title: Nnamdi Azikiwe

text: Football was brought to Nigeria by the British as they colonized Africa. However, any leagues that were formed were segregated. Nnamdi saw this as an injustice and he emerged as a leader in terms of connection sports and politics at the end of the colonial period. In 1934 Zik was denied the right to compete in a track and field event because Nigeria was not allowed to participate. This happened another time because of his Igbo background, and Zik had decided that enough was enough, and wanted to create his own club. Nnamdi founded Zik's Athletic Club (ZAC) which would open its doors to sportsmen and women of all races, nationalities, tribes, and classes of Nigeria. In 1942 the club went on to win both the Lagos League and the War Memorial Cup. After these victories, Nnamdi opened up more ZAC branches throughout Nigeria. During the war years ZAC would go on tours. They would usually play a match in front of a couple thousand fans and after the match, they would speak out about the injustices that was brought about by the British colonization. ZAC matches would happen all over the country, and it made the people of Nigeria feel a sense of unity and nationalism that would help them fight for freedom. In 1949 some ZAC players participated in a tour of England. On the return from the tour they stopped in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria defeated the locals by 2 goals. This victory was more than a decade before Nigerian independence, but it marked the birth of Nigeria's National Team. Finally, after years of struggle, in 1959 the last British official left the NFA, and on 22 August 1960, a few weeks prior to its formal independence, Nigeria joined the world football body of FIFA. None of this would have been possible if it was not for Nnamdi Azikiwe. He united Nigeria through sport and brought about a sense of nationalism that was referred to as ‘Nigerian-ness’.


title: Christian Coulson

text: Christian Peter Coulson (born 3 October 1978) is an English actor known for playing young Tom Marvolo Riddle in the 2002 fantasy film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".


title: Christian Coulson

text: Coulson was born in Manchester. He attended Arnold House Preparatory School in London, before attending Westminster School on an academic scholarship. He was a member of the UK's National Youth Music Theatre from 1990 to 1997, and went on to the University of Cambridge, where he received a degree in English from Clare College in 2000. While at university, he played the M.C. (Master of Ceremonies) in "Cabaret", Arturo Ui in "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" and Claire in "The Maids", as well as appearing in film and television.


title: Christian Coulson

text: Coulson gained worldwide attention and popularity for his role in 2002's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", in which he portrayed a 16-year-old Tom Riddle, even though Coulson was 23 years old at the time. However, in 2007, director David Yates indicated on MTV that Coulson would not reprise his role in "Half-Blood Prince", since, at 29, he was by then too old.


title: Christian Coulson

text: He also wrote the lyrics and book for a rock musical called "The Fallen" which was performed at Bedford Modern School in 1998.


title: The Documentary

text: The Documentary is the second studio album by American rapper the Game. It was released on January 18, 2005, by Aftermath Entertainment, G-Unit Records, and Interscope Records. In 2001, while the Game was in a hospital recovering from a shooting, he decided to pursue a career in music. He released the mixtape, "Q.B. 2 Compton" under his then record label "Get Low Recordz" in 2002, which was later was discovered by Dr. Dre and led to him signing the Game to his label, Aftermath Entertainment. The album includes production from high-profile producers such as Dr. Dre, Kanye West, Scott Storch and Timbaland, among others, and guest appearances from 50 Cent, Eminem, Nate Dogg and Faith Evans, among others. This would be the Game's only album on Aftermath and G-Unit Records, as he left the label later in 2006 after a feud began between him and fellow G-Unit label-mate 50 Cent.


title: The Documentary

text: "The Documentary" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, selling 586,000 units in its first week. In March 2005, the Recording Industry Association of America certified the album double Platinum, and by November 2005 the album sold 2.5 million copies in the U.S. "The Documentary" received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the album's production. It is also often debated by critics between itself and " Doctor's Advocate" as Game's best album.


title: The Documentary

text: Since the album's release, the Game was credited as a "driving force" in reviving the once-dominant West Coast hip hop scene that had since been overshadowed by artists from the East, Midwest and South during the early 2000s. "The Documentary" remains the Game's best-selling album to date. On June 16, 2014, the Game announced a sequel to the album, "The Documentary 2", which was released on October 9, 2015, followed by the release of "The Documentary 2.5" a week later.


title: The Documentary

text: After the Game signed with G-Unit, he recorded nine songs with fellow American rapper 50 Cent in his home studio in Farmington, Connecticut, and then went back to Los Angeles, California to complete the album with American record producer Dr. Dre. While continuing the recording sessions on the album, he began working with rapper and record producer Kanye West on a song, where Kanye did the chorus. However, the song was left on the cutting room floor. The Game was also inspired to revive the hip hop scene in the West Coast, which had been overshadowed since its heyday in the 1990s by rappers from the East and the South. In 2005, in the interview with "Vibe" magazine, 50 Cent stated that he was brought in by the Interscope Records to work on the album, claiming that was on the verge of being shelved and the Game was being dropped from the label. However, in the interview with Funkmaster Flex, the Game said that his status was never uncertain that he would be dropped from the label. 50 Cent also wrote 6 choruses of "The Documentary"s eighteen tracks—"Hate It or Love It", "How We Do", "Church for Thugs", "Special", "Higher", and "Westside Story"—and didn't receive proper credit for his work.


title: The Documentary

text: The Game for the album recorded tracks based on his life experiences from his childhood to his success as a rapper. When asked about the album, he stated: The rapper commented on the album's perception before its release, saying, "I know everybody was expecting gang-bang, 40-ounce, low-rider music, but that's not what I gave them... I'm telling a real story, and maybe there are people out there who can relate to my experiences." "Rolling Stone" observed that "every song has a well-massaged hook and some immediate appeal, and verses that don't waste a lot of time getting to the point."


title: The Documentary

text: "The Documentary"s big budget production from high-profile hip hop producers was well received from critics. The first half of the album contains "upbeat, gangsta boogie" tracks with the other half relegating "smoothed out R&B maneuvers". At seven tracks, Dr. Dre co-executive produced the album with his "stripped-down cinematic" approach. "Westside Story" contains an "evil sounding piano plink", "Dreams" has a "simultaneously smooth and eerie" beat, and "Hate It or Love It" unveils a "smoothed out R&B funk vibe". "Higher" revolves around a pounding synth blast and "How We Do" contains syncopated hand claps with a beat described as "a hypnotic blast of sinister seduction powered by a deliciously primitive 808 pattern and a slinky synth." "Don't Need Your Love" samples Mary J. Blige's "Not Gon Cry" and is one of the album's more soulful songs. "Church for Thugs" delivers a "sing-song stylee over an accentuated sonic bed" and "Put You on the Game" is a club track containing "dark dirge[s] of synth".


title: The Documentary

text: Although "Start from Scratch" features R&B singer Marsha Ambrosius, the beat "eschews the traditional R&B vibes" for more "aural intimidation". IGN called it "the most haunting inclusion on the album." "The Documentary" features a "busy backing track" of "crashing symphonics and tinny flares of synth", which one critic believed overshadowed the lyrics. "Runnin is a "dark, tune augmented by tinges of R&B mellowness." "No More Fun and Games" has a fast-paced beat that takes inspiration from early 1990s production. "We Ain't", which samples Dr. Dre's "The Watcher", takes Eminem's "chug laden synth gurgle" and is described as "one of the most menacingly catchy numbers on the entire album." Nate Dogg features on two "smoothed out" tracks; "Special" and the G-funk-inspired "Where I'm From". "Don't Worry" is an R&B flavored track and despite its "minimal production", one reviewer wrote the song "still hits hard." The final track, "Like Father, Like Son", is driven by a "melodramatic, string-laden" beat. Originally, Brandy Norwood was supposed to be on "Don't Worry", but Jimmy Iovine did not want a gangsta rapper like the Game on a song with Brandy.


title: The Documentary

text: The album's title was initially called "Nigga Witta Attitude Vol. 1" (a reference to N.W.A), but was changed to "The Documentary" because legal issues with an injunction filed at the request of Eazy-E's widow Tomica Woods-Wright prevented him from using N.W.A's name in the album title.


title: The Documentary

text: The album was initially meant to be released in October 2004; however, since the other high-profile albums—including Eminem's "Encore"—were to be released around the same time, it was pushed back to January 18, 2005. On September 28, 2004, the Game released a promotional mixtape entitled "Westside Story" through Aftermath Entertainment and G-Unit Records. The mixtape was used to promote his major-label debut album, "The Documentary". In October 2004, the Game released his first independent album, titled "Untold Story", through Get Low Recordz (owned by JT the Bigga Figga). The album sold over 82,000 copies within its first three months. The album featured artists such as Sean T, Young Noble (of the Outlawz) and JT the Bigga Figga. The Game also appeared on various mixtapes, which has been hosted by DJ's such as DJ Kayslay, DJ Whoo Kid and DJ Clue?. The Game also released a second mixtape "You Know What It Is Vol. 2" through his own record label and appeared on the video game "NBA Live 2004" on a song produced by Fredwreck called "Can't Stop Me". On November 15, 2004, the Game released a promotional mixtape, titled "Charge It to the Game: The Mixtape", through Westside Records. The tape was also used to promote "The Documentary".


title: The Documentary

text: "Westside Story" was the first official single to be released from "The Documentary". The song features guest vocals from American rapper 50 Cent, while the production was handled by Dr. Dre and Scott Storch. The single entered on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 93, charted at number 55 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, and at number 29 on the Rhythmic Top 40 charts. "Rolling Stone" described it as "a kind of L.A. version of "In Da Club" with "a simple keyboard part, a spare 808 beat and strings that manage to sound both stressed-out and catchy." The Game has stated that this song is a tribute to Tupac Shakur, with a direct reference to him, saying "I got California love fuckin bitches to that Pac shit." The Game also makes references to Tupac's songs "California Love" and "Against All Odds". Other references includes, Nate Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound (D.P.G.) and their song "New York", Westside Connection, Michael Jackson with his album "Thriller", DJ Pooh, and Kool G Rap. There is a remix featuring Snoop Dogg singing the hook and a version with both Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent on it.


title: The Documentary

text: "How We Do" was the second official single to be released from "The Documentary". The song features guest vocals from American rapper 50 Cent, while the production was handled by Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo. The single entered on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number four, and stayed for over four weeks. The single also charted at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, at number two on the Hot Rap Tracks, at number one on the Rhythmic Top 40, at number three on the Hot Digital Songs, at number 38 on the Latin Tropical Airplay, at number 11 on the Pop 100, at number 14 on the Pop 100 Airplay, at number 14 on the Top 40 Mainstream, and at number 16 on the Top 40 Tracks charts. The single attained respectable international charting. In the United Kingdom the single entered on the UK Singles Chart at number five, in Germany the single entered on the German Singles Chart at number nine, in the Republic of Ireland the single entered on the Irish Singles Chart at number eight, and in Australia the single entered on the Australian Singles Chart at number 18. The single was an instant hit with major air play. It was also moderately successful worldwide, reaching the top twenty in most countries. The music video was directed by Hype Williams". The Recording Industry Association of America certified the single Gold.


title: The Documentary

text: "Hate It or Love It" was the third official single to be released from "The Documentary". The song features guest vocals from American rapper 50 Cent, while the production was handled by Cool & Dre. The single was the most popular single from the album. The single entered on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number two, charted at number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, at number one on the Hot Rap Tracks, at number six on the Hot Digital Songs, at number 39 on the Latin Tropical Airplay, at number nine on the Pop 100, at number 13 on the Pop 100 Airplay, at number one on the Rhythmic Top 40, and at number 16 on the Top 40 Mainstream charts. The single attained respectable international charting. In the United Kingdom the single entered on the UK Singles Chart at number four, in Germany the single entered on the German Singles Chart at number 14, in the Republic of Ireland the single entered on the Irish Singles Chart at number five, in Australia the single entered on the Australian Singles Chart at number 23, and in Denmark the single entered the Danish Singles Chart at number 17. The track uses a sample from the song "Rubber Band" performed by the Trammps. At the 2006 Grammy Awards, it was nominated for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group and Best Rap Song. The music video, which was directed by the Saline Project, was nominated at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video, but lost to Ludacris' "Number One Spot". The Recording Industry Association of America certified the single Gold.


title: The Documentary

text: "Dreams" was the fourth official single to be released from "The Documentary". The single entered on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number 32, charted at number 12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, at number five on the Hot Rap Tracks, at number 74 on the Hot Digital Songs, at number 62 on the Pop 100, and at number 13 on the Rhythmic Top 40. The single attained international charting. In the United Kingdom the single entered on the UK Singles Chart at number eight, in Germany the single entered on the German Singles Chart at number 71, in the Republic of Ireland the single entered on the Irish Singles Chart at number 11, and in Australia the single entered on the Australian Singles Chart at number 42. The song was produced by Kanye West. The track features a sample of "No Money Down" performed by Jerry Butler. Co-Written by Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemonds' artist, "Beloved". The song was dedicated to Yetunde Price who was shot dead in 2003. One critic wrote the Game "sews together a soulful Martin Luther King Jr. type speech with the acerbic wit and hustler charm of Malcolm X." Phillip Atwell directed the music video. The song is also known for having an incorrect lyric in 'I woke up from that coma 2001, about the same time Dre dropped 2001'. This references the Dr. Dre album 2001, actually released in 1999. The song was placed 16th on about.com's Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2005. And had singer Mýa Harrison in the music video.


title: The Documentary

text: "Put You on the Game" was the fifth and final official single from "The Documentary". The single was the lowest charting single from the album, reaching only at 96 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The single attained respectable international charting. In the United Kingdom the single entered on the UK Singles Chart at number 46, and in the Republic of Ireland the single entered on the Irish Singles Chart at number 22. The single was produced by Timbaland and co-produced by Danja. This was the first single released by the Game after his truce with 50 Cent fell apart and after the Game released "You Know What It Is Vol. 3". It was recently that a lawsuit has been filed from a Major India Record Company Saregama India, Timbaland, co-producer Nate "Danja" Hills, the Game, Interscope Records, along with a few other Production companies are being sued for using an uncleared sample from artist. The music video features the Game with many appearances by his current and former Black Wall Street affiliates. The video shows various places in Los Angeles County; including downtown Los Angeles and Compton. The music video showed these landmarks down at Los Angeles such as Staples Center, the Watts Towers, and LAX. The Game refers to a number of artists, songs and albums in "Put You on the Game"; including "The Chronic", N.W.A, Makaveli, the Notorious B.I.G., Public Enemy, Flavor Flav, G-Unit, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre and his song "Let Me Ride", Eve, and Snoop Dogg. During the DVD "Stop Snitchin, Stop Lyin",the Game watches the video for this song pausing at specific spots in the video which shows a dead man on the ground blocked off by police tape. The Game then repeatedly states that he is wearing G-Unit sneakers, a diss at 50 Cent saying his career is dead. Damon Johnson directed the music video. "Entertainment Weekly" called it a "club track so crunkalicious, it's almost shocking that a California newbie — not a Ludacris — was the recipient of its deep-fried Southern charms." The song was placed 44th on about.com's Best Hip-Hop Songs of 2005.


title: The Documentary

text: "The Documentary" received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, "The Documentary" received an aggregate score of 72 out of 100 based on 19 reviews. Pitchfork Media called it "the best West Coast street-rap album since DJ Quik's 2002 LP "Under tha Influence"" and described the production as "a rich, triumphant sonic tapestry". Allmusic wrote the album was an "excellent debut" that "hints at a lot of potential" and observed the "most remarkable aspect of the Game is how he can be such a blatant product of gangsta rap... and leave a mark so fast." "Rolling Stone" noted the Game was "going for emotional impact rather than dazzling wordplay or laughs" and PopMatters described him as "a self-conscious, malicious, nihilistic gangsta rapper with a heart and lyrical content". On the other hand, Robert Christgau believed the album was "dull even when he isn't describing his medical problems, this no-talent is masscult rock at its most brazen". The A.V. Club praised the production for being "a sonic classic of slow-rolling G-funk and glossy hyper-soul", but panned the Game for his name dropping, suggesting if he "cut all the references to rappers and albums... it'd be a good 15 to 20 minutes shorter—and probably a lot more compelling." "Billboard" declared it "one of the best rap albums of the year" and "Entertainment Weekly" suggested "with the brightest hip-hop stars aligning for him, the Game may have willed himself a popular masterpiece."


title: The Documentary

text: IGN criticized the large number of guest appearances, stating "the propensity of guest artists makes it hard to actually get a grasp on the rising star's own voice." MusicOMH observed "like many rap albums "The Documentary" is too long, but it maintains a high level of interest" and overall, it was "an impressive effort" that "introduces a strong presence to the West Coast". "Stylus Magazine" wrote "no one disappoints" and despite the record being "so obviously and deeply grounded in marketing, it’s still an outstandingly solid and enjoyable" debut. "The New York Times" noted the Game's "tough but straightforward rhyme style is appealing but not, usually, enthralling... This is a rapper who almost never forgets himself, who almost never loses himself in syllables just for the fun of it." "The Village Voice" criticized the rapper's lyrical skills, saying, "the Game's rhymes are about six degrees from totally artless". Yahoo! Music also panned the lyrics for "almost totally lacking in shock value, humour or insight", but praised the production, writing that "musically, this is probably the greatest major label hip-hop album of recent years – a near faultless succession of hi-tech beats and ominously catchy hooks".


title: The Documentary

text: The album appeared on numerous music critics' and publications' end-of-year albums lists. Pitchfork Media placed the album at number 35 on their list of Top 50 Albums of 2005. At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards, the Game was nominated with a total of two nominations, including Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for the smash single "Hate It or Love It". In 2012 Complex named the album one of the classic albums of the last decade.


title: The Documentary

text: The Game is often credited as a driving force in bringing the West Coast hip hop scene back to recognition. Before its release, he expressed his desire to have high opening week sales, saying, "I want to sell a million albums in my first week. And if I only sell one album the following week, I'm good." He also admitted feeling nervous about not being able to live up to the industry expectations, saying, "Yeah, I've got some butterflies. I'm worried about my first-week numbers, and I'm worried about living up to the hype." The album debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 586,000 copies in the first week. The Recording Industry Association of America certified the album double Platinum on March 23, 2005, and it was the tenth best-selling record of the year. As of March 2005, the album has sold over 2.5 million units in the United States.


title: The Documentary

text: "The Documentary" peaked at the top fifteen in most European charts it entered. It peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and remained on the chart for thirty-three weeks. It reached the top ten in the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Switzerland, and the top twenty in Belgium, Germany, and Norway. The album topped the Canadian Albums Chart for three weeks and on March 8, 2005, it was certified Platinum with 100,000 units shipped. It has since sold over five million copies worldwide.


title: Amy Morton

text: Amy Morton (born April 3, 1959) is an American actress and director, best known for her work in theatre. Morton was nominated two times for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performances in "" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". On screen, she is known for her performances in films "Rookie of the Year" (1993), "Up in the Air" (2009), "The Dilemma" (2011) and "Bluebird" (2013). In 2014, Morton began starring as Sergeant Trudy Platt in the NBC drama series "Chicago P.D."


title: Amy Morton

text: Morton was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and attended Oak Park and River Forest High School in Oak Park. She attended both Triton College and Clarke University but did not graduate.


title: Amy Morton

text: A member of Steppenwolf Theater's core group of actors since 1997, Morton has spent most of her career working in the Chicago theater scene. She has appeared in many stage productions, include "Clybourne Park", "American Buffalo", "Dublin Carol", "The Pillowman", "Love-Lies-Bleeding" and "Awake and Sing".


title: Amy Morton

text: Morton made her Broadway debut starring opposite Gary Sinise as Nurse Ratched in the Tony Award winning 2001 revival of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". She originated the role of Barbara in both the original Chicago production and the original Broadway production of Tracy Letts' "". For her portrayal she was nominated for both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. Morton reprised the role in the Fall 2008 London production at the National Theatre. Morton received her second Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play nomination for her leading performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (2012–13). In 2015, she made her Off-Broadway directing debut with play "Guards at the Taj".


title: Amy Morton

text: Morton has appeared in a number of films. She made her feature film debut in a supporting role in 1992 comedy, "Straight Talk" starring Dolly Parton. In 1993 she had main role as mother of the lead character in "Rookie of the Year". The film had a box office success, grossing more than $56 million worldwide. Her next screen role was in the 1999 crime thriller "8mm" directed by Joel Schumacher. Ten years later, Morton landed her breakthrough role as George Clooney's character's sister in the critically acclaimed drama film "Up in the Air" directed by Jason Reitman. In 2011 she appeared in the comedy-drama film "The Dilemma", and in 2013 had the leading role in the critically acclaimed independent film, "Bluebird".


title: Amy Morton

text: On television, Morton guest starred on "Crime Story", "The Equalizer", "ER", "Private Practice", and "Homeland". From 2011 to 2012 she had the recurring role of Catherine Walsh, the Republican candidate for governor, in the Starz political drama, "Boss". From 2013 to 2014 she had another recurring role as Erin Reagan's new boss, Amanda Harris, on the CBS drama, "Blue Bloods". In 2014, Morton was cast in the recurring role as Sergeant Trudy Platt in the NBC dramas "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D." Morton was promoted from recurring guest star to series regular from the second season on "Chicago P.D."


title: County of Flanders

text: From 862 onwards, the counts of Flanders were among the original twelve of the Kingdom of France. For centuries, their estates around the cities of Ghent, Bruges and Ypres formed one of the most affluent regions in Europe.


title: County of Flanders

text: Up to 1477, the area under French suzerainty was west of the Scheldt and was called "Royal Flanders" (Dutch: "Kroon-Vlaanderen", French: "Flandre royale"). Aside from this, the counts, from the 11th century onward, held land east of the river as a fief of the Holy Roman Empire: "Imperial Flanders" ("Rijks-Vlaanderen" or "Flandre impériale"). Part of the Burgundian Netherlands from 1384, which had a complex relation with France, the whole county fell to the Empire after the Peace of Madrid in 1526 and the Peace of the Ladies in 1529.


title: County of Flanders

text: Having already regained much, by 1795, the rest – within the Austrian Netherlands – was acquired likewise by France under the French First Republic, recognized by treaty in 1797. Resulting from the Battle of Waterloo of the same year, it passed to the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The former County of Flanders, except for French Flanders, is the only part of the late medieval French kingdom outside of modern-day France (Catalonia having been renounced in 1258).


title: County of Flanders

text: Flanders and Flemish (Dutch: "Vlaanderen", "Vlaams") are likely derived from the Frisian *"flāndra" and *"flāmisk" (in Old Frisian "flamsk"), the roots of which are Germanic *"flaumaz" meaning "overflow, flooding". The coastal area of Flanders was flooded twice per day from the 3rd century to the 8th century by the North Sea at the time when the coast was frequently visited by Frisian (cattle) traders and probably largely inhabited by Frisians.


title: County of Flanders

text: The Flemish people are first mentioned in the biography of Saint Eligius (ca. 590–660), the "Vita sancti Eligii". This work was written before 684, but only known since 725. This work mentions the "Flanderenses", who lived in "Flandris."


title: County of Flanders

text: The geography of the historic County of Flanders only partially overlaps with present-day region of Flanders in Belgium, though even there it extends beyond the present provinces of West Flanders and East Flanders. Some of the historic county is now part of France and the Netherlands. The land covered by the county is spread out over:


title: County of Flanders

text: The arms of the County of Flanders were allegedly created by Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders from 1168 to 1191; a climbing or rampant black lion on a gold field. In the story about the Battle of the Golden Spurs, the arms and its corresponding battlecry "Vlaendr'n den leeuw" ("Flanders, the Lion!") plays a crucial role in the forming of a Flemish consciousness, which was popularised in recent times by the book "De Leeuw van Vlaanderen" by Hendrik Conscience. As a result, the arms of the county live on as arms of the Flemish Community.


title: County of Flanders

text: It is said that Philip of Alsace brought the lion flag with him from the Holy Land, where in 1177 he supposedly conquered it from a Saracen knight, but this is a myth. The simple fact that the lion appeared on his personal seal since 1163, when he had not yet taken one step in the Levant, disproves it. In reality Philip was following a West-European trend. In the same period lions also appeared in the arms of Brabant, Luxembourg, Holland, Limburg and other territories. It is curious that the lion as a heraldic symbol was mostly used in border territories and neighbouring countries of the Holy Roman Empire. It was in all likelihood a way of showing independence from the emperor, who used an eagle in his personal arms. In Europe the lion had been a well-known figure since Roman times, through works such as the fables of Aesop.


title: County of Flanders

text: The future county of Flanders had been inhabited since prehistory. During the Iron Age the Kemmelberg formed an important Celtic settlement. During the times of Julius Caesar, the inhabitants were part of the Belgae, a collective name for all Celtic and Germanic tribes in the north of Gallia. For Flanders in specific these were the Menapii, the Morini, the Nervii and the Atrebates.


title: County of Flanders

text: Julius Caesar conquered the area around 54 BC and the population was partially romanised from the 1st to the 3rd century. The Roman road that connected Cologne with Boulogne-sur-Mer was used as a defense perimeter. In the south the Gallo-Romanic population was able to maintain itself, while the north became a no-mans land that also suffered from regular floods from the North Sea.


title: County of Flanders

text: In the coastal and Scheldt areas Saxon tribes gradually appeared. For the Romans, "Saxon" was a general term, and included Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Erules. The coastal defense around Boulogne and Oudenburg, the "Litus Saxonicum", remained functional until about 420. These forts were manned by Saxon soldiers.


title: County of Flanders

text: From their base land Toxandria the Salian Franks further expanded into the Roman empire. The first incursion into the lands of the Atrebates was turned away in 448 at Vicus Helena. But after the murder of the Roman general Flavius Aëtius in 454 and Roman emperor Valentinianus III in 455, the Salic Franks encountered hardly any resistance. From Duisburg, king Chlodio conquered Cambrai and Tournai, and he reached the Somme. After his death two Salic kingdoms emerged. Childeric is recorded in 463 as king of Tournay and ally of the Romans against the Visigoths. He was also administrator of the province of Belgica Secunda. His son Clovis I conquered from 486 on all of Northern France.


title: County of Flanders

text: The abandoned coast and Scheldt region had been partially repopulated since the 4th century by Saxons and Franks from the east of the Rhine that retained their Germanic culture and language. In the 5th century Salic Franks settled in present-day Northern-France and Wallonia, primarily around the cities of Courtrai, Tournai and Bavay. They adapted to the local Gallo-Romanic population. From the 6th century on the no-mans-land farther north was filled by Franks from the Rhinelands and other Germanic groups from the Netherlands and Germany.


title: County of Flanders

text: The first wave of immigration in the present day Flemish territory was accompanied by limited Christianisation. In the wake of the immigrants, missionaries tried to convert the heathen population, but had little success. The bishoprics were reinstated, usually with the same natural borders of the Late-Roman era; the Silva Carbonaria separated the Bishopric of Cambrai from the Bishopric of Tongeren, while the Scheldt again became the border between the bishoprics of Cambrai and Tournai. Vedast and Eleutherius of Tournai were assigned to reinstate the bishoprics of Arras and Tournai. However, these bishoprics failed to survive independently. In the late 6th century the bishopric of Arras was connected to that of Cambrai, and at the start of the 7th century the same was done to the bishoprics of Tournai and Noyon.


title: County of Flanders

text: At the end of the 6th century the duchy of Dentelinus was created in the north of what would later constitute Neustria. This duchy presumably included the bishoprics Boulogne, Thérouanne, Arras, Tournai, Cambrai and Noyon, thus the northwestern region between the North Sea and the Silva Carbonaria, an area whose outlines were very similar to the later Flanders. The duchy of Dentelinus was primarily meant as a military and strategical deterrent against Frisian and Saxon invasions. It was a cornerstone in the military defense of the Merovingian Empire. In 600 Chlothar II (584–628) was forced to temporarily cede the duchy of Dentelinus to Austrasia, but after restoration of Austrasian dual-monarchy in 622/623 the duchy was returned.


title: County of Flanders

text: At the end of the 6th and the 7th century a new inflow emerged from the western Pas-de-Calais. This area had been germanised in the 5th century and descendants of the Saxons and Franks had settled in future Flanders and the Duchy of Brabant. New groups of germanic settlers also came in from the Netherlands and Germany. Their new settlements often received the name of their germanic leader, with '-inga haim' added. -Inga haim meant 'the settlement of the tribe of X'. For example: Petegem comes from Petta-inga-haim, which meant 'the settlement of the tribe of Petta'.


title: County of Flanders

text: The colonisation and germanisation of Flanders took place primarily in the 6th and 7th centuries. In the 7th century the population-level had risen sufficiently to start rebuilding the religious, military and administrative infrastructure. In the area of linguistics, the situation stabilised so that a large, bilingual region with a linear language border could emerge in the 8th century. In Pas-de-Calais, which had been densely populated a long time, a language barrier had emerged in the 6th–7th century, but in the 9th century a romanisation-movement started that has continued until the present day.


title: County of Flanders

text: The Christianisation attempts in the 6th century by bishops like Eleutherius and Vedast had largely failed. Thus, in the 8th century a different strategy was chosen. A new Christianisation attempt was made under influence from king Dagobert I. He appointed several devoted missionaries from the southern parts of his kingdom to his royal domains in the northern parts of his kingdom. The missionaries were tasked with founding monasteries and abbeys there, that were to serve as centers of Christianity in a pagan region. From these centers, the conversion of the local populace could be started.


title: County of Flanders

text: In 649 Audomar founded an abbey at Sithiu (the Abbey of Saint Bertin) and in 680 Aubertus founded the Abbey of St. Vaast near Arras. The Christianisation of the population was mainly the work of missionaries like Amandus (St. Bavo's Abbey and St. Peter's Abbey in Ghent) and Eligius (coastal region and Antwerp). In his 'vita', Eligius makes the first mention of the word 'Flanders', when he toured the area around 650.


title: County of Flanders

text: During the 7th century the first "Gaue" or "pagi" were created in the Flemish territories. Gaue were administrative subdivisions of the civitates. The Gaue from the 7th and 8th century would form the basis of the county of Flanders. The pagus Tornacensis dates from ca. 580, and from the 7th century we know of the 'pagus Cambracinsis' in 663, the pagus Taroanensis from 649 and the pagus Bracbatensis at the end of the century. From the 8th century we know of the pagus Rodaninsis from 707, the pagus Gandao from the first quarter of the 8th century, the pagus Mempiscus from 723 and the pagus Flandrensis from around 745. Lastly, the pagus Austrebatensis and the pagus Curtracensis are also counted as Merovingian gaue.


title: County of Flanders

text: In 751 the Carolingian Mayors of the Palace succeeded in removing the Merovingians from power and obtaining the throne for themselves. The last Merovingian king, Childeric III, was placed in captivity at the later Abbey of Saint Bertinus in St. Omer, and his long hair, a symbol of royal power, was cut off.


title: County of Flanders

text: Charlemagne succeeded his father Pepin the Short in Neustria and Austrasia, and after the death of his brother Karloman he was able to reunite the entire Frankish Empire. Though he resided in Aachen, he spent much time travelling through his territories. In 811 he inspected the fleet that he had ordered built in Boulogne and Ghent, to protect against Viking invasions.


title: County of Flanders

text: The region comprising future Flanders was, from an economic point of view, a flourishing region, with a series of ports along the Scheldt river: Ghent, Tournai, Valenciennes, Cambrai and Lambres at Douai on the Scarpe and a number of seaports: Quentovic, Boulogne and Isère portus, a port at the mouth of the Yser. Moreover, the region included a number of rich abbeys, such as Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint Bavo's Abbey, Saint-Amand Abbey and the Abbey of St. Vaast.


title: County of Flanders

text: Charlemagne was succeeded by his son Louis the Pious. Even during Louis' life his three sons started fighting over his heritage. They eventually concluded multiple treaties, of which the Treaty of Verdun, signed in 843, would be the definitive treaty. These treaties created East Francia, Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia, inherited by Charles the Bald, included the original county of Flanders, that spanned roughly between Oudenburg, Aardenburg and Torhout.


title: County of Flanders

text: After the Middle-Frankish kings died out, the rulers of the West and East-Frankish Kingdoms divided the Middle-Frankish kingdom amongst themselves in the treaty of Meerssen in 870. Now Western Europe had been divided into two sides: the solid West Francia (the later France) and the loose confederation of principalities of East Francia, that would become the Holy Roman Empire.


title: County of Flanders

text: In the north these two powers were separated by the Scheldt river, which had previously separated West Francia from Middle Francia. This separation remained unchanged until the times of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.


title: County of Flanders

text: Militarily, economically and politically, Europe went through a deep crisis. The Vikings invaded from the north, the Magyar from the east and the Saracens from the south. All left trails of destruction. The central authorities of the two Frankish kingdoms were unable to organise an effective defensive, causing the population to lose faith and trust in their far-removed rulers. In the wake of this power vacuum, local powerful individuals saw their chance. Often these individuals were the descendants of people associated with Charlemagne.


title: County of Flanders

text: The county of Flanders originated from the Gau of Pagus Flandrensis, led by the Forestiers dynasty, who had been appointed by Charlemagne, who had made a small contribution by uniting small feudal territories in the higher parts of the Flemish Valley. The forestiers dynasty also strengthened the hold of the church on the relatively desolate area.


title: County of Flanders

text: The first Margrave (Count) of Flanders was Baldwin I, who became count in 862, and a romantic anecdote is connected to this: Baldwin eloped with the daughter of the Frankish king Charles the Bald, Judith of West Francia. Judith, who had previously been married to two English kings, refused her father's command to return to him. After mediation by the pope, the Frankish king reconciled with his son-in-law, and gave him the title of margrave, and the corresponding feudal territories as dowry. Margrave was primarily a military appointment and some versions of the story theorize that King Charles made Baldwin Margrave in the hope that he would be killed by the Vikings.


title: County of Flanders

text: Initially the French kings meant to secure the safety of the northern French border from Viking invasions with this act. The counts, however, made good use of the crisis situation by incorporating the surrounding plundered territories into the county. The counts expanded the influence of the original Flemish "pagus" over the years over all territories south and west of the Scheldt river, including presentday the lordship of the Four Amts, Zeelandic Flanders, the burgraviate of Aalst to the east and the County of Artois to the south, which remained part of Flanders until it became a separate county in 1237. After that date, the county of Artois at various times still came under the dominion of the count of Flanders as a separate title, until it was absorbed by the French crown.


title: County of Flanders

text: The House of Flanders remained in power until 1119, when Baldwin VII of Flanders died heirless, and the county was inherited by Charles the Good, of the House of Denmark. He abandoned the title "Marquis of Flanders", which had been used alongside the comital style since the 10th century. The counts of Flanders were the last French lords using the title marquis, which would not be used again in France until 1504. After a short interlude under William Clito of Normandy (1127–1128), the county went to Thierry of Alsace of the House of Alsace. Under Thierry (1128–1168) and his successor Philip of Alsace, Flanders' importance and power increased.


title: County of Flanders

text: In the second half of the 12th century, the county went through a period of great prosperity when Philip of Alsace managed to incorporate the County of Vermandois into Flanders through the inheritance of his wife. The territories he controlled now came to within 25 kilometers of Paris, and were larger than the territories his feudal lord, the French king, directly controlled.


title: County of Flanders

text: During the rule of the House of Alsace, cities developed and new institutions were formed. The ports of Gravelines, Nieuwpoort, Damme, Biervliet, Dunkirk, and Mardijk were founded, as well as Calais by Philip's brother Matthew of Alsace. Aside from colonisation, the ports also functioned to reduce the silting of the rivers Aa, Yser and Zwin, which were endangering the accessibility of Saint-Omer, Ypres and Bruges. Biervliet also served as a counter to Hollandic influence.


title: County of Flanders

text: Trade partners included England, the Baltic countries and France over sea, and the Rhineland and Italy over land. The wool trade with England was of special importance to the rising cloth industry in Flanders. The wealth of many Flemish cities (as their Belltowers and cloth halls testify) came from the drapery industry. Aside from this, the grain trade with England and through Holland with Hamburg were also important. Saint-Omer became the most important transit-port for French wine in the 12th century. These were the centuries of the breakthrough of the Flemish merchants, with their trade with England, the Baltic area and South-West France, as well as the landroutes to the Rhineland and Italy, though later only the yearly fairs of Champagne. Flanders' flourishing trading towns made it one of the most urbanised parts of Europe.


title: County of Flanders

text: In 1278 Guy of Dampierre, of the House of Dampierre, became count of Flanders. The king of France wanted to definitively conquer Flanders, and started the Franco-Flemish War (1297–1305). Increasingly powerful in the 12th century, the territory's autonomous urban centres were instrumental in defeating the French invasion attempt, defeating the French at the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302. But finally the French prevailed at the battle of Mons-en-Pévèle and with the subsequent treaty of Athis-sur-Orge (1305) Flanders lost Lille, Douai, and Orchies to France and had to pay exorbitant fines but retained their independence as a fief of the French kingdom. During this period, Flanders experienced a period of relative prosperity with its strong cloth industry and diverse artwork. Trade in Flanders was so extensive that statues of the Madonna and Child were made in Flanders with ivory, which was only accessible on the Indian Ocean trade networks.


title: County of Flanders

text: Flemish prosperity waned in the following century, however, owing to widespread European population decline following the Black Death of 1348, the disruption of trade during the Anglo-French Hundred Years' War (1338–1453), and increased English cloth production. Flemish weavers had gone over to Worstead and North Walsham in Norfolk in the 12th century and established the wool industry.


title: County of Flanders

text: Through his marriage with Margaret of Dampierre in 1369, Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, made an end to the independence of Flanders. Flanders became the possession of the House of Valois-Burgundy, that ruled over the Burgundian State. In 1449 the city of Ghent revolted against duke Philip the Good. In 1453 Philip crushed the rebels at the battle of Gavere, ending the revolt.


title: County of Flanders

text: and upon the death of duke Charles the Bold attempted to re-assert this position by means of the Great Privilege that they wrested from Mary of Burgundy, Charles' daughter and successor. In 1482 this last Burgundian ruler died, making her young son Philip I of Castile of the House of Habsburg the new count, and her husband Maximilian I of Austria the regent. The Flemish cities staged two more revolts, but these were ultimately subdued by the armies of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: County of Flanders

text: The 1493 Treaty of Senlis established peace between France and the Habsburgs; per the terms of the treaty, Flanders would henceforth be a territory of the Holy Roman Empire.


title: County of Flanders

text: Under Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (born in the Flemish city Ghent), Flanders became a member of the Burgundian Circle. The county was later involved in the Guelders Wars.


title: County of Flanders

text: Through the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549, the County of Flanders was officially detached from France. It became an independent territory of the Holy Roman Empire. This constitutional act made Flanders part of the Seventeen Provinces, that constituted the Low Countries and from then on would be inherited as a whole.


title: County of Flanders

text: The Low Countries held an important place in the Empire. For Charles personally, they were the region where he spent his childhood. Because of trade and industry and the rich cities, they were also important for the treasury. Lordship transferred to the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg with Philip II of Spain, and after 1556 belonged to the Kings of Spain.


title: County of Flanders

text: It was in Steenvoorde (In French Flanders) in 1566 that the Beeldenstorm broke loose. The Beeldenstorm spread through all of the Low Countries and eventually led to the outbreak of the Eighty Years' War and the secession of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Originally Flanders cooperated with the northern provinces as a member of the Union of Utrecht, and also signed the Act of Abjuration in 1581, but from 1579 to 1585, in the period known as the "Calvinist Republic of Ghent", it was reconquered by the Spanish army.


title: County of Flanders

text: Flanders stayed under Spanish control. Through the efforts of the French king Louis XIV, the entire southern part of Flanders was annexed by France, and became known as South-Flanders or French Flanders. This situation was formalised in 1678 at the Treaty of Nijmegen.


title: County of Flanders

text: After the extinction of the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs, the Austrian branch of the Habsburgs became counts of Flanders. Under Maria Theresa of Austria, the Austrian Netherlands flourished.


title: County of Flanders

text: In 1789 a revolution broke out against emperor Joseph II. In 1790 the county of Flanders and a separate province called West Flanders, which constituted the territories given back by France to the Emperor, were two of the founding members of the United States of Belgium. Just like the other parts of the Austrian Netherlands, the county of Flanders declared its independence. This took place on the Friday-market at Ghent on 4 January 1790. The "Manifest van Vlaenderen" was drawn up by Charles-Joseph de Graeve and Jean-Joseph Raepsaet.


title: County of Flanders

text: The county of Flanders officially ceased to exist in 1795, when it was annexed by France, and divided into two departments: Lys (present day West Flanders) and Escaut (present day East Flanders and Zeelandic Flanders). Austria confirmed its loss in the 1797 Treaty of Campo Formio.


title: County of Flanders

text: After the French Revolution the county was not restored, and instead the two departments continued their existence as the provinces of East and West Flanders in the Unitarian United Kingdom of the Netherlands and later, after the Belgian Revolution, in Belgium.


title: County of Flanders

text: From 1840 onwards, the title "Count of Flanders" has been appropriated by the monarchy of Belgium. As a rule it was given to the second in line of succession to the Belgian throne. The title of count of Flanders was abolished by royal decision on 16 October 2001.


title: Glamping

text: Glamping is a portmanteau of "glamorous" and "camping", and describes a style of camping with amenities and, in some cases, resort-style services not usually associated with "traditional" camping. Glamping has become particularly popular with 21st-century tourists seeking modern amenities, such as Wi-Fi, alongside "the escapism and adventure recreation of camping", in a variety of accommodations such as cabins, treehouses, and tents.


title: Glamping

text: The word "glamping" first appeared in the United Kingdom in 2005 and was added to the "Oxford English Dictionary" in 2016. The word is new, but the concept that "glamping" connotes, that of luxurious tent-living (or living in other camping accommodations), is not. In the 16th century, the Scottish Earl of Atholl prepared a lavish experience in the Highlands for the visiting King James V and his mother. Here, the Duke pitched lavish tents and filled them with all the provisions of his own home palace.


title: Glamping

text: Probably the most extravagant example of palatial tent-living in history was the Field of the Cloth of Gold, a diplomatic summit in 1520 between Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France in northern France. Some 2,800 tents and marquees were erected, and fountains ran with red wine.


title: Glamping

text: At around the same time, the Ottomans had ostentatious, palatial tents transported from one military mission to the next. Entire teams of artisans travelled with the army to erect and maintain these imperial tents. As described by Professor Nurhan Atasoy,


title: Glamping

text: Some 400 years later, in the 1920s, an African safari became "the thing to do" among wealthy Americans and British. But wealthy travelers, even those in search of adventure, were not willing to sacrifice comfort or luxury. From electric generators, to folding baths, and cases of champagne, travelers were afforded every domestic luxury while on adventure.


title: Glamping

text: Others have suggested that recent interest in glamping can be traced back to the 1990s, as safari camps became increasingly popular in Africa and coastal Thailand. In 2011, CNN reported that glamping had also become popular in the United States, Europe, and Australia. The modern version of glamping offers holidaymakers with "spacious designer-outfitted tents complete with soft sheets instead of sweaty sleeping bags". By minimizing the impact on the environment of constantly unpacking tents and poorly discarding waste, glamping is also arguably environmentally friendly.


title: Glamping

text: Since 2020, the tourism industry has seen renewed interest in glamping, due to the global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, because it allows for social distancing and provides opportunities for outdoor recreation.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plant. The same principle is also used for marine propulsion, where it is called a combined gas and steam (COGAS) plant. Combining two or more thermodynamic cycles improves overall efficiency, which reduces fuel costs.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The principle is that after completing its cycle in the first engine, the working fluid (the exhaust) is still hot enough that a second subsequent heat engine can extract energy from the heat in the exhaust. Usually the heat passes through a heat exchanger so that the two engines can use different working fluids.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: By generating power from multiple streams of work, the overall efficiency can be increased by 50–60%. That is, from an overall efficiency of the system of say 34% for a simple cycle, to as much as 64% net for the turbine alone in specified conditions for a combined cycle.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: This is more than 84% of the theoretical efficiency of a Carnot cycle. Heat engines can only use part of the energy from their fuel, so in a non-combined cycle heat engine, the remaining heat (i.e., hot exhaust gas) from combustion is wasted.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Historically successful combined cycles have used mercury vapour turbines, magnetohydrodynamic generators and molten carbonate fuel cells, with steam plants for the low temperature "bottoming" cycle. Very low temperature bottoming cycles have been too costly due to the very large sizes of equipment needed to handle the large mass flows and small temperature differences. However, in cold climates it is common to sell hot power plant water for hot water and space heating. Vacuum-insulated piping can let this utility reach as far as 90 km. The approach is called "combined heat and power" (CHP).


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In stationary and marine power plants, a widely used combined cycle has a large gas turbine (operating by the Brayton cycle). The turbine's hot exhaust powers a steam power plant (operating by the Rankine cycle). This is a "combined cycle gas turbine" (CCGT) plant. These achieve a best-of-class real (see below) thermal efficiency of around 64% in base-load operation. In contrast, a single cycle steam power plant is limited to efficiencies from 35 to 42%. Many new power plants utilize CCGTs. Stationary CCGTs burn natural gas or synthesis gas from coal. Ships burn fuel oil.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Multiple stage turbine or steam cycles can also be used, but CCGT plants have advantages for both electricity generation and marine power. The gas turbine cycle can often start very quickly, which gives immediate power. This avoids the need for separate expensive peaker plants, or lets a ship maneuver. Over time the secondary steam cycle will warm up, improving fuel efficiency and providing further power.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In November 2013, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE assessed the levelised cost of energy for newly built power plants in the German electricity sector. They gave costs of between 78 and 100 €/MWh for CCGT plants powered by natural gas. In addition the capital costs of combined cycle power is relatively low, at around $1000/kW, making it one of the cheapest types of generation to install.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The thermodynamic cycle of the basic combined cycle consists of two power plant cycles. One is the Joule or Brayton cycle which is a gas turbine cycle and the other is the Rankine cycle which is a steam turbine cycle. The cycle 1-2-3-4-1 which is the gas turbine power plant cycle is the topping cycle. It depicts the heat and work transfer process taking place in the high temperature region.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The cycle a-b-c-d-e-f-a which is the Rankine steam cycle takes place at a lower temperature and is known as the bottoming cycle. Transfer of heat energy from high temperature exhaust gas to water and steam takes place in a waste heat recovery boiler in the bottoming cycle. During the constant pressure process 4-1 the exhaust gases from the gas turbine reject heat. The feed water, wet and super heated steam absorb some of this heat in the process a-b, b-c and c-d.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The steam power plant takes its input heat from the high temperature exhaust gases from a gas turbine power plant. The steam thus generated can be used to drive a steam turbine. The Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (WHRB) has 3 sections: Economiser, evaporator and superheater.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The Cheng cycle is a simplified form of combined cycle where the steam turbine is eliminated by injecting steam directly into the combustion turbine. This has been used since the mid 1970s and allows recovery of waste heat with less total complexity, but at the loss of the additional power and redundancy of a true combined cycle system. It has no additional steam turbine or generator, and therefore it cannot use it as a backup or supplementary power. It is named after American professor D. Y. Cheng who patented the design in 1976.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The efficiency of a heat engine, the fraction of input heat energy that can be converted to useful work, is limited by the temperature difference between the heat entering the engine and the exhaust heat leaving the engine.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In a thermal power station, water is the working medium. High pressure steam requires strong, bulky components. High temperatures require expensive alloys made from nickel or cobalt, rather than inexpensive steel. These alloys limit practical steam temperatures to 655 °C while the lower temperature of a steam plant is fixed by the temperature of the cooling water. With these limits, a steam plant has a fixed upper efficiency of 35–42%.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: An open circuit gas turbine cycle has a compressor, a combustor and a turbine. For gas turbines the amount of metal that must withstand the high temperatures and pressures is small, and lower quantities of expensive materials can be used. In this type of cycle, the input temperature to the turbine (the firing temperature), is relatively high (900 to 1,400 °C). The output temperature of the flue gas is also high (450 to 650 °C). This is therefore high enough to provide heat for a second cycle which uses steam as the working fluid (a Rankine cycle).


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In a combined cycle power plant, the heat of the gas turbine's exhaust is used to generate steam by passing it through a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with a live steam temperature between 420 and 580 °C. The condenser of the Rankine cycle is usually cooled by water from a lake, river, sea or cooling towers. This temperature can be as low as 15 °C.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Plant size is important in the cost of the plant. The larger plant sizes benefit from economies of scale (lower initial cost per kilowatt) and improved efficiency.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: For large-scale power generation, a typical set would be a 270 MW primary gas turbine coupled to a 130 MW secondary steam turbine, giving a total output of 400 MW. A typical power station might consist of between 1 and 6 such sets.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Gas turbines for large-scale power generation are manufactured by at least four separate groups – General Electric, Siemens, Mitsubishi-Hitachi, and Ansaldo Energia. These groups are also developing, testing and/or marketing gas turbine sizes in excess of 300 MW (for 60 Hz applications) and 400 MW (for 50 Hz applications). Combined cycle units are made up of one or more such gas turbines, each with a waste heat steam generator arranged to supply steam to a single or multiple steam turbines, thus forming a combined cycle block or unit. Combined cycle block sizes offered by three major manufacturers (Alstom, General Electric and Siemens) can range anywhere from 50 MW to well over 1300 MW with costs approaching $670/kW.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The heat recovery boiler is item 5 in the COGAS figure shown above. Hot gas turbine exhaust enters the super heater, then passes through the evaporator and finally through the economiser section as it flows out from the boiler. Feed water comes in through the economizer and then exits after having attained saturation temperature in the water or steam circuit. Finally it flows through the evaporator and super heater. If the temperature of the gases entering the heat recovery boiler is higher, then the temperature of the exiting gases is also high.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In order to remove the maximum amount of heat from the gasses exiting the high temperature cycle, a dual pressure boiler is often employed. It has two water/steam drums. The low-pressure drum is connected to the low-pressure economizer or evaporator. The low-pressure steam is generated in the low temperature zone of the turbine exhaust gasses. The low-pressure steam is supplied to the low-temperature turbine. A super heater can be provided in the low-pressure circuit.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Some part of the feed water from the low-pressure zone is transferred to the high-pressure economizer by a booster pump. This economizer heats up the water to its saturation temperature. This saturated water goes through the high-temperature zone of the boiler and is supplied to the high-pressure turbine.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The HRSG can be designed to burn supplementary fuel after the gas turbine. Supplementary burners are also called "duct burners". Duct burning is possible because the turbine exhaust gas (flue gas) still contains some oxygen. Temperature limits at the gas turbine inlet force the turbine to use excess air, above the optimal stoichiometric ratio to burn the fuel. Often in gas turbine designs part of the compressed air flow bypasses the burner in order to cool the turbine blades. The turbine exhaust is already hot, so a regenerative air preheater is not required as in a conventional steam plant. However, a fresh air fan blowing directly into the duct permits a duct-burning steam plant to operate even when the gas turbine cannot.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Without supplementary firing, the "thermal efficiency" of a combined cycle power plant is higher. But more flexible plant operations make a marine CCGT safer by permitting a ship to operate with equipment failures. A flexible stationary plant can "make more money." Duct burning raises the flue temperature, which increases the quantity or temperature of the steam (e.g. to 84 bar, 525 degree Celsius). This improves the efficiency of the steam cycle. Supplementary firing lets the plant respond to fluctuations of electrical load, because duct burners can have very good efficiency with partial loads. It can enable higher steam production to compensate for the failure of another unit. Also, coal can be burned in the steam generator as an economical supplementary fuel.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Supplementary firing can raise exhaust temperatures from 600 °C (GT exhaust) to 800 or even 1000 °C. Supplemental firing does not raise the efficiency of most combined cycles. For single boilers it can raise the efficiency if fired to 700–750 °C; for multiple boilers however, the flexibility of the plant should be the major attraction.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: "Maximum supplementary firing" is the condition when the maximum fuel is fired with the oxygen available in the gas turbine exhaust.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Combined cycle plants are usually powered by natural gas, although fuel oil, synthesis gas or other fuels can be used. The supplementary fuel may be natural gas, fuel oil, or coal. Biofuels can also be used. Integrated solar combined cycle power stations combine the energy harvested from solar radiation with another fuel to cut fuel costs and environmental impact (See: ISCC section). Many next generation nuclear power plants can use the higher temperature range of a Brayton top cycle, as well as the increase in thermal efficiency offered by a Rankine bottoming cycle.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Where the extension of a gas pipeline is impractical or cannot be economically justified, electricity needs in remote areas can be met with small-scale combined cycle plants using renewable fuels. Instead of natural gas, these gasify and burn agricultural and forestry waste, which is often readily available in rural areas.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Gas turbines burn mainly natural gas and light oil. Crude oil, residual, and some distillates contain corrosive components and as such require fuel treatment equipment. In addition, ash deposits from these fuels result in gas turbine deratings of up to 15%. They may still be economically attractive fuels however, particularly in combined-cycle plants.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Sodium and potassium are removed from residual, crude and heavy distillates by a water washing procedure. A simpler and less expensive purification system will do the same job for light crude and light distillates. A magnesium additive system may also be needed to reduce the corrosive effects if vanadium is present. Fuels requiring such treatment must have a separate fuel-treatment plant and a system of accurate fuel monitoring to assure reliable, low-maintenance operation of gas turbines.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Combined-cycle systems can have single-shaft or multi-shaft configurations. Also, there are several configurations of steam systems.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The most fuel-efficient power generation cycles use an unfired heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) with modular pre-engineered components. These unfired steam cycles are also the lowest in initial cost, and they are often part of a single shaft system that is installed as a unit.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Supplementary-fired and multishaft combined-cycle systems are usually selected for specific fuels, applications or situations. For example, cogeneration combined-cycle systems sometimes need more heat, or higher temperatures, and electricity is a lower priority. Multishaft systems with supplementary firing can provide a wider range of temperatures or heat to electric power. Systems burning low quality fuels such as brown coal or peat might use relatively expensive closed-cycle helium turbines as the topping cycle to avoid even more expensive fuel processing and gasification that would be needed by a conventional gas turbine.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: A typical single-shaft system has one gas turbine, one steam turbine, one generator and one heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). The gas turbine and steam turbine are both coupled in tandem to a single electrical generator on a single shaft. This arrangement is simpler to operate, smaller, with a lower startup cost.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Single-shaft arrangements can have less flexibility and reliability than multi-shaft systems. With some expense, there are ways to add operational flexibility: Most often, the operator desires to operate the gas turbine as a peaking plant. In these plants, the steam turbine's shaft can be disconnected with a synchro-self-shifting (SSS) clutch, for start up or for simple cycle operation of the gas turbine. Another less common set of options enable more heat or standalone operation of the steam turbine to increase reliability: Duct burning, perhaps with a fresh air blower in the duct and a clutch on the gas turbine side of the shaft.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: A multi-shaft system usually has only one steam system for up to three gas turbines. Having only one large steam turbine and heat sink has economies of scale and can have lower cost operations and maintenance. A larger steam turbine can also use higher pressures, for a more efficient steam cycle. However, a multi-shaft system is about 5% higher in initial cost.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The overall plant size and the associated number of gas turbines required can also determine which type of plant is more economical. A collection of single shaft combined cycle power plants can be more costly to operate and maintain, because there are more pieces of equipment. However, it can save interest costs by letting a business add plant capacity as it is needed.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Multiple-pressure reheat steam cycles are applied to combined-cycle systems with gas turbines with exhaust gas temperatures near 600 °C. Single- and multiple-pressure non-reheat steam cycles are applied to combined-cycle systems with gas turbines that have exhaust gas temperatures of 540 °C or less. Selection of the steam cycle for a specific application is determined by an economic evaluation that considers a plant's installed cost, fuel cost and quality, duty cycle, and the costs of interest, business risks, and operations and maintenance.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: By combining both gas and steam cycles, high input temperatures and low output temperatures can be achieved.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: So, a combined cycle plant has a thermodynamic cycle that operates between the gas-turbine's high firing temperature and the waste heat temperature from the condensers of the steam cycle.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The actual efficiency, while lower than the Carnot efficiency, is still higher than that of either plant on its own.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The electric efficiency of a combined cycle power station, if calculated as electric energy produced as a percentage of the lower heating value of the fuel consumed, can be over 60% when operating new, i.e. unaged, and at continuous output which are ideal conditions.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: As with single cycle thermal units, combined cycle units may also deliver low temperature heat energy for industrial processes, district heating and other uses. This is called cogeneration and such power plants are often referred to as a combined heat and power (CHP) plant.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In general, combined cycle efficiencies in service are over 50% on a lower heating value and Gross Output basis.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Most combined cycle units, especially the larger units, have peak, steady-state efficiencies on the LHV basis of 55 to 59%.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Heat engine efficiency can be based on the fuel Higher Heating Value (HHV), including latent heat of vaporisation that would be recuperated in condensing boilers, or the Lower Heating Value (LHV), excluding it.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Efficiency of the turbine is increased when combustion can run hotter, so the working fluid expands more. Therefore efficiency is limited by whether the first stage of turbine blades can survive higher temperatures. Cooling and materials research are continuing. A common technique, adopted from aircraft, is to pressurise hot-stage turbine blades with coolant. This is also bled-off in proprietary ways to improve the aerodynamic efficiencies of the turbine blades. Different vendors have experimented with different coolants. Air is common but steam is increasingly used. Some vendors might now utilize single-crystal turbine blades in the hot section, a technique already common in military aircraft engines.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The efficiency of CCGT and GT can also be boosted by pre-cooling combustion air. This increases its density, also increasing the expansion ratio of the turbine. This is practised in hot climates and also has the effect of increasing power output. This is achieved by evaporative cooling of water using a moist matrix placed in the turbine's inlet, or by using Ice storage air conditioning. The latter has the advantage of greater improvements due to the lower temperatures available. Furthermore, ice storage can be used as a means of load control or load shifting since ice can be made during periods of low power demand and, potentially in the future the anticipated high availability of other resources such as renewables during certain periods.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Combustion technology is a proprietary but very active area of research, because fuels, gasification and carburation all affect fuel efficiency. A typical focus is to combine aerodynamic and chemical computer simulations to find combustor designs that assure complete fuel burn up, yet minimize both pollution and dilution of the hot exhaust gases. Some combustors inject other materials, such air or steam, to reduce pollution by reducing the formation of nitrates and ozone.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Another active area of research is the steam generator for the Rankine cycle. Typical plants already use a two-stage steam turbine, reheating the steam between the two stages. When the heat-exchangers' thermal conductivity can be improved, efficiency improves. As in nuclear reactors, tubes might be made thinner (e.g. from stronger or more corrosion-resistant steel). Another approach might use silicon carbide sandwiches, which do not corrode.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: There is also some development of modified Rankine cycles. Two promising areas are ammonia/water mixtures, and turbines that utilize supercritical carbon dioxide.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Modern CCGT plants also need software that is precisely tuned to every choice of fuel, equipment, temperature, humidity and pressure. When a plant is improved, the software becomes a moving target. CCGT software is also expensive to test, because actual time is limited on the multimillion-dollar prototypes of new CCGT plants. Testing usually simulates unusual fuels and conditions, but validates the simulations with selected data points measured on actual equipment.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Nearly 60% LHV efficiency (54% HHV efficiency) was reached in the Baglan Bay power station, using a GE H-technology gas turbine with a NEM 3 pressure reheat boiler, using steam from the heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) to cool the turbine blades.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In May 2011 Siemens AG announced they had achieved a 60.75% efficiency with a 578 megawatt SGT5-8000H gas turbine at the Irsching Power Station.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The Chubu Electric’s Nishi-ku, Nagoya power plant 405 MW 7HA is expected to have 62% gross combined cycle efficiency.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: On April 28, 2016, the plant run by Électricité de France in Bouchain was certified by Guinness World Records as the worlds most efficient combined cycle power plant at 62.22%. It uses a General Electric 9HA, that claimed 41.5% simple cycle efficiency and 61.4% in combined cycle mode, with a gas turbine output of 397 MW to 470 MW and a combined output of 592 MW to 701 MW. Its firing temperature is between , its overall pressure ratio is 21.8 to 1.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In December 2016, Mitsubishi claimed a LHV efficiency of greater than 63% for some members of its J Series turbines.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In December 2017, GE claimed 64% in its latest 826 MW HA plant, up from 63.7%. They said this was due to advances in additive manufacturing and combustion. Their press release said that they planned to achieve 65% by the early 2020s.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: A  natural gas integrated power & syngas (hydrogen) generation cycle  utilizes semi-closed (sometimes called closed)  gas turbine cycles where fuel is combusted with pure oxygen in a presence of the working fluid of the cycle which is a mix of combustion products CO and HO (steam).


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The integrated cycle implies that, before combustion, methane (primer natural gas component) is mixed with working fluid and converted into syngas (mix of H and CO) in a catalytic adiabatic (without an indirect heat supply) reactor by using sensible heat of the hot working fluid leaving, in the simplest case, the gas turbine outlet. The largest part of produced syngas (about 75%) is directed into the combustion chamber of the gas-turbine cycle to generate power, but another part of syngas (about 25%) is withdrawn from the power generation cycle as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or their blend to produce chemicals, fertilizers, synthetic fuels, etc. The thermodynamic benefit owing to this modification is substantiated by exergy analysis. There are numerous technological options to separate syngas from working fluid and withdraw it from the cycle (e.g., condensing vapors and removing liquids, taking out gases and vapors by membrane and pressure swing adsorption separation, amine gas treating, and glycol dehydration).


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: All the environmental advantages of semi-closed gas turbine cycles as to an absence of NO and the release of non-diluted (in N) CO in the flue gas stay the same.  An effect of integration becomes apparent with the following clarification. Assigning the efficiency of syngas production in the integrated cycle a value equal to a regular syngas production efficiency through steam-methane reforming (some part of methane is combusted to drive endothermic reforming), the net-power generation efficiency (with accounting for the consumed electricity required to separate air) can reach levels higher than 60% at a maximum temperature in the cycle (at the gas turbine inlet) of about 1300 °C.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The natural gas integrated cycle with adiabatic catalytic reactor was firstly proposed at Chemistry Department of Moscow State Lomonosov University (Russia) in Prof. M. Safonov (late) group by M. Safonov,  M. Granovskii, and S. Pozharskii in 1993.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: An integrated gasification combined cycle, or IGCC, is a power plant using synthesis gas (syngas). Syngas can be produced from a number of sources, including coal and biomass. The system uses gas and steam turbines, the steam turbine operating from the heat left over from the gas turbine. This process can raise electricity generation efficiency to around 50%.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: An Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) is a hybrid technology in which a solar thermal field is integrated within a combined cycle plant. In ISCC plants, solar energy is used as an auxiliary heat supply, supporting the steam cycle, which results in increased generation capacity or a reduction of fossil fuel use.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Major factors limiting the load output of a combined cycle power plant are the allowed pressure and temperature transients of the steam turbine and the heat recovery steam generator waiting times to establish required steam chemistry conditions and warm-up times for the balance of plant and the main piping system. Those limitations also influence the fast start-up capability of the gas turbine by requiring waiting times. And waiting gas turbines consume gas. The solar component, if the plant is started after sunshine, or before, if there is heat storage, allows the preheat of the steam to the required conditions. That is, the plant is started faster and with less consumption of gas before achieving operating conditions. Economic benefits are that the solar components costs are 25% to 75% those of a Solar Energy Generating Systems plant of the same collector surface.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: The first such system to come online was the Archimede combined cycle power plant, Italy in 2010, followed by Martin Next Generation Solar Energy Center in Florida, and in 2011 by the Kuraymat ISCC Power Plant in Egypt, Yazd power plant in Iran, Hassi R'mel in Algeria, Ain Beni Mathar in Morocco. In Australia CS Energy’s Kogan Creek and Macquarie Generation’s Liddell Power Station started construction of a solar Fresnel boost section (44 MW and 9 MW), but the projects never became active.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: In most successful combined cycles, the bottoming cycle for power is a conventional steam Rankine cycle.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: It is already common in cold climates (such as Finland) to drive community heating systems from a steam power plant's condenser heat. Such cogeneration systems can yield theoretical efficiencies above 95%.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Bottoming cycles producing electricity from the steam condenser's heat exhaust are theoretically possible, but conventional turbines are uneconomically large. The small temperature differences between condensing steam and outside air or water require very large movements of mass to drive the turbines.


title: Combined cycle power plant

text: Although not reduced to practice, a vortex of air can concentrate the mass flows for a bottoming cycle. Theoretical studies of the Vortex engine show that if built at scale it is an economical bottoming cycle for a large steam Rankine cycle power plant.


title: Ballarat

text: Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria.


title: Ballarat

text: Within months of Victoria separating from the colony of New South Wales in 1851, gold was discovered near Ballarat, sparking the Victorian gold rush. Ballarat subsequently became a thriving boomtown that for a time rivalled Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, in terms of wealth and cultural influence. In 1854, following a period of civil disobedience in Ballarat over gold licenses, local miners launched an armed uprising against government forces. Known as the Eureka Rebellion, it led to the introduction of male suffrage in Australia, and as such is interpreted as the origin of Australian democracy. The rebellion's symbol, the Eureka Flag, has become a national symbol. It was on display at Ballarat's Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (MADE) from 2013 until MADE closed in 2018.


title: Ballarat

text: Proclaimed a city in 1871, Ballarat's prosperity, unlike that of many other gold boomtowns, continued until the late 19th century, as the city's fields experienced sustained high gold yields for many decades. By the turn of the century, Ballarat's importance relative to Melbourne rapidly faded with the slowing of gold extraction. It has endured as a major regional centre and is the commercial capital and largest city of the Central Highlands, as well as a significant tourist destination. Ballarat is known for its history, culture and well-preserved colonial-era heritage, with much of the city subject to heritage overlays.


title: Ballarat

text: The Ballarat region was first populated by the Wadawurrung people, an Indigenous Australian people. The first Europeans to sight the area were an 1837 party of six mostly Scottish squatters from Geelong, led by Somerville Learmonth and Brendan Birch, who were in search of land less affected by the severe drought for their sheep to graze. The party scaled Mount Buninyong; among them were Somerville's brother Thomas Livingstone Learmonth, William Cross Yuille and Henry Anderson, all three of whom later claimed land in what is now Ballarat.


title: Ballarat

text: The Yuille family, Scottish settlers Archibald Buchanan Yuille and his brother William Cross Yuille, arrived in 1837 and squatted a sheep run. The first houses were built near Woolshed Creek by William Yuille and Anderson (Sebastopol), while Yuille erected a hut at Black Swamp (Lake Wendouree) in 1838. Outsiders originally knew of the settlement as Yuille's Station and Yuille's Swamp. Archibald Yuille named the area "Ballaarat". Some claim the name is derived from a local Wathaurong Aboriginal word for the area, "balla arat". The meaning of this word is not certain; however several translations have been made and it is generally thought to mean "resting place". In some dialects, "balla" means "bent elbow", which is translated to mean reclining or resting and "arat" meaning "place". Another claim is that the name derives from Yuille's native Gaelic Baile Ararat (Town of Ararat), alluding to the resting place of Noah's Ark. The present spelling was officially adopted by the City of Ballarat in 1996.


title: Ballarat

text: The first publicised discovery of gold in the region was by Thomas Hiscock on 2 August 1851, in Buninyong to the south. The find brought other prospectors to the area and on 19 August 1851, more gold was found at Poverty Point. Within days, a gold rush began, bringing thousands of prospectors to the Yarrowee Valley, which became known as the Ballarat diggings. Yields were particularly high, with the first prospectors in the area extracting between half an ounce (which was more than the average wage of the time) and up to five ounces of alluvial gold per day. As news of the Victorian gold rush reached the world, Ballarat gained an international reputation as a particularly rich goldfield. As a result, a huge influx of immigrants occurred, including many from Ireland and China, gathering in a collection of prospecting shanty towns around the creeks and hills. Within a few months, numerous alluvial runs were established, several deep mining leads began, and the population had swelled to over 1,000 people.


title: Ballarat

text: The first post office opened on 1 November 1851, the first to open in a Victorian gold-mining settlement. Parts of the district were first surveyed by William Urquhart as early as October 1851. By 1852 his grid plan and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat, built upon a plateau of basalt, contrasted markedly with the existing narrow unplanned streets, tents, and gullies of the original East Ballarat settlement. The new town's main streets of the time were named in honour of police commissioners and gold commissioners of the time, with the main street, Sturt Street, named after Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt; Dana Street named after Henry Dana; Lydiard Street after his assistant; Doveton Street after Francis Crossman Doveton, Ballarat's first gold commissioner; Armstrong after David Armstrong; and Mair Street after William Mair. These officials were based at the government encampment (after which nearby Camp Street was named), which was strategically positioned on an escarpment with an optimal view over the district's diggings.


title: Ballarat

text: The first newspaper, "The Banner", published on 11 September 1853, was one of many to be distributed during the gold-rush period. Print media played a large role in the early history of the settlement. Ballarat attracted a sizable number of miners from the Californian 1848 gold rush, and some were known as Ballafornians.


title: Ballarat

text: Civil disobedience in Ballarat led to an armed civil uprising, the Eureka Rebellion (colloquially referred to as the "Eureka Stockade") which took place in Ballarat on 3 December 1854. The event, in which 22 miners were killed, is considered to be a defining moment in Australian history.


title: Ballarat

text: The city earned the nickname "The Golden City" in the 1850s. The gold rush population peaked at almost 60,000, mostly male diggers, by 1858. However the early population was largely itinerant. As quickly as the alluvial deposits drew prospectors to Ballarat, the rate of gold extraction fluctuated and, as they were rapidly worked dry, many quickly moved to rush other fields as new findings were announced, particularly Mount Alexander in 1852, Fiery Creek in 1855, and Ararat in 1857. By 1859, a smaller number of permanent settlers numbering around 23,000, many of whom had built personal wealth in gold, established a prosperous economy based around a shift to deep underground gold mining.


title: Ballarat

text: Confidence of the city's early citizens in the enduring future of their city is evident in the sheer scale of many of the early public buildings, generous public recreational spaces, and opulence of many of its commercial establishments and private housing. A local steam locomotive industry developed from 1854 with the Phoenix Foundry operating until 1906. The railway came to the town with the opening of the Geelong–Ballarat line in 1862 and Ballarat developed as a major railway town. As the city grew the region's original indigenous inhabitants were quickly expelled to the fringe and by 1867 few remained.


title: Ballarat

text: From the late 1860s to the early 20th century, Ballarat made a successful transition from a gold rush town to an industrial-age city. The ramshackle tents and timber buildings gradually made way for permanent buildings, many impressive structures of solid stone and brick mainly built from wealth generated by early mining.


title: Ballarat

text: Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh visited between 9 and 13 December 1867 and as the first royal visit, the occasion was met with great fanfare. The Prince Room was prepared at Craigs Royal Hotel for his stay. The city's first civic centre—Prince Alfred Hall—erected over the Yarrowee between the two municipalities, was named in his honour during his visit. The later attempt by Ballaratian Henry James O'Farrell to assassinate the Prince was met with shock and great horror from locals.


title: Ballarat

text: Ballarat was proclaimed a city in 1871. Gong Gong dam was built in 1877 to alleviate flooding and to provide a permanent water supply. A direct railway to Melbourne was completed in December 1889. Many industries and workshops had been established as a result of manufacturing and servicing for the deep lead mining industry.


title: Ballarat

text: Local boosterists at the start of the 20th century adopted the nickname "Athens of Australia", first used to describe Ballarat by the jurist and politician Sir John Madden. The first electricity supply was completed in 1901, and that year a bluestone power station was built at the corner of Ripon Street and Wendouree Parade with the main aim of electrifying the city's tramway network. Despite such advancements, mining activity slowed at this time and Ballarat's growth all but stopped, leading to a decades-long period of decline. The Sunshine rail disaster in 1908 resulted in the death of dozens of Ballarat residents, and in August 1909, a great storm lashed the city, resulting in the death of one person and the injury of seven others, as well as the destruction of numerous homes.


title: Ballarat

text: Ballarat's significant representation in World War I resulted in heavy human loss. Around this time, it was overtaken in population by the port city of Geelong, further diminishing its provincial status. In response, local lobbyists continually pushed the Victorian government for decentralisation, the greatest success being the Victorian Railways opening the Ballarat North Workshops in April 1917. The Great Depression proved a further setback for Ballarat, with the closure of many institutions and causing the worst unemployment in the city's history, with over a thousand people in the dole queue.


title: Ballarat

text: The city's two municipalities, Ballarat East and West Town Councils, finally amalgamated in 1921 to form the City of Ballarat.


title: Ballarat

text: While deep, the depression was also brief. The interwar period proved a period of recovery for Ballarat with a number of major infrastructure projects well underway including a new sewerage system. In 1930, Ballarat Airport was established. By 1931, Ballarat's economy and population was recovering strongly with further diversification of industry, although in 1936 Geelong displaced it as the state's second largest city. During World War II an expanded Ballarat airport was the base of the RAAF Wireless Air Gunners' School as well as the base for USAAF Liberator bomber squadrons. In 1942, Ballarat became connected to the state electricity grid by a 66,000 kV line. Prior to this, power supply was generated locally.


title: Ballarat

text: During World War II, Ballarat was the location of RAAF No.1 Inland Aircraft Fuel Depot (IAFD), completed in 1942 in the defence of Australia against a Japanese invasion and decommissioned on 29 August 1944. Usually consisting of four tanks, 31 fuel depots were built across Australia for the storage and supply of aircraft fuel for the RAAF and the US Army Air Forces at a total cost of £900,000 ($1,800,000).


title: Ballarat

text: In the post-war era, Ballarat's growth continued. In response to an acute housing shortage, significant suburban expansion occurred. An extensive Housing Commission of Victoria estate was built on the former Ballarat Common (today known as Wendouree West). The estate was originally planned to contain over 750 prefabricated houses. While planning for the estate began in 1949, main construction occurred between 1951 and 1962.


title: Ballarat

text: The 1950s brought a new optimism to the city. On 17 April 1952 it was announced that Lake Wendouree was to be the venue for rowing events of the 1956 Summer Olympics, and work soon began on an Olympic village in Gillies Street. A new prefabricted power terminal substation at Norman Street Ballarat North was constructed between 1951 and 1953 by the State Electricity Commission. The first Begonia Festival, a highly successful community celebration, was held in 1953. Elizabeth II visited on 8 March 1954. The Civic Centre, Prince Alfred Hall had burned down suspiciously that year; however a new Civic Hall was constructed and opened in March 1955. On 23 November 1956, the Olympic torch was carried through the city, and the following day the rowing events were held at the lake. On 2 March 1958 the Queen Mother visited Ballarat.


title: Ballarat

text: During the following decades, the city saw increased threats to its heritage. In 1964, the Ballarat City Council passed laws banning pillar-supported verandahs in the CBD, which threatened the removal of historic cast iron verandahs in the city. The by-law was met by staunch opposition from the National Trust, which had begun campaigning to protect some of the city's most historic buildings. By the 1970s, Ballarat began to officially recognise its substantial heritage, and the first heritage controls were recommended to ensure its preservation. With the opening of Sovereign Hill, the city made a rapid shift to become a major cultural tourist destination, visited by thousands each year.


title: Ballarat

text: During the 1970s, a further 300 houses were constructed at Wendouree West. Private housing in the adjacent suburb of Wendouree closely matched and eventually eclipsed this by the mid-1960s. The suburb of greater Wendouree and Wendouree West had evolved as the suburban middle-class heart of the city. Charles, Prince of Wales visited Ballarat on 28 October 1974 during which he toured Sovereign Hill, the Ballarat College of Advanced Education's new Mt Helen Campus and the White Swan Reservoir and spoke at Civic Hall.


title: Ballarat

text: Ballarat played an important role in the Stolen Generation throughout the 20th century, where the Ballarat Orphanage saw Aboriginal children who had been taken from their families. The Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC) was established by members of the Ballarat and district Aboriginal community in 1979. It became a co-operative to deliver health, social, welfare and community development programs to local Aboriginal people. In 2017, local Aboriginal community elder Ted Lovett was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to the indigenous community and for his works in eliminating racism in sports in south-west Victoria. Karen Heap and Ted Lovett were listed on the Victoria's Aboriginal Honour Role both in part for their work at BADAC.


title: Ballarat

text: The city continued to grow at the national average throughout the late 20th century and early 21st century. In 2008 the City of Ballarat released a plan directing that growth of the city over the next 30 years is to be concentrated to the west of the city centre. The Ballarat West Growth Area Plan was approved by the city and state government in 2010, planning an extensive fringe development consisting of 14,000 new homes and up to 40,000 new residents including new activity centres and employment zones.


title: Ballarat

text: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse final report, published on 15 December 2017, found that 139 people made a claim of child sexual abuse to the Diocese of Ballarat between 1980 and 2015, and 21 alleged perpetrators were identified in these claims. Seventeen of the 21 alleged and convicted perpetrators were priests, which is 8.7% of the priests who ministered during this period. About 45 victims are estimated to have committed suicide.