title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In 1817, the Makaryev Fair, one of the liveliest in the world, was transferred to Nizhny Novgorod and started to attract millions of visitors annually. By the mid-19th century, the city was firmly established as the trade capital of the Russian Empire. The world's first radio receiver by engineer Alexander Popov and the world's first hyperboloid tower and lattice shell-coverings by engineer Vladimir Shukhov were demonstrated at the All-Russia industrial and art exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod in 1896. According to official Imperial Russian statistics, the population of Nizhny Novgorod as of 14 January 1913 was 97,000.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The largest industrial enterprise was the Sormovo Iron Works which was connected by the company's own railway to Moskovsky railway station in the Lower City of Nizhny Novgorod. The Kazansky railway station was in the Upper city. Other industries gradually developed, and by the start of the 20th century, the city was also a first-rank industrial hub. Henry Ford helped build a large truck and tractor plant (GAZ) in the late 1920s, sending engineers and mechanics, including future labour leader Walter Reuther.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: There were no permanent bridges over the Volga or Oka before the October Revolution in 1917. Temporary bridges were built during the trade fair. The first bridge over the Volga was started by the Moscow–Kazan Railway Company in 1914, but only finished in the Soviet Era when the railway to Kotelnich was opened for service in 1927.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The Marxist activist and Tsarist dissident Maxim Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod in 1868 as Alexey Maximovich Peshkov. In his novels he described the dismal life of the city proletariat. When he returned to the Soviet Union in 1932 on the invitation of Joseph Stalin, the city was renamed Gorky. The city bore Gorky's name until 1990. His childhood home is preserved as a museum, known as the Kashirin House, after Alexey's grandfather who owned the place.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: During World War II, from 1941 to 1943, Gorky was subjected to air raids and bombardments by Germany. The Germans tried to destroy the city industry because it was the main supplier of military equipment to the front. These attacks became the most powerful in the entire World War II in the rear of the Soviet Union.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: During much of the Soviet era, the city was closed to foreigners to safeguard the security of Soviet military research and production facilities, even though it was a popular stopping point for Soviet tourists traveling up and down the Volga in tourist boats. Unusually for a Soviet city of that size, even street maps were not available for sale until the mid-1970s. In 1970, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the city was awarded the Order of Lenin. Mátyás Rákosi, the former Stalinist General Secretary of Hungary's communist party, died in exile there in 1971. November 20, 1985, in the city was launched the first section of the metro. The physicist and Nobel laureate Andrei Sakharov was exiled there during 1980–1986 to limit his contacts with foreigners. An end to the "closed" status of the city accompanied the reinstatement of the city's original name in 1990.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod was celebrated on August 21, 2021. It celebrated the history and the great people who came from the city. The climax of the celebration was the city's 800th Anniversary Gala Show. Natalia Vodianova gave a speech and Vladimir Putin was in attendance. The Central Bank of Russia issued commemorative coins to honor the 800th anniversary.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is the administrative center (capital) of Volga Federal District and Nizhny Novgorod Oblast. Within the framework of administrative divisions, it is, together with one resort settlement and twelve rural localities, incorporated as the city of oblast significance of Nizhny Novgorod—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Nizhny Novgorod is incorporated as Nizhny Novgorod Urban Okrug.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In December 2011, Marat Safin was elected to the Russian Parliament as a member of Vladimir Putin's United Russia Party, representing Nizhny Novgorod.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is divided by the Oka River into two distinct parts. The Upper City (, "Nagornaya chast", "Mountainous part") is located on the hilly eastern (right) bank of the Oka. It includes three of the eight city districts into which the city is administratively divided:


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The Lower City (, "Zarechnaya chast", "Over river part") occupies the low (western) side of the Oka, and includes five city districts:


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is the sixth-largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg and Kazan.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The area operates in what is referred to in international standards as Moscow Standard Time (MSK), which is 3 hours ahead of UTC, or UTC+3. Daylight saving time is no longer observed.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In 1834 the first weather station was opened in Nizhny Novgorod. A century later it transformed into Gorky Hydrometeorological service, then since 1978 it is known as the Higher Volga hydrometeorology and natural habitat control department.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The climate in the region is continental, specifically humid continental ("Dfb"), and it is similar to the climate in Moscow, although colder in winter, which lasts from late November until late March with a permanent snow cover. Average temperatures range from in July to in January. Average annual temperature is , wind speed 2.8 m/s, air humidity 76%. Being far enough away from the Baltic Sea for maritime effects to lower, Nizhny Novgorod has similar winters to Bothnian Bay climates near the Arctic Circle, but instead has very warm summers for its latitude.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny receives on average 1 775 hours of sunshine a year. The maximum duration of daylight is in June (17 hours 44 minutes), and the minimum in December (6 hours 52 minutes). Overcast is often reported in winter: 75 to 80% of the time the sky is covered in clouds, while it's only 49 to 56% in April through to August. In autumn and winter, the overcast is usually in the mornings, then the sky clears in the afternoon. In spring and summer, on the contrary, it is clear in the mornings, while towards midday clouds cluster ('cumulus cloud'), and disappear towards the evening.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In spring temperatures set above zero around April 5 and stay until the end of October. On average precipitation comes at 653 mm per year, mostly in July and least of all in March. Generally, 180 days out of 365 enjoy some form of precipitation. Snow first comes in October but the blanket of snow insulates the ground at November-end and melts mid-April. As a rule, the air temperature in winter ranges from to . A storm rarely takes place in winter here (a few dates to mention are 27 November 1940, 30 November 1951, 14 February 1960, and 3 December 1962). In spring there's less precipitation than in other seasons. Spring flies by as snow melts in the second half of March and is normally gone by the end of April. Summer comes at the beginning of June, when the temperature sets around +15. Maximum heat can be observed towards the third decade of July. Average temperatures range from to . A maximum temperature of was recorded during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer heat waves. Summer rain is short but intense, with strong wind. In September temperature starts to drop and gets below in the mid-20s of the month. It rains often and heavily in autumn, and the sky is overcast.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is one of the centers of the IT industry in Russia. It ranks among the leading Russian cities in terms of the quantity of software R&D providers. Intel has a big software research and development center with more than 500 engineers in the city, as well as a major data center. In Nizhny Novgorod, there are also a number of offshore outsourcing software developers, including Bell Integrator, Itseez, Tecom, Luximax Systems Ltd., MERA, RealEast Networks, Auriga, SoftDrom, and Teleca, and many other smaller companies specializing in the delivery of services to telecommunication vendors.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: There are 25 scientific R&D institutions focusing on telecommunications, radio technology, theoretical and applied physics, and 33 higher educational institutions, among them are Nizhny Novgorod State University, Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University, Privolzhsky Research Medical University, as well as Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Information Technologies, that focuses on information technologies, software development, system administration, telecommunications, cellular networks, Internet technologies, and IT management.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod has also been chosen as one of four sites for building an IT-oriented technology park – a special zone that has an established infrastructure and enjoys a favorable tax and customs policy.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Engineering is the leading industry of Nizhny Novgorod's economy with transportation – the auto industry, shipbuilding, diesel engines, aircraft manufacture, and machine tools – predominating; the auto industry being the leading sector (50%).


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Public transportation within the city is provided by a trams, "marshrutkas" (routed taxis), buses, and trolleybuses. Electric and diesel commuter trains run to suburbs in several directions.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod Metro underground rapid transit system was opened in 1985; it now has two lines with 15 stations, connecting with railway terminal, and carrying 102,000 passengers daily.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod City Rail is a network of railway transport (S-Train) in the city. Together with the metro it forms a system of high-speed rail transport of the city. It has two lines: "Sormovskaya" and "Priokskaya". It was founded on June 24, 2013, on the basis of the Gorky Railway, as an addition to the metro.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The Gorky Railway, a Russian Railways department which operates some of rail lines throughout the Middle Volga region and in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, is headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod. Since 1862, there has been a railway connection between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow. Overnight trains provide access to Nizhny Novgorod from Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kazan, Yaroslavl and others. А fast train transports passengers between Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow in less than four hours. One can continue from Nizhny Novgorod eastward along the Trans-Siberian Railway, with direct trains to major cities in the Urals and Siberia, as well as to Beijing, Pyongyang, and Ulan-Bator.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The first high-speed rail "Sapsan" train to Moscow (Kursky Rail Terminal) and Saint Petersburg (Moskovsky Rail Terminal) was launched on July 30, 2010. The route has been run using "Strizh" trains since 2015.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Suburban commuter trains ("elektrichka") connect Nizhny Novgorod with Vladimir, Dzerzhinsk, Murom, Kirov, Arzamas, Zavolzhye, Balakhna, and others.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is an important center of Volga cargo and passenger shipping. During summer, cruise vessels operate between Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Astrakhan. In 2006 a small number of Meteor-class hydrofoils resumed operations on the Volga river. In August 2019, river navigation within the region was resumed. The hydrofoil Valdai began to sail along the routes Nizhny Novgorod – Gorodets and Nizhny Novgorod – Makaryevo.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The city is served by the Russian highway M-7 (Moscow – Nizhny Novgorod – Kazan – Ufa), and is a hub of the regional highway network. Also through the city passes the federal highway P158 (Nizhny Novgorod – Saransk – Penza – Saratov).


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The system of Nizhny Novgorod's bus terminals underwent significant changes in 2015, as the old main intercity bus terminal in Lyadov Square (just south of downtown) closed, and a new bus terminal opened in Scherbinki, a few miles to the south. Presently, the city's main bus terminals are the following:


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Out of the three bus terminals, only the Kanavino station is near a subway line; the other two are connected with the rest of the city by city buses.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In 2012, the cableway connecting Nizhny Novgorod and Bor was launched. The length of the cableway is . It has the largest unsupported span in Europe above the water surface, which is . The main purpose is to provide an alternative type of passenger transportation in addition to river taxis, electric trains and buses. The cable car has also become a popular tourist attraction, thanks to panoramic views from the cabins. Not far from Nizhegorodskaya station there are the Nizhny Novgorod Cathedral Mosque and Pechersky Ascension Monastery. from the Borskaya station is located the park of historical reconstruction of "Pax Romana", which represents a collective image of a site of the Roman borderland at the turn of the 1st-2nd centuries AD, with a military camp and a small town that developed from the Marktant village at the camp. July 31, 2014 on the cable car there was an incident. The lightning struck a metal support near the booth in which people were. At this time there was a heavy thunderstorm and the cable car was stopped. However, people were already in the cabins.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is served by Strigino International Airport, which has direct flights to major Russian cities and the Middle East. The air base Sormovo was an important military airlift facility, and Pravdinsk air base was an interceptor aircraft base during the Cold War. S7 Airlines and Aeroflot fly to Moscow's Domodedovo and Sheremetyevo Airports daily.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: It is unknown when the first aerodrome in Nizhny Novgorod was built, but its location was north from where the "Moscow" movie theater stands today. This aerodrome was named Nizhny Novgorod Airport. In 2011 HC Airports of Regions won their bid on the investment project into Nizhny Novgorod International Airport. In 2012, certain renovations were made in order to more efficiently exploit the existing facility whilst the new one is being built.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In June 2014, the construction of a new terminal started. It is supposed to be opened by December 2015 and be able to handle around 300 passengers per hour. The second terminal will be built after the 2018 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Nizhny Novgorod among others, and the aforementioned railway station is planned to be constructed during that time as well. The new terminal was opened on December 29, 2015, as the first flight, from Moscow, was directed there. The airport authority plans to redirect all the domestic flights to the new terminal by February 2016 and all the international flights by April 2016.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Much of the city downtown is built in the Russian Revival and Stalin Empire styles. The dominating feature of the city skyline is the grand Kremlin (1500–1511), with its red-brick towers. After Bolshevik devastation, the only ancient edifice left within the Kremlin walls is the tent-like Archangel Cathedral (1624–1631), first built in stone in the 13th century.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: There are more than 600 unique historic, architectural, and cultural monuments in the city. There are about 200 municipal and regional art and cultural institutions within Nizhny Novgorod. Among these institutions, there are eight theaters, five concert halls, 97 libraries (with branches), 17 movie theaters (including five for children), 25 institutions of children's optional education, eight museums (16 including branches), and seven parks.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The center of the fair was the main building in the spirit of classicism and the side administrative buildings that formed the central square. To protect from floods, a high dam was built. On November 4, 2017, a new multimedia exhibition called "Russia is My History" was opened in the Main Fair Building. The main focus of the exhibition is the history of Nizhny Novgorod, starting from Finnic peoples. On the territory of the complex there are departments in which they tell about the foundation of the city, the struggle for independence in the Time of Troubles and the bombing of the city during the World War II. On the first day of work, the entrance to the exhibition was free, because of which a long line lined up in front of the Main Fair Building.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The art gallery in Nizhny Novgorod is a large and important art gallery and museums of human history and culture.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod has a great and extraordinary art gallery with more than 12,000 exhibits, an enormous collection of works by Russian artists such as Viktor Vasnetsov, Karl Briullov, Ivan Shishkin, Ivan Kramskoi, Ilya Yefimovich Repin, Isaak Iljitsch Lewitan, Vasily Surikov, Ivan Aivazovsky, there are also greater collections of works by Boris Kustodiev and Nicholas Roerich, not only Russian art is part of the exhibition it include also a vast accumulation of Western European art like works by David Teniers the Younger, Bernardo Bellotto, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter de Grebber, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and lot more.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Finally what makes this gallery extremely important is the amazing collection Russian avant-garde with works by Kazimir Malevich, Wassily Kandinsky, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov and so on. There is also a collection of East Asian art.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Other notable landmarks are the two great medieval abbeys. The Pechersky Ascension Monastery features the austere five-domed cathedral (1632) and two rare churches surmounted by tent roofs, dating from the 1640s. The Annunciation monastery, likewise surrounded by strong walls, has another five-domed cathedral (1649) and the Assumption church (1678). The only private house preserved from that epoch formerly belonged to the merchant Pushnikov.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: There can be little doubt that the most original and delightful churches in the city were built by the Stroganovs in the nascent Baroque style. Of these, the Virgin's Nativity Church (1719) graces one of the central streets, whereas the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk (1694–97) survives in the former village of Gordeyevka (now, part of the city's Kanavinsky District), where the Stroganov palace once stood.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The centrally located Nizhny Novgorod Synagogue was built in 1881–1883; disused during the Soviet era, it was renovated and reopened circa 1991.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: The Chkalov Staircase connects Minin and Pozharsky Square, the Upper Volga, and the Lower Volga embankments. It was built by the architects Alexander Yakovlev, Lev Rudnev, and Vladimir Munts. The staircase itself was constructed in the late 1940s by German prisoners of war forced to labor around Gorky. It is the longest staircase in Russia. The staircase starts from the monument to Chkalov, near St. George's Tower of the Kremlin. It is built in the form of a figure of eight and consists of 560 steps if you count it on both sides. The number of steps from the bottom to the top is 442 on the right. In the intersections of the side slopes there are two observation platforms. At the bottom of the stairs is a monument to the boat "Hero", which is located at the Lower Volga embankment.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Standing on a spit of the Volga and Oka Rivers in the city center is the international-class Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. This arena hosted six games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. After the World Cup, the stadium serves as a multipurpose sports complex.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: A singular monument of industrial architecture is a open-work hyperboloid tower built on the bank of the Oka near Dzerzhinsk as part of a powerline river crossing by the eminent engineer and scientist Vladimir Shukhov in 1929.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Russia hosted the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and six matches were played at the new Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. The stadium is built beside the confluence of the Volga and Oka rivers and has a capacity of 44,899 people.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: During the World Cup, the Minin and Pozharsky Square hosted the FIFA Fan Fest. The venue was open on game days from 13.00 till 00.00. The Fan Fest venue included a hospitality area, a folk art craft shop, and food outlets (20 stationary and 7 mobile outlets). The games were broadcast on a big screen.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: Nizhny Novgorod is the center of television and radio broadcasting in the region and the Volga Federal District. There are local TV stations, the Internet, and print media.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: In the city, there are some popular urban newspapers. "Nizhegorodskaya Pravda", "Stolitsa Nizhny" and "Nizhegorodsky rabochiy" are Russian-language media headquartered in Nizhny Novgorod. "Nizhegorodskaya pravda" is the oldest newspaper of the city.


title: Nizhny Novgorod

text: One of the first TV channels in the city was NNTV. It was created during the Soviet period, on the basis of the Gorky television. Also, there is the TV channel "Volga". The earlier existing most popular TV channel, Seti-NN, stopped broadcasting in December 2015.


title: Arquebus

text: An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier.


title: Arquebus

text: Although the term "arquebus", derived from the Dutch word "Haakbus" ("hook gun"), was applied to many different forms of firearms from the 15th to 17th centuries, it originally referred to "a hand-gun with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing". These "hook guns" were in their earliest forms of defensive weapons mounted on German city walls in the early 15th century. The addition of a shoulder stock, priming pan, and matchlock mechanism in the late 15th century turned the arquebus into a handheld firearm and also the first firearm equipped with a trigger.


title: Arquebus

text: The exact dating of the matchlock's appearance is disputed. It could have appeared in the Ottoman Empire as early as 1465 and in Europe a little before 1475. The heavy arquebus, which was then called a musket, was developed to better penetrate plate armor and appeared in Europe around 1521. Heavy arquebuses mounted on wagons were called "arquebus à croc". These carried a lead ball of about .


title: Arquebus

text: A standardized arquebus, the "caliver", was introduced in the latter half of the 16th century. The name "caliver" is an English derivation from the French "calibre" – a reference to the gun's standardized bore. The caliver allowed troops to load bullets faster since they fit their guns more easily, whereas before soldiers often had to modify their bullets into suitable fits, or were even forced to make their own prior to battle.


title: Arquebus

text: The word "arquebus" is derived from the Dutch word "Haakbus" ("hook gun"), which was applied to an assortment of firearms from the 15th to 17th centuries. It originally referred to "a hand-gun with a hook-like projection or lug on its under surface, useful for steadying it against battlements or other objects when firing". The "arquebus" has at times been known as the "harquebus", "harkbus", "hackbut", "hagbut", "archibugio", "haakbus", "schiopo", "sclopus", "tüfenk", "tofak", "matchlock", and "firelock".


title: Arquebus

text: The musket, essentially a large arquebus, was introduced around 1521, but fell out of favor in the mid-16th century due to the decline of armor. The term, however, remained and "musket" became a generic descriptor for gunpowder weapons fired from the shoulder ('shoulder arms') into the 1800s. At least on one occasion "musket" and "arquebus" were used interchangeably to refer to the same weapon, and even referred to as an "arquebus musket". A Habsburg commander in the mid-1560s once referred to muskets as "double arquebuses". The "matchlock" firing mechanism also became a common term for the arquebus after it was added to the firearm. Later flintlock firearms were sometimes called "fusils" or "fuzees".


title: Arquebus

text: Prior to the appearance of the serpentine lever by around 1411, handguns were fired from the chest, tucked under one arm, while the other arm maneuvered a hot pricker to the touch hole to ignite the gunpowder. The matchlock, which appeared roughly around 1475, changed this by adding a firing mechanism consisting of two parts, the match, and the lock. The lock mechanism held within a clamp a two to three feet long length of smoldering rope soaked in saltpeter, which was the match. Connected to the lock lever was a trigger, which lowered the match into a priming pan when squeezed, igniting the priming powder, causing a flash to travel through the touch hole, also igniting the gunpowder within the barrel, and propelling the bullet out the muzzle.


title: Arquebus

text: While matchlocks provided a crucial advantage by allowing the user to aim the firearm using both hands, it was also awkward to utilize. To avoid accidentally igniting the gunpowder the match had to be detached while loading the gun. In some instances the match would also go out, so both ends of the match were kept lit. This proved cumbersome to maneuver as both hands were required to hold the match during removal, one end in each hand. The procedure was so complex that a 1607 drill manual published by Jacob de Gheyn in the Netherlands listed 28 steps just to fire and load the gun. In 1584 the Ming general Qi Jiguang composed an 11-step song to practice the procedure in rhythm: "One, clean the gun. Two, pour the powder. Three, tamp the powder down. Four, drop the pellet. Five, drive the pellet down. Six, put in paper (stopper). Seven, drive the paper down. Eight, open the flashpan cover. Nine, pour in the flash powder. Ten, close the flashpan, and clamp the fuse. Eleven, listen for the signal, then open the flashpan cover. Aiming at the enemy, raise your gun and fire." Reloading a gun during the 16th century took anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute under the most ideal conditions.


title: Arquebus

text: The development of volley fire—by the Ottomans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Dutch—made the arquebus more feasible for widespread adoption by the military. The volley fire technique transformed soldiers carrying firearms into organized firing squads with each row of soldiers firing in turn and reloading in a systematic fashion. Volley fire was implemented with cannons as early as 1388 by Ming artillerists, but volley fire with matchlocks was not implemented until 1526 when the Ottoman Janissaries utilized it during the Battle of Mohács. The matchlock volley fire technique was next seen in mid-16th-century China as pioneered by Qi Jiguang and in late-16th-century Japan. Qi Jiguang elaborates on his volley fire technique in the "Jixiao Xinshu":


title: Arquebus

text: In Europe, William Louis, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg theorized that by applying to firearms the same Roman counter march technique as described by Aelianus Tacticus, matchlocks could provide fire without cease. In a letter to his cousin Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange on 8 December 1594, he said:


title: Arquebus

text: Once volley firing had been developed, the rate of fire and efficiency was greatly increased and the arquebus went from being a support weapon to the primary focus of most early modern armies.


title: Arquebus

text: The wheellock mechanism was utilized as an alternative to the matchlock as early as 1505, but was more expensive to produce at three times the cost of a matchlock and prone to breakdown, thus limiting it primarily to specialist firearms and pistols.


title: Arquebus

text: The snaphance flintlock was invented by the mid-16th century and then the "true" flintlock in the early 17th century, but by this time the generic term for firearms had shifted to "musket", and flintlocks are not usually associated with arquebuses.


title: Arquebus

text: The earliest form of arquebus in Europe appeared by 1411 and in the Ottoman Empire by 1425. This early arquebus was a hand cannon with a serpentine lever to hold matches. However it did not have the matchlock mechanism traditionally associated with the weapon. The exact dating of the matchlock addition is disputed. The first references to the use of what may have been arquebuses ("tüfek") by the Janissary corps of the Ottoman army date them from 1394 to 1465. However it is unclear whether these were arquebuses or small cannons as late as 1444, but according to Gábor Ágoston the fact that they were listed separate from cannons in mid-15th century inventories suggest they were handheld firearms.


title: Arquebus

text: In Europe, a shoulder stock, probably inspired by the crossbow stock, was added to the arquebus around 1470 and the appearance of the matchlock mechanism is dated to a little before 1475. The matchlock arquebus was the first firearm equipped with a trigger mechanism. It is also considered to be the first portable shoulder-arms firearm.


title: Arquebus

text: The Ottomans made use of arquebuses as early as the first half of the fifteenth century. During the Ottoman–Hungarian wars of 1443–1444, it was noted that Ottoman defenders in Vidin had arquebuses. Based on the earliest known contemporary written sources, Godfrey Goodwin dates the first use of the arquebus by the Janissaries to no earlier than 1465. According to contemporary accounts, 400 arquebusiers served in Sultan Murad II's campaign in the 1440s when he crossed Bosporus straits and arquebuses were used in combat by the Ottomans at the second battle of Kosovo in 1448. Ottomans also made some use of Wagon Fortresses which they copied from the Hussites, which often involved the placing of arquebusiers in the protective wagons and using them against the enemy. Arquebusiers were also used effectively at the battle of Bashkent in 1473 when they were used in conjunction with artillery.


title: Arquebus

text: The arquebus was used in substantial numbers for the first time in Europe during the reign of king Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458–1490). One in four soldiers in the infantry of the Black Army of Hungary wielded an arquebus, and one in five when accounting for the whole army, which was an unusually high proportion at the time. Although they were present on the battlefield King Mathias preferred enlisting shielded men instead due to the arquebus's low rate of fire. While the Black Army adopted arquebuses relatively early, the trend did not catch on for decades in Europe and by the turn of the 16th century only around 10% of Western European infantrymen used firearms. Arquebuses were used as early as 1472 by the Spanish and Portuguese at Zamora. Likewise, the Castilians used arquebuses as well in 1476. The French started adopting the arquebus in 1520. However, arquebus designs continued to develop and in 1496 Philip Monch of the Palatinate composed an illustrated "Buch der Strynt un(d) Buchsse(n)" on guns and "harquebuses".


title: Arquebus

text: The effectiveness of the arquebus was apparent by the Battle of Cerignola of 1503, which is the earliest-recorded military conflict where arquebuses played a decisive role in the outcome of battle.


title: Arquebus

text: In Russia a small arquebus called "pishchal" (Russian: пищаль) appeared in 1478 in Pskov. The Russian arquebusiers, or "pishchal'niki", were seen as integral parts of the army and one thousand "pishchal'niki" participated in the final annexation of Pskov in 1510 as well as the conquest of Smolensk in 1512. The Russian need to acquire gunpowder weaponry bears some resemblance to the situation the Iranians were in. In 1545 two thousand "pishchal'niki" (one thousand on horseback) were levied by the towns and outfitted at treasury expense. Their use of mounted troops was also unique to the time period. The "pishchal'niki" eventually became skilled hereditary tradesmen farmers rather than conscripts.


title: Arquebus

text: Arquebuses were used in the Italian Wars in the first half of the 16th century. Frederick Lewis Taylor claims that a kneeling volley fire may have been employed by Prospero Colonna's arquebusiers as early as the Battle of Bicocca (1522). However, this has been called into question by Tonio Andrade who believes this is an over interpretation as well as mis-citation of a passage by Charles Oman suggesting that the Spanish arquebusiers knelt to reload, when in fact Oman never made such a claim.


title: Arquebus

text: The Mamluks in particular were conservatively against the incorporation of gunpowder weapons. When faced with cannons and arquebuses wielded by the Ottomans they criticized them thus, "God curse the man who invented them, and God curse the man who fires on Muslims with them." Insults were also levied against the Ottomans for having "brought with you this contrivance artfully devised by the Christians of Europe when they were incapable of meeting the Muslim armies on the battlefield". Similarly, musketeers and musket-wielding infantrymen were despised in society by the feudal knights, even until the time of Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616). Eventually the Mamluks under Qaitbay were ordered in 1489 to train in the use of "al-bunduq al-rasas" (arquebuses). However, in 1514 an Ottoman army of 12,000 soldiers wielding arquebuses devastated a much larger Mamluk army. The arquebus had become a common infantry weapon by the 16th century due to its relative cheapness—a helmet, breastplate and pike cost about three and a quarter ducats while an arquebus only a little over one ducat. Another advantage of arquebuses over other equipment and weapons was its short training period. While a bow potentially took years to master, an effective arquebusier could be trained in just two weeks.


title: Arquebus

text: The arquebus spread further east, reaching India by 1500, Southeast Asia by 1540, and China sometime between 1523 and 1548. They were introduced to Japan in 1543 by Portuguese traders who landed by accident on Tanegashima(種子島), an island south of Kyūshū in the region controlled by the Shimazu clan. By 1550, arquebuses known as "tanegashima", "teppō(鉄砲)" or "hinawaju(火縄銃)" were being produced in large numbers in Japan. The "tanegashima" seem to have utilized snap matchlocks based on firearms from Goa, India, which was captured by the Portuguese in 1510. Within ten years of its introduction upwards of three hundred thousand tanegashima were reported to have been manufactured. The tanegashima eventually became one of the most important weapons in Japan. Oda Nobunaga revolutionized musket tactics in Japan by splitting loaders and shooters and assigning three guns to a shooter at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, during which volley fire may have been implemented. However, the volley fire technique of 1575 has been called into dispute in recent years by J. S. A. Elisonas and J. P. Lamers in their translation of "The Chronicle of Oda Nobunaga" by Ota Gyuichi. In Lamers' "Japonius" he says that "whether or not Nobunaga actually operated with three rotating ranks cannot be determined on the basis of reliable evidence." They claim that the version of events describing volley fire was written several years after the battle, and an earlier account says to the contrary that guns were fired en masse. Even so, both Korean and Chinese sources note that Japanese gunners were making use of volley fire during the Japanese invasions of Korea from 1592 to 1598. Tanegashima were widely used during Hideyoshi's unification of Japan and later the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592.


title: Arquebus

text: In regard to Iranian use of the arquebus, much of the credit for their increase in use can be attributed to Shah Ismail I who, after being defeated by the firearm-using Ottomans in 1514, began extensive use of arquebuses and other firearms himself with an estimated 12,000 arquebusiers in service less than 10 years after his initial defeat by the Ottomans. According to a 1571 report by Vincentio d'Alessandri, Persian arms including arquebuses "were superior and better tempered than those of any other nation", suggesting that such firearms were in common use among middle eastern powers by at least the mid-16th century. While the use of 12,000 arquebusiers is impressive, the firearms were not widely adopted in Iran. This is in no small part due to the reliance on light cavalry by the Iranians. Riding a horse and operating an arquebus are incredibly difficult which helped lead to both limited use and heavy stagnation in the technology associated with firearms. These limitations aside, the Iranians still made use of firearms and Europe was very important in facilitating that as Europeans supplied Iran with firearms and sent experts to help them produce some of the firearms themselves. Iran also made use of elephant mounted arquebusiers which would give them a clear view of their targets and better mobility.


title: Arquebus

text: Southeast Asian powers started fielding arquebuses by 1540. Đại Việt was considered by the Ming to have produced particularly advanced matchlocks during the 16–17th century, surpassing even Ottoman, Japanese, and European firearms. European observers of the Lê–Mạc War and later Trịnh–Nguyễn War also noted the proficiency of matchlock making by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese matchlock was said to have been able to pierce several layers of iron armour, kill two to five men in one shot, yet also fire quietly for a weapon of its caliber.


title: Arquebus

text: The arquebus was introduced to the Ming dynasty in the early 16th century and was used in small numbers to fight off pirates by 1548. There is, however, no exact date for its introduction and sources conflict on the time and manner in which it was introduced. Versions of the arquebus' introduction to China include the capture of firearms by the Ming during a battle in 1523, the capture of the pirate Wang Zhi, who had arquebuses, in 1558, which contradicts the usage of arquebuses by the Ming army ten years earlier, and the capture of arquebuses from Europeans by the Xu brother pirates, which later came into possession of a man named Bald Li, from whom the Ming officials captured the arquebuses. About 10,000 muskets were ordered by the Central Military Weaponry Bureau in 1558 and the firearms were used to fight off pirates.


title: Arquebus

text: Qi Jiguang developed military formations for the effective use of arquebus equipped troops with different mixtures of troops deployed in 12-man teams. The number of arquebuses assigned to each team could vary depending on the context but theoretically in certain cases all members of the team could have been deployed as gunners. These formations also made use of countermarch, or volley fire, techniques which were organized via the blowing of a horn to order the firing of a layer, and were supported by close quarters troops who could advance should the need arise. To avoid self inflicted injuries and ensure a consistent rate of fire in the heat of battle, Qi emphasized drilling in the procedure required to reload the weapon. Qi Jiguang gave a eulogy on the effectiveness of the gun in 1560:


title: Arquebus

text: In Europe, Maurice of Nassau pioneered the countermarch volley fire technique. After outfitting his entire army with new, standardized arms in 1599, Maurice of Nassau made an attempt to recapture Spanish forts built on former Dutch lands. In the Battle of Nieuwpoort in 1600, he administered the new techniques and technologies for the first time. The Dutch marched onto the beach where the fort was located and fully utilized the countermarching tactic. By orienting all of his arquebusiers into a block, he was able to maintain a steady stream of fire out of a disciplined formation using volley fire tactics. The result was a lopsided victory with 4,000 Spanish casualties to only 1,000 dead and 700 wounded on the Dutch side. Although the battle was principally won by the decisive counterattack of the Dutch cavalry and despite the failure of the new Dutch infantry tactic in stopping the veteran Spanish tercios, the battle is considered a decisive step forward in the development early modern warfare, where firearms took on an increasingly large role in Europe in the following centuries.


title: Arquebus

text: "Musket" eventually overtook "arquebus" as the dominant term for similar firearms starting from the 1550s. Arquebuses are most often associated with matchlocks.


title: Arquebus

text: The arquebus had many advantages but also severe limitations on the battlefield. This led to it often being paired up with other weaponry to reduce the impact of these weaknesses. Qi Jiguang from China developed systems where soldiers with traditional weaponry stayed right behind the arquebusiers to protect them should enemy infantry get too close. Pikemen were used to protect the arquebusiers by the English and the Venetians often used archers to lay down cover fire during the long reloading process. The Ottomans often supported their arquebusiers with artillery fire or placed them in fortified wagons, a tactic they borrowed from the Hussites.


title: Arquebus

text: Sixteenth-century military writer John Smythe thought that an arquebus could not match the accuracy of a bow in the hands of a highly skilled archer; other military writers such as Humfrey Barwick and Barnabe Rich argued the opposite. An arquebus angled at 35 degrees could throw a bullet up to 1,000 m or more, much farther than any archers could shoot. An arquebus shot was considered deadly at up to 400 yards (366m) while the heavier Spanish musket was considered deadly at up to 600 yards (549 m). During the Japanese Invasions of Korea, Korean officials said they were at a severe disadvantage against Japanese troops because their arquebuses "could reach beyond several hundred paces". In 1590 Smythe noted that arquebusiers and musketeers firing at such extreme distances rarely seemed to hit anything and instead decided to argue "effective" range, claiming that English archers like the ones from the Hundred Years' War would be more effective at 200–240 yards (183–219 m) than arquebusiers or musketeers, but by that point there were no longer enough skilled archers in England to properly test his theories.


title: Arquebus

text: Perhaps the most important advantage of the arquebus over muscle-powered weapons like longbows was sheer power. A shot from a typical 16th century arquebus boasted between 1,300 and 1,750 joules of kinetic energy, depending on the powder quality. A longbow arrow by contrast was about 80 joules, while crossbows could vary from 100 to 200 joules depending on construction. Thus, arquebuses could easily defeat armor that would be highly effective against arrows, and inflict far greater wounds on flesh. The disparity was even greater with a 16th century heavy musket, which were 2,300 to 3,000 joules.


title: Arquebus

text: Most high-skilled bowmen achieved a far higher rate of shot than the matchlock arquebus, which took 30–60 seconds to reload properly. The arquebus did, however, have a faster rate of fire than the most powerful crossbow, a shorter learning curve than a longbow, and was more powerful than either. The arquebus did not rely on the physical strength of the user for propulsion of the projectile, making it easier to find a suitable recruit. It also meant that, compared to an archer or crossbowman, an arquebusier lost less of his battlefield effectiveness due to fatigue, malnutrition or sickness. The arquebusier also had the added advantage of frightening enemies (and horses) with the noise. Wind could reduce the accuracy of archery, but had much less of an effect on an arquebus. During a siege it was also easier to fire an arquebus out of loopholes than it was a bow and arrow. It was sometimes advocated that an arquebusier should load his weapon with multiple bullets or small shot at close ranges rather than a single ball. Small shot did not pack the same punch as a single round ball but the shot could hit and wound multiple enemies.


title: Arquebus

text: An arquebus also has superior penetrating power to a bow. Although some plate armors were bulletproof, these armors were unique, heavy and expensive. A cuirass with a tapul was able to absorb some musket fire due to being angled. Otherwise, most forms of armor a common soldier would wear (especially leather, light plate, and mail) had little resistance against musket fire. Arrows, however, were relatively weaker in penetration, and heavier bows or crossbows required more skill and reload time than the standard bows.


title: Arquebus

text: Producing an effective arquebusier required much less training than producing an effective bowman. Most archers spent their whole lives training to shoot with accuracy, but with drill and instruction, the arquebusier was able to learn his profession in months as opposed to years. This low level of skill made it a lot easier to outfit an army in a short amount of time as well as expand the small arms ranks. This idea of lower skilled, lightly armoured units was the driving force in the infantry revolution that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries and allowed early modern infantries to phase out the longbow.


title: Arquebus

text: An arquebusier could carry more ammunition and powder than a crossbowman or longbowman could with bolts or arrows. Once the methods were developed, powder and shot were relatively easy to mass-produce, while arrow making was a genuine craft requiring highly skilled labor.


title: Arquebus

text: However, the arquebus was more sensitive to rain and humid weather. At the Battle of Villalar, rebel troops experienced a significant defeat partially due to having a high proportion of arquebusiers in a rainstorm which rendered the weapons useless. Gunpowder also ages much faster than a bolt or an arrow, particularly if improperly stored. Also, the resources needed to make gunpowder were less universally available than the resources needed to make bolts and arrows. Finding and reusing arrows or bolts was a lot easier than doing the same with arquebus bullets. This was a useful way to reduce the cost of practice, or resupply oneself if control of the battlefield after a battle was retained. A bullet must fit a barrel much more precisely than an arrow or bolt must fit a bow, so the arquebus required more standardization and made it harder to resupply by looting bodies of fallen soldiers. Gunpowder production was also far more dangerous than arrow production.


title: Arquebus

text: An arquebus was also significantly more dangerous to its user. The arquebusier carries a lot of gunpowder on his person and has a lit match in one hand. The same goes for the soldiers next to him. Amid the confusion, stress and fumbling of a battle, arquebusiers are potentially a danger to themselves. Early arquebuses tended to have a drastic recoil. They took a long time to load making them vulnerable while reloading unless using the 'continuous fire' tactic, where one line would shoot and, while the next line shot, would reload. They also tended to overheat. During repeated firing, guns could become clogged and explode, which could be dangerous to the gunner and those around him.


title: Arquebus

text: Furthermore, the amount of smoke produced by black-powder weapons was considerable, making it hard to see the enemy after a few salvos, unless there was enough wind to disperse the smoke quickly. (Conversely, this cloud of smoke also served to make it difficult for any archers to target the opposing soldiers who were using firearms.) Prior to the wheellock, the need for a lit match made stealth and concealment nearly impossible, particularly at night. Even with successful concealment, the smoke emitted by a single arquebus shot would make it quite obvious where a shot came from—at least in daylight. While with a crossbow or bow a soldier could conceivably kill silently, this was of course impossible with an explosion-driven projectile weapon like the arquebus. The noise of arquebuses and the ringing in the ears that it caused could also make it hard to hear shouted commands. In the long run, the weapon could make the user permanently hard of hearing. Though bows and crossbows could shoot over obstacles by firing with high-arcing ballistic trajectories they could not do so very accurately or effectively. Sir John Smythe blamed the declining effectiveness of the longbow in part on English commanders who would place firearms at the front of their formations and bowmen at the back, where they could not see their targets and aim appropriately.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton ( ; , ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 census, and it was ranked as the 344th largest city in America in 2022. However, approximately 200,000 additional people with a Boca Raton postal address live outside of municipal boundaries, such as in West Boca Raton. As a business center, the city experiences significant daytime population increases. Boca Raton is north of Miami and is a principal city of the Miami metropolitan area, which had a population of 6,012,331 people as of 2015.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton is home to the main campus of Florida Atlantic University and the corporate headquarters of Office Depot. It is also home to the Evert Tennis Academy, owned by former professional tennis player Chris Evert. Boca Town Center, an upscale shopping center in central Boca Raton, is one of the largest indoor mall in Palm Beach County. The downtown area is established around a lifestyle center and entertainment hub named Mizner Park and Royal Palm Place, a mixed-used shopping, dining, and residential district.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Many buildings in the area have a Mediterranean Revival or Spanish Colonial Revival architectural theme, initially inspired by Addison Mizner, a resort architect who heavily influenced the city's early development.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton has a strict development code for the size and types of commercial buildings, building signs, and advertisements that may be erected within the city limits. This has led to major thoroughfares without billboards and large advertisements, as well as increased green spaces on roads.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Ratón translates to English literally as "Mouse Mouth". Its name was originally labeled in the first European maps of the area as "Boca de Ratones". "Boca", meaning "mouth" in Spanish, was a common term to describe an inlet on maps by sailors. The true meaning of the word "ratones" for the area is more uncertain. Some claim that the word "ratones" appears in old Spanish maritime dictionaries referring to "rugged rocks or stony ground on the bottom of some ports and coastal outlets, where the cables rub against." Thus, one possible translation of "Boca Raton" is "rugged inlet". Still other people claim that "ratones" referred to pirates who hid out in the area, and thus the name could translate to "pirates' inlet", which would illustrate why there is a pirate ship in the city seal.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: City residents pronounce the "Raton" in "Boca Raton" as . A common mispronunciation outside of the city is .


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The area where Boca Raton is now located was originally occupied by the Glades culture, a Native American tribe of hunter/gatherers who relocated seasonally and between shellfish sources, distinct from the Tequesta to the south and the Jaega to the north.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: What Spanish voyagers called "Boca de Ratones" was originally to the south, in present-day Biscayne Bay in Miami-Dade County. The area of Boca Raton was labeled "Rio Seco", meaning "Dry River", during this time. By mistake during the 19th century, mapmakers moved this location to the north and began referring to the city's lake, today known as Lake Boca Raton, as "Boca Ratone Lagoon" and later "Boca Ratone Sounde." An inland stream near the lake was later renamed Spanish River, and eventually became part of the Intracoastal Waterway.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: When Spain surrendered Florida to Britain in 1763, the remaining Tequestas, along with other Indians who had taken refuge in the Florida Keys, were evacuated to Cuba. In the 1770s, Bernard Romans reported seeing abandoned villages in the area, but no inhabitants.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The area remained largely uninhabited for long afterwards, during the early years of Florida's incorporation in the United States. The first significant European settler to this area was Captain Thomas Moore Rickards in 1895, who resided in a house made of driftwood on the east side of the East Coast Canal, south of what is now the Palmetto Park Road bridge. He surveyed and sold land from the canal to beyond the railroad north of what is now Palmetto Park Road. Early settlement in the area increased shortly after Henry Flagler's expansion of the Florida East Coast Railway, connecting West Palm Beach to Miami.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton as a city was the creation of architect Addison Mizner. Prior to him, Boca Raton was an unincorporated farming town with a population of 100 in 1920.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: During World War II, some of the land used by the Japanese farmers of the Yamato Colony was confiscated and used as the site of the Boca Raton Army Air Force Base, a major training facility for B-29 bomber crews and the only facility in the U.S. training radar operators. Much of the Boca Raton Army Airfield was later donated to Palm Beach County and became the grounds of Florida Atlantic University. Many of FAU's parking lots are former runways of the airbase. When viewed from above, the site's layout for its previous use as an airfield is plainly evident. Boca Raton Airport's runway was once part of the original airbase, and is still active to this day, although the runway has been rebuilt. Army School Building #3 (T-604) of the Army Air Forces Base has survived as the office building for the Cynthia Gardens apartment complex on Northwest 4th Avenue.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton was the site of two now vanished amusement parks, Africa U.S.A. (1953–1961) and Ancient America (1953–1959). Africa U.S.A. was a wild animal park in which tourists rode a "Jeep Safari Train" through the park. There were no fences separating the animals from the tourists. It is now the Camino Gardens subdivision one mile west of the Boca Raton Hotel. A red wooden bridge and remnants from the Watusi Geyser and Zambezi Falls, a 30-foot waterfall, from Africa USA can still be seen at the entrance to Camino Gardens. Ancient America was built surrounding a real Native American burial mound. Today, the mound is still visible within the Boca Marina & Yacht Club neighborhood on U.S. 1 near Yamato Road.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In the late 1960s, IBM announced their intentions to open a manufacturing plant in the area. In 1965, well before the extension of I-95 into Southern Florida, IBM, working in secret with the Arvida corporation, quietly purchased several hundred acres of real estate west of the CSX rail line and northwest of Florida Atlantic University. Originally situated in unincorporated Palm Beach County, the site was annexed into Boca Raton almost a year following its dedication in 1970.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Construction of IBM's main complex began in 1967, designed by Marcel Breuer, and the manufacturing and office complex was dedicated in March 1970. The campus was designed with self-sufficiency in mind and sported its own electrical substation, water pumping station, and rail spur.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: By 1984 IBM was Palm Beach County's largest corporate employer, with 8,500 Boca Raton employees. Among other noteworthy IT accomplishments, such as the mass production of the System/360 and development of the Series/1 mainframe computers, IBM's main complex was the birthplace of the IBM PC, which later evolved into the IBM Personal System/2, developed in nearby Delray Beach. Starting in 1987, IBM relocated its manufacturing for what became the IBM PC division to Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North Carolina, and converted the manufacturing facilities into offices and laboratories, later producing products such as the OS/2 operating system and VoiceType Dictation, later known as ViaVoice voice-recognition software.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: IBM maintained its facilities in the South Florida area until 1996, when the facility was closed and sold to Blue Lake Real Estate. The site was sold to T-REX Management Consortium, then to the Blackstone Group in 2005, who renamed it the Boca Corporate Center and Campus. The site was later renamed the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRiC). Crocker Partners, noted for its development of Mizner Park and Office Depot headquarters, purchased BRiC in April 2018.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: What used to be IBM's Building 051, an annex separated from the former main IBM campus by Spanish River Boulevard, was donated to the Palm Beach County School District and converted into Don Estridge High Tech Middle School. It is named after Don Estridge, whose team was responsible for developing the IBM PC. IBM returned in July 2001, opening the software development laboratory at Beacon Square off Congress Avenue.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: It is noteworthy that still left standing inside the old IBM complex is the office and conference table where Bill Gates signed his historic deal to supply IBM with the Microsoft MS-DOS operating system for its personal computer line.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In the 1980s, because of an explosion of development to the west of the historical center of the city, some eastern areas began to decay, including the downtown corridor. For instance, the old Boca Raton Mall, a shopping mall in the downtown area, was beginning to experience higher vacancy, and occupancy by marginal tenants, owing to the opening of Town Center at Boca Raton west of the city in 1980.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In 1991, the new downtown outdoor shopping and dining center, Mizner Park, was completed over the site of the old Boca Raton Mall. It has since become a cultural center for southern Palm Beach County. Featuring a landscaped central park between the two main roads (collectively called Plaza Real) with stores only on the outside of the roads, Mizner Park resembles a Mediterranean suburban "town center" with a more contemporary look. It features many restaurants and is home to the Boca Raton Museum of Art, which moved to the new facility in 2001. In 2002, a new amphitheater was built, replacing a smaller one and providing a large-capacity outdoor venue where concerts and other performances are held. The Mizner Park Cultural Center, an indoor performing arts/comedy show theater is located to the southwest of the amphitheater within the Mizner Park property.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Mizner Park has significantly aided downtown revitalization. Many new eight- to ten-story mixed-use buildings have been constructed, are under construction, or are proposed for the downtown area. The surrounding areas to the downtown have benefited from the downtown redevelopment.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The National Cartoon Museum built a facility on the southwest edge of Mizner Park in 1996. Open for six years, the museum relocated to its original home in New York City in 2002. Building renovations for public uses, including the local public TV station, and private uses, such as a locally owned and operated bookstore, were completed in 2008. In addition to the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Association's theater and space, the building is home to the Schmidt Family Foundation.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: As development continued to focus to the west of the city in the 1980s and 1990s, the mall area known as Town Center at Boca Raton became the geographic center of what is referred to as West Boca Raton, though this mall was not annexed into the city until 2004.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Today, Boca Raton is said to be the Beverly Hills of Florida with well-developed beach resorts, luxury country clubs, and five-star shopping and restaurants. Forbes ranked Boca's Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club the third most exclusive gated communities in the US in 2017. Many mansions and estates have been built and reflect the high real estate values. 18.1% of homes for sale are within the $655,000–$966,000 range, 8.5% in the $966,000–$1.288 million range, and 11.9% in the $1.288 million plus range. Since the mid-2010s, there has been a developing boom such as the building of the Mandarin Oriental's Residences, remodeling of Downtown Boca Raton's Mizner Park, and development around Florida Atlantic University and Lynn University.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: On November 2, 2004, the voters of the Via Verde Association, Waterside, Deerhurst Association (Boca South), Marina Del Mar Association, Rio Del Mar Association (both originally Boca Del Mar communities), and Heatherwood of Boca Raton Condominium Association approved annexation into the Boca Raton city limits, increasing the city land area to . A new gated community called Royal Palm Polo was annexed to the City of Boca Raton, which is the only jurisdiction north of Clint Moore Road.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The Mayor has been chosen through a direct election since 1978. The offices of the city council and the mayor are nonpartisan. The previous mayor was Susan Haynie. As of January 2021, Democrat Ted Deutch represents Florida's 22nd congressional district, which includes the most northern point of Boca Raton and extends south through Palm Beach County. The district then continues into Broward County communities like Coral Springs, Parkland, and Margate, down to Fort Lauderdale.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In the 2016 and 2020 General Presidential Elections, Republican Donald Trump won in Boca Raton by a majority.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: On April 27, 2018, Governor Rick Scott suspended Susan Haynie due to felony and misdemeanor charges brought against her for corruption and bribery. (She would later plead guilty to two of the counts, avoiding jail time.) Scott Singer was appointed mayor and held that position on that basis until the August 28th special election; Singer was elected outright as mayor in that election.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of , of which of this is land and of it (6.63%) is water. Boca Raton is a "principal city" (as defined by the Census Bureau) of the Miami metropolitan area. Approximately 1 square mile is on the barrier island Deerfield Beach Island (DBI), also colloquially known as Deerfield Cay. Like other South Florida cities, Boca Raton has a water table that does not permit building basements, however plumbing and sewage is constructed underneath the homes and streets, in addition to electrical systems in some areas. There are several high points in the city, such as 4th Avenue which is aptly named "High Street." The highest point in this area is the guard shack at Camino Gardens, which is above sea level. The Boca Raton Hotel's Beach Club rests at above sea level.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Several small tunnels run under roads in Boca, but the roads are built up several feet at these locations, or are on dunes. Several of these tunnels are under State Road A1A at Spanish River Park, from the west side of the road where parking is available to beachgoers, to the east side of the road, which is where the beach is located. A1A is already higher than the surrounding land here due to sand dunes formed by erosion and other natural features.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Pearl City is a neighborhood in Boca Raton, immediately north of downtown and within city limits. The neighborhood was originally platted on May 30, 1915 for the blue-collar African Americans employed at the Boca Raton Resort and similar establishments, on area farms, in construction, and various other jobs.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification "Af"), as its driest month (December) averages 62.5mm of precipitation, narrowly meeting the minimum standard of 60mm in the driest month to qualify for that designation. In general the climate is warm and sunny much of the year, although daily thundershowers occur in the hot season from June through September. Boca Raton is frost free. The warm tropical climate supports the growth of tropical trees and plants.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Winter high temperatures are typically in the 75–83 degrees range, while summer high temperatures are about 87–93 degrees.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton is known for its affluent and educated social community and high income demographic. According to "Forbes", Boca Raton has three of the ten most expensive gated communities in the U.S. The Royal Palm Yacht and Country Club holds the #1 spot, The Sanctuary takes #6, and Le Lac takes the #8 spot.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton and other parts of Palm Beach County have a significant Jewish population. Certain areas of outside of Boca Raton city limits, such as the Sandalfoot Cove community, have significant populations of Brazilian and other Latino immigrants.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: As of the 2020 United States census, there were 97,422 people, 40,845 households, and 23,211 families residing in the city. The median age was approximately 48 years old and the median household income was $88,828. The employment rate was 54.4% and 56.1% of the population had a bachelor's degree of higher. English was the only language spoken at home by 74.9% of the population, while Spanish was spoken by 11.6%.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Old Floresta Historic District has several historic houses listed on the National Register of Historic Places.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The Boca Raton Bowl is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) sanctioned Division I college football bowl game that features the Mid-American Conference (MAC) facing off against an opponent from the American Athletic Conference (AAC) or Conference USA (C-USA) in alternating years. Each conference participates four times during the six-year agreement, which began with the 2014 season. The Bowl is held at the FAU Stadium.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: St. Mark Greek Orthodox Church in Boca Raton hosts a popular Greek festival during the last weekend of January. An estimated 15,000 people attended the festival in 2018.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Additionally, the town hosts the "Festival of the Arts BOCA" annually during the spring, and the Brazilian Beat Festival in the fall.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Mizner Park is a lifestyle center in downtown Boca Raton. The area contains several stores and fashion boutiques, restaurants, an iPic movie theater, and housing. The Center for the Arts at Mizner Park is on the development's north end, which includes the Boca Raton Museum of Art and the Count de Hoernele Amphitheater. Royal Palm Place is adjacent to Mizner Park, and it contains upscale shopping, restaurants, and apartments.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Town Center at Boca Raton is an upscale super-regional shopping center in Boca Raton that is the largest enclosed and conventional shopping mall within Palm Beach County, and the third largest by square feet in South Florida, behind Sawgrass Mills and Aventura Mall.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In 1999, the Simon Property Group bought Town Center at Boca Raton and began building a new wing on its southeastern side, and completed renovations in 2018.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Seritage Growth Properties plans to build a lifestyle center called The Collection at Boca Town Center which will provide shopping, dining, and entertainment.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Red Reef Park has the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex, an environmental education center. Founded in 1984, Gumbo Limbo is a cooperative project of the City of Boca Raton, Greater Boca Raton Beach and Park District, Florida Atlantic University, and Friends of Gumbo Limbo. In addition to the sea tanks, butterfly garden and boardwalk trail through the hammocks complete with an observation tower, Gumbo Limbo also houses a research facility run by FAU where students study coral reefs, sea turtles, sharks, sea grass and other marine-related subjects.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Sugar Sand Park is a municipal park in Boca Raton. It contains the Children's Science Explorium. Another park is the Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park in West Boca Raton. The park contains several amenities, including the Osprey Point Golf Course, a dog park, the Sunset Cove Amphitheater, the Coconut Cove Waterpark, and the Daggerwing Nature Center. Spanish River Park is a family-friendly city park along the Intracoastal Waterway for picnicking, swimming & bird-watching.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Office Depot, a supplier of office products and services, has its global headquarters on a 28-acre campus in the city. The GEO Group, also has its headquarters in Boca Raton based out of One Park Place. Media company Friend Finder Networks, consumer products company Jarden and e-retailer Vitacost, and BMI Gaming are also based in Boca Raton.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: According to the City's 2017 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Public education is provided and managed by The School District of Palm Beach County, the thirteenth-largest public school district in the United States. Boca Raton is also home to several notable private and religious schools.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: As of 2007, Boca Raton was served by four public high schools. Within the city's limits, Boca Raton Community High School serves the eastern part of the city. Spanish River Community High School serves the west-central part of the city limits and parts of unincorporated Boca Raton. Olympic Heights Community High School and West Boca Raton Community High School serve the western unincorporated areas. Spanish River, Olympic Heights, and West Boca Raton also serve students from Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The area is served by five public middle schools. Don Estridge High Tech Middle School is a technology magnet school named for Don Estridge, the leader of a small group of engineers who developed the IBM Personal Computer in Boca Raton. The other four public middle schools are Boca Raton Community Middle School, Eagles Landing Middle School, Loggers' Run Community Middle School, and Omni Middle School.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Two alternatives to the Palm Beach County Public Schools in Boca Raton are the K–8 Alexander D. Henderson University School (ADHUS) and FAU High School (FAUHS). Both are on the Florida Atlantic University campus and are organized as a unique and separate school district; they are not part of the Palm Beach County School System. Henderson School is recognized as Florida Atlantic University School District #72, under the College of Education's administrative oversight.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: University schools in Florida are authorized to provide instruction for grades K–12 and university students, support university research efforts, and test educational reforms for Florida schools. Both ADHUS and FAUHS are public schools and thus do not charge tuition. And they are open to children who reside in Palm Beach County or Broward County. ADHUS admission is by lottery, while FAUHS admission is determined by academic ability. Student characteristics of gender, race, family income and student ability are used to match the student population profile to that of the state.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: FAU High School is a dual-enrollment program that involves itself primarily in collegiate classes. Students in ninth grade take advanced classes at the ADHUS sister campus, while students in higher grades attend only collegiate classes on Florida Atlantic University's campus, earning dual credit for both high school and college. A student who has successfully completed all four years at FAU High School will graduate having completed three years of university study on a college campus.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Florida Atlantic University (FAU), founded in 1961, held its first classes in Boca Raton in 1964. FAU is a member of the State University System of Florida and is the largest university in Boca Raton. It has over 29,000 students, 3,555 of which are residential students, and a Division I athletics program. In recognition of the rapid growth of Boca Raton's universities, in particular FAU, the city of Boca Raton has recently been referred to as a "burgeoning college town."


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Lynn University is a four-year co-educational institution renamed to honor the Lynn (Eugene & Christine) family who continue to be benefactors of the university; its Digital Media Arts College, founded in 2001, offers bachelor's and master's degrees in computer animation and graphic design.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Palm Beach State College has its Boca Raton campus adjacent to Florida Atlantic University since 1983. When it was opened, it was named Palm Beach Junior College. In 1988 it changed its name to Palm Beach Community College, and in 2009, to Palm Beach State College.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The Boca Raton Public Library serves city of Boca Raton residents. A second municipal library building on Spanish River Boulevard west of I-95 opened in January 2008. The Glades Road Branch Library and the West Boca Branch Library of the Palm Beach County Library System serve Boca Raton residents who live outside the city limits.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: County library card holders may use any of the sixteen branches in the Palm Beach County Library System and have access to many databases and downloadable e-books and audio books.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The City of Boca Raton is one of the safest cities in Palm Beach County, with a crime rate 38% lower than the entire state of Florida.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Boca Raton has a connection to the Mafia. It is known as a popular hangout for many suspected Mafia members. According to a number of US Federal indictments, as of June 2004, the Gambino family continues to operate in Boca Raton. The television show "The Sopranos" featured the city in its plot ("Boca" and "...To Save Us All From Satan's Power"), and "Mafia Wife" author Lynda Milito resides in Boca Raton. Joey Merlino, the reputed head of the Philadelphia crime family, also resides in northern Boca Raton.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: In 2007, several murders at the Town Center Mall gained national attention. In March, a 52-year-old woman was kidnapped and murdered. In December of the same year, a 47-year-old woman and her 7-year-old daughter were also kidnapped, and later found bound and shot in the head in the woman's SUV in the mall parking lot. This case was featured on "America's Most Wanted" and caused host John Walsh to say he believed a serial killer to be in the city. Though there is no forensic evidence to suggest the murders were committed by the same person, the similarities in the cases led police to believe they were related. To this day, the murders all remain unsolved.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The Pearl City neighborhood has been known as a drug trafficking hub in the past. In recent years, the city, like most of the county (especially neighboring Delray Beach) has experienced a steady rise in heroin and opioid overdoses.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: Long before any settlers arrived, the original 1870 government survey of the area showed that just west of and parallel to the Atlantic Ocean's coastal dune was the "Boca Ratones Lagoon", which extended south for measured from just north of the present location of Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Along the southern half of the lagoon were three wide areas each called a "Lake", which are now named (north to south) Lake Rogers, Lake Wyman, and Lake Boca Raton. At the southeast end of the lagoon was a short protrusion toward the south which would become the Boca Raton Inlet after a sandbar at its mouth was removed.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The lagoon and lakes were part of a half-mile (0.8 km) wide swamp, west of which was scrub land a mile (1.6 km) wide (part of the Atlantic coastal ridge) where the Florida East Coast Railway (1896) and Dixie Highway (1923) were built. To the west of the scrub was a half mile or wider swamp within which flowed north to south the "Prong of Hillsborough River", which is now the El Rio Canal. It now forms the eastern border of Florida Atlantic University and the Old Floresta neighborhood. The prong entered the "Hillsborough River" at the present eastern end of the straight portion of the Hillsboro Canal (dredged 1911–1914), which is the southern city limits. The river flowed southeast in several channels along the western edge of the present Deerfield Island County Park, formerly called Capone Island (named for Al Capone who owned it during the 1930s), which did not become an island until the Royal Palm Canal was dredged along its northern edge in 1961. Flowing south from the lagoon to the river along the eastern edge of the 'island' was a "Small boat Pass into Hillsboro' River", also called the Little Hillsboro. The river continued due south about just inland of the coastal dune until it emptied into the Atlantic Ocean at the "Hillsborough Bar", now the Hillsboro Inlet.


title: Boca Raton, Florida

text: The lagoon was dredged in 1894–1895 to form part of the Florida East Coast Canal with a minimum depth of and a minimum width of . After 1895, the lagoon and canal were sometimes called the Spanish River. Between 1930 and 1935 the canal was improved to by the federal government and renamed the Intracoastal Waterway. It was improved again between 1960 and 1965 to . All three versions were subject to shoaling which reduced their depths below the specified minimum. Forming part of the northern city limits is the C-15 canal, connecting the El Rio Canal to the Intracoastal Waterway.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced by Pavement, Pixies, XTC, and Talking Heads, they rehearsed, rearranged, and recorded demos for almost two years before finally signing with small-town indie label K Records and releasing numerous singles.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Since their 1996 debut album, "This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About", the band's lineup has mostly centered on Brock and Green, undergoing multiple changes. The band achieved mainstream success with their fourth album, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" (2004), and its singles "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty". Judy performed on every Modest Mouse album until his departure in 2012. Guitarist Johnny Marr (formerly of the Smiths) joined the band in 2006, shortly following percussionist Joe Plummer (formerly of the Black Heart Procession) and multi-instrumentalist Tom Peloso, to work on the album "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" (2007). Guitarist Jim Fairchild joined the band in 2009. The band's sixth album, "Strangers to Ourselves", was released on March 17, 2015. Their seventh album, "The Golden Casket", released on June 25, 2021.


title: Modest Mouse

text: When Isaac Brock was a teenager, he was employed at a local family video store just outside Seattle, where he met bassist Eric Judy. Brock and Judy later discovered drummer Jeremiah Green, who also resided near Seattle, at a heavy metal show, at which point they decided to make music together. Brock says he made a point of the band being from Issaquah to avoid association with the music scenes of Seattle or Olympia and to keep with the band's suburban lyrical themes. In 1994, at Calvin Johnson's Dub Narcotic Studios, Modest Mouse recorded its first EP, "Blue Cadet-3, Do You Connect?", which was released by K Records. This was followed by a single, "Broke", recorded by Steve Wold (a.k.a. bluesman Seasick Steve) under Sub Pop records at Moon Studios in Olympia, Washington. During this time, Modest Mouse also recorded what would have been its first album, "Sad Sappy Sucker", but constant delays caused the album to be shelved and forgotten. It was not until 2001 that it was officially released. Before the band made its way into the pop music world in 2004, many of Modest Mouse's tours included stops at DIY/punk venues such as Speak in Tongues in Cleveland, Ohio, where they continued to play even after becoming popular enough to fill larger venues.


title: Modest Mouse

text: After moving to Up Records, Modest Mouse released two full-length albums and other recordings including the 1996 LP "This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About". Steve Wold also recorded and produced this album (and at the time was assisting in the recordings as well, but was not officially part of the band) along with the next offering, "Interstate 8". The 1997 album, "The Lonesome Crowded West" (also recorded at Moon Studios, by Scott Swayze) served as the band's breakthrough. "The Lonesome Crowded West" gained the band a cult following, and is now popularly considered to be one of the defining albums of mid-1990s indie rock. During this time, Nick Kraft became involved with the task of refining the band's sound. Prior to its release, the band had recorded the EP "The Fruit That Ate Itself". In 2000, Up Records released a singles and rarities collection entitled "Building Nothing Out of Something" that included the entirety of "Interstate 8" except for the songs "Edit the Sad Parts" and "Buttons to Push the Buttons".


title: Modest Mouse

text: In 2000, Modest Mouse released "The Moon & Antarctica", its first album on Epic Records. The album, produced by Califone's Brian Deck during five months of sessions in Chicago, was met with critical acclaim, including a 9.8/10 score from online music magazine Pitchfork Media, despite concerns about releasing material on a major label. The album would later receive further acclaim.


title: Modest Mouse

text: The band licensed "Gravity Rides Everything" for a Nissan Quest minivan advertisement, a move that Brock has publicly acknowledged as blatantly commercial but necessary to achieve financial stability. Regarding the commercial, Brock stated, "People who don't have to make their living playing music can bitch about my principles while they spend their parents' money or wash dishes for some asshole."


title: Modest Mouse

text: In 2001, Modest Mouse released the EP "Everywhere and His Nasty Parlour Tricks", a collection of unused songs from the recording sessions of "The Moon & Antarctica". In 2002, the band joined Cake, De La Soul, The Flaming Lips, The Hackensaw Boys and Kinky on the Unlimited Sunshine Tour.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In March 2003, Green left the band after suffering a nervous breakdown; official reports stated he was leaving to work with his side project, Vells. The same year, he and Judy appeared on Adam Forkner's first solo album, "VVRSSNN". Drummer Benjamin Weikel joined the band, replacing Green, along with Murder City Devils guitarist Dann Gallucci, who had previously played with Modest Mouse. Prior to starting the band's writing and recording process, Brock was devastated by the loss of "a couple of the most important people in my life," he said. Following these events, the band released their fourth album, "Good News for People Who Love Bad News", on April 6, 2004. The following August, the album was certified Platinum, having two hits with "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty" (both of which they performed on "Saturday Night Live" on November 13, 2004). The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album that year, and "Float On" was nominated for Best Rock Song. Later that year, Green returned to the band and Weikel returned to drumming exclusively for the Helio Sequence.


title: Modest Mouse

text: The public radio program "Marketplace" used "Float On" as bumper music, which helped propel the group to a broader audience.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In 2006, Johnny Marr (formerly of The Smiths) joined the band after Gallucci quit amicably. Modest Mouse released their next album, "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank", on March 20, 2007 after its original release date of December 19, 2006 was delayed. The album also included bonus track and single "King Rat", which actor Heath Ledger had known about before the track was released; the band was formally introduced to the actor while on their 2007 tour in Australia. Ledger proposed an outline for a music video to the group, and with his film collective, The Masses, immediately began working on it once he had the band's approval. Upon Ledger's death in January 2008, the video remained unfinished. "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" was the first Modest Mouse album to reach No. 1 on the US "Billboard" 200 charts and had the hit single "Dashboard", as well as "Missed the Boat" and "We've Got Everything". Modest Mouse released singles for the songs "Satellite Skin", "Autumn Beds" and "Perpetual Motion Machine" in limited edition—a total of 4,000 copies each—vinyl 7 inches, featuring artwork by art director and illustrator Joshua Marc Levy, J. Alex Stamos, and Natasha Wheat.


title: Modest Mouse

text: The band began a North American tour in June 2008. They returned to Florida, with three shows in Miami, Orlando and St. Augustine, for the first time since they were cut off stage early during the November 2006 Bang Music Festival show. Modest Mouse finished its tour supporting "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank" after two years of promoting the record.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Jim Fairchild replaced Marr as official guitarist after the latter left the band and joined The Cribs, beginning with the tour of "No One's First and You're Next", which was released on August 4, 2009, composed of unreleased tracks from the recording sessions of "Good News for People Who Love Bad News" and "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank".


title: Modest Mouse

text: On July 4, 2010 the band headlined the second day of the 80/35 Music Festival in Des Moines, Iowa, and the first day of the End of the Road Festival in Dorset, England, on September 10, 2010. At the end of August 2010, Modest Mouse played on the main stage at the Leeds and Reading festivals.


title: Modest Mouse

text: On May 29, Modest Mouse played two new songs during their headline of the Sasquatch festival. The songs were called "Poison the Well" and "Lampshades on Fire".


title: Modest Mouse

text: They then contributed a cover of the Buddy Holly song "That'll Be the Day" to the compilation "Rave On Buddy Holly", which was released on June 28, 2011. Modest Mouse played at Splendour in the Grass in Woodford, Queensland on July 29, 2011, and at The Warfield in San Francisco on January 25, 2012.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In 2012, Modest Mouse underwent a significant lineup change, which included the departure of founding bassist Eric Judy and percussionist Joe Plummer, replaced by Russell Higbee (formerly of Man Man) and Davey Brozowski, respectively. The lineup also included the additions of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Lisa Molinaro, and percussionist Ben Massarella, the latter of whom previously played percussion on "The Moon & Antarctica".


title: Modest Mouse

text: In June of that same year, Pitchfork.tv released a 45-minute documentary on "The Lonesome Crowded West", which included archival footage taken during live performances and original recording/mix sessions.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Modest Mouse played a Saturday afternoon set at the inaugural Firefly Music Festival in July 2012. Modest Mouse was one of the main acts in the Good Vibes Festival held in Sepang, Malaysia on August 17, 2013. The lineup featured other internationally renowned bands such as Smashing Pumpkins, Ash, and Japandroids. In April 2013, Modest Mouse performed at Coachella Music Festival in Indio, California. They also performed at the 2014 Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, in May 2014. They later performed as a headliner at Shaky Knees music festival in Atlanta, Georgia on May 10, 2014, and also headlined Sunday May 25 at Boston Calling in Massachusetts. Modest Mouse then performed at Hudson Valley Music Project in Saugerties, NY in July, 2014. The band's final performance of 2014 took place in Inglewood, California during the annual KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In the fall of 2014 Modest Mouse re-released their first two albums, "This Is a Long Drive for Someone with Nothing to Think About" and "The Lonesome Crowded West", on CD and vinyl through Isaac Brock's Glacial Pace record label.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Eight years after the release of "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank", Modest Mouse released "Strangers to Ourselves" on March 17, 2015. On December 15, 2014, they released the lead single "Lampshades on Fire" which debuted on Twin Cities public radio station 89.3 The Current. On December 16, 2014, Modest Mouse made "Strangers to Ourselves" available for pre-order for CD and LP formats on the Glacial Pace website and on the iTunes store.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In 2015, Brock described the follow-up album to "Strangers to Ourselves" as being like a part two to the latter album that they would try to release as soon as legally possible. The follow-up album has also been said to feature at least one song with Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Throughout 2019, the band released three standalone singles; "Poison the Well" on March 29, "I'm Still Here" on April 18, and "Ice Cream Party" on November 15.


title: Modest Mouse

text: Modest Mouse released their seventh studio album, "The Golden Casket", on June 25, 2021. The album's first single, "We Are Between", was released on May 5, followed by its second single, “Leave a Light On”, released on May 24. Writing for the "Wall Street Journal", music critic Mark Richardson gave a mixed review of the album. Richardson described the tracks on the first half of the album as "sound[ing] like busy arrangements in search of a song," and noted that "Mr. Brock’s ear for hooks just barely rescues the tracks from the seriously overstuffed production." Richardson noted that the back half of the album contained the biggest highlights, which he described as "quite good." Richardson was particularly fond of the album's stripped-down finale, "Back to the Middle," which he noted "hints at what should be [the band's] next change-up: Keep it simple. If the songs are strong and the performances are there, guitar, bass and drums will be more than enough.


title: Modest Mouse

text: In an interview in 2022, celebrating 15 years of "We Were Dead before The Ship Even Sank", Isaac Brock and Johnny Marr revealed that they were writing songs together again, the first of which is called "Rivers of Rivers". The writing took place in a "pen pal" kind of way, with Brock saying that there were more songs to be developed in 2022 together "once the world tilts back on its axis".


title: Modest Mouse

text: The band is currently mixing a nine-song companion EP to "The Golden Casket", with Marr confirmed to appear on one of the tracks.


title: Wankel engine

text: The Wankel engine is a type of internal combustion engine using an eccentric rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and designed by German engineer Hanns-Dieter Paschke. The Wankel engine's rotor, which creates the turning motion, is similar in shape to a Reuleaux triangle, with the sides having less curvature. The rotor rotates inside an oval-like epitrochoidal housing, around a central output shaft. The rotor spins in a hula-hoop fashion around the central output shaft, spinning the shaft via toothed gearing.


title: Wankel engine

text: Due to its inherent poor thermodynamics, the Wankel engine has a significantly worse thermal efficiency and worse exhaust gas behaviour when compared against the Otto engine or the Diesel engine, which is why the Wankel engine has seen limited use since its introduction in the 1960s. However, its advantages of compact design, smoothness, lower weight and less parts over the aforementioned reciprocating piston internal combustion engines make the Wankel engine suited for applications such as chainsaws, auxiliary power units, loitering munitions, aircraft, jet skis and snowmobiles. In the past, the Wankel engine has also been used in road vehicles such as automobiles, motorcycles, and racing cars.


title: Wankel engine

text: In 1951, the NSU research department in Germany led by Dr. Walter Freode and the Lindau Technical Development Agency led by Felix Wankel, began working on compressors. Wankel conceived the design of a triangular rotor in the compressor. With the assistance of Prof. Baier from Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences, the concept was defined mathematically. The supercharger he designed was used in the record breaking two-stroke engine of the NSU Baumm II car and also in the NSU Delphin III motorcycle. Wankel who had received his first patent for a rotary type of engine in 1929, realized that the triangular rotor of the supercharger could have intake and exhaust ports added producing an internal combustion engine.


title: Wankel engine

text: Wankel convinced NSU the supercharger could be a rotary internal combustion engine, with NSU giving approval for development in 1954. The initial development was undertaken at the Lindau Technical Development Agency, leading to a working prototype at NSU, the DKM design, being completed in 1957.


title: Wankel engine

text: In 1954, NSU in Germany began the development of the engine, derived from a supercharger designed by Felix Wankel, with two prototypes being built. The first, the DKM motor, was developed by Felix Wankel. The second, the KKM motor, was developed by Hanns Dieter Paschke. The Paschke engine was adopted as the basis of the modern Wankel engine, yet named after Felix Wankel.


title: Wankel engine

text: The basis of the DKM type of motor was that both the rotor, which was attached to the output shaft, and the rotor's housing both spun in a pure circular motion on independent axes. There was an exterior static engine housing encapsulating the two revolving parts. Being more naturally balanced the DKM motor reached up to 17,000 rpm. However, the engine needed to be stripped to change the three spark plugs as they were screwed into each side of the triangular spinning rotor. The first working prototype, DKM 54, produced first running on February 1, 1957, at the NSU research and development department "Versuchsabteilung TX".


title: Wankel engine

text: The second prototype, the KKM 57 (the Wankel rotary engine, "Kreiskolbenmotor") was designed and constructed by NSU engineer Hanns Dieter Paschke in 1957 to simplify the design. The KKM engine was simpler reducing the housings from two to one. The revolving rotor housing was eliminated, with the triangular rotor spinning inside a fixed static engine housing. From spinning in a pure circular motion, the rotor revolved around the central output shaft in an elliptical orbit in a hula-hoop fashion, pushing the shaft around via fixed tooth gearing. The KKM was developed without the knowledge of Felix Wankel, who remarked, "you have turned my race horse into a plow mare". The NSU chairman chairman Dr. von Heydekampf replied: “If only we actually had a plough horse!” Wankel complained that more stresses would be placed on the apex seals due to the eccentric hula-hoop motion of the rotor. The DKM motor's rotor was attached to the output shaft revolving in a pure circular motion, as Wankel wanted it, rather than spinning like a hula-hoop around the output shaft, as the KKM did. The hula-hoop spinning motion reduced the revolutions per minute.


title: Wankel engine

text: Dr. Walter Freode head of the NSU research department dropped the DKM 54 in 1958 with all research funds concentrated on Paschke's KKM 57 motor. The KKM Wankel rotary engine started up for the first time on 7th July 1958. KKM 57 was a 125cc single rotor engine producing 25 HP at 11,000 rpm.


title: Wankel engine

text: The engine is of spark ignition, design with compression ignition engines having been built only in research projects.


title: Wankel engine

text: One side of the triangular rotor completes the four-stage Otto cycle of intake, compression, ignition, and exhaust each revolution of the rotor. As there are three sides, this gives three power pulses per revolution of the rotor. All three faces of the Wankel's rotor operate simultaneously in one revolution. As the output shaft spins three times faster than the rotor, only one power pulse is produced at each revolution of the shaft. For comparison, the four-stroke piston engine completes the Otto cycle in two revolutions of its output shaft (crankshaft). The Wankel produces twice as many power pulses.


title: Wankel engine

text: Each stage of the Otto cycle occurs in the same chamber at different intervals in the four-stroke piston engine, while in the Wankel engine the stages of the Otto cycle occur simultaneously at separate fixed points around the engine's housing. The output shaft uses toothed gearing to turn three times faster than the rotor, giving one power pulse per output shaft revolution. Using faster burning and cleaner fuels such as hydrogen enhances the efficiency of the engine. The Wankel engine has reached a power-to-weight ratio of over one horsepower per pound.