne Down, English actress
- 1955 - Gary Sinise, American actor
- 1956 - Patrick McDonnell, American cartoonist
- 1957 - Michael Kelly, American journalist (d. 2003)
- 1959 - Danny Ainge, American basketball player and coach
- 1961 - Casey Siemaszko, American actor
- 1964 - Rob Lowe, American actor
- 1967 - William Patrick Corgan, Jr., American musician
- 1967 - Barry Minkow, American businessman
- 1969 - Mathew St. Patrick, American actor
- 1972 - Mia Hamm, American soccer player
- 1973 - Caroline Corr, Irish singer and musician
- 1973 - Rico Blanco, Filipino singer (Rivermaya)
- 1975 - Justin Hawkins, British singer (The Darkness)
- 1976 - Stephen Gately, Irish singer, musician, and actor (Boyzone)
- 1979 - Andrew Ference, Canadian hockey player

Deaths


- 45 BC - Titus Labienus, Roman leader (in battle)
- 45 BC - Gnaeus Pompeius, the Younger, Roman general (executed)
- 180 - Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor (b. 121)
- 461 - Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
- 1040 - Harold Harefoot, King of England
- 1058 - King Lulach I of Scotland
- 1272 - Emperor Go-Saga of Japan (b. 1220)
- 1425 - Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (b. 1407)
- 1516 - Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1478)
- 1565 - Alexander Ales, Scottish theologian (b. 1500)
- 1640 - Philip Massinger, English dramatist (b. 1583)
- 1680 - François de La Rochefoucauld, French writer (b. 1613)
- 1704 - Menno van Coehoorn, Dutch military engineer (b. 1641)
- 1715 - Gilbert Burnet, Scottish Bishop of Salisbury (b. 1643)
- 1741 - Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, French poet (b. 1671)
- 1764 - George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield, English astronomer
- 1782 - Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-born mathematician (b. 1700)
- 1830 - Laurent, Marquis de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, French marshal (b. 1764)
- 1846 - Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (b. 1784)
- 1849 - William II of the Netherlands (b. 1792)
- 1853 - Christian Doppler, Austrian physician and mathematician (b. 1803)
- 1893 - Jules Ferry, French statesman (b. 1832)
- 1917 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (b. 1838)
- 1937 - Austen Chamberlain, English statesman, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1863)
- 1956 - Fred Allen, American actor and comedian (b. 1894)
- 1956 - Irene Joliot-Curie, French physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (b. 1897)
- 1957 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (b. 1907)
- 1965 - Amos Alonzo Stagg, baseball, basketball, and football coach and player (b. 1862)
- 1976 - Luchino Visconti, Italian director (b. 1906)
- 1983 - Haldan Keffer Hartline, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1903)
- 1987 - Santo Trafficante, Jr., American gangster (b. 1914)
- 1989 - Merritt Butrick, American actor (b. 1959)
- 1990 - Capucine, French actress (b. 1931)
- 1993 - Helen Hayes, American actress (b. 1900)
- 1995 - Ronnie Kray, British gangster (b. 1933)
- 1999 - Ernest Gold, Austrian composer (b. 1921)
- 1999 - Rod Hull, British comedian (b. 1936)
- 2002 - Rosetta LeNoire, American actress and producer (b. 1911)
- 2002 - Pat Weaver, American broadcast executive (b. 1908)
- 2004 - J.J. Jackson, American television personality (b. 1941)
- 2005 - George F. Kennan, American Cold War strategist and historian (b. 1904)
- 2005 - Andre Norton, American writer (b. 1912)

Holidays and observances


- Ancient Latvia - Kustonu Diena observed
- Boston, Massachusetts - Evacuation Day
- Feast day of St Patrick: a public holiday in Ireland and Montserrat, widely celebrated in North America (see St. Patrick's Day)
- ancient Rome - the second day of the Bacchanalia in honor of Bacchus
- ancient Rome - the Liberalia in honor of Liber  

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/17 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/3/17 Today in History: March 17] ---- March 16 - March 18 - February 17 - April 17 -- listing of all days ko:3월 17일 ms:17 Mac ja:3月17日 simple:March 17 th:17 มีนาคม

England

:For an explanation of often-confusing terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). England is a nation and the largest and most populous constituent country of the United Kingdom accounting for more than 83% of the total UK population. It occupies most of the southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain and shares land borders with fellow home nations Scotland, to the north, and Wales, to the west. Elsewhere, it is bordered by the sea. England is named after the Angles, one of a number of Germanic tribes believed to have originated in Angeln in Northern Germany, who settled in England in the 5th and 6th centuries. It has not had a distinct political identity since 1707, when Great Britain was established as a unified political entity; however, it has a legal identity separate from those of Scotland and Northern Ireland, as part of the entity "England and Wales;". England's largest city, London, is also the capital of the United Kingdom.

History

Main article: History of England England has been inhabited for at least 500,000 years, although the repeated Ice Ages made much of Britain uninhabitable for extended periods until as recently as 20,000 years ago. Stone Age hunter-gatherers eventually gave way to farmers and permanent settlements, with a spectacular and sophisticated megalithic civilisation arising in western England some 4,000 years ago. It was replaced around 1,500 years later by Celtic tribes migrating from Western and continental Europe, mainly from France. These tribes were known collectively as "Britons", a name bestowed by Phoenician traders — an indication of how, even at this early date, the island was part of a Europe-wide trading network. The Britons were significant players in continental politics and supported their allies in Gaul militarily during the Gallic Wars with the Roman Republic. This prompted the Romans to invade and subdue the island, first with Julius Caesar's raid in 55 BC, and then the Emperor Claudius' conquest in the following century. The whole southern part of the island — roughly corresponding to modern day England and Wales — became a prosperous part of the Roman Empire. It was finally abandoned early in the 5th century when a weakening Empire pulled back its legions to defend borders on the Continent. Unaided by the Roman army, Roman Britannia could not long resist the Germanic tribes who arrived in the 5th and 6th centuries, enveloping the majority of modern day England in a new culture and language and pushing Romano-British rule back into modern-day Wales and western extremities of England, notably Cornwall and Cumbria. Others emigrated across the channel to modern-day Brittany, thus giving it its name and language (Breton). But many of the Romano-British remained in and were assimilated into the newly "English" areas. The invaders fell into three main groups: the Jutes, the Saxons, and the Angles. As they became more civilised, recognisable states formed and began to merge with one another. (The most well-known state of affairs being the Anglo-Saxon heptarchy.) From time to time throughout this period, one Anglo-Saxon king, recognised as the "Bretwalda" by other rulers, had effective control of all or most of the English; so it is impossible to identify the precise moment when the Kingdom of England was unified. In some sense, real unity came as a response to the Danish Viking incursions which occupied the eastern half of "England" in the 8th century. Egbert, King of Wessex (d. 839) is often regarded as the first king of all the English, although the title "King of England" was first adopted, two generations later, by Alfred the Great (ruled 871–899). The principal legacy left behind in those territories from which the language of the Britons were displaced is that of toponyms. Many of the place-names in England and to a lesser extent Scotland are derived from celtic British names, including London, Dumbarton, York, Dorchester, Dover and Colchester. Several place-name elements are thought to be wholly or partly Brythonic in origin, particularly bre-, bal-, and -dun for hills, carr for a high rocky place, coomb for a small deep valley. Until recently it has been believed that those areas settled by the Anglo-Saxons were uninhabited at the time or the Britons had fled before them. However, genetic studies show that the British were not pushed out to the Celtic fringes – many tribes remained in what was to become England (see C. Capelli et al. A Y chromosome census of the British Isles. Current Biology 13, 979–984, (2003)). Capelli's findings strengthen the research of Steven Bassett of the University of Birmingham; his work during the 1990s suggests that much of the West Midlands was only very lightly colonised with Anglian and Saxon settlements.
This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,—
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.
The English are great lovers of themselves, and of everything belonging to them; they think that there are no other men than themselves, and no other world but England; and whenever they see a handsome foreigner, they say that 'he looks like an Englishman', and that 'it is a great pity that he should not be an Englishmen'.
Venetian ambassador to England
Early 16th century
Charlotte Augusta Sneyd
Italian Relations of England (p. 20)
Richard II] Richard II] In 1066, William the Conqueror and the Normans conquered the existing Kingdom of England and instituted an Anglo-Norman administration and nobility who, retaining proto-French as their language for the next three hundred years, ruled as custodians over English commoners. Although the language and racial distinctions faded rapidly during the middle ages, the class system born in the Norman/Saxon divide persisted longer — arguably with traces lasting to the modern day. While Old English continued to be spoken by common folk, Norman feudal lords significantly influenced the language with French words and customs being adopted over the succeeding centuries evolving to a Romance-Germanic hybrid of Middle English widely spoken in Chaucer's time. England came repeatedly into conflict with Wales and Scotland, at the time an independent principality and an independent kingdom respectively, as its rulers sought to expand Norman power across the entire island of Britain. The conquest of Wales was achieved in the 13th century, when it was annexed to England and gradually came to be a part of that kingdom for most legal purposes, although in the modern era it is more usually thought of as a separate nation (fielding, for example, its own athletic teams). Norman power in Scotland waxed and waned over the years, with the Scots managing to maintain a varying degree of independence despite repeated wars with the English. Although it was on the whole only a moderately successful power in military terms, England became one of the wealthiest states in medieval Europe, due chiefly to its dominance in the lucrative wool market. The failure of English territorial ambitions in continental Europe prompted the kingdom's rulers to look further afield, creating the foundations of the mercantile and colonial network that was to become the British Empire. The turmoil of the Reformation embroiled England in religious wars with Europe's Catholic powers, notably Spain, but the kingdom preserved its independence as much through luck as through the skill of charismatic rulers such as Elizabeth I. Elizabeth's successor, James I was already king of Scotland (as James VI); and this personal union of the two crowns into the crown of Great Brittaine was followed a century later by the Act of Union 1707, which formally unified England, Scotland and Wales into the Kingdom of Great Britain. This later became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (1801 to 1927) and then the modern state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (1927 to present) For post-unification history, see history of the United Kingdom.

Politics

Main article: Politics of the United Kingdom, Government of England Since the promulgation of the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan and the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542, Wales has shared a legal identity with England as the joint entity of England and Wales. The Act of Union with the Kingdom of Scotland in 1707 created the Kingdom of Great Britain, subsuming England, Wales and Scotland into a single political entity. Scotland, along with Northern Ireland, retain separate legal systems. The duchy of Cornwall also retains some unique rights. All of Great Britain has been ruled by the government of the United Kingdom since that date, although in 1999 the first elections to the newly created Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales left England as the only part of the Union with no devolved assembly or parliament. As all legislation for England is passed by Parliament at Westminster there are some complaints about the ability of non-English Members of Parliament to influence purely English affairs. This apparent anomaly has been highlighted by both English and non-English politicians, often those opposed to devolution, and has become popularly known as the West Lothian question. Administratively, England is something of an anomaly within the UK. Unlike the other three nations, it has no local parliament or government and its administrative affairs are dealt with by a combination of the UK government, the UK parliament and a number of England-specific quangos, such as English Heritage. There are calls from some for a devolved English Parliament and from others for the dissolution of the UK and an independent England. The current Labour government favoured the establishment of regional administration, claiming that England was too large to be governed as a sub-state entity. A referendum on this issue in North East England on 4 November 2004 decisively rejected the proposal. Some criticised the English regional proposals for not decentralising enough, saying that they amounted not to devolution, but to little more than local government reorganisation, with no real power being removed from central government. The English regions would not even have had the limited powers of the Welsh Assembly, much less the tax-varying and legislative powers of the Scottish Parliament. Rather, power was simply re-allocated within the region, with little new resource allocation and no real prospects of Assemblies being able to change the pattern of regional aid. Responsibility for regional transport was added to the proposals late in the process. This was perhaps crucial in the North East, where resentment at the Barnett Formula, which delivers greater regional aid to adjacent Scotland, was a significant impetus for the North East devolution campaign. There has also been a campaign for a Cornish assembly along Welsh lines by groups such as Mebyon Kernow, which recently collected 50,000 signatures in support. Some eurosceptics believe that the establishment of English regions as administrative entities is designed to undermine the concept of English nationhood and more easily fit England into a European federal model. Conventionally the national capital of England is London, although technically it would be more exact to call London the capital of "England and Wales" given England's lack of a distinctive political identity separate from the Principality. Winchester served as the country's first national capital until some time in the late 11th century after the Norman Conquest. The City of London became England's commercial capital, while the City of Westminster (where the Royal court was located) became the political capital. These roles have, broadly speaking, been maintained to the present day.

Subdivisions

Main article: Subdivisions of England Historically, the highest level of local government in England was the county. These divisions had emerged from a range of units of old, pre-unification England, whether they were Kingdoms, such as Essex and Sussex; Duchies, such as Yorkshire, Cornwall and Lancashire or simply tracts of land given to some noble, as is the case with Berkshire. Until 1867, they were subdivided into smaller divisions called hundreds. These counties all still exist in, or near to, their original form as the traditional counties. In many places, however, they have been heavily modified or abolished outright as administrative counties. This came about due to a number of factors. The fact that the counties were so small meant, and still means, that there was no regional government able to coordinate an overarching plan for the area. This was especially true in the metropolitan areas surrounding the cities, as the county lines were usually drawn up before the industrial revolution and the mass urbanisation of England. The solution was the creation of large metropolitan counties centred on cities. These were later broken up, with several other counties, into unitary authorities, unifying the county and district/borough levels of government. London is a special case, and is the one region which currently has a representative authority as well as a directly elected mayor. The 32 London boroughs and the Corporation of London remain the local form of government in the city. Other than Greater London, the official regions are:
- North East England
- North West England
- Yorkshire and the Humber
- West Midlands
- East Midlands
- East of England
- South West England
- South East England Outside London the regions have very little power and are not accountable to elected representatives; regional authority is placed in the hands of unelected assemblies. If, as now seems unlikely, regions opt to replace these bodies with elected assemblies, local government in England will remain as variable and, some might say, as confusing as ever

Geography

Main articles: Geography of the United Kingdom, Geography of England Geography of England England comprises the central and southern two-thirds of the island of Great Britain, plus offshore islands of which the largest is the Isle of Wight. It is bordered to the north by Scotland and to the west by Wales. It is closer to continental Europe than any other part of Britain, divided from France only by a 38 km (24 statute mile or 21 nautical mile) sea gap. Most of England consists of rolling hills, but it is more mountainous in the north with a chain of low mountains, the Pennines, dividing east and west. The dividing line between terrain types is usually indicated by the Tees-Exe line. There is also an area of flat, low-lying marshland in the east, much of which has been drained for agricultural use. The list of England's largest cities is much debated because in British English the normal meaning of city is "a continuously built-up urban area"; these are hard to define and various other definitions are preferred by some people to boost the ranking of their own city. London is by far the largest English city. Manchester and Birmingham vie for second place. A number of other cities, mainly in the north of England, are of substantial size and influence. These include: Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Nottingham, Bristol and Sheffield Using the standard U.S. city limits definition of a city the top six are: Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Bradford, Liverpool and Manchester. Note that London is not on this list (Greater London is a region and the City of London is tiny), and that one of the two candidates for the status of England's "second city", Manchester, is down in sixth. In the UK, this method of ranking cities is generally used only by people whose own city is promoted by it. The Channel Tunnel, near Folkestone, links England to the European mainland. The English/French border is halfway along the tunnel. The largest harbour in England is at Poole, on the south-central coast. Internationally, it is the second largest harbour in the world, although this fact is disputed (See harbors for a list of other potential second largest harbours) The highest temperature ever recorded in England is 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) on August 10, 2003 in Kent. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3153532.stm]. The lowest temperature ever recorded in England is -26.1 °C (-15.0 °F) on January 10, 1982 at Newport in Shropshire. [http://www.metoffice.com/climate/uk/location/england/#temperature]

Major rivers

Shropshire.]]
- Thames
- Severn
- Trent
- Humber
- Yorkshire Ouse
- Tyne
- Mersey
- Dee
- Avon Main article: Waterways in the United Kingdom

Major Conurbations

:See main article: List of towns in England The largest cities in England are much debated but according to the urban area populations (continuous built up areas) these would be the 15 largest conurbations. (Population figures taken from 2001 census) #Greater London (8,278,251) #West Midlands (2,284,093) #Greater Manchester (2,244,931) #Leeds/Bradford (1,499,465) #Tyneside (879,996) #Liverpool (816,216) #Nottingham (666,358) #Sheffield (640,720) #Bristol (551,066) #Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton (461,181) #Portsmouth (442,252) #Leicester (441,213) #Bournemouth/Poole (383,713) #Reading (369,804) #Teesside (365,323)

Economy

Main article: Economy of England

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of England, Population of England England is both the most populous and the most ethnically diverse nation in the United Kingdom with around 49 million inhabitants, of which roughly a tenth are from non-White ethnic groups. It is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe, second only to the Netherlands. This population is made up of, and descended from, immigrants who have arrived over millennia. The principal waves of migration have been in c. 600 BC (Celts), the Roman period (garrison soldiers from throughout the Empire), 350–550 (Angles, Saxons, Jutes), 800–900 (Vikings, Danes), 1066 (Normans), 1650–1750 (European refugees and Huguenots), 1840–1850 (Irish), 1880–1940 (Irish, Jews), 1950— (Irish, Caribbeans, Africans, South Asians), 1985— (citizens of European Community member states especially Ireland, East Europeans, Iranians, Kurds, refugees). The general prosperity of England as the largest partner of the UK, has also made it a destination for economic migrants particularly from Ireland and Scotland. This segment of English homogeneous society continues to create a diverse and dynamic language that is widely used internationally. The other image of foreign ethnic components in England is still mostly seen as a legacy of the British Empire; especially the Commonwealth of Nations.

English identity

The simplest view is that an English person is someone who is from England and holds British nationality, regardless of his or her racial origin. However, inhabitants of England quite commonly refer to themselves as "British" rather than "English"; centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state (i.e. a British person, institution, custom, city, etc. is assumed English unless specified otherwise). The English frequently include their neighbours in the general term "British" while the Scots and Welsh, proud of their separate identities, tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms. Although currently a part of England, a notable percentage of those living in Cornwall feel similarly, considering themselves Cornish first. One significant exception is in Northern Ireland, where the Unionist community tend to identify very strongly as "British" (Republicans living in the province are more likely to consider themselves "Irish"), and there is not a "Northern Ireland" or "Northern Irish" identity to the same extent as there is (e.g.) a Scottish one. A person, therefore, using the term "English" to describe him or herself (regardless of personal history) may be going out of his or her way to do so; hence he or she may also be seen (rightly or wrongly, and not necessarily pejoratively) as nationalistic. While Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Cornish patriotism are widely exhibited, specifically English patriotism has often been viewed with suspicion, and most English people feel more comfortable identifying themselves with Britain as a whole. However, this may be to avoid being seen as bullies by their neighbours. The extent to which specifically English patriotism is linked to a right-wing xenophobic agenda has also generated discomfort. The appropriation of English symbols by racist far-right organisations such as the National Front made many people uncomfortable with expressions of Englishness. In recent years, English identity has recently been a topic of debate in the national press, with many English people trying to "reclaim" the term and the flag from the far-right. See English nationalism. One notable exception to the above is in relation to sports, in particular Association football, Rugby football and to a lesser extent Cricket. Transient successes are often accompanied by a revival of the use of the "St George's Cross". While it has not yet replaced the "Union Flag" its use is on the increase. Many English people who have spent a lot of time overseas fall into the habit of referring to themselves as "English". It is the most recognisable designation by speakers of many languages, especially where their own language uses a similar word. Even in other English-speaking countries, people are often perplexed by concepts of "British" or the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". All these distinctions are only possible because there is no "English citizenship" or legal definition of Englishness. Moreover, the hazy understanding many people have of the distinction between "England" and "Britain" compounds the confusion. If in doubt, refer to an "English" person as "British": this will always be correct. It may not be as precise as "English", but it will avoid offence in the event the person is actually from a different part of Britain.

Culture

Union Flag Main article: Culture of England
- English literature
  - Sir Thomas Browne
  - Geoffrey Chaucer
  - John Milton
  - William Shakespeare
  - Jane Austen
  - Mary Shelley
  - Charles Dickens
  - Thomas Hardy
  - George Orwell
  - J. R. R. Tolkien
  - C. S. Lewis
  - Douglas Adams
- List of national parks of England and Wales
- Food and Drink
- English folklore
- English art
  - English school of painting
- Music of England

Languages

Music of England.]] As its name suggests, the English language, today spoken by hundreds of millions of people around the world, originated as the language of England, where it remains the principal tongue today (although not officially designated as such). An Indo-European language in Anglo-Frisian branch of the Germanic family, it is closely related to Scots and Frisian. As the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms merged into England, "Old English" emerged; some of its literature and poetry has survived. Used by aristocracy and commoners alike before the Norman Conquest (1066), English was displaced in cultured contexts under the new regime by the Norman French language of the new Anglo-French aristocracy. Its use was confined primarily to the lower social classes while official business was conducted in a mixture of Latin and French. Over the following centuries, however, English gradually came back into fashion among all classes and for all official business except certain traditional ceremonies. (Some survive to this day.) But Middle English, as it had by now become, showed many signs of French influence, both in vocabulary and spelling. During the Renaissance, many words were coined from Latin and Greek origins; and more recent years, Modern English has extended this custom, being always remarkable for its far-flung willingness to incorporate foreign-influenced words. The law does not recognise any language as being official, but English is the only language used in England for general official business. The other national languages of the UK (Welsh, Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic) are confined to their respective nations, and only Welsh is treated by law as an equal to English (and then only for organisations which do business in Wales). The only non-Anglic native spoken language in England is the Cornish language, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, which became extinct in the 19th century but has been revived and is spoken in various degrees of fluency by around 3,500 people. This has no official status (unlike Welsh) and is not required for official use, but is nonetheless supported by national and local government under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Cornwall County Council has produced [http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/cornish/strategy/english/engl01.htm a draft strategy] to develop these plans. There is, however, no programme as yet for public bodies to actively promote the language. Scots is spoken by some adjacent to the Anglo-Scottish Border. Most deaf people within England speak British sign language (BSL), a sign language native to Britain. The British Deaf Association estimates that 70,000 people throughout the UK speak BSL as their first or preferred language, but does not give statistics specific to England. Like Cornish, BSL has no official status, but has been granted a degree of recognition by the government. The BBC broadcasts several of its programmes with BSL interpreters. Different languages from around the world, especially from the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations, have been brought to England by immigrants. Many of these are widely spoken within ethnic minority communities, including Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Chinese and Vietnamese. These are often used by official bodies to communicate with the relevant sections of the community, particularly in big cities, but this occurs on an "as needed" basis rather than as the result of specific legislative ordinances. Other languages have also traditionally been spoken by minority populations in England, including Romany. Despite the relatively small size of the nation, there are a large number of distinct English regional accents. Those with particularly strong accents may not be easily understood elsewhere in the country.

Nomenclature

The country is named after the Angles, one of several Germanic tribes who settled the country in the 5th and 6th centuries. There are two distinct linguistic patterns for the name of the country. The majority of European languages use names akin to "England":
- "England" (Danish, German, Swedish, Norwegian)
- "Engeland" (Dutch)
- "Inglismaa" (Estonian)
- "Angleterre" (French)
- "Inghilterra" (Italian)
- "Inglaterra" (Spanish, Portuguese, Galician)
- "Anglia" (Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Albanian)
- "Anglija" (Russian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Ukrainian)
- "Engleska" (Croatian, Serbian)
- "Αγγλία" ("Anglía") (Greek)
- "Englanti" (Finnish) The Celtic names are quite different:
- "Bro-Saoz" (Breton)
- "Pow Sows" (Cornish)
- "Sasana" (Irish)
- "Sasainn" (Scottish Gaelic)
- "Lloegr" (Welsh) — but "Saeson" for the inhabitants.
- "Sostyn" (Manx Gaelic) Except for Lloegr, which is an ancient geographic term, these names are all derived from the Saxons, another family of Germanic tribes which arrived at about the same time as the Angles. See: Wiktionary:England for a further list of non-English names for England. "England" is sometimes mistakenly used to refer to the entire United Kingdom, the island of Great Britain, or the British Isles. This may offend people from other parts of the UK. Frequently the English use the less-specific "Britain" or "the UK", even when "England" is technically correct and commonly also use "England" when "Britain" would be correct. Alternative names include:
- the slang "Blighty", from the Hindustani "bila yati" meaning "foreign"
- "Albion", an ancient name popularised by Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy in the 1st century. Supposedly referring to the white (Latin alba) cliffs of Dover, this term has also been interpreted as a relative of Alba, today the Scots Gaelic name for Scotland. Whatever its origins, "Albion" originally referred to the whole island of Great Britain and is still sometimes seen that way today — but is more often used for England.
- More poetically, England has been called "this sceptred isle...this other Eden" and "this green and pleasant land", quotations respectively from the poetry of William Shakespeare (in Richard II) and William Blake (And did those feet in ancient time). The inhabitants of England are the English. The slang terms sometimes used for them include "Sassenachs" (from the Scots Gaelic), "Limeys" (in reference to the citrus fruits carried aboard English sailing vessels to prevent scurvy) and "Pom/Pommy" (used in Australian English and New Zealand English), but these may be perceived as offensive. Also see alternative words for British.

Symbols and insignia

alternative words for British.]] The two traditional symbols of England are the St. George's cross (the English flag) and the Three Lions coat of arms (see above), both derived from the great Norman powers that formed the monarchy – the Cross of Aquitaine and the Lions of Anjou. The three lions were first definitely used by Richard I (Richard the Lionheart) in the late 12th century (although it is also possible that Henry I may have bestowed it on his son Henry before then). Historian Simon Schama has argued that the Three Lions are the true symbol of England because the English throne descended down the Angevin line. A red cross acted as a symbol for many Crusaders