title: Latakia

text: Latakia or Lattakia (, '; ) is the principal port city of Syria and capital city of the Latakia Governorate located on the Mediterranean coast. Historically, it has also been known as Laodicea in Syria or Laodicea ad Mare. In addition to serving as a port, the city is a significant manufacturing center for surrounding agricultural towns and villages. According to the 2004 official census, the population of the city is 383,786, however its population greatly increased as a result of the ongoing Syrian Civil War, which led to an influx of refugees from rebel held areas. It is the 4th-largest city in Syria after Aleppo, Damascus, and Homs. It borders Tartus to the south, Hama to the east, and Idlib to the north, and Cape Apostolos Andreas, the north-eastern tip of Cyprus, is about away.


title: Latakia

text: Although the site of the city has been inhabited since the 2nd millennium BC, the city was founded in the 4th century BC under the rule of the Seleucid Empire. Latakia was subsequently ruled by the Romans, followed by the Ummayads and Abbasids during the 8th–10th centuries AD. Byzantines ruling groups frequently attacked the city, periodically recapturing it before losing it again to Arab powers, particularly the Fatimids. Afterward, Latakia was ruled successively by the Seljuk Turks, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and the Ottomans. Following World War I, Latakia was assigned to the French mandate of Syria, in which it served as the capital of the autonomous territory of the Alawites. This autonomous territory became the Alawite State in 1922, proclaiming its independence a number of times until reintegrating into Syria in 1944.


title: Latakia

text: Like many Seleucid cities, Latakia was named after a member of the ruling dynasty. It was first called "Laodikeia on the Coast" () by Seleucus I Nicator in honor of his mother, Laodice. In Latin, its name became "Laodicea ad Mare". The original name survives in its Arabic form as "al-Ladhiqiyyah" (), from which the French "Lattaquié" and English "Latakia" (or "Lattakia)" derive. To the Ottomans, it was known as Lazkiye.


title: Latakia

text: The location of Latakia, the Ras Ziyarah promontory, has a long history of occupation. The Phoenician city of Ramitha was located here. Stephanus of Byzantium writes that the city was named Ramitha (), then "Leukê Aktê" ("white coast") () and later Laodicea ().


title: Latakia

text: Pompey the Great conquered the city along with most of Syria in the 1st century BC, and Julius Caesar declared the city a "free polis." The Roman emperor Septimius Severus rewarded the city with the title of "Metropolis" in the 2nd century AD, exempted it of the empire's taxation, fortified the city, made it for a few years the capital of Roman Syria and also built the city's famed Tetraporticus around the same time. Some Roman merchants moved to live in the city under Augustus, but the city was always culturally "Greek" influenced. Subsequently, a Roman road was built from southern Anatolia toward Berytus and Damascus, that greatly improved the commerce through the port of Laodicea.


title: Latakia

text: The heretic Apollinarius was bishop of Lāŏdĭcḗa in the 4th century. The city minted coins from an early date, but decreasing in importance after the cities of Alexandria and Antioch flourished in coin minting and overshadowed other cities.


title: Latakia

text: The city was also famed for its wine produced around the port's hills which were exported to all the empire.


title: Latakia

text: During the split of the Roman Empire, it belonged to the Eastern Roman Empire. An earthquake damaged the city in 494, but the city was later reconstructed by Justinian I and made the capital of the Eastern Roman province of Theodorias from 528 AD until Muslim conquest around 637 AD.


title: Latakia

text: All of Syria, including the Roman province of Theodorias and its capital, Laodicea fell into Muslim rule after its attacked by a caliphate general, named 'Ubadah ibn al-Samit during the Muslim conquest of Syria in the 7th century. The city was renamed al-Lādhiqīyah (اللَّاذِقِيَّة) and switched rule from the Rashidun Caliphate, to the Umayyad Caliphate and finally to the Abbasid Caliphate in a span of 9 centuries, attached to the large province of Bilad Al-Sham (Greater Syria). Arab geographer, Al-Muqaddasi (d. 991), mentions al-Lādhiqīyah as belonging to the district of Hims (Homs).


title: Latakia

text: The Mardaites controlled the region from to Jebel Aqra to northern Palestine, including Latakia in 705. However, they later withdrew from the city after an agreement with the Umayyad caliph Al-Walid I. Afterwards, the Mardaites sacked it in 719, but it was rebuilt by Umar II. The city lost its importance due its location on the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate from 750 to 968. The famous poet Al-Mutanabbi led a millenarian revolt at Latakia in 930. The Byzantine Empire recaptured the city in 970 by John I Tzimiskes, but it was lost to the Fatimids in 980. The Banu Munqidh managed to control the city until they were succeeded by the Seljuks during the reign of Malik-Shah I in 1086, despite a brief Byzantine control in 1074. Later on, Guynemer of Boulogne raided the city on 19 August 1097, with 28 ships coming from Cyprus during the First Crusade. In 1098, Raymond of Saint-Gilles captured the city, with the Byzantine fleet presence; hence, the city became contested between the crusaders and the Byzantines who controlled Latakia and Baniyas in the meantime.


title: Latakia

text: After failed efforts by Bohemond I of Antioch to capture Latakia from the Byzantine Empire in 1099, and a brief control of the Genoese fleet in 1101, the city was taken in 1103 by forces under the command of Tancred of Hauteville, a veteran of the First Crusade and acting regent of the Principality of Antioch. Following the defeat of Antiochene forces at the Battle of Harran in 1104, the city was reoccupied by the Byzantines led by Admiral Cantacuzenus, however they would again lose the city. Despite a treaty in 1108 with Bohemond promising to return Latakia to the Byzantine Empire by 1110 it was firmly under the control of the Principality of Antioch, as it was called "La Liche". In 1126, the cities of Latakia and Jabala were the dowry of Princess Alice, daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, who later donated a house in Latakia to the Knights Hospitaller, which became their main base in the region. In April 1136, the city was sacked by Emir Sawar ibn Aytakin, governor of Aleppo, then it was struck by the 1157 Hama earthquake and the 1170 Syria earthquake.


title: Latakia

text: This situation remained the same with the city serving as the primary port for the Principality until after the loss of Antioch itself to the Ayyubids, under the rule of Saladin on 23 July 1188. By 1260, the crusaders recaptured the city, until they were defeated by the Mamluks of Qalawun, on 20 April 1287.


title: Latakia

text: In circa 1300, Arab geographer al-Dimashqi noted that Latakia had no running water and that trees were scarce, but the city's port was "a wonderful harbor... full of large ships". In 1332, the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta visited Latakia in his journeys.


title: Latakia

text: During the late 14th and 15th century, Venetians had a consul in Latakia, due to the trade of cotton and silk from Persia. The city which was in despair was rebuilt after a visit by Qaitbay in 1477.


title: Latakia

text: An Alawite community was first established in Latakia by the missionary Abu Sa'id al-Tabarani (d. 1034) in the early 11th century. From then on it spread northward and into the coastal mountain range.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia became under the Ottoman control after the Battle of Marj Dabiq in 1516. It had a population of about 1400-1700 in the 16th century. From the late 17th century onward it was ruled by the Ibn al-Matarji family, some of whose members would go on to become governors of Damascus Eyalet. Under their leadership, and the development of the tobacco industry in the same period, the town developed rapidly in the 18th century. Several churches were rebuilt or restored and the Azm family of governors established several new foundations in the city. The British, French and Spanish established consulates in the city, so that by mid-century Latakia was serving as co-capital of the entire province ("eyalet") of Tripoli, Lebanon.


title: Latakia

text: In 1824, the Ottomans named Muhammad Paşa ibn Alman, a native of the area who was suspected of being an Alawite and a French sympathizer, governor of Latakia. He was killed in an urban revolt later that year that was inspired by the fundamentalist shaykh Muhammad al-Moghrabi. During the Egyptian occupation of Syria (1831-1841) there was a major Alawite revolt (1834-1835) in both the town and the surrounding countryside.


title: Latakia

text: In the Ottoman period, the region of Latakia became predominantly Alawi. The Turkmen also consisted a significant minority. The city itself, however, contained significant numbers of Sunni and Christian inhabitants. The landlords in the countryside tended to be Sunni and Orthodox Christians, while the peasants were mostly Alawi. Like the Druzes, who also had a special status before the end of World War I, the Alawis had a strained relationship with the Ottoman overlords. In fact, they were not even given the status of millet, although they enjoyed relative autonomy.


title: Latakia

text: In 1920, Latakia fell under the French mandate, under which the Alawite State was established. The state was named after the locally-dominant Alawites and became a French mandate territory after World War I. The French Mandate from the League of Nations began in 1920. The creation of the Alawite State, as well as the other states of Syria under the French Mandate, has often been interpreted as a "divide and rule" strategy by the French, who sought to undermine anti-colonial nationalist movements. The French justified the creation of the Alawite state by citing the "backwardness" of the mountain-dwellers, religiously distinct from the surrounding Sunni population; they claimed that the division protected the Alawi people from more-powerful Sunni majorities.


title: Latakia

text: This division by the French administration in Syria did not stop Alawites such as Sheikh Saleh al-Ali, who led the Syrian Revolt of 1919, in continuing to protest French rule. Saleh al-Ali coordinated with the leaders of other anti-French revolts in the country, including the revolt of Ibrahim Hananu in the Aleppo countryside and Subhi Barakat's revolt in Antioch, but Saleh al-Ali's revolt was put down in 1921. A French court-martial in Latakia sentenced Shaykh Saleh to death in absentia and offered a reward of 100,000 francs for information on his whereabouts. After the French gave up trying to capturing Shaykh Saleh, a pardon was issued by General Henri Gouraud.


title: Latakia

text: The state became part of the Syrian Federation in 1922, but it left the federation again in 1924. In 1930, the Alawite State was renamed as the Government of Latakia, the only concession by the French to Arab nationalists until 1936. On 3 December 1936, it was decided that the Alawite state would be re-incorporated into Syria as a concession by the French to the Nationalist Bloc, which was the ruling party of the semi-autonomous Syrian government; the decision went into effect in 1937.


title: Latakia

text: There was a great deal of Alawite separatist sentiment in the region, but their political views could not be coordinated into a unified voice. There was also a great deal of factionalism amongst the Alawite tribes, and the Alawite State was incorporated into Syria with little organised resistance.


title: Latakia

text: In 1942, the Latakia and Druze regions were returned to Syrian control, and by 1946, the French completely left Syria and a new independent government was created.


title: Latakia

text: All but a few classical buildings had been destroyed by the modern era, often by earthquakes; those remaining include a Roman triumphal arch and Corinthian columns known as the Colonnade of Bacchus. However, important remains from the city at Roman and Hellenistic periods including full body statues, Roman funerary art, and column capitals that once belonged to the ancient city, now found in its national museum.


title: Latakia

text: An extensive port project was proposed in 1948, and construction work began on the Port of Latakia in 1950, aided by a US$6 million loan from Saudi Arabia. By 1951, the first stage of its construction was completed, and the port handled an increasing amount of Syria's overseas trade.


title: Latakia

text: In August 1957, 4,000 Egyptian troops landed in Latakia under orders from Gamal Abdel Nasser after Turkish troops massed along the border with Syria, accusing it of harboring Turkish Communists.


title: Latakia

text: A major highway linked Latakia with Aleppo and the Euphrates valley starting in 1968, supplemented by the completion of a railway line to Homs. The port became even more important after 1975 due to the troubled situation in Lebanon and the loss of Beirut and Tripoli as functioning ports.


title: Latakia

text: In 1973, during the October War (Yom Kippur War), the naval Battle of Latakia between Israel and Syria was fought just offshore from the city. The battle was the first to be fought using missiles and ECM (electronic countermeasures).


title: Latakia

text: On 2 September 1979 clashes broke out following the assassination of an Alawite religious leader in the city. The following day 2,000 paratroopers, commanded by Rifaat Assad, were sent to restore order. In the violence that followed around forty people were killed including ten pilots from the Latakia air base.


title: Latakia

text: In 1987, the city hosted the tenth round of the Mediterranean Games, with the opening ceremony hosted by Hafez al-Assad in the Latakia Sports City, a sports complex designed specifically to host the games. The Latakia Sports City Stadium served as the main venue for the games.


title: Latakia

text: In 1994, the city's population reached 303,000, with that number significantly rising to 383,786 by 2004. Although population assessment in recent years has become difficult due to the ongoing civil war, the city's population is estimated to have risen drastically in the 2010s due to the influx of refugees from the cities of Aleppo, Idlib and other cities which have been affected by the ongoing war.


title: Latakia

text: During the Syrian Civil War, Latakia had been a site of protest activity since March 2011. The Syrian government claimed 12 were killed there in clashes in late March, leading to the deployment of the military to restrict movement into and out of the city. Hundreds of Syrians were reportedly arrested, and by late July, activists in Latakia were telling foreign media they feared a more violent crackdown was coming. Protests continued despite the increased security presence and arrests. Several civilians were allegedly killed in confrontations with security officers during this early period of the siege. On 13 August 2011, the Syrian Army and Syrian Navy launched an operation where more than 20 tanks and APCs rolled into the Alawi stronghold. The city was also attacked by the Syrian army on the 14 August 2011. Activists claimed that 25 people died during the attack.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia is the home of Russia's largest foreign electronic eavesdropping facility. Khmeimim Air Base is an airbase near Latakia converted to use by the Russian military in 2015.


title: Latakia

text: Russian president Vladimir Putin, accompanied by his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad visited the Khmeimim airbase, Russia's main military base in Syria, located just outside Latakia near Jableh on 11 December 2017. Declaring victory over ISIL, and announcing a partial military withdrawal from Syria, but with continuing Russian presence, as the Khmeimim airbase and the Russian naval facility in Tartus would still be operated by Russian forces.


title: Latakia

text: On 7 December 2021, Israeli warplanes launched an airstrike attack on Latakia's port, damaging the port's facilities and setting several containers on fire. On December 28, the port was attacked again after Israeli forces launched several Precision missiles targeting the port. The attack killed 2 Syrian Army soldiers, destroyed several containers and set the port on fire for several hours.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia is located north-west of Damascus, south-west from Aleppo, north-west of Homs, and north of Tartus. Nearby towns and villages include Kasab to the north, Al-Haffah, Slinfah and Qardaha to the east in the Coastal Mountain Range, and Jableh and Baniyas to the south.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia is the capital of the Latakia Governorate, in western Syria, bordering Turkey to the north. The governorate has a reported area of either or . Latakia is the administrative centre of the Latakia District that occupies the northern portion of the Latakia Governorate.


title: Latakia

text: Under Köppen's climate classification, Latakia has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ("Csa") with warm, humid summers and cool, wet winters. Latakia's wettest months are December and January, where average precipitation is around 160 mm. The city's driest month, July, only has on average about of rain, despite being rather humid. Average high temperatures in the city range from around in January to around in August. Latakia on average receives around of rainfall annually.


title: Latakia

text: One of the first censuses was in 1825, which recorded that there were 6,000–8,000 Muslims, 1,000 Greek Orthodox Christians, 30 Armenian Christians, 30 Maronite Catholics, and 30 Jews. At the beginning of the 20th century, Latakia had a population of roughly 7,000 inhabitants; however, the Journal of the Society of Arts recorded a population of 25,000 in 1905. In a 1992 estimate, Latakia had a population of 284,000, rising to 303,000 in the 1994 census. The city's population continued to rise, reaching an estimated 402,000 residents in 2002.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia was historically a Sunni city, however the Alawatization process under Hafez al Asaad led to many Alawites moving from the rural hinterland into the city. In 2010, Latakia City was 50% Alawite, 40% Sunni and 10% Christian; however, the rural hinterland has an Alawite majority of roughly 70%, with Christians making up 14%, Sunni Muslims making up 12%, and Ismailis representing the remaining 2%. The city serves as the capital of the Alawite population and is a major cultural center for the religion. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of Alawites from the area emigrated to the country's capital Damascus. Of the Christians, a sizable Antiochian Greek population exists in Latakia, and their diocese in the city has the largest congregation of the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. There is also an Armenian community of 3,500 in the city. The entire population speaks Arabic, mostly in the North Levantine dialect.


title: Latakia

text: Within the city boundaries is the "unofficial" Latakia camp, established in 1956, which has a population of 6,354 Palestinian refugees, mostly from Jaffa and the Galilee.


title: Latakia

text: The Port of Latakia is the main seaport in Syria. It was established on the 12th of February, 1950, and has boosted the city's importance ever since. The port's imported cargo include clothing, construction materials, vehicles, furniture, minerals, tobacco, cotton, and food supplies such as lintels, onions, wheat, barley, dates, grains and figs, and in 2008, the port handled about 8 million tons of cargo.


title: Latakia

text: The largest area of the port with 43 hectares occupies the container terminal. The storage capacity is up to 17,000 containers. Latakia was connected to six ferry lines to Alexandria (Egypt), Izmir (Turkey) and Beirut (Lebanon). It is not known whether the lines still exist in the Syrian civil war, which has been going on since 2011.


title: Latakia

text: The marina Latakia has 150 berths for ships up to a maximum length of 25 meters and 4 meters draught. The Syrian Navy has one of four bases in Latakia.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia has an extensive agricultural hinterland. Exports include bitumen (asphalt), cereals, cotton, fruits, eggs, vegetable oil, pottery, and tobacco. Cotton ginning, vegetable-oil processing, tanning, and sponge fishing serve as local industries for the city.


title: Latakia

text: The Cote d'Azur Beach of Latakia is Syria's premier coastal resort, and offers water skiing, jet skiing, and windsurfing. The city contains eight hotels, two of which have five-star ratings; both the Cote d'Azur de Cham Hotel and Lé Meridien Lattiquie Hotel are located north of the city, at Cote d'Azur. The latter hotel has 274 rooms and is the only international hotel in the city.


title: Latakia

text: Compared to other Syrian cities, window shopping and evening strolls in the markets is considered a favorite pastime in Latakia. Numerous designer-label stores line 8 Azar Street, and the heart of the city's shopping area is the series of blocks enclosed by 8 Azar Street, Yarmouk Street, and Saad Zaghloul Street in the city center. Cinemas in Latakia include Ugarit Cinema, al-Kindi, and a smaller theater off al-Moutanabbi Street.


title: Latakia

text: The Al-Mahabba Festival, which includes various entertainment programs such as competitions, art parties and archeological and tourist tours to the most important places in the city and is organized by the economic and commercial authorities in cooperation with the Al-Bustan charity organization, is held annually in the city.


title: Latakia

text: The National Museum of Latakia was built in 1986 near the seafront of the city. It formerly housed the residence of the Governor of the Alawite State and was originally a 16th-century Ottoman "khan" ("caravansary") known as Khan al-Dukhan, meaning "The "Khan" of Smoke", as it served the tobacco trade. The "khan" historically served not only as an inn, but also contained private residences. The exhibits include inscribed tablets from Ugarit, ancient jewellery, coins, figurines, ceramics, pottery, and early Arab and Crusader-era chain-mail suits and swords.


title: Latakia

text: However, since the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, the museum had been temporarily closed, to protect the museum's exhibits from the trafficking and looting, which became common during recent years, that the Museums of Palmyra, Deir ez-Zor and Raqqa suffered from. However, the museum's gardens are still open to the public, and contain many column capitals, ornaments, funerary tombs and statues which still can be viewed by the public.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia is the home city of three football clubs: Teshrin Sports Club was founded in 1947, Hutteen Sports Club was founded in 1945. and Tadamon SC was founded in 1980. All teams are based in the al-Assad Stadium, which carries a capacity of 28,000 people. Just north of the city is the Latakia Sports City complex, which was built in 1987 to host the 1987 Mediterranean Games.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia tobacco is a specially prepared tobacco originally produced in Syria and named after the port city of Latakia. Now the tobacco is mainly produced in Cyprus. It is cured over a stone pine or oak wood fire, which gives it an intense smokey-peppery taste and smell. Rarely smoked straight, it is used as a "condiment" or "blender" (a basic tobacco mixed with other tobaccos to create a blend), especially in English, Balkan, and some American Classic blends.


title: Latakia

text: The University of Latakia was founded in May 1971, and later renamed Tishreen University ("October University") in 1976 to commemorate the October War of 1973. The university first had only 3 faculties, Literature, Science and Agriculture and only an enrollment of 983 students during its founding, but that number largely grew throughout the years to reach more than 70,000 students, making the Tishreen University the 3rd largest in Syria, with the number of its faculties rising to 17, including Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Science, Nursing, Education, Agriculture, Law, History, Electrical and Technical Engineering and Arts, among others. The city also houses a branch of the Arab Academy for Science and Technology and Maritime Transport.


title: Latakia

text: One of the oldest schools in Latakia, a previous military barracks built during the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon is named after Jules Jammal, an Arab Christian military officer who blew himself up in a suicide attack on a French ship.


title: Latakia

text: On 26 November 2016, al-Manara University, a private university, was founded under the patronage of Imad Khamis, the Prime Minister of Syria. Its faculties as of 2017 include Pharmacy and Health, Engineering and Business.


title: Latakia

text: The modern city still exhibits faint traces of its former importance, notwithstanding the frequent earthquakes with which it has been visited. The marina is built upon foundations of ancient columns, and there are in the town an old gateway and other antiquities, as also sarcophagi and sepulchral caves in the neighbourhood. This gateway is a remarkable triumphal arch at the southeast corner of the town, almost entire: it is built with four entrances, like the Forum Jani at Rome. It is conjectured that this arch was built in honour of Lucius Verus, or of Septimius Severus. Fragments of Greek and Latin inscriptions are dispersed all over the ruins, but entirely defaced.


title: Latakia

text: Notable points of interest in the nearby area include the massive Saladin's Castle and the ruins of Ugarit, where some of the earliest alphabetic writings have been found. There are also several popular beaches. There are numerous mosques in Latakia, including the 13th-century Great Mosque and the 18th-century Jadid Mosque constructed by Suleiman Pasha Azem.


title: Latakia

text: The Syrian government operates three major public hospitals in Latakia, Al-Assad Hospital, the National Hospital and the Tishreen University Hospital, with other private hospitals working for private gain. One of the famous hospitals is Bahrou Hospital.


title: Latakia

text: Roads link Latakia to Aleppo, Beirut, Homs, and Tripoli. The main commercial coastal road of the city is Jamal Abdel Nasser Street, named after former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. Lined with hotels, restaurants and the city museum, the street begins in central Latakia along the Mediterranean coast and ends at Hitteen Square. From the square, it branches southwest into al-Maghreb al-Arabi Street, south into 8 Azar Street, which continues south to form Baghdad Avenue—the main north–south road—branching into Beirut Street and Nadim Hassan Street along the southern coastline. From the southern portion of Jamal Abdel Nasser Street branch off al-Yarmouk Street and al-Quds Street, the latter which ends at al-Yaman Square in western Latakia, it continues west into Abdel Qader al-Husseini Street. North from al-Yaman Square Souria Avenue and south of the square is al-Ourouba Street. Souria Avenue ends in al-Jumhouriah Square, then continues north as al-Jumhouriah Street.


title: Latakia

text: Much of the city is accessible by taxi and other forms of public transportation. Buses transport people to various Syrian, Lebanese, and Turkish cities, including Aleppo, Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Palmyra, Tripoli, Beirut, Safita, Homs, Hama, Antakya, and Tartous. The "luxury" Garagat Pullman Bus Station is located on Abdel Qader al-Husseini Street, and at least a dozen private companies are based at the station. On the same street is the older Hob-Hob Bus Station that operates a "depart when full" basis to Damascus and Aleppo. Local microbuses run between al-Yaman Square and the city center, as well as between the station on al-Jalaa Street and the city center. There is also a microbus station with buses departing to Qalaat Salah ed-Din, Qardaha, Kassab, and Jableh.


title: Latakia

text: Latakia's railway station is located on al-Yaman Square. Chemins de Fer Syriens operated services, including two daily runs to Aleppo and one weekly run to Damascus via Tartous. In 2005, approximately 512,167 passengers departed from Latakia's railway station.


title: Latakia

text: The Bassel Al-Assad International Airport is located south of Latakia and serves as a national and regional airport with regular flights to Sharjah, Jeddah, Riyadh and Cairo. The Port of Latakia is also a link in six organized cruises between Alexandria, İzmir and Beirut. In addition, there are irregular ferry services to Cyprus. In 2005, approximately 27,939 passengers used the port.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: Prince Vincent of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander; born 8 January 2011) is a member of the Danish royal family. He is the third child and younger son of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, the sixth grandchild and youngest grandson of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik, and the older twin brother of Princess Josephine.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: Vincent is fourth in line to the Danish throne, after his father, older brother Prince Christian and older sister, Princess Isabella.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: Prince Vincent was born at Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen University Hospital, in Copenhagen, at 10:30 am local time, 26 minutes before his twin sister. Shortly after the birth, while speaking to the press, the Crown Prince joked about calling his newborn son Elvis, as the twins share a birthday with the "King of Rock and Roll". At noon on 8 January, a 21-gun salute was fired from the Sixtus Battery at Holmen Naval Base in Copenhagen and from Kronborg Castle in North Zealand to mark the arrival of a royal child.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: Vincent and his sister were baptized on 14 April 2011, at the chapel of the Church of Holmen. His name was announced as Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander. His third name, Minik, is Greenlandic and means "earwax". His godparents are his maternal uncle, John Stuart Donaldson; his father's first cousin, the Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (then the Hereditary Prince); his mother's lady-in-waiting, Caroline Heering; and friends of his parents, the King of Spain (then the Prince of Asturias), Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille and Baroness Helle Reedtz-Thott.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: In 2009, the Danish constitution was altered, granting absolute primogeniture to the Danish throne, meaning that the eldest child, regardless of gender, takes precedence in the line of succession. Under the old system of male-preference primogeniture, Vincent would have displaced his elder sister Isabella in the line of succession; with the new law, he comes directly after her instead.


title: Prince Vincent of Denmark

text: On 15 August 2017, Vincent and his younger twin sister started school at Tranegårdsskolen in Gentofte – the same public school as their elder siblings.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Israeli Druze or Druze Israelis (; ) are an ethnoreligious minority among the Arab citizens of Israel. In 2019, there were 143,000 Druze people living within Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, comprising 1.6% of the total population of both the former and the latter. Although Druzism, their ethnic religion, originally developed out of Ismaʿilism (a branch of Shia Islam), Druze do not identify as Muslims. In 1957, the Israeli government designated Druze Israelis as a distinct ethnic community at the request of Druze communal leaders. Alongside the Jewish majority and the Circassian minority, the Druze minority is required by law to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and members of the community have also attained top positions in Israeli politics and public service. Before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Druze people were not recognized as a religious community, and were discriminated against by the local judicial system. Druze Israelis are native Arabic-speakers; a 2017 poll conducted by the Pew Research Center reported that the majority of Israel's Druze ethnically identify as Arabs. Israel has the world's third-largest Druze population, after Syria and Lebanon; the majority of Druze Israelis are concentrated in northern Israel.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Druze religion branched off from the religion of Islam, and is now considered its own religion separate from Islam. The religion was created in the 10th and 11th centuries in Egypt, with aspects of Hindu and Greek philosophy incorporated into the tenets of Islam. Conversions are not permitted in the Druze religion, because they believe that the first generation after the establishment of the Druze religion had an opportunity then to join the religion, and everyone alive today is reincarnated from that generation. Much like the Abrahamic faiths, the Druze religion is monotheistic, and recognizes many prophets, including Jesus, John the Baptist, Mohammed, Khidr and Moses. Their most respected prophet in their religion is Jethro, Moses' father-in-law.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Epistles of Wisdom is the foundational text of the Druze faith. The Druze faith incorporates elements of Islam's Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, Pythagoreanism, Christianity, Hinduism and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive theology known to interpret esoterically religious scriptures, and to highlight the role of the mind and truthfulness.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Within the Druze community, there are two different sub-groups. There is the al-Juhhal, or the Ignorant, and al-Uqqal, the Knowledgeable. The al-Juhhal group does not have the permission to view the holy texts, and they do not attend religious meetings. About 80% of the Druze people fall into this category of the Ignorant. The al-Uqqal must follow ascetic rulings including following a dress code. The most powerful 5% of the Knowledgeable group are where the spiritual leaders of the religion come from. As for important rules that the Druze must follow, they are not allowed to drink alcohol, eat pork, or smoke tobacco, similarly to the dietary laws in Islam. Polygamy is prohibited, and men and women are viewed as equals. Many of the Druze living in Israel fully participate in Israeli society, and many of them serve in the Israeli Defense Forces.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Druze revere the father-in-law of Moses, Jethro or "Reuel", a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian. In Exodus, Moses' father-in-law is initially referred to as "Reuel" (Exodus 2:18) but then as "Jethro" (Exodus 3:1). According to the biblical narrative, Jethro joined and assisted the Israelites in the desert during the Exodus, accepted monotheism, but ultimately rejoined his own people. The tomb of Jethro near Tiberias is the most important religious site for the Druze community and they gather there every April.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Amin Tarif was the qadi, or spiritual leader, of the Druze in Mandatory Palestine from 1928 and then Israel until his death in 1993. He was highly esteemed and regarded by many within the community as the preeminent spiritual authority in the Druze world.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In January 2004, the current spiritual leader, Sheikh Muwaffak Tarīf, called on all non-Jews in Israel to observe the Seven Noahide Laws, as laid down in the Bible and expounded upon in Jewish tradition. The mayor of the Galilean city of Shefa-'Amr also signed the document. The declaration includes the commitment to make a "... better humane world based on the Seven Noahide Commandments and the values they represent commanded by the Creator to all mankind through Moses on Mount Sinai".


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Druze (, "Derzī" or "Durzī", plural , "Durūz"; , "Druzim"; they call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidīn, lit., "the Monotheists") are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. The religion incorporates elements of Isma'ilism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, and other philosophies. The Druze call themselves "Ahl al-Tawhid" – "People of Unitarianism or Monotheism" – or "al-Muwaḥḥidūn", "Unitarians, Monotheists". Amin Tarif was the preeminent religious leader of the community until his death in 1993.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Historically the relationship between the Druze and Muslims has been characterized by intense persecution. The Druze faith is often classified as a branch of Isma'ili. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, most Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam. The Druze have frequently experienced persecution by different Muslim regimes such as the Shia Fatimid Caliphate, Sunni Ottoman Empire, and Egypt Eyalet. The persecution of the Druze included massacres, demolishing Druze prayer houses and holy places and forced conversion to Islam. Those were no ordinary killings in the Druze's narrative, they were meant to eradicate the whole community according to the Druze narrative.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The relationship between the Druze and Jews has been controversial, Anti-Jewish (antisemitic) bias material is contained in the Druze literature such as the "Epistles of Wisdom"; for example, in an epistle ascribed to one of the founders of Druzism, Baha al-Din al-Muqtana, probably written sometime between AD 1027 and AD 1042, accused Jews of killing the sacred prophets. On the other hand, Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveler from the 12th century, pointed out that the Druze maintained good commercial relations with the Jews nearby, and, according to him, this was because the Druze liked the Jewish people. Yet, the Jews and Druze lived isolated from each other, except in few mixed towns such as Deir al-Qamar and Peki'in.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Conflict between Druze and Jews occurs during the Druze power struggle in Mount Lebanon, Jewish settlements of Galilee such as Safad and Tiberias were destroyed by the Druze in 1660. During the Druze revolt against the rule of Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt, the Jewish community in Safad was attacked by Druze rebels in early July 1838. The violence against the Jews included plundering their homes and desecrating their synagogues.


title: Druze in Israel

text: During the 1947–48 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine, the Druze in Mandatory Palestine were under pressure from both the Jewish Yishuv leadership and from the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee, and found it difficult to form an opinion about the conflict between the Jews and the Palestinian Arabs. Noble Druze men from nearby countries visited Druze villages in Palestine and preached neutrality. During the early days of the conflict, a meeting of all the noblemen from all the Druze villages was conducted in Daliyat al-Karmel, where they all agreed not to take part in the riots instigated by the Arab Higher Committee. This decision was backed by Druze leaders in Jabal al-Druze. In the Druze community, there were opposing trends: In mixed Druze and Muslim villages such as Isfiya, Shefa-'Amr, and Maghar, where there were old sectarian disputes, and in Druze villages near Haifa and the Jewish settlement in the western Galilee, the local Druze leaders tended to prefer the Jews in the conflict; at the Druze villages deep in Arab areas, the local leaders were more careful with support of the Jews. Josh Palmon was tasked by the Jewish Agency for Israel to manage the relationship with the Druze. He initially led a preventive approach with the Druze, aimed at making sure the Druze will not join the Arab Higher Committee.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The contacts between the Druze and the Jewish leadership were made through Labib Hussein Abu Rokan from Isfya and Salah-Hassan Hanifes from Shefa-'Amr (both became members of the Knesset after Israel's establishment). Hanifas managed to bring the Druze village Yarka to co-operate with the Jews.


title: Druze in Israel

text: During the war, Druze volunteers arrived to Mandatory Palestine in order to help defend the Druze villages there. When the Arab Liberation Army (ALA) was created by the Arab League, Shakib Wahhab, a Syrian–Druze military commander resigned from the Syrian army and established a Druze battalion for the ALA, collecting Druze volunteers who joined mostly due to economic reasons from Syria and Lebanon. Wahhab brought around 500 men and arrived to Shefa-'Amr in Palestine, where he established his command on 30 March 1948. The commander of the ALA, Fawzi al-Qawuqji, planned to deploy the Druze battalion in the northern regions of Samaria under his command, but the military committee of the Arab League decided to establish a separate command for the Druze for the region near the city of Haifa, excluding Acre. Wahhab traveled through the western Galilee region and sent men to the Druze villages of the Carmel. As the Druze volunteers arrived, there were attempts to talk with the volunteers, due to fear local Druze will join them. Najib Mansour, the head of Isfiya, met with agents of the Hagannah in Haifa to discuss the arrival of Wahhab. Mansour did not agree to the demand that the local Druze would forcibly oppose the volunteers, and instead proposed the Jews bribe Wahhab to abandon his command.


title: Druze in Israel

text: According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2020, the Druze make up about 7.6% of the Arab citizens of Israel, and the Druze population in Israel was approximately 145,000. At the end of 2019, approximately 81% of the Israeli Druze population lived in the Northern District and 19% lived in the Haifa District, and the largest population of Druze were Daliyat al-Karmel and Yirka.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Israeli Druze population growth rate of 1.4%, which is lower than the Muslim population growth rate (2.5%) and the total population growth (1.7%), but higher than the Arab Christian population growth rate (1.0%). At the end of 2017, the average age of the Israeli Druze was 27.9. About 26.3% of the Israeli Druze population are under 14 years old and about 6.1% of the Israeli Druze are 65 years and over. Since the year 2000, the Israeli Druze community has witnessed a significant decrease in fertility-rate and a significant increase in life expectancy. The fertility rate for Israeli Druze in 2017 is 2.1 children per woman, while the fertility rate among Jewish women (3.2) and Muslim women (3.4) and the fertility rate among Israeli Christian women (1.9).


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Druze in Israel live in a handful of sectarian villages and several mixed-religion Arab localities in pre-1967 Israel (Upper and Lower Galilee and Mount Carmel) and on the Golan Heights. The population figures are as follows (absolute figures and percentage of overall population):


title: Druze in Israel

text: The Druze citizens of Israel are Arabic in language and culture, and their mother tongue is the Arabic Language. The Druze Arabic dialect, especially in the villages, is often different from the other regional Arabic dialects. Druze Arabic dialect is distinguished from others by retention of the phoneme /"qāf"/. Linguistically speaking, Israeli Druze are fluently bilingual, speaking both a Central Northern Levantine Arabic dialect and Hebrew. In Druze Arab homes and towns in Israel, the primary language spoken is Arabic, while some Hebrew words have entered the colloquial Arabic dialect. They often use Hebrew characters to write their Arabic dialect online.


title: Druze in Israel

text: A study published by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in 2017 found that Druze population has the second highest achievements in the Arab sector on all indices: bagrut scores, rates of college graduates, and fields of employment. While the Israeli Arab Christian population has the highest achievements.


title: Druze in Israel

text: According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2020, 79.9% of Druze in Israel were entitled to a matriculation certificate, which was higher than the number of Muslims (60.3%), but was lower than the number of Christians (83.6%) Jews (80.2%) with a matriculation certificate. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census in 2020, 15.3% of Druze in Israel have a college degree, which was lower than the number of Christians (70.9%), but similar to the number of Muslim (10%) with a degree.


title: Druze in Israel

text: There are four remaining Druze villages in the Israeli-annexed portion of the Golan Heights—Majdal Shams, Mas'ade, Buq'ata, and Ein Qiniyye—in which 23,000 Druze live. Most of the Druze residents of the Golan Heights consider themselves to be Syrians and refuse to take Israeli citizenship, instead holding Israeli permanent resident status, and in place of an Israeli passport use an Israeli-issued laissez-passer document for travelling abroad, on which the citizenship paragraph is left empty.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Since the adoption of the 1981 Golan Heights Law, the territory has been under Israeli civil law, and incorporated into the Israeli system of local councils. After the annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981, the Israeli government offered citizenship to all non-Israelis living in the territory, but (as of 2011), less than 10% of the local Druze accepted it. In 2012, however, due to the Syrian Civil War, dozens of young Druze have applied for Israeli citizenship – a much larger number than in previous years. By 2017, nearly 5,500 out of 26,500 residents had applied for and received an Israeli passport since 1981. The yearly number of applications steadily rose, with 183 applying in 2016, compared to only five in 2000.


title: Druze in Israel

text: During the 2011 Syrian uprising, Druze in the Golan Heights held several rallies in support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad. Public support for the Assad government has historically been high among Golan Druze, and Syria has secured agreements with the Israeli government to permit Golan Druze to conduct trade across the border with Syria. Some tensions have recently arisen in the community due to differing stances on the Syrian Civil War, though open public support for the Syrian opposition has been relatively uncommon.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In the 2009 elections, 1,193 residents of the Alawite village of Ghajar and 809 residents of the Druze villages were eligible to vote, out of approximately 1,200 Ghajar residents and 12,600 Druze village residents who were of voting age. As Israel does not recognize the Syrian citizenship of Golan Druze, they are defined in Israeli records as "residents of the Golan Heights". Those who apply for Israeli citizenship are entitled to vote in Israeli elections, run for Knesset, and receive an Israeli passport. Residents of Majdal Shams are not drafted into the Israel Defense Forces.


title: Druze in Israel

text: According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2015, Druze in Israel are generally more religious than Israeli Jews, but less than Israeli Christians and Muslims. Around half (49%) say religion is very important in their lives. About one third (26%) pray daily and 25% report that they attend prayer-houses of the Druze ("khalwat") at least once a week. Israeli Druze also are more likely than Jews and less likely than Christians and Muslims to participate in weekly worship services. Nearly all (99%) Israeli Druze believe in God, of whom 84% say they are absolutely certain. According to the Israel Democracy Institute survey conducted in 2015, 43% of Druze in Israel identified as traditional, 36% identified as not religious at all, 14% identified as religious, 7% identified as very religious.


title: Druze in Israel

text: According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2015, the majority of Druzes are not comfortable with their child marrying outside of the faith, Druze are about equally uncomfortable with the prospect of a child of theirs marrying a Jew (87%), Muslim (85%) or Christian (87%). Christians and Druze also are more likely than Jews to say a good religious education is important for their children.


title: Druze in Israel

text: According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in 2015, Druze in Israel are less likely than Christians or Muslims to say they are proud of their identity. About 90% say they have a strong sense of belonging to the Druze community. Two thirds (64%) believe that they have a special responsibility to help fellow members of their religious group who are in need around the world.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The nature of Druze identity varies among Druze well. Druze in Israel are about evenly divided among those who say their identity is mainly a matter of religion (18%), those who say being Druze is mainly about ancestry and/or culture (47%) and those who say their identity is characterized by a combination of religion and ancestry/culture (34%).


title: Druze in Israel

text: Israeli Druze do not consider themselves Muslim, and see their faith as a separate and independent religion. While compared to other Israeli Christians and Muslims, Druze place less emphasis on Arab identity and self-identify more as Israeli. However, they were less ready for personal relationships with Jews compared to Israeli Muslims and Christians.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In a survey conducted in 2008 by Dr. Yusuf Hassan of Tel Aviv University 94% of Druze respondents identified as "Druze-Israelis" in the religious and national context, while a 2017 Pew Research Center poll reported that while 99% of Muslims and 96% of Christians identified as ethnically Arab, a smaller share of Druze, 71%, identified likewise. Other Druze respondents identify their ethnicity as "Druze" or "Druze-Arab". According to the Israel Democracy Institute survey conducted in 2015, around 54% of Druze respondents saied that religious identity (the Druze identity) is the most important identity for them, followed by Israeli identity (37%) and Arab identity (5%).


title: Druze in Israel

text: Druze citizens are prominent in the Israel Defense Forces and in politics. The bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is commonly known by the term "a covenant of blood" (Hebrew: ברית דמים, "brit damim").


title: Druze in Israel

text: Five Druze lawmakers were elected to serve in the 18th Knesset, a disproportionately large number considering their population. Reda Mansour, a Druze poet, historian, and diplomat, explained: "We are the only non-Jewish minority that is drafted into the military, and we have an even higher percentage in the combat units and as officers than the Jewish members themselves. So we are considered a very nationalistic, patriotic community."


title: Druze in Israel

text: In 1973, Amal Nasser el-Din founded the Zionist Druze Circle, a group whose aim was to encourage the Druze to support the state of Israel fully and unreservedly. Today, thousands of Israeli Druze belong to Druze Zionist movements.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In 2007, Nabiah A-Din, mayor of Kisra-Sumei, rejected the "multi-cultural" Israeli constitution proposed by the Israeli Arab organization Adalah: "The state of Israel is a Jewish state as well as a democratic state that espouses equality and elections. We invalidate and reject everything that the Adalah organization is requesting", he said. According to A-din, the fate of the Druze and the Circassians in Israel is intertwined with that of the state. "This is a blood pact, and a pact of the living. We are unwilling to support a substantial alteration to the nature of this state, to which we tied our destinies prior to its establishment", he said. there were 7,000 registered members in the Druze Zionist movement. In 2009, the movement held a Druze Zionist youth conference with 1,700 participants.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In a survey conducted in 2008 by Dr. Yusuf Hassan of Tel Aviv University found that out of 764 Druze participants, more than 94% identify as "Druze-Israelis" in the religious and national context.


title: Druze in Israel

text: On 30 June 2011, "Haaretz" reported that a growing number of Israeli Druze were joining elite units of the military, leaving the official Druze battalion, "Herev", under-staffed. This trend has led to calls for its disbandment.


title: Druze in Israel

text: On May 15, 2015, it was announced that the Druze battalion "Herev" would be shut down, thereby allowing Druze soldiers to integrate into the rest of the IDF, a wish that was relayed to IDF senior staff by leaders in the Druze community as well as former "Herev" battalion commanders. After the July 2015 Draft, the IDF no longer listed the Druze unit as an option. By September 2015, the battalion had been disbanded, and its soldiers joined to other units.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Druze also serve in elite units of the IDF such as the Sayeret Matkal, and there are three Druze combat pilots serving in the Israeli Air Force.


title: Druze in Israel

text: In 1948, many Druze volunteered for the Israeli army and no Druze villages were destroyed or permanently abandoned. Since the establishment of the state of Israel, the Druze have demonstrated solidarity with Israel and distanced themselves from Arab and Islamic radicalism. Israeli Druze citizens serve in the Israel Defense Forces. The Jewish-Druze partnership was often referred to as "a covenant of blood" (Hebrew: ברית דמים, "brit damim") in recognition of the common military yoke carried by the two peoples for the security of the country. From 1957, the Israeli government formally recognized the Druze as a separate religious community, and are defined as a distinct ethnic group in the Israeli Ministry of Interior's census registration. Israeli Druze do not consider themselves Muslim, and see their faith as a separate and independent religion. While compared to other Israeli Christians and Muslims, Druze place less emphasis on Arab identity and self-identify more as Israeli. However, they were less ready for personal relationships with Jews compared to Israeli Muslims and Christians.


title: Druze in Israel

text: The relationship between the Druze and Christians in Israel has been characterized by harmony and peaceful coexistence, and they lives in peace and friendship together. With the exception of rare clashes, including acts of violence by the Druze against Christians in 2005 in the town of Maghar. Druze and Christians in Israel celebrate each other's births, weddings, funerals, and celebrations such as the Christian festival of Mar Ilyas (Saint Elias) in Haifa. Many Druze and Muslims attend Christian schools in Israel, because Christian schools are high-performing and among the best schools in the country.


title: Druze in Israel

text: Contact between Christians (members of the Maronite, Eastern Orthodox, Melkite, and other churches) and the Unitarian Druze led to the presence of mixed villages and towns in Galilee region, Mount Carmel, and the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights. This includes Abu Snan, Daliyat al-Karmel, Ein Qiniyye, Hurfeish, Isfiya, Kafr Yasif, Kisra-Sumei, Majdal Shams, Maghar, Peki'in, Rameh and Shefa-Amr, where more than 82,000 Druze and 30,000 Christians live together in this mixed villages and towns. Before Israel's occupation, Christians accounted for 12% of the population of the Golan Heights, and they tend to have a high presentation in science and in the white collar professions.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) is a book by educator Neil Postman. The book's origins lay in a talk Postman gave to the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1984. He was participating in a panel on George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and the contemporary world. In the introduction to his book, Postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World", whose public was oppressed by their addiction to amusement, rather than by Orwell's work, where they were oppressed by state violence.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman's book has been translated into eight languages and sold some 200,000 copies worldwide. In 2005, Postman's son Andrew reissued the book in a 20th anniversary edition.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman distinguishes the Orwellian vision of the future, in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights, from that offered by Aldous Huxley in "Brave New World," where people medicate themselves into bliss, thereby voluntarily sacrificing their rights. Drawing an analogy with the latter scenario, Postman sees television's entertainment value as a present-day "soma", the fictitious pleasure drug in "Brave New World", by means of which the citizens' rights are exchanged for consumers' entertainment.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: The essential premise of the book, which Postman extends to the rest of his argument(s), is that "form excludes the content", that is, a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas. Thus rational argument, integral to print typography, is militated against by the medium of television for this reason. Owing to this shortcoming, politics and religion are diluted, and "news of the day" becomes a packaged commodity. Television de-emphasizes the quality of information in favor of satisfying the far-reaching needs of entertainment, by which information is encumbered and to which it is subordinate.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman asserts the presentation of television news is a form of entertainment programming; arguing that the inclusion of theme music, the interruption of commercials, and "talking hairdos" bear witness that televised news cannot readily be taken seriously. Postman further examines the differences between written speech, which he argues reached its prime in the early to mid-nineteenth century, and the forms of televisual communication, which rely mostly on visual images to "sell" lifestyles. He argues that, owing to this change in public discourse, politics has ceased to be about a candidate's ideas and solutions, but whether he comes across favorably on television. Television, he notes, has introduced the phrase "now this", which implies a "complete absence" of connection between the separate topics the phrase ostensibly connects. Larry Gonick used this phrase to conclude his "Cartoon Guide to (Non)Communication", instead of the traditional "the end".


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman refers to the inability to act upon much of the so-called information from televised sources as the information-action ratio. He contends that "television is altering the meaning of 'being informed' by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation—misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing".


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Drawing on the ideas of media scholar Marshall McLuhan – altering McLuhan's aphorism "the medium is the message" to "the medium is the metaphor" – he describes how oral, literate, and televisual cultures radically differ in the processing and prioritization of information; he argues that each medium is appropriate for a different kind of knowledge. The faculties requisite for rational inquiry are simply weakened by televised viewing. Accordingly, reading, a prime example cited by Postman, exacts intense intellectual involvement, at once interactive and dialectical; whereas television only requires passive involvement.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman argues that commercial television has become derivative of advertising. Moreover, modern television commercials are not "a series of testable, logically ordered assertions" rationalizing consumer decisions, but "is a drama—a mythology, if you will—of handsome people" being driven to "near ecstasy by their good fortune" of possessing advertised goods or services. "The truth or falsity of an advertiser's claim is simply not an issue" because more often than not "no claims are made, except those the viewer projects onto or infers from the drama." Because commercial television is programmed according to ratings, its content is determined by commercial feasibility, not critical acumen. Television in its present state, he says, does not satisfy the conditions for honest intellectual involvement and rational argument.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: He repeatedly states that the eighteenth century, the "Age of Reason", was the pinnacle for rational argument. Only in the printed word, he states, could complicated truths be rationally conveyed. Postman gives a striking example: many of the first fifteen U.S. presidents could probably have walked down the street without being recognized by the average citizen, yet all these men would have been quickly known by their written words. However, the reverse is true today. The names of presidents or even famous preachers, lawyers, and scientists call up visual images, typically television images, but few, if any, of their words come to mind. The few that do almost exclusively consist of carefully chosen soundbites. Postman mentions Ronald Reagan, and comments upon Reagan's abilities as an entertainer.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Roger Waters' 1992 album "Amused to Death" is titled after Postman's book, and is in part inspired by and deals with some of the same subject matter. In "The End of Education", Postman remarks that the album's reference to his work:


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: Postman's concept of the "information-action ratio" was referenced in the Arctic Monkeys song "Four Out of Five" off the band's 2018 album "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino", where the Information Action Ratio is the name of a fictional taqueria on the moon.


title: Amusing Ourselves to Death

text: In a 2019 interview with Kjersti Flaa, comic and actor Zach Galifianakis references "Amusing Ourselves to Death" with the line "you will stop hearing the term 'big brother' because we will do it to ourselves." Galifianakis employed the quotation in response to a question the interviewer asked about whether or not he uses social media, to which he replied with a denunciation of the negative effects of the internet on society in general.


title: Upendra filmography

text: Upendra is an Indian film actor and director known primarily for his work in Kannada cinema. He began his career writing dialogues and lyrics for soundtrack in Kannada films. He then started out as a director making his debut in 1992 with "Tharle Nan Maga". In a career spanning over 25 years, he has directed 10 films and acted in over 60 films.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (often nicknamed Triple D and stylized as Diners, Drive-Ins, Dives) is an American food reality television series that premiered on April 23, 2007, on the Food Network. It is hosted by Guy Fieri. The show originally began as a one-off special that aired on November 6, 2006. The show features a "road trip" concept, similar to "Road Tasted", "Giada's Weekend Getaways", and "$40 a Day". Fieri travels around the United States, Canada, and Mexico looking at various diners, drive-in restaurants, and dive bars. He has also featured restaurants in European cities, including London and Florence, as well as in Cuba (see the episodes page).


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: Each episode generally has a unifying theme (such as burgers, ribs, or seafood) with the host visiting multiple restaurants within a single city to sample the food that corresponds to this theme. The program focuses on small, independent eateries featuring traditional comfort foods (such as barbecue, smoked meat, hamburgers, deep-fried food, pizza, steak, and bacon-and-egg breakfast), regional styles, or ethnic specialties. Often, the chosen restaurants will use fresh ingredients, home-style recipes, and gourmet culinary approaches to what is usually not considered gourmet food. The host interacts with both the customers, to get their opinion on the food, and with the kitchen staff, who demonstrate how to prepare one or more of the dishes.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the show's format shifted to feature chefs sending Fieri boxes of ingredients and guiding him through the process via video link. "Takeout" episodes of the show were filmed at Fieri's home in California with the help of his children, Hunter and Ryder.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: The show has had various stars appear in the kitchen alongside Guy Fieri, including fellow chefs Robert Irvine, Andrew Zimmern, Michael Symon, Emeril Lagasse, and Geoffrey Zakarian, as well as celebrities such as Matthew McConaughey, Gene Hackman, Rosie O'Donnell, Joe Theismann, Chris Rock, Kid Rock, Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Clint Bowyer, Martin Sheen, Gene Simmons, Steve Harwell, E-40 and Mick Fleetwood.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: In May 2011, Page Productions, the original producers of the show, filed a lawsuit against Food Network. The lawsuit alleges that the network failed to pay required production costs, and failed to make the show's host, Guy Fieri, available for taping.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: A week after Food Network counter-sued the producer, a settlement was reached in August 2011, allowing the 12th season of the show to resume, with a new production company, Citizen Pictures.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: Throughout the years, more than 800 restaurants have been mentioned on the show, resulting in a dramatic increase in customers. Due to the show's popularity, long-term effects have included increases in both customers and sales.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: In 2015, the owner of Duluth specialty market Northern Waters Smokehaus said that being featured in a 2010 episode had "jump started" its mail-order business, and that the long-term growth in business hadn't slowed.


title: Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives

text: Donatelli's, a restaurant in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, said that their appearance on the show "saved us from going out of business." They experienced an average, sustained 20% increase in sales since the airing of the episode in 2008. Over ten years later, the restaurant was still reaping the benefits of their appearance.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The United Kingdom – United States of America Agreement (UKUSA, ) is a multilateral agreement for cooperation in signals intelligence between Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The alliance of intelligence operations is also known as the Five Eyes. In classification markings this is abbreviated as FVEY, with the individual countries being abbreviated as AUS, CAN, NZL, GBR, and USA, respectively.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Emerging from an informal agreement related to the 1941 Atlantic Charter, the secret treaty was renewed with the passage of the 1943 BRUSA Agreement, before being officially enacted on 5 March 1946 by the United Kingdom and the United States. In the following years, it was extended to encompass Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Other countries, known as "third parties", such as West Germany, the Philippines, and several Nordic countries, also joined the UKUSA community in associate capacities, although they are not part of the mechanism for automatic sharing of intelligence that exists between the Five Eyes.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Much of the sharing of information is performed via the ultra-sensitive STONEGHOST network, which has been claimed to contain "some of the Western world's most closely guarded secrets". Besides laying down rules for intelligence sharing, the agreement formalized and cemented the "Special Relationship" between the UK and the US.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Due to its status as a secret treaty, its existence was not known to the Prime Minister of Australia until 1973, and it was not disclosed to the public until 2005. On 25 June 2010, for the first time in history, the full text of the agreement was publicly released by the United Kingdom and the United States, and can now be viewed online. Shortly after its release, the seven-page UKUSA Agreement was recognized by "Time" magazine as one of the Cold War's most important documents, with immense historical significance.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The global surveillance disclosure by Edward Snowden has shown that the intelligence-sharing activities between the First World allies of the Cold War are rapidly shifting into the digital realm of the Internet.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The agreement originated from a ten-page 1943 British–US Communication Intelligence Agreement, BRUSA, that connected the signal intercept networks of the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security Agency (NSA) at the beginning of the Cold War. The document was signed on 5 March 1946 by Colonel Patrick Marr-Johnson for the UK's London Signals Intelligence Board and Lieutenant General Hoyt Vandenberg for the US State–Army–Navy Communication Intelligence Board. Although the original agreement states that the exchange would not be "prejudicial to national interests", the United States often blocked information sharing from Commonwealth countries. The full text of the agreement was released to the public on 25 June 2010.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The "Five Eyes" term has its origins as a shorthand for a "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" classification level.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Under the agreement, the GCHQ and the NSA shared intelligence on the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China, and several Eastern Bloc countries (known as Exotics). The network was expanded in the 1960s into the Echelon collection and analysis network.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The treaty was extended to include Canada (1948), Australia (1956) and New Zealand (1956). In 1955, the agreement was updated to designate Canada, Australia and New Zealand as "UKUSA-collaborating Commonwealth countries". Other countries that joined as "third parties" were Norway (1952), Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955).


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In the aftermath of the 1973 Murphy raids on the headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the existence of the UKUSA Agreement was revealed to Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. After learning about the agreement, Whitlam discovered that Pine Gap, a secret surveillance station close to Alice Springs, Northern Territory, had been operated by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: At the height of the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the use and control of Pine Gap by the CIA was strongly opposed by Whitlam, who fired the chief of the ASIO before being dismissed as prime minister.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The existence of several intelligence agencies of the Five Eyes was not revealed until the following years:


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In 1999, the Australian government acknowledged that it "does co-operate with counterpart signals intelligence organisations overseas under the UKUSA relationship."


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The existence of the UKUSA Agreement, however, was not publicly revealed until 2005. The contents of the agreement were officially disclosed to the public on 25 June 2010. Four days later, the agreement was described by "Time" magazine as one of the "most important documents in the history of the Cold War."


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In July 2013, as part of the 2013 Edward Snowden revelations, it emerged that the NSA is paying GCHQ for its services, with at least £100 million of payments made between 2010 and 2013.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: On 11 September 2013, "The Guardian" released a leaked document provided by Edward Snowden which reveals a similar agreement between the NSA and Israel's Unit 8200.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: According to "The Sydney Morning Herald", Australia operates clandestine surveillance facilities at its embassies "without the knowledge of most Australian diplomats". These facilities are part of an international espionage program known as STATEROOM.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Although the UKUSA alliance is often associated with the ECHELON system, processed intelligence is reliant on multiple sources of information and the intelligence shared is not restricted to signals intelligence. The following table provides an overview of the government agencies involved and their respective responsibilities within the "Five Eyes" community:


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Although precise assignments are classified, it is generally known that each member of the UKUSA alliance takes lead responsibility for intelligence collection and analysis in different parts of the globe.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The "Five Eyes" (often abbreviated as "FVEY") are an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Canada's geographical proximity to the Soviet Union provided considerable eavesdropping advantages during the Cold War. Canada continues to monitor the Russian and Chinese interior while managing intelligence assets in Latin America.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In addition to Southeast Asia, New Zealand is responsible for the western Pacific and maintains listening posts in the South Island at Waihopai Valley just south-west of Blenheim, and on the North Island at Tangimoana.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The "Five Eyes" community is part of an extensive alliance of Western countries sharing signals intelligence with each other. These allied countries include NATO members, other European countries such as Sweden, and allies in the Pacific, in particular Singapore and South Korea.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In the 1950s several Nordic countries joined the community as "third party" participants. They were soon followed by Denmark (1954) and West Germany (1955).


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has a "massive body" called the Foreign Affairs Directorate that is responsible for partnering with other Western allies such as Israel.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Unlike the "second party" members (that is, the Five Eyes themselves), "third party" partners are not automatically exempt from intelligence targeting. According to an internal NSA document leaked by Snowden, "We (the NSA) can, and often do, target the signals of most 3rd party foreign partners."


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Germany is reportedly interested in moving closer to the inner circle: an internal GCHQ document from 2009 said that the "Germans were a little grumpy at not being invited to join the 9-Eyes group." Germany may even wish to join Five Eyes. Referring to Five Eyes, former French President François Hollande has said that his country is "not within that framework and we don't intend to join." According to a former top US official, "Germany joining would be a possibility, but not France – France itself spies on the US far too aggressively for that."


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: During the 2013 NSA leaks Internet spying scandal, the surveillance agencies of the "Five Eyes" have been accused of intentionally spying on one another's citizens and willingly sharing the collected information with each other, allegedly circumventing laws preventing each agency from spying on its own citizens.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The 2013 NSA leaks are not entirely new, but rather, they are a confirmation of earlier disclosures about the UK-US espionage alliance. For example, the British newspaper "The Independent" reported back in 1996 that the US National Security Agency "taps UK phones" at the request of the British intelligence agency MI5, thus allowing British agents to evade restrictive limitations on domestic telephone tapping.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The mutual surveillance and sharing of information between allies of the UK and US resurfaced again during the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures. As described by the news magazine "Der Spiegel", this was done to circumvent domestic surveillance regulations:


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency can spy on anyone but British nationals, the NSA can conduct surveillance on anyone but Americans, and Germany's BND (Bundesnachrichtendienst) foreign intelligence agency can spy on anyone but Germans. That's how a matrix is created of boundless surveillance in which each partner aids in a division of roles.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: They exchanged information. And they worked together extensively. That applies to the British and the Americans, but also to the BND, which assists the NSA in its Internet surveillance.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: In 2013, Canadian federal judge Richard Mosley strongly rebuked the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) for outsourcing its surveillance of Canadians to overseas partner agencies. A 51-page ruling says that the CSIS and other Canadian federal agencies are illegally enlisting US and British allies in global surveillance dragnets, while keeping domestic federal courts in the dark.


title: UKUSA Agreement

text: The following documents were leaked by Edward Snowden during the course of the 2013 Global surveillance disclosure:


title: History of Qatar

text: The history of Qatar spans from its first duration of human occupation to its formation as a modern state. Human occupation of Qatar dates back to 50,000 years ago, and Stone Age encampments and tools have been unearthed in the Arabian Peninsula. Mesopotamia was the first civilization to have a presence in the area during the Neolithic period, evidenced by the discovery of potsherds originating from the Ubaid period near coastal encampments.


title: History of Qatar

text: The peninsula fell under the domain of several different empires during its early years of settlement, including the Seleucid, the Parthians and the Sasanians. In 628 AD, the population was introduced to Islam after Muhammad sent an envoy to Munzir ibn Sawa who was the Sasanid governor of Eastern Arabia. It became a pearl trading center by the 8th century. The Abbasid era saw the rise of several settlements. After the Bani Utbah and other Arab tribes conquered Bahrain in 1783, the Al Khalifa imposed their authority over Bahrain and mainland Qatar. Over the proceeding centuries, Qatar was a site of contention between the Wahhabi of Najd and the Al Khalifa. The Ottomans expanded their empire into Eastern Arabia in 1871, withdrawing from the area in 1915 after the beginning of World War I.


title: History of Qatar

text: In 1916, Qatar became a British protectorate and Abdullah Al Thani signed a treaty stipulating that he could only cede territory to the British in return for protection from all aggression by sea and support in case of a land attack. A 1934 treaty granted more extensive protection. In 1935, a 75-year oil concession was granted to QatarEnergy and high-quality oil was discovered in 1940 in Dukhan.


title: History of Qatar

text: During the 1950s and 1960s, increasing oil revenues brought prosperity, rapid immigration, substantial social progress, and the beginnings of the country's modern history. After Britain announced a policy of ending the treaty relationships with the Persian Gulf sheikdoms in 1968, Qatar joined the other eight states then under British protection in a plan to form a federation of Arab emirates. By mid-1971, as the termination date of the British treaty relationship approached, the nine still had not agreed on terms of union. Accordingly, Qatar declared its independence on September 3, 1971. In June 1995, deputy emir Hamad bin Khalifa became the new emir after his father Khalifa bin Hamad in a bloodless coup. The emir permitted more liberal press and municipal elections as a precursor to parliamentary elections. A new constitution was approved via public referendum in April 2003 and came into effect in June 2005.


title: History of Qatar

text: In 1961, a Danish archaeological expedition carried out on the peninsula uncovered approximately 30,000 stone implements from 122 paleolithic sites. Most of the sites were situated along the coastline, and were divided into four separate cultural groups based on flint typology. Macrolithic tools such as scrapers, arrowheads and hand axes dating to the lower and middle paleolithic periods were among the discoveries.


title: History of Qatar

text: The flooding of the Persian Gulf, which occurred roughly 8,000 years ago, resulted in the displacement of Persian Gulf inhabitants, the formation of the Qatari Peninsula and the occupation of Qatar to capitalize on its coastal resources. From this time onward, Qatar was regularly used as rangeland for nomadic tribes from the Najd and al-Hasa regions in Saudi Arabia, and a number of seasonal encampments were constructed around sources of water.


title: History of Qatar

text: Al Da'asa, a settlement located on the northeast coast of Qatar, is the most extensive Ubaid site in the country. It was excavated by a Danish team in 1961. The site is theorized to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment, possibly a lodging for a hunting-fishing-gathering group who made recurrent visits. This is evidenced by the discovery of nearly sixty fire pits at the site, which may have been used to cure and dry fish, in addition to flint tools such as scrapers, cutters, blades and arrow heads. Furthermore, many painted Ubaid potsherds and a carnelian bead were found in the fire pits, suggesting overseas connections.


title: History of Qatar

text: In an excavation done in Al Khor in 1977–78, several Ubaid-period graves were uncovered in what is considered the earliest recorded burial site in the country. One grave contained the cremated remains of a young woman with no grave goods. Eight other graves contained grave goods, including beads made of shell, carnelian and obsidian. The obsidian most likely originated from Najran in south west Arabia.


title: History of Qatar

text: The Qatari Peninsula was close enough to the Dilmun civilization in Bahrain to have felt its influence. Barbar pottery was excavated in two sites by the Qatar Archaeology Project, evidencing the country's involvement in Dilmun's trade network. When the people of Dilmun began engaging in maritime activities around 2100 to 1700 BC, the inhabitants of Qatar started diving for pearls in the Persian Gulf. The Qataris were engaged in the trading of pearls and date palms during this era.


title: History of Qatar

text: It has been argued that the remains of Dilmun settlements found in Qatar do not represent major evidence of long-term human habitation. Qatar remained largely uninhabited during this period due to regular migration by nomadic Arab tribes searching for untapped sources food and water. The settlements dating to the Dilmun period, particularly in Al Khor Island, may have been established to expedite trade journeys between Bahrain to the closest significant settlement in the Persian Gulf, Tell Abraq. Another scenario entails that the encampments were created by visiting fishermen or pearl fishers from Dilmun. It has also been suggested that the presence of pottery is indicative of trade between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Dilmun civilization, though this is considered unlikely due to the scarce population of the peninsula during this period.


title: History of Qatar

text: Kassite Babylonian-influenced materials dating back to the second millennium BC, which were found in Al Khor Island, reveal evidence of trade relations between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Kassite. Among the findings were 3,000,000 crushed snail shells and Kassite potsherds. It has been asserted that Qatar was the site of the earliest known production of shellfish dye owing to a purple dye industry operated by the Kassite which existed on the island. The dye was obtained from the Murex snail and was known as "Tyrian purple". Dye production may have been supervised by the Kassite administration in Bahrain with the purpose of exporting the dye to Mesopotamia.


title: History of Qatar

text: Assyrian king Esarhaddon led a successful campaign against "Bazu", an area which encompassed Dilmun and Qatar, in c. 680 BC. To date, no archaeological evidence of early Iron Age settlements have been discovered in the Peninsula. This is likely due to adverse climatic changes rendering Qatar less inhabitable during this period.


title: History of Qatar

text: In the 5th century BC, Greek historian Herodotus published the earliest known description of the population of Qatar, describing its inhabitants as 'sea-faring Canaanites'.


title: History of Qatar

text: Around 325 BC, Alexander the Great sent his top admiral, Androsthenes of Thasos, to survey the entire Persian Gulf. The requested charts arrived shortly after Alexander died in 323. Seleucus I Nicator was awarded the eastern part of the Ancient Greek Empire after Alexander's death. Starting from 312, he expanded the Seleucid Empire eastward of Babylon, purportedly encompassing parts of Eastern Arabia. Archaeological evidence of Greek-influenced materials has been discovered in Qatar. Excavations north of Dukhan uncovered potsherds of Seleucid characteristic, and a cairnfield consisting of 100 burial mounds dating to the era was discovered in Ras Abrouq. The relatively large number of cairns suggest a sizeable sea-faring community prevailed in the area.


title: History of Qatar

text: After losing most of their territories in the Persian Gulf, Seleucid influence ceased in the area by c. 250 BC.


title: History of Qatar

text: Following the eviction of the Seleucid by the Parthian Empire in c. 250 BC, the latter gained dominion over the Persian Gulf and Arabian Coast. As the Parthians were dependent on trade routes through the Persian Gulf, they established garrisons along the coast. Pottery recovered from expeditions in Qatar has demonstrated links to the Parthian Empire.


title: History of Qatar

text: Ras Abrouq, a coastal city north of Dukhan, housed a fishing station which foreign vessels used to dry fish in 140 BC. A number of stone structures and large quantities of fish bones were recovered from the site.


title: History of Qatar

text: Pliny the Elder, a Roman author, wrote an account on the inhabitants of the peninsula around the mid-first century AD. He referred to them as the "Catharrei" and described them as nomads who constantly roamed in search of water and food. Around the second century, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the landmass, referring to it as "Catura".


title: History of Qatar

text: In 224 AD, the Sasanian Empire gained control over the territories surrounding the Persian Gulf. Qatar played a role in the commercial activity of the Sasanids, contributing to at least two commodities: precious pearls and purple dye. Sasanid pottery and glassware were found in Mezru'ah, a city north-west of Doha, and fragments of glassware and pottery were discovered in a settlement in Umm al-Ma'a.


title: History of Qatar

text: Under the Sasanid reign, many of the inhabitants in Eastern Arabia were introduced to Christianity after the religion was dispersed eastward by Mesopotamian Christians. Monasteries were constructed in Qatar during this era, and further settlements were founded. During the latter part of the Christian era, Qatar was known by the Syriac name 'Beth Qatraye' (ܒܝܬ ܩܛܪܝܐ; "region of the Qataris"). A variant of this was 'Beth Catara'. The region was not limited to Qatar; it also included Bahrain, Tarout Island, Al-Khatt, and Al-Hasa. The dioceses of Beth Qatraye did not form an ecclesiastical province, except for a short period during the mid-to-late seventh century. They were instead subject to the Metropolitan of Fars.


title: History of Qatar

text: Muhammad sent Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami, a Muslim envoy, to a Persian ruler in Eastern Arabia named Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi in 628 and requested that he and his people accept Islam. Munzir obliged his request and most Arab tribes in Qatar converted to Islam. It has been proposed by historian Habibur Rahman that Munzir ibn Sawa's seat of administration existed in the Murwab or Umm al-Ma'a area of Qatar. This theory is lent credence by an archaeological find of approximately 100 small stone-built Islamic-period houses and fortified palaces of a tribal leader in Murwab, which are thought to have originated from the early Islamic period. After the adoption of Islam, the Arabs led the Muslim conquest of Persia which resulted in the fall of the Sasanian Empire.


title: History of Qatar

text: It is likely that some settled populations in Qatar did not immediately convert to Islam. Isaac of Nineveh, a 7th-century Syriac Christian bishop regarded as a saint in some churches, was born in Beth Qatraye. Other notable Christian scholars dating to this period who hailed from Beth Qatraye include Dadisho Qatraya, Gabriel of Qatar and Ahob of Qatar. In 674, the bishops of Beth Qatraye stopped attending synods.


title: History of Qatar

text: Qatar was described as a famous horse and camel breeding centre during the Umayyad period. It began benefiting from its commercially strategic position in the Persian Gulf during the 8th century, going on to become a center of pearl trading.


title: History of Qatar

text: During the Second Fitna, a renowned Khariji commander named Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a, who was described as the most popular, admired and powerful Khariji leader, led the Azariqa, a sub-sect of the Khawarij, in to numerous battles. He held the title of Amir al-Mu'minin and ruled over the radical Azariqa movement for more than 10 years. Born in Al Khuwayr in Qatar, he also minted the first known Kharjite coins, the earliest of which dated to 688 or 689.


title: History of Qatar

text: The Umayyad Caliphate brought about much political and religious change in western Asia starting from the late seventh century. As a result, there were many revolts against the Umayyad at the end of the seventh century, particularly in Qatar and Bahrain. Ibn al-Fuja'a led an uprising against the Umayyad caliphs for more than twenty years.


title: History of Qatar

text: In 750, discontent in the caliphate had reached a critical level due to the treatment of non-Arab citizens in the Empire. The Abbasid Revolution resulted in the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate, ushering in the Abbasid period.


title: History of Qatar

text: Several settlements, including Murwab, were developed during the Abbasid period. Over 100 stone-built houses, two mosques, and an Abbasid fort were constructed in Murwab during this era. Murwab fort is the oldest intact fort in the country and was built over the ruins of a previous fort which was destroyed by fire. The town was the site of the first sizable settlement established off the coastal area of Qatar. A similar site, containing T'ang stoneware and dating to the 9th and 10th centuries, was discovered in Al Naman (north of Zubarah).


title: History of Qatar

text: Substantial development in the pearling industry around the Qatari Peninsula occurred during the Abbasid era. Ships from Basra en route to India and China would make stops in the port of Qatar during this period. Chinese porcelain, West African coins and pieces from Thailand have been discovered in Qatar. Archaeological remains from the 9th century suggest that Qatar's inhabitants used greater wealth, perhaps from pearl trade, to construct higher quality homes and public buildings. However, when the caliphate's prosperity declined in Iraq, so too did it in Qatar.


title: History of Qatar

text: Most of Eastern Arabia, particularly Bahrain and the Qatari Peninsula, were sites of revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate around 868. Mohammed ibn Ali, a revolutionary, roused the people of Bahrain and Qatar into a rebellion, but the rebellion was unsuccessful and he relocated to Basra. He was later successful in instigating the Zanj Rebellion.


title: History of Qatar

text: A radical Isma'ili group called the Qarmatians established a utopian republic in Eastern Arabia in 899. They considered the pilgrimage to Mecca a superstition and once in control of the Bahraini state they launched raids along the pilgrim routes crossing the Arabian Peninsula. In 906 they ambushed the pilgrim caravan returning from Mecca and massacred 20,000 pilgrims.


title: History of Qatar

text: Qatar is mentioned in 13th-century Muslim scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi's book, "Mu'jam Al-Buldan (Dictionary of Countries)", which alludes to the Qataris' fine striped woven cloaks and their skills in improvement and finishing of spears, known as khattiyah spears. The spears acquired their name as an homage to the region of Al-Khatt which encompassed present-day Qatif, Uqair and Qatar.


title: History of Qatar

text: Much of Eastern Arabia was controlled by the Usfurids in 1253, but control of the region was later seized by the prince of Ormus in 1320. Qatar's pearls provided the kingdom with one of its main sources of income. The Portuguese defeated the Ormus by 1507 following the destruction of their fleet by Afonso de Albuquerque's forces. However, Albuquerque's captains grew rebellious and he was compelled to abandon the Ormus island. Ultimately, in 1515, King Manuel I killed Sultan Saifuddin's vizier Reis Hamed, pressuring the sultan to become a vassal of King Manuel.


title: History of Qatar

text: Bahrain and mainland Qatar had been seized by the Portuguese in 1521. After the Portuguese claimed control, they constructed a series of fortresses along the Arabian Coast. However, there have been no significant Portuguese ruins found in Qatar. The Portuguese focused on creating a commercial empire in Eastern Arabia, and exported gold, silver, silks, cloves, amber, horses and pearls. The population of Al-Hasa submitted voluntarily to the rule of the Ottomans in 1550, preferring them to the Portuguese.


title: History of Qatar

text: After the Portuguese were expelled from the area in 1602 by the Dutch and British, the Ottomans saw little need to maintain a military presence in the Al-Hasa region. As a result, the Ottomans were expelled by the Bani Khalid in 1670.


title: History of Qatar

text: The Al Bin Ali Tribe are the original descendants of Bani Utbah tribe being that they are the only tribe to carry and nurture the last name Al-Utbi in their Ownership's documents of Palm gardens in Bahrain as early as the year 1699 - 1111 Hijri. They are specifically descendants of their great grand father Ali Al-Utbi who is a descendant of their great grand father Utbah hence the name Bani Utbah which means sons of Utbah. Utbah is the great grandfather of the Bani Utbah which is a section of Khafaf from Bani Sulaim bin Mansoor from Mudhar from Adnan. The plural word for Al-Utbi is Utub and the name of the tribe is Bani Utbah.


title: History of Qatar

text: Having expelled the Ottomans, the Bani Khalid held jurisdiction over Qatar from 1670 onward. In 1766, the Utub clans of Al Jalahma and Al Khalifa migrated from Kuwait to Zubarah in Qatar. By the time of their arrival in Zubarah, the Bani Khalid exercised weak power over Qatar, though the largest village was ruled by distant kin of the Bani Khalid. After the Persian Occupation of Basra in 1777 many merchants and families moved from Basra and Kuwait to Zubarah. The town became a thriving center of trade and pearling in the Persian Gulf region after this movement.


title: History of Qatar

text: The Al Khalifa claimed Qatar and Bahrain by 1783, whereas Bani Khalid control of neighboring Al-Hasa officially came to an end in 1795.


title: History of Qatar

text: Following Persian aggression towards Zubarah, the Utub and other Arab tribes drove out the Persians from Bahrain in 1783. Al Jalahma seceded from the Utub alliance sometime before the Utub annexed Bahrain in 1783 and returned to Zubarah. This left the Al Khalifa tribe in undisputed possession of Bahrain, who then transferred their power base from Zubarah to Manama. They continued to exert authority over the mainland, and paid tribute to the Wahhabi to ward off challenges on Qatar. However, Qatar did not develop a centralized authority because the Al Khalifa oriented their focus towards Bahrain. As a result, Qatar went through many periods of 'transitory sheikhs', with the most notable being Rahmah ibn Jabir al-Jalahimah. By 1790, Zubarah was described as a safe haven for merchants who enjoyed complete protection and no customs duties.


title: History of Qatar

text: The town came under threat by the Wahhabi from 1780 onward due to the intermittent raids launched on the Bani Khalid strongholds in Al-Hasa. The Wahhabi speculated that the population of Zubarah would conspire against their regime with the help of the Bani Khalid. They also believed that its residents practiced teachings contrary to the Wahhabi doctrine, and regarded the town as an important gateway to the Persian Gulf. Saudi general Sulaiman ibn Ufaysan led a raid against the town in 1787. Five years later, a massive Wahhabi force conquered Al Hasa, forcing many refugees to flee to Zubarah. Wahhabi forces besieged Zubarah and several neighboring settlements in 1794 later as punishment for accommodating asylum seekers. The local chieftains were allowed to continue carrying out administrative tasks but were required to pay a tax.


title: History of Qatar

text: After defeating the Bani Khalid in 1795, the Wahhabi were attacked on two fronts. The Ottomans and Egyptians assaulted the western front, while the Al Khalifa in Bahrain and the Omanis launched an attack against the eastern front. The Wahhabi allied themselves with the Al Jalahmah tribe in Qatar, who proceeded to engage the Al Khalifa and Omanis on the eastern frontier.


title: History of Qatar

text: Upon being made aware of advancements by the Egyptians on the western frontier, in 1811, the Wahhabi amir reduced his garrisons in Bahrain and Zubarah in order to re-position his troops. Said bin Sultan of Muscat capitalized on this opportunity and attacked the Wahhabi garrisons in Bahrain and Zubarah. The fort in Zubarah was set ablaze and the Al Khalifa were effectively returned to power.