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January 27, 2005

January 27, 2005

January 27 2005

- President of the Royal Society warns of oil companies' funding of lobbies in the UK to cast skepticism over the debate on climate change. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1399585,00.html (Guardian)]
- Conflict in Darfur: Around 100 people have been killed following an Air Raid into the Darfur region of Sudan according to the African Union. Jean Baptiste Natama, the A.U's spokesperson has described it as a "major ceasefire violation". [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4211595.stm (BBC)]
- Conflict in Iraq: At least 11 people are known to have died in Iraq today, including at least one United States Marine. [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aZ3uSGS2bq2Y&refer=us (Bloomberg)]
- Holocaust survivors, former Red Army soldiers, leaders of more than 40 countries, and other people gather in Oświęcim, Poland for the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp where more than 1 million people were killed. [http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=662261 Reuters] [http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1106796046722 (Jerusalem Post)] [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1470778,00.html (Deutsche Welle)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4210841.stm (BBC)] [http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/050126/w012642.html (CBC)] [http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aZArzrT6Gx2c&refer=europe (Bloomberg)] [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26381430.htm (Reuters Alertnet)]
- French national railways SNCF are severely disrupted by a 24-hour walkout by staff to protest the rape of a ticket inspector on a Toulouse - Cahors train on Tuesday. The inspector had been attempting to charge a man for not having a ticket. A 24 year old man was later arrested. The strike is due to end at 1500 UTC. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4211729.stm (BBC)]
- Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has said he is "very satisfied" with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's efforts to restore calm. Sharon pledged to further peace process efforts with Abbas, with a meeting possible within two weeks. [http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5496996 (Swiss Info)] [http://www.keralanext.com/news/indexread.asp?id=99687 (Kerala Next)]
- New York radio station HOT 97 has suspended the staff of the show Miss Jones in the Morning. The show came under criticism for broadcasting a parody song that ridicules the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4211883.stm (BBC)] [http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=7440350 (Reuters)] [http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1496296/20050126/index.jhtml?headlines=true (MTV.COM)]
- The fifth World Social Forum begins in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The event is accompanied by tens of thousands of activists [http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2005/01/26/ap1784820.html (Forbes)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4208197.stm (BBC)]
- In Burundi, South African mediator, deputy president Jacob Zuma has warned the president of the transitional government, Domitien Ndayizeye, not to try to change the draft constitution to let himself run in the forthcoming elections [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26416027.htm (Reuters Alertnet)] [http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=136&art_id=vn20050126063857101C454061 (IOL)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4209819.stm (BBC)]
- According to family members, funeral of the purged Chinese communist leader Zhao Ziyang will be held on next Saturday [http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=661542 (Reuters)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4211157.stm (BBC)] [http://english.epochtimes.com/news/5-1-26/26033.html (Epoch Times)]
- In a conference hosted by the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, several scientists state that the ecology of Prince William Sound in Alaska still has not recovered from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26549131.htm (Reuters Alertnet)]

January 27

January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 338 days remaining (339 in leap years).

Events

- 98 Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva.
- 1186 - Henry VI, the son and heir of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I, weds Constance of Sicily.
- 1343 - Pope Clement VI issues the Bull Unigenitus.
- 1606 - Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, and ending in their execution on January 31.
- 1695 - Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Istanbul on the death of Amhed II. Mustafa ruled until 1703.
- 1785 - The University of Georgia is founded.
- 1825 - US Congress approves Indian Territory (in what is present-day Oklahoma), clearing the way for forced relocation of the Eastern Indians on the "Trail of Tears."
- 1870 - The first college sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is formed at DePauw University.
- 1880 - Thomas Edison files a patent for his electric incandescent lamp.
- 1888 - In Washington, DC the National Geographic Society is founded.
- 1900 - Boxer Rebellion: Foreign diplomats in Peking, China demand that the Boxer rebels be disciplined.
- 1909 - The Young Left is founded in Norway.
- 1915 - United States Marines occupy Haiti.
- 1926 - John Logie Baird demonstrates the first television broadcast.
- 1939 - The President of the United-States Franklin D. Roosevelt approves the sale of U.S. war planes to France.
- 1941 - World War II: Fighting at Derna, Libya, begins Following the capture of Tobruk 2 brigades of the 6th Australian Division under Major General Iven Mackay pursued the Italians westwards and encountered an Italian rear guard at Derna.
- 1943 - World War II: 50 bombers mount the first entirely American air raid against Germany, targeting Wilhelmshaven.
- 1944 - World War II: The two year Siege of Leningrad is lifted.
- 1945 - World War II: The Red Army arrives at Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland and find the Nazi concentration camp where 1.1-1.5 million people were murdered.
- 1951 - Nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site begins with a one-kiloton bomb dropped on Frenchman Flats.
- 1967 - Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of the Apollo 1 spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center.
- 1967 - More than 60 nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space.
- 1973 - Paris Peace Accords officially end the Vietnam War.
- 1978 - Lt Marilyn R. Koon, 161st Aerial Refueling Squadron, Arizona Air National Guard, becomes first female Air National Guard Pilot.
- 1984 - Carl Lewis beats his own indoor world jumping record by 9-1/4 inches with a 28 feet, 10-1/4 inches jump.
- 1991 - Muhammad Siyad Barre flees his compound in Mogadishu.
- 1991 - Super Bowl XXV: The New York Giants defeat the Buffalo Bills, 20-19.
- 1992 - Mike Tyson goes on trial charged with raping a 1991 Miss Black America contestant.
- 1996 - Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane, in a military coup.
- 1997 - It is revealed that French museums have nearly 2,000 pieces of art that were stolen by Nazis.
- 1998 - American First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton appears on the Today Show calling the attacks against her husband part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."
- 2002 - Several explosions at a military dump in Lagos, Nigeria kill more than 1,000.

Births

- 1443 - Albert, Duke of Saxony (d. 1500)
- 1546 - Joachim Friedrich, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1608)
- 1585 - Hendrick Avercamp, Dutch painter (d. 1634)
- 1603 - Harbottle Grimston, English politician (d. 1685)
- 1662 - Richard Bentley, English classical scholar (d. 1742)
- 1687 - Balthasar Neumann, German architect (d. 1753)
- 1701 - Johann Nikolaus von Hontheim, German historian and theologian (d. 1790)
- 1720 - Samuel Foote, English dramatist and actor (d. 1777)
- 1741 - Hester Thrale, Welsh diarist (d. 1821)
- 1756 - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian composer (d. 1791)
- 1805 - Samuel Palmer, English artist (d. 1881)
- 1806 - Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, Spanish composer (d. 1826)
- 1814 - Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, French architect (d. 1879)
- 1823 - Edouard Lalo, French composer (d. 1892)
- 1826 - Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Russian writer (d. 1889)
- 1826 - Richard Taylor, American Confederate general (d. 1879)
- 1832 - Lewis Carroll, English author (d. 1898)
- 1836 - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Austrian writer (d. 1895)
- 1848 - Togo Heihachiro, Japanese admiral (d. 1934)
- 1850 - Samuel Gompers, American labor leader (d. 1924)
- 1850 - Edward J. Smith, English captain of the Titanic (d. 1912)
- 1859 - Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (d. 1941)
- 1885 - Jerome Kern, American composer (d. 1945)
- 1885 - Eduard Künnecke, German composer (d. 1953)
- 1885 - Harry Ruby, American musician, composer, and writer (d. 1974)
- 1891 - Ilya Ehrenburg, Russian writer (d. 1967)
- 1900 - Hyman Rickover, American admiral (d. 1986)
- 1901 - Art Rooney, American football team owner (d. 1988)
- 1903 - John Carew Eccles, Australian neuropsychologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1997)
- 1905 - Howard McNear, American actor (d. 1969)
- 1908 - Oran "Hot Lips" Page, American jazz trumpeter (d. 1954)
- 1918 - Skitch Henderson, English-born bandleader (d. 2005)
- 1919 - Ross Bagdasarian, American musician and actor (d. 1972)
- 1920 - Helmut Zacharias, German violinist (d. 2002)
- 1921 - Donna Reed, American actress (d. 1986)
- 1924 - Sabu, Indian actor (d. 1963)
- 1926 - Fritz Spiegl, Austrian-born journalist (d. 2003)
- 1929 - Gastón Suárez, Bolivian novelist and dramatist (d. 1984)
- 1930 - Bobby Blue Bland, American singer
- 1931 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (d. 2001)
- 1936 - Troy Donahue, American actor (d. 2001)
- 1936 - Samuel C. C. Ting, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 - John Ogdon, English pianist (d. 1989)
- 1940 - James Cromwell, American actor
- 1944 - Mairéad Corrigan, Irish activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1944 - Nick Mason, English drummer (Pink Floyd)
- 1945 - Harold Cardinal, Cree political leader, writer, and lawyer (d. 2005)
- 1946 - Nedra Talley, American singer (Ronettes)
- 1948 - Mikhail Baryshnikov, Russian dancer
- 1950 - Amos Grunebaum, Israeli-born obstetrician and gynecologist
- 1955 - John Roberts, Chief Justice of the United States
- 1956 - Mimi Rogers, American actress
- 1957 - Janick Gers, English musician (Iron Maiden)
- 1959 - Keith Olbermann, American journalist and sportscaster
- 1964 - Bridget Fonda, American actress
- 1965 - Alan Cumming, Scottish actor
- 1968 - Mike Patton, American singer
- 1968 - Tricky, English rapper
- 1971 - Fann Wong, Singapore actress, model, and singer (Shanghai Knights)
- 1972 - Keith Wood, Irish rugby player
- 1974 - Chaminda Vaas, Sri Lankan cricketer
- 1979 - Daniel Vettori, New Zealand cricketer
- 1980 - Marat Safin, Russian tennis player

Deaths

- 98 - Nerva, Roman Emperor (b. 35)
- 1490 - Ashikaga Yoshimasa, Japanese shogun (b. 1435)
- 1629 - Hieronymus Praetorius, German composer (b. 1560)
- 1638 - Gonzalo de Céspedes y Meneses, Spanish novelist
- 1731 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (b. 1655)
- 1740 - Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prime Minister of France (b. 1692)
- 1814 - Johann Gottlieb Fichte, German philosopher (b. 1761)
- 1816 - Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (b. 1724)
- 1851 - John James Audubon, French-American naturalist, ornithologist, and painter (b. 1785)
- 1860 - János Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (d. 1860)
- 1880 - Edward Middleton Barry, English architect (b. 1830)
- 1901 - Giuseppe Verdi, Italian composer (b. 1813)
- 1910 - Thomas Crapper, English plumber (b. 1836)
- 1919 - Endre Ady, Hungarian poet (b. 1877)
- 1940 - Isaac Babel, Ukrainian writer (b. 1894)
- 1956 - Erich Kleiber, German conductor (b. 1890)
- 1967 - Crew of Apollo 1:
- Roger Chaffee (b. 1935)
- Virgil "Gus" Grissom (b. 1926)
- Edward White (b. 1930)
- 1970 - Rita Angus, New Zealand painter (b. 1908)
- 1971 - Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (b. 1913)
- 1972 - Mahalia Jackson, American singer (b. 1911)
- 1975 - Bill Walsh, American producer and writer (b. 1913)
- 1986 - Lilli Palmer, German-born actress (b. 1914)
- 1988 - Massa Makan Diabaté, Malian author (b. 1938)
- 1989 - Thomas Sopwith, British aviation pioneer (b. 1888)
- 1992 - Allan Jones, actor and singer (b. 1908)
- 1993 - André the Giant, professional wrestler and actor (b. 1946)
- 1994 - Claude Akins, American actor (b. 1918)
- 1996 - Ralph Yarborough, American politician (b. 1903)
- 2004 - Jack Paar, American television show host (b. 1918)

Holidays and observances

- United Kingdom — Holocaust Memorial Day.
- Germany — Gedenktag für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism).
- Poland — Dzień Pamięci Ofiar Nazizmu (Memorial Day for the Victims of Nazism).
- Italy — Giorno della Memoria (Memorial Day).
- Catholicism — Catholic Schools Week.
- Serbia — St. Sava Day

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/27 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.tnl.net/when/1/27 Today in History: January 27] ---- January 26 - January 28 - December 27 - February 27 — listing of all days ko:1월 27일 ms:27 Januari ja:1月27日 simple:January 27 th:27 มกราคม

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, claims to be the oldest learned society still in existence, founded in 1660. The Royal Society of Edinburgh (founded 1783) is a separate Scottish body. Although a voluntary body, it serves as the national academy of sciences in England. It is a member organization of the Science Council.

History

The Royal Society was founded in 1660, only a few months after the Restoration of King Charles II, by members of one or two either secretive or informal societies already in existence. Founded at a time when the Inquisition was still the primary form of peer review for scientists in Catholic Europe, the Royal Society enjoyed confidence of official support from the restored monarchy.The "New" or "Experimental" form of philosophy was generally ill-regarded by the Aristotelian (and religious) academies, but had been promoted by Francis Bacon in his book New Atlantis. Robert Boyle refers to the "Invisible College" as early as 1646. A founding meeting was held at the premises of Gresham College in Bishopsgate on 28 November 1660, immediately after a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren, at that time Gresham Professor of Astronomy. At a second meeting a week later, Sir Robert Moray, an influential Freemason who had helped organize the public emergence of the group, reported that the King approved of the meetings. The Royal Society continued to meet at the premises of Gresham College until it moved to its own premises in Crane Court in 1710. A formal Royal Charter of incorporation passed the Great Seal on 15 July 1662, creating "The Royal Society of London", with Viscount William Brouncker as the first President, and Robert Hooke was appointed as Curator of Experiments in November 1662. A second Royal Charter was sealed on 23 April 1663, naming the King as Founder and changing the name to "The Royal Society of London for Promoting Natural Knowledge". The motto of the Royal Society, "Nullius in Verba" (Latin: "On the words of no one"), signify the Society's commitment to establishing the truth of scientific matters through experiment rather than through citation of authority. Although this seems obvious today, the philosophical basis of the Royal Society differed from previous philosophies such as Scholasticism, which established scientific truth based on deductive logic, concordance with divine providence and the citation of such ancient authorities as Aristotle.

Open content

It is possible that the Royal Society was one of the first documented aspirations toward Open Content; they imagined a network across the globe as a public enterprise, an "Empire of Learning". They also were one of the first documented cases of attempting to deal with having content available to address language and languages within the Sciences, and strove to remove language barriers. While the Royal Society was dedicated to the free flow of information and encouraged communication, there was a complex relationship with occultism. Boyle, in particular, began the practice of reporting his experiments in great detail so that others could replicate them, unlike previous alchemists. However Newton was a practising Alchemist and his assistant, John Theophile Desaguliers, a demonstrator for the Royal Society, was also a prominent Freemason. During the eighteenth century, masonic lodges in France became conduits for circulating scientific texts which could not be made available publicly (see John Toland).

Famous members

Several famous scientists were either the founding members or involved during its history. The early group included Robert Boyle, John Evelyn, Robert Hooke, William Petty, John Wallis, Thomas Browne, John Wilkins, Thomas Willis and Sir Christopher Wren. Isaac Newton demonstrated his theory of optics to them, and later became president of the society.

A selected list of presidents

Isaac Newton
- Sir Christopher Wren (1680-1682)
- Samuel Pepys (1684-1686)
- Charles Montagu (1695-1698)
- Lord Somers (1698-1703)
- Sir Isaac Newton (1703-1727)
- Joseph Banks (1778-1820)
- Sir Humphry Davy (1820-1827)
- The Duke of Sussex (1830-1838)
- Lord Rosse (1848-1854)
- Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (1873-1878)
- Thomas Henry Huxley (1883-1885)
- George Gabriel Stokes (1885-1890)
- Lord Kelvin (1890-1895)
- Joseph Lister (1895-1900)
- Sir William Huggins (1900-1905)
- Lord Rayleigh (1905-1908)
- Sir Joseph John Thomson (1915-1920)
- Lord Rutherford of Nelson (1925-1930)
- Sir William Henry Bragg (1935-1940)
- Lord May of Oxford (2000-2005)
- Lord Rees of Ludlow (2005-)

Selected bibliography

- Sylva by John Evelyn
- Micrographia by Robert Hooke
- Philosophical Transactions oldest scientific journal continually published scientific journal

Timeline (incomplete)

- 1640s informal meetings
- 1660 foundation on November 28
- 1661 name first appears in print, and library presented with its first book
- 1662 first Royal Charter gives permission to publish
- 1663 second Royal Charter
- 1665 first issue of Philosophical Transactions
- 1666 Fire of London causes move to Arundel House
- 1710 acquires its own home in Crane Court

References

- Purver, Margery & Bowen, E. J., The Beginning of the Royal Society, Oxford: The Clarendon Press (1960)
- Gleick, James, Isaac Newton, Vintage Books, ISBN 1-4000-3295-4
- Hartley, Sir Harold (editor), The Royal Society: Its Origins and Founders, The Royal Society (1960)
- Spratt, Thomas, History of Royal Society, Kessinger Publishing (February 1, 2003), ISBN 0766128679
- Lomas, Robert, Freemasonry and the Birth of Modern Science, Fair Winds Press (2003), ISBN 1-55267-755-9

External links

- [http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/ The Royal Society website]
- [http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Societies/RS.html The Royal Society of London] (from a list of mathematical societies) ja:王立協会

Oil industry

The Oil industry brings to market what is currently considered the lifeblood of nearly all other industry, if not industrialized civilization itself. Oil accounts for 40 % of the United States' energy supply and a comparable percentage of the world’s energy supply. The US currently consumes 7.5 billion barrels (1.2 km³) of oil per year, while the world consumes 30 billion barrels (4.8 km³) per year. The U.S., and most of the world, are net importers of the resource.

Infrastructure

The Industry can be divided into two broad themes: Upstream producers and Downstream transporters (tanker, Pipeline transport), refiners, retailers, and consumers. Oil companies are generally categorized as "majors and "independents". Most work in the oil field or on an oil well (upstream) is contracted out to drilling contractors and oil field service companies and the service personnel work under the watchful gaze of the client oil company, which may be a "major" or an "independent".

Impact

Petroleum is one of the non-renewable natural resources and the industry is faced with the spectre of the inevitable eventual depletion of the world's oil supply. By the very definition of non-renewable resources, oil exploration alone will not stave off future shortages of the resource. Resource economists argue that oil prices will rise as demand increases relative to supply, and that this will spur further exploration and development. However, this process will not increase the amount of oil in the ground, but will rather temporarily prolong production as higher prices make it economical to extract oil that was previously not economically recoverable. The Hubbert peak theory, also known as peak oil http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/11/03/simmons/, is an influential theory concerning the long-term rate of conventional oil production and depletion.

United Kingdom

:For other meanings of the terms "United Kingdom" and "UK" , see United Kingdom (disambiguation) and UK (disambiguation). :For an explanation of terms like England, (Great) Britain and United Kingdom see British Isles (terminology). The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (usually shortened to the United Kingdom or the UK) is a country located off the north-western coast of continental Europe, surrounded by the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean. It is composed of four constituent parts: three constituent countries—England, Scotland, and Wales—on the island of Great Britain, and the province of Northern Ireland on the island of Ireland. The border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland forms the United Kingdom's principal international land border, although there is a nominal frontier with France in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The UK has several overseas territories and the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands come under the UK's sovereignty. The UK also has close relationships with the fifteen other Commonwealth Realms, as they all share the same head of state. The UK is also one of the largest member states of the European Union and a founding partner of both the UN and NATO.
Terminology

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The official name for the sovereign state
- United Kingdom: an abbreviation of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Britain: an informal term that sometimes means United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means Great Britain
- British: an informal term that sometimes means from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and sometimes means from Great Britain
- Great Britain (as a geographical term): the largest island of the British Isles
- Great Britain (as a political term): England + Wales + Scotland
- British Isles (as a geographical term): Great Britain + Ireland + many smaller surrounding islands. This term is disputed, please see below.
- Ireland (as a geographical term): the second largest island of the British Isles
- Ireland (as a political term): an abbreviation of the Republic of Ireland, a sovereign state on the island of Ireland
- Northern Ireland: a political region of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Ulster (as a geographical term): Often used to refer to Northern Ireland. It is derived from the Irish Language term 'Ulad.' It was one of the ancient Irish provinces (the others were Connaught, Leinster and Munster.). Although it is normally used to refer to Northern Ireland, Ulster also (traditionally) includes Counties Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, which lie in the Republic of Ireland. The term Ulster is often favoured by the Protestant community.
History
Protestant Today's state is the latest of several unions formed over the last 1000 years. Scotland and England have existed as separate unified entities since the 10th century. Wales, under English control since the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284, became part of the Kingdom of England by the Laws in Wales Act 1535. With the Act of Union 1707, the separate kingdoms of England and Scotland, having shared the same monarch since 1603, agreed to a permanent union as the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Act of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland, which had been gradually brought under English control between 1169 and 1691, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland was formed in 1922, after bitter fighting which echoes down to the current political strife, the Anglo-Irish Treaty partitioned Ireland into the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, with the latter remaining part of the United Kingdom. As provided for in the treaty, Northern Ireland, which consists of six of the nine counties of the Irish province of Ulster, immediately opted out of the Free State and to remain in the UK. The nomenclature of the UK was changed in 1927 to recognise the departure of most of Ireland, with the current name being adopted. 1927 The United Kingdom, the dominant industrial and maritime power of the 19th century, played a leading role in developing Western world ideas of property, liberty, capitalism and parliamentary democracy - to say nothing of its part in advancing world literature and science. At its zenith, the British Empire stretched over one quarter of the Earth's surface and encompassed a third of its population. The first half of the 20th century saw the UK's strength seriously depleted from the effects of World War I and World War II. The second half witnessed the dismantling of the Empire and the UK rebuilding itself into a modern and prosperous nation. The UK has been a member of the European Union since 1973. Its attitude towards further integration is conservative, and there is significant Euroscepticism in UK politics. It has not chosen to adopt the Euro, owing to internal political considerations and the government's judgement of the prevailing economic conditions.
Government and politics
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, with executive power exercised on behalf of the Queen by the Prime Minister and other cabinet ministers who head departments. The cabinet, including the Prime Minister, and other ministers collectively make up Her Majesty's Government. These ministers are drawn from and are responsible to Parliament, the legislative body, which is traditionally considered to be "supreme" (that is, able to legislate on any matter and not bound by decisions of its predecessors). The UK is one of the few countries in the world today that does not have a codified constitution, relying instead on customs and separate pieces of constitutional law. While the monarch is Head of State and holds all executive power, it is the Prime Minister who is the head of government. The government is answerable chiefly to the House of Commons and the Prime Minister is drawn from this chamber of Parliament by constitutional convention. The majority of cabinet members will be from the House of Commons, the rest from the House of Lords. Ministers do not, however, legally have to come from Parliament, though that is the modern day custom. The British system of government has been emulated around the world - a legacy of the United Kingdom's colonial past - most notably in the other Commonwealth Realms. The Prime Minister is chosen as the MP who can command a majority in the House of Commons - usually the leader of the largest party or, if there is no majority party, the largest coalition. The current Prime Minister is Tony Blair of the Labour Party, who has been in office since 1997. In the United Kingdom the monarch has extensive theoretical powers, but his or her role is mainly, though not exclusively, ceremonial. The monarch is an integral part of Parliament (as the "Crown-in-Parliament") and theoretically gives Parliament the power to meet and create legislation. An Act of Parliament does not become law until it has been signed by the Queen (being given Royal Assent), although no monarch has refused to assent to a bill that has been approved by Parliament since Queen Anne in 1708. Although the abolition of the monarchy has been suggested several times, the popularity of the monarchy remains strong in spite of recent controversies. Support for a British republic usually fluctuates between 15% and 25% of the population, with roughly 10% undecided or indifferent [http://www.mori.com/mrr/2000/c000616.shtml]. The current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II who acceded to the throne in 1952 and was crowned in 1953. Parliament is the national legislature of the United Kingdom. It is the ultimate legislative authority in the United Kingdom, according to the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty. It is bicameral, composed of the elected House of Commons and the unelected House of Lords, whose members are mostly appointed. The House of Commons is the more powerful of the two houses. The House of Commons has 646 members who are directly elected from single-member constituencies based on population. The House of Lords has 724 members (though this number is not fixed): hereditary peers, life peers, and bishops of the Church of England. The Church of England is the established church of the state in England. established church]] The two largest political parties are the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The UK has long had a two-party system, but in the last 20 years the Liberal Democrats have re-emerged as a large third party. The electoral system used for general elections is first-past-the-post. The constitution of the United Kingdom is un-codified and partially unwritten, which means that no single document regulates how the government works, and unwritten constitutional conventions are used extensively. The constitution is based on the principle that Parliament is the ultimate sovereign body in the country. There has long been a widespread sense of national identity in the Celtic nations. Throughout the late 19th century the UK debated giving Ireland home rule. The Scottish National Party was founded in 1934, and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) in 1925. Referenda for devolution succeeded in 1997 for Scotland and Wales and in 1998 for Northern Ireland. In 1999, the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales were established, the former having primary legislative power. Proportional representation is used for the elections, which has resulted in a Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition government in Scotland. Due to internal disagreements, the Northern Ireland Assembly has been suspended since 2002.
Subdivisions
The United Kingdom is a country that is divided into four constituent parts:
- England
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
- Wales The constituent parts of the United Kingdom have administrative subdivisions as follows:
- The regions and administrative counties of England
- The council areas of Scotland
- The counties and county boroughs of Wales
- The districts of Northern Ireland The Laws in Wales Act 1535 incorporated Wales and England into England and Wales for legal purposes. Although all four have historically been divided into counties, England's population is an order of magnitude larger than the others so in recent years it has for some purposes been divided into nine intermediate-level Government Office Regions. Each region is made up of counties and unitary authorities, apart from London, which consists of London boroughs. Although at one point it was intended that each or some of these regions would be given its own regional assembly, the plan's future is uncertain, as of 2004, after the North East region rejected its proposed assembly in a referendum. Scotland consists of 32 Council Areas. Wales consists of 22 Unitary Authorities, styled as 10 County Boroughs, 9 Counties, and 3 Cities. Northern Ireland is divided into 26 Districts. Also sometimes associated with the United Kingdom, though not constitutionally part of the United Kingdom itself, are the Crown dependencies (the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man) as self-governing possessions of the Crown, and a number of overseas territories under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom.
Military
The armed forces of the United Kingdom are known as the British Armed Forces or Her Majesty's Armed Forces, officially the Armed Forces of the Crown. Their Commander-in-Chief is the Queen and they are managed by the Ministry of Defence. Ministry of Defence The British Armed Forces are charged with protecting the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, promoting the United Kingdom's wider security interests, and supporting international peacekeeping efforts. They are active and regular participants in NATO and other coalition operations. The United Kingdom fields one of the most powerful and comprehensive military forces in the World. Its global power projection capabilities are second only to those of the United States Armed Forces. The British Army had a reported strength of 112,700 in 2004, including 7,600 women, and the Royal Air Force a strength of 53,400. The 40,900-member Royal Navy is in charge of the United Kingdom's independent strategic nuclear arm, which consists of four Trident Ballistic Missile Submarines, while the Royal Marines provide infantry units for amphibious assault and for specialist reinforcement forces in and beyond the NATO area. This puts total active duty military troops in the 210,000 range, currently deployed in over 80 countries. The UK's special forces, principally the SAS, provides elite commandos trained for quick, mobile, military responses; often where secrecy or covert operations are required. The Royal Navy is the second largest navy in the World in terms of gross tonnage. Despite the United Kingdom's wide ranging capabilities, recent pragmatic defence policy has a stated assumption that any large operation would be undertaken as part of a coalition. Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq (Granby, No-Fly-Zones, Desert Fox and Telic) may all be taken as precedent - indeed the last true war in which the British military fought alone was the Falklands War of 1982, in which military action was initiated by Argentina and the UK was fighting a defensive, rather than offensive, campaign. The British army has been actively involved in the Troubles in Northern Ireland. However, a programme of demilitarisation is being gradually implemented.
Geography
Troubles World Factbook Map of the United Kingdom]] Most of England consists of rolling lowland terrain, divided east from west by more mountainous terrain in the Northwest (Cumbrian Mountains of the Lake District) and north (the upland moors of the Pennines) and limestone hills of the Peak District by the Tees-Exe line. The lower limestone hills of the Isle of Purbeck, Cotswolds, Lincolnshire and chalk downs of the Southern England Chalk Formation. The main rivers and estuaries are the Thames, Severn and the Humber Estuary. The largest urban area is Greater London. Near Dover, the Channel Tunnel links the United Kingdom with France. There is no peak in England that is 1000 metres (3,300 ft) or greater. Wales is mostly mountainous, the highest peak being Snowdon at 1085 metres (3,560 ft) above sea level. North of the mainland is the island of Anglesey. The largest and capital city is Cardiff, located in South Wales. Scotland's geography is varied, with lowlands in the south and east and highlands in the north and west, including Ben Nevis, the UK's highest mountain at 1343 metres (4,406 ft). There are many long and deep-sea arms, firths, and lochs. A multitude of islands west and north of Scotland are also included, notably the Hebrides, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands. The largest city is Glasgow. Northern Ireland, making up the north-eastern part of Ireland, is mostly hilly. The main cities are Belfast ('Beal Feirste' in Irish) and Londonderry / Derry ('Doire' in Irish). The province is home to one of the UK’s World Heritage Sites, the Giant's Causeway, which consists of more than 40,000 six-sided basalt columns up to 40 feett (12 m) high. In total it is estimated that the UK includes around 1098 small islands, some being natural and some being crannogs, a type of artificial island which was built in past times using stone and wood, gradually enlarged by natural waste building up over time.
Economy
artificial island The United Kingdom, a leading trading power and financial centre, has an essentially capitalist economy, the fourth largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. Over the past three decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership by means of privatisation programmes, and has contained the growth of the Welfare State. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanised, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with only 1% of the labour force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial state. Services, particularly banking, insurance and business services, account for by far the largest proportion of GDP. Industry continues to decline in importance, although the UK is still Europe's largest manufacturer of armaments, petroleum products, personal computers, televisions, and mobile telephones. Tourism is also important: with over 24 million tourists a year, between China (33) and Austria (19.1), the United Kingdom is ranked as the sixth major tourist destination in the world. The Blair government has put off the question of participation in the Euro system, citing five economic tests that would need to be met before they recommend that the UK adopts the Euro, and hold a referendum.
Society

Demographics
At the April 2001 census, the United Kingdom's population was 58,789,194, the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and metropolitan France) and the twenty-first largest in the world. Its overall population density is one of the highest in the world. Almost one-third of the population lives in England's prosperous south-east and is predominantly urban and suburban--with about 7.2 million in the capital of London. The United Kingdom's high literacy rate (99%) is attributable to universal public education introduced for the primary level in 1870 and secondary level in 1900 (except in Scotland where it was introduced in 1696). Education is mandatory from ages five through sixteen. referendum The Church of England and the Church of Scotland function as the official national religions in their respective countries, but most religions found in the world are represented in the United Kingdom. Anglicanism is the state religion that has been established in England since 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. During his reign, England broke ties with the Roman Catholic church and established the Church of England as the offical religion of England. Reforms to the nature of the church's relationship to the state have been ongoing, especially concerning the nature of the House of Lords and the appointment of a fixed amount of the lordships going to Lords Temporal, bishops of the Church of England. A group of islands close to continental Europe, the British Isles have been subject to many invasions and migrations, especially from Scandinavia and the continent, including Roman occupation for several centuries. Contemporary Britons are descended mainly from the varied ethnic stocks that settled there before the eleventh century. The pre-Celtic, Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse influences were blended on Great Britain under the Normans, Scandinavian Vikings who had lived in Northern France. Although Celtic languages persist in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, the predominant language is English, which is a West Germanic language descended from Old English, featuring a large amount of borrowings from Norman French.The other indigenous languages include the Celtic languages; Welsh, the closely related Irish and Scots Gaelic, and the Cornish language; as well as Lowland Scots, which is closely related to English; Romany; and British Sign Language (Northern Ireland Sign Language is also used in Northern Ireland). Celtic dialectal influences from Cumbric persisted in Northern England for many centuries, most famously in a unique set of numbers used for counting sheep. Recent immigrants, especially from the Commonwealth, speak many other languages, including Bengali, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. The United Kingdom has the largest number of Hindi speaking peoples outside of the Indian sub continent.
Culture
Urdu The United Kingdom contains many of the world's leading universities, including the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the University of London (which incorporates, amongst others, Imperial College and University College London), and has produced many great scientists and engineers including Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Isambard Kingdom Brunel; the nation is credited with many inventions including the locomotive, vaccination, television, vacuum, and both the internal combustion and the jet engine. The English language has spread to all corners of the world (primarily because of the country’s empire) and is referred to as a ‘global language’. It is now taught as a second language more than any other around the world. Over the next few decades, it is estimated that approximately half the world’s population will be proficient in the language. Playwright William Shakespeare is arguably the most famous writer in the history of the English language; other well-known writers from the United Kingdom include the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily, and Anne), Jane Austen, William Thackeray, J. R. R. Tolkien, John Milton, H. G. Wells and Charles Dickens. Important poets include Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Lord Tennyson and William Blake. Notable composers from the United Kingdom have included William Byrd, John Taverner, William Lawes, John Dowland, Thomas Tallis, and Henry Purcell from the 16th and early 17th centuries, and, more recently, Sir Edward Elgar, Sir Arthur Sullivan (most famous for working with librettist Sir W. S. Gilbert), Ralph Vaughan Williams and Benjamin Britten in the 19th and 20th. George Frideric Handel spent most of his composing life in England. The BBC is the oldest and perhaps the most respected broadcasting network on the globe, with the BBC World Service radio channel and its news output held in particularly high regard. The other main television networks are ITV, Channel 4, five (TV) and Sky Television. Popular programmes in the UK include the three soaps Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as the comedy news quiz Have I Got News For You and Reality TV shows Big Brother and The X Factor. Various British TV formats have been exported to other nations, notably Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Weakest Link and The Office. The UK was, with the US, one of the two main contributors in the development of rock and roll, and the UK has provided some of the most famous rock stars, including the Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, The Who and many others. The UK was at the forefront of punk rock music in the 1970s with bands such as the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and the subsequent rebirth of heavy metal with bands such as Motörhead and Iron Maiden. In mid to late '90s, the Britpop phenomenon has seen bands such as Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Coldplay gain international fame. The UK is also at the forefront of electronica, with British artists such as Aphex Twin, Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney and Lamb at the cutting edge. The United Kingdom was also associated with music from the Caribbean, with a large number of Jamaicans and other Caribbean nationals being present in the UK.
Sport
A great number of major sports originated in the United Kingdom, including football, golf, cricket, rugby, tennis and boxing. The national sport of the UK is association football, but the UK does not compete as a nation in any major football tournament. Instead, the home nations compete individually as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It is because of this unique four-team arrangement that the UK currently does not compete in football events at the Olympic Games. However, a united team will probably take part in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, as these are hosted in London. The English and Northern Irish football associations have confirmed participation in this team while the Scottish FA and the Welsh FA have declined to participate. The UK also hosts many world-renowned football clubs, such as Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal in England and Rangers and Celtic in Scotland. Clubs compete in national leagues and competitions and some go on to compete in European competitions. Both forms of rugby are national sports. Rugby League originates from and is generally played in the North of England, whilst Rugby Union is played all over Britain. In Rugby League the UK plays as one nation - Great Britain - whilst in union it is represented by the four nations. England are the current holders of the Rugby Union World Cup. Every four years the British and Irish Lions (comprising the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) tour other countries. Cricket is also played in the UK, although it is focussed in England. The Wimbledon Championships are an international tennis event held in Wimbledon in south London every summer and are seen as the most prestigious of the tennis calendar. Golf is one of the most popular participation sports played in the UK and St Andrews in Scotland is the sport's home course.
Miscellaneous topics

External links

- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/state/nations/ BBC Nations] History of the nations within the UK.
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)]
- [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uk.html CIA World Factbook: UK.]
- [http://www.direct.gov.uk Gateway to UK governmental services and websites.]
- [http://www.number-10.gov.uk Number 10 Downing Street]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk Office of National Statistics]
- [http://www.opsi.gov.uk Office of Public Sector Information] Source for all UK legislation 1987-present (successor to Her Majesty's Stationery Office).
- [http://www.macs.hw.ac.uk/britishisles/ The British Isles] Independent view of the UK.
- [http://www.royal.gov.uk The British Monarchy]
- [http://www.parliament.uk/ The United Kingdom Parliament]
- [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=5703&Pos=&ColRank=1&Rank=272 Official Yearbook of the UK] factbook produced by the Office for National Statistics (years 2000 to 2005 available online).
- [http://www.ukcities.co.uk UK Cities] lists a variety of useful resources for every city in the UK.
- [http://www.justuk.org UK travel guide] United Kingdom for travellers.
- [http://www.world66.com/europe/unitedkingdom World66 Guide to United Kingdom] A travel guide written by its users.
- [http://www.multimap.co.uk www.multimap.co.uk] provides online maps and aerial photographs of the UK.
- [http://www.streetmap.co.uk www.streetmap.co.uk] an alternative to multimap.
- [http://www.freeworldmaps.net/europe/united-kingdom/map.html Physical map of United Kingdom.]
- [http://www.upmystreet.com www.upmystreet.com] detailed localised information about places in the United Kingdom.
- [http://www.parks.it/world/UK/Eindex.html UK Parks] National parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas. ----
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Conflict in Darfur

:Darfur conflict

Darfur

:This article is about the Darfur region of western Sudan. For information on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Darfur see Darfur conflict. For the city in Minnesota see Darfur, Minnesota. Darfur (Arabic دار فور, meaning "home of the Fur") is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. It is divided into three federal states within Sudan: Gharb Darfur (West Darfur), Janub Darfur (South Darfur), and Shamal Darfur (North Darfur). The current conflict between the Janjaweed and the non-Arab peoples of the region has led to the deaths of tens of thousands and the displacement of millions (see Darfur conflict).

Geography

Darfur covers an area of some 493,180 km² (196,555 miles²), with an estimated population of 6 million people. It is largely an arid plateau with the Marrah Mountains (Jebel Marra), a range of volcanic peaks rising up to 3,000 m (10,100 ft), in the center of the region. The North comprises a sandy desert, the South a bush forest. The region's main towns are El Fashir, Nyala, El Geneina.

Economy and demography

Darfur's economy is primarily based on subsistence agriculture, producing cereals, fruit and tobacco as well as livestock in the drier north. The main ethnic groups are the Fur (after whom the region is named), speaking a Nilo-Saharan language, and the Arab Baggara. Others include the non-Arab Zaghawa, Masalit, and Midob. The Baggara are divided into several tribes. Some of them, such as the Misseiria, speak languages other than Arabic natively. Many of these ethnic groups also have significant populations in neighboring Chad, particularly the Zaghawa and Baggara. Relations between Arab and non-Arab inhabitants have been tense during much of Darfur's history. It was a center of slave trade when the Fur kingdom exported Africans from other parts of Sudan as slaves to the Arab world. Arab and non-Arab inhabitants have differing economic needs: the non-Arab peoples are primarily sedentary farmers, while the Arabs are nomadic herdsmen; this brought them into conflict over access to land and water.

Languages

The languages of Darfur include:
- Zaghawa, in the north (an Eastern Saharan language);
- Fur, in the center, from Wadi Azum in the west to Al Fasher in the east (belonging to the Fur language group of Nilo-Saharan);
- Daju, in a small pocket near Nyala (of the Western branch of the Eastern Sudanic group of Nilo-Saharan);
- Tama, in a small pocket between Jebel Si and Jebel Marra (also of the Western branch of the Eastern Sudanic group of Nilo-Saharan);
- Erenga, north of Geneina and across the border in Chad (considered a dialect of Tama);
- Arabic, particularly south of Nyala and in the east, but also touching the Chad border in a narrow strip north of Jebel Si, between Fur and Zaghawa;
- Masalit, west of Wadi Azum and around Geneina; also spoken across the border, and in a small isolated area south of Nyala (belonging to the Maban language group of Nilo-Saharan);
- Sinyar, along the border south of Masalit (a Bongo-Bagirmi language of the Central Sudanic group of Nilo-Saharan);
- Fongoro, south of Sinyar (also a Bongo-Bagirmi language, nearly extinct; its speakers have shifted to Fur);
- Kujarge, south of Sinyar (unclassified);
- Fulbe, or Fulfulde, in a small area south of Nyala;
- Beigo, or Baygo, in a small area south of Nyala (this language, closely related to Daju, is also extinct).

History

The Darfur region is mostly semi-arid plains that cannot support a dense population. The one exception is the area in and around the Jebal Marra mountains. It was from bases in these mountains that a series of groups expanded to control the region.

Kingdoms of Darfur

The Daju, inhabitants of Jebel Marra, appear to have been the dominant group in Darfur in the earliest period recorded. How long they ruled is uncertain, little being known of them save a list of kings. According to tradition the Daju dynasty was displaced, and Islam introduced, about the 14th century, by the Tunjur (of uncertain, possibly Arab origins[http://www.uni-bayreuth.de/afrikanistik/mega-tchad/Bulletin/bulletin2000/ouvrages/rouaud.html]), who reached Darfur by way of Bornu and Wadai. The first Tunjur king is said to have been Ahmed el-Makur, who married the daughter of the last Daju monarch. Ahmed reduced many chiefs to submission, and under him the country prospered. His great-grandson, the sultan Dali, a celebrated figure in Darfur histories, was on his mother's side a Fur, and thus brought the dynasty closer to the people it ruled. Dali divided the country into provinces, and established a penal code, which, under the title of Kitab Dali or Dali's Book, is still preserved, and differs in some respects from Quranic law. His grandson Soleiman (usually distinguished by the Fur epithet Solon, the Arab or the Red) reigned from c.1596 to c.1637, and was a great warrior and a devoted Muslim; he is considered as the founder of the Keira dynasty. Soleiman's grandson, Ahmed Bahr (c.1682-c.1722), made Islam the religion of the state, and increased the prosperity of the country by encouraging immigration from Bornu and Bagirmi. His rule extended east of the Nile as far as the banks of the Atbara. The death of Bukr initiated a long running conflict over the succession. On his death bed Bakr stated that each of his many sons should rule in turn. Once on the throne each of his sons instead hoped to make their own son heir, leading to an intermittent civil war that lasted until 1785/6 (AH 1200) Due to these internal divisions Darfur declined in importance engaged in wars with Sennar and Wadai. One of the most capable of the monarchs during this period was Sultan Mohammed Terab, one of Ahmad Bukr's sons. He led a number of successful campaigns. In 1785/6 (AH 1200) he led an army against the Funj, but got no further than Omdurman. Here he was stopped by the Nile, and found no means of getting his army across the river. Unwilling to give up his project, Terab remained at Omdurman for months and the army began to grow disaffected. According to some stories Tayrab was poisoned by his wife at the instigation of disaffected chiefs, and the army returned to Darfur. While he tried to have his son succeed him, the throne instead went to his brother Abd al-Rahman. Abd-er-Rahman, surnamed el-Rashid or the Just. It was during his reign that Napoleon Bonaparte was campaigning in Egypt; and in 1799 Abd-er-Rahman wrote to congratulate the French general on his defeat of the Mamluks. To this Bonaparte replied by asking the sultan to send him by the next caravan 2000 black slaves upwards of sixteen years old, strong and vigorous. Abd-er-Rahman also established a new capital at Al Fashir, the royal township, which he established as capital in 1791/2. The capital had formerly been at a place called Kobb. Mohammed-el-Fadhl, his son, was for some time under the control of an energetic eunuch, Mohammed Kurra, but he ultimately made himself independent, and his reign lasted till 1838, when he died of leprosy. He devoted himself largely to the subjection of the semi-independent Arab tribes who lived in the country, notably the Rizeigat, thousands of whom he slew. In 1821 he lost the province of Kordofan, which in that year was conquered by the Egyptians ordered to conquer the Sudan by Mehemet Ali. The Keira dispatched an army but it was routed by the Egyptians near Bara on August 19, 1821. The Egyptians had been intending to conquer the entirety of Darfur, but their difficulties consolidating their hold on the Nile region forced them to abandon these plans. Al-Fadl died in 1838 and of his forty sons, the third, Mohammed Hassan, was appointed his successor. Hassan is described as a religious but avaricious man. In 1856 he went blind and for the rest of his reign his sister Zamzam, the iiry bassi, was the de facto ruler of the sultanate. Beginning in 1856 a Khartoum businessman al-Zubayr Rahma began to set up operations in the land south of Darfur. He set up a network of trading posts defended by well-armed forces and soon had a sprawling state under his rule. This area known as the Bahr el Ghazal had long been the source of the goods that Darfur would trade to Egypt and North Africa, especially slaves and ivory. The natives of Bahr el Ghazal paid tribute to Darfur, and these were the chief articles of merchandise sold by the Darfurians to the Egyptian traders along the road to Asyut. Al-Zubayr redirected this flow of goods to Khartoum and the Nile. Hassan died in 1873 and the succession passed to his youngest son Ibrahim, who soon found himself engaged in a conflict with al-Zubayr. Al-Zubayr, after earlier conflicts with the Egyptians, had become their ally and in cooperation with them agreed to conquer Darfur. The war resulted in the destruction of the kingdom. Ibrahim was slain in battle in the autumn of 1874, and his uncle Hassab Alla, who sought to maintain the independence of his country, was captured in 1875 by the troops of the khedive, and removed to Cairo with his family.

Egyptian rule

The Darfurians were restive under Egyptian rule. Various revolts were suppressed, but in 1879 the British General Gordon (then governor-general of the Sudan) suggested the reinstatement of the ancient royal family. This was not done, and in 1881 Slatin Bey (Sir Rudolf von Slatin) was made governor of the province. Slatin defended the province against the forces of the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad, who were led by a Rizeigat sheik named Madibbo, but was obliged to surrender (December 1883), and Darfur was incorporated in the Mahdi's dominions. The Darfurians found his rule as irksome as that of the Egyptians had been, and a state of almost constant warfare ended in the gradual retirement of the Mahdi's forces from Darfur. Following the overthrow of the Mahdi's successor at Omdurman in 1898, the new (Anglo-Egyptian) Sudan government recognized (1899) Ali Dinar, a grandson of Mohammed-el-Fadhl, as sultan of Darfur, on the payment by that chief of an annual tribute of 500 British Pounds. Under Ali Dinar, who during the Mahdi's era had been kept a prisoner in Omdurman, Darfur enjoyed a period of peace and a de facto return to independence.

British rule, and independence

In 1916, during the First World War, Ali Dinar allied with the Ottoman Empire and declared war on Britain. This was put down, the sultan was killed and Darfur was incorporated into British-ruled Sudan. It became part of the Republic of Sudan on the country's independence in 1956. After independence, it became a major power base for the Umma Party, led by Sadiq al-Mahdi. In 1994, Darfur was divided into three federal states within Sudan: Northern (Shamal), Southern (Janub), and Western (Gharb) Darfur. Northern Darfur's capital is Al Fashir; Southern Darfur's is Nyala; and Wester Darfur's is Al Junaynah.

The present Darfur crisis

The region became the scene of a bloody rebellion in 2003 against the Arab-dominated Sudanese government, with two local rebel groups - the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) - accusing the government of oppressing non-Arabs in favor of Arabs. The government was also accused of neglecting the Darfur region of Sudan. In response, the government mounted a campaign of aerial bombardment supporting ground attacks by an Arab militia, the Janjaweed. The government-supported Janjaweed were accused of committing major human rights violations, including mass killing, looting, and systematic rape of the non-Arab population of Darfur. They have frequently burned down whole villages, driving the surviving inhabitants to flee to refugee camps, mainly in Darfur and Chad; many of the camps in Darfur are surrounded by Janjaweed forces. By the summer of 2004, 50,000 to 80,000 people had been killed and at least a million had been driven from their homes, causing a major humanitarian crisis in the region. According to Human Rights Watch: :"The government and its Janjaweed allies have killed thousands of Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa—often in cold blood—raped women, and destroyed villages, food stocks and other supplies essential to

January 27, 2005

January 27 2005

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