title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The province comprised four natural geographic regions – "Indo-Gangetic Plain West", "Himalayan", "Sub-Himalayan", and the "North-West Dry Area" – along with five administrative divisions – Delhi, Jullundur, Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi – and a number of princely states. In 1947, the Partition of India led to the province's division into East Punjab and West Punjab, in the newly independent dominions of India and Pakistan respectively.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The region was originally called Sapta Sindhu, the Vedic land of the seven rivers flowing into the ocean. The Sanskrit name for the region, as mentioned in the Ramayana and Mahabharata for example, was "Panchanada" which means "Land of the Five Rivers", and was translated to Persian as "Punjab" after the Muslim conquests. The later name "Punjab" is a compound of two Persian words Panj (five) and āb (water) and was introduced to the region by the Turko-Persian conquerors of India and more formally popularised during the Mughal Empire. Punjab literally means ""(The Land of) Five Waters"" referring to the rivers: Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, the Chenab being the largest.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Geographically, the province was a triangular tract of country of which the Indus River and its tributary the Sutlej formed the two sides up to their confluence, the base of the triangle in the north being the Lower Himalayan Range between those two rivers. Moreover, the province as constituted under British rule also included a large tract outside these boundaries. Along the northern border, Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir and Tibet. On the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until it reached the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces. In total Punjab had an area of approximately 357 000 km square about the same size as modern day Germany, being one of the largest provinces of the British Raj.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: It encompassed the present day Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi, and some parts of Himachal Pradesh which were merged with Punjab by the British for administrative purposes (but excluding the former princely states which were later combined into the Patiala and East Punjab States Union) and the Pakistani regions of the Punjab, Islamabad Capital Territory and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province: the North-West Frontier Province. Subsequently, Punjab was divided into four natural geographical divisions by colonial officials on the decadal census data:


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: On 21February 1849, the East India Company decisively defeated the Sikh Empire at the Battle of Gujrat bringing to an end the Second Anglo-Sikh War. Following the victory, the East India Company annexed the Punjab on 2April 1849 and incorporated it within British India. The province whilst nominally under the control of the Bengal Presidency was administratively independent. Lord Dalhousie constituted the Board of Administration by inducting into it the most experienced and seasoned British officers. The Board was led by Sir Henry Lawrence, who had previously worked as British Resident at the Lahore Durbar and also consisted of his younger brother John Lawrence and Charles Grenville Mansel. Below the Board, a group of acclaimed officers collectively known as Henry Lawrence's "Young Men" assisted in the administration of the newly acquired province. The Board was abolished by Lord Dalhousie in 1853; Sir Henry was assigned to the Rajputana Agency, and his brother John succeeded as the first Chief Commissioner.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Recognising the cultural diversity of the Punjab, the Board maintained a strict policy of non-interference in regard to religious and cultural matters. Sikh aristocrats were given patronage and pensions and groups in control of historical places of worship were allowed to remain in control.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the Punjab remained relatively peaceful, apart from rebellion led by Ahmad Khan Kharral. In May, John Lawrence took swift action to disarm potentially mutinous sepoys and redeploy most European troops to the Delhi ridge. Finally he recruited new regiments of Punjabis to replace the depleted force, and was provided with manpower and support from surrounding princely states such as Jind, Patiala, Nabha and Kapurthala and tribal chiefs on the borderlands with Afghanistan. By 1858, an estimated 70,000 extra men had been recruited for the army and militarised police from within the Punjab.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1858, under the terms of the Queen's Proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, the Punjab, along with the rest of British India, came under the direct rule of the British Crown. Delhi Territory was transferred from the North-Western Provinces to the Punjab in 1858, partly to punish the city for the important role the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah II, and the city as a whole, played in the 1857 Rebellion.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner, was appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor on 1January 1859. In 1866, the Judicial Commissioner was replaced by a Chief Court. The direct administrative functions of the Government were carried by the Lieutenant-Governor through the Secretariat, comprising a Chief Secretary, a Secretary and two Under-Secretaries. They were usually members of the Indian Civil Service. The territory under the Lieutenant consisted of 29 Districts, grouped under 5 Divisions, and 43 Princely States. Each District was under a Deputy-Commissioner, who reported to the Commissioner of the Division. Each District was subdivided into between three and seven tehsils, each under a "tahsildar", assisted by a "naib" (deputy) "tahsildar".


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1885 the Punjab administration began an ambitious plan to transform over six million acres of barren waste land in central and western Punjab into irrigable agricultural land. The creation of canal colonies was designed to relieve demographic pressures in the central parts of the province, increase productivity and revenues, and create a loyal support amongst peasant landholders. The colonisation resulted in an agricultural revolution in the province, rapid industrial growth, and the resettlement of over one million Punjabis in the new areas. A number of towns were created or saw significant development in the colonies, such as Lyallpur, Sargodha and Montgomery. Colonisation led to the canal irrigated area of the Punjab increasing from three to fourteen million acres in the period from 1885 to 1947.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The beginning of the twentieth century saw increasing unrest in the Punjab. Conditions in the Chenab colony, together with land reforms such as the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 and the Colonisation Bill, 1906 contributed to the 1907 Punjab unrest. The unrest was unlike any previous agitation in the province as the government had for the first time aggrieved a large portion of the rural population. Mass demonstrations were organised, headed by Lala Lajpat Rai, a leader of the Hindu revivalist sect Arya Samaj. The unrest resulted in the repeal of the Colonisation Bill and the end of paternalist policies in the colonies.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: During the First World War, Punjabi manpower contributed heavily to the Indian Army. Out of a total of 683,149 combat troops, 349,688 hailed from the province. In 1918, an influenza epidemic broke out in the province, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 962,937 people or 4.77 percent of the total estimated population. In March 1919 the Rowlatt Act was passed extending emergency measures of detention and incarceration in response to the perceived threat of terrorism from revolutionary nationalist organisations. This led to the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre in April 1919, where Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer ordered detachments of the 9th Gorkha Rifles and the 59th Scinde Rifles under his command to fire into a group of some 10,000 unarmed protesters and Baisakhi pilgrims, killing 379.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms enacted through the Government of India Act 1919 expanded the Punjab Legislative Council and introduced the principle of dyarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. The first Punjab Legislative Council under the 1919 Act was constituted in 1921, comprising 93 members, seventy per cent to be elected and rest to be nominated. Some of the British Indian ministers under the dyarchy scheme were Sir Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Sir Shahab-ud-Din Virk and Lala Hari Kishen Lal.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The Government of India Act 1935 introduced provincial autonomy to Punjab replacing the system of dyarchy. It provided for the constitution of Punjab Legislative Assembly of 175 members presided by a Speaker and an executive government responsible to the Assembly. The Unionist Party under Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan formed the government in 1937. Sir Sikandar was succeeded by Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana in 1942 who remained the Premier till partition in 1947. Although the term of the Assembly was five years, the Assembly continued for about eight years and its last sitting was held on 19 March 1945.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The struggle for Indian independence witnessed competing and conflicting interests in the Punjab. The landed elites of the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities had loyally collaborated with the British since annexation, supported the Unionist Party and were hostile to the Congress party led independence movement. Amongst the peasantry and urban middle classes, the Hindus were the most active National Congress supporters, the Sikhs flocked to the Akali movement whilst the Muslims eventually supported the Muslim League.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Since the partition of the sub-continent had been decided, special meetings of the Western and Eastern Section of the Legislative Assembly were held on 23 June 1947 to decide whether or not the Province of the Punjab be partitioned. After voting on both sides, partition was decided and the existing Punjab Legislative Assembly was also divided into West Punjab Legislative Assembly and the East Punjab Legislative Assembly. This last Assembly before independence, held its last sitting on 4 July 1947.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The first British census of the Punjab was carried out in 1855. This covered only British territory to the exclusion of local princely states, and placed the population at 17.6 million. The first regular census of British India carried out in 1881 recorded a population of 20.8 million people. The final British census in 1941 recorded 34.3 million people in the Punjab, which comprised 29 districts within British territory, 43 princely states, 52,047 villages and 283 towns.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1881, only Amritsar and Lahore had populations over 100,000. The commercial and industrial city of Amritsar (152,000) was slightly larger than the cultural capital of Lahore (149,000). Over the following sixty years, Lahore increased in population fourfold, whilst Amritsar grew two-fold. By 1941, the province had seven cities with populations over 100,000 with emergence and growth of Rawalpindi, Multan, Sialkot, Jullundur and Ludhiana.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The colonial period saw large scale migration within the Punjab due to the creation of canal colonies in western Punjab. The majority of colonists hailed from the seven most densely populated districts of Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Jullundur, Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Ambala and Sialkot, and consisted primarily of Khatris, Jats, Arains, Sainis, Kambohs and Rajputs. The movement of many highly skilled farmers from eastern and central Punjab to the new colonies, led to western Punjab becoming the most progressive and advanced agricultural region of the province. The period also saw significant numbers of Punjabis emigrate to other regions of the British Empire. The main destinations were East Africa - Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, Southeast Asia - Malaya and Burma, Hong Kong and Canada.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The Punjab was a religiously eclectic province, comprising three major groups: Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. By 1941, the religious Muslims constituting an absolute majority at 53.2%, whilst the Hindu population was at 29.1%. The period between 1881 and 1941 saw a significant increase in the Sikh and Christian populations, growing from 8.2% and 0.1% to 14.9% and 1.9% respectively. The decrease in the Hindu population has been attributed to the conversion of Hindus mainly to Sikhism and Islam, and also to Christianity.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Territory comprises the contemporary subdivisions of Punjab, Pakistan and Islamabad Capital Territory.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Territory comprises the contemporary subdivisions of Punjab, India, Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Including Hisar district, Loharu State, Rohtak district, Dujana State, Gurgaon district, Pataudi State, Delhi, Karnal district, Jalandhar district, Kapurthala State, Ludhiana district, Malerkotla State, Firozpur district, Faridkot State, Patiala State, Jind State, Nabha State, Lahore District, Amritsar district, Gujranwala District, and Sheikhupura District.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Including Nahan State, Simla district, Simla Hill States, Kangra district, Mandi State, Suket State, and Chamba State.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Including Ambala district, Kalsia State, Hoshiarpur district, Gurdaspur district, Sialkot District, Gujrat District, Jhelum District, Rawalpindi District, and Attock District.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Including Montgomery District, Shahpur District, Mianwali District, Lyallpur District, Jhang District, Multan District, Bahawalpur State, Muzaffargarh District, and Dera Ghazi Khan District.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: As with religion, Punjab was a linguistically eclectically diverse province and region. In 1837, Persian had been abolished as the official language of Company administration and replaced by local Indian vernacular languages. In the Sikh Empire, Persian continued to be the official state language. Shortly after annexing the Punjab in 1849, the Board of Administration canvassed local officials in each of the provinces's six divisions to decide which language was "best suited for the Courts and Public Business". Officials in the western divisions recommended Persian whilst eastern officials suggested a shift to Urdu. In September 1849 a two-language policy was instituted throughout the province. The language policy in the Punjab differed from other Indian provinces in that Urdu was not a widespread local vernacular. In 1849 John Lawrence noted "that Urdu is not the language of these districts and neither is Persian".


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1854, the Board of Administration abruptly ended the two-language policy and Urdu was designated as the official language of government across the province. The decision was motivated by new civil service rules requiring all officials pass a test in the official language of their local court. In fear of potentially losing their jobs, officials in Persian districts petitioned the board to replace Persian with Urdu, believing Urdu the easier language to master. Urdu remained the official administrative language until 1947.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Officials, although aware that Punjabi was the colloquial language of the majority, instead favoured the use of Urdu for a number of reasons. Criticism of Punjabi included the belief that it was simply a form of patois, lacking any form of standardisation, and that "would be inflexible and barren, and incapable of expressing nice shades of meaning and exact logical ideas with the precision so essential in local proceedings." Similar arguments had earlier been made about Bengali, Oriya and Hindustani; however, those languages were later adopted for local administration. Instead it is believed the advantages of Urdu served the administration greater. Urdu, and initially Persian, allowed the Company to recruit experienced administrators from elsewhere in India who did not speak Punjabi, to facilitate greater integration with other Indian territories which were administered with Urdu, and to help foster ties with local elites who spoke Persian and Urdu and could act as intermediaries with the wider populace.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: As per the 1911 census, speakers of the Punjabi language along with the mutually intelligible Lahnda languages and dialects formed just over three-quarters (75.93 per cent) of the total provincial population.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Including Hisar district, Loharu State, Rohtak district, Dujana State, Gurgaon district, Pataudi State, Delhi, Karnal district, Jalandhar district, Kapurthala State, Ludhiana district, Malerkotla State, Firozpur district, Faridkot State, Patiala State, Jind State, Nabha State, Lahore District, Amritsar district, and Gujranwala District.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Punjab Province was diverse, with many castes, subcastes and tribes all forming parts of the various ethnic groups in the province, contemporarily known as Punjabis, Saraikis, Haryanvis, Hindkowans, Dogras, Paharis, and others.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Within a few years of its annexation, the Punjab was regarded as British India's model agricultural province. From the 1860s onwards, agricultural prices and land values soared in the Punjab. This stemmed from increasing political security and improvements in infrastructure and communications. New cash crops such as wheat, tobacco, sugar cane and cotton were introduced. By the 1920s the Punjab produced a tenth of India's total cotton crop and a third of its wheat crop. Per capita output of all the crops in the province increased by approximately 45 percent between 1891 and 1921, a growth contrasting to agricultural crises in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during the period.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The Punjab Agricultural College and Research Institute became the first higher educational agricultural institution in the Punjab when established in 1906. Rapid agricultural growth, combined with access to easy credit for landowners, led to a growing crisis of indebtedness. When landowners were unable to pay down their loans, urban based moneylenders took advantage of the law to foreclose debts of mortgaged land. This led to a situation where land increasingly passed to absentee moneylenders who had little connection to the villages were the land was located. The colonial government recognised this as a potential threat to the stability of the province, and a split emerged in the government between paternalists who favoured intervention to ensure order, and those who opposed state intervention in private property relations. The paternalists emerged victorious and the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 prevented urban commercial castes, who were overwhelmingly Hindu, from permanently acquiring land from statutory agriculturalist tribes, who were mainly Muslim and Sikh.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Accompanied by the increasing franchise of the rural population, this interventionist approach led to a long lasting impact on the political landscape of the province. The agricultural lobby remained loyal to the government, and rejected communalism in common defence of its privileges against urban moneylenders. This position was entrenched by the Unionist Party. The Congress Party's opposition to the Act led to it being marginalised in the Punjab, reducing its influence more so than in any other province, and inhibiting its ability to challenge colonial rule locally. The political dominance of the Unionist Party would remain until partition, and significantly it was only on the collapse of its power on the eve of independence from Britain, that communal violence began to spread in rural Punjab.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In the immediate aftermath of annexation, the Sikh Khalsa Army was disbanded, and soldiers were required to surrender their weapons and return to agricultural or other pursuits. The Bengal Army, keen to utilise the highly trained ex-Khalsa army troops began to recruit from the Punjab for Bengal infantry units stationed in the province. However opposition to the recruitment of these soldiers spread and resentment emerged from sepoys of the Bengal Army towards the incursion of Punjabis into their ranks. In 1851, the Punjab Irregular Force also known as the 'Piffars' was raised. Initially they consisted of one garrison and four mule batteries, four regiments of cavalry, eleven of infantry and the Corps of Guides, totalling approximately 13,000 men. The gunners and infantry were mostly Punjabi, many from the Khalsa Army, whilst the cavalry had a considerable Hindustani presence.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, eighteen new regiments were raised from the Punjab which remained loyal to the East India Company throughout the crisis in the Punjab and United Provinces. By June 1858, of the 80,000 native troops in the Bengal Army, 75,000 were Punjabi of which 23,000 were Sikh. In the aftermath of the rebellion, a thorough re-organisation of the army took place. Henceforth recruitment into the British Indian Army was restricted to loyal peoples and provinces. Punjabi Sikhs emerged as a particularly favoured martial race to serve the army. In the midst of The Great Game, and fearful of a Russian invasion of British India, the Punjab was regarded of significant strategic importance as a frontier province. In addition to their loyalty and a belief in their suitability to serve in harsh conditions, Punjabi recruits were favoured as they could be paid at the local service rate, whereas soldiers serving on the frontier from more distant lands had to be paid extra foreign service allowances. By 1875, of the entire Indian army, a third of recruits hailed from the Punjab.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1914, three fifths of the Indian army came from the Punjab, despite the region constituting approximately one tenth of the total population of British India. During the First World War, Punjabi Sikhs alone accounted for one quarter of all armed personnel in India. Military service provided access to the wider world, and personnel were deployed across the British Empire from Malaya, the Mediterranean and Africa. Upon completion of their terms of service, these personnel were often amongst the first to seek their fortunes abroad. At the outbreak of the Second World War, 48 percent of the Indian army came from the province. In Jhelum, Rawalpindi and Attock, the percentage of the total male population who enlisted reached fifteen percent. The Punjab continued to be the main supplier of troops throughout the war, contributing 36 percent of the total Indian troops who served in the conflict.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The huge proportion of Punjabis in the army meant that a significant amount of military expenditure went to Punjabis and in turn resulted in an abnormally high level of resource input in the Punjab. It has been suggested that by 1935 if remittances of serving officers were combined with income from military pensions, more than two thirds of Punjab's land revenue could have been paid out of military incomes. Military service further helped reduce the extent of indebtedness across the Province. In Hoshiarpur, a notable source of military personnel, in 1920 thirty percent of proprietors were debt free compared to the region's average of eleven percent. In addition, the benefits of military service and the perception that the government was benevolent towards soldiers, affected the latter's attitudes towards the British. The loyalty of recruited peasantry and the influence of military groups in rural areas across the province limited the reach of the nationalist movement in the province.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1853, the Viceroy Lord Dalhousie issued a minute stressing the military importance of railways across India. In the Punjab, however, it was initially strategic commercial interests which drove investment in railways and communications from 1860.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Independent railway companies emerged, such as the Scinde, Punjab and Delhi railways to build and operate new lines. In 1862, the first section of railway in the Punjab was constructed between Lahore and Amritsar, and Lahore Junction railway station opened. Lines were opened between Lahore and Multan in 1864, and Amritsar and Delhi in 1870. The Scinde, Punjab and Delhi railways merged to form the Scinde, Punjab & Delhi Railway in 1870, creating a link between Karachi and Lahore via Multan. The Punjab Northern State Railway linked Lahore and Peshawar in 1883. By 1886, the independent railways had amalgamated into North Western State Railway.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The construction of railway lines and the network of railway workshops generated employment opportunities, which in turn led to increased immigration into cantonment towns. As connectivity increased across the province, it facilitated the movement of goods, and increased human interaction. It has been observed that the Ferozpur, Lahore and Amritsar began to develop into one composite cultural triangle due to the ease of connectivity between them. Similarly barriers of spoken dialects eroded over time, and cultural affinities were increasingly fostered.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1854, the Punjab education department was instituted with a policy to provide secular education in all government managed institutions. Privately run institutions would only receive grants-in-aid in return for providing secular instruction. By 1864 this had resulted in a situation whereby all grants-in-aid to higher education schools and colleges were received by institutions under European management, and no indigenous owned schools received government help.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In the early 1860s, a number of educational colleges were established, including Lawrence College, Murree, King Edward Medical University, Government College, Lahore,


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Glancy Medical College and Forman Christian College. In 1882, Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner published a damning report on the state of education in the Punjab. He lamented the failure to reconcile government run schools with traditional indigenous schools, and noted a steady decline in the number of schools across the province since annexation. He noted in particular how Punjabi Muslim's avoided government run schools due to the lack of religious subjects taught in them, observing how at least 120,000 Punjabis attended schools unsupported by the state and describing it as 'a protest by the people against our system of education.' Leitner had long advocated the benefits of oriental scholarship, and the fusion of government education with religious instruction. In January 1865 he had established the Anjuman-i-Punjab, a subscription based association aimed at using a European style of learning to promote useful knowledge, whilst also reviving traditional scholarship in Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. In 1884, a reorganisation of the Punjab education system occurred, introducing measures tending towards decentralisation of control over education and the promotion of an indigenous education agency. As a consequence several new institutions were encouraged in the province. The Arya Samaj opened a college in Lahore in 1886, the Sikhs opened the Khalsa College whilst the Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam stepped in to organise Muslim education. In 1886, the Punjab Chiefs' College, later renamed Aitchison College, was opened to further the education of the elite classes.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1849, a Board of Administration was put in place to govern the newly annexed province. The Board was led by a President and two assistants. Beneath them Commissioners acted as Superintendents of revenue and police and exercised the civil appellate and the original criminal powers of Sessions Judges, whilst Deputy Commissioners were given subordinate civil, criminal and fiscal powers. In 1853, the Board of Administration was abolished, and authority was invested in a single Chief Commissioner. The Government of India Act 1858 led to further restructuring and the office of Lieutenant-Governor replaced that of Chief Commissioner.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: Although The Indian Councils Act, 1861 laid the foundation for the establishment of a local legislature in the Punjab, the first legislature was constituted in 1897. It consisted of a body of nominated officials and non-officials and was presided over by the Lieutenant-Governor. The first council lasted for eleven years until 1909. The Morley-Minto Reforms led to an elected members complementing the nominated officials in subsequent councils.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The Government of India Act 1919 introduced the system of dyarchy across British India and led to the implementation of the first Punjab Legislative Council in 1921. At the same time the office of lieutenant governor was replaced with that of governor. The initial Council had ninety three members, seventy per cent of which were elected and the rest nominated. A president was elected by the Council to preside over the meetings. Between 1921 and 1936, there were four terms of the Council.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: In 1935, the Government of India Act 1935 replaced dyarchy with increased provincial autonomy. It introduced direct elections, and enabled elected Indian representatives to form governments in the provincial assemblies. The Punjab Legislative Council was replaced by a Punjab Legislative Assembly, and the role of President with that of a Speaker. Membership of the Assembly was fixed at 175 members, and it was intended to sit for five years.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The first election was held in 1937 and was won outright by the Unionist Party. Its leader, Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan was asked by the Governor, Sir Herbert Emerson to form a Ministry and he chose a cabinet consisting of three Muslims, two Hindus and a Sikh. Sir Sikandar died in 1942 and was succeeded as Premier by Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: The next election was held in 1946. The Muslim League won the most seats, winning 73 out of a total of 175. However a coalition led by the Unionist Party and consisting of the Congress Party and Akali Party were able to secure an overall majority. A campaign of civil disobedience by the Muslim League followed, lasting six weeks, and led to the resignation of Sir Khizar Tiwana and the collapse of the coalition government on 2 March 1947. The Muslim League however were unable to attract the support of other minorities to form a coalition government themselves. Amid this stalemate the Governor Sir Evan Jenkins assumed control of the government and remained in charge until the independence of India and Pakistan.


title: Punjab Province (British India)

text: "Crescat e Fluviis" meaning, "Let it grow from the rivers" was the Latin motto used in the Coat of arms for Punjab Province. As per the book "History of the Sikhs" written by Khushwant Singh, it means Strength from the Rivers.


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Gary Anthony Williams (born March 14, 1966) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He voiced the character of Uncle Ruckus on "The Boondocks", and a number of video game characters. He also appeared on the television series "Weeds", "Boston Legal", "Blue Collar TV" and "Malcolm in the Middle". Williams co-founded and is Artistic Director of the L.A. Comedy Shorts film festival in Hollywood, California. He starred alongside Cedric the Entertainer on the TV Land sitcom "The Soul Man". Since 2013, he became a recurring cast member on the improv comedy TV series "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", and is a regular member of the live improv comedy show "The Black Version".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Born in Fayetteville, Georgia, Williams was involved in theater, comedy and television in Atlanta, where his credits include acting with the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, performing and writing for Agatha's: A Taste of Mystery and being a longtime member of Atlanta's longest running improv troupe, Laughing Matters. Williams had recurring roles in the television series "I'll Fly Away" and "In the Heat of the Night", both filmed in the Atlanta area. He moved to Los Angeles in 1998.


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams' past roles include Abe Kenarban (Stevie's dad) in the Fox TV sitcom "Malcolm in the Middle" and as Judge Trudy's Bailiff on Nickelodeon's "The Amanda Show". Williams was a series regular on the WB Television Network sketch comedy series, "Blue Collar TV".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: In 2003, Williams had a small role in an episode of "", "Invisible Evidence." During season three and four of "Boston Legal", Williams appeared as part-time lawyer Clarence Bell, a pathologically shy man who expresses himself through characters, including crossdressing as women (including a nun and celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey). The role of Clarence/Clarice was originally to appear in one episode, but was expanded into a recurring role and then a regular role.


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams plays parts in five different shows on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, one being a STRATA technician on "Saul of the Molemen", another as the self-hating African American, Uncle Ruckus on "The Boondocks", Coroner Rick, a recurring character on "Stroker and Hoop", he also played the role of Paul Revere on the television special, "The Young Person's Guide to History", and served as the voice-over announcer for "The Eric Andre Show" until 2013. He also voiced Riff Tamson in the opening three episodes of season four of "". He is also the voice of Mr. Dos on "Special Agent Oso". He appeared on an episode of "Hot in Cleveland" as a drama teacher and soccer coach.


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: In 2009 and 2010, Williams provided the voice of the supervillain Mongul for several episodes of the animated series, "". On one occasion, he voiced the character's sister, Mongal. He also voiced the supervillain Thunderball in "".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams is currently working on a new Mike Judge animated series. He was part of a segment in the show "", and guest-starred on "How I Met Your Mother" and "Two and a Half Men". Williams also guest stars as the halfway house director in the 7th season of the TV show "Weeds". In 2011, he joined the cast of the animated series "China, IL" as the voice of Doctor Falgot. Williams was also in an episode of the show "Workaholics". He was a series regular for the animated sketch comedy series "Mad" and is currently voicing Mr. McStuffins for the animated Disney Junior series, "Doc McStuffins" and Dirty Dan and Dusty for the animated Disney Junior series "Sheriff Callie's Wild West". He is also the narrator for the TV One series "UNSUNG". From 2012 to 2016, Williams appeared as the recurring character Lester on the TV Land original sitcom "The Soul Man".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Since 2013, Williams has been a replacement performer on the CW revival of the television show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", where he improvises scenes and songs. He also provides the voice for Mufasa in "The Lion Guard" replacing James Earl Jones, and has provided voices for "Star Wars Rebels". In 2017, he voiced Bark Knight and Baboo from the animated Disney Junior series "Puppy Dog Pals".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: In November 2021, it was announced that Williams would be voicing the character, Beta, in the animated comedy-adventure series, "Hailey’s On It!", which is slated to premiere in 2023.


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams has appeared in films such as "Undercover Brother", appearing as Smart Brother (having previously voiced the Undercover Brother character in the original internet animated series), "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle", and "Soul Plane". On the "Boondocks" second-season premiere, "...Or Die Trying", Riley Freeman and Robert Freeman are seen watching the "Soul Plane 2" trailer, when they distinctly hear Williams and voice of grandad, John Witherspoon (who also had an acting role in "Soul Plane"), having a conversation on the plane. He also voiced Sweet in "The Trumpet of the Swan". Williams also appeared in the film "The Factory", starring John Cusack (with whom he also appeared in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" (1997)). In 2011, Williams narrated the feature-length documentary "Ayn Rand and the Prophecy of Atlas Shrugged". Perhaps his most well known role is as Melvin (a father) in "". Williams played Anton Zeck/Bebop in "" (2016). He voiced the demon in the horror film "Truth or Dare" (2018).


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams is a regular performer with the Flying Fannoli Brothers, an improv comedy band. He performs in the improvisational shows "Cookin' With Gas" and "The Black Version" at The Groundlings Theatre in Los Angeles. Williams also returns to Atlanta to perform with Laughing Matters once or twice a year. Since 2013 he has been a recurring performer on The CW's revival of "Whose Line Is It Anyway?".


title: Gary Anthony Williams

text: Williams provided the voice for the character of Yancy Westridge in the video game "Alpha Protocol", Elanos Haliat in Mass Effect 1, and Horace Warfield in "" and "".


title: Gemma Jones

text: Jennifer "Gemma" Jones (born 4 December 1942) is an English actress. Appearing on both stage and screen, her film appearances include "Sense and Sensibility" (1995), the "Bridget Jones" series (2001–2016), the "Harry Potter" series (2002–2011), "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" (2010), and "Ammonite" (2020).


title: Gemma Jones

text: For her role in the BBC television film "Marvellous" (2014), she won the 2015 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her other roles on television include "Rainbow City" (1967), "The Duchess of Duke Street" (1976–1977), "Trial and Retribution" (2003–2008), "Spooks" (2007–2008), "Teacup Travels" (2015–2017), "Diana and I" (2017), and "Gentleman Jack" (2019).


title: Gemma Jones

text: Jones was born in Marylebone, the daughter of Irene ("née" Isaac; 1911–1985) and Griffith Jones, an actor (1909–2007). Her brother Nicholas Jones is also an actor. She attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, where she won the gold medal.


title: Gemma Jones

text: During the 1960's Gemma Jones performed with companies at regional theatres including the Nottingham Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and the Little Theatre, Bristol. In 1962 she appeared at the Mermaid Theatre as Gilda in the original stage production of Alfie. In the 1970's Jones performed in productions with the National Theatre at the Old Vic and with the Royal Shakespeare Company as Hippolyta/Titania. Jones made many further performances in classical and contemporary plays with the RSC in the 1980's and 1990's, including appearances in separate productions of The Winters Tale as both Hermione (1981) and a decade later as Paulina (1993). In 1986, she played the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi in "After Aida" at the Old Vic Theatre.


title: Gemma Jones

text: On television Jones became known to viewers after starring in the BBC serial "Kenilworth" (1967) as Queen Elizabeth I, and in BBC 2's 1970 dramatisation of "The Spoils of Poynton".


title: Gemma Jones

text: She was first recognised outside the UK in the mid-1970s, after playing the Empress Frederick in the BBC television drama series "Fall of Eagles" and Louisa Trotter in another BBC drama, "The Duchess of Duke Street". In 1980, she played the role of Portia in the BBC Television Shakespeare production of "The Merchant of Venice", opposite Warren Mitchell's Shylock.


title: Gemma Jones

text: Jones played Mrs. Dashwood alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in the Academy Award-winning period drama "Sense and Sensibility" (1995). Her other notable roles include Mrs. Fairfax in Jane Eyre (1997), Lady Queensbury in "Wilde" (1997), Grace Winslow in "The Winslow Boy" (1999), Bridget's mother Pam Jones in "Bridget Jones's Diary" (2001) and Poppy Pomfrey in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (2002), reprising her role in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009) and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" (2011).


title: Gemma Jones

text: From 2007 to 2008, she played Connie James in the BBC1 drama "Spooks". She appeared in the Woody Allen film "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger" in 2010. In 2011, she appeared in the BBC1 series "Merlin", as the Cailleach, the gatekeeper to the spirit world. Also in 2011 she appeared in the Bridge Project's version of "Richard III" as Queen Margaret, alongside Kevin Spacey as Richard III and directed by Sam Mendes, at the Old Vic and subsequently on an international tour.


title: Gemma Jones

text: She received the British Academy Television Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Neil Baldwin's mother, Mary, in the 2014 television film "Marvellous".


title: Gemma Jones

text: In 2015, Jones played the part of Petunia Howe in the three-part BBC series "Capital", based on John Lanchester's novel of the same name.


title: Gemma Jones

text: In the 2018 BBC Radio 4 production of "The Importance of Being Earnest" Jones played the part of Lady Augusta Bracknell.


title: Viking expansion

text: Viking expansion was the historical movement which led Norse explorers, traders and warriors, the latter known in modern scholarship as Vikings, to sail most of the North Atlantic, reaching south as far as North Africa and east as far as Russia, and through the Mediterranean as far as Constantinople and the Middle East, acting as looters, traders, colonists and mercenaries. To the west, Vikings under Leif Erikson, the heir to Erik the Red, reached North America and set up a short-lived settlement in present-day L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada. Longer lasting and more established Norse settlements were formed in Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Russia, Great Britain, Ireland and Normandy.


title: Viking expansion

text: It is debated whether the term "Viking" empire represents all Norse settlers or just those who raided.


title: Viking expansion

text: Researchers have suggested that Vikings may have originally started sailing and raiding due to a need to seek out women from foreign lands. The concept was expressed in the 11th century by historian Dudo of Saint-Quentin in his semi-imaginary "History of The Normans". Rich and powerful Viking men tended to have many wives and concubines, and these polygynous relationships may have led to a shortage of eligible women for the average Viking male. Due to this, the average Viking man could have been forced to perform riskier actions to gain wealth and power to be able to find suitable women. Viking men would often buy or capture women and make them into their wives or concubines. Polygynous marriage increases male-male competition in society because it creates a pool of unmarried men who are willing to engage in risky status-elevating and sex-seeking behaviors. The "Annals of Ulster" states that in 821 the Vikings plundered an Irish village and "carried off a great number of women into captivity".


title: Viking expansion

text: Another theory is that it was a quest for revenge against continental Europeans for past aggressions against the Vikings and related groups, Charlemagne's campaign to force Saxon pagans to convert to Christianity by killing any who refused to become baptized in particular. Those who favor this explanation point out that the penetration of Christianity into Scandinavia caused serious conflict and divided Norway for almost a century. However, the first target of Viking raids was not the Frankish Kingdom, but Christian monasteries in England. According to the historian Peter Sawyer, these were raided because they were centers of wealth and their farms well-stocked, not because of any religious reasons.


title: Viking expansion

text: A different idea is that the Viking population had exceeded the agricultural potential of their homeland. This may have been true of western Norway, where there were few reserves of land, but it is unlikely that the rest of Scandinavia was experiencing famine.


title: Viking expansion

text: Alternatively, some scholars propose that the Viking expansion was driven by a youth bulge effect: Because the eldest son of a family customarily inherited the family's entire estate, younger sons had to seek their fortune by emigrating or engaging in raids. Peter Sawyer suggests that most Vikings emigrated due to the attractiveness of owning more land rather than the necessity of having it.


title: Viking expansion

text: However, no rise in population, youth bulge, or decline in agricultural production during this period has been definitively demonstrated. Nor is it clear why such pressures would have prompted expansion overseas rather than into the vast, uncultivated forest areas in the interior of the Scandinavian Peninsula, although perhaps emigration or sea raids may have been easier or more profitable than clearing large areas of forest for farm and pasture in a region with a limited growing season.


title: Viking expansion

text: It is also possible that a decline in the profitability of old trade routes drove the Vikings to seek out new, more profitable ones. Trade between western Europe and the rest of Eurasia may have suffered after the Roman Empire lost its western provinces in the 5th century, and the expansion of Islam in the 7th century may have reduced trade opportunities within western Europe by redirecting resources along the Silk Road. Trade in the Mediterranean was at its lowest level in history when the Vikings began their expansion. The Viking expansion opened new trade routes in Arab and Frankish lands, and took control of trade markets previously dominated by the Frisians after the Franks destroyed the Frisian fleet.


title: Viking expansion

text: One of the main aims of the Viking expansion throughout Europe was to acquire and trade silver. Bergen and Dublin are still important centres of silver making. An example of a collection of Viking-age silver for trading purposes is the Galloway Hoard.


title: Viking expansion

text: Viking settlements in Ireland and Great Britain are thought to have been primarily male enterprises; however, some graves show nearly equal male/female distribution. Disagreement is partly due to method of classification; previous archaeology often guessed biological sex from burial artifacts, whereas modern archaeology may use osteology to find biological sex, and isotope analysis to find origin (DNA sampling is usually not possible). The males buried during that period in a cemetery on the Isle of Man had mainly names of Norse origin, while the females there had names of indigenous origin. Irish and British women are mentioned in old texts on the founding of Iceland, indicating that the Viking explorers were accompanied there by women from the British Isles who either came along voluntarily or were taken along by force. Genetic studies of the population in the Western Isles and Isle of Skye also show that Viking settlements were established mainly by male Vikings who mated with women from the local populations of those places.


title: Viking expansion

text: However, not all Viking settlements were primarily male. Genetic studies of the Shetland population suggest that family units consisting of Viking women as well as men were the norm among the migrants to these areas.


title: Viking expansion

text: This may be because areas like the Shetland Islands, being closer to Scandinavia, were more suitable targets for family migrations, while frontier settlements further north and west were more suitable for groups of unattached male colonizers.


title: Viking expansion

text: During the reign of King Beorhtric of Wessex (786–802) three ships of "Northmen" landed at Portland Bay in Dorset. The local reeve mistook the Vikings for merchants and directed them to the nearby royal estate, but the visitors killed him and his men. On 8 June 793 "the ravages of heathen men miserably desecrated God's church on Lindisfarne, with plunder and slaughter". According to the 12th-century Anglo-Norman chronicler Symeon of Durham, the raiders killed the resident monks or threw them into the sea to drown or carried them away as slavesalong with some of the church treasures. In 875, after enduring eight decades of repeated Viking raids, the monks fled Lindisfarne, carrying the relics of Saint Cuthbert with them.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 794, according to the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle", a small Viking fleet attacked a rich monastery at Jarrow. The Vikings met with stronger resistance than they had expected: their leaders were killed. The raiders escaped, only to have their ships beached at Tynemouth and the crews killed by locals. This represented one of the last raids on England for about 40 years. The Vikings focused instead on Ireland and Scotland.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 865, a group of hitherto uncoordinated bands of predominantly Danish Vikings joined to form a large army and landed in East Anglia. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle described this force as the "mycel hæþen here" (Great Heathen Army) and went on to say that it was led by Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson.


title: Viking expansion

text: The army crossed the Midlands into Northumbria and captured York (Jorvik). In 871, the Great Heathen Army was reinforced by another Danish force known as the Great Summer Army led by Guthrum. In 875, the Great Heathen Army split into two bands, with Guthrum leading one back to Wessex, and Halfdan taking his followers north. Then in 876, Halfdan shared out Northumbrian land south of the Tees amongst his men, who "ploughed the land and supported themselves", founding the territory later known as the Danelaw.


title: Viking expansion

text: Most of the English kingdoms, being in turmoil, could not stand against the Vikings, but King Alfred of Wessex defeated Guthrum's army at the Battle of Edington in 878. There followed the Treaty of Wedmore the same year and the Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum in 886. These treaties formalised the boundaries of the English kingdoms and the Viking Danelaw territory, with provisions for peaceful relations between the English and the Vikings. Despite these treaties, conflict continued on and off. However, Alfred and his successors eventually drove back the Viking frontier and retook York.


title: Viking expansion

text: A new wave of Vikings appeared in England in 947, when Erik Bloodaxe captured York. The Viking presence continued through the reign of the Danish prince Cnut the Great (reigned as King of England: 1016–1035), after which a series of inheritance arguments weakened the hold on power of Cnut's heirs.


title: Viking expansion

text: When King Edward the Confessor died in 1066, the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada challenged his successor as King of England, Harold Godwinson. Hardrada was killed, and his Norwegian army defeated, by Harold Godwinson on 25 September 1066 at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold Godwinson himself died when the Norman William the Conqueror defeated the English army at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. William was crowned king of England on 25 December 1066; however, it was several years before he was able to bring the kingdom under his complete control. In 1070 the Danish king Sweyn Estridsson sailed up the Humber with an army in support of Edgar the Ætheling, the last surviving male member of the English royal family. However, after capturing York, Sweyn accepted a payment from William to desert Edgar. Five years later one of Sweyn's sons set sail for England to support another English rebellion, but it had been crushed before the expedition arrived, so they settled for plundering the city of York and the surrounding area before returning home.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 1085 Sweyn's son, now Canute IV of Denmark, planned a major invasion of England but the assembled fleet never sailed. No further serious Danish invasions of England occurred after this. Although, some raiding occurred during the troubles of Stephen's reign, when King Eystein II of Norway took advantage of the civil war to plunder the east coast of England, sacking Hartlepool and Whitby in 1152, as well as raiding the Yorkshire coast. However, the intention was raids not conquest, and their conclusion marked the end of the Viking Age in England.


title: Viking expansion

text: The monastery at Iona on the west coast was first raided in 794, and had to be abandoned some fifty years later after several devastating attacks. While there are few records from the earliest period, it is believed that Scandinavian presence in Scotland increased in the 830s.


title: Viking expansion

text: The isles to the north and west of Scotland were heavily colonised by Norwegian Vikings. Shetland, Orkney and the Hebrides came under Norse control, sometimes as fiefs under the King of Norway, and at other times as separate entities under variously the Kings of the Isles, the Earldom of Orkney and the later Kings of Mann and the Isles. Shetland and Orkney were the last of these to be incorporated into Scotland in as late as 1468.


title: Viking expansion

text: Viking colonies were not a feature of Wales as much as the other nations of the British Isles. This has traditionally been attributed to the powerful unified forces of the contemporary kings, particularly Rhodri the Great. Thus, the Vikings were unable to establish any states or areas of control in Wales and were largely limited to raids and trading.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Danish are recorded raiding Anglesey in 854. However, Welsh record state that two years later, Rhodri the Great would win a notable victory, killing the Danish leader, King Gorm. Two further victories by Rhodri are recorded in the "Brut y Tywysogion" for 872. The first battle was at a place named as "Bangolau" or "Bann Guolou" or "Bannoleu", where the Vikings in Anglesey were again defeated "in a hard battle". In the second battle at "Manegid" or "Enegyd", the records state that the remaining Vikings "were destroyed".


title: Viking expansion

text: The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" of 893, records Viking armies being pursued by a combined force of West Saxons and north Welsh along the River Severn. This combined army eventually overtook the Vikings before defeating them at the Battle of Buttington.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Normans in Wales shared both the language and history of the Vikings in Wales. As such, it was often the Viking names that were favoured by the Cambro-Normans, and passed into Middle English. This impact can be seen today where many coastal names in Wales have an English name derived from the Vikings and unrelated to the original Welsh name.


title: Viking expansion

text: The modern English name Anglesey () is of Scandinavian origin, as are a number of the island's most prominent coastal features. The English names for Caldey Island (), Flat Holm () and Grassholm () are also those of the Viking raiders. Wales' second largest city, Swansea () takes its English name from a Viking trading post founded by Sweyn Forkbeard. The original name, translates as Sweyn's island or Sweyn's inlet. Worm's Head () is derived from , the word for snake or dragon, from the Vikings' tradition that the serpent-shaped island was a sleeping dragon.


title: Viking expansion

text: The "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" reported that "heathen men" (the Danes) raided Charmouth, Dorset in 833 AD, then in 997 AD they destroyed the Dartmoor town of Lydford, and from 1001 AD to 1003 AD they occupied the old Roman city of Exeter.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Cornish were subjugated by King Æthelstan, of England, in 936 and the border finally set at the River Tamar. However, the Cornish remained semi-autonomous until their annexation into England after the Norman Conquest.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 795, small bands of Vikings began plundering monastic settlements along the coast of Gaelic Ireland. The Annals of Ulster state that in 821 the Vikings plundered Howth and "carried off a great number of women into captivity". From 840 the Vikings began building fortified encampments, "longphorts", on the coast and overwintering in Ireland. The first were at Dublin and Linn Duachaill. Their attacks became bigger and reached further inland, striking larger monastic settlements such as Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Glendalough, Kells and Kildare, and also plundering the ancient tombs of Brú na Bóinne. Viking chief Thorgest is said to have raided the whole midlands of Ireland until he was killed by Máel Sechnaill I in 845.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 853, Viking leader Amlaíb (Olaf) became the first king of Dublin. He ruled along with his brothers Ímar (possibly Ivar the Boneless) and Auisle. Over the following decades, there was regular warfare between the Vikings and the Irish, and between two groups of Vikings: the Dubgaill and Finngaill (dark and fair foreigners). The Vikings also briefly allied with various Irish kings against their rivals. In 866, Áed Findliath burnt all Viking longphorts in the north, and they never managed to establish permanent settlements in that region. The Vikings were driven from Dublin in 902.


title: Viking expansion

text: They returned in 914, led by the Uí Ímair (House of Ivar). During the next eight years, the Vikings won decisive battles against the Irish, regained control of Dublin, and founded settlements at Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick, which became Ireland's first large towns. They were important trading hubs, and Viking Dublin was the biggest slave port in western Europe.


title: Viking expansion

text: These Viking territories became part of the patchwork of kingdoms in Ireland. Vikings intermarried with the Irish and adopted elements of Irish culture, becoming the Norse-Gaels. Some Viking kings of Dublin also ruled the kingdom of the Isles and York; such as Sitric Cáech, Gofraid ua Ímair, Olaf Guthfrithson and Olaf Cuaran. Sitric Silkbeard was "a patron of the arts, a benefactor of the church, and an economic innovator" who established Ireland's first mint, in Dublin.


title: Viking expansion

text: In 980, Máel Sechnaill Mór defeated the Dublin Vikings and forced them into submission. Over the following thirty years, Brian Boru subdued the Viking territories and made himself High King of Ireland. The Dublin Vikings, together with Leinster, twice rebelled against him, but they were defeated in the battles of Glenmama (999) and Clontarf (1014). After the battle of Clontarf, the Dublin Vikings could no longer "single-handedly threaten the power of the most powerful kings of Ireland". Brian's rise to power and conflict with the Vikings is chronicled in "Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib" ("The War of the Irish with the Foreigners").


title: Viking expansion

text: The Viking presence in Normandy began with raids into the territory of the Frankish Empire, from the middle of 9th century. Viking raids extended deep into the Frankish territory, and included the sacking of many prominent towns such as Rouen, Paris and the abbey at Jumièges. The inability of the Frankish king Charles the Bald, and later Charles the Simple, to prevent these Viking incursions forced them to offer vast payments of silver and gold to prevent any further pillage. These pay-offs were short lived and the Danish raiders would always return for more.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Duchy of Normandy was created for the Viking leader Rollo after he had besieged Paris. In 911, Rollo entered vassalage to the king of the West Franks Charles the Simple through the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte. This treaty made of Rollo the first Norman Count of Rouen. In addition, Rollo was to be baptized and marry Gisele, the illegitimate daughter of Charles. In exchange for his homage and fealty, Rollo legally gained the territory which he and his Viking allies had previously conquered.


title: Viking expansion

text: The descendants of Rollo and his followers adopted the local Gallo-Romance languages and intermarried with the area's original inhabitants. They became the Normans – a Norman French-speaking mixture of Scandinavians and indigenous Franks and Gauls. The language of Normandy heavily reflected the Danish influence, as many words (especially ones pertaining to seafaring) were borrowed from Old Norse or Old Danish. More than the language itself, the Norman toponymy retains a strong Nordic influence. Nevertheless, only a few archaeological traces have been found: swords dredged out of the Seine river between its estuary and Rouen, the tomb of a female Viking at Pîtres, the two Thor's hammers at Saint-Pierre-de-Varengeville and Sahurs and more recently the hoard of Viking coins at Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs.


title: Viking expansion

text: Rollo's descendant William, Duke of Normandy (the "Conqueror") became King of England after he defeated Harold Godwinson and his army at the Battle of Hastings in October 1066. As king of England, he retained the fiefdom of Normandy for himself and his descendants. The kings of England made claim to Normandy, as well as their other possessions in France, which led to various disputes with the French. This culminated in the French confiscation of Gascony that precipitated what became known as the Hundred Years' War, in 1337.


title: Viking expansion

text: West Francia and Middle Francia suffered more severely than East Francia during the Viking raids of the 9th century. The reign of Charles the Bald coincided with some of the worst of these raids, though he did take action by the Edict of Pistres of 864 to secure a standing army of cavalry under royal control to be called upon at all times when necessary to fend off the invaders. He also ordered the building of fortified bridges to prevent inland raids.


title: Viking expansion

text: Nonetheless, the Bretons allied with the Vikings and Robert, the margrave of Neustria, (a march created for defence against the Vikings sailing up the Loire), and Ranulf of Aquitaine died in the Battle of Brissarthe in 865. The Vikings also took advantage of the civil wars which ravaged the Duchy of Aquitaine in the early years of Charles' reign. In the 840s, Pepin II called in the Vikings to aid him against Charles and they settled at the mouth of the Garonne as they did by the Loire. Two dukes of Gascony, Seguin II and William I, died defending Bordeaux from Viking assaults. A later duke, Sancho Mitarra, even settled some at the mouth of the Adour near Bayonne in an act presaging that of Charles the Simple and the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte by which the Vikings were settled in Rouen, creating Normandy as a bulwark against other Vikings.


title: Viking expansion

text: In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vikings raided the largely defenceless Frisian and Frankish towns lying on the coast and along the rivers of the Low Countries. Although Vikings never settled in large numbers in those areas, they did set up long-term bases and were even acknowledged as lords in a few cases. They set up bases in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil at the mouth of the Loire, in Taillebourg on the mid Charente, also around Bayonne on the banks of the Adour, in Noirmoutier and obviously on the River Seine (Rouen) in what would become Normandy.


title: Viking expansion

text: Antwerp was raided in 836. Later there were raids of Ghent, Kortrijk, Tournai, Leuven and the areas around the Meuse river, the Rhine, the Rupel river and the tributaries of those rivers. Raids were conducted from bases established in Asselt, Walcheren, Wieringen and Elterberg (or Eltenberg, a small hill near Elten). In Dutch and Frisian historical tradition, the trading centre of Dorestad declined after Viking raids from 834 to 863; however, since no convincing Viking archaeological evidence has been found at the site (), doubts about this have grown in recent years.


title: Viking expansion

text: One of the more important Viking families in the Low Countries was that of Rorik of Dorestad (based in Wieringen) and his brother Harald (based in Walcheren). Around 850, Lothair I acknowledged Rorik as ruler of most of Friesland. Again in 870, Rorik was received by Charles the Bald in Nijmegen, to whom he became a vassal. Viking raids continued during this period. Harald's son Rodulf and his men were killed by the people of Oostergo in 873. Rorik died sometime before 882.


title: Viking expansion

text: Buried Viking treasures consisting mainly of silver have been found in the Low Countries. Two such treasures have been found in Wieringen. A large treasure found in Wieringen in 1996 dates from around 850 and is thought perhaps to have been connected to Rorik. The burial of such a valuable treasure is seen as an indication that there was a permanent settlement in Wieringen.


title: Viking expansion

text: Around 879, Godfrid arrived in Frisian lands as the head of a large force that terrorised the Low Countries. Using Ghent as his base, they ravaged Ghent, Maastricht, Liège, Stavelot, Prüm, Cologne, and Koblenz. Controlling most of Frisia between 882 and his death in 885, Godfrid became known to history as Godfrid, Duke of Frisia. His lordship over Frisia was acknowledged by Charles the Fat, to whom he became a vassal. In the siege of Asselt in 882, the Franks sieged a Viking camp at Asselt in Frisia. Although the Vikings were not forced by arms to abandon their camp, they were compelled to come to terms in which their leader, Godfrid, was converted to Christianity. Godfrid was assassinated in 885, after which Gerolf of Holland assumed lordship and Viking rule of Frisia came to an end.


title: Viking expansion

text: Viking raids of the Low Countries continued for over a century. Remains of Viking attacks dating from 880 to 890 have been found in Zutphen and Deventer. The last attacks took place in Tiel in 1006 and Utrecht in 1007.


title: Viking expansion

text: Compared with the rest of Western Europe, the Iberian Peninsula seems to have been little affected by Viking activity, either in the Christian north or the Muslim south. In some of their raids on Iberia, the Vikings were crushed either by the Kingdom of Asturias or the Emirate armies.


title: Viking expansion

text: Knowledge of Vikings in Iberia is mainly based on written accounts, many of which are much later than the events they purport to describe, and often also ambiguous about the origins or ethnicity of the raiders they mention. A little possible archaeological evidence has come to light, but research in this area is ongoing. Viking activity in the Iberian peninsula seems to have begun around the mid-ninth century as an extension of their raids on and establishment of bases in Frankia in the earlier ninth century, but although Vikings may have over-wintered there, there is as yet no evidence for trading or settlement.


title: Viking expansion

text: The most prominent and probably most significant event was a raid in 844, when Vikings entered the Garonne and attacked Galicia and Asturias. When the Vikings attacked La Coruña they were met by the army of King Ramiro I and were heavily defeated. Many of the Vikings' casualties were caused by the Galicians' ballistas – powerful torsion-powered projectile weapons that looked rather like giant crossbows. Seventy of the Vikings' longships were captured on the beach and burned.


title: Viking expansion

text: They then proceeded south, raiding Lisbon and Seville. This Viking raid on Seville seems to have constituted a significant attack.


title: Viking expansion

text: The period from 859 to 861 saw another spate of Viking raids, apparently by a single group. Despite some elaborate tales in late sources, little is known for sure about these attacks. After raids on both northern Iberia and Al-Andalus, one of which in 859 resulted in the capture and exorbitant ransom of king García Íñiguez of Pamplona, the Vikings seem also to have raided other Mediterranean targetspossibly but not certainly including Italy, Alexandria, and Constantinople−and perhaps overwintering in Francia.


title: Viking expansion

text: Evidence for Viking activity in Iberia vanishes after the 860s, until the 960s–70s, when a range of sources including Dudo of Saint-Quentin, Ibn Ḥayyān, and Ibn Idhārī, along with a number of charters from Christian Iberia, while individually unreliable, together afford convincing evidence for Viking raids on Iberia in the 960s and 970s.


title: Viking expansion

text: Tenth- or eleventh-century fragments of mouse bone found in Madeira, along with mitocondrial DNA of Madeiran mice, suggests that Vikings also came to Madeira (bringing mice with them), long before the island was colonised by Portugal.


title: Viking expansion

text: Quite extensive evidence for minor Viking raids in Iberia continues for the early eleventh century in later narratives (including some Icelandic sagas) and in northern Iberian charters. As the Viking Age drew to a close, Scandinavians and Normans continued to have opportunities to visit and raid Iberia while on their way to the Holy Land for pilgrimage or crusade, or in connection with Norman conquests in the Mediterranean. Key examples in the saga literature are Sigurðr Jórsalafari (king of Norway 1103–1130) and Røgnvaldr kali Kolsson (d. 1158).


title: Viking expansion

text: Around 860, Ermentarius of Noirmoutier and the Annals of St-Bertin provide contemporary evidence for Vikings based in Frankia proceeding to Iberia and thence to Italy.


title: Viking expansion

text: Three or four eleventh-century Swedish Runestones mention Italy, memorialising warriors who died in 'Langbarðaland', the Old Norse name for southern Italy (Longobardia). It seems clear that rather than being Normans, these men were Varangian mercenaries fighting for Byzantium. Varangians may first have been deployed as mercenaries in Italy against the Arabs as early as 936.


title: Viking expansion

text: Later, several Anglo-Danish and Norwegian nobles participated in the Norman conquest of southern Italy. Harald Hardrada, who later became king of Norway, seems to have been involved in the Norman conquest of Sicily between 1038 and 1040, under William de Hauteville, who won his nickname "Iron Arm" by defeating the emir of Syracuse in single combat, and a Lombard contingent, led by Arduin. Edgar the Ætheling, who left England in 1086, went there, Jarl Erling Skakke won his nickname after a battle against Arabs in Sicily. On the other hand, many Anglo-Danish rebels fleeing William the Conqueror, joined the Byzantines in their struggle against Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia, in Southern Italy.


title: Viking expansion

text: The well-known Harald Hardrada would also serve the Byzantine emperor in Palestine as well as raiding North Africa, the Middle East as far east as Armenia, and the island of Sicily in the 11th century, as recounted in his saga in Snorri Sturluson's "Heimskringla".


title: Viking expansion

text: Evidence for Norse ventures into Arabia and Central Asia can be found in runestones erected in Scandinavia by the relatives of fallen Viking adventurers. Several of these refer to men who died in "Serkland".


title: Viking expansion

text: Meanwhile, in the Eastern Mediterranean the Norse (referred to as Rus') were viewed more as "merchant-warriors" who were primarily associated with trade and business.


title: Viking expansion

text: Indeed, one of the only detailed accounts of a Viking burial come from Ibn-Fadlan's account. At times this trading relationship would break down into violence – Rus' armadas raided in the Caspian on at least three occasions, in 910, 912 and 943.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Vikings settled coastal areas along the Baltic Sea, and along inland rivers in Russian territories such as Staraya Ladoga, Novgorod and along major waterways to the Byzantine Empire.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Varangians or Varyags (Russian, Ukrainian: Варяги, Varyagi) sometimes referred to as Variagians were Scandinavians who migrated eastwards and southwards through what is now Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine mainly in the 9th and 10th centuries. Engaging in trade, colonization, piracy and mercenary activities, they roamed the river systems and portages of Garðaríki, reaching and settling at the Caspian Sea and in Constantinople.


title: Viking expansion

text: The real involvement of the Varangians is said to have come after they were asked by the Slavic tribes of the region to come and establish order, as those tribes were in constant warfare among each other ("Our country is rich and immense, but it is rent by disorder. Come and govern us and reign over us."). The tribes were united and ruled under the leadership of Rurik, a leader of a group of Varangians. Rurik had successfully been able to establish a set of trading towns and posts along the Volga and Dnieper Rivers, which were perfect for trade with the Byzantine Empire. Rurik's successors were able to conquer and unite the towns along the banks of the Volga and Dnieper Rivers, and establish the Rus' Khaganate. Despite the distinction of the Varangians from the local Slavic tribes at the beginning, by the 10th century, the Varangians began to integrate with the local community, and by the end of 12th century, a new people – the Russians, had emerged.


title: Viking expansion

text: Ingvar the Far-Travelled led expeditions to Iran and the Caucasus between 1036 and 1042. His travels are recorded on the Ingvar runestones.


title: Viking expansion

text: Around 1036, Varangians appeared near the village of Bashi on the Rioni River, to establish a permanent settlement of Vikings in Georgia. "The Georgian Chronicles" described them as 3,000 men who had traveled from Scandinavia through present-day Russia, rowing down the Dnieper River and across the Black Sea. King Bagrat IV welcomed them to Georgia and accepted some of them into the Georgian army; several hundred Vikings fought on Bagrat's side at the Battle of Sasireti in 1042.


title: Viking expansion

text: Iceland was discovered by Naddodd, one of the first settlers on the Faroe Islands, who was sailing from Norway to the Faroe Islands but got lost and drifted to the east coast of Iceland. Naddoddr named the country "Snæland" (Snowland). Swedish sailor Garðar Svavarsson also accidentally drifted to the coast of Iceland. He discovered that the country was an island and named it "Garðarshólmi" (literally "Garðar's Islet") and stayed for the winter at Húsavík. The first Scandinavian who deliberately sailed to "Garðarshólmi" was Flóki Vilgerðarson, also known as Hrafna-Flóki (Raven-Flóki). Flóki settled for one winter at Barðaströnd. It was a cold winter, and when he spotted some drift ice in the fjords he gave the island its current name, "Ísland" (Iceland).


title: Viking expansion

text: Iceland was first settled around 870. The first permanent settler in Iceland is usually considered to have been a Norwegian chieftain named Ingólfr Arnarson. According to the story, he threw two carved pillars overboard as he neared land, vowing to settle wherever they landed. He then sailed along the coast until the pillars were found in the southwestern peninsula, now known as Reykjanesskagi. There he settled with his family around 874, in a place he named Reykjavík (Bay of Smokes) due to the geothermal steam rising from the earth. It is recognized, however, that Ingólfur Arnarson may not have been the first one to settle permanently in Iceland – that may have been Náttfari, a slave of Garðar Svavarsson who stayed behind when his master returned to Scandinavia.


title: Viking expansion

text: In the year 985, Erik the Red was believed to have discovered Greenland after being exiled from Iceland for murder in 982. Three years later in 986, Erik the Red returned with 14 surviving ships (as 25 set out on the expedition). Two areas along Greenland's southwest coast were colonized by Norse settlers, including Erik the Red, around 986. The land was at best marginal for Norse pastoral farming. The settlers arrived during a warm phase, when short-season crops such as rye and barley could be grown. Sheep and hardy cattle were also raised for food, wool, and hides. Their main export was walrus ivory, which was traded for iron and other goods which could not be produced locally. Greenland became a dependency of the king of Norway in 1261. During the 13th century, the population may have reached as high as 5,000, divided between the two main settlements of "Eystribygð" (Eastern Settlement) and "Vestribygð" (Western Settlement). The organization of these settlements revolved mainly around religion, and they consisted of around 250 farms, which were split into approximately fourteen communities that were centered around fourteen churches, one of which was a cathedral at Garðar. The Catholic diocese of Greenland was subject to the archdiocese of Nidaros. However, many bishops chose to exercise this office from afar. As the years wore on, the climate shifted (see Little Ice Age). In 1379, the northernmost settlement was attacked by the "Skræling" (Norse word for Inuit). Crops failed and trade declined. The Greenland colony gradually faded away. By 1450, it had lost contact with Norway and Iceland and disappeared from all but a few Scandinavian legends.


title: Viking expansion

text: A Norwegian ship's captain named Bjarni Herjólfsson first came across a part of the North American continent ca. 985 when he was blown off course sailing to Greenland from Iceland. Subsequent expeditions from Greenland (some led by Leif Erikson) explored the areas to the west, seeking large timbers for building in particular (Greenland had only small trees and brush). Regular activity from Greenland extended to Ellesmere Island, Skraeling Island and Ruin Island for hunting and trading with Inuit groups. A short-lived settlement was established at L'Anse aux Meadows, located on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, Canada. Wood from timber-framed buildings in the settlement was dated by a solar storm in the year 993 which caused a spike in carbon 14 in the dendrochronological layer for the year. Tree rings were counted from that year on three separate logs from the settlement, and all three were found to have been felled in the year 1021, indicating that the settlement was occupied at that date.


title: Viking expansion

text: There is also evidence for Viking contact with Native Americans. The Vikings referred to them as the "Skræling" ("barbarians" or "puny, weaklings"). Fighting between the Natives and the Vikings did take place with the natives having the advanced weaponry of bows and arrows. Nevertheless, trade by barter did also take place between them. However, the conflict between these two groups led to the Vikings' eventual evacuation of the area.


title: Viking expansion

text: The Greenlanders called the new-found territory Vinland. It is unclear whether Vinland referred to in the traditionally thinking as Vínland (wine-land) or more recently as Vinland (meadow- or pasture-land). In any case, without any official backing, attempts at colonization by the Norse proved failures. There were simply too many natives for the Greenlanders to conquer or withstand and they withdrew to Greenland.


title: Viking expansion

text: Vikings may have discovered Svalbard as early as the 12th century. Traditional Norse accounts exist of a land known as Svalbarð – literally "cold shores". This land might also have been Jan Mayen, or a part of eastern Greenland. The Dutchman Willem Barents made the first indisputable discovery of Svalbard in 1596.


title: Viking expansion

text: Studies of genetic diversity have provided scientific confirmation to accompany archaeological evidence of Viking expansion. They additionally indicate patterns of ancestry, imply new migrations, and show the actual flow of individuals between disparate regions. However, attempts to determine historical population genetics are complicated by subsequent migrations and demographic fluctuations. In particular, the rapid migrations of the 20th century have made it difficult to assess what prior genetic states were.


title: Viking expansion

text: Genetic evidence contradicts the common perception that Vikings were primarily pillagers and raiders. A news article by Roger Highfield summarizes recent research and concludes that, as both male and female genetic markers are present, the evidence is indicative of colonization instead of raiding and occupying. However, this is also disputed by unequal ratios of male and female haplotypes (see below) which indicate that more men settled than women, an element of a raiding or occupying population.


title: Viking expansion

text: Y-chromosome haplotypes serve as markers of paternal lineage much the same as mDNA represents the maternal lineage. Together, these two methods provide an option for tracing back a people's genetic history and charting the historical migrations of both males and females.


title: Viking expansion

text: Often considered the purest remnants of ancient Nordic genetics, Icelanders trace 75% to 80% of their patrilineal ancestry to Scandinavia and 20% to 25% to Scotland and Ireland. On the maternal side, only 37% is from Scandinavia and the remaining 63% is mostly Scottish and Irish. Iceland also holds one of the more well-documented lineage records which, in many cases, go back 15 generations and at least 300 years. These are accompanied by one of the larger genetic records that have been collected by deCODE genetics. Together, these two records allow for a mostly reliable view of historical Scandinavian genetic structure although the genetics of Iceland are influenced by Norse-British migration as well as that directly from Scandinavia.


title: Viking expansion

text: Haplogroup I-M253, also known as haplogroup I1, is the most common haplotype among Scandinavian males. It is present in 35% of males in Norway, Denmark and Sweden; 40% of males within Western Finland. It is also prominent on the Baltic and North Sea coasts, but decreases further south.


title: Viking expansion

text: Haplogroup R1b is another very common haplotype in all of Western Europe. However, it is not distinctly linked to Vikings or their expansion. There are indications that a mutant strand, R-L165, may have been carried to Great Britain by the Vikings, but the topic is currently inconclusive.


title: Viking expansion

text: The mitochondrial C1 haplotype is primarily an East Asia-American haplotype that developed just prior to migration across the Bering sea. This maternal haplotype, however, was found in several Icelandic samples. While originally considered to be a 20th-century immigrant, a more complete analysis has shown that this haplotype has been present in Iceland for at least 300 years and is distinct from other C1 lineages. This evidence indicates a likely genetic exchange back and forth between Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland.


title: Viking expansion

text: There is evidence suggesting Y-haplotypes may be combined with surname histories to better represent historical populations and prevent recent migrations from obscuring the historical record.


title: Viking expansion

text: Cys282Tyr (or C282Y) is a mutation in the HFE gene that has been linked to most cases of hereditary hemochromatosis. Genetic techniques indicate that this mutation occurred roughly 60–70 generations ago or between 600 and 800 CE, assuming a generation length of 20 years. The regional distribution of this mutation among European populations indicates that it originated in Southern Scandinavia and spread with Viking expansion. Due to the timing of the mutation and subsequent population movements, C282Y is very prominent in Great Britain, Normandy, and Southern Scandinavia although C282Y has been found in almost every population that has been in contact with the Vikings.


title: St. George, Utah

text: St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northeasternmost part of the Mojave Desert, adjacent to the Pine Valley Mountains and near the convergence of three distinct geologic areas and ecoregions: the Mojave Desert, Colorado Plateau, and the Great Basin. The city is northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and south-southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Interstate 15.


title: St. George, Utah

text: As of the 2020 U.S Census, the city had a population of 95,342, with the overall MSA having an estimated population of 180,279. St. George is the seventh-largest city in Utah and most populous city in the state outside of the Wasatch Front.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The city was settled in 1861 as a cotton mission, earning it the nickname "Dixie". While the crop never became a successful commodity, the area steadily grew in population. Between 2000 and 2005, St. George emerged as the fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States. Today, the St. George region is well known for its year-round outdoor recreation and proximity to several state parks, Zion National Park and The Grand Canyon. Utah Tech University is located in St. George and is an NCAA Division I institution.


title: St. George, Utah

text: Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers, the St. George area was inhabited by the Virgin River Ancestral Puebloans and later by the Southern Paiute tribe. The first Europeans in the area were part of the Domínguez–Escalante expedition in 1776.


title: St. George, Utah

text: St. George was founded as a cotton mission in 1861 under the direction of apostle Erastus Snow. It was called Dixie by Brigham Young, who was president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). While early settlers cultivated cotton as a commodity crop, they did not succeed in producing it at competitive market rates; consequently, cotton farming was eventually abandoned. More important to the economy was tourism, which developed as the railroads began to carry visitors to the nearby Zion National Park.


title: St. George, Utah

text: At the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, Young organized the settlement of what is now Washington County.


title: St. George, Utah

text: Fearing that the war would take away the cotton supply, he began plans for raising enough in this southwestern country to supply the needs of his people. Enough favorable reports had come to him from this warm region below the rim of the Great Basin, that he was convinced cotton could be raised successfully here. At the general church conference in Salt Lake City on October 6th, 1861, about three hundred families were "called" to the Dixie mission to promote the cotton industry. Most of the people knew nothing of this expedition until their names were read from the pulpit; but in nearly every case, they responded with good will, and made ready to leave within the month's time allotted to them. The families were selected so as to ensure the communities the right number of farmers, masons, blacksmiths, businessmen, educators, carpenters, as needed.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In April 1877, the LDS Church completed the St. George Utah Temple. It is the church's third and oldest continually-operating temple in the world (the temple has been closed since November 2019 for renovation).


title: St. George, Utah

text: The 1992 St. George earthquake destroyed three houses as well as above- and below-ground utilities, causing about in damage.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In January 2005, a 100-year flood occurred throughout the region, due to prolonged heavy rainfall overflowing both the Virgin and Santa Clara rivers. One person was killed and 28 homes were destroyed by the Santa Clara River.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In the early 1950s, St. George received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing at the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site northwest of Las Vegas. Winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through the St. George and southern Utah area. Marked increases in the frequency of cancer in the population, not limited to leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s until the early 1980s.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In 1980, American popular weekly magazine "People" reported that from about 220 cast and crew who filmed in a 1956 movie, "The Conqueror", on location near St. George, ninety-one had come down with cancer, and 50 had died of cancer. Of these, forty-six had died of cancer by 1980. Among the cancer deaths were John Wayne, Pedro Armendáriz and Susan Hayward, the stars of the film. However, the lifetime odds of developing cancer for men in the U.S. population are 43 percent and the odds of dying of cancer are 23 percent (38 percent and 19 percent, respectively, for women). This places the cancer mortality rate for the 220 primary cast and crew quite near the expected average.


title: St. George, Utah

text: A 1962 United States Atomic Energy Commission report found children living in St. George, Utah, at the time of the fallout may have received doses to the thyroid of radioiodine as high as 120 to 440 rads" (1.2 to 4.4 Gy).


title: St. George, Utah

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 64.9 square miles (168.0 km), of which, 64.4 square miles (166.8 km) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.2 km) of it (0.72%) is water. St. George lies in a desert valley, with most of the city lying below 3,000 feet (900 m). It is situated near a geological transition zone where the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin converge. The Beaver Dam Mountains/Utah Hill lie to the west, the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area and Pine Valley Mountains to the north, the western edge of the Colorado Plateau and Zion National Park to the east, and the Arizona Strip to the south. The Virgin River and Santa Clara River flow through the St. George valley and converge near the western base of Webb Hill near the city center.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The city uses street numbers rather than names, such as "East 100 South". Exceptions have been made for streets with curves or those not fitting into the traditional grid system. Some roads have names along with numerals, such as "400 East" which is also known as "Flood Street".


title: St. George, Utah

text: St. George's arid climate is significantly warmer on average than the rest of the state, and more closely resembles nearby Las Vegas. The climate is cold arid (BWk). St. George has hot summers and cool to relatively mild winters. The monthly average temperature ranges from in December to in July. On average, there are 60 afternoons with high temperatures over , with an average window of June 29 through August 13, and 122 days with high temperatures over with the average window fluctuating between late April and early October. There are approximately 60 mornings where the low temperature drops to the freezing mark, with the historical average window between November 12 and March 14.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The highest temperature statewide was , which was recorded in south St. George, near the Arizona border on July 4, 2007, breaking the previous record-holder, at , also set in St. George on July 5, 1985. The record high minimum temperature is set on July 15, 1970 and July 3, 2013. Nighttime freezes are common during the winter due to radiational cooling. Both the record low temperature of and record low maximum temperature of were set on January 22, 1937; the record low temperature occurred again on January 26, 1937, both during the record cold month of January 1937 across the Western United States.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The city has abundant sunshine year-round and averages about 300 sunny days per year, with an average of precipitation annually. The wettest "rain year" has been from July 2004 to June 2005 with at least (some days were missing) and the driest from July 1973 to June 1974 with . Record breaking wide spread flooding occurred during January 2005 when area creeks and rivers far exceeded their banks and washed out homes and some neighborhoods. The wettest month has been January 1993, when fell. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, except for a markedly drier period from April through June, which occurs after the Pacific storm season ends, but before the southwest monsoon begins, usually in mid-July. Precipitation mostly comes from the Pacific Ocean from late fall through early spring. The storm track usually lifts north of the city by mid-April. The monsoon brings localized and often intense thunderstorms from early July through mid-September. The greatest rainfall in 24 hours was on August 31, 1909.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The St. George valley occasionally receives wet or slushy snowfall in the winter, but what accumulates usually melts off by the mid-to-late morning; the normal seasonal snowfall is . The earliest snowfall was measured on October 29, 1971, and the latest on April 11, 1927. The record single-day snowfall is which was set on January 5, 1974. With the city having elevations ranging from , some areas such as Diamond Valley and Winchester Hills will typically receive more snowfall and colder temperatures than the rest of the lower valley.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The most recent major snow event was on December 8, 2013, when between virtually shut down the city, making it the third heaviest snowfall in the city's history. Also significant about the storm was how low temperatures dropped and remained that way for several days with daytime highs failing to reach the freezing mark, and one night time low temperature of , recorded at the airport, was the coldest in the city in over 100 years. The cold spell killed or severely damaged much of the area's non-native vegetation, such as the Mexican fan palm trees.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In 2018, the city's population was estimated at 87,178. St. George was declared the fourth fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States in 2018.


title: St. George, Utah

text: , there were 27,552 households. The population density was 1,135 people per square mile. , there were 32,089 housing units at an average density of per square mile. The city's racial makeup was 87.2% White, 0.7% African-American, 1.5% Native American, 0.8% Asian, 1.0% Pacific Islander, and 8.9% from other races. 12.8% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: St. George, Utah

text: As of the 2000 census, there were 17,367 households, out of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.6% were married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.9% were non-families. 19.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years old or older. The average household size was 2.81 individuals and the average family size was 3.21.


title: St. George, Utah

text: In the city, the age distribution of the population showed 28.4% under the age of 18, 13.7% from 18 to 24, 22.0% from 25 to 44, 16.8% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.2 males.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The median income for a household in the city was $36,505, and the median income for a family was $41,788. Males had a median income of $31,106 versus $20,861 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,022. About 7.4% of families and 11.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over. A significant portion of the over 65 population was "snowbirds", who live in St. George during the winter.


title: St. George, Utah

text: SkyWest Airlines is headquartered in St. George, and is the primary airline provider at the city's regional airport.


title: St. George, Utah

text: Walmart has a distribution center just outside the city and Family Dollar recently opened a distribution center in the Fort Pierce Industrial Park to better serve the southwest region of the U.S.


title: St. George, Utah

text: Over a dozen golf courses offering year-round golfing, and various world-recognized events also make for large contributors to the city's economy.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The up-and-coming Downtown Arts District features "Art Around the Corner" offering outdoor sculptures and statues depicting cultural themes from around the world, and hosts the annual St. George Arts Festival each spring.


title: St. George, Utah

text: Other major events include the St. George Parade of Homes; the Dixie Roundup Rodeo; St. George Marathon; St. George Ironman triathlon; and the Huntsman World Senior Games.


title: St. George, Utah

text: The St. George community has been the home to two minor-league independent baseball teams. The first, the St. George Pioneerzz (originally the Zion Pioneerzz) who played in the independent Western Baseball League from 1999 to 2001, winning the league championship in 2000. A new franchise, managed by former major league player Darell Evans, was awarded to St. George in 2007. The team, the St. George Roadrunners, played in the independent Golden Baseball League before being taken over by the league and moved to Henderson, Nevada in 2010.