title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The conflict that arose at that point of the negotiations ended the possibility of further negotiation. During the reception of former British Prime Minister Edward Heath during his sixth visit to the PRC, Deng Xiaoping commented quite clearly on the impossibility of exchanging sovereignty for administration, declaring an ultimatum: the British government must modify or give up its position or the PRC will announce its resolution of the issue of Hong Kong sovereignty unilaterally.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In 1983, Typhoon Ellen ravaged Hong Kong, causing great amounts of damage to both life and property. The Hong Kong dollar plummeted on Black Saturday, and the Financial Secretary John Bremridge publicly associated the economic uncertainty with the instability of the political climate. In response, the PRC government condemned Britain through the press for "playing the economic card" in order to achieve their ends: to intimidate the PRC into conceding to British demands.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Governor Youde with nine members of the Hong Kong Executive Council travelled to London to discuss with Prime Minister Thatcher the crisis of confidence—the problem with morale among the people of Hong Kong arising from the ruination of the Sino-British talks. The session concluded with Thatcher's writing of a letter addressed to the PRC Premier Zhao Ziyang.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In the letter, she expressed Britain's willingness to explore arrangements optimising the future prospects of Hong Kong while utilising the PRC's proposals as a foundation. Furthermore, and perhaps most significantly, she expressed Britain's concession on its position of a continued British presence in the form of an administration post-handover.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Two rounds of negotiations were held in October and November. On the sixth round of talks in November, Britain formally conceded its intentions of either maintaining a British administration in Hong Kong or seeking some form of co-administration with the PRC, and showed its sincerity in discussing PRC's proposal on the 1997 issue. Obstacles were cleared.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Simon Keswick, chairman of Jardine Matheson & Co., said they were not pulling out of Hong Kong, but a new holding company would be established in Bermuda instead. The PRC took this as yet another plot by the British. The Hong Kong government explained that it had been informed about the move only a few days before the announcement. The government would not and could not stop the company from making a business decision.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Just as the atmosphere of the talks was becoming cordial, members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong felt impatient at the long-running secrecy over the progress of Sino-British talks on the Hong Kong issue. A motion, tabled by legislator Roger Lobo, declared "This Council deems it essential that any proposals for the future of Hong Kong should be debated in this Council before agreement is reached", was passed unanimously.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The PRC attacked the motion furiously, referring to it as "somebody's attempt to play the three-legged stool trick again". At length, the PRC and Britain initiated the Joint Declaration on the question of Hong Kong's future in Beijing. Zhou Nan, the then PRC Deputy Foreign Minister and leader of the negotiation team, and Sir Richard Evans, British Ambassador to Beijing and leader of the team, signed respectively on behalf of the two governments.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed by Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhao Ziyang and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Margaret Thatcher on 19 December 1984 in Beijing. The Declaration entered into force with the exchange of instruments of ratification on 27 May 1985 and was registered by the People's Republic of China and United Kingdom governments at the United Nations on 12 June 1985.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In the Joint Declaration, the People's Republic of China Government stated that it had decided to resume the exercise of sovereignty over Hong Kong (including Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories) with effect from 1 July 1997 and the United Kingdom Government declared that it would restore Hong Kong to the PRC with effect from 1 July 1997. In the document, the People's Republic of China Government also declared its basic policies regarding Hong Kong.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In accordance with the "One country, two systems" principle agreed between the United Kingdom and the People's Republic of China, the socialist system of the People's Republic of China would not be practised in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), and Hong Kong's previous capitalist system and its way of life would remain unchanged for a period of 50 years. This would have left Hong Kong unchanged until 2047.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The ceremony of the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration took place at 18:00, 19 December 1984 at the Western Main Chamber of the Great Hall of the People. The Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office initially released a proposed list of 60–80 native residents of Hong Kong to be in attendance at the ceremony, later increasing the number to 101.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The list included Hong Kong government officials, members of the Legislative and Executive Councils, chairmen of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation and Standard Chartered Bank, prominent businessmen such as Li Ka-shing, Pao Yue-kong and Fok Ying-tung, and also Martin Lee Chu-ming and Szeto Wah.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Hong Kong Basic Law ensured, among other things, that Hong Kong will retain its legislative system, and people's rights and freedom for fifty years, as a special administrative region (SAR) of China. The central government in Beijing maintains control over Hong Kong's foreign affairs as well as the legal interpretation of the Basic Law. The latter has led democracy advocates and some Hong Kong residents to argue, after the fact, that the territory has yet to achieve universal suffrage as promised by the Basic Law, leading to mass demonstrations in 2014. In 2019, demonstrations that started as a protest against an extradition law also led to massive demonstrations (1.7 million on 11 and 18 August 2019), again demanding universal suffrage, but also the resignation of Carrie Lam (the then-Chief Executive).


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In December 2021, Beijing released a document titled "Hong Kong Democratic Progress Under the Framework of One Country, Two Systems", the second such white paper on Hong Kong affairs since 2014. It stated that the central government will work with "all social groups, sectors and stakeholders towards the ultimate goal of election by universal suffrage of the chief executive" and the LegCo while also noting that the Chinese constitution and the Basic Law together "empower the HKSAR to exercise a high degree of autonomy and confirm the central authorities' right to supervise the exercise of this autonomy".


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Basic Law was drafted by a Drafting Committee composed of members from both Hong Kong and Mainland China. A Basic Law Consultative Committee formed purely by Hong Kong people was established in 1985 to canvas views in Hong Kong on the drafts.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The first draft was published in April 1988, followed by a five-month public consultation exercise. The second draft was published in February 1989, and the subsequent consultation period ended in October 1989.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Basic Law was formally promulgated on 4 April 1990 by the NPC, together with the designs for the flag and emblem of the HKSAR. Some members of the Basic Law drafting committee were ousted by Beijing following 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, after voicing views supporting the student protesters.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Basic Law was said to be a mini-constitution drafted with the participation of Hong Kong people. The political system had been the most controversial issue in the drafting of the Basic Law. The special issue sub-group adopted the political model put forward by Louis Cha. This "mainstream" proposal was criticised for being too conservative.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: According to Clauses 158 and 159 of the Basic Law, powers of interpretation and amendment of the Basic Law are vested in the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the National People's Congress, respectively. Hong Kong's people have limited influence.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the Executive Councillors and the Legislative Councillors of Hong Kong unexpectedly held an urgent meeting, in which they agreed unanimously that the British Government should give the people of Hong Kong the right of abode in the United Kingdom.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: More than 10,000 Hong Kong residents rushed to Central in order to get an application form for residency in the United Kingdom. On the eve of the deadline, over 100,000 lined up overnight for a British National (Overseas) application form. While mass migration began well before 1989, the event led to the peak migration year in 1992 with 66,000 leaving.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Many citizens were pessimistic towards the future of Hong Kong and the transfer of the region's sovereignty. A tide of emigration, which was to last for no less than five years, broke out. At its peak, citizenship of small countries, such as Tonga, was also in great demand.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Singapore, which also had a predominantly Chinese population, was another popular destination, with the country's Commission (now Consulate-General) being besieged by anxious Hong Kong residents. By September 1989, 6,000 applications for residency in Singapore had been approved by the commission. Some consul staff were suspended or arrested for their corrupt behaviour in granting immigration visas.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: In April 1997, the acting immigration officer at the US Consulate-General, James DeBates, was suspended after his wife was arrested for the smuggling of Chinese migrants into the United States. The previous year, his predecessor, Jerry Stuchiner, had been arrested for smuggling forged Honduran passports into the territory before being sentenced to 40 months in prison.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Canada (Vancouver and Toronto), the United Kingdom (London, Glasgow, and Manchester), Australia (Perth, Sydney and Melbourne), and the United States (San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles's San Gabriel Valley) were, by and large, the most popular destinations. The United Kingdom devised the British Nationality Selection Scheme, granting 50,000 families British citizenship under the British Nationality Act (Hong Kong) 1990.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Vancouver was among the most popular destinations, earning the nickname of "Hongcouver". Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver, was nicknamed "Little Hong Kong". All in all, from the start of the settlement of the negotiation in 1984 to 1997, nearly 1 million people emigrated; consequently, Hong Kong suffered serious loss of human and financial capital.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Chris Patten became the last governor of Hong Kong. This was regarded as a turning point in Hong Kong's history. Unlike his predecessors, Patten was not a diplomat, but a career politician and former Member of Parliament. He introduced democratic reforms which pushed PRC–British relations to a standstill and affected the negotiations for a smooth handover.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Patten introduced a package of electoral reforms in the Legislative Council. These reforms proposed to enlarge the electorate, thus making voting in the Legislative Council more democratic. This move posed significant changes because Hong Kong citizens would have the power to make decisions regarding their future.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The handover ceremony was held at the new wing of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai on the night of 30 June 1997.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The principal British guest was Prince Charles, who read a farewell speech on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. The newly elected Labour prime minister, Tony Blair; the foreign secretary, Robin Cook; the departing governor, Chris Patten; and the chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Charles Guthrie, also attended.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Representing the People's Republic of China were the CCP general secretary and Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, the Chinese premier, Li Peng, and the first chief executive Tung Chee-hwa. The event was broadcast around the world.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the Hong Kong government proposed a grand "Rose Garden Project" to restore faith and solidarity among the residents. As the construction of the new Hong Kong International Airport would extend well after the handover, Governor Wilson met PRC Premier Li Peng in Beijing to ease the mind of the PRC government.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The communist press published stories that the project was an evil plan to bleed Hong Kong dry before the handover, leaving the territory in serious debt. After three years of negotiations, Britain and the PRC finally reached an agreement over the construction of the new airport, and signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Removing hills and reclaiming land, it took only a few years to construct the new airport.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Walled City was originally a single fort built in the mid-19th century on the site of an earlier 17th-century watch post on the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong. After the ceding of Hong Kong Island to Britain in 1842 (Treaty of Nanjing), Manchu Qing Dynasty authorities of China felt it necessary for them to establish a military and administrative post to rule the area and to check further British influence in the area.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The 1898 Convention which handed additional parts of Hong Kong (the New Territories) to Britain for 99 years excluded the Walled City, with a population of roughly 700. It stated that China could continue to keep troops there, so long as they did not interfere with Britain's temporary rule.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Britain quickly went back on this unofficial part of the agreement, attacking Kowloon Walled City in 1899, only to find it deserted. They did nothing with it, or the outpost, and thus posed the question of Kowloon Walled City's ownership squarely up in the air. The outpost consisted of a yamen, as well as buildings which grew into low-lying, densely packed neighbourhoods from the 1890s to 1940s.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The enclave remained part of Chinese territory despite the turbulent events of the early 20th century that saw the fall of the Qing government, the establishment of the Republic of China and, later, a Communist Chinese government (PRC).


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Squatters began to occupy the Walled City, resisting several attempts by Britain in 1948 to drive them out. The Walled City became a haven for criminals and drug addicts, as the Hong Kong Police had no right to enter the City and China refused maintainability. The 1949 foundation of the People's Republic of China added thousands of refugees to the population, many from Guangdong; by this time, Britain had had enough, and simply adopted a "hands-off" policy.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: A murder that occurred in Kowloon Walled City in 1959 set off a small diplomatic crisis, as the two nations each tried to get the other to accept responsibility for a vast tract of land now virtually ruled by anti-Manchurian Triads.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: After the Joint Declaration in 1984, the PRC allowed British authorities to demolish the city and resettle its inhabitants. The mutual decision to tear down the walled city was made in 1987. The government spent up to HK$3 billion to resettle the residents and shops.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Some residents were not satisfied with the compensation, and some even obstructed the demolition in every possible way. Ultimately, everything was settled, and the Walled City became a park.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The Republic of China on Taiwan promulgated the "Laws and Regulations Regarding Hong Kong & Macao Affairs" on 2 April 1997 by Presidential Order, and the Executive Yuan on 19 June 1997 ordered the provisions pertaining to Hong Kong to take effect on 1 July 1997.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The United States–Hong Kong Policy Act or more commonly known as the Hong Kong Policy Act (PL no. 102-383m 106 Stat. 1448) is a 1992 act enacted by the United States Congress. It allows the United States to continue to treat Hong Kong separately from China for matters concerning trade export and economics control after the handover.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The United States was represented by then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Hong Kong handover ceremony. However, she partially boycotted it in protest of China's dissolution of the democratically elected Hong Kong legislature.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The handover marked the end of British rule in Hong Kong, which was Britain's last substantial overseas territory. Although in statute law set down by Parliament, British Hong Kong had no status of pre-eminence vis-a-vis the other British Dependent Territories (as they were then classified before the term British Overseas Territory was introduced in 2002), Hong Kong was by far the most populous and economically potent. In 1997 the colony had a population of approximately 6.5 million, which represented roughly 97% of the population of the British Dependent Territories as a whole at that time (the next largest, Bermuda, having a 1997 population of approximately only 62,000). With a gross domestic product of approximately US$180 billion in the last year of British rule, Hong Kong's economy was roughly 11% the size of Britain's. Therefore, although the economies of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong were measured separately, the Handover did mean the British economy in its very broadest sense became substantially smaller (by comparison, the acquisition of Hong Kong boosted the size of the Chinese economy, which was then smaller than the United Kingdom's, by 18.4%). As a comparator to Hong Kong, in 2017 Bermuda (as with population, the economically largest of Britain's remaining territories) had a GDP of only US$4.7 billion.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: The cession of Hong Kong meant that Britain's remaining territories (excepting the United Kingdom itself) henceforth consisted either of uninhabited lands (for instance the British Antarctic Territory), small islands or micro land masses (such as Montserrat), territories used as military bases (for example Akrotiri and Dhekelia on the island of Cyprus, itself a former crown colony granted independence in 1960), or a combination of the latter two (like Gibraltar). While many of Britain's remaining territories are significant to the global economy by virtue of being offshore financial centres (Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands being the most prominent of these), their economies are insubstantial. Demographically, they are also tiny compared to Britain, with a collective population of less than 0.4% of Britain's 2017 population of 66 million. As of 2018, the combined population of Britain's remaining fourteen Overseas Territories is approximately 250,000, which is less than all but three districts of Hong Kong, and roughly equal to that of the City of Westminster.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Consequently, because ceding Hong Kong came at the end of half a century of decolonisation, and because the handover meant that the United Kingdom became without significant overseas territories, dominions, or colonies for the first time in its history (Great Britain, having been bequeathed the incipient domains of its later empire by inheriting the colonial possessions of the Kingdom of England upon the passing of the Acts of Union 1707, always having been an imperial power, ab initio), the handover of Hong Kong to China is regarded by some as marking the conclusion of the British Empire, with 1 July 1997 being its end date and the handover ceremony being its last diplomatic act.


title: Handover of Hong Kong

text: Scholars have begun to study the complexities of the transfer as shown in the popular media, such as films, television and video and online games. For example, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan made a sci-fi thriller "The Midnight After" (2014) that stressed the sense of loss and alienation represented by survivors in an apocalyptic Hong Kong. Chan infuses a political agenda in the film by playing on Hong Kongers' collective anxiety towards communist China. Yiman Wang has argued that America has viewed China through the prisms of films from Shanghai and Hong Kong, with a recent emphasis on futuristic disaster films set in Hong Kong after the transfer goes awry.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Saeed Jaffrey (8 January 1929 – 15 November 2015) was a British-Indian actor. His career covered film, radio, stage and television roles over six decades and more than 150 British, American, and Indian movies. During the 1980s and 1990s he was considered to be Britain's highest-profile Asian actor, thanks to his leading roles in the movie "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985) and television series "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984), "Tandoori Nights" (1985–1987) and "Little Napoleons" (1994). He played an instrumental part in bringing together film makers James Ivory and Ismail Merchant and acted in several of their Merchant Ivory Productions films such as "The Guru" (1969), "Hullabaloo Over Georgie and Bonnie's Pictures" (1978), "The Courtesans of Bombay" (1983) and "The Deceivers" (1988).


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: He broke into Indian films with Satyajit Ray's "Shatranj Ke Khilari" (1977) for which he won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award in 1978. His cameo role as the "paanwala" Lallan Miyan in "Chashme Buddoor" (1981) won him popularity with Indian audiences. He became a household name in India with his roles in Raj Kapoor's "Ram Teri Ganga Maili" (1985) and "Henna" (1991), both of which won him nominations for the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: He was the first Asian to receive British and Canadian film award nominations. In 1995 he was awarded an OBE in recognition of his services to drama, the first Asian to receive this honour. His memoirs, "Saeed: An Actor's Journey", were published in 1998. He died at a hospital in London on 15 November 2015, after collapsing from a brain haemorrhage at his home. He was posthumously given the Padma Shri award in January 2016.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Saeed Jaffrey was born on 8 January 1929 to a Punjabi Muslim family in Malerkotla, Punjab region. At that time, his maternal grandfather, Khan Bahadur Fazle Imam, was the Dewan or Prime Minister of the princely state of Malerkotla. His father, Dr Hamid Hussain Jaffrey, was a physician and a civil servant with the Health Services department of the United Provinces of British India. Jaffrey and his family moved from one medical posting to another within the United Provinces, living in cities like Muzaffarnagar, Lucknow, Mirzapur, Kanpur, Aligarh, Mussoorie, Gorakhpur and Jhansi.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1938, Jaffrey joined Minto Circle School at Aligarh Muslim University where he developed his talent for mimicry. In 1939 he played the role of Dara Shikoh in a school play about Aurangzeb. At Aligarh, Jaffrey also mastered the Urdu language and attended riding school. At the local cinemas in Aligarh, he saw many Bollywood movies and became a fan of Motilal, Prithviraj Kapoor, Noor Mohammed Charlie, Fearless Nadia, Kanan Bala and Durga Khote.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1941 at Mussoorie, Jaffrey attended Wynberg Allen School, a Church of England public school, where he picked up British-accented English. He played the role of the Cockney cook, Mason, in the annual school play, R. C. Sherriff's "Journey's End". After completing his Senior Cambridge there, Jaffrey attended St. George's College, Mussoorie, an all-boys' Roman Catholic school run by Brothers of Saint Patrick. He played the role of Kate Hardcastle in the annual school play, Oliver Goldsmith's "She Stoops To Conquer". At Mussoorie, Jaffrey and his brother Waheed would often sneak out at night to watch British and American films at the local theatres.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1945, Jaffrey gained admission to Allahabad University where he completed his BA in English literature in 1948 and MA in medieval Indian literature in 1950. At Allahabad, Jaffrey learned about Hindu religion and mythology for the first time. While visiting his father in Gorakhpur in the winter of 1945, Jaffrey discovered the BBC World Service on the shortwave radio. When India gained independence from Britain on 15 August 1947 Jaffrey heard Jawaharlal Nehru's inaugural speech on All India Radio as the Prime Minister of India, titled "Tryst with Destiny". The partition of India caused all of Jaffrey's relatives in New Delhi and Bannoor, Punjab, to migrate to Pakistan.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In February 1951, Jaffrey travelled to New Delhi to try his luck as a cartoonist, writer or broadcaster. He successfully auditioned as an announcer at All India Radio. He started his radio career as an English Announcer with the External Services of All India Radio on 2 April 1951 for a salary of ₹250 / month. Unable to afford a place to stay and having no relatives in the city, Jaffrey spent his nights on the bench behind the office building. Mehra Masani, the station director, eventually arranged for him to share a room at the YMCA for ₹30 / month. Jaffrey bought a Raleigh bicycle for the commute.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Along with Frank Thakurdas and "Benji" Benegal, Jaffrey set up the Unity Theatre, an English-language repertory company at New Delhi in 1951. The first production was of Jean Cocteau's play "The Eagle Has Two Heads", with Madhur Bahadur playing the role of the "Queen's Reader" opposite Saeed as Azrael. Unity Theatre subsequently staged J. B. Priestley's "Dangerous Corner", Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood", Molière's "The Bourgeois Gentleman", Christopher Fry's "The Firstborn" and T. S. Eliot's "The Cocktail Party ".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: After graduation from Miranda House in 1953, Bahadur joined All India Radio. She worked as a disc jockey at night. Jaffrey and Bahadur, having fallen "madly in love", dated at Gaylord, a restaurant in Connaught Place. At Unity Theatre, Bahadur and Jaffrey acted together in Christopher Fry's "A Phoenix Too Frequent", followed by Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest", Tennessee Williams' "Auto-da-Fé", and William Shakespeare's "Othello".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In early 1955, Bahadur left to study drama formally at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), a drama school in the UK. In late 1955, Jaffrey won a Fulbright scholarship to study drama in America the following year. In spring 1956, he approached Bahadur's parents in Delhi for her hand in marriage but they refused because they felt that his financial prospects as an actor did not appear sound. In summer 1956, Jaffrey resigned from his position as Radio Director at All India Radio. He flew to London on his way to America and proposed to Bahadur. She refused but gave him a tour of RADA where she pointed out a young Peter O'Toole and other English stage actors who would later achieve prominence. A few days later, Jaffrey boarded the "RMS Queen Elizabeth" to sail across the Atlantic Ocean from Southampton to New York City.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1957, Jaffrey graduated from the Catholic University of America's Department of Speech and Drama and was selected to act in summer stock plays at St. Michael’s Playhouse in Winooski, Vermont. Jaffrey arranged for Bahadur to join him there after she graduated from RADA. He played the lead in three of the plays put on by St. Michael’s Playhouse: Sakini, the Okinawan interpreter in "The Teahouse of the August Moon"; barrister Sir Wilfred Robarts in Agatha Christie's "Witness for the Prosecution"; and Voice of God, with Gino, in "The Little World of Don Camillo".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In September 1957, Bahadur and Jaffrey returned to Washington, D.C. where Jaffrey rehearsed for the 1957 – 58 season with the National Players, a professional touring company that performed classical plays all over America. He was the first Indian to take Shakespearean plays on a tour of the United States. He was cast in the role of Friar Laurence in "Romeo and Juliet". He played Gremio in "The Taming of the Shrew". Midway through the tour, Jaffrey returned to Washington DC from Miami to marry Bahadur in a modest civil ceremony. The next day, they travelled to New York City where Bahadur was taken on as a tour guide at the United Nations while Jaffrey undertook public relations work for the Government of India Tourist Office. They lived on West 27th Street, between Sixth and Broadway. Between 1959 and 1962 Bahadur and Jaffrey had three daughters, Meera, Zia and Sakina.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1958, Jaffrey joined Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and played the lead in an Off-Broadway production of Federico García Lorca's "Blood Wedding". At this time, he met Ismail Merchant who had recently arrived from Bombay to attend the New York University Stern School of Business. Merchant approached Jaffrey with a proposal to put on a Broadway production of "The Little Clay Cart" starring the Jaffreys. Jaffrey took him home for dinner, where he met Madhur for the first time. In 1959, James Ivory, then a budding filmmaker from California, approached Jaffrey to provide the narration for his short film about Indian miniature painting, "The Sword and the Flute" (1959). Jaffrey provided the narration for Ismail Merchant's Oscar-nominated short film, "The Creation of Woman" (1960). The same year, he appeared in a limited run off-Broadway production of "Twelfth Night" at the Equity Library Theatre in the role of sea captain Antonio.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1961, when "The Sword and the Flute" was shown in New York City, the Jaffreys encouraged Ismail Merchant to attend the screening, where he met Ivory for the first time. They subsequently met regularly at the Jaffreys' dinners and cemented their relationship into a lifetime partnership, both personal and professional. The Jaffreys planned to go back to India, start a travelling company and tour with it. They would often discuss this idea with James Ivory and started writing a script in his brownstone on East 64th Street.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1961, Jaffrey was forced to give up his job as Publicity Officer with the Government of India Tourist Office. He went back to radio and joined The New York Times Company's radio station WQXR-FM, where his first broadcast programme was "Reflections of India with Saeed Jaffrey". Jaffrey also took up acting on stage. The pay for such roles was generally $10/hour.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Within a year of Jaffrey's joining the Actors Studio in 1958, he was able to get Madhur admitted there too. However, they left by 1962 because they felt the criticism offered by Lee Strasberg was too much for their sensitivity. He played the role of the Wigmaker in a three-week run of a theatre version of Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon" at Fort Lee Playhouse in New Jersey. He appeared briefly in Rabindranath Tagore's "The King of the Dark Chamber" along with Madhur. From January to May 1962, Jaffrey appeared at Broadway's Ambassador Theatre in a stage adaption of E. M. Forster's novel "A Passage to India" in the role of Professor Godbole. In November 1962 Madhur and Saeed appeared in Rolf Forsberg's Off-Broadway production of "A Tenth of an Inch Makes The Difference". Their performance was described by "The New York Times" drama critic, Milton Esterow, as "sensitive acting" that made up "the brightest part of the evening".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1963, Jaffrey toured with Lotte Lenya and the American National Theater and Academy to perform "Brecht on Brecht", a revue which was seen in Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee and Detroit. In summer 1964, Jaffrey along with some actor friends, created a multi-racial touring company called Theater In The Street, giving free performances of Molière's "The Doctor Despite Himself" in Harlem, Brooklyn and Bedford–Stuyvesant.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: By 1964, the Jaffreys' marriage had collapsed. Madhur arranged for their children to live with her parents and sister in Delhi while she went to Mexico for the formal divorce proceedings. The divorce was finalized in 1966.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1965, Jaffrey was offered the role of the Hindu God Brahma in "Kindly Monkeys" at the Arts Theatre, London. Favourable reviews of the play brought an offer from the BBC World Service to write, act and narrate scripts in Urdu and Hindi. Jaffrey played the small part of barrister Hamidullah in the BBC Television adaptation of "A Passage to India". In order to pay the rent on his one-bedroom flat in Chelsea, Jaffrey took a job as an assistant cashier at Liberty's, a department store selling luxury goods.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In early 1966, Jaffrey returned to New York City to play the haiku-karate expert Korean police chief Kim Bong Choy in "Nathan Weinstein, Mystic, Connecticut" that opened on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre. In summer that year he played a role in "The Coffee Lover", a comedy starring Alexis Smith that toured Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine. Later that year, he recorded a narration of the "Kama Sutra" titled "The Art of Love" for Vanguard Records. It was listed by "Time" magazine in February 1967 as "one of the five best spoken word records ever made".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Back in London, Jaffrey was given the opportunity to shoot in India for the next Merchant Ivory film, "The Guru" (1969). He flew to Bombay in December 1967 and met his daughters after a gap of three years. He returned to London in the summer of 1968. He became the first Indian in a starring role in London's West End theatre when he played a Pakistani photographer in "On A Foggy Day". In 1975 he appeared as Billy Fish in John Huston's classic film "The Man Who Would Be King".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In the 1980s, Jaffrey won substantial roles on British television in colonial dramas "The Jewel in the Crown" and "The Far Pavilions" plus the British Indian sitcom "Tandoori Nights", "Little Napoleons" (1994) and the ITV soap "Coronation Street".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: He was the subject of "This Is Your Life" in 2001 when he was surprised by Michael Aspel during the curtain call of the musical "The King and I" at the London Palladium.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: The veteran actor died in the early hours of 14 November 2015 at a London hospital. He was 86 years old. He had collapsed at his London residence from a brain haemorrhage and never regained consciousness. His funeral was held in London on 7 December.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Jaffrey appeared in many Bollywood and Hollywood movies, and appeared with actors including Sean Connery, Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan. He starred in cinema directed by Satyajit Ray, James Ivory and Richard Attenborough.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: His film credits include "The Wilby Conspiracy" (1975), "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), "Shatranj Ke Khiladi" ("The Chess Players") (1977), "Sphinx" (1981), as Sardar Patel in "Gandhi" (1982), "A Passage to India" (1965 BBC version and 1984 film), "The Far Pavilions" (1984), "The Razor's Edge" (1984), and "My Beautiful Laundrette" (1985).


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: He also appeared in many Bollywood films in the 1980s and 1990s. For television he starred in "The Protectors" (1973), "The Persuaders!" "Gangsters" (1975–1978), "The Jewel in the Crown" (1984), "Tandoori Nights" (1985–1987) and "Little Napoleons" (1994). He also appeared as Ravi Desai on "Coronation Street" and in "Minder" as Mr Mukerjee in Series 1 episode "The Bengal Tiger".


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Saeed Jaffrey was born into an Indian Muslim family, the eldest of the four children of Hamid Hussain Jaffrey and his wife Hamida Begum. He has two brothers, Waheed and Hameed, and a sister, Shagufta. His father was a doctor in government service who was posted in many rural areas across the United Provinces, and the family invariably moved with him. Jaffrey's maternal grandfather was the diwan (first minister) of Malerkotla State at the time of Jaffrey's birth. Jaffrey was born in Malerkotla and grew up in the interior of Uttar Pradesh.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: Jaffrey married twice. His first wife, Madhur Jaffrey, came from an old and affluent Hindu Kayastha business family of Old Delhi. She is a well-known character actress who appeared in a number of Indian and British films such as Saagar, Heat and Dust and Cotton Mary. Madhur is also a connoisseur of cuisine who has written several books on the culinary arts. Jaffrey and Madhur were married in Washington DC in September 1958 and divorced in Mexico in 1966. They had meanwhile become the parents of three daughters: Zia, Meera and Sakina. The couple's youngest daughter, Sakina Jaffrey, is also an actress, who made her debut acting alongside her mother in Merchant-Ivory's "The Perfect Murder" (1988). After the divorce, the children were sent to India, to be cared for by Madhur's parents and sister in Delhi. Madhur married again, as early as in 1969, to Sanford Allen, an American classical violinist, but she retained Jaffrey's surname for reasons of professional advancement, remaining known to the public as "Madhur Jaffrey". Due to this, the fact of their early divorce was generally unknown to the public, and the two remained associated with one another in the public mind even to the end.


title: Saeed Jaffrey

text: In 1980, Jaffrey married Jennifer Sorrell, an agent and freelance casting director. Their marriage of thirty-five years lasted until his death in 2015. There were no children from this marriage.


title: Friendship

text: Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague.


title: Friendship

text: In some cultures, the concept of friendship is restricted to a small number of very deep relationships; in others, such as the U.S. and Canada, a person could have many friends, plus perhaps a more intense relationship with one or two people, who may be called "good friends" or "best friends". Other colloquial terms include "besties" or "Best Friends Forever" ("BFF"s). Although there are many forms of friendship, some of which may vary from place to place, certain characteristics are present in many such bonds. Such features include choosing to be with one another, enjoying time spent together, and being able to engage in a positive and supportive role to one another.


title: Friendship

text: Sometimes friends are distinguished from family, as in the saying "friends and family", and sometimes from lovers (e.g., "lovers and friends"), although the line is blurred with friends with benefits. The "friend zone" is a place where someone is restricted from rising up to the status of lover (see also Unrequited love).


title: Friendship

text: Friendship has been studied in academic fields, such as communication, sociology, social psychology, anthropology, and philosophy. Various academic theories of friendship have been proposed, including social exchange theory, equity theory, relational dialectics, and attachment styles.


title: Friendship

text: The understanding of friendship in children tends to be more heavily focused on areas such as common activities, physical proximity, and shared expectations. These friendships provide opportunity for playing and practicing self-regulation. Most children tend to describe friendship in terms of things like sharing, and children are more likely to share with someone they consider to be a friend. As children mature, they become less individualized and are more aware of others. They gain the ability to empathize with their friends, and enjoy playing in groups. They also experience peer rejection as they move through the middle childhood years. Establishing good friendships at a young age helps a child to be better acclimated in society later on in their life.


title: Friendship

text: Based upon the reports of teachers and mothers, 75% of preschool children had at least one friend. This figure rose to 78% through the fifth grade, as measured by co-nomination as friends, and 55% had a mutual best friend. About 15% of children were found to be chronically friendless, reporting periods without mutual friends at least six months.


title: Friendship

text: Studies have shown that friendships in childhood can assist in the development of certain skills, such as building empathy and learning different problem solving techniques.


title: Friendship

text: Coaching from parents can be useful in helping children to make friends. Eileen Kennedy-Moore describes three key ingredients of children's friendship formation: (1) openness, (2) similarity, and (3) shared fun. Parents can also help children understand social guidelines they haven't learned on their own. Drawing from research by Robert Selman and others, Kennedy-Moore outlines developmental stages in children's friendship, reflecting an increasing capacity to understand others' perspectives: "I Want It My Way", "What's In It For Me?", "By the Rules", "Caring and Sharing", and "Friends Through Thick and Thin."


title: Friendship

text: In adolescence, friendships become "more giving, sharing, frank, supportive, and spontaneous." Adolescents tend to seek out peers who can provide such qualities in a reciprocal relationship, and to avoid peers whose problematic behavior suggest they may not be able to satisfy these needs. Personal characteristics and dispositions are also features sought by adolescents, when choosing whom to begin a friendship with. During adolescence, friendship relationships are more based on similar morals and values, loyalty, and shared interests than that of children, in which friendships stem from being in the same vicinity and access to playthings.


title: Friendship

text: One large study of American adolescents determined how their engagement in problematic behavior (such as stealing, fighting, and truancy) was related to their friendships. Findings indicated that adolescents were less likely to engage in problem behavior when their friends did well in school, participated in school activities, avoided drinking, and had good mental health. The opposite was found regarding adolescents who did engage in problematic behavior. Whether adolescents were influenced by their friends to engage in problem behavior depended on how much they were exposed to those friends, and whether they and their friendship groups "fit in" at school.


title: Friendship

text: Friendships formed during post-secondary education last longer than friendships formed earlier. In late adolescence, cross-racial friendships tend to be uncommon, likely due to prejudice and cultural differences.


title: Friendship

text: Friendship in adulthood provides companionship, affection, as well as emotional support, and contributes positively to mental well-being and improved physical health.


title: Friendship

text: Adults may find it particularly difficult to maintain meaningful friendships in the workplace. "The workplace can crackle with competition, so people learn to hide vulnerabilities and quirks from colleagues. Work friendships often take on a transactional feel; it is difficult to say where networking ends and real friendship begins." Unlike younger people, many adults value their financial well-being and security that their job provides rather than developing friendships with coworkers.


title: Friendship

text: The majority of adults have an average of two close friends. Numerous studies with adults suggest that friendships and other supportive relationships do enhance self-esteem.


title: Friendship

text: Older adults continue to report high levels of personal satisfaction in their friendships as they age, even as the overall number of friends tends to decline. This satisfaction is associated with an increased ability to accomplish activities of daily living, as well as a reduced decline in cognitive abilities, decreased instances of hospitalization, and better outcomes related to rehabilitation. The overall number of reported friends in later life may be mediated by increased lucidity, better speech and vision, and marital status. A decline in the number of friends an individual has as they become older has been explained by Carstensen's Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, which describes a change in motivation that adults experience when socializing. The theory states that an increase in age is characterized by a shift from information-gathering to emotional regulation; in order to maintain positive emotions, older adults restrict their social groups to those whom they share an emotional bond.


title: Friendship

text: Research within the past four decades has now consistently found that older adults reporting the highest levels of happiness and general well being also report strong, close ties to numerous friends.


title: Friendship

text: As family responsibilities and vocational pressures lessen, friendships become more important. Among the elderly, friendships can provide links to the larger community, serve as a protective factor against depression and loneliness, and compensate for potential losses in social support previously given by family members. Especially for people who cannot go out as often, interactions with friends allow for continued societal interaction. Additionally, older adults in declining health who remain in contact with friends show improved psychological well-being.


title: Friendship

text: Some factors affect most people. For example, most people underestimate how much other people like them. The liking gap can make it difficult to form friendships.


title: Friendship

text: People with certain types of developmental disorders may struggle more than usual to make and maintain friendships.


title: Friendship

text: Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have difficulty forming and maintaining friendships, due to a limited ability to build social skills through observational learning, difficulties attending to social cues, and because of the social impacts of impulsive behavior and a greater tendency to engage in behavior that may be seen as disruptive by their peers. In a 2007 review, no treatment was identified which effectively address peer functioning in children with ADHD, and treatments which addressed other aspects of the disorder were not found to eliminate issues related to peer functioning.


title: Friendship

text: Certain symptoms of autism spectrum disorders can interfere with the formation of interpersonal relations, such as a preference for routine actions, resistance to change, obsession with particular interests or rituals, and a lack of social skills. Autistic children have been found to be more likely to be close friends of one person, rather than having groups of friends. Additionally, they are more likely to be close friends of other children with some sort of a disability. A sense of parental attachment aids in the quality of friendships in children with autism spectrum disorders; a sense of attachment with one's parents compensates for a lack of social skills that would usually inhibit friendships.


title: Friendship

text: A study done by Frankel et al. showed that parental intervention and instruction plays an important role in such children developing friendships. Along with parental intervention, school professionals play an important role in teaching social skills and peer interaction. Paraprofessionals, specifically one-on-one aides and classroom aides, are often placed with children with autism spectrum disorders in order to facilitate friendships and guide the child in making and maintaining substantial friendships.


title: Friendship

text: Although lessons and training may help peers of children with autism, bullying is still a major concern in social situations. According to Anahad O'Connor of "The New York Times", bullying is most likely to occur against children with autism spectrum disorders who have the most potential to live independently. Such children are more at risk because they have as many of the rituals and lack of social skills as children who are more visibly autistic, but they are more likely to be mainstreamed in school. Autistic children have more difficulty attending to social cues, and so may not always recognize when they are being bullied.


title: Friendship

text: Children with Down syndrome have increased difficulty forming friendships. They experience a language delay causing them to have a harder time playing with other children. Most children with Down syndrome may prefer to watch other students and play "alongside" a friend but not "with" them, mostly because they understand more than they can outwardly express. In preschool years, children with Down syndrome can benefit from the classroom setting, surrounded by other children and less dependent on adult aid. Children with this disability benefit from a variety of interactions with both adults and children. At school, ensuring an inclusive environment in the classroom can be difficult, but proximity to close friends can be crucial for social development.


title: Friendship

text: Studies have found that strong social supports improve a person's prospects for good health and longevity. Conversely, loneliness and a lack of social supports have been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, viral infections, and cancer, as well as higher mortality rates overall. Two researchers have even termed friendship networks a "behavioral vaccine" that boosts both physical and mental health.


title: Friendship

text: There is a large body of research linking friendship and health, but the precise reasons for the connection remain unclear. Most of the studies in this area are large prospective studies that follow people over time, and while there may be a correlation between the two variables (friendship and health status), researchers still do not know if there is a cause and effect relationship, such as the notion that good friendships actually improve health. A number of theories have attempted to explain this link. These theories have included that good friends encourage their friends to lead more healthy lifestyles; that good friends encourage their friends to seek help and access services when needed; that good friends enhance their friends' coping skills in dealing with illness and other health problems; and that good friends actually affect physiological pathways that are protective of health.


title: Friendship

text: The lack of friendship has been found to play a role in increasing risk of suicidal ideation among female adolescents, including having more friends who were not themselves friends with one another. However, no similar effect was observed for males. Having few or no friends is a major indicator in the diagnosis of a range of mental disorders.


title: Friendship

text: Higher friendship quality directly contributes to self-esteem, self-confidence, and social development. A World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier, although the absolute number of friends did not increase happiness. Other studies have suggested that children who have friendships of a high quality may be protected against the development of certain disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Conversely, having few friends is associated with dropping out of school, as well as aggression, and adult crime. Peer rejection is also associated with lower later aspiration in the workforce, and participation in social activities, while higher levels of friendship was associated with higher adult self-esteem.


title: Friendship

text: The dissolution of a friendship may be viewed as a personal rejection, or may be the result of natural changes over time, as friends grow more distant both physically and emotionally. The disruption of friendships has been associated with increased guilt, anger and depression, and may be highly stressful events, especially in childhood. However, potential negative effects can be mitigated if the dissolution of a friendship is replaced with another close relationship.


title: Friendship

text: Friends tend to be more similar to one another in terms of age, gender, behavior, substance abuse, personal disposition, and academic performance. In ethnically diverse countries, there is broad evidence that children and adolescents tend to form friendships with others of the same race or ethnicity, beginning in preschool, and peaking in middle or late childhood.


title: Friendship

text: In general, female-female friendship interactions among children tend to focus on interpersonal connections and mutual support. In contrast, male-male interaction tends to be more focused on social status. As a result, they may actively discourage the expression of emotional needs.


title: Friendship

text: Females report more anxiety, jealousy, and relational victimization and less stability related to their friendships. Males, on the other hand, report higher levels of physical victimization. Nevertheless, males and females tend to report relative satisfaction levels with their friendships.


title: Friendship

text: Women tend to be more expressive and intimate in their same-sex friendships and have a smaller range of friends. Males are more likely to define intimacy in terms of shared physical experiences. In contrast, females are more likely to define it in shared emotional ones. Males are less likely to make emotional or personal disclosures to other males because they could use this information against them. However, they will disclose this information to females (as they are not in competition with them), and males tend to regard friendships with females as more meaningful, intimate, and pleasant. Male-male friendships are generally more like alliances, while female-female friendships are much more attachment-based. As a result, this also means that the end of male-male friendships tends to be less emotionally upsetting than that of female-female friendships.


title: Friendship

text: Women tend to be more socially adept than their male peers among older adults. As a result, many older men may rely upon a female companion, such as a spouse, to compensate for their comparative lack of social skills. One study found that women in Europe and North America were slightly more likely than men to self-report having a best friend.


title: Friendship

text: Which relationships count as true friendships, rather than as an acquaintance or a co-worker, varies by culture. In English-speaking cultures, it is not unusual for people to include weaker relationships as being friends. In other cultures, such as the Russian and Polish cultures, only the most significant relationships are considered friends. A Russian might have one or two friends plus a large number of "pals" or acquaintances; a Canadian in similar circumstances might count all of these relationships as being friends.


title: Friendship

text: When discussing taboos of friendship it was found that Chinese respondents found more than their British counterparts.


title: Friendship

text: Friendship is found among animals of higher intelligence, such as higher mammals and some birds. Cross-species friendships are common between humans and domestic animals. Cross-species friendships may also occur between two non-human animals, such as dogs and cats.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba (; ), or Cordova () in English, is a city in Andalusia, Spain, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It is the third most populated municipality in Andalusia and the 11th overall in the country.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The city primarily lies on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Once a Roman settlement, it was taken over by the Visigoths, followed by the Muslim conquests in the eighth century and later becoming the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. During these Muslim periods, Córdoba was transformed into a world leading center of education and learning, producing figures such as Maimonides, Averroes, Ibn Hazm, and Al-Zahrawi, and by the 10th century it had grown to be the second-largest city in Europe. Following the Christian conquest in 1236, it became part of the Crown of Castile.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba is home to notable examples of Moorish architecture such as the Mezquita-Catedral, which was named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984 and is now a cathedral. The UNESCO status has since been expanded to encompass the whole historic centre of Córdoba, Medina-Azahara and Festival de los Patios. Córdoba has more World Heritage Sites than anywhere in the world, with four. Much of this architecture, such as the Alcázar and the Roman bridge has been reworked or reconstructed by the city's successive inhabitants.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba has the highest summer temperatures in Spain and Europe, with average high temperatures around in July and August. Summers are very dry whereas the mild winters have frequent rainfall.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The name "Córdoba" has attracted a number of fanciful explanations. Another, suggested in 1799 by José Antonio Conde, is that the name comes from a Phoenician-Punic "qart ṭūbah" meaning 'good town'. After the Roman conquest, the town's name was Latinised as "Corduba".


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The first traces of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 42,000 to 35,000 BC. Pre-urban settlements around the mouth of the Guadalquivir river are known to have existed from the 8th century BC. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy. The first historical mention of a settlement dates to the Carthaginian expansion across the Guadalquivir. Córdoba was conquered by the Romans in 206 BC.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In 169 BC, Roman consul Marcus Claudius Marcellus (grandson of Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had governed both Hispania Ulterior and Hispania Citerior, respectively), founded a Latin colony alongside the pre-existing Iberian settlement. The date is contested; it could have been founded in 152 BC. Between 143 and 141 BC the town was besieged by Viriatus. A Roman forum is known to have existed in the city in 113 BC. The famous Cordoba Treasure, with mixed local and Roman artistic traditions, was buried in the city at this time; it is now in the British Museum.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Corduba became a Roman "colonia" with the name "Colonia Patricia", between 46 and 45 BC. It was sacked by Caesar in 45 because of its fealty to Pompey, and resettled with veteran soldiers by Augustus. It became the capital of Baetica, with a forum and numerous temples, and was the main center of Roman intellectual life in "Hispania Ulterior". The Roman philosopher Seneca the Younger, his father, the orator Seneca the Elder, and his nephew, the poet Lucan came from Roman Córdoba.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the late Roman period, Corduba's bishop Hosius (Ossius) was the dominant figure of the western Church throughout the earlier 4th century. Later, Corduba occupied an important place in the "Provincia Hispaniae" of the Byzantine Empire (552–572) and under the Visigoths, who conquered it in the late 6th century.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba was captured by the Muslims in 711 or 712. Unlike other Iberian towns, no capitulation was signed and the position was taken by storm. Córdoba was in turn governed by direct Arab rule. The new Umayyad commanders established themselves within the city and in 716 it became the provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus, replacing Seville. In Arabic it was known as (Qurṭuba).


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The center of the Roman and Visigothic cities became the walled "medina". Over time, as many as 21 suburbs ( "rabaḍ", pl. "arbāḍ") developed around the city.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In 747, a battle in the surroundings of Córdoba, the , took place, pitting Arab Yemenites against northerner Qays.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Following the Abbasid ousting of the Umayyad Caliphate after 750, surviving Umayyad figure Abd ar-Rahman crossed to the Iberian Peninsula in 756. He proclaimed himself emir, known as Abd ar-Rahman I, and established his dynasty in Córdoba once the rump "wāli" Yusuf was defeated at a battle outside the city in May 756. In 785–786 (169 AH) he ordered construction of the Great Mosque of Córdoba, which was completed the next year and underwent later expansions under his successors.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Historians' estimations of Córdoba's population during the ninth century range from 75,000 to 160,000. The ruthless repression of the 818 revolt in the southern suburb of Córdoba led to the destruction of the place. In the 10th and 11th centuries Córdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world, and a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba had a prosperous economy, with manufactured goods including leather, metal work, glazed tiles and textiles, and agricultural produce including a range of fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices, and materials such as cotton, flax and silk. It was also famous as a centre of learning, home to over 80 libraries and institutions of learning, with knowledge of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, botany far exceeding the rest of Europe at the time. Later, the vizier al-Mansur – the "de facto" ruler of al-Andalus from 976 to 1002 – burned most of the books on philosophy from the library of Caliph al-Hakam II to appease Maliki jurists ("ulama"); most of the others were sold off or perished in the civil strife not long after.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: After a period of weak central rule, Abd ar-Rahman III came to power as emir in 912 and campaigned lengthily and systematically to re-establish the authority of Córdoba across Al-Andalus. In 929, after years of military and diplomatic efforts, he felt confident enough to declare himself "caliph", a title challenging the Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad and the Fatimid caliphs in North Africa. This inaugurated the height of Córdoba's power and influence in the 10th century. This century saw the construction of two palatine cities in the surroundings of Córdoba: Madīnat al-Zahrā to the west, built by Abd ar-Rahman III, and another one built later by al-Mansur () to the east. The economic historian J. Bradford DeLong estimates the city's population at 400,000 around 1000 AD, while estimates from other historians range from 100,000 to 1,000,000 during the same era. Whatever Córdoba's population was, the city's apogee came to an abrupt halt after the 1009 crisis.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: On 15 February 1009, with Hisham II as caliph and Sanchuelo as hajib (and "de facto" ruler), a revolution broke out in Córdoba, which led to the proclamation of an alternative caliph. This marked the beginning of a long period of civil war and conflict in Al-Andalus known as the "Fitna". Berbers entered and sacked Córdoba in May 1013. Hisham III was routed from Córdoba on 30 November 1031 and an oligarchic republic replaced the caliphate.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Under rule of the Banu Yahwar, Cordobese power did not extend far from the city, as other independent polities emerged in the rest of the former caliphate. An estimation of 65,000 inhabitants has been proposed for 11th-century Córdoba.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In 1070, forces from the Abbadid Taifa of Seville entered Córdoba to help in the defence of the city, that had been besieged by Al-Mamun, ruler of Toledo, yet they took control and expelled the last ruler of the taifa of Córdoba, Abd-Al Malik, forcing him to exile. Al-Mamun did not cease in his efforts to take the city, and making use of a Sevillian renegade who murdered the Abbadid governor, he triumphantly entered the city on 15 February 1075, only to die there barely five months later, apparently poisoned. Córdoba was seized by force in March 1091 by the Almoravids. In 1121, the population revolted against the abuses of the Almoravid governor.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Sworn enemies of the Almohads, Ibn Mardanīš (the "Wolf King") and his stepfather Ibrahim Ibn Hamusk allied with Alfonso VIII of Castile and laid siege on Córdoba by 1158–1160, ravaging the surroundings but failing to take the place.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Almohad caliph Abdallah al-Adil appointed (brother of Zayd Abu Zayd) as governor of Córdoba in 1224, only to see the later became independent from Caliphal rule. Al-Bayyasi asked Ferdinand III of Castile for help and Córdoba revolted against him. Years later, in 1229, the city submitted to the authority of Ibn Hud, disavowing him in 1233, joining instead the territories under Muhammad Ibn al-Aḥmar, ruler of Arjona and soon-to-be emir of Granada.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Ferdinand III entered the city on 29 June 1236, following a siege of several months. According to Arab sources, Córdoba fell on 23 Shawwal 633 (that is, on 30 June 1236, a day later than Christian tradition). Upon the city's conquest the mosque was converted into a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary ("Santa Maria"). This was also followed by the return to Santiago de Compostela of the church bells that had been looted by Almanzor and moved to Córdoba by Christian war prisoners in the late 10th century. Ferdinand III granted the city a "fuero" in 1241; it was based on the "Liber Iudiciorum" and in the customs of Toledo, yet formulated in an original way. The city was divided into 14 "colaciones", and numerous new church buildings were added.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the context of the Early Modern Period, the city experienced a golden age between 1530 and 1580, profiting from an economic activity based on the trade of agricultural products and the preparation of clothes originally from Los Pedroches, peaking at a population of about 50,000 by 1571. A period of stagnation and ensuing decline followed.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: It was reduced to 20,000 inhabitants in the 18th century. The population and economy started to increase again only in the early 20th century. The second half of the 19th century saw the arrival of railway transport via the opening of the Seville–Córdoba line on 2 June 1859.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba was connected by railway to Jerez and Cádiz in 1861 and, in 1866, following the link with Manzanares, with Madrid. The city was eventually connected to Málaga and Belmez.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: On 18 July 1936, the military governor of the province, Colonel , launched the Nationalist "coup" in the city, bombing the civil government and arresting the civil governor, Rodríguez de León; these actions ignited the Spanish Civil War. Following the orders of the putschist General Queipo de Llano, he declared a state of war. The putschists were met by the resistance of the political and social representatives who had gathered in the civil government headquarters, and remained there until the Nationalist rifle fire and the presence of artillery broke their morale. When its defenders began fleeing the building, Rodríguez de León finally decided to surrender and was arrested.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the following weeks, Queipo de Llano and Major Bruno Ibañez carried out a bloody repression in which 2,000 persons were executed. The ensuing Francoist repression in wartime and in the immediate post-war period (1936–1951) is estimated to have led to around 9,579 killings in the province.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Mosque-Cathedral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, and in 1994 this status was extended to the entire historic centre of Córdoba. The city has a number of modern areas, including the district of Zoco and the area surrounding the railway station.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The regional government (the Junta de Andalucía) has for some time been studying the creation of a "Córdoba Metropolitan Area" that would comprise, in addition to the capital itself, the towns of Villafranca de Córdoba, Obejo, La Carlota, Villaharta, Villaviciosa, Almodóvar del Río and Guadalcázar. The combined population of such an area would be around 351,000.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba is located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in the depression formed by the Guadalquivir river, that cuts across the city in an east-north east to west-south west direction. The wider municipality extends across an area of 1,254.25 km, making it the largest municipality in Andalusia and the fourth largest in Spain.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The city of Córdoba lies in the middle course of the river. Three major landscape units in the municipality include the Sierra (as in the southern reaches of Sierra Morena), the Valley proper and the "Campiña".


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The differences in elevation in the Valley are very small, ranging from 100 and 170 metres above sea level, with the city proper located at an average altitude of roughly 125 metres above sea level. The landscape of the valley is further subdivided in the "piedmont" connecting with the Sierra, the fluvial terraces and the most immediate vicinity of the river course.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Miocene "Campiña", located in the southern bank of the Guadalquivir, features a hilly landscape gently increasing in height up to about 200 m. In the "Sierra", to the north of the city, the altitude increases relatively abruptly up to 500 meters. Both the "Sierra" and the "Campiña" display viewpoints over the valley.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba has a hot Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification "Csa"). It has the highest summer average daily temperatures in Spain and Europe (with highs averaging in July) and days with temperatures over are common in the summer months. August's 24-hour average of is also one of the highest in Europe, despite relatively cool nightly temperatures.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Winters are mild, yet cooler than other low lying cities in southern Spain due to its interior location, wedged between the Sierra Morena and the Penibaetic System. Precipitation is concentrated in the coldest months; this is due to the dry summer climate pattern featured in large parts of the Iberian Peninsula. Precipitation is generated by storms from the west that occur most frequently from December to February. This Atlantic characteristic then gives way to a hot summer with significant drought more typical of Mediterranean climates. Annual rain surpasses , although it is recognized to vary from year to year.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The registered maximum temperature at the Córdoba Airport, located at from the city, was on 13 July 2017 and 14 August 2021. The lowest registered temperature was , on 28 January 2005.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Roman Bridge, over the Guadalquivir River, links the area of Campo de la Verdad with Barrio de la Catedral. It was the only bridge of the city for twenty centuries, until the construction of the San Rafael Bridge in the mid-20th century. It was initially built in the early 1st century BC during the reign of emperor Augustus but significantly rebuilt in the 8th century under Umayyad rule. It has a length of about 250 m and has 16 arches.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Other Roman remains include the Roman Temple, the Theatre, Mausoleum, the Colonial Forum, the "Forum Adiectum", an amphitheater and the remains of the Palace of Emperor Maximian in the archaeological site of Cercadilla.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: From 784- 786 AD, Abd al-Rahman I built the Great Mosque of Córdoba, one of the most famous monuments of Western Islamic (Moorish) architecture. It integrated aspects of Islamic architecture with some indigenous elements of Roman and Visigothic architecture. Later Umayyad rulers expanded the mosque, adding a minaret and extending the prayer hall. A major 10th-century expansion resulted in the elaborate mihrab and other ornate embellishments seen today. After the Christian conquest of the city the mosque was converted to a cathedral. It underwent significant modifications in the 16th century but much of the original structure remains. The building was listed as a World Heritage Site in 1984.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Built in 930 AD, the mosque that this minaret adorned has been replaced by a church and the minaret re-purposed as a tower. It retains characteristics of Islamic architecture in the region, including a double horseshoe-arch windows.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Along the banks of the Guadalquivir are the Mills of the Guadalquivir, an array of watermills from different periods that used the power of the water current to grind flour. They include the Albolafia, Alegría, Carbonell, Casillas, Enmedio, Lope García, Martos, Pápalo, San Antonio, San Lorenzo and San Rafael mills.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Calahorra is a fortified tower standing at the southern end of the city's Roman Bridge. Its original construction is attributed to the Almohad period. It now houses the Al-Andalus Living Museum ("Museo Vivo de Al-Andalus"), a museum on the cultural achievements of Al-Andalus.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Near the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, on the site of the former Islamic-era Alcázar, are the Caliphal Baths, a partly-reconstructed hammam (baths) complex created in the 10th century and subsequently expanded. The archeological site has been open as a museum since 2006.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: On the outskirts of the city lies the archaeological site of Madinat al-Zahra, the 10th-century palace-city. It is another major example of Islamic architecture in Spain and has been undergoing excavation and reconstruction since 1911.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Near the cathedral is the old Jewish quarter, which consists of many irregular streets that preserve some of the city's medieval aspect. It contains a museum, the Sepharad House, and the Synagogue, built in 1315.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Surrounding the large Old town are the Roman walls: gates include the Puerta de Almodóvar, the Puerta de Sevilla and Puerta del Puente, which are the only three gates remaining from the original thirteen. Towers and fortresses include the Malmuerta Tower, Torre de Belén and the Puerta del Rincón's Tower.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the south of the Old town and east of the great cathedral, in the Plaza del Potro, is the "Posada del Potro", a row of inns mentioned in literary works including "Don Quixote" and "La Feria de los Discretos", and which remained active until 1972. Both the plaza and the inn get their name from the fountain in the centre of the plaza, which represents a foal ("potro"). Not far from this plaza is the "Arco del Portillo" (a 14th-century arch). In the extreme southwest of the Old Town is the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, a former royal property and the seat of the Inquisition; adjacent to it are the Royal Stables, where Andalusian horses are bred. Palace buildings in the Old Town include the "Palacio de Viana" (14th century) and the "Palacio de la Merced" among others. Other sights include the "Cuesta del Bailío" (a staircase connecting the upper and lower part of the city).


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The city is home to 12 Christian churches that were built (many as transformations of mosques) by Ferdinand III of Castile after the reconquest of the city in the 13th century. They were to act both as churches and as the administrative centres in the neighborhoods into which the city was divided in medieval times. Some of those that remain are:


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Scattered throughout the city are ten statues of the Archangel Raphael, protector and custodian of the city. These are called the Triumphs of Saint Raphael, and are located in landmarks such as the Roman Bridge, the Puerta del Puente and the Plaza del Potro.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the western part of the Historic Centre are the statue of Seneca (near the "Puerta de Almodóvar", a gate from the time of Islamic rule, (the Statue of Averroes (next to the "Puerta de la Luna"), and Maimonides (in the plaza de Tiberiades). Further south, near the Puerta de Sevilla, are the sculpture to the poet Ibn Zaydún and the sculpture of the writer and poet Ibn Hazm and, inside the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, the monument to the Catholic Monarchs and Christopher Columbus.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: There are also several sculptures in plazas of the Old Town. In the central Plaza de las Tendillas is the equestrian statue of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, in the Plaza de Capuchinos is the Cristo de los Faroles, in Plaza de la Trinidad is the statue of Luis de Góngora, in the Plaza del Cardenal Salazar is the bust of Ahmad ibn Muhammad abu Yafar al-Gafiqi, in the Plaza de Capuchinas is the statue to the bishop Osio, in Plaza del Conde de Priego is the monument to Manolete and the Campo Santo de los Mártires is a statue to Al-Hakam II and the monument to the lovers.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the Jardines de la Agricultura is the monument to the painter Julio Romero de Torres, a bust by sculptor Mateo Inurria, a bust of the poet Julio Aumente and the sculpture dedicated to the gardener Aniceto García Roldán, who was killed in the park. Further south, in the Gardens of the Duke of Rivas, is a statue of writer and poet Ángel de Saavedra, 3rd Duke of Rivas by sculptor Mariano Benlliure.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: In the Guadalquivir river, near the San Rafael Bridge is the Island of the sculptures, an artificial island with a dozen stone sculptures executed during the International Sculpture Symposium. Up the river, near the Miraflores bridge, is the "Hombre Río", a sculpture of a swimmer looking to the sky and whose orientation varies depending on the current.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Córdoba is a provincial museum located near the Guadalquivir River. The museum was officially opened in 1867 and shared space with the "Museum of Fine Arts" until 1920. In 1960, the museum was relocated to the Renaissance Palace of Páez de Castillo where it remains to present day. The Archaeological and Ethnological Museum has eight halls which contain pieces from the middle to late Bronze Age, to Roman culture, Visigothic art, and Islamic culture.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Julio Romero de Torres Museum is located next to the Guadalquivir and was opened in November 1931. The home of Julio Romero de Torres, has undergone many renovations and been turned into a museum and it has also been home to several other historical institutions such as the Archaeological Museum (1868-1917) and the Museum of Fine Arts. Many of the works include paintings and motifs done by Julio Romero de Torres himself.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Fine Arts Museum of Córdoba is located next to the Julio Romero de Torres Museum which it shares a courtyard with. The building originally was for the old Hospital for Charity but after that the building went under many renovations and renewals to become the renaissance style building it is today. The Museum of Fine Arts contains many works from the baroque period, medieval renaissance art, work from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, drawings, mannerist art and other unique works.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The Diocesan Museum is located in the Córdoba's Episcopal Palace which was built upon the former Umayyad "alcázar". The collection within houses many paintings, sculptures and furniture.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Tourism is especially intense in Córdoba during May as this month hosts three of the most important annual festivals in the city:


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: As of July 2008, the city is divided into 10 administrative districts, coordinated by the Municipal district boards, which in turn are subdivided into neighbourhoods:


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba's main sports team is its association football team, Córdoba CF, which plays in the Spanish Segunda División B following a brief one-season tenure in La Liga during the 2014–15 season. Home matches are played at the Estadio Nuevo Arcángel, which has 20,989 seats.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba also has a professional futsal team, Córdoba Patrimonio de la Humanidad, which plays in the Primera División de Futsal. The local youth basketball club, CD Cordobasket, had a professional team which played in the Liga EBA for three seasons before going on hiatus in August 2019. The futsal team plays the majority of its home games at the 3,500 seat Palacio Municipal de Deportes Vista Alegre.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba railway station is connected by high speed trains to the following Spanish cities: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Málaga and Zaragoza. More than 20 trains per day connect the downtown area, in 54 minutes, with Málaga María Zambrano station, which provides interchange capability to destinations along the Costa del Sol, including Málaga Airport.


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: Córdoba has an airport, although there are no airlines operating commercial flights on it. The closest airports to the city are Seville Airport (110 km as the crow flies), Granada Airport (118 km) and Málaga Airport (136 km).


title: Córdoba, Spain

text: The main bus station is located next to the train station. Several bus companies operate intercity bus services to and from Córdoba.


title: Dictator

text: A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in times of emergency (see Roman dictator and "justitium").


title: Dictator

text: Like the term "tyrant", and to a lesser degree "autocrat", "dictator" came to be used almost exclusively as a non-titular term for oppressive rule. In modern usage the term "dictator" is generally used to describe a leader who holds or abuses an extraordinary amount of personal power. Dictatorships are often characterised by some of the following: suspension of elections and civil liberties; proclamation of a state of emergency; rule by decree; repression of political opponents; not abiding by the procedures of the rule of law, and the existence of a cult of personality centered on the leader. Dictatorships are often one-party or dominant-party states.


title: Dictator

text: A wide variety of leaders coming to power in different kinds of regimes, such as one-party states, dominant-party states, and civilian governments under a personal rule, have been described as dictators.


title: Dictator

text: The word "dictator" comes from the Latin language word "dictātor", agent noun from "dictare (dictāt-", past participial stem of "dictāre" dictate "v." + "-or" -or "suffix"). In Latin use, a "dictator" was a judge in the Roman Republic temporarily invested with absolute power. Typically, in a dictatorial regime, the leader of the country is identified with the title of dictator; although, their formal title may more closely resemble something similar to "leader."


title: Dictator

text: Originally an emergency legal appointment in the Roman Republic and the Etruscan culture, the term "Dictator" did not have the negative meaning it has now. A Dictator was a magistrate given sole power for a limited duration. At the end of the term, the Dictator's power was returned to normal Consular rule, though not all dictators accepted a return to power sharing.


title: Dictator

text: The term started to get its modern negative meaning with Cornelius Sulla's ascension to the dictatorship following Sulla's civil war, making himself the first Dictator in Rome in more than a century (during which the office was ostensibly abolished) as well as "de facto" eliminating the time limit and need of senatorial acclamation. He avoided a major constitutional crisis by resigning the office after about one year, dying a few years later. Julius Caesar followed Sulla's example in 49 BC and in February 44 BC was proclaimed "Dictator perpetuo", "Dictator in perpetuity", officially doing away with any limitations on his power, which he kept until his assassination the following month.


title: Dictator

text: Following Caesar's assassination, his heir Augustus was offered the title of dictator, but he declined it. Later successors also declined the title of dictator, and usage of the title soon diminished among Roman rulers.


title: Dictator

text: The term comes from Latin 'dictator', having same meaning as in English, originating in 'dicto': 'I dictate', which comes from 'dicio': 'exert authority', 'make a decision'.


title: Dictator

text: As late as the second half of the 19th century, the term "dictator" had occasional positive implications. For example, during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the national leader Lajos Kossuth was often referred to as dictator, without any negative connotations, by his supporters and detractors alike, although his official title was that of regent-president. When creating a provisional executive in Sicily during the Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi officially assumed the title of "Dictator" (see Dictatorship of Garibaldi). Shortly afterwards, during the 1863 January Uprising in Poland, "Dictator" was also the official title of four leaders, the first being Ludwik Mierosławski.


title: Dictator

text: Past that time, however, the term "dictator" assumed an invariably negative connotation. In popular usage, a "dictatorship" is often associated with brutality and oppression. As a result, it is often also used as a term of abuse against political opponents. The term has also come to be associated with megalomania. Many dictators create a cult of personality around themselves and they have also come to grant themselves increasingly grandiloquent titles and honours. For instance, Idi Amin Dada, who had been a British army lieutenant prior to Uganda's independence from Britain in October 1962, subsequently styled himself ""His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular"". In the movie "The Great Dictator" (1940), Charlie Chaplin satirized not only Adolf Hitler but the institution of dictatorship itself.


title: Dictator

text: A benevolent dictatorship refers to a government in which an authoritarian leader exercises absolute political power over the state but is perceived to do so with the regard for benefit of the population as a whole, standing in contrast to the decidedly malevolent stereotype of a dictator. A benevolent dictator may allow for some economic liberalization or democratic decision-making to exist, such as through public referendums or elected representatives with limited power, and often makes preparations for a transition to genuine democracy during or after their term. It might be seen as a republic, a form of enlightened despotism. The label has been applied to leaders such as Ioannis Metaxas of Greece (1936–41), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk of Turkey (1923–38), Josip Broz Tito of SFR Yugoslavia (1953–80), and Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore (1959–90).


title: Dictator

text: The association between a dictator and the military is a common one. Many dictators take great pains to emphasize their connections with the military and they often wear military uniforms. In some cases, this is perfectly legitimate; for instance, Francisco Franco was a general in the Spanish Army before he became Chief of State of Spain, and Manuel Noriega was officially commander of the Panamanian Defense Forces. In other cases, the association is mere pretense.


title: Dictator

text: Some dictators have been masters of crowd manipulation, such as Mussolini and Hitler. Others were more prosaic speakers, such as Stalin and Franco. Typically the dictator's people seize control of all media, censor or destroy the opposition, and give strong doses of propaganda daily, often built around a cult of personality.


title: Dictator

text: Mussolini and Hitler used similar, modest titles referring to them as "the Leader". Mussolini used "Il Duce" and Hitler was generally referred to as "der Führer", both meaning 'Leader' in Italian and German respectively. Franco used a similar title "El Caudillo" ("the Head", 'the chieftain') and for Stalin his adopted name, meaning "Man of Steel", became synonyms with his role as the absolute leader. For Mussolini, Hitler, and Franco, the use of modest, non-traditional titles displayed their absolute power even stronger as they did not need any, not even a historic legitimacy either. However, in the case of Franco, the title "Caudillo" did have a longer history for political-military figures in both Latin America and Spain. Franco also used the phrase "By the Grace of God" on coinage or other material displaying him as "Caudillo", whereas Hitler and Mussolini rarely used such monarchical-associated language or imagery.


title: Dictator

text: The usage of the term "dictator" in western media has been criticized by the left-leaning organization Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting as "Code for Government We Don't Like". According to them, leaders that would generally be considered authoritarian but are allied with the US such as Paul Biya or Nursultan Nazarbayev are rarely referred to as "dictators", while leaders of countries opposed to US policy such as Nicolas Maduro or Bashar Al-Assad have the term applied to them much more liberally.


title: Dictator

text: Because of its negative and pejorative connotations, modern authoritarian leaders very rarely (if ever) use the term "dictator" in their formal titles, instead they most often simply have title of president. In the 19th century, however, its official usage was more common:


title: Dictator

text: Over time, dictators have been known to use tactics that violate human rights. For example, under the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, government policy was enforced by secret police and the Gulag system of prison labour camps. Most Gulag inmates were not political prisoners, although significant numbers of political prisoners could be found in the camps at any one time. Data collected from Soviet archives gives the death toll from Gulags as 1,053,829. Other human rights abuses by the Soviet state included human experimentation, the use of psychiatry as a political weapon and the denial of freedom of religion, assembly, speech and association. Similar crimes were committed during Chairman Mao Zedong's rule over the People's Republic of China during China's Cultural Revolution, where Mao set out to purge dissidents, primarily through the use of youth groups strongly committed to his cult of personality, and during Augusto Pinochet's junta in Chile.


title: Dictator

text: Some dictators have been associated with genocide on certain races or groups; the most notable and wide-reaching example is the Holocaust, Adolf Hitler's genocide of eleven million people, six million of which were Jews. Later on in Democratic Kampuchea, General Secretary Pol Pot and his policies killed an estimated 1.7 million people (out of a population of 7 million) during his four-year dictatorship. As a result, Pol Pot is sometimes described as "the Hitler of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant".


title: Dictator

text: The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's military dictator Omar al-Bashir over alleged war crimes in Darfur.


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel (; "Yəḥezqēʾl" ; in the Septuagint written in ) is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible.


title: Ezekiel

text: In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet. In Judaism and Christianity, he is also viewed as the 6th-century BCE author of the Book of Ezekiel, which reveals prophecies regarding the destruction of Jerusalem, and the restoration to the land of Israel.


title: Ezekiel

text: The author of the Book of Ezekiel presents himself as Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, born into a priestly (kohen) lineage. Apart from identifying himself, the author gives a date for the first divine encounter which he presents: "in the thirtieth year". Ezekiel describes his calling to be a prophet by going into great detail about his encounter with God and four "living creatures" with four wheels that stayed beside the creatures.


title: Ezekiel

text: According to the Bible, Ezekiel and his wife lived during the Babylonian captivity on the banks of the Chebar River, in Tel Abib, with other exiles from Judah. There is no mention of him having any offspring.


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel's "thirtieth year" is given as the fifth year of the exile of Judah's king Jehoiachin by the Babylonians, counting the years "after" the exile in 598 BCE, that is from 597 to 593 BCE. The last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel dates to April 571 BCE, sixteen years after the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. On the basis of dates given in the Book of Ezekiel, his span of prophecies can be calculated to have occurred over the course of about 22 years, starting in 593 BCE.


title: Ezekiel

text: The Aramaic Targum on Ezekiel 1:1 and the 2nd-century rabbinic work "Seder Olam Rabba" (chapter 26) both say that Ezekiel's vision came "in the thirtieth year after Josiah was presented with a Book of the Law discovered in the Temple", the latter taking place about the time of Josiah's reforms in 622 BCE, shortly after the call of Jeremiah to prophetic ministry around 626 BCE. If the "thirtieth year" of instead refers to Ezekiel's age, then he was born around 622 BCE and was fifty years old when he had his final vision.


title: Ezekiel

text: According to Jewish tradition, Ezekiel did not write his own book, the Book of Ezekiel, but rather his prophecies were collected and written by the Men of the Great Assembly.


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, is said by Talmud and Midrash to have been a descendant of Joshua by his marriage with the proselyte and former prostitute Rahab. Some statements found in rabbinic literature posit that Ezekiel was the son of Jeremiah, who was (also) called "Buzi" because he was despised by the Jews.


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel was said to be already active as a prophet while in the Land of Israel, and he retained this gift when he was exiled with Jehoiachin and the nobles of the country to Babylon. Josephus claims that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia's armies exiled three thousand Jews from Judah, after deposing King Jehoiachin in 598 BCE.


title: Ezekiel

text: Rava states in the Babylonian Talmud that although Ezekiel describes the appearance of the throne of God (merkabah), this is not because he had seen more than the prophet Isaiah, but rather because the latter was more accustomed to such visions; for the relation of the two prophets is that of a courtier to a peasant, the latter of whom would always describe a royal court more floridly than the former, to whom such things would be familiar. Ezekiel, like all the other prophets, has beheld only a blurred reflection of the divine majesty, just as a poor mirror reflects objects only imperfectly.


title: Ezekiel

text: According to the midrash "Canticles Rabbah", it was Ezekiel whom the three pious men, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah (also called Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Bible) asked for advice as to whether they should resist Nebuchadnezzar's command and choose death by fire rather than worship his idol. At first God revealed to the prophet that they could not hope for a miraculous rescue; whereupon the prophet was greatly grieved, since these three men constituted the "remnant of Judah". But after they had left the house of the prophet, fully determined to sacrifice their lives to God, Ezekiel received this revelation: "Thou dost believe indeed that I will abandon them. That shall not happen; but do thou let them carry out their intention according to their pious dictates, and tell them nothing".


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel is commemorated as a saint in the liturgical calendar of the Eastern Orthodox Church—and those Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite—on July 21 (for those churches which use the traditional Julian Calendar, July 21 falls on August 5 of the modern Gregorian Calendar). Ezekiel is commemorated on August 28 on the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church, and on April 10 in the Roman Martyrology.


title: Ezekiel

text: Saint Bonaventure interpreted Ezekiel's statement about the "closed gate" as a prophecy of the Incarnation: the "gate" signifying the Virgin Mary and the "prince" referring to Jesus. This is one of the readings at Vespers on Great Feasts of the Theotokos in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches. This imagery is also found in the traditional Catholic Christmas hymn "Gaudete" and in a saying by Bonaventure, quoted by Alphonsus Maria de' Liguori: "No one can enter Heaven unless by Mary, as though through a door." The imagery provides the basis for the concept that God gave Mary to humanity as the "Gate of Heaven" (thence the dedication of churches and convents to the Porta Coeli), an idea also laid out in the "Salve Regina" (Hail Holy Queen) prayer.


title: Ezekiel

text: Ezekiel (; "Ḥazqiyāl") is recognized as a prophet in Islamic tradition. Although not mentioned by name in the Quran, Muslim scholars, both classical and modern have included Ezekiel in lists of the prophets of Islam.