title: Philippine–American War

text: Article V of the peace protocol signed on August 12 had mandated negotiations to conclude a treaty of peace to begin in Paris not later than October 1, 1898. President McKinley sent a five-man commission, initially instructed to demand no more than Luzon, Guam, and Puerto Rico; which would have provided a limited U.S. empire of pinpoint colonies to support a global fleet and provide communication links. In Paris, the commission was besieged with advice, particularly from American generals and European diplomats, to demand the entire Philippine archipelago. The unanimous recommendation was that "it would certainly be cheaper and more humane to take the entire Philippines than to keep only part of it." On October 28, 1898, McKinley wired the commission that "cessation of Luzon alone, leaving the rest of the islands subject to Spanish rule, or to be the subject of future contention, cannot be justified on political, commercial, or humanitarian grounds. The cessation must be the whole archipelago or none. The latter is wholly inadmissible, and the former must therefore be required." The Spanish negotiators were furious over the "immodist demands of a conqueror", but their wounded pride was assuaged by an offer of twenty million dollars for "Spanish improvements" to the islands. The Spaniards capitulated, and on December 10, 1898, the U.S. and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris, formally ending the Spanish–American War. In Article III, Spain ceded the Philippine archipelago to the United States, as follows: "Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine Islands, and comprehending the islands lying within the following line: [... geographic description elided ...]. The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty."


title: Philippine–American War

text: In the U.S., there was a movement for Philippine independence; some said that the U.S. had no right to a land where many of the people wanted self-government. In 1898 Andrew Carnegie, an industrialist and steel magnate, offered to pay the U.S. government $20 million to give the Philippines its independence.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On December 21, 1898, President William McKinley issued a proclamation of "benevolent assimilation, substituting the mild sway of justice and right for arbitrary rule" for "the greatest good of the governed." Referring to the Treaty of Paris, it said that "as a result of the victories of American arms, the future control, disposition, and government of the Philippine Islands are ceded to the United States." It enjoined the military commander (General Otis) to make known to the inhabitants of the Philippine Islands that "in succeeding to the sovereignty of Spain" the authority of the United States "is to be exerted for the securing of the persons and property of the people of the islands and for the confirmation of all their private rights and relations." The proclamation specified that "it will be the duty of the commander of the forces of occupation to announce and proclaim in the most public manner that we come, not as invaders or conquerors, but as friends, to protect the natives in their homes, in their employments, and in their personal and religious rights".


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Spanish yielded Iloilo to the insurgents on December 26. An American brigade under General Marcus P. Miller sailed to iloilo on December 26, arriving on the 28th and opening communications with the insurgents. A Filipino official styling himself "Presidente Lopez of the Federal Government of the Visayas", who stated landing required "express orders from the central government of Luzon" refused Miller's force permission to land. News reached Washington from Manila on January 1, 1899, that Miller's forces had been refused permission to land.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Major General Elwell Stephen Otis, who had been appointed Military Governor of the Philippines, had delayed publication of McKinley's proclamation. On January 4, Otis published an amended version edited so as not to convey the meanings of the terms "sovereignty", "protection", and "right of cessation", which were present in the original version. On January 6, 1899, General Otis was quoted in "The New York Times" as expressing himself as convinced that the U.S. government intends to seek the establishment of a liberal government, in which the people will be as fully represented as the maintenance of law and order will permit, susceptible of development, on lines of increased representation, and the bestowal of increased powers, into a government as free and independent as is enjoyed by the most favored provinces in the world.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Unknown to Otis, the War Department had also sent an enciphered copy of the Benevolent Assimilation proclamation to General Miller for informational purposes. Miller assumed that it was for distribution and, unaware that a politically bowdlerized version had been sent to Aguinaldo, published it in both Spanish and Tagalog translations which eventually made their way to Aguinaldo. Even before Aguinaldo received the unaltered version and observed the changes in the copy he had received from Otis, he was upset that Otis had altered his own title to "Military Governor of the Philippines" from "... "in" the Philippines". Aguinaldo did not miss the significance of the alteration, which Otis had made without authorization from Washington.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The original proclamation was given by supporters to Aguinaldo who, on January 5, issued a counter-proclamation:


title: Philippine–American War

text: After some copies of that proclamation had been distributed, Aguinaldo ordered the recall of undistributed copies and issued another proclamation, which was published the same day in "El Heraldo de la Revolucion", the official newspaper of the Philippine Republic. There, he said partly,


title: Philippine–American War

text: Otis, taking these two proclamations as tantamount to war, strengthened American observation posts and alerted his troops. On the other hand, Aguinaldo's proclamations energized the masses with a vigorous determination to fight what was perceived as an ally turned enemy. In the tense atmosphere, some 40,000 Filipinos fled Manila within a period of 15 days.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Meanwhile, Felipe Agoncillo, who had been commissioned by the Philippine Revolutionary Government as Minister Plenipotentiary to negotiate treaties with foreign governments, and who had unsuccessfully sought to be seated at the negotiations between the U.S. and Spain in Paris, was now in Washington. On January 6, he filed a request for an interview with the President to discuss affairs in the Philippines. The next day the government officials were surprised to learn that messages to General Otis to deal mildly with the rebels and not to force a conflict had become known to Agoncillo, and cabled by him to Aguinaldo. At the same time came Aguinaldo's protest against General Otis signing himself "Military Governor of the Philippines".


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Filipino committees in London (capital of U.K.), Paris (capital of France) and Madrid (capital of Spain) about this time telegraphed to President McKinley as follows:


title: Philippine–American War

text: "The New York Times" reported on January 8, that two Americans who had been guarding a waterboat in Iloilo had been attacked, one fatally, and that insurgents were threatening to destroy the business section of the city by fire; and on January 10 that a peaceful solution to the Iloilo issues may result but that Aguinaldo had issued a proclamation threatening to drive the Americans from the islands.


title: Philippine–American War

text: By January 10, insurgents were ready to assume the offensive, but desired, if possible, to provoke the Americans into firing the first shot. They made no secret of their desire for conflict, but increased their hostile demonstrations and pushed their lines forward into forbidden territory. Their attitude is well illustrated by the following extract from a telegram sent by Colonel Cailles to Aguinaldo on January 10, 1899:


title: Philippine–American War

text: Aguinaldo approved the hostile attitude of Cailles, for there is a reply in his handwriting which reads:


title: Philippine–American War

text: On January 31, 1899, The Minister of Interior of the revolutionary First Philippine Republic, Teodoro Sandiko, signed a decree saying that President Aguinaldo had directed that all idle lands be planted to provide food for the people, in view of impending war with the Americans.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On the evening of February 4, Private William W. Grayson—a sentry of the 1st Nebraska Infantry Regiment—fired the first shots of the war at the corner of Sociego and Silencio Streets, in Santa Mesa. Upon opening fire, Grayson killed a Filipino lieutenant and another Filipino soldier; Filipino historians maintain that the slain soldiers were unarmed. Later that day, Aguinaldo declared "That peace and friendly relations with the Americans be broken and that the latter be treated as enemies, within the limits prescribed by the laws of war." The outbreak of violence triggered the 1899 Battle of Manila. The following day, Filipino General Isidoro Torres came through the lines under a flag of truce to deliver a message from Aguinaldo to General Otis that the fighting had begun accidentally, and that Aguinaldo wished for the hostilities to cease immediately and for the establishment of a neutral zone between the two opposing forces. Otis dismissed these overtures, and replied that the "fighting, having begun, must go on to the grim end". On February 5, General Arthur MacArthur ordered his troops to advance against Filipino troops, beginning a full-scale armed clash. The first Filipino fatality of the war was Corporal Anastacio Felix of the 4th Company, Morong Battalion under Captain Serapio Narváez. The battalion commander was Colonel Luciano San Miguel. On June 2, 1899, the First Philippine Republic issued a declaration of war on the United States, which was publicly proclaimed on that same day by Pedro Paterno, president of the National Assembly.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Annexation of the Philippines by the United States was justified by those in the U.S. government and media in the name of liberating and protecting the peoples in the former Spanish colonies. Senator Albert J. Beveridge, one of the most prominent American imperialists at the time, said: "Americans altruistically went to war with Spain to liberate Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Filipinos from their tyrannical yoke. If they lingered on too long in the Philippines, it was to protect the Filipinos from European predators waiting in the wings for an American withdrawal and to tutor them in American-style democracy."


title: Philippine–American War

text: On February 11, 1899, one week after the first shots of the war were fired, the city of Iloilo was bombarded by American naval forces from the USS "Petrel" and the USS "Baltimore". Filipino forces set the town on fire before retreating. The city was captured by ground forces led by Brigadier General Marcus Miller, with no loss of American lives. 25 to 30 Filipinos were wounded. The "native" part of the city was almost entirely destroyed.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Months later, after finally securing Manila from the Filipino forces, American forces moved northward, engaging in combat at the brigade and battalion level in pursuit of the fleeing insurgent forces and their commanders. In response to the use of guerrilla warfare tactics by Filipino forces, beginning in September 1899, American military strategy shifted to suppression of the resistance. Tactics became focused on the control of key areas with internment and segregation of the civilian population in "zones of protection" from the guerrilla population. (This is considered to foreshadow the Strategic Hamlet Program that the South Vietnamese government, with U.S. support, used decades later during the Vietnam War). Due to disruption of war and unsanitary conditions, many of the interned civilians died from dysentery.


title: Philippine–American War

text: General Otis gained notoriety for some of his actions in the Philippines. Although his superiors in Washington had directed Otis to avoid military conflict, he did very little to prevent the breakout of war. Otis refused to accept anything but unconditional surrender from the Philippine Army. He often made major military decisions without first consulting leadership in Washington. He acted aggressively in dealing with the Filipinos under the assumption that their resistance would collapse quickly. Even after this assumption proved false, he continued to insist that the insurgency had been defeated, and that the remaining casualties were caused by "isolated bands of outlaws".


title: Philippine–American War

text: Otis also was active in suppressing information about American military tactics from the media. When letters describing American atrocities reached the American media, Otis had each press clipping forwarded to the original writer's commanding officer, who would convince or force the soldier to write a retraction of the original statements.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Estimates of the Filipino forces vary between 80,000 and 100,000, with tens of thousands of auxiliaries. Most of the forces were armed only with bolo knives, bows and arrows, spears and other primitive weapons, which were vastly inferior to the guns and other weapons of the American forces.


title: Philippine–American War

text: A fairly rigid caste system existed in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era. The goal, or end-state, sought by the First Philippine Republic was a sovereign, independent, stable nation led by an oligarchy composed of members of the educated class (known as the "ilustrado" class). Local chieftains, landowners, businessmen and "cabezas de barangay" were the "principales" who controlled local politics. The war was at its peak when "ilustrados", "principales", and peasants were unified in opposition to annexation by the United States. The peasants, who represented the majority of the fighting forces, had interests different from their "ilustrado" leaders and the "principales" of their villages. Coupled with the ethnic and geographic fragmentation, aligning the interests of people from different social castes was a daunting task. The challenge for Aguinaldo and his generals was to sustain unified Filipino public opposition; this was the revolutionaries' strategic center of gravity.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Filipino operational center of gravity was the ability to sustain its force of 100,000 irregulars in the field. The Filipino general Francisco Macabulos described the Filipinos' war aim as, "not to vanquish the U.S. Army but to inflict on them constant losses." In the early stages of the war, the Philippine Revolutionary Army employed the conventional military tactics typical of an organized armed resistance. The hope was to inflict enough American casualties to result in McKinley's defeat by William Jennings Bryan in the 1900 presidential election. They hoped that Bryan, who held strong anti-imperialist views, would withdraw the American forces from the Philippines.


title: Philippine–American War

text: McKinley's election victory in 1900 was demoralizing for the insurgents, and convinced many Filipinos that the United States would not depart quickly. Coupled with a series of devastating losses on the battlefield against American forces equipped with superior technology and training, Aguinaldo became convinced that he needed to change his approach. Beginning on September 14, 1899, Aguinaldo accepted the advice of General Gregorio del Pilar and authorized the use of guerrilla warfare tactics in subsequent military operations in Bulacan.


title: Philippine–American War

text: For most of 1899, the revolutionary leadership had viewed guerrilla warfare strategically only as a tactical option of final recourse, not as a means of operation which better suited their disadvantaged situation. On November 13, 1899, Emilio Aguinaldo decreed that guerrilla war would henceforth be the strategy. This made American occupation of the Philippine archipelago all the more difficult over the next few years. During the first four months of the guerrilla war, the Americans had nearly 500 casualties. The Philippine Army began staging bloody ambushes and raids, such as the guerrilla victories at Paye, Catubig, Makahambus, Pulang Lupa, Balangiga and Mabitac. At first, it seemed that the Filipinos might be able to fight the Americans to a stalemate and force them to withdraw. President McKinley considered withdrawal when the guerrilla raids began.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On December 20, 1900, General Arthur MacArthur Jr., who had succeeded Elwell Otis as U.S. Military Governor on May 5, placed the Philippines under martial law, invoking U.S. Army General Order 100. He announced that guerrilla abuses would no longer be tolerated and outlined the rights which would govern the U.S. Army's treatment of guerrillas and civilians. In particular, guerrillas who wore no uniform but peasant dress and shifted from civilian to military status would be held accountable; secret committees that collected revolutionary taxes and those accepting U.S. protection in occupied towns while assisting guerrillas would be treated as "war rebels or war traitors". Filipino leaders who continued to work towards Philippine independence were deported to Guam.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Philippine Army continued suffering defeats from the better armed United States Army during the conventional warfare phase, forcing Aguinaldo to continually change his base of operations throughout the course of the war.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On March 23, 1901, General Frederick Funston and his troops captured Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela, with the help of some Filipinos (called the Macabebe Scouts after their home locale) who had joined the Americans' side. The Americans pretended to be captives of the Scouts, who were dressed in Philippine Army uniforms. Once Funston and his "captors" entered Aguinaldo's camp, they immediately fell upon the guards and quickly overwhelmed them and the weary Aguinaldo.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On April 1, 1901, at the Malacañan Palace in Manila, Aguinaldo swore an oath accepting the authority of the United States over the Philippines and pledging his allegiance to the American government. On April 19, he issued a Proclamation of Formal Surrender to the United States, telling his followers to lay down their weapons and give up the fight.


title: Philippine–American War

text: "Let the stream of blood cease to flow; let there be an end to tears and desolation," Aguinaldo said. "The lesson which the war holds out and the significance of which I realized only recently, leads me to the firm conviction that the complete termination of hostilities and a lasting peace are not only desirable but also absolutely essential for the well-being of the Philippines."


title: Philippine–American War

text: The capture of Aguinaldo dealt a severe blow to the Filipino cause, but not as much as the Americans had hoped. General Miguel Malvar took over the leadership of the Filipino government. He originally had taken a defensive stance against the Americans, but now launched all-out offensive against the American-held towns in the Batangas region. General Vicente Lukbán in Samar, and other army officers, continued the war in their respective areas.


title: Philippine–American War

text: General Bell relentlessly pursued Malvar and his men, forcing the surrender of many of the Filipino soldiers. Finally, Malvar surrendered, along with his sick wife and children and some of his officers, on April 16, 1902. By the end of the month nearly 3,000 of Malvar's men had also surrendered. With the surrender of Malvar, the Filipino war effort began to dwindle even further.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On March 3, 1901, the U.S. Congress passed the Army Appropriation Act containing (along with the Platt Amendment on Cuba) the Spooner Amendment which provided the president with legislative authority to establish of a civil government in the Philippines. Up until this time, the president had been administering the Philippines by virtue of his war powers. On July 1, 1901, civil government was inaugurated with William H. Taft as the civil governor. Later, on February 3, 1903, the U.S. Congress would change the title of "Civil Governor" to "Governor-General".


title: Philippine–American War

text: A highly centralized public school system was installed in 1901, using English as the medium of instruction. This created a heavy shortage of teachers, and the Philippine Commission authorized the secretary of public instruction to bring to the Philippines 600 teachers from the U.S.—the so-called Thomasites. Free primary instruction that trained the people for the duties of citizenship and avocation was enforced by the Taft Commission per instructions of President McKinley. Also, the Catholic Church was disestablished, and a considerable amount of church land was purchased and redistributed.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Philippine Organic Act—approved on July 1, 1902—approved, ratified, and confirmed McKinley's previous executive order establishing the Second Philippine Commission. The act also stipulated that a bicameral legislature would be established composed of a popularly elected lower house, the Philippine Assembly, and an upper house consisting of the appointed Philippine Commission. The act also provided for extending the United States Bill of Rights to Filipinos. On July 2, the United States Secretary of War telegraphed that since the insurrection against the United States had ended and provincial civil governments had been established throughout most of the Philippine archipelago, the office of military governor was terminated. On July 4, Theodore Roosevelt, who had succeeded to the U.S. presidency after the assassination of President McKinley on September 5, 1901, proclaimed a full and complete pardon and amnesty to all persons in the Philippine archipelago who had participated in the conflict.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On April 9, 2002, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo proclaimed that the Philippine–American War had ended on April 16, 1902, with the surrender of General Miguel Malvar. She declared the centennial anniversary of that date as a national working holiday and as a special non-working holiday in the province of Batangas and in the cities of Batangas, Lipa and Tanauan.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Kiram-Bates Treaty secured the Sultanate of Sulu. American forces also established control over interior mountainous areas that had resisted Spanish conquest.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Casualties during the war were much greater among Filipinos than among Americans. The United States Department of State states that the war "resulted in the death of over 4,200 American and over 20,000 Filipino combatants", and that "as many as 200,000 Filipino civilians died from violence, famine, and disease". The total number of Filipinos who died remains a matter of debate. Modern sources cite a figure of 200,000 total Filipino civilians dead, with most losses attributable to famine, and disease.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Some estimates reach 1,000,000 (one million) dead. In 1903 the population of the Philippines was recounted by American authorities to fulfill Act 467. The survey yielded 7,635,426 people, including 56,138 who were foreign-born. In 1887, a Spanish census recorded a population of 5,984,717 excluding non-Christians.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Rudolph Rummel estimates that 16,000 to 20,000 Filipino soldiers and 34,000 civilians were killed, with up to an additional 200,000 civilian deaths, mostly from a cholera epidemic. Rummel claims that 128,000 Filipinos were killed by the U.S in democide and 13,000 were killed by Filipinos in democide.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Throughout the war, numerous atrocities were committed by the U.S. military, including the targeting of civilians. American soldiers and other witnesses sent letters home which described some of these atrocities. For example, In November 1901, the Manila correspondent of the "Philadelphia Ledger" wrote:


title: Philippine–American War

text: Reports were received from soldiers returning from the Philippines that, upon entering a village, American soldiers would ransack every house and church and rob the inhabitants of everything of value, while those who approached the battle line waving a flag of truce were fired upon.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Some of the authors were critical of leaders such as General Otis and the overall conduct of the war. When some of these letters were published in newspapers, they would become national news, which would force the War Department to investigate. Two such letters included:


title: Philippine–American War

text: General Otis' investigation of the content of these letters consisted of sending a copy of them to the author's superior and having him force the author to write a retraction. If a soldier refused to do so, as Private Charles Brenner of the Kansas regiment did, he was court-martialed. In the case of Private Brenner, the charge was "for writing and conniving at the publication of an article which...contains willful falsehoods concerning himself and a false charge against Captain Bishop." Not all such letters that discussed atrocities were intended to criticize General Otis or American actions. Many portrayed U.S. actions as the result of Filipino provocation and thus entirely justified.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Following Aguinaldo's capture by the Americans on March 23, 1901, Miguel Malvar assumed command of the Philippine revolutionary forces. Batangas and Laguna provinces were the main focus of Malvar's forces at this point in the war, and they continued to employ guerrilla warfare tactics. Vicente Lukbán remained active as guerrilla commander in Samar. Enraged by a guerrilla massacre of U.S. troops on the Island of Samar in September 1901, General Jacob H. Smith retaliated by ordering an indiscriminate attack upon its inhabitants, openly disregarding General Order 100, and issuing an order to "kill everyone over the age of ten" and turn the island into a "howling wilderness". Major Littleton Waller countermanded the order to his own men saying, "we are not making war on women and children". Still, 2,000 to 2,500 Filipino civilians were killed in the March across Samar expedition. This became a caption in the "New York Journal-American" cartoon on May 5, 1902. Smith was eventually court-martialed by the American military and forced to retire.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In late 1901, Brigadier General J. Franklin Bell took command of American operations in Batangas and Laguna provinces. In response to Malvar's guerrilla warfare tactics, Bell employed counterinsurgency tactics (described by some as a scorched earth campaign) that took a heavy toll on guerrilla fighters and civilians alike. "Zones of protection" were established, and civilians were given identification papers and forced into concentration camps (called "reconcentrados") which were surrounded by free-fire zones. At the Lodge Committee, in an attempt to counter the negative reception in America to General Bell's camps, Colonel Arthur Wagner, the US Army's chief public relations office, insisted the camps were to "protect friendly natives from the insurgents, and assure them an adequate food supply" while teaching them "proper sanitary standards". Wagner's assertion was undermined by a letter from a commander of one of the camps, who described them as "suburbs of Hell". Between January and April 1902, 8,350 people died in the camps out of a population of 298,000. Some camps experienced mortality rates as high as 20 percent.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Civilians became subject to a curfew, after which all persons found outside of camps without identification could be shot on sight. Many men were rounded up for questioning, tortured, and summarily executed. Methods of torture such as the water cure were frequently employed during interrogation, and entire villages were burned or otherwise destroyed.


title: Philippine–American War

text: U.S. Army General Otis alleged that Filipino insurgents tortured American prisoners in "fiendish fashion." According to Otis, many were buried alive or were placed up to their necks in ant hills. He claimed others had their genitals removed and stuffed into their mouths and were then executed by suffocation or bleeding to death. Stories in other newspapers described deliberate attacks by Filipino sharpshooters upon American surgeons, chaplains, ambulances, hospitals, and wounded soldiers. An incident was described in the "San Francisco Call" that occurred in Escalante, Negros Occidental, where several crewmen of a landing party from the CS "Recorder" were fired upon and later cut into pieces by Filipino insurgents, while the insurgents were displaying a flag of truce.


title: Philippine–American War

text: It was also reported that Spanish priests were horribly mutilated before their congregations, and natives who refused to support Emilio Aguinaldo were slaughtered by the thousands. American newspaper headlines announced the "Murder and Rapine" by the "Fiendish Filipinos." General "Fighting Joe" Wheeler insisted that it was the Filipinos who had mutilated their own dead, murdered women and children, and burned down villages, solely to discredit American soldiers.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Other events dubbed atrocities included those attributed by the Americans to General Vicente Lukban, the Filipino commander who allegedly masterminded the Balangiga massacre in Samar province, a surprise Filipino attack that killed almost fifty American soldiers. Media reports stated that many of the bodies were mutilated.


title: Philippine–American War

text: There was testimony before the Lodge Committee that natives were given the water cure, "... in order to secure information of the murder of Private O'Herne of Company I, who had been not only killed, but roasted and otherwise tortured before death ensued."


title: Philippine–American War

text: In his "History of the Filipino People" Teodoro Agoncillo writes that the Filipino troops could match and even exceed American brutality on some prisoners of war. Kicking, slapping, and spitting at faces were common. In some cases, ears and noses were cut off and salt applied to the wounds. In other cases, captives were buried alive. These atrocities occurred regardless of Aguinaldo's orders and circulars concerning the good treatment of prisoners.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Colonel Charles McC. Reeve, commander of the 13th Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment, opined upon returning from the Philippines in 1899 that the war was deplorable, unjustifiable, and contrary to American principles. He further stated that the war could have been prevented with conciliatory measures:


title: Philippine–American War

text: On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed Jacob Gould Schurman to chair a commission, with Dean C. Worcester, Charles H. Denby, Admiral Dewey, and General Otis as members, to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. Fighting subsequently erupted between U.S. and Filipino forces on February 4, and when the non-military commission members arrived in the Philippines in March, they found General Otis looking upon the commission as an infringement upon his authority.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Meetings in April with Aguinaldo's representative, Colonel Manuel Arguelles, convinced the commission that Filipinos wanted to know the specific role they would be allowed to play in the new government, and the commission requested authorization from McKinley to offer a specific plan. McKinley authorized an offer of a government consisting of "a Governor-General appointed by the President; cabinet appointed by the Governor-General; [and] a general advisory council elected by the people." McKinley also promised Filipinos "the largest measure of local self-government consistent with peace and good order," with the caveat that U.S. constitutional considerations required that the United States Congress would need to make specific rules and regulations.


title: Philippine–American War

text: A session of the Revolutionary Congress convened by Aguinaldo voted unanimously to cease fighting and accept peace on the basis of McKinley's proposal. The revolutionary cabinet headed by Apolinario Mabini was replaced on May 8 by a new "peace" cabinet headed by Pedro Paterno and Felipe Buencamino. After a meeting of the Revolutionary Congress and military commanders, Aguinaldo advised the commission that he was being advised by a new cabinet "which is more moderate and conciliatory", and appointed a delegation to meet with the Philippine Commission. At this point, General Antonio Luna, field commander of the revolutionary army, arrested Paterno and most of his cabinet. Confronted with this development, Aguinaldo withdrew his support from the peace cabinet, and Mabini and his original cabinet returned to power. Schurman, after proposing unsuccessfully to the Commission that they urge McKinley to revise his plan to increase Filipino participation, cabled the suggestion to the President as his own. McKinley instructed Secretary of State John Hay to cable Schurman that he wanted peace "preferably by kindness and conciliation", but the preference was accompanied by a threat to "send all the force necessary to suppress the insurrection if Filipino resistance continued." McKinley also polled the other members of the commission, receiving a response that "indecision now would be fatal" and urging "prosecution of the war until the insurgents submit."


title: Philippine–American War

text: After this, the commission concluded that "... The Filipinos are wholly unprepared for independence ... there being no Philippine nation, but only a collection of different peoples." In the report that they issued to McKinley the following year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the Philippines was not ready for it. Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian control over Manila (Otis would have veto power over the city's government), creation of civilian government as rapidly as possible, especially in areas already declared "pacified" (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the military governor), including the establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a system of free public elementary schools.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Second Philippine Commission, appointed by President McKinley on March 16, 1900, and headed by William Howard Taft, was granted legislative as well as limited executive powers. On September 1, the Taft Commission began to exercise legislative functions. Between September 1900 and August 1902, it issued 499 laws. The commission established a civil service and a judicial system which included a Supreme Court, and a legal code was drawn up to replace obsolete Spanish ordinances. The 1901 municipal code provided for popularly elected presidents, vice presidents, and councilors to serve on municipal boards. The municipal board members were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining municipal properties, and undertaking necessary construction projects; they also elected provincial governors.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Some Americans, notably William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Ernest Crosby, and other members of the American Anti-Imperialist League, strongly objected to the annexation of the Philippines. Anti-imperialist movements claimed that the United States had become a colonial power, by replacing Spain as the colonial power in the Philippines.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Some anti-imperialists opposed annexation on racist grounds. Among these was Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina, who feared that annexation of the Philippines would lead to an influx of non-white immigrants into the United States. Others worried that annexing the Philippines would lead to the non-white population having a say in American government.


title: Philippine–American War

text: As news of atrocities committed in subduing the Philippines arrived in the United States, support for the war flagged.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Mark Twain famously opposed the war by using his influence in the press. He said the war betrayed the ideals of American democracy by not allowing the Filipino people to choose their own destiny.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In a diary passage removed by Twain's first biographical editor Albert Bigelow Paine, Twain refers to American troops as "our uniformed assassins" and describes their killing of "six hundred helpless and weaponless savages" in the Philippines as "a long and happy picnic with nothing to do but sit in comfort and fire the Golden Rule into those people down there and imagine letters to write home to the admiring families, and pile glory upon glory."


title: Philippine–American War

text: Some of Aguinaldo's associates supported America, even before hostilities began. Pedro Paterno, Aguinaldo's prime minister and the author of the 1897 armistice treaty with Spain, advocated the incorporation of the Philippines into the United States in 1898. Other associates sympathetic to the U.S. were Trinidad Pardo de Tavera and Benito Legarda, prominent members of Congress; Gregorio Araneta, Aguinaldo's Secretary of Justice; and Felipe Buencamino, Aguinaldo's Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Buencamino is recorded to have said in 1902: "I am an American and all the money in the Philippines, the air, the light, and the sun I consider American." Many such people subsequently held posts in the colonial government.


title: Philippine–American War

text: U.S. Army Captain Matthew Arlington Batson formed the Macabebe Scouts as a native guerrilla force to fight the insurgency.


title: Philippine–American War

text: After military rule was terminated on July 4, 1902, the Philippine Constabulary was established as an archipelago-wide police force to control brigandage and deal with the remnants of the insurgent movement. The Philippine Constabulary gradually took over the responsibility for suppressing hostile forces' activities from United States Army units. Remnants of Aguinaldo's Republic, and remnants or holdovers of the "Katipunan" organization which had predated the American presence, and other resistance groups all remained active, fighting the United States military or Philippine Constabulary for nearly a decade after the official end of the war. After the close of the war, however, Governor General Taft preferred to rely on the Philippine Constabulary and to treat the "Irreconcilables" as a law enforcement concern rather than a military concern requiring the involvement of the American army. Thus the actions of these remaining guerrilla resistance movements were labeled as brigandage or banditry, and dismissed by the American government as bandits, fanatics and cattle rustlers.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In 1902, Macario Sakay established the "Republika ng Katagalugan", claiming to succeed the First Philippine Republic, in Morong along Katipunan lines as opposed to Aguinaldo's Republic. This republic ended in 1906 when Sakay and his top followers surrendered upon being offered amnesty by the American authorities, but instead were arrested, and executed the following year.


title: Philippine–American War

text: Beginning in 1903, brigandage by organized groups became a problem in some of the outlying provinces in the Visayas. Among these groups were the Pulahan (Spanish: "Pulajanes"), who were from the highlands of Samar and Leyte. The term is derived from the native word "pula", meaning "red", as they were distinguished by the red garments they wore. The Pulajanes subscribed to a blend of Roman Catholic and folk beliefs. For example, they believed certain amulets called "agimat" would render them bulletproof. The last of these groups were defeated or had surrendered to the Philippine Constabulary by 1911.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The American government had signed the Kiram-Bates Treaty with the Sultanate of Sulu at the outbreak of the war, that was supposed to prevent resistance in that part of the Philippines (which included parts of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan and Sabah). However, after the Filipino resistance in Luzon and the Visayas collapsed, the United States canceled the treaty, and began to colonize Moro land, which provoked the Moro Rebellion. Beginning with the Battle of Bayan in May 1902. In March 1906, 800-900 Moros were killed in the First Battle of Bud Dajo, also known as the Moro Crater Massacre. The rebellion continued until the Battle of Bud Bagsak in June 1913, which marked the end of this conflict.


title: Philippine–American War

text: A 1907 law prohibited the display of flags and other symbols "used during the late insurrection in the Philippine Islands". Some historians consider these unofficial extensions to be part of the war.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The influence of the Roman Catholic Church was reduced when the secular United States Government disestablished the Church and purchased and redistributed Church lands, one of the earliest attempts at land reform in the Philippines. The land amounted to , for which the Church asked $12,086,438.11 in March 1903. The purchase was completed on December 22, 1903, at a sale price of $7,239,784.66. The land redistribution program was stipulated in at least three laws: the Philippine Organic Act, the Public Lands Act and the Friar Lands Act. Section 10 of the Public Land Act limited purchases to a maximum of 16 hectares for an individual or 1024 hectares for a corporation or like association. Land was also offered for lease to landless farmers, at prices ranging from fifty centavos to one peso and fifty centavos per hectare per annum. Section 28 of the Public lands Act stipulated that lease contracts may run for a maximum period of 25 years, renewable for another 25 years.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In 1901 at least five hundred teachers (365 males and 165 females) arrived from the U.S. aboard the U.S. Army Transport "Thomas". The name "Thomasite" was adopted for these teachers, who firmly established education as one of America's major contributions to the Philippines. Among the assignments given were Albay, Catanduanes, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, and Masbate, which are the present day Bicol Region, which is also the region which was heavily resistant to American rule. Twenty-seven of the original Thomasites either died of tropical diseases or were murdered by Filipino rebels during their first 20 months of residence. Despite the hardships, the Thomasites persisted, teaching and building learning institutions that prepared students for their chosen professions or trades. They opened the Philippine Normal School (now Philippine Normal University) and the Philippine School of Arts and Trades (PSAT) in 1901 and reopened the Philippine Nautical School, established in 1839 by the Board of Commerce of Manila under Spain. By the end of 1904, primary courses were mostly taught by Filipinos under American supervision.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In the Philippines, the 2008 film "Baler", the 2010 film "Amigo", the 2012 film "El Presidente", the 2015 film "Heneral Luna" and its 2018 sequel, "" are based on the war. The film "Sakay" portrays the latter part of the life of Filipino patriot and hero Macario Sakay. The film "" is a biographical film about the life of Emilio Aguinaldo; it has been in development since 2000 and, , is pending release. the 1985 film "Virgin Forest" is set during the war and involves the capture of Emilio Aguinaldo.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The 1945 film "Los últimos de Filipinas" and the 2016 film "1898, Los últimos de Filipinas" depict the siege of Baler.


title: Philippine–American War

text: In the U,S., the 1926 film "Across the Pacific" and the 1949 film "Last Stand in the Philippines" are about or are set against a background of the war. The 1939 film "The Real Glory" is set against the backdrop of the Moro Rebellion during the American occupation of the Philippines beginning in 1906.


title: Philippine–American War

text: On January 20, 1899, President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission (the Schurman Commission), a five-person group headed by Dr. Jacob Schurman, president of Cornell University, to investigate conditions in the islands and make recommendations. In the report that they issued to the president the following year, the commissioners acknowledged Filipino aspirations for independence; they declared, however, that the Philippines was not ready for it. Specific recommendations included the establishment of civilian government as rapidly as possible (the American chief executive in the islands at that time was the military governor), including establishment of a bicameral legislature, autonomous governments on the provincial and municipal levels, and a new system of free public elementary schools.


title: Philippine–American War

text: From the very beginning, United States presidents and their representatives in the islands defined their colonial mission as tutelage: preparing the Philippines for eventual independence. Except for a small group of "retentionists", the issue was not whether the Philippines would be granted self-rule, but when and under what conditions. Thus political development in the islands was rapid and particularly impressive in light of the complete lack of representative institutions under the Spanish. The Philippine Organic Act of July 1902 stipulated that, with the achievement of peace, a legislature would be established composed of a lower house, the Philippine Assembly, which would be popularly elected, and an upper house consisting of the Philippine Commission, which was to be appointed by the president of the United States.


title: Philippine–American War

text: The Jones Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1916 to serve as the new organic law in the Philippines, promised eventual independence and instituted an elected Philippine senate. The Tydings–McDuffie Act (officially the Philippine Independence Act; Public Law 73–127) approved on March 24, 1934, provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence (from the United States) after a period of ten years. World War II intervened, bringing the Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945. In 1946, the Treaty of Manila between the governments of the U.S. and the Republic of the Philippines provided for the recognition of the independence of the Republic of the Philippines and the relinquishment of American sovereignty over the Philippine Islands.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: The King of Staten Island is a 2020 American comedy-drama film directed by Judd Apatow, from a screenplay by Apatow, Pete Davidson, and Dave Sirus. It stars Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, and Steve Buscemi, and follows a young man who must get his life together after his mother starts dating a new man who, like his deceased father, is a firefighter.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: The film was announced as Apatow's next project in early 2019, with the cast joining that April. Filming took place around New York City in June and July. The film has been called a "semi-biographical" take on the life of Davidson, whose father was a New York City firefighter who died in service during the September 11 attacks and who has had his own battles with mental illness.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Originally intended to be theatrically released in the United States, the film was released digitally via Premium VOD on June 12, 2020, by Universal Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Davidson's performance and Apatow's handling of the mature subject matter, but criticized its length.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Scott Carlin is a 24-year-old high school dropout, living with his mother Margie and his sister Claire in Staten Island. His firefighter father Stan died fighting a fire when he was seven, a loss that continues to affect him; he also deals with numerous medical problems, including Crohn's disease and ADD, and smokes marijuana constantly. Unemployed, he spends his days hanging out with his friends, including Kelsey, whom he is sleeping with. She wants the relationship to be more serious, but Scott fears commitment and that he is not good enough for her. Claire, who is leaving for college, is concerned his neuroses may grow out of control with her gone.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Scott dreams of being a tattoo artist and practices regularly on his friends, although his work is extremely inconsistent. One day, while hanging out with them at the beach, he is approached by 9-year-old Harold. He asks Scott to give him a tattoo, but runs off after getting a single line. Later, the boy's father, Ray, shows up at Scott's house.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Initially furious, Ray finds himself attracted to Margie and he eventually asks her on a date. Though she has not dated since Stan's death, she agrees. As things get more serious, Margie reveals their relationship to Scott, who is disturbed that he, like Stan, is a firefighter. Ray takes Scott to a Staten Island Yankees game with his co-workers but finds it difficult to talk to Scott, who argues that firefighters should not have families because of the pain that is caused by their deaths.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Margie and Ray give Scott an ultimatum to move out, which upsets him. While visiting Claire, Scott tells her he plans to break up their mom and Ray, as the relationship is 'unhealthy'. He gets a job as a busboy, begins walking Harold and his sister Kelly to school each day, growing close with them. Meanwhile, Scott's friends plan to rob a pharmacy for oxycodone pills to sell. He's uncomfortable with the plan but agrees to be the lookout. The robbery goes awry when the pharmacist and his wife confront them. Oscar is shot and all three are arrested, but Scott flees.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Scott talks with Ray's ex-wife Gina, who tells him several negative things about Ray, painting him as a homeless gambling addict. He relays this to Margie, only to end up in a physical confrontation with Ray when he hears what Scott told her. A furious Margie kicks both men out.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: With his friends in jail, Scott struggles to find a place to stay. He hopes that Kelsey will let him stay with her after they sleep together, but she is indignant when she recognizes his ulterior motives and refuses. Desperate, Scott goes to Ray's firehouse, where he is told he may stay in return for doing odd jobs. He gradually bonds with Ray and the other firefighters, who tell him stories about his father, which humanizes him and helps Scott accept his death. Ray learns from Harold that Scott is a talented artist, and agrees to let him tattoo his back as practice, but within certain limits.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: One day, a man shows up at the firehouse with an abdominal wound while Scott is there alone. He takes him to the hospital, where Ray arrives, using his firefighter connections to get the man the help he needs. Margie, who works as an emergency room nurse, sees Scott and Ray and reconciles with them both. Ray shows Margie his tattoos; a number of them are offensive or violate Ray's criteria, but the most prominent is one of Margie, Ray, Scott, and Claire together (plus Scott's dad as the sun). Scott surprises Kelsey at the Staten Island Ferry, where she is heading into Manhattan to take a civil service exam. He rides on the ferry with her, where he confesses his love for her, and they kiss. Kelsey heads into the exam, asking him to wait for her.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: On January 29, 2019, it was announced that Universal Pictures was producing a new film directed by Judd Apatow and starring Pete Davidson. The film was set to be written by Apatow, Davidson, and Dave Sirus with Apatow and Sirus also producing the film. Davidson first came to Apatow's attention while working on "Trainwreck" after he was recommended by Amy Schumer, and he was cast in a cameo role in that film. The story is based in part on Davidson's life, depicting what it might have been like if he had not become a comedian.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: In April 2019, Bel Powley, Bill Burr and Marisa Tomei were added to the cast. Maude Apatow and Pamela Adlon joined in May. In June 2019, Colson Baker, Jimmy Tatro, Ricky Velez, Steve Buscemi, Kevin Corrigan, Domenick Lombardozzi, Mike Vecchione, Moisés Arias, Lou Wilson and Derek Gaines joined the cast of the film.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: "The King of Staten Island" was set to have its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 13, 2020, but the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was rescheduled to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2020, which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Originally scheduled for a theatrical release on June 19, 2020, the film was instead released digitally in the United States and Canada through Premium VOD on June 12, 2020 due to movie theaters closures that started in mid-March because of the pandemic restrictions. It was initially set to play in about 100 theaters, mostly drive-ins, beginning the same day as its VOD release, but Universal Pictures changed course after consulting the film's producers.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: The film was released in cinemas in the Netherlands on June 25, 2020, France on July 22, Germany on July 30, and Spain on October 9. The film made $253,000 from 160 theaters in its Australian debut and $59,000 in New Zealand.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: The film as of March 27, 2022 has sold an estimated $4.5 million in Theatrical and Home Markets, as well as an estimated $40 million in video-on-demand sales across various platforms.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: In its debut weekend, "The King of Staten Island" was the most rented film on FandangoNow, Amazon Prime, the iTunes Store, Comcast Xfinity, Apple TV, Vudu, Google Play, YouTube, Spectrum, and DirecTV. It remained the top rented film across all platforms in second weekend, then on all but FandangoNow in its third. After a month of release, the film remained the number-one rented title on Prime, and in the top-five on all other platforms. In late-August, the price was lowered to $5.99 and it returned to the second-most rented movie on Fandango and third on Apple TV. In October 2020, "The Hollywood Reporter" said the film had generated $40 million in revenue for Universal up to that point. They also reported the film was the seventh-most popular PVOD title amid the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: The King of Staten Island

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's critics consensus reads: ""The King of Staten Island"s uncertain tone and indulgent length blunt this coming-of-age dramedy's ability to find itself, but Pete Davidson's soulful performance holds it together." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: The King of Staten Island

text: Writing for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Richard Roeper called the film "sharp and funny" and gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four, saying that "Davidson delivers a fully realized, nuanced performance, tackling dark comedy and raw drama with equal aplomb." David Ehrlich of "IndieWire" gave the film a "B+" and called it "a sweet and tender dramedy", writing: "Teetering between self-parody and something truly beautiful, Apatow's latest offers yet another shaggy portrait of permanent adolescence but this one — his best film since 2009's "Funny People" — helps make sense of why he always keeps going back to the same archetype."


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet (Korean: 레드벨벳; romanized: "Ledeubelbet"; Japanese: レッドベルベット; romanized: "Reddoberubetto") is a South Korean girl group formed and managed by SM Entertainment. They originally debuted on August 1, 2014, with the single "Happiness" with the four-member line-up of Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy. A fifth member, Yeri, joined the group in March 2015, following the release of their first mini album, "Ice Cream Cake". Musically, the work of Red Velvet reflects their own group name: their predominantly-pop "red" side experiments occasionally with electronic and funk, and while their "velvet" side focuses on '90s-influenced R&B with elements of ballad and hip hop. Their genre versatility and hooks have garnered critical praise.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The group's Korean-language discography includes two studio albums, one reissue album, one compilation album, and ten extended plays—twelve of which have topped the South Korean Gaon Album Chart. Their hit singles "Red Flavor" and "Power Up" reached number one on the Gaon Digital Chart. Numerous others have charted on both the Gaon Digital Chart and "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales chart, including "Happiness", "Ice Cream Cake", "Dumb Dumb", "One of These Nights", "Russian Roulette", "Rookie", "Peek-a-Boo", "Bad Boy", "RBB (Really Bad Boy)", "Zimzalabim", "Umpah Umpah", "Psycho", "Queendom", and "Feel My Rhythm". The group also ventured into the Japanese music scene with the extended plays "#Cookie Jar" (2018) and "Sappy" (2019).


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet have received numerous accolades, most notably the Golden Disc New Artist Award, the Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Female Group, the Korean Music Award for Best Pop Song, and the Asia Artist Award for Song of the Year. Their wide domestic influence has been recognized by "Forbes" Korea Power Celebrity (placing 11th in 2018 and fifth in 2019); internationally, they were named one of the most popular K-pop groups by "Time" and "Billboard" and are the fifth most streamed K-pop artist worldwide on Spotify as of February 2020.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet began forming in 2007 when Seulgi was cast as a trainee by SM Entertainment via audition. Irene was cast in 2009, and Yeri in 2011. In 2012, Wendy and Joy were cast through the SM Global Auditions in Canada and Seoul, respectively. Preparations for Red Velvet's debut began in late 2013, with the introduction of Irene and Seulgi in December 2013 and Wendy in March 2014 through SM Entertainment's trainee group SM Rookies. Irene and Seulgi made cameo appearances in the music videos for "1-4-3 (I Love You)" and "Fantastic", respectively, by then-labelmate Henry; Seulgi also featured in Henry's "Butterfly". In March 2014, Wendy, then credited as a member of SR14G, was introduced through the release of "Because I Love You", her first solo soundtrack for the Mnet drama "Mimi." Rumors of a group debut gained traction in July, which were subsequently confirmed by SM Entertainment. With the addition of member Joy, the quartet went on to debut in 2014 as SM Entertainment's first girl group in five years and first idol group since 2012.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet had their official debut stage on August 1, 2014, on the program "Music Bank". Their first single, "Happiness", was released digitally on August 4. It was an urban Europop song with "strong synth sound" and "African tribal beat", penned by Yoo Young-jin and composed by Will Simms, Chad Hugo (The Neptunes), Chris Holsten, and Anne Judith Wik (Dsign Music). The original music video for "Happiness" gained more than two million views on YouTube in its first 24 hours of release before being removed due to controversy over problematic background images and replaced with an edited version. "Happiness" was the second-most viewed K-pop music video worldwide in August 2014. Red Velvet became the first K-pop girl group to chart a debut single on the "Billboard" World Digital Songs chart, where it peaked at number four. The group released their second digital single "Be Natural" on October 13, 2014. The song, which includes a rap verse from then-SR14B member Taeyong, was a remake of the 2000 single of the same name by S.E.S., SM Entertainment's first girl group. The music video for the song was directed by Kwon Soon-wook and Shim Jae-won, choreographed by Kyle Hanagami, and featured original choreography seen in a pre-debut SM Rookies teaser of Irene and Seulgi. The group began promoting the release on October 9, making their first appearance on "M Countdown". The song peaked at number 33 on the Gaon Digital Chart and at number six on the "Billboard" World Digital Songs chart. Red Velvet won Rookie of The Year at the Golden Disk Awards and Seoul Music Awards.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Following news reported that the group was filming in a desert just outside of Palmdale, California in February 2015, SM Entertainment announced that former SM Rookies member Yeri would officially join the group on March 11, 2015. Yeri had been one of the remaining SM Rookies female trainees to appear in the group's music video for "Happiness" and was first introduced to the public through a Rookie Station video and a group performance on SM Town Live World Tour IV. Preceded by the release of "Automatic", the group's first mini-album, "Ice Cream Cake", was released on March 17, 2015, to critical and commercial success. The album's second single, "Ice Cream Cake", marked their commercial breakthrough. On March 19, the group held an album showcase on "Ice Cream TV", a program streamed through Naver Music and hosted by Shinee's Minho. On March 27, they won their first music show trophy on KBS's "Music Bank", and the album became the best-selling album by a girl group in South Korea for the first half of 2015 on the Hanteo Chart. In August 2015, Red Velvet held their first US performance during the annual KCON convention and music festival in Los Angeles, California.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The group released their first studio album, "The Red", on September 9, 2015, also to critical and commercial success. "Billboard"'s Jeff Benjamin described "The Red" "an impressive, solid debut album", stating that it "indicates big things for the act that needs to follow in the footsteps of their beloved female label mates Girls' Generation and f(x)". The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" World Albums Chart and South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, and appeared on "Billboard"'s list of the "10 Best K-Pop Albums of 2015". Lead single "Dumb Dumb" peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and number three on the "Billboard" World Digital Songs chart, topping the list of the "Top 20 K-pop Tracks of 2015" by "Dazed". The music video for "Dumb Dumb" was the only non-English language entry in "Rolling Stone's" "10 Best Music Videos of 2015". Red Velvet went on to take part in the SM Entertainment's special Christmas project, "Winter Garden", releasing a digital single titled "Wish Tree" on December 18, 2015.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet's second mini-album "The Velvet" was intended to be released on March 16, 2016; however, SM Entertainment announced that the music video and album's release would be delayed "to guarantee a high quality of work". The album and its lead single "One of These Nights" (Korean title: 7월 7일) was released on March 17. The album showcased the smooth R&B-influenced "velvet" side of the group's concept as a direct follow-up album to "The Red", which highlighted the group's bright and bold "red" persona. On May 2, Red Velvet released the soundtrack "Yossism" for the children animation series "Telemonster".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The group released their third extended play, "Russian Roulette", on September 7, 2016. The album consisted of seven tracks, with the lead single titled "Russian Roulette". On September 13, 2016, Red Velvet took their first music show win for Russian Roulette on "The Show". The track peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart and "Billboard's" World Digital Songs chart, making it their highest rankings on both charts at the time.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On February 1, 2017, Red Velvet released "Rookie", an EP with six tracks, including the lead single "Rookie" and a solo track by Wendy titled "Last Love" (마지막 사랑). The album topped the weekly Gaon Album Chart as well as the "Billboard" World Albums Chart. The group took their first music show win for "Rookie" on "The Show" on February 7, followed by wins on "Show Champion", "M Countdown", "Music Bank", and "Inkigayo". On March 31, the group released the first single for "SM Station 2", titled "Would U". From July 27 to September 10, Red Velvet starred in their first reality television program, "Level Up Project", which showcased footage of their trip to Thailand. The show aired for 23 episodes and was shot without member Joy, who was filming the drama "The Liar and His Lover", where she was the female lead.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On July 9, 2017, Red Velvet released their first summer extended play, "The Red Summer", with the lead single "Red Flavor" (빨간 맛). The EP was a commercial success, topping the Gaon Album Chart and the "Billboard" World Albums Chart. This was Red Velvet's third number-one album and set the record for most number one albums on the chart by a K-pop girl group. Additionally, "Red Flavor" debuted atop the Gaon Digital Chart, with the other four songs from the EP also charting in the Top 50.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: In August 2017, Red Velvet's rendition of Yoon Jong Shin's "Rebirth", made possible by the show "Snowball Project", was officially released as part of SM Station. On August 18, the group held their first solo concert titled "Red Room" to an audience of 11,000. Although it was initially planned to be a two-day concert, a third was added due to demand. On October 4, SM Entertainment announced through their Japanese website that the group would have their first showcase in Japan. "Red Velvet Premium Showcase F'U'N Room Reveluv-Baby Party" took place at the Yebisu The Garden Hall in Tokyo on November 6. They performed the Japanese versions of their Korean songs "Dumb Dumb" and "Red Flavor" for the first time. After wrapping up the showcase, it was officially announced that Red Velvet's concert "Red Room" would take place in Japan in 2018.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet revisited their "velvet" image by releasing their second studio album, "Perfect Velvet", on November 17, 2017, with the lead single "Peek-a-Boo". Unlike their first "velvet" release, the album and single were both commercially successful. The album peaked atop "Billboard's" World Album Chart. "Peek-a-Boo" peaked at number two on "Billboard"'s World Digital Songs chart, tying their 2016 single "Russian Roulette". In South Korea, the album and "Peek-a-Boo" both charted at number two on the Gaon Album Chart and Gaon Digital Chart. Through the release of "Rookie", "The Red Summer" and "Perfect Velvet" all in the same year, along with the popularity of the single "Red Flavor" and the success of their albums overseas, Red Velvet achieved "top girl group" status in South Korea; their status was further cemented when "Perfect Velvet" sold over 100,000 copies and "Peek-A-Boo" won first place on the music program "Inkigayo" on their last day of promotions for the song, proving its longevity on the charts.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The group released a reissue of "Perfect Velvet", "The Perfect Red Velvet", on January 29, 2018. It included three new tracks, in addition to all the songs from "Perfect Velvet", with the single "Bad Boy" promoted as its lead single.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The album topped the Gaon Album Chart upon its release, while "Bad Boy" debuted at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. "The Perfect Red Velvet" also charted at number three on "Billboard's" World Albums chart, while "Bad Boy" debuted at number two on its World Digital Songs chart. Red Velvet also entered the top 10 of "Billboard"s Social 50 chart for the first time at number nine. The album also marked the first time the group has appeared on the Canadian Hot 100 and charted at number 87, becoming only the seventh K-pop artist and the third female K-pop act to appear on the chart. Red Velvet promoted the song on various South Korean music shows, earning their first music show win for "Bad Boy" on February 8 on "Show Champion". In December, "Billboard" chose "Bad Boy" as the best K-pop song of the year.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet's solo concert "Red Room" was held in Tokyo, Japan on March 28 and 29 at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza, a 10,000-seat capacity venue built for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. On the second day, the group announced that they would be officially debuting in Japan in July. On May 29, 2018, Red Velvet performed alongside other selected South Korean artists for an inter-Korean concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, making them the first artist from SM Entertainment in fifteen years since Shinhwa to perform in North Korea. Joy was unable to perform with the group due to scheduling conflicts with the filming of "Tempted".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On April 29, 2018, Red Velvet held their first fan meeting at the Rosemont Theater in Chicago, to an audience of 4,000. The event was first solo performance by a female K-pop group in the United States since 2016. The group later toured six Japanese cities in May and June to a total of 20,000 people. Their debut Japanese EP, "#Cookie Jar", was released on July 4, 2018, by the label Avex Trax and included six new songs, including the Japanese versions of "Dumb Dumb", "Russian Roulette" and "Red Flavor". The other songs on the album were "#Cookie Jar" ,"Aitai-tai", and "Cause It's You". The EP debuted at the third spot of the Oricon Weekly Albums chart and sold 26,124 copies in its first week of release in Japan.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On July 19, 2018, Red Velvet announced that they would be making a comeback and that they had filmed their music video outdoors in Gyeonggi-do. The songs from the new album were performed at Red Velvet's second concert "Redmare", held in Seoul on August 4–5. On August 6, Red Velvet released their second summer EP, "Summer Magic", containing eight tracks, including one bonus track and one iTunes exclusive track. Its lead single "Power Up" earned the group a "perfect all-kill" for the first time in their career when it topped all of South Korea's real-time, daily and weekly music charts upon release. The music video for "Power Up" was the only K-pop music video on "Billboard"'s list of 50 best music videos of 2018. In September and October, the group took their Redmare concert series to Bangkok, Taipei and Singapore.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet released their third album in the year and their fifth EP overall on November 30. The six-track EP, "RBB," was supported by lead single "RBB (Really Bad Boy)" and its English version.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On January 6, 2019, Red Velvet released their first Japanese digital single, titled "Sappy". The group released another Japanese single, "Sayonara", on February 20. Both were included in their second Japanese EP, "Sappy", released on May 29; the EP also included Japanese versions of "Peek-a-Boo", "Rookie" and "Power Up", as well as a new song "Swimming Pool". In February, Red Velvet embarked on the North American leg of their Redmare Tour. They held shows in Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Chicago and Newark in the United States and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada, becoming the first K-pop girl group to hold a North American tour in three years. On April 5, Red Velvet were featured in a remixed version of "Close to Me" by Ellie Goulding and Diplo, with members Yeri and Wendy contributing Korean lyrics to the song. The song won Choice Electronic/Dance Song at the 2019 Teen Choice Awards.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On June 19, Red Velvet released the EP "", which featured the lead single "Zimzalabim" and was the first entry of "The ReVe Festival" trilogy. It was followed by the second EP of the series, "", and its lead single "Umpah Umpah" on August 20. In the same month, Red Velvet also released a soundtrack, titled "See the Stars", for the tvN's drama "Hotel Del Luna". On November 26, "Umpah Umpah" won Song of the Year at the 2019 Asia Artist Awards. The final release of the trilogy, "", was released on December 23 as a repackage of two previous EPs, led by the single "Psycho". To promote "The ReVe Festival" trilogy, the group embarked on their third tour, La Rouge, which began in Seoul on November 23 and 24. In early 2020, La Rouge continued as an arena tour in Japan without Wendy, who was injured in a stage accident during rehearsals at the 2019 SBS Gayo Daejeon on December 25. After three dates in Japan, the final two La Rouge concerts at Yokohama were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: In 2020, Red Velvet were featured in the animated musical film "Trolls World Tour", in which they represented the K-pop trolls, and their song "Russian Roulette" was featured in the film. The film had the biggest digital debut of all time and broke streaming records. On August 21, Red Velvet released their SM Station single, a cover of BoA's "Milky Way", as part of a project celebrating BoA's 20th debut anniversary. This also marked Wendy's partial return to the group, eight months after her stage accident. On October 17, Red Velvet released another soundtrack for the tvN drama "Start-Up", titled "Future". Red Velvet was the fifth most-streamed K-pop artist on Spotify in 2020.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On January 1, 2021, the group returned as five members, after one year of hiatus due to Wendy's injuries, for SM Town Live Culture Humanity, an online concert broadcast live. On August 16, they released their sixth Korean EP, "Queendom", alongside the lead single of the same name.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On December 10, 2021, the group announced the release of their first Japanese studio album, "Bloom", featuring the lead single "Wildside". It was set to release on February 2, 2022, but was postponed on January 14, due to production reasons. It was later announced that the album's new release date would be April 6. On February 21, it was announced that the group would hold a special live performance titled "The ReVe Festival: Prologue" on March 19–20, The event has since been postponed until further notice as Irene, Joy, and Yeri were tested positive for COVID-19 on March 14.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On March 21, 2022, they released the EP "The ReVe Festival 2022 – Feel My Rhythm", a sequel of their 2019 trilogy "The ReVe Festival", alongside the lead single "Feel My Rhythm".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: The group released the EP "The ReVe Festival 2022 – Birthday", alongside the lead single "Birthday", on November 28, 2022. On December 14, 2022, the group will release a collaborative single, "Beautiful Christmas", with labelmates Aespa for SM Town's album "".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: On April 21, 2020, SM Entertainment confirmed the formation Red Velvet's first sub-unit, Red Velvet – Irene & Seulgi, composed of members Irene and Seulgi. The duo released their debut extended play, "Monster", on July 6.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Wendy was the first member of Red Velvet to debut as a solo singer; her debut EP "Like Water" was released on April 5, 2021. The five-track album included a duet titled "Best Friend" with Seulgi. The lead single "Like Water" compared one's existence and meaning to water and how it flows like fate. It conveyed a message of gratitude for the people who stood by her and hope for a new journey. Joy was the second member to make a solo debut, releasing her debut EP "Hello" on May 31, 2021. It featured six remakes of songs from 1990s and 2000s, including the lead single "Hello", originally released by Park Hye-kyung in 2003. Seulgi was the third member to make a solo debut on October 4, 2022, with the release of her EP "28 Reasons".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet's music and public image play on contrasting "red" and "velvet" sides. The "red" side showcases a bubbly and vibrant image, while their "velvet" side is more mature and elegant. Their recent work mixes the two sides together to convey sensuality, color, and sophistication. Musically, the "red" side is predominantly of the pop genre, and their "velvet" is primarily R&B and ballads; however, the group also experiments with other genres. Red Velvet's dual concept also affects the members' styling. In their "red" concept, they are usually dressed in colorful clothing, such as pastel sweaters and skirts in "Ice Cream Cake" and the red doll outfits in "Dumb Dumb". They are dressed more maturely for their "velvet" side, such as their suits in "Be Natural".


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet have been lauded for breaking stereotypes among popular girl groups in South Korea, who tend to fall under either "cute and pure" or "sexy". In a country where girl groups' fanbases are mostly male, Taylor Glasby of "Dazed Digital" noted that the majority of Red Velvet's fans are young women. "IZE Magazine" named the group as one of the successful female figures who helped transform the "passive image" of South Korean women in 2017. Red Velvet's musical versatility has led to recognition by "Time" magazine as one of the genre's standout K-pop groups. Janelle Okwodu from "Vogue" wrote that throughout their career, "the critically acclaimed South Korean girl group has dominated the charts with their innovative pop sound". "Billboard" reported that Red Velvet were the overall favorite K-pop group of 2018 among fans of every gender and sexual identity on the genre-specific community on popular internet forum Reddit.


title: Red Velvet (group)

text: Red Velvet have topped the Girl Group Brand Power Ranking, published by the Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute, several times. In November 2019, "Billboard" crowned Red Velvet as "the best idol group alive" and named "Red Flavor" as the second-best K-pop song of the 2010s. Red Velvet's performance in Pyongyang in 2018—which made them the seventh idol group to perform in North Korea and the first since 2003—was part of a wider diplomatic initiative between South Korea and North Korea and earned the group a commendation from South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for their contributions in spreading South Korean popular culture. Discussing the Korean Wave in 2018, the director of the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange cited Red Velvet as a major contributor and one of the country's most talented idol groups who have "largely promoted K-pop" around the world.


title: Futanari

text: Beyond Japan, the term has come to be used to describe a commonly pornographic genre of eroge, manga, and anime, which includes characters that show primary sexual characteristics from both females and males. In today's language, it refers almost exclusively to characters who have an overall feminine body, but have both female and male primary genitalia (although testicles are not always present, while breasts, a penis, and a vagina are). The term is also often abbreviated as futa(s), which is also used as a generalized term for the works themselves.


title: Futanari

text: Japanese folk religion created diverse fantasies related to sexual characteristics. Traditional vocal pieces that date back hundreds of years deliver rough evidence that a change of gender was not ruled out, and that the representation of the gender was used to worship deities such as "dōsojin", which sometimes had ambiguous gender, being neither male nor female. Leupp adds that the origins might even reach back to the origins of Buddhism, since the deities would not necessarily have a fixed or determinable gender.


title: Futanari

text: Likewise, the belief spread that some people could change their gender depending on the lunar phase. The term was coined to describe such beings. Japanese traditional clothing, which made distinguishing men from women more difficult, as in other cultures, presumably might have had an influence on this development. To restrict women from accessing prohibited areas and to avoid smuggling by hiding items in the belt bag, guard posts were assigned to perform body checks. Historical records indicate that guards liked to joke about this matter quite frequently, resulting in various stories and even poems. Whether anatomical anomalies, such as clitoromegaly or unusual physical development, led to these assumptions remains an open question.


title: Futanari

text: Until 1644, when "onnagata" actors were required to adopt male hairstyles regardless of the gender they were portraying, actors playing characters such as female warriors capitalized on the interest in the "futanari" quality, which was common in both "samurai" and commoner society.


title: Futanari

text: Originally, the Japanese language referred to any character or real person that possessed masculine and feminine traits as "futanari." This changed in the 1990s, as drawn futanari characters became more popular in "anime" and "manga". Today, the term commonly refers to fictional (drawn) female or female-looking hermaphrodite characters. "Futanari" is also used as the term for a specific genre within "hentai"-related media (pornographic anime or manga) that depicts such characters.


title: Futanari

text: American transgender pornography that was introduced to Japan influenced the earliest "futanari" works, which were drawn by artists including Kitamimaki Kei. In the late 1980s, editor Yōichi Terada collected "futanari" "dōjinshi" in published anthologies such as "Shemale Collection". Futanari manga became popular in the 1990s and quickly became a part of the industry, cross-pollinating with multiple genres. Toshiki Yui's "Hot Tails" has been described as the best-known example of the genre in the West.


title: Futanari

text: In anime aimed at a broad audience, the gender bender or cross-dressing storylines have always been popular. Popular examples include anime such as "Ranma ½", "Kämpfer", and "Futaba-Kun Change!" (in which the main character changes from male to female), and "I My Me! Strawberry Eggs" (which takes on a more cross-dressing theme). The light novel series and anime series "Wagaya no Oinari-sama" ("Our Home's Fox Deity") features a female fox deity who often appears as a male human.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Paige Renee Spiranac ( ; born March 26, 1993) is an American social media personality, golf instructor and former professional golfer. She played Division 1 college golf at both the University of Arizona and San Diego State University, winning All-Mountain West Conference honors during the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons, and leading the Aztecs to their first Mountain West Conference Championship in 2015.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac was born in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, to a family of Croatian descent. Her father, Dan, was a member of the University of Pittsburgh Panthers football team, which won the 1976 national college championship. Her mother, Annette, was a professional ballerina. Her older sister, Lexie, also received a college athletic scholarship, competing on Stanford's track team.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac grew up in Monument, Colorado, where she practiced gymnastics in hopes of competing in the Olympics. At 12, a twice-broken kneecap derailed her gymnastics dreams and pushed her towards golf. Spiranac split time between Scottsdale, Arizona, and Monument, Colorado, as a home-schooled student, so that she would have time to train.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In her early golf career, Spiranac won five tournaments in seven tries on Colorado's junior golf circuit, including the 2010 CWGA Junior Stroke Play, en route to becoming a top-20 junior player in the world, a top-5 college recruit, and a two-time West Region Player of the Year and first-team All-American as a member of the Future Collegians World Tour. This earned her a golf scholarship from the University of Arizona.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In Spiranac's freshman year, 2011–2012, she competed in three events for the University of Arizona Wildcats during their golf season: the Windy City Intercollegiate, the Pac-12/SEC Challenge, and the Wildcat Invitational. Her best score of the year was a 73, shot twice during the Windy City Intercollegiate.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac transferred to San Diego State for her sophomore year. Improved success followed in the 2012–2013 season, with First-Team All-Mountain West honors, a fifth-place finish at the Cal Classic, a sixth at the Mountain West Championship, and nineteenth at the NCAA Central Regional Championships. Her 2013–2014 junior season resulted in Second-Team All-Mountain West Honors, along with one top ten finish at the Mountain West Championship. Her senior season ended with the Aztecs' first Mountain West Conference Championship in school history, which she described as "one of the absolute happiest moments of my life."


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In July 2015 the Colorado Golf Association hosted the 100th Colorado Women's Golf Association Match Play Championship at Raccoon Creek Golf Course. In a 35-hole title match against Brittany Fan of the University of Colorado Boulder, Spiranac won, finishing nine strokes under par.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac debuted on the developmental Cactus Tour at the Las Colinas club in Queen Creek, Arizona, in May 2016. In her third start, a sudden-death win at Scottsdale's Orange Tree Country Club over Hannah O’Sullivan, the then top-ranked amateur in the world, earned Spiranac her first tour win.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: She next finished ninth at Stallion Mountain, earning an $800 prize. At the Aliante Golf Club, in June, Spiranac finished 17th out of 52 golfers, her twelve-over-par score netting a $575 prize. In July, she finished eight-over-par for a seventh-place finish at Walnut Creek in Mansfield, Texas, earning $600. Also in July, she made the cut at the Scottish Open in the Ladies' European Tour.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac competed in the August/September 2016 CoBank Colorado Women's Open, placing ninth at one-under-par and earning $1,750.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In September 2016, Spiranac finished in a three-way second-place tie at Legacy in Phoenix, Arizona; her second-best finish of the year, earning $935. A two-under-par final round produced another top-five finish at Trilogy, in October, and $800. She ended the season with $8,010 in winnings.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In August 2016, Spiranac competed in her first LPGA Qualifying Tournament, but did not earn a card to play on the professional circuit. In 2022, discussing Marshall football's upset of Notre Dame, she joked "Notre Dame is as bad as I was playing professional golf".


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac has been featured in magazines such as the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit" edition and "Golf Digest". She began writing a monthly column in "Golf Magazine", with the December 2018 issue.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In 2017, Spiranac signed with Parsons Xtreme Golf (PXG) to represent its golf clubs in social media and television ads. That year, she also became a brand ambassador for 18Birdies to help market its golf app nationwide. She also has signed deals with Mizzen + Main and Philip Stein Watches.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In 2021, Spiranac joined PointsBet, a global sportsbook operator, as a brand ambassador and on-air personality. According to the official announcement, she also took an equity stake in the company and became a "significant" shareholder.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In June 2022, Spiranac was named as the 'Sexiest Woman Alive' in the "Maxim"'s 2022 "Hot 100" list and she was the first athlete to attain the "No.1" spot in the "Hot 100" list.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: Spiranac's self-promotion has received criticism for "sexualizing women's golf". She sought to use the exposure to promote her anti-cyberbullying campaign and continue to fight for a woman's right to feel comfortable in her own skin.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: The LPGA Tour introduced a stricter dress code in July 2017, restricting plunging necklines, leggings, and short skirts. This triggered immediate criticism, characterized by the Fox Sports headline "LPGA slammed for 'slut-shaming' its own players after new dress code restrictions revealed". Spiranac spoke against it in a "Fortune" magazine op-ed piece, "The Progression of Women's Golf Is Plunging Further than Our Necklines", which appeared just days after the LPGA announcement.


title: Paige Spiranac

text: In 2018, Spiranac was married to Steven Tinoco. On March 7, 2022, she announced that she was no longer married.


title: Pleiades

text: The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance of about 444 light years, it is among the nearest star clusters to Earth. It is the nearest Messier object to Earth, and is the most obvious cluster to the naked eye in the night sky. It is also observed to house the reflection nebula NGC 1432, an HII Ionized region.


title: Pleiades

text: The cluster is dominated by hot blue luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Reflection nebulae around the brightest stars were once thought to be left over material from their formation, but are now considered likely to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium through which the stars are currently passing. This dust cloud is estimated to be moving at a speed of approximately 18 km/s relative to the stars in the cluster.


title: Pleiades

text: Computer simulations have shown that the Pleiades were probably formed from a compact configuration that resembled the Orion Nebula. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.


title: Pleiades

text: Together with the open star cluster of the Hyades, the Pleiades form the Golden Gate of the Ecliptic.


title: Pleiades

text: The name of the Pleiades comes from . It probably derives from "plein" ("to sail") because of the cluster's importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: "the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising". However, in mythology the name was used for the Pleiades, seven divine sisters, the name supposedly deriving from that of their mother Pleione and effectively meaning "daughters of Pleione". In reality, the name of the star cluster almost certainly came first, and Pleione was invented to explain it.


title: Pleiades

text: The Pleiades are a prominent sight in winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and are easily visible out to mid-Southern latitudes. They have been known since antiquity to cultures all around the world, including the Celts (, ), Hawaiians (who call them "Makaliʻi"), Māori (who call them "Matariki"), Indigenous Australians (from several traditions), the Achaemenid Empire, whence in Farsi (who called them پروین Parvīn or پروی Parvī), the Arabs (who call them الثريا "al-Thurayya"), the Chinese (who called them "mǎo"), the Quechua (who call them Qullqa or the storehouse), the Japanese (who call them 昴 / スバル Subaru), the Maya, the Aztec, the Sioux, the Kiowa, and the Cherokee. In Hinduism, the Pleiades are known as Kṛttikā and are scripturally associated with the war-god Kartikeya but the Hindus celebrate the first day (new moon) of the month of Kartik as Diwali, a festival of abundance and lamps. They are also mentioned three times in the Bible.


title: Pleiades

text: The earliest-known depiction of the Pleiades is likely a Northern German Bronze Age artifact known as the Nebra sky disk, dated to approximately 1600 BC. The Babylonian star catalogues name the Pleiades (), meaning "stars" (literally "star star"), and they head the list of stars along the ecliptic, reflecting the fact that they were close to the point of vernal equinox around the 23rd century BC. The Ancient Egyptians may have used the names "Followers" and "Ennead" in the prognosis texts of the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637. Some Greek astronomers considered them to be a distinct constellation, and they are mentioned by Hesiod's "Works and Days", Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey", and the "Geoponica". The Pleiades was the most well-known star among pre-Islamic Arabs and so often simply referred to as "the Star" ("al Najm"). Some scholars of Islam suggested that the Pleiades (ath-thurayya) are the "star" mentioned in Surah An-Najm ("The Star") in the Quran.


title: Pleiades

text: In Japan, the cluster is mentioned under the name Mutsuraboshi ("six stars") in the 8th-century "Kojiki". The cluster is now known in Japan as Subaru.


title: Pleiades

text: It was chosen as the name of the Subaru Telescope which is the flagship telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan. It is located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on the island of Hawaii. It had the largest monolithic primary mirror in the world from its commissioning in 1998 until 2005.


title: Pleiades

text: It was chosen as the brand name of Subaru automobiles to reflect the origins of the firm as the joining of five companies, and is depicted in the firm's six-star logo.


title: Pleiades

text: Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise "Sidereus Nuncius" in March 1610.


title: Pleiades

text: The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related. When studies were first made of the stars' proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.


title: Pleiades

text: Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier's inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier's objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets—something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.


title: Pleiades

text: Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.


title: Pleiades

text: The distance to the Pleiades can be used as a key first step to calibrate the cosmic distance ladder. As the cluster is relatively close to the Earth, its distance should be relatively easy to measure and has been estimated by many methods. Accurate knowledge of the distance allows astronomers to plot a Hertzsprung–Russell diagram for the cluster, which, when compared to those plotted for clusters whose distance is not known, allows their distances to be estimated. Other methods can then extend the distance scale from open clusters to galaxies and clusters of galaxies, and a cosmic distance ladder can be constructed. Ultimately astronomers' understanding of the age and future evolution of the universe is influenced by their knowledge of the distance to the Pleiades. Yet some authors argue that the controversy over the distance to the Pleiades discussed below is a red herring, since the cosmic distance ladder can (presently) rely on a suite of other nearby clusters where consensus exists regarding the distances as established by the "Hipparcos" satellite and independent means (e.g., the Hyades, Coma Berenices cluster, etc.).


title: Pleiades

text: Measurements of the distance have elicited much controversy. Results prior to the launch of the "Hipparcos" satellite generally found that the Pleiades were about 135 parsecs (pc) away from Earth. Data from "Hipparcos" yielded a surprising result, namely a distance of only 118 pc by measuring the parallax of stars in the cluster—a technique that should yield the most direct and accurate results. Later work consistently argued that the "Hipparcos" distance measurement for the Pleiades was erroneous. In particular, distances derived to the cluster via the Hubble Space Telescope and infrared color-magnitude diagram fitting (so-called "spectroscopic parallax") favor a distance between 135 and 140 pc; a dynamical distance from optical interferometric observations of the Pleiad double Atlas favors a distance of 133 to 137 pc. However, the author of the 2007–2009 catalog of revised "Hipparcos" parallaxes reasserted that the distance to the Pleiades is ~120 pc and challenged the dissenting evidence. Recently, Francis and Anderson proposed that a systematic effect on "Hipparcos" parallax errors for stars in clusters biases calculation using the weighted mean and gave a "Hipparcos" parallax distance of 126 pc and photometric distance 132 pc based on stars in the AB Doradus, Tucana-Horologium, and Beta Pictoris moving groups, which are all similar in age and composition to the Pleiades. Those authors note that the difference between these results can be attributed to random error.