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July 16

July 16

July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining.

Events

- 622 - The Prophet Mohammed begins his Hijra from Mecca to Medina. This marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
- 1661 - The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Bank of Stockholm.
- 1769 - Father Junipero Serra founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California. The mission later evolves into the city of San Diego.
- 1779 - American Revolutionary War: United States forces led by General Anthony Wayne capture Stony Point, New York from British troops.
- 1782 - First performance of Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Seraglio.
- 1783 - Grants of land in Canada to American United Empire Loyalists are announced.
- 1790 - The signing of the Residence Bill establishes a site along the Potomac River as the District of Columbia (seat of government).
- 1862 - American Civil War: David G. Farragut becomes the first United States Navy rear admiral.
- 1880 - Dr. Emily Howard Stowe becomes the first woman licenced to practice medicine in Canada.
- 1918 - Russian Revolution: At Ekaterinburg, Bolsheviks execute Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
- 1930 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
- 1942 - Holocaust: The Vichy France government headed by Pierre Laval orders French police officers to round up 13,000-20,000 Jews and imprison them in the Winter Velodrome.
- 1945 - Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon at the Trinity site near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
- 1951 - The novel Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger published.
- 1951 - King Léopold III of Belgium abdicates in favour of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium, to avoid internal social strife.
- 1957 - United States Marine Major John Glenn flies a F8U supersonic jet from California to New York in 3 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds setting a new transcontinental speed record.
- 1963 - Timothy Leary takes LSD for the first time.
- 1965 - The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France with Italy opens.
- 1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 launches from Cape Kennedy, Florida and will become the first manned space mission to land on the moon.
- 1973 - Watergate Scandal: Former White House aide Alexander P. Butterfield informs the United States Senate committee investigating scandal that President Richard Nixon had secretly recorded potentially incriminating conversations.
- 1979 - Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
- 1983 - Sikorsky S-61 disaster: helicopter crash off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
- 1990 - In the Philippines, an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter Scale kills over 1600.
- 1994 - The planet Jupiter is hit by fragments of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet.
- 1994 - The civil war in Rwanda comes to an end.
- 1997 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 63.17 to close at 8,038.88, closing above 8,000 for the first time.
- 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and sister-in-law Lauren Bessette are killed in a plane crash off the coast of Martha's Vineyard. The Piper Saratoga aircraft was piloted by Kennedy Jr.
- 1999 - Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace is released in the United Kingdom.
- 1999 - First game at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark, New Jersey.
- 2001 - The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada for violating a provision of the DMCA.
- 2003 - The Corsicans reject a referendum for increased autonomy from France by a very thin majority: 50.98 percent against, and 49.02 percent for.
- 2004 - Millennium Park, considered the first and most ambitious architectural project in the early 21st century for Chicago, Illinois, is opened to the public by Mayor of Chicago Richard M. Daley.
- 2004 - Barclays Bank freezes the bank accounts of the British National Party.
- 2004 - A fire at a private school in Kumbakonam, India kills over 80 people.
- 2005 - Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published in English-speaking countries.

Births

- 1194 - Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi (d. 1253)
- 1486 - Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
- 1611 - Cecylia Renata, Queen of Poland
- 1714 - Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French military engineer and writer (d. 1800)
- 1722 - Joseph Wilton, English sculptor (d. 1803)
- 1723 - Joshua Reynolds, English painter (d. 1792)
- 1796 - Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, French painter (d. 1875)
- 1821 - Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader (d. 1910)
- 1862 - Ida B. Wells, American journalist and anti-lynching crusader (d. 1931)
- 1872 - Roald Amundsen, Norwegian explorer (d. 1928)
- 1888 - Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
- 1888 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- 1889 - Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player (d. 1951)
- 1889 - Larry Semon, comedian (d. 1928)
- 1896 - Trygve Lie, first United Nations Secretary General (d. 1968)
- 1896 - Evelyn Preer, American actress (d. 1932)
- 1902 - Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist (d. 1977)
- 1903 - Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer, saxophonist, composer, and arranger (d. 1971)
- 1903 - Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993)
- 1906 - Vincent Sherman, American director
- 1907 - Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman (d. 1995)
- 1907 - Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
- 1911 - Ginger Rogers, American actress and dancer (d. 1995)
- 1911 - Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
- 1919 - Choi Kyuha, President of South Korea
- 1924 - Bess Myerson, American beauty queen and television personality
- 1925 - Cal Tjader, American musician (d. 1982)
- 1926 - Irwin Rose, American biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
- 1932 - Richard Thornburgh, American politician
- 1939 - Mariele Ventre, Italian choir director (d. 1995)
- 1942 - Margaret Smith Court, Australian tennis player
- 1945 - Victor Sloan, Irish visual artist
- 1946 - Ron Yary, American football player
- 1947 - Assata Shakur, American activist
- 1948 - Rubén Blades, Panamanian actor, musician, and politician
- 1948 - Pinchas Zukerman, Israeli violinist
- 1952 - Stewart Copeland, American musician
- 1956 - Tony Kushner, American playwright
- 1957 - Alexandra Marinina, Russian writer
- 1958 - Pierre Roland Renoir, Canadian artist
- 1959 - Gary Anderson, South African-born American football player
- 1963 - Phoebe Cates, American actress
- 1963 - Srečko Katanec, Slovenian footballer and coach
- 1963 - Fatboy Slim, English musician
- 1964 - Phil Hellmuth, American poker player
- 1964 - Miguel Induráin, Spanish cyclist
- 1967 - Will Ferrell, American comedian
- 1968 - Dhanraj Pillay, Indian field hockey player
- 1968 - Barry Sanders, American football player
- 1968 - Larry Sanger, American co-founder of Wikipedia
- 1971 - Corey Feldman, American actor
- 1976 - Anna Smashnova, Israeli tennis player

Deaths

- 1324 - Emperor Go-Uda of Japan (b. 1267)
- 1342 - King Charles I of Hungary
- 1546 - Anne Askew, English protestant (burned at the stake) (b. 1521)
- 1557 - Anne of Cleves, queen of Henry VIII of England (b. 1515)
- 1630 - Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (b. 1562)
- 1647 - Masaniello, Italian rebel (b. 1622)
- 1664 - Andreas Gryphius, German writer (b. 1616)
- 1686 - John Pearson, English theologian (b. 1612)
- 1691 - François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (b. 1641)
- 1729 - Johann David Heinichen, German composer (b. 1683)
- 1770 - Francis Cotes, English painter (b. 1726)
- 1796 - George Howard, British field marshal (b. 1718)
- 1882 - Mary Todd Lincoln, First Lady of the United States (b. 1818)
- 1916 - Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, Russian microbiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1845)
- 1949 - Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian poet (b. 1866)
- 1953 - Hilaire Belloc, French writer and journalist (b. 1870)
- 1979 - Alfred Deller, English countertenor (b. 1912)
- 1981 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (b. 1942)
- 1985 - Heinrich Böll, German writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1917)
- 1989 - Herbert von Karajan, Austrian conductor (b. 1908)
- 1991 - Robert Motherwell, American painter (b. 1915)
- 1991 - Frank Rizzo, Mayor of Philadelphia (b. 1920)
- 1994 - Julian Schwinger, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1918)
- 1995 - Stephen Spender, British poet (b. 1909)
- 1998 - John Henrik Clarke, American historian and scholar (b. 1915)
- 1999 - Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, wife of John F. Kennedy Jr. (plane crash) (b. 1966)
- 1999 - John F. Kennedy Jr., American publisher (plane crash) (b. 1960)
- 2002 - John Cocke, American computer scientist (b. 1925)
- 2003 - Celia Cruz, Cuban musician (b. 1924)
- 2003 - Carol Shields, Canadian author (b. 1935)
- 2005 - Pietro Consagra, Italian sculptor (b. 1920)
- 2005 - Prince Gu of Korea (b. 1931)

Holidays and observances

- Botswana - President's Day (2nd day)
- Catholic - Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/16 BBC: On This Day] ---- July 15 - July 17 - June 16 - August 16 -- listing of all days ko:7월 16일 ms:16 Julai ja:7月16日 simple:July 16 th:16 กรกฎาคม

July 16

July 16 is the 197th day (198th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 168 days remaining.

Events

Births

Deaths

Holidays and observances

- Botswana - President's Day (2nd day)
- Catholic - Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

External links

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

622

Events
- Hijra - Muhammad and his followers withdraw from Mecca to Medina - year one of the Islamic calendar. (Note: The Islamic Calendar depends on lunar sighting. Thus, its correspondence to the Gregorian calendar varies from year to year.)
- Xuanzang was fully ordained as a monk in 622, at the age of 20. Births
- Deaths
- Prince Shotoku, Japanese prince, one of the first Japanese to support Buddhism Category:622 ko:622년

Hijra

Hijra may refer to:
- Hijra (Islam)(Hegira/Hijrah/Hejira) is an Arabic term referring to the migration of Muhammad from Mecca to Medina in 622. :
- For the actual event, see Migration to Medina. :
- For the Islamic calendar, see Hijri year.
- Hijra
- Hijras are members of a "third gender" on the Indian subcontinent.
- Hejira is an album by Joni Mitchell, used in the sense of exodus or flight, see above. :
- Hejira is a song on the album mentioned above.

Mecca

:This article is about the holy city in Saudi Arabia. For other uses, see Mecca (disambiguation) Mecca or Makkah (in full: Makkah al-Mukarramah; ) is the capital city of Saudi Arabia's Makkah province, in the historic Hijaz region. It is located at , 73 kilometers inland from Jeddah, in the narrow sandy Valley of Abraham, 277 meters (909 feet) above sea level. 80 km from the Red Sea. It has a population of approximately one million. The city is revered as the holiest site of Islam, and a pilgrimage to it is required of all Muslims who can afford to go. Muslims regard the al-Masjid al-Haram (or 'The Sacred Mosque') as the holiest place on Earth. Both the mosque and the city itself are strictly off-limits to non-Muslims. The term 'Mecca' has come into common usage metaphorically to mean any all-important site for any particular group of people. In the 1980s the government of Saudi Arabia changed the official English transliteration of the city's name from 'Mecca', as it had been commonly spelled by westerners, to 'Makkah'. See below for the reasons.
The importance of Mecca
For Muslims, a pilgrimage to Mecca is required as one of the Five Pillars of the faith. In recent years, about two to three million have gathered for the major pilgrimage or Hajj, during the Muslim month of Dhu al-Hijjah, and many more perform the minor pilgrimage or Umrah, which may be performed at any time of year. Few non-Muslims have ever seen the rites and rituals of the Hajj as non-Muslims are strictly prohibited from entering Mecca and Medina. The focal point of Mecca is the Ka'bah, the "House of God" believed by Muslims to have been built by Abraham and his son Ishmael, and is covered in a gold-embroidered black fabric. The Pilgrims circle the Ka'bah seven times and may also try to touch or kiss its cornerstone, the Black Stone. Pilgrims then drink from the well of Zamzam. The water of Zamzam is believed to have special properties and is alleged to have health benefits. Few pilgrims return from the Hajj without a large plastic bottle of the Zamzam water. During the Hajj the pilgrims travel to Mina, a small village, where Iblis (the Devil), symbolised by stone columns, is ritually stoned. They then proceed to the Hill of Arafat (sometimes called the Mountain, but it is only 70 meters high), a site for prayers, where Muhammad is believed to have delivered his final Sermon. Hill of Arafat The importance of Mecca for Muslims is inestimable. All Muslims, wherever they are on the earth, are required to pray five times a day in the direction of the Ka'bah in Mecca (located at ). The direction of prayer is known as the qiblah. Muslims regard the al-Masjid al-Haram (or 'The Sacred Mosque') as the holiest place on Earth. Both the mosque and the city itself are strictly off-limits to non-Muslims.
Muhammad
Muhammad, the final prophet of Islam, was born in Mecca in 571 CE. When he was forty years old, he received the first revelation in a cave called Hira in Jabal al-Nour (Mountain of Light), approximately 2 miles from Mecca. In the year 622 CE, after an attempt on his life, he moved to Yathrib (now Madinah), which also became a holy city. Later, Muhammad led the Muslims and conquered Mecca from the pagans.
Non-Muslims and Mecca
Non-Muslims are not permitted to enter Mecca. Road blocks are stationed along roads leading to the city. The most celebrated case of a non-Muslim visiting Mecca was that of the British explorer Sir Richard Burton in 1853. Burton disguised himself as an Afghan Muslim to visit and write his Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Meccah.
Is Mecca the city of the Valley of Bakkah?
:See main article: Bakkah Some have identified Mecca as the ancient city Bakkah, the Biblical "valley of Baca" in Psalm 84, but this association is controversial. It is known that the name Bakkah was changed to Mecca at some time, which is the location identified in the Qur'an. Some Muslims also believe it is the same location as mentioned in the Old Testament, but this is contestable.
The spelling of the name
For most English-speakers, Mecca has long been the accepted spelling for the holy city. The word is a transliteration of the original Arabic, and has become part of the English language. In an effort to distinguish between the metaphorical and official references to the holy site, the Saudi Arabian government in the 1980s began promoting a new transliteration, 'Makkah al-Mukarramah', which is even closer to the original Arabic. This new usage has been adopted in many places and by certain organization, such as on the [http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3584.htm U.S. Department of State] website, but it is not part of the active vocabulary of English-speakers at large.
See also

- Islamic architecture
- List of famous mosques
- List of holy cities
- Medina
- Mecca (disambiguation)
External links

-
- [http://haqaonline.lightuponlight.com/pg/index.php?cat=2 Pictures of Mecca]
- [http://www.irbs.com/lists/navigation/0008/0039.html Mention of the Kaaba's coordinates]
- [http://www.asinah.org/travel-guides/saudiarabiamecca.html Mecca Information]
- [http://peace-city.tripod.com/Glory_of_Makkah.html Is it the Glory of Mecca or Zion in Isaiah, Chapter 60?]
- [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/burton/richard/b97p/chapter27.html Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al Madinah and Meccah, by Richard Burton] (opinionated)
- [http://www.3dkabah.com A 3D model of the Kaaba and Haraam. With Pictures and Videos] Category:Holy cities Category:Mecca Category:Pilgrimages Category:Arabic words ko:메카 ms:Makkah al-Mukarramah ja:マッカ simple:Mecca th:มักกะหฺ

Medina

This article is about the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia. For other uses, see Medina (disambiguation). Medina (; alternatively transliterated into English as Madinah) is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia. It currently has a population of 839,400 (1999). Medina is located at . Medina was originally known as Yathrib, but later the city's name was changed to Madīnat al-Nabī ("city of the Prophet") or Al Madīnah al Munawwarah ("the enlightened city" or "the radiant city"), while the short form Medina simply means "city". Medina is the second holiest city of Islam, after Mecca. Its importance as a religious site derives from the presence there of the Shrine of the Prophet Mohammad by Masjid al-Nabawi or the Mosque of the Prophet, famously known as Gumbad-e-Khizra, Prophet's Dome or Green Dome, which was built on a site adjacent to Muhammad's home. His home later became part of the mosque when it was expanded by the Umayyad caliph al-Waleed ibn AbdelMalek. The first mosque of Islam is also located in Medinah and is known as Masjid Quba, the Quba Mosque. Like Mecca, the city of Medina only permits Muslims to enter. Both citys' numerous mosques are the destination for large numbers of Muslims on their annual pilgrimage. The income derived from visiting pilgrims forms the basis of their economies.

History

In pre-Islamic times the city was known as Yathrib. It was an important trading town and its pagan inhabitants would make yearly pilgrimages to the shrines in Mecca, being that the chief god of both cities was Manat. It was also notable as a center of Arab Jews, who were only distinguished from their fellow citizens by their religion. ManatIn 622, Medina became the seat of Muhammad's growing movement after the Hijra. In the same year Muhammad was invited to come and live in Yathrib (and act as a sort of governor). Islamic sources such as the hadith state that Medina had a population of two pagan tribes (the Aus and Khazraj) as well as three Jewish tribes (Banu Qainuka'a, Banu Nadhir and Banu Qurayza). According to Islamic tradition, the two tribes got word of a new, self-styled prophet in Mecca whose people were being persecuted by the Meccans, and decided to see if he could help them resolve their conflict. Muhammad and his followers thus agreed to move (known as the Hijra migration) to Yathrib, which eventually became known as al-Madinah al-Nabi, the city of the Messenger, where Muhammad drafted the Madinah or Medina Charter [http://www.constitution.org/cons/medina/con_medina.htm] which made him the leader of the city. According to tradition, the text - the Medina Charter - that was passed down was agreed to by all tribes in the city. In 627, the army of Mecca attacked Medina under the command of Abu Sufyan. Abu Sufyan asked the Banu Qurayza tribe to help them conquer Medina, by attacking the Muslims from behind the lines or letting them into the town. According to the Hadith Bukhari, the Banu Qurayza's assistance of Abu Sufyan constituted a breach of the treaty and the males of the tribe were executed per the judgement of Sa'ad ibn Mua'dh. Since the Islamic hadith written 2 centuries after is the only source there is about this event, it is impossible to know the exact circumstances surrounding the execution and expulsion of the various tribes. Muhammad urged all people in the city to follow the new religion of Islam, and the Medina Charter refers to Muhammad as a prophet of God. However, he had trouble convincing the majority of the Jewish population (which was actually quite large) and the Christian population that Islam was the true version of Judaism or the true religion of Jesus. In the ten years following the Hijra, Medina formed the base from which Muhammad attacked and was attacked and it was from here that he marched on Mecca, becoming its ruler without battle. Even when Islamic rule was established Medina remained for some years the most important city of Islam and the de facto capital of the Caliphate. Under the first four Caliphs, known as the Rightly Guided Caliphs, the Islamic empire expanded rapidly and came to include historical centres of learning such as Jerusalem and Damascus, and Baghdad. After the death of Ali, the fourth caliph, Mu'awiyya transferred the capital to Damascus and the importance of Medina dwindled and became of a religious more than a political nature. In 1924 the city, which had been in Ottoman hands for centuries, fell to Ibn Saud, who later became the first King of Saudi Arabia.

External links

-
- [http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=24.468313,39.611174&spn=0.007876,0.013393&t=k&hl=en Satellite map of Medina - Google] Category:Holy cities Category:Medina ms:Madinah al-Munawwarah ja:マディーナ

1661

Events

- January 6 - The fifth monarchy men unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. George Monck's regiment defeats them
- February 5 - The Shunzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty of China dies and is succeeded by his son the Kangxi Emperor.
- February 14 - George Monck’s regiment becomes The Lord General's Regiment of Foot Guards (which later becomes Coldstream Guards)
- April 23 - King Charles II of England, Scotland, Ireland crowned in Westminster Abbey. This is his second crowning.
- June 30 - The first Earl of Argyle is executed at the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh for treason
- Dutch rule ends in Taiwan.
- First modern bank notes issued in Stockholm, Sweden
- Body of Oliver Cromwell exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution.

Births

- January 30 - Charles Rollin, French historian (d. 1741)
- March 25 - Paul de Rapin, French historian (d. 1725)
- April 16 - Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, English poet and statesman (d. 1715)
- May 25 - Claude Buffier, French philosopher and historian (d. 1737)
- June 9 - Tsar Feodor III of Russia (d. 1682)
- July 20 - Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, French founder of the colony of Louisiana (d. 1706)
- September 2 - Georg Böhm, German organist (d. 1733)
- October 11 - Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (d. 1742)
- November 1 - Florent Carton Dancourt, French dramatist and actor (d. 1725)
- November 4 - Karl III Philip, Elector Palatine (d. 1742)
- November 6 - King Charles II of Spain (d. 1700)
- November 15 - Christoph von Graffenried, Swiss settler in America (d. 1743)
- November 28 - Edward Hyde, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, British Governor of New York and New Jersey (d. 1723)
- December 5 - Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, English statesman (d. 1724)
- December 18 - Christopher Polhem, Swedish scientist and inventor (d. 1751)
- Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton, English supporter of William III of Orange (d. 1722) See also :Category:1661 births.

Deaths

- February 2 - Lucas Holstenius, German humanist (b. 1596)
- February 5 - Shunzhi Emperor of China (b. 1638)
- March 1 - Richard Zouch, English jurist (b. 1590)
- March 9 - Jules Cardinal Mazarin, French cardinal and statesman (b. 1602)
- April 4 - Alexander Leslie, 1st Earl of Leven, Scottish soldier
- April 7 - William Brereton, English soldier and politician (b. 1604)
- May 27 - Archibald Campbell, 1st Marquess of Argyll, Scottish dissenter (beheaded) (b. 1607)
- August 7 - Jin Shengtan, Chinese editor, writer and critic (b. 1608)
- August 16 - Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (b. 1608)
- October 4 - Jacqueline Pascal, French child prodigy and sister of Blaise Pascal (b. 1625)
- October 28 - Agustín Moreto y Cavana, Spanish playwright
- November 19 - Brian Walton, English clergyman and scholar (b. 1600)
- December 29 - Antoine Gérard de Saint-Amant, French poet (b. 1594) See also :Category:1661 deaths. Category:1661 ko:1661년

California

California is a state located on the west coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous state in the U.S., as well as the most physically diverse, with the highest and the lowest points in the lower 48 states located within 150 miles of each other. If California were an independent nation, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world (after the rest of the U.S., Japan, Germany, Britain and France; see economy of California). The state's official nickname is "The Golden State" in reference to California's 1849 Gold Rush. California's U.S. postal abbreviation is CA, and its Associated Press abbreviation is Calif. As one of the most demographically diverse states in the nation, California is a dominant force in American culture as well as the nation's economy. It has some of the nation's largest cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, and San Francisco, and is responsible for many legal and technological innovations. The entire region originally known as California was composed of the Mexican peninsula now known as Baja California and much of the land in the current states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming, known as Alta California. In these early times, the boundaries of the Sea of Cortez and the Pacific coast were only partially explored and California was shown on early maps as an island. The name comes from Las sergas de Esplandián (Adventures of Splandian), a 16th century novel, by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, where there is an island paradise called California. (For further discussion, see: Origin of the name California.)

History

:Main articles: History of California, History of California (20th century) The first European to explore parts of the coast was the Portuguese João Rodrigues Cabrilho in 1542. The first to explore the entire coast and claim possession of it was Francis Drake in 1579. Beginning in the late 1700s, Spanish missionaries set up tiny settlements on enormous grants of land in the vast territory north of Baja California. The missions played a dominant role in the decimation of California's indigenous population. Upon Mexican independence from Spain, the chain of missions became the property of the Mexican government, and they were quickly dissolved and abandoned. In 1846, at the outset of the Mexican-American War, the California Republic was founded and the Bear Flag was flown, which featured a golden bear and a star. The Republic came to a sudden end, however, when Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into San Francisco Bay and claimed California for the United States. Following the war, the region was divided between Mexico and the United States. The Mexican portion, Baja (lower) California was later divided into the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. The western part of the U.S. portion, Alta (upper) California, was to become the state of California. In 1848, the Spanish-speaking population of distant upper California numbered around 4,000. But after gold was discovered, the population burgeoned with Americans and a few Europeans in the great California gold rush. In 1850, the state was admitted to the Union of the USA. During the American Civil War, popular support in California was divided 70% for the South and 30% for the North, and although California officially entered on the side of the North, many troops went east to fight for the Confederacy CSA. At first, travel between the far Pacific West to the eastern population centers was time-consuming and dangerous, requiring either long ocean voyages, or difficult transcontinental passages. A more direct connection came in 1869 with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. After this rail link was established, hundreds of thousands of Americans came west, where new Californians were discovering that land in the state, if irrigated during the dry summer months, was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Citrus, oranges in particular, was widely grown, and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production of today. During the early 20th century, migration to California accelerated with the completion of major transcontinental highways like the Lincoln Highway and Route 66. In the period from 1900 to 1965 the population grew from fewer than one million to become the most populous state in the Union. From 1965 to the present, the population demographic changed radically and became one of the most diverse in the world. The state is generally liberal-leaning, technologically and culturally savvy, and a world center of engineering businesses, the film and television industry and, as mentioned above, American agricultural production.

Law and government

California is governed as a republic, with three branches of government, the executive branch consisting of the Governor of California and the other independently elected constitutional officers, the legislative branch consisting of the Assembly and Senate, and the judicial branch consisting of the Supreme Court of California and lower courts. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by referendum, recall, and ratification. The Governor of California and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The California State Legislature consists of a 40 member Senate and 80 member Assembly. Senators serve four year terms and Assembly members two. The terms of the Senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The Senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four, i.e., presidential election years. The Senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years, in the gubernatorial election cycle. California's legislature is organized in such a way that the party caucus leaders wield great power and can usually speak on behalf of their caucuses. Many important legislative decisions are thus not made on the floor of the legislature but in back-room deals by the "Big Five", which comprises the governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders of each chamber. For the 2005–2006 session, there are 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans in the Assembly. In the Senate, there are 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. The current Governor is the Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose current term lasts through January 2007. Schwarzenegger was only the second person in the history of the United States to be put into office by a recall of a sitting governor (the first was the 1921 recall of North Dakota Governor Lynn J. Frazier). Schwarzenegger replaced Governor Gray Davis (1999–2003), who was removed from office by the October 2003 California recall election. The state's capital is Sacramento. During California's early history under European control, the capital was successively located in Monterey (1775–1849), San Jose (1849–1851), Vallejo (1852–1853), Benicia (1853–1854), and San Francisco (1862). The capital moved to Sacramento temporarily in 1852 when construction on a State House could not be completed in time in Vallejo. The capital's final move to Sacramento was on February 25, 1854 where it has been permanently, except for a four-month temporary move in 1862 to San Francisco, due to severe flooding in Sacramento. California's giant judiciary is the largest in the United States (with a total of 1,600 judges, while the federal system has only about 840). It is supervised by the seven Justices of the Supreme Court of California. Justices of the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal are appointed by the Governor, but are subject to retention by the electorate every 12 years. Judges of the trial courts, the Superior Courts in each county, may be appointed by the Governor or elected directly by the voters, depending on when the vacancy occurs. Superior Court judges serve six-year terms, after which they may run for re-election. Unlike the retention elections for Supreme Court and Court of Appeal justices, Superior Court judges run for re-election in open races, in which other qualified candidates may run as challengers. California's legal system is explicitly based on English common law but carries a few features from Spanish civil law. Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment and the state has the largest "Death Row" population in the country. At the national level, California is represented by two senators and 53 representatives, as of 2005. It has 55 electoral votes in the U.S. Electoral College. (As California is the most populous state in the Union, its counts of Congressmen and Presidential Electors are, of course, also the largest.) The two U.S. Senators from California are Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. 33 Democrats and 20 Republicans represent the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. While California is among the most Democratic and liberal states in the nation because of the large concentration of voters in populous areas, much of California is politically very conservative, notably the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, Orange and San Diego counties, and most inland, eastern, and rural areas. Democratic bastions are mostly coastal and include the entire San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Salinas, Santa Barbara, and Imperial County. The state has supported Democrats in the last four presidential elections. In 2004, Republican President George W. Bush received a majority of votes in more than half the state's 58 counties, but still lost California's 55 electoral votes to John Kerry, who won 54.3% of the popular vote, by a margin of 10 percentage points. See also: List of California Governors, U.S. Congressional Delegations from California, List of California counties, List of California ballot propositions

Geography

California borders the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and the Mexican state of Baja California. The state has strikingly beautiful natural features, including an expansive central valley, tall mountains, hot deserts, and hundreds of miles of scenic coastline. With an area of 411,000 km² it is the third largest state in the U.S and larger than Germany in size. Most major cities cling to the cool seacoast along the Pacific, notably Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana/Orange County, and San Diego. However, the capital, Sacramento is in the Central Valley. California has extremely varied geography. In the center of the state lies the Central Valley, a huge, fertile valley bounded by the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the granite Sierra Nevada to the east, the volcanic Cascade Range in the north and the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. Mountain-fed rivers, dams, and canals provide water to irrigate the Central Valley. With dredging, several of these rivers have become sufficiently large and deep that several inland cities, notably Stockton, California, are seaports. The hot, fertile Central Valley is California's agricultural heartland and grows a large portion of America's food, yet near freezing temperatures are not uncommon during winter which sometimes wipe out portions of crops. The bottom part of the valley, which is part desert, is known as the San Joaquin Valley while the upper half is known as the Sacramento Valley. In the center and east of the state are the Sierra Nevada (meaning Snowy Range in Spanish), containing the highest peak in the contiguous lower 48 states, Mount Whitney, at 14,505 feet (4421 m). Also located in the Sierra are the world famous Yosemite National Park and a deep freshwater lake, Lake Tahoe, the largest lake in the state by volume. To the east of the Sierra are Owens Valley and Mono Lake, an essential seabird habitat. To the west is Clear Lake, California's largest freshwater lake by area. The Sierra Nevada receives arctic temperatures in the winter and holds several dozen small glaciers, including the most southern glacier in the United States (Palisade Glacier). California has about 35% of its total surface area covered by forests. California's diversity of pine species is unmatched by any other state. Though other states have a higher percentage of their land area covered by forests, in terms of total area, California contains more forestland than any other state except Alaska. Most of the forest is found in 2 places. First, in the northwestern part of the state and along the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller forests, mainly consisting of oaks, can be found along the coast ranges of California closer to the coast, and also in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Smaller areas of pine forests can be found in the San Gabriel and San Bernardino mountains of Southern California and also in the mountain areas of Central San Diego Country. Deserts in California make up about 25% of the total surface area. In the south lie the Transverse Ranges and a large salt lake, the Salton Sea. The south-central desert is called the Mojave. To the northeast of the Mojave lies Death Valley, which contains the lowest, hottest point in North America. The lowest point of Death Valley and the peak of Mount Whitney are less than 200 miles apart. The hiking trek between the two points has been attempted, several times, most notably by Lee Bergthold. Indeed, almost all of southeastern California is arid, hot desert, with the Coachella Valley routinely experiencing extreme high temperatures during the summer. Finally, along the densely-populated but long California coast lie a number of major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Climates near the Pacific Ocean are remarkably moderate compared with inland climates. Winter temperatures never reach freezing (snow is unheard of) and summer temperatures rarely reach above the high 80's Fahrenheit (27 °C). California is famous for its earthquakes, due partly to the presence of the San Andreas Fault. While more powerful earthquakes in the United States have occurred in Alaska and along the Mississippi River, California earthquakes are notable in their frequency and location in highly populated areas. Some people believe, eventually, a huge earthquake will result in the splitting of coastal California from the continent, either to sink into the ocean or form a new landmass. The fact that this scenario is completely implausible from a geologic standpoint does not lessen its acceptance in public conventional wisdom, or its exploitation by the producers of science fiction and fantasy media. Notable movies in which the possible destruction of much of California by an earthquake includes the titles Earthquake, A View to a Kill, Escape from L.A. and Superman. California is also home to several volcanoes, some active such as Mammoth Mountain. Other volcanoes include Lassen Peak, which erupted from 1914 and 1921, and Mount Shasta.

Climate

Different regions of California have very different climates, depending on their latitude, elevation, and proximity to the coast. Most of the state has a Mediterranean climate, with rainy winters and dry summers. The influence of the ocean generally moderates temperature extremes, creating warmer winters and substantially cooler summers, and the cold oceanic California Current offshore often creates summer fog near the coast. As one moves away from the coast, the climate becomes more continental, with colder winters and markedly hotter summers. The temperature gradient between immediate coast and low-lying inland valleys in the north is about 7 °F (4 °C) in winter,