title: The Real Housewives

text: On May 1, 2005, "The Real Housewives" was first announced as one of six reality television shows ordered by the American television network Bravo.The show was inspired by scripted soap operas including "Desperate Housewives" and "Peyton Place", and would document the lives of upper-class women who "lead glamorous lives in a picturesque Southern California gated community where the average home has a $1.6 million price tag and residents include CEOs and retired professional athletes."


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from March 21 to May 9, 2006. The original cast consisted of Kimberly Bryant, Jo De La Rosa, Vicki Gunvalson, Jeana Keough and Lauri Waring.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of the show has resulted in three spin-offs; "," "Tamra’s OC Wedding" and "Glitter Town".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In September 2007, the network started production for the show "Manhattan Moms." In January 2008, the show was re-titled to "The Real Housewives of New York City", becoming the second installment in the franchise.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from March 4 to May 27, 2008. The original cast consisted of Luann de Lesseps, Bethenny Frankel, Alex McCord, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of the show has resulted in three spin-offs; "Bethenny Ever After", "Bethenny & Fredrik" and "Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In June 2008, the third installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Atlanta", was announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from October 7 to November 25, 2008. The original cast consisted of NeNe Leakes, DeShawn Snow, Shereé Whitfield, Lisa Wu and Kim Zolciak.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of the show has resulted in ten spin-offs; "Don't Be Tardy", "The Kandi Factory", "", "Kandi's Wedding", "Kandi's Ski Trip", "", "Kandi Koated Nights", "Porsha's Having a Baby", "Porsha's Family Matters" and "Kandi & the Gang".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In May 2008, the fourth installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of New Jersey", was announced, before the announcement of the "Atlanta" installment.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from May 12 to July 8, 2009. The original cast consisted of Teresa Giudice, Jacqueline Laurita, Caroline Manzo, Dina Manzo and Danielle Staub.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of the show has result in three spin-offs; "Boys to Manzo", "Manzo'd with Children" and "Teresa Checks In".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In October 2009, the fifth installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of D.C., was" announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The season aired on Bravo from August 5 to October 21, 2010. The cast consisted of Mary Amons, Lynda Erkiletian, Cat Ommanney, Michaele Salahi and Stacie Scott Turner.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The show ended after one season, becoming the first franchise to be canceled; its cancellation came after one of the cast members, Salahi, and her husband caused controversy by successfully entering the White House uninvited for a state dinner while being filmed for the show.


title: The Real Housewives

text: In March 2010, the sixth installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills", was announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from October 14, 2010 to February 15, 2011. The original cast consisted of Taylor Armstrong, Camille Grammer, Adrienne Maloof, Kim Richards, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of "Vanderpump Rules" has resulted in two spin-offs; "Vanderpump Rules After Show" and "".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In March 2010, the network ordered a show titled "Miami Social Club", which would serve as a reconstruction of "Miami Social". The show was later re-titled to "The Real Housewives of Miami", becoming the seventh installment in the franchise.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from February 22 to April 5, 2011. The original cast consisted of Lea Black, Adriana de Moura, Alexia Echevarria, Marysol Patton, Larsa Pippen and Cristy Rice.


title: The Real Housewives

text: In November 2020, Andy Cohen, executive producer of the franchise, confirmed that he was trying to get the streaming service Peacock to pick up the show for a fourth season.


title: The Real Housewives

text: After an eight year hiatus, the fourth season aired on Peacock from December 16, 2021 to March 10, 2022. The rebooted cast consisted of Guerdy Abraira, Lisa Hochstein, Julia Lemigova, Nicole Martin, Alexia Nepola and Larsa Pippen.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Prior to being announced, the show was initially titled "Potomac Ensemble" during its early production.


title: The Real Housewives

text: In November 2015, the eight installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Potomac", was announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from January 17 to April 17, 2016. The original cast consisted of Gizelle Bryant, Ashley Darby, Robyn Dixon, Karen Huger, Charrisse Jackson-Jordan and Katie Rost.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Prior to being announced, the show was initially titled "Ladies of Dallas" during its early production, a potential spin-off to "Ladies of London".


title: The Real Housewives

text: In November 2015, the ninth installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Dallas", was announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from April 11 to June 19, 2016. The original cast consisted of Cary Deuber, Tiffany Hendra, Stephanie Hollman, LeeAnne Locken and Brandi Redmond.


title: The Real Housewives

text: On August 17, 2021, the network announced that they had no plans to immediately renew the show for a sixth season, placing it on an indefinite hiatus.


title: The Real Housewives

text: In November 2019, the tenth installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City", was announced.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from November 11, 2020 to February 24, 2021. The original cast consisted of Lisa Barlow, Mary Cosby, Heather Gay, Meredith Marks, Whitney Rose and Jen Shah.


title: The Real Housewives

text: On November 1, 2021, the eleventh installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Dubai", was announced. The show is the networks first original international installment of the franchise.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first season aired on Bravo from June 1 to September 7, 2022. The original cast consisted of Nina Ali, Chanel Ayan, Caroline Brooks, Sara Al Madani, Lesa Milan and Caroline Stanbury.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Bravo has broadcast 11 American installments of the franchise, beginning with "The Real Housewives of Orange County" on March 21, 2006. The network has also licensed the brand to various networks outside the United States, giving rise to more than a dozen international installments.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The success of the American franchise has resulted in 26 spin-offs centered on specific housewives, with the longest-running being "Vanderpump Rules", which focuses on the staff at the restaurants and bars owned by Lisa Vanderpump from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills."


title: The Real Housewives

text: In November 2021, the eleventh installment in the franchise, "The Real Housewives of Dubai", was announced as the networks first original international installment of the franchise.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Each series focuses on the lives and social dynamics of a core group of around five to seven women in a particular city or geographic area. Cast members are typically relatively wealthy, middle-aged women. Scenes may depict cast members' personal and professional lives, and especially their social interactions with one another. Individual scenes may feature any combination of cast members (including solo scenes), though producers aim to include at least one "tent-pole" event per episode, which brings together the full cast. A single season typically consists of around 25 episodes.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The franchise has been described as a "docu-soap"— a hybrid of the reality television and soap opera genres. The shows are not scripted, but field producers often intervene to steer the direction of conversations or inflame conflicts.


title: The Real Housewives

text: A highly recognizable and frequently parodied feature of the franchise is its opening credits, which feature clips and green screen footage of each housewife in turn, with each housewife delivering a "tagline"—a short quip alluding to some aspect of their personality or story. For example, for season six of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills", Lisa Vanderpump, who runs a dog rescue organization, used the tagline "I'm passionate about dogs, just not crazy about bitches". Housewives record several taglines for a given season, some of which may be written by the housewife herself and some by producers, with the network having final say on which one is used.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The credits end with a title card showing a lineup of the entire cast holding in their outstretched hands an object related to the show's location. For example, the housewives of "Orange County" hold oranges, the cast of "Atlanta" hold peaches, and the women of "Beverly Hills" hold oversized diamonds. This began as an allusion to the opening credits of "Desperate Housewives", which featured the show's main actresses holding apples, and the each object is often used as a symbolic reference for being a cast member on each respective show — for example, if a long-time guest on a franchise is finally cast to appear full time, her cast mates may say she has "finally earned her peach." The housewife in the center of the cast shot is generally chosen to be the cast member who had the greatest impact on the season.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Each season of a "Real Housewives" series ends with a "reunion", in which the cast members convene to discuss the events of the season. The reunion is generally filmed after most of the season has aired, and the women have had a chance to view the season's episodes. Reunions are filmed in a single day over the course of around ten hours, but are generally edited into two or three one-hour episodes.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Housewives are typically paid for their participation in each season of the program in two separate amounts, with the second portion paid to the Housewives after the filming of the reunion. When Adrienne Maloof failed to show up for "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" season three reunion in 2013, a precedent was set where, with the exception of certain circumstances such as attending an alcohol rehabilitation facility, the Housewife's employment as a cast member on the program is terminated if she is a no-show. Housewives to skip the reunion and not return to the series in the next season include Maloof, Mary Cosby ("Salt Lake City") and Lisa Vanderpump ("Beverly Hills").


title: The Real Housewives

text: Cast members are seated on couches on either side of a host (Andy Cohen, in the case of the American editions) who asks the cast questions (sometimes viewer-submitted) about the events of the season. The closer a Housewife sits to the host, the more integral of a part she played in the drama and storyline that season. By 2016, entertainment websites were analyzing the importance of the reunion seating charts, with Slice noting that the Housewives assigned to the "end spots", meaning the ones farthest away from the host, meant a near-certain end to their time on "Real Housewives". Housewives generally dress formally, in evening or cocktail dresses, for reunions.


title: The Real Housewives

text: In addition to answering questions, the Housewives are given the chance to look back on video clips of events from the season, with their reactions shown to the audience via picture-in-picture. "Friends of the Housewives", part-time cast members, typically only appear for a portion of the reunion time. In many but not all U.S. "Real Housewives" installments, a segment of the reunion is filmed with the husbands of the Housewives joining their spouses on stage and giving their thoughts on what happened during the filming of the season. The first show to debut such a segment was "The Real Housewives of Orange County" in 2010, and many production companies now consider spouse participation to be standard fare on reunion day. The vast majority of reunion specials end with the cast making a toast, signifying a formal end to the season. In many cases production makes note of offering non-alcoholic toasts to Housewives who have quit drinking alcohol, or who are pregnant.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The final episode of the first season of "The Real Housewives of Orange County", the franchise's original incarnation, diverged from the now-standard reunion format; it lacked a host, and the women dressed casually and cordially reminisced over the course of a single episode, set in the backyard of one of the women. The reunion for the second season, then titled ""Real Housewives Confess: A Watch What Happens Special"", was the first to feature Andy Cohen as host, and to use the talk show-like format which subsequent reunions would adopt. From then on, a standard season-ending reunion would play out across two episodes, with season three of "The Real Housewives of New York City" debuting the franchise's first-ever three-part reunion in June 2010. In the years since, three-part reunions have become commonplace on many U.S. "Housewives" series, and in April 2017 "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" ended its ninth season with a four-part reunion special. The four-part reunion special format was later duplicated by the Potomac and Beverly Hills installments in 2021.


title: The Real Housewives

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the season 12 and season 10 reunions of "Atlanta" and "Beverly Hills" were filmed virtually, on Zoom, from the homes of Cohen and the Housewives due to lockdown orders at the time.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Each "Real Housewives" program is made by a different production company, though some are responsible for more than one show. For example, Evolution Media produces both "The Real Housewives of Orange County" and "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills". A season is shot on location over the course of around four to six months. The typical field crew for a show consists of three production crews of around ten people, including one lead producer, several camera crew, and a sound technician. Small scenes, such as those centered on just one or two housewives, are shot by a single production crew, whereas multiple crews will cover larger events involving most of the cast.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The postproduction process of putting episodes together takes around ten to twelve weeks, and begins near the end of filming. Estimates for the amount of raw footage recorded per hour-long episode have ranged from 40 to 85 hours.


title: The Real Housewives

text: While early seasons occasionally made use of open casting calls, potential housewives are more typically referred by existing cast members or invited to interview by casting agents as a result of their research into the city's social circles. Candidates must pass through three stages: a phone interview with a casting director, a video interview, and finally a filmed home visit, simulating the process of filming a scene for the show.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The casting of Housewives' family members as primary cast members has occurred many times, with "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" casting siblings in its first season. This particular installment of the franchise would later cast sisters-in-law, cousins, and even twin sisters. The first mother-daughter Housewives, Evodia and Mercy Mogase from "The Real Housewives of Johannesburg", eventually received their own spinoff program in 2020.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The compensation of "Real Housewives" cast members has been the subject of some speculation. In his book about the "Housewives" franchise, writer Brian Moylan estimates that, as of 2021, a cast member would receive around $60,000 for her first season, increasing year over year up to a cap of around 300 to 500 thousand dollars. Certain "star" cast members have been rumored to be paid figures in the low millions, such as NeNe Leakes, and Kandi Burruss of "The Real Housewives of Atlanta", Lisa Vanderpump of "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills", and Tamra Judge of "The Real Housewives of Orange County". In the early years of the franchise, cast members were paid considerably less, with "Real Housewives of New York City" cast member Bethenny Frankel stating that she was paid $7,250 for her appearance on the show's first season in 2008.


title: The Real Housewives

text: A notable provision of housewives' contracts is the so-called "Bethenny clause", which states that Bravo receives 10% of the sale price of any business a cast member starts while on the show, provided that it sells for more than 1 million dollars. The colloquial name for the clause is in reference to Bethenny Frankel, who sold her Skinnygirl cocktail line in 2011 for a reported $120 million.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Like many reality television shows, the "Real Housewives" franchise makes use of confessional interviews, in which scenes are interspersed with "talking head" commentary from the cast members. Confessional interviews were originally filmed at the housewives' homes, but are now mostly shot on a soundstage in front of a green screen, with an image of the cast member's home composited behind them. Interviews are filmed periodically during and after the filming of a season, sometimes over the course of a full day, and involve the women responding to questions from an off-screen producer. Over the years, cast members have adopted increasingly elaborate hair, makeup, and fashions for confessional interviews, and may spend between 45 minutes and three hours before filming in order to prepare their looks with the help of hair and makeup artists. Each cast member typically has three different confessional looks for a season, which may need to be reproduced in multiple interview sessions for the sake of continuity. Confessional looks must be approved in advance by producers and the network.


title: The Real Housewives

text: On December 2, 2016, Cohen spoke on the future of the franchise, saying if there were to be a new installment to the franchise, it could potentially be set in Nashville. Cohen also stated that an All Star edition of the franchise would serve as an end-goal if ratings began to drop. Later in December 2016, during an interview with Harry Connick Jr., Cohen stated that they look for cities with strong personalities, and agreed that New Orleans fits that criterion.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Cities where Cohen and other producers began the casting process but ultimately decided not to create a series include Chicago, Greenwich, Houston and San Francisco.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Feminist leader Gloria Steinem has vociferously criticized the "Real Housewives" franchise for "presenting women as rich, pampered, dependent and hateful towards each other."


title: The Real Housewives

text: Others have criticized the show for its promotion of conspicuous consumption. The franchise is often analyzed through a lens of feminist political economy, and how the show "creates rich women as objects of cultural derision, well-heeled jesters in a populist court."


title: The Real Housewives

text: In October 2019, "The New York Times" ran an article criticizing how the casts of the different "Real Housewives" installments appear "segregated" by skin color. Author Tracie Egan Morrissey pointed to "Potomac" and "Atlanta" for their almost entirely African American casts, while the other iterations, such as "Beverly Hills", "Orange County", "Dallas", "New York", and "New Jersey", are overwhelmingly white and have featured few women of color. "The Real Housewives of New York" did not have an African-American cast member until 2021; while the addition of Kary Brittingham to "Dallas" in 2019 marked the show's first Hispanic cast member. "Beverly Hills", with the exception of season four’s Joyce Giraud, featured "a racially homogeneous cast throughout its run", until the addition of Garcelle Beauvais in 2019.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The Real Housewives’ latest edition that premiered on June 1, 2022, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, became a subject of criticism. On 25 May 2022, a group of 12 human rights organizations wrote a letter condemning the executive producer, Andy Cohen’s decision to film the latest edition of the franchise in Dubai, which has been said to be a monarchy that has a record of practicing misogyny, homophobia, and cruelty and differentiation towards women. The groups made four major demands from Cohen namely; reveal the role of UAE in Housewives, run a disclaimer, and publicly cite past human rights abuses committed by the emirate. The producer of the show was iterated that launching a show in Dubai may risk lending the leaders of the monarchy soft propaganda to promote themselves. The rights groups included Freedom Forward, CODEPINK, FairSquare, and more.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The first four installments entered weekday broadcast syndication in the majority of United States markets on September 13, 2010, with episodes of "The Real Housewives of Orange County". "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" started airing episodes in the syndicated time slot on October 25, 2010; "The Real Housewives of New York City" on November 29, 2010; and "The Real Housewives of New Jersey" on January 17, 2011. More episodes of "Orange County" and an encore of "Atlanta" finished off the season.


title: The Real Housewives

text: Since the conception of the series, "The Real Housewives" franchise has been parodied in television, film, theatre and online media.


title: The Real Housewives

text: The franchise has collectively won one Critics' Choice Television Award and four National Reality Television Awards, and has been nominated for 24 total National Reality Television Awards, 18 People's Choice Awards, 12 MTV Movie & TV Awards, four AACTA Awards, three Critics' Choice Real TV Awards, two Dorian Awards, a Leo Award, a TCA Award, a Canadian Screen Award, and a TRIC Award.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Reptilians (also called reptoids, archons, reptiloids, saurians, draconians, or lizard people) are supposed reptilian humanoids, which play a prominent role in fantasy, science fiction, ufology, and conspiracy theories. The idea of reptilians was popularised by David Icke, a conspiracy theorist who claims shapeshifting reptilian aliens control Earth by taking on human form and gaining political power to manipulate human societies. Icke has stated on multiple occasions that many world leaders are, or are possessed by, so-called reptilians.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Michael Barkun, professor of political science at Syracuse University, posits that the idea of a reptilian conspiracy originated in the fiction of Conan the Barbarian creator Robert E. Howard, in his story "The Shadow Kingdom", published in "Weird Tales" in August 1929. This story drew on theosophical ideas of the "lost worlds" of Atlantis and Lemuria, particularly Helena Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine" written in 1888, with its reference to dragon-men' who once had a mighty civilization on a Lemurian continent".


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Howard's "serpent men" were described as humanoids (with human bodies and snake heads) who were able to imitate humans at will, and who lived in underground passages and used their shapechanging and mind-control abilities to infiltrate humanity. Clark Ashton Smith used Howard's "serpent men" in his stories, as well as themes from H. P. Lovecraft, and he, Howard and Lovecraft together laid the basis for the Cthulhu Mythos.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: In the 1940s, Maurice Doreal (also known as Claude Doggins) wrote a pamphlet entitled "Mysteries of the Gobi" that described a "serpent race" with "bodies like man but...heads...like a great snake" and an ability to take human form. These creatures also appeared in Doreal's poem "The Emerald Tablets", in which he referred to Emerald Tablets written by "Thoth, an Atlantean Priest king". Barkun asserts that "in all likelihood", Doreal's ideas came from "The Shadow Kingdom", and that in turn, "The Emerald Tablets" formed the basis for David Icke's book, "Children of the Matrix".


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Historian Edward Guimont has argued that the reptilian conspiracy theory, particularly as expounded by Icke, drew from earlier pseudohistorical legends developed during the colonisation of Africa, particularly surrounding Great Zimbabwe and the mokele-mbembe.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Alien abduction narratives sometimes allege contact with reptilian creatures. One of the earliest reports was that of Ashland, Nebraska police officer Herbert Schirmer, who under hypnosis recalled being taken aboard a UFO in 1967 by humanoid beings with a slightly reptilian appearance, who wore a "winged serpent" emblem on the left side of their chests. Skeptics consider his claims to be a hoax.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: According to British conspiracy theorist David Icke, who first published on this theme in his 1999 work "The Biggest Secret", tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are the force behind a worldwide conspiracy against humanity. He contends that most of the world's ancient and modern leaders are related to these reptilians, including the Merovingian dynasty, the Rothschilds, the Bush family and the British Royal family. Icke's conspiracy theories now have supporters in up to 47 countries and he has given lectures to crowds of up to 6,000 people.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: American writer Vicki Santillano included Icke's conspiracy theory in her list of the 10 most popular conspiracy theories. A poll of Americans in 2013 by Public Policy Polling indicated that 4% of registered voters (±2.8%) believed in David Icke's ideas.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: "Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet" was a pejorative referring to then Ontario Liberal Party opposition leader Dalton McGuinty in a press release disseminated by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on September 12, 2003, during the provincial election campaign in Ontario, Canada.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: In the closely fought 2008 U.S. Senate election in Minnesota between comedian and commentator Al Franken and incumbent Senator Norm Coleman, one of the ballots challenged by Coleman included a vote for Franken with "Lizard People" written in the space provided for write-in candidates. Lucas Davenport, who later claimed to have written the gag ballot, said, "I don't know if you've heard the conspiracy theory about the Lizard Men; a friend of mine, we didn't like the candidates, so we were at first going to write in 'revolution', because we thought that was good and to the point. And then, we thought 'the Lizard People' would be even funnier."


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: In February 2011, on the "Opie and Anthony" radio show, the comedian Louis C.K. jokingly asked former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld a number of times if he and Dick Cheney were lizard people who enjoyed the taste of human flesh. Amused by Rumsfeld's refusal to directly answer the question, C.K. suggested it as a possible admission of guilt. He went on to further muse that perhaps those who are lizard people cannot lie about it; when asked if they are lizards, they either have to avoid answering the question or say yes.


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: On March 4, 2013, a video depicting a security agent with unusual features guarding a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama was spotlighted in a "Wired" report about shapeshifting reptilian humanoids. This led to a tongue-in-cheek response from chief National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden who said "any alleged program to guard the president with aliens or robots would likely have to be scaled back or eliminated in the sequester".


title: Reptilian conspiracy theory

text: Some adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory have also borrowed from the reptilian conspiracy theory.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: , also Utsuro-fune, and Urobune, was an unknown object that allegedly washed ashore in 1803 in Hitachi province on the eastern coast of Japan. When defining Utsuro-bune, the bune part means "boat" while Utsuro means empty, or hollow. Accounts of the tale appear in three texts: "Toen shōsetsu" (1825), "Hyōryū kishū" (1835) and "Ume-no-chiri" (1844).


title: Utsuro-bune

text: According to legend, an attractive young woman aged 18-20 years old, arrived on a local beach aboard the "hollow ship" on February 22, 1803. Fishermen brought her inland to investigate further, but the woman was unable to communicate in Japanese. She was very different from anyone else there. The fishermen then returned her and her vessel to the sea, where it drifted away.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Historians, ethnologists and physicists such as Kazuo Tanaka and Yanagita Kunio have evaluated the "legend of the hollow boat" as part of a long-standing tradition within Japanese folklore. Alternatively, certain ufologists have claimed that the story represents evidence for a close encounter with extraterrestrial life.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Description in all three books bear similarity, thus they seem to have the same historical origins. The book "Toen shōsetsu" contains the most detailed version.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: On February 22, 1803, local fishers of the shore in the Hitachi province saw an ominous "ship" drifting in the waters. Curious, they towed the vessel back to land, discovering that it was 3.30 metres (10.83 feet) high and 5.45 metres (17.88 feet) wide, reminding the witnesses of a "Kōhako" (Japanese incense burner). Its upper part appeared to be made of red coated rosewood, while the lower part was covered with brazen plates, obviously to protect it against the sharp-edged rocks.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: The upper part had several windows made of glass or crystal, covered with bars and clogged with some kind of tree resin. The shape of the hollow boat resembled a wooden rice pit. The windows were completely transparent and the baffled fishermen looked inside. The inner side of the Utsuro-bune was decorated with texts written in an unknown language. The fishermen found items inside such as two bed sheets, a bottle filled with 3.6 litres of water, some cake and kneaded meat.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Then the fishermen saw a beautiful young woman, possibly 18 or 20 years old. Her body size was said to be 1.5 metres (4.92 feet). The woman had red hair and eyebrows, the hair elongated by artificial white extensions. The extensions could have been made of white fur or thin, white-powdered textile streaks. This hairstyle cannot be found in any literature. The skin of the lady was a very pale pink color. She wore precious, long and smooth clothes of unknown fabrics.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: The woman began speaking, but no one understood her. She did not seem to understand the fishermen either, so no one could ask her about her origin. Although the mysterious woman appeared friendly and courteous, she acted oddly, for she always clutched a quadratic box made of pale material and around 0.6 m (24 in) in size. The woman did not allow anyone to touch the box, no matter how kindly or pressingly the witnesses asked.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: An old man from the village theorised, "This woman could be a princess of a foreign realm, who married at her homeland. But when she had an affair with a townsman after marriage, it caused a scandal and the lover was killed for punishment. The princess was banned from home, for she enjoyed lots of sympathy, so she escaped the death penalty. Instead, she might have been exposed in that "Utsuro-bune" to leave her to destiny. If this should be correct, the quadratic box may contain the head of the woman's deceased lover. In the past, a very similar object with a woman was washed ashore on a close-by beach.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: During this incident, a small board with a pinned head was found. The content of the box could therefore be the same, which would certainly explain why she protects it so much. It would cost lots of money and time to investigate the woman and her boat. Since it seems to be tradition to expose those boats at sea, we should bring the woman back to the Utsuro-bune and let her drift away. The townspeople were frightened. In a different version, the lady from the hollow boat stays where she landed and grows to old age. From human sight it might be cruel, but it seems to be her predetermined destiny." The fishermen reassembled the Utsuro-bune, placed the woman in it, and set it to drift away into the ocean.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: On March 24, 1803, at the beach of in the Hitachi province, a strange 'boat' was washed ashore. It reminded the witnesses of a rice cooking pot, around its middle it had a thickened rim. It was also coated with black paint and it had four little windows on four sides. The windows had bars and they were clogged with tree resin. The lower part of the boat was protected by brazen plates which looked to be made of iron of the highest western quality. The height of the boat was 3.33 m (10.83 ft) and its breadth was 5.41 m (17.75 ft).


title: Utsuro-bune

text: A woman of 20 years was found in the boat. Her body size was 1.5 m (4.92 ft) and her skin was as white as snow. The long hair dangled smoothly down along her back. Her face was of indescribable beauty. The dress of the woman was of unknown style and no one could recognise it. She spoke an unknown language. She held a small box no one was allowed to touch. Inside the boat two unusually soft carpets of unknown style and fabric were found. There were supplies such as cake, kneaded food and meat. A beautifully decorated cup with ornaments no one could identify was also found.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: There are several further documents about Utsuro-bune sightings in Japan, for example and . The investigation started in 1844, and continued in 1925, and 1962. In 2010 and 2012 two rare ink printings were found and investigated by Kazuo Tanaka. In 1977 they contained stories about Utsuro-bune with very similar content to that of the "Hyōryū kishū", although they claim a different location for the events: ("harbour of Bōshū").


title: Utsuro-bune

text: A well known Japanese legend is that of the origin of the Kōno clan of the Iyo Province. In the 7th century, a fisherman named from Gogo island found a 13-year-old girl inside an Utsuro-bune drifting at sea. He brought her to land, where she told him that she was the daughter of the Chinese emperor and that she had been forced to flee to escape her stepmother. The fisherman named her ("princess Wake") and raised her, before she married an imperial prince of Iyo province and gave birth to a son named , the ancestor of the Kōno clan. A part of this folktale held that she was responsible for bringing the first silk cocoons to Japan. Princess Wake is still worshiped at the "Funakoshi Wakehime" Shinto shrine in the village of "Funakoshi" on Gogo island.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: There are more myths that share many similarities to Utsune-Bune. Toen shosetsu, which translates to "rabbit in the garden", a book written by Kyokutei Bakin, tells the story of a few castaways marking their journey and end up in the same situation. Another story written by an unknown author Umi-nu-chiri, which translates to "dust of the apricot" is another story that shares many similarities to Utsuro-Bune.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: The first historical investigations of the Utsuro-bune incident were conducted in 1844 by Kyokutei Bakin (1767–1848). Kyokutei reports about a book called , written by Kanamori Kinken. The book describes traditional Russian clothes and hairstyles and mentions a popular method to dust hair with white powder. It also mentions that many Russian women have natural red hair and that they wear skirts, similar to that of the lady of the legend.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Based upon the book, Kyokutei suggests that the woman of the Utsuro-bune incident could have been of Russian origin. He writes that the stories are similar to each other, as they differ only in minor descriptions (for example, one documents says "3.6 litres of water", another says "36 litres of water"). He also questions the origin of the alleged exotic symbols found in and on the boat. Because he is convinced that he saw similar signs on a British whaler stranded shortly before his writing, Kyokutei wonders if the woman was a Russian, British or even American princess. Furthermore, he expresses his disappointment about the drawings of the Utsuro-bune, because they obviously do not fully match the witness descriptions.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Further investigations of the Utsuro-bune incident were done in 1925 and in 1962 by ethnologist and historian Yanagida Kunio. He points out that circular boats were never anything unusual in Japan since early times; only the western-like details, such as the windows made of glass and the brazen protective plates, make the Utsuro-bune look exotic. He also found out that most legends similar to that of the Utsuro-bune sound alike: Someone finds a strange girl or young woman inside a circular boat and rescues the stranded or sends her back to the ocean.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Yanagida also points out that the eldest versions of Utsuro-bune describe humble, circular and open log-boats without any dome atop. Yanagida assumes that the details of the brazen plates and windows made of glass or crystal were added because skeptics would question the seaworthiness of a humble log-boat on the high seas. A steel reinforced Utsuro-bune with glass windows would more easily survive travelling on the ocean than an open, unreinforced wooden boat.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Dr. Kazuo Tanaka (田中 嘉津夫), Japanese professor for computer and electronics engineering from Gifu University at Tokyo (東京), investigated the original scripts in 1997. He considers the popular comparisons of the "Utsuro-bune" with modern UFO sightings to be far-fetched. He points out that the Utsuro-bune of the legends never flies or moves on its own, nor does it show any signs of extraordinary technologies. It simply drifts motionless on the water. Tanaka concludes that the tale of the Utsuro-bune was a literary mixture of folklore and imaginations. He bases his assumptions on the 1925 investigations of the Japanese historian Yanagida Kunio, who had also studied the tales of the Utsuro-bune.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Dr. Tanaka himself found out that the locations "Haratono-hama" and "Harayadori" are fictitious. To make the anecdote sound credible, the author designated the beaches as personal acreages of a Daimyō named Ogasawara Nagashige. This daimyō actually lived during the Edo period, but his acreages were placed at heartland and it seems sure that Ogasawara never had any contact with the fishermen of the Pacific coast. The Ogasawara clan served the famous Tokugawa clan, who held power over the most north-eastern part of Japan until 1868 and their main acreages were placed in the Hitashi province, geographically very close to the eastern beaches.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Tanaka finds it very odd that no incident of such alleged importance was commented on in the curatorial documents, since strangers leaving the shore had to be reported at once. But the only remarkable incident during the late Tokugawa clan happened in 1824, when a British whaler was stranded at the north-eastern coast of the Hitachi district. Tanaka also found out that, during the rulership of the Tokugawa clan, the Ogasawara family and the Tokugawa started mapping their territories and acreages. And both names of "Haratono-hama" and "Harayadori" are missing. They also do not appear on the maps of the first complete mappings of the whole of Japan in 1907. If the name of a village, city or place had changed in history, this would have been noted in some curatorial documents, but it is not. Tanaka thinks it rather unlikely that important places such as "Haratono-hama" and "Harayadori" actually could have been forgotten in records.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: The peculiar European appearance of the woman, the upper part of the Utsuro-bune and the unknown writings lead Tanaka and Yanagida to the conclusion that the whole story was based on the historical circumstance that people of the Edo period totally encapsulated Japan against the outer world. To bedizen a stranded woman with European attributes showed how much the peoples were afraid of bad cultural influences from the western world, especially North America and Great Britain. The story of the Utsuro-bune is significantly constructed in a way that makes the tale sound incredible at one site, but self-explaining at the same time (the woman and her craft are sent away so no one could ever consult her personally).


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Furthermore, Tanaka and Yanagida point out that the people of Edo period shared great interests in paranormal things such as yūrei, onibi, hitodama and yōkai, so it would not be surprising to find stories of exotic boats like the "Utsuro-bune".


title: Utsuro-bune

text: In his conclusions, Tanaka points to the difficulty in the correct reading of the place names. In modern transcriptions, the Kanji 原舎 have to be read as "Harasha". But in "Toen Shōsetsu" the signs are written in Kana and they have to be read as "Hara-yadori". In "Ume no chiri" they are written in Furigana making the place to be named as "Haratono-hama". Alternatively, the kanji for "Haratono" could be read as "Hara-yadori". According to Tanaka’s investigations, the transcription of 原舎ヶ浜 in the "Hyōryū Kishū" as "Harasha-ga-hama" is therefore a typo based on a misreading and should originally be read as "Haratono-ga-hama". Thus, all writings describe the same place.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: Tanaka also points out that the word "Utsuro" means "empty" or "abandoned" and that the word "Utsubo" means "quiver" and describes the bags in which hunters and archers once carried their arrows. But both words also describe old, hollowed tree trunks and branch holes of sacred trees. The word "Fune/Bune" simply means "boat". Altogether, the word "Utsuro-bune" means "hollow ship".


title: Utsuro-bune

text: On May 26, 2014, reported Tanaka found Jinichi Kawakami's regarding and place name (as of 2014, ) where coast surveyed in 1801 and on "Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu" ( maps of Japan's coastal area) by Inō Tadataka.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: In Ufology, the legend of the Utsuro-bune has been described as an early case of a documented close encounter of the third kind based on the similarities between the drawings of the vessel from the Edo period and 20th century descriptions of flying saucers. Some Ufologists suggest the Utsuro-bune could have been an "unidentified submerged object" (USO). They note the mysterious symbols which were reportedly found on the object that regularly appear as addenda within the depictions.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: They are suggested by some to be similar to the symbols reported at the Rendlesham Forest Incident in England, which was used by the United States Air force. The same writing is also found in caves. Caves also show many drawings of odd figures along the symbols. UFO proponents further point to the ominous box held by the woman as well as her physical appearance and unusual dress as evidence of an extraterrestrial encounter. The assumptions of any historian and ethnologist about those items are repeatedly ignored.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: "Utsuro-bune" are popular motifs in manga and anime. A prominent example appears in the television series "Mononoke" (2007), which revolves around the tales told by a traveller known as the "medicine seller" (薬売り). In episodes 3–5, the protagonist tells the story of "Umibōzu", in which a sunken Utsuro-bune features prominently. Here it is depicted as a decorated, sealed, hollow tree trunk, and contains the corpse of a young woman who had been sacrificed to sea demons.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: In the third season of Mysterious Cities of Gold, an Utsuro-bune coming from the sunken third City has ended up in the forest near Kagoshima. When activated, it reveals a water-like hologram of a woman that tells the protagonists of the next key item to find.


title: Utsuro-bune

text: The episode 17 of the anime series Vampire Princess Miyu, titled "The Moray Boat", is based on this legend.


title: Sic

text: The Latin adverb sic (; "thus", "just as"; in full: , "thus was it written") inserted after a quoted word or passage indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated exactly as found in the source text, complete with any erroneous, archaic, or otherwise nonstandard spelling, punctuation, or grammar. It also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be interpreted as an error of transcription.


title: Sic

text: The typical usage is to inform the reader that any errors or apparent errors in quoted material do not arise from errors in the course of the transcription, but are intentionally reproduced, exactly as they appear in the source text. It is generally placed inside square brackets to indicate that it is not part of the quoted matter.


title: Sic

text: "Sic" may also be inserted derisively or sarcastically, to call attention to the original writer's spelling mistakes or erroneous logic, or to show general disapproval or dislike of the material.


title: Sic

text: Though occasionally misidentified as an abbreviated word, "sic" is a Latin adverb used in English as an adverb, and, derivatively, as a noun and a verb. The adverb "sic", meaning "intentionally so written", first appeared in English circa 1856. It is derived from the Latin adverb "sīc", which means "so, thus, in this manner". According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the verbal form of "sic", meaning "to mark with a "sic"", emerged in 1889, E. Belfort Bax work in "The Ethics of Socialism" being an early example.


title: Sic

text: On occasion, "sic" has been misidentified as an acronym (and therefore sometimes misspelled with periods): "s.i.c." is said to stand for "spelled in context", "said in context", "said in copy", "spelling is correct", "spelled incorrectly", and other such folk etymology phrases. These are all incorrect and are simply backronyms from "sic".


title: Sic

text: Use of "sic" greatly increased in the mid-20th century. For example, in United States state-court opinions before 1944, "sic" appeared 1,239 times in the Westlaw database; in those from 1945 to 1990, it appeared 69,168 times, over 55 times as many. Its use as a form of ridicule has been cited as a major factor in this increase. The immoderate use of "sic" has created some controversy, leading some editors, including bibliographical scholar Simon Nowell-Smith and literary critic Leon Edel, to speak out against it.


title: Sic

text: "Sic", in its bracketed form, is most often inserted into quoted or reprinted material to indicate meticulous accuracy in reproducing the preceding text, despite appearances to the reader of an incorrect or unusual orthography (spelling, punctuation, grammar, syntax, fact, logic, etc.). Several usage guides recommend that a bracketed "sic" be used primarily as an aid to the reader, not as an indicator of disagreement with the source.


title: Sic

text: "Sic" may show that an uncommon or archaic expression is reported faithfully, such as when quoting the U.S. Constitution: "The House of Representatives shall their Speaker ..." However, several writing guidebooks discourage its use with regard to dialect, such as in cases of American and British English spelling differences. The appearance of a bracketed "sic" after the word "analyse" in a book review led Bryan A. Garner to comment, "all the quoter (or overzealous editor) [sic] demonstrated was ignorance of British usage".


title: Sic

text: Occasionally a writer places ["sic"] after their own words, to indicate that the language has been chosen deliberately for special effect, especially where the writer's ironic meaning may otherwise be unclear. Bryan A. Garner dubbed this use of "sic" "ironic", providing the following example from Fred Rodell 1955 book "Nine Men":


title: Sic

text: Where "sic" follows the quotation, it takes brackets: ["sic"]. The word "sic" is usually treated as a loanword that does not require italics, and the style manuals of New Zealand, Australian and British media outlets generally do not require italicisation. However, italicization is common in the United States, where authorities including "APA Style" insist upon it.


title: Sic

text: Because "sic" is not an abbreviation, placing a full stop/period inside the brackets after the word "sic" is erroneous, although the California Style Manual suggests styling it as a parenthetical sentence only when used after a complete sentence, like so: "(Sic.)"


title: Sic

text: Some guides, including "The Chicago Manual of Style", recommend "quiet copy-editing" (unless where inappropriate or uncertain) instead of inserting a bracketed "sic", such as by substituting in brackets the correct word in place of the incorrect word or by simply replacing an incorrect spelling with the correct one.


title: Sic

text: Alternatively, to show both the original and the suggested correction (as they often are in palaeography), one may give the actual form, followed by "recte", then the correct form, in brackets. The Latin adverb "recte" means "rightly".


title: Sic

text: According to the "Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music Style Sheet", there should be no punctuation, for example no colon, before the correct form when using "recte".


title: Sic

text: A third alternative is to follow an error with "sic", a comma or colon, "read", and the correct reading, all within square brackets, as in the following example:


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael of Kent, (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a member of the British royal family, who is 51st in the line of succession to the British throne as of September 2022. Queen Elizabeth II and Michael were first cousins through their fathers, King George VI, and Prince George, Duke of Kent. Michael's mother Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark was also a first cousin of the Queen's husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, making him both a second cousin and first cousin once removed to King Charles III.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael would occasionally represent Queen Elizabeth II at some functions in Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom during her reign. Otherwise, he manages his own consultancy business and undertakes various commercial work around the world. He has also presented some television documentaries on the royal families of Europe.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael was born on 4 July 1942, at Coppins, Iver, Buckinghamshire. He was the third child of Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was a son of King George V and Queen Mary and a younger brother of King George VI. At the time of his birth, Michael was seventh in the line of succession to the British throne. His mother was Princess Marina, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: At his baptism on 4 August 1942 in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle, his godparents were his paternal uncle the King; Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (for whom her son-in-law Prince Bernhard stood proxy); the King Haakon VII of Norway (his great-uncle); US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (for whom the Duke of Kent stood proxy); Frederica of Hanover, Hereditary Princess of Greece (who was not present), the wife of Paul of Greece, his first cousin-once-removed; the Duke of Gloucester (his paternal uncle, who was absent); the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal first cousin twice-removed); and Lady Patricia Ramsay (his paternal first cousin twice-removed). Because of the war, newspaper reports did not identify the location of the baptism and said instead that it took place at "a private chapel in the country".


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Seven weeks after Michael's birth, his father was killed in a plane crash near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland, on 25 August 1942.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: At the age of five, Prince Michael was a page boy at the wedding of his cousins Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: He was educated at Sunningdale School and Eton College and is fluent in French as well as having a "working knowledge" of German and Italian, he was the first member of the royal family to learn Russian, of which he is a qualified interpreter.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Michael was commissioned into the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) in 1963. He later served in The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) after the amalgamation between the 11th Hussars and the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) in 1969. He saw service in Germany, Hong Kong, and Cyprus, where his squadron formed part of a United Nations peacekeeping force in 1971. Subsequent tours of duty, during a military career that spanned twenty years, included a number of appointments on the Defence Intelligence Staff. He retired from the Army with the rank of Major in 1981.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: In 1994, Michael was made Honorary Commodore (later Honorary Rear Admiral and then Vice Admiral) of the Royal Naval Reserve, and in 2002, he was made Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Benson (promoted to Honorary Air Marshal in 2012). From 2009 to 2012, he was Regimental Colonel of the Honourable Artillery Company and on 31 January 2012 became its Royal Honorary Colonel. He is also Colonel-in-Chief of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment in Canada.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: As the third child of George V's fourth son, it was not expected that Prince Michael, as the only second son in the extended royal family, would undertake many engagements on behalf of the royal family. He has performed official duties in the Commonwealth realms other than the United Kingdom and has represented the Queen abroad.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: He has, however, never received a parliamentary annuity or an allowance from the British Privy Purse, unlike both his elder brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and his sister, Princess Alexandra, who both carry out official royal duties. The Prince was given the use of a grace and favour apartment at Kensington Palace upon his marriage in 1978.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Michael represented the Queen at state funerals in India, Cyprus and Swaziland and, with his wife, Princess Michael of Kent, represented the Queen at the independence celebrations in Belize, and at the coronation of King Mswati III of Swaziland.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Michael supports a large number of charities and organisations. Some of his patronages and presidencies include: the Kennel Club, Children's Burns Trust, Maritime Volunteer Service, the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships, Life Saving Society, Royal Automobile Club, National Eye Research Centre, Motor Sports Association, Brooklands Museum Trust, the Light Aircraft Association, and the London School of Business and Finance.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: On 30 June 1978, Michael married, at a civil ceremony, at the City Hall ("Wiener Rathaus") in Vienna, Austria, the German noblewoman Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz. After receiving Pope John Paul II's permission (a previous pontiff, Pope Paul VI, had barred them from having a Catholic wedding), the couple later received a blessing of their marriage in a Catholic ceremony on 29 June 1983 at Archbishop's House, London.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: At the time of the marriage, Marie-Christine von Reibnitz was both a Roman Catholic and a divorcée. She had been married to the banker Thomas Troubridge; they separated in 1973, divorced in 1977, and had their marriage annulled by the Catholic Church a year later, two months before her marriage to Michael. Under the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701, Michael forfeited his place in the line of succession to the throne through his marriage to a Catholic. He was reinstated to the line of succession on 26 March 2015 with the coming into force of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013, and is 51st in line to the throne .


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Michael and Marie-Christine have two children, both brought up as members of the Church of England and therefore in the line of succession to the throne since birth:


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael manages his own consultancy business, and undertakes business throughout the world. He is also a qualified interpreter of Russian.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael is an active Freemason. He is the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, and Provincial Grand Master of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Middlesex.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael speaks fluent Russian and has a strong interest in Russia, where he is a well-known figure (he is a former recipient of the Order of Friendship). Tsar Nicholas II was a first cousin of three of his grandparents: George V, Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. When the bodies of the Tsar and some of his family were recovered in 1991, the remains were later identified by DNA using, among others, a sample from Michael for recognition. He attended the 1998 burial of the Tsar and his family in St Petersburg. He is an honorary member of the Romanov Family Association. He is also the second cousin of Maria Vladimirovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, who is a claimant to the headship of the Imperial Family of Russia. They share the same great-grandfather, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. Michael is the patron of organisations which have close ties with Russia, including the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce and the St Gregory's Foundation. In his capacity as patron of Children's Fire and Burns Trust, Prince Michael has led fundraising rallies in 1999 and 2003 in Russia to raise money for the charity. He also led another rally in 2005 and raised money for the Royal Marsden Hospital and Britain's Charities Aid Foundation Russia.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: On 4 March 2022, Michael returned the Order of Friendship in the aftermath of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael was a part of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst rowing crew that won the Maiden Fours at Bedford in 1961. Prince Michael competed for Great Britain in the 1971 FIBT World Bobsleigh Championships but crashed and failed to finish the event. He was official non-travelling reserve for the 1972 Winter Olympics. He took part in the 1970 London to Mexico World Cup Rally in an Austin Maxi, but he and his crew failed to finish the event.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: In 2002, both Michael and his wife were the subject of criticism over the rent paid on their accommodation at Kensington Palace following scrutiny by the House of Commons Public Accounts committee on the cost of royal palaces and whether they were value for money. The committee had called on the Queen to evict its residents and put the apartments on a more commercial footing. When it was claimed that the couple paid a rent of only £69 per week for the use of their apartments at Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace announced that "The Queen is paying the rent for Prince and Princess Michael of Kent's apartment at a commercial rate of £120,000 annually, from her own private funds. This rent payment by The Queen is in recognition of the Royal engagements and work for various charities which Prince and Princess Michael of Kent have undertaken at their own expense, and without any public funding."


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Prince Michael has been scrutinized for financial assistance given to him by exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky through offshore companies, with a reported total of £320,000 in payments over the period 2002–2008. In an interview with "The Sunday Times", Berezovsky stated, "There is nothing underhand or improper about the financial assistance I have given Prince Michael. It is a matter between friends."


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: In May 2021 reports were published stating that Michael was "selling access" to Vladimir Putin's political representatives. Footage from a Zoom call was released of Michael, alongside Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading, interacting with undercover reporters posing as business executives seeking to make contacts with the Kremlin. In the video, he assured the men that his close ties with the country would be of benefit, and that he could introduce them to high-ranking figures within the Russian government in exchange for money. The call took place the day after the European Union imposed sanctions on the Kremlin. Michael was being offered £143,000 for a proposal and £36,000 a month by the faux businessmen, which he expressed satisfaction with. The Marquess claimed that Michael was the Queen's "unofficial ambassador to Russia" and had direct access to Putin. He later stated that he had "overpromised", while the prince said that he had not had contact with Putin since 2003. In a 2019 interview, Michael stated that he visited Russia twice a year as part of his work for the Russo-British Chamber of Commerce.


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: Marina Litvinenko denounced the prince's actions, saying that it demonstrated that he didn't "care about human rights, democracy, about the people who are dying in Russia or what he did to your own citizens on UK soil". Conservative MP Bob Seely released a statement saying, in part: "We have sanctions against President Putin's regime for good reason. I'd love to know what Prince Michael thinks he is doing by making the UK's values and standards look optional."


title: Prince Michael of Kent

text: As a child of a younger son of a British sovereign, he is styled as a British prince with the prefix "His Royal Highness" and a territorial designation deriving from his father's dukedom: "His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent".


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Philadelphia is a 1993 American legal drama film written by Ron Nyswaner, directed by Jonathan Demme and starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. Filmed and set in its namesake city, it tells the story of gay man Andrew Beckett (Hanks) who asks lawyer Joe Miller (Washington) to help him sue his employers, who fired him after discovering he has AIDS.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: "Philadelphia" premiered in Los Angeles on December 14, 1993 and opened in limited release on December 22, before expanding into wide release on January 14, 1994. It grossed $206.7 million worldwide, becoming the 9th highest-grossing film of 1993. It was positively received by critics for its screenplay and the performances of Washington and Hanks. For his performance as Andrew Beckett, Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 66th Academy Awards, while the song "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Nyswaner was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to Jane Campion for "The Piano". It is notable for being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to explicitly address HIV/AIDS and homophobia, in addition to being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to portray gay people in a positive light.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Andrew Beckett is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. He conceals his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from the other members of the firm. A partner in the firm notices a lesion on Beckett's forehead. Although Beckett attributes the lesion to a racquetball injury, it indicates Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-defining condition.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Beckett stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. He finishes the paperwork for a case he has been assigned and then brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file the paperwork the following day, which marks the end of the statute of limitations for the case. The next day, he receives a call asking for the paperwork, as the paper copy cannot be found and there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. The paperwork is finally located in an alternative location and is filed with the court at the last moment. Beckett is called to a meeting the morning afterwards where the firm's partners dismiss him.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Beckett believes that someone deliberately hid the paperwork to give the firm an excuse to fire him and that the termination is a result of his diagnosis with AIDS as well as his sexuality. He asks ten attorneys to take his case, the last of whom is African-American personal injury lawyer Joe Miller, whom Beckett previously opposed in a different case. Miller appears uncomfortable that a man with AIDS is in his office. After declining to take the case, Miller immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the disease. The doctor explains that the routes of HIV infection do not include casual contact.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him, Beckett is compelled to act as his own attorney. While researching another case at a law library, Miller sees Beckett at a nearby table. A librarian approaches Beckett and says that he has found a case of AIDS discrimination for him. As others in the library begin to stare uneasily, the librarian suggests Beckett go to a private room. Seeing the parallels in how he has faced discrimination due to his race, Miller approaches Beckett, reviews the material he has gathered, and agrees to take the case.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: As the case goes to trial, the partners of the firm take the stand, each claiming that Beckett was incompetent and that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly suggests that Beckett brought AIDS upon himself via gay sex and is therefore not a victim. It is revealed that the partner who noticed Beckett's lesion, Walter Kenton, previously worked with a woman who had contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion and so should have recognized the lesion as being a symptom of an AIDS-related illness. According to Kenton, the woman was an innocent victim, unlike Beckett, and he further testifies that he did not recognize Beckett's lesion. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Miller asks Beckett to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions are indeed visible and recognizable as such. Throughout the trial, Miller's homophobia slowly disappears as he and Beckett bond from working together.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Beckett collapses during the trial and is hospitalized. After this, another partner, Bob Seidman, who also noticed the lesions, confesses that he suspected Beckett had AIDS but never told anyone and didn't allow him to explain himself, which he deeply regrets. During his hospital stay, the jury votes in Beckett's favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages, totaling over $5 million. Miller visits the visibly failing Beckett in the hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After the family leaves the room, Beckett tells his lover Miguel Alvarez that he is "ready." At the Miller home later that night, Miller and his wife are awakened by a phone call from Alvarez, who tells them that Beckett has died. A memorial is held at Beckett's home, where many mourners, including Miller and his family, view home movies of Beckett as a happy child.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Daniel Day-Lewis was offered the role of Andrew Beckett, but turned it down. Bill Murray and Robin Williams were considered for the role of Joe Miller. John Leguizamo was offered the role of Miguel Álvarez, but turned it down to play Luigi in the film "Super Mario Bros." In an interview with "The New York Times" in June 2022, Tom Hanks said that the film would not get made nowadays with a straight actor in a gay role, stating audiences wouldn't "accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy". Hanks added that that was "rightly so", stating "One of the reasons people weren't afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man".


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: The events in the film are similar to the events in the lives of attorneys Geoffrey Bowers and Clarence Cain. Bowers was an attorney who, in 1987, sued the law firm Baker McKenzie for wrongful dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases. Cain was an attorney for Hyatt Legal Services who was fired after his employer found out he had AIDS. He sued Hyatt in 1990, and won just before his death.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: In 1994, shortly after the film's release, Scott Burr, a former attorney with the Philadelphia firm of Kohn, Nast and Graf, sued his previous employer for illegally terminating him upon finding out that he was HIV positive. Like the defendants in the film, the firm claimed that it fired him for incompetence without knowing about his health. The parties settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount after three weeks of trial. Burr continued to practice law prior to his death in 2020.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Bowers' family sued the writers and producers of the film. A year after Bowers' death in 1987, a producer, Scott Rudin had interviewed the Bowers family and their lawyers and, according to the family, promised compensation for the use of Bowers' story as a basis for a film. Family members asserted that 54 scenes in the movie were so similar to events in Bowers's life that some of them could only have come from their interviews. However, the defense said that Rudin had abandoned the project after hiring a writer and did not share any information the family had provided. The lawsuit was settled after five days of testimony. Although terms of the agreement were not released, the defendants did admit that "the film 'was inspired in part'" by Bowers' story.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: "Philadelphia" premiered in Los Angeles on December 14, 1993 and opened in limited release in four theaters on December 22, before expanding into wide release on January 14, 1994. The L.A. premiere was a benefit for AIDS Project Los Angeles, which netted $250,000 APLA Chair Steve Tisch told the LA Times.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: The film was the first Hollywood big-budget, big-star film to tackle the issue of AIDS in the U.S. (following the TV movie "And the Band Played On") and signaled a shift in Hollywood films toward more realistic depictions of people in the LGBT community. According to a Tom Hanks interview for the 1995 documentary "The Celluloid Closet", he was cast in the role due to his nonintimidating screen persona in order to allow for audiences to sympathize with a gay, HIV-positive character. However, scenes showing more affection between him and Banderas were cut, including one with him and Banderas in bed together. The DVD edition, produced by Automat Pictures, includes this scene.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: "Philadelphia" was released on VHS on June 29, 1994 and on DVD on September 10, 1997. "Philadelphia" was later released as a limited edition Blu-ray through Twilight Time on May 14, 2013. In conjunction with the film's 25th anniversary, the film was released on 4K Blu-Ray on November 27, 2018.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: "Philadelphia" was originally released on December 22, 1993, in a limited opening of only four theaters, and had a weekend gross of $143,433 with an average of $35,858 per theater. The film expanded its release on January 14, 1994, to 1,245 theaters and went to number one at the US box office, grossing $13.8  million over the 4-day Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, averaging $11,098 per theater. The film stayed at number 1 the following weekend, earning another $8.8  million.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: In its 14th weekend, the weekend after the Oscars, the film expanded to 888 theaters, and saw its gross increase by 70 percent, making $1.9  million and jumping from number 15 the previous weekend (when it made $1.1  million from 673 theaters), to return to the top ten ranking at number 8 that weekend.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: "Philadelphia" eventually grossed $77.4 million in North America and $129.2 million overseas for a total of $206.7 million worldwide against a budget of $26million, making it a significant box office success, and becoming the 12th highest-grossing film in the U.S. of 1993.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 81% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads: ""Philadelphia" indulges in some unfortunate clichés in its quest to impart a meaningful message, but its stellar cast and sensitive direction are more than enough to compensate." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: In a contemporary review for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert gave the film three and a half out of four stars and said that it is "quite a good film, on its own terms. And for moviegoers with an antipathy to AIDS but an enthusiasm for stars like Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, it may help to broaden understanding of the disease. It's a ground-breaker like "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967), the first major film about an interracial romance; it uses the chemistry of popular stars in a reliable genre to sidestep what looks like controversy."


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: Christopher Matthews from the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" wrote "Jonathan Demme's long-awaited "Philadelphia" is so expertly acted, well-meaning and gutsy that you find yourself constantly pulling for it to be the definitive AIDS movie." James Berardinelli from ReelViews wrote "The story is timely and powerful, and the performances of Hanks and Washington assure that the characters will not immediately vanish into obscurity." Rita Kempley from "The Washington Post" wrote "It's less like a film by Demme than the best of Frank Capra. It is not just canny, corny and blatantly patriotic, but compassionate, compelling and emotionally devastating."


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: A soundtrack album was released in January 1994, by TriStar Music containing the main music featured in the film.


title: Philadelphia (film)

text: The album was re-released in 2008 in France only as a CD/DVD combo pack with the film itself, containing the same track listing (catalogue number 88697 322052 under both Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Sony Classical labels). The director deliberately asked Bruce Springsteen to make the feature song for this film in an effort to draw in those who may not know much about AIDS, so as to make their viewing of the film more comfortable, and to raise awareness overall.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche language is a Numic language of the Uto-Aztecan family. Originally, it was a Shoshoni dialect, but diverged and became a separate language. The Comanche were once part of the Shoshone people of the Great Basin.


title: Comanche

text: In the 18th and 19th centuries, Comanche lived in most of present-day northwestern Texas and adjacent areas in eastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and western Oklahoma. Spanish colonists and later Mexicans called their historical territory "Comanchería".


title: Comanche

text: During the 18th and 19th centuries, Comanche practiced a nomadic horse culture and hunted, particularly bison. They traded with neighboring Native American peoples, and Spanish, French, and American colonists and settlers.


title: Comanche

text: As European Americans encroached on their territory, the Comanche waged war on and raided their settlements, as well as those of neighboring Native American tribes. They took captives from other tribes during warfare, using them as slaves, selling them to the Spanish and (later) Mexican settlers, or adopting them into their tribe. Thousands of captives from raids on Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers assimilated into Comanche society. At their peak, the Comanche language was the lingua franca of the Great Plains region.


title: Comanche

text: Decimated by European diseases, warfare, and encroachment by Europeans on Comanchería, most Comanche were forced to live on reservations in Indian Territory by the late 1870s.


title: Comanche

text: In the 21st century, the Comanche Nation has 17,000 members, around 7,000 of whom reside in tribal jurisdictional areas around Lawton, Fort Sill, and the surrounding areas of southwestern Oklahoma. The Comanche Homecoming Annual Dance takes place in mid-July in Walters, Oklahoma.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche's autonym is "nʉmʉnʉʉ", meaning "the human beings" or "the people". The earliest known use of the term "Comanche" dates to 1706, when the Comanche were reported by Spanish officials to be preparing to attack far-outlying Pueblo settlements in southern Colorado. The Spanish adopted the Ute name for the people: "kɨmantsi" (enemy), and transliterated it into their own language phonetics. Before 1740, French explorers from the east sometimes used the name "Padouca" for the Comanche; it was already used for the Plains Apache.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche Nation is headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma. Their tribal jurisdictional area is located in Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Greer, Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman and Harmon counties. Their current Tribal Chairman is Mark Woommavovah. The tribe requires enrolled members to have at least 1/8 blood quantum level (equivalent to one great-grandparent).


title: Comanche

text: The tribe operates its own housing authority and issues tribal vehicle tags. They have their own Department of Higher Education, primarily awarding scholarships and financial aid for members' college educations. They own 10 tribal smoke shops and four casinos:


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton, Oklahoma, has permanent and changing exhibitions on Comanche history and culture. It opened to the public in 2007.


title: Comanche

text: In 2002, the tribe founded the Comanche Nation College, a two-year tribal college in Lawton. It closed in 2017 because of problems with accreditation and funding.


title: Comanche

text: Each July, Comanche gather from across the United States to celebrate their heritage and culture in Walters at the annual Comanche Homecoming powwow. The Comanche Nation Fair takes place every September. The Comanche Little Ponies host two annual dances—one over New Year's Eve and one in May.


title: Comanche

text: The Proto-Comanche movement to the Plains was part of the larger phenomenon known as the “Shoshonean Expansion” in which that language family spread across the Great Basin and across the mountains into Wyoming. The Kotsoteka (‘Bison Eaters’) were probably among the first. Other groups followed. Contact with the Shoshones of Wyoming was maintained until the 1830s when it was broken by the advancing Cheyennes and Arapahoes.


title: Comanche

text: After the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, various Plains peoples acquired horses, but it was probably some time before they were very numerous.


title: Comanche

text: As late as 1725, Comanches were described as using large dogs rather than horses to carry their bison hide "campaign tents".


title: Comanche

text: The horse became a key element in the emergence of a distinctive Comanche culture. It was of such strategic importance that some scholars suggested that the Comanche broke away from the Shoshone and moved south to search for additional sources of horses among the settlers of New Spain to the south (rather than search for new herds of buffalo.) The Comanche have the longest documented existence as horse-mounted Plains peoples; they had horses when the Cheyennes still lived in earth lodges.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche supplied horses and mules to all comers. As early as 1795, Comanche were selling horses to Anglo-American traders and by the mid-19th century, Comanche-supplied horses were flowing into St. Louis via other Indian middlemen (Seminole, Osage, Shawnee).


title: Comanche

text: Their original migration took them to the southern Great Plains, into a sweep of territory extending from the Arkansas River to central Texas. The earliest references to them in the Spanish records date from 1706, when reports reached Santa Fe that Utes and Comanches were about to attack. In the Comanche advance, the Apaches were driven off the Plains. By the end of the 18th century the struggle between Comanches and Apaches had assumed legendary proportions: in 1784, in recounting the history of the southern Plains, Texas governor Domingo Cabello y Robles recorded that some 60 years earlier (i.e., ca. 1724) the Apaches had been routed from the southern Plains in a nine-day battle at La Gran Sierra del Fierro ‘The Great Mountain of Iron’, somewhere northwest of Texas. There is, however, no other record, documentary or legendary, of such a fight.


title: Comanche

text: They were formidable warriors who developed strategies for using traditional weapons for fighting on horseback. Warfare was a major part of Comanche life. Comanche raids into Mexico traditionally took place during the full moon, when the Comanche could see to ride at night. This led to the term "Comanche Moon", during which the Comanche raided for horses, captives, and weapons. Comanche raids, especially in the 1840s, reached hundreds of miles deep into Mexico devastating northern parts of the country.


title: Comanche

text: Kavanagh has defined four levels of social-political integration in traditional pre-reservation Comanche society:


title: Comanche

text: In contrast to the neighboring Cheyenne and Arapaho to the north, there was never a single Comanche political unit or "Nation" recognized by all Comanches. Rather the divisions; the most "tribe-like" units, acted independently, pursuing their own economic and political goals.


title: Comanche

text: Before the 1750s, the Spanish identified three Comanche Naciones (divisions): Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi), Yaparʉhka (Yamparika), and Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka).


title: Comanche

text: After the Mescalero Apache, Jicarilla Apache and Lipan Apache had been largely displaced from the Southern Plains by the Comanche and allied tribes in the 1780s, the Spanish began to divide the now dominant Comanche into two geographical groups, which only partially corresponded to the former three Naciónes. The Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) ('Buffalo Eaters'), which had moved southeast in the 1750s and 1760s to the Southern Plains in Texas, were called Cuchanec Orientales ("Eastern Cuchanec/Kotsoteka") or Eastern Comanche, while those Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) that remained in the northwest and west, together with Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi - 'Timber/Forest People') (and sometimes Yaparʉhka (Yamparika)), which had moved southward to the North Canadian River, were called Cuchanec Occidentales ("Western Cuchanec/Kotsoteka") or Western Comanche. The "Western Comanche" lived in the region of the upper Arkansas, Canadian, and Red Rivers, and the Llano Estacado. The "Eastern Comanche" lived on the Edwards Plateau and the Texas plains of the upper Brazos and Colorado Rivers, and east to the Cross Timbers.


title: Comanche

text: Over time, these divisions were altered in various ways, primarily due to changes in political resources. As noted above, the Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) were probably the first proto-Comanche group to separate from the Eastern Shoshones.


title: Comanche

text: The name Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi) vanished from history in the early 19th century, probably merging into the other divisions, they are likely the forerunners of the Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni), Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada), and the Hʉpenʉʉ (Hois) local group of the Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka). Due to pressure by southwards moving Kiowa and Plains Apache (Naishan) raiders, many Yaparʉhka (Yamparika) moved southeast, joining the "Eastern Comanche" and becoming known as the Tahnahwah (Tenawa, Tenahwit). Many Kiowa and Plains Apache moved to northern Comancheria and became later closely associated with the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika).


title: Comanche

text: In the mid 19th century, other powerful divisions arose, such as the Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni) ('wanderers', literally 'go someplace and return'), and the Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada) ('Antelope Eaters'). The latter originally some local groups of the Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) from the Cimarron River Valley as well as descendants of some Hʉpenʉʉ (Jupe, Hoipi), which had pulled both southwards.


title: Comanche

text: The northernmost Comanche division was the Yaparʉhka (Yapai Nʉʉ or Yamparika — ‘(Yap)Root-Eaters’). As the last band to move onto the Plains, they retained much of their Eastern Shoshone tradition.


title: Comanche

text: The power and success of the Comanche attracted bands of neighboring peoples who joined them and became part of Comanche society; an Arapaho group became known as Saria Tʉhka (Chariticas, Sata Teichas - 'Dog Eaters') band, an Eastern Shoshone group as Pohoi (Pohoee - 'wild sage') band, and a Plains Apache group as Tasipenanʉʉ band.


title: Comanche

text: The Texans and Americans divided the Comanche into five large dominant bands - the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika), Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka), Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni), Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka) and Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada), which in turn were divided by geographical terms into first three (later four) regional groupings: Northern Comanche, Middle Comanche, Southern Comanche, Eastern Comanche, and later Western Comanche. However, these terms generally do not correspond to the Native language terms.


title: Comanche

text: The "Northern Comanche" label encompassed the Yaparʉhka (Yamparika) between the Arkansas River and Canadian River and the prominent and powerful Kʉhtsʉtʉhka (Kotsoteka) who roamed the high plains of Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles between Red and Canadian River, the famous Palo Duro Canyon offered them and their horse herds of protection from strong winter storms as well as from enemies, because the two bands dominated and ranged in the northern Comancheria.


title: Comanche

text: The "Middle Comanche" label encompassed the aggressive Nokoni Nʉʉ (Nokoni) ("wanderers", "those who turn back") between the headwaters of the Red River and the Colorado River in the south and the Western Cross Timbers in the east, their preferred range were on the Brazos River headwaters and its tributaries, the Pease River offered protection from storms and enemies. With them shared two smaller bands the same tribal areas: the Tahnahwah (Tenawa, Tenahwit) ("Those Living Downstream") and Tanimʉʉ (Tanima, Dahaʉi, Tevawish) ("Liver Eaters"). All three bands together were known as "Middle Comanche" because they lived "in the middle" of the Comancheria.


title: Comanche

text: The "Southern Comanche" label encompassed the Penatʉka Nʉʉ (Penateka) ("Honey Eaters"), the southernmost, largest, and best known band among whites as they lived near the first Spanish and Texan settlements; their tribal areas extended from the upper reaches of the rivers in central Texas and Colorado River southward, including much of the Edwards Plateau, and eastward to the Western Cross Timbers; because they dominated the southern Comancheria they were called "Southern Comanche".


title: Comanche

text: The "Western Comanche" label encompassed the Kwaarʉ Nʉʉ (Kwahadi, Quohada) ('Antelope Eaters'), which is the last to develop as an independent band in the 19th century. They lived on the hot, low-shadow desert plateaus of Llano Estacado in eastern New Mexico and found shelter in Tule Canyon and Palo Duro Canyon in northwestern Texas. They were the only band that never signed a contract with the Texans or Americans, and they were the last to give up the resistance. Because of their relative isolation from the other bands on the westernmost edge of the Comancheria, they were called the "Western Comanche".


title: Comanche

text: There has been, and continues to be, much confusion in the presentation of Comanche group names. Groups on all levels of organization, families, nʉmʉnahkahni, bands, and divisions, were given names, but many 'band lists' do not distinguish these levels. In addition, there could be alternate names and nicknames. The spelling differences between Spanish and English add to the confusion.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche fought a number of conflicts against Spanish and later Mexican and American armies. These were both expeditionary, as with the raids into Mexico, and defensive. The Comanche were noted as fierce warriors who fought vigorously for their homeland of Comancheria. However, the massive population of the settlers from the east and the diseases they brought led to pressure and decline of Comanche power and the cessation of their major presence in the southern Great Plains.


title: Comanche

text: The Comanche maintained an ambiguous relationship with Europeans and later settlers attempting to colonize their territory. The Comanche were valued as trading partners since 1786 via the Comancheros of New Mexico, but were feared for their raids against settlers in Texas. Similarly, they were, at one time or another, at war with virtually every other Native American group living on the South Plains, leaving opportunities for political maneuvering by European colonial powers and the United States. At one point, Sam Houston, president of the newly created Republic of Texas, almost succeeded in reaching a peace treaty with the Comanche in the 1844 Treaty of Tehuacana Creek. His efforts were thwarted in 1845 when the Texas legislature refused to create an official boundary between Texas and the Comancheria.


title: Comanche

text: While the Comanche managed to maintain their independence and increase their territory, by the mid-19th century, they faced annihilation because of a wave of epidemics due to Eurasian diseases to which they had no immunity, such as smallpox and measles. Outbreaks of smallpox (1817, 1848) and cholera (1849) took a major toll on the Comanche, whose population dropped from an estimated 20,000 in the late 18th century to just a few thousand by the 1870s.


title: Comanche

text: The US began efforts in the late 1860s to move the Comanche into reservations, with the Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867), which offered churches, schools, and annuities in return for a vast tract of land totaling over . The government promised to stop the buffalo hunters, who were decimating the great herds of the Plains, provided that the Comanche, along with the Apaches, Kiowas, Cheyenne, and Arapahos, move to a reservation totaling less than of land. However, the government did not prevent the slaughtering of the herds. The Comanche under Quenatosavit White Eagle (later called Isa-tai "Coyote's Vagina") retaliated by attacking a group of hunters in the Texas Panhandle in the Second Battle of Adobe Walls (1874). The attack was a disaster for the Comanche, and the US army was called in during the Red River War to drive the remaining Comanche in the area into the reservation, culminating in the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon. Within just 10 years, the buffalo were on the verge of extinction, effectively ending the Comanche way of life as hunters. In May 1875, the last free band of Comanches, led by the Quahada warrior Quanah Parker, surrendered and moved to the Fort Sill reservation in Oklahoma. The last independent Kiowa and Kiowa Apache had also surrendered.


title: Comanche

text: The 1890 Census showed 1,598 Comanche at the Fort Sill reservation, which they shared with 1,140 Kiowa and 326 Kiowa Apache.


title: Comanche

text: The signed with the Cherokee Commission October 6–21, 1892, further reduced their reservation to at a cost of $1.25 per acre ($308.88/km), with an allotment of per person per tribe to be held in trust. New allotments were made in 1906 to all children born after the agreement, and the remaining land was opened to white settlement. With this new arrangement, the era of the Comanche reservation came to an abrupt end.


title: Comanche

text: The Peneteka band agreed to a peace treaty with the German Immigration Company under John O. Meusebach. This treaty was not affiliated with any level of government. Meusebach brokered the treaty to settle the lands on the Fisher-Miller Land Grant, from which were formed the 10 counties of Concho, Kimble, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, Menard, Schleicher, San Saba, Sutton, and Tom Green. In contrast to many treaties of its day, this treaty was very brief and simple, with all parties agreeing to a mutual cooperation and a sharing of the land. The treaty was agreed to at a meeting in San Saba County, and signed by all parties on May 9, 1847 in Fredericksburg, Texas. The treaty was very specifically between the Peneteka band and the German Immigration Company. No other band or tribe was involved. The German Immigration Company was dissolved by Meusebach himself shortly after it had served its purpose. By 1875, the Comanches had been relocated to reservations. Five years later, artist Friedrich Richard Petri and his family moved to the settlement of Pedernales, near Fredericksburg. Petri's sketches and watercolors gave witness to the friendly relationships between the Germans and various local Native American tribes.


title: Comanche

text: In 1850, another treaty was signed in San Saba, between the United States government and a number of local tribes, among which were the Comanches. This treaty was named for the nearest military fort, which was Fort Martin Scott. The treaty was never officially ratified by any level of government and was binding only on the part of the Native Americans.


title: Comanche

text: One of the most famous captives in Texas was a German boy named Herman Lehmann. He had been kidnapped by the Apaches, only to escape and be rescued by the Comanches. Lehmann became the adoptive son of Quanah Parker. On August 26, 1901, Quanah Parker provided a legal affidavit verifying Lehmann's life as his adopted son 1877–1878. On May 29, 1908, the United States Congress authorized the United States Secretary of the Interior to allot Lehmann, as an adopted member of the Comanche nation, 160 acres of Oklahoma land, near Grandfield.


title: Comanche

text: Entering the Western economy was a challenge for the Comanche in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many tribal members were defrauded of whatever remained of their land and possessions. Appointed paramount chief by the United States government, Chief Quanah Parker campaigned vigorously for better deals for his people, meeting with Washington politicians frequently; and helped manage land for the tribe.


title: Comanche

text: Parker became wealthy as a cattleman. He also campaigned for the Comanches' permission to practice the Native American Church religious rites, such as the usage of peyote, which was condemned by European Americans.


title: Comanche

text: I do not think this legislature should interfere with a man's religion, also these people should be allowed to retain this health restorer. These healthy gentleman before you use peyote and those that do not use it are not so healthy.


title: Comanche

text: During World War II, many Comanche left the traditional tribal lands in Oklahoma to seek jobs and more opportunities in the cities of California and the Southwest. About half of the Comanche population still lives in Oklahoma, centered on the town of Lawton.


title: Comanche

text: Recently, an 80-minute 1920 silent film was "rediscovered", titled "The Daughter of Dawn." It features a cast of more than 300 Comanche and Kiowa.


title: Comanche

text: If a woman went into labor while the band was in camp, she was moved to a tipi, or a brush lodge if it was summer. One or more of the older women assisted as midwives. Men were not allowed inside the tipi during or immediately after the delivery.


title: Comanche

text: First, the midwives softened the earthen floor of the tipi and dug two holes. One of the holes was for heating water and the other for the afterbirth. One or two stakes were driven into the ground near the expectant mother's bedding for her to grip during the pain of labor. After the birth, the midwives hung the umbilical cord on a hackberry tree. The people believed that if the umbilical cord was not disturbed before it rotted, the baby would live a long and prosperous life.


title: Comanche

text: The newborn was swaddled and remained with its mother in the tipi for a few days. The baby was placed in a cradleboard, and the mother went back to work. She could easily carry the cradleboard on her back, or prop it against a tree where the baby could watch her while she collected seeds or roots. Cradleboards consisted of a flat board to which a basket was attached. The latter was made from rawhide straps, or a leather sheath that laced up the front. With soft, dry moss as a diaper, the young one was safely tucked into the leather pocket. During cold weather, the baby was wrapped in blankets, and then placed in the cradleboard. The baby remained in the cradleboard for about ten months; then it was allowed to crawl around.