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June 21

June 21

June 21 is the 172nd day of the year (173rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 193 days remaining. This day usually marks the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere and the winter solstice in the southern hemisphere, and thus is the day of the year with the longest hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere and the shortest in the southern hemisphere.

Events


- 524 - Battle of Vezerone: Burgundy triumphs over the French.
- 1621 - an execution of 27 Czech lords on the Old Town Square in Prague as a consequence of the battle on the "White Mountain".
- 1665 - First soldiers of Le Régiment de Carignan-Salières arrive at Quebec to invade Iroquois territories.
- 1734 - In Montreal in New France (today primarily Quebec), a black slave known by the French name of Marie-Joseph Angélique was tortured and hanged by the French authorities in a public ceremony that involved her disgrace and the amputation of a hand.
- 1749 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, founded.
- 1788 - New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution and is thus admitted as the 9th state in the United States.
- 1798 - Irish Rebellion of 1798: The British Army defeats Irish rebels at Battle of Vinegar Hill
- 1813 - Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria
- 1813 - Laura Secord sets out to warn British forces of an impending U.S. attack on Queenston, Ontario.
- 1824 - Greek War of Independence: Egyptian forces capture Psara in the Aegean Sea.
- 1826 - Maniots defeat Egyptians under Ibrahim Pasha in the Battle of Vergas
- 1854 - First Victoria Cross won during bombardment of Bomarsund in the Aland Islands.
- 1859 - Franco-Austrian War: Battle of Solférino is fought. Witnessed by Henri Dunant, the results were the Geneva Conventions and the Red Cross.
- 1864 - Maori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends.
- 1877 - The Molly Maguires, ten Irish immigrants who were labor activists, are hanged in the Carbon County, Pennsylvania Prison.
- 1887 - Queen Victoria's golden jubilee.
- 1898 - Guam becomes a U.S. territory.
- 1915 - The U.S. Supreme Court hands down its decision in Guinn v. United States 238 US 347 1915, striking down an Oklahoma law denying the right to vote to some citizens.
- 1919 - Royal Canadian Mounted Police fire a volley into a crowd of unemployed war veterans, killing two, during the Winnipeg General Strike.
- 1919 - Admiral Ludvig von Reuter scuttles the German fleet in Scapa Flow, Orkney. The nine sailors killed were the last casualties of the First World War.
- 1939 - The New York Yankees U.S. baseball team announce Lou Gehrig's retirement.
- 1940 - World War II: France surrenders to Germany.
- 1940 - First successful west-to-east navigation of Northwest Passage begins at Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 1942 - World War II: Tobruk falls to German forces.
- 1942 - World War II: A Japanese submarine surfaces near the Columbia River in Oregon, firing 17 shells at nearby Fort Stevens in one of only a handful of attacks by the Japanese against the U.S. mainland.
- 1945 - World War II: Battle of Okinawa ends.
- 1947 - A seaman named Harold Dahl claims to have seen six UFOs near Maury Island, United States. The next morning Dahl reported the first modern MIB encounter.
- 1957 - Ellen Louks Fairclough sworn in as Canada's first woman Cabinet Minister
- 1964 - Three civil rights workers, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, are murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, United States, by members of the Ku Klux Klan.
- 1965 - Folk rock band The Byrds release their highly influential debut album Mr. Tambourine Man.
- 1973 - In handing down the decision in Miller v. California 413 US 15, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller Test, which now governs obscenity in U.S. law.
- 1982 - John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
- 1982 - Fête de la Musique street music festival inaugurated in France by Jack Lang.
- 1989 - The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson that flag burning is protected speech under the United States Constitution.
- 2000 - Section 28 repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
- 2003 - Deputy Justice Fazel Ahmed Manawi of the Afghan Supreme Court announces that Aftab editor Sayed Madawi and his deputy Ali Payam Sestani will be tried for "libeling Islam."
- 2003 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's hugely popular Harry Potter series, is published.
- 2004 - SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately funded spaceplane to achieve spaceflight.
- 2005 - Donald Tsang Yam Kuen is appointed by the People's Republic of China to take over from Tung Chee Hwa as the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Births


- 1002 (O.S.) - Pope Leo IX (d. 1054)
- 1226 (O.S.) - King Boleslaus V of Poland (d. 1279)
- 1535 (O.S.) - Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (d. 1596)
- 1639 (O.S.) - Increase Mather, New England Puritan minister (d. 1723)
- 1646 (O.S.) - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, German philosopher and scientist (d. 1716)
- 1676 (O.S.) - Anthony Collins, English philosopher (d. 1729)
- 1712 - Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (d. 1790)
- 1732 - Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, German composer (d. 1791)
- 1736 (O.S.) - Enoch Poor, American general in the Continental Army (d. 1780)
- 1759 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman and financier (d. 1817)
- 1763 - Pierre Paul Royer-Collard, French philosopher (d. 1845)
- 1764 - Sidney Smith, British admiral (d. 1840)
- 1774 - Daniel D. Tompkins, Congressman, Governor of New York, and sixth Vice President of the United States
- 1781 - Siméon-Denis Poisson, French mathematician and physicist (d. 1840)
- 1811 - Carlo Matteucci, Italian physicist (d. 1868)
- 1823 - Jean Chacornac, French astronomer (d. 1873)
- 1825 - William Stubbs, English historian and Anglican bishop of Oxford
- 1839 - Machado de Assis, Brazilian writer (d. 1908)
- 1859 - Henry Ossawa Tanner, American painters (d. 1937)
- 1862 - Damrong Rajanubhab, Thai prince and historian (d. 1943)
- 1863 - Max Wolf, German astronomer (d. 1932)
- 1864 - Heinrich Wölfflin, Swiss art historian (d. 1945)
- 1880 - Arnold Gesell, American psychologist and pediatrician (d.1961)
- 1882 - Rockwell Kent, American artist (d. 1971)
- 1883 - Lluís Companys i Jover, President of Catalonia (d. 1940)
- 1884 - Claude Auchinleck, British field marshal (d. 1981)
- 1887 - Norman L. Bowen, Canadian petrologist (d. 1956)
- 1889 - Ralph Craig, American athlete (d. 1972)
- 1891 - Pier Luigi Nervi, Italian architect (d. 1979)
- 1891 - Hermann Scherchen, German conductor (d. 1966)
- 1892 - Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian (d. 1971)
- 1893 - Alois Hába, Czech composer (d. 1973)
- 1896 - Charles B. Momsen, American inventor (d. 1967)
- 1898 - Donald C. Peattie, American botanist and writer (d. 1964)
- 1903 - Al Hirschfeld, American cartoonist (d. 2003)
- 1905 - Jean-Paul Sartre, French philosopher and writer, Nobel Prize laureate (declined) (d. 1980)
- 1908 - Yoon Bong-Gil, Korean resister against Japanese occupation of Korea (d. 1932)
- 1912 - Mary McCarthy, American writer (d. 1989)
- 1914 - William Vickrey, Canadian economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
- 1919 - Gower Champion, dancer and choreographer (d. 1980)
- 1919 - Gérard Pelletier, French journalist, politician, and diplomat (d. 1997)
- 1921 - Judy Holliday, American actress (d. 1965)
- 1921 - Jane Russell, American actress
- 1925 - Maureen Stapleton, American actress
- 1926 - Conrad Hall, Tahitian-born cinematographer (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Carl Stokes, Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio (d. 1996)
- 1930 - Sir Gerald Kaufman, British politician
- 1931 - Margaret Mary O'Shaughnessy Heckler, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services
- 1935 - Françoise Sagan, French writer (d. 2004)
- 1939 - Ruben Berrios, Puerto Rican politician
- 1940 - Mariette Hartley, American actress
- 1942 - Henry Taylor, American poet
- 1943 - Salomé, Spanish singer
- 1944 - Ray Davies, English musician (The Kinks)
- 1946 - Brenda Holloway, American musician
- 1947 - Meredith Baxter, American actress
- 1947 - Michael Gross, American actor
- 1947 - Shirin Ebadi, Iranian activist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
- 1948 - Ian McEwan, English writer
- 1948 - Lionel Rose, Australian boxer
- 1948 - Andrzej Sapkowski, Polish writer
- 1950 - Anne Carson, Canadian poet
- 1951 - Nils Lofgren, American musician
- 1953 - Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan
- 1954 - Robert Menasse, Austrian writer
- 1955 - Tim Bray, Canadian computer programmer
- 1955 - Michel Platini, French footballer
- 1955 - Leigh McCloskey, American actor
- 1957 - Berkeley Breathed, American cartoonist and author
- 1958 - Gennady Padalka, cosmonaut
- 1959 - Marcella Detroit, singer and songwriter (Shakespear's Sister)
- 1959 - Kathy Mattea, American country singer
- 1962 - Viktor Tsoi, Russian musician
- 1964 - Doug Savant, American actor
- 1966 - Rudi Bakhtiar, American journalist
- 1970 - Sindee Coxx, American pornographic actress
- 1973 - Juliette Lewis, American actress
- 1976 - Mike Einziger, American musician (Incubus)
- 1976 - Nigel Lappin, Australian footballer
- 1981 - Brandon Flowers, American singer and keyboardist (The Killers)
- 1982 - Prince William of Wales
- 1985 - Lee Croft, English footballer

Deaths


- 1305 - King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia and Poland (b. 1271)
- 1377 - King Edward III of England (b. 1312)
- 1527 - Niccolò Machiavelli, Italian historian and political author (b. 1469)
- 1529 - John Skelton, English poet
- 1547 - Sebastiano del Piombo, Italian painter (b. 1485)
- 1582 - Oda Nobunaga, Japanese warlord (b. 1534)
- 1591 - Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian saint (b. 1568)
- 1621 - Kryštof Harant, Polish soldier, writer, and composer (b. 1564)
- 1652 - Inigo Jones, English architect (b. 1573)
- 1738 - Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, English statesman (b. 1674)
- 1796 - Richard Gridley, American Revolutionary soldier (b. 1710)
- 1824 - Étienne Aignan, French writer (b. 1773)
- 1874 - Anders Jonas Ångström, Swedish physicist (b. 1814)
- 1908 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (b. 1844)
- 1914 - Bertha von Suttner, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
- 1934 - Thorne Smith, American author (b. 1892)
- 1951 - Charles Dillon Perrine, American astronomer (b. 1867)
- 1952 - Wilfrid 'Wop' May, Canadian aviation pioneer (b. 1896)
- 1957 - Johannes Stark, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1874)
- 1964 - Andrew Goodman, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
- 1964 - James Chaney, American civil rights activist (b. 1943)
- 1964 - Michael Schwerner, American civil rights activist (b. 1939)
- 1969 - Maureen Connolly, American tennis player (b. 1934)
- 1970 - Sukarno, President of Indonesia (b. 1901)
- 1976 - Margaret Herrick, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences director (b. 1902)
- 1979 - Angus Maclise, American mystic, shaman, musician, and composer (b. 1938)
- 1980 - Bert Kaempfert, German orchestra leader and songwriter (b. 1923)
- 1985 - Tage Erlander, Prime Minister of Sweden (b. 1901)
- 1997 - Fidel Velázquez Sánchez, Mexican labor leader (b. 1900)
- 2000 - Alan Hovhaness, American composer (b. 1911)
- 2001 - Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
- 2001 - John Lee Hooker, American musician (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Roger Neilson, Canadian hockey coach (b. 1934)
- 2003 - Leon Uris, American writer (b. 1924)
- 2004 - Leonel Brizola, Brazillian politician (b. 1922)
- 2005 - Jaime Cardinal Sin, Filipino Catholic Archbishop of Manila (b. 1928)

Holidays and Observances


- Summer solstice (Northern hemisphere) and Winter solstice (Southern hemisphere)
- Astrology: First day of sun sign Cancer
- National Aboriginal Day in Canada (starting in 1996)
- Midsummer – Neopagan festival – Litha
- National Day of Greenland
- Fête de la Musique in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

External links


- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/21 BBC: On This Day]
- [http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/20050621.html The New York Times: On This Day] ---- June 20 - June 22 - May 21 - July 21 – listing of all days ko:6월 21일 ms:21 Jun ja:6月21日 simple:June 21 th:21 มิถุนายน

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

Summer solstice

on the northern hemisphere summer solstice]] The summer solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the sun in relation to the celestial equator. At the time of the summer solstice, the earth is at a point in its orbit where one hemisphere is most tilted towards the sun, causing the sun to appear at 23.45 degrees above the celestial equator, thus making its highest path across the sky. The summer solstice is the day of the year with the longest daylight period and hence the shortest night. This day usually occurs on June 21/June 22 in the northern hemisphere and on December 21/December 22 in the southern hemisphere. The actual date changes due to differences between the calendar year and the tropical year.

The solar term Xiazhi in Chinese astronomy

Xiazhi (夏至) is a solar term begins when Sun lies between the celestial longitude of 90° and 105°. It sometimes refers in particular to the day when Sun exactly at the celestial longitude of 90°. It usually begins around June 21, and ends around July 7.

Holidays

The summer solstice along with the winter solstice, vernal equinox, and autumnal equinox were discovered by people in the northern hemisphere and originally referred to northern hemisphere seasons. Midsummer is the time around the summer solstice. There are traditional holidays celebrated in Northern Europe and elsewhere at this time. In Denmark midsummers eve is known as Sankt Hans Aften. Bonfires are lit on beaches throughout the land as darkness comes and effigies and fireworks are thrown into the fires. Summer Solstice is also celebrated as a Wiccan sabbat, called Litha. Every year, a celebration takes place at Stonehenge. (See Sun mythology) In the USA, Canada, Britain and some other countries, the summer solstice is regarded as the start of summer. In other countries, the summer solstice is regarded as midsummer. For example, in Ireland, summer begins on May 1 and ends on July 31. Similary, traditional East Asian calendars (see jieqi) refers to the summer solstice as the "extreme of summer" and not the start. The Slavs celebrate the shortest night of the year as St. John's Night.

External links


- [http://www.2stonehenge.com/summer-solstice.html Summer Solstice celebrations at Stonehenge.]
- [http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/misc/badseasons.html The seasons begin at the time of the solstice or equinox] (from the Bad Astronomer)
- [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_170b.html Solstice does not signal season's start?] (from The Straight Dope)
- [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/seasondate.htm Solstice dates and times]
- [http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_sw/ve/ve.php Online Calculator for Dates and Times of Equinoxes and Solstices]
- [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/EarthSeasons.html Earth's Seasons, Equinoxes, Solstices, Perihelion, and Aphelion, 1992-2020] (from the United States Naval Observatory's Astronomical Applications Department)
- [http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/astronomy/SummerSolstice.html Plot that shows how the date of the summer solstice shifts through the Gregorian calendar] Xiazhi Category:Spherical astronomy Category:Celestial mechanics ko:하지 ja:夏至 th:ครีษมายัน Hi...TEHE

524

Events
- Childebert I annexes Orléans and Chartres after the death of Chlodomer. Births Deaths
- Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, philosopher (executed) (or 525)
- Chlodomer, king of Orléans Category:524 ko:524년

Czech

Czech may refer to the following:
- The Czech people
- The Czech language
- Of or relating to the Czech Republic; or to the Czech lands, especially Bohemia and Moravia
- Of or relating to Czechoslovakia (erroneously)
- Čech, the legendary founder of Bohemia.

Prague

Prague (Czech: Praha, see also other names) is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated on the Vltava river in central Bohemia, it is home to approximately 1.2 million people. (It can be derived from jobs statistics, however, that an additional 300,000 work there without having registered as residents.) Prague is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Nicknames for Prague have included "city of a hundred spires", "the golden city", "the Left Bank of the Nineties", the "mother of cities", and "the heart of Europe". Since 1992, the historic center of Prague has been included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites.

History

The area on which Prague was founded was settled in ancient times since the Paleolithic Age. Around 200 BC the Celts had a settlement in the south, called Závist, but later they were expelled by Germans. The Slavs conquered the site from the 4th century AD onwards, though for a period were subdued by the Mongolian Avars. According to a Legend, Prague was founded by the Princess Libuše and her husband, Přemysl, founder of the dynasty with the same name. Being true or not this legend, Prague's first nucleum was founded in the latter part of the 9th century as a castle on a hill commanding the right bank of the Vltava: this is known as Vyšehrad ("old castle") to differentiate from an other castle which was later erected on the opposite bank, the future Hradčany. Soon the city became the seat of the kings of Bohemia, some of whom also reigned as emperors of the Holy Roman Empire in later times. It was an important seat for trading where merchants coming from all Europe settled, including many Jews, as recalled by the Jewish merchant and traveler Ibrahim ibn Ya'qub in 965. The city became a bishopric in 973. King Wladislas II had a first bridge on the Vltava built in 1170, the Judith Bridge, which crumbled down in 1342. The Charles Bridge was later built on its foundings. In 1257, under King Otakar II, Malá Strana ("Small Side") was founded in Prague in the future Hradčany area: it was the district of the German people. These had the right to administrate the law in autonomous way, referring to the Magdeburg's legislation. The new district was on the opposite bank of the Staré Mesto ("Old Town"), which had then a borough status and was defended by a line of walls on fortifications. The city flourished during the 14th century reign of Charles IV, of the new Luxembourg dynasty. He ordered the building of the New Town (Nové Mesto) adjacent to the Old Town. The Charles Bridge was erected to connect the new district to Malá Strana. Monuments by Charles include also the Saint Vitus Cathedral, the oldest gothic cathedral in central Europe which is actually inside the Castle, and the Charles University. The latter is the oldest university in central Europe. Prague was then the third-largest city in Europe. Under Charles Prague was the actual capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and its rank was elevated to that of archbishopric. It had also a mint and German and Italian merchant, as well as bankers, were present in the city. The social order, however, became more turbulent due to the rising power of the craftsmen's guild, themselves often torn by internal fights, and the presence of increasing number of poor people. Under King Wenceslas IV (1378-1419) Jan Hus, a theologian and lector at the University, held his preachers and sermons in Prague. Since 1402 he summoned his followers in the Bethlehem Chapel, speaking in Czech language in order to enlarge as much as possible the diffusion of his ideas about the renovation of the church. Having become too much dangerous for the political and religious establishment, Hus was burned in Constance in 1415. Four years later Prague experienced its first defenestration, when the people rebelled under the command of the Prague priest Jan Želivský and threw the city's counselors from the New Town Hall. The Hus' death had spurred the so-called Hussite revolt. In 1420 peasant rebels, led by the famous general Jan Žižka, along with Hussite troops from Prague, defeated the Bohemian King Sigismund, in the Battle of Vítkov Mountain. In the following two centuries Prague strengthened its role as a merchant city. Many notheworthy Gothic buildings were erected, including the Vladislav Hall in the Hradčany. In 1526 the Kingdom of Bohemia was handed over to the Habsburg house: the fervent Catholicism of its members was to have grevious consequences in Bohemia, and then in Prague, where Protestant ideas were having instead increasing success. These problems were not preeminent under Emperor Rudolf II, elected King of Bohemia in 1576, who chose Prague as his home. He lived in the Castle where he held his bizarre courts of astrologers, magicians and other strange figures. This was a prosperous period for the city: famous people living there in that age include the astronomers Tycho Brahe and Johann Kepler, the painter Arcimboldo and others. In 1618 the famous Defenestration of Prague provoked the Thirty Years' War. Ferdinand II of Habsburg was deposed, and his place as King of Bohemia taken by Frederick V of Pfalz. But the Czech army was crushed in the Battle of the White Mountain (1620), not far from the city, and thenceforth Prague and Bohemia lived a harsh period in which religious tolerance was abolished and Catholic Counter-Reformation became dominant in every aspect of life. The city suffered also under Saxon (1631) and Swedish (1648) occupation. Moreover, after the Peace of Westphalia of the latter year, Ferdinand moved the court to Vienna, and Prague began a steady decline which reduced the population from the 60,000 it had had in the years before the war to 20,000. In 1689 a great burning devasted Prague, but this spurred a renovation and a rebuilding of the city. The economic rise continued through the following century, and the city in 1771 had 80,000 inhabitants. Many of these were rich merchants who, together with noblemen of German, Spanish and even Italian origin, enriched the city with a host of palaces, churches and gardens, creating a Baroque style renowned throughout the world. In 1784, under Joseph II, the four municipalities of Malá Strana, Nové Mesto, Staré Mesto and Hradcany were merged into a single entity. The Jewish district, called Josefov, was included only in 1850. The Industrial Revolution had a strong effect in Prague, as factories could take advantage of the coal mines and ironworks of the nearby region. A first suburb, Karlín, was created in 1817, and twenty years later population exceeded 100,000. The first railway connection was built in 1842. The revolutions that shocked all Europe around 1848 touched Prague too, but they were fiercely suppressed. In the following years the Czech nationalist movement (opposed to another nationalist party, the German one) began its rise, until it gained the majority in the Town Council in 1861. World War I ended with the defeat of the Austrian Empire and the creation of Czechoslovakia. Prague was chosen as its capital. At this time Prague was a true European capital with a very developed industry. In 1930 the population had risen to a startling 850,000. For most of his history Prague had been a multiethnic city with important Czech, German, and (a mostly Yiddish- and/ or German-speaking) Jewish populations. From 1939, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany, and during World War II, most Jews either fled the city or were killed in the Holocaust. The German population, which had formed the majority of the city's inhabitants until the 19th century, was expelled in the aftermath of the war. Prague's people had revolted against the Nazi occupants as early as May 5, 1945, and four days later the Soviet army entered the city. Prague was thenceforth the capital of a Communist Republic under the military and political control of Soviet Union, and in 1955 it entered in the Warsaw Pact. The always lively intellectual world of Prague, however, suffered under the totalitarian regime, in spite of the rather careful program of rebuilding and caring of the damaged monuments after World War II. In the 4th Czechoslovakian Writers' Congress held in the city in 1967 they took a strong position against the regime. This spurred the new secretary of Communist Party, Alexander Dubček to proclaim a new deal in his city and country's life, starting the short-lived season of the "socialism with a human face". It was the Prague Spring, which aimed to the renovation of institutions in a democratic way. Soviet Union and the other Warsaw Pact reacted occupying Czechoslovakia and the capital in August 1968, suppressing under tanks' tracks any attempt of renovation. In 1989, after the Berlin Wall had fallen, and the Velvet Revolution crowded the streets of Prague, Czechoslovakia could finally restart this program, and Prague benefited deeply of the new mood. In 1993, after the split of Czechoslovakia, Prague became capital city of the new Czech Republic. Czech Republic Czech Republic]] ---- Most important moments of Prague history in chronological sequence:
- 870   Prague Castle founded
- 1085 Prague became the seat of kings - 1st king Vratislaus II.
- 1344 the Prague Bishopric became Archdiocese
- 1346 the rule of Charles IV. - Prague capital of Holy Roman Empire
- 1348 founded University of Prague (Charles University)
- 1378 Jan Hus´s reformations
- 1419 1st Prague defenestration
- 1420 battle on Vítkov Mountain - Hussites win over crusaders
- 1583 rule of Rudolf II - city for the 2nd time the capital of Holy Roman Empire and cultural center of Europe
- 1618 2nd Prague defenestration sparked off the Thirty Years' War
- 1621 there was an execution of 27 Czech lords on the Old Town Square as a consequence of the Battle of White Mountain
- 1648 the west bank of Prague (including the Prague Castle) occupied and looted by Swedish armies
- 1741 occupation by French-Bavarian armies
- 1744 occupation by Prussian armies
- 1848 revolutionary uprising crushed by imperial army
- 1890 big flood caused extreme damage
- 1918 after the World War I Prague became the capital of Czechoslovakia
- 1938 after political betrayal of allied (France and Britain at Munich) Germany occupied Sudetenland and in 1939 whole country
- 1942 Czechoslovak paratroopers killed Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis respond with wave of terror
- 1945 U.S. Air Force bombing raid kills hundreds of Praguers by mistake. (Target was Dresden, 83 miles away).
- 1945 uprising against the Nazis during the last days of World War II, ended with the arrival of the Red Army.
- 1948 communist takeover of power
- 1968 Soviet army invasion to repress the Prague Spring
- 1989 Prague is the main center of Velvet Revolution (the fall of communist regime)
- 2000 Anti-globalization Protests in Prague (some 15,000 protesters) turned violent during the IMF and World Bank summits
- 2002 Prague suffered from flooding, parts of the city were evacuated but no major landmarks destroyed ---- The four independent boroughs that had formerly constituted Prague were eventually proclaimed a single city in 1784. Those four cities were Hradčany (the Castle District, west and north of the Castle), Lesser Quarter (Malá Strana, south of the Castle), Old Town (Staré Město, on the east bank opposite the Castle) and New Town (Nové Město, further south and east). The city underwent further expansion with the annexation of Josefov in 1850 and Vyšehrad in 1883, and at the beginning of 1922, another 37 municipalities were incorporated, raising the city's population to 676,000. In 1938 population reached 1,000,000.

Sights

Prague is a popular tourist destination. There are lots of old buildings, many with beautiful murals on them. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Nouveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern. Some of its many tourist attractions are: ultra-modern
- Old Town (Staré Město)
- Lesser Quarter (Malá Strana)
- Prague Castle (the largest castle in the world) with its St. Vitus Cathedral
- the Charles Bridge
- the Lennon Wall
- Old Town Square and the Astronomical Clock
- Josefov (the old Jewish quarter)
- Wenceslas Square
- National Museum
- Vyšehrad castle
- Petrinska Rozhledna, an observation tower, which is nearly a 1:5 copy of Eiffel Tower
- Žižkov Television Tower with observation deck
- Žižkov cemetery, location of Franz Kafka's grave
- the Metronome, a giant, functional metronome that looms over the city
- The Dancing Building (Fred and Ginger)
- Various places connected to Franz Kafka Franz Kafka Franz Kafka Franz Kafka

Culture

Prague is a traditional cultural centre of Europe, hosting many cultural events. Most Important Cultural Institutions:
- National Theatre
- The Rudolfinum (home to the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra)
- National Opera
- National Museum
- National Library
- National Gallery There are hundreds of concert halls, galleries, cinemas and music clubs in the city. Prague also hosts Film Festivals, Music Festivals, Writers Festival, hundreds of Vernissages and Fashion Shows. See also
- Prague Spring International Music Festival
- Prague Autumn International Music Festival
- Febiofest
- One World Film Festival
- Echoes of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
- Barrandov Studios
- Prague Writers Festival
- Prague International Organ Festival
- Prague Fringe Festival
- World Roma Festival
- Mozart´s Don Giovanni premier
- Michael Flatley Celtic Tiger European premiere

Economy

Prague is the wealthiest city in Eastern Europe. The GDP per capita of Prague is more than double that of the Czech Republic as a whole. The city is becoming a site of European headquarters of many international companies. Since the late 1990s, Prague has become a popular filming location for international productions and Hollywood motion pictures. Unlike many other European cities, Prague did not suffer great destruction during World War II, and the city is often used as a "stand in" for other pre-WW2 European cities, such as Amsterdam or London. [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117799914?categoryid=8&cs=1] [http://www.indiadaily.com/breaking_news/46945.asp] A combination of architecture, low costs, tax breaks, and the existing motion picture infrastructure have proved attractive to international film production companies.

Colleges and universities

The city contains eight universities and colleges including the oldest university in Central and Eastern Europe: university
- Charles University (UK) founded in 1348
- Czech Technical University (ČVUT) founded in 1707
- Academy of Fine Arts (AVU) founded in 1800
- Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (VŠUP) founded in 1885
- Institute of Chemical Technology (VŠCHT) founded in 1920
- Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) founded in 1945
- Czech University of Agriculture (ČZU) founded in 1952
- University of Economics (VŠE) founded in 1953

Transportation

Public transport infrastructure consists of three metro lines, trams (including nostalgic tram no.91), buses and a funicular to Petřín Hill. The city is a railroad hub. Prague is served by Ruzyně International Airport (10,000,000 passengers per year), which is the hub of the flag carrier, CSA Czech Airlines. There are several cheap flights per day from UK (Easyjet) and from other cities (Smartwings).

Taxis

The taxi service in Prague has had a somewhat chequered history. During the rule of Communist Party in Czechoslovakia (1948–1989), the taxi service was nationalised into one umbrella company, and, with a short exception during liberalization related to the Prague Spring, no independent taxi drivers were allowed. The quality and availability of the service was low. This caused many enterprising people to run illegal taxi services. Their earnings were far above income of typical citizens and became a source of envy. After the fall of the Communist regime, the service was liberalized and anyone could become a taxi driver. Unfortunately, the chaos of transition from planned to market economy did not leave any time to implement sufficient regulations. The lack of planning and controls has led to a number of serious taxi scams operating in the city; some of which have been linked with organised crime. Many of the victims of overpricing are tourists. Taxi services in Prague can currently be divided into three sectors. There are major taxicab companies, operating call-for-taxi services (radio-taxi) or from regulated taxi stands, where overpricing is rare and regulation mostly in place. There are independent drivers, who make pick-ups on the street; cheating is mostly associated with these cars. Lastly, there are fake taxi drivers, who operate as "contractual transport services" in order to avoid government regulation.

Sport

Prague is the site of many sports events, national stadiums and teams
- Prague International Marathon
- Sparta Prague -> UEFA Champions League
- Slavia Prague -> UEFA Cup
- Sazka Arena -> 2004 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships and Euroleague Final Four 2006
- Strahov Stadium - the largest stadium in the world
- and more

Miscellaneous

Strahov Stadium] Prague is also the site of most important offices and institutions of the Czech Republic and Central Europe.
- President of Czech Republic
- The Government and both houses of the Parliament
- Czech Television and other major TV stations
- Radio Free Europe - Radio Liberty
- Prague Institute for Global Urban Development
- People in Need - humanitarian organization
- Forum 2000 - international political, sociological, economical and philosophical conference
- and more

Prague - Venue

Major events of recent years:
- NATO Summit 2002
- International Monetary Fund and World Bank Summit 2000
- International Olympic Committee Session 2004
- International Astronomical Union General Assembly 2006
- and thousands of smaller events

Famous People connected with Prague

: See main article Famous People Connected with Prague for detailed list. As cultural and economical center of Czech lands Prague attracted many famous people. Some of most known are: Charles IV - Rudolf II - Jan Hus - Bohumil Hrabal - Franz Kafka - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Antonín Dvořák - Václav Havel.

Historical population

Václav Havel Notes:
- 1 Staré město only
- 2 Staré město, Nové město, Malá Strana and Hradčany quarters
- Numbers beside other years denote the population of Prague within the administrative border of the city at that time (and population including present suburbs in parentheses).

See also


- Prague specifics
- Prague city districts
- Prague Spring (liberalization attempt in 1968)
- Prague Spring International Music Festival
- Clementinum (complex of libraries)
- Infant Jesus of Prague
- Defenestrations of Prague
- Prague Zoo

External links

Prague Zoo
- [http://www.prague-city.cz/ Official Website]
- Metro, trams, and buses operated by [http://www.dp-praha.cz/en/index.htm Dopravni podnik hl.m Prahy, a.s.]
- [http://www.praguemonitor.com/ Prague Daily Monitor] - Czech news in English
-
- [http://www.prague.tv/ Prague.tv] - travel guide
- [http://www.pis.cz/ Prague Information Service] - tourist information
- [http://www.narodni-divadlo.cz/H_Zaklad.aspx?jz=en National Theatre]
- [http://www.opera.cz/en/intro.htm State Opera]
- [http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/world/city_guides/city.shtml?tt=TT003480 Average Weather Conditions]
- [http://www.chmu.cz/meteo/oap/eoap_main.html Detailed recent weather data] Category:Capitals in Europe Category:NUTS 2 Statistical Regions of Europe Category:World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic Category:Cities and towns in the Czech Republic ko:프라하 ja:プラハ simple:Prague

1665

Events


- March 4 - Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
- March 6 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication.
- March 16 - Bucharest allows Jews to settle in the city in exchange of annual tax of 16 guilders.
- June 3 - The Duke of York defeats the Dutch Fleet off the coast of Lowestoft.
- June 15 - Jean-Baptiste Denis makes the first blood transfusion from lamb to human.
- June 12 - England installs a municipal government in New York City. This was the former Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam.
- July 7 - King Charles II of England leaves London with his entourage, fleeing the Great Plague. He moves his court to Salisbury, then Exeter
- October 5 - The University of Kiel is founded.
- November 7 - The London Gazette, the oldest surviving journal, is first published.
- Charles II of Spain becomes King.
- London has its last severe outbreak of the Bubonic plague, possibly introduced by Dutch prisoners of war. Two-thirds of Londoners leave the city, but over 68,000 die. (See the Great Plague.)
- Rumours abound that syphilis wards off the Plague, causing many Londoners to frequent the brothels.
- Battle of Ambuila: Portuguese forces defeat and kill king Garcia II of Kongo, ending native rule of that kingdom.
- Molière publishes L'Amour médecin.
- John Bunyan publishes The Resurrection, Alexendre Le Grand, and The Indian Emperor.
- Approximate date of the discovery of the Great Red Spot.

Births


- February 6 - Queen Anne of Great Britain (d. 1714)
- February 12 - Rudolf Jakob Camerarius, German botanist and physician (d. 1721)
- March 4 - Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, Swedish soldier
- April 19 - Jacques Lelong, French bibliographer (d. 1721)
- April 29 - James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman and soldier (d. 1745)
- June 4 - Zacharie Robutel de La Noue, Canadian soldier (d. 1733)
- July 2 - Samuel Penhallow, English-born American colonist and historian (d. 1726)
- August 21 - Giacomo F. Maraldi, French-Italian astronomer (d. 1729)
- August 27 - John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
- December 25 - Lady Grizel Baillie, Scottish songwriter (d. 1746)
- December 28 - George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general (d. 1716) See also :Category:1665 births.

Deaths


- January 12 - Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician (b. 1601)
- January 31 - Johannes Clauberg, German theologian and philosopher (b. 1622)
- June 13 - Egbert Bartholomeusz Kortenaer, Dutch admiral (b. 1604)
- June 25 - Sigismund Francis of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (b. 1630)
- July 11 - Kenelm Digby, English privateer (b. 1603)
- July 18 - Stefan Czarniecki, Polish general (b. 1599)
- September 12 - Jean Bolland, Flemish Jesuit writer (b. 1596)
- September 17 - King Philip IV of Spain (b. 1605)
- September 25 - Maria Anna of Austria (b. 1610)
- November 17 - John Earle, English bishop
- November 19 - Nicolas Poussin, French painter
- December 2 - Catherine de Vivonne, marquise de Rambouillet, French socialite (b. 1588)
- December 10 - Tarquinio Merula, Italian composer See also :Category:1665 deaths. Category:1665 ko:1665년

Quebec

:This article describes the Canadian province. For other usages, see Quebec (disambiguation). Quebec (pronounced or ) (French: Québec, pronounced ) is the largest province in Canada and the second most populous, after Ontario, with a population of 7,598,100 (Statistics Canada, July 2005). This represents about 24% of the Canadian population. Quebec's official language is French. Quebec is the only Canadian province where English is a minority language (at the provincial level), and it is one of only two provinces – in addition to the federal government – where French is an official language (the other, per the Constitution Act, 1982, is New Brunswick; Manitoba enjoys limited official bilingualism). The capital is Quebec City (simply referred to as "Québec" in French) and the largest city is Montréal. A resident of Quebec is called a Quebecer (also spelled "Quebecker"), and in French, un(e) Québécois(e), the latter being used in English as well sometimes.

Geography

The most populated region is the St. Lawrence River Valley in the south, where the capital, Quebec City, and the largest city, Montreal, are situated. North of Montréal are the Laurentians, a range of ancient mountains, and to the east are the Appalachian Mountains which extends into the Eastern Townships and Gaspésie regions. The Gaspé Peninsula juts into the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the east. The extreme north of the province, now called Nunavik, is subarctic or arctic and is home to part of the Inuit nation. The main hydro-electric projects are found on the La Grande Rivière, in the James Bay region. 10 Largest Municipalities by population

History

Discovery and exploration

The name Quebec, which comes from an Algonquin word meaning "strait" or "narrowing", originally meant the narrowing of the St. Lawrence River off what is currently Quebec City. hydro-electric The first European explorer of what is now Quebec was Jacques Cartier, who planted a cross either in the Gaspé in 1534 or at Old Fort Bay on the Lower North Shore and sailed into the St. Lawrence River in 1535.

New France

Quebec City was founded near the site of Stadacona, a village populated by Iroquoians when Jacques Cartier explored Canada. However, the village had disappeared by the time Samuel de Champlain established the Habitation de Quebec in 1608. After 1627, King Louis XIII of France introduced the seigneurial system and forbade settlement in New France by anyone other than Roman Catholics. New France became a royal province in 1663 under King Louis XIV of France and the intendant Jean Talon. The fur trade lasted about 200 years before other trades took over. The Natives traded their furs for many French goods such as metal objects, guns, alcohol, and clothing.

Change of colonial powers

Great Britain acquired Canada by the Treaty of Paris (1763) when King Louis XV of France and his advisers chose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe for its valuable sugar crops instead of New France, which was viewed as a vast, frozen wasteland of little importance to the French colonial empire. By the British Royal Proclamation of 1763, Canada (part of New France) was renamed the Province of Quebec. Fearful that the French-speaking population of Quebec would side with the rebels of the 13 other colonies to the south, in 1774, the British Parliament passed the Quebec Act that paved the way to official recognition of the French language and French culture. The Act allowed Quebecers, or Canadiens as they were then known, to maintain the French civil law and sanctioned the freedom of religious choice, allowing the Roman Catholic Church to remain. Quebec retained its seigneurial system and civil law code after France's giving of the territory to England. Owing to an influx of Loyalist refugees from the Amercian Revolutionary War, the Constitutional Act of 1791 saw the colony divided in two at the Ottawa River; the western part became Upper Canada and changed to the British legal system. The eastern part became Lower Canada.

The Patriotes Rebellion in Lower Canada

Like their counterparts in Upper Canada, in 1837, English and French speaking residents of Lower Canada, led by Louis-Joseph Papineau and Robert Nelson, formed an armed resistance group to seek an end to British colonial rule. Their actions resulted in the Lower Canada Rebellion. An unprepared British Army had to raise a local militia force and the rebel forces were soon defeated after having scored a victory in Saint-Denis, Quebec, south of Montreal.

Act of Union

After the rebellions, Lord Durham was asked to undertake a study and prepare a report on the matter and to offer a solution for the British Parliament to assess. Following Durham's Report, the British government merged the two colonial provinces into one Province of Canada in 1841. However, the union proved contentious.

Canadian Confederation

In the 1860s, the delegates from the colonies of British North America (Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland) met in a series of conferences in Charlottetown, Quebec City and London to discuss a broader union. As a result of those deliberations, in 1867 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the British North America Act, providing for the Confederation of most of these provinces. The former Province of Canada was again divided into its two previous parts as the provinces of Ontario (Upper Canada) and Quebec (Lower Canada). New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined Ontario and Quebec in the new Dominion of Canada (Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland entered Confederation later, in 1873 and 1949, respectively).

The "Quiet Revolution"

Main article: Quiet Revolution The conservative government of Maurice Duplessis and his Union Nationale dominated Quebec politics from 1944 to 1960 with the support of the Catholic church. Pierre Trudeau and other intellectuals and liberals formed an intellectual opposition to Duplessis' repressive regime setting the groundwork for the Quiet Revolution under Jean Lesage's Liberals. The Quiet Revolution was a period of dramatic social and political change that saw the decline of the Roman Catholic Church's influence, the nationalization of Hydro-Québec and the emergence of a separatist movement under former Liberal minister René Lévesque. René Lévesque, is "Je me souviens", French for "I remember".]] Beginning in 1963, a terrorist group that became known as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ) launched a decade of bombings, robberies and attacks on government offices and at least two murders by FLQ gunfire and three violent deaths by bombings. Their activities culminated in events referred to as the October Crisis [http://www.mcgill.ca/maritimelaw/history/crisis/] when James Cross, the British trade commissioner to Canada, was kidnapped along with Pierre Laporte, a provincial minister and Vice-Premier, who was murdered a few days later. In their published Manifesto, the terrorists stated: "In the coming year Bourassa (Quebec Premier) will have to face reality; 100,000 revolutionary workers, armed and organized." At the request of premier Robert Bourassa, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act. Once the War Measures Act was in place, arrangements were made for all detainees to see legal counsel. In addition, the Quebec Ombudsman [http://www.protecteurducitoyen.qc.ca/en/index.asp], Louis Marceau, was instructed to hear complaints of detainees and the Quebec government agreed to pay damages to any person unjustly arrested. On February 3, 1971, John Turner, the Minister of Justice of Canada, reported that 497 persons had been arrested under the War Measures Act, of whom 435 had been released. The other 62 were charged, of which 32 were crimes of such seriousness that a Quebec Superior Court judge refused them bail. A federal government inquiry later revealed that some Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) agents infiltrated the group to gain evidence of the group's willingness to commit terrorist acts. In 1977, the newly elected Parti Québécois government of René Lévesque introduced the Charter of the French Language. Often known as Bill 101, it defined French as the only official language of Quebec.

Quebec and the Canadian Constitution

Lévesque and his party had run in the 1970 and 1973 Quebec elections under a platform of separating Quebec from the rest of Canada. His party was defeated both times, with 23% and 30% of the vote respectively, and Lévesque himself was defeated in his own riding (electoral district). In the 1976 election, he softened his message by promising a referendum (plebiscite) on sovereignty-association rather than outright separation, by which Quebec would have independence in most government functions but share some other ones, such as a common currency, with Canada. Though many Quebecers, especially English-speaking Quebecers, viewed sovereignty-association as thinly-veiled separation, Lévesque and the Parti Québécois were swept into power with 41% of the popular vote on November 15, 1976. The question of sovereignty-association was placed before the voters in the 1980 Quebec referendum. During the campaign, Pierre Trudeau promised that a vote for the NO side was a vote for reforming Canada. Trudeau advocated the patriation of Canada's Constitution from the United Kingdom, as the existing constitutional document, the British North America Act, could only be amended by the United Kingdom Parliament. Sixty percent of the Quebec electorate voted against the proposition. Polls showed that the ovewhelming majority of English Quebecers voted against, and that French Quebecers were almost equally divided, with older voters less in favor, and younger voters more in favor. After his loss in the referendum, Lévesque went back to Ottawa to start negotiating a new constitution with Trudeau, his minister of Justice Jean Chrétien and the nine other provincial premiers. The negotiations quickly reached a stand-still. Then on the night on November 4 to November 5 1981, called in Quebec the 'Night of the Long Knives' (La Nuit des Longs Couteaux'), Jean Chrétien met all the provincial premiers except René Lévesque to sign the document that would eventually become the new Canadian constitution. The next morning, they put Lévesque in front of the "fait accompli." Lévesque refused to sign the document, and returned to Quebec. In 1982, Trudeau had the new constitution approved by the British Parliament, with Quebec's signature still missing (a situation that persists to this day). In subsequent years, two attempts were made to gain Quebec's approval of the constitution. The first was the Meech Lake Accord of 1987, which was finally abandoned in 1990 when the provinces of Manitoba and Newfoundland refused to support it. This led to the formation of the Bloc Québécois party in Ottawa under the leadership of Lucien Bouchard, who had resigned from the federal cabinet. The second attempt, the Charlottetown Accord of 1992, was rejected by 56.7% of all Canadians and 57% of Quebecers. This result caused a split in the Quebec Liberal Party that led to the formation of the new Action Démocratique (Democratic Action) party led by Mario Dumont and Jean Allaire. On October 30, 1995, with the Parti Québécois back in power since 1994, a