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July 31

July 31

July 31 is the 212th day (213th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 153 days remaining, as the final day of July.

Events

- 781 - The oldest recorded eruption of Mt. Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: July 6, 781)
- 1009 - Pietro Boccapecora becomes Pope Sergius IV
- 1423 - Hundred Years War: Battle of Cravant - The French army is defeated at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
- 1498 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
- 1588 - The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
- 1667 - The Treaty of Breda ends the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- 1703 - Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
- 1777 - The US Congress passed a resolution that services of Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."
- 1790 - First US patent issued; granted to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
- 1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand chartered as a city.
- 1917 - The Third Battle of Ypres starts in Flanders.
- 1919 - German national assembly adopts the Weimar constitution (to enter into force August 14)
- 1930 - The radio mystery program The Shadow airs for the first time.
- 1936 - The International Olympic Committee announces that the 1940 Summer Olympics were to be held in Tokyo. However, the games were given back to the IOC after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out, and were eventually cancelled altogether because of World War II.
- 1941 - Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS general Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question."
- 1945 - Pierre Laval, fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
- 1948 - At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
- 1951 - Japan Airlines is established.
- 1954 - First ascent of K2, by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.
- 1956 - Jim Laker sets extraordinary record at Old Trafford in the fourth Test of taking nineteen wickets in a first-class match (the previous best was seventeen.
- 1961 - At Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts, the first All-Star Game tie in major league baseball history occurs when the game is stopped in the 9th inning due to rain.
- 1964 - Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes).
- 1971 - Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
- 1973 - A Delta Air Lines jetliner crashes while landing in fog at Logan Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89
- 1975 - In Detroit, Michigan, Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa is reported missing.
- 1976 - NASA releases the famous Face on Mars photo, taken by Viking 1
- 1987 - A rare, class F-4 tornado rips through Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people and causing $330 million in damage.
- 1992 - A Thai Airways Airbus A300-310 crashes into mountain south of Kathmandu, Nepal killing 113.
- 1996 - MIL-STD-1750A is declared inactive for use in new designs.
- 1999 - NASA intentionally crashes the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the moon's surface.

Births

- 1143 - Emperor Nijo of Japan (d. 1165)
- 1396 - Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)
- 1527 - Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor, (d. 1576)
- 1598 - Alessandro Algardi, Italian sculptor and architect (d. 1654)
- 1702 - Jean Denis Attiret, French Jesuit missionary and painter (d. 1768)
- 1704 - Gabriel Cramer, Swiss mathematician (d. 1752)
- 1718 - John Canton, English physicist (d. 1772)
- 1724 - Noël François de Wailly, French lexicographer (d. 1801)
- 1803 - John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d. 1889)
- 1816 - George Henry Thomas, American general (d. 1870)
- 1835 - Henri Brisson, French statesman (d. 1912)
- 1843 - Peter Rosegger, Austrian poet (d. 1918)
- 1860 - Mary Vaux Walcott, American artist and naturalist (d. 1940)
- 1887 - Hans Freyer, German sociologist (d. 1969)
- 1901 - Jean Dubuffet, French painter and sculptor (d. 1985)
- 1904 - Brett Halliday, American writer (d. 1977)
- 1911 - George Liberace, American musician (d. 1983)
- 1912 - Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1912 - Irv Kupcinet, American newspaper columnist (d. 2003)
- 1914 - Louis de Funès, French actor and comedian (d. 1983)
- 1916 - Bill Todman, American game show producer (d. 1979)
- 1918 - Paul D. Boyer, American chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1918 - Hank Jones, American pianist
- 1919 - Curt Gowdy, American sports announcer
- 1919 - Primo Levi, Italian author and chemist (d. 1987)
- 1921 - Whitney Young, American civil rights activist (d. 1971)
- 1923 - Ahmet Ertegun, Turkish-born record company executive
- 1929 - Don Murray, American actor
- 1929 - José Santamaria, Uruguayan footballer
- 1930 - Oleg Popov, Russian clown
- 1931 - Kenny Burrell, American guitarist
- 1933 - Cees Nooteboom, Dutch writer
- 1939 - France Nuyen, French actress
- 1941 - Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician
- 1943 - William Bennett, U.S. Secretary of Education
- 1943 - Susan Flannery, American actress
- 1944 - Geraldine Chaplin, American actress
- 1944 - Robert Carhart Merton, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1946 - Bob Welch, American musician
- 1950 - Steve Miller, American writer
- 1951 - Evonne Goolagong, Australian tennis player
- 1951 - Barry Van Dyke, American actor
- 1952 - Alan Autry, American football player, actor, and Mayor of Fresno, California
- 1952 - Helmuts Balderis, Latvian hockey player
- 1952 - João Barreiros, Portuguese writer
- 1958 - Bill Berry, American musician (R.E.M.)
- 1958 - Mark Cuban, American businessman, producer, and basketball team owner
- 1959 - Stanley Jordan, American jazz guitarist
- 1962 - Wesley Snipes, American actor
- 1962 - Kevin Greene, professional American football player
- 1964 - Jim Corr, Irish singer and musician (The Corrs)
- 1965 - John Laurinaitis, American professional wrestler
- 1965 - J. K. Rowling, English novelist
- 1966 - Dean Cain, American actor
- 1967 - Minako Honda, Japanese singer and musical actress (d. 2005)
- 1969 - David Cash (Kid Kash), American professional wrestler
- 1971 - Gus Frerotte, American football player
- 1974 - Emilia Fox, English actress
- 1974 - Jonathan Ogden, American football player
- 1976 - Annie Parisse, American actress
- 1977 - Tim Couch, American football player
- 1978 - Justin Wilson, English race car driver
- 1979 - Jade Kwan, Hong Kong actress
- 1979 - Per Kroldrup, Danish footballer
- 1981 - Ira Losco, Maltese singer
- 1981 - M. Shadows, American Singer (Avenged Sevenfold)

Deaths

- 1099 - El Cid, Spanish warrior (b. 1044)
- 1108 - King Philip I of France (b. 1052)
- 1396 - William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1342)
- 1508 - Na'od, Emperor of Ethiopia (killed in battle) (b. 1494)
- 1547 - King Francis I of France (b. 1494)
- 1556 - Ignatius Loyola, Spanish priest and founder of the Jesuits
- 1653 - Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)
- 1726 - Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1695)
- 1750 - King John V of Portugal (b. 1689)
- 1784 - Denis Diderot, French philosopher and encylopedist (b. 1713)
- 1875 - Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States (b. 1808)
- 1886 - Franz Liszt, Hungarian composer (b. 1811)

1900 to Present

- 1914 - Jean Jaurès, French politician (d. 1859)
- 1917 - Francis Ledwidge, Irish poet (b. 1881)
- 1944 - Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French pilot and writer (b. 1900)
- 1953 - Robert Taft, U.S. Senator from Ohio and Presidential candidate (b. 1889)
- 1972 - Paul-Henri Spaak, Prime Minister of Belgium (b. 1899)
- 1980 - Mohd. Rafi, Indian playback singer (b. 1924)
- 1993 - King Baudouin I of Belgium (b. 1930)
- 2001 - Poul Anderson, American author (b. 1926)
- 2003 - Guido Crepax, Italian comics artist (b. 1933)
- 2005 - Wim Duisenberg, Dutch banker and 1st president of the European Central Bank (b. 1935)

Holidays and observances

- La Hae Hawai‘i - Hawaiian Flag Day
- Republic of the Congo - Upswing of the Revolution
- Feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/31 BBC: On This Day] ---- July 30 - August 1 - June 30 - August 31 -- listing of all days ko:7월 31일 ms:31 Julai ja:7月31日 simple:July 31 th:31 กรกฎาคม

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

781

Events
- Emperor Kammu succeeds Emperor Kōnin as emperor of Japan.
- Charlemagne defines the Papal territory (see Papal States).
- Talorcan II succeeds Drest III as king of the Picts. Births Deaths Category:781 ko:781년

Japanese calendar

station celebrates Hazuki, the eighth month.]] Since January 1, 1873, Japan has used the Gregorian Calendar, with local names for the months and mostly fixed holidays. Before 1873 a lunisolar calendar was in use, which was adapted from the Chinese calendar.

Years

Since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, three different systems for counting years have or had been used in Japan:
- The Western Common Era (西暦, seireki) designation
- The Japanese era name (年号, nengō) based on the reign of the current emperor, the year 2005 being Heisei 17
- The imperial year (皇紀, kōki) based on the mythical founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu in 660BCE Of these three, the first two are still in current use; the imperial calendar was used until the end of World War II.

Months

The modern Japanese names for the months literally translate to "first month", "second month", and so on. The corresponding number is combined with the suffix -gatsu (month):
- January - 一月 (ichigatsu)
- February - 二月 (nigatsu)
- March - 三月 (sangatsu)
- April - 四月 (shigatsu)
- May - 五月 (gogatsu)
- June - 六月 (rokugatsu)
- July - 七月 (shichigatsu)
- August - 八月 (hachigatsu)
- September - 九月 (kugatsu)
- October - 十月 (jūgatsu)
- November - 十一月 (jūichigatsu)
- December - 十二月 (jūnigatsu) In addition, every month has a traditional name, still used by some in fields such as poetry; of the twelve, shiwasu is still widely used today. The opening paragraph of a letter or the greeting in a speech might borrow one of these names to convey a sense of the season. Some, such as yayoi and satsuki, do double duty as given names (for women). These month names also appear from time to time on jidaigeki, which are contemporary television shows and movies set in the Edo period or earlier The name of month: (pronunciation, literal meaning)
- January - 睦月 (mutsuki, affection month)
- February - 如月 or 衣更着 (kisaragi or kinusaragi, changing clothes)
- March - 弥生 (yayoi, new life; the beginning of spring)
- April - 卯月 (uzuki, hare month)
- May - 皐月 or 早月 or 五月(satsuki, fast month)
- June - 水無月 (minatsuki or minazuki, water month -- the 無 character is ateji)
- July - 文月 (fumizuki, book month)
- August - 葉月 (hazuki, leaf month)
- September - 長月 (nagatsuki, long month)
- October - 神無月 (kan'nazuki or kaminazuki, no god month), 神有月 or 神在月; (kamiarizuki, god month – only in Izumo province, where all the gods are believed to gather in October for an annual meeting at the Izumo Shrine)
- November - 霜月 (shimotsuki, frost month)
- December - 師走 (shiwasu, priests run; it is named so because priests are busy making end of the year prayers and blessings.)

Days of the month

Each day of the month has a semi-systematic but irregularly formed name: In the traditional calendar, the thirtieth was the last day of the month, and its traditional name, misoka, survives (although sanjunichi is far more common, and is the usual term). The last day of the year is ōmisoka (the big thirtieth day), and that term is still in use.

Days of the week

The seven day week, with names for the days corresponding directly to those used in Europe, was brought to Japan around 800 AD. The system was used for astrological purposes and little else until 1876, shortly after Japan officially adopted the Western calendar. Fukuzawa Yukichi was a key figure in the decison to adopt this system as the source for official names for the days of the week. The names come from the five visible planets, which in turn are named after the five Chinese elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water), and from the moon and sun (yin and yang).

National holidays

Notes: Single days between two national holidays are taken as a bank holiday. This applies to May 4, which is a holiday each year. When a national holiday falls on a Sunday the following Monday is taken as a holiday. † Traditional date of the founding of Japan by Emperor Jimmu, in 660 BC. Veracity of this claim is often questioned.
- Part of Golden Week

Timeline of changes to the national holidays

- 1948 - The following national holidays were introduced: New Year's Day, Coming-of-Age Day, Constitution Memorial Day, Children's Day, Autumnal Equinox Day, Culture Day, Labour Thanksgiving Day.
- 1966 - Health and Sports Day was introduced in memory of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Vernal Equinox Day was also introduced.
- 1985 - Reform to the national holiday law made May 4, sandwiched between two other national holidays also a holiday.
- 1989 - After Emperor Showa died on January 7, the Emperor's Birthday became December 23 and Greenery Day took place of the former Emperor's birthday.
- 2000, 2003 - Happy Monday Seido (ハッピーマンデー制度 Happī Mandē Seido) moved several holidays to Monday. Starting with 2000: Coming-of-Age Day (formerly January 15), and Health and Sports Day (formerly October 10). Starting with 2003: Marine Day (formerly July 20), and Respect for the Aged Day (formerly September 15).
- 2005, 2007 - According to a May 2005 decision, starting with 2007 Greenery Day will be moved from April 29 to May 4, while April 29 will be known as Showa Day.
- 2009 - September 22 may become sandwiched between two holidays, which would make this day a national holiday.

Seasonal days

Some days have special names to mark the change in seasons. The 24 Sekki (二十四節気 Nijūshi sekki) are days that divide a year in the Lunisolar calendar into twenty four equal sections. Zassetsu (雑節) is a collective term for the seasonal days other than the 24 Sekki. 72 Kō (七十二候 Shichijūni kō) days are made from dividing the 24 Sekki of a year further by three. Some of these names are still used quite frequently in everyday life in Japan.

24 Sekki

- 6 January: 小寒 (Shōkan) a.k.a. 寒の入り (Kan no iri)
- 20 January: 大寒 (Daikan)
- 4 February: 立春 (Risshun) - Beginning of spring
- 19 February: 雨水 (Usui)
- 5 March: 啓蟄 (Keichitsu)
- 21 March: 春分 (Shunbun) - Vernal equinox, middle of spring
- 5 April: 清明 (Seimei)
- 20 April: 穀雨 (Kokuu)
- May 6: 立夏 (Rikka) - Beginning of summer
- May 21: 小満 (Shōman)
- 6 June: 芒種 (Bōshu)
- 21 June: 夏至 (Geshi) - Summer solstice, middle of summer
- 7 July: 小暑 (Shōsho)
- 23 July: 大暑 (Taisho)
- 7 August: 立秋 (Risshū) - Beginning of autumn
- 23 August: 処暑 (Shosho)
- 8 September: 白露 (Hakuro)
- 23 September: 秋分 (Shūbun) - Autumnal equinox, middle of autumn
- 8 October: 寒露 (Kanro)
- 23 October: 霜降 (Sōkō)
- 7 November: 立冬 (Rittō) - Beginning of winter
- 22 November: 小雪 (Shōsetsu)
- 7 December: 大雪 (Taisetsu)
- 22 December: 冬至 (Tōji) - Winter solstice, middle of winter Days can vary by ±1 day. See also: Jieqi.

Zassetsu

Shanichi days can vary as much as ±5 days. Chūgen has a fixed day. All other days can vary by ±1 day. Many zassetsu days occur on multiple seasons:
- Setsubun (節分) refers to the day before each season, or the eves of Risshun, Rikka, Rishū, and Rittō; especially the eve of Risshun.
- Doyō (土用) refers to the 18 days before each season, especially the one before fall which is known as the hottest period of a year.
- Higan (彼岸) is the seven middle days of spring and autumn, with Shunbun at the middle of the seven days for spring, Shūbun for fall.
- Shanichi (社日) is the Tsuchinoe (戊) day closest to Shunbun (middle of spring) or Shūbun (middle of fall), which can be as much as -5 to +4 days away from Shunbun/Shūbun.

Seasonal festivals

The following are known as the five seasonal festivals (節句 sekku, also 五節句 go sekku). The Sekku were made official holidays during Edo era. # January 7 (1/7) - 人日 (Jinjitsu), 七草の節句 (Nanakusa no sekku) # March 3 (3/3) - 上巳 (Jōshi, Jōmi), 桃の節句 (Momo no sekku) #: 雛祭り (Hina matsuri), Girls' Day. # May 5 (5/5) - 端午 (Tango), 端午の節句 (Tango no sekku), 菖蒲の節句 (Ayame no sekku) #: Boys' Day. Overlaps with the national holiday Children's Day. # July 7 (7/7) - 七夕 (Shichiseki, Tanabata), 星祭り (Hoshi matsuri ) # September 9 (9/9) - 重陽 (Chōyō), 菊の節句 (Kiku no sekku) Not Sekku:
- January 1 - Japanese New Year
- August 15 - Obon
- December 31 - Ōmisoka

Rokuyō

The rokuyō (六曜) are a series of six days that predict whether there will be good or bad fortune during that day. The rokuyō are still commonly found on Japanese calendars today, and are often used to plan weddings and funerals. The rokuyō are also known as the rokki (六輝). In order, they are:
- 先勝 (senshō) - Good luck before noon, bad luck after noon. Good day for beginnings (in the morning).
- 友引 (tomobiki) - Bad things will happen to your friends. Funerals avoided on this day (tomo = friend, biki = pull, thus a funeral might pull friends toward the deceased).
- 先負 (senbu) - Bad luck before noon, good luck after noon.
- 仏滅 (butsumetsu) - The day Buddha died. Most unlucky day. Weddings best avoided.
- 大安 (taian) - Most lucky day. Good day for weddings.
- 赤口 (shakkō) - The hour of the horse (11 am - 1 pm) is lucky. The rest is bad luck. The rokuyō days are easily calculated from the Japanese Lunar calendar. Lunar January 1st is always senshō, with the days following in the order given above until the end of the month. Thus, January 2nd is tomobiki, January 3rd is senbu, and so on. Lunar February 1st restarts the sequence at tomobiki. Lunar March 1st restarts at senbu, and so on for each month. The last six months repeat the patterns of the first six, so July 1st = senshō and December 1st is shakkō.

April 1

The first day of April has broad significance in Japan. It marks the beginning of the government's fiscal year. Many corporations follow suit. In addition, corporations often form or merge on that date. In recent years, municipalities have preferred it for mergers. On this date, many new employees begin their jobs, and it is the start of many real-estate leases. The school year begins on April 1. (For more see also academic term)

External links

- [http://www.ndl.go.jp/koyomi/e Japanese calendar history by the National Diet Library]
- [http://www2.gol.com/users/stever/calendar.htm The Lunar Calendar in Japan]
- [http://koyomi.vis.ne.jp/mainindex.htm Koyomi no page] in Japanese
- [http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~nm9m-hsy/koyomi/ Koyomi no hanashi] in Japanese Calendar Category:Specific calendars ja:日本のこよみ ms:Kalendar Jepun

Pope Sergius IV

Sergius IV, né Pietro Boccapecora (born in Rome, died May 12, 1012) was pope from July 31 1009 until his death. The date of his birth is unknown. His birth name is believed to have been Pietro (Peter) Martino Boccapecora, but he adopted the name Sergius upon accession to the pontificate. He is sometimes cited as the first Pope to adopt a new name, although Pope John II and Pope Agapetus I are other possible originators of this tradition. Boccapecora was the son of a shoemaker (also named Pietro) who lived in the city of Rome. Despite his family's poor background, he performed well after entering the Church, and rose quickly through the ranks. In 1004, he became Bishop of Albano. Upon the abdication of Pope John XVIII in 1009, he was elected pope, and adopted the name Sergius IV. The power held by Sergius IV was often overshadowed by Crescentius, the ruler of the city of Rome at the time. Some historians have claimed that Sergius IV was essentially a puppet ruler for Crescentius. Others, however, claimed that Sergius IV resisted Crescentius's power. There is some evidence that Sergius IV gave political backing to an anti-Crescentius faction in the city. Acts sometimes attributed to Sergius IV include measures to relieve famine in the city of Rome, the exemption of certain monasteries from episcopal rule, and a papal bull calling for Islam to be driven from the Holy Land; this bull was actually invented during the later crusades, helping to justify the expedition against Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which had been destroyed in 1009 by the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, during Sergius' reign. Sergius IV died on May 12, 1012, and was followed in the papacy by Benedict VIII. Sergius IV was buried in the Lateran Basilica, and is sometimes venerated as a saint by the Benedictines. Sergius 4 Sergius 4 Sergius 4 ko:교황 세르지오 4세

Battle of Cravant

The Battle of Cravant was an encounter fought on July 31, 1423, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces, a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies. After the Treaty of Troyes in 1420, the English king was permitted to occupy all the country north of the Loire. In 1422, with Henry V suddenly dead and an infant King Henry VI of England, hostilities recommenced. In the early summer of 1423, two allied armies, one English, one Burgundian, rendezvoused at Auxerre to counter an army for the Dauphin's cause that was marching into Burgundy, headed for Bourges. This French army also contained a large number of Scots under Sir John Stewart, who was commanding the entire mixed force. The two sides met at the village of Cravant in Burgundy, at a bridge and ford on the banks of the river Yonne, a left-bank tributary of the Seine, southeast of Auxerre. The Dauphin's forces drawn up on one bank outnumbered the English and Burgundians on the opposite bank more than two to one. The combined English and Burgundian forces, numbering some 4,000 men, were led by Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury. For three hours the forces stared each other down, neither willing to attempt an opposed river crossing. Salisbury finally took the initiative and his his army begun to cross the waist-high river, some 50 meters wide, under a covering hail of arrows from English archers. Meanwhile, another English force under Lord Willoughby de Eresby forced a passage through the Scots across the narrow bridge and divided the Dauphin's army. When the French ranks began to withdraw, the Scots refused to flee and were cut down by the hundreds. Over 3,000 of them fell at the bridgehead or along the riverbanks, and over 2,000 prisoners were taken, including John Stewart and the commander of the Dauphin's forces, the Comte de Vendome. The Dauphin's forces retreated to the Loire, leaving many prisoners behind and over 6,000 dead. The success at Cravant began the peak of English arms in the Hundred Years War.

External links

- [http://www.adhb30.dsl.pipex.com/100war25.htm Battle of Cravant] Category:1423 Cravant 1423 Category:Yonne

Yonne

Yonne is a French département named after the Yonne River.
- ja:ヨンヌ県

1498

Events

- Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visits Quelimane and Moçambique in southeastern Africa.
- May 20 - Vasco da Gama arrives at Calicut (now Kozhikode), India, becoming the first European to get there by sailing around Africa.
- May 23 - Girolamo Savonarola, ruler of Florence, is executed for criticizing the Pope.
- July 31 - On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
- Christopher Columbus lands on the South American continent.
- The Portuguese sail up to the coasts of modern Tanzania and Kenya.
- John Cabot leaves port on an expedition, never to be seen again.

Births

- Andrés de Urdaneta, Spanish Friar (died 1568)
- April 9 - John, Cardinal of Lorraine, French churchman (died 1550)
- November 15 - Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Portugal and France (died 1558)
- Giorgio Giulio Clovio, Italian painter (died 1578)
- Marten Jacobszoon Heemskerk van Veen, Dutch painter (died 1574)
- Juraj Julije Klovic, Dalmatian miniaturist (died 1578)
- Anna of Masovia, Polish princess
- Meera, Rajput princess (died 1547)
- Andreas Osiander, German protestant theologian (died 1552)
- Sagara Taketo, Japanese retainer (died 1551)
- Pier Paolo Vergerio, Italian religious reformer (died 1565)

Deaths

- March 24 - Edward Stafford, 2nd Earl of Wiltshire (born 1470)
- April 28 - Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland, English politician (killed in battle)
- April 7 - King Charles VIII of France (born 1470)
- May 23 - Girolamo Savonarola, Italian religious reformer and ruler of Florence (born 1452)
- December 7 - Alexander Hegius von Heek, German humanist
- Johannes Martini, Flemish composer
- Antonio Pollaiuolo, Italian painter
- Domenico Rosselli, Italian sculptor Category:1498 ko:1498년

Western Hemisphere

Western Hemisphere (capitalised) is a geopolitical term for the Americas and nearby islands. It is derived from the geographical western hemisphere, which is the half of the Earth that lies west of the prime meridian, but usage has shifted so that the term refers only to North, Central and South America, and the islands of the Caribbean. It is also used in a more demographic sense, for the people (and governments and nations) inhabiting the continent. The main difference between the geographical and geopolitical meanings is the exclusion of parts of Africa, Europe and Antarctica (and the eastern tip of Asia) in the latter. The word hemisphere is a geometric term that literally means 'half ball' and in geography the term is used when dividing the Earth into two halves. The most obvious dividing line is the equator, creating the northern and southern hemisphere. These hemispheres are based on the unambiguous reference points North and South Pole, which are defined by the Earth's axis of rotation and in turn define the equator. But any definition of eastern and western hemispheres requires the selection of an arbitrary meridian (plus the corresponding meridian at the other side of the Earth). Usually the prime meridian is used, which runs through Greenwich, London to define the international date line at the other side of the Earth at the 180° line of longitude. One might argue that this is a eurocentric choice, which would make the more common geopolitical meaning of 'the Americas' eurocentric as well. The term eastern hemisphere is not commonly used in a geopolitical sense. eastern hemisphere

Christopher Columbus

__NOEDITSECTION__ :For information about the film director, see the article on Chris Columbus. Christopher Columbus (1451 – 20 May 1506) (Cristóbal Colón in Spanish, Cristoforo Colombo in Italian, Cristóvão Colombo in Portuguese, Χριστόφορος Κολόμβος in Greek, Cristòfor Colom in Catalan) was an explorer and trader who crossed the Atlantic Ocean and reached the Americas on October 12, 1492 under the flag of Castile. History places a great significance on his landing in America in 1492, with the entire period of the history of the Americas before this date usually known as Pre-Columbian, and the anniversary of this event, Columbus Day, celebrated in many countries in the Americas. Although there is evidence of Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, and it is questionable whether one person can "discover" a place which is inhabited by other people, Columbus is often credited as having discovered America. His voyage marked the beginning of the Spanish and European colonization of the Americas. He was most likely Genoese, although some historians claim he could have been born in other places, from the Crown of Aragón to the Kingdoms of Galicia or Portugal, or in the Greek island of Chios among others.

Background

Chios Columbus believed that the Earth was a relatively small sphere, and argued that a ship could reach India via a westward course. The widespread notion that Columbus encountered opposition based on the idea that the Earth was flat is a literary myth created by Washington Irving. Educated people in Columbus's time agreed that the earth was round; anyone familiar with seafaring certainly knew it, since the roundness of the Earth forms the basis of celestial navigation. The main debate was over whether a ship could circumnavigate the planet without running out of food or getting stuck in windless regions such as the Sargasso Sea. Columbus was not the first European to reach the continent. Most historians today acknowledge the fact that Leif Ericson had traveled to North America from Iceland in the 11th century and set up a short-lived colony at L'Anse aux Meadows. There are also many theories of expeditions to the Americas by a variety of peoples throughout time; see Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, one of the most consistent is the exploration (before 1472) of two, led by João Vaz Corte-Real to Terra Verde (today's Newfoundland). Giovanni Caboto (better known as John Cabot) was first to reach the American mainland (which Columbus did not reach until his third voyage). However, there is one thing that sets off Columbus' first voyage from all of these: less than two decades later, the existence of America was known to the general public throughout Europe. This is likely due to the invention of the printing press. Additionally, although Columbus is credited in Western classical education as the "discoverer of America" , the two continents are named after Amerigo Vespucci, who reached what is now the coast of Brazil in 1501 and whose name was first applied to the map by cartographer Martin Waldseemüller. Columbus landed in the Bahamas and later explored much of the Caribbean, including the isles of Juana (Cuba) and La Española (Hispaniola), as well as the coasts of Central and South America. He never reached the present-day United States where "Columbus Day" (The second monday of October, with 12 October being the anniversary of Columbus' landing in the Bahamas) is celebrated as a holiday. Unlike the voyage of the Icelanders, Columbus' voyages led to a relatively quick, general and lasting recognition of the existence of the New World by the Old World, the Columbian Exchange of species (both those harmful to humans, such as viruses, bacteria, and parasites, and beneficial to humans, such as tomatoes, potatoes, maize, and horses), and the first large-scale colonization of the Americas by Europeans. Columbus remains a controversial figure. Some – including many Native Americans – view him as responsible, directly or indirectly, for the deaths of tens, if not hundreds, of millions of indigenous peoples, exploitation of the Americas by Europe, and slavery in the West Indies. Others honor him for the massive boost his explorations gave to Western expansion and culture. Italian Americans hail Columbus as an icon of their heritage. It has generally been accepted that he was Genovese, although doubts have persistently been voiced regarding this. His name in Italian is Cristoforo Colombo, in Spanish is Cristóbal Colón, in Catalan it is Cristòfor Colom and in Portuguese Cristóvão Colombo. Columbus is a Latinized form of his surname. The Latin roots of his name can be translated "Christ-bearer, Dove". Columbus' signature reads Xpo ferens ("Bearing Christ"). Columbus claimed governorship of the new territories (by prior agreement with the Spanish monarchs) and made several more journeys across the Atlantic. While regarded by some as an excellent navigator, he was seen by many contemporaries as a poor administrator and was stripped of his governorship in 1500.

Early life

There are various versions of Columbus's origins and life before 1476. (See Columbus's National Origin.) The account that has traditionally been supported by most historians is as follows: Columbus was born between August 26 and October 31 in the year 1451, in the Italian port city of Genoa. His father was Domenico Colombo, a woollens merchant, and his mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a woollens merchant. Christopher had three younger brothers, Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, and a sister, Bianchinetta. Bartolomeo In 1470, the family moved to Savona, where Christopher worked for his father in wool processing. During this period he studied cartography with his brother Bartolomeo. Christopher received almost no formal education; a voracious reader, he was largely self-taught. In 1474, Columbus joined a ship of the Spinola Financiers, who were Genoese patrons of his father. He spent a year on a ship bound towards Chios (an island in the Aegean Sea) and, after a brief visit home, spent a year in Chios. It is believed that this is where he recruited some of his sailors. A 1476, commercial expedition gave Columbus his first opportunity to sail into the Atlantic Ocean. The fleet came under attack by French privateers off the Cape of St. Vincent, Portugal. Columbus's ship was burned and he swam six miles to shore. By 1477, Columbus was living in Lisbon. Portugal had become a center for maritime activity with ships sailing for England, Ireland, Iceland, Madeira, the Azores, and Africa. Columbus's brother Bartolomeo worked as a mapmaker in Lisbon. At times, the brothers worked together as draftsmen and book collectors. He became a merchant sailor with the Portuguese fleet, and sailed to Iceland via Ireland in 1477. He sailed to Madeira in 1478 to purchase sugar, and along the coasts of West Africa between 1482 and 1485, reaching the Portuguese post of Elmina Castle in the Gulf of Guinea coast. Columbus married Felipa Perestrello Moniz, a daughter from a noble Portuguese family with some Italian ancestry, in 1479. Felipa's father, Bartolomeu Perestrelo, had partaken in finding the Madeira Islands and owned one of them (Porto Santo Island), but died when Felipa was a baby, leaving his second wife a wealthy widow. As part of his dowry, the mariner received all of Perestello's charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions of the Atlantic. Columbus and Felipa had a son, Diego Colón in 1480. Felipa died in January of 1485. Columbus later found a lifelong partner in Spain, an orphan named Beatriz Enriquez. She was living with a cousin in the weaving industry of Córdoba. They never married, but Columbus left Beatriz a rich woman and directed Diego to treat her as his own mother. The two had a son, Ferdinand in 1488. Both boys served as pages to Prince Juan, son of Ferdinand and Isabella of Castile, and each later contributed, with fabulous success, to the rehabilitation of their father's reputation.

Columbus' idea

Christian Europe, which had long enjoyed safe passage to India and China — sources of valued goods such as silk and spices — under the hegemony of the Mongol Empire (the Pax Mongolica, or "Mongol peace"), was now, after the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire, under complete economic blockade by Muslim states. In response to Muslim domination on land, Portugal sought an eastward sea route to the Indies, and promoted the establishment of trading posts and later colonies along the African coast. Columbus had a different idea. By the 1480s, he had developed a plan to travel to the Indies (then construed roughly as all of south and east Asia) by instead sailing west across the "Ocean Sea" (the Atlantic Ocean). It is sometimes claimed that the reason Columbus had difficulty obtaining support for his plan was that Europeans believed that the Earth was flat. This myth can be traced to Washington Irving's 1828 novel, The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. What was at issue was not the shape but the circumference of the earth. The fact that the Earth is round was evident to most people of Columbus' time, especially to sailors, explorers and navigators. Indeed, Eratosthenes (276-194 BC) had already in ancient Alexandrian times accurately calculated the Earth's circumference. Most scholars accepted Ptolemy's claim that the terrestrial landmass (for Europeans of the time, comprising Eurasia and Africa) occupied 180 degrees of the terrestrial sphere, leaving 180 degrees of water. Columbus, however, accepted the calculations of Pierre d'Ailly, that the landmass occupied 225 degrees, leaving only 135 degrees of water. Moreover, Columbus believed that one degree represented less distance on the earth's surface than was commonly believed. Finally, he read maps as if the distances were calculated in Roman miles (1524 meters, or 5,000 feet) rather than in nautical miles (1,853.99 meters, or 6,082.66 feet, at the equator). He therefore calculated the circumference of the Earth as at most 30,600 km (19,000 modern statute miles), and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan at 2,400 nautical miles (some 4,444 km). The problem facing Columbus was that experts did not agree with his estimate of the distance to the Indies. The true circumference of the earth is some 40,000 km (24,900 statute miles of 5,280 feet each), and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan is some 10,600 nautical miles (19,600 km). No ship in the fifteenth century could carry enough food or sail fast enough from the Canary Islands to Japan. Most European sailors and navigators concluded, correctly, that sailors undertaking a westward voyage from Europe to Asia would die of starvation or thirst long before reaching their destination. Those experts were right, but Spain, only recently unified through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, and Christianized through the expulsion of the Muslims and Jews, was desperate for a competitive edge over other European countries, in trade with the East Indies. Columbus promised them that edge. Columbus was wrong about the circumference of the earth and the distance from the Canary Islands to Japan. But all Europeans were wrong in thinking that the aquatic expanse between Europe and Asia was uninterrupted. Although Columbus died believing he had opened up a direct nautical route to Asia, he in fact established a nautical route between Europe and the Americas. It was this route to the Americas, rather than to Japan, that gave Spain the competitive edge it sought in developing a mercantile empire.

Columbus' campaign for funding

nautical mile Columbus first presented his plan to the court of Portugal in 1485. The king's experts believed that the route would be longer than Columbus thought (the actual distance is even longer than the Portuguese believed), and denied Columbus's request. It is probable that he made the same outrageous demands for himself in Portugal that he later made in Spain, where he went next. He tried to get backing from the monarchs of Aragon and Castile, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who, by marrying, had united the largest kingdoms of Spain and were ruling them together. After seven years of lobbying at the Spanish court, where he was kept on a salary to prevent him from taking his ideas elsewhere, he was finally successful in 1492. Ferdinand and Isabella had just conquered Granada, the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian peninsula, and they received Columbus in Córdoba (in the monarchs' Alcázar or castle). Isabella finally turned Columbus down on the advice of her "think tank" and he was leaving town in despair when Ferdinand lost his patience. Isabella sent a royal guard to fetch him and Ferdinand later rightfully claimed credit for being "the principal cause why those islands were discovered." About half of the financing was to come from private Italian investors, which Columbus had already lined up. Financially broke from the Granada campaign, the monarchs left it to the royal treasurer to shift funds among various royal accounts on behalf of the enterprise. Columbus was to be made Admiral of the Ocean Sea and granted an inheritable governorship to the new territories he would reach, as well as a portion of all profits. The terms were absurd, but his own son later wrote that the monarchs really didn't expect him to return.

Voyages

First voyage

Alcázar Alcázar The year 1492, on the evening of August 3, Columbus left from Palos with three ships, the Santa Maria, Niña and Pinta. The ships were property of Juan de la Cosa and the Pinzón brothers (Martin and Vicente Yáñez), but the monarchs forced the Palos inhabitants to contribute to the expedition. He first sailed to the Canary Islands, fortunately owned by Castile, where he reprovisioned and made repairs, and on September 6 started the five week voyage across the ocean. A legend is that the crew grew so homesick and fearful that they threatened to sail back to Spain. Although the actual situation is unclear, most likely the sailors' resentments merely amounted to complaints or suggestions. After 29 days out of sight of land, on 7 October 1492 as recorded in the ship's log, the crew spotted shore birds flying west and changed direction to make their landfall. A comparison of dates and migratory patterns leads to the conclusion that the birds were Eskimo curlews and American golden plover. American golden plover Land was sighted at 2 AM on October 12 by a sailor aboard Pinta named Rodrigo de Triana. Columbus called the island he reached San Salvador, although the natives called it Guanahani. The Native Americans he encountered, the Taíno or Arawak, were peaceful and friendly. He wrote with such awe of the friendly innocence and beauty of these Indians that he inadvertently created the enduring myth of the Noble Savage. "These people have no religious beliefs, nor are they idolaters. They are very gentle and do not know what evil is; nor do they kill others, nor steal; and they are without weapons.". No blood was shed on this first voyage; he believed conversion to Christianity would be achieved through love, not force. On this first voyage, Columbus also explored the northeast coast of Cuba (landed on October 28) and the northern coast of Hispãniola, by December 5. He believed the peaks of Cuba were the Himalayas of India, which gives one a sense of just how lost he was and how long it took the peoples of the world to map the Earth. (The vast interior of the North and South American mainlands would of course be largely mapped with the leadership of native guides and interpreters.) Here the Santa Maria ran aground and had to be abandoned. He was received by the native cacique Guacanagari, who gave him permission to leave some of his men behind. Columbus founded the settlement La Navidad and left 39 men. On January 4, 1493 he set sail for home, not yet understanding the elliptical nature of the trade winds that had brought him west. He wrestled his ship against the wind and ran into one of the worst storms of the century. He had no choice but to land his ship in Portugal, where he was told a fleet of 100 caravels had been lost. (Astoundingly, both the Niña and the Pinta were spared.) Some have speculated that landing in Portugal was intentional. The relations between Portugal and Castile were poor at the time, and he was held up, but finally released. Word of his finding new lands rapidly spread throughout Europe. He did not reach Spain until March 15, when the story of his journey was in its third printing. He was received as a hero in Spain, and this was his moment in the sun. He displayed several kidnapped natives and what gold he had found to the court, as well as the previously unknown tobacco plant, the pineapple fruit, the turkey and the sailor's first love, the hammock. Naturally, he did not bring any of the coveted Indian spices, such as the exceedingly expensive black pepper, ginger or cloves. In his log he wrote "there is also plenty of ají, which is their pepper, which is more valuable than [black] pepper, and all the people eat nothing else, it being very wholesome" (Turner, 2004, P11). The word ají is still used in South American Spanish for chili peppers.

Second voyage

clove Columbus left from Cádiz, Spain for his second voyage (1493-1496) on September 24 1493, with 17 ships carrying supplies and about 1200 men to assist in the subjugation of the Taíno and the colonization of the region. On October 13 the ships left the Canary Islands, following a more southerly course than on the first voyage. On November 3 1493, Columbus sighted a rugged island which he named Dominica. On the same day he landed at Marie-Galante (which he named Santa Maria la Galante). After sailing past Les Saintes (Todos los Santos), Columbus arrived at Guadaloupe (Santa Maria de Guadalupe), which he explored from November 4 through November 10. The exact course of his voyage through the Lesser Antilles is debated, but it seems likely that Columbus turned north, sighting and naming several islands including Montserrat (Santa Maria de Monstserrate), Antigua (Santa Maria la Antigua), Redonda (Santa Maria la Redonda), Nevis (Santa María de las Nieve or San Martin), Saint Kitts (San Jorge), Sint Eustatius (Santa Anastasia), Saba (San Cristobal), and Saint Martin or Saint Croix (Santa Cruz). Columbus also sighted the island chain of the Virgin Islands, (which he named Santa Ursula y las Once Mil Virgines), and named the islands of Virgin Gorda, Tortola, and Peter Island (San Pedro). Columbus continued to the Greater Antilles and landed at Puerto Rico (San Juan Bautista) on November 19 1493. On November 22, he returned to Hispaniola, where he found his colonists had fallen into dispute with Indians in the interior and had been killed. He established a new settlement at Isabella, on the north coast of Hispaniola where gold had first been found but it was a poor location and the settlement was short-lived. He spent some time exploring the interior of the island for gold and did find some, establishing a small fort in the interior. He left Hispaniola on April 24, 1494 and arrived at Cuba (which he named Juana) on April 30 and Jamaica on May 5. He explored the south coast of Cuba, which he believed to be a peninsula rather than an island, and several nearby islands including the Isle of Youth (La Evangelista) before returning to Hispaniola on August 20. Before he left on his second voyage he had been directed by Ferdinand and Isabella to maintain friendly, even loving relations with the natives. However, during his second voyage he sent a letter to the monarchs proposing to enslave some of the native peoples, specifically the Caribs, on the grounds of their aggressiveness. Although his petition was refused by the Crown, in February, 1495 Columbus took 1600 Arawak as slaves. 550 slaves were shipped back to Spain; two hundred died en route, probably of disease, and of the remainder half were ill when they arrived. After legal proceedings, the survivors were released and ordered to be shipped back home. Some of the 1600 were kept as slaves for Columbus's men, and Columbus recorded using slaves for sex in his journal. The remaining 400, who Columbus had no use for, were let go and fled into the hills, making, according to Columbus, prospects for their future capture dim. Rounding up the slaves resulted in the first major battle between the Spanish and the Indians in the new world. The main objective of Columbus's journey had been gold. To further this goal, he imposed a system on the natives in Cicao on Haiti, whereby all those above fourteen years of age had to find a certain quota of gold, which would be signified by a token placed around their necks. Those who failed to reach their quota would have their hands chopped off. Despite such extreme measures, Columbus did not manage to obtain much gold. One of the primary reasons for this was the fact that natives became infected with various diseases carried by the Europeans. In his letters to the Spanish king and queen, Columbus would repeatedly suggest slavery as a way to profit from the new colonies, but these suggestions were all rejected: the monarchs preferred to view the natives as future members of Christendom.

Third voyage and arrest

Haiti Haiti, in Andalusia.]] On May 30, 1498, Columbus left with six ships from Sanlúcar, Spain for his third trip to the New World. He was accompanied by the young Bartolome de Las Casas, who would later provide partial transcripts of Columbus's logs. After stopping in the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, Columbus landed on the south coast of the island of Trinidad on July 31. From August 4 through August 12, he explored the Gulf of Paria which separates Trinidad from Venezuela. He explored the mainland of South America, including the Orinoco River. He also sailed to the islands of Chacachcare and Margarita Island and sighted and named Tobago (Bella Forma) and Grenada (Concepcion). Initially, he described the new lands as belonging to a previously unknown new continent, but later he retreated to his position that they belonged to Asia. Columbus returned to Hispaniola on August 19 to find that many of the Spanish settlers of the new colony were discontent, having been misled by Columbus about the supposedly bountiful riches of the new world. Columbus repeatedly had to deal with rebellious settlers and Indians. He had some of his crew hanged for disobeying him. A number of returned settlers and friars lobbied against Columbus at the Spanish court, accusing him of mismanagement. The king and queen sent the royal administrator Francisco de Bobadilla in 1500, who upon arrival (August 23) detained Columbus and his brothers and had them shipped home. Columbus refused to have his shackles removed on the trip to Spain, during which he wrote a long and pleading letter to the Spanish monarchs. Although he regained his freedom, he did not regain his prestige and lost his governorship. As an added insult, the Portuguese had won the race to the Indies: Vasco da Gama returned in September 1499 from a trip to India, having sailed east around Africa.

Fourth and final voyage

India Nevertheless, Columbus made a fourth voyage, nominally in search of the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. Accompanied by his brother Bartolomeo and his thirteen-year old son Fernando, Columbus left Cádiz, Spain on May 11, 1502. On June 15, they landed at Carbet on the island of Martinique (Martinica). A hurricane was brewing, so Columbus continued on, hoping to find shelter on Hispaniola. Columbus arrived at Santo Domingo on June 29, but was denied port. Instead, the ships anchored at the mouth of the Jaina River. After a brief stop at Jamaica, Columbus sailed to Central America, arriving at Guanaja (Isla de Pinos) in the Bay Islands off the coast of Honduras on July 30. Here Bartholomew found native merchants and a large canoe, which was described as "long as a galley" and was filled with cargo. On August 14, Columbus landed on the American mainland at Puerto Castilla, near Trujillo, Honduras. Columbus spent two months exploring the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, before arriving in Almirante Bay, Panama on October 16. In Panama, Columbus learned from the natives of gold and a strait to another ocean. After much exploration, he established a garrison at the mouth of Rio Belen in January 1503. On April 6, one of the ships became stranded in the river. At the same time, the garrison was attacked, and the other ships were damaged. Columbus left for Hispaniola on April 16, but sustained more damage in a storm off the coast of Cuba. Unable to travel any farther, the ships were beached in St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, on June 25, 1503. Columbus and his men were stranded on Jamaica for a year. Two Spaniards, with native paddlers, were sent by canoe to get help from Hispaniola. In the meantime Columbus, in a desperate effort to induce the natives to continue provisioning him and his hungry men, successfully intimidated the natives by correctly predicting a lunar eclipse, using the Ephemeris of the German astronomer Regiomontanus. Grudging help finally arrived on June 29, 1504, and Columbus and his men arrived in Sanlúcar, Spain, on November 7.

Later life

November 7] While Columbus had always given the conversion of non-believers as one reason for his explorations, he grew increasingly religious in his later years. He claimed to hear divine voices, lobbied for a new crusade to capture Jerusalem, often wore Franciscan habit, and described his explorations to the "paradise" as part of God's plan which would soon result in the Last Judgement and the end of the world. In his later years Columbus demanded that the Spanish Crown give him 10% of all profits made in the new lands, pursuant to earlier agreements. Because he had been relieved of his duties as governor, the crown felt not bound by these contracts and his demands were rejected. His family later sued for part of the profits from trade with America, but ultimately lost some fifty years later. On May 20, 1506, Columbus died in Valladolid, fairly wealthy due to the gold his men had accumulated in Hispaniola. He was still convinced that his journeys had been along the East Coast of Asia. Following his death, the body of Columbus underwent excarnation - the flesh was removed so that only his bones remained. Even after his death, his travels continued: first interred in Valladolid and then at the monastery of La Cartja in Seville, by the will of his son Diego, who had been governor of Hispaniola, the remains were transferred to Santo Domingo in 1542. In 1795 the French took over, and the corpse was removed to Havana. After the war of 1898, Cuba became independent and Columbus's remains were moved back to the cathedral of Seville, where they were placed on an elaborate catafalque. However, a lead box bearing an inscription identifying "Don Christopher Columbus' and containing fragments of bone and a bullet was discovered at Santo Domingo in 1877. To lay to rest claims that the wrong relics were moved to Havana and that Columbus is still buried in the cathedral of Santo Domingo, DNA samples were taken in June 2003 (History Today August 2003). He was canonized by the antipope Gregory XVII, leader of the breakaway Palmarian Catholic Church.

Columbus' national origin

Serious doubts have been expressed regarding Columbus's national origin. Although in the popular culture he is generally assumed to be Italian (Genoese), his actual background is clouded in mystery. Very little is really known about Columbus before the mid-1470s. It has been suggested that this might have been because he was hiding something—an event in his origin or history that he deliberately kept a secret. The issue of Columbus's 'nationality' became an issue after the rise of nationalism; the issue was scarcely raised until the time of the quadricentenary celebrations in 1892 (see World's Columbian Exposition), when Columbus's Genoese origins became a point of pride for some Italian Americans. In New York City, rival statues of Columbus were underwritten by the Hispanic and the Italian communities, and honourable positions had to be found for each, at Columbus Circle and in Central Park. One hypothesis is that Columbus served under the French corsair Guillaume Casenove Coulon and took his surname, but later tried to hide his piracy. Some Basque historians have claimed that he was Basque. Others had said that he was a converso (Spanish Jew converted to Christianity). In Spain, even converted Jews were forced to leave Spain after much persecution; it was suggested that many conversos were still practicing Judaism in secret and their success created much envy. Another theory is that he was from the island of Corsica, which at the time was part of the Genoese republic. Because the often subversive elements of the island gave its inhabitants a bad reputation, he would have masked his exact heritage. A few others also claim that Columbus was actually Catalan (Colom). Catalan Documents found in the Alentejo region of Portugal suggest he may have been born there. In accordance with this theory, he named the island of Cuba after the Portuguese town Cuba in Alentejo — the town where he, according to Portuguese historians, had been born under the name of Salvador Fernandes Zarco (SFZ), son of Fernando, Duke of Beja, and Isabel Sciarra — and grandson of Cecília Colonna. The Portuguese-origin thesis has him using Colom as a pseudonym. This is based on interpretation of some facts and documents of his life (as above), but mostly on an analysis of his signature under the Jewish Kabbalah, where he described his family and origin (by Macarenhas Barreto: "Fernandus Ensifer Copiae Pacis Juliae illaqueatus Isabella Sciarra Camara Mea Soboles Cubae.", or "Ferdinand who holds the sword of power of Beja (Pax Julia in Latin), coupled with Isabel Sciarra Camara, are my generation from Cuba"). Since he never signed his name conventionally, the pseudonymus theory is reinforced, his name meaning in Latin "Bearer of Christ" (Christo ferens) "and of the Holy Spirit" (Columbus, dove in Latin), a reference to the Order of Christ which succeeded the Templars in Portugal and initiated the age of exploration. The corollary of the above is that he was (i) knowingly diverting the Castilian kings from their target – India and (ii) had all the reasons to hide his identity and origin, as Portugal was the biggest rival of Spain (