title: Hung parliament

text: At the territorial level, a unique situation happened in the 2021 Yukon general election, in which the electoral district of Vuntut Gwitchin resulted in a tie. A judicial recount was held and the tie remained. A draw was held between the two candidates which ultimately named NDP challenger Annie Blake the winner against incumbent Liberal cabinet minister and MLA Pauline Frost. This victory ultimately resulted in a hung parliament in the Yukon legislature with the NDP holding the balance of power.


title: Hung parliament

text: India is a federative multi-party parliamentary democracy with lower and upper houses at both national and sub-national levels.


title: Hung parliament

text: However, despite having a multi-party system in place, it has witnessed a clear majority parliament for 45 years against its transition to democratic republic being 70 years old.


title: Hung parliament

text: It has 8 recognized national parties with influence over major parts of India and regional parties with base certain states.


title: Hung parliament

text: From 1989 to 2014, India had a continuous period of parliaments producing coalition governments, with clearer majorities for the Indian National Congress and Janata Party before this period and for the Bharatiya Janata Party after it. The confidence of Lok Sabha, lower house of Indian Parliament elected in general elections determines the prime minister and ruling party of India.


title: Hung parliament

text: Hung assemblies within states and alliances between national and regional parties at sub-national level are common.


title: Hung parliament

text: Because Ireland uses PR-STV, it is rare for any one party to have a majority on its own. The last such occasion was in 1977. However, one or other coalitions are known to be possible before and during the election. Therefore, a "hung Dáil" (Dáil Éireann being the lower and most dominant chamber of the Oireachtas/Parliament) in Ireland refers more to the inability of a coalition of parties who traditionally enter government together or would be expected to govern together, from doing so.


title: Hung parliament

text: The President has no direct role in the formation of governments in the case of a hung parliament. However, he retains the power to convene a meeting of either or both the Dáil and Senate which could become important if there was a government trying to use parliamentary recess to prevent confidence votes and hold onto power. The President may also refuse to dissolve Dáil Eireann and call an election if the Taoiseach loses a vote of confidence, instead giving the other parties a chance to see if they can put together a government without proceeding to another election.


title: Hung parliament

text: In 2016, Fine Gael and Labour, who had been in government the previous five years, were unable, due to Labour's collapse, to enter government again. Fianna Fáil had enough seats to put together a rainbow government with the other centre-left, hard left parties and independents but negotiations broke down. Fianna Fáil had also promised not to enter coalition with Sinn Féin.


title: Hung parliament

text: The press began to speculate about a Germany style "Grand Coalition" similar to the Christian Democrats and Social Democrats there. Many members of FF considered FG too right wing to enter coalition with and threatened to leave the party this came to pass. As talks continued on without a new government (the old government, constitutionally, which had just been voted out, remaining in power including ministers who had lost their seats) FF agreed to allow a government to form by abstention. The parliamentary arithmetic fell in such a way that if FF TD's abstained on confidence and supply matters, a FG minority government could, with the support of a group of independents, form a new government. This was agreed in exchange for a number of policy concessions. Once the deal with FF was signed, Taoiseach Enda Kenny conducted talks with the independents and entered government for a second term.


title: Hung parliament

text: All parliamentery elections in Israel have resulted in hung parliaments. The Knesset consists of 120 members and the highest number of seats a single faction has ever received was the 56 members Alignment ("Ma'arach") got in the October 1969 elections. When the same faction was formed in January 1969 it consisted of 63 members, the only instance to date of a faction with an absolute majority in the Knesset. The lowest number of seats the largest faction has ever received in a Knesset election was 26 members received by One Israel in the 1999 Israeli general election.


title: Hung parliament

text: The 2022 general election of Malaysia resulted in a hung parliament with no party or party coalition winning a simple majority for the first time in Malaysian history. Following five days of deliberation and negotiations within coalitions and parties, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia announced Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Anwar Ibrahim, whose coalition won the most seats, as the tenth Prime Minister of Malaysia on 24 November 2022, with Barisan Nasional (BN), Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and various independent parties joining in the coalition government.


title: Hung parliament

text: Hung parliaments had a relatively uncommon place in New Zealand politics prior to the introduction of proportional representation in 1993. Only on four occasions since the beginnings of party politics in 1890 had a hung parliament occurred under the FPTP system: in 1911, 1922, 1928 and 1931. The rarity between 1936 and 1996 was due to the regression into a two-party system, alternating between the long dominating New Zealand Labour Party and New Zealand National Party. From the first MMP election in 1996 until the 2020 election no single party gained an outright majority in parliament. The 2020 election was the first to return a majority – a narrow majority for the Labour Party – since 1993.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the United Kingdom, before World War I, a largely stable two-party system existed for generations; traditionally, only the Tories and Whigs, or from the mid-19th century the Conservative and Liberal parties, managed to deliver Members of Parliament in significant numbers. Hung parliaments were thus rare, especially during the 19th century. The possibility of change arose when, in the aftermath of the Act of Union, 1800, a number of Irish MPs took seats in the House, though initially these followed the traditional alignments. However, two Reform Acts (in 1867 and in 1884) significantly extended the franchise and redrew the constituencies, and coincided with a change in Irish politics. Following the 1885 general election, neither party had an overall majority. The Irish Parliamentary Party held the balance of power and made Irish Home Rule a condition of their support. However, the Liberal Party split on the issue of Irish Home Rule, leading to another general election in 1886, in which the Conservatives won the most seats and governed with the support of the fragment of Liberalism opposed to Home Rule, the Liberal Unionist Party.


title: Hung parliament

text: Both the election of January 1910, and that of December 1910 produced a hung parliament with an almost identical number of seats won by the governing Liberal Party and the Conservative Party. This was due both to the constitutional crisis and to the rise of the Labour Party. The elections of 1929 resulted in the last hung parliament for many years; in the meantime, Labour had replaced the Liberals as one of the two dominating parties.


title: Hung parliament

text: Since the elections of 1929, three general elections have resulted in hung parliaments in the UK. The first was the election in February 1974, and the ensuing parliament lasted only until October. The second was the May 2010 election, the result of which was a hung parliament with the Conservative party as the largest single party. The results for the 3 main parties were: Conservatives 306, Labour 258, Liberal Democrats 57. The third one resulted from the snap election held in June 2017 that had been called for by Theresa May in order to strengthen her majority heading into Brexit negotiations later in 2017. However, this election backfired on May and her Conservative Party, resulting in a hung parliament after the snap election.


title: Hung parliament

text: The formation of the coalition resulting from the 2010 election led to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which instituted fixed five-year Parliaments and transferred the power to call early elections from the Prime Minister to Parliament itself. This was the idea of the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, then the leader of the Liberal Democrats, who said that this would stop the Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party, David Cameron, from calling a snap election to end the hung parliament, as many other Conservatives had requested.


title: Hung parliament

text: Hung parliaments can also arise when slim government majorities are eroded by by-election defeats and defection of Members of Parliament to opposition parties, as well as resignations of MPs from the House of Commons. This happened in December 1996 to the Conservative government of John Major (1990–97) and in mid-1978 to the Labour government of James Callaghan (1976–79); this latter period covers the era known as the Winter of Discontent. The minority government of Jim Callaghan came when Labour ended their 15-month Lib–Lab pact with the Liberals having lost their majority in early 1977.


title: Hung parliament

text: According to researchers Andrew Blick and Stuart Wilks-Heeg, the phrase "hung parliament" did not enter into common usage in the UK until the mid-1970s. It was first used in the press by journalist Simon Hoggart in "The Guardian" in 1974.


title: Hung parliament

text: Academic treatments of hung parliaments include David Butler's "Governing Without a Majority: Dilemmas for Hung Parliaments in Britain" (Sheridan House, 1986) and Vernon Bogdanor's 'Multi-Party Politics and the Constitution' (Cambridge University Press, 1983).


title: Hung parliament

text: In countries used to decisive election outcomes, a hung parliament is often viewed as an unfavourable outcome, leading to relatively weak and unstable government. A period of uncertainty after the election is common, as major party leaders negotiate with independents and minor parties to establish a working majority.


title: Hung parliament

text: An aspiring head of government may seek to build a coalition government; in Westminster systems, this typically involves agreement on a joint legislative programme and a number of ministerial posts going to the minor coalition partners, in return for a stable majority. Alternatively, a minority government may be formed, establishing confidence and supply agreements in return for policy concessions agreed in advance, or relying on case by case support.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the Western Australian state election of 2008 the Australian Labor Party won more seats than the Liberal Party at 28 to 24. The National Party along with three independents had the seats needed to give either party a majority. To help the Liberal Party form government, the Nationals supported the party on the condition that the Royalties for Regions policy was implemented.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the 1999 Victorian state election, the Labor Party won 42 seats, while the incumbent Liberal National Coalition retained 43, with 3 seats falling to independents. The Labor Party formed a minority government with the 3 independents.


title: Hung parliament

text: The 2010 Tasmanian state election resulted in a hung parliament. After a period of negotiation, the incumbent Labor government led by David Bartlett was recommissioned, but containing the Leader of the Tasmanian Greens, Nick McKim, as a minister, and the Greens' Cassy O'Connor as Cabinet Secretary.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the 2010 federal election, neither Labor nor the Liberal coalition secured the majority of seats required to form a Government in their own right. In order to counter the potential instability of minority government involved groups may negotiate written agreements defining their terms of support. Such measures were undertaken by the Gillard Government in 2010.


title: Hung parliament

text: In India if an election results in a 'hung assembly' in one of the state Legislative Assemblies and no party is capable of gaining confidence then fresh elections are announced to be held as soon as possible. Until this occurs President's Rule is applied. In India there have been many situations of hung assemblies in the state legislatures. However, invariably, the President of India in the case of Lok Sabha elections and the Governor of the state concerned, in the case of state elections, would attempt to give opportunities to the parties, starting with the one that got the maximum number of seats in the elections, to explore possibilities of forming a coalition government, before bringing in President's Rule.


title: Hung parliament

text: The first such occasion was in 1911 when the Liberal Party won fewer seats than the opposition Reform Party despite tallying the most votes. A vote of no confidence was placed by Reform and the Liberals survived by just one vote. This prompted Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward to resign, his replacement Thomas Mackenzie was later defeated in July 1912 in a vote with several MPs and Labour crossing the floor to vote with the opposition, the last time in New Zealand history a government has changed on a confidence vote. This broke 23 years of Liberal governance and William Massey formed a new Reform Party government. Massey governed through to his death in 1925, though in 1922 the Reform Party suffered major losses and Massey was forced negotiate with several Independent MPs to retain power.


title: Hung parliament

text: In 1928, Reform were ousted from governance and Joseph Ward once again won back power. However, the Reform and United (Liberal) parties were tied on seats with Labour holding the balance of power. Labour chose to back Ward rather than let Reform leader Gordon Coates remain in office. In the next election in 1931, there was again a three-way deadlock. On this occasion the Reform and United parties became a coalition government out of mutual fear of Labour's ever-increasing appeal as the Great Depression worsened.


title: Hung parliament

text: 1993 was the last time a hung parliament occurred in New Zealand. Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard asked Sir David Beattie to form a committee, along with three retired appeal court judges, to decide whom to appoint as Prime Minister.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the February 1974 general election, no party gained an overall parliamentary majority. Labour won the most seats (301, which was 17 seats short of an overall majority) with the Conservatives on 297 seats, although the Conservatives had a larger share of the popular vote. As the incumbent Prime Minister, Edward Heath remained in office attempting to build a coalition with the Liberals. When these negotiations were unsuccessful Heath resigned and Labour led by Harold Wilson took over in a minority government.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the 2010 UK general election, another hung parliament occurred with the Conservatives as the largest party, and discussions followed to help create a stable government. This resulted in agreement on a coalition government, which was also a majority government, between the Conservative Party, which won the most votes and seats in the election, and the Liberal Democrats.


title: Hung parliament

text: In the 2017 UK general election, a hung parliament occurred for the second time in seven years with the Conservatives again being the largest party. The Conservatives led by Theresa May formed a minority government, supported by a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party.


title: Hung parliament

text: There have been occasions when, although a parliament or assembly is technically hung, the party in power has a working majority. For example, in the United Kingdom, the tradition is that the Speaker and Deputy Speakers do not vote and Sinn Féin MPs never take their seats per their policy of abstentionism, so these members can be discounted from the opposition numbers.


title: Hung parliament

text: In 2005, this was the case in the 60-seat National Assembly for Wales, where Labour lost their majority when Peter Law was expelled for standing against the official candidate in the 2005 Westminster election in the Blaenau Gwent constituency. When the Assembly was first elected on 1 May 2003, Labour won 30 seats, Plaid Cymru won 12, the Conservatives won 11, Liberal Democrats won 6, and the John Marek Independent Party won a seat.


title: Hung parliament

text: When Dafydd Elis-Thomas (Plaid Cymru) was reelected as the presiding officer, this reduced the number of opposition AMs who could vote to 29, as the presiding officer votes only in the event of a tie and, even then, not on party political lines but according to Speaker Denison's rule. Thus, Labour had a working majority of one seat until Law ran in Blaenau Gwent.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a British bicycle manufacturer based in Nottingham, England and founded by Woodhead and Angois in 1885. Using Raleigh as their brand name, it is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. After being acquired by Frank Bowden in December 1888, it became The Raleigh Cycle Company, which was registered as a limited liability company in January 1889. By 1913, it was the largest bicycle manufacturing company in the world. From 1921 to 1935, Raleigh also produced motorcycles and three-wheel cars, leading to the formation of Reliant Motors. Raleigh bicycle is now a division of the Dutch corporation Accell.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 2006, the Raleigh Chopper was named in the list of British design icons in the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The history of Raleigh bicycles started in 1885, when Richard Morriss Woodhead from Sherwood Forest, and Paul Eugene Louis Angois, a French citizen, set up a small bicycle workshop in Raleigh Street, Nottingham, England. In the spring of that year, they started advertising in the local press. The "Nottinghamshire Guardian" of 15 May 1885 printed what was possibly the first Woodhead and Angois classified advertisement.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Nearly two years later, the 11 April 1887 issue of "The Nottingham Evening Post" contained a display advertisement for the Raleigh ‘Safety’ model under the new banner ‘Woodhead, Angois, and Ellis. Russell Street Cycle Works.’ William Ellis had recently joined the partnership and provided much-needed financial investment. Like Woodhead and Angois, Ellis's background was in the lace industry. He was a lace gasser, a service provider involved in the bleaching and treating of lace, with premises in nearby Clare Street and Glasshouse Street. Thanks to Ellis, the bicycle works had now expanded round the corner from Raleigh Street into former lace works on the adjoining road, Russell Street. By 1888, the company was making about three cycles a week and employed around half a dozen men. It was one of 15 bicycle manufacturers based in Nottingham at that time.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Frank Bowden, a recent convert to cycling who on medical advice had toured extensively on a tricycle, first saw a Raleigh bicycle in a shop window in Queen Victoria Street, London, about the time that William Ellis's investment in the cycle workshop was beginning to take effect. Bowden described how this led to him visiting the Raleigh works:


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: It is clear from Frank Bowden's own account that, although he bought a Raleigh ‘Safety’ in 1887, he did not visit the Raleigh workshop until autumn 1888. That visit led to Bowden replacing Ellis as the partnership's principal investor, though Bowden did not become the outright owner of the firm. He concluded that the company had a profitable future if it promoted its innovative features, increased its output, cut its overhead costs and tailored its products to the individual tastes and preferences of its customers. He bought out William Ellis's share in the firm and was allotted 5,000 £1 shares, while Woodhead and Angois between them held another 5,000 shares.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In Frank Bowden's own lifetime, Raleigh publicity material stated that the firm was founded in 1888, which was when Bowden, as he himself confirmed, first bought into the enterprise. Thus, Raleigh's 30th anniversary was celebrated in 1918. The 1888 foundation date is confirmed by Bowden's great-grandson, Gregory Houston Bowden, who states that Frank Bowden "began to negotiate with Woodhead and Angois and in December 1888 founded 'The Raleigh Cycle Company'." The December 1888 foundation date is also confirmed by Nottinghamshire Archives. In recent years, the Raleigh company has cited 1887 as a foundation date but, whilst this pre-dates Bowden's involvement, the Raleigh brand name was created by Woodhead and Angois and the enterprise can, as demonstrated above, be traced back to 1885.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The company established by Bowden in December 1888 was still privately owned with unlimited public liability. In January 1889, it became the first of a series of limited liability companies with Raleigh in its name. It had a nominal capital of £20,000, half of which was provided by Frank Bowden. Paul Angois was appointed director responsible for product design, Richard Woodhead was made director responsible for factory management, and Frank Bowden became chairman and managing director. Some shares were made available to small investors and local businessmen, but take-up was minimal, and Bowden ended up buying most of the public shares. He subsequently supplied virtually all the capital needed to expand the firm.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: When Frank Bowden got involved with the enterprise, the works comprised three small workshops and a greenhouse. As Woodhead, Angois and Ellis, the firm had expanded round the corner from Raleigh Street into Russell Street, where also stood Clarke's five-storey former lace factory. To enable further expansion of the business, Bowden financed the renting of this property and installation of new machinery.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Under Bowden's guidance, Raleigh expanded rapidly. By 1891, the company occupied not only Clarke's factory but also Woodroffe's Factory and Russell Street Mills. In November 1892, Raleigh signed a tenancy agreement for rooms in Butler's factory on the other side of Russell Street. Shortly after this, the company also occupied Forest Road Mill. (Forest Road junctions with Russell Street at the opposite end from Raleigh Street.)


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Bowden created a business which, by 1913, was the biggest bicycle manufacturing company in the world, occupying seven and a half acres in purpose-built premises completed in 1897 at Faraday Road, Lenton, Nottingham. It subsequently became very much bigger. Many say that Bowden invented the Bowden cable but there is no evidence to support this myth.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Sir Frank Bowden died in 1921 and his son Sir Harold Bowden, 2nd Baronet took over as chairman and chief executive, guiding the company through the next 17 years of expansion.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: There was a resurgence in domestic and export demand for pedal bicycles and by February 1932 Raleigh had acquired all the Humber Limited trade marks. Manufacture was transferred to Raleigh's Nottingham works. Raleigh-made Humbers differed from Raleighs only in chainwheels, fork crowns and some brakework.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: During the Second World War, the Raleigh factory in Nottingham was used for the production of fuzes. Bicycle production was reduced to approximately 5% of its peacetime capacity.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1939, Raleigh opened a bicycle factory at 6 Hanover Quay, Dublin, Ireland and commenced bicycle production there. The Raleigh (Ireland) business expanded and moved to 8–11 Hanover Quay, Dublin in 1943. The plant produced complete bicycles and Sturmey-Archer hubs, and remained in production until 1976, when the factory burned down. Models produced there latterly were the Chopper and Triumph 20. The head badges changed in the late 1960s, possibly after the passing of the Trade Descriptions Act in the UK. Dublin-made machines no longer had "Nottingham England" on the Heron or Triumph head badge, the panel being left blank instead.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1899, Raleigh started to build motorcycles and in 1903, introduced the Raleighette, a belt-driven three-wheel motorcycle with the driver in the back and a wicker seat for the passenger between the two front wheels. Financial losses meant production lasted only until 1908.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1930, the company acquired the rights to the Ivy Karryall, a motorcycle fitted with a cabin for cargo and a hood for the driver. Raleigh's version was called the Light Delivery Van and had a chain drive. A two-passenger version was followed by Raleigh's first three-wheel car, the Safety Seven. It was a four-seat convertible with shaft drive and a maximum speed of . A saloon version was planned, but Raleigh shut its motor department to concentrate on bicycles again. Chief designer T. L. Williams took the equipment and remaining parts and moved to Tamworth, where his company produced three-wheelers for 65 years. The leftover parts from Raleigh carried an "R", so Williams chose a matching name: Reliant.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Raleigh also made mopeds in the late 1950s and 1960s as the bicycle market declined. The most popular of which was the RM6 Runabout. This model featured unsprung front forks and a cycle type calliper front brake which made it a very affordable mode of transport. Because of its success, production continued until February 1971; 17 months after Raleigh had stopped manufacturing all other mopeds.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: With the surge in scooter ownership in the UK, Raleigh built a small Italian scooter, the Bianchi Orsetto 80, under licence, sold as the Raleigh Roma, with production continuing until 1964.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: After World War II, Raleigh became known for its lightweight "sports roadster" bicycles, often using Sturmey-Archer three and five-speed transmissions. These cycles were considerably lighter and quicker than either the old heavy English utility roadster or the American "balloon-tire" cruiser bikes. In 1946, Raleigh and other English bicycle manufacturers accounted for 95% of the bicycles imported into the United States.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Raleigh's "sports roadster", or "British racer" bicycles were exported around the world, including the United States. The company continued to increase imports to the United States until 1955, when a rate increase in foreign bicycle tariffs caused a shift in imports in favour of bicycles from West Germany and the Netherlands. However, this proved only a temporary setback, and by 1964, Raleigh was again a major selling brand in the US bicycle market.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1965, Raleigh introduced the RSW 16, its long-awaited competitor to the hugely successful Moulton Bicycle. The new Raleigh shared several important features with the Moulton, including small wheels, an open frame and built-in luggage carrying capacity.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: However, the RSW lacked the Moulton's suspension, which compensated for the bumpy ride that comes with small wheels. Instead, Raleigh fitted the RSW with balloon tyres, which effectively smoothed the ride but at the cost of increased rolling resistance. Nevertheless, the RSW was pleasant to ride, and Raleigh's extensive retail network ensured its success.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The success of the RSW took sales away from the Moulton and put that maker into financial difficulties. Raleigh then bought out Moulton and produced both bikes until 1974. Raleigh also produced a sister model to the RSW, the 'Twenty', which was more successful and which remained in production well into the 1980s.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: While bicycle production had steadily risen through the mid-1950s, the British market began to decline with the increasing affordability and popularity of the motor car. For much of the postwar era, British bicycle manufacturers had largely competed with each other in both the home and export markets, but 1956 saw the formation of the British Cycle Corporation by the Tube Investments Group which already owned Phillips, Hercules, Armstrong, and Norman. In 1957, Raleigh bought the BSA Cycles Ltd., BSA's bicycle division, which gave them exclusive use of the former brand names New Hudson and Sunbeam. Raleigh also already owned the Robin Hood brand, and Three Spires with Triumph (cycles) also at their disposal.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: BSA had itself acquired Triumph Cycle Co. Ltd. only five years previously. Ti added the Sun bicycle company to their stable in 1958, and with two "super groups" now controlling a large portion of the market, it was perhaps inevitable that in 1960, Tube Investments acquired Raleigh and merged the British Cycle Corporation with Raleigh to form TI–Raleigh, which now had 75% of the UK market. TI–Raleigh then acquired Carlton Cycles in Worksop, England that same year, at the time one of the largest semi-custom lightweight makers in the UK. Ti Raleigh gave total control of its cycle division to Raleigh and soon set about marketing many of the acquired names as budget ranges, though with Raleigh frames. The old Lines Bros. factory at Handsworth, acquired in 1971, produced non Raleigh branded product well into the 1980s, together with Raleigh branded models such as the popular Raleigh Arena. However, the majority of Raleigh branded models were built in the main plant at Nottingham. Sun branded bicycles were made in the Carlton factory at Worksop, England.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: As a vertically integrated manufacturer in the mid-1960s, TI–Raleigh owned Brooks (one of the oldest saddle makers in the world), Sturmey-Archer (pioneer of 3-speed hubs), and Reynolds (maker of 531 tubing). Carlton, which had been unable to make inroads in the USA market after a failed rebranding deal with Huffy, found success in the late 1960s by recasting itself as "Raleigh-Carlton", a Raleigh-logo'd bike with some Carlton badging, and using the US dealer network to import and distribute bikes.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: One consequence of the vertically-integrated approach was that Raleigh did not adopt ISO threading standards and dimensions until the 1980s for some of its range (premium models were standardised earlier). The bottom bracket shell of the hugely successful Twenty range of shopper bikes, the Chopper and even the 1976 Grifter, all had a Raleigh exclusive 76mm wide bottom bracket shell. Headsets and bottom brackets use Raleigh exclusive 26 tpi threading (until 1974 when some models reverted to the standard 24 tpi.) There were even models that had a mixture of both, with the fork thread being different to the bottom bracket thread. Indeed, the 1981 Raleigh Bomber had the original Raleigh 26 tpi threading despite the earlier Grifter model and Chopper (1974 on) having already reverted to 24 tpi.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The Raleigh Chopper was designed by Nottingham native Alan Oakley, though this has been disputed by Cambridge designer Tom Karen. The Chopper was patented in the UK in 1967 and patented in the US in 1968. The bike was the "must have" item and signifier of "coolness" for many children at the time. The Chopper was first available for sale in June 1969 in North America. It went on sale in the UK in 1970 and sold well, and was a key factor in reviving the company's fortunes. The "Chopper" featured a 3-speed Sturmey-Archer gear hub, shifted using a top-tube mounted gear lever reminiscent of the early Harley-Davidson suicide shifter — one of its "cool" features. Other differences were the unusual frame, long padded seat with backrest, sprung suspension at the back, high-rise handlebars, and differently sized front (16") and rear (20") wheels. Tyres were wider than usual for the time, with a chunky tread on the rear wheel, featuring red highlights on the sidewall. The price was from approximately £32 for a standard "Chopper" to £55 for the deluxe. Two smaller versions, the "Chipper" and "Tomahawk", also sold well.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The Mk 2 "Chopper" was an improved version from 1972. It had the option of five-speed derailleur gears in the United States, but all UK bikes had the 3 speed hub, with the exception of a model introduced in 1973 and only available in a bizarre shade of pink. This model was discontinued in 1976. The Mk 2 had a shorter seat and the frame modified to move the rear of the seat forward, this helped prevent the bike tipping up. The shorter seat also made it harder to ride '2 up' (2 people on the bike at a time). The "Chopper" remained in production until 1982, when the rising popularity of the BMX bicycle caused sales to drop off.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Raleigh revisited the chopper design in recent times, with great success although the new version has had some changes to conform to modern safety laws. Gone is the top tube shifter and long integrated seat, but the look and feel of the bike remain.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1979, production of Raleigh 531 butted-tube bicycles reached 10,000 units a year. In 1981, the former Carlton factory at Worksop closed after a vote was held. The original decision to continue at Worksop was reversed but the management decided to go with the original decision, and by the autumn production was moved to a Lightweights facility at Nottingham. However, all bicycles made there afterward still carried the W for Worksop frame number designation until early 1990. In 1982, rights to the "Raleigh USA" name were purchased by the Huffy Corporation after decades of being the US distributor of Raleigh bikes from England. Under the terms of the agreement, "Raleigh of England" licensed Huffy to design and distribute Raleigh bicycles in the US, and Huffy was given instant access to a nationwide network of bike shops. The renamed "Raleigh Cycle Company of America" sold their bikes in the US. In the rest of the world, origin varied. The majority of territories received bikes from Raleigh in England, but other markets such as South Africa and India for example, had their own independently owned "Raleigh" companies like with Huffy in the US. At that time, production of some U.S. Raleigh models were shifted to Japan, with Bridgestone manufacturing most of these bikes. By 1984, all Raleighs for the American market, except the top-of-the range Team Professional (made in Ilkeston) and Prestige road bikes (made in Nottingham), were produced in the Far East. Meanwhile, in the home market, Raleigh had broken into the new UK BMX market with their Burner range, which was very successful.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 1987, the leading German bicycle manufacturer Derby Cycle bought Raleigh from Ti and Raleigh USA from Huffy. In 1988, Derby opened a factory in Kent, Washington manufacturing two Raleigh lines, the bimetallic "Technium" road bike line, which used heat-treated aluminum main frame tubes, thermally bonded and heat-cured to internal steel lugs using a Boeing-developed proprietary epoxy — along with chromoly steel head tube and rear stays. Kent also manufactured the off-road chromoly steel "Altimetric" line (Tangent CX, Traverse CX, Tactic CX and Talon CX 1991-1992). The factory closed in 1994. All "Raleigh Cycle Company of America" parts and frames from 1995 on were then mass-produced in China and Taiwan and assembled in other plants.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: The high-end framesets offered for sale in Raleigh catalogues together with the frames built for Team riders were produced in Ilkeston by the Special Bicycle Development Unit (SBDU) from 1974 onward under the guidance of Gerald O'Donovan; production was moved to the Lightweight Facility in Nottingham, albeit on a much reduced workforce, on closure of the Ilkeston factory in 1986.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: "Raleigh Canada" had a factory in Waterloo, Quebec from 1972 to 2013. Derby Cycle acquired Diamondback Bicycles in 1999. In the same year, Raleigh ceased volume production of frames in the UK and its frame-making equipment were sold by auction.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 2000, Derby Cycle controlled Raleigh USA, Raleigh UK, Raleigh Canada, and Raleigh Ireland. In the latter three markets, Raleigh was the number-one manufacturer of bicycles. Derby Cycle began a series of divestitures, because of financial pressure and sold Sturmey-Archer's factory site to the University of Nottingham and Sturmey-Archer and saddle manufacturer Brooks to a small company called Lenark. Lenark promised to build a new factory in Calverton but failed to pay the first instalment and the company entered liquidation. It was reported that the reason for selling the business, after extracting the cash for the factory site, was to have Lenark declare it insolvent so that neither Derby nor Lenark would have to pay the redundancy costs. Sturmey-Archer's assets were acquired by SunRace of Taiwan who relocated the factory to Taiwan and sales to the Netherlands. Sister company Brooks was sold to Selle Royal of Italy.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 2001, following continuing financial problems at Derby Cycle, there was a management buy-out of all the remaining Raleigh companies led by Alan Finden-Crofts.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: By 2003, assembly of bicycles had ended in the UK with 280 assembly and factory staff made redundant, and bicycles were to come "from Vietnam and other centres of 'low-cost, high-quality' production." with final assembly taking place in Cloppenburg, Germany.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 2012, Derby agreed to be acquired by Pon Holdings, a Dutch company, as part of their new bicycle group. and buyout terms were agreed in 2012.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In April 2012, Raleigh UK, Canada and USA were acquired by a separate Dutch group Accell for £62m (US$100m), whose portfolio included the Lapierre and Ghost bicycle brands.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: Raleigh had a long association with cycle sport. Most notable is the TI–Raleigh team of the 1970s and 1980s. In 1980 Joop Zoetemelk won the Tour de France on a Raleigh. In the mid-1980s the Raleigh team was co-sponsored by Panasonic. In 1984, riding Raleigh-badged bicycles, Team USA scored several impressive victories at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The company also supplied bicycles to the French Système U team in the late 1980s where Laurent Fignon lost the 1989 Tour de France to Greg LeMond by 8 seconds. The company's special products division made race frames, including those used by the Raleigh professional team of the 1970s. Presently Raleigh as a company owns the Diamondback Bike brand as well. During the 1980s Raleigh also supported British professional teams, including "Raleigh Banana" and "Raleigh Weinmann". Raleigh's most notable riders were Paul Sherwin, Malcolm Elliott, Mark Bell, Paul Watson, Jon Clay and Jeff Williams. It also sponsored a mountain bike team in the early 1990s that also raced in road events.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: In 2009 it was announced that the company would be creating a new Continental-level cycling team called Team Raleigh. The Team were co-sponsored by the global shipping and logistics firm GAC in 2012 and were known as Team Raleigh-GAC. The season was notable for Team Raleigh's first victory in the Tour Series Round 6 and a succession of Premier Calendar wins, which resulted in team rider Graham Briggs finishing the season at the top of British Cycling's UK Elite Men's standings. Raleigh once again became the sole headline sponsor of the team in 2013 and the team re-paid the investment with high-profile wins in the Tour de Normandie, Tour of the Reservoir and Tour Series Rounds 1 and 2. Raleigh decided to withdraw from supporting a road team at the end of the 2017 season


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: With such a long history, many of the early models which may have been coveted and loved by many riders are now outside of living memory. Similarly, with a worldwide reach including separate companies that were never even owned by Raleigh, there will be models that are remembered fondly by some, yet never heard of in the home market.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: What follows is a list of some of the best known of the post war models, and also including some of the more obscure export models which gained a following.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning", the 1958 debut novel by Alan Sillitoe, is partly set in Raleigh's Nottingham factory, Sillitoe himself being an ex-employee of the firm. Several scenes for the 1960 film adaptation starring Albert Finney were filmed on location at the factory itself. In the 1985 movie "American Flyers", David Sommers played by David Marshall Grant, is seen riding through St. Louis, Missouri, on a Raleigh bicycle from that same era. Later in the film, specialized bicycles are used for the race scenes in Colorado and training. In the 1986 bike messenger film "Quicksilver" a variety of Raleigh USA bicycles are used. 1984–85 road bikes are used throughout by notable players in the movie. Kevin Bacon's bicycle is a singlespeed '84 Raleigh Competition. While no differentiation is made in the film, at least three different configurations are seen on Bacon's bike during the movie: fixed-gear, singlespeed, and outfitted with 0-degree trick forks during various scenes in Bacon's apartment. A possible freewheel is suggested early in the film when Bacon dismounts while in motion and a distinct clicking sound is heard until the bike stops moving. A 1984/5 Raleigh Grand Prix is used for the opening chase sequence, and a 1984 or '85 Super Course makes a brief appearance in the opening credits. In 2019, Raleigh 's electric bikes featured in episode 4 of the 2019 season of The Apprentice.


title: Raleigh Bicycle Company

text: A much expanded version of the text of this book, with full academic referencing, is held by the National Cycle Archive at Warwick University for the benefit of serious researchers.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Discworld is the fictional setting for all of Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" fantasy novels. It consists of a large disc (complete with edge-of-the-world drop-off and consequent waterfall) resting on the backs of four huge elephants which are in turn standing on the back of an enormous turtle, named Great A'Tuin (similar to Chukwa or Akupara from Hindu mythology) as it slowly swims through space.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Disc has been shown to be heavily influenced by magic and, while Pratchett gave it certain similarities to planet Earth, he also created his own system of physics for it.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Great A'Tuin is the Giant Star Turtle (of the fictional species "Chelys galactica") who travels through the Discworld universe's space, carrying four giant elephants (named Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon, and Jerakeen) who in turn carry the Discworld. The narration has described A'Tuin as "the only turtle ever to feature on the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram".


title: Discworld (world)

text: Great A'Tuin's sex is unknown to the inhabitants of Discworld (though in "The Colour of Magic" Pratchett describes the turtle as male), but the subject of much speculation by some of the Disc's finest scientific minds. The sex of the World Turtle is pivotal in proving or disproving a number of conflicting theories about the destination of Great A'Tuin's journey through the cosmos. If, as the Discworld version of the popular "Big Bang theory" states, Great A'Tuin is moving from the Birthplace to the Time of Mating, then at the point of mating the civilizations of the Disc might be crushed, simply slide off, or else the entire world will end. The hypothesis is that all stars in the sky are obviously also worlds carried by giant turtles, and that when all the turtles meet they will mate passionately, for the first and only time; from that mating, it is hypothesized that new turtles would be born to carry a new pattern of worlds. Attempts by telepaths to learn more about Great A'Tuin's intents have not met with much success, mainly because they did not realise that its brain functions are on such a slow timescale. All they have been able to discern is that the Great A'Tuin is looking forward to something.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The other theory, described as being popular among the Discworld's academics as the Discworld version of the steady state theory, which in-universe is known as the "steady gait" theory, is that he/she came from nowhere and is going to keep swimming through space to nowhere forever. "Eric" shows Great A'Tuin being made instantly from nothing, seemingly in support of the "steady gait" theory; however, the events in "The Light Fantastic", in which the Great A'Tuin attended the hatching of eight baby turtles, each with four baby elephants and a tiny discworld of their own, would seem to support the Big Bang hypothesis.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The little turtles have since gone off on their own journeys. Whether this was the event the Great A'Tuin was looking forward to or merely one step towards its ultimate goal is not mentioned.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Great A'Tuin has been mentioned to frequently roll on its belly to avoid asteroid and comet collisions, or even to snatch these projectiles out of the sky which might otherwise destroy the Disc. These stunts do not affect the Disc's population, other than to induce severe seasickness on anyone who happens to be looking at the night sky at that time. A'Tuin has been known to do more complex rolls and corkscrews, but these are rarer. This is similar to real-world sea turtles' habit of rolling over with their shell down to protect themselves from sharks.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Due to the Great A'Tuin's travelling through the universe, the night sky of the Discworld changes markedly over the course of decades, as the turtle departs older constellations and enters new ones. This means that astrologers must constantly update and alter their horoscopes to incorporate all-new zodiacs.


title: Discworld (world)

text: A tiny sun and moon orbit the Great A'Tuin, both about in diameter when described at the start of the series, but the description of their diameter is increased to at least later in the chronicles. The moon is slightly closer to the Disc than the sun. One half is covered with silvery glowing plants, which feed the lunar dragons. The other half is burnt black by the sun. The moon rotates and completes a full revolution in about a month; the full moon occurs when the luminescent side is completely visible from the Disc; the new moon when the dark side is shown. The sun's orbit is so complex that one of the elephants has to cock its leg to allow the sun to continue on its orbit.


title: Discworld (world)

text: According to the wizards of Unseen University, "Chelys galactica", and thus Great A'Tuin, are composed largely of the fictional element chelonium, the properties of which are apparently known to them (they do tests to look for it in Roundworld [the Discworld analogue of Earth] in "The Science of Discworld"), but not to readers.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Magic is the principal force on the Discworld and operates in a similar vein to real-world elemental forces such as gravity and electromagnetism. The Disc's "standing magical field" is essentially the local breakdown of reality, which allows a flat planet on the back of a turtle to even exist. The force called "magic" is really just a function of the relative absence of reality in the local area, much in the same way that the absence of heat is described as "coldness". Magic warps reality in much the same way as the real universe's gravity warps its space-time. The act of performing magic is, essentially, telling the universe what form it must take, in terms that the universe cannot ignore. This is very draining to magic users, due to Discworld science's Law of Conservation of Reality, which states that magic and mundane methods require the same energy expenditure. This is why most Discworld wizards store magic in a staff, which is a sort of capacitor for magical energy.


title: Discworld (world)

text: On the Discworld, where magic has more in common with particle physics than Houdini, high-level background magic (most likely a reference to real-world background radiation) occurs when a very powerful spell hits, creating myriad sub-astral particles that severely distort local reality. Building a house in (or even walking into) a region where this has happened is extremely dangerous, as it is mentioned that an individual may not remain the same species, shape or level of sanity as they were when they entered. Medium levels cause odd effects, such as coins landing on their edges and turning into caterpillars. Areas with larger than normal quantities of background magic tend to display unusual qualities, even for the Disc. Very high quantities of magic can knock a hole in Discworld reality, leading to an invasion by Lovecraftian monstrosities from the Dungeon Dimensions, or, almost as bad, the world of the Elves.


title: Discworld (world)

text: In the Discworld universe, magic is broken into elementary particulate fragments in much the same way that energy and other forces are in real-world quantum physics. The basic unit of Discworld magic is the thaum (from the Greek "thauma", marvel), equal to the amount of mystical energy required to conjure up one small white pigeon, or three normal-sized billiard balls. Several SI-modifiers have been applied to it (e.g. millithaum, kilothaum) in the books. Magic can be measured with a thaumometer, which is described as a black cube with a dial on one side. A standard thaumometer is good for up to a million thaums, beyond that level, Discworld reality starts to break down. Parodying the introduction of the metric system, later Discworld novels refer to the introduction of the newer unit, the Prime, to avoid arguments over the standard sizing of pigeons. It is defined as the magical energy required to move one pound of lead one foot, referencing the Joule.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The thaum also appears to be a particle, the Discworld physics equivalent of the atom. "Splitting the thaum" revealed that it was in fact composed of numerous sub-particles, called resons ("thingies") which in turn are created from a combination of up to five "flavours": up, down, sideways, sex appeal, and peppermint (parodying the real-world quarks).


title: Discworld (world)

text: In the opening books, the number eight is generally significant and has magical properties on the Disc, (e.g. the number of the colour of Magic, octarine) and should never be spoken by wizards especially in certain places. Doing so may allow the ancient dungeon dimension creature "Bel-Shamharoth the sender of eight" to break through (this is taken to a somewhat extreme end in one book, as even the "narrator" takes great pains to avoid saying the word). On the other hand, eight turns up in many places one would expect the number seven in the real world (e.g. the Discworld week contains eight days, not seven). After "The Colour of Magic", both the colour and the number eight no longer appear as dangerous.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Disc's magical field is centred on Cori Celesti. Everyday natural forces, such as light and magnetism, are muffled by the power of the Disc's magical field, and rather than a magnetised needle, navigators on the Disc use a compass with a needle of the magical metal octiron, which will always point towards Cori Celesti. Light is so oddly affected by magic that, as it passes into the Disc's atmosphere, it actually slows down from millions to hundreds of miles an hour. One odd effect of this is that the Disc has time zones, however, as a flat world, it should not. Another effect is that, as reported in "Thud!", the red- and blue-shifting of light becomes noticeable when travelling at speeds of merely a .


title: Discworld (world)

text: Reality is spread thinly on the Disc, so events may be affected by expectations, especially those of 'intelligent' species such as humans, dwarves, etc. As such, the Discworld is not governed by real-world physics or logic but by belief and narrative resolution. Essentially, if something is believed strongly enough, or by enough people, it may become true. Jokes such as treacle mines and drop bears are real on the Disc; in reality lemmings do not actually rush "en masse" off cliffs; on the Disc, they do, because that is what people believe. These concepts of Discworld physics are also exploited in both wizard and witch magic. For example, when a character wishes to turn a cat into a human, the easiest way is to "convince" the cat, on a deep level, that he is a human. In fact, the main reason the Auditors of Reality dislike sentient beings in the Discworld universe is that the Auditors are the personifications of the real-world laws of physics, but the Discworld physics' power of belief and the humans' ignorance constantly remake the world, making their work fruitless.


title: Discworld (world)

text: More significantly, it is also belief that gives Discworld's gods their powers. Discworld gods start off as tiny spirits, and gain power as they gain believers; this is explored most thoroughly in "Small Gods". A similar effect has led to the personalisation and "reification" in the Discworld universe of mythological beings symbolising abstract concepts, such as Death, the Hogfather and other anthropomorphic personifications. In "Hogfather", the assassin Mr. Teatime tries to kill the patron of Hogswatch by using an old magic that involves controlling a person with a part of their body (in this case, the teeth collected by the Tooth Fairies), in order to stop children from believing in him, and almost succeeds.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Such is the nature of belief on the Disc that temporary new gods come into being on a regular basis, and often for such mundane things as stuck drawers; Anoia, Goddess of Things That Get Stuck in Drawers, came into her powers in such a manner, though she was previously a volcano goddess.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Disc's nature is fundamentally teleological; its basic composition is determined by what it is ultimately "meant" to be. This primary element, out of which all others spring, is known as narrativium, the elemental substance of Story. Nothing on the Disc can exist without a Story first existing to mould its destiny and determine its form. This is, perhaps, a take on the fact that nothing can ever "happen" on the Disc unless it is written in a story by Terry Pratchett. On the Disc, if a story or legend is told often enough and believed by enough people, it becomes true. This is known as the law of narrative causality.


title: Discworld (world)

text: For example, characters in "Guards! Guards!" describe the marauding (noble) dragon as an "impossible" creature, yet it is able to fly and breathe fire because that is what dragons are "expected to do". Similarly, a witch gone bad may meet a bad end after building a house of gingerbread. If a miller has a third son, he will invariably leave him only his cat. A hero will always win when outnumbered, since million-to-one chances are dramatic enough to "crop up nine times out of ten", but always lose when faced with "a little bald wrinkly smiling man" who is almost always highly trained in martial arts.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Discworld witches often employ narrative in their magic, but consider it ethically tricky since it interferes with free will. Discworld wizards avoid doing so because narrative that severely strains credibility requires outright sources of magic to feed on, sometimes indiscriminately. Knowledge of stories, their use and how to change them forms the basis of many forms of magical power in Discworld physics. Pratchett characters who use and/or change stories include Lilith, Black Aliss, and Granny Weatherwax. The habit of many Discworlders to take metaphor literally has combined with the power of belief to produce some very odd areas on the Discworld. The Place Where The Sun Does Not Shine, for instance, is a deep crevasse in Lancre, incidentally located between A Rock and A Hard Place.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The colour of magic on the Discworld, also referred to as the "eighth colour". This fictional colour is strongly indicative of magic and can only be seen by wizards (who sometimes describe it as resembling a fluorescent greenish-yellow purple) and cats, who both possess "octagon cells" in addition to the normal cones and rods possessed by humans. (See tetrachromacy for the real-world equivalent.)


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Disc contains a number of magical substances. One such is octiron, a dense black metal that is a large part of the Discworld's crust. Its melting point is above the range of metal forges. The gates of Unseen University are made out of it, as is Old Tom, the university's bell. It is used to make magic needles and bells. It releases magical radiation, but if it becomes negatively polarised, it can be used to absorb such radiation. It generates significant amounts of heat under pressure, accounting for most of the volcanic geological processes on Discworld. When struck (such as with Old Tom), instead of producing a sound it briefly silences anything around it.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Another is fingles, insinuated in "Eric" to be an important part of human psychology. Their absence, according to the Creator, can cause psychological problems. "On the surface they were all right, but deep down they knew something was missing", as he put it, referring to the inhabitants of a world where he forgot to include any. Since fingles do not exist on Earth, it is implied that Earth is the planet the Creator is referring to, and humanity is the species that is fundamentally incomplete because of their absence.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Another is slood. First mentioned in "The Last Continent", slood is a natural substance that could be discovered by intelligent beings, but that humans on Earth have been too unintelligent to find; it is said to be much easier to discover than fire, and only slightly harder to discover than water. One of Rincewind's many accumulated positions is Reader in Slood Dynamics. The General Theory of Slood was discovered by Archchancellor Sloman, and a stained glass window representing this event is in the meeting room of the Unseen University college council. The University's plumbing system contains pipes for maintaining slood differential.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Disc itself is described as roughly wide, giving it a surface area two-fifths that of the Earth, which would make it roughly the size of the Pacific Ocean. In addition to its flatness, Pratchett gives it another principal geographic feature; Cori Celesti, a mountain that lies at its exact centre and is the point of origin for its standing magical field. Cori Celesti is also the location of Dunmanifestin, the home of many of the Disc's gods and the Discworld analogue of real-world Greek mythology's Mount Olympus. The area surrounding Cori Celesti is known as The Hub, a land of high, icebound mountains that serves as an analogue to the real-world Himalayas, polar regions (since, although the Disc has no poles as such, it is as far as possible from the Disc's edge and thus the sun), and Scandinavia – the Hublanders share many features with vikings. Polar bears are renamed "Hubland bears", while the Disc's equivalent of the aurora borealis (described as being produced by the Disc's magical field, rather than by magnetism) is known as the "Aurora Coriolis".


title: Discworld (world)

text: The areas closer to the Rim are warmer and tropical, since the Disc's sun passes closer to them in its orbit. At the Rim, a great, encircling waterfall (the Rimfall) sends the Disc's oceans cascading into space. Pratchett is evasive about how the water eventually returns to refill the oceans, only saying, "Arrangements are made." The mist from the plunging waters creates the Rimbow, an eight-colour (the eighth is octarine) double rainbow consisting both of light and of magic.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Cardinal directions within the Discworld are not given as North, South, East and West, but rather as directions relating to the disc itself: "Hubward" (towards the centre), "Rimward" (away from the centre) and to a lesser extent, "turnwise" (direction of the disc's rotation) and "widdershins" (against the direction of the disc's rotation). The drawing on the front cover of "Jingo" shows a weathercock fitted with the requisite "H", "R", "T" and "W" letters. The disc rotates clockwise as seen from above.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Circle Sea is an almost landlocked body of water approximately halfway between the Hub and the Rim, opening at the Turnwise side into the Rim Ocean. The Circle Sea is analogous to the Mediterranean, in that it is bordered both by countries on the Sto Plains (Europe) and continent of Klatch (Middle East, North Africa). Its principal trading ports are Ankh-Morpork, on the Sto Plains coast, and Al Khali and Ephebe on the Rimwards side. Discworld civilization, which can broadly be defined as those countries that have invented the fork as well as the knife, is found around the Circle Sea's historic coasts. The countries around the Circle Sea are Ankh-Morpork, Ephebe, Djelibeybi, Klatch, Omnia and Tsort. The Circle Sea is the location of Leshp, an island that occasionally rises to the surface on a cushion of foul-smelling gas, before settling back to the seafloor once more. Leshp's last appearance sparked a near-war between Ankh-Morpork and Klatch in "Jingo".


title: Discworld (world)

text: The unnamed continent is the one on which most of the books are set. It is essentially the analogue of Europe, and contains among other things the Sto Plains and Ramtops, as well as the more Eastern European lands around Überwald.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Sto Plains are the rough analogue to Western Europe on the Discworld. They are a land of rich black loam, upon which rests a great squat forest of cabbages. In "Soul Music", a footnote states various facts of the region:


title: Discworld (world)

text: The cabbage has an almost mythic status among the people of the Sto Plains, and is an emblem of its largest and dominant city, Ankh-Morpork, which is located near the northeast of the coat of arms. Many young people who leave the farming areas of the Plains for life in the big city would happily never see a cabbage again.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Although they have been an empire in the past, the Sto Plains currently exist as a loose collection of independent city-states, ruled over by a close-knit (and probably interrelated) ruling class. The Sto Plains could be thought of as being similar to Germany prior to the unification of the states into the German Empire, with no overall authority. According to "Mort" the area was to be united in the coming decades. As reality was given a retcon in the book, the Duke who united the Sto Plains was Mort, and he did it by diplomacy rather than conquest.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The principal city of the Sto Plains is Ankh-Morpork. While it does not exert any political power over its neighbors, its economic domination of the region (summed up by the phrase, "Attack us, and we'll call in your mortgages") has meant that the smaller cities around it are essentially its satellites. For some reason, on both sides of the coat of arms has two hippos on each side.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Pseudopolis (its name translates to "false city") is first mentioned in the first "Discworld" novel, "The Colour of Magic". That novel also refers to Psephopololis, which according to "The Discworld Mapp" is the same place. The city is not to be confused with Pseudopolis Yard, the headquarters of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch (a reference to Scotland Yard). Pseudopolis possesses a school of magic, Braseneck College (a parody of Brasenose College, Oxford), which is apparently in competition for prestige with the larger, older Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork. In fact, the novel "Raising Steam" makes clear that this rivalry extends to the city level, as Pseudopolis refuses to accept an Ankh-Morpork-constructed trainline. As of "Unseen Academicals", the aristocracy of the city appear to have undertaken an experiment in representative democracy, much to Lord Vetinari's amusement.


title: Discworld (world)

text: While no "Discworld" novels have been set in Pseudopolis, a number of characters have roots there. Eric Thursley lives/lived at 13 Midden Lane ("Faust Eric"). Charlie, a man with an extraordinary physical resemblance to Ankh-Morpork Patrician Havelock Vetinari, ran a clothes shop there ("The Truth"). Nobby Nobbs had an early career as an armourer in one of the Pseudopolis city militias; curiously (and this may be no more than a coincidence, although there may be a connection given Nobby's penchant for nicking and flogging [i.e., stealing and selling]


title: Discworld (world)

text: anything not nailed down), Pseudopolis always lost its wars at this period because of an unaccountable shortage of weapons. John Keel, a city watchman, moved from Pseudopolis to Ankh-Morpork and was the mentor of the young Sam Vimes ("Night Watch").


title: Discworld (world)

text: Quirm is most significant as the location of the Quirm College for Young Ladies (formerly attended by Susan Sto Helit) and the birthplace of Leonard of Quirm (the Disc's Leonardo da Vinci).


title: Discworld (world)

text: Quirm is a quiet and peaceful town, and for this reason is a popular holiday destination. It is also where Morporkians go when they retire (including Lord Vetinari's aunt, Lady Roberta Meserole). In this regard, it relates to Ankh-Morpork as Eastbourne relates to London, or possibly as Spain relates to the United Kingdom, or even Greece (as a description in "Unseen Academicals" describes Quirm as having "strange water", which is the typical stereotype of the Greek Water Supply).


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Quirmian language is occasionally mentioned in the books as being similar to French or Spanish, but "Snuff" notes that all Quirmians speak perfect Morporkian. Spoken Quirmian is heard in "Making Money", where it is identical to French. In "Raising Steam", the Marquis des Aix en Pains speaks Morporkian with a French accent.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Quirm is famous for its floral clock: a circle of flowers, each of which opens its petals at a different hour. Quirm is also famous for its (blue-veined) cheese. Quirmian cuisine is generally characterized by containing "avec" (French for "with").


title: Discworld (world)

text: Quirm is a duchy, ruled by the Rodley family. Members of this family seen in the books include Lord Rodley, an upper-class twit in "Mort", and Brenda Rodley, the swamp dragon-breeding dowager duchess in "Guards! Guards!".


title: Discworld (world)

text: In "Sourcery", Quirm was destroyed by wizards during a magical war, but was presumably restored by Coin when he put everything back as it was before the war.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Quirm College for Young Ladies is an educational institution located in Quirm. In the books, Susan Sto Helit, Lady Sybil Ramkin and Miss Perspicacia Tick were educated there. The school's headmistress and founder is Miss Eulalie Butts (possibly a reference to Frances Buss). It is explained in "Soul Music" that few of the Discworld's higher-class schools (such as the Ankh-Morpork Assassins' Guild School) see fit to admit female students (although the Assassins have since changed this policy), so Miss Butts founded the College "on the astonishing principle that, since gels had nothing much to do until someone married them, they might as well occupy the time with learning things."


title: Discworld (world)

text: The school resembles a traditional English independent girls' school, with an academic curriculum and a heavy emphasis on respectable and decent behaviour. The school's strong emphasis on decency reportedly makes it rather difficult to teach certain areas of Biology; students come out of that class "with the vague idea that they were supposed to marry a rabbit" ("Soul Music"). Students at the school do not seem to be preparing for any particular profession. As the known universities on the Disc are solely for wizards (who must be male – see Unseen University), and most other higher education institutions on the Disc do not admit females, there is no clear lifelong aim for the school's alumnae. Susan Sto Helit describes it as "an education in, well, education" ("Hogfather"). It appears that those students who do not marry upon leaving school generally go into the teaching profession themselves, or become governesses.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Staff include Miss Butts, the Headmistress; Miss Delcross, the Biology mistress; and "Iron Lily", the gym mistress.


title: Discworld (world)

text: According to the books, Sto Lat is a sizable walled town in the Sto Plains, although eclipsed enormously both in size and influence by the neighbouring city of Ankh-Morpork. Sto Lat is the nearest major city to Ankh-Morpork (approximately a half day's journey by horse, less if the horse is Boris from "Going Postal") and to which it is connected by two clacks towers. It encompasses a large boulder emerging out of the Sto Plains like 'a geological pimple', left there by the retreating Ice Giants. The castle is built into this rock.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Its most recent king before the present monarch was King Olerve, who was shot with a crossbow by an assassin hired by the original Duke of Sto Helit, a thoroughly nasty man who staged a bid for the succession, thwarted only by Mort in "Mort". At the end of "Mort", Princess Keli became Queen.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Politically, Sto Lat is the capital of a kingdom ruled by Queen Kelirehenna, which includes Sto Helit, Sto Kerrig and the Eight Protectorates. Her authority is exercised through a Mayor. The kingdom was one of the first places outside Ankh-Morpork to adopt its own stampings for the post.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Astolat is a legendary location in Arthurian mythology, and "Sto lat" is also a traditional Polish song equivalent to "Happy Birthday to You" ("sto lat" literally means "hundred years").


title: Discworld (world)

text: Sto Helit is a duchy within Sto Lat, which was given to Mort in "Mort", after he'd saved Queen Kelirehenna. After his death in "Soul Music", his duchy apparently was passed to his daughter, Susan. She works as a teacher now, but, apparently, as of "Thief of Time", she still is duchess of Sto Helit.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Ramtops are the Discworld's principal mountain range. Across their vast extent, from the Hub to the Rim, they incorporate elements from virtually every noted mountain range of Earth, from the Scottish Highlands (Lancre) to the Himalayas (the High Tops) to Appalachia (Slice). They are the Disc's main magical conduit, as they lie like a metal rod across the centre of the Disc's magical field (indeed, the source of the field, the Cori Celesti, is technically part of the Ramtops), and are thus alive with unreality. Portals to various otherworlds dot the range's hidden crevices; ""gnarly ground"" compresses vast areas of land into tiny patches, and where witches, wizards, and godlike monks alike practice their arts within these secluded communities.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Due to a relative rarity of horizontal flat surfaces (vertical flat surfaces are plenty), kingdoms in the Ramtops tend to be small, isolated, and sparsely populated. Much of the economy is agrarian and communities largely consist of loosely affiliated groups of self-sufficient farms. The Ramtops are known for their harsh winters; snow drifts can rise up to during the worst storms. "Ramtoppers have 18 words for snow," Pratchett says, ""none of them printable"."


title: Discworld (world)

text: Pratchett mentioned that the name of the Ramtops comes from "RAMTOP" (i.e. top of RAM, or random-access memory), a system variable in the ZX Spectrum computer.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Lancre is situated in the Ramtop mountains, about Hubwards of the city of Ankh-Morpork. It is the best-known of hundreds of tiny countries in the Ramtops, occupying a vertiginous shelf looking over the Sto Plains.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Lancre is based mainly on rural areas of Southern England with which Pratchett was familiar. In an article in "Folklore" entitled, 'Imaginary Worlds, Real Stories,' Pratchett writes, "the kingdom of Lancre [...] I suspect is a somewhat idealised version of the little fold in the Chiltern Hills where I grew up, stirred in with the western area of the Mendips where I spent a great deal of my adult life." Pratchett described the tiny country as "solid folklore"; it is the place all the legends of Earth's countryside "really happened". Ankh-Morpork serves a similar function for urban folklore, but not as blatantly. The name seems to echo Lancashire (with the inhabitants called "Lancrastians") and the associated witch trials in Pendle in that county in the seventeenth century.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Part of the reason for Lancre's mystical quality is that the Ramtops are a major earthing point for the Discworld's magical field. Headless horsemen and walking trees are part of the landscape, as are witches. Lancre is famous for witches, especially since the publication of "The Joye of Snackes", an erotic cookbook by "A Lancre Witch", i.e. Nanny Ogg. Though it is not clear if the phenomenon is related to background magic, Lancre also serves as the physical location for (possibly two) independent gateways to a "parasite universe" inhabited by Elves.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The other thing Lancre is famous for is young people going off and seeking their fortunes, usually in Ankh-Morpork.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Although most maps show Lancre to measure roughly in size, its true area remains unknown – partly because of its mountainous terrain and the fact that it borders on the Ramtops, but also due to the warping effect of high level of background magic. Owing to this background magic, geography in certain areas of Lancre can take on additional properties that exist either outside, or in addition to, the conventional geographic dimensions. Such areas include the Lancre Moors, where reality can become folded into deep troughs and ridges known as "Gnarly Ground". This can create the illusion that two points in space are adjacent, when in reality they are several miles apart, or vice versa. The effect, as mentioned in "The Discworld Companion" is that Lancre contains more landscape than a kingdom of its apparent size should be able to contain (a similar magical effect occurs in the Unseen University Library, which has a diameter of 100 yards, but an infinite radius). "Gnarly Ground" can be detected by those with magical senses, or those with keen eyesight who observe how clouds and shadows appear to fracture as they pass across it. Flying over such areas is not for the faint-hearted and walking across it can be fraught with peril for the unwary. Similarly, Lancre contains areas where the landscape echoes the state of mind of those who pass through, leading confident travellers to find babbling brooks while, in the same place at the same time, disheartened travellers find deep valleys and raging mountain torrents.


title: Discworld (world)

text: In times past, Elven incursions were common. Both gateways have been sealed from the Lancre side by standing stones made from thunderbolt iron, a form of meteoric ore which is one of the few sources of magnetism on the Disc; humans, but not Elves (except in exceptional circumstances), may pass through them.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The capital "city" of Lancre is Lancre Town, by dint of being slightly bigger than the other villages, and containing Lancre Castle. Due to Elven incursions, Lancre Castle was built to an exaggerated scale in order to accommodate fleeing citizens.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Bad Ass is the home of Granny Weatherwax. It got its name when a donkey, carrying the supplies of a group of settlers, stopped on a ford and refused to move, forcing them to build their town there. The valley occupied by Bad Ass overlooks a panorama of lesser mountains and foothills. From there, one can see to the edge of the world. In the long winter snows, the roads out of the village are lined with boards to reduce drifting and to stop travellers from straying. A narrow bridge over a stream leads to the village smithy, birthplace of Eskarina Smith.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The lands around the Hub, also called the High Tops, are icy, mountainous and cold. They are also the areas closest to the Cori Celesti, and so are crackling with magic. They are roughly equivalent to Earth's Himalayas, being home to Yeti and various Buddhist-style monastic orders, such as the History Monks, which give the area the nickname "Enlightenment Country". The Hublands are also the closest thing the Disc has to a pole, and so are home to its equivalent of polar bears and walruses, mentioned in "The Last Hero".


title: Discworld (world)

text: Überwald () is a region located near the foot of the Ramtops, farther from Ankh-Morpork than Lancre is.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Its name is German for ""over the woods"", a play on Transylvania (which is Latin for ""across the woods"" - a name actually used for Transylvania in some 13th century writings). The region is based less on the real Eastern Europe, and more on the Hammer Horror stereotype of the area. In keeping with the Discworld's affinity for narrative, Überwald's climate and conditions contrive to fulfill human expectations: for example, Überwaldian thunderclaps occur whenever someone makes a particularly forceful pronouncement. In "The Truth" this phenomenon is referred to as ""psychotropic weather"".


title: Discworld (world)

text: The spelling of the German-language word is certainly ""Überwald"". The usage in some of the books is uneven, but the later narratives use ""Uberwald"" exclusively. In "Carpe Jugulum", Pratchett writes:


title: Discworld (world)

text: The region was previously united under the rule of the Unholy Empire (a play on the Holy Roman Empire), which had a two-headed bat as its symbol (a play on the double headed eagle). The Empire has long since collapsed leaving the area fragmented, chaotic, and under the rule of lore, not law.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Although Überwald has a large human population, they play a secondary role in the region's history. It is ruled by dwarfs, vampires, and werewolves. Sergeant (later Captain) Angua of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is from an old aristocratic family of Überwald werewolves. While there are indeed a number of human barons, they all tend to be uninterested in politics, preferring instead to dabble in experimental surgery and ""Meddling In Things Man Was Not Meant To Wot Of"," each with the help of their personal Igors.


title: Discworld (world)

text: From the 'Diet of Bugs' (a play on the Diet of Worms) onwards garlic and silver were considered contraband across Überwald until the events of "The Fifth Elephant"; the undead simply promised they would not be needed. Apparently this system left something to be desired.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Überwald's economy is apparently based on mining. Though precious metals are plentiful, the most crucial mineral resource is fat, which is believed to have been deposited by a fifth great Discworld-bearing elephant, which was dislodged from the back of Great A'Tuin and crashed into the ground around Überwald. Boiling fat rising to the surface is the reason for the country's many hot springs.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Überwald effectively comprises two utterly distinct societies; the dwarfs (who exist below in their cavernous cities and tunnels), and everybody else, who lives above on the surface. By tradition, the laws of the surface people do not apply underground, and vice versa. Überwaldian dwarfs are far more hidebound and traditional than their cousins near the Sto Plains, which has led to a certain culture clash between the two (cf. marching season). Überwald is the centre of Dwarfish history and politics; the Low King, the final arbiter of Dwarfish law, has his seat of power in the underground Überwald city of Schmaltzberg (literally "mountain of fat"; a double or even triple play on the Austrian town of Salzburg: Schmaltz means lard or fat in German, but can also mean 'excessive sentimentality').


title: Discworld (world)

text: Koom Valley is a location somewhere in Überwald. Hundreds of years ago, the trolls and the dwarfs met in a battle at Koom Valley in which each side apparently ambushed the other. Nowadays, dwarfs celebrate the Battle of Koom Valley Day, on the same day that trolls celebrate Troll New Year. Sometimes, in a city where both dwarfs and trolls live (e.g. Ankh-Morpork), the two groups are careful enough to plan their celebratory marches so that they are on the same street. Some people (e.g. Susan Sto Helit), after carefully studying history books, point out that the Battle of Koom Valley seemed to have been repeated several times. The name comes from the Welsh word "cwm", which means "valley".


title: Discworld (world)

text: Borogravia is located Rimwards of Überwald, on the Discworld's unnamed main continent. The capital city is PrinceMarmadukePiotreAlbertHansJosephBernhardtWilhelmsberg. Borogravia is a Duchy, and as such is ruled by a Duke or Duchess. The ruler at the time of "Monstrous Regiment" was Duchess Annagovia, who has achieved virtual godhood among the people.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Borogravia is an extremely backward and reactionary nation, whose laws are defined by their god Nuggan. Nuggan dictates "abominations", which are things that have been banned by him, to his worshippers via the "Book of Nuggan", a "living testament" in which new "abominations" appear "religiously" from Nuggan, with the necessity of adding fresh pages making it the only holy book to be kept in a ring binder. These enforcements can be very impractical and inconvenient, such as banning chocolate, Borogravia's main export; depictions of living things (apart from the Duchess); babies (this law is usually overlooked); crop rotation; and any means of airborne communications (namely semaphore and carrier pigeon). The banning of semaphore led to the Borogravians cutting down the clacks towers along the Zlobenian border, which was one of the main causes of war between the two nations (with intermittent conflict going on for so long that no-one can remember why it is actually happening), and the reason for Ankh-Morporkian diplomatic intervention. Perhaps the most militarily aggressive nation on the Disc, Borogravia is known for invading its neighbours and fighting wars (in "Night Watch", it is mentioned in passing that Borogravia has invaded Mouldavia). However, it struggles to keep up with this demand because of its crippled economy (caused by highly inconvenient "abominations"), and as a result of fighting the country is seriously short of young men, so much that a proportion of its soldiers are in fact women in disguise (see "Monstrous Regiment").


title: Discworld (world)

text: Zlobenia, a pun on Slovenia, with its capital Rigour, a pun on Riga, is a principality ruled by Prince Heinrich, who is described as tall, handsome, and smug. It has fought numerous wars with Borogravia, usually territorial disputes over the River Kneck, which forms the border between the two nations and frequently changes its course after flooding. Zlobenia's soldiers wear blue uniforms. Borogravians call Zlobenians 'swede eaters'. Heinrich has visions of making Zlobenia "the Ankh-Morpork of the mountains", much to the amusement of Samuel Vimes. Heinrich is also heir to the Borogravian throne after the death of the Duchess Annagovia. In "Monstrous Regiment" he declares war against Borogravia to assert his claim.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Chalk is an area of rolling chalk downland near Lancre, bearing a great resemblance to Pratchett's native Wiltshire. The "soft" geology of the area is, according to some mountain witches, not conducive to the channelling of magic. In fact this is a misconception (the bones of the hills are flint), and powerful witches can and do reside there, although the local baron has outlawed witchcraft, meaning they do not identify themselves as such. This law has since been repealed or at least ignored by the new baron since Tiffany Aching began openly practising magic there.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Llamedos is a land noted for its druids, its bards, and its rain. Rain is the chief export of Llamedos; it has rain mines, in addition to ore and coal mines. Holly is the one plant that can grow in Llamedos's climate; everything else just rots. Llamedos is run by druids, who dot the land with stone circles used for computation. This is a lifetime job, since they frequently need upgrading. Llamedos is a fairly obvious parody of the British constituent country Wales. Its annual bardic competition, the Eisteddfod, is still held in Wales. The name is a reference to Dylan Thomas's radio play "Under Milk Wood", for which he created the fictitious Welsh town of Llareggub ("bugger all" spelled backwards); Llamedos, accordingly, is "Sod 'em all" spelled backwards. The inhabitants tend to speak with a doubled-L accent, i.e. "Llots of lluck!" Its native son Imp Y Celyn changes the course of the Discworld's musical history in "Soul Music".


title: Discworld (world)

text: The Octarine Grass Country is an area of rich farmland which, thanks to its proximity to the Ramtops, also happens to be saturated with magic. So saturated, in fact, that it is possible to grow re-annual crops: crops that germinate and grow the spring before they are planted. This is the homeland of Mort. The Octarine Grass Country predominantly features in "Reaper Man", where Death goes to work under the name Bill Door.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The most notable region beyond the Sto Plains is the small city of Genua, a Morporkian-speaking nation that bears some resemblance to New Orleans. Its most significant appearance in the books is in "Witches Abroad". It is in an area called the Swamplands, some distance from the Sto Plains/Ramtops locations of most of the books.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The name Genua is probably based on Genoa, a city in Italy. However, Genua bears a striking resemblance to the French and Caribbean-influenced American South, especially New Orleans. Local transport is by cattle- or troll-powered paddleboats with onboard gambling. The local witch, Erzulie Gogol, is a Voodoo mambo complete with personal zombie (in her case, that of the former ruler of the principality, Baron Saturday, who himself shares a name with a famous Voodoo god) and the local food is essentially Cajun cuisine, including gumbo.


title: Discworld (world)

text: During the events of "Witches Abroad" the city was ruled by an evil fairy godmother, Lily Weatherwax, (sister of Lancre witch Esme Weatherwax) though she went by the name Lilith de Tempscire (a French calque of "weather"+"wax"). She was obsessed with fairy tales and thought she could force everyone to be happy if only she could get them to follow the logic of the "happy ending." Under her rule, innkeepers who were not fat and jolly or inclined to tell jokes were sent to the dungeon, and Genua's ruler, the Baron Saturday, was murdered so that his heir apparent, Ella, could be a neglected orphan, as the tales dictated. Soon, the city began to resemble a skewed version of Disneyland. The name "Genua" therefore could also be an ironic echo of "genuine", which is exactly what Genua, at this time, was not. Eventually, thanks to the efforts of the Lancre Coven, Lily was deposed and sent to a dimension of endless mirrors, and Ella was able to assume her role as Baroness of Genua without marrying a frog like Lily had intended.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Genua was most likely established as a far flung colony of the Morporkian Empire, explaining why it shares more similarities with Ankh-Morpork/Sto Plains than its immediate neighbours Überwald and Muntab. The state first gained power under General Tacticus, who, having been sent there by the Morporkian Empire to stay out of the way, proceeded to declare war on Ankh-Morpork.


title: Discworld (world)

text: According to the novel "Going Postal", Genua is located approximately from Ankh-Morpork by road, a journey of two months by stagecoach. A faster method is to travel by flying broomstick, whereby the city can be reached in a single day, though this may involve losing one's ears or freezing to death.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The continent of Klatch consists of that part of the Discworld's super continent that is rimwards of the Circle Sea. Like the distinction between Europe and Asia, the difference between Klatch and the unnamed continent that Ankh-Morpork stands upon is arbitrary and cultural rather than geographically evident. The continent includes the Circle Sea states of Ephebe, Tsort, Djelibeybi, Omnia, and the more rimwards territories of Howondaland, Tezumen Empire, Betrek, Smale, Klatchistan, and Muntab. It can be thought of as roughly equivalent to Africa.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The continent's principal nation, also called Klatch, is a large multi-ethnic empire rimwards to turnwise of the Circle Sea. It resembles medieval Arabic states, and has a political system similar to the Ottoman Empire. Its capital is Al Khali (popularly known as 'the Gateway to the mysterious continent of Klatch'), and it includes outlying regions such as Hersheba and Syrrit. Klatch is a commercial rival of Ankh-Morpork – the book "Jingo" depicts a brief war between the two mainly on economic land ownership grounds. It is also a common metaphorical boundary for anything considered genuinely "foreign", despite other areas of similar distance not being considered as such. There is some cultural mistrust between the Sto Plains and Klatch, as evidenced by the phrase "Pardon my Klatchian" upon speaking a rude word.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Despite the tendency of Morporkians to see Klatchians as savages, "Jingo" makes clear that Klatchians are technologically and scientifically advanced. It is said that the Klatchians had 15 distinct words for assassination before the rest of the world had caught on to the idea of hitting each other with rocks. This situation parallels that which existed between Europe and the Arab world throughout the Middle Ages. The ruler of Klatch is called the Seriph (perhaps a play on "caliph", "sherif/sharif", "seraph" and "serif"). In "Sourcery", the Seriph was Creosote, a rather vain and foolish man who was obsessed with poetry. A genie reportedly granted a great fortune to his grandfather, which was more or less squandered by modern times. It is unknown whether Creosote is still Seriph; the Prince Cadram and Prince Khufurah appeared in "Jingo", but it is unknown whether they are relatives of Creosote. The "Klatchian Foreign Legion" parodies French military activities in North Africa. The name is probably a play on "coffee klatsch"; a recognition of its most famous export, Klatchian coffee. The principal deity of Klatch is Offler, a crocodile-headed god.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Al Khali has been described by Rincewind as "like Ankh, only with sand instead of mud". It is bisected by the Tsort River. The city is noted for its wind, which blows from the vast deserts of Klatch, and has been described as "a gentle but persistent breeze". Notable features of the city include


title: Discworld (world)

text: Klatchian coffee is a strong, nearly magical coffee, brewed in Klatch and drunk only by the initiated in very small cups. Presumably an exaggerated version of Turkish coffee, Klatchian coffee has a strong sobering effect, bringing the drinker "to the other side of sobriety". This state of sobriety is referred to as knurd ("drunk" spelled backwards; compare the entry in the "Jargon File"). To be "knurdish" is described as the opposite of being drunk: Not sobriety – the mere absence of drunkenness – but just as far away from sobriety in the opposite direction, resulting in an appalling existential clarity. According to "Sourcery", being knurd strips away all the comforting illusions in which people usually spend their lives, letting them see and think clearly for the first time. This is a very traumatic experience, although it is noted that it sometimes leads to important discoveries. To counteract the effects of Klatchian coffee, in Klatch it is drunk with Orakh (a very violent alcoholic beverage made by mixing scorpion venom and cactus sap and fermenting it in the sun for several weeks), possibly referring to Italian "espresso" coffee which is often drunk with "grappa", a very strong, often homemade, alcohol (although the name "Orakh" is presumably a reference to arak). After a few screams, a lie down and a stiff drink, the occasional drinker will try never to be "knurd" again.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Although knurdness is a state usually only obtainable by drinking Klatchian coffee, Samuel Vimes, one of the Discworld's most notable characters, is described in "Guards! Guards!" as being naturally two drinks short of actual sobriety. This makes him slightly knurd by default, which partially accounts for his depressive nature and tendency towards alcoholism—he started out looking for a cure to knurdness. Once he starts drinking, however, he cannot stop and always gets the dosage wrong.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Ephebe is largely the Discworld analogue of Athenian Greece. However, it also takes influences from Alexandria and Minos; the name is an Anglicization of the Greek concept of ephebos. Ephebe lies on the hubwards shores of the Circle Sea on the Klatchian continent, widdershins of the Klatchian Empire, Tsort and Djelibeybi and turnwise of Omnia.


title: Discworld (world)

text: Ephebe has only been visited twice in the novels, in "Pyramids" and "Small Gods". However, we know from "Eric" that in its early history, it fought a series of damaging wars against Tsort, with which it remains in a cold-war situation to this day. The disappearance of the Djel River valley in "Pyramids" briefly sparked a resumption of hostilities, which mostly involved highly reluctant soldiers hiding in wooden horses, waiting for the other side to take them into the city. This was quickly ended by the Djel's abrupt reappearance. In "Small Gods", it was briefly invaded by Omnia; however, this occupation quickly collapsed and Ephebe launched a decisive counter-strike in alliance with the other nations along the Klatchian coast.


title: Discworld (world)

text: The country was heavily affected by the first temporal shattering mentioned in "Thief of Time", as a result of which the philosophers living there appear extraordinarily long-lived. Ephebe has a population of about 50,000, according to "The Discworld Companion". Much of this population is made up of slaves, who have steadfastly refused any efforts to give them more rights; they are quite happy with their guaranteed income and safety as slaves (and the possibility of owning slaves of their own).


title: Discworld (world)

text: As a democracy, Ephebe is unusual on the Discworld. Those citizens who are not disqualified on account of being foreigners, mad, poor or female elect a Tyrant to run the city, who invariably turns out to be a criminal madman. They then elect another Tyrant, who is much the same. At the time of "Small Gods" (the position of which in the Discworld chronology is somewhat obscure), Ephebe was ruled by a small, fat man with skinny legs, who resembled an egg hatching upside-down. It is unknown whether he is still ruler.


title: Discworld (world)

text: According to "The Discworld Companion", it does not have an economy. The people are perfectly happy living off the fish and olives farmed by the slaves, or the way Teppic described it in "Pyramids", they made wine of everything they could stuff in a bucket and ate whatever couldn't crawl out of one, which gives time for Ephebe's major export: philosophy. For what it's worth (about one Ankh-Morpork penny), the currency of Ephebe is the talent. Ephebe is a city of philosophers; some hardware merchants have taken to stocking towels, in case of clothing-challenged brilliant thinkers (an allusion to Archimedes' "Eureka!"). The philosophers are noted for pondering the existence of gods, but carefully in case the gods get angry. Brawls between varying philosophical factions frequently erupt across Ephebe's many taverns, but Ephebe is on the whole a peaceful city, which "ambles by from day to day" ("The New Discworld Companion"). One of the philosophers Teppic met in Ephebe was instrumental in the building of a lighthouse. The proposed location for the lighthouse was deemed to be disruptive to the view of the harbour and so it was placed some distance inland. Sailors who find themselves stranded on the rocks of the harbour have considered the lighthouse a quite beautiful thing to look at whilst waiting to be rescued.