title: Lipid

text: For a century, chemists regarded "fats" as only simple lipids made of fatty acids and glycerol (glycerides), but new forms were described later. Theodore Gobley (1847) discovered phospholipids in mammalian brain and hen egg, called by him as "lecithins". Thudichum discovered in human brain some phospholipids (cephalin), glycolipids (cerebroside) and sphingolipids (sphingomyelin).


title: Lipid

text: The terms lipoid, lipin, lipide and lipid have been used with varied meanings from author to author. In 1912, Rosenbloom and Gies proposed the substitution of "lipoid" by "lipin". In 1920, Bloor introduced a new classification for "lipoids": simple lipoids (greases and waxes), compound lipoids (phospholipoids and glycolipoids), and the derived lipoids (fatty acids, alcohols, sterols).


title: Lipid

text: The word "lipide", which stems etymologically from Greek λίπος, "lipos" 'fat', was introduced in 1923 by the French pharmacologist Gabriel Bertrand. Bertrand included in the concept not only the traditional fats (glycerides), but also the "lipoids", with a complex constitution. The word "lipide" was unanimously approved by the international commission of the "Société de Chimie Biologique" during the plenary session on July 3, 1923. The word "lipide" was later anglicized as "lipid" because of its pronunciation ('lɪpɪd). In French, the suffix "-ide", from Ancient Greek -ίδης (meaning 'son of' or 'descendant of'), is always pronounced (ɪd).


title: Lipid

text: Fatty acyls, a generic term for describing fatty acids, their conjugates and derivatives, are a diverse group of molecules synthesized by chain-elongation of an acetyl-CoA primer with malonyl-CoA or methylmalonyl-CoA groups in a process called fatty acid synthesis. They are made of a hydrocarbon chain that terminates with a carboxylic acid group; this arrangement confers the molecule with a polar, hydrophilic end, and a nonpolar, hydrophobic end that is insoluble in water. The fatty acid structure is one of the most fundamental categories of biological lipids and is commonly used as a building-block of more structurally complex lipids. The carbon chain, typically between four and 24 carbons long, may be saturated or unsaturated, and may be attached to functional groups containing oxygen, halogens, nitrogen, and sulfur. If a fatty acid contains a double bond, there is the possibility of either a "cis" or "trans" geometric isomerism, which significantly affects the molecule's configuration. "Cis"-double bonds cause the fatty acid chain to bend, an effect that is compounded with more double bonds in the chain. Three double bonds in 18-carbon "linolenic acid", the most abundant fatty-acyl chains of plant "thylakoid membranes", render these membranes highly "fluid" despite environmental low-temperatures, and also makes linolenic acid give dominating sharp peaks in high resolution 13-C NMR spectra of chloroplasts. This in turn plays an important role in the structure and function of cell membranes. Most naturally occurring fatty acids are of the "cis" configuration, although the "trans" form does exist in some natural and partially hydrogenated fats and oils.


title: Lipid

text: Examples of biologically important fatty acids include the eicosanoids, derived primarily from arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, that include prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and thromboxanes. Docosahexaenoic acid is also important in biological systems, particularly with respect to sight. Other major lipid classes in the fatty acid category are the fatty esters and fatty amides. Fatty esters include important biochemical intermediates such as wax esters, fatty acid thioester coenzyme A derivatives, fatty acid thioester ACP derivatives and fatty acid carnitines. The fatty amides include N-acyl ethanolamines, such as the cannabinoid neurotransmitter anandamide.


title: Lipid

text: Glycerolipids are composed of mono-, di-, and tri-substituted glycerols, the best-known being the fatty acid triesters of glycerol, called triglycerides. The word "triacylglycerol" is sometimes used synonymously with "triglyceride". In these compounds, the three hydroxyl groups of glycerol are each esterified, typically by different fatty acids. Because they function as an energy store, these lipids comprise the bulk of storage fat in animal tissues. The hydrolysis of the ester bonds of triglycerides and the release of glycerol and fatty acids from adipose tissue are the initial steps in metabolizing fat.


title: Lipid

text: Additional subclasses of glycerolipids are represented by glycosylglycerols, which are characterized by the presence of one or more sugar residues attached to glycerol via a glycosidic linkage. Examples of structures in this category are the digalactosyldiacylglycerols found in plant membranes and seminolipid from mammalian sperm cells.


title: Lipid

text: Glycerophospholipids, usually referred to as phospholipids (though sphingomyelins are also classified as phospholipids), are ubiquitous in nature and are key components of the lipid bilayer of cells, as well as being involved in metabolism and cell signaling. Neural tissue (including the brain) contains relatively high amounts of glycerophospholipids, and alterations in their composition has been implicated in various neurological disorders. Glycerophospholipids may be subdivided into distinct classes, based on the nature of the polar headgroup at the "sn"-3 position of the glycerol backbone in eukaryotes and eubacteria, or the "sn"-1 position in the case of archaebacteria.


title: Lipid

text: Examples of glycerophospholipids found in biological membranes are phosphatidylcholine (also known as PC, GPCho or lecithin), phosphatidylethanolamine (PE or GPEtn) and phosphatidylserine (PS or GPSer). In addition to serving as a primary component of cellular membranes and binding sites for intra- and intercellular proteins, some glycerophospholipids in eukaryotic cells, such as phosphatidylinositols and phosphatidic acids are either precursors of or, themselves, membrane-derived second messengers. Typically, one or both of these hydroxyl groups are acylated with long-chain fatty acids, but there are also alkyl-linked and 1Z-alkenyl-linked (plasmalogen) glycerophospholipids, as well as dialkylether variants in archaebacteria.


title: Lipid

text: Sphingolipids are a complicated family of compounds that share a common structural feature, a sphingoid base backbone that is synthesized "de novo" from the amino acid serine and a long-chain fatty acyl CoA, then converted into ceramides, phosphosphingolipids, glycosphingolipids and other compounds. The major sphingoid base of mammals is commonly referred to as sphingosine. Ceramides (N-acyl-sphingoid bases) are a major subclass of sphingoid base derivatives with an amide-linked fatty acid. The fatty acids are typically saturated or mono-unsaturated with chain lengths from 16 to 26 carbon atoms.


title: Lipid

text: The major phosphosphingolipids of mammals are sphingomyelins (ceramide phosphocholines), whereas insects contain mainly ceramide phosphoethanolamines and fungi have phytoceramide phosphoinositols and mannose-containing headgroups. The glycosphingolipids are a diverse family of molecules composed of one or more sugar residues linked via a glycosidic bond to the sphingoid base. Examples of these are the simple and complex glycosphingolipids such as cerebrosides and gangliosides.


title: Lipid

text: Sterols, such as cholesterol and its derivatives, are an important component of membrane lipids, along with the glycerophospholipids and sphingomyelins. Other examples of sterols are the bile acids and their conjugates, which in mammals are oxidized derivatives of cholesterol and are synthesized in the liver. The plant equivalents are the phytosterols, such as β-sitosterol, stigmasterol, and brassicasterol; the latter compound is also used as a biomarker for algal growth. The predominant sterol in fungal cell membranes is ergosterol.


title: Lipid

text: Sterols are steroids in which one of the hydrogen atoms is substituted with a hydroxyl group, at position 3 in the carbon chain. They have in common with steroids the same fused four-ring core structure. Steroids have different biological roles as hormones and signaling molecules. The eighteen-carbon (C18) steroids include the estrogen family whereas the C19 steroids comprise the androgens such as testosterone and androsterone. The C21 subclass includes the progestogens as well as the glucocorticoids and mineralocorticoids. The secosteroids, comprising various forms of vitamin D, are characterized by cleavage of the B ring of the core structure.


title: Lipid

text: Prenol lipids are synthesized from the five-carbon-unit precursors isopentenyl diphosphate and dimethylallyl diphosphate, which are produced mainly via the mevalonic acid (MVA) pathway. The simple isoprenoids (linear alcohols, diphosphates, etc.) are formed by the successive addition of C5 units, and are classified according to number of these terpene units. Structures containing greater than 40 carbons are known as polyterpenes. Carotenoids are important simple isoprenoids that function as antioxidants and as precursors of vitamin A. Another biologically important class of molecules is exemplified by the quinones and hydroquinones, which contain an isoprenoid tail attached to a quinonoid core of non-isoprenoid origin. Vitamin E and vitamin K, as well as the ubiquinones, are examples of this class. Prokaryotes synthesize polyprenols (called bactoprenols) in which the terminal isoprenoid unit attached to oxygen remains unsaturated, whereas in animal polyprenols (dolichols) the terminal isoprenoid is reduced.


title: Lipid

text: Saccharolipids describe compounds in which fatty acids are linked to a sugar backbone, forming structures that are compatible with membrane bilayers. In the saccharolipids, a monosaccharide substitutes for the glycerol backbone present in glycerolipids and glycerophospholipids. The most familiar saccharolipids are the acylated glucosamine precursors of the Lipid A component of the lipopolysaccharides in Gram-negative bacteria. Typical lipid A molecules are disaccharides of glucosamine, which are derivatized with as many as seven fatty-acyl chains. The minimal lipopolysaccharide required for growth in "E. coli" is Kdo-Lipid A, a hexa-acylated disaccharide of glucosamine that is glycosylated with two 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid (Kdo) residues.


title: Lipid

text: Polyketides are synthesized by polymerization of acetyl and propionyl subunits by classic enzymes as well as iterative and multimodular enzymes that share mechanistic features with the fatty acid synthases. They comprise many secondary metabolites and natural products from animal, plant, bacterial, fungal and marine sources, and have great structural diversity. Many polyketides are cyclic molecules whose backbones are often further modified by glycosylation, methylation, hydroxylation, oxidation, or other processes. Many commonly used anti-microbial, anti-parasitic, and anti-cancer agents are polyketides or polyketide derivatives, such as erythromycins, tetracyclines, avermectins, and antitumor epothilones.


title: Lipid

text: Eukaryotic cells feature the compartmentalized membrane-bound organelles that carry out different biological functions. The glycerophospholipids are the main structural component of biological membranes, as the cellular plasma membrane and the intracellular membranes of organelles; in animal cells, the plasma membrane physically separates the intracellular components from the extracellular environment. The glycerophospholipids are amphipathic molecules (containing both hydrophobic and hydrophilic regions) that contain a glycerol core linked to two fatty acid-derived "tails" by ester linkages and to one "head" group by a phosphate ester linkage. While glycerophospholipids are the major component of biological membranes, other non-glyceride lipid components such as sphingomyelin and sterols (mainly cholesterol in animal cell membranes) are also found in biological membranes. In plants and algae, the galactosyldiacylglycerols, and sulfoquinovosyldiacylglycerol, which lack a phosphate group, are important components of membranes of chloroplasts and related organelles and are the most abundant lipids in photosynthetic tissues, including those of higher plants, algae and certain bacteria.


title: Lipid

text: Plant thylakoid membranes have the largest lipid component of a non-bilayer forming monogalactosyl diglyceride (MGDG), and little phospholipids; despite this unique lipid composition, chloroplast thylakoid membranes have been shown to contain a dynamic lipid-bilayer matrix as revealed by magnetic resonance and electron microscope studies.


title: Lipid

text: A biological membrane is a form of lamellar phase lipid bilayer. The formation of lipid bilayers is an energetically preferred process when the glycerophospholipids described above are in an aqueous environment. This is known as the hydrophobic effect. In an aqueous system, the polar heads of lipids align towards the polar, aqueous environment, while the hydrophobic tails minimize their contact with water and tend to cluster together, forming a vesicle; depending on the concentration of the lipid, this biophysical interaction may result in the formation of micelles, liposomes, or lipid bilayers. Other aggregations are also observed and form part of the polymorphism of amphiphile (lipid) behavior. Phase behavior is an area of study within biophysics and is the subject of current academic research. Micelles and bilayers form in the polar medium by a process known as the hydrophobic effect. When dissolving a lipophilic or amphiphilic substance in a polar environment, the polar molecules (i.e., water in an aqueous solution) become more ordered around the dissolved lipophilic substance, since the polar molecules cannot form hydrogen bonds to the lipophilic areas of the amphiphile. So in an aqueous environment, the water molecules form an ordered "clathrate" cage around the dissolved lipophilic molecule.


title: Lipid

text: The formation of lipids into protocell membranes represents a key step in models of abiogenesis, the origin of life.


title: Lipid

text: Triglycerides, stored in adipose tissue, are a major form of energy storage both in animals and plants. They are a major source of energy in aerobic respiration. The complete oxidation of fatty acids releases about 38 kJ/g (9 kcal/g), compared with only 17 kJ/g (4 kcal/g) for the oxidative breakdown of carbohydrates and proteins. The adipocyte, or fat cell, is designed for continuous synthesis and breakdown of triglycerides in animals, with breakdown controlled mainly by the activation of hormone-sensitive enzyme lipase. Migratory birds that must fly long distances without eating use triglycerides to fuel their flights.


title: Lipid

text: Evidence has emerged showing that lipid signaling is a vital part of the cell signaling. Lipid signaling may occur via activation of G protein-coupled or nuclear receptors, and members of several different lipid categories have been identified as signaling molecules and cellular messengers. These include sphingosine-1-phosphate, a sphingolipid derived from ceramide that is a potent messenger molecule involved in regulating calcium mobilization, cell growth, and apoptosis; diacylglycerol (DAG) and the phosphatidylinositol phosphates (PIPs), involved in calcium-mediated activation of protein kinase C; the prostaglandins, which are one type of fatty-acid derived eicosanoid involved in inflammation and immunity; the steroid hormones such as estrogen, testosterone and cortisol, which modulate a host of functions such as reproduction, metabolism and blood pressure; and the oxysterols such as 25-hydroxy-cholesterol that are liver X receptor agonists. Phosphatidylserine lipids are known to be involved in signaling for the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells or pieces of cells. They accomplish this by being exposed to the extracellular face of the cell membrane after the inactivation of flippases which place them exclusively on the cytosolic side and the activation of scramblases, which scramble the orientation of the phospholipids. After this occurs, other cells recognize the phosphatidylserines and phagocytosize the cells or cell fragments exposing them.


title: Lipid

text: The "fat-soluble" vitamins (A, D, E and K) – which are isoprene-based lipids – are essential nutrients stored in the liver and fatty tissues, with a diverse range of functions. Acyl-carnitines are involved in the transport and metabolism of fatty acids in and out of mitochondria, where they undergo beta oxidation. Polyprenols and their phosphorylated derivatives also play important transport roles, in this case the transport of oligosaccharides across membranes. Polyprenol phosphate sugars and polyprenol diphosphate sugars function in extra-cytoplasmic glycosylation reactions, in extracellular polysaccharide biosynthesis (for instance, peptidoglycan polymerization in bacteria), and in eukaryotic protein N-glycosylation. Cardiolipins are a subclass of glycerophospholipids containing four acyl chains and three glycerol groups that are particularly abundant in the inner mitochondrial membrane. They are believed to activate enzymes involved with oxidative phosphorylation. Lipids also form the basis of steroid hormones.


title: Lipid

text: The major dietary lipids for humans and other animals are animal and plant triglycerides, sterols, and membrane phospholipids. The process of lipid metabolism synthesizes and degrades the lipid stores and produces the structural and functional lipids characteristic of individual tissues.


title: Lipid

text: In animals, when there is an oversupply of dietary carbohydrate, the excess carbohydrate is converted to triglycerides. This involves the synthesis of fatty acids from acetyl-CoA and the esterification of fatty acids in the production of triglycerides, a process called lipogenesis. Fatty acids are made by fatty acid synthases that polymerize and then reduce acetyl-CoA units. The acyl chains in the fatty acids are extended by a cycle of reactions that add the acetyl group, reduce it to an alcohol, dehydrate it to an alkene group and then reduce it again to an alkane group. The enzymes of fatty acid biosynthesis are divided into two groups, in animals and fungi all these fatty acid synthase reactions are carried out by a single multifunctional protein, while in plant plastids and bacteria separate enzymes perform each step in the pathway. The fatty acids may be subsequently converted to triglycerides that are packaged in lipoproteins and secreted from the liver.


title: Lipid

text: The synthesis of unsaturated fatty acids involves a desaturation reaction, whereby a double bond is introduced into the fatty acyl chain. For example, in humans, the desaturation of stearic acid by stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 produces oleic acid. The doubly unsaturated fatty acid linoleic acid as well as the triply unsaturated α-linolenic acid cannot be synthesized in mammalian tissues, and are therefore essential fatty acids and must be obtained from the diet.


title: Lipid

text: Triglyceride synthesis takes place in the endoplasmic reticulum by metabolic pathways in which acyl groups in fatty acyl-CoAs are transferred to the hydroxyl groups of glycerol-3-phosphate and diacylglycerol.


title: Lipid

text: Terpenes and isoprenoids, including the carotenoids, are made by the assembly and modification of isoprene units donated from the reactive precursors isopentenyl pyrophosphate and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate. These precursors can be made in different ways. In animals and archaea, the mevalonate pathway produces these compounds from acetyl-CoA, while in plants and bacteria the non-mevalonate pathway uses pyruvate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate as substrates. One important reaction that uses these activated isoprene donors is steroid biosynthesis. Here, the isoprene units are joined together to make squalene and then folded up and formed into a set of rings to make lanosterol. Lanosterol can then be converted into other steroids such as cholesterol and ergosterol.


title: Lipid

text: Beta oxidation is the metabolic process by which fatty acids are broken down in the mitochondria or in peroxisomes to generate acetyl-CoA. For the most part, fatty acids are oxidized by a mechanism that is similar to, but not identical with, a reversal of the process of fatty acid synthesis. That is, two-carbon fragments are removed sequentially from the carboxyl end of the acid after steps of dehydrogenation, hydration, and oxidation to form a beta-keto acid, which is split by thiolysis. The acetyl-CoA is then ultimately converted into ATP, CO, and HO using the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain. Hence the citric acid cycle can start at acetyl-CoA when fat is being broken down for energy if there is little or no glucose available. The energy yield of the complete oxidation of the fatty acid palmitate is 106 ATP. Unsaturated and odd-chain fatty acids require additional enzymatic steps for degradation.


title: Lipid

text: Most of the fat found in food is in the form of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids. Some dietary fat is necessary to facilitate absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and carotenoids. Humans and other mammals have a dietary requirement for certain essential fatty acids, such as linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid) and alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) because they cannot be synthesized from simple precursors in the diet. Both of these fatty acids are 18-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids differing in the number and position of the double bonds. Most vegetable oils are rich in linoleic acid (safflower, sunflower, and corn oils). Alpha-linolenic acid is found in the green leaves of plants and in some seeds, nuts, and legumes (in particular flax, rapeseed, walnut, and soy). Fish oils are particularly rich in the longer-chain omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). Many studies have shown positive health benefits associated with consumption of omega-3 fatty acids on infant development, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and various mental illnesses (such as depression, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dementia).


title: Lipid

text: In contrast, it is now well-established that consumption of trans fats, such as those present in partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, are a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Fats that are good for one may be turned into trans fats by improper cooking methods that result in overcooking the lipids.


title: Lipid

text: A few studies have suggested that total dietary fat intake is linked to an increased risk of obesity and diabetes; however, a number of very large studies, including the Women's Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial, an eight-year study of 49,000 women, the Nurses' Health Study, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, revealed no such links. None of these studies suggested any connection between percentage of calories from fat and risk of cancer, heart disease, or weight gain. The Nutrition Source, a website maintained by the department of nutrition at the T. H. Chan School of Public Health at Harvard University, summarizes the current evidence on the effect of dietary fat: "Detailed research—much of it done at Harvard—shows that the total amount of fat in the diet isn't really linked with weight or disease."


title: Kodiak bear

text: The Kodiak bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is the largest recognized subspecies or population of the brown bear, and one of the two largest bears alive today, the other being the polar bear. They are also considered by some to be a population of grizzly bears.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Physiologically, the Kodiak bear is very similar to the other brown bear subspecies, such as the mainland grizzly bear ("Ursus arctos horribilis") and the extinct California grizzly bear ("U. a. californicus"), with the main difference being size. While there is generally much variation in size between brown bears in different areas, most usually weigh between 115 and 360 kg (254 and 794 lb). The Kodiak bear, on the other hand, commonly reaches sizes of , and has even been known to exceed a weight of . Despite this large variation in size, the diet and lifestyle of the Kodiak bear do not differ greatly from those of other brown bears.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bears have interacted with humans for centuries, especially hunters and other people in the rural coastal regions of the archipelago. The bears are hunted for sport and are encountered by hunters pursuing other species. Less frequently, Kodiak bears are killed by people whose property (such as livestock) or person are threatened. There is increasing focus on conservation and protection of the Kodiak bear population as human activity in its range increases. The IUCN classifies the brown bear ("Ursus arctos)", of which the Kodiak is a subspecies, as being of "least concern" in terms of endangerment or extinction, though the IUCN does not differentiate between subspecies and thus does not provide a conservation status for the Kodiak population. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game however, along with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to a lesser extent, closely monitor the size and health of the population and the number of bears hunted in the state.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Taxonomist C.H. Merriam was first to recognize the Kodiak bear as a unique subspecies of the brown bear, and he named it ""Ursus middendorffi"" in honor of the celebrated Baltic naturalist, Dr. A. Th. von Middendorff. Subsequent taxonomic work merged all North American brown bears into a single species ("Ursus arctos").


title: Kodiak bear

text: Genetic samples from bears on Kodiak have shown that they are most closely related to brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula and Kamchatka, Russia, and all brown bears roughly north of the US. Kodiak bears have been genetically isolated since at least the last ice age (10,000 to 12,000 years ago) and very little genetic diversity exists within the population. Although the current population is healthy and productive, and has shown no overt adverse signs of inbreeding, it may be more susceptible to new diseases or parasites than other, more diverse brown bear populations.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Hair colors range from blonde to orange (typically females or bears from southern parts of the archipelago) to dark brown. Cubs often retain a white "natal ring" around their neck for the first few years of life. The Kodiak bear's color is similar to that of its close relatives, the mainland American and Eurasian brown bears.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The size range for females (sows) is from , and for males (boars), it is . Mature males average over the course of the year, and can weigh up to at peak times. Females are typically about 20% smaller and 30% lighter than males, and adult sizes are attained when they are six years old. Bears weigh the least when they emerge from their dens in the spring, and can increase their weight by 20–30% during late summer and fall. Captive bears can sometimes attain weights that are considerably greater than those of their counterparts in the wilderness.


title: Kodiak bear

text: An average adult male measures in length, and stands tall at the shoulder. The largest recorded wild male weighed , and had a hind foot measurement of . A large male Kodiak bear stands up to tall at the shoulder, when it is standing on all four legs. When standing fully upright on its hind legs, a large male could reach a height of . The largest verified size for a captive Kodiak bear was for a specimen that lived at the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck, North Dakota. Nicknamed "Clyde", he weighed when he died in June 1987 at the age of 22. According to zoo director Terry Lincoln, Clyde probably weighed close to a year earlier. He still had a fat layer of when he died..


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bears are the largest brown bear, comparable in size to polar bears. This makes Kodiak bears and polar bears both the two largest members of the bear family and Kodiak bears the largest extant terrestrial carnivorans.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The standard method of evaluating the size of bears is by measuring their skulls. Most North American hunting organizations and management agencies use calipers to measure the length of the skull (back of sagittal crest on the back of the skull to the front tooth), and the width (maximum width between the zygomatic arches — "cheek bones"). The total skull size is the sum of these two measurements. The largest bear ever killed in North America was from Kodiak Island, with a total skull size of , and eight of the top 10 brown bears listed in the Boone and Crockett record book are from Kodiak. The average skull size of Kodiak bears that were killed by hunters in the first five years of the 21st century was for boars, and for sows.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Also, an individual named Teddy, which portrayed a killer bear in the movie "Grizzly", stood tall on hind legs and was the largest bear in captivity at the time.


title: Kodiak bear

text: This brown bear population only occurs on the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago (Kodiak, Afognak, Shuyak, Raspberry, Uganik, Sitkalidak, and adjacent islands). The Kodiak bear population was estimated to include 3,526 bears in 2005, yielding an estimated archipelago-wide population density of 270 bears per 1000 km (700 per 1000 sq.mi). During the past decade the population has been slowly increasing.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bears reach sexual maturity at age five, but most sows are over nine years old when they successfully wean their first litter. The average time between litters is four years. Sows continue to produce cubs throughout their lives, but their productivity diminishes after they are 20 years old. Mating season for Kodiak bears is during May and June. They are serially monogamous (having one partner at a time), staying together from two days to two weeks. As soon as the egg is fertilized and divides a few times, it enters a state of suspended animation until autumn when it finally implants on the uterine wall and begins to grow again. Cubs are born in the den during January or February. Weighing less than at birth with little hair and closed eyes, they suckle for several months, emerging from the den in May or June, weighing . Typical litter sizes on Kodiak are two or three cubs, with a long-term average of 2.4 cubs per litter. However, Kodiak bears have six functional nipples and litters up to six cubs have been reported. Sows are sometimes seen with five or six cubs in tow, probably due to adopting cubs from other litters. Most cubs stay with their mothers for three years. Almost half of the cubs die before they leave, with cannibalism by adult males being one of the major causes of death.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bears that have recently left their mothers, at ages 3–5 years, have high mortality rates with only 56% of males and 89% of females surviving. Most young female bears stay within or near their mother's home range, while most males move farther away. Most adult sows die of natural causes (56%), while most adult male bears are killed by hunters (91%). The oldest known male bear in the wild was 27 years old, and the oldest female was 35.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bears begin entering their dens in late October. Pregnant sows are usually the first to go to dens; males are the last. Males begin emerging from their dens in early April, while sows with new cubs may stay in dens until late June. Bears living on the north end of Kodiak Island tend to have longer denning periods than bears in the southern areas. Most Kodiak bears dig their dens in hill or mountain sides and they use a wide variety of denning habitats depending on which part of the archipelago they live. Almost a quarter of the adult bears forgo denning, staying somewhat active throughout the winter.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Bears on Kodiak are naturally active during the day, but when faced with competition for food or space, they adopt a more nocturnal (active at night) lifestyle. This behavior is especially evident in the bears that live near and within Kodiak City. Kodiak bears do not defend territories, but they do have traditional areas that they use each year (home ranges). Because of the rich variety of foods available on Kodiak, the bears on the archipelago have some of the smallest home ranges of any brown bear populations in North America and a great deal of overlap occurs among the ranges of individual bears. Home ranges of adult sows on Kodiak Island average , while boar home ranges average .


title: Kodiak bear

text: The islands of the Kodiak Archipelago have a subpolar oceanic climate with cool temperatures, overcast skies, fog, windy conditions and moderate to heavy precipitation throughout most of the year. Although the archipelago only covers about , a rich variety of topography and vegetation ranges from dense forests of Sitka spruce on the northern islands, to steep, glaciated mountains rising to Koniag Peak's along the central spine of Kodiak Island, to rolling hills and flat tundra on the south end of the archipelago. About 14,000 people live on the archipelago, primarily in and around the city of Kodiak and six outlying villages. Roads and other human alterations are generally limited to Afognak Island and the northeastern part of Kodiak Island. About half of the archipelago is included in the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Bears live throughout the archipelago, adapting to local resources and retaining relatively small home ranges and comparable densities in most habitats. Emerging vegetation and animals that died during the winter are the first foods bears eat in the spring. As summer progresses, a wide variety of vegetation supplies nutritional needs until salmon return. Salmon runs extend from May through September on most of the archipelago and bears consume the five species of Pacific salmon that spawn in local streams and lakes. In the late summer and early fall, bears consume several types of berries. Bears also feed on wind-rowed seaweed and invertebrates on some beaches throughout the year. Although deer are abundant on the archipelago and mountain goats are abundant on Kodiak Island, few Kodiak bears actively prey on them. Another food source available year-round is the garbage made by the human population of Kodiak Island. As climate change causes elderberries to ripen earlier, berry season is now overlapping with salmon season and some bears are abandoning salmon runs to focus on the berries.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The Kodiak bear is much like other brown bears in intelligence, although its tendency to feed in large dense groups leads to more complex social behaviors. Kodiak bears are generally solitary in nature; however, when food is concentrated in small areas, such as along salmon spawning streams, grass/sedge flats, berry patches, a dead whale, or even an open garbage dump, they often occur in large groups. Along a few streams on Kodiak, up to 60 bears can be seen simultaneously in a area. To maximize food intake at these ecologically important areas, bears have learned to minimize fighting and fatal interactions by developing a complex communication (both verbal and body posturing) and social structure.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Usually, Kodiak bears attempt to avoid encounters with people. The most notable exceptions to this behavior pattern occur when bears are surprised, threatened, or attracted by human food, garbage, or hunter-killed game. However, there has been an increase in Kodiak encounters due to increases in local population as well as increased hunting of Kodiak bears. Bear safety precautions aim at avoiding such situations, understanding bear needs and behavior, and learning how to recognize the warning signs bears give when stressed.


title: Kodiak bear

text: One fatal bear attack on a person on the Kodiak archipelago occurred in 1999. The National Geographic Society filmed a television program about two brown bear attacks as well as the life of them. Both incidents involved hunters who were hunting by themselves, and were returning to game they had killed previously, and left alone in order to continue hunting. One of the attacks was fatal, with the hunter being killed by the bear, and occurred on Uganik Island (November 3, 1999), which is part of the Kodiak archipelago. In the other incident, after being attacked by the bear, the hunter stabbed it with a knife, then recovered their rifle and killed the attacking bear. This occurred on Raspberry Island, home to two full-service wilderness lodges. Prior to that, the last fatality was in 1921. About once every other year, a bear injures a person on Kodiak.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Early human occupants of the archipelago when the land was locked into the ice age looked to the sea for their sustenance. At that time, Kodiak Natives (Alutiiqs) occasionally hunted bears, using their meat for food, hides for clothing and bedding, and teeth for adornment. Traditional stories often revolved around the similarity between bears and humans, and around the mystical nature of bears because of their proximity to the spirit world.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Russian hunters came to the area in the late 18th century to capitalize on the abundant fur resources. Bear hides were considered a "minor fur" and sold for about the same price as river otter pelts. The number of bears harvested increased substantially when sea otter populations declined and after the United States acquired Alaska in 1867, bear harvests on Kodiak increased, peaking at as many as 250 bears per year. Commercial fishing activities increased in the late 1880s and canneries proliferated throughout the archipelago. Bears were viewed as competitors for the salmon resource and were routinely shot when seen on streams or coasts. At the same time, sportsmen and scientists had recognized the Kodiak bear as the largest in the world, and they voiced concerns about overharvesting the population.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Professional interest in guided Kodiak bear hunts and a concern for unregulated resource use in frontier lands such as Alaska prompted the territorial government's newly established Alaska Game Commission to abolish commercial bear hunting (selling the hides) on the archipelago in 1925. The impacts of the new regulations seemed to restore bear populations on the Kodiak islands. By the 1930s, ranchers on northeast Kodiak reported an increase in bear problems and demanded action. Bears were wrongly seen as a threat to the expanding commercial salmon-fishing industry. To address the dilemma of conserving bears while protecting cattle, salmon, and people, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge by executive order in 1941. The refuge roughly encompasses the southwestern two-thirds of Kodiak Island, Uganik Island, the Red Peaks area on northwestern Afognak Island, and all of Ban Island.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Alaska achieved statehood in 1959 and assumed responsibility for managing the state's wildlife. The Alaska Board of Game reduced bear-hunting seasons on Afognak and Raspberry Islands and on the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge, but liberalized bear seasons on nonrefuge lands on Kodiak. During the 1960s, state biologists worked with ranchers along the Kodiak road system to examine and reduce the predation problem. Biologists reported that cattle and bears were not compatible on the same ranges and potential solutions included poisons, fences to isolate cattle ranges, and aerial shooting of bears. Again, sport hunters voiced their support for Kodiak bears. In spite of public pressure, the state continued actively pursuing and dispatching problem bears until 1970.


title: Kodiak bear

text: In 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) resolved many long-standing land issues with aboriginal Alaskans statewide. The impacts were felt strongly on the archipelago as large areas were conveyed to the Native corporations. Federal management of the National Forest lands on Afognak was transferred to Native Corporation ownership with passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980 (ANILCA), and the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge lost control of of prime bear habitat (more than 17% of refuge lands).


title: Kodiak bear

text: In 1975, construction of a logging road began on Afognak Island, and timber harvesting began in 1977. In 1979, work began on an environmental impact statement for the Terror Lake hydroelectric project on Kodiak Island. That project included an earthen dam on Terror Lake with Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and a tunnel through a mountain ridge to a penstock and powerhouse in the Kizhuyak River drainage. The hydro project was the first significant invasion of inland bear habitat on Kodiak Island. To address the opposition encountered from the public and agencies, a mitigation settlement was negotiated in 1981 which included brown bear research and establishment of the Kodiak Brown Bear Trust. The hydroelectric project was completed in 1985. Human alteration of bear habitat on Kodiak and Afognak Islands spurred renewed interest and funding for bear research on the archipelago, resulting in a surge of baseline and applied bear research on Kodiak through the 1980s and 1990s.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Bears were not directly harmed by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, although some were displaced from traditional feeding and traveling areas by cleanup crews. No one was injured by a bear, and no Kodiak bears were killed. To mitigate the adverse impacts of the spill, Exxon reached a settlement with the state and federal governments. Paradoxically, the impacts of the oil spill and the subsequent cleanup and settlement proved to be beneficial to bears on Kodiak. Bear-safety training exposed thousands of workers to factual information about bears, and money from the settlement fund was used for funding land acquisitions. By the close of the 20th century, over 80% of the refuge lands that had been lost as a result of ANCSA and ANILCA were reinstated into the refuge, either through direct purchase or by means of conservation easements. Lands were also purchased in America, Westtown, and Shuyak Islands and transferred into state ownership. The Kodiak Brown Bear Trust coordinated a coalition of sportsmen and other wildlife conservation groups from around the nation to lobby for use of settlement funds to acquire Kodiak lands. The groups also directly contributed funding to protect small parcels of important bear habitat around the islands.


title: Kodiak bear

text: In 2001, a citizens advisory committee was established to work closely with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G), with the cooperation of Kodiak NWR, to develop a management plan addressing several problems that affect bears, including hunting, habitat, and viewing. The resulting Kodiak Archipelago Bear Conservation and Management Plan was crafted over several months by representatives from 12 diverse user groups, which, after hearing from a variety of experts from agencies and receiving extensive public input, developed more than 270 recommendations for managing and conserving Kodiak bears. Despite the diversity of viewpoints expressed by members of the group, all of the recommendations were by consensus.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The underlying themes of the recommendations were continued conservation of the bear population at its current level, increased education programs to teach people how to live with bears on Kodiak, and protection of bear habitat with allowances for continued human use of the archipelago. Although the group's role is merely advisory, government management agencies expressed a commitment to implement all of the regulations that were feasible and within their legal jurisdictions.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List does not list subspecies. The brown bear species, of which the Kodiak subspecies is a member, is listed as Lower Risk or Least Concern. The Kodiak is not listed as an endangered species by the Endangered Species Act of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Kodiak bear research and habitat protection is done cooperatively by the ADF&G and Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. Bear hunting is managed by the ADF&G, and hunting regulations are established by the Alaska Board of Game. Currently, a finely tuned management system distributes hunters in 32 different areas during two seasons (spring: April 1 – May 15, and fall: October 25 – November 30). Each year, about 4,500 people apply for the 496 permits offered for Kodiak bear hunts (two-thirds to Alaska residents, one-third to nonresidents). Nonresidents are required to hire a registered guide who is authorized to hunt in a particular area, and this can cost from $10,000 to $22,000. All hunters must come into the Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in Kodiak prior to going into the field for a brief orientation and must check out before they leave the island. Every bear that is legally killed on the archipelago must be inspected by an ADF&G wildlife biologist before it can be taken from the islands. Pelts receive a stamp from an ADF&G officer if the hunter and guide provide proper documentation to prove licensing. Pelts cannot be transported or legally preserved or sold without the official stamp. Hunting laws are strictly enforced by the ADF&G officers who often have the full support of the local community. Illegal hunting and fishing is frowned upon by the community which maintains a healthy respect for the island's environmental laws, as well. Stiff penalties accompany illegal hunting and fishing. The island's remote location makes trafficking in illegal pelts difficult for would-be poachers.


title: Kodiak bear

text: Since statehood, the reported number of Kodiak bears killed by hunters has ranged from 77 (1968–1969) to 206 (1965–1966). From 2000 to 2006, an average of 173 Kodiak bears were killed by hunters each year (118 during the fall season and 55 in the spring season). Over 75% of those were males. An additional nine bears were reported killed annually in defense of life or property during the same time. The number of large, trophy-sized bears (total skull size at least ) killed by hunters in recent years has been increasing. In the 1970s, only 2.5% of the bears killed on Kodiak were trophy-sized; in the 1990s and 2000s, the proportion increased to almost 9%.


title: Kodiak bear

text: In the past 20 years, bear viewing has become increasingly popular on Kodiak and other parts of Alaska. The most accessible bear-viewing location on Kodiak, Frazer River, had over 1,100 people come in 2007. Visitor numbers have been increasing at about 10% annually and development of additional bear viewing areas on Kodiak is planned. Also, other bear viewing opportunities exist through air-taxi, charter boat, remote lodge, and trekking operations on the archipelago. Although bear-viewing is often considered a "nonconsumptive" use, it can have serious impacts on bear populations if it is not conducted properly. Most viewing occurs at places where bears congregate because of feeding opportunities that are critical to their survival. If some bears avoid these areas because people are there, those bears may not get the fat and protein they need to make it through the upcoming winter. Consequently, unmanaged bear viewing could affect several bears, especially productive sows with cubs. Often, bear-viewing and bear-hunting are considered incompatible. Even if the bear population is healthy and bear hunting is sustainable, ethical questions arise especially if hunting occurs near viewing areas and either during or soon after the viewing season. Many feel that it is not fair to encourage bears to be close to people during the summer, only to allow them to be shot in the fall. The Kodiak bear plan recognized bear hunting as a legitimate, traditional, and biologically justifiable activity. It recommended that agencies find ways to make bear hunting and bear viewing compatible on the archipelago.


title: Kodiak bear

text: The bear is important to the Alutiiq people. Its Alutiiq name is "Taquka’aq" (Bear), with the pronunciation varying between Northern and Southern dialects.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Gregory Oliver Hines (February 14, 1946 – August 9, 2003) was an American dancer, actor, choreographer, and singer. He is one of the most celebrated tap dancers of all time. As an actor, he is best known for "Wolfen" (1981), "The Cotton Club" (1984), "White Nights" (1985), and "Running Scared" (1986), "The Gregory Hines Show" (1997–1998), Ben on "Will & Grace" (1999–2000), and for voicing Big Bill on the Nick Jr. animated children's television program "Little Bill" (1999–2004).


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines starred in more than 40 films and also appeared on Broadway. He received many accolades, including a Daytime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and four Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines was born in New York City on February 14, 1946 to Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines, a dancer, musician, and actor, and grew up in the Sugar Hill neighborhood of Harlem. He began tap dancing when he was two years old, and began dancing semi-professionally at age five. After that, he and his older brother Maurice performed together, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Gregory and Maurice also studied with veteran tap dancers such as Howard Sims and The Nicholas Brothers when they performed at the same venues. The brothers were known as The Hines Kids, making nightclub appearances at venues in Miami, Florida, with Cab Calloway. They were later known as The Hines Brothers.


title: Gregory Hines

text: When their father joined the act as a drummer, their name changed again in 1963 to "Hines, Hines, and Dad".


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines was an avid improviser of tap steps, tap sounds, and tap rhythms alike. His improvisation was like that of a drummer, doing a solo and coming up with rhythms. He also improvised the phrasing of a number of tap steps, mainly based on sound produced. A laid-back dancer, he usually wore loose fitting pants and a tighter shirt.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Although he inherited the roots and tradition of the black rhythmic tap, he also promoted the new black rhythmic tap. "He purposely obliterated the tempos," wrote tap historian Sally Sommer, "throwing down a cascade of taps like pebbles tossed across the floor. In that moment, he aligned tap with the latest free form experiments in jazz and new music and postmodern dance."


title: Gregory Hines

text: Throughout his career, Hines wanted and continued to be an advocate for tap in America. He successfully petitioned the creation of National Tap Dance Day in May 1989, which is now celebrated in forty cities in the United States, as well as eight other nations. He was on the board of directors of Manhattan Tap, a member of the Jazz Tap Ensemble, and a member of the American Tap Dance Foundation, which was formerly called the American Tap Dance Orchestra.


title: Gregory Hines

text: In 1989, he created and hosted a PBS special called "Gregory Hines' Tap Dance in America," which featured various tap dancers such as Savion Glover and Bunny Briggs.


title: Gregory Hines

text: In 1990, Hines visited his idol (and "Tap" co-star) Sammy Davis Jr., who was dying of throat cancer and was unable to speak. After Davis died, an emotional Hines spoke at Davis's funeral of how Sammy made a gesture to him, "as if passing a basketball ... and I caught it." Hines spoke of the honor that Sammy thought that Hines could carry on from where he left off.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Through his teaching, he influenced tap dancers such as Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, Ted Levy, and Jane Goldberg. In an interview with "The New York Times" in 1988, Hines said that everything he did was influenced by his dancing: "my singing, my acting, my lovemaking, my being a parent."


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines made his Broadway debut with his brother in "The Girl in Pink Tights" in 1954. He earned Tony Award nominations for "Eubie!" (1979), "Comin' Uptown" (1980), and "Sophisticated Ladies" (1981), and won the Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for "Jelly's Last Jam" (1992) and the Theatre World Award for "Eubie!".


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines performed as the lead singer and musician in a rock band called Severance based in Venice, Los Angeles in 1975 and 1976. Severance was one of the house bands at an original music club called Honky Hoagies Handy Hangout, otherwise known as the 4H Club. Severance released their self-titled debut album on Largo Records (a subsidiary of GNP Crescendo) in 1976.


title: Gregory Hines

text: In 1986, he sang a duet with Luther Vandross called "There's Nothing Better Than Love", which reached the No. 1 position on the "Billboard" R&B charts. Encouraged by his first success on the chart, Hines subsequently released his self-titled debut album on Epic in 1988 with much support of Vandross. This album produced a Vandross-penned single "That Girl Wants to Dance with Me", which peaked at #8 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in May 1988.


title: Gregory Hines

text: In 1981, Hines made his movie debut in Mel Brooks's "History of the World, Part I", replacing Richard Pryor, who was originally cast in the role but suffered severe burns in a house fire just days before he was due to begin shooting. Madeline Kahn, also starring in the film, suggested to director Mel Brooks that he look into Hines for the role after they learned of Pryor's hospitalization. He appeared in the horror film "Wolfen" later that year.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines's peak as an actor came in the mid-1980s. He had a large role in "The Cotton Club" (1984), where he and his brother Maurice (in Maurice's sole film credit) played a 1930s tap-dancing duo reminiscent of the Nicholas Brothers. Hines co-starred with Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1985 film "White Nights", and co-starred with Billy Crystal in the 1986 buddy cop film "Running Scared". He starred in the 1989 film "Tap" opposite Sammy Davis Jr. (in Davis's last screen performance). He appeared alongside Whitney Houston and Loretta Devine in the highly successful 1995 film "Waiting to Exhale" and opposite Houston, Denzel Washington and Courtney B. Vance the following year in "The Preacher's Wife". On television, he starred in his own sitcom in 1997, "The Gregory Hines Show", which ran for one season on CBS, and had a recurring role of Ben Doucette on "Will & Grace".


title: Gregory Hines

text: In an interview in 1987, Hines said that he often looked for roles written for white actors, "preferring their greater scope and dynamics." Of his role in "Running Scared", for example, he said that he enjoyed that his character had sex scenes, because "usually, the black guy has no sexuality at all."


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines starred in the 1998 film "The Tic Code". He voiced Big Bill in the Nick Jr. animated children series "Little Bill", which ran from 1999 to 2004. He won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for the role in 2003.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines's marriages to Patricia Panella and Pamela Koslow ended in divorce. He had two children and a stepdaughter.


title: Gregory Hines

text: Hines died of liver cancer on August 9, 2003 en route to the hospital from his home in Los Angeles. He was diagnosed with the disease more than one year earlier, but informed only his closest friends. At the time of his death, production of the television show "Little Bill" was ending, and he was engaged to bodybuilder Negrita Jayde, who was based in Toronto.


title: Gregory Hines

text: His funeral was held at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California. He was interred at St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Oakville, Ontario.


title: Gregory Hines

text: On January 28, 2019, the United States Postal Service honored Hines with a postage stamp as part of its Black Heritage Series. It was issued with a ceremony at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts.


title: Sapporo

text: As with most of Hokkaido, the Sapporo area was settled by the indigenous Ainu people, beginning over 15,000 years ago. Starting in the late 19th century, Sapporo saw increasing settlement by Yamato migrants. Sapporo hosted the 1972 Winter Olympics, the first Winter Olympics ever held in Asia, and the second Olympic games held in Japan after the 1964 Summer Olympics. Sapporo is currently bidding for the 2030 Winter Olympics. The Sapporo Dome hosted three games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup and two games during the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Additionally, Sapporo has hosted the Asian Winter Games three times, in 1986, 1990, and 2017 and the 1991 Winter Universiade.


title: Sapporo

text: The annual Sapporo Snow Festival draws more than 2 million tourists from abroad. Other notable sites include the Sapporo Beer Museum, which is the only beer museum in Japan, and the Sapporo TV Tower located in Odori Park. It is home to Hokkaido University, just north of Sapporo Station. The city is served by Okadama Airport and New Chitose Airport in nearby Chitose.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo's name was taken from Ainuic "sat poro pet" (), which can be translated as the "dry, great river", a reference to the Toyohira River.


title: Sapporo

text: Before its establishment, the area occupied by Sapporo (known as the Ishikari Plain) was home to a number of indigenous Ainu settlements. In 1866, at the end of the Edo period, construction began on a canal through the area, encouraging a number of early settlers to establish Sapporo village. In 1868, the officially recognized year celebrated as the "birth" of Sapporo, the new Meiji government concluded that the existing administrative center of Hokkaido, which at the time was the port of Hakodate, was in an unsuitable location for defense and further development of the island. As a result, it was determined that a new capital on the Ishikari Plain should be established. The plain itself provided an unusually large expanse of flat, well-drained land which is relatively uncommon in the otherwise mountainous geography of Hokkaido.


title: Sapporo

text: During 1870–1871, Kuroda Kiyotaka, vice-chairman of the Hokkaido Development Commission (Kaitaku-shi), approached the American government for assistance in developing the land. As a result, Horace Capron, Secretary of Agriculture under President Ulysses S. Grant, became an "oyatoi gaikokujin" and was appointed as a special advisor to the commission. Construction began around Odori Park, which still remains as a green ribbon of recreational land bisecting the central area of the city. The city closely followed a grid plan with streets at right-angles to form city blocks. The continuing expansion of the Japanese into Hokkaido continued, mainly due to migration from the main island of Honshu immediately to the south, and the prosperity of Hokkaido and particularly its capital grew to the point that the Development Commission was deemed unnecessary and was abolished in 1882. In 1871, the Hokkaidō Shrine was built in its current location as the Sapporo Shrine.


title: Sapporo

text: Edwin Dun came to Sapporo to establish sheep and cattle ranches in 1876. He also demonstrated pig raising and the making of butter, cheese, ham and sausage. He was married twice, to Japanese women. He once went back to the US in 1883 but returned to Japan as a secretary of government. William S. Clark, who was the president of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (now the University of Massachusetts Amherst), came to be the founding vice-president of the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University) for only eight months from 1876 to 1877. He taught academic subjects in science and lectured on the Bible as an "ethics" course, introducing Christian principles to the first entering class of the college.


title: Sapporo

text: In 1880, the entire area of Sapporo was renamed as "Sapporo-ku" (Sapporo Ward), and a railroad between Sapporo and Temiya, Otaru was laid. That year the Hōheikan, a hotel and reception facility for visiting officials and dignitaries, was built adjacent to the Odori Park. It was later moved to Nakajima Park where it remains today. Two years later, with the abolition of the Kaitaku-shi, Hokkaidō was divided into three prefectures: Hakodate, Sapporo, and Nemuro. The name of the urban district in Sapporo remained Sapporo-ku, while the rest of the area in Sapporo-ku was changed to Sapporo-gun. The office building of Sapporo-ku was also located in the urban district.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro Prefectures were abolished in 1886, and Hokkaidō government office building, an American-neo-baroque-style structure with red bricks, constructed in 1888. The last squad of the Tondenhei, the soldiers pioneering Hokkaido, settled in the place where the area of Tonden in Kita-ku, Sapporo is currently located. Sapporo-ku administered surrounding Sapporo-gun until 1899, when the new district system was announced. After that year, Sapporo-ku was away from the control of Sapporo-gun. The "ku" (district) enforced from 1899 was an autonomy which was a little bigger than towns, and smaller than cities. In Hokkaido at that time, Hakodate-ku and Otaru-ku also existed.


title: Sapporo

text: In 1907, the Tohoku Imperial University was established in Sendai Miyagi Prefecture, and Sapporo Agricultural College was controlled by the university. Parts of neighbouring villages including Sapporo Village, Naebo Village, Kami Shiroishi Village, and districts where the Tonden-hei had settled, were integrated into Sapporo-ku in 1910.


title: Sapporo

text: The Sapporo Streetcar was opened in 1918, and Hokkaido Imperial University was established in Sapporo-ku, as the fifth Imperial University in Japan. Another railroad operated in Sapporo, the Jōzankei Railroad, which was ultimately abolished in 1969.


title: Sapporo

text: In 1922, the new city system was announced by the Tokyo government, and Sapporo-ku was officially changed to Sapporo City. The Sapporo Municipal Bus System was started in 1930. In 1937, Sapporo was chosen as the site of the 1940 Winter Olympics, but due to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, this was cancelled the next year. Maruyama Town was integrated as a part of Chūō-ku in 1940, and the Okadama Airport was constructed in 1942. During World War II, the city was bombed by American naval aircraft in July 1945.


title: Sapporo

text: The first Sapporo Snow Festival was held in 1950. In the same year, adjacent Shiroishi Village was integrated into Sapporo City, rendered as a part of Shiroishi-ku, and Atsubetsu-ku. In 1955, Kotoni Town, the entire Sapporo Village, and Shinoro Village were merged into Sapporo, becoming a part of the current Chūō-ku, Kita-ku, Higashi-ku, Nishi-ku, and Teine-ku. The expansion of Sapporo continued, with the merger of Toyohira Town in 1961, and Teine Town in 1967, each becoming a part of Toyohira-ku, Kiyota-ku, and Teine-ku.


title: Sapporo

text: The ceremony commemorating the 100th anniversary of the foundation of Sapporo and Hokkaido was held in 1968. The Sapporo Municipal Subway system was inaugurated in 1971, which made Sapporo the fourth city in Japan to have a subway system. From February 3 to 13, 1972, the 1972 Winter Olympics were held, the first Winter Olympics held in Asia. On April 1 of the same year, Sapporo was designated as one of the cities designated by government ordinance, and seven wards were established. The last public performance by the opera singer, Maria Callas, was in Sapporo at the Hokkaido Koseinenkin Kaikan on 11 November 1974. The Sapporo Municipal Subway was expanded when the Tōzai line started operation in 1976, and the Tōhō line was opened in 1988. In 1989, Atsubetsu-ku and Teine-ku were separated from Shiroishi-ku and Nishi-ku. Annual events in Sapporo were started, such as the Pacific Music Festival in 1990, and Yosakoi Sōran Festival in 1992. A professional football club, Consadole Sapporo, was established in 1996. In 1997, Kiyota-ku was separated from Toyohira-ku. In the same year, Hokkaidō Takushoku Bank, a Hokkaido-based bank with headquarters in Odori, went bankrupt.


title: Sapporo

text: In 2001 the construction of the Sapporo Dome was completed, and in 2002 the Dome hosted three games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup; Germany vs Saudi Arabia, Argentina vs England and Italy vs Ecuador, all of which were in the first round. Fumio Ueda, was elected as Sapporo mayor for the first time in 2003. Sapporo became the home to a Nippon Professional Baseball team, Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, in 2004, which won the 2006 Japan Series, and the victory parade was held on Ekimae-Dōri (a street in front of Sapporo Station) in February 2007.


title: Sapporo

text: The 34th G8 summit took place in Tōyako in 2008, and a number of people including anti-globalization activists marched in the heart of the city to protest. Police officers were gathered in Sapporo from all over Japan, and the news reported that four people were arrested in the demonstrations.


title: Sapporo

text: The Hokkaidō Shinkansen line, which currently connects Honshu to Hakodate through the Seikan Tunnel, is planned to link to Sapporo by 2030.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo is a city located in the southwest part of Ishikari Plain and the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary stream of the Ishikari River. It is part of Ishikari Subprefecture. Roadways in the urban district are laid to make a grid plan. The western and southern parts of Sapporo are occupied by a number of mountains including Mount Teine, Maruyama, and Mount Moiwa, as well as many rivers including the Ishikari River, Toyohira River, and Sōsei River. Sapporo has an elevation of .


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo has many parks, including Odori Park, which is located in the heart of the city and hosts a number of annual events and festivals throughout the year. Moerenuma Park is also one of the largest parks in Sapporo, and was constructed under the plan of Isamu Noguchi, a Japanese-American artist and landscape architect.


title: Sapporo

text: Neighbouring cities are Ishikari, Ebetsu, Kitahiroshima, Eniwa, Chitose, Otaru, Date, and adjoining towns are Tōbetsu, Kimobetsu, Kyōgoku.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo has a humid continental climate (Köppen: "Dfa"), with a wide range of temperature between the summer and winter. Summers are generally warm and humid, but not oppressively hot, and winters are cold and very snowy, with an average snowfall of per year. Sapporo is one of few metropolises in the world with such heavy snowfall, enabling it to hold events and festivals with snow statues. The heavy snowfall is due to the Siberian High developing over the Eurasian land mass and the Aleutian Low developing over the northern Pacific Ocean, resulting in a flow of cold air southeastward across Tsushima Current and to western Hokkaido. The city's annual average precipitation is around , and the mean annual temperature is .


title: Sapporo

text: The highest temperature ever recorded in Sapporo was on 7 August 1994. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 1 February 1929.


title: Sapporo

text: The first census of the population of Sapporo was taken in 1873, when 753 families with a total of 1,785 people were recorded in the town. The city has an estimated population of 1,957,914 as of May 31, 2019 and a population density of 1,746 persons per km (4,500 persons per mi). The total area is .


title: Sapporo

text: The tertiary sector dominates Sapporo's industry. Major industries include information technology, retail, and tourism, as Sapporo is a destination for winter sports and events and summer activities due to its comparatively cool climate.


title: Sapporo

text: The city is also the manufacturing centre of Hokkaido, manufacturing various goods such as food and related products, fabricated metal products, steel, machinery, beverages, and pulp and paper. The Sapporo Breweries, founded in 1876, is a major company and employer in the city.


title: Sapporo

text: Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do) is headquartered in Chūō-ku. In April 2004, Air Nippon Network was headquartered in Higashi-ku. Other companies headquartered in Sapporo include Crypton Future Media, DB-Soft, Hokkaido Air System, and Royce'.


title: Sapporo

text: Greater Sapporo, Sapporo Metropolitan Employment Area (2.3 million people), had a total GDP of US$84.7 billion in 2010.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo Ramen Yokocho and Norubesa (a building with a Ferris wheel) are in Susukino district. The district also has the Tanuki Kōji Shopping Arcade, the oldest shopping mall in the city.


title: Sapporo

text: The Peace Pagoda, one of many such monuments across the world built by the Buddhist order Nipponzan Myohoji to promote and inspire world peace, has a stupa that was built in 1959, halfway up Mount Moiwa, to commemorate peace after World War II. It contains some of the ashes of the Buddha that were presented to the Emperor of Japan by Prime Minister Nehru in 1954. Another portion was presented to Mikhail Gorbachev by the Nipponzan-Myohoji monk, Junsei Terasawa.


title: Sapporo

text: February: the Sapporo Snow Festival The main site is at Odori Park, and other sites include Susukino (known as the Susukino Ice Festival) and Sapporo Satoland. Many of the snow and ice statues are built by members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.


title: Sapporo

text: May: the Sapporo Lilac Festival. Lilac was brought to Sapporo in 1889 by an American educator, Sarah Clara Smith. At the festival, people enjoy the flowers, wine and live music.


title: Sapporo

text: June: the Yosakoi Soran Festival. The sites of the festival are centered on Odori Park and the street leading to Susukino, and there are other festival sites. In the festival, many dance teams dance to music composed based on a Japanese traditional song, "Sōran Bushi". Members of the dancing teams wear special costumes and compete on the roads or stages constructed on the festival sites. In 2006, 350 teams were featured with around 45,000 dancers, and over 1,860,000 people visited the festival.


title: Sapporo

text: The Sapporo Summer Festival. People enjoy drinking at the beer garden in Odori Park and on the streets of Susukino. This festival consists of a number of fairs such as Tanuki Festival and Susukino Festival.


title: Sapporo

text: The city is home to Sapporo Brewery, white chocolate biscuits known as 'shiroi koibito' (白い恋人), and also as the birthplace of miso ramen. Kouraku Ramen Meitengai, in the Susukino district, is an alley lined with many miso ramen restaurants, since 1951. After its demolition, due to plans for the Sapporo Olympics, the Ganso Sapporo Ramen Yokocho was established in its place. It attracts many tourists throughout the year. From the year 1966, a food company named, Sanyo Foods, began to sell instant ramen under the brand name, "Sapporo Ichiban".


title: Sapporo

text: Haskap, a local variety of edible honeysuckle, similar to blueberries, is a specialty in Sapporo. Other specialty dishes of Sapporo include; soup curry, a soupy curry made with vegetables and chicken, sometimes other meats too, and jingisukan, a barbecued lamb dish, named after Genghis Khan. Sapporo Sweets, is a confectionery using many ingredients from Hokkaido where there's also the Sapporo Sweets Competition held annually. Sapporo is also well known for fresh seafood including; salmon, sea urchin and crab. Crab in particular is famed. Many types of crab are harvested and served seasonally in Sapporo like the Horsehair crab, Snow crab, King crab, and Hanasaki crab with numerous dishes revolving around them.


title: Sapporo

text: The Sapporo Dome was constructed in 2001 and is currently host to the local professional teams, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo (football), and Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters (baseball).


title: Sapporo

text: ES CON Field Hokkaido (エスコンフィールド北海道, "Esukon Fīrudo Hokkaidō"), a baseball park under construction in Kitahiroshima, Hokkaido, will become the future home to Nippon Professional Baseball's Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters and is scheduled to open in March, 2023.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo was selected as host to the 5th Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 3 to 12, 1940; however Japan had to cancel the event, consequently handing the decision back to the IOC, after the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937.


title: Sapporo

text: In 1972, Sapporo hosted the 11th Winter Olympics. Some structures built for Olympic events remain in use today, including the ski jumps at Miyanomori and Okurayama. After considering a bid for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Olympic representatives in Sapporo have said that the city is considering a bid for the 2030 Winter Olympics. The city predicts it may cost as much as 456.5 billion yen ($4.3 billion) to host the games and is planning to have 90 percent of the facilities within half an hour of the Olympic village, according to a report published 12 May 2016. The Alpen course would be in Niseko, the world's second-snowiest resort, while the village would be next to the Sapporo Dome, the report said. The plans were presented to the Japanese Olympic Committee on 8 November 2016. In 2002, Sapporo hosted three group matches of the FIFA World Cup at the Sapporo Dome. In 2006, Sapporo hosted some games of the 2006 Basketball World Championship and also for the 2006 Women's Volleyball World Championship. In 2007, Sapporo hosted the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships at the Sapporo Dome, Miyanomori ski jump, Okurayama ski jump, and the Shirahatayama cross-country course. It has been the host city to two Asian Winter Games and hosted the 2017 Asian Winter Games in Obihiro. Sapporo also hosted games during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.


title: Sapporo

text: Skiing remains a major sport in Sapporo with almost all children skiing as a part of the school curriculum. Okurayama Elementary School is unusual in having its own ski hill and ski jumping hill on the school grounds. Within the city are commercial ski hills including Moiwayama, Bankeiyama, KobaWorld, Sapporo Teine and Fu's.


title: Sapporo

text: Many sports stadiums and domes are located in Sapporo, and some of them have been designated as venues of sports competitions. The Sapporo Community Dome, also known by its nickname "Tsu-Dome", has hosted the Golden Market, a huge flea market event which is usually held twice a year, along with some sports events. The Makomanai Ice Arena, in Makomanai Park, was one of the venues of the Sapporo Olympics in 1972. It was renamed the Makomanai Sekisuiheim Ice Arena in 2007, when Sekisui Chemical Co., Ltd., acquired naming rights and renamed the arena after their real estate brand. Other large sports venues include the Makomanai Open Stadium, Tsukisamu Dome, Maruyama Baseball Stadium, and the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center, which hosts the professional basketball team, Levanga Hokkaido.


title: Sapporo

text: Toyota Big Air is a major international snowboarding event held annually in Sapporo Dome. As one of the richest events of its kind in the world, it draws many of the world's best snowboarders.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo has one streetcar line, three JR Hokkaido lines, three subway lines and JR Bus, Chuo Bus and other bus lines. Sapporo Subway trains have rubber-tired wheels.


title: Sapporo

text: The Sapporo area is served by two airports: Okadama Airport, which offers regional flights within Hokkaido, and New Chitose Airport, a larger international airport located in the city of Chitose away connected by regular rapid trains taking around 40 minutes. The Sapporo-Tokyo route between New Chitose and Haneda is one of the busiest in the world.


title: Sapporo

text: An airport shuttle bus servicing all hotels in Sapporo operates every day of the year. SkyExpress was founded in 2005 and also provides transport to and from various ski resorts throughout Hokkaido, including Niseko.


title: Sapporo

text: Sapporo Odori High School provides Japanese-language classes to foreign and Japanese returnee students, and the school has special admissions quotas for these groups.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The production model was certified by the FAA in October 1984 and its Cargomaster freighter variant was developed for FedEx.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The longer 208B Super Cargomaster first flew in 1986 and was developed into the passenger 208B Grand Caravan.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The strutted, high wing 208 typically seats nine passengers in its unpressurized cabin, is powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A tractor turboprop and has a fixed tricycle landing gear, floats, or skis.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: Caravans have been used for flight training, commuter airlines, VIP transport, air cargo, and humanitarian missions.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: On November 20, 1981, the project was given a go-ahead by Cessna for its Pawnee engineering facility. John Berwick, chief engineer at Pawnee, conceived of a single engine, high-wing airplane with a large payload. Berwick had originally approached VP Bill Boettger with the idea and once Dwane Wallace approved it, Berwick told Russ Meyer he would design it.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The prototype first flew on December 9, 1982. The production model was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in October 1984. A freighter variant without cabin windows was developed at the request of Federal Express as the Cargomaster. Another cargo variant for Federal Express, with a longer fuselage and a cargo pod under the belly, was developed as the 208B Super Cargomaster and flew for the first time in 1986.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: FedEx had been initially planning to build twin-engine piston-powered airplanes with Piper Aircraft, but picked the Caravan after surveying it and having flown the prototype, becoming its standard carrier.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: A passenger model, the 208B Grand Caravan, was derived from the Super Cargomaster. Since then, the Caravan has undergone a number of design evolutions, including upgrading the avionics in 2008 to provide a glass cockpit with the Garmin G1000 system. In January 2013 a higher-powered (867 shp from P&WC PT6A-140) version, the Grand Caravan EX, received FAA certification.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: In August 2016, Textron announced that it would move the Cessna 208 production line from its Wichita headquarters to its Independence, Kansas, production facility, for manufacture alongside along the piston-powered 172, 182, 206 and TTx, and the Citation M2 light jet. The move was made to make room for production of the Citation Longitude and Denali in Wichita.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: In 2021, the 208 Caravan unit cost was US$2.45 million and US$2.845 million for the 208B Grand Caravan EX.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: In May 2012, Cessna announced that an assembly line for the 208 would be established in China, with the government-owned China Aviation Industry General Aircraft (CAIGA) conducting final assembly of Caravans at its plant in Shijiazhuang for the Chinese market. Chinese government approval was granted in September the following year and the first Chinese-assembled Caravan was delivered in December 2013. By April 2016 about 30 aircraft, assembled from kits of parts shipped from the US by Cessna, had been delivered to Chinese operators by the joint venture.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The Cessna 208 is a high-wing braced cabin monoplane powered by a single Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A turboprop in tractor configuration. The cabin has room for nine passengers and two crew when used as a passenger aircraft with four doors: one for each crew member, an airstair door on the right side of the cabin and a cargo door on the left. The aircraft can be optionally fitted with an underslung cargo pod.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The basic 208 airframe has a fixed tricycle landing gear but can also be fitted with various types of landing gear, allowing it to operate in a wide variety of environments. Some common adaptations include floats with retractable landing gear on the Caravan Amphibian model, and skis.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The Caravan interior can be outfitted with seats or as a cargo compartment. The standard high-density airline configuration has four rows of 1-2 seating behind the two seats in the cockpit. This variant is capable of holding up to thirteen passengers, although it is marketed as being able to make a profit carrying just four.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The cabin can be configured in a low density passenger configuration, with 1-1 seating, as a combination of passengers and cargo, or as a strictly cargo aircraft. Many variants include an underbelly cargo pod, which can be used for additional freight capacity, or for passenger baggage. A number of Caravans are operated as skydiving aircraft with the left-side cargo hatch converted to a roll-up door.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The airplane typically seats nine passengers with a single pilot, although with a FAR Part 23 waiver it can seat up to fourteen passengers. The aircraft is also used for cargo operations.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: In August 2021, fearing Taliban reprisals, pilots of the Afghan Air Force made a last minute escape from Kabul to Tajikistan on an AC-208 moments before the city fell to the Taliban.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: On May 11, 2022, a Cessna 208 pilot became incapacitated resulting in a passenger with no flight experience successfully making an emergency landing at Palm Beach International Airport. The passenger was assisted by Air Traffic Controller Robert Morgan, a certified flight instructor.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The eCaravan is an electric aircraft modification of the 208B built by AeroTEC and magniX powered by a motor and a , 750 V lithium-ion battery.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The plane's 30-minute first flight happened from Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake, Washington, on May 28, 2020, consuming US$6 worth of electricity, needing 30–40 min of charging.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The Magni500-powered variant can fly with 4–5 passengers while keeping reserve power, and aims for a certification by the end of 2021, hoping to operate flights with a full load of nine passengers with better batteries.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: Certified in 100 countries, 2,600 Caravans have been delivered with nearly 20 million flight hours logged by November 2017.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: Engineered for high payloads and short and rough runways, with single-engine economy and simplicity, Caravans are used for flight training to recreation, commuter airlines to VIP transport, cargo carriers and humanitarian missions.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: It is also used by government agencies in law enforcement, air ambulance services, police and military.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: The Cessna 208 is used by governmental organizations and by a large number of companies for police, air ambulance, passenger transport, air charter, freight and parachuting operations. FedEx operates 239 aircraft.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: As of 31 December 2017 there have been 216 Caravan hull losses from all causes, including 206 accidents causing 427 fatalities – an average of 427/216round1 fatalities per hull-loss, with 29.7% of all occupants surviving fatal accidents; and six hijackings causing one fatality.


title: Cessna 208 Caravan

text: For the 198 out of the 216 hull-loss occurrences where the aircraft was in use and its flight nature is known, 36.9% were passenger flights, 33.8% cargo flights, 8.1% military flights, 5.6% special flights – agriculture, survey, etc., 4% private and business flights, 3% test or flight training and 8.1% miscellaneous uses – demonstrations, deliveries, illegal.


title: Priah Ferguson

text: Priah Nicole Ferguson (born October 1, 2006) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Erica Sinclair on the Netflix's series "Stranger Things".


title: Priah Ferguson

text: Ferguson was motivated to start acting after watching the films "Crooklyn" and "Daddy's Little Girls". In 2015, she began acting in locally-produced short and independent films.


title: Priah Ferguson

text: In 2016, she made her television debut on the FX Networks show "Atlanta" and the Civil War drama "Mercy Street". In 2017, Ferguson was cast in the Netflix science fiction horror series "Stranger Things" as Erica Sinclair, the younger sister of Lucas Sinclair, portrayed by Caleb McLaughlin. She was promoted to series regular after recurring in previous seasons.


title: Priah Ferguson

text: In 2018, she appeared in the film "The Oath". She appeared in the 2022 Halloween comedy "The Curse of Bridge Hollow" (formerly titled "Boo!") alongside Marlon Wayans.


title: Creole peoples

text: Creole peoples are ethnic groups formed during the European colonial era, from the mass displacement of peoples brought into sustained contact with others from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, who converged onto a colonial territory to which they had not previously belonged.


title: Creole peoples

text: Often involuntarily uprooted from their original home, the settlers were obliged to develop and creatively merge the desirable elements from their diverse backgrounds, to produce new varieties of social, linguistic and cultural norms that superseded the prior forms. This process, known as creolization, is characterized by rapid social flux regularized into Creole ethnogenesis.


title: Creole peoples

text: Creole peoples vary widely in ethnic background and mixture and many have since developed distinct ethnic identities. The development of creole languages is sometimes mistakenly attributed to the emergence of Creole ethnic identities; however, the two developments occur independently.


title: Creole peoples

text: The English word derives from the French , which in turn came from Portuguese , a diminutive of "cria", meaning a person raised in one's house. "Cria" derives from , meaning "to raise or bring up", itself derived from the Latin , meaning "to make, bring forth, produce, beget"; — itself the source of the English word "create". The word Creole has several cognates in other languages, such as "créole", "creolo", "criol", "criollo", "crioulo", "kreol", "kreyol", "krio",


title: Creole peoples

text: In Louisiana, the term Creole has been used since 1792 to represent descendants of African or mixed heritage parents as well as children of French and Spanish descent with no racial mixing. Its use to describe languages started from 1879, while as an adjective, from 1748. In some Spanish-speaking countries, the word "Criollo" is used today to describe something local or very typical of a particular Latin American country.


title: Creole peoples

text: In the Caribbean, the term broadly refers to all the people, whatever their class or ancestry — African, East Asian, European, Indian — who are part of the culture of the Caribbean. In Trinidad, the term Creole is used to designate all Trinidadians except those of Asian origin. In French Guiana the term refers to anyone, regardless of skin colour, who has adopted a European way of life, and in neighbouring Suriname, the term refers only to the descendants of enslaved Africans.


title: Creole peoples

text: In Africa, the term Creole refers to any ethnic group formed during the European colonial era, with some mix of African and non-African racial or cultural heritage. Creole communities are found on most African islands and along the continent's coastal regions where indigenous Africans first interacted with Europeans. As a result of these contacts, five major Creole types emerged: Portuguese, African American, Dutch, French and British.


title: Creole peoples

text: The "Crioulos" of African or mixed Portuguese and African descent eventually gave rise to several ethnic groups in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique. The French-speaking Mauritian and Seychellois Creoles are both either African or ethnically mixed and Christianized. On Réunion, the term Creole applies to all people born on the island, while in South Africa, the blending of East African and Southeast Asian slaves with Dutch settlers, later produced a creolized population. The Fernandino Creole peoples of Equatorial Guinea are a mix of Afro-Cubans with Emancipados and English-speaking Liberated Africans, while the Americo-Liberians and Sierra Leone Creoles resulted from the intermingling of African Recaptives with Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans.


title: Creole peoples

text: Perhaps due to the range of divergent descriptions and lack of a coherent definition, Norwegian anthropologist Thomas Hylland Eriksen concludes:


title: Creole peoples

text: Alaskan Creole has its own unique and local definition with similar terminology implying people of mixed Alaska Native and Russian ancestry, sometimes colloquially spelled "Kriol" in English (from Russian креол). The intermingling of "promyshlenniki" men with Aleut and Alutiiq women in the late 18th century gave rise to a people who assumed a prominent position in the economy of Russian America and the North Pacific Rim.


title: Creole peoples

text: Atlantic Creole is a term coined by historian Ira Berlin to describe a group of people from Angola and Central Africa in the 16th and 17th centuries with cultural or ethnic ties to Africa, Europe, and sometimes the Caribbean. Some of these people arrived in the Chesapeake Colonies as the Charter Generation of slaves during the European colonization of the Americas before 1660. Some had lived and worked in Europe or the Caribbean before coming (or being transported) to North America. Examples of such men included John Punch and Emanuel Driggus (his surname was likely derived from Rodrigues).


title: Creole peoples

text: Also, during the early settlement of the colonies, children born of immigrants in the colonies were often referred to as "Creole". This is found more often in the Chesapeake Colonies.


title: Creole peoples

text: In the United States, the words "Louisiana Creole" refers to people of any race or mixture thereof who are descended from colonial French La Louisiane and colonial Spanish Louisiana (New Spain) settlers before the Louisiana region became part of the United States in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase. Both the word and the ethnic group derive from a similar usage, beginning in the Caribbean in the 16th century, which distinguished people born in the French, Spanish, and Portuguese colonies from the various new arrivals born in their respective, non-Caribbean homelands. Some writers from other parts of the country have mistakenly assumed the term to refer only to people of mixed racial descent, but this is not the traditional Louisiana usage.


title: Creole peoples

text: In Louisiana, the term "Creole" was first used to describe people born in Louisiana, who used the term to distinguish themselves from newly arrived immigrants. It was not a racial or ethnic identifier; it was simply synonymous with "born in the New World," meant to separate native-born people of any ethnic background—white, African, or any mixture thereof—from European immigrants and slaves imported from Africa. Later, the term was racialized after newly arrived Anglo-Americans began to associate créolité, or the quality of being Creole, with racially mixed ancestry. This caused many white Creoles to eventually abandon the label out of fear that the term would lead mainstream Americans to believe them to be of racially mixed descent (and thus endanger their livelihoods or social standing). Later writers occasionally make distinctions among French Creoles (of European ancestry), Creoles of Color (of mixed ethnic ancestry), and occasionally, African Creoles (of primarily African descendant); these categories, however, are later inventions, and most primary documents from the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries make use of the word "Creole" without any additional qualifier. Creoles of Spanish and German descent also exist, and Spanish Creoles survive today as Isleños and Malagueños, both found in southern Louisiana. However, all racial categories of Creoles - from Caucasian, mixed racial, African, to Native American - tended to think and refer to themselves solely as Creole, a commonality in many other Francophone and Iberoamerican cultures, who tend to lack strict racial separations common in United States History and other countries with large populations from Northern Europe's various cultures. This racial neutrality persists to the modern day, as many Creoles do not use race as a factor for being a part of the ethno-culture.


title: Creole peoples

text: Contemporary usage has again broadened the meaning of Louisiana Creoles to describe a broad cultural group of people of all races who share a colonial Louisianian background. Louisianians who identify themselves as "Creole" are most commonly from historically Francophone and Hispanic communities. Some of their ancestors came to Louisiana directly from France, Spain, or Germany, while others came via the French and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and Canada. Many Louisiana Creole families arrived in Louisiana from Saint-Domingue as refugees from the Haitian Revolution, along with other immigrants from Caribbean colonial centers like Santo Domingo and Havana. The children of slaves brought primarily from Western Africa were also considered Creoles, as were children born of unions between Native Americans and non-Natives. Creole culture in Louisiana thus consists of a unique blend of European, Native American, and African cultures.


title: Creole peoples

text: Louisianians descended from the French Acadians of Canada are also Creoles in a strict sense, and there are many historical examples of people of full European ancestry and with Acadian surnames, such as the influential Alexandre and Alfred Mouton, being explicitly described as "Creoles." Today, however, the descendants of the Acadians are more commonly referred to as, and identify as, 'Cajuns'—a derivation of the word Acadian, indicating French Canadian settlers as ancestors. The distinction between "Cajuns" and "Creoles" is stronger today than it was in the past because American racial ideologies have strongly influenced the meaning of the word "Creole" to the extent that there is no longer unanimous agreement among Louisianians on the word's precise definition. Today, many assume that any francophone person of European descent is Cajun and any francophone of African descent is Creole—a false assumption that would not have been recognized in the nineteenth century. Some assert that "Creole" refers to aristocratic urbanites whereas "Cajuns" are agrarian members of the francophone working class, but this is another relatively recent distinction. Creoles may be of any race and live in any area, rural or urban. The Creole culture of Southwest Louisiana is thus more similar to the culture dominant in Acadiana than it is to the Creole culture of New Orleans. Though the land areas overlap around New Orleans and down river, Cajun/Creole culture and language extend westward all along the southern coast of Louisiana, concentrating in areas southwest of New Orleans around Lafayette, and as far as Crowley, Abbeville, and into the rice belt of Louisiana nearer Lake Charles and the Texas border.


title: Creole peoples

text: Louisiana Creoles historically spoke a variety of languages; today, the most prominent include Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole. (There is a distinction between "Creole" people and the "creole" language. Not all Creoles speak creole—many speak French, Spanish, or English as primary languages.) Spoken creole is dying with continued 'Americanization' in the area. Most remaining Creole lexemes have drifted into popular culture. Traditional creole is spoken among those families determined to keep the language alive or in regions below New Orleans around St. James and St. John Parishes where German immigrants originally settled (also known as 'the German Coast', or La Côte des Allemands) and cultivated the land, keeping the ill-equipped French Colonists from starvation during the Colonial Period and adopting commonly spoken French and creole (arriving with the exiles) as a language of trade.


title: Creole peoples

text: Creoles are largely Roman Catholic and influenced by traditional French and Spanish culture left from the first Colonial Period, officially beginning in 1722 with the arrival of the Ursuline Nuns, who were preceded by another order, the sisters of the Sacred Heart, with whom they lived until their first convent could be built with monies from the French Crown. (Both orders still educate girls in 2010). The "fiery Latin temperament" described by early scholars on New Orleans culture made sweeping generalizations to accommodate Creoles of Spanish heritage as well as the original French. The mixed-race Creoles, descendants of mixing of European colonists, slaves, and Native Americans or sometimes "Gens de Couleur" (free men and women of colour), first appeared during the colonial periods with the arrival of slave populations. Most Creoles, regardless of race, generally consider themselves to share a collective culture. Non-Louisianans often fail to appreciate this and assume that all Creoles are of mixed race, which is historically inaccurate.


title: Creole peoples

text: Louisiane Creoles were also referred to as "criollos", a word from the Spanish language meaning "created" and used in the post-French governance period to distinguish the two groups of New Orleans area and down river Creoles. Both mixed race and European Creole groups share many traditions and language, but their socio-economic roots differed in the original period of Louisiana history. Actually, the French word Créole is derived from the Portuguese word "Crioulo", which described people born in the Americas as opposed to Spain.


title: Creole peoples

text: The term is often used to mean simply "pertaining to the New Orleans area," but this, too, is not historically accurate. People all across the Louisiana territory, including the "pays des Illinois," identified as Creoles, as evidenced by the continued existence of the term "Créole" in the critically endangered Missouri French.