title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Iranians immediately sought to strengthen their position and finally subject the rebellious Kingdoms of Eastern Georgia and making them integral parts of the empire. During the next 150 years as Persian subjects, various Georgian kings and nobles rose into rebellion, while at many other times political activity was nothing but dormant, and many kings and aristocrats fully accepted Persian overlordship and converted to Islam as well, for greater boons from their Iranian Shahs. On the maternal side of the Safavid (also Qajar) and the Ottoman Turkish dynasty, many members were from Georgian aristocratic or different lines. In the early 17th century Shah Abbas I made a punitive campaign into his Georgian territories after being informed that Teimuraz I of Kakheti with a couple of Christian citizens assaulted the Karabakh governor and killed him. Shah Abbas decided to confront him but Teimuraz I fled to Georgia towards Ahmed I, in order to shelter from Safavid forces. This event brought an end to the Treaty of Nasuh Pasha signed between the Ottomans and the Safavids. In 1616, Abbas I dispatched his troops to Georgia. He aimed to suppress the Georgian revolt in Tbilisi, however the Safavid soldiers met heavy resistance by the citizens of Tbilisi. Enraged, Shah Abbas ordered a massacre of the public. A large number of Georgian soldiers and people were killed and as many as between 130,000 and 200,000 Georgians from Kakheti were deported to Persia. During the same conflict, Teimuraz sent the Queen mother, Ketevan, as a negotiator to Abbas, but in an act of revenge for the recalcitrance of Teimuraz, he ordered the queen to renounce Christianity, and upon her refusal, had her tortured to death. By the 17th century, both eastern and western Georgia had sunk into poverty as the result of the constant warfare. The economy was so bad that barter replaced the use of money and the populations of the cities declined markedly. The French traveller Jean Chardin, who visited the region of Mingrelia in 1671, noted the wretchedness of the peasants, the arrogance of the nobles and the ignorance of the clergy. The various rulers in Georgia were thus often split between acknowledging Ottoman or Iranian overlordship (which often entailed nominal conversion to Islam) or making a bid for independence. The emergence of a third imperial power to the north, Christian Russia, made the latter an increasingly tempting choice.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In the early 18th century, Kartli, the most politically dominant region of all Georgian areas, saw a partial recovery under Vakhtang VI, who instituted a new law code and tried to improve the economy. His reign saw the establishment of the first Georgian-language printing press in 1709.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Following a civil war and the resulting chaos that happened in the whole Safavid Empire after its disintegration and overthrow, the Ottomans and Russians decided to divide large parts of Persia in the Treaty of Constantinople (1724). Georgia got divided by the two. Following Persia's quick resurgence under Nader Shah of Iran, the Ottomans were ousted from Kakheti and the rest of Georgia in 1735 by Nader after two years of rule, which resulted in the quick reestablishment of Persian rule over this time almost all of Georgia. Teimuraz sided with the Persians and was installed as a Persian wali (governor) in neighboring Kartli. However, many Georgian nobles refused to accept the new regime and rose in rebellion in response to heavy tribute levied by Nader Shah upon the Georgian provinces. Nonetheless, Teimuraz and Heraclius remained loyal to the shah, partly in order to prevent the comeback of the rival Mukhrani branch, whose fall early in the 1720s had opened the way to Teimuraz's accession in Kartli. He then served as a lieutenant to his father and assumed the regency when Teimuraz was briefly summoned for consultations in the Persian capital of Isfahan in 1744. In the meantime, Heraclius defeated a coup attempt by the rival Georgian prince Abdullah Beg of the Mukhrani dynasty, and helped Teimuraz suppress the aristocratic opposition to the Persian hegemony led by Givi Amilakhvari. As a reward, Nader Shah granted the kingship of Kartli to Teimuraz and of Kakheti to Heraclius, and also arranged the marriage of his nephew Ali-Qoli Khan, who eventually would succeed him as Adil Shah, to Teimuraz's daughter Kethevan.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Yet, both Georgian kingdoms remained under heavy Persian tribute until Nader Shah was assassinated in 1747. Teimuraz and Heraclius took advantage of the ensuing political instability in Persia to assert their independence and expelled Persian garrisons from all key positions in Georgia, including Tbilisi. In close cooperation with each other, they managed to prevent a new revolt by the Mukhranian supporters fomented by Ebrahim Khan, brother of Adel Shah, in 1748. They concluded an anti-Persian alliance with the khans of Azerbaijan who were particularly vulnerable to the aggression from Persian warlords and agreed to recognize Heraclius's supremacy in eastern Transcaucasia. In 1752, the Georgian kings sent a mission to Russia to request 3,000 Russian troops or a subsidy to enable them to hire Circassian mercenaries in order to invade Persia and install a pro-Russian government there. The embassy failed to yield any results, however, for the Russian court was preoccupied with European affairs.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In 1762, Teimuraz II died while on a diplomatic mission to the court of St. Petersburg, and Heraclius succeeded him as King of Kartli, thus uniting eastern Georgia politically for the first time in three centuries. Erekle II, king of unified Kartli-Kakheti from 1762 to 1798, managed to unify east Georgia politically for the first time in three centuries. He turned towards Russia for protection against Ottoman and most notably Persian attacks. The Russian empress Catherine the Great was keen to have the Georgians as allies in her wars against the Turks, but sent only meagre forces to help them. In 1769–1772, a handful of Russian troops under General Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben fought against Turks in Imereti. The Russian troops retreated before a clash against the Turks. In 1783 Erekle signed the Treaty of Georgievsk with Russia, according to which Kartli-Kakheti got established as a protectorate of Russia, which guaranteed Georgia's territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs. The treaty therefore confirmed that Georgia abjured any form of dependence on Persia (who had been the suzerains of most of Georgia for centuries) or another power, and every new Georgian monarch would require the confirmation and investiture of the Russian tsar, and have no diplomatic communications with other nations without Russia's prior consent. But when another Russo-Turkish War broke out in 1787, Erekle maintained diplomatic contacts with Ottoman liege Suleiman pasha from Akhaltsikhe and signed a separate treaty with him. This treaty was ratified by the sultan in the summer of 1787. Therefore, the Russians withdrew their troops from the region for use elsewhere, leaving Erekle's kingdom unprotected. In 1795, the new Persian shah, Agha Mohammed Khan, infuriated with the Treaty of Georgievsk which he saw as an act of treason, invaded the country and captured and burnt the capital, Tbilisi, to the ground, reestablishing Persian rule over Georgia.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In spite of failure to honour the terms of the Treaty of Georgievsk, Georgian rulers felt they had nobody else to turn to. After Erekle's death, a civil war broke out over the succession to the throne of Kartli-Kakheti and one of the rival candidates called on Russia to intervene and decide matters. On January 8, 1801, Tsar Paul I of Russia signed a decree on the incorporation of Georgia (Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire, which was confirmed by Tsar Alexander I on September 12, 1801. The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg, Garsevan Chavchavadze, reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor Alexander Kurakin. In May 1801 Russian General Carl Heinrich Knorring dethroned the Georgian heir to the throne David Batonishvili and deployed a government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lasarev. By this, Persia officially lost control over the city and the wider Georgian lands it had been ruling for centuries.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: A part of the Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until April 1802 when General Knorring compassed the nobility in Tbilisi's Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the imperial crown of Russia. Those who disagreed were arrested temporarily.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In the summer of 1805 Russian troops on the river Askerani and near Zagam defeated the Qajar Persian army during the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) led by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar who sought to regain full control over Georgia and Dagestan, saving Tbilisi from its attack. Russian suzerainty over Persia's traditionally eastern and southern Georgian ruled territories were nominally finalized in 1813 in the Treaty of Gulistan. In 1810, the kingdom of Imereti (Western Georgia) was annexed by the Russian Empire after the suppression of King Solomon II's resistance. From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars against Turkey and Persia, several formerly Georgian territories were annexed to the Russian Empire. These areas (Batumi, Artvin, Akhaltsikhe, Poti, and Abkhazia) now represent the majority of the territory of the present state of Georgia. Georgia was reunified for the first time in centuries but had lost its independence.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The Russian and Georgian societies had much in common: the main religion was Orthodox Christianity and in both countries a land-owning aristocracy ruled over a population of serfs. The Russian authorities aimed to integrate Georgia into the rest of their empire, but at first Russian rule proved high-handed, arbitrary and insensitive to local law and customs, leading to a conspiracy by Georgian nobles in 1832 and a revolt by peasants and nobles in Guria in 1841. Things changed with the appointment of Mikhail Vorontsov as Viceroy of the Caucasus in 1845. Count Vorontsov's new policies, alleged by himself, won over the Georgian nobility, who became increasingly eager to abandon Islamic influences that had been forced upon Georgia in the preceding centuries and pursued, after the example of Russian nobility, a long-sought process of Europeanisation. Life for Georgian serfs was very different, however, since the rural economy remained seriously depressed. Georgian serfs lived in dire poverty, subject to the frequent threat of starvation. Few of them lived in the towns, where what little trade and industry there was, was in the hands of Armenians, whose ancestors had migrated to Georgia in the Middle Ages.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Serfdom was abolished in Russian lands in 1861. The tsar also wanted to emancipate the serfs of Georgia, but without losing the loyalty of the nobility whose revenues depended on peasant labour. This called for delicate negotiations before serfdom was gradually phased out in the Georgian provinces from 1864 onwards.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The emancipation of the serfs pleased neither the serfs nor the nobles. The poverty of the serfs had not been alleviated while the nobles had lost some of their privileges. The nobles in particular also felt threatened by the growing power of the urban, Armenian middle class in Georgia, who prospered as capitalism came to the region. Georgian dissatisfaction with Tsarist autocracy and Armenian economic domination led to the development of a national liberation movement in the second half of the 19th century.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: A large-scale peasant revolt occurred in 1905, which led to political reforms that eased the tensions for a period. During this time, the Marxist Social Democratic Party became the dominant political movement in Georgia, being elected to all the Georgian seats in the Russian State Duma established after 1905. Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili (more famously known as Joseph Stalin), a Georgian Bolshevik, became a leader of the revolutionary (and anti-Menshevik) movement in Georgia. He went on to control the Soviet Union.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Many Georgians were upset by the loss of independence of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The Russian clergy took control of Georgian churches and monasteries, prohibiting use of the Georgian liturgy and desecrating medieval Georgian frescos on various churches all across Georgia.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Between the years of 1855 to 1907, the Georgian patriotic movement was launched under the leadership of Prince Ilia Chavchavadze, world-renowned poet, novelist and orator. Chavchavadze financed new Georgian schools and supported the Georgian national theatre. In 1866 he launched the newspaper "Iveria", which played an important part in reviving Georgian national consciousness. His struggle for national awakening was welcomed by the leading Georgian intellectuals of that time such as Giorgi Tsereteli, Ivane Machabeli, Akaki Tsereteli, Niko Nikoladze, Alexander Kazbegi and Iakob Gogebashvili.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The Georgian intelligentsia's support for Prince Chavchavadze and Georgian independence is shown in this declaration:


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The last decades of the 19th century witnessed a Georgian literary revival in which writers emerged of a stature unequalled since the Golden Age of Rustaveli seven hundred years before. Ilia Chavchavadze himself excelled alike in lyric and ballad poetry, in the novel, the short story and the essay. Apart from Chavchavadze, the most universal literary genius of the age was Akaki Tsereteli, known as "the immortal nightingale of the Georgian people." Along with Niko Nikoladze and Iakob Gogebashvili, these literary figures contributed significantly to the national cultural revival and were therefore known as the founding fathers of modern Georgia.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The Russian Revolution of October 1917 plunged Russia into a bloody civil war during which several outlying Russian territories declared independence. Georgia was one of them, proclaiming the establishment of the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) on May 26, 1918. The new country was ruled by the Menshevik faction of the Social Democratic Party, which established a multi-party system in sharp contrast with the "dictatorship of the proletariat" established by the Bolsheviks in Russia. It was recognised by Soviet Russia (Treaty of Moscow (1920)) and the major Western powers in 1921


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: During the final stages of World War I, the Armenians and Georgians had been defending against the advance of the Ottoman Empire. In June 1918, in order to forestall an Ottoman advance on Tiflis, the Georgian troops controlled the Lori Province, which had an overwhelming Armenian population. After the Armistice of Mudros and the withdrawal of the Ottomans, the Georgian forces remained. Georgian Menshevik parliamentarian Irakli Tsereteli offered that the Armenians would be safer from the Turks as Georgian citizens. The Georgians offered a quadripartite conference including Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus in order to resolve the issue, which the Armenians rejected. In December 1918, the Georgians were confronting a rebellion chiefly in the village of Uzunlar in the Lori region. Within days, hostilities commenced between the two republics.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The Georgian–Armenian War was a border war fought in 1918 between the Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Democratic Republic of Armenia over the parts of then disputed provinces of Lori, Javakheti but were largely populated by Armenians.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In February 1921, the Red Army invaded Georgia and after a short war occupied the country. The Georgian government was forced to flee. Guerrilla resistance in 1921–1924 was followed by a large-scale patriotic uprising in August 1924. Colonel Kakutsa Cholokashvili was one of the most prominent guerrilla leaders in this phase.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: During the Georgian Affair of 1922, Georgia was forcibly incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia (including Abkhazia and South Ossetia). The Soviet Government forced Georgia to cede several areas to Turkey (the province of Tao-Klarjeti and part of Batumi province), Azerbaijan (the province of Hereti/Saingilo), Armenia (the Lore region) and Russia (northeastern corner of Khevi, eastern Georgia).


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Georgia was spared the worst excesses of the collectivization which started in 1930. The rate of collectivization was also slow reaching 75% only in 1937.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Soviet rule was harsh: about 40,000 people were lost to the collectivization and purges under Stalin and his secret police chief, the Georgian Lavrenty Beria. In 1936, the TFSSR was dissolved and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Reaching the Caucasus oilfields was one of the main objectives of Adolf Hitler's invasion of the USSR in June 1941, but the armies of the Axis powers did not get as far as Georgia. The country contributed almost 550,000 fighters (300,000 were killed) to the Red Army, and was a vital source of textiles and munitions. However, a number of Georgians fought on the side of the German armed forces, forming the Georgian Legion.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: During this period Stalin ordered the deportation of the Chechen, Ingush, Karachay and the Balkarian peoples from the Northern Caucasus; they were transported to Siberia and Central Asia for alleged collaboration with the Nazis. He abolished their respective autonomous republics. The Georgian SSR was briefly granted some of their territory until 1957.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Stalin's successful appeal for patriotic unity eclipsed Georgian nationalism during the war and diffused it in the years following. On March 9, 1956, about a hundred Georgians were killed when they demonstrated against Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The decentralisation program introduced by Khrushchev in the mid-1950s was soon exploited by Georgian Communist Party officials to build their own regional power base. A thriving pseudo-capitalist shadow economy emerged alongside the official state-owned economy. While the official growth rate of the economy of the Georgia was among the lowest in the USSR, such indicators as savings level, rates of car and house ownership were the highest in the Union, making Georgia one of the most economically successful Soviet republics. Corruption was at a high level. Among all the union republics, Georgia had the highest number of residents with high or special secondary education.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Although corruption was hardly unknown in the Soviet Union, it became so widespread and blatant in Georgia that it came to be an embarrassment to the authorities in Moscow. Eduard Shevardnadze, the country's interior minister between 1964 and 1972, gained a reputation as a fighter of corruption and engineered the removal of Vasil Mzhavanadze, the corrupt First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party. Shevardnadze ascended to the post of First Secretary with the blessings of Moscow. He was an effective and able ruler of Georgia from 1972 to 1985, improving the official economy and dismissing hundreds of corrupt officials.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Soviet power and Georgian nationalism clashed in 1978 when Moscow ordered revision of the constitutional status of the Georgian language as Georgia's official state language. Bowing to pressure from mass street demonstrations on April 14, 1978, Moscow approved Shevardnadze's reinstatement of the constitutional guarantee the same year. April 14 was established as a Day of the Georgian Language.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Shevardnadze's appointment as Soviet Foreign Minister in 1985 brought his replacement in Georgia by Jumber Patiashvili, a conservative and generally ineffective Communist who coped poorly with the challenges of perestroika. Towards the end of the late 1980s, increasingly violent clashes occurred between the Communist authorities, the resurgent Georgian nationalist movement and nationalist movements in Georgia's minority-populated regions (notably South Ossetia). On April 9, 1989, Soviet troops were used to break up a peaceful demonstration at the government building in Tbilisi. Twenty Georgians were killed and hundreds wounded and poisoned. The event radicalised Georgian politics, prompting many—even some Georgian communists—to conclude that independence was preferable to continued Soviet rule.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Opposition pressure on the communist government was manifested in popular demonstrations and strikes, which ultimately resulted in an open, multiparty and democratic parliamentary election being held on 28 October 1990 in which the Round Table—Free Georgia bloc captured 54 percent of the proportional vote to gain 155 seats out of the 250 up for election, while the communists gained 64 seats and 30 percent of the proportional vote. The leading dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia became the head of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia. On March 31, 1991, Gamsakhurdia wasted no time in organising a referendum on independence, which was approved by 98.9% of the votes. Formal independence from the Soviet Union was declared on April 9, 1991, although it took some time before it was widely recognised by outside powers such as the United States and European countries. Gamsakhurdia's government strongly opposed any vestiges of Russian dominance, such as the remaining Soviet military bases in the republic, and (after the dissolution of the Soviet Union) his government declined to join the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Gamsakhurdia was elected president on May 26, 1991, with 86% of the vote. He was subsequently widely criticised for what was perceived to be an erratic and authoritarian style of government, with nationalists and reformists joining forces in an uneasy anti-Gamsakhurdia coalition. A tense situation was worsened by the large amount of ex-Soviet weaponry available to the quarreling parties and by the growing power of paramilitary groups. The situation came to a head on December 22, 1991, when armed opposition groups launched a violent military coup d'état, besieging Gamsakhurdia and his supporters in government buildings in central Tbilisi. Gamsakhurdia managed to evade his enemies and fled to the breakaway Russian republic of Chechnya in January 1992.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The new government invited Eduard Shevardnadze to become the head of a State Council—in effect, president—in March 1992, following Gamsakhurdia's ouster. In August 1992, a separatist dispute in the Georgian autonomous republic of Abkhazia escalated when government forces and paramilitaries were sent into the area to quell separatist activities. The Abkhaz fought back with help from paramilitaries from Russia's North Caucasus regions and alleged covert support from Russian military stationed in a base in Gudauta, Abkhazia and in September 1993 the government forces suffered a catastrophic defeat, which led to them being driven out and the entire Georgian population of the region being expelled. Around 14,000 people died and another 300,000 were forced to flee.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Ethnic violence also flared in South Ossetia but was eventually quelled, although at the cost of several hundred casualties and 100,000 refugees fleeing into Russian North Ossetia. In south-western Georgia, the autonomous republic of Ajaria came under the control of Aslan Abashidze, who managed to rule his republic from 1991 to 2004 as a personal fiefdom in which the Tbilisi government had little influence.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: On September 24, 1993, in the wake of the Abkhaz disaster, Zviad Gamsakhurdia returned from exile to organise an uprising against the government. His supporters were able to capitalise on the disarray of the government forces and quickly overran much of western Georgia. This alarmed Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and units of the Russian Army were sent into Georgia to assist the government. Gamsakhurdia's rebellion quickly collapsed and he died on December 31, 1993, apparently after being cornered by his enemies. In a highly controversial agreement, Shevardnadze's government agreed that it would join the CIS as part of the price for military and political support.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Shevardnadze narrowly survived a bomb attack in August 1995 that he blamed on his erstwhile paramilitary allies. He took the opportunity to imprison the paramilitary leader Jaba Ioseliani and ban his Mkhedrioni militia in what was proclaimed as a strike against "mafia forces". However, his government—and his own family—became increasingly associated with pervasive corruption that hampered Georgia's economic growth. He won presidential elections in November 1995 and April 2000 with large majorities, but there were persistent allegations of vote-rigging.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The war in Chechnya caused considerable friction with Russia, which accused Georgia of harbouring Chechen guerrillas. Further friction was caused by Shevardnadze's close relationship with the United States, which saw him as a counterbalance to Russian influence in the strategic Transcaucasus region. Georgia became a major recipient of US foreign and military aid, signed a strategic partnership with NATO and declared an ambition to join both NATO and the EU. In 2002, the United States sent hundreds of Special Operations Forces to train the Military of Georgia—a programme known as the Georgia Train and Equip Program. Perhaps most significantly, the country secured a $3 billion project for a Caspian-Mediterranean pipeline (Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan pipeline)


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: A powerful coalition of reformists headed by Mikheil Saakashvili and Zurab Zhvania united to oppose Shevardnadze's government in the November 2, 2003 parliamentary elections. The elections were widely regarded as blatantly rigged, including by OSCE observers; in response, the opposition organised massive demonstrations in the streets of Tbilisi. After two tense weeks, Shevardnadze resigned on November 23, 2003, and was replaced as president on an interim basis by Burjanadze.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: These results were annulled by the Georgia Supreme Court after the Rose Revolution on November 25, 2003, following allegations of widespread electoral fraud and large public protests, which led to the resignation of Shevardnadze.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: A new election was held on March 28, 2004. The National Movement – Democrats (NMD), the party supporting Mikheil Saakashvili, won 67% of the vote; only the Rightist Opposition (7.6%) also gained parliamentary representation passing the 7% threshold.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: The new president faced many problems on coming to office. More than 230,000 internally displaced persons put an enormous strain on the economy. Peace in the separatist areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, overseen by Russian and United Nations peacekeepers in the framework of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, remained fragile.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Since the weakening of the democratic credentials of the Saakashvili cabinet after the police crackdown of the 2007 protests, the government has put the stress on his successful economic reforms. Kakha Bendukidze was pivotal in the libertarian reforms launched under Saakashvili, including one of the least restrictive labour codes, the lowest flat income tax rates (12%) and some of the lowest customs rates worldwide, along with the drastic reduction of necessary licenses and permits for business. The objective of the Georgian elite switched to the aim of "a functioning democracy with the highest possible level of economic liberties", as expressed by the prime minister Lado Gurgenidze.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In August 2008 Russia and Georgia engaged in the 2008 South Ossetia war. Its aftermath, leading to the 2008–2010 Georgia–Russia crisis, is still tense.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In October 2011 famous Georgian tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili admitted his entrance to politics of Georgia. In December he established opposition political movement Georgian Dream and announced his desire to take part in the 2012 parliamentary elections. In February 2012 they formed coalition with Republican Party of Georgia, Free Democrats, National Forum and Industry Will Save Georgia. Tensions rose during pre-election campaign, whereas many leaders of opposition were arrested. 54% of electorate voted in favor of the newly formed coalition, thus Georgia Dream obtained 65 seats in parliament.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In October 2012, Saakashvili admitted defeat for his party in parliamentary elections. In his speech he said that "the opposition has the lead and it should form the government – and I as president should help them with this". This represented the first democratic transition of power in Georgia's post-Soviet history.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: On 17 November 2013, Giorgi Margvelashvili won the Georgian presidential election, 2013 with 62.12% of the votes cast. With this, a new constitution came into effect which devolved significant power from the President to the Prime Minister. Margvelashvili's inauguration was not attended by his predecessor Mikheil Saakashvili, who cited disrespect by the new government towards its predecessors and opponents.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: Margvelashvili initially refused to move to the luxurious presidential palace built under Saakashvili in Tbilisi, opting for more modest quarters in the building of the State Chancellery until a 19th-century building once occupied by the U.S. embassy in Georgia is refurbished for him. However, he later started to occasionally use the palace for official ceremonies. This was one of the reasons for which Margvelashvili was publicly criticized, in a March 2014 interview with Imedi TV, by the ex-Prime Minister Ivanishvili, who said he was "disappointed" in Margvelashvili.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In October 2016, the ruling party, Georgian Dream, won the parliamentary election with 48.61 percent of the vote and the opposition United National Movement (UNM) 27.04 percent. Georgian Dream came to power in 2012, ending UNM’s nine-year rule. It was funded by tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country’s richest man and party chief, while the opposition UNM was founded by former president Mikheil Saakashvili.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In November 2018, Salome Zurabishvili won Georgia's presidential election, becoming the first woman to hold the office. She was backed by the ruling Georgian Dream party. However, the new constitution made the role of president largely ceremonial. It was the last direct election of a Georgian president, as the country switched to a parliamentary system.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: On 31 October 2020, the ruling Georgian Dream, led by Bidzina Ivanishvili, secured over 48% of votes in the parliamentary election. It gave the party the right to form the country's next government and continue governing alone. The opposition made accusations of fraud, which the Georgian Dream denied. Thousands of people gathered outside the Central Election Commission to demand a new vote.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: In February 2021, Irakli Garibashvili became Prime Minister of Georgia, following the resignation of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia. Prime Minister Irakli Garibashviliis, who had an earlier term as prime minister in 2013-15, is a close ally of the powerful founder of the ruling Georgian Dream party, Bidzina Ivanishvili.


title: History of Georgia (country)

text: On 1 October 2021, former President Mikheil Saakashvili was arrested on his return from exile. Saakashvili led the country from 2004 to 2013 but was later convicted in absentia on corruption charges, which he denied.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: Michael Perry James (born August 18, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for AS Monaco Basket of LNB Pro A and the EuroLeague. He was a high school basketball standout playing for Grant High School in Portland, and played college basketball for Eastern Arizona College and Lamar University. He was the first player in NBA history to go from a two-way contract to a regular contract, all while never being sent down to the NBA G League in the process.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: James was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. While in Portland, he played basketball for Grant High School under coach Tony Broadous. In 2007–08, as a senior, he was ranked the No. 3 Player in the state and No. 184 overall. He was also only recruited by Division III universities at the time. James averaged 15 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals per game. The team went on to win the 2008 Oregon state championship, defeating Oregon City for it.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: James started his college career at Eastern Arizona College, a national junior college where he played under coach Maurice Leitzke. In his first year, he averaged 20 points per game shooting 42 percent overall, 33.3 percent from three-point range and 78 percent free throws. He was named all-conference and all-region teams as well as being ranked No. 40 best junior college player by Rivals.com. As a sophomore, he was the fourth leading scorer in the NJCAA Division I recording 26 points per game. In addition he contributed 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In 2010, James transferred to a NCAA Division I school, Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. Here he played under coach Steve Roccaforte in 2010–11 and under coach Pat Knight for the 2011–12 NCAA season. Playing a little over 18 minutes a game, he averaged 12.5 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.1 steals. He led the team in scoring, even though he only started two out of twenty-four games for the season. He included a 52-point game on January 4, 2011 against Louisiana College, which Lamar Cardinals won 114–62, breaking the previous record of 50 set by Mike Oliver in 1980. In addition, he broke Lamar University's Montagne Center record for most points scored in a single game with 52, field goals made with 18, field goal attempts with 35, three-pointers made with 11 and three-pointer attempts with 21. In his senior season (2011–12), he averaged 17.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2 assists and 1.6 steals per game shooting 45.3 percent overall. One notable game of his was against the 2012 NCAA champion University of Kentucky, where he scored 29 points. His senior season ended in the first round of the 2012 NCAA tournament with a loss against Vermont. By the end of his season, he was named All-Southland First Team, Southland Tournament MVP and Southland Conference Player of the Week three times in four weeks. He had majored in general studies during his time there.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In August 2012, James signed with Zagreb of Croatia for the 2012–13 season. In December 2012, he left Zagreb. In February 2013, he signed with Hapoel Galil Elyon of Israeli second tier league for the rest of the season.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In July 2013, James signed with Paffoni Omegna of Italy under their DNA Silver Basket league name for the 2013–14 season. That season, they finished in fourth place for the DNA Silver portion of the league.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In August 2014, James signed a one-year contract with Kolossos Rodou of Greece. On December 2, 2014, he left Kolossos and signed with the Spanish club Laboral Kutxa Baskonia of the Liga ACB for the rest of the season.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In July 2015, James joined the Phoenix Suns for the 2015 NBA Summer League. That same month, after a successful Summer League performance, he re-signed with Baskonia for one more season. During that season, Saski Baskonia would reach the EuroLeague Final Four, losing to the Fenerbahçe Ülker and the PBC Lokomotiv Kuban for a fourth-place performance.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On July 3, 2016, James signed with Panathinaikos in Greece for the 2016–17 season. That year saw him perform his best work in the EuroLeague yet. He helped the Panathinaikos win both the Greek Cup title and the Greek Basket League championship in the 2016–17 season. He was later named the Greek Basket League's Most Spectacular Player that year as well.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On July 3, 2017, James signed with the Phoenix Suns and joined the team for the 2017 NBA Summer League. In the 2017 Summer League, he led the team in points and assists, averaging 20.5 points off of 53.8% shooting and 5.0 assists per game, as well as recording 5.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 33.2 minutes per game for the six games the Suns played during the event. James' contract with the team was a two-way affiliate deal, their first in franchise history. He also became the first player to sign a two-way contract in the NBA after spending multiple years overseas in international leagues. While James was eligible to split his time between Phoenix and their Northern Arizona Suns G League affiliate, he would never join the G League team during his two-way contract. James made his NBA debut on October 18, 2017, against the Portland Trail Blazers, recording 12 points that night. James became the first player to sign a two-way contract to also start with the team that signed him on, as he became the starting point guard on the October 23 game against the Sacramento Kings under interim head coach Jay Triano, recording 18 points and a team-high 7 assists in a 117–115 win. During his first four games of the season, James recorded at least 10 or more points with increased minute production in each game. On Halloween night, James recorded his first 20-point game with 24 points scored and four steals recorded in a 122–114 win over the Brooklyn Nets. On November 26, 2017, he scored a career-high 26 points in a 119–108 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. James would play his last game under his original two-way contract on December 5 against the Toronto Raptors, recording 10 points in a 126–113 loss. During this time, James would be considered the biggest success story to date revolving around the NBA's newest implemented system.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On December 7, 2017, James' contract with the Suns was converted to a one-year regular season deal, after Phoenix waived Derrick Jones Jr. However, on December 23, 2017, over two weeks after signing his one-year deal, James was waived by the Suns.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On January 14, 2018, the New Orleans Pelicans signed James to a new two-way contract. Much like his tenure with Phoenix, James was never assigned to the NBA G League during his two-way contract with New Orleans. On February 10, 2018, he was waived by the Pelicans after appearing in four games.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On February 13, 2018, Panathinaikos announced the return of James. He started the season playing shooting guard for the Greens, alongside Nick Calathes. On March 22, James scored the game winning shot with 5.8 seconds left against Maccabi Tel Aviv. He finished the game with 27 points.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On July 13, 2018, Olimpia Milano signed James to a multi-year contract. Over 30 games of the 2018–19 EuroLeague season, he averaged league-high 19.8 points, along with 6.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He won the Alphonso Ford Trophy, given to the top scorer of the EuroLeague.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: But despite the statistically excellent season, the incoming Olimpia Milano coach, Ettore Messina, declared Mike James wouldn't be part of the 2019–20 team plans. James and the Italian team eventually reached an agreement and mutually parted ways on July 29, 2019.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On August 5, 2019, James signed a one-year contract with CSKA Moscow of the VTB United League and the EuroLeague. On June 1, 2020, he signed a three-year contract extension with CSKA. On April 21, 2021, he and CSKA came to an agreement that allowed the player to become a free agent until the end of the 2020–21 season. James averaged 19.3 points and 5.7 assist per game in the 2020–21 EuroLeague season. On September 11, 2021, James and the Russian club officially reached a buy-out agreement in order to terminate their mutual contract.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: On April 23, 2021, James signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets. On the same day of his signing, James debuted for the Nets against the Boston Celtics, logging eight points on 3-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 from three to go along with two rebounds and two assists across 21 minutes in a 109–104 win. On May 3, James signed a second 10-day contract with the Nets. On May 13, James was signed for the rest of the 2020–21 season.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: James has played for Team Maryland and Team Hines in The Basketball Tournament (TBT), an annual single-elimination winner-take-all tournament on ESPN. In two games with Team Maryland in TBT 2016, Mike James averaged 28.5 points, 4.0 assists, and 6.5 rebounds per game. James' most impressive outing was a 35-point, seven-rebound outburst in a 104–92 loss against Team Foe. Three years later in TBT 2019, James led Team Hines to the Semifinal Round where they lost to the Golden Eagles, 68–62. In five games, James averaged 16.4 points and 5.4 assists per game, while shooting 36.8 percent from the field.


title: Mike James (basketball, born 1990)

text: In early August 2022, James received media attention after making critical comments about NBA star Stephen Curry. James referred to Curry as being "one-dimensional" and negatively compared Curry to other NBA stars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Joel Embiid, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Luka Dončić. Curry himself later jokingly referred to the "one-dimensional" jab from James while talking with the media at a basketball camp he was hosting for elite high school players.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: Technical variations of Linux distributions include support for different hardware devices and systems or software package configurations. Organizational differences may be motivated by historical reasons. Other criteria include security, including how quickly security upgrades are available; ease of package management; and number of packages available.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: These tables compare notable distribution's latest stable release on wide-ranging objective criteria. It does not cover each operating system's subjective merits, branches marked as unstable or beta, nor compare Linux distributions with other operating systems.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: The table below shows general information about the distributions: creator or producer, release date, the latest version, etc.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: Linux distributions endorsed by the Free Software Foundation are marked 100% Free under the System distribution commitment column.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: The table below shows the default file system, but many Linux distributions support some or all of ext2, ext3, ext4, Btrfs, ReiserFS, Reiser4, JFS, XFS, GFS2, OCFS2, and NILFS. It is possible to install Linux onto most of these file systems. The ext file systems, namely ext2, ext3, and ext4 are based on the original Linux file system.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: File systems have been developed by companies to meet their specific needs, by hobbyists, or adapted from Unix, Microsoft Windows, and other operating systems. Linux has full support for XFS and JFS, FAT (the DOS file system), and HFS, the main file system for the Macintosh. Support for Microsoft Windows NT's NTFS file system has been developed and is now comparable with other native Unix file systems. CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs' ISO 9660 and Universal Disk Format (UDF) are supported.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: Unlike other operating systems, Linux and Unix allow any file system regardless of the medium it is stored on, whether that medium is a magnetic disk, an optical disk (CD, DVD, etc.), a USB flash memory key, or even contained within a file located on another file system. Similarly, many C compilers (mainly GNU Compiler Collection (GCC)), init systems (mainly sysvinit), desktop environments and window managers are widely supported.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: Linux kernel portability to instruction set architectures other than x86, was an early feature added to the kernel.


title: Comparison of Linux distributions

text: Information on features in the distributions. Package numbers are only approximate. Some distributions like Debian tend to separate tools into different packages – usually stable release, development release, documentation and debug. Also counting the source package number varies. For debian and rpm based entries it is just the base to produce binary packages, so the total number of packages is the number of binary packages. For Arch based entries, it is additional.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Eugene Shalit (born March 25, 1926) is an American retired journalist, television personality, film and book critic and author. After starting to work part-time on NBC's "The Today Show" in 1970, he filled those roles from January 15, 1973, until retiring on November 11, 2010. He is known for his frequent use of puns, his oversized handlebar moustache and fuzzy hair, and for wearing colorful bowties.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit was born in New York City and raised in Newark and Morristown, New Jersey. In high school he wrote a humor column for the school newspaper, which Gannett has identified as "The Korn Krib". Shalit is of Jewish ancestry.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit wrote for "The Daily Illini" for six years at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (1943–1949).


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit, according to a "New York Times Magazine" interview of Dick Clark, was Clark's press agent in the early 1960s. Shalit reportedly "stopped representing" Clark during a Congressional investigation of payola. Clark never spoke to Shalit again, and referred to him as a "jellyfish".


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit has been involved in reviewing the arts since 1967 and has written for such publications as "Look" magazine, "Ladies' Home Journal" (for 12 years), "Cosmopolitan", "TV Guide", "Seventeen", "Glamour", "McCall's", and "The New York Times". From 1970 to 1982 he broadcast a daily essay on NBC Radio "Man About Anything", that was carried on more stations than any other NBC network radio feature.


title: Gene Shalit

text: In 1986, Shalit hosted a videocassette and laserdisc collection from MCA Home Video, "Gene Shalit's Critic's Choice Video". Four images (five on the laserdisc covers) of Shalit appeared in a filmstrip on the front of the box with his reviews on the back. Titles included "Touch of Evil", "Destry Rides Again", "Double Indemnity" and "The Ipcress File".


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit announced that he would leave "The Today Show" after 40 years, effective November 11, 2010. He was quoted as saying: "It's enough already," about his retirement. He has largely stayed out of the public eye since then, only appearing once for Willard Scott's retirement from NBC in 2015.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit was criticized by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his review of "Brokeback Mountain" in which he referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character as a "sexual predator": GLAAD said Shalit's "baseless branding of Jack as a 'sexual predator' merely because he is romantically interested in someone of the same sex is defamatory, ignorant, and irresponsible" and that he "used the occasion to promote defamatory antigay prejudice to a national audience." His son Peter, who is gay, wrote a letter to GLAAD defending his father and said the organization had defamed him by "falsely accusing him of a repellent form of bigotry."


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit was married to Nancy Lewis from 1950 until her death from cancer in 1978. For much of his career he lived in Leonia, New Jersey, although he was listed as a resident of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Nancy Lewis' and Gene Shalit's children include the artist and entrepreneur Willa Shalit. Another child is Peter Shalit, a physician and recognized authority on gay men's health and living with HIV. Their daughter Emily died of ovarian cancer in November 2012.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit crashed his car in Lenox, Massachusetts, on October 24, 2012, after falling asleep at the wheel. Misdemeanor charges of negligent driving to endanger were later dismissed after he agreed to stop driving until the dismissal, and to follow a "safety condition" approved by his attorney and the police chief.


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit guest-starred as the voice, and was portrayed in the form of a fish food critic named "Gene Scallop" in the "SpongeBob SquarePants" episode "The Krusty Sponge".


title: Gene Shalit

text: He has been parodied in several episodes of "Family Guy" in cutaway gags. In "Brian Sings and Swings", Shalit mugs Peter in a cutaway and makes threats using several movie title puns ("Don't Panic Room ... I'm not going to William Hurt you. I only want your Tango & Cash. So just Pay it Forward and we'll all be Happy Gilmore!"), which only serves to confuse Peter. In "The Book of Joe", Peter haunts Shalit and his fictional wife Joanne (who is identical to Shalit himself with a large moustache) by pretending to be the ghost of Roger Ebert. In another episode, Peter obtains the power of transformation and while in the form of Britney Spears he kisses Justin Timberlake and then turns into Shalit, exclaiming to a horrified Timberlake, "I'm Gene Shalit now! BYE!". In "Big Man on Hippocampus", Peter reads aloud a review that was supposedly written by Shalit. Another reference is when Peter is being told that all white people look alike, in reply a cutout of Gene Shalit's face is placed over Peter's as he asks "We all look alike do we!?"


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit also voiced a character portraying himself in three episodes of the animated series "The Critic".


title: Gene Shalit

text: Shalit was portrayed in two episodes of "Saturday Night Live" by Jon Lovitz, and later in nine episodes by Horatio Sanz in sketches and Weekend Update sequences.


title: Gene Shalit

text: On "Late Night with David Letterman" Shalit had his head squashed between two giant comedy hammers during an interview with David Letterman.


title: Kate Bock

text: Kate Lynne Bock (born 30 January 1988) is a Canadian model known for her appearances in the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue" since 2013. In 2020, she appeared on the cover, alongside Olivia Culpo and Jasmine Sanders.


title: Kate Bock

text: Bock was born on 30 January 1988 in Vancouver. She studied at a French immersion school in Canada and speaks fluent French. Growing up in Canada, she was into sports, including swimming, soccer, baseball and field hockey.


title: Kate Bock

text: Bock was discovered aged 12 at a local swimming pool in Vancouver. She subsequently signed a modeling contract and traveled to Santa Barbara to shoot for Abercrombie Kids. At age 18, she moved to Paris.


title: Kate Bock

text: Bock appeared in numerous magazines such as Germany's "Vogue", Hungary's "Glamour" and Italy's "Elle." She has been featured in magazine covers of the US' "Ocean Drive" and "Fitness", Australia's "Grazia", UK's "Glow", Canada's "Elle" and "Maxim."


title: Kate Bock

text: She has been featured in advertisements by a number of major brands including Victoria's Secret, Guess, Brooks Brothers, L'Oréal, Kérastase, Banana Republic and Ralph Lauren. In 2011, Bock appeared as a character parodying Elvira Hancock in the music video for the song "Jack Sparrow" by comedy troupe The Lonely Island.


title: Kate Bock

text: In December 2021, Bock launched a swimwear capsule collection with Australian brand Bond-Eye, which included five styles. She has also designed a jewelry line called Cattura.


title: Kate Bock

text: In 2021, she started working as a chief brand officer for hard sparkling water brand Pompette and a creative consultant for the shopping application Verishop.


title: Kate Bock

text: Bock had been dating professional basketball player Kevin Love for "nearly five years" in 2020, before her engagement with him on 31 January 2021. They got married in late June 2022 at the New York Public Library inspired by "The Great Gatsby". Bock is Jewish.


title: Florencia 13

text: The Florencia 13, South Side Florencia 13 or Florence Gang is an American criminal street gang based in Los Angeles, California, composed mainly of Mexican-Americans. The gang is named after the Florence area of Los Angeles County, controlled by the Mexican Mafia. They are involved in drug smuggling, murder, assault and robbery.


title: Florencia 13

text: The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, DEA & ATF began targeting Florencia 13 gang members for their roles in racially motivated attacks on African-Americans. Court testimony and the judges ruling found that F13 members had targeted African-Americans based purely on race.


title: Florencia 13

text: At certain times, Florencia 13 leaders ordered killings of the East Coast Crip gang, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. The conflict was triggered by the theft by East Coast Crips of a large amount of drugs from Florencia 13 members. This resulted in the Mexican Mafia putting a “green light” out on the East Coast Crips.


title: Florencia 13

text: On January 13, 2019, two people were shot and wounded outside the Fashion Place Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah, after an argument erupted between Florencia 13 and Norteños members. Two male Florencia members, aged 19 and 20, were arrested for involvement in the incident. The two suspects were also charged for a shooting at a group of people at a Taylorsville, Utah cemetery on January 6, which did not harm anyone.


title: Florencia 13

text: On October 6, 2019, four men, ages 20s to 50s, were killed and five injured at KC Tequila, a Hispanic-themed bar and restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas. It was among the deadliest acts of violence in modern Kansas history. The suspects were alleged members of Florencia 13, and are facing murder and attempted murder charges.


title: Florencia 13

text: Operation Joker's Wild investigated the gang's drug trafficking, extortion of street criminals, and racially based murders of African Americans in the area. The operation involved the Los Angeles High- Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, and the Los Angeles County Probation Department.


title: Florencia 13

text: In 2007, 102 members of Florencia 13 were listed in indictments, under the operation, leading to the biggest gang raid in American history at the time, with 96 of the 102 members taken into custody. The indictments included charges of drug trafficking, attempted murder, murder and extortion. As of 2009, 94 of the 102 had been convicted or pleaded guilty, 3 had pending trials, 2 had died and 5 were fugitives from justice. The trial further found that the gang was controlled by the Mexican Mafia prison gang.


title: Florencia 13

text: Between 2005 and 2014 there was a Southern California style Mexican restaurant at 185 Sullivan Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City named Florencia 13 after the gang.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis I, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: "ḏḥwtj-ms", "Tʼaḥawtī-mīsaw", , meaning "Thoth is born") was the third pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt. He received the throne after the death of the previous king, Amenhotep I. During his reign, he campaigned deep into the Levant and Nubia, pushing the borders of Egypt farther than ever before in each region. He also built many temples in Egypt, and a tomb for himself in the Valley of the Kings; he is the first king confirmed to have done this (though Amenhotep I may have preceded him).


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I's reign is generally dated to 1506–1493 BC, but a minority of scholars—who think that astrological observations used to calculate the timeline of ancient Egyptian records, and thus the reign of Thutmose I, were taken from the city of Memphis rather than from Thebes—would date his reign to 1526–1513 BC. He was succeeded by his son Thutmose II, who in turn was succeeded by Thutmose II's sister, Hatshepsut.


title: Thutmose I

text: It has been speculated that Thutmose's father was Amenhotep I. His mother, Senseneb, was of non-royal parentage and may have been a lesser wife or concubine. Queen Ahmose, who held the title of Great Royal Wife of Thutmose, was probably the daughter of Ahmose I and the sister of Amenhotep I; however, she was never called "king's daughter," so there is some doubt about this, and some historians believe that she was Thutmose's own sister. Assuming she was related to Amenhotep, it could be thought that she was married to Thutmose in order to guarantee succession. However, this is known not to be the case for two reasons. Firstly, Amenhotep's alabaster bark built at Karnak associates Amenhotep's name with Thutmose's name well before Amenhotep's death. Secondly, Thutmose's first-born son with Ahmose, Amenmose, was apparently born long before Thutmose's coronation. He can be seen on a stela from Thutmose's fourth regnal year hunting near Memphis, and he became the "great army-commander of his father" sometime before his death, which was no later than Thutmose's own death in his 12th regnal year. Thutmose had another son, Wadjmose, and two daughters, Hatshepsut and Nefrubity, by Ahmose. Wadjmose died before his father, and Nefrubity died as an infant. Thutmose had one son by another wife, Mutnofret. This son succeeded him as Thutmose II, whom Thutmose I married to his daughter, Hatshepsut. It was later recorded by Hatshepsut that Thutmose willed the kingship to both Thutmose II and Hatshepsut. However, this is considered to be propaganda by Hatshepsut's supporters to legitimise her claim to the throne when she later assumed power.


title: Thutmose I

text: A heliacal rising of Sothis was recorded in the reign of Thutmose's predecessor, Amenhotep I, which has been dated to 1517 BC, assuming the observation was made at Thebes. The year of Amenhotep's death and Thutmose's subsequent coronation can be accordingly derived, and is dated to 1506 BC by most modern scholars. However, if the observation were made at either Heliopolis or Memphis, as a minority of scholars promote, Thutmose would have been crowned in 1526 BC.


title: Thutmose I

text: Manetho records that Thutmose I's reign lasted 12 Years and 9 Months (or 13 Years) as a certain Mephres in his Epitome. This data is supported by two dated inscriptions from Years 8 and 9 of his reign bearing his cartouche found inscribed on a stone block in Karnak. Accordingly, Thutmose is usually given a reign from 1506 BC to 1493 BC in the low chronology, but a minority of scholars would date him from 1526 BC to 1513 BC.


title: Thutmose I

text: Upon Thutmose's coronation, Nubia rebelled against Egyptian rule. According to the tomb autobiography of Ahmose, son of Ebana, Thutmose traveled up the Nile and fought in the battle, personally killing the Nubian king. Upon victory, he had the Nubian king's body hung from the prow of his ship, before he returned to Thebes. After that campaign, he led a second expedition against Nubia in his third year in the course of which he ordered the canal at the first cataract—which had been built under Sesostris III of the 12th Dynasty—to be dredged in order to facilitate easier travel upstream from Egypt to Nubia. This helped integrate Nubia into the Egyptian empire. This expedition is mentioned in two separate inscriptions by the king's son Thure:


title: Thutmose I

text: In the second year of Thutmose's reign, the king cut a stele at Tombos, which records that he built a fortress at Tombos, near the third cataract, thus permanently extending the Egyptian military presence, which had previously stopped at Buhen, at the second cataract.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose's Tombos stele indicates that he had already fought a campaign in Syria; hence, his Syrian campaign may be placed at the beginning of his second regnal year. This second campaign was the farthest north any Egyptian ruler had ever campaigned.


title: Thutmose I

text: Although it has not been found in modern times, he apparently set up a stele when he crossed the Euphrates River. During this campaign, the Syrian princes declared allegiance to Thutmose. However, after he returned, they discontinued tribute and began fortifying against future incursions. Thutmose celebrated his victories with an elephant hunt in the area of Niy, near Apamea in Syria, and returned to Egypt with strange tales of the Euphrates, "that inverted water which flows upstream when it ought to be flowing downstream." The Euphrates was the first major river which the Egyptians had ever encountered which flowed from the north, which was downstream on the Nile, to the south, which was upstream on the Nile. Thus the river became known in Egypt as simply, "inverted water."


title: Thutmose I

text: Textual sources from the time of Thutmose I include references to Retenu, Naharin, and the 'land of Mitanni'. The last is believed to be the first historical reference to that kingdom.


title: Thutmose I

text: Many Palestinian sites were destroyed in the middle of the 16th century B.C., and these destructions have often been attributed to the military campaigns of Thutmose I, or of his predecessor Amenhotep I. Initially these campaigns may have aimed at defeating the power of the Hyksos, who were strong in this area previously.


title: Thutmose I

text: As many as 20 sites in Palestine suffered destruction at this time. For example, the fiery destruction of Stratum XVIII at Gezer has been assigned to the second half of 16th century, the time of Amenhotep I and Thutmose I. This is based on the pottery and scarabs discovered in the destruction debris.


title: Thutmose I

text: It does not appear that the aim of the Egyptians at this stage was to control the area permanently, because they did not establish any permanent presence in the area. This was to come later on during 18th dynasty.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose had to face one more military threat, another rebellion by Nubia in his fourth year. His influence accordingly expanded even farther south, as an inscription dated to his reign has been found as far south as Kurgus, which was south of the fourth cataract. He inscribed a large tableau on the Hagar el-Merwa, a quartz outcrop c. 40m long and 50m wide located 1200m from the Nile, on top of several local inscriptions. This is the furthest south the Egyptian presence is attested. During his reign, he initiated a number of projects which effectively ended Nubian independence for the next 500 years. He enlarged a temple to Sesostris III and Khnum, opposite the Nile from Semna. There are also records of specific religious rites which the viceroy of El-Kab was to have performed in the temples in Nubia in proxy for the king. He also appointed a man called Turi to the position of viceroy of Kush, also known as the "King's Son of Cush." With a civilian representative of the king permanently established in Nubia itself, Nubia did not dare to revolt as often as it had and was easily controlled by future Egyptian kings.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I organized great building projects during his reign, including many temples and tombs, but his greatest projects were at the Temple of Karnak under the supervision of the architect Ineni. Previous to Thutmose, Karnak probably consisted only of a long road to a central platform, with a number of shrines for the solar bark along the side of the road. Thutmose was the first king to drastically enlarge the temple. He had the fifth pylon built along the temple's main road, along with a wall to run around the inner sanctuary and two flagpoles to flank the gateway. Outside of this, he built a fourth pylon and another enclosure wall. Between pylons four and five, he had a hypostyle hall constructed, with columns made of cedar wood. This type of structure was common in ancient Egyptian temples, and supposedly represents a papyrus marsh, an Egyptian symbol of creation. Along the edge of this room he built colossal statues, each one alternating wearing the crown of Upper Egypt and the crown of Lower Egypt. Finally, outside of the fourth pylon, he erected four more flagpoles and two obelisks, although one of them, which now has fallen, was not inscribed until Thutmose III inscribed it about 50 years later. The cedar columns in Thutmose I's hypostyle hall were replaced with stone columns by Thutmose III, however at least the northernmost two were replaced by Thutmose I himself. Hatshepsut also erected two of her own obelisks inside of Thutmose I's hypostyle hall.


title: Thutmose I

text: In addition to Karnak, Thutmose I also built statues of the Ennead at Abydos, buildings at Armant, Ombos, el-Hiba, Memphis, and Edfu, as well as minor expansions to buildings in Nubia, at Semna, Buhen, Aniba, and Quban.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I was the first king who definitely was buried in the Valley of the Kings. Ineni was commissioned to dig this tomb, and presumably to build his mortuary temple. His mortuary temple has not been found, quite possibly because it was incorporated into or demolished by the construction of Hatshepsut's mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahri. His tomb, however, has been identified as KV38. In it was found a yellow quartzite sarcophagus bearing the name of Thutmose I. His body, however, may have been moved by Thutmose III into the tomb of Hatshepsut, KV20, which also contains a sarcophagus with the name of Thutmose I on it.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I was originally buried and then reburied in KV20 in a double burial with his daughter Hatshepsut rather than KV38, which could only have been built for Thutmose I during the reign of his grandson Thutmose III based on "a recent re-examination of the architecture and contents of KV38." The location of KV20, if not its original owner, had long been known since the Napoleonic expedition of 1799 and, in 1844, the Prussian scholar Karl Richard Lepsius had partially explored its upper passage. However, all its passageways "had become blocked by a solidified mass of rubble, small stones and rubbish which had been carried into the tomb by floodwaters" and it was not until the 1903–1904 excavation season that Howard Carter, after two previous seasons of strenuous work, was able to clear its corridors and enter its double burial chamber. Here, among the debris of broken pottery and shattered stone vessels from the burial chamber and lower passages were the remnants of two vases made for Queen Ahmose Nefertari, which formed part of the original funerary equipment of Thutmose I; one of the vases contained a secondary inscription which states that Thutmose II "[made it] as his monument to his father." Other vessels which bore the names and titles of Thutmose I had also been inscribed by his son and successor, Thutmose II, as well as fragments of stone vessels made for Hatshepsut before she herself became king as well as other vessels which bore her royal name of 'Maatkare', which would have been made only after she took the throne in her own right.


title: Thutmose I

text: Carter, however, also discovered 2 separate coffins in the burial chamber. The beautifully carved sarcophagus of Hatshepsut "was discovered open with no sign of a body, and with the lid lying discarded on the floor;" it is now housed in the Cairo Museum along with a matching yellow quartzite canopic chest. A second sarcophagus, was found lying on its side with its almost undamaged lid propped against the wall nearby; it was eventually presented to Theodore M. Davis, the excavation's financial sponsor as a gesture of appreciation for his generous financial support. Davis would, in turn, present it to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The second quartzite sarcophagus had originally been engraved with the name of "the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Maatkare Hatshepsut." However, when the sarcophagus was complete, Hatshepsut decided to commission an entirely new sarcophagus for herself while she donated the existing finished sarcophagus to her father, Thutmose I. The stonemasons then attempted to erase the original carvings by restoring the surface of the quartzite so that it could be re-carved with the name and titles of Tuthmose I instead. This quartzite sarcophagus measures 7 feet long by 3 feet wide with walls 5  inches thick and bears a dedication text which records Hatshepsut's generosity towards her father:


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I was, however, not destined to lie alongside his daughter after Hatshepsut's death. Thutmose III, Hatshepsut's successor, decided to reinter his grandfather in an even more magnificent tomb, KV38, which featured another yellow sarcophagus dedicated to Thutmose I and inscribed with texts which proclaimed this pharaoh's love for his deceased grandfather. Unfortunately, however, Thutmose I's remains would be disturbed late during the 20th dynasty when KV38 was plundered; the sarcophagus' lid was broken and all this king's valuable precious jewelry and grave goods were stolen.


title: Thutmose I

text: Thutmose I's mummy was ultimately discovered in the Deir el-Bahri Cache above the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut, revealed in 1881. He had been interred along with those of other 18th and 19th dynasty leaders Ahmose I, Amenhotep I, Thutmose II, Thutmose III, Ramesses I, Seti I, Ramesses II, and Ramesses IX, as well as the 21st dynasty pharaohs Pinedjem I, Pinedjem II, and Siamun.


title: Thutmose I

text: The original coffin of Thutmose I was taken over and re-used by a later pharaoh of the 21st dynasty. The mummy of Thutmose I was thought to be lost, but Egyptologist Gaston Maspero, largely on the strength of familial resemblance to the mummies of Thutmose II and Thutmose III, believed he had found his mummy in the otherwise unlabelled mummy #5283. This identification has been supported by subsequent examinations, revealing that the embalming techniques used came from the appropriate period of time, almost certainly after that of Ahmose I and made during the course of the Eighteenth dynasty.


title: Thutmose I

text: James Harris and Fawzia Hussien (1991) conducted an X-ray survey on New Kingdom royal mummies and examined the mummified remains of Thutmose I. The results of the study determined that the mummy of Thutmose I had all the craniofacial characteristics common among Nubian populations and a “typical Nubian morphology”.


title: Thutmose I

text: What was thought to be his mummy could be viewed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, in 2007, Dr. Zahi Hawass announced that the mummy which was previously thought to be Thutmose I is that of a thirty-year-old man who had died as a result of an arrow wound to the chest. Because of the young age of the mummy and the cause of death, it was determined that the mummy was probably not that of King Thutmose I himself. The mummy has the inventory number CG 61065. In April 2021 the mummy was moved to National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 kings and 4 queens in an event termed the Pharaohs' Golden Parade.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: Soyuz (, meaning "union", GRAU index 11A511) is a family of expendable Russian and Soviet carrier rockets developed by OKB-1 and manufactured by Progress Rocket Space Centre in Samara, Russia. With over 1,900 flights since its debut in 1966, the Soyuz is the most frequently used launch vehicle in the world as of 2021.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: For nearly a decade, between the final flight of the Space Shuttle program in 2011 and the 2020 first crewed mission of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Soyuz rockets were the only launch vehicles able and approved for transporting astronauts to the International Space Station.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The Soyuz vehicles are used as the launcher for the crewed Soyuz spacecraft as part of the Soyuz programme, as well as to launch uncrewed Progress supply spacecraft to the International Space Station and for commercial launches marketed and operated by Starsem and Arianespace. All Soyuz rockets use RP-1 and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellant, with the exception of the Soyuz-U2, which used Syntin, a variant of RP-1, with LOX. The Soyuz family is a subset of the R-7 family.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The Soyuz launcher was introduced in 1966, deriving from the Vostok launcher, which in turn was based on the 8K74 or R-7a intercontinental ballistic missile. It was initially a three-stage rocket with a Block I upper stage. The first four test launches were all failures, but eventually it worked. Later a Molniya variant was produced by adding a fourth stage, allowing it to reach the highly elliptical Molniya orbit. A later variant was the Soyuz-U. While the exact model and variant designations were kept secret from the west, the Soyuz launcher was referred to by either the United States Department of Defense designation of SL-4, or the Sheldon designation of A-2 (developed by Charles S. Sheldon, an analyst with the Library of Congress). Both systems for naming Soviet rockets stopped being used as more accurate information became available.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The production of Soyuz launchers reached a peak of 60 per year in the early 1980s. It has become the world's most used space launcher, flying over 1700 times, far more than any other rocket. Despite its age and perhaps thanks to its simplicity, this rocket family has been notable for its low cost and high reliability.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: In the early 1990s plans were made for a redesigned Soyuz with a Fregat upper stage. The Fregat engine was developed by NPO Lavochkin from the propulsion module of its Phobos interplanetary probes. Although endorsed by the Roscosmos and the Russian Ministry of Defence in 1993 and designated "Rus" as a Russification and modernisation of Soyuz, and later renamed Soyuz-2, a funding shortage prevented implementation of the plan. The creation of Starsem in July 1996 provided new funding for the creation of a less ambitious variant, the Soyuz-Fregat or Soyuz-U/Fregat. This consisted of a slightly modified Soyuz-U combined with the Fregat upper stage, with a capacity of up to 1350 kg to geostationary transfer orbit. In April 1997, Starsem obtained a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch two pairs of Cluster II plasma science satellites using the Soyuz-Fregat. Before the introduction of this new model, Starsem launched 24 satellites of the Globalstar constellation in 6 launches with a restartable Ikar upper stage, between 22 September 1999 and 22 November 1999. After successful test flights of Soyuz-Fregat on 9 February 2000 and 20 March 2000, the Cluster II satellites were launched on 16 July 2000 and 9 August 2000. Another Soyuz-Fregat launched the ESA's Mars Express probe from Baikonur in June 2003. Now the Soyuz-Fregat launcher is used by Starsem for commercial payloads.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: Between 1 February 2003 and 26 July 2005 with the grounding of the United States Space Shuttle fleet, Soyuz was the only means of transportation to and from the International Space Station. This included the transfer of supplies, via Progress spacecraft, and crew changeovers. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, the United States space program was without any means to take astronauts into orbit, and NASA was dependent on the Soyuz to send crew into space until 2020. NASA resumed crewed flights from the United States in 2020 through the Commercial Crew Development program.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: A long string of successful Soyuz launches was broken on 15 October 2002 when the uncrewed Soyuz-U launch of the Photon-M satellite from Plesetsk fell back near the launch pad and exploded 29 seconds after lift-off. One person from the ground crew was killed and eight were injured.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: Another failure occurred on 21 June 2005, during a Molniya military communications satellite launch from the Plesetsk launch site, which used a four-stage version of the rocket called Molniya-M. The flight ended six minutes after the launch because of a failure of the third stage engine or an unfulfilled order to separate the second and third stages. The rocket's second and third stages, which are identical to the Soyuz, and its payload (a Molniya-3K satellite) crashed in the Uvatsky region of Tyumen (Siberia).


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: On 24 August 2011, an uncrewed Soyuz-U carrying cargo to the International Space Station crashed, failing to reach orbit. On December 23, 2011, a Soyuz-2.1b launching a Meridian 5 military communications satellite failed in the 7th minute of launch because of an anomaly in the third stage.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: On 11 October 2018, the Soyuz MS-10 mission to the International Space Station failed to reach orbit after an issue with the main booster. The launch escape system was used to pull the Soyuz spacecraft away from the malfunctioning rocket. The two crew, Aleksey Ovchinin and Nick Hague, followed a ballistic trajectory and landed safely over 400 km downrange from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The venerable Soyuz launcher was gradually replaced by a new version, named Soyuz-2 or Soyuz/ST, which has a new digital guidance system and a highly modified third stage with a new engine. The first development version of Soyuz-2 called Soyuz-2-1a, which is equipped with the digital guidance system, but is still propelled by an old third stage engine, started on 4 November 2004 from Plesetsk on a suborbital test flight, followed by an orbital flight on 23 October 2006 from Baikonur. The fully modified launcher (version Soyuz-2-1b) flew first on 27 December 2006 with the CoRoT satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: On 19 January 2005, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Roscosmos agreed to launch Soyuz/ST rockets from the Guiana Space Centre. The equatorial launch site allows the Soyuz to deliver 2.7 to 4.9 tonnes into sun-synchronous orbit, depending on the third-stage engine used. Construction of a new pad started in 2005 and was completed in April 2011. The pad used vertical loading common at French Guiana, unlike the horizontal loading used at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A simulated launch was conducted in early May 2011. The first operational launch happened on 21 October 2011, bearing the first two satellites in Galileo global positioning system.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The Soyuz-U and Soyuz-FG rockets are gradually being replaced by Soyuz-2 from 2014 onwards. Soyuz-U was retired in 2017, while Soyuz-FG carried astronaut crews to the ISS until September 2019 (final flight Soyuz MS-15 25 September 2019).


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The rocket is assembled horizontally in the Assembly and Testing Building. The assembled rocket is transported to the launch site in its horizontal state and then raised. This is different from the vertical assembly of, for example, the Saturn V, and is one of the features that makes Soyuz cheaper to prepare for launch. Assembling a horizontally positioned rocket is relatively simple as all modules are easily accessible. Assembling the rocket in vertical position would require a windproof high-rise hangar, which was not considered financially feasible at the time the rocket was designed, due to the failing economy of the Soviet Union.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The entire rocket is suspended in the launch system by the load-bearing mechanisms on the strap-on boosters where they are attached to the central core. The latter rests on the nose sections of the strap-on boosters. This scheme resembles flight conditions when the strap-on boosters push the central core forward. The concept of suspending the rocket was one of the novelties introduced with the R-7/Soyuz.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: Since the launch pad has been eliminated, the bottom portion of the rocket is lowered. The launch system trusses bear the wind loads. Resistance to high wind is an important feature of the launch system, as the Kazakhstan steppes, where the Baikonur launch site is located, are known for windstorms.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The engines are ignited by electrically initiated pyrotechnic flares, mounted on birch poles, which are ignited at approximately T-20 seconds, a few seconds before fuel components are introduced into the combustion chamber. This sequence rarely fails due to its simplicity. During launch, the support booms track the movement of the rocket. After the support boom heads emerge from the special support recess in the nose sections of the strapons, the support booms and trusses disconnect from the rocket airframe, swiveling on the support axes and freeing the way for the rocket to lift off. During launch, the rocket and the launch facility form a single dynamic system.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: When the strapon booster engines stop, the boosters fall away, providing nonimpact separation. If the skies are clear, ground observers can see a Korolev cross formed by the falling boosters.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The Soyuz launch vehicle is used for various Russian uncrewed missions and is also marketed by Starsem for commercial satellite launches. Presently the following fairing types are used:


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: Progress is the cargo spacecraft for uncrewed missions to the ISS and previously to Mir. The spacecraft uses a dedicated platform and fairing and can be launched with either Soyuz-U, Soyuz-FG or Soyuz-2.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: S-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. The fairing has external diameter of 3.7 m and a length of 7.7 m. The Fregat upper stage is encapsulated in the fairing with the payload and a payload adapter/dispenser. S-type fairing along with Fregat upper stage were used to launch the following spacecraft: Galaxy 14, GIOVE A, Mars Express, AMOS-2, Venus Express, Cluster.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: SL-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. The fairing has external diameter of 3.7 m and a length of 8.45 m. The Fregat upper stage is encapsulated in the fairing with the payload and a payload adapter/dispenser. SL-type fairing along with Fregat upper stage were used to launch the following spacecraft: CoRoT.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: ST-type fairing is used for commercial launches by Starsem. Its external diameter is 4.1 m and its length is 11.4 m. It can be used with the Soyuz-2 only, because older analog control system cannot cope with aerodynamic instability introduced by a fairing this large. This carbon-plastic fairing is based on the proven configuration used for Arianespace's Ariane 4 vehicles, with its length increased by approximately one additional meter. The fairing has been developed and is being manufactured by TsSKB-Progress in accordance with the requirements of a customer (Starsem). This is the only fairing type offered by Starsem/Arianespace for launches from Kourou. Progress M-UM is the only Progress Spacecraft that was launched while being enclosed in a ST fairing.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The first stage of Soyuz rockets consists of four identical conical liquid booster rockets, strapped to the second stage core. Each booster has a single rocket motor with four combustion chambers, two vernier combustion chambers, and one set of turbopumps.


title: Soyuz (rocket family)

text: The second stage of the Soyuz booster is a single, generally cylindrical stage with one motor at the base and is activated with the first stage. Like each of the first-stage rockets, it also has four combustion chambers and one set of turbopumps, but four (instead of two) vernier combustion chambers. The second stage tapers toward the bottom to allow the four first-stage rockets to fit more closely together.


title: SBI Life Insurance Company

text: SBI Life is an Indian life insurance company which was started as a joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and French financial institution BNP Paribas Cardif. SBI has a 55.50% stake in the company and BNP Paribas Cardif owns a 0.22% stake. Other investors are Value Line Pte. Ltd. and MacRitchie Investments Pte. Ltd., holding a 1.95% stake each while the remaining 12% is free float stake with public investors. SBI Life has an authorized capital of and a paid up capital of . The AuM is Rs. 2,623.5 billion.


title: SBI Life Insurance Company

text: In 2007, CRISIL Limited, a subsidiary of global rating agency Standard & Poor's, gave the company a AAA/Stable/P1+ rating.


title: SBI Life Insurance Company

text: The company got incorporated as a public limited company in Mumbai on 11 October 2000 and received Certificate of Commencement of Business from the RoC on 20 November 2000 and got registered with the IRDAI for carrying out business of life insurance on 29 March 2001. SBI Life is listed on BSE And NSE (Stock Exchanges in India) and is a leading Life Insurance company in India. SBI Life started as a joint venture with BNP Cardif S.A,which is the life and property & casualty insurance arm of BNP Paribas, one of the strongest banks in the world, in 2001. While in its initial stage its business was mainly from bancassurance channel, and gradually developed an agent network consisting of 108261 Insurance Advisors (IAs)and 825 offices across the country as on March 31, 2018 for selling its life insurance products and also collaborated with other distributions channels which include direct sales and sales through corporate agents brokers insurance marketing firms and other intermediaries. The company offers products in individual and group category which includes savings and protection plans addressing the insurance needs of diverse customer segments and has a comprehensive range of plans in life insurance and pension schemes. During financial year 2004-05 company's Assets Under Management (AUM) crossed Rs 1000 crore mark and in January 2005 it launched unit-linked product. In subsequent financial year of 2005-06 it became the first new generation private life insurance company registering profit and posted profit after tax of Rs 2.03 crore for that year. Its Gross Written Premium (GWP) crossed the milestone of Rs 5000 crores and AUM crossed the milestone of Rs 10000 crore and it also achieved cumulative breakeven wiping out all accumulated losses and also its share capital increased by Rs 500 crore to Rs 1000 crore during financial year 2007-08. Its GWP crossed the milestone of Rs 10000 crore during financial year 2009-10 and in 2010-11 SBI Life's branch network crossed the milestone of 500 branches all over country and further during the financial year 2011-12 the company achieved the milestone of profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 500 crores as it reported PAT of Rs 556 crore for that year declaring a maiden dividend of 5%. The company's AUM crossed the milestone of Rs 50000 crore and the total number of branches in the country crossed 750 during the financial year 2012-13.The company's GWP crossed the milestone of Rs 15000 crores during the financial year 2015-16 and in the subsequent financial year in 2016-17 SBI Life's renewal premium collection crossed the milestone of Rs 10000 crore and during the year two companies, Value Line Pte Ltd and McRitchie Investments Pte Ltd. bought stake of 1.95% each in the company from SBI.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: The Citadel of Cairo or Citadel of Saladin () is a medieval Islamic-era fortification in Cairo, Egypt, built by Salah ad-Din (Saladin) and further developed by subsequent Egyptian rulers. It was the seat of government in Egypt and the residence of its rulers for nearly 700 years from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Its location on a promontory of the Mokattam hills near the center of Cairo commands a strategic position overlooking the city and dominating its skyline. At the time of its construction, it was among the most impressive and ambitious military fortification projects of its time. It is now a preserved historic site, including mosques and museums.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: In addition to the initial Ayyubid-era construction begun by Saladin in 1176, the Citadel underwent major development during the Mamluk Sultanate that followed, culminating with the construction projects of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad in the 14th century. In the first half of the 19th century Muhammad Ali Pasha demolished many of the older buildings and built new palaces and monuments all across the site, giving it much of its present form. In the 20th century it was used as a military garrison by the British occupation and then by the Egyptian army until being opened to the public in 1983. In 1976, it was proclaimed by UNESCO as a part of the World Heritage Site "Historic Cairo" (Islamic Cairo) which was "the new centre of the Islamic world, reaching its golden age in the 14th century."


title: Cairo Citadel

text: The Citadel was built on a promontory beneath the Muqattam Hills, a setting that made it difficult to attack. The efficacy of the Citadel's location is further demonstrated by the fact that it remained the heart of Egyptian government until the 19th century. During this long period, the layout and structure of the Citadel was repeatedly altered and adapted to suit the designs of new rulers and new regimes, which makes it difficult to reconstitute its original plan or even its plan in subsequent periods. There have been three major construction periods leading to the Citadel's current form: 12th-century Ayyubid (starting with Saladin), 14th-century Mamluk (under al-Nasir Muhammad), and in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali. The Citadel stopped being the seat of government when Egypt's ruler, Khedive Ismail, moved to his newly built Abdin Palace in the new downtown Cairo in 1874. Despite its elaborate defenses, the Citadel never ended up being subjected to a true siege, though it was implicated on various occasions in the political conflicts within Cairo or Egypt.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: In general, the fortress complex is divided into two parts: the Northern Enclosure (where the National Military Museum is located today), and the Southern Enclosure (where the Mosque of Muhammad Ali is located today). The Northern Enclosure was historically reserved for military garrisons, while the Southern Enclosure was developed as the residence of the sultan. There is also a lower, western enclosure which was historically the site of the royal stables of the Mamluks. However, these functional distinctions were largely erased in the 19th century under Muhammad Ali Pasha, who overhauled the entire site and constructed buildings of various functions throughout the Citadel.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: To the west and southwest of the Citadel was a long open field frequently referred to as the "hippodrome" by historians or as the "Maydan" ("plaza" or "square"). For centuries this was maintained as a training ground (especially for horsemanship) and as a military parade ground. Its outline is still visible in the layout of the roads (mainly Salah ad-Din Street) on this side of the Citadel.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: At the northern end of this hippodrome was another square or plaza known as Rumayla Square ("Maydan/Midan Rumayla"), today known as Salah al-Din Square ("Midan Salah ad-Din") or Citadel Square ("Midan al-Qal'a"). This was used as a horse market (due to its adjacency to the royal stables), but also as an official square for royal and religious ceremonies. It is occupied today by a large roundabout next to which are the massive mosques of Sultan Hassan and al-Rifa'i.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: The Citadel was begun by the Kurdish Ayyubid ruler Salah al-Din (Saladin) between 1176 and 1183 CE in order to protect Cairo from potential Crusader attacks and to provide a secure center of government for his new regime (only a few years after he had dismantled the Fatimid Caliphate). This also emulated a feature of many Syrian cities, such as Damascus and Aleppo, which had walled citadels that acted as the seat of power and which Saladin was familiar with. Saladin also set out to build a wall, around 20 kilometers long, that would surround both Cairo and Fustat (the nearby former capital), and is recorded as saying: "With a wall I will make the two [cities of Cairo and Fustat] into a unique whole, so that one army may defend them both; and I believe it is good to encircle them with a single wall from the bank of the Nile to the bank of the Nile." The Citadel would be the centerpiece of the wall. While the Citadel was initially completed in 1183–1184, the wall Saladin had envisioned was still under construction in 1238, long after his death. It does not appear to have ever been fully completed after this, though long segments were built.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: Saladin charged his chief eunuch and close confidant, Baha al-Din Qaraqush, with overseeing the construction of the new fortifications. Most of the structure was built with limestone quarried from the surrounding Muqattam Hills, however Qaraqush also quarried a number of minor pyramids at Giza and even as far away as Abusir in order to obtain further materials. He also made use of labour provided by Christian prisoners of war captured in Saladin's victories against the Crusaders. The initial fortress built in Saladin's time consisted essentially of what is today's Northern Enclosure, although not all elements of the Northern Enclosure's current walls are original. The southeast and northeast sections of these walls are likely the closest to their original forms. Also from Saladin's time is the so-called Yusuf's Well, a deep underground well accessed through a spiral staircase which provided water for the fortress. The original southwestern section of Saladin's enclosure has disappeared but is likely to have extended around this well and around the current site of al-Nasir Muhammad's mosque (making the original enclosure slightly bigger than the existing Northern Enclosure today). The carved image of a double-headed eagle, found near the top of one of the towers of the western walls (near the Police Museum), is a curious feature which is popularly attributed to Salah ad-Din's reign. It was probably located elsewhere originally and then moved here at some point when the walls were rebuilt in Muhammad Ali's time. The eagle's heads are missing today, but their original appearance was noted by chroniclers.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: Only one original gate, "Bab al-Mudarraj", has survived to the present day. It is located along the walls of the Northern Enclosure, nowadays between the Harem Palace (National Military Museum) and the newer "Bab al-Jadid" gate. It was originally the main gate of the Citadel, but today it is obscured by later constructions from Muhammad Ali's time, including the "Bab al-Jadid" ("New Gate"). Its name was derived from the carved stone steps ("darraj") which led up to it from the path that connected the Citadel to the city below. Like other gateways in Ayyubid military architecture, it had a bent entrance. Today, the inside of the gate's dome-vault is covered in plaster with painted inscriptions belonging to Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad and dated to 1310. It was also on this gate that a foundation inscription was discovered which dates the completion of the Citadel to 1183-1184. Nonetheless, construction of one kind or another almost certainly continued under Saladin's Ayyubid successors.


title: Cairo Citadel

text: Construction of the Ayyubid Citadel appears to have continued under Sultan al-'Adil (ruled 1200-1218), Saladin's brother and later successor, and was probably finished under the reign of al-Kamil (1218-1238). Al-'Adil had already supervised some of the construction under Saladin, while al-Kamil in turn probably worked on the Citadel during al-'Adil's reign when the latter gave him the viceroyship of Egypt in 1200 (a prelude to becoming sultan later). The rounded towers in the outer walls of the Northern Enclosure date from Saladin's initial construction while the large rectangular towers date to al-Adil's reign. The two large round towers in the far northeastern corner of the enclosure, known as "Burj al-Ramla" ("Tower of Sand") and "Burj al-Hadid" ("Tower of Iron") are towers from Saladin's time which al-Kamil subsequently reinforced in 1207.