title: Meg White

text: Jack worked with other artists in the meantime, but Meg remained largely out of the public eye, though in June 2008, she appeared briefly onstage during an encore set of a Detroit show with one of Jack's bands, the Raconteurs. In an interview with Music Radar, he explained that Meg's acute anxiety had been a combination of a very short pre-tour rehearsal time—that was further reduced by the birth of his son—and a hectic, multi-continental touring schedule. He said, "I just came from a Raconteurs tour and went right into that, so I was already full-speed. Meg had come from a dead-halt for a year and went right back into that madness. Meg is a very shy girl, a very quiet and shy person. To go full-speed from a dead-halt is overwhelming, and we had to take a break." Even so, Jack revealed the band's plan to release a seventh album by the summer of 2009. On February 20, 2009—and on the final episode of "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"—the band made their first live appearance after the cancellation of the tour, performing the song "We're Going to Be Friends". A documentary about their Canadian tour—titled "The White Stripes: Under Great White Northern Lights"—premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 18, 2009. Directed by Emmett Malloy, the film documents the band's summer 2007 tour across Canada and contains live concert and off-stage footage. The duo appeared at the film's premiere and, before the movie started, they made a short speech about their love of Canada and why they chose to debut their movie in Toronto. A second feature titled "Under Nova Scotian Lights" was prepared for the DVD release.


title: Meg White

text: However, almost two years passed with no new releases, and on February 2, 2011, the band reported on their official website that they were disbanding. The statement emphasized that it was not due to health issues or artistic differences, but "mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band".


title: Meg White

text: White has also appeared on the cover of Whirlwind Heat's single "Pink", in a Detroit Cobras music video "Cha Cha Twist" as Little Red Riding Hood, and appeared with Jack White in a segment of Jim Jarmusch's 2003 film "Coffee and Cigarettes".


title: Meg White

text: The White Stripes guest starred on "The Simpsons" in an episode titled "Jazzy and the Pussycats", which first aired on September 17, 2006. She has done some modeling for Marc Jacobs' 2006 Spring line. Two of her pictures appeared in the March 2006 issue of "ELLE".


title: Meg White

text: White was chosen by Bob Odenkirk to compose a drum theme for Dax Shepard's character in the 2006 film "Let's Go to Prison". Against Odenkirk's wishes however, the studio removed it from the film.


title: Meg White

text: White says she is "very shy" and gives few interviews. She guards her privacy in a manner similar to Bob Dylan, her favorite artist, and told "Rolling Stone" in 2005 that "the more you talk, the less people listen". As of 2014, she resided in Detroit.


title: Meg White

text: White was married to Jack White from September 21, 1996 to March 24, 2000. In May 2009, she married guitarist Jackson Smith, the son of musicians Patti Smith and Fred "Sonic" Smith. The wedding took place in a small ceremony in Jack White's backyard in Nashville, Tennessee. They divorced in July 2013.


title: Meg White

text: White began with a red Ludwig Classic Maple kit that had a red and white peppermint swirl on the resonant heads of the toms and bass drum. On the "Icky Thump" tour, the bass drum head design was switched to a button inspired by the Pearlies clothing Jack and Meg wore for the album cover. While recording "From the Basement: The White Stripes", the design was switched to an image of White's hand holding the apple from the "Get Behind Me Satan" cover. Beginning in 2006, she also used a pair of Paiste 14" Signature Medium Hi-Hats, a 19" Signature Power Crash, and a 22" 2002 Ride. Meg also used Remo and Ludwig drumheads, various percussion instruments and Vater drumsticks.


title: Meg White

text: White's Pearl Export bass drum—complete with original peppermint-painted bass drum that she used with the band's first show—and the Pearly Queen outfit she wore in the photos for the "Icky Thump" album, were featured in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame "Women Who Rock" exhibition. In 2009, White donated her Ludwig kit to the Jim Shaw Rock 'N' Roll Benefit, an auction to raise money for the Detroit musician who was suffering from cancer.


title: Multinational corporation

text: A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, is a corporate organization that owns and controls the production of goods or services in at least one country other than its home country. Control is considered an important aspect of an MNC, to distinguish it from international portfolio investment organizations, such as some international mutual funds that invest in corporations abroad simply to diversify financial risks. Black's Law Dictionary suggests that a company or group should be considered a multinational corporation "if it derives 25% or more of its revenue from out-of-home-country operations".


title: Multinational corporation

text: Most of the largest and most influential companies of the modern age are publicly traded multinational corporations, including "Forbes Global 2000" companies.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The history of multinational corporations began with the history of colonialism. The first multinational corporations were founded to build set up colonial "factories" or port cities. In addition to carrying on trade between the mother country and the colonies, the British East India Company became a quasi-government in its own right, with local government officials and its own army in India . The two main examples were the British East India Company, and the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Others included the Swedish Africa Company, and the Hudson's Bay Company. These early corporations engaged in international trade and exploration, and set up trading posts.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The Dutch government took over the VOC in 1799 and during the 19th century, other governments increasingly took over the private companies, most notable in British India. During the process of decolonization, the European colonial charter companies were disbanded, with the final colonial corporation, the Mozambique Company, dissolving in 1972.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Mining of gold, silver, copper, and especially oil were major activities early on and remains so today. International mining companies became prominent in Britain in the 19th century, such as the Rio Tinto company founded in 1873, which started with the purchase of sulfur and copper mines from the Spanish government. Rio Tinto, now based in London and Melbourne Australia, has made many acquisitions and expanded globally to mine aluminum, iron ore, copper, uranium, and diamonds. European mines in South Africa began opening in the late 19th century, producing gold and other minerals for the world market, jobs for locals, and business and profits for companies. Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) was one of the few businessmen in the era who became Prime Minister (of South Africa 1890-1896 ). His mining enterprises included the British South Africa Company and De Beers. The latter company practically controlled the global diamond market from his base in southern Africa.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The "Seven Sisters" was a common term for the seven multinational companies which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the mid-1970s.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Preceding the 1973 oil crisis, the Seven Sisters controlled around 85 percent of the world's petroleum reserves. In the 1970s most countries with large reserves nationalized their reserves that had been owned by major oil companies. Since then, industry dominance has shifted to the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil and gas companies, such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom (Russia), China National Petroleum Corporation, National Iranian Oil Company, PDVSA (Venezuela), Petrobras (Brazil), and Petronas (Malaysia). By 2012 only 7% of the world's known oil reserves were in countries that allowed private international companies free rein. Fully 65% were in the hands of state-owned companies that operated in one country and sold oil to multinationals such as BP, Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Down through the 1930s about 4/5 of the international investments by the multinational corporations was concentrated in the primary sector, especially mining (especially oil) and agriculture (rubber, tobacco, sugar, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, tropical fruits). Most went to the Third World colonies. That changed dramatically after 1945 as the investors turn to industrialized countries, and invested in manufacturing (especially high-tech electronics, chemicals, drugs and vehicles) as well as trade.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Sweden's leading manufacturing concern was SKF, a leading maker of bearings for machinery. In order to expand its international business, it decided in 1966 it needed to use the English language. Senior officials, although mostly still Swedish, all learned English in all major internal documents were in English, the lingua franca of multinational corporations.


title: Multinational corporation

text: A prominent multinational manufacturer is Unilever, a consumer goods company headquartered in London. Its products include many foods, as well as vitamins, supplements, tea, coffee, cleaning agents, water and air purifiers, pet food, and cosmetics. Unilever is the largest producer of soap in the world. Unilever's products are sold in 190 countries.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Unilever owns over 400 brands, with a turnover in 2020 of 51 billion euros. The company is organized into three main divisions: Foods and Refreshments; Home Care; and Beauty & Personal Care. It has research and development facilities in China, India, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Unilever was founded in 1929 by the merger of a Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and the British soap maker Lever Brothers. After 1950, it increasingly diversified its products and expanded its operations worldwide. Its numerous acquisitions included Lipton (1971), Brooke Bond (1984), Chesebrough-Ponds (1987), Best Foods (2000), Ben & Jerry's (2000), Alberto-Culver (2010), Dollar Shave Club (2016) and Pukka Herbs (2017).


title: Multinational corporation

text: A multinational corporation (MNC) is usually a large corporation incorporated in one country which produces or sells goods or services in various countries. Two common characteristics shared by MNCs are their large size and centrally controlled worldwide activities.


title: Multinational corporation

text: MNCs may gain from their global presence in a variety of ways. First of all, MNCs can benefit from the economy of scale by spreading R&D expenditures and advertising costs over their global sales, pooling global purchasing power over suppliers, and utilizing their technological and managerial experience globally with minimal additional costs. Furthermore, MNCs can use their global presence to take advantage of underpriced labor services available in certain developing countries, and gain access to special R&D capabilities residing in advanced foreign countries.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The problem of moral and legal constraints upon the behavior of multinational corporations, given that they are effectively "stateless" actors, is one of several urgent global socioeconomic problems that has emerged during the late twentieth century.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Potentially, the best concept for analyzing society's governance limitations over modern corporations is the concept of "stateless corporations". Coined at least as early as 1991 in "Business Week", the conception was theoretically clarified in 1993: that an empirical strategy for defining a stateless corporation is with analytical tools at the intersection between demographic analysis and transportation research. This intersection is known as logistics management, and it describes the importance of rapidly increasing global mobility of resources. In a long history of analysis of multinational corporations, we are some quarter-century into an era of stateless corporations - corporations that meet the realities of the needs of source materials on a worldwide basis and to produce and customize products for individual countries.


title: Multinational corporation

text: One of the first multinational business organizations, the East India Company, was established in 1601. After the East India Company, came the Dutch East India Company, founded on March 20, 1603, which would become the largest company in the world for nearly 200 years.


title: Multinational corporation

text: When a corporation invests in a country which it is not domiciled, it is called foreign direct investment (FDI). Countries may place restrictions on direct investment; for example, China has historically required partnerships with local firms or special approval for certain types of investments by foreigners, although some of these restrictions were eased in 2019. Similarly, the United States Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States scrutinizes foreign investments.


title: Multinational corporation

text: In addition, corporations may be prohibited from various business transactions by international sanctions or domestic laws. For example, Chinese domestic corporations or citizens have limitations on their ability to make foreign investments outside of China, in part to reduce capital outflow. Countries can impose extraterritorial sanctions on foreign corporations even for doing business with other foreign corporations, which occurred in 2019 with the United States sanctions against Iran; European companies faced with the possibility of losing access to the US market by trading with Iran.


title: Multinational corporation

text: International investment agreements also facilitate direct investment between two countries, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and most favored nation status.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Raymond Vernon reported in 1977 that of the largest multinationals focused on manufacturing, 250 were headquartered in the United States, 115 in Western Europe, 70 in Japan, and 20 in the rest of the world. The multinationals in banking numbered 20 headquartered in the United States, 13 in Europe, nine in Japan and three in Canada. Today multinationals can select from a variety of jurisdictions for various subsidiaries, but the ultimate parent company can select a single legal domicile; "The Economist" suggests that the Netherlands has become a popular choice, as its company laws have fewer requirements for meetings, compensation, and audit committees, and Great Britain had advantages due to laws on withholding dividends and a double-taxation treaty with the United States.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Corporations can legally engage in tax avoidance through their choice of jurisdiction, but must be careful to avoid illegal tax evasion.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Corporations that are broadly active across the world without a concentration in one area have been called stateless or "transnational" (although "transnational corporation" is also used synonymously with "multinational corporation"), but as of 1992, a corporation must be legally domiciled in a particular country and engage in other countries through foreign direct investment and the creation of foreign subsidiaries. Geographic diversification can be measured across various domains, including ownership and control, workforce, sales, and regulation and taxation.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Multinational corporations may be subject to the laws and regulations of both their domicile and the additional jurisdictions where they are engaged in business. In some cases, the jurisdiction can help to avoid burdensome laws, but regulatory statutes often target the "enterprise" with statutory language around "control".


title: Multinational corporation

text: , the United States and most OECD countries have the legal authority to tax a domiciled parent corporation on its worldwide revenue, including subsidiaries; , the US applies its corporate taxation "extraterritorially", which has motivated tax inversions to change the home state. By 2019, most OECD nations, with the notable exception of the US, had moved to territorial tax in which only revenue inside the border was taxed; however, these nations typically scrutinize foreign income with controlled foreign corporation (CFC) rules to avoid base erosion and profit shifting.


title: Multinational corporation

text: In practice, even under an extraterritorial system taxes may be deferred until remittance, with possible repatriation tax holidays, and subject to foreign tax credits. Countries generally cannot tax the worldwide revenue of a foreign subsidiary, and taxation is complicated by transfer pricing arrangements with parent corporations.


title: Multinational corporation

text: For small corporations, registering a foreign subsidiary can be expensive and complex, involving fees, signatures, and forms; a professional employer organization (PEO) is sometimes advertised as a cheaper and simpler alternative, but not all jurisdictions have laws accepting these types of arrangements.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Disputes between corporations in different nations is often handled through international arbitration.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The actions of multinational corporations are strongly supported by economic liberalism and free market system in a globalized international society. According to the economic realist view, individuals act in rational ways to maximize their self-interest and therefore, when individuals act rationally, markets are created and they function best in a free market system where there is little government interference. As a result, international wealth is maximized with free exchange of goods and services.


title: Multinational corporation

text: To many economic liberals, multinational corporations are the vanguard of the liberal order. They are the embodiment par excellence of the liberal ideal of an interdependent world economy. They have taken the integration of national economies beyond trade and money to the internationalization of production. For the first time in history, production, marketing, and investment are being organized on a global scale rather than in terms of isolated national economies.


title: Multinational corporation

text: International business is also a specialist field of academic research. Economic theories of the multinational corporation include internalization theory and the eclectic paradigm. The latter is also known as the OLI framework.


title: Multinational corporation

text: The other theoretical dimension of the role of multinational corporations concerns the relationship between the globalization of economic engagement and the culture of national and local responses. This has a history of self-conscious cultural management going back at least to the 60s. For example:


title: Multinational corporation

text: "Multinational enterprise" (MNE) is the term used by international economist and similarly defined with the multinational corporation (MNC) as an enterprise that controls and manages production establishments, known as plants located in at least two countries. The multinational enterprise (MNE) will engage in foreign direct investment (FDI) as the firm makes direct investments in host country plants for equity ownership and managerial control to avoid some transaction costs.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Sanjaya Lall in 1974 proposed a spectrum of scholarly analysis of multinational corporations, from the political right to the left. He put the business school how-to-do-it writers at the extreme right, followed by the liberal laissez-faire economists, and the neoliberals (they remain right of center but do allow for occasional mistakes of the marketplace such as externalities). Moving to the left side of the line are nationalists, who prioritize national interests over corporate profits, then the "dependencia" school in Latin America that focuses on the evils of imperialism, and on the far left the Marxists. The range is so broad that scholarly consensus is hard to discern.


title: Multinational corporation

text: Anti-corporate advocates criticize multinational corporations for being without a basis in a national ethos, being ultimate without a specific nationhood, and that this lack of an ethos appears in their ways of operating as they enter into contracts with countries that have low human rights or environmental standards. In the world economy facilitated by multinational corporations, capital will increasingly be able to play workers, communities, and nations off against one another as they demand tax, regulation and wage concessions while threatening to move. In other words, increased mobility of multinational corporations benefits capital while workers and communities lose. Some negative outcomes generated by multinational corporations include increased inequality, unemployment, and wage stagnation. For the debate from a neo-liberal perspective see Raymond Vernon, "Storm over the Multinationals" (1977).</ref>


title: Multinational corporation

text: The aggressive use of tax avoidance schemes, and multinational tax havens, allows multinational corporations to gain competitive advantages over small and medium-sized enterprises. Organizations such as the Tax Justice Network criticize governments for allowing multinational organizations to escape tax, particularly by using base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) tax tools, since less money can be spent for public services.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Biltmore Estate is a historic house museum and tourist attraction in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House (or Biltmore Mansion), the main residence, is a Châteauesque-style mansion built for George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at of floor space ( of living area). Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants, it remains one of the most prominent examples of Gilded Age mansions.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: In the 1880s, at the height of the Gilded Age, George Washington Vanderbilt II began to make regular visits with his mother, Maria Louisa Kissam Vanderbilt, to the Asheville area. He loved the scenery and climate so much that he decided to build a summer house in the area, which he called his "little mountain escape". His older brothers and sisters had built luxurious summer houses in places such as Newport, Rhode Island, the Gold Coast of Long Island, and Hyde Park, New York.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt named his estate "Biltmore", combining "De Bilt" (his ancestors' place of origin in the Netherlands) with "more" (, Anglo-Saxon for "moor", an open, rolling land).


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt bought nearly 700 parcels of land, including over 50 farms and at least five cemeteries; a portion of the estate was once the community of Shiloh. A spokesperson for the estate said in 2017 that archives show much of the land "was in very poor condition, and many of the farmers and other landowners were glad to sell."


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Construction of the house began in 1889. In order to facilitate such a large project, a woodworking factory and brick kiln, which produced 32,000 bricks a day, were built onsite. A three-mile railroad spur was constructed to bring materials to the building site. Construction on the main house required the labor of about 1,000 workers and 60 stonemasons. Vanderbilt made extensive trips overseas during construction to purchase decor. He returned to North Carolina with thousands of furnishings for his newly built home, including tapestries, hundreds of carpets, prints, linens, and decorative objects, dating from the 15th century to the late 19th century. Among the few American-made items were the more practical oak drop-front desk, rocking chairs, a walnut grand piano, bronze candlesticks, and a wicker wastebasket.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: George Vanderbilt opened his opulent estate on Christmas Eve of 1895 to family and friends from across the country, who were encouraged to enjoy leisure and country pursuits. The Gilden Age mansion reportedly cost $5 million (today's equivalent of $150 million) to construct. Guests to the estate over the years included novelists Edith Wharton and Henry James, ambassadors Joseph Hodges Choate and Larz Anderson, and U.S. presidents. George married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1898 in Paris, France. Their only child, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt, was born at Biltmore in the Louis XV room in 1900, and grew up at the estate.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Stressed by Congressional passage of income tax and the expensive maintenance of the estate, Vanderbilt initiated the sale of to the federal government. After Vanderbilt's unexpected death in 1914 of complications from an emergency appendectomy, his widow completed the sale. She carried out her late husband's wish that the land remain pristine, and that property became the nucleus of the Pisgah National Forest. Overwhelmed with running the large estate, Edith began consolidating her interests, selling Biltmore Estate Industries in 1917 and Biltmore Village in 1921. She intermittently occupied the house, living in an apartment created in the former Bachelors' Wing, until the marriage of her daughter Cornelia to John Francis Amherst Cecil in April 1924. The Cecils had two sons, who were born at Biltmore in the same room where their mother was born.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: In an attempt to bolster the estate's finances during the Great Depression, Cornelia and her husband opened Biltmore to the public in March 1930 at the request of the City of Asheville, which hoped to revitalize the area with tourism. Biltmore closed during World War II. In 1942, 62 paintings and 17 sculptures were moved to the estate by train from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. to protect them in the event of an attack on the United States. The Music Room on the first floor was never finished, so it was used for storage until 1944, when the possibility of an attack became more remote. Among the works stored were the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington and works by Rembrandt, Raphael, and Anthony van Dyck. David Finley, the gallery director, was a friend of Edith Vanderbilt and had stayed at the estate.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: After the Cecils divorced in 1934, Cornelia left the estate never to return, but John Cecil maintained his residence in the Bachelors' Wing until his death in 1954. Their eldest son, George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil, occupied rooms in the wing until 1956. At that point Biltmore House ceased to be a family residence and was operated as a historic house museum.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Their younger son William A. V. Cecil, Sr. returned to the estate in the late 1950s and partnered with his brother to manage the estate's financial trouble. They worked to create the profitable and self-sustaining enterprise that their grandfather had envisioned. William Cecil inherited the estate upon the death of their mother, Cornelia, in 1976. His brother George Cecil inherited the more profitable dairy farm, which was spun off as Biltmore Farms.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: In 1995, while celebrating the 100th anniversary of the estate, William Cecil turned over control of the company to his son, William A. V. Cecil, Jr. The Biltmore Company is privately held. Of the 8,000 acres that make up Biltmore Estate, only 1.36 acres are within the city limits of Asheville, and the Biltmore House is not part of any municipality.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The estate was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963, and remains a major tourist attraction in western North Carolina, with 1.4 million visitors each year.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Since the death of William A. V. Cecil in October 2017 and his wife Mimi Cecil in November, their daughter Dini Pickering has served as board chair and their son Bill Cecil as CEO. The house is assessed at $157.2 million, although due to an agricultural deferment, county property taxes are paid on only $79.1 million.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt commissioned prominent New York architect Richard Morris Hunt, who had previously designed houses for various Vanderbilt family members, to design the house in the Châteauesque style. Hunt used French Renaissance châteaux as inspiration. Vanderbilt and Hunt had visited several in early 1889, including Château de Blois, Chenonceau and Chambord in France and Waddesdon Manor in England. These estates shared steeply pitched roofs, turrets, and sculptural ornamentation. Hunt sited the four-story Indiana limestone-built home to face east, with a 375-foot facade to fit into the mountainous topography behind. The facade is asymmetrically balanced with two projecting wings connecting to the entrance tower: an open loggia is to the left side and a windowed arcade to the right, which holds the Winter Garden that was fashionable during the Victorian era. The entrance tower contains a series of windows with decorated jambs that extend from the front door to the most decorated dormer at Biltmore on the fourth floor. The carved decorations include trefoils, flowing tracery, rosettes, gargoyles, and at prominent lookouts, grotesques. The staircase is one of the more prominent features of the east facade, with its three-story, highly decorated winding balustrade with carved statues of St. Louis and Joan of Arc by the Austrian-born architectural sculptor Karl Bitter.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The south facade is the house's smallest and is dominated by three large dormers on the east side and a polygonal turret on the west side. An arbor is attached to the house and is accessed from the library, which is located on the ground floor. On the north end of the house, Hunt placed the attached stables, carriage house and its courtyard to protect the house and gardens from the wind. The complex housed Vanderbilt's prized driving horses. The carriage house opposite the stables stored his 20 carriages in addition to any of his guest's carriages.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The rear western elevation is less elaborate than the front facade, with some windows not having any decoration at all. Two matching polygonal towers in the center are connected to the polygonal south turret by an open loggia that opens the main rooms of the house to the views of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. The loggia is decorated overhead with terracotta tiles set in a herringbone pattern. The self-supporting ceramic tile vault and arch system was used extensively inside and outside of Biltmore, and was patented by Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish architect and engineer who personally supervised the installation. The limestone columns were carved to reflect the sunlight in aesthetically pleasing and varied ways per Vanderbilt's wish. The rusticated base is a contrast to the smooth limestone used on the remainder of the house.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The steeply pitched roof is punctuated by 16 chimneys and covered with slate tiles that were affixed one by one. Each tile was drilled at the corners and wired onto the attic's steel infrastructure. Copper flashing was installed at the junctions to prevent water from penetrating. The fanciful flashing on the ridge of the roof was embossed with George Vanderbilt's initials and motifs from his family crest, though the original gold leaf no longer survives.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Biltmore House had electricity from the time it was built, though initially with DC, due to Vanderbilt's friendship with Thomas Edison. With electricity less safe and fire more of a danger at the time, the house had six separate sections divided by brick fire walls.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt paid little attention to the family business or his own investments. It is believed that the construction and upkeep of Biltmore depleted much of his inheritance.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Biltmore has four acres of floor space and 250 rooms in the house, including 35 bedrooms for family and guests, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, 3 kitchens and 19th-century novelties such as an electric Otis elevator, forced-air heating, centrally controlled clocks, fire alarms, and a call bell system. The principal rooms of the house are located on the ground floor. To the right of the marbled Entrance Hall, the octagonal sunken Winter Garden is surrounded by stone archways with a ceiling of architecturally sculptured wood and multifaceted glass. The centerpiece is a marble and bronze fountain sculpture titled "Boy Stealing Geese", created by Karl Bitter. On the walls just outside the Winter Garden are copies of the Parthenon frieze. The Banquet Hall is the largest room in the house, measuring , with a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The table could seat 64 guests and is surrounded by rare Flemish tapestries and a triple fireplace that spans one end of the hall. On the opposite end of the hall is an organ gallery that houses a 1916 Skinner pipe organ. Left unfinished with bare brick walls, the Music Room was not completed and opened to the public until 1976. It showcases a mantel designed by Hunt, and a print of the large engraving by Albrecht Dürer called the "Triumphal Arch", commissioned by Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. The mantel had been stored in the stable for over 80 years.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: To the left of the entrance hall is the Tapestry Gallery, which leads to the Library, featuring three 16th-century tapestries representing "The Triumph of Virtue Over Vice". Elsewhere on the walls are family portraits by John Singer Sargent, Giovanni Boldini, and James Whistler. The two-story Library contains over 10,000 volumes in eight languages, reflecting George Vanderbilt's broad interests in classic literature as well as works on art, history, architecture, and gardening. The library also houses a concealed passageway that leads to the guest rooms.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The second-floor balcony is accessed by an ornate walnut spiral staircase. The Baroque detailing of the room is enhanced by the rich walnut paneling and the ceiling painting, "The Chariot of Aurora", brought to Biltmore by Vanderbilt from the Palazzo Pisani Moretta in Venice, Italy. The painting by Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini is the most important work by the artist still in existence.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The second floor is accessed by the cantilevered Grand Staircase of 107 steps spiraling around a four-story, wrought-iron chandelier holding 72 light bulbs. The second-floor Living Hall is an extension of the grand staircase as a formal hall and portrait gallery, and was restored to its original configuration in 2013. Several large-scale masterpieces are displayed in the hall, including two John Singer Sargent portraits of Biltmore's architect, Richard Morris Hunt, and landscaper, Frederick Law Olmsted, both commissioned for the home by Vanderbilt. Located nearby in the south tower is George Vanderbilt's gilded bedroom with furniture designed by Hunt. His bedroom connects to his wife's Louis XV-style, oval-shaped bedroom in the north tower through a Jacobean carved oak paneled sitting room with an intricate ceiling.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The third floor has a number of guest rooms with names that describe the furnishing or artist that they were decorated with. The fourth floor has 21 bedrooms that were inhabited by housemaids, laundresses, and other female servants. Also included on the fourth floor is an Observatory with a circular staircase that leads to a wrought iron balcony with doorways to the rooftop where Vanderbilt could view his estate. Male servants were not housed here, however, but instead resided in rooms above the stable and complex.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The Billiard Room is decorated with an ornamental plaster ceiling and rich oak paneling and was equipped with both a custom-made pool table and a carom table (table without pockets). The room was mainly frequented by men, but ladies were welcome to enter as well. Secret door panels on either side of the fireplace led to the private quarters of the Bachelors' Wing where female guests and staff members were not allowed. The wing includes the Smoking Room, which was fashionable for country houses, and the Gun Room, which held mounted trophies and displayed George Vanderbilt's gun collection.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The basement level featured activity rooms, including an indoor, 70,000-gallon (265,000-litre and 265-cubic meter) heated swimming pool with underwater lighting, a bowling alley, and a gymnasium with once state-of-the-art fitness equipment. The service hub of the house is also found in the largest basement in the U.S. It holds the main kitchen, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, walk-in refrigerators that provided an early form of mechanical refrigeration, the servants' dining hall, laundry rooms, and additional bedrooms for staff.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt envisioned a park-like setting for his home and employed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to design the grounds. Olmsted was not impressed with the condition of the and advised having a park surround the house, establishing farms along the river, and replanting the rest as a commercial timber forest, a plan to which Vanderbilt agreed. Gifford Pinchot and later Carl A. Schenck were hired to manage the forests, with Schenck establishing the first forestry education program in the U.S. in 1898, the Biltmore Forest School, on the estate grounds.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Another important aspect of the landscaping was the intentionally rustic four-mile (5  km) Approach track that began at the brick quoined and pebbledash stucco Lodge Gate at the edge of Biltmore Village and ended at the sphinx-topped stone pillars at the Esplanade. In between, the lane was densely planted along the borders with natural and uncultivated-looking foliage and shrubbery to provide a relaxing journey for guests. Olmsted made sure to incorporate of formal gardens, which had been requested by Vanderbilt for the grounds directly surrounding the house. He constructed a Roman formal garden, a formal garden, a bush and tulip garden, water fountains, and a conservatory with individual rooms for palms and roses. There was also a bowling green, an outdoor tea room, and a terrace to incorporate the European statuary that Vanderbilt had brought back from his travels. At the opposite end of the Esplanade is the (French for “gentle/soft ramp”), a graduated stairway zigzagging along a rough-cut limestone wall that leads to the grassy slope known as the Vista, topped with a statue of Diana, the goddess of the hunt.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Water was an important aspect of Victorian landscaping, and Olmsted incorporated two elements for the estate: the Bass Pond created from an old creek-fed millpond and the Lagoon. Each was used for guest recreation such as fishing and rowing. To supply water for the estate, Olmsted engineered two reservoirs. One was a spring-fed man-made lake on nearby Busbee Mountain. The other was a man-made, brick-lined reservoir, located behind the statue of Diana in the Vista, at an elevation of approximately above the Esplanade.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Vanderbilt's idea was to replicate the working estates of Europe. He asked Richard Morris Hunt and Frederick Law Olmsted to design a village with architecturally compatible buildings and picturesque landscaping. He intended it to be a source of income through rental cottages, a place to help carry out philanthropic programs, and an easy point of access between the estate and the train station. The result was Biltmore Village. The village included rental cottages complete with plumbing and central heating, a post office, shops, doctor's office, school, and a church, known today as the Cathedral of All Souls.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: Intending the estate to be self-supporting, Vanderbilt set up scientific forestry programs, poultry farms, cattle farms, hog farms, and dairy. His wife, Edith, also enthusiastically supported agricultural reform and promoted the establishment of a state agricultural fair. In 1901, the Vanderbilts provided financial assistance to Biltmore Industries, started by Biltmore Village resident Eleanor Vance, which taught young people how to make hand-carved furniture, woven baskets, homespun wool fabric, and more.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The estate today covers approximately and is split in half by the French Broad River. The estate is overseen by The Biltmore Company, a trust set up by the family. The company is a large enterprise that is one of the largest employers in the Asheville area. Restaurants were opened in 1979 and 1987, and four gift shops in 1993. The former dairy barn was converted into the Biltmore Winery in 1985. The 210-room luxury hotel, named The Inn on Biltmore Estate, opened in 2001. In 2010, the estate opened Antler Hill Village, consisting of gift shops and restaurants, as well as a remodeled winery, and connected farmyard. In 2015, the Village Hotel on Biltmore Estate, a more casual option to The Inn with 209 rooms, was opened in Antler Hill Village.


title: Biltmore Estate

text: The estate has been used on numerous occasions as a filming location for movies and television shows. These have included "The Swan" (1956), "Being There" (1979), "The Private Eyes" (1980), "Mr. Destiny" (1990), "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992), "Forrest Gump" (1994), "Richie Rich" (1994), "My Fellow Americans" (1996), "Patch Adams" (1998), "Hannibal" (2001) and "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" (2012).


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol (CBD) is a phytocannabinoid discovered in 1940. It is one of 113 identified cannabinoids in cannabis plants, along with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and accounts for up to 40% of the plant's extract. , clinical research on CBD included studies related to anxiety, cognition, movement disorders, and pain, but there is insufficient high-quality evidence that cannabidiol is effective for these conditions. Nevertheless, CBD is an herbal dietary supplement promoted with unproven claims of particular therapeutic effects. The global market size for CBD was predicted to exceed billion by 2028.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol can be taken internally in multiple ways, including by inhaling cannabis smoke or vapor, oral, and as an aerosol spray into the cheek. It may be supplied as CBD oil containing only CBD as the active ingredient (excluding tetrahydrocannabinol [THC] or terpenes), CBD-dominant hemp extract oil, capsules, dried cannabis, or prescription liquid solution. CBD does not have the same psychoactivity as THC, and can negate the psychoactive effects of THC on the body if both are present. , the mechanism of action for its biological effects had not been determined. Unlike THC, which acts on the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) as a partial agonist, CBD instead is a negative allosteric modulator of CB1 receptors.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In the United States, the cannabidiol drug Epidiolex was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2018 for the treatment of two epilepsy disorders. While the 2018 United States Farm Bill removed hemp and hemp extracts (including CBD) from the Controlled Substances Act, the marketing and sale of CBD formulations for medical use or as an ingredient in dietary supplements or manufactured foods remains illegal under FDA regulation, .


title: Cannabidiol

text: In the United States, the FDA has indicated only one brand of prescription cannabidiol called Epidiolex for the treatment of seizures associated with Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, or tuberous sclerosis complex in people one year of age and older. While Epidiolex treatment is generally well tolerated, it is associated with minor adverse effects, such as gastrointestinal upset, decreased appetite, lethargy, sleepiness and poor sleep quality.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In the European Union, cannabidiol (Epidyolex) is indicated for use as adjunctive therapy of seizures associated with Lennox Gastaut syndrome (LGS) or Dravet syndrome (DS), in conjunction with clobazam, for people two years of age and older. In 2020, the label for Epidiolex in the US was expanded to include seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis complex. Epidiolex/Epidyolex is the first prescription formulation of plant-derived cannabidiol approved by regulatory bodies in the US and Europe.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Research on other uses for cannabidiol includes several neurological disorders, but the findings have not been confirmed to establish such uses in clinical practice. In October 2019, the FDA issued an advisory warning that the effects of CBD during pregnancy or breastfeeding are unknown, indicating that the safety, doses, interactions with other drugs or foods, and side effects of CBD are not clinically defined, and may pose a risk to the mother and infant.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Many claims are made for the therapeutic benefit of cannabidiol that are not backed by sound evidence. Some claims, such as treatment of cancer, are pseudoscience.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2020, the label for Epidiolex in the US was expanded to include treatment of seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol does not appear to have any intoxicating effects such as those caused by ∆-THC in cannabis, but it is under preliminary research for its possible anti-anxiety and anti-psychotic effects. As the legal landscape and understanding about the differences in medical cannabinoids unfolds, experts are working to distinguish "medical cannabis" (with varying degrees of psychotropic effects and deficits in executive function) from "medical CBD therapies", which would commonly present as having a reduced or non-psychoactive side-effect profile.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Various strains of "medical cannabis" are found to have a significant variation in the ratios of CBD-to-THC and are known to contain other non-psychotropic cannabinoids. Any psychoactive cannabis, regardless of its CBD content, is derived from the flower (or bud) of the genus "Cannabis". As defined by US federal law, non-psychoactive hemp (also commonly termed "industrial hemp"), regardless of its CBD content, is any part of the cannabis plant, whether growing or not, containing a ∆-tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of no more than 0.3% on a dry-weight basis. Certain standards are required for legal growing, cultivating, and producing the hemp plant, but there are no federal standards for quality being enforced in the hemp industry. Certain state regulations are in place, but vary state to state. For instance, the Colorado Industrial Hemp Program registers growers of industrial hemp and samples crops to verify that the dry-weight THC concentration does not exceed 0.3%.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Research indicates that cannabidiol may reduce adverse effects of THC, particularly those causing intoxication and sedation, but only at high doses. Safety studies of cannabidiol showed it is well tolerated, but may cause tiredness, somnolence, sedation, diarrhea, or changes in appetite as common adverse effects with the most common being somnolence and sedation. Side effects of CBD are dose related. Epidiolex documentation lists sleepiness, insomnia and poor quality sleep, decreased appetite, diarrhea, and fatigue.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Laboratory evidence indicated that cannabidiol may reduce THC clearance, increasing plasma concentrations which may raise THC availability to receptors and enhance its effect in a dose-dependent manner. In vitro, cannabidiol inhibited the activity of voltage-dependent sodium and potassium channels, which may affect neural activity. A recent study using X-ray crystallography showed that CBD binds inside the sodium channel pore at a novel site at the interface of the fenestrations and the central hydrophobic cavity of the channel. Binding at this site blocks the transmembrane-spanning sodium ion translocation pathway, providing a molecular mechanism for channel inhibition, which could contribute to a reduced excitability. A small clinical trial reported that CBD partially inhibited the CYP2C-catalyzed hydroxylation of THC to 11-OH-THC. Little is known about potential drug interactions, but CBD mediates a decrease in clobazam metabolism.


title: Cannabidiol

text: The number of research projects and scientific publications on cannabidiol and other cannabinoids in pets surged in the late 2010s; nonetheless, , there were no hemp-derived, cannabinoid-rich registered veterinary medicinal products in any of the major regions (see #Legal status).


title: Cannabidiol

text: In the US and other territories there are, however, numerous veterinary nutraceutical products available over the counter (OTC). The lack of clarity in the regulations governing veterinary hemp food supplements allows for products of questionable quality to flood the market, which may pose a risk to the wellbeing of pets and owners.


title: Cannabidiol

text: To understand better the benefits of CBD and associated compounds for the quality of life of animals, companies specialized in CBD products for animals have been funding research projects.


title: Cannabidiol

text: CBD's ability to help regulate the endocannabinoid system and reduce the release of excitatory neurotransmitters could result in a retrograde inhibitory signal that lessens chronic pain responses. Studies in dogs with chronic pain associated with osteoarthritis showed an increase in level of activity in animals receiving CBD-rich food supplements.


title: Cannabidiol

text: From the results seen in humans with drugs such as Epidiolex and Sativex in scientific studies and reviews, it could be expected that CBD-based products would be helpful to manage seizures in dogs. However, despite the numerous case reports presented by veterinary neurologists supporting the benefits of CBD as adjunctive therapy, , published controlled studies have not shown a statistically significant decrease in the number of seizures across the groups receiving CBD. Further research in this area is required before any clear conclusion can be drawn.


title: Cannabidiol

text: The oral bioavailability of CBD varies greatly across species and it is linked to the presentation and the time of administration. A 24-hour kinetic examination in dogs showed that the absorption of the cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) does occur, and that this molecule is absorbed least twice as well as CBD post oral ingestion.


title: Cannabidiol

text: It was found that the major metabolites of CBD in humans (7-OH-CBD and 7-COOH-CBD) are not prevalent in dogs, while 6-OH-CBD was found to be the primary metabolite in dogs receiving a CBD-enriched cannabis-derived herbal extract, suggesting that canine and human CBD metabolic route might be somewhat different.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol has low affinity for the cannabinoid CB and CB receptors, although it acts as an antagonist of CB/CB agonists, despite this low affinity. The core effect of antagonism of CB receptors is reduced binding affinity of THC and any of its related isomers. Cannabidiol may be an antagonist of GPR55, a G protein-coupled receptor and putative cannabinoid receptor that is expressed in the caudate nucleus and putamen in the brain. It also may act as an inverse agonist of GPR3, GPR6, and GPR12. CBD has been shown to act as a serotonin 5-HT receptor partial agonist. At higher concentrations, CBD acts as an inverse agonist of 5-HT receptors. It is an allosteric modulator of the μ- and δ-opioid receptors as well. The pharmacological effects of CBD may involve PPARγ agonism, inhibition of voltage-gated cation channels, and intracellular calcium release.


title: Cannabidiol

text: The oral bioavailability of cannabidiol is approximately 6% in humans, while its bioavailability via inhalation is 11 to 45% (mean 31%). The elimination half-life of CBD is 18–32 hours. Cannabidiol is metabolized in the liver as well as in the intestines by the cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP2B6, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP2J2, and CYP3A4, and by the isoenzymes UGT1A7, UGT1A9, and UGT2B7, forming a variety of metabolites such as 7-hydroxycannabidiol as well as the 6α- and 6β-hydroxy isomers and derivatives hydroxylated on the alkyl side chain, followed by glucuronidation. CYP3A4 facilitates decarbonylation of CBD to liberate carbon monoxide, a bioactive gasotransmitter and pharmaceutical candidate. CBD may have a wide margin in dosing.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Nabiximols (brand name Sativex), an oromucosal spray made of a complex botanical mixture containing cannabidiol (CBD), delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), and additional cannabinoid and non-cannabinoid constituents from cannabis sativa plants, was approved by Health Canada in 2005, to treat central neuropathic pain in multiple sclerosis, and in 2007, for cancer-related pain. In New Zealand, Sativex is "approved for use as an add-on treatment for symptom improvement in people with moderate to severe spasticity due to multiple sclerosis who have not responded adequately to other anti-spasticity medication."


title: Cannabidiol

text: Epidiolex is an orally administered cannabidiol solution. It was approved in 2018, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of two rare forms of childhood epilepsy, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome, and seizures associated with tuberous sclerosis complex. In the US, it is approved in these indications for patients one year of age and older.


title: Cannabidiol

text: At room temperature, cannabidiol is a colorless crystalline solid. In strongly basic media and the presence of air, it is oxidized to a quinone. Under acidic conditions it cyclizes to THC, which also occurs during pyrolysis, but not during combustion (smoking). The synthesis of cannabidiol has been accomplished by several research groups.


title: Cannabidiol

text: "Cannabis" produces CBD-carboxylic acid through the same metabolic pathway as THC, until the next to last step, where CBDA synthase performs catalysis instead of THCA synthase.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In the typical operating temperature range of e-cigarettes (), 25–52% of CBD is transformed into other chemical substances: Δ9-THC, Δ8-THC, cannabinol and cannabichromene as predominant pyrolysates. From a chemical point of view, CBD in e-cigarettes can be considered as a precursor of THC.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Efforts to isolate the active ingredients in cannabis were made in the 19th century. Cannabidiol was studied in 1940 from Minnesota wild hemp and Egyptian "Cannabis indica" resin. The chemical formula of CBD was proposed from a method for isolating it from wild hemp. Its structure and stereochemistry were determined in 1963.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Selective breeding of cannabis plants has expanded and diversified as commercial and therapeutic markets develop. Some growers in the US succeeded in lowering the proportion of CBD-to-THC to accommodate customers who preferred varietals that were more mind-altering due to the higher THC and lower CBD content. In the US, hemp is classified by the federal government as cannabis containing no more than 0.3% THC by dry weight. This classification was established in the 2018 Farm Bill and was refined to include hemp-sourced extracts, cannabinoids, and derivatives in the definition of hemp.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Food and beverage products containing cannabidiol were widely marketed in the United States as early as 2017. Hemp seed ingredients which do not naturally contain THC or CBD (but which may be contaminated with trace amounts on the outside during harvesting) were declared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as Generally recognized as safe (GRAS) in December 2018. CBD itself has not been declared GRAS, and under US federal law is illegal to sell as a food, dietary supplement, or animal feed. State laws vary considerably as non-medical cannabis and derived products have been legalized in some jurisdictions in the 2010s.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Similar to energy drinks and protein bars which may contain vitamin or herbal additives, food and beverage items can be infused with CBD as an alternative means of ingesting the substance. In the United States, numerous products are marketed as containing CBD, but in reality contain little or none. Some companies marketing CBD-infused food products with claims that are similar to the effects of prescription drugs have received warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration for making unsubstantiated health claims. In February 2019, the New York City Department of Health announced plans to fine restaurants that sell food or drinks containing CBD, beginning in October 2019.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol has been used by professional and amateur athletes across disciplines and countries, with the World Anti-Doping Agency removing CBD from its banned substances list. The United States Anti-Doping Agency and United Kingdom-Anti-Doping Agency do not have anti-CBD policies, with the latter stating that, "CBD is not currently listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List. As a result, it is permitted to use in sport, though the intended benefits are unclear and not backed by clinical evidence. All other cannabinoids (including but not limited to cannabis, hashish, marijuana, and THC) are prohibited in-competition. The intention of the regulations is to prohibit cannabinoids that activate the same receptors in the brain as activated by THC." In 2019, the cannabis manufacturer, Canopy Growth, acquired majority ownership of BioSteel Sports Nutrition, which is developing CBD products under endorsement by numerous professional athletes. The National Hockey League Alumni Association began a project with Canopy Growth to determine if CBD or other cannabis products might improve neurological symptoms and quality of life in head-injured players. Numerous professional athletes use CBD, primarily for treating pain.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Prescription medicine (Schedule 4) for therapeutic use containing two percent (2.0%) or less of other cannabinoids commonly found in cannabis (such as ∆-THC). A Schedule 4 drug under the SUSMP is a Prescription Only Medicine, or Prescription Animal Remedy – Substances, the use or supply of which should be by or on the order of persons permitted by state or territory legislation to prescribe and should be available from a pharmacist on prescription.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In June 2020, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) published a consultation on a proposal to pave the way to make "low dose" CBD available to consumer/patients via pharmacists only through moving products from Schedule 4 to 3. Any products sold would need to have their safety, quality and efficacy pre-assessed by the TGA and be formally approved for sale (details to be outlined by TGA). They would be made available to over 18s only, with the maximum daily dose of 60mg/day, up to 2% THC finished product allowed, 30-day maximum supply, plant-derived or synthetic. This proposal is based on an initial literature review on the safety of low dose CBD published by the TGA in April 2020. Epidyolex was approved for the adjunctive therapy of seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome or with Dravet syndrome in September 2020.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2020, Bulgaria became the first country in the European Union to allow retail sales of food products and supplements containing CBD, despite the ongoing discussion within the EU about the classification of CBD as a novel food. However, there exists a legal gap because of the lack of a legally-permissible minimum amount of THC in the products containing cannabinoids.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In October 2018, cannabidiol became legal for recreational and medical use by the federal "Cannabis Act". , CBD products in Canada could only be sold by authorized retailers or federally licensed medical companies, limiting their access to the general public. Nonetheless, with online delivery services and over 2,600 authorized cannabis retail stores , accessibility has steadily increased over time. The Canadian government states that CBD products "are subject to all of the rules and requirements that apply to cannabis under the Cannabis Act and its regulations." It requires "a processing licence to manufacture products containing CBD for sale, no matter what the source of the CBD is, and that CBD and products containing CBD, such as cannabis oil, may only be sold by an authorized retailer or licensed seller of medical CBD." Edible CBD products were scheduled to be permitted for sale in Canada on October 17, 2019, for human consumption.


title: Cannabidiol

text: , it was still illegal to carry cannabis and cannabis-derived products (including products containing CBD) across the Canadian border. If one carries any amount of cannabis for any purpose (including medical), it needs to be declared to the Canada Border Services Agency. Not declaring it is a serious criminal offence.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2019, the European Commission announced that CBD and other cannabinoids would be classified as "novel foods", meaning that CBD products would require authorization under the EU Novel Food Regulation stating that because "this product was not used as a food or food ingredient before May 15, 1997, before it may be placed on the market in the EU as a food or food ingredient, a safety assessment under the Novel Food Regulation is required." The recommendation – applying to CBD extracts, synthesized CBD, and all CBD products, including CBD oil – was scheduled for a final ruling by the European Commission in March 2019. If approved, manufacturers of CBD products would be required to conduct safety tests and prove safe consumption, indicating that CBD products would not be eligible for legal commerce until at least 2021. In December 2020, the European Commission concluded that CBD should not be considered as drug and can be qualified as food.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol is listed in the EU Cosmetics Ingredient Database (CosIng). However, the listing of an ingredient, assigned with an INCI name, in CosIng does not mean it is to be used in cosmetic products or is approved for such use.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Several industrial hemp varieties can be legally cultivated in Western Europe. A variety such as "Fedora 17" has a cannabinoid profile consistently around 1%, with THC less than 0.3%.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2022, the HKSAR Government proposed a ban on any use of cannabidiol (including for academic research and by medical professionals) within the Hong Kong territory, making Hong Kong the first jurisdiction in the world to have complete prohibition of cannabidiol, starting from February 1, 2023, in part due to the possible presence of THC which is illegal in Hong Kong, according to a research subsidized by the Hong Kong SAR Government.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2017, the New Zealand government made changes to the regulations so that restrictions would be removed, which meant a doctor was able to prescribe cannabidiol to patients.


title: Cannabidiol

text: The passing of the Misuse of Drugs (Medicinal Cannabis) Amendment Act in December 2018 means cannabidiol is no longer a controlled drug in New Zealand, but is a prescription medicine under the Medicines Act, with the restriction that "the tetrahydrocannabinols (THCs) and specified substances within the product must not exceed 2 percent of the total CBD, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other specified substances."


title: Cannabidiol

text: According to a document received in response to an appeal to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, measures of state control in the Russian Federation regarding CBD have not been established. However, there is also a response from the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation indicating that CBD can be considered as an isomer of restricted THC. The "isomer" argument is nonetheless vague, as progesterone, which is freely sold in pharmacies, is also an isomer of THC, all three being . On February 17, 2020, the deputy of the Moscow City Duma Darya Besedina sent an official request to the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin with a request to eliminate that legal ambiguity by publishing official explanations and, if necessary, making required changes in the corresponding government decree.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Singapore allows medical cannabis on a case-by-case basis, usually as a last resort drug. Each case is evaluated by the government, and largely comes in the form of Cannabidiol. However, the country is flexible to what is required for patient treatment, despite having some of the strictest drug laws in the world.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol is classified as a medical product in Sweden. However, in July 2019, Supreme Court of Sweden ruled that CBD oil with any concentration of THC falls under the narcotic control laws.


title: Cannabidiol

text: While THC remains illegal, cannabidiol is not subject to the Swiss Narcotic Acts because it does not produce a comparable psychoactive effect. Cannabis products containing less than 1% THC can be sold and purchased legally.


title: Cannabidiol

text: On 7 April 2021 the Ukrainian government legalised use of isolated cannabidiol. Additionally, it approved Nabiximols, a cannabidiol-containing drug, for medical use.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol, in an oral-mucosal spray formulation combined with delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is a product available by prescription for the relief of severe spasticity due to multiple sclerosis (where other anti-spasmodics have not been effective) in the United Kingdom.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Until 2017, products containing cannabidiol marketed for medical purposes were classed as medicines by the UK regulatory body, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), and could not be marketed without regulatory approval for the medical claims. , cannabis oil is legal to possess, buy, and sell in the UK, providing the product does not contain more than 1 milligram of THC and is not advertised as providing a medicinal benefit.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In January 2019, the UK Food Standards Agency indicated it would regard CBD products, including CBD oil, as a "novel food" having no history of use before May 1997, and stated that such products must have authorisation and proven safety before being marketed. The deadline for companies with existing products to submit a full and validated novel foods application with the FSA was 31 March 2021; failure to do so before this date would exclude those companies from selling CBD. New products containing CBD after this deadline would require a fully approved application.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In February 2020, the UK FSA advised vulnerable people, such as pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and those already taking medication for other medical concerns not to take CBD. The FSA further recommended that healthy adults should not consume more than 70mg CBD per day.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Cannabidiol is scheduled under the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs as cannabis. International Narcotics Control Board reminds Member States that, at the reconvened


title: Cannabidiol

text: , cannabidiol extracted from marijuana remains a Schedule I Controlled Substance, and is not approved as a prescription drug or dietary supplement or allowed for interstate commerce in the United States. CBD derived from hemp (with 0.3% THC or lower) is legal to sell as a cosmetics ingredient or for other purposes not regulated by the FDA, but cannot be sold under federal law as an ingredient in food, dietary supplement, or animal feed. It is a common misconception that the legal ability to sell hemp (which may contain CBD), and hemp extracts and derivatives (including CBD), makes CBD legal for sale as a supplement or medicine.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In September 2018, following its approval by the FDA for rare types of childhood epilepsy, the GW Pharmaceuticals drug Epidiolex was rescheduled (by the Drug Enforcement Administration) as a Schedule V drug to allow for its prescription use. Epidiolex still requires rescheduling in some states before it can be prescribed in those states.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In 2013, a CNN program that featured Charlotte's web cannabis brought increased attention to the use of CBD in the treatment of seizure disorders. Since then, 16 states have passed laws to allow the use of CBD products with a physician's recommendation (instead of a prescription) for treatment of certain medical conditions. This is in addition to the 30 states that have passed comprehensive medical cannabis laws, which allow for the use of cannabis products with no restrictions on THC content. Of these 30 states, eight have legalized the use and sale of cannabis products without requirement for a physician's recommendation. , CBD was not an FDA-approved drug eligible for interstate commerce, and the FDA encouraged manufacturers to follow procedures for drug approval.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Federal illegality has made it difficult historically to conduct research on CBD. Cannabidiol is currently the subject of an FDA investigational new drug evaluation, and is not considered legal as a dietary supplement or food ingredient, . CBD is openly sold in head shops and health food stores in some states where such sales have not been explicitly legalized.


title: Cannabidiol

text: State and local governments may also regulate cannabidiol. For example, the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources issued a rule in June 2019 aligning state CBD regulations with FDA regulations. This means that although recreational marijuana is legal in the state, CBD cannot legally be sold in food or as a dietary supplement under state law.


title: Cannabidiol

text: In November 2019, the FDA issued concerns about the safety of cannabidiol, stating that CBD use has potential to cause liver injury, interfere with the mechanisms of prescription drugs, produce gastrointestinal disorders, or affect alertness and mood. In October 2020, the FDA updated its safety concerns about CBD, acknowledging the unknown effects of protracted use, how it affects the developing brain, fetus or infants during breastfeeding, whether it interacts with dietary supplements or prescription drugs, whether male fertility is affected, and its possible side effects, such as drowsiness.


title: Cannabidiol

text: Studies conducted by the FDA from 2014 through 2019 have determined that a majority of CBD products are not accurately labeled with the amount of CBD they contain. For example, a 2017 analysis of cannabidiol content in oil, tincture, or liquid vape products purchased online in the United States showed that 69% were mislabeled, with 43% having higher and 26% having lower content than stated on product labels.


title: Cannabidiol

text: , 1,085 people contacted US poison control centers about CBD-induced illnesses, doubling the number of cases over the 2018 rate and increasing by 9 times the case numbers of 2017. Of cases reported in 2019, more than 33% received medical attention and 46 people were admitted to a hospital intensive care unit, possibly due to exposure to other products, or drug interactions with CBD.


title: Cannabidiol

text: The 2014 Farm Bill legalized the sale of "non-viable hemp material" grown within states participating in the Hemp Pilot Program which defined "hemp" as cannabis containing less than 0.3% of THC. The 2018 United States Farm Bill removed the hemp plant and all "derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis," including CBD, from the Controlled Substances Act, making them legal to manufacture in the United States. The FDA retains regulatory authority over hemp-derived CBD, while the DEA is not involved in the regulation of legally-compliant hemp and hemp products. The 2018 Farm Bill requires that research and development of CBD for a therapeutic purpose would have to be conducted under notification and reporting to the FDA. In the United States, hemp-derived CBD is legal to sell for industrial purposes or as a cosmetics ingredient, but under FDA regulation it cannot be marketed for medical use or as an ingredient in food, dietary supplements, or animal feed.


title: Cannabidiol

text: From 2015 to November 2022, the FDA issued dozens of warning letters to American manufacturers of CBD products for false advertising and illegal interstate marketing of CBD as an unapproved drug to treat diseases, such as cancer, osteoarthritis, symptoms of opioid withdrawal, Alzheimer's disease, and pet disorders. Chemical analysis of CBD products found that many did not contain the levels of CBD claimed in advertising. In 2022, the FDA stated that "scientific studies show possible harm to the male reproductive system, including testicular atrophy, harm to the liver, and interactions with certain medications. The FDA has not found adequate information showing how much CBD can be consumed, and for how long, before causing harm. This is particularly true for vulnerable populations like children and those who are pregnant."


title: Cannabidiol

text: In December 2020, the Federal Trade Commission initiated a law enforcement crackdown on American companies marketing CBD products as unapproved drugs. The warning also applied to hemp CBD capsules and oil that were being marketed illegally while not adhering to the federal definition of a dietary supplement.


title: History of Japan

text: The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventions were introduced from Asia. During this period, the first known written reference to Japan was recorded in the Chinese "Book of Han" in the first century AD.


title: History of Japan

text: Around the 3rd century BC, the Yayoi people from the continent immigrated to the Japanese archipelago and introduced iron technology and agricultural civilization.


title: History of Japan

text: Because they had an agricultural civilization, the population of the Yayoi began to grow rapidly and ultimately overwhelmed the Jōmon people, natives of the Japanese archipelago who were hunter-gatherers.


title: History of Japan

text: Between the fourth to ninth century, Japan's many kingdoms and tribes gradually came to be unified under a centralized government, nominally controlled by the Emperor of Japan. The imperial dynasty established at this time continues to this day, albeit in an almost entirely ceremonial role. In 794, a new imperial capital was established at Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), marking the beginning of the Heian period, which lasted until 1185. The Heian period is considered a golden age of classical Japanese culture. Japanese religious life from this time and onwards was a mix of native Shinto practices and Buddhism.


title: History of Japan

text: Over the following centuries, the power of the imperial house decreased, passing first to great clans of civilian aristocrats – most notably the Fujiwara – and then to the military clans and their armies of samurai. The Minamoto clan under Minamoto no Yoritomo emerged victorious from the Genpei War of 1180–85, defeating their rival military clan, the Taira. After seizing power, Yoritomo set up his capital in Kamakura and took the title of "shōgun". In 1274 and 1281, the Kamakura shogunate withstood two Mongol invasions, but in 1333 it was toppled by a rival claimant to the shogunate, ushering in the Muromachi period. During this period, regional warlords called "daimyō" grew in power at the expense of the "shōgun". Eventually, Japan descended into a period of civil war. Over the course of the late 16th century, Japan was reunified under the leadership of the prominent "daimyō" Oda Nobunaga and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After Toyotomi's death in 1598, Tokugawa Ieyasu came to power and was appointed "shōgun" by the emperor. The Tokugawa shogunate, which governed from Edo (modern Tokyo), presided over a prosperous and peaceful era known as the Edo period (1600–1868). The Tokugawa shogunate imposed a strict class system on Japanese society and cut off almost all contact with the outside world.


title: History of Japan

text: Portugal and Japan came into contact in 1543, when the Portuguese became the first Europeans to reach Japan by landing in the southern archipelago. They had a significant impact on Japan, even in this initial limited interaction, introducing firearms to Japanese warfare. The American Perry Expedition in 1853–54 more completely ended Japan's seclusion; this contributed to the fall of the shogunate and the return of power to the emperor during the Boshin War in 1868. The new national leadership of the following Meiji period transformed the isolated feudal island country into an empire that closely followed Western models and became a great power. Although democracy developed and modern civilian culture prospered during the Taishō period (1912–26), Japan's powerful military had great autonomy and overruled Japan's civilian leaders in the 1920s and 1930s. The Japanese military invaded Manchuria in 1931, and from 1937 the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to war with the United States and its allies. Japan's forces soon became overextended, but the military held out in spite of Allied air attacks that inflicted severe damage on population centers. Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria.


title: History of Japan

text: The Allies occupied Japan until 1952, during which a new constitution was enacted in 1947 that transformed Japan into the constitutional monarchy. After 1955, Japan enjoyed very high economic growth under the governance of the Liberal Democratic Party, and became a world economic powerhouse. Since the Lost Decade of the 1990s, Japanese economic growth has slowed.


title: History of Japan

text: Hunter-gatherers arrived in Japan in Paleolithic times, though little evidence of their presence remains, as Japan's acidic soils are inhospitable to the process of fossilization. However, the discovery of unique edge-ground axes in Japan dated to over 30,000 years ago may be evidence of the first "Homo sapiens" in Japan. Early humans likely arrived on Japan by sea on watercraft. Evidence of human habitation has been dated to 32,000 years ago in Okinawa's Yamashita Cave and up to 20,000 years ago on Ishigaki Island's Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave.


title: History of Japan

text: The Jōmon period of prehistoric Japan spans from roughly 13,000 BC to about 1,000 BC. Japan was inhabited by a predominantly hunter-gatherer culture that reached a considerable degree of sedentism and cultural complexity. The name Jōmon, meaning "cord-marked", was first applied by American scholar Edward S. Morse, who discovered shards of pottery in 1877. The pottery style characteristic of the first phases of Jōmon culture was decorated by impressing cords into the surface of wet clay. Jōmon pottery is generally accepted to be among the oldest in East Asia and the world.


title: History of Japan

text: The advent of the Yayoi people from the Asian continent brought fundamental transformations to the Japanese archipelago, compressing the millennial achievements of the Neolithic Revolution into a relatively short span of centuries, particularly with the development of rice cultivation and metallurgy. The onset of this wave of changes was, until recently, thought to have begun around 400 BCE. Radio-carbon evidence now suggests the new phase started some 500 years earlier, between 1,000 and 800 BCE. Radiating out from northern Kyūshū, the Yayoi, endowed with bronze and iron weapons and tools initially imported from China and the Korean peninsula, gradually supplanted the Jōmon. They also introduced weaving and silk production, new woodworking methods, glassmaking technology, and new architectural styles. The expansion of the Yayoi appears to have brought about a fusion with the indigenous Jōmon, resulting in a small admixture genetically.


title: History of Japan

text: The Yayoi technologies originated on the Asian mainland. There is debate among scholars as to what extent their spread was accomplished by means of migration or simply a diffusion of ideas, or a combination of both. The migration theory is supported by genetic and linguistic studies. Historian Hanihara Kazurō has suggested that the annual immigrant influx from the continent range from 350 to 3,000.


title: History of Japan

text: The population of Japan began to increase rapidly, perhaps with a 10-fold rise over the Jōmon. Calculations of the population size have varied from 1 to 4 million by the end of the Yayoi. Skeletal remains from the late Jōmon period reveal a deterioration in already poor standards of health and nutrition, in contrast to Yayoi archaeological sites where there are large structures suggestive of grain storehouses. This change was accompanied by an increase in both the stratification of society and tribal warfare, indicated by segregated gravesites and military fortifications.


title: History of Japan

text: During the Yayoi period, the Yayoi tribes gradually coalesced into a number of kingdoms. The earliest written work of history to mention Japan, the "Book of Han" completed around 82 AD, states that Japan, referred to as Wa, was divided into one hundred kingdoms. A later Chinese work of history, the "Wei Zhi", states that by 240 AD, one powerful kingdom had gained ascendancy over the others. According to the "Wei Zhi", this kingdom was called Yamatai, though modern historians continue to debate its location and other aspects of its depiction in the "Wei Zhi". Yamatai was said to have been ruled by the female monarch Himiko.


title: History of Japan

text: During the subsequent Kofun period, Japan gradually unified under a single territory. The symbol of the growing power of Japan's new leaders was the "kofun" burial mounds they constructed from around 250 CE onwards. Many were of massive scales, such as the Daisenryō Kofun, a 486 m-long keyhole-shaped burial mound that took huge teams of laborers fifteen years to complete. It is commonly accepted that the tomb was built for Emperor Nintoku. The "kofun" were often surrounded by and filled with numerous "haniwa" clay sculptures, often in the shape of warriors and horses.


title: History of Japan

text: The center of the unified state was Yamato in the Kinai region of central Japan. The rulers of the Yamato state were a hereditary line of emperors who still reign as the world's longest dynasty. The rulers of the Yamato extended their power across Japan through military conquest, but their preferred method of expansion was to convince local leaders to accept their authority in exchange for positions of influence in the government. Many of the powerful local clans who joined the Yamato state became known as the "uji".


title: History of Japan

text: These leaders sought and received formal diplomatic recognition from China, and Chinese accounts record five successive such leaders as the Five kings of Wa. Craftsmen and scholars from China and the Three Kingdoms of Korea played an important role in transmitting continental technologies and administrative skills to Japan during this period.


title: History of Japan

text: Historians agree that there was a big struggle between the Yamato federation and the Izumo Federation centuries before written records.


title: History of Japan

text: The Asuka period began as early as 538 CE with the introduction of the Buddhist religion from the Korean kingdom of Baekje. Since then, Buddhism has coexisted with Japan's native Shinto religion, in what is today known as Shinbutsu-shūgō. The period draws its name from the "de facto" imperial capital, Asuka, in the Kinai region.


title: History of Japan

text: The Buddhist Soga clan took over the government in the 580s and controlled Japan from behind the scenes for nearly sixty years. Prince Shōtoku, an advocate of Buddhism and of the Soga cause, who was of partial Soga descent, served as regent and "de facto" leader of Japan from 594 to 622. Shōtoku authored the Seventeen-article constitution, a Confucian-inspired code of conduct for officials and citizens, and attempted to introduce a merit-based civil service called the Cap and Rank System. In 607, Shōtoku offered a subtle insult to China by opening his letter with the phrase, "The ruler of the land of the rising sun addresses the ruler of the land of the setting sun" as seen in the kanji characters for Japan ("Nippon"). By 670, a variant of this expression, "Nihon", established itself as the official name of the nation, which has persisted to this day.


title: History of Japan

text: In 645, the Soga clan were overthrown in a coup launched by Prince Naka no Ōe and Fujiwara no Kamatari, the founder of the Fujiwara clan. Their government devised and implemented the far-reaching Taika Reforms. The Reform began with land reform, based on Confucian ideas and philosophies from China. It nationalized all land in Japan, to be distributed equally among cultivators, and ordered the compilation of a household registry as the basis for a new system of taxation. The true aim of the reforms was to bring about greater centralization and to enhance the power of the imperial court, which was also based on the governmental structure of China. Envoys and students were dispatched to China to learn about Chinese writing, politics, art, and religion. After the reforms, the Jinshin War of 672, a bloody conflict between Prince Ōama and his nephew Prince Ōtomo, two rivals to the throne, became a major catalyst for further administrative reforms. These reforms culminated with the promulgation of the Taihō Code, which consolidated existing statutes and established the structure of the central government and its subordinate local governments. These legal reforms created the "ritsuryō" state, a system of Chinese-style centralized government that remained in place for half a millennium.


title: History of Japan

text: The art of the Asuka period embodies the themes of Buddhist art. One of the most famous works is the Buddhist temple of Horyu-ji, commissioned by Prince Shōtoku and completed in 607 CE. It is now the oldest wooden structure in the world.


title: History of Japan

text: In 710, the government constructed a grandiose new capital at Heijō-kyō (modern Nara) modeled on Chang'an, the capital of the Chinese Tang dynasty. During this period, the first two books produced in Japan appeared: the "Kojiki" and "Nihon Shoki", which contain chronicles of legendary accounts of early Japan and its creation myth, which describes the imperial line as descendants of the gods. The "Man'yōshū" was compiled in the latter half of the eighth century, which is widely considered the finest collection of Japanese poetry.


title: History of Japan

text: During this period, Japan suffered a series of natural disasters, including wildfires, droughts, famines, and outbreaks of disease, such as a smallpox epidemic in 735–737 that killed over a quarter of the population. Emperor Shōmu (r. 724–749) feared his lack of piousness had caused the trouble and so increased the government's promotion of Buddhism, including the construction of the temple Tōdai-ji in 752. The funds to build this temple were raised in part by the influential Buddhist monk Gyōki, and once completed it was used by the Chinese monk Ganjin as an ordination site. Japan nevertheless entered a phase of population decline that continued well into the following Heian period.


title: History of Japan

text: There was also a serious attempt to overthrow the Imperial house during the middle Nara period. During the 760s, monk Dōkyō tried to establish his own dynasty by the aid of Empress Shōtoku, but after her death in 770 he lost all his power and was exiled. The Fujiwara clan furthermore consolidated its power.


title: History of Japan

text: In 784, the capital moved briefly to Nagaoka-kyō, then again in 794 to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto), which remained the capital until 1868. Political power within the court soon passed to the Fujiwara clan, a family of court nobles who grew increasingly close to the imperial family through intermarriage. Between 812 and 814 CE, a smallpox epidemic killed almost half of the Japanese population.


title: History of Japan

text: In 858, Fujiwara no Yoshifusa had himself declared "sesshō" ("regent") to the underage emperor. His son Fujiwara no Mototsune created the office of "kampaku", which could rule in the place of an adult reigning emperor. Fujiwara no Michinaga, an exceptional statesman who became "kampaku" in 996, governed during the height of the Fujiwara clan's power and married four of his daughters to emperors, current and future. The Fujiwara clan held on to power until 1086, when Emperor Shirakawa ceded the throne to his son Emperor Horikawa but continued to exercise political power, establishing the practice of cloistered rule, by which the reigning emperor would function as a figurehead while the real authority was held by a retired predecessor behind the scenes.


title: History of Japan

text: Throughout the Heian period, the power of the imperial court declined. The court became so self-absorbed with power struggles and with the artistic pursuits of court nobles that it neglected the administration of government outside the capital. The nationalization of land undertaken as part of the "ritsuryō" state decayed as various noble families and religious orders succeeded in securing tax-exempt status for their private "shōen" manors. By the eleventh century, more land in Japan was controlled by "shōen" owners than by the central government. The imperial court was thus deprived of the tax revenue to pay for its national army. In response, the owners of the "shōen" set up their own armies of samurai warriors. Two powerful noble families that had descended from branches of the imperial family, the Taira and Minamoto clans, acquired large armies and many "shōen" outside the capital. The central government began to use these two warrior clans to suppress rebellions and piracy. Japan's population stabilized during the late Heian period after hundreds of years of decline.


title: History of Japan

text: During the early Heian period, the imperial court successfully consolidated its control over the Emishi people of northern Honshu. Ōtomo no Otomaro was the first man the court granted the title of "seii tai-shōgun" ("Great Barbarian Subduing General"). In 802, seii tai-shōgun Sakanoue no Tamuramaro subjugated the Emishi people, who were led by Aterui. By 1051, members of the Abe clan, who occupied key posts in the regional government, were openly defying the central authority. The court requested the Minamoto clan to engage the Abe clan, whom they defeated in the Former Nine Years' War. The court thus temporarily reasserted its authority in northern Japan. Following another civil warthe Later Three-Year WarFujiwara no Kiyohira took full power; his family, the Northern Fujiwara, controlled northern Honshu for the next century from their capital Hiraizumi.


title: History of Japan

text: In 1156, a dispute over succession to the throne erupted and the two rival claimants (Emperor Go-Shirakawa and Emperor Sutoku) hired the Taira and Minamoto clans in the hopes of securing the throne by military force. During this war, the Taira clan led by Taira no Kiyomori defeated the Minamoto clan. Kiyomori used his victory to accumulate power for himself in Kyoto and even installed his own grandson Antoku as emperor. The outcome of this war led to the rivalry between the Minamoto and Taira clans. As a result, the dispute and power struggle between both clans led to the Heiji rebellion in 1160. In 1180, Taira no Kiyomori was challenged by an uprising led by Minamoto no Yoritomo, a member of the Minamoto clan whom Kiyomori had exiled to Kamakura. Though Taira no Kiyomori died in 1181, the ensuing bloody Genpei War between the Taira and Minamoto families continued for another four years. The victory of the Minamoto clan was sealed in 1185, when a force commanded by Yoritomo's younger brother, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, scored a decisive victory at the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. Yoritomo and his retainers thus became the "de facto" rulers of Japan.


title: History of Japan

text: During the Heian period, the imperial court was a vibrant center of high art and culture. Its literary accomplishments include the poetry collection "Kokinshū" and the "Tosa Diary", both associated with the poet Ki no Tsurayuki, as well as Sei Shōnagon's collection of miscellany "The Pillow Book", and Murasaki Shikibu's "Tale of Genji", often considered the masterpiece of Japanese literature.


title: History of Japan

text: The development of the kana written syllabaries was part of a general trend of declining Chinese influence during the Heian period. The official Japanese missions to Tang dynasty of China, which began in the year 630, ended during the ninth century, though informal missions of monks and scholars continued, and thereafter the development of native Japanese forms of art and poetry accelerated. A major architectural achievement, apart from Heian-kyō itself, was the temple of Byōdō-in built in 1053 in Uji.


title: History of Japan

text: Upon the consolidation of power, Minamoto no Yoritomo chose to rule in concert with the Imperial Court in Kyoto. Though Yoritomo set up his own government in Kamakura in the Kantō region located in eastern Japan, its power was legally authorized by the Imperial court in Kyoto in several occasions. In 1192, the emperor declared Yoritomo "seii tai-shōgun" (; "Eastern Barbarian Subduing Great General"), abbreviated as "shōgun". Yoritomo's government was called the "bakufu" ( ("tent government")), referring to the tents where his soldiers encamped. The English term "shogunate" refers to the "bakufu". Japan remained largely under military rule until 1868.


title: History of Japan

text: Legitimacy was conferred on the shogunate by the Imperial court, but the shogunate was the "de facto" rulers of the country. The court maintained bureaucratic and religious functions, and the shogunate welcomed participation by members of the aristocratic class. The older institutions remained intact in a weakened form, and Kyoto remained the official capital. This system has been contrasted with the "simple warrior rule" of the later Muromachi period.


title: History of Japan

text: Yoritomo soon turned on Yoshitsune, who was initially harbored by Fujiwara no Hidehira, the grandson of Kiyohira and the "de facto" ruler of northern Honshu. In 1189, after Hidehira's death, his successor Yasuhira attempted to curry favor with Yoritomo by attacking Yoshitsune's home. Although Yoshitsune was killed, Yoritomo still invaded and conquered the Northern Fujiwara clan's territories. In subsequent centuries, Yoshitsune would become a legendary figure, portrayed in countless works of literature as an idealized tragic hero.


title: History of Japan

text: After Yoritomo's death in 1199, the office of shogun weakened. Behind the scenes, Yoritomo's wife Hōjō Masako became the true power behind the government. In 1203, her father, Hōjō Tokimasa, was appointed regent to the shogun, Yoritomo's son Minamoto no Sanetomo. Henceforth, the Minamoto shoguns became puppets of the Hōjō regents, who wielded actual power.


title: History of Japan

text: The regime that Yoritomo had established, and which was kept in place by his successors, was decentralized and feudalistic in structure, in contrast with the earlier ritsuryō state. Yoritomo selected the provincial governors, known under the titles of "shugo" or "jitō", from among his close vassals, the "gokenin". The Kamakura shogunate allowed its vassals to maintain their own armies and to administer law and order in their provinces on their own terms.


title: History of Japan

text: In 1221, the retired Emperor Go-Toba instigated what became known as the Jōkyū War, a rebellion against the shogunate, in an attempt to restore political power to the court. The rebellion was a failure and led to Go-Toba being exiled to Oki Island, along with two other emperors, the retired Emperor Tsuchimikado and Emperor Juntoku, who were exiled to Tosa Province and Sado Island respectively. The shogunate further consolidated its political power relative to the Kyoto aristocracy.


title: History of Japan

text: The samurai armies of the whole nation were mobilized in 1274 and 1281 to confront two full-scale invasions launched by Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire. Though outnumbered by an enemy equipped with superior weaponry, the Japanese fought the Mongols to a standstill in Kyushu on both occasions until the Mongol fleet was destroyed by typhoons called "kamikaze", meaning "divine wind". In spite of the Kamakura shogunate's victory, the defense so depleted its finances that it was unable to provide compensation to its vassals for their role in the victory. This had permanent negative consequences for the shogunate's relations with the samurai class. Discontent among the samurai proved decisive in ending the Kamakura shogunate. In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo launched a rebellion in the hope of restoring full power to the imperial court. The shogunate sent General Ashikaga Takauji to quell the revolt, but Takauji and his men instead joined forces with Emperor Go-Daigo and overthrew the Kamakura shogunate.