History.

Havana, Cuba, is the birthplace of the mojito, although its exact origin is the subject of debate. It was known that the local South American Indians had remedies for various tropical illnesses, so a small boarding party went ashore on Cuba and came back with ingredients for an effective medicine. The ingredients were "aguardiente de caña" (translated as "burning water", a crude form of rum made from sugar cane) mixed with local tropical ingredients: lime, sugarcane juice, and mint. Lime juice on its own would have significantly prevented scurvy and dysentery, and tafia/rum was soon added as it became widely available to the British (ca. 1650). Mint, lime and sugar were also helpful in hiding the harsh taste of this spirit. While this drink was not called a mojito at this time, it was the original combination of these ingredients.  Some historians contend that African slaves who worked in the Cuban sugar cane fields during the 19th century were instrumental in the cocktail's origin. Guarapo, the sugar cane juice often used in mojitos, was a popular drink among the slaves who named it. It never originally contained lime juice.  There are several theories behind the origin of the name "mojito": one such theory holds that name relates to mojo, a Cuban seasoning made from lime and used to flavour dishes. Another theory is that the name Mojito is simply a derivative of "mojadito" (Spanish for "a little wet"), the diminutive of "mojado" ("wet").  The mojito has routinely been presented as a favorite drink of author Ernest Hemingway. It has also often been said that Hemingway made the bar called La Bodeguita del Medio famous when he became one of its regulars and wrote "My mojito in La Bodeguita, My daiquiri in El Floridita" on a wall of the bar. This epigraph, handwritten and signed in his name, persists despite doubts expressed by Hemingway biographers about such patronage and the author's taste for mojitos. La Bodeguita del Medio is better known for its food than its drink.  A survey by an international market research company found that in 2016 the mojito was the most popular cocktail in Britain and France.

Variations.

Many hotels in Havana also add Angostura bitters to cut the sweetness of the Mojito; while icing sugar is often muddled with the mint leaves rather than cane sugar, and many establishments simply use sugar syrup to control sweetness. Many bars today in Havana use lemon juice rather than fresh lime. The "Rose Mojito," which is a Mojito variation containing the rose-flavored spirit, Lanique, was first created at the Albert's Schloss bar in Manchester, England. A Mojito without alcohol is called a "Virgin Mojito" or "Nojito". The Cojito adds coconut flavor, often through the use of coconut-flavored rum. The South Side is made with gin instead of rum; the South Side Fizz adds seltzer water. A dirty mojito calls for gold rum instead of white rum and to use raw sugar or demerara sugar. Demerara is a light brown, partially refined, sugar produced from the first crystallization during processing cane juice into sugar crystals. Adding this to a mojito gives it a caramel-like flavor. A dark rum mojito simply calls for a dark rum to be used instead of white.  In Mexico, tequila brand Don Julio offers the "Mojito Blanco" by simply replacing rum with tequila.  In Peru, there are mojito variations that are made by adding fruits like grapefruit, called "Mojito de toronja", or with passionfruit, called "Mojito de maracuyá". Many restaurants serve them, and these added ingredients enhance the cocktail and its original flavor. Some other fruits are found in other mojito recipes: pears, raspberries, and oranges. Purees of such fruits may also be used instead of the whole fruit itself.  The strawberry mojito includes muddled strawberries; a further departure along these lines substitutes gin for the light rum and lemon juice for lime juice, and adds tonic.

Mojito (; ) is a traditional Cuban highball. Traditionally, a mojito is a cocktail that consists of five ingredients: white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime juice, soda water, and mint. Its combination of sweetness, citrus, and herbaceous mint flavors is intended to complement the rum, and has made the mojito a popular summer drink.


Description.

Strawberries are not true berries. The fleshy and edible part of the fruit is a receptacle, and the parts that are sometimes mistakenly called "seeds" are achenes.

Etymology.

Although it is commonly thought that strawberries get their name from straw being used as a mulch in cultivating the plants, the word is possibly derived from "strewn berry" in reference to the runners that "strew" or "stray away" from the base of the plants. David Mikkelson argues that "the word'strawberry' has been part of the English language for at least a thousand years, well before strawberries were cultivated as garden or farm edibles."

Classification.

There are more than 20 different "Fragaria" species worldwide. Numbers of other species have been proposed, some of which are now recognized as subspecies. Key to the classification of strawberry species is recognizing that they vary in the number of chromosomes. There are seven basic "types" of chromosomes that they all have in common. However, they exhibit different polyploidy. Some species are diploid, having two sets of the seven chromosomes (14 chromosomes total). Others are tetraploid (four sets, 28 chromosomes total), hexaploid (six sets, 42 chromosomes total), octoploid (eight sets, 56 chromosomes total), or decaploid (ten sets, 70 chromosomes total).  As a rough rule (with exceptions), strawberry species with more chromosomes tend to be more robust and produce larger plants with larger berries.

Ecology.

A number of species of butterflies and moths feed on strawberry plants: see list of Lepidoptera that feed on strawberry plants.

Fragaria is a genus of flowering plants in the rose family, Rosaceae, commonly known as strawberries for their edible fruits. There are more than 20 described species and many hybrids and cultivars. The most common strawberries grown commercially are cultivars of the garden strawberry, a hybrid known as "Fragaria" × "ananassa". Strawberries have a taste that varies by cultivar, and ranges from quite sweet to rather tart. Strawberries are an important commercial fruit crop, widely grown in all temperate regions of the world.


Description.

"Prunus armeniaca" is a small tree, tall, with a trunk up to in diameter and a dense, spreading canopy. The leaves are ovate, long and wide, with a rounded base, a pointed tip and a finely serrated margin. The flowers are in diameter, with five white to pinkish petals; they are produced singly or in pairs in early spring before the leaves. The fruit is a drupe similar to a small peach, diameter (larger in some modern cultivars), from yellow to orange, often tinged red on the side most exposed to the sun; its surface can be smooth (botanically described as: glabrous) or velvety with very short hairs (botanically: pubescent). The flesh is usually firm and not very juicy. Its taste can range from sweet to tart. The single seed is enclosed in a hard, stony shell, often called a "stone", with a grainy, smooth texture except for three ridges running down one side.

Cultivation and uses.

History of cultivation.

The origin of the species is disputed. It was known in Armenia during ancient times, and has been cultivated there for so long, it is often thought to have originated there. Seeds of the apricot have been discovered during archaeological excavations of the Garni Temple and Shengavit Settlement, having a history of 6000 years. Its scientific name "Prunus armeniaca" (Armenian plum) derives from that assumption. For example, De Poerderlé, writing in the 18th century, asserted, ""Cet arbre tire son nom de l'Arménie, province d'Asie, d'où il est originaire et d'où il fut porté en Europe..."" ("this tree takes its name from Armenia, province of Asia, where it is native, and whence it was brought to Europe..."). An archaeological excavation at Garni in Armenia found apricot seeds in an Eneolithic-era site. Despite the great number of varieties of apricots that are grown in Armenia today (about 50), according to Vavilov its center of origin would be the Chinese region, where the domestication of apricot would have taken place. Other sources say that the apricot was first cultivated in India in about 3000 BC.  Its introduction to Greece is attributed to Alexander the Great; later, the Roman General Lucullus (106–57 B.C.) also would have imported some trees – the cherry, white heart cherry, and apricot – from Armenia to Rome. Subsequent sources were often confused about the origin of the species. Loudon (1838) believed it had a wide native range including Armenia, Caucasus, the Himalaya, China, and Japan.  Apricots have been cultivated in Persia since antiquity, and dried ones were an important commodity on Persian trade routes.  More recently, English settlers brought the apricot to the English colonies in the New World. Most of modern American production of apricots comes from the seedlings carried to the west coast by Spanish missionaries.  Today, apricot cultivation has spread to all parts of the globe having climates that can support its growth needs.

Uses.

Seeds or kernels of the apricot grown in central Asia and around the Mediterranean are so sweet, they may be substituted for almonds. The Italian liqueur amaretto and amaretti biscotti are flavoured with extract of apricot kernels rather than almonds. Oil pressed from these cultivar kernels, and known as oil of almond, has been used as cooking oil. Kernels contain between 2.05% and 2.40% hydrogen cyanide, but normal consumption is insufficient to produce serious effects.

Etymology.

The scientific name "armeniaca" was first used by Gaspard Bauhin in his "Pinax Theatri Botanici" (page 442), referring to the species as "Mala armeniaca" "Armenian apple". It is sometimes stated that this came from Pliny the Elder, but it was not used by Pliny. Linnaeus took up Bauhin's epithet in the first edition of his "Species Plantarum" in 1753.  The name "apricot" is probably derived from a tree mentioned as "praecocia" by Pliny. Pliny says "We give the name of apples ("mala")... to peaches ("persica") and pomegranates ("granata")..." Later in the same section he states "The Asiatic peach ripens at the end of autumn, though an early variety ("praecocia") ripens in summer – these were discovered within the last thirty years...".  The classical authors connected Greek "armeniaca" with Latin "praecocia": Pedanius Dioscorides' "... " and Martial's ""Armeniaca, et praecocia latine dicuntur"". Putting together the "Armeniaca" and the "Mala" obtains the well-known epithet, but there is no evidence the ancients did it; "Armeniaca" alone meant the apricot. Nonetheless, the 12th century Andalusian agronomist Ibn al-'Awwam refers to the species in the title of chapter 40 of his "Kitab al-Filaha" as والتفاح الارمني, ""apple from Armenia"", stating that it is the same as المشمش or البرقوق ("al-mishmish" or "al-barqūq").  Accordingly, the "American Heritage Dictionary" under "apricot" derives "praecocia" from "praecoquus", "cooked or ripened beforehand" [in this case meaning "early ripening"], becoming Greek "πραικόκιον" "praikókion" "apricot" and Arabic البرقوق "al-barqūq", a term that has been used for a variety of different members of the genus "Prunus" (it currently refers primarily to the plum in most varieties of Arabic, but some writers use it as a catchall term for "Prunus" fruit).  The English name comes from earlier ""abrecock"" in turn from the Middle French "abricot", from Catalan "abercoc" in turn from Spanish "albaricoque". The Spanish "albaricoque" were adaptation of the Arabic البرقوق (al-barqūq), dating from the Moorish rule of Spain.  However, in Argentina and Chile the word for "apricot" is "damasco", which could indicate that, to the Spanish settlers of these countries, the fruit was associated with Damascus in Syria. The word "damasco" is also the word for "apricot" in Portuguese (both European and Brazilian, though in Portugal the word "alperce" and "albricoque" are also used).

In culture.

The Chinese associate the apricot with education and medicine. For instance, the classical word 杏壇 (literally: 'apricot altar') which means "educational circle", is still widely used in written language. Chuang Tzu, a Chinese philosopher in 4th century BCE, told a story that Confucius taught his students in a forum surrounded by the wood of apricot trees. The association with medicine in turn comes from the common use of apricot kernels as a component in traditional Chinese medicine, and from the story of Dong Feng (董奉), a physician during the Three Kingdoms period, who required no payment from his patients except that they plant apricot trees in his orchard on recovering from their illnesses, resulting in a large grove of apricot trees and a steady supply of medicinal ingredients. The term "Expert of the Apricot Grove" (杏林高手) is still used as a poetic reference to physicians.  In Armenia, the wood of the apricot tree is used for making wood carvings such as the "duduk", which is a popular wind instrument in Armenia and is also called the apricot pipe. Several hand-made souvenirs are also made from the apricot wood.

Prunus armeniaca (meaning "Armenian plum"), the most commonly cultivated apricot species, also called ansu apricot, Siberian apricot, Tibetan apricot, is a species of "Prunus", classified with the plum in the subgenus "Prunus". The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation, though almost certainly somewhere in Asia. It is extensively cultivated in many countries and has escaped into the wild in many places.


Etymology.

In the United Kingdom, "vacation" once specifically referred to the long summer break taken by the law courts and then later the term was applied to universities. The custom was introduced by William the Conqueror from Normandy where it facilitated the grape harvest. In the past, many upper-class families moved to a summer home for part of the year, leaving their usual home vacant.

Impact of digital communications.

Recent developments in communication technology—internet, mobile, instant messaging, presence tracking, etc.— have begun to change the nature of vacation. Vacation today means absence from the workplace rather than temporary cession of work. It is now the norm in North America and the United Kingdom, to carry on working or remain on call while on vacation rather than abandon work altogether. Office employees telecommute whilst on vacation. Workers may choose to unplug for a portion of a day and thus create the feeling of a "vacation" by simply separating themselves from the demands of constant digital communications. Antithetically, workers may take time out of the office to go on vacation, but remain plugged-in to work-related communications networks. While remaining plugged-in over vacation may generate short-term business benefits, the long-term psychological impacts of these developments are only beginning to be understood.

Regional meaning.

"Vacation", in English-speaking North America, describes recreational travel, such as a short pleasure trip, or a journey abroad. People in Commonwealth countries use the term "holiday" to describe absence from work as well as to describe a vacation or journey. Vacation can mean either staying home or going somewhere.  Canadians often use "vacation" and "holiday" interchangeably referring to a trip away from home or time off work. In Australia and the UK, "holiday" can refer to a vacation or a public holiday.  The Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, Carnegies, Huntingtons and other fabulously wealthy industrialists built their own spectacular "great camps" in the Adirondacks of upstate New York where they could spend time with their families in private luxury. The scions of New York City took to declaring that they would "vacate" their city homes for their lakeside summer retreats, and the term "vacation" replaced the British "holiday" in common parlance.  In Hungarian, the word "vakáció" can mean both a recreational trip, an officially granted absence from work (generally in warmer months), and the summer (longest) school break. For absence from work, the word "szabadság" (freedom/liberty) can be used, possibly as "betegszabadság" (sickness freedom/sickness liberty) when the reason of absence is medical in nature.

Family vacation.

Family vacation refers to recreation taken together by the family. The intended purpose of family vacation is for family to get away from day-to-day chores and to devote time specifically for the relaxation and unity of family members. Family vacation can be ritual—for example, annually around the same time—or it can be a one-time event. It can involve travel to a far-flung spot or, for families on a tight budget, a stay-at-home staycation. Some examples of favorite family vacations might include family cruises, trips to popular theme parks, ski vacations, beach vacations, food vacations or similar types of family trips.

Vacation policy.

In nearly all countries worldwide, there are minimum requirements as to the annual leave that must be afforded to an employee (see also List of minimum annual leave by country).  Even in the United States, where no federal requirements as to minimum annual leave exist, many large corporations have generous vacation policies, some allowing employees to take weeks off and some even allowing unlimited vacation. Unlimited vacation arrangements may nonetheless come with implicit expectations, for instance, it may be implied that an employee should not take more than about the average number of vacation days taken by others. They normally also have the consequence that employees who leave the company receive no monetary compensation for leave days not taken.  According to the U.S. Travel Association, Americans collectively did not use 662 million vacation days in 2016. More than half of all working people in the United States forfeited paid time off at the end of the year. Two-thirds of people still do work while they are on vacation.

In popular culture.

Family vacation and vacation in general has become a common theme in many books, films and movies. Writers often draw on common occurrences that take place during a vacation such as bonding and disasters.

A vacation (American English), or holiday (British English), is a leave of absence from a regular occupation, or a specific trip or journey, usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism. People often take a vacation during specific holiday observances, or for specific festivals or celebrations. Vacations are often spent with friends or family. Traveling together creates chemistry.


Aristocracy of the Khanate.

The Sibir Khanate was administered by Mirzas who originated from various indigenous Siberian tribes. These Mirzas organized loosely knit dominions, which were all under the nominal authority of the "Khan" of Tyumen and Sibir. Mirzas also led the warriors of the Khanate of Sibir into battle and owed nominal allegiance to the "Khan" of Tyumen and Sibir.

Culture.

Islam was the professed religion of the Sibir Khanate; it was the religion of the ruling "Khan" of Tyumen and Sibir. Grand mosques, palaces and fortified walls were constructed in both Tyumen and Sibir.  The leading Imams and Muftis of the Sibir Khanate are known to have had some influence in the nearby regions of Kazan and even in Samarqand. The Khanate of Sibir was the northernmost Muslim state in recorded history; its territories even included parts of the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

History.

The Khanate of Sibir was founded in the fifteenth century, at a time when the Mongols of the house of Jochi were generally in a state of decline. The original capital of the Khans was Chimgi-Tura. The first Khan was Taibuga, who was a member of the Borjigin. He was succeeded by his son Khoja or Hoca, who was in turn succeeded by his son Mar.  The Taibugids' control of the region between the Tobol and middle Irtysh was not uncontested. The Shaybanids, descendants of Jochi, frequently claimed the area as their own. Ibak Khan, a member of a junior branch of the Shaybanid house, killed Mar and seized Chimgi-Tura. A Taibugid restoration occurred when Mar's grandson Muhammad fled to the eastern territories around the Irtysh and killed Ibak in battle in c. 1493. Muhammad decided not to remain at Chimgi-Tura, but chose a new capital named Iskar (or Sibir) located on the Irtysh. The Russian conquest of Kazan in 1552 prompted the Taibugid Khan of Sibir, Yadigar, to seek friendly relations with Moscow. Yadigar, however, was challenged by a Shaybanid, Ibak's grandson Kuchum. Several years of fighting (1556–1563) ended with Yadigar's death and Kuchum becoming Khan.

Conquest of Sibir.

Kuchum attempted to convert the Siberian Tatars, who were mostly shamanists, to Islam. His decision to conduct a raid on the Stroganov trading posts resulted in an expedition led by the Cossack Yermak against the Khanate of Sibir. Kuchum's forces were defeated by Yermak at the Battle of Chuvash Cape in 1582 and the Cossacks entered Iskar later that year. Kuchum reorganized his forces, killed Yermak in battle in 1584, and reasserted his authority over Sibir. Over the next fourteen years, however, the Russians slowly conquered the Khanate. In 1598 Kuchum was defeated on the banks of the Ob and was forced to flee to the territories of the Nogai, bringing an end to his rule.

Taibugids and Shaybanids.

The Khanate of Sibir and the town of Tyumen were founded by Taibuga probably some time between 1405 and 1428. The latter was probably of Keraite origin. However, some scholars also attempt to link the Taibugids to the Kipchak elites and others. Control alternated between the descendants of Taibuga and the Shaybanids who had descended from Genghis Khan. There are hints that the Shaybanids were more connected to the steppe nomads and that the Taibugids were more connected with the forest peoples to the north and east.  Taibuga's father was called On (On-Son, Onsom and other variants). Grousset says that they were 'the issue of Taibugha-bäki' without explanation ('bäki' (bek) was a princely suffix and Taibuqa was a Naiman chief at the time of Genghis Khan.) A few sources identify him with Bek Ondi Oglan, the great-great-great grandson of Shayban, and thus a Shaybanid. The Stroganov chronicle says that On was killed by a chief called Chingi who spared Taibuga, sent him to fight the Ostyaks and granted him his own principality. Taibuga founded Tyumen and named it Chingi-tura in honor of his benefactor. Another source makes On a Nogai whose 'Hoflager' (German for 'court-camp') was Kasyl-Tura at the mouth of the Ishim River about east of Tobolsk. Another source says that when Tokhtamysh was defeated he fled to the 'land of Sibir' (the first mention of 'Sibir' in Russian chronicles). Here he was protected by On until both were killed by Edigu about 1405.  There is no more information about Taibuga except that some say he drove the Novgoroders from his lands. In 1428 a 17-year old Shaybanid called Abu'l-Khayr Khan was chosen Khan on the Tura River (possibly at Tyumen). This implies that the Taibugids had been pushed aside. When he led his followers south for better things the remaining Shaybanids gathered around Ibak Khan, who was from a junior branch of the house. The Taibugids must have been restored because some time between 1464 and 1480 Ibak killed the Taibugid Mar and made himself Khan. In 1483 Fyodor Kurbsky is said to have led an army to the Irtysh River, but this had no lasting effects. Ibak went to the Volga where he killed the last Khan of the Golden Horde. Returning, he was killed by Mar's grandson called Mamuk or Makhmet or Mamet (about 1495). Makhmet moved the capital from Tyumen to Sibir and was briefly Khan of Kazan (1496). In 1552 the Taibugids Yediger and Bekbulat congratulated Ivan the Terrible on his conquest of Kazan. Later they paid limited tribute to Russia. In 1563 Ibak Khan's grandson Kuchum seized the throne from Yediger and Bekbulat. In 1573, following the Russo-Crimean War (1571) he stopped paying tribute and raided the Perm lands. In 1582, he was driven out by Yermak and died some time after 1600.

List of Khans.

"List of Taibugids":  "List of Shaybanids:"

The Khanate of Sibir (), also historically called the Khanate of Turan, was a Turkic Khanate located in southwestern Siberia with a Turco-Mongol ruling class. Throughout its history, members of the Shaybanid and Taibugid dynasties often contested the rulership over the Khanate between each other; both of these competing tribes were direct patrilineal descendants of Genghis Khan through his eldest son Jochi and Jochi's fifth son Shayban (Shiban). The area of the Khanate was itself once an integral part of the Mongol Empire, and later came under the control of the White Horde and of the Golden Horde.


Early reign.

Dmitry was born in Moscow in 1350, the son of Ivan the Fair, Grand Prince of Moscow, and his second wife, Alexandra Vassilievna Velyaminova, the daughter of the mayor of Moscow. Dmitry was orphaned at the age of nine and ascended the throne of the Principality of Moscow. Per the terms of Ivan's will, during Dmitry's minority, Metropolitan Aleksey served as regent.  In 1360, Khan of the Golden Horde, transferred the title most prized among Russian princes, that of Grand Prince of Vladimir, to Dmitry Konstantinovich of Nizhniy Novgorod. In 1363, after that prince was deposed, Dmitry Ivanovich was crowned at Vladimir. Three years later, he made peace with Dmitry Konstantinovich and married his daughter Eudoxia.  The most important event during Dmitry's early reign was to start building the Moscow Kremlin; it was completed in 1367. Thanks to the new fortress, the city withstood two sieges by Algirdas of Lithuania during the Lithuanian–Muscovite War (1368–72). The war ended with the Treaty of Lyubutsk. In 1375, Dmitry settled, in his own favor, a conflict with Mikhail II of Tver over Vladimir. Other princes of Northern Russia acknowledged his authority and contributed troops to the impending struggle against the Horde. By the end of his reign, Dmitry had more than doubled the territory of the Principality of Moscow.

Struggle against Mamai.

Mongol domination of Rus began to crumble during Dmitry's thirty-year reign. The Golden Horde was severely weakened by civil war and dynastic rivalries. Dmitry took advantage of this lapse in Mongol authority to openly challenge the Tatars. While he kept the Khan's patent to collect taxes for all of Russia, Dmitry is also famous for leading the first Russian military victory over the Mongols. Mamai, a Mongol general and claimant to the throne, tried to punish Dmitry for attempting to increase his power. In 1378 Mamai sent a Mongol army, but it was defeated by Dmitry's forces in the Battle of Vozha River.  Two years later Mamai personally led a large force against Moscow. Sergius of Radonezh blessed Dmitry Donskoy when he went to fight the Tatars in the signal Battle of Kulikovo field, but only after he was certain Dmitry had pursued all peaceful means of resolving the conflict. Sergius sent the two warrior monks Alexander Peresvet and his friend Rodion Oslyabya to join the Russian troops. The battle of Kulikovo was opened by single combat between two champions. The Russian champion was Alexander Peresvet. The Horde champion was Temir-murza. The champions killed each other in the first run. Dmitry then met defeated the Horde. In gratitude for the victory, Dmitry established the Dormition monastery on the Dubenka River and built a church in honor of the Nativity of the Holy Theotokos over the graves of the fallen warriors.  The defeated Mamai was presently dethroned by a rival Mongol general, Tokhtamysh. That khan reasserted Mongol rule of Rus and overran Moscow in 1382 for Dmitry's resistance to Mamai. Dmitry, however, pledged his loyalty to Tokhtamysh and to the Golden Horde and was reinstated as Mongol principal tax collector and Grand Duke of Vladimir. Upon his death in Moscow in 1389, Dmitry was the first Grand Duke to bequeath his titles to his son Vasili I of Russia without consulting the Khan.

Marriage and children.

He was married to Eudoxia of Nizhniy Novgorod. She was a daughter of Dmitry of Suzdal and Vasilisa of Rostov. They had at least twelve children:

External links.

Saint Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy (, also known as Dimitrii or Demetrius), or Dmitry of the Don, sometimes referred to simply as Dmitry (12 October 1350 – 19 May 1389), son of Ivan II the Fair of Moscow (1326–1359), reigned as the Prince of Moscow from 1359 and Grand Prince of Vladimir from 1363 to his death. He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol authority in Russia. His nickname, Donskoy (i.e., "of the Don"), alludes to his great victory against the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380), which took place on the Don River. He is venerated as a Saint in the Orthodox Church with his feast day on 19 May(O.S.), or June 1.


Genealogy—ancestors of the Safavids and its multi-cultural identity.

The Safavid Kings themselves claimed to be sayyids, family descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, although many scholars have cast doubt on this claim. There seems now to be a consensus among scholars that the Safavid family hailed from Iranian Kurdistan, and later moved to Azerbaijan, finally settling in the 11th century CE at Ardabil. Traditional pre-1501 Safavid manuscripts trace the lineage of the Safavids to the Kurdish dignitary, Firuz-Shah Zarrin-Kolah.  According to historians, including Vladimir Minorsky and Roger Savory, the Safavids were of Turkicized Iranian origin:  By the time of the establishment of the Safavid empire, the members of the family were Turkicized and Turkish-speaking, and some of the Shahs composed poems in their then-native Turkish language. Concurrently, the Shahs themselves also supported Persian literature, poetry and art projects including the grand "Shahnameh" of Shah Tahmasp, while members of the family and some Shahs composed Persian poetry as well.  The authority of the Safavids was religiously based, and their claim to legitimacy was founded on being direct male descendants of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and regarded by the Shiʻa as the first Imam.  Furthermore, the dynasty was from the very start thoroughly intermarried with both Pontic Greek as well as Georgian lines. In addition, from the official establishment of the dynasty in 1501, the dynasty would continue to have many intermarriages with both Circassian as well as again Georgian dignitaries, especially with the accession of Tahmasp I.

Culture.

The Safavid family was a literate family from its early origin. There are extant Tati and Persian poetry from Shaykh Safi ad-din Ardabili as well as extant Persian poetry from Shaykh Sadr ad-din. Most of the extant poetry of Shah Ismail I is in Azerbaijani pen-name of Khatai. Sam Mirza, the son of Shah Ismail as well as some later authors assert that Ismail composed poems both in Turkish and Persian but only a few specimens of his Persian verse have survived. A collection of his poems in Azeri were published as a Divan. Shah Tahmasp who has composed poetry in Persian was also a painter, while Shah Abbas II was known as a poet, writing Azerbaijani verses. Sam Mirza, the son of Ismail I was himself a poet and composed his poetry in Persian. He also compiled an anthology of contemporary poetry.

The Safavid dynasty (;, ) was one of the most significant ruling dynasties of Iran from 1501 to 1736. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.


Biography.

Early life.

Born Titus Pomponius in Rome, Atticus descended from a family of equestrian rank and was the son of Titus Pomponius and Caecilia. He had a sister named Pomponia. Growing up, he studied and developed close friendships with Cicero, Lucius Manlius Torquatus, and Gaius Marius the Younger. He is said to have been an excellent student, and in 85 BC, Atticus moved to Athens to further his education, particularly in philosophy. His love of Athens inspired his self-appointed nickname "Atticus", or "Man of Attica", which is mentioned in the fifth book of Cicero's "" (section 4). During his visit to Athens, Julius Caesar was Atticus's guest.

Career.

Atticus inherited family money, which he successfully invested in real estate, enhancing his wealth. Using his income to support his love of letters, he had trained Roman slaves as scribes and taught them to make papyrus scrolls, allowing Atticus to publish, amongst other things, the works of his friend Cicero. His editions of Greek authors such as Plato, Demosthenes, and Aeschines were prized for their accuracy in the ancient world. None of Atticus's own writings have survived, but he is known to have written one book (in Ancient Greek) on Cicero's consulship, the "Liber Annalis" (a work on Roman chronology), and a small amount of Roman poetry.  In 65 BC, Atticus returned from Athens to Rome. In keeping with his Epicurean sympathies, he kept out of politics to the greatest extent possible, except to lend Cicero a helping hand in times of peril — for instance, when Cicero was forced to flee the country in 49 BC, Atticus made him a present of 250,000 sesterces. All in all, his political activity was minimal, though we know that, like Cicero, he belonged to the "optimates" (the aristocratic party), and held generally conservative views. He was also a partner of the Triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus.  Upon the death of his wealthiest maternal uncle Quintus Caecilius, Atticus became his adopted son and heir, assuming the name Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus. Lucius Licinius Lucullus, despite being his personal friend, resented Atticus's receiving an inheritance he felt he was entitled to for his association with the campaign against Mithridates and as Governor of Syria.

Marriage and children.

In his later years, he married a relative, Caecilia Pilea/Pilia ( – 46 BC), daughter of Pileus/Pilius and a maternal granddaughter of the Triumvir, Crassus. Atticus and Pilea/Pilia were married in 58/56 BC, when Atticus was already 53/54 years old, and she died after 12 years of happy marriage. She bore him a son of the same name, Titus Pomponius Atticus (of whom little is known), as well as a daughter, Caecilia Pomponia Attica, who became the first wife of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.

Death.

Atticus lived out the remainder of his life in Rome. Just after his 77th birthday he fell ill, and at first his ailment appeared minor. But after three months his health suddenly deteriorated. Deciding to accelerate the inevitable, he abstained from ingesting any nourishment, starving himself to death, and dying on the fifth day of such fasting, "which was the 31st March, in the consulship of Cn. Domitius and C. Sosius", that is in the year 32 BC. He was buried at the family tomb located at the Fifth Mile of the Appian Way.

Titus Pomponius Atticus ( – 31 March 32 BC; also known as Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus) was a Roman editor, banker, and patron of letters, best known for his correspondence and close friendship with prominent Roman statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero. Atticus was from a wealthy Roman family of the equestrian class (lower aristocratic non-ruling class) and from the Pomponian gens.


Geography.

Location.

Büdingen is in the south of the Wetterau below the Vogelsberg hills at an altitude of approx. 160 meters. The city is situated 15 km northwest of Gelnhausen and about 40 km east from Frankfurt am Main. Historically, the city belongs to Oberhessen.

Geology.

Büdingen is situated in a wet and swampy valley. The castle and the old town therefore rest on centuries-old oak planks, placed horizontally across vertical beech piles (poles). The water level has to be kept high enough so that no air can reach these foundations.

Districts.

Since 1972, the municipality includes the following formerly independent villages: Aulendiebach, Büches, Büdingen (core or centre), Calbach, Diebach am Haag, Düdelsheim (the largest municipality), Dudenrod, Eckartshausen, Lorbach, Michelau, Orleshausen, Rinderbügen, Rohrbach, Vonhausen, Wolf, and Wolferborn.  In the same year, the district ("Landkreis") of Büdingen was dissolved, and Büdingen and the district of Friedberg formed the "Wetteraukreis", with Friedberg becoming the new district capital.

History.

Around 700 the wooden church of Saint Remigius was built by an unknown lord. In 847 a "Büdingen" was named in a document for the first time, but it is not clear which Büdingen was meant, because there are some other smaller towns with the same name in Germany and Lorraine. An additional floor was added to St. Remigius's church in about 1050 and the building has basically remained unchanged since then.  In 1131 the House of Büdingen were mentioned for the first time. They became Burggrafen of Gelnhausen in 1155. The "villa" () Büdingen was officially mentioned in 1206. The ruling House of Büdingen died out with Gerlach II before 1247.  Their heirs were the houses of Hohenlohe-Brauneck, of Isenburg-Kempenich, of Trimberg, of Hohenlohe and of Isenburg. On 26 July 1330, Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV granted the status of a market town to Luther of Büdingen.  With his edict of liberty in 1353, Burggraf Heinrich II granted freedom and some independence to the people of Büdingen. In return the people had to defend the city, so the Marksmen's Society was founded. This society still exists today as one of the oldest rifle associations in Germany.  Since 1442 the masters of Büdingen have been known as Grafen of Isenburg-Büdingen. After a local war, Graf Ludwig II built an enormous new defensive wall with 22 towers around the old stronghold between 1480 and 1510. These walls are still nearly completely extant and they are one of the most important medieval fortifications in Germany.  In 1521, Martin Luther allegedly passed through. In the same year, the town became Protestant, later to become Calvinist.  In 1576, the Black Death killed many inhabitants, as it did again in 1632.  In 1590, a great fire destroyed many buildings.  Between 1633 and 1634 114 people were victims of witch hunting, although the first prosecutions took place in 1567. During the Thirty Years' War, in 1634, the town was taken by Imperial troops, who defeated the Swedish occupants.  In 1578 Emperor Rudolf II rewarded the Grafen/Counts of Büdingen with the "Jubilate"-market (from the Latin word jubilate: "to praise"); an occasion for feasting. In 1806 the County of Ysenburg-Büdingen was annexed to the Principality of Isenburg-Birstein. After the Congress of Vienna, the Principality of Isenburg was divided in 1816 between the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt and the Electorate of Hessen; Büdingen went to Hesse-Darmstadt. In 1840, Graf Ernst Casimir III was promoted by a decree of the Grand Duke to the status of hereditary prince.  In 1601 Graf Wolfgang Ernst founded the Latin School, known today as the Wolfgang-Ernst-Gymnasium. In 1712 Graf Ernst Casimir I issued an edict of tolerance permitting religious dissenters to settle in Büdingen. As a result, by 1724 there was a suburb at the Lower Gate (Jerusalem Gate) where Huguenots, Waldensians, sectarians, and other separationists lived.  In 1822, administration and justice were split in the Grand-Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. Büdingen became seat of the Büdingen counties lawcourt, which was followed in 1852 by the installation of the district of Büdingen. In 1839, the laborers' school (later called the trade school) was founded. The Mathildenhospital was built between 1867 and 1868. In 1879, a credit union (today the "Volksbank"), was founded. In 1936 Büdingen became a garrison town; U.S. troops were stationed there since 1945. The last American troops (1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment) departed Büdingen on 15 August 2007, ending 71 years of town history as a military garrison.  Mail service between Büdingen and Frankfurt am Main began in 1739: one mail coach and two mounted messengers a week. The Gießen–Gelnhausen railway, including Büdingen station was opened between Büdingen and Gelnhausen on 30 November 1870. In 1879 the new Gymnasium was built, including a gym and the principal's residence. Between 1888 and 1895 built a water main and began partial installation of a sewage system. The municipal gas works was established in 1910, and Büdingen received electric light in 1913.  Other personalities associated with the town:

Büdingen is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is mainly known for its well-preserved, heavily fortified medieval town wall and half-timbered houses.


Early life.

Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, and Giuseppina Simoni, a devout Catholic, while her husband held strong Communist beliefs. Montand's family left for France in 1923 because of Italy's Fascist regime. He grew up in Marseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's beauty salon (Salon de Coiffure), and later on the docks. He began a career in show business as a music-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris and she made him part of her act.

Career.

Montand went on to international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in numerous films. His recognizably crooner songs, especially those about Paris, became instant classics. He was one of the most famous performers at Bruno Coquatrix's famous Paris Olympia music hall, and toured with musicians including Didi Duprat. In October 1947, he sang "Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai?" (music by Henri Betti and lyrics by Édith Piaf) at the "Théâtre de l'Étoile". Betti also asked him to sing "C'est si bon" but Montand refused. Following the success of the recording of this song by the Sœurs Étienne in 1948, he decided to record it.  During his career, Montand acted in a number of American motion pictures as well as on Broadway. He was nominated for a César Award for "Best Actor" in 1980 for "I comme Icare" and again in 1984 for "Garçon!" In 1986, after his international box-office draw power had fallen off considerably, the 65-year-old Montand gave one of his most memorable performances, as the scheming uncle in the two-part film "Jean de Florette", co-starring Gérard Depardieu, and "Manon des Sources", co-starring Emmanuelle Béart. The film was a worldwide critical hit and raised Montand's profile in the US, where he made an appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman".

Personal life.

In 1951, he married Simone Signoret, and they co-starred in several films throughout their careers. The marriage was, by all accounts, fairly harmonious, lasting until her death in 1985, although Montand had a number of well-publicized affairs, notably with Marilyn Monroe, with whom he starred in one of her last films, "Let's Make Love". He was the stepfather to Signoret’s daughter from her prior marriage, Catherine Allégret.  Montand's only child, Valentin, his son by his second wife, Carole Amiel, was born in 1988. In a paternity suit that rocked France, another woman accused Montand of being the father of her daughter and went to court to obtain a DNA sample from him. Montand refused, but the woman persisted even after his death. In a court ruling that made international headlines, the woman won the right to have Montand exhumed and a sample taken. The results indicated that he was probably not the girl's biological father.  Signoret and Montand had a home in Autheuil-Authouillet, Normandy, where the main village street is named after him.  In his later years he maintained a home in St Paul de Vence, Provence, until his death from a heart attack in November 1991. In an interview, Jean-Jacques Beineix said, "[H]e died on the set [of "IP5: The Island of Pachyderms"]... On the very last day, after his very last shot. It was the very last night and we were doing retakes. He finished what he was doing and then he just died. And the film tells the story of an old man who dies from a heart attack, which is the same thing that happened!" Montand is interred next to his first wife, Simone Signoret, in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.  In 2004, Catherine Allegret, Signoret's daughter, alleged in her autobiography ""Un Monde a L'envers"" (A World Upside Down), that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather at the age of five and that he had a "more than equivocal attitude to her" as she got older. However she also claimed to have been reconciled to him in the latter years of his life.

Ivo Livi (), better known as Yves Montand (; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), was an Italian-French actor and singer.


Early life.

Johannes R. Becher was born in Munich in 1891, the son of Judge Heinrich Becher and his wife Johanna, née Bürck. He attended local schools.  In April 1910, Becher and Fanny Fuss, a young woman he had encountered in January of that year, planned a joint suicide; Becher shot them both, killing her and wounding himself severely. His father succeeds in quashing the case of killing on demand. Becher is certified insanity. His early poetry was filled with struggling to come to terms with this event.  From 1911 he studied medicine and philosophy in college in Munich and Jena. He left his studies and became an expressionist writer, his first works appearing in 1913. An injury from his suicide attempt made him unfit for military service/ and he became addicted to morphine, which he struggled with for the rest of the decade.

Political activity in Germany.

He was also engaged in many communist organisations, joining the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany in 1917, then went over to the Spartacist League in 1918 from which emerged the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In 1920 he left the KPD, disappointed with the failure of the German Revolution, and embraced religion. In 1923, he returned to the KPD and very actively worked within the party.  His art entered an expressionist period, from which he would later dissociate himself. He was part of "die Kugel", an artistic group based in Magdeburg. During this time, he published in the magazines "Verfall und Triumph", "Die Aktion" (The Action) and "Die neue Kunst".  In 1925 government reaction against his anti-war novel, "(CHCI=CH)As (Levisite) oder Der einzig gerechte Krieg," resulted in his being indicted for ""literarischer Hochverrat"" or "literary high treason". It was not until 1928 that this law was amended.  That year, Becher became a founding member of the KPD-aligned Association of Proletarian-Revolutionary Authors (Bund proletarisch-revolutionärer Schriftstellers), serving as its first chairman and co-editor of its magazine, "Die Linkskurve". From 1932 Becher became a publisher of the newspaper, "Die Rote Fahne". In the same year he was elected representing the KPD to the Reichstag.

Fleeing from Nazis.

After the Reichstag fire, Becher was placed on the Nazi blacklist, but he escaped from a large raid in the Berlin artist colony near Breitenbachplatz in Wilmersdorf. By March 15, 1933 he, with the support of the secretary of the Association of Proletarian-Revolutionary Authors, traveled to the home of Willy Harzheim. After staying briefly in Brno, he moved to Prague after some weeks.  He traveled on to Zurich and Paris, where he lived for a time as part of the large émigré community. There his portrait was done by the Hungarian artist, Lajos Tihanyi, whom he befriended.  Finally, in 1935 Becher emigrated to the USSR as did other members of the central committee of the KPD. In Moscow he became editor-in-chief of the German émigré magazine, "Internationale Literatur-Deutsche Blätter." He was selected as a member of the Central Committee of the KPD. Soon Becher was caught up in the midst of the Great Purge. In 1935 he was accused of links with Leon Trotsky. Becher tried to save himself by “informing” on other writers' alleged political misdemeanors. From 1936, he was forbidden to leave the USSR. During this period, he struggled with depression and tried several times to commit suicide.  The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939 horrified German communists. Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the government evacuated the German communists to internal exile. Becher was evacuated to Tashkent, as were most of the communist émigrés. It became the center of evacuation for hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians from the war zones, and the government relocated industry here to preserve some capacity from the Germans.  During his time in Tashkent, he befriended Georg Lukács, the Hungarian philosopher and literary critic, who was also evacuated there. They intensively studied 18th- and 19th-century literature together, after which Becher turned from modernism to Socialist Realism.  Becher was recalled to Moscow by 1942. In 1943, he became one of the founders of the National Committee for a Free Germany.

Return to East Germany.

After the Second World War, Becher returned to Germany with a KPD team, where he settled in the Soviet zone of occupation. There he was appointed to various cultural-political positions. He took part in the establishment of the Cultural Association, to "revive German culture," and founded the Aufbau-Verlag publishing house and the literature magazine, "Sinn und Form". He also contributed to the satirical magazine, "Ulenspiegel".  In 1946, Becher was selected for the Party Executive Committee and the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party. After the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) on 7 October 1949, he became a member of the Volkskammer. He also wrote the lyrics to Hanns Eisler's melody "Auferstanden aus Ruinen," which became the national anthem of the GDR.  That year, he helped establish the DDR Academy of Arts, Berlin. He served as its president from 1953 to 1956, succeeding Arnold Zweig. In January 1953 he received the Stalin Peace Prize (later renamed the Lenin Peace Prize) in Moscow.  In Leipzig in 1955, the German Institute for Literature was founded and originally named in Becher's honor. The Institute's purpose was to train socialist writers. Institute graduates include Erich Loest, Volker Braun, Sarah Kirsch and Rainer Kirsch.  From 1954 to 1958, Becher served as Minister of Culture of the GDR. During the Khrushchev Thaw, Becher fell out of favor. Internal struggles of the party eventually lead to his political demotion in 1956.  Late in his life, Becher began to renounce socialism. His book "Das poetische Prinzip" [The Poetic Principle] wherein he calls socialism the fundamental error of his life ["Grundirrtum meines Lebens"] was only published in 1988.  The following year, in declining health, Becher gave up all his offices and functions in September 1958. He died of cancer on 11 October 1958 in the East Berlin government hospital. Becher was buried at the Dorotheenstadt cemetery in the Berlin center, with his gravesite designated as a "grave of honor" () of Berlin. Becher lived in Majakowskiring 34 street, Pankow, East Berlin.

Legacy and honours.

Although the party praised Becher after his death as the "greatest German poet in recent history", his work was criticised by younger East German authors as backward and politically embarrassing. Examples include Katja Lange-Müller who called him a "Neanderthal minister of culture [Neandertaler von Kulturminister]".  Official awards and honours include the following:

Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writing in an expressionist style.


Early life and education.

Jacob Levy Moreno was born in Bucharest in the Kingdom of Romania. His father was Moreno Nissim Levy, a Sephardi Jewish merchant born in 1856 in Plevna in the Ottoman Empire (today Pleven, Bulgaria). Jacob's grandfather Buchis had moved to Plevna from Constantinople, where his ancestors had settled after they left Spain in 1492. It is thought that the Morenos left Plevna for Bucharest during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, following the Plevna rabbi, Haim Bejarano in search of a more hospitable environment. Jacob Moreno's mother, Paulina Iancu or Wolf, was also a Sephardi Jew, born in 1873, and originated from Călăraşi, Romania.  In 1895, a time of great intellectual creativity and political turmoil, the family moved to Vienna. He studied medicine, mathematics, and philosophy at the University of Vienna, becoming a Doctor of Medicine in 1917. He had rejected Freudian theory while still a medical student, and became interested in the potential of group settings for therapeutic practice.  In his autobiography, Moreno recalls this encounter with Sigmund Freud in 1912. "I attended one of Freud’s lectures. He had just finished an analysis of a telepathic dream. As the students filed out, he singled me out from the crowd and asked me what I was doing. I responded, 'Well, Dr. Freud, I start where you leave off. You meet people in the artificial setting of your office. I meet them on the street and in their homes, in their natural surroundings. You analyze their dreams. I give them the courage to dream again. You analyze and tear them apart. I let them act out their conflicting roles and help them to put the parts back together again.'"

Marriages and children.

In Brooklyn, New York, Moreno married Beatrice Beecher in 1926. The marriage ended in divorce, and in 1938 he married Florence Bridge, with whom he had one child, Regina Moreno (born 1939). They too were divorced, and he married Zerka Toeman in 1949, with whom he had one child Jonathan D. Moreno (born 1952).

Career.

While living in Vienna in the early 1900s Moreno started an improvisational theater company, "Stegreiftheater", the Theater of Spontaneity where he formulated a form of psychotherapy he called psychodrama, which employed improvised dramatizations, role-plays and other therapeutic, spontaneous dramatic expressions that utilized and unleashed the spontaneity and creativity of the group and its individual members. Moreno saw "psychodrama as the next logical step beyond psychoanalysis." It was "an opportunity to get into action instead of just talking, to take the role of the important people in our lives to understand them better, to confront them imaginatively in the safety of the therapeutic theater, and most of all to become more creative and spotantaneous human beings."  In his book "Who Shall Survive?" (Preludes, p.xxviii) Moreno wrote of the genesis of his Group Psychotherapy in 1913-14 in Vienna, formulating his ideas while working with groups of prostitutes.  Moving to the U.S.A. in 1925, he began working in New York City. There, Moreno worked on his theory of interpersonal relations, and the development of his work in psychodrama, sociometry, group psychotherapy, sociodrama, and sociatry. In his autobiography he wrote "only in New York, the melting pot of the nations, the vast metropolis, with all its freedom from all preconceived notions, could I be free to pursue sociometric group research in the grand style I had envisioned".  The New York Times wrote “He found that acceptance of his theories was slow, particularly because some colleagues deplored his showmanship.”  He worked at the Plymouth Institute, Brooklyn, and at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1929, he founded an Impromptu Theater at Carnegie Hall and later did work at the Guild Theater. He made studies of sociometry at Sing Sing Prison in 1931. In 1936, he founded the Beacon Hill Sanitarium, and the adjacent Therapeutic Theater.  He later held positions at Columbia University and the New School for Social Research.  In 1932, Moreno first introduced group psychotherapy to the American Psychiatric Association, and co-authored the monograph "Group Method and Group Pschotherapy" with Helen Hall Jennings. He and Jennings were the first to use a stochastic network model (or, "chance sociogram", as they called it), predating the Erdős–Rényi model and the network model of Anatol Rapoport.  For the next 40 years he developed and introduced his Theory of Interpersonal Relations and tools for social sciences he called'sociodrama', 'psychodrama','sociometry', and'sociatry'. In his monograph entitled, "The Future of Man's World", he describes how he developed these sciences to counteract "the economic materialism of Marx, the psychological materialism of Freud, and the technological materialism" of our modern industrial age. His autobiography describes his position as "threefold:  Moreno died in New York City in 1974, aged 84. He chose to die by abstaining from all food and water after a long illness. His ashes are buried at Feuerhalle Simmering in Vienna. His epitaph, at his request, reads "Der mann, der freude und lachen in die psychiatre brechte" (The man who brought joy and laughter to psychiatry).

Summary of contribution.

There is evidence that the methods of J. L. Moreno have held up respectably over time. Subsequent research from the University of Vienna shows the enormous influence that Moreno's theory of the Encounter ("Invitations to an Encounter", 1914) had on the development of Martin Buber's I-Thou philosophy, and Buber's influence on philosophy, theology, and psychology. His wife, Zerka Moreno, wrote: "While it is true that Buber broadened the idea of the Encounter, he did not create the instruments for it to occur." Moreno "produced the various instruments we now use for facilitating the human encounter, sociometry, group psychotherapy, psychodrama, and sociodrama". Zerka was herself an expert in psychodrama and sociometry, and continued her late husband's work.  With training centers and institutes on nearly every continent, there are many thousands of students who are expanding and developing training and teaching the Morenean Arts and Sciences across the disciplines, to more fully realize Moreno's vision to make these social sciences available for "the whole of [hu]mankind."  Moreno is also widely credited as one of the founders of the discipline of social network analysis, the branch of sociology that deals with the quantitative evaluation of an individual's role in a group or community by analysis of the network of connections between them and others.  His 1934 book "Who Shall Survive?" contains some of the earliest graphical depictions of social networks (sociograms). In this book, he introduced a famous explanation, why a pandemic of runaways emerged at the New York Training School for Girls in Hudson.

Jacob Levy Moreno (born Iacob Levy; May 18, 1889 – May 14, 1974) was a Romanian-American psychiatrist, psychosociologist, and educator, the founder of psychodrama, and the foremost pioneer of group psychotherapy. During his lifetime, he was recognized as one of the leading social scientists.


Kangoo I (1997–2007).

The first generation Kangoo was introduced in October 1997, and was facelifted in March 2003, with new front end nose styling, especially the grille, standardised across the Renault range, with the Renault diamond mounted on a body colour panel in the centre of the grille and teardrop headlamps.  The rear windows and seats of the Kangoo could be removed, producing the panel van Kangoo Express. The Kangoo became popular with mobility impaired and wheelchair users due to its height and accessibility, and because it could be adapted to include mounting points for wheelchairs. The rear of the vehicle is cut to allow a ramp to be fitted. A pair of front tie downs are fitted (retractable seat belts with a solonoid release to allow them to be extended, passed around the wheelchair frame, and then locked back when the solonoid is switched off and they retract); this stops the wheelchair from moving back. A pair of rear tie downs with the normal clamping buckles stop the wheelchair from moving forward. A normal, long seat belt is worn by the wheelchair user.  Both the Kangoo and Kangoo Express were available in four-wheel drive versions and a lengthened version was available, with an increased cargo area. A pickup version was sold in the Swedish market. In some countries, such as Malaysia, the Kangoo was assembled by Nissan with third row seats.  A badge-engineered version of the Kangoo panel van was sold as the Nissan Kubistar, sold by Nissan from 1997 to 2009. From July 2003, "Wallace and Gromit" starred in adverts in the United Kingdom for the Kangoo.

Break'Up.

The Kangoo Break'Up was a four wheel drive concept car announced in August 2002 and previewed the facelift design due in 2003, together with a pick up-style rear. It was powered by 1.6 L engine producing.

Four wheel drive.

The 4WD version of the Kangoo was introduced in 2002, and was marketed under the model name Trekka. It should not be confused with the Skoda powered New Zealand built utility vehicle named Trekka, which was marketed in the Antipodes for several years circa 1970.  The Kangoo Trekka's all wheel drive system differed from the Renault Scenic RX4 in its inclusion of a Nissan sourced automatic torque coupling "ATC", a hydraulic coupling that would engage drive on all four wheels should the front wheels start to lose traction.  This allowed the Kangoo Trekka to run in front wheel drive in most conditions, thus saving fuel. Working in combination with the ATC, the Kangoo Trekka featured an electronically controlled "ASR" traction control system which could brake the front wheels to arrest traction loss.  The suspension on the front had longer front struts with revised coil springs, lower suspension arms were revised to a cast steel item. The rear suspension was completely revised from the standard Kangoo torsion bar suspension beam axle to a fully independent coil sprung system with wishbones. The rear differential was centrally mounted with two driveshafts transmitting power to the rear wheels. All this was carried on a subframe which increased the ground clearance and wheel travel.  These changes gave the Kangoo Trekka a fording depth and 28 degree hill climbing capability. The Kangoo Trekka was marketed in the UK with a choice of two engines, the 1.6 L 16 valve petrol engine and the 1.9 L dCi common rail turbodiesel both with a five speed manual gearbox  In 2005, these models were priced at £12,600 and £13,600 respectively. The diesel produced a peak torque of and achieved over on the combined (urban and extra urban) fuel consumption test.  The petrol engine had a time of 14.3 seconds, and a combined fuel consumption of. The interior of the Kangoo Trekka was spartan. The rear bench seat could be folded forward to provide a loading area, with better access through the sliding side doors.

Engines.

The Kangoo and Kangoo Express was/is available with a choice of multiple engines:  Some LPG and CNG variants of petrol engines have also been produced.

Electric vehicles based on Kangoo I.

Cleanova II is a hybrid electric drive train system, used in a vehicle based on Renault Kangoo, with two electric versions: full electric vehicle (FEV) and plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV).

Kangoo II (2007–present).

The New Renault Kangoo and New Renault Kangoo Express are based on the Scenic and manufactured in Maubeuge. Sales began in May 2007. A seven seat version, which is longer by 40cm, became available from July 2012.  They are also sold by Mercedes-Benz as the Mercedes-Benz Citan, with a revised front design, being launched in September 2012. In February 2012, Renault retired the Kangoo MPV, Espace, Laguna, Modus, and Wind lines in the United Kingdom.  A facelifted version of both the van and the passenger versions was available from the beginning of 2013.  During November 2018, it was announced Nissan will be badge engineering the Kangoo, turning it into its NV250.

Body styles.

The Kangoo is available in three wheelbase configurations: the Kangoo Express, the Kangoo Compact with a shorter wheelbase, and the Kangoo Express Maxi with a longer wheelbase – all three offered in passenger variants. The short wheelbase version was sold as the between 2009 and 2012.  The payload of the Kangoo Express and Express Maxi is between and depending on version and market, while the Kangoo Compact with its short wheelbase has a reduced payload of. The Kangoo Express Maxi has up to of usable floor length.

Kangoo Z.E..

As part of its Z.E. electric car initiative, Renault has developed the Kangoo Z.E. model that is manufactured at its Maubeuge plant, and released the electric van for retail sales in October 2011.  A total of 3,652 Kangoo Z.E. utility vans were registered in France through December 2012, and, with 2,869 units delivered in 2012, the electric van became the top selling plug-in electric vehicle in the country. During 2011, the Kangoo Z.E. sold 991 units in Europe, and cumulative sales in the region reached 6,658 units sold in the region through December 2012, with global sales of 6,665 units.  Worldwide cumulative sales passed the 10,000 mark by the start of September 2013, representing about 10% of overall Kangoo van global sales. The Kangoo Z.E. is the leader of the small all electric van segment, and the best selling electric vehicle in France, with 9,125 units registered through June 2014. The Kangoo Z.E. is Europe's top selling all-electric light commercial vehicle, with global sales of 48,821 units delivered since inception through December 2019.  The Kangoo Z.E. has the same dimensions as the internal combustion model. It uses a synchronous electric motor with rotor coil. Its peak power is at 10,500rpm, while maximum torque is. Its top speed is capped electronically to.  The vehicle is powered by a 22 kWh lithium-ion battery pack that delivers a combined cycle range of NEDC that varies depending on factors such as type of road, temperature, speed or driving style. In November 2011, the Kangoo Z.E. was voted "International Van of the Year" for 2012. It was also elected "Electric Vehicle of the Year" in 2012 and 2013 by GreenFleet.

The Renault Kangoo and the Renault Kangoo Express are a range of multi purpose vehicles manufactured and marketed by Renault across two generations since 1997 in commercial as well as passenger variants., the electric variant, the Renault Kangoo Z.E., is Europe's top selling all-electric light commercial vehicle, with global sales of 48,821 units since its inception in 2011.


Political theory.

Alexis de Tocqueville's classic study, "Democracy in America", may be viewed as an examination of the operation of the principle of subsidiarity in early 19th century America. De Tocqueville noted that the French Revolution began with "a push towards decentralization... in the end, an extension of centralization". He wrote that "Decentralization has, not only an administrative value, but also a civic dimension, since it increases the opportunities for citizens to take interest in public affairs; it makes them get accustomed to using freedom. And from the accumulation of these local, active, persnickety freedoms, is born the most efficient counterweight against the claims of the central government, even if it were supported by an impersonal, collective will." As Christian Democratic political parties were formed, they adopted the Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity, as well as the neo-Calvinist theological teaching of sphere sovereignty, with both Protestants and Roman Catholics agreeing "that the principles of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity boiled down to the same thing".  The term "subsidiarity" is also used to refer to a tenet of some forms of conservative or libertarian thought in the United States. For example, conservative author Reid Buckley writes:  Will the American people never learn that, as a principle, to expect swift response and efficiency from government is fatuous? Will we never heed the principle of subsidiarity (in which our fathers were bred), namely that no public agency should do what a private agency can do better, and that no higher-level public agency should attempt to do what a lower-level agency can do better – that to the degree the principle of subsidiarity is violated, first local government, the state government, and then federal government wax in inefficiency? Moreover, the more powers that are invested in government, and the more powers that are wielded by government, the less well does government discharge its primary responsibilities, which are (1) defence of the commonwealth, (2) protection of the rights of citizens, and (3) support of just order.  The United Nations Development Programme's 1999 report on decentralisation noted that subsidiarity was an important principle. It quoted one definition:  Decentralization, or decentralising governance, refers to the restructuring or reorganisation of authority so that there is a system of co-responsibility between institutions of governance at the central, regional and local levels according to the principle of subsidiarity, thus increasing the overall quality and effectiveness of the system of governance, while increasing the authority and capacities of sub-national levels.  According to Richard Macrory, the positive effects of a political/economic system governed by the principle of subsidiarity include:  He writes that the negative effects of a political/economic system governed by the principle of subsidiarity include:

General principle of European Union law.

Subsidiarity is perhaps presently best known as a general principle of European Union law. According to this principle, the Union may only act (i.e. make laws) collectively where independent action of individual countries is insufficient without equal action by other members. The principle was established in the 1992 Treaty of Maastricht. However, at the local level it was already a key element of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, an instrument of the Council of Europe promulgated in 1985 (see Article 4, Paragraph 3 of the Charter) (which states that the exercise of public responsibilities should be decentralised). Subsidiarity is related in essence to, but should not be confused with, the concept of a margin of appreciation.  Subsidiarity was established in EU law by the Treaty of Maastricht, which was signed on 7 February 1992 and entered into force on 1 November 1993. The present formulation is contained in Article 5(3) of the Treaty on European Union (consolidated version following the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009): Under the principle of subsidiarity, in areas which do not fall within its exclusive competence, the Union shall act only if and in so far as the objectives of the proposed action cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, either at central level or at regional and local level, but can rather, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, be better achieved at Union level.  The national parliaments of EU member states have an "early warning mechanism" whereby if one third raise an objection – a "yellow card" – on the basis that the principle of subsidiarity has been violated, then the proposal must be reviewed. If a majority do so – an "orange card" – then the Council or Parliament can vote it down immediately. If the logistical problems of putting this into practice are overcome, then the power of the national parliaments could be deemed an extra legislature, without a common debate or physical location: dubbed by EUObserver a "virtual third chamber".  A more descriptive analysis of the principle can be found in Protocol 2 to the European Treaties.

Court of Justice.

The Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg is the authority that has to decide whether a regulation falls within the exclusive competence of the Union, as defined by the Treaty of European Union and its predecessors. As the concept of subsidiarity has a political as well as a legal dimension, the Court of Justice has a reserved attitude toward judging whether EU legislation is consistent with the concept. The Court will examine only marginally whether the principle is fulfilled. A detailed explanation of the legislation is not required; it is enough that the EU institutions explain why national legislation seems inadequate and that Union law has an added value.  An example is the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in a legal action taken by the Federal Republic of Germany against the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union concerning a Directive on deposit guarantee schemes (13 May 1997). Germany argued that the Directive did not explain how it was compatible with the principle of subsidiarity. The Court answered:

Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate (or local) level that is consistent with their resolution.


Geography.

Natural geography.

The landscape of the Vogtland is sometimes referred to as idyllic, bearing in mind its fields, meadows and wooded hilltops. In the south and southeast, Vogtland rises to a low or mid-height mountain range also called "Oberes Vogtland", or Upper Vogtland. Here, monocultural coniferous forest is the predominant form of vegetation. The Vogtland's highest mountain is Schneehübel, reaching 974 metres; another remarkable landmark is the Schneckenstein, above sea level, which gained some renown for its (falsely) alleged unique abundance of topaz crystals. Its mountains spread from Ore Mountains in the south-east to Fichtelgebirge in the south-west, some peaks also belonging to Elstergebirge.  Neighbouring regions are Frankenwald, Ore Mountains, Thüringer Schiefergebirge ("Thuringian Slate Mountains") and Fichtelgebirge. The south-eastern part of the Vogtland belongs to "Ore Mountain/Vogtland Nature Park", a protected area comparable to a national park.  In its northern part, which averages around 250m above sea level, the landscape is marked by several river valleys, as the White Elster, the Zwickauer Mulde and the Göltzsch have their spring in the Vogtland, while the Saale flows through Bavaria and Thuringia in the west of Vogtland.

Cultural geography.

The river valley geography in Vogtland's north made it necessary to build comparatively big bridges to channel railroad and automobile traffic streams. Especially famous is the "Göltzsch Viaduct" for being the world's largest bridge built of bricks and her "little sister", the "Elster Viaduct". Both of them are in use as railroad bridges closing the gap between Dresden and Nuremberg.  As road bridges are concerned, the major bridges forming part of the A 72 near Hof, Pirk and Weißensand are the most important ones, while one urban bridge poses as a rarity: The Syratal Viaduct is Europe's biggest mono-arch bridge made of chunked natural stone - to be found in Plauen, commonly called "Friedensbrücke".  Integral part of the Vogtland landscape are its reservoirs, the shores of which mostly are popular holiday and camping destinations.  Plauen, the largest town, is known as the "capital of the Vogtland" or, with a proud note, as "Vogtlandmetropolis". Other towns of regional significance are:  In Saxony:  In Thuringia:  In Bavaria:  In the Czech Republic:

History.

The larger settlemental region surrounding Gera has been recorded in documents as early as the year 1000. It is thought to have been inhabited since late 7th or early 8th century by Slavic Settlers who tribally belonged to the Sorbs. Large portions of the Vogtland, however, were still covered with pristine forests and were not settled before the High Middle Ages, especially until the period called "Deutsche Ostsiedlung". Those settlers arrived mainly in eleventh and twelfth centuries, ethnically being Slavic or German, coming from areas of traditionally older settlement like Franconia, Thuringia and Saxony. Even today this can be traced along lines dividing dialectal areas, providing linguistic differences at close distances of settlement while demonstrating peculiar commonalities with varieties spoken in more distant regions of Germany. For instance, in a number of villages of the upper Vogtland even nowadays a dialect is spoken similar to that in "Oberpfalz" (/ou/ sounds instead of /u:/ as in "Kou" (en. "cow") etc.).  The place name Vogtland (formerly also known as "Voigtland", "terra advocatorum") originates in the rule of the Vogts in this region from the eleventh to the sixteenth century A.D., specifically in reference to the Vogts of Weida, Gera and Plauen. In the 12th century, Kaiser Barbarossa appointed the first Vogts as administrators of his imperial forest areas in the East to facilitate his rule. Their headquarters was the Osterburg at Weida, thus giving it the reputation as the cradle of the Vogtland. Among the privileges of the Vogts were the endowment over minerals still unextracted from the ground "(Bergregal)" and the entitlement to regulating mint and coinage affairs "(Münzregal)", which were both handed down to them by Kaiser Frederick II in 1232.  As in the 14th century claims to power by the Margraves of Meißen emerged, Henry of Plauen submitted to the tenure-based regnancy of the Bohemian Crown, excepting only the dominion of Voigtsberg, that stayed tenured to the Reich. In 1349, his equinomic son Henry also handed Voigtsberg over to Bohemian tenure; thus the whole Vogtland had become a Reichsafterlehn (a specific status of tenure). In 1357 an exchange of territories was agreed with by the Margraviate of Meißen, effectually making Wiedersberg, Liebau, Adorf, Pausa, Neuenkirchen and Hirschberg (among others) Meißenian while Borna, Geithein and Kohren were handed to the Vogt. The exchange was heavily disputed by branch line cousins of Henry's. The Lords of Plauen, as they called themselves, retrieved Auerbach, Pausa and Liebau as Meißenian tenure in 1379. Since 1426 the Lords of Plauen were Burggraves of Meißen and found themselves in constant power struggles with the Saxonian Kurfürsts.  King George of Podiebrad took the burning of the royal castle of Graslitz due to fights between Henry II of Plauen and his enemies to be an occasion to withdraw his tenure and have the Vogtland occupied by Ernest in 1466. Henry II von Plauen had fallen into disgrace with him for his open opposition against nobility. Thus, Ernest received tenure over the Vogtland which, at the occasion of the Leipziger Teilung in 1485, was transferred to the House of Ernest while keeping the "Bergregal" under joint control. In 1547, after the Battle of Mühlberg, the Ernestines forfeited the tenure over the Vogtland and Kaiser Ferdinand I handed it down to his Chancellor Henry IV of Plauen, making Maurice, Elector of Saxony co-tenant to the Vogtland tenure. Henry V and Henry VI could not settle up their debts towards Augustus, Elector of Saxony. Due to arrears in Tithe and other liabilities the Brothers impawned the Vogtland to Kursachsen in 1559.  With Heinrich VI the rule of the Vogts of Plauen over the Vogtland ended, as he could not redeem the pawn any more. In 1566, Augustus acquired the office and towns of Voigtsberg, Oelsnitz, Plauen and Pausa. Matters were furtherly resettled in 1657, among other transactions assigning office over Plauen, Voigtsberg and Pausa to the Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz while "schriftsässige Rittergüter" and the town of Schöneck remained in Kursaxon possession. In 1718, after the Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz line had vanished, the areas in concern reverted to Kursachsen. Asides from the Kursaxonian share, the forests around Auerbach and Schöneck remained an exceptional area being both Kursaxonian and ducal at the same time.

Transportation and infrastructure.

Two major motorways (A 72 and A 9) serve the Vogtland with connection to the surrounding regions and cities. Providing connections locally within the region and beyond state and national borders, Vogtlandbahn is a private railway company which operates the Vogtland Express. Vogtlandbahn services includes direct connections to Leipzig, Regensburg and Berlin independently from Deutsche Bahn and cooperates with Bohemian (Czech) railway company Viamont as well as with Bavaria-based Alex train services to provide further connections to Munich, Prague and further destinations of note in Euregio Egrensis and beyond. There is a bus service that runs from Vogtland to Berlin.  While the European Union develops into a Europe of Regions, Vogtland could experience an increase of significance for transiting traffic and tourism for the region of Euregio Egrensis, independently from the political meaning of Vogtlandkreis.

Vogtland (, ) is a region spanning the German federal states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and north-western Bohemia in the Czech Republic. It overlaps with and is largely contained within Euregio Egrensis. The name alludes to the former leadership by the Vögte ("advocates" or "lords protector") of Weida, Gera and Plauen.


Plot summary.

The novel's central character is Étienne Lantier, previously seen in "L'Assommoir" (1877), and originally to have been the central character in Zola's "murder on the trains" thriller "La Bête humaine" (1890) before the overwhelmingly positive reaction to "Germinal" persuaded him otherwise. The young migrant worker arrives at the forbidding coal mining town of Montsou in the bleak area of the far north of France to earn a living as a miner. Sacked from his previous job on the railways for assaulting a superior, Étienne befriends the veteran miner Maheu, who finds him somewhere to stay and gets him a job pushing the carts down the pit.  Étienne is portrayed as a hard-working idealist but also a naïve youth; Zola's genetic theories come into play as Étienne is presumed to have inherited his Macquart ancestors' traits of hotheaded impulsiveness and an addictive personality capable of exploding into rage under the influence of drink or strong passions. Zola keeps his theorizing in the background and Étienne's motivations are much more natural as a result. He embraces socialist principles, reading large amounts of working class movement literature and fraternizing with Souvarine, a Russian anarchist and political émigré who has also come to Montsou to seek a living in the pits. Étienne's simplistic understanding of socialist politics and their rousing effect on him are very reminiscent of the rebel Silvère in the first novel in the cycle, "La Fortune des Rougon" (1871).  While this is going on, Étienne also falls for Maheu's daughter Catherine, also employed pushing carts in the mines, and he is drawn into the relationship between her and her brutish lover Chaval, a prototype for the character of Buteau in Zola's later novel "La Terre" (1887). The complex tangle of the miners' lives is played out against a backdrop of severe poverty and oppression, as their working and living conditions continue to worsen throughout the novel; eventually, pushed to breaking point, the miners decide to strike and Étienne, now a respected member of the community and recognized as a political idealist, becomes the leader of the movement. While the anarchist Souvarine preaches violent action, the miners and their families hold back, their poverty becoming ever more disastrous, until they are sparked into a ferocious riot, the violence of which is described in explicit terms by Zola, as well as providing some of the novelist's best and most evocative crowd scenes. The rioters are eventually confronted by police and the army that repress the revolt in a violent and unforgettable episode. Disillusioned, the miners go back to work, blaming Étienne for the failure of the strike; then, Souvarine sabotages the entrance shaft of one of the Montsou pits, trapping Étienne, Catherine and Chaval at the bottom. The ensuing drama and the long wait for rescue are among some of Zola's best scenes, and the novel draws to a dramatic close. Étienne is eventually rescued and fired but he goes on to live in Paris with Pluchart.

Historical context.

The title, "Germinal", is drawn from the springtime seventh month of the French Revolutionary Calendar and is meant to evoke imagery of germination, new growth and fertility. Accordingly, Zola ends the novel on a note of hope and one that has provided inspiration to socialist and reformist causes of all kinds throughout the years since its first publication:  By the time of Zola's death, the novel had come to be recognized as his undisputed masterpiece. At his funeral crowds of workers gathered, cheering the cortège with shouts of "Germinal! Germinal!". Since then the book has come to symbolize working class causes and to this day retains a special place in French mining-town folklore.  Zola was always very proud of "Germinal" and was always keen to defend its accuracy against accusations of hyperbole and exaggeration (from the conservatives) or of slander against the working classes (from the socialists). His research had been typically thorough, especially the parts involving lengthy observational visits to northern French mining towns in 1884, such as witnessing the after-effects of a crippling miners' strike first-hand at Anzin or actually going down a working coal pit at Denain. The mine scenes are especially vivid and haunting as a result.  A sensation upon original publication, it is now by far the best-selling of Zola's novels, both in France and internationally. A number of modern translations are currently in print and widely available.

Adaptations.

The novel has been filmed a number of times, including:

Germinal is the thirteenth novel in Émile Zola's twenty-volume series "Les Rougon-Macquart". Often considered Zola's masterpiece and one of the most significant novels in the French tradition, the novel – an uncompromisingly harsh and realistic story of a coalminers' strike in northern France in the 1860s – has been published and translated in over one hundred countries and has additionally inspired five film adaptations and two television productions.


Christianity.

In Christian theology, redemption (Greek: "apolutrosis") refers to the deliverance of Christians from sin. It assumes an important position in salvation because the transgressions in question form part of a great system against which human power is helpless. Leon Morris says that "Paul uses the concept of redemption primarily to speak of the saving significance of the death of Christ." In the New Testament, the redemption word group is used to refer both to deliverance from sin and freedom from captivity. In Christian theology, redemption is a metaphor for what is achieved through the Atonement; therefore, there is a metaphorical sense in which the death of Jesus pays the price of a ransom, releasing Christians from bondage to sin and death.  Most evangelical theologians and Protestant denominations reject Origen's argument that God paid the ransom price of redemption to Satan.

Hinduism.

A similar concept in Indian religions is called Prāyaścitta, which it is not related to theological sense of sin, but to expiation and personal liberation from guilt or sin.

Islam.

In Islam, redemption is achieved through being a Muslim and doing no action that would forfeit one's identification with Islam, being of sincere faith ("iman") and doing virtuous actions. Muslim sinners need only turn to a merciful God in repentance and carry out other good deeds, such as prayer ("salah") and charity, for redemption. As a result of this view of redemption, Muslims have criticized alternative views on redemption, especially the Christian doctrine of original sin.

Judaism.

In Judaism, redemption (Hebrew "ge'ulah") refers to God redeeming the people of Israel from their exiles, starting with that from Egypt. This includes the final redemption from the present exile.  In the Torah, redemption referred to the ransom of slaves (Exodus 21:8).  The concept of redemption is however a legal and transactional one in the Torah Halakha, including various sacrifices at the Temple in Jerusalem:  The concept also applies to redemption of real property such as fields and houses, stock animals, such as donkeys, produce, and specific items such as tefillin. It also means the liberation of an estate in real property from a mortgage.  Redemption also applies to individuals or groups: an Israelite slave, an Israelite captive, and the firstborn son "pidyon haben", () or redemption of the first-born son, is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is redeemed from God by use of silver coins to a kohen. It is from these three cases that the concept of exilic redemption is derived because the People Israel are considered God's 'firstborn' derived from Jacob, who are God's slaves forever, but are currently held captive, even while they reside in the modern state of Israel.  In Hasidic philosophy parallels are drawn between the redemption from exile and the personal redemption achieved when a person refines his character traits, although there is no source for this in the Talmud. Rather the Messianic redemption is linked to observing Shabbat, Jewish prayer, and the promise of redemption for those looking toward Mount Zion, the last being the original cultural source of 'Zionism'. As such, the original intent of Zionism was the redemption process by which the Land of Israel that has been pledged to the Israelites is reclaimed, accomplished through a payment of the debt owed to God as a fulfillment of the conditions set out in the Torah.

Redemption is an essential concept in many religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The English word "redemption" means'repurchase' or 'buy back'.


Consolidation of power.

Borjigin Barsboladiin Altan was the second son of Bars Bolud Jinong, and a grandson of Batumongke Dayan Khan who had re-unified the Mongolian nobility in an attempt to regain the glory of the Yuan dynasty. Altan Khan ruled the Tümed and belonged to the Right Wing of the Mongols along with his elder brother Gün Bilig, who ruled the Ordos. After Gün Bilig's death in 1542, Altan became the de facto leader of the whole of the Right Wing and was given the title, "Tösheetü Sechen Khan".  When Bodi Alagh Khan, the Khagan of the Mongols from the Chahar, died in 1547, Altan forced Bodi Alagh's successor Darayisung Küdeng Khan to flee eastward. In 1551 Darayisung made a compromise with Altan in exchange for giving the title "Gegeen Khan" to him. Altan Khan, who controlled the Ordos tumen of the Huang He or Yellow River was well placed to keep pressure on the Chinese and the Oirat Mongols in Tibet while developing both agriculture and trade.  Altan Khan also founded the city of Köke Khota (Hohhot, meaning "The Blue City"), now the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. There is an impressive statue of him in one of the city's main squares.

Alliance with the Gelug.

Altan Khan is particularly remembered for establishing ties between Mongolia and the religious leaders of the Tibetan Gelug order. Altan Khan first invited 3rd Dalai Lama to Tümed in 1569, but apparently he refused to go and sent a disciple instead, who reported back to him about the great opportunity to spread Buddhist teachings throughout Mongolia. In 1571, Altan Khan got the title "Prince of Shunyi" (Obedient and Righteous Prince) from the Longqing Emperor (March 4, 1537-July 5, 1572), the 12th emperor of China (Ming dynasty). In 1573, Altan Khan took some Tibetan Buddhist monks prisoner. The emperor also gave the Prince of Shunyi's new capital a new name, Guihua, meaning "return to civilization". The prince became very interested in Gelukpa, and Beijing was happy to provide him with Tibetan lamas, Tibetan scriptures, and translations.  Sonam Gyatso accepted Altan Khan's invitation to Tümed in 1577. Altan Khan later had Thegchen Chonkhor, Mongolia's first monastery, built at the place of the meeting. Also, the ruler of the Khalkha Mongols, Abtai Sain Khan, rushed to Tümed to meet the Dalai Lama. The Erdene Zuu Monastery was built by him in 1586, at the site of the former Mongol capital of Karakorum following his adoption of Buddhism as the state religion. This monastery is also often (wrongly) referred to as the first monastery in Mongolia and it grew into a massive establishment. In 1792, it contained 62 temples and some 10,000 lamas.  Sonam Gyatso publicly announced that he was a reincarnation of the Tibetan Sakya monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa (1235–1280) who converted Kublai Khan, while Altan Khan was a reincarnation of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), the famous ruler of the Mongol Empire and Emperor of China, and that they had come together again to cooperate in propagating the Buddhist religion.  Altan Khan designated Sonam Gyatso as "Dalai" (a translation into Mongolian of the name Gyatso, meaning "ocean"). As a result, Sonam Gyatso became known as the Dalai Lama which, since then, has been used as a title – frequently translated into English as "Ocean of Wisdom". The title was also posthumously given to Gendun Drup and Gendun Gyatso, who were considered Sonam Gyatso's previous incarnations. Thus, Sonam Gyatso was recognized as being already the 3rd Dalai Lama.  Sonam Gyatso never returned to Tibet but remained proselytizing among the Mongols. The Tümed Mongols and their allies were brought into the Gelug tradition, which was to become the main spiritual orientation of the Mongols in the ensuing centuries.  Sonam Gyatso's message was that the time had come for Mongolia to embrace Buddhism, that from that time on there should be no more animal sacrifices, there must be no taking of life, animal or human, military action must be pursued only with purpose and the immolation of women on the funeral pyres of their husbands must be abolished. He also secured an edict abolishing the Mongol custom of blood-sacrifices. "These and many other such laws were set forth by Gyalwa Sonam Gyatso and were instituted by Altan Khan."  A massive program of translating Tibetan (and Sanskrit) texts into Mongolian was commenced, with letters written in silver and gold and paid for by the Dalai Lama's Mongolian devotees. Within 50 years virtually all Mongols had become Buddhist, with tens of thousands of monks, who were members of the Gelug order, loyal to the Dalai Lama.  When Sonam Gyatso died in 1588, his incarnation – and thus, the new Dalai Lama – was Altan Khan's great-grandson.

Military exploits.

Altan Khan used his military strength to threaten the Ming dynasty of China. He led raids into inland China in 1529, 1530 and 1542 returning with plunder and livestock. In 1550 he crossed the Great Wall and besieged Beijing, setting the suburbs on fire. In 1552 Altan Khan gained control of the remains of Karakorum, the old Mongol capital. Longqing Emperor, the reigning emperor of Ming dynasty was forced to grant special trading rights to the khanate, after signing a peace treaty with him in 1571, allowing it to trade horses for silks, which further strengthened it economically. Altan Khan was also granted the title Prince Shunyi ("prince who conforms to righteousness") from the emperor. During his reign he made several successful military campaigns to the west against rebellious Oirats, Kazakhs, and Kyrgyz, bringing them back under his rule.

Death.

Altan Khan died in 1582, only four years after meeting with the Third Dalai Lama. He was 74 or 75 years old at the time.

Succession.

Altan Khan's title Prince of Shunyi was succeeded by his son Sengge Düüreng who was supported by the Ming court. Altan Khan's great-grandson, Yonten Gyatso, was selected as the 4th Dalai Lama.

Altan Khan of the Tümed (1507–1582; ; Chinese: 阿勒坦汗), whose given name was Anda ( in Mongolian; 俺答 in Chinese), was the leader of the Tümed Mongols and de facto ruler of the Right Wing, or western tribes, of the Mongols. He was the grandson of Dayan Khan (1464–1543), a descendant of Kublai Khan (1215–1294), who had managed to unite a tribal league between the Khalkha Mongols in the north and the Chahars (Tsakhars) to the south. His name means "Golden Khan" in the Mongolian language.